SATURDAY 19 MARCH 2011

SAT 19:00 Nature's Great Events (b00j1bhw)
The Great Tide

A mighty army of dolphins, sharks, whales, seals and gannets hunt down the billions of sardines along South Africa's east coast each winter. This is the sardine run: an underwater armageddon, the greatest gathering of predators anywhere on the planet, and the most spectacular event in the world's oceans.

However, in recent years the sardine run has become less predictable, perhaps due to the warming effects of climate change. If the sardine run does not happen, the lives of the animals caught up in the drama hang in the balance.

Pioneering a unique boat stabilised camera mount for surface filming, the Nature's Great Events crew capture all the high-octane action as the predators compete for sardines, filmed with aerial, underwater and above water cameras. Super slow-motion cameras also capture the very moment gannets plunge into the water, hitting it at 60 miles an hour.

A violent winter storm is the trigger for the sardines to begin their desperate dash. They are followed by a superpod of 5,000 dolphins and further up the coast more predators gather. A shoal of sardines 15 miles long is pushed into the shallows and aerial shots show thousands of sharks gathering to feed on them.

The climax to the sardine run is a spectacular feeding frenzy as the dolphins round the sardines up into balls on which all the predators feast. Gannets rain down in their thousands, sharks pile in scattering the fish and a Bryde's whale lunges in taking great mouthfuls of sardines.


SAT 20:00 Agony & Ecstasy: A Year with English National Ballet (b00zj0vc)
Episode 2

Exclusive behind-the-scenes series which follows English National ballet on their 60th anniversary and reveals the complexities of staging world class ballet.

We join the company as they fight to finish their most ambitious production of the year - Rudolf Nureyev's Romeo & Juliet. From tensions on stage to challenging rehearsals using real weaponry, the men are performing for their lives. The company are already undermanned so it's crucial that no dancers are injured, but it's only a matter of time before the demanding schedule takes its toll.


SAT 21:00 The Killing (b00ztf3s)
Series 1

Episode 17

Sarah and Jan are convinced that there is a link between Nanna's murder and an unsolved case from 15 years earlier. It is now a race against time to nail the evidence. Pernille and Theis are puzzled as they realise the case is far from closed. Troels is counting on winning the election and is willing to put everything on the line.


SAT 22:00 The Killing (b00zth0c)
Series 1

Episode 18

Sarah and Jan check out an abandoned warehouse to look for evidence, but something unexpected happens. Meanwhile, a prime suspect disappears. Troels is struggling to get back into the political arena, but is contacted by a journalist whose attempts to dig up dirt are not entirely unsuccessful. Theis and Pernille are trying to move on and prepare to take their sons to see the new house.


SAT 23:00 Omnibus (b00zv3jn)
Christopher Isherwood - A Born Foreigner

1969 documentary about author Christopher Isherwood. Born near Manchester, Isherwood mostly lived abroad. In 1969, he was living in California, was a devotee of Hinduism and a pacifist - yet of his own choice he remained an outsider, a foreigner. Derek Hart interviews him about his life and work, featuring extracts from films of his novels and stories including I Am A Camera and The Sailor from Gibraltar, and about the background to the writing of his novel A Single Man.


SAT 23:45 Twenty Twelve (b00zhzqw)
Series 1

Episode 1

Comedy series following the personal and professional challenges faced by those responsible for delivering the biggest show on earth, as the Olympic Deliverance team try to get through to the end of the day, the end of the week and the end of the year without all the wheels falling off at once.

With time ticking inexorably downwards, the marketing team come up with a major public event to mark the '1000 days to go' milestone. A huge clock designed by a modern British artist will be installed outside Tate Modern on the banks of the Thames in a ceremony performed by both Seb Coe and Boris Johnson and will count down towards the start of the Olympic Games. The only problem is that the clock has a potentially disastrous design flaw which no-one seems to have noticed until it is too late.

Meanwhile the process of deciding which public figures should be approached to carry the Olympic Torch on its journey around Britain has begun.


SAT 00:15 Stiff at the BBC (b0074sw5)
Episode 2

Second part of a compilation of BBC performances by the original Stiff Records artists and those closely associated with the maverick label, including Madness, Ian Dury, the Pogues, Lene Lovich and Jona Lewie.


SAT 01:15 If It Ain't Stiff (b007j2hr)
Adrian Edmondson narrates a documentary chronicling the story of Stiff Records, a tiny independent that took music out of the boardroom and gave it back to the fans. Stiff's successes included Nick Lowe, the Damned, Elvis Costello, Ian Dury, Madness, Tracey Ullman and the Pogues. Contributors include Captain Sensible, Jonathan Ross, Suggs, Shane MacGowan and label founders Jake Riviera and Dave Robinson.


SAT 02:45 My Strike (b00j4cwd)
Documentary looking at how going on strike became almost a rite of passage in earlier times, as the likes of Lord Tebbit, Greg Dyke, Peter Snow, Eddie Shah and Anne Scargill recall just what their strike meant to them.


SAT 03:45 Agony & Ecstasy: A Year with English National Ballet (b00zj0vc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]



SUNDAY 20 MARCH 2011

SUN 19:00 The Story of Science: Power, Proof and Passion (b00sn5yz)
Who Are We?

Michael Mosley takes an informative and ambitious journey exploring how the evolution of scientific understanding is intimately interwoven with society's historical path.

We now know that the brain - the organ that more than any other makes us human - is one of the wonders of the universe, and yet until the 17th century it was barely studied.

The twin sciences of brain anatomy and psychology have offered different visions of who we are. Now these sciences are coming together and in the process have revealed some surprising and uncomfortable truths about what really shapes our thoughts, feelings and desires.

And the search to understand how our brains work has also revealed that we are all - whether we realise it or not - carrying out science from the moment we are born.


SUN 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.


SUN 21:00 Electric Dreams (b00n90xc)
1990s

A family and their home are stripped of all their modern technology to live a life of decades past.

The family must live through the communication and home entertainment revolution of the 1990s, at a rate of a year per day, starting in 1990. They have their own Technical Support Team to source and supply them with the vintage technology that would have been available to British households during the decade.

They attempt to stay in touch using pagers and take a giant mobile phone and a rudimentary digital camera on a day trip to Paris in honour of the opening of the Channel Tunnel in 1994. Workplace technology becomes increasingly portable, but a home without access to the internet proves frustrating and the arrival of the 1990s world wide web is a far cry from what the kids are used to.

The 1990s see a whirlwind of technological progress and the family are inundated with gadgets and upgrades that infiltrate every area of their home. They are left reeling by the pace of change and surprised by the impact of 1990s tech on family life.


SUN 22:00 Sin Nombre (b00zs7v1)
Sayra is a young woman from Honduras on an odyssey through Central America in the hope of illegally entering into the US. Casper is a young gang member from southern Mexico, reluctantly sworn to the terrifying Mara Salvatrucha gang, ruled over by leader Lil' Mago. The gang's newest recruit is Casper's 12-year-old friend Smiley, who is barely aware of what he has just let himself in for.

When Casper, Smiley and Lil'Mago board a northbound train with the intention of robbing the travelling would-be immigrants, Sayra's and Casper's paths cross, with irrevocable consequences.


SUN 23:30 Christy Moore Live: Come All You Dreamers (b00zj2m1)
One of Ireland's favourite sons and greatest live performers, folk singer and balladeer Christy Moore filmed live at Barrowland in Glasgow in 2008 with his veteran accompanist Declan Sinnott. Moore is in intimate communion with an attentive audience, playing a classic setlist that includes Missing You, Black Is The Colour, Pair of Brown Eyes, Ride On.


SUN 00:30 Folk Hibernia (b0074t9b)
Documentary which looks at the Irish folk revival of the last 20 or 30 years. 60 years ago virtually unheard abroad and largely unloved at home, Irish music has given the world a sense of Ireland and Ireland a sense of itself, as the country has risen from an impoverished post-colonial upstart to a modern European power. Contributors include Christy Moore, Paddy Moloney of The Chieftains, Ronnie Drew of The Dubliners, Liam Clancy of The Clancy Brothers and Shane MacGowan of The Pogues.


SUN 02:00 Folk Hibernia at the BBC (b0074tkd)
Celebrating the finest in Irish folk music with a compilation of performances taken from the BBC archives. Highlights include songs from The Clancy Brothers, The Chieftains, Christy Moore, The Pogues and Sharon Shannon.


SUN 03:00 Electric Dreams (b00n90xc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



MONDAY 21 MARCH 2011

MON 19:00 World News Today (b00zs80b)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


MON 19:30 The Way We Travelled (b0074tb9)
The Way We Travelled

Second in a three-part series recalling holiday and travel guides that have graced British television screens focuses on travel's 'golden girls' - Anne Gregg, Judith Chalmers and Jill Dando - and follows their journeys as the programmes and destinations became more adventurous.


MON 20:30 The Beauty of Diagrams (b00vl3h1)
Vitruvian Man

Series in which mathematician Marcus du Sautoy explores the stories behind some of the most familiar scientific diagrams.

He looks at Leonardo da Vinci's world-famous diagram of the perfect human body, which has many layers from anatomy to architecture, and defines our species like no other drawing before or since. The Vitruvian Man, drawn in the 1480s when he was living and working in Milan, has become one of the most famous images in the world. Leonardo's drawings form a vast body of work, covering every imaginable subject in spectacular detail: from feet, skulls and hands to muscles and sinews; from hearts and lungs to buildings, bridges and flying machines.

Vitruvian Man perfectly synthesises Leonardo's passions for anatomy, for the mechanics of the human body and for geometry. It is also full of surprises, illustrating an ancient architectural riddle set out 1,500 years earlier by the classical writer Vitruvius about the relative proportions of buildings and men; a riddle that, even today, still fascinates and beguiles experts and viewers alike.


MON 21:00 Everything and Nothing (b00yb59m)
Everything

Two-part documentary which deals with two of the deepest questions there are - what is everything, and what is nothing?

In two epic, surreal and mind-expanding films, Professor Jim Al-Khalili searches for an answer to these questions as he explores the true size and shape of the universe and delves into the amazing science behind apparent nothingness.

The first part, Everything, sees Professor Al-Khalili set out to discover what the universe might actually look like. The journey takes him from the distant past to the boundaries of the known universe. Along the way he charts the remarkable stories of the men and women who discovered the truth about the cosmos and investigates how our understanding of space has been shaped by both mathematics and astronomy.


MON 22:00 Twenty Twelve (b00zs80d)
Series 1

Episode 2

Comedy series following the personal and professional challenges faced by those responsible for delivering the biggest show on earth, as the Olympic Deliverance team try to get through to the end of the day, the end of the week and the end of the year without all the wheels falling off at once.

A visiting group of dignitaries from Rio (Olympic hosts in 2016) is in London for the week. For Head of Deliverance Ian Fletcher and his team the mission is simple. All they have to do is to meet the Brazilian delegation and take them by coach to the Olympic Stadium where they will meet Head of LOCOG, Lord Sebastian Coe. What can possibly go wrong?

As it turns out, just about everything: from language difficulties through satellite navigation issues to burst water mains and phantom punctures. For the team it's a lesson in the importance of staying positive and focused even when you are literally travelling in completely the wrong direction.


MON 22:30 Lead Balloon (b00fnym7)
Series 3

Panda

When Rick is invited to feature in a TV series that traces celebrities' family trees, his real name is revealed and why it caused him so much misery at school. The pain is nothing compared to what's in store when the researchers uncover the truth about his ancestors.

Meanwhile, Magda is still waiting for her boiler to be fixed, and Rick is still waiting for her to move out.


MON 23:00 Men about the House (b00sxhl5)
Father may be the head of the family, a potent symbol of authority, but he has always been the butt of some of our biggest laughs in British sitcom. Over the last five decades some of our most iconic comedy dads have been bewildered by a changing world and struggled with the work/life balance. These dads have coped with every curveball their writers threw at them and in the process changed the course of British comedy. They remain our most enduring Men About The House.


MON 00:00 The Highest Court in the Land: Justice Makers (b00xz0s5)
They are the UK's most powerful arbiters of justice and now, for the first time, four of the Justices of the Supreme Court talk frankly and openly about the nature of justice and how they make their decisions. The film offers a revealing glimpse of the human characters behind the judgments and explores why the Supreme Court and its members are fundamental to our democracy.

The 11 men and one woman who make up the UK Supreme Court have the last say on the most controversial and difficult cases in the land. What they decide binds every citizen. But are their rulings always fair, do their feelings ever get in the way of their judgments and are they always right?

In the first 14 months of the court they have ruled on MPs' expenses, which led to David Chaytor's prosecution, changed the status of pre-nuptial agreements and battled with the government over control orders and the Human Rights Act.

They explain what happens when they cannot agree and there is a divided judgment, and how they avoid letting their personal feelings effect their interpretation of the law. And they face up to the difficult issue of diversity; there is only one woman on the court, and she is the only Justice who went to a non-fee-paying school.


MON 01:00 Twenty Twelve (b00zs80d)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]


MON 01:30 The Way We Travelled (b0074tb9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


MON 02:30 Everything and Nothing (b00yb59m)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


MON 03:30 Twenty Twelve (b00zs80d)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]



TUESDAY 22 MARCH 2011

TUE 19:00 World News Today (b00zs815)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


TUE 19:30 Around the World in 60 Minutes (b00ymjkt)
A unique journey around the weird and wonderful planet that we call home.

When Yuri Gagarin was blasted into space he became the first human to get a proper look at where we live. 'The Earth is blue,' he exclaimed, 'how amazing!'. Suddenly our perspective on the world had changed forever. We thought we were going to explore the universe, yet the most extraordinary thing we discovered was our own home planet, the Earth.

So what would you see during just one orbit of the Earth? Starting 200 miles above the planet, this film whisks you around the planet to show what changes in the time it takes to circumnavigate the Earth just once. We hear from British-born astronaut Piers Sellers on what it's like to live and work in space, and also to gaze down and see how we are altering and reshaping our world.

We marvel at the incredible forces of nature that brings hundred-mile wide storms and reshapes continents, and also discover how we humans are draining seas and building cities in the middle of the desert. We also visit the wettest place on Earth, as well as the most volcanic.

Narrated by David Morrissey, this inspirational trip around the planet will make you view our home as you've never seen it before.


TUE 20:30 Blackpool on Film (b00tlvj3)
From the earliest Victorian filmmakers to the news cameras of today, this programme uses moving images from almost every decade in between to tell the story of this fascinating seaside town. With wall-to-wall archive including newsreel, documentary films and entertainment shows, it explores over a century of filmmaking to get to the heart of a remarkable British holiday resort.


TUE 21:00 Agony & Ecstasy: A Year with English National Ballet (b00zs817)
Episode 3

The final episode offers a raw and revealing insight into English National Ballet, one of the world's premier ballet companies, at the climax of one of its most demanding years. From injury and pain to success and elation, the series exposes the storm behind the calm of big ballet productions.

Wayne Eagling has a highly demanding job as the artistic director of English National Ballet, looking after the 64 dancers that produce eight ballets a year. He has also decided to put his neck on the line by creating his first full length ballet for the company - The Nutcracker. As the company's crucial and lucrative Christmas production, there is no room for error and Wayne must complete the two hour ballet on an extremely tight schedule.

The film follows the creative processes of a choreographer under pressure and a new production fighting against time. With an important audience of critics, donors and government officials expected on opening night, the show must be finished. But with rehearsals running late and severe snow disrupting the making of the sets, it seems the dancers, costume-makers and technical staff are all fighting for stage time right up until the curtain rises.


TUE 22:00 Mark Lawson Talks To... (b00zs80g)
David Mitchell

Mark Lawson talks to the versatile comedian David Mitchell about his life and career. In this charming interview, Mitchell charts his career from imitating newsreaders as a child to the award-winning success of That Mitchell and Webb Show and Peep Show.

Having grown up under the spell of 1980s television, Mitchell found his comedy soulmate in Robert Webb at a Footlights audition in Cambridge. Mitchell and Webb became established in fringe theatre and radio before That Mitchell and Webb Sound transferred to television to critical acclaim.

Mitchell's performance as Mark Corrigan in Channel Four's Peep Show cemented his position as a comic actor before going on to make his feature film debut with Webb in Magicians. He has remained loyal to his beloved small screen as a panel show regular and as co-host of the satirical series 10 O'Clock Live. Best known for his portrayal of 'furious, self-loathing and selfish failures', David Mitchell continues to delight audiences with his astutely observed vulnerability and irritability.


TUE 23:00 The Secret World of Whitehall (b00zhzqt)
The Real Sir Humphrey

Three-part series by Michael Cockerell starts with the role played over the years by the most powerful unelected member of the government, the Cabinet Secretary.

He is the real life Sir Humphrey from Yes Prime Minister, who rules the civil service from Whitehall's least understood ministry, the Cabinet Office.

Mixing rare archive with candid interviews, the programme tells the story of the many battles for power between Britain's top civil servant and their prime ministers.


TUE 00:00 Blackpool on Film (b00tlvj3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]


TUE 00:30 Sin Nombre (b00zs7v1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 on Sunday]


TUE 02:00 The Secret World of Whitehall (b00zhzqt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:00 today]


TUE 03:00 Agony & Ecstasy: A Year with English National Ballet (b00zs817)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



WEDNESDAY 23 MARCH 2011

WED 19:00 World News Today (b00zs820)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


WED 19:30 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.


WED 20:30 Time to Remember (b00vfgcs)
Pushing the Boundaries

The endeavour, innovation and technological breakthroughs of the first half of the 20th century are illustrated through newsreel footage and the 1950s narration of the original Time to Remember documentary series.

Includes footage of tanks on the battlefields of the Great War; Scott's expedition to Antarctica; Mallory and Irving on Everest; Roosevelt at the Boulder Dam; and a car testing its very necessary roll-bar.


WED 21:00 The Secret World of Whitehall (b00zs840)
Behind the Black Door

Michael Cockerell reveals what life has really been like over the years in 10 Downing Street. Insiders talk candidly about the constant battles and the tragicomic events behind the famous black door. The film shows what an unlikely place No.10 is to run a government from.


WED 22:00 Kidult (b00zs842)
P-Star Rising

Single father Jesse Diaz pins his hopes for the family's fortunes and redemption for his own failed music career on his nine-year-old daughter Priscilla when he discovers that she can rap and perform.

This documentary follows Priscilla, aka P-Star, and her father through the grit and glamour of the music industry, capturing the struggles of Jesse in raising his two children and the sacrifices of his daughter to make her dad proud.

At the dawn of hip-hop's breakthrough into the mainstream in the early 1980s, New Yorker Jesse was poised for fame and success when his dreams were quashed by a prison sentence. After their mother succumbed to drug addiction while he was incarcerated his daughters ended up in foster care, but on leaving prison he managed to reclaim his life and get custody of the girls. He is broke, unemployed and living in temporary housing, but recognising Priscilla's music talent and precocious personality, he sets out to make her the next rap phenomenon.

Filmed over four years, the documentary follows Jesse and his daughters as they navigate the peaks and pitfalls of both the music business and family relationships. As Priscilla gets recognition Jesse struggles to balance his responsibilities as a father with his music industry aspirations. Older sister Solsky is increasingly sidelined in the family by Priscilla's career and turns to the church for support when she does poorly at school.

Priscilla risks losing her childhood in order to satisfy her father's demands and finds herself increasingly coming into conflict with him. From performing on street corners to appearing on national TV and signing a record deal, the film reveals the ambition, talents and sacrifices family members make for one another.


WED 23:15 The Killing (b00ztf3s)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Saturday]


WED 00:15 The Killing (b00zth0c)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 on Saturday]


WED 01:15 Time to Remember (b00vfgcs)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]


WED 01:45 The Secret World of Whitehall (b00zs840)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


WED 02:45 Kidult (b00zs842)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]



THURSDAY 24 MARCH 2011

THU 19:00 World News Today (b00zs8zl)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


THU 19:30 On Hannibal's Trail (b00td4n6)
Over the Alps

History and travel 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 brothers take on the most challenging leg of their trek - crossing the Alps. Historians disagree about which route Hannibal took across the mountains, and the Woods split up and each cycle a different path. They brave snow, altitude and sheer exhaustion as they carry their bikes across some of the highest peaks in the Alps. Finally, they meet up in northern Italy, ready to take on Rome.


THU 20:00 My New Best Friend (b00bv2k8)
Scotland

Three-part documentary series about the importance and nature of friendship among children, told from their point of view. Bryony, Galen, Jessica and Ruairidh must leave their tiny primary schools on remote north-west Scotland islands to start secondary school together on the mainland at Mallaig High School. Each has a different journey into this new world, but they the share universal challenges of finding their own identities, making new friends and trying to belong.


THU 21:00 Women in Love (b00zpdvr)
Episode 1

Adaptation of DH Lawrence's classic novels The Rainbow and Women in Love, focusing on the lives of two sisters, Ursula and Gudrun Brangwen, as they struggle with love, passion and commitment in the build up to the First World War.


THU 22:30 Modern Times (b00781k9)
Falling in Love... Again

Affairs of the heart never come easy and relationships are complicated. But what happens when passion comes with a pension and elderly parents refuse to act their age?

Karen was devastated when her 67-year-old mother Olga ran off to Aberdeen to be with 66-year-old Raymond after a holiday romance in Majorca.

21-year-old Graham doesn't know what to do with his mother now that she's met 70-year-old David, and is acting like a love sick teenager, according to Graham.

For singletons Harry, 60, and Edna, 67, life is just beginning and Edna is now having the time of her life.


THU 23:20 Everything and Nothing (b00yb59m)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Monday]


THU 00:20 My New Best Friend (b00bv2k8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


THU 01:20 The Secret World of Whitehall (b00zs840)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Wednesday]


THU 02:20 Women in Love (b00zpdvr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


THU 03:50 The Secret World of Whitehall (b00zs840)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Wednesday]



FRIDAY 25 MARCH 2011

FRI 19:00 World News Today (b00zs968)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


FRI 19:30 Sacred Music (b03d09b3)
Series 1

The Gothic Revolution

Documentary series in which actor and former chorister Simon Russell Beale explores the flowering of Western sacred music.

He begins his journey at Notre Dame in Paris, where an enigmatic medieval music manuscript provides the key to the early development of polyphony - music of 'many voices'. Featuring music performed by members of the award-winning choir The Sixteen, conducted by Harry Christophers.


FRI 20:30 Opera's Fallen Women (b00zpdwq)
Bizet's Carmen, Puccini's Madame Butterfly, Verdi's Violetta - some of the most famous and powerful roles in opera and they are all, in different ways, fallen women.

And now there's a newcomer to their ranks - Anna Nicole. The Royal Opera's latest smash hit is an operatic version of the life of former Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith. Antonio Pappano, music director of the Royal Opera House and conductor of Anna Nicole, delves into the world of opera's fallen women and discovers how for centuries composers and librettists have used female characters in opera to explore and challenge society's attitudes and prejudices.


FRI 21:00 Anna Nicole from the Royal Opera House (b00zpdyb)
The television premiere of the hit opera based on the life of the young American Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith, who was thrust into the global media spotlight when she married an octogenarian billionaire, became a reality TV star and, after a drug overdose, died tragically early.

Composer Mark-Anthony Turnage and librettist Richard Thomas have created a darkly comic work for the Royal Opera which satirises celebrity and consumer culture. Eva-Maria Westbroek sings the challenging and complex title role, and the two central men in her life, her billionaire husband and her lawyer, are sung by Alan Oke and Gerald Finley. Musical director Antonio Pappano conducts the Orchestra and Chorus of the Royal Opera House.


FRI 23:10 Originals (b0074rrd)
Tammy Wynette - 'Til I Can Make it on my Own

Profile of the late country legend, including performances of many of Tammy's greatest songs. Contributors include husbands George Jones and George Richey, Elvis Costello, Allison Moorer, Bill Drummond of the KLF and actress Anna Chancellor.


FRI 00:10 TOTP2 (b0088q0h)
Country Jukebox

Steve Wright presents an hour of country tunes. There are classics from Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Tammy Wynette, Willie Nelson, Glen Campbell, Billie Jo Spears and Crystal Gayle, and massive hits from the Mavericks, Shania Twain, Lonestar, the Dixie Chicks and LeAnn Rimes. Plus, new material from Keith Urban and Rascall Flatts and an exclusive look at the latest video from The Eagles.


FRI 01:10 Opera's Fallen Women (b00zpdwq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]


FRI 01:40 Anna Nicole from the Royal Opera House (b00zpdyb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]