There are seven billion humans on Earth, spread across the whole planet. Scientific evidence suggests that most of us can trace our origins to one tiny group of people who left Africa around 70,000 years ago. In this five-part series, Dr Alice Roberts follows the archaeological and genetic footprints of our ancient ancestors to find out how their journeys transformed our species into the humans we are today, and how Homo Sapiens came to dominate the planet.
When our species first arrived in Europe, the peak of the Ice Age was approaching and the continent was already crawling with a rival: Stronger, at home in the cold and even (contrary to the popular image) brainier than us. So how did the European pioneers survive first the Neanderthals and then the deep freeze as they pushed across the continent?
Alice Roberts reconstructs the head of the 'first European' to come face to face with one of our ancestors; she discovers how art became crucial for survival in the face of Neanderthal competition; and what happened to change the skin colour of these European pioneers.
Finally, spectacular new finds on the edge of Europe suggest that the first known temples may have been a spark for a huge revolution in our ancestors' way of life - agriculture.
Documentary capturing pioneering images to exhibit the dazzling array of mysterious and wonderful creatures that live in China's most beautiful landscapes.
The vast Tibetan Plateau is one of the world's most remote places and home to chiru antelopes, wild yaks, foxes and bears. It has a remarkable culture shaped by over one 1,000 years of Buddhism, while its mountains and glaciers provide a vital life support system for half the planet.
Thriller series. Mette's suspicion of Dag grows after a fire in the basement, while Hanne is still convinced there is a curse over the place.
Hanne's life is at stake, and she knows the solution lies in the hidden room in the cellar. Will she be able to save herself and the others before it's too late?
Much like Santa Claus, James May has spent the year in his workshop getting ready for Christmas, in a festive special in which he reassembles his favourite childhood Christmas present.
But this isn't just any Christmas present, this is the one that changed his life and sent him on to a path of mechanical intrigue and reassembly. This is the Hornby Flying Scotsman with realistic chuffing sounds which James ripped open on Christmas Day 1972.
Laid out in all its 138 tiny component parts, James lovingly reassembles the train as well as his memories of Christmases and toys past. From the exhilarating remagnetising of the motor's magnets to some thrilling wheel-quartering amidst a backdrop of James's continued bafflement of electricity, we watch as James rebuilds the entire train set and hopes at the end his Christmas wish will come true and the train will start up and realistically chuff into the night.
When it comes to cooking James May is not the first name that comes to mind, but when it comes to reassembling cooking appliances, James is your man.
James reassembles the 135 parts that make up a 1960s Kenwood Chef a701a Food Mixer. This literal food revolution is responsible for mixing more cake batter than Mary Berry has mixed in her entire lifetime.
On James's journey to reassembling the food mixer he comes face to face with some mind-boggling components that will all come together to work in unison in the hope of making a chocolate cake mix. From reassembling the planetary gear system and the AC electric motor James muses on the imperial measurement system and shows off his trendy new magnification head gear as he attempts some dreaded soldering.
Documentary celebrating the British sitcom and taking a look at the social and political context from which our favourite sitcoms grew. We enjoy a trip through the comedy archive in the company of the people who made some of the very best British sitcoms. From The Likely Lads to I'm Alan Partridge, we find out the inspiration behind some of the most-loved characters and how they reflect the times they were living in.
Narrated by Rebecca Front, with commentary and insider knowledge from Steve Coogan, Richard Curtis, Beryl Vertue, James Corden, Jack Dee and top writing team Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais.
Mike Read and Tommy Vance present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 23 August 1984. Featuring Alphaville, Elton John, Break Machine, Miami Sound Machine, Tracey Ullman, Spandau Ballet, Rod Stewart and George Michael.
John Peel and Janice Long present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 6 September 1984. Featuring Bucks Fizz, Spandau Ballet, Sister Sledge, Level 42, Alphaville and Stevie Wonder.
One record company has been a constant presence in popular music throughout our lives.
EMI brought The Beatles to the world and in every decade since has been instrumental in producing some of Britain's most celebrated and enduring music.
But behind the success lay a very British institution often at odds with the music it released. It had to come to terms with psychedelia, face punk head-on and find huge sums of money to feed the excesses of the 1980s.
Interviews with EMI artists including members of Queen, Pink Floyd, The Sex Pistols and Pet Shop Boys reveal how their demands for more and more control ultimately led to drastic changes at EMI. Former EMI employees share the gossip and goings-on in an industry infamous for its extravagance.
The British music industry is world-renowned. It has produced decades of memorable music that have reached all corners of the globe. EMI has always been at the forefront and has left an indelible mark on our culture forever.
SUNDAY 08 OCTOBER 2017
SUN 19:00 Only Connect (b097rw93)
Series 13
Arrowheads v Wombles
Victoria Coren Mitchell hosts the series where knowledge will only take you so far. Patience and lateral thinking are also vital.
A team of darts players take on a team of Wimbledon FC supporters in this heat. They compete to draw together the connections between things which, at first glance, seem utterly random. So join Victoria Coren Mitchell if you want to know what connects Ishmael, Piscine Patel, Lemuel Gulliver and Robinson Crusoe.
SUN 19:30 University Challenge (b097r7vx)
2017/18
Episode 11
In another first-round match the students from Emmanuel College, Cambridge, fight it out against the team from St Hugh's College, Oxford.
Jeremy Paxman asks the questions.
SUN 20:00 Addicted to Sheep (b070jj99)
Set in the North Pennines, an intimate portrait of a year in the life of tenant hill farmers Tom and Kay Hutchinson as they try to breed the perfect sheep.
Through the sun, rain, sleet and snow, we watch the Hutchinsons toil away against the stark, stunning landscapes of north east England and witness the hard work it takes just to survive. Their three young children are growing up close to the land, attending the local primary school entirely comprised of farmers' children, all thoroughly immersed in their remote rural world. While the odds often seem stacked against them, the film conveys the importance of a balanced family life and the good humour that binds this tight-knit community together.
An entertaining and subtle reminder of how important farming is to the economy and the social fabric of our communities. Following your passion does have its rewards, although not always financial.
Beautifully observed, this heartwarming film provides an insight into the past, present and future of a way of life far removed from the high-tech hustle and bustle of modern life.
SUN 21:00 Horizon (b076qqxh)
2016
Oceans of the Solar System
The oceans define the earth. They are crucial to life and we used to think that they were unique to our blue planet. But we were wrong.
It has recently been discovered that there are oceans all over our solar system, and they are very similar to our own. And now scientists are going on an epic journey in search of new life in places that never seemed possible. Nasa is even planning to dive to the depths of a strange, distant ocean in a remarkable submarine.
Horizon discovers that the hunt for oceans in space is marking the dawn of a new era in the search for alien life.
SUN 22:00 The Sky at Night (b097xp51)
Return to the Moon?
Nearly 50 years ago, Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon and it seemed like the dawn of a new age.
Soon we'd be flying to the moon as effortlessly as we fly to America, and a moon base would be filled with men and women building a better future out in space.
But then the moon fell out of fashion.
We soon realized it was brutally inhospitable and getting there was eye-wateringly expensive. Rather than spend huge sums of money going where we'd already been, Mars and the other planets seemed much more exciting destinations.
But now that is set to change.
For the first time in a generation, there are credible plans to go back to the moon, and maybe even build a working moon base.
The Sky at Night examines this renewed interest in the moon, and asks why it's happening now and who is at the forefront of this new wave of lunar exploration.
They meet the tech companies driven by big ambitions to launch a new era of space exploration using private money.
So, is a moon base really viable, or merely a pipe dream?
SUN 22:30 The Search for a New Earth (b0953y04)
Planet Earth has been home to humankind for over 200,000 years, but with a population of 7.3 billion and counting and limited resources, this planet might not support us forever. Professor Stephen Hawking thinks the human species will have to populate a new planet within 100 years if it is to survive. With climate change, pollution, deforestation, pandemics and population growth, our own planet is becoming increasingly precarious.
In this landmark film, Professor Hawking, engineer and radio astronomy expert Professor Danielle George and Christophe Galfard, former student of Professor Hawking, join forces to find out if, and how, humans can reach for the stars and relocate to different planets. Travelling the globe, they meet top scientists, technologists and engineers who are working to answer our biggest questions. Is there another planet out there that we could call home? How will we travel across the vast distances of space to get there? How will we survive the journey? And how will we set up a new human civilisation on an alien world?
Christophe and Danielle journey to the heart of the Atacama Desert, visiting the aptly named 'Very Large Telescope', where they meet the astronomers who are discovering new planets outside our solar system every single day. But are any of them suitable for human life? Travelling deeper into the Atacama, microbiologist Maria Farias introduces Christophe to a strange life form could help us make an unlimited supply of oxygen on another planet.
In Houston, Texas, engineer and ex-astronaut Franklin Chang Diaz shows Danielle the plasma powered rocket engine that could revolutionise space travel, taking humans into space faster than ever before. On the arctic island of Svalbard, Christophe witnesses the stunning Northern Lights. This mystical phenomenon is a glorious by-product of Earth's protective magnetic field, deflecting dangerous radiation. In space, we can't take this protective field with us, but in the Netherlands, Christophe meets anaesthesiologist Dr Rob Henning, who believes hibernating bears may hold the key to protecting the human body from the hazards of space. Muscle wastage is another problem for potential planetary pioneers. Without gravity, space travellers lose muscle and bone strength at an alarming rate. However, the European Space Agency may have the answer - artificial gravity. Christophe takes a spin on a human centrifuge that could help keep us healthy on our journey to distant planets.
In Arizona, Danielle explores the giant greenhouses of Biosphere 2, where scientist Gene Giacomelli is working on ways to sustain human life on a planet with no atmosphere, growing plants for not just for food but also oxygen. His lunar greenhouse could provide enough oxygen for a single astronaut to survive on a planet with no atmosphere. And finally, at Kennedy Space Centre she meets fellow engineer Robert Mueller, who showcases NASA's own 'robot army', under development as a means of mining the natural resources and building the infrastructure we need on another planet before humans even get there.
Taking in the latest advances in astronomy, biology and rocket technology. From the Atacama Desert to the wilds of the Arctic, from plasma rockets to human hibernation. We discover a whole world of cutting-edge research. This journey shows that Professor Hawking's ambition isn't as fantastical as it sounds - that science fact is closer to science fiction than we ever thought. As Professor Hawking states, 'We can, and must, use our curiosity and intelligence to look to the stars.'.
SUN 00:00 Dancing Cheek to Cheek: An Intimate History of Dance (b04pw783)
The Devil's Work?
Len Goodman and Lucy Worsley explore how dancing went from being frowned upon as dangerous and debauched in the 17th century to being celebrated as an essential social skill in the 18th century. The pair begin by joining a group of performing arts students on Ickwell village green to learn the cushion dance, a 17th-century favourite with a rather raunchy reputation.
Len uncovers the long history of English country dancing at Middle Temple Hall, where he meets a group of young barristers trying their hand at a dance that might have been performed there by their 17th-century equivalents. Lucy reveals how the dance-mad French King Louis XIV set the fashions followed on this side of the channel as she learns a Baroque court dance designed to express her deepest emotions.
By the 18th century dancing had lost its dubious reputation and Lucy visits the York Assembly Rooms to find out how this new Georgian institution opened up the dance floor to more people than ever before. Business was now booming for dancing masters and Len studies a rare dance manual at the Bodleian Library in Oxford to discover what they taught their pupils.
The minuet was the 18th century's answer to Strictly Come Dancing as couples performed before a crowd of critical onlookers, and Len and Lucy learn this fiendishly difficult dance for a grand finale at their own Georgian ball at Syon Park. The pair dress to dance in full period costume as Lucy discovers that her 18th-century dress is ingeniously engineered to enforce the perfect posture demanded by the minuet and Len masters the art of dancing in heels and a wig.
SUN 01:00 Addicted to Sheep (b070jj99)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 today]
SUN 02:00 Horizon (b076qqxh)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
MONDAY 09 OCTOBER 2017
MON 19:00 Beyond 100 Days (b097sn5m)
Series 1
09/10/2017
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
MON 19:30 The Flying Archaeologist (b01s1llz)
Hadrian's Wall: Life on the Frontier
Archaeologist Ben Robinson flies over Hadrian's Wall to reveal a new view of its history. The first full aerial survey of Hadrian's Wall has helped uncover new evidence about the people who once lived there. Carried out over the last few years by English Heritage, it is allowing archaeologists to reinterpret the wall. Across the whole landscape hundreds of sites of human occupation have been discovered, showing that people were living here in considerable numbers. Their discoveries are suggesting that far from being a barren military landscape, the whole area was richly populated before during and after the wall was built. There is also exciting new evidence that the Romans were here earlier than previously thought.
MON 20:00 Ocean Giants (b013wpxz)
Deep Thinkers
Humans have long wondered if the universe may harbour other intelligent life forms. But perhaps we need look no further than our oceans?
Whales and dolphins, like humans, have large brains, are quick to learn new behaviours and use a wide range of sounds to communicate with others in their society. But how close are their minds to ours? In the Bahamas, Professor Denise Herzing believes she is very close to an answer, theorising that she will be able to hold a conversation with wild dolphins in their own language within five years.
In Western Australia, dolphins rely on their versatile and inventive brains to survive in a marine desert. In Alaska, humpback whales gather into alliances in which individuals pool their specialised talents to increase their hunting success. We discover how young spotted dolphins learn their individual names and the social etiquette of their pod, and how being curious about new objects leads Caribbean bottlenose dolphins to self-awareness and even to self-obsession. Finally, the film shows a remarkable group of Mexican grey whales, who seem able to empathize with humans and may even have a concept of forgiveness.
MON 21:00 Tunes for Tyrants: Music and Power with Suzy Klein (b097ts08)
Series 1
Dictatorship
Suzy Klein reaches the 1930s, when the totalitarian dictators sought to use and abuse music for ideological ends. She looks at the lives of Richard Strauss, Dmitri Shostakovich and Sergei Prokofiev, who produced some of the 20th-century's best-loved music whilst navigating the precarious tightrope of working for perhaps the most terrifying music lovers ever - Hitler and Stalin.
The political message of the classic musical fairytale Peter and the Wolf is revealed as well as the secret code hidden in Shostakovich's quartets and Strauss's deeply personal reasons for trying to please the Nazis.
Suzy also uncovers why Hitler adored Wagner but banned Mendelssohn's Wedding March, how Stalin used music to subtly infiltrate minds and why Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, a Nazi favourite, appeals to our most primitive senses.
Suzy also raises some intriguing questions: can we pin meaning onto music? What are the moral responsibilities of artists? And did the violence and tyranny of those regimes leave an indelible stain on the music they produced?
The stories are brought to life by performances from the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and its chorus - demonstrating Suzy's argument that music's incredible power to bypass our brains and reach for our hearts makes it a potent and dangerous force.
MON 22:00 The Vietnam War (b097ts0b)
Series 1
This is What We Do (July 1967-December 1967)
American casualties and enemy body counts mount as marines face deadly North Vietnamese ambushes and artillery south of the DMZ and army units chase an elusive enemy in the Central Highlands. Hanoi lays plans for a massive surprise offensive, and the Johnson administration reassures the American public that victory is in sight.
MON 22:55 The Vietnam War (b097ts0d)
Series 1
Things Fall Apart (January 1968-June 1968)
On the eve of the Tet holiday, North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces launch surprise attacks on cities and military bases throughout the South, suffering devastating losses but casting grave doubt on promises from the Johnson administration that there is 'light at the end of the tunnel.' The president decides not to run again and the country is staggered by assassinations and unrest.
MON 23:45 Timeshift (b08lvtz6)
Series 17
Blazes and Brigades: The Story of the Fire Service
Timeshift looks back on nearly two centuries of British firefighting, and explores how major incidents and the evolution of equipment from manual pumps to motorised fire engines have helped forge the modern fire service.
The founding father of modern firefighting was Scotsman James Braidwood, whose pioneering techniques helped save Westminster Hall when the Houses of Parliament were consumed by fire in 1834. Remarkably, London had no publicly funded fire service at the time - and it was only after Braidwood's death tackling a warehouse blaze nearly 30 years later that the Metropolitan Fire Brigade was created.
The fireman soon became an iconic figure of heroism in Victorian painting and popular literature - but the provision of fire brigades and the standard of their equipment varied widely across the country. Motorised fire engines were available from the beginning of the 20th century, but it took the arrival of World War Two for the fire service to be organised on a national footing. Professional and volunteer firefighters worked side by side to tackle the devastating incendiary bombs dropped on British cities by the Nazis. Doug Lightning, the last surviving firefighter of the Sheffield Blitz in December 1940, recalls his own experience of helping to save key buildings during the attack.
In the post-war years, improvements to the fire service saw the introduction of new equipment, including the state-of-the art Dennis F7 fire engine - we take one of the last surviving examples back on the road in Manchester. Firemen were also called on to help with non-fire-related disasters. Interviewee Brian Sadd recalls the exploits of his father Fred during the floods that hit the east coast of England in 1953. Fred rescued 27 people, was awarded the George Medal and became the star of a comic strip in The Eagle.
A series of tragic incidents in the 1960s raised awareness of the importance not just of tackling blazes but of fire prevention. However, Britain was unprepared for the record hot summer of 1976, when a series of fires swept through the countryside. We speak to Mary-Joy Langdon, who in volunteering to help became Britain's first female firefighter, heralding changes to what was once seen very much as a man's job.
But the service wasn't immune to the industrial unrest of the decade. 1977 saw once tight-knit teams divided by the first national firefighters' strike, the film explores the media and public reaction to this unprecedented event. With the strike resolved, technology and equipment continued to improve in the 1980s, spurred on by a series of high-profile tragedies, culminating in the King's Cross underground station fire of November 1987, in which 31 people lost their lives, including one of the first firemen on the scene.
The King's Cross disaster led to a further overhaul of fire safety regulations. Today there are more than 50 regional fire services in the UK, dealing with nearly 2,000 call-outs a day. Increasingly, fewer of these are to actual fires. Firefighters respond to a range of incidents from road traffic accidents to terrorist attacks and natural disasters, and in recognition of this, in 2004 the service was officially renamed the Fire and Rescue Service.
MON 00:45 Narnia's Lost Poet: The Secret Lives and Loves of CS Lewis (b03jrw5j)
CS Lewis's biographer AN Wilson goes in search of the man behind Narnia - best-selling children's author and famous Christian writer, but an under-appreciated Oxford academic and an aspiring poet who never achieved the same success in writing verse as he did prose.
Although his public life was spent in the all-male world of Oxford colleges, his private life was marked by secrecy and even his best friend JRR Tolkien didn't know of his marriage to an American divorcee late in life. Lewis died on the same day as the assassination of John F Kennedy and few were at his burial - his alcoholic brother was too drunk to tell people the time of the funeral. Fifty years on, his life as a writer is now being remembered alongside other national literary heroes in Westminster Abbey's Poets' Corner.
In this personal and insightful film, Wilson paints a psychological portrait of a man who experienced fame in the public arena, but whose personal life was marked by the loss of the three women he most loved.
MON 01:45 Going Going Gone: Nick Broomfield's Disappearing Britain (b07chym0)
Two iconic British buildings are threatened with demolition and the intrepid Nick Broomfield is on the case. In a pair of documentaries, Broomfield profiles the Wellington Rooms in Liverpool and the Coal Exchange in Cardiff.
The Wellington Rooms, built in 1815 by Edmund Aikin, was originally the social hub for the super-rich, slave traders, businessmen and the elite. The prime minister William Gladstone's family, themselves wealthy slave owners, invested heavily in this magnificent building with the most intricate detailing and proportions. A Wedgwood ceiling and sprung dance floor, with classical columns, create a building of love and light.
Despite the depression in Liverpool's fortunes, it's a building that has brought enormous happiness to many different people over a couple of centuries. Countless people seem to have fallen in love and met their future partners in the assembly room. Now in a rundown state of faded glory, the question is - what to do with the Wellington Rooms?
The Coal Exchange in Cardiff, built in 1883 by Edward Seward, is a magnificent celebration of the industry of coal and its immense wealth. A glass-ceilinged exchange room with galleries on three floors and a unique lowered floor are a remarkable monument to this time.
Now in serious neglect, the whole building, the size of a city block, faces demolition. It signifies the serious lack of resourcefulness on the part of Cardiff Council to celebrate and regenerate not only this building but the whole area. The once great Butetown Docks and the magnificent buildings surrounding the Coal Exchange have also been allowed to crumble and disintegrate. Rather than redevelop the docks in a way that they have been so wonderfully done in Liverpool, the docks in Cardiff have been filled in. Magnificent warehouses have been torn down, and the whole history of coal and the uniqueness of this area have been almost obliterated.
MON 02:45 Tunes for Tyrants: Music and Power with Suzy Klein (b097ts08)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
TUESDAY 10 OCTOBER 2017
TUE 19:00 Beyond 100 Days (b097sn5s)
Series 1
10/10/2017
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
TUE 19:30 Pagans and Pilgrims: Britain's Holiest Places (b01r6zdv)
Ruins
Presenter and Welsh poet Ifor ap Glyn explores the wealth of Britain's extraordinary holy places on a pilgrimage that spans almost 2,000 years of history.
Travelling across the breadth of the UK, Ifor uncovers the stories and rich history behind many of our most famous sites, explaining the myths and legends of some of Britain's most sacred places. Over six episodes, Ifor visits crumbling ruins, tranquil healing pools, sacred caves, island refuges, towering mountain hideaways and ancient shrines to find out what these historical sites tell us about who we are today. From the divine to the unexpected, the series uncovers Britain's extraordinary variety of inspirational, surprising and half-forgotten holy places and brings to life our spiritual history.
In the first episode, Ifor explores why ruins are among the best-preserved and most-loved holy sites in Britain. He visits the famous ruins of St Andrews Cathedral, the mystical atmosphere of Wales's best-preserved Roman site, the battered remains of Coventry's iconic cathedral and the Gothic majesty of North Yorkshire's Whitby Abbey - the inspiration behind Bram Stoker's Dracula. Along the way, he asks why we're drawn to holy ruins long after their religious use is over. Is it just nostalgia or something much deeper that fuels our obsession and enduring fascination with the decaying grandeur of a ruin?
TUE 20:00 The Real White Queen and Her Rivals (b0377vl5)
Episode 1
Philippa Gregory reveals the true stories of three remarkable women who lived through the treason and bloodshed of the dynastic conflict we call the Wars of the Roses. Gregory argues that it is impossible to understand this volatile and pivotal moment in English history without understanding the women at the heart of the family feuds that tore the nobility apart. They are as vital as any of the kings and nobles that conventional history concentrates upon. This was a battle between kin not countries, and the loyalties, rebellions, plots and betrayals of these women were decisive in shaping the history of England.
The White Queen is Elizabeth Woodville, a beautiful commoner who enchanted a king and became the first truly English woman to sit on the throne. Gregory recounts in extraordinary detail how Woodville saw her family murdered, her children endangered and she was labelled a witch, but survived and thrived in the midst of war and conspiracy. She carried the banner of the House of York through this turbulent era.
Gregory also brings to vivid life the rivals of White Queen. Margaret Beaufort was a stalwart of the House of Lancaster, the child bride who devoted her life to the cause of her son Henry Tudor. She conspired and schemed against anyone who would deny him his destiny. Gregory captures a woman driven by religious piety and power politics who survives terrible hardship.
Anne Neville was the privileged daughter of the most powerful noble in the land, the Earl of Warwick. As a young woman, Anne is sucked into the great power struggles of the period and sees her life transformed from one of gilded luxury into one of terrible danger. Gregory describes how Anne becomes a crucial figure in the dynastic alliances that changed the nation's history.
TUE 21:00 Concorde: A Supersonic Story (b097tvt3)
The life of the most glamorous plane ever built, told by the people whose lives she touched. We uncover rare footage telling the forgotten row between the French and British governments over the name of Concorde that threatened to derail the whole project. On the eve of the opening of Bristol's multi-million-pound aerospace museum, a cast of engineers, flight technicians and frequent fliers tell the supersonic story aided by Lord Heseltine and Dame Joan Collins - and we meet the passenger who shared an intimate moment with The Rolling Stones.
Narrated by Sophie Okonedo.
TUE 22:00 Engineering Giants (b01l1w71)
Jumbo Jet Strip-Down
Engineer turned comedian Tom Wrigglesworth and rising star of mechanical engineering Rob Bell climb on board Victor X-ray, a 200-ton, £200 million Boeing 747. This jumbo jet has flown over 36 million miles in its 14-year life with British Airways. Now it will be broken into tens of thousands of parts in the airline's maintenance hangar in Cardiff, before being painstakingly reassembled and certified fit to fly again. This is the first time this complex process has ever been filmed and it provides fascinating insights into just how a 747 works.
Rob and Tom also visit the UK's largest plane salvage centre in the Cotswolds to discover what happens to a 747 when it reaches the end of its working life, and discover how valuable parts are stripped for resale before the carcass is torn apart to be recycled.
TUE 23:00 Ian Hislop Goes off the Rails (b00drtpj)
Ian Hislop brings his customary humour, analysis and wit to the notorious Beeching Report of 1963, which led to the closure of a third of the nation's railway lines and stations and forced tens of thousands of people into the car and onto the road.
Was author Dr Richard Beeching little more than Genghis Khan with a slide rule, ruthlessly hacking away at Britain's rail network in a misguided quest for profitability, or was he the fall guy for short-sighted government policies that favoured the car over the train?
Ian also investigates the fallout of Beeching's plan, discovering what was lost to the British landscape, communities and ways of life when the railway map shrank, and recalls the halcyon days of train travel, celebrated by John Betjeman.
Ian travels from Cornwall to the Scottish borders, meeting those responsible and those affected and questioning whether such brutal measures could be justified. Knowing what we know now, with trains far more energy efficient and environmentally sound than cars, perhaps Beeching's plan was the biggest folly of the 1960s?
TUE 00:00 Black Lake (b086ll65)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Saturday]
TUE 00:40 Black Lake (b086ll67)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:40 on Saturday]
TUE 01:25 The Real White Queen and Her Rivals (b0377vl5)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 today]
TUE 02:25 Concorde: A Supersonic Story (b097tvt3)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
WEDNESDAY 11 OCTOBER 2017
WED 19:00 Beyond 100 Days (b097sn60)
Series 1
11/10/2017
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
WED 19:30 Pagans and Pilgrims: Britain's Holiest Places (b01r9s6j)
Water
Presenter and Welsh poet Ifor ap Glyn explores the wealth of Britain's extraordinary holy places on a pilgrimage that spans almost 2,000 years of history. Travelling across the breadth of the UK, Ifor uncovers the stories and rich history behind many of our most famous sites, explaining the myths and legends of some of Britain's most sacred places.
In the second episode, Ifor explores why water crops up again and again as the essential element in many of our most holy places. Why has a yearning for pure natural water always been bound up with our spiritual beliefs?
His journey takes him to our oldest mass baptismal pool which marks the place that Scottish Picts first came into the Christian fold, the site on Loch Ness where Celtic missionaries battling the forces of paganism first encountered the legendary monster, a healing well where a young woman was reputedly brought back to life by having her severed head re-attached to her body, and a 2,000-year-old holy spring that has become a major international brand.
WED 20:00 An Art Lovers' Guide (b08qkvcq)
Series 1
St Petersburg
In the final episode of their entertaining series of cultural city breaks, Dr Janina Ramirez and Alastair Sooke explore St Petersburg through its dazzling art and architecture. They want to see how art has been used to enhance prestige and power in this city, ever since it was founded by Tsar Peter the Great.
Surrounded by vast palaces, gilded domes and imposing Soviet monuments, Janina and Alastair make a flying visit to their personal selection of imperial, communist and modern-day sights. They discover a city where art has always taken centre stage, from the intoxicating beauty of the state rooms at the Winter Palace to the bejewelled confections of Faberge, and from the dark tunnels where curators guarded precious artefacts during the deadly siege of the city in the Second World War to the apartment piled high with protest art painted by the outspoken 'dissident babushka'.
WED 21:00 Britain's Lost Masterpieces (b097xrbq)
Series 2
Carmarthenshire
Carmarthenshire County Museum is a slice of history in itself. The building that houses it has been in continuous use since the 13th century. Once a bishop's palace, it was where the Bible was first translated into Welsh. But could it also be home to some mysterious cases of mistaken identity and two lost paintings from the time of Charles II?
Dr Bendor Grosvenor and Emma Dabiri travel to Carmarthenshire to investigate two intriguing portraits of a local nobleman and his wife, the Earl and Countess of Carbery, possibly painted by the great Sir Peter Lely in the 17th century.
Yet all is not as it seems - Bendor has a hunch that one of the portraits is by another hand. Could the portrait of the countess be a lost work by Mary Beale, Britain's first commercially successful female artist?
While Bendor gets to grips with the badly damaged portrait of the earl, Emma traces the story of how he survived the Civil War, how Mary Beale was written out of the history books, and discovers how the cross-dressing men of the Rebecca Riots stormed Carmarthen.
WED 22:00 The Renaissance Unchained (b0726fyv)
Silk, Sex and Sin
Waldemar Januszczak focuses on Venice and its extraordinary impact on art history. He celebrates colour, drama and vitality by looking at the delicate colours of Bellini, the mystery of Giorgione, the splendour of Titian, the drama and chaos of Tintoretto and the glorious banquets of Veronese.
WED 23:00 British Gardens in Time (b041m5bq)
Biddulph Grange
Biddulph Grange, the best-surviving Victorian garden in the country, takes the visitor on a whistlestop journey around the world from China to Egypt in a series of gardens connected by tunnels and subterranean passageways.
Biddulph was created at the height of the British Empire by James Bateman, the son of a wealthy industrialist. Bateman was fascinated by botany and the emerging technologies of the Victorian era, filling his garden with rare specimens tracked down by the Victorian plant hunters laid out to designs that purported to come from around the world but were actually inspired by the Great Exhibition and painted plates from the Potteries.
But Bateman's fascination for all things new would come into conflict with his deeply held religious beliefs, leading him into open conflict with Darwin, financial ruin and the eventual loss of his beloved garden.
WED 00:00 Caravans: A British Love Affair (b00hw3s0)
Documentary about the love affair between the British and their caravans, which saw the country establish the world's largest caravan manufacturer and transformed the holiday habits of generations of families.
In telling the intriguing story of caravanning in Britain from the 1950s through to the present day, the film reveals how caravans were once the plaything of a privileged minority, but after World War II became a firm favourite with almost a quarter of British holidaymakers.
It explores how changes in caravanning across the years reflect wider changes in British society, in particular the increased availability of cars during the 1950s and 60s, but also the improved roads network and changing attitudes towards holidaymaking and leisure time.
Enthusiasts and contributors include Dorrie van Lachterop from the West Midlands and Christine Fagg from Hertfordshire, remarkable and adventurous women who started touring alone in their caravans during the 1950s.
WED 01:00 Timeshift (b053pzmd)
Series 14
Spicing Up Britain: How Eating Out Went Exotic
Timeshift looks at how postwar Britain went from a place where eating out was more of a chore than a pleasure to a nation of food adventurers, now spending up to a third of our food budget on restaurant meals. It's the story of the British palate being slowly introduced to a range of what would then have been 'exotic' cuisines by successive generations of migrants opening eateries - first Italians, then Chinese and Indians. By encouraging us to try something new - be it spaghetti, stir fry or samosa - they spiced up not just our food but our high streets and our lives.
WED 02:00 An Art Lovers' Guide (b08qkvcq)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 today]
WED 03:00 Britain's Lost Masterpieces (b097xrbq)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
THURSDAY 12 OCTOBER 2017
THU 19:00 Beyond 100 Days (b097sn65)
Series 1
12/10/2017
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
THU 19:30 The Sky at Night (b097xp51)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:00 on Sunday]
THU 20:00 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.
THU 21:00 The 80s with Dominic Sandbrook (b07pr1b5)
World in Motion
The third and final programme charts the final years of the decade, looking at a society transformed by an accelerated change. Dominic argues that this change brought opportunities and anxieties that we continue to wrestle with to this day, from significant technological advances and the privatisation of national companies, to the deregulation of the stock market and the growing polarisation of rich and poor.
The late 80s saw Britain transformed beyond measure, from the economic 'Big Bang' in the City of London and the rise of the yuppie to more tangible, everyday signs of household change, such as the impact of Europe on British shopping habits - from German cars to French wine, Italian fashion and Scandinavian interior design. But alongside this transformation was a growing disconnection from the political elite, signified by the rise of rave culture and the poll tax riots. Margaret Thatcher - widely seen as the architect of so much of this change - would ultimately become its biggest victim.
THU 22:00 Louis Theroux (b01j84qt)
Twilight of the Porn Stars
In 1997, Louis Theroux made a documentary about the world of male porn performers in Los Angeles. Fifteen years later, he returns to find a business struggling with the deluge of free porn on the internet. Louis revisits some of the original programme's contributors as well as meeting the latest crop of performers dreaming of porn stardom.
THU 23:00 Louis Theroux (b05nyysy)
By Reason of Insanity
Part 1
Louis immerses himself in the world of Ohio's state psychiatric hospitals, meeting patients who have committed crimes - at times horrifically violent - while in the grip of severe mental illness. They have been found not guilty by reason of insanity and ordered by the courts to secure psychiatric facilities to receive the treatment that it is hoped will, one day, lead to their reintegration back into society.
In the first of two episodes, Louis spends time with patients attempting to come to terms with their crimes and the clinicians entrusted with helping to make them safe. And he investigates the difficult question - when is a patient with a serious crime in their past ready to be returned to the outside world?
THU 00:00 Louis Theroux (b05pwyl0)
By Reason of Insanity
Part 2
Louis immerses himself in the world of Ohio's state psychiatric hospitals, meeting patients who have committed crimes - at times horrifically violent - while in the grip of severe mental illness. They have been found not guilty by reason of insanity and ordered by the courts to secure psychiatric facilities to receive the treatment that it is hoped will, one day, lead to their reintegration back into society.
In the second episode of this two-part series, Louis spends time with patients whose personalities are so intertwined with their illness that it makes them more difficult to treat. In doing so, he examines the grey area between criminal actions and medical symptoms, and investigates how we define insanity.
THU 01:00 Storyville (b050r0bc)
The Arabian Motorcycle Adventures
Documentary which tells the remarkable story of Matt Van Dyke, a timid 26-year-old with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, who left home in Baltimore in 2006 and set off on a self-described 'crash course in manhood'. He bought a motorcycle and a video camera and began a multi-year, 35,000-mile motorcycle trip through northern Africa and the Middle East.
While travelling, he struck up an unlikely friendship with a Libyan hippie, and when revolution broke out in Libya, Matt joined his friend in the fight against dictator Muammar Gaddafi. With a gun in one hand and a camera in the other, Matt fought in - and filmed - the war until he was captured by Gaddafi forces and held in solitary confinement for six months.
Two-time Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker Marshall Curry tells this harrowing and sometimes humorous story of a young man's search for political revolution and personal transformation.
THU 02:20 Hidden Killers (b07chyly)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 today]
FRIDAY 13 OCTOBER 2017
FRI 19:00 World News Today (b097sn6b)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
FRI 19:30 Top of the Pops (b097xsnw)
Steve Wright and Andy Peebles present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 20 September 1984. Featuring Bronski Beat, David Bowie, Sister Sledge, Queen, Nik Kershaw, Adam Ant, Level 42 and Stevie Wonder.
FRI 20:10 The Good Old Days (b097xsp4)
Leonard Sachs presents the old-time music hall programme from the stage of the City Varieties Theatre, Leeds - first broadcast on 29 March 1979. Featuring Ken Dodd, Valerie Masterson, The King's Singers, Doreen Hermitage, Bill Drysdale and Chrissie Cartwright.
FRI 20:55 Pop Go the Sixties (b008bxxt)
Series 1
The Move
A colourful nugget of pop mined from the BBC's archive, featuring Birmingham's The Move.
FRI 21:00 Nile Rodgers: How to Make It in the Music Business (b097xsp9)
Series 1
Episode 2
Nile Rodgers reveals how he became the go-to producer of the 80s, creating signature sounds for some of the world's biggest stars: Diana Ross, Carly Simon, David Bowie, Madonna and Duran Duran.
The first artist Nile worked with was Diana Ross. The album they created, Diana, became the biggest-selling studio album of her career and spawned three international hit singles. In the film, Nile explains how they came up with the songs.
Nile and Carly Simon reveal the working process that led to the song Why, which flopped in America. Nile explains why and is candid about what you do when failure comes knocking.
When Nile met David Bowie, neither could have known how much it would change both their lives. After a number of critically received albums, Bowie was looking to do something different and asked Nile for an album of hits - and that is what Nile gave him; Let's Dance became Bowie's biggest-selling album. In an intimate mini-masterclass, Nile explains how the song Let's Dance developed from Bowie's initial idea into a global hit.
The album Nile produced for Madonna was Like a Virgin. We learn about how his deal was structured with her record company, and how this gave Nile one of the biggest paydays of his career.
Duran Duran's third album contained a song they felt hadn't realised its full potential - The Reflex. Nile used a recently bought Synclavier and gave the song and the band an entirely new sound. Nile and Nick Rhodes explain how the record was made.
FRI 22:00 Sharon Osbourne Presents Rock 'n' Roll's Dodgiest Deals (b08rc78x)
Sharon Osbourne presents the story of pop deals through the decades. From Little Richard's half a cent a record to Robbie Williams's £80m deal via notorious bad deals for The Beatles, The Small Faces, The Animals and NWA and great deals for Led Zeppelin, The Police and Moby, Sharon gets the inside story from those still chasing royalties and those who took on the music biz and won.
With The Small Faces, Eric Burdon, The Police, Moby, NWA, Charles Connor (Little Richard's drummer), Art Rupe (aged 99, who signed Little Richard), Pamela Des Barres, Tim Clark (Robbie Williams's manager).
FRI 23:00 Top of the Pops (b087lmbg)
1983 - Big Hits
Compilation of some of the biggest hits of 1983 to sit alongside 'The Story of...' documentary that explores the evolution of this great pop institution in that golden year.
Performances celebrate soul, reggae, jazz, new wave and pop. And the big hits are delivered by Wham!, KC and the Sunshine Band, The Police, Culture Club, Siouxsie and The Banshees, UB40, Duran Duran, The Beat and Bananarama amongst others. Big ballads are performed by Elton John and Bonnie Tyler, while Malcolm McLaren's Double Dutch completes the very best of '83, golden hits from 34 years ago.
FRI 00:00 The Story of Funk: One Nation Under a Groove (b04t6nm5)
In the 1970s, America was one nation under a groove as an irresistible new style of music took hold of the country - funk. The music burst out of the black community at a time of self-discovery, struggle and social change. Funk reflected all of that. It has produced some of the most famous, eccentric and best-loved acts in the world - James Brown, Sly & the Family Stone, George Clinton's Funkadelic and Parliament, Kool & the Gang and Earth, Wind & Fire.
During the 1970s this fun, futuristic and freaky music changed the streets of America with its outrageous fashion, space-age vision and streetwise slang. But more than that, funk was a celebration of being black, providing a platform for a new philosophy, belief system and lifestyle that was able to unite young black Americans into taking pride in who they were.
Today, like blues and jazz, it is looked on as one of the great American musical cultures, its rhythms and hooks reverberating throughout popular music. Without it hip-hop wouldn't have happened. Dance music would have no groove. This documentary tells that story, exploring the music and artists who created a positive soundtrack at a negative time for African-Americans.
Includes interviews with George Clinton, Sly & the Family Stone, Earth, Wind & Fire, Kool & the Gang, War, Cameo, Ray Parker Jnr and trombonist Fred Wesley.
FRI 01:00 Top of the Pops (b097xsnw)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:30 today]
FRI 01:40 Nile Rodgers: How to Make It in the Music Business (b097xsp9)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
FRI 02:40 Sharon Osbourne Presents Rock 'n' Roll's Dodgiest Deals (b08rc78x)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:00 today]