Mammals' ability to learn new tricks is the key to survival in the knife-edge world of hunters and hunted. In a TV first, a killer whale off the Falklands does something unique: it sneaks into a pool where elephant seal pups learn to swim and snatches them, saving itself the trouble of hunting in the open sea.
Slow-motion cameras reveal the star-nosed mole's newly-discovered technique for smelling prey underwater: it exhales then inhales a bubble of air ten times per second. Young ibex soon learn the only way to escape a fox - run up an almost vertical cliff face - and young stoats fight mock battles, learning the skills that make them one of the world's most efficient predators.
Exclusive behind-the-scenes series which follows English National ballet on their 60th anniversary and reveals the complexities of staging world class ballet.
The ballet world is traditionally one of poise, serenity and calm, but this raw and enlightening series follows the company over one of its toughest and most dramatic years to date - from the extravagant production of Swan Lake and the battles of Romeo and Juliet to the turbulent creation of a brand new Christmas Nutcracker. Every production must be an artistic and commercial success and the dancers and staff are under increasing pressure to deliver in the present financial climate.
Told through the eyes of the very people who make this physically challenging art form beautiful, this is the revealing truth of the dancers' lives - from injury and exhaustion to accolades and elation. All in the pursuit of perfection.
From the rehearsal room to the boardroom to the magical big night performances - the fruition of months of hard work that make it all worthwhile - it follows the main players within English National Ballet over an industry-defining year. From the dancers to the artistic director via the choreographers and the management behind the scenes, it goes deep inside a modern arts institution.
In the first episode, we follow the production of Swan Lake at the Royal Albert Hall and its enormous cast of new and experienced dancers longing for recognition. When choreographer Derek Deane puts his reputation on the line by casting a talented but inexperienced young dancer with a world-class guest ballerina, the challenge is on. Derek demands absolute perfection, and all the dancers are under pressure to meet his high standards.
Detective story based on a novel by Henning Mankell. Ystad police are baffled when they find the bodies of three friends buried in the woods. Soon afterwards, their own Detective Svedberg is also found dead. First clues point to Svedberg having taken his own life, but soon enough Detective Kurt Wallander discovers a link between his former colleague, the three murder victims and a mysterious fourth person.
Ceramics are where art meets function - one of our oldest and most fundamental art forms, that sits at the centre of our homes. The first film in this three-part series looks at a history of domestic pottery in Britain from Tudor times onwards, tracing the evolution of its different techniques and styles, and examining what our pots can tell us in intimate detail how preceeding generations lived and saw themselves.
Whether it's for celebrating birth, marriage and death (our own or royal), eating and drinking or showing the world our social status, ceramics contain more than just our tea or coffee - they contain something of our lives, our social DNA, and reveal a lot about our taste and habits as a nation. They become, in effect, snapshots in clay.
Contributors include David Attenborough, Edmund de Waal, Grayson Perry, Lucy Worsley, Mary Wondrausch and Elspeth Owen.
BBC FOUR pays tribute to musical maverick John Martyn, who died at the age of 60 on 29th January 2009, with an intimate documentary portrait originally transmitted in 1994. This honest and often blackly hilarious film shows Martyn at home in Ireland, during the lead-up to and aftermath of an operation to have one of his legs amputated below the knee.
Contributors include sometime collaborator and buddy Phil Collins, the late Robert Palmer, Ralph McTell, Island Records founder Chris Blackwell, fellow hellraiser bassist Danny Thompson, John's ex-wife Beverley Martyn and younger generation fan Beth Orton.
We see a man incapable of compromising his creative vision, from his folk club roots in the Sixties, through a career of continuous musical experimentation. Along the way there is a surreal roll-call of accidents and incidents, including a collision with a cow.
Dave Lee Travis introduces Randy Edelman, Sherbet, Tina Charles, Demis Roussos, Can and Jesse Green. Dance sequence by Ruby Flipper.
Filmmaker and former Python Terry Gilliam's smash-hit production of Berlioz's Damnation of Faust for English National Opera has been one of the operatic highlights of 2011. Peter Hoare stars as Faust, with Christopher Purves as Mephistopheles, who propels him on a rollercoaster ride through German history, ending with the rise of Hitler and Faust's inevitable damnation. Edward Gardner conducts the ENO Chorus and Orchestra.
SUNDAY 16 OCTOBER 2011
SUN 19:00 The Lost Genius of British Art: William Dobson (b014vy94)
Has one of Britain's greatest artists been unfairly forgotten? Waldemar Januszczak thinks so. In this documentary, Januszczak argues that the little known 17th-century portrait painter William Dobson was the first English painter of genius.
Dobson's life and times are embedded in one of the most turbulent and significant epochs of British history - the English Civil War. As official court painter to Charles I, the tragic British king later beheaded by Parliament, Dobson had a ringside seat to an period of intense drama and conflict. Based in Oxford, where the court was transferred after Parliament took control of London, Dobson produced an astonishing number of high-quality portraits of royalist supporters, heroes and cavaliers which Januszczak believes are the first true examples of British art. As he puts it in the film: 'Dobson's face should be on our banknotes. His name should be on all our lips.'
The film investigates the few known facts about William Dobson and seeks out the personal stories he left behind as it follows him through his tragically short career. When he died in 1646 - penniless, unemployed and a drunk - Dobson was just 36.
Among the Dobson fans interviewed in the film is Earl Spencer, brother of Princess Diana, who agrees wholeheartedly that William Dobson was the first great British painter.
SUN 20:00 Treasures of Chinese Porcelain (b015sttj)
In November 2010, a Chinese vase unearthed in a suburban semi in Pinner sold at auction for £43 million - a new record for a Chinese work of art. Why are Chinese vases so famous and so expensive? The answer lies in the European obsession with Chinese porcelain that began in the 16th century.
Lars Tharp, the Antiques Roadshow expert and Chinese ceramics specialist, sets out to explore why Chinese porcelain was so valuable then - and still is now. He goes on a journey to parts of China closed to western eyes until relatively recently. Lars travels to the mountainside from which virtually every single Chinese export vase, plate and cup began life in the 18th century - a mountain known as Mount Gaolin, from whose name we get the word kaolin, or china clay. He sees how the china clay was fused with another substance, mica, that would turn it into porcelain.
Carrying his own newly acquired vase, Lars uncovers the secrets of China's porcelain capital, Jingdezhen. He sees how the trade between China and Europe not only changed our idea of what was beautiful - by introducing us to the idea of works of art we could eat off - but also began to affect the whole tradition of Chinese aesthetics too, as the ceramicists of Jingdezhen sought to meet the European demand for porcelain decorated with family coats of arms, battle scenes or even erotica.
The porcelain fever that gripped Britain drove conspicuous consumption and fuelled the Georgian craze for tea parties. Today the new emperors - China's rising millionaire class - are buying back the export wares once shipped to Europe. The vase sold in Pinner shows that the lure of Chinese porcelain is as compelling as ever.
SUN 21:00 The Department Store (b00fvgdq)
JT Morgan
Series in which filmmaker Richard Macer visits the high street independent department stores that are fighting back against the big brands.
The oldest department store in Wales is battling to survive or nearly 80 people will lose their jobs. Macer spent six months at JT Morgan's in Swansea as the shop fought to stay open. They just needed a good Christmas to secure the shop's future, but would they get it?
SUN 22:00 Il Divo (b0164hn5)
Biographical drama telling the story of seven-time prime minister Giulio Andreotti, one of the leading - yet shadiest - figures of post-war Italy.
SUN 23:50 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.
SUN 00:50 Songwriters' Circle (b015swyk)
Series 2
Donovan, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Roger Cook
The third show in this stripped-back acoustic series reunites three influential songwriters hailing from the 1960s, and the result suggests their songs will endure for many decades to come.
There's a strong camaraderie and sense of mutual respect between Donovan, Buffy Sainte-Marie and Roger Cook as they share the stage in the impressive surroundings of London's Porchester Hall.
Donovan, with his trademark green guitar and quirky musings, gives confident renditions from his rich back catalogue, with classics like Mellow Yellow, Sunshine Superman and Catch the Wind, and the others join him in a singalong of Colours.
Buffy Sainte-Marie is hypnotic, whether performing Until It's Time for You to Go, covered most notably by Elvis, or protest song Universal Soldier, a hit for Donovan, or indeed the original version of monster power ballad Up Where We Belong, which achieved such fame when sung by Jennifer Warnes and Joe Cocker as the theme for the film An Officer and a Gentleman.
Ukulele-wielding Roger Cook is a revelation. Bristol-bred and Nashville-settled, his name may be unfamiliar to much of the British audience, but he co-wrote such monster hits as I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing, Crystal Gayle's Talking In Your Sleep and Gene Pitney's Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart.
A nostalgic treat.
SUN 01:50 Treasures of Chinese Porcelain (b015sttj)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 today]
SUN 02:50 The Lost Genius of British Art: William Dobson (b014vy94)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 today]
MONDAY 17 OCTOBER 2011
MON 19:00 World News Today (b0162y5l)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
MON 19:30 Britain's Most Fragile Treasure (b0161dgq)
Historian Dr Janina Ramirez unlocks the secrets of a centuries-old masterpiece in glass. At 78 feet in height, the famous Great East Window at York Minster is the largest medieval stained-glass window in the country and the creative vision of a single artist, a mysterious master craftsman called John Thornton, one of the earliest named English artists.
The Great East Window has been called England's Sistine Chapel. Within its 311 stained-glass panels is the entire history of the world, from the first day to the Last Judgment, and yet it was made 100 years before Michelangelo's own masterpiece. The scale of Thornton's achievement is revealed as Dr Ramirez follows the work of a highly skilled conservation team at York Glaziers Trust. They dismantled the entire window as part of a five-year project to repair centuries of damage and restore it to its original glory.
It is a unique opportunity for Dr Ramirez to examine Thornton's greatest work at close quarters, to discover details that would normally be impossible to see and to reveal exactly how medieval artists made images of such delicacy and complexity using the simplest of tools.
The Great East Window of York Minster is far more than a work of artistic genius, it is a window into the medieval world and mind, telling us who we once were and who we still are, all preserved in the most fragile medium of all.
MON 20:30 Only Connect (b0162y9z)
Series 5
Rowers vs Listeners
A team of rowers encounter three fans of the Listener crossword in the second of the quarter-finals. They compete to draw together the connections between things which, at first glance, seem utterly random, from Steiff to Veuve Clicquot to Deutsche Grammophon to Boddingtons.
MON 21:00 Ceramics: A Fragile History (b0162yb1)
The Age of Wedgwood
This second film charts the rags to riches-to-rags epic of Stoke-on-Trent, a city built on clay and the heart of Britain's once world-beating ceramics empire. On the back of the 17th century phenomenon of tea, pottery in Britain exploded into a cutting-edge industry and a source of enormous national pride.
We meet the key characters responsible for putting British ceramic art on the map: from Josiah Wedgwood, innovator, artist and marketing genius, and Josiah Spode (who made it his life's work to invent a British version of Chinese porcelain and came up, aged 60, with bone china, which revolutionised the industry) to the great 20th century ceramicists Clarice Cliff and Susie Cooper.
We see how demands for cheap labour since the 1980s have forced the closure of all but a handful of these great factories, leaving Stoke's crumbling overgrown ruins as our Pompeii.
Contributors include AN Wilson, Neil Brownsword, Lucy Worsley, Miranda Goodby, Emmanuel Cooper and Matthew Rice.
MON 22:00 Colouring Light: Brian Clarke - An Artist Apart (b0162yc0)
Brian Clarke is one of Britain's hidden treasures. A painter of striking large canvases and the designer of some of the most exciting stained glass in the world today, he is better known abroad - especially in Germany and Switzerland - than in his own country and more widely recognised among critics, collectors and gallery owners than he is by the general public.
In this visually striking documentary portrait made by award-winning film-maker Mark Kidel, Clarke returns to Lancashire where he grew up as a prodigy in a working class family and charts his meteoric rise during the punk years and eventual success as a stained glass artist working with some of the world's great architects, including Norman Foster and Arata Isozaki - and producing spectacular work in Japan, Brazil, the USA and Europe.
Contributors include his close friend and architect Zaha Hadid, architect Peter Cook and art historian Martin Harrison.
MON 23:00 imagine... (b00sz455)
Summer 2010
Growing Old Disgracefully
To celebrate the life of editor and author Diana Athill, who has died at the age at 101, another opportunity to see an Imagine documentary first broadcast in 2010.
At the age of 92 Diana Athill was suddenly a celebrity. Her frank and entertaining memoirs, mainly written after the age at which most people retire, charted a life less ordinary. She'd had a string of love affairs, mainly with married, black and/or younger men; enjoyed fifty years of success as an editor, worked with writers as distinguished as Jean Rhys, Molly Keane, Norman Mailer and VS Naipaul; and led a privileged childhood in a Norfolk mansion.
When Alan Yentob met her, she had recently chosen to go into an old people's home, where they take people 'who have had interesting lives'. They discussed her life, her work - and her outspoken thoughts on death
MON 00:00 The Gene Code (b010p5ng)
Unlocking the Code
Dr Adam Rutherford takes the viewer on a rollercoaster ride as he explores the consequences of one of the biggest scientific projects of all time - the decoding of the entire human genome in 2000. Adam shows how decoding the genome has led us to begin to understand the very process by which our DNA makes us different; how it makes each one of us on earth unique and influences who we are and the traits we have. He reveals how, as we try and understand the relationship between who we are and our genes, we stand at the beginning of the most exciting scientific journey of all time.
MON 01:00 Horizon (b00x7cb3)
What Makes Us Clever? A Horizon Guide to Intelligence
Dallas Campbell delves into the Horizon archive to discover how our understanding of intelligence has transformed over the last century. From early caveman thinkers to computers doing the thinking for us, he discovers the best ways of testing how clever we are - and enhancing it.
MON 02:00 Only Connect (b0162y9z)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:30 today]
MON 02:30 Colouring Light: Brian Clarke - An Artist Apart (b0162yc0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:00 today]
MON 03:30 Ceramics: A Fragile History (b0162yb1)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
TUESDAY 18 OCTOBER 2011
TUE 19:00 World News Today (b0162z99)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
TUE 19:30 Return to Pembrokeshire Farm (b00n1lvz)
Episode 2
Griff Rhys Jones continues with phase two of the restoration of his farm in Pembrokeshire. Work on the derelict miller's cottage is progressing well, but across the lane there is trouble at the mill, as Griff's plans meet local objections.
Meanwhile, Griff takes on another very unusual restoration project.
TUE 20:00 Britain's Best Drives (b00j8cpm)
The Wye Valley and Forest of Dean
Actor Richard Wilson takes a journey into the past, following routes raved about in motoring guides of 50 years ago.
Using an Austin Cambridge to explore an area that claims to be the birthplace of British tourism, Richard learns about life before the Severn Bridge, finds out why thousands of tourists flocked to the Wye Valley in search of the 'picturesque' and discovers how ancient customs are still practised in the medieval Forest of Dean, with his trip culminating at a renowned viewpoint.
TUE 20:30 Regimental Stories (b015sl43)
The Coldstream Guards
Formed to fight against the monarchy during the English Civil War, the Coldstream Guards now serve as a bodyguard to the Queen. This film reveals how their history continues to motivate them to this day.
TUE 21:00 Kennedy Home Movies (b0124y50)
For generations, the Kennedy family held America and the whole world in thrall. The entire clan - grandparents, parents, children and grandchildren - were part of a dynasty JFK's father had planned would last forever.
But as tragedy struck again and again, the children would have to cope with death and disaster.
Based on private home movies and the memoirs of the nannies who looked after them, this is the inside story of growing up in one of the twentieth century's most powerful families.
TUE 22:00 The Culture Show (b0125gf8)
The Kennedys: A Culture Show Special
In the 50th anniversary year of the inauguration of John F Kennedy as President of the United States, Jonathan Freedland chairs a discussion on our enduring fascination with the man, his short-lived administration and the extraordinary political family from which he came.
Historian Professor Tony Badger, veteran newsman John Sergeant, political commentator Anne McElvoy and Sarah Bradford, biographer of Jackie Kennedy, debate the myths and the realities of JFK as well as the controversies surrounding the American mini-series The Kennedys.
In an accompanying short film, Joel Surnow, executive producer of The Kennedys, talks about the making the mini-series and the controversy that engulfed it.
TUE 23:00 JFK: The Making of Modern Politics (b00w8cjq)
On both sides of the Atlantic, John F Kennedy continues to be invoked by today's politicians in the hope that some of his magic might rub off on them. But, 50 years since Kennedy's election, Andrew Marr asks whether JFK's legacy has tarnished politics ever since.
Andrew examines in detail exactly what Kennedy stood for, and how the candidate got that message across. He goes in search of the substance that has long been obscured by the fascination with the Kennedy style.
He also examines how Kennedy embodied the hopes of a nation, and asks whether modern politics demands inspirational leaders rather than politicians bogged down in the details. Kennedy's soaring rhetoric set a high standard that people today yearn for politicians to reach.
TUE 00:00 Regimental Stories (b015sl43)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:30 today]
TUE 00:30 Return to Pembrokeshire Farm (b00n1lvz)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:30 today]
TUE 01:00 Ceramics: A Fragile History (b0162yb1)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Monday]
TUE 02:00 Colouring Light: Brian Clarke - An Artist Apart (b0162yc0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:00 on Monday]
TUE 03:00 Britain's Best Drives (b00j8cpm)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 today]
TUE 03:30 Regimental Stories (b015sl43)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:30 today]
WEDNESDAY 19 OCTOBER 2011
WED 19:00 World News Today (b0162zbv)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
WED 19:30 Timeshift (b00xf6xk)
Series 10
The Modern Age of the Coach
Documentary which brings the story of the coach up to date, as it explores the most recent phase of Britain's love affair with group travel on four wheels - from school trips and football away-days to touring with bands and 'magic bus' overland treks to India.
The establishment of the National Coach Company may have standardised the livery and the experience of mainstream coach travel in the 1970s, but a multitude of alternative offerings meant the coach retained its hold on the public imagination, with even striking miners and New Age travellers getting in on a very British act.
WED 20:30 Timothy Spall: Somewhere at Sea (b00sfsqy)
Race Against the Tide
Three-part documentary series featuring one of Britain's best loved actors, Timothy Spall, as he and his wife sail from to Cornwall to south Wales in a Dutch barge.
In the concluding leg, having navigated the Princess Matilda around the dangerous waters of Land's End and into the relative calm of the port of St Ives, Tim is still troubled. He now has to negotiate some of the most extreme tides in Britain as he plans his route through the Bristol Channel. Not only that, but it occurs to him that his anchor is faulty as he and Shane discover the delights of nearby Padstow, which attracts a million visitors a year for its seafood and other local attractions.
From Padstow, Timothy and Shane moor overnight at Watchet in Somerset, but first have to navigate its notoriously difficult approach, and as they are behind schedule they have to cope with this in the dark. They eventually complete this task with only a few bumps and bruises and then make it over to the Cardiff Barrage and nearby Penarth Marina for the winter.
WED 21:00 Holy Flying Circus (b0162zbx)
In 1979, Monty Python made Life of Brian and the debate about what is an acceptable subject for comedy was blown wide open. This is a fantastical re-imagining of the build-up to the release of the film and the controversy it caused.
WED 22:30 Friday Night, Saturday Morning (b016bgt2)
Series 1
Episode 7
Talk show, hosted by Tim Rice and featuring a discussion about Monty Python's Life of Brian, which had been banned by local councils and caused protests. Guests are John Cleese, Michael Palin, Malcolm Muggeridge, the bishop of Southwark Arthur Stockwood, Norris McWhirter and Paul Jones and the Blues Band.
WED 23:35 Timeshift (b0155fss)
Series 11
Dear Censor
Lifting the lid on the world of cinema censorship, this programme has unique access to the files of the British Board of Film Classification. Featuring explicit and detailed exchanges between the censor and film-makers, 'Dear Censor' casts a wry eye over some of the most infamous cases in the history of the board.
From the now seemingly innocuous Rebel Without a Cause, the first 'naturist' films and the infamous works of Ken Russell, and up to Rambo III, this frank and surprisingly warm documentary demonstrates how a body created by the industry to safeguard standards and reflect shifts in public opinion has also worked unexpectedly closely with the film-makers themselves to ensure that their work was able reach an audience.
WED 00:35 Il Divo (b0164hn5)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:00 on Sunday]
WED 02:25 Holy Flying Circus (b0162zbx)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
THURSDAY 20 OCTOBER 2011
THU 19:00 World News Today (b0162zfp)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
THU 19:30 Top of the Pops (b01692kw)
07/10/76
Jimmy Savile introduces Pussycat, T Rex, Paul Nicholas, Smokie, Rick Dees and His Cast of Idiots, the Manhattans and Abba. Dance sequence by Ruby Flipper.
THU 20:00 Kennedy Home Movies (b0124y50)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Tuesday]
THU 21:00 Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity (p00kjqcv)
Revelations and Revolutions
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.
Electricity is not just something that creates heat and light, it connects the world through networks and broadcasting. After centuries of man's experiments with electricity, the final episode tells the story of how a new age of real understanding dawned - how we discovered electric fields and electromagnetic waves. Today we can hardly imagine life without electricity - it defines our era. As our understanding of it has increased so has our reliance upon it, and today we are on the brink of a new breakthrough, because if we can understand the secret of electrical superconductivity, we could once again transform the world.
THU 22:00 The Secret Life of the National Grid (b00vtydr)
Pulling the Plug
Miners, nuclear scientists, politicians, environmentalists and even the City have all wrestled for control of the national electricity grid and the power that it has brought.
The final film in this history of the grid charts how it has been the battleground for conflicts that have changed and shaped Britain. Key players from the miners' strikes reveal why the industrial action of the 70s and 80s had such different impacts on electricity supply. The film also uncovers how Britain lost her lead in the field of nuclear power.
Contributors include former conservative cabinet minister Lord Jenkin, author Will Self and veterans of all the different fuels. They examine the cost of our love affair with power and consider the perils of life without it.
THU 23:00 Top of the Pops (b01692kw)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:30 today]
THU 23:30 Holy Flying Circus (b0162zbx)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Wednesday]
THU 01:00 Wallander (b00wvbsw)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Saturday]
THU 02:35 Top of the Pops (b01692kw)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:30 today]
THU 03:05 Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity (p00kjqcv)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
FRIDAY 21 OCTOBER 2011
FRI 19:00 World News Today (b016300m)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
FRI 19:30 Light Fantastic (b0167fkh)
Petroc Trelawny introduces a concert of the very best in light music to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Festival of Britain. John Wilson, the modern champion of light music, conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra with great panache in a concert from London's South Bank, including works by Eric Coates, Edward German and Robert Farnon.
FRI 21:10 Songwriters' Circle (b016300r)
Series 2
Neil Finn, Janis Ian, Ryan Adams
The final concert in this series of the songwriters' show sees Kiwi favourite Neil Finn joined on stage by American legend Janis Ian and alt-country poster boy Ryan Adams.
Finn genially guides proceedings, with songs that sound like old friends pulled from different phases in his career - Crowded House favourites Distant Sun and Don't Dream It's Over are mixed with Split Enz's She Will Have Her Way and Golden Child, a new song written with his wife Sharon about their kids flying the nest.
Janis Ian has been writing songs since she was 12 years old and on this evidence she is still at the top of her game. Her intelligent lyrics, by turns introspective and socially-engaged, are couched in lovely melodies and her guitar playing is a delight, from the jazzy Bright Lights and Promises to her evergreen classic At Seventeen.
Ryan Adams crouches over his distinctive striped guitar and delivers a series of exquisitely mournful songs, from debut solo album Heartbreaker's Oh My Sweet Carolina (helped by gorgeous harmonies from his compadres) to Invisible Riverside from his album Ashes and Fire.
Quickly-rehearsed collaborative moments bring new textures to familiar tunes, and there is banter aplenty between the three artists, resulting in some hugely enjoyable digressions, with surreal spontaneously created 'songs', the whole thing rounded off with an ensemble version of Finn's Weather with You.
FRI 22:20 Singer-Songwriters at the BBC (b016300t)
Series 2
Episode 4
The celebration of the singing songwriting troubadours of the 1960s and 70s concludes with a further trawl through the BBC archives for timeless and classic performances.
Starting things off, a 23-year-old Bob Dylan performing on the BBC's Tonight programme in 1964. On It's Lulu from 1971, 'Bisto Kid' lookalike singer-songwriter Gilbert O'Sullivan, while from a concert in 1970 buddies Graham Nash and David Crosby perform Nash's Marrakesh Express. Londoner Labi Siffre makes an appearance from the archives, as does fellow English songwriter Michael Chapman.
From the Old Grey Whistle Test in 1976, Gil Scott-Heron performs alongside his band and life-long collaborator Brian Jackson, and the musician's musician Roy Harper performs One of Those Days in England with a full band on The Old Grey Whistle Test. Grammy award winner Janis Ian performs Tea and Sympathy and, to round things off, a rare sighting of Kate Bush performing on The Leo Sayer Show in 1978.
FRI 23:20 Neil Young: Don't Be Denied (b00f815m)
Neil Young grants rare and unprecedented access to the BBC for a documentary in which he traces his musical journey in his own words.
The film was made from three hours of interview shot in New York and California, and uses previously unseen performance footage from the star's own extensive archives. It also features cohorts Stephen Stills, Graham Nash, David Crosby, Nils Lofgren and James Taylor.
From his early transcontinental American quest for recognition, through the first flush of success with Buffalo Springfield, to the bi-polar opposites of mega-stardom with Crosby, Stills and Nash and the soulful rock of Crazy Horse, Young's career has enjoyed many guises.
Perhaps his most famous period was as a 1970s solo artist making albums that became benchmarks. After The Goldrush, recorded in his Topanga Canyon home, and Harvest, part-recorded on his northern Californian ranch, saw Young explore the confessional side of song-writing. But never one to rest on his laurels, he would continually change direction.
In the mid-seventies, two of Young's closest friends died as a result of heroin abuse. What followed was music's answer to cinema verite, with Tonight's The Night a spine-chilling wake for his dead friends.
As New Wave arrived, Young was keen to explore new ideas. A collaboration with Devo on what became his art-house epic, Human Highway, saw the genesis of Rust Never Sleeps, a requiem for the seventies.
In the eighties, Young explored different genres, from electronica to country, and in recent times he has returned to Crazy Horse and Crosby, Stills and Nash, but only when it has suited him.
The film ends with Young still refusing to be denied, on tour in the USA with CSNY, playing anti-Bush songs to a Republican audience in the South.
FRI 00:20 In Concert (b0074t8p)
Neil Young
First shown in 1971 and featuring the Canadian singer-songwriter on guitar, harmonica and piano, this in-studio concert features many of what he describes as new songs that were eventually to feature on his classic album Harvest, including Heart of Gold, A Man Needs a Maid and Old Man.
FRI 00:50 Songwriters' Circle (b016300r)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:10 today]
FRI 02:00 Singer-Songwriters at the BBC (b016300t)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:20 today]
FRI 03:00 Light Fantastic (b0167fkh)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:30 today]
LIST OF THIS WEEK'S PROGRAMMES
(Note: the times link back to the details; the pids link to the BBC page, including iPlayer)
Agony & Ecstasy: A Year with English National Ballet
20:00 SAT (b00z8tp8)
Agony & Ecstasy: A Year with English National Ballet
03:15 SAT (b00z8tp8)
Britain's Best Drives
20:00 TUE (b00j8cpm)
Britain's Best Drives
03:00 TUE (b00j8cpm)
Britain's Most Fragile Treasure
19:30 MON (b0161dgq)
Ceramics: A Fragile History
22:35 SAT (b015ssf2)
Ceramics: A Fragile History
21:00 MON (b0162yb1)
Ceramics: A Fragile History
03:30 MON (b0162yb1)
Ceramics: A Fragile History
01:00 TUE (b0162yb1)
Colouring Light: Brian Clarke - An Artist Apart
22:00 MON (b0162yc0)
Colouring Light: Brian Clarke - An Artist Apart
02:30 MON (b0162yc0)
Colouring Light: Brian Clarke - An Artist Apart
02:00 TUE (b0162yc0)
Friday Night, Saturday Morning
22:30 WED (b016bgt2)
Holy Flying Circus
21:00 WED (b0162zbx)
Holy Flying Circus
02:25 WED (b0162zbx)
Holy Flying Circus
23:30 THU (b0162zbx)
Horizon
01:00 MON (b00x7cb3)
Il Divo
22:00 SUN (b0164hn5)
Il Divo
00:35 WED (b0164hn5)
In Concert
00:20 FRI (b0074t8p)
JFK: The Making of Modern Politics
23:00 TUE (b00w8cjq)
John Martyn: Johnny Too Bad
23:35 SAT (b0074q8g)
Kennedy Home Movies
21:00 TUE (b0124y50)
Kennedy Home Movies
20:00 THU (b0124y50)
Life
19:00 SAT (b00p1n00)
Light Fantastic
19:30 FRI (b0167fkh)
Light Fantastic
03:00 FRI (b0167fkh)
Neil Young: Don't Be Denied
23:20 FRI (b00f815m)
Only Connect
20:30 MON (b0162y9z)
Only Connect
02:00 MON (b0162y9z)
Regimental Stories
20:30 TUE (b015sl43)
Regimental Stories
00:00 TUE (b015sl43)
Regimental Stories
03:30 TUE (b015sl43)
Return to Pembrokeshire Farm
19:30 TUE (b00n1lvz)
Return to Pembrokeshire Farm
00:30 TUE (b00n1lvz)
Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity
21:00 THU (p00kjqcv)
Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity
03:05 THU (p00kjqcv)
Singer-Songwriters at the BBC
23:50 SUN (b015swyr)
Singer-Songwriters at the BBC
22:20 FRI (b016300t)
Singer-Songwriters at the BBC
02:00 FRI (b016300t)
Songwriters' Circle
00:50 SUN (b015swyk)
Songwriters' Circle
21:10 FRI (b016300r)
Songwriters' Circle
00:50 FRI (b016300r)
Terry Gilliam's Faust
01:05 SAT (b015swyf)
The Culture Show
22:00 TUE (b0125gf8)
The Department Store
21:00 SUN (b00fvgdq)
The Gene Code
00:00 MON (b010p5ng)
The Lost Genius of British Art: William Dobson
19:00 SUN (b014vy94)
The Lost Genius of British Art: William Dobson
02:50 SUN (b014vy94)
The Secret Life of the National Grid
22:00 THU (b00vtydr)
Timeshift
19:30 WED (b00xf6xk)
Timeshift
23:35 WED (b0155fss)
Timothy Spall: Somewhere at Sea
20:30 WED (b00sfsqy)
Top of the Pops
00:35 SAT (b015zp7k)
Top of the Pops
19:30 THU (b01692kw)
Top of the Pops
23:00 THU (b01692kw)
Top of the Pops
02:35 THU (b01692kw)
Treasures of Chinese Porcelain
20:00 SUN (b015sttj)
Treasures of Chinese Porcelain
01:50 SUN (b015sttj)
Wallander
21:00 SAT (b00wvbsw)
Wallander
01:00 THU (b00wvbsw)
World News Today
19:00 MON (b0162y5l)
World News Today
19:00 TUE (b0162z99)
World News Today
19:00 WED (b0162zbv)
World News Today
19:00 THU (b0162zfp)
World News Today
19:00 FRI (b016300m)
imagine...
23:00 MON (b00sz455)