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 28 NOVEMBER 2015

SAT 19:00 Empire of the Seas: How the Navy Forged the Modern World (b00q2ly2)
Series 1

Heart of Oak

Historian Dan Snow charts the defining role the Royal Navy played in Britain's struggle for modernity - a grand tale of the twists and turns which thrust the people of the British Isles into an indelible relationship with the sea and ships.

Heart of Oak opens with a dramatic retelling of 16th- and 17th-century history. Victory over the Armada proved a turning point in the nation's story as tiny, impoverished England was transformed into a seafaring nation, one whose future wealth and power lay on the oceans. The ruthless exploits of Elizabethan seafaring heroes like Francis Drake created a potent new sense of national identity that combined patriotism and Protestantism with private profiteering.

At sea and on land, Snow shows how the navy became an indispensable tool of state, weaving the stories of characters like Drake, God's republican warrior at sea Robert Blake, and Samuel Pepys, administrator par excellence, who laid the foundations for Britain's modern civil service.

With access to the modern navy and reconstructed ships of the time, Snow recounts the navy's metamorphosis from a rabble of West Country freebooters to possibly the most complex industrial enterprise on earth.


SAT 20:00 Britain's Outlaws: Highwaymen, Pirates and Rogues (b06qgh3w)
Knights of the Road: The Highwayman's Story

Few figures in British history have captured the popular imagination as much as the outlaw. From gentleman highwaymen, via swashbuckling pirates to elusive urban thieves and rogues, the brazen escapades and the flamboyance of the outlaw made them the antihero of their time - feared by the rich, admired by the poor and celebrated by writers and artists.

In this three-part series, historian Dr Sam Willis travels the open roads, the high seas and urban alleyways to explore Britain's 17th- and 18th-century underworld of highwaymen, pirates and rogues, bringing the great age of the British outlaw vividly to life.

Sam shows that, far from being 'outsiders', outlaws were very much a product of their time, shaped by powerful national events. In each episode, he focuses not just on a particular type of outlaw, but a particular era - the series as a whole offers a chronological portrait of the changing face of crime in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Sam begins with the arrival of a new breed of gentleman criminal out of the ashes of the English Civil War - the highwayman. Heavily romanticised in literature, these glamorous gangsters became a social menace on the roads and a political thorn in the side of the creaking British state - threatening to steal our wallets and our hearts. But underneath the dashing image of stylish robbers on horseback lay a far darker reality.


SAT 21:00 The Bridge (b06fh90b)
Series 3

Episode 3

The Malmo police have received a ransom video from Hans's kidnapper. Saga is beginning to show signs of the strain she is under when her mother arrives at the station unannounced. Henrik interrupts the less-than-maternal meeting to say that victim Helle Anker's car has been found, which in turn leads to gruesome find at an amusement park.

In Swedish and Danish with English subtitles.


SAT 22:00 The Bridge (b06gnr77)
Series 3

Episode 4

Rikard Jonsson has escaped after violently attacking another victim. Saga believes that he may attempt to visit Lise Friis Andersen, but on visiting her house discovers that he has taken a hostage. Jeanette picks up a bag from Malmo railway station as requested by Lukas, but is distraught when two heavies block her in traffic and take the bag for themselves.

In Swedish and Danish with English subtitles.


SAT 23:00 Catching History's Criminals: The Forensics Story (p02l4px7)
Traces of Guilt

There will always be those who think they can commit the perfect murder. In reality it's virtually impossible to leave no evidence at the scene of a crime. Fingerprints, hair, fibres and blood can all lead to the killer. In this second episode, surgeon Gabriel Weston explores the cases that were solved by examining the smallest traces of forensic evidence, from the first murder case solved in the UK based on fingerprint evidence to the patterns of blood in a bedroom which helped overturn an infamous murder conviction.

As well as looking to the past, Gabriel investigates the cutting-edge techniques that are proving vital in catching the killers of today. Amazingly, forensic science can now detect with pinpoint accuracy where someone has walked across an area the size of Scotland, based on nothing more than the soil stuck to the sole of a suspect's shoe.


SAT 00:00 Burt Bacharach: A Life in Song (b06qnnbz)
A unique concert staged at the Royal Festival Hall celebrating the music of the legendary songwriter and performer Burt Bacharach.

Some of Burt's most famous songs are performed by a stellar line-up of artists including Alfie Boe, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Shaun Escoffery, Rebecca Ferguson, Justin Hayward, Michael Kiwanuka, Laura Mvula and Joss Stone. Burt himself also performs accompanied by his band. During the concert Burt chats to Michael Grade about the art of songwriting and shares the stories behind some of his best-loved hits.


SAT 01:30 Top of the Pops (b06q9h8w)
Peter Powell presents the pop show, with performances from St Winifred's School Choir, Eddy Grant, Jona Lewie, AC/DC, the Boomtown Rats and ABBA, plus a dance routine from Legs and Co.


SAT 02:05 Easy Listening Hits at the BBC (b011g943)
Compilation of easy listening tracks that offers the perfect soundtrack for your cocktail party. There's music to please every lounge lizard, with unique performances from the greatest easy listening artists of the 60s and 70s, including Burt Bacharach, Andy Williams, Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66, The Carpenters and many more.


SAT 03:05 Sounds of the 70s 2 (b01h7pzm)
Troubadours – Peaceful Easy Feeling

In the early 70s as the UK got to grips with the new coinage and decimalisation and braced itself for strike after strike, a group of young troubadours were hanging out in Laurel Canyon and the environs of California USA having a ball and creating music that would define a generation. It's time to kick back and relax and enjoy performances from Crosby and Nash, Neil Young, America, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, Carole King, The Eagles, and Seals and Crofts.



SUNDAY 29 NOVEMBER 2015

SUN 19:00 Lost Land of the Tiger (b00ty6s4)
Episode 3

The climax to the BBC Natural History Unit's wildlife adventure series searching for tigers in the Himalayas.

Following extraordinary rumours of tigers living in the mountains of Bhutan, the expedition shifts to high altitude. Cameraman Gordon Buchanan captures remarkable footage of a snow leopard cub at over 5,000 metres.

Along the Tibetan border, explorer Steve Backshall treks to the mystical Tiger Mountain. Helped by a remote tribe, he has a very close encounter with the world's most elusive predator.

The plight of the endangered tiger brings biologist Dr George McGavin to tears, and the team present their findings to the Bhutanese prime minister. As the expedition culminates, Gordon makes the discovery of a lifetime.


SUN 20:00 Horizon (b00jgtl2)
2008-2009

Why Can't We Predict Earthquakes?

Last century, earthquakes killed over one million, and it is predicted that this century might see ten times as many deaths. Yet when an earthquake strikes, it always takes people by surprise.

So why hasn't science worked out how to predict when and where the next big quake is going to happen? This is the story of the men and women who chase earthquakes and try to understand this mysterious force of nature.

Journeying to China's Sichuan Province, which still lies devastated by the earthquake that struck in May 2008, as well as the notorious San Andreas fault in California, Horizon asks why science has so far fallen short of answering this fundamental question.


SUN 21:00 The Deep (b03mjdfz)
Drama based on real events, telling the story of an Icelandic fisherman who became a national hero and object of scientific study after he survived in the freezing ocean following a shipwreck during a fishing expedition.

In Icelandic and English with English subtitles.


SUN 22:30 The Lighthouse Stevensons (b00y6hym)
The story of the remarkable family who tamed the wild Scottish coastline, told 200 years after the building of their first iconic lighthouse, the Bell Rock.


SUN 23:30 Digging for Ireland (p021j8bm)
Professor Alice Roberts and archaeologist Matt Williams present the highlights from this year's archaeology in Ireland.

There is new evidence and a new theory to explain the amazing phenomenon of Ireland's perfectly preserved Iron Age bog bodies. Could these men really have been kings, murdered when their reigns failed?

A dig at the iconic Dunluce Castle opens up the controversial Plantation of Ulster.

A disagreement pits experts against local knowledge as the hunt is on for the location of the Battle of Ford of the Biscuits from the Elizabethan Nine Years' War - with unexpected results.

A burial ground yields clues to a Bronze Age invasion of Ireland, a period when it became known as Europe's Eldorado.

An astonishing lough yields perfectly preserved boats from Bronze, Iron and Viking Ages. The burial ground of the prison known as Ireland's Alcatraz offers up unexpected evidence of kindness among the inmates.

Plus amazing plunder from the Spanish Armada, from Viking raiders and from Ireland's age of heroes, all curated from the Ulster Museum in Belfast.


SUN 00:30 Horizon (b00jgtl2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


SUN 01:30 Icebound: The Greatest Dog Story Ever Told (b03pzv9m)
Documentary about an adventure that has become known as the greatest dog story ever told and captured the imagination of children and adults throughout the world for almost a century.

On January 28 1925, newspapers and radio stations broke a terrifying story - diphtheria had broken out in Nome, Alaska, a city separated from the rest of the world for seven months by a frozen ocean. With aviation still in its infancy and amidst one of the harshest winters on record, there was only one way to reach the town - dogsled. In minus 60 degrees, over 20 men and at least 150 dogs, among them the famous Balto, set out to relay the antitoxin across 674 miles of Alaskan wilderness to save the town.


SUN 02:30 Lost Land of the Tiger (b00ty6s4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]



MONDAY 30 NOVEMBER 2015

MON 19:00 World News Today (b06qsgq2)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


MON 19:30 Railway Walks with Julia Bradbury (b00dtp4b)
The Peak Express

Julia Bradbury has her backpack on to explore the great outdoors. Julia's walks follow the old tracks, overgrown cuttings and ancient viaducts of Britain's lost rail empire, visiting disused lines across England, Scotland and Wales. Through stunning landscapes and urban backstreets, each contrasting walk has a unique story to tell, offering Julia a window into industrial Britain and how the rise and fall of the railways has altered lives and localities across the country.

Julia begins her exploration of Britain's lost rail empire in Derbyshire, the heart of the Peak District, with a walk along the popular Monsal Trail. Limestone cliffs and gorges abound, not to mention the tunnels and soaring viaducts of the Midland Railway - one of the most dramatic and unlikely main lines ever built.


MON 20:00 Railway Walks with Julia Bradbury (b00dwflf)
Discovering Snowdonia

Julia walks along the stunning Mawddach estuary in north Wales. The area between Dolgellau and the coastal resort of Barmouth is one of the least visited parts of Snowdonia, but in the 1860s it received a great rush of holidaymakers, taking advantage of the new railway that connected the valley to the cities of England.


MON 20:30 The Quizeum (b06qsjlr)
Series 2

Episode 5

Located in the world's oldest surviving passenger railway station, Manchester's Museum of Science and Industry plays host this time. Griff Rhys Jones invites regular team players Professor Kate Williams and Dr Janina Ramirez to explore the story of Manchester's scientific and industrial past, present and future, alongside mathematics professor Marcus du Sautoy and physicist and oceanographer Helen Czerski.


MON 21:00 Britain's Outlaws: Highwaymen, Pirates and Rogues (b06qskdx)
Pirates

Few figures in British history have captured the popular imagination as much as the outlaw. From gentleman highwaymen, via swashbuckling pirates to elusive urban thieves and rogues, the brazen escapades and the flamboyance of the outlaw made them the antihero of their time - feared by the rich, admired by the poor and celebrated by writers and artists.

In this three-part series, historian Dr Sam Willis travels the open roads, the high seas and urban alleyways to explore Britain's 17th- and 18th-century underworld of highwaymen, pirates and rogues, bringing the great age of the British outlaw vividly to life.

Sam shows that, far from being 'outsiders', outlaws were very much a product of their time, shaped by powerful national events. In each episode, he focuses not just on a particular type of outlaw, but a particular era - the series as a whole offers a chronological portrait of the changing face of crime in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Sam takes to the high seas in search of the swashbuckling pirates of the golden age of piracy during the early 18th century. Following in the wake of the infamous Captain Kidd, Blackbeard, Calico Jack and others, Sam charts the devastating impact these pirates had during an era of colonial expansion and how, by plundering the vast network of seaborne trade, they became the most-wanted outlaws in the world.


MON 22:00 Storyville (b06r0wtg)
FBI Undercover

With remarkable access, this documentary follows an unfolding active FBI counterterrorism sting operation, telling the story of Saeed 'Shariff' Torres, a 63-year-old former Black Panther turned informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Shariff is an ex-convict who claims to have at one point made hundreds of thousands of dollars a year sidling up to Muslims accused of pro-terrorism leanings. From a rented Pittsburgh home he receives instructions by text from his FBI handler. He's told to befriend a white Muslim convert who has publicly made pro-terrorist statements.

As the documentary observes Shariff closing in on the suspect, viewers get an unfettered glimpse of the government's counterterrorism tactics and the murky justifications behind them. Taut, stark and controversial, the film illuminates the fragile relationships between individual and surveillance state in modern America, and asks who is watching the watchers.


MON 23:20 Lost Land of the Tiger (b00ty6s4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Sunday]


MON 00:20 Empire of the Seas: How the Navy Forged the Modern World (b00q2ly2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


MON 01:20 Botany: A Blooming History (b011s3dg)
A Confusion of Names

What makes plants grow is a simple enough question. The answer turns out to be one of the most complicated and fascinating stories in science and took over 300 years to unravel.

Timothy Walker, director of Oxford University Botanic Garden, reveals how the breakthroughs of Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus, Chelsea gardener Phillip Miller and English naturalist John Ray created the science of botany. Between them, these quirky, temperamental characters unlocked the mysteries of the plant kingdom, and they began to glimpse a world where bigger, better and stronger plants could be created. Nurseryman Thomas Fairchild created the world's first artificial hybrid flower - an entirely new plant that didn't exist in nature.

Today, botanists continue the search for new flowers, better crops and improved medicines to treat life-threatening diseases.


MON 02:20 The Quizeum (b06qsjlr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]


MON 02:50 Britain's Outlaws: Highwaymen, Pirates and Rogues (b06qskdx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



TUESDAY 01 DECEMBER 2015

TUE 19:00 World News Today (b06qsgq8)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


TUE 19:30 Railway Walks with Julia Bradbury (b00dzz60)
The Birth of Steam

Tin and copper once made the area around Redruth the richest patch of land in the country. They inspired great engineering feats and pioneering tramways, the forebears of the rail empire. Julia Bradbury has her work cut out as she crosses an entire county, winding past Cornwall's crumbling engine houses and following a railway that has not operated for 140 years.


TUE 20:00 The Fisherman's Apprentice with Monty Halls (b01dlc54)
Episode 3

Marine biologist Monty Halls explores the challenges facing the British fishing industry by living and working as a traditional Cornish fisherman.

In rough seas, he heads out to work on the biggest crabber on the coast, the Harvester, which has 1,800 crab pots. And he discovers that while the British have no appetite for his tasty Cornish spider crabs, the French cannot get enough of them.


TUE 21:00 Power to the People (b06qy89v)
The Customer Is Always Right

We take electricity for granted - never giving a second thought to how it's made. In this observational documentary series, one of Britain's controversial Big Six energy companies, SSE, has let the cameras in. Filmed over a year, this is the surprising story of an army of workers battling to keep our power flowing.

In the final episode, we follow the story of SSE attempting to turn around its reputation - following criticism in parliament, fines for mis-selling and hundreds of thousands of customers leaving the company. 'I'm not sure I'm going to make people love the energy sector,' admits chief executive Alistair Phillips-Davies. 'I'm not like a rock star getting on stage here and hitting the first chord of a great song.'

Alistair entrusts one of his lieutenants, Will Morris, with the job of making us feel differently about SSE. Will commissions an expensive new advert about 'the fun electricity brings to our lives', featuring Maya, a computer-generated orangutan.

Down on the ground, the company's linesmen are getting on with the job of replacing cables and wires, some dating dating back to the 1930s. Linesman Kevin Wade admits he's survived a few electric shocks replacing these cables. But bad weather is on the way - a storm hits and operations manager Bev Keogh must despatch linesmen to repair cables brought down by falling trees. Some customers lose power for hours.

No sooner has the company weathered that storm than the energy sector is in trouble again - this time for not cutting its gas prices fast enough when wholesale costs fall. SSE agrees to cut its gas price, but Alistair Phillips-Davies says the cut will put a £60m dent in the company's income.

We're all using less electricity than we used to - so energy companies like SSE are trying to sell us other products as well. In the company's call centres, they take the opportunity of customers phoning in with a complaint to offer them a broadband deal or phone package. Maya the CGI orangutan is enlisted to help sell the broadband deal in her latest advert.

At the end of the year, Alistair has managed to nudge the company's profits up - as broadband sales increase and customer satisfaction goes up too. But another half-a-million customers have still left the company.


TUE 22:00 Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity (p00kjqcv)
Revelations and Revolutions

Professor Jim Al-Khalili tells the electrifying story of our quest to master nature's most mysterious force - electricity. Until fairly recently, electricity was seen as a magical power, but it is now the lifeblood of the modern world and underpins every aspect of our technological advancements.

Without electricity, we would be lost. This series tells of dazzling leaps of imagination and extraordinary experiments - a story of maverick geniuses who used electricity to light our cities, to communicate across the seas and through the air, to create modern industry and to give us the digital revolution.

Electricity is not just something that creates heat and light, it connects the world through networks and broadcasting. After centuries of man's experiments with electricity, the final episode tells the story of how a new age of real understanding dawned - how we discovered electric fields and electromagnetic waves. Today we can hardly imagine life without electricity - it defines our era. As our understanding of it has increased so has our reliance upon it, and today we are on the brink of a new breakthrough, because if we can understand the secret of electrical superconductivity, we could once again transform the world.


TUE 23:00 Tankies: Tank Heroes of World War II (b01pzv78)
Episode 2

In the last of this two-part series, historian and former tank commander Mark Urban continues the story of six remarkable men from the Fifth Royal Tank Regiment in World War II.

Surviving veterans and previously unseen letters and diaries relate in visceral detail how an extraordinary 'band of brothers' fought throughout the war.

This episode picks up the story with the regiment's triumphant return from north Africa and victory at Alamein. Expecting a well-earned rest, instead they are joined by new recruits and re-equipped with brand new British-made Cromwell Tanks in preparation for D-Day - the invasion of Europe.

Fighting in the hedgerows in northern France is a shock to the men of the Fifth Tanks, who were used to fighting in the wide-open spaces of the desert. German soldiers lie in ambush behind hedgerows with hand-held anti-tank weapons. Veteran Gerry Solomon, one of the most experienced tank commanders, tells how his tank is knocked out and he is wounded.

The new Cromwell tank proves no match against the German Tiger tank. At the battle of Villers Bocage, a single Tiger brings the advance of the whole British Army to a standstill. But it meets its match when it comes up against another new British tank - the Sherman Firefly.

Veterans describe how for two months they fought a battle of attrition, losing hundreds of tanks in the British Army's biggest ever tank battle, but keeping the German tanks fighting in the British sector so the Americans could break out of their sector into open countryside beyond.

The Fifth Tanks advance rapidly, the first to liberate Ghent in Belgium. Pushing on into Germany just days before the end of the war, some of the regiment's most experienced veterans, who had been fighting since the beginning, are tragically killed.


TUE 00:00 Britain's Outlaws: Highwaymen, Pirates and Rogues (b06qskdx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Monday]


TUE 01:00 Storyville (b01ghtll)
The Real Great Escape

For the first time, the true story of the mastermind behind World War II's Great Escape is told by his niece, Lindy Wilson. Squadron Leader Roger Bushell was a young London barrister, an auxiliary pilot and a champion skier when he was shot down and captured early in the war. He escaped three times and, in spite of the Gestapo's threat to shoot him if he ever escaped again, Bushell accepted the role of 'Big X' on his return to the top-security PoW camp, Stalag Luft 111.

After 18 months of preparation, one of the greatest escapes of the war took place. Their aim to distract the enemy succeeded, as it was estimated that five million Germans were deployed to recapture the 76 escapees. However, Hitler's rage was uncontainable and he personally ordered a terrible reckoning.


TUE 02:25 Power to the People (b06qy89v)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



WEDNESDAY 02 DECEMBER 2015

WED 19:00 World News Today (b06qsgqf)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


WED 19:30 Railway Walks with Julia Bradbury (b00f3pg9)
The Whisky Train

Julia Bradbury's first walking foray into Scotland has a very distinct flavour to it - whisky! The Speyside Way is one of Scotland's great walking routes, and between the villages of Craigellachie and Ballindaloch it follows the route of the railway that once served a remote area and a world-famous drinks industry.


WED 20:00 Britain's Deadliest Rail Disaster: Quintinshill (b05vqx7v)
On 22 May 1915, a collision at the Quintinshill signal box, near Gretna, became Britain's deadliest ever rail crash. Involving a military train filled with troops - most of whom were from Leith - heading for Gallipoli and two passenger trains, the crash claimed an estimated 226 lives and left hundreds more injured.

The duty signalmen, George Meakin and James Tinsley, were found responsible for the disaster and were both jailed on the charges of culpable homicide.

Neil Oliver explores the series of mistakes that may have caused the collision, the part played by the train companies and the government, and determines whether the investigation would have come to the same conclusions if it were carried out today. Dramatised reconstructions add to this compelling account of a tragedy which had a profound effect on several communities in Scotland, and remains the deadliest in the annals of Britain's railways.

Britain's Deadliest Rail Disaster: Quintinshill is a Finestripe Productions programme for BBC Scotland.


WED 21:00 Dan Cruickshank's Warsaw: Resurrecting History (b06r12fd)
Dan Cruickshank returns to his childhood home of Warsaw for the first time in almost 60 years. In a personal and moving film, he recalls his boyhood memories to explore the memories of the city and the memories of its people. No city in Europe suffered so much destruction in the Second World War, no city rose up so heroically from the ashes. The Nazis had razed Warsaw to the ground, but after the war the people fought hard to bring their city back from the dead in one of the greatest reconstruction jobs in history. As a boy, Cruickshank lived in the rebuilt old town and it inspired his love of architecture and made him the man he is today.


WED 22:00 Dracula (b00vffvv)
Classic horror from the Hammer Studio. On reaching Castle Dracula in darkest Transylvania, intrepid vampire hunter Doctor Van Helsing is alarmed to find that his young colleague Jonathan Harker has already succumbed to the mysterious count. On visiting the family of Harker's fiancee, he is even more alarmed to find that she is suffering from an unidentified malady. The local doctor suggests it is anaemia, but Van Helsing knows the terrifying truth, that she has become the count's latest victim.


WED 23:20 Catching History's Criminals: The Forensics Story (p02l4q38)
Instruments of Murder

Sherlock has his mind palace, Morse his music - every detective has an edge. For most, it's forensic science. This three-part series provides a rare and fascinating insight into the secret history of catching murderers, charting two centuries of the breakthroughs that have changed the course of justice. Surgeon and writer Gabriel Weston explores this rich history through some of the most absorbing, and often gruesome, stories in the forensic casebook - and looks ahead to how forensics will continue to solve the murders of the future.

Where there's a murder there's usually a weapon. It's a key piece of evidence that can hold all the clues needed to catch the killer and shine a light into the mind of the murderer. In this final episode, Gabriel investigates the forensic advances that have elevated the murder weapon from its role of mere evidence to that of key witness.

Arsenic, the undetectable weapon of choice in the 19th century, was exposed as the murder weapon with one simple chemical test, and distinctive marks left on a victim's skull led detectives to the murder weapon and the killer.

Gabriel also looks to the future and the latest advances in forensics. Scientists have developed 3D laser scanning that can be used to reconstruct the exact sequence of events at the scene of a gun crime and decipher whether a shooting was murder or self-defence. Gabriel also investigates the pioneering chemistry that can now determine where in the world someone has spent time based on just a few strands of their hair.


WED 00:20 The Fisherman's Apprentice with Monty Halls (b01dlc54)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Tuesday]


WED 01:20 Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity (p00kjqcv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 on Tuesday]


WED 02:20 Dan Cruickshank's Warsaw: Resurrecting History (b06r12fd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



THURSDAY 03 DECEMBER 2015

THU 19:00 World News Today (b06qsgql)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


THU 19:30 Top of the Pops (b06qy9l5)
Richard Skinner presents the pop show, with performances from Adam and the Ants, Madness, the Stray Cats, Status Quo, Queen, ABBA and the Police. Guests include Gary Numan, and there's a dance performance from Legs & Co.


THU 20:00 Patagonia with Huw Edwards (b05xd52f)
Huw Edwards fulfils a lifelong dream to explore Patagonia, and the unique attempt to preserve Welsh culture by isolating a Welsh community in one of the most remote and inhospitable places on earth. A hundred and fifty years after the pioneers arrived, Huw meets their descendants and asks what remains of the culture the forefathers wanted to safeguard.


THU 21:00 What a Performance! Pioneers of Popular Entertainment (b06r7xz4)
Music Hall

Comedian Frank Skinner and music presenter Suzy Klein step out in the first part of this highly entertaining and thought-provoking three-part series which explores a century of popular entertainment from the Victorian age of the music hall, through the golden age of 20th-century variety to the working men's clubs of the 1950s.

The first episode looks at the birth of 19th-century music hall, the colourful and sometimes dangerous world of its entertainers and the audiences whose lives were changed by what was Britain's first mass entertainment industry. Together, Suzy and Frank get under the skin of some of its greatest stars - some of whom, like Marie Lloyd and Champagne Charlie, are household names to this day, while the eccentric Victorian comic Dan Leno, later copied by Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel, have fallen into obscurity.

Not only do Frank and Suzy dig into the history of these stars and the world from which they emerged, but they also study their acts and try their hand at performing them at the end of the show.


THU 22:00 Detectorists (b06qy9l7)
Series 2

Episode 6

Finally, it is the day of the DMDC's annual rally, and Terry is expecting a really big turnout. But for Andy and Lance, will the day bring heartbreak or triumph?


THU 22:30 Brian Pern (b03wcsfv)
The Life of Rock with Brian Pern

Death of Rock

Brian looks at what breaks up bands, from drink and drugs to creative tension. Plus rock stars who want to save the world and the state of music today as the series draws to a close. With cameos from John Humphrys and the one and only Peter Gabriel.


THU 23:00 The Curse of Frankenstein (b03n2wt1)
Classic horror. In prison and awaiting execution, Baron Victor Frankenstein pleads with a visiting pastor to hear his incredible story of how he and his colleague Paul Krempe had successfully reanimated a dead dog, and how his lifelong ambition of creating a fully functioning, perfect human being had been thwarted by circumstance.


THU 00:20 Top of the Pops (b06qy9l5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


THU 01:00 Detectorists (b06qy9l7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]


THU 01:30 Brian Pern (b03wcsfv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:30 today]


THU 02:00 Patagonia with Huw Edwards (b05xd52f)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


THU 03:00 What a Performance! Pioneers of Popular Entertainment (b06r7xz4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



FRIDAY 04 DECEMBER 2015

FRI 19:00 World News Today (b06qsgqr)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


FRI 19:30 The Good Old Days (b06rcprp)
Leonard Sachs chairs the old-time music hall programme, originally broadcast from Leeds in 1976. Guests include Les Dawson, Peggy Mount, Larry Parker, Jeannie Harris, Chantal & Dumont, Albert Aldred and members of the Player's Theatre London. Also includes a performance from the Jan Madd Magic Show.


FRI 20:15 Sounds of the Seventies (b01pcwhp)
Shorts

Roxy Music, Queen and Elton John

Glamour with a seventies subversive quality in this selection from the BBC's back pages. Roxy Music operate their Ladytron, Queen are Killer and Elton John is back.


FRI 20:25 Pop Go the Sixties (b008790l)
Series 1

The Moody Blues

A colourful nugget of pop by the Moody Blues, mined from the BBC's archive.


FRI 20:30 Sounds of the 70s 2 (b01j8h0b)
Rock - The Boys Are Back in Town

Sounds of the 70s 2 series continues, and this programme features the boys with their guitars turned all the way up to eleven! It is time to don your double denim, let your hair down and headbang your way through half an hour of rock anthems including performances from Alice Cooper, The Faces, Nazareth, Bad Company, AC/DC, Thin Lizzy, Whitesnake and Black Sabbath.


FRI 21:00 Forever Young: How Rock 'n' Roll Grew Up (b00sxjls)
Documentary which looks at how rock 'n' roll has had to deal with the unthinkable - namely growing up and growing old, from its roots in the 50s as music made by young people for young people to the 21st-century phenomena of the revival and the comeback.

Despite the mantra of 'live fast, die young', Britain's first rock 'n' roll generations are now enjoying old age. What was once about youth and taking risks is now about longevity, survival, nostalgia and refusing to grow up, give up or shut up. But what happens when the music refuses to die and its performers refuse to leave the stage? What happens when rock's youthful rebelliousness is delivered wrapped in wrinkles?

Featuring Lemmy, Iggy Pop, Peter Noone, Rick Wakeman, Paul Jones, Richard Thompson, Suggs, Eric Burdon, Bruce Welch, Robert Wyatt, Gary Brooker, Joe Brown, Chris Dreja of The Yardbirds, Alison Moyet, Robyn Hitchcock, writers Rosie Boycott and Nick Kent and producer Joe Boyd.


FRI 22:00 I'm Not In Love: The Story of 10cc (b06r14pr)
In celebration of the 40th anniversary of smash hit I'm Not in Love, the original members of 10cc - Graham Gouldman, Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley and Lol Creme - reunite to tell their story. The documentary shares the secrets to some of their most successful records, from the writing and the recording to the tours and the tensions.

With contributions from an impressive array of music industry legends including 10cc's band manager Harvey Lisberg, lyricist Sir Tim Rice, broadcaster Paul Gambaccini, legendary producer Trevor Horn, Stewart Copeland (The Police), Graham Nash (The Hollies) and Dan Gillespie Sells (The Feeling), not only does this film highlight the diversity of these four brilliant musicians' songwriting talent, but it also delves into the influence they had, as well as the politics beneath their acrimonious split in 1976, at the height of their fame.


FRI 23:00 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.


FRI 00:30 Forever Young: How Rock 'n' Roll Grew Up (b00sxjls)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


FRI 01:30 I'm Not In Love: The Story of 10cc (b06r14pr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]


FRI 02:30 The Old Grey Whistle Test (b014vzy3)
[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)

Botany: A Blooming History 01:20 MON (b011s3dg)

Brian Pern 22:30 THU (b03wcsfv)

Brian Pern 01:30 THU (b03wcsfv)

Britain's Deadliest Rail Disaster: Quintinshill 20:00 WED (b05vqx7v)

Britain's Outlaws: Highwaymen, Pirates and Rogues 20:00 SAT (b06qgh3w)

Britain's Outlaws: Highwaymen, Pirates and Rogues 21:00 MON (b06qskdx)

Britain's Outlaws: Highwaymen, Pirates and Rogues 02:50 MON (b06qskdx)

Britain's Outlaws: Highwaymen, Pirates and Rogues 00:00 TUE (b06qskdx)

Burt Bacharach: A Life in Song 00:00 SAT (b06qnnbz)

Catching History's Criminals: The Forensics Story 23:00 SAT (p02l4px7)

Catching History's Criminals: The Forensics Story 23:20 WED (p02l4q38)

Dan Cruickshank's Warsaw: Resurrecting History 21:00 WED (b06r12fd)

Dan Cruickshank's Warsaw: Resurrecting History 02:20 WED (b06r12fd)

Detectorists 22:00 THU (b06qy9l7)

Detectorists 01:00 THU (b06qy9l7)

Digging for Ireland 23:30 SUN (p021j8bm)

Dracula 22:00 WED (b00vffvv)

Easy Listening Hits at the BBC 02:05 SAT (b011g943)

Empire of the Seas: How the Navy Forged the Modern World 19:00 SAT (b00q2ly2)

Empire of the Seas: How the Navy Forged the Modern World 00:20 MON (b00q2ly2)

Forever Young: How Rock 'n' Roll Grew Up 21:00 FRI (b00sxjls)

Forever Young: How Rock 'n' Roll Grew Up 00:30 FRI (b00sxjls)

Horizon 20:00 SUN (b00jgtl2)

Horizon 00:30 SUN (b00jgtl2)

I'm Not In Love: The Story of 10cc 22:00 FRI (b06r14pr)

I'm Not In Love: The Story of 10cc 01:30 FRI (b06r14pr)

Icebound: The Greatest Dog Story Ever Told 01:30 SUN (b03pzv9m)

Lost Land of the Tiger 19:00 SUN (b00ty6s4)

Lost Land of the Tiger 02:30 SUN (b00ty6s4)

Lost Land of the Tiger 23:20 MON (b00ty6s4)

Patagonia with Huw Edwards 20:00 THU (b05xd52f)

Patagonia with Huw Edwards 02:00 THU (b05xd52f)

Pop Go the Sixties 20:25 FRI (b008790l)

Power to the People 21:00 TUE (b06qy89v)

Power to the People 02:25 TUE (b06qy89v)

Railway Walks with Julia Bradbury 19:30 MON (b00dtp4b)

Railway Walks with Julia Bradbury 20:00 MON (b00dwflf)

Railway Walks with Julia Bradbury 19:30 TUE (b00dzz60)

Railway Walks with Julia Bradbury 19:30 WED (b00f3pg9)

Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity 22:00 TUE (p00kjqcv)

Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity 01:20 WED (p00kjqcv)

Sounds of the 70s 2 03:05 SAT (b01h7pzm)

Sounds of the 70s 2 20:30 FRI (b01j8h0b)

Sounds of the Seventies 20:15 FRI (b01pcwhp)

Storyville 22:00 MON (b06r0wtg)

Storyville 01:00 TUE (b01ghtll)

Tankies: Tank Heroes of World War II 23:00 TUE (b01pzv78)

The Bridge 21:00 SAT (b06fh90b)

The Bridge 22:00 SAT (b06gnr77)

The Curse of Frankenstein 23:00 THU (b03n2wt1)

The Deep 21:00 SUN (b03mjdfz)

The Fisherman's Apprentice with Monty Halls 20:00 TUE (b01dlc54)

The Fisherman's Apprentice with Monty Halls 00:20 WED (b01dlc54)

The Good Old Days 19:30 FRI (b06rcprp)

The Lighthouse Stevensons 22:30 SUN (b00y6hym)

The Old Grey Whistle Test 23:00 FRI (b014vzy3)

The Old Grey Whistle Test 02:30 FRI (b014vzy3)

The Quizeum 20:30 MON (b06qsjlr)

The Quizeum 02:20 MON (b06qsjlr)

Top of the Pops 01:30 SAT (b06q9h8w)

Top of the Pops 19:30 THU (b06qy9l5)

Top of the Pops 00:20 THU (b06qy9l5)

What a Performance! Pioneers of Popular Entertainment 21:00 THU (b06r7xz4)

What a Performance! Pioneers of Popular Entertainment 03:00 THU (b06r7xz4)

World News Today 19:00 MON (b06qsgq2)

World News Today 19:00 TUE (b06qsgq8)

World News Today 19:00 WED (b06qsgqf)

World News Today 19:00 THU (b06qsgql)

World News Today 19:00 FRI (b06qsgqr)