The BBC has announced that it has a sustainable plan for the future of the BBC Singers, in association with The VOCES8 Foundation.
The threat to reduce the staff of the three English orchestras by 20% has not been lifted, but it is being reconsidered.
See the BBC press release here.

Radio-Lists Home Now on BBC 4 Contact

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



SATURDAY 17 MARCH 2018

SAT 19:00 Lost Kingdoms of Central America (b04j8st0)
The People Who Greeted Columbus

The Taino people of the Caribbean were the first people of the Americas to greet Christopher Columbus. But, as Dr Jago Cooper reveals, they had a multicultural society complete with drug-infused rituals, strange skulls and amazing navigation. In deep caverns and turquoise seas, Jago uncovers their hidden history.


SAT 20:00 The Silk Road (p03qb1gq)
Episode 1

In the first episode of his series tracing the story of the most famous trade route in history, Dr Sam Willis starts in Venice and explores how its Renaissance architecture and art has been shaped by the east and by thousands of exchanges along the Silk Road.

From Venice Sam travels to China's ancient capital, Xian. Here, Sam's story takes him back in time to reveal the tale of an emperor who was so desperate for horses to help protect his borders that he struck one of the most significant trade deals in human history - he wanted war horses, he gave the most precious material in the world, silk. From this single deal, a network of trading paths were carved out across thousands of miles by merchants, traders, envoys, pilgrims and travellers. It is known to us today as the Silk Road.


SAT 21:00 Below the Surface (b0948n89)
Series 1

Episode 3

Philip takes full responsibility for the death of a hostage and chases up his contact for assurances that his fears of recognising the main hostage-taker are unfounded. As political pressure to end the stand-off mounts, one of the hostages is taken ill and, not willing to free him, his captors agree for a medic to attend. Daniel tells Philip that this is their chance.

In Danish and English with English subtitles.


SAT 21:45 Below the Surface (b0948n8c)
Series 1

Episode 4

A ballistics report on a bullet retrieved from the lift shows an advanced rifle only used by Danish Special Forces that may be from a batch stolen from the armoury in Aalborg two years earlier. Naja visits the waiting families and informs them that she can no longer be a part of their fundraising activities, but agrees to listen to Jonas, who tells her about his father Leon. The team investigate the lead of the stolen guns and find themselves interviewing bikers and ex-servicemen.

In Danish and English with English subtitles.


SAT 22:30 TOTP2 (b0074820)
St Patrick's Day Special

Steve Wright introduces music from The Boomtown Rats, The Corrs, Enya, Shane McGowan and Johnny Depp, Stiff Little Fingers, Thin Lizzy, Sinead O'Connor and U2.


SAT 23:15 Irish Rock at the BBC (b0556qc9)
A whistle-stop tour of rock from over the water, taking in some of the finest Irish rock offerings from the early 70s to the present day, as captured on a variety of BBC shows from The Old Grey Whistle Test and Top of the Pops to Later... with Jools Holland.

Kicking off with Thin Lizzy's 1973 debut hit Whiskey in the Jar, the programme traces Irish rock's unfolding lineage. Performances from guitar maestro Rory Gallagher, Celtic rock godfathers Horslips and John Peel favourites The Undertones feature alongside rivals Stiff Little Fingers, with their Top of the Pops performance of Nobody's Hero, followed by post-punk U2's 1981 debut UK performance of I Will Follow from The Old Grey Whistle Test.

Then there is Sinead O'Connor's debut single performance of Mandinka, and The Pogues play the Ewan MacColl classic Dirty Old Town from 1986. Into the 90s, there is The Frank and Walters and Therapy? on Top of the Pops, along with early performances on Later... with Jools Holland from Ash and The Divine Comedy.

There is rockabilly with Imelda May's debut hit Johnny Got a Boom Boom, and then more recently Cavan's The Strypes and Hozier, whose Take Me to Church completes this hit-driven tour through Irish rock.


SAT 00:15 Top of the Pops (b09vpjh3)
Mike Read and Dixie Peach present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 13 June 1985. Featuring Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, Billy Ocean, Sister Sledge and Marillion.


SAT 00:45 Top of the Pops (b09vpkcn)
Janice Long and Gary Davies present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 20 June 1985. Featuring Sting, Fine Young Cannibals, China Crisis and Harold Faltermeyer.


SAT 01:15 Lost Kingdoms of Central America (b04j8st0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


SAT 02:15 The Silk Road (p03qb1gq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


SAT 03:15 TOTP2 (b0074820)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:30 today]



SUNDAY 18 MARCH 2018

SUN 19:00 Only Connect (b09w8qhv)
Series 13

Detectives v Beaks

Victoria Coren Mitchell hosts the series where knowledge will only take you so far. Patience and lateral thinking are also vital.

Two teams of round-three losers return for a last chance to stay in the competition. They compete to find the connections between things which, at first glance, seem utterly random. So join Victoria Coren Mitchell if you want to know what connects Phone driver, Ed Towers, Loin and ET War.


SUN 19:30 University Challenge (b09w8qj4)
2017/18

Episode 31

The gruelling quarter-finals continue as two student teams vie to reach the next stage of the competition. Jeremy Paxman asks the questions.


SUN 20:00 Ancient Greece: The Greatest Show on Earth (b039kr77)
Kings

Classicist Dr Michael Scott looks at the dramatic decline of Athens and the remarkable triumph and transformation of theatre. During the 4th century BC Athens would lose its Empire, its influence and even its democracy. But theatre, that most Athenian of inventions, would thrive, spreading throughout the Greek world and beyond and giving rise to a new kind of comedy, one so popular and prevalent that it is still at the heart of comedy today.


SUN 21:00 Andrew Marr on Churchill: Blood, Sweat and Oil Paint (b06714yz)
Andrew Marr discovers the untold story of Winston Churchill's lifelong love for painting and reveals the surprising ways in which his private hobby helped shape his public career as politician and statesman, even playing an unexpected part in his role as wartime leader.

Marr is himself a committed amateur painter and art has played an important role in his recovery from a serious stroke in 2013. His fascination with the healing powers of art fuels a journey that opens a new perspective on one of Britain's most famous men.

Andrew travels to the south of France and Marrakech, where Churchill loved to paint, and discovers how his serious approach to the craft of painting led to friendships with major British artists of the 20th century. He finds out how a single painting in the 1940s may have influenced the course of the Second World War, and meets Churchill's descendants to discover what his family felt about a private hobby that helped keep him sane through his wilderness years. And he discovers how, 50 years after Churchill's death, his art is being taken more seriously than ever before, with one painting being sold for almost £2 million in 2014.


SUN 22:00 13 Minutes: The Plot to Assassinate Adolf Hitler (b082jpvj)
Drama about Georg Elser's plot to assassinate Hitler. In 1939, Elser planted a bomb behind his lecturn to kill Hitler during a speech. But Hitler unexpectedly left the building 13 minutes early. Elser was soon arrested, and the film follows the events in his Swabian village, under Nazi rule, which led him to attempt this act of resistance which could have changed world history and saved millions of lives.


SUN 23:45 The Riviera: A History in Pictures (b01ps9jr)
Painting Paradise

Two-part sun-filled series in which Richard E Grant follows in the footsteps of artists who have lived, loved and painted on France's glorious Cote d'Azur.

Revealing the intertwined relationship between modern art and the development of the French Riviera as an international tourist haven, Grant explores how impressionist painters Cezanne, Monet and Renoir first discovered the region in the 19th century when the newly built railway arrived there.

Captivated by the light and colour of this undiscovered landscape, the painters immortalised its shores on canvas and in doing so advertised the savage beauty of the region. For neo-impressionists Paul Signac and Henri-Edmond Cross, the region provided a vision of utopia, while for Henri Matisse the vivid colours of the area inspired him to adopt a new palette and in doing so set modern art en route to abstraction.

With visits to L'Estaque, St Tropez and Nice, Grant maps the progress of the region from cultural backwater to bohemian hotspot.


SUN 00:45 The Riviera: A History in Pictures (b01pwtvf)
The Golden Era

Richard E Grant explores how modern art and the Riviera grew up together when France's Cote D'Azur became the hedonistic playground and experimental studio for the great masters of 20th-century painting. With Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso resident on the coast, other artists from Jean Cocteau to Henri Lartigue, Raoul Dufy to Fernand Leger and Francis Picabia to Sergei Diaghilev were drawn to the area.

As transatlantic liners brought America's super-rich to the region, art and celebrity became integrally intertwined as cultural gurus and multimillionaires all partied on the beach. In an era of sunshine and bathing, of cinema and fast cars, of the Ballet Russes and Monte Carlo casinos, Grant discovers the extraordinary output of what became briefly the world's creative hub.


SUN 01:45 Ancient Greece: The Greatest Show on Earth (b039kr77)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


SUN 02:45 Andrew Marr on Churchill: Blood, Sweat and Oil Paint (b06714yz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


SUN 03:45 Sounds of the Sixties (b072w25j)
Reversions

1964-6 The Beat Room 2

Tom Jones, The Rolling Stones and Manfred Mann star in archive clips from the 60s.



MONDAY 19 MARCH 2018

MON 19:00 Beyond 100 Days (b09wclpb)
Series 1

19/03/2018

Katty Kay in Washington and Christian Fraser in London return to report on the events that are shaping the world.


MON 19:30 Great Irish Journeys with Martha Kearney (b05q19lj)
Episode 4

Martha Kearney walks in the footsteps of a 19th-century artist and geologist who spent his life charting the landscape, people and buildings of Ireland. She retraces the journey of George Victor Du Noyer, whose 35-year odyssey left a unique record of how Ireland looked during a period of great change.

In her final journey, Martha hits the spiritual trail, starting with the Blasket Islands off the coast of Kerry. In the Dingle Peninsula, Du Noyer discovered clochans - stone beehive huts. Martha heads north on a spiritual trail, taking in the islands of the Fermanagh Lakelands - White Island, Boa Island and the renowned Station Island.


MON 20:00 Treasures of the Indus (b069g53h)
The Other Side of the Taj Mahal

This is the story of the Indian subcontinent told through the treasures of three very different people, places and dynasties that have shaped the modern Indian world.

The Mughals created the most famous and dazzling empire that India has ever seen, from the Taj Mahal to fabulously intricate miniatures of court life.

But in the process, did they bring civilisation to India or tear it apart?

From the moment the first Mughal emperor Babur arrived from Afghanistan the debate began - were the Mughals imposing their own religion of Islam on a Hindu country, or were they open to the religion and art of the country they were conquering?

The artworks the Mughals left behind over their 200-year empire - even the very buildings which have traces of Hindu architecture as well as Muslim - clearly show how this debate played out, and Sona Datta traces how this most spectacular of all Indian civilisations also sowed the seeds of discord.


MON 21:00 Art of Spain (b008x4bp)
The Dark Heart

Critic and art historian Andrew Graham-Dixon travels from southern to northern Spain to tell the story of some of Europe's most exciting and vital art. He journeys to the country’s scorched centre to explore Spanish art of the 16th and 17th centuries. From the mystical world of El Greco to the tender genius of Velazquez, this was a moment so extraordinary it became known as the Golden Age. But beneath the glittering surface was a dark and savage heart. Travelling from the architectural jewel of Toledo to majestic Madrid, Andrew Graham-Dixon traces the rise and fall of the Spanish Empire, the brutal conquest of the New World, and the religious madness of the Inquisition, to discover how a history so violent could produce some of the most beautiful art ever seen.


MON 22:00 Mary Magdalene: Art's Scarlet Woman (b08ljvt7)
Waldemar Januszczak explores the impact of Mary Magdalene's myth on art and artists. All saints in art are inventions, but no saint in art has been invented quite as furiously as Mary Magdalene. For a thousand years, artists have been throwing themselves at the task of describing her and telling her story, from Caravaggio to Cezanne, Rubens to Rembrandt, Titian to van Gogh.

Her identity has evolved from being the close follower of Jesus who was the first witness to his resurrection, to one of a prostitute and sinner who escaped from persecution in the Holy Land by fleeing across the Mediterranean to end up living in a cave as a hermit in the south of France, enjoying ecstatic experiences with Christ.


MON 23:00 Mothers, Murderers and Mistresses: Empresses of Ancient Rome (b02w63n7)
Episode 3

Professor Catharine Edwards follows the stories of four very different women across centuries which saw the Roman Empire utterly transformed. Among them are the slave turned imperial consort Caenis, the empress Julia Domna - a Syrian who was commemorated in fascinating ways as far away as York - and Helena, mother of the emperor Constantine and a force in converting the empire to Christianity.


MON 00:00 Treasures of Ancient Greece (b05ql1sf)
The Age of Heroes

In the first episode Alastair Sooke explores the surprising roots of Greek art, beginning his journey in Crete at the palace of Knossos, legendary home of the Minotaur. He travels to Santorini to the 'Greek Pompeii', and finds gold in the fabled stronghold of Mycenae and dazzling remains from Greece's Dark Ages. Alastair discovers the beginnings of a defining spirit in Greek art, embracing mythology, a passion for symmetry, and an obsession with the human body.


MON 01:00 Top of the Pops (b0844w9t)
John Peel presents the pop chart show, first broadcast on 23 September 1982. Includes appearances from David Christie, Culture Club, Fat Larry's Band, Depeche Mode, Musical Youth, Survivor and Evelyn King. Also includes a dance performance from Zoo.


MON 01:30 Top of the Pops (b0844wjb)
John Peel presents the chart show, first broadcast on 14 October 1982. Includes appearances from Mari Wilson, Tears for Fears, Pinkees, Barry Manilow, Melba Moore, Ultravox, The Beatles and Musical Youth. Also includes a dance performance from Zoo.


MON 02:00 A History of Art in Three Colours (b01l4fyl)
Gold

For the very first civilisations, the yellow lustre of gold is the most alluring and intoxicating colour of all. From the midst of prehistory to a bunker deep beneath the Bank of England, Fox reveals how golden treasures made across the ages reflect everything that has been held as sacred.


MON 03:00 Art of Spain (b008x4bp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



TUESDAY 20 MARCH 2018

TUE 19:00 Beyond 100 Days (b09wclph)
Series 1

20/03/2018

The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


TUE 19:30 Secret Knowledge (b01r3n6p)
The Art of the Vikings

Through interpretations of some of the archaeological treasures of the Swedish National Museum, now on display in Edinburgh, Dr Janina Ramirez of Oxford University explores the fascinating wealth of Viking culture and its long-lasting influence on the British Isles.


TUE 20:00 Immortal Egypt with Joann Fletcher (b06yjrgg)
Zenith

In the third episode, Joann explores the magnificent Colossi of Memnon, built under Egypt's greatest pharaoh - Amenhotep III.

Joann explores the dizzying heights of Egypt's civilisation and the lives of the workers and artisans caught up in Egypt's most ambitious building project: the Valley of the Kings. But this golden age is threatened by the growing power of Karnak's priests. When Amenhotep's successors Akhenaten and Nefertiti strike back at the priests with a religious rebellion, it is their son Tutankhamen who tries to rectify it.

By finding clues in Tutankhamen's treasure, Joann reveals how his early death was a chance for Egypt to start afresh and rewrite history. With the country restored to its former glory, Egypt's fate lay in the hands of Theban priest kings. Joann retraces their final act of desecration - decades of state-sanctioned looting of the Valley of the Kings. This lays Egypt bare, making way for a new era of foreign invaders.


TUE 21:00 Madame Tussaud: A Legend in Wax (b08cgm56)
The remarkable true story of the woman behind the worldwide waxworks empire, Madame Tussaud.

In an astonishing life that spanned both the French and Industrial revolutions, this single mother and entrepreneur travelled across the Channel to England, where she overcame the odds to establish her remarkable and enduring brand. Determined to leave an account of who she was and the times she lived through, her memoirs, letters and papers offer a unique insight into the creation of the extraordinary empire which bears her name.


TUE 22:00 The Prosecutors (b0726h15)
Real Crime and Punishment

The Proof

The Crown Prosecution Service is often under scrutiny for its decision-making. Now for the first time the CPS has allowed cameras in. Filmed over 18 months with prosecutors in Merseyside, Cheshire and the south east, including the director of public prosecutions, Alison Saunders, this groundbreaking series goes behind the scenes to reveal how our criminal justice system really works and what it takes to secure a conviction. Each episode focuses on a different part of the process, following prosecutions and those involved in the case from start to finish.

In this episode the prosecutors deal with two violent domestic murders and the victim of an assault who is unhappy that her attacker has not been prosecuted.

In 2014 the police brought prosecutors over 100,000 cases of violence against women to consider. In a quarter of the cases, the CPS decided a prosecution could not go ahead.

Viv Driver-Hart can't remember the details of the assault against her, but a huge chunk of her hair had been ripped out and she'd been knocked unconscious. Now she's written to the CPS to appeal their decision not to prosecute under a new initiative, the Victims' Right to Review.

Chief crown prosecutor Claire Lindley oversees all prosecutions in the Mersey-Cheshire area. The decision not to prosecute Viv's attacker can only be overturned with her approval. But every decision, however difficult, must be based on the evidence.

Proving that the defendant committed the offence they are charged with is essential to secure a conviction. A jury must be convinced that the prosecution team has produced evidence and presented the case so as to leave them in no doubt of guilt.

Prosecutor Richard Riley deals with two murder cases of women who have been killed by someone they know. In both cases there appears to be overwhelming evidence against the defendants. Police find Paul Fox attempting suicide, with his mother dead downstairs, and a note he's written, 'Warning Dead Bodies'. A witness sees David Hoyle leaving the scene with a knife, where his girlfriend has been stabbed. As the cases develop, it becomes clear that securing a conviction is never straightforward.


TUE 23:00 Britain's Outlaws: Highwaymen, Pirates and Rogues (b06qgh3w)
Knights of the Road: The Highwayman's Story

Few figures in British history have captured the popular imagination as much as the outlaw. From gentleman highwaymen, via swashbuckling pirates to elusive urban thieves and rogues, the brazen escapades and the flamboyance of the outlaw made them the antihero of their time - feared by the rich, admired by the poor and celebrated by writers and artists.

In this three-part series, historian Dr Sam Willis travels the open roads, the high seas and urban alleyways to explore Britain's 17th- and 18th-century underworld of highwaymen, pirates and rogues, bringing the great age of the British outlaw vividly to life.

Sam shows that, far from being 'outsiders', outlaws were very much a product of their time, shaped by powerful national events. In each episode, he focuses not just on a particular type of outlaw, but a particular era - the series as a whole offers a chronological portrait of the changing face of crime in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Sam begins with the arrival of a new breed of gentleman criminal out of the ashes of the English Civil War - the highwayman. Heavily romanticised in literature, these glamorous gangsters became a social menace on the roads and a political thorn in the side of the creaking British state - threatening to steal our wallets and our hearts. But underneath the dashing image of stylish robbers on horseback lay a far darker reality.


TUE 00:00 Treasures of Ancient Greece (b05qqgrr)
The Classical Revolution

Alastair Sooke unpicks the reasons behind the dazzling revolution that gave birth to classical Greek art, asking how the Greeks got so good so quickly. He travels to the beautiful Valley of the Temples in Agrigento, and to the island of Mozia to see the astonishing charioteer found there in 1979, and marvels at the athletic bodies of the warriors dragged from the seabed - the Riace Bronzes.

It was a creative explosion that covered architecture, sculpting in marble, casting in bronze, even painting on vases. Perhaps the most powerful factor was also its greatest legacy - a fascination with the naked human body.


TUE 01:00 Top of the Pops (b084zy8n)
Peter Powell presents the weekly pop chart show, first broadcast on 21 December 1982. Includes appearances from The Piranhas, Toyah, The Kids from Fame, Imagination, Kool and the Gang, Bauhaus, Spandau Ballet, Culture Club, Sharon Redd and Shakin' Stevens.


TUE 01:30 Top of the Pops (b084zy9d)
Simon Bates presents the weekly chart show, first broadcast on 28 October 1982. Includes appearances from Raw Silk, Blue Zoo, Culture Club, Dionne Warwick, Melba Moore, The Beatles, Tears for Fears and Eddy Grant.


TUE 02:00 A History of Art in Three Colours (b01lcz2s)
Blue

Dr James Fox explores how, in the hands of artists, the colours gold, blue and white have stirred emotions, changed behaviour and even altered the course of history.

When, in the Middle Ages, the precious blue stone lapis lazuli arrived in Europe from the east, blue became the most exotic and mysterious of colours. And it was artists who used it to offer us tantalising glimpses of other worlds beyond our own.


TUE 03:00 Britain's Outlaws: Highwaymen, Pirates and Rogues (b06qgh3w)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:00 today]



WEDNESDAY 21 MARCH 2018

WED 19:00 Beyond 100 Days (b09wclpn)
Series 1

21/03/2018

The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


WED 19:30 Secret Knowledge (b054fkzz)
The Private Life of a Dolls' House

Lauren Child, author, illustrator and creator of Charlie and Lola, has a secret passion - dolls' houses. She has worked on her own dolls' house for the past 30 years and her lifelong obsession continues to inspire her ideas and shape her work. But why do these interior worlds have the power to cast a spell beyond childhood?

Lauren explores the history of dolls' houses from some of the earliest examples to their modern incarnations, speaks to craftspeople who create perfect miniatures and meets ardent collectors willing to pay big money for tiny objects of desire.


WED 20:00 Metalworks! (b01fhmhp)
The Golden Age of Silver

Dan Cruickshank visits Britain's finest country houses, museums and factories as he uncovers the 18th- and 19th-century fascination with silver. Delving into an unsurpassed era of shimmering opulence, heady indulgence and conspicuous consumption, Dan discovers the Georgian and Victorian obsession with this tantalising precious metal which represented status, wealth and excellent taste. He gives us a glimpse of some of the most extensive collections and exquisite pieces of silverware to have ever been made on British shores.


WED 21:00 MAKE! Craft Britain (b09whc5t)
Series 1

Episode 1

The first episode follows two groups of novice crafters as they master the art of hooky rugmaking and traditional letterpress. Meanwhile, origami artist Sam Tsang teaches how to make something beautiful from a single sheet of paper, folding an origami lily which can then be made into LED fairy lights.

On the north east coast in Bamburgh village, world-renowned rugmaker Heather Ritchie welcomes six amateur crafters to her two-day workshop in the local cricket pavilion. She teaches them how to 'hook' their own personalised seat cushions, inspired by their favourite places.

Heather has been hooking rugs for over 30 years. She discovered rugmaking in the early 70s after moving into a cold, flagstoned cottage in the Yorkshire Dales. The hooking technique allowed her to use recycled fabrics to produce rugs that insulated her home. After getting 'hooked' on the basic technique, her functional household rugs soon developed into intricate works of art, each one capturing a memory from her past.

The workshop is attended by married couple Adam and Tracy, dentist Indra, A&E doctor Lucy and local farmers Mary and John, who bring some sheep fleece along to use in their work.

Meanwhile, in south London, wordsmith and typographer Kelvyn Smith invites five students into his print studio for a one-day masterclass in letterpress printmaking. The 350-year-old printing process is new to all of Kelvyn's students, so over the course of the day they learn how to use a composing stick, how to set type and build a form, before proofing and printing their own pieces of work.

The workshop is attended by engaged couple Ant and Bianca, gravestone engraver Neil and his carpenter son Otis, and textiles student Lorna.

Lorna initially struggles with the concept of writing 'upside down and left to right', but has a breakthrough when she's given a mirror to hold up against her work. In the end her poster - a written tribute to her dad, a poet - exceeds all hopes. 'It's come out better than I could have expected.'

Back in Bamburgh, the hooky seat cushions are ready to go on chairs, and the students take a stroll to the beach for a celebratory slice of cake and cup of tea to try them out for size.

Sheep farmer John's work really impresses teacher Heather - 'now who'd have thought a sheep farmer could make something as beautiful and artistic as that?'.


WED 22:00 Carved with Love: The Genius of British Woodwork (b01psbwz)
The Extraordinary Thomas Chippendale

Thomas Chippendale is the most famous furniture designer the world has ever produced, but what about the man behind the chairs? This episode shows how Chippendale worked his way up from humble roots to working for the nobility, but also how he was ruined by the very aristocrats he created such wonders for.


WED 23:00 Britain's Outlaws: Highwaymen, Pirates and Rogues (b06qskdx)
Pirates

Few figures in British history have captured the popular imagination as much as the outlaw. From gentleman highwaymen, via swashbuckling pirates to elusive urban thieves and rogues, the brazen escapades and the flamboyance of the outlaw made them the antihero of their time - feared by the rich, admired by the poor and celebrated by writers and artists.

In this three-part series, historian Dr Sam Willis travels the open roads, the high seas and urban alleyways to explore Britain's 17th- and 18th-century underworld of highwaymen, pirates and rogues, bringing the great age of the British outlaw vividly to life.

Sam shows that, far from being 'outsiders', outlaws were very much a product of their time, shaped by powerful national events. In each episode, he focuses not just on a particular type of outlaw, but a particular era - the series as a whole offers a chronological portrait of the changing face of crime in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Sam takes to the high seas in search of the swashbuckling pirates of the golden age of piracy during the early 18th century. Following in the wake of the infamous Captain Kidd, Blackbeard, Calico Jack and others, Sam charts the devastating impact these pirates had during an era of colonial expansion and how, by plundering the vast network of seaborne trade, they became the most-wanted outlaws in the world.


WED 00:00 Treasures of Ancient Greece (b05rj5xj)
The Long Shadow

Alastair Sooke explores the extraordinary afterlife of the Greek masterpieces that changed the course of western culture. Succeeding centuries have found in ancient Greek art inspiration for their own ideals and ambitions. Filming in Italy, Germany, France and Britain, Alastair's investigation includes The Venus of Knidos, the first naked woman in western art, the bronze horses of St Mark's in Venice which became a pawn in an imperial game and the naked discus thrower, the Discobolus, personally bought by Adolf Hitler and used by him as a symbol of Aryan supremacy.


WED 01:00 Top of the Pops (b085ykyh)
David Jensen presents the weekly pop chart show, first broadcast on 11 November 1982. Includes appearances from Blue Zoo, A Flock of Seagulls, Clannad, Dionne Warwick, Donna Summer, Marvin Gaye, Eddy Grant and Zoo.


WED 01:30 Top of the Pops (b086824r)
John Peel presents the weekly chart show first broadcast on 18 November 1982. Includes appearances from Modern Romance, Duran Duran, Blancmange, Renee & Renato, Wham, Eddy Grant, Tears for Fears and Hall & Oates.


WED 02:00 A History of Art in Three Colours (b01lng0m)
White

In the Age of Reason, it was the rediscovery of the white columns and marbles of antiquity that made white the most virtuous of colours. For flamboyant JJ Wickelmann and British genius Josiah Wedgwood, white embodied all the Enlightenment's values of justice, equality and reason.


WED 03:00 Britain's Outlaws: Highwaymen, Pirates and Rogues (b06qskdx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:00 today]



THURSDAY 22 MARCH 2018

THU 19:00 Beyond 100 Days (b09wclpt)
Series 1

22/03/2018

Katty Kay in Washington and Christian Fraser in London return to report on the events that are shaping the world.


THU 19:30 Top of the Pops (b09wgscy)
Simon Bates and Richard Skinner present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 4 July 1985. Featuring Tears for Fears, Simply Red, Dead or Alive, Fine Young Cannibals and The Damned.


THU 20:00 Secret Universe: The Hidden Life of the Cell (b01nln7d)
There is a battle playing out inside your body right now. It started billions of years ago and it is still being fought in every one of us every minute of every day. It is the story of a viral infection, the battle for the cell.

This film reveals the exquisite machinery of the human cell system from within the inner world of the cell itself - from the frenetic membrane surface that acts as a security system for everything passing in and out of the cell, the dynamic highways that transport cargo across the cell and the remarkable turbines that power the whole cellular world to the amazing nucleus housing DNA and the construction of thousands of different proteins all with unique tasks. The virus intends to commandeer this system to one selfish end: to make more viruses. And they will stop at nothing to achieve their goal.

Exploring the very latest ideas about the evolution of life on earth and the bio-chemical processes at the heart of every one of us, and revealing a world smaller than it is possible to comprehend, in a story large enough to fill the biggest imaginations. With contributions from Professor Bonnie L Bassler of Princeton University, Dr Nick Lane and Professor Steve Jones of University College London and Cambridge University's Susanna Bidgood.


THU 21:00 Contagion: The BBC Four Pandemic (p059y0p1)
The government rates the global outbreak of a deadly flu virus as a major threat to the UK. It could happen at any time. To predict the impact of the next pandemic more accurately than ever before, new data is needed - and lots of it. Dr Hannah Fry is on the case.

She sets out to recruit the nation to download the BBC Pandemic app in a ground-breaking experiment to help plan for when the next deadly virus comes to the UK. How quickly will it spread? How many could it kill? What can we do about it? The BBC Four Pandemic experiment will find out.

Hannah masterminds the experiment and adopts the role of Patient Zero by walking the streets of Haslemere in Surrey to launch the outbreak. Meanwhile, emergency physician Dr Javid Abdelmoneim finds out why flu is still such a danger to society a century after Spanish flu killed up to 100 million people worldwide. He meets researchers trying to discover what makes some people more contagious than others and visits a factory that will produce vaccine when the next pandemic flu virus emerges.

Armed with the information he gathers and the results of the BBC Four Pandemic experiment, Hannah and Javid make a shocking revelation.


THU 22:15 Michael Mosley vs The Superbugs (b08qkz77)
More and more bacterial infections are becoming resistant to antibiotics. Not just MRSA but also TB, pneumonia and e-coli. In Britain, hundreds die of these infections - mainly the very young or the frail and elderly. Health experts warn, unless we crack the problem, that by 2050 we will be facing a pathogenic apocalypse with over 10 million people dying of resistant bacterial infection worldwide every year.

Michael Mosley goes in search of the causes of this crisis and possible solutions to overcome it. At the heart of the film is an unprecedented experiment to create a life-size clone of Michael in agar and then grow bacteria on it taken from all over his body. This is ‘Microbial Michael’, a living bacterial sculpture that offers new insights into what happens when we hit our body - and our bacteria - with a broad spectrum antibiotic.

Michael finds that he has some resistant bacteria. But how has this happened and how do bacteria acquire resistance to antibiotics? In a cave in New Mexico, Michael discovers that it is a natural process, which has been going on for millennia, long before the discovery of penicillin. Our overuse of antibiotics in medicine and farming accelerates the development of resistance among bacteria, but evolution ensures that bacteria will gradually overcome the antibiotics we use to defeat them.

So, we desperately need new antibiotics, or ways to make our existing antibiotics work effectively again. In a trip that goes to the US, to Poland and to research labs around the UK, we meet the ‘resistance hunters’ - scientists who are trying to find new ways of beating resistant bacteria. And in a finale to the ‘Microbial Michael’ experiment, some of Michael’s agar body parts - his face and his hands - are infected with superbugs. Can any of the new treatments get rid of them?


THU 23:15 Britain's Outlaws: Highwaymen, Pirates and Rogues (b06rfl46)
Rogues Gallery

Few figures in British history have captured the popular imagination as much as the outlaw. From gentleman highwaymen, via swashbuckling pirates to elusive urban thieves and rogues, the brazen escapades and the flamboyance of the outlaw made them the anti-hero of their time - feared by the rich, admired by the poor and celebrated by writers and artists.

In this three-part series, historian Dr Sam Willis travels the open roads, the high seas and urban alleyways to explore Britain's 17th and 18th-century underworld of highwaymen, pirates and rogues, bringing the great age of the British outlaw vividly to life.

Sam shows that, far from being 'outsiders', outlaws were very much a product of their time, shaped by powerful national events. In each episode, he focuses not just on a particular type of outlaw, but a particular era. The series as a whole offers a chronological portrait of the changing face of crime in the 17th and 18th centuries.

In the final episode, Sam looks at urban crime, fraud and corruption in the 18th century, uncovering a fascinating rogues’ gallery of charmers, fraudsters and villains. Charmers like thief and serial escaper Jack Sheppard, so notorious that almost a quarter of a million people turned up to witness his hanging. Almost as controversial in her lifetime was Mary Toft, a fraudster who managed to convince no less than King George I and his surgeon that she had given birth to rabbits, making her, perhaps, the original 'con' artist.


THU 00:15 Top of the Pops (b09wgscy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


THU 00:45 The Inca: Masters of the Clouds (b04xdpjy)
Foundations

Dr Jago Cooper reassesses the achievements of the Inca Empire. He begins in Peru, where evidence is still being uncovered that challenges preconceptions about its origins and significance. Venturing from the coast to the clouds, he reveals how the Inca transformed one of the most challenging landscapes in the world to ward off the worst effects of the climate, and created sophisticated systems of communication. He shows how one of many independent societies became a commanding empire - not through force, but by using subtle methods of persuasion.


THU 01:45 The Inca: Masters of the Clouds (b04y4q35)
Clash of Empires

In the concluding part, Dr Jago Cooper argues that it wasn't simply a clash of arms that destroyed the Inca but a clash of worldviews. He travels from Peru to the far north of Inca territory in Ecuador to reveal how the great strengths of the empire suddenly became factors in its rapid demise. The Spanish conquest of the Inca destroyed one of the most remarkable empires in the world, yet the Inca legacy leaves a great deal for modern civilisations to learn from.


THU 02:45 Britain's Outlaws: Highwaymen, Pirates and Rogues (b06rfl46)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:15 today]


THU 03:45 Sounds of the Seventies (b08r3xc9)
Shorts

T. Rex, Mott The Hoople, Alvin Stardust and Suzi Quatro

Another mouth-watering madeleine of musical morsels bound to get the memories going. T. Rex perform Hot Love, Mott The Hoople perform Roll Away the Stone, Alvin Stardust has a Jealous Mind and Suzi Quatro comes alive at Devil Gate Drive.


THU 03:55 Sounds of the Seventies (b00c1cx3)
Solos

The Faces

Vintage rock, pop and soul performances from the BBC archives. The Faces perform Stay with Me in 1972.



FRIDAY 23 MARCH 2018

FRI 19:00 World News Today (b09wclpz)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


FRI 19:30 Top of the Pops (b09wgttc)
John Peel and Janice Long present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 11 July 1985. Featuring The Conway Brothers, Eurythmics, Opus, Bruce Springsteen, Mai Tai and Steve Arrington.


FRI 20:00 Fleetwood Mac: Don't Stop (b00nq7q9)
Fleetwood Mac are one of the biggest-selling bands of all time and still on the road. Their story, told in their own words, is an epic tale of love and confrontation, of success and loss.

Few bands have undergone such radical musical and personal change. The band evolved from the 60s British blues boom to perfect a US West Coast sound that saw them sell 40 million copies of the album Rumours.

However, behind-the-scenes relationships were turbulent. The band went through multiple line-ups with six different lead guitarists. While working on Rumours, the two couples at the heart of the band separated, yet this heartache inspired the perfect pop record.


FRI 21:00 Better than the Original: The Joy of the Cover Version (b06n9q8y)
Documentary which celebrates the role of the cover version in the pop canon and investigates what it takes to reinvent someone else's song as a smash.

Through ten carefully chosen cover versions that whisk us from the British Invasion to a noughties X Factor final, this film journeys over five decades to track how artists as varied as The Moody Blues, Soft Cell, Puff Daddy and Alexandra Burke have scored number ones with their retake on someone else's song. Each of the ten classic cover versions has its own particular tale, tied not only into its musical and cultural context but also the personal testimony of the artists, producers and songwriters whose lives were changed in the process.

Narrated by Meera Syal, it explores the stories behind such iconic hits as House of the Rising Sun, Respect, Tainted Love, I'll Be Missing You and Hallelujah, with contributors including John Cale, Gloria Jones, Marc Almond, Rick Rubin, Faith Evans and British singer-songwriter Nerina Pallot.

The cover version has always been a staple of the pop charts. Yet it's often been viewed as the poor relation of writing your own songs. This film challenges and overturns that misconception by celebrating an exciting, underrated musical form that has the power to make or break an artist's career. Whether as tribute, reinterpretation or as an act of subversion, the extraordinary alchemy involved in covering a record can create a new, defining version - in some cases, even more original than the original.


FRI 22:00 Pop Charts Britannia: 60 Years of the Top 10 (b01nwfxs)
Documentary chronicling our ever-changing love affair with the British singles chart on the occasion of its sixtieth anniversary. From the first NME chart in 1952, via Pick and Top of the Pops to home-taping the Radio One chart show and beyond, we have measured out our lives to a wonderful churn of pop driven, unbeknownst to us, by a clandestine world of music biz hustle. Featuring contributions by 60 years of BBC chart custodians from David Jacobs to Reggie Yates, chart fans Grace Dent and Pete Paphides and music biz veterans Jon Webster and Rob Dickins.


FRI 23:30 Top of the Pops (b09wgttc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


FRI 00:00 Ultimate Cover Versions at the BBC (b06ns4gf)
Smash hits from 60 years of great cover versions in performance from the BBC TV archive. Reinterpretations, tributes and acts of subversion from the British invasion to noughties X Factor finalist Alexandra Burke. Artists as varied as The Moody Blues, Soft Cell, Mariah Carey and UB40 with their 'retake' on someone else's song - ultimate chart hits that are, in some cases, perhaps even better than the original.

Arguably The Beatles, alongside Bob Dylan and The Beach Boys, introduced the notion of 'originality' and self-generating artists writing their songs into the pop lexicon in the 60s. One of the most fascinating consequences of this has been the 'original' cover version, a reinterpretation of someone else's song that has transformed it into pop gold with a shift of rhythm, intent and context. The pop cover has proved a remarkably imaginative and durable form and this compilation tracks this pop alchemy at its finest and most intriguing.


FRI 01:00 Better than the Original: The Joy of the Cover Version (b06n9q8y)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


FRI 02:00 Guitar Heroes at the BBC (b00dzzv2)
Part I

Concentrating on the 1970s (1969 to 1981 to be exact) and ransacking a host of BBC shows from The Old Grey Whistle Test to Sight & Sound, this compilation is designed to release the air guitarist in everyone, combining great electric guitarists like Carlos Santana, Mark Knopfler, The Edge and Peter Green with acoustic masters like John Martyn, Pentangle and Paco Pena.


FRI 03:00 Fleetwood Mac: Don't Stop (b00nq7q9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]




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

13 Minutes: The Plot to Assassinate Adolf Hitler 22:00 SUN (b082jpvj)

A History of Art in Three Colours 02:00 MON (b01l4fyl)

A History of Art in Three Colours 02:00 TUE (b01lcz2s)

A History of Art in Three Colours 02:00 WED (b01lng0m)

Ancient Greece: The Greatest Show on Earth 20:00 SUN (b039kr77)

Ancient Greece: The Greatest Show on Earth 01:45 SUN (b039kr77)

Andrew Marr on Churchill: Blood, Sweat and Oil Paint 21:00 SUN (b06714yz)

Andrew Marr on Churchill: Blood, Sweat and Oil Paint 02:45 SUN (b06714yz)

Art of Spain 21:00 MON (b008x4bp)

Art of Spain 03:00 MON (b008x4bp)

Below the Surface 21:00 SAT (b0948n89)

Below the Surface 21:45 SAT (b0948n8c)

Better than the Original: The Joy of the Cover Version 21:00 FRI (b06n9q8y)

Better than the Original: The Joy of the Cover Version 01:00 FRI (b06n9q8y)

Beyond 100 Days 19:00 MON (b09wclpb)

Beyond 100 Days 19:00 TUE (b09wclph)

Beyond 100 Days 19:00 WED (b09wclpn)

Beyond 100 Days 19:00 THU (b09wclpt)

Britain's Outlaws: Highwaymen, Pirates and Rogues 23:00 TUE (b06qgh3w)

Britain's Outlaws: Highwaymen, Pirates and Rogues 03:00 TUE (b06qgh3w)

Britain's Outlaws: Highwaymen, Pirates and Rogues 23:00 WED (b06qskdx)

Britain's Outlaws: Highwaymen, Pirates and Rogues 03:00 WED (b06qskdx)

Britain's Outlaws: Highwaymen, Pirates and Rogues 23:15 THU (b06rfl46)

Britain's Outlaws: Highwaymen, Pirates and Rogues 02:45 THU (b06rfl46)

Carved with Love: The Genius of British Woodwork 22:00 WED (b01psbwz)

Contagion: The BBC Four Pandemic 21:00 THU (p059y0p1)

Fleetwood Mac: Don't Stop 20:00 FRI (b00nq7q9)

Fleetwood Mac: Don't Stop 03:00 FRI (b00nq7q9)

Great Irish Journeys with Martha Kearney 19:30 MON (b05q19lj)

Guitar Heroes at the BBC 02:00 FRI (b00dzzv2)

Immortal Egypt with Joann Fletcher 20:00 TUE (b06yjrgg)

Irish Rock at the BBC 23:15 SAT (b0556qc9)

Lost Kingdoms of Central America 19:00 SAT (b04j8st0)

Lost Kingdoms of Central America 01:15 SAT (b04j8st0)

MAKE! Craft Britain 21:00 WED (b09whc5t)

Madame Tussaud: A Legend in Wax 21:00 TUE (b08cgm56)

Mary Magdalene: Art's Scarlet Woman 22:00 MON (b08ljvt7)

Metalworks! 20:00 WED (b01fhmhp)

Michael Mosley vs The Superbugs 22:15 THU (b08qkz77)

Mothers, Murderers and Mistresses: Empresses of Ancient Rome 23:00 MON (b02w63n7)

Only Connect 19:00 SUN (b09w8qhv)

Pop Charts Britannia: 60 Years of the Top 10 22:00 FRI (b01nwfxs)

Secret Knowledge 19:30 TUE (b01r3n6p)

Secret Knowledge 19:30 WED (b054fkzz)

Secret Universe: The Hidden Life of the Cell 20:00 THU (b01nln7d)

Sounds of the Seventies 03:45 THU (b08r3xc9)

Sounds of the Seventies 03:55 THU (b00c1cx3)

Sounds of the Sixties 03:45 SUN (b072w25j)

TOTP2 22:30 SAT (b0074820)

TOTP2 03:15 SAT (b0074820)

The Inca: Masters of the Clouds 00:45 THU (b04xdpjy)

The Inca: Masters of the Clouds 01:45 THU (b04y4q35)

The Prosecutors 22:00 TUE (b0726h15)

The Riviera: A History in Pictures 23:45 SUN (b01ps9jr)

The Riviera: A History in Pictures 00:45 SUN (b01pwtvf)

The Silk Road 20:00 SAT (p03qb1gq)

The Silk Road 02:15 SAT (p03qb1gq)

Top of the Pops 00:15 SAT (b09vpjh3)

Top of the Pops 00:45 SAT (b09vpkcn)

Top of the Pops 01:00 MON (b0844w9t)

Top of the Pops 01:30 MON (b0844wjb)

Top of the Pops 01:00 TUE (b084zy8n)

Top of the Pops 01:30 TUE (b084zy9d)

Top of the Pops 01:00 WED (b085ykyh)

Top of the Pops 01:30 WED (b086824r)

Top of the Pops 19:30 THU (b09wgscy)

Top of the Pops 00:15 THU (b09wgscy)

Top of the Pops 19:30 FRI (b09wgttc)

Top of the Pops 23:30 FRI (b09wgttc)

Treasures of Ancient Greece 00:00 MON (b05ql1sf)

Treasures of Ancient Greece 00:00 TUE (b05qqgrr)

Treasures of Ancient Greece 00:00 WED (b05rj5xj)

Treasures of the Indus 20:00 MON (b069g53h)

Ultimate Cover Versions at the BBC 00:00 FRI (b06ns4gf)

University Challenge 19:30 SUN (b09w8qj4)

World News Today 19:00 FRI (b09wclpz)