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 SEPTEMBER 2019

SAT 19:00 Golf: Solheim Cup (m0008k7t)
2019

Day Two Highlights

Highlights from Gleneagles as the finest female golfers in Europe face off against their American rivals.


SAT 20:00 Life in the Air (p03jvffz)
Defying Gravity

With the help of some surprising creatures from around the world, this series sets out to discover how animals take to the air, defying the force all airborne animals must conquer, gravity.

In Africa, a caracal's 'rocket-propelled' launch enables it to catch birds in flight. In the Australian outback, a kangaroo's hop is key to finding water in a desert of over a million square kilometres. On an English farm, an insect's ultimate ejector seat accelerates it to 700G with help from a clutch in its crotch. And high above the jungles of Borneo, a leaping snake's unique shape allows it to glide, even without wings.


SAT 21:00 Darkness: Those Who Kill (m0008k7w)
Series 1

Episode 5

Jan and Louise find a dress belonging to Natasha – the first victim – which Anders Kjeldsen had hidden. That same night, Anders tries to kidnap another woman. Stine Velin attends her big brother Mikkel's 40th birthday party and reveals a dark family secret.

In Danish with English subtitles.


SAT 21:45 Darkness: Those Who Kill (m0008k7y)
Series 1

Episode 6

The public appeal for information on Anders Kjeldsen leads to the identification of the third victim from the farm and an explanation of how all the women met their killer. Louise suspects he has a female accomplice.

In Danish with English subtitles.


SAT 22:30 Detectorists (b04jy45z)
Series 1

Episode 1

A new comedy about two friends - Andy and Lance - who go searching for their hearts' desire with a couple of metal detectors.

Following a chance encounter with a young history student, Lance and Andy embark on a journey towards the discovery of a lifetime. All they need to do is get permission from the local landowner, the mad one who is rumoured to have done away with his wife.


SAT 23:00 Detectorists (b04kzw1l)
Series 1

Episode 2

Lance and Andy haven't told anyone that they are hot on the trail of the holy grail of metal detecting - the final resting place of King Sexred of the East Saxons. But members of the rival detecting club already seem to know all about it. Who is the mole?


SAT 23:30 Detectorists (b04ld1jd)
Series 1

Episode 3

Club president Terry is keen to help Lance and Andy search the bottom paddock at Bishop's Farm, but only because he's convinced that's where Larry Bishop has buried his missing wife. Meanwhile, Lance is determined to get his ex along to hear him play at the local pub's folk music night.


SAT 00:00 Top of the Pops (b09kt44k)
The Story of 1985

1985 sees the 'Big Four' of 80's pop - Spandau, Wham, Culture Club and the Durans - have a relatively quiet year which ushers in a new generation of pop talent. The show becomes a barometer for the state of the nation as the ambitious King and A-ha, propelled by the most expensive video of the year for Take On Me, compete for attention with passionate politicos Billy Bragg and The Style Council who, fired up by the ongoing miners' strike and continuing threat of nuclear war, give the studio audience their all with Between The Wars and Walls Come Tumbling Down.

1985 also sees electro dance hit the mainstream as Dead or Alive top the charts with You Spin Me Round, the first number one for producers Stock, Aitken and Waterman, and Paul Hardcastle holds the top slot for five weeks with 19, a spoken word single made with new sampling technology and released on the 10th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam war.

Meanwhile, movie tie-ins and record companies eyeing a 'housewives' market see a run of power ballads hit the charts from Jennifer Rush to Tina Turner to our very own Bonnie Tyler with Holding Out For a Hero. And back in the real world, the heroic Bob Geldof brings the pop generations together for Live Aid and Shakin' Stevens marks his 50th appearance on Top of the Pops and lands his first Christmas number one with a song he has waited a whole year to release.

Featuring original interviews with A-ha, Shakin' Stevens, The Style Council, Billy Bragg, Bonnie Tyler, Pete Waterman, Paul Hardcastle, King and Loose Ends.


SAT 01:00 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.


SAT 02:00 Popular Voices at the BBC (b09gvqjc)
Series 1

Truth Tellers at the BBC

This compilation is a companion piece to the Truth Tellers episode of Gregory Porter's Popular Voices. Join us for a nostalgic look back at some of the most outspoken, thought-provoking and lyrically gifted songsters to have visited the BBC studios. From socially discerning troubadours like Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell, to modern-day poets Patti Smith and Gil Scott-Heron, and rap disrupters like KRS-One (performing with Boogie Down Productions), as well as more recent social observers Jarvis Cocker, Nick Cave and George the Poet.

Featuring clips from The Old Grey Whistle Test, Top of the Pops, Later with Jools Holland and Britpop Now, these performers show us that you don't need fancy vocal acrobatics or sensuous murmurings if your message is powerful.


SAT 03:00 Life in the Air (p03jvffz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]



SUNDAY 15 SEPTEMBER 2019

SUN 19:00 The Women's Football Show (m0008k85)
2019/20

15/09/2019

Reshmin Chowdhury presents highlights of the FA Women's Super League as Reading take on Manchester City. With highlights of Brighton v Chelsea, and goals from across the league.


SUN 19:30 Race and Pace: The West Indians in East Lancashire (b097bl89)
Sir Viv Richards, Sir Wes Hall and David Lloyd recall the impact West Indian players made on the Lancashire Cricket League over the last 90 years. A story of how initial reticence and racism turned into an unlikely cricketing love affair, which has had a huge impact on both sides of the Atlantic.


SUN 20:00 Radio 2 Live (m0008k88)
Hyde Park Headliners

Pet Shop Boys: Live in Hyde Park

Live coverage of the Pet Shop Boys’ headline set at Radio 2 Live In Hyde Park. Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe are the most successful duo in UK music history. Having achieved 42 top 30 singles in the UK since 1985, there is no shortage of hits for them to choose from as they play their only UK gig of the year in front of more than 40,000 festivalgoers. Keep an eye out for a mystery guest artist.


SUN 21:30 Top of the Pops (m0008k8b)
Pet Shop Boys

A compilation of Pet Shop Boys' performances on the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 10 December 1998.


SUN 22:00 Cyprus Avenue (m0008k8d)
David Ireland’s Cyprus Avenue is a multi-award-winning play and production starring Stephen Rea and directed by Vicky Featherstone. Originally co-produced at the Royal Court Theatre and Abbey Theatre, the critically acclaimed production went on tour to Belfast and New York. This adaptation mixes live capture of the performance from the stage of the Royal Court with location shooting in Belfast.

Eric Miller is a Belfast loyalist. He experiences a psychotic episode and mistakes his five-week-old granddaughter for Gerry Adams. Generations of sectarian trauma convince him that his cultural heritage is under siege. He must act. A hard-hitting but in parts hilarious black comedy, Cyprus Avenue tells the story of a man struggling with the past and terrified of the future. It was awarded Best New Play at the Irish Times Theatre Awards and the James Tait Black Prize for Drama in 2017. Stephen Rea won Best Actor for his portrayal of Eric at the Irish Times Theatre Awards 2017.

This recording, commissioned by The Space, creates a completely original adaptation.


SUN 23:40 Engineering Giants (b01llr67)
Ferry Strip-Down

Engineer turned comedian Tom Wrigglesworth and rising star of mechanical engineering Rob Bell climb on board the Pride of Bruges, a massive 25,000-tonne North Sea ferry as it is brought into dry dock in Newcastle.

It has been ploughing the route from Hull to Zeebrugge for over a quarter of a century and is now in need of the biggest overhaul of its life in an attempt to prolong its seaworthiness for another decade. Tom and Rob also travel to Europe's largest ship-breaking yard in Belgium, to discover what happens to ships at the end of their lives. As they watch massive hulls being torn apart, they gain more insights into how a ship works and how their massive carcasses are recycled.


SUN 00:40 The Greatest Tomb on Earth: Secrets of Ancient China (b080396k)
From the depths of the greatest tomb on earth comes an epic new story that could rewrite history, revealing for the first time the true origin of one of the world's most powerful nations: China.

In this landmark film, historian Dan Snow, physical anthropologist Professor Alice Roberts and scientist and explorer Dr Albert Lin investigate a series of earth-shattering discoveries at the mighty tomb guarded by the Terracotta Warriors, a site two hundred times bigger than Egypt's Valley of the Kings and the final resting place of China's first emperor.

Mobilising the latest technology, delving into some of the oldest texts, enlisting world experts and employing forensic science, together the three reveal an explosive secret from the foundations of the Chinese empire.


SUN 01:40 The Age of Excess: When Britain Went Too Far (b0084l5q)
Documentary which looks back at Britain during the 18th century, a time of sexual excess and liberation, particularly in London. Vast amounts of erotic art and literature were produced – from the debauches of Fanny Hill, the orgies pictured by Thomas Rowlandson and accounts of the activities of the Hellfire Club. Presenter Matthew Sweet argues that the creators of this erotic enlightenment were not merely grubby pornographers, but that they conjured new ways of understanding human subjectivity.


SUN 02:40 Everybody in the Place: an Incomplete History of Britain 1984-1992 (m000777d)
Acid house is often portrayed as a movement that came out of the blue, inspired by little more than a handful of London-based DJs discovering ecstasy on a 1987 holiday to Ibiza. In truth, the explosion of acid house and rave in the UK was a reaction to a much wider and deeper set of fault lines in British culture, stretching from the heart of the city to the furthest reaches of the countryside, cutting across previously impregnable boundaries of class, identity and geography.

With Everybody in the Place, the Turner Prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller upturns popular notions of rave and acid house, situating them at the very centre of the seismic social changes that reshaped 1980s Britain. Rare and unseen archive materials map the journey from protest movements to abandoned warehouse raves, the white heat of industry bleeding into the chaotic release of the dancefloor.

We join an A-level politics class as they discover these stories for the first time, viewing the story of acid house from the perspective of a generation for whom it is already ancient history. We see how rave culture owes as much to the Battle of Orgreave and the underground gay clubs of Chicago as it does to shifts in musical style: not merely a cultural gesture, but the fulcrum for a generational shift in British identity, linking industrial histories and radical action to the wider expanses of a post-industrial future.



MONDAY 16 SEPTEMBER 2019

MON 19:00 Beyond 100 Days (m0008kc0)
Series 1

16/09/2019

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


MON 19:30 Great Irish Journeys with Martha Kearney (b05nyhq4)
Episode 3

Martha Kearney walks in the footsteps of a 19th-century artist and geologist who spent his life charting the landscape, people and buildings of Ireland. She retraces the journey of George Victor Du Noyer whose 35-year odyssey left a unique record of how Ireland looked during a period of great change.

In this episode, Martha examines places of power in Ireland as seen through Du Noyer's eyes. She traces the movement of power from Newgrange, through the Rock of Cashel, sees the magnificent Waterford Charter Roll, and ends up at the sumptuous Castletown House.


MON 20:00 Rome: A History of the Eternal City (b01pdt0s)
The Rebirth of God's City

Simon Sebag Montefiore charts Rome's rise from the abandonment and neglect of the 14th century into the everlasting seat of the papacy recognised today. His story takes us through the debauchery and decadence of the Renaissance, the horrors of the Sack of Rome and the Catholic Reformation, through to the arrival of fascism and the creation of the Vatican State. By taking us inside Rome's most sensational palaces and churches and telling the stories behind some of the world's most beloved art, Sebag Montefiore's final instalment is a visual feast.


MON 21:00 Great Indian Railway Journeys (b09ynd5n)
Series 1

Mysuru to Chennai

Michael Portillo's Bradshaw's 1913 Handbook of Indian, Foreign and Colonial Travel leads him on railway journey through the modern south Indian states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, from the former princely state of Mysore to the first stronghold of the East India Company in Chennai, formerly Madras.

In Mysuru, Michael pitches in at a game of street cricket then smartens up to meet the Maharaja at the magnificent Mysore Palace. Michael's Bradshaw's tells him of an exceptional maharaja of the early 20th century, who sowed the seeds of the region's prosperity, and Michael finds his legacy in the Carnatic music he patronised and the flourishing local silk industry.

At sunset Michael joins selfie-stick wielding crowds back at the palace as they wait to capture it being illuminated by thousands of bulbs. An early morning yoga class is the perfect way to stretch out before boarding a train to Bengalaru. After a sticky encounter with a mango, he meets the entrepreneurs whose innovations are driving India's hi-tech boom with inventions from mobile heart scanners to cooking apps. In a Bengalaru suburb, Whitefield, Michael hunts for the remains of a utopian Anglo-Indian settlement, before sampling fusion food, Bradshaw's-style, in the guise of Mulligatawny soup and spiced-up bread and butter pudding. Michael's Bradshaw's leads him east to Bangarapet where he explores the eerie ruins that are all that remains of what was once the world's deepest gold mine. An air-conditioned superfast double-decker express speeds Portillo to the sprawling coastal city of Chennai, where he hitches a ride on a Royal Enfield motorbike and visits the famous Madras Club for gentlemen to find out more about The East India Company's beginnings in India.


MON 22:00 A Timewatch Guide (b08z02nl)
Series 4

Dictators and Despots

In recent years the world has become an unsettling place, from the mass movements of refugees to political upheaval, both in this country and abroad.

Disturbingly, history shows that it's at unsettled times like these that dictators can rise - leaders who promise they can solve every problem, if only they're granted supreme power.

David Olusoga examines fifty years of BBC documentary archives to try and discover why dictators can have such a powerful appeal.

David uncovers the surprising optimism felt by the West towards men like Gaddafi and Mugabe early in their regimes, and examines the events that turned this optimism into horror. He questions why such men continue to fascinate us regardless of their actions, and asks whether, especially in an age of mass media, our fascination has fed their power.


MON 23:00 Summertime (m0008kc2)
1971. Limousin farm girl Delphine moves to Paris and meets radical feminist and teacher Carole. In French with English subtitles.


MON 00:40 Genius of the Ancient World (b066d0v5)
Confucius

In the final episode, Bettany travels to China on the trail of Confucius, a great sage of Chinese history whose ideas have fundamentally shaped the country of his birth for around 2,500 years.


MON 01:40 Metalworks! (b01hr877)
The Blacksmith's Tale

In a story where progress meets creative invention, this film looks at how the blacksmith created items in wrought and cast iron that both served and embellished society. From the earliest ornate hinges and doors to magnificent baroque gates and mass-produced street furniture, it reveals the mastery of metalworkers such as Jean Tijou, Robert Bakewell and John Tresilian, the designs of Robert Adam and George Gilbert Scott, and the mass marketers of the Victorian age such as the Saracen foundry.

Treasures are drawn from all corners of the UK in a celebration of the best of British decorative ironwork.


MON 02:40 Rome: A History of the Eternal City (b01pdt0s)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]



TUESDAY 17 SEPTEMBER 2019

TUE 19:00 Beyond 100 Days (m0008k8g)
Series 1

17/09/2019

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


TUE 19:30 Great Irish Journeys with Martha Kearney (b05q19lj)
Episode 4

Martha Kearney walks in the footsteps of a 19th-century artist and geologist who spent his life charting the landscape, people and buildings of Ireland. She retraces the journey of George Victor Du Noyer, whose 35-year odyssey left a unique record of how Ireland looked during a period of great change.

In her final journey, Martha hits the spiritual trail, starting with the Blasket Islands off the coast of Kerry. In the Dingle Peninsula, Du Noyer discovered clochans - stone beehive huts. Martha heads north on a spiritual trail, taking in the islands of the Fermanagh Lakelands - White Island, Boa Island and the renowned Station Island.


TUE 20:00 England's Forgotten Queen: The Life and Death of Lady Jane Grey (b09lv17g)
Series 1

Episode 1

In this first episode, Helen Castor reveals an incendiary document, written in Edward's spidery handwriting on his deathbed, which cuts his sister Mary out of the line of succession and leaves the throne to his cousin Jane. It forms the basis of a constitutional crisis that dragged the country to the edge of civil war.

But was it Edward's idea? Or was the boy king manipulated by sinister forces behind the throne? Fearing a return to Catholicism, a cabal of rich and powerful men led by the Duke of Northumberland - the 'Wicked Duke' - covered up the king's death for several days and staged a coup, placing Lady Jane Grey on the throne without even telling her.

Within a day of Jane being told she is to be queen, she is entering the Tower of London, whilst Mary goes on the run to avoid capture and plan her revenge.


TUE 21:00 Spotlight on the Troubles: A Secret History (m0008k8j)
Series 1

Episode 2

Reporter Darragh MacIntyre finds the IRA anticipating that 1972 would be their `year of victory’, only to be countered by a massive British military response in the midst of what became the bloodiest period of the conflict.

The programme features previously unseen footage and new discoveries around the secret talks between the government and the IRA about British withdrawal, including interviews with the people who were there. Were the talks a serious offer or a ruse to weaken the IRA by dragging them into protracted negotiations?

One insider’s secret diary provides a fresh insight into a missed opportunity for peace. Then, as sectarian fighting with Protestant loyalists began to increase, a coup inside the IRA sets the stage for what they called ‘the Long War’.


TUE 22:00 Voyages of Discovery (b0074t2w)
Circumnavigation

Explorer Paul Rose reveals the real story behind the first ever circumnavigation of the world.

Ferdinand Magellan set out 500 years ago to find the westward route to the riches of the Spice Islands. But, contrary to popular perception, he never reached them. Rose explains the dramatic sequence of events that led his scurvy-riddled crew to continue around the world without him. The incredible expedition was laced with bloody mutiny and murder, but its achievement was to fundamentally change the lives of the generations that followed, influencing life even today.


TUE 23:00 The Last Explorers (b017hzw2)
Livingstone

Neil Oliver travels down the Zambesi river to reveal how David Livingstone took the faith of his nation to the ends of the earth and exploited his celebrity to end the slave trade. His was a moral mission: to reshape British values and bring commerce, Christianity and civilisation to the African continent.


TUE 00:00 Sicily: The Wonder of the Mediterranean (b08cwrg9)
Series 1

Episode 1

Historian Michael Scott begins his journey through Sicily on the slopes of Mount Etna, Europe's largest active volcano. For the ancient Greeks, the island was a land of gods and monsters - a dangerous and unpredictable world. Michael discovers how 3,000 years ago, the Greeks began to settle on Sicily's east coast - planting their olives and vines and building great city-states that soon came to rival even Athens itself.

He learns how great battles were fought between the Greeks and the Carthaginians for control of the island. How the Romans made it their first foreign colony and stripped Sicily of its forests to plant vast fields of grain. When Rome fell, waves of Barbarian invasions followed, before Sicily was conquered by the Byzantines - the eastern Roman Empire. How have those early invaders helped to shape the character of the island we see today? And what lessons have Sicilians learnt from their turbulent past?


TUE 01:00 Peaky Blinders (p01fj94w)
Series 1

Episode 1

Birmingham, 1919. Thomas Shelby controls the Peaky Blinders, one of the city's most feared criminal organisations, but his ambitions go beyond running the streets.

When a crate of guns goes missing, Thomas recognises an opportunity to move up in the world.


TUE 02:00 Peaky Blinders (b03bgw2m)
Series 1

Episode 2

Birmingham, 1919. Thomas Shelby controls the Peaky Blinders, one of the city's most feared criminal organisations, but his ambitions go beyond running the streets.

Thomas fixes a horse race, provoking the ire of local kingpin Billy Kimber. He also starts a war with gypsy family the Lees. Meanwhile, Inspector Campbell carries out a vicious raid of Small Heath in search of the stolen guns.


TUE 03:00 Peaky Blinders (b03bsw9p)
Series 1

Episode 3

Thomas Shelby plans to go to Cheltenham races in order to get closer to Billy Kimber. Knowing the gangster's appetite for beautiful women, Thomas invites Grace to accompany him.

Meanwhile some IRA sympathisers approach Thomas with an offer to buy the stolen guns.



WEDNESDAY 18 SEPTEMBER 2019

WED 19:00 Beyond 100 Days (m0008k81)
Series 1

18/09/2019

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


WED 19:30 The Brecon Beacons with Iolo Williams (b06wkqyn)
Series 1

Winter

Iolo Williams explores the magic of the Brecon Beacons over the seasons in this stunning new series. He braves a blizzard on the high peaks, yet the lowlands can still be sunny. On the snowy slopes, foxes look for food, while a great grey shrike, a ruthless hunter from Scandinavia, looks for animals to eat. Cormorants congregate to fish on reservoirs, some birds are already breeding on the River Usk and red deer hide away in secluded gullies in one of the wildest locations in the Beacons. It's a magnificent diverse landscape with huge caves, stunning waterfalls, ancient woodland and canals.


WED 20:00 Dig WW2 with Dan Snow (b01hzqzj)
Episode 1

In the first episode of Dig WW2, historian Dan Snow investigates the history of the Second World War in Northern Ireland, participating in archaeological digs and dives of military sites across the country. He discovers the gripping story of the Northern Irish pilot who became the most successful U-boat hunter of all time.

He also dives to the wreck of the famed U-155 and reveals the essential role that Belfast's Harland and Wolff had in developing the famous Churchill Tank, fundamental to the march of the North Irish Horse to capture Rome. Meanwhile, in Donegal, a major excavation reveals the 70-year-old Spitfire flown by US pilot Bud Wolfe, who was forced to bail out just minutes after leaving RAF Eglington, now City of Derry Airport.


WED 21:00 Raiders of the Lost Past with Janina Ramirez (m0008k83)
Series 1

The Olmec Heads

Janina Ramirez travels to Mexico, where, just before the outbreak of WWII, American husband-and-wife explorer team Matthew and Marion Stirling were lured into the jungle by the legend of a colossal stone head. They found the head – and a lot more than they bargained for – because it turned out to be the first clue in a trail that led to the discovery of a lost civilisation, now known as the Olmecs.

As Janina follows their footsteps through the jungle, she discovers that the go-getting Stirlings embodied the adventurous determination of pre-war archaeological explorers. Breaking new ground, the Stirlings realised that it was the Olmecs – not the much-later Mayans or the Aztecs – who built the very first pyramids, palaces and planned cities for which Central America is now so famous.

Janina’s journey takes her to some of the most stunning ancient sites in Mexico, as she pieces together the evidence that led the Stirlings to the controversial conclusion that the Olmecs flourished there 3,500 thousand years ago, the same period as ancient Egypt. It is extraordinary to think, before their finds, that we not only had no idea the Olmecs even existed, but no idea any civilisation this ancient existed in Central America. The Stirlings’ work was so important that, very unusually, their expeditions and excavations continued during the war, shot in glorious technicolor by National Geographic. This fantastic archive features throughout the film, intercut with Janina’s modern journey.


WED 22:00 Vikings (b01mxt26)
Episode 2

Neil Oliver heads out from the Scandinavian homelands to Russia, Turkey and Ireland to trace the beginnings of a vast trading empire that handled Chinese silks as adeptly as Pictish slaves. Neil discovers a world of 'starry-eyed maidens' and Buddhist statues that are a world away from our British experience of axe-wielding warriors, although it turns out that there were quite a few of those as well.


WED 23:00 Stories from the Dark Earth: Meet the Ancestors Revisited (b01s74g9)
Pagans of Roman Britain

Series in which archaeologist Julian Richards returns to some of his most important digs to discover how science, conservation and new finds have changed our understanding of entire eras of ancient history.

Julian goes back to the excavation of two burials from Roman Britain - a wealthy man from Roman Winchester and a lavishly appointed grave of a woman from the heart of London that holds a special and unexpected secret only recently unlocked.


WED 00:00 Sicily: The Wonder of the Mediterranean (b08dzx1h)
Series 1

Episode 2

Historian Michael Scott continues his journey through Sicily, tracing the island's story through the arrival of the Muslim Arabs and then the Normans - times in which religious and cultural tolerance was the order of the day. Michael explores the dark days of the Spanish Inquisition and then delves into the modern world - the unification with Italy and the rise of the Mafia.

Today, Sicily faces a new challenge. The island is on the frontline of Europe's migrant crisis but the Sicilian response, formed in part by their own turbulent history, may well surprise many northern Europeans.


WED 01:00 Peaky Blinders (b03c58wp)
Series 1

Episode 4

Thomas Shelby's war with the Lee family of gypsies escalates and Campbell puts further pressure on him to deliver the stolen guns. Meanwhile, Thomas's brother John plans to marry a former prostitute, but Thomas suspects that she's still on the game.


WED 02:00 Peaky Blinders (b03cntw3)
Series 1

Episode 5

Thomas Shelby has to deal with an IRA chief who has come to Small Heath to avenge his cousin's death. Meanwhile, Campbell gets closer to the stolen guns, and Grace has to decide whether her loyalties lie with him or with Thomas.


WED 03:00 Peaky Blinders (b03dwq3x)
Series 1

Episode 6

As Thomas Shelby prepares to oust Billy Kimber, hidden secrets are revealed and the family have to face up to the problems that have divided them. Meanwhile, Campbell, obsessed with taking down the Peaky Blinders, unleashes one last plan to destroy them.



THURSDAY 19 SEPTEMBER 2019

THU 19:00 Beyond 100 Days (m0008kb1)
Series 1

19/09/2019

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


THU 19:30 Top of the Pops (m0008kb3)
Peter Powell and Simon Mayo present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 9 June 1988 and featuring the Timelords, Five Star, Voice of the Beehive, Mica Paris, Fields of the Nephilim, Sabrina, James Brown, Maxi Priest, Morrissey, Wet Wet Wet and Erasure.


THU 20:00 Maps: Power, Plunder and Possession (b00s96gn)
Mapping the World

In the last of a three-part series about the extraordinary stories behind maps, Professor Jerry Brotton uncovers how maps are snapshots of a moment in history and offer visions of distant lands, tempting explorers to plunder and conquer.

However, adventurers first had to tackle the great challenge of mapping the globe onto a flat surface. There is no perfect solution, but the father of geography, Claudius Ptolemy, had some clever ideas.

Explorers like Christopher Columbus sailed into the unknown in search of riches and discovered a whole new continent that would become the most powerful on earth, while Amerigo Vespucci gave it his name.

Sir Walter Raleigh's treasure map of El Dorado in South America ultimately lost him his head. But the myth of El Dorado lived on, sending hundreds of men to their death in fruitless attempts to find the golden city.

As navigation became easier, maps enabled nations and enterprises like the Dutch East India Company to plunder far-off territories for spices, natural resources and gold. Even today, a project to map the North Pole is the flashpoint for the so-called 'Cold Rush' - the dash to exploit oil, gas and mineral reserves as the Arctic ice melts.


THU 21:00 Mercury Prize (m0008kb5)
2019

Hyundai Mercury Prize 2019 Live: Album of the Year

Lauren Laverne presents live coverage of this year’s prestigious album of the year prize from the Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith, London.

As ever, 2019’s shortlist reflects the current eclectic music scene in the UK. The show recognises all of the shortlisted albums through special performances, culminating in the live announcement of this year’s winner.

Performing on the night will be the likes of Oxford rockers Foals, Northampton rapper Slowthai, London singer-songwriter NAO, post-punk Dublin quartet Fontaines D.C., Welsh musician and producer Cate Le Bon and London’s own chart star rapper Dave.

The 12 shortlisted albums are:

Hunter by Anna Calvi
Schlagenheim by Black Midi
Reward by Cate Le Bon
Psychodrama by Dave
Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost – Part 1 by Foals
Dogrel by Fontaines D.C.
Joy as an Act of Resistance by Idles
Nothing Great about Britain by Slowthai
Grey Area by Little Simz
Saturn by Nao
Driftglass by SEED Ensemble
A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships by The 1975


THU 22:20 Horizon (b05527mp)
2014-2015

Secrets of the Solar System

New planets are now being discovered outside our solar system on a regular basis, and these strange new worlds are forcing scientists to rewrite the history of our own solar system. Far from a simple story of stable orbits, the creation of our solar system is a tale of hellfire, chaos and planetary pinball.

It's a miracle our Earth is here at all.


THU 23:20 Land of the Lost Wolves (b01fnfrc)
Episode 1

At a time when wildlife is disappearing across the planet, one animal is making a comeback - the wolf.

Wolves were wiped out across much of America, with more than a million wolves estimated to have been shot, poisoned or trapped when European settlers arrived.

This enthralling series documents the return of one very special wolf pack to the snowy peaks of Washington's Cascade Mountains - the first to return to the American Northwest in 70 years.


THU 00:20 Top of the Pops (m0008kb3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


THU 00:50 Folk America at the Barbican (m00092hb)
Billy Bragg

A special Greenwich Village Revisited concert with Billy Bragg.


THU 01:00 Peaky Blinders (b04kklnm)
Series 2

Episode 1

As the 1920s begin to roar, business is booming for the Peaky Blinders gang. Tommy Shelby starts to expand his legal and illegal operations, with an eye on the racetracks of the south. Meanwhile, an enemy from Tommy's past returns to Birmingham.


THU 02:00 Peaky Blinders (b04l8zyp)
Series 2

Episode 2

Tommy offers to help Polly by searching for her children, who long ago were taken from her. In London, Tommy risks his life by meeting enigmatic leader Alfie Solomons. Meanwhile Arthur continues to feel the devastating effects of the Great War.


THU 03:00 Peaky Blinders (b04lssgp)
Series 2

Episode 3

Tommy hatches a plan to take control of the southern racecourses. He also meets the aristocratic May Carleton and sees an opportunity to move up in the world. Meanwhile both Major Campbell and London gangster Darby Sabini plan Tommy's downfall.



FRIDAY 20 SEPTEMBER 2019

FRI 19:00 World News Today (m0008k8l)
The latest news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


FRI 19:30 Top of the Pops (m0008k8n)
Gary Davies and Mike Read present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 16 June 1988 and featuring Sabrina, Erasure, the Sisters of Mercy, the Fat Boys and Chubby Checker, Eurythmics, a-ha, Sade, Matt Bianco, Bros, the Timelords and the Pasadenas.


FRI 20:00 Fleetwood Mac: A Musical History (m0001kz2)
Fellow musicians, journalists and fans celebrate Fleetwood Mac with a selection of their best-loved songs.

Fleetwood Mac are the great survivors of British and American rock music. For more than fifty years they’ve overcome break-ups and breakdowns to become one of the most successful bands of all time. They have sold over 100 million records worldwide, with their 1977 smash Rumours accounting for nearly half of those sales.

They have endured, like all great bands, because of the complimentary talents of its members. From Peter Green to Christine McVie, Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham, it has contained some extraordinary songwriters. With brilliant musicians on all instruments, the band has been able to turn the songs into commercial gold. Above all the tough determination of the two men who gave the band their name has seen Fleetwood Mac through thick and thin.

Fleetwood fan Edith Bowman provides a narrative overview alongside other celebrity fans, who all pay tribute to the band in this hit-filled hour. Contributors include KT Tunstall, Travis’s frontman Fran Healy, Toyah Willcox, Sian Pattenden and Emma Dabiri.


FRI 21:00 Fleetwood Mac's Songbird - Christine McVie (m0008k8q)
Christine McVie is undoubtedly the longest-serving female band member of any of the enduring rock ‘n’ roll acts that emerged from the 1960s. While she has never fronted Fleetwood Mac, preferring to align herself with ‘the boys’ in the rhythm section whom she first joined 50 years ago, Christine is their most successful singer-songwriter. Her hits include ‘Over My Head’, ‘Don’t Stop’ and ‘Everywhere’.

After massive global success in both the late 1970s and mid-1980s, Christine left the band in the late 1990s, quitting California and living in semi-retirement in Kent, only to rejoin the band in 2013. In this 90-minute film, this most English of singers finally gets to take centre-stage and tell both her story and the saga of Fleetwood Mac from her point of view.


FRI 22:30 Fleetwood Mac: Don't Stop (b00nq7q9)
Fleetwood Mac are one of the biggest-selling bands of all time and still on the road. Their story, told in their own words, is an epic tale of love and confrontation, of success and loss.

Few bands have undergone such radical musical and personal change. The band evolved from the 60s British blues boom to perfect a US West Coast sound that saw them sell 40 million copies of the album Rumours.

However, behind-the-scenes relationships were turbulent. The band went through multiple line-ups with six different lead guitarists. While working on Rumours, the two couples at the heart of the band separated, yet this heartache inspired the perfect pop record.


FRI 23:30 Totally British: 70s Rock 'n' Roll (b01r7hk5)
1975-79

A romp through the BBC archive library from 1975 to 1979 has unearthed some seldom-seen performances of the rarely explored genre of pub rock and other late 70s rock 'n' roll gems from classic music programmes like the Old Grey Whistle Test and Top of the Pops. Before the DIY culture of punk took hold there was a whole breed of real musicians who honed their craft in the backrooms of pubs. And towards the end of the 70s men's hair was starting to get shorter too.

This compilation has uncovered rarely seen footage from the likes of Canvey Island's Dr Feelgood, original pub rockers Ducks DeLuxe, Eddie and the Hot Rods, Elvis Costello, Meal Ticket, Steve Gibbons Band, Dave Edmunds and chum Nick Lowe, a pre-Mike & the Mechanics' Paul Carrack in his first band Ace, a post-Faces Ronnie Lane, The Motors, the first TV performance from Dire Straits, Graham Parker and the Rumour and many more.


FRI 00:30 Top of the Pops (m0008k8n)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


FRI 01:00 Peaky Blinders (b04mlypg)
Series 2

Episode 4

Tommy finds out exactly what mission Major Campbell is forcing him to undertake. Arthur spearheads a ferocious takeover of London's Eden Club. Meanwhile, Polly's son Michael is welcomed into the business and quickly experiences the dark side of the Peaky Blinders.


FRI 02:00 Peaky Blinders (b04n6zyy)
Series 2

Episode 5

Tommy is caught by surprise when his powerbase in London is obliterated. As Tommy struggles to save his family and regain the upper hand, May expresses her feelings for him, and he is paid a visit by an old friend.


FRI 03:00 Peaky Blinders (b04nyw0f)
Series 2

Episode 6

As derby day arrives, Tommy is faced with impossible decisions as he plans to strike back at his enemies and take the family business to another level. Meanwhile, Major Campbell has one final card to play - one that he is certain will bring about Tommy's demise.




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

A Timewatch Guide 22:00 MON (b08z02nl)

Beyond 100 Days 19:00 MON (m0008kc0)

Beyond 100 Days 19:00 TUE (m0008k8g)

Beyond 100 Days 19:00 WED (m0008k81)

Beyond 100 Days 19:00 THU (m0008kb1)

Cyprus Avenue 22:00 SUN (m0008k8d)

Darkness: Those Who Kill 21:00 SAT (m0008k7w)

Darkness: Those Who Kill 21:45 SAT (m0008k7y)

Detectorists 22:30 SAT (b04jy45z)

Detectorists 23:00 SAT (b04kzw1l)

Detectorists 23:30 SAT (b04ld1jd)

Dig WW2 with Dan Snow 20:00 WED (b01hzqzj)

Engineering Giants 23:40 SUN (b01llr67)

England's Forgotten Queen: The Life and Death of Lady Jane Grey 20:00 TUE (b09lv17g)

Everybody in the Place: an Incomplete History of Britain 1984-1992 02:40 SUN (m000777d)

Fleetwood Mac's Songbird - Christine McVie 21:00 FRI (m0008k8q)

Fleetwood Mac: A Musical History 20:00 FRI (m0001kz2)

Fleetwood Mac: Don't Stop 22:30 FRI (b00nq7q9)

Folk America at the Barbican 00:50 THU (m00092hb)

Genius of the Ancient World 00:40 MON (b066d0v5)

Glam Rock at the BBC 01:00 SAT (b094mcwn)

Golf: Solheim Cup 19:00 SAT (m0008k7t)

Great Indian Railway Journeys 21:00 MON (b09ynd5n)

Great Irish Journeys with Martha Kearney 19:30 MON (b05nyhq4)

Great Irish Journeys with Martha Kearney 19:30 TUE (b05q19lj)

Horizon 22:20 THU (b05527mp)

Land of the Lost Wolves 23:20 THU (b01fnfrc)

Life in the Air 20:00 SAT (p03jvffz)

Life in the Air 03:00 SAT (p03jvffz)

Maps: Power, Plunder and Possession 20:00 THU (b00s96gn)

Mercury Prize 21:00 THU (m0008kb5)

Metalworks! 01:40 MON (b01hr877)

Peaky Blinders 01:00 TUE (p01fj94w)

Peaky Blinders 02:00 TUE (b03bgw2m)

Peaky Blinders 03:00 TUE (b03bsw9p)

Peaky Blinders 01:00 WED (b03c58wp)

Peaky Blinders 02:00 WED (b03cntw3)

Peaky Blinders 03:00 WED (b03dwq3x)

Peaky Blinders 01:00 THU (b04kklnm)

Peaky Blinders 02:00 THU (b04l8zyp)

Peaky Blinders 03:00 THU (b04lssgp)

Peaky Blinders 01:00 FRI (b04mlypg)

Peaky Blinders 02:00 FRI (b04n6zyy)

Peaky Blinders 03:00 FRI (b04nyw0f)

Popular Voices at the BBC 02:00 SAT (b09gvqjc)

Race and Pace: The West Indians in East Lancashire 19:30 SUN (b097bl89)

Radio 2 Live 20:00 SUN (m0008k88)

Raiders of the Lost Past with Janina Ramirez 21:00 WED (m0008k83)

Rome: A History of the Eternal City 20:00 MON (b01pdt0s)

Rome: A History of the Eternal City 02:40 MON (b01pdt0s)

Sicily: The Wonder of the Mediterranean 00:00 TUE (b08cwrg9)

Sicily: The Wonder of the Mediterranean 00:00 WED (b08dzx1h)

Spotlight on the Troubles: A Secret History 21:00 TUE (m0008k8j)

Stories from the Dark Earth: Meet the Ancestors Revisited 23:00 WED (b01s74g9)

Summertime 23:00 MON (m0008kc2)

The Age of Excess: When Britain Went Too Far 01:40 SUN (b0084l5q)

The Brecon Beacons with Iolo Williams 19:30 WED (b06wkqyn)

The Greatest Tomb on Earth: Secrets of Ancient China 00:40 SUN (b080396k)

The Last Explorers 23:00 TUE (b017hzw2)

The Women's Football Show 19:00 SUN (m0008k85)

Top of the Pops 00:00 SAT (b09kt44k)

Top of the Pops 21:30 SUN (m0008k8b)

Top of the Pops 19:30 THU (m0008kb3)

Top of the Pops 00:20 THU (m0008kb3)

Top of the Pops 19:30 FRI (m0008k8n)

Top of the Pops 00:30 FRI (m0008k8n)

Totally British: 70s Rock 'n' Roll 23:30 FRI (b01r7hk5)

Vikings 22:00 WED (b01mxt26)

Voyages of Discovery 22:00 TUE (b0074t2w)

World News Today 19:00 FRI (m0008k8l)