Bill Nighy narrates a documentary telling the story of the long and often extraordinary relationship between fact and fiction in the mysterious world of British espionage. The programme charts the evolution of spying through the twentieth century and looks at the parallel development of spy fiction during the same period. Contributors include Stella Rimington, Daphne Park, David Shayler, John le Carre, Charlie Higson, Bernard Porter, Nick Hiley and Stephen Dorril.
Post-glasnost comedy thriller by John Flanagan and Andrew McCulloch. Deep in the heart of the Kremlin a discovery is made which sends shockwaves through the KGB hierarchy. The repercussions are felt in the heart of the City of London, and in a brewery in Eccles.
First of a four-part epic based on the westerns of Larry McMurtry. Captain Call takes his former partner back to Lonesome Dove for burial and embarks upon an epic and perilous journey - driving a herd of wild mustangs 2,500 miles north to the Hat Creek ranch.
The second of a four-part epic based on the westerns of Larry McMurtry. Gideon and Isom herd the mustangs northwards, ready for trouble - but when it comes, it is from unexpected quarters. Newt settles into a new life in Montana, while in Nebraska, Clara must contend with a powerful act of nature.
Three-part documentary series about fantasy fiction, which has become one of the biggest-selling genres in publishing thanks to JK Rowling's Harry Potter books and Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. This part explores the changing role of child heroes and heroines, from Peter Pan to Harry Potter, and asks why they have such an enduring appeal to writers of fiction for all ages. With contributions from writers including Pullman, Alan Garner, Will Self and Alasdair Gray.
Three-part documentary series about fantasy fiction, which has become one of the biggest-selling genres in publishing thanks to JK Rowling's Harry Potter books and Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. This edition tells the story of how, in the 1950s, two very different writers created texts that revolutionised fantasy literature - JRR Tolkien, the Oxford academic and writer of The Lord Of The Rings, and the visionary surrealist artist Mervyn Peake, creator of the Gormenghast trilogy.
Three-part documentary series about fantasy fiction, which has become one of the biggest-selling genres in publishing. This edition tells how, in the last ten years, fantasy has been one of the biggest forces in popular culture, conquering every media from books to interactive computer games. It also asks whether fantasy is pure escapism or if it has always been another, more sophisticated way of reflecting the world, while exploring the work of one of the giants of the genre, Terry Pratchett.
SUNDAY 10 AUGUST 2008
SUN 19:00 Coal House (b008759m)
Series 1
Episode 4
Deep in the Welsh valleys, three families give up their 21st century creature comforts and time-travel back to face the hardships of life in 1927. The pressure is on for the families living in the Coal House. It's week two, and the mothers are working fourteen hour days to keep their houses and families in order. The children are coming to terms with their 1927 school day and the men are working at the coal face to make ends meet. It's a hard-knock life for every man, woman and child in the Coal House!
SUN 19:30 BBC Proms (b00czh57)
2008
Prom 26: King's Singers - 40th Anniversary
Suzy Klein introduces a concert by the King's Singers, who return to mark their 40th anniversary with a wide-ranging Anglo-French programme including French folk songs by Poulenc, French renaissance madrigals, English Victorian part-songs and more recent arrangements of traditional English folk songs of the type they have made their own.
SUN 21:00 The Frost Report Is Back! (b009lt9r)
A celebration of the satirical comedy sketch series The Frost Report, which won the prestigious Golden Rose of Montreux in the 1960s.
Hosted by Sir David Frost, it was highly influential and proved to be the launch pad for the likes of Ronnie Barker, Ronnie Corbett, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Eric Idle, Graham Chapman and Sheila Steafel.
Featuring rare archive skits, interviews with many of the old team and a complete showing of the award-winning show Frost Over England.
SUN 23:00 Legends (b009pgsc)
Marty Feldman - Six Degrees of Separation
Marty Feldman was one of the forgotten greats of British Comedy. Uniquely, Feldman's journey took him from the golden age of BBC Radio comedy, with Round the Horne, the show he co-wrote with Barry Took, through the hothouse of 1960s television comedy, where Marty worked alongside the Pythons on The Frost Report and At Last The 1948 Show before getting his own series.
He went on to Hollywood with classic movies like Young Frankenstein. Marty was a writer first and foremost, but he was also a great physical clown, who idolised Buster Keaton. In moving to Hollywood, he hoped to emulate Keaton, but the Hollywood system quickly withdrew its support when they couldn't contain his talents.
Featuring a cast of close friends including John Cleese, Michael Palin, Sir David Frost, Tim Brooke-Taylor, Dom DeLuise (and parrot), Larry Gelbart (who produced a series for US television for Marty) and the great director Barry Levinson, who was one of his writers.
SUN 00:00 Glastonbury (b00cwh80)
2008
Joan Armatrading
Coverage from the Glastonbury festival. Classic British songwriter Joan Armatrading performs on the Jazz World stage, with songs from her back catalogue, plus a couple of numbers from her recent Blues inspired album Into The Blues.
SUN 01:00 Born to Be Wild (b00cwh02)
Coastal Creatures
Series on amateur naturalists follows four intrepid people who study coastal creatures.
The coast is not the easiest place to watch wildlife, but perseverance pays off. One man has been studying sea birds for 30 years, another has galvanised his community into spending hours on the cliff tops, watching for dolphins, and another dives into the depths in search of sea urchins. Finally, one couple's passion for seals is revealing new things about this well-loved animal.
SUN 01:30 Legends (b009pgsc)
[Repeat of broadcast at
23:00 today]
SUN 02:30 BBC Proms (b00czh57)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:30 today]
MONDAY 11 AUGUST 2008
MON 19:00 World News Today (b00czhhr)
The latest news from around the world.
MON 19:30 BBC Proms (b00czhht)
2008
Prom 17: World Music Celebration Programme 2
Verity Sharp introduces the second part of this year's world music concert, featuring more from the winners of the Radio 3 Awards for World Music including Justin Adams's desert blues and Sa Ding Ding's Chinese electronica.
MON 21:00 The Real Life on Mars (b00czhhw)
Documentary which looks at the world of policing before the 1980s and asks whether 'old-style policing' was as bad as that portrayed on TV in Life on Mars or whether it might have actually been more effective than the political correctness and forensic paraphernalia of today. Includes interviews with ex-cops, criminals, academics and writers.
MON 22:00 Life on Mars (b0074scz)
Series 1
Episode 1
Drama series about Sam Tyler, a Manchester detective who suffers a near-fatal car crash and wakes up in what seems to be 1973. Unsure whether he's in a coma, has really time-travelled or has just gone mad, Tyler's 21st-century attitudes make him a fish out of water in this world of clunky technology and old-fashioned policing. Then he discovers a connection between a murder in 1973 and the 2006 kidnapping case he was working on, and solving this case could be the key to getting home.
MON 23:00 Timeshift (b0074sd0)
Series 6
Creating Life on Mars
In conversation with writer and broadcaster Andrew Collins, the creators of the time-travel cop show Life on Mars reveal the story behind the series, including their seven-year battle to bring it to the screen and how they drew inspiration from their own experiences of life in the 70s. They offer insights into the show's characters and explore how the programme has broken the mould of popular TV drama.
MON 23:20 Mark Lawson Talks To... (b00czhy9)
GF Newman
Writer GF Newman discusses his life and career with Mark Lawson. Responsible for the classic drama serial Law and Order and more recently Judge John Deed, Newman also discusses his belief in reincarnation and vegetarianism.
MON 00:20 Travellers' Century (b00cp4nx)
Patrick Leigh Fermor
Benedict Allen follows Patrick Leigh Fermor's epic 1931 quest across Europe, tracing the inns, haystacks and castles the young adventurer stayed in as he foot-slogged his way through Holland, Germany, Hungary and Romania towards Byzantium.
With his academic career punctuated by numerous school expulsions, the young Patrick Leigh Fermor put aside his troubles and set out across Europe to reach Constantinople in Turkey. It was the original backpacker journey, but also a quest in the romantic tradition of Lord Byron - that of the man of action and the intellectual combined.
His two accounts of that journey, A Time of Gifts and Between the Woods and Water, are a masterly portrait of a Europe about to be swept aside by war, and also an insight into the brilliant, classically educated mind of the author.
It is in remotest Greece that Benedict Allen finally tracks down the great man himself to discuss the nature, purpose and future of travel writing.
MON 01:20 BBC Proms (b00czhht)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:30 today]
MON 02:50 Mark Lawson Talks To... (b00czhy9)
[Repeat of broadcast at
23:20 today]
TUESDAY 12 AUGUST 2008
TUE 19:00 World News Today (b00czj38)
The latest news from around the world.
TUE 19:30 Pop Go the Sixties (b00d24n3)
Series 2
Status Quo
Pop moments from the BBC's sixties archive. A youthful Status Quo, complete with ruffled shirts and sideburns, sing their first hit single, Pictures of Matchstick Men, on a 1968 episode of Top of the Pops.
TUE 19:35 Batman (b00d1mmd)
Series 2
A Piece of the Action
Adventures with the caped crusader. Batman teams up with the Green Hornet to stamp out some philatelic counterfeiting at the Pink Chip stamps factory.
TUE 20:00 1908 - The First True Olympics (b00czj8v)
Dramatised documentary about the controversial first London Olympics, which uses rarely seen archive, and contemporary diaries, interviews and newspaper reports to argue that the 1908 Games were the first true modern Olympics.
On July 24th 1908, the biggest crowd sporting history had seen lined the route from Windsor to the Great Stadium at White City to witness a duel that made worldwide headlines. On that day the Italian, Dorando Pietri, collapsed five times in the final yards, and finished practically unconscious. He was disqualified and the gold medal awarded to his American rival, Johnny Hayes
This was the climax of an Olympic Games which created so much international rivalry that it guaranteed the modern Olympic movement would survive and prosper way into the future.
TUE 21:00 Dixon of Dock Green (b00d269g)
Series 2
Father in Law
Police drama starring Jack Warner as PC George Dixon. This episode sees the culmination of the romance between DC Andy Crawford and George Dixon's daughter, Mary.
TUE 21:30 Dixon of Dock Green (b00czj8z)
Series 7
Hot Seat
Police drama starring Jack Warner. PC George Dixon visits Paris.
TUE 22:00 Call the Cops (b00czj91)
Episode 1
Documentary which takes a forensic look at the history of the police procedural on British TV and investigates what it was about the police, society and television that saw the archetypal policeman change from the avuncular Dixon of Dock Green to the maverick thief-taker of The Sweeney to the scientific methodologists of Cracker, Silent Witness and Waking the Dead.
By interviewing writers, directors, producers and former officers, the film combs the land between police reality and police television. Brian Paddick states that the level of violence used in The Sweeney would have been justified by the law at the time under 'reasonable force', while Jane Tennison's real-life model Jackie Malton explains that collaborating in the creation of Prime Suspect made her feel she had betrayed the police. Tony Garnett reveals that the help he got from the Police Service in setting up The Cops disappeared when they saw how the police were portrayed in the programmes, and Nigel McCrery tells how the police lost a simple and effective interrogation technique because criminals saw it used so often on screen in the police drama.
TUE 23:00 Our Hidden Lives (b0074rq6)
Adaptation of Simon Garfield's best-selling book of the everyday diaries of post war Britain.
May 8th 1945, the day peace is declared in Europe, four ordinary people are confronting the uncertainties that lie ahead. They are writing down their innermost thoughts and posting them to the Mass Observation Office, a remarkable project involving hundreds of people who have volunteered to chronicle their daily lives.
Maggie is a thoroughly modern woman in her mid-30s, 'B' is a gay antiques dealer terrified of being exposed, Edie a proud socialist, and Herbert a pensioner who divides his time between his allotment and writing appalling poetry. Their interweaving stories offer a vivid patchwork of the nation during these crucial months.
TUE 00:15 The Thirties in Colour (b00cwgxk)
End of an Era
Last in the four part series using rare, private and commercial colour film and photographs to give poignant and surprising insights into the 1930s.
It was Golden Age for international travel, a decade when advanced transport systems allowed people to journey all over the world. Travellers with the means recorded their experiences by using the new colour film technologies. Often unintentionally, their home movies captured defining moments at a time when the nations of Europe were about to be plunged into the disaster that was the Second World War.
The final episode features colour films shot by travelling film-makers in Europe, including footage shot on the streets of Berlin decked in red swastikas at the time of the Olympic Games, rare pictures of the Jewish quarter in Warsaw just weeks before the Nazi invasion and, in London, tourists wearing gas masks amid fears of imminent bombing raids by the German Luftwaffe.
TUE 01:15 Our Hidden Lives (b0074rq6)
[Repeat of broadcast at
23:00 today]
TUE 02:30 Call the Cops (b00czj91)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:00 today]
WEDNESDAY 13 AUGUST 2008
WED 19:00 World News Today (b00czjj7)
The latest news from around the world.
WED 19:30 Pop Go the Sixties (b00d24qj)
Series 2
Cilla Black
Pop moments from the BBC's sixties archive. Back to 1968 and a song taken from Cilla Black's very own show, Cilla and her dancers perform a cover version of the Stevie Wonder classic Uptight.
WED 19:35 Batman (b00d1nkh)
Series 2
Batman's Satisfaction
Fantasy adventure series. Batman frees The Green Hornet to keep him under observation. He gets a message in alphabet soup after Pinky is abducted by Col Gumm. Bruce is unmasked as The Green Hornet.
WED 20:00 Black Power Salute (b00cgxbc)
Film about one of the most iconic images of the 20th century, when the radical spirit of the Sixties upstaged the greatest sporting event in the world. Two men made a courageous gesture that reverberated around the world and changed their lives forever. There were a number of unforgettable performances at Mexico City Olympic Games and many world records were broken, but the enduring image from the 1968 Games was when African-American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their gloved clenched fists in support of the Black Panther movement during the Star Spangled Banner, after receiving gold and bronze medals for the 200m sprint. They were subsequently banned from the Games for life. This documentary asks what inspired them to make their protest, why it carried such a powerful message and what happened to the unlikely revolutionaries following the Games.
WED 21:00 A Very British Olympics (b0074rrt)
Alan Coren narrates a film taking a humorous peek behind the scenes of the 1948 London Olympics. Set against a backdrop of austerity, there were moments when the games were in danger of becoming a farce. British athletes got fit on jelly and custard, the women had to make their own kit, and no one could find the British flag for the opening ceremony.
WED 22:00 Storyville (b00czjj9)
Flying - Confessions of a Free Woman
Episode 1
Filmed over five years, with stories from 17 countries across four continents, a documentary investigating personal and universal aspects of the lives of women today.
In 2002, Jennifer was 42-years-old, living the life she thought she had always wanted: based in New York, working as a filmmaker, surrounded by friends, with a married South African lover and a Swiss cinematographer boyfriend. But when her best friend was diagnosed with a brain tumour, she was forced to reassess her decision to stay single, shunning marriage, commitment and children. She decides to take her confusion and her camera out on the road to talk to women about their lives.
WED 00:00 Coal House (b008759m)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Sunday]
WED 00:30 A Very British Olympics (b0074rrt)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
WED 01:30 Black Power Salute (b00cgxbc)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 today]
WED 02:30 Storyville (b00czjj9)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:00 today]
THURSDAY 14 AUGUST 2008
THU 19:00 World News Today (b00czjpd)
The latest news from around the world.
THU 19:30 BBC Proms (b00czjpg)
2008
Prom 38: Barenboim and West-Eastern Divan
Sara Mohr-Pietsch introduces a concert in which Daniel Barenboim conducts the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, originally formed as a one-off experiment in 1999 to bring together Arab and Israeli musicians, in a performance of Haydn's Sinfonia Concertante for oboe, bassoon, violin and cello, Schoenberg's Variations for Orchestra and Brahms's Symphony Number 4 in E minor.
THU 21:55 21st Century Bach (b0074p5r)
Series 1
Great Fantasia and Fugue in C minor
Great Fantasia and Fugue in C minor played on the organ by York minister's organist John Scott Whiteley. Filmed at St Mary's Cathedral in Germany.
THU 22:05 Maestro (b00d1fqx)
Baton Camp
Clive Anderson takes us on a fascinating journey into the heart of music making as eight famous amateurs with a passion for classical music do battle for the chance to conduct the BBC Concert Orchestra at the world-famous Proms in the Park. Actors Jane Asher and David Soul, Drum and Bass star Goldie, Blur bassist Alex James, broadcasters Katie Derham and Peter Snow, and comedians Sue Perkins and Bradley Walsh compete to be the Maestro.
The celebrity students go on a week-long training camp where they must face an orchestra for the first time. On the final day they conduct the BBC Concert Orchestra in front of a panel of expert judges before the orchestra votes one of them out for good.
THU 23:35 BBC Four Sessions (b0074tgt)
John Cale
The maverick singer/songwriter in a concert specially filmed for BBC4 at LSO St. Luke's in London's East End.
The performance features material from Cale's the album Hobosapiens alongside classics dating back to Venus In Furs from his days as a founder member of Velvet Underground, plus many of the best moments from solo albums Paris 1919, Slow Dazzle and Music For A New Society.
THU 00:35 The Real Life on Mars (b00czhhw)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Monday]
THU 01:35 The Third Programme: High Culture for All (b0074rsj)
Francine Stock narrates a documentary chronicling the story of BBC's Third Programme. Introduced in 1946, the station was unlike anything else on the airwaves. Broadcasting only the very best of high culture, the Third Programme captured a new ideal - that elite culture was good for the whole nation. Surprisingly, it was a vision shared by both left and right.
THU 02:15 BBC Proms (b00czjpg)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:30 today]
FRIDAY 15 AUGUST 2008
FRI 19:00 World News Today (b00czjtf)
The latest news from around the world.
FRI 19:30 BBC Proms (b00czjth)
2008
Prom 40: Boulez and the BBC Symphony Orchestra
Sara Mohr-Pietsch introduces a concert in which Pierre Boulez conducts two of Janacek's greatest non-theatrical works, Sinfonietta and the Glagolitic Mass, and the quirky Capriccio for piano (left hand only). Organist Simon Preston and pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet join the massed forces of the BBC Symphony Chorus, the London Symphony Chorus and the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
FRI 21:40 A Seaside Parish (b0078tzg)
Series 2
Episode 4
Documentary series following Rev Christine Musser in the Cornish parish of Boscastle. As the indomitable villagers set to work to get their ruined harbour repaired in time for next tourist season, Chris is astonished to find that most people are reluctant to accept financial help from the flood appeal fund. Meanwhile, Trixie Webster's hopes for the future are buoyed up by an extraordinary stroke of fate.
FRI 22:15 Glastonbury (b00cd6mh)
2008
The Verve
The Verve close the 2008 festival in true anthemic style, as Richard Ashcroft and band remind the crowd of their momentous 90s album Urban Hymns by playing its hits, Bitter Sweet Symphony and The Drugs Don't Work, along with a couple of new numbers including Love Is Noise.
FRI 23:15 Black Power Salute (b00cgxbc)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 on Wednesday]
FRI 00:15 The Avengers (b0074sqv)
Series 4
Castle De'ath
Steed is forced to draw his sword when goings-on at Castle De'ath in Scotland take a mysterious turn, and Mrs Peel lays a ghost.
FRI 01:05 The Avengers (b0074sqy)
Series 4
The Master Minds
Steed becomes a genius while Emma loses her mind. Is foul play at work?
FRI 01:55 Glastonbury (b00cd6mh)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:15 today]
FRI 02:55 BBC Proms (b00czjth)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:30 today]