SATURDAY 04 DECEMBER 2021
SAT 19:00 Snooker: UK Championship (m001294r)
2021
Semi-Finals - Part Two
Coverage of the second semi-final at the 2021 UK Snooker Championship.
SAT 19:30 The Fairytale Castles of King Ludwig II with Dan Cruickshank (b036f9vc)
Ludwig II of Bavaria, more commonly known by his nicknames the Swan King or the Dream King, is a legendary figure - the handsome boy-king, loved by his people, betrayed by his cabinet and found dead in tragic and mysterious circumstances. He spent his life in pursuit of the ideal of beauty, an ideal that found expression in three of the most extraordinary, ornate architectural schemes imaginable - the castle of Neuschwanstein and the palaces of Linderhof and Herrenchiemsee. Today, these three buildings are among Germany's biggest tourist attractions.
In this documentary, Dan Cruickshank explores the rich aesthetic of Ludwig II - from the mock-medievalism of Neuschwanstein, the iconic fairytale castle that became the inspiration for the one in Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty, to the rich Baroque splendour of Herrenchiemsee, Ludwig's answer to Versailles. Dan argues that Ludwig's castles are more than flamboyant kitsch and are, in fact, the key to unravelling the eternal enigma of Ludwig II.
SAT 20:30 Timeshift (b00x7c3z)
Series 10
The Golden Age of Coach Travel
Documentary which takes a glorious journey back to the 1950s, when the coach was king. From its early origins in the charabanc, the coach had always been the people's form of transport. Cheaper and more flexible than the train, it allowed those who had travelled little further than their own villages and towns a first heady taste of exploration and freedom. It was a safe capsule on wheels from which to venture out into a wider world.
The distinctive livery of the different coach companies was part of a now-lost world, when whole communities crammed into coach after coach en route to pleasure spots like Blackpool, Margate and Torquay. With singsongs, toilet stops and the obligatory pub halt, it didn't matter how long it took to get there because the journey was all part of the adventure.
SAT 21:30 Stieg Larsson's Millennium (m001294t)
Series 1
The Girl Who Played with Fire - Part 2
Frustrated by the police's determination to prove that Lisbeth is guilty of all three murders, Mikael pursues his own line of enquiry. An official helps him, but Dag suspects they are involved in the trafficking of women. Meanwhile, Lisbeth remains in hiding, horrified by the violence suffered by her innocent friend Miriam.
SAT 23:00 Chasing the Moon (m0006vrl)
Series 1
Magnificent Desolation - Part 1
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.
SAT 23:50 Chasing the Moon (m0006vrn)
Series 1
Magnificent Desolation - Part 2
Viewers from around the world watched the flickering black-and-white footage from a camera placed on the module showing Armstrong gingerly stepping down its ladder. ‘OK, I’m going to step off the ladder now,’ Armstrong said. ‘That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.’ Fifteen minutes later, Aldrin followed. Transparent, ghostly images of the suited figures projected back to Earth where crowds cheered, wept and fell speechless at the awe-inspiring sight of their fellow human beings on the moon.
The mission had one remaining hurdle: the ascent stage. With only one chance to fire the lunar module’s engine to safely reach Apollo 11, tension built once more. On 24 July 1969, to the intense relief of all involved, the crew splashed down in the Pacific Ocean. Despite the public excitement leading up to and immediately after Apollo 11, interest in space vaporised with shocking rapidity. Kennedy’s challenge to the nation, to its scientists and to its pilots had been met - an American had walked on the moon before 1970. Rather than being a spark for further exploration, as von Braun had dreamed, the moon landing was the crowning jewel in the Cold War space race, commanding epic focus, resources and motivation.
A film By Robert Stone.
A Robert Stone Production for American Experience WGBH/PBS in association with Arte France.
SAT 00:40 Horizon (b0656dbj)
2014-2015
The Trouble with Space Junk
In 2014, the International Space Station had to move three times to avoid lethal chunks of space debris, and there is an increasing problem of satellites mysteriously breaking down.
With first-hand accounts from astronauts and experts, Horizon reveals the scale of the problem of space junk. Our planet is surrounded by hundreds of millions of pieces of junk moving at 17,000 miles per hour. Now the US government is investing a billion dollars to track them, and companies around the world are developing ways to clear up their mess - from robot arms to nets and harpoons. Horizon investigates the science behind the hit film Gravity and discovers the reality is far more worrying than the Hollywood fiction.
SAT 01:40 Timeshift (b00x7c3z)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:30 today]
SAT 02:40 The Fairytale Castles of King Ludwig II with Dan Cruickshank (b036f9vc)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:30 today]
SUNDAY 05 DECEMBER 2021
SUN 19:00 The FA Cup (m001294w)
2021/22
Second-Round Highlights
The best of the action from the weekend’s FA Cup matches, with the remaining non-league sides battling it out for a place in the third round of the competition.
It was at this stage last year that eighth-tier Marine caused an upset by beating Havant & Waterlooville, reaching the third round for the first time since 1992-93.
SUN 20:00 This Cultural Life (m001294y)
Series 1
Mike Leigh
Film director Mike Leigh talks to John Wilson about the art and experiences that have shaped his own creative life.
Leigh recalls his early life in Salford and reveals how a life-drawing class at art college proved a formative influence on his later career. He discusses his discovery of world cinema in the 1960s and the particular impact of the French New Wave, and explains his unique film-making process in which actors develop roles through improvisation.
SUN 20:30 BBC Proms (b01mlb62)
2012
John Wilson on Broadway
A celebration of the Broadway sound with music from Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Frank Loesser and Leonard Bernstein performed by John Wilson. Returning to the Proms for a fourth season, he conducts his hand-picked, high-octane orchestra and a line-up of star soloists. Includes show-stopping numbers from Show Boat, On Your Toes, Brigadoon, Porgy and Bess, West Side Story and Fiddler on the Roof. Presented by Katie Derham.
SUN 22:35 Other, Like Me: The Oral History of COUM Transmissions and Throbbing Gristle (m0012950)
Hull, England, 1970. In a run-down commune in a tough port city, a group of social misfits - mostly working class, mostly self-educated - adopted new identities and began making simple street theatre under the name COUM Transmissions. Their playful performances gradually gave way to work that dealt openly with sex, pornography, and violence. The group lived at the edge of society, surviving on meagre resources, finding fellowship with others marginalised by the mainstream.
At the core of the group were two artists, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge and Cosey Fanni Tutti. As their work evolved, Cosey embarked on a career modelling for pornographic magazines, work that she claimed for herself and classified as conceptual art, using it to forge a specific position in relationship to 1970s feminism. In performances, Genesis pushed himself to extremes, testing the limits of the human body. By the mid-1970s, having been chased out of Hull by the police and now living in London, they had caused one of the 20th century’s biggest art scandals and been branded by the British press and politicians as ‘the wreckers of civilisation’.
On the brink of art world success, COUM turned their attentions to music, starting a new phase as the confrontational and notorious band Throbbing Gristle. They built their own instruments, ran their own independent record label, and challenged the norms of rock performance. Throbbing Gristle confronted the dark side of human nature with brutal honesty and invented an entirely new genre of electronic music, which they named 'industrial'. The band imploded on stage in front of thousands of fans in San Francisco in 1981, before reforming 23 years later, having become a major influence on subsequent generations of musicians.
SUN 23:35 Gaga for Dada: The Original Art Rebels (b07w6j9h)
First broadcast in 2016 to coincide with the one-hundredth anniversary of the emergence of Dada, Jim Moir aka Vic Reeves goes on an irreverent trip into the world of the influential avant-garde art movement.
Absurd, provocative and subversive, Dada began as a response to the madness of World War I. But its radical way of looking at the world inspired generations of artists, writers and musicians, from Monty Python to punk, Bowie to Banksy.
Jim restages an early Dada performance in Zurich's Cabaret Voltaire, where the movement began. Among those joining him in his playful celebration of the Dadaists and their impact are Armando Iannucci, Terry Gilliam, designer Neville Brody and artists Michael Landy and Cornelia Parker.
SUN 00:35 Secrets of Bones (b03vrtzp)
Size Matters
Evolutionary biologist and master skeleton builder Ben Garrod begins a six-part journey to discover how bones have enabled vertebrates to colonise and dominate practically every habitat on Earth.
Ben shows us what bone is constructed from and how it can support animals that are both minuscule - a frog just a few millimetres long - and massive - the blue whale, two hundred million times bigger.
SUN 01:05 Secrets of Bones (b03wct07)
Down to Earth
Evolutionary biologist and master skeleton builder Ben Garrod discovers how the skeleton has adapted for vertebrates to move on land in a remarkable number of ways. They can swing through the trees, slide on the forest floor, dig through dark subterranean worlds and run at speed across the savannahs. Ben explores the role of the spine in both cheetahs and snakes, shows how adaptations to the pentadactyl limb have helped gibbons and horses thrive and how one unique bone in the animal kingdom has been puzzling scientists for years.
SUN 01:35 Guilt (m0009qm2)
Series 1
Episode 1
In a residential street in Edinburgh, brothers Max and Jake run down an old man while Jake is driving them back from a wedding - stoned and uninsured. They carry on with their lives, hoping Walter's death will be passed off as natural causes, but the brothers end up being pulled further into Walter's world.
SUN 02:35 This Cultural Life (m001294y)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 today]
MONDAY 06 DECEMBER 2021
MON 19:00 University Challenge (m000qrst)
Christmas 2020
Christ's Cambridge v St John's Oxford
It’s the opening match of the Christmas quiz for grown-ups with two teams doing battle for a place in the semi-finals.
The Christ’s Cambridge team includes painter and broadcaster Lachlan Goudie and poet Helen Mort. Playing them is the St John’s Oxford team, including thee BBC business editor Simon Jack and author John Lanchester.
Jeremy Paxman asks the questions.
MON 19:30 The Joy of Painting (m000qpkc)
Winter Specials
Not Quite Spring
The trees have shed their snow and the ice has begun to thaw. Spring will arrive soon in this incredibly beautiful Bob Ross landscape.
MON 20:00 Britain's Lost Masterpieces (b0bgfwdn)
Series 3
Manchester
At the Manchester Art Gallery, Dr Bendor Grosvenor discovers a painting of a country gentleman from the 1770s which he believes has been misattributed to Nathaniel Dance. He feels sure it is in fact by the German painter Johann Zoffany, a favourite portraitist of the royal family under King George III. While the painting is restored, Bendor investigates the life of Zoffany - a chancer and adventurer who squandered his royal patronage through a series of predictable errors of judgement.
Travelling to Florence to see the location of Zoffany's greatest painting, the Tribuna of the Uffizi Gallery, Bendor also visits Parma, where Zoffany painted an extraordinary self-portrait. The artist ended his career in India, where he made a fortune, and Bendor goes to look at Colonel Mordaunt's Cock Match in Tate Britain with art historian Sona Datta. They unpack the undercurrent of sexual innuendo Zoffany had filled the picture with.
Emma Dabiri investigates Manchester's support for the abolition of slavery through the history of the gallery's first purchase - a portrait of the black American actor Ira Aldridge. She discovers the story of the Manchester Art Treasures exhibition of 1857, the largest art exhibition ever held in Britain, and looks into the Manchester Gallery attacks by three suffragettes in 1913.
MON 21:00 Treasures of the Anglo Saxons (b00t6xzx)
Art historian Dr Nina Ramirez reveals the codes and messages hidden in Anglo-Saxon art. From the beautiful jewellery that adorned the first violent pagan invaders through to the stunning Christian manuscripts they would become famous for, she explores the beliefs and ideas that shaped Anglo-Saxon art.
Examining many of the greatest Anglo Saxon treasures - such as the Sutton Hoo Treasures, the Staffordshire Hoard, the Franks Casket and the Lindisfarne Gospels - Dr Ramirez charts 600 years of artistic development which was stopped dead in its tracks by the Norman Conquest.
MON 22:00 The Signalman (b0074ptz)
Charles Dickens's ghost story in which a lonely signalman is haunted by a hooded figure who seems to warn of danger.
MON 22:40 M.R. James: Ghost Writer (b03n2rnc)
Mark Gatiss steps into the mind of M.R. James, the enigmatic English master of the supernatural story. How did this donnish Victorian bachelor, conservative by nature and a devout Anglican, come to create tales that continue to chill readers more than a century on?
Mark attempts to uncover the secrets of James's inspiration, taking an atmospheric journey from James's childhood home in Suffolk to Eton, Cambridge and France, venturing into ancient churches, dark cloisters and echoing libraries along the way.
MON 23:40 Secrets of Bones (b03x3zfs)
Into the Air
Ben Garrod finds out how the skeleton has allowed vertebrates to do the most remarkable thing of all - take to the air. He discovers why the humble pigeon is such an exceptional flier, uncovers bony secrets as to how the albatross makes mammoth migrations and finds out why some birds have dense bones. Finally, he reveals which surprising flier is his 'ultimate'.
MON 00:10 Guilt (m0009xqj)
Series 1
Episode 2
Max tries to derail the private detective he engaged to assuage Walter's niece Angie's fears. Max is also dealing with threats from Walter's neighbour Sheila, who reveals that she witnessed something that night. For a price she will keep her mouth shut. Can Max convince his increasingly suspicious wife, Claire, to part with the money under the guise of yet another lie?
MON 01:10 Britain's Lost Masterpieces (b0bgfwdn)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 today]
MON 02:10 Treasures of the Anglo Saxons (b00t6xzx)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
TUESDAY 07 DECEMBER 2021
TUE 19:00 The Joy of Painting (m000qplv)
Winter Specials
The Property Line
Bob Ross paints an old gnarly tree and snowcapped fence to mark the line between home and the edge of the blanketed winter forest.
TUE 19:30 University Challenge (m000qrx0)
Christmas 2020
Manchester v Queen's Belfast
It’s the second match of the Christmas quiz, with two teams of graduates fighting it out for a place in the semi-finals.
Playing for the Manchester team are actor Adrian Edmondson and war surgeon David Nott. Their opponents on the Queen’s Belfast team are Kate Devlin, writer of a book on sex and robots, and poet Miriam Gamble.
Jeremy Paxman asks the questions.
TUE 20:00 Keeping Up Appearances (b01djsdp)
Series 1
The Charity Shop
Hyacinth is at her wits' end, what with the charity shop, Councillor Nugent and Rose's love life. Can she cope and keep the flag flying, as well as her sanity?
TUE 20:30 One Foot in the Grave (b007b9jg)
Series 2
Who Will Buy?
Unexpected visitors drop in and mistakenly suspect Victor of killing an elderly blind man. A concert gives Victor the chance to use his ventriloquist's dummy.
TUE 21:00 dinnerladies (b00745nw)
Series 1
Party
Bittersweet sitcom about the troubled lives of a group of dinner ladies. The work-do becomes incredibly formal and mock-Japanese. Everything goes well for Bren until her mother turns up and gets stuck into the sake.
TUE 21:30 Mark Lawson Talks To... (b00cl4ph)
Liz Smith
Mark Lawson talks to actress Liz Smith about her life and career. She reflects on her lonely childhood and her days as a single mother struggling to make ends meet as well as her determination to join the acting profession.
Smith got her big break at the age of 50, after being discovered by film director Mike Leigh, but perhaps she's best known as the nation's favourite gran - Nana in the iconic character comedy series, The Royle Family.
TUE 22:30 Play For Today (b00cl4pk)
Series 3
Hard Labour
Mike Leigh's play centres around a middle-aged housewife and charwoman who is abused and exploited by almost everybody, including her daughter-in-law.
TUE 23:40 This Cultural Life (m001294y)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 on Sunday]
TUE 00:10 Guilt (m000b4h4)
Series 1
Episode 3
Angie and Jake's burgeoning but complex relationship has hit a problem. Jake has a few suspicions about her, but she manages to explain away his worries. Jake wants to make things work, but she gives him a reality check. How would they live off Jake's record shop, given Max controls the finances - a fact that baffles Angie. Jake starts asking questions about why Max controls the shop’s accounting and as a result pressure is applied to Max from another source. Is there more to the record shop than it first appears? Who is really in control of Jake’s shop and his future? Unable to control his little brother’s rocking of the boat, Max takes matters into his own hands, with terrifying results for Jake.
TUE 01:10 Guilt (m000bdss)
Series 1
Episode 4
Sheila claims ignorance when she discovers Walter's real niece has contacted the solicitor. In order to protect his brother, Max orders Jake to leave the country with Angie promising to sort everything out. Angie has still not shaken off her suspicions of Max and sets about proving to Jake that Max is not looking after his brother’s best interests.
Meanwhile, Max and Angie have their own separate suspicions about Sheila’s real involvement in the night of Walter’s death.
TUE 02:10 Mark Lawson Talks To... (b00cl4ph)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:30 today]
WEDNESDAY 08 DECEMBER 2021
WED 19:00 The Joy of Painting (m000qpms)
Winter Specials
An Arctic Winter Day
Travel to the coldest place imaginable with Bob Ross and find a lonely cabin comfortably nestled on the edge of a glass-smooth frozen pond.
WED 19:30 University Challenge (m000qryf)
Christmas 2020
Courtauld v Goldsmiths
In the third match of the Christmas series for university alumni is the team from the Courtauld Institute of Art, with artist Jeremy Deller and writer and poet Lavinia Greenlaw. They fight it out for a place in the semis with the team from Goldsmiths, University of London, which features Hairy Biker Dave Myers and author Helen Cross.
Jeremy Paxman asks the questions.
WED 20:00 Thailand: Earth's Tropical Paradise (b087vgd6)
The Secrets of the South
Southern Thailand is the Thailand we think we all know. It is a place of both spectacular natural beauty and of wild parties, but behind this well-known image is also a place where spirituality pervades every bit of life. For the animals that live here, this is a natural wonderland.
WED 21:00 Charley Boorman: Sydney to Tokyo by Any Means (b00nxc7d)
Episode 6
In the second series of By Any Means, Charley Boorman starts his adventure in Sydney and travels up the Pacific Rim through Australia, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, the Philippines and Taiwan, to finish in Tokyo, Japan.
Finally arriving on Japanese soil, Charley heads straight for the Naha naval base to learn more about the battle of Okinawa.
From there, he spends 24 hours onboard a local ferry that takes him to the mainland. Meeting up with Tarquin, a twelve-year-old train fanatic, they travel to meet his father Humphrey and jump on Italian motorbikes to check out the landscape and local scenery of Japan.
Charley's great love of motorbikes continues when he visits the workshops of custom-built bikes and awesome design studios.
Visiting Hiroshima on the anniversary of the Peace Memorial Ceremony, Charley is filled with sadness, but also admiration at how the community have united and moved on from the devastation of the atomic bomb.
Finally, getting a thrill from riding one of Japan's most renowned rollercoasters, then visiting the country's highest mountain, Mount Fuji, Charley takes in the breathtaking views before riding the final leg of his epic adventure to reach Tokyo.
WED 22:00 Write Around the World with Richard E. Grant (p09nlf5g)
Series 1
Episode 1
Book and travel lover Richard E. Grant journeys to southern Italy, visiting Naples, Pompeii, Positano and Matera, in the footsteps of writers inspired by the country, its culture and history.
Reading key passages from their books as he goes along, including works by Charles Dickens, Elena Ferrante, Elizabeth Gilbert, Norman Lewis, Robert Harris, Patricia Highsmith and Carlo Levi, Richard learns about both the lives and experiences of these great authors.
His journey gives him fresh insights into the people and diversity of the region as well as its distinctive and captivating landscapes. He also discovers examples of books that have had a direct effect on the area’s prosperity.
WED 23:00 What We Were Watching (m000qpgh)
Christmas 1995
Grace Dent embarks on a televisual trip back in time by setting the remote control for December 1995 and serving up an irreverent look back at the festive viewing options that faced the nation in the past.
Exploring how much what is shown on our screens has changed involves some deep diving into EastEnders’ annual festival of gloom to find that Arthur Fowler is behind bars and Pat Butcher is being lusted after by Roy and Frank. Grace also discovers that TV schedulers of the time appeared to have sex on the brain, with a surprisingly high number of seasonal shows featuring subjects and scenes that would make a family audience in 2020 blush with embarrassment.
There is also an in-depth look at infidelity in the morally questionable sitcom Goodnight Sweetheart, we join Hetty Wainthropp on her very first BBC investigation and go trapezing on a hot-air balloon with a truly spectacular Record Breakers challenge. And we remind ourselves of the genius of the late, great Rik Mayall – here reading Jack and the Beanstalk on Jackanory for an audience of real Young Ones as only he could.
WED 00:00 Secrets of Bones (b03xsgwh)
Sensing the World
Ben Garrod delves into the surprising ways in which bone has evolved to help vertebrates sense the world around them. He reveals why predators like the wolf have eyes at the front of their skull whereas prey animals such as sheep usually have eye sockets on the sides of their heads. He finds out how the skull of the great grey owl has helped it develop such extraordinary hearing and uncovers the secret behind one bizarre creature's uniquely flexible nose.
WED 00:30 How to Make (m000gwzd)
Series 1
The Trainer
Zoe Laughlin, designer, maker and materials engineer, is fascinated by the science and technology hidden within the everyday objects we take for granted. In this series, she dismantles and dissects three classic items to understand the wonders of form, function and material that go into making them, before building her own truly bespoke versions, step by step.
In this episode, Zoe takes on the trainer - a much-loved modern classic that's a marvel of engineering and design. Setting out in search of inspiration, she meets some of the UK's leading trainer designers and manufacturers, as well as the young inventors working on mind-blowing sustainable creations such as material made by bacteria and self-deodorising fabrics.
Zoe also goes behind the scenes at Britain's largest footwear factory, where high-speed injection-moulding processes turn out a shoe every nine seconds. And she meets one of the country's pre-eminent trainer historians, Thomas Turner, to find out how our favourite everyday footwear would be nothing without car tyres. All before building her own bespoke trainers. In Zoe's own words, ‘they are mad, but they're mine - and that makes them special!’
WED 01:30 Thailand: Earth's Tropical Paradise (b087vgd6)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 today]
WED 02:30 Write Around the World with Richard E. Grant (p09nlf5g)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:00 today]
THURSDAY 09 DECEMBER 2021
THU 19:00 The Joy of Painting (m000qzm7)
Winter Specials
Snow Birch
Discover a birch tree forest perfectly mirrored in the cold stillness of winter. A unique Bob Ross painting in which you can delight in the effects of white and black gesso.
THU 19:30 University Challenge (m000qry7)
Christmas 2020
Nottingham v Sheffield
In the fourth match of the Christmas series for grown-ups, the Nottingham team, with explorer Levison Wood and ecologist Helen Roy, fight it out against the Sheffield team, which features news presenter Kylie Pentelow and Daily Telegraph columnist Michael Deacon. Jeremy Paxman asks the questions.
THU 20:00 Sound of Musicals with Neil Brand (b088t0kj)
Something's Coming
Neil Brand explores how a new generation of composers transformed musical theatre by embracing more gritty, challenging subjects, from the mean streets of 1950s New York in West Side Story, to the Dickensian London of British blockbuster Oliver!. Neil learns the stories behind Broadway hits Fiddler on the Roof and A Chorus Line, and celebrates the groundbreaking work of Stephen Sondheim. And Neil takes us step by step through the secrets of some classic numbers with the help of star performers Robert Lindsay and Frances Ruffelle.
THU 21:00 The Manchurian Candidate (m000crhy)
Classic thriller. Raymond Shaw, a decorated Korean War hero, returns home to the arms of his overprotective mother and his politically ambitious stepfather. Rejecting their welcome, he takes employment with a politically rival newspaper.
Meanwhile, his fellow platoon members are troubled with nightmarish recurring dreams, including Major Bennett Marco, who is convinced that all is not what it seems.
THU 23:00 BBC Proms (b064jgwv)
2015
Friday Night at the Proms: Seth MacFarlane Sings Sinatra
The Proms welcomes Hollywood royalty to the Albert Hall to celebrate the 100th birthday year of Frank Sinatra. The legendary John Wilson Orchestra is joined on stage by Family Guy and American Dad creator Seth MacFarlane to perform some of Sinatra's most memorable songs. Packed full of favourites like Let's Face the Music and Dance, Come Fly with Me and I've Got You Under My Skin, it's a musical journey through the highlights of Sinatra's Capitol Years 1954-1962.
MacFarlane is joined on stage by actor/singer Jamie Parker and jazz singer Claire Martin for some seriously smooth jammin'. The evening is hosted by The Wire star Clarke Peters and Radio 3's Clemency Burton-Hill.
THU 00:30 Secrets of Bones (b03yfqj6)
Food for Thought
Ben Garrod uncovers the secrets of how vertebrates capture and devour their food using extreme jaws, bizarre teeth and specialised bony tools. He takes a cherry picker up a sperm whale's jaw and finds out which animal has teeth weighing five kilos each and which uses its skull as a suction pump. Ben gets his own skull scanned and 3D-printed to discover how diet in humans isn't just affecting our waistlines but is also changing the shape of our bones.
THU 01:00 Secrets of Bones (b03z05zx)
Sex
Ben Garrod seeks out the big part that bones can play in reproduction. Through sexual selection, the skeleton has adapted to aid courtship, competition and even copulation. On his travels, Ben meets baseball players, drops a 10kg weight on a sheep's skull and finds out that by not having a penis bone humans are very much in the minority.
THU 01:30 Sound of Musicals with Neil Brand (b088t0kj)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 today]
THU 02:30 Britain's Lost Masterpieces (b0bgfwdn)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 on Monday]
FRIDAY 10 DECEMBER 2021
FRI 19:00 University Challenge (m000qshz)
Christmas 2020
Central Lancashire v Loughborough
It’s match five of this special Christmas series for distinguished alumni.
In the University of Central Lancashire team are sports presenter Richard Askam and children’s book illustrator Kate Pankhurst. They are fighting it out for a place in the semi-finals against Loughborough, featuring cricketer Monty Panesar and poet and performer Kate Fox.
Jeremy Paxman asks the questions.
FRI 19:30 Sounds of the 70s 2 (b01kcq0k)
New Wave - Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick
By the end of the 70s the world had changed and so had music. In America, it was all about memorable melodies, great guitar rhythms, a little bit of post-punk angst and looking really cool. In the UK it was about Brit style cheekiness, social commentary, a melody and a hook, a lot of attitude - and looking really cool. This episode goes beyond punk and looks into the dawning of a new decade and the phenomenon of New Wave, including performances from Elvis Costello, the Police, Ian Dury and the Blockheads, Squeeze, Blondie, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, the Cars, Patti Smith and Iggy Pop.
FRI 20:00 Top of the Pops (m000cf28)
1988 Christmas Special
Gary Davies, Bruno Brookes and Anthea Turner present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 25 December 1988 and featuring Pet Shop Boys, Cliff Richard and Enya.
FRI 21:00 Idiot Prayer - Nick Cave Alone at Alexandra Palace (m001299p)
Nick Cave plays songs at the piano from across his repertoire in a rarely seen stripped-back set, from early Bad Seeds and Grinderman right through to the Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds 2019 album, Ghosteen. The performance, which was filmed at London’s Alexandra Palace, features tracks including Into My Arms, The Mercy Seat, Higgs Boson Blues and Girl in Amber.
Recorded in June 2020, as the UK slowly emerged from lockdown, and conceived as a reaction to the confinement and isolation of the preceding months, Idiot Prayer is a souvenir from a strange and precarious moment in history.
FRI 22:30 BBC Four Sessions (b00byjjd)
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Series of unique concerts featuring musicians from around the world at St Luke's in London. Nick Cave and his band perform a set drawn from their latest album Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!! and a 20-year repertoire including The Mercy Seat, Red Righ Hand and Deanna.
By turns menacing and hilarious, Cave comes on stage like a Southern preacher in the festooned, converted church and soon has the appreciative crowd hanging off his every word, while the Bad Seeds are at the top of their game behind him.
FRI 23:30 The Old Grey Whistle Test (m001299s)
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Bob Harris introduces Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers in concert at the BBC Television Centre in London's Shepherd's Bush in 1978.
FRI 00:10 Southern Rock at the BBC (b01f1bwb)
Classic clips - from The Old Grey Whistle Test, In Concert and even Wogan - of southern rock boogie in excelsis from the bands who poured out of the deep south of the US in the 70s. Includes performances from The Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Delaney & Bonnie with Eric Clapton, Dickey Betts from The Allman Brothers Band, The Marshall Tucker Band, Black Oak Arkansas, The Charlie Daniels Band, Gregg Allman with then-wife Cher, Edgar Winter and, of course, Lynyrd Skynyrd.
FRI 01:10 Top of the Pops (m000cf28)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 today]
FRI 02:10 Sounds of the 70s 2 (b01kcq0k)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:30 today]
FRI 02:40 BBC Four Sessions (b00byjjd)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:30 today]