SATURDAY 19 OCTOBER 2024

SAT 19:00 The Wonder of Animals (b04dq5tb)
Penguins

At first sight, penguins seem ill-suited to their environment - rotund abdomens, stubby little legs and stiff wings appear to make the going tough. But in fact it is these very traits that enable this bird to thrive.

Chris explores details of the penguin's anatomy, using new scientific research to reveal how its legs, wings and body shape have allowed it to conquer an extraordinary range of habitats, from deep forests to tropical waters, bustling cities and even the toughest place on the planet - Antarctica.


SAT 19:30 The Cult Of... (b008x368)
Sunday Night

All Creatures Great and Small

The Cult of..., a series that unearths the history and anecdotes behind our cult Sunday night dramas, looks at All Creatures Great and Small. With its mix of stunning countryside, eccentric characters and romance, the show formed a template for Sunday night television. Interviewees including Christopher Timothy, Peter Davison, Robert Hardy, Carol Drinkwater, Lynda Bellingham, John McGlynn, producer Bill Sellars and writer Johnny Byrne reveal the struggles behind the success.


SAT 20:00 Christopher Timothy and Peter Davison Remember... All Creatures Great and Small (m00248l8)
Considered a classic of British television dramas, All Creatures Great and Small ran for seven series and established the template for cosy Sunday night viewing. The winning formula of James Herriot’s stories, the stunning Dales scenery and the brilliant cast proved a hit from its first appearance in 1978.

Peter Davison and Christopher Timothy look back on those days. They tell us what it was like to meet the real James Herriot, a genuine Yorkshire vet called Alf Wight, as well as the original Siegfried and Tristan Farnon.

We hear how Peter’s clumsiness with a coffee cup might have contributed to him getting the part and how the work they did trailing real vets made the scenes more credible.

Peter and Christopher also talk about the joy they got from performing alongside an array of talented character actors and the family feeling that working on the show gave them, a warmth that transmits through the screen to the viewer to this day.


SAT 20:20 All Creatures Great and Small (p031d2mg)
Series 1

Horse Sense

Newly qualified, James Herriot arrives in the Yorkshire town of Darrowby to be interviewed for his first job. It's 1936, and work is hard enough to find, but his prospective employer Siegfried Farnon seems to have completely forgotten the appointment.


SAT 21:10 All Creatures Great and Small (p031d2mm)
Series 1

Dog Days

The result of the post-mortem is known and James finds that while a vet's life is not altogether enviable, a dog's life might well be.


SAT 22:00 The Beasts (m00248lb)
Middle-aged French couple Antoine and Olga have moved to an inland Galician hamlet, happy to live off the land and renovate some dilapidated properties and intending to settle down, but a conflict with their neighbours reaches the point of no return.

In French and Spanish with English subtitles


SAT 00:10 The Lively Arts (m00248ld)
James Herriot: The Vet Who Writes Books

James Herriot talks to Melvyn Bragg about his upbringing in Glasgow, his life in Yorkshire and his work as both vet and writer.


SAT 01:00 The Cult Of... (b008x368)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


SAT 01:30 Porridge (b007871w)
Series 2

Just Desserts

Classic comedy series.

Stealing on the outside - that's work, making a living, skulduggery. On the inside, against one's fellow inmates, that's a despicable crime. The inmates of Slade Prison are horrified to discover there is a thief in their midst.


SAT 02:00 Hancock's Half Hour (p032khyk)
The Alpine Holiday

Hancock decides to take a holiday and after an eventful flight has to share his hotel room with a yodeller and Alpine Horn player.


SAT 02:30 The Wonder of Animals (b04dq5tb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


SAT 03:00 Nature and Us: A History through Art (m0010jn6)
Series 1

Episode 1

In this first episode, art historian James Fox explores the art of the ancient world to reveal the story of our earliest relationships with nature. From the art of prehistoric hunters and the advent of agriculture and our first cities to the arrival the great faiths, including Hinduism and Christianity, James shows how we began to wrestle with our place in nature and tried to control the great forces that shape our world. Along the way, we journey from Arctic Norway to the jungles of Guatemala and the holy city of Varanasi in India.

Beginning with cave paintings of animals and a fascinating 12,000-year-old carving of a reindeer, James shows how we were once much closer to nature. We meet Nils Peder, a contemporary Sami Reindeer Herder in northern Norway. His way of life is still influenced by a belief in nature’s spiritual energy and power. But then as James studies an ancient Egyptian model of cattle, we reach a dramatic turning point in our relationship with nature - the advent of agriculture. At this point, humans collaborated with nature but ultimately took ‘control’. James takes this a step further with the extraordinary lion hunt carvings from the Assyrian palace of Nineveh. He demonstrates how it was at this time that humans began to set out to conquer nature. James then turns his attention to ways in which religion helped us make sense of the great shifts in our relationship with nature. We see the first human personifications of natural forces: the river Ganga in India and the ancient Greek god of the sky, Zeus. And we see how, in Christian art, nature becomes the backdrop for the very human-focused story of the crucifixion.

In this first great phase in human history, James reveals how we moved from caves to farms, to the emergence of the first civilisations and to global faiths. And through it all, he shows how we struggled to control nature and began to move away from it, no longer living as just one part of the natural world.

SUNDAY 20 OCTOBER 2024

SUN 19:00 The Complete Victor Borge - Show of the Week (m0024960)
Series 1

Episode 6

Victor Borge, the brilliant international entertainer, performs some of his most famous routines and plays some of his favourite music.


SUN 19:30 Concerto at the BBC Proms (b01k031g)
Mendelssohn Violin

Another chance to hear a live performance from the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall of one of the most popular and frequently performed violin concertos of all time, Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor, recorded at the first night of the BBC Proms in 2005. Exciting and versatile violin soloist Janine Jansen performs with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under the baton of conductor, Sir Roger Norrington.


SUN 20:00 Joan Bakewell at the BBC (m0024962)
Joan Bakewell looks back at her extraordinary career at the BBC and shares with viewers some of her most memorable moments, from her early days honing her craft in the interviewer's chair at Late Night Line-Up to her interactions with cutting-edge artists of the 80s and 90s and Hollywood stars of the stage and screen.

Joan talks about her love of conversation and how 'being nosey' made her a better journalist. She describes how she fought hard to maintain her role as a female journalist in the early days of television, the misogyny she faced and how she made it her career's work to keep the arts firmly on the nation's screens. She discusses her role in ethical programming, such as Heart of the Matter and Taboo and how, at 91, she's not ready to stop talking yet.


SUN 20:30 Joan Bakewell Remembers... Nelson Mandela in Heart of the Matter (m0024964)
Joan Bakewell looks back on what she describes as the greatest moment of her career, her scoop interview with Nelson Mandela as he left prison in 1990. She explains how the interview came about and how they beat news crews to the story - proving that, in this industry, contacts are everything. She describes meeting the man, imprisoned and silenced for 27 years, and how he relished the opportunity to send his message to the world.


SUN 20:40 Heart of the Matter (m0024966)
Nelson Mandela in His Own Words

During a visit to Stockholm, a month after his release from prison in February 1990, Nelson Mandela gives an exclusive in-depth interview to Joan Bakewell.

Mandela discusses Oliver Tambo, the ANC and his wife, Winnie, and talks about the personal and spiritual journey that sustained him during his long years of imprisonment and outlines his vision for the future of his country and people.


SUN 21:20 Joan Bakewell Remembers... Marcel Duchamp in Light Night Line-Up (m0024968)
Joan Bakewell remembers her interview with legendary French artist and sculptor Marcel Duchamp, just months before his death in 1968.

At a time when artists were unlikely talk show guests, Marcel came to Television Centre, armed with a couple of his sculptures, and proceeded to talk to Bakewell about his anarchic views on art and his influence on Cubism and the Dada movements, all through vast clouds of cigar smoke.


SUN 21:30 Late Night Line-Up (m002496b)
Marcel Duchamp

Joan Bakewell talks to French artist Marcel Duchamp in an extended interview originally broadcast as part of an edition of the pioneering discussion programme Late Night Line-Up from June 1968.


SUN 21:55 Joan Bakewell: Flowering in Autumn (m002496d)
In this film essay, the writer and broadcaster Joan Bakewell considers how great creative artists respond to old age. For many, it's not a period of waning powers, but a move into an era of renewed creativity. 'Late work' can be full of renewed vision and achievement. Examining the work of some of today's most distinguished artists, and investigating current scientific theories about the ageing process, Joan discovers that for many artists, it doesn't have to be downhill all the way.


SUN 22:25 Heart of the Matter (m002496g)
The Accidental Hero: Oskar Schindler

Joan Bakewell explores the moral ambiguity of Oskar Schindler, the saviour of more than 1,200 people but also a Nazi and notorious black marketeer.

Using interviews with Thomas Keneally, author of Schindler's Ark, and some of the people Schindler saved, this programme explores the nature of heroism.

Half a century after the events, the survivors ask why the lessons of the Holocaust are still to be learnt.


SUN 23:00 BBC Young Musician (m002496j)
2024

Grand Final Performances

From the several hundred who entered, just three exceptional young musicians remain as the competition that’s launched some of the biggest names in classical music reaches its climax.

Star saxophonist and broadcaster Jess Gillam, herself a finalist in 2016, presents the grand final concert from the stage, filmed at the transformed and reborn Bristol Beacon. Joining Jess for the final are the 2024 BBC Young Musician judges; award-winning trumpet player and former finalist Alison Balsom; chart topping pianist Alexis Ffrench; and multi-instrumentalist and conductor Hannah Catherine Jones.

In the final the musicians perform a concerto of their choice with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and award-winning conductor Ben Gernon. With such spectacular talent on show, the judges will have a huge call to make at the end of another compelling competition. One of the finalists will be named BBC Young Musician 2024 and take their place alongside a stellar list of previous winners and finalists.


SUN 01:15 The Complete Victor Borge - Show of the Week (m0024960)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


SUN 01:50 Face the Music (m00240x2)
Joseph Cooper as question master invites you to match your musical wits against Polly Elwes, Robin Ray and Brian Redhead. With guest musician Ivor Newton.


SUN 02:25 Heart of the Matter (m0024966)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:40 today]


SUN 03:05 Heart of the Matter (m002496g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:25 today]

MONDAY 21 OCTOBER 2024

MON 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.


MON 20:00 Landscape and Memory (p00dw6mn)
Mountains

Mountains have traditionally been regarded as sacred places. Simon Schama looks at the different ways in which they have been conquered.


MON 20:40 City Scapes (m002495t)
Berlin

Programme exploring how the city of Berlin has developed since the fall of the wall in 1989. First broadcast in 2001


MON 21:00 Call My Bluff (m002495w)
Robert Robinson referees a duel of words and wit between Patrick Campbell, who is joined by Madeline Smith and Peter Sallis, and Frank Muir, with Sheila Tracy and Charles Osborne.


MON 21:25 Face the Music (m002495y)
Joseph Cooper invites viewers to match their musical wits against Joyce Grenfell, Robin Ray and David Attenborough. With guest musician Stephen Dodgson.


MON 22:00 Horizon (b0813b03)
2016

The Wildest Weather in the Universe

We love talking about the weather - is it too hot or too cold, too wet or too windy? It's a national obsession. Now scientists have started looking to the heavens and wondering what the weather might be like on other planets. Today, we are witnessing the birth of extraterrestrial meteorology, as technology is allowing astronomers to study other planets like never before. They began with our solar system, sending spacecraft to explore its furthest reaches, and now the latest telescopes are enabling astronomers to study planets beyond our solar system.

Our exploration of the universe is revealing alien worlds with weather stranger than anyone could ever have imagined - we've discovered gigantic storm systems that can encircle entire planets, supersonic winds, extreme temperatures and bizarre forms of rain. On some planets, the temperatures are so hot that the clouds and rain are believed to be made of liquid lava droplets, and on other planets it is thought to rain precious stones like diamonds and rubies.

We thought we had extreme weather on Earth, but it turns out that it is nothing compared to what's out there. The search for the weirdest weather in the universe is only just beginning.


MON 23:00 Earth from Space (p072n7v7)
Series 1

Patterned Planet

Cameras in space tell stories of life on our planet from a brand new perspective. Earth’s surface is covered in weird and wonderful patterns. The Australian outback is covered in pale spots, the work of wombats; a clearing in the endless green canopy of the Congo rainforest has been created by an incredible elephant gathering; and the twists and turns of the Amazon make a home for rehabilitated manatees. This is our home, as we’ve never seen it before.


MON 23:55 Nature and Us: A History through Art (m0010rkc)
Series 1

Episode 2

James Fox uses art to explore how humans began to try to understand nature for the very first time. From the Song dynasty in China and the Islamic world, through to the Scientific Revolution and the advent of the industrial era, James shows the very different ways in which humans came to both appreciate and understand nature, whilst at the very same time beginning to dominate and control it.

With the advent of landscape painting in medieval China, James discovers that these artworks reflect an attitude of harmony and balance with nature that came from a philosophical belief system known as Daoism. We then meet a Zen Buddhist monk Shunmyo Masuno, who is also an internationally renowned garden designer, and learn that Zen gardens are the means to contemplate the unknowable mysteries of nature. James’s story then moves from East Asia to the cultures of the Islamic world. He examines a brightly coloured chameleon painted by Ustad Mansur in 1612 for the Mughal emperor Jahangir - a combination of artistic flair and close observation in which we see the beauty of the natural world closer than ever before.

James also explores the story of one of the first European botanical artists, an extraordinary woman called Maria Sibylla Merian. Her 1705 collection of images from her travels in Suriname was a milestone in natural history. We encounter Nirupa Rao, a contemporary Indian botanical artist who is breathing new life into this traditional art form, working in the jungles of the Western Ghats. From the analytical to the romantic, James’s story then moves to the wild and awesome paintings of JMW Turner, before exploring the advent of landscape photography in the American west. The photography of Carleton Watkins played a part in creating the first protected landscape in the world - Yosemite National Park.

James reveals the many ways in which art illuminates the extraordinary changes that took place in this millennia-long period. From an East Asian acceptance of the unknowability of nature to the drive to understand, classify and appreciate it, each point of view is an attempt to understand our place in nature.


MON 00:55 Frozen Planet (b00zj1q5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


MON 01:55 Horizon (b0813b03)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]


MON 02:55 Earth from Space (p072n7v7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:00 today]

TUESDAY 22 OCTOBER 2024

TUE 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.


TUE 20:00 Porridge (b007874b)
Series 2

Heartbreak Hotel

Classic comedy series about the inmates of HM Slade Prison. The problems of an anxious father and a pining first offender are solved in the prison waiting room.


TUE 20:30 Hancock's Half Hour (p032kj0j)
The Photographer

Hancock decides to invest in a new camera - which Sid sees as the perfect opportunity to make some money.


TUE 21:00 She-Wolves: England's Early Queens (b01bgpm7)
Matilda and Eleanor

In the medieval and Tudor world there was no question in people's minds about the order of God's creation - men ruled and women didn't. A king was a warrior who literally fought to win power then battled to keep it. Yet despite everything that stood in their way, a handful of extraordinary women did attempt to rule medieval and Tudor England. In this series, historian Dr Helen Castor explores seven queens who challenged male power, the fierce reactions they provoked and whether the term 'she wolves' was deserved.

Eight hundred years ago, Matilda came within a hair's breadth of being the first woman to be crowned queen of England in her own right. Castor explores how Matilda reached this point and why her bid for the throne ultimately failed. Her daughter-in-law Eleanor of Aquitaine was an equally formidable woman. Despite being remembered as the queen of courtly love, in reality during her long life she divorced one king and married another, only to lead a rebellion against him. She only finally achieved the power she craved in her seventies.


TUE 22:00 Storyville (m0024986)
Dogs of War

A Storyville documentary that tells the untold story of a seemingly ordinary Englishman who spent more than 40 years as a mercenary, fighting other people’s wars for money.

Basingstoke-based Dave Tompkins was a petty thief who craved adventure. His career as an international mercenary began in Africa and took him all over the world - to Afghanistan, Croatia and later to Colombia, where he led a team commissioned to assassinate notorious Columbian drug lord Pablo Escobar.

In Dogs of War, Dave tells his extraordinary story.


TUE 23:30 Britain's Outlaws: Highwaymen, Pirates and Rogues (b06qskdx)
Pirates

Few figures in British history have captured the popular imagination as much as the outlaw. From gentleman highwaymen, via swashbuckling pirates to elusive urban thieves and rogues, the brazen escapades and the flamboyance of the outlaw made them the antihero of their time - feared by the rich, admired by the poor and celebrated by writers and artists.

In this three-part series, historian Dr Sam Willis travels the open roads, the high seas and urban alleyways to explore Britain's 17th- and 18th-century underworld of highwaymen, pirates and rogues, bringing the great age of the British outlaw vividly to life.

Sam shows that, far from being 'outsiders', outlaws were very much a product of their time, shaped by powerful national events. In each episode, he focuses not just on a particular type of outlaw, but a particular era - the series as a whole offers a chronological portrait of the changing face of crime in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Sam takes to the high seas in search of the swashbuckling pirates of the golden age of piracy during the early 18th century. Following in the wake of the infamous Captain Kidd, Blackbeard, Calico Jack and others, Sam charts the devastating impact these pirates had during an era of colonial expansion and how, by plundering the vast network of seaborne trade, they became the most-wanted outlaws in the world.


TUE 00:30 Frozen Planet (b00zj35k)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


TUE 01:30 She-Wolves: England's Early Queens (b01bgpm7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


TUE 02:30 Britain's Outlaws: Highwaymen, Pirates and Rogues (b06qskdx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:30 today]

WEDNESDAY 23 OCTOBER 2024

WED 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.


WED 20:00 From Ice to Fire: The Incredible Science of Temperature (b09sc7yj)
Series 1

A Temperature for Life

Physicist Dr Helen Czerski explores the narrow band of temperature that has led to life on Earth. She reveals how life began in a dramatic place where hot meets cold, and how every single living creature on Earth depends on temperature for its survival. She uncovers the extraordinary natural engineering that animals have evolved to keep their bodies at the right temperature. And she witnesses the remarkable surgery that's using temperature to push the human body to the very brink of life.


WED 21:00 Brian Cox's Jute Journey (b00n5pvr)
Hollywood actor Brian Cox is a son of Dundee. The city is the big constant of his life. He grew up amid the clatter of the jute mills, where both his parents began their working lives.

The jute trade, making hessian from India's 'golden' fibre, dominated Dundee for over a century, linking it with Kolkata. It is now fast becoming a memory. Documentary journey into Brian Cox's past, and on to Kolkata in the footsteps of the Dundee jute workers who left to seek their fortunes in India.


WED 22:00 Peter McDougall Remembers... The Elephants' Graveyard (m0024983)
Playwright Peter McDougall looks back at his bittersweet Play for Today from 1976, which starred Billy Connolly.


WED 22:10 Play for Today (m001fgz4)
Series 7

The Elephants' Graveyard

Bunny’s wife thinks he is a postman, but in reality he spends his days in the Scottish hills. One day he meets Jody, a fellow walker. A bittersweet tale starring Billy Connolly.


WED 23:00 Play for Today (p032kjg0)
Series 10

Just a Boys' Game

1979 TV film produced by celebrated director Richard Eyre. Scottish hard man Jake McQuillan is determined to emulate the violent reputation of the dying grandfather he idolises.


WED 00:10 Face to Face (m000rxpf)
Billy Connolly

Jeremy Isaacs talks to Scottish comedian Billy Connolly about stand-up comedy, bodily functions and the night someone set fire to his hair.


WED 00:50 Billy Connolly: Portrait of a Lifetime (p0535lq5)
Celebrating Billy Connolly's seventy-fifth birthday and 50 years in the business, three Scottish artists - John Byrne, Jack Vettriano and Rachel Maclean - each create a new portrait of the Big Yin. As he sits with each artist, Billy talks about his remarkable life and career, which has taken him from musician and pioneering stand-up to Hollywood star and national treasure.


WED 01:50 Frozen Planet (b00zj35m)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


WED 02:50 From Ice to Fire: The Incredible Science of Temperature (b09sc7yj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]

THURSDAY 24 OCTOBER 2024

THU 19:00 Frozen Planet (b00zj35p)
Autumn

For the animals in the polar regions, autumn means dramatic battles and epic journeys. Time is running out - the Arctic Ocean is freezing over, and the sea ice is advancing at 2.5 miles per day around Antarctica.

Polar bears gather in large numbers on the Arctic coast as they wait for the return of the ice. Soon, tempers fray and violent sparring contests break out. Meanwhile, 2,000 beluga whales head for one special estuary, a gigantic 'whale spa', where they will thrash their snow-white bodies against the gravel and exfoliate. Inland, the tundra undergoes a dramatic transformation from green to fiery red. Here, musk ox males slam head-first into each other with the force of a 30mph car crash as they struggle to defend their harems. Frisky young caribou males play a game of 'grandma's footsteps' as they try to steal the boss's female.

Down in Antarctica, adelie penguin chicks huddle together in creches. When a parent returns from fishing, it leads its twins on a comical steeplechase - sadly there's only enough for one, so the winner gets the meal. Two months later, and the chicks are fully feathered, apart from downy mohican hairdos. They are ready to take their first swim - reluctantly though, as it seems penguins are not born with a love of water! And with good reason: a leopard seal explodes from the sea and pulls one from an ice floe, a hunting manoeuvre that has never been filmed before.

As winter approaches and everyone has left, the giant emperor penguin arrives and makes an epic trek inland to breed. The mothers soon return to the sea leaving the fathers to hold the eggs and endure the coldest winter on earth.


THU 20:00 Joan Bakewell Remembers... Bette Davis at the NFT (m0024977)
Joan Bakewell looks back fondly on her evening spent with the legendary screen actor Bette Davis in 1972. Joan was in awe of such an icon of the golden age of cinema but was careful not to let that put her off the job at hand. She talks about how they bonded backstage, and how Bette made a wonderful interviewee - kind, warm, interesting and totally delighted to speak to an audience of her fans.


THU 20:10 Bette Davis at the NFT (m002497c)
American actress Bette Davis talks to Joan Bakewell and to the audience at the National Film Theatre. She recalls her career as a star, her resistance to the studio's attempts to change her name, the problems she has had to face and the Hollywood image.

Featuring extracts from some of Davis's most famous films, including Jezebel (1938), Elizabeth and Essex (1939), Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943), All About Eve (1950) and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962).


THU 20:55 All about Eve (b01ncpfk)
Keen fan Eve ingratiates herself into the life of sharp-tongued Broadway star Margo Channing, whose friends come to suspect the younger woman's intentions.

Classic multi-Oscar-winning comic drama.


THU 23:10 Talking Pictures (b01ps8jc)
Bette Davis

A retrospective look at television appearances made over the years by Hollywood legend Bette Davis, capturing the milestones and highlights of her life and career.


THU 23:55 The Lively Arts (m00248ld)
[Repeat of broadcast at 00:10 on Saturday]


THU 00:45 Thailand: Earth's Tropical Paradise (b087vgd6)
The Secrets of the South

Southern Thailand is the Thailand we think we all know. It is a place of both spectacular natural beauty and of wild parties, but behind this well-known image is also a place where spirituality pervades every bit of life. For the animals that live here, this is a natural wonderland.


THU 01:45 Frozen Planet (b00zj35p)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


THU 02:40 Brian Cox's Jute Journey (b00n5pvr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Wednesday]

FRIDAY 25 OCTOBER 2024

FRI 19:00 Top of the Pops (m002497x)
Dennis Pennis presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 13 September 1996 and featuring Rocket from the Crypt, Stretch 'n' Vern Present Maddog, Jamiroquai, Fugees, Skunk Anansie, ABBA, Way Out West featuring Miss Joanna Law, Donna Lewis, Deep Blue Something, Peter Andre and Oasis.


FRI 19:35 Top of the Pops (m002497z)
Tony Mortimer presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 20 September 1996 and featuring Belinda Carlisle, Deep Blue Something, Lighthouse Family, Sheryl Crow, Clock, Adam & The Ants, The Bluetones, Phil Collins, Fugees and Slade.


FRI 20:10 Top of the Pops (b04n1pln)
Peter Powell presents another edition of the weekly pop chart with performances by the Specials, Viola Wills, Queen, Dr Hook, Iris Williams, the Dooleys, Janet Brown, Lena Martell and Errol Dunkley and dance sequences by Legs & Co.


FRI 20:40 Top of the Pops (b0bt49k7)
Gary Davies presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 23 October 1986 and featuring The Pretenders, Midnight Star, Housemartins, Billy Idol, Cyndi Lauper, Nick Berry and The Bangles.


FRI 21:10 Beyonce: Live at the BBC (m000zgt6)
Trevor Nelson presents Beyonce and her band, who perform a special concert at the front of Television Centre. Songs played: Deja Vu, Baby Boy, Naughty Girl, Destiny's Child, Medley, Ring the Alarm, Irreplaceable and Crazy in Love.


FRI 21:40 Diana Ross: Live at the Royal Albert Hall 1973 (m001xqzl)
An evening with one of America's greatest stars during her 1973 European tour at the Royal Albert Hall.


FRI 22:40 Dusty Springfield at the Royal Albert Hall (m001k3s5)
Filmed at the Royal Albert Hall in 1979, this film captures Britain’s greatest pop diva at the height of her career. The show is packed with hits from across Dusty’s career, including I Only Want to Be with You, Wishin' and Hopin’, The Look of Love, Son of a Preacher Man and many more, delivered with all the glitz and panache that were her trademark.


FRI 23:40 Radio 2's Piano Room (m001jpj8)
P!nk Live

60 million albums sold, three Grammys, two Brits Awards... there can be only one P!NK, and she joins us for a very special Radio 2 Piano Room.

Recorded live at the BBC's legendary Maida Vale Studios, she performs classics, tracks from her new album Trustfall, and four exclusive piano
arrangements with the BBC Concert Orchestra. What About Us, Try and Just Like A Pill are all there as well as a cover of Nothing Compares 2 U, made famous by Sinéad O'Connor, and a chat with Radio 2's very own Jo Whiley. Sit back, relax and enjoy a night with genuine pop royalty.


FRI 00:25 RAYE at the Royal Albert Hall (m001tx3m)
Brit Award nominee and Ivor Novello-winning artist RAYE takes to the stage of this legendary London venue to perform new arrangements of songs from her Mercury Prize-nominated album My 21st Century Blues, accompanied by the Heritage Orchestra, conducted by Tom Richards, the Flames Collective choir and organist Anna Lapwood.

Highlights include Oscar Winning Tears, the searingly honest Ice Cream Man, a show-stopping version of Worth It and global smash-hit single Escapism.


FRI 01:45 Top of the Pops (m002497x)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


FRI 02:20 Top of the Pops (m002497z)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:35 today]


FRI 02:55 Top of the Pops (b04n1pln)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:10 today]