B4

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

SATURDAY 16 FEBRUARY 2013

SAT 19:00 Natural World (b01k784h)
2011-2012

The Unnatural History of London

Seals, parakeets and even pelicans that eat pigeons have all made London their home. That's as well as badgers, foxes, scorpions, and pigeons that ride the tube. But even more wonderful are the people who love the exotic wildlife of our capital, from Billingsgate fish porters and Indian chefs to 'Crayfish Bob', who scours London's canals for Turkish invaders. This is a warm-hearted portrait of the world's greenest capital city and the Londoners who love its secret wildlife.

SAT 20:00 Baroque! - From St Peter's to St Paul's (b00j4d3g)
Episode 1

Three-part series exploring the Baroque tradition in many of its key locations. Starting in Italy and following the spread of the wildfire across Europe and beyond, art critic Waldemar Januszczak takes a tour of the best examples of Baroque to be found, and tells the best stories behind those works.

This first episode begins at St Peter's in Rome, and details the birth of the Baroque tradition as it burst forth in Italy. This programme features outstanding high definition footage of St Peter's Basilica, as well as other gems of the Italian Baroque.

SAT 21:00 Spiral (b01qspfm)
Series 4: State of Terror

Episode 3

Berthaud and her team visit the scene of the immolation of a Kurdish detainee and spot Sophie Mazeret amongst the demonstrators outside the centre. Sophie escapes, but they arrest Vasseur and suspect his involvement with the terrorists. Josephine Karlsson is asked to warn the squat of an imminent police raid. Pierre Clement is pleased to learn that Judge Roban has returned to the courthouse and asks his advice when testimony against Berthaud leads her to ask for his professional representation.

In French with English subtitles.

SAT 21:55 Spiral (b01qy0s7)
Series 4: State of Terror

Episode 4

Berthaud and her team stake out the Turkish restaurant that the Kurdish suicide victim was known to frequent, and uncover what appears to be an organised work crew of illegal immigrants. Judge Roban uncovers more inconsistency in the investigative procedure in the case of a senior colleague. Josephine Karlsson invites Clement to her sister's wedding where she has a major confrontation with a family member.

In French with English subtitles.

SAT 22:45 Duets at the BBC (b01c2xwt)
The BBC delves into its archive for the best romantic duets performed at the BBC over the last 50 years. Whether it is Robbie and Kylie dancing together on Top of the Pops or Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge singing into each other's eyes on the Whistle Test, there is plenty of chemistry. Highlights include Nina and Frederik's Baby It's Cold Outside, Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers, Sonny and Cher, Shirley Bassey and Neil Diamond, Peaches and Herb, and a rare performance from Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush.

SAT 23:45 Love Songs at the BBC: A Valentine's Day Special (b00ymh70)
It's a time for guilty pleasures, for courtship, for declarations of love, for looking someone in the eye and whispering sweet nothings, accompanied by a compilation of some of the greatest and squishiest love songs from the likes of Celine Dion, Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes, Jason and Kylie, 10cc and Lionel Richie, all from the Top of the Pops era. If Hot Chocolate and Chaka Khan don't get the temperatures rising, then nothing will.

SAT 00:45 Top of the Pops (b01qnqp7)
09/02/78

Peter Powell introduces the weekly pop chart programme featuring performances from Tonight, Baccara, Brotherhood of Man, ELO, Lulu, Yellow Dog, Dusty Springfield, The Stranglers, David Castle and Legs & Co.

SAT 01:20 New Power Generation: Black Music Legends of the 1980s (b017sw79)
Lionel Richie: Dancing on the Ceiling

Documentary showing how Lionel Richie achieved his dream of becoming 'as big as The Beatles' and how much of what he learnt from his years with The Commodores prepared him for that success. After 15 years of soaring success with the band, Lionel left the group to go solo in what many considered to be a risky move. His first solo album, Lionel Richie, grabbed the world's attention, whilst the follow-up, Can't Slow Down, turned him into a global superstar. But could he maintain sustained popularity without the group he'd known as brothers behind him?

Contributors include: Billboard Magazine editor Adam White, Motown songwriter and producer Gloria Jones, Kenny Rogers, video director Bob Giraldi, songwriter and producer David Foster, general manager at Motown in 1978 Keith Harris, UK soul singer Lemar and Pearly Gates of The Flirtations.

SAT 02:20 Baroque! - From St Peter's to St Paul's (b00j4d3g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]

SAT 03:20 Top of the Pops (b01qnqp7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 00:45 today]

SUNDAY 17 FEBRUARY 2013

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 Harlots, Housewives and Heroines: A 17th Century History for Girls (b01jmt5t)
Act Three: At Work and At Play

Lucy Worsley explores the lives of some of the most remarkable women of the age, including writers, actresses, travellers and scientists.

Against a backdrop of religious and political turmoil, the rise of print culture, the rapid growth of London, the burgeoning scientific revolution and the country's flourishing trading empire, she meets a host of female mavericks who took advantage of the extraordinary changes afoot to challenge the traditional male bastions of society.

Women like Nell Gwyn, the most famous of a new generation of actresses; Aphra Behn, the first professional female writer; and Christian Davies, who disguised herself as a man to fight as a soldier - all of them gained notoriety and celebrity, challenging the inequalities of the age. As Lucy discovers, these women's attitudes, ambitions and achievements were surprisingly modern.

SUN 21:00 The White Ribbon (b01qw7fq)
Award-winning film by Michael Haneke set on the eve of World War I. The quiet order of a small German village is disturbed by a series of mysterious and inexplicable accidents. To the mounting concern of the villagers, the events persist, becoming increasingly sinister and taking on the character of a perverse punishment ritual. But who is responsible?

In German with English subtitles.

SUN 23:15 The Beatles' Please Please Me: Remaking a Classic (b01qnrb8)
In 2013, on the 50th anniversary of the famous 12-hour session at Abbey Road which resulted in the Beatles' iconic album Please Please Me, leading artists such as Stereophonics, Graham Coxon, Gabrielle Aplin, Joss Stone, Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook of Squeeze, Paul Carrack, Mick Hucknall and I Am Kloot attempted to record the same songs, in the same timescale, in the same studio.

The results are captured in this programme, presented by Stuart Maconie.

Amongst those paying their own tribute to the album's success are Burt Bacharach and Guy Chambers, as well as people lucky enough to have been there 50 years ago telling the remarkable story of what happened that day, including engineer Richard Langham and the Beatles' press officer Tony Barrow.

SUN 00:15 Arena (b0077nxw)
The Brian Epstein Story: The Sun Will Shine Tomorrow

First in a two-part documentary examining the turbulent life and career of Beatles manager Brian Epstein. Gay when homosexuality was illegal, a gambler, shopkeeper and failed actor, he was also pop king with a Midas touch who, in the 60s, was as well known as the band he managed.

SUN 01:30 Arena (b0077nyc)
The Brian Epstein Story: Tomorrow Never Knows

Part two of the documentary on Beatles manager Brian Epstein. By the mid 60s, Epstein was lured into the world of gambling, sex and drugs and in 1967 he was found dead in his London mansion at the age of 32.

SUN 02:45 The Story of British Pathé (b013rl1w)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]

MONDAY 18 FEBRUARY 2013

MON 19:00 World News Today (b01qsmjg)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.

MON 19:30 Great British Railway Journeys (b00xhynn)
Series 2

Llanberis to Holyhead

Michael Portillo takes the train to the top of Wales's highest peak, Mount Snowdon, witnesses the revival of Anglesey's sea salt industry and discovers how the railways transformed the tiny port of Holyhead.

MON 20:00 Decisive Weapons (b0078dxf)
Series 1

The P-51 - Cadillac of the Skies

In 1943, the large and slow Flying Fortresses, used in the US Air Force's daylight bombing raids, were being shot out of the sky at a rate of up to 60 per day. Only one fighter plane could save them - the single-seat P51 Mustang. The P51 enabled American pilots to fly eight-hour missions - by the end of the war, it accounted for half of all German planes destroyed, either in the air or on the ground. American and German veterans recount the legend that was the Mustang.

MON 20:30 Britain on Film (b01qsqcy)
Series 1

End of Empire

This episode focuses on films examining the changing shape of the British Empire. At a time when many of its former colonies were achieving independence, Look at Life sent its film crews as far afield as Aden, Malaysia and Ascension Island to record the efforts made by Britain to manage the transition from imperial rule to the leadership of an emerging Commonwealth.

MON 21:00 Chivalry and Betrayal: The Hundred Years War (b01qsqd2)
Breaking the Bonds 1360-1415

England, wracked by plague and revolt, loses the upper hand until Henry V, determined to prove his right to be king, turns the tide at the battle of Agincourt.

MON 22:00 Storyville (b01qxmqc)
Google and the World Brain

Storyville: Documentary which tells the story of the most ambitious project ever conceived on the internet and the people who tried to stop it. In 1937 HG Wells predicted the creation of the 'world brain', a giant global library that contained all human knowledge which would lead to a new form of higher intelligence. 70 years later the realisation of that dream was under way, as Google scanned millions of books for its Google Books website. However, over half those books were still in copyright and authors across the world launched a campaign to stop them, climaxing in a New York courtroom in 2011.

This is a film about the dreams, dilemmas and dangers of the internet, set in spectacular locations in China, USA, Europe and Latin America.

MON 23:30 Bullets, Boots and Bandages: How to Really Win at War (b01bs9gb)
Stealing a March

Historian Saul David explores how wars are really fought - in the backroom of military planning. He shows how generals have met the challenge of moving armies.

MON 00:30 Timeshift (b01mytsg)
Series 12

Health before the NHS: The Road to Recovery

Robert Winston narrates the shocking story of health in Britain before the National Health Service. In the early 20th century, getting treated if you were ill was a rudimentary, risky and costly business - a luxury few could afford. Using rare archive footage and personal testimony, the programme tells how ordinary people, GPs, midwives and local councils coped with a chaotic and ramshackle system as they struggled to deal with sickness and disease in the homes and communities of pre-World War II Britain.

MON 01:30 Timeshift (b01n3vq9)
Series 12

Health before the NHS: A Medical Revolution

The Robert Winston-narrated mini-series concludes with the story of hospitals. At the beginning of the 20th century these were forbidding places very much to be avoided - a last resort for the destitute rather than places you would go to get better. Using unique archive footage from an era when infectious disease was virtually untreatable and powerful first-hand accounts from patients, doctors and nurses, the programme explores the extraordinary transformation of the hospital from Victorian workhouse to modern centre of medicine.

MON 02:30 Britain on Film (b01qsqcy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]

MON 03:00 Chivalry and Betrayal: The Hundred Years War (b01qsqd2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]

TUESDAY 19 FEBRUARY 2013

TUE 19:00 World News Today (b01qsmjp)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.

TUE 19:30 Great British Railway Journeys (b00xxr1z)
Series 2

Newcastle to Chester-le-Street

Michael visits the first locomotive factory in the world, opened by George Stephenson. He also searches for the lost pit village of Marsden in South Shields and is entertained by a comic troupe of rapper sword dancers in Chester-le-Street.

TUE 20:00 Timewatch (b00sl29f)
Atlantis: The Evidence

Historian Bettany Hughes unravels one of the most intriguing mysteries of all time. She presents a series of geological, archaeological and historical clues to show that the legend of Atlantis was inspired by a real historical event, the greatest natural disaster of the ancient world.

TUE 21:00 The Sound and the Fury: A Century of Music (b01qsqzc)
Free for All

The second episode looks at how the freewheeling modernism that had shocked, scandalised and titillated audiences in the first two decades of the 20th century comes under state control. Initially, many practitioners thought the totalitarian regimes would be good for music and the arts. What followed in Germany was a ban on music written by Jews, African-Americans and communists, while in the Soviet Union there was a prohibition on music the workers were unable to hum. In the USA, many composers voluntarily embraced music for the masses.

After the cataclysm of the 1940s, a new generation of 20-something composers - Boulez, Stockhausen, Xenakis, Nono, Ligeti - turned their back on what they saw as the discredited music of the past and decided to try and reinvent it from scratch. Or, at least, from serialism, which became, as the 1950s wore on, as much of a straitjacket as the strictures of totalitarianism had been before. But from this period of avant-garde experimentation, which many listeners found baffling and even terrifying, came some of the most influential and radical musical innovations of the century.

The story is told by a musical cast list including Pierre Boulez, Michael Tilson-Thomas, Peter Maxwell-Davies, Harrison Birtwistle and John Adams.

TUE 22:00 Storyville (b01qxms3)
The Pirate Bay

Storyville: Documentary telling the story of The Pirate Bay, the world's largest file sharing site which facilitates downloading of copyrighted material. The film follows the three Swedish founders of The Pirate Bay through their trial after they are taken to court by Hollywood and the entertainment industry, accused of breaking copyright law. Seeing themselves as technicians whose aim is to run the world's largest web platform, in scenes bordering on the absurdly comedic they claim that their actions are about freedom and not money. The closer the film gets to them, it becomes increasingly clear that they are rather unworldly nerds, whose social skills and ability to comprehend the analogue world, and each other, are somewhat limited.

TUE 23:10 Timeshift (b01q9vhy)
Series 12

The Joy of (Train) Sets

The Model Railway Story: From Hornby to Triang and beyond, this documentary explores how the British have been in love with model railways for more than a century. What began as an adult obsession with building fully engineered replicas became the iconic toy of 50s and 60s childhood. With unique archive and contributions from modellers such as Pete Waterman, this is a celebration of the joys of miniaturisation. Just don't call them toy trains!

TUE 00:10 Bob Servant (b01qnpdb)
Independent

The Media

Bob tricks his way on to TV, but a news report makes him a laughing stock around Broughty Ferry. He recruits his mother Margo for some much-needed damage limitation.

TUE 00:40 The Beatles' Please Please Me: Remaking a Classic (b01qnrb8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:15 on Sunday]

TUE 01:40 Electric Proms (b00850nd)
2007

Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney performs a selection of old Beatles hits plus newer solo songs at the Roundhouse in London.

TUE 02:40 The Sound and the Fury: A Century of Music (b01qsqzc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]

WEDNESDAY 20 FEBRUARY 2013

WED 19:00 World News Today (b01qsmjv)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.

WED 19:30 Great British Railway Journeys (b00xxr39)
Series 2

Durham to Grosmont

Michael visits the historic Durham Cathedral, sees one of the first locomotives in Darlington and takes a Dracula tour in Whitby, before ending his journey on a steam train across the North Yorkshire moors.

WED 20:00 Sissinghurst (b00j4bht)
Episode 5

Documentary series about the attempts of writer Adam Nicolson and his wife Sarah Raven to bring farming back into the heart of the estate and garden at Sissinghurst Castle in Kent, their historic home which is owned by the National Trust and was moulded into its present form by Nicolson's grandmother Vita Sackville-West and her husband Harold Nicolson back in the 1930s.

Progress on the farm project is slow and Adam's impatience is causing unease among some of the National Trust's employees. Peter Weeden, head chef at the Paternoster Chophouse in London, is brought in to help head chef Steve. Sarah is frustrated as one of her key ideas - growing edible flowers on the vegetable plot - gets the thumbs down.

Adam continues to research his book and looks into his grandmother's famous liaison with the writer Virginia Woolf. He visits Virginia's grand-niece at her old home, Rodmell in Sussex. Adam questions the Trust as to why there is no reference to Vita's gay world in the Sissinghurst museum.

The springtime garden is full of Chelsea visitors and head gardener Alexis is trying to control the crowds. Relations between Adam and Sarah and staff on the ground are not good and Adam can't wait for it all to be over.

WED 20:30 Nature's Microworlds (b01qsr4d)
The Deep Sea

Steve Backshall takes us to a place few have ever visited - the deep sea. 99 per cent of the space on Earth inhabited by life is under the ocean and almost 90 per cent of this is deeper than a kilometre, a place of perpetual darkness and crushing pressure. Far from being lifeless, the vast inner space of our planet contains an extraordinary array of beautiful and bizarre creatures, from 40m-long jellyfish to grotesque angler fish and vampire squid. Our journey from the sunlit surface waters to the deepest reaches of the abyss reveals how life persists in such a hostile world.

WED 21:00 Timeshift (b00nf0nl)
Series 9

The Golden Age of Liners

Paul Atterbury embarks on an alluring journey into the golden age of ocean liners, finding out how these great ships made such a mark on the popular imagination and why they continue to enchant to this day.

Paul's voyage takes him around Britain and reveals a story of design, politics, propaganda, Hollywood glamour and tragedy. Along the way, he uncovers some amazing survivals from the liners of the past - a cinema in Scotland built from the interiors of the SS Homeric, a house in Poole in which cabins from the Mauretania are lovingly preserved - as well as the design inspiration behind the first great liners.

WED 22:00 Bob Servant (b01qsr4g)
Independent

The Debate

Bob is in trouble and he knows it. A by-election debate, in front of a live audience, is his last chance for glory, but he's running unusually low on ideas. Can he pull himself together and win over the crowd ahead of election day?

WED 22:30 Storyville (b01qxmwp)
How Hackers Changed the World: We Are Legion

Storyville: Documentary that goes inside the complex network and history of Anonymous, the radical online 'hacktivist' collective. Through interviews with current members - some recently returned from prison, others still awaiting trial - as well as writers, academics and major players in various 'raids', the film traces the collective's breathtaking evolution from merry pranksters to a full-blown global movement, one armed with new weapons of civil disobedience for an online world.

In recent years, Anonymous has been associated with attacks or 'raids' on hundreds of targets. Angered by issues as diverse as copyright abuse and police brutality, they have also taken on targets such as the Church of Scientology.

WED 23:30 Baroque! - From St Peter's to St Paul's (b00j4d3g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Saturday]

WED 00:30 Tales of Winter: The Art of Snow and Ice (b01q6qj6)
Winter was not always beautiful. Until Pieter Bruegel painted Hunters in the Snow, the long bitter months had never been transformed into a thing of beauty. This documentary charts how mankind's ever changing struggle with winter has been reflected in western art throughout the ages, resulting in images that are now amongst the greatest paintings of all time. With contributions from Grayson Perry, Will Self, Don McCullin and many others, the film takes an eclectic group of people from all walks of life out into the cold to reflect on the paintings that have come to define the art of snow and ice.

WED 02:00 Nature's Microworlds (b01qsr4d)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]

WED 02:30 Bob Servant (b01qsr4g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]

WED 03:00 Timeshift (b00nf0nl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]

THURSDAY 21 FEBRUARY 2013

THU 19:00 World News Today (b01qsmk0)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.

THU 19:30 Top of the Pops (b01qsrh8)
16/02/78

David 'Kid' Jensen introduces the weekly pop chart programme featuring performances from the Tom Robinson Band, Kate Bush, Elkie Brooks, Magazine, Darts, Billy Joel, Sweet, the Bee Gees, Abba and Legs & Co.

THU 20:00 Horizon (b01mmrc0)
2012-2013

How Small Is the Universe?

Horizon plunges down the biggest rabbit-hole in history in search of the smallest thing in the universe.

It is a journey where things don't just become smaller but also a whole lot weirder. Scientists hope to catch a glimpse of miniature black holes, multiple dimensions and even parallel universes. As they start to explore this wonderland, where nothing is quite what it seems, they may have to rewrite the fundamental laws of time and space.

THU 21:00 The Holocaust and My Father: Six Million and One (b01qsrhb)
'My siblings refused to open my father's memoir after his death', recalls filmmaker David Fisher. 'I opened it, uncovering his demons'. Fisher's father Joseph, a Hungarian Jew, was interned in the Gusen and Gunskirchen concentration camps in Austria during the Second World War. His memoir detailed the horrendous ordeal that he survived and prompted David, dragging his reluctant siblings along with him, to retrace their father's footsteps. This resulting film is a bittersweet account of their journey into their father's past.

THU 22:30 Chivalry and Betrayal: The Hundred Years War (b01qsqd2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Monday]

THU 23:30 Natural World (b01k784h)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]

THU 00:30 The Sound and the Fury: A Century of Music (b01qsqzc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Tuesday]

THU 01:30 Top of the Pops (b01qsrh8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]

THU 02:00 Top of the Pops (b01pkjy6)
The Story of 1978

In 1978, Top of the Pops began to turn the credibility corner. As the only major pop show on television, Top of the Pops had enjoyed a unique position in the nation's hearts since the 1960s - the nation's teenagers who were now fed up with the show's predominantly light entertainment blend still tuned in every week in the hope of seeing one of the new young outfits thrown up by punk, new wave and disco. In 1978 it seemed the kids' time had come again for the first time since glam rock. Yet the biggest-selling singles of 1978 were by the likes of Boney M, John Travolta & Olivia Newton John, Rod Stewart, The Bee Gees and Abba.

Punk never quite fitted in with the mainstream - it had been treated with disdain by Top of the Pops and largely ignored by the show. Britain's teenagers had to endure the all-round family entertainment on offer when all they wanted was teenage kicks. Along came a generation of young post-punk and new wave bands armed with guitar and bass, ready to storm the Top of the Pops stage - from The Undertones, The Buzzcocks, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Skids and Ian Dury and the Blockheads to The Boomtown Rats, Elvis Costello, The Jam and Squeeze - some weeks teenagers would get to see one of their bands, very rarely they got two, but there they were on primetime TV.

With contributions from The Boomtown Rats, Squeeze, Boney M, Sham 69, Brian & Michael, The Barron Knights, Mike Read, Kid Jensen, Kathryn Flett, Richard Jobson, Ian Gittins and Legs & Co.

THU 02:50 Top of the Pops (b01pmbdy)
1978 - Big Hits

A pick 'n' mix of Top of the Pops classics from 1978, when in-yer-face punk and new wave rebellion co-existed with MOR suburban pop, disco fever, soul balladry, reggae and prog rock, and when two mega-successful movie soundtracks in the shape of Grease and Saturday Night Fever squared up on the dancefloor. Featuring shouty Sham 69, the cool rebellion of Ian Dury, Elvis Costello and Blondie, the media-savvy clowning of The Boomtown Rats, Kate Bush's debut with Wuthering Heights, alongside Brotherhood of Man's perky Figaro, Dan Hill's sentimental Sometimes When We Touch and the high camp of Boney M's Rasputin. Bob Marley shares chart space with 10cc's Dreadlock Holiday, and ELO and Manfred Mann's Earth Band keep on rockin'.

FRIDAY 22 FEBRUARY 2013

FRI 19:00 World News Today (b01qsmk5)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.

FRI 19:30 Masterworks (b00789vg)
Series 1

Shostakovich Fifth Symphony

Exploring orchestral works of the 20th century. Charismatic Russian conductor Valery Gergiev explores one of the great cultural documents of Stalinist Russia, Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony: A Soviet Artist's Reply to Just Criticism. Written under the shadow of state oppression at the height of Stalin's purges, the symphony re-established Shostakovich as an ideologically sound Soviet composer and remains one of the most popular of all 20th century symphonies.

FRI 21:00 The Swing Thing (b00g3694)
Documentary telling the story of swing, an obscure form of jazz that became the first worldwide pop phenomenon, inspired the first ever youth culture revolution and became a byword for sexual liberation and teenage excess well before the Swinging Sixties.

In the process, swing threw up some of the greatest names in 20th century music, from Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington to Billie Holiday and Frank Sinatra. The film uses archive and contemporary accounts to shed light on why it endures today.

FRI 22:30 ... Sings the Great American Songbook (b00rs3w4)
Presenting the best and most eclectic performances on the BBC from the world's best-known artists performing their interpretations of classic tracks from The Great American Songbook.

In chronological order, this programme takes us through a myriad of BBC studio performances, from Dame Shirley Bassey in 1966 performing The Lady is A Tramp, to Bryan Ferry in 1974 on Twiggy's BBC primetime show performing Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, to Captain Sensible on Top of the Pops in 1982 with his number one hit version of Happy Talk, through to Kirsty MacColl singing Miss Otis Regrets in 1994 to Jamie Cullum with his version of I Get a Kick Out Of You on Parkinson in 2004 and bang up to date with Brit winner Florence from Florence and the Machine performing My Baby Just Cares for Me with Jools Holland on his Annual Hootenanny at the end of 2009.

The Great American Songbook can best be described as the music and popular songs of the famous and prolific American composers of the 1920s and onwards. Composers such as Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Johnny Mercer, Harold Arlen, Rodgers and Hammerstein, and Hoagy Carmichael to name but a few... songwriters who wrote the tunes of Broadway theatre and Hollywood musicals that earned enduring popularity before the dawning of rock 'n' roll.

These famous songwriters have penned songs which have entered the general consciousness and which are now best described as standards - tunes which every musician and singer aspires to include in their repertoire.

FRI 23:30 Arena (b00rs3w6)
Frank Sinatra: The Voice of the Century

Arena explores the rise of the legendary crooner Frank Sinatra from his early family background to overwhelming showbusiness success. Interviews with friends, family and associates reveal a star-studded career in music and film alongside a fascinating private life of four marriages, liaison with the Kennedy family, Las Vegas business interests and an alleged association with the mafia.

FRI 01:05 The Swing Thing (b00g3694)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]

FRI 02:35 Masterworks (b00789vg)
[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)

... Sings the Great American Songbook 22:30 FRI (b00rs3w4)

Arena 00:15 SUN (b0077nxw)

Arena 01:30 SUN (b0077nyc)

Arena 23:30 FRI (b00rs3w6)

Baroque! - From St Peter's to St Paul's 20:00 SAT (b00j4d3g)

Baroque! - From St Peter's to St Paul's 02:20 SAT (b00j4d3g)

Baroque! - From St Peter's to St Paul's 23:30 WED (b00j4d3g)

Bob Servant 00:10 TUE (b01qnpdb)

Bob Servant 22:00 WED (b01qsr4g)

Bob Servant 02:30 WED (b01qsr4g)

Britain on Film 20:30 MON (b01qsqcy)

Britain on Film 02:30 MON (b01qsqcy)

Bullets, Boots and Bandages: How to Really Win at War 23:30 MON (b01bs9gb)

Chivalry and Betrayal: The Hundred Years War 21:00 MON (b01qsqd2)

Chivalry and Betrayal: The Hundred Years War 03:00 MON (b01qsqd2)

Chivalry and Betrayal: The Hundred Years War 22:30 THU (b01qsqd2)

Decisive Weapons 20:00 MON (b0078dxf)

Duets at the BBC 22:45 SAT (b01c2xwt)

Electric Proms 01:40 TUE (b00850nd)

Great British Railway Journeys 19:30 MON (b00xhynn)

Great British Railway Journeys 19:30 TUE (b00xxr1z)

Great British Railway Journeys 19:30 WED (b00xxr39)

Harlots, Housewives and Heroines: A 17th Century History for Girls 20:00 SUN (b01jmt5t)

Horizon 20:00 THU (b01mmrc0)

Love Songs at the BBC: A Valentine's Day Special 23:45 SAT (b00ymh70)

Masterworks 19:30 FRI (b00789vg)

Masterworks 02:35 FRI (b00789vg)

Natural World 19:00 SAT (b01k784h)

Natural World 23:30 THU (b01k784h)

Nature's Microworlds 20:30 WED (b01qsr4d)

Nature's Microworlds 02:00 WED (b01qsr4d)

New Power Generation: Black Music Legends of the 1980s 01:20 SAT (b017sw79)

Sissinghurst 20:00 WED (b00j4bht)

Spiral 21:00 SAT (b01qspfm)

Spiral 21:55 SAT (b01qy0s7)

Storyville 22:00 MON (b01qxmqc)

Storyville 22:00 TUE (b01qxms3)

Storyville 22:30 WED (b01qxmwp)

Tales of Winter: The Art of Snow and Ice 00:30 WED (b01q6qj6)

The Beatles' Please Please Me: Remaking a Classic 23:15 SUN (b01qnrb8)

The Beatles' Please Please Me: Remaking a Classic 00:40 TUE (b01qnrb8)

The Holocaust and My Father: Six Million and One 21:00 THU (b01qsrhb)

The Sound and the Fury: A Century of Music 21:00 TUE (b01qsqzc)

The Sound and the Fury: A Century of Music 02:40 TUE (b01qsqzc)

The Sound and the Fury: A Century of Music 00:30 THU (b01qsqzc)

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

The Story of British Pathé 02:45 SUN (b013rl1w)

The Swing Thing 21:00 FRI (b00g3694)

The Swing Thing 01:05 FRI (b00g3694)

The White Ribbon 21:00 SUN (b01qw7fq)

Timeshift 00:30 MON (b01mytsg)

Timeshift 01:30 MON (b01n3vq9)

Timeshift 23:10 TUE (b01q9vhy)

Timeshift 21:00 WED (b00nf0nl)

Timeshift 03:00 WED (b00nf0nl)

Timewatch 20:00 TUE (b00sl29f)

Top of the Pops 00:45 SAT (b01qnqp7)

Top of the Pops 03:20 SAT (b01qnqp7)

Top of the Pops 19:30 THU (b01qsrh8)

Top of the Pops 01:30 THU (b01qsrh8)

Top of the Pops 02:00 THU (b01pkjy6)

Top of the Pops 02:50 THU (b01pmbdy)

World News Today 19:00 MON (b01qsmjg)

World News Today 19:00 TUE (b01qsmjp)

World News Today 19:00 WED (b01qsmjv)

World News Today 19:00 THU (b01qsmk0)

World News Today 19:00 FRI (b01qsmk5)