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 16 SEPTEMBER 2017

SAT 19:00 The Brain with David Eagleman (b071gx2k)
Who Will We Be?

Series in which Dr David Eagleman takes viewers on an extraordinary journey that explores how the brain, locked in silence and darkness without direct access to the world, conjures up the rich and beautiful world we all take for granted.

In this episode, Dr Eagleman journeys into the future, and asks what's next for the human brain and for our species. Mother Nature has evolved a brain that is able to rewire itself according to its environment. We meet Cameron Mott, who had half her brain removed at the age of four, but was able to develop normally as her brain rewired itself to take over the functions of the missing half. This extraordinary plasticity of the brain opens up all sorts of possibilities for enhancing our reality with new technology.

Dr Eagleman shows us ways in which we'll be able to plug new sensory inputs into our brains and demonstrates his lab's new invention - a vibratory vest which turns sound into patterns of vibration that the brain can learn to interpret. Technology can also allow the brain to control new outputs such as artificial limbs. We meet a disabled patient who can't move her body from the neck down. Electrodes eavesdropping on her motor cortex pick up on electrical signals there and transmit them to an arm across the room.

We may have evolved two arms and two legs, but there is nothing to stop us from extending - and enhancing - our physical selves in the future. These kinds of technological advances are poised to change us - as individuals and as a society - but the biggest game changer as a species would be if we found a way to upload our brains into digital space. Dr Eagleman explores what it would take to do so. We would need powerful computers, and a complete map of the brain's connections, as well as the activity that runs on top.

Dr Eagleman visits the Blue Brain Projects in Lausanne, where scientists are attempting to model a simulation of a working human brain. The chance of success is still many years away, but the possibility leads us to the biggest question in neuroscience - could a simulation of a human brain ever be conscious? Could 'you' exist digitally? And if so, how do we know we are not already living in a simulation?


SAT 20:00 Swarm: Nature's Incredible Invasions (b00gq43y)
One Million Heads, One Beautiful Mind

Extraordinary photography reveals the incredible swarm intelligence that lies behind animal invasions.

Millions of free-tailed bats form a living tornado in which complex information is exchanged. Huge shape-shifting shoals of herring use swarm intelligence to detect predators. Billions of alkali flies form a rolling wave to evade the gaping mouths of gulls. Vast numbers of shore birds synchronise their migration with swarming horseshoe crabs, a feat of timing unparalleled in the animal world.

Fire ants invade and destroy computer equipment and, when their nest is flooded, create living rafts with their bodies. Inside a driver ants' nest we discover the inner workings of a brain made from thousands of individuals. One swarm is even helping to save the planet from the greenhouse effect.

Incredible images show the true complexity of the swarm and how their intelligence impacts on our world.


SAT 21:00 Black Lake (b081clh5)
Series 1

Episode 1

An unsettling chain of events are set into motion when a group of young friends an visit an abandoned ski resort in the far reaches of Sweden. The remote and neglected Black Lake has been closed for years when Johan invites his friends to stay there. He dreams of reopening the isolated hotel and restoring it to a luxury ski resort, but what begins as a fun research trip soon takes a sinister turn as the group is gripped by a series of unexplained and disturbing events. They soon uncover the real reason Black Lake was abandoned all those years before, and solving the mystery rapidly becomes a matter of life and death.

In Swedish, Danish and Norwegian with English subtitles.


SAT 21:40 Black Lake (b0821s1b)
Series 1

Episode 2

Hanne, feeling increasingly uncomfortable in the isolated ski resort, tries to find out more about the tragic events that took place there 20 years ago and meets the retired detective who investigated the case. When Johan hears that an anonymous bidder has put an offer in on the property, he doesn't know who to trust and becomes suspicious of his friends.

In Swedish, Danish and Norwegian with English subtitles.


SAT 22:25 Easter Island: Mysteries of a Lost World (b03srmm6)
The contrast between the majestic statues of Easter Island and the desolation of their surroundings is stark. For decades Easter Island, or Rapa Nui as the islanders call it, has been seen as a warning from history for the planet as a whole - wilfully expend natural resources and the collapse of civilisation is inevitable.

But archaeologist Dr Jago Cooper believes this is a disastrous misreading of what happened on Easter Island. He believes that its culture was a success story not a failure, and the real reasons for its ultimate demise were far more shocking. Cooper argues that there is an important lesson that the experience of Easter Island can teach the rest of the world, but it doesn't begin by blaming its inhabitants for their own downfall.

This film examines the latest scientific and archaeological evidence to reveal a compelling new narrative, one that sees the famous statues as only part of a complex culture that thrived in isolation. Cooper finds a path between competing theories about what happened to Easter Island to make us see this unique place in a fresh light.


SAT 23:55 Top of the Pops (b0955wql)
John Peel and Tommy Vance present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 12 July 1984. Featuring Shakatak, Tina Turner, Alison Moyet, Phil Fearon and Galaxy, Echo and The Bunnymen, The Bluebells and Frankie Goes To Hollywood.


SAT 00:30 Timeshift (b06jnzjx)
Series 15

The People's Liners - Britain's Lost Pleasure Fleets

Timeshift casts off for a colourful voyage of 'high teas on the high seas' in the company of passengers and crew of the vintage steamers which were once a common sight on the rivers and coastal waters around Britain.

Far more than a means of transport, these steamers attracted a devoted following, treating their passengers, whatever their pocket, to the adventure and trappings of an ocean voyage whilst actually rarely venturing out of sight of land. A highlight of the great British seaside holiday from the 1820s until the early 1960s - and open to all - they were 'the people's liners'.


SAT 01:30 Bright Lights, Brilliant Minds: A Tale of Three Cities (b04fmg8j)
Paris 1928

Dr James Fox tells the story of Paris in 1928. It was a city that attracted people dreaming of a better world after World War I. This was the year when the surrealists Magritte, Dali and Bunuel brought their bizarre new vision to the people, and when emigre writers and musicians such as Ernest Hemingway and George Gershwin came looking for inspiration.

Paris in 1928 was where black musicians and dancers like Josephine Baker found adulation, where Cole Porter took time off from partying to write Let's Do It, and where radical architect Le Corbusier planned a modernist utopia that involved pulling down much of Paris itself.


SAT 02:30 Swarm: Nature's Incredible Invasions (b00gq43y)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]



SUNDAY 17 SEPTEMBER 2017

SUN 19:00 BBC Proms (b095st17)
2017

The Last Night of the Proms from Around the UK

The traditional Last Night, Proms in the Park celebrations from venues around the UK. Gethin Jones and YolanDa Brown present a stellar mix of classical and contemporary performances, including internationally acclaimed percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie and legend of the flute Sir James Galway in Castle Coole, Enniskillen; rising star saxophonist Jess Gillam and soul diva Mica Paris from Swansea's Singleton Park; big band aficionado Clare Teal and Jason Manford in Glasgow Green; while opera superstar Sir Bryn Terfel and the sensational sounds of 60s icon Ray Davies draw the crowds to London's Hyde Park. All accompanied of course, by the BBC's acclaimed orchestras.


SUN 20:30 Secret Voices of Hollywood (b03bxrxj)
In many of Hollywood's greatest movie musicals the stars did not sing their own songs. This documentary pulls back the curtain to reveal the secret world of the 'ghost singers' who provided the vocals, the screen legends who were dubbed and the classic movies in which the songs were ghosted.


SUN 22:00 Cinema Through the Eye of Magnum Photos (b095vnk0)
From the day it was created in 1947, Magnum Photos has represented some of the most famous names in photography whose pictures have come to define their times. But Magnum's work also includes more surprising images - pictures of cinema. This film recounts this remarkable collaboration - from Robert Capa's photographs of Ingrid Bergman and Eve Arnold's intimate relationship with Marilyn Monroe through to Paolo Pellegrin's portraits of Kate Winslet, providing an essential history of both cinema and photography.


SUN 22:55 Clara Bow: Hollywood's Lost Screen Goddess (b01pjn8h)
Documentary about Clara Bow, a cinema sensation who broke box office records and became one of the greatest stars of the silent screen. Amid scandal and ill health, she retired for good at the age of just 28. Once the Queen of Hollywood, now largely forgotten - whatever happened to Clara Bow?


SUN 23:55 Precision: The Measure of All Things (b02xgf5d)
Mass and Moles

Deep underground in a vault beneath Paris lives the most important lump of metal in the world - Le Grand K. Created in the 19th century, it's the world's master kilogramme, the weight on which every other weight is based. But there is a problem with Le Grand K - it is losing weight. Professor Marcus du Sautoy explores the history of this strange object and the astonishing modern day race to replace it.


SUN 00:55 Apples, Pears and Paint: How to Make a Still Life Painting (b03ny8wk)
A richly detailed journey through the epic history of still-life painting, featuring a range of delights from the earliest existing Xenia mural paintings discovered at Pompeii to the cubist masterpieces of Picasso.

Awash with rich imagery of fruit, flowers and humble domestic objects, this lively take on the story of still life encompasses the work of some of the genre's greatest artists from Caravaggio to Chardin and Cezanne. But it also captures the surprising contributions of the less well-known, including asparagus enthusiast Adriaen Coorte and female flower painter in the court of Louis XVI, Anne Vallayer-Coster.

With contributions from historians Bettany Hughes and Janina Ramirez, art historians Andrew Graham Dixon and Norman Bryson, and philosopher Alain de Botton amongst others, it opens up the huge social histories that lie behind the paintings and the fascinating lives of the people who made them.


SUN 02:25 Cinema Through the Eye of Magnum Photos (b095vnk0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]



MONDAY 18 SEPTEMBER 2017

MON 19:00 Beyond 100 Days (b095bdmx)
Series 1

18/09/2017

The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


MON 19:30 Brushing up on... (b01sbwcz)
Series 1

British Factories

Danny Baker ponders the British factory - the products, the people, the bosses and what happens when the hooter sounds and the tools are downed.


MON 20:00 Dangerous Earth (b083dgt5)
Lightning

Dr Helen Czerski examines the hottest natural phenomenon on the planet - lightning. Bolts of lightning five times hotter than the surface of the sun strike our planet over three million times every day - and yet we still know little about this deadly force of nature. Now, specialist photography is revealing how lightning travels through the air, high-speed cameras are unlocking the secrets of upward lightning that's triggered by our urban landscapes, and scientific expeditions are capturing rare images of intense electrical discharges over 80 kilometres wide.


MON 20:30 Dangerous Earth (b08445rk)
Aurora

Dr Helen Czerski looks at the latest scientific insight into the aurora - dancing lights in the night sky that have fascinated cultures throughout our history. From the networks of cameras now capturing its vast scale, to novel experiments that probe the threat it poses to modern technology, Helen reveals the dramatic transformation in our understanding of the aurora, and the many mysteries that remain to be solved.


MON 21:00 Letters from Baghdad (b095vnm7)
The extraordinary and dramatic story of Gertrude Bell, the most powerful woman in the British Empire in her day. She shaped the modern Middle East after World War I in ways that still reverberate today. More influential than her friend and colleague Lawrence of Arabia, Bell helped draw the borders of Iraq and established the Iraq Museum.

Using never-seen-before footage of the region, the film chronicles Bell's extraordinary journey into both the uncharted Arabian desert and the inner sanctum of British male colonial power. With unique access to documents from the Iraq National Library and Archive and Gertrude Bell's own 1,600 letters, the story is told entirely in the words of the players of the day, excerpted verbatim from intimate letters, private diaries and secret communiques. It is a unique look at both a remarkable woman and the tangled history of Iraq.


MON 22:30 The Legacy of Lawrence of Arabia (b00pyrw1)
Episode 1

In the First World War, TE Lawrence helped to unite feuding Arab tribes into a formidable guerrilla army which helped to topple the Ottoman Empire. But today Lawrence has an extraordinary new relevance. His experiences of defeating a foreign military occupation, and of leading an insurgency, have led to him being held up as the man who cracked fighting in the Middle East.

Harvard professor Rory Stewart is a former soldier, diplomat and governor of two Iraqi provinces. Rory has spent many years living and working in Iraq and Afghanistan, and has been fascinated with Lawrence since his childhood. In a two-part documentary, he examines the legacy of Britain's First World War campaign in the Middle East, and draws parallels with British and American interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan today.

Rory's journey takes him across the Middle East and Europe in the footsteps of Lawrence - he treks on a camel through the breathtaking desert scenery of Wadi Rum; he wanders the streets and souks of Damascus - the ancient capital Lawrence hoped to make the centre of a new Arab nation; he spends an evening in a Bedouin tent with relatives of the warriors who fought alongside Lawrence; he goes on foot patrol with the US Army around Baghdad; and he visits the Palace of Versailles where Lawrence fought for Arab Independence.

But for Rory, Lawrence's story has a much darker message than is normally portrayed - Lawrence might have won his war in the desert and been hailed a warrior hero, but the politics that followed fatally undermined his success. Lawrence had aimed, he said, 'to write his will across the skies' and build a new independent Arab nation, but Rory shows how Lawrence felt his dream ended in catastrophe and shame.

Drawing a comparison between Lawrence's experience and today, Rory explains how Lawrence came to the conclusion that foreign military interventions in the Middle East are fundamentally unworkable. He concludes, 'Looking at Iraq and Afghanistan today, I believe very strongly that Lawrence's message would not have been do it better, do it more sensitively, but don't do it at all.'.


MON 23:30 A Very British Murder with Lucy Worsley (p01fv0kh)
Detection Most Ingenious

Lucy Worsley explores how real-life crime, science and the emerging art of detection had an influence on the popular culture of homicide during the Victorian Age.


MON 00:30 She-Wolves: England's Early Queens (b01dc66v)
Isabella and Margaret

In the medieval and Tudor world there was no question in people's minds about the order of God's creation - men ruled and women didn't. A king was a warrior who literally fought to win power then battled to keep it. Yet despite everything that stood in their way, a handful of extraordinary women did attempt to rule medieval and Tudor England. In this series, historian Dr Helen Castor explores seven queens who challenged male power, the fierce reactions they provoked and whether the term 'she wolves' was deserved.

In 1308 a 12-year-old girl, Isabella of France, became queen of England when she married the English king. A century later another young French girl, Margaret of Anjou, followed in her footsteps. Both these women were thrust into a violent and dysfunctional England and both felt driven to take control of the kingdom themselves. Isabella would be accused of murder and Margaret of destructive ambition - it was Margaret who Shakespeare named the She Wolf. But as Helen reveals, their self-assertion that would have seemed natural in a man was deemed unnatural, even monstrous in a woman.


MON 01:30 The Art of Gothic: Britain's Midnight Hour (b04mgxxx)
Liberty, Diversity, Depravity

In the middle of the 18th century - in England - an entirely surprising thing happened. Out of the Age of Enlightenment and Reason a monster was born - a Gothic obsession with monsters, ghouls, ghosts and things that go bump in the night. From restrained aristocratic beginnings to pornographic excesses, the Gothic revival came to influence popular art, architecture and literature.


MON 02:30 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.


MON 03:30 Dangerous Earth (b083dgt5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]



TUESDAY 19 SEPTEMBER 2017

TUE 19:00 Beyond 100 Days (b095bdn4)
Series 1

19/09/2017

Katty Kay in Washington and Christian Fraser in London return to report on the events that are shaping the world.


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

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

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

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


TUE 20:00 Vienna: Empire, Dynasty and Dream (p046dxfw)
Episode 1

Vienna was the capital of the Habsburg dynasty and home to the Holy Roman Emperors. From here, they dominated middle Europe for nearly 1,000 years. In this series, historian Simon Sebag Montefiore describes how the Habsburgs transformed Vienna into a multinational city of music, culture and ideas. Napoleon, Hitler, Mozart, Strauss, Freud, Stalin and Klimt all played their part.

In this first episode, we follow the Habsburgs' rise to power and discover how Vienna marked Europe's front line in the struggle to defend both Christendom from the Ottomans and the Catholic Church from the Protestant revolutionaries that plotted to destroy it.


TUE 21:00 Henry VII: The Winter King (b021ng66)
Author Thomas Penn takes an extraordinary journey into the dark and chilling world of the first Tudor, Henry VII. From his victory over Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth, to his secret death and the succession of his son Henry VIII, the film reveals the ruthless tactics Henry VII used to win - and cling on to - the ultimate prize, the throne of England. Exploring magnificent buildings and long-lost documents, Penn reveals the true story of this suspicious, enigmatic and terrifying monarch.


TUE 22:00 Jerusalem: The Making of a Holy City (b017znj7)
Wellspring of Holiness

Jerusalem is one of the oldest cities in the world. For the Jewish faith, it is the site of the Western Wall, the last remnant of the second Jewish temple. For Christians, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is the site of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. For Muslims, the Al-Aqsa mosque is the third holiest sanctuary of Islam.

In episode one, Simon delves into the past to explore how this unique city came into being, explaining how it became of such major importance to the three Abrahamic faiths, and how these faiths emerged from the Biblical tradition of the Israelites.

Starting with the Canaanites, Simon goes on a chronological journey to trace the rise of the city as a holy place and discusses the evidence for it becoming a Jewish city under King David. The programme explores the construction of the first temple by Solomon through to the life and death of Jesus Christ and the eventual expulsion of the Jews by the Romans, concluding in the 7th century AD, on the eve of the capture of Jerusalem by the Muslim caliph, Umar ibn al-Khattab.


TUE 23:00 The Legacy of Lawrence of Arabia (b00qgtjk)
Episode 2

In the First World War, TE Lawrence helped to unite feuding Arab tribes into a formidable guerrilla army which helped to topple the Ottoman Empire. But today Lawrence has an extraordinary new relevance. His experiences of defeating a foreign military occupation, and of leading an insurgency, have led to him being held up as the man who cracked fighting in the Middle East.

Harvard professor Rory Stewart is a former soldier, diplomat and governor of two Iraqi provinces. Rory has spent many years living and working in Iraq and Afghanistan, and has been fascinated with Lawrence since his childhood. In a two-part documentary, he examines the legacy of Britain's First World War campaign in the Middle East, and draws parallels with British and American interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan today.

Rory's journey takes him across the Middle East and Europe in the footsteps of Lawrence - he treks on a camel through the breathtaking desert scenery of Wadi Rum; he wanders the streets and souks of Damascus - the ancient capital Lawrence hoped to make the centre of a new Arab nation; he spends an evening in a Bedouin tent with relatives of the warriors who fought alongside Lawrence; he goes on foot patrol with the US Army around Baghdad; and he visits the Palace of Versailles where Lawrence fought for Arab Independence.

But for Rory, Lawrence's story has a much darker message than is normally portrayed - Lawrence might have won his war in the desert and been hailed a warrior hero, but the politics that followed fatally undermined his success. Lawrence had aimed, he said, 'to write his will across the skies' and build a new independent Arab nation, but Rory shows how Lawrence felt his dream ended in catastrophe and shame.

Drawing a comparison between Lawrence's experience and today, Rory explains how Lawrence came to the conclusion that foreign military interventions in the Middle East are fundamentally unworkable. He concludes, 'Looking at Iraq and Afghanistan today, I believe very strongly that Lawrence's message would not have been do it better, do it more sensitively, but don't do it at all.'.


TUE 00:00 Black Lake (b081clh5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Saturday]


TUE 00:40 Black Lake (b0821s1b)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:40 on Saturday]


TUE 01:25 Henry VII: The Winter King (b021ng66)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


TUE 02:25 Vienna: Empire, Dynasty and Dream (p046dxfw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]



WEDNESDAY 20 SEPTEMBER 2017

WED 19:00 Beyond 100 Days (b095bdng)
Series 1

20/09/2017

Katty Kay in Washington and Christian Fraser in London return to report on the events that are shaping the world.


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

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

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

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

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


WED 20:00 Natural World (b00z7x5h)
2010-2011

The Last Grizzly of Paradise Valley

Canadian wildlife film-maker Jeff Turner returns to his roots and embarks on a beautiful and lyrical exploration of the wildlife around his home in the Cascade Mountains of southwestern British Columbia. Tracking the wildlife through the four seasons of one year, he encounters many animals from his childhood including black bears, a family of osprey, coyotes and mule deer. But the animal he most wants to find and film is one of the few remaining grizzly bears that still survive in these mountains.


WED 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.


WED 22:00 Sound Waves: The Symphony of Physics (b08h9ctd)
Series 1

Using Sound

Dr Helen Czerski examines the extraordinary messages sound waves carry and how they help us understand the world around us.

Visiting a hidden location buried beneath the hills of Scotland, Helen experiences some of the most extreme acoustics in the world. Here she learns just how much information can be carried by sound. She discovers how sound has driven the evolution of truly incredible biological systems and complex relationships between creatures that exploit sound for hunting - and escaping from predators. Helen demonstrates how sound waves diffract (bend around objects) and in doing so help us sense danger and locate it.

Through the story of a cochlea implant patient Helen explores the complicated way our ears can translate sound waves - a physical vibration in the air - into an electrical signal our brain can understand.

Helen explains how we are not limited to passively detecting sound waves, we can also use them to actively probe the world. From detecting submarines to uncovering the secrets of our planet, sound waves are instrumental in revealing things hidden from the world of light. On the cold North Sea, Helen investigates how marine archaeologists are using sound waves to uncover the remarkable human stories buried beneath the sea. Yet we are not limited to using sound waves here on Earth, as Helen explains how sound has been used to better understand distant, alien worlds in the outer solar system.


WED 23:00 Britain in Focus: A Photographic History (b08hznbb)
Series 1

Episode 2

Eamonn McCabe explores how British photographers responded to the most important events of the first half of the 20th century and traces the emergence of a new genre of photography - photojournalism. His journey begins at the Daily Mirror's press plant in Watford, which broke new ground with its dynamic coverage of the siege of Sidney Street in 1911, before tracing the footsteps of pioneering female photojournalist Christina Broom and discovering how cheaper cameras enabled British soldiers to become citizen journalists during the First World War.

Eamonn is joined by Mahtab Hussain to discuss the work of Bill Brandt, who in 1937 travelled to the north of England to record landscapes and portraits of working class communities during the Great Depression. Brandt would go on to work for Picture Post, Britain's most popular news magazine, which was launched in 1938. Armed with a period roll film Leica, Eamonn goes on assignment to the fairground to recreate a famous shoot by the magazine that documented almost every aspect of mid-century life in Britain.

He also sees how photographers captured the Second World War, from the Blitz to shocking images of concentration camps; celebrates photographers who pursued the medium as an art form in its own right; learns about the printing techniques of celebrity portrait photographer Alvin Langdon Coburn; and reflects on Cecil Beaton's glamorous work for Vogue magazine.


WED 00:00 Hidden Histories: Britain's Oldest Family Businesses (b03qlp97)
Toye the Medal Maker

Fiona Toye married into a family that has been making regalia for generations, including OBEs for the royal family. The film follows Fiona as she steers this traditional company through the 21st century.

Narrated by Margaret Mountford.


WED 01:00 China in Six Easy Pieces (b036r5cx)
For centuries the west has been enthralled by flamboyant blue-and-white ceramics from China but unaware that all the time the Chinese were making porcelains for themselves that were completely different - subtle monochromes for the Imperial court, beautiful objects for the scholar's table and delicate domestic wares.

Ceramics expert Lars Tharp, Antiques Roadshow resident and presenter of Treasures of Chinese Porcelain, has picked his six favourite pieces representing Chinese taste. He goes on a journey through a thousand years of Chinese history, travelling from the ancient capital of Huangzhou in the south to Beijing's Forbidden City in the north, to uncover what these six pieces tell us about Chinese emperors, scholars, workers, merchants and artists.

To him, they are China in ceramic form. But can they help us to understand China today?


WED 02:00 Carved with Love: The Genius of British Woodwork (b01psbwz)
The Extraordinary Thomas Chippendale

Thomas Chippendale is the most famous furniture designer the world has ever produced, but what about the man behind the chairs? This episode shows how Chippendale worked his way up from humble roots to working for the nobility, but also how he was ruined by the very aristocrats he created such wonders for.


WED 03:00 Life of a Mountain (b08f1cc0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



THURSDAY 21 SEPTEMBER 2017

THU 19:00 Beyond 100 Days (b095bdnr)
Series 1

21/09/2017

The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


THU 19:30 Top of the Pops (b095fm57)
Peter Powell and Richard Skinner present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 19 July 1984. Featuring The Mighty Wah!, Prince, Billy Idol, Blancmange, Divine, Thompson Twins and Frankie Goes to Hollywood.


THU 20:00 British History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley (b08bqdzl)
Series 1

The Wars of the Roses

Lucy debunks the foundation myth of one of our favourite royal dynasties, the Tudors.

According to the history books, after 30 years of bloody battles between the white-rosed Yorkists and the red-rosed Lancastrians, Henry Tudor rid us of civil war and the evil king Richard III. But Lucy reveals how the Tudors invented the story of the 'Wars of the Roses' after they came to power to justify their rule.

She shows how Henry and his historians fabricated the scale of the conflict, forged Richard's monstrous persona and even conjured up the image of competing roses. When our greatest storyteller William Shakespeare got in on the act and added his own spin, Tudor fiction was cemented as historical fact.

Taking the story right up to date, with the discovery of Richard III's bones in a Leicester car park, Lucy discovers how 15th-century fibs remain as compelling as they were over 500 years ago. As one colleague tells Lucy: 'Never believe an historian!


THU 21:00 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?


THU 22:00 Horizon (b095vp3p)
2017

Goodbye Cassini - Hello Saturn

A billion miles from home, running low on fuel, and almost out of time. After 13 years traversing the Saturn system, the spacecraft Cassini is plunging to a fiery death, becoming part of the very planet it has been exploring. As it embarks on its final assignment - a one-way trip into the heart of Saturn - Horizon celebrates the incredible achievements and discoveries of a mission that has changed the way we see the solar system.

Strange new worlds with gigantic ice geysers, hidden underground oceans that could harbour life and a brand new moon coalescing in Saturn's magnificent rings. As the world says goodbye to the great explorer Cassini, Horizon will be there for with a ringside seat for its final moments.


THU 23:00 Horizon (b01mgllj)
2012-2013

How Big Is the Universe?

It is one of the most baffling questions that scientists can ask: how big is the universe that we live in?

Horizon follows the cosmologists who are creating the most ambitious map in history, a map of everything in existence. And it is stranger than anyone had imagined, a universe without end that stretches far beyond what the eye can ever see.

And, if the latest research proves true, our universe may just be the start of something even bigger. Much bigger.


THU 00:00 Top of the Pops (b095fm57)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


THU 00:30 Music Moguls: Masters of Pop (p039x53y)
Melody Makers

Part two of this enlightening series exploring the music business from behind the scenes looks at the music producers. These are the men and women who have created the signature sounds that have defined key periods in rock and pop history. Highlights include Trevor Horn on inventing the 'Sound of the Eighties', Lamont Dozier on Motown, and a TV first with legendary producer Tony Visconti taking us through David Bowie's seminal song Heroes.

Narrated by master producer Nile Rodgers.


THU 01:35 The Horizon Guide to Space Shuttles (b0109cc7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


THU 02:35 British History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley (b08bqdzl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]



FRIDAY 22 SEPTEMBER 2017

FRI 19:00 World News Today (b095bdnx)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


FRI 19:30 Top of the Pops (b095fnbp)
Simon Bates and Gary Davies present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 2 August 1984. Featuring Black Lace, Kane Gang, A Flock of Seagulls, Trevor Walters, George Michael and Frankie Goes To Hollywood.


FRI 20:00 The Live Lounge Show (b095fnbr)
Series 1

P!nk and More

Clara Amfo takes us behind the scenes of Radio 1's Live Lounge - the biggest live studio showcase in the world. Live Lounge sessions happen twice a week across the year, attracting an array of some of the biggest and best artists on the planet. In September, however, it gets turbo-charged with a performance every weekday across the whole month. We bring you the very best of the second week of performances and Live Lounge exclusive interviews.

Clara hosts P!nk in session at the legendary Maida Vale studios and they catch up in between tracks to talk about her incredible career
so far.

Also, there is live music from The Killers, London Grammar, Harry Styles and Stormzy.

This is live performance with a twist as each artist performs their own track and a cover version. Any Live Lounge listeners will know that the cover version is usually a recently released single... but not this year! To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Radio 1, the cover can be any track from the last 50 years. With P!nk covering Sam Smith and Harry Styles tackling a classic Fleetwood Mac song, you are in for a real treat.


FRI 21:00 Sisters in Country: Dolly, Linda and Emmylou (b081sx50)
Documentary which explores how Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris's careers took off in the 1970s with very distinct takes on country before they ended up uniting as close harmony singers and eventually collaborated on 1987's four-million-selling debut album, Trio.

In the 60s country music was viewed by most of America as blue collar, and Dolly was country through and through. Linda Ronstadt's take on classic country helped make her the biggest female star in mid-70s America. Folkie Emmylou learned about country from mentor Gram Parsons and, after his death in 1973, she became a bandleader in her own right. It was Emmylou and Linda - the two west coast folk rockers - who voiced their mutual appreciation of Dolly, the mountain girl singer from Tennessee, when they became early students of her work.

The artists talk about uniting as harmony singers and eventually collaborating on their debut album, Trio. The album helped launch the mountain music revival that would peak with the soundtrack to O Brother Where Art Thou. In 2012 Linda Ronstadt was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, which left her unable to sing, but 2016 saw unreleased songs from their sessions compiled to create a third Trio album. This is the story of how their alliance made them pioneers in bringing different music worlds together and raising the game for women in the country tradition.

Contributors: Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt, Rodney Crowell, George Lucas, Peter Asher, Chris Hillman, Laura Cantrell, Robert K Oermann, John Boylan, Phil Kaufman, David Lindley, Albert Lee, Herb Pedersen, George Massenberg and Applewood Road.


FRI 21:55 Country Queens at the BBC (p028vwnv)
Classic female country stars in action on a variety of BBC studio shows and featuring Bobbie Gentry, Anne Murray, Emmylou Harris, Tammy Wynette, Billie Jo Spears, Crystal Gayle, Taylor Swift, Lucinda Williams with Mary Chapin Carpenter and more. A chronological celebration of country queens at the BBC whether on Top of the Pops, OGWT, Later with Jools Holland, Parkinson or their own entertainment specials.


FRI 23:00 Kenny Rogers: Cards on the Table (b04pl3kw)
Examining the life and career of the artist who 'knows when to hold 'em and knows when to fold 'em', this documentary chronicles Kenny Rogers's remarkable rise to the top of his game and the golden era of country music he ushered in.

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

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

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

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


FRI 00:00 Top of the Pops (b095fnbp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


FRI 00:30 Country Kings at the BBC (p028vxj4)
Classic male country singers from the BBC vaults, journeying from The Everly Brothers and Jerry Lee Lewis to Garth Brooks and Willie Nelson, and featuring classic songs and performances by Glen Campbell, Charley Pride, George Hamilton IV, Kenny Rogers, Clint Black, Johnny Cash, Eric Church and more. This 50 years-plus compilation is a chronological look at country kings as featured on BBC studio shows as varied as In Concert, Wogan, The Late Show and Later with Jools Holland, plus early variety shows presented by the likes of Lulu, Harry Secombe and Shirley Abicair.


FRI 01:30 Sisters in Country: Dolly, Linda and Emmylou (b081sx50)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


FRI 02:30 Country Queens at the BBC (p028vwnv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:55 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 Very British Murder with Lucy Worsley 23:30 MON (p01fv0kh)

Apples, Pears and Paint: How to Make a Still Life Painting 00:55 SUN (b03ny8wk)

BBC Proms 19:00 SUN (b095st17)

Beyond 100 Days 19:00 MON (b095bdmx)

Beyond 100 Days 19:00 TUE (b095bdn4)

Beyond 100 Days 19:00 WED (b095bdng)

Beyond 100 Days 19:00 THU (b095bdnr)

Black Lake 21:00 SAT (b081clh5)

Black Lake 21:40 SAT (b0821s1b)

Black Lake 00:00 TUE (b081clh5)

Black Lake 00:40 TUE (b0821s1b)

Bright Lights, Brilliant Minds: A Tale of Three Cities 01:30 SAT (b04fmg8j)

Britain in Focus: A Photographic History 23:00 WED (b08hznbb)

British History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley 20:00 THU (b08bqdzl)

British History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley 02:35 THU (b08bqdzl)

Brushing up on... 19:30 MON (b01sbwcz)

Carved with Love: The Genius of British Woodwork 02:00 WED (b01psbwz)

China in Six Easy Pieces 01:00 WED (b036r5cx)

Cinema Through the Eye of Magnum Photos 22:00 SUN (b095vnk0)

Cinema Through the Eye of Magnum Photos 02:25 SUN (b095vnk0)

Clara Bow: Hollywood's Lost Screen Goddess 22:55 SUN (b01pjn8h)

Country Kings at the BBC 00:30 FRI (p028vxj4)

Country Queens at the BBC 21:55 FRI (p028vwnv)

Country Queens at the BBC 02:30 FRI (p028vwnv)

Dangerous Earth 20:00 MON (b083dgt5)

Dangerous Earth 20:30 MON (b08445rk)

Dangerous Earth 03:30 MON (b083dgt5)

Easter Island: Mysteries of a Lost World 22:25 SAT (b03srmm6)

Henry VII: The Winter King 21:00 TUE (b021ng66)

Henry VII: The Winter King 01:25 TUE (b021ng66)

Hidden Histories: Britain's Oldest Family Businesses 00:00 WED (b03qlp97)

Horizon 22:00 THU (b095vp3p)

Horizon 23:00 THU (b01mgllj)

Jerusalem: The Making of a Holy City 22:00 TUE (b017znj7)

Kenny Rogers: Cards on the Table 23:00 FRI (b04pl3kw)

Letters from Baghdad 21:00 MON (b095vnm7)

Life of a Mountain 21:00 WED (b08f1cc0)

Life of a Mountain 03:00 WED (b08f1cc0)

Music Moguls: Masters of Pop 00:30 THU (p039x53y)

Natural World 20:00 WED (b00z7x5h)

Precision: The Measure of All Things 23:55 SUN (b02xgf5d)

Secret Voices of Hollywood 20:30 SUN (b03bxrxj)

She-Wolves: England's Early Queens 00:30 MON (b01dc66v)

Sisters in Country: Dolly, Linda and Emmylou 21:00 FRI (b081sx50)

Sisters in Country: Dolly, Linda and Emmylou 01:30 FRI (b081sx50)

Sound Waves: The Symphony of Physics 22:00 WED (b08h9ctd)

Swarm: Nature's Incredible Invasions 20:00 SAT (b00gq43y)

Swarm: Nature's Incredible Invasions 02:30 SAT (b00gq43y)

The Art of Gothic: Britain's Midnight Hour 01:30 MON (b04mgxxx)

The Brain with David Eagleman 19:00 SAT (b071gx2k)

The Horizon Guide to Space Shuttles 21:00 THU (b0109cc7)

The Horizon Guide to Space Shuttles 01:35 THU (b0109cc7)

The Legacy of Lawrence of Arabia 22:30 MON (b00pyrw1)

The Legacy of Lawrence of Arabia 23:00 TUE (b00qgtjk)

The Live Lounge Show 20:00 FRI (b095fnbr)

Timeshift 00:30 SAT (b06jnzjx)

Timeshift 02:30 MON (b06b36q3)

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

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

Top of the Pops 23:55 SAT (b0955wql)

Top of the Pops 19:30 THU (b095fm57)

Top of the Pops 00:00 THU (b095fm57)

Top of the Pops 19:30 FRI (b095fnbp)

Top of the Pops 00:00 FRI (b095fnbp)

Vienna: Empire, Dynasty and Dream 20:00 TUE (p046dxfw)

Vienna: Empire, Dynasty and Dream 02:25 TUE (p046dxfw)

World News Today 19:00 FRI (b095bdnx)