Gravedigger Johnny Kingdom presents a look at the wildlife of the moors and woodlands of Exmoor, meeting local characters and capturing rare footage of red deer, Exmoor ponies, fox cubs, wild boar and a whole variety of birdlife. It's mid-autumn and the time of the red deer's mating season, and Johnny has some unfinished business with one particular old stag he once got too close to. Johnny's friend Tony Thorne is on hand to diagnose a problem with Johnny's big toe.
Bob Ross captures the still of cold darkness and rests a cosy little cabin on top of a snow-covered hill – a real black canvas favourite.
American painter Bob Ross offers soothing words of encouragement to viewers and painting hobbyists in an enormously popular series that has captivated audiences worldwide since 1982. Ross is a cult figure, with nearly two million Facebook followers and 3,000 instructors globally. His soothing, nurturing personality is therapy for the weary, and his respect for nature and wildlife helps heighten environmental awareness.
Across the series, Ross demonstrates his unique painting technique, which eliminates the need for each layer of paint to dry. In real time, he creates tranquil scenes taken from nature, including his trademark ‘happy’ clouds, cascading waterfalls, snow-covered forests, serene lakes and distant mountain summits.
Many of Bob’s faithful viewers are not painters at all. They are relaxing and unwinding with Bob’s gentle manner and encouraging words, captivated by the magic taking place on the canvas.
Monty Don travels to Japan in spring. Amidst the cherry blossoms, he begins his journey through the iconic gardens of Japan. He visits one of 'the three great gardens of Japan' and the earliest surviving boating garden of the Heian period. He looks at the rolling green moss of a Buddhist garden and learns the secrets of creating a Zen landscape before visiting an unconventional garden created by a modern garden design legend.
Monty continues his travels to learn about the art of Japanese stonemasonry and the famous tea ceremonies and their accompanying gardens, before finally taking a lesson in the delicate art of traditional flower arranging - which turns out to be harder than it looks.
The central island of Honshu is home to over 100 million people, and its biggest city, Tokyo, is one of the largest urban metropolises on earth. But it has a wild heart - most of Honshu is mountainous.
This wilderness is home to an astonishing range of wildlife - black bears, monkeys, exquisite fireflies and even cow demons. But all across this island, from the mountains to the edge of the sea, people and nature are drawn together in the most unexpected ways.
Dr James Fox journeys through Japan's mountainous forests, marvels at its zen gardens and admires centuries-old bonsai, to explore the connections between Japanese culture and the natural environment. Travelling around Japan's stunning island geography, he examines how the country's two great religions, Shinto and Buddhism, helped shape a creative response to nature often very different to the West. But he also considers modern Japan's changing relationship to the natural world and travels to Naoshima Art Island to see how contemporary artists are finding new ways to engage with nature.
Hosted by Bob Harris, this live studio show features music, special guests and rare archive to mark 30 years since the legendary series was last broadcast. Featuring performances from Peter Frampton, Richard Thompson, and Albert Lee among others.
Bob also chats to Whistle Test alumni, including Dave Stewart, Joan Armatrading, Ian Anderson, Chris Difford and Kiki Dee along with fans such as Danny Baker and Al Murray. A night of reminiscence, great music and fun.
THURSDAY 20 AUGUST 2020
THU 19:00 Johnny Kingdom: A Year on Exmoor (b00793lj)
Series 1
The Round Up
Gravedigger Johnny Kingdom presents a look at the wildlife of the moors and woodlands of Exmoor. The Exmoor pony is one of England's rarest breeds and Johnny is busy filming the pony round-up. It happens in October every year and things get very lively as the herd's owners, the Milton family, try to separate the mares and foals from the stallions. Johnny also heads off to see the salmon jumping.
THU 19:30 The Joy of Painting (m000lwf1)
Series 3
Distant Hills
Far, far away rests a mountain nestled in misty clouds and foothills. Bob Ross creates a scene using soft, brilliant colours.
American painter Bob Ross offers soothing words of encouragement to viewers and painting hobbyists in an enormously popular series that has captivated audiences worldwide since 1982. Ross is a cult figure, with nearly two million Facebook followers and 3,000 instructors globally. His soothing, nurturing personality is therapy for the weary, and his respect for nature and wildlife helps heighten environmental awareness.
Across the series, Ross demonstrates his unique painting technique, which eliminates the need for each layer of paint to dry. In real time, he creates tranquil scenes taken from nature, including his trademark ‘happy’ clouds, cascading waterfalls, snow-covered forests, serene lakes and distant mountain summits.
Many of Bob’s faithful viewers are not painters at all. They are relaxing and unwinding with Bob’s gentle manner and encouraging words, captivated by the magic taking place on the canvas.
THU 20:00 Joanna Lumley in the Land of the Northern Lights (b00dhv1n)
An amazing journey in Norway's far North as Joanna Lumley pursues a lifelong dream to track down the elusive, stunningly beautiful Northern Lights - 'the true wonder of the world,' as she puts it.
Joanna grew up in tropical Malaysia, and as a little girl never saw snow or felt cold. Inspired by fairytales and picture books, she always longed to make the journey north. At last she travels north across the Arctic Circle, up through Norway to Svalbard, the most northerly permanently inhabited place on Earth, where she has to cope with temperatures approaching minus 30 degrees centigrade.
With a box of crayons in hand, her journey takes her from train to boat, to husky-sled, to snowmobile, as she is pulled ever northwards by what she calls 'the strongest point of the compass'. She explores the romantic fjords of Lofoten and learns to ride a snowmobile, speeding across endless expanses of Lapland tundra with a Sami herdsman in search of his reindeer. As she reaches the Arctic Ocean, she prepares for bed in a hotel made entirely of ice. Everywhere she goes, she asks about the mysterious Northern Lights.
THU 21:00 Quartet (b03ftm2k)
An opera star arrives at a performers' retirement home amidst fraught preparations for a fundraising concert. Her presence adds to the tension, but it also offers an opportunity to reunite a successful quartet. The diva's one-time husband is upset to see her, while the two other former members relish the challenge.
THU 22:30 Talking Pictures (b04jrvv2)
Maggie Smith
Sylvia Smith narrates a look at the life of one of Britain's best and best-loved actresses, with classic archive footage of her appearances on the BBC demonstrating that when it comes to movie stardom, there really is nothing like a dame.
THU 23:10 African Renaissance: When Art Meets Power (m000lwf2)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Monday]
THU 00:10 Handmade in Africa (m000lwds)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
THU 00:40 Museums in Quarantine (m000hqmw)
Series 1
Tate Britain
In times of crisis, people often think that art and culture are luxuries. However, in this episode of Museums in Quarantine, Dr James Fox argues, in difficult times such as these, that we need art more than ever. Taking the viewer on a personal tour of some of the most profound artworks from the Tate Britain’s collection, from a self-portrait by 18th-century artist William Hogarth through to the gallery’s 21st-century installations, Dr Fox shows how art has a unique ability both to depict humanity’s suffering and offer us consolation.
Guiding us through the silent galleries of the temporarily closed Tate Britain, Dr Fox argues that great artists’ renderings of war and disaster remind us that we are not alone. Countless others have also lived through, and triumphed over, adversity.
The paintings, by some of Britain’s foremost landscape artists, present a bucolic vision of Britain – one that is deeply reassuring. And art, of course, also allows us a means of creating other worlds in our imagination and an escape from the confines of our own home.
Ultimately, this uplifting film asserts that art has the power to bring us hope and offer us a glimmer of light in the darkness.
THU 01:10 Museums in Quarantine (m000hqq9)
Series 1
British Museum
Art historian Dr Janina Ramirez has lovingly paced the galleries of the British Museum since she was a child. Now, as the museum’s incomparable collections lie shuttered during the lockdown, she has been given permission to curate a highly personal selection of some of her favourites amongst its many treasures and to guide us on her very own virtual tour of its silent, empty galleries.
For Ramirez, no other collection in the world makes it possible to chart the highs and lows of humans across the world, and across time, in quite the same way. Her tour takes her across many different cultures and periods of history, alighting on objects as varied as a decorated Aztec skull, ancient Egyptian cat mummies and an 18th-century tea set. As she says, ‘Whether they provide a glimpse into enduring notions of love, sex and spirituality or catalogue moments of change, power and achievement, the artefacts in this one building show us the eternal and the ephemeral.’
The film is a personal reflection on the solace, wisdom and sense of perspective that the British Museum’s global collections can bring us in a time of crisis. ‘We all matter,’ Ramirez concludes, ‘we all stitch ourselves, even in the smallest way, onto the tapestry of existence. These artefacts show us that each of us leaves our footprints in the sands of time.'
THU 01:40 The Beauty of Anatomy (b04gvbdt)
Gray's Anatomy
The world's most famous study of the human body is Gray's Anatomy. The accuracy of the descriptions and the stark beauty of the illustrations made it an instant bestseller. Adam Rutherford tells the story of how, in just three years, Dr Henry Gray and Dr Henry Carter put it together based on dissections they personally performed.
THU 02:10 The Joy of Painting (m000lwf1)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:30 today]
THU 02:40 Joanna Lumley in the Land of the Northern Lights (b00dhv1n)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 today]
FRIDAY 21 AUGUST 2020
FRI 19:00 Easy Listening Hits at the BBC (b011g943)
Compilation of easy listening tracks that offers the perfect soundtrack for your cocktail party. There's music to please every lounge lizard, with unique performances from the greatest easy listening artists of the 60s and 70s, including Burt Bacharach, Andy Williams, Sergio Mendes & Brasil 66, The Carpenters and many more.
FRI 20:00 Top of the Pops (m000crqz)
Big Hits 1989
As the 80s come to a close, the Top of the Pops vaults open once more to offer up the movers, shakers and chart toppers of 1989.
This compilation looks back at performances by established megastars Tina Turner and Phil Collins, all-conquering funki dreds Soul II Soul, dance queen Paula Abdul, northern soul girl Lisa Stansfield and wry vocal group The Beautiful South.
Madchester favourites Stone Roses and Happy Mondays also put in an appearance along with Stock Aitken and Waterman stalwarts Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan and Sonia, not forgetting Sydney Youngblood, Mike and The Mechanics, Rebel MC and Double Trouble, plus duets from strange bedfellows Marc Almond and Gene Pitney, and Linda Ronstadt and Aaron Neville.
FRI 21:00 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 22:00 Electric Proms (b00nn7vx)
2009
Dame Shirley Bassey
Trevor Nelson and Edith Bowman present highlights of Dame Shirley Bassey's special performance for the BBC Electric Proms from London's Roundhouse.
The British icon performs a set packed with classic tracks like Big Spender and Goldfinger and the premieres of songs from her album The Performance, produced by Bond composer David Arnold.
In her first major show after Glastonbury 2007. and her only live show in 2009, Dame Shirley is joined on stage by the BBC Concert Orchestra, with guest appearances by album collaborators David Arnold, James Dean Bradfield from the Manic Street Preachers, singer-songwriter Tom Baxter and Sheffield crooner Richard Hawley.
FRI 23:00 imagine... (b00p36t8)
Winter 2009
Dame Shirley Bassey - The Girl from Tiger Bay
Alan Yentob gains an insight into the creative world of Dame Shirley Bassey in a programme first shown in 2009. After a triumphant Glastonbury appearance and a major illness at the age of 72, Dame Shirley tentatively re-enters the ring to confront her life in song.
Some of the best contemporary songwriters, including Gary Barlow, the Pet Shop Boys, Manic Street Preachers, Rufus Wainwright, Richard Hawley and KT Tunstall, along with James Bond composer John Barry and lyricist Don Black, have interpreted her life through song for an album produced by David Arnold.
The songs frame and explore the myth of Shirley Bassey, the girl from Tiger Bay, and the voice and the desire are not found wanting. A backstory profiling Shirley, complete with archive of her greatest performances, tells the story of what makes her the living legend that she is today.
FRI 23:55 BBC Proms (m0007f48)
2019
Angélique Kidjo
Three-time Grammy Award-winner Angélique Kidjo makes her Proms debut together with her nine-piece band in a late-night tribute to salsa legend Celia Cruz. Clara Amfo explores the links between the music of Cuban diva, Cruz and the traditional Yoruba music that came to America during the slave trade, and how Kidjo has combined these influences with the west African Afrobeat and juju styles.
FRI 01:15 The Defiant Ones (m0002pfb)
Series 1
Episode 6
The Defiant Ones reaches its final part. Jimmy Iovine talks about his worry that his and Dr Dre’s bubble might burst due the emergence of Napster.
Although Jimmy was on a roll with Dre and an enviable list of hot new acts, he also looked to forge partnerships and opportunities to secure their future.
An opportune sit-down between Jimmy and Dre led to the idea of Beats Electronics. This was the speaker-headphone phenomenon that would vault the partners to new heights and pave the way for an historic 2014 deal with Apple.
However, Apple was not just interested in headphones; it was investing in the genius of Jimmy and Dre, who continue to innovate at Apple Music while picking up accolades such as giving back to the communities that fostered their unique talents.
Series directed by Allen Hughes.
FRI 02:00 Flat Pack Pop: Sweden's Music Miracle (m0002k6k)
Flat Pack Pop: Sweden’s Music Miracle charts the remarkable rise of Sweden as a global music superpower. Journalist James Ballardie explores the uniquely Swedish songwriting formula created by record producer Denniz Pop, discovering how the biggest chart hits of the last 30 years have been inspired by the myths and legends of this Land of the Midnight Sun.
In the 1990s, an elite band of unlikely entrepreneur songwriters and producers became responsible for the most dramatic revolution in music since Elvis first shook his hips. What started out as an experiment on the Stockholm underground club scene soon blossomed into an entire genre of its own. These unlikely heroes of bubblegum pop surfed the wave of the dotcom boom, launching the careers of Britney Spears, the Backstreet Boys, Westlife and many, many more. Hundreds of millions of record sales later, today they have a combined net worth of many billions.
Featuring interviews with key Swedish songwriters, plus producers and artists including Katy Perry, Justin Timberlake, Ace of Base and Robyn, James’s search for the real lever-pullers behind today’s top tunes takes him from the icy streets of Stockholm to the barren plains of Kronoberg.
But why should Sweden – of all places – have become such a hotbed for hot tracks? Some say it’s the terrible weather and long months of darkness that created the perfect environment for Swedes to refine their craft. Others praise the stellar state-funded musical education programmes promoted by the socialist governments of the 60s and 70s. A Swedish love for simplistic melodies – harking back to the medieval cattle-herding calls that form the basis of Swedish folk music – is also a key weapon in the Swedish musical juggernaut’s arsenal.
Perhaps most impressive of all about Sweden’s musical miracle is the sheer duration of its success - with a streak of hits that has lasted longer than any of the classic songwriting factories that have defined pop history - from Motown and Tin Pan Alley to the Brill Building, Leiber and Stoller, and the Wall of Sound.
At its heart – Swedish pop sounds effortless and uncomplicated. In reality, it is the most intricate and precise songwriting method of any genre. These are industrial-strength melodies handcrafted to pierce the 21st century’s hubbub - in malls, stadiums, airports, casinos, gyms and the Super Bowl half-time shows.
It is the same ethos that drove IKEA and H&M to become such world-beating brands. Swedes are so successful at exporting their culture because ingrained in the Swedish mindset is a curious knack for appealing to the residents of other countries. Pulling apart the very best ideas from British and American music, and then rearranging them in a more effective and efficient way is the cornerstone of Swedish musical thinking.
As the 1990s drew to a close, the songwriting formula created by Denniz Pop made him and his followers filthy rich, a potential source of embarrassment in equality-obsessed Sweden. In accordance with Swedish ‘Jante Law’ – a social code that promotes the good of the community over the individual – Denniz and his team shunned the limelight, preferring to leave the pressures of fame to the unabashed Brits and Americans who sang their hits. But the dream could not last forever. In 1997 Denniz was diagnosed with stomach cancer. He died a year later at the age of just 35, less than two months before his greatest creation yet – Britney Spears’s Baby One More Time hit record store shelves.
Today, the most successful of Denniz Pop’s motley band of followers is his protégé Max Martin. Max is famously modest about his mixing desk wizardry – but he is responsible for some of the most potent melodies of our time, standing third only to John Lennon and Paul McCartney when it comes to racking up US No 1 hits.
Mysterious Max has turbocharged Denniz’s songwriting formula into a theory he calls ‘Melodic Math’. It is a complex musical algorithm perfect for the digital age. Decoding the secrets of Melodic Math, James will uncover centuries-old Swedish customs and folklore hidden in the unlikely music of One Direction, Nicki Minaj and Justin Bieber.
With its huge hooks, massive drops and unmistakable sense of melancholy, the sound of Swedish pop is in fact the sound of modern pop. In Flat Pack Pop: Sweden’s Music Miracle, BBC Four will uncover how this bizarre brew of influences came to dominate our charts, without us even knowing where it came from.
FRI 03:00 Shirley Bassey at the BBC (b01psct4)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
LIST OF THIS WEEK'S PROGRAMMES
(Note: the times link back to the details; the pids link to the BBC page, including iPlayer)
A303: Highway to the Sun
20:00 TUE (b0116ly6)
Africa with Ade Adepitan
20:00 MON (m0002fcf)
Africa's Great Civilisations
22:00 MON (b0b5b4w8)
Africa's Great Civilisations
22:55 MON (b0b64h37)
African Renaissance: When Art Meets Power
21:00 MON (m000lwf2)
African Renaissance: When Art Meets Power
02:50 MON (m000lwf2)
African Renaissance: When Art Meets Power
23:10 THU (m000lwf2)
Albion
22:10 SUN (m000lwgy)
BBC Proms
20:00 SUN (b07rkvp4)
BBC Proms
23:55 FRI (m0007f48)
Blackadder
22:00 TUE (b00819cc)
Blackadder
22:30 TUE (p00bf6s9)
Bunkers, Brutalism and Bloodymindedness: Concrete Poetry with Jonathan Meades
01:50 TUE (b03wcsdj)
Cricket: Today at the Test
19:00 SAT (m000lwfc)
Cricket: Today at the Test
19:00 SUN (m000lwgv)
EastEnders 2008
01:25 SUN (b00bv3fk)
EastEnders 2008
01:55 SUN (b00bv4kz)
EastEnders 2008
02:25 SUN (b00bv4vw)
EastEnders 2008
02:55 SUN (b00bv4v9)
Easy Listening Hits at the BBC
19:00 FRI (b011g943)
Electric Proms
22:00 FRI (b00nn7vx)
Flat Pack Pop: Sweden's Music Miracle
02:00 FRI (m0002k6k)
Handmade in Africa
19:00 MON (m000lwds)
Handmade in Africa
00:10 THU (m000lwds)
How to Get Ahead
00:20 TUE (b03xsgwk)
Japan: Earth's Enchanted Islands
21:00 WED (p02n9v33)
Japan: Earth's Enchanted Islands
02:30 WED (p02n9v33)
Joanna Lumley in the Land of the Northern Lights
20:00 THU (b00dhv1n)
Joanna Lumley in the Land of the Northern Lights
02:40 THU (b00dhv1n)
Johnny Kingdom: A Year on Exmoor
19:00 TUE (b00793d7)
Johnny Kingdom: A Year on Exmoor
19:00 WED (b00793h9)
Johnny Kingdom: A Year on Exmoor
19:00 THU (b00793lj)
London Songs at the BBC
02:00 SAT (b01jxzfs)
Monty Don's Japanese Gardens
20:00 WED (m0002k0x)
Museums in Quarantine
00:40 THU (m000hqmw)
Museums in Quarantine
01:10 THU (m000hqq9)
Natural World
20:00 SAT (b054fn09)
Natural World
02:55 SAT (b054fn09)
Quartet
21:00 THU (b03ftm2k)
Romancing the Stone: The Golden Ages of British Sculpture
01:20 MON (b00yvsjd)
Shirley Bassey at the BBC
21:00 FRI (b01psct4)
Shirley Bassey at the BBC
03:00 FRI (b01psct4)
Storyville
23:00 TUE (m0009m7s)
TOTP2
01:00 SAT (b01lwbt0)
Talking Pictures
22:30 THU (b04jrvv2)
Ted Hughes: Stronger Than Death
23:50 MON (b06j7pkl)
The Art of Japanese Life
22:00 WED (b08v8gxj)
The Beauty of Anatomy
01:40 THU (b04gvbdt)
The Bridge
21:00 SAT (b01gmbvb)
The Bridge
22:00 SAT (b01gmbvd)
The Bridge
23:00 SAT (b01h221w)
The Bridge
00:00 SAT (b01h221y)
The Defiant Ones
01:15 FRI (m0002pfb)
The Gardeners of Kabul
01:00 SUN (p05fhqn1)
The Joy of Painting
19:30 MON (m000lwdy)
The Joy of Painting
02:20 MON (m000lwdy)
The Joy of Painting
19:30 TUE (m000lwgm)
The Joy of Painting
01:20 TUE (m000lwgm)
The Joy of Painting
19:30 WED (m000lwgr)
The Joy of Painting
02:05 WED (m000lwgr)
The Joy of Painting
19:30 THU (m000lwf1)
The Joy of Painting
02:10 THU (m000lwf1)
The Old Grey Whistle Test
23:00 WED (b09scfnb)
The Yorkshire Ripper Files: A Very British Crime Story
21:00 TUE (m0003m05)
The Yorkshire Ripper Files: A Very British Crime Story
02:50 TUE (m0003m05)
Top of the Pops
20:00 FRI (m000crqz)
imagine...
23:00 FRI (b00p36t8)