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 25 JANUARY 2014

SAT 19:00 Wild China (b00brvjx)
Shangri-La

Documentary that showcases pioneering images capturing the dazzling array of mysterious creatures that live in China's most beautiful landscapes. Beneath billowing clouds, in China's far south west, rich jungles nestle below towering peaks. Jewel-coloured birds and ancient tribes share forested valleys where wild elephants still roam. How do these forests exist? Perhaps the rugged landscape holds the key.


SAT 20:00 Pain, Pus and Poison: The Search for Modern Medicines (p01f51z4)
Pain

Pain has a profound effect on our bodies - when we are experiencing it, millions of nerve cells deep within our brains are firing, telling us 'it hurts' - and for centuries the challenge has been to find something that will lessen or even switch off these sensations to bring us relief. Dr Michael Mosley discovers just what pain is, why we want to control it and how we ultimately did it when the discovery of morphine, the world's first pharmaceutical, at the beginning of the 19th century led to a 200-year journey of scientific breakthrough, discovery and self-experimentation.


SAT 21:00 The Bridge (b03glzzl)
Series 2

Episode 7

Saga and Martin face a complex puzzle when someone threatens to blow up a chemical plant. They collect all the clues and find a common denominator, confining the perpetrator to a specific area. But is there a single perpetrator or several? And what is the motive? Saga starts to realize that being a girlfriend and living with someone is harder than she thought. Martin has secretly been prying into Saga's past, something he may regret.

In Swedish and Danish with English subtitles.


SAT 22:00 The Bridge (b03gq3p9)
Series 2

Episode 8

Saga and Martin re-interview witnesses in the case and suspect someone within their own group has been doctoring information in their reports. But they need to gather more evidence before they can be sure. Laura, the key witness, regains consciousness and, despite feeling exhausted, finally manages to help piece together a composite sketch of the perpetrator.

Martin visits Jens in prison yet again, but will he ever achieve his aims? Saga tries to find a solution to her co-habitation problem, one that is not to Jacob's liking.

In Swedish and Danish with English subtitles.


SAT 23:00 Forever Young: How Rock 'n' Roll Grew Up (b00sxjls)
Documentary which looks at how rock 'n' roll has had to deal with the unthinkable - namely growing up and growing old, from its roots in the 50s as music made by young people for young people to the 21st-century phenomena of the revival and the comeback.

Despite the mantra of 'live fast, die young', Britain's first rock 'n' roll generations are now enjoying old age. What was once about youth and taking risks is now about longevity, survival, nostalgia and refusing to grow up, give up or shut up. But what happens when the music refuses to die and its performers refuse to leave the stage? What happens when rock's youthful rebelliousness is delivered wrapped in wrinkles?

Featuring Lemmy, Iggy Pop, Peter Noone, Rick Wakeman, Paul Jones, Richard Thompson, Suggs, Eric Burdon, Bruce Welch, Robert Wyatt, Gary Brooker, Joe Brown, Chris Dreja of The Yardbirds, Alison Moyet, Robyn Hitchcock, writers Rosie Boycott and Nick Kent and producer Joe Boyd.


SAT 00:00 Top of the Pops (b03qlq5q)
Weekly pop chart programme presented by Peter Powell. Featuring Olympic Runners, Anne Murray, the Three Degrees, Ian Dury & the Blockheads, Billy Joel, Chic, the Village People and dance sequences by Legs & Co.


SAT 00:40 Classic Albums (b01r22tl)
Peter Gabriel: So

With the release of So in 1986, Peter Gabriel achieved a level of success that had thus far eluded him. Gabriel famously started out leading Genesis, but his four albums of solo work had made him the definition of a cult artist, with flashes that broke through such as Solsbury Hill and Games Without Frontiers. His fifth album, the first not to be titled Peter Gabriel, changed everything and became a massive hit on both sides of the Atlantic.

So includes the singles Don't Give Up, Big Time, Red Rain, In Your Eyes and Sledgehammer, the latter reaching number one in the USA, ironically knocking Genesis's Invisible Touch off the top spot.

The R&B/soul inspired Sledgehammer was propelled to the top by a much-celebrated stop-motion music video, which won numerous awards and set a new standard for art in the music video industry.

By returning to the original multi-tracks, along with musical demonstrations and rare archive footage, we discover how Gabriel's melodic ability to blend African music, jangly pop and soul created a classic.

So stands as one of the greatest records of the 1980s, helping define its time to become a true classic album. The film features interviews with Gabriel himself, co-producer Daniel Lanois, bass players Tony Levin and Larry Klein, performer Laurie Anderson, drummer Manu Katché and Rolling Stone editor David Fricke amongst others.


SAT 01:40 Wild China (b00brvjx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


SAT 02:40 Pain, Pus and Poison: The Search for Modern Medicines (p01f51z4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]



SUNDAY 26 JANUARY 2014

SUN 19:00 Hidden Histories: Britain's Oldest Family Businesses (b03qlp97)
Toye the Medal Maker

Fiona Toye married into a family that has been making regalia for generations, including OBEs for the royal family. The film follows Fiona as she steers this traditional company through the 21st century.

Narrated by Margaret Mountford.


SUN 20:00 The Review Show (b03slty6)
Kirsty Wark returns with the first Review Show of 2014 with panellists Paul Morley, playwright Mark Ravenhill and author Denise Mina.

Up for review are two Bafta-nominated films, Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street and cycling documentary The Armstrong Lie. The first major survey of Turner prize winner Martin Creed's work is examined in his show What's the Point of It? The debut novel by Stewart Foster, We Used to Be Kings, is discussed and gender politics comes under the spotlight on stage in an all-female cast of Blurred Lines at the National Theatre and on screen in HBO's gay drama Looking. Music comes from Icelandic sensation Asgeir.


SUN 21:00 Storyville (b03slty8)
The Big Melt - How Steel Made Us Hard

A film by Martin Wallace and Jarvis Cocker, The Big Melt combines 100 years of footage from the BFI National Archive with a score recorded live at the Crucible Theatre on the opening night of Sheffield Doc/Fest in June 2013 to tell the story of steel, the story of the men in the steelworks and the story of Sheffield.

Taking us on musical journey into the soul of a nation, it brings to life the ghosts of our past, taking us into the belly of the furnaces and showing how our national character has been stamped from the mighty presses of our industrial heritage.

Featuring leading Sheffield musicians including Jarvis Cocker and Pulp band members, the City of Sheffield Brass Band, Richard Hawley and his band members, the Forgemasters, a string quartet and a youth choir, the live soundtrack has been edited by Cocker to create a phenomenal music score - a new kind of Sheffield heavy metal, with pictures.


SUN 22:10 We Are What We Are (b01rtd96)
Mexican horror in which a family of cannibals try to survive after their father dies.


SUN 23:35 Horror Europa with Mark Gatiss (b01nmsw7)
Actor and writer Mark Gatiss embarks on a chilling voyage through European horror cinema. From the silent nightmares of German Expressionism in the wake of World War I to lesbian vampires in 1970s Belgium, from the black-gloved killers of Italy's bloody giallo thrillers to the ghosts of the Spanish Civil War, Mark reveals how Europe's turbulent 20th century forged its ground-breaking horror tradition. On a journey that spans the continent from Ostend to Slovakia, Mark explores classic filming locations and talks to the genre's leading talents, including directors Dario Argento and Guillermo del Toro.


SUN 01:05 Born to be Wild: The Golden Age of American Rock (b03qlqr0)
Welcome to the Jungle

The final part explores the 1980s and the eventual demise of the golden era of American rock.

The beginning of the decade saw the meteoric rise of MTV which completely changed the landscape of rock music. From Los Angeles, a new rock scene emerged of party-anthem pop-metal, tailor-made for the visual medium of TV. Bands like Van Halen, Motley Crue and Poison sported heavy make-up, flashy clothes and huge hair while singing songs of sex, partying, drinking and drugs.

The other side of American mainstream rock attempted to tackle the social and political issues of the time. John Mellencamp, Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen all produced a stadium rock that appealed to the nation's blue-collar workers. Their music filled arenas, but was anybody really listening to the message?

As the decade moved on, MTV exposure directly translated to commercial profit and soon the hugely popular pop-metal - dubbed Hair Metal by its critics - was saturating the market. Power ballads, big choruses and even bigger hair were the order of the day, with the highly marketable Bon Jovi leading the pack. Guns N' Roses saw themselves as the antithesis to what they considered fake rebellion, soft-rock drivel. But, as we discover, even they became neutralised by the commercialisation of the rock industry.

The documentary ends in the early 90s with the emergence of Nirvana and grunge, which wiped away the narcissistic, sexist and pompous music form American rock had grown into. However, it was ultimately another genre of pop music that really replaced the golden age of rock, producing the big personalities the rock scene could no longer provide.


SUN 02:05 Classic Albums (b00x7chg)
Tom Petty: Damn the Torpedoes

The third album by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, released in 1979, has long been regarded as a classic and demonstrates the musical and songwriting virtuosity of a great frontman and his amazing backing band. A mix of rootsy American rock 'n' roll and the best of the British invasion, of jangling Byrds guitars and Stones-like rhythms, Damn the Torpedoes was the album that took Petty into the major league and redefined American rock.

This programme tells the story behind the conception and recording of the album and how it transformed the band's career. Using interviews, musical demonstration, acoustic performance, archive footage and a return to the multi-tracks with the main protagonists, it shows how Petty, Mike Campbell, Benmont Tench, Ron Blair and Stan Lynch created their songs and sounds with the help of co-producer Jimmy Iovine and engineer Shelly Yakus. Additional comments from journalists and other producers and musicians help tell the story and put the album into its rightful place in rock history.

Recorded in secrecy at a time when the band was fighting for creative independence amidst a legal wrangle with their record company, the album is imbued with an anger and a gutsy attitude the situation had created. Many songs from the album are still played live and form an important part of Petty's body of work, including Refugee, Here Comes My Girl, Even the Losers, Shadow of a Doubt, Louisiana Rain, Century City and top ten hit Don't Do Me Like That.

Damn the Torpedoes hit number two in the US for seven weeks, initially selling over 2.5 million copies, and launched Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers onto the world stage and into superstar territory, standing as one of the great records of the late 70s and early 80s.


SUN 03:00 Bon Jovi in Concert (b03qlqr2)
Stadium gods Bon Jovi rock London's tiny BBC Radio Theatre. The band perform classics from six albums across their 30-year reign: Slippery When Wet, Crush, Have a Nice Day, Lost Highway, The Circle and the first ever performance of material from 2013's What About Now.



MONDAY 27 JANUARY 2014

MON 19:00 World News Today (b03slpfg)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


MON 19:30 Elephant Diaries (b00794xm)
Series 1

Episode 5

As the unfolding drama of the rabies emergency plays out, Jonathan Scott is in northern Tsavo with Wendi and the other nine little orphaned elephants. What will be their fate?

In Nairobi, Michaela is following the contrasting fortunes of two of the new orphan babies, Jipe and Lualeni, and joins in as the keepers organise a very special football match - Orphans FC versus Keepers FC.

In southern Tsavo Emily, the matriarch of the big orphan herd, has finally decided to strike out on her own. For the orphanage, Emily has become another success story; for her, it's the end of an 11-year journey back to the wild, but it's the end of an era for Jonathan too. Can he track her down for one last time just to say goodbye?


MON 20:00 King Alfred and the Anglo Saxons (b038dbd5)
The Lady of the Mercians

In this second episode, Alfred's children continue the family plan to create a kingdom of all the English.

The tale begins with a savage civil war in a bleak decade of snow and famine, culminating in an epic victory over the Vikings near Wolverhampton in 910. Filmed in the Fens and Winchester, Gloucester, Oxford and Rome, the key figure in this episode is Alfred's daughter Aethelflaed, the ruler of Mercia. Michael Wood recovers her story from a copy of a lost chronicle written in Mercia in her lifetime which, in the film, we hear read in Old English.

One of the great forgotten figures in British history, Aethelflaed led armies, built fortresses, campaigned against the Vikings and was a brilliant diplomat. Her fame spread across the British Isles, beloved by her warriors and her people she was known simply as 'the Lady of the Mercians'. Without her, concludes Wood, 'England might never have happened'.


MON 21:00 Around the World in 60 Minutes (b00ymjkt)
A unique journey around the weird and wonderful planet that we call home.

When Yuri Gagarin was blasted into space he became the first human to get a proper look at where we live. 'The Earth is blue,' he exclaimed, 'how amazing!'. Suddenly our perspective on the world had changed forever. We thought we were going to explore the universe, yet the most extraordinary thing we discovered was our own home planet, the Earth.

So what would you see during just one orbit of the Earth? Starting 200 miles above the planet, this film whisks you around the planet to show what changes in the time it takes to circumnavigate the Earth just once. We hear from British-born astronaut Piers Sellers on what it's like to live and work in space, and also to gaze down and see how we are altering and reshaping our world.

We marvel at the incredible forces of nature that brings hundred-mile wide storms and reshapes continents, and also discover how we humans are draining seas and building cities in the middle of the desert. We also visit the wettest place on Earth, as well as the most volcanic.

Narrated by David Morrissey, this inspirational trip around the planet will make you view our home as you've never seen it before.


MON 22:00 Remembering the Holocaust: Defiant Requiem (b03slv8r)
In 1944, at the Nazi concentration camp of Terezin, the imprisoned Czech conductor Rafael Schachter formed a choir of 150 of his fellow Jewish prisoners to brazenly perform Verdi's Requiem before the very Nazis who had condemned them to death.

Transcending the horrors around them, night after night they rehearsed in a dark, mouldy and suffocating cellar, with a broken piano. In a calm message of defiance, each time a choir member was murdered by the SS, a new singer would replace them. The final performance took place in front of the camp's Nazi brass, visiting high-ranking SS officers from Berlin and gullible Red Cross inspectors brought in to verify that the prisoners were being well treated.

This film features surviving Nazi propaganda footage of Terezin as it was perversely stage-managed during a Red Cross inspection visit to appear like an attractive Jewish commune. Shortly after the performance, both Schachter and most of his choir would be sent to Auschwitz. But through the transformation of Verdi's music into a proclamation of their unbroken spirit and warning of God's coming wrath against their captors, the prisoners had been able to sing to their captors what they dared not say.

For over ten years, distinguished American conductor Murry Sidlin, who found out about the choir in the 1990s, dreamed of bringing the Requiem back to Terezin. Now, through soaring concert footage, powerful survivor recollections, cinematic dramatizations and evocative animation, their heartbreaking story is brought to life.


MON 23:20 Hidden Histories: Britain's Oldest Family Businesses (b03qlp97)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Sunday]


MON 00:20 King Alfred and the Anglo Saxons (b038dbd5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


MON 01:20 Around the World in 60 Minutes (b00ymjkt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


MON 02:20 Remembering the Holocaust: Defiant Requiem (b03slv8r)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]



TUESDAY 28 JANUARY 2014

TUE 19:00 World News Today (b03slpfm)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


TUE 19:30 Nature's Microworlds (b01l2s60)
Galapagos

A visit to arguably the most famous archipelago on earth, the Galapagos. It's home to a myriad of bizarre and unique creatures endemic to these islands - but how did they get here and what is the key to these extraordinary islands that allows them to thrive? The programme reveals that this key holds not just the secret to life here, but also to how Darwin was able to leave with the ideas that would revolutionise biology.


TUE 20:00 Stories from the Dark Earth: Meet the Ancestors Revisited (b01skwfd)
The First Anglo-Saxons

Julian Richards returns to the excavation of two early Anglo-Saxon cemeteries to explore the mystery of the Anglo-Saxon invasions that began after the fall of the Roman Empire. In particular, the rich burial of a warrior and his horse offers up fresh clues to some of the very first pioneers.


TUE 21:00 Rococo: Travel, Pleasure, Madness (b03slvhy)
Pleasure

Following the grandeur of Baroque, Rococo art is often dismissed as frivolous and unserious, but Waldemar Januszczak disagrees. In this three-part series he re-examines Rococo art and argues that the Rococo was actually the age in which the modern world was born. Picking three key territories of Rococo achievement - travel, pleasure and madness - Waldemar celebrates the finest cultural achievements of the period and examine the drives and underlying meanings that make them so prescient.

Waldemar looks at the pursuit of pleasure in the Rococo age, to which a huge amount of cultural energy was devoted. For the first time in history, pleasure and happiness were seen as unalienable human rights that everyone was free to pursue and is reflected so poignantly in the art of Boucher, Watteau, Gainsborough and Tiepolo. In its boundless search for delight it often went too far, but, put crudely, Rococo art stopped tasting like medicine and started tasting like cakes.


TUE 22:00 Wild China (b00brvjx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


TUE 23:00 Explosions: How We Shook the World (b00v9kb3)
Engineer Jem Stansfield is used to creating explosions, but in this programme he uncovers the story of how we have learnt to control them and harness their power for our own means.

From recreating a rather dramatic ancient Chinese alchemy accident to splitting an atom in his own home-built replica of a 1930s piece of equipment, Jem reveals how explosives work and how we have used their power throughout history. He goes underground to show how gunpowder was used in the mines of Cornwall, recreates the first test of guncotton in a quarry with dramatic results and visits a modern high explosives factory with a noble history.

Ground-breaking high speed photography makes for some startling revelations at every step of the way.


TUE 00:00 Pain, Pus and Poison: The Search for Modern Medicines (p01f51z4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Saturday]


TUE 01:00 Heart vs Mind: What Makes Us Human? (b01kpvj1)
The heart is the most symbolic organ of the human body. Throughout history it has been seen as the site of our emotions, the very centre of our being. But modern medicine has come to see the heart as just a pump; a brilliant pump, but nothing more. And we see ourselves as ruled by our heads and not our hearts.

In this documentary, filmmaker David Malone asks whether we are right to take this view. He explores the heart's conflicting histories as an emotional symbol and a physical organ, and investigates what the latest science is learning about its structures, its capacities and its role. In the age-old battle of hearts and minds, will these new discoveries alter the balance and allow the heart to reclaim something of its traditional place at the centre of our humanity?


TUE 02:00 Stories from the Dark Earth: Meet the Ancestors Revisited (b01skwfd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


TUE 03:00 Rococo: Travel, Pleasure, Madness (b03slvhy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



WEDNESDAY 29 JANUARY 2014

WED 19:00 World News Today (b03slpfs)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


WED 19:30 Nature's Microworlds (b01l4906)
Serengeti

A look at one of the most famous habitats on the planet, the Serengeti in east Africa, a vast grassland that is home to some of the greatest concentrations of herbivores on the continent. But what is the key to this exceptional grassland that allows such density and diversity?


WED 20:00 The Grammar School: A Secret History (b019c88d)
Episode 2

This is the story of the golden age of the grammar schools in the 1950s and 60s and their sudden demise. They gave talented children from modest backgrounds, like Michael Wood, Neil Kinnock and Edwina Currie, the chance to go to the very best schools in the country. This revealing history explains how and why the grammar schools were suddenly phased out by the very people who had benefited from them.


WED 21:00 Hidden Histories: Britain's Oldest Family Businesses (b03slwfr)
Durtnell the Builder

Alex Durtnell's family have been builders for over 400 years. We follow Alex as he travels back through the centuries and rediscovers the houses his family have built, right back to the reign of Elizabeth I.

Narrated by Margaret Mountford.


WED 22:00 Treasures of Ancient Egypt (p01mv1kj)
A New Dawn

Alastair Sooke concludes the epic story of Egyptian art by looking at how, despite political decline, the final era of the Egyptian Empire saw its art enjoy revival and rebirth. From the colossal statues of Rameses II that proclaimed the pharaoh's power to the final flourishes under Queen Cleopatra, Sooke discovers that the subsequent invasions by foreign rulers, from the Nubians and Alexander the Great to the Romans, produced a new hybrid art full of surprise. He also unearths a seam of astonishing satirical work, produced by ordinary men, that continues to inspire Egypt's graffiti artists today.


WED 23:00 Remembering the Holocaust: Defiant Requiem (b03slv8r)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 on Monday]


WED 00:20 Beautiful Thing: A Passion for Porcelain (p0192fqp)
Documentary in which Ros Savill, former director and curator at the Wallace Collection, tells the story of some incredible and misunderstood objects - the opulent, intricate, gold-crested and often much-maligned Sevres porcelain of the 18th century.

Ros brings us up close to a personal choice of Sevres masterpieces in the Wallace Collection, viewing them in intricate and intimate detail. She engages us with the beauty and brilliance in the designs, revelling in what is now often viewed as unfashionably pretty or ostentatious. These objects represent the unbelievable skills of 18th-century France, as well as the desires and demands of an autocratic regime that was heading for revolution.

As valuable now as they were when first produced, Sevres' intricacies and opulence speak of wealth, sophistication and prestige and have always been sought after by collectors eager to associate themselves with Sevres' power. Often the whims and capricious demands of monumentally rich patrons were the catalysts for these beautiful and incredible artistic innovations.

The film explores the stories of some of history's most outrageous patrons - Madame de Pompadour, Louis XV, Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI, as well as their foreign counterparts like Catherine the Great, who willingly copied the French court's capricious ways. Ros tells how the French Revolutionaries actually preserved and adapted the Sevres tradition to their new order, and how the English aristocracy collected these huge dinner services out of nostalgia for the ancient regime. In fact, they are still used by the British royal family today.

Like the iPads of their day, these objects, ostentatious to modernist eyes, were the product of art and science coming together and creating something beautiful yet functional. Ros reconnects us with the fascinating lives and stories of the artists, artisans, painters and sculptors whose ingenuity, innovation and creativity went into making some of the most incredible and incredibly expensive ice cream coolers, vases and teapots of their day. We also see inside the factory, still open today, and witness the alchemic creation process for ourselves.

Taking us behind the museum glass and into some incredible private collections, the film reveals stories that are as louche, extravagant and over the top as some of the objects themselves. They might be unfashionable or even unpalatable to minimalist modernist tastes right now, but in this documentary we are taken back to a time when these objects were universally loved and adored, when they were the newest and most incredible things that had ever been created.


WED 01:20 The Grammar School: A Secret History (b019c88d)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


WED 02:20 Hidden Histories: Britain's Oldest Family Businesses (b03slwfr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



THURSDAY 30 JANUARY 2014

THU 19:00 World News Today (b03slpfy)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


THU 19:30 Top of the Pops (b03t4px8)
Weekly pop chart programme presented by Mike Read, including performances by Nazareth, the Three Degrees, UFO, the Members, Sally Oldfield, Two Man Sound, Generation X and the Pointer Sisters, with a dance sequence by Legs & Co.


THU 20:00 Ever Decreasing Circles (b036d6dw)
Series 1

Holiday Plans

It's time for members of the Close to go on a holiday outing. Some wish to repeat an earlier trip to the Bavarian Alps, but Paul has something altogether different in mind.


THU 20:30 London on Film (b01k7m4h)
The East End

The intensity of life in London's East End has attracted film-makers since the camera was first invented. The vast changes in East End life - from the docks and the rag trade to market traders, migrants and wartime upheavals - are revealed entirely through the images they captured on film.


THU 21:00 Easter Island: Mysteries of a Lost World (b03srmm6)
The contrast between the majestic statues of Easter Island and the desolation of their surroundings is stark. For decades Easter Island, or Rapa Nui as the islanders call it, has been seen as a warning from history for the planet as a whole - wilfully expend natural resources and the collapse of civilisation is inevitable.

But archaeologist Dr Jago Cooper believes this is a disastrous misreading of what happened on Easter Island. He believes that its culture was a success story not a failure, and the real reasons for its ultimate demise were far more shocking. Cooper argues that there is an important lesson that the experience of Easter Island can teach the rest of the world, but it doesn't begin by blaming its inhabitants for their own downfall.

This film examines the latest scientific and archaeological evidence to reveal a compelling new narrative, one that sees the famous statues as only part of a complex culture that thrived in isolation. Cooper finds a path between competing theories about what happened to Easter Island to make us see this unique place in a fresh light.


THU 22:30 Stories from the Dark Earth: Meet the Ancestors Revisited (b01skwfd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Tuesday]


THU 23:30 Rococo: Travel, Pleasure, Madness (b03slvhy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Tuesday]


THU 00:30 Top of the Pops (b03t4px8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


THU 01:05 Ever Decreasing Circles (b036d6dw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


THU 01:35 London on Film (b01k7m4h)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]


THU 02:05 Easter Island: Mysteries of a Lost World (b03srmm6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



FRIDAY 31 JANUARY 2014

FRI 19:00 World News Today (b03slpg3)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


FRI 19:30 James Bond 50th Anniversary Gala Concert (b01p97hp)
A night dedicated to the music of 007. Conductor Carl Davis and the Philharmonia Orchestra create a concert bringing together the iconic theme tunes from the James Bond films, including Goldfinger, Diamonds are Forever, From Russia with Love, GoldenEye and many more. Honor Blackman, who played the legendary Pussy Galore, leads us on the journey through the world of Bond across the 50 years and 23 films. Featuring Strictly Come Dancing vocalist Lance Ellington and Mary Carewe as the soloists in a concert performed at the Royal Festival Hall in London.


FRI 21:00 Blondie: One Way or Another (b0074thn)
The story of New York's finest - the most successful and enduring band fronted by a woman - Debbie Harry and Blondie. From their Bowery beginnings at CBGB's in 1974 to their controversial induction into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame in New York. The band crossed pop with punk, reggae and rap and had no 1s in all styles. With exclusive backstage and performance footage from their UK tour plus in-depth interviews with current and ex-band members and friends Iggy Pop, Shirley Manson, Tommy Ramone, and Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth of Talking Heads.


FRI 22:15 Sound City (b03sltyb)
Documentary produced and directed by rock superstar Dave Grohl (who also appears in the film) in which he uncovers stories about the Los Angeles studio Sound City, where some of the greatest rock albums of all time were perfected and recorded.

Sound City was state of the art when it opened in 1969, featuring a legendary Neve recording console. Through interviews with the musicians and producers who have worked at the studio over the years, the film uncovers and defines the intangible magic within those wires and walls that was responsible for such an incredible history of contemporary music.

For over four decades, it was the birthplace of some of the world's most treasured music, including Nirvana's Nevermind, Neil Young's After the Gold Rush, Tom Petty's Damn the Torpedoes, Fleetwood Mac's eponymous album and Johnny Cash's Unchained, to name just a few.

Grohl discovers the stories of the iconic bands that recorded there. We learn how Mick Fleetwood met Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham at Sound City, leading to them joining Fleetwood Mac, and discover why musicians and producers such as Butch Vig, Frank Black, Trent Reznor and Lars Ulrich all chose to work in its analogue environment over newer, more state-of-the-art studios. Grohl also tracks the growth of digital music and the inevitable death of analogue recording, which changed the industry and Sound City forever.

The story of Sound City is an integral part of the personal story of Dave Grohl, whose music was forever influenced by those who once recorded in Studio A and left their mark in the form of the many platinum records hanging on the walls within. He completes the film by bringing some of the great names together at his Studio 606 to record a new album on the original Sound City Neve console, culminating in new performances from Rick Springfield, Stevie Nicks, Lee Ving, Josh Homme, Trent Reznor, Krist Novoselic and Sir Paul McCartney.

Featuring contributions from Neil Young, Tom Petty, Stevie Nicks, Trent Reznor, Rick Rubin, Mick Fleetwood, Lars Ulrich, John Fogerty, Jim Keltner, Rick Springfield, Josh Homme, Frank Black, Barry Manilow, Lindsey Buckingham, Lee Ving, Pat Smear and Krist Novoselic.


FRI 00:00 ... Sings the Great American Songbook (b00rs3w4)
Presenting the best and most eclectic performances on the BBC from the world's best-known artists performing their interpretations of classic tracks from The Great American Songbook.

In chronological order, this programme takes us through a myriad of BBC studio performances, from Dame Shirley Bassey in 1966 performing The Lady is A Tramp, to Bryan Ferry in 1974 on Twiggy's BBC primetime show performing Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, to Captain Sensible on Top of the Pops in 1982 with his number one hit version of Happy Talk, through to Kirsty MacColl singing Miss Otis Regrets in 1994 to Jamie Cullum with his version of I Get a Kick Out Of You on Parkinson in 2004 and bang up to date with Brit winner Florence from Florence and the Machine performing My Baby Just Cares for Me with Jools Holland on his Annual Hootenanny at the end of 2009.

The Great American Songbook can best be described as the music and popular songs of the famous and prolific American composers of the 1920s and onwards. Composers such as Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Johnny Mercer, Harold Arlen, Rodgers and Hammerstein, and Hoagy Carmichael to name but a few... songwriters who wrote the tunes of Broadway theatre and Hollywood musicals that earned enduring popularity before the dawning of rock 'n' roll.

These famous songwriters have penned songs which have entered the general consciousness and which are now best described as standards - tunes which every musician and singer aspires to include in their repertoire.


FRI 01:00 When Rock Goes Acoustic (b0141myx)
The cliche of classic rock guitar is one of riffs, solos and noise. But write a list of great guitarists and their finest moments and a quieter, more intense playing comes to the fore. The acoustic guitar is the secret weapon in the armoury of the guitar hero, when paradoxically they get more attention by playing quietly than being loud.

This documentary takes an insightful and occasionally irreverent look at the love affair between rock and the humble acoustic guitar. Exploring a much less celebrated, yet crucial part of the rock musician's arsenal, contributors including Johnny Marr, Keith Richards, Ray Davies, James Dean Bradfield, Biffy Clyro, Joan Armatrading, Donovan and Roger McGuinn discuss why an instrument favoured by medieval minstrels and singing nuns is as important to rock 'n' roll as the drums, bass and its noisy sister, the electric guitar.


FRI 02:00 Sound City (b03sltyb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:15 today]




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

... Sings the Great American Songbook 00:00 FRI (b00rs3w4)

Around the World in 60 Minutes 21:00 MON (b00ymjkt)

Around the World in 60 Minutes 01:20 MON (b00ymjkt)

Beautiful Thing: A Passion for Porcelain 00:20 WED (p0192fqp)

Blondie: One Way or Another 21:00 FRI (b0074thn)

Bon Jovi in Concert 03:00 SUN (b03qlqr2)

Born to be Wild: The Golden Age of American Rock 01:05 SUN (b03qlqr0)

Classic Albums 00:40 SAT (b01r22tl)

Classic Albums 02:05 SUN (b00x7chg)

Easter Island: Mysteries of a Lost World 21:00 THU (b03srmm6)

Easter Island: Mysteries of a Lost World 02:05 THU (b03srmm6)

Elephant Diaries 19:30 MON (b00794xm)

Ever Decreasing Circles 20:00 THU (b036d6dw)

Ever Decreasing Circles 01:05 THU (b036d6dw)

Explosions: How We Shook the World 23:00 TUE (b00v9kb3)

Forever Young: How Rock 'n' Roll Grew Up 23:00 SAT (b00sxjls)

Heart vs Mind: What Makes Us Human? 01:00 TUE (b01kpvj1)

Hidden Histories: Britain's Oldest Family Businesses 19:00 SUN (b03qlp97)

Hidden Histories: Britain's Oldest Family Businesses 23:20 MON (b03qlp97)

Hidden Histories: Britain's Oldest Family Businesses 21:00 WED (b03slwfr)

Hidden Histories: Britain's Oldest Family Businesses 02:20 WED (b03slwfr)

Horror Europa with Mark Gatiss 23:35 SUN (b01nmsw7)

James Bond 50th Anniversary Gala Concert 19:30 FRI (b01p97hp)

King Alfred and the Anglo Saxons 20:00 MON (b038dbd5)

King Alfred and the Anglo Saxons 00:20 MON (b038dbd5)

London on Film 20:30 THU (b01k7m4h)

London on Film 01:35 THU (b01k7m4h)

Nature's Microworlds 19:30 TUE (b01l2s60)

Nature's Microworlds 19:30 WED (b01l4906)

Pain, Pus and Poison: The Search for Modern Medicines 20:00 SAT (p01f51z4)

Pain, Pus and Poison: The Search for Modern Medicines 02:40 SAT (p01f51z4)

Pain, Pus and Poison: The Search for Modern Medicines 00:00 TUE (p01f51z4)

Remembering the Holocaust: Defiant Requiem 22:00 MON (b03slv8r)

Remembering the Holocaust: Defiant Requiem 02:20 MON (b03slv8r)

Remembering the Holocaust: Defiant Requiem 23:00 WED (b03slv8r)

Rococo: Travel, Pleasure, Madness 21:00 TUE (b03slvhy)

Rococo: Travel, Pleasure, Madness 03:00 TUE (b03slvhy)

Rococo: Travel, Pleasure, Madness 23:30 THU (b03slvhy)

Sound City 22:15 FRI (b03sltyb)

Sound City 02:00 FRI (b03sltyb)

Stories from the Dark Earth: Meet the Ancestors Revisited 20:00 TUE (b01skwfd)

Stories from the Dark Earth: Meet the Ancestors Revisited 02:00 TUE (b01skwfd)

Stories from the Dark Earth: Meet the Ancestors Revisited 22:30 THU (b01skwfd)

Storyville 21:00 SUN (b03slty8)

The Bridge 21:00 SAT (b03glzzl)

The Bridge 22:00 SAT (b03gq3p9)

The Grammar School: A Secret History 20:00 WED (b019c88d)

The Grammar School: A Secret History 01:20 WED (b019c88d)

The Review Show 20:00 SUN (b03slty6)

Top of the Pops 00:00 SAT (b03qlq5q)

Top of the Pops 19:30 THU (b03t4px8)

Top of the Pops 00:30 THU (b03t4px8)

Treasures of Ancient Egypt 22:00 WED (p01mv1kj)

We Are What We Are 22:10 SUN (b01rtd96)

When Rock Goes Acoustic 01:00 FRI (b0141myx)

Wild China 19:00 SAT (b00brvjx)

Wild China 01:40 SAT (b00brvjx)

Wild China 22:00 TUE (b00brvjx)

World News Today 19:00 MON (b03slpfg)

World News Today 19:00 TUE (b03slpfm)

World News Today 19:00 WED (b03slpfs)

World News Today 19:00 THU (b03slpfy)

World News Today 19:00 FRI (b03slpg3)