RADIO-LISTS: BBC FOUR
Unofficial Weekly Listings for BBC 4 — supported by bbc.co.uk/programmes/
SATURDAY 25 JUNE 2022
SAT 19:00 Glastonbury (m0018s1q)
2022
Celeste
Huw Stephens introduces a performance from one of the country’s most successful new stars. Singer-songwriter Celeste won both the BBC ‘Sound of...’ poll and the Brit Rising Star Award in 2019. Her voice has been compared to Billie Holiday and Amy Winehouse, and she’s been described by NME as ‘the finest British soul singer to emerge in years’.
Last year, her song Hear My Voice from the soundtrack of the film The Trial of the Chicago 7 was nominated for an Academy Award. Performing on the West Holts Stage, she’s sure to enthral the audience with songs from her critically acclaimed debut album in 2021, Not Your Muse, which topped the album charts.
SAT 20:00 Michael Palin: Travels of a Lifetime (m000npbl)
Series 1
Episode 3
In his third series, Michael Palin took on his most ambitious journey yet – a 50,000-mile route around the Pacific Rim, taking in Russia, China, Vietnam, Australia and New Zealand and North and South America. This huge undertaking stretches him and the crew to their limits, and it sees Michael adopt a more investigative role as he seeks to get under the skin of the places he visits – from a booming South Korea to Colombia with its drug wars and poverty.
The journey starts in Alaska, then takes Michael to far eastern Russia, an area that has only recently become accessible in post-Soviet times. He visits the site of a gulag with a survivor of the camps and reflects on the evils of the system that devised such a place. Keen to see how Asia is booming, he moves on to China and is struck by the huge changes going on – buildings going up everywhere and the economy starting to boom in ways that seem to echo the Industrial Revolution in Britain. In South Korea, he sees more economic progress and finds out how the country has developed away from the oppressive influence of Japan. He then enters North Korea – but only for a moment. In Vietnam, Michael encounters more rapid social and economic development and also considers the legacy of the Vietnam War as he visits a relic of the conflict.
After his journey is delayed by his need to fly home to see his wife, who has become ill, there are doubts about whether Michael will continue. But he does, taking on South America and experiencing a magical trip through the Pongo de Mainique gorge in Peru – one of his favourites of all his destinations. In Bogota, Michael is faced with a bleaker side of the continent, seeing the effects of drugs, poverty and crime in the company of a British journalist. And he sees more desperation at the Mexican-American border, before returning to Alaska, where he only just fails to complete the circle due to bad weather.
SAT 21:00 Inspector Montalbano (m000nnzg)
The Safety Net
A Swedish film troupe arrives to shoot a period drama in Vigata. Augello immediately takes a shine to the production's female lead.
When Montalbano intervenes in a case of bullying at a local school, a town resident asks the inspector to unearth the story behind a collection of mysterious home movies found in his dead father's attic.
In Italian with English subtitles.
SAT 22:40 Francesco's Mediterranean Voyage (b00csp2p)
The Peloponnese
Architect and historian Francesco da Mosto embarks on a journey across the Mediterranean sea. The Black Swan docks near Athens - on route for Istanbul - so Francesco heads off alone on motorbike into the wild west of Greece, the Peloponnese. Here the people in the south have a reputation for, at best, unfriendliness, and it isn't long before Francesco runs into trouble with the locals. But there is plenty to marvel at.
Mystra, the ruined Byzantine town, once known as 'the Florence of the East', the ancient theatre at Epidaurus where a stage-whisper can be heard throughout an auditorium seating thousands, a tiny cave-like church that boasts incredible frescoes, and Vathia - the abandoned town of towers where neighbour fought against neighbour to get the upper hand.
Meanwhile, in the aptly named region of Arkadia, Francesco finds a sweet surprise - a field of beehives where the bees make the best honey in Greece and the biggest worry bead shop in Greece. At Methoni, he visits a great Venetian fortress at the sea's edge, the site of a massacre of his ancestors at the hands of the Ottoman empire.
SAT 23:10 Francesco's Mediterranean Voyage (b00csp3w)
The Cyclades
Francesco da Mosto continues his sea tour around the Mediterranean from Venice to Istanbul by visiting the magical, mystical Greek islands known as the Cyclades.
First stop is the most sacred island of all, Delos, the birthplace of the god Apollo. Francesco encounters the lions of Delos and the great phalli of Dionysus.
On Tinos, a place of miracle and pilgrimage, he meets a woman who crawls on her hands and knees for a kilometre uphill to give thanks to the Virgin Mary for the recovery of her sick husband.
The island of Naxos was a key port for the Venetian empire and even the houses feel Italian - a home-from-home for the travel-weary Francesco, who enjoys the island's traditional and very strong liqueur.
After a spot of octopus hunting, Francesco arrives at the great sunken, flooded volcano of Santorini which boasts a civilisation older than the Classical world and the best sunset in Greece.
SAT 23:40 Face to Face (m000th87)
Simone Signoret
John Freeman interviews Oscar-winning actress Simone Signoret, most famous for her roles in La Ronde, Les Diaboliques and Room at the Top.
SAT 00:10 Ever Decreasing Circles (b036d6db)
Series 1
A Strange Woman
Martin and certain others in the Close are nearly scandalised by Paul's outlandish behaviour, burning perfectly good house signs and entertaining scantily clad women in his back garden.
SAT 00:40 Keeping Up Appearances (b007b7cy)
Series 4
Country Retreat
Sitcom. Hyacinth's plans to buy a small weekend retreat in the country take an unexpected turn, and Richard has an unexpected fall.
SAT 01:10 Michael Palin: Travels of a Lifetime (m000npbl)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 today]
SAT 02:10 The Chronicles of Erne (m000fv4r)
Series 1
Spring
The landscape begins to emerge from winter and retired school teacher Pat Lunny takes a boat trip to his usual haunts around the islands on Lower Lough Erne, just above his hometown of Enniskillen.
Across the lough on White North Island, Amy Burns from RSPBNI moves highland cattle to some of the charity's other island reserves.
At Ely Lodge, Dublin-born painter Lorna Smyth begins a year-long project of painting landscapes around Lough Erne. She explains her process of taking sketches to form a 'collage of memories' which she then converts to oil paintings in her home studio.
As the Erne gears up for better weather, Enniskillen Royal Boat Club members take part in the Head of the Erne rowing race while on the Broad Lough, retired engineers Robert Navan and Mike Kingston search for sunken Catalinas.
In the woodlands of Castle Archdale, nature writer Dara McAnulty enjoys spring with his family and at Drumgallon Row, while members of the community group the Erne put a new skin on their traditional hand-built Irish currach called the Menapian.
SAT 02:40 The Chronicles of Erne (m000g2b6)
Series 1
Summer
It’s summer, and the Erne is busy with summer visitors. Over the next few months, it is transformed into a giant watery playground welcoming hundreds of thousands of visitors from all over the world. But away from a busy tourist season, nature is also buzzing away enjoying the longer days and warmer weather.
In early summer, mayfly begin to hatch, and fisherman Michael Shortt is fly fishing for trout. It is also the nesting season for curlews, and Amy Burns from RSPB NI is travelling to island reserves to install cameras and measure and monitor the eggs.
At Castle Archdale, nature writer Dara McAnulty is pond dipping. He catches a dragonfly nymph and explains how it uses a jet propulsion system to get around the pond. Later in the programme he watches adult dragonflies and talks about how he has experienced bullying at school because of his autism and love of nature.
On the lough, the members of Row the Erne are rowing their hand-built traditional Irish currach to Devenish Island for an evening picnic and swim.
It's summer solstice, and painter Lorna Smyth joins a group from the Share Discovery Village who are paddling to Trannish Island, and in the island town of Enniskillen, Pat Lunny watches his grandson take part in his first open-water swimming race.
We meet French chef Pascal Brissaud, whose Watermill restaurant is on the bank of the Upper Lough. Summer is a busy time of year, but he relishes in the challenge of looking after people, and when things get too busy, looking at the lake calms him down.
SUNDAY 26 JUNE 2022
SUN 19:00 Queen Victoria: My Musical Britain (m00052ds)
To celebrate Queen Victoria’s 200th birthday, historian Dr Lucy Worsley explores the character and legacy of the famous monarch in a way that has never been attempted before – through music. Lucy reveals how Victoria used music to transform the monarchy from a political power into a benevolent cultural force that brought the country together during a time of great upheaval and change. Lucy also examines the central role music played in Victoria’s own life - as a queen, a private person and in her marriage to Prince Albert.
Victoria and Albert also took an active role in reshaping the musical culture of Britain by establishing institutions like the Royal College of Music and the Royal Albert Hall. Together they laid the groundwork for a musical renaissance in Britain which saw a new generation of great British composers reshape the sound of Britain in the 20th century. To bring the story of Britain’s great musical revolution to life there are performances from Sir Willard White, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Black Dyke Brass Band and many more.
SUN 20:00 Glastonbury (m0018s1w)
2022
Herbie Hancock & Kacey Musgraves
On the final day of the festival, Huw Stephens and Jamz Supernova introduce highlights from performances by two outstanding American artists. First up is jazz funk keyboard icon Herbie Hancock. Having released over 40 studio albums throughout a career that spans over 60 years, he’s sure to get the Pyramid Stage crowd bopping.
Herbie is followed by Kacey Musgraves who, despite her young age, is already becoming a legend of country music, having won seven Country Music Awards and six Grammys since she released her first album in 2013. Hailing from Texas, her influences range from Cher to the Bee Gees to Sade, and her pop/country crossover songs are sure to enrapture the audience as she performs on the Other Stage.
SUN 21:00 Glastonbury (m0018s1y)
2022
Angélique Kidjo & JARV IS…
Hailing from Benin in west Africa, singer Angélique Kidjo has been labelled ‘Africa’s premier diva’ by Time magazine. Her musical influences are diverse and include Afropop, Caribbean zouk, Congolese rumba, jazz, gospel and Latin. She’s sure to lift the spirits of the crowd as she takes her upbeat rhythms to the West Holts Stage.
Following Angélique is a performance from the Park Stage by JARV IS…, the eclectic rock band led by Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker. Formed in 2017 to perform at Sigur Rós's Norður og Niður festival in Iceland, the group was ‘conceived as a way of writing songs in collaboration with an audience’. Their debut album Beyond the Pale was released in 2020 to widespread critical acclaim.
SUN 22:00 Glastonbury (m0018s20)
2022
Pet Shop Boys
Jo Whiley introduces award-winning and best-selling synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys as they headline the Other Stage on the final day of this year’s festival. Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe have an enviable back catalogue of hits, having sold more than 100 million records worldwide since they emerged in the early 1980s. Expect a show full of songs you can sing along to, from West End Girls and Always on My Mind to It’s a Sin, Go West and many more.
They also know how to put on a show, and this performance is part of their current Dreamworld: The Greatest Hits Live tour, which has received five-star reviews. So, look forward to a full live band, costume changes and plenty of awesome tunes.
SUN 23:30 Charley Pride - I'm Just Me (m0006gzh)
Music documentary that traces the improbable journey of Charley Pride, from his humble beginnings as a sharecropper’s son on a cotton farm in segregated Sledge, Mississippi to his career as a black American League baseball player and his meteoric rise as a trailblazing country music superstar.
Pride’s love for music led him from the Delta to a larger, grander world. In the 1940s, radio transcended racial barriers, making it possible for Pride to grow up listening to and imitating Grand Ole Opry stars like Ernest Tubb and Roy Acuff. Pride arrived in Nashville in 1963 with the city embroiled in sit-ins and racial violence. But with boldness, perseverance and undeniable musical talent, he managed to parlay a series of fortuitous encounters with music industry insiders into a legacy of hit singles, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and a place in the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Narrated by Grammy-nominated country singer Tanya Tucker, the film features original interviews with country music royalty as well as on-camera conversations between Pride and the programme’s other guests.
SUN 00:45 Sound Waves: The Symphony of Physics (b08h06tq)
Series 1
Making Sound
Dr Helen Czerski investigates the extraordinary science behind the sounds we're familiar with and the sounds that we normally can't hear.
She begins by exploring the simplest of ideas: what is a sound? At the Palace of Westminster, Helen teams up with scientists from the University of Leicester to carry out state-of-the-art measurements using lasers to reveal how the most famous bell in the world - Big Ben - vibrates to create pressure waves in the air at particular frequencies. This is how Big Ben produces its distinct sound. It's the first time that these laser measurements have been done on Big Ben.
With soprano singer Lesley Garrett CBE, Helen explores the science of the singing voice - revealing in intimate detail its inner workings and how it produces sound. Lesley undergoes a laryngoscopy to show the vocal folds of her larynx. At University College London, Lesley sings I Dreamed a Dream inside an MRI scanner to reveal how her vocal tract acts as a 'resonator', amplifying and shaping the sound from her larynx.
Having explored the world of sounds with which we are familiar, Helen discovers the hidden world of sounds that lie beyond the range of human hearing. At the summit of Stromboli, one of Europe's most active volcanoes, Helen and volcanologist Dr Jeffrey Johnson use a special microphone to record the extraordinary deep tone produced by the volcano as it explodes - a frequency far too low for the human ear to detect. Helen reveals how the volcano produces sound in a similar way to a musical instrument - with the volcano vent acting as a 'sound resonator'.
Finally, at the University of Cambridge's Institute of Astronomy, Helen meets a scientist who has discovered evidence of sound waves in space, created by a giant black hole. These sounds are one million billion times lower than the limit of human hearing and could be the key in figuring out how galaxy clusters, the largest structures in the universe, grow.
SUN 01:45 Sound Waves: The Symphony of Physics (b08h9ctd)
Series 1
Using Sound
Dr Helen Czerski examines the extraordinary messages sound waves carry and how they help us understand the world around us.
Visiting a hidden location buried beneath the hills of Scotland, Helen experiences some of the most extreme acoustics in the world. Here she learns just how much information can be carried by sound. She discovers how sound has driven the evolution of truly incredible biological systems and complex relationships between creatures that exploit sound for hunting - and escaping from predators. Helen demonstrates how sound waves diffract (bend around objects) and in doing so help us sense danger and locate it.
Through the story of a cochlea implant patient Helen explores the complicated way our ears can translate sound waves - a physical vibration in the air - into an electrical signal our brain can understand.
Helen explains how we are not limited to passively detecting sound waves, we can also use them to actively probe the world. From detecting submarines to uncovering the secrets of our planet, sound waves are instrumental in revealing things hidden from the world of light. On the cold North Sea, Helen investigates how marine archaeologists are using sound waves to uncover the remarkable human stories buried beneath the sea. Yet we are not limited to using sound waves here on Earth, as Helen explains how sound has been used to better understand distant, alien worlds in the outer solar system.
SUN 02:45 Queen Victoria: My Musical Britain (m00052ds)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 today]
MONDAY 27 JUNE 2022
MON 19:00 Cricket: Today at the Test (m0018s5q)
England v New Zealand 2022
Third Test: Day Five Highlights
Highlights from the fifth day at Headingley, where England hope to wrap up a clean sweep against the world's number one Test side, New Zealand, in the first series played under Ben Stokes' captaincy.
MON 20:00 Building Britain's Biggest Nuclear Power Station (m000wnn4)
Series 1
Episode 1
With unique behind-the-scenes access, this series follows the construction workers at Hinkley Point C, Britain’s biggest and newest nuclear power station, which is being built in a remote corner of the Somerset countryside.
With a price tag of over £22 billion and covering an area the size of 250 football pitches, this extraordinary construction site is one of the largest in Europe and the UK’s first new nuclear power station for a generation.
This series follows the engineers, technicians and the behind-the-scenes staff who are under pressure to keep the project on track, including building the mammoth foundations for the two nuclear reactors, excavating 3.5km cooling water tunnels out under the Bristol Channel and constructing the critical airtight inner steel lining, designed to contain any radioactive material in the unlikely event of a meltdown.
MON 21:00 A Very British Deterrent (b07v3vzz)
With Trident renewed for another generation, A Very British Deterrent tells the story of the remarkable events, eye-watering costs, power relationships and secret deals done half a century ago to secure Britain's very first submarine-launched nuclear missiles.
In today's turbulent world, it is a story that is more relevant than ever. At the height of the Cold War, a series of political and technical crises came close to leaving Britain without a nuclear weapon of its own. In a time of unprecedented international tension and with the world locked in a terrifying nuclear arms race, one small loch in Scotland became a crucial bargaining chip to keep Britain in the nuclear game.
Using the personal letters of prime ministers and presidents, eye-witness accounts and once-secret documents, this film explores how the British prime minister Harold Macmillan seized every opportunity to further Britain's nuclear ambitions, was prepared to trade a Scottish base for a new American weapon, and even jeopardised the crucial Anglo-American relationship to keep Britain an independent nuclear power.
MON 22:00 Britain's Nuclear Secrets: Inside Sellafield (b065x080)
Lying on the remote north west coast of England is one of the most secret places in the country - Sellafield, the most controversial nuclear facility in Britain. Now, Sellafield are letting nuclear physicist Professor Jim Al-Khalili and the television cameras in to discover the real story. Inside, Jim encounters some of the most dangerous substances on earth, reveals the nature of radiation and even attempts to split the atom. He sees inside a nuclear reactor, glimpses one of the rarest elements in the world - radioactive plutonium - and even subjects living tissue to deadly radiation. Ultimately, the film reveals Britain's attempts - past, present and future - to harness the almost limitless power of the atom.
MON 23:00 Hiroshima (m000lj4b)
A fully dramatised reconstruction of the story of the first atomic bomb deployed in an act of war.
Interviews with both the aircrew who dropped the bomb and the survivors, special visual effects and archive all bring to life the fateful mission of the Enola Gay and the devastating impact of the bomb on the people of Hiroshima.
MON 00:30 Secrets of Skin (m000cf26)
Series 1
Sensing
Professor Ben Garrod explores how some snakes can see using heat, how crocodiles feel through their jaws and how some animals use electricity to navigate their world - and it is all only possible because of remarkable adaptations to their skin.
Whether animals live on land, in the sea, or in subterranean communities, skin is critical in allowing them to sense the world around them, be it to find food, navigate harsh environments or avoid danger. Even the toughest of animals, crocodilians, have a surprisingly sensitive side when it comes to the specialised skin sensors they use to detect the tiniest of ripples in the water. Deadly pit vipers use heat sensors to ambush the small rodents they feed on. Professor Ben Garrod puts them to the test with an experiment to see if they will strike a cold or warm ping-pong ball. He also uncovers how the less-than-attractive leaf-nosed bat puts its facial skin to good use as an acoustic lens to echolocate around its dense forest habitat.
MON 01:00 The Wonder of Animals (b04gbdwr)
Ants
The 100 trillion ants in the world weigh as much as all the people on earth and have colonised the planet like no other animal.
Chris Packham explores the ingenious ways in which ants have collaborated to achieve their global success - natural air-conditioning systems keep ants cool in their nests, shelters made from their own bodies protect nomadic ants from the elements and a sense of smell five times more powerful than other insects allows them to overpower animals hundreds of times larger than themselves.
Remarkably, new research reveals how ant colonies are capable of immunising themselves against diseases.
MON 01:30 A Very British Deterrent (b07v3vzz)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
MON 02:30 Building Britain's Biggest Nuclear Power Station (m000wnn4)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 today]
TUESDAY 28 JUNE 2022
TUE 19:00 Earth's Natural Wonders (b09sqtdw)
Series 2
Surviving against the Odds
In some of the world's most spectacular natural wonders, people push themselves to the limit in order to survive. For the people who call these extraordinary places home, survival requires skill, ingenuity and bravery.
In Brazil, the Kamayura people of the Xingu Indigenous Park believe they must appease the spirits if they are to remain in good health. Fail to make the spirit happy, and ill health could follow. At one key festival, an offering is made to a 'bird spirit'. The villagers must dance to please him. The longer and harder the dance, the happier the spirit will be. To make the festival a success, it is down to Perri and his family to organise a massive fishing expedition. The villagers must catch basketloads of fish to sustain the warrior in their hours of dancing. But catching the fish means venturing into the nearby lake, also home to caiman, electric eels and piranha.
In Ethiopia, belief in a higher power leads villagers in the Tigray region to climb a huge, vertiginous mountainside to reach their church. They believe it's vital and beneficial for their children to be baptised here, despite the obvious dangers. Just 40 days after giving birth, Ngisti must climb 400 metres to have her new son Dawit baptised.
Laos is one of the most fertile places on earth. Despite this, life is dangerous for the rice farmers in this beautiful country. During the Vietnam War, the United States dropped an estimated 270 million bombs on this small country and approximately 80 million of them failed to explode, remaining in the ground to this day. Every year, 300 people are killed or injured by them. A group of bomb-disposal experts, led by 35-year-old Lumngen, clear fields for a new school. It is painstaking work, and a job that comes with obvious risks.
In the North Atlantic, between Scotland, Iceland and Norway, lie the Faroe Islands. Once a year, islanders on one island, Skuvoy, scale the sheer-sided cliffs to obtain a traditional delicacy, fulmar eggs. The birds nest hundreds of feet up the cliffs, and islanders reach them using traditional climbing equipment, including woollen slippers and harnesses. It's a death-defying feat, all for the sake of a traditional delicacy.
In Switzerland, millions of people come to the Alps every year, and take risks for nothing more than pleasure. The hikers, climbers and skiers who come here are drawn by the mountains, but many of them are injured or killed in the pursuit of fun. The programme joins the Zermatt air rescue team on their helicopters as they patrol the area and attempt to save lives.
TUE 20:00 Keeping Up Appearances (b007b9yd)
Series 4
A Celebrity for the Barbecue
Sitcom. Hyacinth invents the outdoors indoors luxury barbecue - a complicated description for an even more complicated culinary event.
TUE 20:30 Ever Decreasing Circles (b036d6dw)
Series 1
Holiday Plans
It's time for members of the Close to go on a holiday outing. Some wish to repeat an earlier trip to the Bavarian Alps, but Paul has something altogether different in mind.
TUE 21:00 Royal History’s Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley (m000p3nq)
Series 2
The French Revolution
'Let them eat cake!' is one of the most famous phrases of history and one that everyone associates with the French Revolution. But did Marie Antoinette – the queen of France - really say it? In this film, Lucy Worsley explores some of the myths and fibs swirling around the Revolution of 1789 and the uprising that brought down the French royal family. This violent revolution became the blueprint of many future revolutions across the world. But what happened during this turbulent period is open to historical manipulation and interpretation.
Lucy discovers that Marie Antoinette never said 'Let them eat cake'. This was a fib used by later historians to help explain why the revolution happened. Historian Michael Rapport explains how the revolution was not started by starving peasants as many assume but was in fact sparked by a group of lawyers and property owners. Along the way, Lucy finds out that Maximilien Robespierre wasn’t simply a bloodthirsty revolutionary who relished violence and wanted to execute everyone who disagreed with him. In his earlier years, he stood against the death penalty and slavery and fought for the rights of France’s Jewish population. And the guillotine was invented by the revolutionaries not as a brutal punishment but as a more egalitarian and humanitarian form of execution.
Depending on your politics and your nationality, Lucy finds out that everyone has a very different take on the French Revolution.
TUE 22:00 Storyville (m0018s57)
Citizen Ashe
Documentary that tells the little-known story of sports legend Arthur Ashe off the tennis court. Known to most on account of his stellar sports career – he became the first black man to win Wimbledon in 1975 – the film uncovers Ashe’s work as a social activist, a role that embraced the civil rights movement in the US, African Americans and oppressed people throughout the world.
TUE 23:30 Talking Tennis (b07k4t1f)
Game Changers
Tennis addict Alistair McGowan serves up another affectionate look back at one of the world's greatest tournaments - Wimbledon. Here he looks at the champions who, over the years, transformed the game, setting new levels of excellence and in some cases shocking us all with their antics.
With classic interviews and rarely seen footage from the BBC's archives, this episode features Billie Jean King and Arthur Ashe breaking down barriers, Becker and Borg representing youth and (male) beauty, Cash and Agassi and the game's fashion changers, Henman and Murray changing Britain's expectations of success and the most changeable feature of any Wimbledon fortnight - the weather.
TUE 00:00 Secret Agent Selection: WW2 (b0b2s8pq)
Series 1
Episode 5
By episode five, eight of the original 14 students have fallen by the wayside, leaving just six survivors to undertake SOE's final scheme - a 24-hour practice mission bringing together all the skills they have learned during training.
TUE 01:00 The Wonder of Animals (b04gvbdr)
Foxes
Across the planet carnivores are struggling to compete in a world with a rocketing human population, but one predator is bucking the trend - the fox. Its numbers are increasing and its geographical range expanding.
Chris Packham explores the secrets to its success - its senses, its intelligence and its flexibility. New research reveals how its slit pupils enable it to hunt in the bright desert day; how it may be using the Earth's magnetic field to determine the location of prey during a pounce; and how regular exposure to rotting food is improving the health of the red fox, enabling it to hold its own in an increasingly urban landscape.
TUE 01:30 Earth's Natural Wonders (b09sqtdw)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 today]
TUE 02:30 Royal History’s Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley (m000p3nq)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
WEDNESDAY 29 JUNE 2022
WED 19:00 The Golden Age of Steam Railways (b01p8w38)
Small Is Beautiful
Two-part documentary telling the remarkable story of a band of visionaries who rescued some of the little narrow gauge railways that once served Britain's industries. These small railways and the steam engines that ran on them were once the driving force of Britain's mines, quarries, factories and docks. Then, as they disappeared after 1945, volunteers set to work to bring the lines and the steam engines back to life and started a movement which spread throughout the world. Their home movies tell the story of how they helped millions reconnect with a past they thought had gone forever.
WED 20:00 Age of the Image (m000g6mj)
Series 1
Power Games
James Fox explores how mass communication and new technology helped 20th-century image-makers transform society, as films, photographs, TV, art and advertising all became weapons in the ideological battles of the age.
James tells the story of Marlene Dietrich and Leni Riefenstahl, who each used cinema to pursue very different visions of power and freedom. We discover how Jewish comic book artists in New York created superheroes as their act of resistance to the Nazi threat. And we find out why a Muhammad Ali magazine cover is one of the most powerful political images of the last century.
In the UK he reveals how Picture Post photographers and directors such as Ken Loach empowered the lives of ordinary people through a new style of film-making and reportage. Travelling from the Normandy beaches where Robert Capa took his famous D-Day photographs to the Nasa control room that first witnessed live images from the moon landings, it’s an exhilarating look at how image-makers discovered the power to influence and change our lives.
WED 21:00 Thatcher: A Very British Revolution (m0005wyb)
Series 1
That Bloody Woman
In episode four of the series Mrs Thatcher and her government seek to transform the British economy with far reaching consequences.
Tensions surface amongst her closest allies as she seeks to improve her public image and events reveal that the Iron Lady has emotional vulnerabilities in relation to her family.
Mrs Thatcher’s reputation amongst some sections of the public is poor. Her forthright style, such as telling the press not to be “moaning minnies” about unemployment when visiting north east England, has led to her being viewed as domineering and unsympathetic. In an embarrassing TV interview she is told that this issue is referred to within her own party as the TBW factor (“that bloody woman”). When colleagues attempt to discuss this problem she becomes angry at the Conservative central office team who bring her the news.
In an attempt to present a softer image Mrs Thatcher opens the doors of Downing Street to cameras and interviewers. Quizzed by Miriam Stoppard about her family, Mrs Thatcher offers insights into her modest upbringing in Grantham and in a startling moment is moved to tears when discussing her father and his departure from his senior position on the local council. The interview also raises questions about her own role as a mother and how she has balanced this with her political career. Her vulnerabilities around family are further exposed when the press ask questions about whether business deals her son is involved in create conflicts of interest.
Meanwhile, her government embarks on a radical transformation of the British economy. Mrs Thatcher is determined that Britain will embrace the free market and entrepreneurship. A programme of privatisation is underway that takes major nationalised industries into the private sector and offers millions of people the opportunity to own shares. It is a hallmark policy that will define the Thatcher years. Additionally, Mrs Thatcher greenlights a transformation of the operations of the City of London. Trading restrictions are lifted and regulation relaxed in the “Big Bang” that will bring a flood of new money into the City and a new generation of young, ambitious financiers. Many find the explosion of wealth and extravagance distasteful and damaging.
As the 1987 election approaches there are serious tensions inside the Conservative Party. Disagreements about strategy and personal differences between some of Mrs Thatcher’s closest advisors have been building. Mrs Thatcher is becoming suspicious of her party colleagues and closer to her inner circle of civil servants and specially appointed advisors. These tensions break out during the 1987 election campaign when polls seem to suggest that Labour are closing on the Conservatives and threatening to deny Mrs Thatcher a third victory. After explosive rows Mrs Thatcher asserts her authority and leads the campaign. When the results come in she has won another landslide victory but relationships with some of her closest allies are damaged forever.
This episode features interviews with Conservative party officials Norman Tebbit and Michael Dobbs, press secretary Bernard Ingham, political secretary Stephen Sherbourne, personal assistant Cynthia Crawford, cabinet member Lord Young, MPs Matthew Parris and Jonathan Aitken and senior civil servants Robin Butler, Charles Powell and Tim Lankester, as well as opposition leader Neil Kinnock and journalist Miriam Stoppard.
WED 22:00 Jeanette Winterson Remembers...Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (m00191l1)
Screenwriter and acclaimed novelist Jeanette Winterson looks back on the iconic drama series Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, which is being shown again as part of the BBC’s centenary celebrations. She recalls how the production came together, what it was like working with cast and crew, and explains why she believes it stands the test of time and remains relevant to this day.
WED 22:05 Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (b00rfpqg)
Episode 1
Seven-year-old Jess lives with her dominating mother until she is rudely removed from her peculiar Pentecostal home and sent to school.
WED 23:00 Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (b00rh93l)
Episode 2
Continuing the acclaimed dramatisation of Jeanette Winterson's novel. Jess, now 16, meets Melanie and falls in love. The pastor, the congregation and Jess's mother begin to suspect, culminating in a devastating denouement in front of a packed congregation. Pastor Finch demands that they renounce their passion for each other and turn their backs on Satan.
WED 00:00 Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (b00rm4x3)
Episode 3
Jess, one year older and seemingly rehabilitated, returns to grace, taking Pastor Finch's sermon at the Blackpool Beach Mission. She meets Katy who replaces Melanie in her affections when it becomes obvious that Melanie has put the past behind her. Her one true friend Elsie is ailing and Cissy Fields, the local undertaker, takes her in when Mother and flock disown her, finally deciding that she is lost. But Jess dreams of books and Oxford.
WED 00:55 Face to Face (m000z8cm)
Jeanette Winterson
Author Jeanette Winterson talks to Jeremy Isaacs about her sexuality, her passionate love of language, writing about sex and her relationship with her parents.
WED 01:35 The Golden Age of Steam Railways (b01p8w38)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 today]
WED 02:35 Thatcher: A Very British Revolution (m0005wyb)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
THURSDAY 30 JUNE 2022
THU 19:00 Coast (b0314n53)
Series 5 (Shortened Versions)
Gower to Anglesey
The team journeys along the south and west coast of Wales. Neil Oliver ventures out to Worm's Head, a snake of land reaching out of the Gower Peninsula. Further up the coast, he finds out about the quarrying heritage of Abereiddi and Porthgain.
Alice Roberts attempts to solve the riddle of the singing sands - what makes some very special British beaches whistle when you walk on them? Alice records the sounds of Porth Oer's beautiful beach to reveal its surprisingly musical secrets.
THU 19:20 imagine... (b09wc6kj)
Winter 2017/18
Ingrid Bergman in Her Own Words
Widely regarded as one of the greatest actresses of the 20th century, Ingrid Bergman's talent was matched only by her incandescent screen presence. From her infamous performance as Ilsa in Casablanca, to her work with directors Alfred Hitchcock and Roberto Rossellini, her performances won her Oscars, Emmys and Golden Globes, as well as a place in Hollywood history.
Ingrid Bergman in her Own Words is a captivating documentary which paints a portrait of her life away from the film and the theatre. Combining access to Bergman's archives of home movie footage, private diaries and letters, read by Oscar-winning Swedish actress Alicia Vikander, with contributions from her children, including Isabella Rossellini, director Stig Bjorkman reveals Bergman's journey from Swedish schoolgirl to Hollywood icon, in a life lived to the full.
THU 21:00 Casablanca (m000mmc2)
Classic romantic drama. Rick's Cafe is a centre for criminals, refugees, resistance fighters and Nazis. Its cynical owner takes risks for no-one - until the arrival of Ilsa.
THU 22:40 Joan of Arc (m000kxwk)
In the 15th century, France is a defeated and ruined nation after the Hundred Years' War against England. 14-year-old farm girl Joan of Arc claims to hear voices from heaven asking her to lead God's army against Orleans and crowning the weak Dauphin Charles VII as King of France. Historical epic.
THU 01:00 Parkinson: The Interviews (m000mmjp)
Series 2
Ingrid Bergman
Michael Parkinson looks back on his meeting with Ingrid Bergman - an actress he confesses to falling in love with the first time he saw her on screen at his local cinema.
THU 01:30 imagine... (b09wc6kj)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:20 today]
FRIDAY 01 JULY 2022
FRI 19:00 Cricket: Today at the Test (m0018s7k)
England v India 2022
Fifth Test: Day One Highlights
Highlights of the first day of the delayed final Test of the 2021 series between England and India.
FRI 20:00 Top of the Pops (m0018s7m)
Tony Dortie presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 25 February 1993 and featuring Annie Lennox, Bizarre Inc, Michael Jackson, Dina Carroll, Shaggy, Tasmin Archer, Bryan Ferry and 2 Unlimited.
FRI 20:30 Top of the Pops (m0018s7p)
Mark Franklin presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 4 March 1993 and featuring Suede, Right Said Fred and Friends, Marxman, k.d. lang, Runrig and 2 Unlimited.
FRI 21:00 BBC Four Sessions (b008yw99)
k.d. lang
Series of unique concerts featuring musicians from around the world at St Luke's in London. Canadian country singer and four-times Grammy Award winner k.d. lang performs together with a 30-strong strings section from the BBC Concert Orchestra. The set features songs from across her 25-year career, including her biggest hit Constant Craving, covers of Neil Young and Leonard Cohen songs, and material from her 2008 album Watershed.
FRI 22:00 Boy George and Culture Club: Karma to Calamity (b054v27d)
In the early 1980s, Culture Club was one of the biggest bands in the world, selling 150 million records worldwide. Formed in London, the band was comprised of Boy George on vocals, Mikey Craig on bass, Roy Hay on guitar and keyboards and Jon Moss on drums. As well as their UK success, the band was huge in the USA - notching up ten top 40 hits. Being part of Band Aid cemented them as stalwarts of the 80s, a band that broke down barriers and left a huge legacy for the stars that came later, before they disbanded in 1986.
However, they are a band with a past as colourful as their music. George had a secret affair with his drummer Jon Moss and when they acrimoniously split, the band fell apart and George descended into heroin addiction. Over the years there have been numerous failed attempts to reunite the band.
In 2014 Culture Club decided to come back together to record a new album and embark on a UK and US tour. Director Mike Nicholls has unique access, following the band as they first meet in George's London home to write new material. However, it's not long before creative differences and tensions from their past begin to emerge. Faultlines develop further when the band travel to Spain to record the new album, spending two weeks working and living together in a remote recording studio.
As the band return to London to prepare for the tour, they suffer a Twitter mauling after their first big public performance on Strictly Come Dancing. Relations are even more strained when George and the band sign to separate managers and a sudden illness threatens the whole reunion.
The film looks at the band's troubled past, examining the themes of success, fame and ego, and reveals the personalities behind one of the most iconic bands of all time.
FRI 23:00 Reel Stories (p06gpybk)
Kylie Minogue
Golden, Geishas and Gordon The Gopher. Dermot O'Leary and Kylie Minogue settle down in the cinema to watch back the twists and turns of a career spanning four decades.
Looking back with a mixture of pride, curiosity and occasional embarrassment, Kylie relives moments of her life as handpicked by Dermot.
Sometimes emotional, often bizarre, always fabulous, Kylie has lived her life on screen, but has never sat down and watched it - until now.
FRI 23:25 LGBTQ+ Hits at the BBC (m0018cg6)
Join us for this celebration of pop’s greatest LGBTQ+ stars whose gender and sexuality are central to the story of their individual careers and the amazing songs they have created.
Our rainbow alliance of amazing artists includes George Michael, Boy George, Freddie Mercury, Beth Ditto, MNEK, Lil Nas X and Barry Manilow. Some pushed boundaries and challenged gender stereotypes from the very start, others only revealed their true selves after years of success and speculation – but all have played their part in changing the world of popular music and the sounds that we listen to and love.
FRI 00:25 Top of the Pops (m0018s7m)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 today]
FRI 00:55 Top of the Pops (m0018s7p)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:30 today]
FRI 01:25 BBC Four Sessions (b008yw99)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
FRI 02:25 Boy George and Culture Club: Karma to Calamity (b054v27d)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:00 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 Very British Deterrent
21:00 MON (b07v3vzz)
A Very British Deterrent
01:30 MON (b07v3vzz)
Age of the Image
20:00 WED (m000g6mj)
BBC Four Sessions
21:00 FRI (b008yw99)
BBC Four Sessions
01:25 FRI (b008yw99)
Boy George and Culture Club: Karma to Calamity
22:00 FRI (b054v27d)
Boy George and Culture Club: Karma to Calamity
02:25 FRI (b054v27d)
Britain's Nuclear Secrets: Inside Sellafield
22:00 MON (b065x080)
Building Britain's Biggest Nuclear Power Station
20:00 MON (m000wnn4)
Building Britain's Biggest Nuclear Power Station
02:30 MON (m000wnn4)
Casablanca
21:00 THU (m000mmc2)
Charley Pride - I'm Just Me
23:30 SUN (m0006gzh)
Coast
19:00 THU (b0314n53)
Cricket: Today at the Test
19:00 MON (m0018s5q)
Cricket: Today at the Test
19:00 FRI (m0018s7k)
Earth's Natural Wonders
19:00 TUE (b09sqtdw)
Earth's Natural Wonders
01:30 TUE (b09sqtdw)
Ever Decreasing Circles
00:10 SAT (b036d6db)
Ever Decreasing Circles
20:30 TUE (b036d6dw)
Face to Face
23:40 SAT (m000th87)
Face to Face
00:55 WED (m000z8cm)
Francesco's Mediterranean Voyage
22:40 SAT (b00csp2p)
Francesco's Mediterranean Voyage
23:10 SAT (b00csp3w)
Glastonbury
19:00 SAT (m0018s1q)
Glastonbury
20:00 SUN (m0018s1w)
Glastonbury
21:00 SUN (m0018s1y)
Glastonbury
22:00 SUN (m0018s20)
Hiroshima
23:00 MON (m000lj4b)
Inspector Montalbano
21:00 SAT (m000nnzg)
Jeanette Winterson Remembers...Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit
22:00 WED (m00191l1)
Joan of Arc
22:40 THU (m000kxwk)
Keeping Up Appearances
00:40 SAT (b007b7cy)
Keeping Up Appearances
20:00 TUE (b007b9yd)
LGBTQ+ Hits at the BBC
23:25 FRI (m0018cg6)
Michael Palin: Travels of a Lifetime
20:00 SAT (m000npbl)
Michael Palin: Travels of a Lifetime
01:10 SAT (m000npbl)
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit
22:05 WED (b00rfpqg)
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit
23:00 WED (b00rh93l)
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit
00:00 WED (b00rm4x3)
Parkinson: The Interviews
01:00 THU (m000mmjp)
Queen Victoria: My Musical Britain
19:00 SUN (m00052ds)
Queen Victoria: My Musical Britain
02:45 SUN (m00052ds)
Reel Stories
23:00 FRI (p06gpybk)
Royal History’s Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley
21:00 TUE (m000p3nq)
Royal History’s Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley
02:30 TUE (m000p3nq)
Secret Agent Selection: WW2
00:00 TUE (b0b2s8pq)
Secrets of Skin
00:30 MON (m000cf26)
Sound Waves: The Symphony of Physics
00:45 SUN (b08h06tq)
Sound Waves: The Symphony of Physics
01:45 SUN (b08h9ctd)
Storyville
22:00 TUE (m0018s57)
Talking Tennis
23:30 TUE (b07k4t1f)
Thatcher: A Very British Revolution
21:00 WED (m0005wyb)
Thatcher: A Very British Revolution
02:35 WED (m0005wyb)
The Chronicles of Erne
02:10 SAT (m000fv4r)
The Chronicles of Erne
02:40 SAT (m000g2b6)
The Golden Age of Steam Railways
19:00 WED (b01p8w38)
The Golden Age of Steam Railways
01:35 WED (b01p8w38)
The Wonder of Animals
01:00 MON (b04gbdwr)
The Wonder of Animals
01:00 TUE (b04gvbdr)
Top of the Pops
20:00 FRI (m0018s7m)
Top of the Pops
20:30 FRI (m0018s7p)
Top of the Pops
00:25 FRI (m0018s7m)
Top of the Pops
00:55 FRI (m0018s7p)
imagine...
19:20 THU (b09wc6kj)
imagine...
01:30 THU (b09wc6kj)