The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
Noel Edmonds looks at the weekly pop chart from 1977 and introduces John Miles, Hot Chocolate, Jesse Green, Cliff Richard, Queen and Legs & Co.
Tristram Hunt shows how motoring has gone from allowing us to explore the beautiful English countryside to the present day of speed cameras, congestion charges and environmental issues. Along the way, he looks at different cars through the ages that define a decade and a generation.
For the very first civilisations, the yellow lustre of gold is the most alluring and intoxicating colour of all. From the midst of prehistory to a bunker deep beneath the Bank of England, Fox reveals how golden treasures made across the ages reflect everything that has been held as sacred.
Documentary which explores one crucial piece of the Titanic jigsaw that always escapes attention - the iceberg that caused the catastrophe. Where did this force of nature come from, and what was it doing in the shipping lanes that fateful night? Conceived 15,000 years before the Titanic, its life story is every bit as fascinating.
With the help of ice scientists, the origins of the infamous berg are revealed amid the stunning landscapes of the north - its creation in the heart of the Greenland ice sheet and 4,000-mile journey through Arctic seas towards a terrible date with destiny.
Art historian Dr Nina Ramirez reveals the codes and messages hidden in Anglo-Saxon art. From the beautiful jewellery that adorned the first violent pagan invaders through to the stunning Christian manuscripts they would become famous for, she explores the beliefs and ideas that shaped Anglo-Saxon art.
Examining many of the greatest Anglo Saxon treasures - such as the Sutton Hoo Treasures, the Staffordshire Hoard, the Franks Casket and the Lindisfarne Gospels - Dr Ramirez charts 600 years of artistic development which was stopped dead in its tracks by the Norman Conquest.
When surveillance equipment is found in the offices of an extreme left-wing political party, it looks like the work of the Danish Security and Intelligence Service - but why? Illegal monitoring of a legal political party is a serious offence, and it quickly becomes clear that Birgitte and minister of justice Hoxenhaven have very different opinions of the case and its consequences. Birgitte's home life suffers from her absence. Katrine, who has otherwise been in good spirits, must make a difficult decision.
THURSDAY 26 JULY 2012
THU 19:00 World News Today (b01l47l3)
BBC World News London Live
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
THU 19:30 BBC Proms (b01l58cp)
2012
Barenboim Conducts Beethoven Symphonies 5 and 6
Daniel Barenboim's complete cycle of Beethoven symphonies reaches its mid-point, as he conducts his ensemble of young Arab and Israeli musicians, the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, in a programme that includes both the Pastoral Symphony and that most iconic of all orchestral masterpieces, Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. Alongside, Barenboim programmes two short works by Pierre Boulez - Memoriale for flute and ensemble, and Messagesquisse, which showcases the virtuosity of the orchestra's cello section.
THU 21:30 The Story of Musicals (b0192pyj)
Episode 1
Three-part series which tells how the British musical became a driving force behind musical theatre around the world - a tale of titanic shows, phenomenal daring, epic rivalries, prodigious talent and gargantuan fortunes, all set in just a single square mile.
The first episode looks at how, from unpromising beginnings in the period after the Second World War, British musicals went on to reclaim the West End from American domination. Highlights include the quintessentially British show The Boyfriend and its failure to conquer Broadway, the riches-to-rags story of Lionel Bart and his masterpiece Oliver, and the extraordinary partnership of Sir Tim Rice and Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber, from the moment they burst onto the scene with Jesus Christ Superstar until their final collaboration of the 1970s, Evita.
Featuring first-hand accounts from the great and the good of musical theatre including Andrew Lloyd Webber, Sir Cameron Mackintosh, Sir Tim Rice, Elaine Paige, Ron Moody, Bill Kenwright, Sheila Hancock, Harold Prince, Robert Stigwood, Tommy Steele, Paul Nicholas and Willy Russell.
THU 22:30 Doris Day - Virgin Territory (b0074rwd)
Doris Day has often been dismissed as an actress and overlooked as a singer, despite career highs such as Calamity Jane and Pillow Talk. Covering her early years as a band singer, and her troubled private life, this documentary re-evaluates one of the screen's most enduring legends.
THU 23:30 Arena (b01l4929)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:00 on Monday]
THU 00:30 Nature's Microworlds (b01l4906)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:30 on Monday]
THU 01:00 The Story of Musicals (b0192pyj)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:30 today]
THU 02:00 Doris Day - Virgin Territory (b0074rwd)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:30 today]
THU 03:00 Arena (b01l4929)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:00 on Monday]
FRIDAY 27 JULY 2012
FRI 19:00 World News Today (b01l47l8)
BBC World News London Live
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
FRI 19:30 BBC Proms (b01l58xg)
2012
Barenboim Conducts Beethoven Symphonies 7 and 8
Daniel Barenboim continues his journey through the complete Beethoven symphonies with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra by performing a pair of contrasting later symphonies - the exquisitely compact Eighth alongside the expansive, majestic and athletic Seventh. Within this frame, Barenboim's son Michael Barenboim performs Anthemes 2 for violin and live electronics by Pierre Boulez.
FRI 21:15 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 22:15 Forever Young: How Rock 'n' Roll Grew Up (b00sxjls)
Documentary which looks at how rock 'n' roll has had to deal with the unthinkable - namely growing up and growing old, from its roots in the 50s as music made by young people for young people to the 21st-century phenomena of the revival and the comeback.
Despite the mantra of 'live fast, die young', Britain's first rock 'n' roll generations are now enjoying old age. What was once about youth and taking risks is now about longevity, survival, nostalgia and refusing to grow up, give up or shut up. But what happens when the music refuses to die and its performers refuse to leave the stage? What happens when rock's youthful rebelliousness is delivered wrapped in wrinkles?
Featuring Lemmy, Iggy Pop, Peter Noone, Rick Wakeman, Paul Jones, Richard Thompson, Suggs, Eric Burdon, Bruce Welch, Robert Wyatt, Gary Brooker, Joe Brown, Chris Dreja of The Yardbirds, Alison Moyet, Robyn Hitchcock, writers Rosie Boycott and Nick Kent and producer Joe Boyd.
FRI 23:15 Storyville (b00sxgsn)
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
At 14, Toronto school friends Steve 'Lips' Kudlow and Robb Reiner made a pact to rock together forever. Their band Anvil went on to become the 'demi-gods of Canadian metal', releasing 1982's Metal on Metal, which influenced a musical generation including Metallica, Slayer and Anthrax.
All those bands went on to sell millions of records but Anvil's career would take a different path - straight into obscurity. But Lips and Robb never gave up on their childhood dream and kept rocking, always believing that one day Anvil would taste the success that had so long eluded them.
The film follows Lips and Robb, now in their 50s, as they gear up to record their thirteenth album, This is Thirteen. Coping with increasingly impatient families, crippling mortgages and the effects of old age, they know this is their last chance to really make it.
FRI 00:35 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.
FRI 01:35 Legends (b00xln7l)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:15 today]
FRI 02:35 Forever Young: How Rock 'n' Roll Grew Up (b00sxjls)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:15 today]
LIST OF THIS WEEK'S PROGRAMMES
(Note: the times link back to the details; the pids link to the BBC page, including iPlayer)
A History of Art in Three Colours
21:00 WED (b01l4fyl)
A History of Art in Three Colours
03:05 WED (b01l4fyl)
Ajami
22:10 SAT (b01l48f0)
Amadeus
21:00 SUN (b00zmdg4)
Arena
22:00 MON (b01l4929)
Arena
02:45 MON (b01l4929)
Arena
23:30 THU (b01l4929)
Arena
03:00 THU (b01l4929)
BBC Proms
20:00 SAT (b01l48dy)
BBC Proms
19:30 THU (b01l58cp)
BBC Proms
19:30 FRI (b01l58xg)
Borgen
23:50 WED (b01bfrvb)
Britain's Lost World
19:30 MON (b00cb86v)
Britain's Lost World
00:45 MON (b00cb86v)
Doris Day - Virgin Territory
22:30 THU (b0074rwd)
Doris Day - Virgin Territory
02:00 THU (b0074rwd)
Ford's Dagenham Dream
22:00 TUE (b00j0gnm)
Ford's Dagenham Dream
02:50 TUE (b00j0gnm)
Forever Young: How Rock 'n' Roll Grew Up
22:15 FRI (b00sxjls)
Forever Young: How Rock 'n' Roll Grew Up
02:35 FRI (b00sxjls)
I Love Special Olympics
01:40 SAT (b01j0wnd)
Krautrock: The Rebirth of Germany
00:35 FRI (b00nf10k)
Later... with Jools Holland
01:50 SUN (b00y38fc)
Legends
21:15 FRI (b00xln7l)
Legends
01:35 FRI (b00xln7l)
London: A Tale of Two Cities with Dan Cruickshank
19:00 SUN (p00r36lv)
Mark Knopfler: A Life in Songs
00:50 SUN (b00xz0zx)
Natural World
22:00 WED (b00790k2)
Natural World
02:15 WED (b00790k2)
Nature's Microworlds
20:30 MON (b01l4906)
Nature's Microworlds
00:15 MON (b01l4906)
Nature's Microworlds
00:30 THU (b01l4906)
Storyville
23:00 MON (b01l8vw7)
Storyville
23:15 FRI (b00sxgsn)
Talking Landscapes
19:30 TUE (b0074m11)
Teenage Kicks: The Search for Sophistication
23:50 SUN (b0126vdf)
The Blue Planet
19:00 SAT (b0074mmc)
The Blue Planet
02:40 SAT (b0074mmc)
The Bridges That Built London with Dan Cruickshank
20:00 SUN (b01jv5nr)
The Bridges That Built London with Dan Cruickshank
03:05 SUN (b01jv5nr)
The Joy of Motoring
20:00 WED (b00hq385)
The Joy of Motoring
01:15 WED (b00hq385)
The Pharaoh Who Conquered the Sea
23:50 TUE (b00pq9gs)
The Secret Life of the Motorway
21:00 TUE (b007x58q)
The Secret Life of the Motorway
01:50 TUE (b007x58q)
The Story of Musicals
21:30 THU (b0192pyj)
The Story of Musicals
01:00 THU (b0192pyj)
The Treasures of Tutankhamun
23:00 TUE (b0084xgd)
Top of the Pops
00:10 SAT (b01kxyhb)
Top of the Pops
00:40 SAT (b01932g9)
Top of the Pops
19:30 WED (b01l4fyj)
Top of the Pops
00:45 WED (b01l4fyj)
Treasures of the Anglo Saxons
22:50 WED (b00t6xzx)
Venice 24/7
20:00 TUE (b01d26ls)
Venice 24/7
20:30 TUE (b01dc66q)
Venice 24/7
00:50 TUE (b01d26ls)
Venice 24/7
01:20 TUE (b01dc66q)
Who Killed the Honey Bee?
21:00 MON (b00jzjys)
Who Killed the Honey Bee?
01:45 MON (b00jzjys)
World News Today
19:00 MON (b01l47kk)
World News Today
19:00 TUE (b01l47kq)
World News Today
19:00 WED (b01l47kw)
World News Today
19:00 THU (b01l47l3)
World News Today
19:00 FRI (b01l47l8)