The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
Presenter and Welsh poet Ifor ap Glyn explores the wealth of Britain's extraordinary holy places on a pilgrimage that spans almost 2,000 years of history. Travelling across the breadth of the UK, Ifor uncovers the stories and rich history behind many of our most famous sites, explaining the myths and legends of some of Britain's most sacred places.
Ifor sets out to understand the appeal of islands as holy retreats. It may seem obvious that we would feel closer to the divine when surrounded by the stunning natural beauty of an island, but Ifor soon discovers there is a far deeper reason they became such a major aspect of religion.
His journey takes him from the Lake District to the Mappa Mundi in Hereford Cathedral, from our most famous holy island at Lindisfarne to the Western Isles in Scotland where an ancient Christian holy island has been reborn as a Buddhist monastery. He visits the island where the Welsh version of St Valentine lived and finally heads out west to the barren island of Bardsey, at the very furthest tip of Wales. This is known as the Island of 20,000 Saints, a place that exists halfway between this world and the next.
In November 2010, a Chinese vase unearthed in a suburban semi in Pinner sold at auction for £43 million - a new record for a Chinese work of art. Why are Chinese vases so famous and so expensive? The answer lies in the European obsession with Chinese porcelain that began in the 16th century.
Lars Tharp, the Antiques Roadshow expert and Chinese ceramics specialist, sets out to explore why Chinese porcelain was so valuable then - and still is now. He goes on a journey to parts of China closed to western eyes until relatively recently. Lars travels to the mountainside from which virtually every single Chinese export vase, plate and cup began life in the 18th century - a mountain known as Mount Gaolin, from whose name we get the word kaolin, or china clay. He sees how the china clay was fused with another substance, mica, that would turn it into porcelain.
Carrying his own newly acquired vase, Lars uncovers the secrets of China's porcelain capital, Jingdezhen. He sees how the trade between China and Europe not only changed our idea of what was beautiful - by introducing us to the idea of works of art we could eat off - but also began to affect the whole tradition of Chinese aesthetics too, as the ceramicists of Jingdezhen sought to meet the European demand for porcelain decorated with family coats of arms, battle scenes or even erotica.
The porcelain fever that gripped Britain drove conspicuous consumption and fuelled the Georgian craze for tea parties. Today the new emperors - China's rising millionaire class - are buying back the export wares once shipped to Europe. The vase sold in Pinner shows that the lure of Chinese porcelain is as compelling as ever.
Hospitalfield House in the fishing town of Arbroath on Scotland's east coast is a Victorian treasure trove. The couple who owned this great house back in the 19th century were obsessed with the decorative arts and Hospitalfield is full of ornate carved ceilings, sculpted fireplaces, exquisite plasterwork and stonework carved by master masons. It's still a place where artists work today and it has a fine picture collection.
Amongst the many Victorian paintings, could a mysterious 16th-century portrait by one of the great Old Master artists lie waiting to be discovered? Dr Bendor Grosvenor and Emma Dabiri travel to Arbroath to investigate what could be a true Old Master painting, obscured by 400 years of dirt and old varnish. Bendor suspects the painting is a lost masterpiece by giant of Dutch art Antonis Mor, court painter to Philip II of Spain. But with no documentary evidence, it's a hard case to prove.
While Bendor travels to Madrid to track down other examples of Mor's work, Emma digs deeper into the double standards of Victorian morals, finds the true story of the couple who made Hospitalfield a haven for artists, and meets the contemporary artists working at Hospitalfield today.
Five hundred years ago a revolutionary priest changed the face of Christendom and the path of European civilization forever. Risking his life and academic reputation, facing damnation and purgatory in 1517, he pinned his inflammatory 95 Theses to the church door in the Catholic church and the western world would never be the same again. His name was Martin Luther. This is a story of a group of people alive 500 years ago whose internal convictions led them to forge a new path - one that ultimately changed the world.
Part 2: 1521 - The Catholic church has excommunicated Luther and condemned him as a heretic, but the Reformation can no longer be stopped. Whilst in hiding, and widely believed to be dead, Luther translates the Bible into German for the first time so that the ordinary people can read it.
In the final episode Waldemar Januszczak looks at the surprising climax of the Renaissance as it spiralled into madness and distortion. This was a period full of war, confusion and darkness, which was captured perfectly in the art of Leonardo, Bosch, Arcimboldo, Palissy, the Italian Mannerists and El Greco.
Nymans, one of the most fashionable and romantic gardens of the Edwardian and interwar years, was the creation of a family of German emigres of Jewish descent. The Messels arrived in Britain in 1870 at a time when both anti-semitism and anti-German sentiment were rife. Nevertheless, Ludwig Messel succeeded in establishing a successful stockbroking firm and creating at Nymans the quintessential English garden with rare plants and a theatrical herbaceous border inspired by William Robinson.
His children and grandchildren would continue to develop the garden and the family's spectacular social trajectory reached its apogee with Ludwig's great-grandson Antony Armstrong-Jones's marriage to Princess Margaret. However, Nymans was to repeatedly face disaster as a fire devastated the house leaving just a romantic ruin to dominate the garden, while the garden itself came close to total destruction in the Great Storm of 1987.
THURSDAY 19 OCTOBER 2017
THU 19:00 Beyond 100 Days (b0991wdk)
Series 1
19/10/2017
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
THU 19:30 Top of the Pops (b099tcd1)
Simon Bates and Richard Skinner present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 4 October 1984. Featuring The Cars, Culture Club, The Stranglers, Adam Ant and Stevie Wonder.
THU 20:00 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.
THU 21:00 England's Reformation: Three Books That Changed a Nation (b0992jdt)
To mark the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, Janina Ramirez tells the story of three books that defined this radical religious revolution in England.
Tyndale's New Testament, Cranmer's Book of Common Prayer and Foxe's Book of Martyrs are no longer commonly recognised titles, yet for nearly four hundred years these works formed the backbone of British life. Their words shaped the English language, fuelled religious division and sparked revolt.
Nina discovers how the trio of texts had a powerful cumulative effect. Tyndale's Bible made the word of God accessible to the common man for the first time; The Book of Common Prayer established a Protestant liturgy; and Foxe's Book of Martyrs enshrined an intolerance of Catholicism. Nina reveals how they formed the nation's Protestant identity, the impact of which can be seen even today.
THU 22:00 Reformation: Europe's Holy War (b097f5fj)
Historian David Starkey tells the story of the Protestant Reformation and how it transformed the face of modern Europe. A schism at the heart of Christendom, the Reformation unleashed centuries of holy war, inspiring the kind of fundamentalism, terror and religious violence we are all too familiar with today.
Timed to coincide with the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther nailing his 95 Theses to the doors of All Saint's Church in Wittenberg, this programme charts the spread of Luther's ideas across Europe. Starkey explains how and why Luther's simple act of defiance would gain such momentum, and explores the consequences of his actions - both on the Christian faith, as well as on society as a whole.
Filmed in Rome, Germany and the UK, the programme concentrates on the early years of the Reformation and concludes by revealing the impact and legacy it had on England. There it prompted Henry VIII to split with the Catholic Church in Rome and declare himself supreme head of the Church of England.
THU 23:00 The Mystery of Rome's X Tomb (b037vywt)
Historian Dr Michael Scott unlocks the secrets of a mysterious tomb recently discovered in one of Rome's famous catacombs. Found by accident following a roof collapse, the tombs contained over 2,000 skeletons piled on top of each other. This was quite unlike any other underground tomb seen in Rome. They are located in an area of the catacombs marked as 'X' in the Vatican's underground mapping system - hence the name The X Tombs.
Scott joins Profs Dominique Castex and Philippe Blanchard, head of a team of French archaeologists with experience of investigating mass grave sites. Carbon dating the bodies suggest they died from the late 1st century AD to the early 3rd century AD, which would mean these people lived and died during Rome's golden age.
The remains of an early medieval fresco were found on the wall sealing the tomb suggesting this could be the last resting place of a group of unknown Christian martyrs. But the bones don't show the signs of physical trauma you would expect after a violent death.
The bodies were a mixture of men and women, most of them late teenagers and young adults. They were placed in the tombs with great care, packed in head to foot. Further clues suggest they were laid to rest after a series of mass death events. This raises the idea they may have died from disease.
The streets of ancient Rome were like an open sewer and the famous roman baths were also a breeding ground for infection. DNA expert and palaeogeneticist Johannes Krause is called in to try to identify what disease may have killed them.
Meanwhile, the French team uncover further clues to the identity of the people. They find cultural connections with northern Africa. Was this a wealthy immigrant community? Or a select group of ancient Rome's elite?
THU 00:00 Top of the Pops (b099tcd1)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:30 today]
THU 00:40 Shakespeare's Mother: The Secret Life of a Tudor Woman (b05279pq)
Michael Wood tells the extraordinary story of an ordinary woman in a time of revolution. Born during the reign of Henry VIII, Mary Arden is the daughter of a Warwickshire farmer, but she marries into a new life in the rising Tudor middle class in Stratford-upon-Avon. There she has eight children, three of whom die young. Her husband becomes mayor, but is bankrupted by his shady business dealings. Faced with financial ruin, religious persecution and power politics, the family is the glue that keeps them together until they are rescued by Mary's successful eldest son - William Shakespeare!
THU 01:40 Hidden Killers (b050d700)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 today]
THU 02:40 England's Reformation: Three Books That Changed a Nation (b0992jdt)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
FRIDAY 20 OCTOBER 2017
FRI 19:00 World News Today (b0991wdq)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
FRI 19:30 Top of the Pops (b09b0ksf)
Mike Read and Tommy Vance present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 11 October 1984. Featuring Kim Wilde, Sade, Paul Young, Alison Moyet, the Style Council and Stevie Wonder.
FRI 20:00 Easy Listening Hits at the BBC (b011g943)
Compilation of easy listening tracks that offers the perfect soundtrack for your cocktail party. There's music to please every lounge lizard, with unique performances from the greatest easy listening artists of the 60s and 70s, including Burt Bacharach, Andy Williams, Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66, The Carpenters and many more.
FRI 21:00 Nile Rodgers: How to Make It in the Music Business (b0992lvw)
Series 1
Episode 3
The final part is almost entirely set in the landscape of the music world today - a world that is near unrecognisable from the one Nile started out in over 40 years ago.
Technology and digital media have revolutionised how we hear music. Digital platforms like YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music and others make music instantly available to everyone. Computers and the internet have changed how music is written and composed and, via social media, artists can communicate directly with their fans - they can even release their music to them with a single tweet.
Nile shows us how he has adapted to this new world and why he wants to be a part of it. We discover how, in recent years, he has collaborated with a more diverse range of musicians on a greater variety of music than ever before.
The first collaboration we hear about is Get Lucky with Daft Punk, which became a Grammy-award-winning international hit. Later, we have contributions from singer-songwriter Laura Mvula, who won a Novello award this year for her album The Dreaming Room which Nile worked on. We hear from top country music star Keith Urban - they were both nominated last year at the Country Music Awards. And from Swedish DJ and composer Avicii, who plays to audiences of tens of thousands around the world, we discover the closeness of their musical relationship and learn about their working methods. We discover how Nile's contribution to singer John Newman's song Give Me Your Love came about.
In what is the 40th anniversary of Nile's band Chic, we see him on stage in Glasgow, and at the end of the film Nile reveals that he has just finished recording a new song. Called I Believe In Music, this at present unreleased song sums up Nile's personal philosophy toward the art form that has dominated his life. This film has exclusive access to that song.
FRI 22:00 BBC Music Introducing (b0992lvy)
BBC Introducing: 10 Years of Finding the Next Big Thing
Since 2007, BBC Introducing has shone a light on new musical talent throughout the UK, supporting unsigned and undiscovered musicians.
Huw Stephens presents highlights from a 10th birthday celebration concert at London's Brixton Academy, a dream venue for new bands. With performances by artists whose journeys have been part of BBC Introducing, including George Ezra, Blossoms, Slaves, and Jake Bugg.
Plus a look back at ten years of BBC Introducing and some of the acts they have helped along the way.
FRI 23:00 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 23:55 Top of the Pops (b09b0ksf)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:30 today]
FRI 00:35 Ultimate Cover Versions at the BBC (b06ns4gf)
Smash hits from 60 years of great cover versions in performance from the BBC TV archive. Reinterpretations, tributes and acts of subversion from the British invasion to noughties X Factor finalist Alexandra Burke. Artists as varied as The Moody Blues, Soft Cell, Mariah Carey and UB40 with their 'retake' on someone else's song - ultimate chart hits that are, in some cases, perhaps even better than the original.
Arguably The Beatles, alongside Bob Dylan and The Beach Boys, introduced the notion of 'originality' and self-generating artists writing their songs into the pop lexicon in the 60s. One of the most fascinating consequences of this has been the 'original' cover version, a reinterpretation of someone else's song that has transformed it into pop gold with a shift of rhythm, intent and context. The pop cover has proved a remarkably imaginative and durable form and this compilation tracks this pop alchemy at its finest and most intriguing.
FRI 01:35 Easy Listening Hits at the BBC (b011g943)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 today]
FRI 02:35 Nile Rodgers: How to Make It in the Music Business (b0992lvw)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
LIST OF THIS WEEK'S PROGRAMMES
(Note: the times link back to the details; the pids link to the BBC page, including iPlayer)
BBC Music Introducing
22:00 FRI (b0992lvy)
Beck
21:00 SAT (b06chkmk)
Beck
22:25 SAT (b06dl009)
Beyond 100 Days
19:00 MON (b0991wd1)
Beyond 100 Days
19:00 TUE (b0991wd6)
Beyond 100 Days
19:00 WED (b0991wdc)
Beyond 100 Days
19:00 THU (b0991wdk)
Britain's Lost Masterpieces
21:00 WED (b0992k4v)
Britain's Lost Masterpieces
02:30 WED (b0992k4v)
British Gardens in Time
00:30 WED (b042638j)
Dancing Cheek to Cheek: An Intimate History of Dance
01:00 SUN (b04smrrc)
Easy Listening Hits at the BBC
20:00 FRI (b011g943)
Easy Listening Hits at the BBC
01:35 FRI (b011g943)
England's Reformation: Three Books That Changed a Nation
21:00 THU (b0992jdt)
England's Reformation: Three Books That Changed a Nation
02:40 THU (b0992jdt)
Great American Rock Anthems: Turn it up to 11
23:00 FRI (b03n2w37)
Hidden Killers
20:00 THU (b050d700)
Hidden Killers
01:40 THU (b050d700)
Jonas Kaufmann: Tenor for the Ages
21:00 SUN (b099tpby)
Kaufmann's Otello at the Royal Opera House
22:30 SUN (b099tpcb)
Lost Kingdoms of Central America
23:50 MON (b04hkb5p)
Lucy Worsley: Elizabeth I's Battle for God's Music
21:00 TUE (b0992l4j)
Lucy Worsley: Elizabeth I's Battle for God's Music
02:30 TUE (b0992l4j)
Nile Rodgers: How to Make It in the Music Business
21:00 FRI (b0992lvw)
Nile Rodgers: How to Make It in the Music Business
02:35 FRI (b0992lvw)
Ocean Giants
20:00 MON (b01452jz)
Ocean Giants
01:50 MON (b01452jz)
Only Connect
19:00 SUN (b0991757)
Pagans and Pilgrims: Britain's Holiest Places
19:30 MON (b01rd37d)
Pagans and Pilgrims: Britain's Holiest Places
19:30 TUE (b01rk2fp)
Pagans and Pilgrims: Britain's Holiest Places
19:30 WED (b01rqbnm)
Reformation: Europe's Holy War
22:00 THU (b097f5fj)
Reformation
22:00 TUE (b09b50v0)
Reformation
22:00 WED (b09b5154)
Shakespeare's Mother: The Secret Life of a Tudor Woman
00:40 THU (b05279pq)
The French Revolution: Tearing up History
20:00 SUN (b042ttxl)
The Incredible Human Journey
19:00 SAT (b00kwdgp)
The Most Dangerous Man in Tudor England
23:30 TUE (p0185y5g)
The Mystery of Rome's X Tomb
23:00 THU (b037vywt)
The Real White Queen and Her Rivals
20:00 TUE (b037mw8c)
The Real White Queen and Her Rivals
01:30 TUE (b037mw8c)
The Renaissance Unchained
23:30 WED (b072wvy9)
The Story of Scottish Art
02:00 SUN (b06h7xsm)
The Vietnam War
22:00 MON (b0992pm2)
The Vietnam War
22:55 MON (b0992pm4)
Timeshift
00:50 MON (b03fv7sl)
Top of the Pops
23:55 SAT (b097xsnw)
Top of the Pops
00:35 SAT (b00zwrn5)
Top of the Pops
19:30 THU (b099tcd1)
Top of the Pops
00:00 THU (b099tcd1)
Top of the Pops
19:30 FRI (b09b0ksf)
Top of the Pops
23:55 FRI (b09b0ksf)
Treasures of Chinese Porcelain
20:00 WED (b015sttj)
Treasures of Chinese Porcelain
01:30 WED (b015sttj)
Tunes for Tyrants: Music and Power with Suzy Klein
21:00 MON (b099229f)
Tunes for Tyrants: Music and Power with Suzy Klein
02:50 MON (b099229f)
Ultimate Cover Versions at the BBC
00:35 FRI (b06ns4gf)
University Challenge
19:30 SUN (b098v499)
Wild China
20:00 SAT (b00bz1cf)
Wild China
02:00 SAT (b00bz1cf)
Woolly Mammoth: Secrets from the Ice
00:30 TUE (b01fkcdr)
World News Today
19:00 FRI (b0991wdq)