SATURDAY 31 JULY 2010

SAT 19:00 10 Things You Didn't Know About... (b008vrwk)
Avalanches

Iain Stewart travels across mountain ranges and glaciers to reveal ten remarkable stories about avalanches.

Over a million avalanches happen throughout the world each year, and yet we know more about the surface of the moon than we do about the chaotic turbulence inside an avalanche. Scientists have had to put themselves right inside a raging avalanche to find out more.

Stewart shows how the deadliest avalanche in history killed 18,000 people in three minutes; how Hannibal's army was devastated by avalanches as he crossed the Alps to fight Rome; why an avalanche was key to one of the greatest aviation mysteries of all time; and how global warming may increase the rate of ice avalanches in the future.


SAT 20:00 The Games That Time Forgot (b00t6yc0)
Alex Horne tries to discover why some games survived, and examines the best of those that did not.

Whilst revisiting his own childhood haunts, he attempts to relaunch the ancient sport of the Quintain, horseless jousting, and tries his damnedest to understand the rules of the Jingling Match. Not forgetting his attempt to restage the forgotten spectacle of Cricket on Horseback.

This might just be a journey to the very heart of sport itself, but if not, it will be a lot of fun playing games that have not been seen for hundreds of years and even more fun discovering why.


SAT 21:00 Wallander (b00lqbgh)
Series 1

The Village Idiot

When a harmless former asylum resident holds up a bank for money and then blows himself up, Wallander, Linda and the Ystad team are forced to dig for leads to find reasons. Who could have persuaded him to do it, and why? Was the explosion an accident? The answers are unexpected.

In Swedish with English subtitles.


SAT 22:30 Consenting Adults (b007y9gx)
Writer Julian Mitchell's drama based around the 1950s Wolfenden Report into the possible decriminalisation of homosexuality. At the same time a Home Office committee chaired by Jack Wolfenden was recommending decriminalisation, his own Oxford undergraduate son Jeremy was himself gay, something Wolfenden could not bring himself to acknowledge.


SAT 23:50 Belleville Rendez-Vous (b0074pxj)
An orphaned boy. Champion is raised by his grandmother, Madame Souza. Her gift of a tricycle starts a craze for cycle racing that becomes the cornerstone of their life together.

After years of relentless training, Champion makes it to the Tour de France, the toughest cycling event in the world.

Alas! Champion and a handful of other top competitors are mysteriously kidnapped by a pair of sinister crooks with hangdog expressions.

Supported by her faithful sidekick, fat and flatulent dog Bruno, Madame Souza sets off to rescue her beloved Champion. An epic adventure leads them across the Atlantic to a vast seaport metropolis named Belleville, headquarters of the notorious French Mafia.

Lost and confused in the threatening darkness of the great city, Madame Souza and Bruno encounter the Belleville Triplettes. In their youth, a glamorous close-harmony act, these three batty old ladies are now a bizarre jazz combo. Souza joins the band. At their very first gig, she discovers Champion is being held captive by the mafia Godfather himself!

All hell breaks loose, and the chase is on! Do Madame Souza, her dim dog, and the musical Triplettes have what it takes to outsmart the ruthless French Mafia and release poor Champion from its clutches?


SAT 01:05 Ride of My Life: The Story of the Bicycle (b00t6ylx)
Author Rob Penn travels around the world collecting hand-built parts for his dream bicycle and charts the social history of one of mankind's greatest inventions.


SAT 02:05 The Games That Time Forgot (b00t6yc0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


SAT 03:05 10 Things You Didn't Know About... (b008vrwk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]



SUNDAY 01 AUGUST 2010

SUN 19:00 Behind the Scenes at the Museum (b00scr08)
Commercial Vehicle Museum

Series in which acclaimed filmmaker Richard Macer visits three different museums struggling to connect with a modern audience.

At the British Commercial Vehicle Museum in Lancashire, a mutiny is brewing over the appointment of a new leader. The museum is the last link to Leyland Trucks, one of the nation's great manufacturing giants, but just as Leyland fell victim to industrial action in the 70s and 80s now history is in danger of repeating itself at the Commercial Vehicle Museum too.

The first thing new leader Stephen Bullock wants to do is bring back the Leyland festival. For many years this was the town's way of celebrating its industrial might with a procession of lorries and buses, but after the factory closed the carnival was cancelled.

However, not everyone approves of these new changes at the museum. Some of the many longstanding volunteers are vehicle enthusiasts who think the museum should stay just the way it is. But will it survive if it doesn't change?

Macer spent six months filming amidst the gleaming lorries and double decker buses and observed as a bitter row erupted between the new leader and the head of the volunteers.


SUN 20:00 English Heritage (b00k2fh7)
A Very Grand Design

When English Heritage bought Apethorpe Hall - a huge, crumbling Jacobean mansion hidden away in the Northamptonshire countryside - it was supposed to symbolise everything that was good about the energy that their new chief executive, Simon Thurley, was bringing to English Heritage. They would buy the place, do it up, and then recoup the enormous investment of public money by selling it off. Theory and practice have proven rather different, and could yet leave the taxpayer with a bill running to millions.

The scale of the task is enormous - seven million pounds has been spent and another ten million is needed before things like installing electricity are even to be considered. And English Heritage cannot sell it, at any price.

The state of the house and the state of the property market combine to ensure that four years after English Heritage bought it, Apethorpe Hall is still very much on the market, with English Heritage now looking at a multi-million pound loss. Through it all - the meetings with the ever-optimistic estate agents and the dawning realisation that this is a step too far - the beauty of the place shines through.

It is a beauty cherished by George Kelley - he has lived and worked at Apethorpe for 37 years. He is the chorus in the film, wryly dispassionate, as English Heritage and Simon struggle with their nightmare, 'It'll sell, it'll sell... it's just that the right person hasn't seen it yet'.


SUN 21:00 Balmoral (b00mqg2c)
Documentary telling the story of Balmoral, the royal family's most private residence. For over 150 years this Scottish castle has been home to royal traditions of picnics, stag hunting and kilts. From prime ministers to Princess Diana, life at this tartan-bound holiday home has not appealed to everyone.

But there is another story of Balmoral, of how the royal family has played a role in shaping modern Scotland and how Scotland has shaped the royal family. Queen Victoria's adoption of Highland symbols, from tartan to bagpipes, helped create a new image for Scotland. Her values, too, helped strengthen the union between Scotland and England. Ever since, Balmoral has been a place that reflects the very essence of the royal family.


SUN 22:00 The Pope's Toilet (b00t9qnx)
Uruguay, 1988. With Beto's poverty-stricken village in a flurry over the Pope's impending visit, and everyone working out how to make money from it, Beto hits on an idea. His smuggling runs across the border to Brazil aren't enough to make ends meet, so he decides to build a public toilet for all the pilgrims.


SUN 23:30 Glastonbury (b00t72kh)
2010

The Pet Shop Boys

Highlights of the headlining performance at Worthy Farm by one of the UK's most successful and much loved pop acts, the Pet Shop Boys. Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe run through many of their pop classics including West End Girls, What Have I Done to Deserve This, Go West, Suburbia and It's a Sin, plus a quartet of dancers and a whole host of costume changes.


SUN 00:30 Synth Britannia (b00n93c4)
Documentary following a generation of post-punk musicians who took the synthesiser from the experimental fringes to the centre of the pop stage.

In the late 1970s, small pockets of electronic artists including The Human League, Daniel Miller and Cabaret Voltaire were inspired by Kraftwerk and JG Ballard, and they dreamt of the sound of the future against the backdrop of bleak, high-rise Britain.

The crossover moment came in 1979 when Gary Numan's appearance on Top of the Pops with Tubeway Army's Are 'Friends' Electric? heralded the arrival of synthpop. Four lads from Basildon known as Depeche Mode would come to own the new sound, whilst post-punk bands like Ultravox, Soft Cell, OMD and Yazoo took the synth out of the pages of NME and onto the front page of Smash Hits.

By 1983, acts like Pet Shop Boys and New Order were showing that the future of electronic music would lie in dance music.

Contributors include Philip Oakey, Vince Clarke, Martin Gore, Bernard Sumner, Gary Numan and Neil Tennant.


SUN 02:00 Synth Britannia at the BBC (b00n93c6)
A journey through the BBC's synthpop archives from Roxy Music and Tubeway Army to New Order and Sparks. Turn your Moogs up to 11 as we take a trip back into the 70s and 80s!


SUN 03:00 On Hannibal's Trail (b00t6yby)
Barca! Barca! Barca!

History and travel documentary series in which three Australian brothers - Danny, Ben and Sam Wood - set out cycling on the trail of Hannibal, the Carthaginian warrior who marched from Spain to Rome at the head of an invading army accompanied by elephants.

The Wood brothers continue to cycle north along the east coast of Spain, calling in at Barcelona's famous Camp Nou stadium to watch a football match before visiting the ancient Greek ruins of Ampurias.

Chef Adam Melonas cooks the brothers a Carthaginian banquet on the beaches of the Costa Brava. Fully fuelled, the Woods are ready to take on the mountains, cycling across the Pyrenees into southern France.


SUN 03:30 Britain by Bike (b00t6yhb)
The Welsh Borders

Clare Balding sets out on a two-wheel odyssey to rediscover Britain from the saddle of a touring cycle. In a six-part series, she follows in the wheeltracks of compulsive cyclist and author Harold Briercliffe whose evocative guidebooks of the late 1940s lovingly describe bypassed Britain - a world of unspoiled villages, cycle touring clubs and sunny B roads.

Carrying a set of Harold's Cycling Touring Guides for company and riding his very own Dawes Super Galaxy bicycle, Clare goes in search of the world he described. Is it lost for ever? Or still there, waiting to be found?

Clare's journey into Wales is rich in literary connections to both Bruce Chatwin and AE Housman. She reveals how a cycle factory went to war and finds out about the Bride's Tree - a bizarre village ceremony with a dark secret.



MONDAY 02 AUGUST 2010

MON 19:00 World News Today (b00t9qqv)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


MON 19:30 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 20:30 On Hannibal's Trail (b00t9qv6)
Crossing the Rhone

History and travel documentary series in which three Australian brothers - Danny, Ben and Sam Wood - set out cycling on the trail of Hannibal, the Carthaginian warrior who marched from Spain to Rome at the head of an invading army accompanied by elephants.

From the Roman amphitheatre of Arles, the brothers retrace Hannibal's steps through the south of France to the foothills of the Alps. They recreate Hannibal's historic crossing of the River Rhone before cycling on to the town of Maillane, where the remains of one of Hannibal's elephants were found in the 19th century. They then race up the 2000-metre-high Mont Ventoux before setting off into the Alps.


MON 21:00 Britain's Park Story (b00t9qv8)
The British invented them for the world, and they have been described as 'the lungs of the city - historian Dan Cruickshank reveals the history of our public parks.

Cruickshank travels the country to discover the evolution of the nation's urban public parks, a story of class, civic pride, changing fashions in sport and recreation which helps re-evaluate the amazing assets they are.

From their civic heyday in the 19th century to the neglect of the 1980s and their resurgence today, the documentary is a fascinating and entertaining history of an often-overlooked great British invention.


MON 22:00 Munro: Mountain Man (b00mwgyq)
Little more than 100 years ago, Scottish mountains standing at more than 3,000 feet were virtually unknown. Today they are familiar terrain to many thousands of climbers, thanks to Victorian adventurer Hugh Munro's determination to list the high peaks which now define the highlands and islands of Scotland.

This documentary tells the story of the magnificent peaks that bear his name and the people who have been possessed by them.

The birth of this obsession - now known as Munrobagging - is a twisting tale of intrigue, which presenter Nicholas Crane unravels high on the ridges and pinnacles of some of Scotland's most spectacular mountains.


MON 23:00 The Great Outdoors (b00t6z51)
Episode 1

Comedy which follows the hikes, heartaches, friendships and rivalries of a misfit rambling club. Club organiser Bob begins a titanic battle of wills with the newest member, Christine, for the heart and soul of his treasured walking group.

Bob's teenage daughter Hazel is mortified at the arrival of geeky Victor from her school and married businesswoman Sophie is looking for a way out from her freeloading husband Joe.


MON 23:30 Britain's Park Story (b00t9qv8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


MON 00:30 On Hannibal's Trail (b00t9qv6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]


MON 01:00 Balmoral (b00mqg2c)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Sunday]


MON 02:00 Munro: Mountain Man (b00mwgyq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]


MON 03:00 Britain's Park Story (b00t9qv8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



TUESDAY 03 AUGUST 2010

TUE 19:00 World News Today (b00t9qxp)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


TUE 19:30 Last Chance to See (b00n47v8)
Series 1

Komodo Dragon

Stephen Fry and zoologist Mark Carwardine head to the ends of the earth in search of animals on the edge of extinction.

On a journey through Malaysia and Indonesia to track down the deadly Komodo dragon, the travellers help to release turtles into the wild and encounter one of the deadliest snakes on earth.


TUE 20:30 Britain by Bike (b00t9r0n)
The Isle of Wight

Clare Balding sets out on a two-wheel odyssey to re-discover Britain from the saddle of a touring cycle.

In a six-part series, Clare follows the wheeltracks of compulsive cyclist and author Harold Briercliffe whose evocative guide books of the late 1940s lovingly describe by-passed Britain - a world of unspoiled villages, cycle touring clubs and sunny B roads.

Carrying a set of Harold's Cycling Touring Guides for company and riding his very own Dawes Super Galaxy bicycle, Clare goes in search of the world he described with such affection.

Her journey to the Isle of Wight explores its unique sense of otherness - a strange power which could cure Dickens's writer's block, repel the deadly attentions of the Luftwaffe and give Victorian poet laureate Tennyson a comforting sense of his own death.


TUE 21:00 Wild Swimming (b00t9r28)
Alice Roberts embarks on a quest to discover what lies behind the passion for wild swimming, now becoming popular in Britain. She follows in the wake of Waterlog, the classic swimming text by journalist and author Roger Deakin.

Her journey takes in cavernous plunge pools, languid rivers and unfathomable underground lakes, as well as a skinny dip in a moorland pool. Along the way Alice becomes aware that she is not alone on her watery journey.


TUE 22:00 Swimming to Scotland: Crossing Hell's Mouth (b00mly5l)
The story of Frank Chalmers, an open water swimmer setting off on the challenge of his life. Having successfully swum the English Channel, Frank has been training for over a year in preparation for his toughest swim yet - to cross the Pentland Firth.

This notoriously treacherous stretch of water separates the Orkney Islands from mainland Scotland and is home to some of the strongest tides in the world. The Firth has been named Hell's Mouth by seamen as its fearsome forces have earned it the reputation of being a graveyard for ships.

Local seafarers, whose lifetimes have been dictated by these unpredictable conditions, team up with Frank and his wife Ros as they set out on this moving and unexpected journey.


TUE 22:50 Storyville (b00srf2g)
Sync or Swim

When Welsh film-maker Dylan Williams followed his lover to Stockholm, the first thing his language teacher told him was that the way to fit into Swedish society was to join a club. Struggling to find work, approaching 40 and looking for a new purpose in life, he took her at her word. The club he found was Stockholm Arts Swim Gents, Sweden's only male synchronised swimming team, a ramshackle collection of men who were each looking for 'something different'. They found it.

What ensues is an unexpected rollercoaster ride that ends at the unofficial world championships. By turns funny and moving, the film shows that happiness can be found in the strangest of places.


TUE 23:50 Wild Swimming (b00t9r28)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


TUE 00:50 Britain by Bike (b00t9r0n)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]


TUE 01:20 Britain's Park Story (b00t9qv8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Monday]


TUE 02:20 Last Chance to See (b00n47v8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


TUE 03:20 Wild Swimming (b00t9r28)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



WEDNESDAY 04 AUGUST 2010

WED 19:00 World News Today (b00t9r3t)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


WED 19:30 The Sky at Night (b079w6rk)
Monster Star

Astronomers based in the UK have discovered the brightest and most massive star so far. But how did it get so big? Sir Patrick Moore and Chris Lintott are joined by one of the team who discovered the star, Dr Richard Parker.

August also sees one of the most spectacular meteor showers of the year - Pete Lawrence and Paul Abel explain the best way of observing the Perseids.


WED 20:00 Britain's Park Story (b00t9qv8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Monday]


WED 21:00 The Great Outdoors (b00t9r89)
Episode 2

Christine is now deputy leader of the club and is soon winning the hearts and minds of the group, especially Bob's best friend Tom. Meanwhile, stressed businesswoman Sophie makes a desperate leap on Victor and the group must face down the rambler's worst enemy - a farmer who keeps blocking public rights of way.


WED 21:30 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.


WED 22:00 Dan Snow's Norman Walks (b00t6yc2)
Sussex: The Invasion Walk

As part of the BBC's Norman season, historian Dan Snow puts his walking boots on and sets off to see what the British landscape can teach us about our Norman predecessors. From their violent arrival on these shores to their most sustaining legacies, Dan's three walks follow an evolutionary path through the Normans' era, from invasion to conquest, to successful rule and colonization.

On the Sussex coast, along the Welsh border and on the edge of the North York Moors, Dan explores the landscape and whatever evidence might remain; earth mounds, changing coastlines, viewpoints, and of course the giant stone castles and buildings that were the great symbol of Norman rule. All these elements offer clues as to how the Norman elite were ultimately able to dominate and rule our Anglo-Saxon kingdom.

As Dan discovers, there are a great many unknowns about events in 1066 and thereafter. But one thing is clear - wherever they went, the varied British landscape and its diverse people offered a fresh challenge to the Normans.

The exploration begins on the Sussex coastline, on the cliffs overlooking the Channel, where William the Conqueror and his army first encountered British soil in the run-up to Hastings. But whilst the end result of William's invasion is in no doubt, how much do we really know about events leading up to the battle?

From Hastings to the town of Battle, Dan's first walk traces events in the two-week period between the Norman landings and the battle itself. By exploring the coastline and investigating what the opposing armies did for two weeks, Dan begins to satisfy his curiosity about why the battle took place when and where it did.


WED 22:30 Inside the Medieval Mind (b00b413s)
Belief

Leading authority on the Middle Ages, Professor Robert Bartlett, presents a series which examines the way we thought during medieval times. Our forebears believed they shared the world with the dead and that angels and demons battled for control of human souls. As the church's grip on our beliefs increased, men and women were dragged before religious courts and multitudes were killed in the name of God.


WED 23:30 How to Build a Cathedral (b00b09rb)
The great cathedrals were the wonders of the medieval world - the tallest buildings since the pyramids and the showpieces of medieval Christianity. Yet they were built at a time when most of us lived in hovels. Architectural historian Jon Cannon explores who the people were that built them and how they were able to achieve such a bold vision.


WED 00:30 The Great Outdoors (b00t9r89)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


WED 01:00 Wild Swimming (b00t9r28)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Tuesday]


WED 02:00 Swimming to Scotland: Crossing Hell's Mouth (b00mly5l)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 on Tuesday]


WED 02:50 The Sky at Night (b079w6rk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


WED 03:20 The Great Outdoors (b00t9r89)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


WED 03:50 Dan Snow's Norman Walks (b00t6yc2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]



THURSDAY 05 AUGUST 2010

THU 19:00 World News Today (b00t9rdw)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


THU 19:30 BBC Proms (b00t9rjj)
2010

Mahler's Third Symphony with the BBC SSO

A celebration of Gustav Mahler's 150th birthday with his monumental Third Symphony, performed by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under their chief conductor Donald Runnicles.


THU 21:18 DEC Pakistan Floods Appeal (b00thsv1)
An appeal from the Disasters and Emergency Committee for aid to help those affected by the floods in Pakistan.


THU 21:20 Barenboim on Beethoven (b0074swg)
Part 1

First of two programmes in which pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim gives a masterclass on the Beethoven piano sonatas, coaching some of the world's rising piano stars who already have international careers. Lang Lang plays the first movement of the Appassionata Sonata, Op 57, and David Kadouch the first movement of sonata Op 31 No 1. Barenboim takes each pianist through their chosen piece, illustrating the importance of structure and the relationships between tempo, harmony and dynamics.


THU 22:20 Stephen Fry on Wagner (b00sjllw)
Stephen Fry explores his passion for controversial composer Richard Wagner. Can he salvage the music he loves from its dark association with Hitler's Nazi regime? His journey takes him to Germany, Switzerland and Russia as he pieces together the story of the composer's turbulent career.

Along the way he plays Wagner's piano, meets the composer's descendants and eavesdrops on rehearsals for the legendary Bayreuth Festival, the annual extravaganza of Wagner's music held in a theatre designed by the composer himself.


THU 23:20 Dan Snow's Norman Walks (b00t6yc2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 on Wednesday]


THU 23:50 On Hannibal's Trail (b00t9qv6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 on Monday]


THU 00:20 Britain by Bike (b00t9r0n)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 on Tuesday]


THU 00:50 Britain's Park Story (b00t9qv8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Monday]


THU 01:50 BBC Proms (b00t9rjj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]



FRIDAY 06 AUGUST 2010

FRI 19:00 World News Today (b00t9rmt)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


FRI 19:30 BBC Proms (b00t9rqc)
2010

Paul Lewis Plays Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto

Paul Lewis continues his cycle of Beethoven piano concertos with the Hallé and their music director Sir Mark Elder.

The programme includes Strauss's popular tone poem Ein Heldenleben.


FRI 21:35 Glastonbury (b00t9rzf)
2010

The Scissor Sisters

A look back at the set by disco-pop New Yorkers The Scissor Sisters on the Pyramid Stage at the 2010 festival. Featuring many of their big hits such as Laura, Take Your Mama and I Don't Feel Like Dancin', plus numbers from their most recent album Night Work, including Any Which Way, on which they are joined by pop princess Kylie Minogue.


FRI 22:35 Once Upon a Time in New York: The Birth of Hip Hop, Disco and Punk (b007mw93)
How the squalid streets of '70s New York gave birth to music that would go on to conquer the world - punk, disco and hip hop.

In the 1970s the Big Apple was rotten to the core, yet out of the grime, grit and low rent space emerged new music unlike anything that had gone before.

Inspired by the Velvet Underground, a new wave of 'punk' rock emerged in lower Manhattan including The New York Dolls, The Ramones and the Patti Smith Group. Meanwhile, downtown loft parties held by gay New Yorkers heralded the birth of disco, which would eventually spawn the ultimate club for the privileged few: Studio 54. The swanky mid-town discos were out of bounds to black New York so in the Bronx DJs such as Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambaataa created their own parties, heralding the birth of hip hop.

With David Johansen, Patti Smith, John Cale, Richard Hell, Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaataa, Kool Herc, Nile Rodgers, Chuck D, Tommy Ramone, Chris Stein, Fab 5. Freddy, Lenny Kaye, Tina Weymouth, Chris Frantz, Syl Sylvain, Nicky Siano, David Mancuso, DJ AJ, David Depino, Jayne County, Leee Childers, Nelson George, Victor Bokris and Vince Aletti.


FRI 23:35 New York Rock at the BBC (b007mwcf)
From the streets of New York City to the studios of the BBC comes the cream of the New York rock scene, including classic archive performances from The Ramones, New York Dolls, Television, Blondie, Lou Reed and many more.


FRI 00:35 Blondie: One Way or Another (b0074thn)
The story of New York's finest - the most successful and enduring band fronted by a woman - Debbie Harry and Blondie. From their Bowery beginnings at CBGB's in 1974 to their controversial induction into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame in New York. The band crossed pop with punk, reggae and rap and had no 1s in all styles. With exclusive backstage and performance footage from their UK tour plus in-depth interviews with current and ex-band members and friends Iggy Pop, Shirley Manson, Tommy Ramone, and Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth of Talking Heads.


FRI 01:45 Glastonbury (b00t9rzf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:35 today]


FRI 02:45 BBC Proms (b00t9rqc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]