SATURDAY 18 JANUARY 2025

SAT 19:00 Ulster in Focus (m002777s)
The Glens of Antrim

Tony McAuley narrates a programme celebrating the culture, history and outstanding natural beauty of the Antrim Glens.


SAT 19:20 All Creatures Great and Small (p031d2r1)
Series 2

Fair Means and Fowl

James discovers that all sorts of men can become vets and that Ewan, whilst ostensibly unsuitable, is a practitioner of the highest quality.


SAT 20:10 All Creatures Great and Small (p031d2r4)
Series 2

Beauty of the Beast

A scrap merchant who ill-treats his horses does not treat the vets much better. Siegfried manages to find the right charge for the problem.


SAT 21:00 Crá (m00257kd)
Series 1

Episode 3

Tá tuairim láidir ag lucht oifigiúil an fhiosrúcháin go raibh baint ag Conall le bás a mháthar.

Ach, tá leid eile á fiosrú ag Conall a bhaineann lena chairde féin ón ollscoil a bhí i láthair an oíche a maraíodh Sabine. Níl muintir an bhaile róshásta go bhfuil athchruthú á dhéanamh ag lucht na teilifíse ar an dúnmharú.

While the official investigation puts Conall firmly in the frame for his mother’s murder, Conall follows another lead involving his college friends who were present the night Sabine was killed. The filming of a crime scene reconstruction unsettles the local community.

Léiritheoirí/Producers: Ciarán Charles Ó Conghaile, Darach Ó Tuairisg
Stiúrthóir/Director: Philip Doherty


SAT 21:45 Crá (m00257kg)
Series 1

Episode 4

Agus an t-athchruthú coire le feiceáil go náisiúnta ar an teilifís, tagann pobal na háite le chéile le hamharc air. Nochtann an clár duine nua faoi amhras, dlúthchara de chuid Sabine agus Airt, agus crann taca don phobal. Mothaíonn sé sáinnithe ach ní ghéillfidh sé gan troid.

As the crime reconstruction airs on national television, the community gather to watch. The programme reveals a new prime suspect, a close friend of Art and Sabine, and a pillar of the community. The suspect feels cornered and will not give up without a fight.

Léiritheoirí/Producers: Ciarán Charles Ó Conghaile, Darach Ó Tuairisg
Stiúrthóir/Director: Philip Doherty


SAT 22:30 Parkinson (p00fz42k)
Rod Stewart, Maureen Lipman and Tamzin Outhwaite

Rock star Rod Stewart, writer, actress and comedian Maureen Lipman and actress Tamzin Outhwaite are in conversation with Michael Parkinson.


SAT 23:30 The US and the Holocaust (p0dm3gdg)
Series 1

The Homeless, Tempest-Tossed (1942- )

First reports of the industrial scale of killing reach the United States. A group of dedicated government officials establish the War Refugee Board to finance and support rescue operations. As the Allies advance, soldiers uncover mass graves and liberate German concentration camps, revealing the full horror of the Holocaust. The danger of its reverberations soon become apparent.


SAT 01:35 All Creatures Great and Small (p031d2r1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:20 today]


SAT 02:25 All Creatures Great and Small (p031d2r4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:10 today]


SAT 03:15 Ulster in Focus (m002777s)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]

SUNDAY 19 JANUARY 2025

SUN 19:00 The Culture Show (b01qrr9b)
Happy Birthday Abraham Lincoln: A Culture Show Special

Abraham Lincoln is one of the most iconic figures in American history. Justin Webb, the BBC's former North American editor, explores the enduring myth of the president who helped to shape the American Dream. Featuring interviews with Steven Spielberg, Daniel Day-Lewis and Alastair Campbell, Justin examines the hold Lincoln continues to have and why people still believe America is the Land of the Free.


SUN 20:00 The Culture Show (b0125gf8)
The Kennedys: A Culture Show Special

In the 50th anniversary year of the inauguration of John F Kennedy as President of the United States, Jonathan Freedland chairs a discussion on our enduring fascination with the man, his short-lived administration and the extraordinary political family from which he came.

Historian Professor Tony Badger, veteran newsman John Sergeant, political commentator Anne McElvoy and Sarah Bradford, biographer of Jackie Kennedy, debate the myths and the realities of JFK as well as the controversies surrounding the American mini-series The Kennedys.

In an accompanying short film, Joel Surnow, executive producer of The Kennedys, talks about the making the mini-series and the controversy that engulfed it.


SUN 21:00 BBC Proms (m001q1xs)
2023

Sir Simon Rattle at the Proms

History is made tonight at the Proms as Sir Simon Rattle takes to the Royal Albert Hall stage for his final UK performance as music director of the London Symphony Orchestra.

Together, this renowned and dynamic partnership poignantly mark the end of an era with Mahler’s epic, all-encompassing Ninth Symphony. Known as the ‘farewell symphony’, it is shrouded in loss, complete with a dazzling spectrum of joy and despair, and ending in tranquillity and stillness. It’s a poignant choice from Sir Simon to bid his own farewell to the LSO after a fruitful partnership together.

This is paired with another powerfully emotive work - Poulenc’s choral masterpiece Figure Humaine. Sir Simon conducts the BBC Singers in this searing hymn to freedom, a musical beacon of resistance and hope written during the Second World War.

Katie Derham presents, joined by special guest Dame Sheila Hancock.


SUN 23:00 Sir Simon Rattle at the BBC (m000z2d8)
Since his breakthrough in the 1970s, Sir Simon Rattle has performed alongside the world’s leading orchestras and soloists. This collection focuses attention on some of his finest broadcast moments from the BBC archive.

Renowned for interpreting the work of composers such as Mahler, Stravinsky and Gershwin, the programme also features his work at the BBC Proms as well as his love of contemporary music. It is a compilation that highlights the breadth of a career that to date spans five decades and which shows no signs of slowing.


SUN 00:00 BBC Proms (m001bm7m)
2022

Sir Simon Rattle and the LSO

Sir Simon Rattle makes an emotional appearance at the Proms at the helm of the London Symphony Orchestra.

In a deeply personal programme, Sir Simon and the orchestra perform Mahler’s mighty Second Symphony, ‘Resurrection’ – a musical odyssey on an epic scale – to a sellout crowd at the Royal Albert Hall.

The work has been indelibly linked with Sir Simon since he first rose to prominence as a student conductor when he was just a teenager.

A moving tribute to Sir Harrison Birtwistle, who died earlier this year, opens the concert. His rousing Donum Simoni MMXVIII was a musical gift composed specially for Sir Simon and the London Symphony Orchestra in 2018.

Petroc Trelawny presents.


SUN 01:40 The Classical Collection (m001gc8t)
Series 1

Neglected Masterpieces

A celebration of the newly recognised glories of classical music, featuring a wealth of works written by largely forgotten or neglected composers, including Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Florence B Price, Grace Williams and Erich Korngold.


SUN 02:40 Sir Simon Rattle at the BBC (m000z2d8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:00 today]

MONDAY 20 JANUARY 2025

MON 19:00 Egyptian Journeys with Dan Cruickshank (b0078yvw)
Secrets of the Tomb Builders

Dan visits the magnificent underground tombs in the Valley of the Kings, in search of clues about the unsung heroes of this ancient world - the mysterious community of craftsmen who spent their lives building lavish burial chambers for the pharaohs.

The tombs are wonderful feats of art and engineering and Dan finds a wealth of intriguing evidence about the lives of the supposedly anonymous people who built them. Given rare access to the most complex tomb of all - the 150-room necropolis built for the sons of Rameses II - Dan speculates on the skill of the men who designed and excavated this tomb thousands of years ago.

In the tomb of Thutmosis III, he discovers an unfinished burial chamber, where the intricate process of tomb building was stopped in its tracks, leaving detailed evidence of the techniques of artwork used by these ancient artisans. Across the dry desert hills beyond the Valley of the Kings, Dan visits the village where the tomb-builders lived, explores their homes and reveals their personal lives through unique written records that have survived for thousands of years.

Were the tomb-builders slaves, forced to use their skills to glorify the dead pharaohs? Dan pieces together the truth, and reveals an unexpectedly intimate picture of these ancient artists and craftsmen.


MON 19:30 Egyptian Journeys with Dan Cruickshank (b0078yz1)
The Pharaoh Hunter

Dan traces the unexpected twists and mysteries in the life of Howard Carter, the great British archaeologist who discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun, and reveals the hidden legacy of Carter's work. Carter rose from humble origins to become the most famous archaeologist in the world, but despite his spectacular success in discovering Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922, Carter was never honoured in this country, and received no official recognition from the British.

Dan travels through Egypt, looking for clues to this mystery as he follows the rollercoaster of Carter's career, from his first visit to Egypt as a teenager hired to copy Egyptian art, right up to the fame of his later years. On the way, Dan finds out that Carter played a crucial role in updating the science of archaeology and unearths his original artwork and his fascinating diary.


MON 20:00 Treasures of Ancient Egypt (p01mv16n)
The Birth of Art

In a visual treat taking in Egypt's greatest historical sites, Alastair Sooke tells the story of ancient Egyptian art through 30 extraordinary masterpieces. Tracing the origins of Egypt's unique visual style, he treks across the Sahara and travels the Nile to find the rarely seen art of its earliest peoples. Exploring how this civilisation's art reflected its religion, he looks anew at the Great Pyramid, and the statuary and painting of the Old Kingdom. Sooke is amazed by the technical prowess of ancient artists whose skills confound contemporary craftsmen.


MON 21:00 The Man Who Shot Tutankhamun (b08h99sb)
Margaret Mountford travels to Egypt's Valley of the Kings to discover the story of an unsung hero of British photography - Harry Burton, the man whose images of the Tutankhamun excavation created a global sensation in the 1920s.

As she explores the spectacular locations where Burton worked, including Tutankhamun's tomb, she investigates how his photographs inspired a craze for Egyptian designs and made the archaeologist Howard Carter an international celebrity. She discovers why Burton's images are still studied today by Egyptologists around the world. And she works with a present-day photographer, Harry Cory Wright, to find out how Burton pushed the boundaries of photographic art to create his extraordinary and influential pictures of the world's most famous archaeological discovery.


MON 22:00 Ancient Invisible Cities (b0bjj97g)
Series 1

Cairo

Dr Michael Scott uses the latest 3D scanning technology to reveal the historical secrets of Cairo and ancient Egypt. He explores the first pyramid ever built at Saqqara and finds out how it helped inspire the Great Pyramid of Giza. The 3D scans confirm just how accurately the Great Pyramid was designed and constructed. Michael also investigates the Sphinx to try to determine which pharaoh it represents.

But the history of Cairo is not only about the ancient Egyptians. Michael goes in search of a Roman fortress hidden under a Greek Orthodox church. He also attempts to descend a 90-metre well carved into solid bedrock beneath the Arabic citadel built by Saladin in the 12th century AD. This remarkable well was built by Crusader prisoners of war and provided the citadel with water in times of siege.

Along the way, Michael discovers that the ancient Egyptians had built their capital, Memphis, close to where Cairo now stands on the banks of the river Nile. This evolved into a Roman fortress called Babylon. And finally, the Arabs founded a city called Cairo. Today, it's the largest city in Africa.


MON 23:00 Tutankhamun's Egypt (m0027787)
Series 1

The Pharaoh

From the British Museum's 1972 Tutankhamun exhibition, Cyril Aldred introduces a programme on the role of the pharaoh, one of the most distinctive aspects of ancient Egyptian civilisation.


MON 23:20 Tutankhamun's Egypt (m002778c)
Series 1

The Land

Cyril Aldred explores how all the striking achievements of the ancient Egyptians were based upon the farming of the narrow zone of fertile land along the banks of the Nile.


MON 23:40 Tutankhamun's Egypt (m002778f)
Series 1

The Nile Fleet

In 1954, road clearing around the Great Pyramid of Gizeh revealed the incredibly well-preserved remains of the royal ship of Cheops. Now almost completely restored, it is the oldest surviving ship in the world. Its construction proves that a nation which was built round the Nile had to be a nation of sailors. Introduced by Cyril Aldred


MON 00:00 Archaeology: A Secret History (p0109jny)
In the Beginning

Archaeologist Richard Miles presents a series charting the history of the breakthroughs and watersheds in our long quest to understand our ancient past. He begins by going back 2,000 years to explore how archaeology began by trying to prove a biblical truth - a quest that soon got archaeologists into dangerous waters.


MON 01:00 Egyptian Journeys with Dan Cruickshank (b0078yvw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


MON 01:30 Egyptian Journeys with Dan Cruickshank (b0078yz1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


MON 02:00 Ancient Invisible Cities (b0bjj97g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]


MON 03:00 Treasures of Ancient Egypt (p01mv16n)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]

TUESDAY 21 JANUARY 2025

TUE 19:00 Canal Boat Diaries (m000bk6x)
Series 1

Shardlow to Stoke-on-Trent

Life on board a narrowboat with Robbie Cumming. Robbie tackles a propeller problem and tricky locks on the Trent and Mersey Canal in Derbyshire.


TUE 19:30 The Yorkshire Dales (m0003yk1)
Series 1

Wensleydale

Adventurer and explorer Paul Rose heads for Wensleydale in a three-part series about the Yorkshire Dales. He starts his journey in the small town of Hawes, where locals now run many of their own services, including the buses.

Paul checks out why cycling is so popular in the Dales and tries to get to the top of the Buttertubs Pass, which is one of Wensleydale’s most difficult routes. Along the way he meets a family of beautiful Dales dormice – and spends time with a man who looks after one of Yorkshire’s most imposing castles.


TUE 20:00 Porridge (b00787vf)
Series 2

Final Stretch

Sitcom set in Slade prison. Fletch has to help Godber out after he gets involved in a fight a week before his parole board hearing.


TUE 20:30 As Time Goes By (p0479t07)
Series 2

A Weekend Away

When both Judy and Alistair go away for the weekend, Jean tries everything to avoid spending the weekend alone with Lionel.


TUE 21:00 Charles I: Downfall of a King (m0006pbh)
Series 1

Two Worlds Collide

November 1641. King Charles I is in Edinburgh. While he is away from his capital, the leader of the House of Commons, John Pym, is plotting a move to limit the King’s power. The duel between these two men will spiral across the next weeks into an irrecoverable split across the country.

21 November: Pym dominates a stormy debate in the House of Commons over a document known as the Grand Remonstrance. It is a list of 200 complaints against Charles I. It claims he is under the influence of ‘evil counsellors’, a coded reference to the Queen – Charles I’s French Catholic wife, Henrietta Maria. In Ireland, a Catholic uprising, which has led to the deaths of thousands of Protestants, is focusing minds in Parliament.

It is one of the greatest debates in parliamentary history, lasting 14 hours. It is passed - 52% to 48%. The Grand Remonstrance - a vote of no confidence in the King’s rule - will now be presented to the King.

25 November: Charles arrives back in London. He makes a show of power and parades through the city with 500 horsemen. The King having returned, discussion turns to the rebellion in Ireland. An army must be sent to crush the Catholic rebels, but who should lead it? Pym fears the King will use the army to suppress his opponents. And Charles fears Pym will use the army to arrest his Catholic queen.

The King fights back. He issues a proclamation on 12 December ordering all MPs to London by 12 January 1642. He is confident that, with a full House of Commons, he will have a majority with which to stamp out John Pym’s faction. The clock is ticking. The deadline is set.


TUE 22:00 Shoah (b050qxh6)
First Era

Claude Lanzmann's epic documentary recounts the story of the Holocaust through interviews with witnesses - perpetrators as well as survivors. Lanzmann shows us what happened - how it was that close to six million Jews were murdered after being sent by rail to specially constructed death camps. He spent ten years making the film, criss-crossing the world in search of interviewees and the film has become a commemorative act.

Shown as part of the BBC's plans to mark the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.


TUE 02:25 Canal Boat Diaries (m000bk6x)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


TUE 02:55 The Man Who Shot Tutankhamun (b08h99sb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Monday]

WEDNESDAY 22 JANUARY 2025

WED 19:00 Canal Boat Diaries (m000bk5m)
Series 1

Froghall to Bugsworth Basin

Life on England's waterways with Robbie Cumming. A low canal tunnel in Staffordshire proves a problem, and Robbie helps out a stranded boater.


WED 19:30 The Yorkshire Dales (m0004513)
Series 1

Swaledale

Explorer Paul Rose heads for Swaledale in the latest of his Yorkshire Dales adventures. Swaledale is the wildest of the Yorkshire Dales and Paul joins the farmers who look after rare upland hay meadows. Paul also visits Muker Show and enters the cake making contest using a pressure cooker he’s used on Everest.

He also goes underground to try and find rare industrial artefacts left behind by lead miners in the 19th century. Paul’s journey also includes a meeting with actor Peter Davison who played Tristan Farnon in the All Creatures Great and Small TV series.

He also joins a community choir whose members include 13 farmers.


WED 20:00 Great Britons: Churchill (b0074nlm)
Mo Mowlam puts the case for Winston Churchill, Britain's inspirational leader during World War II.


WED 21:00 The Beginning and End of the Universe (b0754t74)
The Beginning

Professor Jim Al-Khalili takes us back in time to tackle the greatest question in science: how did the universe begin? Uncovering the origins of the universe is regarded as humankind's greatest intellectual achievement. By recreating key experiments Jim unravels the cosmic mystery of science's creation story before witnessing a moment, one millionth of a second, after the universe sprang into existence.


WED 22:00 Fear of Fanny (b0074sz9)
Dramatisation of Fanny Cradock's career, scripted by Brian Fillis based on interviews with her friends and family, reveals the private vulnerability behind her tart public persona. Not only a moving and insightful portrait of this enduring culinary icon, it's a black comedy about family, food and heavily-applied foundation.


WED 23:20 Shoah (b051gr0f)
Second Era

Claude Lanzmann's epic documentary recounts the story of the Holocaust through interviews with witnesses - perpetrators as well as survivors. Lanzmann shows us what happened - how it was that close to six million Jews were murdered after being sent by rail to specially constructed death camps. He spent ten years making the film, criss-crossing the world in search of interviewees and the film has become a commemorative act.

Shown as part of the BBC's plans to mark the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

THURSDAY 23 JANUARY 2025

THU 19:00 Canal Boat Diaries (m000bjyw)
Series 1

Marple to Huddersfield

The reality of life afloat with Robbie Cumming. A fallen tree and a leaking lock pound hamper Robbie's journey across the Pennines.


THU 19:30 The Yorkshire Dales (m0004c12)
Series 1

Wharfedale

Paul Rose’s Yorkshire Dales adventure takes him to Wharfedale. He meets the butchers in Ilkley whose Yorkshire produce is being sold all over the country. Paul also heads for Bolton Abbey and spends time with the Duke of Devonshire. He then takes time out with the Calendar Girls, who shot to fame after their nude calendar became a worldwide sensation two decades ago, and has a close encounter with bats that live along the River Wharfe. Finally, he meets the families from inner-city Bradford who are having their first Dales experience.


THU 20:00 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (m001kyvd)
Classic western adventure, starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford as legendary outlaws Butch and Kid.


THU 21:45 Paul Newman at the NFT (m002778v)
American actor Paul Newman talks to Joan Bakewell and members of the audience at the National Film Theatre, London. Featuring extracts from some of his most famous films, including The Silver Chalice, Somebody Up There Likes Me, The Hustler, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, WUSA, Judge Roy Bean, The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon and Marigolds
Recorded at a John Player Lecture


THU 22:30 Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (b045cn35)
Powerful melodrama adapted from the Tennessee Williams play. Strained emotions mark the birthday celebration of southern plantation owner and patriarch Big Daddy.


THU 00:15 Talking Pictures (b044zd7p)
Paul Newman

An examination of the life of actor Paul Newman, using rarely seen interviews from the BBC archives to tell the story of a career that made him one of Hollywood's greatest superstars. Narrated by Sylvia Syms.


THU 00:45 The Beginning and End of the Universe (b0754t74)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Wednesday]


THU 01:45 Canal Boat Diaries (m000bjyw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


THU 02:15 The Yorkshire Dales (m0004c12)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


THU 02:45 Charles I: Downfall of a King (m0006pbh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Tuesday]

FRIDAY 24 JANUARY 2025

FRI 19:00 Top of the Pops (m0027791)
Ant and Dec present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 2 February 1997 and featuring James, DJ Kool, The Wonders, Space, Warren G, Daft Punk, 911 and No Doubt.


FRI 19:30 Top of the Pops (p00fsvld)
Ian Wright presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 28 February 1997 and featuring The Bee Gees, Republica, Sash!, The Source feat. Candi Staton, Cathy Dennis, Bush, The Artist, Spice Girls and No Doubt.


FRI 20:00 Top of the Pops (b051h2xy)
Mike Read presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 24 January 1980 and featuring Buggles, The Nolans, Barbara Dickson, Matchbox, The Regents, The Pretenders, The Specials, Sheila B Devotion and The Boomtown Rats, and a dance sequence by Legs & Co.


FRI 20:40 Top of the Pops (m000wfdq)
Simon Mayo presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 24 January 1991 and featuring Tongue 'n' Cheek, Robert Palmer and Rick Astley.


FRI 21:05 Top of the Pops (m0027794)
Tony Blackburn presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 28 August 1975 and featuring Kenny, Rod Stewart, The Eagles (danced to by Pan's People), Desmond Dekker, Jasper Carrott, Gilbert O'Sullivan, Hot Chocolate, Peter Skellern, Bimbo Jet, Billie Jo Spears, Chris Spedding, The Stylistics and Mike Batt with The New Edition.


FRI 21:45 In Concert (m001yv05)
Neil Diamond

Songsmith Neil Diamond performs live with strings and horns laid on by the BBC, including hits such as Sweet Caroline, Solitary Man, Cracklin' Rosie and Holly Holy.


FRI 22:25 Neil Diamond at the BBC (m000rgm8)
A look back over the decades at some of the brightest and best BBC moments from legendary singer-songwriter Neil Diamond. This compilation features performances from the early 1970s of hits like Sweet Caroline, Forever in Blue Jeans and Solitary Man, and appearances on a range of BBC programmes including Wogan, The Shirley Bassey Show, Later... with Jools Holland and, of course, Top of the Pops.

Alongside all the hits are some rarely seen interview clips that capture Neil’s feelings about his enduring career and show how his dislike of fame has always sat in conflict with his passion for performing the songs that he and his fans love so much.


FRI 23:25 Neil Diamond: Solitary Man (b00vzzst)
A 60-minute documentary including an interview and exclusive location filming with Neil Diamond in New York and Los Angeles. Robbie Robertson, Jeff Barry, Mickey Dolenz and other contributors track Neil from his childhood in Brooklyn to his early days in the Brill Building, his nascent solo career and superstardom in the early 70s, the lean years of the 80s, his career reboot via Rick Rubin in the noughties and his Glastonbury success.


FRI 00:25 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 01:30 Top of the Pops (m0027791)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


FRI 02:00 Top of the Pops (p00fsvld)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


FRI 02:30 Top of the Pops (b051h2xy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


FRI 03:10 Top of the Pops (m0027794)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:05 today]