Chris Packham explores some of the most bizarre and extraordinary natural events on the planet, using eyewitness footage, first-hand accounts and scientific explanations.
David Attenborough tells the revealing story of this Caribbean island's exotic but vulnerable wildlife. A team of conservation champions are making it their mission to save the most precious species. We see how Puerto Rican parrots, manatees and turtles are now making a comeback.
This one-hour programme is a birthday tribute celebrating the life and work of Dame Vera Lynn, including exclusive access to Dame Vera as she watches home movies and videos from the past with her daughter Virginia. It tells the story of a working-class girl from Essex who changed the lives of so many and whose career spanned a whole century - singing at seven to help pay the family bills, falling accidentally into the limelight and still singing right up to today.
Dame Vera can't read music. She has never had singing lessons and even refused to change her singing style to fit in with the fashions of the day. Yet she sang at the Queen's sixteenth birthday and calls the royal family her friends. We meet the war heroes whose hearts she touched as she brought memories from Britain to the front line and find out how celebrities like Miriam Margolyes, Barry Humphries, Tim Rice and Sir Paul McCartney are still touched by Dame Vera's voice.
We discover why she is a national treasure and see her humility shine through - she really can't understand what all the fuss is about, despite being one of the greatest female singers this country has ever produced.
In 2020, we said a sad farewell to Dame Vera Lynn. In a special programme, the BBC celebrates the ‘Forces Sweetheart’ with a look back through the archives at some of her favourite performances and biggest hits.
As well as the many classic songs that helped unify the nation throughout World War II, this retrospective captures a side of Dame Vera that many have forgotten about, with upbeat song-and-dance performances from her 1970s series The Vera Lynn Show, which saw her covering many popular tunes of the 60s and 70s.
We see her joining forces with a selection of fellow stars like Harry Secombe and Des O’Connor, there’s a special duet with the legendary Bing Crosby, and an unforgettable guest appearance on the Morecambe and Wise Show. And of course, there are performances of the wartime favourites she made her own: The White Cliffs of Dover and We’ll Meet Again.
Chris and Maggie report on the reaction to the dramatic announcement of the discovery of phosphine gas in the clouds of Venus, a gas that could be a sign of life. Venus remains an inhospitable and unlikely host. But if not Venus, where in the solar system is the best place to look for alien life? Chris and Maggie investigate the latest missions to Mars and the icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn. Away from the search for life, Pete previews the best meteor showers of the year.
For decades some have suspected that there might be others out there, intelligent beings capable of communicating with us, even visiting our world. It might sound like science fiction, but today scientists from across the globe are scouring the universe for signals from extraterrestrials.
In 2006, husband and wife team Duncan Lorimer and Maura McLaughlin discovered an enigmatic signal from space, known as a fast radio burst. It was a pulse of radiation so bright, it didn't appear to be caused by any known object in the universe. Explanations ranged from colliding neutron stars to communication signals from an alien civilisation far more advanced from our own.
Scientists have been searching the cosmos for strange signals like the Lorimer Burst for more than 50 years. The film ends with scientists' latest search for extraterrestial intelligence. Horizon obtained exclusive access to film researchers at the Green Bank Telescope searching for radio signals from Tabby's Star, a star so mysterious that some scientists believe it might be surrounded by a Dyson Sphere, a vast energy collector built by advanced aliens.
The Man Booker Prize is the world's most distinguished literary award for English fiction. Its winners instantly acquire a level of fame and wealth which most writers can only dream of. To commemorate its fiftieth birthday, this documentary looks back over six decades of the prize, exploring how, from humble beginnings, the Booker quickly went on to revolutionise the sleepy world of literary fiction and become a central part of British cultural life.
We hear the inside story of scandal, gossip and intrigue from a host of former winners, judges and prize administrators. Over the years, the prize has changed its rules, its sponsors and its name. But it has never lost sight of its core purpose: to stimulate debate and encourage the reading of literary fiction. This is a tale of bruised egos and bickering judges and, most importantly of all, of countless brilliant books.
Contributors include Booker-winning authors Peter Carey, Penelope Lively and John Banville.
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.
MONDAY 09 NOVEMBER 2020
MON 19:00 War Walks (b0074qkx)
Series 1
The Somme
1 July 1916 was the blackest day in the British army's history. Richard Holmes walks the fields where 57,000 soldiers were killed or wounded in just a few hours, and continues the story until the end of the Somme campaign in 1916.
MON 19:30 The Joy of Painting (m000hqmt)
Series 1
Ocean Sunset
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.
In this 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.
In this 30-minute challenge, Bob Ross captures the beauty of the beach, as the sun goes down, in a seascape painted in gold, purple and orange.
MON 20:00 Fake or Fortune? (b07r1yhf)
Series 5
Portraits
Every year, the Fake or Fortune team receive hundreds of requests for help from the owners of mysterious portraits. Everyone wants to know two things - who is it, and who painted it?
The team choose three of the most promising portraits to investigate further - a child, believed to be by prized modern artist Willem de Kooning, a young lady, attributed to 18th-century society painter Philip Mercier, and a formidable-looking man, said to be by 19th-century German master Adolph von Menzel.
Philip Mould takes on the de Kooning case, meeting Belgian owners Jan and Chris Starckx. Could a speculative online purchase for 450 euros be a lost work painted by de Kooning in Brussels at the very start of his career? The quest to prove it leads to Miami, Florida, where scientific analysis of a similar work has the potential to yield vital evidence.
Fiona Bruce wants to know how an 18th-century portrait of a lady ended up in the flat of Richard and Jenny Williams, a retired couple in Eastbourne. Conservation work might help reveal some secrets while research into the life of the artist provides some clues about the identity of the mystery lady.
The investigation into the portrait of The Old Gentleman takes an unexpected turn when the team delve into the story of owner Lance Miller's grandfather, a German industrialist who bought the painting in 1947. With Menzel's work frequently targeted by forgers, has Lance inherited a rare treasure - or something more sinister?
Three pictures, three important artists - but as scientific testing and investigative research unlock long-held secrets, will every story have a happy ending?
MON 21:00 21st-Century Mythologies with Richard Clay (m000p9t7)
Art historian Professor Richard Clay explores how Mythologies, written in 1957 by French philosopher Roland Barthes, laid bare the myth-making at the heart of popular culture. Now, following in Barthes’s footsteps, Richard Clay dissects some of the everyday myths we still take for granted in the 21st century, revealing the hidden meanings in everything from money, Wi-Fi and race to the Madonna.
It’s a journey that takes us from Paris to Margate, from the streets of Manhattan to the Accademia Gallery in Florence. Along the way, Richard meets avant-garde artists including Clet Abraham, Ingrid Burrington, Molly Soda and Rene Matic, whose works subvert the assumptions underpinning the way we see our world. We are introduced to semiotics, the study of signs and symbols, which provides an analytical toolkit that helps us navigate advertising and its demands on our attention.
In today’s world of relentless digital information, Richard argues, myths have the ability to hoodwink us more than ever. What might Roland Barthes have made of the 21st century?
MON 22:00 Berlin 1945 (m000p9t9)
Series 1
Episode 1
At the beginning of 1945, Berlin remains under the spell of the Nazi promise of salvation, an illusion at odds with the city’s daily reality. Every day there are bombing attacks, fires to be extinguished and corpses to be buried. Life goes on as the front lines of the war close in each day. Death comes for men, women, the old, the young, the National Socialists and the forced labourers.
In April, the Red Army stands ready outside the city. In a time of uncertainty on the front lines, nobody has a clear view of what will happen. Civilians hiding, SS soldiers shooting deserters, and Red Army soldiers hoping to survive the final days of the war. As the war comes closer and closer to the metropolis, it returns everything to its roots, showing no mercy.
MON 22:55 A Scottish Soldier: A Lost Diary of WWI (b0brk5dm)
Thousands of black soldiers fought in the First World War. Poet Jackie Kay tells the story of one of them - Arthur Roberts. Arthur grew up in Glasgow and joined the King's Own Scottish Borderers in 1917. He fought at Ypres and kept a detailed diary, which gives us a unique account of the war. Arthur's evocative writing and sketches paint a vivid first-hand picture of life in the trenches. Like Arthur, Jackie Kay is a black Glaswegian, and she explores what it was like being black 100 years ago.
MON 23:25 Dame Vera Lynn at the BBC (m000p9s5)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:10 on Sunday]
MON 00:25 Hilary Mantel: Return to Wolf Hall (m000g6q4)
Made across six months in the run-up to publication of The Mirror and the Light, the final book in Hilary Mantel’s Booker-winning Tudor trilogy on the life of Thomas Cromwell, this film enjoys exclusive and extensive access to one of the world’s greatest living writers, delving into Mantel's past and present as she describes a vivid imagination active from an early age and recounts with candour a tale of growing up with a dark family secret.
Who could have imagined that Mantel’s working-class anti-hero Thomas Cromwell would come to be so loved across the globe? Five hundred years after his death, the story of Cromwell’s extraordinary rise and sudden fall has been brought back into the light, drawing a vast readership, two Booker wins, a Bafta-winning television adaptation, a West End show and the interpretative gifts of some of the greatest actors.
Intertwining the themes of the Wolf Hall trilogy - power, faith, kingship and Englishness - with stories from her own life, the film also explores how the world of Thomas Cromwell reverberates in our world today. The film follows Mantel as she talks about how and why she embarked on the trilogy and how the writing of it has changed her life. This is an artist’s biography in the characteristic style and voice of one of the most singular and brilliant minds of our age. Showing Hilary Mantel in her own world, both real and imaginative, led by the curiosity that has driven her from the beginning, this film shows a writer at the peak of her powers.
MON 01:25 Fake or Fortune? (b07r1yhf)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 today]
MON 02:25 The Joy of Painting (m000hqmt)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:30 today]
MON 02:55 Berlin 1945 (m000p9t9)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:00 today]
TUESDAY 10 NOVEMBER 2020
TUE 19:00 War Walks (b0074m8k)
Series 1
Arras
Twelve journeys through six centuries of warfare in the company of Professor Richard Holmes.
In May 1940 the Germans staged a lightning invasion of Belgium and France in a new kind of armoured warfare called blitzkrieg. Richard Holmes traces their route to the French city of Arras, where a small British force launched a counterattack that gave the allies vital breathing space.
TUE 19:30 The Joy of Painting (m000hqq7)
Series 1
Triple View
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.
In this 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.
In this programme, Bob Ross shows his viewers how to prepare their canvasses, guiding them step by step, as he paints a mountain view through a window, complete with cosy cabin and meadow.
TUE 20:00 Captain Jack and the Furious Few (b0bqs96t)
A hundred years ago, with German U-boats and battleships terrorising Allied shipping and zeppelins bombing Britain's towns and cities, Ulster-Scots teenager Jack McCleery was one of 12 young men tasked with a deadly mission on board the navy's 'mystery ship'. In Captain Jack and the Furious Few, David Hayman reveals the story of the test pilots of the world's first aircraft carrier, HMS Furious. The top guns of their day, their secret mission would revolutionise warfare.
A gifted pilot, Jack McCleery was head-hunted by the navy after just nine months of intensive flight training. He was posted to the newly commissioned HMS Furious in 1917, where he would serve for two years as part of an elite squadron of test pilots.
Their mission was to land a wheeled plane on the deck of a moving vessel in order to develop and test the techniques and technology that would convert the Furious into the world's first dedicated aircraft carrier, capable of launching a strategic air attack on Britain's enemies - but nothing like this had ever been attempted before.
Flying from the deck of HMS Furious, the bravery and sacrifice of those 12 Royal Navy test pilots would change the course of warfare forever. Jack McCleery's diaries, letters and personal archive of sketches and previously unseen photographs are a unique record of that extraordinary period in his own life, and in the history of aviation.
TUE 21:00 Lost Films of WWII (m000856x)
Series 1
Episode 1
The story of Britain during World War II, retold from a uniquely vivid and personal perspective using rarely seen home movies. Rediscovered and shown together for the first time, old cine films are interwoven with testimony from both members of the film-makers’ families and those who lived through the war to give a first-hand account of life during conflict.
From footage shot by a Middlesborough dentist, who witnessed the rise of Nazism on a family holiday to the continent in 1939, to the images of the evacuation of Dunkirk secretly recorded by a young naval officer, the films show momentous events through the eyes of the ordinary people caught up in them.
In the first episode, the progress of the first half of the war is told through a series of films that include fascinating footage of the Home Guard in training in the village of Thornton in Yorkshire, moving images and accounts of the devastation of Sheffield during the Blitz, and the astonishing moment a doctor in Kent turned his camera skywards to film the Battle of Britain from his garden.
The toll the war took on servicemen is revealed through poignant depictions of the RAF’s Coastal Command 502 Squadron’s participation in the Battle for the Atlantic. Meanwhile, images of the home front adapting to war as civilians recorded their changing life at home and at work are a striking reminder of Britain in a different era. With much of the footage in colour, the past leaps to life with immediacy and reveals how world events impacted on the individual.
TUE 22:00 Berlin 1945 (m000p9tg)
Series 1
Episode 2
The Battle for Berlin has begun. Step by step, the soon-to-be victorious powers advance. On 30 April, the Red Flag flies over the Reichstag and Adolf Hitler takes his own life. Another seven days pass before the Wehrmacht disassembles. National Socialism is finally beaten, along with Germany and Berlin. But for many, the fall of Nazism spells liberation rather than defeat.
TUE 22:50 Play For Today (m000p9tj)
Series 9
Don't Be Silly
Rachel Billington's play about a battered wife.
TUE 00:05 DNA (m000p9sd)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Saturday]
TUE 00:45 DNA (m000p9sg)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:40 on Saturday]
TUE 01:30 The Joy of Painting (m000hqq7)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:30 today]
TUE 02:00 Lost Films of WWII (m000856x)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
TUE 03:00 Berlin 1945 (m000p9tg)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:00 today]
WEDNESDAY 11 NOVEMBER 2020
WED 19:00 The Sky at Night (m000p9s7)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:10 on Sunday]
WED 19:30 The Joy of Painting (m000hy0r)
Series 1
Mountain Stream
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.
In this 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.
In this half-hour segment, Bob Ross paints a cool blue waterway winding effortlessly down from faraway high peaks and evergreens.
WED 20:00 New York: America's Busiest City (b07vbq03)
Episode 2
The second part of this three-part series, revealing the astonishing daily systems that allow America's biggest and busiest city to function. Anita Rani, Ade Adepitan, Ant Anstead and Dan Snow are in New York. From their base at the New Fulton fish market in The Bronx, they reveal the hidden nighttime operations, hard-nosed negotiations and price fluctuations of this wholesale operation. It is a stock exchange for seafood.
This time, Anita, Ade and Ant trace New York's food back to its source. Ade discovers that New York state produces an astonishing 600,000 tonnes of apples, more than 2.5 times Britain's entire production. Anita visits a cattle farm that supplies the steakhouses of New York and finds their diet includes chocolate, crisps and pasta.
Ant visits the New New York Bridge - a $4 billion project that will provide a new transport artery for the city. Dan Snow heads to Freshkills on Staten Island. Once the world's biggest landfill with 150 million tonnes of rubbish, it has been transformed into 2,200 acres of parkland.
And we report on the revolution overtaking New York's food delivery networks. Our cameras go out with the takeaway delivery drivers responsible for getting 180,000 chicken wings to hungry New Yorkers.
WED 21:00 Lost Films of WWII (m0008c3m)
Series 1
Episode 2
The story of the last years of World War Two, and its immediate aftermath, told through a series of films shot by both civilians and members of the armed forces. They include fascinating footage of Warship Week fundraising events at home, digging for victory, life in the Lincolnshire town of Louth and a first-hand account by an SIS covert operations agent on active duty in the field.
This second episode includes the British breakthrough at El Alamein, revealed by a sergeant who filmed the guns pounding the German positions, and the most complete film of a Bomber Command squadron in action, made by a serviceman stationed at a Lincolnshire base.
Footage shot secretly by islander Olive Thompson offers a unique insight into life under German occupation, while a guard with an interest in home movie-making captured the daily routine of German prisoners of war in POW Camp 633 (Boughton Camp, New Ollerton, Nottinghamshire).
These lost films are a striking reminder of Britain in a different era. With much of the footage in colour, the past leaps to life with immediacy and reveals how world events impacted on the individual at home as well as in action.
WED 22:00 Berlin 1945 (m000p9tw)
Series 1
Episode 3
The British, French and Americans are waiting to enter Berlin. In the meantime, the Soviets appoint mayors, organise the food supply and go on the hunt for war criminals. The Jewish community, among whom there are few survivors, regroup.
The fate of the city is determined at the Potsdam Conference. Life returns to the ruins, theatres reopen and orchestras play in the open air. By the end of 1945, the bond that held the Allies together is torn apart - and the Cold War begins.
WED 22:55 Walter's War (b00fh1w1)
Drama inspired by the life of Walter Tull who, after years in an orphanage, went on to become a professional footballer and then the first black commissioned officer to lead British troops during the First World War.
The action concerns Tull's turbulent passage from ordinary soldier to extraordinary officer at officer training camp, where he had to face his own demons as well as fight the prejudice that surrounded him.
WED 23:50 Walter Tull: Forgotten Hero (b00fh1vz)
Walter Tull was a pioneering black British footballer and the first black officer in the British army, who died heroically fighting in the First World War and yet is virtually unheard of today.
Former Eastenders star Nick Bailey relates the story of this forgotten hero, investigating war records to establish whether there was a colour bar in the British Army and asking how Tull managed to become an officer despite army regulations requiring only men of 'pure European descent'. Bailey also tries to discover why Lieutenant Tull was denied a Military Cross for heroism even though his commanding officer recommended him for one.
Tull's parents died before he was seven years old and he was sent to an orphanage in London's East End, but despite that he won a place in the first team of one of Britain's most famous clubs, Tottenham Hotspur. However, after just seven games and great match reports, he received such racial abuse he never played for the first team again. Far from giving up, Tull rebuilt his football career and then signed up for military service at the first opportunity.
WED 00:50 The Joy of Painting (m000hy0r)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:30 today]
WED 01:20 Lost Films of WWII (m0008c3m)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
WED 02:20 War Walks (b0074qkx)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
WED 02:50 Berlin 1945 (m000p9tw)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:00 today]
THURSDAY 12 NOVEMBER 2020
THU 19:00 War Walks (b0074m8w)
Series 1
Goodwood
Military historian Richard Holmes follows in the tracks of the tanks of the British armoured break-out from the Normandy bridgehead in 1944.
THU 19:30 The Joy of Painting (m000hy0m)
Series 1
Country Cabin
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.
In this 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.
Follow Bob Ross for a relaxing 30 minutes as he paints an old weathered dwelling burrowed deep in the snow and lined with protective evergreens.
THU 20:00 On the Town (b00789db)
Oscar-winning musical following three sailors on shore leave. Determined to enjoy their freedom, the young men embark on whirlwind romances. Starring Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra.
THU 21:35 The Queen Mary: Greatest Ocean Liner (b07d2wy4)
With exclusive access to the magnificent liner and its extensive archive of film and photographs, this documentary explores the action-packed life of the Clyde-built ship - an epic journey through some of the most dynamic periods of the 20th century.
Built with the blood and sweat of the master craftsmen of the Clydebank shipyards, she helped drag a nation from the depths of the great depression and set sail as a symbol of new hope and a better future. Leaving Southampton on 27 May 1936, her maiden voyage to New York set a new benchmark in transatlantic travel. Designed in peacetime to link the old world with the new, she ferried movie stars, politicians and royalty across the Atlantic, luxuriously cocooned in an art-deco floating palace.
Then, in 1939, she was transformed to challenge the fury of the Nazis in the Battle of the Atlantic. With a wartime record to rival that of the highest-ranking general, she carried whole armies through enemy-infested seas. Hitler offered a bonus of $250,000 and the Iron Cross to any U-boat captain who could sink the Queen Mary.
When the war was over, the Queen Mary gave passage to thousands of British war brides and children who planned a new life in the New World. The Queen Mary was a great attraction to the rich and famous celebrities of the 1950s and 60s.
From an exclusive interview with singer Johnny Mathis, we find out what it was like to perform on the rough seas of the Atlantic. The liner continued in service until 1967 and is now a floating luxury hotel and museum docked in a custom-made lagoon in Long Beach, California.
THU 22:35 Timeshift (b00nnm7k)
Series 9
The Men Who Built the Liners
Many of the most famous passenger liners in history were built in the British Isles, several in the shipyards along the banks of the Clyde. Timeshift combines personal accounts and archive footage to evoke a vivid picture of the unique culture that grew up in the Clyde shipyards. Despite some of the harshest working conditions in industrial history and dire industrial relations, it was here that the Queen Mary, the Queen Elizabeth and the QE2 were built. Such was the Clyde shipbuilders' pride in their work, and the strength of public support, that in 1971 they were able to defy a government attempt to close them down and win the right to carry on shipbuilding.
THU 23:35 imagine... (b093tw95)
Margaret Atwood: You Have Been Warned!
For decades, Margaret Atwood has been universally acclaimed as Canada's greatest living writer. Fearlessly outspoken in life and in her work, Atwood has always been an unrelenting provocateur. At the age of 77, her renown grew still further with the explosive television adaptation of her best-known work The Handmaid's Tale, which was first published in 1985. It is a dystopian work of speculative fiction set in the future, which has drawn comparison with aspects of Donald Trump's leadership, in particular the charges of misogyny which have inflamed anti-Trump campaigners across America.
Alan Yentob meets Margaret Atwood in Toronto and discovers how a childhood spent between the Canadian wilderness and the city helped shape her vision of herself and the world, set alight her imagination and set her forth on a path to literary success.
THU 00:35 The Trouble with Naipaul (m000bpkt)
Shahidha Bari, professor at the University of the Arts London, asks if we should stop reading controversial writer Sir VS Naipaul. Is his legacy compromised by his confessions of violence towards women and his controversial views on race?
Sir VS Naipaul, who died in 2018, is arguably one of the most important British writers of the 20th century. Part of a vanguard of postcolonial authors who wrote about the new world being created in the wake of the British Empire, Naipaul’s work was applauded across the globe. He won the Booker Prize for his novel, In a Free State, as well as in 2001 the Nobel Prize for Literature for his body of work as a whole, including his non-fiction publications documenting his various travels through Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Latin America.
Bari meets those who claim Naipaul’s views, today, are difficult to accept - steeped in a colonial mindset that has little resonance in the 21st century. And she talks to others who feel that Naipaul's outspoken views are an essential part of the package and that he still belongs in the canon of great literature.
In Trinidad, Bari learns of the abuse Naipaul suffered as a child and how it affected his relationship with the country of his birth and his work.
Naipaul was the author of more than 40 books and wrote fiction and non-fiction with equal success. His best-known works are the novels A House for Mr Biswas, A Bend in the River and In a Free State.
THU 01:35 The Joy of Painting (m000hy0m)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:30 today]
THU 02:05 War Walks (b0074m8w)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 today]
THU 02:35 21st-Century Mythologies with Richard Clay (m000p9t7)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Monday]
FRIDAY 13 NOVEMBER 2020
FRI 19:00 The Live Lounge Show (m000p9tz)
Series 4
With Miley Cyrus, Little Mix and Jorja Smith
Clara Amfo takes us behind the scenes of the world-famous Radio 1 Live Lounge – showcasing the biggest names in music. Featuring Miley Cyrus, Jorja Smith and Little Mix.
FRI 20:00 Top of the Pops (m000p9v2)
Simon Mayo presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 15 March 1990 and featuring Inspiral Carpets, Primal Scream and Candy Flip.
FRI 20:30 Top of the Pops (m000p9v4)
Gary Davies presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 22 March 1990 and featuring Orbital, Snap! and Big Fun.
FRI 21:00 Ella Fitzgerald: Just One of Those Things (m000jr4f)
Tracing the story of Ella Fitzgerald’s life, this documentary film explores how her music became a soundtrack for a tumultuous century.
From a 1934 talent contest at the Apollo theatre in Harlem, the film follows Ella’s extraordinary journey across five decades as she reflects the passions and troubles of the times in her music and her life.
Moving beyond conventional biopic, the film uses images and music to evoke the feel of those times, bringing to life the context of Ella’s unique career, featuring interviews from Smokey Robinson, Jamie Cullum, Tony Bennett, Norma Miller and Laura Mvula.
FRI 22:30 Ella Fitzgerald Sings (m000p9v6)
A classic Ella Fitzgerald performance from 1965.
FRI 23:10 Jazz Divas Gold (b01sbxqy)
BBC Four explores the archives for the sultry sounds and looks of 'Jazz Divas Gold'! Featured Jazz legends include Ella Fitzgerald, Marion Montgomery, Cleo Laine, Blossom Dearie, Sarah Vaughan, Nina Simone, Peggy Lee, Betty Carter, Amy Winehouse, Eartha Kitt and many more who can be seen from 1965 to 2008 on BBC treasures such as Not So Much a Programme, More a Way of Life, Show of the Week, Not Only...But Also, Birdland, Parkinson, Later..with Jools Holland, Morecambe and Wise and more...so let's hear it for the ladies!
FRI 00:10 Radio 2 In Concert (b06qrrgy)
Seal
The BBC's Radio Theatre is the venue for a concert from four-time Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Seal. It was held to mark the 2015 release of his atmospheric album '7' - his ninth studio album which saw him reunite with producer Trevor Horn.
Seal has had a remarkable career that spans more than two decades and has released a string of hits that included Killer, Crazy and Kiss From A Rose. Expect an evening of old classics and newer material from this specially shot concert for BBC Radio 2, presented by Jo Whiley.
FRI 01:10 The Live Lounge Show (m000p9tz)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 today]
FRI 02:10 Ella Fitzgerald: Just One of Those Things (m000jr4f)
[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)
21st-Century Mythologies with Richard Clay
21:00 MON (m000p9t7)
21st-Century Mythologies with Richard Clay
02:35 THU (m000p9t7)
A Scottish Soldier: A Lost Diary of WWI
22:55 MON (b0brk5dm)
B is for Book
00:40 SUN (b07jlzb7)
Barneys, Books and Bust-Ups: 50 Years of the Booker Prize
23:40 SUN (b0bntjf6)
Berlin 1945
22:00 MON (m000p9t9)
Berlin 1945
02:55 MON (m000p9t9)
Berlin 1945
22:00 TUE (m000p9tg)
Berlin 1945
03:00 TUE (m000p9tg)
Berlin 1945
22:00 WED (m000p9tw)
Berlin 1945
02:50 WED (m000p9tw)
Captain Jack and the Furious Few
20:00 TUE (b0bqs96t)
DNA
21:00 SAT (m000p9sd)
DNA
21:40 SAT (m000p9sg)
DNA
00:05 TUE (m000p9sd)
DNA
00:45 TUE (m000p9sg)
Dame Vera Lynn at the BBC
21:10 SUN (m000p9s5)
Dame Vera Lynn at the BBC
23:25 MON (m000p9s5)
Dame Vera Lynn: We’ll Meet Again
20:10 SUN (b08k5v5l)
Dame Vera Lynn: We’ll Meet Again
01:40 SUN (b08k5v5l)
Ella Fitzgerald Sings
22:30 FRI (m000p9v6)
Ella Fitzgerald: Just One of Those Things
21:00 FRI (m000jr4f)
Ella Fitzgerald: Just One of Those Things
02:10 FRI (m000jr4f)
Fake or Fortune?
20:00 MON (b07r1yhf)
Fake or Fortune?
01:25 MON (b07r1yhf)
Full Circle with Michael Palin
20:00 SAT (p00whc5t)
Full Circle with Michael Palin
01:25 SAT (p00whc5t)
Hilary Mantel: Return to Wolf Hall
00:25 MON (m000g6q4)
Horizon
22:40 SUN (b08r3xr3)
Jazz Divas Gold
23:10 FRI (b01sbxqy)
Lost Films of WWII
21:00 TUE (m000856x)
Lost Films of WWII
02:00 TUE (m000856x)
Lost Films of WWII
21:00 WED (m0008c3m)
Lost Films of WWII
01:20 WED (m0008c3m)
Natural World
19:10 SUN (b08k9xbm)
Natural World
02:40 SUN (b08k9xbm)
Nature's Weirdest Events
19:00 SUN (b05q2jhc)
New York: America's Busiest City
20:00 WED (b07vbq03)
On the Town
20:00 THU (b00789db)
Pipers of the Trenches
19:00 SAT (b046y9td)
Pipers of the Trenches
02:15 SAT (b046y9td)
Play For Today
22:50 TUE (m000p9tj)
Radio 2 In Concert
00:10 FRI (b06qrrgy)
The Bridge
23:25 SAT (b06ppkv0)
The Bridge
00:25 SAT (b06pq3wf)
The Joy of Painting
19:30 MON (m000hqmt)
The Joy of Painting
02:25 MON (m000hqmt)
The Joy of Painting
19:30 TUE (m000hqq7)
The Joy of Painting
01:30 TUE (m000hqq7)
The Joy of Painting
19:30 WED (m000hy0r)
The Joy of Painting
00:50 WED (m000hy0r)
The Joy of Painting
19:30 THU (m000hy0m)
The Joy of Painting
01:35 THU (m000hy0m)
The Live Lounge Show
19:00 FRI (m000p9tz)
The Live Lounge Show
01:10 FRI (m000p9tz)
The Queen Mary: Greatest Ocean Liner
21:35 THU (b07d2wy4)
The Sky at Night
22:10 SUN (m000p9s7)
The Sky at Night
19:00 WED (m000p9s7)
The Trouble with Naipaul
00:35 THU (m000bpkt)
Timeshift
22:35 THU (b00nnm7k)
Top of the Pops
22:25 SAT (m000p3bl)
Top of the Pops
22:55 SAT (m000p3bp)
Top of the Pops
20:00 FRI (m000p9v2)
Top of the Pops
20:30 FRI (m000p9v4)
Walter Tull: Forgotten Hero
23:50 WED (b00fh1vz)
Walter's War
22:55 WED (b00fh1w1)
War Walks
19:00 MON (b0074qkx)
War Walks
19:00 TUE (b0074m8k)
War Walks
02:20 WED (b0074qkx)
War Walks
19:00 THU (b0074m8w)
War Walks
02:05 THU (b0074m8w)
imagine...
23:35 THU (b093tw95)