The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
For those who remained in London during the Second World War, the Blitz was a terrifying time of sleeplessness, fear and loss, but some of London's literary set found inspiration in the danger and intensity. With the threat of death ever present, nerves were tested and affairs began; it was an absolute gift for a writer seeking new material.
Presenter James Runcie tells the story of novelists Graham Greene, Henry Green and Elizabeth Bowen, and American poet Hilda Doolittle, who revelled in the creative and personal freedom they discovered even as the bombs rained down. The programme reveals how these writers distilled the surreal and often frightening atmosphere of the time into some of their finest work.
In this third episode, Alfred's grandson Aethelstan fulfils the family plan and creates a kingdom of all England.
Travelling from Devon to Cumbria, Scotland and Rome, Michael Wood tells the tale of Aethelstan's wars, his learning and his lawmaking, showing how he created a national coinage and tracing the origin of the English parliament to the king's new assembly politics. But there's also a dark side, with later legends that the king had his brother drowned at sea. In his last desperate struggle, Aethelstan defeated a huge invasion of Vikings and Scots in what became known as the Anglo-Saxon 'Great War'.
Wood argues that Aethelstan was one of the greatest English monarchs, and with his grandfather Alfred, his father Edward and his aunt Aethelflaed, a member of our most remarkable royal family and 'even more than the Tudors, the most gifted and influential rulers in British history'.
Simon Schama examines how the Holocaust and the creation of Israel have fundamentally changed what it means to be Jewish.
Mixing personal recollection with epic history, Simon tells the story of the remarkable personalities and unprecedented events which turned the Zionist dream of creating a modern state of Israel into reality - and the consequences for the world. With contributions from writer David Grossman, photographer Micha Bar-Am, kibbutz founder Freddie Kahan, West Bank settler Zvi Cooper and Palestinian villager Yacoub Odeh. This film explores the tension between the high ideals and dire necessities that led to the creation of a Jewish homeland and the realities of conflict, dispossession and occupation that have followed in its wake.
Anthropologist Professor Alice Roberts and archaeologist Neil Oliver go in search of the Celts - one of the world's most mysterious ancient people. In Britain and Ireland we are never far from our Celtic past, but in this series Neil and Alice travel much further afield, discovering the origins and beliefs of these Iron Age people in artefacts and human remains right across Europe, from Turkey to Portugal. What emerges is not a wild people on the western fringes of Europe, but a highly sophisticated tribal culture that influenced vast areas of the ancient world - and even Rome.
Rich with vivid drama reconstruction, we recreate this pivotal time and meet some of our most famous ancient leaders - from Queen Boudicca to Julius Caesar - and relive the battles they fought for the heart and soul of Europe. Alice and Neil discover that these key battles between the Celts and the Romans over the best part of 500 years constituted a fight for two very different forms of civilisation - a fight that came to define the world we live in today.
In the first episode, we see the origins of the Celts in the Alps of Central Europe and relive the moment of first contact with the Romans in a pitched battle just north of Rome - a battle that the Celts won and that left the imperial city devastated.
There are about 600 murders each year in the UK. So, what drives people to kill? Are some people born to kill or are they driven to it by circumstances?
Michael Mosley delves into the BBC archives to chart scientists' progress as they probed the mind of the murderer to try to understand why people kill, and to find out whether by understanding murder we can prevent it.
Documentary about Bombay's vast suburban rail network, which serves six-and-a-half million commuters every day. As Bombay's population swells by tens of thousands each week, the railway and the people whose lives revolve around it struggle to cope with the pressure and the peaktime 'super-dense crush load'. From the train driver to the illegal hawker and the homeless shoe-shine boy, each has a story to tell about this remarkable railway system, often described as the lifeline of India.
Simon Bates and Mike Read present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 22 September 1983. With Toyah Willcox, David Bowie, Nick Heyward, The Alarm, Howard Jones and Hot Chocolate.
David Jensen and John Peel present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 6 October 1983. Featuring Freeez, David Bowie, Depeche Mode, David Grant, The Alarm, New Order and Culture Club.
WEDNESDAY 02 MAY 2018
WED 19:00 Beyond 100 Days (b0b15x49)
Series 1
02/05/2018
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
WED 19:30 The Culture Show (b03vkt8l)
2013/2014
Lego - The Building Blocks of Architecture
Tom Dyckhoff explores the contribution of Lego to architecture, and its continuing influence, arguing that it's changed the way we think about buildings.
Lego's plastic yellow bricks were launched in the 50s, and resonated with new visions of rebuilding society - with ethical, imaginative children's play at its heart. Tom meets the artists and architects reared on Lego who are using it to reimagine our cities today, from Bjarke Ingels, the leading architect of his generation, to international artist Olafur Elliasson, whose Collectivity project took three tonnes of Lego to the citizens of Tirana, Albania.
But with Hollywood franchises and huge expansion, has Lego lost its original ethos of creativity and construction? Tom looks at Lego's successors and how cult computer game Minecraft may be set to transform the cities of the future.
WED 20:00 The Great Rift: Africa's Wild Heart (b00qr4xv)
Grass
Visible from space, Africa's Great Rift Valley runs three thousand miles from the Red Sea to the mouth of the Zambezi. It's a diverse terrain of erupting volcanoes, forest-clad mountains, spectacular valleys, rolling grasslands, huge lakes and mighty rivers, and is home to crocodiles, hippos, lions, elephants, flocks of flamingos and a diversity of indigenous peoples.
Using state-of-the-art high definition filming techniques, this series investigates the geological forces which shaped east Africa's Great Rift and which make it one of the world's most wildlife-rich landscapes.
The Great Rift Valley provides the stage for an epic battle between trees and grass - its course influenced by volcanic eruptions, landscape and rainfall. On its outcome rests the fate of Africa's great game herds. In the rift's savannas, grazers and their predators struggle to outwit each other, forcing one group of primates to develop a social system that paved the way for the evolution of mankind.
WED 21:00 Elizabeth I's Secret Agents (b09dcjgk)
Series 1
Episode 2
Robert Cecil is the son of Elizabeth I's original spymaster. He has been groomed since birth to inherit his father's network but when he finally steps into his father's shoes, the queen's enemies are stronger than ever and Cecil must also watch his back. The Earl of Essex has established a rival network and is trying to oust Cecil as Elizabeth's spymaster.
Essex is everything Cecil is not. Cecil is bent-backed and under five foot tall. Essex is an athlete and a war hero who flirts with the queen. But the two men have known each other since childhood. And now they are locked in a battle that is part court theatrical, but which is also a lethal spy war in which people die horrifically violent deaths. The stakes are huge. For the winner, untold power. For the loser a one-way trip to the scaffold.
Cecil is also aware that the sun is setting on the reign of Elizabeth, who is in her sixties. He and Essex are not just battling for control of the queen, but for control over who will be her successor. For the power to select the next king of England. Essex begins a spy war within the spy war by secretly approaching James VI of Scotland and striking a deal to put him on Elizabeth's throne when she has passed away. So Cecil must somehow oust Essex from Elizabeth's court without making an enemy of James, who Cecil also wants to inherit the throne.
This is a secret conflict, involving double agents, coded letters, treachery and treason. It is a world that Cecil proves to be an absolute master of. Cecil ruthlessly manoeuvres Essex to the execution block and becomes the man who puts James on the English throne.
WED 22:00 The Celts: Blood, Iron and Sacrifice with Alice Roberts and Neil Oliver (b06jcxg7)
Episode 2
In episode two, we discover the golden age of the La Tene Celtic warrior and reveal how their world extended as far as central Turkey. But by the middle of the first century BC, the Celts were under threat from an expanding Roman Empire, and the Gallic warrior Vercingetorix would challenge Julius Caesar in an epic battle that would shape the future of Europe.
WED 23:00 Putin: The New Tsar (b09vb7m3)
How did a poor boy from a tiny flat in St Petersburg become one of the world's most powerful leaders? Admired by Trump and feared by his rivals, on the eve of his almost certain re-election as president of Russia, this film reveals the story of Vladimir Putin's extraordinary rise to power - from a lowly KGB colonel to Boris Yeltsin's right-hand man and ultimately his successor.
There are revelations from Putin's inner circle at the Kremlin, including former confidante Sergei Pugachev, who helped Putin to power before falling from favour. Chess master Gary Kasparov recounts his failed attempt to stand against him and oligarch Mikhail Khordokovsky, who was jailed and stripped of his wealth, speaks of the consequences of experiencing the wrath of Putin.
The programme also hears from former home secretary Jack Straw, who recalls Putin's first encounter with Tony Blair - the leader Putin apparently attempted to model himself on. Straw wryly observes that the two are 'very similar'. Former foreign secretary William Hague entertained Putin during the London 2012 Olympic Games and bonded over a shared love of judo - but later found himself unable to influence the decision made to invade Crimea.
WED 00:00 Bombay Railway (b007t367)
Dreams
India is undergoing unprecedented growth and Bombay is its financial powerhouse. The city promotes itself as a positive vision of the future, a place where dreams can come true. Like an extended family, the Bombay railway provides an unfailing lifeline to the city. This series follows the hope and dreams of some the people who work for the railway.
Hans Dev Sharma is a senior operations clerk. He works in the timetabling department, which schedules over 2,000 trains a day - under its cultural quota, Hans was talent-spotted as an exceptional actor and dancer and the railways offered him a job. Hans is living the Bollywood dream, with Bombay Railways as his life and his stage. But will he get his big break?
Jagdish Paul Raj was born in Bombay and is as ambitious as the city he lives in. The son of a railway catering officer, Jagdish, like his father, always had an interest in food but none in the railway. He graduated in politics and economics and became a fully qualified chef. Now 31, he is running a successful catering business on the train to Goa. He is tendered for more trains, but will he be successful?
Mumtaz Kazi is Indian Railways' first fully qualified female train driver and has driven trains all over India. Mumtaz was brought up in a traditional Muslim family - a railway family. Now her father has retired and her immediate family live in Canada - Mumtaz is the only member left in Bombay. It will be Mumtaz's responsibility to find a wife for her brother, to get him married and back to Canada in just eight weeks. Can she do it and still drive the train?
WED 01:00 Top of the Pops (b08ndh2k)
Peter Powell and Richard Skinner present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 13 October 1983. Featuring Roman Holliday, Tracey Ullman, Siouxsie & The Banshees, George Benson, Lydia Murdock, Lionel Richie and Culture Club.
WED 01:30 Top of the Pops (b08p2k7n)
Andy Peebles and Janice Long present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 20 October 1983. Featuring David Grant, Rocksteady Crew, Howard Jones, Freeez, Elton John, Depeche Mode, Men Without Hats and Culture Club.
WED 02:00 The Great Rift: Africa's Wild Heart (b00qr4xv)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 today]
WED 03:00 Elizabeth I's Secret Agents (b09dcjgk)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
THURSDAY 03 MAY 2018
THU 19:00 Beyond 100 Days (b0b15x4g)
Series 1
03/05/2018
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
THU 19:30 Top of the Pops (b0b16s6d)
Mike Read and Steve Wright present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 12 September 1985. Featuring Amii Stewart, Huey Lewis & The News, Maria Vidal, Marillion, Mai Tai, and David Bowie & Mick Jagger.
THU 20:00 Secrets of the Super Elements (b08rv9r6)
Forget oil, coal and gas - a new set of materials is shaping our world and they're so bizarre they may as well be alien technology. In the first BBC documentary to be filmed entirely on smartphones, materials scientist Prof Mark Miodownik reveals the super elements that underpin our high-tech world. We have become utterly dependent on them, but they are rare and they're already running out. The stuff that makes our smartphones work could be gone in a decade and our ability to feed the world depends mostly on a mineral found in just one country. Mark reveals the magical properties of these extraordinary materials and finds out what we can do to save them.
THU 21:00 Jumbo: The Plane that Changed the World (b03wtnfv)
Documentary about the development of the Boeing 747 jumbo jet. The 747 was a game changer, the airliner that revolutionised mass, cheap air travel. But the first wide-bodied plane was originally intended as a stopgap to Boeing's now-abandoned supersonic jet. This is the remarkable untold story of the jumbo, a billion-dollar gamble that pushed 1960s technology to the limits to create one of the world's most recognisable planes.
THU 22:00 The Celts: Blood, Iron and Sacrifice with Alice Roberts and Neil Oliver (b06kpzcv)
Episode 3
The Roman army turns its attention to an island of rich resources, powerful tribes and druids, and advanced military equipment - Britain. This episode tells the story of the Celts' last stand against the Roman army - a revolt led by another great leader, the warrior queen Boudicca.
THU 23:00 Law and Order (b00jwbtr)
A Prisoner's Tale
Drama series about the British judicial system, seen from the viewpoints of those who keep it, those who break it and those who live off it.
THU 00:25 Top of the Pops (b0b16s6d)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:30 today]
THU 00:55 The Somme: Secret Tunnel Wars (b01skvnh)
Beneath the Somme battlefield lies one of the great secrets of the First World War, a recently-discovered network of deep tunnels thought to extend over several kilometres. This lost underground battlefield, centred on the small French village of La Boisselle in Picardy, was constructed largely by British troops between 1914 and 1916. Over 120 men died here in ongoing attempts to undermine the nearby German lines and these galleries still serve as a tomb for many of those men.
This documentary follows historian Peter Barton and a team of archaeologists as they become the first people in nearly a hundred years to enter this hidden, and still dangerous, labyrinth.
Military mines were the original weapons of shock and awe - with nowhere to hide from a mine explosion, these huge explosive charges could destroy a heavily-fortified trench in an instant. In order to get under the German lines to plant their mines, British tunnellers had to play a terrifying game of subterranean cat and mouse - constantly listening out for enemy digging and trying to intercept the German tunnels without being detected. To lose this game probably meant death.
As well uncovering the grim reality of this strange underground war, Peter discovers the story of the men who served here, including the tunnelling companies' special military units made up of ordinary civillian sewer workers and miners. He reveals their top secret mission that launched the Battle of the Somme's first day and discovers why British high command failed to capitalise on a crucial tactical advantage they had been given by the tunnellers.
THU 01:55 Jumbo: The Plane that Changed the World (b03wtnfv)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
THU 02:55 Secrets of the Super Elements (b08rv9r6)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 today]
FRIDAY 04 MAY 2018
FRI 19:00 World News Today (b0b15x4m)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
FRI 19:30 BBC Young Musician (b0b16sfc)
2018
Keyboard Category Final
Five exceptional young pianists are hoping to impress as they attempt to win the keyboard category and take the last remaining place in this year's BBC Young Musician semi-final. Filmed at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, presenter Josie d'Arby is joined by pianist Lucy Parham, herself a former Young Musician finalist, who provides expert analysis of each performance.
Competing are: 19-year-old Adam Heron from Cheltenham; 16-year-old Lauren Zhang from Birmingham; 16-year-old Elias Ackerley from Wrexham, north Wales; from Nottingham 15-year-old Jeneba Kanneh-Mason; and Mariam Loladze-Meredith from Stockport who's also 15 years old.
The people they need to impress are our expert jury: Ronan O'Hora, head of keyboard studies and head of advanced performance studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama; international concert pianist and chamber musician Tom Poster, who himself competed in BBC Young Musician in 2000; and chair of the jury, composer, performer and writer, Kerry Andrew.
BBC Young Musician has been showcasing the very best British classical music talent for the past 40 years. The winner from this keyboard final will join the winners from strings, percussion, woodwind and brass to take their place in the semi-final. There they will compete for the chance to perform in the grand final at Symphony Hall, Birmingham with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra conducted by Mark Wigglesworth. One will be named BBC Young Musician 2018.
FRI 21:00 The Jazz Ambassadors (b0b16sfh)
In 1955, the African-American congressman Adam Clayton Powell Jr and trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie announced a new Cold War weapon to combat the Soviet Union - America's iconic jazz musicians and their racially integrated bands would cross the globe to counter negative propaganda about racism in American.
Over the next decade, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Dave Brubeck would tour the world in service of US Cold War interests. But the unfolding Civil Rights movement back home forced them into a moral bind; how could they promote a tolerant image of America abroad when racial equality remained an unrealised dream?
This is the story of how the state department unwittingly gave the Civil Rights movement a voice on the world stage when it needed one most.
FRI 22:30 Latin Music USA (b00qpm4c)
Borderlands
The third in a four-part series revealing the deep musical and social impact of Latin music in the USA follows the historic waves of immigration across the often violent borderlands between the USA and Mexico, and reveals the dynamic role that Mexican-American music has played as it accompanied 'the largest migration in the history of the world'.
It starts on the streets of east Los Angeles, where 1950s rock legend Ritchie Valens 'crossed the tracks' to inspire other Mexican-American musicians like Los Lobos, Carlos Santana and Linda Ronstadt. But it is in the troubled borderlands, stretching 2,000 miles from Texas to California, that that music has most vividly depicted the myths and legends of an immigrant people who have demanded, and achieved, their place in American society.
Featuring Los Lobos, Santana, Linda Ronstadt, Freddie Fender, Selena, Flaco Jimenez and more.
FRI 23:30 Kings of Rock and Roll (b007c95q)
A journey back to the 1950s for a look at the wildest pop music of all time in a film that tells the stories of Bill Haley, Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis and Buddy Holly, giants from an era when pop music really was mad, bad and dangerous to know.
The programme features the artists themselves, alongside people like Bill Haley's original Comets, The Crickets, Buddy Holly's widow Maria Elena, Jerry Lee Lewis's former wife Myra Gail and his sister, Chuck Berry's son and many more, including June Juanico, Elvis's first serious girlfriend.
Other contributors include Tom Jones, Jamie Callum, Paul McCartney, Cliff Richard, Joe Brown, Marty Wilde, Green Day, Minnie Driver, Jack White of The White Stripes, The Mavericks, Jools Holland, Hank Marvin, Fontella Bass, John Waters and more.
Elvis's pelvis was just the start. Who had to change the lyrics to their biggest hit because the originals were too obscene? Who married their 13-year-old cousin? Who used lard to get their hair just right? And what happened on the day the music died?
FRI 00:30 Stunning Soloists at the BBC (b08kgqy0)
Solo show-stoppers from the world's greatest musicians in a journey through fifty years of BBC Music. From guitarist John Williams and cellist Jacqueline du Pre to trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and violinist Nigel Kennedy, this is a treasure trove of musical treats and dazzling virtuosity.
Whether it's James Galway's Flight of the Bumblebee performed at superhuman speed, Ravi Shankar's mesmerising Raag Bihag or Dudley Moore's brilliant Colonel Bogey March, every performance has its own star quality and unique appeal. Parkinson, Later with Jools Holland, The Les Dawson Show, Music at Night and Wogan are among the programmes featuring instruments ranging from marimba and kora to harp and flamenco guitar.
Sit back and enjoy.
FRI 01:30 Latin Music USA (b00qpm4c)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:30 today]
FRI 02:30 Kings of Rock and Roll (b007c95q)
[Repeat of broadcast at
23:30 today]
LIST OF THIS WEEK'S PROGRAMMES
(Note: the times link back to the details; the pids link to the BBC page, including iPlayer)
A Timewatch Guide
23:00 MON (b052vcbg)
Art on the BBC: The Genius of Leonardo Da Vinci
21:00 MON (b0b1v5xg)
Art on the BBC: The Genius of Leonardo Da Vinci
03:00 MON (b0b1v5xg)
Atlantic: The Wildest Ocean on Earth
19:00 SAT (p02wnhp6)
Atlantic: The Wildest Ocean on Earth
01:35 SAT (p02wnhp6)
BBC Young Musician
19:30 FRI (b0b16sfc)
Battle of Jutland: The Navy's Bloodiest Day
21:00 SUN (b07dps1x)
Battle of Jutland: The Navy's Bloodiest Day
02:30 SUN (b07dps1x)
Beyond 100 Days
19:00 MON (b0b15x32)
Beyond 100 Days
19:00 TUE (b0b15x44)
Beyond 100 Days
19:00 WED (b0b15x49)
Beyond 100 Days
19:00 THU (b0b15x4g)
Bombay Railway
00:00 TUE (b007t30p)
Bombay Railway
00:00 WED (b007t367)
Easter Island: Mysteries of a Lost World
22:00 SUN (b03srmm6)
Elizabeth I's Secret Agents
21:00 WED (b09dcjgk)
Elizabeth I's Secret Agents
03:00 WED (b09dcjgk)
How to Be Bohemian with Victoria Coren Mitchell
00:30 SUN (b0607p4y)
Jeff Beck: Still on the Run
00:05 SAT (b0b0g902)
Jet! When Britain Ruled the Skies
20:00 MON (b01m81f5)
Jet! When Britain Ruled the Skies
00:00 MON (b01m81f5)
Jet! When Britain Ruled the Skies
02:00 MON (b01m81f5)
Jumbo: The Plane that Changed the World
21:00 THU (b03wtnfv)
Jumbo: The Plane that Changed the World
01:55 THU (b03wtnfv)
King Alfred and the Anglo Saxons
20:00 TUE (b038rkw9)
King Alfred and the Anglo Saxons
02:00 TUE (b038rkw9)
Kings of Rock and Roll
23:30 FRI (b007c95q)
Kings of Rock and Roll
02:30 FRI (b007c95q)
Land of the Lost Wolves
22:35 SAT (b01fnfrc)
Latin Music USA
22:30 FRI (b00qpm4c)
Latin Music USA
01:30 FRI (b00qpm4c)
Law and Order
23:00 THU (b00jwbtr)
Mountain
20:00 SUN (b0b1xs2d)
Mountain
01:30 SUN (b0b1xs2d)
Only Connect
19:00 SUN (b0b14wzl)
Putin: The New Tsar
23:00 WED (b09vb7m3)
Salamander
21:00 SAT (b09qcdy4)
Salamander
21:45 SAT (b09qw1q2)
Sea City
19:30 MON (b03zq4mb)
Secrets of the Super Elements
20:00 THU (b08rv9r6)
Secrets of the Super Elements
02:55 THU (b08rv9r6)
Stunning Soloists at the BBC
00:30 FRI (b08kgqy0)
The Celts: Blood, Iron and Sacrifice with Alice Roberts and Neil Oliver
22:00 TUE (b06h3ytf)
The Celts: Blood, Iron and Sacrifice with Alice Roberts and Neil Oliver
22:00 WED (b06jcxg7)
The Celts: Blood, Iron and Sacrifice with Alice Roberts and Neil Oliver
22:00 THU (b06kpzcv)
The Culture Show
19:30 TUE (b03hcdr7)
The Culture Show
19:30 WED (b03vkt8l)
The Great Rift: Africa's Wild Heart
20:00 WED (b00qr4xv)
The Great Rift: Africa's Wild Heart
02:00 WED (b00qr4xv)
The Jazz Ambassadors
21:00 FRI (b0b16sfh)
The Mystery of Murder: A Horizon Guide
23:00 TUE (b0555v7v)
The Ottomans: Europe's Muslim Emperors
22:00 MON (b03fg1mj)
The Somme: Secret Tunnel Wars
00:55 THU (b01skvnh)
The Story of the Jews
21:00 TUE (b03c7gzq)
The Story of the Jews
03:00 TUE (b03c7gzq)
Timeshift
23:30 SUN (b037w38s)
Top of the Pops
23:35 SAT (b0b0g88s)
Top of the Pops
01:00 MON (b08m9f4x)
Top of the Pops
01:30 MON (b08mp2l5)
Top of the Pops
01:00 TUE (b08mp2sl)
Top of the Pops
01:30 TUE (b08ndh0r)
Top of the Pops
01:00 WED (b08ndh2k)
Top of the Pops
01:30 WED (b08p2k7n)
Top of the Pops
19:30 THU (b0b16s6d)
Top of the Pops
00:25 THU (b0b16s6d)
University Challenge
19:30 SUN (b0b14xlw)
Wild Burma: Nature's Lost Kingdom
20:00 SAT (p01hscjy)
Wild Burma: Nature's Lost Kingdom
02:35 SAT (p01hscjy)
World News Today
19:00 FRI (b0b15x4m)