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 22 AUGUST 2020

SAT 19:00 This Farming Life (b0756gt6)
Series 1

Episode 9

In central Scotland near Loch Lomond, Bobby and Anne must gather their pregnant ewes from the hills ready for lambing, and all the family help out. Bobby's father's 90th birthday is looming and thoughts turn to who will run the farm when it is time to hand it on to the next generation.

East of Inverness, Mel and Martin move into an onsite caravan in the lambing shed to deal with the imminent arrival of hundreds of lambs - but as lambing begins, the weather brings unseasonal snow. It's an exhausting time with Mel spending several hours a day bottle-feeding the orphan lambs.

As Easter approaches on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, Sandy makes tweed curtains for their holiday let and Ali cooks Easter buns. All the kids have Easter-egg hunts - but celebrations are cut short for the Lennoxes when an unexpected tragedy hits the family. Martin prepares for his upcoming wedding and Mel tries to save the life of a desperately weak lamb.


SAT 20:00 Pole to Pole (p02gdbml)
Cold Start

Michael begins his journey with a perilous landing at the North Pole, continuing southwards with voyages across Scandinavia as he makes his way to Estonia and the Soviet Union.


SAT 21:00 The Bridge (b01hdbtb)
Series 1

Episode 5

The murderer has groomed a number of schizophrenic people over a long period of time, convincing them to commit carefully synchronised violent crimes in Malmo and Copenhagen on the same day. With the third truth, the murderer wants to highlight the cutbacks within mental health care, which has been reduced to 'a pat on the back and a jar of pills'. Saga and Martin manage to find a break in the case, a teenage girl who has run away from home. Could she be the witness that ultimately leads them to the murderer?

In Swedish and Danish with English subtitles.


SAT 22:00 The Bridge (b01hdbtd)
Series 1

Episode 6

Copenhagen is up in arms following a court case in which a group of police officers who beat an immigrant to death are found innocent. One of the accused officers is kidnapped from his home and is found by the dead immigrant's brother, chained up in his basement. Will he forgive or take revenge on his brother's killer? Here, the murderer wants to draw attention to the fourth truth, namely the failure of the state's integration policy. For the first time Saga and the killer are in contact with each other.

In Swedish and Danish with English subtitles.


SAT 23:00 The Bridge (b01hr5s3)
Series 1

Episode 7

The murderer's fifth and final truth is the public's indifference to child labour, with millions of children being exploited daily in order to produce goods as cheaply as possible. Since they are not our own children we don't care, but when a school bus full of children disappears, suddenly we sit up and take notice. To save the children, the murderer demands that five large companies which benefit indirectly from child labour should be set on fire by the general public. Saga increasingly suspects that the perpetrator is one of their own - a police officer.

In Swedish and Danish with English subtitles.


SAT 00:00 The Bridge (b01hr5s5)
Series 1

Episode 8

After many suspicions and one witness statement, Saga and Martin arrest and question a fellow officer. He turns out to have an alibi for all the crimes, but is he really innocent? The murderer is finished now, having succeeded in doing what he set out to do - to open people's eyes to the problems of society. Saga, however, believes that this is not the end of his plan and that there is more to come.

In Swedish and Danish with English subtitles.


SAT 01:00 Avicii: True Stories (p075zdlk)
In 2006, Tim Bergling was just a regular teenager living in a small apartment in Stockholm, Sweden. Before his tragic death at the age of 28, he became one of the world's foremost DJs, regularly headlining some of music's biggest events and collaborating with superstars.

Avicii:True Stories is Tim Bergling’s own story, told from the inside. Made from his extensive personal and family archive and behind the scenes footage, the film is an unparalleled insight into his life - from his early days posting tracks online and his first gigs, through to global chart-topping success that saw him play to hundreds and thousands of fans internationally. Tim Bergling died on 20th April, 2018. This film marks the anniversary of his death and is directed by Levan Tsikurishvili


SAT 02:35 The Yorkshire Ripper Files: A Very British Crime Story (m0003m05)
Series 1

Episode 1

Documentary series opening, in 1975, with the first three years of the investigation into finding the Yorkshire Ripper, Peter Sutcliffe. The location of the first two murders in Chapeltown - then well known as Leeds’s main red light district - leads the police to decide that prostitution is the connection between the attacks, but also to them coming up with a neat theory about the killer’s motivation. After the second murder in January 1976, the police announce that they are hunting a ‘prostitute killer’, which had significant implications for how the investigation proceeded.

Speaking to the children of some of the very first murder victims and to police officers who worked on the investigation, as well as to journalists who covered the murders, Liza Williams explores the difference between the way the women were characterised by the investigation and how they are remembered by those who knew and loved them. Meeting a survivor of one of Sutcliffe’s earlier attacks, as well as the daughter of another, Liza finds out how their vital eyewitness evidence was ignored because neither were prostitutes and did not, as a result, fit the victim profile the police had decided upon.

While the police ploughed on with their theory of that the murderer was targeting prostitutes, the killer remained at large. Between February 1977 and May 1978 Peter Sutcliffe murdered seven more women.



SUNDAY 23 AUGUST 2020

SUN 19:00 Coast (b08s2bg7)
Series 8 Reversions

Episode 16

On the Isle of Wight Nick Crane discovers a tunnel in the cliff. Sarah Beynon examines dung beetles in cow pats on Ramsey Island, and sees Chuffs feeding on them. Up in Yorkshire, Nick Crane examines the receding cliffs and sees a massive WWII defensive structure now lying on the beach.He visits Aldeburgh, which is under threat from the sea, where many houses have already been condemned due to sea erosion. At Lyme Regis Cassie Newland examines old rubbish revealed from the old dump.


SUN 19:25 BBC Proms (b007xljj)
2007

Simon Bolivar National Youth Orchestra of Venezuela

Katie Derham introduces another extraordinary Prom from the BBC archive. This week she's joined by the conductor of what has been described as the greatest Prom of all time, Gustavo Dudamel. Together they look back at his debut Prom in 2007 with the Simon Bolivar National Youth Orchestra of Venezuela, who dazzled the music world with their performance of Shostakovich’s Tenth Symphony, Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story and a feast of musical gems from Latin American composers Márquez, Ginastera and Gutiérrez


SUN 22:00 India: Nature's Wonderland (p02z83jc)
Episode 1

Wildlife expert Liz Bonnin, actor Freida Pinto and mountaineer Jon Gupta reveal the hidden wonders of India's surprising natural world. This is a land where the tea comes with added elephants, gibbons sing to greet the morning, tigers dance and lions roam.


SUN 23:00 India: Nature's Wonderland (b06b3klq)
Episode 2

The hidden wonders of India's spectacular natural world are revealed by wildlife expert Liz Bonnin, actress Freida Pinto and mountaineer Jon Gupta.

Experience a village of birds, masks that come alive, the world's greatest mountain range and baby turtles erupting out of the sand.

This is truly a land like no other.


SUN 00:00 Storyville (b00936cb)
Dolce Vita Africana

Documentary about celebrated Malian photographer Malick Sidibe, whose iconic images of his country from the late 1950s through to the 1970s captured the carefree spirit of his generation asserting their freedom after independence, up until an Islamic coup ushered in years of military dictatorship. The filmmakers travel to Malick Sidibe's studio in Bamako to witness him at work and meet many of the subjects of his earlier photographs, whose personal stories also tell the history of Mali.


SUN 01:00 On Camera: Photographers at the BBC (b08jgr3w)
Drawing on the BBC's rich archive, this documentary reveals the working practices, lives and opinions of some of the greatest photographers since the 1950s. From Norman Parkinson to David Bailey, Eve Arnold to Jane Bown, Henri Cartier-Bresson to Martin Parr, for decades the BBC has drawn our attention to the creators of what has become the most ubiquitous, contemporary art form.

Pioneering BBC programmes like Arena, Monitor and Omnibus have given unique insights into the careers of photography's leading practitioners. Through a selection of fascinating clips, this programme brings into focus the key genres - fashion, portraiture, documentary and landscape - and the characters behind the camera who have helped define them.


SUN 02:00 EastEnders 2008 (b00byf6t)
Chelsea discovers she is not as untouchable as she thinks. Tiffany takes matters into her own hands, and the Millers cannot believe their luck.


SUN 02:30 EastEnders 2008 (b00bygpz)
Patrick vows to sort Chelsea out, but does he know what she is getting into? Keith tries to prove that all is not lost, and Bradley worries when his boss crosses the line.


SUN 03:00 EastEnders 2008 (b00byj0s)
Patrick tries to help Chelsea, but it may be too late. Dawn suspects Jase of playing away, and Ricky and Bianca try to get to the bottom of Liam's fears.


SUN 03:30 EastEnders 2008 (b00byjhn)
The truth about Jase playing away may actually be much worse. Denise returns to her daughter in less than ideal circumstances, and Bradley is forced to be a bad boy.



MONDAY 24 AUGUST 2020

MON 19:00 Handmade in Africa (m000m2dj)
Series 1

Kora

Master kora-maker Seydou Kane crafts a new kora from scratch in his studio in downtown Dakar, Senegal. Dating back to the 13th century, the kora, also known as a west African lute or harp, has long been of sacred importance to the people of Senegal. Many believe it to be imbued with the essence of Allah, and that it has the power to ward off evil spirits.

The film follows Seydou as he gathers the natural materials he needs to make the kora: cow hide, a calabash gourd and rosewood. Seydou shows how making a kora involves several intricate processes and skills, from tightening the cowskin to carving wooden handles and tuning the strings. The instrument is the principal instrument of the griots, a caste of musicians, storytellers and oral historians who, a little like European minstrels, are cultural custodians of traditional myths and stories. They sing songs of royal legend and Islamic faith. With the kora complete, the film culminates in a performance of a traditional song by a local griot musician.


MON 19:30 The Joy of Painting (m000m2dl)
Series 3

Covered Bridge

Enjoy this Bob Ross scene that includes luxurious green foliage and an old weathered trestle-bridge placed lovingly amongst all the beauty.

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 Africa with Ade Adepitan (m0002jl2)
Series 1

Episode 2

The second leg of Ade Adepitan’s four-part journey around Africa, a continent undergoing huge change. This leg takes him across central Africa, from the coast of Gabon, through the giant Democratic Republic of Congo, and on to Uganda.

He starts off the coast of Gabon looking for humpback whales. It is one of Africa’s best spots for seeing them, thanks to Gabon’s vast marine sanctuaries. The country is an eco-paradise, not just in the water, but on land as well where 80% of it is forested. But the country has recently introduced one of the most destructive agri-businesses in the tropics - palm oil farming. Ade discovers how Gabon hopes to do it sustainably. The country has impressive environmental credentials, but on a tour of its divided capital Ade hears that some people are skeptical. One critic suggests it is a way for the country’s autocratic ruler Ali Bongo Ondimba to curry favour with the international community.

Next up is perhaps the most chaotic and corrupt country in Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo. Ade discovers first-hand how everyone from the traffic police to the country’s top politicians are on the take. He also spends time with some of Kinshasa’s musicians and ‘sapeurs’ – people who get kitted out in the finest haute couture in one of the poorest countries on the planet.

In DRC’s far east, he finds out what lies at the heart of the country’s problems: a never-ending conflict amongst local militia, fuelled by foreign countries who want to get their hands on the DRC’s vast resources. After going on a tank patrol with the UN, he meets Kibomango, a champion boxer who is helping to rehabilitate some of the country’s 30,000 child soldiers.

Travelling into one of the most famous national parks in the world, Virunga, Ade discovers that few areas of the country have been left unscarred by the violence. And the impact on the wildlife has been extreme, as Ade encounters some of the world’s few remaining mountain gorillas.

His final stop on this trip is Uganda where he meets Bobi Wine, one of Africa’s most outspoken political campaigners. Bobi was recently arrested and beaten, and his driver killed, after his protests drew the attention of long-serving autocratic ruler Yoweri Museveni. Ade meets a defiant man who will not give up, no matter what threats are made on his life. He is part of a new generation of Africans who are fighting to take back control from the post-colonial leaders who have done so much to wreck the continent.


MON 21:00 African Renaissance: When Art Meets Power (m000m2dn)
Series 1

Senegal

In Senegal, a French-speaking nation of 15 million people in the far west of Africa, Afua Hirsch discovers a country with a cultural influence far beyond its size, with dynamic film, fashion and hip-hop scenes that have fed off historic power struggles and culture clashes, both between ancient empires and against French colonisers. She traces the story of Leopold Senghor, a poet who became the father of Senegalese independence and redefined what Africa is. She explores cities with exuberant murals and street culture that respond to the past, and she meets internationally acclaimed choreographer Germaine Acogny, griot musician Diabel Cissokho and hip-hop legend DJ Awadi.


MON 22:00 Africa's Great Civilisations (b0b6tp5l)
Series 1

Empires of Gold

The award-winning film-maker and academic Henry Louis Gates Jr travels the length and breadth of Africa to explore the continent's epic history.

Empires of Gold marks an era of great commercial and manufacturing growth throughout several of the continent's regions. Beginning with the revolutionary transformation of north and west Africa, Gates travels to the shores of the Sahara Desert, where farmers, traders, warriors and nomads have turned the region into the crossroads of some of history's most advanced and wealthiest civilisations.


MON 22:55 Africa's Great Civilisations (b0b873nn)
Series 1

Cities

The award-winning film-maker and academic Henry Louis Gates Jr travels the length and breadth of Africa to explore the continent's epic history.

This episode shines a light on the powerful, cosmopolitan cities that dotted Africa at the time when Europe was in its Middle Ages. From 1000 to 1600, commerce, wealth and prosperity expanded across Africa, building new cities and founding new powerful states that mark this golden age.


MON 23:45 Inside Cinema (m000f8xm)
Series 1

Meet the Family

Meet the Family, voiced by Kathy Burke (Nil by Mouth, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), puts cinematic families on the analyst's couch for a deep dive into what makes some of the most dysfunctional dynasties in cinema tick.

How do film-makers go about dramatising the one thing we all have in life - family? Maybe it's about drawing directly from your own life, like Christina Crawford's account of being raised by a nightmare mother, A-list star Joan Crawford, in the infamous Hollywood scandal magnet, Mommie Dearest. Or maybe dramatising the furthest extremes that families will go to needs to involve fantasy, as in magical Oscar-winning fairy tale, Pan's Labyrinth, where a little girl escapes from her wicked stepfather into a dreamlike but dangerous underworld.

Even when film-makers have their familial inspiration sorted out, families on the big screen still pose unique challenges, even to the greatest directors in cinema. How can you possibly make every single family member in a massive cinematic ensemble like Gosford Park memorable, when even people in real life have trouble remembering who their second cousins are? How do you know where to start and finish your story about a family, when every family stretches back through infinite generations? Perhaps, like Lars von Trier, you could start with the end of the world. And what about empathy? How do we know who to root for in a film like American Beauty, which only gives us one side of the story?

Through the lens of films as varied as 8 Mile, Do the Right Thing, Tokyo Story, Aliens, Bicycle Thieves, The Hangover III, Dead Ringers, Home Alone, Ratcatcher, Back to the Future and many more, we zoom in on families in film, discovering how film-makers have imagined them on the big screen - and what that tells us about our place in our own families.


MON 00:45 Jigs and Wigs: The Extreme World of Irish Dancing (b06w05v8)
Series 2

Fusion Orchestra

With the craze of Irish dance videos plastered across social media channels, master-tapper Chris Naish has a week to pull together a dance crew to shoot a video for his new project.


MON 01:15 Jigs and Wigs: The Extreme World of Irish Dancing (b06wrkng)
Series 2

Our Lord of the Dance

Led by Irish dance teacher Deborah Anderson, the Zephaniah Dance Ministry come together in Portadown to spread the good news of the Gospel through Irish dance.


MON 01:45 The Joy of Painting (m000m2dl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


MON 02:15 African Renaissance: When Art Meets Power (m000m2dn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



TUESDAY 25 AUGUST 2020

TUE 19:00 Johnny Kingdom: A Year on Exmoor (b00793pl)
Series 1

When Johnny Met Tommy

Gravedigger Johnny Kingdom presents a look at the wildlife of the moors and woodlands of Exmoor. Winter has arrived early and with it a chance to film wildlife in the snow, but Johnny's plans are interrupted by a neighbour who brings him an injured buzzard to look after. He immediately gets to work but the buzzard, which he names Tommy, won't eat. Johnny is also keen to find out what happened to one of the Exmoor foals after the round up.


TUE 19:30 The Joy of Painting (m000m2dg)
Series 3

Quiet Inlet

Sneak away into the sounds of quiet waters, velvety green shrubs and distant foothills. Bob Ross creates a scene of perfect relaxation.

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 Billy Connolly: A Scot in the Arctic (p032kjf7)
'The Big Yin' embarks on a big adventure, as comedian Billy Connolly ventures from stage to ice - a frozen Arctic Ocean inhabited by ten-foot polar bears. The Scots mirth-maker is armed only with a small flimsy tent, a video camera and a BBC film crew. Not an ideal way to spend a week.


TUE 20:45 Wild (b00jd9yx)
Scotland

Otters, Puffins and Seals

Wildlife cameraman Gordon Buchanan explores his native Mull and some of the nearby islands, filming otters, deer, puffins, seals and a minke whale.


TUE 21:00 The Yorkshire Ripper Files: A Very British Crime Story (m0003m04)
Series 1

Episode 2

Documentary series exploring the Yorkshire Ripper investigation. Following the murder of Josephine Whitaker in April 1979, Peter Sutcliffe’s crimes started to make headlines across the country and the investigation became consumed by a series of letters and a tape that claimed to come from the killer himself.

The letters and tape, addressed directly to George Oldfield, West Yorkshire’s chief constable, were sent by a man calling himself Jack the Ripper. Oldfield was so certain that they came from the killer that other suspects were ruled out on the basis of their handwriting or whether they had a north-east accent like the one on the tape. Director Liza Williams discovers that Oldfield’s character and his hunches have a lot to answer for when it comes to the direction of the investigation and what evidence was ruled in or out.

Survivors and relatives of those who were attacked recount how they were not listened to when their descriptions of the attacker did not match the voice on the tape. Liza also speaks to police officers who tell her about other promising lines of inquiry, tracing clues left behind at murder scenes. The ‘Wearside Jack’ tapes, however, took centre stage.

While the police disregarded evidence and focused on the tapes, terror grew and the killer started to become a kind of cult figure, with Yorkshire Ripper chants at football matches and Thin Lizzy’s Killer on the Loose topping the charts. As Liza discovers, this myth-making provoked anger from women and the police’s failure to catch the killer led to a demonstration on the streets of Leeds.

Ending with the arrest of Peter Sutcliffe, the episode reveals how his name was already in multiple police files. He had been interviewed nine times during the course of the investigation. He did not have a Wearside accent like the voice on the tape, but was born and bred in Yorkshire. Had the police arrested him the first time he was questioned in November 1977, seven women’s lives might have been saved.


TUE 22:00 Blackadder (p00bf6vt)
Blackadder Goes Forth

Plan E - General Hospital

Melchett orders Blackadder to unmask a spy working in the hospital where George is recovering from a bomb blast. Edmund sets to work, interrogating Darling, seducing a nurse and asking Baldrick to keep an eye on a patient with a pronounced German accent.


TUE 22:30 Blackadder (b0078nnr)
Blackadder Goes Forth

Plan F - Goodbyeee

Sitcom set in the trenches of the First World War. When Blackadder, George and Baldrick are told they are going over the top the next day, Blackadder decides to feign madness.


TUE 23:00 Talking Comedy (b084zxkv)
Rowan Atkinson

A look back through the archives at Rowan Atkinson's appearances on some of the BBC's best-loved talk shows.


TUE 23:30 Art on the BBC (m000f4d2)
Series 1

The Story of the Nude

In early history, nudes were gods or heroes. Since then, the nude has often been about sex but also a powerful influence on how we view the body.

Art historian Kate Bryan explores six decades of BBC archive to discover how television has influenced our understanding of the nude and how our attitudes have changed.

As she examines the archives, Kate finds that while beauty and sexuality are never far away, artists have always used the nude as a vehicle to defy conventions.


TUE 00:30 How to Get Ahead (b03yfwk1)
At Renaissance Court

Writer, broadcaster and Newsnight arts correspondent Stephen Smith explores Renaissance Florence under the reign of Grand Duke Cosimo Medici. Cosimo's fledgling court prized the finer things in life and some of the greatest painters, sculptors and craftsmen in world history came to serve the Grand Duke. But successful courtiers had to have brains as well as brawn. The canniest of them looked to theorists like Niccolo Machiavelli for underhand ways to get ahead, whilst enlightened polymaths turned their minds to the heavens, and to ice cream.


TUE 01:30 The Joy of Painting (m000m2dg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


TUE 02:00 Johnny Kingdom: A Year on Exmoor (b00793pl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


TUE 02:30 The Yorkshire Ripper Files: A Very British Crime Story (m0003m04)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



WEDNESDAY 26 AUGUST 2020

WED 19:00 Johnny Kingdom: A Year on Exmoor (b00793st)
Series 1

Birds and Beasts

Gravedigger Johnny Kingdom presents a look at the wildlife of the moors and woodlands of Exmoor. It's early January, normally a quiet time of year for filming wildlife. But suddenly some wild boars are let loose and Johnny and the media descend on Exmoor to try and find them. It's also the time of year to film spoonbills, one of the migrating birds that visit Exmoor in the winter, but to do that he must find a way of getting closer to them.


WED 19:30 The Joy of Painting (m000m2f4)
Series 3

Night Light

In this dark, breathtaking scene, Bob Ross creates an almost calm night with waves crashing against rocks and a protective lighthouse.

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 Monty Don's Japanese Gardens (m0002pcx)
Series 1

Episode 2

Monty Don returns to Japan during the fiery blaze of autumn. He begins as he did in spring, at one of 'the three great gardens of Japan' to learn how they protect the garden from the coming winter.

He follows the history of the Japanese garden through the military strongholds of leaders past to the many styles, new and old, of the iconic stroll garden, and discovers a slice of Victorian England in the heart of Tokyo. He learns how the Japanese are weaving nature into their concrete urban jungle.

Monty explores rooftop gardens, takes lessons in the intricate art of bonsai and moss balls, as well as visiting an astounding modern feat of architecture and garden design. He ends his journey by the Sea of Japan at a place that literally makes art out of its gardens.


WED 21:00 Japan: Earth's Enchanted Islands (p02n9v9x)
The Southwest Islands

In the far south west of Japan, there is a chain of islands stretching towards the tropics - a place where all life is influenced by the power of the sea, and where volcanoes and typhoons are forces to be reckoned with.

The journey begins at an island at the top of the chain and travels south, revealing unexpected stories of isolation, unique wildlife and unsolved mysteries.


WED 22:00 The Art of Japanese Life (p054md5m)
Series 1

Cities

Dr James Fox explores how the artistic life of three great Japanese cities shaped the country's attitudes to past and present, east and west, and helped forge the very idea of Japan itself.

Beginning in Kyoto, the country's capital for almost a thousand years, James reveals how the flowering of classical culture produced many great treasures of Japanese art, including The Tale of Genji, considered to be the first novel ever written. In the city of Edo, where Tokyo now stands, a very different art form emerged, in the wood block prints of artists such as Hokusai and Hiroshige. James meets the artisans still creating these prints today, and discovers original works by a great master, Utamaro, who documented the so-called 'floating world' - the pleasure district of Edo.

In contemporary Tokyo, James discovers the darker side of Japan's urbanisation, through the photographs of street photographer Daido Moriyama, and meets one of the founders of the world-famous Studio Ghibli, Isao Takahata, whose haunting anime film Grave of the Fireflies helped establish anime as a powerful and serious art form.


WED 23:00 The Art of Japanese Life (p054mdmy)
Series 1

Home

In the final episode, Dr James Fox explores the art of the Japanese home. The clean minimalism of the Japanese home has been exported around the world, from modernist architecture to lifestyle stores like Muji. But the origins of this ubiquitous aesthetic evolved from a system of spiritual and philosophical values, dating back centuries. James visits one of Japan's last surviving traditional wooden villages, and the 17th-century villa of Rinshunkaku, and reveals how the unique spirit of Japanese craftsmen (shokunin) turned joinery into an artform - creating houses without the need for nails, screws or even glue.

Exploring some of the traditional arts of the Japanese home (where even food and flower arranging have been elevated to the level of art), James also investigates attitudes to domestic culture in modern Japan, meeting photographer Kyoichi Tsuzuki, chronicler of Japan's crowded cities and tiny apartments.

Other highlights include a performance by calligrapher and artist Tomoko Kawao and a visit to the hometown of Terunobu Fujimori, one of the most singular and playful contemporary architects working in Japan today.


WED 00:00 People's Palaces: The Golden Age of Civic Architecture (b00tnw4p)
Neo-Classical

Architectural historian Dr Jonathan Foyle explores some of the best Georgian and Victorian neo-classical civic buildings in the north of England. He visits town halls, concert halls, libraries, schools and galleries in Liverpool, Leeds, Bradford, Manchester and Todmorden in an unlikely story of rivalry, ambition and power in the service of social responsibility.

The north's public building boom was first funded by the profits of sugar, tobacco, cotton and slavery. Later, the Victorian municipalities in the increasingly powerful industrial and mercantile northern towns competed with one another to build bigger, better, more significant architectural monuments than the neighbouring city.

Neo-classicism harked back to Rome, democratic Athens and the Greek city-state. The regular proportion, geometry and symmetry of classical temple-style architecture suggested order in chaotically-expanding urban environments and served to associate towns regarded as squalid and unruly with the cultured ancient civilisations of antiquity. These were buildings constructed with the aim of elevating the towns in which they stood.

Featuring contributions from historians Lawrence Westgaph, Steve Binns, Joseph Sharples and Colin Cunningham, Jonathan Foyle visits Bluecoat School in Liverpool, John Woods's Liverpool Town Hall, Liverpool Athenaeum, Thomas Harrison's Liverpool Lyceum and Manchester Portico Library, Charles Barry's Royal Manchester Institution, Manchester Athenaeum, John Foster Jnr's Liverpool Oratory, Harvey Elmes's Liverpool St George's Hall, Lockwood and Mawson's Bradford St George's Hall, Cuthbert Brodrick's Leeds Town Hall, Liverpool's Walker Art Gallery, Cornelius Sherlock's Picton Reading Rooms and, to illustrate that smaller towns also aspired to neo-classical magnificence, Todmorden Town Hall.


WED 01:00 The Joy of Painting (m000m2f4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


WED 01:30 Johnny Kingdom: A Year on Exmoor (b00793st)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


WED 02:00 The Beauty of Maps (b00s3v0t)
Medieval Maps - Mapping the Medieval Mind

Documentary series charting the visual appeal and historical meaning of maps.

The Hereford Mappa Mundi is the largest intact Medieval wall map in the world and its ambition is breathtaking - to picture all of human knowledge in a single image. The work of a team of artists, the world it portrays is overflowing with life, featuring Classical and Biblical history, contemporary buildings and events, animals and plants from across the globe, and the infamous 'monstrous races' which were believed to inhabit the remotest corners of the Earth.

The Mappa Mundi, meaning 'cloth of the world', has spent most of its long life at Hereford Cathedral, rarely emerging from behind its glass case. The programme represents a rare opportunity to get close to the map and explore its detail, giving a unique insight into the Medieval mind. This is also the first programme to show the map in its original glory, revealing the results of a remarkable year-long project by the Folio Society to restore it using the latest digital technology.

The map has a chequered history. Since its glory days in the 1300s it has languished forgotten in storerooms, been dismissed as a curious 'monstrosity', and controversially almost sold. Only in the last 20 years have scholars and artists realised its true depth and meaning, with the map exerting an extraordinary power over those who come into contact with it. The programme meets some of these individuals, from scholars and map lovers to Turner Prize-winning artist Grayson Perry, whose own work, the Map of Nowhere, is inspired by the Mappa Mundi.


WED 02:30 Japan: Earth's Enchanted Islands (p02n9v9x)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



THURSDAY 27 AUGUST 2020

THU 19:00 Johnny Kingdom: A Year on Exmoor (b00793xh)
Series 1

New Life and Old Friends

Grave-digger Johnny Kingdom presents a look at the wildlife of the moors and woodlands of Exmoor. Spring has finally arrived on Exmoor and it's Johnny's busiest time of year for filming. But he's very worried about his three-legged pet deer Bambi who he rescued 12 years ago. She is not well and Johnny knows that the day is fast approaching when he'll have to make a very difficult decision about her future.


THU 19:30 The Joy of Painting (m000m2fv)
Series 3

The Old Mill

Journey into the country with Bob Ross and watch how he creates this painting of a large, old mill in the heart of a forest.

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.


THU 20:00 Girl Friday (m000m2fx)
Joanna Lumley agrees to spend nine days on an uninhabited desert island off the coast of Madagascar with just a basic survival kit and a film crew.


THU 21:00 Brideshead Revisited (b014f32p)
Film adaptation of the novel by Evelyn Waugh. In the early spring of 1944 Charles Ryder, a disillusioned army Captain, arrives at Brideshead Castle, the new Brigade Headquarters. It is a place he knows well and he is transported back in time to 1922 and his first meeting with Sebastian Flyte, the younger son of Lord Marchmain. Charles Ryder proceeds to tell in flashback the story of his association with the castle and the doomed aristocratic Flyte family.


THU 23:05 Face to Face (p04qj22k)
Evelyn Waugh

John Freeman faced a difficult subject in Evelyn Waugh when he interviewed him in 1960. Waugh, author of Brideshead Revisited, was in characteristically obstructive frame of mind. The result is a rare glimpse into the life and temperament of one of the greatest novelists of this century.


THU 23:35 African Renaissance: When Art Meets Power (m000m2dn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Monday]


THU 00:35 Handmade in Africa (m000m2dj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Monday]


THU 01:05 The Joy of Painting (m000m2fv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


THU 01:35 Johnny Kingdom: A Year on Exmoor (b00793xh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


THU 02:05 The Beauty of Maps (b00s5p6k)
City Maps - Order out of Chaos

Documentary series charting the visual appeal and historical meaning of maps.

The British Library is home to a staggering 4.5 million maps, most of which remain hidden away in its colossal basement, and the programme delves behind the scenes to explore some amazing treasures in more detail. This is the story of three maps, three 'visions' of London over three centuries; visions of beauty that celebrate but also distort the truth. It's the story of how urban maps try to impose order on chaos.

On Sunday 2 September 1660, the Great Fire of London began reducing most of the city to ashes, and among the huge losses were many maps of the city itself. The Morgan Map of 1682 was the first to show the whole of the City of London after the fire. Consisting of sixteen separate sheets, measuring eight feet by five feet, it took six years to complete. Morgan's beautiful map symbolised the hoped-for ideal city.

In 1746 John Rocque produced what was at the time the most detailed map ever made of London. Like Morgan's, Rocque's map is all neo-Classical beauty and clinical precision, but the London it represented had become the opposite. In engravings of the time, such as Night, the artist William Hogarth shows a city boiling with vice and corruption. Stephen Walter's contemporary image, The Island, plays with notions of cartographic order and respectability. His extraordinary London map looks at first glance to be just as precise and ordered as his hero Rocque's but, looking closer, it includes 21st-century markings, such as 'favourite kebab vans' and sites of 'personal heartbreak'.


THU 02:35 Girl Friday (m000m2fx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]



FRIDAY 28 AUGUST 2020

FRI 19:00 Johnny Kingdom: A Year on Exmoor (b007941d)
Series 1

I'd Love to See a Badger

Gravedigger Johnny Kingdom presents a look at the wildlife of the moors and woodlands of Exmoor. Spring is well under way and the bluebells will be out soon at Johnny's new hide, which means he should be filming badger cubs any day now. But there's a problem - there's no sign of any cubs, and the food he's put down for the badgers is being eaten by squirrels, pheasants and rats. Johnny invites Tony Thorne to the hide to see if he'll bring him luck, but he's forgotten that Tony's afraid of rats.


FRI 19:30 Sounds of the Sixties (b0074qd8)
Original Series

In Living Colour

More from the BBC archive music programme. 1968 brought colour transmission to the BBC and artists such as The Kinks, The Moody Blues and The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band appear in all their polychrome glory.


FRI 20:00 Top of the Pops (b00zwrn5)
1964 to 1975 - Big Hits

1964 saw the birth of a very British institution. Spanning over four decades, Top of the Pops has produced many classic moments in pop culture.

Digging deep within the darkest depths of the BBC's archive, this compilation offers some memorable performances from 1964 through to 1975 from the likes of The Rolling Stones, Tom Jones, Status Quo, Procol Harum, Stevie Wonder, Queen and The Kinks, and opens the vintage vaults to rare performances from Stealers Wheel, Julie Driscoll, Peter Sarstedt and The Seekers.

So sit back and witness once again where music met television.


FRI 21:30 Peter Green: Man of the World (b00k92x1)
Legendary blues guitarist BB King named Peter Green as one of the greatest exponents of the blues, and the 'only guitar player to make me sweat'. If Green had only written Black Magic Woman, his name would still have a place in blues rock history forever.

His three short years leading Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac saw the band established as one of the biggest-selling groups of the 1960s. Yet at the height of their fame Green left the group, with his life spiralling into turmoil as drug-induced mental health issues took control. Rumours of his demise began to spread, and sightings of him became notorious.

After years battling his mental illness, Green is writing and recording again. Featuring archive performances and interviews with Carlos Santana, Noel Gallagher, founding members of Fleetwood Mac and Green himself, this film tells the story of one of blues rock's living legends.


FRI 23:00 Fleetwood Mac: Don't Stop (b00nq7q9)
Fleetwood Mac are one of the biggest-selling bands of all time and still on the road. Their story, told in their own words, is an epic tale of love and confrontation, of success and loss.

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

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


FRI 02:00 Peter Green: Man of the World (b00k92x1)
[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)

Africa with Ade Adepitan 20:00 MON (m0002jl2)

Africa's Great Civilisations 22:00 MON (b0b6tp5l)

Africa's Great Civilisations 22:55 MON (b0b873nn)

African Renaissance: When Art Meets Power 21:00 MON (m000m2dn)

African Renaissance: When Art Meets Power 02:15 MON (m000m2dn)

African Renaissance: When Art Meets Power 23:35 THU (m000m2dn)

Art on the BBC 23:30 TUE (m000f4d2)

Avicii: True Stories 01:00 SAT (p075zdlk)

BBC Proms 19:25 SUN (b007xljj)

Billy Connolly: A Scot in the Arctic 20:00 TUE (p032kjf7)

Blackadder 22:00 TUE (p00bf6vt)

Blackadder 22:30 TUE (b0078nnr)

Brideshead Revisited 21:00 THU (b014f32p)

Coast 19:00 SUN (b08s2bg7)

EastEnders 2008 02:00 SUN (b00byf6t)

EastEnders 2008 02:30 SUN (b00bygpz)

EastEnders 2008 03:00 SUN (b00byj0s)

EastEnders 2008 03:30 SUN (b00byjhn)

Face to Face 23:05 THU (p04qj22k)

Fleetwood Mac: Don't Stop 23:00 FRI (b00nq7q9)

Girl Friday 20:00 THU (m000m2fx)

Girl Friday 02:35 THU (m000m2fx)

Handmade in Africa 19:00 MON (m000m2dj)

Handmade in Africa 00:35 THU (m000m2dj)

How to Get Ahead 00:30 TUE (b03yfwk1)

India: Nature's Wonderland 22:00 SUN (p02z83jc)

India: Nature's Wonderland 23:00 SUN (b06b3klq)

Inside Cinema 23:45 MON (m000f8xm)

Japan: Earth's Enchanted Islands 21:00 WED (p02n9v9x)

Japan: Earth's Enchanted Islands 02:30 WED (p02n9v9x)

Jigs and Wigs: The Extreme World of Irish Dancing 00:45 MON (b06w05v8)

Jigs and Wigs: The Extreme World of Irish Dancing 01:15 MON (b06wrkng)

Johnny Kingdom: A Year on Exmoor 19:00 TUE (b00793pl)

Johnny Kingdom: A Year on Exmoor 02:00 TUE (b00793pl)

Johnny Kingdom: A Year on Exmoor 19:00 WED (b00793st)

Johnny Kingdom: A Year on Exmoor 01:30 WED (b00793st)

Johnny Kingdom: A Year on Exmoor 19:00 THU (b00793xh)

Johnny Kingdom: A Year on Exmoor 01:35 THU (b00793xh)

Johnny Kingdom: A Year on Exmoor 19:00 FRI (b007941d)

Monty Don's Japanese Gardens 20:00 WED (m0002pcx)

On Camera: Photographers at the BBC 01:00 SUN (b08jgr3w)

People's Palaces: The Golden Age of Civic Architecture 00:00 WED (b00tnw4p)

Peter Green: Man of the World 21:30 FRI (b00k92x1)

Peter Green: Man of the World 02:00 FRI (b00k92x1)

Pole to Pole 20:00 SAT (p02gdbml)

Sounds of the Sixties 19:30 FRI (b0074qd8)

Storyville 00:00 SUN (b00936cb)

Talking Comedy 23:00 TUE (b084zxkv)

The Art of Japanese Life 22:00 WED (p054md5m)

The Art of Japanese Life 23:00 WED (p054mdmy)

The Beauty of Maps 02:00 WED (b00s3v0t)

The Beauty of Maps 02:05 THU (b00s5p6k)

The Bridge 21:00 SAT (b01hdbtb)

The Bridge 22:00 SAT (b01hdbtd)

The Bridge 23:00 SAT (b01hr5s3)

The Bridge 00:00 SAT (b01hr5s5)

The Joy of Painting 19:30 MON (m000m2dl)

The Joy of Painting 01:45 MON (m000m2dl)

The Joy of Painting 19:30 TUE (m000m2dg)

The Joy of Painting 01:30 TUE (m000m2dg)

The Joy of Painting 19:30 WED (m000m2f4)

The Joy of Painting 01:00 WED (m000m2f4)

The Joy of Painting 19:30 THU (m000m2fv)

The Joy of Painting 01:05 THU (m000m2fv)

The Yorkshire Ripper Files: A Very British Crime Story 02:35 SAT (m0003m05)

The Yorkshire Ripper Files: A Very British Crime Story 21:00 TUE (m0003m04)

The Yorkshire Ripper Files: A Very British Crime Story 02:30 TUE (m0003m04)

This Farming Life 19:00 SAT (b0756gt6)

Top of the Pops 20:00 FRI (b00zwrn5)

Wild 20:45 TUE (b00jd9yx)