The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
Michael Portillo takes to the tracks with a copy of George Bradshaw's Victorian Railway Guidebook. He travels the length and breadth of the country to see how the railways changed the people of Britain, and what remains of Bradshaw's experiences today, as he journeys up the west coast of Scotland from Ayr to Skye.
Michael investigates one of the great geological mysteries of the 19th century - the parallel roads of Glenroy. Plus, he finds out how the Victorians put a weather observatory on the top of Ben Nevis and takes a steam train across one of the most spectacular viaducts in Britain at Glenfinnan.
Actor Richard Wilson takes a journey into the past, following routes raved about in motoring guides of mid-20th century.
In a classic Morris Minor Traveller, he drives from Scarborough to Whitby via the Yorkshire moors. On the way, he learns about the rise and fall of the British seaside resorts, takes a toll road through the Dalby Forest and checks out the mythical roadside wonder that is the Hole of Horecum.
He finds out how the village of Goathland now lives a double life, and ends up with a carload of goths on their way to visit Whitby Abbey.
Writer and woodsman Rob Penn takes on a year-long project to bring part of an abandoned woodland, Strawberry Cottage Wood, back to life.
Rob starts work, introducing pigs to clear bracken and brambles and planning his tasks for the year. Felling a dead tree on his first day almost throws the whole project into jeopardy.
Dallas Campbell looks back through almost 50 years of the Horizon archives to chart the scientific breakthroughs that have transformed our understanding of the universe. From Einstein's concept of spacetime to alien planets and extra dimensions, science has revealed a cosmos that is more bizarre and more spectacular than could have ever been imagined. But with every breakthrough, even more intriguing mysteries that lie beyond are found. This great journey of discovery is only just beginning.
It's a new day, it's a new dawn, it's a new ward. King Edwards has shut, B4 is no more. Kim, Den and Pippa have moved to neighbouring St Jude's in anticipation of a now-stalled redevelopment. Their new home, twin-bayed K2, is modern and clean - all appears well. But behind the glossy facade lie the same old patients and problems, and beyond that comes a long list of new worries. Kim is barely keeping her head above water, home life for Pippa is no more settled, and Den is about to discover her own brand new challenge. With Hilary Loftus looking for efficiency savings and diversity cup cakes on the menu courtesy of modern matron Damaris, the staff once again get on with the daily task of getting on.
Peter Capaldi embarks upon a personal journey to discover the shocking history of the stars of north London's famous film studios. Including clips from rarely seen films and interviews with Marcia Warren and Terry Gilliam.
THURSDAY 18 OCTOBER 2012
THU 19:00 World News Today (b01ndd4v)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
THU 19:30 Top of the Pops (b01nhb4k)
22/09/77
Dave Lee Travis looks at the weekly pop chart from 1977 and introduces Hank the Knife & the Jets, the Stranglers, Baccara, Stardust, La Belle Epoque, Leo Sayer, the Boomtown Rats, Meri Wilson and a Legs & Co dance sequence.
THU 20:00 Horizon (b01f893x)
2011-2012
Global Weirding
Something weird seems to be happening to our weather - it appears to be getting more extreme.
In the past few years we have shivered through two record-breaking cold winters and parts of the country have experienced intense droughts and torrential floods. It is a pattern that appears to be playing out across the globe. Hurricane chasers are recording bigger storms and in Texas, record-breaking rain has been followed by record-breaking drought.
Horizon follows the scientists who are trying to understand what's been happening to our weather and investigates if these extremes are a taste of what is to come.
THU 21:00 Tails You Win: The Science of Chance (p00yh2rc)
Smart and witty, jam-packed with augmented-reality graphics and fascinating history, this film, presented by professor David Spiegelhalter, tries to pin down what chance is and how it works in the real world. For once this really is 'risky' television.
The film follows in the footsteps of The Joy of Stats, which won the prestigious Grierson Award for Best Science/Natural History programme of 2011. Now the same blend of wit and wisdom, animation, graphics and gleeful nerdery is applied to the joys of chance and the mysteries of probability, the vital branch of mathematics that gives us a handle on what might happen in the future. Professor Spiegelhalter is ideally suited to that task, being Winton professor for the public understanding of risk at Cambridge University, as well as being a recent Winter Wipeout contestant on BBC TV.
How can you maximise your chances of living till you're 100? Why do many of us experience so many spooky coincidences? Should I take an umbrella? These are just some of the everyday questions the film tackles as it moves between Cambridge, Las Vegas, San Francisco and... Reading.
Yet the film isn't shy of some rather loftier questions. After all, our lives are pulled about and pushed around by the mysterious workings of chance, fate, luck, call it what you will. But what actually is chance? Is it something fundamental to the fabric of the universe? Or rather, as the French 18th century scientist Pierre Laplace put it, 'merely a measure of our ignorance'.
Along the way Spiegelhalter is thrilled to discover One Million Random Digits, probably the most boring book in the world, but one full of hidden patterns and shapes. He introduces us to the cheery little unit called the micromort (a one-in-a-million chance of dying), taking the rational decision to go sky-diving because doing so only increases his risk of dying this year from 7000 to 7007 micromorts. And in one sequence he uses the latest infographics to demonstrate how life expectancy has increased in his lifetime and how it is affected by our lifestyle choices - drinking, obesity, smoking and exercise.
Did you know that by running regularly for half an hour a day you can expect to extend your life by half an hour a day? So all very well... if you like running.
Ultimately, Tails You Win: The Science of Chance tells the story of how we discovered how chance works, and even to work out the odds for the future; how we tried - but so often failed - to conquer it; and how we may finally be learning to love it, increasingly setting uncertainty itself to work to help crack some of science's more intractable problems.
Other contributors include former England cricketer Ed Smith, whose career was cut down in its prime through a freak, unlucky accident; Las Vegas gambling legend Mike Shackleford, the self-styled 'Wizard of Odds'; and chief economist of the Bank of England, Spencer Dale.
THU 22:00 Nazis: A Warning from History (b01nhsyj)
The Wrong War
Adolf Hitler loved to watch feature films and he liked one film in particular, the Hollywood epic The Lives of a Bengal Lancer. 'It was certainly his favourite film,' says Herbert Dohring, a member of Hitler's SS bodyguard, 'and he would always talk about it - this huge English empire - how such a relatively small people could establish and manage something like that.' Hitler would later say, 'What India was for England, the territory of Russia will be for us.'
How was it possible then, that in 1939 Hitler found himself at war with a country whose achievements he admired, Great Britain, and allied to his ideological enemy, the Soviet Union? With the help of archive footage and interviews with eye-witnesses, including former diplomats and members of the Nazi party who had never appeared on television before, this film charts the course of Hitler's road to war.
THU 22:50 Tales from the Wild Wood (b01ndkwq)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:30 on Wednesday]
THU 23:20 Lilyhammer (b01ndj79)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:00 on Tuesday]
THU 00:05 World War Two: 1942 and Hitler's Soft Underbelly (b01ndj09)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Monday]
THU 01:35 Top of the Pops (b01nhb4k)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:30 today]
THU 02:10 Tails You Win: The Science of Chance (p00yh2rc)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
FRIDAY 19 OCTOBER 2012
FRI 19:00 World News Today (b01ndd50)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
FRI 19:30 Leeds International Piano Competition (b01ndl9d)
2012 - The Finalists' Story
Episode 5
Suzy Klein presents the fifth of six programmes showcasing the best young pianists from around the world, as they reach the climactic final stages of 'The Leeds'. Two competitors opted to perform Beethoven's popular Piano Concerto No 5 ('The Emperor') at this year's concerto final.
Suzy introduces the second of these, given by 24-year-old Italian Federico Colli. Her regular guests, renowned pianists Noriko Ogawa and Tom Poster, give their opinions and expert analysis, while Suzy looks back over five decades of the competition's reputation for picking winners and propelling them onto the world stage as it approaches its golden jubilee.
FRI 20:30 Sounds of the 70s 2 (b01j8h0b)
Rock - The Boys Are Back in Town
Sounds of the 70s 2 series continues, and this programme features the boys with their guitars turned all the way up to eleven! It is time to don your double denim, let your hair down and headbang your way through half an hour of rock anthems including performances from Alice Cooper, The Faces, Nazareth, Bad Company, AC/DC, Thin Lizzy, Whitesnake and Black Sabbath.
FRI 21:00 Dave Davies: Kinkdom Come (b012ht1t)
Dave Davies, the legendary guitarist of the Kinks, relives his tumultuous life and times amidst the serenity of his Exmoor sanctuary. Walking across the moors that have fascinated him since childhood, Dave takes us back to life with Brother Ray in an extended working class family amidst the austerity of postwar London. Bringing to life its deprivations and triumphs, he reveals the profound sense of community and family bonds which underpins the extraordinary story of the Kinks. From their formation at a North London Secondary Modern, through time spent as backing band to an upper class crooner at debutante balls, Dave tells how the Kinks career as Searchers sound alikes was almost over before it began.
That all changed though when Dave attacked his amp with a rusty Gillette razor blade in the front room of their semi detached house in Muswell Hill. Slashing the speaker, he produced the distorted, barking dog guitar riffs which powered their first hit, You Really Got Me, catapulted the Kinks to worldwide fame and in the process rearranged the sonic architecture of the 1960s. Finding himself at the unlikely age of 15 enshrined along with Brian Jones and Keith Moon as one of the three undisputed Kings of Swinging London, Dave trailblazed the rock 'n' roll lifestyle. As he puts it, Dave did the partying and Ray wrote about it. In America Dave's shoulder length hair and subversive sexuality on stage drove teenage TV audiences wild whilst scandalising the Rat Pack generation.
Dave explains why The Kinks' refusal to compromise who they were resulted in them being banned from America at the height of their fame. For the next four years, while the Beatles, Stones and Who went onto global megastardom, the Kinks re-invented themselves as the quintessential English group with timeless hits such as Sunny Afternoon, Waterloo Sunset and Days. With disarming honesty, Dave reveals how the burning glass of fame caused the sibling rivalry between him and Ray to explode into violence on stage and mental cruelty off it. He tells how, by the end of 60s, the breakdown of the relationship between the warring brothers and his own surfeit of girls, drink and pills led to the mother of all rock 'n' roll meltdowns. Following the failure of his briefly successful solo career, Dave finds himself locked in a New York hotel room, listening to voices telling him to jump.
FRI 22:20 The Kinks at the BBC (b012ht1w)
The story of The Kinks, one of the UK's most important and influential bands, as told from the vaults of the BBC archive.
From their humble beginnings in north London, brothers Ray and Dave Davies, school friend Pete Quaife and local drummer Mick Avory exploded onto the music scene of early 1960s London.
From this series of unique archive performances, we learn that blues was their first love and Dave's signature guitar sound would go on to influence a generation of guitar players. As Ray's uniquely English songwriting style developed, the spectre of Ray and Dave's rocky fraternal relationship continually loomed in the background, through concerts for The Old Grey Whistle Test in the 1970s to appearances on Top of the Pops in the 1980s.
The inevitable band split came in 1996, and the BBC archive continues with Ray's reinvention as a solo artist with performances on the Electric Proms and up to the present day on Later... with Jools Holland. All the while the brothers continue to tease and goad the press - and one another - with talk of a Kinks reunion.
FRI 23:20 imagine... (b011rqt7)
Autumn 2010
Ray Davies - Imaginary Man
As the creative powerhouse behind hugely influential band The Kinks, Ray Davies was responsible for writing some of the best-loved songs of the 60s, including pop classics You Really Got Me, Tired of Waiting For You, Dedicated Follower of Fashion, Sunny Afternoon and Waterloo Sunset. Alan Yentob meets Davies, a unique talent who describes with rare candour his troubled relationship with fame and the vicissitudes of his career. They also discuss a new album of Klassic Kinks Kollaborations which is near completion and features musical luminaries such as Bruce Springsteen, Mumford and Sons and Metallica.
FRI 00:40 Sounds of the 70s 2 (b01j8h0b)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:30 today]
FRI 01:10 Dave Davies: Kinkdom Come (b012ht1t)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
FRI 02:25 The Kinks at the BBC (b012ht1w)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:20 today]