The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
The Uyghur community in north west China have been making atlas silk for thousands of years. Mattursun Islam and his family are continuing the tradition, using a combination of handmade techniques and mechanised looms. From designing the patterns to colouring, dyeing and weaving the thread, this film follows each stage in absorbing detail. We also get an engaging glimpse into how their family and working life are closely connected. With rival companies often copying his designs, Mattursan is proud of his reputation. But he and his wife also enjoy a good-natured rivalry over who really runs things.
The Model Railway Story: From Hornby to Triang and beyond, this documentary explores how the British have been in love with model railways for more than a century. What began as an adult obsession with building fully engineered replicas became the iconic toy of 50s and 60s childhood. With unique archive and contributions from modellers such as Pete Waterman, this is a celebration of the joys of miniaturisation. Just don't call them toy trains!
Documentary telling the story of Balmoral, the royal family's most private residence. For over 150 years this Scottish castle has been home to royal traditions of picnics, stag hunting and kilts. From prime ministers to Princess Diana, life at this tartan-bound holiday home has not appealed to everyone.
But there is another story of Balmoral, of how the royal family has played a role in shaping modern Scotland and how Scotland has shaped the royal family. Queen Victoria's adoption of Highland symbols, from tartan to bagpipes, helped create a new image for Scotland. Her values, too, helped strengthen the union between Scotland and England. Ever since, Balmoral has been a place that reflects the very essence of the royal family.
Journalist Rachel Johnson goes in search of what seems an almost vanished social type - the lady. With a handful of vintage etiquette books to guide her and a generous helping of film archive, she wants to find out how the idea of the lady changed over time - and what it might mean to be one now. Along the way she tries out etiquette classes and side-saddle lessons, as well as discovering that debutante balls have been revived for export.
A comprehensive, entertaining and moving portrait of Jim Clark, one of the most talented and intriguing characters of the 1960s. From unlikely beginnings on a farm in Scotland, the introverted and media-shy Clark emerged to become the most successful racing driver of his time, and forged a reputation as one of the all-time great heroes of motor sport.
Using previously unseen archive footage, testimonials from friends, family and former colleagues, the film tells the extraordinary but tragic story of an enigmatic racing legend.
THURSDAY 05 MAY 2016
THU 19:00 World News Today (b0798stx)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
THU 19:30 Top of the Pops (b079ckkc)
Steve Wright introduces the pop programme, featuring performances from Gidea Park, Beggar & Co, Sheena Easton, Godley and Creme, The Pointer Sisters, Bucks Fizz and Adam & The Ants, and a dance performance from Legs & Co.
THU 20:00 Balmoral (b00mqg2c)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:00 on Wednesday]
THU 21:00 Timeshift (b06b36q3)
Series 15
A Very British Map: The Ordnance Survey Story
For over 200 years, Ordnance Survey has mapped every square mile of the British Isles, capturing not just the contours and geography of our nation, but of our lives. Originally intended for military use, OS maps were used during wartime to help locate enemy positions. In peacetime, they helped people discover and explore the countryside.
Today, the large fold-out paper maps, used by generations of ramblers, scouts and weekend adventurers, represent just a small part of the OS output. As Ordnance Survey adjusts to the digital age, Timeshift looks back to tell the story of a quintessentially British institution.
THU 22:00 Jim Clark: The Quiet Champion (b00jw9cw)
[Repeat of broadcast at
01:00 on Wednesday]
THU 23:00 True North (b0755gm1)
Series 6
Crossmaglen: Field of Dreams
During the Troubles, Crossmaglen was seen by many as a place apart. At the heart of what became known as 'bandit country', and despite the pressures, a group of children managed to form one of the most formidable football teams in GAA club history. With unique access to the Crossmaglen GAA club over two seasons, this documentary follows new managers Oisin McConville and John McEntee, both former All-Ireland winners with the club, as they attempt to guide the next generation to victory. This is the story of a remarkable group of people at the heart of a remarkable town.
THU 00:00 Top of the Pops (b079ckkc)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:30 today]
THU 00:40 Sex: A Horizon Guide (b039vj9x)
Sex is a simple word for a very complex set of desires. It cuts to the core of our passions, our wants, our emotions. But when it goes wrong, it can be the most painful thing of all. Professor Alice Roberts looks through 45 years of Horizon archive to see how science came to understand sex, strived to solve our problems with it and even helped us to do it better. Can science save the day when sex goes wrong?
THU 01:40 Sex, Lies and Love Bites: The Agony Aunt Story (b0555vjj)
Psychotherapist and agony aunt Philippa Perry presents a witty and revealing look at the problem page's enduring appeal. In the documentary Philippa picks her way through three centuries of advice on broken hearts, cheating partners and adolescent angst to uncover a fascinating portrait of our social history.
She talks to fellow agony aunts and uncles like the Telegraph's Graham Norton and the Sun's Deidre Sanders about their experiences, as well as exploring the work of advice columnists past, like the 17th-century inventor of the problem page, John Dunton. The advice may change, but she discovers that, when it comes to subjects like love and courtship, the same old problems keep on cropping up.
Through the work of generations of advice columnists Philippa charts the developing battle of the sexes, the rise of the middle classes and a revolution in social attitudes. For much of the 20th century, agony aunts avoided any mention of trouble in the bedroom. Philippa explores the pioneering work of agony aunts like Claire Rayner, who began to offer frank sex advice in the 1960s. Today, sex takes pride of place on the problem page, as Philippa discovers for herself when she takes a starring role in the Sun's photo casebook, which is famous for its real-life problems illustrated with pictures of semi-clad ladies.
At a time when advice is more easily available than ever before, Philippa reflects on why agony aunts are often still our first port of call, and on what makes reading about other people's problems so irresistible.
THU 02:40 Everything and Nothing (b00yb59m)
[Repeat of broadcast at
00:00 on Monday]
FRIDAY 06 MAY 2016
FRI 19:00 World News Today (b0798sv3)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
FRI 19:30 BBC Young Musician (b079cm49)
2016
Strings Final
Four places in the BBC Young Musician 2016 semi-final have been claimed, with the winners of the keyboard, woodwind, percussion and brass categories having already earned their spot. Who will join them there from the strings final? In a hotly contested round, five talented young string players give their all, performing music ranging from Bach to Faure, Rachmaninov to Saint-Saens. Expect musical fireworks and technical brilliance.
The finalists are 17-year-old violinist Charlie Lovell-Jones from Cardiff; 16-year-old cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason from Nottingham; violinist Louisa Staples who is 16 and from London; also 16, cellist Joe Pritchard from Somerset; and completing the line-up is 16-year-old violinist Stephanie Childress from London.
Clemency Burton-Hill and Alison Balsom - herself a finalist in 1998 - present extended highlights of all the performances and find out more about the competitors with profile pieces and backstage access. Who will win that last remaining place in the semi-final and take one step further towards the coveted title BBC Young Musician 2016?
FRI 21:00 Elton John at the BBC (b00vs5c0)
Elton John's career tracked in archive from performances, interviews and news clips.
FRI 22:00 When Pop Went Epic: The Crazy World of the Concept Album (b079s0n0)
It's possibly one of the most denigrated inventions in the history of music, the greatest signifier of rock star pomposity. Indeed, in some quarters, the very mention of it is likely to provoke sniggering derision, conjuring up images of quadruple-gatefold album sleeves, songs that go on for weeks and straggly-haired rockers prattling on about mystical lands, unicorns, goblins and dystopian futures. But - back when people actually took the time to sit down and listen to records from beginning to end - for many, nothing delivered a more rewarding experience than the concept album. And for some, it's still a format that provides rock music with its high watermark moments.
This documentary explores the history of a musical format - usually based around a structured narrative, though sometimes tied together by a loose theme - that developed to become the equivalent of rock 'n' roll theatre, often on an operatic scale. The legendary cape-wearing keyboardmeister Rick Wakeman - himself the creator of several of history's most, ahem, 'elaborate' long players - presents this insightful and playful exploration of the greatest examples of the art form.
From social commentary to collected songs of loneliness, heartache and introspection, from tales of intergalactic rock stars to anthems of isolated youth, the film takes us on a journey - examining the roots of the concept album in its various forms, unpacking some of the most ambitious - and ridiculous - projects of the past fifty years, from Woody Guthrie's Dustbowl Ballads to Tales from Topographic Oceans by Yes; the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds to George Clinton's Mothership Connection; The Wall by Pink Floyd to The Flaming Lips' Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots.
Some of the mavericks who made the maddest and most memorable big ideas happen are here to provide their own perspectives, including Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull); Laura Marling; George Clinton; Wayne Coyne (Flaming Lips); J Willgoose Esq (Public Service Broadcasting); Fish (Marillion); Tony Asher (co-writer of lyrics on Pet Sounds); graphic artists such as Roger Dean (designer of Yes album sleeves) and Aubrey Powell of design partnership Hipgnosis (Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon and Animals, and Genesis's The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway).
FRI 23:00 Mike Oldfield: Tubular Bells (b00g8h9q)
A live studio performance from 1974 of Mike Oldfield's composition Tubular Bells, which had been acclaimed in the press as a unique achievement in popular music.
FRI 23:25 The Genius of David Bowie (b01k0y0q)
A selection of some of David Bowie's best performances from the BBC archives, which also features artists who Bowie helped along the way, such as Mott the Hoople, Lulu, Iggy Pop and Lou Reed.
FRI 00:25 When Pop Went Epic: The Crazy World of the Concept Album (b079s0n0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:00 today]
FRI 01:25 Mike Oldfield: Tubular Bells (b00g8h9q)
[Repeat of broadcast at
23:00 today]
FRI 01:50 Tubular Bells: The Mike Oldfield Story (b03cw8g0)
In 1973, an album was released that against all odds and expectations went to the top of the UK charts. The fact the album launched a record label that became one of the most recognisable brand names in the world (Virgin), formed the soundtrack to one of the biggest movies of the decade (The Exorcist), became the biggest selling instrumental album of all time, would eventually go on to sell over 16 million copies and was performed almost single-handedly by a 19-year-old makes the story all the more incredible. That album was Tubular Bells, and the young and painfully shy musician was Mike Oldfield.
This documentary features contributions from Sir Richard Branson, Danny Boyle, Mike's family and the original engineers of the Tubular Bells album among others. The spine of the film is an extended interview with Mike himself, where he takes us through the events that led to him writing Tubular Bells - growing up with a mother with severe mental health problems; the refuge he sought in music as a child, with talent that led to him playing in folk clubs aged 12 and signing with his sister's folk group at only 15; his frightening experience of taking LSD at 16; and finally arriving at the Manor Recording Studios as a young session musician where he gave a demo tape to a recording engineer who passed it along to young entrepreneur Richard Branson.
After the album's huge success, Mike retreated to a Hereford hilltop, shunned public life and became a recluse until he took part in a controversial therapy which changed his life.
In 2012 Mike captured the public's imagination once again when he was asked to perform at the London Olympic Opening Ceremony, where Tubular Bells was the soundtrack to 20 minutes of the one-hour ceremony.
Filmed on location at his home recording studio in Nassau, Mike also plays the multiple instruments of Tubular Bells and shows how the groundbreaking piece of music was put together.
FRI 02:55 Elton John at the BBC (b00vs5c0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
LIST OF THIS WEEK'S PROGRAMMES
(Note: the times link back to the details; the pids link to the BBC page, including iPlayer)
A History of Ancient Britain
19:00 SAT (b00z0k23)
A History of Ancient Britain
21:00 MON (b00z597g)
A History of Ancient Britain
23:30 TUE (b00z597g)
BBC Young Musician
19:30 FRI (b079cm49)
Balmoral
22:00 WED (b00mqg2c)
Balmoral
03:00 WED (b00mqg2c)
Balmoral
20:00 THU (b00mqg2c)
Caravans: A British Love Affair
20:00 TUE (b00hw3s0)
Caravans: A British Love Affair
01:30 TUE (b00hw3s0)
Dancing Cheek to Cheek: An Intimate History of Dance
22:30 SAT (b04pw783)
Dancing Cheek to Cheek: An Intimate History of Dance
00:00 WED (b04pw783)
Elton John at the BBC
21:00 FRI (b00vs5c0)
Elton John at the BBC
02:55 FRI (b00vs5c0)
Everything and Nothing
00:00 MON (b00yb59m)
Everything and Nothing
02:40 THU (b00yb59m)
Forest, Field & Sky: Art out of Nature
21:00 TUE (b079ckkf)
Forest, Field & Sky: Art out of Nature
02:30 TUE (b079ckkf)
Hamlet
22:45 SUN (b03b7x2r)
Handmade on the Silk Road
19:30 WED (b079cgml)
Hinterland
21:00 SAT (b079c6y0)
Horizon
02:10 SUN (b0094cym)
Jerusalem: The Making of a Holy City
02:50 MON (b018jlj0)
Jim Clark: The Quiet Champion
01:00 WED (b00jw9cw)
Jim Clark: The Quiet Champion
22:00 THU (b00jw9cw)
Joy Division
02:00 SAT (b0543ytw)
Krakatoa Revealed
01:00 MON (b00791fm)
Lucy Worsley's Reins of Power: The Art of Horse Dancing
20:00 MON (b06ccpzz)
Mike Oldfield: Tubular Bells
23:00 FRI (b00g8h9q)
Mike Oldfield: Tubular Bells
01:25 FRI (b00g8h9q)
Natural World
20:00 SAT (b01fllvr)
Natural World
23:00 MON (b01fllvr)
Oak Tree: Nature's Greatest Survivor
22:00 TUE (b06fq03t)
Redefining Juliet
22:00 SUN (b079rzqc)
Sex, Lies and Love Bites: The Agony Aunt Story
01:40 THU (b0555vjj)
Sex: A Horizon Guide
00:40 THU (b039vj9x)
Synth Britannia at the BBC
23:30 SAT (b00n93c6)
Synth Britannia
00:30 SAT (b00n93c4)
The Dark Ages: An Age of Light
22:00 MON (p00zbtmr)
The Dark Ages: An Age of Light
00:30 TUE (p00zbtmr)
The Genius of David Bowie
23:25 FRI (b01k0y0q)
The Good Old Days
19:00 SUN (b075f6zf)
The Man who Discovered Egypt
20:00 SUN (b01f13f4)
The Man who Discovered Egypt
01:50 MON (b01f13f4)
The Silk Road
21:00 SUN (p03qb1gq)
The Silk Road
03:00 SUN (p03qb1gq)
The Silk Road
20:00 WED (p03qb1gq)
The Sun
01:10 SUN (b0074s96)
The Wonder of Bees with Martha Kearney
19:30 MON (p01t6p94)
The Wonder of Bees with Martha Kearney
19:30 TUE (p01t6pgg)
Timeshift
21:00 WED (b01q9vhy)
Timeshift
23:00 WED (b01rjr2y)
Timeshift
02:00 WED (b01q9vhy)
Timeshift
21:00 THU (b06b36q3)
Top of the Pops
19:30 THU (b079ckkc)
Top of the Pops
00:00 THU (b079ckkc)
True North
23:00 THU (b0755gm1)
Tubular Bells: The Mike Oldfield Story
01:50 FRI (b03cw8g0)
When Pop Went Epic: The Crazy World of the Concept Album
22:00 FRI (b079s0n0)
When Pop Went Epic: The Crazy World of the Concept Album
00:25 FRI (b079s0n0)
World News Today
19:00 MON (b0798stc)
World News Today
19:00 TUE (b0798stj)
World News Today
19:00 WED (b0798stp)
World News Today
19:00 THU (b0798stx)
World News Today
19:00 FRI (b0798sv3)