SATURDAY 30 MAY 2026
SAT 19:00 The Good Old Days (b0754tsr)
Leonard Sachs presents an edition of the old-time music hall programme, filmed in 1977 from the stage of the City Varieties Theatre, Leeds. With Frankie Vaughan, Mike and Bernie Winters, Maryetta Midgley, Zena Millar and members of the Players Theatre, London.
SAT 19:45 Dusty (m0015npw)
Series 2
Episode 1
Dusty Springfield's 1960s variety show, first broadcast on 15 August 1967, with the voices of Madeline Bell, Leslie Duncan and Maggie Stredder. Her special guests are Alf Garnett aka actor Warren Mitchell and actor and writer Ken Campbell.
SAT 20:15 Hetty Wainthropp Investigates (b007b9g7)
Series 3
Helping Hansi
Drama series about a 60-year-old private detective. A resident of a retirement home calls on Hetty's help.
SAT 21:05 Ghost Trail (m002vz8w)
Hamid joins a secret group tracking Syrian regime leaders on the run. His mission takes him to France, pursuing his former torturer for a fateful confrontation.
In this manhunt thriller inspired by true events, the past and present collide, exploring themes of justice and redemption.
In French with English subtitles.
SAT 22:45 This Is Joan Collins (m00135h7)
A feature-length documentary on the life of one of the last surviving actresses from the golden age of Hollywood – Joan Collins. This epic film is told from the ringside as Joan narrates her rollercoaster life story with her inimitable wit and verve. A worldwide television phenomenon with her decade-defining role in Dynasty, Collins shares her extraordinary archive and never before seen home movie footage, giving an intimate glimpse into one of the world’s most iconic figures.
Against a backdrop of Collins’s own narration, her story showcases the extraordinary life of a woman who has lived through the glitz, the glamour and the enduring moments of Hollywood history, and survived it all with panache.
SAT 00:25 Keeping Up Appearances (b007brhy)
Series 2
The Toy Store
Sitcom about an irrepressible snob. Hyacinth is forced to intervene when Daddy overspends in a toy department, dresses up as a spaceman and proceeds to go on the rampage. Unless the damage is paid for, the owners threaten to apprehend him as a security risk.
SAT 00:55 Sorry! (p00xchbt)
Series 2
Could Do Better
With Frank's wedding impending, Timothy sets his cap at bridesmaid Liz. Will our hero get his head out of the railings in time? Will he forget the ring? And if he gets married, will Mother come on the honeymoon?
SAT 01:25 The Good Old Days (b0754tsr)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 today]
SAT 02:10 Dusty (m0015npw)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:45 today]
SAT 02:40 Hetty Wainthropp Investigates (b007b9g7)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:15 today]
SUNDAY 31 MAY 2026
SUN 19:00 Wildlife on One (b00796tm)
African Penguin: Cool Bird in a Hot Spot
David Attenborough narrates a programme that follows several thousand pioneering young penguins as they invade Boulders Beach, a busy resort in Cape Town, in an attempt to establish a new colony amid the striped umbrellas and sun loungers.
SUN 19:15 Top Hat (b0074r4k)
In the quintessential Astaire and Rogers musical, an American dancer staying at a hotel in London falls in love with the guest staying in the room below. However, she gets her wires crossed, convinces herself that the dancer is already hitched and hotfoots it off to Venice. Classic numbers include Cheek to Cheek and Top Hat. This is Fred and Ginger's fourth pairing, but the first with a screenplay written specifically for them.
SUN 20:50 Poems in Their Place: Thomas Hardy (m002x8k7)
Dr Robert Gittings explores the relationship between poems and the places they were written. He visits Sturminster Newton, where Thomas Hardy enjoyed two very happy years.
SUN 21:00 Michael Palin and the Mystery of Hammershoi (b007ccc2)
With a passion for art that is rivalled only by travel, Michael Palin combines both in a European journey to discover more about Vilhelm Hammershoi, an enigmatic Danish artist that has fascinated him for years. Curious to see more of Hammershoi's paintings and discover what kind of life the artist lived, Michael searches for clues in London, Holland and Copenhagen.
SUN 22:00 The Magic of Dance (p0gwdt7w)
Series 1
The Magnificent Beginning
The first real ballet school was founded by King Louis XIV of France in 1669. From Louis's great palace at Versailles, Margot Fonteyn tells the story of Louis's own love of dancing and how it led from the courtly dances of 17th-century France to the worldwide phenomenon of ballet that we know today. At Drottningholm in Sweden, she visits the Court Theatre and sees ballet performed in the original settings and under the original conditions.
SUN 23:00 Dance Rebels: A Story of Modern Dance (b06spm22)
Documentary which tells the compelling story of the mavericks like Isadora Duncan, Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham and Pina Bausch, whose radical ideas created modern dance in the 20th century. With historical archive and the first-hand experiences of student dancers from the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, it shows the ideas that challenged audiences and changed dance forever. Also, the biggest stars in dance explain what inspired them to create their own groundbreaking choreography. With contributions from Michael Clark, William Forsythe, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, Wayne McGregor, Akram Khan, Boris Charmatz and Lea Anderson.
SUN 00:30 Michael Palin and the Mystery of Hammershoi (b007ccc2)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
SUN 01:30 Nobody's Perfect: The Making of Some Like It Hot (m002wz41)
Revealing documentary about the creation and shooting of the acclaimed comedy movie Some Like It Hot.
Stars Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis - and other members of the cast and crew, including producer Walter Mirisch - remember the making of writer-director Billy Wilder's classic film.
Using extraordinary behind-the-scenes colour footage and candid on-set photographs taken by stills photographer Richard Miller (also interviewed), the documentary provides a surprisingly intimate and revealing but nevertheless hilarious portrait of the making of one of Hollywood's best-loved and greatest films.
SUN 02:20 Timeshift (b00ff170)
How to Write a Mills and Boon
What happens when a literary novelist tries to write popular romantic fiction? To mark 100 years of romance publishers Mills and Boon, literary novelist Stella Duffy takes on the challenge of writing for them.
Romantic fiction is a global phenomenon, and Mills and Boon are among the biggest names in the business. The company welcomes submissions from new authors, but as Duffy soon finds out, writing a Mills and Boon is harder than it looks.
Help is at hand from the publishers themselves, a prolific Mills and Boon author and some avid romance fans, as Duffy's quest to create the perfect romantic novel takes her from London to Italy on a journey that is both an insight into the art of romantic fiction and the joy and frustration of writing itself.
MONDAY 01 JUNE 2026
MON 19:00 University Challenge (m001gqn0)
2022/23
Episode 17
The second round of the 2022/23 competition begins tonight. Two teams of students go head-to-head for a place in the quarter-finals. Jeremy Paxman asks the questions.
MON 19:30 Only Connect (b00lsz67)
Series 2
Mathematicians v Wordsmiths
Quiz show presented by Victoria Coren in which knowledge will only take you so far, as patience and lateral thinking are also vital.
Three maths graduates take on a team featuring a linguistics graduate, an English graduate and an IT developer who is also a proofreader. They compete to draw together the connections between things which, at first glance, seem utterly random, from 'drip dry' to 'equal by definition' to 'MPs' obligation to vote' to 'exit 300yds ahead'.
MON 20:00 Britain's Pompeii: A Village Lost in Time (b07myxws)
Professor Alice Roberts joins the team excavating a 3,000-year-old Bronze Age village in the Cambridgeshire Fens that has been called the British Pompeii.
The village earned its nickname because 3,000 years ago it burned to the ground, and as it burned it fell into the peat, preserving both the houses and their contents. Until its discovery, we had little real idea of what life was like in Bronze Age Britain.
Now we can peek inside our Bronze Age ancestors' homes as archaeologists discover perfectly preserved roundhouses and the contents inside them - right down to the utensils in their kitchens. These roundhouses were built in a style never seen in the UK before - testimony not only to the villagers' technical skills but also of their connections to Europe.
The team has made other incredible discoveries on the dig - from Britain's oldest-found wheel to swords used in battle and bowls still containing preserved remnants of food. One of the biggest revelations is the discovery of a complete set of the early technology used to produce cloth - a full industrial process we've never seen in Britain before.
This glimpse into domestic life 3,000 years ago is unprecedented, but it also transforms our impressions of Bronze Age Britain - far from being poor and isolated, it seems the villagers were successful large-scale farmers who used their farming surplus to trade with Europe, exchanging their crops for beautiful glass jewellery and multiple metal tools per household.
As part of the dig, the archaeologists also investigate the cause of the fire - was it just a terrible accident, or did the villagers' wealth provoke an attack?
MON 21:00 Art of America (b017755r)
Looking for Paradise
In the first episode of a series exploring the history of American art, Andrew Graham-Dixon embarks on an epic journey from east to west, following in the footsteps of the pioneers who built the foundations of modern America.
During his journey, he travels to Massachusetts to see the earliest portraits in America depicting the Puritan settlers and visits Pennsylvania to uncover the dark truth behind Benjamin West's most famous painting, the spectacular Treaty of Penn with the Indians. In Philadelphia, he turns the pages of one of the world's most expensive books - John James Audubon's exquisite Birds of America, and explores the wilderness that inspired America's greatest landscape painter, Thomas Cole.
He also uncovers the paradox at the heart of America: that progress and innovation have come at a tragic price, the destruction of the unique cultural heritage of Native Americans by European settlers.
Andrew's journey takes us to the end of the 19th century and the announcement that the era of westward expansion was officially over.
MON 22:00 American Visions (p00g6w8d)
The Promised Land
Robert Hughes explains how America was shaped by Europeans - Spaniards in the south west, Pilgrims in the north east and struggling Cavaliers in Virginia - who saw the New World as both paradise and hell.
MON 22:50 Leonora Carrington: The Lost Surrealist (b09j0lp9)
British surrealist Leonora Carrington was a key part of the surrealist movement during its heyday in Paris and yet, until recently, remained a virtual unknown in the country of her birth. This film explores her dramatic evolution from British debutante to artist in exile, living out her days in Mexico City, and takes us on a journey into her darkly strange and cinematic world.
MON 23:50 This Is Joan Collins (m00135h7)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:45 on Saturday]
MON 01:25 Only Connect (b00lsz67)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:30 today]
MON 01:55 American Visions (p00g6w8d)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:00 today]
MON 02:45 Britain's Pompeii: A Village Lost in Time (b07myxws)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 today]
TUESDAY 02 JUNE 2026
TUE 19:00 University Challenge (m001h1br)
2022/23
Episode 18
The second round continues, with two more teams competing for a place in the quarter-finals. Jeremy Paxman asks the questions.
TUE 19:30 Only Connect (b00lw5ck)
Series 2
History Boys v Rugby Boys
Quiz show presented by Victoria Coren in which knowledge will only take you so far, as patience and lateral thinking are also vital.
A team of three lovers of history square up to a trio of Welshmen devoted to their national game. They compete to draw together the connections between things which, at first glance, seem utterly random: Mao Zedong, Snow White, Tilda Swinton and Lindow Man.
TUE 20:00 Artsnight (b07l0v3p)
Series 3
A Tribute to Carla Lane
Carla Lane redefined British comedy drama in the 1970s with her unique brand of 'situation tragedy'. At a time when television writing was the preserve of middle-class men, she brought a convincing cast of working-class female characters to British screens. The daring honesty with which she told the stories of ordinary women revolutionised the roles available to actresses on TV and blazed a trail for the screenwriters following in her footsteps.
This special edition of Artsnight delves into the BBC's archive and brings together rarely seen interviews in which writer Carla Lane discusses her life and work, while Carla's son Carl offers personal insights into his mother's career and legacy. With contributions from the Liver Birds - Polly James and Nerys Hughes - and Geoffrey Palmer, the long-suffering husband to Ria in Butterflies.
TUE 20:30 Butterflies (p00hm21b)
Series 1
When Ria Met Leonard
Ria has enough to cope with: there is her husband Ben, who has his own hang-ups and her sons Adam and Russell, who are the cause of most of them. Then suddenly there's Leonard.
TUE 21:00 A History of Britain by Simon Schama (b0074n2r)
Series 3
Victoria and Her Sisters
She began the century that bears her name a princess and ended it as an empress. Queen Victoria ruled one of the most powerful empires in world history during a century of staggering change - for both good and bad. But it was Victorian women who were at the forefront of the fight against its excesses and inequalities, who campaigned for the rights for ordinary people in marriage, education, medicine and the vote.
TUE 22:00 Muhammad Ali (p0bk0h24)
Series 1
Round One: The Greatest, Part 1
Born in Louisville, Kentucky in 1942, Cassius Clay rises from the world of amateur boxing to win gold at the 1960 Olympic Games. Following his Olympic success, Clay turns professional and moves to Miami to train with Angelo Dundee, sharpening his boxing skills and honing his genius for self-promotion.
TUE 22:50 Muhammad Ali (p0bk0hzn)
Series 1
Round One: The Greatest, Part 2
Cassius Clay is determined to become the youngest ever champion by taking on the ‘unbeatable’ Sonny Liston, the reigning world heavyweight champion. Clay needs to fight other contenders first, including a famous bout with Henry Cooper in London. Meanwhile, he quietly joins the Nation of Islam and becomes a confidant of Malcolm X.
TUE 23:40 Muhammad Ali (p0bk0jyg)
Series 1
Round Two: What’s My Name? Part 1
Cassius Clay publicly joins the Nation of Islam and adopts the name Muhammad Ali. For three years, he dominates the heavyweight ranks, but in 1967 the US army extends the military draft, and Ali becomes eligible for service in Vietnam.
TUE 00:30 Muhammad Ali (p0bk0kn6)
Series 1
Round Two: What’s My Name? Part 2
Muhammad Ali refuses induction into the US Army as a conscientious objector and becomes one of the most reviled men in America. Ali, stripped of his title, is convicted of draft evasion and forced into exile. In 1970, he triumphantly returns to the ring, but it’s clear that he has lost a step.
TUE 01:20 Only Connect (b00lw5ck)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:30 today]
TUE 01:50 Leonora Carrington: The Lost Surrealist (b09j0lp9)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:50 on Monday]
WEDNESDAY 03 JUNE 2026
WED 19:00 University Challenge (m001h8ws)
2022/23
Episode 19
The second round continues, with two more teams of students eager to snatch a second win and the place in the quarter-finals that goes with it. Jeremy Paxman asks the questions.
WED 19:30 Only Connect (b00lzzz3)
Series 2
Chessmen v Charity Puzzlers
Quiz show presented by Victoria Coren in which knowledge will only take you so far, as patience and lateral thinking are also vital.
Three dedicated chess players pit their strategic prowess against a team who have honed their lateral thinking skills writing puzzles to raise money for their local hospice. They compete to draw together the connections between things which, at first glance, seem utterly random.
WED 20:00 Little Ships: The Miracle of Dunkirk (b00snjw1)
To mark the 70th anniversary of the 'miracle of Dunkirk', 50 of the surviving 'little ships' that made the original perilous cross-channel voyage are returning to France. Dan Snow tells their extraordinary story: their role in the evacuation and the people who struggled to keep them afloat during those fateful days in 1940, when the future of Europe hung in the balance.
WED 21:00 The Hadron Collider: In Search of the Peace Particle (m002x8ll)
In the aftermath of Hiroshima, a group of scientists vowed never to turn knowledge into weapons again, and from that promise, CERN was born.
Deep underground, researchers from nations in conflict have worked side by side for decades, driven by curiosity and shared wonder. For 70 years, CERN has stood as an act of hope, a place where collaboration transcends borders, even as the world above grows more divided.
Blending poetry, music and rare archival footage of nuclear physicist Robert Oppenheimer with remarkable access to the Large Hadron Collider, the film explores how science, politics and culture collide.
WED 22:00 Too Near the Sun (m002x8ln)
Documentary, first broadcast in 1966, that tells the history of the superbomb, exploring the race by scientists to imitate the nuclear reactions of the sun and build the first thermonuclear weapon. The film reveals how the careers and reputations of some of the scientists involved were seared in the process.
WED 22:50 A Very Peculiar Practice (p032kky7)
Series 1
Contact Tracer
The whole university seems to have succumbed to a sexually transmitted disease. Jock decides they must trace the source of the outbreak.
WED 23:45 A Very Peculiar Practice (p032kkyb)
Series 1
The Hit List
The vice-chancellor is determined to weed out costly and unproductive staff, and Jock is on his list. Meanwhile, Stephen starts having strange dreams about nuns.
WED 00:35 A Very Peculiar Practice (p032kkyf)
Series 1
Catastrophe Theory
The axe is about to fall at Lowlands University as 25 per cent cutbacks are announced, turning Stephen's life upside down.
WED 01:30 The Hadron Collider: In Search of the Peace Particle (m002x8ll)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
WED 02:30 Little Ships: The Miracle of Dunkirk (b00snjw1)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 today]
THURSDAY 04 JUNE 2026
THU 19:00 University Challenge (m001hj7l)
2022/23
Episode 20
The second round continues, with two more teams of students locking horns for a place in the quarter-finals. Jeremy Paxman asks the questions.
THU 19:30 Only Connect (b00m3zhp)
Series 2
Mathematicians v Cambridge Quiz Society - Semi-Final
Quiz show presented by Victoria Coren in which knowledge will only take you so far, as patience and lateral thinking are also vital.
In the first semi-final, three mathematicians pit their logical skills against the wits of the Cambridge Quiz Society. They compete to draw together the connections between things which, at first glance, seem utterly bereft of associations. How does Lord Kelvin of Largs link to George Orwell via the Ebola virus and India?
THU 20:00 The Searchers (m000n7c3)
Classic John Ford western. Believing the Comanche have abducted his young niece, embittered Ethan Edwards sets out to save her, accompanied by hot-headed Martin. But their long quest takes its toll.
THU 21:55 Reputations (b0077861)
John Wayne: The Unquiet American
The series of historical biographies presents a profile of actor John Wayne. His on-screen bravery and his battle with the cancer that eventually killed him contributed to a heroic public image. But Wayne shirked his country's call to arms in World War Two, endorsed the Hollywood blacklist, fervently supported the war in Vietnam and criticised the civil rights movement.
THU 22:55 The Blues Brothers (m002kvl8)
Jake Blues rejoins his brother Elwood after being released from prison, but the duo have just days to reunite their old R&B band and save the Catholic home where the two were raised, outrunning the police as they tear through Chicago.
THU 01:00 Too Near the Sun (m002x8ln)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:00 on Wednesday]
THU 01:50 Only Connect (b00m3zhp)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:30 today]
THU 02:20 Art of America (b017755r)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Monday]
FRIDAY 05 JUNE 2026
FRI 19:00 Top of the Pops (m002x8m8)
Gail Porter presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 3 December 1999 and featuring Melanie C, Boyzone, Alice Deejay, Lolly, Phats & Small, Martine McCutcheon and Cliff Richard.
FRI 19:25 Top of the Pops (m002x8mb)
Jamie Theakston presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 10 December 1999 and featuring Whitney Houston, Mario Piu, Jamiroquai, Celine Dion, Artful Dodger feat Craig David, Atomic Kitten and Cliff Richard.
FRI 19:50 Top of the Pops (b044z1jy)
Paul Burnett presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 31 May 1979 and featuring Quantum Jump, Chas & Dave, Sparks, Fischer-Z, Peaches & Herb, Voyager, Blondie and Hot Chocolate. With a dance sequence from Legs & Co.
FRI 20:30 Top of the Pops (m000gp1d)
Anthea Turner and Gary Davies present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 1 June 1989 and featuring Sinitta, Fuzzbox and Neneh Cherry.
FRI 21:00 Aretha Franklin at the BBC (m001tx7m)
Aretha Franklin is widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest singers of all time, and yet more proof of that can be found in this collection of her performances on BBC programmes from across the decades.
From a stunning 2015 performance of You Make Me Feel (Like a Natural Woman) that had President Barack Obama in tears to gems from the 1970s, when Aretha dropped in to be the guest star on shows hosted by Cliff Richard and Lulu, these songs and her voice will remind everyone why she is still to this day considered the ultimate queen of soul.
FRI 21:40 Aretha Franklin in Amsterdam 1968 (m001tx7p)
Recorded live at the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam in 1968, Aretha Franklin sings a selection of her hits, including Respect, Chain of Fools and Satisfaction.
FRI 22:20 Dolly Parton: Here I Am (m000crhq)
A landmark documentary that explores the extraordinary life and music of Dolly Parton.
Featuring incredible archive footage and exclusive interviews with Dolly and stars like Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, this film lifts the lid on the songwriting genius behind I Will Always Love You, Jolene, 9 to 5 and a host of other chart-topping hits.
From her humble beginnings to her global success, the film discovers how a young girl from the Smoky Mountains conquered Nashville to become the queen of country music.
FRI 23:50 ... Sings the Great American Songbook (b00rs3w4)
Presenting the best and most eclectic performances on the BBC from the world's best-known artists performing their interpretations of classic tracks from The Great American Songbook.
Enjoy a myriad of BBC studio performances, including, in chronological order, Dame Shirley Bassey in 1966 performing The Lady Is a Tramp, Bryan Ferry in 1974 on Twiggy's BBC primetime show performing Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, Captain Sensible on Top of the Pops in 1982 with his number one hit version of Happy Talk, Kirsty MacColl singing Miss Otis Regrets in 1994, Jamie Cullum with his version of I Get a Kick Out Of You on Parkinson in 2004 and BRIT winner Florence from Florence and the Machine performing My Baby Just Cares for Me with Jools Holland on his Annual Hootenanny at the end of 2009.
The Great American Songbook can best be described as the music and popular songs of the famous and prolific American composers of the 1920s and onwards. Composers such as Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Johnny Mercer, Harold Arlen, Rodgers and Hammerstein and Hoagy Carmichael to name but a few... songwriters who wrote the tunes of Broadway theatre and Hollywood musicals that earned enduring popularity before the dawning of rock 'n' roll.
These famous songwriters have penned songs which have entered the general consciousness and which are now best described as standards - tunes which every musician and singer aspires to include in their repertoire.
FRI 00:50 Top of the Pops (m002x8m8)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 today]
FRI 01:15 Top of the Pops (m002x8mb)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:25 today]
FRI 01:40 Top of the Pops (b044z1jy)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:50 today]
FRI 02:20 Top of the Pops (m000gp1d)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:30 today]
FRI 02:50 Aretha Franklin at the BBC (m001tx7m)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]