SATURDAY 01 JANUARY 2011
SAT 19:00 New Year's Day Concert (b00x792m)
2011 - Highlights
Highlights from the Golden Hall of the Musikverein in Vienna, where the Vienna Philharmonic gave the annual celebratory concert of waltzes, polkas and marches, led by the Austrian conductor Franz Welser-Most.
There is music by four members of the Strauss family as well as pieces by their Viennese contemporaries Lanner and Hellmesberger, plus music by Liszt to celebrate the bicentenary of his birth. The Vienna State Opera Ballet dance to some of the music at iconic Viennese locations and the concert is introduced by Petroc Trelawny.
SAT 21:00 Wallander (b00x792p)
The Pyramid
Crime thriller based on a novel by Henning Mankell.
Detective Wallander is haunted by the spectre of a murder he was unable to prevent as a young policeman. Years after the event, the daughter of the murder victim, now a heroin addict, dies of an overdose.
A distressed Wallander is assigned to investigate the crash of a light airplane and a detonated armour piercing shell is found in the wreckage. A few days later, two elderly sisters are killed in an explosion in a sewing supplies shop. Traces of an advanced explosive are found in the burnt-out shop and evidence soon mounts to indicate that both events are tied to a showdown between two rival narcotics gangs.
SAT 22:30 Charlie Brooker's 2010 Wipe (b00wyn2z)
Since you've probably already forgotten what happened this year, Charlie Brooker's 2010 Wipe is here to fill in the blanks. From the Chilean miners to the General Election, from Sherlock to The Only Way is Essex, Brooker unhelpfully points a finger and laughs. With contributors including Doug Stanhope, Grace Dent and Nick Davies and poetry from Tim Key you'd be a fool to miss it, which is why you won't.
SAT 23:30 Enid (b00nxkm8)
Illuminating and surprising drama telling the story of arguably the most popular children's storyteller of all, Enid Blyton.
It reveals how Blyton became the writer who would capture more youthful imaginations than anyone else, following her career from ambitious, driven and as yet unpublished young woman to household name and moral guardian, while glimpsing her own childhood - a dark time, far from the carefree, happy idyll portrayed in her books.
Through marriages and children, the roles of Enid the wife (to Hugh and then Kenneth) and mother are portrayed, ones she struggled to fulfil while balancing them with her extraordinary output.
The film also uncovers a strong and resourceful woman; a woman who never really grew up; a woman who rewrote the endings of many chapters of her real life, sometimes with cruel and hurtful results; and a woman whose legacy has often been criticised but whose success cannot be argued with, who gave children the stories they wanted.
SAT 00:55 Come Clog Dancing: Treasures of English Folk Dance (b00wmy5q)
At the height of the industrial revolution in the last decades of the 19th century there was a dance, now rarely seen, that resounded through the collieries and pit villages of the north east of England - the clog dance.
For conductor and musician Charles Hazlewood, clog dance has become an obsession and he plans to put it firmly back on the map by staging a mass flashmob clog dance.
Helped by a team of local enthusiasts led by expert clog dancer Laura Connolly, Charles recruits and trains 140 men and women from across the north east, and one sunny Saturday in a busy square in central Newcastle they ambush the public with a six-minute performance.
Along the way, Charles delves into the history of this fascinating folk dance, learns and performs a few steps himself, and meets and works with some of the key characters keeping this ancient dance alive.
SAT 01:55 Still Folk Dancing... After All These Years (b00wgrtr)
Young Northumbrian folk-singing siblings Rachel and Becky Unthank take a journey around England from spring to autumn 2010 to experience its living folk dance traditions in action. They lead us through the back gardens and narrow streets of towns and villages from Newcastle to Penzance to discover the most surprising of dances, ceremonies, rituals and festivities that mark the turning of the seasons and the passing of the year.
On their journey the Unthanks learn about the evolving history of the dances, whether connected to the land and the cycles of fertility or to working customs and practices in industrial towns. The girls talk to local historians and visit Cecil Sharp House to explore the dances' 20th century revival and codification through archivist Sharp and others, and we get to enjoy extraordinary film archive of the dances through the decades which show that although the people have changed, the dances have often remained remarkably constant.
Rachel and Becky grew up clog dancing in their native Northumberland and now get to observe and try other English dances, including travellers' step dancing in Suffolk, horn dancing with huge antlers in Staffordshire and stick dancing in Oxfordshire. This curious but vibrant world of local dances flies in the face of modernisation, and sometimes of ridicule, to keep the traditions and the steps alive.
SAT 02:55 Charlie Brooker's 2010 Wipe (b00wyn2z)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:30 today]
SUNDAY 02 JANUARY 2011
SUN 19:00 Best of European Opera 2010 (b00wyq33)
A programme of operatic highlights featuring some of the most exciting productions from around Europe in 2010.
It includes the Royal Opera's Simon Boccanegra starring Placido Domingo in his first baritone role, Jose van Dam's farewell performance as Don Quixote from La Monnaie in Brussels, and star soprano Diana Damrau singing Mozart in Barcelona.
There is also a glimpse of the new opera house in Oslo and two radically different productions - Birmingham Opera's Othello, staged by Graham Vick in a disused factory in Birmingham, and a spectacular version of Moses and Aaron from Germany.
Verdi's Rigoletto provides the climax with an extract from the live film version broadcast in September from Mantua, with Domingo in the title role.
SUN 20:00 The Vera Lynn Story (b00tkxpx)
Dame Vera Lynn has been in show business for eight decades and her and her songs are part of our national heritage.
Sir David Frost interviews Dame Vera at her home in Sussex and hears about her extraordinary career. She talks revealingly about her childhood in London's East Ham; her days singing with the big bands of the 30s; her role as WW2's Forces Sweetheart and her successful post-war career.
With engaging tales about her personal life and career, the programme also features rare archive including recordings from the 30s and hitherto unseen home movies. Sir Cliff Richard, Alan Titchmarsh, Hayley Westenra, Vera's brother Roger and only daughter Virginia all contribute to this warm and engrossing portrait of one of Britain's greatest popular singers.
SUN 21:00 Spitfire Women (b00tw1m1)
During World War II, a remarkable band of female pilots fought against all odds for the right to aid the war effort. Without these Spitfire Women, the war may never have been won.
These trailblazers were part of the Air Transport Auxiliary, a thousand-strong organisation that delivered aircraft to the frontline RAF during Britain's darkest hours. Every day, responsibility fell on their shoulders to get the planes to the fighters, which often pushed them into dangerous and even deadly situations.
Using interviews with the last few surviving veterans, archive footage and dramatic reconstruction, this documentary brings to life the forgotten story of the ATA. The resilience of these women in the face of open discrimination is one of the most inspiring and overlooked milestones in women's rights. Their story is one of courage, sexism and patriotism, but above all a story about women who want to break the confines of the world they live in and reach for the skies.
SUN 22:00 Female Agents (b00x9b4x)
In May 1944, a group of French servicewomen and resistance fighters are enlisted into the British Special Operations Executive commando group under the command of Louise Desfontaines and her brother Pierre. Their mission, to rescue a British army geologist caught reconnoitering the beaches at Normandy and to kill a German SS colonel who is close to figuring out the imminent secret of D-Day, proves to be emotional and brutal.
The film is inspired by the accomplishments of decorated SOE agent Lise de Baissac.
SUN 23:50 Wellington Bomber (b00tr2p5)
One autumn weekend, early in WWII at an aircraft factory at Broughton in North Wales, a group of British workers, men and women, set out to smash a world record for building a bomber from scratch. They managed to build a Wellington Bomber in 23 hours and 50 minutes. They worked so quickly that the test pilot had to be turfed out of bed to take it into the air, 24 hours and 48 minutes after the first part of the airframe had been laid.
So who were the men and women who made this record-breaking Wellington? Britain's propaganda machine made a 12-minute film about the attempt and Peter Williams Television has traced six of them, one of whom, Bill Anderson, was only 14 years old. Their story of the excitement of the attempt is the heart of this documentary.
The Wellington was a special aircraft, as historian Sir Max Hastings says. It was held in great affection by those who flew it, mostly because its geodetic construction enabled it to survive enormous damage, as Flt Lt 'Tiny' Cooling remembers. He flew 67 missions in Wellingtons.
More Wellingtons were built during WWII than any other British aircraft, except the Spitfire and the Hurricane, the stars of the Battle of Britain. And, unwittingly, the Wellington, Britain's main strike bomber, played an important role in the Battle of Britain, as this documentary reveals.
SUN 00:50 Battlefield Britain (b0078s6r)
The Battle of Britain
Dan Snow experiences how the Battle of Britain was fought at the limits of human endurance when he takes flight in a high performance stunt plane. Recreating the spiralling turns of a dogfight, he feels the extraordinary side-effects of the high G forces felt by pilots in this critical battle of World War II.
Using revolutionary graphics, Peter Snow gives a blow-by-blow account of the pivotal moments of the battle and how the RAF held off the might of the German Luftwaffe during the summer of 1940. The future of the entire country was at stake in this, the first great air battle in history.
SUN 01:50 Spitfire Women (b00tw1m1)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
SUN 02:50 The Vera Lynn Story (b00tkxpx)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 today]
MONDAY 03 JANUARY 2011
MON 19:00 John Sergeant on Tracks of Empire (b00t3dbd)
Unite and Divide
John Sergeant embarks on a unique 3,000 mile journey through the history of the greatest legacy the British left to India - its rail network. The biggest in Asia, it runs on 40,000 miles of track and reaches every corner of the subcontinent. Proposed in 1853 by Governor General Lord Dalhousie, it would become the biggest engineering project of its time and instrumental in every chapter of India's history.
Starting in Kolkata, Sergeant traverses India from east to west, travels through turbulent Bihar state, visits the Victorian railway town of Jamalpur, and discovers why the construction of the Dufferin Bridge at Varanasi resulted in Victorian technology and ingenuity clashing with ancient religion, before ending his journey at the border with Pakistan.
Even though Mahatma Gandhi denounced the railways as evil, Sergeant reveals how it became a civil engineering triumph that united the country and played a crucial role when India became independent in 1947.
MON 20:00 Arena (b0074t7h)
The Archers
Stephen Fry narrates a documentary which goes behind the scenes at The Archers and follows the production team as they put together the 15,000th episode of the world's longest-running radio soap. They plot, write and record the thrilling climax to the story that hit the headlines in November 2006 - the love triangle between David Archer, his wife Ruth, and herdsman Sam.
With extracts from episodes dating back over its history and interviews with actors, editors, writers and fans, the film delves into the nooks and crannies of The Archers and examines the enduring appeal of this hugely popular agricultural soap.
MON 21:00 The Secret Life of Bob Monkhouse (b00x9b7w)
The extraordinary story of comedian Bob Monkhouse's life and career, told through the vast private archive of films, TV shows, letters and memorabilia that he left behind.
MON 22:30 Story of Light Entertainment (b00792f0)
All Round Entertainers
Straight from the Victorian music halls with their traditional mix of song, dance and comic skit came the tradition of the all round entertainer - an artiste who could 'do it all'. But despite this incredible mix of skills and after ruling the world of light entertainment for years, their chief mode of employment was to become hosts of variety shows, game shows, quizzes and competitions. And whilst an obvious waste of their talents, it did provide huge fame and money, as game shows quickly became the biggest hits on TV.
But the all round entertainers are the masters of reinvention - from Bruce Forsyth to Michael Barrymore and Bob Monkhouse to Cilla Black, they adapted their skills to keep their place at the top of the slippery showbiz ladder, even as reality TV took hold of the schedules and fame rather than talent became a passport to TV stardom.
But becoming a jack of all trades brings its own problems, and unappreciated talents, fragile egos and a craving for attention have forever blighted the world of the all rounder.
Stars featured include Bruce Forsyth, Jimmy Tarbuck, Cilla Black, Brian Conley, Joe Pasquale, Lionel Blair, Una Stubbs, Michael Grade and many more.
MON 00:00 Charlie Brooker's 2010 Wipe (b00wyn2z)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:30 on Saturday]
MON 01:00 The Secret Life of Bob Monkhouse (b00x9b7w)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
MON 02:30 Story of Light Entertainment (b00792f0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:30 today]
TUESDAY 04 JANUARY 2011
TUE 19:00 World News Today (b00x7bxg)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
TUE 19:30 The Sky at Night (b07hk56z)
Volcanoes of the Solar System
The planets and moons of our solar system are covered in volcanoes, some billions of years old and seven times the height of Mount Everest. Sir Patrick Moore discovers the havoc that volcanoes can wreak on our own planet, as well as elsewhere in our solar system.
TUE 20:00 Baroque! - From St Peter's to St Paul's (b00j4d3g)
Episode 1
Three-part series exploring the Baroque tradition in many of its key locations. Starting in Italy and following the spread of the wildfire across Europe and beyond, art critic Waldemar Januszczak takes a tour of the best examples of Baroque to be found, and tells the best stories behind those works.
This first episode begins at St Peter's in Rome, and details the birth of the Baroque tradition as it burst forth in Italy. This programme features outstanding high definition footage of St Peter's Basilica, as well as other gems of the Italian Baroque.
TUE 21:00 Secret Lives of the Artists (b0074pym)
The Madness of Vermeer
Johannes Vermeer is one of our favourite painters, with his Girl with a Pearl Earring now deemed the 'Mona Lisa of the North'. But little is known about his life and for almost two centuries he was lost to obscurity.
Andrew Graham-Dixon, travelling to Vermeer's hometown of Delft and a dramatic Dutch landscape of huge skies and windmills, embarks on a detective trail to uncover the life of a genius in hiding.
Renowned for painting calm and beautiful interiors, the real life of Vermeer was marred by crime and violence. His life was a bid to escape the privations of his family and yet even a glamorous marriage and artistic success failed to save him from the fate he dreaded more than any other.
TUE 22:00 Girl with a Pearl Earring (b008m44c)
Screen adaptation of Tracy Chevalier's best-selling novel, inspired by the Johannes Vermeer painting of the same name. Set in mid-17th-century Delft, Holland, 17-year-old Griet is forced into servanthood when her father suffers an accident and becomes unable to work. She is taken on at the Vermeer household, where her presence immediately provokes hostility from members of the family - particularly the artist's wife and eldest daughter - when she starts to forge an understanding with her mysterious master.
TUE 23:35 Rick Stein's Taste of Italian Opera (b00sm1g0)
Chef Rick Stein takes a light-hearted look at the role that food played in the creation of Italian opera and shows how music and food are intrinsically linked in Italy. He draws parallels between cooking and composing, noting how both involve the skilful combination of ingredients and how they share the common purpose of bringing pleasure to many. Rick also explains why he thinks the music of Verdi, Rossini and Puccini are linked to the food of the regions where they lived and worked.
TUE 00:35 Secret Lives of the Artists (b0074pym)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
TUE 01:35 Baroque! - From St Peter's to St Paul's (b00j4d3g)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 today]
TUE 02:35 The Sky at Night (b07hk56z)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:30 today]
TUE 03:05 Rick Stein's Taste of Italian Opera (b00sm1g0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
23:35 today]
WEDNESDAY 05 JANUARY 2011
WED 19:00 World News Today (b00x7c3x)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
WED 19:30 The Boats That Built Britain (b00s96rt)
The Matthew
No ship has ever made a more important discovery than the Matthew. In 1497, explorer John Cabot left Bristol on this little boat and 3,000 miles later landed in what we now know is North America. His discovery would change Britain and the world forever.
Sailor and writer Tom Cunliffe sails the Matthew for himself and finds out just how this incredible little boat made a journey into the unknown and came back to tell the story.
WED 20:00 The Great British Outdoors (b00t4kh5)
Mud, midges, barbed wire - just why do us Brits love the great outdoors?
In this nostalgic look at life for campers, twitchers, ramblers and metal detectors, Mark Benton examines the history of the British fresh air freak.
WED 21:00 Timeshift (b00x7c3z)
Series 10
The Golden Age of Coach Travel
Documentary which takes a glorious journey back to the 1950s, when the coach was king. From its early origins in the charabanc, the coach had always been the people's form of transport. Cheaper and more flexible than the train, it allowed those who had travelled little further than their own villages and towns a first heady taste of exploration and freedom. It was a safe capsule on wheels from which to venture out into a wider world.
The distinctive livery of the different coach companies was part of a now-lost world, when whole communities crammed into coach after coach en route to pleasure spots like Blackpool, Margate and Torquay. With singsongs, toilet stops and the obligatory pub halt, it didn't matter how long it took to get there because the journey was all part of the adventure.
WED 22:00 Caravans: A British Love Affair (b00hw3s0)
Documentary about the love affair between the British and their caravans, which saw the country establish the world's largest caravan manufacturer and transformed the holiday habits of generations of families.
In telling the intriguing story of caravanning in Britain from the 1950s through to the present day, the film reveals how caravans were once the plaything of a privileged minority, but after World War II became a firm favourite with almost a quarter of British holidaymakers.
It explores how changes in caravanning across the years reflect wider changes in British society, in particular the increased availability of cars during the 1950s and 60s, but also the improved roads network and changing attitudes towards holidaymaking and leisure time.
Enthusiasts and contributors include Dorrie van Lachterop from the West Midlands and Christine Fagg from Hertfordshire, remarkable and adventurous women who started touring alone in their caravans during the 1950s.
WED 23:00 Britain Goes Camping (b00t5hcl)
Featuring the evocative memories and unseen archive of generations of enthusiasts, a documentary which tells the intriguing story of how sleeping under canvas evolved from a leisure activity for a handful of adventurous Edwardian gents to the quintessentially British family pastime that it is today.
WED 00:00 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.
WED 01:00 The Great British Outdoors (b00t4kh5)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 today]
WED 02:00 Caravans: A British Love Affair (b00hw3s0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:00 today]
WED 03:00 The Boats That Built Britain (b00s96rt)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:30 today]
WED 03:30 Timeshift (b00x7c3z)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
THURSDAY 06 JANUARY 2011
THU 19:00 World News Today (b00x7cb1)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
THU 19:30 Storyville (b00rbl46)
Barbados at the Races
Bajan Born and Bred
This four-part series looks at Barbados today through the lives - at work and at play - of the island's horse racing community. The series is centred on the Barbados Turf Club and following the stories of a colourful cast of characters, from the big white owners at the top of the tree right down to the poor black exercise riders and grooms. The Club and its racecourse have been based at the former British Army Garrison on the edge of the island's capital Bridgetown for over a hundred years. These quirky and, at times, spiritually-minded programmes look at how the culture of Barbados today, its institutions and the mindset of its people have been shaped by the colonial past and the legacy of and slavery.
This programme explores what it is to be Bajan (Barbadian) during the run-up to Independence Day. Jonathon Simpson owns a farm and breeding stables in the hills, where groom Pat Coward is kept busy breaking in yearlings for training. Meanwhile in St Ann's Fort next to the Garrison Savannah the Barbados Defence Force's top Sgt. Maj. Cherrol Dean is drilling his troops for the 43rd annual Independence Day Parade. The programme discusses the ways in which Bajans - human and equine alike - are both bred and nurtured and compares the experiences of single mothers Pat and army medic Safreya Small. This first programme finds an island influenced - but perhaps surprisingly not overshadowed - by its colonial past, with a sense of historical contradiction and ambiguity that is the heartbeat of the series.
THU 20:00 Horizon (b00x7cb3)
What Makes Us Clever? A Horizon Guide to Intelligence
Dallas Campbell delves into the Horizon archive to discover how our understanding of intelligence has transformed over the last century. From early caveman thinkers to computers doing the thinking for us, he discovers the best ways of testing how clever we are - and enhancing it.
THU 21:00 The Brain: A Secret History (b00xhgkd)
Mind Control
In a compelling and at times disturbing series, Dr Michael Mosley explores the brutal history of experimental psychology.
To begin, Michael traces the sinister ways this science has been used to try to control our minds. He finds that the pursuit of mind control has led to some truly horrific experiments and left many casualties in its wake. Extraordinary archive material captures what happened - scientists systematically change the behaviour of children, law-abiding citizens give fatal electric shocks and a gay man has electrodes implanted in his head in an attempt to turn his sexuality.
Michael takes a hallucinogenic drug as part of a controlled experiment to try to understand how its mind-bending properties can change the brain.
This is a scientific journey which goes to the very heart of what we hold most dear - our free will, and our ability to control our own destiny.
THU 22:00 Five Daughters (b00s8hvd)
Episode 1
The story of the five young women murdered in Ipswich in the winter of 2006, dramatised from the testimony of many of those closest to them.
This episode focuses on Anneli Alderton, her mother and brother, while also introducing the other women and their families in the weeks leading up to their disappearances and deaths.
THU 23:00 Wallander (b00x792p)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Saturday]
THU 00:30 The Brain: A Secret History (b00xhgkd)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
THU 01:30 Horizon (b00x7cb3)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 today]
THU 02:30 Storyville (b00rbl46)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:30 today]
THU 03:00 The Brain: A Secret History (b00xhgkd)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
FRIDAY 07 JANUARY 2011
FRI 19:00 World News Today (b00x7chd)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
FRI 19:30 Mozart Uncovered (b0074q2q)
Piano Concerto in D Minor
Conductor Charles Hazlewood rehearses and performs some of the key works featured in the BBC series The Genius of Mozart and analyses them in more detail. Mozart's Piano Concerto in D Minor K466 comes under the microscope, performed by the renowned Dutch fortepianist Ronald Brautigam and a specially-formed period orchestra.
FRI 20:30 Transatlantic Sessions (b007yyss)
Series 3
Episode 1
The best of Nashville, Ireland and Scotland come together in an exclusive Highland location and with no audience except one another to make music in what have been called 'the greatest backporch shows ever'.
Paul Brady remembers Louisiana, Karen Matheson astonishes with some Gaelic mouth music and American star Joan Osborne makes her UK television debut.
FRI 21:00 Classic Albums (b00x7chg)
Tom Petty: Damn the Torpedoes
The third album by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, released in 1979, has long been regarded as a classic and demonstrates the musical and songwriting virtuosity of a great frontman and his amazing backing band. A mix of rootsy American rock 'n' roll and the best of the British invasion, of jangling Byrds guitars and Stones-like rhythms, Damn the Torpedoes was the album that took Petty into the major league and redefined American rock.
This programme tells the story behind the conception and recording of the album and how it transformed the band's career. Using interviews, musical demonstration, acoustic performance, archive footage and a return to the multi-tracks with the main protagonists, it shows how Petty, Mike Campbell, Benmont Tench, Ron Blair and Stan Lynch created their songs and sounds with the help of co-producer Jimmy Iovine and engineer Shelly Yakus. Additional comments from journalists and other producers and musicians help tell the story and put the album into its rightful place in rock history.
Recorded in secrecy at a time when the band was fighting for creative independence amidst a legal wrangle with their record company, the album is imbued with an anger and a gutsy attitude the situation had created. Many songs from the album are still played live and form an important part of Petty's body of work, including Refugee, Here Comes My Girl, Even the Losers, Shadow of a Doubt, Louisiana Rain, Century City and top ten hit Don't Do Me Like That.
Damn the Torpedoes hit number two in the US for seven weeks, initially selling over 2.5 million copies, and launched Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers onto the world stage and into superstar territory, standing as one of the great records of the late 70s and early 80s.
FRI 22:00 Rock Goes to College (b00phv9m)
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Pete Drummond introduces Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers in concert at Oxford Polytechnic in 1980.
FRI 22:45 Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: Runnin' Down a Dream (b00scr6s)
Peter Bogdanovich's epic portrait of one of America's great heartland rock 'n' roll bands.
Hailing from Gainesville, Florida, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers got together in the mid-70s, moved to California and released their self-titled debut album in 1976. The album was a hit in the UK where its concise, rock 'n' roll traditionalism sat well with the emerging punk and new wave scenes.
The film uses extensive interviews with the band and friends like Bob Dylan, Stevie Nicks and Rick Rubin to chart their stubborn, independent-minded and often highly-successful journey towards the present day - breaking up occasionally, stopping off with the Travelling Wilburys, various Petty solo outings and periods backing the likes of Dylan, but fundamentally sticking together as one of America's greatest live and recording rock 'n' roll bands.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers released Mojo, their first album together in eight years, in June 2010.
FRI 02:45 Classic Albums (b00x7chg)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
FRI 03:40 Rock Goes to College (b00phv9m)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:00 today]