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 18 JUNE 2016

SAT 19:00 The Big Thinkers (b0788q6m)
Aliens

The hunt for aliens is on! After a distinguished career in cosmology Professor Martin Rees, the astronomer royal, has taken up the search for extra-terrestrials. Looking for aliens is no longer science fiction - it is a question that's engaging some of the greatest minds in science.

As our knowledge of the universe has increased, we're getting closer to answers. Many scientists now think we live in galaxy with a billion Earth-like planets, many of which may be teeming with life. But what kind of life? Has anything evolved into beings we could communicate with? This film gets inside the minds of the scientists considering one of the most exciting and profound questions we can ask - are we alone in the universe?

Professor Rees thinks we may have our idea of what an alien is like all wrong. If he's right, it's not organic extra-terrestrials we should look for, it's machines.


SAT 20:00 Natural World (b00ykxq9)
2010-2011

Chimps of the Lost Gorge

A real life drama about a family of chimps trapped in a lost world. They live in a deep and ancient forested gorge that runs though the African savannah, and for 15 years it has been cut off from the rest of the jungle, leaving the chimps imprisoned. Here they face a daily life or death dilemma, whether to leave the safety of the gorge and venture into the predator-ridden savannah to find food, or face hunger. There's now only 20 of them left and as Brutus the alpha male loses his grip, can the family hold it together or is time running out for the Kyambura chimps?


SAT 21:00 The Disappearance (b05tw2nh)
Episode 7

A jeweller identifies the man who bought the pendant. The man is questioned, but he has an alibi. Romain is given a bag of Lea's possessions left at the race track.

In French with English subtitles.


SAT 21:50 The Disappearance (b05tw34t)
Episode 8

Molina decides that the police have been chasing a red herring and retraces their investigation into Nicolas Barrault. A search of his possessions turns up one of Jenny's business cards with a handwritten note on the back.

In French with English subtitles.


SAT 22:45 Glastonbury (b07h65wb)
2015

Lionel Richie

A look back at the Sunday teatime set from the American singing superstar Lionel Richie, who made his debut at the 2015 Glastonbury Festival. His set of classic songs from his time with the Commodores, along with many of his solo hits including the likes of Dancing on the Ceiling and All Night Long (All Night), prompted a singalong from the massive Pyramid Stage crowd.


SAT 23:45 Glastonbury Golden Greats (b05zqn68)
The iconic artists that have been booked to play the Glastonbury Festival have often been the talking point each year.

A look back at performances from the likes of Dame Shirley Bassey, Tony Bennett, Neil Diamond, Al Green, Willie Nelson, BB King, Johnny Cash, and 2014's appearance by the queen of country, Dolly Parton.


SAT 00:40 Disco at the BBC (b01cqt74)
A foot-stomping return to the BBC vaults of Top of the Pops, The Old Grey Whistle Test and Later with Jools as the programme spins itself to a time when disco ruled the floor, the airwaves and our minds. The visual floorfillers include classics from luminaries such as Chic, Labelle and Rose Royce to glitter ball surprises by The Village People.


SAT 01:40 Top of the Pops (b07g9zmn)
David 'Kid' Jensen presents the weekly pop chart show, first broadcast on 24 December 1981. Includes appearances from Bucks Fizz, Dollar, Roy Wood & Wizzard, Elvis Costello & the Attractions, Altered Images, the Human League and Zoo.


SAT 02:20 Top of the Pops (b07gmrvl)
Mike Read presents the hits of 1981, in a show first broadcast on 31 December 1981. Includes appearances from Adam & the Ants, John Lennon, Roxy Music, Aneka, The Police, The Specials, Joe Dolce, Julio Iglesias, Bucks Fizz, Soft Cell and The Human League.


SAT 03:00 Glastonbury (b07h65wb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:45 today]



SUNDAY 19 JUNE 2016

SUN 19:00 James May at the Edge of Space (b00lc5ph)
James May always wanted to be an astronaut. Now, 40 years after the first Apollo landings, he gets a chance to fly to the edge of space in a U2 spy plane. But first he has to undergo three gruelling days of training with the US Air Force and learn to use a space suit to stay alive in air so thin it can kill in an instant. He discovers that during the flight there are only two people higher than him, and they are both real astronauts on the International Space Station.


SUN 19:30 Match of the Day Live (b07gymf6)
Euro 2016

Romania v Albania

Manish Bhasin introduces coverage as Romania take on Albania in their final group game at Euro 2016. Trevor Sinclair and Dion Dublin provide studio analysis, with commentary from Simon Brotherton and Mark Lawrenson.


SUN 22:00 Summer Night Concert from Vienna (b07hk1cp)
2016

Katie Derham introduces this year's traditional spectacular concert from the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in the gardens of Schonbrunn Palace. There's a distinctly French flavour to the evening with music from Bizet, Berlioz, Poulenc and Ravel, and a special appearance from the world-renowned French piano duo the Labeque sisters. The concert is conducted for the first time by Semyon Bychkov who, though Russian-born, is an honorary Frenchman on account of his being married to Marielle Labeque.

This year's concert features such musical favourites as Ravel's exuberant Bolero and his ravishing Daphnis and Chloe. There is also a chance to dance along to the can-can from Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld plus, of course, the traditional end to the concert, Johann Strauss Junior's romantic waltz Wiener Blut. It wouldn't be a summer's night in Vienna without it!


SUN 23:30 Wonders of the Universe (b00zm833)
Stardust

In the second stop in his exploration of the wonders of the universe, Professor Brian Cox goes in search of humanity's very essence to answer the biggest questions of all: what are we? And where do we come from? This film is the story of matter - the stuff of which we are all made.

Brian reveals how our origins are entwined with the life cycle of the stars. But he begins his journey here on Earth. In Nepal, he observes a Hindu cremation. Hindu philosophy is based on an eternal cycle of creation and destruction, where the physical elements of the body are recycled on to the next stage. Brian draws a parallel with the life cycle of the stars that led to our own creation.

Next, he explains how the Earth's resources have been recycled through the ages. How every atom that makes up everything we see was at some time a part of something else. Our world is made up of just 92 elements, and these same 92 elements are found throughout the entire universe. We are part of the universe because we are made of the same stuff as the universe.


SUN 00:30 Pompeii: The Mystery of the People Frozen in Time (b01rn6c2)
The city of Pompeii uniquely captures the public's imagination - in AD79 a legendary volcanic disaster left its citizens preserved in ashes to this very day. Yet no-one has been able to unravel the full story that is at the heart of our fascination - how did those bodies become frozen in time?

For the first time, the BBC has been granted unique access to these strange, ghost-like body casts that populate the ruins and, using the latest forensic technology, the chance to peer beneath the surface of the plaster in order to rebuild the faces of two of the people who were killed in this terrible tragedy.

Margaret Mountford turns detective to tell a new story at the heart of one of history's most iconic moments, as she looks at the unique set of circumstances that led to the remarkable preservation of the people of Pompeii. By applying modern-day forensic analysis to this age-old mystery, Margaret dispels the myths surrounding the events in AD79. She also explores the lives of the individuals who once lived in this vibrant and enigmatic city and recreates the last moments of the people caught up in this tragedy.


SUN 01:30 Rise of the Continents (p019bd2j)
Australia

Professor Iain Stewart uncovers the mysterious history of Australia, and shows how Australia's journey as a continent has affected everything from Aboriginal history to modern-day mining, and even the evolution of Australia's bizarre wildlife, like the koala.

Iain begins searching for the platypus - a strange creature that is half mammal and half reptile. 200 million years ago reptile-like mammals were found across much of the world because at this time Australia was just one part of a huge landmass called Gondwana, that dominated the southern hemisphere.

Piecing together evidence from fossils found in a sea cliff outside Sydney and rocks recovered from Captain Scott's expedition to the South Pole, Professor Stewart shows that Gondwana was covered by a forest of now extinct trees called glossopteris. This was the habitat of the ancestors of today's platypus.

To discover the fate of Gondwana, Iain visits an unusual mining town called Coober Pedy where many of the buildings are underground in dug-out caves. The opals that are mined here enable him to recreate the breakup of Gondwana, and also show how Australia's formation led to the creation of a vast underground aquifer. This source of hidden water sustained the Aboriginal people as they criss-crossed the otherwise arid Australian interior.

Iain travels to the cliffs of the Australian Bight to show how Australia was once joined to Antarctica, and how their split led to the evolution of the biggest group of mammals on earth - the filter feeding whales.

Australia's journey away from Antarctica has also left its mark on the koala. Its big, round face and fluffy ears are a result of adaptations to the climate change that Australia has undergone on its northwards journey.

Finally Iain travels to Indonesia to meet the Bajau people of the Banda Sea - sea gypsies who glean almost all they need to live from the waters around them. Contained within these waters is evidence that shows Australia's eventual fate. Over the next 50 million years, Australia will collide with Asia, its isolation will be over, and it will become forested and lush once again.


SUN 02:30 The Treasure Hunters (b040r3bv)
Raw Treasure

From pirates' hoards and shipwrecked booty to dazzling gems to precious metals, we lust after treasure, fight over it and go to the ends of the earth to find it - our planet is a treasure chest just waiting to be opened. In this series, Ellie Harrison and Dallas Campbell journey around the globe on the ultimate treasure hunt.

They scratch the surface of our planet to uncover its most extraordinary riches - from mountains of gold to the most valuable gemstones in the world and the largest natural treasure ever found.

In this episode, Ellie ventures down one of the deepest gold mines in the world in search of the gleaming metal that was once thought to be the skin of the gods and the sweat of the sun. Dallas free-dives for lustrous pearls in the waters around north west Australia and, using one of the largest treasure-hunting machines, he seeks out diamonds from the bottom of the ocean.

Dallas and Ellie reveal how you could make your fortune on the beach. Lumps of ambergris can wash up on almost any shoreline in the world. Although it starts life in a sperm whale's stomach, it ends up as a costly raw ingredient in the most expensive perfumes.

And while Dallas tries his hand at opal mining in one of the most hostile places on earth, Ellie discovers how one of the largest and most unusual treasures ever uncovered has helped us solve a 67-million-year-old puzzle.



MONDAY 20 JUNE 2016

MON 19:00 World News Today (b07gyb1m)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


MON 19:30 Orangutan Diary (b007clvj)
Series 1

Episode 2

The second instalment of the dramatic story of rescued and orphaned orangutans in Borneo.

All over the island, their forests are being destroyed and being replaced with palm oil plantations.

Michaela Strachan and Steve Leonard help babies Lomon, Grendon and Ellie learn how to behave like wild orangutans. It is a tough job - six years of love and education that their mothers would have provided in the wild. Lomon is one of the weakest orphans of all, and when a serious virus starts to spread at the centre, Michaela fears that he may not survive.


MON 20:00 Canals: The Making of a Nation (b0685bp2)
The Workers

This is the story of the men who built our canals - the navigators or 'navvies'. They represented an 'army' of hard physical men who were capable of enduring tough labour for long hours. Many roved the countryside looking for work and a better deal. They gained a reputation as troublesome outsiders, fond of drinking and living a life of ungodly debauchery. But who were they? Unreliable heathens and outcasts, or unsung heroes who used might and muscle to build canals and railways? We focus on the Manchester Ship Canal - the swansong for the navvies and hailed as the greatest engineering feat of the Victorian Age. The navvies worked at a time of rising trade unionism. But could they organise and campaign for a better deal?


MON 20:30 Handmade: By Royal Appointment (b07gys9d)
House of Benney

In a small workshop in a country house in Wiltshire, silversmith Simon Benney makes distinctive jewellery and exquisite household objects for the royal family and private clients. Simon is following in the footsteps of his father Gerald Benney, who revolutionised the design of British silverware in the postwar era. This film follows the making of an engraved gold and diamond pendant, featuring Simon's trademark enamel finish, using techniques his father learnt from Faberge.


MON 21:00 Horizon (b00vdkmj)
2010-2011

What Happened Before the Big Bang?

They are the biggest questions that science can possibly ask: where did everything in our universe come from? How did it all begin? For nearly a hundred years, we thought we had the answer - a big bang some 14 billion years ago.

But now some scientists believe that was not really the beginning. Our universe may have had a life before this violent moment of creation.

Horizon takes the ultimate trip into the unknown to explore a dizzying world of cosmic bounces, rips and multiple universes, and finds out what happened before the big bang.


MON 22:00 Wonders of the Universe (b00zv39p)
Falling

In the third episode, Professor Brian Cox takes on the story of the force that sculpts the entire universe - gravity.

Gravity seems so familiar, and yet it is one of the strangest and most surprising forces in the universe. Starting with a zero-gravity flight, Brian experiences the feeling of total weightlessness, and considers how much of an effect gravity has had on the world around us.

But gravity also acts over much greater distances. It is the great orchestrator of the cosmos. It dictates our orbit around the sun, our relationship with the other planets in our solar system, and even the way in which our solar system orbits our galaxy.

Yet the paradox of gravity is that it is actually a relatively weak force. Brian takes a face distorting trip in a centrifuge to explain how it is that gravity achieves its great power, before looking at the role it plays in one of the most extraordinary phenomena in the universe - a neutron star. Although it is just a few kilometres across, it is so dense that its gravity is 100,000 million times as strong as on Earth.

Over the centuries our quest to understand gravity has allowed us to understand some of the true wonders of the universe, and Brian reveals that it is scientists' continuing search for answers that inspires his own sense of wonder.


MON 23:00 Rise of the Continents (b0368kb2)
The Americas

Professor Iain Stewart uncovers clues hidden within the New York skyline, the anatomy of American alligators and inside Bolivian silver mines, to reconstruct how North and South America were created. We call these two continents the New World, and in a geological sense they are indeed new worlds, torn from the heart of an ancient supercontinent - the Old World of Pangaea.

Iain starts in New York, where the layout of the city's skyscrapers provide a link to a long-lost world. Deep within their foundations is evidence that 300 million years ago New York was at the heart of a huge mountain range - part of the vast supercontinent called Pangaea.

Trekking into the Grand Canyon, Iain uncovers a layer of sandstone from Pangaean times that shows there was a vast desert either side of the mountains. Footprints in the rocks of the Grand Canyon reveal that there was only one type of animal that could thrive here - a newly evolved group called the reptiles. Iain meets the closest living relative of those early reptiles - the alligator.

Two hundred million years ago, Pangea underwent a transformation. North and South America were carved from Pangaea, and pushed westwards as separate island continents. To see how this westward movement shaped South America's often bloody human history, Iain travels to Potosi in Bolivia. Cerro Rico is one of the most dangerous mines in human history. Iain goes to the heart of this extinct volcano to reveal the process that has shaped South America - subduction.

Subduction has also created the longest continual mountain range in the world - the Andes. At its heart lies the stunning ethereal landscape of the Salar de Uyuni, a vast salt flat where a lake has been uplifted thousands of metres above sea level. The lithium found here may be a new source of mineral wealth for Bolivia, for use in mobile phones.

The last chapter in the story of the Americas is told through that most typically Andean animal, the llama. But like much of South America's wildlife it originated in North America, and only came south when the two island continents of North and South America joined three million years ago.

Since that momentous joining the story of the Americas has been a shared one. Together they continue their westward drift away from the Old World. However, on a cultural and economic level you could argue that the opposite is the case. In our new global economy the Americas are at the very heart of our connected world.


MON 00:00 Natural World (b00ykxq9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Saturday]


MON 01:00 Revolution and Romance: Musical Masters of the 19th Century (b07g9q4w)
Party Like It's 1899

Music was both transformed and transformative in the 19th century. It burst out of court, church and tavern into the world and became a universal soundscape, transcending language and borders. This revolution was made possible by economic and social change, and by a technological revolution.

The 19th century witnessed advances in communication that made the world a smaller place. People could travel by train and steamship with ease across the globe. At the close of the century hundreds of thousands came to the great Paris Exposition of 1889 - the centenary of the French Revolution - to witness the latest inventions and marvel at the strange cultures that came to make music in the temporary halls and theatres on the Champ de Mars.

They heard the music of the Orient, they listened to recording devices, they saw the future. Composers such as Claude Debussy were profoundly influenced by the sounds of the east, in particular the Balinese gamelan. With its non-European harmony and rhythm, such music offered western composers new musical horizons and a way to innovate and escape from the high romanticism of Richard Wagner.

But it was not only the music of the east that inspired the new composers. Developments in manufacturing were changing instruments and creating new ones - exemplified by the saxophone. Suzy witnesses a 'battle of the bands' in which the new and versatile instrument demonstrates its capabilities and - for the luddites - its threatening versatility. And in the spirit of the new age she makes her first recording on a vintage phonograph, one of the earliest recording machines. To our ears they may lack quality, but they were mind-blowing to those who first heard them - and they presaged a new future of recorded music that is still with us today.


MON 02:00 The French Revolution: Tearing up History (b042ttxl)
A journey through the dramatic and destructive years of the French Revolution, telling its history in a way not seen before - through the extraordinary story of its art. Our guide through this turbulent decade is the constantly surprising Dr Richard Clay, an art historian who has spent his life decoding the symbols of power and authority.

Dr Clay has always been fascinated by vandalism and iconoclasm, and believes much of the untold story of the French Revolution can be discovered through the stories of great moments of destruction. Who were the stone masons in the crowd outside Notre Dame that pulled down the statues of kings? Why do the churches of Paris still carry all the coded signs of anti-Christian state legislation? What does it mean, and who was carrying this out?

Telling the story of the French Revolution - from the Storming of the Bastille to the rise of Napoleon - as the significant modern outbreak of iconoclasm, Clay argues that it reveals the destructive and constructive roles of iconoclasts and how this led directly to the birth of the modern Europe.


MON 03:00 Horizon (b00vdkmj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



TUESDAY 21 JUNE 2016

TUE 19:00 World News Today (b07gyb1v)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


TUE 19:30 Orangutan Diary (b007clvk)
Series 1

Episode 3

There is tragedy at the rescue centre when a newly arrived baby fights for its life. Michaela hopes for the best and is encouraged when her favourite orphan Lomon finally starts to make some progress.

Steve helps out at the place where young orangutans like Grendon and Ellie learn the skills that will equip them for a life in the wild. As the school day ends there's a dramatic interruption - a female orangutan is giving birth back at the rescue centre. Qualified vet Steve rushes to help.


TUE 20:00 Timeshift (b068fvln)
Series 15

The Trains That Time Forgot: Britain's Lost Railway Journeys

Timeshift journeys back to a lost era of rail travel, when trains had names, character and style. Once the pride of the railway companies that ran them, the named train is now largely consigned to railway history.

Writer and presenter Andrew Martin asks why we once named trains and why we don't do so anymore. He embarks on three railway journeys around Britain, following the routes of three of the most famous named trains - the Flying Scotsman, the Cornish Riviera Express and the Brighton Belle. We reflect on travel during the golden age of railways - when the journey itself was as important as reaching your destination - and compare those same journeys with the passenger experience today.


TUE 21:00 Lucy Worsley: Mozart's London Odyssey (b07hk1qx)
Lucy Worsley traces the forgotten and fascinating story of the young Mozart's adventures in Georgian London. Arriving in 1764 as an eight-year-old boy, London held the promise of unrivalled musical opportunity. But in telling the tale of Mozart's strange and unexpected encounters, Lucy reveals how life wasn't easy for the little boy in a big bustling city.

With the demands of a royal performance, the humiliation of playing keyboard tricks in a London pub, a near fatal illness and finding himself heckled on the streets, it was a lot for a child to take. But London would prove pivotal, for it was here that the young Mozart made his musical breakthrough, blossoming from a precocious performer into a powerful new composer.

Lucy reveals that it was on British soil that Mozart composed his first ever symphony and, with the help of a bespoke performance, she explores how Mozart's experiences in London inspired his colossal achievement. But what should have earned him rapturous applause and the highest acclaim ended in suspicion, intrigue and accusations of fraud.


TUE 22:00 Seven Ages of Britain (b00r9qv5)
Age of Revolution

In the 17th century, the people of Britain learned to question everything. The result was the Civil War, in which everyone, including artists, had to take sides. Out of it came a reinvented monarchy, a scientific revolution and, ultimately, the great cathedral of St Paul's. Highlights include the courtly portraits of Rubens, Van Dyck and Peter Lely, and the fabulous creations of the Royal Society.

The programme includes: Charles I's execution shirt and painting of Charles with his head sewn back on (Museum of London); Rubens's Apotheosis of James I (Banqueting House); Van Dyck portraits (Tate Britain); Puritan tracts; Civil War re-enactment; Verney family tomb (Claydon House); Thomason Collection (British Library); portraits of Cromwell (National Portrait Gallery); Grinling Gibbons's golden statue of Charles I (Royal Hospital Chelsea); Peter Lely's Windsor Beauties (Hampton Court); Royal Observatory (Greenwich); Hooke's microscope and Micrographia (Science Museum); Wren's plan for London; and St Paul's Cathedral.


TUE 23:00 Genius of the Modern World (b07gpdbx)
Marx

Bettany Hughes investigates the revolutionary ideas of Karl Marx. Born to an affluent Prussian family, Marx became an angry, idealistic radical, constantly on the run for his political agitating and incendiary writing. In Paris, he first formulated his explosive analysis of capitalism and its corrosive effects on human nature. In Brussels, he co-authored the Communist Manifesto with Frederick Engels. In London, his obsessive theorizing dragged his family into poverty and tragedy.

Marx's masterpiece Das Capital was largely overlooked in his lifetime, and only 11 people attended his funeral. Yet his ideas would generate one of the most influential, and divisive, ideologies in history. Drawing on expert opinion and new evidence, Bettany reveals the flesh-and-blood man and his groundbreaking ideas.


TUE 00:00 Hidden Killers (b050d700)
The Tudor Home

Dr Suzannah Lipscomb takes us back to Tudor times in search of the household killers of the era.

It was a great age of exploration and science where adventurers returned from the New World with exotic goods previously unknown in Europe. An era in which the newly emergent middle classes had, for the first time, money for luxuries and early consumer goods, many of which contained hidden dangers.

The period also saw a radical evolution in the very idea of 'home'. For the likes of Tudor merchants, their houses became multi-room structures instead of the single-room habitations that had been the norm (aristocracy excepted). This forced the homebuilders of the day to engineer radical new design solutions and technologies, some of which were lethal.

Suzannah discovers that in Tudor houses the threat of a grisly, unpleasant death was never far away in a world (and a home) still mired in the grime and filth of the medieval period - and she shows how we still live with the legacy of some of these killers today.


TUE 01:00 Timeshift (b068fvln)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


TUE 02:00 Timeshift (b03pzsd9)
Series 13

How to Be Sherlock Holmes: The Many Faces of a Master Detective

For over 100 years, more than 80 actors have put a varying face to the world's greatest consulting detective - Sherlock Holmes. And many of them incorporated details - such as the curved pipe and the immortal line 'Elementary, my dear Watson' - that never featured in Conan Doyle's original stories. In charting the evolution of Sherlock on screen, from early silent movies to the latest film and television versions, Timeshift shows how our notion of Holmes today is as much a creation of these various screen portrayals as of the stories themselves.

With contributions from Sherlocks past and present, including Benedict Cumberbatch, Christopher Lee, Tim Pigott-Smith and Mark Gatiss. Narrated by Peter Wyngarde.


TUE 03:00 Lucy Worsley: Mozart's London Odyssey (b07hk1qx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



WEDNESDAY 22 JUNE 2016

WED 19:00 World News Today (b07gyb22)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


WED 19:30 Orangutan Diary (b007clwt)
Series 1

Episode 4

Michaela and Steve are encouraged by the progress of Grendon, Ellie and Lomon - the orphaned baby orangutans who are being retrained for a life in the wild. In the 'Forest School' classes, even tragic Lomon, who was beaten and starved while being kept a pet, is finally making progress. Steve travels out to rescue a tiny baby orangutan that is being illegally held in a village - but the villagers have no intention of surrendering the baby.


WED 20:00 Lucy Worsley: Mozart's London Odyssey (b07hk1qx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Tuesday]


WED 21:00 Storyville (b07hk228)
Unlocking the Cage

Documentary following animal rights lawyer Steven Wise in his unprecedented challenge to break down the legal wall that separates animals from humans. Steve and his legal team are making history by filing the first lawsuits that seek to transform an animal from a thing with no rights to a person with legal protections. It is an intimate look at a lawsuit that could forever transform our legal system, and one man's lifelong quest to protect 'nonhuman' animals.

Supported by affidavits from primatologists around the world, Steve maintains that, based on scientific evidence, cognitively complex animals such as chimpanzees, whales, dolphins and elephants have the capacity for limited personhood rights. Filing lawsuits used to free humans from unlawful imprisonment, Wise argues on behalf of four captive chimpanzees in New York State.

The film captures a monumental shift in our culture, as the public and judicial system show increasing receptiveness to Steve's impassioned arguments.


WED 22:25 UK's Best Part-Time Band (b07g9rc0)
South

Rhod Gilbert joins up with Soul II Soul legend Jazzie B in a ropey old tour bus for a road trip across southern England to discover the UK's best part-time band.

This is no ordinary talent show - the film follows Rhod and Jazzie as they drop in on bands playing in rehearsal spaces, bars, barns and front rooms. The tour takes them to Somerset where they meet a six-piece country and western outfit the Redhillbillies. Fronted by husband (hedge repairer Tom) and wife (district nurse Jo), the band have 42 children and grandchildren between them so have a ready-made audience at their weekly gigs.

Rhod faces an anxious trip to Bournemouth to hear Jazzie's favourite type of music, dub reggae. In a potentially awkward and intimate gig in the keyboard player Dave's front room, Dubheart aim to impress the Soul II Soul legend. Over in Stroud, the pair meet a guitar-based four-piece called Russian Flying Squirrel - formed of dads who met at their kids' school gates. They've yet to play a gig despite honing their musical skills for over three years.

At the end of the road trip, Jazzie selects five acts to play the biggest gig of their lives at the Scala in London, where they'll battle it out for a place in the grand final, and the coveted title of the UK's Best Part-time Band.


WED 23:25 UK's Best Part-Time Band (b07h0cbw)
Final

The six finalists and their mentors go head to head in a battle of the bands at the Ritz in Manchester.

From the regional heats, Midge Ure selected the finest from Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales - the explosive ska of Bombskare and the down and dirty rock 'n' roll of Johnny Cage and the Voodoogroove. Hooky landed his two favourite bands from the north - spit-spattered punks Cadavers and the sun-drenched harmonies of the Caffreys. Jazzie rooted out the best from the south.

The bands perform an original and a cover song for the Manchester audience who will vote to decide which band will be crowned the winner of UK's Best Part-time Band.


WED 00:25 Glastonbury Golden Greats (b05zqn68)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:45 on Saturday]


WED 01:25 Seven Ages of Britain (b00r9qv5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 on Tuesday]


WED 02:25 Storyville (b07hk228)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



THURSDAY 23 JUNE 2016

THU 19:00 World News Today (b07gyb27)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


THU 19:30 Top of the Pops (b07h0hg5)
Peter Powell presents the pop chart show, first broadcast on 7th January 1982. Includes appearances from Alton Edwards, Mobiles, Shakatak, the Human League, Jon & Vangelis, Meat Loaf and Zoo.


THU 20:00 The Treasure Hunters (b040zb5q)
Man-made Treasure

Ellie Harrison and Dallas Campbell reveal the greatest treasures we've ever created.

Dallas braves vicious currents to dive on a shipwreck where gold, silver and 5,000 emeralds have been found. Ellie tells the tale of intrigue and obsession surrounding a jewelled room in Russia decorated with millions of pounds worth of amber. She enters the secretive world of the diamond cutters - each lives with the knowledge that a slip of the hand could cost them millions of pounds.


THU 21:00 Genius of the Modern World (b07h0hg9)
Nietzsche

The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche was one of the most brilliant and dangerous minds of the 19th century. His uncompromising and often brutal ideas smashed the comfortable presuppositions and assumptions of religion, morality and science. His was a world not just bereft of God but almost of humanity, breathtaking in both its post-religious starkness and its originality.

Bettany Hughes goes in search of the beliefs of a man whose work is amongst the most devastatingly manipulated and misinterpreted in philosophical history. Nietzsche's dislike of systems and of seeking truths left his ideas ambiguous and sometimes incoherent. It was this that made him vulnerable to interpretation, and as a result his thoughts - which warned against the very notion of a political system like totalitarianism - were manipulated to strengthen its ideals.

Vocally opposed to anti-Semitism, his anti-Semitic sister made sure he became the poster boy for Hitler's drive for an Aryan ideal. Anti-nationalistic, he came to symbolise a regime he would have loathed. His philosophical quest led him to isolation and ultimately madness, but his ideas helped shape the intellectual landscape of the modern world.


THU 22:00 Parkinson (b007bkwd)
Parkinson Meets Muhammad Ali

Michael Parkinson searches the archives and revisits four outstanding interviews with the late boxing legend Muhammad Ali.


THU 22:45 Timeshift (b01n8hl9)
Series 12

Magnificent Machines: The Golden Age of the British Sports Car

Timeshift sets its rear-view mirror to look back at the golden age of the British sports car. It's the story of how - in the grey austerity of the postwar years - iconic marques like Jaguar, Austin-Healey, MG and Triumph sparked a manufacturing frenzy that helped to democratise speed and glamour.

From the MG Midget, much loved by American GIs, through to the more affordable Austin Healey 'frog-eye' Sprite and the E-Type Jaguar, seen by many as the ultimate sports car, this is a tale of how, for a brief time, Britain was home to two-seater heaven.


THU 23:45 Annabel's Nightclub: A String of Naked Lightbulbs (b06zqb0d)
Annabel's has long been the playground for the rich and famous, and now its story comes to life in this 50-year history of the most celebrated nightclub in the world. Renowned for its discretion, and as a haunt of some of our greatest celebrities, the film offers a hitherto unseen glimpse into the rarefied worlds behind the doors of 44 Berkeley Square.

As London's very first members-only nightclub, Annabel's remains the only nightclub visited by the Queen, and once courted infamy for refusing entry to the Beatles. The documentary provides a cultural biopsy of London since the Second World War, and the club's history from inception through to the present day.


THU 00:45 Summer Night Concert from Vienna (b07hk1cp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 on Sunday]


THU 02:10 Top of the Pops (b07h0hg5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


THU 02:40 Genius of the Modern World (b07h0hg9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



FRIDAY 24 JUNE 2016

FRI 19:00 Sounds of the Sixties (b0074qbw)
Original Series

1967-68: The Pop Boom

By now Top of the Pops was an established part of the pop scene, and a group's appearance on the show was essential to a single's success. With footage of the Bee Gees, the Rolling Stones and Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich amongst others.


FRI 19:30 Glastonbury (b07h683k)
2016

James

Coverage of the Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts kicks off with the opening act on the Other Stage, as Manchester rockers and Glastonbury veterans James take to the stage to perform new songs from their most recent album Girl at the End of the World, along with one or two classic tracks from their 34-year back catalogue of massive hits.


FRI 20:00 Glastonbury (b07hmq9k)
2016

ZZ Top & the Lumineers

Mark Radcliffe and Clara Amfo introduce highlights from two contrasting performances from the opening day of the world-famous festival. Making their debut at Worthy Farm are the legendary rock Texan trio ZZ Top, rocking up a storm on the Pyramid stage. The bearded hellraisers are followed closely by Denver-based trio the Lumineers - known for their stomp-clapping hits, they'll be giving Glastonbury-goers a taste of their new material. Expect more electric guitars and piano from the energetically crafted neo-folk band.


FRI 21:00 Glastonbury (b07hmswj)
2016

Foals

Coverage of this year's Glastonbury festival continues with Oxford band Foals, who make their Pyramid stage debut. Expect a monstrous set, a mosh pit and all the big songs from this indie-rock five-piece who are known for their energetic live shows.


FRI 22:00 Sounds of the Eighties (b0074sn5)
Episode 6

Rocking out with the loud guitars and manly hair of Motorhead, ZZ Top, U2, Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, INXS, The Cult and The Mission.


FRI 22:30 Glastonbury (b07hmswl)
2016

Muse & Underworld

Lauren Laverne introduces the first hour of the headlining set by Devon global rockers Muse as they take to the Pyramid Stage. The first act to headline all three nights on the stage, they will no doubt amaze the huge crowd with one of their usual extravagant stage shows with plenty of riffs and big anthemic choruses. Then Clara Amfo introduces the headlining set on the West Holts Stage from UK dance legends Underworld performing their classic tracks along with a number or two from recent album Barbara Barbara, We Face a Shining Future.


FRI 01:00 When Albums Ruled the World (b01qhn70)
Between the mid-1960s and the late 1970s, the long-playing record and the albums that graced its grooves changed popular music for ever. For the first time, musicians could escape the confines of the three-minute pop single and express themselves as never before across the expanded artistic canvas of the album. The LP allowed popular music become an art form - from the glorious artwork adorning gatefold sleeves, to the ideas and concepts that bound the songs together, to the unforgettable music itself.

Built on stratospheric sales of albums, these were the years when the music industry exploded to become bigger than Hollywood. From pop to rock, from country to soul, from jazz to punk, all of music embraced what 'the album' could offer. But with the collapse of vinyl sales at the end of the 70s and the arrival of new technologies and formats, the golden era of the album couldn't last forever.

With contributions from Roger Taylor, Ray Manzarek, Noel Gallagher, Guy Garvey, Nile Rodgers, Grace Slick, Mike Oldfield, Slash and a host of others, this is the story of When Albums Ruled the World.


FRI 02:30 Guitar Heroes at the BBC (b00llh2f)
Part III

Compilation of classic archive performances from the guitar gods of the late 60s and 70s. Status Quo appear playing Pictures of Matchstick Men on Top of the Pops in 1968, The Who perform Long Live Rock in the Old Grey Whistle Test studio, Dire Straits play Tunnel of Love and Lynyrd Skynyrd bring a taste of the Deep South with Sweet Home Alabama. The show also features rare performances from George Benson, Leo Kottke, Link Wray and Tom Petty.


FRI 03:30 Sounds of the Eighties (b0074sn5)
[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)

Annabel's Nightclub: A String of Naked Lightbulbs 23:45 THU (b06zqb0d)

Canals: The Making of a Nation 20:00 MON (b0685bp2)

Disco at the BBC 00:40 SAT (b01cqt74)

Genius of the Modern World 23:00 TUE (b07gpdbx)

Genius of the Modern World 21:00 THU (b07h0hg9)

Genius of the Modern World 02:40 THU (b07h0hg9)

Glastonbury Golden Greats 23:45 SAT (b05zqn68)

Glastonbury Golden Greats 00:25 WED (b05zqn68)

Glastonbury 22:45 SAT (b07h65wb)

Glastonbury 03:00 SAT (b07h65wb)

Glastonbury 19:30 FRI (b07h683k)

Glastonbury 20:00 FRI (b07hmq9k)

Glastonbury 21:00 FRI (b07hmswj)

Glastonbury 22:30 FRI (b07hmswl)

Guitar Heroes at the BBC 02:30 FRI (b00llh2f)

Handmade: By Royal Appointment 20:30 MON (b07gys9d)

Hidden Killers 00:00 TUE (b050d700)

Horizon 21:00 MON (b00vdkmj)

Horizon 03:00 MON (b00vdkmj)

James May at the Edge of Space 19:00 SUN (b00lc5ph)

Lucy Worsley: Mozart's London Odyssey 21:00 TUE (b07hk1qx)

Lucy Worsley: Mozart's London Odyssey 03:00 TUE (b07hk1qx)

Lucy Worsley: Mozart's London Odyssey 20:00 WED (b07hk1qx)

Match of the Day Live 19:30 SUN (b07gymf6)

Natural World 20:00 SAT (b00ykxq9)

Natural World 00:00 MON (b00ykxq9)

Orangutan Diary 19:30 MON (b007clvj)

Orangutan Diary 19:30 TUE (b007clvk)

Orangutan Diary 19:30 WED (b007clwt)

Parkinson 22:00 THU (b007bkwd)

Pompeii: The Mystery of the People Frozen in Time 00:30 SUN (b01rn6c2)

Revolution and Romance: Musical Masters of the 19th Century 01:00 MON (b07g9q4w)

Rise of the Continents 01:30 SUN (p019bd2j)

Rise of the Continents 23:00 MON (b0368kb2)

Seven Ages of Britain 22:00 TUE (b00r9qv5)

Seven Ages of Britain 01:25 WED (b00r9qv5)

Sounds of the Eighties 22:00 FRI (b0074sn5)

Sounds of the Eighties 03:30 FRI (b0074sn5)

Sounds of the Sixties 19:00 FRI (b0074qbw)

Storyville 21:00 WED (b07hk228)

Storyville 02:25 WED (b07hk228)

Summer Night Concert from Vienna 22:00 SUN (b07hk1cp)

Summer Night Concert from Vienna 00:45 THU (b07hk1cp)

The Big Thinkers 19:00 SAT (b0788q6m)

The Disappearance 21:00 SAT (b05tw2nh)

The Disappearance 21:50 SAT (b05tw34t)

The French Revolution: Tearing up History 02:00 MON (b042ttxl)

The Treasure Hunters 02:30 SUN (b040r3bv)

The Treasure Hunters 20:00 THU (b040zb5q)

Timeshift 20:00 TUE (b068fvln)

Timeshift 01:00 TUE (b068fvln)

Timeshift 02:00 TUE (b03pzsd9)

Timeshift 22:45 THU (b01n8hl9)

Top of the Pops 01:40 SAT (b07g9zmn)

Top of the Pops 02:20 SAT (b07gmrvl)

Top of the Pops 19:30 THU (b07h0hg5)

Top of the Pops 02:10 THU (b07h0hg5)

UK's Best Part-Time Band 22:25 WED (b07g9rc0)

UK's Best Part-Time Band 23:25 WED (b07h0cbw)

When Albums Ruled the World 01:00 FRI (b01qhn70)

Wonders of the Universe 23:30 SUN (b00zm833)

Wonders of the Universe 22:00 MON (b00zv39p)

World News Today 19:00 MON (b07gyb1m)

World News Today 19:00 TUE (b07gyb1v)

World News Today 19:00 WED (b07gyb22)

World News Today 19:00 THU (b07gyb27)