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 08 AUGUST 2020

SAT 19:00 Snooker: World Championship (m000lpn6)
2020

Day 9: Evening Session

Live second-round action continues at the Crucible.


SAT 21:00 The Last Wave (m000lpn8)
Series 1

Boomerang

The drone launch appears to have been successful, albeit at a terrible cost. But just as life in Brizan is beginning to return to a sense of normality, Thomas spots the cloud again.

In French with English subtitles.


SAT 21:50 The Last Wave (m000lpnb)
Series 1

The Messengers

Other than the surfers, Brizan’s inhabitants are suffering from an inexplicable disease.

The authorities put the town into quarantine, and everyone now realises that Ben and Faust Ketchak have been right all along in making the connection between the cloud and the strange events that have followed its appearance.

Then, Ben works out that the solution to the crisis must come from the surfers themselves.

In French with English subtitles.


SAT 22:45 The Secret Life of Bob Monkhouse (b00x9b7w)
The extraordinary story of comedian Bob Monkhouse's life and career, told through the vast private archive of films, TV shows, letters and memorabilia that he left behind.


SAT 00:15 Everything - The Real Thing Story (m000lj5v)
The Real Thing were four working-class boys from one of Liverpool’s toughest neighbourhoods, who became Britain’s most enduring soul and funk act ever. With a string of hits, they dominated the international charts throughout the 1970s with iconic songs like You to Me Are Everything, Can’t Get By Without You and Can You Feel the Force.

But the group’s meteoric success was also tempered with personal tragedy, drug addiction and racial prejudice. They were – and still are – The Real Thing – and this is their incredible true story.


SAT 01:45 Top of the Pops (b0b8rmnv)
1986 - Biggest Hits

Top of the Pops Big Hits is back with a bang for the year of 1986. Pop, new wave, rock, funk and R&B are all celebrated within this 60-minute special.

The treasure troves of the BBC archives are open, so expect smoke machines, shoulder pads and perms along with studio performances from Bon Jovi, Cyndi Lauper, Cameo, The Pretenders, The Real Thing, Billy Ocean and The Communards. Other highlights include The Housemartins, Kim Wilde and The Human League plus The Cure and many more.


SAT 02:45 Billy Connolly: Portrait of a Lifetime (p0535lq5)
Celebrating Billy Connolly's 75th birthday and 50 years in the business, three Scottish artists - John Byrne, Jack Vettriano and Rachel MacLean - each create a new portrait of the Big Yin. As he sits with each artist, Billy talks about his remarkable life and career, which has taken him from musician and pioneering stand-up to Hollywood star and national treasure.



SUNDAY 09 AUGUST 2020

SUN 19:00 The Chronicles of Erne (m000fv4r)
Series 1

Spring

The landscape begins to emerge from winter and retired school teacher Pat Lunny takes a boat trip to his usual haunts around the islands on Lower Lough Erne, just above his hometown of Enniskillen.

Across the lough on White North Island, Amy Burns from RSPBNI moves highland cattle to some of the charity's other island reserves.

At Ely Lodge, Dublin-born painter Lorna Smyth begins a year-long project of painting landscapes around Lough Erne. She explains her process of taking sketches to form a 'collage of memories' which she then converts to oil paintings in her home studio.

As the Erne gears up for better weather, Enniskillen Royal Boat Club members take part in the Head of the Erne rowing race while on the Broad Lough, retired engineers Robert Navan and Mike Kingston search for sunken Catalinas.

In the woodlands of Castle Archdale, nature writer Dara McAnulty enjoys spring with his family and at Drumgallon Row, while members of the community group the Erne put a new skin on their traditional hand-built Irish currach called the Menapian.


SUN 19:30 BBC Proms (p08kyd5r)
2002

Rattle and the NYO play Mahler’s Eighth

Katie Derham introduces another stellar performance from the BBC Proms archive, this week from the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle in 2002. No fewer than five choirs as well as soloists including Christine Brewer, John Relyea and Jane Henschel join them on stage for Mahler’s colossal Eighth Symphony, his ‘Symphony of a Thousand’.


SUN 21:00 Snooker: World Championship (m000lppb)
2020

Day 10: Evening Session, Part 2

The second round reaches its conclusion, completing the quarter-final line-up. Live coverage from the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.


SUN 22:00 The Sky at Night (m000lppd)
Mars: Planet of Dreams

Mars has fascinated us ever since we first looked up to the heavens. We have imagined alien civilisations, exotic life forms and even dreamed of travelling there ourselves. But after the first probes flew past the Red Planet, and with each subsequent mission that has orbited or landed on its surface, that vision has changed. We have come to realise that the planet is, most likely, dead. But that hasn’t dimmed our hopes for finding evidence of past life. And our desire to travel there and colonise the Red Planet still endures.

From the very beginning of this exploration, the BBC has recorded our shifting perception of Mars. Since the Sky at Night started broadcasting in 1957, there have been over 50 episodes devoted to Mars and more than ten episodes of Horizon. This programme looks back at that coverage.


SUN 23:00 Horizon (b09574pc)
2018

Mars - A Traveller's Guide

The dream of sending humans to Mars is closer than ever before. In fact, many scientists think that the first person to set foot on the Red Planet is alive today. But where should the first explorers visit when they get there? Horizon has gathered the world's leading experts on Mars and asked them where they would go if they got the chance - and what would they need to survive?

Using incredible real images and data, Horizon brings these Martian landmarks to life - from vast plains to towering volcanoes, from deep valleys to hidden underground caverns. This film also shows where to land, where to live and even where to hunt for traces of extraterrestrial life.

This is the ultimate traveller's guide to Mars.


SUN 00:00 Mars Uncovered: Ancient God of War (m0003m0c)
Bettany Hughes investigates the enduring relationship between warfare and worship, by following the trail through time of the ancient god of war, Mars. She begins in Carthage, site of one of the most significant and bloodiest victories in the history of the Roman Empire and explores the vital role of Mars in Rome's imperial expansion.

Visiting the British Museum, Bettany sees, at first hand, the earliest known evidence of human warfare - a 13,000-year-old graveyard in which many of the bodies showed signs of violent deaths. With bodies so carefully buried, Bettany asks if ritualising and celebrating war is a way of bringing societies together – of creating 'them' and 'us'.

Back in North Africa, at the spectacular Roman amphitheatre in El Djem, Bettany examines the symbolic role of the ‘ludi martiales’, or gladiatorial games, and finds out about the challenge posed by early Christianity to this celebration of war and ritualised death. Travelling to Jordan, she then tells the story of one of the bloodiest episodes in Crusader history and examines how the Christian notion of Holy War played out in practice, with Mars still very much a presence. She then tracks how the figure of Mars was used by artists such as Botticelli and Rubens to examine the inevitability of war, and whether peace might not proffer a better option. Following the World Wars, the red scare, and contemporary conflict in the Middle East, Bettany considers how Mars’s dominion has been sustained and asks whether the benefits of war still outweigh the horrors.


SUN 01:00 The Chronicles of Erne (m000fv4r)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


SUN 01:30 EastEnders 2008 (b00bfmcr)
Christian warns Roxy she won't be able to keep her secret from Sean and Jack for long. Zainab makes a big decision, and Patrick plans a surprise for Chelsea's birthday.


SUN 02:00 EastEnders 2008 (b00bfmxm)
Tanya and Jack grow closer while the Slaters are shocked by the arrival of a surprise visitor. Chelsea is horrified by Patrick's surprise, and Heather's dreams are left in tatters.


SUN 02:30 EastEnders 2008 (b00bfnfd)
A vengeful Sean sets his sights on Tanya while Roxy tells Ronnie she wants to leave Walford for good. Masood takes control of the family's finances and Minty tries to make amends with Heather.


SUN 03:00 EastEnders 2008 (b00bfnll)
With Jean's help Sean comes to a decision about the baby while Jack pays Roxy a visit to find out the truth. Jay overhears a private conversation between Darren and Libby while Heather tells Minty their marriage is over.



MONDAY 10 AUGUST 2020

MON 19:00 The Chronicles of Erne (m000g2b6)
Series 1

Summer

It’s summer, and the Erne is busy with summer visitors. Over the next few months, it is transformed into a giant watery playground welcoming hundreds of thousands of visitors from all over the world. But away from a busy tourist season, nature is also buzzing away enjoying the longer days and warmer weather.

In early summer, mayfly begin to hatch, and fisherman Michael Shortt is fly fishing for trout. It is also the nesting season for curlews, and Amy Burns from RSPB NI is travelling to island reserves to install cameras and measure and monitor the eggs.

At Castle Archdale, nature writer Dara McAnulty is pond dipping. He catches a dragonfly nymph and explains how it uses a jet propulsion system to get around the pond. Later in the programme he watches adult dragonflies and talks about how he has experienced bullying at school because of his autism and love of nature.

On the lough, the members of Row the Erne are rowing their hand-built traditional Irish currach to Devenish Island for an evening picnic and swim.

It's summer solstice, and painter Lorna Smyth joins a group from the Share Discovery Village who are paddling to Trannish Island, and in the island town of Enniskillen, Pat Lunny watches his grandson take part in his first open-water swimming race.

We meet French chef Pascal Brissaud, whose Watermill restaurant is on the bank of the Upper Lough. Summer is a busy time of year, but he relishes in the challenge of looking after people, and when things get too busy, looking at the lake calms him down.


MON 19:30 The Joy of Painting (m000lpp0)
Series 3

Lazy River

Take a relaxing walk in the company of Bob Ross through a bright green, grassy forest, where a smooth crystal waterway flows so, so quietly.

American painter Bob Ross offers soothing words of encouragement to viewers and painting hobbyists in an enormously popular series that has captivated audiences worldwide since 1982. Ross is a cult figure, with nearly two million Facebook followers and 3,000 instructors globally. His soothing, nurturing personality is therapy for the weary, and his respect for nature and wildlife helps heighten environmental awareness.

Across the series, Ross demonstrates his unique painting technique, which eliminates the need for each layer of paint to dry. In real time, he creates tranquil scenes taken from nature, including his trademark ‘happy’ clouds, cascading waterfalls, snow-covered forests, serene lakes and distant mountain summits.

Many of Bob’s faithful viewers are not painters at all. They are relaxing and unwinding with Bob’s gentle manner and encouraging words, captivated by the magic taking place on the canvas.


MON 20:00 Snooker: World Championship (m000lpp4)
2020

Day 11: Quarter-Finals Evening Session, Part 2

Live coverage of the quarter-finals from the Crucible.


MON 22:00 Thailand: Earth's Tropical Paradise (b08bg31f)
The Mysterious North

Northern Thailand is dominated by mountains and cloaked in forest. It hides ancient creatures and surprising partnerships. To survive here, both the wildlife and people rely on maintaining the natural harmony of the mysterious north.


MON 23:00 Great Asian Railway Journeys (m000hjml)
Series 1 - 60-Minute Versions

Bangkok to Hua Hin

Michael Portillo continues his exploration of Thailand by rail, steered by his 1913 Bradshaw’s guide. He steps into the ring under the guidance of champion trainer Master Toddy to learn muay Thai boxing. Can he perfect the cobra-inspired right hook?

Michael confronts his fear of snakes to assist in a surgical operation on a deadly venomous king cobra. He discovers the life-saving work of Bangkok’s Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute, established at the time of his guide by the royal family after the death of a young princess.

Beginning in the capital, Michael learns how the late-19th-century King Rama V founded the city on the east bank of the Chao Phraya River, built a grand palace and introduced railways to his country. Michael discovers the fine terminus commissioned by the king and meets a historian and designer who shares family roots with the present royal dynasty. Michael learns that King Rama V’s love of steam engines was inspired by Queen Victoria.

At the colossal new station under construction in the city, Michael hears how its four levels and 24 platforms will transform Thailand’s transport infrastructure. He circles the Grand Palace by tuk tuk then boards the 21st-century Skytrain for a wonderful view of the city.

Michael dines on the water in a floating market, where purchases are made from boat to boat. Following in the footsteps of writers such as Joseph Conrad, Graham Greene and John Le Carre, Michael checks into the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, built just before his guide.

Striking south to the resort of Hua Hin, Michael learns the history of the Southern Railway and hears how royal patronage kickstarted today’s Thai tourist industry. He meets the niece of the present king, Rama X, at the Palace of Love and Hope, created by their ancestor, King Rama VI.


MON 00:00 Treasures of the Anglo Saxons (b00t6xzx)
Art historian Dr Nina Ramirez reveals the codes and messages hidden in Anglo-Saxon art. From the beautiful jewellery that adorned the first violent pagan invaders through to the stunning Christian manuscripts they would become famous for, she explores the beliefs and ideas that shaped Anglo-Saxon art.

Examining many of the greatest Anglo Saxon treasures - such as the Sutton Hoo Treasures, the Staffordshire Hoard, the Franks Casket and the Lindisfarne Gospels - Dr Ramirez charts 600 years of artistic development which was stopped dead in its tracks by the Norman Conquest.


MON 01:00 Romancing the Stone: The Golden Ages of British Sculpture (b00yml9v)
Mavericks of Empire

By the middle of the 18th century, Britain was in possession of a vast empire. It required a new way of seeing ourselves and so we turned to the statues of ancient Greece and Rome to project the secular power and glory of the British Empire.

The message was clear: Britain was the new Rome, our generals and politicians on a par with the heroes of the ancient world. The flood of funds, both public and private, into sculptural projects unleashed a new golden age, yet it was also a remarkably unorthodox one. The greatest sculptors of the 18th and 19th centuries were those mavericks who bucked prevailing trends - geniuses like John Flaxman, Francis Chantrey and Alfred Gilbert.

Alastair Sooke tells the story of these mavericks and reveals the extraordinary technical breakthroughs behind their key works: carving in marble with a pointer machine and the primal power of the lost-wax technique.


MON 02:00 The Joy of Painting (m000lpp0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


MON 02:30 The Chronicles of Erne (m000g2b6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


MON 03:00 Thailand: Earth's Tropical Paradise (b08bg31f)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]



TUESDAY 11 AUGUST 2020

TUE 19:00 The Chronicles of Erne (m000gb50)
Series 1

Autumn

It is autumn and the trees around the Erne slowly transform into oranges and reds. The lowering sun and shorter days bathe the lough in a golden light and shorter days bring spectacular sunsets, where reflections on the water create an endless sky. Autumn is the Erne’s final hurrah before winter takes hold.

Frankie and Eddie Roofe have been fishing on the lough since they were boys, when their dad caught a pike so big it 'looked like an alligator'. Later on, they take part in the annual Erne Pike Classic fishing competition and the pressure is on to repeat their previous success of catching fish over 20lbs in weight.

Autumn is one of nature writer Dara McAnulty’s favourite seasons and the team learn about mushrooms and fungi and the 'wood wide web'. The episode also introduces Joe Kelly, a baker who has moved back from America and juggles running an artisan bakery with spending as much time as possible on his parents' island. And the show travels underground to examine the marble arch cave system carved out by rivers that will eventually flow into the Erne. The caves are a gateway into a hidden world.

As Dermot and Pat Lunny watch a truly spectacular sunset, Dermot talks about his experience with Parkinson's disease and how being on the water helps his mental health. 'It sucks being old,' Pat chimes in 'but on nights like this - well, it doesn’t suck quite as much.'


TUE 19:30 The Joy of Painting (m000lppl)
Series 3

Black Waterfall

Hear the sounds of a bubbling stream and distant waterfall against a tumultuous sky in this spectacular Bob Ross painting.

American painter Bob Ross offers soothing words of encouragement to viewers and painting hobbyists in an enormously popular series that has captivated audiences worldwide since 1982. Ross is a cult figure, with nearly two million Facebook followers and 3,000 instructors globally. His soothing, nurturing personality is therapy for the weary, and his respect for nature and wildlife helps heighten environmental awareness.

Across the series, Ross demonstrates his unique painting technique, which eliminates the need for each layer of paint to dry. In real time, he creates tranquil scenes taken from nature, including his trademark ‘happy’ clouds, cascading waterfalls, snow-covered forests, serene lakes and distant mountain summits.

Many of Bob’s faithful viewers are not painters at all. They are relaxing and unwinding with Bob’s gentle manner and encouraging words, captivated by the magic taking place on the canvas.


TUE 20:00 Snooker: World Championship (m000lppn)
2020

Day 12: Quarter-Finals Evening Session, Part 2

Continued live coverage from Sheffield, where the remaining two quarter-finals are reaching their climaxes.


TUE 21:00 Inside Porton Down: Britain's Secret Weapons Research Facility (b07hx40t)
Dr Michael Mosley investigates Britain's most secretive and controversial military research base, Porton Down, on its 100th anniversary. He comes face to face with chemical and biological weapons old and new, reveals the truth about shocking animal and human testing, and discovers how the latest science and technology are helping to defend us against terrorist attacks and rogue nations.


TUE 22:00 Blackadder (p00bf6md)
Blackadder Goes Forth

Plan A - Captain Cook

Edmund cheats to win a competition to be named Official War Artist, thinking it's his ticket out of the trenches. So he's furious when his reward turns out to be going into no man's land to sketch the German positions.


TUE 22:30 Blackadder (p00bf6pz)
Blackadder Goes Forth

Plan B - Corporal Punishment

Blackadder faces court martial for eating a carrier pigeon. With the pigeon's owner Melchett as judge and Darling as prosecutor, Edmund is relying on George and Baldrick to save his skin.


TUE 23:00 The Last Wave (m000lpn8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Saturday]


TUE 23:50 The Last Wave (m000lpnb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:50 on Saturday]


TUE 00:45 The Joy of Painting (m000lppl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


TUE 01:15 The Chronicles of Erne (m000gb50)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


TUE 01:45 Bunkers, Brutalism and Bloodymindedness: Concrete Poetry with Jonathan Meades (b03vrphc)
Episode 1

Two-part documentary in which Jonathan Meades makes the case for 20th-century concrete Brutalist architecture in an homage to a style that he sees a brave, bold and bloody-minded. Tracing its precursors to the once-hated Victorian edifices described as Modern Gothic and before that to the unapologetic baroque visions created by John Vanbrugh, as well as the martial architecture of World War II, Meades celebrates the emergence of the Brutalist spirit in his usual provocative and incisive style. Never pulling his punches, Meades praises a moment in architecture he considers sublime and decries its detractors.


TUE 02:45 Great Asian Railway Journeys (m000hjml)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:00 on Monday]



WEDNESDAY 12 AUGUST 2020

WED 19:00 The Chronicles of Erne (m000gjmz)
Series 1

Winter

The Erne is slowly falling under its winter spell. Early morning mists and vast tranquil silences are punctuated by the faint calls of birds migrating from colder climates to spend their winters on the Erne. The whopper swan's honking call is a magnet for nature writer Dara McNulty, and down at Portora lock gates, commercial fishermen Eugene Brazil and Roy Shaw are cleaning and checking their nets for European silver eels.

At Enniskillen castle, painter Lorna Smyth is putting the finishing touches to her exhibition of Erne landscapes. She has been painting all year across the seasons and now her work is ready to show the public.

Winter is a busy time on the Lough for RSPBNI, there are regular surveys to be done of the influx of migratory birds and habitats to be managed for breeding waders like curlews ahead of next year's breeding season.

Winter is also wildfowling season on the lough. Wildfowlers hunt the wild duck, a practice that has been carried out on the lough for centuries. The wildfowlers talk about their sport and how they feel that it is not in contradiction with their love of nature.

French chef Pascal Brissaud is also out on the water enjoying a crisp still winter's day and Row the Erne are busy stealing winter days before their traditional handbuilt Irish currach, Is taken out of the water until spring. They also take out local school children and celebrate the winter solstice with a dawn row and Christmas lunch on the boat.


WED 19:30 The Joy of Painting (m000lppg)
Series 3

Mountain Retreat

Bob Ross creates a beautiful summer getaway with rugged brown peaks, clear blue waters and a cosy little cabin.

American painter Bob Ross offers soothing words of encouragement to viewers and painting hobbyists in an enormously popular series that has captivated audiences worldwide since 1982. Ross is a cult figure, with nearly two million Facebook followers and 3,000 instructors globally. His soothing, nurturing personality is therapy for the weary, and his respect for nature and wildlife helps heighten environmental awareness.

Across the series, Ross demonstrates his unique painting technique, which eliminates the need for each layer of paint to dry. In real time, he creates tranquil scenes taken from nature, including his trademark ‘happy’ clouds, cascading waterfalls, snow-covered forests, serene lakes and distant mountain summits.

Many of Bob’s faithful viewers are not painters at all. They are relaxing and unwinding with Bob’s gentle manner and encouraging words, captivated by the magic taking place on the canvas.


WED 20:00 Snooker: World Championship (m000lppj)
2020

Day 13: Semi-Finals Evening Session, Part 2

Live semi-final action from Sheffield.


WED 21:00 Burma's Secret Jungle War with Joe Simpson (b07bkf4k)
Episode 1

Former mountaineer Joe Simpson travels to Inywa in Myanmar to retrace the WWII journey of his father, Ian, who served with the Chindits, the special forces who fought a harsh guerilla campaign behind Japanese lines in 1944.

Using his father's maps and secret diary, and guided by explorer Ed Stafford, the first man to walk the length of the Amazon, Joe sets out to find the jungle airstrip where 20,000 Chindits were dropped in the biggest air operation before D-Day. Joe experiences some of the jungle conditions that made this one of the toughest campaigns of the second World War - crossing a river with a homemade bamboo raft, getting lost in the jungle (even with GPS) - but then finds that events in modern-day Myanmar threaten to derail his plans. The first free elections since 1990 trigger renewed hostilities in Kachin province - usually off-limits to tourists - and Joe has to put his 30-year-old dream on hold.


WED 22:00 Burma's Secret Jungle War with Joe Simpson (b07c9rz9)
Episode 2

For 30 years, former mountaineer Joe Simpson has dreamed of re-tracing the World War II footsteps of his father, who served in the Chindit special forces in Burma behind Japanese lines in 1944.

Halfway through the jungle trek, the first free elections since 1990 trigger unrest and force Joe to divert to Bhamo, a small town in the north east of what is now called Myanmar. Joe can see the hills and ridges where his father trekked, but is not allowed to go there. Three days later, Joe and Ed Stafford, his jungle guide, are allowed to restart their journey, walking up a river crossed by the Chindits and travelling to villages and battlefields where the Allied special forces engaged the Japanese in fierce fighting. He meets villagers who still remember the Chindits, sees the spot where his father's commanding officer was beheaded in a battle and emerges with a deeper respect for what Lt Ian Simpson experienced.


WED 23:00 The Sky at Night (m000lppd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 on Sunday]


WED 00:00 The Mystery of Van Gogh's Ear (b07nswft)
It is one of the greatest and bloodiest mysteries in art: what happened on the December night in 1888 when Vincent van Gogh took a blade to his own ear?

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

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


WED 01:00 The Beauty of Anatomy (b04fmg8g)
Rembrandt and Ruysch

In the 17th century in Holland, anatomy became the cutting edge of medical science, inspiring the great artists of the age like Rembrandt to produce the most beautiful anatomical paintings yet created.

Adam Rutherford travels to the Hague and Amsterdam to find out what it was that drew Rembrandt to anatomy and why dissecting bodies was thought a suitable subject for high art.


WED 01:30 The Beauty of Anatomy (b04gbdwt)
The Hunter Brothers

Dr Adam Rutherford investigates the story of the Hunter brothers, the celebrated anatomists who controversially transformed both medicine and art in 18th-century Britain.

Their belief that their students could only learn anatomy by carrying out dissections created an unprecedented demand for dead bodies and a market for the growing trade of body snatching from graveyards.


WED 02:00 The Joy of Painting (m000lppg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


WED 02:30 The Chronicles of Erne (m000gjmz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


WED 03:00 Inside Porton Down: Britain's Secret Weapons Research Facility (b07hx40t)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Tuesday]



THURSDAY 13 AUGUST 2020

THU 19:00 Cricket: Today at the Test (m000lppq)
England v Pakistan 2020

Second Test: Day One Highlights

Highlights from the second Test between England and Pakistan.


THU 20:00 Snooker: World Championship (m000lppv)
2020

Day 14: Semi-Finals Evening Session, Part 2

Live action from the final session of the first semi-final, where the winner will be guaranteed a minimum prize of £200,000.


THU 21:00 The Damned United (b00t61gx)
The story of Brian Clough's 44-day stint as manager of Leeds United FC in 1974. When Don Revie quit Leeds to become the England boss, the outspoken Clough took charge. Determined to impose his own style upon Revie's tough-tackling team, Clough soon alienated his players and the board.

Based on the book by David Peace.


THU 22:30 Storyville (b00lpk70)
The Trials of Oppenheimer

J Robert Oppenheimer was one of the most celebrated scientists of his generation. Shy, arrogant and brilliant, he is best known as the man that led the Manhattan Project to spectacular success.

As the years progressed he also grew into a scientific statesman, leading a government agency, the Atomic Energy Commission, which was trying to develop ways to avoid a nuclear arms race. His attempts at politics, though, were a lot less successful than his scientific endeavours. As he grew more powerful, he started to make serious enemies amongst the establishment, particularly a friend of President Truman's - Lewis Strauss.

This film tells the extraordinary story of the rise and fall of Robert Oppenheimer. David Straithairn, whose previous recreation of this era in Good Night and Good Luck was Oscar-nominated, plays Oppenheimer trying to defend himself as he was effectively put on trial for being a communist. Re-creation is mixed with expert testimony from a definitive range of commentators, ranging from Oppenheimer's Manhattan Project colleagues to academics like Martin Sherwin and Priscilla MacMillan.

Narrated by Zoe Wanamaker, whose own father experienced the virulent anti-communism of McCarthyism first-hand, it weaves Oppenheimer's biography with the dramatic events of his trial and its tragic aftermath. Emotional and compelling, it is a film that, in a time when non-proliferation is firmly back on the agenda, tells us a lot about the perils of mixing science and government.


THU 00:00 Einstein's Quantum Riddle (m000db95)
Einstein’s Quantum Riddle tells the remarkable story of perhaps the strangest phenomenon in science – quantum entanglement. It’s a story of mind-bending concepts and brilliant experiments, which lead us to a profound new understanding of reality.

At the start of the 20th century Albert Einstein helped usher in quantum mechanics - a revolutionary description of the behaviour of tiny particles. But he soon became uncomfortable with the counterintuitive ideas at the heart of the theory. He hunted for flaws in the equations and eventually discovered that they predicted a seemingly impossible situation.

Quantum theory suggested you could have two particles, which had interacted in the past, and even if you separated them by millions of miles they would somehow act in unison. If you measured one, forcing it to take on one of many properties, the other would instantly take on a corresponding property. Like rolling two dice, millions of miles apart, and as you look at one to see what number it landed on, the other instantly shows the same number. This bizarre prediction of magically connected particles became known as quantum entanglement. Einstein felt it couldn’t possibly be real – it seemed to break the rules of space and time. In 1935, with two of his colleagues, he published a paper that argued that this bizarre phenomenon implied the equations of quantum theory must be incomplete.

No-one could think of a way to test whether Einstein was right, until in 1964, John Bell, a physicist form Northern Ireland, published an astonishing paper. He’d found a key difference between Einstein’s ideas and those of quantum theory. It all boiled down to entanglement. As Professor David Kaiser puts it: ‘We now know this was one of the most significant articles in the history of physics. Not just the history of 20th-century physics; in the history of the field as a whole.’ In 1972 John Clauser and Stuart Freedman built an experiment based on John Bell’s work and found the first experimental evidence to suggest that quantum entanglement really is a part of the natural world.

Today, a technological revolution is under way, with labs around the world harnessing entanglement to create powerful new technologies such as quantum computers. At Google’s quantum computing lab in Santa Barbara, researcher Marissa Giustina describes their latest quantum-processing chip. And in Shanghai, at the University of Science and Technology, Professor Jian-Wei Pan explains that his team is working to send entangled particles from a satellite to a ground station to create totally secure communication links – a major step towards the creation of an unhackable ‘quantum internet’ of the future based on quantum entanglement.

Yet despite this progress, questions still remain about our experimental proof of entanglement. There are possible loopholes that could mean that entanglement may be an illusion and that Einstein was right all along. At the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory in the Canary Islands, Professor Anton Zeilinger’s team is attempting a remarkable experiment to rule out the most challenging loophole. Their experiment uses two of Europe’s largest telescopes to collect light from two quasars, billions of light years away, to control intricate measurements of tiny quantum particles and put quantum entanglement to the ultimate test.


THU 01:00 Rich Hall's Working for the American Dream (b0b8rc45)
Award-winning comedian Rich Hall explores the American dream and the dictum that came over with the very first pilgrims who set foot on Plymouth Rock - work hard and you will succeed.

With his sharp wit and acerbic insight, Rich looks at how Americans strive to achieve this dream and how it's been explored and perpetuated by politicians, industrialists, artists, writers and film-makers.

Rich also looks at the dark heart of the American dream and considers what happens when the dream turns into a nightmare, including the Great Depression of the 1930s, the boom and bust of Detroit and the modern demise of America's shrinking middle class. The land of opportunity has attracted all comers to live the American dream, and Rich Hall explains if it actually exists or if it's just a myth that's become unobtainable for Americans.


THU 02:30 Museums in Quarantine (m000hqml)
Series 1

Warhol

In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, Alastair Sooke gains privileged access to the Tate Modern for a last look at the Warhol exhibition. Sooke argues that Warhol might just be the most significant artist of the second half of the 20th century. Warhol not only predicted, but in many ways helped to create, the world we live in - one obsessed with hyper-consumption, mass media and celebrity.

Covering works from across Warhol’s career, Sooke explores Warhol’s long-running commitment to experimental film and TV, as well as his fascination with advertising, pop music and commerce. And he delves into the man behind the carefully curated eccentricity, examining the expressions of Warhol’s queer identity in his later works and how his background as the son of eastern European immigrants influenced his art.

In conversation with Gregor Muir, one of the exhibition’s curators, Sooke discovers that one of his aims with the show was to strip away some of the myths about Warhol’s work and broaden the focus away from Warhol’s pop art studies of the 1960s. Finally, he muses on the particularly Warholian irony that this blockbuster show was closed, due to the coronavirus lockdown, almost as soon as it had opened.


THU 03:00 Museums in Quarantine (m000hqpj)
Series 1

Rembrandt

Historian Simon Schama takes us on a very personal virtual tour of the Young Rembrandt exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, currently in lockdown. The exhibition charts the first ten years of the Dutch master’s career, when the miller’s son from Leiden became the superstar of 17th-century Amsterdam and was on course to become one of the greatest artists of all time.

For Schama, who was able to see the exhibition before it closed, the coronavirus crisis has given Rembrandt’s work even more impact and resonance. As he says, ‘No artist I think better understood the fragile nature of human happiness; the shocking suddenness with which we can go from riches to rags, wellbeing to sickness, contentment to grief.’

Schama tells the story of the artist’s rise to fame and riches, celebrating the audacity and astonishing technical mastery of many of the works on show. But he also shows us a deeply wise and philosophical artist, who was always aware of the fickleness of fortune, and who was as interested – if not more - in portraying beggars as he was prosperous burghers and kings.



FRIDAY 14 AUGUST 2020

FRI 19:00 Cricket: Today at the Test (m000lpp6)
England v Pakistan 2020

Second Test: Day Two Highlights

Further coverage of the second Test.


FRI 20:00 TOTP2 (b01lwbt0)
Summertime Special

TOTP2 once more delves into the archives to brighten up your day with summer sizzlers from John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, the Undertones, Shaggy, Bananarama, Bobby Goldsboro, Bay City Rollers, Fun Boy Three, the Style Council and Don Henley.

Other scorchers include Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, the Sundays, Sabrina, Chris Rea, the Barracudas, Zoe, Martha and the Muffins, Bryan Adams, Girls Aloud and ELO.


FRI 21:00 Snooker: World Championship (m000lpp8)
2020

Day 15: Semi-Finals Evening Session, Part 2

Live action from the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield as the second semi-final reaches its climax. A place in the final, and at least £200,000 in prize money, is the reward for the winner.


FRI 22:00 Joan Armatrading: Me Myself I (m0008rm4)
Joan Armatrading is one the most influential singer-songwriters in Britain. A national icon, she is known for her singular vision, both as a writer and as a performer. She has performed around the world to sell-out stadiums, releasing records and touring almost constantly from the early 70s to the present day.

In this documentary Joan talks about her self-belief and her unique ability to craft songs that have spoken to millions. Known for her reclusiveness, Joan has, for the first time, granted access to her life and music. Joan tells her story from Caribbean émigré to becoming one of the most revered songwriters of our generation.

The film covers Joan’s childhood growing up in Birmingham, and how she began writing songs from a young age. Joan met some of the key people in her life when she joined the rock musical Hair in 1968. She left home to go on tour and forged a musical partnership with songwriter Pam Nestor. Their collaboration led to a major record deal and an opportunity to work with Elton John’s producer, Gus Dudgeon. Her album, Whatever’s for Us, received rave reviews and chimed with the burgeoning songwriting movement on the west coast of America. The album signalled a new energy and freedom taking shape in the 70s in Britain among the black population. Joan was propelled into the musical stratosphere, signing with major American label A&M for over ten years. She created her own genre of songwriting, defying stereotypes and breaking barriers, becoming one of the first black singer-songwriters in Britain.

Joan went on to forge an unbeatable dynamic with rock producer Glyn Johns, who had produced seminal albums with the Rolling Stones, the Eagles and the Who. She created one of the most-loved and iconic songs of the 70s when she wrote Love and Affection in 1976. She was 26 years old. It was a song that took simple emotional fragility and made it somehow both sensuous and raunchy.

Joan made three more hit albums in three years with Glyn and her music would become anthemic to the feminist movement gathering pace since the early 70s. Despite her gold records, international status and touring worldwide, Joan had to overcome misogyny in the music studio and fight racism in the music business.

In 1978, Bob Dylan asked her to play at his festival BlackBushe. Joan, the only woman on the bill, played alongside rock gods such as Eric Clapton. Ask her how she felt, being up there, and you will hear Joan’s fearlessness - ‘The Rock Gods don’t scare me!’ - showing the determination and strength that contributed to her success.

By the 80s, Joan refused to be pigeonholed into a 70s guitar sound and she would diversify her style, experimenting with synths and finding a new direction to create music without a producer. Joan was also one of the first black British musicians to appear on MTV, creating innovative music videos and capturing the imagination of younger artists in the States who had never seen a British black woman play and sing like her before.

Joan was nominated for a Grammy three times, one of which was for the song How Cruel, a song that articulated the racism that many black British people encountered in the UK at the time. Notably, it highlighted to African-Americans that the same problems with race were happening on both sides of the Atlantic.

Songs like Me Myself I and Drop the Pilot became overnight hits in the 80s, testimony to Joan’s consummate songwriting ability. By the late 80s, Joan was one of the first women to write, arrange and produce all her albums, building a music studio at her home and working with the likes of Elton John, Pino Palladino and Mark Knopfler.

As well as unprecedented access to Joan, watching her play a sold-out tour, the film features exclusive, previously unseen archive and interviews with key collaborators from music producers Glyn Johns and Steve Lillywhite to musician Pino Palladino. The film also features interviews and cover versions of Joan’s songs, from Martha Wainwright singing Me Myself I and Meshell Negeocello covering How Cruel to Shingai Shoniwa from the Noisettes performing Love and Affection.


FRI 23:00 Queens of Soul (b05nhjsx)
The sisters are truly doing it for themselves in this celebration of the legendary female singers whose raw emotional vocal styles touched the hearts of followers worldwide. Featuring the effortless sounds of Aretha Franklin, Roberta Flack, Gladys Knight, Randy Crawford, Angie Stone, Mary J Blige and Beyonce, to name a few.

The Queens of Soul presents the critically acclaimed and influential female singers who, decade by decade, changed the world one note at a time.


FRI 01:00 The Defiant Ones (m0002pf8)
Series 1

Episode 5

Dr Dre talks about his time with Snoop Dogg and Tupac Shakur. All of them became embroiled in a violent feud with their East Coast rap rivals, notably Sean ‘Puffy’ Combs and his company, Bad Boy Records. This drove Dre to seek out another new beginning and establish a subsidiary of Interscope called Aftermath Entertainment.

Dre discusses enduring a string of disappointing solo releases, but Jimmy Iovine stood by him as others argued he should be dropped. Dre’s fortunes turned when Jimmy turned him on to the music of unknown white rapper Eminem. Dre talks about producing The Slim Shady LP, which took the rap music world by storm.

Series directed by Allen Hughes.


FRI 01:40 Joan Armatrading: Me Myself I (m0008rm4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]


FRI 02:45 Queens of Soul (b05nhjsx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:00 today]




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

BBC Proms 19:30 SUN (p08kyd5r)

Billy Connolly: Portrait of a Lifetime 02:45 SAT (p0535lq5)

Blackadder 22:00 TUE (p00bf6md)

Blackadder 22:30 TUE (p00bf6pz)

Bunkers, Brutalism and Bloodymindedness: Concrete Poetry with Jonathan Meades 01:45 TUE (b03vrphc)

Burma's Secret Jungle War with Joe Simpson 21:00 WED (b07bkf4k)

Burma's Secret Jungle War with Joe Simpson 22:00 WED (b07c9rz9)

Cricket: Today at the Test 19:00 THU (m000lppq)

Cricket: Today at the Test 19:00 FRI (m000lpp6)

EastEnders 2008 01:30 SUN (b00bfmcr)

EastEnders 2008 02:00 SUN (b00bfmxm)

EastEnders 2008 02:30 SUN (b00bfnfd)

EastEnders 2008 03:00 SUN (b00bfnll)

Einstein's Quantum Riddle 00:00 THU (m000db95)

Everything - The Real Thing Story 00:15 SAT (m000lj5v)

Great Asian Railway Journeys 23:00 MON (m000hjml)

Great Asian Railway Journeys 02:45 TUE (m000hjml)

Horizon 23:00 SUN (b09574pc)

Inside Porton Down: Britain's Secret Weapons Research Facility 21:00 TUE (b07hx40t)

Inside Porton Down: Britain's Secret Weapons Research Facility 03:00 WED (b07hx40t)

Joan Armatrading: Me Myself I 22:00 FRI (m0008rm4)

Joan Armatrading: Me Myself I 01:40 FRI (m0008rm4)

Mars Uncovered: Ancient God of War 00:00 SUN (m0003m0c)

Museums in Quarantine 02:30 THU (m000hqml)

Museums in Quarantine 03:00 THU (m000hqpj)

Queens of Soul 23:00 FRI (b05nhjsx)

Queens of Soul 02:45 FRI (b05nhjsx)

Rich Hall's Working for the American Dream 01:00 THU (b0b8rc45)

Romancing the Stone: The Golden Ages of British Sculpture 01:00 MON (b00yml9v)

Snooker: World Championship 19:00 SAT (m000lpn6)

Snooker: World Championship 21:00 SUN (m000lppb)

Snooker: World Championship 20:00 MON (m000lpp4)

Snooker: World Championship 20:00 TUE (m000lppn)

Snooker: World Championship 20:00 WED (m000lppj)

Snooker: World Championship 20:00 THU (m000lppv)

Snooker: World Championship 21:00 FRI (m000lpp8)

Storyville 22:30 THU (b00lpk70)

TOTP2 20:00 FRI (b01lwbt0)

Thailand: Earth's Tropical Paradise 22:00 MON (b08bg31f)

Thailand: Earth's Tropical Paradise 03:00 MON (b08bg31f)

The Beauty of Anatomy 01:00 WED (b04fmg8g)

The Beauty of Anatomy 01:30 WED (b04gbdwt)

The Chronicles of Erne 19:00 SUN (m000fv4r)

The Chronicles of Erne 01:00 SUN (m000fv4r)

The Chronicles of Erne 19:00 MON (m000g2b6)

The Chronicles of Erne 02:30 MON (m000g2b6)

The Chronicles of Erne 19:00 TUE (m000gb50)

The Chronicles of Erne 01:15 TUE (m000gb50)

The Chronicles of Erne 19:00 WED (m000gjmz)

The Chronicles of Erne 02:30 WED (m000gjmz)

The Damned United 21:00 THU (b00t61gx)

The Defiant Ones 01:00 FRI (m0002pf8)

The Joy of Painting 19:30 MON (m000lpp0)

The Joy of Painting 02:00 MON (m000lpp0)

The Joy of Painting 19:30 TUE (m000lppl)

The Joy of Painting 00:45 TUE (m000lppl)

The Joy of Painting 19:30 WED (m000lppg)

The Joy of Painting 02:00 WED (m000lppg)

The Last Wave 21:00 SAT (m000lpn8)

The Last Wave 21:50 SAT (m000lpnb)

The Last Wave 23:00 TUE (m000lpn8)

The Last Wave 23:50 TUE (m000lpnb)

The Mystery of Van Gogh's Ear 00:00 WED (b07nswft)

The Secret Life of Bob Monkhouse 22:45 SAT (b00x9b7w)

The Sky at Night 22:00 SUN (m000lppd)

The Sky at Night 23:00 WED (m000lppd)

Top of the Pops 01:45 SAT (b0b8rmnv)

Treasures of the Anglo Saxons 00:00 MON (b00t6xzx)