The BBC has announced that it has a sustainable plan for the future of the BBC Singers, in association with The VOCES8 Foundation.
The threat to reduce the staff of the three English orchestras by 20% has not been lifted, but it is being reconsidered.
See the BBC press release here.

Radio-Lists Home Now on BBC 4 Contact

RADIO-LISTS: BBC FOUR
Unofficial Weekly Listings for BBC 4 — supported by bbc.co.uk/programmes/



SATURDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2011

SAT 19:00 South Pacific (b00l5jl0)
Strange Islands

Flightless parrots, burrowing bats, giant skinks and kangaroos in trees; on the isolated islands of the South Pacific, the wildlife has evolved in extraordinary ways. But island living can carry a high price, for when new species arrive all hell breaks loose. And there lies a puzzle - why do animals perfectly adapted to island life simply give up the ghost? The answer is revealed by the remarkable stories of some unlikely animals that survived on tiny islands off the coast of New Zealand. The human history of the region is further evidence that, however idyllic it may appear, life on a South Pacific island may never be very far from catastrophe.


SAT 20:00 Glamour's Golden Age (b00ndzw0)
The Luxe Experience

Hermione Norris narrates a three-part series on the 1920s and 30s, which creates a portrait of a golden age so daring, so influential, so exciting that it still shapes who we are today.

The decades between the world wars saw a cultural revolution in music, fashion, design and the arts. Mass media, mass production and the resulting mass exposure to an alluring, seductive glamour saw the world changing at a dizzying pace, amid which many of our modern obsessions were born.

The first part looks at how architecture and design both created and reflected the spirit of the time. The fun and frivolity of art deco sat alongside the pure functionality of modernism and helped democratise style. Streamlining followed, making sleek, sophisticated, elegant design part of ordinary people's everyday lives. At home, the radio became a beautiful object. In the urban environment a new aesthetic changed the way buildings looked, while planes, trains and automobiles started to shrink the world.

Featuring photographs of the Hoover Factory, Saltdean Lido, the Midland Hotel, the Savoy Theatre, the De La Warr Pavilion, the New Victoria Palace cinema, plus archive newsreel of the Mallard, the Queen Mary, the Schneider Trophy and Bluebird.


SAT 21:00 The Killing (b00ysnxz)
Series 1

Episode 7

Just as Jan is starting to think that he is now in charge of the case, Sarah returns unexpectedly and decides to launch a search for the father of the victim, Theis, and prime murder suspect Rama, who was Nanna's teacher. Both men have disappeared and Sarah fears for Rama's safety. But her decision to remain in Copenhagen to work on the murder case is exacerbating problems in her private life.

Meanwhile, Troels is stuck between his political advisers and his own sense of morality and comes under further pressure from inside his own party.


SAT 22:00 The Killing (b00ysny1)
Series 1

Episode 8

Aided by the local imam, Sarah and Jan look for the hiding place of Rama's collaborator.

At the town hall, Troels is faced with an ultimatum from within his own party as a result of his handling of the scandal.

Theis and Pernille start to believe that the case might be coming to a close, until the story takes another sharp and unexpected turn.


SAT 22:55 How TV Ruined Your Life (b00ylw9d)
Aspiration

Comedy series in which Charlie Brooker uses a mix of sketches and jaw-dropping archive footage to explore the gulf between real life and television.

Here, he shows how, from Dallas to Grand Designs, television continually rubs desirable lifestyles in your face, making you feel inadequate in the process. Warning: contains Sophie Dahl and coffins.


SAT 23:25 Getting On (b00llg8k)
Series 1

Episode 1

Ward B4 is a world of slips, trips and hips, where healthcare is at its least glamorous. Sister Den Flixter, Nurse Kim Wilde and Dr Pippa Moore assemble for ward round. The daily grind of new admissions and discharges has begun. But Hilary Loftus, the new, male, modern matron has just started work and an unsavoury stool sample and a dead patient give him cause for concern.


SAT 23:55 Maid in Britain (b00wyr1r)
A look at how domestic servants have been portrayed on television, from The Forsyte Saga in the 60s to Downton Abbey and Upstairs, Downstairs today. Why are butlers, cooks and nannies such staples of television drama long after their real-life roles have declined? Are these shows socially relevant or mere escapism, and how accurately does television reflect the experiences of real-life servants?

Featuring archive from Brideshead Revisited, Jeeves and Wooster and The Duchess of Duke Street, contributors include Julian Fellowes (Downton Abbey), Jean Marsh (Upstairs, Downstairs), Susan Hampshire (The Forsyte Saga) and Wendy Craig (Nanny).


SAT 00:55 Gods and Monsters: Homer's Odyssey (b00vtwnz)
Virginia Woolf said that Homer's epic poem the Odyssey was 'alive to every tremor and gleam of existence'. Following the magical and strange adventures of warrior king Odysseus, inventor of the idea of the Trojan horse, the poem can claim to be the greatest story ever told. Now British poet Simon Armitage goes on his own Greek adventure, following in the footsteps of one of his own personal heroes. Yet Simon ponders the question of whether he even likes the guy.


SAT 01:55 Vatican: The Hidden World (b00tr2p3)
With unprecedented access to the Vatican and the people who live and work there, this is a unique profile of the heart of the Catholic Church and the world's smallest sovereign state.

Archivists reveal the Vatican's secrets, including the signed testimony of Galileo recorded by the Inquisition. A cardinal journeys deep below St Peter's Basilica to inspect the site claimed to be the tomb of the saint himself, and curators share a private viewing of Michelangelo's extraordinary decoration of the Sistine Chapel.

An intriguing behind-the-scenes look at the workings of one of the world's most powerful and mysterious institutions.


SAT 02:55 Glamour's Golden Age (b00ndzw0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]



SUNDAY 13 FEBRUARY 2011

SUN 19:00 The Story of Science: Power, Proof and Passion (b00s89td)
What Is Out There?

Michael Mosley embarks on an informative and ambitious journey exploring how the evolution of scientific understanding is intimately interwoven with society's historical path.

Michael begins with the story of one of the great upheavals in human history, how we came to understand that our planet was not at the centre of everything in the cosmos but just one of billions of bodies in a vast and expanding universe.

He reveals the critical role of medieval astrologers in changing our view of the heavens, and the surprising connections to the upheavals of the Renaissance, the growth of coffee shops and Californian oil and railway barons.

Michael shows how important the practical skills of craftsmen have been to this story and finds out how Galileo made his telescope to peer at the heavens and by doing so helped change our view of the universe forever.


SUN 20:00 Romancing the Stone: The Golden Ages of British Sculpture (b00ydp2y)
Masons of God

Alastair Sooke reveals the astonishing range of our medieval sculpture, from the imposing masterpieces of our Gothic cathedrals to the playful misericords underneath church stalls.

He shows how the sculpture of the era casts a new light on medieval Britain, a far more sophisticated, fun-loving and maverick place than we in the modern world commonly believe. But despite the technical and emotional power of these works, the notion of a 'sculptor' did not even exist; most carving of the time was done by teams of itinerant masons and artisans working for the Church. The names of some, like William Berkeley, are known but most are lost to history.

This first golden age came to an end with Henry VIII's Reformation of the Church, unleashing a wave of destruction from which it would take centuries to recover.


SUN 21:00 Rocksteady: The Roots of Reggae (b00ym9n4)
The rocksteady era of Jamaican music in the mid-to-late 1960s is considered a golden age because rocksteady's sweet, soulful vocals, romantic but often socially conscious lyrics and prominent basslines gave birth to reggae, which went on to capture the world.

This documentary chronicles the coming together of rocksteady's surviving vocal stars - artists like the Tamlins, U-Roy, Ken Boothe, Leroy Sibbles from the Heptones, Judy Mowatt, Dawn Penn, Rita Marley and Marcia Griffiths - and some of the island's greatest players, to celebrate their greatest 60s hits, perform a reunion concert and celebrate that golden era. Think of it as a kind of Buena Vista Social Club for the great 60s architects of Jamaican music. It is also a beautiful portrait of Jamaica.

In 1962, Jamaica gained its independence from Great Britain. There was celebration, optimism, economic growth and opportunity. Recording studios popped up all over Kingston and a generation of great singers and players emerged playing the tuneful, mellow music that became known as rocksteady - tunes like The Tide Is High, Rivers of Babylon and You Don't Love Me Anymore, No No No, which were so successfully celebrated by UB40 on their Labour of Love albums. By 1968, Jamaica's economic bubble had burst and social unrest took to the streets. As poverty, violence and political upheaval spread, rocksteady became politicised, upped its tempo and began to evolve into the music they call reggae.


SUN 22:35 Storyville (b00r5wwc)
Rise Up Reggae Star

On an island where reggae is considered the voice of the people and an outlet for survival, Rise Up Reggae Star follows three aspiring artists who seek to 'rise up' from obscurity for their chance at success. This documentary takes the viewer off the beaten path, far from any tourist attractions and sandy beaches; yet it is still able to capture the beauty and magic that the Island has to offer. From the deep countryside to the whirlwind ghettos of Kingston, no matter where you are, the film makes it evident that music is the heartbeat of the culture.

In a society where talent abounds and opportunity is scarce, Rise Up follows the very different lives of three artists struggling in their own unique way for their big break at stardom. Turbulence, the conscious ghetto youth with enough determination to move mountains; Ice, the young faux-gangster dancehall artist from the upper class; and Kemoy, the beautifully innocent country girl who barely realizes her amazing vocal gifts - their stories unfold as the film seamlessly interweaves their lives behind the backdrop of the bustling underground reggae scene of Jamaica. Five years in the making, Rise Up is able to capture the pure artistry and creativity of these three musicians in raw form while at the same time, able to bring the viewer into their personal lives, inside their most private moments, as they struggle to find their voice and discover their ability to overcome life's obstacles.


SUN 23:35 Babylon (b00mqc2s)
Drama telling the story of Blue, a young man of Jamaican descent living in Brixton in 1980, as he hangs out with his friends, fronts a dub sound system, loses his job, struggles with family problems and has his friendships tested by racism.


SUN 01:05 BBC Four Sessions (b00ydp85)
Reggae Britannia

An all-star cast celebrates the influence of reggae on the UK's music and culture in a live concert coinciding with BBC Four's Reggae Britannia documentary season.

Expect to hear hits from the 1960s to the present day telling the story of the musical evolution from ska, through rocksteady, roots, dub, lovers rock and beyond. Music director Dennis Bovell assembles a big band featuring some of the most important reggae musicians in the British scene to back up a star cast of singers and toasters including Big Youth, Ken Boothe, Neville Staple, Ali Campbell, Dave Barker, Brinsley Forde, Dennis Alcapone and Winston Reedy, Pauline Black, Janet Kay, Carroll Thompson and Rico Rodriguez.

The concert celebrates the journey that captured the turmoil and channelled the dreams of Jamaicans who came to Britain, those who were born here and the white kids who grew up alongside them and embraced their culture and their roots.


SUN 02:35 Reggae Britannia (b00ydp83)
The acclaimed BBC Four Britannia series moves into the world of British reggae. Showing how it came from Jamaica in the 1960s to influence, over the next 20 years, both British music and society, the programme includes major artists and performances from that era, including Big Youth, Max Romeo, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Jerry Dammers and The Specials, The Police, UB40, Dennis Bovell, lovers rock performers Carroll Thompson and Janet Kay, bands like Aswad and Steel Pulse and reggae admirers such as Boy George and Paul Weller.

The programme celebrates the impact of reggae, the changes it brought about and its lasting musical legacy.



MONDAY 14 FEBRUARY 2011

MON 19:00 World News Today (b00ymh6y)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


MON 19:30 Love Songs at the BBC: A Valentine's Day Special (b00ymh70)
It's a time for guilty pleasures, for courtship, for declarations of love, for looking someone in the eye and whispering sweet nothings, accompanied by a compilation of some of the greatest and squishiest love songs from the likes of Celine Dion, Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes, Jason and Kylie, 10cc and Lionel Richie, all from the Top of the Pops era. If Hot Chocolate and Chaka Khan don't get the temperatures rising, then nothing will.


MON 20:30 The Beauty of Books (b00ymh76)
Medieval Masterpieces

The medieval era was the heyday of illuminated manuscripts. In the 14th and 15th centuries, there was a flowering of religious texts set into beautifully decorated pages. Among these devotional books were psalters, or books of psalms. Hundreds of these were produced, but the Luttrell Psalter is remarkable for its whimsical, humorous and vivid pictures of rural life and a demonic world that is terrifying and grotesque.

This period also saw the development of literature in English. The great Geoffrey Chaucer, often called the father of English literature, took the bold decision to reject literary convention and write in English. His brilliant, bawdy satire the Canterbury Tales became a medieval bestseller and, as a result, when William Caxton set up his first printing press in London, he chose Chaucer's tales as his first major English publication.

These wonderful books contain clever, often mysterious references for their readers and are crucial milestones in the story of the book, charting the last phase of the manuscript and the arrival of the printed book.


MON 21:00 For Crying Out Loud (b00ymhqz)
Jo Brand is outraged and appalled by the latest outburst of public crying. It is happening on X Factor, Who Do You Think You Are and even the politicans are at it. It would appear we are awash with tears. Jo is particularly baffled by this outpouring of weepiness as crying is something she rarely does.

In this documentary, Jo decides it's time to get to the bottom of crying: why we do it, who does it and whether we have always done it. And once she discovers crying is in fact good for you, she has no choice but to see if she can actually make a handkerchief soggy too.

To find out more about crying she talks to friends Phill Jupitus, Shappi Khorsandi and Richard E Grant; interviews crying historians, psychologists and biochemists; and, in her quest to discover her own tears, visits Moorfields Eye Hospital to check her tear ducts are in good working order. She subjects herself to joining a class of crying drama students, discovers the world's weirdest crybabies at the Loss Club and finally opens up to Princess Diana's psychotherapist, Susie Orbach.

Having unpicked the watery world of crying, can Jo bring herself to actually shed a tear?


MON 22:00 Born Romantic (b007wf1j)
Comedy drama about a group of young Londoners looking for love, who meet prospective partners when they take salsa lessons at a dance club. Fergus is searching for the high-school sweetheart he jilted years ago; Eddie the pickpocket falls for Jocelyn, a grave tender; and Frankie is determined to find the love of his life while still living with his ex-wife. Jimmy, a streetwise cabbie, guides them on their tumultuous search for love.


MON 23:35 Love Songs at the BBC: A Valentine's Day Special (b00ymh70)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


MON 00:35 For Crying Out Loud (b00ymhqz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


MON 01:35 In Their Own Words: British Novelists (b00tjqh0)
The Age of Anxiety (1945-1969)

Series looking at the story of the British novel in the 20th century, told by those who know it best, the authors themselves.

This second part marks the end of the Second World War and the beginning of the atomic age, with humanity now having the power of world destruction. What WH Auden coined the Age of Anxiety had begun. The holocaust and the nuclear cloud dominated the sensibility of the period and as political tensions worsened, the mood of anxiety, horror and fear of possible armageddon intensified. A new generation of novelists were on hand to confront and articulate this age; the period that reaffirmed realism was also the period of its dissolution.


MON 02:35 Love Songs at the BBC: A Valentine's Day Special (b00ymh70)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


MON 03:35 The Beauty of Books (b00ymh76)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]



TUESDAY 15 FEBRUARY 2011

TUE 19:00 World News Today (b00ymjkm)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


TUE 19:35 Timothy Spall: Somewhere at Sea (b00s96y1)
The Call of the Sea

Three-part documentary series featuring one of Britain's best loved actors, Timothy Spall, as he and his wife sail from to Cornwall to south Wales in a Dutch barge.

The first programme sees Timothy and Shane set off in the Princess Matilda from Fowey in Cornwall, heading towards Land's End.

By his own admission, Timothy is an unqualified and slightly nervous mariner, but Shane has every confidence in his sea-faring abilities. The intrepid crew encounter a battleship on what could be a firing range, before getting holed up in the Helford river due to bad weather, which gives them an excuse to meet the locals and witness a lively festival.

But all the time Timothy is fretting over the next leg of his journey, which sees the Princess Matilda circumnavigate the infamous Lizard Point, known as the graveyard of ships with its dangerous rocks stretching four miles out to sea.


TUE 20:05 Britain by Bike (b00td4sg)
West Yorkshire

Clare Balding sets out on a two-wheel odyssey to re-discover Britain from the saddle of a touring cycle.

In a six-part series, Clare follows the wheeltracks of compulsive cyclist and author Harold Briercliffe whose evocative guide books of the late 1940s lovingly describe by-passed Britain - a world of unspoiled villages, cycle touring clubs and sunny B roads. Carrying a set of Harold's Cycling Touring Guides for company and riding his very own Dawes Super Galaxy bicycle, she goes in search of the world he described with such affection.

As she cycles through Bronte Country on the Yorkshire/Lancashire border, Clare uncovers a unique photographic collection depicting the hidden daily life of a Yorkshire mill town, a string of truly remarkable women and a secret club for henpecked husbands.


TUE 20:35 Justice (b00ymjkr)
A Lesson in Lying

Do we all have a categorical duty to tell the truth, even to a murderer? The fourth of Michael Sandel's famous lectures on the philosophy of justice looks at the German philosopher Immanuel Kant, whose stringent theory of morality allowed for no exceptions. Kant believed that telling a lie, even a white lie, was a violation of one's own dignity.

Sandel tests Kant's theory with his famous hypothetical scenario, The Killer at Your Door. If a friend were hiding inside your home and a person intent on killing them came to your door and asked you where they were, would it be wrong to tell a lie? If so, would it be moral to try to mislead the murderer without actually lying to them? This leads to a discussion of the morality of misleading truths.

Sandel wraps up the lecture with a video clip of one of the most famous recent examples of dodging the truth, President Clinton talking about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky.


TUE 21:00 Who Killed the Honey Bee? (b00jzjys)
Bees are dying in their millions. It is an ecological crisis that threatens to bring global agriculture to a standstill. Introduced by Martha Kearney, this documentary explores the reasons behind the decline of bee colonies across the globe, investigating what might be at the root of this devastation.

Honey bees are the number one insect pollinator on the planet, responsible for the production of over 90 crops. Apples, berries, cucumbers, nuts, cabbages and even cotton will struggle to be produced if bee colonies continue to decline at the current rate. Empty hives have been reported from as far afield as Taipei and Tennessee. In England, the matter has caused beekeepers to march on Parliament to call on the government to fund research into what they say is potentially a bigger threat to humanity than the current financial crisis.

Investigating the problem from a global perspective, the programme makers travel from the farm belt of California to the flatlands of East Anglia to the outback of Australia. They talk to the beekeepers whose livelihoods are threatened by colony collapse disorder, the scientists entrusted with solving the problem, and the Australian beekeepers who are making a fortune replacing the planet's dying bees. They also look at some of the possible reasons for the declining numbers - is it down to a bee plague, pesticides, malnutrition? Or is the answer something even more frightening?


TUE 22:00 Ian Hislop's Age of the Do-Gooders (b00wwb44)
Sinful Sex and Demon Drink

The pleasures and perils of booze and sex are the focus for the final episode of Ian Hislop's series about Victorian reformers, campaigners and philanthropists. In attempting to wean Britons off alcohol and away from vice, Ian wonders whether the 'do-gooders', despite their extraordinary energy and success in transforming every other aspect of 19th-century society, had finally bitten off more than they could chew.

Ian recovers the hidden histories and remarkable lives of five individuals who gave their all to cure the nation's moral incontinence. But in doing so, Ian also encounters the occasional skeleton in the closet.

Three-times prime minister William Gladstone spent a lifetime touring the streets of London's West End trying to rescue prostitutes. He brought many home to his wife, giving them a meal and a bed for the night. So was this pure philanthropy or something of a darker obsession?

Meanwhile, pioneering sex educator Ellice Hopkins took her efforts to save fallen women one step further, by devoting her life to the thankless task of promoting male chastity.

Joseph Livesey made his home-town Preston the epicentre of the global temperance movement. Thanks to his charisma, many took 'the pledge' of total abstinence. Yet many more continued to take what was known as 'St Monday' to sleep off their hangovers.

The artist George Cruikshank had grown up an enthusiastic drinker but became one of the nation's most zealous temperance campaigners. His masterpiece, The Worship of Bacchus, reveals British society to be corrupted by alcohol from top to bottom. So why did Cruikshank leave a substantial wine cellar to his housemaid turned mistress?


TUE 23:00 Birth of the British Novel (b00ydj1p)
Author Henry Hitchings explores the lives and works of Britain's radical and pioneering 18th-century novelists who, in just 80 years, established all the literary genres we recognise today. It was a golden age of creativity led by Daniel Defoe, Jonathan Swift, Henry Fielding, Laurence Sterne, Fanny Burney and William Godwin, amongst others. Robinson Crusoe, Gulliver's Travels, Tom Jones and Tristram Shandy are novels that still sparkle with audacity and innovation.

On his journey through 18th-century fiction, Hitchings reveals how the novel was more than mere entertainment, it was also a subversive hand grenade that would change British society for the better. He travels from the homes of Britain's great and good to its lowliest prisons, meeting contemporary writers like Martin Amis, Will Self, Tom McCarthy and Jenny Uglow on the way.

Although 18th-century novels are woefully neglected today compared to those of the following two centuries, Hitchings shows how the best of them can offer as much pleasure to the reader as any modern classic.


TUE 00:00 Romancing the Stone: The Golden Ages of British Sculpture (b00ydp2y)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Sunday]


TUE 01:00 Fig Leaf: The Biggest Cover-Up in History (b00ydp38)
Writer and broadcaster Stephen Smith uncovers the secret history of the humble fig leaf, opening a window onto 2,000 years of western art and ethics.

He tells how the work of Michelangelo, known to his contemporaries as 'the maker of pork things', fuelled the infamous 'fig leaf campaign', the greatest cover-up in art history, how Bernini turned censorship into a new form of erotica by replacing the fig leaf with the slipping gauze, and how the ingenious machinations of Rodin brought nudity back to the public eye.

In telling this story, Smith turns many of our deepest prejudices upside down, showing how the Victorians had a far more sophisticated and mature attitude to sexuality than we do today. He ends with an impassioned plea for the widespread return of the fig leaf to redeem modern art from cheap sensation and innuendo.


TUE 02:00 Mark Lawson Talks To... (b00ydp30)
Sir Anthony Caro

Mark Lawson talks to the influential sculptor Sir Anthony Caro about his life and career in art. In this thoughtful interview Caro reflects on his time as Henry Moore's assistant, his groundbreaking shift from figurative to abstract sculpture, his position on public art and his dream of working 'until I drop'.

Since his pioneering show at the Whitechapel London Gallery in 1963, Anthony Caro became recognised as one of the most important and prolific sculptors in the world. His innovative approach to scale, form and materials to 'expand the language of sculpture' has not only won him international plaudits but has revolutionised the field of three-dimensional art.


TUE 03:00 Birth of the British Novel (b00ydj1p)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:00 today]


TUE 04:00 Justice (b00ymjkr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:35 today]



WEDNESDAY 16 FEBRUARY 2011

WED 19:00 World News Today (b00yml52)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


WED 19:30 For Crying Out Loud (b00ymhqz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Monday]


WED 20:30 One Foot in the Past (b0074lpq)
Sculpture

The magic of fountains, the genius of Antonio Canova and the power of the gargoyle are all celebrated in a programme marking the Year of Public Sculpture, 2000.

Kirsty Wark goes in search of the perfect fountain to commemorate Princess Diana. Fountains have never been embraced in Britain, despite their huge popularity on the continent. The country's biggest, at Witley Court in Worcestershire, lies neglected and in need of repair, and the most famous, Eros in London, emits no more than a sad dribble.

Sculptor Alexander Stoddart reveals hidden depths in the work of Canova, the creator of the Three Graces. Often dismissed as shallow and empty, Canova's work, from a king with a female body to a naked Napoleon, has the power to shock and subvert.

Roger Bowdler enters the mysterious world of grotesques, goblins and gremlins. They adorn churches all over the country, but are perhaps the most misunderstood public sculptures of all. Crude and sexual, or comic and deranged, they had a deadly serious role to play in the battle for people's souls.


WED 21:00 Romancing the Stone: The Golden Ages of British Sculpture (b00yml9v)
Mavericks of Empire

By the middle of the 18th century, Britain was in possession of a vast empire. It required a new way of seeing ourselves and so we turned to the statues of ancient Greece and Rome to project the secular power and glory of the British Empire.

The message was clear: Britain was the new Rome, our generals and politicians on a par with the heroes of the ancient world. The flood of funds, both public and private, into sculptural projects unleashed a new golden age, yet it was also a remarkably unorthodox one. The greatest sculptors of the 18th and 19th centuries were those mavericks who bucked prevailing trends - geniuses like John Flaxman, Francis Chantrey and Alfred Gilbert.

Alastair Sooke tells the story of these mavericks and reveals the extraordinary technical breakthroughs behind their key works: carving in marble with a pointer machine and the primal power of the lost-wax technique.


WED 22:00 How to Get a Head in Sculpture (b00vjmqh)
From the heads of Roman Emperors to the 'blood head' of contemporary British artist Marc Quinn, the greatest figures in world sculpture have continually turned to the head to re-evaluate what it means to be human and to reformulate how closely sculpture can capture it.

Witty, eclectic and insightful, this film is a journey through the most enduring subject for world sculpture, one that carves a path through politics and religion, the ancient and the modern.

Actor David Thewlis has his head sculpted by three different sculptors, while the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams, artist Maggi Hambling and art critic Rachel Johnston discuss art's most enduring preoccupation, ourselves.


WED 23:00 The Killing (b00ysnxz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Saturday]


WED 00:00 The Killing (b00ysny1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 on Saturday]


WED 00:55 Romancing the Stone: The Golden Ages of British Sculpture (b00yml9v)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


WED 01:55 How to Get a Head in Sculpture (b00vjmqh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]


WED 02:55 For Crying Out Loud (b00ymhqz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Monday]



THURSDAY 17 FEBRUARY 2011

THU 19:00 World News Today (b00ymlhm)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


THU 19:30 South Africa Walks (b00s8fy1)
The Kruger

Having tackled treks across the UK, Julia Bradbury embarks on a grand adventure in South Africa, setting out on four very different walks that explore its claim to be 'a world in one country'.

Julia is a regular visitor to the Rainbow Nation, but this is her chance to go far beyond the normal tourist destinations to a series of increasingly remote locations. However, these are all walks that any reasonably adventurous walker could embark on, and they offer a fresh and personal perspective on a friendly and fascinating country that is so often misunderstood.

Having progressed from South African coast to mountains, Julia ups the ante as she prepares to head out on foot in one of the world's most famous game reserves. Call it exhilarating or foolhardy, this is a walking adventure amongst the biggest and most dangerous beasts in Africa. But Julia is well looked after by Jaco, an expert game ranger who proves that the Kruger is far more than just big cats and elephants. This is a unique opportunity to roam freely in one of the world's true wildernesses.


THU 20:00 Timeshift (b00nrtj6)
Series 9

The Last Days of the Liners

Documentary which tells the story of how, in the years following the Second World War, countries competed to launch the most magnificent passenger ships on the great ocean routes.

National pride and prestige were at stake. The Americans had the United States, the fastest liner of all; the Dutch had the elegant Rotterdam; the Italians had the sleek Michelangelo; the French had the France as their supreme symbol of national culture and cuisine; and Britain had the Queens Mary and Elizabeth.

The coming of the jetliner and the 1960s' assault on class and privilege might have swept this world away, but as the film explains, the giant vessels sailed on. Today, more people than ever travel on big ships - liners that have a modern take on glamour and romance.


THU 21:00 Force of Nature: The Sculpture of David Nash (b00ymlhp)
David Nash is one of Britain's most original and internationally recognised sculptors. In a career spanning 40 years he has created over 2,000 sculptures out of wood, many of then monumental in scale. In this film Nash gives an intimate insight into his unique collaboration with his material. From sawing and gouging to charring and planting, it reveals how he has used his profound knowledge of trees and the forces of nature to inform his work.

Using extensive archive it traces Nash's artistic journey from art school to the rugged mining landscape of Blaenau Ffestiniog in north Wales via the many exhibitions he has had around the world, culminating in the most significant to date at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park in 2010.


THU 22:00 Rosslyn Chapel: A Treasure in Stone (b00v3y5s)
The exquisite Rosslyn Chapel is a masterpiece in stone. It used to be one of Scotland's best-kept secrets, but it became world-famous when it was featured in Dan Brown's the Da Vinci Code.

Art historian Helen Rosslyn, whose husband's ancestor built the chapel over 550 years ago, is the guide on a journey of discovery around this perfect gem of a building. Extraordinary carvings of green men, inverted angels and mysterious masonic marks beg the questions of where these images come from and who the stonemasons that created them were. Helen's search leads her across Scotland and to Normandy in search of the creators of this medieval masterpiece.


THU 23:00 Behind the Scenes at the Museum (b00sjm1w)
National Waterways Museum

Series in which acclaimed filmmaker Richard Macer visits three different museums struggling to connect with a modern audience.

The National Waterways Museum at Ellesmere Port marks the birthplace of the industrial revolution when canals were built to transport goods to emerging cities like Liverpool and Manchester. A financial crisis has left the museum with a reputation for sunken boats, and unless the situation improves dramatically some of the country's oldest barges and narrowboats might have to be sold off or even destroyed.

The museum's many volunteers are angry and believe its dire predicament is the result of mismanagement, so a new director is being brought on board with the task of saving it. In just a short while Stuart Gillis makes a big impression and the staff and volunteers begin to see him as a saviour. But will Stuart be able to live up to such high expectations?


THU 00:00 imagine... (b00p00f2)
Winter 2009

The Year of Anish Kapoor

Anish Kapoor is one of the most influential sculptors of his generation, known for works of staggering complexity and scale. He now faces his biggest challenge yet as the first living British artist to have a solo show occupying the entire Royal Academy gallery. His response is a series of audacious installations.

With exclusive access to his studio, Alan Yentob follows him through a period of intense productivity. Kapoor talks candidly about his childhood in India, his early years as an artist and his creative process.

An insight into one of Britain's most accomplished and popular sculptors.


THU 00:50 Henry Moore: Carving a Reputation (b00rm3g3)
Documentary marking the centenary of sculptor Henry Moore's birth, using film footage and notebook extracts to build up a picture from Moore's early life and student days in Leeds to his wartime experiences. His love of natural forms and his placing of sculpture in the landscape led to a reputation that brought him international success.


THU 02:10 Timeshift (b00nrtj6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


THU 03:10 Force of Nature: The Sculpture of David Nash (b00ymlhp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



FRIDAY 18 FEBRUARY 2011

FRI 19:00 World News Today (b00ymlhy)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


FRI 19:30 The Salzburg Festival (b00ymlj0)
Part One

Founded for political reasons, used by the Nazis for political reasons, revived after the Second World War by the US Army for political reasons, dominated for two decades by Herbert von Karajan, a double member of the Nazi party and rescued by Gerard Mortier who believed that all art has a political purpose, the Salzburg Festival remains the most important music festival in Europe - contentious, outrageous and with a phenomenally high standard of performance.

This is the first full-length history of this tortured, annual cultural bun-fight, with an all-star cast including Herbert von Karajan, Wilhelm Furtwangler, Georg Solti, Simon Rattle, Riccardo Muti, James Levine, Karl Bohm, Toscanini, Curd Jurgens, Maximillian Schell, Klaus-Maria Brandauer, Placido Domingo, Valery Gergiev, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Christa Ludwig, Mirella Freni, Mariss Jansons, Thomas Hampson, Lang Lang, Elizabeth Schwarzkopf, Grace Bumbry, Sena Jurinac, Lisa della Casa, Anna Netrebko, Alfred Brendel, Daniel Barenboim, Seiji Ozawa, Peter Sellars, Pierre Boulez, Bruno Walter, Jean-Pierre Ponnelle, Wilhelm Bachhaus, Richard Strauss, Lotte Lehmann and Adolf Hitler, plus Festival president Helga Rabl-Stadler and Austrian president Dr Fisher.


FRI 21:00 Toots and the Maytals: Reggae Got Soul (b00ymljb)
The untold story of one of the most influential artists ever to come out of Jamaica, Toots Hibbert, featuring intimate new performances and interviews with Toots, rare archive from throughout his career and interviews with contemporaries and admirers including Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Jimmy Cliff, Bonnie Raitt, Willie Nelson, Marcia Griffiths and Paolo Nutini.

From his beginnings as a singer in a Jamaican church to the universally-praised, Grammy award-winning artist of today, the film tells the story of one of the true greats of music.

Toots was the first to use the word reggae on tape in his 1968 song Do the Reggay and his music has defined, popularised and refined it across six decades, with hit after hit including Pressure Drop, Sweet and Dandy, Monkey Man, Funky Kingston, Bam Bam, True Love Is Hard To Find and Reggae Got Soul.

As Island records founder Chris Blackwell says, 'The Maytals were unlike anything else... sensational, raw and dynamic'. Always instantly recognisable is Toots's powerful, soulful voice which seems to speak viscerally to the listener - 'one of the great musical gifts of our time'. His songs are at the same time stories of everyday life in Jamaica and postcards from another world.


FRI 22:00 Reggae at the BBC (b00ymljd)
An archive celebration of great reggae performances filmed in the BBC Studios, drawn from programmes such as The Old Grey Whistle Test, Top of the Pops and Later... with Jools Holland, and featuring the likes of Bob Marley and the Wailers, Gregory Isaacs, Desmond Dekker, Burning Spear, Althea and Donna, Dennis Brown, Buju Banton and many more.


FRI 23:30 Glastonbury (b00syzjc)
2010

Toots and the Maytals

Mark Radcliffe introduces a set from Jamaica's Toots and the Maytals on the West Holts Stage, recorded at Glastonbury 2010.


FRI 00:30 Arena (b007np3m)
Bob Marley Exodus '77

1977 was the 60th anniversary of the Russian Revolution, the 30th anniversary of the Partition of India, the 20th anniversary of the First Age of Rock'n'Roll, the 10th anniversary of Sgt Pepper and the Summer of Love. It was the year of Punk, the Queen's Jubilee and the death of Elvis. It was also the year that Bob Marley, with the album Exodus, reached the whole world.

Marley's legendary concert at the Rainbow that summer took reggae music and the message of Rastafaria to a world that hitherto had been exposed to neither. The programme is a visual evocation of the world of 1977, a world that seems very far away now, and of the spirit of Marley's most significant album. It is not a film about the making of an album, it's a film about an artist and his world; about the impact of the world on Bob Marley and of Bob Marley on the world.


FRI 02:00 Toots and the Maytals: Reggae Got Soul (b00ymljb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


FRI 03:00 Reggae at the BBC (b00ymljd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]




LIST OF THIS WEEK'S PROGRAMMES
(Note: the times link back to the details; the pids link to the BBC page, including iPlayer)

Arena 00:30 FRI (b007np3m)

BBC Four Sessions 01:05 SUN (b00ydp85)

Babylon 23:35 SUN (b00mqc2s)

Behind the Scenes at the Museum 23:00 THU (b00sjm1w)

Birth of the British Novel 23:00 TUE (b00ydj1p)

Birth of the British Novel 03:00 TUE (b00ydj1p)

Born Romantic 22:00 MON (b007wf1j)

Britain by Bike 20:05 TUE (b00td4sg)

Fig Leaf: The Biggest Cover-Up in History 01:00 TUE (b00ydp38)

For Crying Out Loud 21:00 MON (b00ymhqz)

For Crying Out Loud 00:35 MON (b00ymhqz)

For Crying Out Loud 19:30 WED (b00ymhqz)

For Crying Out Loud 02:55 WED (b00ymhqz)

Force of Nature: The Sculpture of David Nash 21:00 THU (b00ymlhp)

Force of Nature: The Sculpture of David Nash 03:10 THU (b00ymlhp)

Getting On 23:25 SAT (b00llg8k)

Glamour's Golden Age 20:00 SAT (b00ndzw0)

Glamour's Golden Age 02:55 SAT (b00ndzw0)

Glastonbury 23:30 FRI (b00syzjc)

Gods and Monsters: Homer's Odyssey 00:55 SAT (b00vtwnz)

Henry Moore: Carving a Reputation 00:50 THU (b00rm3g3)

How TV Ruined Your Life 22:55 SAT (b00ylw9d)

How to Get a Head in Sculpture 22:00 WED (b00vjmqh)

How to Get a Head in Sculpture 01:55 WED (b00vjmqh)

Ian Hislop's Age of the Do-Gooders 22:00 TUE (b00wwb44)

In Their Own Words: British Novelists 01:35 MON (b00tjqh0)

Justice 20:35 TUE (b00ymjkr)

Justice 04:00 TUE (b00ymjkr)

Love Songs at the BBC: A Valentine's Day Special 19:30 MON (b00ymh70)

Love Songs at the BBC: A Valentine's Day Special 23:35 MON (b00ymh70)

Love Songs at the BBC: A Valentine's Day Special 02:35 MON (b00ymh70)

Maid in Britain 23:55 SAT (b00wyr1r)

Mark Lawson Talks To... 02:00 TUE (b00ydp30)

One Foot in the Past 20:30 WED (b0074lpq)

Reggae Britannia 02:35 SUN (b00ydp83)

Reggae at the BBC 22:00 FRI (b00ymljd)

Reggae at the BBC 03:00 FRI (b00ymljd)

Rocksteady: The Roots of Reggae 21:00 SUN (b00ym9n4)

Romancing the Stone: The Golden Ages of British Sculpture 20:00 SUN (b00ydp2y)

Romancing the Stone: The Golden Ages of British Sculpture 00:00 TUE (b00ydp2y)

Romancing the Stone: The Golden Ages of British Sculpture 21:00 WED (b00yml9v)

Romancing the Stone: The Golden Ages of British Sculpture 00:55 WED (b00yml9v)

Rosslyn Chapel: A Treasure in Stone 22:00 THU (b00v3y5s)

South Africa Walks 19:30 THU (b00s8fy1)

South Pacific 19:00 SAT (b00l5jl0)

Storyville 22:35 SUN (b00r5wwc)

The Beauty of Books 20:30 MON (b00ymh76)

The Beauty of Books 03:35 MON (b00ymh76)

The Killing 21:00 SAT (b00ysnxz)

The Killing 22:00 SAT (b00ysny1)

The Killing 23:00 WED (b00ysnxz)

The Killing 00:00 WED (b00ysny1)

The Salzburg Festival 19:30 FRI (b00ymlj0)

The Story of Science: Power, Proof and Passion 19:00 SUN (b00s89td)

Timeshift 20:00 THU (b00nrtj6)

Timeshift 02:10 THU (b00nrtj6)

Timothy Spall: Somewhere at Sea 19:35 TUE (b00s96y1)

Toots and the Maytals: Reggae Got Soul 21:00 FRI (b00ymljb)

Toots and the Maytals: Reggae Got Soul 02:00 FRI (b00ymljb)

Vatican: The Hidden World 01:55 SAT (b00tr2p3)

Who Killed the Honey Bee? 21:00 TUE (b00jzjys)

World News Today 19:00 MON (b00ymh6y)

World News Today 19:00 TUE (b00ymjkm)

World News Today 19:00 WED (b00yml52)

World News Today 19:00 THU (b00ymlhm)

World News Today 19:00 FRI (b00ymlhy)

imagine... 00:00 THU (b00p00f2)