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 21 MARCH 2020

SAT 19:00 Rick Stein's Long Weekends (b083w5nl)
Cadiz

Rick's series of culinary city breaks continues with a trip to the historic city of Cadiz in southern Spain. Rick is captivated by its narrow winding streets as he walks in the footsteps of Phoenician and Arab traders who made a lasting impression on the city.

Tavernas offer tantalising tapas, including chickpea stews, cured pork lardons, freshly grilled mackerel and rice dishes flavoured with garlic, saffron and parsley. Rick times his visit perfectly to enjoy the city's two most revered culinary stars - fresh tuna and manzanilla.

At home, Rick cooks arroz verde - green rice - and flamenco eggs, a dish of eggs with tomatoes and vegetables.


SAT 20:00 South Pacific (b00l7q55)
Fragile Paradise

The South Pacific is still relatively healthy and teeming with fish, but it is a fragile paradise. International fishing fleets are taking a serious toll on the sharks, albatross and tuna, and there are other insidious threats to these bountiful seas. This episode looks at what is being done to preserve the ocean and its wildlife.


SAT 21:00 Hidden (m000gk67)
Series 2

Episode 6

Deep in the mountains, the search continues. Finally, Cadi and Mia come face to face - the hunter and the hunted. The sad truth about the murders begins to emerge. Two innocent people killed. Three young lives destroyed.


SAT 22:00 Lost Sitcoms (b07tq1kv)
Hancock's Half Hour

Series which recreates three classic lost British sitcoms with a stellar new cast. In this episode of Hancock's Half Hour originally broadcast in 1956, Tony has a new neighbour whose behaviour is very, very suspicious.


SAT 22:30 Apprentice (m000gnzz)
Drama. A young officer at a maximum security prison is on his way to becoming the chief executioner.

In Malay and English with English subtitles.


SAT 00:00 Top of the Pops (m000gg2n)
Anthea Turner and Mark Goodier present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 18 May 1989 and featuring Shakin' Stevens, Deacon Blue and Neneh Cherry.


SAT 00:30 Top of the Pops (m000gg2q)
Simon Mayo presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 25 May 1989 and featuring Lynne Hamilton, Donna Summer and Edelweiss.


SAT 01:00 Disco & Beyond with Ana Matronic and Martyn Ware (b0bnb2lz)
Former Scissor Sisters singer Ana Matronic along with Martyn Ware, who was in both The Human League and Heaven 17, reveal a playlist packed with disco classics and more. Each song is hand-picked, and as they watch the performances, they reveal the reasons behind their choices.

Discover why the Scissor Sisters owe a debt to Boney M, and how Martyn Ware helped revive the career of a singing icon. From Donna Summer to the Doctor Who theme tune and The Temptations to Tina Turner, their playlist holds dance-along gems interwoven with candid stories.


SAT 02:00 South Pacific (b00l7q55)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


SAT 03:00 Rick Stein's Long Weekends (b083w5nl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]



SUNDAY 22 MARCH 2020

SUN 19:00 The Return of the Flying Scotsman (b073c7r0)
After a ten-year restoration, we follow the Flying Scotsman, the world's most famous steam engine, as it returns to the tracks.

It's a locomotive legend. Whether people are interested in steam engines or not, everybody seems to love the Scotsman; it's simply a national treasure. A steel celebrity, a media darling... and after a painstaking restoration that has cost over four million pounds, the Scotsman is finally coming home to York.

There is going to be a real welcome back for the 93-year-old engine with its inaugural run from King's Cross Station in London, pulling a trainload of enthusiasts and supporters 200 miles north on the mainline. It is a triumphant return to the museum - and to a city synonymous with steam.

We are on board the train for its final test runs on the East Lancashire Railway and the scenic Settle-Carlisle railway, across Ribblehead Viaduct, before climbing on board for the inaugural trip. With cameras on the footplate, we capture the exhilaration, the excitement and the sheer hard work required to keep Scotsman on the line.

We join the celebrations - talking to historians, fans and enthusiasts about the engine... and marvel at how the Flying Scotsman has captured the imagination of so many people across the world since it first came to life in Doncaster in 1923.

The programme is narrated by John Shrapnel.


SUN 19:30 Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em (b0078897)
Series 2

The Baby Arrives

After a few false alarms, the great day has arrived and Betty and Frank's baby is due. Betty wakes during the night and Frank must follow his 'routine' to get her to hospital on time. Frank is present at the birth and encourages Betty as only he can!


SUN 20:00 Natural World (b063m3d7)
2015-2016

Ghost Bear Family

In the vast Canadian wilderness, there lives a very special bear family. Just out of hibernation, two black cubs have a pure white mother. She's not a polar bear or albino - locally she's known as a ghost bear. This far north, winter is never far away, and this unusual family must work hard to find enough food to see them through. They will also need to avoid other large predators, but being so different could bring them unwelcome attention.


SUN 21:00 Operation Gold Rush with Dan Snow (b0824c97)
Series 1

Mountain Passes

In an epic adventure, historian Dan Snow follows in the footsteps of the 19th century's last great gold rush - a journey filled with genuine danger and thrilling beauty. Leading a one-month expedition, he is joined by polar explorer Felicity Aston and remote environment medic Dr Kevin Fong. Their goal - to strike gold in Canada's frozen wilderness.

They attempt to retrace a gruelling 600-mile journey through one of the world's last great wildernesses. It takes them from the coast of Alaska to the gold fields of the Klondike, a remote region on the edge of the Canadian arctic. It is a journey first undertaken by tens of thousands of gold seekers - men and women from around the globe who in the last years of the 19th century dropped everything and set off for the Klondike in the hope of striking it rich. So great were the hardships they encountered that only one in three of those who set off ever made it there. Now, Dan and his team are reliving those struggles and experiences in the hunt for their own gold.

In this first episode, Dan and his team take on the Alaskan Coastal Mountains, a wall of snow and rock blocking their way to the Klondike and its gold. Following the routes used by the Klondikers, they split up to experience two very different gold rush journeys. As they begin their journey to the gold fields, they have to cross icy rivers, avalanche prone slopes and climb a near vertical icy ascent.


SUN 22:00 West Side Stories - The Making of a Classic (b086kfbb)
West Side Story is one of the best-loved musicals of all time. A modern-day Romeo and Juliet, its timeless story and exhilarating dance and music continue to excite audiences around the globe. Songs such as Maria, Somewhere, Tonight and America have all become some of the biggest hits in showbusiness. And yet, West Side Story had an uneasy birth and was even turned away by producers when it was first put together in the 1950s by Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, Jerome Robbins and Arthur Laurents.

Now, as the world prepares to celebrate the 60th anniversary of West Side Story in 2017, dancer Bruno Tonioli and broadcaster Suzy Klein go in search of the true stories behind the inception of this classic show. For the first time on television, they hear first-hand from those involved in the show when it opened on Broadway in September 1957, including Sondheim himself, producer Hal Prince and original cast members from both show and movie, including Chita Rivera, Carol Lawrence and Rita Moreno. With the BBC Symphony Orchestra and specially cast singers, we relive some of the wonderful music and, in the company of Suzy and Bruno, discover how West Side Story placed the 1950s phenomena of racial tension and teenage gangs centre stage to create a hit that changed musical theatre forever.


SUN 23:00 BBC Proms (b00td8g6)
2010

Sondheim's 80th Birthday Celebration

Marking the 80th birthday of one of Broadway's great innovators, the first ever all-Sondheim Prom at the Royal Albert Hall. The concert includes excerpts from hit shows A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd and Into the Woods performed by a starry cast of leading figures of the opera and theatre worlds with Bryn Terfel, Maria Friedman, Simon Russell Beale and some special guests. Also on stage is the BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by David Charles Abel. Introduced by Katie Derham.


SUN 01:05 Discovering... (m0002k5f)
Series 1

The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra - Benjamin Britten

Benjamin Britten’s The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra (1945) is one of the most frequently performed works of any British composer. It has introduced and enlivened the interest of whole generations of children in the instruments of the orchestra, in thrilling style. It is, however, much more than an instruction manual for youngsters. Now a classic of the concert hall, it is frequently performed to children and adults alike.

Katie Derham presents a detailed analysis of the composition, and the story behind its creation, before it is performed in full by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales with guest conductor Moritz Gnann in Cardiff’s Hoddinott Hall.

Orchestra members explain to Katie how Britten drew on the past for themes and techniques, and reapplied them in a twentieth-century context to show off each instrument in captivating fashion. Through interviews and archive Katie learns how the piece was commissioned for a Ministry of Education film during a post-war Britain filled with the optimism and promise of building a new world that would provide high culture for all - a central tenet of Britten’s own approach; to write music that is ‘useful, and to the living’.

The film demonstrates how Britten takes the orchestra apart, allowing each instrument its own variation on Henry Purcell’s theme of 250 years earlier. Through the performance we see how the 13 variations get to the essence of each instrument’s characteristics, showing each section of the orchestra at its individual best.


SUN 02:05 Beyond the Walls: In Search of the Celts (b0bt8w56)
Historian Dr Eleanor Barraclough travels through some of Britain’s most beautiful landscapes – Hadrian’s Wall, the Lake District and Offa’s Dyke – in search of new evidence to reveal the true story of the mysterious ancient British tribes often called the Celts.

According to the official history books, the Celts were defeated and pushed to the edges of Britain by waves of Roman and Anglo Saxon invaders. However, a growing body of evidence suggests this is not the full story.

To help give the Celts back their proper place in our history, Eleanor examines freshly discovered treasures, new archaeological evidence from real photographs and clues hidden in ancient poetry to reveal a fresh narrative - one that suggests the relationship between our ancient British ancestors and those who came to conquer them was much less repressive, and far more co-operative, than we have thought.


SUN 02:35 West Side Stories - The Making of a Classic (b086kfbb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]



MONDAY 23 MARCH 2020

MON 19:00 BBC World News (m000h2xw)
The latest international news from the BBC.


MON 19:30 Francesco's Mediterranean Voyage (b00cwkbf)
The Dodecanese

Francesco da Mosto has been at sea for two months now as he travels from Venice to Istanbul. He approaches the last group of the Greek islands - the Dodecanese.

Rhodes was home to the legendary crusader knights of St John. Over the centuries, it was repeatedly caught up in fighting between the Christian and Islamic worlds, and even today it has the feel of a fortress island.

Next stop is the exotic Turquoise Coast. The coast is too shallow for the Black Swan to explore, so Francesco swaps boats and heads for the extraordinary Dalyan Tombs - great classical burial temples carved out of the high clifftops. They were deliberately carved high in the mountains so the spirits of the dead had less far to travel to heaven. On the way he encounters the huge loggerhead turtles of the region, which enjoy nothing more than crunching their way through the shells of giant crabs.

One of the most unexpected islands of the area - and an uncomfortable reminder for Francesco of his country's recent past - is the island of Leros. Mussolini redesigned Leros as a launch pad for his dreams of a Fascist empire that would dominate the Mediterranean. He rebuilt the main town as a military town with wide straight boulevards for army parades.

Next stop is Patmos, where St John the Divine is said to have experienced his revelations that make up the Book of Revelation in the Bible - foretelling the end of the world and the final struggle between God and Satan. The Cave of the Apocalypse on Patmos is said to be the actual site, and Francesco sees the crack in the roof of the cave out of which apparently the voice of God emerged.

And, at last, a surprise for Francesco renders him speechless.


MON 20:00 Dynasties (p06mvr1c)
Series 1

Lion

This episode features one of the most famous lion prides in Africa - the Marsh Pride of Kenya's Masai Mara. As the story begins, the Marsh Pride is in a unique situation in their history. They have been abandoned by all of the adult males who - until now - defended the pride. Just two adult females are left to feed and protect their eight youngsters.

The future of the whole family rests entirely on the shoulders of these two mothers, Charm and her cousin Sienna. They need to raise their cubs to adulthood if this great dynasty is to continue. They and their cubs will face the great perils of the African savannah, including raging herds of buffalo, rival lion prides, the constant menace of marauding hyena and, in a fateful turn of events, a clash with humanity.

An extraordinary story of leadership against all odds.


MON 21:00 Age of the Image (m000gnzv)
Series 1

Fake Views

James Fox explores how the image has become both more powerful and less trusted than ever before. Images increasingly surround us - on our phones, on billboards and in our homes. And the distinction between reality and image has become increasingly tenuous, from the hyper-real paintings and sculptures of artists like Audrey Flack and Ron Mueck to the seamless trickery of Hollywood special effects. But this goes hand in hand with the power the image has to shape our attitudes and outlook. Our ability to share images within seconds has had a profound effect on the way we see and respond to the world around us.

In an age of 24-hour rolling news, smartphones and the internet, the image has taken over from the written word as the most powerful engine of change. In an era of easy image manipulation - from Photoshop and green screens to deepfake technology – can we really trust what we see?


MON 22:00 England's Forgotten Queen: The Life and Death of Lady Jane Grey (b09m5rmf)
Series 1

Episode 2

Jane is known as the 'Nine Days Queen' - and three days into her reign the clock is ticking. Mary Tudor, eldest daughter of Henry VIII, is determined to seize power. Both women are raising armies.

The manipulative Duke of Northumberland is dispatched from the Tower of London to lead Jane's forces against Mary at her castle at Framlingham. Northumberland sets out for a battle that could descend into civil war. But ordinary people can turn the tide of history. Will they go against the odds and side with the Catholic Mary Tudor?

Jane's military leaders send heavily armed ships to the coast of East Anglia to prevent Mary escaping by sea and to cut her off from any help that might come from Catholic supporters in Europe. But the crews rebel and turn the ships and their weapons over to Mary. Mary and Jane now have armies matched in size and matched in firepower. The future of the country - its religion and its ruler - hangs in the balance.


MON 23:00 Storyville (b08qldj6)
OJ: Made in America

Part 1

Five-part series and winner of the 2017 Academy Award for Best Documentary chronicling the rise and fall of OJ Simpson.

To many observers, the story of the crime of the century is a story that began the night Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman were brutally murdered outside her Brentwood condominium. But as the first episode lays bare, to truly grasp the significance of what happened not just that night, but the epic chronicle to follow, one has to travel back to points in time long before that.

To generations prior, when African-Americans began migrating to California en masse, trying desperately - and fruitlessly - to outrun the racism that had defined their lives. To the late 1960s, when in the heart of Los Angeles, OJ Simpson rose to instant fame as an unstoppable running back for the USC Trojans. To the early 1970s, when he expanded that fame in the NFL, becoming the first player ever to rush for 2,000 yards in a season, and emerging as one of the most visible faces in sports. And to a few years after that, when with his celebrity transcending the game, Simpson retired from American football and returned to Los Angeles - his acting, advertising, and broadcasting careers in ascendance. It was also then that he fell madly in love - with a young, beautiful woman named Nicole Brown.


MON 00:30 Sex and Sensibility: The Allure of Art Nouveau (b01f1959)
British Cities

Britain's art nouveau heritage is excavated as cultural correspondent Stephen Smith unearths the bright, controversial but brief career of Aubrey Beardsley.

On a mission to uncover lesser-known stars of Britain's version of this continental fin-de-siecle style, he explores the stunning work of Mary Watts and the massive influence of department store entrepreneur Arthur Liberty.

In Scotland, he celebrates the innovative art nouveau of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, but looks harder at the extraordinary and influential work of Mackintosh's wife, Margaret MacDonald.


MON 01:30 The Secret Life of Books (b06jnzjv)
Series 2

Edward Lear's Nonsense Songs

Nicholas Parsons, a lifelong fan of Edward Lear, revisits the book that gave the world The Owl and the Pussycat to explore the fine line between joy and melancholy in Lear's writing and discover how the epileptic, bronchial, asthmatic depressive pioneered a new kind of poetry that married brilliant wordplay with astonishing artwork.


MON 02:00 Going Going Gone: Nick Broomfield's Disappearing Britain (b07chym0)
Two iconic British buildings are threatened with demolition and the intrepid Nick Broomfield is on the case. In a pair of documentaries, Broomfield profiles the Wellington Rooms in Liverpool and the Coal Exchange in Cardiff.

The Wellington Rooms, built in 1815 by Edmund Aikin, was originally the social hub for the super-rich, slave traders, businessmen and the elite. The prime minister William Gladstone's family, themselves wealthy slave owners, invested heavily in this magnificent building with the most intricate detailing and proportions. A Wedgwood ceiling and sprung dance floor, with classical columns, create a building of love and light.

Despite the depression in Liverpool's fortunes, it's a building that has brought enormous happiness to many different people over a couple of centuries. Countless people seem to have fallen in love and met their future partners in the assembly room. Now in a rundown state of faded glory, the question is - what to do with the Wellington Rooms?

The Coal Exchange in Cardiff, built in 1883 by Edward Seward, is a magnificent celebration of the industry of coal and its immense wealth. A glass-ceilinged exchange room with galleries on three floors and a unique lowered floor are a remarkable monument to this time.

Now in serious neglect, the whole building, the size of a city block, faces demolition. It signifies the serious lack of resourcefulness on the part of Cardiff Council to celebrate and regenerate not only this building but the whole area. The once great Butetown Docks and the magnificent buildings surrounding the Coal Exchange have also been allowed to crumble and disintegrate. Rather than redevelop the docks in a way that they have been so wonderfully done in Liverpool, the docks in Cardiff have been filled in. Magnificent warehouses have been torn down, and the whole history of coal and the uniqueness of this area have been almost obliterated.


MON 03:00 Age of the Image (m000gnzv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



TUESDAY 24 MARCH 2020

TUE 19:00 BBC World News (m000h2xq)
The latest international news from the BBC.


TUE 19:30 Gareth Edwards’ Great Welsh Adventure (m0009xs7)
Series 1

Episode 3

Rugby legend Gareth Edwards and wife Maureen’s canal adventure continues in style as they are entrusted with a classy craft on which to explore the Monmouthshire and Brecon canal. Determined to show that he has mastered the art of narrow-boating, Gareth takes charge of the Bentley of barges. But no amount of determination prevents a few bumps and scrapes along the way. As a reward for their endeavours, the intrepid duo discover a way to make gin with ingredients found in the hedgerows.
Gareth is a lifelong fisherman and loves nothing more than a few hours on a riverbank. When the canal passes the Glanusk Estate, Gareth seizes the chance to meet up with Tiggy Pettifer. Once nanny to the royal princes, Tiggy now runs the estate. Gareth admits that if he had to make a choice between scoring a try for Wales or catching the perfect salmon, it would be catching the fish every time. As Gareth and Maureen pull into Brecon, where the canal ends, they couldn’t have a more appropriate welcoming party. A jazz band – a style of music with which the town is synonymous thanks to its annual festival - is waiting to greet them.


TUE 20:00 Digging for Britain (m000gp0f)
The Greatest Discoveries

Episode 2

Professor Alice Roberts re-examines the key archaeological sites of Iron Age Britain, from an incredible chariot burial in Yorkshire to a vast coin hoard on Jersey.


TUE 20:30 The Art Mysteries with Waldemar Januszczak (m000gp0h)
Series 1

Seurat's Les Poseuses

Hanging in the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, Seurat’s Les Poseuses is probably his least-known painting. It is also a picture brimming with codes and hidden meanings. It shows three nudes in the artist’s studio, but included in the background is Seurat’s famous masterpiece, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.

Why is it there? What is it trying to say? Why two pictures at once? Waldemar Januszczak investigates.


TUE 21:00 Ian Hislop's Olden Days (b0426kjz)
Green Imagined Land

Ian Hislop explores the rural olden days - an idealised vision of the countryside - in this concluding film of his series exploring Britain's obsession with the past.

Despite an overwhelmingly urban existence over the last 150 years, the British have increasingly looked to the supposedly timeless, unchanging countryside. It has inspired some of Britain's greatest writers and painters, and been just as influential in popular culture. It's no accident, Ian believes, that one of the most successful First World War recruitment posters used in British cities was of thatched cottages and rolling hills - with its slogan 'Isn't this worth fighting for?'.

Ian begins by looking at the emergence of a rural fantasia in the hugely popular, excessively sentimental works of the Victorian watercolourist Myles Birket Foster. He discovers how the musician Cecil Sharp kickstarted the revival of folk music and dance in the early 20th century and how morris dancing was used to rehabilitate soldiers on the Western Front.

Between the wars, swathes of the English countryside were built over, including Sarehole, a village just outside Birmingham and childhood home to JRR Tolkien. Tolkien immortalised the struggle between a rural arcadia (the Shire) and an industrial dystopia (Mordor) in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

After 1945, Britain briefly turned its back on the rural olden days and looked to the future. Even the countryside had to be modernised, so the BBC created The Archers to promote the latest agricultural techniques. But as Archers actress Tamsin Greig tells Ian, it is now most loved for celebrating the things - like a sense of community - we feel we have lost.

Loss, Ian shows, dominates Britain's relationship with the countryside. Philip Larkin's 1972 poem Going, Going suggests our fears for its demise actually reflect our own sense of mortality. It is a theme Ian considers in Larkin's Hull and in his own childhood haven, the Sussex Downs.

To conclude, Ian reflects on the irony that some of Britain's most cherished landmarks from the olden days were once reviled. Victorian critic John Ruskin led a fierce campaign to halt the construction of the Headstone Viaduct in Monsal Dale. Today it is one of the highlights of the Peak District. Might we, Ian wonders, one day make heritage attractions of wind farms and fracking sites?


TUE 22:00 Lost Sitcoms (b07v86cq)
Steptoe and Son

Series which recreates three classic lost British sitcoms with a stellar new cast. In this episode of Steptoe and Son originally broadcast in 1970, Harold wants to go on a skiing holiday but he doesn't want Albert there.


TUE 22:30 Storyville (b08rb30l)
OJ: Made in America

Part 2

Five-part series and winner of the 2017 Academy Award for Best Documentary chronicling the rise and fall of OJ Simpson.

There was never one Los Angeles, California. There were always two. One was the world inhabited by OJ Simpson - wealthy, privileged, and predominantly white. A world where celebrity was power, and where OJ - race be damned - was one of the most popular figures around, cultivating the perfect image, even if it hardly lined up with what lay beneath. Then there was the other LA, just a few miles away from Brentwood and his Rockingham estate, a place where millions of other black people lived an entirely different reality at the hands of the Los Angeles Police Department.

It was in that 'other' Los Angeles where riots erupted in 1992, and more than 50 people died with thousands more injured. The city burned for nearly a week that spring, laying bare all the anger, and all the alienation, that black people in Los Angeles felt towards the police. For his part, back in Brentwood, OJ Simpson had other concerns.


TUE 00:05 Storyville (b08rb4wh)
OJ: Made in America

Part 3

Five-part series and winner of the 2017 Academy Award for Best Documentary chronicling the rise and fall of OJ Simpson.

The police arrived at the condo on Bundy Drive at 4:25 a.m. on June 13th, 1994. It was a gruesome murder scene, clearly the result of a violent confrontation that had left two people dead - one of whom, they'd quickly discover, was the estranged wife of OJ Simpson. It was just the start of a chapter of American history like none other, one that would lay bare the realities of race, power, the legal system, the media, and so much more in Los Angeles, California and far beyond.

Two decades later, the disagreements between the figures at the centre of investigating the case are still palpable. The events of June 17th 1994 are nearly as unfathomable as they were as they unfolded. And the beginnings of the battle in the courtroom are just as fascinating - the defence's strategy, just as unambiguous. OJ Simpson had spent his entire life running from the colour of his skin. Now, in so many ways, he was going to depend on it to avoid spending the rest of his life in prison.


TUE 01:40 The Art Mysteries with Waldemar Januszczak (m000gp0h)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]


TUE 02:10 Digging for Britain (m000gp0f)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


TUE 02:40 Ian Hislop's Olden Days (b0426kjz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



WEDNESDAY 25 MARCH 2020

WED 19:00 BBC World News (m000h2xt)
The latest international news from the BBC.


WED 19:30 Handmade on the Silk Road (b07blsjw)
The Potter

The desert city of Meybod in southern Iran is famous for its ceramics and Abdol Reza Aghaei's family have been potters there for generations. This beautifully observed film follows Abdol and his father making a simple decorated water jug. Competing with cheap Chinese imports, they sometimes struggle to make a living, but share a dedication to keeping their traditions alive. And with Abdol's father teasing his son about who makes the best pots, the film also offers a touching, intimate portrait of two master craftsmen at work.


WED 20:00 The Victorian House of Arts and Crafts (b0c1sx9p)
Series 1

Episode 4

In the final episode, Anita Rani, potter Keith Brymer Jones, and arts and crafts expert and dealer Patch Rogers set the 21st-century crafters their toughest set of challenges so far. Concentrating on the communal areas of the house they are have to craft from scratch a heavy metal weather vane, a decorative mirror, write, publish and print their own magazine and create a decorative pergola for the front of the house. All within a week.

Working together as a group they will see if the arts and crafts philosophies of John Ruskin and William Morris have sunk in, and if living the 1890's communal has helped them to better understand the depth and scale of the arts and crafts movement both as a power for artistic and social change. But will they get it all done in time to celebrate with a ball and fireworks display at the end of their month in the house and will they have learnt anything about what it means to be a creative crafter from their time as a Victorian?


WED 21:00 Harry Birrell Presents Films of Love and War (m000gk9j)
In 1928 and at the age of eleven, Harry Birrell was given his first cine camera. ‘The greatest toy a child could ever receive,’ he would say. His obsession with making movies would span the rest of his life, despite the onset of blindness.

In love, war and other adventures, Harry recorded everything with a wonderfully cinematic eye on thousands of feet of high-quality 16mm film. From commanding a battalion of Gurkhas in the Indian army at the start of WWII to dangerous sorties deep behind enemy lines in Burma at its end, and from the ballroom dances of his youth in the 30s to teaching his children how to dance the twist in the 60s, Harry’s entertaining and errant adventures are filmed with the intimacy of home movies but on the scale of Lawrence of Arabia.

Today, his granddaughter Carina uncovers a lifetime of memories all spliced together in over 400 films, personal diaries (narrated by Richard Madden) and countless photographs that have previously lain unseen.


WED 22:30 Storyville (b08rb6f2)
OJ: Made in America

Part 4

Five-part series and winner of the 2017 Academy Award for Best Documentary chronicling the rise and fall of OJ Simpson.

In January 1995, the trial of the century took place. It would be like nothing before it, nor anything that's come since, and reshape the landscape of the media and, truly, American culture along the way. Over the better part of ten months, there would be dozens of dramatic twists and turns, revelations and surprises, accusations and betrayals. The recollections of so many of the case's protagonists make for section after section of riveting film, all bringing back to life a trial that somehow evolved into a phenomenon that left the brutal murders of two people deep in forgotten shadows.

Nothing, though, proved larger than the context - of everything that came before in the Los Angeles that OJ Simpson never knew. And in the trial's closing arguments, the dividing line of race - in Los Angeles, and America - was never starker.


WED 00:05 Storyville (b08rb6zx)
OJ: Made in America

Part 5

Five-part series and winner of the 2017 Academy Award for Best Documentary chronicling the rise and fall of OJ Simpson.

On the morning of October 3rd 1995, it was announced that OJ Simpson had been found not guilty of all charges. To many Americans, it was a stunning, almost explicable miscarriage of justice; a tragedy; a disturbing example of what money and power could buy in America. But to another group, it was an historic victory - payback for all the losses and all the injustice that they'd incurred over generations of history.

As black America rejoiced, OJ went home, beginning what would become the strange, next phase of his life, a life lived in a form of celebratory purgatory - in many quarters shunned, scorned, and mocked, but in others, welcomed as a character in the circus that his saga had undeniably helped to create.

From running from a guilty verdict in a wrongful death suit to working on a book that was a 'hypothetical conviction', his existence became more and more outlandish, until it all came crashing down on a night in 2007 in Las Vegas, a night that left Simpson where he is today, in prison for perhaps the rest of his life.


WED 01:45 Sword, Musket & Machine Gun: Britain's Armed History (b0888mjv)
The Big Bang

Dr Sam Willis charts the impact of gunpowder on the battlefield, from cannons to the first handheld weapons.

His journey starts in the 13th century with Oxford scientist and monk Roger Bacon, believed to be the first Englishman to write down a recipe for gunpowder. Sam sees one of the largest surviving medieval cannons still in existence - Mons Meg in Edinburgh Castle. He examines a primitive 1400s 'handgonne' in the Tower of London Armouries that seems more like a mini cannon, with no trigger.

Sam tells the story of the Earl of Moray James Stewart who was regent of Scotland having ejected Mary Queen of Scots from the throne in 1570.

Sam next tells the story of the gunpowder plot. He includes lesser-known details of the 1605 attempted attack. For example, Guy Fawkes was discovered not just once but twice. Also the amount of gunpowder is thought to have been far more than was required. Another strange side to gunpowder's story is revealed - the saltpetre men. Gunpowder requires three ingredients - charcoal, sulphur and saltpetre. In the 17th century chemistry was primitive. Saltpetre or potassium nitrate forms from animal urine and the saltpetre men would collect soil where animals had urinated. This meant they dug up dovecots, stables and even people's homes. They had sweeping powers to come onto people's property and take their soil. They abused these heavily and one of the grievances against King Charles I was the heavy handedness of the saltpetre men.

Eventually, the conflict with the king would turn into the English Civil War. A key weapon is this war was the musket. It was so basic blacksmiths could churn it out by the dozen. Sam fires one with the help of expert gunsmith Robert Tilney. He shows both the musket's power and the lack of accuracy. Muskets were inaccurate but the tactic used was to wait until opponents were very close and then fire one huge volley. Sam shows that the musket would then be used as a heavy club.

Gunpowder weapons gave different injuries to swords and arrows. This led to changes in battlefield surgery, and one who was a key influence was surgeon Richard Wiseman. Sam shows that Wiseman had learnt that any cloth or fragment left from a bullet wound could cause infection and kill the patient.

Finally, Sam travels to Saint Malo in France to tell the story of a frightening attack by the British. In 1693, France and Britain were at war and French pirates had been attacking English ships. Captain John Benbow was asked to launch an attack using a ship crammed with gunpowder. Benbow put 20,000 pounds of gunpowder into the ship as well as many other inflammable ingredients - pitch, straw, sulphur, mortars and grenades. He planned to put this 'Infernal', as it was known, right next to the harbour walls of Saint Malo. But as the ship came near it struck a rock and held fast, within a pistol shot of the town. Then the ship exploded. The sound was heard 100 miles away yet a witness claimed 'no life was lost except a cat in a gutter.' The explosion was 'terrible beyond description' and it shows how far the English were prepared to go in the name of national security.


WED 02:45 The Victorian House of Arts and Crafts (b0c1sx9p)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]



THURSDAY 26 MARCH 2020

THU 19:00 BBC News (m000h2y9)
Twenty-four hours a day, the latest national and international stories as they break.


THU 19:30 The Wonder of Animals (b04fmg8d)
Big Cats

Chris Packham delves beneath the skin of the big cats to explore what makes them such good hunters, and he reveals that it is not all about brawn.

New scientific research shows how subtle adaptations in their anatomy and physiology contribute to the success of all stages of a big cat hunt: the stalk, the capture and the kill.

Leg hairs help the leopard to stalk, and intricate muscle fibres drive the snow leopard to capture its prey. For the jaguar, jaw muscles and whiskers combine to give it a precision bite that can take down a caiman, and an enlarged area of the lioness's brain gives it the edge over all their big cat cousins.


THU 20:00 Shipwrecks: Britain's Sunken History (b03lytyp)
Civilising the Sea

Shipwrecks are the nightmare we have forgotten - the price Britain paid for ruling the waves from an island surrounded by treacherous rocks. The result is a coastline that is home to the world's highest concentration of sunken ships. But shipwrecks also changed the course of British history, helped shape our national character and drove innovations in seafaring technology, as well as gripping our imagination.

The terrible toll taken by shipwrecks was such that in the winter of 1820 some 20,000 seaman lost their lives in the North Sea alone. That's 20 jumbo jets. But in the final part of his series, maritime historian Sam Willis tells the stirring story of how the Victorians were finally driven into action, finding various ingenious solutions - from rockets that could fire rescue lines aboard stricken vessels to lifejackets, lifeboats and the Plimsoll Line, which outlawed overloading.

In Africa, he traces the legend of the Birkenhead Drill - the origin of 'women and children first'. Decorum even in disaster was the new Victorian way and it was conspicuously on hand to turn history's most iconic shipwreck - Titanic - into a tragic monument to British restraint.


THU 21:00 Mark Kermode's Secrets of Cinema (m000gp05)
Series 2

British History Movies

‘History,’ says Mark Kermode, ‘is the quintessential British film genre.’ America may have its great outdoors for road movies and westerns, and teeming cities for cop and crime sagas. But there is more than enough in two millennia of British history to provide a bottomless well of story material.

To prove the point, Mark looks at some of the best films about British history in the order of when they are set, tracing the story of Britain from the Roman invasion to the modern era, via medieval times, the Tudors, the English Civil War and the 18th and 19th centuries. He shows, from action and adventure to political intrigue, and from forest-dwelling outlaws to embattled kings and queens, that British history encompasses a remarkable range of styles and situations. Each period is almost a genre in itself, with its own particular themes and characters. And facts are rarely allowed to stand in the way of a good story or striking image.


THU 22:00 Cromwell (b00h4hm9)
Epic retelling of the clash between two great historical figures in the English Civil War. Oliver Cromwell and the enigmatic, forceful Charles I fought in castle corridors, in Parliament and finally in a fierce battle between their two armies.


THU 00:15 An Art Lovers' Guide (b0b0g5cj)
Series 2

Baku

In the final episode of the series, Janina Ramirez and Alastair Sooke set off on their most adventurous trip yet - to Baku, capital of Azerbaijan.

A former Soviet state, bordering the Caspian Sea, Baku offers a tantalising mix of the ancient and modern - at the crossroads of east meets west, on the ancient silk trading route. It is also an authoritarian state, where cultural life is tightly controlled. So, not their regular city break...

But it is a city looking westwards, eager to turn itself into a tourist destination. They discover a city for which oil has been both a blessing and a curse. The profits from oil transformed its architecture twice - first in the late nineteenth century, and again in the twentieth.

As a result, Baku is full of buildings that feel like 19th-century Paris, but also gleaming new structures by architectural stars like Zaha Hadid. And all around, the traces of Soviet rule offer other surprising clashes of art and architecture.

Nina and Alastair pick their way through this maze of influences and travel back in time, seeking the roots of Azerbaijani identity. Alastair visits the world's first museum devoted entirely to rugs while Nina marvels at stunning prehistoric rock art on the city's outskirts. Together they wander the medieval old city, discovering the early impact of Islamic culture.

And in the stunning Heydar Aliyev Centre designed by Zaha Hadid, they discover an exhibition devoted to Heydar Aliyev, president of Azerbaijan, whose government exerts a strong influence on the city's art and culture. But Alistair also meets Sabina Shikhlinskaya, an artist with a truly independent voice.

As night falls they discover why Azerbaijan is known as the 'Land of Fire' when they visit Yanar Dag, a spectacular 10-metre long natural gas fire which blazes continuously. And they end their visit to Baku with a performance of Maugham, Azerbaijan's ancient, haunting folk music as they reflect on their time in a city that has fascinated and surprised them both.


THU 01:15 Our Classical Century (m00041tg)
Series 1

1953 - 1971

From the films Brief Encounter and Bridge on the River Kwai, to the glamorous classical stars Jacqueline du Pré and Daniel Barenboim, this is the story of how classical music thrived in post-war Britain and found vast popular audiences. Suzy Klein and broadcaster and music lover Joan Bakewell explore a new world of musical collaborations with classical music – from Yehudi Menuhin and Ravi Shankar, Rick Wakeman and David Bowie, and Deep Purple and the Royal Philharmonic.

Elizabeth II’s coronation was a remarkable showcase for British classical music. It was watched by millions on their new TV sets. Suzy explores how the BBC transformed the Last Night of the Proms into a live TV extravaganza under the baton of the dynamic ‘Flash Harry’, Malcolm Sargent. Joan Bakewell meets Sylvia Darley, his private secretary for 20 years, who reveals the ‘love affair’ between Sir Malcolm and the promenaders.

TV was one medium that had grasped the potential of classical music – now film did too. David Lean had already co-opted Rachmaninov’s 2nd Piano Concerto to unforgettable effect in Brief Encounter. Suzy reveals how Lean commissioned the piece which brought Oscar glory for Best Score to British composer Malcom Arnold in 1958, for Lean’s cinematic tour de force Bridge on the River Kwai. Arnold – an eclectic, dynamic and prolific composer - produced a powerful score for this film about prisoners in a Japanese camp building a bridge for the Burma Railway. Composer Neil Brand reflects on Arnold’s ability to conjure the pain and hardship of wartime imprisonment and forced labour.

As the Sixties began, a piece deeply inspired by the wartime experience - The War Requiem - helped seal the reputation of composer Benjamin Britten. It was written for Coventry, a city devastated by WW2 bombing. An experiment in the healing power of music, it was a controversial choice for the reopening of Coventry Cathedral, as Britten was a conscientious objector. Against the backdrop of the Cold and fears of apocalyptic nuclear war, Britten created a piece that resounded with his deeply held opposition to war. Joan Bakewell visits the Red House in Aldeburgh where Britten wrote the piece, and examines Britten’s hand-written score that warns of the inhumanity and consequences of war. Suzy meets a member of the original 1962 audience who recalls the stunned silence that greeted its first performance, and Roderick Williams sings a powerful extract.

As the Sixties arrived and classical music thrived on TV, in cinemas, on records – a glamorous new classical star for a new age burst onto the scene – the dynamic, virtuoso Jacqueline du Pré. With cellists Moray Welsh and Julian Lloyd Webber, Joan Bakewell explores the secrets of du Pré’s magnetic style and the piece that she made her own: the Elgar Cello Concerto. Written in the aftermath of WW1, Du Pré invested the piece with a virtuosic romanticism that sold millions of records. Acclaimed young cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason plays excerpts and reveals the impact Du Pré’s version had on him as a young player.

The sixties saw a new era of musical collaborations, one famously involving Yehudi Menuhin of whom Albert Einstein said, "The day of miracles is not over. Our dear old Jehovah is still on the job." Menuhin’s musical curiosity lead him to collaborate with Indian sitar master Ravi Shankar. Brilliant contemporary musician Nitin Sawhney helps Suzy examine the secrets of Shankar’s brilliance and the ingredients of their memorable collaboration in their legendary album ‘West Meets East’. The record won a Grammy and brought Indian musical tradition to a western audience. On 24th September 1969 another epic musical collaboration took place between Jon Lord with the heavy metal band Deep Purple and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Malcolm Arnold at the Royal Albert Hall. Ian Gillan describes how the orchestra turned up their noses at a collaboration with a heavy metal band.

This was the era of experimentation, and in 1971 David Bowie – a fan of Stravinsky and Holst – involved classically-trained Rick Wakeman in the classic Life on Mars. With Rick at the keyboard, Suzy explores the making of this revolutionary song, in which classical music collides with pop brilliance.

In the 70s, political uncertainty and industrial disputes dominated. With advertising guru Sir Frank Lowe, Joan Bakewell looks at how classical music was co-opted by advertisers to hark back to more certain times. Lowe explains how he took a brass band version of the theme from Dvorak’s New World Symphony and transformed it into a nostalgic tune to sell Hovis bread. The programme reveals how the piece was written by a middle European as he travelled through the American West, and was deeply influenced by African-American spirituals.

As post-war Britain changed, opened up to new media and new global cultural influences, so Britain fell in love with classical music in new ways


THU 02:15 Shipwrecks: Britain's Sunken History (b03lytyp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]



FRIDAY 27 MARCH 2020

FRI 19:00 BBC News (m000h344)
Twenty-four hours a day, the latest national and international stories as they break.


FRI 19:30 Top of the Pops (m000gp1d)
Anthea Turner and Gary Davies present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 1 June 1989 and featuring Sinitta, Fuzzbox and Neneh Cherry.


FRI 20:00 Kings of Soul (b05n2bx6)
Celebrating the men whose vocal stylings have carried the torch for soul across six decades. It showcases the rarely seen but infectious Brenton Wood's Gimme Little Sign and offers the velvet voice of Curtis Mayfield singing Keep On Keeping On. There are groundbreaking artists from the '60s to the noughties, with performances from Billy Preston, Bill Withers, Billy Ocean, Alexander O'Neal, Barry White, Bobby Womack and many more.


FRI 21:00 Top of the Pops (m000gp1h)
Nicky Campbell presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 8 June 1989 and featuring The Beautiful South, Guns N' Roses and Jason Donovan.


FRI 21:30 Rock n Roll Island: Where Legends Were Born (m000gp1k)
Award-winning documentary that celebrates the incredible musical history of Eel Pie Island, a small island in the Thames in south west London which became the epicentre of rhythm and blues in the 1960s.

In its heyday, the likes of The Stones, The Yardbirds, The Who, David Bowie, Elton John, Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac, John Mayall, Long John Baldry and many others cut their teeth at the venue before becoming legends of the music industry.

Interviewed guests include Rod Stewart from The Faces, Top Topham from The Yardbirds, Mick Avory from The Kinks, Steve Hackett from Genesis, Dave Brock from Hawkwind, Andy Bown from Status Quo, Martin Turner from Wishbone Ash, Phil May from The Pretty Things, Don Craine and Keith Grant from The Downliners Sect, Geoff Cole from the Ken Colyer Band, Bob Dwyer from The Southern Stompers, Cleo Sylvestre from Honey B Mama, Blaine Harrison from The Mystery Jets, Paul Stewart from The Others, Sam Cutler, former tour manager with The Stones, as well as numerous fans known as Eelpilanders and island resident and inventor Trevor Baylis.

Combining these interviews with original black-and-white images and archive footage from the era, the documentary explores the unique experiences of the people who either played at the Eel Pie Island Hotel or went there to listen to music and dance on the famous bouncing dance floor.

Cheryl Robson, who created the project, says, ‘You can feel the incredible fondness for the Eel Pie experience when talking to those who actually went there. There was definitely something in the water in south west London, which affected all those who went, played, sang or danced. The energy was infectious.’

Narrated by actor Nigel Planer, who was once a resident of Eel Pie Island.


FRI 22:30 Sgt Pepper's Musical Revolution with Howard Goodall (b08tb97f)
50 years ago this week, on 1 June, 1967, an album was released that changed music history - The Beatles' Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. In this film, composer Howard Goodall explores just why this album is still seen as so innovative, so revolutionary and so influential. With the help of outtakes and studio conversations between the band, never heard before outside of Abbey Road, Howard gets under the bonnet of Sgt Pepper. He takes the music apart and reassembles it, to show us how it works - and makes surprising connections with the music of the last 1,000 years to do so.

Sgt Pepper came about as a result of a watershed in The Beatles' career. In August 1966, sick of the screaming mayhem of live shows, they'd taken what was then seen as the career-ending decision to stop touring altogether. Instead, beginning that December, they immersed themselves in Abbey Road with their creative partner, producer George Martin, for an unprecedented five months. What they produced didn't need to be recreated live on stage. The Beatles took full advantage of this freedom, turning the studio from a place where a band went to capture its live sound, as quickly as possible, into an audio laboratory, a creative launch pad. As Howard shows, they and George Martin and his team constructed the album sound by sound, layer by layer - a formula that became the norm for just about every rock act who followed.

In June 1967, after what amounted to a press blackout about what they'd been up to, Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was released. It was a sensation, immediately becoming the soundtrack to the Summer of Love - and one of the best-selling, most critically lauded albums of all time. It confirmed that a 'pop music' album could be an art form, not just a collection of three-minute singles. It's regularly been voted one of the most important and influential records ever released.

In this film, Howard Goodall shows that it is the sheer ambition of Sgt Pepper - in its conception, composition, arrangements and innovative recording techniques - that sets it apart.

Made with unprecedented access to The Beatles' pictorial archive, this is an in-depth exploration, in sound and vision, of one of the most important and far-reaching moments in recent music history.


FRI 23:30 Sinatra: All or Nothing at All (b064jgws)
Series 1

Episode 1

An up-close and personal examination of the life, music and career of the legendary entertainer. In 1971, Frank Sinatra sang his legendary 'retirement concert' in Los Angeles, featuring music which was said to reflect his own life. Told in his own words from hours of archived interviews, along with commentary from those closest to him, this definitive four-part series weaves the legendary songs he chose with comments from friends and family, as well as never-before-seen footage from home movies and concert performances.

An unprecedented tribute to the beloved showman, with the full participation of the Frank Sinatra Estate, the opening episode takes us from Sinatra's birth to his early years as a roadhouse performer, revealing the influences behind his meteoric rise.


FRI 00:30 Acoustic at the BBC (b0141mz1)
A journey through some of the finest moments of acoustic guitar performances from the BBC archives - from Jimmy Page's television debut in 1958 to Oasis and Biffy Clyro.

Highlights include:

Neil Young - Heart of Gold
David Bowie - Starman
Oasis - Wonderwall
Donovan - Mellow Yellow
Joan Armatrading - Woncha Come on Home
Bert Jansch, Johnny Marr and Bernard Butler - The River Bank
Joni Mitchell - Chelsea Morning
Biffy Clyro - Mountains.


FRI 01:25 Hits, Hype & Hustle: An Insider's Guide to the Music Business (b09q04ts)
Series 1

Revivals and Reunions

Part three of this entertaining, behind-the-scenes series about how the music business works, explores the phenomenon of band reunions.

With unique revelations, rare archive and backstage access to an impressive line-up of old favourites strutting their stuff once more, music PR legend Alan Edwards tells the story of why so many bands are getting back together, what happens when they do - and how it's changing the music business.

Alan Edwards, who has looked after everyone from Prince to The Rolling Stones, from David Bowie to The Spice Girls, is our musical guide. He's been in the business long enough to see countless acts enjoy pop stardom, split up, fall out, only to re-emerge triumphant decades later, to the joy of their fans.

Alan starts by telling the story of the UK's first revival concert which took place over 40 years ago at Wembley Stadium. Featuring some of the biggest acts from the birth of rock 'n' roll - Bill Haley and the Comets, Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis - the concert opened the eyes of promoters to the power of yesterday's hitmakers to reach an audience and make serious money.

From there, Alan takes us on a musical journey through some of the biggest reunions of the last thirty years. Highlights include Glen Matlock, ex-bassist in The Sex Pistols who talks candidly about their 1996 reunion. Called the Filthy Lucre tour, Glen reveals how one section of the band had to travel on a separate tour bus just to keep the fragile band reunion on track so they could finish the tour.

Alan also meets the three remaining members of Blondie, who tell him how they've navigated their reunion. Debbie Harry reveals how she didn't want to get back together with the band at first, had to be persuaded to do it, but then teared up when they first played together - 'when we put the band back together for the first time and everybody started playing I sort of teared up because, oh there really is that sound, that really does exist, we do have an identity and that is probably the really successful band is to have a successful uniqueness to it.'

Stewart Copeland, the drummer in The Police, tells us about their reunion tour, one the most successful of all time. In rare archive of the band's rehearsals, Stewart tells us these 'were hell'. Copeland also reveals how the band had therapy during their comeback tour, 'we started to say things that I, we'd never said. I heard things from him (Sting) that just blew my mind, that's what you've been thinking for thirty years.'

Melanie C talks about The Spice Girls' reunion and reveals which of the girls called to ask her to give it another go. Alex James from Blur gives us the inside track on how Blur's revival happened and Shaun Ryder, with typical bluntness, tells us why he decided to take The Happy Mondays back on the road. We also hear from OMD, who for the first time reveal what really happened during their bitter break-up.

Eighties musical phenomenon Musical Youth take us behind the scenes of their rebirth and tell us why they still do it, and one of the biggest bands of the 60s, The Zombies, tell the remarkable story of how good old-fashioned 'word of mouth' played a big part in their rebirth.

The programme also looks at how to stage a reunion when no members of the band want to get involved. Alan Edwards explores how pop music is increasingly popping up in West End musicals and at how bands are staging their own exhibitions as a way to come back without actually having to stage a reunion.

And finally, Alan ponders the ultimate comeback - from beyond the grave - and asks whether technology and the arrival of hologram performances mean that in the future bands will never really break up, they'll just keep on regenerating.


FRI 02:25 Rock n Roll Island: Where Legends Were Born (m000gp1k)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:30 today]




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

Acoustic at the BBC 00:30 FRI (b0141mz1)

Age of the Image 21:00 MON (m000gnzv)

Age of the Image 03:00 MON (m000gnzv)

An Art Lovers' Guide 00:15 THU (b0b0g5cj)

Apprentice 22:30 SAT (m000gnzz)

BBC News 19:00 THU (m000h2y9)

BBC News 19:00 FRI (m000h344)

BBC Proms 23:00 SUN (b00td8g6)

BBC World News 19:00 MON (m000h2xw)

BBC World News 19:00 TUE (m000h2xq)

BBC World News 19:00 WED (m000h2xt)

Beyond the Walls: In Search of the Celts 02:05 SUN (b0bt8w56)

Cromwell 22:00 THU (b00h4hm9)

Digging for Britain 20:00 TUE (m000gp0f)

Digging for Britain 02:10 TUE (m000gp0f)

Disco & Beyond with Ana Matronic and Martyn Ware 01:00 SAT (b0bnb2lz)

Discovering... 01:05 SUN (m0002k5f)

Dynasties 20:00 MON (p06mvr1c)

England's Forgotten Queen: The Life and Death of Lady Jane Grey 22:00 MON (b09m5rmf)

Francesco's Mediterranean Voyage 19:30 MON (b00cwkbf)

Gareth Edwards’ Great Welsh Adventure 19:30 TUE (m0009xs7)

Going Going Gone: Nick Broomfield's Disappearing Britain 02:00 MON (b07chym0)

Handmade on the Silk Road 19:30 WED (b07blsjw)

Harry Birrell Presents Films of Love and War 21:00 WED (m000gk9j)

Hidden 21:00 SAT (m000gk67)

Hits, Hype & Hustle: An Insider's Guide to the Music Business 01:25 FRI (b09q04ts)

Ian Hislop's Olden Days 21:00 TUE (b0426kjz)

Ian Hislop's Olden Days 02:40 TUE (b0426kjz)

Kings of Soul 20:00 FRI (b05n2bx6)

Lost Sitcoms 22:00 SAT (b07tq1kv)

Lost Sitcoms 22:00 TUE (b07v86cq)

Mark Kermode's Secrets of Cinema 21:00 THU (m000gp05)

Natural World 20:00 SUN (b063m3d7)

Operation Gold Rush with Dan Snow 21:00 SUN (b0824c97)

Our Classical Century 01:15 THU (m00041tg)

Rick Stein's Long Weekends 19:00 SAT (b083w5nl)

Rick Stein's Long Weekends 03:00 SAT (b083w5nl)

Rock n Roll Island: Where Legends Were Born 21:30 FRI (m000gp1k)

Rock n Roll Island: Where Legends Were Born 02:25 FRI (m000gp1k)

Sex and Sensibility: The Allure of Art Nouveau 00:30 MON (b01f1959)

Sgt Pepper's Musical Revolution with Howard Goodall 22:30 FRI (b08tb97f)

Shipwrecks: Britain's Sunken History 20:00 THU (b03lytyp)

Shipwrecks: Britain's Sunken History 02:15 THU (b03lytyp)

Sinatra: All or Nothing at All 23:30 FRI (b064jgws)

Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em 19:30 SUN (b0078897)

South Pacific 20:00 SAT (b00l7q55)

South Pacific 02:00 SAT (b00l7q55)

Storyville 23:00 MON (b08qldj6)

Storyville 22:30 TUE (b08rb30l)

Storyville 00:05 TUE (b08rb4wh)

Storyville 22:30 WED (b08rb6f2)

Storyville 00:05 WED (b08rb6zx)

Sword, Musket & Machine Gun: Britain's Armed History 01:45 WED (b0888mjv)

The Art Mysteries with Waldemar Januszczak 20:30 TUE (m000gp0h)

The Art Mysteries with Waldemar Januszczak 01:40 TUE (m000gp0h)

The Return of the Flying Scotsman 19:00 SUN (b073c7r0)

The Secret Life of Books 01:30 MON (b06jnzjv)

The Victorian House of Arts and Crafts 20:00 WED (b0c1sx9p)

The Victorian House of Arts and Crafts 02:45 WED (b0c1sx9p)

The Wonder of Animals 19:30 THU (b04fmg8d)

Top of the Pops 00:00 SAT (m000gg2n)

Top of the Pops 00:30 SAT (m000gg2q)

Top of the Pops 19:30 FRI (m000gp1d)

Top of the Pops 21:00 FRI (m000gp1h)

West Side Stories - The Making of a Classic 22:00 SUN (b086kfbb)

West Side Stories - The Making of a Classic 02:35 SUN (b086kfbb)