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 19 OCTOBER 2013

SAT 19:00 Africa (b01qh31v)
Sahara

Northern Africa is home to the greatest desert on earth - the Sahara.

On the fringes, huge zebras battle over dwindling resources and naked mole rats avoid the heat by living a bizarre underground existence.

Within the desert, where the sand dunes 'sing', camels seek out water with the help of their herders and tiny swallows navigate across thousands of square miles to find a solitary oasis.

This is a story of an apocalypse and how, when nature is overrun, some are forced to flee, some endure, but a few seize the opportunity to establish a new order.


SAT 20:00 Lost Kingdoms of Africa (b01cc84j)
Series 2

Bunyoro & Buganda

We know less about Africa's distant past than almost anywhere else on Earth. But the scarcity of written records doesn't mean that Africa lacks history - it is found instead in the culture, artefacts and traditions of the people. In this series, art historian Dr Gus Casely-Hayford explores some of the richest and most vibrant histories in the world, revealing fascinating stories of four complex and sophisticated civilisations: the Kingdom of Asante, the Zulu Kingdom, the Berber Kingdom of Morocco and the Kingdoms of Bunyoro & Buganda.

Casely-Hayford travels to Uganda to explore the rise and fall of two great kingdoms. For centuries Bunyoro was the region's dominant power, using history and mythology to make a claim on the land. But its position was challenged by the rapid rise of Buganda, a neighbouring kingdom that had once been a collection of cultivators on the shores of Lake Victoria. Casely-Hayford goes in search of the fascinating reasons for the dramatic reversal of fortunes, and how one kingdom used the arrival of Europeans to its own advantage.


SAT 21:00 Inspector Montalbano (b03f89hh)
Angelica's Smile

A series of burglaries take place at the houses of wealthy Vigata residents. One of the victims is a beguiling young bank manager called Angelica, to whom Salvo finds he is soon attracted. As the investigation progresses, Montalbano starts to suspect that the burglaries might be a cover for something rather more sinister.

In Italian with English subtitles.


SAT 22:55 Arena (b00rs3w6)
Frank Sinatra: The Voice of the Century

Arena explores the rise of the legendary crooner Frank Sinatra from his early family background to overwhelming showbusiness success. Interviews with friends, family and associates reveal a star-studded career in music and film alongside a fascinating private life of four marriages, liaison with the Kennedy family, Las Vegas business interests and an alleged association with the mafia.


SAT 00:30 Top of the Pops (b03d6dyq)
Mike Read introduces the weekly pop chart show featuring Dandy, Patrick Juvet, the Boomtown Rats, Darts, the Cars, Liquid Gold, Chas & Dave, X-Ray Spex and Legs & Co dance sequences.


SAT 01:10 Africa (b01qh31v)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


SAT 02:10 Lost Kingdoms of Africa (b01cc84j)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]



SUNDAY 20 OCTOBER 2013

SUN 19:00 Turner's Thames (b01jv255)
In this documentary, the presenter and art critic Matthew Collings explores how Turner, the artist of light, makes light the vehicle of feeling in his work, and how he found inspiration for that feeling in the waters of the River Thames.

JMW Turner is the most famous of English landscape painters. Throughout a lifetime of travel, he returned time and again to paint and draw scenes of the Thames, the lifeblood of London. This documentary reveals the Thames in all its diverse glory, from its beauty in west London, to its heartland in the City of London and its former docks, out to the vast emptiness and drama of the Thames estuary near Margate.

Turner was among the first to pioneer painting directly from nature, turning a boat into a floating studio from which he sketched the Thames. The river and his unique relationship with it had a powerful impact upon his use of materials, as he sought to find an equivalent in paint for the visual surprise and delight he found in the reality of its waters.

By pursuing this ever-changing tale of light, Turner also documented and reflected upon key moments in British history in the early 19th century; the Napoleonic wars, social unrest and the onset of the industrial revolution. His paintings of the river Thames communicate the fears and exultations of the time.

Turner's greatness as a painter is often attributed to his modern use of colour. Many of his paintings are loved by the British public and regularly celebrated as the nation's greatest art. This film reveals for the first time on television a key inspiration for that modernity and celebrity; a stretch of water of immense importance to the nation in the early 19th century but which today is often taken for granted - the River Thames.


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 The World's Most Beautiful Eggs: The Genius of Carl Faberge (b0336tf3)
Stephen Smith explores the extraordinary life and work of the virtuoso jeweller Carl Faberge. He talks to HRH Prince Michael of Kent about Faberge items in the Royal Collection and to Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, who spent $100 million acquiring nine exquisite Faberge eggs. The bejewelled trinkets Faberge made for the last tsars of Russia in the twilight of their rule have become some of the most sought-after treasures in the world, sometimes worth millions.

Smith follows in Faberge's footsteps, from the legendary Green Vaults in Dresden to the palaces of the tsars and the corridors of the Kremlin museum, as he discovers how this fin-de-siecle genius transformed his father's modest business into the world's most famous supplier of luxury items.


SUN 22:00 Medieval Lives: Birth, Marriage, Death (b03d6c64)
A Good Marriage

Unlike birth and death, which are inescapable facts of life, marriage is rite of passage made by choice and in the Middle Ages it wasn't just a choice made by bride and groom - they were often the last pieces in a puzzle, put together by their parents, with help from their family and friends, according to rules laid down by the church.

Helen Castor reveals how in the Middle Ages marriage was actually much easier to get into than today - you could get married in a pub or even a hedgerow simply by exchanging words of consent - but from the 12th century onwards the Catholic church tried to control this conjugal free-for-all. For the church, marriage was a way to contain the troubling issue of sex, but, as the film reveals, it was not easy to impose rules on the most unpredictable human emotions of love and lust.


SUN 23:00 Turner's Thames (b01jv255)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


SUN 00:00 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.


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


SUN 02:00 The World's Most Beautiful Eggs: The Genius of Carl Faberge (b0336tf3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


SUN 03:00 Turner's Thames (b01jv255)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]



MONDAY 21 OCTOBER 2013

MON 19:00 World News Today (b03f0wmq)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


MON 19:30 Britain from Above (b00d1kd1)
The City

Revealing the transformation of Britain's most important city: her capital, London. Starting with amazing Luftwaffe aerial photographs of the very first bombs of the Blitz falling on a vulnerable city, we track the changes that came out of five years of bombing.

Comparing exhaustive footage of London in the 40s with the city of today, we see how great plans for urban renewal were stillborn and, instead, London rebuilt itself in an ad hoc way along old street patterns.

The only exception to this was the dramatic city that rose from the derelict docklands. Where Canary Wharf had a blank canvas and used it to create an American style grid of streets and huge buildings, the city itself was faced with squeezing ever more bizarrely-shaped buildings into its confused medieval street plan.

The story of a capital that has been transformed from a low-rise, smog-ridden industrial city into an upwardly mobile, rapidly changing hub of leisure, retail and finance.


MON 20:00 Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? (b0077l52)
Series 2

The Ant and the Grasshopper

Bob's married life promises work, worry and wallpapering. Terry wastes the days away in the pub and the bookies, as happy as ever. Bob wonders who has the right answer.


MON 20:30 Only Connect (b03f438d)
Series 8

Pilots v Globetrotters

Two teams who lost their first heats return for another chance at making the semi-finals, 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 sour tasting, tray planted, divine wind and empty orchestra.


MON 21:00 Impact! A Horizon Guide to Car Crashes (b03f438q)
In the 1950s up to 8,000 people died every year on the roads in this country - a truly horrific figure. Thankfully it has now fallen to around 2,000 a year - still a terrible toll, but a vast improvement, particularly given the increase in cars on the road.

Dallas Campbell looks back over decades of Horizon and BBC archive to chart the key scientific breakthroughs that have transformed road safety and saved millions of lives. However, it hasn't all been about innovative engineering and groundbreaking medical discoveries - scientists have also had to act as campaigners, persuading car manufacturers to install their life saving devices and urging the public to use them.


MON 22:00 Storyville (p01hs5t8)
Pussy Riot - A Punk Prayer

Sundance award-winning documentary which tells the compelling story of how a group of young, feminist punk rockers known as Pussy Riot captured the world's attention by protesting against Putin's Russia. Through first-hand interviews with band members, their families and the defence team, and exclusive footage of the trial, it highlights the forces that transformed these women from playful political activists to modern-day icons. In early 2012, members of the collective donned their colourful trademark balaclavas and participated in a 40-second 'punk prayer protest' on the altar of Moscow's cathedral. Once arrested, Nadia, Masha and Katia were accused of religious hatred in a trial that triggered protests and arrests in Russia and caused uproar around the world. The film reveals the personal motives and courage of the women behind the balaclavas and exposes the state of Russian justice through the court's final verdict.


MON 23:30 Africa (b01qh31v)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


MON 00:30 Lost Kingdoms of Africa (b01cc84j)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Saturday]


MON 01:30 Only Connect (b03f438d)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]


MON 02:00 Britain from Above (b00d1kd1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


MON 02:30 Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? (b0077l52)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


MON 03:00 Impact! A Horizon Guide to Car Crashes (b03f438q)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



TUESDAY 22 OCTOBER 2013

TUE 19:00 World News Today (b03f0wmw)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


TUE 19:30 Britain from Above (b00d4pwc)
The Land

Turning back time and drawing on previously unseen archive footage and photography to focus on the dramatic transformation of Britain's cities, landscape and industry. Focusing on the period since the Second World War, Britain from Above explores the greatest period of change in the nation in the last 200 years.

Nowhere shows the transformation that has swept the British countryside in the last 60 years more than East Anglia. Aerial photographs taken by both the RAF and the Luftwaffe before the war show an isolated rural landscape of small fields, hordes of labourers and horse drawn ploughs. But all that changed. Sparked by the war itself, East Anglia became the crucible of a land revolution as its agriculture was industrialised faster and on a larger scale than anywhere else.

Today hedgerows, horses and farm workers have all gone. While the number of people working on the land has collapsed, rural villages have grown, bursting through their old boundaries as commuters arrive. New roads and new employers such as Stansted Airport have heated up an already fast growing economy and the impact on the landscape can be clearly seen from above.

Using hitherto unseen land-use maps of the 1930s, together with wartime aerial reconnaissance photos, the programme reveals how and why East Anglia, and by extension Britain's rural landscape, has been shaped the way it has. Today we see a landscape under ever greater pressure from new housing, crowded roads and the sudden surge in food prices which makes farmland ever more valuable.


TUE 20:00 Operation Mincemeat (b00wllmb)
For more than 60 years, the real story behind Operation Mincemeat has been shrouded in secrecy. Now, Ben Macintyre reveals the extraordinary truth in a documentary based on his best-selling book.

In 1943, British intelligence hatched a daring plan. As the Allies prepared to invade Sicily, their purpose was to convince the Germans that Greece was the real target. The plot to fool the Fuhrer was the brainchild of Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond.

British agents procured the body of a tramp and reinvented his entire identity. He was given a new name, an officer rank and a briefcase containing plans for a fake invasion of Greece. The body was floated off the Spanish coast where Nazi spies would find it.

The deception was an astonishing success. Hitler fell for it totally, ordering his armies to Greece to await an invasion that never happened. Meanwhile, the Allies landed in Sicily with minimal resistance. The island fell in a month. The war turned in the Allies' favour.

Together with original witnesses, Macintyre recreates the remarkable story of how one brilliant team, and one dead tramp, pulled off a deception which changed the course of history.


TUE 21:00 The Art of Australia (b03f48np)
Beyond Australia

Edmund Capon explores how, from the 1960s onwards, Australia and its art went global. Transformed into a migrant nation, Australia's dependence on Britain and Europe ended and artists and nation alike turned their attention to America and then Asia. And it was the world's most ancient art form, indigenous art from the heart of the continent, that would become modern Australia's instantly recognisable calling card.


TUE 22:00 Storyville (p01hs637)
Smash & Grab - The Story of the Pink Panthers

Thrilling heist documentary about the world's most notorious gang of diamond thieves, featuring exclusive and unprecedented interviews with the Pink Panther members for the first time on television.

The Pink Panthers have stolen over £270m in diamonds in more than 241 robberies in cities from Paris to Tokyo. The film explores the rise of the group during the 1990s Balkan conflict when economic sanctions imposed on Serbia fuelled illegal activities. The criminals reveal an underworld driven by fast wealth and paranoia, while the detectives and inspectors, who are working with Interpol, are on a mission to stop their crime spree with growing success.

Combining surveillance footage of the heists, archive of the Balkans' turbulent past, animation and strong testimonies, the film draws connections between international affairs, economics and the shady world of part of the diamond industry.


TUE 23:30 Pain, Pus and Poison: The Search for Modern Medicines (p01f53b9)
Poison

Dr Michael Mosley ends the series with a look at poisons, exploring the turning points when scientists went from finding antidotes to poisons to applying poisons as cures, and celebrating the eccentrics and mavericks whose breakthroughs were to pave the way for some of the most striking treatments of modern medicine. Of the medicines explored in this series, those that are derived from poisons are perhaps the most extraordinary. The story of turning poisons into medicines encompasses the planet's most deadly substances, in which we turned killers into cures.


TUE 00:30 The Horizon Guide to Pandemic (b00m3z7w)
In the wake of the swine flu outbreak, virologist Dr Mike Leahy uses over 50 years of BBC archive to explore the history of pandemics - infectious diseases caused by bacteria, viruses and parasites.

Inspired by the Horizon back catalogue, he tells the extraordinary story of smallpox, one of the most violent killers in history, as well as the success of mass vaccination and the global politics of malaria. Through the lens of television the programme charts our scientific progress from the early steps in understanding AIDS to the code-cracking of SARS and deadly predictions of bird flu.

Each pandemic episode tells us something about the world and our place within it. In his journey through the ages Dr Leahy charts science's ongoing battle with nature and questions which one is winning.


TUE 01:30 Britain from Above (b00d4pwc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


TUE 02:00 Operation Mincemeat (b00wllmb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


TUE 03:00 The Art of Australia (b03f48np)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



WEDNESDAY 23 OCTOBER 2013

WED 19:00 World News Today (b03f0wn1)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


WED 19:30 Britain from Above (b00d7ntb)
The Industrial Landscape

The story of how Britain's industrial heartlands have been transformed in the space of a single lifetime.

In 1939, the Luftwaffe secretly photographed the backbone of the British economy: the valleys of South Wales where the great coalfields powered the nation; Swindon, at the heart of Britain's railway network; and Manchester, home to the great port of Salford and the world's largest industrial estate Trafford Park.

Comparing those images with ones from 2008, the sheer scale and speed of change becomes vividly apparent. Where there were factories there are fields; mining villages no longer have mines; docks have been replaced by high-spec waterside apartments. Seen from above, it is clear that no other aspect of the nation has changed so much or so quickly. It is a story of evolution, adaptation, and in some places, extinction.


WED 20:00 Heritage! The Battle for Britain's Past (b01rd37j)
Broken Propylaeums

The final episode follows the changing fortunes of a heritage movement floored by the after-effects of World War II and looks at how people like Sir John Betjeman and Dan Cruickshank gave families access to heritage and architecture on television from the comfort of their living rooms. It looks at the preservation of sometimes ugly, certainly unpleasant parts of our built past such as workhouses and underground mineshafts, and contemplates what the future may hold for heritage in Britain - a nation faced with economic uncertainty, depleting resources and increasing challenges of sustainability.


WED 21:00 Medieval Lives: Birth, Marriage, Death (b03f4l0j)
A Good Death

Most of the time we try not to think about death, but the people of the Middle Ages didn't have that luxury. Death was always close at hand, for young and old, rich and poor - even before the horrors of the Black Death, which killed millions in a few short months.

However, for the people of the Middle Ages death wasn't an end but a doorway to everlasting life. The Church taught that an eternity spent in heaven or hell was much more important than this life's fleeting achievements and there was much you could do to prepare for the next life in this one.

As historian Helen Castor reveals, how to be remembered - and remembering your loved ones - shaped not only the worship of the people of the Middle Ages but the very buildings and funding of the medieval Church itself.


WED 22:00 Storyville (b03cxf8y)
The Great Hip Hop Hoax

Foul-mouthed Californian hip hop duo Silibil n' Brains were going to be massive. But no-one knew the pair were really amiable Scotsmen, with fake American accents and made up identities. This documentary tells the audacious tale of how two lads from Dundee duped the record industry and nearly destroyed themselves.

When their promising Scottish rap act was branded 'the rapping Proclaimers' by a scornful record industry, friends Billy Boyd and Gavin Bain reinvented themselves as Los Angeles homeboys. The lie was their golden ticket to a record deal and a dream celebrity life. With confessions from the rapping imposters, insight from the music industry they duped and animated elements, the film charts the rollercoaster story of this outrageous scam.

A stranger-than-fiction true account of fractured friendship, the pressure of living with lies and the legacy of faking everything in the desperate pursuit of fame.


WED 23:30 New Power Generation: Black Music Legends of the 1980s (b01805m3)
Public Enemy: Prophets of Rage

In the late 1980s Public Enemy were the biggest rap group on the planet. Their mission: to raise the consciousness of a generation. With a rebellious attitude to match their militant image they sold millions of records preaching pro-black politics to fans of all races, all done through a groundbreaking wall of noise that changed the sound of hip hop. White, middle Americans were outraged, but their kids loved it.

Not surprisingly, this confrontational approach attracted controversy. Critics claimed the group themselves were racist, exposing racial divides rather than promoting equality. They were banned from some TV and radio stations and when one member reportedly made anti-Semitic remarks in a newspaper interview the resulting media-storm threatened to end their career. Tensions were running high and arguments within the band ended in violence. Could they keep it together long enough to get their message across?

Includes exclusive new interviews with Chuck D, Flavor Flav, Professor Griff, Hank and Keith Shocklee and the S1Ws. Plus contributions from Run DMC, Method Man (Wu-Tang Clan), Anthrax's Scott Ian, Jurassic 5's Chali 2na, Bahamadia, writer and activist Kevin Powell and DJ Dave Pearce.


WED 00:30 The World's Most Beautiful Eggs: The Genius of Carl Faberge (b0336tf3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Sunday]


WED 01:30 Britain from Above (b00d7ntb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


WED 02:00 Heritage! The Battle for Britain's Past (b01rd37j)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


WED 03:00 Medieval Lives: Birth, Marriage, Death (b03f4l0j)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



THURSDAY 24 OCTOBER 2013

THU 19:00 World News Today (b03f0wn6)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


THU 19:30 Top of the Pops (b03f4qgp)
David Jensen presents a weekly look at pop charts featuring the Buzzcocks, Elton John, Showaddywaddy, Elvis Costello and the Attractions, Heatwave, Blondie, Dean Friedman, Streetband, Queen, Child and the Boomtown Rats.


THU 20:00 Tales from the Royal Bedchamber (b0386lxs)
Lucy Worsley gets into bed with our past monarchs to uncover the tales from the royal bedchamber. She reveals that our obsession with royal bedrooms, births and succession is nothing new. In fact, the rise and fall of their magnificent beds reflects the changing fortunes of the monarchy itself.


THU 21:00 Arena (b03f4qgr)
Arena: The National Theatre

Part One - The Dream

The National Theatre is 50 in October 2013 and has given the BBC unprecedented access to make two Arena documentaries for BBC Four.

The films ask why it took until 1963 to create a National Theatre, and Dame Joan Plowright talks frankly to director Adam Low about the appointment of her husband Laurence Olivier, the greatest actor of his generation, as the National's first artistic director. The films uncover the life of the Theatre's early golden period at the Old Vic, the National's first home, under the towering presence of Olivier; the commissioning and construction of the controversial and now iconic Denys Lasdun building on the South Bank; and the turbulent succession of Peter Hall at the end of Olivier's reign.

Through the personal anecdotes of those who wrote, directed and performed on the National's many stages the films reveal the stories behind the greatest hit productions, from Olivier's Othello to War Horse, under artistic directors Peter Hall, Richard Eyre, Trevor Nunn and up to and including the latest great successes under Nicholas Hytner. Other contributors include Maggie Smith, Derek Jacobi, Alan Bennett, Judi Dench, Francis de la Tour, David Hare, Alan Ayckbourn and Adrian Lester.


THU 22:00 Muse of Fire: A Shakespearean Road Movie (b03f4qgt)
Ten Oscar nominees, five Oscar winners, one dame, seven knights and two friends will change the way you feel about Shakespeare forever. This documentary follows actors Giles Terera and Dan Poole around the world as they try to conquer their fear of Shakespeare. In a clapped-out car, with spiralling debts and a single-minded determination to meet some of the world's biggest stars, their chaotic journey takes them from Elsinore in Denmark to London's Globe Theatre to Hollywood.

Starring Judi Dench, Jude Law, Ewan McGregor, Steven Berkoff, Ian McKellen, Derek Jacobi, Alan Rickman, James Earl Jones, Mark Rylance, Dominic West and Baz Luhrmann, Muse of Fire is a smart, subversive, idiosyncratic road movie in search of the enduring power of one of the greatest playwrights of all time.


THU 23:00 Impact! A Horizon Guide to Car Crashes (b03f438q)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Monday]


THU 00:00 The Art of Australia (b03f48np)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Tuesday]


THU 01:00 Top of the Pops (b03f4qgp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


THU 01:40 Tales from the Royal Bedchamber (b0386lxs)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


THU 02:40 Arena (b03f4qgr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



FRIDAY 25 OCTOBER 2013

FRI 19:00 World News Today (b03f0wnj)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


FRI 19:30 Symphony (b0170bm6)
Beethoven and Beyond

Simon Russell Beale continues his journey into the world of the symphony with the story of the revolutionary later symphonies of Ludwig van Beethoven and their phenomenal impact. We also meet Franz Schubert, whose two greatest symphonies were only discovered after his tragic early death, the obsessive French Romantic Hector Berlioz and the flamboyant pianist turned composer Franz Liszt. The music is performed by the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Halle, conducted by Sir Mark Elder.


FRI 20:30 Transatlantic Sessions (b03dz8q1)
Series 6

Episode 5

Music co-directors, Shetland fiddle virtuoso Aly Bain, dobro ace Jerry Douglas and their all-star house band, host a gathering of the cream of Nashville, Irish and Scottish talent in a spectacular location overlooking the banks of Loch Lomond.

John Doyle leads off this fifth programme of the series with 'Liberty's Sweet Shore', an emigrant song that mirrors his own journey from Ireland to South Carolina. Allan MacDonald closes proceedings with one of his inimitable pipe sets.


FRI 21:00 The Who: The Making of Tommy (b03f7z78)
1968 was a time of soul-searching for the Who - with three badly performing singles behind them, they needed a big new idea to put them back at the top and, crucially, to hold them together as a band. Inspired by Indian spiritual master Meher Baba, Pete Townshend created the character of Tommy, the 'deaf, dumb and blind boy'. Broke and fragmenting when they started recording, the album went on to sell over 20 million copies. In this film, the Who speak for the first time about the making of the iconic album and how its success changed their lives.


FRI 22:00 Tommy (b0078r1k)
Ken Russell's flamboyant treatment of The Who's rock opera about a deaf, dumb and blind boy who develops an extraordinary ability at pinball.

Under his sinister stepfather's influence, he achieves fame and a cult following, but his almost messianic status also spells the beginning of his destruction.

Featuring musical contributions from a host of rock stars including Elton John, Eric Clapton and Tina Turner.


FRI 23:50 Quadrophenia: Can You See the Real Me? (b01k83bl)
In his home studio and revisiting old haunts in Shepherd's Bush and Battersea, Pete Townshend opens his heart and his personal archive to revisit 'the last great album the Who ever made', one that took the Who full circle back to their earliest days via the adventures of a pill-popping mod on an epic journey of self-discovery.

But in 1973 Quadrophenia was an album that almost never was. Beset by money problems, a studio in construction, heroin-taking managers, a lunatic drummer and a culture of heavy drinking, Townshend took on an album that nearly broke him and one that within a year the band had turned their back on and would ignore for nearly three decades.

With unseen archive and in-depth interviews from Townshend, Roger Daltrey, Keith Moon, John Entwistle and those in the studio and behind the lens who made the album and 30 page photo booklet.

Contributors include Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey, Ethan Russell, Ron Nevison, Richard Barnes, Irish Jack Lyons, Bill Curbishley, John Woolf, Howie Edelson, Mark Kermode and Georgiana Steele Waller.


FRI 01:00 Classic Albums (b00vlq0y)
Black Sabbath: Paranoid

The second album by Black Sabbath, released in 1970, has long attained classic status. Paranoid not only changed the face of rock music, but also defined the sound and style of heavy metal more than any other record in rock history. The result of a magic chemistry which had been discovered between four English musicians, it put Black Sabbath firmly on the road to world domination.

This programme tells the story behind the writing, recording and success of the album. Despite vilification from the Christian and moral right and all the harsh criticism that the music press could hurl at them, Paranoid catapulted Sabbath into the rock stratosphere.

Using exclusive interviews, musical demonstration, archive footage and a return to the multi-tracks with engineer Tom Allom, the film reveals how Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward created their frighteningly dark, heavy and ear-shatteringly loud sound.

Additional comments from Phil Alexander (MOJO & Kerrang! editor), Geoff Barton (Classic Rock editor), Henry Rollins (writer/musician) and Jim Simpson (original manager) add insight to the creation of this all-time classic.


FRI 01:55 Punk at the BBC (b01k1nhx)
An archive celebration of BBC studio performances from the British bands that broke through courtesy of punk, from its pub rock roots with Dr Feelgood to its explosive heyday with The Sex Pistols, The Clash, Buzzcocks, The Damned, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Joy Division and many more.


FRI 02:55 The Who: The Making of Tommy (b03f7z78)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]




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

Africa 19:00 SAT (b01qh31v)

Africa 01:10 SAT (b01qh31v)

Africa 23:30 MON (b01qh31v)

Arena 22:55 SAT (b00rs3w6)

Arena 21:00 THU (b03f4qgr)

Arena 02:40 THU (b03f4qgr)

Britain from Above 19:30 MON (b00d1kd1)

Britain from Above 02:00 MON (b00d1kd1)

Britain from Above 19:30 TUE (b00d4pwc)

Britain from Above 01:30 TUE (b00d4pwc)

Britain from Above 19:30 WED (b00d7ntb)

Britain from Above 01:30 WED (b00d7ntb)

Classic Albums 01:00 FRI (b00vlq0y)

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

Crossing England in a Punt: River of Dreams 01:00 SUN (p00y6r6q)

Heritage! The Battle for Britain's Past 20:00 WED (b01rd37j)

Heritage! The Battle for Britain's Past 02:00 WED (b01rd37j)

Impact! A Horizon Guide to Car Crashes 21:00 MON (b03f438q)

Impact! A Horizon Guide to Car Crashes 03:00 MON (b03f438q)

Impact! A Horizon Guide to Car Crashes 23:00 THU (b03f438q)

Inspector Montalbano 21:00 SAT (b03f89hh)

Lost Kingdoms of Africa 20:00 SAT (b01cc84j)

Lost Kingdoms of Africa 02:10 SAT (b01cc84j)

Lost Kingdoms of Africa 00:30 MON (b01cc84j)

Mechanical Marvels: Clockwork Dreams 00:00 SUN (b0229pbp)

Medieval Lives: Birth, Marriage, Death 22:00 SUN (b03d6c64)

Medieval Lives: Birth, Marriage, Death 21:00 WED (b03f4l0j)

Medieval Lives: Birth, Marriage, Death 03:00 WED (b03f4l0j)

Muse of Fire: A Shakespearean Road Movie 22:00 THU (b03f4qgt)

New Power Generation: Black Music Legends of the 1980s 23:30 WED (b01805m3)

Only Connect 20:30 MON (b03f438d)

Only Connect 01:30 MON (b03f438d)

Operation Mincemeat 20:00 TUE (b00wllmb)

Operation Mincemeat 02:00 TUE (b00wllmb)

Pain, Pus and Poison: The Search for Modern Medicines 23:30 TUE (p01f53b9)

Punk at the BBC 01:55 FRI (b01k1nhx)

Quadrophenia: Can You See the Real Me? 23:50 FRI (b01k83bl)

Storyville 22:00 MON (p01hs5t8)

Storyville 22:00 TUE (p01hs637)

Storyville 22:00 WED (b03cxf8y)

Symphony 19:30 FRI (b0170bm6)

Tales from the Royal Bedchamber 20:00 THU (b0386lxs)

Tales from the Royal Bedchamber 01:40 THU (b0386lxs)

The Art of Australia 21:00 TUE (b03f48np)

The Art of Australia 03:00 TUE (b03f48np)

The Art of Australia 00:00 THU (b03f48np)

The Horizon Guide to Pandemic 00:30 TUE (b00m3z7w)

The Who: The Making of Tommy 21:00 FRI (b03f7z78)

The Who: The Making of Tommy 02:55 FRI (b03f7z78)

The World's Most Beautiful Eggs: The Genius of Carl Faberge 21:00 SUN (b0336tf3)

The World's Most Beautiful Eggs: The Genius of Carl Faberge 02:00 SUN (b0336tf3)

The World's Most Beautiful Eggs: The Genius of Carl Faberge 00:30 WED (b0336tf3)

Tommy 22:00 FRI (b0078r1k)

Top of the Pops 00:30 SAT (b03d6dyq)

Top of the Pops 19:30 THU (b03f4qgp)

Top of the Pops 01:00 THU (b03f4qgp)

Transatlantic Sessions 20:30 FRI (b03dz8q1)

Turner's Thames 19:00 SUN (b01jv255)

Turner's Thames 23:00 SUN (b01jv255)

Turner's Thames 03:00 SUN (b01jv255)

Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? 20:00 MON (b0077l52)

Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? 02:30 MON (b0077l52)

World News Today 19:00 MON (b03f0wmq)

World News Today 19:00 TUE (b03f0wmw)

World News Today 19:00 WED (b03f0wn1)

World News Today 19:00 THU (b03f0wn6)

World News Today 19:00 FRI (b03f0wnj)