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.
Summer is the most intense of all the seasons in the Highlands. Animals are in a great race to raise their young to independence before the nights close in and the storms of autumn arrive. Some, like otters and pine martens, are single mothers working ceaselessly for their young, while others, including golden eagles, work in pairs to look after the chicks. Most spectacularly of all, young guillemots on dramatic Handa face a leap for life as they tumble to the sea from 400ft cliffs.
What if your first true love was someone you’d been told to hate? Ripped apart by the bitter divisions of their parents, two young people will risk everything to be together. Erica Whyman directs the 2018 Royal Shakespeare Company production of Shakespeare’s most famous story of love at first sight.
From the silent days of cinema, Shakespeare's plays have often been adapted to the big screen. Film-makers relished his vivid characters and dramatic plots as well as the magic and poetry of his work.
At first the results were patchy, then came Laurence Olivier. With Henry V, made to stir patriotic spirit during the Second World War, he perfectly translated Shakespeare from the stage to the screen. He followed Henry V with Hamlet, and both were smash hits. Olivier led the way for directors as diverse as Orson Welles, Kurosawa, Franco Zeffirelli, Roman Polanski, Baz Luhrmann and Kenneth Branagh.
The Bard's language has been no barrier, with bold versions of his dramas coming out of Russia, Japan, India and many other countries, not to mention Hollywood's free adaptations in genres as diverse as musicals and science fiction. Already over 30 films worldwide have been produced based on Romeo and Juliet alone.
For the first time in a single documentary, Arena explores the rich, global history of Shakespeare in the cinema, with a treasure trove of film extracts and archival interviews with their creators.
In a major re-calibration of 20th-century British paintings, art historian James Fox argues that British painting from 1910 to 1975 was an extraordinary flowering of genius. He predicts that art historians of the future will rank the period alongside the Golden Ages of Renaissance Italy and Impressionist France.
Drawing upon the work of Paul Nash, Graham Sutherland, Francis Bacon, Stanley Spencer and David Hockney, among others, Fox explores why, during the 20th century, British painters were often dismissed for being old-fashioned. He reveals how these artists carefully reconciled tradition and modernity, providing a unique creative tension that now makes the period seem so exciting.
Over the course of the three-part series, Fox presents his theory that this period of artistic excellence was closely linked to a dramatic shift in Britain's fortunes. He suggests that the demise of the British Empire, as much as the two world wars, defines Britain's unique take on modern art: a determination to rediscover and cling on to 'Britishness' while the country's territorial assets and global influence fell away.
In the years immediately before and during the First World War, a radical generation of painters determined to eject Victorian sentimentality and nostalgia from their art pioneered a new style of painting that would capture and make sense of the modern experience. Walter Sickert shocked the public by making the low-lives of Camden Town and a brutal murder the subject of his gaze. Wyndham Lewis and David Bomberg broke with centuries of realist tradition, reducing humanity to cold geometric forms. But as the country descended into war, three painters - Christopher Nevinson, Paul Nash and Stanley Spencer - reconciled what was best of the avant-garde with Britain's rich painterly tradition to create powerful images of war that would speak to us all.
MONDAY 08 JUNE 2020
MON 19:00 The Joy of Painting (m000jy2j)
Series 2
Morning Mist
Watch Bob Ross create a peaceful and dewy scene of brown mountains in the morning, complete with a lake and succulent evergreens.
MON 19:30 Handmade in the Pacific (b0bjj2r8)
Series 1
Yidaki
In Arnhem Land in the remote tropical north of Australia, the Gurruwiwi family of the Yolngu Aboriginal people, reveal the world of the 'yidaki', a sacred instrument better known to outsiders as the didgeridoo.
Believing the yidaki can heal people, control the weather, and summon ancestral spirits, the Yolngu place great importance on the making and playing of this instrument. The yidaki is a key feature of local ceremonial life and is used to play 'songlines', the stories of ancestors that the Yolngu communicate through music and dance.
Beginning with a 'hunt' for suitable stringybark trees, the tree is then hollowed out, shaped, and given sacred ceremonial paintings with ochres. The film culminates in a 'bunggul', a ceremonial dance where the yidaki is given its first outing.
Many of the beliefs expressed by the Gurruwiwi family have remained unchanged for tens of thousands of years. Yet, the modern world has definitely arrived.
MON 20:00 Andrew Marr's History of Modern Britain (b007qmsj)
New Britannia
In the final part of Andrew Marr's epic national saga, Britain enters the uncharted waters of the post-Thatcher era. Many have done well during the Thatcher years but now boom is turning to bust. Britain feels more vulnerable than ever to rapid international change - from the influence of powerful new global market forces to global warming. Just when many in post-war Britain are getting used to the good things in life, it seems we are going to have to start giving up our big cars and foreign holidays - or at least go back to some form of rationing. But who could persuade us to do this? Churchill had that kind of power in the 1940s, but which politician would we trust and follow today?
Step forward the unassuming Brixton boy John Major and New Labour's smiling master of spin Tony Blair. From Black Wednesday to war in Iraq, from the British inventor of the World Wide Web to millennium fever, this is Andrew Marr's up-to-the moment story of Britain's extraordinary transformation from imperial power to an island at the heart of the global economy.
MON 21:00 Ocean Autopsy: The Secret Story of Our Seas (m000jy2l)
Two-thirds of our planet is covered in water, split into five distinct oceans, but in reality Earth's seas are part of one huge global water system - a system that has been instrumental in shaping our destiny for millions of years. Now, however, in the 21st century, it is mankind that is shaping the destiny of our oceans. In unprecedented ways, humans are changing our seas and the life within. The ocean bed, the currents, marine life, even the water itself is transformed by what we are putting into our oceans.
In this revelatory BBC Four documentary special, oceanographer Dr Helen Czerski and zoologist Dr George McGavin carry out an ‘autopsy’ on the ocean itself and reveal the startling changes it's undergoing. Moving the story beyond the well-known impact of discarded plastic on our seas, the autopsy will investigate the effects of high levels of life-threatening toxins on marine ecosystems and the invisible plague of micro- and nano-plastics saturating the water. The destiny of our oceans is on a knife edge and the window of opportunity to save them is rapidly closing.
But all is not lost. Along the way, George and Helen follow some surprising stories of hope as scientists uncover biodiverse ecosystems at the bottom of wind turbines that act as artificial reefs. George also visits the team at the Wallasea Island Wild Coast Project, a coastal wetland restoration initiative on the Essex coast twice the size of the City of London, that has been transformed into a nature reserve for rare and threatened birds and other wildlife using excavated soil from Crossrail.
Our precinct is the North Sea. Industry has polluted these waters for longer than any other sea on the planet and, in the past 50 years, the North Sea has warmed twice as fast as the rest of the world’s oceans. The unique levels of human impact provide oceanographers with a crystal ball for the future of ocean change. If it is happening in the North Sea now, scientists can predict where they will see it globally in the future.
Embedded with a team of leading researchers on board the Pelagia, a Dutch Oceanographic research vessel, Helen is on a mission to perform a comprehensive health check on the North Sea, using gas-sampling techniques to investigate a mysterious methane leak that may be caused by sea temperature rise. Understanding its origins could be critical to uncovering the human effects of global warming. The team will have to work for 48 hours straight on this ‘floating laboratory’ in the ocean.
They also carry out a survey of the North Sea to generate a comprehensive map of micro-plastic movement in our oceans. Ninety-nine percent of the plastic we dump in the oceans is missing, so the team wants to find out where it is all going. Starting off on the coastline, the team samples plastic on the surface, documenting where they find each piece and what it is. They also sample the depths of the sea for micro-plastics and discover marine fungi that could provide a possible solution - they might be ‘eating’ micro plastics.
Intercut with this survey, Dr George McGavin visits Utrecht University. Here, leading animal pathologist Lonneke IJsseldijk performs a necropsy (an animal autopsy) on a harbour porpoise to try to find out how and why it died. Lonneke believes the best way to understand what is in our oceans is to look inside the animals that live there. She looks for chemical fingerprints of human toxic pollutants hidden inside, like PCBs that were used in the building industry in the 1980s but which never break down.
Throughout this ocean autopsy, Helen and George find terrifyingly high levels of micro- and nano-plastics, rising sea temperatures changing the ocean ecosystems, and marine mammal life whose very existence is threatened by human toxic pollutants saturating the oceans at every level - the ocean floor, the life in the oceans and even the water itself. But they also find stories of hope, where nature may be able to repair itself if given a chance. What they discover is that it is not too late, but the window to action the change we need is closing quickly. If we can understand what is happening to our waters now, can we act to save them?
MON 22:30 Ocean Giants (b013q50m)
Giant Lives
This episode explores the intimate details of the largest animals that have ever lived on our planet - the great whales. From the balmy waters of the Indian Ocean to the freezing seas of the Arctic, two daring underwater cameramen - Doug Allan, Planet Earth's polar specialist, and Didier Noirot, Cousteau's front-line cameraman - come face to face with fighting humpback whales and 200-ton feeding blue whales.
Teaming up with top whale scientists, Giant Lives discovers why southern right whales possess a pair of one-ton testicles, why the arctic bowhead can live to over 200 years old and why size truly matters in the world of whales.
MON 23:30 Seven Ages of Britain (b00qsb88)
Age of Worship
The story of British art in the Middle Ages, spanning from the murder of Thomas Becket in 1170 to the death of Richard II in 1400. It was an age defined by worship - whether worship of God, the king, or one's lady love.
David Dimbleby looks at the finest creations of the medieval Church, like the stained glass of Canterbury Cathedral and the colourful Bury Bible, and is winched 40 feet off the ground to see a rare surviving church Doom - a painting of the Last Judgement - close up.
During the reign of Edward I a new fad, chivalry, gripped the nation, resulting in fabulous creations like the Eleanor Cross of Geddington, Edward III's vast ceremonial sword at Windsor, and the tomb of the Black Prince. The artistic high point of the Middle Ages came with the reign of Richard II, whose patronage inspired three masterpieces: the famous timber roof of Westminster Hall, Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and the Wilton Diptych altarpiece.
David travels to Munich to see the only surviving English medieval crown, which belonged to Richard's wife, Anne of Bohemia.
MON 00:30 A Very British Renaissance (b03yzjy6)
The Renaissance Arrives
We think of the Renaissance as something that happened only in Italy, or in continental Europe. Art historian Dr James Fox believes otherwise - that Britain had its own Renaissance - one that easily measures up to the explosion of art and ideas that happened on the continent.
He tells the story of the painters, sculptors, poets, playwrights, composers, inventors, explorers, craftsmen and scientists who revolutionised the way we saw the world.
In the first episode, he traces the story of how the arrival of a handful of foreign artists in the 16th century sparked a cultural revolution in Britain.
MON 01:30 The Joy of Painting (m000jy2j)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 today]
MON 02:00 Handmade in the Pacific (b0bjj2r8)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:30 today]
MON 02:30 Ocean Autopsy: The Secret Story of Our Seas (m000jy2l)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
TUESDAY 09 JUNE 2020
TUE 19:00 The Joy of Painting (m000jy3f)
Series 2
Whispering Stream
Bob Ross, in his own unmistakable style, paints a narrow, winding and rocky creek that moves closer and closer, flowing aimlessly through a happy little meadow forest.
TUE 19:30 Handmade in the Pacific (b0bkyt27)
Series 1
Taupoo
Mama is one of the last traditional weavers from the South Seas island of Rurutu, French Polynesia and one of the last to make the 'taupoo', the traditional ceremonial hats woven from dried pandanus tree leaves.
Taking five weeks to make, these hats were originally introduced to the island by British missionaries in the early 1800s. Now, they're worn to church and given as wedding gifts. But the knowledge of how to make them is dying out. For each hat, 30 or more long pandanus leaves have to be cut down, spliced together, hung, dried, rolled, sorted, dyed and bleached. And that's all before the weaving actually begins. Without a template or stitches or any thread, Mama almost magically weaves the dried leaves into a hat.
Touching upon the island's Christian history, local myths and legends, and offering a unique sense of this island idyll in a moment of flux, this film is a rare visual treat and a chance to enjoy the last vestiges of an ancient tradition.
TUE 20:00 Hidden Killers (b050d700)
The Tudor Home
Dr Suzannah Lipscomb takes us back to Tudor times in search of the household killers of the era.
It was a great age of exploration and science where adventurers returned from the New World with exotic goods previously unknown in Europe. An era in which the newly emergent middle classes had, for the first time, money for luxuries and early consumer goods, many of which contained hidden dangers.
The period also saw a radical evolution in the very idea of 'home'. For the likes of Tudor merchants, their houses became multi-room structures instead of the single-room habitations that had been the norm (aristocracy excepted). This forced the homebuilders of the day to engineer radical new design solutions and technologies, some of which were lethal.
Suzannah discovers that in Tudor houses the threat of a grisly, unpleasant death was never far away in a world (and a home) still mired in the grime and filth of the medieval period - and she shows how we still live with the legacy of some of these killers today.
TUE 21:00 Deep Ocean: Giants of the Antarctic Deep (m000jy3h)
The team behind the world's first footage of a live giant squid in its natural habitat follows three marine biologists as they venture into the deep sea of the Antarctic. Equipped with custom cameras, the team embarks on the world’s first scientific research by a submersible in the Antarctic.
The dive in the Southern Ocean reveals a surprising world of bountiful marine life, where many creatures are gigantic forms of their shallow-water-dwelling relatives. A hostile and previously inaccessible, world, locked away under ice and snow, finally permits us the first vivid glimpse of its long-concealed secrets.
TUE 21:50 Deep Ocean: Lights in the Abyss (b0bs367k)
In a huge submarine canyon in California's Monterey Bay, there is an illuminating twilight zone. It is a world of countless exotic creatures, including sparkling jellyfish and deep sea fish that give off flashes. Using an ultra-high sensitivity 4K camera specifically developed for deep sea filming, together with experts in the field, Lights in the Abyss captures bioluminescent creatures in their natural habitat, deep in the Pacific Ocean.
Narrated by Sir David Attenborough.
TUE 22:45 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.
TUE 23:45 Tomorrow's Worlds: The Unearthly History of Science Fiction (p026cd65)
Time
Dominic Sandbrook concludes his exploration of the most innovative and imaginative of all genres by considering science fiction's most alluring theme - time travel.
Having the power to change the past or see the future is a deep-seated human fantasy, and writers and film-makers have embraced its possibilities. From HG Wells's pioneering scientist in The Time Machine to Back to the Future's Marty McFly and Doctor Who's titular Time Lord, we've been presented with a host of colourful time travellers and their time machines. But is there always a price to be paid for meddling with the timeline?
Among the contributors are David Tennant, Karen Gillan and Steven Moffat (Doctor Who), actor Christopher Lloyd and screenwriter Bob Gale (Back to the Future), actor Scott Bakula (Quantum Leap) and novelist Audrey Niffenegger (The Time Traveler's Wife).
TUE 00:45 Looking for Rembrandt (m000474y)
Series 1
Episode 2
As Rembrandt paints his most iconic work, The Night Watch, his wife Saskia lies dying. Her death begins a ten-year decline in Rembrandt’s output as he pours himself into etching instead. Many etchings are erotically charged, perhaps a result of an affair he has begun with his infant son’s nursemaid. However, that relationship ends with her being committed to a house of correction – a punishment Rembrandt himself apparently played a role in. These moral and sexual ambiguities bleed into other works. Although he finds new love and happiness with a new housemaid, he finds that he has become Amsterdam’s most notorious marital embarrassment.
Further shame comes for Rembrandt in 1656 as his debts become unmanageable. No longer able to make enough money from his paintings now that he is starting to fall out of favour and fashion, Rembrandt declares bankruptcy. It is an act that will come to define him even in the centuries after his death.
TUE 01:45 The Joy of Painting (m000jy3f)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 today]
TUE 02:15 Handmade in the Pacific (b0bkyt27)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:30 today]
TUE 02:45 Andrew Marr's History of Modern Britain (b007qmsj)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 on Monday]
WEDNESDAY 10 JUNE 2020
WED 19:00 The Joy of Painting (m000jy2g)
Series 2
Secluded Forest
Enjoy one of American painter Bob Ross's black canvases, on which he creates a deep forest with tall majestic trees, rain puddles and dark fresh air.
WED 19:30 Handmade in the Pacific (b0blhnjs)
Series 1
Pou
Maori master carver Logan Okiwi Shipgood crafts a beautiful 6ft tall 'pou' statue from native New Zealand timber. With chainsaws, adzes, and around 30 chisels, Logan gradually reveals the figure of Hene Te Akiri, a Maori warrior princess, as he lovingly chips away at the wood. Inlaid with sacred shells and given a powerful facial tattoo to denote her social rank, the finished statue is finally revealed to the public.
Logan explores the deep spiritual connection between Maori carvers and the objects they create, and the significance of his home - Rotorua - in the revival of Maori art and culture in the 20th century. For Maori today, carving remains a key way of telling stories and honouring ancestors, and Logan - an internationally famous sculptor and carver - is proud to be doing his bit to keep these traditions alive.
WED 20:00 Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity (p00kjqch)
The Age of Invention
Professor Jim Al-Khalili tells the electrifying story of our quest to master nature's most mysterious force - electricity. Until fairly recently, electricity was seen as a magical power, but it is now the lifeblood of the modern world and underpins every aspect of our technological advancements.
Without electricity, we would be lost. This series tells of dazzling leaps of imagination and extraordinary experiments - a story of maverick geniuses who used electricity to light our cities, to communicate across the seas and through the air, to create modern industry and to give us the digital revolution.
Just under 200 years ago scientists discovered something profound, that electricity is connected to another of nature's most fundamental forces - magnetism. In the second episode, Jim discovers how harnessing the link between magnetism and electricity would completely transform the world, allowing us to generate a seemingly limitless amount of electric power which we could utilise to drive machines, communicate across continents and light our homes. This is the story of how scientists and engineers unlocked the nature of electricity in an extraordinary century of innovation and invention.
WED 21:00 SAS: Rogue Warriors (b08fmysp)
Series 1
Episode 2
With the tragic loss of Jock Lewes, Stirling's second in command is now the newly promoted Captain Paddy Mayne - an officer as unpredictable and dangerous as the new phase of war that is about to begin. Unknown to David Stirling, the Germans are training special units to track, intercept and kill the marauding SAS. The hunters soon become the hunted. The SAS has to adapt if it is going to survive. Disaster strikes when Stirling is captured by the Germans. As the SAS prepare to fight Hitler in Europe, they are without the inspirational leadership of the man who created them.
WED 22:00 Blood and Gold: The Making of Spain with Simon Sebag Montefiore (b06rwgp7)
Conquest
In the first episode, Simon explores Spain's early years, its emergence as the battleground of empires and its golden age under the Cordoba Caliphate.
WED 23:00 Ocean Giants (b01452jz)
Voices of the Sea
Whales and dolphins are nature's supreme vocalists, with a repertoire to put an opera singer to shame. The mighty sperm whale produces deafening clicks in its blowhole which it uses to locate giant squid two miles down in the ocean abyss, while migrating narwhals use similar sounds to pinpoint vital breathing holes in Arctic ice floes.
The pink boto dolphin creates bat-like ultrasonic clicks to 'see with sound' and to catch fish in the murky waters of the Amazon River, and also uses whistles and chirps for social conversations.
Killer whales in the North Sea use wolf-like howls to round up the herring shoals which they feed on, and they and other dolphins also use percussive tail slaps and splashing leaps to signal to each other. One group of bottlenose dolphins in Brazil has even learned to communicate with fishermen in a unique partnership.
But the most famous and mysterious voice of all surely belongs to male humpback whales, whose haunting operatic performances may last several hours and seem to be about singing purely for the sheer pleasure of making music.
WED 00:00 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 01:00 Pride and Prejudice (b0074rn9)
Episode 2
Mr Bennet's estranged cousin, Mr Collins, writes to announce his imminent visit to Longbourn, the house he will inherit on Mr Bennet's death. Mrs Bennet has high hopes that he will propose to one of her daughters and expects also that Jane will soon be engaged to Mr Bingley.
WED 01:55 The Joy of Painting (m000jy2g)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 today]
WED 02:25 Handmade in the Pacific (b0blhnjs)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:30 today]
WED 02:55 Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity (p00kjqch)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 today]
THURSDAY 11 JUNE 2020
THU 19:00 The Joy of Painting (m000jy2r)
Series 2
Snow Trail
Follow Bob Ross along a trail covered in fresh white snow, surrounded by warm colours and fuzzy bark trees, as he paints a brisk quiet day.
THU 19:30 Handmade in the Pacific (b0bm6pjv)
Series 1
Kapa
Indigenous Hawaiian artist Dalani Tanahy spends weeks painstakingly beating tree bark into a sheets of cloth-like fabric. This ancient Hawaiian artform known as 'kapa' was once the staple material of the islands. But after Captain Cook introduced cotton, and the Americans overthrew the Hawaiian monarchy, kapa-making completely disappeared.
Dalani is one of a handful of dedicated practitioners who has spent her life bringing this artform back. Why? Because kapa-making has become integral to the nascent Hawaiian cultural nationalism that is taking hold in indigenous communities of Hawaii. Kapa-making has become a powerful source of pride and identity, but it's a lot of work. Trees have to be planted and tended, cut, stripped, and the bark beaten and fermented. Then sheets of bark are joined together to make a single sheet. Natural dyes and paints are printed on. And only then is the kapa ready to be worn.
Dalani takes us through the process of making a piece of kapa from start to finish, and delivers her kapa to a dancer, who plans to use this kapa as a traditional 'hula' skirt.
The film ends with an emotional performance at the Royal Palace in Honululu, Hawaii. A traditional 'hula' dance is performed, to honour Hawaii's last monarch, Queen Lilo'uokalani. Like the kapa itself, the Queen, rudely overthrown by Americans, has become a symbol of reborn Hawaiian identity.
THU 20:00 Pride and Prejudice (b0074rpj)
Episode 6
A dramatisation of Jane Austen's classic story of social mores. Mrs Bennet is delighted to have one of her daughters married at last. Elizabeth sees Wickham in his true colours when she meets him again after his elopement. There is great excitement in the neighbourhood when Bingley returns to Netherfield, bringing Darcy with him.
THU 21:00 Madame Tussaud: A Legend in Wax (b08cgm56)
The remarkable true story of the woman behind the worldwide waxworks empire, Madame Tussaud.
In an astonishing life that spanned both the French and Industrial revolutions, this single mother and entrepreneur travelled across the Channel to England, where she overcame the odds to establish her remarkable and enduring brand. Determined to leave an account of who she was and the times she lived through, her memoirs, letters and papers offer a unique insight into the creation of the extraordinary empire which bears her name.
THU 22:00 Chasing the Moon (m0006vrl)
Series 1
Magnificent Desolation (Part One)
After the immediate celebration of 1968’s successful Apollo 8 mission, underlying questions about the space programme emerged with new intensity as politicised young Americans challenged the nation’s priorities. Nasa pushed brashly forward.
After the lunar orbit, competition escalated among the training astronauts. Who would be chosen for the first moon landing? In January 1969, Nasa ended months of speculation and announced the crew for Apollo 11. Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong would be in the craft that landed on the moon. They would be supported by Mike Collins in the command module. As ever, the Soviet Union loomed large over the new Nasa mission, scheduling an unmanned craft to land on the moon at approximately the same time as Apollo 11.
In mid-July, 1969, crowds flooded Cocoa Beach in anticipation of the historic launch and, on 20 July 1969, the biggest television audience in world history tuned in. Audiences watched simulations and listened to audio coverage with baited breath as Armstrong delicately piloted the lunar module, only to discover the landing site was a football field-sized crater. It forced him to hover the craft and look for a new site with just 30 seconds of fuel left. Finally, audiences heard the triumphant words, ‘The Eagle has landed.’ Mission control responded, ‘You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue - we’re breathing again.’
A film By Robert Stone.
A Robert Stone Production for American Experience WGBH/PBS in association with Arte France.
THU 22:50 Timeshift (b01q6xh6)
Series 12
Eyes Down! The Story of Bingo
It is one of Britain's most popular leisure pursuits, but high street bingo came about almost by accident as the result of a loophole in an obscure piece of gambling legislation. Almost overnight, in January 1961 what had been a quiet parlour game or occasional seaside flutter was turned into a brash multimillion-pound business.
As Timeshift affectionately recalls in this documentary, soon nearly a quarter of the population were playing and becoming fluent in the rhyming slang of 'bingo lingo' - from 'Legs Eleven' to 'Clickety Click, Sixty Six'. This explosion of interest quickly led to a moral panic about the dangers of easy prize money, but bingo was defiantly here to stay - and not just as the preserve of older women, as today's mega-halls full of hen night parties show.
THU 23:50 My Astonishing Self: Gabriel Byrne on George Bernard Shaw (b09ltk1h)
Award-winning Irish actor Gabriel Byrne explores the life, works and passions of George Bernard Shaw, a giant of world literature, and - like Byrne - an emigrant Irishman with the outsider's ability to observe, needle and puncture.
With Ireland in his heart, he made England his home and London his stage. His insight was ageless - his ideas still resonate almost 70 years after his death. He is one of only two people to have ever been awarded both the Nobel Prize for Literature and an Oscar.
Gabriel Byrne sees Shaw as a revolutionary - a literary anarchist. Sharing Shaw's perspective as an 'artistic exile', Byrne explores Shaw's radical and unapologetic political thinking, and his unwavering ability to charm and satirise the establishment that so adored him. It is the story of the most relevant thinker, artist and literary genius Ireland ever produced.
THU 00:50 Fabric of Britain (b03bm1rg)
The Story of Wallpaper
Paul Martin presents the surprisingly compelling story of wallpaper. From its origins in the 16th century to the present day, wallpaper has always had something to say about us and our tastes and aspirations. It's a journey that takes Paul from the grandest of stately homes to the poorest of two-up-two-downs, the height of luxury to industrial grime and infestation. There are some fascinating tales along the way; wallpaper may seem insignificant, but governments have tried to control it, and it's even threatened to poison us.
The programme also reveals the art and craft of wallpaper. Paul learns how to make flock wallpaper, very much a deluxe item in the 18th century, helps to uncover a rare antique piece of wallpapering from a building site, and prints the designs of Marthe Armitage. Along the way, he meets contemporary designers and makers, and tells the stories of such historical wallpaper luminaries as Pugin and William Morris.
THU 01:50 The Joy of Painting (m000jy2r)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 today]
THU 02:20 Handmade in the Pacific (b0bm6pjv)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:30 today]
THU 02:50 Madame Tussaud: A Legend in Wax (b08cgm56)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
FRIDAY 12 JUNE 2020
FRI 19:00 Benjamin Britten on Camera (b03j42wt)
Documentary exploring the dynamic relationship that developed between British composer Benjamin Britten and the BBC as they worked together to broadcast modern classical music further and wider. Through this collaboration, Britten's music reached television audiences, from elaborately staged studio operas, intimate duets featuring his partner Peter Pears, to the massive Proms performance of his War Requiem. The programme features interviews with Britten's collaborators and singers as well as those working behind the scenes including Michael Crawford, David Attenborough, Humphrey Burton and soprano April Cantelo. James Naughtie narrates.
FRI 20:00 Top of the Pops (m000jy3p)
Gary Davies presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 12 October 1989 and featuring Sinitta, Cliff Richard and Living in a Box.
FRI 20:30 Kermode and Mayo’s Home Entertainment Service (m000jqyh)
Series 1
Episode 4
Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo help viewers navigate the wonderful, yet confusing, world of 21st century home entertainment. Up for discussion this week is new sci-fi thriller series Snowpiercer, just out on Netflix and popping in for a chat is actor Simon Bird talking about his directorial debut - Days of the Bagnold Summer. We also hear what our audience have been watching at home and Simon and Mark round-up the best of the rest of streaming culture across movies and premium television.
FRI 21:00 Top of the Pops (m000k3zh)
Mark Goodier presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 19 October 1989 and featuring Martika, Sybil and Deborah Harry.
FRI 21:30 The Beatles: Made on Merseyside (m0003lx8)
They defined music and popular culture like no other band ever will. But how did The Beatles make the journey from Merseyside teenagers to international pop stars in the 1960s? This film recounts how American rock ‘n’ roll and rhythm and blues turned postwar Liverpool into one of the most vibrant music cities ever, the home of the Mersey Sound.
Featuring unique archive and revealing interviews with those involved in the early years of The Beatles in Liverpool and Hamburg, we discover the story of The Beatles’ previous band formations and why it took so long for them to achieve success. From school bands to colleges, Hamburg to the Cavern Club, The Beatles moved from skiffle to rock ‘n’ roll before creating their unique sound.
FRI 22:55 ... Sings The Beatles (b00ml7p5)
Recorded for the fortieth anniversary of Abbey Road, The Beatles' final album, a journey through the classic and curious covers in the BBC archives.
Featuring Sandie Shaw singing a sassy Day Tripper, Shirley Bassey belting out Something, a close-harmony Carpenters cover of Help!, Joe Cocker's chart-topping With a Little Help from My Friends, Oasis reinventing the Walrus and a little Lady Madonna from Macca himself.
Plus a few 'magical' moments from Candy Flip, The Korean Kittens and Su Pollard.
FRI 23:55 TOTP2 (b00747qb)
John Lennon Special
Steve Wright presents a mixture of pop nostalgia and music, celebrating the late John Lennon.
FRI 00:25 Singer-Songwriters at the BBC (b015swyr)
Series 2
Episode 3
The celebration of the singing-songwriting troubadours of the 1960s and 70s continues with a further trawl through the BBC archives for timeless and classic performances.
Starting proceedings is Scots-born Sunshine Superman, Donovan, with a rare performance from Julie Felix's show in 1968. Buffy Sainte-Marie performs Cripple Creek, and buddies Carole King and James Taylor perform classic Carole King songs.
Songwriting genius Jimmy Webb performs a gem in Didn't We, while a beautiful and sensuous Rod Stewart gives an intense performance of his song about his friend in The Killing of Georgie, from a Boxing Day edition of Top of the Pops in 1976. And from 1977 the inimitable and much-loved John Martyn, with help from Danny Thompson, rounds things off with a classic performance of Couldn't Love You More.
FRI 01:20 Country Music by Ken Burns (m000bypr)
Series 1
The Sons and Daughters of America (1964-1968)
The mid to late 60s were a time of cultural upheaval and country, as much as other genres of music, reflected the profound changes in American society.
Loretta Lynn wrote and performed songs that spoke to women everywhere, Charley Pride rose to stardom, when people responded to his voice instead of the colour of his skin, and Merle Haggard left prison to become the ‘Poet of the Common Man’.
Johnny Cash’s life and career descended into the chaos of addiction, but he found salvation thanks to the intervention of June Carter and a landmark album.
FRI 02:15 The Beatles: Made on Merseyside (m0003lx8)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:30 today]