Romantic comedy about a beautiful American showgirl living in London who is romanced by a visiting Prince Regent.
This screen adaptation of Terence Rattigan's play The Sleeping Prince is remarkable for bringing together two very different screen icons in Marilyn Monroe and Laurence Olivier.
Documentary about the early female movie stars: Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Rita Hayworth, Marilyn Monroe - immortal goddesses made by Hollywood to reign over the silver screen.
With the beginnings of Hollywood, the star system was born with an archetypal bad girl - the vampish Theda Bara - and the good girl - the blazingly sincere Lillian Gish. From the 1920s, vivacious Clara Bow and seductive siren Louise Brooks are most remembered, but none made the impact of Marlene Dietrich, an icon of mystery, or Greta Garbo, with her perfect features and gloomy introspection.
From the power of Joan Crawford and Bette Davis to the seductiveness of Rita Hayworth and Ava Gardner, Hollywood studios produced their own brand of beautiful, sassy and confident women. But it wasn't to last. The era drew to a close with the supreme fame of Elizabeth Taylor and the tragic death of Marilyn Monroe.
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.
An archive celebration of Tom Jones's performances at the BBC from the start of his pop career in the mid-60s to Later...with Jools Holland in 2010 and all points in between, including Top of the Pops and The Dusty Springfield Show. A chronological celebration of Sir Tom through the years that is also a history of music TV at the BBC over most of the past 50 years.
Tony Blackburn looks at the weekly pop chart from 1977 and introduces Generation X, Hot Chocolate, Manfred Mann's Earth Band, Bonnie Tyler, Graham Parker & the Rumour, the Banned, the Bee Gees, Wings, Bing Crosby and a Legs & Co dance sequence.
Guest DJ Elton John looks at the weekly pop chart from 1977 and introduces Carl Douglas, the Emotions, Darts, John Otway & Wild Willy Barrett, the Dooleys, Dooley Wilson, Julie Covington, Wings and a Legs & Co dance sequence to Jonathan Richman.
A classic archive country concert special from Nashville in 1970, as the Man in Black is joined by his nearest and dearest including his mum and dad, the Carter Family, old friends from the Sun Records days like Roy Orbison and Carl Perkins, the Statler Brothers and the Everly Brothers. Country TV gold.
On a cold and rainy summer night in June 1980, the Beach Boys played to a capacity crowd at a rock festival in England - a rocking, stomping show that got people up on their feet and brought a bit of California sunshine to the thousands of British fans who packed the show. An exceptional concert, which is one of the few from the era to feature all six Beach Boys - Mike, Carl, Dennis, Alan, Bruce and Brian - and a setlist that covers all the essential hits such as Good Vibrations, California Girls, I Get Around and Surfin' USA.
SUNDAY 23 DECEMBER 2012
SUN 19:00 Cleopatra (b01k2gyk)
Oscar-winning epic of the legendary Queen of the Nile and her two great loves, Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. Caesar arrives in Egypt in 48 BC to settle the dispute between Ptolemy and his sister, Cleopatra, who is denied her rightful power. Caesar reinstates Cleopatra as sole ruler and returns with her in triumph to Rome. But her passionate affair with Mark Antony leads to scandal, deadly political plots and tragedy.
SUN 22:55 Omnibus (b0074kgk)
Elizabeth Taylor - England's Other Elizabeth
Profile drawn from Elizabeth Taylor's visit to Britain in 2000, during which she received her damehood from the Queen. Hollywood's last great star talks for the first time in years about her career, her life and the challenges of the future.
From her early days as a child star in Lassie Come Home and National Velvet to becoming the century's biggest star of all - in Cleopatra - her life, her loves and her work have all been lived to an intensity no other star can match.
Joined by Shirley MacLaine, Rod Steiger and Angela Lansbury, Taylor remembers the glory days of working with Richard Burton, Montgomery Clift, Rock Hudson, James Dean and Paul Newman, how filming never stopped regardless of what life threw at her, the pain and pleasure of two Oscars - one for a film she can hardly bear to remember - and, not least, the feelings she has for Britain, where she was born and how it was her English accent that launched her on the way to stardom at the very beginning.
SUN 23:50 The Genius of David Bowie (b01k0y0q)
A selection of some of David Bowie's best performances from the BBC archives, which also features artists who Bowie helped along the way, such as Mott the Hoople, Lulu, Iggy Pop and Lou Reed.
SUN 00:50 David Bowie and the Story of Ziggy Stardust (b01k0y0n)
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars is arguably the most important album in the mind-blowing career of David Bowie. Released in 1972, it's the record that set the mercurial musician on course to becoming one of the best-known pop stars on the planet. In just over a year, Bowie's messianic Martian invaded the minds of the nation's youth with a killer combination of extraterrestrial rock 'n' roll and outrageous sexuality, all delivered in high-heeled boots, multicoloured dresses and extravagant make-up. In Bowie's own words, Ziggy was 'a cross between Nijinsky and Woolworths', but this unlikely culture clash worked - Ziggy turned Bowie into stardust.
This documentary tells the story of how Bowie arrived at one of the most iconic creations in the history of pop music. The songs, the hairstyles, the fashion and the theatrical stage presentation merged together to turn David Bowie into the biggest craze since the Beatles. Ziggy's instant success gave the impression that he was the perfectly planned pop star. But, as the film reveals, it had been a momentous struggle for David Bowie to hit on just the right formula that would take him to the top.
Narrated by fan Jarvis Cocker, it reveals Bowie's mission to the stars through the musicians and colleagues who helped him in his unwavering quest for fame - a musical voyage that led Bowie to doubt his true identity, eventually forcing the sudden demise of his alien alter ego, Ziggy.
Contributors include Trevor Bolder (bass player, Spiders from Mars), Woody Woodmansey (drummer, Spider from Mars), Mike Garson (Spiders' keyboardist), Suzi Ronson (Mick Ronson's widow, who gave Bowie that haircut), Ken Scott (producer), Elton John (contemporary and fan), Lindsay Kemp (Bowie's mime teacher), Leee Black Childers (worked for Mainman, Bowie's production company), Cherry Vanilla (Bowie's PA/press officer), George Underwood (Bowie's friend), Mick Rock (Ziggy's official photographer), Steve Harley, Marc Almond, Holly Johnson, Peter Hook, Jon Savage, Peter Doggett and Dylan Jones.
SUN 01:50 It's Slade (b01pf7kr)
They definitely know "IT'S CHRISTMAAAASSSS!"
Top pop documentary, narrated by Radio One's Mark Radcliffe, about one of Britain's greatest and best-loved bands. Slade scored six number ones in the 70s, a feat rivalled only by Abba. Formed in Wolverhampton and led by Noddy Holder, Slade sold over 50 million records worldwide during a 20-year career which saw them re-invent themselves as skinhead yobs, then mirror-hatted platform-shoe-pioneering glam gods, before finally re-emerging as hard rock heroes.
Their poorly-spelled, self-written selection of terrace anthems included Cum on Feel the Noize, Coz I Luv You, Take Me Bak Ome, Mama Weer All Crazee Now and, unforgettably, Merry Xmas Everybody. Apart from Noddy and his bandmates - Dave Hill, Jim Lea and Don Powell - the cast here also includes Noel Gallagher of Oasis (who covered Cum On Feel the Noize), Status Quo, Toyah Wilcox, Suzi Quatro and Ozzy Osbourne.
Altogether now "Are you hanging up your stocking on the wall..........?".
SUN 02:40 Slade at the BBC (b01pdt89)
Don your best platforms and sequinned hat and join Noddy, Jim, Dave and Don aka Slade for a trip down memory lane as we uncover some of Slade's finest appearances from the vaults of the BBC archive, introduced by none other than Noddy Holder himself.
Rock out to the classics of Coz I Luv You, Mama Weer All Crazee Now, Gudbuy T'Jane and C*m On Feel the Noize and see how Slade's all-important look evolves after their first TV appearance on the BBC back in 1969. Most performances come from their 70s heyday and from BBC studio shows like Top of the Pops, Crackerjack, Blue Peter and Cheggers Plays Pop.
Noddy both introduces the compilation and reflects on Slade's glory daze at the BBC.
MONDAY 24 DECEMBER 2012
MON 19:00 Top of the Pops (b01pl8lq)
25/12/77
Noel Edmonds and David 'Kid' Jensen present the festive pop charts from 1977 with performances from Showaddywaddy, Deniece Williams, Hot Chocolate, Baccara, Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band, Leo Sayer, Manhattan Transfer, David Soul, ABBA, Space, Johnny Mathis, Kenny Rogers and Wings.
MON 19:50 Top of the Pops (b01ppl1x)
A Christmas Cracker
A selection of hit Christmas songs from yesteryear.
MON 20:00 Norman Wisdom: His Story (b00vhmqq)
From street urchin to knight of the realm - the story of Norman Wisdom, who used to be one of the biggest film stars in the UK, portraying a man who rarely stepped out of character in public, and whose highly individual comic style hid the private tragedy of his early life.
The actor's life story is told through the people who knew him well - his son and daughter Nick and Jacqui Wisdom, his daughter-in-law Kim, film director Stephen Frears, actors Ricky Tomlinson, Leslie Phillips and Honor Blackman, and singer Dame Vera Lynn.
MON 21:00 Nigel Slater: Life Is Sweets (p00y4hd1)
Chocolate limes, buttered brazils, sherbert dib-dabs and marshmallows. Food writer Nigel Slater charts the origins of British sweets and chocolates from medicinal, medieval boiled sweets to the chocolate bars that line the supermarket shelves today.
With adverts of the sweets everyone remembers and loves, this nostalgic, emotional and heartwarming journey transports Nigel back to his childhood by the powerful resonance of the sweets he used to buy with his pocket money. Nigel recalls the curiously small toffee that inspired him to write his memoir, the marshmallow, which he associates with his mother, and the travel sweet, which conjures up memories of his father. He marvels at the power of something as incidental as a sweet to reveal emotions, character and the past.
MON 22:00 Ultimate Number Ones (b01nwfxv)
To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the UK chart, from the vaults of the BBC archive comes a selection of hits that attained the toppermost of the poppermost prize and made it to number one in the hit parade. From across the decades, we applaud the most coveted of all chart positions with smash hits and classics from The Bee Gees, T. Rex, Donna Summer, John Lennon, Culture Club, The Spice Girls, James Blunt, Rihanna, Adele and many more.
MON 23:05 Top of the Pops (b01pl8lq)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 today]
MON 23:55 Arena (b01l4929)
Amy Winehouse - The Day She Came to Dingle
Back in 2006 on a stormy December night, Amy Winehouse flew to the remote, south western corner of Ireland to perform for Other Voices, an acclaimed Irish TV music series filmed in Dingle every winter. Amy took to the stage of Saint James's church, capacity 85, and wowed the small, packed crowd with a searing, acoustic set of songs from Back to Black.
After leaving the stage, a relaxed and happy Amy spoke about her music and influences - Mahalia Jackson, Sarah Vaughan, Ray Charles and the Shangri-Las to name a few. Arena joined forces with Other Voices and went to Dingle to catch up with some of the people that Amy met on that day, including taxi driver Paddy Kennedy, her bass player Dale Davis and Rev Mairt Hanley of the Other Voices church.
This film showcases not only Amy herself, but the musical geniuses that inspired her to forge her own jazz pop style.
MON 00:55 Barry Manilow at the BBC (b01hrb2y)
A mixture of songs, interviews and rarely seen documentary footage offers a glimpse as to how American crooner Barry Manilow's career has evolved on screen for more than forty years. Classics such as Mandy, Copacabana and Could It Be Magic were played to millions of viewers first time around and are revisited in clips from Top of the Pops, Parkinson and various filmed shows including his pivotal open-air concert at Blenheim Palace in 1983 - it's a miracle!
MON 01:55 Ultimate Number Ones (b01nwfxv)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:00 today]
MON 02:55 Tom Jones at the BBC (b00vz5ml)
[Repeat of broadcast at
23:00 on Saturday]
TUESDAY 25 DECEMBER 2012
TUE 19:00 A Musical Nativity with John Rutter (b018nwbv)
Katie Derham introduces a special retelling of the Christmas story through the music of John Rutter, whose immensely popular carols bring pleasure to millions around the world. Recorded at Dorchester Abbey and conducted by Rutter himself, the programme features some of the composer's best loved music alongside other Christmas favourites close to his heart.
Rutter reflects on some of the stories surrounding his work, such as the Picasso painting which inspired his ever-popular Shepherd's Pipe Carol, written when he was just sixteen.
Gerald Finley and Elin Manahan Thomas are the soloists, with the Aurora Orchestra, the Children's International Voices of Enfield and John Rutter's own choir, the Cambridge Singers.
Extracts from the Nativity story in the King James translation are read by Simon Russell Beale.
TUE 20:00 Swan Lake (b00pkzmf)
The Kirov Ballet, under conductor Valery Gergiev from the Maryinsky Theatre in St Petersburg, present a complete performance of Swan Lake, their most enduringly popular classical ballet and much loved for its lush romantic score and heartbreaking love story. Prima ballerina Ulyana Lopatkina is outstanding in the challenging dual role of Odette, the white swan and Odile, her black swan rival. Presented by Darcey Bussell.
Part of the BBC Christmas 2009 season.
TUE 22:15 Top of the Pops (b01pl8lq)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 23:05 ... Sings Bee Gees (b0110js7)
Archive compilation celebrating the songbook of the brothers Gibb, with contributions and covers from the likes of Al Green, Esther Ofarim, Take That, Dionne Warwick, Steps, Rita Coolidge, Aaliyah and others, performing hits such as To Love Somebody, Words, How Can You Mend A Broken Heart?, How Deep Is Your Love, Heartbreaker and More Than A Woman.
TUE 23:35 One Touch of Venus (b0078865)
Humorous fantasy about a young man who falls in love with a statue of Venus in a department store window. His wildest dreams are fulfilled when the figure comes to life at his kiss, but he already has a fiancee, who is unwilling to share him with a shop decoration. A Broadway hit with music by Kurt Weill.
TUE 00:55 James Bond 50th Anniversary Gala Concert (b01p97hp)
A night dedicated to the music of 007. Conductor Carl Davis and the Philharmonia Orchestra create a concert bringing together the iconic theme tunes from the James Bond films, including Goldfinger, Diamonds are Forever, From Russia with Love, GoldenEye and many more. Honor Blackman, who played the legendary Pussy Galore, leads us on the journey through the world of Bond across the 50 years and 23 films. Featuring Strictly Come Dancing vocalist Lance Ellington and Mary Carewe as the soloists in a concert performed at the Royal Festival Hall in London.
TUE 02:25 ... Sings Bee Gees (b0110js7)
[Repeat of broadcast at
23:05 today]
TUE 02:55 Rome: A History of the Eternal City (b01pdt0s)
The Rebirth of God's City
Simon Sebag Montefiore charts Rome's rise from the abandonment and neglect of the 14th century into the everlasting seat of the papacy recognised today. His story takes us through the debauchery and decadence of the Renaissance, the horrors of the Sack of Rome and the Catholic Reformation, through to the arrival of fascism and the creation of the Vatican State. By taking us inside Rome's most sensational palaces and churches and telling the stories behind some of the world's most beloved art, Sebag Montefiore's final instalment is a visual feast.
WEDNESDAY 26 DECEMBER 2012
WED 19:00 The Two-Thousand-Year-Old Computer (b01hlkcq)
In 1901, a group of divers excavating an ancient Roman shipwreck near the island of Antikythera, off the southern coast of Greece, found a mysterious object - a lump of calcified stone that contained within it several gearwheels welded together after years under the sea. The 2,000-year-old object, no bigger than a modern laptop, is now regarded as the world's oldest computer, devised to predict solar eclipses and, according to recent findings, calculate the timing of the ancient Olympics. Following the efforts of an international team of scientists, the mysteries of the Antikythera Mechanism are uncovered, revealing surprising and awe-inspiring details of the object that continues to mystify.
WED 20:00 Royal Institution Christmas Lectures (b01pjqpk)
2012: The Modern Alchemist
Air: The Elixir of Life
The medieval alchemists made elements react to create magnificent shows, enthralling kings and commoners alike, but their secrets were never revealed until now.
In the first of this year's Christmas Lectures, Dr Peter Wothers explores what the alchemists knew about the air we breathe and reveals how our modern knowledge of these elements can be used to control fire, defy gravity and harness the power of a lightning storm. Peter is joined by the cast of the musical Loserville and is helped in his exploration of the 118 modern elements by a periodic table made from audience members at the Royal Institution.
WED 21:00 Moominland Tales: The Life of Tove Jansson (b01pgrk2)
Moomintroll and the Moomin family are characters loved by children and parents worldwide who have grown up listening to Finnish writer Tove Jansson's delightful stories about a group of philosophical trolls who face a range of adventures in Moominland.
This documentary reveals the strong autobiographical slant in the Moomins series as it traces the author's own extraordinary story from living the bohemian life of an artist in war-torn Helsinki to becoming a recluse on a remote island in the Gulf of Finland.
Enjoying unprecedented access to Jansson's personal archive, the film reveals an unconventional, brave and compelling woman whose creative genius extended beyond Moominland to satire, fine art and masterful adult fiction - not least her highly regarded The Summer Book. With home movie footage shot by her long-term female lover and companion, it offers a unique glimpse of an uncompromising fun-loving woman who developed love as the central theme of her work.
WED 22:00 Legends (b00fzv3y)
Roy Orbison - The 'Big O' in Britain
Roy Orbison was the best singer in the world. That's what Elvis Presley said, and he should know.
To mark the 20th anniversary of Orbison's death, this programme celebrates the extraordinary talent of 'The Big O' and his relationship with his most loyal and enduring fans, British musicians and the British public. Through a combination of interview and archive, it charts Orbison's career in Britain, from the sell-out tour with the Beatles that sky-rocketed him to international superstardom, right up to the collaboration with lifelong friend George Harrison on the Travelling Wilburys project in the late 1980s. Effortlessly cool, musically sophisticated, Orbison was a rock and roll legend, whose legacy continues to captivate both the listeners and performers of today.
WED 23:00 Neil Diamond: Hot August Night (b00mpq6h)
A triumphant homecoming show from the reinvigorated Neil Diamond, filmed at Madison Square Garden, New York City in August 2008.
In front of an adoring crowd, Diamond performs signature songs like Sweet Caroline, I Am...I Said and Forever in Blue Jeans, while also taking the audience back across the Brooklyn Bridge to the neighbourhood where he started out as a young songwriter at the dawn of the 60s.
WED 00:00 Arena (b01nd5qd)
The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour
Magical Mystery Tour Revisited
Arena presents the greatest Beatles story never told - the making of Magical Mystery Tour - full of fabulous Beatles archive material never shown before anywhere in the world.
Songs you will never forget, the film you have never seen and a story that has never been heard. In 1967, in the wake of the extraordinary impact of Sgt. Pepper, The Beatles made a film - a dreamlike story of a coach daytrip, a magical mystery tour. It was seen by a third of the nation, at
8.35pm on BBC1 on Boxing Day - an expectant public, hoping for some light entertainment for a family audience.
However, Magical Mystery Tour was greeted with outrage and derision by middle England and the establishment media.
'How dare they', they cried. 'They're not film directors. Who do they think they are?' they howled. Where were the four lovable moptops of Help! and A Hard Day's Night?
What propelled The Beatles to make this surreal, startling and - at the time - utterly misunderstood film?
Roll up, roll up for the mystery tour!
WED 01:00 Arena (b01nbz1s)
The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour
'The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour
Arena presents the greatest Beatles story never told, a blockbuster double-bill.
Fully restored to the highest technical standard with a remixed soundtrack, Magical Mystery Tour comes out of the shadows and onto the screen.
By the end of 1967, The Beatles had achieved a creativity unprecedented in popular music. Their triumphant summer release, Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, was both avant garde and an instant hit. It went straight to No.1 in June and remained there for the rest of the year.
They immersed themselves in the fiercely radical art of the new counterculture and decided to make a film on their own terms, not as pop stars but as artists.
Roll up Roll Up for the Mystery Tour!
WED 01:55 Moominland Tales: The Life of Tove Jansson (b01pgrk2)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
WED 02:55 Royal Institution Christmas Lectures (b01pjqpk)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 today]
THURSDAY 27 DECEMBER 2012
THU 19:00 The Man who Discovered Egypt (b01f13f4)
Documentary about English Egyptologist Flinders Petrie, the pioneer of systematic methodology in archaeology. Ancient Egypt was vandalised by tomb raiders and treasure hunters until this Victorian adventurer took them on. Most people have never heard of him, but this maverick undertook a scientific survey of the pyramids, discovered the oldest portraits in the world, unearthed Egypt's prehistoric roots - and in the process invented modern field archaeology, giving meaning to a whole civilisation.
THU 20:00 Royal Institution Christmas Lectures (b01pp64k)
2012: The Modern Alchemist
Water: The Fountain of Youth
Medieval alchemists wrote of a mysterious fountain of youth, whose waters could rejuvenate anyone who drank them. But can water really be magical?
In the second of this year's Christmas Lectures, Dr Peter Wothers drinks from the fountain and finds out whether the elements lurking in the water can restore his youth. Along the way he discovers how exploding balloons could solve the energy crisis, how water contains the remains of the most violent reactions on Earth and that the real secret to eternal youth might be drinking no water at all.
Peter is joined in his quest by Paralympic champion cyclist Mark Colbourne and finds out what happens when the two most reactive elements on the periodic table, caesium and fluorine, meet each other.
THU 21:00 Len Goodman's Dancing Feet: The British Ballroom Story (b01pjqpm)
Len Goodman, the head judge of Strictly Come Dancing, takes to the dance floor to discover the golden age of ballroom and recalls the time when Britain went ballroom barmy.
In the early 20th century millions enjoyed dancing. Graceful movement was everything as we grappled with the waltz, the tango and each other. Len also reveals a surprising world of scandal and outrage - a time when ballroom was considered radical and trendy. What was it about ballroom that people enjoyed so much and why did we eventually turn our backs on what Len considers the greatest dance form of all?
Len visits Blackpool, the spiritual home of ballroom, and demonstrates some popular steps with professional dancer Erin Boag. He discovers how the smart set danced the night away at the Cafe de Paris and returns to a favourite dance hall from his youth, the Rivoli in south London.
Len talks to dancers, singers and musicians who remember the golden age and discovers the people who introduced 'rules' to ballroom - the dance leaders and teachers who were concerned that ballroom was out of control and needed new regulations to govern steps, movement and music.
THU 22:00 Strictly Ballroom (b00749zg)
Offbeat satire in which a young ballroom dancing sensation causes uproar among the traditionalist Australian Dance Federation when he tries out some radical new steps.
His new routine horrifies all but the ugly duckling of his dance class who's just waiting to blossom. When she persuades him to partner her, he discovers a true soulmate who dares to be daring on the dance floor.
THU 23:30 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.
THU 00:30 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.
THU 01:30 Arena (b01pjlhv)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Saturday]
THU 02:30 Sounds of the 70s 2 (b01jv6sd)
Disco - Ain't No Stopping Us Now
Disco was all pervasive in the mid and early 70s. And while towards the end of the decade punk stole the headlines, disco still had the high street. Everyone was into it and getting down on it at the local discotheque. Join us in a celebration of all things disco including performances by The Jacksons, Thelma Houston, Sylvester, Carl Douglas, George McCrae, Sister Sledge, McFadden and Whitehead, Eruption and Gloria Gaynor.
THU 03:00 Royal Institution Christmas Lectures (b01pp64k)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 today]
FRIDAY 28 DECEMBER 2012
FRI 19:00 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.
FRI 20:00 Royal Institution Christmas Lectures (b01pp6bq)
2012: The Modern Alchemist
Earth: The Philosopher's Stone
For centuries alchemists have tried to turn base metals into gold. But is such a feat even possible?
In the final Christmas Lecture, Dr Peter Wothers explores the elements within the earth and discovers just how difficult it is for chemists to extract the planet's greatest treasures. He discovers how our knowledge of the elements can allow us to levitate, turn carbon dioxide into diamonds and maybe turn lead into gold.
Peter is joined by Nobel Prize-winning chemist Professor Sir Harry Kroto and together they find out whether a member of the audience is really worth their weight in gold and what happens when you set fire to a diamond.
FRI 21:00 The Richest Songs in the World (b01pjrt5)
Mark Radcliffe presents a countdown of the ten songs which have earned the most money of all time - ten classic songs each with an extraordinary story behind them. Radcliffe lifts the lid on how music royalties work and reveals the biggest winners and losers in the history of popular music.
FRI 22:30 Mr Blue Sky: The Story of Jeff Lynne and ELO (b01n3yf4)
Documentary which gets to the heart of who Jeff Lynne is and how he has had such a tremendous musical influence on our world. The story is told by the British artist himself and such distinguished collaborators and friends of Jeff as Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Tom Petty, Joe Walsh, Olivia and Dhani Harrison, Barbara Orbison and Eric Idle.
The film reveals that Lynne is a true man of music, for whom the recording studio is his greatest instrument. With access to Lynne in his studio above LA, this is an intimate account of a great British pop classicist who has ploughed a unique furrow since starting out on the Birmingham Beat scene in the early 60s, moving from the Idle Race to the multimillion-selling ELO in the 70s and then, with Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Roy Orbison and George Harrison, as a key member of the Traveling Wilburys.
FRI 23:30 ELO Live at Wembley 1978 (b0074smf)
Captured live at London's Wembley Arena in 1978, this space-age show will live forever in rock history as, quite literally, out of this world - featuring a pioneering laser display, the first of its kind that set a precedent for subsequent rock shows. Songs include Standing in the Rain, Night in the City, Turn to Stone, Tightrope, Telephone Line, Rockaria, Wild West Hero, Show Down, Sweet Talkin' Woman, Mr Blue Sky, Ma Ma Ma Belle, Livin' Thing and Roll Over Beethoven.
FRI 00:30 The Richest Songs in the World (b01pjrt5)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
FRI 02:00 Mr Blue Sky: The Story of Jeff Lynne and ELO (b01n3yf4)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:30 today]
FRI 03:00 Royal Institution Christmas Lectures (b01pp6bq)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 today]