In the heart of the modern East End of London, a Victorian slum has been recreated and a group of 21st-century people are moving in. Michael Mosley joins them to tell the extraordinary story of how the Victorian East End changed our attitude to poverty forever.
In this episode, the slum dwellers move into the 1860s, when London was the capital of the world's first industrial superpower and the richest city on earth. Their new home is totally authentic - a forbidding Victorian tenement building made up of sparse rooms, a shared water pump and outdoor privies. There are businesses too - a small shop and a common lodging house known as the doss house. For some of the new residents, it is a chance to live as their East End ancestors once did, while others want to experience the history of their trades.
As it would have been, their priority is to earn money to put food on the table and pay the weekly rent. During the economic boom years of the 1860s, life was tough for the poor, but at least London provided ways to make a living as the slum dwellers find out. Whether it is piecework farmed out by factories like matchbox making and wood turning or repurposing old clothes for the rag trade, they all replicate the work once done by poor Victorians.
Graham Potter finds out first hand the back-breaking labour his forebears would have experienced and the effect on a Victorian family when the main breadwinner was out of action. But it is Shazeda Haque who finds life toughest as she experiences the vicious cycle of poverty and debt that lone Victorian parents endured.
The second leg of Simon Reeve's journey around the Caribbean Sea sees him start at beautiful islands and travel along the coast of South America. On the beautiful and wealthy island of Barbados, he meets the owner of a traditional chattel house who has turned down offers of millions of dollars from luxury property developers and dives the reef on a hunt for invading lionfish which are disrupting the delicate ecosystem.
On the green volcanic slopes of St Vincent, Simon meets the marijuana growers hoping, like their prime minister, that the drug will soon be decriminalised. Venezuela is one of the most turbulent countries in the Caribbean and from a high-rise slum in Caracas to the lawless border lands, Simon tries to work out how a country so rich in oil has fallen so low.
Ending his epic journey in Colombia, Simon gains rare access to the Kogi - an indigenous people who have maintained their traditional forest lifestyle in the face of an encroaching and damaging modern world.
If you think Britain has recently been on the end of some of the worst floods and storms ever experienced, think again. So says solar scientist Dr Lucie Green, as she takes a journey back through our most turbulent and dramatic weather history.
She finds an 18th-century storm surge that killed over a thousand people working in open Somerset fields, a hurricane that drowned a fifth of the British Navy and winters so bitter that the country came close to total shutdown. But she also explores how our reactions to killer storms and cruel winters helped forge a weather science that today allows us to predict - and protect ourselves from - the worst extremes.
Hotel night manager Jonathan Pine receives a plea for help from a well-connected guest. His actions draw him into the world of Richard Roper, a businessman and arms dealer.
On the Mediterranean island of Mallorca, Roper's life of luxury and calm is shattered. Six months earlier, Burr continues her recruitment of Pine, sending him to Devon to build his cover story.
MONDAY 11 JANUARY 2021
MON 19:00 Snooker: The Masters (m000rjf1)
2021
11/01/2021
Seema Jaswal introduces live coverage from Milton Keynes, where 2015 Masters champion Shaun Murphy takes on Mark Williams, a two-time winner of the event.
MON 21:00 Mark Kermode's Secrets of Cinema (m000r6gq)
Series 3
British Comedy
Mark Kermode returns with a third series of his Secrets of Cinema in which he explores the conventions that underpin our favourite movies and examines the techniques film-makers use to keep us coming back for more.
In a revealing look at one of the defining genres of British cinema, Mark argues that comedy films win laughs by tapping into our abiding national preoccupations. We love to root for the underdog or 'little man', a key figure who appears in countless guises. We delight in seeing class and manners satirised and subverted. We’re fascinated by films that mix comedy and crime. We enjoy home-grown pastiches and parodies that take the big beasts of Hollywood down a peg. And then there’s the infamous phenomenon of the British sex comedy...
From side-splitting classics to overlooked gems, Mark shows how making fools of ourselves can make for seriously good cinema.
MON 22:00 The Night Manager (b073gzyd)
Episode 3
While he continues to recuperate in Roper's villa, Pine starts to dig up secrets about the other members of the household. Meanwhile, Burr and Steadman seize on an opportunity to recruit a new asset.
MON 23:00 The Night Manager (b07569zc)
Episode 4
Roper welcomes Pine into his inner circle, leaving Corky out in the cold.
Meanwhile, Burr has concerns for the safety of her source when she suspects key information has been leaked to the River House.
MON 00:00 Victorian Sensations (m00059cx)
Series 1
Electric Dreams
Victorian Sensations transports us to the last years of Queen Victoria’s reign to explore a moment of thrilling discovery and change that continues to resonate today.
In the first of three films focusing on the technology, art and culture of the 1890s, mathematician Dr Hannah Fry explores how the latest innovations, including x-rays, safety bicycles and proto-aeroplanes, transformed society and promised a cleaner, brighter and more egalitarian future.
Whereas Victorian progress in the 19th century had been powered by steam and gas, the end of the 1800s marked the beginning of a new 'Electric Age'. Hannah discovers how electrical energy dominated the zeitgeist, with medical quacks marketing battery-powered miracle cures, and America’s new electric chair inspiring stage magicians to electrify their illusions. The future had arrived, courtesy of underground trains and trams (as well as electric cars), and in the 1890s the first houses built specifically with electricity in mind were constructed.
Like our own time, there was concern about where this technology would lead and who was in control. HG Wells warned of bio-terrorism, while the skies were increasingly seen as a future battleground, fuelling the race to develop powered flight.
Hannah outlines the excitement around the coming Electric Age. Electricity was a signifier of modernity, and Hannah discovers how electric light not only redefined the way we saw ourselves but changed what we expected from our homes. The new enthusiasm for all things electric was also something exploited by canny entrepreneurs. In the 1890s, many believed that electricity was life itself and that nervous energy could be recharged like a battery.
In 1896, out of nowhere, the x-ray arrived in Britain. Hannah delves into the story of what Victorians considered to be a superhuman power. This cutting-edge technology was a smash hit with the public, who found the ghoulish ability to peer under flesh endlessly entertaining. In the medical profession, x-rays caused a revolution and, as well as changing our views of our bodies, the x-ray revealed new fears in society about personal privacy and control over technology - concerns that sound very familiar today.
Electricity ruled the imagination, but it was a simple mechanical device that brought the greatest challenge to the social order: the safety bicycle. It offered freedom on a scale unimagined before and, for women of the time in particular, a new independence, changes to their clothes to make cycling easier and the opportunity for a chance encounter with a member of the opposite sex. But there was also a darker side, with fears of how technology might be turned against us becoming a constant element in contemporary 1890s fiction.
One technological landmark that the Victorians knew was coming, and that they (rightly) anticipated would one day unleash fire and bombs on British cities, was the flying machine. A thing of fantasy yet also, due to the ingenuity of the age’s engineers, something that might become a reality at any moment. Leading the way for British hopes of achieving powered flight was Percy Pilcher. Hannah looks at how, after several successful flights, Pilcher designed a triplane with an engine he intended to fly, when disaster struck.
MON 01:00 Handmade in Mexico (b09hqmcf)
Series 1
Huipil
A huipil is a loose-fitting tunic, generally made from two or three rectangular pieces of fabric which are then joined together with stitching, ribbons or fabric strips, with an opening for the head and, if the sides are sewn, openings for the arms. Tehuana dresses are crafted by Zapotec women who live in a matriarchal culture. They elaborately embroider very elegant dresses made of velvet or silk, which they wear at religious ceremonies and fiestas. These dresses were famously worn by Frida Kahlo. The huipiles originate from crafts developed to meet very utilitarian needs, but became more decorative as time went on and now they are regarded as objects of status.
MON 01:30 Mark Kermode's Secrets of Cinema (m000r6gq)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
MON 02:30 Inside Obama's White House (b07470xw)
100 Days
A month after his victory, Barack Obama discovered America was on the verge of a great depression. He puts his plans for change on hold to pass the largest stimulus in history.
Obama promises to close Guantanamo within a year - and it is still open. His attorney general admits that evidence against many of the prisoners could not be used to prosecute because they had been tortured.
And at the Copenhagen summit, the president crashed a meeting between three fellow heads of government in his desperation to do something about climate change.
TUESDAY 12 JANUARY 2021
TUE 19:00 Snooker: The Masters (m000rjf5)
2021
12/01/2021
Seema Jaswal introduces live action from the match featuring three-time Masters champion Mark Selby against Stephen Maguire, a four-time semi-finalist.
TUE 21:00 Inside Obama's White House (b0755gxg)
Obamacare
With exclusive interviews from president Obama and his White House team, episode two tells the story of Obama's greatest legacy: healthcare.
When Obama announced his proposals for affordable, accessible healthcare for every American, he sparked a bitter conflict. Within weeks of his launch, members of Congress were confronted by angry 'Tea Party' protesters.
As opposition grew, Obama's top advisers asked him to go for a less ambitious bill - he refused. His chief of staff knocked heads together inside his own party, as Democrats in Congress began to fight amongst themselves. The final battle was over abortion - the Catholic bishops tried to kill the bill. The hero who saved him was Sister Carol Keehan. She mobilised 59,000 US nuns and faced down the bishops to get Obama the votes he needed.
But in the midterm elections, Obama lost more seats in Congress than any president since 1938. The Tea Party now had 60 members and the Republicans would block all his future major reforms.
TUE 22:00 The Night Manager (b0756bgp)
Episode 5
A suspicious Roper gathers his entourage around him in an attempt to root out the traitor, forcing Pine to play a dangerous game. In London, Burr and Steadman face mounting opposition from Whitehall.
TUE 23:00 The Night Manager (b0761pkz)
Episode 6
Series finale. Roper and his team return to Cairo for the deal, reuniting Pine with an old enemy. Pine risks it all to put his plan in motion. A discredited Burr makes one last stand.
TUE 00:00 Spiral (m000r6gw)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Saturday]
TUE 01:00 Spiral (m000r6gy)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:00 on Saturday]
TUE 02:00 Museums in Quarantine (m000hqml)
Series 1
Warhol
In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, Alastair Sooke gains privileged access to the Tate Modern for a last look at the Warhol exhibition. Sooke argues that Warhol might just be the most significant artist of the second half of the 20th century. Warhol not only predicted, but in many ways helped to create, the world we live in - one obsessed with hyper-consumption, mass media and celebrity.
Covering works from across Warhol’s career, Sooke explores Warhol’s long-running commitment to experimental film and TV, as well as his fascination with advertising, pop music and commerce. And he delves into the man behind the carefully curated eccentricity, examining the expressions of Warhol’s queer identity in his later works and how his background as the son of eastern European immigrants influenced his art.
In conversation with Gregor Muir, one of the exhibition’s curators, Sooke discovers that one of his aims with the show was to strip away some of the myths about Warhol’s work and broaden the focus away from Warhol’s pop art studies of the 1960s. Finally, he muses on the particularly Warholian irony that this blockbuster show was closed, due to the coronavirus lockdown, almost as soon as it had opened.
TUE 02:30 Inside Obama's White House (b0755gxg)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
WEDNESDAY 13 JANUARY 2021
WED 19:00 Snooker: The Masters (m000rjf7)
2021
13/01/2021
Seema Jaswal introduces live coverage from Milton Keynes, where two-time Masters champion John Higgins takes on Mark Allen, winner of the title in 2018.
WED 21:00 Mrs Brown (b0078lkb)
Dramatisation of one of history's most unusual love stories. Queen Victoria is grieving over her husband's death and finds herself unable to carry out public duties. John Brown is summoned from Balmoral to walk the Queen's pony in the hope that she will start to become herself again. The confident Highlander displays a distinct lack of respect for court protocol and quickly becomes the Queen's most trusted companion.
WED 22:40 Timewatch (b00f6m71)
2008-2009
Young Victoria
Kate Williams tells the story of how an unassuming little girl rose to be the most powerful woman in the world. At her birth few believed Princess Victoria would ascend the throne, but a number of untimely deaths and the failure of her uncles to father any children meant that Victoria became heiress to the British throne. The battle between her and her mother the Duchess of Kent, however, was to become a fierce maternal struggle, as the duchess schemed to share in the power and riches that would one day be Victoria's.
WED 23:30 Queen Victoria: My Musical Britain (m00052ds)
To celebrate Queen Victoria’s 200th birthday, historian Dr Lucy Worsley explores the character and legacy of the famous monarch in a way that has never been attempted before – through music. Lucy reveals how Victoria used music to transform the monarchy from a political power into a benevolent cultural force that brought the country together during a time of great upheaval and change. Lucy also examines the central role music played in Victoria’s own life - as a queen, a private person and in her marriage to Prince Albert.
Victoria and Albert also took an active role in reshaping the musical culture of Britain by establishing institutions like the Royal College of Music and the Royal Albert Hall. Together they laid the groundwork for a musical renaissance in Britain which saw a new generation of great British composers reshape the sound of Britain in the 20th century. To bring the story of Britain’s great musical revolution to life there are performances from Sir Willard White, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Black Dyke Brass Band and many more.
WED 00:30 Forest, Field & Sky: Art out of Nature (b079ckkf)
Dr James Fox takes a journey through six different landscapes across Britain, meeting artists whose work explores our relationship to the natural world. From Andy Goldsworthy's beautiful stone sculptures to James Turrell's extraordinary sky spaces, this is a film about art made out of nature itself. Featuring spectacular images of landscape and art, James travels from the furthest reaches of the Scottish coast and the farmlands of Cumbria to woods of north Wales. In each location he marvels at how artists' interactions with the landscape have created a very different kind of modern art - and make us look again at the world around us.
WED 01:30 Timewatch (b00f6m71)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:40 today]
WED 02:20 Queen Victoria: My Musical Britain (m00052ds)
[Repeat of broadcast at
23:30 today]
THURSDAY 14 JANUARY 2021
THU 19:00 Fred Dibnah's Made in Britain (b0078vy1)
The Source of Iron
Documentary series in which Fred Dibnah travels around Britain in his restored traction engine in search of engineering skills and technology from a bygone age, visiting ancient iron foundries, industrial sites and little workshops. Fred reaches Cumbria where iron ore was once mined on a large scale, and enjoys the Lake District on a friend's steam boat. It's then on to the Florence Mine at Egremont and the Workington Steel Works.
THU 19:30 The Joy of Painting (m000r6h2)
Winter Specials
Splendour of a Snowy Winter
Experience the serenity and silence of a fresh, undisturbed snowfall with Bob Ross as he takes you to a lovely cabin, deep in northern country.
THU 20:00 Snooker: The Masters (m000r6gm)
2021
14/01/2021
Jason Mohammad presents live coverage of the quarter-finals of the 2021 Masters from Arena MK in Milton Keynes.
THU 23:15 Whisky Galore! (b00ml4yv)
Classic Ealing comedy about a whisky-laden ship that runs aground off the coast of the Outer Hebrides during the Second World War.
The local islanders have depleted their supply of the amber nectar and are overjoyed at the thought of stocking up again. But it is Sunday, and the teetotallers object to making free with the unexpected cargo.
THU 00:35 Mark Kermode's Secrets of Cinema (m000r6gq)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Monday]
THU 01:35 Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Monumental Art (b0bjj23v)
In the summer of 2018, on the Serpentine in London's Hyde Park, world-renowned artist Christo created his first public work of art in the UK. Inspired by ancient Mesopotamian tombs, the Mastaba is constructed from 7,506 painted oil barrels and weighs six hundred tonnes. It is the latest work in a career spanning half a century and stretching across the world. His work to date have included surrounding 11 islands off the Florida coast with pink polypropylene and wrapping Berlin's Reichstag and the Pont Neuf in Paris.
This programme charts the creation of the Mastaba - from the first barrels being put on the water to its final unveiling - and paints a portrait of Christo as he looks back on a life spent making provocative works of art with his wife and partner Jeanne-Claude.
Christo reveals how he funds his projects with a unique business model, and how the long, tortuous and often combative process of gaining permissions and winning people over is part of his artistic
endeavour. He also talks about his escape from the communist east and his early work in 1960s Paris.
A cast of friends, fellow artists, collectors and critics lend their voices to the documentary, including performance artist Marina Abramovic, New Yorker journalist and architectural critic Paul Goldberger, former New York major Michael Bloomberg, writer and art critic Marina Vaizey and architect Sir Norman Foster.
THU 02:35 The Joy of Painting (m000r6h2)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:30 today]
THU 03:00 Queen Victoria's Children (b01pp965)
The Best Laid Plans...
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert shared a passionate marriage. Behind closed doors, royal domestic life often seemed like a battlefield.
In a 60-year family saga this new three-part series explores the reign of Victoria through her personal relationships with her husband and her nine children. It is a story of manipulation, conflict, intimidation, emotional blackmail, and fevered attempts by her children to escape the clutches of their domineering and needy mother.
The series uses a wealth of written material and photos left by Victoria, Albert and their children, including letters, diaries, memoirs and journals, to bring the subject and characters to life.
This first episode focuses on Victoria's tempestuous relationship with Prince Albert, their attempts to engineer the upbringing of their children and to save the monarchy by projecting a modern image of the royal family.
FRIDAY 15 JANUARY 2021
FRI 19:00 Sounds of the Sixties (b075f7r4)
Reversions
Swinging Sixties 1
Forget Madchester, forget Factory, forget Oasis. Manchester never sounded better than Herman's Hermits and the Hollies, who feature in this archive extravaganza.
FRI 19:10 Top of the Pops (m000r6hy)
Jakki Brambles presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 22 June 1990 and featuring Magnum, Yazz and Elton John.
FRI 19:40 Top of the Pops (m000r6j0)
Gary Davies presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 28 June 1990 and featuring Bob Geldof, Elton John and Maxi Priest.
FRI 20:10 Snooker: The Masters (m000r6j2)
2021
15/01/2021
Live coverage of the 2021 Masters quarter-finals in Milton Keynes.
FRI 22:40 Dolly Parton: 50 Years at the Opry (m000hb7k)
Dolly Parton, the undisputed queen of country music, celebrates 50 years as a member of the Grand Ole Opry. Recorded live in Nashville, this amazing special pays tribute to her songs and career with special performances from Dolly and star guests, including Lady Antebellum, Emmylou Harris and Hank Williams Jr. This incredible concert brings together five decades of hits and memories into one unforgettable evening of entertainment for everyone to enjoy.
Photos copyright Grand Ole Opry, LLC and Chris Hollo.
FRI 23:55 Glastonbury (b04d8xv8)
2014
Dolly Parton
From the Glastonbury Festival, the complete set by the undisputed queen of country music Dolly Parton from the Pyramid Stage in the now-traditional legends spot on Sunday afternoon. As the Somerset sunshine shone, and in front of one of the biggest and most enthusiastic crowds that the Pyramid Stage has ever seen, Dolly performed a rousing and crowd-pleasing set including self-penned classics such as Jolene, Coat of Many Colours, 9 to 5, Islands in the Stream and I Will Always Love You. A legendary moment that the Glastonbury crowd and hopefully Dolly Parton will never forget.
FRI 01:05 Charley Pride - I'm Just Me (m0006gzh)
Music documentary that traces the improbable journey of Charley Pride, from his humble beginnings as a sharecropper’s son on a cotton farm in segregated Sledge, Mississippi to his career as a black American League baseball player and his meteoric rise as a trailblazing country music superstar.
Pride’s love for music led him from the Delta to a larger, grander world. In the 1940s, radio transcended racial barriers, making it possible for Pride to grow up listening to and imitating Grand Ole Opry stars like Ernest Tubb and Roy Acuff. Pride arrived in Nashville in 1963 with the city embroiled in sit-ins and racial violence. But with boldness, perseverance and undeniable musical talent, he managed to parlay a series of fortuitous encounters with music industry insiders into a legacy of hit singles, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and a place in the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Narrated by Grammy-nominated country singer Tanya Tucker, the film features original interviews with country music royalty as well as on-camera conversations between Pride and the programme’s other guests.
FRI 02:20 Country & Beyond with The Shires (b0bs6f0f)
British singer-songwriter duo Crissie Rhodes and Ben Earle form the award-winning country act The Shires. Their ultimate soundtrack ranges from Dolly Parton to Shania Twain.
Each song is handpicked and as they watch the performances they reveal the reasons behind their choices. They kick off with the Queen of Country, Dolly Parton, and her iconic track Jolene. Following that comes legendary singer Patsy Cline, and for Crissie it brings back memories of singing along to Crazy with her grandmother.
Ben then picks country pop crossover Shania Twain, whose That Don't Impress Me Much certainly made its mark on him. But Ben also likes his country classics and plumps for Glen Campbell's legendary Wichita Lineman. It's not only the stalwarts of the Great Country Songbook - they also make room for the edgy Americana roots music of critically acclaimed duo The Civil Wars and their spine-tingling live appearance on Later.