Huw Edwards fulfils a lifelong dream to explore Patagonia, and the unique attempt to preserve Welsh culture by isolating a Welsh community in one of the most remote and inhospitable places on earth. A hundred and fifty years after the pioneers arrived, Huw meets their descendants and asks what remains of the culture the forefathers wanted to safeguard.
This is the story of the Indian subcontinent told through the treasures of three very different people, places and dynasties that have shaped the modern Indian world.
All too often, Pakistan is portrayed as a country of bombs, beards and burkhas. The view of it as a monolithic Muslim state is even embodied in the name of the country, 'the Islamic Republic of Pakistan'.
Yet, as Sona Datta shows, it used to be the meeting point for many different faiths from around the world and has an intriguing multicultural past - a past about which it is to some extent in denial. It also produced some extraordinary and little-known works of art which Sona, from her work as a curator at the British Museum, explores and explains.
Dr Jago Cooper explores the rise and fall of the forgotten civilisations of Central America.
His quest takes him from from the crystal blue seas of the Caribbean to the New World's most impressive pyramids, flying over the smoking volcanoes of Costa Rica and travelling deep underground in the caves of central Mexico.
He travels in the footsteps of these peoples to reveal their secrets and unearth the astonishing cultures that flourished amongst some of the most dramatic landscapes in the world.
In this episode, Jago explores the forgotten people of ancient Costa Rica, who built a series of spectacular settlements amongst the rivers and volcanoes of Central America and whose enigmatic legacy - including hundreds of mysterious, giant stone spheres - is only now being unravelled by archaeologists.
Montalbano investigates the seemingly accidental killing of a fisherman aboard a Vigata fishing boat and uncovers far-reaching criminal activity in the process.
During the investigation, Fazio seems distracted and Montalbano soon discovers that the young policeman has become involved in protecting a local family from death threats during his spare time.
Meanwhile, as the wedding preparations continue, Livia's and Salvo's relationship looks like it might have run into trouble.
Janice Long and Gary Davies present the weekly look at the pop charts, first broadcast on 20 January 1983. Featuring appearances from Kajagoogoo, Joe Jackson, Echo and the Bunnymen, Melba Moore, U2, Laura Branigan, The Stranglers, Phil Collins and Billy Griffin.
Simon Bates and Richard Skinner present the weekly look at the pop charts, first broadcast on 27 January 1983. Features Level 42, The Belle Stars, Central Line, The Beatles, China Crisis, Wham!, Bauhaus, Joe Cocker & Jennifer Warnes, Dire Straits and Men at Work.
From beatnik to mod, from folkie to disco tart, from glam rocker to, most recently, crooner of American standards, the newly ennobled Sir Roderick Stewart has had a remarkable musical journey. Alan Yentob visits Rod at his homes in Beverly Hills and Essex and talks to his friends and family, including all eight children aged from two years old to 50.
Featuring rare archival footage of Rod when he was barely out of his teens and living above his parents' north London sweetshop, in a revised repeat Imagine examines an entertaining career across five musical decades.
On a sunny day in September 2015, Rod Stewart took to the stage in London's Hyde Park to bring to a close BBC Radio 2's annual Festival in a Day. In front of 50,000 people, Rod delivered not his usual stadium set but a bespoke selection of hits from his back catalogue spanning his career, including Gasoline Alley, Angel, In a Broken Dream and The Killing of Georgie (Part 1 & 2), plus Faces classics such as Ooh La La and the blues standard Rollin' and Tumblin', a number that Rod used to perform with Long John Baldry back in the day. To close the set, Rod brought on his old pal guitarist Jim Cregan to help him perform his 1978 hit I Was Only Joking.
All in all, a memorable and unique concert that is unlikely to be repeated anytime soon.
Performances from The Kinks, Roxy Music, Elton John, New York Dolls, Queen, Sparks, Rod Stewart and the rediscovered David Bowie performance of The Jean Genie from January 1973.
Welcome to gender-bending, boys getting in the swing and girls who would be boys and boys who would be girls in this mixed-up, shook-up 70s world.
SUNDAY 22 JANUARY 2017
SUN 19:00 David Starkey's Music and Monarchy (b03891w7)
Great British Music
Dr David Starkey's exploration of how the monarchy shaped Britain's music reaches the 18th century, when Great Britain became a dominant military and economic power, and the century which brought us patriotic classics such as God Save the King - the world's first national anthem - and Rule Britannia. Yet this was a time when the monarchy had never been more fragile, having lost much of its political and religious power and imported its ruling house from abroad. The supreme irony was that it was a musician from Germany, George Frideric Handel, who gave Great Britain and its new royal dynasty its distinctive musical voice.
Featuring specially recorded performances from Westminster Abbey Choir and a full baroque orchestra of Handel's Hallejulah Chorus and Zadok the Priest. And the Academy of Ancient Music performs extracts from Handel's operas and other works. Soloists joining the performances include Elin Manahan Thomas, singing Eternal Source of Light Divine, which was written for Queen Anne's birthday in 1714 and was performed by Elin to a global audience at the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Paralympic Games.
Also featuring what is believed to be the first public performance for 300 years of the music written for the Act of Union between England and Scotland in 1707 - sung by the choir of St Paul's Cathedral just as it was back then.
David also discovers the true stories behind Handel's Water Music, written to accompany George I on a trip along the Thames, as well as his Music for Royal Fireworks, full of military instruments at the insistence of the soldier-king George II. He also visits the country estate of Cliveden in Buckinghamshire, where Thomas Arne's Rule Britannia was first performed as an act of defiance by an heir to the throne.
SUN 20:00 Sword, Musket & Machine Gun: Britain's Armed History (b088sznj)
Rapid Fire
In the concluding episode, Dr Sam Willis charts the evolution of weaponry in Britain from 1800 to the First World War, looking at the drive to develop ever more precise weapons, from artillery shells to rifles to the Maxim machine gun.
The pace of technological change in the 19th century was phenomenal. Sam test-fires a 'Brown Bess' musket, the infantry weapon of choice at Waterloo in 1815 and discovers that a well-trained soldier could fire up to three shots a minute. He also looks at efforts to make artillery more effective on the battlefield with the invention of spherical case shot, a new type of shell that was named after its inventor - Henry Shrapnel.
Sam finds out how accessible firearms were to the public in the early 19th century and tells the little-known story of Spencer Percival, the only British prime minister ever to be assassinated, shot at point blank range in the lobby of the House of Commons in 1812.
By the turn of the 20th century, several inventors believed that they could banish war if they invented the ultimate weapon, an instrument so horrific that no-one would dare use it. In the 1880s, Hiram Maxim, an American inventor, devised the first 'Maxim' machine guns in his workshop in Hatton Garden, London. The first rapid-fire weapon to harness the energy of its own recoil, the Maxim gun, and its successor the Vickers machine gun, could fire 600 rounds a minute and were used to devastating effect on the battlefields of the First World War.
Automatic weapons were also sought by criminal gangs, as Sam discovers when he looks back at one of the most infamous sieges of the 20th century - the Siege of Sidney Street in 1911.
The series culminates in a remarkable experiment to find out whether a bulletproof vest made of silk might have stopped a bullet fired at Archduke Franz Ferdinand. With the aid of the Royal Armouries, Sam conducts a unique experiment with assistant firearms curator Lisa Traynor to prove that a bulletproof vest owned by the archduke would have stopped a bullet fired by his assassin, Gavrilo Princip. The killing of the archduke on June 28 1914 set in motion a chain of events that led to the outbreak of the First World War.
World War I was the deadliest war of its age, with the most technologically advanced firearms and weapons of almost medieval brutality used to wage a devastating conflict. When the firing finally stopped on November 11, 1918, an estimated 17 million people had died and 20 million had been wounded. In the aftermath of World War I, we now put increasing faith in treaties, international conventions and diplomacy. Surely we could never allow such carnage to happen again?
SUN 21:00 Titanic's Tragic Twin: The Britannic Disaster (b083dp3s)
The Titanic sank in April 1912, and her sister ship, the Britannic, ultimately suffered the fate, sinking in 1916 due to an explosion caused by an underwater mine.
In the wake of the Titanic disaster, Britannic was re-engineered to be even stronger. And yet she sank in just 55 minutes - three times faster than Titanic. It's one of Britain's greatest untold disaster stories. Now on the 100th anniversary, presenters Kate Humble and Andy Torbet piece together exactly what happened in those 55 minutes.
While Andy makes a dangerous dive to the wreck, Kate speaks to descendants of the survivors. The characters she uncovers include Violet 'Miss Unsinkable' Jessops, who survived both Titanic and Britannic, Captain 'Iceberg Charlie' Bartlett and lookout Archie Jewell, who miraculously survived while those around him died.
SUN 22:00 Hidden Killers (b07chyly)
The Post-War Home
Dr Suzannah Lipscomb explores the time when British people embraced modern design for the first time after years of austerity and self-denial. The look and feel of the postwar 1950s home - a 'modern' world of moulded plywood furniture, fibreglass, plastics and polyester - had its roots in the innovative materials discovered during World War II. In fact, no other war before or since has had such a profound effect on the technologies of our current life. This bright new era encompassed a host of social changes including higher living standards and improved technologies, but - as Suzannah discovers - there were also unexpected dangers lurking throughout the changing home.
SUN 23:00 Horizon (b04b763n)
2013-2014
What's Wrong with Our Weather?
Over the last few years, our weather in Britain has become more extreme.
The winter of 2013/14 was the wettest ever recorded, as deadly storms battered the country for weeks on end. But previous winters have seen bitter lows of -22, as Britain was plunged into a deep freeze.
Everyone wants to know why our weather is getting more extreme, whether we can expect to see more of it in the future, and if it has got anything to do with climate change.
Physicist Dr Helen Czerski and meteorologist John Hammond make sense of Britain's recent extreme weather and discover that there is one thing that connects all our recent extreme winters - the jet stream, an invisible river of air that powers along 10km above us. What's worrying is that recently it has been behaving rather strangely.
Scientists are now trying to understand what is behind these changes in the jet stream. Helen and John find out if extreme winters are something we may all have to get used to in the future.
SUN 00:00 Play it Loud: The Story of the Marshall Amp (b04c3l7j)
One iconic black box has probably more than anything else come to define the sound of rock - the Marshall amplifier. It has been, quite literally, behind some of the greatest names in modern music.
It all started in 1962 when drum shop owner Jim Marshall discovered the distinctive growl that gave the electric guitar an exciting new voice. Music got a whole lot louder as young musicians like Clapton, Townshend and Hendrix adopted the revolutionary 'Marshall Sound'. The electric guitar now spoke for a new generation and the genre of rock was born.
Soon Marshall stacks and walls were an essential backdrop of rock 'n' roll. The excesses of rock machismo were gloriously lampooned in the 1984 movie This is Spinal Tap. In an extraordinary piece of reverse irony, it was this comic exposure that rescued the company from financial meltdown.
With contributions from rock legends like Pete Townshend, Lemmy and Slash, plus an interview with the 'Father of Loud' Jim Marshall, this documentary cruises down the rock ages with all the dials set to 'eleven'.
SUN 01:00 Sound of Musicals with Neil Brand (b088t0kj)
Something's Coming
Neil Brand explores how a new generation of composers transformed musical theatre by embracing more gritty, challenging subjects, from the mean streets of 1950s New York in West Side Story, to the Dickensian London of British blockbuster Oliver!. Neil learns the stories behind Broadway hits Fiddler on the Roof and A Chorus Line, and celebrates the groundbreaking work of Stephen Sondheim. And Neil takes us step by step through the secrets of some classic numbers with the help of star performers Robert Lindsay and Frances Ruffelle.
SUN 02:00 Lost Kingdoms of Central America (b04jvpqj)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Saturday]
SUN 03:00 Titanic's Tragic Twin: The Britannic Disaster (b083dp3s)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
MONDAY 23 JANUARY 2017
MON 19:00 100 Days (b08chgm7)
Series 1
23/01/2017
As President Trump takes office, BBC News teams in Washington and London report on the events that are shaping our world.
MON 19:30 Reel History of Britain (p00jtmff)
Britain's First Teenagers
Melvyn Bragg, accompanied by a vintage mobile cinema, travels across the country, to show incredible footage preserved by the British Film Institute and other national and regional film archives, to tell the history of modern Britain.
In Soho, Melvyn looks back to the 1950s and a time when Britain broke free of the burdens of the Second World War and the teenager was born. One of the original trendsetters, Wee Willy Harris, talks about the rockers who ripped up the dance floor. Molly Lowton and Jennie Prescott glimpse a much-loved friend and sister in films of their village dance. And 50s heartthrob Marty Wilde explains how the new music scene brightened up postwar Britain.
MON 20:00 Timeshift (b06csy8c)
Series 15
The Engine that Powers the World
The surprising story of the hidden powerhouse behind the globalised world, the diesel engine, a 19th-century invention that has become indispensable to the 21st century. It's a tortoise-versus-hare tale in which the diesel engine races the petrol engine in a competition to replace ageing steam technology, a race eventually won hands down by diesel.
Splendidly, car enthusiast presenter Mark Evans gets excitedly hands-on with some of the many applications of Mr Diesel's - yes, there was one - original creation, from vintage submarines and tractors to locomotive trains and container ships. You'll never feel the same about that humble old diesel family car again.
MON 21:00 Scotland and the Klan (b07yjk0j)
Scotland has exported many great things to the rest of the world, and people like Neil Oliver have often celebrated the disproportionate impact of its ideas and energy on places like America. The role of Scots in shaping the concept of the American Dream is a story often told, but could Scottish settlers have also had a hand in America's racist nightmare?
Neil Oliver travels over 2,000 miles to examine links between racism today in the Deep South and the Scottish settlers that first occupied it. Throughout the 18th century, hundreds of thousands of Scots emigrated to America, and some believe that it was their wariness and moral certainty that significantly shaped the south into an isolated, fearful society that easily took to slave-owning when the opportunity came.
Walter Scott, the creator of a romantic vision of the 'Old Country' is blamed for reinforcing their fantasy world of Georgian gentility. When that world was threatened, the southern states opted for civil war rather than give it up. After the devastating war, attitudes in the south were hardened by defeat and fear of the now-freed slaves. When six Scottish-American former Confederate officers formed a fraternal society, clan turned to Klan.
The oldest and most feared racist hate group in America - the Ku Klux Klan - was born. Now, well over 800 hate groups stalk the United States, and Neil finishes his journey by visiting the Neo-Confederate League of the South. The League advocates a return to a separate southern society run by what they call 'Anglo Celts', and Neil discovers that here Scottishness still abides and that attitudes don't seem to have changed much in the last 200-300 years.
MON 22:00 Genius of the Ancient World (b064jf28)
Buddha
Historian Bettany Hughes embarks on an expedition to India, Greece and China on the trail of three giants of ancient philosophy: Buddha, Socrates and Confucius. All three physically travelled great distances philosophising as they went and drawing conclusions from their journeys. With Bettany as our guide, she gets under the skin of these three great minds and shines a light on the overlooked significance of the 5th century BC in shaping modern thought across the world. In this first episode, Bettany investigates the revolutionary ideas of the Buddha.
MON 23:00 How It Works (b01fq06h)
Plastic
Professor Mark Miodownik tells the story of plastics - created in the lab, they have brought luxury to the masses and shaped the modern age. He recounts tales of the mavericks responsible for some of plastic's most outrageous failures and heady successes, from the explosive attempts to make a replacement for ivory billiard balls to the ultimately ubiquitous Bakelite.
Investigating at atomic level, Mark discovers the extraordinary properties that have allowed plastics to dominate our world and reveals how the next generation of plastics will take its inspiration from nature, creating man-made materials which behave as though they are alive and which could help rebuild the human body.
MON 00:00 When God Spoke English: The Making of the King James Bible (b00yvs8n)
Documentary telling the unexpected story of how arguably the greatest work of English prose ever written, the King James Bible, came into being.
Author Adam Nicolson reveals why the making of this powerful book shares much in common with his experience of a very different national project - the Millennium Dome. The programme also delves into recently discovered 17th-century manuscripts, from the actual translation process itself, to show in rich detail what makes this Bible so good.
In a turbulent and often violent age, the king hoped this Bible would unite a country torn by religious factions. Today it is dismissed by some as old-fashioned and impenetrable, but the film shows why, in the 21st century, the King James Bible remains so great.
MON 01:00 David Starkey's Music and Monarchy (b03891w7)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Sunday]
MON 02:00 Timeshift (b06csy8c)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 today]
MON 03:00 Scotland and the Klan (b07yjk0j)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
TUESDAY 24 JANUARY 2017
TUE 19:00 100 Days (b08chgyk)
Series 1
24/01/2017
As President Trump takes office, Katty Kay in Washington and Christian Fraser in London report on the events that are shaping the world.
TUE 19:30 Reel History of Britain (p00jv6tt)
Soldier, Soldier
Melvyn Bragg, accompanied by a vintage mobile cinema, travels across the country, to show incredible footage preserved by the British Film Institute and other national and regional film archives, to tell the history of modern Britain.
At the Queen's Lancashire Regiment Museum and Barracks in Preston, Melvyn looks back to the First World War, when British men answered the call to fight for king and country. Rita Humphrey shares the remarkable story of her uncle, Walter Tull, who overcame great prejudice to become the first black officer in the British Army. Richard Bell talks about his great-uncle Donald who received the highest award for valour during the Battle of the Somme in 1916. And Accrington man Les Bond gives his verdict on the sacrifice made by the men of his home town's pals battalion, including his uncle Harry, who died at the Battle of the Somme.
TUE 20:00 Timewatch (b00sl29f)
Atlantis: The Evidence
Historian Bettany Hughes unravels one of the most intriguing mysteries of all time. She presents a series of geological, archaeological and historical clues to show that the legend of Atlantis was inspired by a real historical event, the greatest natural disaster of the ancient world.
TUE 21:00 Britain Beneath Your Feet (b061v75n)
Series 1
On the Move
Dallas Campbell reveals a fascinating and secret world hidden below Britain. In this episode he explores how what goes on underground keeps our country on the move. He delves into the past to discover how a secret wartime pipeline is now delivering fuel to Heathrow Airport. Extraordinary computer graphics lay bare the underwater engineering genius that allowed the iconic Forth Rail Bridge to be built in the 19th century.
Along the way Dallas meets some of the hidden army of workers that keep Britain running from underground, from the drivers of the largest tunnelling machines in the world to the engineers running a vast power station under a mountain in Wales. In one memorable scene, he helps dislodge a 'fatberg' that's blocking one of London's sewers. And he does some secret filming of badgers that are threatening the foundations of a primary school and helps to relocate the whole sett.
TUE 22:00 Britain's Nuclear Secrets: Inside Sellafield (b065x080)
Lying on the remote north west coast of England is one of the most secret places in the country - Sellafield, the most controversial nuclear facility in Britain. Now, Sellafield are letting nuclear physicist Professor Jim Al-Khalili and the television cameras in to discover the real story. Inside, Jim encounters some of the most dangerous substances on earth, reveals the nature of radiation and even attempts to split the atom. He sees inside a nuclear reactor, glimpses one of the rarest elements in the world - radioactive plutonium - and even subjects living tissue to deadly radiation. Ultimately, the film reveals Britain's attempts - past, present and future - to harness the almost limitless power of the atom.
TUE 23:00 Can Eating Insects Save the World? (p01599yk)
How would you feel about eating deep fried locusts, ant egg salad or barbequed tarantulas? This documentary sees presenter and food writer Stefan Gates immerse himself in the extraordinary world of hardcore insect-eating in a bid to conquer his lingering revulsion of bugs and discover if they really could save the planet.
With 40 tonnes of insects to every human, perhaps insects could offer a real solution to the global food crisis - where billions go hungry every day whilst the meat consumption of the rich draws vast amounts of grain out of the global food chain.
Stefan's on a mission to meet the people in Thailand and Cambodia that hunt, eat and sell edible insects for a living. But nothing quite prepares him for bug farming on this terrifying scale, from stalking grasshoppers at night to catching fiercely biting ants. And it's not just insects on the menu. Stefan also goes hunting for the hairiest, scariest spider on the planet - the tarantula. Stefan asks if the solution is for everyone - the British included - to start eating insects too.
TUE 00:00 Picasso: Love, Sex and Art (b0543hfx)
At the time of his death in April 1973, aged 91, Pablo Picasso had become one of the 20th century's most influential and prolific artists. Picasso has been painted as many men - genius, womaniser, egomaniac. His reputation is still fiercely debated. Brought up in the Spanish town of Malaga, he would represent himself as the mythological minotaur - half-man, half-bull. The bull craved the women who would feed his life and his art.
Picasso reconstructed the female form - to the point of total abstraction. Many women would find themselves damaged forever by the experience of being his partner. Now, for the first time, the people who knew him best tell the story of those women, giving a new insight into the artist and his work.
TUE 01:00 Tales of Winter: The Art of Snow and Ice (b01q6qj6)
Winter was not always beautiful. Until Pieter Bruegel painted Hunters in the Snow, the long bitter months had never been transformed into a thing of beauty. This documentary charts how mankind's ever changing struggle with winter has been reflected in western art throughout the ages, resulting in images that are now amongst the greatest paintings of all time. With contributions from Grayson Perry, Will Self, Don McCullin and many others, the film takes an eclectic group of people from all walks of life out into the cold to reflect on the paintings that have come to define the art of snow and ice.
TUE 02:30 Britain Beneath Your Feet (b061v75n)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
WEDNESDAY 25 JANUARY 2017
WED 19:00 100 Days (b08chh33)
Series 1
25/01/2017
As President Trump takes office, Katty Kay in Washington and Christian Fraser in London report on the events that are shaping the world.
WED 19:30 Reel History of Britain (p00jv72t)
Britain's Black Diamonds
Melvyn Bragg, accompanied by a vintage mobile cinema, travels across the country, to show incredible footage preserved by the British Film Institute and other national and regional film archives, to tell the history of modern Britain.
At the Big Pit Mining Museum in south Wales, Melvyn looks back to the 1930s and salutes Britain's 'black diamonds', brave miners who risked their lives digging for the coal that powered an empire. Vicky Stradling tells the shocking truth about one of the worst disasters in coal mining history. Melvyn goes underground to learn about the limited safety equipment used by coalminers in the 1930s. And David Bogg reveals the occupational hazards of working with pit ponies.
WED 20:00 Horizon (b0148vph)
2011-2012
The Core
For centuries we have dreamt of reaching the centre of the Earth. Now scientists are uncovering a bizarre and alien world that lies 4,000 miles beneath our feet, unlike anything we know on the surface. It is a planet buried within the planet we know, where storms rage within a sea of white-hot metal and a giant forest of crystals make up a metal core the size of the moon.
Horizon follows scientists who are conducting experiments to recreate this core within their own laboratories, with surprising results.
WED 21:00 Alan Bennett's Diaries (b086kc2c)
Inspired by his acerbic and often hilarious diaries, this documentary shows Alan Bennett as he has never been seen before. The film follows Bennett to New York, the scene of his early triumph in Beyond the Fringe, to his community library in Primrose Hill which, he despairs, some would rather see turned into a pizza restaurant, to the East Coast railway line, which he would like to see renationalised, and to the village in Yorkshire he calls home.
Intimate encounters, filmed over a year, reveal a writer who is bemused by his own popularity and is still as angry and irreverent in his 80s as he was in his 20s. Leafing through private photographs, Bennett reflects on his modest beginnings and his enduring gratitude to a welfare state that paid for his education and looked after his parents in their old age. With a satirical force that has never left him, he also attacks the politics of today.
WED 22:00 The Eichmann Show (b050d2t9)
The behind-the-scenes true life story of groundbreaking producer Milton Fruchtman and blacklisted TV director Leo Hurwitz, who, overcoming enormous obstacles, set out to capture the testimony of one of the war's most notorious Nazis, Adolf Eichmann. He is accused of executing the 'final solution' and organising the murder of six million Jews. This is the extraordinary story of how Eichmann's trial came to be televised and the team that made it happen.
Filmed at the trial in Jerusalem in 1961, the production became the world's first ever global TV documentary series, where, for the first time, the horror of the camps was heard directly from the mouths of its victims. It was edited daily and broadcast in Germany, America, Israel and 34 other countries. People fainted when they saw it on TV. Never before had there been such drama in the use of cameras, their positioning or the revolutionary effect of operators being able to adjust frame and position to match subject and content.
WED 23:30 Rich Hall's California Stars (b04bbfzw)
Rich Hall continues his cultural critique of American people and places.
California has always been an empty sales pitch. Its first settlements were borne of missionary zeal. It promised a haven from marauders, banditos and mercenaries. Since then it has wiled us with unlimited gold, boundless harvests, silver-screen stardom, dotcom salvation and hi-tech silicon marvels. It has always been a place that promises a good chance of success - if you're youthful or white. And if you're Mexican, it at least promises a decent chance of survival.
The California dream has always eclipsed its facts or its history. Most other US states are named after geographical place names or Indian tribes or British royalty - New York, Nebraska, Maryland. California was named for Calafia, a mythical Spanish queen, a kind of Spanish Snow White. At the California History Attraction in Anaheim she is portrayed in a 20-minute film narrated by Whoopi Goldberg.
And that's California in a nutshell - a place that instantly forgets its past so it can reinvent it for tourists and dreamers. True reality has never been good enough for Californians. They are always vaguely dissatisfied with themselves, their bodies, their spirituality, their government and their present car. Yet they still believe they shape both American culture and American character. And to a large degree, they have.
In his unique and sardonic way, Rich takes the viewer on a skewed but keenly eyed journey to the place built on a tectonic faultline that still deigns to call itself the Land of Dreams.
WED 01:00 Treasures of the Indus (p02qvb6j)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 on Saturday]
WED 02:00 Horizon (b0148vph)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 today]
WED 03:00 Alan Bennett's Diaries (b086kc2c)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
THURSDAY 26 JANUARY 2017
THU 19:00 100 Days (b08chh6w)
Series 1
26/01/2017
As President Trump takes office, Katty Kay in Washington and Christian Fraser in London report on the events that are shaping the world.
THU 19:30 Top of the Pops (b08bqdzj)
John Peel and David Jensen introduce the latest hits from the pop charts, first broadcast on 3 February 1983. Featuring Haysi Fantayzee, Indeep, Tears For Fears, U2 and Men at Work.
THU 20:00 The Mayflower Pilgrims: Behind the Myth (b084fmgq)
Documentary exploring the Pilgrims' journey west across the Atlantic in the early 17th century. The voyage of the Mayflower in 1620 has come to define the founding moment of America, celebrated each year at Thanksgiving. This drama documentary, based on governor William Bradford's extraordinary eye-witness account, reveals the grim truth behind their voyage across the Atlantic.
The Pilgrims' story has come to define the founding moment of America and all it stands for. It is remembered as a pious crusade aimed at founding a Puritan paradise. However, their journey from a harsh, often violent part of England to a colony assured of survival less than ten years later is also one of wealth, cruelty and entrepreneurial genius.
THU 21:00 British History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley (b08bqdzl)
Series 1
The Wars of the Roses
Lucy debunks the foundation myth of one of our favourite royal dynasties, the Tudors.
According to the history books, after 30 years of bloody battles between the white-rosed Yorkists and the red-rosed Lancastrians, Henry Tudor rid us of civil war and the evil king Richard III. But Lucy reveals how the Tudors invented the story of the 'Wars of the Roses' after they came to power to justify their rule.
She shows how Henry and his historians fabricated the scale of the conflict, forged Richard's monstrous persona and even conjured up the image of competing roses. When our greatest storyteller William Shakespeare got in on the act and added his own spin, Tudor fiction was cemented as historical fact.
Taking the story right up to date, with the discovery of Richard III's bones in a Leicester car park, Lucy discovers how 15th-century fibs remain as compelling as they were over 500 years ago. As one colleague tells Lucy: 'Never believe an historian!
THU 22:00 Lefties (b0074s62)
Property is Theft
This edition recalls Villa Road, a street in Brixton where squatters lived by their left-wing beliefs - communal living, collective action and an unswerving commitment to Marxist ideology.
THU 23:00 Brothers in Arms (b007cblj)
They say that blood is thicker than water and this documentary puts that to the test by examining the brothers who have formed and fronted rock bands. From the Everlys to the Gallaghers via the Kinks and Spandau Ballet, it tells the stories of the bands of brothers who went from their bedrooms to become household names - often with a price to pay.
With contributions from Martin Kemp, Matt Goss, Dave Davies, Phil Everly, David Knopfler and the Campbell brothers of UB40.
THU 00:00 Top of the Pops (b08bqdzj)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:30 today]
THU 00:40 The Mayflower Pilgrims: Behind the Myth (b084fmgq)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 today]
THU 01:45 The Lost Libraries of Timbuktu (b00hkb0z)
Aminatta Forna tells the story of legendary Timbuktu and its long-hidden legacy of hundreds of thousands of ancient manuscripts. With its university founded around the same time as Oxford, Timbuktu is proof that the reading and writing of books have long been as important to Africans as they are to Europeans.
THU 02:45 British History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley (b08bqdzl)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
FRIDAY 27 JANUARY 2017
FRI 19:00 World News Today (b08bmc8k)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
FRI 19:30 Sounds of the 70s 2 (b01hz75h)
Guilty Pleasures - Love Will Keep Us Together
An unashamed celebration of the instantly recognisable classics from the decade of love. A half hour of 'Our Tune' anthems and the soundtrack to many a love affair and wedding party, including performances from The Carpenters, Bread, Charles Aznavour, John Denver, 10cc, Bellamy Brothers, Exile, Captain and Tennille, and Dr Hook.
FRI 20:00 The Good Old Days (b08cgpq3)
Leonard Sachs presents the old-time music hall programme, first broadcast on 31 December 1977. With Larry Grayson, Vince Hill, Billy Dainty and members of the Players' Theatre, London.
FRI 21:00 Sound of Musicals with Neil Brand (b08bqfd2)
Seasons of Love
Series in which composer Neil Brand explores how musical theatre evolved over the last 100 years to become today's global phenomenon. Neil hears the inside story from leading composers and talent past and present, and recreates classic songs, looking in detail at how these work musically and lyrically to captivate the audience.
In the concluding episode, he explores why musical theatre is thriving in the 21st century. He charts the rise of the 'megamusical' phenomenon, with shows like Cats and Les Miserables, learns the behind-the-scenes story of how Disney transformed The Lion King from a cartoon into a record-breaking stage success, and sees how musicals have captured contemporary life in shows like Rent and Avenue Q. Neil recreates classic numbers to reveal the secrets of their songwriting, including The Rocky Horror Show's Sweet Transvestite, Don't Cry for Me Argentina from Evita, and Les Miserables' Empty Chairs at Empty Tables. Neil meets a host of top musical theatre talent, including master lyricist Tim Rice, Lion King director Julie Taymor, and leading composers Alan Menken (Beauty and the Beast) and Robert Lopez (Avenue Q and Frozen).
FRI 22:00 Secret Voices of Hollywood (b03bxrxj)
In many of Hollywood's greatest movie musicals the stars did not sing their own songs. This documentary pulls back the curtain to reveal the secret world of the 'ghost singers' who provided the vocals, the screen legends who were dubbed and the classic movies in which the songs were ghosted.
FRI 23:30 ... Sings Musicals (b019jshd)
A delve into the BBC archives for an eclectic mix of performances from musicals from the 60s to the present. Featuring the likes of Ella Fitzgerald singing Mack the Knife from the Threepenny Opera, Captain Sensible performing a classic from South Pacific, Jeff Beck going down the yellow brick road of Oz, Jay Z taking on Annie, and all points in between.
FRI 00:30 Sounds of the 70s 2 (b01hz75h)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:30 today]
FRI 01:00 Sound of Musicals with Neil Brand (b08bqfd2)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
FRI 02:00 Secret Voices of Hollywood (b03bxrxj)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:00 today]