RADIO-LISTS: BBC FOUR
Unofficial Weekly Listings for BBC 4 — supported by bbc.co.uk/programmes/
SATURDAY 25 FEBRUARY 2023
SAT 19:00 Britain's Lost Waterlands: Escape to Swallows and Amazons Country (b07k18jf)
Documentary which follows presenters Dick Strawbridge and Alice Roberts as they explore the spectacular British landscapes that inspired children's author Arthur Ransome to write his series Swallows and Amazons.
The landscapes he depicted are based on three iconic British waterlands. The beauty and drama of the Lake District shaped by ancient glaciers and rich in wildlife and natural resources, the shallow man-made waterways of the Norfolk broads so crucial to farming and reed production, and the coastal estuaries and deep-water harbours of the Suffolk coastline shaped by ferocious tides and crucial to trade.
Engineer and keen sailor Dick uses vintage boats to explore the landscapes and meet people whose lives are shaped by the water, while wildlife enthusiast Alice explores the rich shorelines, interrogating the underlying geography and meeting the wildlife. Together they evoke the nostalgia of Ransome's writing and a bygone era of childhood freedom and adventure, but they also explore the economic significance of these special locations and the ways in which water was harnessed to change the course of British history.
SAT 20:00 Hidden Wales: Last Chance to Save (m0014zsh)
Writer and adventurer Will Millard returns with more of Wales’s hidden wonders as he explores some of the country’s forgotten historic buildings.
In Wales, we are in danger of losing vital pieces of history that tell us who we once were. Beautiful buildings that are architectural gems but also some of the most endangered in the UK. These extraordinary structures, which can give us vital insights into how we once used to live, are in danger of disappearing forever.
From extravagant mansions to a 500-year-old farmhouse, crumbling chapels to a massive military fort, and from spectacular industrial sites to a stunning 19th-century theatre, Will travels the length and breadth of Wales to find some of our most vulnerable old buildings, telling their incredible histories and meeting the passionate individuals who are trying to rescue them before it is too late.
SAT 21:00 The Macaluso Sisters (m001jmtw)
Five young sisters live together in a top-floor apartment in Palermo, where they breed and rent out doves to make ends meet. One carefree summer day, a tragedy strikes that will cast a shadow over their lives forever.
In Italian with English subtitles.
SAT 22:25 A Bit of Fry and Laurie (p00bzcw1)
Series 1
Episode 2
Alternative comedy series with Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry. Two spies discuss a colleague's failed mission, a wealthy man has a disagreement with a beggar, and two over-dramatic businessmen discuss the future of their company.
SAT 22:55 A Bit of Fry and Laurie (p00bzcwc)
Series 1
Episode 3
More alternative comedy with Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie and Deborah Norton. Two men go out for a meal at a Greek restaurant, a patient gets an unexpected prescription from his doctor, and Stephen has a laugh about an Open University blooper.
SAT 23:25 As Time Goes By (p045tll7)
Series 1
Getting to Know You - Again
Jean sends Sandy to Lionel’s hotel to assist him with his book revisions. But when she arrives, she is told he has checked out, and a charade of confusion follows.
SAT 23:55 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.
SAT 00:55 Clive James (m000f8wt)
Postcard from Rome
Rome was once the focal point for the world's jet set. Now Clive James travels to the eternal city in search of the dolce vita and to acquire some Roman sophistication.
During his stay, he meets a socialite prince, Mussolini's son and learns a lesson from a sexologist.
SAT 01:45 Britain's Lost Waterlands: Escape to Swallows and Amazons Country (b07k18jf)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 today]
SAT 02:45 The Story of Welsh Art (p097c1qm)
Series 1
Episode 2
Scrambling up the side of one of Wales's highest and most rugged mountains, Huw Stephens retraces the steps of Richard Wilson, an 18th-century artist who changed the course of art history. Bringing harmony and beauty to a terrain previously dismissed as 'God’s rubbish tip', he transformed the way Wales was seen by the world. As Huw discovers, he was not the last to do so – JMW Turner first visited Wales aged 17 and would return many times, painting untamed landscapes filled with romance and emotion.
As the 19th century progressed, a very different Wales became the focus of art. In Merthyr Tydfil, once the iron capital of the world, Huw discovers the work of Penry Williams, a local artist who was commissioned to paint the vast Cyfarthfa Ironworks in all their cathedral-like grandeur and glory. As art and industry collided, the people who did the back-breaking work were depicted for the first time.
SUNDAY 26 FEBRUARY 2023
SUN 19:00 Come Dancing (m001jmvy)
It's 1977 and the start of another season of the classic interregional amateur dance competition.
Terry Wogan introduces Midland and West versus Home Counties South from the Locarno Ballroom, Bradford. Barri Haynes provides the commentary.
SUN 19:40 Inside Classical (m001jmw0)
Series 1
Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé
Join the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra at Glasgow’s City Halls, where Ryan Wigglesworth makes his debut as chief conductor. For his first outing, he has chosen one of the great ballet scores, Maurice Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé. Dreamlike and seductive, it has a breathtaking, otherworldly beauty, as it conjures up visions of mythical Greek landscapes with an unrestrained sensuality.
Also in tonight’s repertoire and no less reserved in his use of colour, Olivier Messiaen’s astonishing series of songs Poèmes pour Mi fuses the physical and spiritual into something unforgettable. The soprano is Jane Archibald, accompanied by the BBC Singers.
SUN 21:15 Timeshift (m000l9v7)
Series 3
Jet Set
Rich, distant and opulent, the jet set fascinated the public as they waved to us from airplane doorways before winging their way across the skies heading for yachts and exotic locations that the rest of us could only dream of. They were the aristocrats, the high fliers and high earners whose lives and loves fascinated us long before celebrity became a dirty word.
This film looks back at the glamorous heyday of the jet set from the 1950s to the 1970s. Contributors include former Formula One world champion Jackie Stewart, psychologist Dr Martyn Dyer Smith, society columnist Ross Benson, travel writer Simon Calder, Concorde pilot Christopher Orlebar and former women's magazine editor Marcelle d'Argy Smith.
SUN 22:00 Metroland (b00cyyqw)
An exploration of the English rural idyll with John Betjeman's 1973 meditation on the residential suburbs which grew up alongside the Metropolitan Line, the first steam underground in the world.
SUN 22:45 Clive James (m000fj94)
Postcard from Paris
Clive James returns to Paris, the city calls his spiritual home. As a young man he wondered how to meet the women of Paris. This time he does, including writers, models and actresses.
SUN 23:35 Victorian Sensations (m00059cx)
Series 1
Electric Dreams
Victorian Sensations transports us to the last years of Queen Victoria’s reign to explore a moment of thrilling discovery and change that continues to resonate today.
In the first of three films focusing on the technology, art and culture of the 1890s, mathematician Dr Hannah Fry explores how the latest innovations, including x-rays, safety bicycles and proto-aeroplanes, transformed society and promised a cleaner, brighter and more egalitarian future.
Whereas Victorian progress in the 19th century had been powered by steam and gas, the end of the 1800s marked the beginning of a new 'Electric Age'. Hannah discovers how electrical energy dominated the zeitgeist, with medical quacks marketing battery-powered miracle cures, and America’s new electric chair inspiring stage magicians to electrify their illusions. The future had arrived, courtesy of underground trains and trams (as well as electric cars), and in the 1890s the first houses built specifically with electricity in mind were constructed.
Like our own time, there was concern about where this technology would lead and who was in control. HG Wells warned of bio-terrorism, while the skies were increasingly seen as a future battleground, fuelling the race to develop powered flight.
Hannah outlines the excitement around the coming Electric Age. Electricity was a signifier of modernity, and Hannah discovers how electric light not only redefined the way we saw ourselves but changed what we expected from our homes. The new enthusiasm for all things electric was also something exploited by canny entrepreneurs. In the 1890s, many believed that electricity was life itself and that nervous energy could be recharged like a battery.
In 1896, out of nowhere, the x-ray arrived in Britain. Hannah delves into the story of what Victorians considered to be a superhuman power. This cutting-edge technology was a smash hit with the public, who found the ghoulish ability to peer under flesh endlessly entertaining. In the medical profession, x-rays caused a revolution and, as well as changing our views of our bodies, the x-ray revealed new fears in society about personal privacy and control over technology - concerns that sound very familiar today.
Electricity ruled the imagination, but it was a simple mechanical device that brought the greatest challenge to the social order: the safety bicycle. It offered freedom on a scale unimagined before and, for women of the time in particular, a new independence, changes to their clothes to make cycling easier and the opportunity for a chance encounter with a member of the opposite sex. But there was also a darker side, with fears of how technology might be turned against us becoming a constant element in contemporary 1890s fiction.
One technological landmark that the Victorians knew was coming, and that they (rightly) anticipated would one day unleash fire and bombs on British cities, was the flying machine. A thing of fantasy yet also, due to the ingenuity of the age’s engineers, something that might become a reality at any moment. Leading the way for British hopes of achieving powered flight was Percy Pilcher. Hannah looks at how, after several successful flights, Pilcher designed a triplane with an engine he intended to fly, when disaster struck.
SUN 00:35 Storyville (m001jdxk)
Inside Russia: Traitors and Heroes
Despite the huge risks, two Russian film-makers have been filming the impact of the invasion of Ukraine in their country. Many thousands have fled. Those that have stayed have had to make a choice – oppose the war, support it, or stay silent.
SUN 01:50 Stewart Copeland's Adventures in Music (m000dt78)
Series 1
Episode 3
Stewart Copeland explores the transcendental powers of music and how certain sounds have the ability to move us, transport the mind and even help us escape this world - if only briefly.
As a child, Stewart’s path was determined when, despite being raised by strict atheists, he was deeply moved by the massed voices of the Wells Cathedral choir singing Jerusalem. Ever since, he has been fascinated by the ability of music to leave us feeling uplifted.
In this episode, Stewart travels to Morocco to discover the polyrhythms of Gnawa and back to Wells Cathedral to understand the mechanics of choral polyphony. He meets Kanye West collaborator Caroline Shaw to examine melody and the effect of the human voice, CeCe Winans to discuss the roots of gospel, takes a gong bath in New York, and visits minimalist master Steve Reich to unpack the trance-inducing powers of repetition.
SUN 02:50 Metroland (b00cyyqw)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:00 today]
MONDAY 27 FEBRUARY 2023
MON 19:00 Great British Railway Journeys (b09p34wr)
Series 9
York to Frizinghall
Armed with his Edwardian Bradshaw's guide, Michael Portillo conducts important research in an historic tea room, built by an Edwardian immigrant to the city of York. Research of a more sombre kind leads Michael to the roots of our modern welfare state in the work of an early 20th-century Quaker investigator, whose family manufactured chocolate.
Next stop is Leeds, where Michael discovers the city's textile heritage, which relied in Edwardian times on a group of skilled Jewish immigrants to take it forward. Michael learns how some of the big names built their empires in Leeds and measures up to a footballing legend. At Bradford Grammar School, Michael hears the story of a talented Edwardian student who became a famous composer and enjoys one of his works, sung by a music pupil of today.
MON 19:30 The Joy of Painting (m000jjj0)
Series 1
Tropical Seascape
Palm trees sway in the warm breeze as Bob Ross shows how to paint a beautiful, sunny and exotic little ocean masterpiece.
MON 20:00 Da Vinci: The Lost Treasure (b016xjq6)
Leonardo da Vinci is considered by many to be one of the greatest artists who ever lived. Yet his reputation rests on only a handful of pictures - including the world's most famous painting, the Mona Lisa.
As the National Gallery in London prepares to open its doors on a remarkable exhibition of Leonardo's work, Fiona Bruce travels to Florence, Milan, Paris and Warsaw to uncover the story of this enigmatic genius - and to New York, where she is given an exclusive preview of a sensational discovery: a new Leonardo.
MON 21:00 Art of France (b08cgjv7)
Series 1
Plus Ça Change
Art historian and critic Andrew Graham-Dixon opens this series with the dramatic story of French art, a story of the most powerful kings ever to rule in Europe with their glittering palaces and astounding art to go in them. He also reveals how art emerged from a struggle between tradition and revolution, between rulers and a people who didn't always want to be ruled.
Starting with the first great revolution in art, the invention of Gothic architecture, he traces its development up until the arrival of classicism and the Age of Enlightenment - and the very eve of the revolution. Along the way some of the greatest art the world has ever seen was born, including the paintings of Poussin, Watteau and Chardin, the decadent rococo delights of Boucher and the great history paintings of Charles le Brun.
MON 22:00 Bent Coppers: Crossing the Line of Duty (m000v4h4)
Series 1
Firm in a Firm
This series explores the dirty secrets behind London's policing with a story of corruption that goes to the very top of the Met and leads to the formation of the first internal anti-corruption unit, A10, which inspired the BBC drama Line of Duty.
The first episode begins in 1969, at a time when the British police are held to be the most trusted and effective force in the world. But all that is about to change. When a desperate south London villain tips off the Times about how he is being extorted for money by a detective in the Metropolitan Police, something much more shocking is discovered: that at the heart of the Metropolitan CID there exists a 'firm in a firm', a secret network of corrupt coppers.
With insider interviews, evocative archive footage and secret recordings, the documentary reveals the story behind the Times's investigation and shows how the public myth of incorruptibility protected the police for so long.
MON 23:00 Big Sky, Big Dreams, Big Art: Made in the USA (b0b49rq2)
Series 1
Episode 2
This episode is set in the American metropolis - the soaring new cities of the East Coast with their futuristic skylines and lofty skyscrapers. But instead of looking up at the futuristic towers, Waldemar Januszczak explores the squalid boxing rings painted by George Bellows, Reginald Mash's decadent awaydays on Coney Island and the crazy escape into theosophy and abstraction mounted by Thomas Wilfred. The film culminates in the harsh immigrant experience of Ellis Island and the profound impact that rootlessness had on the art of Mark Rothko.
MON 00:00 The Story of Welsh Art (p097c3k8)
Series 1
Episode 3
In this final episode, Huw Stephens’s journey begins at the dawn of the 20th century with the artists who broke with tradition and depicted Wales in radical new ways. In Snowdonia, he learns how Augustus John and JD Innes led the way, obsessively painting the landscape with a freedom and vibrancy that still dazzles today. Equally bold was the output of Gwen John, whose work is in complete contrast to that of her brother Augustus. At the National Museum Wales in Cardiff, Huw discovers how she used light and tone to paint delicate and hypnotic portraits and interior scenes.
Between the wars, industrial south Wales produced some of the most powerful art of the century. Huw discovers how the work of Evan Walters and Cedric Morris is steeped in their experience of mining communities and the desperate poverty they endured. The lives of striking miners were rarely reflected in art, but Walters’s 1926 portrait of his friend William Hopkins captured his subject with dignity and honesty.
Travelling north, Huw heads out to Bardsey Island off the Llyn Peninsula, a place he first visited as a teenager. The landscape of Wales has long been a source of inspiration for artists and in the 1940s Brenda Chamberlain moved to Bardsey to immerse herself in its isolation. Inside the picturesque cottage where she lived, Huw sees her sketches of island life that she drew on the walls ‘as if they were a giant sketchbook’. At the same time, Kyffin Williams was painting the distinctive, dramatic landscapes of north Wales, establishing himself as the most popular Welsh artist of the 20th century.
Contemporary art in Wales reflects a post-devolution self-confidence that allows it to look both back and forward. In Swansea, Huw meets Daniel Trivedy and learns how his award-winning work Welsh Emergency Blanket took the patterns of traditional Welsh blankets and printed them on to the silver foil coverings given to refugees rescued from the sea. For his final stop, Huw visits Colwyn Bay where he meets internationally renowned artist Bedwyr Williams, whose work draws heavily on Welsh art history using humour and irreverence. It is a unique history, Bedwyr concludes, and one that makes him excited to be living and working in north Wales.
MON 01:00 Romancing the Stone: The Golden Ages of British Sculpture (b00yml9v)
Mavericks of Empire
By the middle of the 18th century, Britain was in possession of a vast empire. It required a new way of seeing ourselves and so we turned to the statues of ancient Greece and Rome to project the secular power and glory of the British Empire.
The message was clear: Britain was the new Rome, our generals and politicians on a par with the heroes of the ancient world. The flood of funds, both public and private, into sculptural projects unleashed a new golden age, yet it was also a remarkably unorthodox one. The greatest sculptors of the 18th and 19th centuries were those mavericks who bucked prevailing trends - geniuses like John Flaxman, Francis Chantrey and Alfred Gilbert.
Alastair Sooke tells the story of these mavericks and reveals the extraordinary technical breakthroughs behind their key works: carving in marble with a pointer machine and the primal power of the lost-wax technique.
MON 02:00 Great British Railway Journeys (b09p34wr)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 today]
MON 02:30 The Joy of Painting (m000jjj0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:30 today]
MON 03:00 Art of France (b08cgjv7)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
TUESDAY 28 FEBRUARY 2023
TUE 19:00 Great British Railway Journeys (b09p35h9)
Series 9
Sheffield to Nantwich
With his Edwardian railway guidebook tucked under his arm, Michael Portillo is in the steel city of Sheffield, where he discovers an enormous and beautifully preserved early 20th-century steam engine. At 400 tonnes and packing 12,000 horsepower, it produced armour plate for the most feared warship of the Royal Navy.
Heading south into Nottinghamshire, Michael reaches what was once the most successful coalfield in Europe. He follows his Bradshaw's guide to the former pit village of Eastwood, where he finds the birthplace of a man then called Bert, better known today as DH Lawrence. The author of Women in Love and Lady Chatterley's Lover opened the eyes of Edwardian society to the life of the working class and challenged their attitudes towards sexuality.
Michael changes gear at Langley Mill, where at the turn of the 20th century a forward-thinking entrepreneur founded a bicycle company which is still at the cutting edge of cycling today. Michael finishes with a dip in the briny at Nantwich.
TUE 19:30 The Joy of Painting (m000jqzz)
Series 1
Mountain at Sunset
Spend half an hour with American painter Bob Ross as he demonstrates the creation of the perfect, brown-toned mountain scene - warm and wonderful!
TUE 20:00 As Time Goes By (p045tlvl)
Series 1
The Copper Kettle
Lionel and Jean spend the day walking around an old town they used to visit when they were young. They find that even though things have changed, their treasured memories remain.
TUE 20:30 The Mistress (m001jmw8)
Series 2
Episode 2
Second series of Carla Lane's love triangle sitcom, starring Felicity Kendal.
TUE 21:00 A History of Britain by Simon Schama (b0074lqp)
Series 2
The British Wars
Simon Schama looks beyond the romantic stories of Cavaliers and Roundheads to the real story of the English Civil War, in which hundreds of thousands died, countless families were torn apart and the nation was divided. Two events unique within British history resulted: the public execution of the monarch, Charles I, and the creation of a republic.
TUE 22:00 Storyville (m001jmwb)
Sex on Screen
A Storyville documentary that explores the process of creating sex scenes in Hollywood, the toll on those involved in filming them, and the impact such images have on women and girls in the real world.
The film features candid interviews with actors and creators, including Jane Fonda, Rosanna Arquette, Joey Soloway, Angela Robinson, Karyn Kusama, Rose McGowan, Alexandra Billings, Emily Meade and David Simon, and highlights the voices of women who have spoken out against abusive behaviour on set and were punished for it.
TUE 23:25 Africa with Ade Adepitan (m0002jl2)
Series 1
Episode 2
The second leg of Ade Adepitan’s four-part journey around Africa, a continent undergoing huge change. This leg takes him across central Africa, from the coast of Gabon, through the giant Democratic Republic of Congo, and on to Uganda.
He starts off the coast of Gabon looking for humpback whales. It is one of Africa’s best spots for seeing them, thanks to Gabon’s vast marine sanctuaries. The country is an eco-paradise, not just in the water, but on land as well where 80% of it is forested. But the country has recently introduced one of the most destructive agri-businesses in the tropics - palm oil farming. Ade discovers how Gabon hopes to do it sustainably. The country has impressive environmental credentials, but on a tour of its divided capital Ade hears that some people are skeptical. One critic suggests it is a way for the country’s autocratic ruler Ali Bongo Ondimba to curry favour with the international community.
Next up is perhaps the most chaotic and corrupt country in Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo. Ade discovers first-hand how everyone from the traffic police to the country’s top politicians are on the take. He also spends time with some of Kinshasa’s musicians and ‘sapeurs’ – people who get kitted out in the finest haute couture in one of the poorest countries on the planet.
In DRC’s far east, he finds out what lies at the heart of the country’s problems: a never-ending conflict amongst local militia, fuelled by foreign countries who want to get their hands on the DRC’s vast resources. After going on a tank patrol with the UN, he meets Kibomango, a champion boxer who is helping to rehabilitate some of the country’s 30,000 child soldiers.
Travelling into one of the most famous national parks in the world, Virunga, Ade discovers that few areas of the country have been left unscarred by the violence. And the impact on the wildlife has been extreme, as Ade encounters some of the world’s few remaining mountain gorillas.
His final stop on this trip is Uganda where he meets Bobi Wine, one of Africa’s most outspoken political campaigners. Bobi was recently arrested and beaten, and his driver killed, after his protests drew the attention of long-serving autocratic ruler Yoweri Museveni. Ade meets a defiant man who will not give up, no matter what threats are made on his life. He is part of a new generation of Africans who are fighting to take back control from the post-colonial leaders who have done so much to wreck the continent.
TUE 00:25 Da Vinci: The Lost Treasure (b016xjq6)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 on Monday]
TUE 01:25 Bent Coppers: Crossing the Line of Duty (m000v4h4)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:00 on Monday]
TUE 02:25 A History of Britain by Simon Schama (b0074lqp)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
WEDNESDAY 01 MARCH 2023
WED 19:00 Great British Railway Journeys (b09p37mp)
Series 9
Liverpool to Dolgarrog
Michael Portillo's Edwardian railway guide takes him to the city of Liverpool, where King Edward VII had recently laid the foundation stone for a grand Anglican cathedral at the top of St James's Mount. The young winner of a competition to design the building was a Roman Catholic from a family of architects. His name was Giles Gilbert Scott. Michael takes a trip down his own memory lane in Maghull on the outskirts of Liverpool, where he discovers a childhood favourite - a miniature tank engine with three carriages in dark red - made by Frank Hornby.
Heading west to Wales, Michael skirts the coast to reach Abergele, where he visits the romantic ruined Gwrych Castle. He learns the story of its fervently Welsh countess, the last of the Lloyds of Gwyrch, and admires the dedication to her legacy of a young man devoted to restoring the estate. In Dolgarrog, in the mountains of Snowdonia, Michael rides the waves with a Welsh national surfing champion in a former aluminium smelting works founded in the early 20th century.
WED 19:30 The Joy of Painting (m000jqyw)
Series 1
Soft Mountain Glow
Follow each of Bob Ross's masterful strokes of the paintbrush as he creates a tranquil landscape setting - almost feathery in appearance - at the base of a towering mountain.
WED 20:00 Timeshift (b0803m60)
Series 16
Bridging the Gap: How the Severn Bridge Was Built
2016 saw the 50th anniversary of the Severn Bridge, which completed the motorway link between England and Wales. Timeshift tells the inside story of the design and construction of 'the most perfect suspension bridge in the world', and how its unique slimline structure arose by accident.
WED 21:00 Patagonia with Huw Edwards (b05xd52f)
Huw Edwards fulfils a lifelong dream to explore Patagonia, and the unique attempt to preserve Welsh culture by isolating a Welsh community in one of the most remote and inhospitable places on earth. A hundred and fifty years after the pioneers arrived, Huw meets their descendants and asks what remains of the culture the forefathers wanted to safeguard.
WED 22:00 Edge of Darkness (p00v5gw9)
Series 1
Northmoor
Craven and Jedburgh follow the fateful route of the original Gaia expedition, led by Emma Craven, into Northmoor, the secret nuclear facility. But somebody knows what they are up to, and, as Emma and the Gaia team found out, drastic deterrents await unwanted visitors to prevent them reaching the Hot Cell.
WED 22:50 Edge of Darkness (p00v5gzw)
Series 1
Fusion
After being exposed to fatal doses of radiation, Jedburgh heads for Scotland armed with the plutonium. Craven, now in possession of the wisdom of Gaia, waits for the inevitable.
WED 23:50 Peaky Blinders (m0015041)
Series 6
Black Day
Tommy sets off to North America, where the end of Prohibition brings new opportunities. But he faces new danger from an old adversary who is finally making his move.
WED 00:50 Peaky Blinders (m00156p5)
Series 6
Black Shirt
Tommy gets involved in a power game with fascists, freedom fighters and Boston gangsters. As the players plan to double-cross him, Tommy visits an old ally in Camden.
WED 01:50 Peaky Blinders (m0015ffr)
Series 6
Gold
Faced with devastating news, Tommy goes on a quest to discover who placed a curse on his family. In Birmingham, Ada takes charge, and Arthur takes on some new recruits.
WED 02:45 Peaky Blinders (m0015p1x)
Series 6
Sapphire
Tommy establishes a connection between crime and political power that could alter the course of history. He also receives life-changing news from an unexpected source.
THURSDAY 02 MARCH 2023
THU 19:00 Great British Railway Journeys (b09p3blm)
Series 9
Criccieth to Caernarfon
With his Edwardian Bradshaw's railway guide tucked under his arm, Michael Portillo begins the last leg of his journey from Hull to Caernarfon. In picturesque Snowdonia, he braves the fastest zip line in the world - stretching 1,500 feet across a vast slate quarry. He uncovers a bitter industrial dispute between quarrymen and the owner of the pit, Lord Penrhyn, which divided the community at the beginning of the 20th century.
Riding north Wales's splendid heritage railways, Michael visits the home of British mountaineering, Pen y Gwryd, to hear how an Edwardian journalist and poet created a climbing community, which grew to include men who would conquer Everest in the 1950s. Michael meets the grandson of one of his political heroes, the Edwardian prime minister David Lloyd George, at his birthplace in Criccieth. At the impressive 13th-century fortress of Caernarfon, built by English King Edward I, Michael discovers the early 20th-century history behind the ceremony now traditional at the royal investiture of a Prince of Wales.
THU 19:30 Villages by the Sea (m0010chv)
Series 2
Bamburgh
Archaeologist Ben Robinson uncovers how the health and fortune of the village was shaped by those in charge of Bamburgh’s famous castle.
THU 20:00 Chariots of Fire (m001gn1j)
Oscar-winning drama. Two rival British runners push themselves to the limit in their quest to make the 1924 British Olympic team, but neither is prepared to compromise on his priniciples.
THU 22:00 Rain Man (m0003w52)
Hustler Charlie Babbitt feels cheated when he is disinherited in favour of Raymond, the autistic older brother he never knew. After spiriting Raymond away from the mental institution he has lived in for years, Charlie demands a fair share of his late father's fortune from his brother's trustees. However, as they head for California, the brothers begin to grow closer together.
THU 00:10 Hans Zimmer: Hollywood Rebel (m001d9jf)
The story of one of the most celebrated and sought-after movie composers, as told by the man himself and his closest collaborators.
Across a glittering 40-year career, Hans has redefined the movie score, thrilling audiences, pioneering new techniques and introducing new generations to the drama of orchestral music. In this portrait, Hans reveals the musical secrets of his craft - how he goes about terrifying, moving and raising an audience's spirits through his music.
THU 01:10 Peaky Blinders (m0015xjg)
Series 6
The Road to Hell
In the light of extraordinary personal revelations, Tommy takes a course of action that will change everything. Meanwhile, his enemies’ plans start to fall into place.
THU 02:10 Peaky Blinders (m00164dc)
Series 6
Lock and Key
A war veteran who fought in the trenches, Tommy Shelby has been a gangster, an entrepreneur, a captain of industry, a spy and ultimately a Member of Parliament. In the course of this odyssey, he has taken on numerous criminal organisations, business adversaries, foreign insurgents and the British Establishment itself.
Now, in the 1930s, as the clouds of the coming storm gather, he faces the consequences of his experiences and his actions.
FRIDAY 03 MARCH 2023
FRI 19:00 Top of the Pops (m001jn46)
Meat Loaf presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 14 April 1994 and featuring Terrorvision, Reel 2 Real feat. The Mad Stuntman, Pet Shop Boys, Frances Ruffelle, Loveland vs Darlene Lewis, Garth Brooks, Toni Braxton, Take That and Meat Loaf.
FRI 19:30 Top of the Pops (m001jn48)
Mark Goodier presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 21 April 1994 and featuring Crash Test Dummies, Bitty McLean, C. J. Lewis, The Pretenders, Erasure, Crystal Waters, Deacon Blue, Toni Di Bart and Prince.
FRI 20:00 Top of the Pops (b01qyvrp)
Noel Edmonds presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 2 March 1978 and featuring Darts, Kate Bush, Nick Lowe, Andy Williams, Samantha Sang, Rita Coolidge, Tom Robinson Band, Abba and Legs & Co.
FRI 20:30 Top of the Pops (b08d7y3l)
John Peel and David Jensen present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 3 March 1983 and featuring OMD, Bananarama, Patti Austin with James Ingram, and Michael Jackson.
FRI 21:00 St David's Day at the BBC (m000sl8d)
To celebrate St David’s Day, this trip through the BBC’s music archives features a selection of tracks from some of the most important and innovative Welsh artists of the past few decades.
The programme includes performances by Manic Street Preachers, Catatonia, Super Furry Animals, Marina and the Diamonds, Stereophonics, Feeder, Shakin’ Stevens, Bonnie Tyler, Dame Shirley Bassey and Sir Tom Jones.
FRI 22:00 Manics Back to Blackwood (b00yvv00)
Legendary Welsh band The Manic Street Preachers return to perform in their hometown of Blackwood for the first time in over 25 years. This intimate gig at the historic Miners' Institute features exhilarating live versions of hits that span three decades, exclusive behind-the-scenes content, and an insightful interview with the band themselves.
FRI 23:00 Wales: Music Nation with Huw Stephens (p0cwlg3f)
Series 1
Episode 1
Wales is known as the Land of Song, a musical nation. But where does the idea come from, and what does the music of Wales tell us about who we are? Music fanatic Huw Stephens delves deep into the surprising and varied story of music in Wales by putting together a unique Welsh music mixtape.
Jumping from choirs to pop groups, Tom Jones to the triple harp, haunting medieval music to urban rap, Huw explores what makes Welsh music unique, and the qualities it shares right across the centuries. Featuring interviews with stars like the Manic Street Preachers and Dafydd Iwan, alongside specially shot performances, this is the first TV series to draw together the full sweep of Welsh music across the centuries.
FRI 00:00 Wales: Music Nation with Huw Stephens (p0cyx202)
Series 1
Episode 2
Huw Stephens continues with his quest to assemble a Welsh music mixtape, picking out his personal musical highlights from across the centuries.
In this episode, he explores the explosion of Welsh pop in the 1990s, meeting the Manic Street Preachers and Super Furry Animals’ Gruff Rhys. He looks at the fascinating history of Wales’s national instrument, the triple harp, and uncovers the story of one of Wales’s most gifted and tragic classical composers.
Huw also takes a trip to the south Wales valleys to meet the world-famous Treorchy Male Voice Choir and to dig into the story of how another choir helped Wales become known as the Land of Song.
At the other end of the country, Huw meets legendary singer-songwriter Dafydd Iwan, whose song Yma O Hyd has recently become a football anthem. Huw ends his journey in the Splott district of Cardiff with Mace the Great, one of Wales’s top rap artists. Throughout his journey, Huw examines the qualities that connect Welsh music across the ages and asks why music has come to have such a key role in Welsh culture and identity.
FRI 01:00 St David's Day at the BBC (m000sl8d)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
FRI 02:00 Top of the Pops (m001jn46)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 today]
FRI 02:30 Top of the Pops (m001jn48)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:30 today]
FRI 03:00 Top of the Pops (b01qyvrp)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 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 Bit of Fry and Laurie
22:25 SAT (p00bzcw1)
A Bit of Fry and Laurie
22:55 SAT (p00bzcwc)
A History of Britain by Simon Schama
21:00 TUE (b0074lqp)
A History of Britain by Simon Schama
02:25 TUE (b0074lqp)
Africa with Ade Adepitan
23:25 TUE (m0002jl2)
Art of France
21:00 MON (b08cgjv7)
Art of France
03:00 MON (b08cgjv7)
As Time Goes By
23:25 SAT (p045tll7)
As Time Goes By
20:00 TUE (p045tlvl)
Bent Coppers: Crossing the Line of Duty
22:00 MON (m000v4h4)
Bent Coppers: Crossing the Line of Duty
01:25 TUE (m000v4h4)
Big Sky, Big Dreams, Big Art: Made in the USA
23:00 MON (b0b49rq2)
Britain's Lost Waterlands: Escape to Swallows and Amazons Country
19:00 SAT (b07k18jf)
Britain's Lost Waterlands: Escape to Swallows and Amazons Country
01:45 SAT (b07k18jf)
Chariots of Fire
20:00 THU (m001gn1j)
Clive James
00:55 SAT (m000f8wt)
Clive James
22:45 SUN (m000fj94)
Come Dancing
19:00 SUN (m001jmvy)
Da Vinci: The Lost Treasure
20:00 MON (b016xjq6)
Da Vinci: The Lost Treasure
00:25 TUE (b016xjq6)
Edge of Darkness
22:00 WED (p00v5gw9)
Edge of Darkness
22:50 WED (p00v5gzw)
Great British Railway Journeys
19:00 MON (b09p34wr)
Great British Railway Journeys
02:00 MON (b09p34wr)
Great British Railway Journeys
19:00 TUE (b09p35h9)
Great British Railway Journeys
19:00 WED (b09p37mp)
Great British Railway Journeys
19:00 THU (b09p3blm)
Hans Zimmer: Hollywood Rebel
00:10 THU (m001d9jf)
Hidden Wales: Last Chance to Save
20:00 SAT (m0014zsh)
Inside Classical
19:40 SUN (m001jmw0)
Manics Back to Blackwood
22:00 FRI (b00yvv00)
Metroland
22:00 SUN (b00cyyqw)
Metroland
02:50 SUN (b00cyyqw)
Patagonia with Huw Edwards
21:00 WED (b05xd52f)
Peaky Blinders
23:50 WED (m0015041)
Peaky Blinders
00:50 WED (m00156p5)
Peaky Blinders
01:50 WED (m0015ffr)
Peaky Blinders
02:45 WED (m0015p1x)
Peaky Blinders
01:10 THU (m0015xjg)
Peaky Blinders
02:10 THU (m00164dc)
Rain Man
22:00 THU (m0003w52)
Romancing the Stone: The Golden Ages of British Sculpture
01:00 MON (b00yml9v)
St David's Day at the BBC
21:00 FRI (m000sl8d)
St David's Day at the BBC
01:00 FRI (m000sl8d)
Stewart Copeland's Adventures in Music
01:50 SUN (m000dt78)
Storyville
00:35 SUN (m001jdxk)
Storyville
22:00 TUE (m001jmwb)
The Joy of Painting
19:30 MON (m000jjj0)
The Joy of Painting
02:30 MON (m000jjj0)
The Joy of Painting
19:30 TUE (m000jqzz)
The Joy of Painting
19:30 WED (m000jqyw)
The Macaluso Sisters
21:00 SAT (m001jmtw)
The Many Faces of...
23:55 SAT (b01pm6lw)
The Mistress
20:30 TUE (m001jmw8)
The Story of Welsh Art
02:45 SAT (p097c1qm)
The Story of Welsh Art
00:00 MON (p097c3k8)
Timeshift
21:15 SUN (m000l9v7)
Timeshift
20:00 WED (b0803m60)
Top of the Pops
19:00 FRI (m001jn46)
Top of the Pops
19:30 FRI (m001jn48)
Top of the Pops
20:00 FRI (b01qyvrp)
Top of the Pops
20:30 FRI (b08d7y3l)
Top of the Pops
02:00 FRI (m001jn46)
Top of the Pops
02:30 FRI (m001jn48)
Top of the Pops
03:00 FRI (b01qyvrp)
Victorian Sensations
23:35 SUN (m00059cx)
Villages by the Sea
19:30 THU (m0010chv)
Wales: Music Nation with Huw Stephens
23:00 FRI (p0cwlg3f)
Wales: Music Nation with Huw Stephens
00:00 FRI (p0cyx202)