B4

RADIO-LISTS: BBC FOUR
Unofficial Weekly Listings for BBC 4 — supported by bbc.co.uk/programmes/

SATURDAY 02 OCTOBER 2021

SAT 19:00 Vienna: Empire, Dynasty and Dream (b08651j3)
Episode 3

In the final episode, Simon Sebag Montefiore follows the Habsburgs to their dramatic demise. From his struggles with Napoleon III and Bismarck and the suicide of his son Rudolf, to the assassination of his beautiful wife Sisi, Emperor Franz Josef's empire and his family proved impossible to control.

But while the Habsburgs headed for extinction, Vienna blossomed. As the theories of Freud and the sensuality of the secession artists like Klimt and Schiele ushered in the modern age, Hitler and Stalin stalked her streets. It was here that World War I was sparked; it was here where World War II was dreamed.

SAT 20:00 Brazil with Michael Palin (b01qyq0f)
The Deep South

In the final episode of his travels through Brazil, Michael Palin finds many surprises as he encounters the rich diversity of the more European and Asian cultures that have created a new melting pot in the deep south of Brazil.

In the picture-perfect town of Parati, set amidst the Mata Atlantica, he meets up with Prince Joao de Braganza, heir to the defunct throne of Brazil. The prince argues that the arrival of the Portuguese court in Brazil, who escaped from Napoleon's occupation, did much to establish the institutions that have enabled Brazil's economy to flourish.

Michael joins Carolina Ferraz, star of a galaxy of telenovellas, the immensely popular Brazilian soap operas, on the backlot of her most recent TV success, where issues of poverty fuel the storylines alongside the racier love triangles.

Whilst taking to the skies of Sao Paolo to avoid the hundred-mile traffic jams with mega-rich king of waste disposal Wilson Quintela, Michael learns that there are millions to be made from garbage.

Travelling south to Blumenau and Pomerode, Michael finds German speakers - including model Priscilla Falaster, who dreams of becoming the next Giselle Bundchen - and tries his hand pulling steins from a mobile bierkeller. Bavarian schulplatte dancers and chance encounters with spiritualists, including Marcello Paes Leme, challenge his views on what makes a typical Brazilian.

Leaving the beauty and serenity of the Pantanal, Michael comes to his journey's end at the magnificent Iguazu falls, where he concludes that Brazil has much to offer the world as it takes its place as a new superpower.

SAT 21:00 The Truth (m00109x3)
The daughter of a famous French actress visits her mother from America, troubled by the star’s memoir being far from truthful. Joining her on set, while she is filming the role of an aged child whose mother never grows old, offers a surreal parallel to their simmering resentments.

In French and English with subtitles.

SAT 22:40 Storyville (m000kxl0)
United Skates

When America's last standing roller rinks are threatened with closure, a community of thousands battles in a racially charged environment to save an underground subculture - one that has remained undiscovered by the mainstream for generations, yet has given rise to some of the world's greatest musical talent.

SAT 00:05 How to Get Ahead (b03xsgwk)
At Medieval Court

Writer, broadcaster and Newsnight arts correspondent Stephen Smith looks back at the Medieval Age to find out what it took to get ahead at the court of Richard II. Richard presided over the first truly sophisticated and artistic court in England. Painters, sculptors, poets, tailors, weavers and builders flocked to court to make their fortunes. But these were dangerous times. Being close to Richard brought many a courtier to a sticky end. Featuring David Tennant and Clarissa Dickson Wright.

SAT 01:05 Motherland (m000w173)
Series 3

Episode 1

As a nit pandemic sweeps the school, Julia finds herself accused of triggering a second wave. Ostracised by the other mums, Julia needs to find a way back into their good books, so she throws a nit treatment party that brings everyone’s drama (and headlice) into her home.

The party reveals that Anne has some big news, Meg is facing a crisis and Kevin has committed a terrible crime of passion. As Amanda super-spreads the gossip, Liz waits for news about a career move – will she beat that 17-year-old to a job in the local shoe shop?

SAT 01:35 Brazil with Michael Palin (b01qyq0f)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]

SAT 02:35 Vienna: Empire, Dynasty and Dream (b08651j3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]

SUNDAY 03 OCTOBER 2021

SUN 19:00 Classic Cellists at the BBC (b084nscd)
Julian Lloyd Webber takes an extraordinary musical journey through the BBC archives from the 1950s to the present to celebrate the world of the cello through some of its greatest interpreters. From dazzling performances by legendary masters such as Paul Tortelier, Jacqueline du Pre and Mstislav Rostropovich to some of today's leading interpreters including Yo Yo Ma, Steven Isserlis and Mischa Maisky, Julian gives us a cellist's perspective on an extraordinary virtuoso tradition.

SUN 20:00 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.

SUN 21:00 Listening through the Lens: The Christopher Nupen Films (m00109wm)
A tribute to Christopher Nupen, who became Britain’s first independent television producer in the 1960s at the dawn of the documentary era. It is also the story of how the talents of a golden generation of artists were forever preserved on film. Nupen came from an unlikely background in South Africa and ‘ticked none of the boxes’, but seizing upon the emerging camera technology and his unique access, he filmed classical music in a completely new and intimate way that broke down the barriers between artists and their public. As a result, this documentary is also an important story about the history of music on television and the great artists who collaborated on the films.

Now 86, Nupen reflects on 75 productions about artists and composers spanning more than 50 years. His body of work convincingly enforces his conviction that television is capable of remembering artists in a way that no other medium can equal. Oxford philosopher and historian Sir Isaiah Berlin described Nupen’s films as being ‘at just about the highest level which television is capable of reaching’.

The programme cherry-picks examples of Christopher Nupen’s best work between 1966 and 2017. When he started, he instinctively blended documentary and musical performance to create a new genre of film. He filmed musicians at close quarters in their natural environment, where they have most to offer. Television picked up the exuberant spirit of the new generation and carried it far and wide. The effects were dramatic and brought countless numbers of people to music for the first time.

A musician himself, Nupen’s musical friends were among the most-renowned artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. Capturing their unique talents on film, we relive sublime historical moments with the likes of Daniel Barenboim, Pinchas Zukerman, Andrès Segovia, John Williams, Nathan Milstein, Placido Domingo, Itzhak Perlman, Jacqueline du Pré, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Evgeny Kissin and Daniil Trifonov.

As Nupen’s experience grew, he tackled musical ideas and the lives of the great composers. His films represent a single-minded dedication to sharing the power of music that will leave a legacy of lasting value.

SUN 22:30 We Want the Light: Jews and German Music (m00109wp)
What is the complex but fruitful relationship between Jewish people and German music? This award-winning film focuses on a pianist who played over 100 times in the Theresienstadt concentration camp.

SUN 00:00 How to Get Ahead (b03yfwk1)
At Renaissance Court

Writer, broadcaster and Newsnight arts correspondent Stephen Smith explores Renaissance Florence under the reign of Grand Duke Cosimo Medici. Cosimo's fledgling court prized the finer things in life and some of the greatest painters, sculptors and craftsmen in world history came to serve the Grand Duke. But successful courtiers had to have brains as well as brawn. The canniest of them looked to theorists like Niccolo Machiavelli for underhand ways to get ahead, whilst enlightened polymaths turned their minds to the heavens, and to ice cream.

SUN 01:00 The Beauty of Diagrams (b00vl3h1)
Vitruvian Man

Series in which mathematician Marcus du Sautoy explores the stories behind some of the most familiar scientific diagrams.

He looks at Leonardo da Vinci's world-famous diagram of the perfect human body, which has many layers from anatomy to architecture, and defines our species like no other drawing before or since. The Vitruvian Man, drawn in the 1480s when he was living and working in Milan, has become one of the most famous images in the world. Leonardo's drawings form a vast body of work, covering every imaginable subject in spectacular detail: from feet, skulls and hands to muscles and sinews; from hearts and lungs to buildings, bridges and flying machines.

Vitruvian Man perfectly synthesises Leonardo's passions for anatomy, for the mechanics of the human body and for geometry. It is also full of surprises, illustrating an ancient architectural riddle set out 1,500 years earlier by the classical writer Vitruvius about the relative proportions of buildings and men – a riddle that, even today, still fascinates and beguiles experts and viewers alike.

SUN 01:30 The Beauty of Diagrams (b00w57gr)
Copernicus

Series in which mathematician Marcus du Sautoy explores the stories behind some of the most familiar scientific diagrams.

When Polish priest and astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus developed his extraordinary theory of a sun-centred universe 500 years ago, he was flying in the face of both science and religion. Mankind had believed for thousands of years that the earth was at the centre of the cosmos, and to disagree was to risk derision and accusations of heresy.

For decades he was too afraid to publish, but the arrival of a young German scientist gave Copernicus courage, and his book and its extraordinary diagram were published in 1543, when he was on his deathbed. His image of the heliocentric universe changed for ever our understanding of the cosmos and of our place in it.

SUN 02:00 Jacqueline du Pre: A Gift beyond Words (b09bdyfz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]

SUN 03:00 Classic Cellists at the BBC (b084nscd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]

MONDAY 04 OCTOBER 2021

MON 19:00 Great British Railway Journeys (b09p3blm)
Series 9

Criccieth to Caernarfon

With his Edwardian Bradshaw's railway guide tucked under his arm, Michael Portillo begins the last leg of his journey from Hull to Caernarfon. In picturesque Snowdonia, he braves the fastest zip line in the world - stretching 1,500 feet across a vast slate quarry. He uncovers a bitter industrial dispute between quarrymen and the owner of the pit, Lord Penrhyn, which divided the community at the beginning of the 20th century.

Riding north Wales's splendid heritage railways, Michael visits the home of British mountaineering, Pen y Gwryd, to hear how an Edwardian journalist and poet created a climbing community, which grew to include men who would conquer Everest in the 1950s. Michael meets the grandson of one of his political heroes, the Edwardian prime minister David Lloyd George, at his birthplace in Criccieth. At the impressive 13th-century fortress of Caernarfon, built by English King Edward I, Michael discovers the early 20th-century history behind the ceremony now traditional at the royal investiture of a Prince of Wales.

MON 19:30 The Joy of Painting (m00109yh)
Series 5

Mountain Serenity

Look into the distance with Bob Ross and experience the peace and quiet of a stoic mountain overlooking a smooth-as-glass wilderness lake.

MON 20:00 Secrets of the Museum (m000g1rv)
Series 1

Episode 5

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 quarter of the museum’s objects are on display to the public - the rest lie deep in the stores. Now, after decades at the same site, the museum’s stores are being relocated to a brand new, high-tech home. It’s the job of curator Jane to make sure the 3,000 costumes in the Theatre and Performance collection are fully catalogued before the move.

First on her list is a costume specially designed by Bob Mackie for Elton John’s Jump Up tour in 1982. She also unearths dresses worn by usherettes at the premiere of The Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night in 1964.

Meanwhile, hidden in the stores is one item that has been lying dormant for decades and that has now been summoned to star in a new sci-fi exhibition. Frankenstein’s Monster is a rare survivor from one of early cinema’s greatest movies – The Bride of Frankenstein. Curator Keith needs to find out if Frankenstein can be brought back to life. After a series of X-rays, it seems the 85-year-old monster is held together only by a few rusty nails. And Frankenstein’s clothes - originally worn by actor Boris Karloff - have seen better days. After weeks in conservation trying to breathe life back into this six-foot monster, Frankenstein’s future looks uncertain, and Keith is faced with a difficult decision.

An unusual item has been spotted by curator Lucia – a vintage Louis Vuitton trunk that came to the museum merely as a container for a number of haute couture dresses and was then put aside. Lucia is curating a new exhibition called Bags: Inside Out and wants to unlock the trunk’s secrets. She discovers that it was owned by one of America’s most famous mistresses, a woman named Emily Grigsby, who spent millions of her lover’s money on a lifetime of adventure. Curator Lucia believes the trunk deserves its rightful place in the V&A archive.

The V&A holds over a million precious books, from illuminated manuscripts to first editions. Many of these are loaned out to exhibitions around the world, so every effort is made to keep them in pristine condition. One of the most important books in the collection is an original Shakespeare First Folio. It’s been requested for a new exhibition elsewhere, but before it can leave the building, it’s the job of paper conservator Ruth to ensure the tiny tears in the 17th-century paper are repaired.

The museum’s enormous stores contain many extraordinary collections, but one of its most prized is a treasure trove of early photographs. Curator Kate is interested in photographs taken by Lewis Carroll for a new exhibition about Alice in Wonderland. The Alice of the book was based on a real person, and now Kate has invited in her great granddaughter, Vanessa Tait, to help her chose photographs of her great-grandmother for the exhibition.

MON 21:00 Madame Tussaud: A Legend in Wax (b08cgm56)
The remarkable true story of the woman behind the worldwide waxworks empire, Madame Tussaud.

In an astonishing life that spanned both the French and Industrial revolutions, this single mother and entrepreneur travelled across the Channel to England, where she overcame the odds to establish her remarkable and enduring brand. Determined to leave an account of who she was and the times she lived through, her memoirs, letters and papers offer a unique insight into the creation of the extraordinary empire which bears her name.

MON 22:00 Secret Knowledge (b04h8kpt)
The Russian Revolutionary: Zaha Hadid on Kazimir Malevich

World-renowned architect Zaha Hadid, perhaps best known for her futuristic architecture, explains how her work has roots in an art movement that is 100 years old. She has long cited the Russian abstract artist Kazimir Malevich as one of her greatest inspirations and, as a major exhibition of his work is on show at Tate Modern, together with curators and critics Zaha considers the influence of Malevich's avant-garde art on her avant-garde architecture.

MON 22:30 imagine... (b06r97c4)
Autumn 2015

David Chipperfield: A Place to Be

The internationally renowned British architect puts substance before image, and isn't interested in a building's iconic presence on a skyline. 'How many squiggles can a city take?' he once asked. He has been described as classical, minimalist, simple, but if there is a word he would like to apply to his architecture, it is 'humane'.

Alan Yentob talks to Chipperfield about his breakthrough in Berlin, his love of the city and its history and the 11 years spent on the transformation of the Neues Museum, his 'masterpiece'. After successes at the Hepworth Gallery, Wakefield, and Turner Contemporary Margate, he is now embarking on his most prestigious project ever, a new gallery for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

MON 23:40 A Timewatch Guide (b06z59g7)
Series 2

Stonehenge

Using 70 years of BBC history archive film, Professor Alice Roberts uncovers how the iconic ancient monument of Stonehenge has been interpreted, argued over and debated by some of Britain's leading historians and archaeologists. She reveals how new discoveries would discredit old theories, how astronomers and geologists became involved in the story and why, even after centuries of study, there's still no definitive answer to the mystery of Stonehenge.

MON 00:40 How to Get Ahead (b03z08mx)
At Versailles

Stephen Smith explores the flamboyant Baroque court of the Sun King, Louis XIV. Louis created the Palace of Versailles so he could surround himself with aristocrats, artists, interior designers, gardeners, wigmakers, chefs and musicians. Hordes of ambitious courtiers scrambled to get close to the king, but unseemly goings-on in the royal bedchamber reflected the quickest path to power.

MON 01:40 Madame Tussaud: A Legend in Wax (b08cgm56)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]

MON 02:40 Secrets of the Museum (m000g1rv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]

TUESDAY 05 OCTOBER 2021

TUE 19:00 Great British Railway Journeys (m0002fg7)
Series 10

Warrington to Preston

Armed with his early 20th century Bradshaw’s Guide, Michael Portillo embarks on a new journey through Britain’s industrial heartland in the footsteps of King George V. Starting at what was then the gateway to Lancashire - Warrington - Michael discovers this was no ordinary royal tour. He learns how it began with huge excitement among townsfolk, whose mayor Dr George Joseph received the royal party in the parlour of Warrington’s magnificent town hall.

Following the royal route, Michael heads to Huyton to the seat of the Stanley family, Knowsley Hall, where he finds King George V and Queen Mary were accommodated and entertained in grand style by the 17th Earl of Derby. His great-grandson, the 19th earl, takes Michael behind the scenes.

Travelling on to Leyland, Michael visits the Hutton and Howick Women’s Institute, the first to be created in Lancashire, to learn about its suffragette origins and founder Edith Rigby. Michael helps to make some pink fabric flowers, then joins the chorus for women’s suffrage.
Michael arrives in Preston at one of his favourite railway stations and heads for Preston North End’s Deepdale football stadium, where he discovers the origins of one of Britain’s earliest and most successful women’s football teams, the Dick Kerr Ladies.

TUE 19:30 The Joy of Painting (m00109yc)
Series 5

Island in the Wilderness

Take a walk with Bob Ross down a little lakeside path in a secluded place. You will be delighted by the discovery of a small uninhabited island.

TUE 20:00 The Good Life (p02qyh1h)
Series 3

The Happy Event

A 400% increase in their livestock population is a source of great joy for the Goods. Although their excitement is not shared by the Leadbetters.

TUE 20:30 One Foot in the Grave (b007blqq)
Series 1

Alive and Buried

Sitcom about grumpy senior citizen Victor Meldrew, whose attitude lands him in comical predicaments.

Replaced at work by a box, Victor embarks on his enforced retirement but finds it exasperatingly difficult to adapt to this directionless new existence. As he struggles without his security guard job, he begins magnifying mundane aspects of everyday life into major dramas.

TUE 21:00 French and Saunders (b09kkt1t)
300 Years of French and Saunders

Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders are back together this festive season for a special thirtieth-anniversary clip show bursting with brand new material, greatest hits, hilarious rarities and even some never-before-seen footage. Reuniting for their first TV show together in ten years, the huge comedy talents that brought the world Absolutely Fabulous and The Vicar of Dibley promise to be on top form, where nothing is out of bounds and no-one is safe. With special appearances from Joanna Lumley, Lulu and one of the presenters from Spotlight South West.

TUE 21:50 Dawn French Live: 30 Million Minutes (b086knj2)
Dawn French in her critically acclaimed one-woman show, 30 Million Minutes. Filmed during its final West End run in October 2016, it takes the audience on a journey through various delights and riches, with the odd irksome tribulation thrown in, as Dawn speaks about the lessons life has taught her and the things she knows to be true. The evidence is there for all to see. She is already three quarters certifiably daft. The other quarter is utterly bewildered. And the remaining quarter simply can't do maths. With a sharp eye for comic detail and a wicked ear for the absurdities of life, this is a true Christmas treat to see the critically acclaimed comedian at her finest.

TUE 23:45 Some People with Jokes (p00w07vc)
Series 1

Some Vicars with Jokes - Part 1

Sing hosanna! Clergy folk from around the UK swap the good book for the joke book and share their favourite gags. Old, new, clean, not so clean, these vicars are hell bent on getting us laughing - and that's gospel!

TUE 00:15 Some People with Jokes (p00w080m)
Series 1

Some Vicars with Jokes - Part 2

More laughs from the pulpit, as vicars from around the UK crack their favourite jokes. Old, new, clean and blue, it's a side-splitting sermon for saints and sinners alike. Hallelujah!

TUE 00:45 The Beauty of Diagrams (b00wbn7y)
Newton's Prism

Series in which mathematician Marcus du Sautoy explores the stories behind some of the world's most familiar scientific diagrams.

What exactly is light? What is colour? In the mid-1660s, Isaac Newton bought a pair of prisms at a fair near Cambridge, which were to be the basis of a series of experiments that would unlock a secret that had occupied scientists for centuries - the nature of light itself.

To explain what he had done, Newton created a diagram. It is called The Crucial Experiment and is a pivotal image in scientific history, a graphic moment when the ancient world was overturned by modern science. Newton demonstrated that white light is not pure, but made up of a number of different colours, the colours of the rainbow.

Newton's ideas transformed our knowledge of what we see and how we see, and the prism and its refracted colours became a captivating image. From fibre optics to the cover of Pink Floyd's album Dark Side of the Moon, Newton's work went on to influence centuries of science and art.

TUE 01:15 The Beauty of Diagrams (b00wvd9x)
Pioneer Plaque

Series in which mathematician Marcus du Sautoy explores the stories behind some of the world's most familiar and influential scientific diagrams.

When the unmanned space probe Pioneer 10 took off from Cape Canaveral in March 1972, it had on board a remarkable diagram. The Pioneer Plaque was designed to communicate fundamental facts about Earth and its inhabitants to life on other planets. In carefully engraved graphic images and mathematical symbols, the plaque would reveal the Earth's location in the solar system and show extraterrestrial intelligent life what human beings looked like.

But how could one single diagram do all that? What do you put in and what do you leave out? With its naked human figures, the plaque sparked arguments amongst feminists and conservatives.

So was it, in the end, a great intellectual game or was it the most enterprising, artistic and scientific diagram of all time, perhaps even the ultimate diagram?

TUE 01:45 Great British Railway Journeys (m0002fg7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]

TUE 02:15 French and Saunders (b09kkt1t)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]

WEDNESDAY 06 OCTOBER 2021

WED 19:00 Great British Railway Journeys (m0002fl0)
Series 10

Blackburn to Manchester

Michael Portillo continues his rail tour of Britain’s industrial northwest, steered by his early nineteenth century Bradshaw’s guide.

In Blackburn, he catches a rare glimpse of Edwardian life on celluloid and marvels at how factory workers and schoolchildren alike were drawn to seek fame on film.

Continuing east to Nelson, Michael braves the enemy camp to have a pint of tea with the socialist working classes in Britain’s last Clarion House. Way out of his comfort zone, he is heartened by their warm welcome.

Taking his rail campaign south, Michael reaches a magnificently renovated mid-19th century Manchester Victoria station, from where he heads to the Manchester Art Gallery to investigate reports of an outrage in 1913.

Michael discovers the former home, now a museum and women’s centre, of the radical family that advocated such outrages, the Pankhursts. He hears from the curator what motivated Emmeline and her daughters, Christabel and Sylvia and learns how they made themselves heard.

WED 19:30 The Joy of Painting (m0010b30)
Series 5

Autumn Oval

Step into a Bob Ross oval classic and be inspired by the gorgeous browns and oranges of undoubtedly the most beautiful season of all.

WED 20:00 Wild Brazil (p01nplv1)
Enduring the Drought

This intimate journey into the heart of Brazil concludes. A fierce drought ensues, culminating in huge and ferocious fires. The capuchin monkeys, giant otters, coatis and jaguars are proving their extreme survival skills, while looking for mates and racing to breed to ensure that the next generation are born just as the good times arrive again.

Astonishing footage tells an extraordinary tale of love in a harsh world.

WED 21:00 Enslaved with Samuel L Jackson (m000ngdy)
Series 1

A People Stolen

Samuel L Jackson traces his ancestry to Gabon, visiting the coastal area of Loango National Park to see from where his enslaved ancestors were shipped in their millions to the Americas. But he wants to do more than tell the story of the enslaved who survived. The transatlantic slave trade existed for well over 400 years, involving more than 45,000 voyages from dozens of outposts along the African coast. Over 2 million Africans died en route, and up to 1,000 slave ships ended up as wrecks, with only a handful ever having been identified. Jackson teams up with a group of underwater investigators who view the ocean floor as a graveyard and a crime scene. They dive the English Channel to find the 350-year-old wreck of an unidentified slave ship and discover its secrets. This is the oldest slave ship ever discovered, and deep on the dark ocean floor the divers make a remarkable find.

WED 22:00 Restoring the Earth: The Age of Nature (m0010b33)
Series 1

Awakenings

Visiting Bikini Atoll, Panama, Norway, Mozambique and China, we discover the extent of nature’s resilience and how ecosystems devastated by human impact can be revived, how human prosperity is dependent on the natural world and how when working within nature’s limits, resources can be maintained for future generations.

WED 22:55 From Ice to Fire: The Incredible Science of Temperature (b09rzqp3)
Series 1

Frozen Solid

Everything around us - from the tiniest insect on Earth to the most distant stars of the cosmos - exists somewhere on a vast scale from cold to hot. In this series, physicist Dr Helen Czerski explores the extraordinary science of temperature. She unlocks the extremes of the temperature scale, from absolute zero to searing heat of stars - and reveals how temperature works, how deep its influence on our lives is, and why it's the hidden force that has shaped our planet and the entire universe.

In episode one, Helen ventures to the bottom of the temperature scale, revealing how cold has shaped the world around us and why frozen doesn't mean what you might think. She meets the scientists pushing temperature to the very limits of cold, where the normal laws of physics break down and a new world of scientific possibility begins. The extraordinary behaviour of matter at temperatures close to absolute zero is driving the advance of technology, from superconductors to quantum computing.

WED 23:55 From Ice to Fire: The Incredible Science of Temperature (b09sc7yj)
Series 1

A Temperature for Life

Physicist Dr Helen Czerski explores the narrow band of temperature that has led to life on Earth. She reveals how life began in a dramatic place where hot meets cold, and how every single living creature on Earth depends on temperature for its survival. She uncovers the extraordinary natural engineering that animals have evolved to keep their bodies at the right temperature. And she witnesses the remarkable surgery that's using temperature to push the human body to the very brink of life.

WED 00:55 Great British Railway Journeys (m0002fl0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]

WED 01:25 Enslaved with Samuel L Jackson (m000ngdy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]

WED 02:25 Restoring the Earth: The Age of Nature (m0010b33)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]

THURSDAY 07 OCTOBER 2021

THU 19:00 Great British Railway Journeys (m0002fmn)
Series 10

Manchester to Elsecar

Armed with his early 20th-century Bradshaw’s Guide, Michael Portillo continues his journey from Warrington to the Potteries in Stoke-on-Trent.
In Manchester, at the magnificent Heaton Park, Michael discovers one of the first open-air concerts was held here in 1909 by an opera fan, William Grimshaw, who entertained 40,000 people to the music of opera superstar Enrico Caruso on a gramophone.
In Oldham, Michael discovers the battle fought by one of Britain’s most distinguished statesmen to be elected as the town’s member of Parliament. And he uncovers the rough tactics of the election campaign.
In Edale, in the beautiful Peak District, Michael joins ramblers in walking country. He learns that, at the time of his guide, landowners did not countenance intrusion and he hears how a Sheffield socialist spearheaded a mass trespassing revolt to open up the countryside to working people.
Michael picks up the trail of King George V and Queen Mary, who visited the vast and Yorkshire estate of Wentworth Woodhouse in 1913. Home to one of the wealthiest dynasties in Britain, the Earls Fitzwilliam, their fortune was built on coal. Michael discovers a carefully planned royal charm offensive designed to win the affection and trust of the working classes at a time of severe industrial unrest.
Michael follows the royal party’s footsteps to Lord Fitzwilliam’s mining village and colliery, where the family’s private railway line, which later connected the estate’s iron and coal works, still runs. Michael takes a trip and is permitted to operate the locomotive.

THU 19:30 The Joy of Painting (m0010b2w)
Series 5

Seasonal Progression

An interesting way to frame two pictures! Bob Ross paints a mountain landscape as it moves from luscious summer to beautiful winter on one canvas.

THU 20:00 A House Through Time (m00041qb)
Series 2

Episode 1

In the first episode, David Olusoga pays his first visit to the house. It is a Georgian end-of-terrace property on Ravensworth Terrace, in Newcastle upon Tyne’s gritty West End. The current owners of the house, Damian and Suzi, know little of their home’s history, but with its grand fireplaces and lofty proportions, the house offers a tantalising glimpse into the past.

Tracing the house’s early history, David discovers the original deeds revealing that the house was built by local developer William Mather and completed around 1824. Its first long-term resident was local lawyer and family man William Stoker. Searching the records for evidence of William Stoker, David is surprised to discover that he is named in an 1835 report in the local newspaper. The article tells of a theft from the house in which two teenage boys have stolen a pair of umbrellas, ‘the property of Mr William Stoker’. In today’s terms, this would be a trivial offence, but knowing how harsh the penalties were in the 19th century, even for petty crimes, David is keen to know more. Exploring the boys’ background David discovers the motive for the crime: poverty. The pair were ‘without visible means of subsistence’ and had exchanged the umbrellas for ‘two shillings and a piece of bread’.

David then meets historian Gaynor Halliday, who reveals that William Stoker actively pursued the case to trial. It was he who would have organised their arrest, found witnesses and brought them to court. The case papers reveal that the boys were found guilty and sentenced to seven years’ transportation to Australia.

As the boys were travelling to Australia, Stoker was working his way up the ranks of Newcastle society. He was elected to the post of town coroner, investigating suspicious deaths – drownings, industrial accidents and suicides. His first case is to investigate a man who has ‘drunk himself to death’. But there is a surprising twist to the story. David discovers that Stoker himself is a drinker. His death certificate reveals that he dies from chronic alcoholism aged 54.

The next resident David discovers is Joshua Alder, who moves into Ravensworth Terrace in 1841. Having recently sold his business as a cheesemonger, he has moved into the house with his sister Mary. But as David discovers, Joshua isn’t planning a life of leisure. The sale of his business is funding a new career as a scientist. He is a member of Newcastle’s renowned Literary and Philosophical Society, giving lectures, writing books about natural history, and rubbing shoulders with some of the greatest scientists of the age. David travels to the Northumberland coast to meet marine biologist Professor Peter Davis, sailing out to sea to observe the marine life that Joshua studied. But Joshua’s new life depends on the practical support of his sister. As design historian Deborah Sugg Ryan explains, it is Mary Alder who would have ensured the smooth running of the house while Joshua continued his scientific work.

And Joshua would soon rely on her even more. The devastating financial crash of 1857 brings down the local bank, taking Joshua’s savings with it. Now penniless, he and Mary are forced to leave Ravensworth Terrace, and move into a smaller house nearby, where Mary is the householder, supporting her brother financially. But this is not the end of Joshua’s story. David discovers that his friends in the scientific community lobby the Government on his behalf. Joshua is awarded a Civil List pension, saving him from penury and allowing him to continue his studies until his death in 1867.

The next residents of Ravensworth Terrace are well-to-do newly-wed couple Nicholas and Mary Sarah Hardcastle. Nicholas is a doctor recently appointed medical officer to the local workhouse, treating the poorest people in Newcastle society. David meets expert Caroline Rance to find out more. Caroline reveals that soon after his arrival, Hardcastle was caught up in a neglect scandal. A group of his patients, young girls suffering from the skin disease scabies, were discovered to be locked in a tiny room without access to proper sanitation. Hardcastle is investigated but cleared of any misconduct. He continues working at the workhouse and takes on an additional role as surgeon to the local gaol. The family move to a grand house in the centre of Newcastle where they have four children. But tragedy strikes when their daughter contracts scarlet fever and loses her hearing as a result.

Then some years later, Hardcastle is engulfed in a second scandal. An epidemic sweeps through the workhouse again - this time scarlet fever, the same disease that affected Hardcastle’s own daughter. After just nine days, nearly 200 people are affected, and two have died. Fearing the epidemic will spread beyond the workhouse walls, the authorities launch an inquiry where workhouse nurses accuse Hardcastle of neglecting his patients. This time Hardcastle is found guilty, and he is forced to resign from his post.

THU 21:00 The Babadook (p08t685m)
Single mother Amelia struggles to raise her demanding six-year-old son Samuel alongside working shifts in an old people’s home. The kid’s behavioural problems stem from a fear of lurking monsters, against which he prepares weapons, which does not go down well at his school. Bedtimes are difficult, and Samuel usually ends up sleeping in Amelia’s bed, with disturbed nights the result.

With his seventh birthday looming - also the anniversary of his father’s death - the discovery of a strange pop-up book titled Mister Babadook on his bookshelf unleashes a sinister presence in the house.

THU 22:30 Mark Kermode's Secrets of Cinema (b0bfp4h7)
Series 1

Horror

Mark Kermode continues his fresh and very personal look at the art of cinema by examining the techniques and conventions behind classic film genres, uncovering the ingredients that keep audiences coming back for more.

Mark turns to horror and shows how film-makers have devilishly deployed a range of cinematic tricks to exploit our deepest, darkest and most elemental fears. He explores the recurring elements of horror, including the journey, the jump scare, the scary place, the monster and the chase. He reveals how they have been refined and reinvented in films as diverse as the silent classic The Phantom of the Opera, low-budget cult shockers The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and The Evil Dead, and Oscar-winners The Silence of the Lambs and Get Out. Mark analyses the importance of archetypal figures such as the clown, the savant and the 'final girl'. And of course, he celebrates his beloved Exorcist films by examining two unforgettable but very different shock moments in The Exorcist and The Exorcist III.

Ultimately, Mark argues, horror is the most cinematic of genres, because no other kind of film deploys images and sound to such powerful and primal effect.

THU 23:30 Hitchcock's Shower Scene: 78/52 (b09w3w9v)
Alfred Hitchcock's shocking murder scene in Psycho changed the course of world cinema. It took a week to film, one quarter of the film's entire production schedule, and the scene required 78 set-ups and 52 cuts to achieve.

Director Alexandre O Philippe's gripping documentary takes an unprecedented look at Hitchcock's infamous and iconic shower scene and its enduring legacy.

THU 00:55 Great British Railway Journeys (m0002fmn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]

THU 01:25 Wild Brazil (p01nplv1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Wednesday]

THU 02:25 A House Through Time (m00041qb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]

FRIDAY 08 OCTOBER 2021

FRI 19:00 Irish Rock at the BBC (b0556qc9)
A whistle-stop tour of rock from over the water, taking in some of the finest Irish rock offerings from the early 70s to the present day, as captured on a variety of BBC shows from The Old Grey Whistle Test and Top of the Pops to Later... with Jools Holland.

Kicking off with Thin Lizzy's 1973 debut hit Whiskey in the Jar, the programme traces Irish rock's unfolding lineage. Performances from guitar maestro Rory Gallagher, Celtic rock godfathers Horslips and John Peel favourites The Undertones feature alongside rivals Stiff Little Fingers, with their Top of the Pops performance of Nobody's Hero, followed by post-punk U2's 1981 debut UK performance of I Will Follow from The Old Grey Whistle Test.

Then there is Sinead O'Connor's debut single performance of Mandinka, and The Pogues play the Ewan MacColl classic Dirty Old Town from 1986. Into the 90s, there is The Frank and Walters and Therapy? on Top of the Pops, along with early performances on Later... with Jools Holland from Ash and The Divine Comedy.

There is rockabilly with Imelda May's debut hit Johnny Got a Boom Boom, and then more recently Cavan's The Strypes and Hozier, whose Take Me to Church completes this hit-driven tour through Irish rock.

FRI 20:00 Top of the Pops (m0010b3k)
Nicky Campbell present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 19 September 1991 and featuring Salt-N-Pepa, Utah Saints, Prince and The New Power Generation, Bryan Adams, Erasure and Ned's Atomic Dustbin.

FRI 20:30 Top of the Pops (m0010b3m)
Gary Davies present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 26 September 1991 and featuring Scorpions, Rozalla, R.E.M., Tina Turner, Bizarre Inc, Marc Almond, Sabrina Johnston, Bryan Adams and Bros.

FRI 21:00 Citizens of Boomtown: The Story of The Boomtown Rats (m000jjr5)
With guests including Bono, Sinead O’Connor, Dave Stewart, Jools Holland, David Mallet and Sting, as well as music writers, photographers and historians, this film explores the musical and social legacy of Ireland’s first rock superstars The Boomtown Rats, who changed their own lives, helped to change Ireland and, with Bob Geldof’s Live Aid, changed the world.

In this entertaining, dramatic and absorbing film, director Billy McGrath digs deep into the band’s history and remarkable songbook and highlights the key moments of its huge success and subsequent fall in 1985. And after over 30 years, why did the band regroup in 2013?

FRI 22:30 Sight and Sound in Concert (b03czdtl)
The Boomtown Rats

Pete Drummond introduces a 1984 concert by The Boomtown Rats from Goldiggers in Chippenham.

FRI 23:30 The Old Grey Whistle Test (m0010b3p)
Dr. Hook in Concert

Bob Harris presents a concert special from the BBC Television Theatre in Shepherd's Bush, first broadcast on 25 November 1975, featuring the zany antics of Dr. Hook.

FRI 00:10 Irish Rock at the BBC (b0556qc9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]

FRI 01:10 Top of the Pops (m0010b3k)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]

FRI 01:40 Top of the Pops (m0010b3m)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]

FRI 02:10 Citizens of Boomtown: The Story of The Boomtown Rats (m000jjr5)
[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)

A House Through Time 20:00 THU (m00041qb)

A House Through Time 02:25 THU (m00041qb)

A Timewatch Guide 23:40 MON (b06z59g7)

Brazil with Michael Palin 20:00 SAT (b01qyq0f)

Brazil with Michael Palin 01:35 SAT (b01qyq0f)

Citizens of Boomtown: The Story of The Boomtown Rats 21:00 FRI (m000jjr5)

Citizens of Boomtown: The Story of The Boomtown Rats 02:10 FRI (m000jjr5)

Classic Cellists at the BBC 19:00 SUN (b084nscd)

Classic Cellists at the BBC 03:00 SUN (b084nscd)

Dawn French Live: 30 Million Minutes 21:50 TUE (b086knj2)

Enslaved with Samuel L Jackson 21:00 WED (m000ngdy)

Enslaved with Samuel L Jackson 01:25 WED (m000ngdy)

French and Saunders 21:00 TUE (b09kkt1t)

French and Saunders 02:15 TUE (b09kkt1t)

From Ice to Fire: The Incredible Science of Temperature 22:55 WED (b09rzqp3)

From Ice to Fire: The Incredible Science of Temperature 23:55 WED (b09sc7yj)

Great British Railway Journeys 19:00 MON (b09p3blm)

Great British Railway Journeys 19:00 TUE (m0002fg7)

Great British Railway Journeys 01:45 TUE (m0002fg7)

Great British Railway Journeys 19:00 WED (m0002fl0)

Great British Railway Journeys 00:55 WED (m0002fl0)

Great British Railway Journeys 19:00 THU (m0002fmn)

Great British Railway Journeys 00:55 THU (m0002fmn)

Hitchcock's Shower Scene: 78/52 23:30 THU (b09w3w9v)

How to Get Ahead 00:05 SAT (b03xsgwk)

How to Get Ahead 00:00 SUN (b03yfwk1)

How to Get Ahead 00:40 MON (b03z08mx)

Irish Rock at the BBC 19:00 FRI (b0556qc9)

Irish Rock at the BBC 00:10 FRI (b0556qc9)

Jacqueline du Pre: A Gift beyond Words 20:00 SUN (b09bdyfz)

Jacqueline du Pre: A Gift beyond Words 02:00 SUN (b09bdyfz)

Listening through the Lens: The Christopher Nupen Films 21:00 SUN (m00109wm)

Madame Tussaud: A Legend in Wax 21:00 MON (b08cgm56)

Madame Tussaud: A Legend in Wax 01:40 MON (b08cgm56)

Mark Kermode's Secrets of Cinema 22:30 THU (b0bfp4h7)

Motherland 01:05 SAT (m000w173)

One Foot in the Grave 20:30 TUE (b007blqq)

Restoring the Earth: The Age of Nature 22:00 WED (m0010b33)

Restoring the Earth: The Age of Nature 02:25 WED (m0010b33)

Secret Knowledge 22:00 MON (b04h8kpt)

Secrets of the Museum 20:00 MON (m000g1rv)

Secrets of the Museum 02:40 MON (m000g1rv)

Sight and Sound in Concert 22:30 FRI (b03czdtl)

Some People with Jokes 23:45 TUE (p00w07vc)

Some People with Jokes 00:15 TUE (p00w080m)

Storyville 22:40 SAT (m000kxl0)

The Babadook 21:00 THU (p08t685m)

The Beauty of Diagrams 01:00 SUN (b00vl3h1)

The Beauty of Diagrams 01:30 SUN (b00w57gr)

The Beauty of Diagrams 00:45 TUE (b00wbn7y)

The Beauty of Diagrams 01:15 TUE (b00wvd9x)

The Good Life 20:00 TUE (p02qyh1h)

The Joy of Painting 19:30 MON (m00109yh)

The Joy of Painting 19:30 TUE (m00109yc)

The Joy of Painting 19:30 WED (m0010b30)

The Joy of Painting 19:30 THU (m0010b2w)

The Old Grey Whistle Test 23:30 FRI (m0010b3p)

The Truth 21:00 SAT (m00109x3)

Top of the Pops 20:00 FRI (m0010b3k)

Top of the Pops 20:30 FRI (m0010b3m)

Top of the Pops 01:10 FRI (m0010b3k)

Top of the Pops 01:40 FRI (m0010b3m)

Vienna: Empire, Dynasty and Dream 19:00 SAT (b08651j3)

Vienna: Empire, Dynasty and Dream 02:35 SAT (b08651j3)

We Want the Light: Jews and German Music 22:30 SUN (m00109wp)

Wild Brazil 20:00 WED (p01nplv1)

Wild Brazil 01:25 THU (p01nplv1)

imagine... 22:30 MON (b06r97c4)