SATURDAY 22 SEPTEMBER 2012

SAT 19:00 Human Planet (b00rrd85)
Deserts - Life in the Furnace

We can survive for weeks without food, but only days without water: it is the essential element of life. Yet many millions of us live in parched deserts around the world. In the second episode of Human Planet, we discover how the eternal quest for water brings huge challenges - and ingenious solutions - in the driest places on Earth.

Battling through a sand storm in Mali, Mamadou must get his cows to a remote lake but desert elephants have arrived first. Can he find a safe way through the elephant blockade? Alone for weeks on end, Tubu women and children navigate the endless dunes of the Sahara. How does young Shede know where to find the last oasis, three days walk across the sea of sand? At the height of the drought we witness a spectacular frenzy: two thousand men rushing into Antogo Lake to catch the fish trapped by the evaporating water. When the rain finally arrives in the desert it's a time for flowering and jubilation - and love. The Wodaabe men of Niger put on make-up for an intoxicating courtship dance and beauty contest and the women pick the winners.


SAT 20:00 Horizon (b00vv0w8)
2010-2011

Asteroids - The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Famed for their ability to inflict Armageddon from outer space, asteroids are now revealing the secrets of how they are responsible for both life and death on our planet.

Armed with an array of powerful telescopes, scientists are finding up to 3,000 new asteroids every night. And some are heading our way.

But astronomers have discovered that it's not the giant rocks that are the greatest danger - it's the small asteroids that pose a more immediate threat to Earth.

Researchers have explained the photon propulsion that send these rocks across space, and have discovered that some asteroids are carrying a mysterious cargo of frost and ice across the solar system that could have helped start life on Earth.


SAT 21:00 Inspector Montalbano (b01n1rry)
August Flame

Inspector Montalbano discovers the existence of a secret underground dwelling beneath Mimi's family home and finds a trunk containing the dead body of a young woman who had disappeared six years earlier. As he begins his investigation, Montalbano makes the acquaintance of the victim's alluring twin sister.

In Italian with English subtitles.


SAT 22:50 Doris Day - Virgin Territory (b0074rwd)
Doris Day has often been dismissed as an actress and overlooked as a singer, despite career highs such as Calamity Jane and Pillow Talk. Covering her early years as a band singer, and her troubled private life, this documentary re-evaluates one of the screen's most enduring legends.


SAT 23:50 Peter and Dan Snow: 20th Century Battlefields (b007sfdd)
20th Century Battlefields

1973 Middle East

Peter and Dan Snow unpick the complex history of conflict in the Middle East. Known in the West as the Yom Kippur War, the fighting that broke out in 1973 was the biggest military clash between Arabic nations and Israel.

Peter and Dan travel to Israel, the country that found itself in danger of being crushed on two sides when Egypt and Syria launched a massive combined attack. Using state-of-the-art graphics, Peter explains how the Egyptians stunned the Israelis in their surprise attack, when thousands of Egyptian soldiers and hundreds of tanks crossed the Suez Canal and pushed into the Sinai desert. With the help of the British Royal Marines, Dan experiences how small teams of Egyptian foot-soldiers used the latest technology to stop the Israel tanks in their tracks.


SAT 00:50 Love and Marriage: A 20th Century Romance (b01msfkl)
For Better, For Worse

This three part series follows the ups and downs of marriage in Britain from the 1900s to the present day using the deeply moving personal stories of couples, and their children, from all walks of life.

This first film looks at the period between the 1900s and the late 1950s, an era when the ideal of romantic love in marriage had to withstand the harsh realities of a world very different to today. Yet many marriages were defined by friendship rather than conflict and strife. Above all else couples wanted to provide a stable and loving home for their children - even those who struggled to bring up large families on the breadline. Despite the tragedy of two world wars, most marriages not only survived - some became even stronger.

Hetty Bower, now 107 and Britain's oldest peace campaigner, tells the moving story of her love and marriage to husband Reg Agony aunt Denise Robertson is emotional as she recalls how her parents remained passionately in love, despite losing everything in the economic crash of the 1930s. They provided an inspirational role model for her of a successful marriage. But she tells how she had to wait longer than she imagined to find the love of her life, a seafarer from the Shetland Islands.

Writer Diana Athill, 95, movingly recounts how in an age when divorce was very difficult and dishonourable her parents kept their marriage together despite her mother having an affair which resulted in the birth of an illegitimate sister, the 'family secret'. Diana's own hopes for love and marriage as a young woman were dashed when her fiancé Tony, an RAF pilot, rejected her in favour of another woman.


SAT 01:50 Top of the Pops (b01mxyl0)
Dave Lee Travis introduces Dooleys, Elkie Brooks, Carly Simon, Danny Williams, The Jam, Rah Band, Brotherhood of Man, Floaters Mink De Ville, Candi Staton and the Legs & Co dance sequence.


SAT 02:20 Human Planet (b00rrd85)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]



SUNDAY 23 SEPTEMBER 2012

SUN 19:00 Canal Walks with Julia Bradbury (b0110ghh)
The Worcester and Birmingham Canal

Seasoned stomper Julia Bradbury dons her walking boots once again to explore her own British backyard, travelling along the country's network of canals and their accompanying towpath trails. Julia navigates Highland glens, rolling countryside and river valleys, as well as our industrial heartlands, and follows these magical waterways as they cut a sedate path through some of the country's finest scenery.

Julia starts this walk in Birmingham, which surprisingly boasts more miles of canal than Venice. But her mission isn't to seek out gondolas or ice cream - it's to discover how the city, through its canal network, became the centre of the Industrial Revolution. It's also the start of Julia's two-day walk along the historic and picturesque Worcester and Birmingham Canal, which cuts a 30-mile path through to the River Severn. The highlight of the canal is a dramatic two-mile flight of 30 locks which lower the canal by 220 feet. Negotiating this flight of locks is considered to be a rite of passage by boaters, and it's definitely one for the tick list for walkers.


SUN 19:30 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.


SUN 21:00 Let's Have a Party! The Piano Genius of Mrs Mills (b01n21d2)
Rick Wakeman, Rowland Rivron and Pete Murray are among those telling the extraordinary story of the secretary-turned-pianist who shared a manager with the Rolling Stones and studio space with the Beatles at Abbey Road.


SUN 22:00 The Father of My Children (b018ws8q)
Drama about a successful, popular and respected Parisian film producer who has always put artistic success ahead of making money, but having produced a string of classics finds himself in debt and running out of options to keep his company afloat. As things begin to look bleak, he is still wheeling and dealing, trying to get new projects off the ground and sort out problems with the director of a troubled production. But unbeknown to his loving wife and daughters, the pressure is becoming too much for him.

In French with English subtitles.


SUN 23:45 British Passions on Film (b01msf93)
Getting Away from it All

During the course of the 20th Century, millions of British workers benefited from the expansion of paid leave and an increase in leisure time. This enabled many Britons to realize a cherished dream: at last, they could escape from their everyday lives, and go on holiday.

Getting Away from it All traces the evolution of the British holiday, from hugely popular day-trips and annual fortnights in holiday camps to the mass market package holiday to the Costas - and shows how Britons have never been more at home when they've been far away from home, having fun in the sun.


SUN 00:15 Canal Walks with Julia Bradbury (b0110ghh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


SUN 00:45 imagine... (b00t15v1)
Summer 2010

Tom Jones - What Good Am I?

As he prepares to celebrate his 70th birthday, singing legend Sir Tom Jones is still recording, performing and collaborating with some of the biggest names in pop. In this episode of Imagine, Alan Yentob examines the extraordinary story of one of Britain's most recognisable pop icons.

In a frank and revealing interview, Sir Tom describes the dizzying ascent from his humble beginnings as a miner's son in south Wales to becoming a headline act in Las Vegas and recalls many of his most cherished moments from a career that enabled him to sing alongside Elvis, establish himself as a hairy-chested sex symbol and make one of the most successful comebacks in pop history.


SUN 01:45 BBC Four Sessions (b01mtrwf)
Tom Jones

Sir Tom Jones in a unique session of folk, blues and beyond from the beautiful LSO St Lukes in the City.

Jones and a special band put together by Ethan Johns, the producer of his last two albums Praise & Blame and Spirit in the Room, deliver songs of guilt, redemption and judgement drawn from those records and also collaborates with special guests Seasick Steve on Mississippi Fred McDowell's You Gotta Move, with 84 year-old American folk legend Tom Paley on the Mississippi Sheiks' Sitting on Top of the World and young Londoner Josh Osho on Big Bill Broonzy's Black Brown and White Blues.

Filmed more like a rehearsal in the round than a concert with Ethan Johns on guitar, Richard Causon on keys, Dave Bronze on bass, Jeremy Stacey on drums and The Staves - three young sisters from Watford - on backing vocals, this BBC FOUR Session finds Jones The Voice in masterful yet genial form, exploring his roots in the songs and styles of the American South in the 50s and 60s - early rock n roll, country, gospel, folk, blues and beyond.



MONDAY 24 SEPTEMBER 2012

MON 19:00 World News Today (b01mysl1)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


MON 19:30 Tales from the National Parks (b016dr0x)
The Lake District

The National Parks are Britain's most treasured landscapes, but they are increasingly becoming battlefields. They were designated 60 years ago as places for everyone, but is that still the case? In this series the award-winning film-maker Richard Macer spent a year amid conflicts in three different parks, on a journey to discover who they are really for.

In each park the stories are very different, but there is something that unites them all - fiercely divided communities who are prepared to fight in order to preserve their right to enjoy the countryside. In each film, Macer has secured access to the National Park Authority - an organisation which looks after the landscapes and decides upon planning matters. In all of these stories the Park Authorities have a key role to play in trying to find amicable solutions to the problems which confront them.

In the Lake District, entrepreneur Mark Weir wants to build a giant zip-wire ride from the top of a beautiful, remote mountain. But does it have any chance of getting permission when there are over 400 objectors to it? Unfortunately a tragic accident during filming means that Mark will never see if his zip-wire becomes a reality.


MON 20:30 Only Connect (b01mytm2)
Series 6

Trenchermen v Numerists

Three friends who share hearty appetites take on a trio of young mathematicians, competing to draw together the connections between things which, at first glance, seem utterly random. So join Victoria if you want to know what connects a heart, the Once and Future King, post-war Berlin and this question.


MON 21:00 Timeshift (b01mytsg)
Series 12

Health before the NHS: The Road to Recovery

Robert Winston narrates the shocking story of health in Britain before the National Health Service. In the early 20th century, getting treated if you were ill was a rudimentary, risky and costly business - a luxury few could afford. Using rare archive footage and personal testimony, the programme tells how ordinary people, GPs, midwives and local councils coped with a chaotic and ramshackle system as they struggled to deal with sickness and disease in the homes and communities of pre-World War II Britain.


MON 22:00 Spanish Flu: The Forgotten Fallen (b00lz31y)
Drama illuminating one doctor's pioneering efforts to protect the people of Manchester from the 1918 Spanish influenza pandemic.

Set against the background of the Armistice in November 1918 as millions of exhausted soldiers return home from the Great War, the film tells the little-known story of Dr James Niven, Manchester's medical health officer for thirty years, and his heroic efforts to combat a second wave of fatal influenza as it spreads across the city and the UK.


MON 23:00 The Shock of the New (b0074qh0)
The Threshold of Liberty

Robert Hughes's classic series about art in the twentieth century continues by looking at the avant-garde and modernism in the century of change. Hughes gets innocent and irrational as he examines the surrealists and their attempts to make art without restrictions. Features artists such as Di Chirico, Ernst, Miro and Dali.


MON 00:00 Only Connect (b01mytm2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]


MON 00:30 The Father of My Children (b018ws8q)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 on Sunday]


MON 02:15 Timeshift (b01mytsg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



TUESDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2012

TUE 19:00 World News Today (b01myslb)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


TUE 19:30 Indian Hill Railways (b00r5wk7)
The Kalka-Shimla Railway

From the Himalayas in the north to the Nilgiris in the south - for a hundred years these little trains have climbed through the clouds and into the wonderful world of Indian hill railways.

Shimla was once the summer capital of the Raj. They built churches, schools, a town hall and the railway and left behind their symbols of empire and an ethos of duty, loyalty and ambition - but they also left a divided subcontinent.

Characters featured include Maqsood, a refugee and a porter from Kashmir, and John Whitmarsh-Knight, a teacher looking for a home. Sanjay the stationmaster is hoping for promotion, and his boss Bataljit is waiting for a transfer, but everybody is waiting for the snow.


TUE 20:30 British Passions on Film (b01n1tbv)
Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Throughout the 20th century, archive films and newsreel footage has chronicled Britain's enduring fascination with the nation's most important modes of mass passenger transport. This film shows how Britons responded to advances in transport technologies and the emergence of new automobiles, rail services and aircraft designs - each of which held out the possibility of travel to new, exciting and previously inaccessible destinations.

Featuring contributions from the cultural critic Jonathan Glancey and the transport historian Christian Wolmar, it celebrates the contribution that these different forms of transport made to the collective imagination of the nation, and shows how such developments as jet aircraft and the Channel tunnel opened up new horizons for successive generations of British people.


TUE 21:00 Love and Marriage: A 20th Century Romance (b01n1tbz)
To Love and Obey

This three-part series follows the ups and downs of marriage in Britain from the 1900s to the present day using the deeply moving personal stories of couples and their children, from all walks of life.

In the 1960s and 70s the traditional ideals of marriage were questioned as never before. These were decades of greater affluence, optimism and experimentation, in which rebellious youth was in the vanguard of a cultural revolution. One of the archetypal feminist rebels of this period was Rosie Boycott and the co-founder of Spare Rib describes why she once rejected marriage and how she lived the 'sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll' lifestyle to the point of self-destruction. The sexual experimentation of the period is captured by Anne Geraghty and Martin Gerrish, who joined the Orange People and lived in free love communes, but ended up marrying each other.

Divorce was on the increase during the 1960s and 70s, made possible by divorce law reform. Convent girl Maureen Flanagan married an Irish navvy who resented her career as a model, and when she became the Sun's first Page Three girl their marriage was over. Debutante Fiona McCarthy escaped the upper-class marriage she loathed after meeting and falling in love with Sheffield silversmith David Mellor - and marrying him.

Yet despite the increase in divorce, marriage was very popular and the majority of marriages remained quite conventional. In the so-called Swinging Sixties there were still many virgin brides like Alan and Judith Kettly, who tell the moving story of their courtship, while black Labour peer Rosalind Howells describes her successful mixed-race marriage.


TUE 22:00 Lilyhammer (b01n1tc1)
Episode 3

Whilst collecting a debt owed at his club, Frank learns about a construction project of luxury condominiums in a local resort. Eager for a piece of the action, he offers to strong arm an environmental objector to 'persuade' him to co-operate. A routine inspection reveals that Frank is not properly licensed to drive in Norway, but rather than undertake the two-month instruction he decides to take a short cut.


TUE 22:45 Horizon (b00vv0w8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Saturday]


TUE 23:45 Rude Britannia (b00sss1g)
You Never Had It So Rude

The final part of a series exploring British traditions of satire and bawdy humour brings the story of a naughty nation up to date and explores how a mass democracy of rude emerged, beginning with the 1960s revolutions and continuing with the today's controversies.

There is a look at how a tradition of rude cartooning came back to life, as cartoonists draw the iconic political figures of the last 50 years: Gerald Scarfe captures Harold Macmillan, Steve Bell does Margaret Thatcher and Martin Rowson depicts Tony Blair.

The rude comic art of Viz is revealed in the characters of Sid the Sexist and the Fat Slags, and the rude theatre of Joe Orton, the rude radio of Round the Horne and the hippy rudeness of underground magazine Oz are also investigated.

And the history of rude television is traced from Till Death Us Do Part to Little Britain via Spitting Image. Finally, there is a look at how rude comedy begins to be seen as offensive in sexist and racist ways.


TUE 00:45 Inspector Montalbano (b01n1rry)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Saturday]


TUE 02:35 Love and Marriage: A 20th Century Romance (b01n1tbz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



WEDNESDAY 26 SEPTEMBER 2012

WED 19:00 World News Today (b01myslh)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


WED 19:30 Great British Railway Journeys (b00y47fb)
Series 2

Aylesford to Tunbridge Wells

Michael Portillo takes to the tracks with a copy of George Bradshaw's Victorian Railway Guidebook. Portillo travels the length and breadth of the country to see how the railways changed us and what remains of Bradshaw's Britain, as his journey goes through Kent, from London Bridge around the scenic south coast to Hastings.

Michael explores the life of Victorian hop pickers, finds out about Maidstone's revolutionary paper industry and discovers how the railways turned cricket into a national sport.


WED 20:00 Peter and Dan Snow: 20th Century Battlefields (b007t0w9)
20th Century Battlefields

1982 Falklands

In 1982, Argentina triggered the last battle on British territory when it invaded the Falkland Islands. Peter and Dan Snow fly 8,000 miles to the South Atlantic to tell the story of how the British Task Force fought back to regain control.

With his high-tech graphic mapcase, Peter shows the challenges faced by the British, thousands of miles from home. Dan feels the force of the Sea Harrier fighter jets, so crucial to the survival of the British fleet in these icy waters, and goes on a night-fighting training exercise under live fire to experience for himself the tactics used by the British ground troops in their fight to dislodge the Argentinians.


WED 21:00 Room at the Top (b0103qm0)
Episode 1

Leaving working class Dufton behind him, Joe Lampton arrives in the affluent mill town of Warley with two things on his mind - money and sex. He takes lodgings at The Top, where the rich folk live, and starts mixing with a better class of female at the local amateur dramatic society. He is soon dating Susan Brown, the daughter of the richest man in Warley. But his plan to marry into the wealthy middle classes is threatened by his feelings for Alice Aisgill, a woman who is not only ten years older than him, but also married.


WED 22:00 London: A Tale of Two Cities with Dan Cruickshank (p00r36lv)
Dan Cruickshank follows in the footsteps of John Stow and John Strype, two of London's greatest chroniclers, to explore one of the most dramatic centuries in the history of London.

The 17th century saw London plunged into a series of devastating disasters. The Civil War, a murderous plague and the destruction that was the great fire should have seen the small medieval city all but destroyed. Yet somehow, London not only survived but emerged as one of the wealthiest and most influential cities in Europe.

Using two remarkable surveys written at either end of this momentous century, Dan discovers how a unique combination of innovation, ambition and sheer spirit of enterprise saw Londoners thrive. His journey reveals the twists and turns of a century that laid the foundations of one of the most important cities on the planet.


WED 23:00 Human Planet (b00rrd85)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


WED 00:00 Tales from the National Parks (b016dr0x)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 on Monday]


WED 01:00 Great British Railway Journeys (b00y47fb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


WED 01:30 Peter and Dan Snow: 20th Century Battlefields (b007t0w9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


WED 02:30 Room at the Top (b0103qm0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



THURSDAY 27 SEPTEMBER 2012

THU 19:00 World News Today (b01mysln)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


THU 19:30 Top of the Pops (b01n1tsd)
25/08/77

Noel Edmonds looks at the weekly pop chart from 1977 and introduces Eddie and the Hot Rods, the Boomtown Rats, Thin Lizzy, the Adverts, Page Three, Deniece Williams, Space, the Floaters and a Legs & Co dance sequence.


THU 20:00 Horizon (b013pnv4)
2011-2012

Seeing Stars

Around the world, a new generation of astronomers are hunting for the most mysterious objects in the universe. Young stars, black holes, even other forms of life.

They have created a dazzling new set of supertelescopes that promise to rewrite the story of the heavens.

This film follows the men and women who are pushing the limits of science and engineering in some of the most extreme environments on earth. But most strikingly of all, no-one really knows what they will find out there.


THU 21:00 Room at the Top (b0109hhx)
Episode 2

Joe is busy cutting a swathe through Warley society and is playing with the affections of two women - Susan Brown, the daughter of the richest man in Warley, and Alice Aisgill, a married older woman. But Joe is making enemies as well as friends. Escaping the prying eyes of Susan's spies, Joe takes Alice on an illicit holiday to the coast. In a cottage by the sea, they dare to dream. Back in Warley, Joe realises that he is going to have to choose between Alice and Susan. Which will he choose - money or love?


THU 22:00 The Bridges That Built London with Dan Cruickshank (b01jv5nr)
Dan Cruickshank explores the mysteries and secrets of the bridges that have made London what it is. He uncovers stories of Bronze-Age relics emerging from the Vauxhall shore, of why London Bridge was falling down, of midnight corpses splashing beneath Waterloo Bridge, and above all, of the sublime ambition of London's bridge builders themselves.


THU 23:00 Lilyhammer (b01n1tc1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 on Tuesday]


THU 23:45 Let's Have a Party! The Piano Genius of Mrs Mills (b01n21d2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Sunday]


THU 00:45 Only Connect (b01mytm2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 on Monday]


THU 01:15 Timeshift (b01mytsg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Monday]


THU 02:15 Top of the Pops (b01n1tsd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


THU 02:45 Room at the Top (b0109hhx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



FRIDAY 28 SEPTEMBER 2012

FRI 19:00 World News Today (b01myslw)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


FRI 19:30 Leeds International Piano Competition (b01n1v03)
2012 - The Finalists' Story

Episode 2

Suzy Klein presents the second of six programmes showcasing the best young pianists from around the world, as they reach the climactic final stages of 'The Leeds'. She introduces the youngest of this year's finalists, 22-year-old Jiayan Sun from China, who performs one of Prokofiev's most popular and dazzling works, his virtuosic Piano Concerto No 3. Will it be enough to impress the judges?

Suzy assess his chances with her guest experts, internationally-renowned pianists Noriko Ogawa and Tom Poster. Suzy also goes behind the scenes to experience the warm welcome and daunting challenges in store for new arrivals at the competition, and she travels to Europe in search of the man who became the first modern piano superstar nearly 200 years ago.


FRI 20:30 Sounds of the 70s 2 (b01gymg9)
Reggae - Stir it Up

By the start of the 70s, the Windrush generation of immigrants who came to the UK from the Caribbean and West Indies were an established part of the British population and their influence and culture permeated UK society.

This second programme rejoices and revels in the reggae music exported from Jamaica and the home-grown reggae-influenced sounds that sprouted from the cities of England. Reggae's dominance of the UK charts is celebrated with performances from Ken Boothe, Dave and Ansel Collins, Steel Pulse, Althea and Donna, Bob Marley and the Wailers, Janet Kay, Susan Cadogan and The Specials.


FRI 21:00 Arena (b017lbh4)
George Harrison: Living in the Material World

Part 1

Martin Scorsese's portrait of the late George Harrison.

Scorsese traces Harrison's life from his beginnings in Liverpool to becoming a world-famous musician, philanthropist and filmmaker, weaving together interviews with George and his closest friends, photographs and archive footage including live performances - much of it previously unseen.

The result is a rare glimpse into the mind of one of the most talented artists of his generation.

Part one looks at George's early years in The Beatles - from their first gigs in Hamburg and the beginning of Beatlemania, through to his psychedelic phase and involvement in religion and Indian music.

The programme includes contributions from Sir Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono, Eric Clapton, Sir George Martin and Phil Spector.


FRI 22:35 Arena (b017lbr0)
George Harrison: Living in the Material World

Part 2

The second and concluding part of Martin Scorsese's portrait of George Harrison.

Part two looks at Harrison's post-Beatles days - as a member of the Travelling Wilburys and a solo artist, as well as looking at his non-musical ventures, including his work as a movie producer and his family life with wife Olivia and son Dhani.

Racing legend Jackie Stewart tells of George's love of motor racing, Monty Python's Eric Idle recounts how George saved the Life of Brian from catastrophe by re-mortgaging his mansion to help finance it, and there are contributions from Travelling Wilbury bandmates including Tom Petty.

Harrison's widow Olivia Harrison gives a poignant account of her life with the Beatle, including the harrowing tale of the night when a violent intruder attacked them at home one evening in 1999.

Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, Yoko Ono, Olivia and Dhani Harrison, among many others, talk openly about George's many gifts and contradictions and reveal the lives they shared together.


FRI 00:30 ... Sings The Beatles (b00ml7p5)
Recorded for the 40th anniversary of Abbey Road, The Beatles' final album, a journey through the classic and curious covers in the BBC archives.

Featuring Sandie Shaw singing a sassy Day Tripper, Shirley Bassey belting out Something, a close-harmony Carpenters cover of Help!, Joe Cocker's chart-topping With a Little Help from My Friends, Oasis reinventing the Walrus and a little Lady Madonna from Macca himself.

Plus a few 'magical' moments from Candy Flip, The Korean Kittens and Su Pollard.


FRI 01:30 Guitar Heroes at the BBC (b00plj0l)
Part VI

In this sixth and final show to round out the Guitar Heroes series, axe fans get classic riffs from Pete Townshend as The Who play Won't Get Fooled Again, Rod and Ronnie with The Faces doing Miss Judy's Farm at the old BBC TV Theatre, some weird yodel-rock from Dutch prog rockers Focus, folky acoustic numbers from Davey Graham and Ralph McTell, and some flamboyant fretwork from Americans Nils Lofgren and Ted Nugent.

Filmed in the 1970s for shows including Top of the Pops and The Old Grey Whistle Test, these tracks pay tribute to a golden era in rock and to the last of the 70s Guitar Heroes.

Complete line-up:

The Who - Won't Get Fooled Again
The Faces - Miss Judy's Farm
Focus - Hocus Pocus
Man - Day and Night
Chris Spedding - Motor Bikin'
Nils Lofgren - Back It Up
The Cate Brothers - In One Eye and Out the Other
Ralph McTell - Dry Bone Rag
The Runaways - Wasted
The Motors - Dancing the Night Away
Ted Nugent - Free For All
The Buzzcocks - Ever Fallen In Love
Gary Moore - Back on the Streets
Judas Priest - Take on the World
Davey Graham - City and Suburban Blues
ZZ Top - Cheap Sunglasses.


FRI 02:30 Gershwin's Summertime: The Song that Conquered the World (b017nf05)
An intriguing investigation into the extraordinary life of Gershwin's classic composition, Summertime. One of the most covered songs in the world, it has been recorded in almost every style of music - from jazz to opera, rock to reggae, soul to samba. Its musical adaptability is breathtaking, but Summertime also resonates on a deep emotional level. This visually and sonically engaging film explores the composition's magical properties, examining how this song has, with stealth, captured the imagination of the world.

From its complex birth in 1935 as a lullaby in Gershwin's all-black opera Porgy and Bess, this film traces the hidden history of Summertime, focusing on key recordings, including those by Billie Holiday, Janis Joplin, Mahalia Jackson, Miles Davis and Ella Fitzgerald. It reveals how musicians have projected their own dreams and desires onto the song, reimagining Summertime throughout the 20th century as a civil rights prayer, a hippie lullaby, an ode to seduction and a modern freedom song.

Back in the 1930s, Gershwin never dreamt of the global impact Summertime would have. But as this film shows, it has magically tapped into something deep inside us all - nostalgia and innocence, sadness and joy, and our intrinsic desire for freedom. Full of evocative archive footage as well as a myriad versions of Summertime - from the celebrated to the obscure - the film tells the surprising and illuminating tale behind this world-famous song.