A look back at the history of the hugely popular children's series, Jackanory, in which a well-known actor would read a book to camera alongside specially-commissioned illustrations. With contributions from readers, writers and producers including Alan Bennett, Patricia Routledge and Quentin Blake.
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.
In the 1960s a new generation, spearheaded by Joan Baez and Bob Dylan, took folk to the top of the charts and made it the voice of youthful protest. Whilst the northern folk revivalists helped bring civil rights to the south, the Newport Folk Festival brought the old music of the south to the college kids in the north. However, when Dylan turned up at Newport in 1965 with an electric guitar things would never be the same again.
With Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, Judy Collins, Robbie Robertson, Stephen Stills, Country Joe McDonald, Roger McGuinn, Odetta and Tom Paxton.
Children's laureate and poet Michael Rosen, worried that children don't seem to read as much as they used to, takes on an ordinary primary school in Cardiff to see if he can start a reading revolution in just ten weeks.
He gives the staff permission to break into a packed curriculum simply to introduce good books and stories, after discovering that a lot of the children don't have many books at home and have never visited a library.
Lighthearted French drama in which a woman, Jessica, arrives in Paris from a small town and gets a job as a waitress on Avenue de Montaigne, the artistic, musical and theatrical centre of the city.
She meets an array of fascinating customers, including a popular actress, a Hollywood director, an art collector and a celebrated pianist. As we learn more about their personal problems and situations, we see how Jessica's charming, genuine and naïve personality has a transforming effect on them.
Writer Michael Smith takes on the guise of a contemporary Citizen Smith, scouring England in search of a modern day definition of nationality. He hits the working waterways and dark satanic malls of the Thames Estuary, uncovers the shocking existence of 'food deserts' in the shadow of Europe's largest shopping centre and catches the proverbial worm on the early shift at Billingsgate fish market, as English traders grudgingly rub shoulders with an increasingly-powerful immigrant clientele.
MONDAY 09 FEBRUARY 2009
MON 19:00 World News Today (b00hk7vz)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
MON 19:30 Picture Book (b00fd164)
When We Were Very Young
Series which reveals the enchanting story of our childhood reading.
This opening part looks at our very first books and the picture-book heaven they create for under-fives, exploring the magical interplay of words and pictures and how they begin to shape our childhood imagination.
Featuring favourites from The Tale of Peter Rabbit to Charlie and Lola, from Noddy to Thomas the Tank Engine, plus modern classics such as We're Going on a Bear Hunt and Each Peach Pear Plum.
There are also interviews, readings and demonstrations of their art from leading writers and illustrators including Michael Rosen, Shirley Hughes, Alan Ahlberg and Lauren Child.
MON 20:30 The Book Quiz (b00hk7w1)
Series 3
Episode 3
Kirsty Wark presents the literary panel game, as poet laureate Andrew Motion and actor Jan Ravens do battle against crime writer Jake Arnott and chick-lit writer Wendy Holden.
MON 21:00 Why Reading Matters (b00hk7w3)
Science writer Rita Carter tells the story of how modern neuroscience has revealed that reading, something most of us take for granted, unlocks remarkable powers. Carter explains how the classic novel Wuthering Heights allows us to step inside other minds and understand the world from different points of view, and she wonders whether the new digital revolution could threaten the values of classic reading.
MON 22:00 Storyville (b00hk7w5)
Heavy Load
Documentary about punk band Heavy Load, subject to the combustible flux of ego, ambition, fantasy, expectation and desire that fuels any emerging band, but uniquely made up of musicians with and without learning disabilities.
This makes the band's survival a precarious negotiation between two different worlds - on the one hand the institutional timetable of day centres, work placements and social workers and, on the other, the chaotic slacker life of rehearsal rooms, studios and gigs.
MON 23:00 Cowards (b00hd1tw)
Episode 3
Four-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 a unique 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.
MON 23:30 Citizen Smith (b008vs26)
Members
Writer Michael Smith takes on the guise of a contemporary Citizen Smith, scouring England in search of a modern day definition of nationality. He investigates what it takes to become a member of the nation's rich assortment of private clubs and ends up banging his head on the glass ceiling, voicing the frustrations most have felt when stuck outside somewhere nice. The Colony Rooms, The Athenaeum, the Dangerous Sports Club and the arrival hall at Heathrow all feature.
MON 00:00 Why Reading Matters (b00hk7w3)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
MON 01:00 Picture Book (b00fd164)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:30 today]
MON 02:00 Storyville (b00hk7w5)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:00 today]
MON 03:00 Why Reading Matters (b00hk7w3)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
TUESDAY 10 FEBRUARY 2009
TUE 19:00 World News Today (b00hk8qx)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
TUE 19:30 Picture Book (b00fh49n)
Now We Are Six
Series telling the enchanting story of children's books continues by looking at the time we first begin to read, and how the magical interplay of words and images continues to shape our childhood imagination.
From the age of six we want books to make sense of the middle years of our childhood as we go to school and make new friendships, a time when we love books full of fantastical worlds, a comforting place of talking animals, but also a frightening one of wild woods and giants.
The programme explores over 150 years of classic books, from Alice in Wonderland to The Wind in the Willows, from Winnie the Pooh to The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, and features interviews, readings and demonstrations of their art from leading writers and illustrators such as Philip Pullman, Jacqueline Wilson, Anthony Horowitz, Quentin Blake and Raymond Briggs.
TUE 20:30 Odetta Remembers (b00hd376)
Profile of Odetta, dubbed the Queen of Folk by Martin Luther King, who died at the age of 77 in December 2008.
Born in Alabama in times of harsh racial segregation, Odetta said she healed her hatred and hurt by singing. Through her own words in a long, intimate interview with the BBC, the film pays tribute to the life and work of a great guitarist, singer and civil rights campaigner who was hugely influential on the 60s folk revival. Featuring concert footage from throughout her 50-year career.
TUE 21:00 The High Life (b00hk8qz)
Dug
Sitcom set among the cabin crew of a passenger jet. Sebastian hits on a wild scheme to find fame, fortune and females for Steve by entering a song for Scotland's representatation at Eurovision. Shona meets her idol and plans her escape from mundanity, while Captain Duff is a little confused.
TUE 21:30 Early Doors (b0078kfw)
Series 1
Episode 5
Comedy series set in a small Manchester public house. It is Joan and Eddie's anniversary and they plan to celebrate in style at The Grapes with a fish supper for later. Eddie's mother-in-law Nellie is causing him concern so Tommy offers the sympathetic advice of putting her in a home. Duffy involves Joe in an extramarital deception.
TUE 22:00 Mad Men (b00hk8r1)
Series 2
For Those Who Think Young
Drama series which takes an unflinching look at the world of advertising in 1960s New York.
On Valentine's Day, the staff of the Sterling Cooper Advertising Agency are hustling and checking out the latest in office equipment. Don and Duck clash over an account, while Betty runs into an old friend.
TUE 22:45 Party Animals (b0079558)
Series 1
Episode 1
Drama series taking a look at Westminster from the ground up, based around the young researchers and advisers shouldering huge responsibility in a frantic, high-stakes world.
Jo Porter, Labour MP, is demolished in a Commons debate by her Tory counterpart James Northcote. Jo wants to know how this happened and Danny her researcher has to own up - he left the speech in a pub toilet the night before. Danny has to fight for his career but is not helped by scheming intern Kirsty who he adores.
TUE 23:35 Citizen Smith (b008x3yx)
Religion
Writer Michael Smith takes on the guise of a contemporary Citizen Smith, scouring England in search of a modern day definition of nationality. He weighs up the relative appeal of traditional religions versus a nation in thrall to the gods of Ikea and mass consumerism. Gospel churches, mass evangelical gatherings and even the witches and warlocks of middle England come under his scrutiny, as he witnesses a hilltop stand off between pagans and morris dancers at a sunrise celebration.
TUE 00:05 BBC Four World Cinema Awards (b00hd0jb)
2009
Jonathan Ross hosts the annual celebration of world cinema from the BFI. Guests include Werner Herzog and John Hurt.
TUE 01:05 Picture Book (b00fh49n)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:30 today]
TUE 02:05 Odetta Remembers (b00hd376)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:30 today]
TUE 02:35 Citizen Smith (b008x3yx)
[Repeat of broadcast at
23:35 today]
TUE 03:05 BBC Four World Cinema Awards (b00hd0jb)
[Repeat of broadcast at
00:05 today]
WEDNESDAY 11 FEBRUARY 2009
WED 19:00 World News Today (b00hk8yp)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
WED 19:30 Picture Book (b00fm6vc)
Now We Are Growing Up
Series telling the enchanting story of childhood reading looks at books that help us with the growing pains of our early adolescence and teens.
Though words on the page begin to dominate, we still need strong visual imagery in books to understand darker and more complex worlds, as the magical interplay of words and pictures continues into early adulthood.
Books explored here include Treasure Island, Swallows and Amazons, Lord of the Rings, Stig of the Dump, Tracey Beaker, Northern Lights and Artemis Fowl, while there are interviews, readings and demonstrations of their art from leading writers and illustrators including Philip Pullman, Jacqueline Wilson, Eoin Colfer, David Almond, Ralph Steadman and Dave McKean.
WED 20:30 Books for Boys: A Mission Impossible (b0074q35)
Richard Hammond investigates the art of writing children's fiction and discovers that it isn't as easy as he thinks. Contributors include authors Mallory Blackman and Anthony Horowitz, publishers David Elliot and Brad Thompson, novelist John O'Farrell, children's author Garth Nix and feminist writer Natasha Walter.
WED 21:00 How Reading Made Us Modern (b00hk7mx)
English literature professor John Mullan explores the dramatic increase in reading which took place in 18th-century Britain, as it went from being the preserve of the rich to the national pastime it is today.
In 1695 a tiny amendment to the British constitution allowed for a flood of publications, without which Britain would be almost unrecognisable. This was the era that gave us the first ever magazines, newspapers and perhaps most vitally, the novel.
Mullan takes us from raucous, politically-charged coffee houses to the circulating library, the social space of the late 1700s. There is a glimpse inside an 18th century lady's closet where she hid with her novel, and Mullan also celebrates the hero of the reading revolution, Dr Samuel Johnson.
WED 22:00 Stephen Fry and the Gutenberg Press (b009wynj)
Stephen Fry examines the story behind the first media entrepreneur, printing press inventor Johann Gutenberg, to find out why he did it and how, a story which involves both historical enquiry and hands-on craft and technology. Fry travels across Europe to find out how Gutenberg kept his development work secret, about the role of avaricious investors and unscrupulous competitors and why Gutenberg's approach started a cultural revolution. He then sets about building a copy of Gutenberg's press.
WED 23:00 Samuel Johnson: The Dictionary Man (b0074snf)
Drama-documentary telling the story of Samuel Johnson's creation of the first English dictionary, in an attic room just off Fleet Street in Georgian London. The depressive writer-for-hire with Tourette's syndrome did for the English language what Newton had done for the stars, classifying words, fixing their meaning and bringing order to the chaos of language. It took him nine years, but in the process an anonymous writer became a literary superstar.
WED 00:00 How Reading Made Us Modern (b00hk7mx)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
WED 01:00 Picture Book (b00fm6vc)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:30 today]
WED 02:00 Stephen Fry and the Gutenberg Press (b009wynj)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:00 today]
WED 03:00 How Reading Made Us Modern (b00hk7mx)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
THURSDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2009
THU 19:00 World News Today (b00hkb0t)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
THU 19:40 The New Avengers (b00hnd5p)
Series 1
Dirtier by the Dozen
1970s action adventure series. Gambit is due to meet an agent called Travis but he finds him dead, clutching a can of film. When Steed views the film, it shows soldiers fighting in a forest. There seems to be nothing special about the film, but he knows it must have been important.
A general disappears and a wounded soldier is kidnapped from a country hospital. Suspicion falls on the commandos at a nearby army base, and Steed, Purdey and Gambit have to find out what is going on.
THU 20:30 Alison Krauss: A Hundred Miles or More (b00hkb0x)
Filmed at the Tracking Room recording studio in Nashville, the queen of bluegrass-infused country, Alison Krauss performs songs from her 2007 album A Hundred Miles Or More. Backed by members of her regular Union Station band, Alison is joined for duets by James Taylor, Brad Paisley and Tony Rice.
THU 21:00 The Lost Libraries of Timbuktu (b00hkb0z)
Aminatta Forna tells the story of legendary Timbuktu and its long-hidden legacy of hundreds of thousands of ancient manuscripts. With its university founded around the same time as Oxford, Timbuktu is proof that the reading and writing of books have long been as important to Africans as they are to Europeans.
THU 22:00 We Need Answers (b00hkbc6)
Series 1
Reading
Mark Watson, Tim Key and Alex Horne lead a comic quiz show with a difference, adapted from their award-winning Edinburgh show. Celebrity guests Germaine Greer and Michael Rosen take part to find out which one of them is the smartest, the funniest and the best at surreal physical challenges. All the questions come from the audience members and text-messaging services.
THU 22:30 The Look (b00h4xb0)
Power of the Press
This edition of the fashion industry series takes a look at the relationship between the fashion press and the PR machines of top designers, and considers just how much power the press has over the direction of design. Contributors include journalists Anna Wintour, Suzy Menkes and Liz Tiberis.
THU 23:20 Men, Women and Clothes (b00hn6fz)
Facing the Elements
1950s fashion series. Doris Langley Moore shows how protection from the elements has always been of secondary importance. We see how attitudes to covering up changed completely in the 1920s, when the acquisition of a suntan became de rigueur for those serious about style.
THU 23:40 Citizen Smith (b008yvz2)
Mavericks
Writer Michael Smith takes on the guise of a contemporary Citizen Smith, scouring the country in search of a modern day definition of nationality. He celebrates the quintessentially English mavericks who feel at liberty to buck the system by doing it themselves and doing it their way. Richard Wilson, the Rubbish Men, Colin Pillinger and his Beagle mission to Mars are all considered worthy, as Smith flies the flag for the only country in the world that uses the word eccentric as a compliment.
THU 00:10 The Lost Libraries of Timbuktu (b00hkb0z)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
THU 01:10 Alison Krauss: A Hundred Miles or More (b00hkb0x)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:30 today]
THU 01:40 We Need Answers (b00hkbc6)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:00 today]
THU 02:10 Citizen Smith (b008yvz2)
[Repeat of broadcast at
23:40 today]
THU 02:40 The Lost Libraries of Timbuktu (b00hkb0z)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
FRIDAY 13 FEBRUARY 2009
FRI 19:00 World News Today (b00hkbm2)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
FRI 19:30 Transatlantic Sessions (b00hd374)
Series 1
Episode 4
Folk musicians come together in what have been called 'the greatest backporch shows ever' at Strathgarry House in the Perthshire Highlands, introduced by Aly Bain and Jay Ungar. Featuring Emmylou Harris, Dougie McLean, Kathy Mattea, Iris Dement, Guy Clark, Kate and Anna McGarrigle and Michelle Wright.
FRI 20:00 Sounds of the Sixties (b009x6kv)
Reversions
The Folk Revival
Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen feature in this folk tinged episode of 60s archive.
FRI 20:10 Festival!: a Film by Murray Lerner (b008490c)
A cinematic synthesis of four Newport Folk Festivals of the 1960s in which the art of folk music is pictured in transition during its most crucial years. The festivals were hugely influential and the film records the pivotal moment when Bob Dylan 'went electric'. Other artists performing include Joan Baez, Johnny Cash, Peter, Paul, and Mary, Donovan and Pete Seeger. The film was originally released in cinemas in 1967 and has been restored under the supervision of director Murray Lerner.
FRI 21:40 ... Sings Dylan (b0074rpk)
A look through the archives at some of the many artists who have come into BBC studios to sing their versions of Bob Dylan songs. Featured performers include Peter, Paul and Mary, Lulu, the Byrds, Joan Baez, Eric Clapton, Madeleine Peyroux, Bryan Ferry, UB40, Julie Felix, Manfred Mann, the Brian Auger Trinity and Pops Staples.
FRI 22:30 Folk America at the Barbican (b00hkbm6)
Greenwich Village
Concert which recalls the heady days of the 1960s folk revival, centring upon the singer-songwriter talents to emerge from the clubs of New York's Greenwich Village and beyond.
Hosted by singer-songwriter Billy Bragg, it features Village originals Judy Collins, Roger McGuinn, Eric Andersen and Carolyn Hester, performing songs from their own repertoire and from their contemporaries who contributed to such an extraordinary songbook.
FRI 23:30 Mad Men (b00hk8r1)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:00 on Tuesday]
FRI 00:20 The New Avengers (b00hnd5p)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:40 on Thursday]
FRI 01:10 Storyville (b00hk7w5)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:00 on Monday]
FRI 02:10 Folk America at the Barbican (b00hkbm6)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:30 today]
FRI 03:10 ... Sings Dylan (b0074rpk)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:40 today]