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 27 APRIL 2013

SAT 19:00 South Pacific (b00kwdqr)
Ocean of Volcanoes

Witness the birth, growth and death of an island in the greatest ocean on Earth. Millions of years are condensed into an hour revealing unforgettable images of an erupting underwater volcano; rivers of lava exploding below the waves; roads and houses buried by molten rivers of rock. From these violent beginnings emerge coral reefs of unparalleled richness, supporting large groups of grey reef sharks and giant manta rays.

The rising lands of the South Pacific have also given life to some very strange creatures, from the vampire bug that thrives in tropical snow, and the megapode, a bird that uses volcanic springs to incubate its eggs, to vast swarms of jellyfish trapped forever by a coral mountain. This is the Pacific as you've never seen it before.


SAT 20:00 The Golden Age of Steam Railways (b01pdsy6)
Branching Out

For more than 100 years steam trains ran Britain, but when steam started to disappear in the 1950s bands of volunteers got together to save some of the tracks and the steam engines that ran on them. Some of these enthusiasts filmed their exploits and the home movies they shot tell the story of how they did it, and how they helped people to reconnect to a world of steam most thought had been lost forever.


SAT 21:00 Arne Dahl (b01s6c89)
Series 1

Bad Blood - Part 2

A Unit continue to hunt for the Kentucky Killer, the infamous American serial killer who is now on the loose in Sweden. The FBI are called in to help with the investigation.

In Swedish with English subtitles.


SAT 22:30 The Old Grey Whistle Test (b014vzy3)
70s Gold

The Old Grey Whistle Test was launched on 21 September 1971 from a tiny studio tucked behind a lift shaft on the fourth floor of BBC Television Centre. From humble beginnings, it has gone on to provide some of the best and most treasured music archive that the BBC has to offer.

This programme takes us on a journey and celebrates the musically mixed-up decade that was the 1970s, and which is reflected in the OGWT archive. There are classic performances from the glam era by Elton John and David Bowie, an early UK TV appearance from Curtis Mayfield, the beginnings of heavy metal with Steppenwolf's iconic Born to Be Wild anthem and the early punk machinations of the 'mock rock' New York Dolls. Archive from the pinnacle year, 1973, features Roxy Music, The Wailers and Vinegar Joe. The programme's finale celebrates the advent of punk and new wave with unforgettable performances from Patti Smith, Blondie, Iggy Pop and The Jam.

Artists featured are Elton John, Lindisfarne, David Bowie, Curtis Mayfield, Gladys Knight & The Pips, Steppenwolf, Vinegar Joe, Brinsley Schwarz, New York Dolls, Argent, Bob Marley & The Wailers, Captain Beefheart, Johnny Winter, Dr Feelgood, Gil Scott Heron, Patti Smith, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Cher & Gregg Allman, Talking Heads, The Jam, Blondie, Iggy Pop and The Specials.


SAT 00:00 Glen Campbell: The Rhinestone Cowboy (b01pwxs8)
In 2011, Glen Campbell announced he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and that he would be bowing out with a final album and farewell tour across Britain and America. This documentary tells Campbell's remarkable life story, from impoverished childhood in Arkansas to huge success, first as a guitarist and then as a singer, with great records like Wichita Lineman and Rhinestone Cowboy. With comments from friends and colleagues, including songwriter Jimmy Webb and Mickey Dolenz of The Monkees, it is a moving story of success, disgrace and redemption as rich as any of the storylines in Campbell's most famous songs.

The peak of Glen Campbell's career was in 1975, when he topped the charts around the world with Rhinestone Cowboy, but his musical journey to that point is fascinating. A self-taught teenage prodigy on the guitar, by his mid-twenties Campbell was one of the top session guitarists in LA, a key member of the band of session players now known as The Wrecking Crew. He played on hundreds of tracks while working for producers like Phil Spector and Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys, including Daydream Believer by The Monkees, You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling by The Righteous Brothers, Strangers in the Night by Frank Sinatra and Viva Las Vegas by Elvis Presley.

But Campbell always wanted to make it under his own name. A string of records failed to chart until, in 1967, he finally found his distinctive country pop sound with hits like Gentle on My Mind and By the Time I Get to Phoenix. The latter was written by Jimmy Webb, and together the two created a string of great records like Wichita Lineman and Galveston. Campbell pioneered country crossover and opened the way for artists like Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers.

By the end of the 1960s, Campbell was the fastest rising star in American pop with his own television show and a starring role in the original version of True Grit. Over the following ten years, he had more success with Rhinestone Cowboy and Southern Nights, but his private life was in turmoil. Divorce, drink and drugs saw this clean-cut all-American hero fall from grace and a tempestuous relationship with country star Tanya Tucker was front-page news.

Despite a relapse in 2003, when he was arrested for drunk driving and his police mug shot was shown around the world, the last two decades have been more settled. He remarried, started a new family and renewed his Christian faith, and was musically rediscovered by a new generation. Like his friend Johnny Cash, he released acclaimed new albums with young musicians, covering songs by contemporary artists like U2 and The Foo Fighters. Therefore the diagnosis with Alzheimer's was all the more poignant, but his dignified farewell has made him the public face of the disease in the USA.

The film includes contributions by many of Campbell's friends and colleagues, including his family in Arkansas, fellow session musicians Carol Kaye and Leon Russell, long-time friend and collaborator Jimmy Webb, former Monkee Mickey Dolenz, broadcaster Bob Harris, lyricist Don Black and country music writer Robert Oermann.


SAT 01:00 Top of the Pops (b01s40zz)
Peter Powell introduces the weekly pop charts featuring performances from Bryan Ferry, Graham Parker and the Rumour, Squeeze, Andrew Gold, Dan Hill, Brian & Michael and Legs & Co.


SAT 01:45 The Golden Age of Steam Railways (b01pdsy6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


SAT 02:45 South Pacific (b00kwdqr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]



SUNDAY 28 APRIL 2013

SUN 19:00 The Century That Wrote Itself (b01s2qf3)
A World Re-Shaped by Writing

Author Adam Nicolson traces the roots of today's globalised Britain to a 17th-century golden age of writing and communication. He reveals a century on the move, a time when London tripled in size and more than 200,000 people emigrated in search of work or God. And it was writing that made this new mobility possible.

Through the very words that kept them afloat in this mobile world, we meet a puritan family split asunder across an ocean, a lowly sailor able to document strange new worlds for those at home and a slave-trader laying the foundations for a new world economy. All these characters remoulded the medieval world into the one we recognise today. Their writings both reveal this turbulent world to us and helped write the change itself.


SUN 20:00 Christina: A Medieval Life (b00b6ksc)
Historian Michael Wood presents a portrait of ordinary people living through extraordinary times, tracing the story of a real-life peasant of 14th-century Hertfordshire.

She wasn't a famous person, or of noble blood, yet Christina's story is important in understanding our own roots. In this time of war, famine, floods, climate change and the Black Death are the beginnings of the end of serfdom, the growth of individual freedom and the start of a market economy.

Wood recounts the history of medieval Britain told not from the top of society, but from the bottom. Through the lives of Christina and her fellow villagers, we see how the most volatile century in British history played a crucial role in shaping the character and destiny of a nation, and its people.


SUN 21:00 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.


SUN 22:00 Len Goodman's Dancing Feet: The British Ballroom Story (b01pjqpm)
Len Goodman, the head judge of Strictly Come Dancing, takes to the dance floor to discover the golden age of ballroom and recalls the time when Britain went ballroom barmy.

In the early 20th century millions enjoyed dancing. Graceful movement was everything as we grappled with the waltz, the tango and each other. Len also reveals a surprising world of scandal and outrage - a time when ballroom was considered radical and trendy. What was it about ballroom that people enjoyed so much and why did we eventually turn our backs on what Len considers the greatest dance form of all?

Len visits Blackpool, the spiritual home of ballroom, and demonstrates some popular steps with professional dancer Erin Boag. He discovers how the smart set danced the night away at the Cafe de Paris and returns to a favourite dance hall from his youth, the Rivoli in south London.

Len talks to dancers, singers and musicians who remember the golden age and discovers the people who introduced 'rules' to ballroom - the dance leaders and teachers who were concerned that ballroom was out of control and needed new regulations to govern steps, movement and music.


SUN 23:00 The Joy of Easy Listening (b011g614)
In-depth documentary investigation into the story of a popular music genre that is often said to be made to be heard but not listened to. The film looks at easy listening's architects and practitioners, its dangers and delights, and the mark it has left on modern life.

From its emergence in the 50s to its heyday in the 60s, through its survival in the 70s and 80s and its revival in the 90s and beyond, the film traces the hidden history of a music that has reflected society every bit as much as pop and rock - just in a more relaxed way.

Invented at the dawn of rock 'n' roll, easy listening has shadowed pop music and the emerging teenage market since the mid-50s. It is a genre that equally soundtracks our modern age, but perhaps for a rather more 'mature' generation and therefore with its own distinct purpose and aesthetic.

Contributors include Richard Carpenter, Herb Alpert, Richard Clayderman, Engelbert Humperdinck, Jimmy Webb, Mike Flowers, James Last and others.


SUN 00:30 Easy Listening Hits at the BBC (b011g943)
Compilation of easy listening tracks that offers the perfect soundtrack for your cocktail party. There's music to please every lounge lizard, with unique performances from the greatest easy listening artists of the 60s and 70s, including Burt Bacharach, Andy Williams, Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66, The Carpenters and many more.


SUN 01:30 Neil Diamond: Solitary Man (b00vzzst)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


SUN 02:30 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.


SUN 03:00 The Golden Age of Canals (b01173hf)
Most people thought that when the working traffic on canals faded away after the war, it would be the end of their story. But they were wrong. A few diehard enthusiasts and boat owners campaigned, lobbied and dug, sometimes with their bare hands, to keep the network of narrow canals open.

Some of these enthusiasts filmed their campaigns and their home movies tell the story of how, in the teeth of much political opposition, they saved the inland waterways for the nation and, more than 200 years after they were first built, created a second golden age of the canals.

Stan Offley, an IWA activist from Ellesmere Port, filmed his boating trips around the wide canals in the 40s, 50s and 60s in 16mm colour. But equally charming is the film made by Ed Frangleton, with help from Harry Arnold, of a hostel boat holiday on the Llangollen Canal in 1961. There are the films shot by ex-working boatman Ike Argent from his home in Nottinghamshire and looked after by his son Barry.

There is astonishing film of the last days of working boats, some shot by John Pyper when he spent time with the Beecheys in the 60s, film taken by Keith Christie of the last days of the cut around the BCN, and the films made by Keith and his mate Tony Gregory of their attempts to keep working the canals through their carrying company, Midland Canal Transport.

There is film of key restorations, the Stourbridge 16 being talked about with great wit and affection by one of the leading activists in that watershed of restorations in the mid-60s, David Tomlinson, and John Maynard's beautiful films of the restoration of the Huddersfield, 'the impossible restoration', shot over two decades.

All these and more are in the programme alongside the people who made the films and some of the stars of them. Together they tell the story of how, in the years after 1945, a few people fought the government like David fought Goliath to keep canals open and restore ones that had become defunct, and won against all the odds.



MONDAY 29 APRIL 2013

MON 19:00 World News Today (b01s5zkb)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


MON 19:30 Great British Railway Journeys (b00qbngz)
Series 1

Bugle to Mevagissey

Michael Portillo takes to the tracks with a copy of George Bradshaw's Victorian Railway Guidebook. In a series of four epic journeys, he travels the length and breadth of the country to see how the railways changed us, and what of Bradshaw's Britain remains.

His journey takes him along the Brunel's Great Western Railway from Swindon to Penzance. This time, Michael visits the largest clay mine in the world near St Austell, goes pilchard fishing in Mevagissey and finds out how the estate of Heligan shaped British gardens.


MON 20:00 Britain on Film (b01nz93z)
Series 1

Getting Down to Business

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 - on high-grade 35mm colour film - the changing face of British society, industry and culture. 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 examines Look at Life's surprisingly entertaining films on the British economy, at a time when industry faced ever-increasing competition from abroad.


MON 20:30 The Flying Archaeologist (b01s1ll4)
Stonehenge

Archaeologist Ben Robinson flies over Wiltshire to uncover new discoveries in the Stone Age landscape. Sites found from the air have led to exciting new evidence about Stonehenge. The discoveries help to explain why the monument is where it is, and reveal how long ago it was occupied by people.


MON 21:00 World War Two: 1942 and Hitler's Soft Underbelly (b01ndj09)
The British fought the Second World War to defeat Hitler. This film asks why, then, did they spend so much of the conflict battling through North Africa and Italy?

Historian David Reynolds reassesses Winston Churchill's conviction that the Mediterranean was the 'soft underbelly' of Hitler's Europe. Travelling to Egypt and Italian battlefields like Cassino, scene of some of the worst carnage in western Europe, he shows how, in reality, the 'soft underbelly' became a dark and dangerous obsession for Churchill.

Reynolds reveals a prime minister very different from the jaw-jutting bulldog of Britain's 'finest hour' in 1940 - a leader who was politically vulnerable at home, desperate to shore up a crumbling British empire abroad, losing faith in his army and even ready to deceive his American allies if it might delay fighting head to head against the Germans in northern France.


MON 22:30 The First World War from Above (b00vyrzh)
Fergal Keane tells the story of the World War One from a unique new aerial perspective. Featuring two remarkable historical finds, including a piece of archive footage filmed from an airship in summer 1919, capturing the trenches and battlefields in a way that has rarely been seen before. It also features aerial photographs taken by First World War pilots - developed for the first time in over 90 years - that show not only the devastation inflicted during the fighting, but also quirks and human stories visible only from above.


MON 23:30 Brushing up on... (b01s0zpm)
Series 1

British Bridges

Danny Baker endeavours to present the definitive guide to Britain's bridges in 30 minutes, armed only with a few VHS tapes and some ham-fisted research. Buckle up!


MON 00:00 The Man who Discovered Egypt (b01f13f4)
Documentary about English Egyptologist Flinders Petrie, the pioneer of systematic methodology in archaeology. Ancient Egypt was vandalised by tomb raiders and treasure hunters until this Victorian adventurer took them on. Most people have never heard of him, but this maverick undertook a scientific survey of the pyramids, discovered the oldest portraits in the world, unearthed Egypt's prehistoric roots - and in the process invented modern field archaeology, giving meaning to a whole civilisation.


MON 01:00 Britain on Film (b01nz93z)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


MON 01:30 Great British Railway Journeys (b00qbngz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


MON 02:00 The Flying Archaeologist (b01s1ll4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]


MON 02:30 World War Two: 1942 and Hitler's Soft Underbelly (b01ndj09)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



TUESDAY 30 APRIL 2013

TUE 19:00 World News Today (b01s5zkn)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


TUE 19:30 Great British Railway Journeys (b00qbnj1)
Series 1

Truro to Penzance

Michael Portillo takes to the tracks with a copy of George Bradshaw's Victorian Railway Guidebook. In a series of four epic journeys, he travels the length and breadth of the country to see how the railways changed us, and what of Bradshaw's Britain remains.

His journey takes him along the Brunel's Great Western Railway from Swindon to Penzance. This time, Michael searches for the lost church of St Piran, explores the last working tin mine in Cornwall and harvests oysters on the Helford River.


TUE 20:00 Ocean Giants (b01452jz)
Voices of the Sea

Whales and dolphins are nature's supreme vocalists, with a repertoire to put an opera singer to shame. The mighty sperm whale produces deafening clicks in its blowhole which it uses to locate giant squid two miles down in the ocean abyss, while migrating narwhals use similar sounds to pinpoint vital breathing holes in Arctic ice floes.

The pink boto dolphin creates bat-like ultrasonic clicks to 'see with sound' and to catch fish in the murky waters of the Amazon River, and also uses whistles and chirps for social conversations.

Killer whales in the North Sea use wolf-like howls to round up the herring shoals which they feed on, and they and other dolphins also use percussive tail slaps and splashing leaps to signal to each other. One group of bottlenose dolphins in Brazil has even learned to communicate with fishermen in a unique partnership.

But the most famous and mysterious voice of all surely belongs to male humpback whales, whose haunting operatic performances may last several hours and seem to be about singing purely for the sheer pleasure of making music.


TUE 21:00 Archaeology: A Secret History (p0109jny)
In the Beginning

Archaeologist Richard Miles presents a series charting the history of the breakthroughs and watersheds in our long quest to understand our ancient past. He begins by going back 2,000 years to explore how archaeology began by trying to prove a biblical truth - a quest that soon got archaeologists into dangerous water.


TUE 22:00 I, Claudius (b0074ss8)
Reign of Terror

With Tiberius retired to Capri, Sejanus plans to tighten his grip on Rome and divorces his wife so he can marry Livilla. But he also has powerful enemies and his attempts to consolidate power set in motion a bloody chain of events.


TUE 22:55 Treasures of Ancient Rome (p00wpvpr)
Warts 'n' All

Alastair Sooke traces how the Romans during the Republic went from being art thieves and copycats to pioneering a new artistic style - warts 'n' all realism. Roman portraits reveal what the great names from history, men like Julius Caesar and Cicero, actually looked like. Modern-day artists demonstrate the ingenious techniques used to create these true to life masterpieces in marble, bronze and paint.

We can step back into the Roman world thanks to their invention of the documentary-style marble relief and to a volcano called Vesuvius. Sooke explores the remarkable artistic legacy of Pompeii before showing how Rome's first emperor, Augustus, used the power of art to help forge an empire.


TUE 23:55 Parks and Recreation (b01s2qf5)
Series 2

The Camel

Leslie and the parks team compete to come up with a new design for the city hall mural.


TUE 00:15 Parks and Recreation (b01s2qf7)
Series 2

Hunting Trip

Ron's annual hunting trip is ruined when someone from the department shoots him in the head.


TUE 00:35 Arne Dahl (b01s6c89)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Saturday]


TUE 02:05 Britain on Film (b01p2pd4)
Series 1

Dedicated Followers of Fashion

Throughout the 1960s, the Rank Organisation produced hundreds of short, quirky documentaries that examined all aspects of life in Britain. Shot on high-quality colour film stock, they were screened in cinemas, but until now very little of the footage has been shown on television. This series draws on this unique archive to offer illuminating and often surprising insights into a pivotal decade in modern British history.

This episode examines the films that recorded developments in one of 1960s Britain's most dynamic, innovative industries - the glamorous and fast-moving world of fashion.


TUE 02:35 Archaeology: A Secret History (p0109jny)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



WEDNESDAY 01 MAY 2013

WED 19:00 World News Today (b01s5zkz)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


WED 19:30 Great British Railway Journeys (b00qgypx)
Series 1

Buxton to Matlock

Michael Portillo takes to the tracks with a copy of George Bradshaw's Victorian Railway Guidebook. In a series of four epic journeys, he travels the length and breadth of the country to see how the railways changed us, and what of Bradshaw's Britain remains.

His journey takes him from Buxton along one of the first railway routes south to the capital, London. This time, Michael visits an architectural wonder, the Duke of Devonshire's stables in Buxton, helps to repair the ancient peat landscape of the Peak District and travels on the historic steam railway to Rowsley.


WED 20:00 Stories from the Dark Earth: Meet the Ancestors Revisited (b01s74g9)
Pagans of Roman Britain

Series in which archaeologist Julian Richards returns to some of his most important digs to discover how science, conservation and new finds have changed our understanding of entire eras of ancient history.

Julian goes back to the excavation of two burials from Roman Britain - a wealthy man from Roman Winchester and a lavishly appointed grave of a woman from the heart of London that holds a special and unexpected secret only recently unlocked.


WED 21:00 Nelson's Caribbean Hell-hole: An Eighteenth Century Navy Graveyard Uncovered (b01s6gjx)
Human bones found on an idyllic beach in Antigua trigger an investigation by naval historian Sam Willis into one of the darkest chapters of Britain's imperial past. As archaeologists excavate a mass grave of British sailors, Willis explores Antigua's ruins and discovers how the sugar islands of the Caribbean were a kind of hell in the age of Nelson.

Sun, sea, war, tropical diseases and poisoned rum.


WED 22:00 Parks and Recreation (b01s8p7l)
Series 2

Tom's Divorce

Ron assigns Leslie to the DMV for a day and ends up seeing Tom and Wendy at divorce court. To cheer up him up, Leslie rounds up everyone in the department and has them take him out for a night on the town.


WED 22:20 Parks and Recreation (b01s8p7n)
Series 2

Christmas Scandal

Leslie gets to design the Pawnee Winter Wonderland Festival, but is forced to keep it hidden from the press when she finds herself in the middle of a sex scandal. Ron covers for Leslie for a day and finds out how much work she actually does.


WED 22:45 Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? (b0077hxx)
Series 1

Home Is the Hero

Thelma isn't happy that Terry and Bob have rekindled their friendship and she's worried that Terry will cause Bob to have second thoughts about their wedding. Terry starts to feel homesick for the army as his family don't exactly welcome him back with open arms.


WED 23:15 Christina: A Medieval Life (b00b6ksc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Sunday]


WED 00:15 Welly Telly: The Countryside on Television (b011m8wt)
Kate Humble, Bill Oddie, Bill Bryson, John Craven and Clarissa Dickson Wright discuss television's changing relationship - and recent obsession - with the countryside. What explains the huge appeal of shows like Countryfile and Lambing Live to an urban audience? Is television helping to bring town and country together, or is the gap getting larger?

The programme remembers the pioneers of Welly Telly, like Phil Drabble, Jack Hargreaves and Hannah Hauxwell, and features archive from The Good Life, All Creatures Great and Small and Last of the Summer Wine.


WED 01:15 Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? (b0077hxx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:45 today]


WED 01:45 Stories from the Dark Earth: Meet the Ancestors Revisited (b01s74g9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


WED 02:45 Nelson's Caribbean Hell-hole: An Eighteenth Century Navy Graveyard Uncovered (b01s6gjx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



THURSDAY 02 MAY 2013

THU 19:00 World News Today (b01s5zl9)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


THU 19:30 Top of the Pops (b01s9kd5)
David Jensen introduces the weekly pop charts featuring performances from the Dooleys, Manhattan Transfer, John Paul Young, Ruby Winters, Tonight, Hi-Tension, Darts, Boomtown Rats and Legs & Co.


THU 20:00 Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? (b0077j3b)
Series 1

Cold Feet

Bob is deeply involved in preparations for his forthcoming wedding to Thelma, completing a period of courtship that started in form 4B at Park Junior School. But Terry's return has caused Bob to have doubts, especially when Terry teases him that his fate was sealed long before their 11-Plus.


THU 20:30 Brushing up on... (b01s6h36)
Series 1

British Towers

Danny Baker turns his attention to Britain's towers, those soaring structures that loom loftily above us but about which little is known.


THU 21:00 Notes on a Scandal (b00ttbjz)
Self-styled 'old battleaxe' Barbara befriends new fellow teacher, Sheba, but with ulterior motives, and feels betrayed when the younger woman risks marriage and career by having an affair with underage pupil Steven.


THU 22:30 Archaeology: A Secret History (p0109jny)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Tuesday]


THU 23:30 Ocean Giants (b01452jz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Tuesday]


THU 00:30 Top of the Pops (b01s9kd5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


THU 01:15 Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? (b0077j3b)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


THU 01:45 Brushing up on... (b01s6h36)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]


THU 02:15 Britain on Film (b01p65b7)
Series 1

The Joy of Tech

Throughout the 1960s, the Rank Organisation produced hundreds of short, quirky documentaries that examined all aspects of life in Britain. Shot on high-quality colour film stock, they were screened in cinemas, but until now very little of the footage has been shown on television. This series draws on this unique archive to offer illuminating and often surprising insights into a pivotal decade in modern British history.

This episode looks at the extraordinary advances in technology during a period when automatic washing machines were transforming life in the home, computers were about to revolutionise the workplace and nuclear power was promising to change the world.


THU 02:45 Timeshift (b01q6xh6)
Series 12

Eyes Down! The Story of Bingo

It is one of Britain's most popular leisure pursuits, but high street bingo came about almost by accident as the result of a loophole in an obscure piece of gambling legislation. Almost overnight, in January 1961 what had been a quiet parlour game or occasional seaside flutter was turned into a brash multimillion-pound business.

As Timeshift affectionately recalls in this documentary, soon nearly a quarter of the population were playing and becoming fluent in the rhyming slang of 'bingo lingo' - from 'Legs Eleven' to 'Clickety Click, Sixty Six'. This explosion of interest quickly led to a moral panic about the dangers of easy prize money, but bingo was defiantly here to stay - and not just as the preserve of older women, as today's mega-halls full of hen night parties show.



FRIDAY 03 MAY 2013

FRI 19:00 World News Today (b01s5zls)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


FRI 19:30 Sir Colin Davis with Love: In Performance (b01s945r)
Petroc Trelawny pays tribute to Sir Colin Davis, a titan in the world of classical music, who died in April 2013. He conducts part of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, his last BBC televised concert, at the 2011 Proms, with the London Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Chorus, London Philharmonic Chorus and soloists Helena Juntunen, Sarah Connolly, Paul Groves and Matthew Rose.


FRI 20:00 Colin Davis in His Own Words (b01s945t)
Portrait of the conductor Sir Colin Davis, who died in April 2013. Shortly before his final illness, he spoke at length to John Bridcut about his early life; his family; his career as a conductor; his love of music and the art and skills of conducting; his relationships with orchestras. other conductors and with the Royal Opera House; his religion and beliefs; and finally his thoughts on death and dying.

During the interview Sir Colin is asked what music he would like to hear before dying and if he ever sang in a large choir or had singing lessons. At school he played the clarinet and joined a university orchestra. He met veteran conductor Sir Adrian Boult and learned the Alexander Technique which helped him acquire his own style of conducting. He admits that at times his relationships with orchestras were not ideal - his period as Music Director at the Royal Opera House, and in particular with the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) whom he conducted for many years - they did not like him at the beginning and he made enemies leading to a conscious decision that he would rather be a decent human being rather then an 'idiot' conductor.

He talks briefly about his first failed marriage and subsequent happy second marriage and his children with whom he was able to make music. He spent time in his career conducting amateur choirs and student orchestras. Eventually he was asked to conduct the Last Night of the Proms in 1967 in place of an ailing Sir Malcolm Sargent. He talks about his own special style and technique of conducting - his way of holding the baton and how a conductor should connect with his orchestral musicians - who must listen as well as play. He has helped and coached young conductors in masterclasses, but his time as musical director at the Royal Opera House was not always a happy one. He was even booed by the audience on occasions and his interpretation of Benjamin Britten's opera Peter Grimes did not altogether please the composer himself. Davis describes it as a very violent piece with some wonderful music.

He admits to his love of such composers as Mozart and Berlioz. In particular, he championed Berlioz, performing such works as Les Troyens, L'Enfance du Christ and the Grande Messe des Morts. He conducted many Mozart operas and believed that Mozart's music makes us all feel we are acceptable human beings.

At the close of the interview, Sir Colin is asked if he is a religious man. He replies that he is always deeply moved by great religious music - much of which he has conducted. Does death and dying frighten him? Will there be music after death - or will there just be silence? He cannot truly answer this.

Sir Colin died just over one year later on 14th April 2013, aged 85. This portrait reveals in many ways a reluctant maestro who was to become the pre-eminent British conductor of his generation.


FRI 21:00 The Making of Elton John: Madman Across the Water (b00vs4yv)
Documentary exploring Elton John's childhood, apprenticeship in the British music business, sudden stardom in the US at the dawn of the 70s and his musical heyday. Plus the backstory to the album reuniting him with Leon Russell, his American mentor. Features extensive exclusive interviews with Elton, plus colleagues and collaborators including Bernie Taupin, Leon Russell and others.


FRI 22:00 Elton John at the BBC (b00vs5c0)
Elton John's career tracked in archive from performances, interviews and news clips.


FRI 23:00 Duets at the BBC (b01c2xwt)
The BBC delves into its archive for the best romantic duets performed at the BBC over the last 50 years. Whether it is Robbie and Kylie dancing together on Top of the Pops or Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge singing into each other's eyes on the Whistle Test, there is plenty of chemistry. Highlights include Nina and Frederik's Baby It's Cold Outside, Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers, Sonny and Cher, Shirley Bassey and Neil Diamond, Peaches and Herb, and a rare performance from Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush.


FRI 00:00 How the Brits Rocked America: Go West (b01bgqlc)
Stairway to Heaven

The second part of a series celebrating the success of British rock in America looks at how Led Zeppelin spearheaded a British stadium rock assault on the States in the 70s. The Beatles gave the world a glimpse of the future of rock at Shea Stadium in 1965, but it would be Page, Plant and co who would take it to the bank.

With contributions from Paul McCartney and Jimmy Page.


FRI 01:00 The Making of Elton John: Madman Across the Water (b00vs4yv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


FRI 02:00 Elton John at the BBC (b00vs5c0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]


FRI 03:00 Duets at the BBC (b01c2xwt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:00 today]




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

Archaeology: A Secret History 21:00 TUE (p0109jny)

Archaeology: A Secret History 02:35 TUE (p0109jny)

Archaeology: A Secret History 22:30 THU (p0109jny)

Arne Dahl 21:00 SAT (b01s6c89)

Arne Dahl 00:35 TUE (b01s6c89)

Britain on Film 02:30 SUN (b01nvwqm)

Britain on Film 20:00 MON (b01nz93z)

Britain on Film 01:00 MON (b01nz93z)

Britain on Film 02:05 TUE (b01p2pd4)

Britain on Film 02:15 THU (b01p65b7)

Brushing up on... 23:30 MON (b01s0zpm)

Brushing up on... 20:30 THU (b01s6h36)

Brushing up on... 01:45 THU (b01s6h36)

Christina: A Medieval Life 20:00 SUN (b00b6ksc)

Christina: A Medieval Life 23:15 WED (b00b6ksc)

Colin Davis in His Own Words 20:00 FRI (b01s945t)

Duets at the BBC 23:00 FRI (b01c2xwt)

Duets at the BBC 03:00 FRI (b01c2xwt)

Easy Listening Hits at the BBC 00:30 SUN (b011g943)

Elton John at the BBC 22:00 FRI (b00vs5c0)

Elton John at the BBC 02:00 FRI (b00vs5c0)

Glen Campbell: The Rhinestone Cowboy 00:00 SAT (b01pwxs8)

Great British Railway Journeys 19:30 MON (b00qbngz)

Great British Railway Journeys 01:30 MON (b00qbngz)

Great British Railway Journeys 19:30 TUE (b00qbnj1)

Great British Railway Journeys 19:30 WED (b00qgypx)

How the Brits Rocked America: Go West 00:00 FRI (b01bgqlc)

I, Claudius 22:00 TUE (b0074ss8)

Len Goodman's Dancing Feet: The British Ballroom Story 22:00 SUN (b01pjqpm)

Neil Diamond: Solitary Man 21:00 SUN (b00vzzst)

Neil Diamond: Solitary Man 01:30 SUN (b00vzzst)

Nelson's Caribbean Hell-hole: An Eighteenth Century Navy Graveyard Uncovered 21:00 WED (b01s6gjx)

Nelson's Caribbean Hell-hole: An Eighteenth Century Navy Graveyard Uncovered 02:45 WED (b01s6gjx)

Notes on a Scandal 21:00 THU (b00ttbjz)

Ocean Giants 20:00 TUE (b01452jz)

Ocean Giants 23:30 THU (b01452jz)

Parks and Recreation 23:55 TUE (b01s2qf5)

Parks and Recreation 00:15 TUE (b01s2qf7)

Parks and Recreation 22:00 WED (b01s8p7l)

Parks and Recreation 22:20 WED (b01s8p7n)

Sir Colin Davis with Love: In Performance 19:30 FRI (b01s945r)

South Pacific 19:00 SAT (b00kwdqr)

South Pacific 02:45 SAT (b00kwdqr)

Stories from the Dark Earth: Meet the Ancestors Revisited 20:00 WED (b01s74g9)

Stories from the Dark Earth: Meet the Ancestors Revisited 01:45 WED (b01s74g9)

The Century That Wrote Itself 19:00 SUN (b01s2qf3)

The First World War from Above 22:30 MON (b00vyrzh)

The Flying Archaeologist 20:30 MON (b01s1ll4)

The Flying Archaeologist 02:00 MON (b01s1ll4)

The Golden Age of Canals 03:00 SUN (b01173hf)

The Golden Age of Steam Railways 20:00 SAT (b01pdsy6)

The Golden Age of Steam Railways 01:45 SAT (b01pdsy6)

The Joy of Easy Listening 23:00 SUN (b011g614)

The Making of Elton John: Madman Across the Water 21:00 FRI (b00vs4yv)

The Making of Elton John: Madman Across the Water 01:00 FRI (b00vs4yv)

The Man who Discovered Egypt 00:00 MON (b01f13f4)

The Old Grey Whistle Test 22:30 SAT (b014vzy3)

Timeshift 02:45 THU (b01q6xh6)

Top of the Pops 01:00 SAT (b01s40zz)

Top of the Pops 19:30 THU (b01s9kd5)

Top of the Pops 00:30 THU (b01s9kd5)

Treasures of Ancient Rome 22:55 TUE (p00wpvpr)

Welly Telly: The Countryside on Television 00:15 WED (b011m8wt)

Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? 22:45 WED (b0077hxx)

Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? 01:15 WED (b0077hxx)

Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? 20:00 THU (b0077j3b)

Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? 01:15 THU (b0077j3b)

World News Today 19:00 MON (b01s5zkb)

World News Today 19:00 TUE (b01s5zkn)

World News Today 19:00 WED (b01s5zkz)

World News Today 19:00 THU (b01s5zl9)

World News Today 19:00 FRI (b01s5zls)

World War Two: 1942 and Hitler's Soft Underbelly 21:00 MON (b01ndj09)

World War Two: 1942 and Hitler's Soft Underbelly 02:30 MON (b01ndj09)