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 24 JANUARY 2015

SAT 19:00 Unnatural Histories (b011s4k0)
Serengeti

More than anywhere, the Serengeti is synonymous with wilderness and has even come to represent Africa. But the story of the Serengeti is just as much about humans as it is about wildlife. Right from the origin of our species in Africa, humans have been profoundly shaping this unique wilderness - hunters and pastoralists with cattle and fire, ivory traders and big game hunters, conservationists, scientists, film-makers and even tourists have all played a part in shaping the Serengeti.

Probably most powerful of all was a tiny microbe unknowingly brought to Africa by a small Italian expeditionary force - Rinderpest, a deadly virus that swept through the continent decimating cattle and wildlife alike and forever changing the face of the wild. The Serengeti is far from timeless, it is forever changing - and wherever there is change, the influence of Homo sapiens is not far behind.


SAT 20:00 Bright Lights, Brilliant Minds: A Tale of Three Cities (b04f83xq)
Vienna 1908

Dr James Fox tells the story of Vienna in 1908, a city of amazing creativity and dangerous tension. This was the year Gustav Klimt painted his masterpiece The Kiss, Sigmund Freud revealed the Oedipus complex, Egon Schiele produced startling pictures of humanity stripped to the bare essentials, and both music and architecture took a bold step in a radical new direction. But it was also the year a struggling young artist named Adolf Hitler arrived in the city, a year that would put Vienna and Europe on the road to destruction.


SAT 21:00 Spiral (b050qtn2)
Series 5

Episode 5

Herville strives to endear himself to the police commissioner, who is eager to have a case resolved in order to whip up positive publicity, so Gilou steps in with a daring suggestion. But much is at stake, and Gilou's plan threatens to backfire. Laure's team hires an informant who was already on the payroll of Bremont's crime unit. Stephane Jaulin finds himself under increasing pressure as the number one suspect. In court, Joséphine goes head to head with the infamous Eric Edelman, who is defending the two policemen accused of manslaughter and corruption.

In French with English subtitles.


SAT 21:55 Spiral (b050qtn4)
Series 5

Episode 6

While pursuing the raiders, police come across new evidence which could potentially shift the focus of the double murder investigation. Pierre Clément presses an increasingly inflexible Judge Roban to free his client, as Stephane Jaulin sinks further into the depths of despair, with major consequences. Having been successfully represented by Joséphine in court, young Laetitia Ribeiro is acquitted and finally leaves prison to return to life on her estate. Determined to turn over a new leaf, she soon finds that her options are tragically limited and is roped into a criminal plan.

In French with English subtitles.


SAT 22:55 Only Yesterday: The Carpenters Story (b007cllb)
The Carpenters were one of the biggest selling pop artists of the 1970s, but what seemed on the surface as the perfect, wholesome brother and sister duo hid a destructive complex truth that was unknown to the world.

Featuring behind the scenes footage, interviews with brother Richard, family and friends, this documentary traces the story that ended in tragedy with sister Karen's untimely death aged just 32.


SAT 23:55 Duets at the BBC (b01c2xwt)
The BBC delves into its archive for the best romantic duets performed at the BBC over the last 50 years. Whether it is Robbie and Kylie dancing together on Top of the Pops or Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge singing into each other's eyes on the Whistle Test, there is plenty of chemistry. Highlights include Nina and Frederik's Baby It's Cold Outside, Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers, Sonny and Cher, Shirley Bassey and Neil Diamond, Peaches and Herb, and a rare performance from Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush.


SAT 00:55 Top of the Pops (b0505yqc)
David 'Kid' Jensen presents chart hits of the week, with performances by the Nolan Sisters, UFO, the Skids, Joe Jackson, Dollar, ABBA, Sheila B and Pink Floyd, and a dance sequence by Legs & Co.


SAT 01:30 Sounds of the 70s 2 (b01glwkz)
Arthouse Glam - Get in the Swing

Performances from The Kinks, Roxy Music, Elton John, New York Dolls, Queen, Sparks, Rod Stewart and the rediscovered David Bowie performance of The Jean Genie from January 1973.

Welcome to gender-bending, boys getting in the swing and girls who would be boys and boys who would be girls in this mixed-up, shook-up 70s world.


SAT 02:00 Bright Lights, Brilliant Minds: A Tale of Three Cities (b04f83xq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


SAT 03:00 Only Yesterday: The Carpenters Story (b007cllb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:55 today]



SUNDAY 25 JANUARY 2015

SUN 19:00 Shoah (b050qxh6)
First Era

Claude Lanzmann's epic documentary recounts the story of the Holocaust through interviews with witnesses - perpetrators as well as survivors. Lanzmann shows us what happened - how it was that close to six million Jews were murdered after being sent by rail to specially constructed death camps. He spent ten years making the film, criss-crossing the world in search of interviewees and the film has become a commemorative act.

Shown as part of the BBC's plans to mark the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.


SUN 23:25 Sound of Song (b04z23vl)
Reeling and Rocking

Musician Neil Brand explores the magical elements that come together to create great songs by recreating some of the most memorable and innovative recording sessions in music history - from Elvis's slapback echo in Memphis and The Beatles' tape loops at Abbey Road to Phil Spector's Wall of Sound and The Beach Boys' pop symphonies.

He shows that all this was made possible by the discovery of magnetic tape by an American soldier in the ruins of WWII Germany, the invention that, more than any other, drove the emergence of the music studio as a compositional tool and the rise of the producer as a new creative force shaping the sound of song.


SUN 00:25 Elvis: That's Alright Mama 60 Years On (b04c3l7g)
Actor and musician Sam Palladio hosts a musical tribute to Elvis Presley, 60 years to the day from when he recorded his first single, That's All Right, at Sun Studio in Memphis on 5 July 1954. Sam traces Elvis's story from childhood poverty in Mississippi, where he had to make do with a broom for a guitar, to the moment when, by accident, he ended up recording the song that changed the history of popular music. There are performances of the finest Elvis tracks from the likes of soul legend Candi Staton, LA duo The Pierces and country star Laura Bell Bundy.


SUN 01:25 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.


SUN 02:20 The Heart of Country: How Nashville Became Music City USA (b04ndxlr)
This historical biography of the city that is the glittering hub of country music reveals the dynamic relationship between commerce and art, music and the market, that has defined Nashville since 1925. It explores the conflicts and demons that have confronted Nashville's artists and music industry down the years, such as the creative pressures of the 'Nashville Sound', the devastating impact of Elvis and then Bob Dylan, the rise and fall of the urban cowboys and the struggle of several Nashville legends to confront their inner demons.

The story unfolds through the testimony of musicians, producers, broadcasters and rare archive of the country legends. These include Dolly Parton, Charley Pride, Willie Nelson, Ricky Skaggs, Steve Earle, Kris Kristofferson and several hit-making contemporary stars - Kasey Musgraves, Brad Paisley and Jason Aldean. This cast reveal the unique power of country music to hold up a mirror to its fans and create a music that has - for decades - touched the hearts of the south and of working people. Kristofferson calls it the 'white man's soul music'.

Also featured are extensive musical performances by Nashville's greatest, from Johnny Cash to Loretta Lynn and George Jones to Garth Brooks. Several of Nashville's younger stars describe their ongoing journey from their hometowns in the south to the streets of this city, from the first studio demos and the sawdust of the Broadway bars to the stadiums and promo videos that now define country stardom.



MONDAY 26 JANUARY 2015

MON 19:00 World News Today (b050n5rw)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


MON 19:30 National Treasures of Wales (b04n99gt)
Series 1

Coastal Care

Surprisingly, the National Trust started in Wales. Griff Rhys Jones discovers how the Trust deals with the complexities and conflicts involved in looking after some of Wales's best-loved national treasures. He begins with the 157 miles of coastline owned and cared for by the Trust in Wales.

Griff investigates its roots in Barmouth, discovers how the tiny cove of Mwnt copes with the impact of the modern world and considers the difficulties they face in deciding the fate of a medieval village on the Gower Peninsula which is in the process of being claimed by the sea.


MON 20:00 The Treasure Hunters (b040r3bv)
Raw Treasure

From pirates' hoards and shipwrecked booty to dazzling gems to precious metals, we lust after treasure, fight over it and go to the ends of the earth to find it - our planet is a treasure chest just waiting to be opened. In this series, Ellie Harrison and Dallas Campbell journey around the globe on the ultimate treasure hunt.

They scratch the surface of our planet to uncover its most extraordinary riches - from mountains of gold to the most valuable gemstones in the world and the largest natural treasure ever found.

In this episode, Ellie ventures down one of the deepest gold mines in the world in search of the gleaming metal that was once thought to be the skin of the gods and the sweat of the sun. Dallas free-dives for lustrous pearls in the waters around north west Australia and, using one of the largest treasure-hunting machines, he seeks out diamonds from the bottom of the ocean.

Dallas and Ellie reveal how you could make your fortune on the beach. Lumps of ambergris can wash up on almost any shoreline in the world. Although it starts life in a sperm whale's stomach, it ends up as a costly raw ingredient in the most expensive perfumes.

And while Dallas tries his hand at opal mining in one of the most hostile places on earth, Ellie discovers how one of the largest and most unusual treasures ever uncovered has helped us solve a 67-million-year-old puzzle.


MON 21:00 British Gardens in Time (b042638j)
Nymans

Nymans, one of the most fashionable and romantic gardens of the Edwardian and interwar years, was the creation of a family of German emigres of Jewish descent. The Messels arrived in Britain in 1870 at a time when both anti-semitism and anti-German sentiment were rife. Nevertheless, Ludwig Messel succeeded in establishing a successful stockbroking firm and creating at Nymans the quintessential English garden with rare plants and a theatrical herbaceous border inspired by William Robinson.

His children and grandchildren would continue to develop the garden and the family's spectacular social trajectory reached its apogee with Ludwig's great-grandson Antony Armstrong-Jones's marriage to Princess Margaret. However, Nymans was to repeatedly face disaster as a fire devastated the house leaving just a romantic ruin to dominate the garden, while the garden itself came close to total destruction in the Great Storm of 1987.


MON 22:00 Storyville (b050r0bc)
The Arabian Motorcycle Adventures

Documentary which tells the remarkable story of Matt Van Dyke, a timid 26-year-old with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, who left home in Baltimore in 2006 and set off on a self-described 'crash course in manhood'. He bought a motorcycle and a video camera and began a multi-year, 35,000-mile motorcycle trip through northern Africa and the Middle East.

While travelling, he struck up an unlikely friendship with a Libyan hippie, and when revolution broke out in Libya, Matt joined his friend in the fight against dictator Muammar Gaddafi. With a gun in one hand and a camera in the other, Matt fought in - and filmed - the war until he was captured by Gaddafi forces and held in solitary confinement for six months.

Two-time Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker Marshall Curry tells this harrowing and sometimes humorous story of a young man's search for political revolution and personal transformation.


MON 23:15 Horizon (b00hnc9n)
2008-2009

Why Do We Dream?

An investigation into the science behind dreams, using a series of cutting-edge experiments and personal stories to discover where they come from, whether they have meaning and, ultimately, why we have them. The film reveals that much of what we thought we knew no longer stands true. Dreams are not simply wild imaginings, but play a significant part in all our lives - from our memories to the ability to learn and our mental health. Most surprisingly, we find nightmares are also beneficial and may even explain the survival of our species.


MON 00:15 Otis Redding: Soul Ambassador (b020tphg)
Documentary about the legendary soul singer Otis Redding, following him from childhood and marriage to the Memphis studios and segregated southern clubs where he honed his unique stage act and voice. Through unseen home movies, the film reveals how Otis's 1967 tour of Britain dramatically changed his life and music. After bringing soul to Europe, he returned to conquer America, first with the 'love crowd' at the Monterey Festival and then with Dock of the Bay, which topped the charts only after his death at just 26.

Includes rare and unseen performances, intimate interviews with Otis's wife and daughter and with original band members Steve Cropper and Booker T Jones. Also featured are British fans whose lives were changed by seeing him, among them Rod Stewart, Tom Jones and Bryan Ferry.


MON 01:15 A-Z of World Music (b038rp8n)
Journeying through the alphabet, a showcase of music from across the world - from Africa to Uzbekistan, Norway to South America, India to Louisiana and everywhere in between.

Featured instruments include Kimmo Pohjonen's accordion, the impressively large drums of the Yamato Drummers and the extraordinary vocals of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. The helter-skelter ride takes us from the 1970s, through to the explosion of acts in the 1980s, right up to the most sought-after musicians on the world music circuit today.

From Sevara Nazarkhan's pin-drop solo to a crowd-moving set from Orchestra Baobab, this is a compilation that presents a fun, vibrant snapshot of the range of traditional music that has captured audiences the world over.


MON 02:45 British Gardens in Time (b042638j)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



TUESDAY 27 JANUARY 2015

TUE 19:00 World News Today (b050n5s1)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


TUE 19:30 National Treasures of Wales (b04nz0mn)
Series 1

Plas Newydd

Griff Rhys Jones discovers how the National Trust, which was started in Wales, deals with the complexities and conflicts involved in looking after some of Wales's best-loved national treasures.

In this programme, he visits Plas Newydd on the island of Anglesey in north west Wales, which the Trust acquired in the 1970s. Once it was the family home of the Marquis of Anglesey, and now property manager Nerys Jones has to think of new ways to attract visitors to this remote location.

Griff investigates how this great stately home is run - and how it survives in these financially straitened times.


TUE 20:00 The Children of the Holocaust (b05173wp)
Eyewitness accounts from history, brought to life in animation.

Elderly survivors recount their childhood experiences of Nazi atrocities, their escape from occupied mainland Europe to Britain, adapting to life in the UK and the impact on their lives subsequently.

Ruth is a five-year-old girl escaping from eastern Germany and from Nazi-occupied Prague. She arrives in England the moment war is declared.

Martin is an eight-year-old boy, expelled from Germany to Poland in the middle of the night by the Nazis, who escapes to England only to experience the worst of the Blitz in Coventry.

Trude is a frightened nine-year-old brought to England without her family on the Kindertransport, who struggles to adapt to life in Britain away from her parents.

Heinz is a 13-year-old boy who witnesses the effects of anti-Jewish laws, Nazi demonstrations and pogroms, and escapes persecution in Germany only to be arrested as an 'enemy alien' in Britain.

Resourceful 14-year-old Arek survives against all odds in appalling conditions in the concentration camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Suzanne, aged six, is violently separated from her parents in Nazi-occupied Paris. Deprived of her family, freedom and education, she is hidden in the countryside and forced to work on a farm.

We also get a chance to meet the real-life survivors today in short, on-camera interviews, which reflect on the effect these experiences have had on their adult lives. They discuss why it is important to keep the memory alive of those who were murdered by the Nazis, the importance of Holocaust education, and an appeal to humanity to keep vigilant so that such horrors could never happen again.


TUE 21:00 The Art of Fly Fishing: Kiss the Water (b03fgs1r)
In a cottage in northern Scotland, Megan Boyd twirled bits of feather, fur, silver and gold into elaborate fishing flies - at once miniature works of art and absolutely lethal. Wherever men and women cast their lines for the mighty Atlantic salmon, her name is whispered in mythic reverence and stories about her surface and swirl like fairy tales.

With breathtaking cinematography and expressive, hand-painted animation, this film both adheres to and escapes from traditional documentary form, spinning the facts and fictions of one woman's life into a stunning meditation on solitude, love, and its illusions.


TUE 22:00 Smiley's People (b007gt23)
Episode 4

Seminal spy drama series from 1982. Smiley gets into trouble with his superiors, who want the investigation closed. But he finally encounters the woman and gets her account.


TUE 22:55 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.


TUE 00:00 Horizon (b00fyl5z)
2008-2009

Do You Know What Time It Is?

Particle physicist Professor Brian Cox asks, 'What time is it?' It's a simple question and it sounds like it has a simple answer. But do we really know what it is that we're asking?

Brian visits the ancient Mayan pyramids in Mexico where the Maya built temples to time. He finds out that a day is never 24 hours and meets Earth's very own director of time. He journeys to the beginning of time, goes beyond within the realms of string theory, and explores the very limit of time. He discovers that we not only travel through time at the speed of light, but the experience we feel as the passing of time could be an illusion.


TUE 01:00 Bright Lights, Brilliant Minds: A Tale of Three Cities (b04f83xq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Saturday]


TUE 02:00 Fabric of Britain (b03bgrvf)
Knitting's Golden Age

Documentary exploring how knitting rose from basic craft to the height of popular fashion in the 20th century. It's a craft that has given us scratchy jumpers, sexy bathing costumes and the infamous poodle loo cover, has sustained Britain through the hardships of war and shown a mother's love to generations of little ones. Today, knitwear has become a staple of every wardrobe thanks to a prince's golfing taste, The Beatles and 80s breakfast television. Warm-hearted and surprising, this is the story of the people's craft, and a very British one at that.


TUE 03:00 The Art of Fly Fishing: Kiss the Water (b03fgs1r)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



WEDNESDAY 28 JANUARY 2015

WED 19:00 World News Today (b050n5s6)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


WED 19:30 National Treasures of Wales (b04pgc2y)
Series 1

Farms

The National Trust started in Wales. Griff Rhys Jones examines how it manages its farmland and tenanted farms across the country, beginning in Pembrokeshire with the Trust's latest bequest, Treleddyd Fawr - the most painted and photographed cottage in Wales. Griff discusses the daunting restoration work facing National Trust building surveyor Nathan Goss.

Through this derelict farm worker's cottage, as well as a working farm producing potatoes sold under National Trust branding and a farm which no longer farms but instead operates as a children's adventure camp, Griff explores the variety of ways in which the Trust approaches its guardianship of farms and farmland.


WED 20:00 Timewatch (b00785y5)
2008-2009

The Real Bonnie and Clyde

Hollywood portrayed them as the most glamorous outlaws in American history, but the reality of life on the run for Bonnie and Clyde was one of violence, hardship and danger.

With unprecedented access to gang members' memoirs, family archives and recently released police records, Timewatch takes an epic road trip through the heart of Depression-era America, in search of the true story of Bonnie and Clyde.


WED 21:00 Could We Survive a Mega-Tsunami? (b01s0zqv)
Starting off a kilometre high, travelling at the speed of a jet aircraft, and heading for us. It doesn't make for a good outcome. Hollywood-style graphics and real-life archive bring home an imagined near-future scenario, all based on cutting-edge science.


WED 22:00 Jackpot (b037xzyv)
Police arrive at the scene of a bloodbath to find Oscar, the only survivor, hiding under a dead stripper. Oscar has to tell them the story of how he came to be there, which involves three ex-criminals, a huge football pools win, a tanning bed and a Christmas tree factory.

In Norwegian with English subtitles.


WED 23:20 Horizon (b00hbsk2)
2008-2009

Why Are Thin People Not Fat?

The world is affected by an obesity epidemic, but why is it that not everyone is succumbing? Medical science has been obsessed with this subject and is coming up with some unexpected answers. As it turns out, it is not all about exercise and diet. At the centre of this programme is a controversial overeating experiment that aims to identify exactly what it is about some people that makes it hard for them to bulk up.


WED 00:20 Could We Survive a Mega-Tsunami? (b01s0zqv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


WED 01:20 Return to Betjemanland (b04gb6nl)
In 1984, Sir John Betjeman died and was buried at St Enodoc Church, close to the village of Tribetherick in north Cornwall.

Writer, critic and biographer of Betjeman, AN Wilson, visits the real and imagined places that shaped his life to reveal the life and work of the poet and broadcaster.

Wilson explores how Betjeman came to speak to, and for, the nation in a remarkable way. As a poet Betjeman was writing popular verse for the many, not the few. With his brilliant documentaries for television, Betjeman entertained millions with infectious enthusiasm as he explained his many passions and bugbears.

As a campaigner to preserve the national heritage, Betjeman was tireless in his devotion to conservation and preservation, fighting the planners, politicians and developers - railing against their abuse of power and money.

Wilson investigates this by visiting locations in London, Oxford, Cornwall, Somerset and Berkshire. He travels through a landscape of beautiful houses and churches, beaches and seaside piers - a place that Wilson calls Betjemanland.

In doing so he also reveals the complexity and contradictions of Betjeman - how Betjeman, the snob with a love of aristocrats and their country houses, is the same person who is thrilled by the more proletarian pleasures of the Great British seaside; how the poetry of Betjeman shows us that he is haunted by childhood memory, has religious faith but also doubt and is in thrall to love and infatuation; and how the man his friends called Betjeman was full of joie de vivre, but also suffered great melancholy and guilt whilst living an agonised double life.


WED 02:20 Sounds of the 70s 2 (b01gymg9)
Reggae - Stir it Up

By the start of the 70s, the Windrush generation of immigrants who came to the UK from the Caribbean and West Indies were an established part of the British population and their influence and culture permeated UK society.

This second programme rejoices and revels in the reggae music exported from Jamaica and the home-grown reggae-influenced sounds that sprouted from the cities of England. Reggae's dominance of the UK charts is celebrated with performances from Ken Boothe, Dave and Ansel Collins, Steel Pulse, Althea and Donna, Bob Marley and the Wailers, Janet Kay, Susan Cadogan and The Specials.


WED 02:50 Arena (b01s40mv)
aka Norman Parkinson

To mark the centenary of his birth, Arena examines the glamorous life and exceptionally long career of pioneering photographer Norman Parkinson, an eccentric English gentleman who also produced his own brand of sausages. Featuring an abundance of beautiful images and with previously unseen footage, the film explores Parkinson's work with contributions from his models and collaborators, including Iman, Jerry Hall, Carmen Dell'Orefice, creative director of Vogue Grace Coddington and his grandson Jake Parkinson-Smith.



THURSDAY 29 JANUARY 2015

THU 19:00 World News Today (b050n5sf)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


THU 19:30 Top of the Pops (b050xyfv)
Simon Bates presents chart hits of the week, with performances by Billy Preston & Syreeta, New Musik, Sad Cafe, Sister Sledge, Positive Force, Dexy's Midnight Runners and the Pretenders, and a dance sequence by Legs & Co.


THU 20:00 The First World War from Above (b00vyrzh)
Fergal Keane tells the story of the World War One from a unique new aerial perspective. Featuring two remarkable historical finds, including a piece of archive footage filmed from an airship in summer 1919, capturing the trenches and battlefields in a way that has rarely been seen before. It also features aerial photographs taken by First World War pilots - developed for the first time in over 90 years - that show not only the devastation inflicted during the fighting, but also quirks and human stories visible only from above.


THU 21:00 Timeshift (b04z23k9)
Series 14

Battle for the Himalayas: The Fight to Film Everest

Between the 1920s and the 1960s the world's great powers sent vast military-style expeditions to conquer the peaks of the Himalayas, with Everest at their head. This was a great game played - camera in hand - by Imperial Britain, Nazi Germany and superpower America. As a result, Himalayan mountaineering's most iconic, epic and tragic moments didn't just go down in history, but were caught on film - from the deaths of Mallory and Irvine on Everest in 1924, to Everest's final conquest in 1953 by Hillary and Tensing. Using footage never before seen on British television, this is the story how of how film-makers turned the great peaks into great propaganda.


THU 22:00 The Epic of Everest (b050r7gx)
A remarkable film record of the legendary Everest expedition of 1924, newly restored by the BFI National Archive.

The third attempt to climb Everest culminated in the deaths of two of the finest climbers of their generation, George Mallory and Andrew Irvine, and sparked an ongoing debate over whether or not they did indeed reach the summit.

Filming in brutally harsh conditions, Captain John Noel captured images of breathtaking beauty and considerable historic significance, including the earliest filmed records of life in Tibet. But what resonates so deeply is Noel's ability to frame the vulnerability, isolation and courage of people persevering in one of the world's harshest landscapes.

The restoration by the BFI National Archive has transformed the quality of the surviving elements of the film and reintroduced the original coloured tints and tones. The original silent film is brought to life as never before by a haunting new soundtrack composed by Simon Fisher Turner. Revealed by the restoration, few images in cinema are as epic - or moving - as the final shots of a blood red sunset over the Himalayas.


THU 23:25 The Eiger: Wall of Death (b00tlwj3)
A history of one of the world's most challenging mountains, the Eiger, and its infamous north face. The film gets to the heart of one of Europe's most notorious peaks, exploring its character and its impact on the people who climb it and live in its awesome shadow.


THU 00:25 Horizon (b00hxtwc)
2008-2009

The Secret Life of Your Bodyclock

Why are you more likely to have a heart attack at eight o'clock in the morning or crash your car on the motorway at two o'clock in the afternoon? Can taking your medication at the right time of day really save your life? And have you ever wondered why teenagers will not get out of bed in the morning?

The answers to these questions lie in the secret world of the biological clock.


THU 01:15 Top of the Pops (b050xyfv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


THU 02:00 Barry White at the BBC (b0074pvz)
Barry White live in concert at the Royal Albert Hall in 1975.


THU 02:55 Timeshift (b04z23k9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



FRIDAY 30 JANUARY 2015

FRI 19:00 World News Today (b050n5sq)
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 Symphony (b016pwgy)
Genesis and Genius

Simon Russell Beale presents a radical reappraisal of the place of the symphony in the modern world and explores the surprising way in which it has shaped our history and identity.

The first episode begins amidst the turmoil of the French Revolution with the arrival in England of Joseph Haydn, dubbed the 'Father of the Symphony'. It continues with Mozart, the genius who wrote his first symphony at the age of eight, and Beethoven, the revolutionary who created the idea of the artist as hero and whose Eroica Symphony changed music for ever.

The music is performed by the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, conducted by Sir Mark Elder.


FRI 21:00 Sound of Song (b050rbz8)
Mix It Up and Start Again

Composer and musician Neil Brand's series exploring the alchemy that creates great songs reaches the modern era, when a revolution in how they were made took place. From the synthesisers of symphonic rock to the mixes of disco and the samplings of hip hop, music was transformed by the arrival of digital technology and the computer, which gave some songwriters more power but others much less. Along the way Neil talks synths with Rick Wakeman from Yes, samples with Public Enemy's Hank Shocklee, uncovers the surprising lo-fi origins of Bruce Springsteen's stadium-busting Born in the USA, and finds out how Cher changed the sound of her voice on the smash hit Believe.


FRI 22:00 Kraftwerk: Pop Art (b050rbzb)
Documentary telling the amazing story of how a group of reclusive Rhineland experimentalists called Kraftwerk became one of the most influential pop groups of all time. It is a celebration of the band featuring exclusive live tracks filmed at their Tate Modern shows in London in February 2013, interwoven with expert analysis, archive footage of the group going back to 1970, newsreel of the era and newly shot cinematic evocations of their obsessions. With contributions from techno pioneer Derrick May, Can founder Holger Czukay, DJ and remixer Francois Kevorkian, graphic design guru Neville Brody, writer Paul Morley, band photographer Peter Boettcher, Tate Modern curator Caroline Wood and others.


FRI 23:00 Synth Britannia (b00n93c4)
Documentary following a generation of post-punk musicians who took the synthesiser from the experimental fringes to the centre of the pop stage.

In the late 1970s, small pockets of electronic artists including The Human League, Daniel Miller and Cabaret Voltaire were inspired by Kraftwerk and JG Ballard, and they dreamt of the sound of the future against the backdrop of bleak, high-rise Britain.

The crossover moment came in 1979 when Gary Numan's appearance on Top of the Pops with Tubeway Army's Are 'Friends' Electric? heralded the arrival of synthpop. Four lads from Basildon known as Depeche Mode would come to own the new sound, whilst post-punk bands like Ultravox, Soft Cell, OMD and Yazoo took the synth out of the pages of NME and onto the front page of Smash Hits.

By 1983, acts like Pet Shop Boys and New Order were showing that the future of electronic music would lie in dance music.

Contributors include Philip Oakey, Vince Clarke, Martin Gore, Bernard Sumner, Gary Numan and Neil Tennant.


FRI 00:30 Sound of Song (b050rbz8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


FRI 01:30 Kraftwerk: Pop Art (b050rbzb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]


FRI 02:30 Synth Britannia (b00n93c4)
[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)

A-Z of World Music 01:15 MON (b038rp8n)

Arena 02:50 WED (b01s40mv)

Barry White at the BBC 02:00 THU (b0074pvz)

Bright Lights, Brilliant Minds: A Tale of Three Cities 20:00 SAT (b04f83xq)

Bright Lights, Brilliant Minds: A Tale of Three Cities 02:00 SAT (b04f83xq)

Bright Lights, Brilliant Minds: A Tale of Three Cities 01:00 TUE (b04f83xq)

British Gardens in Time 21:00 MON (b042638j)

British Gardens in Time 02:45 MON (b042638j)

Could We Survive a Mega-Tsunami? 21:00 WED (b01s0zqv)

Could We Survive a Mega-Tsunami? 00:20 WED (b01s0zqv)

Duets at the BBC 23:55 SAT (b01c2xwt)

Elvis: That's Alright Mama 60 Years On 00:25 SUN (b04c3l7g)

Fabric of Britain 02:00 TUE (b03bgrvf)

Horizon 23:15 MON (b00hnc9n)

Horizon 00:00 TUE (b00fyl5z)

Horizon 23:20 WED (b00hbsk2)

Horizon 00:25 THU (b00hxtwc)

Jackpot 22:00 WED (b037xzyv)

Kraftwerk: Pop Art 22:00 FRI (b050rbzb)

Kraftwerk: Pop Art 01:30 FRI (b050rbzb)

Meat Loaf: In and out of Hell 22:55 TUE (b04xdrrb)

National Treasures of Wales 19:30 MON (b04n99gt)

National Treasures of Wales 19:30 TUE (b04nz0mn)

National Treasures of Wales 19:30 WED (b04pgc2y)

Only Yesterday: The Carpenters Story 22:55 SAT (b007cllb)

Only Yesterday: The Carpenters Story 03:00 SAT (b007cllb)

Otis Redding: Soul Ambassador 00:15 MON (b020tphg)

Return to Betjemanland 01:20 WED (b04gb6nl)

Shoah 19:00 SUN (b050qxh6)

Smiley's People 22:00 TUE (b007gt23)

Sound of Song 23:25 SUN (b04z23vl)

Sound of Song 21:00 FRI (b050rbz8)

Sound of Song 00:30 FRI (b050rbz8)

Sounds of the 70s 2 01:30 SAT (b01glwkz)

Sounds of the 70s 2 02:20 WED (b01gymg9)

Sounds of the Sixties 19:30 FRI (b0074qbf)

Spiral 21:00 SAT (b050qtn2)

Spiral 21:55 SAT (b050qtn4)

Storyville 22:00 MON (b050r0bc)

Symphony 20:00 FRI (b016pwgy)

Synth Britannia 23:00 FRI (b00n93c4)

Synth Britannia 02:30 FRI (b00n93c4)

The Art of Fly Fishing: Kiss the Water 21:00 TUE (b03fgs1r)

The Art of Fly Fishing: Kiss the Water 03:00 TUE (b03fgs1r)

The Beatles' Please Please Me: Remaking a Classic 01:25 SUN (b01qnrb8)

The Children of the Holocaust 20:00 TUE (b05173wp)

The Eiger: Wall of Death 23:25 THU (b00tlwj3)

The Epic of Everest 22:00 THU (b050r7gx)

The First World War from Above 20:00 THU (b00vyrzh)

The Heart of Country: How Nashville Became Music City USA 02:20 SUN (b04ndxlr)

The Treasure Hunters 20:00 MON (b040r3bv)

Timeshift 21:00 THU (b04z23k9)

Timeshift 02:55 THU (b04z23k9)

Timewatch 20:00 WED (b00785y5)

Top of the Pops 00:55 SAT (b0505yqc)

Top of the Pops 19:30 THU (b050xyfv)

Top of the Pops 01:15 THU (b050xyfv)

Unnatural Histories 19:00 SAT (b011s4k0)

World News Today 19:00 MON (b050n5rw)

World News Today 19:00 TUE (b050n5s1)

World News Today 19:00 WED (b050n5s6)

World News Today 19:00 THU (b050n5sf)

World News Today 19:00 FRI (b050n5sq)