SATURDAY 04 JANUARY 2025

SAT 19:00 The Sound of Music (b007bgf8)
Classic film version of the Rodgers and Hammerstein Broadway musical. Irrepressible Maria begins to doubt her vocation and leaves her convent to become governess to the seven children of Captain von Trapp, a widower and retired naval officer. She soon turns the captain's orderly life upside down and instils a love of music in the children. Then the Third Reich annexes Austria...


SAT 21:45 The Man Who Would Be King (b00j275m)
Colourful, historical epic set in the 1880s. Tired of life as disreputable con men, Dravot and Carnehan - former British Army sergeants who have remained in India - plan to venture beyond the North West Frontier into Kurfuristan. There, as the first Europeans since Alexander the Great, they aim to find fame and fortune by setting themselves up as kings. They do indeed become godlike rulers, but their success depends on sustaining the illusion that they are more than mere mortals. From a story by Rudyard Kipling.


SAT 23:50 Parkinson (m0026qx6)
Michael Caine, Helen Hayes and Soraya

Michael Parkinson in conversation with guests Michael Caine, Helen Hayes and Soraya.


SAT 00:50 Berlin 1933 (p0gjkjzt)
Series 1

Episode 1

As the new year dawns in Berlin, the city is fractured and divided. Street battles intensify, and cracks deepen as the National Socialists have become the strongest party in Germany.

To consolidate power, Hitler aims to eliminate his opponents. When the Reichstag building, Germany’s parliament, goes up in flames, communists are blamed and arrested for arson.


SAT 01:40 Berlin 1933 (p0gjkkp1)
Series 1

Episode 2

After being appointed as Reich chancellor in January 1933, Adolf Hitler embarks on a push to consolidate power. He begins to purge government ministries and the civil service, and takes control of the press and radio.

Propaganda messages and broadcasts show a changing Berlin on the verge of a disaster. Thousands of opponents are jailed or disappear, and Jewish professionals and businesses are targeted. Letters to friends and family outside from those living through the gradual stigmatisation of Jewish people illustrate the fear and uncertainty that grew.


SAT 02:35 Berlin 1933 (p0gjknnk)
Series 1

Episode 3

Hitler stages a grand celebration at Nuremberg, while Germany becomes increasingly isolated abroad. Political opposition is outlawed, and an incensed Göring takes the stand at the Reichstag fire trial. As the year ends, US ambassador William E Dodd visits a Hitler 'itching for conflict'. Berlin stands in stark contrast to its former self 12 months ago, in the thrall of one political party, one ideology and one Führer.

SUNDAY 05 JANUARY 2025

SUN 19:00 The Read (m0026qwt)
Series 3

Wuthering Heights

Bradford-born actor Vinette Robinson gives a spellbinding performance as she narrates Emily Brontë’s groundbreaking novel.

The much-loved work stands as a timeless classic, set against the haunting backdrop of the Yorkshire Moors and seen through the eyes of housekeeper Nelly Dean. At the heart of the story is the intense and destructive love between Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw, whose passionate connection weaves a dark and tumultuous tale of revenge, obsession, and the brutal forces of nature.

The setting, the desolate moors, mirrors the wild and uncontrollable emotions of its characters, creating an atmospheric and Gothic backdrop for the drama. Emily Brontë’s exploration of the darker aspects of human nature and the complexities of love deviates from the societal norms of her time, making Wuthering Heights a trailblazing work in 19th-century literature. The programme coincides with the start of Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture.


SUN 20:00 The Brontës Lived Here: Writers' Houses (m0026qww)
Margaret Drabble visits Haworth Parsonage and the Yorkshire Moors, home of the famous literary family the Brontës and the setting for Emily's Wuthering Heights.


SUN 20:25 Jailhouse Rock (m0022n85)
Sentenced to jail for manslaughter Vince Everett is taught to play the guitar by his cellmate - and a sensational new rock star is born.


SUN 22:00 Double Cross: The True Story of the D-Day Spies (b01ktflc)
The story of D-Day has been told from the point of view of the soldiers who fought in it, the tacticians who planned it and the generals who led it. But that epic event in world history has never been told before through the perspective of the strange handful of spies who made it possible. D-Day was a great victory of arms, a tactical coup, and a moral crusade. But it was also a triumph for espionage, deceit, and thinking of the most twisted sort.

Following on from his hugely successful BBC Two documentaries, Operation Mincemeat and Double Agent: The Eddie Chapman Story (Agent Zigzag), writer and presenter Ben Macintyre returns to the small screen to bring to life his third best-selling book - Double Cross The True Story of the D-Day Spies. Macintyre reveals the gripping true story of five of the double agents who helped to make D-day such a success.


SUN 23:00 D-Day: The Last Heroes (p0198pxz)
Original Series

Episode 1

In the first of a two-part series, historian Dan Snow examines how two years of meticulous planning, espionage and the analysis of millions of three-dimensional aerial photographs helped the Allied forces gain a foothold in northern France.


SUN 00:00 D-Day: The Last Heroes (b02xdncc)
Original Series

Episode 2

The concluding part of historian Dan Snow's documentary series tells the powerful and heroic stories of those who risked their lives on the beaches of Normandy to save the world from Nazi Germany.


SUN 01:00 Double Cross: The True Story of the D-Day Spies (b01ktflc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]


SUN 02:00 The Read (m0026qwt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


SUN 03:05 The Brontës Lived Here: Writers' Houses (m0026qww)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]

MONDAY 06 JANUARY 2025

MON 19:00 Indian Hill Railways (b00qvk99)
The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway

From the Himalayas in the north to the Nilgiris in the south - for a hundred years these little trains have climbed through the clouds and into the wonderful world of Indian hill railways.

The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway is a line so close to the people that it flows like a river through their lives. The relationship between the train and the people is changing, however, as a new generation of Gurkhas populates these hills, demanding an independent state and fighting for a new identity as they journey into the modern Indian world.


MON 20:00 Winter's Weirdest Events (b09ksjrx)
The natural world is full of the weird and the wonderful, but in wintertime it just gets weirder.

From snowboarding crows to polar bear parties, seemingly suicidal penguins, festive ice discs, the miracle revival of a man frozen solid and spooky twizzling turkeys, this Christmas serves up weird stories of the unexplained, unexpected and the unidentifiable from across the globe.

Using state-of-the-art science, expert analysis and first-hand eyewitness accounts, we examine the evidence, test the theories and unravel some of the strangest stories our planet has to offer. Based in a remote hut for the winter, naturalist Chris Packham embarks on a fascinating journey to try to explain some of winter's weirdest events. With the help of leading scientists and engaging contributors, Chris reveals secrets from the natural world, from bizarre science to animal oddities, crazy weather, medical marvels and remarkable natural phenomena.


MON 21:00 Lost Home Movies of Nazi Germany (m000crdf)
Series 1

Episode 1

Recently discovered home movie footage from 1936 offers a unique and novel insight into what people in Germany were thinking and experiencing. In these prewar days, Germany was on a high and the Hitler Youth seemed like fun and games, but Nazi control was soon to become an all-pervading force, militarising the nation. The rise of anti-Semitism is explicit and grotesque, shocking even though we now have the knowledge of what happens next.

The film follows an infantry division during the invasion of France, fighting their way to Dunkirk, and reveals a new perspective on what the evacuation meant for the average German soldier. On the Eastern Front, a far darker and more visceral journey across the endless Russian steppe and the almost unimaginable horrors unleashed during Operation Barbarossa is captured by a soldier.

As well as amateur movie footage, the film charts the progress of the war through the diaries of ordinary Germans, some dizzy with excitement at what Hitler had achieved, others horrified by the effect it was having on their friends and families.


MON 22:00 Lost Home Movies of Nazi Germany (m000crf9)
Series 1

Episode 2

Christmas in Germany 1941 is an unsettling time. Food is scarce, the weather is freezing and news from the front line in Russia is causing Germans to realise the war is a very long way from over. The stage is set for the second half of the conflict.

Through the home movies and diaries of ordinary Germans, this film charts Hitler’s dreams crumbling and the moral reckoning the German people must now face. It reveals the stories of people battling to save their families from deportation to the death camps, while others endure the horrors of ever more deadly bombing raids, all set against a backdrop of propaganda and false hope pouring forth from Nazi high command.

In Russia we meet a doctor who throws himself into the firing line at every opportunity, not to win glory but to save his wife and three young children from deportation to the death camps in the east, while in Dresden a Jewish diary writer struggles to deal with ever-mounting restrictions and deportations.

We also meet some of those forced to live under German rule, including extraordinary footage of a group of Jews living in hiding just a mile from Anne Frank, and a family in Normandy enjoying a bucolic summer before they find themselves on the front line when the Allies take on the German troops on the Atlantic Wall.

The film then moves to the endgame of the war, the choices faced as the net tightened and the crazy efforts to fight to the bitter end even as all hope is gone.


MON 23:00 Building Britain's Biggest Nuclear Power Station (m000wnn4)
Series 1

Episode 1

With unique behind-the-scenes access, this series follows the construction workers at Hinkley Point C, Britain’s biggest and newest nuclear power station, which is being built in a remote corner of the Somerset countryside.

With a price tag of over £22 billion and covering an area the size of 250 football pitches, this extraordinary construction site is one of the largest in Europe and the UK’s first new nuclear power station for a generation.

This series follows the engineers, technicians and the behind-the-scenes staff who are under pressure to keep the project on track, including building the mammoth foundations for the two nuclear reactors, excavating 3.5km cooling water tunnels out under the Bristol Channel and constructing the critical airtight inner steel lining, designed to contain any radioactive material in the unlikely event of a meltdown.


MON 00:00 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.


MON 01:00 Indian Hill Railways (b00qvk99)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


MON 02:00 D-Day: The Last Heroes (p0198pxz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:00 on Sunday]


MON 03:00 Winter's Weirdest Events (b09ksjrx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]

TUESDAY 07 JANUARY 2025

TUE 19:00 Indian Hill Railways (b00qzzlm)
The Nilgiri Mountain Railway

From the Himalayas in the north to the Nilgiris in the south - for a hundred years these little trains have climbed through the clouds and into the wonderful world of Indian Hill Railways.

The Nilgiri Mountain Railway is a romantic line, popular with honeymooners and driven by love and devotion as well as steam. It chugs through the south Indian jungle up to a hill station, once known as Snooty Ooty.

The current guard is Ivan. Married for twenty years, he is concerned about his friend Jenni, the ticket inspector, because he's still a bachelor - but Jenni has a secret.

In the engine shed, Shivani, the railway's first female diesel engineer, is working on a steam loco. She has to make it look its best, as in the year of filming, 1999, the railway celebrated its centenary. The high point is the Black Beauty competition to pick the best engine on the line, but rains and landslides threaten the proceedings and the tourist business. Will love win out in the end?


TUE 20:00 Porridge (b00787yn)
Series 3

A Test of Character

Classic comedy series set in a prison. When Godber starts working hard to get another O level before leaving prison, Fletcher cannot understand his appetite for all the hard work. Why doesn't he cheat?


TUE 20:30 As Time Goes By (p0479r3m)
Series 2

White Hunter

Lionel’s autobiography is finished. His publisher wants a picture of him on the cover, but Lionel is convinced this will stave off potential buyers.


TUE 21:00 Not Only... But Also (b007xhbm)
The Best of...

Episode 1

Compilation of sketches from the groundbreaking 60s comedy starring Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. Guests are Cilla Black, Joe Melia, Henry Cooper and Terry Downes.


TUE 21:30 Not Only... But Also (m001dh5z)
The Best of...

Episode 3

A montage of sketches from the classic comedy of the 1960s and 1970s, starring Peter Cook and Dudley Moore.


TUE 21:55 Parkinson: The Interviews (b01hdcb3)
Series 1

Peter Cook

Michael Parkinson looks back at some of his many interviews with the comic genius that was Peter Cook.


TUE 22:35 Talking Comedy (b05qt7vl)
Pete and Dud

A look back through the archives at appearances by masters of satire Peter Cook and Dudley Moore on some of the BBC's best-loved talk shows.


TUE 23:05 Not Only... But Also (m0026qwr)
The Best of...

Episode 2

Compilation of sketches from the classic comedy starring Peter Cook and Dudley Moore.


TUE 23:35 Bombay Railway (b007t30p)
Pressures

Documentary about Bombay's vast suburban rail network, which serves six-and-a-half million commuters every day. As Bombay's population swells by tens of thousands each week, the railway and the people whose lives revolve around it struggle to cope with the pressure and the peaktime 'super-dense crush load'. From the train driver to the illegal hawker and the homeless shoe-shine boy, each has a story to tell about this remarkable railway system, often described as the lifeline of India.


TUE 00:35 Indian Hill Railways (b00qzzlm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


TUE 01:35 D-Day: The Last Heroes (b02xdncc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 00:00 on Sunday]


TUE 02:35 Lost Home Movies of Nazi Germany (m000crdf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Monday]

WEDNESDAY 08 JANUARY 2025

WED 19:00 Indian Hill Railways (b00r5wk7)
The Kalka-Shimla Railway

From the Himalayas in the north to the Nilgiris in the south - for a hundred years these little trains have climbed through the clouds and into the wonderful world of Indian hill railways.

Shimla was once the summer capital of the Raj. They built churches, schools, a town hall and the railway and left behind their symbols of empire and an ethos of duty, loyalty and ambition - but they also left a divided subcontinent.

Characters featured include Maqsood, a refugee and a porter from Kashmir, and John Whitmarsh-Knight, a teacher looking for a home. Sanjay the stationmaster is hoping for promotion, and his boss Bataljit is waiting for a transfer, but everybody is waiting for the snow.


WED 20:00 Winterwatch (b01q9d86)
1963: The Big Freeze

Chris Packham introduces a classic documentary from the BBC's archive, which takes a look at the worst winter of the 20th century in 1963. He also explores what we now know about how this big freeze affected Britain's wildlife, and how it would cope if we experienced another equally bad winter.


WED 21:00 The Cambridgeshire Crucifixion (m001v60k)
In 2017, a routine archaeological dig was taking place on the site of a proposed housing development in the village of Fenstanton in the Cambridgeshire Fens. When human remains were found alongside a variety of Roman artefacts, none of the team at Albion Archaeology saw anything out of the ordinary. But once the bones were washed back at HQ, something highly unusual was uncovered: a nail through the heelbone of one of the individuals. Could this be evidence of a Roman crucifixion? When they did some research, they found that only one confirmed example had ever been unearthed before, discovered in the 1960s in Jerusalem. To find out more, they called in renowned osteoarchaeologist Dr Corinne Duhig to investigate.

With exclusive access to Corinne’s investigation and the remains themselves, The Cambridgeshire Crucifixion sets out to find out who this person was, how they lived and why they were put to death in this notoriously gruesome way. We perform a CT scan, DNA and isotope analysis of the remains, and use them to create a cutting-edge virtual autopsy of the skeleton, conducted by Corinne and one of her former students, biologist Prof Ben Garrod.

A supporting cast of expert contributors help to analyse the artefacts found at the Fenstanton site and reveal a compelling picture of life in Roman Britain in the 1st century CE. The film culminates in a world first: a full forensic facial reconstruction of a victim of Roman crucifixion, conducted by world-leading expert Joe Mullins.


WED 22:00 Kenneth Williams: Fantabulosa! (b0074s9v)
Witty drama adapted from Kenneth Williams's own words in his diaries. It's a spectacular journey inside the mind of one of British radio, TV and film's most popular, peculiar and comic performers. And one of its most tragic, too.

Spanning his entire life, this is the story of Williams's career and private life, a behind-the-scenes look at Williams, not only recreating some of his greatest performances, but also giving a candid and poignant insight into his professional hopes, personal upsets and sexual frustrations of a man who was uncomfortable in his own skin.

The screenplay is rude, arch, uncompromising and hilarious. Michael Sheen delivers a tour-de-force performance as ‘the man of a thousand voices’.


WED 23:20 Talking Comedy (b05xgxfl)
Kenneth Williams

A look back at Kenneth Williams's appearances over the years on a selection of classic BBC talk shows.


WED 23:50 Parkinson (m001vf93)
George Best, Kenneth Williams, Maggie Smith and John Betjeman

Michael Parkinson with guests George Best, Kenneth Williams, Maggie Smith and John Betjeman.


WED 01:15 Indian Hill Railways (b00r5wk7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


WED 02:15 Lost Home Movies of Nazi Germany (m000crf9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 on Monday]

THURSDAY 09 JANUARY 2025

THU 19:00 Kelly's Heroes (m0026pqx)
WWII France. When a German officer carrying some gold bars falls into the hands of a US platoon, Kelly and his sergeant Big Joe gather a team of men to 'liberate' the remaining ingots, worth millions, from a bank behind enemy lines.


THU 21:20 Clint Eastwood: The Man with No Name (m0026wwp)
Profile of Clint Eastwood, the iconic actor and director, in which he talks to Iain Johnstone. Featuring contributions from Richard Burton, Sergio Leone, Don Siegel, Pauline Kael and Dilys Powell and extracts from some of Eastwood's films, including Rawhide, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Where Eagles Dare, The Outlaw Josey Wales and The Enforcer.


THU 22:20 Where Eagles Dare (m0026pqz)
Seven paratroopers, led by a British intelligence officer, are sent on a seemingly impossible mission. They must enter an almost impregnable Nazi stronghold, the Castle of the Eagles, to rescue a high-ranking American officer. But the men's dangerous task is threatened by a traitor in the group.


THU 00:50 Cold War, Hot Jets (b03h8r3y)
[Repeat of broadcast at 00:00 on Monday]


THU 01:50 The Cambridgeshire Crucifixion (m001v60k)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Wednesday]


THU 02:45 Building Britain's Biggest Nuclear Power Station (m000wnn4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:00 on Monday]

FRIDAY 10 JANUARY 2025

FRI 19:00 Top of the Pops (m0026qwk)
Phil Daniels presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 24 January 1997 and featuring The Outhere Brothers, Suede, En Vogue, Byron Stingily, Ginuwine, U2, Reef and White Town.


FRI 19:30 Top of the Pops (m0026qwm)
Noddy Holder presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 31 January 1997 and featuring Placebo, Gabrielle, The Blueboy, Skunk Anansie, No Mercy, George Michael, Depeche Mode and Blur.


FRI 20:00 Top of the Pops (m0005wwk)
Mike Read and Simon Bates present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 7 January 1988 and featuring Sinitta, Jellybean, Depeche Mode, George Michael, Terence Trent D'Arby, GOSH, The Stranglers, Pet Shop Boys and Joyce Sims.


FRI 20:30 Top of the Pops (m001349m)
Mark Franklin and Claudia Simon present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 9 January 1992 and featuring Queen, The Sugarcubes, Isotonik, Kym Sims, Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine, The Stone Roses and Senseless Things.


FRI 21:00 Top of the Pops (m0026wwr)
Emperor Rosko presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 10 April 1975 and featuring Teach-In, Peter Shelley, The Sweet, The Three Degrees, Yin & Yan, Bad Company, Peter Skellern, 10cc, The Goodies, Susan Cadogan and Bay City Rollers. Pan's People dance to Swing Your Daddy by Jim Gilstrap.


FRI 21:40 Top of the Pops (m0026wwt)
Noel Edmonds presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 24 July 1975 and featuring The Sweet, Typically Tropical, The Wombles, The Bee Gees, Sparks, Linda Lewis, Smokie, Roger Whittaker, Linda Carr & The Love Squad, Bing Crosby, Bay City Rollers and The Rubettes. Pan's People dance to Foot Stompin' Music by Hamilton Bohannon.


FRI 22:20 Arena (b0074sgb)
Bob Dylan: No Direction Home

Part 1

A story told in flashbacks, Martin Scorsese's documentary intertwines the immediacy of Bob Dylan's controversial 1966 tour of the British Isles with his remarkable personal and musical journey. Drawing from hundreds of hours of unseen footage and rare recordings, in-depth interviews and revealing photographs, the film strikes a remarkable balance - telling the story of one man's journey and at the same time placing that story within the greater canvas of human events.

This opening part traces his journey from a rock 'n' roll loving kid in the Midwest to his arrival as a major force in the world of folk music. In his own words, Dylan tells viewers how he became smitten with folk music as the story shifts scenes from the iron range in Minnesota to Greenwich Village in New York City.

An amazing cast of characters includes Dave Van Ronk, the king of Greenwich village folk clubs, Joan Baez, queen of the folk music world and Allen Ginsburg, America's beat poet laureate. And, most importantly, the wide range of music that influenced the young Bob Dylan is explored.

As Dylan's fame and notoriety grows, his skill as a performer matures rapidly and the songs begin to pour out - Blowing in the Wind, A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall, Masters of War, Don't Think Twice It's Alright and many more.

Part one ends with what seems to be the dawn of a new generation - Dylan, hands intertwined with musician Pete Seeger, the Freedom Singers and Odetta singing Blowin' in the Wind at the closing night of the Newport Folk Festival in 1963.


FRI 00:15 Arena (b0074sgc)
Bob Dylan: No Direction Home

Part 2

Martin Scorsese continues to explore the emotional, musical and intellectual journey of Bob Dylan's early career. The story turns dark. At 23, Dylan is already a newsworthy phenomenon and with that success comes expectations - from the old left to become a political activist, and from the media to articulate the concerns of America's youth. It's a role in which Dylan is completely uninterested. He is already on the move, finding a new musical vocabulary to capture the complexity of a seismic cultural shift. He injects a heightened sense of poetry into his writing and adds electricity to his music, electricity that now seems inevitable but at the time saw him labelled a sell-out and a traitor.

Scorsese delicately balances Dylan's internal world with signpost images from the external world. Dylan's music is the backdrop as the war in Vietnam escalates and the nightly news brings home images people would never have dreamed of seeing on their television sets. Scorsese takes the time to let viewers really see the music unfold in revelatory concert performances.

By 1966 Dylan's personal world has become one of constant touring and press conferences. By the end of the film it is plainly obvious that for Dylan there are some journeys from which there is No Direction Home.


FRI 01:45 Bob Dylan: Shadow Kingdom (m001t5bk)
A showcase of Bob Dylan with his band in an intimate setting as he performs songs from his extensive body of work, including Forever Young, I'll Be Your Baby Tonight, It's All Over Now Baby Blue and many more.

This film marks Bob Dylan's first concert since 2019 and the first performance since his acclaimed album Rough and Rowdy Ways.


FRI 02:35 Top of the Pops (m0005wwk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


FRI 03:05 Top of the Pops (m001349m)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]