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 16 MARCH 2024

SAT 19:00 Rick Stein's Long Weekends (b079w1jx)
Berlin

Rick enjoys a long weekend in Berlin, where history and the avant garde dwell enticingly side by side. A city that once made history with its divisive wall teems today with an overwhelming array of innovative chefs offering delicious seasonal creations like pureed sunflower seeds, Jerusalem artichoke flans and crushed frozen pine nuts. Loved by the likes of Garbo, Charlie Chaplin and Escoffier there's still a cornucopia of choice for those with a more traditional temperament, with Eisbein, meatballs and sausages topping every menu in town.


SAT 20:00 South Pacific (b00l7q55)
Fragile Paradise

The South Pacific is still relatively healthy and teeming with fish, but it is a fragile paradise. International fishing fleets are taking a serious toll on the sharks, albatross and tuna, and there are other insidious threats to these bountiful seas. This episode looks at what is being done to preserve the ocean and its wildlife.


SAT 21:00 The Gone (m001wrtw)
Series 1

Episode 1

A young Irish couple, Sinead and Ronan, go missing from the small rural town in which they had been living and working, on New Zealand's North Island. Theo Richter, a detective from Ireland, travels to New Zealand to liaise with the local police and explore a possible Irish gang connection. He teams up with Diana Huia, a young Māori detective sergeant.

The couple’s disappearance means Diana must reluctantly return to her hometown and the painful memories that forced her to leave family behind. Theo has his own demons and is reluctant to share the personal reasons behind his sudden decision to leave the police force once this investigation is complete.

Together, the detectives try to figure out who Sinead and Ronan were and what happened to them. The empty house initially seems undisturbed, but evidence suggests either Sinead or Ronan may have been injured before going missing. Then Sinead’s company car is found at the base of the mountain, and a huge search and rescue effort gets under way.


SAT 21:50 The Gone (m001wrv1)
Series 1

Episode 2

Diana and Theo learn that Ronan was dealing drugs and that Irish gangster Derry Fallon is already in New Zealand, but Aileen’s news reporting may have put her in his crosshairs. The mountain search continues, and a visit to Diana’s Uncle Buster leads to an arrest.


SAT 22:45 Parkinson (b0195p7f)
Parkinson Meets Morecambe & Wise

Michael Parkinson looks back at his 1972 interview with comedy duo Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise, who he describes as 'the funniest double act we ever produced. The interview, which Parkinson cites as the wittiest he ever conducted, sees Morecambe and Wise at their absolute best, speaking about their pasts, their heroes and their friendship.


SAT 23:30 To the Manor Born (b007876q)
Series 2

Tramps and Poachers

Stately sitcom. Arthur arrives as usual to help out on the Grantleigh estate, but Audrey can't give him work.


SAT 00:00 Yes, Prime Minister (b0074s27)
Series 2

A Conflict of Interest

Classic sitcom. When a scandal breaks in the City, Jim Hacker and Sir Humphrey cannot agree on who should be the new governor of the Bank of England.


SAT 00:30 Dan Cruickshank's Warsaw: Resurrecting History (b06r12fd)
Dan Cruickshank returns to his childhood home of Warsaw for the first time in almost 60 years. In a personal and moving film, he recalls his boyhood to explore the memories of the city and those of its people. No city in Europe suffered so much destruction in the Second World War, no city rose up so heroically from the ashes. The Nazis had razed Warsaw to the ground, but after the war the people fought hard to bring their city back from the dead in one of the greatest reconstruction jobs in history. As a boy, Cruickshank lived in the rebuilt old town and it inspired his love of architecture and made him the man he is today.


SAT 01:30 Rick Stein's Long Weekends (b079w1jx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


SAT 02:30 South Pacific (b00l7q55)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]



SUNDAY 17 MARCH 2024

SUN 19:00 The Chopin Etudes (m000wvms)
Etude in C minor, Op 25 No 12

Outstanding pianist Freddy Kempf performs Chopin's Etude in C minor, Op 25 No 12, at the Chateau de Neuville near Paris.


SUN 19:05 Omnibus (m001xhkb)
André Previn: Who Needs a Conductor?

In this Omnibus film, Andre Previn asks the question, 'Who needs a conductor?'

'Conducting,' said Leonard Bernstein, 'is the only profession in the world where you get paid for having a fit in public!'

Previn debunks many of the conventional myths that surround the subject, exposing the foibles, prejudices, insecurities and backstage dramas that the general public knows little of.

The London Symphony Orchestra, led by John Georgiadis, plays excerpts from some of the most popular pieces in the concert repertoire, including Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade, Bartok's Dance Suite and Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony.


SUN 20:00 Inside Classical (m001xhkd)
Series 2

Grieg’s Piano Concerto with Zee Zee

Three pieces of music with a magical and mythical air are conjured up by conductor Lionel Bringuier and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.

Made famous by Disney’s film Fantasia, Paul Dukas's Sorcerer’s Apprentice tells the story of a broom that magically comes to life and causes chaos in the sorcerer’s workshop.

Then Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto, a dazzling Norwegian enchantment that was the only concerto Grieg completed in his lifetime, played here by the pianist Zee Zee.

And Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, inspired by a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales known as One Thousand and One Nights. The music’s savage beauty tells the story of a woman whose life is in the hands of her husband, the murderous Sultan.


SUN 21:35 The Morecambe and Wise Show (b00gw1d0)
Christmas Show 1971

The classic 1971 Christmas show, featuring the combined talents of Andre 'Preview' Previn, Glenda Jackson, Shirley Bassey, and not forgetting the immortal Eric and Ernie.


SUN 22:40 The Shamrock Tenors - St Patrick's Night Concert (m001xhkg)
Northern Irish vocal group the Shamrock Tenors bring their international hit show home to Belfast's Ulster Hall for a St Patrick’s Night celebration. This cross-community group of singers features West End stars and multi-instrumentalists who put their own modern twist on some of Irish music’s most beloved melodies. They are joined on stage by special guests and champion Irish dancers.


SUN 23:40 Steps of Freedom: The Story of Irish Dance (m0015f6r)
A major entertainment documentary that tells, for the first time, the extraordinary story of how Irish dance developed over centuries, from a traditional dance of the Irish people, to become the global phenomenon it is today, attracting millions of viewers and dancers throughout the world.

The documentary features stunning original performances by some of the greatest practitioners of Irish dance of the present day and a wealth of archive materials including films, photographs and witness accounts revealing the history of Irish dance and its evolution. There is a strong American current running throughout the story as we show how the Irish diaspora played a pivotal part in shaping the form, particularly during the last century. Gene Kelly was among those in the Irish diaspora whose style, though strongly American, also drew heavily on his Irish roots.

In the worst and best of times, the Irish danced. And as it grew and changed, the Irish dance form was shaped by political and social forces, and by interactions with cultures from across Europe, Africa and America. Irish dance carries with it echoes of many other cultures with which the people of Ireland have interacted.

Steps of Freedom features some of the form’s finest dancers, including Jean Butler, Donnie Golden, Edwina Guckian, Jonathan Kelleher, Stephanie Keane, Morgan Bullock, Siobhan Manson, Garreth Coleman, Noel Spillane, Ty Knowlin, William Jackson and Cuthbert Artura.

Key musicians who appear in the film include Cormac Begley, Rhiannan Giddens, Liam O Maonlaí, Ronán Ó Sonadaigh, Steve Cooney and Colm Mac Con Iomaire.


SUN 00:40 Folk Hibernia at the BBC (b0074tkd)
Celebrating the finest in Irish folk music with a compilation of performances taken from the BBC archives. Highlights include songs from The Clancy Brothers, The Chieftains, Christy Moore, The Pogues and Sharon Shannon.


SUN 01:40 Inside Classical (m001xhkd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]



MONDAY 18 MARCH 2024

MON 19:00 Great Continental Railway Journeys (m000m224)
Series 7

Linz to Bratislava

Michael Portillo travels by train through Austria and the Czech Republic, following his Bradshaw’s Continental Railway Guide, published in 1936. Michael’s journey takes him through spectacular scenery, from the handsome Baroque buildings of the northern Austrian city of Linz, through Czech South Bohemia to Prague, the city of a hundred spires, and onto the canyons and caves of the Moravian Karst region near Brno. He finishes on the River Danube in the Slovakian capital, Bratislava.

Along the way, Michael explores a dark era in European history, beginning with the return to Linz in 1938 of Adolf Hitler, who lived there as a boy. Beneath the balcony of the old town hall in the city’s main square, Michael hears how cheering crowds welcomed the Fuhrer’s announcement of the annexation of Austria to Nazi Germany.

At Prague Central Station, Michael meets 87-year-old Zuzana Maresova, who, as a seven-year-old girl, climbed aboard a train to travel to safety in London. She tells Michael she was among hundreds of Jewish children rescued from Czechoslovakia by British stockbroker Sir Nicholas Winton, as part of the Kindertransport.

Czech gymnasts at the Sokol sports stadium in Ceske Budejovice put Michael’s flexibility and balance to the test and explain how their mass movement inspired the Czech nation at the time of his guidebook. Michael joins the great grandson of artist Alphonse Mucha to hear how the father of art nouveau helped define Czech national identity in highly political paintings and designs for stamps and banknotes.

A luxurious steel and glass villa designed in 1930 by the German architect Mies van der Rohe in a suburb of Brno is today a Unesco World Heritage Site. Michael discovers its history as a wedding present to a Jewish couple, who had to leave it to escape the Nazis.

Michael’s guidebook recommends a famous gorge, where he descends in a cable car to explore stalactite and stalagmite grottos deep in the subterranean river Punkva.

Crossing the Czech border into Slovakia, Michael reaches his final destination, one of Europe’s youngest capital cities, Bratislava.


MON 20:00 Write Around the World with Richard E. Grant (p09nlfbk)
Series 1

Episode 2

Book and travel lover Richard E. Grant journeys to southern France, visiting the Cévennes mountains, Marseille, Juan-les-Pins on the French Riviera and Grasse in the hills north of Cannes, in the footsteps of writers inspired by the country, its culture and history.

Reading key passages from their books as he goes along, including works by Robert Louis Stevenson, Alexandre Dumas, F Scott Fitzgerald, Elizabeth David and Patrick Süskind, Richard not only learns about the lives of these great authors, but also experiences many of the places immortalised in the literary classics they created.


MON 21:00 The Greatest Tomb on Earth: Secrets of Ancient China (b080396k)
From the depths of the greatest tomb on earth comes an epic new story that could rewrite history, revealing for the first time the true origin of one of the world's most powerful nations: China.

In this landmark film, historian Dan Snow, physical anthropologist Professor Alice Roberts and scientist and explorer Dr Albert Lin investigate a series of earth-shattering discoveries at the mighty tomb guarded by the Terracotta Warriors, a site two hundred times bigger than Egypt's Valley of the Kings and the final resting place of China's first emperor.

Mobilising the latest technology, delving into some of the oldest texts, enlisting world experts and employing forensic science, together the three reveal an explosive secret from the foundations of the Chinese empire.


MON 22:00 Murder on the Victorian Railway (b01pjt19)
London 1864. On a Hackney bound train, a guard discovers blood in a first-class carriage - and a body on the railway embankment. For the first time, a murder has taken place on Britain's railways. Over a hundred years later, this single documentary for BBC Two uses the first-hand testimony of the people involved at the time to explore this unique event and how it provoked a huge public outcry and debate.

The story quickly became a news sensation as the dangers of the brave new world of the train were laid bare. Over a hundred years later, the witnesses to this story may be long dead but their words survive in court transcripts, memoirs, letters and vivid journalism. These testimonies are now used to tell the story, taking the documentary deep into the 19th century to meet an extraordinary cross section of real-life Victorian London - from the engine driver who found the body to the detective in charge of the investigation. Who killed Mr Briggs?


MON 23:00 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 00:00 The Story of Welsh Art (p097c3k8)
Series 1

Episode 3

In this final episode, Huw Stephens’s journey begins at the dawn of the 20th century with the artists who broke with tradition and depicted Wales in radical new ways. In Snowdonia, he learns how Augustus John and JD Innes led the way, obsessively painting the landscape with a freedom and vibrancy that still dazzles today. Equally bold was the output of Gwen John, whose work is in complete contrast to that of her brother Augustus. At the National Museum Wales in Cardiff, Huw discovers how she used light and tone to paint delicate and hypnotic portraits and interior scenes.

Between the wars, industrial south Wales produced some of the most powerful art of the century. Huw discovers how the work of Evan Walters and Cedric Morris is steeped in their experience of mining communities and the desperate poverty they endured. The lives of striking miners were rarely reflected in art, but Walters’s 1926 portrait of his friend William Hopkins captured his subject with dignity and honesty.

Travelling north, Huw heads out to Bardsey Island off the Llyn Peninsula, a place he first visited as a teenager. The landscape of Wales has long been a source of inspiration for artists and in the 1940s Brenda Chamberlain moved to Bardsey to immerse herself in its isolation. Inside the picturesque cottage where she lived, Huw sees her sketches of island life that she drew on the walls ‘as if they were a giant sketchbook’. At the same time, Kyffin Williams was painting the distinctive, dramatic landscapes of north Wales, establishing himself as the most popular Welsh artist of the 20th century.

Contemporary art in Wales reflects a post-devolution self-confidence that allows it to look both back and forward. In Swansea, Huw meets Daniel Trivedy and learns how his award-winning work Welsh Emergency Blanket took the patterns of traditional Welsh blankets and printed them on to the silver foil coverings given to refugees rescued from the sea. For his final stop, Huw visits Colwyn Bay where he meets internationally renowned artist Bedwyr Williams, whose work draws heavily on Welsh art history using humour and irreverence. It is a unique history, Bedwyr concludes, and one that makes him excited to be living and working in north Wales.


MON 01:00 Great Continental Railway Journeys (m000m224)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


MON 02:00 The Greatest Tomb on Earth: Secrets of Ancient China (b080396k)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


MON 03:00 Write Around the World with Richard E. Grant (p09nlfbk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]



TUESDAY 19 MARCH 2024

TUE 19:00 Great Continental Railway Journeys (m000mfdd)
Series 7

Stockholm to the Arctic Circle

Michael Portillo embarks on a scenic, thousand-mile rail journey from the Swedish capital, Stockholm, to Abisko in the northern reaches of the Arctic Circle. Steered by his 1936 edition of Bradshaw’s Continental Railway Guide, Michael boards a steam train to celebrate Midsummer in Marielund, learns to decorate a Dala horse in Mora and takes an icy dip in one of the country’s 96,000 lakes.

In Stockholm, Michael braves a precarious tour of the city from its rooftops before boarding a heritage tram to get the lowdown on 1930s Sweden from an expert. At the capital’s Royal Institute of Technology, Michael investigates the transport of the future in a near-vacuum tube. He tours Uppsala University and takes Sweden’s 1,300km Inlandsbanan railway, which was completed in 1937, to travel north to Ostersund and Kiruna.

Michael finishes deep in the Arctic Circle at a remote climate research station, where scientists are building on data recorded at the time his guidebook was published. En route, Michael learns why Sweden built the strategic inland railway on which he is travelling. He discovers how the nation created a welfare state, has lunch with traditional Sami people in Vilhelmina and checks into a chilly hotel made of ice.


TUE 20:00 To the Manor Born (b00787b0)
Series 2

The Honours List

Stately sitcom. Fearing that DeVere's plans to enlarge the fields will destroy the surrounding countryside, Audrey leads the local community's campaign to stop him.


TUE 20:30 To the Manor Born (b00787fd)
Series 2

Vive le Sport

Stately sitcom. Audrey puts her back out fetching in the firewood.


TUE 21:00 Timeshift (b06pm5vf)
Series 15

How Britain Won the Space Race: The Story of Bernard Lovell and Jodrell Bank

The unlikely story of how one man with some ex-WWII army equipment eventually turned a muddy field in Cheshire into a key site in the space race. That man was Bernard Lovell, and his telescope at Jodrell Bank would be used at the height of the Cold War by both the Americans and the Russians to track their competing spacecraft. It also put Britain at the forefront of radio astronomy, a new science which transformed our knowledge of space and provided the key to understanding the most mind-bending theory of the beginnings of the universe - the Big Bang.


TUE 22:00 Storyville (m000d27r)
Jonestown: Terror in the Jungle

Episode 1

On 18 November 1978, over 900 men, women and children lost their lives at Jonestown, a remote settlement established by the People's Temple in northern Guyana. They were led to their deaths by cult leader Jim Jones, a charismatic preacher who turned into an egomaniacal demagogue. Jones had insisted his followers perform 'revolutionary suicide' by drinking poison - either voluntarily or by force.

Using unreleased recordings, photographs taken by members of the People’s Temple, previously classified FBI documents and new testimony from survivors and Jones's own family members, Jonestown: Terror in the Jungle investigates how and why this tragedy happened.

Jim Jones grew up and established the People's Temple in rural Indiana. As his racially integrated church and practices came under scrutiny, he moved his congregation to California, where its growing popularity brought Jones political power, but also a drug habit coupled with a paranoid need to control his followers. It was there that the abuse and misconduct at the heart of the People's Temple attracted the attention of the press, ruining Jones’s public image.

Fearing further repercussions, he moved his loyal followers to a remote jungle settlement in Guyana, claiming they would create a utopia there.


TUE 23:20 Storyville (m000d28j)
Jonestown: Terror in the Jungle

Episode 2

On 18 November 1978, over 900 men, women and children lost their lives at Jonestown, a remote settlement established by the People’s Temple in northern Guyana. They were led to their deaths by cult leader Jim Jones, a charismatic preacher who turned into an egomaniacal demagogue. Jones had insisted his followers perform ‘revolutionary suicide’ by drinking poison - either voluntarily or by force.

Using unreleased recordings, photographs taken by members of the People’s Temple, previously classified FBI documents and new testimony from survivors and Jones’s own family members, Jonestown: Terror in the Jungle investigates how and why this tragedy happened.

Unable to support a growing number of followers, the Jonestown project quickly began to implode. Jones’s excessive drug use, irrational behaviour and the isolation of his followers raised the alarm back home.

To learn whether the rumours coming from the jungle were true, California congressman Leo Ryan travelled to Guyana. Desperate People's Temple members saw his visit as a chance to escape Jonestown and its erratic and dangerous leader. Sensing the end, Jones triggered a tragic chain of events, forcing his followers to a dark conclusion.


TUE 00:45 Murder on the Victorian Railway (b01pjt19)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 on Monday]


TUE 01:45 Great Continental Railway Journeys (m000mfdd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


TUE 02:45 Steps of Freedom: The Story of Irish Dance (m0015f6r)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:40 on Sunday]



WEDNESDAY 20 MARCH 2024

WED 19:00 Bombay Railway (b007t30p)
Pressures

Documentary about Bombay's vast suburban rail network, which serves six-and-a-half million commuters every day. As Bombay's population swells by tens of thousands each week, the railway and the people whose lives revolve around it struggle to cope with the pressure and the peaktime 'super-dense crush load'. From the train driver to the illegal hawker and the homeless shoe-shine boy, each has a story to tell about this remarkable railway system, often described as the lifeline of India.


WED 20:00 Himalaya with Michael Palin (b0074qx6)
A Passage to India

Michael Palin continues his Himalayan trek by travelling from K2 in Pakistan to Ladakh in India - a short distance as the crow flies but, due to politics, a huge loop. He passes through the Sikh city of Amritsar, with its Golden Temple, and through Shimla, with its Vice Regal Lodge, Gaiety Theatre and cosy half-timbered teahouses. He then meets the fourteenth Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, where the Tibetan government is in exile.


WED 21:00 Rise of the Nazis (m001d1nk)
The Downfall

Who Will Betray Him?

In the winter of 1944, Germany is losing the war on all fronts, but Hitler refuses to contemplate surrender. Instead, he calls leading military generals to a secret location and orders them to start preparing a massive surprise attack against the Western Allies as part of his policy of total war. It's an attack he believes will finally break them.


WED 22:00 Screen Two (p00v5j0j)
Series 8

Hotel Du Lac

Romantic novelist Edith Hope so horrifies her friends that they banish her to the solitude of a Swiss hotel. She decides to work out her exile by observing her fellow guests.


WED 23:15 Anita Brookner on Art: 100 Great Paintings (m001xhzb)
Anita Brookner, art historian, TV presenter and author of the Booker Prize-winning Hotel du Lac, added to her accomplishments in the 1980s by sharing with television audiences her understanding and appreciation for some of the finest works by the world’s greatest ever painters.

In this collection, Anita’s contributions to the BBC’s 1981 series 100 Great Paintings are brought together in one place to create a masterclass in art appreciation, with her unique insights helping to increase our awareness of the cultural significance and creative processes behind works by the likes of Cezanne, Ingres, Delacroix and David.


WED 00:15 Andrew Davies: Rewriting the Classics (m0001v0q)
Controversial, witty, irreverent – Britain’s best-known screenwriter, Andrew Davies, has created some of the most iconic small-screen dramas of the past 50 years.

At the age of 82 he is following his smash hit adaptation of War and Peace with another global epic, Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables.

As he watches the production come to life during 2018, he looks back at the influence of his childhood in Cardiff. And he explores how he boils down and spices up his dramas – transforming our best-loved novels into prime-time television. Contributors include Sarah Waters, Helen Fielding and Dominic West.


WED 01:15 Bombay Railway (b007t30p)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


WED 02:15 Rise of the Nazis (m001d1nk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



THURSDAY 21 MARCH 2024

THU 19:00 Bombay Railway (b007t367)
Dreams

India is undergoing unprecedented growth and Bombay is its financial powerhouse. The city promotes itself as a positive vision of the future, a place where dreams can come true. Like an extended family, the Bombay railway provides an unfailing lifeline to the city. This series follows the hope and dreams of some the people who work for the railway.

Hans Dev Sharma is a senior operations clerk. He works in the timetabling department, which schedules over 2,000 trains a day - under its cultural quota, Hans was talent-spotted as an exceptional actor and dancer and the railways offered him a job. Hans is living the Bollywood dream, with Bombay Railways as his life and his stage. But will he get his big break?

Jagdish Paul Raj was born in Bombay and is as ambitious as the city he lives in. The son of a railway catering officer, Jagdish, like his father, always had an interest in food but none in the railway. He graduated in politics and economics and became a fully qualified chef. Now 31, he is running a successful catering business on the train to Goa. He is tendered for more trains, but will he be successful?

Mumtaz Kazi is Indian Railways' first fully qualified female train driver and has driven trains all over India. Mumtaz was brought up in a traditional Muslim family - a railway family. Now her father has retired and her immediate family live in Canada - Mumtaz is the only member left in Bombay. It will be Mumtaz's responsibility to find a wife for her brother, to get him married and back to Canada in just eight weeks. Can she do it and still drive the train?


THU 20:00 Omnibus (m001xhvt)
Morecambe & Wise: Fools Rush In

This film for Omnibus follows the two weeks of rehearsal that led up to the recording of a Morecambe and Wise Show that aired on 16 February 1973.

'Fools Rush In' was Eric and Ernie's billing in their early days. Thirty years later, they had become Britain's best-known comedians, with regular audiences of nearly 20 million people.

Producer John Ammonds, writer Eddie Braben, as well as Eric and Ernie talk about the skill and sheer hard work of comedy.


THU 20:50 Eric and Ernie (b00wy7ck)
Single drama telling the story of Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise's formative years, from child stars to national treasures.

'Big head, short legs' is Eric Bartholomew's first impression of Ernie Wiseman, but their friendship endures and, encouraged by his well-meaning but determined mother Sadie, Eric became the funny man to Ernie's 'feed'.

After a successful stint in children's variety, they work their way up the ladder of live performance, but after a disastrous television debut in the series Running Wild, Morecambe and Wise learn to trust their own instincts and just make people laugh.


THU 22:20 Here We Are (m001xhw8)
Aharon has devoted his life to raising his son Uri, where they live together in a gentle routine away from the real world. But Uri is autistic and now as a young adult it might be time for him to live in a specialised home. But Aharon feels deep down that Uri is not ready for this separation, so on the way to the home, decides to run away with his son and they hit the road. A journey that has unexpected consequences for Aharon and Uri’s quiet life together.

In Hebrew with English subtitles.


THU 23:50 Timeshift (b06pm5vf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Tuesday]


THU 00:50 Bombay Railway (b007t367)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


THU 01:50 Steps of Freedom: The Story of Irish Dance (m0015f6r)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:40 on Sunday]


THU 02:50 Himalaya with Michael Palin (b0074qx6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Wednesday]



FRIDAY 22 MARCH 2024

FRI 19:00 Top of the Pops (m001xhz8)
Suggs presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 2 November 1995 and featuring Echobelly, MN8, Queen, East 17, UB40, Bryan Adams and Bonnie Raitt, McAlmont & Butler, Madonna and Coolio featuring LV.


FRI 19:30 Top of the Pops (m001xhzf)
Lee Evans presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 9 November 1995 and featuring Ruffneck ft Yavahn, Ace of Base, The Rolling Stones, Saint Etienne ft Etienne Daho, Whale, Everything but the Girl, Oasis, David Bowie and Robson & Jerome.


FRI 20:00 Top of the Pops (b08yfkt4)
Peter Powell and Janice Long present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 22 March 1984. Featuring Depeche Mode, Shakin' Stevens, Culture Club, UB40, Sade and Lionel Richie.


FRI 20:30 Top of the Pops (b05pl7rt)
Mike Read presents pop hits of the week, with performances from the Bodysnatchers, Squeeze, Sad Cafe, the Lambrettas, Barbara Dickson, Shakin' Stevens, Martha and the Muffins, UB40, and the Jam, and a dance sequence by Legs & Co.


FRI 21:00 Roy Orbison at the BBC (m001hz0s)
A deep-dive into the BBC’s archives to celebrate the great Roy Orbison – full-time rock 'n’ roll legend, part-time Traveling Wilbury and the man Elvis famously described as ‘the best singer in the world’.

The Big O’s story was in many ways a tragic one, full of family tragedies and heartbreak, and his extraordinary voice captured all those emotions and more, bringing a new dimension to popular music. This programme features some of the hits that had fans enraptured and fellow music superstars singing his praises, with performances from his many visits to the UK including Only the Lonely, Crying and Oh Pretty Woman.


FRI 21:35 Roy Orbison: In Dreams (m001hz0v)
Chronicling the incredible career of the late Roy Orbison with classic performance footage, home movies and photographs. Featuring interviews with Bruce Springsteen, k.d. lang, Chet Atkins, Emmylou Harris, the Bee Gees, Bernie Taupin, David Lynch, Martin Sheen, Robert Plant and Bono. The soundtrack showcases Roy's greatest hits, including Only The Lonely, Crying, Pretty Woman, In Dreams, Running Scared and You Got It.


FRI 23:05 Roy Sings Orbison (b00g20wx)
Roy Orbison sings some of his greatest hits, including Only the Lonely, Crying, Penny Arcade, Blue Bayou, Running Scared, Candy Man, In Dreams, Mean Woman Blues, It's Over and Oh, Pretty Woman.


FRI 23:35 Roy Orbison: One of the Lonely Ones (b06t3vb9)
Biography of iconic rock balladeer Roy Orbison told through his own voice, casting new light on the triumphs and tragedies that beset his career. Using previously unseen performances, home movies and interviews with many who have never spoken before, the film reveals Orbison's remote Texas childhood, his battles to get his voice heard, and how he created lasting hits like Only the Lonely and Crying.

The film follows Roy's rollercoaster life, often reflected in the dark lyrics of his songs, from success to rejection to rediscovery in the 80s with The Traveling Wilburys supergroup. It uncovers the man behind the shades, including interviews with his sons, many close friends and collaborators like Jeff Lynne, T Bone Burnett, Bobby Goldsboro and Marianne Faithfull.


FRI 00:35 Roy Orbison at the BBC (m001hz0s)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


FRI 01:10 Top of the Pops (b08yfkt4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


FRI 01:40 Top of the Pops (b05pl7rt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]


FRI 02:10 Top of the Pops (m001xhz8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


FRI 02:40 Top of the Pops (m001xhzf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]




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

Andrew Davies: Rewriting the Classics 00:15 WED (m0001v0q)

Anita Brookner on Art: 100 Great Paintings 23:15 WED (m001xhzb)

Bombay Railway 19:00 WED (b007t30p)

Bombay Railway 01:15 WED (b007t30p)

Bombay Railway 19:00 THU (b007t367)

Bombay Railway 00:50 THU (b007t367)

Dan Cruickshank's Warsaw: Resurrecting History 00:30 SAT (b06r12fd)

Eric and Ernie 20:50 THU (b00wy7ck)

Folk Hibernia at the BBC 00:40 SUN (b0074tkd)

Great Continental Railway Journeys 19:00 MON (m000m224)

Great Continental Railway Journeys 01:00 MON (m000m224)

Great Continental Railway Journeys 19:00 TUE (m000mfdd)

Great Continental Railway Journeys 01:45 TUE (m000mfdd)

Here We Are 22:20 THU (m001xhw8)

Himalaya with Michael Palin 20:00 WED (b0074qx6)

Himalaya with Michael Palin 02:50 THU (b0074qx6)

Inside Classical 20:00 SUN (m001xhkd)

Inside Classical 01:40 SUN (m001xhkd)

Leonora Carrington: The Lost Surrealist 23:00 MON (b09j0lp9)

Murder on the Victorian Railway 22:00 MON (b01pjt19)

Murder on the Victorian Railway 00:45 TUE (b01pjt19)

Omnibus 19:05 SUN (m001xhkb)

Omnibus 20:00 THU (m001xhvt)

Parkinson 22:45 SAT (b0195p7f)

Rick Stein's Long Weekends 19:00 SAT (b079w1jx)

Rick Stein's Long Weekends 01:30 SAT (b079w1jx)

Rise of the Nazis 21:00 WED (m001d1nk)

Rise of the Nazis 02:15 WED (m001d1nk)

Roy Orbison at the BBC 21:00 FRI (m001hz0s)

Roy Orbison at the BBC 00:35 FRI (m001hz0s)

Roy Orbison: In Dreams 21:35 FRI (m001hz0v)

Roy Orbison: One of the Lonely Ones 23:35 FRI (b06t3vb9)

Roy Sings Orbison 23:05 FRI (b00g20wx)

Screen Two 22:00 WED (p00v5j0j)

South Pacific 20:00 SAT (b00l7q55)

South Pacific 02:30 SAT (b00l7q55)

Steps of Freedom: The Story of Irish Dance 23:40 SUN (m0015f6r)

Steps of Freedom: The Story of Irish Dance 02:45 TUE (m0015f6r)

Steps of Freedom: The Story of Irish Dance 01:50 THU (m0015f6r)

Storyville 22:00 TUE (m000d27r)

Storyville 23:20 TUE (m000d28j)

The Chopin Etudes 19:00 SUN (m000wvms)

The Gone 21:00 SAT (m001wrtw)

The Gone 21:50 SAT (m001wrv1)

The Greatest Tomb on Earth: Secrets of Ancient China 21:00 MON (b080396k)

The Greatest Tomb on Earth: Secrets of Ancient China 02:00 MON (b080396k)

The Morecambe and Wise Show 21:35 SUN (b00gw1d0)

The Shamrock Tenors - St Patrick's Night Concert 22:40 SUN (m001xhkg)

The Story of Welsh Art 00:00 MON (p097c3k8)

Timeshift 21:00 TUE (b06pm5vf)

Timeshift 23:50 THU (b06pm5vf)

To the Manor Born 23:30 SAT (b007876q)

To the Manor Born 20:00 TUE (b00787b0)

To the Manor Born 20:30 TUE (b00787fd)

Top of the Pops 19:00 FRI (m001xhz8)

Top of the Pops 19:30 FRI (m001xhzf)

Top of the Pops 20:00 FRI (b08yfkt4)

Top of the Pops 20:30 FRI (b05pl7rt)

Top of the Pops 01:10 FRI (b08yfkt4)

Top of the Pops 01:40 FRI (b05pl7rt)

Top of the Pops 02:10 FRI (m001xhz8)

Top of the Pops 02:40 FRI (m001xhzf)

Write Around the World with Richard E. Grant 20:00 MON (p09nlfbk)

Write Around the World with Richard E. Grant 03:00 MON (p09nlfbk)

Yes, Prime Minister 00:00 SAT (b0074s27)




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

Comedy: Satire

Yes, Prime Minister 00:00 SAT (b0074s27)

Comedy: Sitcoms

To the Manor Born 23:30 SAT (b007876q)

To the Manor Born 20:00 TUE (b00787b0)

To the Manor Born 20:30 TUE (b00787fd)

Yes, Prime Minister 00:00 SAT (b0074s27)

Comedy: Sketch

The Morecambe and Wise Show 21:35 SUN (b00gw1d0)

Drama

Here We Are 22:20 THU (m001xhw8)

Screen Two 22:00 WED (p00v5j0j)

Drama: Biographical

Eric and Ernie 20:50 THU (b00wy7ck)

Drama: Crime

The Gone 21:00 SAT (m001wrtw)

The Gone 21:50 SAT (m001wrv1)

Entertainment

Parkinson 22:45 SAT (b0195p7f)

Factual

Bombay Railway 19:00 WED (b007t30p)

Bombay Railway 01:15 WED (b007t30p)

Bombay Railway 19:00 THU (b007t367)

Bombay Railway 00:50 THU (b007t367)

Storyville 22:00 TUE (m000d27r)

Storyville 23:20 TUE (m000d28j)

Timeshift 21:00 TUE (b06pm5vf)

Timeshift 23:50 THU (b06pm5vf)

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Parkinson 22:45 SAT (b0195p7f)

Write Around the World with Richard E. Grant 20:00 MON (p09nlfbk)

Write Around the World with Richard E. Grant 03:00 MON (p09nlfbk)

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media: Arts

Andrew Davies: Rewriting the Classics 00:15 WED (m0001v0q)

Anita Brookner on Art: 100 Great Paintings 23:15 WED (m001xhzb)

Dan Cruickshank's Warsaw: Resurrecting History 00:30 SAT (b06r12fd)

Inside Classical 20:00 SUN (m001xhkd)

Inside Classical 01:40 SUN (m001xhkd)

Leonora Carrington: The Lost Surrealist 23:00 MON (b09j0lp9)

Omnibus 19:05 SUN (m001xhkb)

Omnibus 20:00 THU (m001xhvt)

Roy Orbison: One of the Lonely Ones 23:35 FRI (b06t3vb9)

Steps of Freedom: The Story of Irish Dance 23:40 SUN (m0015f6r)

Steps of Freedom: The Story of Irish Dance 02:45 TUE (m0015f6r)

Steps of Freedom: The Story of Irish Dance 01:50 THU (m0015f6r)

The Story of Welsh Art 00:00 MON (p097c3k8)

Factual: Crime & Justice

Murder on the Victorian Railway 22:00 MON (b01pjt19)

Murder on the Victorian Railway 00:45 TUE (b01pjt19)

Factual: Food & Drink

Rick Stein's Long Weekends 19:00 SAT (b079w1jx)

Rick Stein's Long Weekends 01:30 SAT (b079w1jx)

Factual: History

Dan Cruickshank's Warsaw: Resurrecting History 00:30 SAT (b06r12fd)

Murder on the Victorian Railway 22:00 MON (b01pjt19)

Murder on the Victorian Railway 00:45 TUE (b01pjt19)

Rise of the Nazis 21:00 WED (m001d1nk)

Rise of the Nazis 02:15 WED (m001d1nk)

The Greatest Tomb on Earth: Secrets of Ancient China 21:00 MON (b080396k)

The Greatest Tomb on Earth: Secrets of Ancient China 02:00 MON (b080396k)

Timeshift 21:00 TUE (b06pm5vf)

Timeshift 23:50 THU (b06pm5vf)

Factual: Life Stories

Leonora Carrington: The Lost Surrealist 23:00 MON (b09j0lp9)

Factual: Politics

Rise of the Nazis 21:00 WED (m001d1nk)

Rise of the Nazis 02:15 WED (m001d1nk)

Factual: Science & Nature: Nature & Environment

South Pacific 20:00 SAT (b00l7q55)

South Pacific 02:30 SAT (b00l7q55)

Factual: Travel

Great Continental Railway Journeys 19:00 MON (m000m224)

Great Continental Railway Journeys 01:00 MON (m000m224)

Great Continental Railway Journeys 19:00 TUE (m000mfdd)

Great Continental Railway Journeys 01:45 TUE (m000mfdd)

Himalaya with Michael Palin 20:00 WED (b0074qx6)

Himalaya with Michael Palin 02:50 THU (b0074qx6)

South Pacific 20:00 SAT (b00l7q55)

South Pacific 02:30 SAT (b00l7q55)

Write Around the World with Richard E. Grant 20:00 MON (p09nlfbk)

Write Around the World with Richard E. Grant 03:00 MON (p09nlfbk)

Music

Roy Orbison at the BBC 21:00 FRI (m001hz0s)

Roy Orbison at the BBC 00:35 FRI (m001hz0s)

Roy Orbison: In Dreams 21:35 FRI (m001hz0v)

The Shamrock Tenors - St Patrick's Night Concert 22:40 SUN (m001xhkg)

Music: Classic Pop & Rock

Roy Orbison at the BBC 21:00 FRI (m001hz0s)

Roy Orbison at the BBC 00:35 FRI (m001hz0s)

Roy Orbison: In Dreams 21:35 FRI (m001hz0v)

Roy Orbison: One of the Lonely Ones 23:35 FRI (b06t3vb9)

Roy Sings Orbison 23:05 FRI (b00g20wx)

Top of the Pops 19:00 FRI (m001xhz8)

Top of the Pops 19:30 FRI (m001xhzf)

Top of the Pops 20:00 FRI (b08yfkt4)

Top of the Pops 20:30 FRI (b05pl7rt)

Top of the Pops 01:10 FRI (b08yfkt4)

Top of the Pops 01:40 FRI (b05pl7rt)

Top of the Pops 02:10 FRI (m001xhz8)

Top of the Pops 02:40 FRI (m001xhzf)

Music: Classical

Inside Classical 20:00 SUN (m001xhkd)

Inside Classical 01:40 SUN (m001xhkd)

The Chopin Etudes 19:00 SUN (m000wvms)

Music: Folk

Folk Hibernia at the BBC 00:40 SUN (b0074tkd)