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 05 MARCH 2016

SAT 19:00 Human Planet (b00rrd81)
Oceans - Into the Blue

As an air-breathing animal, the human is not built to survive in water. But people have found ways to live an almost aquatic life so they can exploit the sea's riches. From a 'shark-whisperer' in the Pacific to Brazilian fishermen collaborating with dolphins to catch mullet, this journey into the blue reveals astonishing tales of ingenuity and bravery.

Daredevil Galician barnacle-collectors defy death on the rocks for a catch worth £200 per kilo. In Indonesia an epic whale-hunt, using traditional handmade boats and harpoons, brings in a sperm whale. The Bajau 'sea Gypsies' of the Sulu Sea spend so much time on water they get 'land sick' when they set foot on the land!

We dive 40 metres down to the dangerous world of the Pa-aling fishermen, where dozens of young men, breathing air through a tangled web of pipes attached to a diesel engine, capture thousands of fish in a vast net. We see how surfing has its origins in the ancient beliefs of the ocean-loving Polynesians, and we join a Borneo free-diving spear-fisherman on a breath-taking journey 20 metres down in search of supper.


SAT 20:00 Survivors: Nature's Indestructible Creatures (b01b4wmr)
The Great Dying

It is estimated that 99 per cent of species have become extinct, and there have been times when life's hold on earth has been so precarious it has seemed to hang on by a thread.

This series focuses on the survivors, the old-timers whose biographies stretch back millions of years, and who show how it is possible to survive a mass extinction event which wipes out nearly all of their neighbours. The Natural History Museum's Professor Richard Fortey discovers what allows the very few to carry on going - perhaps not forever, but certainly far beyond the life expectancy of normal species. What makes a survivor when all around drop like flies?

In the opening episode, Professor Fortey focuses on 'the great dying' - a series of cataclysms over a million-year period 250 million years ago.


SAT 21:00 Trapped (b071chqz)
Series 1

Episode 7

The weather is finally improving and the investigation team from Reykjavik arrives. It seems as though real progress is going to be made. But are some things just too good to be true?

In Icelandic and English with English subtitles.


SAT 21:50 Trapped (b071chr1)
Series 1

Episode 8

Captain Carlsen agrees to work with the police. On the ferry, it transpires that one crew member has something to hide.

In Icelandic and English with English subtitles.


SAT 22:45 Doris Day - Virgin Territory (b0074rwd)
Doris Day has often been dismissed as an actress and overlooked as a singer, despite career highs such as Calamity Jane and Pillow Talk. Covering her early years as a band singer, and her troubled private life, this documentary re-evaluates one of the screen's most enduring legends.


SAT 23:45 ... Sings Musicals (b019jshd)
A delve into the BBC archives for an eclectic mix of performances from musicals from the 60s to the present. Featuring the likes of Ella Fitzgerald singing Mack the Knife from the Threepenny Opera, Captain Sensible performing a classic from South Pacific, Jeff Beck going down the yellow brick road of Oz, Jay Z taking on Annie, and all points in between.


SAT 00:45 Sound of Cinema: The Music That Made the Movies (b03b45h4)
The Big Score

In a series celebrating the art of the cinema soundtrack, Neil Brand explores the work of the great movie composers and demonstrates their techniques. Neil begins by looking at how the classic orchestral film score emerged and why it's still going strong today.

Neil traces how in the 1930s, European-born composers such as Max Steiner and Erich Wolfgang Korngold brought their Viennese training to play in stirring, romantic scores for Hollywood masterpieces like King Kong and The Adventures of Robin Hood. But it took a home-grown American talent, Bernard Herrmann, to bring a darker, more modern sound to some of cinema's finest films, with his scores for Citizen Kane, Psycho and Taxi Driver.

Among those Neil meets are leading film-makers and composers who discuss their work, including Martin Scorsese and Hans Zimmer, composer of blockbusters like Gladiator and Inception.


SAT 01:45 Top of the Pops (b071gy17)
Peter Powell introduces the pop programme, featuring Bad Manners, Girlschool, Department S, The Beat, The Cure, The Nolans, UK Subs, The Jacksons, Whitesnake, Spandau Ballet, Sugar Minott, Bucks Fizz and Ennio Morricone, and a dance performance from Legs & Co.


SAT 02:25 Top of the Pops (b072w25g)
Tommy Vance introduces the pop programme. Includes appearances from Thin Lizzy, Department S, Tenpole Tudor, Sheena Easton, Kim Carnes and Adam and the Ants, plus a dance performance by Legs and Co.


SAT 02:45 Doris Day - Virgin Territory (b0074rwd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:45 today]



SUNDAY 06 MARCH 2016

SUN 19:00 Jigs and Wigs: The Extreme World of Irish Dancing (b06zdqwd)
Series 2

Tradition with a Twist

After stepping out in style on Britain's Got Talent in 2014, the Innova dance troupe are brought down to earth, and back to the beautiful coastline beaches of Portstewart.


SUN 19:30 Jigs and Wigs: The Extreme World of Irish Dancing (b06zz7t0)
Series 2

Angela's Athletes

Tyrone native and Irish dance fitness coach Angela Mohan puts her army of athletes through the drill in the lead-up to the world championships.


SUN 20:00 Do We Really Need the Moon? (b00yb5jp)
The moon is such a familiar presence in the sky that most of us take it for granted. But what if it wasn't where it is now? How would that affect life on Earth?

Space scientist and lunar fanatic Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock explores our intimate relationship with the moon. Besides orchestrating the tides, the moon dictates the length of a day, the rhythm of the seasons and the very stability of our planet.

Yet the moon is always on the move. In the past, it was closer to the Earth and in the future it will be farther away. That it is now perfectly placed to sustain life is pure luck, a cosmic coincidence. Using computer graphics to summon up great tides and set the Earth spinning on its side, Aderin-Pocock implores us to look at the Moon afresh: to see it not as an inert rock, but as a key player in the story of our planet, past, present and future.


SUN 21:00 The German Doctor (b04l3524)
Drama based on real events. In 1960, having adopted a new identity, Nazi war criminal Joseph Mengele found refuge in Patagonia, where he befriended the family of 12-year-old Lilith. As the family struggle to reopen an inherited hotel in a community of expatriate and ethnic Germans, he offers his expertise in helping with what he considers Lilith's stunted growth. Meanwhile, the Israeli secret service is closing in.

In German and Spanish with English subtitles.


SUN 22:25 Storyville (b05t2h9x)
Himmler: The Decent One

Through previously undiscovered private letters, photos and diaries that were found in the Himmler family house in 1945, this documentary exposes a unique and at times uncomfortable access to the life and mind of the merciless 'architect of the Final Solution', Heinrich Himmler. Himmler writes, 'In life one must always be decent, courageous and kind-hearted'. How can a man be a hero in his own eyes and a mass murderer in the eyes of the world?

The text of the film consists exclusively of original documents from Himmler's lifetime, combined with news and personal archive from sources ranging from the descendants of top Nazis to working-class individuals. It forms a unique portrait of one the most prominent figures of the Third Reich, the SS commander Heinrich Himmler.


SUN 23:55 The Heart of Country: How Nashville Became Music City USA (b04ndxlr)
This historical biography of the city that is the glittering hub of country music reveals the dynamic relationship between commerce and art, music and the market, that has defined Nashville since 1925. It explores the conflicts and demons that have confronted Nashville's artists and music industry down the years, such as the creative pressures of the 'Nashville Sound', the devastating impact of Elvis and then Bob Dylan, the rise and fall of the urban cowboys and the struggle of several Nashville legends to confront their inner demons.

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

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


SUN 01:25 Johnny Cash: The Man, His World, His Music (p0295qy9)
A rare chance to see Robert Elfstrom's 1969 classic film that captures the Man in Black at his peak, the first of many in a looming rollercoaster career. Fresh on the heels of his Folsom Prison album, Cash reveals the dark intensity and raw talent that made him a country music star and cultural icon.

Elfstrom got closer than any other film-maker to Cash, who is seen performing with his new bride June Carter Cash, in a rare duet with Bob Dylan and behind the scenes with friends, family and aspiring young musicians - painting an unforgettable portrait that endures beyond the singer's death in 2003.


SUN 02:25 Singer-Songwriters at the BBC (b00vfhy7)
Series 1

Episode 4

Compilation which unlocks the BBC vaults to explore the burgeoning singer-songwriter genre that exploded at the dawn of the 1970s and became one of the defining styles of that decade.

Featuring songs from Donovan, Gerry Rafferty, James Taylor, Elton John, Mickey Newbury, Tom Paxton, John Prine, Melanie, Jesse Winchester, Steve Forbert, Chris Rea, Carole King and others.

Programme sources include The Old Grey Whistle Test, In Concert, Top of the Pops, One in Ten and Cilla!


SUN 03:25 Britain on Film (b01nvwqm)
Series 1

Brits at Play

In 1959 Britain's biggest cinema company, the Rank Organisation, decided to replace its newsreels with a series of short, quirky, topical documentaries that examined all aspects of life in Britain. For the next ten years, Look at Life chronicled the changing face of British society, industry and culture, all on high-grade 35mm colour film. Britain on Film draws upon the 500 films in this unique archive to offer illuminating and often surprising insights into what became a pivotal decade in modern British history.

This episode looks at the films that recorded one of the great boom industries of the 1960s, the leisure industry. Having left behind the austerity of the immediate post-war period, Britain's increasingly affluent population took full advantage of the new leisure opportunities that made affordable newly-emerging recreational activities at home - as well as exciting holiday adventures abroad.



MONDAY 07 MARCH 2016

MON 19:00 World News Today (b072wsnm)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


MON 19:30 Timothy Spall: Back at Sea (b0135m57)
The Luck of the Irish Sea

Untrained mariner Timothy Spall has spent a fortune on technology for his new challenge - the unpredictable Irish Sea - as he and his wife continue their mini-odyssey around Britain. From Cardiff they head west to Milford Haven at the end of the River Severn and all seems well. However, Captain Spall bungles his departure to Fishguard and ends up going nowhere at full speed due to the turning tides.

Shattered and in the dark of night, they eventually find Fishguard. They also visit Aberystwyth, a return home for his wife Shane, and then the 'discovery' of the trip so far, Porthdinllaen. Here they find the most beautiful cove they have ever seen, a beach pub and a ride in a lifeboat to see the stunning Welsh coastline in its full glory.

'Mr and Mrs Vasco de Gama' are back on their travels in this seductive and heartwarming series.


MON 20:00 Great Irish Journeys with Martha Kearney (b05q19lj)
Episode 4

Martha Kearney walks in the footsteps of a 19th-century artist and geologist who spent his life charting the landscape, people and buildings of Ireland. She retraces the journey of George Victor Du Noyer, whose 35-year odyssey left a unique record of how Ireland looked during a period of great change.

In her final journey, Martha hits the spiritual trail, starting with the Blasket Islands off the coast of Kerry. In the Dingle Peninsula, Du Noyer discovered clochans - stone beehive huts. Martha heads north on a spiritual trail, taking in the islands of the Fermanagh Lakelands - White Island, Boa Island and the renowned Station Island.


MON 20:30 The Return of the Flying Scotsman (b073c7r0)
After a ten-year restoration, we follow the Flying Scotsman, the world's most famous steam engine, as it returns to the tracks.

It's a locomotive legend. Whether people are interested in steam engines or not, everybody seems to love the Scotsman; it's simply a national treasure. A steel celebrity, a media darling... and after a painstaking restoration that has cost over four million pounds, the Scotsman is finally coming home to York.

There is going to be a real welcome back for the 93-year-old engine with its inaugural run from King's Cross Station in London, pulling a trainload of enthusiasts and supporters 200 miles north on the mainline. It is a triumphant return to the museum - and to a city synonymous with steam.

We are on board the train for its final test runs on the East Lancashire Railway and the scenic Settle-Carlisle railway, across Ribblehead Viaduct, before climbing on board for the inaugural trip. With cameras on the footplate, we capture the exhilaration, the excitement and the sheer hard work required to keep Scotsman on the line.

We join the celebrations - talking to historians, fans and enthusiasts about the engine... and marvel at how the Flying Scotsman has captured the imagination of so many people across the world since it first came to life in Doncaster in 1923.

The programme is narrated by John Shrapnel.


MON 21:00 The Renaissance Unchained (b072wvy9)
Hell, Snakes and Giants

In the final episode Waldemar Januszczak looks at the surprising climax of the Renaissance as it spiralled into madness and distortion. This was a period full of war, confusion and darkness, which was captured perfectly in the art of Leonardo, Bosch, Arcimboldo, Palissy, the Italian Mannerists and El Greco.


MON 22:00 imagine... (b0100t22)
The Trouble with Tolstoy

At War with Himself

Alan Yentob takes an epic train ride through Tolstoy's Russia, examining how Russia's great novelist became her great troublemaker.

In this first of two programmes, he reveals a difficult and troubled youth, obsessed with sex and gambling, who turned writer while serving as a soldier in Chechnya and the Crimea. His experiences on the frontline eventually fed into War and Peace, a book now recognised as, 'the gold standard by which all other novels are judged'. They also triggered his conversion to outspoken pacifist.

Alan's expedition takes him to the Tatar city of Kazan, where Tolstoy was a teenager, the siege of Sevastopol on the Black Sea and Imperial St Petersburg, as well as the idyllic Tolstoy country estate, the writer's cradle and grave, and home throughout his passionate but brutal 48-year marriage to Sofya - a marriage that began with rape, produced 13 children and ended with desertion and denial.

Contributors include Tolstoy's great great grandson Vladimir Tolstoy, AN Wilson and author of a Tolstoy biography, Rosamund Bartlett.


MON 23:05 imagine... (b01062hz)
The Trouble with Tolstoy

In Search of Happiness

Alan Yentob continues his train ride through Tolstoy's Russia, examining how Russia's great novelist became her great troublemaker.

The success of War and Peace brought Tolstoy fame, wealth and a massive mid-life crisis. Alan follows the writer through the tortured second half of his life as he transformed himself from aristocrat to anarchist and turned his back on his novels, his possessions and finally his wife of 48 years.

Alan travels east into the remote emptiness of the Russian steppe, through the dark pages of Tolstoy's great romantic novel Anna Karenina, on to the small town where Anna takes her life, and then on the pilgrimage to the spectacular monastery where Tolstoy's spiritual quest began.

Using extraordinary early film of Tolstoy, we witness the tumultuous events of Tolstoy's final years and his passionate relationship with his disciple Chertkov, the man his wife called 'the devil incarnate'.

Finally, Alan retraces Tolstoy's flight from home at the age of 82, a journey that ended in a remote railway station. Heartbreaking archive footage shows his wife Sofya being turned away from the deathbed of her husband. So great was Tolstoy's influence at the time of his death that the government feared the news would spark revolution.

Contributors include leading Russian commentators, as well as AN Wilson and the author of a Tolstoy biography, Rosamund Bartlett.


MON 00:05 Human Planet (b00rrd81)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


MON 01:05 Storyville (b05t2h9x)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:25 on Sunday]


MON 02:35 The Renaissance Unchained (b072wvy9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



TUESDAY 08 MARCH 2016

TUE 19:00 World News Today (b072wsnt)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


TUE 19:30 Timothy Spall: Back at Sea (b013fj45)
Mad about the Buoys

Untrained mariner Timothy Spall has spent a fortune on technology for his new challenge - the unpredictable Irish Sea - as he and his wife continue their mini-odyssey around Britain.

Entering Liverpool means navigating their first big city since leaving London, but reaching dry land can be daunting in a small boat when dodging tankers and ferries. It's even more difficult when the coastguard sends him round in circles because he's on the wrong side of the marker buoys.

On his way to Glasson Dock in Lancashire, Tim is tricked again by another buoy. Misunderstanding his sea chart results in an unplanned dropped anchor in the middle of the Irish Sea, where they have to wait all night before he can enter the port.

Their next destination finds them in the company of royalty - Piel Island near Barrow-in-Furness has the unusual honour of having its own king and queen, a tradition which goes back centuries.


TUE 20:00 The River Taff with Will Millard (b0705d04)
Series 1

Episode 2

Writer and fisherman Will Millard travels the length of the wild River Taff in South Wales, from its source high in the stunning Brecon Beacons to the Bristol Channel. He explores how the coal industry changed this beautiful landscape and its people forever. The river once ran black with coal dust but is now one of the finest trout and salmon rivers in Wales. Will meets the members of the Lewis Merthyr Colliery Brass Band and fishes for grayling with a former miner who is now a champion fly-fisherman. He visits one of Britain's biggest open-cast coal mines and sees how this spectacular landscape is being reclaimed after centuries of mining.


TUE 20:30 The Brecon Beacons with Iolo Williams (b06wrhn5)
Series 1

Spring

It's spring and the nesting season is in full swing. While hundreds of dotterel are taking a rest on the Black Mountains during their journey from Africa to their breeding sites in Scotland, peregrines are already nesting in an old quarry in the central Beacons. Next to the largest natural lake in south Wales, water voles are managing their ditches. Iolo Williams explores the most crooked church in Britain and an old gunpowder works and finds that a 300-year-old stone wall reveals the history of this magnificent landscape.


TUE 21:00 The Last Seabird Summer? (b072wwv9)
Trouble at Sea

Picking up the birds' progress in July, Adam finds the Shiants colonies to be healthy and the puffins, guillemots and razorbill bringing in great bill-fulls of gleaming silver fish for their chicks. But elsewhere, the sea is failing to provide the birds with the food they need to survive.

In Scotland alone, 40 per cent of the birds have been lost and, further afield in Iceland, Adam sees colonies where nearly all the birds have been wiped out. He discovers how puffin hunters respond to the crisis and talks to both local people and experts about what could lie behind the catastrophic seabird declines. With the help of leading ornithologists and marine scientists, he begins to reveal an unexpected picture of the global forces driving the crisis, and the possible future for our seabird world.


TUE 22:00 Indian Hill Railways (b00qvk99)
The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway

From the Himalayas in the north to the Nilgiris in the south - for a hundred years these little trains have climbed through the clouds and into the wonderful world of Indian hill railways.

The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway is a line so close to the people that it flows like a river through their lives. The relationship between the train and the people is changing, however, as a new generation of Gurkhas populates these hills, demanding an independent state and fighting for a new identity as they journey into the modern Indian world.


TUE 23:00 The Story of British Pathé (b013g7dm)
The Birth of the News

For more than half a century, the film and newsreel company British Pathé documented almost every aspect of everyday life in Britain and around the world. Covering everything from major world events and exotic foreign travelogues to the pageantry of state occasions and gritty social issues, the company amassed a unique documentary record of 20th-century life. This series delves into British Pathé's amazing treasure trove of images, beginning with the work of the buccaneering cameramen behind Pathé's newsreels - men who witnessed pivotal moments in history and created many of the conventions of news programming that we still use today.


TUE 00:00 The Prosecutors (b0726h15)
Real Crime and Punishment

The Proof

The Crown Prosecution Service is often under scrutiny for its decision-making. Now for the first time the CPS has allowed cameras in. Filmed over 18 months with prosecutors in Merseyside, Cheshire and the south east, including the director of public prosecutions, Alison Saunders, this groundbreaking series goes behind the scenes to reveal how our criminal justice system really works and what it takes to secure a conviction. Each episode focuses on a different part of the process, following prosecutions and those involved in the case from start to finish.

In this episode the prosecutors deal with two violent domestic murders and the victim of an assault who is unhappy that her attacker has not been prosecuted.

In 2014 the police brought prosecutors over 100,000 cases of violence against women to consider. In a quarter of the cases, the CPS decided a prosecution could not go ahead.

Viv Driver-Hart can't remember the details of the assault against her, but a huge chunk of her hair had been ripped out and she'd been knocked unconscious. Now she's written to the CPS to appeal their decision not to prosecute under a new initiative, the Victims' Right to Review.

Chief crown prosecutor Claire Lindley oversees all prosecutions in the Mersey-Cheshire area. The decision not to prosecute Viv's attacker can only be overturned with her approval. But every decision, however difficult, must be based on the evidence.

Proving that the defendant committed the offence they are charged with is essential to secure a conviction. A jury must be convinced that the prosecution team has produced evidence and presented the case so as to leave them in no doubt of guilt.

Prosecutor Richard Riley deals with two murder cases of women who have been killed by someone they know. In both cases there appears to be overwhelming evidence against the defendants. Police find Paul Fox attempting suicide, with his mother dead downstairs, and a note he's written, 'Warning Dead Bodies'. A witness sees David Hoyle leaving the scene with a knife, where his girlfriend has been stabbed. As the cases develop, it becomes clear that securing a conviction is never straightforward.


TUE 01:00 The Last Seabird Summer? (b072wwv9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


TUE 02:00 Sound of Cinema: The Music That Made the Movies (b03b45h4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 00:45 on Saturday]


TUE 03:00 ... Sings Musicals (b019jshd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:45 on Saturday]



WEDNESDAY 09 MARCH 2016

WED 19:00 World News Today (b072wsp2)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


WED 19:30 Timothy Spall: Back at Sea (b013rknf)
The Bit in the Middle

Sea adventurers Timothy Spall and his wife Shane take their barge to three different countries and the Isle of Man. From Whitehaven, where Spall learns about the pirate John Paul Jones, they steam over to Douglas to visit his son, actor Rafe Spall, who is there to work on BBC Two's The Shadow Line. Next they visit a city Tim loves dearly, Belfast, and a special pub he says is 'the finest drinking establishment in the English-speaking world'. Finally, it's across to Portpatrick and Scotland, as they clock up some serious nautical mileage in their circumnavigation of the British Isles.


WED 20:00 Hidden Kingdoms (b03qkcgs)
Under Open Skies

This is the story of two young animals forced to grow up fast.

In Africa's savannah, a baby elephant shrew learns how speed is the secret to survival amongst the largest animals on earth. And in America, a young grasshopper mouse confronts the Wild West's deadliest creatures to stake a claim of his own.


WED 21:00 The Prosecutors (b072wyvj)
Real Crime and Punishment

The Trial

The Crown Prosecution Service is often under scrutiny for its decision-making. Now for the first time the CPS has allowed cameras in. Filmed over 18 months with prosecutors in Merseyside, Cheshire and the South East, including the director of public prosecutions, Alison Saunders, this groundbreaking series goes behind the scenes to reveal how our criminal justice system really works and what it takes to secure a conviction. Each episode focuses on a different part of the process, following prosecutions and those involved in the case from start to finish.

In the final episode, prosecutors in the Complex Casework units of CPS Mersey-Cheshire and CPS South-East are preparing for trials in separate historic cases.

In 1993, a few days after her 16th birthday, Claire Tiltman was murdered in an alleyway. Since Colin Ash-Smith admitted to other knife attacks in the same area, he has been the main suspect for the crime. In 1996 he was sentenced to life imprisonment for those offences. But without direct evidence, he was not charged with the murder of Claire Tiltman.

Claire's parents died before seeing her killer brought to justice and a group of her school friends took up the campaign to keep the case in the public eye. Now, using a change in the law which might allow the jury to know about Ash-Smith's other attacks and the similarities between them, prosecutor Nigel Pilkington is trying to build a circumstantial case against Colin Ash-Smith.

In Mersey-Cheshire, a non-recent sex abuse case is being prepared for trial. Keith Cavendish Coulson is facing 42 counts of indecent assault on boys in the 1970s and 80s. He says they're lying and that it never happened. The CPS's handling of non-recent sex abuse cases is often highly controversial and Alison Saunders, the director of public prosecutions, is involved in overseeing the case.

Cases committed a long time ago are charged and sentenced according to the law at the time. As Cavendish Coulson's offences were in the 1970s and 80s, they can only charge him under the old law of 1956. Historic cases also present challenges, as the memories of witnesses might have faded and evidence might no longer be available. But moving testimony from Cavendish Coulson's accusers suggests they have far from forgotten these offences.


WED 22:00 Arena (b010t9hz)
Produced by George Martin

Profile of record producer Sir George Martin. He began with Nellie the Elephant, 633 Squadron and Peter Sellers, then came the Beatles and then the golden age of rock. Martin recorded the soundtrack of the second half of the 20th century.

This rich and intimate portrait follows Sir George at 85 with his wife Judy, son Giles, Sir Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Cilla Black, Michael Palin and Bernard Cribbins among the many contributors.


WED 23:30 Ancient Egypt - Life and Death in the Valley of the Kings (p01538p0)
Original Series

Life

Egypt captivates us like few other ancient civilizations - but what was it like to actually live there as an ordinary person 3,500 years ago? Egyptologist Dr Joann Fletcher goes on a fascinating journey in search of people like us, not the great pharaohs, but the ordinary people who built and populated this incredible ancient civilization, creating a remarkable way of life and an extraordinary way of death.

These questions are explored through the histories of Kha and Meryt, an architect and his wife who lived just outside the Valley of the Kings. They left behind a treasure trove of information in their extraordinary tomb, full of objects from their lives and death - everything from make-up to death masks, loaves of bread to life-like figurines, even the tools Kha used at work in the royal tombs. Joann uses this trove to travel into the remarkable world of these ancient Egyptians, both in life and the afterlife.

In the first part of the series, Joann explores how people lived during this time, from the tightly-packed houses and villages of the common people, to the clothes they wore and the food they ate. She discovers the ordinary Egyptians' love of poetry and their enthusiasm for interior design, as well as what it was like working in the most famous cemetery on Earth.


WED 00:30 Hidden Kingdoms (b03qkcgs)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


WED 01:30 Dreaming the Impossible: Unbuilt Britain (p01cyrf9)
Glass Houses

Using her investigative skills to uncover long-forgotten and abandoned plans, architectural investigator Dr Olivia Horsfall Turner explores the fascinating and dramatic stories behind some of the grandest designs that were never built.

Technology has always been a driving force behind new ideas. Olivia explores how architects and designers have been inspired by the exciting possibilities presented by new technology to produce groundbreaking and controversial urban plans.

In 1855, visionary designer Sir Joseph Paxton proposed an ambitious plan to build a fantastic, futuristic ten-mile glass girdle circling the centre of London. It had only recently become possible to produce large sheets of cheap but strong plate glass and Paxton was inspired by its potential. With this exciting new technology at his fingertips, Paxton believed he could create a bright and pollution-free environment for Londoners as well as solve the capital's terrible congestion problems.

His spectacular glass 'Great Victorian Way' would connect the city to the West End, link rich and poor areas and cross the Thames three times. Contained in this magnificent glass structure were shops, houses, hotels, a pedestrian walkway, a road for carriages and eight lines of elevated pneumatic railway.

There was huge support for Paxton's scheme and Parliament passed a bill sanctioning construction, but the Great Victorian Way was never built. The 'Great Stink' took hold of London in 1858, spreading a cholera epidemic and so sanitation became the city's most pressing priority. Instead of creating a spectacular crystal boulevard the money was spent on a very different type of technology - the building of London's sewerage system.

A century later, London's congestion problems remained unsolved with the motor car having taken over roads designed for horse and carriage. In 1961, the architect Geoffrey Jellicoe proposed a solution directly inspired by Joseph Paxton's use of glass, in his radical new urban scheme for the green belt around London. Jellicoe took Paxton's idea of transforming the transport infrastructure even further, proposing a 'glass city' in which all cars would drive along rooftops, freeing the ground below for pedestrians.

With both these groundbreaking designs, Paxton and Jellicoe were seeking to harness technology to create bright and light cities, free of pollution and congestion, and utilising the most progressive forms of transport of the day.

Contributors include: Brett Steele, Eric Kuhne, Kate Colquhoun, Isobel Armstrong, Theodora Wayte, Lord Norman Foster, Charlie Burke, David Martlew, John Minnis, Hal Moggridge, Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe and Kathryn Moore.


WED 02:30 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.


WED 02:55 The Prosecutors (b072wyvj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



THURSDAY 10 MARCH 2016

THU 19:00 World News Today (b072wsp9)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


THU 19:30 Top of the Pops (b0739zgh)
Simon Bates introduces the pop programme, featuring The Polecats, UB40, Hazel O'Connor, Coast to Coast, Adam & the Ants and Kim Carnes, plus a dance performance from Legs & Co.


THU 20:00 Indian Hill Railways (b00qzzlm)
The Nilgiri Mountain Railway

From the Himalayas in the north to the Nilgiris in the south - for a hundred years these little trains have climbed through the clouds and into the wonderful world of Indian Hill Railways.

The Nilgiri Mountain Railway is a romantic line, popular with honeymooners and driven by love and devotion as well as steam. It chugs through the south Indian jungle up to a hill station, once known as Snooty Ooty.

The current guard is Ivan. Married for twenty years, he is concerned about his friend Jenni, the ticket inspector, because he's still a bachelor - but Jenni has a secret.

In the engine shed, Shivani, the railway's first female diesel engineer, is working on a steam loco. She has to make it look its best, as in the year of filming, 1999, the railway celebrated its centenary. The high point is the Black Beauty competition to pick the best engine on the line, but rains and landslides threaten the proceedings and the tourist business. Will love win out in the end?


THU 21:00 Digging for Britain (b073b1xn)
Series 4

West

This episode heads to the west of Britain.

Marden Henge: The communal sweat lodges and feasting remains that illuminate the lost rituals of Stonehenge.

Durotriges: A glimpse into the bizarre animal sacrifice rituals offered to their gods by a mysterious Celtic tribe of the first century BC.

Trellech: An enormous lost Welsh city is discovered seven centuries after it disappeared from historical record.

Kent's Cavern: A team swaps trowels for pneumatic drills in a search for the hidden entrance of the site where Britain's earliest human remains have been found.

Jersey: Archaeologists are fighting against mother nature to find the evidence of a Stone Age hunter-gatherer campsite.

Staffordshire Hoard: Conservators painstakingly reassemble the elaborate weaponry of Anglo-Saxon warriors previously not known about.


THU 22:00 Ancient Egypt - Life and Death in the Valley of the Kings (p01538rx)
Original Series

Death

What was it like to live and die in ancient Egypt, 3,500 years ago? Egyptologist Dr Joann Fletcher goes on a fascinating journey in search of people like us - not the great Pharaohs but the ordinary people who built and populated this incredible ancient civilisation.

This episode reveals a strange and mysterious world - the ancient Egyptian afterlife. To them life was just a dress rehearsal for the perfect afterlife they were trying to reach. Joann clambers into rarely visited tombs, explores a treasure trove of long-buried objects and examines spectacular mummies to discover just why the Egyptians spent a fortune preparing for death - and what they hoped to find when they got there.


THU 23:00 Planet Ant: Life Inside the Colony (p00scslp)
Ant colonies are one of the wonders of nature - complex, organised and mysterious. This programme reveals the secret, underground world of the ant colony in a way that's never been seen before. At its heart is a massive, full-scale ant nest, specially designed and built to allow cameras to see its inner workings. The nest is a new home for a million-strong colony of leafcutter ants from Trinidad.

For a month, entomologist Dr George McGavin and leafcutter expert Professor Adam Hart capture every aspect of the life of the colony, using time-lapse cameras, microscopes, microphones and radio tracking technology. The ants instantly begin to forage, farm, mine and build. Within weeks, the colony has established everything from nurseries and gardens to graveyards.

The programme explores how these tiny insects can achieve such spectacular feats of collective organisation. This unique project reveals the workings of one of the most complex and mysterious societies in the natural world and shows the surprising ways in which ants are helping us solve global problems.


THU 00:30 Top of the Pops (b0739zgh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


THU 01:05 Doris Day - Virgin Territory (b0074rwd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:45 on Saturday]


THU 02:05 London on Film (b01jzq75)
The West End

From bright lights, showbusiness and shops to riots, sleaze and traffic jams, film-makers have long been drawn to London's West End. Using a rich mix of archive material, this film paints a colourful and surprising portrait of the city's beating heart.


THU 02:40 Digging for Britain (b073b1xn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



FRIDAY 11 MARCH 2016

FRI 19:00 World News Today (b072wsph)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


FRI 19:30 Top of the Pops (b073b5wt)
Richard Skinner introduces the pop programme, featuring Siouxsie & the Banshees, Imagination, Phil Collins, Squeeze, The Jam, Toyah and Adam & the Ants, plus a dance performance from Legs & Co.


FRI 20:00 Virtuoso Violinists at the BBC (b072x1qh)
Violinist Nicola Benedetti explores 60 years of BBC archive to celebrate the world of the violin and its most outstanding performers. From Nathan Milstein, Mischa Elman and Isaac Stern to Yehudi Menuhin, Itzhak Perlman and Nigel Kennedy, Nicola gives us a violinist's perspective on what makes a great performance in a tradition which stretches back to the 19th-century virtuoso Paganini. Filmed at the Royal Academy of Music Museum, London.


FRI 21:00 Kenny Rogers: Cards on the Table (b04pl3kw)
Examining the life and career of the artist who 'knows when to hold 'em and knows when to fold 'em', this documentary chronicles Kenny Rogers's remarkable rise to the top of his game and the golden era of country music he ushered in.

With an exclusive, candid interview from Rogers himself and performance footage gathered on his recent Through the Years tour, this honest and eye-opening film provides a backstage pass to a remarkable 50-year career of performing and recording.

Associates and luminaries provide personal insight into how the poor, music-obsessed boy from Houston, Texas went on to become a superstar with over 120 million albums sold worldwide. Singer, songwriter and producer Kim Carnes recalls how the New Christy Minstrels folk group - of which she and Kenny were members in the late 1960s - was like a 'school on the road' that provided them both with a springboard from which to explore other musical ambitions. Actor and musician Mickey Jones recounts his time with Kenny in the band The First Edition, whose hit single Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In) made Kenny an unlikely poster boy for the psychedelic generation. Longtime friend Lionel Richie reveals how a trip to the bathroom played a crucial role in the recording session for Lady, one of Kenny's biggest hits.

Away from music, the programme reveals how Kenny's drive and ambition - what he describes as his 'impulsive-obsessive' nature - led to success in other fields: according to the renowned photographer John Sexton, the country music legend was determined to master the art of photography (Kenny was recently awarded an honorary Master of Photography degree by the Professional Photographers Association).

For over half a century, Kenny has kept us entertained with some of the best-known and best-loved music ever recorded. With a career spanning everything from jazz to folk, 60s psychedelia to R&B, perhaps his real legacy lies in the fact that he introduced a trailblazing pop sensibility to country music.


FRI 22:00 Country Kings at the BBC (p028vxj4)
Classic male country singers from the BBC vaults, journeying from The Everly Brothers and Jerry Lee Lewis to Garth Brooks and Willie Nelson, and featuring classic songs and performances by Glen Campbell, Charley Pride, George Hamilton IV, Kenny Rogers, Clint Black, Johnny Cash, Eric Church and more. This 50 years-plus compilation is a chronological look at country kings as featured on BBC studio shows as varied as In Concert, Wogan, The Late Show and Later with Jools Holland, plus early variety shows presented by the likes of Lulu, Harry Secombe and Shirley Abicair.


FRI 23:00 Bob Harris: My Nashville (p0293k6w)
'Whispering' Bob Harris journeys to America's country music capital to reveal why Nashville became Music City USA. From the beginnings of the Grand Ole Opry on commercial radio, through the threatening onset of rock 'n' roll in the 50s, right up to the modern mainstream hits of Music Row, this is the story of how music has shaped Nashville and why today it's a place of pilgrimage for musicians from all over the world.

As well as iconic venues on Lower Broadway and the historic hit factories of 16th Avenue, Bob also explores the east Nashville music scene and discovers a rebellious flipside to the country coin. With exclusive performances from the city's top talent, Bob explains why country music owes its enduring success to Nashville's unique nurturing community of songwriters.

Includes interviews with Emmylou Harris, Duane Eddy, Dave Stewart and Rosanne Cash.


FRI 00:00 Top of the Pops (b073b5wt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


FRI 00:40 Kenny Rogers: Cards on the Table (b04pl3kw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


FRI 01:40 Bob Harris: My Nashville (p0293k6w)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:00 today]


FRI 02:40 Country Kings at the BBC (p028vxj4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]




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

... Sings Musicals 23:45 SAT (b019jshd)

... Sings Musicals 03:00 TUE (b019jshd)

Ancient Egypt - Life and Death in the Valley of the Kings 23:30 WED (p01538p0)

Ancient Egypt - Life and Death in the Valley of the Kings 22:00 THU (p01538rx)

Arena 22:00 WED (b010t9hz)

Bob Harris: My Nashville 23:00 FRI (p0293k6w)

Bob Harris: My Nashville 01:40 FRI (p0293k6w)

Britain on Film 03:25 SUN (b01nvwqm)

Country Kings at the BBC 22:00 FRI (p028vxj4)

Country Kings at the BBC 02:40 FRI (p028vxj4)

Digging for Britain 21:00 THU (b073b1xn)

Digging for Britain 02:40 THU (b073b1xn)

Do We Really Need the Moon? 20:00 SUN (b00yb5jp)

Doris Day - Virgin Territory 22:45 SAT (b0074rwd)

Doris Day - Virgin Territory 02:45 SAT (b0074rwd)

Doris Day - Virgin Territory 01:05 THU (b0074rwd)

Dreaming the Impossible: Unbuilt Britain 01:30 WED (p01cyrf9)

Great Irish Journeys with Martha Kearney 20:00 MON (b05q19lj)

Hidden Kingdoms 20:00 WED (b03qkcgs)

Hidden Kingdoms 00:30 WED (b03qkcgs)

Human Planet 19:00 SAT (b00rrd81)

Human Planet 00:05 MON (b00rrd81)

Indian Hill Railways 22:00 TUE (b00qvk99)

Indian Hill Railways 20:00 THU (b00qzzlm)

Jigs and Wigs: The Extreme World of Irish Dancing 19:00 SUN (b06zdqwd)

Jigs and Wigs: The Extreme World of Irish Dancing 19:30 SUN (b06zz7t0)

Johnny Cash: The Man, His World, His Music 01:25 SUN (p0295qy9)

Kenny Rogers: Cards on the Table 21:00 FRI (b04pl3kw)

Kenny Rogers: Cards on the Table 00:40 FRI (b04pl3kw)

London on Film 02:05 THU (b01jzq75)

Planet Ant: Life Inside the Colony 23:00 THU (p00scslp)

Singer-Songwriters at the BBC 02:25 SUN (b00vfhy7)

Sound of Cinema: The Music That Made the Movies 00:45 SAT (b03b45h4)

Sound of Cinema: The Music That Made the Movies 02:00 TUE (b03b45h4)

Sounds of the Eighties 02:30 WED (b0074sjk)

Storyville 22:25 SUN (b05t2h9x)

Storyville 01:05 MON (b05t2h9x)

Survivors: Nature's Indestructible Creatures 20:00 SAT (b01b4wmr)

The Brecon Beacons with Iolo Williams 20:30 TUE (b06wrhn5)

The German Doctor 21:00 SUN (b04l3524)

The Heart of Country: How Nashville Became Music City USA 23:55 SUN (b04ndxlr)

The Last Seabird Summer? 21:00 TUE (b072wwv9)

The Last Seabird Summer? 01:00 TUE (b072wwv9)

The Prosecutors 00:00 TUE (b0726h15)

The Prosecutors 21:00 WED (b072wyvj)

The Prosecutors 02:55 WED (b072wyvj)

The Renaissance Unchained 21:00 MON (b072wvy9)

The Renaissance Unchained 02:35 MON (b072wvy9)

The Return of the Flying Scotsman 20:30 MON (b073c7r0)

The River Taff with Will Millard 20:00 TUE (b0705d04)

The Story of British Pathé 23:00 TUE (b013g7dm)

Timothy Spall: Back at Sea 19:30 MON (b0135m57)

Timothy Spall: Back at Sea 19:30 TUE (b013fj45)

Timothy Spall: Back at Sea 19:30 WED (b013rknf)

Top of the Pops 01:45 SAT (b071gy17)

Top of the Pops 02:25 SAT (b072w25g)

Top of the Pops 19:30 THU (b0739zgh)

Top of the Pops 00:30 THU (b0739zgh)

Top of the Pops 19:30 FRI (b073b5wt)

Top of the Pops 00:00 FRI (b073b5wt)

Trapped 21:00 SAT (b071chqz)

Trapped 21:50 SAT (b071chr1)

Virtuoso Violinists at the BBC 20:00 FRI (b072x1qh)

World News Today 19:00 MON (b072wsnm)

World News Today 19:00 TUE (b072wsnt)

World News Today 19:00 WED (b072wsp2)

World News Today 19:00 THU (b072wsp9)

World News Today 19:00 FRI (b072wsph)

imagine... 22:00 MON (b0100t22)

imagine... 23:05 MON (b01062hz)