In the first episode of his series tracing the story of the most famous trade route in history, Dr Sam Willis starts in Venice and explores how its Renaissance architecture and art has been shaped by the east and by thousands of exchanges along the Silk Road.
From Venice Sam travels to China's ancient capital, Xian. Here, Sam's story takes him back in time to reveal the tale of an emperor who was so desperate for horses to help protect his borders that he struck one of the most significant trade deals in human history - he wanted war horses, he gave the most precious material in the world, silk. From this single deal, a network of trading paths were carved out across thousands of miles by merchants, traders, envoys, pilgrims and travellers. It is known to us today as the Silk Road.
Professor Alice Roberts reveals the natural history of the most famous of ice age animals - the woolly mammoth. Mammoths have transfixed humans since the depths of the last ice age, when their herds roamed across what is now Europe and Asia. Although these curious members of the elephant family have been extinct for thousands of years, scientists can now paint an incredibly detailed picture of their lives thanks to whole carcasses that have been beautifully preserved in the Siberian permafrost.
Alice meets the scientists who are using the latest genetic, chemical and molecular tests to reveal the adaptations that allowed mammoths to evolve from their origins in the tropics to surviving the extremes of Siberia. And in a dramatic end to the film, she helps unveil a brand new woolly mammoth carcass that may shed new light on our own ancestors' role in their extinction.
Mads waits nervously in the hospital not realising there is also trouble at home. His pregnant wife Kristina is woken by a noise in the dark as Nicky has broken into their home to retrieve the evidence against Christensen. Absalon is on the verge of bankruptcy, and the siblings Amanda and Simon are fighting to save their bank. Claudia will stop at nothing to get revenge on Christensen, even if it means betraying the people who trust her. The Swede turns up at the garage, desperately looking for Nicky - but finds Bimse.
Alf has rumbled Christensen's plan - a huge attack on the Danish krone. He and Mads try to stop it, but the attack is already underway and threatens to bring the whole country's economy to its knees. Claudia has sold Steen to the police to get revenge on Christensen, but it's still not enough to trap the unscrupulous businessman. Amanda struggles to prove that Simon is not complicit in Christensen's crimes.
Richard Skinner and Tommy Vance present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 30 June 1983. Featuring Shalamar, Nick Heyward, Irene Cara, Paul Young, Tom Robinson, Bucks Fizz and Rod Stewart.
John Peel and David Jensen present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 7 July 1983. Featuring Roman Holliday, Freeez, The Cure, Funk Masters and Jimmy the Hoover.
This edition of the series celebrates the 50th anniversary of the release of Brian Wilson's masterpiece, The Beach Boys' album Pet Sounds. Wilson and the surviving members of The Beach Boys - Mike Love, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston and David Marks - guide us through the writing and recording of the landmark album that is consistently voted one of the top three most influential albums of all time.
Featuring exclusive interviews, classic archive and rare studio outtakes from the recording sessions, the film tells the story of the creation of the record that cemented The Beach Boys' reputation as a leading force to rival The Beatles, and Brian Wilson as a songwriting genius.
The guitar riff is the DNA of rock 'n' roll, a double helix of repetitive simplicity and fiendish complexity on which its history has been built. From Chuck Berry through to The White Stripes, this documentary traces the ebb and flow of the guitar riff over the last 60 years of popular music. With riffs and stories from an all-star cast including Brian May, Dave Davies, Hank Marvin, Joan Jett, Nile Rodgers, Tony Iommi, Robert Fripp, Johnny Marr, Nancy Wilson, Kevin Shields, Ryan Jarman, Tom Morello and many more. Narrated by Lauren Laverne.
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.
Flouncy-haired pop merchants and indie stalwarts on The Old Grey Whistle Test and its younger, more colourful sibling, The Whistle Test dominate this trawl through the 80s. Featuring The Teardrop Explodes, Orange Juice, Robert Wyatt, Aztec Camera, Billy Bragg, The Fall, The Pogues, Robyn Hitchcock and the ever-smiling Style Council.
SUNDAY 02 APRIL 2017
SUN 19:00 Dame Vera Lynn: We’ll Meet Again (b08k5v5l)
This one-hour programme is a birthday tribute celebrating the life and work of Dame Vera Lynn, including exclusive access to Dame Vera as she watches home movies and videos from the past with her daughter Virginia. It tells the story of a working-class girl from Essex who changed the lives of so many and whose career spanned a whole century - singing at seven to help pay the family bills, falling accidentally into the limelight and still singing right up to today.
Dame Vera can't read music. She has never had singing lessons and even refused to change her singing style to fit in with the fashions of the day. Yet she sang at the Queen's sixteenth birthday and calls the royal family her friends. We meet the war heroes whose hearts she touched as she brought memories from Britain to the front line and find out how celebrities like Miriam Margolyes, Barry Humphries, Tim Rice and Sir Paul McCartney are still touched by Dame Vera's voice.
We discover why she is a national treasure and see her humility shine through - she really can't understand what all the fuss is about, despite being one of the greatest female singers this country has ever produced.
SUN 20:00 Giselle: Belle of the Ballet (b08l6nr6)
Tamara Rojo, dancer and artistic director of English National Ballet, explores Giselle - the first great Romantic ballet, and a defining role for any ballerina.
Through two radically contrasting 2016 productions - a traditional 19th-century recreation, and a gritty reimagining of the work by celebrated Anglo-Bangladeshi choreographer Akram Khan - Rojo examines the cultural and social background to the ballet's genesis in 1840s Paris, and the spiritual themes that have fuelled its success over the last 175 years.
Giselle is the story of a young peasant girl who personifies all that is good in life, and ultimately forgives the aristocrat who has seduced and betrayed her.
With Giselle, the look and emotional heart of ballet was transformed forever, from mime-based storytelling to a fusion of emotion, music and movement, formulating a tradition that has inspired audiences, dancers and choreographers ever since.
SUN 21:00 Do We Really Need the Moon? (b00yb5jp)
The moon is such a familiar presence in the sky that most of us take it for granted. But what if it wasn't where it is now? How would that affect life on Earth?
Space scientist and lunar fanatic Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock explores our intimate relationship with the moon. Besides orchestrating the tides, the moon dictates the length of a day, the rhythm of the seasons and the very stability of our planet.
Yet the moon is always on the move. In the past, it was closer to the Earth and in the future it will be farther away. That it is now perfectly placed to sustain life is pure luck, a cosmic coincidence. Using computer graphics to summon up great tides and set the Earth spinning on its side, Aderin-Pocock implores us to look at the Moon afresh: to see it not as an inert rock, but as a key player in the story of our planet, past, present and future.
SUN 22:00 Gravity and Me: The Force That Shapes Our Lives (b08kgv7f)
Physics professor Jim Al-Khalili investigates the amazing science of gravity. A fundamental force of nature, gravity shapes our entire universe, sculpting galaxies and warping space and time. But gravity's strange powers, discovered by Albert Einstein, also affect our daily lives in the most unexpected ways. As Jim tells the story of gravity, it challenges his own understanding of the nature of reality.
The science of gravity includes the greatest advances in physics, and Jim recreates groundbreaking experiments in gravity including when the Italian genius Galileo first worked out how to measure it.
Gravity science is still full of surprises and Jim investigates the latest breakthrough - 'gravity waves' - ripples in the vast emptiness of space. He also finds out from astronauts what it's like to live without gravity.
But gravity also directly affects all of us very personally - making a difference to our weight, height, posture and even the rate at which we age. With the help of volunteers and scientists, Jim sets out to find where in Britain gravity is weakest and so where we weigh the least. He also helps design a smartphone app that volunteers use to demonstrate how gravity affects time and makes us age at slightly different rates.
And finally, Jim discovers that despite incredible progress, gravity has many secrets.
SUN 23:30 Sex: A Horizon Guide (b039vj9x)
Sex is a simple word for a very complex set of desires. It cuts to the core of our passions, our wants, our emotions. But when it goes wrong, it can be the most painful thing of all. Professor Alice Roberts looks through 45 years of Horizon archive to see how science came to understand sex, strived to solve our problems with it and even helped us to do it better. Can science save the day when sex goes wrong?
SUN 00:30 The Story of Maths (b00dwf4f)
The Language of the Universe
After showing how fundamental mathematics is to our lives, Marcus du Sautoy explores the mathematics of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia and Greece.
In Egypt, he uncovers use of a decimal system based on ten fingers of the hand, while in former Mesopotamia he discovers that the way we tell the time today is based on the Babylonian Base 60 number system.
In Greece, he looks at the contributions of some of the giants of mathematics including Plato, Euclid, Archimedes and Pythagoras, who is credited with beginning the transformation of mathematics from a tool for counting into the analytical subject we know today.
SUN 01:30 The Century That Wrote Itself (b01s2qf3)
A World Re-Shaped by Writing
Author Adam Nicolson traces the roots of today's globalised Britain to a 17th-century golden age of writing and communication. He reveals a century on the move, a time when London tripled in size and more than 200,000 people emigrated in search of work or God. And it was writing that made this new mobility possible.
Through the very words that kept them afloat in this mobile world, we meet a puritan family split asunder across an ocean, a lowly sailor able to document strange new worlds for those at home and a slave-trader laying the foundations for a new world economy. All these characters remoulded the medieval world into the one we recognise today. Their writings both reveal this turbulent world to us and helped write the change itself.
SUN 02:30 How to Get Ahead (b03z08mx)
At Versailles
Stephen Smith explores the flamboyant Baroque court of the Sun King, Louis XIV. Louis created the Palace of Versailles so he could surround himself with aristocrats, artists, interior designers, gardeners, wigmakers, chefs and musicians. Hordes of ambitious courtiers scrambled to get close to the king, but unseemly goings-on in the royal bedchamber reflected the quickest path to power.
MONDAY 03 APRIL 2017
MON 19:00 100 Days (b08l654b)
Series 1
03/04/2017
As President Trump takes office, Katty Kay in Washington and Christian Fraser in London report on the events that are shaping our world.
MON 19:30 The Beauty of Anatomy (b04dq8kl)
Galen and Leonardo
Adam Rutherford begins his series investigating the close relationship between discoveries in anatomy and the works of art that illustrate them by looking at the work of the 2nd-century Roman anatomist Claudius Galen and the artist and part-time dissector Leonardo da Vinci.
MON 20:00 Yellowstone (b00jc6p6)
Winter
Series following the fortunes of America's wildlife icons in Yellowstone, the most extensive thermal area on Earth.
In winter, Yellowstone is frozen solid - locked in snow as deep as a house for over six months. Whether you hunt for meat, live off stored body fat or whether you simply hibernate, you need to take every advantage, however slight, to save precious energy - then you might just make it through the winter to enjoy the green grass and balmy days of spring.
As we follow the grip of winter over the course of six freezing months, we chart the fortunes of Yellowstone's wildlife in a finely balanced fight to survive. Bison use their massively powerful heads to dig through some of the deepest snow in America to reach the grass beneath. A red fox listens out for mice scurrying six feet beneath the snow before diving headfirst into the drift to snap up its prey, while otters slide through Yellowstone's winter wonderland to find any remaining open water where they can fish. All the while, as the herds of elk and bison are gradually weakened by the cold, one animal gets stronger - the wolf.
But all is not as it first seems - there are larger powers at work. Whether a wolf, a bison or an elk makes it through is intimately linked to Yellowstone's greatest secret. Sleeping beneath the ice and snow-covered surface is one of the world's largest volcanoes. In an extraordinary twist of nature, everything from the freezing winter cold to the creation of a snowstorm is determined by the power of Yellowstone's volcanic heart.
MON 21:00 Timeshift (b08lkx0y)
Series 17
Roof Racks and Hatchbacks: The Family Car
The family car. We grow up in the back seat - and before we know it, we find ourselves in the driving seat...
Timeshift explores the British experience of the family car, from the groundbreaking Morris Minor to the ubiquitous Ford Cortina, the Range Rover to the new Jaguar F-Pace - not to mention their imported rivals, such as the Volkswagen Golf and the Volvo estate.
Despite its reputation for being practical and sensible, designers have long endeavoured to make the family car attractive, even exciting, and to keep pace as the family and its requirements have evolved over the decades. Can a family vehicle be small - like the Mini? Or fast - like the Golf GTi? And what's the real reason why so many of today's family cars seem so enormous?
But the story of the family car isn't just about design. It's about the joy and frustration of parents and kids being cooped up on the road together. A saga of continental road trips and games of I-spy, backseat squabbles and impromptu toilet breaks. For better or worse, the car is one of the few remaining places where families still get to be a family.
Contributors include motoring journalists Richard Porter and Zog Ziegler, author Ben Hatch and leading car designer Ian Callum.
MON 22:00 The Queen Mary: Greatest Ocean Liner (b07d2wy4)
With exclusive access to the magnificent liner and its extensive archive of film and photographs, this documentary explores the action-packed life of the Clyde-built ship - an epic journey through some of the most dynamic periods of the 20th century.
Built with the blood and sweat of the master craftsmen of the Clydebank shipyards, she helped drag a nation from the depths of the great depression and set sail as a symbol of new hope and a better future. Leaving Southampton on 27 May 1936, her maiden voyage to New York set a new benchmark in transatlantic travel. Designed in peacetime to link the old world with the new, she ferried movie stars, politicians and royalty across the Atlantic, luxuriously cocooned in an art-deco floating palace.
Then, in 1939, she was transformed to challenge the fury of the Nazis in the Battle of the Atlantic. With a wartime record to rival that of the highest-ranking general, she carried whole armies through enemy-infested seas. Hitler offered a bonus of $250,000 and the Iron Cross to any U-boat captain who could sink the Queen Mary.
When the war was over, the Queen Mary gave passage to thousands of British war brides and children who planned a new life in the New World. The Queen Mary was a great attraction to the rich and famous celebrities of the 1950s and 60s.
From an exclusive interview with singer Johnny Mathis, we find out what it was like to perform on the rough seas of the Atlantic. The liner continued in service until 1967 and is now a floating luxury hotel and museum docked in a custom-made lagoon in Long Beach, California.
MON 23:00 Oceans (b00g21kz)
Mediterranean Sea
The team embarks on an expedition to explore the profound effect that man is having on the Mediterranean Sea. Western civilisation developed around its shores, but now human activity is threatening to destroy it.
Expedition leader Paul Rose, environmentalist Philippe Cousteau Jr, maritime archaeologist Dr Lucy Blue and marine biologist and oceanographer Tooni Mahto investigate how the Mediterranean gave rise to one of Europe's first superpowers by diving the remains of a Roman shipwreck. Under the cover of night, they brave the treacherous waters of the Straits of Messina to search for one of the largest predatory sharks in the world - the increasingly threatened, prehistoric sixgill shark.
They dive a perilous network of submerged caves to look for evidence of enormous changes to the Mediterranean Sea and they try to discover whether the feared great white shark could be breeding here.
MON 00:00 Chef v Science: The Ultimate Kitchen Challenge (b0752bbd)
Materialist scientist Professor Mark Miodownik challenges two-Michelin-star chef Marcus Wareing to the ultimate cookery competition. Over the course of 90 minutes they cook up some of the nation's best-loved dishes, from starter to dessert, in a head-to-head contest to see who can create the most flavoursome food. Marcus has flair, passion, and experience, while Mark an understanding of cooking at the molecular level and access to state-of-the-art technology. Ultimately the question they will try to answer is this: is cooking a science or an art?
MON 01:30 Jonathan Meades: The Joy of Essex (b01qfr95)
Jonathan Meades is unleashed on the county of Essex. Contrary to its caricature as a bling-filled land of breast-enhanced footballer's wives and self-made millionaires, Meades argues that this is a county that defies definition - at once the home of picturesque villages, pre-war modernism and 19th-century social experiments.
Shaped by its closeness to London, Meades points out that this is where 19th-century do-gooders attempted to reform London's outcasts with manual labour and fresh air, from brewing magnate Frederick Charrington's Temperance Colony on Osea Island to the Christian socialist programmes run by Salvation Army founder William Booth.
Meades also discovers a land which abounds in all strains of architecture, from the modernist village created by paternalistic shoe giant Thomas Bata to Oliver Hill's masterplan to re-imagine Frinton-on-Sea and the bizarre but prescient work of Arthur Mackmurdo, whose exceptionally odd buildings were conceived in the full-blown language of the 1930s some fifty years earlier.
In a visually impressive and typically idiosyncratic programme, Meades provides a historical and architectural tour of a county that challenges everything you thought you knew and offers so much you didn't.
MON 02:30 Timeshift (b08lkx0y)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
TUESDAY 04 APRIL 2017
TUE 19:00 100 Days (b08l654h)
Series 1
04/04/2017
As President Trump takes office, Katty Kay in Washington and Christian Fraser in London report on the events that are shaping our world.
TUE 19:30 The Beauty of Anatomy (b04dzrtr)
Andreas Vesalius
In 1537, the 23-year-old Andreas Vesalius became the most famous anatomist in Europe. He went on to produce the first complete account of the human body and how to dissect it, his drawings setting the gold standard for anatomical art for centuries to come and earning him the title of 'the founder of modern anatomy'. Adam Rutherford tells his story.
TUE 20:00 1066: A Year to Conquer England (b08hyhm7)
Series 1
Episode 2
In this three-part drama-documentary series, Dan Snow explores the political intrigues and family betrayals between Vikings, Anglo-Saxons and Normans that led to war, and the Battle of Hastings. King Harold of England has to take on two invasion forces. First, his brother Tostig attacks the south coast. He is repelled, but there is more to come. Later in the year, a vast Viking invasion force led by King Harald Hardrada of Norway lands in the north of England. Harold rushes to Stamford Bridge to fight for his kingdom and for his life. Meanwhile, Duke William of Normandy is ready to invade, but storms keep his invasion fleet trapped in port.
TUE 21:00 How to Be a Surrealist with Philippa Perry (b08l6qd8)
Melting clocks, lobster telephones - the perplexing images of surrealist art are instantly recognisable to millions. But for psychotherapist Philippa Perry the radical ideas which inspired the original artists are often overlooked. In this film, Philippa takes us on a playful journey into the unconscious to discover the deep roots of surrealism in the political upheavals of 1920s Europe and new ways of understanding the human psyche.
Among her surrealist adventures, Philippa sets up her own Bureau of Surrealist Research on the streets of Paris and invites members of the public to tell her their dreams, she uncovers the role of women in the surrealism movement and has a go at being an artist's muse herself, rolls up her sleeves to try some surrealist techniques with art critic Adrian Searle, and puts on a screening of Dali and Bunuel's famous film Un Chien Andalou for a group of unsuspecting art students.
TUE 22:00 The Secret Surrealist: Desmond Morris (b08l6qdc)
Since the 1960s, Desmond Morris has been known as a zoologist and expert on human behaviour, but the bestselling author of The Naked Ape and Manwatching has led a double life. By day, a rational scientist, writer and broadcaster with a mission to explain; by night, a painter of dreamlike images, which mystify even Morris himself. He first began painting in the surrealist style while still at school, and still does so today, at the age of 89. In his long career he has been friends with such great surrealists as Joan Miro and Henry Moore. Every night, between
10pm and 4 in the morning, while the rest of us are dreaming in our beds, Desmond Morris dreams on canvas.
TUE 22:30 Un Chien Andalou (b0074m3t)
Luis Bunuel, who made his name with this short shocking film in 1929, is one of the great exponents of surrealism in the cinema. An Andalusian Dog, which Bunuel co-wrote with his friend Salvador Dali, includes some of the most searing and memorable images filmed.
TUE 22:50 Spike Milligan: Assorted Q (b04v644f)
Episode 1
A compilation of sketches from Spike Milligan's pioneering sketch shows - surreal, influential, controversial and sublime.
TUE 23:25 Spike Milligan: Assorted Q (b04tt1yl)
Episode 2
A further selection of sketches from the legendary Spike Milligan's irreverent sketch shows. Alternative comedy before alternative comedy.
TUE 23:55 How Quizzing Got Cool: TV's Brains of Britain (b084fs6s)
We all love a good quiz. So here's a question - when did ordinary contestants turn into the pro-quizzers of today? Giving the answers are Victoria Coren Mitchell, Judith Keppel, Chris Tarrant, Mark Labbett, Nicholas Parsons and many more. Narrated by Ben Miller.
TUE 00:55 The Fight for Saturday Night (b04v85k6)
Michael Grade tells a tale of television skullduggery and dirty dealings in the battle to win the Saturday night ratings crown.
TUE 02:25 The Secret Surrealist: Desmond Morris (b08l6qdc)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:00 today]
TUE 02:55 How to Be a Surrealist with Philippa Perry (b08l6qd8)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
WEDNESDAY 05 APRIL 2017
WED 19:00 100 Days (b08l654q)
Series 1
05/04/2017
As President Trump takes office, Katty Kay in Washington and Christian Fraser in London report on the events that are shaping our world.
WED 19:30 The Beauty of Anatomy (b04fmg8g)
Rembrandt and Ruysch
In the 17th century in Holland, anatomy became the cutting edge of medical science, inspiring the great artists of the age like Rembrandt to produce the most beautiful anatomical paintings yet created.
Adam Rutherford travels to the Hague and Amsterdam to find out what it was that drew Rembrandt to anatomy and why dissecting bodies was thought a suitable subject for high art.
WED 20:00 Lost Land of the Volcano (b00mwcqx)
Episode 3
Steve Backshall heads a team descending into the crater of a giant extinct volcano covered in thick jungle. Deep in the heart of the remote island of New Guinea, this lost land is protected on all sides by fortress walls half a mile high. They are the first outsiders ever to penetrate this hidden world, which biologists have long believed could be home to spectacular new creatures.
George McGavin travels east to an erupting volcano and discovers a rare bird that depends on the hot ash for its survival. Sudden explosions bring the trip to a quick halt as giant boulders crash into camp.
The series culminates in the lost world of the crater as Steve and wildlife cameraman Gordon Buchanan discover two large mammals that have no fear of people and are totally new to science - a giant rat that is as big as a cat, and a cuscus, which is a tree-climbing marsupial.
WED 21:00 The Bermuda Triangle: Beneath the Waves (b007c68n)
Professor Bruce Denardo attempts to prove whether there is any truth behind the legend of the Bermuda Triangle, where many ships and planes have disappeared in mysterious circumstances. New investigation techniques reveal the truth behind the infamous disappearance of Flight 19. Graham Hawkes is also able to reveal, by using a state-of-the-art submarine, how five wrecks mysteriously wound up 730 feet down in the heart of the Bermuda Triangle.
WED 22:00 Storyville (b04ndsb3)
Exposed: Magicians, Psychics and Frauds
Renowned magician James 'The Amazing' Randi has been wowing audiences with his jaw-dropping illusions, escapes and sleight of hand for over 50 years. When he began seeing his cherished art form co-opted by all manner of con artists, he made it his mission to expose the simple tricks charlatans have borrowed from magicians to swindle the masses.
This entertaining film chronicles Randi's best debunkings of faith healers, fortune tellers and psychics. It documents his rivalry with famed spoon-bender Uri Geller, whom Randi eventually foiled on a high-profile television appearance. Another target was evangelist Peter Popoff, whose tent-show miracles and audience mind-reading were exposed as chicanery when Randi revealed a recording of Popoff's wife feeding him information through a radio-transmitter earpiece.
In telling Randi's strange, funny and fascinating life story, the film shows how we are all vulnerable to deception - even, in a surprising twist, 'The Amazing' Randi himself.
This documentary is part of Louis Theroux: Docs That Made Me, a collection of his favourite documentaries.
As someone who interviewed Uri Geller a number of times and came close to making a film about him, it's easy to see why this Storyville film grabbed Louis Theroux. The themes of 'fakery and quackery' and the charismatic figure of arch skeptic James Randi make this an entertaining look into how we separate fact from fiction.
Exposed: Magicians, Psychics & Frauds is the winner of multiple awards... The Audience Award (AFI Docs Festival, 2014), Jury Award (Dallas Video Festival, 2014), Best Documentary (Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, 2014), Jury Prize (Key West Film Festival, 2014), Jury Award (Napa Valley Film Festival, 2014), Jury Award (Newport Beach Film Festival, 2014).
WED 23:20 Servants: The True Story of Life Below Stairs (b01n3fkf)
Knowing Your Place
Dr Pamela Cox looks at the grand houses of the Victorian ruling elite - large country estates dependent on an army of staff toiling away below stairs.
The Victorians ushered in a new ideal of servitude - where loyal, selfless servants were depersonalised stereotypes with standardised uniforms, hairstyles and even generic names denoting position. In the immaculately preserved rooms of Erddig in North Wales, portraits of servants like loyal housekeeper Mrs Webster hint at an affectionate relationship between family and servants, but the reality for most was quite different.
In other stately homes, hidden passages kept servants separate from the family. Anonymity, invisibility and segregation were a crucial part of their gruelling job - and the strict servant hierarchy even kept them segregated from each other.
WED 00:20 Who Were the Greeks? (b036pxqk)
Episode 2
Classicist Dr Michael Scott explores the legacies of the ancient Greeks, what they have given us today, and asks why these legacies have lasted through time.
Democracy, art, architecture, philosophy, science, sport, theatre - all can be traced back to ancient Greece. Travelling across the ancient Greek world, from Athens to Olympia, Macedon, Turkey and Sicily, Michael discovers why the ancient Greeks were so successful, why their culture and way of life spread across continents and through time and why they still have such a powerful hold over our imaginations today.
WED 01:20 1066: A Year to Conquer England (b08hyhm7)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 on Tuesday]
WED 02:20 The Art of Gothic: Britain's Midnight Hour (b04nqpz3)
Blood for Sale: Gothic Goes Global
Gothic fantasy horror would be outstripped by real horror as the truth of mechanised warfare dawned on an innocent world in 1914. The language of Gothic would increasingly come to encapsulate the horrors of the 20th century - from Marx's analysis of 'vampiric' capitalism to Conrad's dark vision of imperialism and TS Eliot's image of The Wasteland, a Gothic narrative seemed to make more sense of the modern world more than any other.
THURSDAY 06 APRIL 2017
THU 19:00 100 Days (b08l654x)
Series 1
06/04/2017
As President Trump takes office, Katty Kay in Washington and Christian Fraser in London report on the events that are shaping our world.
THU 19:30 Top of the Pops (b08l6rjw)
Peter Powell and Andy Peebles present another edition of the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 14 July 1983. Featuring Paul Young, Elvis Costello & the Attractions, Heaven 17, Echo & the Bunnymen and Bananarama.
THU 20:00 Timeshift (b06b36q3)
Series 15
A Very British Map: The Ordnance Survey Story
For over 200 years, Ordnance Survey has mapped every square mile of the British Isles, capturing not just the contours and geography of our nation, but of our lives. Originally intended for military use, OS maps were used during wartime to help locate enemy positions. In peacetime, they helped people discover and explore the countryside.
Today, the large fold-out paper maps, used by generations of ramblers, scouts and weekend adventurers, represent just a small part of the OS output. As Ordnance Survey adjusts to the digital age, Timeshift looks back to tell the story of a quintessentially British institution.
THU 21:00 Mary Magdalene: Art's Scarlet Woman (b08ljvt7)
Waldemar Januszczak explores the impact of Mary Magdalene's myth on art and artists. All saints in art are inventions, but no saint in art has been invented quite as furiously as Mary Magdalene. For a thousand years, artists have been throwing themselves at the task of describing her and telling her story, from Caravaggio to Cezanne, Rubens to Rembrandt, Titian to van Gogh.
Her identity has evolved from being the close follower of Jesus who was the first witness to his resurrection, to one of a prostitute and sinner who escaped from persecution in the Holy Land by fleeing across the Mediterranean to end up living in a cave as a hermit in the south of France, enjoying ecstatic experiences with Christ.
THU 22:00 Timeshift (b08lkx0y)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Monday]
THU 23:00 Yellowstone (b00jc6p6)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 on Monday]
THU 00:00 The Silk Road (p03qb1gq)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
THU 01:00 Top of the Pops (b08l6rjw)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:30 today]
THU 01:30 Timeshift (b06b36q3)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 today]
THU 02:30 Mary Magdalene: Art's Scarlet Woman (b08ljvt7)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
FRIDAY 07 APRIL 2017
FRI 19:00 World News Today (b08l6552)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
FRI 19:30 Top of the Pops (b08l6sly)
Mike Read and Janice Long present another edition of the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 28 July 1983. Featuring KC and the Sunshine Band, Elvis Costello and the Attractions, The Lotus Eaters and Bananarama.
FRI 20:00 BBC Young Dancer (b08l6sm0)
2017
South Asian Dance Final
The series continues with the South Asian dance final, as another five aspiring dancers compete for the category title at The Lowry, Salford, presented by Anita Rani.
The finalists in this category showcase two of the most popular classical Indian dance styles - Kathak and Bhatanatyam. Judging them is a panel of three of the UK's top dance experts: the choreographer, performer and academic Chitra Sundaram; performer, teacher and leading exponent of Kathak dance Kajal Sharma; and general adjudicator - judging across all four BBC Young Dancer categories - the critically acclaimed choreographer and dance producer Shobana Jeyasingh. For one of the dancers a place in the Grand Final awaits, with the opportunity to dance on the main stage at Sadler's Wells.
The finalists are: Akshay Prakash, Jaina Modasia, Anaya Bolar, Shyam Dattani and Anjelli Wignakumar.
FRI 21:00 Depeche Mode at the BBC (b08l6sm2)
It's 2017 and synth giants Depeche Mode are back with their 14th studio album Spirit, the band's "timeliest work yet". As the rave reviews fly in, here is a look back at the journey of one of the UK's longest-lasting and most successful bands who emerged from the UK's post-punk scene over three decades ago by featuring clips from various BBC programmes, including Multi-Coloured Swap Shop, Synth Britannia, The OZone, Def II and The Whistle Test.
From their first appearance on Top of the Pops in 1981 and the tales of how they got there, to performing on Later...with Jools Holland in 2009, the programme shares archive testimony and recent interviews from core members Dave Gahan, Vince Clarke, Martin Gore and Andy Fletcher. New Life, Just Can't Get Enough, Blasphemous Rumours and Personal Jesus are among some of the classic tracks performed.
FRI 22:00 6 Music Festival (b08ljxpb)
2017
Depeche Mode
With the release of their new album Spirit, Depeche Mode return to the stage for BBC Radio 6 Music Festival, before they embark on a world tour. Depeche Mode, who formed in 1980 in Basildon, Essex, have not played at the 2,000-capacity Barrowland Ballroom in Glasgow for more than 30 years, when they performed as part of their Some Great Reward tour. Now, back at the historic Barrowland, their amazing return as part of 6 Music Festival is captured.
FRI 23:00 Depeche Mode: 101 (b01bywst)
DA Pennebaker's classic verite documentary as alternative/modern rock outfit Depeche Mode break America in 1989. The film follows Depeche Mode preparing for the final concert of their Music for the Masses tour at Pasadena's Rose Bowl, while also following a group of young fans who have won tickets to the concert as they travel to the show by bus across America.
'I'm not sure about this. Let's go home', lead singer Dave Gahan tells the rest of the band before they take the stage in Pasadena. Pennebaker tracks Depeche Mode as their 1987 Music for the Masses album and tour prepares the way for 1990's Violator hit album and tour, which saw the boys from Basildon turn into monsters of rock.
FRI 01:00 Top of the Pops (b08l6sly)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:30 today]
FRI 01:35 Depeche Mode at the BBC (b08l6sm2)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
FRI 02:35 6 Music Festival (b08ljxpb)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:00 today]