Stephen Fry begins his epic 2,000-mile journey up the Mississippi in the sultry, voodoo-soaked streets of New Orleans during its busiest day of the year - Mardi Gras.
He meets a Jewish voodoo priestess, an Iraqi war veteran experiencing flashbacks in the abandoned neighbourhoods destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, down-and-outs not living the American Dream, and takes a tour through Angola, one of America's most notorious prisons.
In the Delta he gets the blues with actor Morgan Freeman at his club in Clarksdale and in Chicago drives guitar legend Buddy Guy round his old stomping grounds on the South Side. Forsaking calmness at the Transcendental Meditation HQ in Iowa, he travels to Motown - Detroit - where he gets to drive in a Model T and the latest Cadillac with its designer, before enjoying the rustic beauty of an Amish farm and learning how to milk a sheep in Wisconsin.
At the river's source in Minnesota he learns how the Hmong refugees, so far from their opium-growing villages in Laos, are adapting to the snowy wastes, before catching his first fish in 40 years on the frozen Lake Minnetonka.
The original 1975 outing for John Mortimer's top TV barrister, Horace Rumpole. Rumpole is well known to the hacks at the Old Bailey and is the sort that calls the judge 'Old Darling', but never his wife, aka She Who Must Be Obeyed.
He defends a case of assault, touching on themes of race, police corruption, literacy and his own considerable powers of persuasion.
Documentary examining the thoughts and observations of writer, raconteur and national treasure, Sir John Mortimer.
He enjoyed a successful career as a QC before becoming a full-time writer, a staunch defender of civil liberties who was involved in the Oz magazine obscenity trial in the 1960s and the man who won the Sex Pistols the right to put the word 'bollocks' in the title of their infamous album.
Opinionated and unconventional, Mortimer persists in speaking out against the ludicrous ways in which politicians try to curtail our liberties and, very often, our fun. This characteristic outspokenness is delivered with such gentlemanly charm and wit that he continues to be admired and adored by all.
John Mortimer presents a programme from Tuscany, the beloved Chiantishire of the British, where he watches beautiful girls, visits Harry's Bar and talks to a waspish Harold Acton about the beauty of the region and the richness of its art and literature.
TV adaptation of John Mortimer's autobiographical play in honour of his barrister father, who continued to practise even after going blind as a result of a gardening accident.
John Mortimer looks at the international treaty banning the death penalty for under 18-year-olds.
MONDAY 19 JANUARY 2009
MON 19:00 World News Today (b00gvg7r)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
MON 19:30 The American Future: A History, by Simon Schama (b00f4zgd)
American Fervour
While the 2008 presidential campaign is in full swing, Simon Schama travels through America to dig deep into the conflicts of its history to understand what is at stake right now.
Simon explores the ways in which faith has shaped American political life. His starting point is a remarkable fact about the coming election: for the first time in a generation it is the Democrats who claim to be the party of God. It is Barack Obama, not John McCain, who has been talking about his faith. In Britain we have always thought of American religion as a largely conservative force, yet Simon shows how throughout American history it has played a crucial role in the fight for freedom.
Faith helped create America - it was the search for religious freedom that led thousands to make the dangerous journey to the colonies in the 1600s. After independence was won, that religious freedom was enshrined in the constitution; America was the first country in the world to do so. Simon also looks at the remarkable role the black church has played, first in the liberation of the slaves in the 1800s, and again in the civil rights movement of the 1960s; neither would have happened without its religious activists. It is this very church that has been the inspiration for Barack Obama, who traces the roots of his political inspiration to his faith.
MON 20:30 An Islamic History of Europe (b00gvg7t)
Episode 3
Rageh Omaar goes on a fascinating journey in search of the story of Islam in Europe. Omaar discovers how a flourishing Islamic culture was destroyed by ambition, betrayal and oppression. He visits the last stronghold of Islam in Spain, Granada, and reveals how the fall-out from the final conflict still resonates today in the ongoing divide between East and West.
MON 21:00 Science and Islam (b00gvg7w)
The Power of Doubt
Physicist Jim Al-Khalili tells the story of the great leap in scientific knowledge that took place in the Islamic world between the 8th and 14th centuries.
Al-Khalili turns detective, hunting for clues that show how the scientific revolution that took place in the 16th and 17th centuries in Europe had its roots in the earlier world of medieval Islam. He travels across Iran, Syria and Egypt to discover the huge astronomical advances made by Islamic scholars through their obsession with accurate measurement and coherent and rigorous mathematics.
He then visits Italy to see how those Islamic ideas permeated into the west and ultimately helped shape the works of the great European astronomer Copernicus, and investigates why science in the Islamic world appeared to go into decline after the 16th and 17th centuries, only for it to re-emerge in the present day.
Al-Khalili ends his journey in the Royan Institute in the Iranian capital Tehran, looking at how science is now regarded in the Islamic world.
MON 22:00 Gerry Robinson and the Money Makers (b00gvg7y)
Willie Walsh
Businessman Gerry Robinson finds out what makes some of the country's top financial movers and shakers tick.
He meets Willie Walsh, the boss of British Airways, a company that was once known as 'The World's Favourite Airline' and remains a national icon. Walsh, who started off as a teenage pilot, enjoyed a run of good fortune in the boardroom, turning BA around and delivering record profits.
However, disaster stuck as he became the public face of successive crises which assumed national significance, from the doomed opening of Heathrow's Terminal 5, a PR debacle which cost him his bonus, to the threat of a boycott over religious discrimination and mass environmental protests.
With the economic crisis and fluctuating fuel prices threatening the entire airline industry, the fortunes of British Airways are far from certain, as Robinson attempts to discover the psychological secrets that have helped Walsh survive his toughest time in business.
MON 22:30 John Mortimer: A Life in Words (b00gvfzp)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:05 on Sunday]
MON 23:30 President Hollywood (b00djm6q)
Jonathan Freedland reveals how 2008's dramatic race for the White House was run before on 'The West Wing'. The TV series held an election between a charismatic, non-white Democrat called Matt Santos and an appealing, experienced Republican Arnold Vinick; two candidates remarkably similar to Barack Obama and John McCain.
Freedland argues that the relationship between on-screen art and political life is nothing new. Both Hollywood and Washington have been exerting their power and influence over the image of the presidency for nearly a century.
This programme was originally broadcast in September 2008, before the US election.
MON 00:30 Timeshift (b00djlz9)
Series 8
How to Be a Good President
In a whistlestop tour through the history of the US presidency, journalist and author Jonathan Freedland asks what qualities make a great president and what we can learn from the likes of Theodore Roosevelt, JFK or even Richard Nixon about what it takes to make a mark in the White House.
Freedland is helped by distinguished contributors, including James Naughtie, Shirley Williams, Douglas Hurd, Simon Hoggart and Bonnie Greer, who give frank assessments of some of America's greatest presidents.
MON 01:30 Gerry Robinson and the Money Makers (b00gvg7y)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:00 today]
MON 02:00 John Mortimer: A Life in Words (b00gvfzp)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:05 on Sunday]
MON 03:00 An Islamic History of Europe (b00gvg7t)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:30 today]
MON 03:30 Science and Islam (b00gvg7w)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
TUESDAY 20 JANUARY 2009
TUE 19:00 World News Today (b00gvhjc)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
TUE 19:30 Science and Islam (b00gvg7w)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Monday]
TUE 20:30 The House of Chanel (b0074s6x)
The All Night Vigil
Series following the creation of Chanel's Haute Couture collection. Time is running out and Karl Lagerfeld has added more designs, ensuring panic stations and sleepless nights for everyone. Mme Pouzieux is at her loom, the embroiderers are working round the clock and the show is fast approaching. Will everything be ready in time?
TUE 21:00 The High Life (b00gvhjj)
Birl
Comedy set among the cabin crew of a passenger jet on a budget airline. As standards fall, the company orders its employees to attend a weekend of intensive retraining. Steve finds love, Shona finds herself and Sebastian finds out a secret.
TUE 21:30 Early Doors (b0078k4l)
Series 1
Episode 2
Comedy series set in a small Manchester public house, co-written by and starring The Royle Family's Craig Cash. Joe's marriage is in crisis. Melanie's boyfriend has a big surprise for her. The hospital denies all knowledge of Sheila's husband.
TUE 22:00 Cowards (b00gvhjn)
Episode 1
Cowards is a new 4-man sketch show packed with surprise and invention.
Scenarios include disaffected judges, office bullying via Skype, Russian roulette at the dinner table, a jobseeker aiming to become Mick Hucknall’s PA and a dog with a secret – all delivered with the unique Cowards brand of joyful deadpan absurdity.
The team of Tom Basden, Stefan Golaszewski, Tim Key and Lloyd Woolf have honed their voice over two acclaimed Edinburgh Festival shows, a returning series on Radio 4 and the first online sketch show for BBC3. Their highly-accomplished TV debut is a thrilling new arrival in the comedy landscape.
With top comedy director Steve Bendelack (League of Gentlemen, Little Britain, The Royle Family, Mighty Boosh) at the helm, Cowards is a funny, visually-arresting show performed with skill and subtlety by four of the best young writer-performers around.
TUE 22:30 Mad Men (b00bbslg)
Series 1
Indian Summer
Drama series set in the world of advertising in 1960s New York. While Peggy is assigned to a difficult project, Don grabs an opportunity provided by Roger's latest work problems. Pete has more problems at home and at the office. Betty's frustrations lead her to seek some new relief. Peggy goes on a blind date.
TUE 23:15 Beau Brummell - This Charming Man (b0074smm)
Fast-paced period drama chronicling the rise and fall of the 18th-century dandy and man-about-town. Long before the age of celebrity, Brummell was causing a stir amongst the glitterati of London, with the Prince Regent among his closest friends. Yet his meteoric rise to fame preceded an equally spectacular descent, and he was forced to flee England in 1816.
TUE 00:35 Cowards (b00gvhjn)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:00 today]
TUE 01:05 Science and Islam (b00gvg7w)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Monday]
TUE 02:05 The House of Chanel (b0074s6x)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:30 today]
TUE 02:35 Cowards (b00gvhjn)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:00 today]
TUE 03:05 Beau Brummell - This Charming Man (b0074smm)
[Repeat of broadcast at
23:15 today]
WEDNESDAY 21 JANUARY 2009
WED 19:00 World News Today (b00gvjpz)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
WED 19:30 Ready to Wear (b0077rt4)
Something for the Weekend
Documentary series exploring the history of Britain through developments in fashion looks at the discovery of leisure time and the clothes to go with it.
WED 20:00 Savile Row (b008yvwv)
Foreign Affairs
Three-part documentary series about Savile Row, the London street famous for its bespoke tailoring establishments. To survive in the international menswear market the tailors need to think as one and promote themselves, so they hit the road with a touring exhibition that stops first in Florence, taking centre stage at the world's biggest menswear expo. New rules and regulations that define what a Savile Row tailor is, and where he may operate, begin to cause trouble in Mayfair and in Kensington.
WED 21:00 The Secret World of Haute Couture (b0074t0r)
Margy Kinmonth meets millionaire customers and world-famous designers as she explores the anachronistic but little-explained pocket of the fashion industry known as haute couture.
WED 22:00 Style on Trial (b00gvb2y)
1970s
Stuart Maconie and Lauren Laverne put British style and fashion between the 1940s and the 1990s into the dock. To discuss the 1970s they are joined in the studio by British fashion designer Zandra Rhodes, the maker of three-tier wedge sandals for the 70s rock aristocracy Terry de Havilland, and Wayne Hemingway, a teenager of the decade who went on to create his own fashion label.
WED 23:00 Storyville (b0074mb9)
Fashion Victim
Documentary telling the strange story of fashion designer Gianni Versace, a household name and designer to the stars, who was murdered on the steps of his Miami mansion in 1997.
WED 00:15 The Secret World of Haute Couture (b0074t0r)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
WED 01:15 Savile Row (b008yvwv)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 today]
WED 02:15 Style on Trial (b00gvb2y)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:00 today]
WED 03:15 Storyville (b0074mb9)
[Repeat of broadcast at
23:00 today]
THURSDAY 22 JANUARY 2009
THU 19:00 World News Today (b00gvjy1)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
THU 19:40 The New Avengers (b00h4jgx)
Series 1
Faces
A brilliant plastic surgeon has begun to recruit down-and-outs to brainwash and then use to replace high-ranking government officials. Steed becomes involved when a friend of his dies after being switched.
THU 20:30 The House of Chanel (b0074s7w)
The Collection
Series following the creation of Chanel's Haute Couture collection. The new designs are about to be revealed, but a terrific thunderstorm breaks just as the VIPs are starting to arrive. The politics of the seating plan and the late arrivals make for heavy weather inside. Is Karl Lagerfeld ready for his public and will they buy?
THU 21:00 Timeshift (b00gks10)
Series 8
Fashion versus the BBC
Documentary which takes a provocative and entertaining journey through the BBC's own fashion collection.
For 50 years the BBC has often treated fashion as a frivolous, decadent diversion from the serious matters of life, but now a 'style council' of fashion writers and commentators including Peter York, Colin McDowell, Ted Polhemus and Hilary Alexander turns the tables and lets British fashion take on the BBC.
In the 1950s we find programmes debating whether men should decide what women wear. In the 1960s we see Alan Whicker unleashed upon the 'silly, superficial world' of French couture, while the big story of Mary Quant is almost ignored back home. In the 1970s comes the revulsion against punk style, and it is not until the 1980s that TV treats fashion with any kind of appreciation with The Clothes Show, generally held as the BBC's finest hour in the world of dressing up.
The programmes concludes that British fashion is unique in that it is driven more by youth culture than by fashion houses. Through the stories of the models, the designers, the photographers and the clothes themselves, it shows how the establishment has come to terms with the transformation of post-war Britain.
THU 22:00 Style on Trial (b00h4x56)
1980s
Stuart Maconie and Lauren Laverne put British style and fashion between the 1940s and the 1990s into the dock. To discuss the 1980s they are joined in the studio by former fashion editor of i-D magazine and host of The Clothes Show, Caryn Franklin; bass player from Duran Duran, John Taylor; and Stevie Stewart, a designer from Boy George's favourite fashion label of the decade, Bodymap.
THU 23:00 Men, Women and Clothes (b00gvjy3)
Informal Clothes
1950s fashion history series. Doris Langley Moore talks about how the capriciousness of fashion is demonstrated most readily in informal clothes, which are less expensive and therefore changed more frequently than formal attire. We are also shown an original example of the revolutionary Dior 'New Look' suit of 1947 alongside the boxy, utilitarian alternative favoured by the British government.
THU 23:15 The Look (b00h44ty)
Material World
Series which lifts the lid on the fashion world takes a look at fabric and how it is used to completely different effect by designers like Issey Miyake, Gianni Versace and Christian Lacroix.
THU 00:05 The Legend of Leigh Bowery (b0074p0w)
Profile of Australian fashion designer and performer Leigh Bowery, whose outrageous art made a huge impact on British cultural life before his untimely death in 1994. Contributors include Damien Hirst, Michael Clark, Boy George, Rifat Ozbeck, Bella Freud, Cerith Wyn Evans and Norman Rosenthal of the Royal Academy of Art.
THU 01:20 Timeshift (b00gks10)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
THU 02:20 Style on Trial (b00h4x56)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:00 today]
THU 03:20 Timeshift (b00gks10)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
FRIDAY 23 JANUARY 2009
FRI 19:00 World News Today (b00gvk8s)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
FRI 19:30 Transatlantic Sessions (b00gvk8v)
Series 1
Episode 2
Folk musicians come together in what have been called 'the greatest backporch shows ever', introduced by Aly Bain and Jay Ungar. This edition features top country singers, musicians and songwriters from Scotland, Ireland and North America.
FRI 20:00 Seasick Steve: Bringing It All Back Home (b00gvk8x)
Documentary which joins former hobo and festival favourite bluesman Seasick Steve on a trip back to his old stomping grounds in America's Deep South. Filmed in Mississippi and Tennessee, the programme follows the musician into his natural habitat of run-down juke joints, roadside diners and freight-train yards, as he reflects on his past life and recent rise to fame.
In addition to Steve's raw, stomping tunes, the soundtrack features Mississippi Fred McDowell, Robert Johnson, RL Burnside and BB King.
FRI 20:30 Seasick Steve at Reading 2008 (b00gvk8z)
Seasick Steve and his band bring their unique brand of 'Hill Country' delta blues to the young audience at Reading festival in August 2008.
FRI 21:00 Folk America (b00gvk91)
Birth of a Nation
Three-part documentary series on American folk music, tracing its history from the recording boom of the 1920s to the folk revival of the 1960s.
The opening part looks at how, in the 1920s, record companies scoured the American south for talent to sell. This was a golden age of American music, as the likes of the Carter Family, Jimmie Rodgers, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Charlie Poole, Dock Boggs and Mississippi John Hurt burst onto record, eager to have a share in the new industry and the money it made, only to lapse into obscurity when the depression hit at the start of the 30s.
Contributors include Judy Collins, Steve Earle, Tom Paxton and Pete Seeger, surviving relations of 1920s greats such as Mississippi John Hurt, the Carter Family and Uncle Dave Macon, plus three actual survivors of the era - guitarist Slim Bryant, banjoist Wade Mainer and Delta bluesman 'Honeyboy' Edwards.
FRI 22:00 Folk America at the Barbican (b00gvk93)
Hollerers, Stompers and Old-Time Ramblers
Hosted by maverick bluesman Seasick Steve, this concert from the Barbican in London showcases an exciting revival of the old-time musical traditions first recorded in the American South in the 1920s.
It features Appalachian mountain string band music, vaudeville swing, junk shop blues, creole dance tunes and folk country ballads, all delivered via energetic performances with a fresh twist. An eclectic line-up of young and emerging talent includes CW Stoneking, The Wiyos, Allison Williams and Chance McCoy, Diana Jones, and Cedric Watson and Bijoux Creole.
FRI 23:00 Desperate Man Blues (b00gvk95)
Joe Bussard is a cultural scavenger, musician, broadcaster and a pioneer in the preservation of 78rpm records and the roots music produced in pure and undiluted form in the 1920s and 30s.
Bussard has rescued priceless shellac artefacts from attics and basements across the US for more than 50 years, amassing a vast collection of more than 25,000 rare discs. At 65, Bussard has the enthusiasm and energy of a 16-year-old and will happily spin 75-year-old records all day for anyone who will listen, all the while giving a running commentary on the music and performer, reliving the day it was made and relating his tales of how he came to rescue the records.
FRI 23:55 The New Avengers (b00h4jgx)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:40 on Thursday]
FRI 00:50 Cowards (b00gvhjn)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:00 on Tuesday]
FRI 01:20 Folk America (b00gvk91)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
FRI 02:20 Folk America at the Barbican (b00gvk93)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:00 today]
FRI 03:20 Seasick Steve: Bringing It All Back Home (b00gvk8x)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 today]
FRI 03:50 Seasick Steve at Reading 2008 (b00gvk8z)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:30 today]