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 14 APRIL 2018

SAT 19:00 Atlantic: The Wildest Ocean on Earth (p02wnh9k)
Life Stream

In the wild North Atlantic, massive whale pods, giant turtles and monstrous jellyfish ride the Gulf Stream, a huge ocean current that becomes a migration superhighway and helps warm northern Europe. Meanwhile, fishermen battle for survival in mountainous seas as they try to reap the current's natural fertility.


SAT 20:00 Commonwealth Games Extra (b09zg6pz)
Gold Coast 2018

Day Ten- 14/04/18

Further coverage of the 2018 Commonwealth Games from Gold Coast, with extended highlights of hockey.


SAT 21:00 Salamander (b09ng877)
Series 2: Blood Diamonds

Episode 1

Five years after the death of his wife at the hands of the secret society 'Salamander', Chief Inspector Paul Gerardi is called to the case of the assassination of a Kitangian refugee in Brussels. Witnesses say the killer was a white man driving a black Mercedes who has been seriously injured after a police chase. Gerardi and his colleague Danny follow up leads provided by the victim's political allies, and Paul visits the unconsious suspect in hospital where he makes an alarming discovery.

In Flemish and French with English subtitles.


SAT 21:45 Salamander (b09ny5h2)
Series 2: Blood Diamonds

Episode 2

Gerardi is woken by a phone call from the hospital with news that the suspect Bernard Mercier is dead. Paul is convinced that his death cannot have been from natural causes and when the officer guarding the dead man is questioned, footage emerges of a woman who has impersonated a nurse to gain access to the suspect's room.

In Flemish and French with English subtitles.


SAT 22:35 The Bermuda Triangle: Beneath the Waves (b007c68n)
Professor Bruce Denardo attempts to prove whether there is any truth behind the legend of the Bermuda Triangle, where many ships and planes have disappeared in mysterious circumstances. New investigation techniques reveal the truth behind the infamous disappearance of Flight 19. Graham Hawkes is also able to reveal, by using a state-of-the-art submarine, how five wrecks mysteriously wound up 730 feet down in the heart of the Bermuda Triangle.


SAT 23:35 From Andy Pandy to Zebedee: The Golden Age of Children's Television (b06t3mhm)
Nigel Planer narrates the story of the struggle to make programmes for children in the days before everything went digital.


SAT 00:35 Insect Worlds (b01rd374)
Making Worlds

Steve Backshall reveals the incredible influence that insects and their close relatives have on Earth's many ecosystems. In the grasslands of South America, the landscape has been created almost solely by one team of insects - grass-cutter ants. Across the world's oceans one tiny creature plays such a key role that, without it, the largest animal on our planet, the blue whale, could not exist. And in East Africa the savannah would quickly be swamped in dung were it not for the activities of a certain beetle. Yet the greatest influence of all comes from a group of insects that have ultimately changed the colour and diversity of our planet.


SAT 01:05 Atlantic: The Wildest Ocean on Earth (p02wnh9k)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


SAT 02:05 The Bermuda Triangle: Beneath the Waves (b007c68n)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:35 today]



SUNDAY 15 APRIL 2018

SUN 19:00 Only Connect (b09zg6f0)
Series 13

Eco-Warriors v Escapologists

Victoria Coren Mitchell hosts the series where knowledge will only take you so far. Patience and lateral thinking are also vital.

Two teams of round-three losers return for a last chance to make the semi-finals. They compete to find the connections between things which, at first glance, seem utterly random. So join Victoria Coren Mitchell to learn what connects 'Oh! Calcutta!', Mayday, Love in tennis and Dandelion.


SUN 19:30 University Challenge (b09zg6f2)
2017/18

Episode 35

It is the first of the semi-finals, when one team find out if they have made it to the grand final of the quiz for students. Jeremy Paxman asks the questions.


SUN 20:00 Natural World (b07hp89f)
2016-2017

Giraffes: Africa's Gentle Giants

Everyone loves giraffes, but what do we really know about them? Dr Julian Fennessy starts to reveal their secrets - the most important being that they are disappearing. In an urgent and daring mission, with a determined Ugandan team, he plans to round up 20 of the world's rarest giraffes to take across and beyond the mighty Nile River. The stakes are high, but if they succeed the reward will be a brighter future for an animal we have somehow overlooked.


SUN 21:00 Titanic's Tragic Twin: The Britannic Disaster (b083dp3s)
The Titanic sank in April 1912, and her sister ship, the Britannic, ultimately suffered the fate, sinking in 1916 due to an explosion caused by an underwater mine.

In the wake of the Titanic disaster, Britannic was re-engineered to be even stronger. And yet she sank in just 55 minutes - three times faster than Titanic. It's one of Britain's greatest untold disaster stories. Now on the 100th anniversary, presenters Kate Humble and Andy Torbet piece together exactly what happened in those 55 minutes.

While Andy makes a dangerous dive to the wreck, Kate speaks to descendants of the survivors. The characters she uncovers include Violet 'Miss Unsinkable' Jessops, who survived both Titanic and Britannic, Captain 'Iceberg Charlie' Bartlett and lookout Archie Jewell, who miraculously survived while those around him died.


SUN 22:00 Why the Industrial Revolution Happened Here (b01pz9d6)
Professor Jeremy Black examines one of the most extraordinary periods in British history: the Industrial Revolution. He explains the unique economic, social and political conditions that by the 19th century, led to Britain becoming the richest, most powerful nation on Earth. It was a time that transformed the way people think, work and play forever.

He traces the unprecedented explosion of new ideas and technological inventions that transformed Britain's agricultural society into an increasingly industrial and urbanised one. The documentary explores two fascinating questions - why did the industrial revolution happen when it did, and why did it happen in Britain?

Professor Black discusses the reasons behind this transformation - from Britain's coal reserves, which gave it a seemingly inexhaustible source of power, to the ascendency of political liberalism, with engineers and industrialists able to meet and share ideas and inventions. He explains the influence that geniuses like Josiah Wedgewood had on the consumer revolution and travels to Antigua to examine the impact Britain's empire had on this extraordinary period of growth.


SUN 23:00 Conversations (b08z1gjy)
Alex Salmond

Sean Curran talks to former first minister of Scotland and SNP leader Alex Salmond about his life and political career.


SUN 23:50 Timeshift (b01q6xh6)
Series 12

Eyes Down! The Story of Bingo

It is one of Britain's most popular leisure pursuits, but high street bingo came about almost by accident as the result of a loophole in an obscure piece of gambling legislation. Almost overnight, in January 1961 what had been a quiet parlour game or occasional seaside flutter was turned into a brash multimillion-pound business.

As Timeshift affectionately recalls in this documentary, soon nearly a quarter of the population were playing and becoming fluent in the rhyming slang of 'bingo lingo' - from 'Legs Eleven' to 'Clickety Click, Sixty Six'. This explosion of interest quickly led to a moral panic about the dangers of easy prize money, but bingo was defiantly here to stay - and not just as the preserve of older women, as today's mega-halls full of hen night parties show.


SUN 00:50 Insect Worlds (b01rk1x9)
Insect Worlds

Totalling an estimated 10 million species, the insects and their close relatives are the most abundant and diverse group of animals in the world, so what is the secret of their success? Their hard external skeleton provides strength and protection and their small size allows them to exploit many microhabitats. In Yellowstone, Steve Backshall reveals how teamwork allows a colony of bees to scare off a hungry bear, and in Australia this same teamwork allows a colony of ants to beat the rising tide. But to unlock the real secret of their success Steve takes us to the Swiss Alps, where an incredible relationship exists between the ant, the wasp and the butterfly.


SUN 01:20 Revolution and Romance: Musical Masters of the 19th Century (b07g9q4w)
Party Like It's 1899

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

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

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

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


SUN 02:20 Titanic's Tragic Twin: The Britannic Disaster (b083dp3s)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



MONDAY 16 APRIL 2018

MON 19:00 Beyond 100 Days (b09zcr8c)
Series 1

16/04/2018

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


MON 19:30 Nature's Microworlds (b01q7fs8)
Canada's Coastal Forests

Steve Backshall pulls apart the pieces of Canada's remarkable coastal forest to reveal why this ancient sylvan environment is not only home to some of the largest trees on Earth, but also some of the greatest aggregations of top predators in North America. He untangles the complex relationships between the seasons, the landscape and the wildlife to discover what might be fuelling this forest's prolific productivity and supporting eagles, bears and wolves. In this complex coastal system, the secret to success comes in a remarkable annual event.


MON 20:00 Turkey with Simon Reeve (b08l56x8)
Series 1

Gallipoli to the Syrian Border

Simon Reeve sets off on the first leg of his two-part journey around Turkey, a dramatic and beautiful country that now finds itself at the centre of world events.

In this programme, he visits Istanbul and the beaches and crystal clear waters of the Aegean Sea, before ending up at the war-torn border with Syria. In the region thought to have been the origin of the first vineyards, Simon meets a producer now trying to sell wine in a Muslim country with an increasingly conservative government. In Istanbul, he meets some of the people shaping modern Turkey, from loyal supporters of the nation's controversial and authoritarian president to the master builder constructing one of the world's largest mosques and the notorious billionaire cashing in on a Turkish property boom. Along Turkey's famous Turquoise Coast, Simon has a taste of luxury at the country's most expensive hotel, but discovers an industry on its knees as war in Syria and deadly terror attacks keep millions of holidaymakers away. Only one sector is bucking the trend - halal-friendly tourism.

Finally, Simon reaches Turkey's southern border where state-of-the-art camps have been built for hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing the conflict in Syria. Many are trying to carve out a new life in Turkey, and some are even learning Turkish, but the nearby thud of artillery and rockets is a constant reminder of the war just a few miles away.


MON 21:00 An Art Lovers' Guide (b09zgt0x)
Series 2

Beirut

Janina Ramirez and Alastair Sooke explore Beirut, the capital city of Lebanon. This fascinating crossroads between east and west has a rich history, and a troubled recent past. It's the most diverse city in the Arab world, with 18 recognised religious sects. Its French influence gave it the reputation as the Paris of the east during the mid 20th century. But this diversity turned to division in 1975 when the city became embroiled in a 15-year civil war.

In a place of so many identities and memories, art plays a unique role - as Janina and Alastair discover at the start of their journey, taking a cable car to the mountains that ring the city. Here, a stunning brutalist Christian cathedral of the Maronite Church overlooks the city's suburbs. It's an impressive expression of both the city's unique demographic mix, and of the identity of the Maronite community - one of Beirut's biggest minorities.

On their travels around the city they discover how art - and architecture - is confronting the past but also embracing the future. While Nina discovers how a bullet-ridden house has been transformed into an emotionally powerful war memorial, Alastair meets Bernard Khoury, the Middle East's most controversial architect, whose visionary buildings are designed to improve the social fabric of Beirut.

At the National Museum, they discover an incredible array of Phoenician and Roman artefacts, revealing Beirut's earliest origins. In a basement room full of sarcophagi, Nina discovers the final resting place for several Phoenician nobles, evidence that Beirut has long been an intersection of cultures, combining classical Greek sculptural details with ancient Egyptian designs.

Alastair also encounters a street artist paying tribute to an actress who united the city in times of trouble, and Nina takes tea with an elderly Armenian couple who reflect on the city's immigrant experience. And together, they experience the hedonistic Beirut nightlife that is drawing increasing numbers of visitors from around the world.

At this fascinating crossroads between east and west, Ramirez and Sooke discover a city whose cultural life and riches offer an essential way to understand the city's complex history and identity.


MON 22:00 The Ottomans: Europe's Muslim Emperors (b03d0d5d)
Episode 1

It was the world's last Islamic empire - a superpower of a million square miles. From its capital in Istanbul it matched the glories of Ancient Rome. And after six centuries in power it collapsed less than a hundred years ago.

Rageh Omaar, who has reported from across this former empire, sets out to discover why the Ottomans have vanished from our understanding of the history of Europe, why so few realise the importance of Ottoman history in today's Middle East, and why you have to know the Ottoman story to understand the roots of many of today's trouble spots, from Palestine, Iraq and Israel to Libya, Syria, Egypt, Bosnia and Kosovo.

In this first episode, the unlikely roots of the Ottomans are revealed. From nomadic horsemen, in a rural backwater of modern-day Turkey, they became rulers of a vast empire spanning three continents. At an incredible speed they came to rule over Baghdad and Cairo in the south, where they controlled the holiest sites of Islam - Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem, and they reached deep into Europe, taking in Sarajevo and threatening the gates of Vienna.

This is the forgotten story of how one dynasty, a single family, became Islamic rulers over huge swathes of the modern world.


MON 23:00 Dan Cruickshank: At Home with the British (b07ckwvx)
The Terrace

Dan Cruickshank explores our love affair with the terrace - the home that more Britons live in than any other. We love it because it has proved brilliantly adaptable, encompassing the Victorian parlour and modern open-plan living with equal ease.

Dan is in Toxteth, Liverpool 8. Famous for the riots that ripped it apart in the 1980s, Toxteth has a far richer and more varied history than that one tragic episode. Liverpool was the ultimate Victorian boom town, turned by trade and industry from provincial powerhouse into the second city of empire. 100,000 terraced houses were built to accommodate its vast workforce, with huge numbers in Toxteth. From a high of Victorian industry and immigration to a low of postwar decline, Toxteth's terraces have seen it all - even the 2015 Turner Prize, awarded for their remarkable 21st-century regeneration.


MON 00:00 The Toilet: An Unspoken History (b01kxyhd)
We each spend three years of our lives on the toilet, but how happy are we talking about this essential part of our lives? This film challenges that mindset by uncovering its role in our culture and exploring the social history of the toilet in Britain and abroad - as well as exploring many of our cultural toilet taboos.

Starting in Merida, Spain, with some of the earliest surviving Roman toilets, we journey around the world - from the UK to China, Japan and Bangladesh - visiting toilets, ranging from the historically significant to the beautiful, from the functional and sometimes not-so-functional to the downright bizarre.

Leading our journey is Everyman figure, Welsh poet and presenter Ifor ap Glyn, who has a passionate interest in the toilet, its history and how it has evolved over the centuries, right up to the development of the current design. Finally, there's a glimpse of the future and a possible solution to the global sanitation issues we now face.


MON 01:00 Top of the Pops (b08gk7wl)
Richard Skinner and Janice Long present another edition of the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 21 April 1983. Featuring Culture Club, The Human League, FR David, Heaven 17, Thompson Twins, Spandau Ballet and David Bowie.


MON 01:35 Top of the Pops (b08h9ct9)
John Peel and David Jensen present another edition of the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 28 April 1983. Featuring Galaxy, The Creatures, Tears for Fears, Kissing the Pink and Spandau Ballet.


MON 02:15 An Art Lovers' Guide (b09zgt0x)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



TUESDAY 17 APRIL 2018

TUE 19:00 Beyond 100 Days (b09zcr8j)
Series 1

17/04/2018

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


TUE 19:30 Nature's Microworlds (b01qchb0)
Great Barrier Reef

Steve Backshall goes beneath the surface of Australia's Great Barrier Reef to discover the crucial conditions that allowed a tiny coral building block to create the largest living structure on the planet. He unravels the complex mosaic of reef environments to reveal the key to the microworld's success, but discovers that life on this coast is not always easy. Nutrient-poor water, enormous storms and rising seas should make it impossible for such a vibrant ecosystem to exist here, so what allows the Great Barrier Reef to not only survive but flourish as the largest reef on Earth?


TUE 20:00 King Alfred and the Anglo Saxons (b03816y5)
Alfred of Wessex

King Alfred the Great fights a desperate guerrilla war in the marshes of Somerset - burning the cakes on the way - before his decisive victory at Edington. Creating towns, trade and coinage, reviving learning and literacy, Alfred then laid the foundations of a single kingdom of 'all the English'. Filmed on location from Reading to Rome, using original texts read in old English, and interviews with leading scholars, Michael Wood describes a man who was 'not just the greatest Briton, but one of the greatest rulers of any time or place'.


TUE 21:00 The Story of the Jews (b03bkmvs)
A Leap of Faith

Simon Schama explores the bright, hopeful moment when Enlightenment thinkers and revolutionary armies brought ghetto walls crashing down - allowing Jews to weave their wisdom, creativity and energies into the very fabric of modern life in Europe.

One of the most of fruitful branches of this Jewish renaissance was in music, and the stellar careers of Giacomo Meyerbeer and Felix Mendelssohn established the enduring tradition for Jewish musical prodigies. However, the remarkably successful integration of Jewish talent into the mainstream of European culture and commerce stirred up the ghosts of ancient prejudice, decked out in the new clothes of romantic nationalism and the pseudo-science of anti-semitism. The road to the hell of the Holocaust was paved by the diatribes of Richard Wagner, while the trial of Alfred Dreyfus led Theodor Herzl to conclude that without a homeland of their own, Jews would never be free of the millennia-old persecution.


TUE 22:00 Majesty and Mortar: Britain's Great Palaces (b047pdzg)
Inventing a National Style

Dan Cruickshank charts the arrival of a new style of palace that borrowed from ancient Rome and beyond, as the kings and queens of Britain demanded that architecture proclaim their right to rule, and even their divinity. From London's Banqueting House to the birth of Buckingham Palace via Kensington, Kew and a new wing at Hampton Court, the palace became like a bejewelled casket to house the monarch. But disaster was around the corner and Britain learned that a palace could transform into a prison overnight.


TUE 23:00 Chivalry and Betrayal: The Hundred Years War (b01qsqd2)
Breaking the Bonds 1360-1415

England, wracked by plague and revolt, loses the upper hand until Henry V, determined to prove his right to be king, turns the tide at the battle of Agincourt.


TUE 00:00 Francesco's Italy: Top to Toe (b007920b)
The Heart of Italy

Francesco da Mosto discovers why Rome is the Eternal City and goes head to head with Mussolini. Travelling via the fantastic water gardens of Villa d'Este and the royal seat of the Bourbon dynasty, he arrives in Naples. After an encounter with Italy's most astonishing sculpture - Sanmartino's Veiled Christ - and a lesson in Neapolitan pizza making, Francesco descends deep into the caverns of underground Naples and discovers an eerie cult of the dead.


TUE 01:00 Top of the Pops (b08h9j0j)
Mike Read and Tommy Vance present another edition of the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 12 May 1983. Featuring Modern Romance, Hall & Oates, Hot Chocolate, Galaxy, The Creatures, Men at Work and Spandau Ballet.


TUE 01:30 Top of the Pops (b08hzrdx)
Simon Bates and Gary Davies present another edition of the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 19 May 1983. Featuring D Train, New Edition, David Grant, Blancmange, The Beat and Wham.


TUE 02:00 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.



WEDNESDAY 18 APRIL 2018

WED 19:00 Beyond 100 Days (b09zcr8p)
Series 1

18/04/2018

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


WED 19:30 Nature's Microworlds (b01qhlfg)
Namib Desert

Steve Backshall takes us on a journey to the oldest desert in the world, the Namib in south west Africa, where the treacherous Skeleton Coast sees freezing waters meet a sea of spectacular dunes. With temperatures regularly reaching 60 degrees and with little to no rainfall, the animals that live here have to be tough. Steve tracks down these amazing animals, showing the clever tactics that each employs to combat the heat, before revealing the unique secret that allows life to survive here at all, in such a harsh environment.


WED 20:00 The Great Rift: Africa's Wild Heart (b00qhs5v)
Fire

Visible from space, Africa's Great Rift Valley runs three thousand miles from the Red Sea to the mouth of the Zambezi. It's a diverse terrain of erupting volcanoes, forest-clad mountains, spectacular valleys, rolling grasslands, huge lakes and mighty rivers, and is home to crocodiles, hippos, lions, elephants, flocks of flamingos and a diversity of indigenous peoples.

Using state-of-the-art high-definition filming techniques, this series investigates the geological forces which shaped East Africa's Great Rift, and which make it one of the world's most wildlife-rich landscapes.

The valley is the product of deep-seated geological forces which have spewed out a line of cloud-wreathed volcanoes stretching from Ethiopia to Tanzania. Their peaks provide a refuge for East Africa's most extraordinary wildlife, including newly discovered and previously unfilmed species which have evolved surprising survival strategies to cope with their challenging mountain environment.


WED 21:00 The Real Winnie Mandela (b00qbyhq)
Documentary about the late Winnie Mandela. Was she mother of the nation or an out-of-control egotist? Whilst her husband will forever be associated with taking South Africa to democracy, it is Winnie's life that most accurately mirrors the story of the struggle. The apartheid regime targeted her with harassment, torture and banishment, but Winnie responded with bravery and defiance bordering on recklessness.

Illustrated with rich BBC archive drawn from the last seven decades and interviews with leading British and South African journalists, the film charts the role that Winnie played in the struggle and shows why she continues to divide opinion.


WED 22:00 The Plantagenets (b03zdm4b)
Series 1

An English Empire

Professor Robert Bartlett continues the remarkable story of the Plantagenets. England's longest-reigning royal dynasty fights to expand their power across the British Isles and win back their lands in France. In this golden age of chivalry, a clear sense of English nationhood emerges and parliament is born.


WED 23:00 Timeshift (b00dzzdc)
Series 8

Last Days of Steam

The surprising story of how Britain entered a new age of steam railways after the Second World War and why it quickly came to an end.

After the war, the largely destroyed railways of Europe were rebuilt to carry more modern diesel and electric trains. Britain, however, chose to build thousands of brand new steam locomotives. Did we stay with steam because coal was seen as the most reliable power source, or were the railways run by men who couldn't bear to let go of their beloved steam trains?

The new British locomotives were designed to stay in service well into the 1970s, but in some cases they were taken off the railways and scrapped within just five years. When Dr Richard Beeching took over British Railways in the 1960s the writing was on the wall, and in 1968 the last steam passenger train blew its whistle.

But while steam use declined, steam enthusiasm grew. As many steam engines lay rusting in scrapyards around Britain, enthusiasts raised funds to buy, restore and return them to their former glory. In 2008, the first brand new steam locomotive to be built in Britain in nearly 50 years rolled off the line, proving our enduring love of these machines.


WED 00:00 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?


WED 01:00 Top of the Pops (b08hzs4m)
Peter Powell and Pat Sharp present another edition of the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 26 May 1983. Featuring Big Country, Hot Chocolate, The Police, New Edition and Forrest.


WED 01:25 Top of the Pops (b08k50f2)
John Peel and David Jensen present the pop chart show, first broadcast on 8 June 1983. Studio guests include Twisted Sister, The Imposter, Shakatak, Big Country and The Police.


WED 01:50 The Great Rift: Africa's Wild Heart (b00qhs5v)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


WED 02:50 Timeshift (b00dzzdc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:00 today]



THURSDAY 19 APRIL 2018

THU 19:00 Beyond 100 Days (b09zcr8v)
Series 1

19/04/2018

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


THU 19:30 Top of the Pops (b09yng6q)
Steve Wright and Gary Davies present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 22 August 1985. Featuring The Cars, Baltimora, Kate Bush, Princess and Madonna.


THU 20:00 Dive WWII: Our Secret History (b020vjxz)
Episode 1

A deepwater dive team search the seabed off the coast of Northern Ireland for the forgotten shipwrecks of WW2's Battle of the Atlantic. Jules Hudson helps identify the wrecks and reveals how the city was critical to Allied victory.

Maritime historian and underwater explorer Ian Lawler leads a team of deepwater divers to the ocean floor off Northern Ireland. He and the team are searching for the forgotten shipwrecks of WW2's longest, most epic naval campaign, the Battle of the Atlantic.

Presenter Jules Hudson joins Ian and two naval experts as they attempt to piece together the stories of the wrecks using the dive team's underwater footage. What they discover reveals the unique role played by the city of Derry-Londonderry in fighting the battle. And while the divers continue their mission at sea, Jules hunts on land for the final clues to the forgotten story of the battle.

To begin, the dive team discover the wreck of an Allied escort vessel sunk in battle 40 miles off Donegal. They also discover the wrecks of the German U-boats that prowled Northern Ireland's coastline looking for targets. Meanwhile, in Derry, presenter Jules Hudson uncovers the remains of a massive US military base. And the residents of the city remember the war years, recounting their memories of life on the front line.


THU 21:00 Putin, Russia and the West (b01bptgc)
War

The third episode tells how, in August 2008, Russia went to war with America's ally, Georgia. Russia's president Dmitry Medvedev and Georgia's president Mikheil Saakashvili reveal why each decided it was necessary to make war on the other.

Former American secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and former secretary of defense Robert Gates describe what happened inside the National Security Council as President Bush considered whether to send in ground troops to save Georgia's capital. They reveal just how near to war the conflict brought the two nuclear super-powers.


THU 22:00 Law and Order (b00jks3d)
A Villain's Tale

Four-part drama series about the British judicial system, dealing with an investigation presented from the perspectives of the police force, the criminal, the solicitor and the prison system. Does Mr English pick the villain from the identity parade?


THU 23:20 Totally British: 70s Rock 'n' Roll (b01r3pm9)
1970-1974

Trawled from the depths of the BBC Archive and classic BBC shows of the day - Old Grey Whistle Test, Top of the Pops and Full House - a collection of performance gems from a totally rock 'n' roll early 1970s.

This was a golden era for British rock 'n' roll as everyone moved on from the whimsical 60s and looked around for something with a bit more oomph! In a pre-heavy metal world bands were experimenting with influences that dated back to 50s rock 'n' roll, whilst taking their groove from old-school rhythm and blues. It was also a time when men grew their hair long!

In a celebration of this era, we kick off with an early 1970s Badfinger number direct from the BBC library and continue the groove from the BBC vaults with classic rock 'n' roll heroes like Free, Status Quo, the Faces, Humble Pie and Mott the Hoople. Plus from deep within the BBC archives we dig out some rarities from the likes of Babe Ruth, Stone the Crows, The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Man, Heavy Metal Kids and original rockers Thin Lizzy... to name but a few.

Sit back and enjoy a 60-minute non-stop ride of unadulterated Totally British 70s Rock 'n' Roll!


THU 00:20 Top of the Pops (b09yng6q)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


THU 00:50 Danny Baker's Great Album Showdown (b01ql9xk)
File under: Pop

What makes a great pop album? Danny Baker celebrates the golden age of the analogue, vinyl LP with pop star Boy George, writer Grace Dent and journalist David Hepworth. Opinionated and impassioned, Baker and his guests select their favourite pop albums and discuss how the LPs of the 60s and 70s were produced - and devoured - in quite a different way to their modern equivalents.


THU 01:50 Putin, Russia and the West (b01bptgc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


THU 02:50 Dive WWII: Our Secret History (b020vjxz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]



FRIDAY 20 APRIL 2018

FRI 19:00 World News Today (b09zcr90)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


FRI 19:30 BBC Young Musician (b09zgyt0)
2018

Woodwind Category Final

With two places in the semi-final already decided, it's the turn of the woodwind players to take centre stage. Josie d'Arby is joined by leading bassoonist Amy Harman at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire to bring highlights from the BBC Young Musician 2018 woodwind final.

Five outstanding musicians have been selected, playing an array of instruments. They are: 18-year-old saxophonist Robert Burton from Cambridgeshire, from London, 17-year-old flautist Marie Sato, Francis Bushell, an 18-year-old bassoonist from Essex, the youngest competitor in these category finals, 14-year-old Eliza Haskins, a recorder player from Devon, and completing the line-up is 16-year-old clarinettist Tom Myles from County Down, Northern Ireland. They perform music from the Baroque period to the 21st century by composers such as Corelli, Faure and Gershwin.

The category finalists perform in front of an expert panel of judges: clarinettist Emma Johnson, herself a BBC Young Musician winner in 1984, Juliette Bausor, principal flautist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and chair of the jury, composer, performer and writer Kerry Andrew. They will decide who will win the woodwind final and proceed through to the semi-final.

The programme includes profiles of the competitors, extensive highlights of their performances together with the behind-the-scenes story of the competition.

2018 marks the 40th anniversary of BBC Young Musician. During this time the competition has showcased the brightest and best musical talent in the UK and this year is no exception. Throughout the series the aim for our musicians is to win through to the grand final where they will perform at Birmingham's Symphony Hall with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra conducted by Mark Wigglesworth. Only one can claim the title BBC Young Musician 2018.


FRI 21:00 Buena Vista Social Club (b03p8shj)
Cuba's rich and colourful past comes vividly to life in this legendary, Oscar-nominated documentary.

The award-winning Buena Vista Social Club album produced by Ry Cooder remains the biggest-selling world music album ever, showcasing the talents of a dream team of veterans from Cuban music's golden age, including Ibrahim Ferrer, Ruben Gonzalez, Eliades Ochoa, Omara Portuondo and Compay Segundo.

Never a regular band, The Buena Vista Social Club had gone their separate ways, but in this extraordinary film Wim Wenders intimately documents Ry Cooder's return to Havana, encountering these musical legends again as they look back to the halcyon days of Cuba's music scene, when the rich and famous travelled from all over the world to listen to them. In the climax, their music comes alive once again, as they rehearse for their first - and only - performance in America, at New York's Carnegie Hall.


FRI 22:40 Latin Music USA (b00qbzxs)
East Side Story

The first of a four-part series revealing the deep musical and social impact of Latin music in the USA.

The massive success of Santana's innovative Latin-blues at the Woodstock Festival leads back in time to the first Cuban immigrants arriving, with their Afro-Cuban music, into the States. Using feature film clips, rare archive and location filming, the programme examines how Afro-Cuban music has impacted - since early last century - on jazz, pop rhythms and dance styles.

From Cuban rumba to New York mambo, Latin music enthralled 1950s America, challenging racial attitudes and changing the stereotypes projected in movies like West Side Story. It influenced Hollywood, TV sitcoms and 60s rock 'n' roll, as the Beatles and many American R&B bands absorbed Latin rhythms into the wider worlds of rock music, fashion and culture.

Featuring Carlos Santana, Cachao, Tito Puente, Dizzy Gillespie and the greatest names in Afro-Cuban music.


FRI 23:40 Arena (b00qmxcl)
My Name Is Celia Cruz

The queen of salsa, Celia Cruz has been the most adored and dynamic singer in Latin America for more than four decades. Since she left Cuba at the time of the 1959 revolution with her band Sonora Matancera, she lived in New York and rose to international fame with the legendary Latin bands of Tito Puente and Johnny Pacheco, the creators of salsa.

This profile includes testimony from friends, fans, fellow professionals and a stunning performance at New York's world-famous Apollo Theatre.


FRI 00:45 Queens of Jazz: The Joy and Pain of the Jazz Divas (b01sbxqw)
A celebration of some of the greatest female jazz singers of the 20th century. It takes an unflinching and revealing look at what it actually took to be a jazz diva during a turbulent time in America's social history - a time when battle lines were being constantly drawn around issues of race, gender and popular culture.

The documentary tracks the diva's difficult progress as she emerges from the tough, testosterone-fuelled world of the big bands of the 30s and 40s, to fill nightclubs and saloons across the US in the 50s and early 60s as a force in her own right. Looking at the lives and careers of six individual singers (Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee, Sarah Vaughan, Nina Simone and Annie Ross), the film not only talks to those who knew and worked with these queens of jazz, but also to contemporary singers who sit on the shoulders of these trailblazing talents without having to endure the pain and hardship it took for them to make their highly individual voices heard above the prejudice of mid-century America.

This is a documentary about how these women triumphed - always at some personal cost - to become some of the greatest artists of the 20th century, women who chose singing above life itself because singing was their life.


FRI 01:45 Barry Manilow at the BBC (b01hrb2y)
A mixture of songs, interviews and rarely seen documentary footage offers a glimpse as to how American crooner Barry Manilow's career has evolved on screen for more than forty years. Classics such as Mandy, Copacabana and Could It Be Magic were played to millions of viewers first time around and are revisited in clips from Top of the Pops, Parkinson and various filmed shows including his pivotal open-air concert at Blenheim Palace in 1983 - it's a miracle!


FRI 02:45 Latin Music USA (b00qbzxs)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:40 today]




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

An Art Lovers' Guide 21:00 MON (b09zgt0x)

An Art Lovers' Guide 02:15 MON (b09zgt0x)

Apples, Pears and Paint: How to Make a Still Life Painting 02:00 TUE (b03ny8wk)

Arena 23:40 FRI (b00qmxcl)

Atlantic: The Wildest Ocean on Earth 19:00 SAT (p02wnh9k)

Atlantic: The Wildest Ocean on Earth 01:05 SAT (p02wnh9k)

BBC Young Musician 19:30 FRI (b09zgyt0)

Barry Manilow at the BBC 01:45 FRI (b01hrb2y)

Beyond 100 Days 19:00 MON (b09zcr8c)

Beyond 100 Days 19:00 TUE (b09zcr8j)

Beyond 100 Days 19:00 WED (b09zcr8p)

Beyond 100 Days 19:00 THU (b09zcr8v)

Buena Vista Social Club 21:00 FRI (b03p8shj)

Chivalry and Betrayal: The Hundred Years War 23:00 TUE (b01qsqd2)

Commonwealth Games Extra 20:00 SAT (b09zg6pz)

Conversations 23:00 SUN (b08z1gjy)

Dan Cruickshank: At Home with the British 23:00 MON (b07ckwvx)

Danny Baker's Great Album Showdown 00:50 THU (b01ql9xk)

Dive WWII: Our Secret History 20:00 THU (b020vjxz)

Dive WWII: Our Secret History 02:50 THU (b020vjxz)

Francesco's Italy: Top to Toe 00:00 TUE (b007920b)

From Andy Pandy to Zebedee: The Golden Age of Children's Television 23:35 SAT (b06t3mhm)

Insect Worlds 00:35 SAT (b01rd374)

Insect Worlds 00:50 SUN (b01rk1x9)

King Alfred and the Anglo Saxons 20:00 TUE (b03816y5)

Latin Music USA 22:40 FRI (b00qbzxs)

Latin Music USA 02:45 FRI (b00qbzxs)

Law and Order 22:00 THU (b00jks3d)

Majesty and Mortar: Britain's Great Palaces 22:00 TUE (b047pdzg)

Natural World 20:00 SUN (b07hp89f)

Nature's Microworlds 19:30 MON (b01q7fs8)

Nature's Microworlds 19:30 TUE (b01qchb0)

Nature's Microworlds 19:30 WED (b01qhlfg)

Only Connect 19:00 SUN (b09zg6f0)

Putin, Russia and the West 21:00 THU (b01bptgc)

Putin, Russia and the West 01:50 THU (b01bptgc)

Queens of Jazz: The Joy and Pain of the Jazz Divas 00:45 FRI (b01sbxqw)

Revolution and Romance: Musical Masters of the 19th Century 01:20 SUN (b07g9q4w)

Salamander 21:00 SAT (b09ng877)

Salamander 21:45 SAT (b09ny5h2)

The Bermuda Triangle: Beneath the Waves 22:35 SAT (b007c68n)

The Bermuda Triangle: Beneath the Waves 02:05 SAT (b007c68n)

The Great Rift: Africa's Wild Heart 20:00 WED (b00qhs5v)

The Great Rift: Africa's Wild Heart 01:50 WED (b00qhs5v)

The Mystery of Rome's X Tomb 00:00 WED (b037vywt)

The Ottomans: Europe's Muslim Emperors 22:00 MON (b03d0d5d)

The Plantagenets 22:00 WED (b03zdm4b)

The Real Winnie Mandela 21:00 WED (b00qbyhq)

The Story of the Jews 21:00 TUE (b03bkmvs)

The Toilet: An Unspoken History 00:00 MON (b01kxyhd)

Timeshift 23:50 SUN (b01q6xh6)

Timeshift 23:00 WED (b00dzzdc)

Timeshift 02:50 WED (b00dzzdc)

Titanic's Tragic Twin: The Britannic Disaster 21:00 SUN (b083dp3s)

Titanic's Tragic Twin: The Britannic Disaster 02:20 SUN (b083dp3s)

Top of the Pops 01:00 MON (b08gk7wl)

Top of the Pops 01:35 MON (b08h9ct9)

Top of the Pops 01:00 TUE (b08h9j0j)

Top of the Pops 01:30 TUE (b08hzrdx)

Top of the Pops 01:00 WED (b08hzs4m)

Top of the Pops 01:25 WED (b08k50f2)

Top of the Pops 19:30 THU (b09yng6q)

Top of the Pops 00:20 THU (b09yng6q)

Totally British: 70s Rock 'n' Roll 23:20 THU (b01r3pm9)

Turkey with Simon Reeve 20:00 MON (b08l56x8)

University Challenge 19:30 SUN (b09zg6f2)

Why the Industrial Revolution Happened Here 22:00 SUN (b01pz9d6)

World News Today 19:00 FRI (b09zcr90)