SATURDAY 09 NOVEMBER 2024

SAT 19:00 The Flying Gardener (m0024zj5)
Series 4

Cornwall/Devon - Short

Chris Beardshaw travels to both Devon and Cornwall to discover how plants survive in the most exposed areas of Britain, and he transforms a local resident's balcony using miniatures and bonsai.


SAT 19:20 All Creatures Great and Small (p031d2p0)
Series 1

Golden Lads and Girls

James's luck changes for the better in his romance with Helen, but for the Dalby family there seems to be no turning of the tide.


SAT 20:10 All Creatures Great and Small (p031d2p6)
Series 1

Advice and Consent

The Dalby family fortunes dwindle even more until, almost by accident, James stumbles across the reason for the herd's illness.


SAT 21:00 Those Who Kill (m0023z7s)
Justice

Episode 5

Kim’s stepdaughter reveals she saw a man at Kim’s cottage, and the investigation turns towards the leader of Kim’s old gang, Robin Smith. Meanwhile Kim is threatened to keep his mouth shut, and an attack on Robin’s gang suggests a gang war is about to break out.

In Danish with English subtitles.


SAT 21:45 Those Who Kill (m0023z7w)
Justice

Episode 6

Louise is convinced the latest killing was done by the same murderer as the other victims, but Frederik wants to investigate his death as a stand-alone gang murder. However, Louise finds a new link between the victims.

In Danish with English subtitles.


SAT 22:30 Paris, 13th District (m0024zj7)
Teacher Camille arrives at the door of telesales worker Emilie in answer to her advertisement for a roommate. Meanwhile Nora, who has moved to Paris from Bordeaux to pick up her studies in law, attends an unforgettable student party when she is mistaken for online sex worker Amber Sweet. All their lives are intertwined in tales of love and desire in the digital age.

In French and Mandarin with English subtitles.


SAT 00:10 Porridge (b00787kv)
Series 2

The Harder They Fall

Classic prison-set sitcom. Godber takes up boxing and enters the prison championships, but someone wants him to come a cropper.


SAT 00:40 As Time Goes By (p045tlcg)
Series 1

You Must Remember This

Jean is baffled when her daughter goes out with one of her clients. When the two meet, they realise they were once lovers, separated during the Korean War.


SAT 01:10 All Creatures Great and Small (p031d2p0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:20 today]


SAT 02:05 All Creatures Great and Small (p031d2p6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:10 today]


SAT 02:55 Birth of the British Novel (b00ydj1p)
Author Henry Hitchings explores the lives and works of Britain's radical and pioneering 18th-century novelists who, in just 80 years, established all the literary genres we recognise today. It was a golden age of creativity led by Daniel Defoe, Jonathan Swift, Henry Fielding, Laurence Sterne, Fanny Burney and William Godwin, amongst others. Robinson Crusoe, Gulliver's Travels, Tom Jones and Tristram Shandy are novels that still sparkle with audacity and innovation.

On his journey through 18th-century fiction, Hitchings reveals how the novel was more than mere entertainment, it was also a subversive hand grenade that would change British society for the better. He travels from the homes of Britain's great and good to its lowliest prisons, meeting contemporary writers like Martin Amis, Will Self, Tom McCarthy and Jenny Uglow on the way.

Although 18th-century novels are woefully neglected today compared to those of the following two centuries, Hitchings shows how the best of them can offer as much pleasure to the reader as any modern classic.

SUNDAY 10 NOVEMBER 2024

SUN 19:00 Coast (b00pr3xs)
Shorts

Snowdonia to the Menai Straits

Series exploring Britain's coastline and the relationship between citizens and the sea.

The team travel the Welsh coast from Snowdonia to the Menai Straits. Nicholas Crane canoes the treacherous Menai Straits to examine the bridges across to Anglesey, and visits Portmeiron, the setting for classic TV series The Prisoner.


SUN 19:20 Peace in No Man's Land (m0024zjx)
The story of the Christmas truce

On Christmas Eve 1914 on the Western Front, British and German soldiers sang carols to each other across a frosty, moonlit No Man's Land. The next morning, on Christmas Day, hundreds of men of both nations emerged from the trenches to talk, joke, take photographs and exchange souvenirs, in the most famous fraternisation of the First World War.

This remarkable event is remembered by three soldiers who took part: Graham Williams of the London Rifle Brigade, Leslie Walkinton of the Queen's Westminster Rifles and Albert Moren of The Queen's Regiment.


SUN 19:55 Five to Eleven (m0024zjz)
Michael Hordern Reads Michael Roberts

Michael Hordern reads the poem HMS Hero by Michael Roberts.


SUN 20:00 War Grave (m0024zk1)
Intimate and moving stories of loss and remembrance are told by friends and relatives of those killed in some of the major conflicts of the 20th century, from the First World War to the Falklands.


SUN 21:00 Dan Cruickshank's Monuments of Remembrance (b0brk994)
Dan Cruickshank reveals the extraordinary story behind the design and building of iconic First World War memorials and explores the idea behind the creation of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.


SUN 22:00 This Cultural Life (m0024zk3)
Peter Kosminsky

Having started out as a current affairs journalist, Peter Kosminsky made his name by telling contemporary social and political stories in the form of television drama. Warriors was about British soldiers in the peace-keeping force in Bosnia; The Government Inspector dramatised the events surrounding the death of Dr David Kelly; and The State explored the radicalisation of British Islamists. Kosminsky is also acclaimed for his television adaptations of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall trilogy. He has won six Bafta awards, including one for his outstanding contribution to British television.

Peter talks to John Wilson about the huge influence of his parents. He recalls how his left-wing father and his mother, who had been a kindertransport child, shaped his interest in social justice from the perspective of the outsider, the refugee and the disenfranchised.

Seeing Ken Loach's 1975 BBC television drama Days of Hope was a another turning point and revealed to the 18-year-old Kosminsky the huge emotional power of the medium of television drama. He also explains how a letter from a British soldier in response to his 1999 drama Warriors led to his acclaimed and controversial Channel 4 series The Promise, 11 years later.


SUN 22:30 Tim Rice: A Life in Song (b04w7rmj)
A Life in Song

A celebration of one of our greatest musical lyricists, Tim Rice, who reminisces in the company of Michael Grade over 40 years of hit songs that conquered the world. Before each one is performed, hear the stories behind some of his best-loved work from Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, Chess and The Lion King.

On the stage of The Royal Festival Hall are stars Alexander Armstrong, Gemma Arterton, Rob Brydon, Tom Chaplin, Roger Daltrey, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Cynthia Erivo, James Fox, Seth Lakeman, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tim Minchin, Laura Mvula, Julian Ovenden, Frances Ruffelle, Diana Vickers and Rufus Wainwright. They are accompanied by the BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by Mike Dixon.


SUN 00:00 Peace in No Man's Land (m0024zjx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:20 today]


SUN 00:35 War Grave (m0024zk1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


SUN 01:35 This Cultural Life (m0024zk3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]


SUN 02:05 Tim Rice: A Life in Song (b04w7rmj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:30 today]

MONDAY 11 NOVEMBER 2024

MON 19:00 Great Australian Railway Journeys (m000kxxv)
Series 1 (30-Minute Versions)

Sydney to Broken Hill – Part 2

Michael Portillo strikes west from the waterside metropolis of Sydney, New South Wales, into the Blue Mountains, travelling 570 miles into the interior of the vast Australian continent to reach the mining city of Broken Hill.

In the Blue Mountains, Michael hears from indigenous guide Yamandirra about his people’s relationship to the land and is ceremonially 'welcomed to the country'.

At Katoomba, Michael is in for the ride of his life on the steepest railway in the world. How to follow this 125 second thrill? With an overnight journey on one of the world’s longest trains, the luxurious Indian Pacific Railway.

Arriving deep in the parched outback at Broken Hill, Michael discovers the precious metal that put this isolated outpost on the international map, silver.


MON 19:30 Canal Boat Diaries (m0015f6v)
Series 3

Wigan to Burnley

Narrowboater Robbie Cumming begins his 170-mile journey across the north of England and soon runs into difficulty when he encounters a problem with his craft's propeller in Wigan and runs aground in Blackburn. Nevertheless, he pushes on to navigate a true wonder of the waterways, the Burnley Embankment.


MON 20:00 Rome: A History of the Eternal City (b01p65l8)
City of the Sacred

Simon Sebag Montefiore looks at how every event in ancient Rome revolved around religion. From the foundation myth through to the deification of emperors, nothing could happen without calling upon the pantheon of Roman gods. Simon investigates how the Romans worshipped and sacrificed to the gods. He discovers that sacredness defined what was Roman and it was the responsibility of every Roman to play their part in the cult. Even the ancient Roman sewer was holy ground!


MON 21:00 Mary Beard Remembers... Ultimate Rome: Empire Without Limit (m0024zhh)
Professor Mary Beard is known for her explorations of the ancient world, but here looks back on her more recent past, and the making of her acclaimed four-part 2016 series Ultimate Rome. She explains how the series wasn’t just an education for her in regard to the Roman Empire, but also provided her with some valuable lessons in the art of film-making, and reveals some behind-the-scenes stories that will add new context for viewers of the main episodes – including the importance of pizza, and how her claim to be the first to wear an antique Roman helmet was way off the mark.


MON 21:15 Mary Beard's Ultimate Rome: Empire Without Limit (b0797ysr)
Episode 1

In this first episode, Mary Beard reaches back to the myths and legends of the origins of Rome to gain an insight into the deep-rooted psyche of the people of Rome - a city born through fratricide and rape. But from the very beginning, Rome was also an asylum for outcasts and exiles and because of this, it adopted a uniquely inclusive approach towards its neighbours and defeated enemies. The expansion of the city brought territory in first in Italy and Sicily, where Rome first came head to head and eventually defeated her great rival, Carthage.

Mary then travels to Greece, where Rome adopted a complex mix of brute force and cultural cringe, and France, where she finds evidence of war methods akin to outright genocide. In typical myth-busting style, Mary argues that the period of greatest Roman expansion occurred when Rome itself was little more than a provincial backwater, a shanty town of mud and brick. The marble, monumental Rome we know came about because of imperial conquest - not the other way round. And likewise, the creation and possession of an empire transformed the politics of Rome forever, creating the conditions for one-man rule, and ending the centuries-old Roman Republic.


MON 22:15 The Sky at Night (m0024zhk)
Ancestral Skies

This month, The Sky at Night teams up with BBC Ideas to discover the secrets of archaeology and astronomy and to reflect on our ancestral skies.

Throughout history and across the world, humanity has looked up and marvelled at the night sky. From ancient civilizations who were guided by the sun, moon and stars, to modern astronomers uncovering the universe's history, we have always found deep meaning in our dark skies. But is modern civilisation putting this important link at risk?

Out on Cornwall’s beautiful Bodmin Moor, George Dransfield meets up with archaeoastronomer Carolyn Kennett at an ancient archaeological site. The Goodaver stone circle is steeped in history, but it has been cut off from the public and researchers like Carolyn for decades. But times are changing. The site will open to the public in November, and Carolyn and fellow archaeoastronomers are finally able to assess the stones against the horizon and understand how they are aligned to the sun, moon and stars. What new stories about ancient peoples and their relationship to the night sky will be discovered?

Chris Lintott and Maggie Aderin-Pocock are also finding out about archaeology in Cambridge – but not necessarily the archaeology you would expect.

At the Whipple Museum of the History of Science, Maggie links up with Australian space archaeologist Dr Alice Gorman to look at what we should be preserving of our history in space so far. From satellites to moon landing sites, what will future generations want to see to help them understand our early history of our journey into space?

Meanwhile, Chris heads to the Department of Archaeology to find out about the surprising and fascinating field of Galactic Archaeology, which takes inspiration from archaeology to try and solve the mystery of our galaxy’s history – using only what we can see today. Chris meets anthropologist and evolutionary biologist Professor Robert Foley and astrophysicist Dr Payel Das, who are part of a team that has been using phylogenetic trees – models normally used for evolution – for modelling the evolution of galaxies. Each generation of stars within a galaxy forms from material polluted with elements produced by previous generations, opening up the possibility of understanding their shared history.

Finally, Pete Lawrence is at the Exmoor Dark Skies Festival, where he is meeting Jo Richardson. While Pete waits for night to fall, he talks to Jo about the importance of maintaining our view of the night sky and how modern lighting is affecting the health and well-being of humans and other animals. But will the clouds clear and provide the spectacular view dark skies sites can offer?

Don’t miss this captivating exploration of our shared history and the stars, as we discover where archaeology and astronomy meet to illuminate the profound connections that shape our understanding of both the universe and ourselves!


MON 22:45 Colosseum (p0fwgsmw)
Series 1

The Gladiators

In AD80, the Colosseum is open for business. Roman emperor Titus plans 100 days of games to commemorate, including an epic battle to the death between gladiators Priscus and Verus.


MON 23:30 Colosseum (p0fwgyhx)
Series 1

The Builder

Although master builder Haterius constructs the Colosseum where Nero’s Golden House once stood, his work is far from over. Rome's new emperor, Domitian, tasks him with adding in a complex network of underground tunnels – the hypogeum. Failure could cost Haterius his life.


MON 00:20 Meet the Romans with Mary Beard (b01ghsjx)
All Roads Lead to Rome

We still live in the shadow of ancient Rome - a city at the heart of a vast empire that stretched from Scotland to Afghanistan, dominating the west for over 700 years. Professor Mary Beard puts aside the stories of emperors and armies, guts and gore, to meet the real Romans living at the heart of it all.

In this programme, Mary asks not what the Romans did for us, but what the empire did for Rome.

She rides the Via Appia, climbs up to the top seats of the Colosseum, takes a boat to Rome's port Ostia and takes us into the bowels of Monte Testaccio. She also meets some extraordinary Romans: Eurysaces, an eccentric baker who made a fortune out of the grain trade and built his tomb in the shape of a giant bread oven; Baricha, Zabda and Achiba, three prisoners of war who became Roman citizens; and Pupius Amicus, the purple dye seller making imperial dye from shellfish imported from Tunisia. This is Rome from the bottom up.


MON 01:20 Great Australian Railway Journeys (m000kxxv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


MON 01:50 Canal Boat Diaries (m0015f6v)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


MON 02:20 Rome: A History of the Eternal City (b01p65l8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]

TUESDAY 12 NOVEMBER 2024

TUE 19:00 Great Australian Railway Journeys (m000l43d)
Series 1 (30-Minute Versions)

Adelaide to Perth – Part 2

Michael Portillo continues his 1700 mile rail journey across southern Australia from Adelaide to Perth.

Arriving in Kalgoorlie aboard the luxurious transcontinental Indian Pacific Railway, he strikes gold in one of the most lucrative goldfields in the world and strikes it lucky in the traditional Australian gambling game of Two Up.

He enjoys a bird’s eye view of Perth, one of the world’s most isolated cities, and its port of Fremantle. South of the city in Pinjarra, he uncovers a dark chapter in the histories of both Britain and Australia – a child migration programme devised at the time of Michael’s Bradshaw’s Guide.

Back in the city, Michael hears how Edward VIII was caught up in a train accident near Bridgetown and is invited to an Aussie barbie.


TUE 19:30 Canal Boat Diaries (m0015f8k)
Series 3

Barrowford to Bingley

Narrowboater and film-maker Robbie Cumming crosses the Pennines on the picturesque Leeds and Liverpool Canal, and lends a hand to hire boaters in Gargrave, North Yorkshire. He also encounters Bingley Five Rise Locks, a wonder of the inland waterways.


TUE 20:00 Porridge (p00bxnvd)
Series 2

A Storm in a Teacup

Sitcom set in Slade Prison. Fletcher inadvertently becomes involved in the murky world of drugs.


TUE 20:30 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.


TUE 21:00 Six Wives with Lucy Worsley (b0853mvq)
Episode 1

Documentary series featuring dramatic reconstruction in which Lucy Worsley revisits key events in the lives of Henry VIII's six wives, revealing how each attempted to exert influence on the king and the Tudor court. Lucy delves into records of private moments and personal feelings in the women's lives that ended up shaping the course of history.

This episode follows the emotional and physical struggles of Catherine of Aragon as she strove to give Henry the male heir he so desired. As Henry's eye wandered over the women at court, Anne Boleyn, not wishing to be cast aside as her sister Mary had been, repeatedly rejected the king's advances and insisted on marriage.

Henry set about trying to arrange an annulment, but Catherine was defiant and passionately defended her position.


TUE 22:00 Storyville (m0024zj3)
Queendom

A Storyville documentary following Gina, a queer artist from a small Russian town, who stages radical performances in public that become a new form of art and activism – and put their life in danger.


TUE 23:40 How to Get Ahead (b03xsgwk)
At Medieval Court

Writer, broadcaster and Newsnight arts correspondent Stephen Smith looks back at the Medieval Age to find out what it took to get ahead at the court of Richard II. Richard presided over the first truly sophisticated and artistic court in England. Painters, sculptors, poets, tailors, weavers and builders flocked to court to make their fortunes. But these were dangerous times. Being close to Richard brought many a courtier to a sticky end. Featuring David Tennant and Clarissa Dickson Wright.


TUE 00:40 Great Australian Railway Journeys (m000l43d)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


TUE 01:10 Canal Boat Diaries (m0015f8k)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


TUE 01:40 Six Wives with Lucy Worsley (b0853mvq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


TUE 02:40 How to Get Ahead (b03xsgwk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:40 today]

WEDNESDAY 13 NOVEMBER 2024

WED 19:00 Great Australian Railway Journeys (m000l476)
Series 1 (30-Minute Versions)

Canberra to Melbourne – Part 1

Armed with his 1913 Bradshaw’s Guide, Michael Portillo crosses the south east of Australia, from the seat of government in Canberra to the multi-ethnic heart of its second largest city, Melbourne, in the state of Victoria.

Floating above Canberra in a hot air balloon, Michael sees how Australia’s 'Bush Capital' was planned in the early 20th century and tours the nation’s parliament. He takes the high speed train nearly 300 miles south west, to arrive in Melbourne at the head of Port Philip Bay on Australia’s south eastern coast. It is said that the city has more restaurants and cafes per head than anywhere else in the world, and it boasts a fine 140-year-old market. 5 million people live in the city today, and they come from all over the world. Michael traces the history of immigration to Australia.

At the hallowed Melbourne Cricket Ground in the Melbourne suburb of Jolimont, Michael discovers the story behind the Ashes and hears how cricket unified the nation, before bravely cheering for England in the last Twenty20 game of the season.


WED 19:30 Canal Boat Diaries (m0015f96)
Series 3

Dowley Gap to Ferrybridge

Jump on board with narrowboater Robbie Cumming as he explores the Victorian village of Saltaire in West Yorkshire on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, moors up in Leeds Dock, and goes in search of an abandoned waterway on the Aire and Calder Navigation.


WED 20:00 The Secret Genius of Plants (m0024vfc)
Series 1

Super Strategies

Technical developments are enabling us to see the world of plants in ever greater detail, giving us insights into their remarkable abilities to adapt and survive.


WED 20:55 Natural World (m00041pn)
2019-2020

Florida: America's Animal Paradise

Florida is famous for its beaches, blue water and year round sun – but it also has a surprising wild side. It is home to pine forests, coral reefs and the famous Everglades wetland, the largest sub-tropical wilderness in the US. Here, manatees swim in crystal clear rivers, baby alligators practice their hunting skills and miniature deer roam free. Every year, this state faces the full forces of nature - from wildfires to flooding and powerful hurricanes. And today, a growing human population and a cast of animal invaders are threatening this wild paradise. With the help of pioneering scientists, will Florida’s wildlife continue to weather the storm?


WED 21:00 Hardy’s Wessex (m0024zkh)
The Early Years

Desmond Hawkins explores the corner of England that featured so strongly in the life of Thomas Hardy.


WED 21:30 Hardy’s Wessex (m0024zkk)
The Later Years

Desmond Hawkins finds local features in the south and south west of England that can be identified in Thomas Hardy's novels, as well as reminders of the author's own life.


WED 22:00 Wessex Tales (p0jvcgjm)
The Withered Arm

When Farmer Lodge brings home his new bride, a mysterious enemy awaits to blight their happiness.


WED 22:50 Wessex Tales (p0jvcm1y)
Fellow Townsmen

Barnet has made an unhappy marriage, Downe a happy one. The lives of the 'Fellow Townsmen' become tragically interwoven.


WED 23:40 Wessex Tales (p032kjkt)
A Tragedy of Two Ambitions

Like a ghost from the past, the Halborough brothers' drunken father reappears to destroy their image of respectability. Dramatised by Dennis Potter and starring John Hurt.


WED 00:30 Novels That Shaped Our World (m000bpvx)
Series 1

The Class Ceiling

Class is present from the time the very first novels in English appeared. This episode begins with one of the most famous portrayals of the fate of the poor and the destitute - Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist, published in 1837. The ‘Condition of England’ novel, by writers such as Dickens, Disraeli and Elizabeth Gaskell, whose Mary Barton is set in industrial Manchester, drew attention to and invoked pity for the lives lived by the have-nots in a ‘two-nation’ society. But, though sympathetic, they fell short of offering support for the aims of working-class movements. By the turn of the next century, though, these had grown in strength. Novels like Robert Tressell’s The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists, published in 1914, pressed not just for reform, but for socialism to take root. In the USA, meanwhile, class was thought by some not to exist. F Scott Fitzgerald’s high society The Great Gatsby showed that it did, while the sparkling Jeeves and Wooster series of PG Wodehouse showed that it could be funny.

In the late 1950s, DH Lawrence’s infamous adultery-across-the-classes novel Lady Chatterley’s Lover was put on trial for obscenity, and a new generation of working-class writers emerged with honest portraits of their own communities. Working-class people could now read novels by and about themselves. The episode closes with two books from recent decades that Charles Dickens would surely have recognised - Irvine Welsh’s incendiary Trainspotting and Avarind Adiga’s 2008 Booker Prize-winning The White Tiger. Dickens and Gaskell wrote about the fallout from the industrial revolution in the United Kingdom. The White Tiger shows the fallout from the tech revolution in India. The story of class in the novel has never gone away.


WED 01:30 Great Australian Railway Journeys (m000l476)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


WED 02:00 Canal Boat Diaries (m0015f96)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


WED 02:30 Dan Cruickshank's Monuments of Remembrance (b0brk994)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Sunday]

THURSDAY 14 NOVEMBER 2024

THU 19:00 Great Australian Railway Journeys (m000l44r)
Series 1 (30-Minute Versions)

Canberra to Melbourne – Part 2

Michael Portillo continues his exploration of southeast Australia in Melbourne, Victoria, guided by his 1913 Bradshaw.

In the suburb of Lilydale, he discovers Coombe Cottage, the beautiful former home of Melbourne’s superstar soprano, Dame Nellie Melba, built in 1912. Michael hears about her life and her worldwide fame and enjoys a private recital of one of her best-known songs. He also tastes the Prima Donna of desserts.

The Puffing Billy narrow gauge steam railway, built in 1900, takes Michael through the rainforest of the Dandenong mountains across a spectacular trestle bridge. Michael meets some of the 1,000 volunteers who keep the line in service.

In St Kilda, he’s hard on the heels of the most notorious outlaw of Australia, Ned Kelly. Michael enjoys a special screening of the world’s first feature film, made in 1906, which tells of his exploits.

Michael finishes 80 miles west of Melbourne at Birregurra, on a 500-acre sheep farm which was founded by British settlers from Devon during the 1840s. Here, he discovers the story of Australia told in a single family - and learns how to shear a sheep.


THU 19:30 Canal Boat Diaries (m0015fbq)
Series 3

Knottingley to Ripon

The real side of boating with Robbie Cumming. On the last leg of his epic journey across the north of England, Robbie tackles the fast-flowing River Ouse and is forced to make an emergency stop. His destination is Ripon Basin at the outer reaches of our inland waterways.


THU 20:00 Timeshift (b03gtg7g)
Series 13

When Coal Was King

Timeshift explores the lost world of coal mining and the extraordinarily rich social and cultural lives of those who worked in what was once Britain's most important industry. It's a story told through a largely forgotten film archive that movingly documents the final years of coal's heyday from the 1940s to the 1980s. One priceless piece of footage features a ballet performance by tutu-wearing colliers.

Featuring contributions from those who worked underground, those who lived in the pit villages, those who filmed them at work and at play and those - like Billy Elliot writer Lee Hall - who have been inspired by what made coalfield culture so unique.

Narrated by Christopher Eccleston.


THU 21:00 David Nicholls Remembers... Far from the Madding Crowd (m0024zj0)
Acclaimed novelist David Nicholls, perhaps best known for the best-selling One Day, looks back on the 2015 film of Thomas Hardy’s Far From the Madding Crowd, starring Carey Mulligan as the headstrong heroine Bathsheba Everdene. As a huge Hardy fan, Nicholls outlines the challenges he faced adapting the novel into a modern screenplay, how he wrestled with decisions about what to leave out and whether that would upset fellow fans, and how John Schlesinger’s celebrated 1967 film, starring Julie Christie, impacted on his own approach to the story.


THU 21:15 Far from the Madding Crowd (b06pptv8)
Beautiful and headstrong Bathsheba Everdene catches the eye of local farmer Gabriel Oak when she arrives to live with her aunt in the Dorset village of Norcombe. She declines his offer of marriage, but their lives continue to intertwine as fate brings contrasting fortunes to both of them.

Adapted by David Nicholls for BBC Films from the novel by Thomas Hardy.


THU 23:10 The Sky at Night (m0024zhk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:15 on Monday]


THU 23:40 Timeshift (b03p7jh9)
Series 13

Hurricanes and Heatwaves: The Highs and Lows of British Weather

A glorious national obsession is explored in this archive-rich look at the evolution of the weather forecast from print via radio to TV and beyond - and at the changing weather itself. It shows how the Met Office and the BBC have always used the latest technology to bring the holy grail of accurate forecasting that much closer - even if the odd messenger like TV weatherman Michael Fish has been shot along the way.

Yet as hand-drawn maps have been replaced by weather apps, the bigger drama of global warming has been playing itself out as if to prove that we were right all along to obsess about the weather. Featuring a very special rendition of the shipping forecast by a Cornish fishermen's choir.


THU 00:40 Great Australian Railway Journeys (m000l44r)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


THU 01:10 Canal Boat Diaries (m0015fbq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


THU 01:40 Timeshift (b03gtg7g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


THU 02:40 Mary Beard's Ultimate Rome: Empire Without Limit (b0797ysr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:15 on Monday]

FRIDAY 15 NOVEMBER 2024

FRI 19:00 Top of the Pops (m0024zk6)
Steve Lamacq and Jo Whiley present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 25 October 1996 and featuring Suede, Faithless, Babybird, Future Sound of London, Gina G, Enya, E-Motion, Madonna, Cast and Spice Girls.


FRI 19:35 Top of the Pops (m0024zk8)
Julian Clary presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 1 November 1996 and featuring Reef, Livin' Joy, Alisha's Attic, Madonna, Space, Wham!, Toni Braxton, Jimmy Nail, East 17 featuring Gabrielle and Spice Girls.


FRI 20:10 Top of the Pops (b06n9q3f)
Simon Bates presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 13 November 1980 and featuring Iron Maiden, David Bowie, Gladys Knight & The Pips, Liquid Gold, Spandau Ballet, ABBA and Blondie. Plus a performance from Legs & Co and special guests Dr Hook and Stu Francis.


FRI 20:45 Top of the Pops (m000tpzf)
Bruno Brookes present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 15 November 1990 and featuring Black Box, Inspiral Carpets and Caron Wheeler.


FRI 21:15 Radio 2 In Concert (b082byrv)
Simple Minds

On the eve of the release of their 2016 album, Acoustic, Simple Minds took to the stage at the Hackney Empire to perform a stripped-down and reimagined set of their songs spanning their eclectic and illustrious career.

This Radio 2 In Concert hosted by Jo Whiley sees the Glaswegian rockers replace the synths with guitars to perform an acoustic set of songs without losing any of their essence.


FRI 22:45 Electric Proms (b00vzzsw)
2010

Neil Diamond

Neil Diamond in concert from London's Roundhouse with his six-piece band performing tracks from his 2010 album Dreams, which explores the 60s and 70s songs he loves, and reinventing his classics. This is Neil Diamond stripped down with strings in his most intimate performance for years.


FRI 23:50 Electric Proms (b00874jy)
2007

Ray Davies

Legendary singer-songwriter and former Kinks' frontman Ray Davies is the star of the last night of the Electric Proms, presented by Stuart Maconie from Camden's Roundhouse.

Joined by guests Johnny Borrell and the Crouch End Chorus, Ray performs tracks from his album Working Man's Cafe for the first time, as well as songs from a rich back catalogue, including Lola, Waterloo Sunset and All Day and All of the Night.


FRI 00:20 Glastonbury (m0024zkb)
2005

KT Tunstall

KT Tunstall on the Other Stage on Saturday 25 June 2005.


FRI 01:05 In Concert (m0024zkf)
Tony Joe White

American singer-songwriter and swamp rock pioneer Tony Joe White in a performance from 1974, featuring songs Groupie Girl and Polk Salad Annie.


FRI 01:40 Top of the Pops (m0024zk6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


FRI 02:15 Top of the Pops (m0024zk8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:35 today]


FRI 02:45 Top of the Pops (b06n9q3f)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:10 today]


FRI 03:20 Top of the Pops (m000tpzf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:45 today]