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 08 MARCH 2014

SAT 19:00 Great Barrier Reef (b019hd78)
Reef to Rainforest

Three-part series exploring Australia's Great Barrier Reef, one of the natural wonders of the world and the largest living structure on our planet.

Monty Halls explores its full 2,000-kilometre length, from the wild outer reefs of the Coral Sea to the tangled mangrove and steaming rainforest on the shoreline; from large mountainous islands to tiny coral cays barely above sea level; from the dark depths of the abyss beyond the reef to colourful coral gardens of the shallows.

Along the way, he experiences the reef at its most dangerous and its most intriguing, and visits areas that have rarely been filmed, from the greatest wildlife shipwreck on earth to the mysterious seafloor of the lagoon, where freakish animals lurk under every rock.

The Great Barrier Reef as a whole covers an area larger than Great Britain, but amazingly only seven per cent of it is coral reef. The rest is a variety of interconnected habitats including the world's oldest jungle, hundreds of islands, mangrove swamps, mysterious deep-water gardens, vast sand flats and meadows of sea grass - all full of amazing wildlife. A giant deep-water lagoon connects all of these, and many of the creatures that live in it are almost impossibly weird - from giant hammerhead sharks to the bizarre 'pearl fish' that lives its life up a sea cucumber's bottom.

Marine life here also exists in spectacular profusion, as on the 100-year-old shipwreck of the SS Yongala, considered to be the greatest wildlife wreck on earth. The connections between all these environments mean that not only do they depend on each other, but without them the coral reef itself would not survive.


SAT 20:00 Lost Kingdoms of South America (b01qhl0d)
Kingdom of the Desert

In the spectacular deserts of coastal Peru, archaeologist Dr Jago Cooper explores the dramatic rise and fall of Chimor, the first empire of South America. His journey begins among the ruins of a vast lost city once home to an all-powerful monarchy, whose subjects transformed the desert landscape, created gold and silver treasures and believed so strongly in the power of their gods that they made the most shocking of sacrifices. Chimor thrived despite facing some of the most extreme climate conditions in the world, but not even this powerful empire could withstand the forces that eventually destroyed it.


SAT 21:00 Salamander (b01qqvzp)
Series 1

Episode 9

At an emergency meeting with the prime minister, the minister of justice is told that the palace is calling for heads to roll in the case which is paralysing the country. He is introduced to the new personal advisor to the PM, a certain Vincent Noel, the ambitious young man who is also the protege of Raymond Jonkhere.

In Flemish and French with English subtitles.


SAT 21:45 Salamander (b01qx7g5)
Series 1

Episode 10

With the struggle getting deadlier, Salamander plays its best card as Vincent Noel becomes internal security advisor to the prime minister. Persigal knows that his time is running out but manages to pass vital information to Gerardi.

In Flemish and French with English subtitles.


SAT 22:35 Totally British: 70s Rock 'n' Roll (b01r7hk5)
1975-79

A romp through the BBC archive library from 1975 to 1979 has unearthed some seldom-seen performances of the rarely explored genre of pub rock and other late 70s rock 'n' roll gems from classic music programmes like the Old Grey Whistle Test and Top of the Pops. Before the DIY culture of punk took hold there was a whole breed of real musicians who honed their craft in the backrooms of pubs. And towards the end of the 70s men's hair was starting to get shorter too.

This compilation has uncovered rarely seen footage from the likes of Canvey Island's Dr Feelgood, original pub rockers Ducks DeLuxe, Eddie and the Hot Rods, Elvis Costello, Meal Ticket, Steve Gibbons Band, Dave Edmunds and chum Nick Lowe, a pre-Mike & the Mechanics' Paul Carrack in his first band Ace, a post-Faces Ronnie Lane, The Motors, the first TV performance from Dire Straits, Graham Parker and the Rumour and many more.


SAT 23:35 The Ballad of Mott the Hoople (b01r3pmc)
Documentary telling the bruised and battered, but triumphant, tale of one of the UK's most cherished rock 'n' roll bands, Mott the Hoople.

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

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

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


SAT 00:35 Top of the Pops (b03xcbrp)
Kid Jensen presents another edition of the weekly pop chart show, including performances from Inner Circle, Elvis Costello, the Buzzcocks, Dennis Brown, the Late Show, the Real Thing, Cliff Richard, the Dooleys, Motorhead and the Leyton Buzzards. With dance sequences by Legs & Co.


SAT 01:15 Sounds of the 70s 2 (b01j8h0b)
Rock - The Boys Are Back in Town

Sounds of the 70s 2 series continues, and this programme features the boys with their guitars turned all the way up to eleven! It is time to don your double denim, let your hair down and headbang your way through half an hour of rock anthems including performances from Alice Cooper, The Faces, Nazareth, Bad Company, AC/DC, Thin Lizzy, Whitesnake and Black Sabbath.


SAT 01:45 Lost Kingdoms of South America (b01qhl0d)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


SAT 02:45 Great Barrier Reef (b019hd78)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]



SUNDAY 09 MARCH 2014

SUN 19:00 The Golden Age of Steam Railways (b01p8w38)
Small Is Beautiful

Two-part documentary telling the remarkable story of a band of visionaries who rescued some of the little narrow gauge railways that once served Britain's industries. These small railways and the steam engines that ran on them were once the driving force of Britain's mines, quarries, factories and docks. Then, as they disappeared after 1945, volunteers set to work to bring the lines and the steam engines back to life and started a movement which spread throughout the world. Their home movies tell the story of how they helped millions reconnect with a past they thought had gone forever.


SUN 20:00 Shooting the Hollywood Stars (b00xhdwc)
Rankin, the UK's leading fashion photographer, reveals the rich history of Hollywood photography and how its most influential and enduring images were created. From Hollywood's golden age, epitomised by gorgeous images of screen goddesses Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich to brooding shots of Marlon Brando; from the unparalleled allure of pictures of Marilyn Monroe to iconic black and white stills of Charlie Chaplin, Rankin immerses himself in the art of the Hollywood portrait and explores the vital role it has played in both the movie business and our continuing love affair with movie stars.

To understand how the image makers of Hollywood created these iconic photographs, Rankin recruits a cast of leading Hollywood actors to help him recreate some of the most important - including Leslie Mann (Knocked Up, 40 Year Old Virgin); Selma Blair (Legally Blonde, Cruel Intentions), British actor Matthew Rhys (Brothers & Sisters, Dylan Thomas's biopic The Edge of Love); actor extraordinaire Michael Sheen (The Damned United, Frost/Nixon), and Hollywood legend Jane Russell.


SUN 21:00 Good Swan, Bad Swan: Dancing Swan Lake (p01s4wy9)
Tamara Rojo, world-famous ballerina and artistic director of English National Ballet, takes us backstage as she prepares for one of classical ballet's biggest challenges - the dual lead in Swan Lake. It is the ultimate role for any dancer, requiring her to play the completely contrasting characters - Odette the White Swan and Odile the Black Swan.

With unprecedented access, the disarmingly candid Rojo reveals her insights on the role's physical and psychological challenges. Through demonstration and masterclass, she reveals how to read the choreography of some of Swan Lake's most famous scenes.

Along the way Rojo gives us a glimpse of Swan Lake's history - its genesis through to 21st-century incarnations. She looks back at some of the greats that inspired her and leads the way forward, coaching the next generation of rising stars.

This film celebrates Swan Lake as an evolving and living work of art - the ultimate classic.


SUN 22:00 The Sky at Night (b03y31f0)
Sounds of the Universe

The Sky at Night team listens to the sounds of the cosmos. Maggie Aderin-Pocock and Chris Lintott explore how sound can reveal extraordinary secrets about the universe - from orchestral tunes rippling on the surface of the sun and the crackle of Jupiter's atmosphere to the sound waves that reveal how the universe was formed. This is astronomy as you've never heard it before.


SUN 22:30 We Have a Pope (b01mnz09)
Italian comedy-drama. When the pope dies, a conclave of cardinals is called at the Vatican to elect a successor. After a few rounds of inconclusive votes, there is still no clear frontrunner until an unlikely winner, Cardinal Melville, is finally chosen. As the Church prepares to announce the new pontiff to the world, the newly elected pope, overwhelmed by doubt, has a panic attack and refuses to appear. The Church is thrown into a state of secret turmoil, its helplessness such that a psychoanalyst is called in to examine the new pope's broken-down mental state.

In Italian with English subtitles.


SUN 00:10 Storyville (b03x3vb9)
Muscle Shoals: The Greatest Recording Studio in the World

Located alongside the Tennessee River, Muscle Shoals in Alabama is the unlikely breeding ground for some of America's most creative and defiant music. Under the spiritual influence of the 'Singing River', as Native Americans called it, the music of Muscle Shoals has helped create some of the most important and resonant songs of all time.

At its heart is Rick Hall, who founded FAME Studios. Overcoming poverty and tragedy, Hall brought black and white together in Alabama's cauldron of racial hostility to create music for the generations. Greg Allman, Bono, Clarence Carter, Mick Jagger, Etta James, Alicia Keys, Keith Richards, Percy Sledge and others bear witness to Muscle Shoals's magnetism, mystery and why it remains influential today.


SUN 02:00 BBC One Sessions (b007cj5l)
Paul Simon

The legendary American singer-songwriter with his six-piece band in an intimate concert from LSO St Luke's in London's Shoreditch. Simon plays songs from throughout his solo career and his 60s heyday with Simon and Garfunkel including You Can Call Me Al, The Only Living Boy in New York, The Boxer and Still Crazy After All These Years, alongside songs from his gold-selling album, Surprise. The band sing jawdropping harmonies, play everything from penny whistle to baritone sax and accordion while Simon sings, plays guitar and conducts the band in front of 250 fans.


SUN 02:50 Good Swan, Bad Swan: Dancing Swan Lake (p01s4wy9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



MONDAY 10 MARCH 2014

MON 19:00 World News Today (b03xpzxz)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


MON 19:30 Great British Railway Journeys (b01bqpch)
Series 3

Goes to Ireland - Belfast to Whitehead

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

He crosses the Irish Sea to discover the rich railway history of both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, following the unfurling 19th century expansion of the tracks from Dublin to Londonderry.

Michael explores the fascinating history of Belfast's Victorian docks, discovers the Irish spade making traditions untouched for over 150 years and takes a walk on the wild side with Whitehead's Victorian coastal paths.


MON 20:00 Bombay Railway (b007t367)
Dreams

India is undergoing unprecedented growth and Bombay is its financial powerhouse. The city promotes itself as a positive vision of the future, a place where dreams can come true. Like an extended family, the Bombay railway provides an unfailing lifeline to the city. This series follows the hope and dreams of some the people who work for the railway.

Hans Dev Sharma is a senior operations clerk. He works in the timetabling department, which schedules over 2,000 trains a day - under its cultural quota, Hans was talent-spotted as an exceptional actor and dancer and the railways offered him a job. Hans is living the Bollywood dream, with Bombay Railways as his life and his stage. But will he get his big break?

Jagdish Paul Raj was born in Bombay and is as ambitious as the city he lives in. The son of a railway catering officer, Jagdish, like his father, always had an interest in food but none in the railway. He graduated in politics and economics and became a fully qualified chef. Now 31, he is running a successful catering business on the train to Goa. He is tendered for more trains, but will he be successful?

Mumtaz Kazi is Indian Railways' first fully qualified female train driver and has driven trains all over India. Mumtaz was brought up in a traditional Muslim family - a railway family. Now her father has retired and her immediate family live in Canada - Mumtaz is the only member left in Bombay. It will be Mumtaz's responsibility to find a wife for her brother, to get him married and back to Canada in just eight weeks. Can she do it and still drive the train?


MON 21:00 Photographing Africa (b03xsjb9)
Photographer and film director Harry Hook, who grew up in Sudan and Kenya and has been documenting life in Africa for 40 years, uses his images to tell a personal story as he crosses the continent to visit remote tribal groups.

Harry tracks down five Samburu women he first photographed in Kenya 30 years ago. His aim is to give them a copy of their portrait and discover how their lives have changed over three decades. The search will be no small task - Samburuland covers an area the size of Wales and, as a semi-nomadic group, the women may well have moved great distances.

During his search Harry witnesses a Lenkarna Lmuget, a once-in-a-decade coming-of-age ceremony for Samburu warriors, as they are initiated to become elders.

There are not many parts of Africa where the lure of the city life is not felt. Harry ventures to isolated communities and encounters people living with one foot rooted in a rich cultural past, but who also embrace the here and now of contemporary Africa.


MON 22:00 Lost Kingdoms of Africa (b00qbytc)
Series 1

West Africa

Four-part series in which British art historian Dr Gus Casely-Hayford explores the pre-colonial history of some of Africa's most important kingdoms.

The African continent is home to nearly a billion people. It has an incredible diversity of communities and cultures, yet we know less of its history than almost anywhere else on earth.

But that is beginning to change. In the last few decades researchers and archaeologists have begun to uncover a range of histories as impressive and extraordinary as anywhere else in the world.

The series reveals that Africa's stories are preserved for us in its treasures, statues and ancient buildings - in the culture, art and legends of the people.

When magnificent 16th-century bronze casts were discovered in the kingdom of Benin in 1897, many could not believe they had been made by Africans. It was thought West Africa lacked the technical development required to make them. Dr Casely-Hayford travels to present-day Nigeria and Mali in search of the truth, exploring what the bronzes mean, how the technology to make them developed, and what it reveals about the lost kingdoms of West Africa.


MON 22:50 Mark Lawson Talks To... (b03xsfrs)
David Bailey

In a career spanning more than five decades, photographer David Bailey has captured many of the 20th century's most iconic faces. With his first major solo exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery currently on show, he talks frankly to Mark Lawson about his life, loves and illustrious career. First shown in 2014.


MON 23:50 When Albums Ruled the World (b01qhn70)
Between the mid-1960s and the late 1970s, the long-playing record and the albums that graced its grooves changed popular music for ever. For the first time, musicians could escape the confines of the three-minute pop single and express themselves as never before across the expanded artistic canvas of the album. The LP allowed popular music become an art form - from the glorious artwork adorning gatefold sleeves, to the ideas and concepts that bound the songs together, to the unforgettable music itself.

Built on stratospheric sales of albums, these were the years when the music industry exploded to become bigger than Hollywood. From pop to rock, from country to soul, from jazz to punk, all of music embraced what 'the album' could offer. But with the collapse of vinyl sales at the end of the 70s and the arrival of new technologies and formats, the golden era of the album couldn't last forever.

With contributions from Roger Taylor, Ray Manzarek, Noel Gallagher, Guy Garvey, Nile Rodgers, Grace Slick, Mike Oldfield, Slash and a host of others, this is the story of When Albums Ruled the World.


MON 01:20 Dancing in the Blitz: How World War II Made British Ballet (p01s4z2h)
David Bintley, director of the Birmingham Royal Ballet, explores how the Second World War was the making of British ballet and how fundamental the years of hardship and adversity were in getting the British public to embrace ballet. Bintley shows how the then Sadler's Wells Ballet Company, led by Ninette de Valois and featuring a star-studded generation of British dancers and choreographers including Margot Fonteyn and Frederick Ashton, was forged during the Second World War.

It's the story of how de Valois and her small company of dancers took what was essentially a foreign art form and made it British despite the falling bombs, the rationing and the call-up. Plus it is the story of how Britain, as a nation, fell in love with ballet.

Using rare and previously unseen footage and interviews with dance icons such as Dame Gillian Lynne and Dame Beryl Grey, Bintley shows how the Sadler's Wells Ballet company survived an encounter with Nazi forces in Holland, dancing whilst the bombs were falling in the Blitz, rationing and a punishing touring schedule to bring ballet to the British people as an antidote to the austerity the country faced to emerge, postwar, as the Royal Ballet.


MON 02:20 Brushing up on... (b03x46dv)
Series 2

British Statues

Danny Baker delves through the archives to look at statues. Featuring Winston Churchill, Emmeline Pankhurst, John Noakes and King Kong.


MON 02:50 Photographing Africa (b03xsjb9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



TUESDAY 11 MARCH 2014

TUE 19:00 World News Today (b03xpzy4)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


TUE 19:30 Great British Railway Journeys (b01bqpfh)
Series 3

Goes to Ireland - Ballymoney to Londonderry

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

He crosses the Irish Sea to discover the rich railway history of both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, following the unfurling 19th-century expansion of the tracks from Dublin to Londonderry.

Michael takes a white knuckle walk over the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge, follows in the footsteps of the Victorians to experience the delights of the Giant's Causeway and explores the rich history of Londonderry.


TUE 20:00 Weird Nature (b0078hcf)
Bizarre Breeding

Discover dancing scorpions, courting birds that give trinkets as gifts, mice that mate themselves to death and a mantis that eats its partner in an exploration of strange behaviour in nature's bizarre breeding rituals.

Meet frogs that rear their young under their skin, fish that leap from the water to lay eggs on leaves and a bullfrog father that becomes lifeguard to his offspring. There are fish that change sex, others that bubble-wrap their young, male hamsters that act as midwives and even a male that becomes pregnant. And, in this weird world, discover a shrew that creates a living daisy chain of its own young.


TUE 20:30 Secrets of Bones (b03xsgwh)
Sensing the World

Ben Garrod delves into the surprising ways in which bone has evolved to help vertebrates sense the world around them. He reveals why predators like the wolf have eyes at the front of their skull whereas prey animals such as sheep usually have eye sockets on the sides of their heads. He finds out how the skull of the great grey owl has helped it develop such extraordinary hearing and uncovers the secret behind one bizarre creature's uniquely flexible nose.


TUE 21:00 Fossil Wonderlands: Nature's Hidden Treasures (b03xsfrq)
Weird Wonders

Professor Richard Fortey journeys high in the Rocky Mountains to explore a 520 million-year-old fossilised seabed containing bizarre and experimental life forms that have revolutionised our understanding about the beginnings of complex life. Among the amazing finds he uncovers are marine creatures with five eyes and a proboscis, filter-feeders shaped like tulips, worm-like scavengers covered in spikes but with no identifiable head or anus, and a metre-long predator resembling a giant shrimp.


TUE 22:00 The First World War (b01rp9tf)
Jihad

The Ottoman Empire, Germany's ally, summoned all Muslims to Jihad - holy war - to overthrow Allied power in the Middle East. Turkey's search for scapegoats after defeat by the Russians at Sarakamish led to the mass-deportation of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. Perhaps 800,000 Armenians died in all. The Allies initially thought Turkey - the 'sick man of Europe' - would be a pushover, but Turkey tied up Allied troops across the Middle East for four years, winning triumphantly at Gallipoli with terrible losses on both sides, and then at Kut, south of Baghdad, forcing the British into humiliating surrender.


TUE 22:50 Agnetha: ABBA and After (b02x9zwc)
In this documentary, the BBC have exclusive access to Agnetha Faltskog, 'The Girl with the Golden Hair' as the song goes, celebrating her extraordinary singing career which began in the mid-60s when she was just 15. Within just two years, she was a singing sensation at the top of the charts in Sweden.

Along came husband Bjorn Ulvaeus and the phenomenal band ABBA that engulfed the world in the 70s, featuring Agnetha's touching voice and striking looks. Agnetha lacked confidence on stage as the global demand for the group grew and grew, while being away from her young children caused her great turmoil.

With special behind-the-scenes access to the making of her comeback album, the film follows this reluctant star - the subject of much tabloid speculation since she retreated from the stage post-ABBA - as she returns to recording aged 63. Included in the film is her first meeting with Gary Barlow, who contributes a duet to the new album.

The programme features interviews with Bjorn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, Gary Barlow, Tony Blackburn, Sir Tim Rice and record producers Peter Nordahl and Jorgen Elofsson.


TUE 23:50 Good Swan, Bad Swan: Dancing Swan Lake (p01s4wy9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Sunday]


TUE 00:50 The Golden Age of Steam Railways (b01p8w38)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Sunday]


TUE 01:50 Weird Nature (b0078hcf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


TUE 02:20 Secrets of Bones (b03xsgwh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]


TUE 02:55 Fossil Wonderlands: Nature's Hidden Treasures (b03xsfrq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



WEDNESDAY 12 MARCH 2014

WED 19:00 World News Today (b03xpzy9)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


WED 19:30 Great British Railway Journeys (b01pw98y)
Series 4

High Wycombe to Stratford-Upon-Avon

Michael Portillo takes to the tracks with his copy of Bradshaw's Victorian railway guidebook, travelling the length and breadth of the British Isles to see what of Bradshaw's World remains.

The first of a series of journeys along the tracks that helped fuel the Industrial Revolution begins in the rolling Chiltern Hills. Michael meets the remarkable craftsmen behind the Victorian furniture trade, discovers how George Bradshaw helped save Britain's canal heritage and sees Shakespeare through the eyes of a 19th-century railway tourist.


WED 20:00 The Two-Thousand-Year-Old Computer (b01hlkcq)
In 1901, a group of divers excavating an ancient Roman shipwreck near the island of Antikythera, off the southern coast of Greece, found a mysterious object - a lump of calcified stone that contained within it several gearwheels welded together after years under the sea. The 2,000-year-old object, no bigger than a modern laptop, is now regarded as the world's oldest computer, devised to predict solar eclipses and, according to recent findings, calculate the timing of the ancient Olympics. Following the efforts of an international team of scientists, the mysteries of the Antikythera Mechanism are uncovered, revealing surprising and awe-inspiring details of the object that continues to mystify.


WED 21:00 How to Get Ahead (b03xsgwk)
At Medieval Court

Writer, broadcaster and Newsnight arts correspondent Stephen Smith looks back at the Medieval Age to find out what it took to get ahead at the court of Richard II. Richard presided over the first truly sophisticated and artistic court in England. Painters, sculptors, poets, tailors, weavers and builders flocked to court to make their fortunes. But these were dangerous times. Being close to Richard brought many a courtier to a sticky end. Featuring David Tennant and Clarissa Dickson Wright.


WED 22:00 Great Barrier Reef (b019hd78)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


WED 23:00 Parks and Recreation (b03xsjbc)
Series 3

Andy and April's Fancy Party

Andy and April host a dinner party for all their friends. Ben asks Leslie for some career advice, while Ann tries her luck at a singles party.


WED 23:20 Parks and Recreation (b03xsjbf)
Series 3

Soulmates

Ann convinces Leslie to sign up for an online dating service, only for her to be matched with someone she already knows. Chris decides to start a health initiative and challenges Ron to a burger cook-off.


WED 23:45 Photographing Africa (b03xsjb9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Monday]


WED 00:45 Lost Kingdoms of South America (b01qhl0d)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Saturday]


WED 01:45 The Two-Thousand-Year-Old Computer (b01hlkcq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


WED 02:45 How to Get Ahead (b03xsgwk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



THURSDAY 13 MARCH 2014

THU 19:00 World News Today (b03xpzyg)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


THU 19:30 The Sky at Night (b03y31f0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 on Sunday]


THU 20:00 Ever Decreasing Circles (b036d6m1)
Series 2

Snooker

Sitcom about domestic disharmony in suburbia. Martin hopes to win the local snooker tournament, but is angry when it turns out Paul has a talent for the game as well.


THU 20:30 Brushing up on... (b03xsrvs)
Series 2

British Beaches

Danny Baker plonks a deckchair on the sandy bit between the land and the sea and mulls over this mysterious, salty, golden or pebbly hinterland.


THU 21:00 Hidden Histories: WW1's Forgotten Photographs (b03xsrvv)
Documentary telling the extraordinary untold story of soldiers' photography in the First World War. The British and German soldiers marched off to war with secret 'vest pocket' cameras, determined to record what they thought would be a great adventure, but few were prepared for the horrors they were about to witness and photograph. Their photos - many never seen before in public - provide a deeply moving document of their lives in the trenches and their rapid loss of innocence.

With no soldier photographer alive to tell the tale, we join their close relatives on emotional journeys of discovery as they go in search of the secrets hidden within their ancestors' photographs.

This is the war viewed from a new and surprising perspective - through the eyes of the men who fought in it.


THU 22:00 The Walshes (b03xpdwd)
Doctor Burger

After weeks of putting it off, Ciara finally agrees to bring her new boyfriend Graham back to meet her family. All she wants is a quick, in-and-out visit with no fuss and no embarrassment. However, the Walshes don't do 'no fuss'. Graham must navigate a social assault course of misunderstandings, dad jokes and utter humiliation.

Tony has a very important TV show that he just can't miss, and Rory has a big secret that he mustn't reveal.


THU 22:30 What Do Artists Do All Day? (b03xsrvx)
Marvin Gaye Chetwynd

Profile of Marvin Gaye Chetwynd, one of the best-known performance artists in Britain. Nominated for the Turner Prize in 2012 (when she was known as Spartacus Chetwynd), she stages exuberant, anarchic performances in which everything from Dante and Karl Marx to drag acts and Stars Wars are drawn together to explore issues including gender politics and personal debt. The film follows Chetwynd as her first solo UK show opens in Nottingham and she stages a new performance - The Green Room.


THU 23:00 Helmut by June (b03y31m5)
Photographer Helmut Newton revolutionised fashion photography and electrified the art world with disturbing, highly eroticised images that transformed lush-bodied women into exquisite icons. This film, directed by Newton's frequent collaborator and wife of 56 years, June Newton, follows Helmut through photo sessions with an unselfconscious eye, as June turns the tables on Helmut to offer a voyeur's window into his personal and creative life. Poignant, comical and unsettling, it paints a riveting portrait of photography's dark prince as a man who is equally comfortable on either side of the camera.


THU 23:55 Southern Rock at the BBC (b01f1bwb)
Classic clips - from the Old Grey Whistle Test, In Concert and even Wogan - of Southern rock boogie in excelsis from the bands who poured out of the Deep South in the 70s. Includes performances from The Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Delaney & Bonnie with Eric Clapton, Dickey Betts from The Allman Brothers Band, The Marshall Tucker Band, Black Oak Arkansas, The Charlie Daniels Band, Gregg Allman with then-wife Cher, Edgar Winter and, of course, Lynyrd Skynyrd.


THU 00:55 Sounds of the 70s 2 (b01jk1b8)
Soul: Keep On Keeping On

Imported American soul was big news in the UK in the 1970s. Before the Brits developed their own brand of soul, American performers were here demonstrating how it was done and being appreciated by all and sundry. The series continues with classic performances from the kings and queens of soul, including Aretha Franklin, Billy Preston, The Tams, Curtis Mayfield, Bill Withers, The Stylistics, Gil Scott-Heron and The Jacksons.


THU 01:25 The Sky at Night (b03y31f0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 on Sunday]


THU 01:55 Ever Decreasing Circles (b036d6m1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


THU 02:25 The Walshes (b03xpdwd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]


THU 02:55 Hidden Histories: WW1's Forgotten Photographs (b03xsrvv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



FRIDAY 14 MARCH 2014

FRI 19:00 World News Today (b03xpzym)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


FRI 19:30 Transatlantic Sessions (b03cvpmx)
Series 6

Episode 4

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. Phil Cunningham joins the fun, and Jerry Douglas and Aly Bain are also to the fore, along with Mike McGoldrick on pipes and whistles.


FRI 20:00 In Their Own Words: 20th Century Composers (b03xswbn)
Radical Movements (1912-1941)

Remarkable rare footage of Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Copland, Walton, Elisabeth Lutyens, Richard Strauss, Shostakovich, Messiaen and Tippett gives a first-hand account of the revolution that classical music underwent in the first half of the century. As we see Schoenberg play tennis, Strauss and Shostakovich play with their grandchildren and hear Messiaen tell the story of how he wrote his most significant work in a German PoW camp, we get a vivid picture of what it took to be a composer during the most turbulent time in modern history.


FRI 21:00 The Byrd Who Flew Alone: The Triumphs and Tragedy of Gene Clark (b03tdd6k)
Bob Dylan described Missouri-born country boy Gene Clark as one of the three best songwriters in the world. He was the original frontman for one of the most iconic and influential bands of the 60s. After his abrupt departure from the Byrds at the peak of their popularity, he made records that are still regarded as classics. And he was one of the great pioneers of both folk rock and country rock. Yet, as far as the public is concerned, Clark is largely unknown and his reputation lags far behind that of peers such as Gram Parsons.

Since his death in 1991 at the age of 46, his songs have been covered by artists ranging from Robert Plant to Yo La Tengo and he has been hailed as a key influence by successive generations of musicians such as Tom Petty, Primal Scream and Fleet Foxes, despite some of his albums having been unavailable for long periods, and only now all available again.

This documentary explores the mystery of why this richly talented but deeply enigmatic and often self-destructive man failed to enjoy the success his work deserved. Drawing on interviews with his family, friends and fellow musicians including fellow Byrds David Crosby and Roger McGuinn, a wealth of great music from the four-decade span of his career and previously unseen archive material, it is a story that is both compelling and moving, veering between moments of magic and moments of madness.

The film was made by a father and sons team - Paul, Jack and Dan Kendall - as a labour of love which took them right across America in search of the people and places that were part of Gene Clark's life.


FRI 22:30 The Old Grey Whistle Test (b0074t8q)
California Comes to the Whistle Test

A compilation of BBC performances by artists who lived and worked in California in the 1970s. Featuring Jackson Browne, Little Feat, Ry Cooder, Judee Sill, Bonnie Raitt and a rare duet between James Taylor and Carly Simon.


FRI 23:30 The Beatles' Please Please Me: Remaking a Classic (b01qnrb8)
In 2013, on the 50th anniversary of the famous 12-hour session at Abbey Road which resulted in the Beatles' iconic album Please Please Me, leading artists such as Stereophonics, Graham Coxon, Gabrielle Aplin, Joss Stone, Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook of Squeeze, Paul Carrack, Mick Hucknall and I Am Kloot attempted to record the same songs, in the same timescale, in the same studio.

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

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


FRI 00:30 The Byrd Who Flew Alone: The Triumphs and Tragedy of Gene Clark (b03tdd6k)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


FRI 02:00 The Old Grey Whistle Test (b0074t8q)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:30 today]


FRI 03:00 The Beatles' Please Please Me: Remaking a Classic (b01qnrb8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:30 today]




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

Agnetha: ABBA and After 22:50 TUE (b02x9zwc)

BBC One Sessions 02:00 SUN (b007cj5l)

Bombay Railway 20:00 MON (b007t367)

Brushing up on... 02:20 MON (b03x46dv)

Brushing up on... 20:30 THU (b03xsrvs)

Dancing in the Blitz: How World War II Made British Ballet 01:20 MON (p01s4z2h)

Ever Decreasing Circles 20:00 THU (b036d6m1)

Ever Decreasing Circles 01:55 THU (b036d6m1)

Fossil Wonderlands: Nature's Hidden Treasures 21:00 TUE (b03xsfrq)

Fossil Wonderlands: Nature's Hidden Treasures 02:55 TUE (b03xsfrq)

Good Swan, Bad Swan: Dancing Swan Lake 21:00 SUN (p01s4wy9)

Good Swan, Bad Swan: Dancing Swan Lake 02:50 SUN (p01s4wy9)

Good Swan, Bad Swan: Dancing Swan Lake 23:50 TUE (p01s4wy9)

Great Barrier Reef 19:00 SAT (b019hd78)

Great Barrier Reef 02:45 SAT (b019hd78)

Great Barrier Reef 22:00 WED (b019hd78)

Great British Railway Journeys 19:30 MON (b01bqpch)

Great British Railway Journeys 19:30 TUE (b01bqpfh)

Great British Railway Journeys 19:30 WED (b01pw98y)

Helmut by June 23:00 THU (b03y31m5)

Hidden Histories: WW1's Forgotten Photographs 21:00 THU (b03xsrvv)

Hidden Histories: WW1's Forgotten Photographs 02:55 THU (b03xsrvv)

How to Get Ahead 21:00 WED (b03xsgwk)

How to Get Ahead 02:45 WED (b03xsgwk)

In Their Own Words: 20th Century Composers 20:00 FRI (b03xswbn)

Lost Kingdoms of Africa 22:00 MON (b00qbytc)

Lost Kingdoms of South America 20:00 SAT (b01qhl0d)

Lost Kingdoms of South America 01:45 SAT (b01qhl0d)

Lost Kingdoms of South America 00:45 WED (b01qhl0d)

Mark Lawson Talks To... 22:50 MON (b03xsfrs)

Parks and Recreation 23:00 WED (b03xsjbc)

Parks and Recreation 23:20 WED (b03xsjbf)

Photographing Africa 21:00 MON (b03xsjb9)

Photographing Africa 02:50 MON (b03xsjb9)

Photographing Africa 23:45 WED (b03xsjb9)

Salamander 21:00 SAT (b01qqvzp)

Salamander 21:45 SAT (b01qx7g5)

Secrets of Bones 20:30 TUE (b03xsgwh)

Secrets of Bones 02:20 TUE (b03xsgwh)

Shooting the Hollywood Stars 20:00 SUN (b00xhdwc)

Sounds of the 70s 2 01:15 SAT (b01j8h0b)

Sounds of the 70s 2 00:55 THU (b01jk1b8)

Southern Rock at the BBC 23:55 THU (b01f1bwb)

Storyville 00:10 SUN (b03x3vb9)

The Ballad of Mott the Hoople 23:35 SAT (b01r3pmc)

The Beatles' Please Please Me: Remaking a Classic 23:30 FRI (b01qnrb8)

The Beatles' Please Please Me: Remaking a Classic 03:00 FRI (b01qnrb8)

The Byrd Who Flew Alone: The Triumphs and Tragedy of Gene Clark 21:00 FRI (b03tdd6k)

The Byrd Who Flew Alone: The Triumphs and Tragedy of Gene Clark 00:30 FRI (b03tdd6k)

The First World War 22:00 TUE (b01rp9tf)

The Golden Age of Steam Railways 19:00 SUN (b01p8w38)

The Golden Age of Steam Railways 00:50 TUE (b01p8w38)

The Old Grey Whistle Test 22:30 FRI (b0074t8q)

The Old Grey Whistle Test 02:00 FRI (b0074t8q)

The Sky at Night 22:00 SUN (b03y31f0)

The Sky at Night 19:30 THU (b03y31f0)

The Sky at Night 01:25 THU (b03y31f0)

The Two-Thousand-Year-Old Computer 20:00 WED (b01hlkcq)

The Two-Thousand-Year-Old Computer 01:45 WED (b01hlkcq)

The Walshes 22:00 THU (b03xpdwd)

The Walshes 02:25 THU (b03xpdwd)

Top of the Pops 00:35 SAT (b03xcbrp)

Totally British: 70s Rock 'n' Roll 22:35 SAT (b01r7hk5)

Transatlantic Sessions 19:30 FRI (b03cvpmx)

We Have a Pope 22:30 SUN (b01mnz09)

Weird Nature 20:00 TUE (b0078hcf)

Weird Nature 01:50 TUE (b0078hcf)

What Do Artists Do All Day? 22:30 THU (b03xsrvx)

When Albums Ruled the World 23:50 MON (b01qhn70)

World News Today 19:00 MON (b03xpzxz)

World News Today 19:00 TUE (b03xpzy4)

World News Today 19:00 WED (b03xpzy9)

World News Today 19:00 THU (b03xpzyg)

World News Today 19:00 FRI (b03xpzym)