SATURDAY 29 MARCH 2025

SAT 19:00 The Flying Gardener (m0029lzk)
Series 4

Somerset/Devon - Short

Peripatetic gardener Chris Beardshaw flies to the south west in search of hedges. He visits the gardens of RHS Rosemoor in Devon and Antony House in Cornwall.


SAT 19:15 All Creatures Great and Small (p031d2vd)
Series 3

Be Prepared

The vets’ evening plans come surprisingly unstuck when Miss Westerman's dog Hamish wanders off while coming round from an operation.


SAT 20:05 All Creatures Great and Small (p031d2vk)
Series 3

A Dying Breed

James and Siegfried take a privileged look at progress, while Tristan, to his dismay, becomes regarded by Darrowby clients as the best vet in the business.


SAT 21:00 Wogan: The Best Of (b05n909m)
Oscar Winners

Sir Terry Wogan takes a nostalgic look back at some of the biggest stars and best moments from his long-running chat show. The interviewees in this episode are all Oscar winners, and the line-up features Audrey Hepburn, Gregory Peck, James Stewart, Cher, Gene Hackman, Mel Brooks and a very nervous Anne Bancroft.


SAT 21:45 Wogan (m0029lzn)
Elton John, Patrick Duffy, Selina Scott, Omar Sharif, Elaine Stritch

Terry Wogan presents a compilation of the best moments from his chat show, including Patrick Duffy, Elton John, Selina Scott, Omar Sharif, Mike Harding, Bob Carolgees, Elaine Stritch, The Pointer Sisters and Diahann Carroll.


SAT 22:25 One on One (m001b0dw)
Terry Wogan

Series profiling famous people in show business. Terry Wogan looks back at his entertainment career. Includes archive footage from Wogan, Blankety Blank and the Eurovision Song Contest.


SAT 23:05 Wogan (m0029lzr)
The Very Best of Wogan: 1989

Terry Wogan recalls some special moments from his chat show in 1989. Featuring a galaxy of international stars from the world of entertainment, including Debbie Reynolds, Gene Wilder, Gregory Peck, George Burns, Sammy Davis Jr, Liza Minnelli, Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, Bob Hoskins, Catherine Deneuve, Shirley Temple Black, Don Johnson, Yves Montand, Richard Dreyfuss, Zsa Zsa Gabor and Nancy Reagan.


SAT 00:00 Mark Lawson Talks To... (b01dpph9)
Terry Wogan

Mark Lawson talks to legendary broadcaster Terry Wogan about his life and 50-year career. In this thoughtful interview Terry explores his early years growing up in Ireland, recalls how the shaky beginnings of Irish television provided him with a great training ground for a career in live broadcast and talks about how, because of his gentle demeanour, he has eluded the censors more than any of his peers.

Wogan made a name for himself as a DJ for Raidió Teilifís Éireann in Ireland in the 1960s. When Irish television started up in 1962, he began his career in front of the camera, transferring across the Irish Sea in 1967 as one of the first DJs for the BBC's new station Radio 1. Loved for his genial charm and cheeky optimism, he has seduced audiences and listeners for over half a century. His stamina and ambition to be a major player in live broadcast continues well into his 70s, as the face of BBC's Children in Need and the front of his ever-popular Radio 2 show.


SAT 02:00 Hancock's Half Hour (p032khz9)
The Oak Tree

The council decide to cut down the tree in Hancock’s garden. Hancock is appalled and takes his protest all the way to 10 Downing Street.


SAT 02:30 The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin (p00x9qzn)
Series 1

Episode 4

Reggie's revolt against the normality of his life is becoming brazen. While Elizabeth is away, he gives a dinner party without any food.


SAT 03:00 All Creatures Great and Small (p031d2vd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:15 today]

SUNDAY 30 MARCH 2025

SUN 19:00 Big Night of Musicals by the National Lottery (m00142lm)
2022

Join Jason Manford for a celebration of the very best of musical theatre. Recorded at the AO Arena in Manchester, Big Night of Musicals by the National Lottery is packed with sensational performances from the casts of the UK’s biggest West End and touring shows and some very special one-off collaborations.

This one-night only event boasts musical theatre royalty including Beverley Knight MBE, The Greatest Showman star Keala Settle and Olivier Award-winner Sam Tutty.

Joining them to perform some of the biggest songs in musical theatre are the casts of Dreamgirls, Back to the Future, Dear Evan Hansen, Tina - The Tina Turner Musical, Bat Out of Hell, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s School of Rock, & Juliet and Waitress. For the first time, Disney shows The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast and Frozen unite on stage for an exclusive medley.

Also performing are the casts of the hit musicals The Drifters Girl and Get Up, Stand Up! The Bob Marley Musical. Plus, a performance from The Wiz.

The all-singing, all-dancing spectacular also features bespoke films that shine a spotlight on the musical theatre industry.


SUN 20:30 Remembers... (m0029lz1)
Adrian Lester Remembers... Company

Actor Adrian Lester looks back on the 1996 Donmar Warehouse production of Stephen Sondheim's musical Company.

First performed over 50 years ago, Company still has the power to enthral today. At its heart is Bobby, played by Adrian in the celebrated Donmar revival, a confirmed singleton but constant friend to a variety of couples. He acts as a prism through which we explore their characters and relationships, while also illustrating the age-old question, is it better to be single or married?

Adrian describes his love of the production and the new interpretations to it that director Sam Mendes brought. He tells us why he was astonished when Mendes asked him to lead the show and of the joy of pushing himself in new directions. And he talks through his favourite songs, Side by Side, Barcelona and You Could Drive a Person Crazy.

Sondheim’s lyrics describe Bobby as 'always a flirt but never a threat, reminds us of our birthdays which we always forget'. Sit yourself down in the company of Adrian Lester as he tells you about what he calls one of the most difficult parts he has tackled in his long career.


SUN 20:50 Company (m0029lz3)
Sam Mendes' acclaimed production of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth's musical Company, filmed at London's Donmar Warehouse theatre in February 1996.

The musical is an exploration of love, sex and relationships in Manhattan. Songs featured include The Ladies Who Lunch, Barcelona and Being Alive. During the interval, Mendes interviews Sondheim.


SUN 23:10 Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends (m001gppx)
On 3 May 2022, Cameron Mackintosh invited many of Stephen Sondheim’s old friends to join him in London’s West End for a thrilling, joyously staged production. He had specially devised it to celebrate Sondheim’s extraordinary talents as a composer and lyricist.

Featuring an all-star cast including Michael Ball, Helena Bonham Carter, Rob Brydon, Petula Clark, Anna-Jane Casey, Rosalie Craig, Janie Dee, Judi Dench, Daniel Evans, Maria Friedman, Haydn Gwynne, Bonnie Langford, Damian Lewis and Julia McKenzie.


SUN 01:20 Big Night of Musicals by the National Lottery (m00142lm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


SUN 02:50 All Creatures Great and Small (p031d2vk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:05 on Saturday]

MONDAY 31 MARCH 2025

MON 19:00 Frozen Planet II (m001c9qg)
Series 1

Frozen Ocean

At the top of our planet lies a magical realm, the Arctic Ocean. After four months of winter darkness, the sun returns to reveal a frozen ocean covered in ice. Mother polar bears emerge from their hillside dens and lead their cubs down to the sea ice to hunt, while a young male and female bear forge a surprising friendship out on the ice.

For others, the frozen sea is a trap. A pod of beluga whales has been confined to an ice hole for five months, slowly starving to death as the food around them runs out. Their salvation lies in the strengthening sun that comes with spring, melting the sea ice, allowing their escape.

Off the east coast of Greenland, the floating pack ice in spring is a nursery ground for harp seals. Mothers and pups have just a few weeks together for the pup to learn to swim before she leaves him to fend for himself. But in today’s warming climate, storms can tip helpless youngsters into the sea before they are strong enough to fend for themselves.

Summer is a time of plenty in the Arctic Ocean as plankton blooms feed millions of tiny mouths, such as bizarre skeleton shrimps, as well as the biggest: bowhead whales. These ancient and long-lived whales arrive en masse every year at secret locations known as whale spas. But today, with the loss of summer sea ice, their peace is shattered by orcas from the south. These daring predators are bold enough to take on the much larger bowheads, targeting their vulnerable calves.

The 24-hour daylight of the Arctic summer attracts visitors from afar, including huge flocks of seabirds like crested auklets. A male must use both his song and a secret tangerine perfume if he is to attract a mate. For the resident walrus, the summer heat can be unbearable. After hauling himself to the beach to moult, an old male uses an ingenious technique to get himself back to the cool of the water - a roly-poly!

Summers in the Arctic today bring record-breaking heat. With climate change, it is warming faster than anywhere else on Earth. It is predicted that the Arctic Ocean could become ice-free each summer by 2035, raising new challenges for polar bears. Without sea ice, more and more bears are becoming stranded on remote Arctic islands. It's a dangerous place to be for a mother bear with cubs, surrounded by larger, predatory males.


MON 20:00 Britain's Lost Masterpieces (b096tyw5)
Series 2

Derby

Along with a hippo skeleton, a stuffed hedgehog and a log boat, Derby Museum has the best collection of Joseph Wright of Derby paintings in the world. Wright of Derby is one of the greatest English artists who ever lived. He painted the most astounding 'birth of science' scenes, his landscapes and portraits are exquisite and he was inspired by the Industrial Revolution.

But can our team peel back layers of modern restoration on a mysterious landscape painting stuck in the Derby vaults to reveal another hidden masterpiece by Wright of Derby? Dr Bendor Grosvenor and Emma Dabiri travel to Derby to investigate a painting which suffered industrial scale restoration in the 1970s. Can it be saved and carefully restored now? While Bendor travels to Italy to find where the landscape may have been painted, Emma investigates Derby as the cradle of the Industrial Revolution and the 'lunar-tics' of the Midlands who changed the world through science and philosophy.


MON 21:00 Treasures of Ancient Greece (b05ql1sf)
The Age of Heroes

Alastair Sooke explores the surprising roots of Greek art, beginning his journey in Crete at the palace of Knossos, legendary home of the Minotaur. He travels to Santorini to the 'Greek Pompeii' and finds gold in the fabled stronghold of Mycenae and dazzling remains from Greece's Dark Ages. Alastair discovers the beginnings of a defining spirit in Greek art, embracing mythology, a passion for symmetry and an obsession with the human body.


MON 22:00 Artsnight (b084flz2)
Series 4

The Brits Who Designed the Modern World

If there were an Olympic league table for design, Britain would be right at the top. Since the Second World War, British designers have revolutionised our homes, our workplaces, our roads and our public institutions.

In November 2016, the Design Museum opened its new £83m home in Kensington. To mark this great moment for British design, BBC Arts profiles ten great living British designers.

Arts reporter Brenda Emmanus meets and profiles our 'Top 10', to find out what inspires them to make such phenomenal objects. She reveals how designers have responded to society's evolving tastes, from the brash 60s modernism of Margaret Calvert's road signs through to the colourful technology of Rick Dickinson's ZX Spectrum. She also meets Britain's most prolific designer, Sir Kenneth Grange (Intercity 125, bus shelters, the Kenwood Chef...), as well as Andrew Ritchie, who gave the world the Brompton Bike.

And we also hear from an illustrious panel of celebrities whose lives have been transformed by British design, including Will.i.am, Jeremy Paxman, Pete Waterman, Ade Adepitan and Jenny Eclair.


MON 23:00 The Culture Show (b016xm70)
2011/2012

Sir Terence Conran on Culture

In tribute to the late British designer Sir Terence Conran, a repeat of a programme first shown in 2011.

Alan Yentob talks to his hero Sir Terence Conran, perhaps one of Britain’s greatest designers, about the revolutionary transformation he made to British life and style. A designer, retailer and restaurateur, Conran pioneered a new way of life that he wanted to be available to all with his vision of ‘easy living’.

They discuss the work he contributed to the Festival of Britain in the 1950s, and his vision of a new way of living which he cemented with the opening of the high street shop Habitat in 1964, giving us stylish design for the everyday, from kitchen utensils to furniture.


MON 23:05 Design Classics (b0074tkm)
London Underground Map

Documentary about the London Underground Map. Created in 1931 by Underground employee Henry Beck, the graphically revolutionary map has become an icon of both London and British design.


MON 23:30 Design Classics (m0029lzh)
The Sony Walkman

Documentary from 1990 exploring the iconic portable cassette player, the Sony Walkman, a symbol of Japan's postwar economic miracle and its prowess for making intricate hi-tech products.


MON 00:00 Britain's Lost Masterpieces (b096tyw5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


MON 01:00 Treasures of Ancient Greece (b05ql1sf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


MON 02:00 Artsnight (b084flz2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]


MON 03:00 Frozen Planet II (m001c9qg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]

TUESDAY 01 APRIL 2025

TUE 19:00 Frozen Planet II (m001ck1v)
Series 1

Frozen Peaks

Mountains create frozen habitats on every continent on Earth, and each of these high-altitude worlds holds unique challenges for its surprising and remarkable life.

We begin our journey close to the equator - the furthest point from the poles - in East Africa. Here on the high slopes of Mount Kenya, during the day the tropical sun keeps the cold at bay, but at night the frost descends. During this cycle of freeze and thaw, a pregnant high-casqued chameleon must choose the right time to give birth if her newborns are to escape the deadly night freeze.

Away from the equator in the European Alps, long cold winters give way to short, bountiful summers. For a pair of golden eagles raising their chick, the demand to provide enough food for it drives them to tackle prey five times their size. To catch a goat-like chamois, they risk it all using one of the most daring and breathtaking hunting techniques ever witnessed.

The mountains of Japan are the snowiest place on Earth, providing hostile conditions for a lone male macaque cast away from his troop. His only chance of survival comes with finding another male whose embrace will provide him with life-saving warmth. But in the frozen peaks, the deadliest force is an avalanche whose full destructive power is captured for the first time using high-speed camera racer drones.

The roof of the world is home to an array of unexpected cold-loving creatures. In the remote Southern Alps of New Zealand, a species of parrot - the kea - uses its famed intelligence to feed on the dead. And in the Andes in South America, flamingos thrive in high-altitude volcanic lakes, but their chicks must race to escape the winter freeze or risk becoming trapped in the ice.

Today, due to climate change, our frozen peaks are undergoing rapid change. Using groundbreaking time-lapse photography, we reveal mountain glaciers vanishing before our very eyes and discover what a warming world may mean for our most famous mountain resident of all, the giant panda.


TUE 20:00 The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin (p00x9r3m)
Series 1

Episode 5

Reggie decides to put an end to it. He says goodbye to Joan, makes a drunken speech to the British Fruit Association, says goodbye to Elizabeth, floods a river with loganberry essence and fakes his own suicide.


TUE 20:30 The Good Life (p00bz916)
Series 1

Plough Your Own Furrow

Classic sitcom. Tom Good decides that commuting is no life for a thinking man. His solution is unique in Surbiton but embarrassing to the neighbours.


TUE 21:00 All About The Good Life (b00wyhth)
The programme explores the enduring appeal of the classic sitcom. With contributions from, amongst others, Richard Briers, Penelope Keith, Monty Don, Brian Sewell and John O'Farrell, All About the Good Life goes behind the scenes and reveals all you ever wanted to know about the series - from choosing outfits for Margo to the iconic title sequence.


TUE 22:00 Amityville: An Origin Story (m001vdxm)
Series 1

The Haunting

In 1975, when George and Kathy Lutz move into their suburban dream home, a cascade of terrifying, unexplainable events drive them out in just 28 days. Those closest to the terror share their stories.


TUE 22:50 Amityville: An Origin Story (m001vdxn)
Series 1

The Crime

A year before the Lutzes move into 112 Ocean Ave, the DeFeo family is found shot to death under strange circumstances in the same house. The lone survivor, Ronnie DeFeo Jr, is accused of murder, but mob ties and paranormal theories cloud the case.


TUE 23:45 Mark Kermode's Secrets of Cinema (b0bfp4h7)
Series 1

Horror

Mark Kermode continues his fresh and very personal look at the art of cinema by examining the techniques and conventions behind classic film genres, uncovering the ingredients that keep audiences coming back for more.

Mark turns to horror and shows how film-makers have devilishly deployed a range of cinematic tricks to exploit our deepest, darkest and most elemental fears. He explores the recurring elements of horror, including the journey, the jump scare, the scary place, the monster and the chase. He reveals how they have been refined and reinvented in films as diverse as the silent classic The Phantom of the Opera, low-budget cult shockers The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and The Evil Dead, and Oscar-winners The Silence of the Lambs and Get Out. Mark analyses the importance of archetypal figures such as the clown, the savant and the 'final girl'. And of course, he celebrates his beloved Exorcist films by examining two unforgettable but very different shock moments in The Exorcist and The Exorcist III.

Ultimately, Mark argues, horror is the most cinematic of genres, because no other kind of film deploys images and sound to such powerful and primal effect.


TUE 00:45 Tuesday Documentary (p041byzm)
The Jumbo Jet

In just four months, the world's first jumbo jet goes into regular service over the Atlantic. Already, 200 have been ordered by the world's airlines. Each is designed to carry nearly 500 passengers. The jumbo has been called a 'pilot's dream.' But will it also be an airport's nightmare?

By next year, half a dozen of the giants may be queuing at peak hours to disgorge their passengers at London Airport. Round the world, airports face their biggest jam in history. Jumbo jets will revolutionise airport design. But they may also speed up other travel developments, with far-reaching effects on the design and peace of our cities. (1969)


TUE 01:35 All About The Good Life (b00wyhth)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


TUE 02:35 Frozen Planet II (m001ck1v)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]

WEDNESDAY 02 APRIL 2025

WED 19:00 Frozen Planet II (m001cs9l)
Series 1

Frozen South

Antarctica is the most hostile of all earth’s frozen worlds. Yet even here, amongst some of the most challenging conditions on the planet, life finds a way not just to survive, but thrive.

Our journey begins at the far edge of the continent, on its far-flung sub-Antarctic islands. Here we meet king penguins that, to feed at sea, must face the danger of ferocious leopard seals lurking in the shallows. On another island, we witness for the first time male Antipodean wandering albatross partnering up with each other as the females in their population are disappearing due to fishing activity.

Heading towards the continent of Antarctica, we traverse the roughest seas on earth - the Southern Ocean - where we find the rarely filmed Antarctic blue whale, the largest animal to have ever lived. At the edge of Antarctica, the sea is so cold that it freezes over, creating a vital ice platform for a mother Weddell seal to raise her precious pup. Still, she needs to protect him from aggressive males.

In spring, the coast of Antarctica is free of snow, drawing in thousands of breeding chinstrap penguins. Stones are at a premium to build their elevated nests and protect chicks from meltwater. But stealing is commonplace, and to make matters worse, with climate change we find chicks today shivering with hypothermia – a warming Antarctica means increased meltwater. Other residents are facing an uncertain future too, including wave-washing killer whales. We discover that their favourite prey, Weddell seals, are now harder to reach, so instead they are resorting to targeting much more feisty prey, including leopard seals, an apex predator in its own right. This dramatic encounter has never been filmed before.

Travelling into the interior of the continent - into the frozen heart of Antarctica - we find great surprises. This is one of the most volcanic regions on earth, and one of the driest. We reveal unexpected sand dunes, hidden in a rare ice-free valley. Then, on the exposed mountain tops, sticking out from the otherwise ice-covered interior, we find tiny snow petrels, which raise their chicks further south than any other bird, and defend their territory by projectile vomiting!

The greatest revelation lies deep in the interior, beneath the surface of an ice-covered lake, where we discover ancient alien-like structures - giant stromatolites - built by primitive lifeforms. If life can make it here, in the extremes of Antarctica, it raises the possibility that life can exist elsewhere, including in the frozen lakes of distant planets.


WED 20:00 Shackleton's Cabin (m001grr7)
On 5 January 1922, world-famous Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton died of a heart attack in his cabin aboard The Quest during his final expedition to the South Pole. Moored in Norway, The Quest was broken apart. However, one of the dockers had the foresight to remove Shackleton’s cabin. He took it home and it served as his family’s garden shed for three generations.

Nearly 100 years after Shackleton’s death, the cabin has been donated to a museum in the explorer’s hometown, where master craftsman and Shackleton enthusiast Sven Habermann painstakingly restores it to its former glory. With only one surviving photograph of the cabin’s interior, Sven goes to extreme lengths to retrace every detail, from the wood to the original wallpaper used. Shackleton’s Cabin follows Sven as he rebuilds the cabin and explores the life and final days of his hero.


WED 20:50 Timeshift (b016pwgw)
Series 11

Of Ice and Men

Timeshift reveals the history of the frozen continent, finding out why the most inhospitable place on the planet has exerted such a powerful hold on the imagination of explorers, scientists, writers and photographers.

Antarctica is the coldest, driest and windiest place on the globe. Only a handful of people have experienced its desolate beauty, with the first explorers setting foot here barely a hundred years ago.

From the logbooks of Captain Cook to the diaries of Scott and Shackleton, from the Rime of the Ancient Mariner to HP Lovecraft, it is a film about real and imaginary tales of adventure, romance and tragedy that have played out against a stark white backdrop.

We relive the race to the Pole and the 'Heroic Age' of Antarctic exploration, and find out what it takes to survive the cold and the perils of 'polar madness'. We see how Herbert Ponting's photographs of the Scott expedition helped define our image of the continent and find out why the continent witnessed a remarkable thaw in Russian and American relations at the height of the Cold War.

We also look at the intriguing story of who actually owns Antarctica and how science is helping us reimagine a frozen wasteland as something far more precious.

Interviewees include Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Francis Spufford, Huw Lewis-Jones, Sara Wheeler, Henry Worsley, Prof David Walton and Martin Hartley.


WED 21:50 Wild (b008tfyt)
2007-08 Shorts

Glacier Mountain Goats

Wildlife documentary. It's spring for the mountain goats of Glacier National Park in Canada's Rocky Mountains. The young goats will have to learn how to survive in this beautiful but treacherous wilderness.


WED 22:00 Remembers... (m0029lzb)
Tony Marchant Remembers... Take Me Home

Writer Tony Marchant looks back on his 1989 drama Take Me Home, a troubled love story set amidst a political backdrop of changing attitudes, technological advances and residential development.

The drama was Tony’s first serial for television, and he remembers its journey from page to screen, including the casting of well-known faces Keith Barron, Reece Dinsdale, Maggie O’Neill and Annette Crosbie.

Tony reflects on how the drama has not lost its relevance. The story of two lost souls, both at odds with the fast-paced development of the modern world, coming together is just as meaningful today as it ever was.


WED 22:15 Take Me Home (p032kj5m)
Episode 1

Taxi driver Tom is waved down by Kathy, a lost and distressed young woman who has had a row with her husband. A traumatic first encounter leads to further meetings.


WED 23:15 Take Me Home (p032kj5p)
Episode 2

Tom and Kathy have acknowledged a need for each other, and take their affair further. The more carelessly passionate the affair becomes, the greater the danger of discovery.


WED 00:15 Take Me Home (p032kj5r)
Episode 3

Kathy's affair with Tom has been discovered by friends of her husband. Further exposure seems certain, and the consequences will be painful and threaten to destroy them all.


WED 01:15 Shackleton's Cabin (m001grr7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


WED 02:05 Design Classics (b0074tkm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:05 on Monday]


WED 02:30 Design Classics (m0029lzh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:30 on Monday]


WED 03:00 Frozen Planet II (m001cs9l)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]

THURSDAY 03 APRIL 2025

THU 19:00 Frozen Planet II (m001d0hz)
Series 1

Frozen Lands

In the far north of our planet lies the largest land habitat on earth, home to snow-covered forests and the icy open tundra. These are lands of extremes that push animals to their limits: in winter they are so cold that much of the ground has remained frozen since the last ice age. To stand any chance of survival, animals must adapt in extreme ways: here a super pack of wolves, 25 strong, has come together to take on the only large prey available to them in winter, American bison.

On the featureless tundra, an Arctic fox must strike a living alone. She is a wanderer and will roam many hundreds of miles searching for tiny lemmings, hidden deep underground. The only way to reach them is with a head dive. In the remote far east of Russia, a rare Amur leopard prowls the seemingly empty, snow-covered forest. With little prey available, it must use its ingenuity to find a meal. It follows crows in the hope of finding carrion, but it must not stay long, for it shares the forest with a far larger but equally hungry big cat, the Siberian tiger.

As spring arrives, the forests begin to thaw and life returns. Beneath the ground, a nest of tiny painted turtle hatchlings now emerge, having remained frozen in a state of suspended animation throughout winter. To the north, it is a further month before the sun’s warmth baths the frozen ground of the tundra. Tucked away underground lies a tiny snow queen – a Lapland bumble bee. She is the sole survivor of her colony - the rest perished in the winter freeze - but her larger size, her furry body and antifreeze in her blood have allowed her to survive. Now she is in a hurry. She must feed herself and raise a brood in the brief window of summer while the flowers are in bloom.

Snowy owls also use the open tundra to breed: one pair have raised a nest full of fluffy chicks. With 24-hour daylight in which to hunt, the dedicated parents bring back meal after meal for their ever-growing brood. But one day, they return to find the nest empty…

Today, the biggest challenge in the tundra is climate change. Warming summers are melting the permafrost deep within the soil, causing the ground to thaw and, in places, the land to collapse. These changes are impacting the animals too. Caribou arrive in herds of 200,000 individuals to raise their calves in the rich pastures, but warming means mosquitos emerge sooner and bother the calves before they have had a chance to gain strength. The parents drive their young to cooler, mosquito-free land, but to get there they must cross rivers running with increased meltwater and escape hungry grizzly bears. They, like much of the tundra's wildlife, are adapted to live in the extremes - but the challenge of today’s warming climate could be one extreme too many.


THU 20:00 The Great Gatsby (2000) (m000yp9f)
Dramatisation of F Scott Fitzgerald 's classic novel of doomed love, starring Mira Sorvino and Toby Stephens. In the volatile era of the twenties, flamboyant millionaire Jay Gatsby pursues the seductive Daisy, the love he lost while serving in the First World War.


THU 21:30 Omnibus (m0029lzt)
The Great Gatsby: Midnight in Manhattan

A profile from 2000 of writer F Scott Fitzgerald on the 75th anniversary of the publication of his most enduring achievement, The Great Gatsby. Is it merely 'an entertaining anecdote', or should it be seen as 'the most important novel of the 20th century'?


THU 22:20 How the West Was Won (b0077dtl)
Epic western about three generations of a pioneer family, showing how its fortunes fluctuated during the dynamic westward expansion of America during the 19th century. Three top directors each tackle separate episodes of the story, filmed in the short-lived three-camera Cinerama process, and with an all-star cast.


THU 00:50 Timeshift (b016pwgw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:50 on Wednesday]


THU 01:50 Omnibus (m0029lzt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:30 today]


THU 02:40 Frozen Planet II (m001d0hz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]

FRIDAY 04 APRIL 2025

FRI 19:00 Top of the Pops (m0029lyr)
Jayne Middlemiss presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 19 September 1997 and featuring Ricky Martin, Kylie Minogue, George Michael, The Sundays, Sly & Robbie feat Simply Red, Boyz II Men, Mark Morrison and Elton John.


FRI 19:30 Top of the Pops (m0029lyt)
Jo Whiley presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 26 September 1997 and featuring Chumbawamba, Dario G, Robbie Williams, Tina Moore, Bellini, Sly & Robbie feat Simply Red, Blur, Janet Jackson feat Q-Tip, Oasis and Elton John.


FRI 20:00 Top of the Pops (m000fjbt)
Simon Mayo and Anthea Turner present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 6 April 1989 and featuring Brother Beyond, Kon Kan, Holly Johnson, Paula Abdul, Coldcut ft Lisa Stansfield, Simply Red, Transvision Vamp, Madonna and INXS.


FRI 20:30 Top of the Pops (b00zwrn9)
Tony Blackburn presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 1 April 1976 and featuring Abba, Brotherhood of Man, The Beatles, Fox, Tarney & Spencer, John Miles, Diana Ross, Sailor and Pan's People.


FRI 21:00 Top of the Pops (b01nbtlz)
Kenny Everett presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 11 October 1973 and featuring Electric Light Orchestra, Elton John, Michael Ward, Status Quo, Pan's People, Engelbert Humperdinck, Slade, Limmie & the Family Cookin' and The Simon Park Orchestra.


FRI 21:35 6 Music Festival (m0029lyw)
2025

Ezra Collective, Mogwai, Kae Tempest

Headline performance highlights as 6 Music Festival returns to the Victoria Warehouse in Manchester for the 11th year, featuring jazz five-piece Ezra Collective, Scottish post-rockers Mogwai and incomparable polymath Kae Tempest.


FRI 22:35 Primal Scream: The Lost Memphis Tapes (b0brzps8)
Documentary about Primal Scream's return to Memphis to remix their 1994 album Give Out but Don't Give Up.

In the early 90s, the UK music scene was changing. Alternative rock band Primal Scream were recording in Memphis, but with Oasis and Blur emerging, they suddenly seemed out of step with the current sound.

Nine songs were recorded, but the album released, after changes were made to make it sound more contemporary, was not the mix that Primal Scream wanted. In the film, Bobby Gillespie talks candidly about how this process led him to question his own judgement and left him feeling that he had failed himself and his audience.

With exclusive, previously unreleased footage of behind-the-scenes studio sessions, this is the story of how the original mixtapes of the album were rediscovered in a basement by Andrew Innes, Primal Scream's rhythm guitarist, giving Bobby the chance to remaster the album he had originally envisaged all those years ago.


FRI 23:35 BBC Proms (m0022flg)
2024

Sam Smith at the Proms

For their only live UK concert of 2024, the soulful singer joins the BBC Concert Orchestra for a night the audience won’t forget. To mark ten years since the release of their record-breaking debut album, Sam’s back catalogue is given the full orchestral treatment, perfectly matching their stirring voice. Chart-toppers like Stay with Me and I’m Not the Only One are performed alongside glorious classics such as Hushabye Mountain and Joni Mitchell’s Both Sides Now to delight the packed Royal Albert Hall in London.

Sam also includes gripping renditions of their Oscar-winning Bond theme Writing’s on the Wall and hits Unholy, How Do You Sleep? and Dancing with a Stranger, all given unforgettable arrangements for orchestra, backing singers and 16-piece choir the LJ Singers.


FRI 01:20 Top of the Pops (m0029lyr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


FRI 01:50 Top of the Pops (m0029lyt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


FRI 02:20 Top of the Pops (m000fjbt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


FRI 02:50 Top of the Pops (b00zwrn9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]