SATURDAY 22 FEBRUARY 2025

SAT 19:00 Ulster in Focus (m0028dw5)
Building a House

Programme looking at the 1970s redevelopment of the Belfast district known as the Markets.


SAT 19:20 All Creatures Great and Small (b01sc2fg)
Series 2

A Dog's Life

James has to keep his nerve during a difficult calving.


SAT 20:10 All Creatures Great and Small (p031d2sv)
Series 2

Merry Gentlemen

Tricki Woo has been overfed yet again and is nursed back to health by Helen. The gift of a hamper is welcome at any time, but especially at Christmas.


SAT 21:00 An t-Eilean/The Island (m0027fzg)
Series 1

Episode 3

With the evidence at the sheiling matching Sir Douglas’s new account of the night, DCI Halim is set on wrapping up the case. But Kat can’t let her theory go - Sir Douglas is convincing, but Kat’s sure it isn’t the full story.

Meanwhile, Kat starts to suspect that the youngest son Ruaraidh’s guarded behaviour at the sheiling yesterday was concealing something. In the hills above she finds charred remains of what appears to be Lady Mary’s diary, and excerpts that hint at a deep betrayal in the family.

Leis an fhianais aig an àirigh agus cunntas Sir Douglas mun oidhche ’ud ’a’ freagairt air a chèile, tha DCI Halim riaraichte a’ chùis a dhùnadh. Ach cha leig Kat seachad a beachd – nach e an sgeulachd shlàn a th’ aig Sir Douglas.

Tha Kat cuideachd amharasach gun robh Ruaraidh a’ cleith rudeigin aig an àirigh an-dè. Tha i a’ faighinn lorg air pìosan loisgte leabhar-là Lady Mary air a’ bheinn, le criomagan pàipeir ag innse gur dòcha gun deach cuideigin san teaghlach a mhealladh.

In Gaelic with English subtitles


SAT 21:50 An t-Eilean/The Island (m0027pky)
Series 1

Episode 4

A desperate Kat realises Eilidh’s close bond with Sir Douglas means she would be the only person who can find out the truth of what happened the night Lady Mary was murdered. But with no love lost between herself and Eilidh, can she convince her to help?

Kat investigates deep into Eilidh’s past to uncover something that she hopes will make her waver. In a tense final exchange, Sir Douglas and Kat finally come face to face, as she confronts the demons of her past in an attempt to bring Lady Mary’s killer to justice.

Tha Kat a’ tuigsinn gu bheil an dàimh làidir eadar Eilidh is Sir Douglas a’ ciallachadh gur i Eilidh an aon neach a gheibh an fhìrinn mu mhurt Lady Mary – ach am faigh Kat air toirt oirre a cuideachadh? Tha Kat a’ rannsachadh eachdraidh Eilidh agus a’ faighinn lorg air rudeigin a tha i an dòchas a bheir buaidh oirre.
Mu dheireadh thall, tha Sir Douglas agus Kat a’ tighinn aghaidh ri aghaidh, le ise a’ seasamh mu choinneamh an eachdraidh aice fhèin gum faigh ceartas làmh an uachdair air murtair Lady Mary.

In Gaelic with English subtitles


SAT 22:40 Godland (m0028dw8)
In the late 19th century, a young Danish priest is sent to Iceland with a mission to set up a parish in a remote part of the country. Faced with an ambivalent reception by less-than-welcoming locals, he finds that his zeal, faith and sense of reality start to drift as he ventures deeper into the Icelandic landscape.

In Danish and Icelandic with English subtitles.


SAT 01:00 Going Straight (p00xb64z)
Going to Work

Fletch's probation officer gets him a job as a night porter, but his return to work is not smooth sailing.


SAT 01:30 As Time Goes By (p0479vfc)
Series 2

The Cruise

Jean’s personal life has become the focal point of conversation between Judy and Sandy. Lionel offers Jean a free cruise holiday, but her response is not what he’d imagined.


SAT 02:00 All Creatures Great and Small (b01sc2fg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:20 today]


SAT 02:50 All Creatures Great and Small (p031d2sv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:10 today]


SAT 03:40 Ulster in Focus (m0028dw5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]

SUNDAY 23 FEBRUARY 2025

SUN 19:00 Dan Cruickshank and the Family That Built Gothic Britain (b04m3ljr)
As good as any Dickens novel, this is the triumphant and tragic story of the greatest architectural dynasty of the 19th century. Dan Cruickshank charts the rise of Sir George Gilbert Scott to the very heights of success, the fall of his son George Junior and the rise again of his grandson Giles. It is a story of architects bent on a mission to rebuild Britain. From the Romantic heights of the Midland Hotel at St Pancras station to the modern image of Bankside power station (now Tate Modern), this is the story of a family that shaped the Victorian age and left a giant legacy.


SUN 20:00 Amazon with Bruce Parry (b00dtdvl)
Episode 3

Bruce Parry travels to a remote part of the Brazilian Amazon to explore what happens when the outside world makes contact with isolated tribes. He visits old friends the Matis tribe and works with a logging crew cutting timber deep in the forest.


SUN 21:00 Inside Classical (m0028dwq)
Series 3

Elgar's Enigma Variations

The BBC Philharmonic perform one of the most well-known and much-loved pieces in the British classical music canon, Sir Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations, filmed at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall.

Composed as a musical portrait of some of his friends, his wife and even himself, this work is packed full of musical riddles. Elgar loved codes and ciphers and mischievously hid one within this great piece – but its exact nature has yet to be conclusively solved. This masterpiece features the Nimrod Variation, which commands an enduring appeal in its own right.

As an accompaniment, Six Monologues from Everyman, a song cycle by Swiss composer Frank Martin, is brought to the concert platform by world-renowned baritone Roderick Williams. There is also the mesmerising anthem Swansong by Arvo Pärt, composed to mark the 200th anniversary of minister, theologian and poet Cardinal Newman’s birth; and to complete the programme, a world premiere of Geoffrey Gordon’s bassoon concerto Anima Mia, which was inspired by and performed by the BBC Philharmonic’s very own principal bassoon, Roberto Giaccaglia.


SUN 22:35 Monitor (b007mw90)
Elgar

Ken Russell's classic 1962 biography of English composer Edward Elgar, which uses actors to reconstruct events in Elgar's life. Made for the hundredth edition of pioneering BBC documentary series Monitor.


SUN 23:30 Andre Previn at the BBC (b06gxxxh)
Charismatic conductor and composer Andre Previn looks back at some of his greatest television moments, from thrilling performances of orchestral favourites by Mozart and Berlioz to his classic comedy encounter with Morecambe and Wise.


SUN 00:30 Storyville (m002860c)
Gaucho Gaucho: Argentina’s Last Ranchers

A Storyville documentary that follows the lives of Argentina’s gauchos (cowboys and cowgirls), who proudly preserve their traditions in a fast-changing world.

They travel on horseback, accompanied by their dogs, moving their cattle across stunning landscapes. Their handmade clothing - woollen ponchos, bombacha trousers and boina hats - are signs to the outside world that they remain unshackled by the bindings of modernity.

The film follows the lives of men and women of different ages, backgrounds and talents, who are all connected by their incredible bonds with their animals and their fight to remain free.


SUN 01:50 Dan Cruickshank and the Family That Built Gothic Britain (b04m3ljr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


SUN 02:50 Amazon with Bruce Parry (b00dtdvl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]

MONDAY 24 FEBRUARY 2025

MON 19:00 Climbing Great Buildings (b00tr6g1)
Durham Cathedral

Dr Jonathan Foyle, architectural historian and novice climber, scales Britain's most iconic structures, from the Normans to the present day, to reveal the buildings' secrets and tell the story of how our architecture and construction have developed over 1000 years.

Jonathan's journey begins in the north east of England at Durham Cathedral, one of the finest surviving examples of Norman architecture in the UK.

Jonathan, who has never climbed before, is aided by Lucy Creamer, one of Britain's top climbers, as he conquers his fears to scale over 140 feet to the top of Durham Cathedral to investigate how the Normans revolutionised building in this country. On his climbs, he comes face to face with the crumbling 1000-year-old stone with oyster shells hiding in the mortar, discovers carved stone arches influenced by the art of the Middle East and he braves a tightrope nearly 100 feet above the nave, to get a closer look at the revolutionary and beautiful stone ceiling.


MON 19:30 Who Do You Think You Are? USA (m0028dx6)
Bryan Cranston

Actor Bryan Cranston discovers an unfortunate pattern of desertion among the men in his family but also uncovers an ancestor’s heroic dedication during the Civil War.


MON 20:00 The Romantics and Us with Simon Schama (m000mfng)
Series 1

Passions of the People

With contributions from Harriet Walter, Christopher Eccleston, hip-hop artist Testament and French street artist P-Boy, Simon Schama explores the elixir of rebellion and the idea – so powerful in the words and images of William Blake – that imaginative passion can conquer mechanical logic and create an art for the people.

Simon starts by looking at the great icon of popular revolt created by Eugene Delacroix, Liberty Leading the People. Painted after the July Revolution of 1830 in Paris, which finally brought an end to the Bourbon monarchy in France, Simon unpacks the legacy of this universal image of popular revolt across the ages.

The idea of faith in the power of art and the human imagination began with one of the forefathers of romanticism, the visionary poet and artist William Blake, so Simon follows his trail in his native city of London. Looking at his work from the early 1790s, Simon and hip-hop artist Testament explore how Blake’s ideas continue to resonate in our own times.

Simon then retraces the steps of Mary Wollstonecraft in Paris, and Dame Harriet Walter performs extracts from her moving letters, written at the height of the violence. Eventually returning to England, Simon explores how the Terror had enormous consequences for the revolutionary cause as the Tory government waged their own war of terror on revolutionary sympathisers for the next 40 years.

The last part of the film tells the stories of two artists in the next generation of Romantics to take up the revolutionary cause - Percy Bysshe Shelley in England and Theodore Gericault in France. At a time when both France and Britain were turning their backs on the Revolution, the artists – fuelled by injustice and rage – created two of the greatest achievements of Romantic art.


MON 21:00 Stonehenge: The Lost Circle Revealed (m000s5xm)
In a world exclusive, Professor Alice Roberts follows a decade-long historical quest to reveal a hidden secret of the famous bluestones of Stonehenge.

Using cutting-edge research, a dedicated team of archaeologists led by Prof Mike Parker Pearson have painstakingly compiled the evidence to fill in a 400-year gap in our knowledge of the bluestones – and to show that the original stones of Britain’s most iconic monument had a previous life.

From the grand fantasy of medieval Merlin legends, to the chemical signatures in microscopic rock fragments, no stone is left unturned in the search for new evidence. By combining innovative 3D scanning techniques, traditional field archaeology and novel laboratory analysis, the team have discovered when and where the stones for Stonehenge were quarried and where they first stood.

Alice shows how the team discovered that the stones must have been quarried 400 years before they were first erected at Stonehenge. The team then focuses on trying to find out if the same stones had an earlier life.

Alice joins Mike as they put together the final pieces of the puzzle – not just revealing where the stones came from and how they were moved from Wales to England, but also solving one of the toughest challenges that archaeologists face.

Their revelations will rewrite the history of Stonehenge forever – this is the story of Stonehenge’s lost circle.


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


MON 23:30 Israel and the Arabs - Elusive Peace (m001swsb)
Eyewitness to History: Norma Percy

As today’s headlines continue to be dominated by the latest news from Israel and Gaza, award-winning film-maker Norma Percy looks back on her 2005 series Elusive Peace, sharing memories of her encounters with key players like Bill Clinton, Ariel Sharon and Yasser Arafat as she explored the story behind the efforts to end the conflict made around the start of the new millennium. Norma also talks about her experiences securing rare interviews with those behind some of the suicide bombings that destroyed lives and also the chances of peace.


MON 23:50 Israel and the Arabs - Elusive Peace (p0glcmc1)
Series 1

Clinton

What happened behind closed doors at the Middle East Peace Summit at Camp David in 2000 - and the reasons why the talks reached an impasse.


MON 00:50 Screen Two (p00gfgwt)
Series 8

Enchanted April

Four women, driven to desperation in 1920s London, rent a small castle in Italy for a holiday, where they are joined by their husbands. The magic of the place soon begins to work in unexpected ways.


MON 02:30 The Romantics and Us with Simon Schama (m000mfng)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]

TUESDAY 25 FEBRUARY 2025

TUE 19:00 Climbing Great Buildings (b00tr6k2)
Lincoln Cathedral

Dr Jonathan Foyle, architectural historian and novice climber, scales Britain's most iconic structures, from the Normans to the present day, to reveal the buildings' secrets and tell the story of how our architecture and construction has developed over 1,000 years.

The next step of Jonathan's journey takes him to Lincoln Cathedral, built in 1183. Once the tallest building in Britain, Lincoln Cathedral is one of the finest examples of Gothic architecture in the country.

With unprecedented access, Jonathan - aided by top climber Lucy Creamer - scales the cathedral to reveal the skill and innovation of the medieval Gothic builders and craftsmen. On his climbs, Jonathan is suspended 100ft above the nave to get a unique cinematic view of the immense Dean's Eye stained-glass window; meets an evil imp and a riot of monsters; and faces his biggest climbing challenge yet as he scales the exterior walls of the cathedral's central tower - all 272 feet of it.


TUE 19:30 Who Do You Think You Are? USA (b01r6jjc)
Rashida Jones

Actress and writer Rashida Jones sets out to find out more about her grandmother Rita and her Jewish heritage. Rashida starts her journey in New York, where Rita worked as a dancer in the 1930s. Here, Rashida pieces together a picture of Rita's youth and starts to unravel the mystery surrounding her grandmother's surname.

Investigations take Rashida to Dublin in Ireland, where Rita was born. From there, she journeys to Latvia to discover the town where her family came from. She also learns the fate of relatives during the Second World War.


TUE 20:00 Going Straight (p00xb66c)
Going, Going, Gone

As hotel porter, Fletch recognises an unscrupulous guest, Worm Wellings, and suspects he may be planning an insurance scam.


TUE 20:30 Steptoe and Son (p00h1gt6)
Series 7

Divided We Stand

Classic comedy with the rag-and-bone team. When the arguments become just too much for Harold, he decides to take drastic measures to get some peace from Albert.


TUE 21:00 Harry H Corbett: Acting in the Sixties (m0028dy8)
Harry H Corbett talks to Clive Goodwin in a programme that first aired in 1967 from a series in which leading young actors discussed their start in the profession, the parts that brought them success and their views on acting. Featuring excerpts from Steptoe and Son and the film Rattle of a Simple Man. Introduced by Peter Black.


TUE 21:45 Wildlife on One (b00796tm)
African Penguin: Cool Bird in a Hot Spot

David Attenborough narrates a programme which follows several thousand pioneering young penguins as they invade Boulders Beach, a busy resort in Cape Town, in an attempt to establish a new colony amid the striped umbrellas and sun loungers.


TUE 22:00 Storyville (m0028dyc)
The Battle for Laikipia

Shot over several years, the Battle for Laikipia charts the relationship between the Samburu people, a nomadic pastoralist community that has always grazed cattle and goats on the land, and the third and fourth-generation European settlers who own ranches and conservancies in the region.

Filmed at a time of severe drought in one of Africa’s most famous conservation areas, pressure mounts on both sides, and unresolved historical tensions result in conflict.


TUE 23:30 Israel and the Arabs - Elusive Peace (p0glcnhz)
Series 1

Arafat

US Secretary of State Colin Powell tries to make peace between Israel and Palestine, but his efforts are derailed by his own hard-line colleagues and Yasser Arafat. Made in 2005.


TUE 00:30 Israel and the Arabs - Elusive Peace (p0glcpbn)
Series 1

Sharon

The war in Iraq forces President Bush to court Arab allies. He needs to push Israel's prime minister Ariel Sharon back toward peace - but Sharon moves the goalposts. Made in 2005.


TUE 01:30 Climbing Great Buildings (b00tr6k2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


TUE 02:00 Who Do You Think You Are? USA (b01r6jjc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


TUE 02:30 Stonehenge: The Lost Circle Revealed (m000s5xm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Monday]

WEDNESDAY 26 FEBRUARY 2025

WED 19:00 Climbing Great Buildings (b00tr6sr)
Caernarfon Castle

Dr Jonathan Foyle, architectural historian and novice climber, scales Britain's most iconic structures, from the Normans to the present day, to reveal the buildings' secrets and tell the story of how our architecture and construction have developed over 1,000 years.

The next step of Jonathan's journey takes him to Caernarfon Castle, built in 1283 and one of the most magnificent examples of medieval castle building in Britain.

Jonathan, aided by top British climber Lucy Creamer, tests his climbing skills to reveal the secrets of this monster of a castle's construction and what it would have been like for anyone foolhardy enough to attack it. On his climbs, he scales over 100 feet up the majestic Eagle Tower to investigate how the architect behind Caernarfon revolutionised castle building in Britain; he discovers how the castle's design and decoration were inspired by the ancient Roman town of Constantinople; and he tests the limits of his courage zip-wiring high above the castle before abseiling down the King's Gate to investigate the fortified main entrance, which housed an innovation so lethal that it's been dubbed a medieval machine gun.


WED 19:30 Who Do You Think You Are? USA (m0028dxz)
Allison Janney

Award-winning stage, film and TV actress Allison Janney traces her family tree and uncovers a remarkable story that ties her to some of America’s first British settlers. She learns that the family’s journey to North America almost ended in tragedy.


WED 20:00 Himalaya with Michael Palin (b0074qrs)
Leaping Tigers, Naked Nagas

Michael Palin continues his Himalayan trek.

Following the Yangtze along Tiger Leaping Gorge into Yunnan in China, Palin reaches the easternmost end of the Himalayas.

He gets a medical check-up before exploring medieval Lijiang with the director of the local orchestra. Heading across Myanmar to Nagaland in India he rides the steam train to Tipong Coalmine.

In Assam he rides an elephant and then stays in a strange monastery.


WED 21:00 Toxic Town: The Corby Poisonings (m000gp8s)
The untold story of Britain’s worst foetal poisoning scandal since thalidomide, when a group of ordinary mothers took on the establishment and won. Set in a post-industrial Northamptonshire town, the Corby Litigation Case was a landmark one with worldwide legal and medical ramifications - the first time ever that a court has recognised a link between airborne toxins and foetal development damage.

At the heart of the story is a group of young mothers with children with hand and feet deformities fighting hard for answers, a ruthless local council and a tenacious human rights lawyer who took on a near-impossible ten-year battle.

In the 1990s, a Sunday Times journalist discovered two mothers who had recently each given birth to children with identical birth defects. A steelworks had been at the heart of Corby for decades, but in 1980 it shut down, plunging the town into dire unemployment. A few years later, with a hefty European grant, Corby Borough Council embarked on the biggest land reclamation project in Europe, redeveloping the land where the steelworks had stood. Suspecting a link to toxic waste - buried underneath the ground whilst the steelworks was in operation - the journalist discovered more children, all with the same deformities. The Sunday Times published an article pointing the finger at the council, and the story blew up in Corby. As the story spread, more families came forward. The mothers formed a group and sought legal advice, determined to find answers.

A Watford solicitor, Des Collins, discovered the story and approached the mothers. He won their trust and took on the case. Under pressure from these accusations, the council produced a study which indicated there was no evidence of a cluster of deformities. But Des was unconvinced by their results. He consulted one of the UK’s leading paediatric epidemiologists, Professor Louise Parker, who analysed the data and determined that the council’s report was wrong. Professor Parker carried out her own study, which revealed that the rate of birth defects in Corby was far higher than elsewhere.

While battling the case, each of the families also battled the stigmas and misunderstandings that came with the children’s conditions. The mothers travelled up and down to a specialist hospital in Leeds, where a surgeon carried out several complicated surgeries on the children, grafting toes onto their hands so that they would have a grip to use.

Convinced he had a strong argument, Des and his expert team began to build a case against the council, attempting to convince a judge of a hypothesis that had never before been proven in a court of law. The whole case rested on expert scientific evidence - could scientists prove that toxic particles from the reclamation project had been ingested by the mothers and poisoned their unborn children? It would be one of the most difficult cases of Des’s career. Meanwhile, the children at the heart of the case navigated life with these birth defects, some being badly bullied in school.

The next hurdle was to prove that airborne toxins had the potential to be transported miles through the air and be inhaled by the mothers during pregnancy. Des enlisted expert engineer Professor Tony Cox, who carried out exhaustive research and discovered that these particles could travel miles, meaning that the mothers could certainly have ingested them. The council’s report produced conflicting evidence - that the toxic dust could only travel a few hundred meters. Tony was confused - the council report had been carried out by some of the best engineers in the industry. Perhaps he had made a grave mistake? But at the last minute, Tony discovered a study which confirmed he was right.

The final task was to prove that, once ingested, one or more of these toxins could cause the limb malformations that the children had. Dr David Penman, an expert in fetal medicine, determined that the most likely culprit was the heavy metal cadmium, a by-product of steel-making. But nobody had ever studied the effects of cadmium on pregnant women. Dr Penman did know that cigarettes and certain fertilisers contain cadmium, so he delved into studies on smokers and agricultural workers, and the results brought up the exact limb malformations that were present in many of the mothers. It was a breakthrough.

Ten years after the mothers’ battle began, the case went to court. Eminent barrister David Wilby QC was instructed on behalf of the mothers. The whole case rested on the science put forward by the expert witnesses. In July 2009, the judge ruled that the council had ignored all of their professional advice and acted illegally in the way that it moved and disposed of the toxic waste from the British Steel site. Not only that, but he agreed that the mothers had proven for the first time in history that there is a link between toxic substances released into the air and children born with birth defects.


WED 22:00 Vivien Heilbron Remembers... Grey Granite (m0028dy1)
First broadcast in 1983, Grey Granite was the third and final part of Lewis Grassic Gibbon’s A Scots Quair trilogy that the BBC adapted for television. Leading actress Vivien Heilbron looks back on her time making the series and the challenges she faced when taking on the key role of Chris Guthrie one last time, over ten years since she was first cast in the part in Sunset Song.

Grey Granite finds Chris struggling with the radical politics of her son Ewan and the amorous attentions of a friend from the past. Vivien outlines the challenges of bringing Gibbon’s story to the screen once again and shares an overview of her memories from across the entire trilogy, working with some of Scotland’s finest acting talent.


WED 22:15 Grey Granite (p0kjd7sn)
Series 1

Duncairn

After her second husband’s death, Chris Guthrie moves to Duncairn and buys a half-share in a guest house. Ewan is drawn to socialism and is increasingly radicalised.


WED 23:15 Grey Granite (p0kjd8y2)
Series 1

Granite and Thistledown

A familiar face arrives from Segget and takes a room at the guest house. Ewan and Ellen’s political ambitions ramp up when it’s discovered the foundry where Ewan works is manufacturing armaments. Ma Cleghorn’s poor health threatens Chris’s future in Duncairn.


WED 00:15 Grey Granite (p0kjd9fh)
Series 1

Stone Circle

Chris accepts a proposal in order to save the guesthouse. A death at the foundry sees Ewan framed and violently arrested, blackmail his only chance of freedom. No longer able to escape her longing to return to the croft where she was born, Chris leaves Duncairn.


WED 01:15 Climbing Great Buildings (b00tr6sr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


WED 01:45 Who Do You Think You Are? USA (m0028dxz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


WED 02:15 Himalaya with Michael Palin (b0074qrs)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]

THURSDAY 27 FEBRUARY 2025

THU 19:00 Climbing Great Buildings (b00tr7gl)
New College, Oxford

Dr Jonathan Foyle, architectural historian and novice climber, scales Britain's most iconic structures, from the Normans to the present day, to reveal the buildings' secrets and tell the story of how our architecture and construction has developed over 1,000 years.

Jonathan's journey takes him to New College in Oxford. Built in 1379, this college set the blueprint for universities all over the world for the next 600 years.

Jonathan climbs the dreaming spires to investigate how the devastation of the Black Death led to an architectural innovation. He tests his newly-acquired climbing skills by scaling almost 100 feet to reveal how the enduring symbol of university life - the quadrangle - originated here. On his climbs, he discovers the bishop whose vision it was and sees how he literally left his mark all over the college in a medieval PR stunt; discovers carvings of English folk tales in the chapel; and traverses a sheer drop of 80 feet to explore how a new glazing technique, known as 'yellow stain', allowed New College to create some of the most magnificent medieval stained glass in the country.


THU 19:30 Who Do You Think You Are? USA (b03wxxsf)
Chris O'Donnell

Chris O'Donnell traces the ancestry of his late father, discovering a legacy of courage, patriotism and proud devotion to family.

His research takes him to St Louis, Missouri, which was struck by a devastating cholera epidemic in 1849. Chris uncovers a moving memoir that details his great-great-grandfather's selfless role helping the sick and dying. When he digs deeper, Chris finds out that his ancestor also played an important role in the Mexican-American War that defined the borders of modern America.

Skipping back two more generations, Chris discovers an equally brave and patriotic ancestor who served in the War of 1812 which consolidated America's independence from Britain. Following the trail to Baltimore, Chris uncovers an extraordinary connection to one of the most iconic battles in American history.


THU 20:00 The Man Who Never Was (b0074sh0)
Espionage thriller in which a British intelligence officer plans an elaborate hoax in the spring of 1943 to fool the Germans into thinking the Allies are about to invade Greece, not Sicily. The plan calls for the navy to float a dead body carrying false identification and information so that the Germans will pick it up. The first part of the mission succeeds, but will the Nazis take the bait?


THU 21:40 Robert Redford Talks to Melvyn Bragg (m0028dzb)
In a programme from 1976, actor Robert Redford talks with Melvyn Bragg about America, politics, ecology and movies.


THU 22:10 All the President's Men (m000rgnx)
In the early 1970s, Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein uncover the Watergate scandal - a conspiracy to cover up abuses of power leading all the way to the Oval Office and eventually to the resignation of President Richard Nixon.


THU 00:25 Robert Redford: Film 93 with Barry Norman (m0028dzd)
In this exclusive interview from 1993, Robert Redford talks to Barry Norman about his dislike of acting, his looks, his support for independent film-makers through his Sundance Institute and his latest film, A River Runs through It.

Known for his wish for privacy and concern for the environment, Redford shuns the glamour of the West Coast to live in Utah. So how does he view the film community in Hollywood? And will he ever team up on screen with Paul Newman again?


THU 00:55 Talking Pictures (b06vp212)
Sex Symbols

Sylvia Syms looks at the handsome heroes and gorgeous heroines, pin-ups and bombshells who came to be known as cinema's greatest sex symbols. They were the actors who made audiences' hearts beat fastest - the men and women whom the camera just seemed to love that little bit more than most.

The programme hears from the stars themselves talking about what their sex symbol status meant to them, and the good-looking line-up includes Gary Cooper, Jane Russell, Brigitte Bardot, Paul Newman, Robert Redford and Hollywood's ultimate sex symbol, Marilyn Monroe.


THU 01:35 Saving Venice (m001m7p1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 on Monday]


THU 03:05 Who Do You Think You Are? USA (b03wxxsf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]

FRIDAY 28 FEBRUARY 2025

FRI 19:00 Top of the Pops (m0028dyz)
The Spice Girls present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 30 May 1997 and featuring Wet Wet Wet, Faith No More, Monaco, Rosie Gaines, Sarah Brightman & Andrea Bocelli, Toby Bourke with George Michael, Eternal featuring Bebe Winans and Strike.


FRI 19:30 Top of the Pops (m0028dz1)
Jayne Middlemiss presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 6 June 1997 and featuring Eternal, Gina G, Toby Bourke With George Michael, Rosie Gaines, Gary Barlow, Radiohead and Hanson.


FRI 20:00 Top of the Pops (b08d7y3l)
John Peel and David Jensen present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 3 March 1983 and featuring OMD, Bananarama, Patti Austin with James Ingram, and Michael Jackson.


FRI 20:35 Top of the Pops (m000f1lv)
Gary Davies and Anthea Turner present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 2 March 1989 and featuring Living in a Box, Sam Brown, Jason Donovan, Tyree ft Kool Rock Steady, Depeche Mode, Deacon Blue, Donna Summer, Wasp, Gloria Estefan, Texas, Simple Minds and Poison.


FRI 21:05 Disco at the BBC (b01cqt74)
Volume One

A foot-stomping return to the BBC vaults of Top of the Pops, The Old Grey Whistle Test and Later with Jools as the programme spins itself to a time when disco ruled the floor, the airwaves and our minds. The visual floorfillers include classics from luminaries such as Chic, Labelle and Rose Royce to glitter ball surprises by The Village People.


FRI 22:05 This Cultural Life (m0028dz3)
Nile Rodgers

Nile Rodgers is one of the most successful and influential figures in popular music. As a songwriter, producer and arranger, he has enjoyed a 50-year career with his bands Chic and Sister Sledge, and collaborations with artists, including Diana Ross, David Bowie, Duran Duran, Madonna, Daft Punk and Beyoncé.

Bringing his Fender Stratocaster guitar to the studio, Nile tells John Wilson how the instrument, nicknamed The Hitmaker, has been the bedrock of almost every record that he worked on.

He discusses his bohemian upbringing in 1950s New York with his mother and stepfather, who were both drug users. He chooses as one of his most important influences his jazz guitar tutor Ted Dunbar, who taught him not only about musical technique but also how to appreciate the artistry of a hit tune. 'It speaks to the souls of a million strangers' he was told.

Nile reminisces about his musical partner Bernard Edwards, with whom he set up the Chic Organisation after the pair first met on the club circuit playing with cover bands. He discusses their songwriting techniques and the importance of what they called ‘deep hidden meaning’ in lyrics. He also reflects on the untimely death of Edwards in 1996, shortly after he played a gig with Nile in Tokyo, and why he continues to pay musical tribute to his friend in his globally touring stage show, which includes the songs of Chic and other artists they worked with.


FRI 22:35 Disco at the BBC (m001tky9)
Volume Two

Another slice of disco delight with a celebration of nightclub classics taken from the very best of the BBC’s archives, including Rock Your Baby, Ring My Bell and Yes Sir, I Can Boogie.


FRI 23:35 Disco at the BBC (m001tvnd)
Volume Three

Another fantastic selection of dance floor disco classics, featuring a wealth of performances from the BBC’s music archives, including Tina Charles, The Real Thing, Sister Sledge and The Bee Gees.


FRI 00:35 Top of the Pops (m0028dyz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


FRI 01:05 Top of the Pops (m0028dz1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


FRI 01:35 Top of the Pops (b08d7y3l)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


FRI 02:10 Top of the Pops (m000f1lv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:35 today]


FRI 02:40 Disco at the BBC (b01cqt74)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:05 today]