The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
Steered by his 1913 railway guide, Michael Portillo explores Germany, the powerhouse of today's European Union, and learns how tourists in the early 20th century would have been visiting quite a new country, which they admired and envied but also feared.
Beginning in Dresden, Michael explores the city of one of his favourite opera composers, Richard Wagner. He learns about the health craze of the time and attempts the equivalent of a 1913 Jane Fonda workout. He travels to Leipzig on a historic railway line, built by British engineers in 1839. In Brunswick, he learns how the arrival of the railway added its own flavour to the local beer before moving on to Hamburg, where he discovers model railway-making on the grandest of scales.
In Kiel, Michael learns about the intense rivalry between Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany and his uncle, British King Edward VII, at the Kiel Week yacht races. Michael boards an early 20th-century yacht to experience the thrill for himself and learns how British yachtsmen spied on the German navy.
Film which follows the making of a Wedgwood vase. The culmination of over 250 years of expertise and heritage, the panther vase is handcrafted by artisan potters using the same techniques pioneered by Josiah Wedgwood in the 18th century. But the Wedgwood factory in Stoke is now a very different place. Under new, foreign ownership, it's a gleaming, modern operation, and as we follow the vase slowly taking shape, the film also takes a gentle look at how this quintessentially British company is reinventing itself for the 21st century.
Fusing biography, art and the history of fashion, Amber Butchart explores the lives of historical figures through the clothes they wore. Here, she looks at Dutch painter Jan van Eyck's Arnolfini Portrait.
Jane is known as the 'Nine Days Queen' - and three days into her reign the clock is ticking. Mary Tudor, eldest daughter of Henry VIII, is determined to seize power. Both women are raising armies.
The manipulative Duke of Northumberland is dispatched from the Tower of London to lead Jane's forces against Mary at her castle at Framlingham. Northumberland sets out for a battle that could descend into civil war. But ordinary people can turn the tide of history. Will they go against the odds and side with the Catholic Mary Tudor?
Jane's military leaders send heavily armed ships to the coast of East Anglia to prevent Mary escaping by sea and to cut her off from any help that might come from Catholic supporters in Europe. But the crews rebel and turn the ships and their weapons over to Mary. Mary and Jane now have armies matched in size and matched in firepower. The future of the country - its religion and its ruler - hangs in the balance.
Dr Lucy Worsley explores the medical histories of the later Stuarts, from the exile of James II and the succession of William and Mary to the rise of a new dynasty - the Hanoverians.
This was a transformational stage for the monarchy: following William and Mary's 'Glorious Revolution', monarchs were no longer semi-divine, but answerable to their people and to Parliament. But without their cloak of divinity, their human frailties were now under public scrutiny like never before, and if biology failed them, an increasingly powerful Parliament could step in and take control.
Lucy examines William III's health issues - a sickly child, his chronic ill health continued into adulthood and he proved unable to have children. For Mary the problems were more psychological. As her husband spent more and more time on his anti-Catholic campaigns abroad, she was left to rule in his place - a daunting proposition which served only to remind her of her own inadequacies - as a childless queen, and most harrowingly, as a daughter who had utterly betrayed her father.
Lucy then explores Queen Anne's tragic gynaecological history - she had 17 pregnancies, 12 of which ended in miscarriage or stillbirth and of her surviving children the oldest only lived 11 years. Plus the extraordinary lengths Parliament employed to find a Protestant successor when Anne died childless.
Unlike the Stuarts, the Hanoverians proved they had no problems producing heirs, but in producing a royal family they found themselves waging a very personal war, as toxic relationships between parents and heirs would threaten the power of the monarchy as much as infertility had threatened the Stuarts.
Lucy scrutinizes the so-called madness of George III, as new research and clinical analysis of his personal letters reveals the real reason behind his manic episodes, before finishing with George IV and his battles with obesity, alcohol and drugs.
Of all the wonders of the human body, there's one more mysterious than any other. Blood: five precious litres that keep us alive. Yet how much do we really know about this sticky red substance and its mysterious, life-giving force?
Michael Mosley gives up a fifth of his own blood to perform six bold experiments. From starving it of oxygen to injecting it with snake venom, Michael reveals the extraordinary abilities of blood to adapt and keep us alive. Using specialist photography, the programme reveals the beauty in a single drop. Michael even discovers how it tastes when, in a television first, he prepares a black pudding with his own blood.
Down the ages, our understanding of blood has been as much myth as science, but Michael reveals there might be truth in the old vampire legends, as he meets one of the scientists behind the latest research that shows young blood might be able to reverse the ageing process - the holy grail of modern medicine.
Richard Skinner introduces the pop programme, featuring The Pretenders, Barbara Jones, Kelly Marie, Freeez, Beggar and Co, Coast to Coast, Slade and John Lennon, and a dance performance from Legs & Co.
Peter Powell introduces the pop programme, featuring Status Quo, Kim Wilde, Madness, Kiki Dee, Coast to Coast, The Passions, Roxy Music and Joe Dolce, and a dance performance from Legs & Co.
THURSDAY 11 JANUARY 2018
THU 19:00 Beyond 100 Days (b09ljtgq)
Series 1
11/01/2018
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
THU 19:30 Great Continental Railway Journeys (b03x12nk)
Series 2 - Reversions
Copenhagen to Oslo: Part 1
Armed with his 1913 railway guide, Michael Portillo explores Scandinavia and discovers the royal roots of early-20th-century British travellers' close dynastic ties with the kingdoms of Denmark and Norway. After braving one of the world's oldest rollercoasters in Copenhagen's famous Tivoli Gardens, Michael takes the train across the Oresund Bridge linking Denmark to Sweden, where he retraces the tracks of a train which carried a revolutionary Russian passenger on an epic voyage.
In Lund, he samples a smorgasbord before having a Highland fling in Gothenburg, where he test drives a vintage Volvo. Crossing the border again into Norway, Michael discovers how in 1913 this young nation expressed its own distinctively modern identity in plays, paintings and polar exploration.
THU 20:00 Bloody Queens: Elizabeth and Mary (b06wdzd1)
Of all the dangers Elizabeth I had to survive - the Spanish Armada, a Catholic continent plotting against her incessantly, restless nobles uneasy at serving a queen who refused to marry - none was so personally intense as her rivalry with another woman - her cousin and fellow queen, Mary, Queen of Scots. This was her longest, most gruelling battle - lasting over two decades, it threatened to tear apart both Elizabeth and her kingdom. In the end, it would force her to make the hardest decision of her life.
The two queens stared across the ultimate divides of their time: Protestant and Catholic, Tudor and Stuart, English and Scottish. Their fascination with one another grew into the greatest queenly face-off in our entire history. And yet, in 26 years of mutual obsession, they never actually met. Their confrontation was carried out through letters - a war of words so heartfelt and revealing that the two queens' passions can still be felt.
For the first time on television, this chronicle of love turned to hatred, of trust betrayed by plot and bloodshed, is dramatised purely from the original words of the two queens and their courtiers. Expert historians examine, interpret and argue over the monarchs' motives for their 'duel to the death' - for in the end only one queen could survive such emotional combat.
THU 21:00 England's Forgotten Queen: The Life and Death of Lady Jane Grey (b09m5rpg)
Series 1
Episode 3
Jane has been installed in the Tower of London by a powerful cabal of men in the royal court. They want to keep the Catholic Mary Tudor from power. Meanwhile, Mary has assembled an army and is ready to fight back.
Led by the manipulative Duke of Northumberland, Jane's forces have assembled close to Mary's castle at Framlingham. Poised on the brink of battle, the two sides are evenly matched and the outcome hangs by a thread. When a key supporter of Jane's defects to Mary's side, taking with him thousands of followers, the balance tips. The Duke of Northumberland is thrown into confusion and the country holds its breath to see what will happen next.
On the final day of Jane's nine-day reign, the men who placed her on the throne abandon her and switch sides to join Mary. Their ringleader is Jane's own uncle, the Earl of Arundel.
Jane and her father, the Duke of Suffolk, are prisoners in the Tower as Mary enters London in triumph.
Jane is put on trial, but at first her life is spared. It is only when Jane's father joins a second rebellion that Mary takes action. She decrees that Jane, her husband and her father should be executed.
Helen Castor discovers that despite her reign lasting only nine days, Jane did leave a legacy - when Elizabeth I finally inherits the throne the lessons she learned from observing Jane's struggles help her to rule for 44 years. And, crucially, that Jane opened the door for a woman to rule England in her own right.
THU 22:00 Fit to Rule: How Royal Illness Changed History (b01s5xjq)
Original Series
Happy Families: Hanoverians to Windsors
In the final episode, Dr Lucy Worsley investigates the medical histories and fraught family dynamics of Queen Victoria and her descendants. She begins and ends with two events which challenged the very survival of the crown and revealed how crucial the physical and mental health of the royal family remained: the sudden death of Princess Charlotte in 1817, and the abdication of Edward VIII over a century later.
In 1817, 21-year-old Princess Charlotte was the Hanoverian dynasty's great hope: popular with the public and about to give birth to her first child, thereby securing the royal succession for another generation. But, after a 50-hour labour, recorded in minute-by-minute detail by the country's leading midwife, the baby boy was delivered stillborn, and hours later, Charlotte died too. The nation was shocked by the sudden loss of the monarchy's next two generations, and a frantic race ensued for King George's unmarried sons to be the first to produce a legitimate heir. Two years later, the Duke of Kent's new German wife gave birth to a daughter, Princess Victoria.
Whilst producing children was not a problem for Victoria, rearing an heir who was fit to rule was another matter. Fearing their eight-year-old son and successor, Bertie (the future Edward VII), was not psychologically up to the job of king, Prince Albert turned to the new pseudo-science of phrenology in a bid to get to the root of his son's problems, and Lucy charts the effect their difficult mother-son relationship had on both their reigns.
Lucy also reveals the emotional strains the royals faced as they tried to reconcile the competing demands of public duty and a private life. She examines how Queen Victoria's severe depression after Prince Albert's death almost cost her the crown, and explores the emotional turmoil of Edward VIII, who ultimately declared himself unfit to rule, choosing love over the throne.
THU 23:00 Lost Land of the Volcano (b00mq3p1)
Episode 1
Series combining stunning wildlife with high-octane adventure, as a team of scientists and wildlife film-makers from the BBC's Natural History Unit explores one of the last great unspoilt jungle wildernesses on earth.
New Guinea is a rugged tropical island that is home to some of the strangest creatures on the planet. The team is based at the foot of Mount Bosavi, a giant extinct volcano covered in thick and largely unexplored rainforest. With the help of trackers from a remote tribe, they aim to search for the animals that live there - and they make amazing finds.
Wildlife cameraman Gordon Buchanan discovers the nest of the world's smallest parrot, insect expert Dr George McGavin finds a talking beetle, the scientists identify types of frog, gecko and bat that are completely new to science, and adventurer Steve Backshall has to live and sleep underground as he explores a cave system flooded with white water.
The cameras follow the team every sweaty step of the way as they search for the evidence that may help preserve this last great jungle forever.
THU 00:00 Top of the Pops (b06zdnkk)
Mike Read introduces the pop programme, featuring Duran Duran, Shakin Stevens, Phil Collins, The Who, Adam and the Ants, Toyah, Motorhead & Girlschool, Joe Dolce, Talking Heads and The Teardrop Explodes, and a dance performance from Legs & Co.
THU 00:40 Bloody Queens: Elizabeth and Mary (b06wdzd1)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 today]
THU 01:40 England's Forgotten Queen: The Life and Death of Lady Jane Grey (b09m5rpg)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
THU 02:40 Peaky Blinders (b09jhn03)
Series 4
The Duel
Tommy finds himself engaged in bloody battle with Luca Changretta and his gang. The family gather to find out what happened, but Lizzie has even greater news to break.
Meanwhile, an army colonel has questions for Ada about her past as a communist, and Jessie Eden confirms just how far she is prepared to go in pursuit of her cause. And sensing an opportunity to capitalise on his situation, Luca Changretta makes his way to London to present a plan to Alfie Solomons.
FRIDAY 12 JANUARY 2018
FRI 19:00 World News Today (b09ljtgw)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
FRI 19:30 Top of the Pops (b09lv80h)
John Peel and Richard Skinner present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 3 January 1985. Featuring Smiley Culture, Sal Solo, Paul Young, Tears For Fears, Toy Dolls, Madonna and Band Aid.
FRI 20:10 The Good Old Days (b09hgfcg)
Leonard Sachs presents the old-time music hall programme, first broadcast on 20 August 1980. Featuring Ted Durante and Hilda, Sheila Buxton, Billy Dainty, Liz Robertson, Arthur Askey and members of the Players' Theatre Group.
FRI 21:00 David Bowie: Five Years (b0214tj1)
An intimate portrait of five key years in David Bowie's career. Featuring a wealth of previously unseen archive this film looks at how Bowie continually evolved, from Ziggy Stardust to the soul star of Young Americans and the 'Thin White Duke'. It explores his regeneration in Berlin with the critically acclaimed album Heroes, his triumph with Scary Monsters and his global success with Let's Dance. With interviews with all his closest collaborators, this film investigates how Bowie became an icon of our times.
FRI 22:30 David Bowie and the Story of Ziggy Stardust (b01k0y0n)
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars is arguably the most important album in the mind-blowing career of David Bowie. Released in 1972, it's the record that set the mercurial musician on course to becoming one of the best-known pop stars on the planet. In just over a year, Bowie's messianic Martian invaded the minds of the nation's youth with a killer combination of extraterrestrial rock 'n' roll and outrageous sexuality, all delivered in high-heeled boots, multicoloured dresses and extravagant make-up. In Bowie's own words, Ziggy was 'a cross between Nijinsky and Woolworths', but this unlikely culture clash worked - Ziggy turned Bowie into stardust.
This documentary tells the story of how Bowie arrived at one of the most iconic creations in the history of pop music. The songs, the hairstyles, the fashion and the theatrical stage presentation merged together to turn David Bowie into the biggest craze since the Beatles. Ziggy's instant success gave the impression that he was the perfectly planned pop star. But, as the film reveals, it had been a momentous struggle for David Bowie to hit on just the right formula that would take him to the top.
Narrated by fan Jarvis Cocker, it reveals Bowie's mission to the stars through the musicians and colleagues who helped him in his unwavering quest for fame - a musical voyage that led Bowie to doubt his true identity, eventually forcing the sudden demise of his alien alter ego, Ziggy.
Contributors include Trevor Bolder (bass player, Spiders from Mars), Woody Woodmansey (drummer, Spider from Mars), Mike Garson (Spiders' keyboardist), Suzi Ronson (Mick Ronson's widow, who gave Bowie that haircut), Ken Scott (producer), Elton John (contemporary and fan), Lindsay Kemp (Bowie's mime teacher), Leee Black Childers (worked for Mainman, Bowie's production company), Cherry Vanilla (Bowie's PA/press officer), George Underwood (Bowie's friend), Mick Rock (Ziggy's official photographer), Steve Harley, Marc Almond, Holly Johnson, Peter Hook, Jon Savage, Peter Doggett and Dylan Jones.
FRI 23:30 Glam Rock at the BBC (b094mcwn)
A spangly celebration of the outburst of far-out pop and fuzz-filled rock that lit up the British charts in the early 1970s. Top of the Pops is our primary arena and its gloriously gaudy visual effects are used here aplenty! The compilation also utilises footage from a selection of BBC concerts as well as from Crackerjack and Cilla. It features classic BBC TV performances from T. Rex, David Bowie, Roxy Music, Alice Cooper, Suzi Quatro, Slade, The Sweet, Elton John, Queen, Sparks and many more.
FRI 00:30 Top of the Pops (b09lv80h)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:30 today]
FRI 01:15 Northern Soul: Living for the Weekend (b04bf1lf)
The northern soul phenomenon was the most exciting underground British club movement of the 70s. At its high point, thousands of disenchanted white working class youths across the north of England danced to obscure, mid-60s Motown-inspired sounds until the sun rose. A dynamic culture of fashions, dance moves, vinyl obsession and much more grew up around this - all fuelled by the love of rare black American soul music with an express-train beat.
Through vivid first-hand accounts and rare archive footage, this film charts northern soul's dramatic rise, fall and rebirth. It reveals the scene's roots in the mod culture of the 60s and how key clubs like Manchester's Twisted Wheel and Sheffield's Mojo helped create the prototype that would blossom in the next decade.
By the early 70s a new generation of youngsters in the north were transforming the old ballrooms and dancehalls of their parents' generation into citadels of the northern soul experience, creating a genuine alternative to mainstream British pop culture. This was decades before the internet, when people had to travel great distances to enjoy the music they felt so passionate about.
Set against a rich cultural and social backdrop, the film shows how the euphoria and release that northern soul gave these clubbers provided an escape from the bleak reality of their daily lives during the turbulent 70s. After thriving in almost total isolation from the rest of the UK, northern soul was commercialised and broke nationwide in the second half of the 70s. But just as this happened, the once-healthy rivalry between the clubs in the north fell apart amidst bitter in-fighting over the direction the scene should go.
Today, northern soul is more popular than ever, but it was back in the 70s that one of the most fascinating and unique British club cultures rose to glory. Contributors include key northern soul DJs like Richard Searling, Ian Levine, Colin Curtis and Kev Roberts alongside Lisa Stansfield, Norman Jay, Pete Waterman, Marc Almond, Peter Stringfellow and others.
FRI 02:15 David Bowie and the Story of Ziggy Stardust (b01k0y0n)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:30 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 Stitch in Time
20:30 WED (b09ll1fx)
Alaska: Earth's Frozen Kingdom
20:00 SAT (b0520t2w)
Alaska: Earth's Frozen Kingdom
02:00 SAT (b0520t2w)
Andrew Marr's The Making of Modern Britain
20:00 TUE (b00ntgb5)
Andrew Marr's The Making of Modern Britain
02:20 TUE (b00ntgb5)
Beyond 100 Days
19:00 MON (b09ljtg7)
Beyond 100 Days
19:00 TUE (b09ljtgd)
Beyond 100 Days
19:00 WED (b09ljtgk)
Beyond 100 Days
19:00 THU (b09ljtgq)
Bloody Queens: Elizabeth and Mary
20:00 THU (b06wdzd1)
Bloody Queens: Elizabeth and Mary
00:40 THU (b06wdzd1)
Britain on Film
19:30 SUN (b036f8nw)
Catching History's Criminals: The Forensics Story
23:00 TUE (p02l4pjs)
Dan Snow on Lloyd George: My Great-Great-Grandfather
20:00 SUN (b084l1s9)
Dan Snow on Lloyd George: My Great-Great-Grandfather
00:45 SUN (b084l1s9)
David Bowie and the Story of Ziggy Stardust
22:30 FRI (b01k0y0n)
David Bowie and the Story of Ziggy Stardust
02:15 FRI (b01k0y0n)
David Bowie: Five Years
21:00 FRI (b0214tj1)
Disco at the BBC
01:00 SAT (b01cqt74)
Engineering Giants
21:00 SUN (b01llr67)
Engineering Giants
01:45 SUN (b01llr67)
England's Forgotten Queen: The Life and Death of Lady Jane Grey
21:00 TUE (b09lv17g)
England's Forgotten Queen: The Life and Death of Lady Jane Grey
01:20 TUE (b09lv17g)
England's Forgotten Queen: The Life and Death of Lady Jane Grey
21:00 WED (b09m5rmf)
England's Forgotten Queen: The Life and Death of Lady Jane Grey
01:20 WED (b09m5rmf)
England's Forgotten Queen: The Life and Death of Lady Jane Grey
21:00 THU (b09m5rpg)
England's Forgotten Queen: The Life and Death of Lady Jane Grey
01:40 THU (b09m5rpg)
Fit to Rule: How Royal Illness Changed History
22:00 TUE (b01rxzby)
Fit to Rule: How Royal Illness Changed History
22:00 WED (b01s28q3)
Fit to Rule: How Royal Illness Changed History
22:00 THU (b01s5xjq)
Glam Rock at the BBC
23:30 FRI (b094mcwn)
Great Continental Railway Journeys
19:30 MON (b03ty8t3)
Great Continental Railway Journeys
19:30 TUE (b03ty91g)
Great Continental Railway Journeys
19:30 WED (b03x10q8)
Great Continental Railway Journeys
19:30 THU (b03x12nk)
Handmade: By Royal Appointment
20:00 WED (b07fky64)
Highlands - Scotland's Wild Heart
20:00 MON (p03pjd66)
Highlands - Scotland's Wild Heart
01:20 MON (p03pjd66)
Lost Land of the Volcano
23:00 THU (b00mq3p1)
My Astonishing Self: Gabriel Byrne on George Bernard Shaw
21:00 MON (b09ltk1h)
My Astonishing Self: Gabriel Byrne on George Bernard Shaw
02:20 MON (b09ltk1h)
Northern Soul: Living for the Weekend
01:15 FRI (b04bf1lf)
Only Connect
19:00 SUN (b09l8r8r)
Peaky Blinders
02:40 THU (b09jhn03)
Shipwrecks: Britain's Sunken History
19:00 SAT (b03knrvm)
Shipwrecks: Britain's Sunken History
03:00 SAT (b03knrvm)
Spiral
21:00 SAT (b09ltxy7)
Spiral
22:00 SAT (b09ltxy9)
Stations of the Cross
23:00 SUN (b064jdqt)
The Bee Gees at the BBC... and Beyond
00:00 SAT (b04v8679)
The Bridge: Fifty Years Across the Forth
22:00 SUN (b04g80p8)
The Bridge: Fifty Years Across the Forth
02:45 SUN (b04g80p8)
The Good Old Days
20:10 FRI (b09hgfcg)
The Victorians
23:00 MON (b00hsr7s)
The Vietnam War
23:05 SAT (b0992pm4)
The Wonderful World of Blood - with Michael Mosley
23:00 WED (b05nyyhf)
Top of the Pops
00:00 MON (b06w0s18)
Top of the Pops
00:40 MON (b06whnr0)
Top of the Pops
00:00 TUE (b06y8cnp)
Top of the Pops
00:40 TUE (b06yjc20)
Top of the Pops
00:00 WED (b06yrm6x)
Top of the Pops
00:40 WED (b06yrs1d)
Top of the Pops
00:00 THU (b06zdnkk)
Top of the Pops
19:30 FRI (b09lv80h)
Top of the Pops
00:30 FRI (b09lv80h)
Workers or Shirkers? Ian Hislop's Victorian Benefits
22:00 MON (b076vtmz)
Workers or Shirkers? Ian Hislop's Victorian Benefits
02:20 WED (b076vtmz)
World News Today
19:00 FRI (b09ljtgw)