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 11 FEBRUARY 2017

SAT 19:00 Natural World (b039w9p0)
2013-2014

Meet the Monkeys

Peanut, Hero and Tarzan are three cheeky monkeys. They live on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi with the rest of their gang of crested black macaques. These very special primates are found nowhere else in the world. Twenty-five years ago, wildlife cameraman Colin Stafford-Johnson visited Sulawesi for the first time and now he has returned. Fascinated by the monkeys, Colin hopes to reveal their sometimes violent, often playful and, just like our own, highly political world. What he discovers leads him on a much bigger journey than he was ever expecting.


SAT 20:00 A303: Highway to the Sun (b0116ly6)
The A303 is the road that passes Stonehenge on the way to the beaches of Devon and Cornwall. On the way, it whisks drivers through 5,000 years of remarkable moments in British history. And it is the star of this film made for armchair travellers and history lovers.

Writer Tom Fort drives its 92-mile length in a lovingly restored Morris Traveller. Along the way he has many adventures - he digs up the 1960s master plan for the A303's dreams of superhighway status, meets up with a Neolithic traveller who knew the road like the back of his hand, gets to know a section of the Roman 303, uncovers a medieval murder mystery and discovers what lies at the end of the Highway to the Sun.


SAT 21:00 Treasures of Ancient Egypt (p01mv16n)
The Birth of Art

In a visual treat taking in Egypt's greatest historical sites, Alastair Sooke tells the story of ancient Egyptian art through 30 extraordinary masterpieces. Tracing the origins of Egypt's unique visual style, he treks across the Sahara and travels the Nile to find the rarely seen art of its earliest peoples. Exploring how this civilisation's art reflected its religion, he looks anew at the Great Pyramid, and the statuary and painting of the Old Kingdom. Sooke is amazed by the technical prowess of ancient artists whose skills confound contemporary craftsmen.


SAT 22:00 The Young Montalbano (b0702vmm)
Series 2

An Apricot

Everything is ready for Salvo's move to Genova - except, it would seem, Salvo himself. As he contemplates a new life away from his beloved Sicily and prepares to hand his role over to his deputy, soon to be inspector, Mimi' Augello, Montalbano can't help but be drawn deep into one last investigation.

A young woman has been found dead in what appears to have been a tragic accident, her car discovered at the bottom of a cliff with her body in it. But the evidence doesn't add up and, despite Augello's readiness to accept the easy conclusion, Montalbano remains convinced that the inconsistencies of the case need unpicking further. With only a few days to go till his planned move, will our most Sicilian of inspectors manage to extricate himself from Vigata?

In Italian with English subtitles.


SAT 23:45 Top of the Pops (b08d7y3l)
John Peel and David Jensen present the weekly look at the pop charts, from March 1983. Featuring OMD, Bananarama, Patti Austin and James Ingram, and Michael Jackson.


SAT 00:20 Top of the Pops (b08d80f8)
Tony Blackburn and Gary Davies present the weekly chart show, first broadcast on 17 March 1983. Featuring Bananarama, The Style Council, Ultravox, Joan Armatrading, Bonnie Tyler and Bucks Fizz.


SAT 00:50 The Joy of Disco (b01cqt72)
Documentary about how a much-derided music actually changed the world. Between 1969 and 1979 disco soundtracked gay liberation, foregrounded female desire in the age of feminism and led to the birth of modern club culture as we know it today, before taking the world by storm. With contributions from Nile Rodgers, Robin Gibb, Kathy Sledge and Ian Schrager.


SAT 01:50 TOTP2 (b007v15w)
Boogie Fever: A TOTP2 Disco Special

Get your dancing shoes on for a show of disco mania as Steve Wright and the TOTP2 team take you back to the dancefloor for some boogie fever. The Bee Gees are here in all their glory, along with Gloria Gaynor, Liquid Gold, Sylvester, The Village People, The Weather Girls and The Three Degrees.

There's classic dance fodder from Chic, George McCrae, Hi-Tension, Heatwave, The JALN Band, Earth Wind and Fire, Tina Charles, The Gibson Brothers and Edwin Starr, disco pop from Blondie, Yazz, Boney M and Linx, while Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Infernal bring the story up to date.

And then there's the Disco Duck. Sorry...


SAT 03:20 Sounds of the 70s 2 (b01jv6sd)
Disco - Ain't No Stopping Us Now

Disco was all pervasive in the mid and early 70s. And while towards the end of the decade punk stole the headlines, disco still had the high street. Everyone was into it and getting down on it at the local discotheque. Join us in a celebration of all things disco including performances by The Jacksons, Thelma Houston, Sylvester, Carl Douglas, George McCrae, Sister Sledge, McFadden and Whitehead, Eruption and Gloria Gaynor.



SUNDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2017

SUN 19:00 Wagner's Ring Cycle (p04pd17m)
Part 1 - Das Rheingold

The first of the four music dramas in Richard Wagner's monumental Ring cycle, in a radically stripped-back, critically acclaimed production by Opera North. Filmed during live performances in 2016, this is total immersion in a unique, all-encompassing music drama.

Set in a world populated by dwarfs and giants, gods and river-maidens, Das Rheingold establishes the cycle in thrilling fashion, beginning with music that evokes the very dawn of time.

The dwarf Alberich renounces love and steals the Rhinegold, a priceless treasure, from the River Rhine. He uses it to forge a magic ring which confers wealth and power on its owner, drawing the attention of Wotan, king of the gods. In need of gold to pay for his new fortress Valhalla, Wotan takes the ring from Alberich, setting in motion an epic conflict between love and power.


SUN 21:35 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 22:05 The Sky at Night (b08f19c3)
Telescope Takeover

The team travel to the island of La Palma in the Canary Islands where they take control of some of the world's largest telescopes to view the most spectacular sights in the night sky.


SUN 22:35 The Horizon Guide to Space Shuttles (b0109cc7)
In 2011, after more than 30 years of service, America's space shuttle took to the skies for the last time. Its story has been characterised by incredible triumphs, but blighted by devastating tragedies - and the BBC and Horizon have chronicled every step of its career. This unique and poignant Horizon Guide brings together coverage from three decades of programmes to present a biography of the shuttle and to ask what its legacy will be. Will it be remembered as an impressive chapter in human space exploration, or as a fatally flawed white elephant?


SUN 23:35 British History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley (b08d7y3n)
Series 1

The Jewel in the Crown

Lucy debunks the fibs that surround the 'jewel in the crown' of the British Empire - India. Travelling to Kolkata, she investigates how the Raj was created following a British government coup in 1858. After snatching control from the discredited East India Company, the new regime presented itself as a new kind of caring, sharing imperialism with Queen Victoria as its maternal Empress.

Tyranny, greed and exploitation were to be things of the past. From the 'Black Hole of Calcutta' to the Indian 'mutiny', from East India Company governance to crown rule, and from Queen Victoria to Empress of India, Lucy reveals how this chapter of British history is another carefully edited narrative that is full of fibs.


SUN 00:35 Michael Grade's History of the Pantomime Dame (b01pdt40)
Michael Grade explores the rich history of the very British pantomime dame. From the extravagant productions in Drury Lane in the 19th century to the vintage performances by Terry Scott and Arthur Askey, the dame has always been anarchic, witty, vulgar, affectionate and good box office.

Berwick Kaler, who has played the panto dame for 30 years at York's Theatre Royal, and The Good Life star Richard Briers, offer their insights into why the role has remained such a favourite.

Presenter and TV mogul Grade bravely tries on the full make-up and frock to explore what it is that has made the pantomime dame such an enduring feature of British life.


SUN 01:35 Len Goodman's Big Band Bonanza (b04w7zlm)
Len Goodman investigates the rise and fall of British big band music and charts its recent revival. Before the war, popular jazz and dance band music enjoyed universal appeal, capable of reaching out to people across the generations.

Len spent many of his early days listening, and of course dancing, to the music of Ted Heath, Glenn Miller and Joe Loss. He has an enormous affection for the days when swing was king and top of the pile were the big bands. Len returns to some of his old stamping grounds and discovers why we continue to love this bold and brassy art form.

The film looks at how the bands survived, and indeed thrived, in the years after the war. Eventually, though, the world around them moved on. The rise of teenager culture, rock 'n' roll, pop and other forms of jazz, blues and folk meant big bands were struggling to compete in a crowded market, one that catered for an incredibly diverse range of musical tastes.

Today we've come full circle. The big bands are enjoying something of a revival, and once again have universal appeal. Bands live on in towns and cities across the UK. Artists such as Robbie Williams have also introduced a new generation to the sound of swing and popular big band jazz. And, as Len says: 'Everyone seems to have an affection for it - and, you know what - when I hear Glenn Miller's music drifting lazily through the air, I can really understand why...'.


SUN 02:35 Horizon (b0148vph)
2011-2012

The Core

For centuries we have dreamt of reaching the centre of the Earth. Now scientists are uncovering a bizarre and alien world that lies 4,000 miles beneath our feet, unlike anything we know on the surface. It is a planet buried within the planet we know, where storms rage within a sea of white-hot metal and a giant forest of crystals make up a metal core the size of the moon.

Horizon follows scientists who are conducting experiments to recreate this core within their own laboratories, with surprising results.



MONDAY 13 FEBRUARY 2017

MON 19:00 100 Days (b08fr48n)
Series 1

13/02/2017

As President Trump takes office, BBC News teams in Washington and London report on the events that are shaping our world.


MON 19:30 Reel History of Britain (p00jw29l)
Sun, Sea and Sangria

Melvyn Bragg, accompanied by a vintage mobile cinema, travels across the country to show incredible footage preserved by the British Film Institute and other national and regional film archives, and tell the history of modern Britain.

This episode comes from Bristol airport and looks back to the 1970s, when package holidays really took off and millions of British holidaymakers headed abroad.

Former Pontins entertainer Paul James remembers when this most British of holiday chains first set up camp in the Mediterranean. Jean Pitt and Jane Hosegood talk about what it was like being some of Bristol airport's first package holiday reps. And Stephen Manley-Clarke recounts how his passion for air travel, beginning with his first package holiday, led to a life spent in the air.


MON 20:00 The Big Painting Challenge (b08fnbkk)
Series 1

Still Life

Mariella Frostrup and Rev Richard Coles host a competition in which amateur artists compete against one another. Each episode sees the contestants face two challenges, with a mentor to help guide the way, before a panel of judges scrutinise their work and send one of the artists home.

In this episode the artists are taking on still life. The first challenge sees them facing a table laden with objects. The mentors, Diana Ali and Pascal Anson, demonstrate some handy tips.

In the second challenge the artists have to tackle still life on a much larger scale. Half of them must tackle a set based on Vincent van Gogh's Bedroom in Arles painting, and the other half must interpret Roy Lichtenstein's Interior with Waterlilies. Wrestling with oil paint, sightlines and proportions, the artists set out to express their artistic personalities on canvas.

At a private viewing the results are seen by members of the public, who can give their favourite artist an automatic pass through to the next round. Then it is up to the judges, Lachlan Goudie, Daphne Todd and Dr David Dibosa, to deliver their verdicts and decide which of them will be sent home.


MON 21:00 Art of France (b08f1bw0)
Series 1

This Is the Modern World

In the final episode, Andrew begins with the impressionists. He plunges into one of the most wildly creative periods in the history of art, when France was changing at a rapid pace and angry young artists would reinvent how to paint, finding their muses in the bars, brothels and cabarets of belle epoque Paris and turning the world of art on its head. Monet, Degas and friends launched a febrile conversation about the role of painting in the modern world that would pave the way for just about every modern art movement of note, from the cubists to the Fauves, from the surrealists to the existentialists and from conceptual artists to the abstract expressionists.


MON 22:00 The Girl from Ipanema: Brazil, Bossa Nova and the Beach (b07mlkzl)
Documentary in which Katie Derham travels to Rio de Janeiro (where her father was born) to explore the story behind Brazil's most famous and enduring song. Written in 1962 by Antonio Carlos Jobim with lyrics by Vinicius de Moraes, and a later English translation by Norman Gimbel, The Girl from Ipanema defines the moment Brazil charmed the world with a laid-back song about a haunting woman.

It's a vibrant musical journey to the stunning beaches, majestic mountains and buzzy clubs of Rio, where Katie meets key musicians and architects of bossa nova, including Carlos Lyra, Roberto Menescal, Joyce, Daniel Jobim and Marcos Valle, witnesses intimate musical performances, and uncovers the genesis and story behind Brazil's most successful musical export.

The Girl from Ipanema is quintessential bossa nova and tracing its roots reveals the fascinating story of this unique musical style. Invented by a gang of young bohemians in Rio in the late 50s, bossa grew into a 60s phenomenon, especially in the US where it became a youth craze and later a significant part of the modern jazz repertoire. The Girl from Ipanema, as sung by Astrud Gilberto with sax from Stan Getz, went top five in the US and became a major international hit in 1964.

Nothing sums up Rio as well as the simple and seductive lyrics to The Girl from Ipanema. What better way to get to understand the city, its people and its mid-60s zeitgeist than through its most famous song?


MON 23:00 Order and Disorder (p00ynyl9)
Energy

Professor Jim Al-Khalili discovers the intriguing story of how we discovered the rules that drive the universe. Energy is vital to us all, but what exactly is energy? In attempting to answer this question Jim investigates a strange set of laws that link together everything from engines to humans to stars. It turns out that energy, so critical to daily existence, actually helps us make sense of the entire universe.


MON 00:00 Scotland's Einstein: James Clerk Maxwell - The Man Who Changed the World (b06rd56j)
Professor Iain Stewart reveals the story behind the Scottish physicist who was Einstein's hero - James Clerk Maxwell. Maxwell's discoveries not only inspired Einstein, but they helped shape our modern world - allowing the development of radio, TV, mobile phones and much more.

Despite this, he is largely unknown in his native land of Scotland. Scientist Iain Stewart sets out to change that, and to celebrate the life, work and legacy of the man dubbed 'Scotland's forgotten Einstein'.


MON 01:00 The Secret Life of Rockpools (b01rtdr4)
Paleontologist Professor Richard Fortey embarks on a quest to discover the extraordinary lives of rock pool creatures. To help explore this unusual environment he is joined by some of the UK's leading marine biologists in a dedicated laboratory at the National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth. Here and on the beach in various locations around the UK, startling behaviour is revealed and new insights are given into how these animals cope with intertidal life. Many popular rock pool species have survived hundreds of millions of years of Earth's history, but humans may be their biggest challenge yet.


MON 02:00 The Girl from Ipanema: Brazil, Bossa Nova and the Beach (b07mlkzl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]


MON 03:00 Art of France (b08f1bw0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



TUESDAY 14 FEBRUARY 2017

TUE 19:00 100 Days (b08fr7nr)
Series 1

14/02/2017

As President Trump takes office, BBC News teams in Washington and London report on the events that are shaping our world.


TUE 19:30 Weird Nature (b0078h4b)
Marvellous Motion

Series looking at strange animal behaviour reveals nature's quirkiest movers and shakers. From dancing seaslugs to cartwheeling caterpillars this is nature at its most weird and wonderful.

In a series of magical sequences, crocodiles gallop, salamanders transform into wheels and bushbabies bounce like rubber balls. Lizards and frogs stage an extraordinary air show, the Mexican jumping bean reveals its fidgety secrets, lemurs pogo and two-legged lizards hunt like dinosaurs. Using new filming techniques and some extraordinary special FX, this is nature as never seen before.


TUE 20:00 Planet Earth II (b083wt7z)
Jungles

Jungles provide the richest habitats on the planet - mysterious worlds of high drama where extraordinary animals attempt to survive in the most competitive place on earth. Flooded forests are home to caiman-hunting jaguars and strange dolphins that swim amongst the tree tops, while in the dense underworld, ninja frogs fight off wasps and flying dragons soar between trees. Acrobatic indri leap through the forests of Madagascar, while the jungle night conceals strange fungi and glow-in-the-dark creatures never filmed before.


TUE 21:00 Life of a Mountain (b08f1cc0)
A Year on Blencathra

The sequel to Life of a Mountain: Scafell Pike sees award-winning film-maker Terry Abraham return to the Lake District to showcase 'the people's mountain' - Blencathra.

This spectacular documentary looks at the lives of local residents, schoolchildren and visitors to the mountain with contributions from comedian Ed Byrne, broadcaster Stuart Maconie, mountaineer Alan Hinkes OBE and record-breaking fell runner Steve Birkinshaw.

Abraham's breathtaking photography and stunning time-lapse sequences of this unique landscape will inspire newcomers and regular visitors alike.


TUE 22:00 This World (b08dx4lz)
After Brexit: The Battle for Europe

The European Union faces the biggest challenge in its 60-year history, with the rise of populist eurosceptic movements across the continent. As Britain prepares to begin the process of withdrawing from the EU, the BBC's Europe editor Katya Adler asks whether the Union itself can survive.


TUE 23:00 D-Day: The Last Heroes (b02xdncc)
Original Series

Episode 2

The concluding part of historian Dan Snow's documentary series tells the powerful and heroic stories of those who risked their lives on the beaches of Normandy to save the world from Nazi Germany.


TUE 00:00 Swim the Channel (b07ll8s6)
In 1875, Captain Matthew Webb - with little more than some brandy, beer and beef tea to keep him going - became the first man to successfully swim from England to France. Since then more people have conquered Everest than successfully swum across the Channel. To this day, it remains the ultimate open water swimming challenge.

This documentary tells the story of those who keep Captain Webb's vision alive - the volunteer coaches and the unlikeliest of athletes who they tirelessly support in their dream to swim from England to France. The rules are simple - no physical aids, no wimp/wet suits, just a swimsuit, goggles, the all-important swimming cap and a spot of grease to stop the chafing.

At the heart of the community are pensioners Freda, Irene and Barry. They can be found in Dover every weekend from May to September come rain or shine, ready to train, feed and grease the wannabe Channel swimmers. The swimmers do not take on this arduous journey alone, and also rely on the skill of the pilots who navigate them safely to the other side of the busiest shipping lane in the world.

The community share their highs and lows both in and out of the water as they train together on this small stretch of pebbled beach shadowed by the ferry port. Feasting on jelly babies, and fuelled by adrenalin and dreams, the modern-day swimmer continues to risk it all in this, the ultimate challenge of man versus nature.


TUE 01:00 Bought with Love: The Secret History of British Art Collections (b037nhb9)
The Age of the Individual

Helen Rosslyn explores how collecting reached its maturity in the 19th century when unprecedented wealth from Britain's booming economy encouraged enlightened, philanthropic industrialists to spend their fortunes on art, and in many cases then donate their collections to the nation.

With different taste from the British aristocracy who had dominated collecting to this point, a new breed of art buyer enriched Britain's cultural story by acquiring adventurous and often avant-garde work. Helen looks at the influence of pharmaceutical magnate Thomas Holloway, the Rothschild banking dynasty and the Welsh Davies sisters.


TUE 02:00 Beautiful Thing: A Passion for Porcelain (p0192fqp)
Documentary in which Ros Savill, former director and curator at the Wallace Collection, tells the story of some incredible and misunderstood objects - the opulent, intricate, gold-crested and often much-maligned Sevres porcelain of the 18th century.

Ros brings us up close to a personal choice of Sevres masterpieces in the Wallace Collection, viewing them in intricate and intimate detail. She engages us with the beauty and brilliance in the designs, revelling in what is now often viewed as unfashionably pretty or ostentatious. These objects represent the unbelievable skills of 18th-century France, as well as the desires and demands of an autocratic regime that was heading for revolution.

As valuable now as they were when first produced, Sevres' intricacies and opulence speak of wealth, sophistication and prestige and have always been sought after by collectors eager to associate themselves with Sevres' power. Often the whims and capricious demands of monumentally rich patrons were the catalysts for these beautiful and incredible artistic innovations.

The film explores the stories of some of history's most outrageous patrons - Madame de Pompadour, Louis XV, Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI, as well as their foreign counterparts like Catherine the Great, who willingly copied the French court's capricious ways. Ros tells how the French Revolutionaries actually preserved and adapted the Sevres tradition to their new order, and how the English aristocracy collected these huge dinner services out of nostalgia for the ancient regime. In fact, they are still used by the British royal family today.

Like the iPads of their day, these objects, ostentatious to modernist eyes, were the product of art and science coming together and creating something beautiful yet functional. Ros reconnects us with the fascinating lives and stories of the artists, artisans, painters and sculptors whose ingenuity, innovation and creativity went into making some of the most incredible and incredibly expensive ice cream coolers, vases and teapots of their day. We also see inside the factory, still open today, and witness the alchemic creation process for ourselves.

Taking us behind the museum glass and into some incredible private collections, the film reveals stories that are as louche, extravagant and over the top as some of the objects themselves. They might be unfashionable or even unpalatable to minimalist modernist tastes right now, but in this documentary we are taken back to a time when these objects were universally loved and adored, when they were the newest and most incredible things that had ever been created.


TUE 03:00 Planet Earth II (b083wt7z)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]



WEDNESDAY 15 FEBRUARY 2017

WED 19:00 100 Days (b08fr885)
Series 1

15/02/2017

As President Trump takes office, BBC News teams in Washington and London report on the events that are shaping our world.


WED 19:30 Reel History of Britain (p00jwp7w)
The Birth of the NHS

Melvyn Bragg, accompanied by a vintage mobile cinema, travels across the country to show incredible footage preserved by the British Film Institute and other national and regional film archives, and to tell the history of modern Britain.

This episode comes from the College of Medical and Dental Sciences in Birmingham and looks back to 1948 and the formation of the NHS.

June Rosen shares a childhood memory of serving breakfast to the health secretary Nye Bevan on the day he announced the birth of the NHS, while Aneira Thomas reveals her remarkable claim to fame: she was the first baby born on the NHS. And one of Britain's top nurses, Nola Ishmael, shares her experiences on arriving from Barbados to start her training.


WED 20:00 Capability Brown's Unfinished Garden (b07xt6t9)
Capability Brown is known as the founder of landscape design. In the 1700s, he created some of the most magnificent landscapes in England. He travelled the length and breadth of the country, improving more than 200 of the greatest estates in the land for some of the most influential people of the 18th century.

But there is one plan that never got off the drawing board. The only land he ever owned was in Fenstanton, Cambridgeshire, but he died before he could carry out any plans for his own garden. Today it is a piece of flat land bisected by the A14 dual carriageway.

Landscape designer and Gardeners' Question Time regular Bunny Guinness travels across England to some of Capability's finest landscapes - Blenheim, Burghley, Milton Abbey and Castle Ashby - to understand what he might have created. Rediscovering plans and letters, and using the latest technology, Capability Brown's unfinished garden is brought to life.


WED 21:00 Roots (b07w5vvn)
Series 1

Episode 2

The American Revolutionary War, 1782. Ten years after being bought as a slave, Kunta escapes and is enlisted to fight for the English army. But his hopes of freedom are soon brutally crushed. Kunta marries beautiful slave Belle and the two have a daughter, Kizzy, who grows up to be a bright, defiant young woman, inheriting her father's spirit - with both good and dire consequences.


WED 22:35 Wild China (b00bf5b0)
Heart of the Dragon

The fairy-tale hills of Guilin and the cormorant fishermen of the Li River form the heart of this exploration of the colourful rice-growing cultures and strange creatures of southern China - a land of endless hills, mysterious caverns, spectacular rock pinnacles and traditional cultures with a taste for wildlife.


WED 23:35 Horizon (b01r6dys)
2012-2013

The Truth About Meteors: A Horizon Special

On a bright, cold morning on 15 February 2013, a meteorite ripped across the skies above the Ural mountains in Russia, disintegrating into three pieces and exploding with the force of 20 Hiroshimas. It was a stark reminder that the Earth's journey through space is fraught with danger. A day later, another much larger 143,000-tonne asteroid passed within just 17,000 miles of the Earth.

Presented by Professor Iain Stewart, this film explores what meteorites and asteroids are, where they come from, the danger they pose and the role they have played in Earth's history.


WED 00:35 Archaeology: A Secret History (p0109jny)
In the Beginning

Archaeologist Richard Miles presents a series charting the history of the breakthroughs and watersheds in our long quest to understand our ancient past. He begins by going back 2,000 years to explore how archaeology began by trying to prove a biblical truth - a quest that soon got archaeologists into dangerous water.


WED 01:35 Treasures of Ancient Egypt (p01mv16n)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Saturday]


WED 02:35 Wild China (b00bf5b0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:35 today]



THURSDAY 16 FEBRUARY 2017

THU 19:00 100 Days (b08fr941)
Series 1

16/02/2017

As President Trump takes office, BBC News teams in Washington and London report on the events that are shaping our world.


THU 19:30 The Sky at Night (b08f19c3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:05 on Sunday]


THU 20:00 Britain's Ancient Capital: Secrets of Orkney (b08bgfpg)
Episode 3

Seven miles off the coast of Scotland and cut off by the tumultuous Pentland Firth, the fastest-flowing tidal race in Europe, Orkney is often viewed as being remote. However it is one of the treasure troves of archaeology in Britain, and recent discoveries there are turning the Stone Age map of Britain upside down. Recent finds suggest an extraordinary theory - that rather than an outpost at the edge of the world, Orkney was the cultural capital of our ancient world and the origin of the stone circle cult which culminated in Stonehenge.

In the third of this three-part series, Neil Oliver, Chris Packham, Andy Torbet and Dr Shini Somara join hundreds of archaeologists from around the world who have gathered there to investigate at one of Europe's biggest digs. Andy dives below the waves in search of the inspiration for the first stone circle, Chris and Neil spend the night on an abandoned island as they hunt for clues as to why cultures change, Shini tests the technology behind a Bronze-Age sauna, and the archaeologists uncover a remarkable find.


THU 21:00 Storyville (b08f1bw3)
Notes on Blindness

This Bafta-nominated film is a moving and inspiring account of loss, rebirth and renewal - and the discovery of 'a world beyond sight'. In 1983, after decades of steady deterioration, John Hull, a professor at the University of Birmingham, became totally blind. To help him make sense of the upheaval in his life, he began documenting his experiences on audio cassette. Over three years he recorded over sixteen hours of material.

This beautifully crafted documentary takes John's original recordings as the template for the film, incorporating lip-syncing by actors in evocative reconstructions. The technique allows the viewer to immerse themselves in John's world as he comes to terms with his deteriorating sight, and learns to experience the world in different ways. As John explains about his redemptive journey: 'I knew that if I didn't understand blindness, it would destroy me.'

A Storyville documentary that is available in two versions, with audio description or with a heightened soundtrack.

This audio-described version is read by Stephen Mangan and aims to provide blind and partially sighted audiences with an alternative to the standard AD track.

The heightened soundtrack uses more original narration from John and Marilyn, with extra sound design and music, to guide the audience through the story of how John coped with his sight loss.


THU 22:20 Nazis: A Warning from History (b01nhsyj)
The Wrong War

Adolf Hitler loved to watch feature films and he liked one film in particular, the Hollywood epic The Lives of a Bengal Lancer. 'It was certainly his favourite film,' says Herbert Dohring, a member of Hitler's SS bodyguard, 'and he would always talk about it - this huge English empire - how such a relatively small people could establish and manage something like that.' Hitler would later say, 'What India was for England, the territory of Russia will be for us.'

How was it possible then, that in 1939 Hitler found himself at war with a country whose achievements he admired, Great Britain, and allied to his ideological enemy, the Soviet Union? With the help of archive footage and interviews with eye-witnesses, including former diplomats and members of the Nazi party who had never appeared on television before, this film charts the course of Hitler's road to war.


THU 23:10 Capability Brown's Unfinished Garden (b07xt6t9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Wednesday]


THU 00:10 Leotards and Vests: The Great British Workout (b01g6g2k)
Bench presses, barbells, rowing machines and electric shock mittens - just some of the tortures revealed by Mark Benton in this funny look at the British way of keeping fit.


THU 01:10 Britain's Ancient Capital: Secrets of Orkney (b08bgfpg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


THU 02:10 Treasures of the Anglo Saxons (b00t6xzx)
Art historian Dr Nina Ramirez reveals the codes and messages hidden in Anglo-Saxon art. From the beautiful jewellery that adorned the first violent pagan invaders through to the stunning Christian manuscripts they would become famous for, she explores the beliefs and ideas that shaped Anglo-Saxon art.

Examining many of the greatest Anglo Saxon treasures - such as the Sutton Hoo Treasures, the Staffordshire Hoard, the Franks Casket and the Lindisfarne Gospels - Dr Ramirez charts 600 years of artistic development which was stopped dead in its tracks by the Norman Conquest.


THU 03:10 James May at the Edge of Space (b00lc5ph)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:35 on Sunday]



FRIDAY 17 FEBRUARY 2017

FRI 19:00 World News Today (b08f0j0w)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


FRI 19:30 Top of the Pops (b08f1d8k)
John Peel and David Jensen present the weekly look at the pop charts, first broadcast on 23 March 1983. Featuring JoBoxers, David Bowie, Orange Juice, Altered Images, Duran Duran and David Joseph.


FRI 20:00 The Good Old Days (b08f1d8m)
Leonard Sachs chairs the old-time music hall programme, first broadcast on 31st January 1978. With Les Dawson, Lorna Luft, Stephanie Voss, Bryan Burdon, Bill Drysdale, Chrissie Cartwright, Valente-Valente and Peter Reeves.


FRI 21:00 Great American Rock Anthems: Turn it up to 11 (b03n2w37)
It's the sound of the heartland, of the midwest and the industrial cities, born in the early 70s by kids who had grown up in the 60s and were now ready to make their own noise, to come of age in the bars, arenas and stadiums of the US of A. Out of blues and prog and glam and early metal, a distinct American rock hybrid started to emerge across the country courtesy of Alice Cooper, Grand Funk Railroad et al, and at its very heart is The Great American Rock Anthem.

At the dawn of the 70s American rock stopped looking for a revolution and started looking for a good time; enter the classic American rock anthem - big drums, a soaring guitar, a huge chorus and screaming solos. This film celebrates the evolution of the American rock anthem during its glory years between 1970 and 1990 as it became a staple of the emerging stadium rock and AOR radio and then MTV.

From School's Out and Don't Fear the Reaper to Livin' on a Prayer and Smells Like Teen Spirit, these are the songs that were the soundtrack to teenage lives in the US and around the world, anthems that had people singing out loud with arms and lighters aloft.

Huey Morgan narrates the story of some of the greatest American rock anthems and tracks the emergence of this distinct American rock of the 70s and 80s. Anthems explored include School's Out, We're an American Band, Don't Fear the Reaper, Paradise by the Dashboard Light, I Love Rock 'n' Roll, Eye of the Tiger, I Want to Know What Love Is, Livin' on a Prayer and Smells Like Teen Spirit.

Contributors include: Alice Cooper, Dave Grohl, Butch Vig, Meat Loaf, Todd Rundgren, Richie Sambora, Blue Oyster Cult, Survivor, Toto and Foreigner.


FRI 22:00 Bruce Springsteen: The Ties That Bind (b06s71sv)
Before Bruce Springsteen became a global superstar in the 80s with Born in the USA, he and the E Street Band released the 1980 double album The River and then began a tour that celebrated its combination of haunted ballads and joyous rock'n'roll to great acclaim.

In this film Springsteen gives a first-hand account of the events and aesthetic behind the writing of The River, performing a number of the key songs on acoustic guitar. A unique account of one of the great rock 'n' roll statements, in which Springsteen explores his working-class roots and the ties that bind.


FRI 23:00 Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band: Live from the River Tour 1980 (b06t3kpx)
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band in concert delivering a raucous celebration of rock 'n' roll on The River tour of 1980. Filmed on November 5 at the former ASU Activity Center (now Wells Fargo Arena) in Tempe, part of metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona, in front of an enthusiastic 10,000-strong audience. Starting with the album's meditative title track, the concert opens up into a celebratory stomp culminating in that E Street Band staple Jungleland, and taking in rock 'n' roll anthems from The River including Hungry Heart, Cadillac Ranch and You Can Look (But You'd Better Not Touch).


FRI 23:55 Bon Jovi in Concert (b03qlqr2)
Stadium gods Bon Jovi rock London's tiny BBC Radio Theatre. The band perform classics from six albums across their 30-year reign: Slippery When Wet, Crush, Have a Nice Day, Lost Highway, The Circle and the first ever performance of material from 2013's What About Now.


FRI 00:55 Top of the Pops (b08f1d8k)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


FRI 01:35 Bruce Springsteen: The Ties That Bind (b06s71sv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]


FRI 02:30 Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band: Live from the River Tour 1980 (b06t3kpx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:00 today]




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

100 Days 19:00 MON (b08fr48n)

100 Days 19:00 TUE (b08fr7nr)

100 Days 19:00 WED (b08fr885)

100 Days 19:00 THU (b08fr941)

A303: Highway to the Sun 20:00 SAT (b0116ly6)

Archaeology: A Secret History 00:35 WED (p0109jny)

Art of France 21:00 MON (b08f1bw0)

Art of France 03:00 MON (b08f1bw0)

Beautiful Thing: A Passion for Porcelain 02:00 TUE (p0192fqp)

Bon Jovi in Concert 23:55 FRI (b03qlqr2)

Bought with Love: The Secret History of British Art Collections 01:00 TUE (b037nhb9)

Britain's Ancient Capital: Secrets of Orkney 20:00 THU (b08bgfpg)

Britain's Ancient Capital: Secrets of Orkney 01:10 THU (b08bgfpg)

British History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley 23:35 SUN (b08d7y3n)

Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band: Live from the River Tour 1980 23:00 FRI (b06t3kpx)

Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band: Live from the River Tour 1980 02:30 FRI (b06t3kpx)

Bruce Springsteen: The Ties That Bind 22:00 FRI (b06s71sv)

Bruce Springsteen: The Ties That Bind 01:35 FRI (b06s71sv)

Capability Brown's Unfinished Garden 20:00 WED (b07xt6t9)

Capability Brown's Unfinished Garden 23:10 THU (b07xt6t9)

D-Day: The Last Heroes 23:00 TUE (b02xdncc)

Great American Rock Anthems: Turn it up to 11 21:00 FRI (b03n2w37)

Horizon 02:35 SUN (b0148vph)

Horizon 23:35 WED (b01r6dys)

James May at the Edge of Space 21:35 SUN (b00lc5ph)

James May at the Edge of Space 03:10 THU (b00lc5ph)

Len Goodman's Big Band Bonanza 01:35 SUN (b04w7zlm)

Leotards and Vests: The Great British Workout 00:10 THU (b01g6g2k)

Life of a Mountain 21:00 TUE (b08f1cc0)

Michael Grade's History of the Pantomime Dame 00:35 SUN (b01pdt40)

Natural World 19:00 SAT (b039w9p0)

Nazis: A Warning from History 22:20 THU (b01nhsyj)

Order and Disorder 23:00 MON (p00ynyl9)

Planet Earth II 20:00 TUE (b083wt7z)

Planet Earth II 03:00 TUE (b083wt7z)

Reel History of Britain 19:30 MON (p00jw29l)

Reel History of Britain 19:30 WED (p00jwp7w)

Roots 21:00 WED (b07w5vvn)

Scotland's Einstein: James Clerk Maxwell - The Man Who Changed the World 00:00 MON (b06rd56j)

Sounds of the 70s 2 03:20 SAT (b01jv6sd)

Storyville 21:00 THU (b08f1bw3)

Swim the Channel 00:00 TUE (b07ll8s6)

TOTP2 01:50 SAT (b007v15w)

The Big Painting Challenge 20:00 MON (b08fnbkk)

The Girl from Ipanema: Brazil, Bossa Nova and the Beach 22:00 MON (b07mlkzl)

The Girl from Ipanema: Brazil, Bossa Nova and the Beach 02:00 MON (b07mlkzl)

The Good Old Days 20:00 FRI (b08f1d8m)

The Horizon Guide to Space Shuttles 22:35 SUN (b0109cc7)

The Joy of Disco 00:50 SAT (b01cqt72)

The Secret Life of Rockpools 01:00 MON (b01rtdr4)

The Sky at Night 22:05 SUN (b08f19c3)

The Sky at Night 19:30 THU (b08f19c3)

The Young Montalbano 22:00 SAT (b0702vmm)

This World 22:00 TUE (b08dx4lz)

Top of the Pops 23:45 SAT (b08d7y3l)

Top of the Pops 00:20 SAT (b08d80f8)

Top of the Pops 19:30 FRI (b08f1d8k)

Top of the Pops 00:55 FRI (b08f1d8k)

Treasures of Ancient Egypt 21:00 SAT (p01mv16n)

Treasures of Ancient Egypt 01:35 WED (p01mv16n)

Treasures of the Anglo Saxons 02:10 THU (b00t6xzx)

Wagner's Ring Cycle 19:00 SUN (p04pd17m)

Weird Nature 19:30 TUE (b0078h4b)

Wild China 22:35 WED (b00bf5b0)

Wild China 02:35 WED (b00bf5b0)

World News Today 19:00 FRI (b08f0j0w)