The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
The second episode takes us to the remarkable island of Amami Oshima in the southern oceans of Japan, to follow the elaborate handmade production of a traditional Japanese kimono. Over five hundred people are involved in producing the island's famous mud-dyed silk which takes many months to produce. The film follows the painstaking process of the silk being bound, hand dyed, woven and finally turned into a kimono by a seamstress. Along the way we not only discover the history of the kimono tradition, but also the many difficulties facing the kimono industry in modern Japan.
In the final episode, Dr James Fox explores the art of the Japanese home. The clean minimalism of the Japanese home has been exported around the world, from modernist architecture to lifestyle stores like Muji. But the origins of this ubiquitous aesthetic evolved from a system of spiritual and philosophical values, dating back centuries. James visits one of Japan's last surviving traditional wooden villages, and the 17th-century villa of Rinshunkaku, and reveals how the unique spirit of Japanese craftsmen (shokunin) turned joinery into an artform - creating houses without the need for nails, screws or even glue.
Exploring some of the traditional arts of the Japanese home (where even food and flower arranging have been elevated to the level of art), James also investigates attitudes to domestic culture in modern Japan, meeting photographer Kyoichi Tsuzuki, chronicler of Japan's crowded cities and tiny apartments.
Other highlights include a performance by calligrapher and artist Tomoko Kawao and a visit to the hometown of Terunobu Fujimori, one of the most singular and playful contemporary architects working in Japan today.
Documentary series opening, in 1975, with the first three years of the investigation into finding the Yorkshire Ripper, Peter Sutcliffe. The location of the first two murders in Chapeltown - then well known as Leeds’s main red light district - leads the police to decide that prostitution is the connection between the attacks, but also to them coming up with a neat theory about the killer’s motivation. After the second murder in January 1976, the police announce that they are hunting a ‘prostitute killer’, which had significant implications for how the investigation proceeded.
Speaking to the children of some of the very first murder victims and to police officers who worked on the investigation, as well as to journalists who covered the murders, Liza Williams explores the difference between the way the women were characterised by the investigation and how they are remembered by those who knew and loved them. Meeting a survivor of one of Sutcliffe’s earlier attacks, as well as the daughter of another, Liza finds out how their vital eyewitness evidence was ignored because neither were prostitutes and did not, as a result, fit the victim profile the police had decided upon.
While the police ploughed on with their theory of that the murderer was targeting prostitutes, the killer remained at large. Between February 1977 and May 1978 Peter Sutcliffe murdered seven more women.
Jeremy Clarkson tells the dramatic story of the Arctic convoys of the Second World War, from Russia to the freezing Arctic Ocean.
Accompanied by moving first hand testimony from the men who served on these convoys, Clarkson reveals the incredible hazards faced by members of the Merchant and Royal Navy who delivered vital war supplies via the Arctic to the Soviet Union: temperatures of minus 50 degrees, huge icebergs, colossal waves, not to mention German U-boats and the Luftwaffe. It is no wonder that Churchill described the Arctic Convoys as 'the worst journey in the world.'
Between 1941 and 1945, more than 70 convoys delivered 4 million tonnes of material to the USSR, yet one convoy in partiuclar would come to symbolise the dangers faced by the men who served on them. Codenamed PQ17, this convoy of 35 merchant ships would be described by Churchill as one of the most melancholy naval episodes of the war.
Retracing the route of PQ17 from the Arctic to the Russian winter port of Archangel, Clarkson reveals how, on the night of July 4th 1942, this joint Anglo-American convoy became one of the biggest naval disasters of the 20th century. To make matters worse, the cause of the disaster lay not in the brutal conditions of the Arctic, or the military might of the Germans, but a misjudgement made in the corridors of the Admiralty in London.
Travelogue that follows photographer Don McCullin, now 83, documenting his country from inner cities to seaside towns, on a journey in search of his own nation. Sixty years after starting out as a photographer, McCullin returns to his old haunts in the East End of London, Bradford, Consett, Eastbourne and Scarborough. Along the way he encounters an array of English characters at the Glyndebourne Festival and Goodwood Revival and photographs a hunt and a group of saboteurs aiming to disrupt them. McCullin’s journey is punctuated by scenes in his darkroom, a place he is allowing cameras into for the first time.
To mark the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, Janina Ramirez tells the story of three books that defined this radical religious revolution in England.
Tyndale's New Testament, Cranmer's Book of Common Prayer and Foxe's Book of Martyrs are no longer commonly recognised titles, yet for nearly four hundred years these works formed the backbone of British life. Their words shaped the English language, fuelled religious division and sparked revolt.
Nina discovers how the trio of texts had a powerful cumulative effect. Tyndale's Bible made the word of God accessible to the common man for the first time; The Book of Common Prayer established a Protestant liturgy; and Foxe's Book of Martyrs enshrined an intolerance of Catholicism. Nina reveals how they formed the nation's Protestant identity, the impact of which can be seen even today.
West Side Story is one of the best-loved musicals of all time. A modern-day Romeo and Juliet, its timeless story and exhilarating dance and music continue to excite audiences around the globe. Songs such as Maria, Somewhere, Tonight and America have all become some of the biggest hits in showbusiness. And yet, West Side Story had an uneasy birth and was even turned away by producers when it was first put together in the 1950s by Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, Jerome Robbins and Arthur Laurents.
Now, as the world prepares to celebrate the 60th anniversary of West Side Story in 2017, dancer Bruno Tonioli and broadcaster Suzy Klein go in search of the true stories behind the inception of this classic show. For the first time on television, they hear first-hand from those involved in the show when it opened on Broadway in September 1957, including Sondheim himself, producer Hal Prince and original cast members from both show and movie, including Chita Rivera, Carol Lawrence and Rita Moreno. With the BBC Symphony Orchestra and specially cast singers, we relive some of the wonderful music and, in the company of Suzy and Bruno, discover how West Side Story placed the 1950s phenomena of racial tension and teenage gangs centre stage to create a hit that changed musical theatre forever.
By the middle of the 18th century, Britain was in possession of a vast empire. It required a new way of seeing ourselves and so we turned to the statues of ancient Greece and Rome to project the secular power and glory of the British Empire.
The message was clear: Britain was the new Rome, our generals and politicians on a par with the heroes of the ancient world. The flood of funds, both public and private, into sculptural projects unleashed a new golden age, yet it was also a remarkably unorthodox one. The greatest sculptors of the 18th and 19th centuries were those mavericks who bucked prevailing trends - geniuses like John Flaxman, Francis Chantrey and Alfred Gilbert.
Alastair Sooke tells the story of these mavericks and reveals the extraordinary technical breakthroughs behind their key works: carving in marble with a pointer machine and the primal power of the lost-wax technique.
WEDNESDAY 27 MARCH 2019
WED 19:00 The Wonder of Animals (b04kzvxq)
Dolphins
Chris Packham explores the success of the most widespread of marine mammals, the dolphin. Contrary to their amiable reputation, they are in fact ruthless predators. They hunt using a combination of specialised anatomy and complex communication, requiring a big brain.
Chris explains the inner workings of dolphin echolocation, reveals how a pod uses body movements to communicate the location of food and explores the strategies used by orcas during a hunt.
WED 19:30 Handmade in Japan (p054mcvv)
Series 1
Mingei Pottery
The final episode features one of Japan's most famous family of potters - the Hamadas. Shoji Hamada was a major figure in the Mingei folk art movement of the 1920s and '30s and helped turn the town of Mashiko into a major centre of ceramics, famous for its thick and rustic pottery. He also spent time in Britain where he taught renowned St Ives potter Bernard Leach the art of Japanese pottery.
Today, his grandson Tomoo Hamada continues the family tradition and this film follows him at work, painstakingly shaping his pots and firing them in an old-style wood-fuelled kiln. We also hear how Tomoo played a vital role in saving Mashiko as a pottery centre after many of its kilns were destroyed in the 2011 earthquake.
WED 20:00 The Mekong River with Sue Perkins (b04tp74d)
Episode 4
In this fourth and final episode, Sue reaches her final destination - China, home to the source of the Mekong. Here, change is sweeping through faster than any other Mekong nation, as China's economic miracle transforms even the remotest regions.
Arriving in Yunnan's tropical south western region of Xishuangbanna, Sue discovers how this once remote and sleepy region is now home to a booming tourist industry, with the indigenous Dai tribe at its heart. To the Dai, water is holy, the physical and spiritual source of life. Thousands of Han Chinese - who make up 92 per cent of China's population - flock to the Dai Minority Park, a Disneyfied version of an ancient Dai village, where they take part in a traditional water splashing ceremony. After decades of communism, the park represents China's renewed interest in the colourful melting pot of peoples that actually make up modern China, providing a must-see holiday destination for its burgeoning middle class.
Leaving the Dai Park, Sue climbs higher into the foothills of Xishuangbanna to discover how the Aini tribe are adapting to a changing China. The Aini have farmed pu'er tea for 2,000 years - suddenly they can become rich from its harvest, as China's newly wealthy professionals buy up this now fashionable delicacy.
But as China tries to work out what is significant from its past and what it should take into its future, some people feel this rush to modernity is threatening what little remains of ancient traditions and beliefs. Sue meets Li Jin Mei, who is desperately trying to preserve what is left of her Aini culture.
Travelling further along the river's valleys and foothills, Sue reaches the town of Baisha under the shadow of the Himalayas. Home to the Naxi people, this region is famous for its botanists and herbalists, made popular by Victorian plant hunters such as Joseph Rock. Sue attends a consultation with the renowned Naxi Chinese herbalist Dr Ho and explores his magnificent herbal garden.
Climbing higher and ever closer to the source, Sue encounters her first taste of Tibetan life in the village of Cizhong. French missionaries came here in 1850, bringing the Catholic gospel and converting, over time, 80 per cent of this village to Catholicism. Sue meets Mr Xiao Jie Yi, whose humbling story relates how his Catholic faith carried him through 30 years of hard labour during Mao's Cultural Revolution.
In modern China, Cizhong is facing a new, even more dramatic change - a hydroelectric dam is being built close by, bringing with it construction along the river's banks, landslides and the prospect of flooding. Six mega dams are already in service on the Mekong in Yunnan, generating the equivalent of enough electricity to light up London for three years. But the human and ecological cost here and downstream is yet to be calculated - already more than 100,000 ethnic people were displaced to make way for the dams.
Finally, after nearly 3,000 miles, Sue embarks on the last leg of her epic journey, arriving high up on the Tibetan Plateau in Qinghai province, close to the source of the Mekong. In a life-changing experience, she is immersed in the lives of a family of Tibetan yak herders, and joins a group of nuns as they make an offering to the water gods for their protection. Here, at the point where the Mekong's waters first filter into the lives of people, Sue reveals the eternal bond between humans, gods and this mighty river.
WED 21:00 The Yorkshire Ripper Files: A Very British Crime Story (m0003m04)
Series 1
Episode 2
Documentary series exploring the Yorkshire Ripper investigation. Following the murder of Josephine Whitaker in April 1979, Peter Sutcliffe’s crimes started to make headlines across the country and the investigation became consumed by a series of letters and a tape that claimed to come from the killer himself.
The letters and tape, addressed directly to George Oldfield, West Yorkshire’s chief constable, were sent by a man calling himself Jack the Ripper. Oldfield was so certain that they came from the killer that other suspects were ruled out on the basis of their handwriting or whether they had a north-east accent like the one on the tape. Director Liza Williams discovers that Oldfield’s character and his hunches have a lot to answer for when it comes to the direction of the investigation and what evidence was ruled in or out.
Survivors and relatives of those who were attacked recount how they were not listened to when their descriptions of the attacker did not match the voice on the tape. Liza also speaks to police officers who tell her about other promising lines of inquiry, tracing clues left behind at murder scenes. The ‘Wearside Jack’ tapes, however, took centre stage.
While the police disregarded evidence and focused on the tapes, terror grew and the killer started to become a kind of cult figure, with Yorkshire Ripper chants at football matches and Thin Lizzy’s Killer on the Loose topping the charts. As Liza discovers, this myth-making provoked anger from women and the police’s failure to catch the killer led to a demonstration on the streets of Leeds.
Ending with the arrest of Peter Sutcliffe, the episode reveals how his name was already in multiple police files. He had been interviewed nine times during the course of the investigation. He did not have a Wearside accent like the voice on the tape, but was born and bred in Yorkshire. Had the police arrested him the first time he was questioned in November 1977, seven women’s lives might have been saved.
WED 22:00 A Timewatch Guide (b08ybzhc)
Series 4
Vikings: Foe or Friend?
On 8 June 793 Europe changed forever. The famous monastery at Lindisfarne on the Northumbrian coast was suddenly attacked and looted by seafaring Scandinavians. The Viking Age had begun.
Professor Alice Roberts examines how dramatically the story of the Vikings has changed on TV since the 1960s. She investigates how our focus has shifted from viewing them as brutal, pagan barbarians to pioneering traders, able to integrate into multiple cultures. We also discover that without their naval technology we would never have heard of the Vikings, how their huge trading empire spread, and their surprising legacy in the modern world.
WED 23:00 Hull's Headscarf Heroes (b09r8jvr)
Documentary which marks the 50th anniversary of the triple trawler tragedy during January and February of 1968, in which 58 men died. It was one of Britain's deadliest maritime disasters, which tore through the heart of Hull's Hessle Road fishing community. The film tells the epic story of the Hull fishermen who did the most dangerous job in Britain and their wives whose protest ensured such a disaster never happened again. The women's campaign was one of the biggest and most successful civil action campaigns of the 20th century. Combining rare archive and emotional testimony - including that of Yvonne Blenkinsop, the last surviving leader of the women - those who lived through the tragedy and fought for change tell their incredible stories for the first time.
By the 1960s Hull was home to the greatest deep sea fishery on earth. 150 deep sea trawlers were based at St Andrews Dock and every year they brought in up to a quarter of a million tons of fish - 25 per cent of Britain's total catch. But to bring in such large quantities Hull's trawlermen had to take enormous risks, because the best hunting grounds were 1,000 miles away in the dangerous Arctic waters around Iceland. There was little regard for the men's health and safety, making this by far the most dangerous job in Britain with 6,000 Hull men lost at sea.
For Hull's women the fact that their men could die at work at any time was a constant worry, made bearable only by the joy of their return. We hear tragic stories of lost loved ones that cast a shadow over family life. This long history of hurt formed the background to the triple trawler disaster of January and early February 1968- an event which rocked even this extraordinarily stoic community.
In January 1968, Hull's trawlers headed into the Arctic in their quest for the biggest catch. By early February it became clear that three of them had sunk, first the St Romanus, then the Kingston Peridot and finally the Ross Cleveland. The last two were fishing in Arctic waters when they were hit by the worst storm in living memory and were obliterated by the hurricane force winds, blizzards and ferocious waves. Altogether 58 men were drowned.
Among those who lost a loved one was 17-year-old mother-of-two Denise Wilson. She tells the story of how she became the youngest widow in Hull. The man whose task was to break the news to the families was young port missionary Donald Woolley. He reveals that despite the grief and devastation at the catastrophic loss of so many fathers, brothers and sons, there was an extraordinary spirit of resilience amongst the young wives and mothers.
Fuelled by years of suffering and loss, the headscarfed women rose up to protest against the dangerous working conditions. They were led by larger-than-life fishwife Lilian Bilocca. Her daughter Virginia remembers how she began a petition that was signed by almost everyone in Hessle Road. This was followed by mass meetings, a march on the trawler bosses' offices and dramatic attempts to stop any unsafe trawlers going to sea. What they all wanted was a safer fishing industry - and they were prepared to do anything to get it.
Unbeknown to 'Big Lil' as she came to be known, while she was protesting, her young son Ernie was also caught up in the storm and fighting for his life. He tells the story of his nightmare ordeal. So too does trawlerman Ken Shakesby, who also nearly died in the storm. His wife Jean was another headscarf protester who almost lost her husband.
Yvonne Blenkinsop is the last survivor amongst the women who led the protest. She tells how she was inspired to fight for change by the death of her own father at sea a few years before. She made passionate speeches to the women of Hessle Road about the need for greater safety at sea. After preventing unsafe ships from leaving St Andrews Dock in Hull, during the first week of February 1968 three of the leaders - including Yvonne - travelled to London for top-level talks with the government. 88 safety measures were enacted immediately. The first to be implemented was a mother ship complete with up to date medical and radio facilities. The new fishermen's charter laid the foundations for safety at sea for generations to come, and was welcomed by all.
But in the 1970s the Hull fishing industry fell into rapid decline with the Cod Wars and sadly the old fishing industry disappeared. As it went the memory of what Yvonne, Lil Bilocca and the other women had achieved also faded. When Lil died in 1988 at the age of 59 there was little fanfare. Nevertheless today, with Hull as City of Culture there is now at last new recognition for the women who led one of the most successful protest movements of the last 50 years: Lil Bilocca and the 'headscarf heroes,' including the last surviving leader, the extraordinary Yvonne Blenkinsop.
WED 00:00 How to Be a Surrealist with Philippa Perry (b08l6qd8)
Melting clocks, lobster telephones - the perplexing images of surrealist art are instantly recognisable to millions. But for psychotherapist Philippa Perry the radical ideas which inspired the original artists are often overlooked. In this film, Philippa takes us on a playful journey into the unconscious to discover the deep roots of surrealism in the political upheavals of 1920s Europe and new ways of understanding the human psyche.
Among her surrealist adventures, Philippa sets up her own Bureau of Surrealist Research on the streets of Paris and invites members of the public to tell her their dreams, she uncovers the role of women in the surrealism movement and has a go at being an artist's muse herself, rolls up her sleeves to try some surrealist techniques with art critic Adrian Searle, and puts on a screening of Dali and Bunuel's famous film Un Chien Andalou for a group of unsuspecting art students.
WED 01:00 MAKE! Craft Britain (b09xzsmc)
Series 1
Episode 3
Two new sets of students are introduced to the art of mosaic making and perennial favourite, knitting. Meanwhile, origami artist Sam Tsang is on hand to teach how to make a family of paper penguins.
To inspire our budding mosaic makers, their workshop takes place in a very special village hall in Ford Village, Northumberland. Lady Waterford Hall was once the village school and is decorated with exquisite biblical murals painted by Lady Louisa herself over 21 years after the death of her husband in 1860. She is now regarded as one of the most gifted painters of the pre-Raphaelite era.
Picking up Lady Waterford's mantle is Tamara Froud, renowned mosaicist whose works can be seen in public spaces all over the country, and she welcomes eight students to the beautiful space for her two-day workshop.
The students are here to make plaques for the outside walls of their homes. First, they have to master the tools of the trade, and protective glasses are in order as tiles fly and crockery shatters. But soon a more peaceful air descends as Alison recreates the horns of her new prize ram in terracotta tiles, Paul rebuilds Hadrian's Wall against the backdrop of the Northumbrian flag and Cheryl pays homage to a Lowry painting which features the front steps of her new home.
In London, an altogether different workshop is taking place as six students are charged with knitting their very own bobble hat in a single day. Three are complete novices, while three have some experience of knitting but have been put off along the way. Teachers Jen and Jenny are on hand to make it all look simple.
First to finish is Kirsty with her magnificent stripy pom-pom hat, but Luke the undertaker struggles and mid-afternoon his hat goes into 'special measures'. This makes his pride on finishing all the more heartfelt, along with the two other men in the group, neither of whom had ever picked up a pair of knitting needles in their lives.
WED 02:00 Romancing the Stone: The Golden Ages of British Sculpture (b00yvsjd)
Children of the Revolution
'Sculpture has changed more in the last hundred years,' says Alastair Sooke, 'than in the previous thirty thousand.' The third and last episode of the series tells the dramatic story of a century of innovation, scandal, shock and creativity.
It begins with the moment at the turn of the 20th century when young sculptors ceased visiting the Elgin Marbles at the British Museum and looked instead at the 'primitive' works of Africa and the Pacific islands. The result was an artistic revolution spearheaded by Eric Gill and Jacob Epstein that would climax in the anti-sculptural gestures of Gilbert & George and Damien Hirst.
Yet for all the provocation and occasional excesses of conceptualism, sculpture has never enjoyed such popularity. From the memorials of World War One to the landmarks of Antony Gormley and Rachel Whiteread, sculpture remains the art form that speaks most directly and powerfully to the nation.
The programme climaxes with a series of encounters between Alastair and leading sculptors Damien Hirst, Rachel Whiteread, Antony Gormley and Anthony Caro.
WED 03:00 Don McCullin: Looking for England (m0002dv0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
23:00 on Tuesday]
THURSDAY 28 MARCH 2019
THU 19:00 Beyond 100 Days (m0003m0g)
Series 1
28/03/2019
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
THU 19:30 Top of the Pops (m0003lx6)
Janice Long and Simon Mayo present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 23 July 1987 and featuring Boy George, Atlantic Starr, Judy Boucher, Los Lobos, Errol Brown, Samantha Fox, Marillion, Beastie Boys, Luther Vandross, Shakin' Stevens, Madonna and Boogie Box High.
THU 20:00 The Crusades (b01bqy7r)
Victory and Defeat
In the concluding episode of the series, Dr Thomas Asbridge reveals that the outcome of these epic holy wars was decided not on the hallowed ground of Jerusalem, but in Egypt. As trade blossomed between Christians and Muslims and the Mongol hordes arrived from Asia, a saintly French king - afire with crusading zeal - and the most remarkable Muslim leader of the Middle Ages fought for ultimate victory in the East.
Drawing upon eyewitness chronicles and the latest archaeological evidence, Dr Asbridge argues that it was a fearsome slave-warrior from the Russian Steppes - now forgotten in the West - who finally sealed the fate of the crusades. And, most controversially of all, Asbridge challenges the popular misconception that the medieval crusades sparked a clash of civilisations between Islam and the West that continues to this day.
THU 21:00 The Yorkshire Ripper Files: A Very British Crime Story (m0003m0l)
Series 1
Episode 3
Documentary series exploring the Yorkshire Ripper investigation. In this final episode, Liza Williams charts the arrest of Peter Sutcliffe in January 1981, his subsequent trial and conviction, and the legacy for the relatives of his victims and the survivors of his attacks.
Speaking to one of Sutcliffe’s defence team, as well as a leading barrister from the prosecution and journalists who covered the trial, Liza traces the story from the moment of arrest. Witnesses were offered money for exclusives, potentially jeopardising the trial, and once it began long queues formed for the public gallery and front row seats in court were given to VIPs.
Peter Sutcliffe pleaded not guilty to murder on the grounds of diminished responsibility because of his mental state. The prosecution, however, argued that he should be found guilty of murder. Sutcliffe had confessed to all 13 murders and seven attacks, so there was no doubt who was to blame. However, looking back at court transcripts, Liza discovers that the women Sutcliffe attacked were once more classed as either prostitutes or ‘innocent’ victims. Meeting a woman who led a demonstration outside the Old Bailey, Liza finds out about the outrage they felt when the humanity of the murdered women was ignored.
On 22 May 1981, the Yorkshire Ripper trial reached its conclusion. Peter Sutcliffe was found guilty of murder and sentenced to a minimum term of 30 years. But as Liza discovers, that is not the end of the case. After Sutcliffe’s conviction, the failures of the police investigation start to be made public as a wide-ranging government report details mistake after mistake. Liza learns just how many clues and witnesses were ignored. But also, more powerfully, she discovers that the failings all link back to the police’s original theory about a ‘prostitute killer’ that took them in the wrong direction right from the start and led them to disregard vital evidence.
Going back to the survivors and relatives of Sutcliffe’s victims, at the end of the final episode and the conclusion of the series, Liza explores the legacy left behind by his crimes and what it has been like to live as the child of a Ripper murder victim.
THU 22:00 British Sitcom: 60 Years of Laughing at Ourselves (b07vxlnl)
Documentary celebrating the British sitcom and taking a look at the social and political context from which our favourite sitcoms grew. We enjoy a trip through the comedy archive in the company of the people who made some of the very best British sitcoms. From The Likely Lads to I'm Alan Partridge, we find out the inspiration behind some of the most-loved characters and how they reflect the times they were living in.
Narrated by Rebecca Front, with commentary and insider knowledge from Steve Coogan, Richard Curtis, Beryl Vertue, James Corden, Jack Dee and top writing team Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais.
THU 23:00 An Art Lovers' Guide (b09yndw6)
Series 2
Lisbon
In the first of a series of city adventures, Janina Ramirez and Alastair Sooke head to Lisbon, rapidly becoming one of Europe’s most popular tourist destinations.
Winding through the city’s cobbled streets, from its steep hills to the picturesque shore line, the cultural riches they encounter reveal the city's fascinating history.
From a spectacular monument, to the maritime globetrotting of Portugal’s ‘golden age and the work of a photographer documenting the city's large African population, they discover a complex history of former glories and a darker, slave-trading past.
Their journey also uncovers the impact of twentieth century dictatorship on the city's artistic and cultural life, through the work of contemporary artists Paula Rego and Joana Vasconcelos.
And they discover how the city's location on the west coast of Europe, looking out to the Atlantic, has shaped the cosmopolitan spirit of the city: in one of the city's Fado clubs, Alastair and Nina enjoy the popular Portugese folk music, whose beautiful melodies celebrate a yearning for home, once sung by sailors dreaming of their return.
THU 00:00 Top of the Pops (m0003lx6)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:30 today]
THU 00:35 TOTP2 (b00sl2g5)
Wham! Special
Mark Radcliffe with some classic Wham! performances on Top of the Pops.
THU 01:05 Biggest Band Break Ups and Make Ups (b05q472d)
Mark Radcliffe presents a look at the highs and lows of band life - the creative tension that produces great music and the pressures that come with success and fame, and pull most bands apart. Radcliffe lifts the lid on the main reasons why bands break up and the secrets of bands that manage to stay together.
THU 02:05 Country & Beyond with The Shires (b0bs6f0f)
British singer-songwriter duo Crissie Rhodes and Ben Earle form the award-winning country act The Shires. Their ultimate soundtrack ranges from Dolly Parton to Shania Twain.
Each song is handpicked and as they watch the performances they reveal the reasons behind their choices. They kick off with the Queen of Country, Dolly Parton, and her iconic track Jolene. Following that comes legendary singer Patsy Cline, and for Crissie it brings back memories of singing along to Crazy with her grandmother.
Ben then picks country pop crossover Shania Twain, whose That Don't Impress Me Much certainly made its mark on him. But Ben also likes his country classics and plumps for Glen Campbell's legendary Wichita Lineman. It's not only the stalwarts of the Great Country Songbook - they also make room for the edgy Americana roots music of critically acclaimed duo The Civil Wars and their spine-tingling live appearance on Later.
THU 03:05 British Sitcom: 60 Years of Laughing at Ourselves (b07vxlnl)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:00 today]
FRIDAY 29 MARCH 2019
FRI 19:00 World News Today (m0003lx4)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
FRI 19:30 Top of the Pops (m0003m0j)
Peter Powell and Simon Bates present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 16 July 1987 and featuring Bananarama, Bruce Willis, Hue and Cry, Kenny G, Mel and Kim, Los Lobos, The Cure, Boogie Box High, Freddie McGregor, Pet Shop Boys and Madonna.
FRI 20:00 Fleetwood Mac: A Musical History (m0001kz2)
Fellow musicians, journalists and fans celebrate Fleetwood Mac with a selection of their best-loved songs.
Fleetwood Mac are the great survivors of British and American rock music. For more than fifty years they’ve overcome break-ups and breakdowns to become one of the most successful bands of all time. They have sold over 100 million records worldwide, with their 1977 smash Rumours accounting for nearly half of those sales.
They have endured, like all great bands, because of the complimentary talents of its members. From Peter Green to Christine McVie, Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham, it has contained some extraordinary songwriters. With brilliant musicians on all instruments, the band has been able to turn the songs into commercial gold. Above all the tough determination of the two men who gave the band their name has seen Fleetwood Mac through thick and thin.
Fleetwood fan Edith Bowman provides a narrative overview alongside other celebrity fans, who all pay tribute to the band in this hit-filled hour. Contributors include KT Tunstall, Travis’s frontman Fran Healy, Toyah Willcox, Sian Pattenden and Emma Dabiri.
FRI 21:00 The Beatles: Made on Merseyside (m0003lx8)
They defined music and popular culture like no other band ever will. But how did The Beatles make the journey from Merseyside teenagers to international pop stars in the 1960s? This film recounts how American rock ‘n’ roll and rhythm and blues turned postwar Liverpool into one of the most vibrant music cities ever, the home of the Mersey Sound.
Featuring unique archive and revealing interviews with those involved in the early years of The Beatles in Liverpool and Hamburg, we discover the story of The Beatles’ previous band formations and why it took so long for them to achieve success. From school bands to colleges, Hamburg to the Cavern Club, The Beatles moved from skiffle to rock ‘n’ roll before creating their unique sound.
FRI 22:25 Sgt Pepper's Musical Revolution with Howard Goodall (b08tb97f)
50 years ago this week, on 1 June, 1967, an album was released that changed music history - The Beatles' Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. In this film, composer Howard Goodall explores just why this album is still seen as so innovative, so revolutionary and so influential. With the help of outtakes and studio conversations between the band, never heard before outside of Abbey Road, Howard gets under the bonnet of Sgt Pepper. He takes the music apart and reassembles it, to show us how it works - and makes surprising connections with the music of the last 1,000 years to do so.
Sgt Pepper came about as a result of a watershed in The Beatles' career. In August 1966, sick of the screaming mayhem of live shows, they'd taken what was then seen as the career-ending decision to stop touring altogether. Instead, beginning that December, they immersed themselves in Abbey Road with their creative partner, producer George Martin, for an unprecedented five months. What they produced didn't need to be recreated live on stage. The Beatles took full advantage of this freedom, turning the studio from a place where a band went to capture its live sound, as quickly as possible, into an audio laboratory, a creative launch pad. As Howard shows, they and George Martin and his team constructed the album sound by sound, layer by layer - a formula that became the norm for just about every rock act who followed.
In June 1967, after what amounted to a press blackout about what they'd been up to, Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was released. It was a sensation, immediately becoming the soundtrack to the Summer of Love - and one of the best-selling, most critically lauded albums of all time. It confirmed that a 'pop music' album could be an art form, not just a collection of three-minute singles. It's regularly been voted one of the most important and influential records ever released.
In this film, Howard Goodall shows that it is the sheer ambition of Sgt Pepper - in its conception, composition, arrangements and innovative recording techniques - that sets it apart.
Made with unprecedented access to The Beatles' pictorial archive, this is an in-depth exploration, in sound and vision, of one of the most important and far-reaching moments in recent music history.
FRI 23:25 Classic Albums (b007b6hv)
Paul Simon: Graceland
Since its release in 1986, Paul Simon's Graceland has had an enormous impact on rock music with its blend of rock and African rhythms. Simon and engineer Roy Halee demonstrate the multi-tracking and mixing of the album and reveal the inspiration behind the songs, and composer Philip Glass assesses the album's place in musical history. Featuring interviews with major artists involved in the album, including Joseph Shabalala of Ladysmith Black Mambazo and guitarist Ray Phiri, who shatter the myth about their relationship with Simon.
FRI 00:25 Top of the Pops (m0003m0j)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:30 today]
FRI 00:55 Primal Scream: The Lost Memphis Tapes (b0brzps8)
The programme shows Primal Scream's Bobby Gillespie's fascination with music from an early age, listening to the sounds of Elvis and Aretha Franklin before graduating to punk. He talks about his passion for music and how to keep creativity on the right track. In the early 90s the UK music scene was changing - with Oasis and Blur emerging, this alternative rock band was recording in Memphis but suddenly sounded out of step with the music scene.
As the documentary reveals, nine songs were recorded for the band's 1994 album Give Out But Don't Give Up, including Jailbird, Rocks, and Cry Myself Blind, but the album that was released, after further mixes were made to make the new album more contemporary, was not the mix Primal Scream wanted. In the film Bobby Gillespie talks candidly about how this process led him to question his own judgement and that for many years the experience left him feeling that he had failed himself and his audience.
With exclusive, previously unreleased footage of behind-the-scenes studio sessions, this is the story of how the original mixtapes of the album were rediscovered in a basement by Andrew Innes, Primal Scream's rhythm guitarist. The sessions recorded by the band in Memphis with the legendary record producer Tom Dowd, along with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section musicians Roger Hawkins, drums, and David Hood, bass, did not make the light of day, because some of the mixes were not suitable in the musical climate at the time.
Bobby and Andrew go back to Memphis 25 years later to revisit Ardent Studios, where the band first recorded the original album, and meet some of the musicians and engineers involved in the process. It gives Bobby the chance to remaster the album he had originally envisaged all those years ago. The film has new interviews with Bobby, Andrew, David and Jeff Powell, the original engineer, giving their own, unique perspectives of the events of more than 20 years ago. Plus, there are archive interviews with the Memphis Horns, George Clinton and Roger Hawkins.
With the rediscovery of the original session tapes, the band is finally able to release the beautiful music they always wanted the public to hear.
FRI 01:55 Fleetwood Mac: A Musical History (m0001kz2)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 today]
FRI 02:55 Jacqueline du Pre: A Gift Beyond Words (b09bdyfz)
Jacqueline du Pre was one of the greatest performing musicians that Britain has ever produced. She stopped playing the cello at the age of 28, a victim of multiple sclerosis, and she died at 42 on 19 October 1987. This film, compiled by Christopher Nupen from the five prize-winning films he made during her lifetime, pays tribute to her on the 30th anniversary of her death.
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
22:00 WED (b08ybzhc)
An Art Lovers' Guide
23:00 THU (b09yndw6)
Arena
21:50 SUN (b00dqv1x)
Barneys, Books and Bust-Ups: 50 Years of the Booker Prize
02:00 SUN (b0bntjf6)
Beyond 100 Days
19:00 MON (m0003m09)
Beyond 100 Days
19:00 TUE (m0003m01)
Beyond 100 Days
19:00 THU (m0003m0g)
Big Sky, Big Dreams, Big Art: Made in the USA
00:55 MON (b0b618m6)
Biggest Band Break Ups and Make Ups
01:05 THU (b05q472d)
British Sitcom: 60 Years of Laughing at Ourselves
22:00 THU (b07vxlnl)
British Sitcom: 60 Years of Laughing at Ourselves
03:05 THU (b07vxlnl)
Classic Albums
23:25 FRI (b007b6hv)
Coast
20:00 MON (b082sh1r)
Country & Beyond with The Shires
02:05 THU (b0bs6f0f)
David Cassidy: The Last Session
00:30 SUN (b0bshqks)
Deep Ocean: Lights in the Abyss
21:00 SUN (b0bs367k)
Don McCullin: Looking for England
23:00 TUE (m0002dv0)
Don McCullin: Looking for England
03:00 WED (m0002dv0)
England's Reformation: Three Books That Changed a Nation
00:00 TUE (b0992jdt)
Fleetwood Mac: A Musical History
20:00 FRI (m0001kz2)
Fleetwood Mac: A Musical History
01:55 FRI (m0001kz2)
Folk America at the Barbican
22:40 SAT (b00jp7nm)
From Andy Pandy to Zebedee: The Golden Age of Children's Television
20:00 SUN (b06t3mhm)
From Andy Pandy to Zebedee: The Golden Age of Children's Television
03:00 SUN (b06t3mhm)
Handmade in Japan
19:30 MON (b08v8gxl)
Handmade in Japan
19:30 TUE (p054mclh)
Handmade in Japan
19:30 WED (p054mcvv)
How to Be a Surrealist with Philippa Perry
00:00 WED (b08l6qd8)
Hull's Headscarf Heroes
23:00 WED (b09r8jvr)
Hunters of the South Seas
20:00 SAT (b05vj88w)
I Remember You
21:00 SAT (m0003lwx)
Jacqueline du Pre: A Gift Beyond Words
02:55 FRI (b09bdyfz)
MAKE! Craft Britain
01:00 WED (b09xzsmc)
Mars Uncovered: Ancient God of War
21:00 MON (m0003m0c)
Mars Uncovered: Ancient God of War
02:55 MON (m0003m0c)
PQ17: An Arctic Convoy Disaster
22:00 TUE (b03n3297)
Primal Scream: The Lost Memphis Tapes
00:55 FRI (b0brzps8)
Rich Hall's Working for the American Dream
23:00 SUN (b0b8rc45)
Romancing the Stone: The Golden Ages of British Sculpture
02:00 TUE (b00yml9v)
Romancing the Stone: The Golden Ages of British Sculpture
02:00 WED (b00yvsjd)
Rudolf Nureyev - Dance to Freedom
22:00 MON (b06t3j8q)
Sgt Pepper's Musical Revolution with Howard Goodall
22:25 FRI (b08tb97f)
TOTP2
00:35 THU (b00sl2g5)
The Art of Japanese Life
20:00 TUE (p054mdmy)
The Art of Japanese Life
03:00 TUE (p054mdmy)
The Beatles: Made on Merseyside
21:00 FRI (m0003lx8)
The Believers Are But Brothers
22:00 SUN (m0003lwz)
The Crusades
20:00 THU (b01bqy7r)
The Inca: Masters of the Clouds
19:00 SAT (b04y4q35)
The Marvellous World of Roald Dahl
19:00 SUN (b07m8n2q)
The Mekong River with Sue Perkins
20:00 WED (b04tp74d)
The Missing
23:00 SAT (b08226yr)
The Missing
00:00 SAT (b082s55f)
The Missing
01:00 SAT (b083dyxl)
The Missing
02:00 SAT (b08402n0)
The Missing
03:00 SAT (b084l0x7)
The No 5 War
23:30 MON (b0bh5v16)
The Real Doctor Zhivago
01:55 MON (b09djrvr)
The Secret Life of Books
00:25 MON (b06n9khy)
The Wonder of Animals
19:00 WED (b04kzvxq)
The Yorkshire Ripper Files: A Very British Crime Story
21:00 TUE (m0003m05)
The Yorkshire Ripper Files: A Very British Crime Story
21:00 WED (m0003m04)
The Yorkshire Ripper Files: A Very British Crime Story
21:00 THU (m0003m0l)
Top of the Pops
19:30 THU (m0003lx6)
Top of the Pops
00:00 THU (m0003lx6)
Top of the Pops
19:30 FRI (m0003m0j)
Top of the Pops
00:25 FRI (m0003m0j)
West Side Stories - The Making of a Classic
01:00 TUE (b086kfbb)
World News Today
19:00 FRI (m0003lx4)