SATURDAY 24 FEBRUARY 2024

SAT 19:00 Raiders of the Lost Past with Janina Ramirez (m0008k83)
Series 1

The Olmec Heads

Janina Ramirez travels to Mexico, where, just before the outbreak of WWII, American husband-and-wife explorer team Matthew and Marion Stirling were lured into the jungle by the legend of a colossal stone head. They found the head – and a lot more than they bargained for – because it turned out to be the first clue in a trail that led to the discovery of a lost civilisation, now known as the Olmecs.

As Janina follows in their footsteps through the jungle, she discovers that the go-getting Stirlings embodied the adventurous determination of prewar archaeological explorers. Breaking new ground, the Stirlings realised that it was the Olmecs – not the much-later Mayans or the Aztecs – who built the very first pyramids, palaces and planned cities for which Central America is now so famous.

Janina’s journey takes her to some of the most stunning ancient sites in Mexico as she pieces together the evidence that led the Stirlings to the controversial conclusion that the Olmecs flourished there 3,500 years ago, the same period as ancient Egypt. It is extraordinary to think, before their finds, that we not only had no idea the Olmecs even existed, but no idea any civilisation this ancient existed in Central America. The Stirlings’ work was so important that, very unusually, their expeditions and excavations continued during the war, shot in glorious technicolor by National Geographic. This fantastic archive features throughout the film, intercut with Janina’s modern journey.


SAT 20:00 South Pacific (b00ks63z)
Endless Blue

A large part of the remote, blue wilderness of the South Pacific is a marine desert. Many animals that live in the ocean - among them sharks, whales and turtles - must go to extraordinary lengths to survive. Tiger sharks travel hundreds of miles to feast on fledging albatross chicks and, every year, sperm whales journey from one side of the South Pacific to the other in their search for food and mates. Theirs is a journey that can end in tragedy.

But the South Pacific is not all desert. New Zealand's super-rich coast supports huge pods of acrobatic dolphins; its coral reefs are some of the most diverse on earth; and there are few places richer in wildlife than the quirky Galapagos Islands, home to tropical penguins and surfing sea lions.

Using the greatest shipwreck story of all time - an event that inspired Moby Dick - the huge challenges of survival in this seemingly endless blue ocean are revealed.


SAT 21:00 Prisoner (m001w21s)
Series 1

Episode 1

Fresh out of training and wanting to make a difference, new guard Sammi arrives at one of Denmark's older prisons, where he finds that stronger inmates dominate the weak, and guards are too understaffed or indifferent, to reassert their control.

Not knowing who to trust, Sammi finds a soulmate in Miriam, who wants to go by the book, but the outlook is bleak when the governor orders a crackdown to restore discipline.

In Danish with English subtitles


SAT 22:00 Prisoner (m001w268)
Series 1

Episode 2

Under pressure to clean up the prison before the visit of the inspectors, several raids of the sections lead to a breakdown in the balance of power between the dominant gangs. Meanwhile, not trusting her son Asger, Miriam agrees to pay his debt to a powerful drug dealer.

In Danish with English subtitles


SAT 23:00 Quo Vadis, Aida? (m001wsj2)
Bosnia, July 1995. Aida is a translator for the UN in the small town of Srebrenica. When the Serbian army takes over the town, her family is among the thousands of citizens looking for shelter in the UN camp. Based on true events.


SAT 00:40 To the Manor Born (b00786xl)
Series 2

The New Farm Manager

Richard offers Ned's services to Audrey in Brabinger's absence but Ned thinks it is all a plot to remove him from his tied cottage so that the new farm manager can move in. Audrey decides to take her revenge.


SAT 01:10 Yes, Prime Minister (b0074rwy)
Series 2

Man Overboard

Sir Humphrey must stop Jim supporting a plan to move armed service jobs from the south to the north east to ease unemployment.


SAT 01:40 South Pacific (b00ks63z)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


SAT 02:40 Raiders of the Lost Past with Janina Ramirez (m0008k83)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]

SUNDAY 25 FEBRUARY 2024

SUN 19:00 Woolly Mammoth: Secrets from the Ice (b01fkcdr)
Professor Alice Roberts reveals the natural history of the most famous of ice age animals - the woolly mammoth. Mammoths have transfixed humans since the depths of the last ice age, when their herds roamed across what is now Europe and Asia. Although these curious members of the elephant family have been extinct for thousands of years, scientists can now paint an incredibly detailed picture of their lives thanks to whole carcasses that have been beautifully preserved in the Siberian permafrost.

Alice meets the scientists who are using the latest genetic, chemical and molecular tests to reveal the adaptations that allowed mammoths to evolve from their origins in the tropics to surviving the extremes of Siberia. And in a dramatic end to the film, she helps unveil a brand new woolly mammoth carcass that may shed new light on our own ancestors' role in their extinction.


SUN 20:00 Inside Classical (m001wsk1)
Series 2

Dvorak’s New World Symphony

The BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Ben Gernon perform Bruch’s First Violin Concerto and Dvorak’s Symphony No 9, 'From the New World'.

Bruch’s romantic violin concerto is performed by Jennifer Pike, who first gained attention in 2002, when at 12 years old, she won the BBC Young Musician competition. She is now in demand as a soloist around the world.

Dvorak wrote his Ninth Symphony on a journey of musical discovery around America. It takes inspiration from both native and African-American melodies and is a cinematic display of orchestral colour that captures the spirit of new discovery.


SUN 21:10 BBC Proms (m0007zfh)
2019

Homage to Nina Simone

Clara Amfo introduces a prom which celebrates the jazz and blues legend Nina Simone. The Metropole Orkest is led by Jules Buckley, and they are joined by Ledisi, Lisa Fischer and other singers in this tribute to the acclaimed singer, songwriter and political activist. The titles include standards such as Feeling Good, My Baby Just Cares for Me and I Put a Spell on You.


SUN 23:00 Nina Simone: Live at Montreux 1976 (m001bmml)
An archive performance of Nina Simone playing at the 1976 Montreux Jazz Festival.


SUN 00:15 Secret Knowledge (b05wps6k)
Nina Simone and Me with Laura Mvula

Over half a century since she first performed her songs, Nina Simone is more popular than ever. From Sinnerman to Mississippi Goddam, Feeling Good to My Baby Just Cares for Me, she is an artist with an extraordinary songbook that mixes jazz, blues, soul and even classical.

British soul singer Laura Mvula travels to New York to celebrate the Nina songs that mean most to her and explore their musical roots. Performing with a Harlem gospel choir, uncovering the influence of Nina's classical training and meeting Simone's long-time guitarist Al Shackman, Laura presents a personal tribute to the genius of her musical hero.


SUN 00:45 Jazz Piano Gold (b01cc76p)
A real treat for anyone who loves listening to the tinkling of the jazz piano, with classics from Count Basie, Thelonious Monk, Oscar Peterson, Abdullah Ibrahim, Stan Tracey and Jacques Loussier to Duke Ellington, Return to Forever and Herbie Hancock. The performances are culled from cult classic programmes such as Jazz 625, Show of the Week, Late Night Line Up, Love You Madly, Birdland, The Late Show and Later... with Jools Holland, and date from 1964 to 2009. Be it bebop, swing or contemporary, Jazz Piano Gold is a must for all jazz piano fans.


SUN 01:45 Woolly Mammoth: Secrets from the Ice (b01fkcdr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


SUN 02:45 Inside Classical (m001wsk1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]

MONDAY 26 FEBRUARY 2024

MON 19:00 Planet Earth II (b084xk6m)
Grasslands

Grasslands cover one-quarter of all land and support the vast gatherings of wildlife, but to survive here animals must endure the most hostile seasonal changes on the planet. From Asia's bizarre-looking saiga antelope to the giant anteaters of Brazil, grassland animals have adapted in extraordinary ways to cope with these extremes. In the flooded Okavango, lions take on formidable buffalo in epic battles, on the savannah, bee-eaters take advantage of elephants to help catch insects and, on the freezing northern tundra, caribou embark on great migrations shadowed by hungry arctic wolves.


MON 20:00 Art of America (b017j25v)
Modern Dreams

In the second part of his fascinating journey exploring American art, Andrew Graham-Dixon gets under the skin of the modern American metropolis. Starting his journey at the foot of the Statue of Liberty, which he describes as a pioneering early skyscraper, Andrew discovers how the ambitions of visionary artists and architects helped America remove itself from the shadow of Europe and become the most advanced civilisation on earth.

Andrew travels to downtown Manhattan to explore the grimy world of early 20th-century painters John Sloan and George Bellows, and visits Stockbridge in Massachusetts to find out how the world of Norman Rockwell is not as sentimental as it first seems. In Chicago, he explores the visionary mind of architect Louis Sullivan and travels to the decaying outskirts of the city to see the underside of the American dream.

He uncovers the impact the Great Depression had on artists such as Edward Hopper and Arshile Gorky, and finds out how this struggle inspired America's first internationally acclaimed art movement - Abstract Expressionism. He pays a pilgrimage to Jackson Pollock's perfectly preserved studio in Long Island to discover the secrets of his unique drip technique, before flying across America to take in one of modern art's most moving experiences, Mark Rothko's chapel in Houston, Texas.


MON 21:00 Thatcher: A Very British Revolution (m0005pt1)
Series 1

Enemies

The third episode sees Mrs Thatcher plunged into dramatic conflicts with determined enemies that will define her premiership and her legacy.

Against a backdrop of economic downturn Mrs Thatcher is struggling in the opinion polls and is labelled the “least popular prime minister since polling began” but her public image is transformed by a totally unexpected turn of events in the South Atlantic. When Argentine forces occupy the British Falkland Islands Mrs Thatcher finds herself a war leader. She wins the respect of the public by remaining resolute in her belief that the islands should be recovered. She wins respect in cabinet and the military by remaining calm and clear through the short conflict in the Falklands despite the serious political jeopardy she faces and the emotional toll of sending men into war. The triumph of the British forces transforms Mrs Thatcher’s reputation in the country and in the world.

Following her victory in the 1983 general election Mrs Thatcher begins to assert herself in global politics, beginning an engagement with Mikhail Gorbachev, a rising star of the Soviet Communist party. At home she faces another challenge to her leadership from the left-wing leadership of the National Union of Miners.

The controversial decision to call a national strike puts Mrs Thatcher into a conflict she had long anticipated. Having watched the miners destabilise the Conservative government of Edward Heath in the 1970s Mrs Thatcher has prepared for this dispute. In the background, she plays a role in a strategy that will eventually force the miners into a return to work and allow the government to claim a historic and transformative victory. The price is a sense of nation divided by class, region and economic fortunes.

The jeopardy of the Falklands and miners is surpassed by the threat of another enemy. At the 1984 Conservative Party conference the IRA bomb her hotel in an attempt to kill her and her most senior colleagues. She has a narrow escape as close friends die or suffer terrible injuries.

This episode includes interviews with defence secretary John Nott, press secretary Bernard Ingham and cabinet members Norman Tebbit, Michael Heseltine and Malcolm Rifkind, senior civil servants Robin Butler, John Coles and Andrew Turnbull, personal assistant Cynthia Crawford, Downing Street administrator Janice Richards, Falklands commander Sir Julian Thompson, opposition leader Neil Kinnock and striking miner Chris Kitchen.


MON 22:00 The Challenger (p00zstkn)
When the space shuttle Challenger blew up in 1986, it was the most shocking event in the history of American spaceflight. The deaths of seven astronauts, including the first teacher in space Christa McAuliffe, were watched live on television by millions of viewers. But what was more shocking was that the cause of the disaster might never be uncovered. The Challenger is the story of how Richard Feynman, one of America's most famous scientists, helped to discover the cause of a tragedy that stunned America.


MON 23:30 The Horizon Guide to Space Shuttles (b0109cc7)
In 2011, after more than 30 years of service, America's space shuttle took to the skies for the last time. Its story has been characterised by incredible triumphs, but blighted by devastating tragedies - and the BBC and Horizon have chronicled every step of its career. This unique and poignant Horizon Guide brings together coverage from three decades of programmes to present a biography of the shuttle and to ask what its legacy will be. Will it be remembered as an impressive chapter in human space exploration, or as a fatally flawed white elephant?


MON 00:30 Planet Earth II (b084xk6m)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


MON 01:30 Thatcher: A Very British Revolution (m0005pt1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


MON 02:30 Art of America (b017j25v)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]

TUESDAY 27 FEBRUARY 2024

TUE 19:00 Frozen Planet (b00zj1q5)
To the Ends of the Earth

David Attenborough travels to the end of the Earth, taking viewers on an extraordinary journey across the polar regions of our planet, North and South. The Arctic and Antarctic are the greatest and least-known wildernesses of all - magical ice worlds inhabited by the most bizarre and hardy creatures on Earth.

Our journey begins with David at the North Pole, as the sun returns after six months of darkness. We follow a pair of courting polar bears, which reveal a surprisingly tender side. Next stop is the giant Greenland ice cap, where waterfalls plunge into the heart of the ice and a colossal iceberg carves into the sea. Humpback whales join the largest gathering of seabirds on Earth to feast in rich Alaskan waters. Further south, the tree line marks the start of the taiga forest, containing one third of all trees on earth. Here, 25 of the world's largest wolves take on formidable bison prey.

At the other end of our planet, the Antarctic begins in the Southern Ocean, where surfing penguins struggle to escape a hungry sea lion and teams of orcas create giant waves to wash seals from ice floes - a filming first. Diving below the ice, we discover prehistoric giants, including terrifying sea spiders and woodlice the size of dinner plates. Above ground, crystal caverns ring the summit of Erebus, the most southerly volcano on earth. From here, we retrace the routes of early explorers across the formidable Antarctic ice cap - the largest expanse of ice on our planet. Finally, we rejoin David at the South Pole, exactly one hundred years after Amundsen, and then Scott, were the first humans to stand there.


TUE 20:00 To the Manor Born (b007871c)
Series 2

The Spare Room

Stately sitcom. One of Audrey's old school friends wants to pay a visit, but she is unaware of the drop in status of the former lady of the manor.


TUE 20:30 Yes, Prime Minister (b0074rxz)
Series 2

Official Secrets

Jim Hacker's predecessor is publishing his memoirs and must be cleared by the PM's office for security reasons. One chapter shows Hacker in a very bad light - but has he got grounds for refusing to publish?


TUE 21:00 The Boleyns: A Scandalous Family (p09jgk2r)
Series 1

Episode 1

Thomas Boleyn, the patriarch of the Boleyns, is determined to elevate the family name. His ambitions for his three children will take them to the heart of the Tudor court.


TUE 22:00 Saving Venice (m001m7p1)
How Venetians are turning to revolutionary engineering, restoration of the natural environment and knowledge from their past in order to save Venice.


TUE 23:30 The $50 Million Art Swindle (m0008rt3)
This feature-length documentary for Arena by acclaimed director Vanessa Engle tells the remarkable story of a charlatan art dealer who swindled over $50 million from the art establishment before going on the run.

Michel Cohen, a popular and charming New York art dealer, was originally from France. A high school dropout from a poor background, Cohen was a self-invented man who went on to become a rich and successful art dealer, with homes in Malibu and New York. Throughout the 1990s, he sold paintings by artists such as Picasso, Monet and Chagall to America’s wealthiest elite.

Cohen was living the high life, until he began trading recklessly in the stock market and ran up considerable debts. In an attempt to recoup his losses, he swindled private collectors, auction houses and other art dealers out of more than $50 million. When his swindles were discovered, he fled the USA with his wife and two small children and went on the run.

In 2003, he was found by Interpol in Brazil and was imprisoned in Rio de Janeiro, but seven months later, while awaiting extradition to the USA, he escaped from prison and vanished off the face of the earth. Sixteen years later, film-maker Vanessa Engle has managed to track him down and persuade him to tell his extraordinary story - a highly entertaining crime caper that is also a rich exploration of greed, motive and morality.


TUE 01:00 Frozen Planet (b00zj1q5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


TUE 02:00 The Boleyns: A Scandalous Family (p09jgk2r)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


TUE 03:00 New Power Generation: Black Music Legends of the 1980s (b0177bjb)
Prince: A Purple Reign

Film which explores how Prince - showman, artist, enigma - revolutionised the perception of black music in the 1980s with worldwide hits such as 1999, Kiss, Raspberry Beret and Alphabet Street. He became a global sensation with the release of the Oscar-winning, semi-autobiographical movie Purple Rain in 1984, embarking on an incredible journey of musical self-discovery that continued right up to his passing in April 2016, aged 57.

From the psychedelic Around the World in a Day to his masterpiece album Sign O' the Times and experiments with hip-hop and jazz, Prince was one of most ambitious and prolific songwriters of his generation. He tested the boundaries of taste and decency with explicit sexual lyrics and stage shows during his early career, and in the 1990s fought for ownership of his name and control of his music, played out in a public battle with his former label, Warner. Highly regarded as one of the most flamboyant live performers ever, Prince was a controversial and famously elusive creative force.

Contributors include Revolution guitarist Dez Dickerson, Paisley Park label president Alan Leeds, hip-hop legend Chuck D and Prince 'Mastermind' and UK soul star Beverley Knight.

WEDNESDAY 28 FEBRUARY 2024

WED 19:00 Frozen Planet (b00zj35k)
Spring

Spring arrives in the polar regions, and the sun appears after an absence of five months; warmth and life return to these magical ice worlds - the greatest seasonal transformation on our planet is under way.

Male adelie penguins arrive in Antarctica to build their nests - it takes a good property to attract the best mates and the males will stop at nothing to better their rivals. But these early birds face the fiercest storms on the planet.

In the Arctic, a polar bear mother is hunting with her cubs. Inland, the frozen rivers start to break up and billions of tons of ice are swept downstream in the greatest of polar spectacles. This meltwater fertilizes the Arctic Ocean, feeding vast shoals of Arctic cod and narwhal. The influx of freshwater accelerates the breakup of the sea ice - an area of ice the size of Australia will soon vanish from the Arctic.

On land, a woolly bear caterpillar emerges from the snow having spent the winter frozen solid. Caterpillars normally become moths within months of hatching, but life is so harsh here that the woolly bear takes 14 years to reach adulthood. Once mature, it has only days to find a mate before it dies. Alongside the caterpillars, white arctic wolves race to raise their adorable cubs before the cold returns.

In Antarctica, vast numbers of seabirds arrive on South Georgia joining the giant albatross and king penguins that have been there all winter. Elephant seals fight furious battles over females on a beach that contains the greatest mass of animals on the planet.

Finally, the female adelie penguins arrive, chased from the water by killer whales. Mating and chick rearing lie ahead of them.


WED 20:00 Cold War, Hot Jets (b03h8r3y)
Episode 1

Britain emerged from the Second World War in financial crisis, but one technological innovation provided hope for the future - a world-leading jet aviation industry. During the Cold War, the jet engine became a lucrative export and a powerful piece of military hardware, but selling to the wrong buyer could alter the balance of power.


WED 21:00 Rise of the Nazis (p09jgldz)
Dictators at War

Barbarossa

At the peak of his power, Hitler now faces fellow dictator Stalin. He tries to deceive Stalin with a plan to invade Britain, while preparing an attack on the Soviet Union.


WED 22:00 Claire Bloom Remembers… Anna Karenina (m001wskx)
Claire Bloom introduces a rare screening of the BBC’s 1961 adaptation of Anna Karenina, in which she delivers one of her own personal favourite performances, playing Tolstoy’s tragic heroine.

Claire recalls the challenges involved in bringing 'the world’s greatest novel' to the small screen, assesses how successfully the drama captured Anna’s tale and shares her memories of acting opposite a relatively unknown co-star called Sean Connery, who was cast as Anna’s charismatic lover, Vronsky, not long before James Bond turned him into an international superstar.


WED 22:15 Anna Karenina (p014crhb)
Anna, the wife of government minister Alexis Karenin, visits Moscow to help straighten out a family quarrel. There, Count Alexis Vronsky falls in love with her. Television adaptation of a play based on Leo Tolstoy's novel by Marcelle Maurette.


WED 00:05 Bookmark (m001wskz)
AS Byatt: A Curious Mind

Portrait of author and critic AS Byatt, whose prolific output includes the Booker Prize-winning novel Possession and the mesmerising novellas Angels and Insects.

Bookmark records Byatt in some of her favourite places: the subterranean shelves of the London Library, the seascapes of East Yorkshire and her primary school in Pontefract. Along the way, she talks about the trials of her childhood, her habits as a writer and her relationship with her family, including sister and fellow writer Margaret Drabble.


WED 00:55 Frozen Planet (b00zj35k)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


WED 01:55 Cold War, Hot Jets (b03h8r3y)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


WED 02:55 Rise of the Nazis (p09jgldz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]

THURSDAY 29 FEBRUARY 2024

THU 19:00 Frozen Planet (b00zj35m)
Summer

It is high summer in the polar regions, and the sun never sets. Vast hordes of summer visitors cram a lifetime of drama into one long, magical day. They must feed, fight and rear their young in this brief window of plenty.

Summer is a tough time for the polar bear family, as their ice world melts away and the cubs take their first swimming lesson. Some bears save energy by dozing on icy sunbeds, while others go egg-collecting in an arctic tern colony, braving bombardment by sharp beaks.

There are even bigger battles on the tundra - a herd of musk oxen gallop to the rescue as a calf is caught in a life and death struggle with a pair of arctic wolves. But summer also brings surprises, as a huge colony of 400,000 king penguins cope with an unlikely problem - heat. The adults go surfing, while the woolly-coated chicks take a cooling mud bath.

Nearby, a bull fur seal is prepared to fight to the death with a rival. Fur flies as the little pups struggle desperately to keep out of the way of the duelling giants.

Further south, a minke whale is hunted amongst the ice floes by a family of killer whales. The dramatic chase lasts over two hours and has never been filmed before. The killers harry the minke whale, taking it in turns to wear it down. Eventually it succumbs to the relentless battering. Finally, comical adelie penguins waddle back to their 500,000-strong colony like clockwork toys. The fluffy chicks need constant feeding and protection as piratical skuas patrol the skies. When an unguarded chick is snatched, a dramatic dogfight ensues.


THU 20:00 The Red Shoes (b0074t6v)
Eager young ballerina Victoria Page is delighted at being given the opportunity to dance with the renowned Ballet Lermontov, little realising the demands of its brilliant yet arrogant impresario will force a tragic choice between her career and her lover.


THU 22:10 Doctor Zhivago (m000mtmx)
Doctor and poet Yuri Zhivago is brought up in the family of Alexander Gromeko, whose daughter Tonya he eventually marries. But his true love is for the passionate and beautiful Lara, the mistress of a political opportunist. With the outbreak of the Great War, and with Moscow transformed by the Revolution, their romance is disrupted by the social upheaval surrounding them.

David Lean's Oscar-winning epic set in revolutionary Russia, based on the novel by Boris Pasternak.


THU 01:15 Saving Venice (m001m7p1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 on Tuesday]


THU 02:45 Frozen Planet (b00zj35m)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]

FRIDAY 01 MARCH 2024

FRI 19:00 Top of the Pops (m001wkgj)
Simon Mayo presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 21 September 1995 and featuring The Outhere Brothers, Umboza, Janet Jackson, Smokie featuring Roy Chubby Brown, Pulp, Mariah Carey, Erasure, Iron Maiden and Shaggy.


FRI 19:30 Top of the Pops (m001wkgl)
Steve Lamacq and Jo Whiley present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 28 September 1995 and featuring Cast, Garbage, Wet Wet Wet, The Pretenders, Bon Jovi, TLC, Menswear, Def Leppard, Simply Red and Meat Loaf.


FRI 20:00 Top of the Pops (b08wzzp9)
John Peel and David Jensen present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 1 March 1984. Featuring Matt Bianco, Van Halen, Alexei Sayle, Break Machine, Wang Chung, Slade, Nena and Julia & Company.


FRI 20:30 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 21:00 Queen: The Legendary 1975 Concert (b00p4hgm)
On Christmas Eve 1975, Queen crowned a glorious year with a special concert at London's Hammersmith Odeon. The show on the final night of their triumphant UK tour was broadcast live on BBC TV and radio, and has become a legendary event in Queen's history.

Featuring stunning renditions of early hits Keep Yourself Alive, Liar and Now I'm Here alongside Brian May's epic guitar showcase Brighton Rock, a rip-roaring version of the then new Bohemian Rhapsody and the crowd-pleasing Rock 'n' Roll Medley, this hour-long concert shows Queen at an early peak and poised to conquer the world.


FRI 22:05 A Life in Ten Pictures (m000tzf0)
Series 1

Freddie Mercury

Freddie Mercury’s image is known around the world. He was one of the most photographed men in history. But could just a handful of photos uncover new truths about someone we think we all know? This documentary throws a unique lens onto an extraordinary life, focusing on ten defining pictures – from iconic shots to private snaps – with their secrets revealed by those who were there and those who knew Freddie Mercury best.


FRI 23:05 Queen at the BBC (m00123q7)
A trip through the archives that serves up an hour of killer Queen material, featuring some of the band's greatest musical moments ever delivered to our screens.

The legendary band’s huge international status and punishing touring schedules meant that over the years they made surprisingly few appearances on programmes like Top of the Pops, and tragically for their fans, several of those performances were either lost or never recorded.

This collection brings together the very best of what’s survived from one of the most enduring and best-loved acts in British rock, featuring perhaps the most charismatic and best-loved frontman of all time. Amongst the gems are moments from the band’s celebrated 1975 concert at London’s Hammersmith Odeon and highlights from their trips to the prestigious Montreux Pop Festival in the 1980s – an event that would attract the cream of the world’s music acts every year.

Songs featured take us from the band’s first ever UK hit, Seven Seas of Rhye, through to These Are The Days of Our Lives, Queen’s last hit before Freddie’s untimely death, as well as all the biggest hits, including the iconic Bohemian Rhapsody, frequently voted the nation’s favourite ever song.


FRI 00:05 The Story of Bohemian Rhapsody (b0074d94)
The full story behind the iconic song, featuring Brian May and Roger Taylor's return to Rockfield Studios, where they re-record the guitar and drum parts and tell the story of how the song came together. Narrated by Richard E Grant, the documentary includes exclusive rare recordings of Freddie Mercury performing the song in studio, Queen's first ever TV performance and the making of the video, as well as interviews with Mercury's friends and family, The Darkness and Bjorn Ulvaeus from Abba.


FRI 01:00 A Life in Ten Pictures (m000tzf0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:05 today]


FRI 02:00 Top of the Pops (b08wzzp9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


FRI 02:35 Top of the Pops (b01qyvrp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]


FRI 03:05 Top of the Pops (m001wkgj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]