B4

RADIO-LISTS: BBC FOUR
Unofficial Weekly Listings for BBC 4 — supported by bbc.co.uk/programmes/

SATURDAY 12 NOVEMBER 2011

SAT 19:00 The Wonder of Weeds (b01224kv)
Blue Peter gardener Chris Collins celebrates the humble and sometimes hated plants we call weeds. He discovers that there is no such thing as a weed, botanically speaking, and that in fact what we call a weed has changed again and again over the last three hundred years. Chris uncovers the story of our changing relationship with weeds - in reality, the story of the battle between wilderness and civilisation. He finds out how weeds have been seen as beautiful and useful in the past, and sees how their secrets are being unlocked today in order to transform our crops.

Finally, Chris asks whether, in our quest to eliminate Japanese Knotweed or Rhododendron Ponticum, we are really engaged in an arms race we can never win. We remove weeds from our fields and gardens at our peril.

SAT 20:00 Wellington Bomber (b00tr2p5)
One autumn weekend, early in WWII at an aircraft factory at Broughton in North Wales, a group of British workers, men and women, set out to smash a world record for building a bomber from scratch. They managed to build a Wellington Bomber in 23 hours and 50 minutes. They worked so quickly that the test pilot had to be turfed out of bed to take it into the air, 24 hours and 48 minutes after the first part of the airframe had been laid.

So who were the men and women who made this record-breaking Wellington? Britain's propaganda machine made a 12-minute film about the attempt and Peter Williams Television has traced six of them, one of whom, Bill Anderson, was only 14 years old. Their story of the excitement of the attempt is the heart of this documentary.

The Wellington was a special aircraft, as historian Sir Max Hastings says. It was held in great affection by those who flew it, mostly because its geodetic construction enabled it to survive enormous damage, as Flt Lt 'Tiny' Cooling remembers. He flew 67 missions in Wellingtons.

More Wellingtons were built during WWII than any other British aircraft, except the Spitfire and the Hurricane, the stars of the Battle of Britain. And, unwittingly, the Wellington, Britain's main strike bomber, played an important role in the Battle of Britain, as this documentary reveals.

SAT 21:00 Wallander (b00x792p)
The Pyramid

Crime thriller based on a novel by Henning Mankell.

Detective Wallander is haunted by the spectre of a murder he was unable to prevent as a young policeman. Years after the event, the daughter of the murder victim, now a heroin addict, dies of an overdose.

A distressed Wallander is assigned to investigate the crash of a light airplane and a detonated armour piercing shell is found in the wreckage. A few days later, two elderly sisters are killed in an explosion in a sewing supplies shop. Traces of an advanced explosive are found in the burnt-out shop and evidence soon mounts to indicate that both events are tied to a showdown between two rival narcotics gangs.

SAT 22:30 The Slap (b0170bmb)
Harry

For Harry, the pressure is on as a result of 'The Slap' and he stands to lose everything he has - his business, his family and his friends all come under scrutiny. And all the time violent thoughts keep entering his head. Will Harry succumb to them?

SAT 23:25 The Secret Life of Ice (b016fpyy)
Ice is one of the strangest, most beguiling and mesmerising substances in the world. Full of contradictions, it is transparent, yet it can glow with colour, it is powerful enough to shatter rock, but it can melt in the blink of an eye. It takes many shapes, from the fleeting beauty of a snowflake to the multimillion-tonne vastness of a glacier and the eeriness of the ice fountains of far-flung moons.

Science writer Dr Gabrielle Walker has been obsessed with ice ever since she first set foot on Arctic sea ice. In this programme, she searches out some of the secrets hidden deep within the ice crystal to try to discover how something so ephemeral has the power to sculpt landscapes, to preserve our past and inform our future.

SAT 00:25 Wellington Bomber (b00tr2p5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]

SAT 01:25 The Late Show (b0176knp)
Nirvana

Music and arts magazine programme presented by Tracey MacLeod, with items on American rock including: Pearl Jam - Alive; Belly - Gepetto; Jane's Addiction - Been Caught Stealing; Dinosaur Jr - Get Me; Sonic Youth - Drunken Butterfly; REM - Half a World Away; Screaming Trees - Dollar Bill; Sugar - Helpless; Rage Against the Machine - Bullet in the Head; and Smashing Pumpkins - Rhinoceros.

SAT 02:10 Seven Ages of Rock (b007r4t0)
Left of the Dial: US Alternative Rock

The rock marathon continues with the story of the contrasting fates of two of America's biggest, most authentic bands: Nirvana and REM and the hidden links between them that almost saved the life of troubled Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain.

In 1991, Nirvana's Nevermind album launched the 'grunge' explosion that put the Seattle music scene on the map and gave a voice to the alienated youth pushed to one side by the Reagan revolution. But Cobain was a reluctant idol who struggled to cope with his new status and his band's growing mainstream appeal. Nirvana had their roots in the underground and college music scene pioneered by bands like REM and Pixies and this programme tells how REM also ended up gravitating towards Seattle, where a friendship developed between lead singer Michael Stipe and Cobain.

In the end it was not enough to save Cobain, who killed himself in 1994, but his triumph and tragedy continues to cast a powerful shadow over the whole of rock.

SAT 03:10 The Wonder of Weeds (b01224kv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]

SUNDAY 13 NOVEMBER 2011

SUN 19:00 The Story of British Pathé (b013rl1w)
The Voice of Pathé

For more than half a century, the film and newsreel company British Pathé documented almost every aspect of life - the remarkable and the run-of-the mill, the extraordinary and the everyday.

The company's output really came into its own during the Second World War, when the distinctively clipped and relentlessly chipper commentaries by its announcer Bob Danvers-Walker provided stirring encouragement during the Blitz - and offered authoritative advice on how housewives struggling to feed their families on the ration could overcome privation and to 'make do and mend'.

As this programme reveals, for generations of cinemagoers it was the voice of British Pathé that expressed the values and the spirit of Britain.

SUN 20:00 Spitfire Women (b00tw1m1)
During World War II, a remarkable band of female pilots fought against all odds for the right to aid the war effort. Without these Spitfire Women, the war may never have been won.

These trailblazers were part of the Air Transport Auxiliary, a thousand-strong organisation that delivered aircraft to the frontline RAF during Britain's darkest hours. Every day, responsibility fell on their shoulders to get the planes to the fighters, which often pushed them into dangerous and even deadly situations.

Using interviews with the last few surviving veterans, archive footage and dramatic reconstruction, this documentary brings to life the forgotten story of the ATA. The resilience of these women in the face of open discrimination is one of the most inspiring and overlooked milestones in women's rights. Their story is one of courage, sexism and patriotism, but above all a story about women who want to break the confines of the world they live in and reach for the skies.

SUN 21:00 World War Two: 1941 and the Man of Steel (b011wh1g)
Marking the 70th anniversary of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, historian Professor David Reynolds reassesses Stalin's role in the life and death struggle between Germany and Russia in World War Two, which, he argues, was ultimately more critical for British survival than 'Our Finest Hour' in the Battle of Britain itself.

The name Stalin means 'man of steel', but Reynolds's penetrating account reveals how the reality of Stalin's war in 1941 did not live up to that name. Travelling to Russian battlefield locations, he charts how Russia was almost annihilated within a few months as Stalin lurched from crisis to crisis, coming close to a nervous breakdown.

Reynolds shows how Stalin learnt to compromise in order to win, listening to his generals and downplaying communist ideology to appeal instead to the Russian people's nationalist fighting spirit. He also squares up to the terrible moral dilemma at the heart of World War Two. Using original telegrams and official documents, he looks afresh at Winston Churchill's controversial visit to Moscow in 1942 and re-examines how Britain and America were drawn into alliance with Stalin, a dictator almost as murderous as the Nazi enemy.

SUN 22:30 War Requiem (b0179vzm)
Film with no spoken dialogue which follows the music and lyrics of Benjamin Britten's War Requiem and includes Wilfred Owen's poems reflecting the horrors of war. It portrays the story of an English soldier, Owen, and a nurse (his bride) during World War I, and includes footage from World War II and wars in Vietnam and Angola.

SUN 00:00 Symphony (b0170bm6)
Beethoven and Beyond

Simon Russell Beale continues his journey into the world of the symphony with the story of the revolutionary later symphonies of Ludwig van Beethoven and their phenomenal impact. We also meet Franz Schubert, whose two greatest symphonies were only discovered after his tragic early death, the obsessive French Romantic Hector Berlioz and the flamboyant pianist turned composer Franz Liszt. The music is performed by the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Halle, conducted by Sir Mark Elder.

SUN 01:00 The Story of British Pathé (b013rl1w)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]

SUN 02:00 World War Two: 1941 and the Man of Steel (b011wh1g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]

MONDAY 14 NOVEMBER 2011

MON 19:00 World News Today (b017755p)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.

MON 19:30 Stephen Fry in America (b00f2dfv)
New World

Stephen Fry was very nearly an American. Just before Stephen was born, his father was offered a job at Princeton University, but chose to turn it down.

And so, Stephen was born in NW3 rather than in NJ, New Jersey.

In this six-part series he travels, mostly in a London cab, through all 50 states of the country that he could have nearly called home and which has always fascinated him.

In this first episode, he explores the states that make up New England, before heading south to the nation's capital and ending up at the civil war battlefield of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania.

Presidential hopefuls in New Hampshire, witches in Salem, nuclear submariners in Connecticut, deer hunters, small time mobsters in NYC, socialites in Rhode Island, lobster fishermen in Maine, ice cream blenders in Vermont and card washers in New Jersey - Stephen meets them all as he takes the road through the autumn colours to uncover what really makes America tick.

MON 20:30 Only Connect (b017bcdh)
Specials

Children in Need Special: Great Believers vs Free Speakers

Victoria Coren hosts a very special celebrity edition of the quiz where, as in life itself, knowledge will only take you so far and where patience and lateral thinking are also vital.

In this Pudsey Special, two teams of clever celebrities prepare to lose their dignity in honour of Children in Need. The cunning wiles of the Great Believers (Nick Hornby, Dame Joan Bakewell and John Lloyd) take on the combined brains of the Free Speakers (Ian Hislop, Simon Singh and John Sessions).

So join Victoria if you want to know what connects Erté, Hergé, Jeep and Esso.

MON 21:00 Art of America (b017755r)
Looking for Paradise

In the first episode of a series exploring the history of American art, Andrew Graham-Dixon embarks on an epic journey from east to west, following in the footsteps of the pioneers who built the foundations of modern America.

During his journey, he travels to Massachusetts to see the earliest portraits in America depicting the Puritan settlers and visits Pennsylvania to uncover the dark truth behind Benjamin West's most famous painting, the spectacular Treaty of Penn with the Indians. In Philadelphia, he turns the pages of one of the world's most expensive books - John James Audubon's exquisite Birds of America, and explores the wilderness that inspired America's greatest landscape painter, Thomas Cole.

He also uncovers the paradox at the heart of America: that progress and innovation have come at a tragic price, the destruction of the unique cultural heritage of Native Americans by European settlers.

Andrew's journey takes us to the end of the 19th century and the announcement that the era of westward expansion was officially over.

MON 22:00 Storyville (b0179w3m)
The Billion Dollar Art Heist

Documentary which chronicles the long and dramatic struggle for control of the Barnes Foundation, a private art collection valued at more than $25bn. In 1922, Dr Albert C Barnes formed a remarkable educational institution around his priceless collection of art, located just five miles outside of Philadelphia. Now, more than 50 years after Barnes's death, a powerful group of moneyed interests have gone to court for control of the art, intending to bring it to a new museum in Philadelphia. Standing in their way is a group of Barnes's former students and his will, which contains strict instructions stating the foundation should always be an educational institution and that the paintings may never be removed. Will politics prevail over a man's dying wishes?

MON 23:30 The Man Who Forged America (b0074pg9)
When US police investigated a double murder in the 1980s, they had no idea they were about to uncover the most daring trail of forgery and deception America had ever seen.

Mark Hofmann dared to forge on a level previously undreamt of as he manufactured historic documents at the core of the American constitution and history. And he fooled everyone - the FBI, the CIA, the Library of Congress, even the best forensic experts in the world and his own wife.

Hofmann's story begins in Salt Lake City and a growing hatred of the Mormon church - a hatred which would lead him to his first criminal acts designed to dupe a society only too willing to believe tall tales. And it's a perfect training ground for his ultimate goal - to make a fortune and fool America itself. Ultimately however, his ambition turns to murder.

MON 00:30 Only Connect (b017bcdh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]

MON 01:00 Stephen Fry in America (b00f2dfv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]

MON 02:00 Spitfire Women (b00tw1m1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Sunday]

MON 03:00 Art of America (b017755r)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]

TUESDAY 15 NOVEMBER 2011

TUE 19:00 World News Today (b017758l)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.

TUE 19:30 Johnny Kingdom's Year with the Birds (b00vzz1g)
Episode 3

Johnny Kingdom, gravedigger-turned-amateur filmmaker spends a year recording the bird life in and around his home on his beloved Exmoor.

Johnny has spent three years creating a wildlife habitat on his 52-acre patch of land on the edge of Exmoor. He's been busy nailing nest boxes on tree trunks, planting a wildflower meadow, dredging his pond, putting up remote cameras and wiring them up to a viewing station in his cabin on the land - all the time hoping against hope that not only will he attract new wildlife but also that he will be able to film it.

He is turning his attention to the bird life, hoping to follow some of the species he finds near his home and on his land, across the seasons. We see the transitions from the lovely autumn mists of the oak wood, through the sparkling snow-clad landscape of a north Devon winter, into spring's woodland carpet of bluebells and finally the golden glow of early summer.

The bulk of the series is from Johnny's own camera. Don't expect the Natural History Unit - instead expect passion, enthusiasm, humour and an exuberant love of the landscape and its wildlife.

As spring moves into summer, Johnny is relieved to find a healthy brood of wren chicks and heartened to see that some adults did survive the cold winter. He is thrilled with his footage of swallow chicks, but now faces the challenges of getting close-up shots of the woodpecker chicks and finding a pair of barn owls to film.

Johnny's old friend Bob tries to help out with the woodpecker chicks by fixing a camera on a long pole and Johnny returns to one of his old hides in an attempt to film owl chicks. While Bob's camera brings mixed results, the owl footage is an overwhelming success.

TUE 20:00 Stephen Fry in America (b00f5sy7)
Deep South

Stephen Fry was very nearly an American. Just before Stephen was born, his father was offered a job at Princeton University but turned it down. As a result, Stephen was born in NW3 rather than in NJ, New Jersey. In this six-part series he travels, mostly in a London cab, through all 50 states of the country that he could have nearly called home and which has always fascinated him.

Stephen explores what it is that makes the south so distinctive. He joins coal miners deep underground in West Virginia, meets a young man with the state of Kentucky tattooed on his butt, enjoys a delirious session of bluegrass music-making in Tennessee, has an encounter with a bear in the Smokey Mountains, ascends in a balloon above North Carolina, learns the language of slaves in South Carolina, is invited into a Georgian family's Old Plantation house to join their Thanksgiving celebrations (and has an unfortunate encounter with a horse), fails as a dancing escort in Florida and is moved by two very different events in Alabama: a parole board's deliberations and the extraordinary hoopla of a college ball game, complete with air-force jets.

TUE 21:00 Rick Stein Tastes the Blues (b017758n)
Ever since the early 1960s, Rick Stein has been in love with the blues and years later he is fascinated by the dishes ingrained in its lyrics - fried chicken and turnip greens, catfish and black-eyed peas, and the rest. In this film, Rick pays homage to the musicians who created this music and to the great dishes of the Mississippi Delta that go hand in hand with the blues.

TUE 22:00 Storyville (b0179wbx)
Client 9 - The Call Girl and the Governor

Dubbed the Sheriff of Wall Street, Eliot Spitzer made his name as New York's attorney general, prosecuting criminal activity by America's largest financial institutions and some of the most powerful businessmen in the country. When he was then elected New York governor with the largest margin in the state's history, many believed Spitzer was on his way to becoming the nation's first Jewish president.

Then, shockingly, his meteoric rise turned into a precipitous fall when the New York Times revealed that Spitzer - a paragon of rectitude - had been seeing prostitutes. With unprecedented access to the escort world as well as friends, colleagues and enemies of the ex-governor, Academy Award-winning director Alex Gibney explores the hidden contours of this tale of hubris, sex and power.

TUE 23:30 Arena (b0078n9c)
Buffalo Bill's Wild West: How the Myth Was Made

The western movie, the cowboy novel, the rodeo and the wild west show are all means by which the West has become mythologised, distorted, caricatured and made larger than life.

The West no longer lives in reality, only in the world of the imagination, but the key figure in the historical process whereby the factual, historical West was transformed into the 'Western myth' was William Frederick 'Buffalo Bill' Cody. It was within his persona that the raw material of experience was transformed into showbusiness.

This documentary tells Buffalo Bill's story, including his life as a Pony Express rider, prairie scout, buffalo hunter and wild west show creator.

With rock legend David Johansen as the voice of Buffalo Bill, Arena uses drama and unique archive of the real Buffalo Bill to tell an extraordinary tale with strangely contemporary resonance.

TUE 00:45 Spitfire Women (b00tw1m1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Sunday]

TUE 01:45 Johnny Kingdom's Year with the Birds (b00vzz1g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]

TUE 02:15 Storyville (b0179wbx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]

TUE 03:45 Rick Stein Tastes the Blues (b017758n)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]

WEDNESDAY 16 NOVEMBER 2011

WED 19:00 World News Today (b01777fm)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.

WED 19:30 The Story of Music Hall with Michael Grade (b016fn23)
Michael Grade traces the raucous history of the music hall in a revelatory journey that takes him from venues such as Wilton's Music Hall in London to Glasgow's once-famous Britannia. Talking to enthusiasts and performers, Lord Grade discovers the origins of this uniquely British form of entertainment and revisits some of the great acts and impresarios, from Charles Morton and George Leybourne to Bessie Bellwood and Marie Lloyd.

Featuring Jo Brand and Alexei Sayle, with performances from Barry Cryer and many more, Grade hears about dudes, swells, mashers and serio-comics and hears how, in many a house, no turn was left unstoned.

WED 21:00 Rich Hall's Continental Drifters (b017grqt)
Comedian Rich Hall hits the road as he takes us on his personal journey through the road movie, which, from the earliest days of American cinema has been synonymous with American culture. With his customary wit and intelligence, Rich takes us through films such as Bonnie and Clyde, The Grapes of Wrath, Thelma and Louise, Vanishing Point, Five Easy Pieces and even The Wizard of Oz. He explores what makes a road movie and how the American social, economic and political landscape has defined the genre.

Filmed on location in South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana, the film incorporates interviews, archive footage and clips of some of cinemas best-loved films as it gives us another of Rich Hall's unique insights into American culture.

WED 22:30 Old Jews Telling Jokes (b01777fr)
Episode 1

In the fine tradition of American Jewish humour, a group of pensioners from all walks of life gather together to tell their favourite jokes. Remember, laugh loud - they don't hear so good.

WED 23:00 Russell Brand on the Road (b008h4q2)
Russell Brand sets out across America's vast heartland in homage to one of his literary heroes, Jack Kerouac and his classic novel, On The Road, which has inspired countless hipsters and restless souls to hit the road. Russell read the book when he was 19 and was excited by the sense of magic and possibility it conjured up. Travelling with his friend Matt Morgan, he sets off on a coast-to-coast adventure that becomes a journey of self-discovery.

WED 00:00 Stephen Fry in America (b00f5sy7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Tuesday]

WED 01:00 Old Jews Telling Jokes (b01777fr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:30 today]

WED 01:30 The Story of Music Hall with Michael Grade (b016fn23)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]

WED 03:00 Rich Hall's Continental Drifters (b017grqt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]

THURSDAY 17 NOVEMBER 2011

THU 19:00 World News Today (b01778m7)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.

THU 19:30 Top of the Pops (b01778m9)
27/10/76

Tony Blackburn introduces 1976 chart hits by Alan Price, Simon May, Pussycat, Joan Armatrading, Leo Sayer and Chicago. With the Top of the Pops Dancers.

THU 20:00 Explosions: How We Shook the World (b00v9kb3)
Engineer Jem Stansfield is used to creating explosions, but in this programme he uncovers the story of how we have learnt to control them and harness their power for our own means.

From recreating a rather dramatic ancient Chinese alchemy accident to splitting an atom in his own home-built replica of a 1930s piece of equipment, Jem reveals how explosives work and how we have used their power throughout history. He goes underground to show how gunpowder was used in the mines of Cornwall, recreates the first test of guncotton in a quarry with dramatic results and visits a modern high explosives factory with a noble history.

Ground-breaking high speed photography makes for some startling revelations at every step of the way.

THU 21:00 Symphony (b01778mc)
New Nations and New Worlds

Simon Russell Beale continues his history of the symphony by taking a musical journey through the rise of nationalism in Europe into the New World. He discovers how nationalist voices such as Tchaikovsky, Dvorak and Sibelius brought the symphony to wider audiences and visits Dvorak's summer house as he left it at his death in 1904, a remarkable insight into the personal life of the great composer.

Simon follows the development of the symphony outside Europe and explores how growing urbanisation led to the construction and growing popularity of some of the world's greatest concert halls, visiting the Musikverein in Vienna, the Philharmonic Hall in St Petersburg and Carnegie Hall in New York.

The symphonies are played by the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Mark Elder.

THU 22:00 The Slap (b01778xj)
Connie

Ever since the barbecue, 17-year-old Connie has had only one thing on her mind - Hector, her boss's husband. When the chance comes to babysit for Aisha and Hector she sees an opportunity to get close to him, whatever the repercussions.

THU 23:00 Top of the Pops (b01778m9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]

THU 23:30 Explosions: How We Shook the World (b00v9kb3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]

THU 00:30 Symphony (b01778mc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]

THU 01:30 Wallander (b00x792p)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Saturday]

THU 03:00 Symphony (b01778mc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]

FRIDAY 18 NOVEMBER 2011

FRI 19:00 World News Today (b0177bj8)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.

FRI 19:30 Kullervo (b017gss6)
To accompany the Symphony series, a rare treat from the archives - the youthful, passionate and epic 'Kullervo' Symphony by the great Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, in a classic performance from 1992. Sir Colin Davis, a truly great interpreter of Sibelius's music, conducts the London Symphony Orchestra with soloists soprano Soile Isokoski and baritone Jorma Hynninen. Introduced by Simon Russell Beale.

FRI 20:45 A Little Later (b00rmzfm)
Legends

Featuring music legends Smokey Robinson, Carole King, Tom Jones and Gladys Knight.

FRI 21:00 Word Up! Black American Pop at the BBC (b017gss8)
A selection of some of the best performances by African-American artists of the 1980s from the BBC archives, featuring Cameo, Shalamar, Salt-n-Pepa, Chaka Khan, Kid Creole, Doug E Fresh, Whitney Houston and Luther Vandross.

FRI 22:00 New Power Generation: Black Music Legends of the 1980s (b017gssb)
Janet Jackson: Taking Control

Emerging from the shadows of the most famous family in showbusiness to become a superstar in her own right, Janet Jackson was one of the biggest female pop icons of the 80s and 90s, scoring huge international hits with songs such as What Have You Done For Me Lately? and Nasty.

This film examines Janet's phenomenal career, from her early success as a teenage actress in hit US sitcom Diff'rent Strokes to multi award-winning pop star rivalling her brother's success with ten number one singles on the American Billboard charts and worldwide album sales of over 65 million. The struggle to control both her creative and personal life is central to Janet's development as an artist and key to understanding her story - from escaping the clutches of her overbearing father to the thirst for new challenges in her groundbreaking collaborations with producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Dubbed the 'Queen of Radio' in America, she always seemed capable of maintaining her broad-base appeal - until the infamous 2004 American Super Bowl appearance alongside Justin Timberlake.

Featuring an exclusive interview with Janet Jackson and contributions from the likes of Jimmy Jam, Janet's brother Jackie Jackson, actor Deborah Allen and British pop talent Estelle.

FRI 23:00 Motor City's Burning: Detroit from Motown to the Stooges (b009372j)
Documentary looking at how Detroit became home to a musical revolution that captured the sound of a nation in upheaval.

In the early 60s, Motown transcended Detroit's inner city to take black music to a white audience, whilst in the late 60s suburban kids like the MC5 and the Stooges descended into the black inner city to create revolutionary rock expressing the rage of young white America.

With contributions from Iggy Pop, Alice Cooper, George Clinton, Martha Reeves, John Sinclair and the MC5.

FRI 00:00 Word Up! Black American Pop at the BBC (b017gss8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]

FRI 01:00 Kullervo (b017gss6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]

FRI 02:20 Motor City's Burning: Detroit from Motown to the Stooges (b009372j)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:00 today]

FRI 03:20 New Power Generation: Black Music Legends of the 1980s (b017gssb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]

LIST OF THIS WEEK'S PROGRAMMES
(Note: the times link back to the details; the pids link to the BBC page, including iPlayer)

A Little Later 20:45 FRI (b00rmzfm)

Arena 23:30 TUE (b0078n9c)

Art of America 21:00 MON (b017755r)

Art of America 03:00 MON (b017755r)

Explosions: How We Shook the World 20:00 THU (b00v9kb3)

Explosions: How We Shook the World 23:30 THU (b00v9kb3)

Johnny Kingdom's Year with the Birds 19:30 TUE (b00vzz1g)

Johnny Kingdom's Year with the Birds 01:45 TUE (b00vzz1g)

Kullervo 19:30 FRI (b017gss6)

Kullervo 01:00 FRI (b017gss6)

Motor City's Burning: Detroit from Motown to the Stooges 23:00 FRI (b009372j)

Motor City's Burning: Detroit from Motown to the Stooges 02:20 FRI (b009372j)

New Power Generation: Black Music Legends of the 1980s 22:00 FRI (b017gssb)

New Power Generation: Black Music Legends of the 1980s 03:20 FRI (b017gssb)

Old Jews Telling Jokes 22:30 WED (b01777fr)

Old Jews Telling Jokes 01:00 WED (b01777fr)

Only Connect 20:30 MON (b017bcdh)

Only Connect 00:30 MON (b017bcdh)

Rich Hall's Continental Drifters 21:00 WED (b017grqt)

Rich Hall's Continental Drifters 03:00 WED (b017grqt)

Rick Stein Tastes the Blues 21:00 TUE (b017758n)

Rick Stein Tastes the Blues 03:45 TUE (b017758n)

Russell Brand on the Road 23:00 WED (b008h4q2)

Seven Ages of Rock 02:10 SAT (b007r4t0)

Spitfire Women 20:00 SUN (b00tw1m1)

Spitfire Women 02:00 MON (b00tw1m1)

Spitfire Women 00:45 TUE (b00tw1m1)

Stephen Fry in America 19:30 MON (b00f2dfv)

Stephen Fry in America 01:00 MON (b00f2dfv)

Stephen Fry in America 20:00 TUE (b00f5sy7)

Stephen Fry in America 00:00 WED (b00f5sy7)

Storyville 22:00 MON (b0179w3m)

Storyville 22:00 TUE (b0179wbx)

Storyville 02:15 TUE (b0179wbx)

Symphony 00:00 SUN (b0170bm6)

Symphony 21:00 THU (b01778mc)

Symphony 00:30 THU (b01778mc)

Symphony 03:00 THU (b01778mc)

The Late Show 01:25 SAT (b0176knp)

The Man Who Forged America 23:30 MON (b0074pg9)

The Secret Life of Ice 23:25 SAT (b016fpyy)

The Slap 22:30 SAT (b0170bmb)

The Slap 22:00 THU (b01778xj)

The Story of British Pathé 19:00 SUN (b013rl1w)

The Story of British Pathé 01:00 SUN (b013rl1w)

The Story of Music Hall with Michael Grade 19:30 WED (b016fn23)

The Story of Music Hall with Michael Grade 01:30 WED (b016fn23)

The Wonder of Weeds 19:00 SAT (b01224kv)

The Wonder of Weeds 03:10 SAT (b01224kv)

Top of the Pops 19:30 THU (b01778m9)

Top of the Pops 23:00 THU (b01778m9)

Wallander 21:00 SAT (b00x792p)

Wallander 01:30 THU (b00x792p)

War Requiem 22:30 SUN (b0179vzm)

Wellington Bomber 20:00 SAT (b00tr2p5)

Wellington Bomber 00:25 SAT (b00tr2p5)

Word Up! Black American Pop at the BBC 21:00 FRI (b017gss8)

Word Up! Black American Pop at the BBC 00:00 FRI (b017gss8)

World News Today 19:00 MON (b017755p)

World News Today 19:00 TUE (b017758l)

World News Today 19:00 WED (b01777fm)

World News Today 19:00 THU (b01778m7)

World News Today 19:00 FRI (b0177bj8)

World War Two: 1941 and the Man of Steel 21:00 SUN (b011wh1g)

World War Two: 1941 and the Man of Steel 02:00 SUN (b011wh1g)