The Art Deco movement swept through Britain in the 1930s, bringing a little glamour to everyone's life. In this series, architectural historian David Heathcote explores and enjoys four of the best examples of Art Deco in Britain.
Heathcote checks into Claridge's Hotel in London's Mayfair and explores the Art Deco makeover of the 1930s, which transformed the old Victorian hotel into a fashionable destination for the rich and famous.
He enjoys the glamour of the Deco fumoir which made smoking sexy and glamorous, even for women, and samples the cocktail bar with Guy Oliver, the man whose job it is to renovate and restore the hotel's glamorous 1930s image.
Heathcote then settles into a perfect Art Deco bath complete with glass panels, bubble bath and two bell pulls - one for the maid and the other for the butler.
At the height of the French Revolution in 1793, a mysterious Pimpernel continues to embarrass Robespierre and the head of secret police, Citizen Chauvelin, by rescuing aristocrats from under the authorities' noses. Chauvelin travels to England to uncover the man's identity, and meets his former lover, a French actress, at a lavish ball.
The watchwords of the French Revolution were liberty, equality and fraternity. Maximilien Robespierre believed in them passionately. He was an idealist and a lover of humanity. But during the 365 days that Robespierre sat on the Committee of Public Safety, the French Republic descended into a bloodbath.
'The Terror' only came to end when Robespierre was devoured by the repressive machinery he'd created. This drama-documentary tells the story of the Terror and looks at how Robespierre's revolutionary idealism so quickly became an excuse for tyranny, and why a lover of liberty was so keen to use the guillotine.
People who work in the city either make money out of money, or from the proximity of money. But what do they feel about their jobs? In Men of the City, filmmaker Marc Isaacs goes behind the headlines to examine the state of mind and motivation of men in the city.
Documentary which looks at how a radical generation of musicians created a new German musical identity out of the cultural ruins of war.
Between 1968 and 1977 bands like Neu!, Can, Faust and Kraftwerk would look beyond western rock and roll to create some of the most original and uncompromising music ever heard. They shared one common goal - a forward-looking desire to transcend Germany's gruesome past - but that didn't stop the music press in war-obsessed Britain from calling them Krautrock.
Compilation of live performances by the godfathers of electronic music, Kraftwerk. Filmed during the Teutonic foursome's 2004 world tour and featuring some of their most notable tracks, including Autobahn, Radioactivity and Trans Europe Express.
SUNDAY 25 OCTOBER 2009
SUN 19:00 Tamara de Lempicka, Hollywood's Deco Diva (b0074q8t)
Andrew Graham-Dixon examines the life and work of the outrageous Grande Dame of Deco. Her work now sells for millions to Hollywood stars, despite the fact that she has been spurned by the art world for decades.
SUN 19:30 Jacques Henri Lartigue: The Boy Who Never Grew Up (b0074qf9)
Nick Danziger looks at the work of Jacques Henri Lartigue, one of the 20th century's greatest photographers. Lartigue worked in virtual obscurity until 1962, when a chance meeting revealed his work to the world.
SUN 20:00 A Tale of Two Britains (b00nph5d)
The conventional view of 1930s Britain is of slag heaps, unemployed men hanging round street corners with nothing to do, hunger marches and economic depression.
This is only part of the truth, as the 1930s was a period of transformation. While most of the world suffered from the depression, the UK was able to shrug off the worst effects thanks to prudent management of the economy by the National Government and a degree of protectionism. Areas of high unemployment remained, but they were isolated from the general trend.
For many, it was a time of rising prosperity. Consumption increased as new gadgets - vacuum cleaners, cookers, fridges - came on the market. Car ownership increased massively and, as leisure time grew, so did travel as people took holidays, often for the first time. Millions went to the cinema, and eating out became commonplace. To back up the increase in consumption new forms of credit emerged, with HP the most popular.
Using interviews with people who remember the decade, this documentary offers an alternative vision of Britain in the 30s and shows that, after the recovery from the slump that followed the crash of 1929, life was good for a large proportion of the country.
It celebrates the growing market for entertainment and consumer goods, explains how a boom in housing transformed the lives of millions of slum dwellers, shows how new towns grew up near centres of economic growth, and challenges the view that the period was one of national gloom and austerity.
A considerable amount of research has shed new light on the period, and historians like Peter Scott, Richard Overy, Juliet Gardiner and Martin Pugh underpin the film's thesis, which may surprise and cheer viewers who lived under the shadow of the bleak 1930s.
SUN 21:00 The Real Cabaret (b00nf012)
Few musicals can claim to capture the mood of a historical period as well as the 1972 classic Cabaret.
Liza Minnelli's unforgettable portrayal of singer Sally Bowles and the film's stylish recreation of the era have become defining images of Weimar Berlin.
In this documentary, actor Alan Cumming explores the truths behind the fiction. He meets many of those closely involved with the original film, including Liza Minnelli, and talks to cabaret artists, among them acclaimed performer Ute Lemper.
Alan explores the origins of the Cabaret story in the writings of Christopher Isherwood and uncovers the story of the real life Sally Bowles, a woman very different from her fictional counterpart.
He talks to the composer of Cabaret about the inspiration for the film's most famous songs and discovers the stories of the original composers and performers, among them Marlene Dietrich. Finally, Alan reveals the tragic fate of many of the cabaret artists at the hands of the Nazis.
The documentary pays tribute to the magic of the original film and explores the fascinating and often shocking reality of the people and stories that inspired it.
SUN 22:00 Spiral (b00nk9hs)
Series 2: Gangs of Paris
Episode 7
As Samy's undercover mission nears its conclusion the team will soon be ready to make their swoop on the Larbi brothers - but an unforeseen complication throws the operation off the rails.
Is Samy really who he says he is?
SUN 22:55 It's Only a Theory (b00nf014)
Episode 3
Comedians Andy Hamilton and Reginald D Hunter host a series in which qualified professionals and experts submit their theories about life, the universe and everything for examination by a panel of Hamilton, Hunter and a guest celebrity, who then make a final decision on whether the theory is worth keeping.
The guest celebrity is broadcaster Kirsty Wark and the experts are Dr David Bainbridge, Professor Chris Budd and Professor Stanley Wells.
SUN 23:25 The Genius of Photography (b00859t3)
1918-1945: Documents for Artists
Documentary series exploring the history of photography, from daguerreotype to digital, from portraits to photojournalism, from art to advertising.
In the decades following World War I, photography was the central medium of the age. 'Anyone who fails to understand photography,' said the Hungarian artist and photographer Lazlo Moholy-Nagy, 'will be one of the illiterates of the future.' Precise, objective, rational and apparently machine-like, it was used to promote the radical utopia of the Soviet Union and to bring order and clarity to the chaos of Weimar Germany.
While some prized photography for its machine-like qualities, others used it to explore the irrational and the surreal, photography's natural environment. The work of the greatest and most influential modern photographers - including Alexander Rodchenko, August Sander, Man Ray, Eugene Atget, Walker Evans and Bill Brandt - is examined in detail.
With contributions from Martin Parr, Mark Haworth-Booth, and Berndt and Hilla Becher.
SUN 00:25 Cabaret (b0074r5f)
Bob Fosse's award-winning musical, set in 1930s Berlin. A love affair develops between cabaret singer Sally Bowles and a naive young Englishman amid the city's decadent cafe society, during the gradual rise of German fascism.
SUN 02:25 The Real Cabaret (b00nf012)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
SUN 03:25 Tamara de Lempicka, Hollywood's Deco Diva (b0074q8t)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 today]
SUN 03:55 Jacques Henri Lartigue: The Boy Who Never Grew Up (b0074qf9)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:30 today]
MONDAY 26 OCTOBER 2009
MON 19:00 World News Today (b00nk9m3)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
MON 19:30 Inside Antiques (b0074q0v)
Art Deco Bronzes
The end of the First World War heralded an explosion of optimism and forward thinking. As the Jazz Age sprang to life, modernity and luxury were the watchwords of the day. Home design embraced the age of Art Deco, popularly remembered nowadays by eager collectors of the often risque ivory and bronze sculptures of scantily clad dancing girls. Lars Tharp gets to grips with them and discovers what the Moulin Rouge, Tutankhamun and tennis have in common.
MON 20:00 The Twenties in Colour: The Wonderful World of Albert Kahn (b008bycb)
The Twenties in Colour
Far East: Expeditions to Empires
Series examining Albert Kahn's Archives of the Planet project, in which he sent photographers around the world to document major events.
Between 1914 and 1928, Kahn sent some of his most talented photographers to the Far East. In Cambodia, Vietnam and Japan, they produced a compelling photographic record of economic and cultural life, subsistence industries, and ceremonial practices, and produced a fascinating portrait of the life of a wealthy Maharajah in India during the British Raj.
MON 21:00 Glamour's Golden Age (b00nk9m5)
Beautiful and Damned
The story of 1920s London's Bright Young People is a tale of sex, drink, drugs and a gossip-hungry press. Beautiful and Damned traces the growth of 1920s London's bright young party set whose antics were enjoyed and scorned in equal measures by a watching nation. And the more artistic of the merry band - Cecil Beaton, Evelyn Waugh and Nancy Mitford among them - saw their work make the characters and attitudes of the era both legend and fable.
Contributors include Philip Hoare, DJ Taylor, Selina Hastings, Lucy Moore and Adrian Bingham.
MON 22:00 The Cotton Club (b0078lk4)
Musical drama set in 1928 that pays a visually striking tribute to the Prohibition era.
Jazz musician Dixie Dwyer saves a gangster's life and gets sucked into the mobster's world of bootleg liquor, racketeering and escalating violence, centred round the eponymous Harlem nightclub.
MON 00:00 Feasts (b00kk4wc)
India
Series in which food writer and presenter Stefan Gates immerses himself in some of the most extraordinary feasts and festivals on earth. By joining ordinary people in these strange and wonderful distillations of their culture and beliefs, he hopes to gain a revelatory insight into how the world thinks and feels.
Stefan makes a journey across India to discover how feasts and celebration divide - and bring together - a turbulent nation that can be riven by religious tension and extremes of wealth.
He is shocked to see how much extravagance and social engineering there is in an expensive showpiece Rajasthani Hindu wedding, yet how little emotion is actually expressed. These events are spectacular, and the scale is terrifying for a father of two young daughters.
In Kerala, Stefan experiences the bewildering festival of Onam, a Hindu celebration that brings this massive state of millions of people together, Hindu and Christian, rich and poor alike. Over several days he joins almost all of the entire 32m population in sitting down to exactly the same meal - an 11-portion feast eaten with fingers from a banana leaf.
Stefan joins in the Pulikali, the tiger dance, and is apparently he first westerner ever to take part. It is the most physically uncomfortable, gruesome day of his life. He has his body hair shaved off with a dry razor, then spends five hours being painted with several layers of household gloss paint, holding on to two sticks to keep his arms outstretched as he dries out. He is then covered in a sweaty, sticky mask and a pair of bordello pants, and packed off into the streets to join his team in dancing like a maniac around the baking-hot streets of the city of Thrissur for four hours.
MON 01:00 Feasts (b00kq4m9)
Japan
Series in which food writer and presenter Stefan Gates immerses himself in some of the most extraordinary feasts and festivals on earth. By joining ordinary people in these strange and wonderful distillations of their culture and beliefs, he hopes to gain a revelatory insight into how the world thinks and feels.
Stefan attempts to get under the skin of the traditional Japanese reserve by joining in some amazing feasts and festivals, a journey which culminates with Stefan and 10,000 Japanese men wearing nothing but loin cloths in a drunken rampage at a sacred Shinto temple.
He starts his trip by helping a Shinto priestess carry a six-foot wooden penis around a suburb of Tokyo, as she bemoans how kids today seem to have lost their traditional Japanese reserve, before joining the Baby Sumo festival where parents compete to get their children to cry first, to give them good luck for the rest of their lives.
Finally, he embarks on the most extraordinary event of his life - the Naked Man festival. He meets up with Mr Kosaki, a man from the classic Japanese mould who has never told his wife he loves her, who has forsaken his love of music to become a salaryman, and whose work consumes his life. He is as different from Stefan as anyone could hope to be, until his friends arrive and everything changes.
They get wildly drunk, practically naked, and stuff themselves with sushi. Then those still standing head off on a terrifying, barrier-wrecking festival that finally allows the Japanese man to reveal himself as passionate, expressive and loving as anyone. It is all rooted in centuries of Shinto food-related tradition, but is really a huge primal scream from men who spend their days unable to express themselves.
MON 02:00 Feasts (b00kv0k6)
Mexico
Series in which food writer and presenter Stefan Gates immerses himself in some of the most extraordinary feasts and festivals on earth. By joining ordinary people in these strange and wonderful distillations of their culture and beliefs, he hopes to gain a revelatory insight into how the world thinks and feels.
Stefan goes on a wild emotional and spiritual rollercoaster ride, starting with a teenage girl's bizarre coming-of-age ceremony and ending with the Day of the Dead, a cacophonous cross-cultural festival of the senses during which Mexicans truly believe that their loved ones come back from the dead for three days every year to spend the day with them.
In Oaxaca, he is dressed up as a dead woman and made to dance like a lunatic at the head of a procession as it makes its way through town. He is turned into an emotional wreck at the moment the dead return, bursting into tears as Dias de los Muertos makes him experience grief and loss for the first time.
But then in the next breath, the family Stefan is living with teach him to celebrate and laugh at death. They turn his views on their head, allowing him to embrace and conquer his fear of death through an extraordinary sensual onslaught of food, flowers, songs and smells. The sight of the graveyards overflowing with flowers and mescal-drinking revellers is a truly life-changing experience.
MON 03:00 Glamour's Golden Age (b00nk9m5)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
TUESDAY 27 OCTOBER 2009
TUE 19:00 World News Today (b00nk9yt)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
TUE 19:30 Tales from the Green Valley (b0078yjg)
April
Series in which five experts - archaeologists and historians - take on the challenge of running a Welsh hill farm for a year as it would have been in the reign of James I, in the year 1620.
April marks their eighth month, so they give the farmhouse a thorough spring clean, sweeping out the chimney with a holly bush and dusting out indoors with a period brush, a goose wing. The textiles need a good airing and bashing, and the team must quite literally change the beds.
With the seasons accelerating, they crack on preparing a piece of waste ground for spring sowing: digging up the roots, burning them in pyres, and then turning the fertile ash back in with a good helping of muck. It's also time to try their hand at 17th century dishes of veal and a peculiarly green omelette, at dry stonewalling, and in caring for a newborn calf.
TUE 20:00 Life (b00nkpcc)
Mammals
Mammals dominate the planet. They do it through having warm blood and by the care they lavish on their young. Weeks of filming in the bitter Antarctic winter reveal how a mother Weddell seal wears her teeth down keeping open a hole in the ice so she can catch fish for her pup.
A powered hot air balloon produces stunning images of millions of migrating bats as they converge on fruiting trees in Zambia, and slow-motion cameras reveal how a mother rufous sengi exhausts a chasing lizard. A gyroscopically stabilised camera moves alongside migrating caribou, and a diving team swim among the planet's biggest fight as male humpback whales battle for a female.
TUE 21:00 Ghosts in the Machine (b00nk9yw)
Documentary charting the history of the supernatural on British television, and how ghosts have been portrayed on the small screen. From Hamlet to Most Haunted, the apparitions have abandoned their traditional haunts of drama and comedy and crossed over into factual and reality TV.
Ghosts in the Machine celebrates classic ghost stories like The Stone Tape, and Whistle and I'll Come to You. It revisits controversial shows like Derren Brown's Seance and 1992's Ghostwatch, which convinced thousands of viewers that Michael Parkinson was possessed by a poltergeist.
The film examines the recent explosion of interest in the paranormal. How did ghosts get their own genre, and how did television become the medium of the medium?
Contributors include Derren Brown (Seance), Jane Asher (The Stone Tape), Kenneth Cope (Randall and Hopkirk Deceased), Yvette Fielding (Most Haunted), Mark Gatiss (Crooked House), Sarah Greene (Ghostwatch), Jonathan Miller (Whistle and I'll Come to You) and Bill Paterson (Sea of Souls).
TUE 22:00 It's Only a Theory (b00nk9yy)
Episode 4
Comedians Andy Hamilton and Reginald D Hunter host a series in which qualified professionals and experts submit their theories about life, the universe and everything for examination by a panel of Hamilton, Hunter and a guest celebrity, who then make a final decision on whether the theory is worth keeping.
The guest celebrity is broadcaster Clare Balding and the experts are Prof Geoff Beattie and Marcus Chown.
TUE 22:30 Exiled (b00dn9hn)
Crime drama. When former gangster Johnnie Wo returns to raise a family on his old boss's territory, four assassins are sent by the boss to despatch him. But all four are Wo's childhood friends, and their loyalty to him, though tested, is strong. Yet if they side with him, all five will be in danger.
TUE 00:15 Ghosts in the Machine (b00nk9yw)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
TUE 01:15 Storyville (b00nnlk4)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:30 on Saturday]
TUE 02:15 It's Only a Theory (b00nk9yy)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:00 today]
TUE 02:45 Ghosts in the Machine (b00nk9yw)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
WEDNESDAY 28 OCTOBER 2009
WED 19:00 World News Today (b00nkb7x)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
WED 19:30 Timeshift (b00nf0nl)
Series 9
The Golden Age of Liners
Paul Atterbury embarks on an alluring journey into the golden age of ocean liners, finding out how these great ships made such a mark on the popular imagination and why they continue to enchant to this day.
Paul's voyage takes him around Britain and reveals a story of design, politics, propaganda, Hollywood glamour and tragedy. Along the way, he uncovers some amazing survivals from the liners of the past - a cinema in Scotland built from the interiors of the SS Homeric, a house in Poole in which cabins from the Mauretania are lovingly preserved - as well as the design inspiration behind the first great liners.
WED 20:30 Art Deco Icons (b00npm4g)
London Transport
David Heathcote explores the dramatic 1930s London Transport HQ in St James's, London. When it was built in the1930s, it was the highest skyscraper in London. Heathcote goes behind the scenes and uncovers the story of a building so controversial that Frank Pick, who commissioned it, offered to resign from the London Underground Company, because there were so many complaints about its ambitious design.
The HQ became the nerve centre for an Art Deco transformation of the underground which remains today. David Heathcote ventures out on the Piccadilly Line to Southgate to investigate. For many, it is just the scene of a crowded journey to work, but Heathcote discovers a perfect example of a co-ordinated Deco look. The sleek tube station uses streamlined features, soft uplighting and chrome to create a glamorous overall effect. It may be lost on the commuters on their way to work, but for Heathcote it is a moment to stand back and enjoy the marvel that was Art Deco.
WED 21:00 High Flyers: How Britain Took to the Air (b00nnlz3)
Documentary which tells the story of the golden age of British aviation and of how the original 'jet set' shaped air travel for generations to come. In Britain in the 1920s and '30s a revolution took place that would change forever our perspective on the world. While the country was in the grip of recession, dashing pilots and daring socialites took to the air, pushed back boundaries and forged new links across the globe. The era of commercial air travel was born.
WED 22:00 Flight of the Conchords (b0081m93)
Series 1
Mugged
Comedy series about Kiwi folk musicians Bret and Jemaine as they to try to make it big in their adopted home of New York. The boys are mugged down a backstreet, and after an unpleasant incident with a knife Bret runs off without helping Jemaine. After Jemaine spends a night in the same cell as one of the muggers, he finds it hard to forgive. Features the songs Hiphopapotamus vs Rhymenoceros and Think About it, Think Think About it.
WED 22:30 It's Only a Theory (b00nk9yy)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:00 on Tuesday]
WED 23:00 Wallander (b00lxx7x)
Series 1
The Overdose
Original Swedish TV adaptation of Henning Mankell's Kurt Wallander detective series.
When an abandoned baby is found in a car, Kurt Wallander oversees a large operation to find the missing father. Meanwhile, Linda is visiting a school all week to educate the pupils about the dangers of drugs. When a girl at the school has an overdose, the team begin to see connections between the two cases.
In Swedish with English subtitles.
WED 00:30 High Flyers: How Britain Took to the Air (b00nnlz3)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
WED 01:30 Art Deco Icons (b00npm4g)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:30 today]
WED 02:00 It's Only a Theory (b00nk9yy)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:00 on Tuesday]
WED 02:30 Timeshift (b00nf0nl)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:30 today]
WED 03:30 Art Deco Icons (b00npm4g)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:30 today]
THURSDAY 29 OCTOBER 2009
THU 19:00 World News Today (b00nkbh8)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
THU 19:30 Art Deco Icons (b00npm4g)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:30 on Wednesday]
THU 20:00 Glamour's Golden Age (b00nk9m5)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Monday]
THU 21:00 Timeshift (b00nnm7k)
Series 9
The Men Who Built the Liners
Many of the most famous passenger liners in history were built in the British Isles, several in the shipyards along the banks of the Clyde. Timeshift combines personal accounts and archive footage to evoke a vivid picture of the unique culture that grew up in the Clyde shipyards. Despite some of the harshest working conditions in industrial history and dire industrial relations, it was here that the Queen Mary, the Queen Elizabeth and the QE2 were built. Such was the Clyde shipbuilders' pride in their work, and the strength of public support, that in 1971 they were able to defy a government attempt to close them down and win the right to carry on shipbuilding.
THU 22:00 1929: The Great Crash (b00h9xh8)
A documentary exploring the causes of the 1929 Wall Street Crash.
Over six terrifying, desperate days in October 1929, shares crashed by a third on the New York Stock Exchange. More than $25 billion in individual wealth was lost. Later, three thousand banks failed, taking people's savings with them. Surviving eyewitnesses describe the biggest financial catastrophe in history.
In 1919, the US had emerged victorious and dominant from World War One. Britain and its European allies were exhausted financially from the war. In contrast, the US economy was thriving and the world danced to the American tune.
Easy credit and mass production set the tone in the roaring twenties for an era of consumption like none that had ever been seen before. The stock market rose and investors piled in, borrowing money to cash in on the bubble. In 1928, the market went up by 50 per cent in just 12 months. The crash was followed by a devastating worldwide depression that lasted until the Second World War. Shares did not regain their pre-crash values until 1954.
This is the story of a financial disaster that we hoped could never happen again.
THU 23:00 The Armstrong and Miller Show (b00nftch)
Series 2
Episode 2
Sketch show starring Alexander Armstrong and Ben Miller.
Jilted Jim's honeymoon from hell continues, Dennis Lincoln-Park introduces another treasured antiquity to the nation, and the pilots find themselves in a spot of bother.
THU 23:30 The Thick of It (b00npkc9)
Series 3
Episode 1
Armando Iannucci's award-winning political comedy.
Reshuffle day at Number 10. Nicola Murray is so far down the list of prospective ministers that Malcolm Tucker does not even have a file on her. But when the job at the Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship is turned down by everybody else, there is no option but to promote her to the Cabinet.
The downside is that Nicola is very keen. And she has got expensive ideas and ideals. And she has got a husband who works for a company that has government contracts. And she has got an 11-year-old about to go to a private school. And she is about to face the media at a crucial by-election poster launch. Suddenly, Malcolm has got a file that is getting a bit too big for comfort. Something will have to be done.
THU 00:00 Glamour's Golden Age (b00nk9m5)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Monday]
THU 01:00 Exiled (b00dn9hn)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:30 on Tuesday]
THU 02:45 Timeshift (b00nnm7k)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
FRIDAY 30 OCTOBER 2009
FRI 19:00 World News Today (b00nkbsj)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
FRI 19:30 BBC Proms (b00m10hz)
2009
Prom 22: A Celebration of Classic MGM Film Musicals
Live from the Royal Albert Hall Clive Anderson introduces a Prom celebrating 75 years of classic MGM film musicals. Songs from unforgettable movies including The Wizard of Oz, Gigi and Singing in the Rain are performed by conductor John Wilson and his hand-picked orchestra with singing stars from the classical and musical theatre worlds.
FRI 21:35 Omnibus (b00nnmf8)
Ronnie Scott and All That Jazz
Documentary celebrating the founding of Ronnie Scott's Jazz club in 1959. Scott, a rising young saxophone player, opened a club where he and his friends could play the music they liked. Over the following years, the club had its ups and downs, reflecting the changes in attitudes to jazz and the social life of surrounding Soho.
Now Ronnie Scott's is known throughout the world as the hearbeat of British jazz. In this tribute, Omnibus talks to some of Ronnie's greatest admirers including Mel Brooks, the Rt Hon Kenneth Clarke MP and writer Alan Plater, and features rare archive footage of some of the club's historic performances by Zoot Sims, Sonny Rollins, Dizzy Gillespie and Ella Fitzgerald.
FRI 22:35 Ghosts in the Machine (b00nk9yw)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Tuesday]
FRI 23:35 Spiral (b00nk9hs)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:00 on Sunday]
FRI 00:30 Only Connect (b00lsz67)
Series 2
Mathematicians v Wordsmiths
Quiz show presented by Victoria Coren in which knowledge will only take you so far, as patience and lateral thinking are also vital.
Three maths graduates take on a team featuring a linguistics graduate, an English graduate and an IT developer who is also a proofreader. They compete to draw together the connections between things which, at first glance, seem utterly random, from 'drip dry' to 'equal by definition' to 'MPs' obligation to vote' to 'exit 300yds ahead'.
FRI 01:00 1959: The Year that Changed Jazz (b00jf64y)
1959 was the seismic year jazz broke away from complex bebop music to new forms, allowing soloists unprecedented freedom to explore and express. It was also a pivotal year for America: the nation was finding its groove, enjoying undreamt-of freedom and wealth; social, racial and upheavals were just around the corner; and jazz was ahead of the curve.
Four major jazz albums were made, each a high watermark for the artists and a powerful reflection of the times. Each opened up dramatic new possibilities for jazz which continue to be felt: Miles Davis, Kind of Blue; Dave Brubeck, Time Out; Charles Mingus, Mingus Ah Um; and Ornette Coleman, The Shape of Jazz to Come.
Rarely seen archive performances help vibrantly bring the era to life and explore what made these albums vital both in 1959 and the 50 years since. The programme contains interviews with Lou Reed, Dave Brubeck, Ornette Coleman, Charlie Haden, Herbie Hancock, Joe Morello (Brubeck's drummer) and Jimmy Cobb (the only surviving member of Miles' band), along with a host of jazz movers and shakers from the 50s and beyond.
FRI 02:00 West End Jungle (b00jw9cy)
Banned when made in 1961, this documentary offers a comprehensive insight into the history and seedy reality of the sex industry in London's Soho.
Examining the consequences of the introduction of the Street Offences Act in 1959, which until then had seen as many as 10,000 prostitutes line the streets and alleys of Soho with nothing more than a deterrent of a small fine, the film explains what happened after those streets were cleaned up and looks at the many different guises as one of Britain's oldest professions continued to operate and thrive.
FRI 02:50 Panorama (b00jf64w)
1959: A Panorama Guide
Documentary looking back at 1959 through the eyes of the long-running BBC current affairs programme Panorama, recalling a time when Britain finally realised that the old world was fast disappearing.
The game was up with the Empire and attitudes to class, race and gender were beginning to shift, while television was entering a golden age, with Panorama playing a key role in documenting the birth of modern Britain.