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 02 MARCH 2013

SAT 19:00 Natural World (b00qsxy5)
2009-2010

The Wild Places of Essex

Multi-award-winning writer Robert Macfarlane sets out on a journey to explore the unexpected landscapes and natural history of Essex, revealing that there is far more to the county than the stereotypes of white stilettos and boy racers.

Macfarlane spends a year travelling the county's strange and elemental landscapes of heavy industry, desolate beaches and wild woods. He encounters massive knot flocks over the Thames, peregrine falcons at Tilbury Power Station, water voles within sniffing distance of the municipal dump, deer rutting in earshot of the M25, barn owls, badgers and bluebells in Billericay, as well as a large colony of common seals.


SAT 20:00 Baroque! - From St Peter's to St Paul's (b00jf3hv)
Episode 3

Spectacular three-part series, exploring the Baroque tradition in many of its key locations. Starting in Italy and following the spread of the wildfire across Europe and beyond, art critic Waldemar Januszczak takes a tour of the best examples of Baroque to be found, and tells the best stories behind those works.

Episode Three brings the Baroque home with an exploration of the English Baroque tradition that finds its climax through a tour of London's Hawksmoor churches, and Christopher Wren's iconic St Paul's Cathedral.


SAT 21:00 Spiral (b01r5mbc)
Series 4: State of Terror

Episode 7

Berthault and her team are frustrated by new custody laws which ensure the presence of a lawyer during interviews. Gilou is given three days to ensure that the Sarahoui's late licence is approved and Roban is warned that Garnier is using underhand tactics to smear him. Meanwhile, Karlsson is pressured by the Special Branch to provide information on the activities of Thomas Riffaut and his gang.

In French with English subtitles.


SAT 21:55 Spiral (b01r5mbf)
Series 4: State of Terror

Episode 8

When the police raid the Sarahoui's flat, Gilou takes the opportunity to break into their nightclub and retrieve incriminating evidence against him. Yussuf cracks under pressure and provides the team with the names of a Kurdish family behind weapons found at Cetin's house. Karlsson turns the tables on her Special Branch investigators and Judge Roban manages to make even more enemies within the 'system'.

In French with English subtitles.


SAT 22:50 Dusty Springfield at the BBC (b01qyvw7)
A selection of Dusty Springfield's performances at the BBC from 1961 to 1995. Dusty was one of Britain's great pop divas, guaranteed to give us a big melody in songs soaring with drama and yearning.

The clips show Dusty's versatility as an artist and performer and include songs from her folk beginnings with The Springfields; the melodrama of You Don't Have to Say You Love Me; Dusty's homage to Motown with Heatwave and Nowhere to Run; the Jacques Brel song If You Go Away; the Bacharach and David tune The Look of Love; and Dusty's collaboration with Pet Shop Boys in the late 1980s.

There are also some great duets from Dusty's career with Tom Jones and Mel Torme.


SAT 23:50 The Beatles' Please Please Me: Remaking a Classic (b01qnrb8)
In 2013, on the 50th anniversary of the famous 12-hour session at Abbey Road which resulted in the Beatles' iconic album Please Please Me, leading artists such as Stereophonics, Graham Coxon, Gabrielle Aplin, Joss Stone, Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook of Squeeze, Paul Carrack, Mick Hucknall and I Am Kloot attempted to record the same songs, in the same timescale, in the same studio.

The results are captured in this programme, presented by Stuart Maconie.

Amongst those paying their own tribute to the album's success are Burt Bacharach and Guy Chambers, as well as people lucky enough to have been there 50 years ago telling the remarkable story of what happened that day, including engineer Richard Langham and the Beatles' press officer Tony Barrow.


SAT 00:50 Top of the Pops (b01qyvrp)
02/03/78

Noel Edmonds introduces the weekly pop chart programme featuring performances from Darts, Kate Bush, Nick Lowe, Andy Williams, Samantha Sang, Rita Coolidge, the Tom Robinson Band, Abba and Legs & Co.


SAT 01:20 New Power Generation: Black Music Legends of the 1980s (b017gssb)
Janet Jackson: Taking Control

Emerging from the shadows of the most famous family in showbusiness to become a superstar in her own right, Janet Jackson was one of the biggest female pop icons of the 80s and 90s, scoring huge international hits with songs such as What Have You Done For Me Lately? and Nasty.

This film examines Janet's phenomenal career, from her early success as a teenage actress in hit US sitcom Diff'rent Strokes to multi award-winning pop star rivalling her brother's success with ten number one singles on the American Billboard charts and worldwide album sales of over 65 million. The struggle to control both her creative and personal life is central to Janet's development as an artist and key to understanding her story - from escaping the clutches of her overbearing father to the thirst for new challenges in her groundbreaking collaborations with producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Dubbed the 'Queen of Radio' in America, she always seemed capable of maintaining her broad-base appeal - until the infamous 2004 American Super Bowl appearance alongside Justin Timberlake.

Featuring an exclusive interview with Janet Jackson and contributions from the likes of Jimmy Jam, Janet's brother Jackie Jackson, actor Deborah Allen and British pop talent Estelle.


SAT 02:20 Sounds of the 70s 2 (b01kcq0k)
New Wave - Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick

By the end of the 70s the world had changed and so had music. In America, it was all about memorable melodies, great guitar rhythms, a little bit of post-punk angst and looking really cool. In the UK it was about Brit style cheekiness, social commentary, a melody and a hook, a lot of attitude - and looking really cool. This episode goes beyond punk and looks into the dawning of a new decade and the phenomenon of New Wave, including performances from Elvis Costello, the Police, Ian Dury and the Blockheads, Squeeze, Blondie, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, the Cars, Patti Smith and Iggy Pop.


SAT 02:50 Baroque! - From St Peter's to St Paul's (b00jf3hv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]



SUNDAY 03 MARCH 2013

SUN 19:00 The Story of British Pathé (b014bb01)
Around the World

For more than half a century film and newsreel company British Pathe documented almost every aspect of British life, but it also captivated audiences with enthralling stories from overseas.

In the age before mass tourism made international travel affordable and accessible to most of us, their sumptuous travelogues and anthropological documentaries offered British cinemagoers a rare opportunity to glimpse faraway worlds. For decades Pathe dutifully covered royal tours to every corner of the British Empire, but by the 1950s, when the first package holidays were sold, the company also recorded the experiences of the first generations of Britons who were able to indulge in leisure travel around the globe.

This film examines the unique footage captured by the company's cameras across five continents during Pathe's seven decades of international film-making.


SUN 20:00 Mark Lawson Talks To... (b01r5vs7)
Mark Knopfler

Mark Lawson talks to Mark Knopfler, one of the most prolific songwriters of his generation about his early life and influences, the years with Dire Straits and his quiet contempt for modern TV talent shows.

Mark Knopfler has been writing and performing for over 40 years, first with his band Dire Straits, and since their split in the mid nineties, as a solo performer. He has collaborated with numerous stars from Tina Turner to James Taylor and Bob Dylan and is about to start another sell out tour in 2013.


SUN 21:00 Boxing at the Movies: Kings of the Ring (b01r5mhb)
Danny Leigh explores the elemental drama of the boxing movie. For over 120 years, boxing and film have been entwined and the fight film has been used to address powerful themes such as redemption, race and corruption. Film writer Leigh examines how each generation's fight films have reflected their times and asks why film-makers from Stanley Kubrick to Martin Scorsese have returned time and again to tales of the ring.

Interviewees include former world heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis, Rocky director John G Avildsen and Thelma Schoonmaker, editor of Raging Bull.


SUN 22:00 Cinderella Man (b00dcq8h)
Biopic of legendary 1930s boxer James Braddock, who returned to the ring after retirement as the underdog contender for the heavyweight championship. After losing everything during the Depression, Braddock makes a last ditch attempt to pay off his debts that leads him on a path to a title shot against the overwhelming favourite, Max Baer.


SUN 00:15 Mark Lawson Talks To... (b01r5vs7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


SUN 01:15 Definitely Dusty (b00780bt)
Documentary looking at the life and work of soul and pop diva Dusty Springfield, singer of such classics as You Don't Have to Say You Love Me and Son of a Preacher Man, who was equally famous for her trademark panda eyes and blonde beehive.

Using archive footage and interviews shot in the UK and the US, it charts her progress from plain Catholic schoolgirl to glamorous star and ventures behind the extravagant image to reveal a complex and vulnerable character.

Featuring interviews with fellow musicians from a career spanning four decades, including Elton John, Burt Bacharach, Neil Tennant, Lulu and Martha Reeves.

Dusty's protective inner circle of friends have never spoken about her on camera before. Pat Rhodes, Dusty's personal secretary for her entire solo career, her manager Vicky Wickham, ardent fan-turned-backing singer Simon Bell and others talk about the highs and lows of the woman they knew and loved.


SUN 02:15 Dusty (b01r1zmr)
Vintage episode of Dusty Springfield's 1960s TV series, featuring special guest Scott Walker. Among the highlights, Dusty sings You Don't Have to Say You Love Me.


SUN 02:40 Word Up! Black American Pop at the BBC (b017gss8)
A selection of some of the best performances by African-American artists of the 1980s from the BBC archives, featuring Cameo, Shalamar, Salt-n-Pepa, Chaka Khan, Kid Creole, Doug E Fresh, Whitney Houston and Luther Vandross.



MONDAY 04 MARCH 2013

MON 19:00 World News Today (b01r2ssb)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


MON 19:30 Great British Railway Journeys (b00y47bj)
Series 2

London Bridge to Chatham

Michael Portillo takes to the tracks with a copy of George Bradshaw's Victorian Railway Guidebook. Portillo travels the length and breadth of the country to see how the railways changed us, and what of Bradshaw's Britain remains, as his journey goes through Kent, from London Bridge around the scenic south coast to Hastings.

Michael visits the Royal Observatory at Greenwich to see how the railways standardised time, takes a walk through the world's first underwater tunnel at Rotherhithe and explores the historic dockyards at Chatham.


MON 20:00 Decisive Weapons (b0077gdw)
Series 1

The Longbow - Wood Against Steel

The longbow was the lethal weapon of the Middle Ages, a killing machine that could stop a fully-armoured knight dead in his tracks. Its simple form and devastating power made it the ideal weapon for the English when they invaded France in 1415 and, at Agincourt, faced a massive French army.


MON 20:30 Britain on Film (b01nvwqm)
Series 1

Brits at Play

In 1959 Britain's biggest cinema company, the Rank Organisation, decided to replace its newsreels with a series of short, quirky, topical documentaries that examined all aspects of life in Britain. For the next ten years, Look at Life chronicled the changing face of British society, industry and culture, all on high-grade 35mm colour film. Britain on Film draws upon the 500 films in this unique archive to offer illuminating and often surprising insights into what became a pivotal decade in modern British history.

This episode looks at the films that recorded one of the great boom industries of the 1960s, the leisure industry. Having left behind the austerity of the immediate post-war period, Britain's increasingly affluent population took full advantage of the new leisure opportunities that made affordable newly-emerging recreational activities at home - as well as exciting holiday adventures abroad.


MON 21:00 A Fish Called Wanda (b00lrpfr)
Offbeat black comedy in which a con artist uses her female charms to steal a stash of jewels from her gangster boyfriend, taking advantage of his henchman and a lawyer - with whom she later falls in love - to realise her cunning plan. The group's various criminal escapades are often complicated by the presence of a hapless mobster, whose mission to kill an elderly witness proves increasingly hard.


MON 22:45 A Very English Winter: The Unthanks (b01pdsvd)
Rachel and Becky Unthank continue their journey around England's hidden customs and dance traditions and into the dark heart of its winter pastimes. The follow-up to Still Folk Dancing After All These Years, which explored English folk dances from spring to harvest, this film explores English folk customs around the country though the other six months of the year.

Two hundred years of political intrigue and clashes with police authorities in Lewes on Guy Fawkes Night have created an awe-inspiring procession of burning popes and other effigies of the enemies of the bonfire, not to mention a heavy police presence to this day. Throwing the Yorkshire carols of Sheffield out of the church repertoire has only served to enhance the heart-stopping show of unrestrained joy found in the powerful singing at the Royal Hotel pub in Dungworth.

The longsword dancers of the North East and molly dancers of East Anglia, who have gone collecting funds each year, are a reminder that no higher power puts food on the plate. Just as these customs rely on the communities themselves to mark each point with song, remembrance and a gathering together, the very need to survive lies in the hands of your neighbour.

The Unthanks discover these stories through singing, dancing, meeting people who have grown up with these traditions and trying not to get set on fire.


MON 23:45 Michael Wood on Beowulf (b00kpv23)
Historian Michael Wood returns to his first great love, the Anglo-Saxon world, to reveal the origins of our literary heritage. Focusing on Beowulf and drawing on other Anglo-Saxon classics, he traces the birth of English poetry back to the Dark Ages.

Travelling across the British Isles from East Anglia to Scotland and with the help of Nobel prize-winning poet Seamus Heaney, actor Julian Glover, local historians and enthusiasts, he brings the story and language of this iconic poem to life.


MON 00:45 Secrets of the Arabian Nights (b010jt2h)
The Arabian Nights first arrived in the West 300 years ago, and ever since then its stories have entranced generations of children and seduced adults with a vision of an exotic, magical Middle East. Actor and director Richard E Grant wants to know why the book he loved as a child still has such a hold on our imagination.

He travels to Paris to discover how the stories of Sinbad, Ali Baba and Aladdin were first brought to the West by the pioneering Arabist Antoine Galland in the early 18th century. The Nights quickly became an overnight literary sensation and were quickly translated into all the major European languages. Richard then travels to Cairo to explore the medieval Islamic world which first created them.

He quickly finds that some of the stories can still be deeply controversial, because of their sexually-explicit content. Richard meets the Egyptian writer and publisher Gamal al Ghitani, who received death threats when he published a new edition of the book.

He also finds that the ribald and riotous stories in the Nights represent a very different view of Islam than fundamentalism. Can the Nights still enrich and change the West's distorted image of the Arab world?


MON 01:45 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.


MON 02:45 The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: The True Story (b00sjbw1)
This iconic American story was written in 1900 by L Frank Baum, a Chicago businessman, journalist, chicken breeder, actor, boutique owner, Hollywood movie director and lifelong fan of all things innovative and technological. His life spanned an era of remarkable invention and achievement in America and many of these developments helped to fuel this great storyteller's imagination.

His ambition was to create the first genuine American fairytale and the story continues to fascinate, inspire and engage millions of fans of all ages from all over the world. This documentary explores how The Wonderful Wizard of Oz has come to symbolise the American Dream and includes previously unseen footage from the Baum family archives, still photographs and clips from the early Oz films, as well as interviews with family members, literary experts and American historians as it tells the story of one man's life in parallel to the development of modern America.



TUESDAY 05 MARCH 2013

TUE 19:00 World News Today (b01r2ssk)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


TUE 19:30 Great British Railway Journeys (b00y47fb)
Series 2

Aylesford to Tunbridge Wells

Michael Portillo takes to the tracks with a copy of George Bradshaw's Victorian Railway Guidebook. Portillo travels the length and breadth of the country to see how the railways changed us and what remains of Bradshaw's Britain, as his journey goes through Kent, from London Bridge around the scenic south coast to Hastings.

Michael explores the life of Victorian hop pickers, finds out about Maidstone's revolutionary paper industry and discovers how the railways turned cricket into a national sport.


TUE 20:00 Secret Knowledge (b01r3n6m)
The Kimbolton Cabinet

Granted privileged access to the Victoria and Albert Museum after hours, John Bly seeks out the Kimbolton Cabinet, an exquisite piece of 18th-century English furniture that promises to reveal much about not only our nation's craft heritage but also his very own childhood.


TUE 20:30 Secret Knowledge (b01r3n6p)
The Art of the Vikings

Through interpretations of some of the archaeological treasures of the Swedish National Museum, now on display in Edinburgh, Dr Janina Ramirez of Oxford University explores the fascinating wealth of Viking culture and its long-lasting influence on the British Isles.


TUE 21:00 Treasures of the Louvre (b01r3n6r)
Paris-based writer Andrew Hussey travels through the glorious art and surprising history of an extraordinary French institution to show that the story of the Louvre is the story of France. As well as exploring the masterpieces of painters such as Veronese, Rubens, David, Chardin, Gericault and Delacroix, he examines the changing face of the Louvre itself through its architecture and design. Medieval fortress, Renaissance palace, luxurious home to kings, emperors and more recently civil servants, today it attracts eight million visitors a year. The documentary also reflects the latest transformation of the Louvre - the museum's recently-opened Islamic Gallery.


TUE 22:30 Johnny Kingdom and the Bears of Alaska (b01qyvnk)
Johnny Kingdom, the wild man of Exmoor, is back and going further than he's ever been before - the trip of a lifetime to Kodiak Island in Alaska in search of brown bears.

As a lad, amateur wildlife filmmaker Johnny would poach salmon from the rivers on Exmoor with his bare hands, but his lifelong ambition has been to see how the real experts - brown bears - do it, as they fish for sockeye salmon in the remote rivers of Kodiak Island off the southwest coast of Alaska.

It is also the biggest challenge he has faced as an amateur cameraman. In characteristic style, Johnny finds himself struggling to keep his camera still without a tripod and because his hands are shaking so much when faced with a 'hooge' bear less than 30 metres away.

The other challenge he faces, which he cannot control, is the weather. In the summer, although the snow has melted this part of Alaska is plagued by heavy mists and fog, which makes the journey by seaplane to the remote areas where the bears live even harder to achieve.

Fortunately Johnny is able to take advantage of being grounded and heads out on a boat into the rich waters around Kodiak Island to film humpback whales, tufted puffins and an enchantingly close encounter with sea otters.

But it's the bears he's come for and Johnny finally gets the shots he wanted - bears catching salmon. He can hardly believe it.

This is Johnny Kingdom at his best - infectiously enthusiastic, madly exuberant and never less than hugely enjoyable.


TUE 23:30 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 00:30 Britain on Film (b01nvwqm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 on Monday]


TUE 01:00 Bob Servant (b01qyvnm)
Independent

Election Day

A reinvigorated Bob and Frank embark on a final push for votes, but a confrontation with Bob's first ever boo boy leaves them on the run from the police. Bob keeps his head held high as they wait for the election results. Surely he can't win?


TUE 01:30 Secret Knowledge (b01r3n6m)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


TUE 02:00 Secret Knowledge (b01r3n6p)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]


TUE 02:30 Treasures of the Louvre (b01r3n6r)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



WEDNESDAY 06 MARCH 2013

WED 19:00 World News Today (b01r2ssq)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


WED 19:30 Great British Railway Journeys (b00y47jt)
Series 2

Canterbury to Margate

Michael Portillo takes to the tracks with a copy of George Bradshaw's Victorian Railway Guidebook. Portillo travels the length and breadth of the country to see how the railways changed us and what remains of Bradshaw's Britain, as his journey goes through Kent, from London Bridge around the scenic south coast to Hastings.

Michael finds out how Canterbury Cathedral was saved during the Baedeker raids of World War II, goes whelk fishing in Whitstable and explores the origins of a seaside swim in Margate.


WED 20:00 Sissinghurst (b00j8b9t)
Episode 7

Documentary series about the attempts of writer Adam Nicolson and his wife Sarah Raven to bring farming back into the heart of the estate and garden at Sissinghurst Castle in Kent, their historic home which is owned by the National Trust and was moulded into its present form by Nicolson's grandmother Vita Sackville-West and her husband Harold Nicolson back in the 1930s.

It is July, and the monthly food group meeting is a heated one as Sarah believes the restaurant staff are still not adopting her recipe ideas, while head chef Steve and consultant chef Peter lock horns.

Adam makes some intriguing discoveries for his book about Elizabethan Sissinghurst and sets about dowsing to reconstruct the once-grand estate's outer courtyards. He can't wait for the final jigsaw of his puzzle to be complete - the arrival of the farmer - but suddenly learns that he has pulled out and the dream of bringing a proper working farm back to Sissinghurst is seemingly quashed overnight.


WED 20:30 Nature's Microworlds (b01r3njx)
Scottish Highlands

Steve Backshall looks at the Scottish Highlands, home to some of the most iconic wildlife in the British Isles. The two contrasting landscapes of open moor and Caledonian forest are both crucially important to their wild inhabitants and yet the history of the Highlands show that they shouldn't exist side by side. Steve guides us through the landscape and reveals the surprising part that humans have to play in allowing both habitats to thrive, thereby keeping this corner of the British Isles wild.


WED 21:00 Michael Grade and the World's Oldest Joke (b01r3njz)
Michael Grade goes on the trail of the world's oldest joke as he sets out to discover whether jokes come and go with the passing of time or whether we are still laughing at the same things our ancestors did.


WED 22:00 Parks and Recreation (p015043t)
Series 1

Pilot

Indiana government worker Leslie Knope is given the assignment to convert an abandoned quarry pit into a community park. A documentary film crew follows Leslie through her mishaps and gaffs as she tries to make her assignment a reality.


WED 22:20 Parks and Recreation (b01r6x6z)
Series 1

The Reporter

Leslie arranges for a reporter to do a story about her park project, but she and her committee have the worst time staying on topic. She then calls Mark to help her save the story, but it ends up hurting more than helping.

Meanwhile, Tom does all he can to suck up to his boss.


WED 22:45 The Art of Tommy Cooper (b007hzl2)
Tommy Cooper was a national comedy institution whose catchphrases still remain in the language today. This bumbling giant with outsized feet and hands, whose mere entrance on stage had audiences erupting with uncontrollable laughter, was born in Caerphilly in 1921, where a statue is now erected in his honour - unveiled by Sir Anthony Hopkins.

This programme looks at the life and art of the man in the fez, whose clumsy, fumbling stage magic tricks hid a real talent as a magician. His private life was complicated and often difficult, but as far as his audiences were concerned, he was first and foremost a clown whose confusion with the mechanisms of everyday life made for hilarious viewing.


WED 23:15 Boxing at the Movies: Kings of the Ring (b01r5mhb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Sunday]


WED 00:15 Baroque! - From St Peter's to St Paul's (b00jf3hv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Saturday]


WED 01:15 Britain's Most Fragile Treasure (b0161dgq)
Historian Dr Janina Ramirez unlocks the secrets of a centuries-old masterpiece in glass. At 78 feet in height, the famous Great East Window at York Minster is the largest medieval stained-glass window in the country and the creative vision of a single artist, a mysterious master craftsman called John Thornton, one of the earliest named English artists.

The Great East Window has been called England's Sistine Chapel. Within its 311 stained-glass panels is the entire history of the world, from the first day to the Last Judgment, and yet it was made 100 years before Michelangelo's own masterpiece. The scale of Thornton's achievement is revealed as Dr Ramirez follows the work of a highly skilled conservation team at York Glaziers Trust. They dismantled the entire window as part of a five-year project to repair centuries of damage and restore it to its original glory.

It is a unique opportunity for Dr Ramirez to examine Thornton's greatest work at close quarters, to discover details that would normally be impossible to see and to reveal exactly how medieval artists made images of such delicacy and complexity using the simplest of tools.

The Great East Window of York Minster is far more than a work of artistic genius, it is a window into the medieval world and mind, telling us who we once were and who we still are, all preserved in the most fragile medium of all.


WED 02:15 Nature's Microworlds (b01r3njx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]


WED 02:45 Michael Grade and the World's Oldest Joke (b01r3njz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



THURSDAY 07 MARCH 2013

THU 19:00 World News Today (b01r2ssw)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


THU 19:30 The Sky at Night (b08slxyt)
Moore Winter Marathon Results

There are amazing astronomical objects to see in the winter night sky and Sir Patrick Moore chose a few of them for his last Moore Winter Marathon. To find out how everyone got on, Chris Lintott and Lucie Green travel to the Kielder observatory in Northumberland to enjoy some of the darkest skies in Britain. Jon Culshaw joins them to take part in Patrick's final challenge and the rest of the team set up their telescopes to try to catch an asteroid which is about to whizz past the Earth, closer than any before.


THU 20:00 The Pre-Raphaelites (b00l7qpy)
Episode 1

Series examining the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, who brought notoriety to British art in the 19th century, bursting into the spotlight in 1848 and shocking their peers with a new kind of radical art.

The opening programme explores the origins of the Brotherhood and their initial achievements, and looks at some of their key early works, the hostile criticism they faced and the centuries of academic dogma their paintings overturned.


THU 20:30 Pagans and Pilgrims: Britain's Holiest Places (b01r6zdv)
Ruins

Presenter and Welsh poet Ifor ap Glyn explores the wealth of Britain's extraordinary holy places on a pilgrimage that spans almost 2,000 years of history.

Travelling across the breadth of the UK, Ifor uncovers the stories and rich history behind many of our most famous sites, explaining the myths and legends of some of Britain's most sacred places. Over six episodes, Ifor visits crumbling ruins, tranquil healing pools, sacred caves, island refuges, towering mountain hideaways and ancient shrines to find out what these historical sites tell us about who we are today. From the divine to the unexpected, the series uncovers Britain's extraordinary variety of inspirational, surprising and half-forgotten holy places and brings to life our spiritual history.

In the first episode, Ifor explores why ruins are among the best-preserved and most-loved holy sites in Britain. He visits the famous ruins of St Andrews Cathedral, the mystical atmosphere of Wales's best-preserved Roman site, the battered remains of Coventry's iconic cathedral and the Gothic majesty of North Yorkshire's Whitby Abbey - the inspiration behind Bram Stoker's Dracula. Along the way, he asks why we're drawn to holy ruins long after their religious use is over. Is it just nostalgia or something much deeper that fuels our obsession and enduring fascination with the decaying grandeur of a ruin?


THU 21:00 Heritage! The Battle for Britain's Past (p014fycm)
From Old Bones to Precious Stones

Charting the birth of the heritage movement and the first arguments of radical thought, from figures including John Lubbock MP, Lieutenant General Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers, Charles Darwin and John Ruskin. These remarkable individuals asked important questions and came up with the building blocks of a new world that valued the past. Their actions led to the first piece of legislation to safeguard prehistoric and ancient structures which until then had often fallen prey to the short-term interests of farmers and landowners.


THU 22:00 The Bridges That Built London with Dan Cruickshank (b01jv5nr)
Dan Cruickshank explores the mysteries and secrets of the bridges that have made London what it is. He uncovers stories of Bronze-Age relics emerging from the Vauxhall shore, of why London Bridge was falling down, of midnight corpses splashing beneath Waterloo Bridge, and above all, of the sublime ambition of London's bridge builders themselves.


THU 23:00 Treasures of the Louvre (b01r3n6r)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Tuesday]


THU 00:30 Secret Knowledge (b01r3n6p)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 on Tuesday]


THU 01:00 Secret Knowledge (b01r3n6m)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Tuesday]


THU 01:30 Pagans and Pilgrims: Britain's Holiest Places (b01r6zdv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]


THU 02:00 The Pre-Raphaelites (b00l7qpy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


THU 02:30 The Sky at Night (b08slxyt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


THU 03:00 Heritage! The Battle for Britain's Past (p014fycm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



FRIDAY 08 MARCH 2013

FRI 19:00 World News Today (b01r2st3)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


FRI 19:30 Concerto at the BBC Proms (b01l2t55)
Rachmaninov Piano

Another chance to hear a live performance from the 2008 BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall of Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No 4 - a composition with a distinctive jazzy quality and a theme in the second movement partially based on the nursery rhyme Three Blind Mice. Russian virtuoso pianist Boris Berezovsky performs with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain under the baton of conductor Antonio Pappano.


FRI 20:00 American Master: A Portrait of John Adams (b01r3pb9)
John Adams is the living composer who is most widely performed today. This visually rich portrait of the composer by award-winning film maker Mark Kidel explores the influences that have shaped Adams's unique music, from minimalism to jazz and from the Indian raga to the European classical tradition.


FRI 21:00 Totally British: 70s Rock 'n' Roll (b01r3pm9)
1970-1974

Trawled from the depths of the BBC Archive and classic BBC shows of the day - Old Grey Whistle Test, Top of the Pops and Full House - a collection of performance gems from a totally rock 'n' roll early 1970s.

This was a golden era for British rock 'n' roll as everyone moved on from the whimsical 60s and looked around for something with a bit more oomph! In a pre-heavy metal world bands were experimenting with influences that dated back to 50s rock 'n' roll, whilst taking their groove from old-school rhythm and blues. It was also a time when men grew their hair long!

In a celebration of this era, we kick off with an early 1970s Badfinger number direct from the BBC library and continue the groove from the BBC vaults with classic rock 'n' roll heroes like Free, Status Quo, the Faces, Humble Pie and Mott the Hoople. Plus from deep within the BBC archives we dig out some rarities from the likes of Babe Ruth, Stone the Crows, The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Man, Heavy Metal Kids and original rockers Thin Lizzy... to name but a few.

Sit back and enjoy a 60-minute non-stop ride of unadulterated Totally British 70s Rock 'n' Roll!


FRI 22:00 The Ballad of Mott the Hoople (b01r3pmc)
Documentary telling the bruised and battered, but triumphant, tale of one of the UK's most cherished rock 'n' roll bands, Mott the Hoople.

Originating from Herefordshire, the band were thrown together in 1969 and signed to Island Records by the increasingly erratic manager/producer Guy Stevens, in a bid to find a band that would combine The Rolling Stones rhythmic power with the melody and lyricism of 'Blonde on Blonde' era Bob Dylan.

The documentary charts their journey from cult struggling touring band to their successful transformation into 'glam rock players' thanks to the intervention of David Bowie who gave them their biggest hit, 'All The Young Dudes', and their subsequent collapse after the addition of Mick Ronson to their line-up.

Mott the Hoople's story is brought to life through a combination of rare and unseen archive footage, their magnificent music and the testimony of band members Ian Hunter, Mick Ralphs, Verden Allen, Dale Griffin, Luther Grosvenor aka Ariel Bender and various other associates and witnesses, including boyhood fan Mick Jones of The Clash and Queen's Roger Taylor.


FRI 23:00 Mark Lawson Talks To... (b01r5vs7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Sunday]


FRI 00:00 Lemmy: The Movie (b012p5vv)
Film which celebrates the life and rock 'n' roll philosophy of the late Motorhead frontman and bassist Lemmy. Born Christmas Eve 1945 in Stoke and schooled in part on Anglesey, Ian Fraser Willis acquired the name 'Lemmy' while roadying for Jimi Hendrix and co when he hit London in 1967; it comes from the oft repeated saying 'Len' me a quid'.

Lemmy became the bass player in Hawkwind and sang their biggest hit, Silver Machine, before forming his own hard rockin' metal trio Motorhead in the mid-70s, blending punk and primal rock into a foot-to-the-floor, hard driving rock 'n' roll aesthetic which resulted in monster hits like Ace of Spades and the live album No Sleep Til Hammersmith in the early 80s and to which he has remained constantly steadfast.

Joining Lemmy and members of Motorhead to celebrate his life and times are Hawkwind's Dave Brock, Metallica's James Hetfield, Dave Grohl, Alice Cooper, Peter Hook and Jarvis Cocker.


FRI 01:55 Totally British: 70s Rock 'n' Roll (b01r3pm9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


FRI 02:55 The Ballad of Mott the Hoople (b01r3pmc)
[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)

A Fish Called Wanda 21:00 MON (b00lrpfr)

A Very English Winter: The Unthanks 22:45 MON (b01pdsvd)

American Master: A Portrait of John Adams 20:00 FRI (b01r3pb9)

Baroque! - From St Peter's to St Paul's 20:00 SAT (b00jf3hv)

Baroque! - From St Peter's to St Paul's 02:50 SAT (b00jf3hv)

Baroque! - From St Peter's to St Paul's 00:15 WED (b00jf3hv)

Birth of the British Novel 01:45 MON (b00ydj1p)

Bob Servant 01:00 TUE (b01qyvnm)

Boxing at the Movies: Kings of the Ring 21:00 SUN (b01r5mhb)

Boxing at the Movies: Kings of the Ring 23:15 WED (b01r5mhb)

Britain on Film 20:30 MON (b01nvwqm)

Britain on Film 00:30 TUE (b01nvwqm)

Britain's Most Fragile Treasure 01:15 WED (b0161dgq)

Cinderella Man 22:00 SUN (b00dcq8h)

Concerto at the BBC Proms 19:30 FRI (b01l2t55)

Decisive Weapons 20:00 MON (b0077gdw)

Definitely Dusty 01:15 SUN (b00780bt)

Dusty Springfield at the BBC 22:50 SAT (b01qyvw7)

Dusty 02:15 SUN (b01r1zmr)

Fig Leaf: The Biggest Cover-Up in History 23:30 TUE (b00ydp38)

Great British Railway Journeys 19:30 MON (b00y47bj)

Great British Railway Journeys 19:30 TUE (b00y47fb)

Great British Railway Journeys 19:30 WED (b00y47jt)

Heritage! The Battle for Britain's Past 21:00 THU (p014fycm)

Heritage! The Battle for Britain's Past 03:00 THU (p014fycm)

Johnny Kingdom and the Bears of Alaska 22:30 TUE (b01qyvnk)

Lemmy: The Movie 00:00 FRI (b012p5vv)

Mark Lawson Talks To... 20:00 SUN (b01r5vs7)

Mark Lawson Talks To... 00:15 SUN (b01r5vs7)

Mark Lawson Talks To... 23:00 FRI (b01r5vs7)

Michael Grade and the World's Oldest Joke 21:00 WED (b01r3njz)

Michael Grade and the World's Oldest Joke 02:45 WED (b01r3njz)

Michael Wood on Beowulf 23:45 MON (b00kpv23)

Natural World 19:00 SAT (b00qsxy5)

Nature's Microworlds 20:30 WED (b01r3njx)

Nature's Microworlds 02:15 WED (b01r3njx)

New Power Generation: Black Music Legends of the 1980s 01:20 SAT (b017gssb)

Pagans and Pilgrims: Britain's Holiest Places 20:30 THU (b01r6zdv)

Pagans and Pilgrims: Britain's Holiest Places 01:30 THU (b01r6zdv)

Parks and Recreation 22:00 WED (p015043t)

Parks and Recreation 22:20 WED (b01r6x6z)

Secret Knowledge 20:00 TUE (b01r3n6m)

Secret Knowledge 20:30 TUE (b01r3n6p)

Secret Knowledge 01:30 TUE (b01r3n6m)

Secret Knowledge 02:00 TUE (b01r3n6p)

Secret Knowledge 00:30 THU (b01r3n6p)

Secret Knowledge 01:00 THU (b01r3n6m)

Secrets of the Arabian Nights 00:45 MON (b010jt2h)

Sissinghurst 20:00 WED (b00j8b9t)

Sounds of the 70s 2 02:20 SAT (b01kcq0k)

Spiral 21:00 SAT (b01r5mbc)

Spiral 21:55 SAT (b01r5mbf)

The Art of Tommy Cooper 22:45 WED (b007hzl2)

The Ballad of Mott the Hoople 22:00 FRI (b01r3pmc)

The Ballad of Mott the Hoople 02:55 FRI (b01r3pmc)

The Beatles' Please Please Me: Remaking a Classic 23:50 SAT (b01qnrb8)

The Bridges That Built London with Dan Cruickshank 22:00 THU (b01jv5nr)

The Pre-Raphaelites 20:00 THU (b00l7qpy)

The Pre-Raphaelites 02:00 THU (b00l7qpy)

The Sky at Night 19:30 THU (b08slxyt)

The Sky at Night 02:30 THU (b08slxyt)

The Story of British Pathé 19:00 SUN (b014bb01)

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: The True Story 02:45 MON (b00sjbw1)

Top of the Pops 00:50 SAT (b01qyvrp)

Totally British: 70s Rock 'n' Roll 21:00 FRI (b01r3pm9)

Totally British: 70s Rock 'n' Roll 01:55 FRI (b01r3pm9)

Treasures of the Louvre 21:00 TUE (b01r3n6r)

Treasures of the Louvre 02:30 TUE (b01r3n6r)

Treasures of the Louvre 23:00 THU (b01r3n6r)

Word Up! Black American Pop at the BBC 02:40 SUN (b017gss8)

World News Today 19:00 MON (b01r2ssb)

World News Today 19:00 TUE (b01r2ssk)

World News Today 19:00 WED (b01r2ssq)

World News Today 19:00 THU (b01r2ssw)

World News Today 19:00 FRI (b01r2st3)