The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
Steered by his 1913 railway guide, Michael Portillo explores Germany, the powerhouse of today's European Union, and learns how tourists in the early 20th century would have been visiting quite a new country, which they admired and envied but also feared.
Beginning in Dresden, Michael explores the city of one of his favourite opera composers, Richard Wagner. He learns about the health craze of the time and attempts the equivalent of a 1913 Jane Fonda workout. He travels to Leipzig on a historic railway line, built by British engineers in 1839. In Brunswick, he learns how the arrival of the railway added its own flavour to the local beer before moving on to Hamburg, where he discovers model railway making on the grandest of scales.
In Kiel, Michael learns about the intense rivalry between Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany and his uncle, British King Edward VII, at the Kiel Week yacht races. Michael boards an early 20th-century yacht to experience the thrill for himself and learns how British yachtsmen spied on the German navy.
The great flood in the Okavango turns 4,000 square miles of arid plains into a beautiful wetland. Elephant mothers guide their families on an epic trek across the harsh Kalahari Desert towards it, siphoning fresh water from stagnant pools and facing hungry lions. Hippos battle for territory, as the magical water draws in thousands of buffalo and birds, and vast clouds of dragonflies. Will the young elephant calves survive to reach this grassland paradise?
The experienced mother elephants time their arrival at the delta to coincide with the lush grass produced by the great flood. In a TV first, the programme shows the way they use their trunks to siphon clean water from the surface layers of a stagnant pool, while avoiding stirring up the muddy sediment on the bottom with their feet.
Bull hippos also converge on prime territories formed by the rising floodwater. Two big bulls do bloody battle, at times being lifted out of the water by their rival.
Lechwe swamp deer, zebras, giraffes, crocodiles and numerous fish and thousands of birds arrive in the delta. And, in a phenomenon never before filmed in the Okavango, thousands of dragonflies appear - seemingly from nowhere - within minutes of the flood arrival, mating and laying eggs.
As the flood finally reaches its peak, elephants and buffalo, near the end of their epic trek across the desert, face the final gauntlet of a hungry pride of lions.
In a heartrending sequence, a baby elephant is brought down by a lion in broad daylight.
The diary section - Mission Impassible - shows how the versatility and persistence of cameraman Mike Holding results is some amazing sequences of the flood advancing.
Today, the topic of climate change is a major part of daily life, yet 40 years ago it was virtually unheard of. Since then, Horizon and the BBC have followed scientists as they have tried to unpick how the climate works and whether it is changing. Dr Helen Czerski delves into this unique archive to chart the transformation of a little-known theory into one of the greatest scientific undertakings in history. It has been a constantly surprising journey of discovery that has revolutionised our understanding of climate, and seen scientists face unprecedented controversy and criticism.
The story of the brutal gang rape and murder of 23-year-old medical student Jyoti on a moving bus in Delhi in 2012, and the unprecedented protests and riots which this horrific event ignited throughout India, leading to the demand for changes in attitudes towards women. The film examines the values and mindsets of the rapists, and interviews the two lawyers who defended the men convicted of Jyoti's rape and murder.
Professor Iain Stewart uncovers the mysterious history of Australia, and shows how Australia's journey as a continent has affected everything from Aboriginal history to modern-day mining, and even the evolution of Australia's bizarre wildlife, like the koala.
Iain begins searching for the platypus - a strange creature that is half mammal and half reptile. 200 million years ago reptile-like mammals were found across much of the world because at this time Australia was just one part of a huge landmass called Gondwana, that dominated the southern hemisphere.
Piecing together evidence from fossils found in a sea cliff outside Sydney and rocks recovered from Captain Scott's expedition to the South Pole, Professor Stewart shows that Gondwana was covered by a forest of now extinct trees called glossopteris. This was the habitat of the ancestors of today's platypus.
To discover the fate of Gondwana, Iain visits an unusual mining town called Coober Pedy where many of the buildings are underground in dug-out caves. The opals that are mined here enable him to recreate the breakup of Gondwana, and also show how Australia's formation led to the creation of a vast underground aquifer. This source of hidden water sustained the Aboriginal people as they criss-crossed the otherwise arid Australian interior.
Iain travels to the cliffs of the Australian Bight to show how Australia was once joined to Antarctica, and how their split led to the evolution of the biggest group of mammals on earth - the filter feeding whales.
Australia's journey away from Antarctica has also left its mark on the koala. Its big, round face and fluffy ears are a result of adaptations to the climate change that Australia has undergone on its northwards journey.
Finally Iain travels to Indonesia to meet the Bajau people of the Banda Sea - sea gypsies who glean almost all they need to live from the waters around them. Contained within these waters is evidence that shows Australia's eventual fate. Over the next 50 million years, Australia will collide with Asia, its isolation will be over, and it will become forested and lush once again.
Following an argument with her lover on her boat, a woman is found dead. Wallander and the Ystad police investigate - their enquiries lead them to a farm commune and to an old friend of Linda's.
THURSDAY 05 MARCH 2015
THU 19:00 World News Today (b054bvng)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
THU 19:30 Top of the Pops (b0544glm)
Simon Bates presents chart hits of the week, with performances from Matchbox, Keith Michell, the Flying Lizards, Elvis Costello, Michael Jackson, Dave Edmunds, Jon & Vangelis, Marti Webb and Kenny Rogers, and a dance sequence by Legs & Co.
THU 20:00 Pain, Pus and Poison: The Search for Modern Medicines (p01f53b9)
Poison
Dr Michael Mosley ends the series with a look at poisons, exploring the turning points when scientists went from finding antidotes to poisons to applying poisons as cures, and celebrating the eccentrics and mavericks whose breakthroughs were to pave the way for some of the most striking treatments of modern medicine. Of the medicines explored in this series, those that are derived from poisons are perhaps the most extraordinary. The story of turning poisons into medicines encompasses the planet's most deadly substances, in which we turned killers into cures.
THU 21:00 Saints and Sinners: Britain's Millennium of Monasteries (b054fmzl)
Episode 3
In the final episode of the series, Dr Janina Ramirez discovers how the immensely rich and powerful monasteries that had dominated British society for 1,000 were annihilated in less than five years.
In the 15th century, 800 monasteries in England owned one-third of the nation's land. Many monks were living in palatial monasteries and were patrons of the finest art and architecture. Janina examines monastery kitchen records and the bones of a medieval monk to discover the truth behind accusations of monastic gluttony and vice. She also explores how the arrival of the printing press put paid to the monasteries' monopoly of publishing and education.
Janina then traces the story of the dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell. She explores whether the dissolution was the violent action of a greedy and overbearing monarch or if it was the inevitable 'end of days' for a rotten and outmoded institution.
She uncovers stories of shocking corruption alongside examples of extraordinary pious sacrifice. Although not a single monastery survived the systematic liquidation, Janina shows the lasting impact Britain's millennium of monasteries had on our society and culture.
THU 22:00 Climate Change by Numbers (p02jsdrk)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Monday]
THU 23:15 Rise of the Continents (b0368kb2)
The Americas
Professor Iain Stewart uncovers clues hidden within the New York skyline, the anatomy of American alligators and inside Bolivian silver mines, to reconstruct how North and South America were created. We call these two continents the New World, and in a geological sense they are indeed new worlds, torn from the heart of an ancient supercontinent - the Old World of Pangaea.
Iain starts in New York, where the layout of the city's skyscrapers provide a link to a long-lost world. Deep within their foundations is evidence that 300 million years ago New York was at the heart of a huge mountain range - part of the vast supercontinent called Pangaea.
Trekking into the Grand Canyon, Iain uncovers a layer of sandstone from Pangaean times that shows there was a vast desert either side of the mountains. Footprints in the rocks of the Grand Canyon reveal that there was only one type of animal that could thrive here - a newly evolved group called the reptiles. Iain meets the closest living relative of those early reptiles - the alligator.
Two hundred million years ago, Pangea underwent a transformation. North and South America were carved from Pangaea, and pushed westwards as separate island continents. To see how this westward movement shaped South America's often bloody human history, Iain travels to Potosi in Bolivia. Cerro Rico is one of the most dangerous mines in human history. Iain goes to the heart of this extinct volcano to reveal the process that has shaped South America - subduction.
Subduction has also created the longest continual mountain range in the world - the Andes. At its heart lies the stunning ethereal landscape of the Salar de Uyuni, a vast salt flat where a lake has been uplifted thousands of metres above sea level. The lithium found here may be a new source of mineral wealth for Bolivia, for use in mobile phones.
The last chapter in the story of the Americas is told through that most typically Andean animal, the llama. But like much of South America's wildlife it originated in North America, and only came south when the two island continents of North and South America joined three million years ago.
Since that momentous joining the story of the Americas has been a shared one. Together they continue their westward drift away from the Old World. However, on a cultural and economic level you could argue that the opposite is the case. In our new global economy the Americas are at the very heart of our connected world.
THU 00:15 Top of the Pops (b0544glm)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:30 today]
THU 00:50 Sounds of the Eighties (b0074sjk)
Episode 2
Serious and sincere they may have been, never cracking a smile where a tortured, artistic look would do, but this tranche of 80s pop stars know how to make that look work - Eurythmics, Spandau Ballet, Phil Collins, Fine Young Cannibals, Tears for Fears, Suzanne Vega and Simply Red.
THU 01:15 Wallander (b00phkkw)
Series 1
The Joker
When a woman is shot dead on the beach outside her restaurant, the only witness is her young daughter. Wallander and his team are informed about a restaurant mafia in Malmo run by Jack Hansson, so the Malmo police are called in to help. One of their cops, Frank Borg, knows a little bit too much about Jack's business dealings, and his methods are unconventional.
In Swedish with English subtitles.
THU 02:45 Saints and Sinners: Britain's Millennium of Monasteries (b054fmzl)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
FRIDAY 06 MARCH 2015
FRI 19:00 World News Today (b054bvnm)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
FRI 19:30 Sounds of the Sixties (b0074qcb)
Original Series
The Singer and the Song
Rock, pop and R'n'B performances from the BBC archives, with Sandie Shaw, Dusty Springfield, Long John Baldry, Lulu, Tom Jones, Brenton Wood, Cliff Richard, Cilla Black and Peter Sarstedt.
FRI 20:00 Darcey Bussell's Looking for Audrey (b04w7mfk)
Behind Audrey Hepburn's dazzling image, Darcey Bussell unravels an epic tale of betrayal, courage, heartache and broken dreams.
For as long as she can remember, Darcey has been fascinated by Audrey Hepburn - style icon, star of Breakfast at Tiffany's and an Oscar winner at 24. Now, Darcey follows in Audrey's footsteps through Holland, London, Rome, Switzerland and Hollywood to find out more. She discovers that Audrey started out as a dancer, risked her life in the Second World War and, although adored the world over, was always looking for love.
FRI 21:00 Boy George and Culture Club: Karma to Calamity (b054v27d)
In the early 1980s, Culture Club was one of the biggest bands in the world, selling 150 million records worldwide. Formed in London, the band was comprised of Boy George on vocals, Mikey Craig on bass, Roy Hay on guitar and keyboards and Jon Moss on drums. As well as their UK success, the band was huge in the USA - notching up ten top 40 hits. Being part of Band Aid cemented them as stalwarts of the 80s, a band that broke down barriers and left a huge legacy for the stars that came later, before they disbanded in 1986.
However, they are a band with a past as colourful as their music. George had a secret affair with his drummer Jon Moss and when they acrimoniously split, the band fell apart and George descended into heroin addiction. Over the years there have been numerous failed attempts to reunite the band.
In 2014 Culture Club decided to come back together to record a new album and embark on a UK and US tour. Director Mike Nicholls has unique access, following the band as they first meet in George's London home to write new material. However, it's not long before creative differences and tensions from their past begin to emerge. Faultlines develop further when the band travel to Spain to record the new album, spending two weeks working and living together in a remote recording studio.
As the band return to London to prepare for the tour, they suffer a Twitter mauling after their first big public performance on Strictly Come Dancing. Relations are even more strained when George and the band sign to separate managers and a sudden illness threatens the whole reunion.
The film looks at the band's troubled past, examining the themes of success, fame and ego, and reveals the personalities behind one of the most iconic bands of all time.
FRI 22:00 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!
FRI 23:00 The New Romantics: A Fine Romance (b007btt3)
Culture Club, Spandau Ballet, Visage, Marilyn, Adam and the Ants, Duran Duran, ABC... At the dawn of the 80s, a whole host of strangely dressed men in make-up burst forth onto the music scene brandishing synthesisers and kicking against the visual ugliness of punk.
They came mainly from the London club scene, led by gender-bending host Steve Strange and pioneering electronic DJ Rusty Egan, and conquered the charts with classic tracks such as Do You Really Want to Hurt Me, To Cut a Long Story Short, Kings of the Wild Frontier, Planet Earth, Fade to Grey, Calling Your Name and Poison Arrow.
Magenta Devine narrates this gay and colourful behind-the-scene documentary of sex and drugs and frocks and hair-rollers, which includes interviews with Boy George, Gary Kemp, Adam Ant, Nick Rhodes, Steve Strange, Rusty Egan, Marilyn, Jonathan Ross, Caryn Franklin, Fiona Bruce and Robert Elms.
FRI 23:50 Nile Rodgers: The Hitmaker Remastered (b01rk2tm)
The last two years have seen Nile Rodgers launched back into the limelight following the massive success of Daft Punk's single Get Lucky, his distinctive guitar work helping the French dance music duo to one of their biggest hits.
This 2013 documentary has been brought up to date to tell the story of his work with Daft Punk and how his band Chic has been introduced to a brand new audience.
As the co-founder, songwriter, producer and guitarist of Chic he helped define the sound of the 70s, as disco took the world by storm. But the music that had made Chic would also break them, thanks to the 'Disco Sucks' backlash. What could have been the end for Nile Rodgers would actually be a new beginning as a producer, helping create some of the biggest hits of the '80s for the likes of Diana Ross, David Bowie, Madonna and Duran Duran.
The ever-charismatic Rogers contributes an engaging and often frank interview to tell the tale of how, born to beatnik, heroin-addict parents in New York, he picked up a guitar as a teenager and embarked on a journey to learn his craft as a musician, before becoming one of disco's most successful artists.
In the '70s and '80s he lived the party lifestyle thanks to his success with Chic and as one of the music industry's hottest producers. Drugs and alcohol would become part of everyday life for Nile, contributing in part to the break-up of Chic in the early '80s. The band would reform in the mid '90s, but their return was quickly marked by tragedy with the death of Nile's long-time friend and musical partner Bernard Edwards in 1996.
The film recounts a captivating and moving story of a man who has been making hit music for nearly four decades and has found himself back in the limelight once again.
FRI 00:50 Boy George and Culture Club: Karma to Calamity (b054v27d)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
FRI 01:50 TOTP2 (b00sfz04)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:00 today]
FRI 02:50 The New Romantics: A Fine Romance (b007btt3)
[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 Very British Murder with Lucy Worsley
20:00 SAT (p01fv16l)
A Very British Murder with Lucy Worsley
02:55 SAT (p01fv16l)
Animals Through the Night: Sleepover at the Zoo
23:50 SUN (b03x3yff)
Arts Question Time with Kirsty Wark
21:00 SUN (b054v0v0)
Boy George and Culture Club: Karma to Calamity
21:00 FRI (b054v27d)
Boy George and Culture Club: Karma to Calamity
00:50 FRI (b054v27d)
Brothers in Arms
23:55 SAT (b007cblj)
Charlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe
22:25 SAT (b05482k8)
Climate Change by Numbers
21:00 MON (p02jsdrk)
Climate Change by Numbers
02:25 MON (p02jsdrk)
Climate Change by Numbers
22:00 THU (p02jsdrk)
Climate Change: A Horizon Guide
21:00 WED (b054fg05)
Climate Change: A Horizon Guide
03:00 WED (b054fg05)
Darcey Bussell's Looking for Audrey
20:00 FRI (b04w7mfk)
Emma
21:00 TUE (b007969t)
Great Continental Railway Journeys
19:30 MON (b03ty8jf)
Great Continental Railway Journeys
00:30 MON (b03ty8jf)
Great Continental Railway Journeys
19:30 TUE (b03ty8pl)
Great Continental Railway Journeys
20:00 TUE (b03ty8t3)
Great Continental Railway Journeys
00:55 TUE (b03ty8pl)
Great Continental Railway Journeys
01:25 TUE (b03ty8t3)
Great Continental Railway Journeys
19:30 WED (b03ty91g)
Great Continental Railway Journeys
01:00 WED (b03ty91g)
Guitar Heroes at the BBC
02:50 SUN (b00pjk73)
Hostages
21:00 SAT (b03yr2s8)
Hostages
21:45 SAT (b03yr2sb)
Mark Lawson Talks To...
20:00 SUN (b054f521)
Nature's Great Events
20:00 MON (b00hn4hs)
Nature's Great Events
20:00 WED (b00j4c6b)
Nature's Great Events
00:00 WED (b00j4c6b)
Nile Rodgers: The Hitmaker Remastered
23:50 FRI (b01rk2tm)
Pain, Pus and Poison: The Search for Modern Medicines
20:00 THU (p01f53b9)
Rise of the Continents
23:55 TUE (p019bctl)
Rise of the Continents
23:00 WED (p019bd2j)
Rise of the Continents
23:15 THU (b0368kb2)
Saints and Sinners: Britain's Millennium of Monasteries
23:30 MON (b053pzv1)
Saints and Sinners: Britain's Millennium of Monasteries
21:00 THU (b054fmzl)
Saints and Sinners: Britain's Millennium of Monasteries
02:45 THU (b054fmzl)
Secret Knowledge
20:30 TUE (b054fkzz)
Secret Knowledge
03:20 TUE (b054fkzz)
Sounds of the Eighties
01:20 SUN (b0074shx)
Sounds of the Eighties
00:50 THU (b0074sjk)
Sounds of the Sixties
19:30 FRI (b0074qcb)
Spike Milligan: Love, Light and Peace
22:55 SAT (b054xr81)
Storyville
22:00 SUN (b054v0v2)
Storyville
22:15 MON (b054f7qp)
Storyville
22:00 WED (b05534p0)
Synth Britannia at the BBC
01:50 SUN (b00n93c6)
TOTP2
22:00 FRI (b00sfz04)
TOTP2
01:50 FRI (b00sfz04)
The Great European Disaster Movie: Newsnight Debate
23:20 SUN (b054v5cf)
The Great War
19:00 SUN (b0074p3f)
The Kinks at the BBC
00:55 SAT (b012ht1w)
The New Romantics: A Fine Romance
23:00 FRI (b007btt3)
The New Romantics: A Fine Romance
02:50 FRI (b007btt3)
The Secret Life of Elephants
19:00 SAT (b00gtgd2)
The Secret Life of Elephants
01:55 SAT (b00gtgd2)
Top of the Pops
19:30 THU (b0544glm)
Top of the Pops
00:15 THU (b0544glm)
Twin Sisters: A World Apart
22:55 TUE (b053pxdt)
Wallander
01:00 MON (b00mfbr4)
Wallander
01:55 TUE (b00mk3sg)
Wallander
01:30 WED (b00pfs6y)
Wallander
01:15 THU (b00phkkw)
Wild
19:40 SUN (b007gt25)
Wild
19:50 SUN (b0079701)
World News Today
19:00 MON (b054bvmz)
World News Today
19:00 TUE (b054bvn4)
World News Today
19:00 WED (b054bvn9)
World News Today
19:00 THU (b054bvng)
World News Today
19:00 FRI (b054bvnm)