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 01 JUNE 2013

SAT 19:00 Oceans (b00fm9hn)
Sea of Cortez

Series revealing the hidden stories of the deep as a team of four marine experts voyage across the globe to explore our planet's last true wilderness - its oceans.

Over a year, Paul Rose, Philippe Cousteau Jr, Dr Lucy Blue and Tooni Mahto explore how a unique ocean paradise, home to the greatest variety of whales and dolphins in the world, is under threat. They dive stormy seas to investigate how a giant predator, the cannibalistic Humboldt squid, is invading this sea, and search for the threatened hammerhead shark.

In an extraordinary encounter, the team carry out pioneering science on one of the largest carnivores on earth: the 20-metre-long sperm whale. They explore a sunken ship with a tragic human story, and to search for evidence that the Sea of Cortez is still growing, they dive along part of the San Andreas fault line. The dive is above waters heated to near-boiling point by the furnace of the inner Earth.


SAT 20:00 British Masters (b012tmv7)
A New Jerusalem

Three-part series in which art historian James Fox explores 20th-century British art, a period he considers an extraordinary flowering of genius.

In the decades after the Second World War, at a time when many had lost their faith in humanity, British artists turned to the great figurative painting tradition to address the biggest questions of all: what does it mean to be human and how do we create a more humane world? Such existential angst is captured in Lucien Freud's harrowing early portraits and Graham Sutherland's Pembrokeshire landscapes. Francis Bacon stared deep into his own soul to explore the human capacity for evil, while Richard Hamilton warned against the false hope of consumerism. As national pessimism gave way to a new optimism, David Hockney dared to suggest Paradise might be available to us all. But in the early 1970s, just as the world finally began to recognise the genius of Britain's painterly tradition, young artists at home turned against it.


SAT 21:00 Arne Dahl (b0229mwc)
Series 1

Europa Blues: Part 1

Celebrated Jewish neuroscientist Leonard Sheinkman is found murdered, strung up from a tree in a Jewish cemetery. A group of women escape from an immigration board hostel, where they are being exploited as prostitutes, and flee the country. A body is found half eaten in the wolverine enclosure of a Stockholm zoo.

Jenny Hultin's A Unit is called to all three crimes and soon their resources are stretched to breaking point as they follow up several macabre leads. Hultin pushes them hard as, unbeknown to the team, she is fighting budget cuts that would mean losing nearly half of them.

Away from the office family lives are fraught - Arto Soderstedt, feeling the stress of raising five children, finds he has inherited three million Swedish kronor from a distant relative. His wife makes immediate plans to buy a holiday home. Paul Hjelm, busy reading Sheinkman's war diaries for the investigation, is no closer to patching things up with his wife Cilla.

In Swedish with English subtitles.


SAT 22:30 Disco at the BBC (b01cqt74)
A foot-stomping return to the BBC vaults of Top of the Pops, The Old Grey Whistle Test and Later with Jools as the programme spins itself to a time when disco ruled the floor, the airwaves and our minds. The visual floorfillers include classics from luminaries such as Chic, Labelle and Rose Royce to glitter ball surprises by The Village People.


SAT 23:30 The Joy of Disco (b01cqt72)
Documentary about how a much-derided music actually changed the world. Between 1969 and 1979 disco soundtracked gay liberation, foregrounded female desire in the age of feminism and led to the birth of modern club culture as we know it today, before taking the world by storm. With contributions from Nile Rodgers, Robin Gibb, Kathy Sledge and Ian Schrager.


SAT 00:30 British Masters (b012tmv7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


SAT 01:30 Timeshift (b01q9vhy)
Series 12

The Joy of (Train) Sets

The Model Railway Story: From Hornby to Triang and beyond, this documentary explores how the British have been in love with model railways for more than a century. What began as an adult obsession with building fully engineered replicas became the iconic toy of 50s and 60s childhood. With unique archive and contributions from modellers such as Pete Waterman, this is a celebration of the joys of miniaturisation. Just don't call them toy trains!


SAT 02:30 Oceans (b00fm9hn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]



SUNDAY 02 JUNE 2013

SUN 19:00 The Dark Ages: An Age of Light (b01p65b9)
What the Barbarians Did for Us

The Dark Ages have been misunderstood. History has identified the period following the fall of the Roman Empire with a descent into barbarism - a terrible time when civilisation stopped.

Waldemar Januszczak disagrees. In this four-part series, he argues that the Dark Ages were a time of great artistic achievement, with new ideas and religions provoking new artistic adventures. He embarks on a fascinating trip across Europe, Africa and Asia, visits the world's most famous collections and discovers hidden artistic gems, all to prove that the Dark Ages were actually an 'Age of Light'.

The 'Barbarians' are often blamed for the collapse of the Roman Empire, but in reality they were fascinating civilisations that produced magnificent art. Focusing on the Huns, Vandals and Goths, Waldemar follows each tribe's journey across Europe and discovers the incredible art they produced along the way.


SUN 20:00 Crossing England in a Punt: River of Dreams (p00y6r6q)
From the Staffordshire hills to the Humber estuary, spirited explorer Tom Fort embarks on a 170-mile journey down Britain's third-longest river, the Trent. Beginning on foot, he soon transfers to his own custom-built punt, the Trent Otter, and rows many miles downstream. Along the way he encounters the power stations that generate much of the nation's electricity, veterans of the catastrophic floods of 1947, the 19th-century brewers of Burton and a Bronze Age boatman who once made a life along the river.


SUN 21:00 Royal Journey: The Princess Elizabeth in Canada (b02qwrfs)
Documentary account of the five-week visit of Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh to Canada and the United States in the autumn of 1951. Stops on the royal tour include Quebec City, the National War Memorial in Ottawa, the Trenton Air Force Base in Toronto and a performance of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet in Regina. The royal couple are then welcomed to the United States by President Truman.


SUN 21:55 Sounds of the Seventies (b00c1cx3)
Solos

The Faces

Vintage rock, pop and soul performances from the BBC archives. The Faces perform Stay with Me in 1972.


SUN 22:00 Anita O'Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer (b02qwrfw)
Biographical study of one of the greatest of American jazz divas, Anita O'Day, who died in 2006 at the age of 87. This story of bop vocalist O'Day's long and sometimes troubled career, which attained a high water mark with her riveting performance of Sweet Georgia Brown in the classic Jazz on a Summer's Day film at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1958, is full of typically candid interviews with O'Day herself and tracks her career from classic performances in the 50s with such artists as Louis Armstrong, Gene Krupa and Hoagy Carmichael to her last album recorded at the age of 84. She speaks openly about how she battled with her addictions to heroin and alcohol and how her singing career came before her personal happiness. Interviewees include Dick Clark, Annie Ross and Johnny Mandel.


SUN 23:30 Classic Soul at the BBC (b0074pvv)
A collection of some of the greatest soul performances from the BBC's archive, featuring Aretha Franklin, Al Green, Dusty Springfield, Isaac Hayes, Solomon Burke and Percy Sledge.


SUN 00:30 Otis Redding: Soul Ambassador (b020tphg)
Documentary about the legendary soul singer Otis Redding, following him from childhood and marriage to the Memphis studios and segregated southern clubs where he honed his unique stage act and voice. Through unseen home movies, the film reveals how Otis's 1967 tour of Britain dramatically changed his life and music. After bringing soul to Europe, he returned to conquer America, first with the 'love crowd' at the Monterey Festival and then with Dock of the Bay, which topped the charts only after his death at just 26.

Includes rare and unseen performances, intimate interviews with Otis's wife and daughter and with original band members Steve Cropper and Booker T Jones. Also featured are British fans whose lives were changed by seeing him, among them Rod Stewart, Tom Jones and Bryan Ferry.


SUN 01:30 Crossing England in a Punt: River of Dreams (p00y6r6q)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


SUN 02:30 The Dark Ages: An Age of Light (b01p65b9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]



MONDAY 03 JUNE 2013

MON 19:00 World News Today (b0229pbg)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


MON 19:30 Tales from the Wild Wood (b01ndkwq)
Episode 1

Writer and woodsman Rob Penn takes on a year-long project to bring part of an abandoned woodland, Strawberry Cottage Wood, back to life.

Rob starts work, introducing pigs to clear bracken and brambles and planning his tasks for the year. Felling a dead tree on his first day almost throws the whole project into jeopardy.


MON 20:00 Britain on Film (b0229pbj)
Series 2

Kids Today

This episode delves into the fast-changing world of childhood, a life-stage that was being transformed by sweeping changes to the British educational system including the introduction of radical technologies and teaching methods in schools and the emergence of new organised leisure activities that gave a generation of children the freedom to enjoy play as never before.


MON 20:30 Only Connect (b0229pbl)
Series 7

General Practitioners v Fell Walkers

A trio of GPs square up to three fell walkers, competing to draw together the connections between things which, at first glance, seem utterly random. So join Victoria Coren Mitchell if you want to know what connects Injun Joe's body, Roquefort cheese, Dead Sea Scrolls and troglodyte.


MON 21:00 Mechanical Marvels: Clockwork Dreams (b0229pbp)
Documentary presented by Professor Simon Schaffer which charts the amazing and untold story of automata - extraordinary clockwork machines designed hundreds of years ago to mimic and recreate life.

The film brings the past to life in vivid detail as we see how and why these masterpieces were built. Travelling around Europe, Simon uncovers the history of these machines and shows us some of the most spectacular examples, from an entire working automaton city to a small boy who can be programmed to write and even a device that can play chess. All the machines Simon visits show a level of technical sophistication and ambition that still amazes today.

As well as the automata, Simon explains in great detail the world in which they were made - the hardship of the workers who built them, their role in global trade and the industrial revolution and the eccentric designers who dreamt them up. Finally, Simon reveals that these long-forgotten marriages of art and engineering are actually the ancestors of many of our most-loved modern technologies, from recorded music to the cinema and much of the digital world.


MON 22:00 Storyville (b020tlrw)
Buck: The Real Horse Whisperer

Storyville: Documentary following horse whisperer Buck Brannaman from a painful childhood to his inspiring work as a trainer. It may be the stuff of Hollywood legend, but the cowboy who inspired the novel and film is very real. Buck - master horseman, raconteur and philosopher - is a no-excuses cowboy who travels the world sharing a hard-won wisdom that is often more about human relationships than about horses.

As Buck says, 'Often instead of helping people with horse problems, I'm helping horses with people problems.' He possesses near magical abilities as he dramatically transforms horses - and people - with his deep understanding, compassion and respect.


MON 23:25 Rome: A History of the Eternal City (b01p96g4)
Divine Gamble

Simon Sebag Montefiore charts the rocky course of Rome's rise to become the capital of western Christendom and its impact on the lives of its citizens, elites and high priests.

Rome casts aside its pantheon of pagan gods and a radical new religion takes hold. Christianity was just a persecuted sect until Emperor Constantine took a huge leap of faith, promoting it as the religion of Empire. But would this divine gamble pay off?


MON 00:25 The King & the Playwright: A Jacobean History (b01h23lr)
Equivocation

It's 1606, and in the aftermath of the Gunpowder Plot the authorities are cracking down on Catholics. Shakespeare's Macbeth captures the anxiety and obsessions of the time, with James continuing to focus on succession and legitimacy, while food riots in the Midlands create the climate for the gripping tragedy of Coriolanus.


MON 01:25 Britain on Film (b0229pbj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


MON 01:55 Only Connect (b0229pbl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]


MON 02:25 Mechanical Marvels: Clockwork Dreams (b0229pbp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



TUESDAY 04 JUNE 2013

TUE 19:00 World News Today (b02239vb)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


TUE 19:30 Tales from the Wild Wood (b01nj48s)
Episode 2

Winter arrives in Rob Penn's wood. In freezing weather he learns the ancient practice of coppicing and brings in the local woodland group to clear overgrown hazel trees. With tonnes of timber piling up he goes off in search of a new organic super-fuel. Could our woodlands be the solution to our future energy needs?


TUE 20:00 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.


TUE 20:30 What Do Artists Do All Day? (b02tg2z2)
Cornelia Parker

With a new exhibition of her work opening in London in June, this film follows artist Cornelia Parker as she prepares for the show, working on several new pieces including her latest project - bronze sculptures of cracks in the pavement.

In the past, Cornelia has blown up a shed, squashed a brass band and famously collaborated with Tilda Swinton, who was exhibited sleeping in a glass case. One of Britain's most original and acclaimed contemporary artists, her work encourages us to look differently at the world, transforming familiar objects into extraordinary and surprising art.


TUE 21:00 Voyager: To the Final Frontier (b01nj48v)
This is the story of the most extraordinary journey in human exploration, the Voyager space mission. In 1977 two unmanned spacecraft were launched by NASA, heading for distant worlds. It would be the first time any man-made object would ever visit the farthest planets of the solar system - Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Uranus. On the way the Voyagers would be bombarded by space dust, fried by radiation and discover many of the remarkable wonders of the solar system.

Now, at the end of 2012, 35 years and 11 billion miles later, they are leaving the area of the sun's influence. As they journey out into the galaxy beyond they carry a message from Earth, a golden record bolted to the side of each craft describing our civilisation in case of discovery by another. This is the definitive account of the most intrepid explorers in Earth's history.


TUE 22:00 I, Claudius (b0074ssp)
Old King Log

Almost at the end of his family history, Claudius' thoughts turn to the future of Rome.


TUE 22:55 Glamour's Golden Age (b00nqbpz)
Hooked on Hollywood

Documentary which explores how the American movie industry changed British culture in the 1920s and 30s. The movies, the film stars and the cinemas themselves combined to offer British audiences a glimpse of a glamorous lifestyle and the suggestion that they might achieve it.

Selling a succession of rags-to-riches fairy tales featuring go-getting women like Clara Bow, Jean Harlow and Katharine Hepburn, American movies also fuelled demand for cosmetics, cigarettes and dieting. It was an era in which Hollywood changed what Britons watched, what Britons wore and what Britons wanted.


TUE 23:55 The Art of Tommy Cooper (b007hzl2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


TUE 00:25 What Do Artists Do All Day? (b02tg2z2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]


TUE 00:55 Parks and Recreation (b020tnrz)
Series 2

Park Safety

After Jerry gets mugged by a bunch of kids, Leslie meets with the head park ranger in the hope of improving park safety. Everyone tries to be kind to Jerry once he returns to the office.


TUE 01:15 Parks and Recreation (b020tns1)
Series 2

Summer Catalogue

The department is set to distribute the annual summer catalogue, which Leslie takes very seriously.


TUE 01:40 Arne Dahl (b0229mwc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Saturday]



WEDNESDAY 05 JUNE 2013

WED 19:00 World News Today (b02239zf)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


WED 19:30 Tales from the Wild Wood (b01nmt7g)
Episode 3

In the middle of winter, Rob Penn needs to make some money. He visits one of Britain's largest clear-felling conifer plantations, before making an ambitious attempt to fell one of the largest trees in Strawberry Cottage Wood. Tangled branches cause everything to go wrong. Can he extract the timber without destroying himself or the neighbouring trees?


WED 20:00 Dan Cruickshank's Written in Stone (b01r7tmc)
Sacred Spaces

A new series in which Dan Cruickshank takes us on a personal journey to explore some of Ulster's most remarkable buildings and discover what they tell us about the people who have lived on this land.

Dan Cruickshank explores how the history of Ulster has shaped our religious build.


WED 20:30 Dan Cruickshank's Written in Stone (b01rdb82)
City of Industry

A new series in which Dan Cruickshank takes us on a personal journey to explore some of Ulster's most remarkable buildings and discover what they tell us about the people who have lived on this land.

Dan Cruickshank examines how Belfast's development as an industrial city in the 19th century shaped its buildings.


WED 21:00 Mothers, Murderers and Mistresses: Empresses of Ancient Rome (b022bbkr)
Episode 2

Professor Catharine Edwards explores the dramatic lives of two women at the heart of power in 1st-century imperial Rome. One is Messalina, whose scandalous reputation lives on 2,000 years after her bloody and dramatic death. The other is Agrippina - sister of Caligula, wife of Claudius and mother of Nero - an extraordinary woman who was not only a skilled and ambitious politician but also a murderer and ultimately a murder victim.


WED 22:00 Parks and Recreation (b022bbl4)
Series 2

94 Meetings

Ron is furious when April mistakenly schedules a ton of meetings for him. Meanwhile, Leslie fights to preserve a historical landmark.


WED 22:20 Parks and Recreation (b022bblb)
Series 2

Telethon

Leslie hosts a late-night shift for a local telethon, and lands former Indiana Pacer Detlef Schrempf as a celebrity guest. Meanwhile, Mark has big plans for his relationship with Ann.


WED 22:45 Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? (b0077jrd)
Series 1

No Hiding Place

Bob and Terry are desperate not to know the result of the England v Bulgaria football match, but with eight hours to go will they succeed in their mission?


WED 23:10 Up the Women (b02108p1)
Series 1

Episode 1

Margaret has discovered the women's suffrage movement and invites the Banbury Intricate Craft Circle to become (the hilariously ineffectual) Banbury Intricate Craft Circle Politely Requests Women's Suffrage.


WED 23:45 The Dark Ages: An Age of Light (b01p65b9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Sunday]


WED 00:45 Dan Cruickshank's Written in Stone (b01r7tmc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


WED 01:15 Dan Cruickshank's Written in Stone (b01rdb82)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]


WED 01:45 Mothers, Murderers and Mistresses: Empresses of Ancient Rome (b022bbkr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



THURSDAY 06 JUNE 2013

THU 19:00 World News Today (b0223b2w)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


THU 19:30 The Sky at Night (b08kbgr2)
Lives of the Stars

Stars are full of variety - they can be big or little, bright or dim. Our sun is right in the middle - Mr Average - but eventually it will grow old and become a red giant. Lucie Green and Chris Lintott discuss the lives of stars and what happens to them when they die.


THU 20:00 Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? (b0077jx1)
Series 1

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?

Bob thinks Terry needs new friends, but inviting him to Alan and Brenda's trendy dinner party might not be such a great idea.


THU 20:30 Up the Women (b02l9j0t)
Series 1

Episode 2

Keen to put the Banbury Intricate Craft Circle Politely Requests Women's Suffrage on the map, the women plan to picket the post office with placards.


THU 21:00 Starter for 10 (b03bvwft)
Comedy about Brian, a 1980s working-class boy stumbling romantically and academically through his first year at Bristol University. He tries to achieve his lifelong ambition to appear on TV quiz show University Challenge and falls in love with his teammate.


THU 22:30 Mothers, Murderers and Mistresses: Empresses of Ancient Rome (b022bbkr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Wednesday]


THU 23:30 Mechanical Marvels: Clockwork Dreams (b0229pbp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Monday]


THU 00:30 Timeshift (b01n8hl9)
Series 12

Magnificent Machines: The Golden Age of the British Sports Car

Timeshift sets its rear-view mirror to look back at the golden age of the British sports car. It's the story of how - in the grey austerity of the postwar years - iconic marques like Jaguar, Austin-Healey, MG and Triumph sparked a manufacturing frenzy that helped to democratise speed and glamour.

From the MG Midget, much loved by American GIs, through to the more affordable Austin Healey 'frog-eye' Sprite and the E-Type Jaguar, seen by many as the ultimate sports car, this is a tale of how, for a brief time, Britain was home to two-seater heaven.


THU 01:30 The Sky at Night (b08kbgr2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


THU 02:05 Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? (b0077jx1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


THU 02:35 Up the Women (b02l9j0t)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]



FRIDAY 07 JUNE 2013

FRI 19:00 World News Today (b0223b4j)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


FRI 19:30 Concerto at the BBC Proms (b01k83bg)
Mozart Piano

Another chance to hear a live performance from the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall of Mozart's Piano Concerto No 23, one of his most exuberant piano works, recorded in 2006. The American pianist Richard Goode, one of today's leading interpreters of classical and Romantic music, performs with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under the baton of conductor Jirí Behlohlávek.


FRI 20:00 Symphony (b01778mc)
New Nations and New Worlds

Simon Russell Beale continues his history of the symphony by taking a musical journey through the rise of nationalism in Europe into the New World. He discovers how nationalist voices such as Tchaikovsky, Dvorak and Sibelius brought the symphony to wider audiences and visits Dvorak's summer house as he left it at his death in 1904, a remarkable insight into the personal life of the great composer.

Simon follows the development of the symphony outside Europe and explores how growing urbanisation led to the construction and growing popularity of some of the world's greatest concert halls, visiting the Musikverein in Vienna, the Philharmonic Hall in St Petersburg and Carnegie Hall in New York.

The symphonies are played by the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Mark Elder.


FRI 21:00 Bobby Womack: Across 110th Street (b022ff9g)
Bobby Womack's musical career has been an almost unprecedented rollercoaster ride.

Starting off on the streets of segregated America, Womack launched himself into what became an epic adventure. In the 1950s as a youngster he was travelling the gospel highway with the Womack Brothers. By the 1960s, he was being mentored by Sam Cooke who schooled him in the ways of R&B, while James Brown also drilled him into shape. Soon, the Rolling Stones and Wilson Pickett were queuing up to record his songs.

In the early 1970s, not long after Janis Joplin covered one of his compositions, Bobby was with her just hours before she died. He played rhythm guitar on Sly & the Family Stone's Family Affair before becoming a major soul star in his own right with hits like Across 110th Street, Woman's Gotta Have It and Harry Hippie.

In the second half of the 1970s, his disastrous country and western album, as well as disco mania, savaged his career. But Bobby rose again in the 1980s with his famed 'Poet' trilogy of albums. Then, after semi-retirement and a stint with the Gorillaz, he recorded 2012's The Bravest Man in the Universe album with Damon Albarn. It was the start of a magnificent Indian summer for one of soul music's greatest artists.

With incredible access to Bobby Womack himself, plus contributions from Ronnie Wood, Damon Albarn, Bill Withers, Chuck D, Antonio Fargas, as well as close family and friends, this film brings one of the most diverse and fascinating post-war musical careers vividly to life.


FRI 22:00 Ike and Tina Turner, Wilson Pickett and Friends Live in Ghana 1971: Soul to Soul (b02qygvp)
Legendary 1971 concert film remastered from the original 35mm negative in which a brilliant mix of predominantly Afro-American soul artists take their music to West Africa to take part in a 14-hour extravaganza celebrating the 14th anniversary of Ghana's independence from British rule in front of over 100,000 locals in Black Star Square, Accra. Incendiary performances from Ike and Tina Turner, Wilson Pickett, the Staple Singers, jazz greats Les McCann and Eddie Harris, Santana and Voices of East Harlem see black America celebrating its cultural roots, Afrocentric-style. The soul of America in the heart of Africa.


FRI 23:00 The Doors - The Story of LA Woman (b01f7y7c)
By 1969, the Doors had found themselves at the forefront of a movement that consisted of a generation of discontents. Operating against a backdrop of the Vietnam War and of social unrest and change in the USA, the Doors were hip, they were dangerous, they were anti-establishment, anti-war and they were hated by middle-America.

Featuring exclusive interviews with surviving band members Ray Manzarek, John Densmore, Robby Kreiger and their closest colleagues and collaborators, along with exclusive performances, archive footage and examination of the original multi-track recording tapes with producer Bruce Botnick, this film tells the amazing story of landmark album LA Woman by one of the most influential bands on the planet.


FRI 00:00 Respect Yourself: The Stax Records Story (b00cp52q)
Respect Yourself is an authoritative film about one of the great stories in rock and roll. The story is about Stax Records whose hits include Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay, Soul Man, If Loving You Is Wrong (I Don't Wanna Be Right), Knock On Wood and Respect.

A white brother and sister establish a recording studio in a black Memphis neighbourhood in the 1960s and their open-door policy created an interracial house band - Booker T. and the MGs - who made hits for whomever came through those doors.

Those Stax stars included Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, The Dramatics, Albert King, Luther Ingram, Rufus Thomas and Jesse Jackson. The legacy has never been stronger and Stax songs have been recorded by scores of artists-- Aretha Franklin, Neil Young, Wu Tang Clan, Michael Bolton and almost every artist wanting to express their soul.

Respect Yourself includes never before seen footage, including home movies by the Stax artists, outtakes from WattStax, lost performances by Otis Redding, Booker T. and the MGs, Isaac Hayes and others.

Interviews include all the key players plus Jesse Jackson, Elvis Costello, Bono, Chuck D, Peter Townsend, Dan Aykroyd, Justin Timberlake.


FRI 01:55 Bobby Womack: Across 110th Street (b022ff9g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


FRI 02:55 Ike and Tina Turner, Wilson Pickett and Friends Live in Ghana 1971: Soul to Soul (b02qygvp)
[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)

Anita O'Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer 22:00 SUN (b02qwrfw)

Arne Dahl 21:00 SAT (b0229mwc)

Arne Dahl 01:40 TUE (b0229mwc)

Bobby Womack: Across 110th Street 21:00 FRI (b022ff9g)

Bobby Womack: Across 110th Street 01:55 FRI (b022ff9g)

Britain on Film 20:00 MON (b0229pbj)

Britain on Film 01:25 MON (b0229pbj)

British Masters 20:00 SAT (b012tmv7)

British Masters 00:30 SAT (b012tmv7)

Classic Soul at the BBC 23:30 SUN (b0074pvv)

Concerto at the BBC Proms 19:30 FRI (b01k83bg)

Crossing England in a Punt: River of Dreams 20:00 SUN (p00y6r6q)

Crossing England in a Punt: River of Dreams 01:30 SUN (p00y6r6q)

Dan Cruickshank's Written in Stone 20:00 WED (b01r7tmc)

Dan Cruickshank's Written in Stone 20:30 WED (b01rdb82)

Dan Cruickshank's Written in Stone 00:45 WED (b01r7tmc)

Dan Cruickshank's Written in Stone 01:15 WED (b01rdb82)

Disco at the BBC 22:30 SAT (b01cqt74)

Glamour's Golden Age 22:55 TUE (b00nqbpz)

I, Claudius 22:00 TUE (b0074ssp)

Ike and Tina Turner, Wilson Pickett and Friends Live in Ghana 1971: Soul to Soul 22:00 FRI (b02qygvp)

Ike and Tina Turner, Wilson Pickett and Friends Live in Ghana 1971: Soul to Soul 02:55 FRI (b02qygvp)

Mechanical Marvels: Clockwork Dreams 21:00 MON (b0229pbp)

Mechanical Marvels: Clockwork Dreams 02:25 MON (b0229pbp)

Mechanical Marvels: Clockwork Dreams 23:30 THU (b0229pbp)

Mothers, Murderers and Mistresses: Empresses of Ancient Rome 21:00 WED (b022bbkr)

Mothers, Murderers and Mistresses: Empresses of Ancient Rome 01:45 WED (b022bbkr)

Mothers, Murderers and Mistresses: Empresses of Ancient Rome 22:30 THU (b022bbkr)

Oceans 19:00 SAT (b00fm9hn)

Oceans 02:30 SAT (b00fm9hn)

Only Connect 20:30 MON (b0229pbl)

Only Connect 01:55 MON (b0229pbl)

Otis Redding: Soul Ambassador 00:30 SUN (b020tphg)

Parks and Recreation 00:55 TUE (b020tnrz)

Parks and Recreation 01:15 TUE (b020tns1)

Parks and Recreation 22:00 WED (b022bbl4)

Parks and Recreation 22:20 WED (b022bblb)

Respect Yourself: The Stax Records Story 00:00 FRI (b00cp52q)

Rome: A History of the Eternal City 23:25 MON (b01p96g4)

Royal Journey: The Princess Elizabeth in Canada 21:00 SUN (b02qwrfs)

Sounds of the Seventies 21:55 SUN (b00c1cx3)

Starter for 10 21:00 THU (b03bvwft)

Storyville 22:00 MON (b020tlrw)

Symphony 20:00 FRI (b01778mc)

Tales from the Wild Wood 19:30 MON (b01ndkwq)

Tales from the Wild Wood 19:30 TUE (b01nj48s)

Tales from the Wild Wood 19:30 WED (b01nmt7g)

The Art of Tommy Cooper 20:00 TUE (b007hzl2)

The Art of Tommy Cooper 23:55 TUE (b007hzl2)

The Dark Ages: An Age of Light 19:00 SUN (b01p65b9)

The Dark Ages: An Age of Light 02:30 SUN (b01p65b9)

The Dark Ages: An Age of Light 23:45 WED (b01p65b9)

The Doors - The Story of LA Woman 23:00 FRI (b01f7y7c)

The Joy of Disco 23:30 SAT (b01cqt72)

The King & the Playwright: A Jacobean History 00:25 MON (b01h23lr)

The Sky at Night 19:30 THU (b08kbgr2)

The Sky at Night 01:30 THU (b08kbgr2)

Timeshift 01:30 SAT (b01q9vhy)

Timeshift 00:30 THU (b01n8hl9)

Up the Women 23:10 WED (b02108p1)

Up the Women 20:30 THU (b02l9j0t)

Up the Women 02:35 THU (b02l9j0t)

Voyager: To the Final Frontier 21:00 TUE (b01nj48v)

What Do Artists Do All Day? 20:30 TUE (b02tg2z2)

What Do Artists Do All Day? 00:25 TUE (b02tg2z2)

Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? 22:45 WED (b0077jrd)

Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? 20:00 THU (b0077jx1)

Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? 02:05 THU (b0077jx1)

World News Today 19:00 MON (b0229pbg)

World News Today 19:00 TUE (b02239vb)

World News Today 19:00 WED (b02239zf)

World News Today 19:00 THU (b0223b2w)

World News Today 19:00 FRI (b0223b4j)