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 05 MAY 2018

SAT 19:00 Nature's Epic Journeys (b07bkcvb)
Elephants

A thousand elephants, from magnificent bulls to vulnerable orphans, come together in a crucial annual gathering in northern Kenya, whilst facing deadly threats from both predators and poachers.

Liz Bonnin leads a team of scientists and film-makers using cutting-edge satellite-tracking technology to follow individual elephants day by day as they cope with their daily challenges. The team capture surprising new behaviour and witness how elephant society is responding to a world changed by poaching, including the remarkable way young elephants are coping with the loss of their parents.


SAT 20:00 Wild Burma: Nature's Lost Kingdom (p01hscs5)
Episode 2

For the first time in over 50 years, a team of wildlife film-makers from the BBC's Natural History Unit and scientists from the world-renowned Smithsonian Institution has been granted access to venture deep into Burma's impenetrable jungles. Their mission is to discover whether these forests are home to iconic animals, rapidly disappearing from the rest of the world - this expedition has come not a moment too soon.

On the second leg of their journey, wildlife film-makers Gordon Buchanan and Justine Evans, along with a team of scientists, head deep into the mountains of western Burma. This is where they hope to find the shy sun bear and two of the world's rarest and most beautiful cats: the Asian golden cat and the clouded leopard.

Meanwhile, zoologist Ross Piper and the science team are on a mission to create a wildlife survey to present to the government of Burma to persuade them that these forests are so unique they must be protected. High on the forest ridges, Gordon finds evidence to suggest that Burma's wildlife might be in danger. Undercover filming in a border town known as the 'Las Vegas of the jungle' leads to a shocking discovery.


SAT 21:00 Salamander (b09rn3f2)
Series 2: Blood Diamonds

Episode 7

Paul is horrified to realise that he has been betrayed by Rene when his friend arrives to represent Jacky and warns her not to trust him. On following them back to Jacky's flat, Jacky refuses to speak with him so he resorts to examining the 'grey information' that Monda has given him about Minnebach Bank.

In Flemish and French with English subtitles.


SAT 21:45 Salamander (b09sd340)
Series 2: Blood Diamonds

Episode 8

Paul is in despair thinking that Sofie has been abducted, but she is blissfully unaware of his concerns as she arrives with Jamie at their French seaside hideout.

In Flemish and French with English subtitles.


SAT 22:35 Land of the Lost Wolves (b01fngfw)
Episode 2

After spending four weeks camping out in the bitterly cold Cascade Mountains, wildlife cameraman Gordon Buchanan and a team of wolf experts discover that most of the pack have been killed by locals who live by the motto 'shoot, shovel and shut up'. But have any of the pack escaped unharmed? As the team chase exciting new leads, there is a glimmer of hope on the horizon.


SAT 23:35 Top of the Pops (b0b16s6d)
Mike Read and Steve Wright present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 12 September 1985. Featuring Amii Stewart, Huey Lewis & The News, Maria Vidal, Marillion, Mai Tai, and David Bowie & Mick Jagger.


SAT 00:05 An Evening with Glen Campbell (b01pyfht)
A special concert recorded at the Royal Festival Hall in 1977, where 80 musicians played new arrangements of Glen Campbell's hit songs.


SAT 01:25 Nature's Epic Journeys (b07bkcvb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


SAT 02:25 Wild Burma: Nature's Lost Kingdom (p01hscs5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]



SUNDAY 06 MAY 2018

SUN 19:00 Only Connect (b0b1z88l)
Series 13

The Final

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

It is the grand final as two returning teams battle it out to be named series champions. They compete to find the connections between things which, at first glance, seem utterly random. So join Victoria Coren Mitchell to learn what comes fourth in this sequence: Caloris Montes, Skadi Mons, Mount Everest.


SUN 19:30 Civilisations Stories (b0b1c8v6)
Series 1

Treasures of the Bronze Age with Ray Mears

Bushcraft expert Ray Mears travels back in time 4,000 years into Bronze Age East Anglia in search of clues about its people living in this mysterious yet innovative period of our history.

The Bronze Age was a crucial point in time that linked the Stone Age with the Iron Age. Ray discovers its artworks, jewellery, monuments and unusual finds - and how each object tells us something about the spirit of our ancestors.

He begins at Southwold Museum in Suffolk where he examines a small and personable stone carving, the Easton Bavents Deer, made just as the Stone Age was ending and the Bronze Age was beginning. At Holme beach in north Norfolk, Ray investigates the site of an imposing timber circle Seahenge, now preserved at Lynne Museum. He discovers what it tells us about the ceremonial rites of the early Bronze Age people, and how they were capable of great engineering undertakings.

Ray learns about the shared religious beliefs of Bronze Age people at Norwich Castle Museum where he goes behind the scenes with senior curator of archaeology Dr Tim Pestell to find a rare Bronze Age treasure - the Rudham Dirk. Heading west towards the Fens, he visits Flag Fen Archaeology Park - the site of an important Bronze Age settlement. Along with archaeologist Francis Pryor, Ray admires a beautifully made dagger with antler handle and learns of the ceremonial worship of water.

At Ely Museum in Cambridgeshire, Ray comes face to face with the Great Gold Torc - a majestic piece of jewellery that marks the emergence of a warrior aristocracy.

The journey concludes back at Norwich Castle Museum with one of the greatest treasures ever discovered in Britain, the Snettisham Treasure. This may have been the royal treasure of the Iceni tribe and was produced as the Bronze Age receded and the Iron Age dawned. Ray's curiosity leads us on a journey back through time and to enlightening treasures - showing us how the Bronze Age developed into an astonishingly advanced civilisation.


SUN 20:00 Dancing in the Blitz: How World War II Made British Ballet (p01s4z2h)
David Bintley, director of the Birmingham Royal Ballet, explores how the Second World War was the making of British ballet and how fundamental the years of hardship and adversity were in getting the British public to embrace ballet. Bintley shows how the then Sadler's Wells Ballet Company, led by Ninette de Valois and featuring a star-studded generation of British dancers and choreographers including Margot Fonteyn and Frederick Ashton, was forged during the Second World War.

It's the story of how de Valois and her small company of dancers took what was essentially a foreign art form and made it British despite the falling bombs, the rationing and the call-up. Plus it is the story of how Britain, as a nation, fell in love with ballet.

Using rare and previously unseen footage and interviews with dance icons such as Dame Gillian Lynne and Dame Beryl Grey, Bintley shows how the Sadler's Wells Ballet company survived an encounter with Nazi forces in Holland, dancing whilst the bombs were falling in the Blitz, rationing and a punishing touring schedule to bring ballet to the British people as an antidote to the austerity the country faced to emerge, postwar, as the Royal Ballet.


SUN 21:00 Ballet's Dark Knight: Sir Kenneth MacMillan (b0b2gjbl)
Film exploring the life and work of celebrated yet controversial choreographer Sir Kenneth MacMillan whose pioneering creativity unleashed over sixty new ballets that changed the dance landscape forever. Weaving together stunning specially shot performance footage, never-before-seen family super 8 home movies and MacMillan's own voice from the archives, alongside those who were closest to him, the documentary reveals MacMillan to have been a complex figure who lit up the ballet world with his bold choreographic genius while struggling privately with alcoholism, anxiety, and depression.

Packed full of extraordinary ballet excerpts showcasing a wide range of MacMillan's work including Romeo and Juliet, Manon and Mayerling, the programme also offers a surprisingly moving and intimate portrait of a true giant of 20th-century culture.


SUN 22:00 Michael Clark's to a simple, rock 'n' roll . . . song. (b0b2m5g8)
The latest work by groundbreaking choreographer Michael Clark. Acclaimed by audiences and critics alike, the London Evening Standard called the production 'an adrenaline shot that sends you away buzzing'.

The triple bill pays homage to three of Clark's greatest musical influences. Act 1 features commanding choreography, pulsating with a propulsive force to the punk rock of Patti Smith's landmark album, Horses. Act 2 is a reflection on Erik Satie and his influence on Clark's mentors past and present, the dance meticulous, minimalist and coolly refined. Act 3 is an iridescent tribute to David Bowie, intricate, sublime, the mood moving from elegiac to joyously rebellious.

Recorded at the Barbican, London in 2017, this Olivier Award-nominated production features gorgeously arresting choreography performed by a company of fearless dancers including Harry Alexander, who won the Critics' Circle 'Emerging Artist' National Dance Award in 2017.

The production also features a stage adaptation by Charles Atlas - long-time collaborator with Michael Clark - of his multi-channel video installation Painting by Numbers.

With an introduction from the inimitable Jarvis Cocker, who credits Michael Clark with introducing him to the world of dance.


SUN 22:55 Duet (b0b2mm1p)
Short film exploring the female within the world of ballet. Yasmine Naghdi and Beatriz Stix-Brunell - two of the Royal Ballet's brightest young stars - discuss and perform an all-female pas de deux, showcasing not just grace and beauty but strength, athleticism and power.


SUN 23:00 Rich Hall's California Stars (b04bbfzw)
Rich Hall continues his cultural critique of American people and places.

California has always been an empty sales pitch. Its first settlements were borne of missionary zeal. It promised a haven from marauders, banditos and mercenaries. Since then it has wiled us with unlimited gold, boundless harvests, silver-screen stardom, dotcom salvation and hi-tech silicon marvels. It has always been a place that promises a good chance of success - if you're youthful or white. And if you're Mexican, it at least promises a decent chance of survival.

The California dream has always eclipsed its facts or its history. Most other US states are named after geographical place names or Indian tribes or British royalty - New York, Nebraska, Maryland. California was named for Calafia, a mythical Spanish queen, a kind of Spanish Snow White. At the California History Attraction in Anaheim she is portrayed in a 20-minute film narrated by Whoopi Goldberg.

And that's California in a nutshell - a place that instantly forgets its past so it can reinvent it for tourists and dreamers. True reality has never been good enough for Californians. They are always vaguely dissatisfied with themselves, their bodies, their spirituality, their government and their present car. Yet they still believe they shape both American culture and American character. And to a large degree, they have.

In his unique and sardonic way, Rich takes the viewer on a skewed but keenly eyed journey to the place built on a tectonic faultline that still deigns to call itself the Land of Dreams.


SUN 00:30 Science and Islam (b00gksx4)
The Language of Science

Physicist Jim Al-Khalili travels through Syria, Iran, Tunisia and Spain to tell the story of the great leap in scientific knowledge that took place in the Islamic world between the 8th and 14th centuries.

Its legacy is tangible, with terms like algebra, algorithm and alkali all being Arabic in origin and at the very heart of modern science - there would be no modern mathematics or physics without algebra, no computers without algorithms and no chemistry without alkalis.

For Baghdad-born Al-Khalili, this is also a personal journey, and on his travels he uncovers a diverse and outward-looking culture, fascinated by learning and obsessed with science. From the great mathematician Al-Khwarizmi, who did much to establish the mathematical tradition we now know as algebra, to Ibn Sina, a pioneer of early medicine whose Canon of Medicine was still in use as recently as the 19th century, Al-Khalili pieces together a remarkable story of the often-overlooked achievements of the early medieval Islamic scientists.


SUN 01:30 Dancing in the Blitz: How World War II Made British Ballet (p01s4z2h)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


SUN 02:30 Ballet's Dark Knight: Sir Kenneth MacMillan (b0b2gjbl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



MONDAY 07 MAY 2018

MON 19:00 Beyond 100 Days (b0b22lzk)
Series 1

07/05/2018

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


MON 19:30 Danceworks (b0b2ly15)
Series 1

The Dying Swan

Using the lyrical and elegant metaphor of a ballet classic about death, this film explores how a dancer fights age, the deterioration of the body over time and fear of retirement.

Former Royal Ballet principal, 43-year-old Zenaida Yanowsky, plans to overcome knee surgery and fight her body back to fitness so as to perform a swansong, one of ballet's best-known of solos, The Dying Swan. For Zenaida, this is one of her last public performances before drawing the curtains on an acclaimed classical ballet career.

The film also features an encounter between Zenaida and current Royal Ballet rising star principal dancer, the Russian-born-and-trained Natalia Osipova.


MON 20:00 Jet! When Britain Ruled the Skies (b01m9vjl)
The Shape of Things to Come

In the heady years following World War II, Britain was a nation in love with aviation. Having developed the jet engine in wartime, British engineers were now harnessing its power to propel the world's first passenger jets. By 1960 the UK's passenger airline industry was the largest in the world, with routes stretching to the furthest-flung remnants of Empire.

And the aircraft carrying these New Elizabethans around the globe were also British - the Vickers Viscount, the Bristol Britannia and the world's first pure jet-liner, the sleek, silver De Havilland Comet, which could fly twice as high and twice as fast as its American competitors. It seemed the entire nation was reaching for the skies to create the shape of things to come for air travel worldwide. But would their reach exceed their grasp?


MON 21:00 The Road to Palmyra (b0b2gjpl)
Documentary which follows historian Dan Cruickshank and photographer Don McCullin into the heart of war-torn Syria, on a dangerous mission to document the cultural destruction wrought by so-called Islamic State, and understand what it means to the people of the nation.

Their final destination is the ancient city of Palmyra, to find out what remains of the ruins. For Dan and Don, these stones represent the very soul of Syria, and for Syrians and the world, the debate about what to do with them is about to begin. For both men, it is a return journey to a place with which they have long been obsessed. But to get there, they have to travel through a country that is still in the grip of war.


MON 22:00 Storyville (b06f146k)
A Syrian Love Story

Award-winning documentary film by renowned filmmaker Sean McAllister, telling the poignant story of a family torn apart by the Assad regime.

When Sean begins filming them in Syria in 2009, prior to the wave of revolutions in the Arab world, Raghda is incarcerated as a political prisoner and Amer is caring for their young boys alone. Raghda is eventually released from prison, but the family is forced to flee the country following the arrest of Sean McAllister himself. In exile, Raghda battles between being a mother or a revolutionary.

Filmed over five years, this is an intimate and deeply moving portrait of a family trying to survive in exile - adapting to their new home, but missing their homeland. For Raghda and Amer, it is a journey of hope, dreams and despair: for the revolution, their homeland and each other.


MON 23:15 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.


MON 00:15 Jet! When Britain Ruled the Skies (b01m9vjl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


MON 01:15 Top of the Pops (b08p2kdw)
Peter Powell and Mike Read present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 3 November 1983. Featuring ABC, Donna Summer, Elton John, Status Quo, Madness, Shakin' Stevens and Billy Joel.


MON 01:45 Top of the Pops (b08q2w97)
David Jensen and John Peel present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 10 November 1983. Features Musical Youth, Adam Ant, Eurythmics, Limahl, The Cure and Billy Joel.


MON 02:20 Danceworks (b0b2ly15)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


MON 02:50 The Road to Palmyra (b0b2gjpl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



TUESDAY 08 MAY 2018

TUE 19:00 Beyond 100 Days (b0b22lzq)
Series 1

08/05/2018

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


TUE 19:30 Danceworks (b0b2lx9h)
Series 1

Street to Stage

Dickson Mbi is at a critical breakthrough point in his career as he transitions from his street dance roots to the contemporary dance limelight. This film follows Dickson as he wins the UK heat of the international street dance competition Keep on Dancing (KOD), with his 'popping' team Fiya House. But this is nothing compared to the challenge that now faces him as he starts to choreograph and perform his first contemporary dance solo under the watchful eyes of Akram Khan's producer, Farooq Chaudhry. At this crucial point in his career Dickson now has to push his mental and physical abilities beyond what he thinks is possible.


TUE 20:00 Eurovision Song Contest (b0b2lz6p)
2018

Semi-Final One

Scott Mills and Rylan Clark-Neal are live from Lisbon in Portugal for the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest. As 19 acts will be battle it out, UK viewers have the opportunity to vote for their favourite. The UK's entry, SuRie, also joins Scott and Rylan to discuss all things Eurovision.


TUE 22:10 Extinct: A Horizon Guide to Dinosaurs (b014vy60)
Dallas Campbell delves into the Horizon archive to discover how our ideas about dinosaurs have changed over the past 40 years. From realising that lumbering swamp dwellers were really agile warm blooded killers, astonishing new finds, controversial theories and breakthrough technology have enabled scientists to rethink how they lived and solve the mystery of their disappearance. And they can even reveal whether dinosaurs might still be with us today.


TUE 23:10 Timeshift (b082v57b)
Series 16

Penny Blacks and Twopenny Blues: How Britain Got Stuck on Stamps

Timeshift charts the evolution of the British postage stamp and examines how these sticky little labels became a national obsession. Like many of us, writer and presenter Andrew Martin collected stamps when he was young, and now he returns to that lost world to unpeel the history of iconic stamps like the Penny Black and the Blue Mauritius, study famous collectors like King George V and the enigmatic Count Phillip de Ferrary, and to meet present-day philatelists at a stamp club.


TUE 00:15 Crash Test Dummies: A Smashing History (b039dyl5)
Engineer Jem Stansfield investigates how the crash test dummy has become an icon for safety. For 65 years he has been crashed, smashed and impaled, evolving from a simple military mannequin into a highly sophisticated measuring tool. Jem meets a whole range of dummies from the past, present and future at crash laboratories in Sweden, the UK and US to discover how their evolution has mirrored car safety improvements.

An affectionate look at a unique feat of engineering which makes you laugh, gasp and wince all at once.


TUE 01:15 Top of the Pops (b08q2wc7)
Simon Bates and Richard Skinner present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 24 November 1983. Featuring Paul Young, Tina Turner, The Smiths, Marilyn, Simple Minds, The Style Council and Billy Joel.


TUE 01:40 Top of the Pops (b08qkzj5)
Mike Read and Tommy Vance present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 8 December 1983. Featuring Thompson Twins, Billy Joel, Tears for Fears, Howard Jones, Culture Club and The Flying Pickets.


TUE 02:20 Danceworks (b0b2lx9h)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


TUE 02:50 Extinct: A Horizon Guide to Dinosaurs (b014vy60)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:10 today]



WEDNESDAY 09 MAY 2018

WED 19:00 Beyond 100 Days (b0b22m02)
Series 1

09/05/2018

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


WED 19:30 Danceworks (b0b2m14k)
Series 1

Choreographing History

Experimental and highly original, Shobana Jeyasingh is a female choreographer in a male-dominated world. Her tenaciousness has resulted in her dance company surviving for over thirty years, a rare achievement in the dance world.

This film follows the research and development phase of her new work exploring a viral attack. The piece, called Contagion, will evoke the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, which killed over 50 million people, through dance. This film gives a unique insight into a choreographer's artistic process and their sources of inspiration as Shobana researches the pandemic and attempts to translate what she finds into movement as she workshops with dancers on the stage.

As part of this process Shobana meets Professor John Oxford, one of the world leading authorities on the Spanish flu, who shares with Shobana a lung sample of a British victim of the 1918 outbreak. Shobana also visits Professor Wendy Barclay, chair of influenza virology at Imperial College London. Professor Barclay has spent many years trying to learn everything she can about the way flu viruses behave and now leads a team of scientists based at her London laboratories. She shares with Shobana how flu viruses act at a microscopic level.


WED 20:00 George III - The Genius of The Mad King (b08cwqx3)
After 200 years under lock and key, all the personal papers of one of our most important monarchs are seeing the light of day for the first time. In the first documentary to gain extensive access to the Royal Archives, Robert Hardman sheds fascinating new light on George III, Britain's longest-reigning king.

George III may be chiefly remembered for his madness, but these private documents reveal a monarch who was a political micromanager and a restless patron of science and the arts, an obsessive traveller who never left southern England yet toured the world in his mind and a man who was driven (sometimes to distraction) by his sense of duty to his family and his country.

Featuring Simon Callow and Sian Thomas as the voices of King George and Queen Charlotte.


WED 21:00 Elizabeth I's Secret Agents (b09fb54t)
Series 1

Episode 3

Elizabeth I is dead and King James of Scotland travels south to take the throne at the invitation of Robert Cecil. Meanwhile, John Gerard, a Catholic priest who has dedicated his life to the destruction of the Protestant state that developed in Elizabeth's England, has escaped and made contact with a splinter cell in the Catholic underground containing an extremist called Guy Fawkes, who has a plan to blow up parliament with the king inside.

Cecil hears about the gunpowder plot, but is unaware of when and how they will strike, and his investigation is hampered as he's also trying to manage King James, who has a wildly ambitious idea of unifying Scotland and England in a new kingdom of Great Britain.


WED 22:00 Vive la Revolution! Joan Bakewell on May '68 (b0b2lz6r)
In 1968 Joan Bakewell was one of the few female TV presenters, fronting the BBC's Late Night Line-Up and addressing daily the most pressing issues of the time. In this film she looks back at the events that led to what for many became the defining event of that extraordinarily turbulent year - the protests in France in May.

While the rest of the world was in turmoil, with the Vietnam War causing increasing dissent, the Civil Rights movement growing in intensity and young people finding new ways of expressing themselves, as 1968 began it seemed to France's president, General de Gaulle, that his country was immune to the kind of protest sweeping the rest of the world.

De Gaulle had been back in power for ten years. Although France had enjoyed economic stability under his leadership, he presided over an old-fashioned and paternalistic regime that offered little opportunity for young voices to be heard. With increasing numbers of young people attending authoritarian outmoded and crowded universities, tensions were mounting. When young student Daniel Cohn Bendit confronted a government minister visiting his university at Nanterre to ask for rights for male and female students to cohabit it was the beginning of a chain of events that quickly escalated. Within just two months France had all but closed down as students occupied universities and took to the streets, joined by workers with their own grievances who declared a general strike.

Using archive from the period, Bakewell looks at some of the ideas that fuelled the protests - from the Situationist philosophy that inspired the iconic posters and slogans, to the widespread opposition to the Vietnam War. She looks at the legacy of the events in France, asking whether perhaps the most lasting change to have come out of that extraordinary year was the feminist movement, as taking inspiration from the young French who took to the streets that year, women found renewed confidence to challenge authority.


WED 23:00 Timeshift (b044yw1d)
Series 14

Mods, Rockers and Bank Holiday Mayhem

A trip back to the days when 'style wars' were just that - violent confrontations about the clothes you wore. Spring 2014 marked the 50th anniversary of the bank holiday 'battles of the beaches', when hundreds of mods and rockers flocked to seaside resorts on scooters and motorbikes in search of thrills and spills.

Timeshift tells the story of how this led to violence, arrests and widespread concern about the state of British youth. But mods and rockers had more in common than was first obvious - they were the first generation of baby boomers to reach their teenage years at a time when greater prosperity and wider freedoms were transforming what it meant to be young.


WED 00:00 Tankies: Tank Heroes of World War II (b01pvbds)
Episode 1

The Second World War was the ultimate conflict of the machine age, and the tank was its iconic symbol. The 'tankies' who fought inside had experience of much of the conflict from the fall of France to the deserts of Africa, from the invasion of Italy to D-Day, and on to the final victory in Germany.

In this two-part series, historian, BBC diplomatic editor and former officer in the Royal Tank Regiment, Mark Urban tells the story of six remarkable men from one armoured unit - the Fifth Royal Tank Regiment, also known as the Filthy Fifth.

Using first-hand testimony from the last surviving veterans alongside previously unseen letters and diaries, Mark brings the story of an extraordinary 'band of brothers' to life, in visceral detail. At the same time he analyses the evolution of tank production in Britain and illustrates how we fell far behind our German enemies in both technology and tactics, relying instead on dogged determination and a relentless drive to victory, whatever the costs.

In part one, Mark begins his journey in northern France, introducing our band of brothers in the midst of the fall of France and the retreat to Dunkirk. Characters such as 'rookie' tank driver Gerry Solomon join veterans, themselves still only in their twenties, such as and Jake Wardrop and Harry Finlayson.

Mark then follows in the tankies' footsteps across the deserts of North Africa. Here he looks at the game-changing tank battles of Sidi Rezegh, Alam Halfa and, of course, the battle that changed the course of the Second World War - Alamein. He then takes us back to England where the tankies expect a well-earned rest, instead they are confronted with the news that as battle-hardened troops they must fight again, this time on the beaches of Normandy.

With spectacular archive footage, including rarely seen colour footage, it brings to life the Second World War from a unique point of view.


WED 01:00 Top of the Pops (b08qkzst)
Simon Bates and Janice Long present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 15 December 1983. Featuring Status Quo, UB40, Slade, The Pretenders, Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton, and The Flying Pickets.


WED 01:30 Top of the Pops (b08rc663)
John Peel and David Jensen present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 22 December 1983. Artists include Slade, Culture Club, Paul McCartney, Dennis Waterman & George Cole, Billy Joel, Howard Jones and The Flying Pickets.


WED 02:05 Danceworks (b0b2m14k)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


WED 02:35 Vive la Revolution! Joan Bakewell on May '68 (b0b2lz6r)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]



THURSDAY 10 MAY 2018

THU 19:00 Beyond 100 Days (b0b22m0f)
Series 1

10/05/2018

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


THU 19:30 Danceworks (b0b2m2y5)
Series 1

Prejudice and Passion

Daring, audacious and funny, based in the north of England, Carlos Pons Guerra creates darkly humorous, highly theatrical and vigorously physical work that often explores questions of gender and sexual identity. This film finds Carlos rehearsing dancers in preparation for O! Maria, a very Spanish tale of ham and bondage.

This is the most important performance of the work to date at one of London's major theatres, but Carlos isn't satisfied. He now wants to bring his avant-garde style and preoccupations to a broader audience. He is choreographing a new children's production at the Birmingham Rep, which tells a true story of two male penguins raising a baby penguin. This is about using dance to set an agenda - can Carlos channel the fight for acceptance that has defined him into the mainstream? For Carlos the show is deeply personal. He struggled hugely with homophobia as a child and as a young adult wanting to dance. What will his toughest critics - his parents - make of his new work?


THU 20:00 Eurovision Song Contest (b0b2r32h)
2018

Semi-Final Two

Scott Mills and Rylan Clark-Neal return for the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest, live from Lisbon in Portugal. Eighteen acts take to the stage, but only ten will make it through to the grand final on Saturday. Who will win those final ten places?


THU 22:15 Timeshift (b06csy8c)
Series 15

The Engine that Powers the World

The surprising story of the hidden powerhouse behind the globalised world, the diesel engine, a 19th-century invention that has become indispensable to the 21st century. It's a tortoise-versus-hare tale in which the diesel engine races the petrol engine in a competition to replace ageing steam technology, a race eventually won hands down by diesel.

Splendidly, car enthusiast presenter Mark Evans gets excitedly hands-on with some of the many applications of Mr Diesel's - yes, there was one - original creation, from vintage submarines and tractors to locomotive trains and container ships. You'll never feel the same about that humble old diesel family car again.


THU 23:15 The Magic of Mushrooms (b041m6fh)
Professor Richard Fortey delves into the fascinating and normally hidden kingdom of fungi. From their spectacular birth, through their secretive underground life to their final explosive death, Richard reveals a remarkable world that few of us understand or even realise exists - yet all life on earth depends on it.

In a specially built mushroom lab, with the help of mycologist Dr Patrick Hickey and some state-of-the-art technology, Richard brings to life the secret world of mushrooms as never seen before and reveals the spectacular abilities of fungi to break down waste and sustain new plant life, keeping our planet alive.

Beyond the lab, Richard travels across Britain and beyond to show us the biggest, fastest and most deadly organisms on the planet - all of them fungi. He reveals their almost magical powers that have world-changing potential - opening up new frontiers in science, medicine and technology.


THU 00:15 Tankies: Tank Heroes of World War II (b01pzv78)
Episode 2

In the last of this two-part series, historian and former tank commander Mark Urban continues the story of six remarkable men from the Fifth Royal Tank Regiment in World War II.

Surviving veterans and previously unseen letters and diaries relate in visceral detail how an extraordinary 'band of brothers' fought throughout the war.

This episode picks up the story with the regiment's triumphant return from north Africa and victory at Alamein. Expecting a well-earned rest, instead they are joined by new recruits and re-equipped with brand new British-made Cromwell Tanks in preparation for D-Day - the invasion of Europe.

Fighting in the hedgerows in northern France is a shock to the men of the Fifth Tanks, who were used to fighting in the wide-open spaces of the desert. German soldiers lie in ambush behind hedgerows with hand-held anti-tank weapons. Veteran Gerry Solomon, one of the most experienced tank commanders, tells how his tank is knocked out and he is wounded.

The new Cromwell tank proves no match against the German Tiger tank. At the battle of Villers Bocage, a single Tiger brings the advance of the whole British Army to a standstill. But it meets its match when it comes up against another new British tank - the Sherman Firefly.

Veterans describe how for two months they fought a battle of attrition, losing hundreds of tanks in the British Army's biggest ever tank battle, but keeping the German tanks fighting in the British sector so the Americans could break out of their sector into open countryside beyond.

The Fifth Tanks advance rapidly, the first to liberate Ghent in Belgium. Pushing on into Germany just days before the end of the war, some of the regiment's most experienced veterans, who had been fighting since the beginning, are tragically killed.


THU 01:15 Timeshift (b068fvln)
Series 15

The Trains That Time Forgot: Britain's Lost Railway Journeys

Timeshift journeys back to a lost era of rail travel, when trains had names, character and style. Once the pride of the railway companies that ran them, the named train is now largely consigned to railway history.

Writer and presenter Andrew Martin asks why we once named trains and why we don't do so anymore. He embarks on three railway journeys around Britain, following the routes of three of the most famous named trains - the Flying Scotsman, the Cornish Riviera Express and the Brighton Belle. We reflect on travel during the golden age of railways - when the journey itself was as important as reaching your destination - and compare those same journeys with the passenger experience today.


THU 02:15 Danceworks (b0b2m2y5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


THU 02:45 The Mystery of Van Gogh's Ear (b07nswft)
It is one of the greatest and bloodiest mysteries in art: what happened on the December night in 1888 when Vincent van Gogh took a blade to his own ear?

Jeremy Paxman joins art sleuth Bernadette Murphy on her amazing quest to discover the truth - what exactly did the artist do, why did he do it and who was the unknown girl he is said to have handed his severed ear to, her real identity kept secret by her family for over a century? It is an event that defines van Gogh, who created his greatest masterpieces including the Sunflowers at the same moment as suffering mental torture, but what are the real facts?

This revealing detective story travels from Vincent's home in the south of France to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, and uncovers key evidence hidden in a Californian library that has created an art-world sensation, as we finally solve the mystery of Van Gogh's ear.



FRIDAY 11 MAY 2018

FRI 19:00 World News Today (b0b22m0l)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


FRI 19:30 BBC Young Musician (b0b23fm0)
2018

Semi-Final

The search for the next BBC Young Musician reaches its penultimate stage as the category winners from strings, percussion, woodwind, brass and keyboards compete for three places in Sunday's grand final. Josie D'Arby is joined by acclaimed violinist Nicola Benedetti, BBC Young Musician Winner in 2004, and world-famous trumpeter Alison Balsom, artistic director of the Cheltenham Festival, who won the Brass Category in 1998.

The category winners competing in the semi-final are: Matthew Brett, a 17-year-old percussionist from Cheshire, Maxim Calver, 18, who plays the cello and studies at Yehudi Menuhin School in Surrey, and Robert Burton, an 18-year-old saxophonist who is a first-year student at the Royal Academy of Music. They will be joined by the winners of the brass and keyboard category finals.

On the jury are conductor Jessica Cottis, chief executive of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Gavin Reid, and the chair of the Young Musician 2018 Juries, composer, performer and writer, Kerry Andrew.

BBC Young Musician has been showcasing the very best British classical music talent for the past 40 years. Tonight's five semi-finalists are competing for just three places in Sunday's grand final at Symphony Hall, Birmingham, to play a full concerto with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra conducted by Mark Wigglesworth. One will be named BBC Young Musician 2018.


FRI 21:00 Eurovision at 60 (b05vsm0d)
Hosts and competitors tell the behind-the-scenes story of 60 years of Eurovision, the greatest and maddest song contest on earth.


FRI 22:30 Latin Music USA (b00qvm3y)
The Latin Explosion

The last in a four-part series revealing the deep musical and social impact of Latin music in the USA looks at how Latin pop was born in Miami, created by Cuban immigrants fleeing Fidel Castro, and how it has impacted on the worlds of music, business, fashion and media across the Americas and the world.

In the 1980s, Gloria Estefan and husband Emilio moulded a crossover pop sound which exploded out of Miami into every city in the States. From TV shows like Miami Vice to the movie Scarface and the corporate influences that embrace Shakira, Ricky Martin and Jennifer Lopez, Latin pop reflects a new-found power and confidence for a community that has found its place in mainstream USA.

Featuring Jennifer Lopez, Ricky Martin, Shakira, Gloria Estefan and the stars of Reggaeton.


FRI 23:30 Arena (b0b1v53c)
Jana Bokova's Havana

1990 documentary. Havana has a dilapidated ruined beauty - decaying grandeur alongside squalor with a string atmosphere of Africa and Old Spain. Despite the political turmoil of Cuba's last 30 years, its people remain among the most imaginative and fascinating in the world. Under the dictatorship of Castro, Cuba has become a highly regulated state to say the least. Director Jana Bokova persuaded the citizens of Havana to talk about their lives, their city and Cuba, despite their anxieties and fears about opening up to a foreign film crew. The film goes beneath the skin of this legendary city, particularly through its extraordinarily rich music which enables the people to express their true attitudes and feelings. It also visits Little Havana in Miami, 90 miles away, home to some of the one million exiles to have left Cuba in the last 30 years.


FRI 01:15 Eurovision at 60 (b05vsm0d)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


FRI 02:45 Latin Music USA (b00qvm3y)
[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)

An Evening with Glen Campbell 00:05 SAT (b01pyfht)

Arena 23:30 FRI (b0b1v53c)

BBC Young Musician 19:30 FRI (b0b23fm0)

Ballet's Dark Knight: Sir Kenneth MacMillan 21:00 SUN (b0b2gjbl)

Ballet's Dark Knight: Sir Kenneth MacMillan 02:30 SUN (b0b2gjbl)

Beyond 100 Days 19:00 MON (b0b22lzk)

Beyond 100 Days 19:00 TUE (b0b22lzq)

Beyond 100 Days 19:00 WED (b0b22m02)

Beyond 100 Days 19:00 THU (b0b22m0f)

Civilisations Stories 19:30 SUN (b0b1c8v6)

Crash Test Dummies: A Smashing History 00:15 TUE (b039dyl5)

Danceworks 19:30 MON (b0b2ly15)

Danceworks 02:20 MON (b0b2ly15)

Danceworks 19:30 TUE (b0b2lx9h)

Danceworks 02:20 TUE (b0b2lx9h)

Danceworks 19:30 WED (b0b2m14k)

Danceworks 02:05 WED (b0b2m14k)

Danceworks 19:30 THU (b0b2m2y5)

Danceworks 02:15 THU (b0b2m2y5)

Dancing in the Blitz: How World War II Made British Ballet 20:00 SUN (p01s4z2h)

Dancing in the Blitz: How World War II Made British Ballet 01:30 SUN (p01s4z2h)

Duet 22:55 SUN (b0b2mm1p)

Elizabeth I's Secret Agents 21:00 WED (b09fb54t)

Eurovision Song Contest 20:00 TUE (b0b2lz6p)

Eurovision Song Contest 20:00 THU (b0b2r32h)

Eurovision at 60 21:00 FRI (b05vsm0d)

Eurovision at 60 01:15 FRI (b05vsm0d)

Extinct: A Horizon Guide to Dinosaurs 22:10 TUE (b014vy60)

Extinct: A Horizon Guide to Dinosaurs 02:50 TUE (b014vy60)

George III - The Genius of The Mad King 20:00 WED (b08cwqx3)

Jet! When Britain Ruled the Skies 20:00 MON (b01m9vjl)

Jet! When Britain Ruled the Skies 00:15 MON (b01m9vjl)

Land of the Lost Wolves 22:35 SAT (b01fngfw)

Latin Music USA 22:30 FRI (b00qvm3y)

Latin Music USA 02:45 FRI (b00qvm3y)

Life of a Mountain 23:15 MON (b08f1cc0)

Michael Clark's to a simple, rock 'n' roll . . . song. 22:00 SUN (b0b2m5g8)

Nature's Epic Journeys 19:00 SAT (b07bkcvb)

Nature's Epic Journeys 01:25 SAT (b07bkcvb)

Only Connect 19:00 SUN (b0b1z88l)

Rich Hall's California Stars 23:00 SUN (b04bbfzw)

Salamander 21:00 SAT (b09rn3f2)

Salamander 21:45 SAT (b09sd340)

Science and Islam 00:30 SUN (b00gksx4)

Storyville 22:00 MON (b06f146k)

Tankies: Tank Heroes of World War II 00:00 WED (b01pvbds)

Tankies: Tank Heroes of World War II 00:15 THU (b01pzv78)

The Magic of Mushrooms 23:15 THU (b041m6fh)

The Mystery of Van Gogh's Ear 02:45 THU (b07nswft)

The Road to Palmyra 21:00 MON (b0b2gjpl)

The Road to Palmyra 02:50 MON (b0b2gjpl)

Timeshift 23:10 TUE (b082v57b)

Timeshift 23:00 WED (b044yw1d)

Timeshift 22:15 THU (b06csy8c)

Timeshift 01:15 THU (b068fvln)

Top of the Pops 23:35 SAT (b0b16s6d)

Top of the Pops 01:15 MON (b08p2kdw)

Top of the Pops 01:45 MON (b08q2w97)

Top of the Pops 01:15 TUE (b08q2wc7)

Top of the Pops 01:40 TUE (b08qkzj5)

Top of the Pops 01:00 WED (b08qkzst)

Top of the Pops 01:30 WED (b08rc663)

Vive la Revolution! Joan Bakewell on May '68 22:00 WED (b0b2lz6r)

Vive la Revolution! Joan Bakewell on May '68 02:35 WED (b0b2lz6r)

Wild Burma: Nature's Lost Kingdom 20:00 SAT (p01hscs5)

Wild Burma: Nature's Lost Kingdom 02:25 SAT (p01hscs5)

World News Today 19:00 FRI (b0b22m0l)