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 09 APRIL 2011

SAT 19:00 Yellowstone (b00jc6p6)
Winter

Series following the fortunes of America's wildlife icons in Yellowstone, the most extensive thermal area on Earth.

In winter, Yellowstone is frozen solid - locked in snow as deep as a house for over six months. Whether you hunt for meat, live off stored body fat or whether you simply hibernate, you need to take every advantage, however slight, to save precious energy - then you might just make it through the winter to enjoy the green grass and balmy days of spring.

As we follow the grip of winter over the course of six freezing months, we chart the fortunes of Yellowstone's wildlife in a finely balanced fight to survive. Bison use their massively powerful heads to dig through some of the deepest snow in America to reach the grass beneath. A red fox listens out for mice scurrying six feet beneath the snow before diving headfirst into the drift to snap up its prey, while otters slide through Yellowstone's winter wonderland to find any remaining open water where they can fish. All the while, as the herds of elk and bison are gradually weakened by the cold, one animal gets stronger - the wolf.

But all is not as it first seems - there are larger powers at work. Whether a wolf, a bison or an elk makes it through is intimately linked to Yellowstone's greatest secret. Sleeping beneath the ice and snow-covered surface is one of the world's largest volcanoes. In an extraordinary twist of nature, everything from the freezing winter cold to the creation of a snowstorm is determined by the power of Yellowstone's volcanic heart.


SAT 20:00 Al Murray's German Adventure (b00wgq83)
Episode 2

Making fun of the Germans has had 'Pub Landlord' comedian Al Murray's audiences laughing in the aisles, but behind the scenes Murray is a serious historian with a fascination for the real Germany.

In the second of a two-part documentary, Al sets out to discover the truth behind the wartime jokes and banter that still plague all things German. In a breathtaking journey through one of Germany's coldest winters, he discovers a country of warm and welcoming people and two centuries of stunning arts and culture.

From Bach to Bauhaus and the Brothers Grimm, Al falls in love with the true historical, natural and cultural beauty of this much-maligned land.


SAT 21:00 Spiral (b0109bll)
Series 3: The Butcher of La Villette

Episode 3

With the second body identified as that of missing girl Celia Morau, police believe that they could be looking for a serial killer and delve into the unsavoury depths of the Paris underworld in their search for clues. The pressure piles on, with Judge Roban threatening to hand the case over to the Serious Crime Squad in the absence of prompt results, and Captain Laure Berthaud is on the brink of mental instability when an important breakthrough occurs.

Judge Roban betrays a surprising side to his character when an old flame gets in touch, barrister Josephine Karlsson moves to disassociate herself from Szabo and an unlikely alliance might be in the offing for former public prosecutor Pierre Clement.


SAT 21:55 Spiral (b0109bln)
Series 3: The Butcher of La Villette

Episode 4

Police struggle to hold on to their suspect after he is hospitalised. Meanwhile, believing that the killer may still be at large, prostitutes exploited by an organised ring are terrified to work the Paris streets. Judge Roban's judgment risks falling prey to the tyranny of emotion as friction between his professional and personal life starts to make itself felt. And former public prosecutor Pierre Clement joins the bar to partner up with talented but unscrupulous solicitor Josephine Karlsson.


SAT 22:50 Twenty Twelve (b0103pnd)
Series 1

Episode 4

Comedy series following the personal and professional challenges faced by those responsible for delivering the biggest show on earth, as the Olympic Deliverance team try to get through to the end of the day, the end of the week and the end of the year without all the wheels falling off at once.

Dave Wellbeck is an ex-athlete, double Olympic silver medallist and, in theory, a natural choice as brand ambassador for Raising the Bar, a scheme to get young people inspired by Olympic ideals. He is hard-working, conscientious and loyal, but the truth is that he has about as much charisma as a dimmer switch and his busy schedule of presentations in schools around the country is having the effect of switching young people off in their thousands. Ian and Siobhan have different views on how to deal with the problem.

Head of Sustainability Kay Hope is forced to stand her ground in the light of the discovery that there might not, after all, be enough wind to power the much-vaunted Olympic Park wind turbine.


SAT 23:20 Fanny Hill (b0084lg1)
Episode 1

Andrew Davies's two-part adaptation of John Cleland's infamous, classic 18th-century novel, Fanny Hill.

After losing her parents to smallpox, Fanny travels to London where, employed by local madam Mrs Brown, her virtue is tested by the lascivious Mr Crofts. Eloping with her true love Charles, Fanny basks in happy domesticity. But when Charles' father, the same Mr Crofts, meets his son's fiancee he banishes Charles to the West Indies to leave Fanny alone with spiralling debts.


SAT 00:20 Krautrock: The Rebirth of Germany (b00nf10k)
Documentary which looks at how a radical generation of musicians created a new German musical identity out of the cultural ruins of war.

Between 1968 and 1977 bands like Neu!, Can, Faust and Kraftwerk would look beyond western rock and roll to create some of the most original and uncompromising music ever heard. They shared one common goal - a forward-looking desire to transcend Germany's gruesome past - but that didn't stop the music press in war-obsessed Britain from calling them Krautrock.


SAT 01:20 Top of the Pops (b01076jz)
Classic Top of the Pops from April 1976, as Noel Edmonds introduces performances from Abba, Hot Chocolate, the Brotherhood of Man, Sheer Elegance, Paul Nicholas, Linda Lewis, the Four Seasons, Frankie Valli, 10CC and the Bay City Rollers.


SAT 02:00 Al Murray's German Adventure (b00wgq83)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


SAT 03:00 Yellowstone (b00jc6p6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


SAT 04:00 Twenty Twelve (b0103pnd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:50 today]



SUNDAY 10 APRIL 2011

SUN 19:00 The Sky at Night (b080z2s1)
700 Not Out

Sir Patrick Moore celebrates the 700th episode of The Sky at Night at his home in Sussex, with the help of special guests Professor Brian Cox, impressionist and amateur astronomer Jon Culshaw and Lord Martin Rees, the Astronomer Royal. A stellar panel of astronomers gathers to answer vexing questions from the viewers, while Sir Patrick has a close encounter with his younger self.


SUN 20:00 The Horizon Guide to Space Shuttles (b0109cc7)
In 2011, after more than 30 years of service, America's space shuttle took to the skies for the last time. Its story has been characterised by incredible triumphs, but blighted by devastating tragedies - and the BBC and Horizon have chronicled every step of its career. This unique and poignant Horizon Guide brings together coverage from three decades of programmes to present a biography of the shuttle and to ask what its legacy will be. Will it be remembered as an impressive chapter in human space exploration, or as a fatally flawed white elephant?


SUN 21:00 Storyville (b0109ccb)
Knocking on Heaven's Door - Space Race

April 12th 2011 was the fiftieth anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's flight into space, hailed by the Soviet Union as a triumph for socialist science over capitalism. But the true story is much stranger.

George Carey's film shows how the Russian space programme was kick-started by a mystic who taught that science would make us immortal, and carried forward by a scientist who believed that we should evolve into super-humans who could leave our overcrowded planet to colonise the universe. Stranger still, Carey shows how those ideas have survived communism and adapted themselves to the science of the modern world.


SUN 22:00 Destination Titan (b0109ccd)
It's a voyage of exploration like no other - to Titan, Saturn's largest moon and thought to resemble our own early Earth. For a small team of British scientists this would be the culmination of a lifetime's endeavour - the flight alone, some two billion miles, would take a full seven years.

This is the story of the space probe they built, the sacrifices they made and their hopes for the landing. Would their ambitions survive the descent into the unknown on Titan's surface?


SUN 23:00 The First Men in the Moon (b00vfgcw)
Mark Gatiss's adaptation of HG Wells's science fiction classic. July 1969, and as the world waits with bated breath for the Apollo astronauts to land on the moon, a young boy meets 90-year-old Julius Bedford. He's a man with an extraordinary story of how, way back in 1909, he got to the moon first, and, together with the eccentric Professor Cavor, discovered a terrifying secret deep beneath its seemingly barren surface.


SUN 00:30 The Horizon Guide to Space Shuttles (b0109cc7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


SUN 01:30 Storyville (b0109ccb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


SUN 02:30 Destination Titan (b0109ccd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]


SUN 03:30 The Sky at Night (b080z2s1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]



MONDAY 11 APRIL 2011

MON 19:00 World News Today (b0109dvq)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


MON 19:30 Being Neil Armstrong (b00lkvln)
It has been said that 10,000 years from now only one name will still be remembered, that of Neil Armstrong. But in the four decades since he first set foot on the moon, Armstrong has become increasingly reclusive.

Andrew Smith, author of the best-selling book Moondust, journeys across America to try and discover the real Neil Armstrong. He tracks down the people who knew Armstrong, from his closest childhood friend to fellow astronauts and Houston technicians, and even the barber who sold his hair, in a wry and sideways look at the reluctant hero of the greatest event of the 20th century.


MON 20:30 The Beauty of Diagrams (b00wgqlq)
Florence Nightingale

Series in which mathematician Marcus du Sautoy explores the stories behind some of the world's most familiar scientific diagrams.

Can a diagram save lives? Florence Nightingale is best known as the Lady of the Lamp, who cared for thousands of soldiers in appalling conditions during the Crimean War of 1854-6. What is less well-known is that she was a superb statistician, and the first to use a statistical graphic as a call to action.

After the war, Nightingale wrote a passionate report on why the soldiers had died in such large numbers and it revealed the astonishing fact that out of 18,000 deaths, 16,000 had been due to infectious diseases in hospital rather than battle wounds. The report included her revolutionary and controversial 'Rose Diagram', whose message was potent and direct - hospitals can kill. The diagram was designed to persuade the British government that, if sanitation in hospitals was improved, many deaths could be avoided. Nightingale's pioneering diagram was a catalyst in the creation of better and cleaner hospitals that would go on to save thousands of lives.


MON 21:00 The Great Estate: The Rise & Fall of the Council House (b0109dvs)
Journalist and author Michael Collins presents a hard-hitting and heartwarming history of one of Britain's greatest social revolutions - council housing.

At its height in the mid-1970s, council housing provided homes for over a third of the British population. From the 'homes for heroes' cottages that were built in the wake of the First World War to the much-maligned, monolithic high rises of the 60s and 70s, Collins embarks on a grand tour of Britain's council estates.

He visits Britain's first council estate, built as an antidote to London's disease and crime-ridden Victorian slums, the groundbreaking flats that made inter-war Liverpool the envy of Europe, the high rise estate in Sheffield that has become the largest listed building in the world, and the estate built on the banks of the Thames that was billed as 'the town of the 21st century'.

Along the way he meets the people whose lives were shaped by an extraordinary social experiment that began with a bang at the start of the 20th century and ended with a whimper 80 years later.


MON 22:00 Twenty Twelve (b0109dvv)
Series 1

Episode 5

There are only three applicants for the post of Curator of the Cultural Olympiad, so how difficult can it be to select the best candidate? As Ian Fletcher and his team find out, it is almost impossible. As if that wasn't enough, their ultimate boss, Sebastian Coe, has decided that it would be good for the profile of Twenty Twelve if members of the team entered the London Marathon.

As the pressure on Ian as Head of Deliverance gradually increases, the cracks in his marriage are starting to get wider and wider. Could this possibly mean that the secret hopes of his ever-loyal PA Sally might one day move closer to fulfilment?


MON 22:30 Lead Balloon (b00g34f2)
Series 3

Spikey

Sitcom about ex-celebrity comedian Rick Spleen.

When Rick and Mel are invited to the theatre by one of Mel's clients, Rick's natural reluctance increases when he realises that the hit play was written by an ex-stand-up who he used to share stages with.

But not even in his worst nightmares could Rick have imagined the humiliating way that the evening ends.


MON 23:00 Rubicon (b01040lz)
Gone in the Teeth

Will Travers, an experienced analyst at a federal intelligence agency, is working on various Middle Eastern projects when he discovers a pattern in several daily newspaper crossword puzzles. He is intrigued, but told by his boss to concentrate on other matters. When his boss is killed in a freak accident, Will begins to suspect that the two events are somehow connected.


MON 23:45 Neil Diamond: Solitary Man (b00vzzst)
A 60-minute documentary including an interview and exclusive location filming with Neil Diamond in New York and Los Angeles. Robbie Robertson, Jeff Barry, Mickey Dolenz and other contributors track Neil from his childhood in Brooklyn to his early days in the Brill Building, his nascent solo career and superstardom in the early 70s, the lean years of the 80s, his career reboot via Rick Rubin in the noughties and his Glastonbury success.


MON 00:45 Electric Proms (b00vzzsw)
2010

Neil Diamond

Neil Diamond in concert from London's Roundhouse with his six-piece band performing tracks from his 2010 album Dreams, which explores the 60s and 70s songs he loves, and reinventing his classics. This is Neil Diamond stripped down with strings in his most intimate performance for years.


MON 01:45 Being Neil Armstrong (b00lkvln)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


MON 02:45 The Great Estate: The Rise & Fall of the Council House (b0109dvs)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


MON 03:45 Twenty Twelve (b0109dvv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]



TUESDAY 12 APRIL 2011

TUE 19:00 World News Today (b0109fz9)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


TUE 19:30 Birds Britannia (b00vnf8d)
Garden Birds

Documentary series which looks at the different birds that live in the UK and at the stories they can tell us about the British people over time. Top of our affections are garden birds, including the nation's favourite, the robin. Yet this relationship is a surprisingly modern one, the result of some of the most dramatic changes in British society in the last 150 years.


TUE 20:30 James May at the Edge of Space (b00lc5ph)
James May always wanted to be an astronaut. Now, 40 years after the first Apollo landings, he gets a chance to fly to the edge of space in a U2 spy plane. But first he has to undergo three gruelling days of training with the US Air Force and learn to use a space suit to stay alive in air so thin it can kill in an instant. He discovers that during the flight there are only two people higher than him, and they are both real astronauts on the International Space Station.


TUE 21:00 Destination Titan (b0109ccd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 on Sunday]


TUE 22:00 Around the World in 60 Minutes (b00ymjkt)
A unique journey around the weird and wonderful planet that we call home.

When Yuri Gagarin was blasted into space he became the first human to get a proper look at where we live. 'The Earth is blue,' he exclaimed, 'how amazing!'. Suddenly our perspective on the world had changed forever. We thought we were going to explore the universe, yet the most extraordinary thing we discovered was our own home planet, the Earth.

So what would you see during just one orbit of the Earth? Starting 200 miles above the planet, this film whisks you around the planet to show what changes in the time it takes to circumnavigate the Earth just once. We hear from British-born astronaut Piers Sellers on what it's like to live and work in space, and also to gaze down and see how we are altering and reshaping our world.

We marvel at the incredible forces of nature that brings hundred-mile wide storms and reshapes continents, and also discover how we humans are draining seas and building cities in the middle of the desert. We also visit the wettest place on Earth, as well as the most volcanic.

Narrated by David Morrissey, this inspirational trip around the planet will make you view our home as you've never seen it before.


TUE 23:00 Britain Goes Camping (b00t5hcl)
Featuring the evocative memories and unseen archive of generations of enthusiasts, a documentary which tells the intriguing story of how sleeping under canvas evolved from a leisure activity for a handful of adventurous Edwardian gents to the quintessentially British family pastime that it is today.


TUE 00:00 Birds Britannia (b00vnf8d)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


TUE 01:00 Storyville (b0103pq2)
Innocent! Paco & the Struggle for Justice

As a tropical storm beats down on the Philippine island of Cebu, two sisters leave work but never make it home. That same night, hundreds of miles away on a different island, 19-year-old Paco Larranaga is at a party in Manila, surrounded by dozens of reliable witnesses.

The missing women, Marijoy, 23, and Jacqueline Chiong, 21, are pretty and innocent Chinese-Filipinos from a working class community. Paco, accused of their rapes and murders, comes from a prominent political family. An awkward adolescent with a past of petty offences, he is easily cast in the role of privileged thug by the hysterical media frenzy that surrounds the case.

Populated by flamboyantly corrupt public officials, drug dealers, cops on the take and journalists both in thrall to and taking a lonely stance against the system, the documentary is a compelling account of the decade-long struggle to convict or free Paco.


TUE 02:30 James May at the Edge of Space (b00lc5ph)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]


TUE 03:00 Destination Titan (b0109ccd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 on Sunday]



WEDNESDAY 13 APRIL 2011

WED 19:00 World News Today (b0109g46)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


WED 19:30 At Home with the Georgians (b00wh6lz)
A Man's Place

In this three-part series, historian Amanda Vickery explores how the great British obsession with our homes began 300 years ago. Using the intimate diaries and letters of Georgian men and women, previously lost to history, she explores how the desire for a home revolutionised relationships between men and women.

She uncovers some surprising truths: about the lives of spinsters and bachelors, about how the home became crucial to the success - or otherwise - of a marriage and, perhaps the biggest surprise of all, that setting up home in the 18th century was not driven by women (as you might expect) but by men.


WED 20:30 Petworth House: The Big Spring Clean (b0109gml)
Putting the House to Bed

Andrew Graham-Dixon becomes an honorary member of the expert conservation team, as they commence the epic task of 'putting the house to bed' for the winter. He gets up close and personal with a Turner painting, does the dishes the National Trust way, vacuums one of Britain's rarest rugs and learns the secrets of a book which predates the invention of printing.


WED 21:00 If Walls Could Talk: The History of the Home (b0109gmn)
The Living Room

Lucy Worsley, chief curator of the historic royal palaces, looks at the room that has had more names and been through more changes than any other in the house. She tries out the communal medieval great hall, holds a candlelit tea party in a Georgian drawing room, explores the development of taste in a grand country house, discovers the wonders that gas and electric lighting brought to the Victorian parlour, and experiences leisure 1950s style. Includes interviews with historian Amanda Vickery and writer Adrian Tinniswood.


WED 22:00 Kidult: My Kid Could Paint That (b00csk9p)
Documentary that gets to the heart of an extraordinary artworld cause célèbre.

In the span of only a few months, 4-year-old Marla Olmstead rocketed from total obscurity into international renown - and sold over $300,000 dollars worth of paintings. She was compared to Kandinsky and Pollock, and called 'a budding Picasso'. Inside Edition, The Jane Pauley Show, and NPR did pieces on her, and The Today Show and Good Morning America got in a bidding war over an appearance by the bashful toddler. There was talk of corporate sponsorship with the family fielding calls from The Gap and Crayola.

Then, five months into Marla's new life as a celebrity, and just short of her fifth birthday, a bombshell dropped. CBS's 60 Minutes aired an exposé suggesting strongly that the paintings were painted by her father, himself an amateur painter. As quickly as the public built Marla up, they tore her down. The New York Post asked whether 'the juvenile Jackson Pollock may actually be a full-fledged Willem de Frauding'. The Olmsteads were barraged with hate mail and ostracized, whilst sales of the paintings dried up and Marla's art dealer considered moving. Embattled, the Olmsteads themselves turned to a documentary filmmaker to clear their name.

Torn between his own responsibility as a journalist and the family's desire to see their integrity restored, the director finds himself drawn deeper and deeper into a situation that can't possibly end well for him and them, and could easily end badly for both.


WED 23:20 Spiral (b0109bll)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Saturday]


WED 00:15 Spiral (b0109bln)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:55 on Saturday]


WED 01:10 Petworth House: The Big Spring Clean (b0109gml)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]


WED 01:40 If Walls Could Talk: The History of the Home (b0109gmn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


WED 02:40 Kidult: My Kid Could Paint That (b00csk9p)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]



THURSDAY 14 APRIL 2011

THU 19:00 World News Today (b0109hhs)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


THU 19:30 Top of the Pops (b0109hhv)
Classic Top of the Pops, as Dave Lee Travis introduces performances by Fox, Sailor, Smokie, Eric Carmen, the Stylistics and Brotherhood of Man from April 1976.


THU 20:00 The Great Estate: The Rise & Fall of the Council House (b0109dvs)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Monday]


THU 21:00 Fanny Hill (b00856dh)
Episode 2

Andrew Davies's two-part adaptation of John Cleland's infamous, classic 18th-century novel, Fanny Hill. In need of money, Fanny becomes mistress to the enigmatic Mr H. Jealous of Fanny's love for Charles, he expels Fanny from his home and she seeks refuge in Mrs Cole's brothel. However, Fanny is thrown on to the streets when the brothel is closed. Rescuing the elderly Mr Goodyear, Fanny receives a handsome inheritance for her companionship. Charles pursues Fanny and they plan their future.


THU 22:00 Rubicon (b0109hhz)
The First Day of School

Will starts his new job as David's successor and is introduced 'upstairs' to the other section heads as he tries to unravel the clues that David has left him. Katherine Rhumor is discovering more about her late husband Tom.


THU 22:45 Storyville (b0109ccb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Sunday]


THU 23:45 Fanny Hill (b00856dh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


THU 00:45 If Walls Could Talk: The History of the Home (b0109gmn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Wednesday]


THU 01:45 The Great Estate: The Rise & Fall of the Council House (b0109dvs)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Monday]


THU 02:45 Top of the Pops (b0109hhv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


THU 03:15 Fanny Hill (b00856dh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



FRIDAY 15 APRIL 2011

FRI 19:00 World News Today (b0109hkv)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


FRI 19:30 Opera Italia (b00sm18t)
Viva Verdi

Three-part series tracing the history of Italian opera presented by Antonio Pappano, conductor and music director at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. The series features sumptuous music, stunning Italian locations and some of the biggest names in opera as contributors.

The second episode focuses on Verdi, whose operas are central to Pappano's conducting repertoire and the backbone of the international opera scene. It shows how Verdi's music was influenced by composers such as Bellini and particularly Donizetti, whose gothic masterpiece Lucia di Lammermoor is explored with the help of soprano Diana Damrau.

Pappano looks at six of Verdi's most famous works - Nabucco, Rigoletto, Don Carlo, Otello, Falstaff and La Traviata, the last of which Pappano rehearses and conducts at the Royal Opera House with the starry cast of Renee Fleming, Joseph Calleja and Thomas Hampson.

Pappano travels to Le Roncole in northern Italy where Verdi was born amidst a turbulent political environment, and politics became a major influence on Verdi's operas in later life. He conducts Va Pensiero from Nabucco at a vast open-air concert in Naples, a chorus which was to become a powerful symbol of political unity for the Italian people.


FRI 20:30 Transatlantic Sessions (b00mvl45)
Series 4

Episode 1

Folk musicians come together in what have been called 'the greatest backporch shows ever', as Shetland fiddle virtuoso Aly Bain and dobro ace Jerry Douglas host a Highland gathering of the cream of Nashville, Irish and Scottish talent. Highlights include songs by James Taylor, Julie Fowlis and Dan 'Man of Constant Sorrow' Tyminski, and instrumentals by Jerry Douglas, Aly Bain and Allan MacDonald.


FRI 21:00 Robert Plant: By Myself (b00vy78w)
Documentary in which Robert Plant discusses his musical journey from Stourbridge, the British blues boom, superstardom with Led Zeppelin in the 70s to 2010's Band of Joy album. He also looks at his work with the Honeydrippers and North African musicians, his reunion with Jimmy Page and his pairing with Alison Krauss.


FRI 22:00 Electric Proms (b00vy78y)
2010

Robert Plant

Robert Plant in performance at the Roundhouse with his new Band of Joy, featuring producer-guitarist Buddy Miller and harmony vocals from Patti Griffin. They perform songs from the hit album Band of Joy and reinterpret songs from Robert's past, including some Led Zeppelin classics. Also features a finale in which the Band of Joy are joined by the mass voices of the Oriana Choir.


FRI 23:00 Robert Plant on Later (b00vy79y)
Tracing Robert Plant's solo career from the early 90s via his appearances on Later... With Jools Holland. Through a mix of performance and interviews, the programme sees Robert reunited with Jimmy Page and a Moroccan orchestra, teaming up with Tom Jones and Solomon Burke on the Hootenanny, playing with former band Strange Sensation and also with Alison Krauss.


FRI 23:30 Legends (b00xln7l)
Thin Lizzy: Bad Reputation

Affectionate but honest portrait of Thin Lizzy, arguably the best hard rock band to come out of Ireland.

Starting with the remix of the classic album Jailbreak by Scott Gorham and Brian Downey, the film takes us through the rollercoaster ride that is the story of Thin Lizzy. From early footage of singer Phil Lynott in Ireland in his pre-Lizzy bands the Black Eagles and Orphanage, it follows his progress as he, guitarist Eric Bell and drummer Brian Downey form the basic three-piece that was to become Thin Lizzy - a name taken from the Beano.

Using original interviews with Bell, Downey, the man who signed them and their first manager, it traces the early years leading to the recruitment of guitarists Brian 'Robbo' Robertson and Scott Gorham - the classic line-up. The film uses a number of stills, some seen on TV for the first time, archive from contemporary TV shows and a range of tracks both well known and not so famous.

There are hilarious self-deprecating anecdotes, from the stories behind the making of the Boys are Back in Town to the hiring of Midge Ure. We hear about the 'revolving door' as guitarist after guitarist was fired and hired, and the recording of Bad Reputation and Live and Dangerous - where producer Tony Visconti pulls no punches in talking about how he recorded the latter - putting the controversy to bed for the final time. Except that Downey and Robertson still disagree with him.

Finally, we hear how drugs and alcohol impacted on the band and how the music suffered, how one member later substituted golf for heroin and how addiction and the related lifestyle led to the death of Phil Lynott.

Contributors include Brian Downey, Scott Gorham, Eric Bell, Brian Robertson, Midge Ure, Bob Geldof, Tony Visconti, Joe Elliot and many others.


FRI 00:30 Robert Plant: By Myself (b00vy78w)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


FRI 01:30 Electric Proms (b00vy78y)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]


FRI 02:30 Robert Plant on Later (b00vy79y)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:00 today]


FRI 03:00 Opera Italia (b00sm18t)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]




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

Al Murray's German Adventure 20:00 SAT (b00wgq83)

Al Murray's German Adventure 02:00 SAT (b00wgq83)

Around the World in 60 Minutes 22:00 TUE (b00ymjkt)

At Home with the Georgians 19:30 WED (b00wh6lz)

Being Neil Armstrong 19:30 MON (b00lkvln)

Being Neil Armstrong 01:45 MON (b00lkvln)

Birds Britannia 19:30 TUE (b00vnf8d)

Birds Britannia 00:00 TUE (b00vnf8d)

Britain Goes Camping 23:00 TUE (b00t5hcl)

Destination Titan 22:00 SUN (b0109ccd)

Destination Titan 02:30 SUN (b0109ccd)

Destination Titan 21:00 TUE (b0109ccd)

Destination Titan 03:00 TUE (b0109ccd)

Electric Proms 00:45 MON (b00vzzsw)

Electric Proms 22:00 FRI (b00vy78y)

Electric Proms 01:30 FRI (b00vy78y)

Fanny Hill 23:20 SAT (b0084lg1)

Fanny Hill 21:00 THU (b00856dh)

Fanny Hill 23:45 THU (b00856dh)

Fanny Hill 03:15 THU (b00856dh)

If Walls Could Talk: The History of the Home 21:00 WED (b0109gmn)

If Walls Could Talk: The History of the Home 01:40 WED (b0109gmn)

If Walls Could Talk: The History of the Home 00:45 THU (b0109gmn)

James May at the Edge of Space 20:30 TUE (b00lc5ph)

James May at the Edge of Space 02:30 TUE (b00lc5ph)

Kidult: My Kid Could Paint That 22:00 WED (b00csk9p)

Kidult: My Kid Could Paint That 02:40 WED (b00csk9p)

Krautrock: The Rebirth of Germany 00:20 SAT (b00nf10k)

Lead Balloon 22:30 MON (b00g34f2)

Legends 23:30 FRI (b00xln7l)

Neil Diamond: Solitary Man 23:45 MON (b00vzzst)

Opera Italia 19:30 FRI (b00sm18t)

Opera Italia 03:00 FRI (b00sm18t)

Petworth House: The Big Spring Clean 20:30 WED (b0109gml)

Petworth House: The Big Spring Clean 01:10 WED (b0109gml)

Robert Plant on Later 23:00 FRI (b00vy79y)

Robert Plant on Later 02:30 FRI (b00vy79y)

Robert Plant: By Myself 21:00 FRI (b00vy78w)

Robert Plant: By Myself 00:30 FRI (b00vy78w)

Rubicon 23:00 MON (b01040lz)

Rubicon 22:00 THU (b0109hhz)

Spiral 21:00 SAT (b0109bll)

Spiral 21:55 SAT (b0109bln)

Spiral 23:20 WED (b0109bll)

Spiral 00:15 WED (b0109bln)

Storyville 21:00 SUN (b0109ccb)

Storyville 01:30 SUN (b0109ccb)

Storyville 01:00 TUE (b0103pq2)

Storyville 22:45 THU (b0109ccb)

The Beauty of Diagrams 20:30 MON (b00wgqlq)

The First Men in the Moon 23:00 SUN (b00vfgcw)

The Great Estate: The Rise & Fall of the Council House 21:00 MON (b0109dvs)

The Great Estate: The Rise & Fall of the Council House 02:45 MON (b0109dvs)

The Great Estate: The Rise & Fall of the Council House 20:00 THU (b0109dvs)

The Great Estate: The Rise & Fall of the Council House 01:45 THU (b0109dvs)

The Horizon Guide to Space Shuttles 20:00 SUN (b0109cc7)

The Horizon Guide to Space Shuttles 00:30 SUN (b0109cc7)

The Sky at Night 19:00 SUN (b080z2s1)

The Sky at Night 03:30 SUN (b080z2s1)

Top of the Pops 01:20 SAT (b01076jz)

Top of the Pops 19:30 THU (b0109hhv)

Top of the Pops 02:45 THU (b0109hhv)

Transatlantic Sessions 20:30 FRI (b00mvl45)

Twenty Twelve 22:50 SAT (b0103pnd)

Twenty Twelve 04:00 SAT (b0103pnd)

Twenty Twelve 22:00 MON (b0109dvv)

Twenty Twelve 03:45 MON (b0109dvv)

World News Today 19:00 MON (b0109dvq)

World News Today 19:00 TUE (b0109fz9)

World News Today 19:00 WED (b0109g46)

World News Today 19:00 THU (b0109hhs)

World News Today 19:00 FRI (b0109hkv)

Yellowstone 19:00 SAT (b00jc6p6)

Yellowstone 03:00 SAT (b00jc6p6)