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 30 JUNE 2018

SAT 19:00 Earth's Greatest Spectacles (b0702q6p)
New England

Set in three of the most seasonally changeable landscapes on earth - Svalbard, Okavango and New England - this series showcases the stunning transformations that occur each year, revealing the unique processes behind them and showing how wildlife has adapted to cope with the changes. Narrated by Domhnall Gleeson.

New England is the stage for the most incredible colour change on earth, when the vivid greens of summer give way to the golds and reds of autumn. This film reveals how this vibrant fiesta is created by the battles between the trees and the forests' inhabitants. Moose, chipmunks, rattlesnakes and a bizarre mixture of caterpillars all play a crucial role, but surprisingly the forest itself was made so colourful thanks to a combination of hard work by beavers, ants and humans.


SAT 20:00 Simon King's Shetland Adventure (b00qsc2h)
Episode 2

Simon King, wildlife cameraman and Springwatch presenter, sets off on an adventure to the Shetland Islands to live there with his family through the changing seasons. Simon has travelled the world for 30 years, but his boyhood dream was always to visit Shetland. And now he has the chance to try to capture some of the remarkable wildlife and experience the beauty and the wild weather of Britain's most northerly isles.

Spring arrives in Shetland, bringing with it an influx of wildlife from all over the world. Simon dives in the sea and discovers starfish, dead man's fingers and moon jellyfish. He also gets very close to a seal.

Simon follows the heartrending struggle at a wildlife sanctuary to teach Kirikoo, an injured baby otter, to use her back legs.

And with a little help and hindrance from his two-year-old daughter Savannah, he sets up a hide and gives her a lesson in birdwatching.


SAT 21:00 Hidden (b0b7n0bt)
Series 1

Episode 4

Dylan Harris holds Megan captive in a locked subterranean room in a strange compound in which he lives with his mother and young daughter. When PC Mari James and PC Ryan Davies pay a routine visit to ask Dylan if he knows anything about Mali Pryce, Dylan manages to convince PC Ryan Davies that he knows nothing. However, PC Mari James's suspicions are aroused by this peculiar man who lives in the middle of nowhere.


SAT 22:00 Timeshift (b019c85h)
Series 11

The Rules of Drinking

Timeshift digs into the archive to discover the unwritten rules that have governed the way we drink in Britain.

In the pubs and working men's clubs of the 40s and 50s there were strict customs governing who stood where. To be invited to sup at the bar was a rite of passage for many young men, and it took years for women to be accepted into these bastions of masculinity. As the country prospered and foreign travel became widely available, so new drinking habits were introduced as we discovered wine and, even more exotically, cocktails.

People began to drink at home as well as at work, where journalists typified a tradition of the liquid lunch. Advertising played its part as lager was first sold as a woman's drink and then the drink of choice for young men with a bit of disposable income. The rules changed and changed again, but they were always there - unwritten and unspoken, yet underwriting our complicated relationship with drinking.


SAT 23:00 Sound of Cinema: The Music That Made the Movies (b03b965y)
Pop Goes the Soundtrack

Composer Neil Brand explores how, in the second half of the 20th century, composers and film-makers embraced jazz, pop and rock to bring fresh energy and relevance to film scores.

He shows how in the 1960s, films as diverse as the James Bond movies, spaghetti westerns and Disney's musicals drew on the talents of pop arrangers and composers like John Barry, Ennio Morricone and the Sherman Brothers to create unforgettable soundtracks. But the role of the film composer would subsequently be challenged by directors like Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino, who showed that a soundtrack consisting of carefully chosen pop songs could be as effective as a specially written one.

Neil's journey sees him meet leading film-makers and composers including Martin Scorsese and composers Richard Sherman (Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book), Lalo Schifrin (Bullitt) and David Arnold (Casino Royale).


SAT 00:00 Indie Classics at the BBC (b06g5jfp)
A look back through the archives at some of the classic tunes from the world of indie music through the 80s and early 90s, including the likes of Joy Division, Depeche Mode, The Smiths, Cocteau Twins, Primal Scream and many more.


SAT 01:00 Top of the Pops (b0b8kv3f)
Gary Davies and Janice Long present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 12 December 1985.


SAT 01:30 Duran Duran: A Night In (b0b7szrj)
A celebration of one of the UK's most enduring pop bands of all time, Duran Duran. The programme joins Simon, John, Roger and Nick as they sit back, relax, watch and talk through personally selected clips of archive television, music shows, movies, performances, adverts and children's shows that have inspired them across their career spanning four decades.

In this exclusive hour-long special, they discuss their influences from the worlds of music, film, TV and art. From The Beatles and Sex Pistols to Top of the Pops, Tomorrow's World and the Apollo 11 moon landing, A Night In is a trip down memory lane with the band as they remember the shows that capture a particular moment in their creative lives.


SAT 02:30 Simon King's Shetland Adventure (b00qsc2h)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]



SUNDAY 01 JULY 2018

SUN 19:00 The Search for Alfred the Great (b03sbp73)
Neil Oliver is given exclusive access to a team of historians and scientists investigating the final resting place of Alfred the Great. Alfred's bones have been moved so many times over the centuries that many people concluded that they were lost forever. Following a trail that goes back over 1,000 years, the team wants to unravel the mystery of Alfred's remains. Travelling from Winchester to Rome, Neil also tells the extraordinary story of Alfred's life - in the 9th century, he became one of England's most important kings by fighting off the Vikings, uniting the Anglo-Saxon people and launching a cultural renaissance. This was the man who forged a united language and identity, and laid the foundations of the English nation.

The film investigates the equally extraordinary story of what happened to Alfred's remains after his death in 899. They have been exhumed and reburied on a number of occasions since his original brief burial in the Anglo-Saxon Old Minster in Winchester. The Saxons, the Normans, Henry VIII's religious reformers, 18th-century convicts, Victorian romantics and 20th-century archaeologists have all played a part in the story of Alfred's grave.

Neil joins the team as they exhume the contents of an unmarked grave, piece the bones together and have them dated. With the discovery of some unexpected new evidence, the film reveals the extraordinary outcome of an important investigation.


SUN 20:00 The World's Biggest Flower Market (b07czwfd)
Cherry Healey and Simon Lycett tell the story of how the flowers we buy travel across the world via Aalsmeer Flower Auction in Holland to reach us every day in pristine condition.

We reach for flowers to express our most fundamental human emotions - from passionate love to abject apology, joyful celebration of our mums or profound grief of a loved one. We relish our flowers so much that this year we are predicated to spend £2.2 billion on treating ourselves and others to the prefect bouquet.

Cherry and Simon, florist to the Royal Palaces, tell the miraculous story of how the flowers we buy in our florists and supermarkets travel across the globe to reach us every day in pristine condition. We follow three of Britain's favourite flowers, the rose, the tulip and the lily during the busiest time of year, Mother's Day, via Aalsmeer Flower Auction in Holland and its nearby sister markets, which together make up the biggest flower market on earth. Affectionately dubbed 'the Wall Street of Flowers', almost 30 million flowers and plants arrive every day to be bought and sold in its high-paced auctions with over £3 million changing hands daily.

And away from the market, Simon and Cherry continue to explore the cut flower industry. Simon visits Kenya to find out where his beloved rose starts life. And Cherry meets a conscientious tulip breeder who has dedicated a staggering 25 years of his life to breeding stunning new varieties of tulips.

It's an extraordinary story of incredible logistics - one in which science, technology and human ingenuity combine to meet the demands of a multibillion-pound industry built around something as romantic and ephemeral as a flower.


SUN 21:00 Storyville (b0b95v0m)
Olympic Dreams of Russian Gold - Over the Limit

'You're not a human being, you're an athlete,' 20-year-old Rita is told by one of her two merciless coaches as she prepares to represent Russia in rhythmic gymnastics at the Olympics. It is the most crucial year of her career and her last chance to achieve her ultimate dream, a gold medal. However gracefully Rita catches rings or rolls a ball across her shoulders, her coaches expect more from her, time and again. Described as the 'Black Swan' of sports documentaries, Over the Limit offers unprecedented access to the hidden world of elite gymnasts and the unrelentingly brutal training demanded by the Russian system.


SUN 22:10 Eric Clapton at the BBC: The Rock 'n' Roll Years (b0074r9l)
A journey through Eric Clapton's performing life at the BBC and elsewhere, from his 60s blues days to his noughties blues days. Clapton has been described as the best guitarist in the world and has a life story and career that would make anyone's hair curl.

By way of extensive BBC archive footage, the programme charts his varied and ever-changing career - from the beginnings with The Yardbirds until he left to join the purist blues of John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, to the dynamism and musical synchronisation with Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce, which produced the turbulent Cream, to Clapton's collaboration with Stevie Winwood that would spawn Blind Faith, to his brief sojourn in the Plastic Ono Band and his unforgettable contribution to Lennon's heroin hell tribute Cold Turkey, to his low-profile spell with rootsy US act Delaney and Bonnie, to the band he formed with Bobby Whitlock, Derek and the Dominoes, that produced one of the most famous unrequited love songs in Layla, and on to his successful solo career since then.

Along the way Clapton has successfully survived heroin and alcohol abuse, been accused of being a racist, stolen his best friend's wife, changed bands as often as his shirt, and lost a son in the most tragic of accidents. Through it all, he has produced some of the best music of the 20th century.


SUN 22:40 Art of Scandinavia (b074hh79)
Once Upon a Time in Denmark

In episode two of Andrew Graham-Dixon's epic journey through Scandinavian art and landscape, Denmark emerges from modest beginnings to become one of the greatest powers and arbiters of taste in northern Europe - a story of incredible transformation befitting the homeland of the great fairytale spinner Hans Christian Andersen, creator of The Ugly Duckling and The Emperor's New Clothes.


SUN 23:40 The Art That Made Mexico: Paradise, Power and Prayers (b09hm1y8)
Series 1

Paradise

Alinka Echeverria reveals the way in which Mexican artists shook off European artistic influence to find a distinctive voice, expressed through landscape painting, and reconnected with pre-Hispanic subject matter. The murals of Teotihuacan and illustrated Aztec codices show how nature was the reference point for their worldview, their power structures and their calendars. But following the conquest in the 16th century, the Spanish 're-educated' indigenous artists to aspire to European aesthetics, and for nearly 300 years after conquest, the art of what was called New Spain looked a lot like the art of old Spain.

A century after independence in 1810, artists began to depict Mexico's ancient foundation myths, including the symbolic volcanoes that dominate the Valley of Mexico. Indigenous people, their land and lives were no longer taboo. Following the Mexican Revolution that began in 1910, landscape paintings established a new style that was resolutely Mexican and confirmed the re-established connections between Mexico's indigenous population and their land. Forces of nature and Mexico's landscape continue to be integral to the Mexican sense of artistic identity.


SUN 00:40 David Starkey's Music and Monarchy (b037x4sh)
Revolutions

Dr David Starkey's exploration of how the monarchy shaped Britain's music reaches the 17th century, when religious conflict threatened not only the lives of musicians and monarchs, but the future of the monarchy and the glorious tradition of British music itself. And yet, in the midst of this upheaval, royalty presided over a series of musical breakthroughs - from the first chamber concerts and proto-operas, to the triumphant debut of the baroque orchestra.

Westminster Abbey choir sing some of the earliest surviving music to be heard at British coronations; the Band of the Life Guards play pieces which Charles I used in battle, which marched James II out of his kingdom, and which mourned Mary II; and the Academy of Ancient Music perform some of the glorious works of arguably the greatest English composer - Henry Purcell. Also featured are works by Orlando Gibbons, Thomas Tomkins and the little-known William Lawes - a composer who had the potential to be truly great, had he not died fighting for the king in the English Civil War.

David also visits the Whitehall Banqueting House, home of the extravagant form which was the forerunner of opera in England - the court masque. And he explores how music was fought over by Puritans and Royalists - with the church organ proving a surprisingly bitter source of conflict.


SUN 01:40 The Search for Alfred the Great (b03sbp73)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


SUN 02:40 Eric Clapton at the BBC: The Rock 'n' Roll Years (b0074r9l)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:10 today]



MONDAY 02 JULY 2018

MON 19:00 Beyond 100 Days (b0b8rct1)
Series 1

02/07/2018

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


MON 19:30 Canal Walks with Julia Bradbury (b010v7kx)
The Caledonian Canal

Seasoned stomper Julia Bradbury dons her walking boots once again and this time she is exploring her own British backyard, travelling along the country's network of canals and their accompanying towpath trails. This sees her navigating Highland glens, rolling countryside and river valleys, as well as our industrial heartlands, following these magical waterways as they cut a sedate path through some of the country's finest scenery.

Julia kicks off her tour with a visit to the Scottish Highlands. Against the stunning backdrop of Ben Nevis, her walk starts near Fort William where she embarks on her eight-mile trip along the Caledonian Canal, the majestic waterway that cuts through beautiful mountain country and is regarded as one of the most ambitious canals of its time. Julia's journey tells the story of one of the greatest canal engineers, Thomas Telford, whose ambition was to create not only an engineering marvel, but also badly needed jobs and wealth for the Highlands. Two hundred years on, it is now one of the most popular walking trails in the country.


MON 20:00 Nature's Miracle Orphans (p03g1633)
Series 2

Moyo & Robin

In Zimbabwe, Lucy Cooke meets Moyo, a baby elephant who has been living with carer Roxy since he was just a few days old. He was found close to starvation on the banks of a river. Roxy hopes to return Moyo to the wild, but only if he can overcome his fear of water.

In Costa Rica, Patrick Aryee meets Robin, an orphaned anteater who must prove to surrogate mum Pedro that he can fend for himself before he can return to the rainforest.


MON 21:00 The NHS: A People's History (b0b98x61)
Series 1

Episode 1

This episode covers the first quarter-century of the service and unveils a host of unique artefacts, including the graduation certificate of a doctor who only qualified on the NHS's first day and yet was thrown straight into surgery, one of the last remaining roadworthy Invacars, specialist vehicles adapted for disabled drivers that were handed out for free in the 1960s, and even a tiny booklet listing a family's expenditure on doctor's fees - a stark reminder of life before the NHS, when every GP visit came with a charge.

Patients and staff tell their experiences of how the NHS was not immune from the prejudices of 1960s Britain. Actress Joan Hooley shares a copy of her first performance in the ITV drama Emergency Ward 10, where her role as a hospital doctor - who happened to be both a woman and black - sent shockwaves through society. We discover how a simple pair of earrings transports their owner back to a time in which draconian attitudes towards sex nearly cost her her life. And we see how an ornate ginger jar and the mysterious death of its owner exposed a British class system that allowed some GPs to operate with alarmingly little oversight.

But despite an ever more fractured society, a medical revolution was happening, and as the decades progressed, it was clear that free access to medical care was dramatically improving the health of the nation. A leading orthopaedic surgeon reveals the groundbreaking device invented by an NHS doctor in the 50s which revolutionised hip replacement surgery, whilst the daughter of a GP unfurls an incredible scroll of records of every case of childhood disease he treated; fascinating primary evidence of the extraordinary impact of the nation's first NHS-funded vaccine campaign.

Inspired by the remarkable objects still in their possession, this is the story of the ordinary people who make up an extraordinary service.


MON 22:00 Black Nurses: The Women Who Saved the NHS (b083dgtb)
Documentary which tells the story of the thousands of Caribbean and African women who answered the call 70 years ago to come to the UK to save the then ailing health service. It's a tale of a struggle to overcome racism, their fight for career progression and their battle for national recognition.


MON 23:00 Fair Isle: Living on the Edge (b084jyl0)
Episode 2

Fair Isle is Britain's most remote inhabited island, situated halfway between the Shetland and Orkney Islands. Life here is at the mercy of the weather. Once home to nearly 400 people, today there are just 57. Fair Isle must boost its population if it is to survive. Filmed over a critical year, this intimate series captures the community as they launch their development plan with an aim of bringing new families to the isle and bolstering the fragile economy. This final episode continues to follow 11-year-old Ythan and his family as they learn to deal with his homesickness, and reveals if Fair Isle's newest inhabitants Shaun and Rachel have survived their first winter and decided to stay on.


MON 00:00 Genius of the Modern World (b07h0hg9)
Nietzsche

The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche was one of the most brilliant and dangerous minds of the 19th century. His uncompromising and often brutal ideas smashed the comfortable presuppositions and assumptions of religion, morality and science. His was a world not just bereft of God but almost of humanity, breathtaking in both its post-religious starkness and its originality.

Bettany Hughes goes in search of the beliefs of a man whose work is amongst the most devastatingly manipulated and misinterpreted in philosophical history. Nietzsche's dislike of systems and of seeking truths left his ideas ambiguous and sometimes incoherent. It was this that made him vulnerable to interpretation, and as a result his thoughts - which warned against the very notion of a political system like totalitarianism - were manipulated to strengthen its ideals.

Vocally opposed to anti-Semitism, his anti-Semitic sister made sure he became the poster boy for Hitler's drive for an Aryan ideal. Anti-nationalistic, he came to symbolise a regime he would have loathed. His philosophical quest led him to isolation and ultimately madness, but his ideas helped shape the intellectual landscape of the modern world.


MON 01:00 Britain in Focus: A Photographic History (b08hznbb)
Series 1

Episode 2

Eamonn McCabe explores how British photographers responded to the most important events of the first half of the 20th century and traces the emergence of a new genre of photography - photojournalism. His journey begins at the Daily Mirror's press plant in Watford, which broke new ground with its dynamic coverage of the siege of Sidney Street in 1911, before tracing the footsteps of pioneering female photojournalist Christina Broom and discovering how cheaper cameras enabled British soldiers to become citizen journalists during the First World War.

Eamonn is joined by Mahtab Hussain to discuss the work of Bill Brandt, who in 1937 travelled to the north of England to record landscapes and portraits of working class communities during the Great Depression. Brandt would go on to work for Picture Post, Britain's most popular news magazine, which was launched in 1938. Armed with a period roll film Leica, Eamonn goes on assignment to the fairground to recreate a famous shoot by the magazine that documented almost every aspect of mid-century life in Britain.

He also sees how photographers captured the Second World War, from the Blitz to shocking images of concentration camps; celebrates photographers who pursued the medium as an art form in its own right; learns about the printing techniques of celebrity portrait photographer Alvin Langdon Coburn; and reflects on Cecil Beaton's glamorous work for Vogue magazine.


MON 02:00 Nature's Miracle Orphans (p03g1633)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


MON 03:00 The NHS: A People's History (b0b98x61)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



TUESDAY 03 JULY 2018

TUE 19:00 Beyond 100 Days (b0b8rfpf)
Series 1

03/07/2018

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


TUE 19:30 Canal Walks with Julia Bradbury (b0110ghh)
The Worcester and Birmingham Canal

Seasoned stomper Julia Bradbury dons her walking boots once again to explore her own British backyard, travelling along the country's network of canals and their accompanying towpath trails. Julia navigates Highland glens, rolling countryside and river valleys, as well as our industrial heartlands, and follows these magical waterways as they cut a sedate path through some of the country's finest scenery.

Julia starts this walk in Birmingham, which surprisingly boasts more miles of canal than Venice. But her mission isn't to seek out gondolas or ice cream - it's to discover how the city, through its canal network, became the centre of the Industrial Revolution. It's also the start of Julia's two-day walk along the historic and picturesque Worcester and Birmingham Canal, which cuts a 30-mile path through to the River Severn. The highlight of the canal is a dramatic two-mile flight of 30 locks which lower the canal by 220 feet. Negotiating this flight of locks is considered to be a rite of passage by boaters, and it's definitely one for the tick list for walkers.


TUE 20:00 Britain's Ancient Capital: Secrets of Orkney (b087vh70)
Episode 1

Orkney - seven miles off the coast of Scotland and cut off by the tumultuous Pentland Firth, the fastest flowing tidal race in Europe, is often viewed as being remote. But recent discoveries there are turning the stone age map of Britain upside down. Rather than an outpost at the edge of the world, recent finds suggest an extraordinary theory - that Orkney was the cultural capital of our ancient world and the origin of the stone circle cult which culminated in Stonehenge.

In this three-part series, Neil Oliver, Chris Packham, Andy Torbet and Dr Shini Somara join hundreds of archaeologists from around the world who have gathered there to investigate at one of Europe's biggest digs.

Chris Packham uncovers the secrets revealed by the DNA of Orkney's unique vole, Neil Oliver explores Orkney's tombs and monuments, Dr Shini Somara experiments to discover how the Orcadians could have moved giant blocks of stone over rough ground and archaeological adventurer Andy Torbet climbs Orkney's most challenging sea-stack to unlock the story of Orkney's unusual geology.


TUE 21:00 Africa (b01qh31v)
Sahara

Northern Africa is home to the greatest desert on earth - the Sahara.

On the fringes, huge zebras battle over dwindling resources and naked mole rats avoid the heat by living a bizarre underground existence.

Within the desert, where the sand dunes 'sing', camels seek out water with the help of their herders and tiny swallows navigate across thousands of square miles to find a solitary oasis.

This is a story of an apocalypse and how, when nature is overrun, some are forced to flee, some endure, but a few seize the opportunity to establish a new order.


TUE 22:00 Africa's Great Civilisations (b0b8rg4x)
Series 1

The Atlantic Age

The award-winning film-maker and academic Henry Louis Gates Jr travels the length and breadth of Africa to explore the continent's epic history.

The Atlantic Age examines the tremendous changes that took place in Africa between the 15th and 18th centuries - including the seismic transformation as West African kingdoms encountered European mariners travelling farther and farther south along Africa's Atlantic coast, and the impact of European colonisation of the New World. Across the continent, kingdoms and empires rose and fell, with some 12.5 million Africans suffering enslavement in the crossfire.


TUE 23:00 She-Wolves: England's Early Queens (b01dpqtx)
Jane, Mary and Elizabeth

In the medieval and Tudor world there was no question in people's minds about the order of God's creation - men ruled and women didn't. A king was a warrior who literally fought to win power then battled to keep it. Yet despite everything that stood in their way, a handful of extraordinary women did attempt to rule medieval and Tudor England. In this series, historian Dr Helen Castor explores seven queens who challenged male power, the fierce reactions they provoked and whether the term 'she wolves' was deserved.

Helen looks at what happened when England was faced not just with inadequate kings, but no kings at all. In 1553, for the first time in English history all the contenders for the crown were female. In the lives of these three Tudor queens - Jane, Mary and Elizabeth - she explores how each woman struggled in turn with wearing a crown that was made for a male head. Elizabeth I seemed to show that not only could a woman rule, but could do so gloriously. But at what cost?


TUE 00:00 Lucy Worsley's Reins of Power: The Art of Horse Dancing (b06ccpzz)
Strictly Come Prancing: Lucy Worsley learns to ride - in fact, she learns how to dance on horseback before putting on a show for the paying public!

Now, if this sounds mad, horse ballet or manege was once the noblest of pursuits practised by everyone from courtier to king in the first half of the 17th century. Having become fascinated by this horsey hobby whilst writing her PhD, Lucy is on a quest to find out why this peculiar skill was once so de rigeur - learning the lost art from its modern masters, visiting the Spanish Riding School in Vienna to witness spectacular equestrian shows, exploring its military origins through donning Henry VIII-style jousting armour, and discovering horse ballet's legacies in competitive dressage and, more surprisingly, in the performances of the Royal Horse Artillery, the King's Troop today.


TUE 01:00 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.


TUE 02:00 Africa (b01qh31v)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


TUE 03:00 Britain's Ancient Capital: Secrets of Orkney (b087vh70)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]



WEDNESDAY 04 JULY 2018

WED 19:00 Beyond 100 Days (b0b8mxs0)
Series 1

04/07/2018

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


WED 19:30 Canal Walks with Julia Bradbury (b01173hc)
The Kennet and Avon Canal

Seasoned stomper Julia Bradbury dons her walking boots once again to explore her own British backyard, travelling along the country's network of canals and their accompanying towpath trails. This sees her navigating Highland glens, rolling countryside and river valleys, as well as our industrial heartlands, following these magical waterways as they cut a sedate path through some of the country's finest scenery.

Julia starts this walk in the beautiful world heritage city of Bath, where the Kennet and Avon Canal provided a 19th-century 'canal superhighway' between the country's two most important ports, Bristol and London. But only forty years later the trade along the canal was usurped by rail travel, leaving the once great waterway neglected and derelict. Julia's 20-mile walk along what is arguably the most picturesque stretch of the canal tells the story of how the waterway was restored to its former glory after it was awarded the biggest ever lottery heritage grant. The walk ends at the spectacular Caen Hill flight of locks, listed as one of the seven wonders of British waterways.


WED 20:00 Shopgirls: The True Story of Life Behind the Counter (b049f4xj)
The New Cool

Dr Pamela Cox looks at how shopgirls threw off their staid reputation to become hip in the second half of the 20th century.

Pamela begins by discovering heroic stories of shopgirls during the London Blitz, with shopworkers rescuing evacuees and serving customers from bomb-damaged premises. She also explores how the Second World War created flexible working opportunities on the shop floor and gave rise to a new concept, the working mum.

The postwar baby boom created a massive demographic shift, producing record numbers of teenagers with a keen eye for music, film and fashion. By the 1960s, teenagers emulated the beautiful shopgirls working in trendy boutiques like Mary Quant's Bazaar in London's Kings Road. Being a shopgirl was more than just a job - they were status symbols who had become the embodiment of the brand. Shopgirls were crucial to the success of stores like Biba, where their jobs were more about modelling the clothes and hanging out rather than giving customers the hard sell.

Pamela looks at the 1970s, when the unstoppable growth of chain stores and the introduction of shopping malls signalled the death of many independent shops, and explores the impact that growing up above a shop had on the country's most famous grocer's daughter, Margaret Thatcher.

Pamela visits the supermarket where she worked on the checkouts in the 1980s and, glimpsing into the future, she considers how our shops and shopworkers will adapt to an increasingly online world.


WED 21:00 Rich Hall's Working for the American Dream (b0b8rc45)
Award-winning comedian Rich Hall explores the American dream and the dictum that came over with the very first pilgrims who set foot on Plymouth Rock - work hard and you will succeed.

With his sharp wit and acerbic insight, Rich looks at how Americans strive to achieve this dream and how it's been explored and perpetuated by politicians, industrialists, artists, writers and film-makers.

Rich also looks at the dark heart of the American dream and considers what happens when the dream turns into a nightmare, including the Great Depression of the 1930s, the boom and bust of Detroit and the modern demise of America's shrinking middle class. The land of opportunity has attracted all comers to live the American dream, and Rich Hall explains if it actually exists or if it's just a myth that's become unobtainable for Americans.


WED 22:30 Timeshift (b00djlz9)
Series 8

How to Be a Good President

In a whistlestop tour through the history of the US presidency, journalist and author Jonathan Freedland asks what qualities make a great president and what we can learn from the likes of Theodore Roosevelt, JFK or even Richard Nixon about what it takes to make a mark in the White House.

Freedland is helped by distinguished contributors, including James Naughtie, Shirley Williams, Douglas Hurd, Simon Hoggart and Bonnie Greer, who give frank assessments of some of America's greatest presidents.


WED 23:30 Utopia: In Search of the Dream (b090c2pj)
Series 1

Blueprints for Better

In this first episode, Prof Richard Clay explores how utopian visions begin as blueprints for fairer worlds and asks whether they can inspire real change.

Charting 500 years of utopian visions and making bold connections between exploration and science fiction - from radical 18th-century politics to online communities like Wikipedia - Richard delves into colourful stories of some of the world's greatest utopian dreamers, including Thomas More, who coined the term 'utopia', Jonathan Swift, author of Gulliver's Travels, and Gene Roddenberry, creator of Star Trek.

Richard builds a compelling argument that utopian visions have been a powerful way of criticising the present, and he identifies key values he believes the imagined better futures tend to idealise. He shows how the concept of shared ownership, a 'commons' of both land and digital space online, has fired utopian thinking, and he explores the dream of equality through the campaign for civil rights in the 1960s and through a feminist theatrical production in today's America.

Immersing himself in a terrifying '1984' survival drama in Vilnius, Lithuania, Richard also looks at the flip side, asking why dystopias are so popular today in film, TV and comic book culture. He explores whether dystopian visions have been a way to remind ourselves that hard-won gains can be lost and that we must beware of humanity's darker side if we are ever to reach a better place.

Across Britain, Germany, Lithuania and America, Richard talks about the meaning of utopia with a rich range of interviewees, including Katherine Maher, executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation, Star Trek actress Nichelle Nichols, explorer Belinda Kirk, football commentator John Motson and Hollywood screenwriter Frank Spotnitz.


WED 00:30 The 80s with Dominic Sandbrook (b07p0f9y)
Under Pressure

The second episode sees mid-1980s Britain wrestling with two contradictory impulses - the rise of a strong nationalist sentiment and the emergence of an increasingly globalised world.

By the middle of the decade, Britain felt like an embattled nation, facing threats from enemies within as well as out - a nation struggling to establish an identity on the global stage, and also trying to re-establish what it means to be British. This was the period that forever marked the 80s as a decade of conflict and division. But not all those conflicts were obvious. Some were fought with bullets, others with money, some were fought in our homes, others in our heads.

This episode examines everything from the invasion of the Falkland Islands to the invasion of the home computer and the moral panic surrounding 'video nasties', from the Americanisation of our popular culture to the picket line skirmishes playing out nightly on our televisions, and from the spectre of Aids and the threat of the IRA to immigration and identity politics.


WED 01:30 Shopgirls: The True Story of Life Behind the Counter (b049f4xj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


WED 02:30 Rich Hall's Working for the American Dream (b0b8rc45)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



THURSDAY 05 JULY 2018

THU 19:00 Beyond 100 Days (b0b8mxs7)
Series 1

05/07/2018

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


THU 19:30 Canal Walks with Julia Bradbury (b011g6dw)
The Llangollen Canal

Seasoned stomper Julia Bradbury dons her walking boots once again to explore her own British backyard, travelling along the country's network of canals and their accompanying towpath trails. This sees her navigating Highland glens, rolling countryside and river valleys, as well as our industrial heartlands, following these magical waterways as they cut a sedate path through some of the country's finest scenery.

Julia's final walk takes her to north Wales, where 200 years ago the great engineer Thomas Telford had to overcome seemingly impossible challenges in order to access the valuable slate industries of Snowdonia. In doing so, he created a masterpiece of 19th-century engineering - an aqueduct 126 feet high and spanning 1,000 feet across the Vale of Llangollen. To find out why it has become a world heritage site, Julia follows the cut of the Llangollen Canal, starting at the picturesque Horseshoe Falls. Her six-mile walk takes her along the winding Dee Valley, ending on the aqueduct that Telford described as 'a stream through the skies'.


THU 20:00 The First Georgians: The German Kings Who Made Britain (b042twvq)
Episode 2

Lucy Worsley's inside story of Britain's imported German dynasty, made with extensive access to the Royal Collection, reaches the reign of George II. She shows how he had to adapt to a growing 'middling rank' in society no longer content with being downtrodden subjects. Affairs of state were being openly discussed in coffee houses, while the king and his ministers were mocked in satirical prints and theatres.

George II was an easy target - grumpy, and frequently absent in Hanover. To his British subjects he became The King Who Wasn't There. But his wife, the enlightened Caroline, popularized a medical breakthrough against smallpox. However, it was their son, Frederick Prince of Wales, who really understood this new world - he had the popular touch monarchy would need to survive into the modern era.


THU 21:00 Napoleon (b05zq7xf)
Episode 2

In 1805, when Napoleon was crowned King of Italy, he was at the height of his power - the previous year, he had been crowned Emperor of the French. This edition of the series charts the transformation of a political leader of the French to emperor and global statesman, from a son of the French Revolution to husband of the daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor, the most powerful, conservative, monarchist nation on earth. It features the Battle of Austerlitz, one of the greatest military encounters of the 19th century, the rise of a Napoleonic Empire - at its peak numbered over 40 million people - and the supreme meritocracy that was the Napoleonic regime, but it also the compromises that Napoleon had to make to guarantee his global power, compromises that relied upon his trusting nature, a personality trait that in later years would prove to be an Achilles heel to his power. The film is presented by British historian Andrew Roberts, and shot on location in St Helena, France, Czech Republic and Russia.


THU 22:00 Whites v Blacks: How Football Changed a Nation (b084fmgv)
On 16 May 1979, an extraordinary game of professional football took place that, if played today, would very possibly cause uproar, mass protest and a media frenzy. As part of Len Cantello's testimonial at West Bromwich Albion, an all-white team took on a side comprised solely of black players - 'whites against blacks'.

For the white team, it was nothing more than a lighthearted gimmick, but for the black players it represented so much more. It was a game they had to win. Racism was rife, and black people were far from welcome on the pitch, in the stands or in the boardroom.

In this film, presenter Adrian Chiles journeys across England to discover the truths, taboos and real meaning behind this remarkable game. He uncovers rarely seen footage and reunites players from both teams, including Ally Robertson, Tony 'Bomber' Brown, Cyrille Regis and Brendan Batson.

Today, around 30 per cent of English professionals are black. They are role models and superstars, some earning in excess of £100,000 a week. On the surface, everything seems rosy, but how far have we really come? Through encounters with stars like Ian Wright, Les Ferdinand and Dion Dublin, Adrian contrasts the attitudes and conflicts that swirled around that infamous game with the reality of being a black player in the modern era.


THU 23:00 Britain's Whale Hunters: The Untold Story (b046pb27)
The Rise

Writer Adam Nicolson is granted rare access to the ruins of the whaling stations on the remote British island of South Georgia. Amazing rarely seen archive footage and first-hand testimony from the last of Britain's whale hunters reveals what it was really like to have been a whale hunter in Antarctica, providing Europe with essential oils for soap and food. Putting our modern environmental guilt to one side, this provocative series looks at how and why whale populations were so drastically reduced in the 20th century and attempts to see whaling through the eyes of the time.

A few hundred years ago the oceans were home to millions of whales, but then we found that they were incredibly useful for everything from lighting and fashion to soap and food. Adam discovers the remarkable, forgotten tale of Britain as a major whaling nation right up to the 1960s, while exploring the incredible ruins of its largest centre on the remote British island of South Georgia.

Adam starts his journey on the west coast of Scotland, his favourite place to escape to since boyhood. It's his realisation that these waters would have once been home to many whales that has prompted him to find out about whaling. He sails up the coast to Stornoway harbour, where there's a vivid account of a traditional hunt of pilot whales.

He discovers how whaling was commercialised to supply Britain's growing cities with a vast range of products: from corsetry and umbrella stays to street lighting. But the real shift in the scale of the industry comes in the late 19th century with the inventions of Norwegian Svend Foyn. Adam joins the British whalers on a restored whale-catching ship in Norway, where they explain how grenade-tipped harpoons and steam winches revolutionised the type and number of whales that could be hunted.

With whale populations in the north becoming hunted out by the start of the 20th century, the whalers turned their attention to the Antarctic. Adam travels via the Falkland Islands to the remote and spectacular Antarctic island of South Georgia. This uninhabited British outpost very quickly became the centre of the world's whaling industry, with six whaling stations. The biggest, Leith Harbour, belonged to the world's largest whaling company at the time - Christian Salvesen from Edinburgh.

Adam explores this complete whaling town, a time capsule of Brtiain's industrial past, which was abandoned in 1965. He finds huge, asbestos-clad machinery and pieces together how whales were processed, and after hearing about the whalers' illegal hooch, discovers a hidden still in one of the bunkrooms.

The episode ends with the peak of whaling on South Georgia in the mid-1920s - over 8,000 whales were killed and processed in a year. New processes meant that whale oil could now be used to make much-needed soap and edible fats for Europe, and Salvesens were making an annual profit equivalent to £100 million in today's economy. But, thanks to a revolution in ship design, the whaling industry was about to become far bigger still.


THU 00:00 Top of the Pops (b0b8kv3f)
[Repeat of broadcast at 01:00 on Saturday]


THU 00:30 Gods and Monsters: Homer's Odyssey (b00vtwnz)
Virginia Woolf said that Homer's epic poem the Odyssey was 'alive to every tremor and gleam of existence'. Following the magical and strange adventures of warrior king Odysseus, inventor of the idea of the Trojan horse, the poem can claim to be the greatest story ever told. Now British poet Simon Armitage goes on his own Greek adventure, following in the footsteps of one of his own personal heroes. Yet Simon ponders the question of whether he even likes the guy.


THU 01:30 B is for Book (b07jlzb7)
Documentary following a group of primary schoolchildren over the course of a year as they learn to read. Some of them make a flying start, but others struggle even with the alphabet. The film takes us into their home lives, where we find that some parents are strongly aspirational, tutoring children late into the night, while others speak English as a foreign language, if at all.

As the children master the basics, they discover the magical world of stories and look with fresh eyes at the world around them. The film gives us privileged access to a profound process that all of us only ever do once in our lives.


THU 02:30 The First Georgians: The German Kings Who Made Britain (b042twvq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]



FRIDAY 06 JULY 2018

FRI 19:00 World News Today (b0b8mxsd)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


FRI 19:30 Top of the Pops (b0b9b1xw)
Gary Davies, Janice Long, Dixie Peach, John Peel and Steve Wright present the most popular hits of 1985, with stars in the studio and on video, first broadcast on 25 December 1985.


FRI 20:00 Top of the Pops (b0b8rmnx)
The Story of 1986

How did the decline of the young guns of the early 80s, the advent of House, The Big Bang in the money markets and political fatigue on the Left make their mark - or not - on the nation’s most popular music show?
Paul Heaton, Mick Hucknall, Sinitta, The Communards and Swing Out Sister are among the acts that steer us through the changes impacting Britain, the music industry and the BBC’s long-serving pop powerhouse in 1986.


FRI 21:00 Top of the Pops (b0b8rmnv)
1986 - Biggest Hits

Top of the Pops Big Hits is back with a bang for the year of 1986. Pop, new wave, rock, funk and R&B are all celebrated within this 60-minute special.

The treasure troves of the BBC archives are open, so expect smoke machines, shoulder pads and perms along with studio performances from Bon Jovi, Cyndi Lauper, Cameo, The Pretenders, The Real Thing, Billy Ocean and The Communards. Other highlights include The Housemartins, Kim Wilde and The Human League plus The Cure and many more.


FRI 22:00 Smashing Hits! The 80s Pop Map of Britain and Ireland (b0b99nq0)
Series 1

Episode 1

Two 80s icons explore the distinct sounds that came out of different parts of Britain and Ireland in one of pop's golden decades.

Midge Ure, lead singer of Ultravox and one of the men behind Band Aid, and Kim Appleby, who had a string of hits with her sister Mel in the Stock, Aitken and Waterman-produced band Mel and Kim, go on a journey back in time to the 80s to figure out why certain cities produced their own diverse tunes.

It's a fascinating tale. Emerging from the ashes of punk, British and Irish music ripped up the pop rule book in the 80s and topped the charts worldwide. But there was no definitive 'British' pop sound. Innovative chart-toppers were being produced by artists hailing from all over the UK and Ireland.

In this first episode, Midge Ure and Kim Appleby explore London's new romantic movement, travel to Coventry to investigate the rise of ska and speak to some of Sheffield's electronic music pioneers.

The show features interviews with key figures, like Gary Kemp from Spandau Ballet, Marco Pirroni from Adam and the Ants, Pauline Black from The Selecter, Martin Ware and Glenn Gregory from Heaven 17 and 'super-producer' Trevor Horn. But of course the star is the music - and this episode includes some of the best tunes, videos and performances from the early part of this marvellous musical decade.


FRI 23:00 Top of the Pops (b0b9b1xw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


FRI 00:00 Chalkie Davies: Rock Photographer (b05xd4yv)
In the late 70s Chalkie Davies was a photographer at the New Musical Express, taking pictures of bands like Thin Lizzy, the Clash, the Sex Pistols and many more. Now, as his first major exhibition opens at the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff, and showing as part of BBC Music Day, he looks back on an extraordinary life, and old friends like Elvis Costello reflect on how Chalkie's images are so enduring.

Chalkie Davies was born in Sully just outside Cardiff and his first job was as an engineer at Heathrow Airport. But he was always a keen amateur photographer and when he won a camera club competition in 1973 the door opened onto a career in rock 'n' roll.

He was allowed in to take pictures on the last night of David Bowie's legendary Ziggy Stardust tour and the results were so good he never looked back. Joining the New Musical Express in the mid-70s, he was in the right place at the right time and became a favourite amongst the punk and new wave bands including the Clash, The Specials, Squeeze and Elvis Costello.

Chalkie's pictures summed up the era and many are classics of rock and roll photography. But by the mid-80s he'd become disenchanted with the music business, where image mattered more than music. The death of his close friend Phil Lynott, leader singer of Thin Lizzy, led Chalkie to quit rock music.

For 25 years Chalkie's collection of rock images remained hidden away until an invitation from the National Museum of Wales led him to bring them out for a new generation. This documentary follows Chalkie as he prepares for the exhibition, revisits his childhood haunts and reflects on an extraordinary career.

There are contributions from many of the musicians he photographed including Elvis Costello, Chris Difford of Squeeze, songwriter Nick Lowe, the Specials mainman Jerry Dammers and punk poet John Cooper Clarke.


FRI 00:30 Top of the Pops (b0b8rmnv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


FRI 01:30 Shirley Bassey at the BBC (b01psct4)
Forever sequinned, stylish and sassy, Dame Shirley Bassey, one of Britain's all-time great voices, turned 76 in January 2013.

She began her rise to fame as a 16-year-old singer in 1953 and 60 years on she is still going as strong as ever. Join us as we celebrate Dame Shirley's birthday and her remarkable career, taking a trip down memory lane to uncover some of her finest performances from the vaults of the BBC.

From early BBC appearances on Show of the Week, The Shirley Bassey Show, via the Royal Albert Hall, Glastonbury 2007 and right up to her recent jaw dropping show at the Electric Proms. This is a compilation of some of Dame Shirley's classic performances, taking in iconic songs such as The Performance of My Life, Goldfinger, Big Spender and Diamonds Are Forever.

Producer: Sam Bridger


FRI 02:30 Top of the Pops (b0b8rmnx)
[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)

A History of Art in Three Colours 01:00 TUE (b01l4fyl)

Africa's Great Civilisations 22:00 TUE (b0b8rg4x)

Africa 21:00 TUE (b01qh31v)

Africa 02:00 TUE (b01qh31v)

Art of Scandinavia 22:40 SUN (b074hh79)

B is for Book 01:30 THU (b07jlzb7)

Beyond 100 Days 19:00 MON (b0b8rct1)

Beyond 100 Days 19:00 TUE (b0b8rfpf)

Beyond 100 Days 19:00 WED (b0b8mxs0)

Beyond 100 Days 19:00 THU (b0b8mxs7)

Black Nurses: The Women Who Saved the NHS 22:00 MON (b083dgtb)

Britain in Focus: A Photographic History 01:00 MON (b08hznbb)

Britain's Ancient Capital: Secrets of Orkney 20:00 TUE (b087vh70)

Britain's Ancient Capital: Secrets of Orkney 03:00 TUE (b087vh70)

Britain's Whale Hunters: The Untold Story 23:00 THU (b046pb27)

Canal Walks with Julia Bradbury 19:30 MON (b010v7kx)

Canal Walks with Julia Bradbury 19:30 TUE (b0110ghh)

Canal Walks with Julia Bradbury 19:30 WED (b01173hc)

Canal Walks with Julia Bradbury 19:30 THU (b011g6dw)

Chalkie Davies: Rock Photographer 00:00 FRI (b05xd4yv)

David Starkey's Music and Monarchy 00:40 SUN (b037x4sh)

Duran Duran: A Night In 01:30 SAT (b0b7szrj)

Earth's Greatest Spectacles 19:00 SAT (b0702q6p)

Eric Clapton at the BBC: The Rock 'n' Roll Years 22:10 SUN (b0074r9l)

Eric Clapton at the BBC: The Rock 'n' Roll Years 02:40 SUN (b0074r9l)

Fair Isle: Living on the Edge 23:00 MON (b084jyl0)

Genius of the Modern World 00:00 MON (b07h0hg9)

Gods and Monsters: Homer's Odyssey 00:30 THU (b00vtwnz)

Hidden 21:00 SAT (b0b7n0bt)

Indie Classics at the BBC 00:00 SAT (b06g5jfp)

Lucy Worsley's Reins of Power: The Art of Horse Dancing 00:00 TUE (b06ccpzz)

Napoleon 21:00 THU (b05zq7xf)

Nature's Miracle Orphans 20:00 MON (p03g1633)

Nature's Miracle Orphans 02:00 MON (p03g1633)

Rich Hall's Working for the American Dream 21:00 WED (b0b8rc45)

Rich Hall's Working for the American Dream 02:30 WED (b0b8rc45)

She-Wolves: England's Early Queens 23:00 TUE (b01dpqtx)

Shirley Bassey at the BBC 01:30 FRI (b01psct4)

Shopgirls: The True Story of Life Behind the Counter 20:00 WED (b049f4xj)

Shopgirls: The True Story of Life Behind the Counter 01:30 WED (b049f4xj)

Simon King's Shetland Adventure 20:00 SAT (b00qsc2h)

Simon King's Shetland Adventure 02:30 SAT (b00qsc2h)

Smashing Hits! The 80s Pop Map of Britain and Ireland 22:00 FRI (b0b99nq0)

Sound of Cinema: The Music That Made the Movies 23:00 SAT (b03b965y)

Storyville 21:00 SUN (b0b95v0m)

The 80s with Dominic Sandbrook 00:30 WED (b07p0f9y)

The Art That Made Mexico: Paradise, Power and Prayers 23:40 SUN (b09hm1y8)

The First Georgians: The German Kings Who Made Britain 20:00 THU (b042twvq)

The First Georgians: The German Kings Who Made Britain 02:30 THU (b042twvq)

The NHS: A People's History 21:00 MON (b0b98x61)

The NHS: A People's History 03:00 MON (b0b98x61)

The Search for Alfred the Great 19:00 SUN (b03sbp73)

The Search for Alfred the Great 01:40 SUN (b03sbp73)

The World's Biggest Flower Market 20:00 SUN (b07czwfd)

Timeshift 22:00 SAT (b019c85h)

Timeshift 22:30 WED (b00djlz9)

Top of the Pops 01:00 SAT (b0b8kv3f)

Top of the Pops 00:00 THU (b0b8kv3f)

Top of the Pops 19:30 FRI (b0b9b1xw)

Top of the Pops 20:00 FRI (b0b8rmnx)

Top of the Pops 21:00 FRI (b0b8rmnv)

Top of the Pops 23:00 FRI (b0b9b1xw)

Top of the Pops 00:30 FRI (b0b8rmnv)

Top of the Pops 02:30 FRI (b0b8rmnx)

Utopia: In Search of the Dream 23:30 WED (b090c2pj)

Whites v Blacks: How Football Changed a Nation 22:00 THU (b084fmgv)

World News Today 19:00 FRI (b0b8mxsd)