SATURDAY 14 JANUARY 2023

SAT 19:00 Arctic with Bruce Parry (b00x9b82)
Siberia

It's summer solstice in Siberia, a time of endless daylight and extraordinary festivals.

Bruce Parry journeys to meet the Sakha horse people and a remote encampment of Eveny reindeer herders in the wild Verkhoyansk Mountains, where he finds out how they are embracing the challenges of a post-Soviet Arctic.

For Bruce, it's also a journey of personal discovery as he goes in search of the ancient shamanic religion of these wild northern lands.


SAT 20:00 Natural World (b08k9xbm)
2017-2018

Puerto Rico: Island of Enchantment

David Attenborough tells the revealing story of this Caribbean island's exotic but vulnerable wildlife. A team of conservation champions are making it their mission to save the most precious species. We see how Puerto Rican parrots, manatees and turtles are now making a comeback.


SAT 21:00 Mystery Road: Origin (p0dp7sm7)
Episode 3

Ordered off the investigation, but still probing, Jay finds that family takes many forms, while a murder from Mary’s past stirs anger.


SAT 21:55 Mystery Road: Origin (p0dp7thj)
Episode 4

A confessed killer is in jail, but there are doubts he is truly guilty. Jay links Jack to a corporate fraud, and Max faces a new 'Ned Kelly'.


SAT 22:50 Early Doors (b0078k7h)
Series 1

Episode 3

Comedy series set in a small Manchester public house. Policemen Phil and Nige have a near-death experience. Jean's hopes of going to Crete are dashed. The temporary traffic lights are still troubling Eddie. Duffy and Joe help Liam come clean, and there's a big surprise in store as Tommy and Eddie witness Liam's talent.


SAT 23:20 Early Doors (b0078kbl)
Series 1

Episode 4

Comedy series set in a small Manchester public house. Tension mounts as the winner of the football card is announced. Duffy and Joe advise Liam on how to win back a lost love. Jean is hoping desperately that she'll be able to go to Crete.


SAT 23:50 To the Manor Born (b007bl9n)
Series 3

Horse vs Cars

Stately sitcom. A repair bill for Audrey's Rolls-Royce finally convinces her to revert to four-legged horsepower.


SAT 00:20 The Many Faces of... (b018nvwc)
Series 1

Les Dawson

Les Dawson was one of Britain's all time great comedy talents, best known as a comedian but also a talented musician, writer and actor. This programme traces his career, with familiar favourite TV clips and some rare gems from the archives. Together with interviews from friends, relatives and colleagues, the programme unpicks the secrets of his enduring legacy nearly 20 years after his untimely death.

After 'discovery' on the Opportunity Knocks talent show in the 60s, he quickly became a regular face on TV, hosting comedy-led variety shows like Sez Les and The Les Dawson Show. His trademarks were short, pithy jokes, usually targeting his wife or mother in law, long verbose monologues and, perhaps most famously, piano recitals that went hilariously off key.

His reputation attracted guest appearances from some unexpected fans like John Cleese and Shirley Bassey, and he created an overweight dance troupe, The Roly Polys.

The programme shows how his career unfolded and illustrates the different facets of his comedy genius. John Cleese remembers their unlikely friendship, modern comedy stars Robert Webb and Russell Kane talk about his inspiration and Dawson's widow Tracy recalls their marriage and his joy at being a father late in life.


SAT 01:20 Vienna: Empire, Dynasty and Dream (b0851kfd)
Episode 2

Simon Sebag Montefiore tells the story of Vienna, triumphant after the Ottoman threat receded at the end of the 17th century. No longer an outpost defending the west from Islamic invaders, the imperial capital was to become the most glittering in the world. The Habsburg emperors transformed the city from a fortress into a great cultural capital. Vienna became a city that would define the arts; a magnet for musicians, including Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven.


SAT 02:20 Arctic with Bruce Parry (b00x9b82)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]

SUNDAY 15 JANUARY 2023

SUN 19:00 Come Dancing (m001h870)
1979

Episode 3

Terry Wogan introduces another round in the classic interregional amateur dance contest as Scotland take on Northern Ireland at the Civic Centre, Motherwell. Ray Moore provides the commentary. Featuring latin, ballroom, old time, formation and disco.


SUN 19:45 Mozart Uncovered (b07dwrgr)
Arias

Conductor Charles Hazlewood examines arias and duets from Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro and The Magic Flute with soprano Camilla Tilling, tenor Toby Spence and baritone Andrew Shore.


SUN 20:00 Inside Classical (m001h872)
Series 1

Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring

From St David’s Hall in Cardiff, Ryan Bancroft conducts the BBC National Orchestra of Wales to kick off their recent season with a pair of works from the turn of the 20th century. Starting with Sergey Rachmaninov’s vivaciously virtuosic Third Piano Concerto, with its melancholic but dignified opening theme and rhythmically ferocious and hammering finale, you cannot fail to fall in love with the lush orchestral texture and variety of emotional intensities. Originally premiered in 1909 with the composer at the piano, this great and challenging work is played by the versatile and thrilling young pianist, Yeol Eum Son.

Whilst Rachmaninov was in full swing as a much-sought-after concert pianist of the Romantic style, fellow countryman Igor Stravinsky had recently emerged as a great avant-garde composer, well on the road to forging a long creative partnership with ballet impresario Sergei Diaghilev.

Controversial from the outset, Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring still has the power to shock and surprise, as it did at its notorious premiere in Paris. Epic in scale and ferocity, the ballet depicts a pagan ritual in which a chosen sacrificial virgin dances herself to death - the angular contortions and tortured motions are countered by moments of beauty and stillness, reflective of spring and new life.

Tonight’s programme is presented by Josie d’Arby.


SUN 21:25 Stealing Van Gogh (b09pqx4r)
Andrew Graham-Dixon confronts the worlds of high art and seriously organised crime to uncover the true story behind the greatest art heist of the 21st century. In December 2002, two priceless and historically important paintings were stolen from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, in a brutal and audacious robbery by experienced, professional thieves.

But what happened to the masterpieces, and what is their use to criminals who can never sell or display them on the open market? Andrew travels across Europe, moving between the worlds of high art and low crime and meeting policemen, prosecutors and art experts to uncover just how the world of violent and organised crime makes extensive use of stolen art - and how lost masterpieces like these can be successfully recovered.


SUN 22:25 Spike Milligan: Love, Light and Peace (b04tt1yj)
A very personal portrait of the truly unique comedy genius of Spike Milligan, as told in his own words and featuring exclusive home movie footage. With contributions from those who worked with him, lived with him and were inspired by him.


SUN 23:55 Michael Palin's New Europe (b007zmt3)
War and Peace

Michael Palin explores the countries that were for much of his life hidden behind the Iron Curtain but now are very much part of the new Europe of post-Soviet times. From high in the Julian Alps of Slovenia, along the magical coast of Croatia and deep into Bosnia and Serbia, he discovers new countries coming to terms with the bloody wars that created them and now enjoying the peace that prevails. From Dubrovnik, he sails to Albania where he finds a country adapting to a new openness.


SUN 00:55 Ancient Worlds (b00w0dqx)
Come Together

Archaeologist and historian Richard Miles explores the roots of one of the most profound innovations in the human story - civilisation - in the first episode of an epic series that runs from the creation of the first cities in Mesopotamia some 6,000 years ago, to the decline and fall of the Roman Empire.

Starting in Uruk, the 'mother of all cities', in southern Iraq, Richard travels to Syria, Egypt, Anatolia and Greece, tracing the birth and development of technology and culture.


SUN 01:55 Stealing Van Gogh (b09pqx4r)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:25 today]


SUN 02:55 Natural World (b08k9xbm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Saturday]

MONDAY 16 JANUARY 2023

MON 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. He then 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. He takes a trip and is permitted to operate the locomotive.


MON 19:30 The Joy of Painting (m000hjly)
Series 1

Mountain by the Sea

American painter Bob Ross takes on one of his greatest challenges as he paints majestic mountains looming over a colourful seascape in only half an hour.


MON 20:00 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.


MON 21:00 Britain's Lost Masterpieces (b0bgnwy3)
Series 3

Petworth

Petworth House in West Sussex is one of the great Baroque treasure houses of England, and Dr Bendor Grosvenor finds two paintings which he feels warrant investigation: a portrait of a lady from Genoa which was once attributed to Rubens, but Bendor is convinced is by Anthony van Dyck, and a portrait of a young cardinal in the style of Titian, which Bendor believes may be by Titian himself.

The restoration of the possible Titian starts to reveal a painting of two halves - the face and upper parts are the work of a very fine painter indeed, but the lower section with a badly painted hand is found to be a later repair with some very crude stitching adding an extra section of canvas to the bottom of the picture.

While work continues, Bendor travels to Italy to look at some Titian masterpieces to support our understanding of his genius. In Titian's home city of Venice, he explains how the peculiar damp climate of the city led to canvas becoming the preferred medium for Venetian painters. He tells us how colour became the defining characteristic of the city's art and how Anthony van Dyck was so struck by Titian's paintings that he spent years in Italy following in his footsteps to study his techniques.

Bendor's final visit is to the city of Genoa, where the Petworth portrait of a lady was painted. He shows us some works by van Dyck made in the city in support of his attribution of the picture to the Flemish master.

Emma Dabiri explores the story of the third Earl of Egremont, who inherited Petworth in 1763 when he was 12. He had 15 mistresses, who all lived in the house, and he eventually had 43 children - all illegitimate. He died leaving no heir. He had a colourful life and was a friend and patron of JMW Turner. His Petworth Emigration Scheme allowed him to support the journeys of his tenants to start a new life in Canada - though, Emma discovers, it was quite advantageous for the earl to reduce his expanding workforce.

Emma also tells the story of the acceptance of Petworth's extraordinary art collection for the nation in lieu of tax - the first time paintings and sculpture had been used in this way. A new act of parliament was required, and Petworth became a pioneering arrangement that has led to similar
bequests elsewhere.


MON 22:00 The US and the Holocaust (p0dm3fnf)
Series 1

Yearning to Breathe Free (1938-1942)

After Kristallnacht, Germany’s Jews are desperate to escape Hitler’s tyranny. Americans are united in their disapproval of the Nazis’ brutality, but remain divided on whether and even how to act as World War II begins. Charles Lindbergh speaks for isolationists, while FDR tries to support Europe’s democracies. The Nazis invade the Soviet Union, and the Holocaust begins in secret.


MON 00:10 The Joy of Painting (m000hjly)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


MON 00:40 Hope Street (p0ddgj0l)
Series 2

Episode 8

Still reeling from the state she found her dad in last night, Niamh suggests he might be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder following his car crash. A furious Finn flies off the handle – Niamh doesn’t know what she’s talking about.


MON 01:25 Great British Railway Journeys (m0002fmn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


MON 01:55 Vienna: Empire, Dynasty and Dream (b08651j3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


MON 02:55 Mozart Uncovered (b07dwrgr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:45 on Sunday]

TUESDAY 17 JANUARY 2023

TUE 19:00 Great British Railway Journeys (m0002fpx)
Series 10

Maltby to Hinckley

Michael Portillo continues his tour of Britain’s industrial heartlands guided by his early 20th-century Bradshaw’s. Michael heads for Maltby, where he is caught up with the thrill of the chase as he investigates the high-octane sport of whippet racing. He learns how this 'poor man’s sport' grew during the 19th century in the mining towns of the north and retains its appeal today.
From Derby, Michael heads for nearby Kedleston Hall, built for the Curzon family in 1765 and home to the first Marquess, Lord Curzon, Viceroy of India, at the turn of the 20th century. Michael learns of Curzon’s passion for architecture and art, and discovers how he protected Britain’s heritage.
Michael’s taste buds are sorely tested in Burton-on-Trent, where he endeavours to understand the appeal of a dark Edwardian spread which is loved – and hated – all over Britain. Even an arch fan may fail to get him to acquire the taste.
On arrival at Hinckley station, Michael is whisked by motorbike to the Triumph factory, where he discovers how these iconic vehicles were developed at the beginning of the 20th century. The first motorcycle to be built, in 1902, and a world-famous 1960s motorbike are housed here.


TUE 19:30 The Joy of Painting (m000hjl3)
Series 1

Towering Peaks

See American painter Bob Ross create in real time one of his best-known works - the majestic, snow-covered mountain, complete with rolling foothills, leafy trees, bushes and a serene lake.


TUE 20:00 To the Manor Born (b007881n)
Series 3

Birds vs Bees

Audrey starts a business selling honey. A rare bee-eating bird spotted by Marjorie brings lots of people to the village. Audrey sees this as an ideal opportunity to sell her honey.


TUE 20:30 The Mistress (m001h87q)
Series 1

Episode 2

Comedy series by Carla Lane, starring Felicity Kendal as Maxine who is the mistress of Luke, played by Jack Galloway, who is married to Helen, played by Jane Asher.


TUE 21:00 A History of Britain by Simon Schama (b0074ky2)
Series 1

Conquest

In nine short hours, William the Conqueror triumphed at the Battle of Hastings - and England was changed forever. Simon Schama recounts the saga of blood, betrayal and ambition that led up to this pivotal battle and describes the profound consequences that followed.


TUE 22:00 Catching Britain's Killers: The Crimes That Changed Us (m0009dz2)
Series 1

Double Jeopardy

Beginning in 1989, this episode tells the story of a murder in Billingham in Teesside that would lead to one mother challenging an 800-year-old law.

In November 1989, Julie Hogg, a young single mother, disappeared without word, leaving her parents and young son distraught. Three months later her body was found and a suspect arrested. Weaving together interviews with Julie’s mother Ann and Julie’s son Kevin, as well as friends, journalists, police officers and leading politicians, the programme tells the story of how the failure to convict her daughter’s killer led Ann Ming to overturn the law on double jeopardy.

After a jury failed to convict her daughter’s murderer, Billy Dunlop, Ann fearlessly took on the political and legal establishments in a campaign to overturn the ancient law of double jeopardy. Ann knew that unless the law was reformed, Dunlop could never face a re-trial. After years of tireless campaigning, Ann finally succeeded and in 2006 Dunlop was tried again and became the first person to be convicted under the newly reformed double jeopardy law.

As this episode traces the twists and turns of Ann’s campaign, the story of other cases that benefited from the legal changes are also explored, from Gary Dobson and Clifford Norris, the killers of Stephen Lawrence, who were convicted in 2012, to the killer of Surjit Chokkar, finally convicted 18 years after his murder.

Exploring the ripples of one single case, the programme explores how one mother’s determination to get justice for her daughter would lead to an historic change in the law that has benefited other families who had also seen the killers of their loved ones walk free.


TUE 23:00 Ancient Worlds (b00w5lff)
The Age of Iron

Archaeologist and historian Richard Miles looks at the winners, losers and survivors of the great Bronze Age collapse, a regional catastrophe that wiped out the hard-won achievements of civilisation in the eastern Mediterranean about 3,000 years ago. In the new age of iron, civilisation would re-emerge, tempered in the flames of conflict, tougher and more resilient than ever before.


TUE 00:00 Elizabeth I's Secret Agents (b09c6q44)
Series 1

Episode 1

In this episode, we find England alone - a Protestant nation in a largely Catholic Europe. Then, 12 years into Elizabeth's reign, the pope declares her a heretic, which in the hearts of England's Catholics gives them permission to kill her. Queen Elizabeth looks to her spymaster William Cecil to stop the Catholic assassins getting through. Cecil establishes a huge espionage network - England's first secret service. His spies break Catholic conspiracies at home and abroad.

Cecil's network is put on high alert by intelligence from a source in Catholic Europe. As a result he catches a courier carrying coded letters that lead Cecil to unravel a plot to assassinate Elizabeth and install her cousin Mary, Queen of Scots on the English throne. Now Cecil will not rest until Mary, the figurehead for every Catholic threat and repository of Catholic hopes, is eliminated. In order to protect a queen, Cecil must kill one.

Cecil now creates an elaborate Elizabethan sting. He incubates a Catholic plot to assassinate the queen and lures Mary into it. But will Mary fall for the bait and seal her fate. Mary does walk right into Cecil's trap, but even then the spymaster's aim is thwarted by a queen who refuses to execute her own cousin. Cecil knows Mary must die if Elizabeth is to live, but now that means he must defy his own queen and risk the end of his career - and perhaps his life.


TUE 01:00 The Joy of Painting (m000hjl3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


TUE 01:30 Great British Railway Journeys (m0002fpx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


TUE 02:00 Catching Britain's Killers: The Crimes That Changed Us (m0009dz2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]


TUE 03:00 A History of Britain by Simon Schama (b0074ky2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]

WEDNESDAY 18 JANUARY 2023

WED 19:00 Great British Railway Journeys (m0002fs8)
Series 10

Birmingham to the Potteries

Armed with his Bradshaw’s guide, Michael Portillo reaches Birmingham and discovers how a radical reformer would make his mark on the city of a thousand trades.

At Highbury Hall, he finds Joseph Chamberlain’s splendid mansion home and hears how he established a political dynasty including a prime minister and a foreign secretary.

Next stop is Cradley Heath, at the time of his Bradshaw’s one of five chain-making towns in the West Midlands. Michael learns how 90 per cent of the chain workshops in England and Wales were located here and that female workers earned a pittance to produce goods in their homes. He discovers how discontent came to a head in 1910 and a Scottish woman led workers to strike for the first time.

A book on Railway Law for the Man in the Train is required reading for Michael as he travels to Landywood, where he engages in some detective work on behalf of its author, one George Edalji. Michael follows an investigation carried out by Arthur Conan Doyle in the early 1900s into a miscarriage of justice.

At the centre of Britain’s ceramic industry in Stoke-on-Trent, Michael visits Wedgwood, established by the Queen’s Potter Josiah Wedgwood in 1759 and visited in 1913 by King George V and Queen Mary. He hears how the royal couple used their visit to forge links with working people and thereby strengthened the monarchy. Touring the factory, Michael admires the exquisite decoration of the ceramic painters and tries his hand at clay spinning.


WED 19:30 The Joy of Painting (m000hqmj)
Series 1

Ocean Breeze

Bob Ross paints an awesome cloudy sky set against a turbulent sea of crashing waves in just 30 minutes.


WED 20:00 Michael Palin's New Europe (b0080765)
Eastern Delight

Michael Palin explores the countries that were for much of his life hidden behind the Iron Curtain but now are part of the new Europe. From Lake Ohrid in Macedonia, Palin takes a trek up the Rila Mountains in Bulgaria where he joins the summer solstice celebrations of the mystical White Brotherhood sect. Crossing into Turkey he admires the great mosques of master architect Sinan in Edirne, the first capital of the Ottoman Empire, before witnessing an oil wrestling competition.


WED 21:00 The Beginning and End of the Universe (b0754t74)
The Beginning

Professor Jim Al-Khalili takes us back in time to tackle the greatest question in science: how did the universe begin? Uncovering the origins of the universe is regarded as humankind's greatest intellectual achievement. By recreating key experiments Jim unravels the cosmic mystery of science's creation story before witnessing a moment, one millionth of a second, after the universe sprang into existence.


WED 22:00 This Cultural Life (m001h886)
Series 2

Ken Loach

Over six decades, Ken Loach has forged a reputation as Britain’s foremost politically engaged film-maker, exploring issues of social justice, freedom and power. He has twice won the prestigious Palme d’Or award at the Cannes Film Festival, in 2006 for The Wind That Shakes the Barley, and twenty years later, for I, Daniel Blake, a contemporary British story about unemployment and poverty.

Ken talks to John Wilson about the key moments in his life that helped shaped his creativity. From his Midlands childhood as the son of a factory worker and annual summer holidays in Blackpool to his love for Czech cinema, which would become a huge inspiration on his own career. He also discusses his films for television such as Up the Junction and Cathy Come Home, which tackled abortion, unemployment and homelessness, and were each seen by more than 10 million people, while playing an influential part in the public debate about the issues.

Ken Loach also chooses, as a major influence on his work, the real lives of ordinary people, whose stories have inspired his films throughout his career.


WED 22:30 The Wednesday Play (p0125j59)
Up the Junction

Classic play by Nell Dunn about three working-class young women who live, work and play in Battersea.


WED 23:40 Michael Palin's New Europe (b0080765)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


WED 00:40 The Beginning and End of the Universe (b0754t74)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


WED 01:40 Great British Railway Journeys (m0002fs8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


WED 02:10 The Joy of Painting (m000hqmj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


WED 02:40 Britain's Lost Masterpieces (b0bgnwy3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Monday]

THURSDAY 19 JANUARY 2023

THU 19:00 Great British Railway Journeys (m0002jn2)
Series 10

Newry to Portadown

Steered by his Edwardian Bradshaw’s Guide, Michael Portillo navigates his way by rail – and ferry - across Northern Ireland and the Scottish Highlands from Newry to Argyll and Bute.

Early 20th-century Britain was reeling from industrial strife and suffragette outrages, but the biggest crisis of all was the conflict in Ireland. Beginning in Newry, Michael finds a specially chartered train would deliver demonstrators campaigning for Irish Home Rule to a rally in the town.

On the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic at Glaslough, Michael is amused to discover a christening robe belonging to Sir Winston Churchill and hears how he and his American mother saved the impressive Castle Leslie.

Michael finds himself in a sticky situation at an Edwardian bakery in Portadown when he attempts to make an Irish staple, soda bread. At Scarva, Michael discovers the importance of Irish linen for aircraft during the First World War, and in the hangars of the Ulster Aviation Society he learns how a replica Ferguson Flyer from 1909 was built.


THU 19:30 The Joy of Painting (m000hqpg)
Series 1

Golden Sunset

Bob Ross devises a painting from scratch that contrasts a frozen pond and snowdrifts with a warm, rich sky and late-autumn foliage.


THU 20:00 Elizabeth I's Secret Agents (b09dcjgk)
Series 1

Episode 2

Robert Cecil is the son of Elizabeth I's original spymaster. He has been groomed since birth to inherit his father's network but when he finally steps into his father's shoes, the queen's enemies are stronger than ever and Cecil must also watch his back. The Earl of Essex has established a rival network and is trying to oust Cecil as Elizabeth's spymaster.

Essex is everything Cecil is not. Cecil is bent-backed and under five foot tall. Essex is an athlete and a war hero who flirts with the queen. But the two men have known each other since childhood. And now they are locked in a battle that is part court theatrical, but which is also a lethal spy war in which people die horrifically violent deaths. The stakes are huge. For the winner, untold power. For the loser a one-way trip to the scaffold.

Cecil is also aware that the sun is setting on the reign of Elizabeth, who is in her sixties. He and Essex are not just battling for control of the queen, but for control over who will be her successor. For the power to select the next king of England. Essex begins a spy war within the spy war by secretly approaching James VI of Scotland and striking a deal to put him on Elizabeth's throne when she has passed away. So Cecil must somehow oust Essex from Elizabeth's court without making an enemy of James, who Cecil also wants to inherit the throne.

This is a secret conflict, involving double agents, coded letters, treachery and treason. It is a world that Cecil proves to be an absolute master of. Cecil ruthlessly manoeuvres Essex to the execution block and becomes the man who puts James on the English throne.


THU 21:00 Green Book (m000yxc4)
New York, 1962: Italian-American nightclub bouncer Tony Lip gets taken on as a driver for acclaimed African American pianist Donald Shirley on a tour of the Deep South, where racism and segregation are still commonplace.


THU 23:00 Amundsen (m000pqsk)
Inspired by a gift from his father when he was a child, Roald Amundsen became fascinated by the polar wildernesses. It was an obsession that drove to him explore both poles.

He led the first expedition to the South Pole in 1911 as well as the first proven to have reached the North Pole, in a dirigible, in 1926. His achievements, however, came at a cost to both his family and his colleagues.

In Norwegian and English with English subtitles.


THU 01:00 Around the World in 80 Treasures (b0078vxj)
Series 1

India to Sri Lanka

Documentary series in which Dan Cruickshank travels the world in search of man's greatest creations. In Calcutta, he tangles with a ten-armed naked goddess and is moved to passion in the Cave of Heavenly Maidens. Dan's on a journey of personal enlightenment and finds the key to the cosmos in the city of Jaipur, worships at the Temple of the Tooth, is blessed by an elephant and ends up in the world's greatest shrine to love, the Taj Mahal.


THU 02:00 Elizabeth I's Secret Agents (b09dcjgk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


THU 03:00 Great British Railway Journeys (m0002jn2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]

FRIDAY 20 JANUARY 2023

FRI 19:00 Top of the Pops (m001h88r)
Tony Dortie presents the pop chart programme, first shown on 20 January 1994 and featuring Inspiral Carpets, Tori Amos, Haddaway, Phil Collins, D:Ream and Toni Braxton.


FRI 19:30 Top of the Pops (m001h88t)
Mark Franklin presents the pop chart programme, first shown on 27 January 1994 and featuring Therapy?, Joe, Celine Dion, Richard Marx and ZZ Top.


FRI 20:00 Top of the Pops (b0bbzsv3)
Mike Read and Dixie Peach present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 16 January 1986 and featuring Fine Young Cannibals, Dire Straits, a-ha, Mr. Mister, Pet Shop Boys, and Cherrelle with Alexander O'Neal.


FRI 20:30 Top of the Pops (m000ng79)
Nicky Campbell presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 18 January 1990 and featuring Halo James, The Quireboys and Martika.


FRI 21:00 Wayfaring Stranger with Phil Cunningham (b08mj69q)
Series 1

Episode 2

Music and history combine as renowned Scottish performer Phil Cunningham explores age-old musical connections between Scotland, Ulster and America. As his journey takes him down the old wagon road from Philadelphia, through Appalachia to the Grand Ol' Opry and the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, he shares songs and tunes with Ricky Skaggs, Tim O'Brien and folk singer Sheila Kay Adams.


FRI 22:00 Transatlantic Sessions (b00h6xm8)
Series 1

Episode 3

Folk musicians from Nashville, Ireland and Scotland come together in what have been called 'the greatest backporch shows ever' at Strathgarry House in the Perthshire Highlands, introduced by Aly Bain and Jay Ungar. Featuring Karen Matheson, Mary Black, Emmylou Harris, Donald Shaw, Dougie McLean, Kathy Mattea, Iris Dement, Dick Gaughan, Kate and Anna McGarrigle, Rufus Wainwright and Davy Spillane.


FRI 22:30 Transatlantic Sessions (b00hd374)
Series 1

Episode 4

Folk musicians come together in what have been called 'the greatest backporch shows ever' at Strathgarry House in the Perthshire Highlands, introduced by Aly Bain and Jay Ungar. Featuring Emmylou Harris, Dougie McLean, Kathy Mattea, Iris Dement, Guy Clark, Kate and Anna McGarrigle and Michelle Wright.


FRI 23:00 Reginald D. Hunter's Songs of the Border (p06bjc1v)
Against the backdrop of President Trump's much-trumpeted wall, Reginald D. Hunter takes a 2,000-mile road trip along the US-Mexico border to explore how romance and reality play out musically where third-world Mexico meets first-world USA on this broken road to the American dream.

Classic American pop and country portray Mexico as a land of escape and romance, but also of danger - think of Marty Robbins's El Paso, The Drifters' Mexican Divorce or Ry Cooder's Across the Borderline. Against this evocative western soundtrack, Hunter explores the border music as it is today, much of it created by musicians drawn from the 36 million Mexican-Americans who are US citizens. Robin Hood tales of Mexican cartels, South American dance, Tex-Mex accordion, Mexican-American rap, border fence sound art and country music of both Mexican and American flavours shed fascinating insight into the topical issues of immigration, drug smuggling and Mexican-American identity, and throw the western songwriter's dream of Mexico as a place of romance, fun and escape into sharp relief.

Reg's natural empathy and gentle humanity guides us on this cinematic journey, featuring Lyle Lovett, Los Tucanes de Tijuana, Frontera Bugalu, Calexico, Carrie Rodriguez, Asleep at the Wheel, Los Texmaniacs, Glenn Weyant, Eva Ybarra and Cecy B.


FRI 00:15 Southern Rock at the BBC (b01f1bwb)
Classic clips - from The Old Grey Whistle Test, In Concert and even Wogan - of southern rock boogie in excelsis from the bands who poured out of the deep south of the US in the 70s. Includes performances from The Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Delaney & Bonnie with Eric Clapton, Dickey Betts from The Allman Brothers Band, The Marshall Tucker Band, Black Oak Arkansas, The Charlie Daniels Band, Gregg Allman with then-wife Cher, Edgar Winter and, of course, Lynyrd Skynyrd.


FRI 01:15 Wayfaring Stranger with Phil Cunningham (b08mj69q)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


FRI 02:15 Top of the Pops (m001h88r)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


FRI 02:45 Top of the Pops (m001h88t)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


FRI 03:15 Top of the Pops (b0bbzsv3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]