The BBC has announced that it has a sustainable plan for the future of the BBC Singers, in association with The VOCES8 Foundation.
The threat to reduce the staff of the three English orchestras by 20% has not been lifted, but it is being reconsidered.
See the BBC press release here.

Radio-Lists Home Now on BBC 4 Contact

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



SATURDAY 21 MAY 2022

SAT 19:00 An Art Lovers' Guide (b08ps5rd)
Series 1

Barcelona

With sumptuous palaces, exquisite artworks and stunning architecture, every great city offers a dizzying multitude of artistic highlights. In this series, art historians Dr Janina Ramirez and Alastair Sooke take us on three cultural citybreaks, hunting for off-the-beaten-track artistic treats - and finding new ways of enjoying some very famous sights.

In this second episode, Janina Ramirez and Alastair are on a mission to get to know one of the most popular cities in the world through its art and architecture. Although Barcelona is famous for its exuberant modernista buildings, the Gothic Quarter and artistic superstars such as Picasso, Janina and Alastair are determined to discover some less well-known cultural treats. Escaping the crowds on the Ramblas, they seek out the designs of an engineer who arguably put more of a stamp on the city than its star architect, Antoni Gaudi. Alastair marvels at the Romanesque frescoes that inspired a young Miro, while Janina discovers a surprising collection of vintage fans in the Mares, one of the city's most remarkable but rarely visited museums.

With a behind-the-scenes visit to Gaudi's Sagrada Familia, a session of impromptu Catalan dance and Alastair adding the finishing touches to some Barcelona street art, it is a fast-paced and colourful tour of the city's art and artists, revealing how Barcelona developed its distinctive cultural identity and how the long-running fight for independence has shaped the artistic life of the city.


SAT 20:00 Rick Stein's Long Weekends (b083w5nl)
Cadiz

Rick's series of culinary city breaks continues with a trip to the historic city of Cadiz in southern Spain. Rick is captivated by its narrow winding streets as he walks in the footsteps of Phoenician and Arab traders who made a lasting impression on the city.

Tavernas offer tantalising tapas, including chickpea stews, cured pork lardons, freshly grilled mackerel and rice dishes flavoured with garlic, saffron and parsley. Rick times his visit perfectly to enjoy the city's two most revered culinary stars - fresh tuna and manzanilla.

At home, Rick cooks arroz verde - green rice - and flamenco eggs, a dish of eggs with tomatoes and vegetables.


SAT 21:00 Beck (p0c3yncb)
58 Minutes

Swedish crime drama. Alex Beijer participates in a morning show on TV, but it develops into a nightmare when an unlikely hostage drama arises in the studio. In Swedish with English subtitles.


SAT 22:30 Vikings (b01mxt26)
Episode 2

Neil Oliver heads out from the Scandinavian homelands to Russia, Turkey and Ireland to trace the beginnings of a vast trading empire that handled Chinese silks as adeptly as Pictish slaves. Neil discovers a world of 'starry-eyed maidens' and Buddhist statues that are a world away from our British experience of axe-wielding warriors, although it turns out that there were quite a few of those as well.


SAT 23:30 Wogan: The Best Of (b05pzpx2)
Glamour

Sir Terry Wogan remembers some memorable moments from the Wogan show. In this episode he selects some of the most glamourous guests that graced the programme including Lauren Bacall, Cher, Whitney Houston, Sophia Loren and Dolly Parton. Plus an early encounter with pop star Boy George.


SAT 00:15 Yes, Prime Minister (b0074s30)
Series 2

The Patron of the Arts

Jim is the guest of honour at the British Theatre Awards, but the Arts Council grant is going to be cut. Jim wants to avoid bad publicity and Sir Humphrey, National Theatre board member, wants to avoid cuts - who will win?


SAT 00:45 Keeping Up Appearances (b007b6my)
Series 3

How to Go on Holiday without Really Trying

Sitcom about Hyacinth Bucket, an obsessive snob, and her embarrassing family. Hyacinth makes some very expensive holiday plans before dashing off to fulfil her voluntary church cleaning duties with the Ladies' Guild.


SAT 01:15 Rick Stein's Long Weekends (b083w5nl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


SAT 02:15 An Art Lovers' Guide (b08ps5rd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]



SUNDAY 22 MAY 2022

SUN 19:00 Holst and Vaughan Williams: Making Music English (b0bshhss)
Historian Amanda Vickery and broadcaster Tom Service unearth the fascinating story of the life-long friendship between composers Ralph Vaughan Williams and Gustav Holst, whose music gave birth to the 'English sound' in the first half of the 20th century. They retrace the walking trips the two composers took together across the country to discover how influences ranging from the Renaissance masters to folk music imbued their music with the 'Englishness' we recognise today. Illustrating the story, the BBC Concert Orchestra perform excerpts of both composers' music.


SUN 20:00 Inside Classical (m0017nhj)
Series 1

Women’s Words and Voices

Georgia Mann presents a programme of contemporary classical music, written and inspired by women composers and poets. The BBC Concert Orchestra, led by Principal Conductor Bramwell Tovey, perform at the prestigious Queen Elizabeth Hall within the Southbank Centre, London.

The concert opens with film music by Debbie Wiseman, one of the most sought-after film and TV composers of today, and her hugely popular work on Wilde, the film about the life of Oscar Wilde starring Stephen Fry in the title role. We are then introduced to composer Shirley Thompson’s Wildfire – a piece taken from a scene in the opera Sacred Mountain: Incidents in the Life of Queen Nanny of the Maroons. The opera relates the adventures of Queen Nanny, the 18th-century military and spiritual leader of the Windward Maroons, descendants of the formerly enslaved Africans in Jamaica, who is frequently compared to Boudicca, the ancient Celtic warrior queen. In this scene, Queen Nanny garners her forces to withstand an attack from an enemy, and she sends out coded musical messages to her allies. The messages are spreading like ‘wildfire’. The opera overturns the operatic convention of presenting women in morally weak roles or as femmes fatales.

Wildfire is followed by Hannah Kendall’s The Spark Catchers, a work inspired by an incredibly evocative poem by Lemn Sissay about women who worked in match factories in the 1800s. The piece is full of kinetic energy and driving rhythms.

We return to the world of the movies and George Fenton’s film score for Shadowlands from 1993, which starred Sir Anthony Hopkins as CS Lewis and Debra Winger as his wife American poet Joy Davidman Gresham.

The world premiere of David Knotts’s The Alabaster Chambers (Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra) follows, performed by classical guitarist Craig Ogden and inspired by Safe in their Alabaster Chambers, a poem by 19th-century American poet Emily Dickinson. In the poem, a speaker imagines the dead lying safe in their tombs, utterly undisturbed by anything going on above them. Dickinson as a poet was unknown in her lifetime but is today revered by poets and poetry lovers throughout the world, and her revolutionary poetic style has been widely influential.

We're then back to the movies with the end title music from the film Emma, a period comedy starring Gwyneth Paltrow, based on Jane Austen's famous novel. Its composer, Rachel Portman, won Best Original Score at the Academy Awards in 1997 – the first time a female composer has been awarded an Oscar.

The concert closes with the European premiere of Bryce Dessner’s beautiful song cycle Voy a Dormir (I’m Going to Sleep), which is based on the writing of one of the Latin America's foremost poets, Alfonsina Storni. Storni, haunted by solitude and breast cancer, sent her last poem, Voy a Dormir (I’m going to sleep) to La Nación newspaper in October 1938. Then, one morning, Storni left her room and headed towards the sea at La Perla beach in Mar del Plata, Argentina. Later that day, two workers found her body washed up on the beach. Although her biographers hold that she jumped into the water from a breakwater, popular legend is that she slowly walked out to sea until she drowned. Nina Wadia recites Alfonsina Storni’s four poems that inspired the composer, before mezzo-soprano Tara Venditti joins the orchestra to perform the evening’s final work.


SUN 21:30 Talking Pictures (b062nnwl)
Christopher Lee

A look back at the life and career of one of the greats of British cinema - Sir Christopher Lee. In BBC interviews conducted over six decades, Lee discusses his position as a legendary screen villain and talks about his major roles, from Count Dracula to Count Dooku.


SUN 22:05 Christopher Lee's Ghost Stories for Christmas (m0017nhn)
Series 1

The Ash Tree

A nobleman who will have no truck with superstition inherits a stately home overshadowed by a tree concealing an ancient curse.


SUN 22:35 Horror Express (b007486s)
An English palaeontologist working in Manchuria in 1907 discovers a frozen two-million-year-old anthropoid monster with mystical powers.

On the train journey home, the beast thaws, comes back to life and wreaks havoc among the passengers of the train.

Classic cult horror starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee.


SUN 00:00 Holst and Vaughan Williams: Making Music English (b0bshhss)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


SUN 01:00 Inside Classical (m0017nhj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


SUN 02:35 Vikings (b01mxt26)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:30 on Saturday]



MONDAY 23 MAY 2022

MON 19:00 Great British Railway Journeys (m000w7fr)
Series 13

Deal to Margate

From the Kent Cinque Port of Deal, Michael heads to the splendid Walmer Castle, home during the 1920s to a Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, Lord Beauchamp. Michael’s guide, the founder of the LGBTQ working group for English Heritage, tells Michael of the lavish homosexual parties Lord Beauchamp held at the castle and how his openly hedonistic lifestyle, at a time when homosexuality was illegal, resulted in his exile from the country.

Tracking the east Kent coast, Michael reaches the Royal Harbour of Ramsgate, where he remembers the courage of the little ships that evacuated men from the beaches of Dunkirk in 1940. Michael goes deep underground to see where the town’s residents sheltered from enemy bombs in a two-and-a-half mile long disused railway tunnel, some for up to five years.

Next stop is Margate, 'an exuberant resort' according to Bradshaw’s and the holiday destination of choice for Londoners drawn by the town’s pioneering amusement park, Dreamland. Michael helps to get the scenic railway in shape for the season.

On the seafront, Michael discovers that Margate was the choice for an American-born author’s convalescence from illness during the interwar years. TS Eliot found inspiration here for his poem The Wasteland.


MON 19:30 The Flying Archaeologist (b01s1ll4)
Stonehenge

Archaeologist Ben Robinson flies over Wiltshire to uncover new discoveries in the Stone Age landscape. Sites found from the air have led to exciting new evidence about Stonehenge. The discoveries help to explain why the monument is where it is, and reveal how long ago it was occupied by people.


MON 20:00 Earth from Space (p072n8b8)
Series 1

Colourful Planet

We think of the Earth as a blue planet, but satellite cameras reveal it to be a kaleidoscope. The astonishing colours of the aurora are towering vertical streaks, hundreds of kilometres high, phytoplankton blooms turn the ocean into works of art, triggering a feeding frenzy, and for a few weeks a year China's Yunnan province is carpeted in yellow as millions of rapeseed flowers bloom.

This is our home, as we’ve never seen it before.


MON 21:00 Secrets of Size: Atoms to Supergalaxies (m0017njc)
Series 1

Going Big

In the concluding episode of the series, Jim encounters ever larger cosmic structures to reveal the latest breakthroughs in our understanding of the universe. For example, there’s the heliosphere, a vast cloud of solar plasma that surrounds and protects the solar system. Its unique physics help us understand why life is possible. Larger still, Jim comes face to face with our galactic home the Milky Way, a monstrous structure sculpted by the gravitational forces of dark matter. Jim finds out from pioneering researcher Adrian Fabian about the black hole at its centre, whose strange behaviour includes emitting the lowest note that can be heard in the cosmos.

At an even greater scale, Jim encounters huge structures such as the Laniakea Supercluster, of which the Milky Way is only a tiny part. Then there’s 'the giant arc', a collection of galaxies that account for more than three per cent of the observable universe. Jim learns from its discoverer, British PhD student Alexia Lopez, that this gargantuan structure is forcing scientists to reassess their theory of how the universe evolves and may overturn some of the most fundamental principles in physics.


MON 22:00 The Ruth Ellis Files: A Very British Crime Story (b09w3m05)
Series 1

Episode 2

In April 1955 Ruth Ellis shot her lover David Blakely dead. It's a case that shocked the nation and it still fascinates today. It has its place in ushering in the defence of diminished responsibility and the eventual abolishment of capital punishment. We all think we know the story, but why, when it was seemingly such an open and shut case, does it still divide opinion on whether Ruth Ellis got the justice she deserved?

Film-maker Gillian Pachter wants to find out. The result is a fresh investigation with fascinating true-crime twists and turns that also shines a unique light on attitudes to class, gender and sex in 1950s London.

In episode two Gillian turns her attention to Ruth's trial which took just a day and a half. She starts with a tape-recorded conversation from the 1980s between Ruth's son Andre and the barrister who led the prosecution. Andre expresses doubts about his mother's trial, calling into question her state of mind and whether she was a cold-blooded killer.

Gillian is interested to know whether the defence shared these concerns and she turns her attention to Ruth's solicitor. There are immediate and compelling questions about how he was hired, by whom and why. Ultimately it seems he was determined that the jury should look beyond the tabloid stereotype of Ruth to understand her troubled background - that way, they'd be inclined to recommend mercy and save Ruth from execution. But Ruth and her barrister had other ideas - while she refused to play ball he pursued a defence strategy so risky that the judge was forced to put his foot down.

There's the ongoing question of Ruth's alleged accomplice and how much Ruth's defence team knew of his involvement and continuing revelations from the forgotten witness, Ruth's son Andre. Gillian draws on expert opinion from top legal minds who know the case intimately, and they paint a portrait of a woman trapped not only by the constraints of 1950s society but by the narrow parameters of English law.


MON 23:00 Timeshift (b0103pnb)
Series 10

Crime and Punishment: The Story of Corporal Punishment

Timeshift lifts the veil on the taboo that is corporal punishment. What it reveals is a fascinating history spanning religion, the justice system, sex and education. Today it is a subject that is almost impossible to discuss in public, but it's not that long since corporal punishment was a routine part of life. Surprising and enlightening, the programme invites us to leave our preconceptions at the door so that we may better understand how corporal punishment came to be so important for so long.


MON 00:00 Handmade: By Royal Appointment (b07fky64)
Wedgwood

Film which follows the making of a Wedgwood vase. The culmination of over 250 years of expertise and heritage, the panther vase is handcrafted by artisan potters using the same techniques pioneered by Josiah Wedgwood in the 18th century. But the Wedgwood factory in Stoke is now a very different place. Under new, foreign ownership, it's a gleaming, modern operation, and as we follow the vase slowly taking shape, the film also takes a gentle look at how this quintessentially British company is reinventing itself for the 21st century.


MON 00:30 Great British Railway Journeys (m000w7fr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


MON 01:00 The Flying Archaeologist (b01s1ll4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


MON 01:30 Earth from Space (p072n8b8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


MON 02:30 Secrets of Size: Atoms to Supergalaxies (m0017njc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



TUESDAY 24 MAY 2022

TUE 19:00 Great British Railway Journeys (m000w773)
Series 13

Herne Bay to Leeds Castle, Kent

Armed with his interwar copy of Bradshaw’s Guide to the Railways, Michael reaches the Kent seaside resort of Herne Bay, where he learns about a pioneering aviatrix who began her working life as a typist in Hull but whose epic achievements made her an international celebrity.

Michael takes the train five miles west along the coast before heading offshore into the entrance to the Thames Estuary. He is amazed by seven enormous steel sea forts, which loom out of the water 90 feet above the seabed. The engineering involved in constructing these impressive structures is awe-inspiring, as is their role in protecting the nation from enemy bombing during the Second World War.

In the seaside town of Whitstable, Michael tucks into its famous staple, oysters. He then crosses the North Downs to Lenham, from which he visits Leeds Castle, the 'loveliest castle in the world' and home between the wars to the visionary Lady Olive Bailey.


TUE 19:30 The Flying Archaeologist (b01s1czf)
Norfolk Broads

Archaeologist Ben Robinson flies over the Broads where aerial photos have discovered a staggering 945 previously unknown ancient sites. Many are making historians rethink the history of the area.

The fate of the Roman town of Caistor St Edmund has puzzled archaeologists for decades. It's long been a mystery why the centre never became a modern town. Now archaeologists have discovered a key piece of evidence. And near Ormseby, the first proof of Bronze Age settlement in the east of England has been revealed.


TUE 20:00 Keeping Up Appearances (b007b6rh)
Series 3

Richard's New Hobby

Hyacinth realises that Richard is bored after taking early retirement and provides him with a hobby - being artistic with a video camera. However, it's a decision she will live to regret.


TUE 20:30 Yes, Prime Minister (b0074s32)
Series 2

The National Education Service

Jim Hacker decides to abolish the Department of Education and Science to reduce bureaucracy and save money, giving cash directly to schools. Sir Humphrey, of course, is appalled.


TUE 21:00 The Many Faces of... (b01pm6lw)
Series 2

Ronnie Barker

Programme telling the story of Ronnie Barker, a quiet, dedicated actor who might have been a bank manager but went on to become one of the country's favourite comedy stars. Ben Elton, Michael Grade, David Renwick and Josephine Tewson are among friends and colleagues who remember his genius. Famed as one half of the Two Ronnies and the likeable convict Fletcher in Porridge, he was also a prolific writer and admired actor in serious roles.


TUE 22:00 Tutankhamun in Colour (m000k48q)
A century after the world’s most exciting archaeological find - the tomb of Tutankhamun - we can witness the dramatic scenes of its discovery and marvel at its extraordinary treasures exactly as they were first seen - in colour.

Oxford University Egyptologist, Elizabeth Frood, is our guide to the discovery of the tomb on 4 November 1922 by British Egyptologist Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon. It provided much-needed good news, following the Great War and the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1919, and we have been transfixed ever since.

Colourisation provides a fantastic insight into the artefacts themselves and the context that they were found in. Many photos were taken using glass plate negatives, which have fantastic resolution and which, with colourisation, reveal detail not seen for a century.

Liz’s story begins in 1891, with an old black and white family photo of the young Carter. Colourisation brings him to life as he arrived in Egypt as a 17-year-old artist. Carter met two people who would change his life: British Egyptologist Flinders Petrie, who inspired him to be an archaeologist, and Lord Carnarvon, a keen amateur Egyptologist who hired Carter to help him.

Liz travels to Highclere Castle to meet the current Countess of Carnarvon. Carnarvon and Carter both yearned to find what nobody had ever discovered before, a pharaoh’s tomb with its treasures still intact. Carter became convinced that Tutankhamun’s tomb lay undiscovered in an ancient royal burial ground known as The Valley of the Kings, and in 1914 Carnarvon was granted a concession to start excavating there.

But the First World War intervened. Colourisation reveals a changing Egypt. Egyptians were soon pushing for independence from Britain, which claimed Egypt as a protectorate. The politics of the time were to have a profound effect on Carter and Carnarvon.

In December 1917, the meticulous Carter divided the valley up into a grid and began excavating each sector, right down to the bedrock. Colourisation reveals the astonishing scale of the operation that was required.

On 4 November 1922, a water-boy in Carter’s team, Hussein Abdul Rasoul, discovered a flight of steps descending into the bedrock. Carter broke into the tomb to discover first a rubble-filled passageway, then another sealed entrance. As Carter peered in, he declared, ‘It is wonderful.’ The extraordinary collection of objects he saw, including gilded couches, chariots, jewels, statues, and even ancient lunchboxes containing food for the afterlife, were captured in black and white by expert photographer Harry Burton. Using colourisation, we are now able to experience the scene that met their eyes, in incredible detail, almost as though it’s right in front of us.

On 16 February 1923, Carter and Carnarvon broke through into Tutankhamun’s burial chamber. A large blue and gilt shrine filled the room. Opening its doors, Carter discovered sealed doors to another three shrines, one within the next. Within these was a sarcophagus made from yellow quartzite and, within this, a nest of three coffins, also one within the next. For the first time in a century, we reveal each stage in amazing coloured detail. The outermost coffin was gilt, adorned with a garland of flowers. The middle one was inlaid with gold and coloured glass and the innermost was - incredibly - crafted from solid gold.

Finally, within this, was Tutankhamun’s mummy wearing the famous solid gold mask. Colourisation of the rather messy-looking black and white photograph reveals that his wrapped body was actually festooned with colourful jewellery.
The discovery of Tutankhamun’s body also revealed that he died very young, aged 19. This changed the way Tutankhamun was seen around the world. In Europe, the death of a young man hit a chord with so many who had lost their sons in the First World War. In his own country, Tutankhamun became a young and vibrant symbol of a powerful and independent Egypt.


TUE 23:00 The Man Who Shot Tutankhamun (b08h99sb)
Margaret Mountford travels to Egypt's Valley of the Kings to discover the story of an unsung hero of British photography - Harry Burton, the man whose images of the Tutankhamun excavation created a global sensation in the 1920s.

As she explores the spectacular locations where Burton worked, including Tutankhamun's tomb, she investigates how his photographs inspired a craze for Egyptian designs and made the archaeologist Howard Carter an international celebrity. She discovers why Burton's images are still studied today by Egyptologists around the world. And she works with a present-day photographer, Harry Cory Wright, to find out how Burton pushed the boundaries of photographic art to create his extraordinary and influential pictures of the world's most famous archaeological discovery.


TUE 00:00 How to Make (m000gwzd)
Series 1

The Trainer

Zoe Laughlin, designer, maker and materials engineer, is fascinated by the science and technology hidden within the everyday objects we take for granted. In this series, she dismantles and dissects three classic items to understand the wonders of form, function and material that go into making them, before building her own truly bespoke versions, step by step.

In this episode, Zoe takes on the trainer - a much-loved modern classic that's a marvel of engineering and design. Setting out in search of inspiration, she meets some of the UK's leading trainer designers and manufacturers, as well as the young inventors working on mind-blowing sustainable creations such as material made by bacteria and self-deodorising fabrics.

Zoe also goes behind the scenes at Britain's largest footwear factory, where high-speed injection-moulding processes turn out a shoe every nine seconds. And she meets one of the country's pre-eminent trainer historians, Thomas Turner, to find out how our favourite everyday footwear would be nothing without car tyres. All before building her own bespoke trainers. In Zoe's own words, ‘they are mad, but they're mine - and that makes them special!’


TUE 01:00 The Beach: Isolation in Paradise (m000mtkq)
Series 1

Episode 1

Film-maker Warwick Thornton’s international success has come at a personal cost. He has reached a crossroads in his life and something has to change.

He has chosen to try giving up life in the fast lane for a while to go it alone, on an isolated beach in Western Australia, one of the most beautiful yet brutal environments in the world, to see if the experience can transform and heal his life.


TUE 01:25 The Beach: Isolation in Paradise (m000mtkv)
Series 1

Episode 2

Film-maker Warwick Thornton’s international success has come at a personal cost. He has reached a crossroads in his life and something has to change.

He has chosen to try giving up life in the fast lane for a while to go it alone, on an isolated beach in Western Australia, one of the most beautiful yet brutal environments in the world, to see if the experience can transform and heal his life.


TUE 01:55 Great British Railway Journeys (m000w773)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


TUE 02:25 The Flying Archaeologist (b01s1czf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


TUE 02:55 Tutankhamun in Colour (m000k48q)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]



WEDNESDAY 25 MAY 2022

WED 19:00 Great British Railway Journeys (m000wgxd)
Series 13

Chislehurst to Kennington

Michael continues his journeys in greater London. Beginning on its southeastern fringe in the leafy and historic village of Chislehurst, Michael finds surprising imperial connections and a dark labyrinth beneath. Michael discovers that during the years between the wars, a mushroom farm thrived in the 22 miles of man-made passages and tunnels. Once war broke out, however, he finds that the caves became one of the largest public air raid shelters in the land, offering refuge to up to 15,000 people.

Next stop is Eltham, boyhood haunt of Henry VIII, who grew up in its grand royal palace. Michael investigates how, in the early 1930s, a wealthy couple rescued it from dereliction and created their own 'grand design' of the day. Stephen and Virginia Courtauld restored the magnificent great hall and added a vast new mansion, which embraced the art deco style and mod cons of the period. Michael marvels at the opulent design and the glamorous cocktail parties hosted by the pair.

Heading into the heart of London, Michael stops in Peckham, where he is keen to find out about the founder of Britain’s first civil rights movement, Jamaican-born doctor Harold Moody. At Theatre Peckham, Michael joins a cultural historian and campaigner and an artist to explore Dr Moody’s landmark fight against racial discrimination.

After a meat pie and eels with liquor at a Peckham pie and mash shop help to keep body and soul together, Michael takes the tube to Kennington to investigate the south London roots of a child born into poverty who became, after the First World War, the most famous man in the world. At the former grim Victorian workhouse that now houses the Cinema Museum, Michael discovers that Charlie Chaplin was once a resident. Michael learns about his extraordinary life and films, including his most enduring role as the Tramp.


WED 19:30 The Flying Archaeologist (b01s1llz)
Hadrian's Wall: Life on the Frontier

Archaeologist Ben Robinson flies over Hadrian's Wall to reveal a new view of its history. The first full aerial survey of Hadrian's Wall has helped uncover new evidence about the people who once lived there. Carried out over the last few years by English Heritage, it is allowing archaeologists to reinterpret the wall. Across the whole landscape hundreds of sites of human occupation have been discovered, showing that people were living here in considerable numbers. Their discoveries are suggesting that far from being a barren military landscape, the whole area was richly populated before during and after the wall was built. There is also exciting new evidence that the Romans were here earlier than previously thought.


WED 20:00 The Story of Scottish Art (b06myf12)
Episode 4

The climactic episode of the series explores how, over the last 100 years, Scottish art has wrestled as never before with questions of identity and exploded like a visual firecracker of different ideas and styles. During the last century, Scottish artists embroiled themselves with some of the most exciting and dynamic art movements ever seen - provoking, participating and creating stimulating works of art that have left an extraordinary legacy.

Lachlan Goudie discovers how artists such as William McCance attempted to bring about a Scottish renaissance in the visual arts, while a creative diaspora of artists such as Alan Davie and William Gear would court controversy and play vital roles in the revolutions of postwar art.

Long before the 'Glasgow Miracle', the Glasgow School of Art was responsible for upholding a very different kind of tradition, of which Lachlan's father was proud to be a part. He discovers how artists such as Joan Eardley helped to bring the city to life, just as John Bellany did for the fishing villages of the east coast. Rebels such as Bruce McLean help explain how conceptual art would come to play such a large role in the Scottish art of today, and Lachlan meets one of the world's most expensive living artists, Peter Doig, to delve into the complexities of what it actually means to be a Scottish artist in today's market-dominated art world. He finishes his epic journey on the Isle of Lewis with a powerful call to arms for the continued relevance of Scottish art today.


WED 21:00 The Hermit of Treig (m0011hp3)
After 40 years of solitude, a spirited elderly hermit tackles ill health, a declining memory, and questions whether he can live out his last years in the wilderness he calls home.


WED 22:00 The Wednesday Play (b007492r)
Cathy Come Home

Landmark 1960s TV play about a young couple and their children who are cruelly overtaken by events which lead them into an unrelenting trap of debt, homelessness and poverty.


WED 23:20 In Conversation (b05z5frg)
Ken Loach in Conversation with Cillian Murphy

Actor Cillian Murphy, who played the lead role in Ken Loach's Palme d'Or-winning film The Wind That Shakes the Barley, talks to the director at the BFI Southbank about a prolific career dedicated to documenting social and political injustice, the importance of artistic collaboration, the often-overlooked humour in Loach's films, and the impact working with Loach had on his own approach to acting.


WED 00:20 Great British Railway Journeys (m000wgxd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


WED 00:50 The Flying Archaeologist (b01s1llz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


WED 01:20 The Story of Scottish Art (b06myf12)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


WED 02:20 The Hermit of Treig (m0011hp3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



THURSDAY 26 MAY 2022

THU 19:00 Great British Railway Journeys (m000wgss)
Series 13

Hackney Wick to Oxford Circus

Michael continues his travels through the capital in the heart of London’s East End. Michael explores Hackney Wick, today transformed from the time of his 1930s Bradshaw’s guide, when factories belched smoke and the Communist Party of Great Britain launched The Daily Worker. Michael hears about the newspaper’s origins and aims from the editor of its modern incarnation, The Morning Star.

A bout in the ring at Repton Boxing Club has Michael floating like a butterfly - if not stinging like a bee - as he discovers one of Britain’s greatest fighters, Ted 'Kid' Lewis. Michael is captivated by the story of the Jewish refugee from the Russian pogroms, who twice became welterweight champion of the world.

A night at one of the earliest railway hotels, the Great Northern, sets the scene for Michael to explore the railway revolution of the interwar years, when around 150 companies were rationalised into the 'big four', heralding a golden age of glamour, speed and style.

In the West End, Michael hunts down London’s oldest surviving Indian restaurant, Veeraswamy, to hear how it was established after its owner found success at the British Empire Exhibition in 1924. Under the watchful eye of the restaurant’s master chef, Michael learns how to make chapatis.


THU 19:30 The Flying Archaeologist (b01s1hnr)
The Thames: Secret War

Archaeologist Ben Robinson flies over the Thames to uncover new discoveries about World War 1. A whole network of trenches has been discovered on The Hoo peninsula. Invisible from the ground, they were recently found from aerial images of the area next to the former Chattenden Barracks. The trenches were used for experimentation and training of soldiers and can be directly linked to trenches used in Belgium in WW1. The trenches are just one feature revealed by the first full aerial survey of the area by English Heritage. Much of the history of this area is being recorded from the air before its destroyed by coastal erosion and development.


THU 20:00 The RKO Story: Tales from Hollywood (b00gfg2q)
Dark Victory

Ed Asner tells the story of RKO Pictures. The 1950s were a time of mounting paranoia, reflected by the studio's ventures into film noir. Robert Mitchum makes his first screen appearance, Val Lewton creates Zombies and Cat People, and the House Un-American Activities Committee stalks its prey.


THU 21:00 Suspicion (b00gmlrx)
Classic thriller in which a timid heiress becomes convinced that her husband is trying to kill her.

After escaping from her oppressive parents, the woman meets and marries a fortune hunter. At first, her happiness prevents her from reflecting on his character, but when events take a sinister twist, she fears that his intentions are murderous.

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, from Frances Iles's novel. Joan Fontaine won an Oscar for her role.


THU 22:35 Angel Face (b00785fw)
Chilling drama about a family chauffeur (Robert Mitchum) who gets embroiled in the murderous schemes of his employer, a beautiful female psychopath (Jean Simmons).


THU 00:05 Secrets of Size: Atoms to Supergalaxies (m0017njc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Monday]


THU 01:05 Great British Railway Journeys (m000wgss)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


THU 01:35 The Flying Archaeologist (b01s1hnr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


THU 02:05 The RKO Story: Tales from Hollywood (b00gfg2q)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]



FRIDAY 27 MAY 2022

FRI 19:00 Tony Bennett - BBC Four Session (b0187wr4)
The truly legendary American singer celebrates his eighty-fifth birthday in fine style, with a special concert at the historic London Palladium. Accompanied by his quartet, Tony Bennett moves effortlessly through a repertoire spanning 60 years, with songs such as Steppin' Out with My Baby, The Good Life, Smile and his favourite, I Left My Heart in San Francisco. He is joined for two unique duets by stellar British singers Cleo Laine and Leona Lewis.


FRI 20:00 Top of the Pops (m0015nxb)
1992 Biggest Hits

The Top of the Pops vaults are opened up to relive some of the classic and biggest songs of 1992.

Featuring the hip-hop and dance of Kris Kross, SL2, Bizarre Inc and Felix to the rock stylings of Manic Street Preachers and Primal Scream, as well as the emergence of boy band royalty Take That, Miley’s dad Billy Ray getting the line dancing going, divas in the form of Annie Lennox and Mariah Carey - and, of course, Jimmy Nail. Plus many more.


FRI 21:00 Jeff Buckley: Everybody Here Wants You (m0017njl)
Jeff Buckley, a prodigiously talented guitarist and songwriter, drowned accidentally in 1997 at the age of 30.

Actor Brad Pitt, fellow musicians and Buckley's mother are among those contributing to this portrait of a cult performer who, with his 1994 album Grace, emerged as one of the most acclaimed, eclectic and original rock artists of recent times.


FRI 22:00 Popular Voices at the BBC (b09ffzkd)
Series 1

Showstoppers

This compilation is a companion piece to the Showstoppers episode of Gregory Porter's Popular Voices, celebrating bravura singers who bring the house down with their showstopping vocal delivery and performances. We take a look back through the archives as some of the biggest names in popular music history have stopped by the BBC studios to dazzle us with their jaw-dropping brilliance.

From Mahalia Jackson's breathtaking gospel delivery to Ella Fitzgerald's rapid-fire scat; Tom Jones and Dusty Springfield's 60s big balladry to the soul divas of the 80s and beyond; alongside superb vocal eccentrics like Kate Bush and Bjork; and the staggering vocal range of Jeff Buckley, captured in his only BBC performance on The Late Show in 1994 - these performances all have the wow factor in common.

Featuring clips from various BBC programmes including How It is, Dusty, Top of the Pops, It's Lulu and Wogan, these are our showstoppers.


FRI 23:00 Gregory Porter's Popular Voices (p05d3p0d)
Series 1

Showstoppers

Gregory Porter explores 100 years of voices on the brink, those that go one note higher, turn it up to eleven and make the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end.

Starting with the world's first pop star, the legendary Italian tenor Enrico Caruso, Gregory explores the sound and work of his favourite vocal showstoppers - the genius of Ella Fitzgerald, the soul of Mahalia Jackson, the power and stagecraft of Freddie Mercury, the artistry and extravagance of Prince, and the modern melisma of Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey. With Dave Grohl, Beck, Adam Lambert, Wendy & Lisa.


FRI 00:00 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 00:40 Top of the Pops (m0015nxb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


FRI 01:40 Jeff Buckley: Everybody Here Wants You (m0017njl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


FRI 02:40 Tony Bennett - BBC Four Session (b0187wr4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]




LIST OF THIS WEEK'S PROGRAMMES
(Note: the times link back to the details; the pids link to the BBC page, including iPlayer)

An Art Lovers' Guide 19:00 SAT (b08ps5rd)

An Art Lovers' Guide 02:15 SAT (b08ps5rd)

Angel Face 22:35 THU (b00785fw)

Beck 21:00 SAT (p0c3yncb)

Christopher Lee's Ghost Stories for Christmas 22:05 SUN (m0017nhn)

Earth from Space 20:00 MON (p072n8b8)

Earth from Space 01:30 MON (p072n8b8)

Great British Railway Journeys 19:00 MON (m000w7fr)

Great British Railway Journeys 00:30 MON (m000w7fr)

Great British Railway Journeys 19:00 TUE (m000w773)

Great British Railway Journeys 01:55 TUE (m000w773)

Great British Railway Journeys 19:00 WED (m000wgxd)

Great British Railway Journeys 00:20 WED (m000wgxd)

Great British Railway Journeys 19:00 THU (m000wgss)

Great British Railway Journeys 01:05 THU (m000wgss)

Gregory Porter's Popular Voices 23:00 FRI (p05d3p0d)

Handmade: By Royal Appointment 00:00 MON (b07fky64)

Holst and Vaughan Williams: Making Music English 19:00 SUN (b0bshhss)

Holst and Vaughan Williams: Making Music English 00:00 SUN (b0bshhss)

Horror Express 22:35 SUN (b007486s)

How to Make 00:00 TUE (m000gwzd)

In Conversation 23:20 WED (b05z5frg)

Inside Classical 20:00 SUN (m0017nhj)

Inside Classical 01:00 SUN (m0017nhj)

Jeff Buckley: Everybody Here Wants You 21:00 FRI (m0017njl)

Jeff Buckley: Everybody Here Wants You 01:40 FRI (m0017njl)

Keeping Up Appearances 00:45 SAT (b007b6my)

Keeping Up Appearances 20:00 TUE (b007b6rh)

Popular Voices at the BBC 22:00 FRI (b09ffzkd)

Rick Stein's Long Weekends 20:00 SAT (b083w5nl)

Rick Stein's Long Weekends 01:15 SAT (b083w5nl)

Secrets of Size: Atoms to Supergalaxies 21:00 MON (m0017njc)

Secrets of Size: Atoms to Supergalaxies 02:30 MON (m0017njc)

Secrets of Size: Atoms to Supergalaxies 00:05 THU (m0017njc)

Suspicion 21:00 THU (b00gmlrx)

Talking Pictures 21:30 SUN (b062nnwl)

The Beach: Isolation in Paradise 01:00 TUE (m000mtkq)

The Beach: Isolation in Paradise 01:25 TUE (m000mtkv)

The Flying Archaeologist 19:30 MON (b01s1ll4)

The Flying Archaeologist 01:00 MON (b01s1ll4)

The Flying Archaeologist 19:30 TUE (b01s1czf)

The Flying Archaeologist 02:25 TUE (b01s1czf)

The Flying Archaeologist 19:30 WED (b01s1llz)

The Flying Archaeologist 00:50 WED (b01s1llz)

The Flying Archaeologist 19:30 THU (b01s1hnr)

The Flying Archaeologist 01:35 THU (b01s1hnr)

The Hermit of Treig 21:00 WED (m0011hp3)

The Hermit of Treig 02:20 WED (m0011hp3)

The Man Who Shot Tutankhamun 23:00 TUE (b08h99sb)

The Many Faces of... 21:00 TUE (b01pm6lw)

The Old Grey Whistle Test 00:00 FRI (m0010b3p)

The RKO Story: Tales from Hollywood 20:00 THU (b00gfg2q)

The RKO Story: Tales from Hollywood 02:05 THU (b00gfg2q)

The Ruth Ellis Files: A Very British Crime Story 22:00 MON (b09w3m05)

The Story of Scottish Art 20:00 WED (b06myf12)

The Story of Scottish Art 01:20 WED (b06myf12)

The Wednesday Play 22:00 WED (b007492r)

Timeshift 23:00 MON (b0103pnb)

Tony Bennett - BBC Four Session 19:00 FRI (b0187wr4)

Tony Bennett - BBC Four Session 02:40 FRI (b0187wr4)

Top of the Pops 20:00 FRI (m0015nxb)

Top of the Pops 00:40 FRI (m0015nxb)

Tutankhamun in Colour 22:00 TUE (m000k48q)

Tutankhamun in Colour 02:55 TUE (m000k48q)

Vikings 22:30 SAT (b01mxt26)

Vikings 02:35 SUN (b01mxt26)

Wogan: The Best Of 23:30 SAT (b05pzpx2)

Yes, Prime Minister 00:15 SAT (b0074s30)

Yes, Prime Minister 20:30 TUE (b0074s32)