Dr Jago Cooper explores the rise and fall of the forgotten civilisations of Central America.
His quest takes him 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.
Jago begins by journeying through southern Mexico to investigate the rise and fall of America's oldest civilisation, the Olmec, which thrived over 3,000 years ago. He encounters colossal stone heads and the oldest rubber balls in the world and descends deep inside an ancient cave network in search of a were-jaguar.
Two-part documentary in which archaeologist Dr Jago Cooper explores the extraordinary and resilient culture of the American north west, revealing one the most inspiring stories in human history.
1,400 miles of rugged, windswept and rocky coastline in what is now the Alaskan panhandle, British Columbia and Washington state have been home to hundreds of distinct communities for over 10,000 years. Theirs is the longest continuing culture to be found anywhere in the Americas. They mastered a tough environment to create unique and complex communities that have redefined how human societies develop. They produced art infused with meaning that ranks alongside any other major civilisation on earth. And they were very nearly wiped out - by foreign disease, oppression and theft of their lands. But a deep connection to the environment lies at the heart of their endurance, and - unlike many indigenous cultures annihilated following European contact - their culture sustains and has much to offer the rest of the world today.
In the second episode, Jago reveals how a cultural tradition that began over 10,000 years ago managed to survive against the odds. Following European contact, the indigenous peoples of what is now south east Alaska, British Columbia and Washington state suffered disease, theft of their land and oppression. But Jago argues that northwest coast culture has an extraordinary resilience. Its connection to the land has been developed over thousands of years, which meant that it was able to adapt and transform when faced with threats and disruption. These qualities make it one of the longest continuous cultures in the Americas.
In Copenhagen an underground train judders to a halt and masked men take 15 passengers hostage. Philip Norgaard of the Counter-Terrorism Task Force heads a hastily convened team to lead the rescue effort. Philip is an ex-serviceman who has had his own experience of hostage taking, but his first challenge is to determine who are these men, and what they want.
Naja Toft is receiving commiseratory social media messages on having been fired, when she gets another call from Alpha asking for another interview - but this time on her blog. The intelligence team work through the mobile phones left on the train to garner as much information as possible about the hostages. Adel is striking up a friendship with co-hostage Denise who attempts to persuade him to curb his hostile acts towards their captors as it is putting everyone's lives in danger.
Biography of iconic rock balladeer Roy Orbison told through his own voice, casting new light on the triumphs and tragedies that beset his career. Using previously unseen performances, home movies and interviews with many who have never spoken before, the film reveals Orbison's remote Texas childhood, his battles to get his voice heard, and how he created lasting hits like Only the Lonely and Crying.
The film follows Roy's rollercoaster life, often reflected in the dark lyrics of his songs, from success to rejection to rediscovery in the 80s with The Traveling Wilburys supergroup. It uncovers the man behind the shades, including interviews with his sons, many close friends and collaborators like Jeff Lynne, T Bone Burnett, Bobby Goldsboro and Marianne Faithfull.
This extraordinary documentary brings to life the paradox of Janis Joplin - both insecure and brazen - with interviews from old band members, unseen audio and video, plus readings from Janis's letters home to her parents. It offers new understanding of a bright, complex woman whose surprising rise and sudden demise changed music forever.
Janis Joplin is one of the most revered singers of all time. She thrilled millions of listeners with her powerful, soulful voice and blazed new creative trails before her death in 1971 at the age of 27. The film includes some of her most iconic performances which embodied the musical and cultural revolution of the 1960s.
Yet her onstage bravado and uninhibited sexual persona hid hurt and insecurity stemming from her childhood in conservative Texas. On relocating to San Francisco and discovering the blues, Janis found an outlet for her loneliness and fell into a community that would embrace and celebrate her talent.
Tom Service takes a cinematic journey through Russia on the trail of the wondrous yet melancholic melodies of Russian giant Sergei Rachmaninoff. A celebration of a composer's musical triumph over critical adversity and Soviet terror, with performances and contributions from Vladimir Ashkenazy, Denis Matsuev, Steven Isserlis, Stephen Hough, Vladimir Jurowski, Lucy Parham and James Rhodes.
SUNDAY 11 MARCH 2018
SUN 19:00 Only Connect (b09vg8x1)
Series 13
Wanderers v Eco-Warriors
Victoria Coren Mitchell hosts the series where knowledge will only take you so far. Patience and lateral thinking are also vital.
Two teams of round three losers return for a last chance to stay in the competition. They compete to find the connections between things which, at first glance, seem utterly random. So join Victoria Coren Mitchell if you want to know what connects Snuppy, Mewtwo, Boba Fett and Dolly.
SUN 19:30 University Challenge (b09vg8x5)
2017/18
Episode 30
In another quarter-final match two teams of students aim to reach the next stage of the quiz. Jeremy Paxman asks the questions.
SUN 20:00 Ancient Greece: The Greatest Show on Earth (b039fpnk)
Democrats
Classicist Dr Michael Scott journeys to Athens to explore how drama first began. He discovers that from the very start it was about more than just entertainment - it was a reaction to real events, it was a driving force in history and it was deeply connected to Athenian democracy. In fact, the story of theatre is the story of Athens.
SUN 21:00 MICHAEL JACKSON's Journey from Motown to Off the Wall (b0756f67)
A look at a chapter of his career that is rarely covered, MICHAEL JACKSON's Journey from Motown to Off the Wall chronicles the star's rise to fame through to the release of his seminal album Off the Wall.
Viewers travel with Michael as he gets his start at Motown, strikes a new path with CBS Records and forges a relationship with legendary record producer Quincy Jones.
Director Spike Lee assembles a wealth of archival footage, including material from Michael's personal collection, plus interviews with contemporary talents and family members to create an insightful portrait of how an earnest, passionate, hard-working boy would become the 'King of Pop'.
SUN 22:30 ... Sings Motown (b05nyyv5)
Archive compilation celebrating the incredible body of work by Detroit's finest songwriting teams and artists for perhaps America's greatest ever record label, Motown.
This compilation of Motown covers spans the 1960s to the present day and features: Paul Weller and Amy Winehouse with I Heard It Through the Grapevine on Jools's Hootenanny, Roberta Flack's version of Stevie Wonder's Never Dreamed You'd Leave in Summer from an early edition of the OGWT, early adopter Dusty Springfield with Nowhere to Run on her 60s BBC TV show and The Flying Lizards with Barrett Strong's Money (That's What I Want) from Top of the Pops in 1979.
Of course, there are quite a few 80s hit covers from the decade that rediscovered Motown as a hitmaking machine, many of them from Top of the Pops including Kim Wilde's You Keep Me Hangin' On and Paul Young's 1983 Number 1 with Marvin Gaye's 1962 B-side, Wherever I Lay My Hat.
Then it's on into the 90s with Mercy Mercy Me from the late lamented Robert Palmer and Mariah Carey's take on The Jackson Five's I'll Be There. Plus of course, Phil Collins but, rightly or wrongly, not with You Can't Hurry Love but with his 21st-century reading of Stevie Wonder's Blame It on the Sun from Later with Jools.
SUN 23:30 I'm Not In Love: The Story of 10cc (b06r14pr)
In celebration of the 40th anniversary of smash hit I'm Not in Love, the original members of 10cc - Graham Gouldman, Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley and Lol Creme - reunite to tell their story. The documentary shares the secrets to some of their most successful records, from the writing and the recording to the tours and the tensions.
With contributions from an impressive array of music industry legends including 10cc's band manager Harvey Lisberg, lyricist Sir Tim Rice, broadcaster Paul Gambaccini, legendary producer Trevor Horn, Stewart Copeland (The Police), Graham Nash (The Hollies) and Dan Gillespie Sells (The Feeling), not only does this film highlight the diversity of these four brilliant musicians' songwriting talent, but it also delves into the influence they had, as well as the politics beneath their acrimonious split in 1976, at the height of their fame.
SUN 00:30 Art of France (b08f1bw0)
Series 1
This Is the Modern World
In the final episode, Andrew begins with the impressionists. He plunges into one of the most wildly creative periods in the history of art, when France was changing at a rapid pace and angry young artists would reinvent how to paint, finding their muses in the bars, brothels and cabarets of belle epoque Paris and turning the world of art on its head. Monet, Degas and friends launched a febrile conversation about the role of painting in the modern world that would pave the way for just about every modern art movement of note, from the cubists to the Fauves, from the surrealists to the existentialists and from conceptual artists to the abstract expressionists.
SUN 01:30 Smile! The Nation's Family Album (b08j8jj3)
In today's digital age, the classic family photo album has become an object of nostalgic affection. But it's much more than just a collection of sentimental snapshots.
Celebrating everyday moments and shared experiences, family photography offers an intimate portrait of Britain's postwar social history. And each generation had a different camera to tell their story.
Discovering how new technologies and evolving social attitudes inspired the nation to pick up a camera, the film charts a journey from the Box Brownie to Instagram, offering a touching portrait of our changing lives, taken not by the professional photographer but on our own cameras.
With increasingly affordable, quick-to-load and easy-to-use cameras, domestic photography became part of family life in the 20th century.
Suddenly we could all now document our family's celebrations, holidays and hobbies, and capture the most fleeting and precious memories, from birth to death.
We became a nation obsessed with taking photos, and tirelessly curating scrapbooks, and filling shoeboxes and albums with pictures that tell our family's own story.
But with the advent of digital cameras, the era of patiently waiting for the holiday snaps to come back from the processor and carefully arranging them in photo albums feels a long way from today's frenzy of digital images, instantly shared and uploaded...
The film features expert voices explaining the impact of different camera technologies, the role of Kodak in helping create an industry of popular photography, the impact of the digital revolution and the way changes in family photography have also reflected shifts in the family dynamic itself. It's no longer just dad in control of the camera, and mobile phones and social media have turned kids into photographers from a young age...
Among the stories featured in the film...
Using her father's Box Brownie as a young girl, then armed with the latest Kodak instamatic in her teens, and now using a digital SLR, Jenny Bowden's photos capture the past 60 years, from the 1950s street parades to the 60s mods, the 70s fashions when she married and started her own family, the various birthdays, graduations and weddings and deaths, and in the past decade the arrival of her own grandchildren, her albums span across her house. Today when her grandchildren visit, they head straight to the shelves as they love to flick through the albums and see themselves as babies.
Besotted and first-time mum Astrid has taken thousands of photos on her iPhone of her son Alexander since his birth eight months ago. Unlike her own mother Terry, whose photos of Astrid as a baby were considered and less frequent due to the costs of 35mm film, Astrid has the luxury of snapping away all day, taking advantage of the ease and low costs of the digital age, as she records her and Alexander's first year together. Proud Astrid spreads the happiness Alexander brings with Terry and other family via WhatsApp and Instagram.
We meet the English eccentric John Dobson, who has 161 carefully annotated scrapbooks - and counting! His careful curating of happy family memories helped him overcome his own childhood spent in a children's home.
We also meet the devoted Yorkshire dad Ian Macleod, who took a photo of his son every single day until his 21st birthday, and the Slight family in Essex, whose larger-than-life characters grew up in a pub and captured an East End way of life that no longer exists.
And we discover the emotional impact of family photos, with a family movingly sharing the very last film taken on a father's camera before he died.
From the extraordinary to the mundane, family photos capture the intimate moments of our lives. Often overlooked in the official story of photography, this film champions the family photo and the unique portrait it reveals of how the nation tells its own story.
SUN 02:30 ... Sings Motown (b05nyyv5)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:30 today]
SUN 03:30 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.
MONDAY 12 MARCH 2018
MON 19:00 Beyond 100 Days (b09vl510)
Series 1
12/03/2018
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
MON 19:30 Great Irish Journeys with Martha Kearney (b054c5gv)
Episode 1
Martha Kearney walks in the footsteps of a 19th-century artist and geologist who spent his life charting the landscape, people and buildings of Ireland. She retraces the journey of George Victor Du Noyer, whose 35-year odyssey left a unique record of how Ireland looked during a period of great change.
In this first episode, Martha introduces us to Du Noyer's work. She enjoys his impressions of Glendalough - a place close to the hearts of her own parents. She gets wet at the Bog of Allen. And she marvels at the majesty of the Old Head of Kinsale.
MON 20:00 Treasures of the Indus (p02qvb6j)
Pakistan Unveiled
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.
MON 21:00 Art of Spain (b008vsgz)
The Moorish South
Critic and art historian Andrew Graham-Dixon travels from southern to northern Spain to tell the story of some of Europe's most exciting and vital art. For 700 years, most of Spain was an Islamic state, and the south was its beating heart. Under the Moors, Spain became the most advanced, wealthy and populous country in Europe. Andrew travels to Cordoba, Seville and Granada, visiting beautiful Moorish palaces and mosques, telling the story of one of the most colourful and sophisticated cultures to ever appear in Europe.
MON 22:00 Caligula with Mary Beard (b037w0qh)
Two thousand years ago one of history's most notorious individuals was born. Professor Mary Beard embarks on an investigative journey to explore the life and times of Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus - better known to us as Caligula.
Caligula has now become known as Rome's most capricious tyrant, and the stories told about him are some of the most extraordinary told about any Roman emperor. He was said to have made his horse a consul, proclaimed himself a living God, and indulged in scandalous orgies - even with his own three sisters - and that's before you mention building vast bridges across land and sea, prostituting senators' wives and killing half the Roman elite seemingly on a whim. All that in just four short years in power before a violent and speedy assassination in a back alley of his own palace at just 29 years old.
But how much of his story is true? Travelling across the Roman world - from Germany and Capri in the bay of Naples to the astonishing luxury of his life in imperial Rome - Mary attempts to peel away the myths. Some stories are difficult to get to the bottom of as they were written by hacks long after his death, but there is plenty of surviving evidence where the 'real' Caligula can be glimpsed. Such as in the extraordinary luxury of his private yachts outside Rome; in the designs he chose for his coins when he became emperor; in an eye-witness account of Caligula's withering humour written in 41AD; in the trial documents covering the mysterious death of his father when he was just seven; and even in a record of his imperial slaves - from the palace spy to his personal trainer.
Piecing together the evidence, Mary puts Caligula back into the context of his times to reveal an astonishing story of murder, intrigue and dynastic family power. Above all, she explains why Caligula has ended up with such a seemingly unredeemable reputation. In the process, she reveals a more intriguing portrait of not just the monster, but the man.
MON 23:00 Mothers, Murderers and Mistresses: Empresses of Ancient Rome (b022bbkr)
Episode 2
Professor Catharine Edwards explores the dramatic lives of two women at the heart of power in 1st-century imperial Rome. One is Messalina, whose scandalous reputation lives on 2,000 years after her bloody and dramatic death. The other is Agrippina - sister of Caligula, wife of Claudius and mother of Nero - an extraordinary woman who was not only a skilled and ambitious politician but also a murderer and ultimately a murder victim.
MON 00:00 On Camera: Photographers at the BBC (b08jgr3w)
Drawing on the BBC's rich archive, this documentary reveals the working practices, lives and opinions of some of the greatest photographers since the 1950s. From Norman Parkinson to David Bailey, Eve Arnold to Jane Bown, Henri Cartier-Bresson to Martin Parr, for decades the BBC has drawn our attention to the creators of what has become the most ubiquitous, contemporary art form.
Pioneering BBC programmes like Arena, Monitor and Omnibus have given unique insights into the careers of photography's leading practitioners. Through a selection of fascinating clips, this programme brings into focus the key genres - fashion, portraiture, documentary and landscape - and the characters behind the camera who have helped define them.
MON 01:00 Top of the Pops (b08202lx)
Mike Read presents the weekly pop chart show, first broadcast on 29 July 1982. Includes appearances from Dexys Midnight Runners, Hot Chocolate, The Firm, David Essex, Yazoo, Paul McCartney, Irene Cara and Cliff Richard. Also includes a dance performance from Zoo.
MON 01:30 Top of the Pops (b0824cw5)
David Jensen presents the weekly pop chart show, first broadcast on 5 August 1982. Includes appearances by Madness, Junior, Brat, Belle Stars, Kid Creole & the Coconuts, Bad Manners, The Stranglers, Dexys Midnight Runners and Donna Summer, and a dance performance by Zoo.
MON 02:00 Fabric of Britain (b03c2766)
The Wonder of Embroidery
The Reformation in England witnessed the destruction of the most brilliant art of the medieval age. Church paintings and stained glass - even sculpture - were destroyed throughout England in the name of religion. And yet one art survived against the odds - the art of medieval embroidery.
Portable and easily squirrelled away, English embroidery was spirited out of the country in the 16th century and many brilliant examples survive today - if slightly unappreciated and forgotten in Italian churches and museums, even the Vatican. And yet it is an art form that rivalled the very finest in medieval painting or stained glass and for 200 years was the finest embroidery in the western world. Known simply as Opus Anglicanum (English work), the work of English embroiders was desired by kings and popes throughout Christendom.
Dan Jones, Plantagenet expert and medievalist, goes in search of these fragile yet stunning survivors from the great age of embroidery - encountering a world of finery, bejewelled luxury and sacred beauty on an undreamt-of scale.
MON 03:00 Secret Knowledge (b05z5hc0)
Thomas Chatterton: The Myth of the Doomed Poet
Poet Michael Symmons Roberts explores the mythic afterlife of the 18th-century poet Thomas Chatterton. With access to rare documents and artefacts, and featuring a surprising interview with Queen guitarist Brian May, Michael explains how Chatterton's tragic early death in his London garret aged just 17 was immortalised by a succession of poets and painters and photographers - most notably by the pre-Raphaelite Henry Wallis in his masterpiece known as The Death of Chatterton - and how these successive images of the young Chatterton have saddled poets ever since with the notion of the doomed young artist suffering and ultimately dying in service to the muse.
MON 03:30 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.
TUESDAY 13 MARCH 2018
TUE 19:00 Beyond 100 Days (b09vl515)
Series 1
13/03/2018
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
TUE 19:30 Great Irish Journeys with Martha Kearney (b05n8tlg)
Episode 2
Martha Kearney walks in the footsteps of a 19th-century artist and geologist who spent his life charting the landscape, people and buildings of Ireland. She retraces the journey of George Victor Du Noyer, whose 35-year odyssey left a unique record of how Ireland looked during a period of great change.
In this episode, Martha travels north, taking in the extraordinary beauty of Dunluce Castle, and onwards to Mussenden Temple - only a romantic would expect to find a house here and only a lunatic would build it. She marvels at how Belfast was shaped by the Victorians, and visits Kearney Point on the Ards Peninsula to find out what's in a name. And she journeys south to Dunmoe, overlooking the site of the Battle of the Boyne.
TUE 20:00 Immortal Egypt with Joann Fletcher (b06wj4bw)
Chaos
In the second episode, Joann explores how the Pyramid Age ended in catastrophe. In one of Saqqara's last pyramid complexes, Joann uncovers evidence of famine as the young Egyptian state suffered a worsening climate and political upheaval. With depleted coffers, Egypt was plunged into the dark ages and civil war. With the land fractured into many small states, Joann tells the story of small-town leaders rising through the ranks.
In a little-known tomb in Thebes, Joann uncovers stories of warriors who fought in the bloody battle which eventually would mark the reunification of Egypt. This burial represents the world's first recorded war cemetery and the rise of Thebes. The country was reborn, resuming grand building projects for Egypt's mighty kings and bejewelled queens.
Joann reveals how settlers known as the Hyksos tried to infiltrate the government and take the throne. But their rule was short-lived as they were ousted by southern rulers who laid the groundwork for Egypt's largest empire.
TUE 21:00 The Ruth Ellis Files: A Very British Crime Story (b09vpgr7)
Series 1
Episode 1
In April 1955 Ruth Ellis shot her lover David Blakely dead. It's a case that shocked the nation and it still fascinates today. It has its place in ushering in the defence of diminished responsibility and the eventual abolishment of capital punishment. We all think we know the story, but why, when it was seemingly such an open-and-shut case, does it still divide opinion on whether Ruth Ellis got the justice she deserved? Film-maker Gillian Pachter wants to find out. The result is a fresh investigation with fascinating true-crime twists and turns that also shines a unique light on attitudes to class, gender and sex in 1950s London.
In this first episode Gillian takes a forensic look at the police investigation launched just after Ruth's arrest. Gillian is all too aware of the femme fatale persona that has stuck with Ruth since 1955. She wants to build Ruth Ellis back up from the evidence, and this means looking carefully at the police documentation from the time. Gillian begins with Ruth's first statement where she confesses to the crime but intriguingly states that she's 'confused'.
As Gillian follows the course of the investigation, she uncovers some worrying assumptions, problematic omissions and missed opportunities. There's a key witness who was never questioned by the police - Ruth's 10-year old son Andre, who tragically took his own life in the 1980s. He left behind an audio cassette that features a recorded conversation where Andre shares his thoughts on his mother's case. Gillian uses this to piece together what the boy knew. Then there's the murder weapon - one of thousands of guns that flooded Britain during the war. Gillian traces its provenance and it leads her to a shocking conclusion.
Experts in policing shed new light on the involvement of a possible accomplice and Gillian tracks down those who met Ruth and David. A picture begins to build of their relationship and lifestyle and it's a unique snapshot of the complex world of post-war Britain that made and then broke Ruth Ellis.
TUE 22:00 The Prosecutors (b071gvs3)
Real Crime and Punishment
The Charge
The Crown Prosecution Service is often under scrutiny for its decision-making. Now for the first time the CPS has allowed cameras in. Filmed over 18 months with prosecutors in Merseyside, Cheshire and the South East, including the director of public prosecutions, Alison Saunders, this groundbreaking series goes behind the scenes to reveal how our criminal justice system really works and what it takes to secure a conviction. Each episode focuses on a different part of the process, following prosecutions and those involved in the case from start to finish.
In the first episode the prosecutors must decide how to charge a driver after a child is killed in a collision, with no evidence that he was drunk or speeding or on his phone. Nicky, the mother of the child killed, cannot understand why the driver is not admitting his guilt since his car was on her side of the road. Her reaction as the prosecution develops is unexpected and humbling.
In every serious criminal case, the CPS must decide who to charge and what to charge them with. These crucial decisions lie at the heart of our criminal justice system. A charge must not be unfair to the defendant, but must reflect the gravity of the offence for the victim. If at the end of the process someone is convicted of an offence, the judge sentences within guidelines set according to the charge made by the CPS.
After a series of attacks on banks where an organised criminal gang has been blowing up cash machines to steal money, the prosecutors face the challenge of selecting the right charge for a new type of crime. A more conventional bank robbery might be charged as 'burglary commercial premises', but that only carries a ten-year maximum term of imprisonment and the prosecutors feel it does not reflect how the gang is endangering the public.
At a scrutiny panel with the director of public prosecutions, community members challenge a CPS charging decision in a hate crime where a man had posted abusive messages on an extremist website. He was arrested under Section 19 of the Public Order Act, but the CPS charged him with a lesser offence of displaying threatening, abusive or insulting writing, provoking criticism from the panel.
TUE 23:00 A War (b06xp9bt)
On tour in Afghanistan, making regular sorties from Camp Bastien, the commander of a Danish unit has to keep up the morale and effectiveness of his men in the face of local opposition and attacks from Taliban fighters. When his squad is pinned down by fire one day, the repercussions of a single decision he makes will live with him forever.
In Danish with English subtitles.
TUE 00:45 Top of the Pops (b0824dd3)
John Peel presents the weekly chart show, first broadcast on 12 August 1982. Includes Toto Coelo, Yazoo, The Associates, Haysi Fantayzee, Wavelength, Fun Boy Three, Sheena Easton, Boys Town Gang and The Firm, and a dance performance by Zoo.
TUE 01:25 Top of the Pops (b082wd74)
David Jensen presents the weekly chart show, first broadcast on 19 August 1982. Includes appearances from Modern Romance, Haircut 100, Captain Sensible, Kids from Fame, Soft Cell, Dexys Midnight Runners, Survivor, Talk Talk and Duran Duran.
TUE 02:00 The High Art of the Low Countries (b01rsfgd)
Dream of Plenty
Andrew Graham-Dixon shows how the art of Renaissance Flanders evolved from the craft of precious tapestries within the Duchy of Burgundy into a leading painting school in its own right. Starting his journey at the magnificent altarpiece of Ghent Cathedral created by the Van Eyck brothers, Andrew explains their groundbreaking innovation in oil painting and marvels at how the colours they obtained can still remain so vibrant today.
Andrew describes how, in the early Renaissance, the most urgent preoccupation was not the advancement of learning, humanist or otherwise, but the Last Judgment. People believed they were living in the end of days; a subject popular with preachers and artists and intensely realised in swarming microscopic detail by Hieronymus Bosch.
TUE 02:55 Art of Spain (b008vsgz)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Monday]
WEDNESDAY 14 MARCH 2018
WED 19:00 Beyond 100 Days (b09vl51b)
Series 1
14/03/2018
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
WED 19:30 Great Irish Journeys with Martha Kearney (b05nyhq4)
Episode 3
Martha Kearney walks in the footsteps of a 19th-century artist and geologist who spent his life charting the landscape, people and buildings of Ireland. She retraces the journey of George Victor Du Noyer whose 35-year odyssey left a unique record of how Ireland looked during a period of great change.
In this episode, Martha examines places of power in Ireland as seen through Du Noyer's eyes. She traces the movement of power from Newgrange, through the Rock of Cashel, sees the magnificent Waterford Charter Roll, and ends up at the sumptuous Castletown House.
WED 20:00 The Secret History of Our Streets (b04d9k8w)
Series 2
The Fittie Squares, Aberdeen
BBC Two's multi-award-winning Secret History of Our Streets told the story of six London streets, from Victorian times to the present day.
Now, as its people stand at a crossroads in their history, the series travels to Scotland to tell the stories of three archetypal streets in Scotland's three great cities: Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen.
Endlessly surprising and not at all what you would expect, the stories of these streets are the story of a nation.
At the mouth of Aberdeen Harbour lie the Fittie Squares, a model housing scheme built for fishermen and their families in 1809.
Tethered to the sea and cut off from the city, the squares developed their own culture. They were a traditional fishing community, untroubled for 150 years, until the day that oil was discovered just a few miles out to sea.
WED 21:00 The Ruth Ellis Files: A Very British Crime Story (b09w3m05)
Series 1
Episode 2
In April 1955 Ruth Ellis shot her lover David Blakely dead. It's a case that shocked the nation and it still fascinates today. It has its place in ushering in the defence of diminished responsibility and the eventual abolishment of capital punishment. We all think we know the story, but why, when it was seemingly such an open and shut case, does it still divide opinion on whether Ruth Ellis got the justice she deserved?
Film-maker Gillian Pachter wants to find out. The result is a fresh investigation with fascinating true-crime twists and turns that also shines a unique light on attitudes to class, gender and sex in 1950s London.
In episode two Gillian turns her attention to Ruth's trial which took just a day and a half. She starts with a tape-recorded conversation from the 1980s between Ruth's son Andre and the barrister who led the prosecution. Andre expresses doubts about his mother's trial, calling into question her state of mind and whether she was a cold-blooded killer.
Gillian is interested to know whether the defence shared these concerns and she turns her attention to Ruth's solicitor. There are immediate and compelling questions about how he was hired, by whom and why. Ultimately it seems he was determined that the jury should look beyond the tabloid stereotype of Ruth to understand her troubled background - that way, they'd be inclined to recommend mercy and save Ruth from execution. But Ruth and her barrister had other ideas - while she refused to play ball he pursued a defence strategy so risky that the judge was forced to put his foot down.
There's the ongoing question of Ruth's alleged accomplice and how much Ruth's defence team knew of his involvement and continuing revelations from the forgotten witness, Ruth's son Andre. Gillian draws on expert opinion from top legal minds who know the case intimately, and they paint a portrait of a woman trapped not only by the constraints of 1950s society but by the narrow parameters of English law.
WED 22:00 Timeshift (b0105r8x)
Series 10
Crime and Punishment - The Story of Capital Punishment
Timeshift digs into the archive to trace the extraordinary story of the ultimate sanction. At the beginning of the 19th century you could still be hanged in Britain for offences such as stealing a sheep or shooting a rabbit. Even children as young as seven were sent to the gallows. The last hanging in this country took place as recently as 1964.
By opting for a dispassionate history rather than staging the usual polarised debate, the programme breaks new ground with its fascinating attention to detail, such as the protocols of the public execution or the 'science' of hanging. With contributions from both sides of the argument, it provides an essential guide to a subject that still divides us.
WED 23:00 Blues America (p01kc7bh)
Woke up This Morning
Blues is usually described as the sound of racial suffering and feeling sad, but this documentary argues that the blues began as a form of black pop music. First appearing in the southern states of the USA around 1900, blues created by the poorest people in the richest nation on earth took America by storm. The film looks at the early years of the blues to discover how Bessie Smith, Blind Lemon Jefferson and Charlie Patton used the latest media to bring their music to the public. With contributions from Keith Richards, Taj Mahal and Chuck D.
WED 00:00 Island at the BBC (b00kvd3b)
Compilation of performances from the BBC archives of top Island Records artists, including Cat Stevens's Father and Son, Roxy Music's Do the Strand and Stir It Up by Bob Marley and The Wailers, plus tracks from Steel Pulse, U2, PJ Harvey, Baaba Maal and Amy Winehouse.
WED 01:00 Top of the Pops (b083hsd2)
Peter Powell presents the weekly chart show, first broadcast on 9 September 1982. Includes Evelyn King, Gillan, Dire Straits, Survivor, David Christie and Shakin' Stevens. Also includes a dance performance from Zoo.
WED 01:35 Top of the Pops (b083xvgg)
Simon Bates presents the weekly chart show, first broadcast on 16 September 1982. Includes appearances from Mari Wilson, Simple Minds, Shakatak, The Jam, Adam Ant and Survivor. Also includes a dance performance from Zoo.
WED 02:15 The High Art of the Low Countries (b01rtf47)
Boom and Bust
Andrew Graham-Dixon looks at how the seemingly peaceful countries of Holland and Belgium - famous for their tulips and windmills, mussels and chips - were in fact forged in a crucible of conflict and division. He examines how a period of economic boom driven for the first time by a burgeoning and secular middle class led to the Dutch golden age of the 17th century, creating not only the concept of oil painting itself, but the master painters Rembrandt and Vermeer combining art and commerce together as we would recognise it today.
WED 03:15 The Secret Life of Books (b06n9khy)
Series 2
Confessions of an English Opium Eater
Performance poet John Cooper Clarke explores Thomas de Quincey's autobiographical classic Confessions of an English Opium Eater, and discovers how his fellow Mancunian's addiction memoir avoids the cliches of modern 'misery-lit' in favour of something much more unsentimental and psychologically complex.
WED 03:45 Sounds of the Seventies (b00lydy0)
Shorts
The Moody Blues, The Faces and David Bowie
Three vintage rock performances from the BBC archives, featuring The Moody Blues, The Faces and David Bowie originally recorded for It's Lulu, Sounds for Saturday and The Old Grey Whistle Test.
THURSDAY 15 MARCH 2018
THU 19:00 Beyond 100 Days (b09vl51j)
Series 1
15/03/2018
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
THU 19:30 Top of the Pops (b09vpjh3)
Mike Read and Dixie Peach present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 13 June 1985. Featuring Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, Billy Ocean, Sister Sledge and Marillion.
THU 20:00 The Brain: A Secret History (b00xln23)
Broken Brains
Dr Michael Mosley concludes his series exploring the brutal history of experimental psychology by looking at how experiments on abnormal brains have revealed the workings of the normal brain.
He meets remarkable individuals like Karen, who suffered from a rare condition - alien hand syndrome - which meant that one of her hands constantly attacked her. And Julia, who seems to have recovered from her stroke - until experiments reveal she is unable to recall the name of any object.
Michael explores the case of an amnesiac known for years only by his initials, HM, who became the most studied individual in the history of psychology and whose extraordinary case opened a window on how our memory works. He visits the centre which has been set up to map HM's brain down to the level of a neuron. But are the functions of our brain really as fixed as we think? Michael tries out a device which aims to make us see using our tongue.
THU 21:00 The Ruth Ellis Files: A Very British Crime Story (b09w8jp0)
Series 1
Episode 3
In April 1955 Ruth Ellis shot her lover David Blakely dead. It's a case that shocked the nation and it still fascinates today. It has its place in ushering in the defence of diminished responsibility and the eventual abolishment of capital punishment. We all think we know the story, but why, when it was seemingly such an open and shut case, does it still divide opinion on whether Ruth Ellis got the justice she deserved?
Film-maker Gillian Pachter wants to find out. The result is a fresh investigation with fascinating true-crime twists and turns that also shines a unique light on attitudes to class, gender and sex in 1950s London.
In episode three Gillian turns her attention to Ruth's execution and the last-minute attempts to save her life even though Ruth herself was determined to die. Despite this Ruth decides to change her solicitor and Gillian is intrigued as to the reasons why. When Ruth does finally admit that someone else was involved in the murder, her new solicitor races to the Home Office in a bid to stop the execution.
He isn't alone in not wanting to see Ruth hanged. Gillian looks at the hundreds of letters that were sent by the British public to the government asking for Ruth to be reprieved. It's a fascinating snapshot of British attitudes in the 1950s: the letters point to Ruth's mental state, the domestic violence she'd suffered and even the trauma experienced by those who'd lived through the Blitz.
The police are sent to track down Ruth's other lover, Desmond Cussen, who Ruth now claims gave her the gun and drove her to the scene of the murder. But they can't find him and won't take Ruth's word for it. The Home Office decides to press on with the execution; they worry that if they don't follow through on such a high-profile murder case that this will accelerate the abolition of capital punishment.
Ruth is hanged and Gillian explores the role of her case in the introduction of the defence of diminished responsibility in England and its place in the eventual abolition of capital punishment in Britain in 1965. But Ruth's personal legacy is much more tragic as Gillian explores the effects of the events of 1955 on Ruth's family. This takes Gillian to a taped conversation recorded by Ruth's son in the 1980s, where his despair at what happened when he was ten is movingly clear; Andre lost his mother and he lost David, whom he loved. He took his own life in the 1980s and today his ashes are close to his mother's in a cemetery in Hertfordshire not far from where David Blakely was buried. Three victims of a truly tragic set of circumstances.
THU 22:00 Timeshift (b0103pnb)
Series 10
Crime and Punishment - The Story of Corporal Punishment
Timeshift lifts the veil on the taboo that is corporal punishment. What it reveals is a fascinating history spanning religion, the justice system, sex and education. Today it is a subject that is almost impossible to discuss in public, but it's not that long since corporal punishment was a routine part of life. Surprising and enlightening, the programme invites us to leave our preconceptions at the door so that we may better understand how corporal punishment came to be so important for so long.
THU 23:00 Blues America (b03kk1j7)
Bright Lights, Big City
After 1945, artists like Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf and John Lee Hooker rooted the blues firmly in the city, where it contributed to the musical desegregation of America by spawning rock 'n' roll. As the blues conquered the world and the music moved from black to white audiences, arguments developed about what was the real authentic blues. Robert Johnson returned from the dead to sell more records than any other blues artist. By the 21st century, the blues not only retained the earthiness of its roots but was also being celebrated in the White House. With contributions from Keith Richards, Bonnie Raitt, Seasick Steve and Buddy Guy.
THU 00:00 Top of the Pops (b09vpjh3)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:30 today]
THU 00:30 Tom Jones at the BBC (b00vz5ml)
An archive celebration of Tom Jones's performances at the BBC from the start of his pop career in the mid-60s to Later...with Jools Holland in 2010 and all points in between, including Top of the Pops and The Dusty Springfield Show. A chronological celebration of Sir Tom through the years that is also a history of music TV at the BBC over most of the past 50 years.
THU 01:30 The World's Most Photographed (b0078xcb)
Elvis Presley
Series which unearths photographs previously lost or suppressed, to explore the power of the image and the nature of iconography. It decodes the carefully constructed public image of ten of the world's most photographed people to reveal more about the personalities, lives and intentions of the subjects.
In this edition, the photographers who captured the spontaneous side of Elvis Presley before he was consumed by the publicity machine, as well as the last pictures ever to be taken of the real Elvis Presley.
THU 02:00 The High Art of the Low Countries (b01rxpy1)
Daydreams and Nightmares
Following a brief period of decline, the entrepreneurial and industrious region of the Low Countries rose again to become a cultural leader in the modern age. Despite its small and almost insignificant size it produced important forward-thinking artists like van Gogh, Mondrian, Magritte and Delvaux, who changed the face of art forever.
Andrew's journey takes him to a remote beach in north west Holland that inspired Mondrian's transition to his now-renowned abstract grid paintings. Andrew digs deep into the psychology and social history of the region, exploring how the landscape of the past has informed the culture and identity of the Low Countries today and the impossibility of the Dutch drive to turn the philosophy of Mondrian's geometric order into a way of living.
THU 03:00 The Secret Life of Books (b06kxw9l)
Series 2
The Mill on the Floss
Multi-award-winning actor and director Fiona Shaw explores the genesis of her all-time favourite book, The Mill on the Floss, and discovers how the scandal that caused George Eliot (born Mary Ann Evans) to take a male pen name was also played out in the plot of her classic novel about a woman's thwarted intellectual ambitions and conflicting sexual desires.
THU 03:30 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.
FRIDAY 16 MARCH 2018
FRI 19:00 World News Today (b09vl51p)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
FRI 19:30 Top of the Pops (b09vpkcn)
Janice Long and Gary Davies present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 20 June 1985. Featuring Sting, Fine Young Cannibals, China Crisis and Harold Faltermeyer.
FRI 20:00 Songs of Ireland (b01dpnx3)
Some of the finest Irish singers and musicians, recorded in the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall at Celtic Connections 2012. Eleanor McEvoy, Finbar Furey, Cara Dillon, Luka Bloom, Brian Kennedy and many others sing the songs that Ireland is famous for. Love songs, songs of emigration, songs of loss, contemporary and traditional are all beautifully accompanied by the house band, top Irish American group Solas.
Ricky Ross presents an hour of great Irish music.
FRI 21:00 The Irish Rock Story: A Tale of Two Cities (b0555xv8)
Film telling the story of how rock music helped to change Ireland. The 40-year-old story of Irish rock and pop music is grounded in the very different musical traditions of the two main cities of the island, Belfast and Dublin.
This musical celebration charts the lives and careers of some of the biggest selling acts in Irish rock, punk and pop from Van Morrison and Thin Lizzy to The Undertones and U2. From the pioneers of the showbands touring in the late 50s through to the modern day, the film examines their lineage and connections and how the hardcore, rocking sound of Belfast merged with the more melodic, folky Dublin tradition to form what we now recognise as Irish rock and pop.
The film explores where these bands and musicians came from and the influence the political, social and cultural environments of the day had on them and how the music influenced those environments.
With contributions from many of the heavyweights of Irish rock and pop, including U2, Sinead O'Connor and Bob Geldof, it follows their careers as they forged an international presence and looks at how they helped change the island along the way.
FRI 22:00 Here Comes the Summer: The Undertones Story (b01mhqnr)
In 1978 The Undertones released Teenage Kicks, one of the most perfect and enduring pop records of all time - an adolescent anthem that spoke to teenagers all over the globe. It was the first in a string of hits that created a timeless soundtrack to growing up, making the Undertones one of punk rock's most prolific and popular bands.
Unlike the anarchic ragings of The Sex Pistols or the overt politics of The Clash, The Undertones sang of mummy's boys, girls - or the lack of them - and their irritating cousin Kevin. But their gems of pop music were revolutionary nonetheless - startlingly positive protest songs that demanded a life more ordinary. Because The Undertones came from Derry, epicentre of the violent troubles that tore Northern Ireland apart during the 1970s.
Featuring interviews with band members, their friends, family, colleagues and contemporaries, alongside archive and music, this documentary is the remarkable, funny and moving story of one of Britain's favourite bands - the most improbable pop stars who emerged from one of the darkest, most violent places on the planet.
FRI 23:00 Live at Eden (p05ff5nn)
Series 1
Van Morrison
Van Morrison and his band at Cornwall's Eden Project July 2017, performing fourteen songs including well-known hits Here Comes the Night, Moondance and Brown Eyed Girl. The Belfast-born all-time music legend Sir Van Morrison played against the world-famous Eden biomes to a sold-out arena. Van's performance was a highlight of the sixteenth year of the Eden Sessions. Sir Van Morrison was knighted in 2016 for services to music and has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He has won six Grammys, a Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution and the Ivor Novello Award for Lifetime Achievement.
FRI 23:55 Top of the Pops (b09vpkcn)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:30 today]
FRI 00:25 The Irish Rock Story: A Tale of Two Cities (b0555xv8)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
FRI 01:25 Here Comes the Summer: The Undertones Story (b01mhqnr)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:00 today]
FRI 02:25 Songs of Ireland (b01dpnx3)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 today]
FRI 03:25 The Beauty of Anatomy (b04gbdwt)
The Hunter Brothers
Dr Adam Rutherford investigates the story of the Hunter brothers, the celebrated anatomists who controversially transformed both medicine and art in 18th-century Britain.
Their belief that their students could only learn anatomy by carrying out dissections created an unprecedented demand for dead bodies and a market for the growing trade of body snatching from graveyards.