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 13 SEPTEMBER 2014

SAT 19:00 Human Planet (b00rrd7y)
Cities - Surviving the Urban Jungle

A look at the one environment that's been made by us for us - the city. Over half of the world's population now lives in the urban jungle. The city is built to keep untamed nature out - but nature can't be pushed away. From bed bugs sucking our blood at night to rats in our restaurants, many animals have adapted to a life with us.

But not all urban animals are seen as pests. In the ancient city of Fez in Morocco, the leather tanneries depend on wild pigeon droppings for their business. Even futuristic Dubai would falter without falcons. In the suburbs of Jaipur, a Bishnoi woman breastfeeds an orphaned fawn. People are starting to realise that nature is key to our continued survival. On Manhattan's rooftops there is a community of beekeepers. In Masdar, Abu Dhabi, British architect Norman Foster is creating a carbon-neutral waste-free future city. Is this the future? The human planet is starting to realise that we'll only survive if we protect nature.


SAT 20:00 Survivors: Nature's Indestructible Creatures (b01bgnmq)
Fugitive from the Fire

It is estimated that 99 per cent of species have become extinct and there have been times when life's hold on Earth has been so precarious it seems it hangs on by a thread.

This series focuses on the survivors - the old-timers - whose biographies stretch back millions of years and who show how it is possible to survive a mass extinction event which wipes out nearly all of its neighbours. The Natural History Museum's professor Richard Fortey discovers what allows the very few to carry on going - perhaps not for ever, but certainly far beyond the life expectancy of normal species. What makes a survivor when all around drop like flies? Professor Fortey travels across the globe to find the survivors of the most dramatic of these obstacles - the mass extinction events.

In episode two, Fortey focuses on the 'KT boundary'. 65 million years ago, a 10km-diameter asteroid collided with the Earth and saw the end of the long reign of the dinosaurs. He investigates the lucky breaks and evolutionary adaptations that allowed some species to survive the disastrous end of the Cretaceous Age when these giants did not.


SAT 21:00 Crimes of Passion (b04hk8ww)
No More Murders

Puck and Einar (Eje for short) have been married for two months when they decide to spend the last weeks of their holiday in Einar's idyllic childhood town of Skoga. Puck's father Johannes Ekstedt, professor of Egyptology, has a cat named Thotmes III that joins the couple. They borrow Einar's sister's beautiful old wooden house as well as her highly competent housekeeper. But after the first night, the idyll crumbles when Einar finds a dead body on the lawn, a young man stabbed to death with a dagger. Christer Wijk enters the stage and, with the help of Puck's observations, the mystery approaches its tragic solution.

In Swedish with English subtitles.


SAT 22:25 Seven Ages of Starlight (p00yb434)
This is the epic story of the stars, and how discovering their tale has transformed our own understanding of the universe.

Once we thought the sun and stars were gods and giants. Now we know, in a way, our instincts were right. The stars do all have their own characters, histories and role in the cosmos. Not least, they played a vital part in creating us.

There are old, bloated red giants, capable of gobbling up planets in their orbit, explosive deaths - supernovae - that forge the building blocks of life and black holes, the most mysterious stellar tombstones. And, of course, stars in their prime, like our own sun.

Leading astronomers reveal how the grandest drama on tonight is the one playing above our heads.


SAT 23:55 Chas & Dave: Last Orders (b01nkdsv)
Documentary which highlights cockney duo Chas & Dave's rich, unsung pedigree in the music world and a career spanning 50 years, almost the entire history of UK pop. They played with everyone from Jerry Lee Lewis to Gene Vincent, toured with The Beatles, opened for Led Zeppelin at Knebworth - and yet are known mainly just for their cheery singalongs and novelty records about snooker and Spurs.

The film also looks at the pair's place among the great musical commentators on London life - and in particular the influence of music hall on their songs and lyrics.

The film crew followed Chas & Dave on their final tour, having called it a day after the death of Dave's wife, and blends live concert footage with archive backstory, including some astonishing early performances and duets with the likes of Eric Clapton. Among the experts and zealous fans talking about their love of the duo are Pete Doherty, Jools Holland and Phill Jupitus. Narrated by Arthur Smith.


SAT 00:55 London Songs at the BBC (b01jxzfs)
A collection of performances from the BBC archives, celebrating the sights and sounds and the ups and downs of London through the words and songs through the years - from Petula Clark singing A Foggy Day in London Town in 1965 to Adele performing her love letter to the city in Hometown Glory, filmed in October 2007 on the roof of the BBC car park in Shepherd's Bush. Also featured are the likes of The Jam, Eddy Grant, Tom Paxton and Lily Allen plus many more.


SAT 01:55 Human Planet (b00rrd7y)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


SAT 02:55 Survivors: Nature's Indestructible Creatures (b01bgnmq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]



SUNDAY 14 SEPTEMBER 2014

SUN 19:00 Vatican: The Hidden World (b00tr2p3)
With unprecedented access to the Vatican and the people who live and work there, this is a unique profile of the heart of the Catholic Church and the world's smallest sovereign state.

Archivists reveal the Vatican's secrets, including the signed testimony of Galileo recorded by the Inquisition. A cardinal journeys deep below St Peter's Basilica to inspect the site claimed to be the tomb of the saint himself, and curators share a private viewing of Michelangelo's extraordinary decoration of the Sistine Chapel.

An intriguing behind-the-scenes look at the workings of one of the world's most powerful and mysterious institutions.


SUN 20:00 Byzantium: A Tale of Three Cities (b03kp6hg)
Episode 1

Simon Sebag Montefiore traces the sacred history of Istanbul. Known as the 'city of the world's desire', it's a place that has been the focus of passion for believers of three different faiths - Paganism, Christianity and Islam - and for nearly 3,000 years its streets have been the battleground for some of the fiercest political and religious conflicts in history.

Montefiore uncovers the city's ancient Greek roots, maps its transformation into the imperial capital of a Christian empire by Emperor Constantine the Great and reveals how ecclesiastical clashes forced eastern and western churches apart.


SUN 21:00 British Art at War: Bomberg, Sickert and Nash (b04j2ywv)
Paul Nash: The Ghosts of War

In the years preceding 1914, David Bomberg, Walter Sickert and Paul Nash set out to paint a new world, but, as the century unfolded, found themselves working in the rubble.

On 25th May 1917, war artist Paul Nash climbed out of his trench to sketch the battlefields of Flanders near Ypres. So focused was he on his work he tripped and fell back into the trench, breaking his ribs. Stretchered back to England, Nash missed his regiment going over the top at the Battle of Passchendaele. His regiment was wiped out.

Nash was scarred by the war and the ghosts of those experiences haunted his work throughout his life. A lover of nature, Nash became one of Britain's most original landscape artists, embracing modern Surrealism and ancient British history, though always tainted by his experiences during two world wars. A private yet charismatic man, he brought British landscape painting into the 20th century with his mixture of the personal and visionary, the beautiful and the shocking. An artist who saw the landscape as not just a world to paint, but a way into his heart and mind.


SUN 22:00 The Sky at Night (b04j1w52)
The Hunt for ET

Are we alone in the universe? Right now we are in a period of unprecedented change that is taking us closer than ever to answering this fundamental question. A dizzying array of planets are being discovered orbiting alien stars and we've developed instruments so sensitive we can detect the weather systems on these new worlds. But do any harbour life? Geneticist Dr Adam Rutherford seeks to define what life is and Maggie Aderin-Pocock explores our chances of finding it in the universe.


SUN 22:30 The Comet's Tale (b008d2x7)
Ancient civilisations thought comets were gods. They believed them to be bringers of life or harbingers of doom - strange, magical, mysterious things that moved through the sky, fiery streaks of light that tore across the heavens.

Isaac Newton was the first to make sense of comets and to him they were the key to unlocking the secrets of gravity - nothing to do with an apple. Hundreds of years later, a new breed of space missions are visiting comets, travelling millions of miles to touch down on these tiny balls of rock flying through space at 20,000 mph. The spectacular images we now have are showing us what comets are really made of, where they come from, and their often surprising influence on events on Earth.

What they reveal is that our ancestors may have been right all along and that comets and meteors really are like gods, or at least they can exert tremendous influence over our world. They have brought terrible destruction to the Earth and may one day do so again. But they also may have brought life itself to the planet.


SUN 23:30 Metal Britannia (b00r600m)
Nigel Planer narrates a documentary which traces the origins and development of British heavy metal from its humble beginnings in the industrialised Midlands to its proud international triumph.

In the late 60s a number of British bands were forging a new kind of sound. Known as hard rock, it was loud, tough, energetic and sometimes dark in outlook. They didn't know it, but Deep Purple, Uriah Heep and, most significantly, Black Sabbath were defining what first became heavy rock and then eventually heavy metal.

Inspired by blues rock, progressive rock, classical music and high energy American rock, they synthesised the sound that would inspire bands like Judas Priest to take metal even further during the 70s.

By the 80s its originators had fallen foul of punk rock, creative stasis or drug and alcohol abuse. But a new wave of British heavy metal was ready to take up the crusade. With the success of bands like Iron Maiden, it went global.

Contributors include Lemmy from Motorhead, Sabbath's Tony Iommi, Ian Gillan from Deep Purple, Judas Priest singer Rob Halford, Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden and Saxon's Biff Byford.


SUN 01:00 Classic Albums (b04gvd9q)
Classic Albums - Deep Purple: Made in Japan

Deep Purple is one of the most influential and important guitar bands in history, one of the godfathers of the heavy metal genre, with over 100 million album sales worldwide to their name. To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Deep Purple's groundbreaking double live album Made in Japan, this documentary explores these recordings and Deep Purple mark 2, the line-up between 1969 and 1973.

The film highlights the mark 2 period of this classic British rock band featuring the classic line-up of Ian Gillan, Ritchie Blackmore, Jon Lord, Roger Glover and Ian Paice with a focus on the recording of the album Machine Head in Montreux, Switzerland in late 1971; the friction that developed within the band as a result of this recording and their incessant touring of the world in general and North America in particular; and the live recordings of the band's first Japanese tour in August 1972, released that December in the UK as Made in Japan, a Number 1 UK album. Lars Ulrich of Metallica has cited Made in Japan as his favourite album of all time.

Featuring previously unseen exclusive footage, this film promises to uncover the meaning behind the song Smoke on the Water, known for one of the most iconic riffs in rock history, and to reveal the background to the mystery that lies behind the three nights in Osaka and Tokyo during the recording of the live Made in Japan album from 1972.

This line-up of Deep Purple then split in 1973, with Gillan and then Glover quitting the band to be replaced. The classic mark 2 line-up would go on to reform twice more in the late 80s and early 90s and although Ritchie Blackmore left the band for the last time in 1993 and despite the death of organist Jon Lord in 2012, Deep Purple are very much active. Made in Japan has been ranked as the sixth best live album of all time, and this film goes under the covers to tell us why.


SUN 02:00 Metal at the BBC (b00r600p)
Compilation of memorable heavy metal performances from BBC TV shows, including Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and Motorhead.


SUN 02:30 British Art at War: Bomberg, Sickert and Nash (b04j2ywv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



MONDAY 15 SEPTEMBER 2014

MON 19:00 World News Today (b04hk89d)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


MON 19:30 Great British Railway Journeys (b03sgsz6)
Series 5

Chippenham to Gloucester

Michael Portillo continues his journey from Southampton to Wolverhampton beginning in Chippenham, where at Lacock Abbey he discovers how the world's first photographic negative was made and learns how to make a print. He travels on to Bristol to visit the Victorian Clifton Zoo, where he finds tigers and polar bears before him also arrived by train.

Next stop is Severn Tunnel junction in Wales, where he explores an extraordinary piece of Victorian engineering with its own pump house pumping out millions of gallons a day to keep it dry. Michael then heads for Gloucester to find out why the station became infamous for lost luggage. At the city's cathedral, Michael meets a stonemason who bravely invites him to chip away.


MON 20:00 British Gardens in Time (b04092n6)
Great Dixter

Great Dixter lays claim to being the most innovative, spectacular and provocative garden of the 20th century. Made famous by the much-loved eccentric plantsman and writer Christopher Lloyd, who used the garden as a living laboratory and documented his experiments in a weekly column in Country Life, Great Dixter began life as a Gertrude Jekyll-inspired Arts and Crafts garden surrounding a house designed by Edwin Lutyens.

The Lloyd family created Dixter just before the outbreak of the First World War with the intention of establishing a rural idyll for Christo and his five siblings. Dixter was to be both Christo's horticultural nursery and the setting for his rebellion in late middle age as he finally threw off the shackles of his intense bond with his mother to make the garden and his life his own.


MON 21:00 Lost Kingdoms of Central America (b04hkb5p)
Kingdom of the Jaguar

Dr Jago Cooper explores the rise and fall of the forgotten civilisations of Central America.

His quest takes him from the crystal-blue seas of the Caribbean to the New World's most impressive pyramids, flying over the smoking volcanoes of Costa Rica and travelling deep underground in the caves of central Mexico.

He travels in the footsteps of these peoples to reveal their secrets and unearth the astonishing cultures that flourished amongst some of the most dramatic landscapes in the world.

Jago begins by journeying through southern Mexico to investigate the rise and fall of America's oldest civilisation, the Olmec, which thrived over 3,000 years ago. He encounters colossal stone heads and the oldest rubber balls in the world and descends deep inside an ancient cave network in search of a were-jaguar.


MON 22:00 Storyville (b04hkb5r)
Web Junkies - China's Addicted Teens

Documentary which follows three Chinese teenagers inside a Beijing rehabilitation centre for internet addicts.

China is one of the first countries in the world to label overuse of the internet a clinical condition. To combat what authorities deem the greatest social crisis for youth today, the Chinese government has created treatment facilities to detox and cure teenagers of their online addictions.

With extraordinary access, the film shows how the teens are lured to the centre against their will by anxious parents and must endure the military boot camp conditions combined with intensely emotional counselling sessions. It documents how the boys begin to share with the health professional and their parents the reasons why they feel more connected to virtual life than their families.

A thoughtful examination of a society in flux and a technology-addled generation on the precipice of an unknown future.


MON 23:10 Survivors: Nature's Indestructible Creatures (b01bgnmq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Saturday]


MON 00:10 The Wonder of Animals (b04gvbdr)
Foxes

Across the planet carnivores are struggling to compete in a world with a rocketing human population, but one predator is bucking the trend - the fox. Its numbers are increasing and its geographical range expanding.

Chris Packham explores the secrets to its success - its senses, its intelligence and its flexibility. New research reveals how its slit pupils enable it to hunt in the bright desert day; how it may be using the Earth's magnetic field to determine the location of prey during a pounce; and how regular exposure to rotting food is improving the health of the red fox, enabling it to hold its own in an increasingly urban landscape.


MON 00:40 The Beauty of Anatomy (b04gvbdt)
Gray's Anatomy

The world's most famous study of the human body is Gray's Anatomy. The accuracy of the descriptions and the stark beauty of the illustrations made it an instant bestseller. Adam Rutherford tells the story of how, in just three years, Dr Henry Gray and Dr Henry Carter put it together based on dissections they personally performed.


MON 01:10 Britain on Film (b03ccmpr)
Series 2

The Spirit of the Sixties

Offering more fascinating depictions of the 1960s as witnessed by the cameras of the Rank Organisation, Britain on Film continues with an absorbing exploration of the prevailing attitudes and values that shaped our society. Rank's outstanding and rarely-seen high-quality colour footage captures the post-war emergence of dynamic youth cultures, and celebrates an age when creativity was flourishing in the music industry and an increasingly multicultural nation was embracing more cosmopolitan tastes.


MON 01:40 British Gardens in Time (b04092n6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


MON 02:40 Lost Kingdoms of Central America (b04hkb5p)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



TUESDAY 16 SEPTEMBER 2014

TUE 19:00 World News Today (b04hk89k)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


TUE 19:30 Great British Railway Journeys (b03sh092)
Series 5

Cheltenham to Wolverhampton

On the final leg of his journey from Southampton to Wolverhampton, Michael Portillo's first destination is the elegant spa town of Cheltenham, where he discovers a very early locomotive carriage which ran not on rails but on the road, and he is lucky enough to get behind the wheel.

His next stop is the medieval town of Tewkesbury, scene of a grisly battle during the Wars of the Roses. Armour-plated and sword at the ready, Michael joins a group of re-enactors for a taste of the action. Mercifully unscathed, he makes tracks for Droitwich to find out about how a lowly boatman became the King of Salt and lived in a beautiful chateau, an unexpected sight in the Midlands countryside.

Michael's journey ends in Wolverhampton, where he hears Queen Victoria made an emotional visit which signalled the end of her exile from public life after mourning her husband, Prince Albert. He learns how the townspeople showed off their talents to the queen, among them the lost art of Japanning, a speciality of Wolverhampton.


TUE 20:00 World War I at Home (b045gj40)
Despatches from Tyneside

Chris Jackson follows a community project creating a unique picture of the impact of conflict on those living and working on Tyneside with rarely seen footage. Chris hears that Tyneside bore not just physical but deep emotional scars from World War I.


TUE 20:30 The Secret Life of Books (b04hkcjh)
Series 1

Mrs Dalloway

Award-winning writer Alexandra Harris shows how Virginia Woolf's classic work Mrs Dalloway completely re-imagined what a novel might be.

Woolf came of age as an author after Europe had been shattered by the First World War. 'Everything was going to be new,' says Harris of Woolf's literary ambitions. 'Everything was going to be different. Everything was on trial'.

The result was a new, free-form style of writing that responded to the post-war climate of confusion and uncertainty. Radically, Woolf's central characters - socialite Clarissa Dalloway and shell-shocked survivor Septimus Smith - never meet, while the novel also pioneers a flowing stream-of-consciousness style.

Using original manuscripts, diaries and notebooks to 'catch a glimpse of a great writer at work', Harris argues that the novel also allowed Woolf to creatively channel her own mental illness into the character of Septimus Smith, and in so doing helped keep herself sane.

Produced in partnership with the Open University.


TUE 21:00 Billy Elliot (b007wv29)
Coming-of-age drama about a young boy from a north east mining village who is sent for boxing lessons but joins ballet classes instead, for reasons he cannot explain to himself, let alone ones that his widower father would understand. He is encouraged by his dance teacher, but her ambition for him brings about a family crisis in the Elliot house.


TUE 22:45 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.


TUE 23:45 Human Planet (b00rrd7y)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


TUE 00:45 A History of Britain by Simon Schama (b0074n3l)
Series 3

The Empire of Good Intentions

Simon Schama looks at how the liberal politics and free-market economics of the British Empire in the 19th century unravelled, leading to the potato famine in Ireland and mutiny in India. By the early 20th century, nationalist movements around the globe had turned their back on the British 'workshop of the world'.


TUE 01:45 World War I at Home (b045gj40)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


TUE 02:15 The Secret Life of Books (b04hkcjh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]


TUE 02:45 Dancing in the Blitz: How World War II Made British Ballet (p01s4z2h)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:45 today]



WEDNESDAY 17 SEPTEMBER 2014

WED 19:00 World News Today (b04hk89q)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


WED 19:30 Great British Railway Journeys (b03t7ql3)
Series 5

Norwich to Brandon

Guided by his 19th century Bradshaw's guide, Michael Portillo embarks on a new journey from Norwich to Chichester. On this first leg he explores Norwich's medieval heart. In the city's Norman castle he uncovers the Victorian public's gory fascination with crime and punishment and finds out how campaigners such as Elizabeth Fry, who was born in Norwich, worked to improve conditions for prisoners. At the city's livestock market, Michael learns how to buy a calf at auction with a subtle twitch of his guidebook.

He then heads west to Thetford to explore the rabbit warrens of the Brecks. He discovers how the Victorian appetite for rabbits and their fur led to special train services to London, known as Bunny Trains.

After a painful encounter with a polecat, Michael heads northwest to Brandon, home of some of the best quality flint in Britain and tries his hand at flint-knapping.


WED 20:00 Great British Railway Journeys (b03t7rgg)
Series 5

Ipswich to Chelmsford

Michael Portillo continues his journey from the east coast to the south coast beginning in the port of Ipswich, capital of the farming county of Suffolk. His first port of call is an agricultural implement works with its own railway sidings. Michael investigates what could have earned the Victorian manufacturer a special mention in his Bradshaw's.

Continuing his journey south west into Essex, Michael dredges oysters off Mersea Island before taking the train to Witham, where he discovers a model farming establishment at Tiptree. His final destination is Chelmsford and the world's first purpose-built radio equipment factory, established by Guglielmo Marconi.


WED 20:30 The Wonder of Animals (b04hkd1h)
Elephants

Chris Packham explores the anatomy and physiology of the largest land animal on the planet - the elephant. Their size seems ill-suited to surviving the most arid regions of Africa, but their inner workings allow them to defy the extreme heat of the desert and find food and water in seemingly barren landscapes, while their extraordinary memory enables them to repel predators.

Chris reveals how hairs on the skin help keep elephants cool, how sensors in their feet may be able to guide them towards rain and how a unique pouch in their mouths stores water. Recent research has even discovered that elephants can distinguish between the voices of human friend and foe.


WED 21:00 Oh You Pretty Things: The Story of Music and Fashion (b04j1wxw)
Tribes

Just how did Britain become the place where the best music goes with the most eye-catching styles? Lauren Laverne narrates a series about the love affair between our music and fashion, looking at how musicians and designers came up with the coolest and craziest looks and how we emulated our idols.

British pop and rock is our great gift to the world, at the heart of the irrepressible creative brilliance of Britain. But it has never just been about the music. Across the decades we have unleashed a uniquely British talent for fusing the best sounds with stunning style and fashion to dazzling effect.

The series begins in the golden years of the 1960s. Mod legends The Small Faces became the best-dressed band in England, Cilla Black and fashion label BIBA were a perfect fit, while The Beatles and The Stones embraced the foppish hair and frilly shirts of psychedelia. Through rude boys and rockers, the relationship between music and fashion blossomed, becoming intimately entwined in the sound and vision of Roxy Music.

But this isn't just a story of brillant musicians and maverick designers, it's a story that touches us all because, at some point in our lives, we've all delved into the great dressing-up box and joined the pageant that is British music and fashion.


WED 22:00 Grand Prix: The Killer Years (b00z8v18)
In the 60s and early 70s it was common for Grand Prix drivers to be killed while racing, often televised for millions to see. Mechanical failure, lethal track design, fire and incompetence snuffed out dozens of young drivers. They had become almost expendable as eager young wannabes queued up at the top teams' gates waiting to take their place.

This is the story of when Grand Prix was out of control.

Featuring many famous drivers, including three-time world champion Sir Jackie Stewart OBE, twice world champion Emerson Fittipaldi and John Surtees OBE, this exciting but shocking film explores how Grand Prix drivers grew sick of their closest friends being killed and finally took control of their destiny.

After much waste of life, the prestigious Belgian and German Grands Prix would be boycotted, with drivers insisting that safety be put first. But it would be a long and painful time before anything would change, and a lot of talented young men would be cut down in their prime.

This is their story.

'Something was terribly wrong. I loved the sport, but it was wrong. I prayed to God whether or not to continue.' - Emerson Fittipaldi

'It made me angry. The sport was way wrong.' - Sir Jackie Stewart OBE.


WED 23:00 British Art at War: Bomberg, Sickert and Nash (b04j2ywv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Sunday]


WED 00:00 Byzantium: A Tale of Three Cities (b03kp6hg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Sunday]


WED 01:00 Britain on Film (b03c26xf)
Series 2

This Sporting Life

Series in which high-quality 1960s colour footage from the vaults of the Rank Organisation is brought together to offer compelling insights into British life during that seminal decade.

This episode salutes the Rank filmmakers' attempts to reflect our near-obsessive national preoccupation with a range of competitive sports, ranging from golf and cycling to skiing and stock car racing. Featuring vintage prose praising the idiosyncratic appeal of cricket by the incomparable commentator Richie Benaud, as well as rare colour footage of the England football team in training shortly before their greatest-ever triumph in the 1966 World Cup.


WED 01:30 Grand Prix: The Killer Years (b00z8v18)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]


WED 02:30 The Wonder of Animals (b04hkd1h)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]


WED 03:00 Oh You Pretty Things: The Story of Music and Fashion (b04j1wxw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



THURSDAY 18 SEPTEMBER 2014

THU 19:00 World News Today (b04hk89w)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


THU 19:30 The Sky at Night (b04j1w52)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 on Sunday]


THU 20:00 Horizon (b036bv0z)
2012-2013

Swallowed by a Black Hole

In summer 2013, the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way was getting ready to feast.

A gas cloud three times the size of our planet strayed within the gravitational reach of our nearest supermassive black hole. Across the globe, telescopes were being trained on the heart of our galaxy, some 27,000 light years from Earth, in the expectation of observing this unique cosmic spectacle.

For cosmic detectives across the Earth, it was a unique opportunity. For the first time in the history of science, they hoped to observe in action the awesome spectacle of a feeding supermassive black hole.


THU 21:00 A History of Britain by Simon Schama (b0074n44)
Series 3

The Two Winstons

Simon Schama tackles the 20th century through the lives of two men - Winston Churchill and George Orwell. Both men, so very different in almost every way, lived through and wrote about the key moments of British 20th-century life - the Depression, Empire, two world wars and the Cold War. What unites them, argues Schama, is one shared theme - forget history at your peril.


THU 22:00 Lost Kingdoms of Central America (b04hkb5p)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Monday]


THU 23:00 British Gardens in Time (b04092n6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Monday]


THU 00:00 Horizon (b036bv0z)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


THU 01:00 The Sky at Night (b04j1w52)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 on Sunday]


THU 01:30 World War I at Home (b045gj40)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Tuesday]


THU 02:00 The Secret Life of Books (b04hkcjh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 on Tuesday]


THU 02:30 A History of Britain by Simon Schama (b0074n44)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



FRIDAY 19 SEPTEMBER 2014

FRI 19:00 World News Today (b04hk8b1)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


FRI 19:30 BBC Proms (b04hkdsx)
2014

Last Night at the Proms from around the UK

As the 2014 BBC Proms season draws to a close, Clemency Burton-Hill and Soweto Kinch take us around the UK to celebrate the best of the performances from the Last Night of the Proms. Across the nations, a stellar line-up of artists entertain audiences with a mix of classical, jazz and contemporary repertoire.

World-renowned bass-baritone Bryn Terfel and violinist Jennifer Pike bring star quality to Swansea. Set against the spectacular backdrop of the Titanic Visitors Centre, Alfie Boe and Strictly Come Dancing's Anton Du Beke and Erin Boag take to the stage in Belfast. From Glasgow Green, Proms in the Park favourite Katherine Jenkins joins Noah Stewart and the ever-entertaining Red Hot Chilli Pipers, and in Hyde Park tenor Vittorio Grigolo, soprano Pumeza Matshikiza and singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright entertain the audience, while a headline set from disco legends Earth, Wind and Fire is certain to get everyone on their feet and in the party spirit.


FRI 21:00 Hello Quo (b03hy6vp)
You don't sell 128 million albums worldwide without putting in the graft and Status Quo are, quite possibly, the hardest-working band in Britain. Alan G Parker's documentary Hello Quo, specially re-edited for the BBC, recounts the band's epic story from the beginning - when south London schoolmates Francis Rossi and Alan Lancaster formed their first band with big ambitions of rock 'n' roll domination, quickly adding drummer John Coghlan and guitarist Rick Parfitt.

The film tells the story of Quo's hits from their unusually psychedelic early hit, Pictures of Matchstick Men, followed by a run through their classics from Down Down to Whatever You Want.

The band laughs off the constant ribbing about only using three chords and the film explores how Quo's heads-down boogie defined UK rock in the early 70s. Fender Stratocaster in hand, Quo have stood their ground and never shifted, but they have managed to adapt to scoring pop hits over five decades.

The original members of the 'frantic four' tell their story of a life in rock 'n' roll, alongside interviews from some prominent Quo fans, such as Paul Weller, whose first gig was the Quo at Guildford Civic Hall, to Brian May, who waxes lyrically about the opening riff to Pictures of Matchstick Men, while even Sir Cliff plays homage to the denim-clad rockers.


FRI 22:20 Top of the Pops (b00zwrn5)
1964 to 1975 - Big Hits

1964 saw the birth of a very British institution. Spanning over four decades, Top of the Pops has produced many classic moments in pop culture.

Digging deep within the darkest depths of the BBC's archive, this compilation offers some memorable performances from 1964 through to 1975 from the likes of The Rolling Stones, Tom Jones, Status Quo, Procol Harum, Stevie Wonder, Queen and The Kinks, and opens the vintage vaults to rare performances from Stealers Wheel, Julie Driscoll, Peter Sarstedt and The Seekers.

So sit back and witness once again where music met television.


FRI 23:50 Roxy Music: Frejus (b00djn0v)
Roxy Music in concert at Frejus in France in 1982 in front of an audience of 15,000, featuring some of their greatest hits including Dance Away, Avalon, Love is the Drug and Jealous Guy. Other songs featured include The Main Thing, Both Ends Burning, Can't Let Go, Like a Hurricane and Editions of You.


FRI 00:40 Oh You Pretty Things: The Story of Music and Fashion (b04j1wxw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Wednesday]


FRI 01:40 Hello Quo (b03hy6vp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


FRI 03:00 Roxy Music: Frejus (b00djn0v)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:50 today]




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

A History of Britain by Simon Schama 00:45 TUE (b0074n3l)

A History of Britain by Simon Schama 21:00 THU (b0074n44)

A History of Britain by Simon Schama 02:30 THU (b0074n44)

BBC Proms 19:30 FRI (b04hkdsx)

Billy Elliot 21:00 TUE (b007wv29)

Britain on Film 01:10 MON (b03ccmpr)

Britain on Film 01:00 WED (b03c26xf)

British Art at War: Bomberg, Sickert and Nash 21:00 SUN (b04j2ywv)

British Art at War: Bomberg, Sickert and Nash 02:30 SUN (b04j2ywv)

British Art at War: Bomberg, Sickert and Nash 23:00 WED (b04j2ywv)

British Gardens in Time 20:00 MON (b04092n6)

British Gardens in Time 01:40 MON (b04092n6)

British Gardens in Time 23:00 THU (b04092n6)

Byzantium: A Tale of Three Cities 20:00 SUN (b03kp6hg)

Byzantium: A Tale of Three Cities 00:00 WED (b03kp6hg)

Chas & Dave: Last Orders 23:55 SAT (b01nkdsv)

Classic Albums 01:00 SUN (b04gvd9q)

Crimes of Passion 21:00 SAT (b04hk8ww)

Dancing in the Blitz: How World War II Made British Ballet 22:45 TUE (p01s4z2h)

Dancing in the Blitz: How World War II Made British Ballet 02:45 TUE (p01s4z2h)

Grand Prix: The Killer Years 22:00 WED (b00z8v18)

Grand Prix: The Killer Years 01:30 WED (b00z8v18)

Great British Railway Journeys 19:30 MON (b03sgsz6)

Great British Railway Journeys 19:30 TUE (b03sh092)

Great British Railway Journeys 19:30 WED (b03t7ql3)

Great British Railway Journeys 20:00 WED (b03t7rgg)

Hello Quo 21:00 FRI (b03hy6vp)

Hello Quo 01:40 FRI (b03hy6vp)

Horizon 20:00 THU (b036bv0z)

Horizon 00:00 THU (b036bv0z)

Human Planet 19:00 SAT (b00rrd7y)

Human Planet 01:55 SAT (b00rrd7y)

Human Planet 23:45 TUE (b00rrd7y)

London Songs at the BBC 00:55 SAT (b01jxzfs)

Lost Kingdoms of Central America 21:00 MON (b04hkb5p)

Lost Kingdoms of Central America 02:40 MON (b04hkb5p)

Lost Kingdoms of Central America 22:00 THU (b04hkb5p)

Metal Britannia 23:30 SUN (b00r600m)

Metal at the BBC 02:00 SUN (b00r600p)

Oh You Pretty Things: The Story of Music and Fashion 21:00 WED (b04j1wxw)

Oh You Pretty Things: The Story of Music and Fashion 03:00 WED (b04j1wxw)

Oh You Pretty Things: The Story of Music and Fashion 00:40 FRI (b04j1wxw)

Roxy Music: Frejus 23:50 FRI (b00djn0v)

Roxy Music: Frejus 03:00 FRI (b00djn0v)

Seven Ages of Starlight 22:25 SAT (p00yb434)

Storyville 22:00 MON (b04hkb5r)

Survivors: Nature's Indestructible Creatures 20:00 SAT (b01bgnmq)

Survivors: Nature's Indestructible Creatures 02:55 SAT (b01bgnmq)

Survivors: Nature's Indestructible Creatures 23:10 MON (b01bgnmq)

The Beauty of Anatomy 00:40 MON (b04gvbdt)

The Comet's Tale 22:30 SUN (b008d2x7)

The Secret Life of Books 20:30 TUE (b04hkcjh)

The Secret Life of Books 02:15 TUE (b04hkcjh)

The Secret Life of Books 02:00 THU (b04hkcjh)

The Sky at Night 22:00 SUN (b04j1w52)

The Sky at Night 19:30 THU (b04j1w52)

The Sky at Night 01:00 THU (b04j1w52)

The Wonder of Animals 00:10 MON (b04gvbdr)

The Wonder of Animals 20:30 WED (b04hkd1h)

The Wonder of Animals 02:30 WED (b04hkd1h)

Top of the Pops 22:20 FRI (b00zwrn5)

Vatican: The Hidden World 19:00 SUN (b00tr2p3)

World News Today 19:00 MON (b04hk89d)

World News Today 19:00 TUE (b04hk89k)

World News Today 19:00 WED (b04hk89q)

World News Today 19:00 THU (b04hk89w)

World News Today 19:00 FRI (b04hk8b1)

World War I at Home 20:00 TUE (b045gj40)

World War I at Home 01:45 TUE (b045gj40)

World War I at Home 01:30 THU (b045gj40)