Documentary in which Andrew Graham-Dixon reveals how the Medici family transformed Florence through sculpture, painting and architecture, and created a world where masterpieces fetch millions today.
Without the money and patronage of the Medici we might never have heard of artists such as Donatello, Michelangelo or Botticelli. Graham-Dixon examines how a family of shadowy, corrupt businessmen, driven by greed and ambition, became the financial engine behind the Italian Renaissance.
Epic drama which details the slow fall from power of the Sicilian aristocrat Fabrizio Corbero aka The Leopard. As the Sicilian social and political landscape begins to change, his powers fade and the local peasant landowner rises to be his equal in both riches and status, bringing about a previously unlikely union between their families.
Charlie Brooker takes an irreverent look at all aspects of life on the small screen, including capsule reviews of the week's highs and lows.
Brooker takes a scalpel to 'mission' documentaries, the shows that begin with the presenter uttering 'I am on a mission to...' only to finish with a daft gimmick. After reviewing the current crop of mission documentaries, he goes on to make his own rather unusual version of the genre, highlighting the formats and tricks of the trade along the way.
In a rare interview, Quentin Blake talks to Mark Lawson about life as one of Britain's best known illustrators and children's authors, having illustrated over 300 books for writers such as Michael Rosen and John Yeoman.
His most prolific collaboration was with Roald Dahl and together they produced some of the most famous children's books ever, including The Twits, The BFG and Matilda. Blake also taught at the Royal College of Art from 1978 to 1986 and contributed to Punch magazine when only 16.
MONDAY 15 DECEMBER 2008
MON 19:00 World News Today (b00g33j8)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
MON 19:30 Top of the Pops (b008njrq)
Classic edition of Top of the Pops from 1968, presented by Jimmy Savile and Dave Cash. Artists featured include The Foundations, The Alan Price Set, Brenton Wood, Hermans Hermits, Status Quo, The Move and Amen Corner.
MON 20:00 The Hard Sell (b009hff5)
Toys
Phill Jupitus narrates a series looking at 50 years of British TV advertising. Britain's food and drink adverts have fed our minds, filled our bellies and quenched our thirst. The perfect adland recipe includes entertainment, persuasion and manipulation to steer Britain through home cooking and happy families to single living and tv dinners. Contributors include filmmaker Alan Parker, broadcaster Gregg Wallace, writer Joanna Blythman and Juan Cabral, the adman behind the Cadbury's Gorilla.
MON 20:30 Only Connect (b00g33jb)
Series 1
Episode 14
Semi-final of the quiz show presented by Victoria Coren in which knowledge will only take players so far, as patience and lateral thinking are also vital. It is all about making connections between things which may appear, at first glance, not to be connected at all.
MON 21:00 Growing Babies (b00fzty0)
Brainpower
Laverne Antrobus delves into the extraordinary world of foetal and infant neuropsychology as she tries to explain the curiosities of baby cognition. Babies just hours old can make complex inferences about people and objects, music and language, and even the principles of geometry and geography.
Antrobus asks how babies perceive the world around them, what they know and how they learn to process knowledge. She debates whether babies learn everything from experience or whether knowledge can be hardwired into their brilliant brains, an idea first postulated by psychologist Elisabeth Spelke when she unveiled theories about core knowledge.
Antrobus traces infant psychology back to some of the earliest theories and she meets researchers at Birkbeck College's Babylab who use hi-tech brain scanning equipment to delve deep inside the minds of babies. The theories here are slightly different. Denis Mareschal believes biased learning - babies' remarkable abilities to home in on key sources of information - is the key to intelligence.
The invention of the revolutionary 3D ultrasound has led to an unprecedented glut of revelations about foetal behaviour. Soon after the nervous system forms, the foetus begins ferociously practising for life after birth. Stimuli like sound and taste permeate the sanctity of the womb, shaping the character and personality of the growing foetus.
Dr Heidi Als's studies with premature babies reveal how vital the third trimester of pregnancy is for neurological development. While the brain is still learning to filter out unnecessary sensory stimulation, it relies on the womb to prevent it becoming overloaded. Premature babies don't have this luxury and their brains can often shut down when confronted by too many sensory stimuli.
MON 22:00 Inspector Montalbano (b00g6hqn)
Montalbano's Croquettes
As the small town of Vigata prepares for its New Year celebrations, local police inspector Salvo Montalbano is reluctantly making arrangements to travel to Paris with his girlfriend. What he would much rather do, however, is accept a dinner invitation by his cleaner Adelina, who has promised to cook rice croquettes.
A wealthy husband and wife are found dead in what appears to be a car accident, but which quickly turns into a murder investigation. As the circumstances surrounding the death of the couple grow more and more mysterious, clues point to the involvement of Adelina's son Pasquale.
In Italian with English subtitles.
MON 23:35 Legends (b00fzv3y)
Roy Orbison - The 'Big O' in Britain
Roy Orbison was the best singer in the world. That's what Elvis Presley said, and he should know.
To mark the 20th anniversary of Orbison's death, this programme celebrates the extraordinary talent of 'The Big O' and his relationship with his most loyal and enduring fans, British musicians and the British public. Through a combination of interview and archive, it charts Orbison's career in Britain, from the sell-out tour with the Beatles that sky-rocketed him to international superstardom, right up to the collaboration with lifelong friend George Harrison on the Travelling Wilburys project in the late 1980s. Effortlessly cool, musically sophisticated, Orbison was a rock and roll legend, whose legacy continues to captivate both the listeners and performers of today.
MON 00:35 Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night (b00g6349)
First broadcast in 1988 and filmed in black and white (hence the title!), this TV concert classic features Roy Orbison performing his classic songs with friends like Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, Jackson Browne, kd lang, Jennifer Warnes and Bonnie Raitt.
The TCB Band which backs all featured artists was Elvis Presley's band till his death in 1977 and includes James Burton, Glen D Hardin, Jerry Scheff and Ronnie Tutt with musical drector T Bone Burnett.
Filmed at the Coconut Grove nightclub in Los Angeles, the show was first broadcast on HBO in 1988, the year of Roy Orbison's death.
MON 01:40 Growing Babies (b00fzty0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
MON 02:40 Inspector Montalbano (b00g6hqn)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:00 today]
TUESDAY 16 DECEMBER 2008
TUE 19:00 World News Today (b00g34fd)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
TUE 19:30 Versailles Stories (b0074sjz)
Marketing Marie-Antoinette
Series exploring the history and modern evolution of one of France's great palaces through the stories of the people who work there today.
A massive fundraising effort is needed to finance one of the chateau's biggest ever restoration projects, the Petit Trianon. This exquisite small palace and its surrounding gardens were developed as a haven where Queen Marie-Antoinette could escape the stiff formality of the main chateau.
TUE 20:00 Legends (b00ddwcy)
Humphrey Lyttelton
A profile of the late jazz musician, band leader and broadcaster Humphrey Lyttelton's 60-year career.
As a jazzman, 'Humph' composed and performed Bad Penny Blues - the first jazz recording to enter the charts - and was feted by no less a figure than Louis Armstrong, who described him as Britain's top trumpeter.
For more than 40 years, he hosted some of the BBC's most successful radio shows, including Radio Two's Best of Jazz and the hugely popular antidote to panel game shows, Radio 4's I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, in which Humph propelled the art of the double entendre to new heights.
His family, friends and colleagues pay tribute to this enormously popular entertainer in a documentary featuring some unseen home movie footage, archive films of his finest performances, and interviews with regular guest panellists Graeme Garden, Tim Brooke-Taylor, Barry Cryer, Jeremy Hardy, Rob Brydon and Sandi Toksvig, as well as Humph's son Stephen.
TUE 21:00 I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue (b00dmpd2)
Filmed in April 2008, just three weeks before his death, Humphrey Lyttelton chairs his final I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue at the Lowry Centre's Lyric Theatre in Salford.
This touring show features many of Humph's best lines from the Radio 4 series, and is the only complete filmed version of I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue in existence. The cast is the regular line up of Barry Cryer, Graeme Garden, Tim Brooke-Taylor and pianist Colin Sell, with Jeremy Hardy as the guest panellist.
TUE 21:30 Only Connect (b00g33jb)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:30 on Monday]
TUE 22:00 The Cult of... (b0074t4b)
Science Fiction
Survivors
The series looking at cult sci-fi recalls Dalek creator Terry Nation's 1970s drama series Survivors, about the breakdown of society in a dystopian near-future.
Tapping into ideas of self-sufficiency and commune living that were current at the time, it dramatised the need for a new society to establish its own rules, its own hierarchies, and to build its own infrastructure.
Featuring interviews with the cast and crew, the programme uncovers many interesting facts about the making of Survivors.
TUE 22:30 Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe (b00g34fg)
Series 4
Episode 5
Charlie Brooker takes an irreverent look at all aspects of life on the small screen.
He turns his gaze to the state of kids' TV, giving a potted history of the genre and taking a look at psychedelic kids' shows both old and new. Brooker moves on to look at the newer trend for programmes to be made with the help of child psychologists and asks if it is a sinister development.
Plus, the reflections of a TV presenter, a poem from Tim Key and the revelation of dark TV tales from behind the scenes.
TUE 23:00 Kenneth Williams: Fantabulosa! (b0074s9v)
Witty drama adapted from Kenneth Williams's own words in his diaries. It's a spectacular journey inside the mind of one of British radio, TV and film's most popular, peculiar and comic performers. And one of its most tragic, too.
Spanning his entire life, this is the story of Williams's career and private life, a behind-the-scenes look at Williams, not only recreating some of his greatest performances, but also giving a candid and poignant insight into his professional hopes, personal upsets and sexual frustrations of a man who was uncomfortable in his own skin.
The screenplay is rude, arch, uncompromising and hilarious. Michael Sheen delivers a tour-de-force performance as ‘the man of a thousand voices’.
TUE 00:20 Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe (b00g34fg)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:30 today]
TUE 00:50 Legends (b00ddwcy)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 today]
TUE 01:50 Only Connect (b00g33jb)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:30 on Monday]
TUE 02:20 Kenneth Williams: Fantabulosa! (b0074s9v)
[Repeat of broadcast at
23:00 today]
TUE 03:40 Only Connect (b00g33jb)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:30 on Monday]
WEDNESDAY 17 DECEMBER 2008
WED 19:00 World News Today (b00g34sr)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
WED 19:30 Nation on Film (b0074t0g)
Series 1
Kearton's Wildlife
David Jason tells the story of how a farmer's son from Yorkshire became a pioneer of wildlife film-making and star of the silver screen. Cherry Kearton travelled the world from the 1920s in order to capture images cinema audiences had not seen before. Using his own remarkable footage, this documentary explores the work of Britain's first wildlife presenter and film-maker.
WED 20:00 Francesco's Venice (b0078sx5)
Death
Final episode of a documentary series telling the story of Venice, presented by Francesco da Mosto.
Venice may be sinking, it may even be in peril, but da Mosto is in no mood to throw in the towel. The fate of Venice still hangs in the balance, and he puts at least some of the blame at the door of the British. From the moment that Byron put Venice on the tourist map, the city has been caught up in a trail of events that has made life harder and harder for the Venetians.
But this episode is also Francesco's personal story, and he has pledged his belief in the future of Venice by continuing to live and bring up his children there, even though his life has been affected by the dangers the city faces. In the great flood of 1966 that threatened to wash the city away, he was a terrified child of five who watched the waters invade his home and wondered if life could ever continue. Francesco's father, Count da Mosto, reminisces about the 1966 floods with chilling immediacy, and Francesco swims the Grand Canal.
It has not just been the tourists or the rising waters of the lagoon that have threatened the city. Outrageous ideas to bring the city into the modern age have included bridges linking the city with mainland Italy, flattening old churches and even converting the Grand Canal into an eight-lane motorway.
WED 21:00 The Perfect House: The Life and Work of Palladio (b00g34st)
Documentary to mark the 500th anniversary of arguably the world's most influential architect, Andrea Palladio.
The villas, palaces and public buildings he designed for the aristocrats of Vicenza and Venice, as well as his seminal Four Books of Architecture, defined an architectural style that became known as Palladianism. Its influence can be seen everywhere, from the stately homes of England to the White House. The Palladian villa has been described as the 'perfect house', combining austere grandeur with an inspiring, intimate human scale.
The film takes us on a ravishing journey through the plains of the Veneto, visiting the surviving villas and exploring in detail what makes them work, with contributions from leading experts as well as the owners who know and love them.
WED 22:00 Cockles and Muscles (b00g34sw)
French comedy in which a couple take their teenage children to spend the summer at the seaside house of the father's youth. As the summer heat kindles the libido, love erupts for both young and old, and sexual adventures ensue.
WED 23:30 The Perfect House: The Life and Work of Palladio (b00g34st)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
WED 00:30 Jazz Britannia (b0074r1f)
Strange Brew
Terence Stamp narrates a series on the assimilation and development of jazz in Britain over the past 60 years. This edition recalls how British jazz found its independent voice during the 60s and 70s, freeing itself from dependence on the US and competing with rock 'n' roll on its own terms.
Contributors include Jack Bruce, Mike Westbrook, Peter King, Mike Garrick, John Surman and John McLaughlin.
WED 01:30 Francesco's Venice (b0078sx5)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 today]
WED 02:30 Nation on Film (b0074t0g)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:30 today]
WED 03:00 The Perfect House: The Life and Work of Palladio (b00g34st)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
THURSDAY 18 DECEMBER 2008
THU 19:00 World News Today (b00g34tj)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
THU 19:40 The New Avengers (b00g6h0j)
Series 1
Target
When five top agents die of 'natural' causes, Steed suspects foul play. All the deceased had recently applied for leave and all had undergone a physical check-up and target range practice. Steed and Gambit put the clues together and realise they must work fast to save Purdey before she is killed by an insidious poison.
THU 20:30 Beeching's Tracks (b00g3vnh)
Midlands
Pop impresario and ex-railway worker Pete Waterman goes on a journey across the West Midlands to ask whether Dr Beeching's ideas about the railways hold true today.
THU 21:00 Omnibus (b007bjhx)
The Wonderful World of Louis Armstrong
Profile of Louis Armstrong, the jazz legend whose glittering career included the hits What a Wonderful World and the James Bond theme We Have All the Time in the World.
Aside from his astonishing musical success, Armstrong also found time to appear in films and act as a global ambassador. Tributes and anecdotes are given by the likes of Max Roach, George Melly, Dave Brubeck and Humphrey Lyttelton.
THU 22:10 Show of the Week (b0074nmh)
Louis Armstrong
A concert by the jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong and his All Stars from their 1968 British tour. Songs include Blueberry Hill, Mack the Knife and Wonderful World.
THU 23:00 Louis Armstrong: Good Evening Ev'rybody (b00g35n4)
Believed to be the last filmed performance of Louis Armstrong, this never-before-released concert from the 1970 Newport Jazz Festival celebrates Armstrong's 70th birthday. Accompanied by jazz legends such as Dizzy Gillespie, Jimmy Owens, Bobby Hackett and Wild Bill Davison, Armstrong performs several of his greatest hits including Pennies From Heaven, Blueberry Hill and What A Wonderful World.
THU 00:00 The Fabulous Dorseys (b00784qx)
True tale of how the famed musical brothers Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, trombonist and saxophonist respectively, rose from humble working-class beginnings in a Pennsylvania steel town to become the jazz-swing sensation of the 1930s and 1940s. Songs include Green Eyes, Marie and I'll Never Say Never Again.
THU 01:25 Cockles and Muscles (b00g34sw)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:00 on Wednesday]
THU 02:55 Omnibus (b007bjhx)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
FRIDAY 19 DECEMBER 2008
FRI 19:00 World News Today (b00g3690)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
FRI 19:30 Robin and the Seven Hoods (b00g3692)
The Robin Hood legend is updated to 1928 Prohibition-era Chicago in this spoof gangster film in which a good-at-heart mobster becomes a folk hero among the poor when he and his merry gang set about usurping the underworld's new kingpin. Songs include My Kind of Town, which was nominated for an Academy Award.
FRI 21:30 The Swing Thing (b00g3694)
Documentary telling the story of swing, an obscure form of jazz that became the first worldwide pop phenomenon, inspired the first ever youth culture revolution and became a byword for sexual liberation and teenage excess well before the Swinging Sixties.
In the process, swing threw up some of the greatest names in 20th century music, from Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington to Billie Holiday and Frank Sinatra. The film uses archive and contemporary accounts to shed light on why it endures today.
FRI 23:00 The New Avengers (b00g6h0j)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:40 on Thursday]
FRI 23:50 Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe (b00g34fg)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:30 on Tuesday]
FRI 00:20 The World of Nat King Cole (b0074qxl)
A portrait of the popular entertainer Nat King Cole, which uses a combination of rare and unseen archive including home movies, performances, and interviews to shed an intimate new light on the man behind the silky voice. Interviewees include Stevie Wonder, Andre 3000 Benjamin of Outkast, Whoopi Goldberg, Carlos Santana, Harry Connick Jr, Tony Bennett, BB King, Jools Holland, Quincy Jones, Baz Luhrmann and the entire Cole family.
FRI 01:50 Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe (b00g34fg)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:30 on Tuesday]
FRI 02:20 The Swing Thing (b00g3694)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:30 today]