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 10 OCTOBER 2020

SAT 19:00 Francesco's Venice (b0078sny)
Beauty

Documentary series telling the story of the birth of Venice, one of the most beautiful and romantic cities in the world, presented by Francesco da Mosto. The golden age of art and architecture arrived and it was the moment the Venice we know today emerged - when wooden houses transformed into stone and marble palaces covered in gold and jewel-encrusted palaces lined the Grand Canal.

The fishermen of early Venice were changing, turning into princely merchants who traded throughout the east and west to become some of the richest patrons of art. Fine paintings and sculpture came to adorn every home as Venetians vied to impress.

This was the age of Venice producing the world's most famous artists and most heroic buildings as Titian and Palladio transformed the look and reputation of the city.

Meanwhile, a calamity hovered over the city, threatening to engulf it and ultimately take Venice to the very brink of disaster - the plague. No one, rich or poor would escape and the city would be left in ruins.


SAT 20:00 Full Circle with Michael Palin (p00xb7yx)
Alaska and Russia

Michael Palin travels around the Pacific rim. He starts in the Diomede Islands in the Bering Strait, goes to see the Kodiak bear in Alaska and visits the geysers and hot springs of Kamchatka.


SAT 21:00 Inspector Montalbano (m000ng77)
Beloved Salvo, My Livia

It's high summer in Vigata and the murdered body of a young woman, Agata Cosentino, is found in the municipal archives where she worked. But the building was supposed to be closed for the holidays, so what was Agata doing there?

Meanwhile, Adelina's wayward son Pasquale is engaged in a stand-off with a local security guard, Romildo Bufardeci, a former classmate from elementary school who is now intent on putting a stop to Pasquale’s petty criminality. As chief law enforcer, Montalbano must investigate any wrongdoings while also navigating the rivalry between the two men.

In Italian with English subtitles.


SAT 22:50 The Bridge (b06dl825)
Series 3

Episode 1

When a prominent Danish gender campaigner is found murdered in Malmo, Swedish detective Saga Noren is assigned a new Danish colleague to help with the investigation, but their relationship does not get off to a good start with feelings still running high about her involvement in sending her previous Danish partner to jail for murder.

In Swedish and Danish with English subtitles.


SAT 23:50 The Bridge (b06fkl0x)
Series 3

Episode 2

With the detectives now working on two so-called 'clown murders', a prime suspect is the traumatised son of the first victim, who is on the run. The usually phlegmatic Saga is distracted from the investigation by the unwelcome appearance of her mother, who insists on showing her a medical file, hoping to find a resolution to their estrangement.

In Swedish and Danish with English subtitles.


SAT 00:50 Top of the Pops (m000n7g4)
Gary Davies presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 4 January 1990 and featuring The Quireboys, Sonia and Latino Rave.


SAT 01:20 Top of the Pops (m000nfp1)
Simon Mayo presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 11 January 1990 and featuring Deacon Blue, New Kids on the Block and The Mission.


SAT 01:50 Full Circle with Michael Palin (p00xb7yx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


SAT 02:40 Francesco's Venice (b0078sny)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]



SUNDAY 11 OCTOBER 2020

SUN 19:00 Mud, Sweat and Tractors: The Story of Agriculture (b00jwcb1)
Milk

Documentary series looking at the history of 20th-century farming in Britain opens by focusing on milk.

In the early years of the century, 150,000 dairy farmers milked by hand and sold milk door to door. By the end of the century, the 15,000 that were left were breeding cows that increased yields by 400 per cent and milk was sold through supermarkets.

This episode features the home movies and stories of two dairy farmers who survived to tell the story of how and why the revolution happened.


SUN 20:00 Yellowstone (b00jc6p6)
Winter

Series following the fortunes of America's wildlife icons in Yellowstone, the most extensive thermal area on Earth.

In winter, Yellowstone is frozen solid - locked in snow as deep as a house for over six months. Whether you hunt for meat, live off stored body fat or whether you simply hibernate, you need to take every advantage, however slight, to save precious energy - then you might just make it through the winter to enjoy the green grass and balmy days of spring.

As we follow the grip of winter over the course of six freezing months, we chart the fortunes of Yellowstone's wildlife in a finely balanced fight to survive. Bison use their massively powerful heads to dig through some of the deepest snow in America to reach the grass beneath. A red fox listens out for mice scurrying six feet beneath the snow before diving headfirst into the drift to snap up its prey, while otters slide through Yellowstone's winter wonderland to find any remaining open water where they can fish. All the while, as the herds of elk and bison are gradually weakened by the cold, one animal gets stronger - the wolf.

But all is not as it first seems - there are larger powers at work. Whether a wolf, a bison or an elk makes it through is intimately linked to Yellowstone's greatest secret. Sleeping beneath the ice and snow-covered surface is one of the world's largest volcanoes. In an extraordinary twist of nature, everything from the freezing winter cold to the creation of a snowstorm is determined by the power of Yellowstone's volcanic heart.


SUN 21:00 Pole to Pole (p02jc3qm)
Bitter End

Having missed his deadline to reach Antarctica, Michael abandons his original plan. Luckily a travel adventure company swoops in to save the expedition with a route through Chile.


SUN 22:00 The Sky at Night (m000ng26)
Beyond the Visible

The focus for this edition of The Sky at Night is on astronomical research that is beyond the scope of our eyes.

We think of astronomy as something we do primarily using our sight. But we can now search the cosmos using radiation beyond the narrow band of visible light, beyond what we are able to see.

We visit the UK’s foremost radio observatory, Jodrell Bank, and meet some remarkable, vision-impaired astronomers who are pioneering new techniques to carry out their research using their senses of hearing and touch.


SUN 22:30 The Guardians (m000ng28)
France 1915. The Paridier farm. A mother and her daughter take over when their men leave for the front. They work tirelessly, their lives marked by hard work and their men's rare visits on leave. When Hortense hires Francine, a young ward of the estate to help them, Francine believes she has finally found a family.

In French with English subtitles.


SUN 00:40 EastEnders 2008 (b00cp2p1)
Max attempts to bond with his children, Ronnie's manipulations are exposed and Bradley makes a shocking discovery about Clare.


SUN 01:10 EastEnders 2008 (b00cp34t)
Tanya calls a peace meeting but Max has other plans. Clare tries to turn over a new leaf and Zainab agrees to help out her family in a time of need.


SUN 01:40 EastEnders 2008 (b00cp3pv)
Tanya and Jack are stunned by Max's surprise guest, Shabnam sees an opportunity to change her family's fortunes and what lengths will Jase go to to make Dawn's dreams come true?


SUN 02:10 EastEnders 2008 (b00cp3vz)
Max does his best to cause problems for Tanya and Jack, Dawn is shocked when Jase returns from a job and Shabnam has a hidden agenda.


SUN 02:40 Earth's Great Rivers (b0bwqpbj)
Series 1

Mississippi

It is an unexpected and contrasting journey through America's iconic and varied landscapes as the Mississippi flows from source to mouth. The Mississippi's greatest surprise is its incredible reach. Its fingers stretch into nearly half of the USA, collecting water from 31 states. More than any other, this one river has helped unite the many and varied parts of America. The Mississippi's longest tributary begins life in the depths of winter, in the towering Rocky Mountains of Wyoming and Montana. Billions of tonnes of water, ultimately destined to flow south are trapped as ice and snow. Here, its headwaters are a draw for the world's top ice climbers, who celebrate winter with daring climbs up towering frozen waterfalls - surely the most dangerous and spectacular winter faces of the ice-bound Mississippi.

In this frozen wilderness, a handful of tenacious coyotes have learned to fish, in one remarkable Mississippi headwater kept flowing by the steaming geysers of Yellowstone National Park. In the bone-chilling water, the coyotes stand stock still for hours, risking severe hypothermia in the hope of pouncing on a fish. Spring in the Upper Mississippi in Minnesota, arrives on the wings of tens of thousands of white pelicans who bring the river to life. Both comical and beautiful, their crowded flotillas put on balletic, synchronised fishing displays. On the other side of the continent in crystal-clear Appalachian Mountain streams, some devious parents employ the creepiest childcare strategy on earth. Freshwater mussels produce bizarre growths which mimic small fish. These lifelike lures even have false eyes and dance, imitating real fish. Their purpose is to act as living bait, tricking larger predatory fish into attacking them. Once bitten, a cloud of blood-sucking baby mussels clamp onto the unwitting fish's gills. After several weeks of feeding on their victim's body fluids, they drop off and disperse. These sneaky mussels provide their babies with food and transport to different parts of the river. It is a macabre underwater puppet show, made all the more weird as the puppet master (the parent mussel) is blind and has no idea what a fish looks like.

But the spring thaw also means extra work for busy beavers - safe in their cosy lodges all winter, they must now venture out to repair the damage that the rushing meltwater has done to their precious dams. As the river flows south through the central US, it becomes a vital transport link. Special cameras take us on a time-travelling journey down the busiest section of the river. A gigantic boat zooms hundreds of miles downriver in seconds, flashing through night and day. This is the industrial heart of the river. Even here, the river still hosts incredible wildlife spectacles. Each Independence Day, millions of mayflies gather in swarms so large they can be seen on weather radar.

As it flows into the south, it spreads and slows, feeding the largest swamp in the US - the fertile, mysterious Atchafalaya. Over 2,000 square miles of wetlands, where alligators still rule. This is one of the richest and most diverse wilderness regions of the states, - a melting pot where racoons and beavers mix with tropical specialties like roseate spoonbills and emerald-green anole lizards. These back waters are the fabled spirit of the Mississippi made famous by Mark Twain and the Blues. As the massive river nears the ocean, it passes cities that have grown up along its banks - like New Orleans. Here 60 miles of docks make it the largest port in the western hemisphere where goods brought down the Mississippi are transferred to huge ocean going ships.

At the end of its 3,500-mile journey, the Mississippi eventually creates one of the biggest river deltas on the planet. But today this delta is under threat. Damming and controls along the river's length are preventing the Mississippi's natural flood cycles - it can no longer replace land that the ocean washes away. This remarkable delta is home to millions of migrant birds and protects vast areas inland from hurricane surges. Its preservation is key to both the people and the wildlife here. The delta is a landscape built by the river from cornfields in Iowa, mountaisides in the Rockies and sediment from Tennessee streams - all collected and deposited by one huge river which unites and defines one great nation.



MONDAY 12 OCTOBER 2020

MON 19:00 Inside Museums (m000ngbs)
Series 1

St Fagans National Museum of History

Arts enthusiast Cerys Matthews is given an ‘access-all-areas’ pass to her favourite museum, St Fagans National Museum of History in Cardiff for the BBC's #MuseumPassion season.

Home to more than 40 faithfully re-erected historical buildings, it’s one of the UK's most visited heritage attractions and, as a living history museum, it lives, breathes and embodies the culture and identity of Wales. Cerys steps back in time, yet also draws powerful parallels with the present and our current circumstances as we cope with the Covid-19 pandemic.

St Fagans is steeped in Welsh history, yet the buildings and objects that are housed there also have a powerful contemporary relevance. They speak of the vital importance and occasional perils of community life.

In its early 20th-century, miners’ cottages, Cerys discovers how a previous generation coped with the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic. Did close-knit community life help, or were there drawbacks?

Community spirit has many strengths, then and now, and grassroots pubs where people gathered to socialise could provide a central support hub, like the Vulcan Pub, built in 1853 in Cardiff. It has been saved from destruction by the museum and is being rebuilt, brick by brick, on the St Fagans site.

Cerys unpacks the stories behind centuries-old buildings and crafts and reveals the secrets of a selection of objects - from a 1950s caravan to the skull of a 6,000-year-old man. But today, museums also capture history as it happens. Cerys meets Curator of Black History Nasir Adam to find out more about some items that were made and, only recently, donated by the public. They will soon form part of a new exhibition.

St Fagans’ ethos is that theirs is a museum made with and by the people of Wales. It is shot through with community strength and spirit. Craft, industry, passion and pride can all be seen here. Their labours continue to bear fruit and their rich history is held in trust for future generations.

Cerys discovers that we can take comforting lessons for the future from time spent in the past. Objects, architecture and human stories that reveal, however daunting the challenges we might face, they can be overcome. Our history shows us that. The people of the past serve as a reminder. And they beckon us onwards and offer us hope.


MON 19:30 The Joy of Painting (m000ngbw)
Series 3

Meadow Brook

Bob Ross paints an innocent creek, slicing its way across a landscape of colour, in a setting dreams are made of.

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 Fake or Fortune? (b06452kx)
Series 4

Munnings and Churchill

Charles Henty, the man in charge of the Old Bailey, has a problem - the death of his uncle has left him with a working farm to run in France and a crippling inheritance tax bill to pay. He is desperate to protect the jobs of the farmworkers and keep the farm running in his uncle's memory, but the only way he can do that is by selling two paintings he owns - if he can prove they're genuine.

One, believed to be by Sir Winston Churchill, was discovered in the coalhole of Charles' family home in London in the 60s. It's a picturesque scene of a medieval village in the south of France. But which village? For the painting to be accepted as genuine, the Fake or Fortune team must first find the exact location and then prove that Churchill painted the scene. There's a lot at stake, with a Churchill painting selling at Sotheby's in 2014 for £1.8 million, but a leading expert has grave misgivings about the authenticity of the picture.

Charles' other painting is a landscape of Dedham in Essex, believed to be by Sir Alfred Munnings, best known for his paintings of horses and once the most expensive British artist of his day. However, Dedham was also the home of Tom Keating, Britain's most notorious forger of the 20th century. Presenter Philip Mould is drawn into the murky world of fakes and forgeries, where nothing is quite as it seems.

The Fake or Fortune team pull out all the stops in this dramatic and emotionally charged investigation, but can they prove that both pictures are genuine?


MON 21:00 Drama out of a Crisis: A Celebration of Play for Today (m000ng9w)
Play for Today was a series of single dramas broadcast by the BBC between 1970 and 1984. These were years of crisis, a time when the consensus politics of Britain’s postwar world had begun to unravel. Industrial relations, education and the health service faced fundamental challenges, the country was struggling with the end of empire, and the personal had become increasingly political.

Play for Today reflected and responded to all of this and more in 300 dramas, shown in primetime on BBC One to audiences numbered in millions. Many of the best actors, writers and directors of the time contributed to the series, with some of the best-remembered broadcasts being Mike Leigh’s Abigail’s Party, Dennis Potter’s Blue Remembered Hills and the strange fantasy, Penda’s Fen, written by Alan Rudkin and directed by Alan Clarke.

The series was contemporary, often controversial and occasionally censored. But it was also immensely varied, showcasing social realism with comedy, costume drama with fantasy, and personal visions with state-of-the-nation overviews. It was mischievous, critical and challenging, and unafraid to tackle taboos.

Marking the 50th anniversary of the first Play for Today in October 1970, this film is a celebration of the series, told by a number of its producers, directors and writers. It explores the origins of the series, its achievements and its controversies. Presenting a rich range of often surprising extracts from the archive, the film features interviews with, among others, producers Kenith Trodd, Margaret Matheson and Richard Eyre, film-makers Mike Leigh and Ken Loach, and writer and director David Hare.


MON 22:30 Play For Today (m000ngby)
Series 12

Country

A family gathering, a christening and a dance. But it's 1945 and there are plans to be made, family wealth to protect and peace to be won.


MON 23:55 Inside Cinema (m000n7fr)
Black History Month

Jordan Peele

No programme information found


MON 00:10 Inside Cinema (m000n7fv)
Black History Month

Ava DuVernay

Documentary that explores the work of a film director of groundbreaking firsts. Ava DuVernay is the first black woman to win Best Director at Sundance, for her romantic drama Middle of Nowhere, the first black woman to direct a $100-million budget film, the youth fantasy drama A Wrinkle in Time, and the first black woman to direct a film Oscar-nominated for Best Picture - Selma, the first major feature film about Martin Luther King Jr.

In this short documentary profile, Inside Cinema takes a look at the career of an extraordinary woman who, from picking up her first camera at the age of 32 and directing her first feature, hip-hop documentary This Is the Life, has consistently laid the groundwork for what would become her brand of putting black women first.

The programme is written and narrated by Corrina Antrobus, a film writer, podcaster and founder of The Bechdel Test Fest, a celebration of films that present women in a positive and dynamic light. She explores DuVernay’s journey to becoming the most powerful black woman in the film industry.

Middle of Nowhere marked the first time DuVernay worked with David Oyelowo, a professional relationship that saw the director-actor pairing progress to Selma, DuVernay’s historical drama charting the 1960s right-to-vote marches to Selma, Alabama, led by Dr Martin Luther King Jr.

Released just as Eric Garner and Michael Brown’s deaths galvanised the Black Lives Matter movement, DuVernay titled the film Selma as a dedication to those who joined Dr King on the marches.

After Selma came DuVernay’s feature-length documentary, 13th, which showed how prison works as a modern-day labour industry and aimed to dismantle the racist foundations in film culture laid down by so-called godfather of film DW Griffith.

DuVernay was given a budget of $100 million for the Disney fantasy adventure A Wrinkle in Time, the most she, or any black woman, had enjoyed at the time the film was made. The film helped create balance for young black girls who rarely get to be the hero in children’s adventures, strategically centring on a young black girl throughout.

DuVernay’s next project, a four-part drama series, When They See Us, tackled the case of the Central Park Five, using an infamous miscarriage of justice as an extreme example to expose all the wider facets of a biased criminal justice system.

The film also argues that the very fact that Ava DuVernay is the first black woman to break so many glass ceilings is both an indictment of an industry that has kept artists like her at a distance and a cause for celebration as we look to the future for the next DuVernay.


MON 00:25 Fake or Fortune? (b06452kx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


MON 01:25 Inside Museums (m000ngbs)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


MON 01:55 The Joy of Painting (m000ngbw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


MON 02:25 Drama out of a Crisis: A Celebration of Play for Today (m000ng9w)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



TUESDAY 13 OCTOBER 2020

TUE 19:00 Inside Museums (m000ng7k)
Series 1

Ulster Museum

Emma Dabiri admits that travel is in her blood. Now, as leaving the country becomes increasingly fraught in the global pandemic, she finds a new way of seeing the world through selected artworks at Ulster Museum in Northern Ireland's capital, Belfast.

From the portraiture of Pompeo Batoni to the etchings of Giovanni Piranesi, her tour takes in the splendour of Rome as well as Sri Lanka, Morocco, Mexico and even Antarctica. She examines how artists brought their vision of the world to the UK and metaphorically transported art lovers across continents before the invention of the jet engine.

Part of the BBC's #MuseumPassion season, the Dublin-born social historian takes us around the gallery, highlighting how depictions of far-flung landscapes and cultures were sometimes overly romanticised or blatantly sexualised. And how, for many, travel in previous centuries was less about tourism and more about emigration, saying goodbye to loved ones, probably forever. While our passports remain largely unused, let artists show you the world beyond our shores.


TUE 19:30 The Joy of Painting (m000ng7p)
Series 3

Evening Sunset

The day’s sun is almost gone, but Bob Ross finds what’s left of it in an unusual blend of late afternoon tones.

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 Digging for Britain (b084xym3)
Series 5

West

Professor Alice Roberts presents the very best in British archaeology 2016 - filmed by the archaeologists themselves, straight from the trenches, so you can see each exciting discovery as it happens. The teams then bring their best finds - from skeletons to treasure - back to the Digging for Britain lab, to examine them with Alice and reveal how they are changing the story of Britain.

This episode looks at the west of Britain, and archaeologists are in the lab to look at the new finds and what they mean.

Finds include the lost World War I training trenches on Salisbury Plain, Britain's first 'double henge' - discovered just down the road from Stonehenge, where the evidence suggests our ancestors feasted and made sacred offerings as part of a visit to the ritualistic Stonehenge landscape, and luxury foreign goods discovered at Tintagel, the legendary childhood home of King Arthur.


TUE 21:00 The Mole: Infiltrating North Korea (m000nr85)
Part 1

A real-life undercover thriller about two ordinary men who embark on an outrageously dangerous ten-year mission to penetrate the world’s most secretive and brutal dictatorship: North Korea.


TUE 22:00 The Mole: Infiltrating North Korea (m000nr87)
Part 2

A real-life undercover thriller about two ordinary men who embark on an outrageously dangerous ten-year mission to penetrate the world’s most secretive and brutal dictatorship: North Korea.


TUE 23:00 Inside Cinema (m000ng7r)
Black History Month

Barry Jenkins

An exploration of the work of Barry Jenkins, a trailblazing film director whose Best Picture winner Moonlight made Oscar night history in 2017, beating La La Land to Best Picture following a dramatic and unprecedented envelope mix-up.

Grace Barber-Plentie, a writer and programmer specialising in depictions of people of colour, particularly black women, in pop culture. explores Jenkins’s body of work, from his charming low-fi breakout, romantic drama Medicine for Melancholy, to his current status as only the second black director to make a film which has won the Oscar for Best Picture.

His first film, Medicine for Melancholy, marked the first time Jenkins worked with cinematographer James Laxton, a professional relationship that would see the director and his favourite director of photograph work together on every subsequent project. Medicine for Melancholy was influenced by the work of French director Claire Denis, in particular her film Vendredi soir, with Jenkins positioning his work as part of an outward-looking, cosmopolitan cinematic tradition with its roots in European cinema.

His next film, Moonlight, was a higher profile project, with a cast of stars including Mahershala Ali, Naomie Harris and popstar Janelle Monae. Moonlight also wears its cinematic influences on its sleeve, including the work of director Wong Kar-wai, again showing that his work is culturally open, speaking a global language of references. Jenkins was also influenced by directors such as Kahlil Joseph and his heightened, hyper-real depiction of black lives in music videos like Until the Quiet Comes.

Moonlight manages to be two things - specific and universal. Jenkins, a black film-maker, makes a film for and about black people, but like any good coming-of-age story, Moonlight captured its audience's hearts because it was universal, with people from all walks of life able to relate to it.

Jenkins’s return to cinema after Moonlight’s dramatic Oscar win was 2018’s If Beale Street Could Talk, looking at the prison industrial complex through the words of pioneering African-American author James Baldwin, the first film adaptation of Baldwin’s fiction. The film follows star-crossed young lovers Tish and Fonny in 1960s New York, who are separated after Fonny is imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit.

Inside Cinema: Barry Jenkins shows how this director takes heavy, thought-provoking subject matter and weaves it into stories all about love, drawing together a plethora of international influences to tell uniquely black American stories.


TUE 23:15 Inside Cinema (m000ng7t)
Black History Month

Ryan Coogler

An exploration of the work of Ryan Coogler, a record-breaking film director, whose Oscar-winning and box office-conquering superhero adventure Black Panther scaled new heights for big-budget black cinema in Hollywood. Written and voiced Kambole Campbell, a writer and film critic for Empire Magazine, Little White Lies and Sight & Sound, this short profile documentary follows Coogler’s career from independent drama Fruitvale Station through Rocky franchise spin-off Creed to comic-book epic Black Panther.

Campbell argues that while Coogler’s films have grown exponentially in size, ambition and budget, they are united by common themes and personal touches. Each is an examination of contemporary black masculinity, from the family legacy that rests on Adonis Creed’s shoulders to the central conflict of Black Panther, between the brute strength of the insurgent villain, Killmonger, and the grace and vulnerability of Black Panther himself, King T’Challa.

While his career to date has marked him out as a distinctive film-maker, Coogler favours sharing the limelight with his returning collaborators, to award-winning effect. Rachel Morrison’s cinematography on Fruitvale Station made a low-key drama more intimate and compelling, while Maryse Alberti’s work on Creed hinged around a showcase sequence: Adonis’s first bout, shot in long, elaborate takes, revealing the tactical battle of boxing as the combatants’ fatigue grows. Then, Black Panther broke the Marvel movie mould, crafting an Oscar-winning Afrofuturist aesthetic, from Hannah Bleachler’s sets to Ruth Carter’s costumes and Ludwig Goransson’s score, all mixing sci-fi superhero style with traditional African accents, imagining a high-tech African utopia, untouched by European colonial influence.

What ties all of Coogler’s films together is his rewriting of the way black stories are told. Fruitvale Station flipped the script on portrayals of black victims in mainstream media. Creed re-centred a traditionally white-led sports franchise on a young black boxer, viewing the sports genre through the prism of black culture. And, finally, Black Panther was Coogler’s grand rewrite of colonialism itself, presenting an Afrofuturist fantasy of Africa untouched by colonialism and imperial greed, as well as a spectacular reinvention of the white-dominated superhero genre.

Throughout his films, no matter how large the budget or creative canvas, Ryan Coogler’s work is unified by an interest in black lives: their shared history, their identities and their representation on the big screen.


TUE 23:30 Fighting for King and Empire: Britain's Caribbean Heroes (b05v08b7)
This programme is based on a film entitled Divided By Race - United in War and Peace, produced by The-Latest.com.

During the Second World War, thousands of men and women from the Caribbean colonies volunteered to come to Britain to join the fight against Hitler. They risked their lives for king and empire, but their contribution has largely been forgotten.

Some of the last surviving Caribbean veterans tell their extraordinary wartime stories - from torpedo attacks by German U-boats and the RAF's blanket-bombing of Germany to the culture shock of Britain's freezing winters and war-torn landscapes. This brave sacrifice confronted the pioneers from the Caribbean with a lifelong challenge - to be treated as equals by the British government and the British people.

In testimony full of wit and charm, the veterans candidly reveal their experiences as some of the only black people in wartime Britain. They remember encounters with a curious British public and confrontation with the prejudices of white American GIs stationed in Britain.

After the war, many veterans returned to the Caribbean where they discovered jobs were scarce. Some came back to Britain to help rebuild its cities. They settled down with jobs and homes, got married and began to integrate their rich heritage into British culture. Now mostly in their 80s and 90s - the oldest is 104 - these pioneers from the Caribbean have helped transform Britain and created an enduring multicultural legacy.

With vivid first-hand testimony, observational documentary and rare archive footage, the programme gives a unique perspective on the Second World War and the history of 20th-century Britain.


TUE 00:30 Black Nurses: The Women Who Saved the NHS (b083dgtb)
Documentary which tells the story of the thousands of Caribbean and African women who answered the call 70 years ago to come to the UK to save the then ailing health service. It's a tale of a struggle to overcome racism, their fight for career progression and their battle for national recognition.


TUE 01:30 Upstream (m0008z3c)
Upstream is a new film by the writer Robert Macfarlane and the director Rob Petit. The film, which is shot entirely from the air, follows the course of the River Dee in Scotland all the way to its source in the Cairngorm mountains, the highest of any river in Britain. With a prose poem written especially for the film by Macfarlane (voiced by Julie Fowlis) and an original score by the Oscar-nominated composer Hauschka, the film takes as it epigraph the words of the Scottish writer Nan Shepherd (1893-1981): "One cannot know the rivers till one has seen them at their sources", wrote Shepherd, "but this journey to sources is not to be undertaken lightly." (The Living Mountain, 1977).

Eerie, hypnotic and experimental, this groundbreaking polyphonic film weaves together field-recordings of the river, and the birds and creatures which live along it, the place-names and stories - dark and light - of the Cairngorms, creating a 'songline' that draws the viewer up, against the flow, into wildness, winter and strangeness.


TUE 02:00 Inside Museums (m000ng7k)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


TUE 02:30 The Joy of Painting (m000ng7p)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


TUE 03:00 Digging for Britain (b084xym3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]



WEDNESDAY 14 OCTOBER 2020

WED 19:00 Inside Museums (m000ng9h)
Series 1

Scottish National Gallery

Artist Lachlan Goudie visits the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh to revisit a collection he describes as being part of his family. He grew up with the artworks in the gallery and now considers how paintings, which were created more than a hundred years ago, have such relevance to the challenges we are all living through today because of Covid-19, in terms of family, friendship, community, wildlife, nature and hope.

His exploration includes works by Scottish and international artists, culminating in what he describes as one of the greatest set of paintings ever produced in the history of western art.


WED 19:30 The Joy of Painting (m000ng9p)
Series 3

Mountain View

Bob Ross’s technique is at its best as he paints a rugged group of mountains peering down on nature’s lovely greenery.

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 Castles: Britain's Fortified History (b04tt2f9)
Kingdom of Conquest

Sam Willis tells the story of the English ruler who left the most indelible mark on the castle - the great Plantagenet king, Edward I, who turned it into an instrument of colonisation. Edward spent vast sums to subdue Wales with a ring of iron comprised of some of the most fearsome fortresses ever built. Castles like Caernarfon and Beaumaris were used to impose England's will on the Welsh. But when Edward turned his attention to Scotland, laying siege to castles with great catapults, things didn't go so well for him.


WED 21:00 Play For Today (b0074n6r)
Series 8

Abigail's Party

Comedy of manners focusing on the bourgeois affectation and sexual frustration of a young married couple. Abigail's mother Sue is invited to take refuge from her teenage daughter's party with a neighbouring couple, Beverly and Laurence. They have also invited Angela and Tony, new arrivals in the street. Beverly plies her guests with alcohol as Sue becomes increasingly withdrawn and embarrassed by the pretentious goings-on. Slowly, marital tensions emerge and the evening is breaking up in disarray when Laurence collapses with a heart attack.


WED 22:45 Drama out of a Crisis: A Celebration of Play for Today (m000ng9w)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Monday]


WED 00:15 Abducted - Elizabeth I's Child Actors (b0bdvxzn)
The gripping true story of a boy abducted from the streets of Elizabethan London, and how his father fought to get him back. Presented by acclaimed children's author and academic Katherine Rundell, this intriguing tale is set behind the scenes in the golden age of Shakespeare and sheds a shocking light on the lives of children long before they were thought to have rights.

Thirteen-year-old Thomas Clifton was walking to school on 13 December 1600, when he was violently kidnapped. And what's most extraordinary is that the men who took him claimed that they had legal authority to do so from Queen Elizabeth I herself. Children are so often missing from history, but this tale has survived by the skin of its teeth. This inventive film pieces together Thomas Clifton's story from contemporary accounts, court documents, plays and poetry, with the missing gaps beautifully illustrated by vivid hand-drawn animation.

Shedding light on politics, religion, money and fame at a time when society's anxieties were played out nightly on the stage, it is an unknown slice of British history, both bizarre and sinister. The snatching of Thomas Clifton had been organised by a theatrical impresario, who intended to put him on the stage as part of a company of child actors, who were enormously popular with the Elizabethan theatre. He wasn't the only boy lifted from the streets for this purpose - a whole host of others suffered a similar ordeal. It was a practice known as impressment - forced recruitment into public service - which meant that children could be legally taken without their parents' or their own consent.


WED 01:15 Inside Museums (m000ng9h)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


WED 01:45 The Joy of Painting (m000ng9p)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


WED 02:15 Castles: Britain's Fortified History (b04tt2f9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]



THURSDAY 15 OCTOBER 2020

THU 19:00 Inside Museums (m000ng7w)
Series 1

Artemisia Gentileschi

A chance to explore the National Gallery's critically acclaimed show that very nearly never happened due to Covid-19 restrictions. Artemisia Gentileschi’s blockbuster exhibition is billed as Tarantino meets Caravaggio, a bloody tale of tragedy and triumph with a twist.

Artemisia was a woman who painted her way to fame and glory in 17th-century Italy but was then forgotten for centuries. She was inspired as a child by the rebel artist, Caravaggio, and by the age of 17 could paint superbly, but her life was derailed by sexual assault. She survived and, some say, took her revenge in art by painting gory scenes of female heroism.

Artemisia Gentileschi is not simply a painter who deserves to be rediscovered for her defiance of an age that was unapologetically biased against women. She is a truly great artist whose achievement has been obscured by lazy sexism. In her lifetime, she was feted by grand dukes and kings, and a friend of Galileo. With her direct, shocking style, her paintings are raw muscular slices of life. She painted grand narratives from the Bible and the lives of the saints, and yet you always feel her own presence, her own feelings in her work.

This behind-the-scenes tour of her sold-out, five-star exhibition in London takes us to the heart of Gentileschi’s genius. It not only includes most of her great paintings but even the written documents that preserve her clear, courageous voice. Artemisia lived centuries ago in a society that had not heard of feminism, where her gender marked her out as an anomaly. Yet she reaches out to our time, and her incendiary art hits us with its truth.


THU 19:30 The Joy of Painting (m000ng7y)
Series 3

Hidden Creek

Bob Ross captures on canvas the haunting loveliness of stalwart trees shielding a lonesome brook from the light.

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 Rio Bravo (m000ng80)
Holding a killer spells trouble for Sheriff Chance in a remote Texan town. The jailed man’s brother has money and men, while Chance’s few allies include an alcoholic and a shady lady.

Characterful classic western.


THU 22:15 How the Wild West Was Won with Ray Mears (b044z1k0)
Great Plains

Ray Mears explores how 500,000 square miles of flat, treeless grassland was the setting for some of the Wild West's most dramatic stories of Plains Indians, wagon trains, homesteaders and cattle drives.

Ray joins the Blackfeet Indian Nation as they demonstrate bareback riding skills before a ritual buffalo hunt and sacrifice, and learns how their ancestors were dependent upon the buffalo for their survival. He follows in the wagon ruts of the early pioneers along the Oregon Trail and hitches a ride on a prairie schooner with wagon master Kim Merchant. He discovers the stories of the early homesteaders who lived in sod-houses and farmed the wild grassland around them.

At a cattle auction in Dodge City he explores the story of the railways, cow-towns and the buffalo massacre. His journey across the Great Plains ends at Moore Ranch where he joins a long-horn cattle drive and learns about the life and myth of one of the Wild West's most iconic figures, the cowboy.


THU 23:15 New Power Generation: Black Music Legends of the 1980s (b0177bjb)
Prince: A Purple Reign

Film which explores how Prince - showman, artist, enigma - revolutionised the perception of black music in the 1980s with worldwide hits such as 1999, Kiss, Raspberry Beret and Alphabet Street. He became a global sensation with the release of the Oscar-winning, semi-autobiographical movie Purple Rain in 1984, embarking on an incredible journey of musical self-discovery that continued right up to his passing in April 2016, aged 57.

From the psychedelic Around the World in a Day to his masterpiece album Sign O' the Times and experiments with hip-hop and jazz, Prince was one of most ambitious and prolific songwriters of his generation. He tested the boundaries of taste and decency with explicit sexual lyrics and stage shows during his early career, and in the 1990s fought for ownership of his name and control of his music, played out in a public battle with his former label, Warner. Highly regarded as one of the most flamboyant live performers ever, Prince was a controversial and famously elusive creative force.

Contributors include Revolution guitarist Dez Dickerson, Paisley Park label president Alan Leeds, hip-hop legend Chuck D and Prince 'Mastermind' and UK soul star Beverley Knight.


THU 00:15 The Sky at Night (m000ng26)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 on Sunday]


THU 00:45 Big Sky, Big Dreams, Big Art: Made in the USA (b0b4fz5n)
Series 1

Episode 1

Series looking at American art. The first episode is set in the Wild West and begins with the sublime art of the Hudson River School, whose 19th-century evocations of the vastness of America did so much to fuel the myth of the promised land. Another huge influence was the mysterious rock art of Native Americans, which set a stirring precedent for non-naturalistic painting. The film culminates in a celebration of Jackson Pollock, born in Cody, Wyoming, who arrived in New York wearing a Stetson and cowboy boots, and whose famous drip paintings were influenced heavily by both the moods of the American west and the example of Native American artists.


THU 01:45 Inside Museums (m000ng7w)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


THU 02:15 The Joy of Painting (m000ng7y)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


THU 02:45 How the Wild West Was Won with Ray Mears (b044z1k0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:15 today]



FRIDAY 16 OCTOBER 2020

FRI 19:00 Top of the Pops (m000ng79)
Nicky Campbell presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 18 January 1990 and featuring Halo James, The Quireboys and Martika.


FRI 19:30 Top of the Pops (m000ng7c)
Simon Mayo and Jakki Brambles present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 26 January 1990 and featuring Phil Collins, Sinead O'Connor and Yell!


FRI 20:00 Summer Holiday (m000ng7f)
Don and his friends persuade their employer to lend them a London bus for their summer holiday. En route to the south of France, the boys run into some girls and offer them a lift to Athens. Then, they pick up an American boy who isn't exactly what he seems but who is running away from an exploitative mother.


FRI 21:50 Sir Cliff Richard at the BBC (m000ng7h)
As the Peter Pan of Pop reaches the milestone of his 80th birthday, the BBC celebrates with a look back through its archives at some of his most memorable performances and biggest hits.

Starting with the release of Sir Cliff’s first single Move It in 1958, we follow his incredible career through his appearances on a variety of BBC music programmes and television specials. The programme takes in his early, much-loved songs of the 1960s, the comeback and credibility of his work in the 1970s, the successes he enjoyed throughout the 80s and 90s, as he consolidated his reputation as a pop superstar, right up until the controversy and vindication that came with his Millennium Prayer.

Amongst the classic songs featured are The Young Ones, Living Doll, Bachelor Boy, the Eurovision Song Contest contenders Congratulations and Power To All Our Friends, Devil Woman, Miss You Nights, Wired for Sound and Cliff’s much-praised 80s duet with Van Morrison, Wherever God Shines His Light.


FRI 22:50 50s Britannia (b01sgbw2)
Rock 'n' Roll Britannia

Long before the Beatles there was British rock 'n' roll. Between 1956 and 1960 British youth created a unique copy of a distant and scarce American original whilst most parents, professional jazz men and even the BBC did their level best to snuff it out.

From its first faltering steps as a facsimile of Bill Haley's swing style to the sophistication of self-penned landmarks such as Shakin' All Over and The Sound of Fury, this is the story of how the likes of Lord Rockingham's XI, Vince Taylor and Cliff Richard and The Shadows laid the foundations for an enduring 50-year culture of rock 'n' roll.

Now well into their seventies, the flame still burns strong in the hearts of the original young ones. Featuring Sir Cliff Richard, Marty Wilde, Joe Brown, Bruce Welch, Cherry Wainer and The Quarrymen.


FRI 23:50 Sounds of the Sixties (b0074qcb)
Original Series

The Singer and the Song

Rock, pop and R'n'B performances from the BBC archives, with Sandie Shaw, Dusty Springfield, Long John Baldry, Lulu, Tom Jones, Brenton Wood, Cliff Richard, Cilla Black and Peter Sarstedt.


FRI 00:20 From Elton John to Gary Barlow: Celebrating 100 Concerts Live at Eden (m000c5y0)
A celebration of the Eden Sessions that looks back at the first 18 years of concerts at the Eden Project in Cornwall, which began in 2001. One hundred live concerts, from Elton John to Gary Barlow, set against the stunning backdrop of the Eden biomes.

Introduced by Nile Rodgers, who headlined the 100th show on 23 June 2019, the programme features performances by a wide variety of artists. They include Pulp, who headlined the first ever Eden Session in July 2002, Duran Duran, Bastille, Muse, Gary Barlow, Van Morrison, Madness, Primal Scream and Lionel Richie.


FRI 01:20 Sir Cliff Richard at the BBC (m000ng7h)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:50 today]


FRI 02:20 50s Britannia (b01sgbw2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:50 today]




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

50s Britannia 22:50 FRI (b01sgbw2)

50s Britannia 02:20 FRI (b01sgbw2)

Abducted - Elizabeth I's Child Actors 00:15 WED (b0bdvxzn)

Big Sky, Big Dreams, Big Art: Made in the USA 00:45 THU (b0b4fz5n)

Black Nurses: The Women Who Saved the NHS 00:30 TUE (b083dgtb)

Castles: Britain's Fortified History 20:00 WED (b04tt2f9)

Castles: Britain's Fortified History 02:15 WED (b04tt2f9)

Digging for Britain 20:00 TUE (b084xym3)

Digging for Britain 03:00 TUE (b084xym3)

Drama out of a Crisis: A Celebration of Play for Today 21:00 MON (m000ng9w)

Drama out of a Crisis: A Celebration of Play for Today 02:25 MON (m000ng9w)

Drama out of a Crisis: A Celebration of Play for Today 22:45 WED (m000ng9w)

Earth's Great Rivers 02:40 SUN (b0bwqpbj)

EastEnders 2008 00:40 SUN (b00cp2p1)

EastEnders 2008 01:10 SUN (b00cp34t)

EastEnders 2008 01:40 SUN (b00cp3pv)

EastEnders 2008 02:10 SUN (b00cp3vz)

Fake or Fortune? 20:00 MON (b06452kx)

Fake or Fortune? 00:25 MON (b06452kx)

Fighting for King and Empire: Britain's Caribbean Heroes 23:30 TUE (b05v08b7)

Francesco's Venice 19:00 SAT (b0078sny)

Francesco's Venice 02:40 SAT (b0078sny)

From Elton John to Gary Barlow: Celebrating 100 Concerts Live at Eden 00:20 FRI (m000c5y0)

Full Circle with Michael Palin 20:00 SAT (p00xb7yx)

Full Circle with Michael Palin 01:50 SAT (p00xb7yx)

How the Wild West Was Won with Ray Mears 22:15 THU (b044z1k0)

How the Wild West Was Won with Ray Mears 02:45 THU (b044z1k0)

Inside Cinema 23:55 MON (m000n7fr)

Inside Cinema 00:10 MON (m000n7fv)

Inside Cinema 23:00 TUE (m000ng7r)

Inside Cinema 23:15 TUE (m000ng7t)

Inside Museums 19:00 MON (m000ngbs)

Inside Museums 01:25 MON (m000ngbs)

Inside Museums 19:00 TUE (m000ng7k)

Inside Museums 02:00 TUE (m000ng7k)

Inside Museums 19:00 WED (m000ng9h)

Inside Museums 01:15 WED (m000ng9h)

Inside Museums 19:00 THU (m000ng7w)

Inside Museums 01:45 THU (m000ng7w)

Inspector Montalbano 21:00 SAT (m000ng77)

Mud, Sweat and Tractors: The Story of Agriculture 19:00 SUN (b00jwcb1)

New Power Generation: Black Music Legends of the 1980s 23:15 THU (b0177bjb)

Play For Today 22:30 MON (m000ngby)

Play For Today 21:00 WED (b0074n6r)

Pole to Pole 21:00 SUN (p02jc3qm)

Rio Bravo 20:00 THU (m000ng80)

Sir Cliff Richard at the BBC 21:50 FRI (m000ng7h)

Sir Cliff Richard at the BBC 01:20 FRI (m000ng7h)

Sounds of the Sixties 23:50 FRI (b0074qcb)

Summer Holiday 20:00 FRI (m000ng7f)

The Bridge 22:50 SAT (b06dl825)

The Bridge 23:50 SAT (b06fkl0x)

The Guardians 22:30 SUN (m000ng28)

The Joy of Painting 19:30 MON (m000ngbw)

The Joy of Painting 01:55 MON (m000ngbw)

The Joy of Painting 19:30 TUE (m000ng7p)

The Joy of Painting 02:30 TUE (m000ng7p)

The Joy of Painting 19:30 WED (m000ng9p)

The Joy of Painting 01:45 WED (m000ng9p)

The Joy of Painting 19:30 THU (m000ng7y)

The Joy of Painting 02:15 THU (m000ng7y)

The Mole: Infiltrating North Korea 21:00 TUE (m000nr85)

The Mole: Infiltrating North Korea 22:00 TUE (m000nr87)

The Sky at Night 22:00 SUN (m000ng26)

The Sky at Night 00:15 THU (m000ng26)

Top of the Pops 00:50 SAT (m000n7g4)

Top of the Pops 01:20 SAT (m000nfp1)

Top of the Pops 19:00 FRI (m000ng79)

Top of the Pops 19:30 FRI (m000ng7c)

Upstream 01:30 TUE (m0008z3c)

Yellowstone 20:00 SUN (b00jc6p6)