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 10 JANUARY 2015

SAT 19:00 Lost Land of the Volcano (b00mqjx2)
Episode 2

The second part of this exploration series combining stunning wildlife with high energy adventure.

A team of scientists and wildlife film-makers have made base camp on a remote extinct volcano at the heart of the tropical island of New Guinea. Their aim is to search the thick jungle for the weird and endangered animals that hide there. Now they are pushing deeper into the rainforest, and cameraman Gordon Buchanan enlists the help of a tribe to find and film the extraordinary birds of paradise as they perform their bizarre courtship displays.

George McGavin has to manhandle a giant crocodile, and Steve Backshall is living deep underground where he discovers a new cave system never seen by humans.


SAT 20:00 Everyday Miracles: The Genius of Sofas, Stockings and Scanners (b04fd6s9)
Home

Professor Mark Miodownik shows us what is so great about stuff. All the things of modern life around us that we maybe take for granted are revealed to be little pieces of domestic magic - everyday miracles - from razor blades to tights, via plywood and foam rubber. On the road and in the lab with explosive experiments, Mark reveals why the everyday, and even the mundane, is anything but.


SAT 21:00 Spiral (b04yf8lw)
Series 5

Episode 1

Following the death of Sami, Captain Laure Berthaud is trying to cope as best she can. But her personal life, already a mess, threatens to be derailed further when she receives some unexpected news. Working with her trusted team, she leads an investigation into a shocking double murder.

Meanwhile, lawyer Josephine Karlsson tries to rebuild her reputation by taking on the case of a man accused of killing a policeman. It's a brilliant opportunity to get back in the ring, but things don't quite turn out as planned.

In French with English subtitles.


SAT 21:55 Spiral (b04yn66x)
Series 5

Episode 2

Laure's team manages to track down Stéphane Jaulin, whose lawyer turns out to be Pierre Clément. Clément takes to Jaulin's defence and clashes with Judge Roban, who sees his client as the perfect fit for the crime.

Meanwhile, the police investigation widens to include other possible suspects. Joséphine Karlsson succeeds in getting back on the case which had been stolen from under her nose. She forms an alliance with Roban, who is intent on exposing what appears to be a case of police manipulation. All the while, Laure is trying to deal with her 'problem'.

In French with English subtitles.


SAT 22:50 50s Britannia (b01sgbw2)
Rock 'n' Roll Britannia

Long before the Beatles there was British rock 'n' roll. Between 1956 and 1960 British youth created a unique copy of a distant and scarce American original whilst most parents, professional jazz men and even the BBC did their level best to snuff it out.

From its first faltering steps as a facsimile of Bill Haley's swing style to the sophistication of self-penned landmarks such as Shakin' All Over and The Sound of Fury, this is the story of how the likes of Lord Rockingham's XI, Vince Taylor and Cliff Richard and The Shadows laid the foundations for an enduring 50-year culture of rock 'n' roll.

Now well into their seventies, the flame still burns strong in the hearts of the original young ones. Featuring Sir Cliff Richard, Marty Wilde, Joe Brown, Bruce Welch, Cherry Wainer and The Quarrymen.


SAT 23:50 Totally British: 70s Rock 'n' Roll (b01r3pm9)
1970-1974

Trawled from the depths of the BBC Archive and classic BBC shows of the day - Old Grey Whistle Test, Top of the Pops and Full House - a collection of performance gems from a totally rock 'n' roll early 1970s.

This was a golden era for British rock 'n' roll as everyone moved on from the whimsical 60s and looked around for something with a bit more oomph! In a pre-heavy metal world bands were experimenting with influences that dated back to 50s rock 'n' roll, whilst taking their groove from old-school rhythm and blues. It was also a time when men grew their hair long!

In a celebration of this era, we kick off with an early 1970s Badfinger number direct from the BBC library and continue the groove from the BBC vaults with classic rock 'n' roll heroes like Free, Status Quo, the Faces, Humble Pie and Mott the Hoople. Plus from deep within the BBC archives we dig out some rarities from the likes of Babe Ruth, Stone the Crows, The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Man, Heavy Metal Kids and original rockers Thin Lizzy... to name but a few.

Sit back and enjoy a 60-minute non-stop ride of unadulterated Totally British 70s Rock 'n' Roll!


SAT 00:55 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 01:55 Top of the Pops (b04xkkbb)
Peter Powell presents chart hits of the week. Guests include Billy Preston & Syreeta, Kurtis Blow, Madness, the Pretenders, Dr Hook, Paul McCartney, Pink Floyd and David Bowie. Also featuring a dance sequence by Legs & Co.


SAT 02:25 Lost Land of the Volcano (b00mqjx2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


SAT 03:25 Sounds of the Sixties (b0074q9l)
Original Series

The First Steps

The rock and pop series kicks off with the very birth of the decade, when pop was consigned to Crackerjack and rebellious singers still wore cardigans. But then Beatlemania came along.

Features the fabulous Freddie and the Dreamers on Blue Peter and Pinky & Perky doing the Twist.



SUNDAY 11 JANUARY 2015

SUN 19:00 Architects of the Divine: The First Gothic Age (b04mq9x6)
Medieval historian Dr Janina Ramirez looks back to a time when British craftsmen and their patrons created a new form of architecture. The art and architecture of France would dominate England for much of the medieval age. Yet British stonemasons and builders would make Gothic architecture their own, inventing a national style for the first time - Perpendicular Gothic - and giving Britain a patriotic backdrop to suit its new ambitions of chivalry and power. From a grand debut at Gloucester Cathedral to commemorate a murdered king to its final glorious flowering at King's College Chapel in Cambridge, the Perpendicular age was Britain's finest.


SUN 20:00 Queen Victoria's Letters: A Monarch Unveiled (b04p1vx1)
Episode 1

Examining the first half of Queen Victoria's life, biographer AN Wilson goes in search of a monarch too often misunderstood as the solid black-clad matron and reveals a woman who was passionately romantic and who spent her years as a child and young queen fighting the control of domineering men.

Queen Victoria was one of the 19th century's most prolific diarists, sometimes writing up to 2,500 words a day. From state affairs to family gossip, she poured out her emotions onto paper. Those close to her were afraid her more alarming opinions might escape in written form, causing havoc. In fact much of her writing was destroyed after her death and her personal journals edited by her daughter. But what survives frequently reveals a woman quite different to the one we think we know. AN Wilson reads her personal journals and unpublished letters and discovers the factors that shaped the queen's personality. From the tortured relationship with her mother, to the dominant men she clung to in search of a father figure and the powerful struggle that made her marriage to Prince Albert a battleground, Queen Victoria was always a woman in search of intimate relationships. As a daughter, a wife, a mother and the queen of a growing empire, as friends and family came and went, her pen remained her constant companion and friend.

Queen Victoria's journals and letters are read by Anna Chancellor throughout.


SUN 21:00 Dan Cruickshank and the Family that Built Gothic Britain (b04m3ljr)
As good as any Dickens novel, this is the triumphant and tragic story of the greatest architectural dynasty of the 19th century. Dan Cruickshank charts the rise of Sir George Gilbert Scott to the very heights of success, the fall of his son George Junior and the rise again of his grandson Giles. It is a story of architects bent on a mission to rebuild Britain. From the Romantic heights of the Midland Hotel at St Pancras station to the modern image of Bankside power station (now Tate Modern), this is the story of a family that shaped the Victorian age and left a giant legacy.


SUN 22:00 The Sky at Night (b04y4939)
The Billion Pixel Camera

The Milky Way, our galaxy, is a magnificent sight in the night sky, but we know surprisingly little about it for certain. What is its shape? How many stars does it actually contain? What lies at its centre?

The Gaia space telescope will answer these questions, being armed with the most advanced camera to leave our planet, and it will allow us to see our galaxy as we've never seen it before. The Sky at Night visits the factory in Chelmsford that made the astonishing sensor at the heart of the mission.


SUN 22:30 Secrets of the Universe: Great Scientists in Their Own Words (b04ndw2j)
Film telling the story of the greatest physicists of the 20th century and the discoveries they made, told in their own words. Men and women who transformed our understanding of the universe, from unlocking the secrets of the atom to solving the mysteries of the cosmos.

Revealing archive provides a unique insight into the lives and personalities of a cast of complex characters, eccentric geniuses and fantastic showmen who had to overcome personal struggles and intense rivalries before they could succeed. The film reveals the human side of scientific endeavour and shows how the great advances in our understanding of the cosmos depended on the character and personality of the scientists who made them, as much as on their intellectual abilities.


SUN 23:30 Meat Loaf: In and out of Hell (b04xdrrb)
Since the release of the Bat Out of Hell album, Meat Loaf has possessed the kind of international status that few artists obtain. His larger-than-life persona and performances are fuelled by a passion for theatre and storytelling. This candid profile reveals the man and his music through his own testimony and from the accounts of those closest to him.

Meat Loaf's life story is one of epic proportions - he survived a childhood of domestic violence only to face years of record company rejection before eventually finding global fame. Along the way he experienced bankruptcy, health scares, bust-ups and one of the greatest comebacks of all time. All this and more is explored in the film, which features behind-the-scenes footage of his Las Vegas residency, plus plans for a new album featuring songs by Jim Steinman.

The film also revisits the Dallas of Meat Loaf's early years and includes insights from his high school friends, who reveal how Meat really got his famous moniker.

After his mother died, Meat Loaf fled Texas for the bright lights of LA. He sang in itinerant rock bands, but no-one would give him a recording contract. By 1969 he was broke and disillusioned. His break would take the form of a musical. He was offered a part in Hair, having been invited to audition whilst working as a parking attendant outside the theatre. Shortly afterwards he met Jim Steinman and the road to success really began. Yet the Hair gig was the beginning of an enduring love affair with theatre that is reflected in his singing persona today.

His first album, the now legendary Bat Out of Hell, was initially rejected by scores of record companies, yet went on to spend a staggering 485 weeks in the UK charts. The whole album is a masterwork of storytelling that Meat Loaf and Steinman worked on for four years and then battled to get heard. Meat Loaf and those who worked on the album - from Todd Rundgren to Ellen Foley - reflect on the songs, and celebrate the alchemy that resulted in such a blistering back catalogue.

When Bat Out Of Hell II was finally released 15 years after the first album, it defied industry expectations, with I'd Do Anything for Love reaching number one in 28 countries. It is considered one of the greatest comebacks in music history. More albums and hits were to follow across the '90s and '00s, alongside a varied and successful acting career. Mark Kermode examines some of the roles Meat Loaf made his own, in films as diverse as The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Fight Club.

Having traversed the peaks and troughs of a career spanning the best part of 50 years, this consummate performer finally reveals what spurs him on, in this, the inside story of a bat out of hell who continues to blaze a trail into the hearts and minds of millions.


SUN 00:30 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 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 Sounds of the Eighties (b0074snw)
Episode 7

A new generation of guitar-based bands are showcased on this episode of the pop archive show. A stellar line-up features Michael Stipe of REM when he had angelic hair, plus The Smiths, The Cure, The Bangles, Pixies, Echo and the Bunnymen, The Jesus & Mary Chain and Lone Justice.


SUN 03:00 Architects of the Divine: The First Gothic Age (b04mq9x6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]



MONDAY 12 JANUARY 2015

MON 19:00 World News Today (b04xxylh)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


MON 19:30 World War I at Home (b045ghms)
The Trawlermen

Miranda Krestovnikoff examines the role of east coast fishermen in World War I and in particular finds out about the Grimsby trawler captain who left a zeppelin crew to die and was accused by the Germans of being a war criminal.


MON 20:00 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.


MON 21:00 British Gardens in Time (b040y79r)
Stowe

Stowe, one of the most remarkable creations of Georgian England, is the birthplace of the landscape garden. Created on a vast scale with 36 temples, eight lakes and a dozen avenues, Stowe launched the career of Lancelot 'Capability' Brown and fostered a rebellion that overthrew the first British prime minister, Robert Walpole.

Rather than being a garden of flowers and shrubs, Stowe is a garden of ideas and its grottos and classical monuments spell out a furious, coded political manifesto. Stowe's creator, Viscount Cobham, dreamt of climbing to the pinnacle of political power and establishing a long-lived dynasty, but less than a century after his death, his family was to become the most scandalous bankrupts in English history.


MON 22:00 The Inca: Masters of the Clouds (b04xdpjy)
Foundations

Dr Jago Cooper reassesses the achievements of the Inca Empire. He begins in Peru, where evidence is still being uncovered that challenges preconceptions about its origins and significance. Venturing from the coast to the clouds, he reveals how the Inca transformed one of the most challenging landscapes in the world to ward off the worst effects of the climate, and created sophisticated systems of communication. He shows how one of many independent societies became a commanding empire - not through force, but by using subtle methods of persuasion.


MON 23:00 imagine... (b04pln3f)
Winter 2014

Bette Midler: The Divine Miss M

As she is about to begin a run on Broadway in Hello Dolly, imagine... revisits Miss M in New York in a programme first shown in 2014 when she was about to release her girl band-inspired album.

For five decades the woman they call the Divine Miss M has forged a path which has taken her from a pineapple-canning factory in Honolulu to becoming a Hollywood legend. Alan Yentob joins Bette Midler on a journey through the chorus lines of Broadway and the bathhouses and nightclubs of the 1970s to the very top of the film industry. Her combination of a soulful voice and the raucous wit of Mae West has made her name as an outrageous, but always captivating, all-round entertainer.


MON 00:15 Horizon (b019h7t0)
The Hunt for the Higgs: A Horizon Special

Horizon goes behind the scenes at CERN to follow one of the most epic and expensive scientific quests of all time: the search for the Higgs particle, believed to give mass to everything in our universe.

However, the hunt for Higgs is part of a much grander search for how the universe works. It promises to help answer questions like why we exist and is a vital part of a Grand Unified Theory of nature. At the heart of the pursuit of the elusive particle is the same feature that makes snowflakes beautiful and human faces attractive: the simple and enchanting idea of symmetry.


MON 01:15 Troubadours: The Rise of the Singer-Songwriter (b012cr37)
Morgan Neville's full-length documentary is James Taylor and Carole King's first-hand account of the genesis and blossoming of the 1970s singer-songwriter culture in LA, focusing on the backgrounds and emerging collaboration between Taylor, King and the Troubadour, the famed West Hollywood club that nurtured a community of gifted young artists and singer-songwriters.

Taylor and King first performed together at the Troubadour in November 1970, and the film explores their coming together and the growth of a new, personal voice in songwriting pioneered by a small group of fledgling artists around the club. Contributors include Taylor, King, David Crosby, Roger McGuinn, Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, Kris Kristofferson, JD Souther, Peter Asher, Cheech & Chong, Steve Martin and Elton John.


MON 02:40 British Gardens in Time (b040y79r)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



TUESDAY 13 JANUARY 2015

TUE 19:00 World News Today (b04xxylq)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


TUE 19:30 World War I at Home (b045gjql)
The Equine Army

Saul David follows the story of hundreds of thousands of animals prepared in the West Country for the frontline. From cavalry horses to mules, he rediscovers the lost camps set up to train the animals, what life in them was like and the changes they made to society as a whole.


TUE 20:00 Harlots, Housewives and Heroines: A 17th Century History for Girls (b01jcc8b)
Act Two: At Home

Dr Lucy Worsley, historian and Chief Curator of Historic Royal Palaces, explores the ordinary as well as the extraordinary lives of women in the home. This was an age when respectable women were defined by their marital status as maids, wives or widows. If they fell outside these categories they were in danger of being labelled whores or, at worst, witches.

While history has left many women voiceless over the centuries, Lucy discovers that in the Restoration a surprising number of women were beginning to question their roles in relationship to their husbands, their position in the home, their attitudes to sex and, most importantly, the expectation to produce children.

Meeting a host of experts and experiencing what life was like behind closed doors, Lucy explores whether their lives changed for better or worse during the second half of the 17th century.


TUE 21:00 Pavlopetri - The City Beneath the Waves (b015yh6f)
Just off the southern coast of mainland Greece lies the oldest submerged city in the world. It thrived for 2,000 years during the time that saw the birth of western civilisation.

An international team of experts uses cutting-edge technology to prise age-old secrets from the complex of streets and stone buildings that lie less than five metres below the surface of the ocean. State-of-the-art CGI helps to raise the city from the seabed, revealing for the first time in 3,500 years how Pavlopetri would once have looked and operated.

Underwater archaeologist Dr Jon Henderson leads the project in collaboration with Nic Flemming, the man whose hunch led to the discovery of Pavlopetri in 1967, and a team from the Hellenic Ministry of Culture. Working alongside the archaeologists are a team from the Australian Centre for Field Robotics.

The teams scour the ocean floor, looking for artefacts. The site is littered with thousands of fragments, each providing valuable clues about the everyday lives of the people of Pavlopetri. From the buildings to the trade goods to the everyday tableware, each artefact provides a window into a forgotten world.

Together these precious relics provide us with a window to a time when Pavlopetri would have been at its height, showing us what life was like in this distant age and revealing how this city marks the start of western civilisation.


TUE 22:00 Smiley's People (b0074tpt)
Episode 2

'Tidy him up, keep us out of it and don't wander'. Lacon's instructions to Smiley are specific, but Vladimir had two proofs and was bringing them with him.


TUE 23:00 Glen Campbell: The Rhinestone Cowboy (b01pwxs8)
In 2011, Glen Campbell announced he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and that he would be bowing out with a final album and farewell tour across Britain and America. This documentary tells Campbell's remarkable life story, from impoverished childhood in Arkansas to huge success, first as a guitarist and then as a singer, with great records like Wichita Lineman and Rhinestone Cowboy. With comments from friends and colleagues, including songwriter Jimmy Webb and Mickey Dolenz of The Monkees, it is a moving story of success, disgrace and redemption as rich as any of the storylines in Campbell's most famous songs.

The peak of Glen Campbell's career was in 1975, when he topped the charts around the world with Rhinestone Cowboy, but his musical journey to that point is fascinating. A self-taught teenage prodigy on the guitar, by his mid-twenties Campbell was one of the top session guitarists in LA, a key member of the band of session players now known as The Wrecking Crew. He played on hundreds of tracks while working for producers like Phil Spector and Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys, including Daydream Believer by The Monkees, You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling by The Righteous Brothers, Strangers in the Night by Frank Sinatra and Viva Las Vegas by Elvis Presley.

But Campbell always wanted to make it under his own name. A string of records failed to chart until, in 1967, he finally found his distinctive country pop sound with hits like Gentle on My Mind and By the Time I Get to Phoenix. The latter was written by Jimmy Webb, and together the two created a string of great records like Wichita Lineman and Galveston. Campbell pioneered country crossover and opened the way for artists like Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers.

By the end of the 1960s, Campbell was the fastest rising star in American pop with his own television show and a starring role in the original version of True Grit. Over the following ten years, he had more success with Rhinestone Cowboy and Southern Nights, but his private life was in turmoil. Divorce, drink and drugs saw this clean-cut all-American hero fall from grace and a tempestuous relationship with country star Tanya Tucker was front-page news.

Despite a relapse in 2003, when he was arrested for drunk driving and his police mug shot was shown around the world, the last two decades have been more settled. He remarried, started a new family and renewed his Christian faith, and was musically rediscovered by a new generation. Like his friend Johnny Cash, he released acclaimed new albums with young musicians, covering songs by contemporary artists like U2 and The Foo Fighters. Therefore the diagnosis with Alzheimer's was all the more poignant, but his dignified farewell has made him the public face of the disease in the USA.

The film includes contributions by many of Campbell's friends and colleagues, including his family in Arkansas, fellow session musicians Carol Kaye and Leon Russell, long-time friend and collaborator Jimmy Webb, former Monkee Mickey Dolenz, broadcaster Bob Harris, lyricist Don Black and country music writer Robert Oermann.


TUE 00:00 Horizon (b01cywtq)
2011-2012

The Truth about Exercise

Like many, Michael Mosley wants to get fitter and healthier but can't face hours on the treadmill or trips to the gym. Help may be at hand.

Michael uncovers the surprising new research which suggests many of us could benefit from just three minutes of high intensity exercise a week.

He discovers the hidden power of simple activities like walking and fidgeting, and finds out why some of us don't respond to exercise at all.

Using himself as a guinea pig, Michael uncovers the revealing new research about exercise that has the power to make us all live longer and healthier lives.


TUE 01:00 An Evening with Glen Campbell (b01pyfht)
A special concert recorded at the Royal Festival Hall in 1977, where 80 musicians played new arrangements of Glen Campbell's hit songs.


TUE 02:20 Sounds of the Eighties (b04pw9xd)
Episode 8

Some heavy rhythms, including UB40's Food for Thought, Aswad's African Children, The Beat's Hands Off She's Mine, Run DMC's You Be Illin', Public Enemy's Miuzi Weighs a Ton and Neneh Cherry's Buffalo Stance.


TUE 02:45 Queen Victoria's Letters: A Monarch Unveiled (b04p1vx1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Sunday]



WEDNESDAY 14 JANUARY 2015

WED 19:00 World News Today (b04xxylw)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


WED 19:30 World War I at Home (b045ghfb)
The Zeppelin Terror

Historian and aerial specialist Ben Robinson takes to the skies to trace the first air attacks on Britain by the Zeppelin. For the first time civilians were the targets. From Norfolk to London, Ben investigates how the Germany's aim, to intimidate the population and bring swift victory, failed. The story is brought to life by Ben's aerial perspective, archive film, expert analysis, specially-commissioned 3D graphics, and first person accounts, including that of a 102-year-old lady who still remembers the attacks. In his helicopter, Ben flies the route the Zeppelin took for one of its most devastating raids, giving a fresh view of the events of 100 years ago.


WED 20:00 Death Comes to Pemberley (p01mqjqk)
Episode 2

In the aftermath of the dramatic events in the woods and Wickham's arrest, Elizabeth reassures the staff at Pemberley that all will be well. However, it is becoming clear that Darcy feels everything is very far from well and he starts to retreat from his wife as he seeks to protect the household against the scandal.


WED 21:00 Life of a Mountain (b04y4gd7)
A Year on Scafell Pike

A beautifully cinematic documentary following a year in the life of England's highest mountain, Scafell Pike, through the eyes of the farmers who work the valleys and fells, those who climb the mountain for pleasure and those who try to protect its slopes.

Filmed over a twelve-month period, it follows the seasons on the mountain from spring lambs through to winter snows. The contributions of the British Mountaineering Council and National Trust volunteers make clear the crucial importance of maintaining the landscape quality of England's highest peak for future generations.


WED 22:00 Caravans: A British Love Affair (b00hw3s0)
Documentary about the love affair between the British and their caravans, which saw the country establish the world's largest caravan manufacturer and transformed the holiday habits of generations of families.

In telling the intriguing story of caravanning in Britain from the 1950s through to the present day, the film reveals how caravans were once the plaything of a privileged minority, but after World War II became a firm favourite with almost a quarter of British holidaymakers.

It explores how changes in caravanning across the years reflect wider changes in British society, in particular the increased availability of cars during the 1950s and 60s, but also the improved roads network and changing attitudes towards holidaymaking and leisure time.

Enthusiasts and contributors include Dorrie van Lachterop from the West Midlands and Christine Fagg from Hertfordshire, remarkable and adventurous women who started touring alone in their caravans during the 1950s.


WED 23:00 The Making of Elton John: Madman Across the Water (b00vs4yv)
Documentary exploring Elton John's childhood, apprenticeship in the British music business, sudden stardom in the US at the dawn of the 70s and his musical heyday. Plus the backstory to the album reuniting him with Leon Russell, his American mentor. Features extensive exclusive interviews with Elton, plus colleagues and collaborators including Bernie Taupin, Leon Russell and others.


WED 00:00 Horizon (b013pnv4)
2011-2012

Seeing Stars

Around the world, a new generation of astronomers are hunting for the most mysterious objects in the universe. Young stars, black holes, even other forms of life.

They have created a dazzling new set of supertelescopes that promise to rewrite the story of the heavens.

This film follows the men and women who are pushing the limits of science and engineering in some of the most extreme environments on earth. But most strikingly of all, no-one really knows what they will find out there.


WED 01:00 Elton John at the BBC (b00vs5c0)
Elton John's career tracked in archive from performances, interviews and news clips.


WED 02:00 Dan Cruickshank and the Family that Built Gothic Britain (b04m3ljr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Sunday]


WED 03:00 Life of a Mountain (b04y4gd7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



THURSDAY 15 JANUARY 2015

THU 19:00 World News Today (b04xxym1)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


THU 19:30 The Sky at Night (b04y4939)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 on Sunday]


THU 20:00 Timeshift (b017zqw8)
Series 11

The Golden Age of Trams: A Streetcar Named Desire

Move along the car! Timeshift takes a nostalgic trip on the tram car and explores how it liberated overcrowded cities and launched the era of the commuter. The film maps the tram's journey from early horse-drawn carriages on rails, through steam, and to electric power.

Overhead wires hung over Britain's towns and cities for nearly 50 years from the beginning of the 20th century until they were phased out everywhere except Blackpool. Manchester, the last city to lose its trams was, however, among the first to reintroduce them as the solution to modern-day traffic problems.

The film includes a specially recorded reading by Alan Bennett of his short story Leeds Trams, and contributions from Ken Dodd and Roy Hattersley.


THU 21:00 The Inca: Masters of the Clouds (b04y4q35)
Clash of Empires

In the concluding part, Dr Jago Cooper argues that it wasn't simply a clash of arms that destroyed the Inca but a clash of worldviews. He travels from Peru to the far north of Inca territory in Ecuador to reveal how the great strengths of the empire suddenly became factors in its rapid demise. The Spanish conquest of the Inca destroyed one of the most remarkable empires in the world, yet the Inca legacy leaves a great deal for modern civilisations to learn from.


THU 22:00 Maps: Power, Plunder and Possession (b00s77pc)
Spirit of the Age

In a series about the extraordinary stories behind maps, Professor Jerry Brotton shows how maps can reveal the fears, obsessions and prejudices of their age.

Religious passion inspires beautiful medieval maps of the world, showing the way to heaven, the pilgrims' route to Jerusalem and monstrous children who eat their parents. But by the Victorian era society is obsessed with race, poverty and disease. Royal cartographer James Wyld's world map awards each country a mark from one to five, depending on how 'civilised' he deems each nation to be. And a map made to help Jewish immigrants in the East End inadvertently fuels anti-semitism.

'Map wars' break out in the 1970s when left-wing journalist Arno Peters claims that the world map shown in most atlases was a lie that short-changed the developing world. In Zurich, Brotton talks to Google Earth about the cutting edge of cartography and at Worldmapper he sees how social problems such as infant mortality and HIV are strikingly portrayed on computer-generated maps that bend the world out of shape and reflect the spirit of our age.


THU 23:00 TOTP2 (b00sfz04)
80s Special

Mark Radcliffe presents a look back at some of the most memorable Top of the Pops performances from the 80s including Adam Ant, Kylie and Jason, Culture Club, Bucks Fizz, Yazz, Duran Duran and Wham!


THU 00:00 Horizon (b01fmbvb)
2011-2012

The Hunt for AI

Marcus Du Sautoy wants to find out how close we are to creating machines that can think like us: robots or computers that have artificial intelligence.

His journey takes him to a strange and bizarre world where AI is now taking shape.

Marcus meets two robots who are developing their own private language, and attempts to communicate to them. He discovers how a supercomputer beat humans at one of the toughest quiz shows on the planet, Jeopardy. And finds out if machines can have creativity and intuition like us.

Marcus is worried that if machines can think like us, then he will be out of business. But his conclusion is that AI machines may surprise us with their own distinct way of thinking.


THU 01:00 TOTP2 (b007v15w)
Boogie Fever: A TOTP2 Disco Special

Get your dancing shoes on for a show of disco mania as Steve Wright and the TOTP2 team take you back to the dancefloor for some boogie fever. The Bee Gees are here in all their glory, along with Gloria Gaynor, Liquid Gold, Sylvester, The Village People, The Weather Girls and The Three Degrees.

There's classic dance fodder from Chic, George McCrae, Hi-Tension, Heatwave, The JALN Band, Earth Wind and Fire, Tina Charles, The Gibson Brothers and Edwin Starr, disco pop from Blondie, Yazz, Boney M and Linx, while Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Infernal bring the story up to date.

And then there's the Disco Duck. Sorry...


THU 02:30 The Sky at Night (b04y4939)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 on Sunday]


THU 03:00 The Inca: Masters of the Clouds (b04y4q35)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



FRIDAY 16 JANUARY 2015

FRI 19:00 World News Today (b04xxym7)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


FRI 19:30 Sounds of the Sixties (b0074qbf)
Original Series

1964-66: The Beat Room

Things get cool and serious in the archive rock show as it highlights the BBC's cutting-edge pop programme The Beat Room amongst others, with great performances from John Lee Hooker, The Pretty Things and Tom Jones.


FRI 20:00 Gershwin's Summertime: The Song that Conquered the World (b017nf05)
An intriguing investigation into the extraordinary life of Gershwin's classic composition, Summertime. One of the most covered songs in the world, it has been recorded in almost every style of music - from jazz to opera, rock to reggae, soul to samba. Its musical adaptability is breathtaking, but Summertime also resonates on a deep emotional level. This visually and sonically engaging film explores the composition's magical properties, examining how this song has, with stealth, captured the imagination of the world.

From its complex birth in 1935 as a lullaby in Gershwin's all-black opera Porgy and Bess, this film traces the hidden history of Summertime, focusing on key recordings, including those by Billie Holiday, Janis Joplin, Mahalia Jackson, Miles Davis and Ella Fitzgerald. It reveals how musicians have projected their own dreams and desires onto the song, reimagining Summertime throughout the 20th century as a civil rights prayer, a hippie lullaby, an ode to seduction and a modern freedom song.

Back in the 1930s, Gershwin never dreamt of the global impact Summertime would have. But as this film shows, it has magically tapped into something deep inside us all - nostalgia and innocence, sadness and joy, and our intrinsic desire for freedom. Full of evocative archive footage as well as a myriad versions of Summertime - from the celebrated to the obscure - the film tells the surprising and illuminating tale behind this world-famous song.


FRI 21:00 Sound of Song (b04y4qpt)
The Recording Revolution

Songs are the soundtrack of our lives and it takes a kind of genius to create a true pop masterpiece. But, as Neil Brand argues, there is more to consider in the story of what makes a great song. Neil looks at every moment in the life cycle of a song - how they are written, performed, recorded and the changing ways we have listened to them. He reveals how it is the wonderful alchemy of all of these elements that makes songs so special to us.

To open the series, Neil investigates how songs were recorded for the first time, the listening revolution in the home that followed and the birth of a new style of singing that came with the arrival of the microphone - crooning. He also looks at the songwriting genius of Irving Berlin and the interpretative power of singers Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong and Bing Crosby.


FRI 22:00 ... 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 23:00 Blues at the BBC (b00k36m5)
Collection of performances by British and American blues artists on BBC programmes such as The Beat Room, A Whole Scene Going, The Old Grey Whistle Test and The Late Show.

Includes the seminal slide guitar of Son House, the British R&B of The Kinks, the unmistakeable electric sound of BB King and Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton and John Lee Hooker, as well as less familiar material from the likes of Delaney and Bonnie, Freddie King and Long John Baldry.


FRI 00:00 ... Sings Bacharach and David! (b01gxl5w)
The BBC have raided their remarkable archive once more to reveal evocative performances from Burt Bacharach and Hal David's astonishing songbook. Love songs from the famous songwriting duo were a familiar feature of 60s and 70s BBC entertainment programmes such as Dusty, Cilla and The Cliff Richard Show, but there are some surprises unearthed here too.

Highlights include Sandie Shaw singing Always Something There to Remind Me, Aretha Franklin performing I Say a Little Prayer, Dusty Springfield's Wishin' and Hopin', The Stranglers' rendition of Walk on By on Top of the Pops, The Carpenters in concert performing (They Long to Be) Close to You and Burt Bacharach revisiting his classic Kentucky Bluebird with Rufus Wainwright on Later...with Jools Holland.


FRI 01:00 Sound of Song (b04y4qpt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


FRI 02:00 ... Sings the Great American Songbook (b00rs3w4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]


FRI 03:00 Blues at the BBC (b00k36m5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:00 today]




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

... Sings Bacharach and David! 00:00 FRI (b01gxl5w)

... Sings the Great American Songbook 22:00 FRI (b00rs3w4)

... Sings the Great American Songbook 02:00 FRI (b00rs3w4)

50s Britannia 22:50 SAT (b01sgbw2)

An Evening with Glen Campbell 01:00 TUE (b01pyfht)

Architects of the Divine: The First Gothic Age 19:00 SUN (b04mq9x6)

Architects of the Divine: The First Gothic Age 03:00 SUN (b04mq9x6)

Blues at the BBC 23:00 FRI (b00k36m5)

Blues at the BBC 03:00 FRI (b00k36m5)

British Gardens in Time 21:00 MON (b040y79r)

British Gardens in Time 02:40 MON (b040y79r)

Caravans: A British Love Affair 22:00 WED (b00hw3s0)

Dan Cruickshank and the Family that Built Gothic Britain 21:00 SUN (b04m3ljr)

Dan Cruickshank and the Family that Built Gothic Britain 02:00 WED (b04m3ljr)

Death Comes to Pemberley 20:00 WED (p01mqjqk)

Elton John at the BBC 01:00 WED (b00vs5c0)

Everyday Miracles: The Genius of Sofas, Stockings and Scanners 20:00 SAT (b04fd6s9)

Gershwin's Summertime: The Song that Conquered the World 20:00 FRI (b017nf05)

Glen Campbell: The Rhinestone Cowboy 23:00 TUE (b01pwxs8)

Harlots, Housewives and Heroines: A 17th Century History for Girls 20:00 TUE (b01jcc8b)

Hidden Histories: Britain's Oldest Family Businesses 20:00 MON (b03qlp97)

Horizon 00:15 MON (b019h7t0)

Horizon 00:00 TUE (b01cywtq)

Horizon 00:00 WED (b013pnv4)

Horizon 00:00 THU (b01fmbvb)

Life of a Mountain 21:00 WED (b04y4gd7)

Life of a Mountain 03:00 WED (b04y4gd7)

Lost Land of the Volcano 19:00 SAT (b00mqjx2)

Lost Land of the Volcano 02:25 SAT (b00mqjx2)

Maps: Power, Plunder and Possession 22:00 THU (b00s77pc)

Meat Loaf: In and out of Hell 23:30 SUN (b04xdrrb)

Metal Britannia 00:30 SUN (b00r600m)

Metal at the BBC 02:00 SUN (b00r600p)

Pavlopetri - The City Beneath the Waves 21:00 TUE (b015yh6f)

Queen Victoria's Letters: A Monarch Unveiled 20:00 SUN (b04p1vx1)

Queen Victoria's Letters: A Monarch Unveiled 02:45 TUE (b04p1vx1)

Secrets of the Universe: Great Scientists in Their Own Words 22:30 SUN (b04ndw2j)

Smiley's People 22:00 TUE (b0074tpt)

Sound of Song 21:00 FRI (b04y4qpt)

Sound of Song 01:00 FRI (b04y4qpt)

Sounds of the Eighties 02:30 SUN (b0074snw)

Sounds of the Eighties 02:20 TUE (b04pw9xd)

Sounds of the Sixties 03:25 SAT (b0074q9l)

Sounds of the Sixties 19:30 FRI (b0074qbf)

Spiral 21:00 SAT (b04yf8lw)

Spiral 21:55 SAT (b04yn66x)

TOTP2 23:00 THU (b00sfz04)

TOTP2 01:00 THU (b007v15w)

The Inca: Masters of the Clouds 22:00 MON (b04xdpjy)

The Inca: Masters of the Clouds 21:00 THU (b04y4q35)

The Inca: Masters of the Clouds 03:00 THU (b04y4q35)

The Making of Elton John: Madman Across the Water 23:00 WED (b00vs4yv)

The Sky at Night 22:00 SUN (b04y4939)

The Sky at Night 19:30 THU (b04y4939)

The Sky at Night 02:30 THU (b04y4939)

Timeshift 20:00 THU (b017zqw8)

Top of the Pops 01:55 SAT (b04xkkbb)

Totally British: 70s Rock 'n' Roll 23:50 SAT (b01r3pm9)

Totally British: 70s Rock 'n' Roll 00:55 SAT (b01r7hk5)

Troubadours: The Rise of the Singer-Songwriter 01:15 MON (b012cr37)

World News Today 19:00 MON (b04xxylh)

World News Today 19:00 TUE (b04xxylq)

World News Today 19:00 WED (b04xxylw)

World News Today 19:00 THU (b04xxym1)

World News Today 19:00 FRI (b04xxym7)

World War I at Home 19:30 MON (b045ghms)

World War I at Home 19:30 TUE (b045gjql)

World War I at Home 19:30 WED (b045ghfb)

imagine... 23:00 MON (b04pln3f)