MONDAY 27 SEPTEMBER 2021

MON 19:00 Great British Railway Journeys (b09p34wr)
Series 9

York to Frizinghall

Armed with his Edwardian Bradshaw's guide, Michael Portillo conducts important research in an historic tea room, built by an Edwardian immigrant to the city of York. Research of a more sombre kind leads Michael to the roots of our modern welfare state in the work of an early 20th-century Quaker investigator, whose family manufactured chocolate.

Next stop is Leeds, where Michael discovers the city's textile heritage, which relied in Edwardian times on a group of skilled Jewish immigrants to take it forward. Michael learns how some of the big names built their empires in Leeds and measures up to a footballing legend. At Bradford Grammar School, Michael hears the story of a talented Edwardian student who became a famous composer and enjoys one of his works, sung by a music pupil of today.


MON 19:30 The Joy of Painting (m00103d9)
Series 4

Autumn Palette

Venture down a well-travelled pathway with Bob Ross into a gorgeous autumn landscape of glorious colours, a weather-worn fence and trees.


MON 20:00 Secrets of the Museum (m000frqp)
Series 1

Episode 4

Inside every museum is a hidden world, and now, for the first time, cameras have been allowed behind the scenes at the world-famous Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Only a small part of the two million wonders in the collection are on display to the public. But in this new series we go behind closed doors to explore all the treasures of art, design and performance the museum has to offer.

This week, we meet curators and conservators trying to preserve some of the finest examples of craftsmanship in the world.

Deep in the museum stores, curator Keith is trying to breathe life into an object of extraordinary craftmanship – an original Stormtrooper costume from the Star Wars sequel The Empire Strikes Back, from 1980. He’s hoping to exhibit the costume in a refresh of the V&A’s Theatre and Performance Display. But when he and conservator Susana unpack the moulded-plastic body parts, a key piece is missing – the Stormtrooper’s helmet.

Unable to display the costume without the helmet, Keith contacts a group of prop-makers who specialise in making replicas of movie costumes. The prop-makers agree to make a replica of the original helmet, using the exact techniques pioneered by the Star Wars costume department in the 1970s. But the challenge for Keith’s prop-makers is to turn this box-fresh helmet into an authentic match with the original decades-old costume.

Meanwhile, two of the largest galleries in the museum, the Cast Courts, are undergoing a renovation. These galleries are home to one of the world’s largest collections of 19th century hand-made casts - replicas of some of Europe’s finest sculptures. As few people then could afford the luxury of travel, art works could be brought to them with these painstaking replicas. Now it’s the job of senior sculpture conservator Victor to give these precious casts a facelift.

The final part of the epic renovation is cleaning a piece representing the Assumption of the Virgin, made in 1890. This plaster cast depicts the Virgin Mary ascending to heaven surrounded by angels. It’s a perfect plaster copy of one of a number of 14th-century sculptured panels made for the exterior of the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris. Now the plaster cast will be given its first deep clean since it was made 130 years ago.

The importance of these fragile replicas is brought into sharp focus with news of a terrible fire at Notre Dame. Although many artefacts are destroyed there is relief that the original cast of the Assumption of Virgin has been spared.

The news highlights the importance of preserving the V&A’s delicate cast. But Victor and fellow conservator Adriana discover a crack in its structure, that could prove fatal. Over hours of careful conservation, the team work on supporting the fracture - but the real test will be when they try to hang it back on the gallery wall.

In the Rock and Pop archive, curator Vicky is examining a photograph donated after the V&A’s David Bowie Exhibition. It’s a rare print, known as ‘David Bowie is watching you’, taken in 1973 as part of a series of photos by photographer Brian Duffy to become the album cover for Aladdin Sane.
The photograph was donated by the photographer’s son Chris. Vicky wants to know more about the print and invites Chris to the museum. Chris remembers visiting the photoshoot when he was a teenager, and meeting David Bowie.

In paper conservation, senior preservations conservator Simon is dealing with a very different kind of photograph – a 65-metre-long Victorian photograph of the medieval Bayeux Tapestry. This unique photograph was commissioned by the British Government in 1871 and was one of the V&A’s first interactive exhibits, displayed on a moving roller so audiences could spool through the panorama of the battle.

The last time it was on display was over 100 years ago. But years of manhandling have taken their toll. Now, the rolled-up photograph has been summoned to be part a new V&A exhibition, filled with new images by legendary fashion photographer Tim Walker, inspired by objects from the museum’s collection. But first conservator Simon needs to assess if the fragile piece is robust enough to be displayed again.

In the Rapid Response Department, curators Corinna and Johanna feel there is one important everyday object missing from their 20th-century collection.

They have been offered a very British piece of graphic design – a road sign, made in 1961 by graphic designer Margaret Calvert. Before collecting the sign, they visit Margaret at her home, filled with familiar road signs…

We also follow fashion curator Oriole, who alongside fellow curator Susan, is on a mission to acquire a piece representing the best of contemporary British craft. They visit fashion designers Justin Thornton and Thea Bregazzi, known as Preen, at their workshop. Oriole and Susan have the difficult task of choosing one single piece to represent the designers.


MON 21:00 Inside America's Treasure House: The Met (m00103dc)
Series 1

Episode 3

Autumn, 2020. The Met is open, but in a safe and very limited way. Visitor income helps keep the museum running, so times are hard. Since it was founded, like so many US arts institutions, the Metropolitan has largely been funded by benefactors. We visit Clyde B Jones III, the executive matching modern donors to exhibitions and events as the economy tanks.

Jones explains how hard it is to keep up the social links that the system depends on. He has, nonetheless, found it possible to drum up millions of dollars for the imminent remodelling of the Arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas galleries. Currently, the need to shade the massive south-facing glass wall that illuminates the rooms means artefacts are not shown to their best advantage. Now he must find the funds to replace those walls.

Some give money, but others donate items from their own collections. We meet curator Jaysen Dobney of the musical instruments department as a rock musician and long-term patron asks for help with his problem, a collection of 403 guitars. Dobney is only too happy to have a promised gift of a 60s Gibson Les Paul TV Special.

Every department is currently calling on its supporters. In Textile Conservation, Head Curator Janina Poskrobko makes breakfast for a visiting professor. We've been with her since dawn, at home in Staten island, saying her prayers. She must find the money for an unfunded project - the rescue of an Ottoman robe. We observe as she subtly raises the issue while showing him a Renaissance cape. The professor is a textile expert and passionate supporter. Might he dig deep?

The Costume Institute is normally funded by stars who pay to attend the famous Met Gala fashion event, but this year they're economising. The 2020 Ball is cancelled, so 2019's proceeds must be used carefully. We follow the building of About Time as the set undergoes construction and the garments are installed.

Meanwhile, fashionable friends are stepping up. In Detroit, America's most flamboyant private collector of couture, Sandy Shrier, opens her home, and her heart, to explain why the Met is so important to her - and why last year she donated 160 garments amassed over seven decades of collecting.

In London, we are with top-end cobbler Georgina Goodman, who has just taken a call from the Met, asking for help bolstering their huge accessories archive. In the mid-2000s, Goodman attracted the attention of couturier Alexander McQueen. Packing up her sketches, the designer reveals how she was charged with interpreting Lee McQueen's footwear visions, including the iconic armadillo shoe. The Met has a pair, but is keen to acquire Goodman's original sketches.

As Covid keeps visitor numbers low, every ticket purchased helps keep the lights on and the building open. With no tourist trade, the Met is back to where it began in 1870, catering for locals. Citizens are not obliged to pay for entry into the museum, but Naqiya Hussein has bought two tickets. She's joining the many young people, newly unlocked but making only tentative outings, on a Met Date. Her scientist beau Cyril and she enjoy the tranquillity of solitude in her favourite galleries, though the camera is ever present. A date here is a litmus test of love. If the million objects on display can't spark a conversation, it's never going to work.

Perhaps the greatest donation is a lifetime of work at the Met - or the possibility at least. We are with Vietnamese-American student Kevin Pham as he visits the medieval department at the Met Cloisters in northern Manhattan. He's one of 120 postgraduate interns, paid through a new $5M donation to study with a view to a possible career in the museum. The Met wants to build a new and diverse staff, and must succeed if it is to remain relevant. As Kevin says, the museum can't be the preserve of bearded old white men.

At Halloween, About Time opens. The annual Costume Institute show is always a blockbuster that draws in the crowds, and now the stakes are high. The newly reopened Met must show that it is still the place for fashion as art. This anniversary year, a mirrored gallery, packed with black garments from across 150 years, points to objects that are timeless in an industry now driven by constant change. We're with fashionistas as they thrill to the show, noting that even on a budget, Curator Andrew Bolton has managed to make a splash.

Philanthropy has always kept the Met alive and vibrant, and as the nights draw in, there's disquiet about the upcoming US election and its effect on giving. A change of administration, or the return of President Trump, might warp the delicate web of tax breaks and write-offs that underpin the whole arts world. With the fall-out of Covid and the tumult of Black Lives Matter in mind, CEO Dan Weiss gives a dark assessment of America's contribution to history. And on the night of the election itself, Head of Communications Ken Weine worries about money, staff and the fate of culture itself.


MON 22:00 Storyville (b05nyyd9)
Masterspy of Moscow: George Blake

He said he was doing God's work on earth, but betrayed his colleagues to the KGB. Sentenced to 42 years in jail, George Blake escaped from Wormwood Scrubs five years later and fled to the Soviet Union. George Carey's film follows the strange life of this enigmatic traitor, tracking down people who knew him, and ending with an unexpected encounter in the woods outside Moscow.


MON 23:30 Secret Agent Selection: WW2 (b09zg6f4)
Series 1

Episode 1

The students face SOE's demanding selection process. Known as the Student Assessment Board, this intense four-day course puts the students through a series of physical and mental tests, all with the aim of finding out who has the raw talent required to progress to full training. The programme charts the beginning of SOE, which started with a handful of agents, in an organisation determined to find a way back into Nazi-controlled Europe.


MON 00:30 Art of America (b017sryq)
What Lies Beneath

In the final part of his United States odyssey, Andrew Graham-Dixon feels the pulse of contemporary America. Beginning in Levittown - the first mass-produced suburb - Andrew uncovers the dark side of post-war consumerism and the role artists have played in challenging the status quo.

He visits New York's Metropolitan Museum to see the most subversive artwork of 1950s America, Jasper Johns's White Flag. Pop art defined the 1960s and Andy Warhol was its greatest artist. Andrew examines Warhol's soup can paintings, meets his former lover Billy Name and interviews one of the last great surviving pop artists, James Rosenquist.

He travels west down the open road, exploring its art, arriving in Los Angeles, an artificial dream world that has inspired the graphic style of Ed Ruscha and the city's own unique contribution to 20th century design - Googie architecture.

Back east, Andrew visits the home of one of his favourite 20th century artists, the late Philip Guston, and gets a private view of his work. He drops into the studio of Jeff Koons to learn how the enfant terrible of contemporary art continues to challenge the boundaries of American taste. Finally, he explores the impact 9/11 has had on America and how a new generation of artists, such as Matthew Day Jackson, have made sense of this tragic event.


MON 01:30 Great British Railway Journeys (b09p34wr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


MON 02:00 Inside America's Treasure House: The Met (m00103dc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


MON 03:00 Secrets of the Museum (m000frqp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]