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 06 JUNE 2015

SAT 19:00 Fossil Wonderlands: Nature's Hidden Treasures (b03xsfrq)
Weird Wonders

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


SAT 20:00 Wild Arabia (p014y5m7)
Shifting Sands

Huge changes have swept across Arabia since the discovery of oil and the Arab relationship with nature has changed too. This is summed up by the changes to camel racing, now an ultra hi-tech sport. Arabia's animals now live alongside a very modern society, but Arabia's people are using technology to protect nature - dugongs are fitted with satellite transmitters, hunting falcons chase down radio-controlled planes, and the world's first carbon-neutral city is being built in the very heart of oil country.


SAT 21:00 1864 (b05y3m23)
Episode 7

The Danish soldiers are totally outnumbered as the Prussian and Austrian forces prepare to bombard the defences at Dybbol. Johan has foreseen the terrors which are about to take place and tries to warn the complacent commanders. Peter learns of Inge's pregnancy and is now determined to find Laust.

In Danish with English subtitles.


SAT 21:55 1864 (b05y3m25)
Episode 8

The shock of defeat is difficult for the politicians in Copenhagen to accept. Monrad accuses the king of treason for attempting to negotiate with the Prussians. Johan seeks out the families of the fallen and gives Inge's mother Laust's last letter. The news he has for the Baron is too hard to bear. Peter returns home a changed man.

In Danish with English subtitles.


SAT 22:55 TOTP2 (b01lwbt0)
Summertime Special

TOTP2 once more delves into the archives to brighten up your day with summer sizzlers from John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, the Undertones, Shaggy, Bananarama, Bobby Goldsboro, Bay City Rollers, Fun Boy Three, the Style Council and Don Henley.

Other scorchers include Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, the Sundays, Sabrina, Chris Rea, the Barracudas, Zoe, Martha and the Muffins, Bryan Adams, Girls Aloud and ELO.


SAT 23:55 Top of the Pops (b05xx8c9)
Mike Read presents chart hits of the week, with performances from the Lambrettas, UK Subs, Michael Jackson, Jona Lewie, Karel Fialka, the Specials, Matchbox and Johnny Logan, and a dance routine from Legs & Co.


SAT 00:35 Guitar Heroes at the BBC (b00lk48h)
Part II

A celebration of Seventies-era axe-men, acoustic virtuosos and thumping riff merchants, in a compilation of guitar-heavy performances from the BBC TV archives.

Guitar gods including Jimi Hendrix, Pete Townshend, Peter Green and Johnny Winter are joined by, among others, flamenco maestro Manitas De Plata, bottleneck bluesman Ry Cooder and straight-up rockers AC/DC and Thin Lizzy.

Everything from Fleetwood Mac's ambient masterpiece Albatross to hits like The Jam's In The City and Free's All Right Now feature along with lesser-known gems like Maid in Heaven by Be Bop Deluxe and Nils Lofgren's Keith Don't Go.

The tracks were recorded in the heyday of BBC shows such as The Old Grey Whistle Test, Top of the Pops and Rock Goes to College.


SAT 01:35 Wild Arabia (p014y5m7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


SAT 02:35 Metamorphosis: The Science of Change (p00zv0wk)
Metamorphosis seems like the ultimate evolutionary magic trick, the amazing transformation of one creature into a totally different being: one life, two bodies.

From Ovid and Kafka to X-Men, tales of metamorphosis richly permeate human culture. The myth of transformation is so common that it seems almost preprogrammed into our imagination. But is the scientific fact of metamorphosis just as strange as fiction or... even stranger?

Film-maker David Malone explores the science behind metamorphosis. How does it happen and why? And might it even, in some way, happen to us?



SUNDAY 07 JUNE 2015

SUN 19:00 Egypt's Lost Queens (b04gnhv5)
Professor Joann Fletcher explores what it was like to be a woman of power in ancient Egypt. Through a wealth of spectacular buildings, personal artefacts and amazing tombs, Joann brings to life four of ancient Egypt's most powerful female rulers and discovers the remarkable influence wielded by women, whose power and freedom was unique in the ancient world.

Throughout Egypt's history, women held the title of pharaoh no fewer than 15 times, and many other women played key roles in running the state and shaping every aspect of life. Joann Fletcher puts these influential women back at the heart of our understanding, revealing the other half of ancient Egypt.


SUN 20:00 In Conversation (b05y3nhw)
Julie Walters in Conversation with Richard E Grant

Julie Walters has been one of Britain's best-loved actresses since her award-winning big screen debut in Educating Rita. Her film career has since ranged from the song and dance of Mamma Mia! to the tragicomedy of Calendar Girls via a long-running role in the Harry Potter series. In this exclusive and revealing conversation, recorded in front of a live audience at the BFI Southbank, Julie discusses her movie career with Richard E Grant, who directed her in his own feature debut Wah-Wah.


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


SUN 22:45 Timeshift (b00tr480)
Series 10

1960: The Year of the North

Documentary which sets out to show that the 1960s - the most creative decade of the 20th century - began not in swinging London but in smokestack northern England. It was from there that a new kind of voice was heard - cocky and defiant, working class, affluent, stroppy and sexy.

Novelist Andrew Martin explores how in 1960 the north asserted itself, came out of the closet artistically speaking, abandoned the cloth cap stereotype and in the process liberated itself and Britain as a whole. The story of how the north went from being the economic engine room of the country to cultural powerhouse is told through the work of northern writers such as Alan Sillitoe, Shelagh Delaney, Stan Barstow and Tony Warren. Thanks to their lead in conspicuously kicking over the old traces, by the end of 1960 if you wanted iconoclasm, humour, style and music, you definitely looked to the north.


SUN 23:45 Top of the Pops (b04w0fz1)
1980 - Big Hits

British pop and the BBC's flagship chart show said goodbye to the 70s and trembled on the edge of a new era for the show, for British music and for British society. This meant a continuing love for the nutty boys, Madness, who feature in this compilation with My Girl, and the man with the best cheekbones in pop, Adam Ant, gave us Antmusic.

We get to check out The Pretenders' first number one, Brass in Pocket, alongside Dexys Midnight Runners' tribute to soul legend Geno Washington. There are the early stirrings of new romantic with Spandau Ballet, and it's a veritable mod revival with The Piranhas and 2-Tone with The Beat.

Plus Hot Chocolate, OMD, Motorhead and many more top hits proving the 80s were truly beginning.


SUN 00:45 Pop Life (b01dlph3)
I'm a Pop Star!

The final part of the series is all about the solo artists as we delve into the psyche of the men and women who go it alone. What drives them into pop single combat, braving the baying hordes armed with just a microphone, some songs and an unquenchable belief that what they have got to say is worth hearing? From pioneers like Sir Cliff Richard to pop's Prince Charming Adam Ant to contemporary leading lights like Will Young and Kelly Clarkson, this is the pop life from the inside looking out.


SUN 01:45 The Old Grey Whistle Test (b014vzy3)
70s Gold

The Old Grey Whistle Test was launched on 21 September 1971 from a tiny studio tucked behind a lift shaft on the fourth floor of BBC Television Centre. From humble beginnings, it has gone on to provide some of the best and most treasured music archive that the BBC has to offer.

This programme takes us on a journey and celebrates the musically mixed-up decade that was the 1970s, and which is reflected in the OGWT archive. There are classic performances from the glam era by Elton John and David Bowie, an early UK TV appearance from Curtis Mayfield, the beginnings of heavy metal with Steppenwolf's iconic Born to Be Wild anthem and the early punk machinations of the 'mock rock' New York Dolls. Archive from the pinnacle year, 1973, features Roxy Music, The Wailers and Vinegar Joe. The programme's finale celebrates the advent of punk and new wave with unforgettable performances from Patti Smith, Blondie, Iggy Pop and The Jam.

Artists featured are Elton John, Lindisfarne, David Bowie, Curtis Mayfield, Gladys Knight & The Pips, Steppenwolf, Vinegar Joe, Brinsley Schwarz, New York Dolls, Argent, Bob Marley & The Wailers, Captain Beefheart, Johnny Winter, Dr Feelgood, Gil Scott Heron, Patti Smith, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Cher & Gregg Allman, Talking Heads, The Jam, Blondie, Iggy Pop and The Specials.



MONDAY 08 JUNE 2015

MON 19:00 World News Today (b05y1cr7)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


MON 19:30 Great British Railway Journeys (b01q9xyz)
Series 4

Stirling to Invergowrie

Michael Portillo takes to the tracks with his copy of Bradshaw's Victorian railway guidebook, he travels the length and breadth of the British Isles to see what of Bradshaw's world remains. Michael is exploring the stunning scenery of rural and coastal Scotland, travelling from Stirling, through the industrial east coast and dramatic Highland landscapes, to the beauty of the western lochs, finally ending his journey in John O'Groats. Michael learns about a Scottish hero, visits a Highland Games and discovers how an impressive piece of Victorian engineering ended in tragedy.


MON 20:00 Inside the Medieval Mind (b00b6w6m)
Power

Professor Robert Bartlett lays bare the brutal framework of the medieval class system, where inequality was part of the natural order, the life of serfs little better than those of animals and the knight's code of chivalry more one of caste solidarity than morality. Yet a social revolution would transform relations between those with absolute power and those with none.


MON 21:00 How to Be Bohemian with Victoria Coren Mitchell (b05ywvtb)
Episode 1

In the opening episode, Victoria traces the story of the first bohemians. She begins in post-revolutionary Paris, where poverty-stricken, garret-dwelling artists and writers gained a reputation for loose living, colourful clothing and wild, naked parties. They revelled in the absurd - for example, one legendarily took his pet lobster for walks in the park. Here the archetype of the bohemian was born, immortalised later in Puccini's opera La Boheme. But were they trailblazing creatives or irritating posers? And is living outrageously a necessary step towards producing great art?

Victoria goes on to explore how bohemian subculture took root in Britain through the groundbreaking art, eccentricities and bad-boy behaviour of the Pre-Raphaelites. Dante Gabriel Rossetti cultivated his image as an oddball, keeping a menagerie including a much-loved wombat. He caused a scandal when he became obsessively entangled with Janey Morris, wife of his friend, the designer William Morris. Victoria learns how bohemianism evolved into the dandy pose of aesthetes such as playwright Oscar Wilde and artist Aubrey Beardsley, whose explicit drawings intrigued and shocked the public in equal measure.

And she recounts how, most surprisingly, bohemian living found one of its greatest advocates in children's author Arthur Ransome who, long before Swallows and Amazons, wrote a whimsical traveller's guide to bohemian London.

Victoria's historical journey is given added resonance through her probing, highly entertaining encounters with a range of illuminating modern bohemians, including Stephen Fry, artists Grayson Perry and Maggi Hambling, pop star-turned-vicar and broadcaster Richard Coles, writer Will Self and drag artist Jonny Woo.


MON 22:00 What Do Artists Do All Day? (b05y3z5z)
Tracey Emin

Best known as the bad girl of the YBA generation, Tracey Emin is now one of the most successful artists working anywhere in the world. This film follows Emin at work in her studio as she prepares for an exhibition in Vienna, where her work is displayed alongside that of Egon Schiele, her artistic hero. In recent years Emin has shifted focus to more figurative work, creating paintings and sculptures that continue to explore her most intimate concerns. She speaks candidly about a life devoted to making art, as well as her ambitions for the future.


MON 22:30 I Capture the Castle (b0078tqk)
1930s drama about two young girls falling in love for the first time with handsome American brothers. Cassandra and her beautiful sister Rose live in a crumbling English castle with their penniless father and eccentric stepmother. They despair that they will ever escape and see life, but when two wealthy young Americans move into the village they seize their chance.


MON 00:20 In Conversation (b05y3nhw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Sunday]


MON 01:20 Inside the Medieval Mind (b00b6w6m)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


MON 02:20 What Do Artists Do All Day? (b05y3z5z)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]


MON 02:50 How to Be Bohemian with Victoria Coren Mitchell (b05ywvtb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



TUESDAY 09 JUNE 2015

TUE 19:00 World News Today (b05y1crd)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


TUE 19:30 Great British Railway Journeys (b01q9ybs)
Series 4

Dundee to Aberdeen

Michael Portillo takes to the tracks with his copy of Bradshaw's Victorian railway guidebook, he travels the length and breadth of the British Isles to see what of Bradshaw's world remains. Michael is exploring the stunning scenery of rural and coastal Scotland, travelling from Stirling, through the industrial east coast and dramatic Highland landscapes, to the beauty of the western lochs, finally ending his journey in John O'Groats. Michael learns how Queen Victoria used to hide from her subjects, discovers how factory workers went deaf and goes out with a bang in Aberdeenshire.


TUE 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.


TUE 21:00 Monkey Planet (p01s0yd4)
Meet the Family

Our primate family is incredibly varied and surprising. From the ninja tarsier, a spring-loaded ambush predator the size of a tennis ball, to the magnificent herds of geladas in the mountains of Ethiopia, primates have adapted to environments across the planet.

In this episode, Dr George McGavin gets up close and personal with Siswi, an orangutan who uses soap to improve her personal hygiene. He strips off to experience the mind-numbing cold of the Japanese Alps and heads 100 metres underground to a secluded monkey dormitory.

Then there are baboons with a thirst for flamingo flesh, macaques with criminal minds, fluorescent mandrills who wear war paint to do battle, and Ardry, a real-life gremlin who sees the unseeable with her extraterrestrial fingers.


TUE 22:00 Your Inner Fish: An Evolution Story (b05yxzxc)
Your Inner Fish

It took more than 350 million years for the human body to take shape. Anatomist Neil Shubin reveals how our bodies are the legacy of ancient fish, reptiles and primates, the ancestors you never knew were in your family tree. Our bodies carry the anatomical legacy of animals that lived hundreds of millions of years ago.

Journeying to the Arctic, South Africa and Ethiopia, Neil uncovers an astonishing story spanning hundreds of millions of years, a tale full of strange facts and remarkable insights. Using fossils, embryos and genes, each of the three episodes focuses on a key transitional moment in the evolution of the human body - moving from the sea to land, relocating from the shore to living in trees, and coming down from the trees to walk upright on two legs.

In the opening episode, Neil journeys from an American highway to the Arctic Circle to connect our lungs, arms, legs and hands to a prehistoric fish that crawled onto land 375 million years ago.


TUE 22:55 The Brain: A Secret History (b00xhgkd)
Mind Control

In a compelling and at times disturbing series, Dr Michael Mosley explores the brutal history of experimental psychology.

To begin, Michael traces the sinister ways this science has been used to try to control our minds. He finds that the pursuit of mind control has led to some truly horrific experiments and left many casualties in its wake. Extraordinary archive material captures what happened - scientists systematically change the behaviour of children, law-abiding citizens give fatal electric shocks and a gay man has electrodes implanted in his head in an attempt to turn his sexuality.

Michael takes a hallucinogenic drug as part of a controlled experiment to try to understand how its mind-bending properties can change the brain.

This is a scientific journey which goes to the very heart of what we hold most dear - our free will, and our ability to control our own destiny.


TUE 23:55 Cosmonauts: How Russia Won the Space Race (b04lcxms)
When Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon in 1969, America went down in popular history as the winner of the space race. However, the real pioneers of space exploration were the Soviet cosmonauts.

This remarkable feature-length documentary combines rare and unseen archive footage with interviews with the surviving cosmonauts to tell the fascinating and at times terrifying story of how the Russians led us into the space age. A particular highlight is Alexei Leonov, the man who performed the first spacewalk, explaining how he found himself trapped outside his spacecraft 500 miles above the Earth. Scary stuff.


TUE 00:55 Monkey Planet (p01s0yd4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


TUE 01:55 Wild Arabia (p014y5m7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Saturday]


TUE 02:55 Your Inner Fish: An Evolution Story (b05yxzxc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]



WEDNESDAY 10 JUNE 2015

WED 19:00 World News Today (b05y1crk)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


WED 19:30 Great British Railway Journeys (b01q9yg0)
Series 4

Dufftown to Aviemore

Michael Portillo takes to the tracks with his copy of Bradshaw's Victorian railway guidebook, he travels the length and breadth of the British Isles to see what of Bradshaw's world remains. Michael is exploring the stunning scenery of rural and coastal Scotland, travelling from Stirling, through the industrial east coast and dramatic Highland landscapes, to the beauty of the western lochs, finally ending his journey in John O'Groats. Michael learns how Victorian whisky trains were raided by robbers, travels along one of Scotland's most impressive viaducts and discovers that life is not always sweet on a shortbread production line.


WED 20:00 Everyday Miracles: The Genius of Sofas, Stockings and Scanners (b04fmg34)
Away

Professor Mark Miodownik concludes his odyssey of the stuff of modern life. This time he looks at how materials have enabled us to indulge our curiosity about the world around us. To go further and travel faster. He looks at how the bicycle suddenly stirred our national gene pool, why we should all be grateful for exploding glass and what levitation has to do with discovering your inner self. On the road and in the lab with dramatic experiments, Mark reveals why the everyday and even the mundane is anything but.


WED 21:00 Timeshift (p0287mq6)
Series 14

Bullseyes and Beer: When Darts Hit Britain

Timeshift tells the story of how a traditional working-class pub game became a national obsession during the 1970s and 80s, and looks at the key role television played in elevating its larger-than-life players into household names.

Siobhan Finneran narrates a documentary which charts the game's surprising history, its cross-class and cross-gender appeal, and the star players that, for two decades, transformed a pub pastime into a sporting spectacle like no other.

Featuring legendary names such as Alan Evans and Jocky Wilson and including contributions from Eric Bristow, Bobby George, John Lowe and Phil Taylor.


WED 22:00 Timeshift (b01p96ly)
Series 12

When Wrestling was Golden: Grapples, Grunts and Grannies

Timeshift turns back the clock to a time when villains wore silver capes, grannies swooned at the sight of bulky men in latex and the most masculine man in the country was called Shirley. In its heyday, British professional wrestling attracted huge TV audiences and made household names of generations of wrestlers from Mick McManus and Jackie 'Mr TV' Pallo to Giant Haystacks and Big Daddy. With contributions from inside the world of wrestling and surprising fans such as artist Peter Blake, this is an affectionate and lively portrait of a lost era of simpler pleasures, both in and out of the ring.


WED 23:00 Our World (b0547tst)
My Mad Uganda

In Uganda few people are willing to talk about mental illness. Those who suffer are frequently isolated, shunned by their community and rejected by their families. Our World meets a man who has broken the silence and is encouraging other psychiatric patients to speak openly about living with mental illness.


WED 23:30 How to Be Bohemian with Victoria Coren Mitchell (b05ywvtb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Monday]


WED 00:30 Inside the Medieval Mind (b00b6w6m)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Monday]


WED 01:30 Art of Germany (b00wbwg2)
A Divided Land

Andrew Graham-Dixon begins his exploration of German art by looking at the rich and often neglected art of the German middle ages and Renaissance.

He visits the towering cathedral of Cologne, a place which encapsulates the varied and often contradictory character of German art. In Munich he gets to grips with the earliest paintings of the Northern Renaissance, the woodcuts of Albrecht Durer and the cosmic visions of the painter Albrecht Altdorfer. Andrew also embarks on a tour of the Bavarian countryside, discovering some of the little-known treasures of German limewood sculpture.


WED 02:30 Horizon (b03wcchn)
2013-2014

The Power of the Placebo

They are the miracle pills that shouldn't really work at all. Placebos come in all shapes and sizes, but they contain no active ingredient. Now they are being shown to help treat pain, depression and even alleviate some of the symptoms of Parkinson's disease. Horizon explores why they work, and how we could all benefit from the hidden power of the placebo.



THURSDAY 11 JUNE 2015

THU 19:00 World News Today (b05y1crs)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


THU 19:30 Top of the Pops (b05yt1c2)
David 'Kid' Jensen presents chart hits of the week. Guests include Liquid Gold, Hot Chocolate, Elton John, Don McLean, Thin Lizzy, Roxy Music, OMD, Jermaine Jackson, Stiff Little Fingers, Mystic Merlin and Lena Zavaroni. Includes a dance sequence by Legs & Co.


THU 20:00 Castles: Britain's Fortified History (b04v85sy)
Defence of the Realm

Sam Willis explores how, by the Wars of the Roses, castles were under attack from a new threat - the cannon - but survived into the Tudor era only to find their whole purpose challenged. What had once been strategic seats of power now had to keep up with the fickle fashions of the court and become palaces to impress monarchs such as Elizabeth I.

Just as castles seemed to have lost their defensive function, the English Civil War erupted. The legacy of that tumultuous period resulted in castles no longer being associated with protection. Rather, their ruins took on a unique appeal, embodying a nostalgia for an age of chivalry that became a powerful part of the national psyche.


THU 21:00 Chris Packham's Natural Selection (b05yt1c4)
Naturalist Chris Packham is joined by two of his heroes - Jeremy Deller and George Monbiot - to discuss art, television and communing with a gorilla.


THU 22:00 The Artful Codgers (b05yxb3t)
The Greenhalgh family from Lancashire conned the art world with a series of fakes sold to museums, galleries and collectors all over the globe, made in the garden shed of their shared council house in suburban Bolton. This highly acclaimed film uncovers the secret world of the most unlikely art forgers in history, interviewing the police who uncovered them, the experts they deceived and their friends and neighbours.

For over 17 years, led by 87-year-old pensioner George, the family systematically deceived the art world, including dealers, auction houses, museums and private collectors. Despite having made hundreds of thousands of pounds from selling dozens of fakes, the family continued to lead a modest existence, totally cut off from the outside world with only themselves and their forgeries for company.

While Shaun was busy carving, casting and painting the forgeries, his elderly father George was the salesman behind the operation. He played the part of the doddery old man to perfection, fooling the various experts that he came across into thinking that he had no idea of the value of what he possessed. But the family had, in fact, carefully researched lost masterpieces in art reference books from their local libraries, and skilfully assembled stories about the fakes' provenances that some experts and auction houses believed.

Finally, in November 2005, their cottage industry in art and antiquities began to unravel when a minor error in an 'ancient' Assyrian tablet his son Shaun had knocked up in their garden shed was spotted by the British Museum. The police raided the Greenhalgh family home and discovered a house littered with fakes, among which were three of Shaun's previous attempts at creating the Amarna Princess, a statue of Tutankhamun's sister purported to be over 3,000 years old, which they had sold for £440,000 to Bolton Council.


THU 22:50 Punk Britannia (b01jmwjd)
Punk 1976-1978

Daydreaming England was about to be rudely awoken as punk emerged from the London underground scene. A nation dropped its dinner in its lap when the Sex Pistols swore on primetime television. Punk had finally found its enemy- the establishment. In Manchester, the Buzzcocks' self-released Spiral Scratch was a clarion call for a do-it-yourself generation, while the Clash's White Riot tour took punk's message across Britain. Moral outrage followed the Pistols around the country, effectively outlawing punk - but there was one refuge for the music. Nestled in the wasteland of 70s Covent Garden, the Roxy was punk's cathedral. Punk interlopers the Jam raised the bar for lyricism, challenging punk's London elite.

Punk also began to extend its three-chord vocabulary through an alliance with reggae, memorably captured by the Clash on White Man in Hammersmith Palais. With their second single, God Save the Queen, the Pistols scored a direct hit at the establishment in summer '77, but a disastrous PR stunt on a Thames barge would mark a turning point. The darker underbelly of the summer of '77 would see race riots in Lewisham. This street turbulence was the backdrop for a rawer, working class sound. If the Pistols and the Clash had been the theory, a second wave led by Sham 69 was the reality.

By '78 punk was becoming a costume - the very pop orthodoxy it had originally sought to destroy. For many punk ended when the Pistols split, beset by internal problems, following an abortive tour of the USA in January '78. Those practitioners who would go on to enjoy sustained success sought to modify their sound to survive, such as Siouxsie Sioux. Punk had shown what it was against, now it was time to show what it was for in the post-punk era.

With John Lydon, Mick Jones, Siouxsie Sioux and Paul Weller.


THU 23:50 After Life: The Strange Science of Decay (b012w66t)
Ever wondered what would happen in your own home if you were taken away, and everything inside was left to rot? The answer is revealed in this fascinating programme, which explores the strange and surprising science of decay.

For two months in summer 2011, a glass box containing a typical kitchen and garden was left to rot in full public view within Edinburgh Zoo. In this resulting documentary, presenter Dr George McGavin and his team use time-lapse cameras and specialist photography to capture the extraordinary way in which moulds, microbes and insects are able to break down our everyday things and allow new life to emerge from old.

Decay is something that many of us are repulsed by. But as the programme shows, it's a process that's vital in nature. And seen in close-up, it has an unexpected and sometimes mesmerising beauty.


THU 01:20 Your Inner Fish: An Evolution Story (b05yxzxc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 on Tuesday]


THU 02:20 Castles: Britain's Fortified History (b04v85sy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]



FRIDAY 12 JUNE 2015

FRI 19:00 World News Today (b05y1cry)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


FRI 19:30 Concerto at the BBC Proms (b01k031g)
Mendelssohn Violin

Another chance to hear a live performance from the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall of one of the most popular and frequently performed violin concertos of all time, Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor, recorded at the first night of the BBC Proms in 2005. Exciting and versatile violin soloist Janine Jansen performs with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under the baton of conductor, Sir Roger Norrington.


FRI 20:00 Dancing in the Blitz: How World War II Made British Ballet (p01s4z2h)
David Bintley, director of the Birmingham Royal Ballet, explores how the Second World War was the making of British ballet and how fundamental the years of hardship and adversity were in getting the British public to embrace ballet. Bintley shows how the then Sadler's Wells Ballet Company, led by Ninette de Valois and featuring a star-studded generation of British dancers and choreographers including Margot Fonteyn and Frederick Ashton, was forged during the Second World War.

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

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


FRI 21:00 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.


FRI 22:00 Classic Soul at the BBC (b0074pvv)
A collection of some of the greatest soul performances from the BBC's archive, featuring Aretha Franklin, Al Green, Dusty Springfield, Isaac Hayes, Solomon Burke and Percy Sledge.


FRI 23:00 Pop Life (b01d7k4n)
I'm in a Girl Group!

It is as true today as it was in the early days of rock 'n' roll - a girl group in full sway is an irresistible and uplifting force of nature, while life within the group is a heady and combustible mix of talent, ambition and hairspray. Members of legendary girl groups Bananarama, the Bangles, Sister Sledge, the Ronettes, the Supremes, the Spice Girls and Girls Aloud discuss what it is really like inside these mysterious sisterhoods.


FRI 00:00 Blondie's New York... and the Making of Parallel Lines (b04fmgkb)
Blondie's album Parallel Lines captured the spirit of 1970s New York at a time of poverty, crime and an exploding artistic life, selling 16 million copies. This is the story of that album, that time and that city, told primarily by the seven individuals who wrote, produced and performed it. It was a calculated and painstaking endeavour to produce sure-fire hits - whatever it took.

The film follows Debbie Harry and the rest of the Blondie crew as they head into the studio to record their game-changing album with producer Mike Chapman. It also features commentary from Harry herself about writing music, the media's focus on her appearance and lyrically inspirational ex-boyfriends.

In 1978 the New York band Blondie had two punk albums behind them and were establishing a name for themselves at the club CBGBs on New York's Lower East Side. Then Chrysalis Records exec Terry Ellis saw them and spent a massive $1m buying out their recording contract. He had to ensure that their next album was a hit - there was no room for error. To do this he brought in maverick Australian record producer Mike Chapman, who already had a string of hits under his belt. Mike's job was to turn this crew of New York punks into world stars - but did they have the popular songs which would appeal to a wider non-punk audience?

At a time when rich creativity, grinding poverty and drug abuse were hand in hand on the sidewalks of the Lower East Side, the music and lyrics of Parallel Lines celebrated and captured this vibrant and edgy chemistry, shooting the band to international stardom.


FRI 00:50 Otis Redding: Soul Ambassador (b020tphg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


FRI 01:50 Classic Soul at the BBC (b0074pvv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]


FRI 02:50 Pop Life (b01d7k4n)
[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)

1864 21:00 SAT (b05y3m23)

1864 21:55 SAT (b05y3m25)

After Life: The Strange Science of Decay 23:50 THU (b012w66t)

Art of Germany 01:30 WED (b00wbwg2)

Billy Elliot 21:00 SUN (b007wv29)

Blondie's New York... and the Making of Parallel Lines 00:00 FRI (b04fmgkb)

Castles: Britain's Fortified History 20:00 THU (b04v85sy)

Castles: Britain's Fortified History 02:20 THU (b04v85sy)

Chris Packham's Natural Selection 21:00 THU (b05yt1c4)

Classic Soul at the BBC 22:00 FRI (b0074pvv)

Classic Soul at the BBC 01:50 FRI (b0074pvv)

Concerto at the BBC Proms 19:30 FRI (b01k031g)

Cosmonauts: How Russia Won the Space Race 23:55 TUE (b04lcxms)

Dancing in the Blitz: How World War II Made British Ballet 20:00 FRI (p01s4z2h)

Egypt's Lost Queens 19:00 SUN (b04gnhv5)

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

Everyday Miracles: The Genius of Sofas, Stockings and Scanners 20:00 WED (b04fmg34)

Fossil Wonderlands: Nature's Hidden Treasures 19:00 SAT (b03xsfrq)

Great British Railway Journeys 19:30 MON (b01q9xyz)

Great British Railway Journeys 19:30 TUE (b01q9ybs)

Great British Railway Journeys 19:30 WED (b01q9yg0)

Guitar Heroes at the BBC 00:35 SAT (b00lk48h)

Horizon 02:30 WED (b03wcchn)

How to Be Bohemian with Victoria Coren Mitchell 21:00 MON (b05ywvtb)

How to Be Bohemian with Victoria Coren Mitchell 02:50 MON (b05ywvtb)

How to Be Bohemian with Victoria Coren Mitchell 23:30 WED (b05ywvtb)

I Capture the Castle 22:30 MON (b0078tqk)

In Conversation 20:00 SUN (b05y3nhw)

In Conversation 00:20 MON (b05y3nhw)

Inside the Medieval Mind 20:00 MON (b00b6w6m)

Inside the Medieval Mind 01:20 MON (b00b6w6m)

Inside the Medieval Mind 00:30 WED (b00b6w6m)

Metamorphosis: The Science of Change 02:35 SAT (p00zv0wk)

Monkey Planet 21:00 TUE (p01s0yd4)

Monkey Planet 00:55 TUE (p01s0yd4)

Otis Redding: Soul Ambassador 21:00 FRI (b020tphg)

Otis Redding: Soul Ambassador 00:50 FRI (b020tphg)

Our World 23:00 WED (b0547tst)

Pop Life 00:45 SUN (b01dlph3)

Pop Life 23:00 FRI (b01d7k4n)

Pop Life 02:50 FRI (b01d7k4n)

Punk Britannia 22:50 THU (b01jmwjd)

TOTP2 22:55 SAT (b01lwbt0)

The Artful Codgers 22:00 THU (b05yxb3t)

The Brain: A Secret History 22:55 TUE (b00xhgkd)

The Old Grey Whistle Test 01:45 SUN (b014vzy3)

Timeshift 22:45 SUN (b00tr480)

Timeshift 21:00 WED (p0287mq6)

Timeshift 22:00 WED (b01p96ly)

Top of the Pops 23:55 SAT (b05xx8c9)

Top of the Pops 23:45 SUN (b04w0fz1)

Top of the Pops 19:30 THU (b05yt1c2)

What Do Artists Do All Day? 22:00 MON (b05y3z5z)

What Do Artists Do All Day? 02:20 MON (b05y3z5z)

Wild Arabia 20:00 SAT (p014y5m7)

Wild Arabia 01:35 SAT (p014y5m7)

Wild Arabia 01:55 TUE (p014y5m7)

World News Today 19:00 MON (b05y1cr7)

World News Today 19:00 TUE (b05y1crd)

World News Today 19:00 WED (b05y1crk)

World News Today 19:00 THU (b05y1crs)

World News Today 19:00 FRI (b05y1cry)

Your Inner Fish: An Evolution Story 22:00 TUE (b05yxzxc)

Your Inner Fish: An Evolution Story 02:55 TUE (b05yxzxc)

Your Inner Fish: An Evolution Story 01:20 THU (b05yxzxc)