SATURDAY 11 APRIL 2026

SAT 19:00 The Great British Year (p01dfksf)
Original Series

Spring

Spring marks the start of an epic race for life where timing is everything; trees explode with blossom and mornings fill with the magical chorus of birdsong. Long-tailed tits frantically build nests whilst, in our oceans, seahorses sway to a graceful courtship dance.

As we celebrate Easter, a stoat mother hunts the young rabbits to feed her own playful young. As spring becomes summer, guillemot chicks leap from their cliffs to begin life at sea, and this year's young prepare for life alone.


SAT 20:00 The Good Old Days (b07j7j40)
Leonard Sachs presents the old-time music hall programme, filmed from the stage of the City Varieties Theatre, Leeds in 1975. Guests include Georgia Brown, Barry Cryer, Katinka Seiner, John Inman, Barry Howard, Marie Ange Brillet and The Three Hurricanes.


SAT 20:45 Hetty Wainthropp Investigates (b007b8qh)
Series 3

Serving the Community

Drama series, based on characters from the novel by David Cook, about a 60-year-old private detective. Hetty faces danger when she agrees to track down a gang who have been attacking local restaurant owners.


SAT 21:35 Hidden Assets (m002stzr)
Series 3

Episode 5

CAB intensify their probe and raid haulage company KYV. The operation deepens suspicions about KYV’s role in the wider criminal network involving waste handling and trafficking, pushing Claire and the team closer to uncovering the smuggling ring’s infrastructure and the connections tying recent murders, corruption and illegal operations together.

In English and Spanish (with subtitles)


SAT 22:25 Hidden Assets (m002stzt)
Series 3

Episode 6

Personal stakes rise for Claire, while Niamh faces devastating consequences as the case reaches its climax.

In English and Spanish (with subtitles)


SAT 23:15 Parkinson (m002v4p3)
Julian Lloyd Webber, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tim Rice

Michael Parkinson in conversation with Tim Rice, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Julian Lloyd Webber and more.


SAT 00:20 Keeping Up Appearances (b007b7ty)
Series 2

Driving Mrs Fortescue

After listening to Emmet's piano playing from her garden, stopping a passer-by to listen with her and rebuking Liz for collecting milk in her dressing gown, Hyacinth receives a phone call from Mrs Fortescue asking for a lift into town.


SAT 00:50 Sorry! (b007bkdj)
Series 1

Curse of the Mummy

Sitcom about a middle-aged bachelor living with his parents. Timothy's sister Muriel comes to stay and tries to persuade him to go home with her.


SAT 01:15 The Great British Year (p01dfksf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


SAT 02:15 Hetty Wainthropp Investigates (b007b8qh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:45 today]


SAT 03:05 The Good Old Days (b07j7j40)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]

SUNDAY 12 APRIL 2026

SUN 19:00 Travels with Pevsner (m002rjqw)
Series 1

Warwickshire with Germaine Greer

Germaine Greer explores the architecture of Warwickshire with Nikolaus Pevsner's Buildings of England as her guide. Visits include Baddesley Clinton Hall and Warwick Castle.


SUN 19:50 One Hundred Great Paintings (m002v4q5)
Love: Gainsborough - Mr and Mrs Andrews

Edwin Mullins presents a closer look at Thomas Gainsborough's early work Mr and Mrs Andrews, which combines a double portrait of the newly married couple with a wide view of their English country estate.


SUN 20:00 Rebuilding Notre-Dame (m002b2gm)
The Final Chapter

Five years after the devastating fire, Lucy Worsley has exclusive access to the rebuilding of the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris as the historic church enters the final stages of its restoration. Work on the complex roof and spire is nearing completion as restoration teams battle to be ready for the public reopening.


SUN 21:00 Krapp's Last Tape (b007qzdk)
An extraordinary study of mortality, creativity and memory. A 69-year-old man sits alone on his birthday and listens to recordings of his past.

A television relay of the 2006 Royal Court Theatre production of Samuel Beckett's critically acclaimed play, starring Harold Pinter.


SUN 21:55 Searching for Sam: Adrian Dunbar on Samuel Beckett (m000crfc)
Samuel Beckett has fascinated Adrian Dunbar since he was a young student. Thirty years after Beckett's death in Paris, Dunbar explores what made the man who made Waiting for Godot.


SUN 22:55 Julian Lloyd Webber with the London Philharmonic Orchestra (m002v4q8)
Robert Walker introduces a performance of Elgar's Cello Concerto in E Minor played by Julian Lloyd Webber with the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Yehudi Menuhin, recorded at the 1987 Harrogate International Festival.


SUN 23:45 BBC Proms (m001bmmj)
2022

Cynthia Erivo: Legendary Voices at the Proms

Multi-award-winning star of stage and screen Cynthia Erivo takes the Proms by storm as she sings the great American songbook of the 1950s and 60s.

Backed by the BBC Concert Orchestra, she celebrates the legendary female voices that have shown her the way - artists such as Nina Simone, Shirley Bassey, Billie Holiday, Etta James, and Gladys Knight.
From showtunes to pop, from soul to French chanson, expect big iconic anthems of love, loss and transformation.

Andi Oliver presents from the Royal Albert Hall in London and is joined by special guests Clarke Peters and Ayanna Witter-Johnson.


SUN 01:15 Travels with Pevsner (m002rjqw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


SUN 02:05 Rebuilding Notre-Dame (m002b2gm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]

MONDAY 13 APRIL 2026

MON 19:00 Seven Worlds, One Planet (m000c6pn)
Series 1

Africa

Africa - home to the greatest wildlife gatherings on earth. But even in this land of plenty, wildlife faces huge challenges. At its heart is a vast tropical rainforest full of life. Here, young chimpanzees learn how to use tools to make the most of the jungles riches. With knowledge passed down from generation to generation, they can access the best forest foods.

Rivalling the jungle for it sheer abundance of life is Africa’s Great Rift Valley. It formed 30 million years ago when a mass of molten rock forced the land upwards, eventually tearing the planet’s crust apart. As the valley deepened, rivers flooded the valley floor creating stunning lakes. These are the richest freshwater habitats on the planet.

Africa’s rich Serengeti grasslands are home to the greatest herds of antelopes, wildebeest and zebras. Close behind them are their predators. To increase their chances of a successful kill a group of five cheetahs team up to form one of the largest cheetah coalitions ever seen. But numbers aren’t always enough.

Covering one third of the continent, Africa’s deserts are tough environments for wildlife. In the Namib, the oldest desert on Earth, brown hyenas make epic journeys in search of food for their families and seek shelter in long-abandoned ghost towns. Meanwhile, in the Kalahari the bizarre-looking aardvark digs deep to find a meal.

For millennia, Africa’s unique wildlife has managed to thrive, even in its most hostile corners, but today its greatest threat comes from human activity. In the last century, millions of elephants have been killed by hunters and poachers, and the desire for northern white rhino horn has brought the sub-species to the brink of extinction.

But with help, wildlife populations can recover. In the Virunga mountains, dedicated conservation efforts have meant mountain gorilla numbers have increased above 1000 for the first time since records began. The decisions we make now will decide the future of animals, humanity and all life on earth.


MON 20:00 The Latest Secrets of Hieroglyphs (m001f72n)
The great history of Egypt is inscribed on its monuments, temples and tombs, but hieroglyphs – the written language of the ancient Egyptians – fell silent until 1822 when a young French scholar, Jean-François Champollion, became the first person to decipher their texts for over a thousand years. Champollion’s insights and the work of other scholars helped bring an entire civilisation back to life.

Today, researchers are increasingly interested in the authors who created these hieroglyphic works. Near Luxor, The Latest Secrets of Hieroglyphs follows a new generation of Egyptologists as they unlock the texts inscribed inside a richly adorned tomb, revealing the beliefs and lives of the priests, scribes, painters, engravers and builders who created this grand funerary monument.


MON 21:00 Call My Bluff (m002v4p5)
Robert Robinson hosts as Patrick Campbell, Joanna Lumley and Lord Kearton take on Frank Muir, Pauline Yates and Donald Churchill in the game of word definitions and deceptions.


MON 21:30 Face the Music (m002v4p7)
Joseph Cooper invites viewers to match their musical wits against guests Annette Page, Richard Baker and Robin Ray. With guest musician Murray Perahia.


MON 22:00 The Sky at Night (m002v4p9)
Destination Moon

Maggie Aderin, self-proclaimed lunar-tic, examines Nasa’s Artemis II mission: the first crewed journey towards the moon in more than 50 years. It’s a mission designed to carry astronauts around the moon’s far side and safely home again, marking the furthest human beings will have travelled into space.

While the programme explores the mission’s progress on and off the launch pad as Artemis II prepares for its next attempt at lift-off, George Dransfield visits Imperial College London to speak with Dr Helen Sharman, who became the first British astronaut in 1991 when she travelled to the Mir space station. Helen offers insight into what it’s like to wait for launch and why the moon is once again drawing the world’s attention.

But the renewed focus on the moon goes beyond sending people there. A series of robotic landers has recently attempted to reach the lunar surface, with mixed outcomes. To understand this new phase of exploration, Maggie heads to the Open University to meet Dr Simeon Barber, who is developing his latest lunar instrument. Not every mission carrying his instruments has succeeded, but as he explains, setbacks are as informative as successes and form part of the fast-moving international effort to return to the moon.

But it’s not only astronauts and robots that get the chance to study our closest neighbour. We all see it as we go about our everyday lives, and Pete Lawrence is on hand to highlight what to look out for if you pause for a moment, glance upward and take in its quiet beauty.

It is the slow and steady progress of China’s Chang’e programme that brought back the first samples from the moon’s far side in 2024. Chris Lintott meets Professor Yang Li at University College London to find out what those samples are telling Yang and his team, and the clues it gives us to a long-standing puzzle: the stark differences between the near and far sides of our lunar neighbour.

These developing insights only strengthen the desire to explore further. To understand what Artemis II might contribute, Maggie speaks with Nasa’s Dr Kelsey Young, who leads the mission’s lunar science objectives. She explains what the first people to see the moon up close in more than half a century are trained to be looking out for.

Will Artemis II be sweeping around the moon by the time this programme airs, or will we be waiting a little longer for lift-off? Whatever happens with the journey back to the moon, the story is advancing, whether Artemis II flies or not. There are new scientific clues already coming from lunar samples, and robotic landers still pushing forward with fresh attempts and data. The moon's secrets, history and untapped potential keep drawing us back, urging us to look up and explore the lunar surface once again.


MON 22:30 Horizon (m000kqm9)
2020

Pluto: Back from the Dead

The incredible story of how Pluto has been propelled from an unremarkable ball of ice on the edge of the solar system to a world of unimaginable complexity - where some form of alien life might exist.

Featuring first-hand accounts of the incredible discoveries made by New Horizons from many of the scientists involved in the mission.


MON 23:30 Art That Made Us (p0bvgvt3)
Series 1

Revolution of the Dead

An alternative history of the Black Death of the Middle Ages and its bitter – but profoundly creative – aftermath. Contemporary artists and performers, alongside historians and curators, reveal how a century of creative renewal emerged from the chaos of plague as survivors found their voice, questioning authority and challenging status and class. Above all, writing in English was revived by works including Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, William Langland’s angry satire The Vision of Piers Plowman and breakthrough works by women like the spirited pilgrim Margery Kempe.

Poet laureate Simon Armitage reflects on the poem of loss, Pearl, as a window into the medieval mind, and artist Sarah Maple shines a light on the subversive Lincoln Cathedral misericords, carved in the wake of plague. Meanwhile, writer Maria Fusco explores how the profound faith of female mystic Julian of Norwich is unshaken by illness.

As tensions rose over taxes on the plague’s survivors, the Peasants’ Revolt triggered a counter-reaction from an insecure king, Richard II. Royal photographer Chris Levine dissects the first portrait of a living English king, and artist Marc Quinn explores the beautiful but enigmatic Wilton Diptych, which Richard used to project his divine right to rule. We discover how this was also a moment of new imagination and new opportunities in cathedral-building and music as people increasingly sought their fortunes and patrons in towns and cities. Sarah Brown of the York Glaziers Trust shows us the magnificent, recently restored Great East Window at York Minster, a pinnacle of European stained glass art, and Rory McCleery and the Marian Consort perform John Dunstaple’s Veni Sancte Spiritus, a game changer for medieval music.


MON 00:30 Seven Worlds, One Planet (m000c6pn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


MON 01:30 The Latest Secrets of Hieroglyphs (m001f72n)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


MON 02:30 Art That Made Us (p0bvgvt3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:30 today]

TUESDAY 14 APRIL 2026

TUE 19:00 Fred Dibnah's Industrial Age (b0074mb5)
Mining

Fred Dibnah takes a look at mining, touring from Cornwall to Scotland to explore how tin, slate, lead and coal were all extracted from the ground. Along the way, he visits old mine workings, drives and winding engines, and he descends a mine shaft strapped to the top of the cage.


TUE 19:30 Canal Boat Diaries (m000bk2g)
Series 1

Sowerby Bridge to Manchester

The real side of boat life with Robbie Cumming. Robbie runs aground on the Rochdale Canal - will he make it to Manchester?


TUE 20:00 Keeping Up Appearances (b0077kb8)
Series 2

The Candlelight Supper

Hyacinth has arranged one of her candlelight suppers, planning to impress Emmet, the director of the local amateur operatic society, with her singing. But circumstances beyond her control soon take over the proceedings.


TUE 20:30 Sorry! (p00xcgz2)
Series 2

Cromer or Bust

When Timothy's parents go on a second honeymoon, he plans to hold a party - with the intention of seducing Veronica Straddles.


TUE 21:00 A History of Britain by Simon Schama (b0074l34)
Series 1

The Body of the Queen

Queen Elizabeth I was one of the country's most intelligent monarchs, ruling a Protestant rogue state in a Catholic world. But it was her long, tangled relationship with her cousin Mary Queen of Scots that would test her the most.

Elizabeth never married. Mary married twice but it ruined her. A magnet for conspiracy and intrigue, Mary tormented Elizabeth until finally executed for treason. But it was Mary not Elizabeth who gave birth to an heir. Simon Schama asks if it was the politician Elizabeth, or the mother Mary, who won in the end.


TUE 22:00 Storyville (m002v2w6)
Speechless

The New Campus Revolution

This two-part documentary is a personal journey by award-winning film-maker Ric Esther Bienstock that delves into the heart of the culture wars and freedom of speech conversations that have exploded on US campuses over the last ten years.

Starting in 2017, the film hears from academics, activists and students on all sides of the divisive debates and paints a vivid picture of an educational environment marked by fear and threats. In this polarised academic landscape, Ric Esther Bienstock argues that the liberal ideals of open debate and diversity of thought are under siege.


TUE 23:30 The Sky at Night (m002v4p9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 on Monday]


TUE 00:00 The Secret Life of Waves (b00y5jhx)
Documentary-maker David Malone delves into the secrets of ocean waves. In an elegant and original film, he finds that waves are not made of water, that some waves travel sideways, and that the sound of the ocean comes not from water but from bubbles. Waves are not only beautiful but also profoundly important, and there is a surprising connection between the life cycle of waves and the life of human beings.


TUE 01:00 Fred Dibnah's Industrial Age (b0074mb5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


TUE 01:30 Canal Boat Diaries (m000bk2g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


TUE 02:00 Face the Music (m002v4p7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:30 on Monday]


TUE 02:30 The Secret Life of Waves (b00y5jhx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 00:00 today]

WEDNESDAY 15 APRIL 2026

WED 19:00 Fred Dibnah's Industrial Age (b0074mbm)
Railways

Fred Dibnah visits the North East, which is rich in railway history.

At Bowes Railway, he sees an early engineering project by George Stephenson, which was a stationary engine that pulled coal wagons uphill with a rope. At Darlington Railway Museum he admires Stephenson's original Locomotive No 1, the first to run from Darlington to Stockton. At the National Railway Museum, York, he rides on a replica of the Rocket, made by Stephenson's son Robert, and at Ffestiniog Railway, he sees how a new locomotive is designed with computer aids and rides on the footplate and stokes the boiler of a Black Five at Llangollen Railway.


WED 19:30 Canal Boat Diaries (m000bpkr)
Series 1

Barton Swing Aqueduct to Liverpool Docks

Life on board a narrowboat with Robbie Cumming. There are engine issues and a leaky boat to fix before Robbie reaches Liverpool Docks.


WED 20:00 What Are UFOs? (m002hqy7)
For decades, UFOs have intrigued the world, but many scientists avoided studying them. In the United States, after highly publicised sightings of unidentified objects by US Navy pilots, UFOs are moving out of the shadows and into the light as NASA pledges to study them scientifically.

So what does science have to say? Though some are identified as balloons, drones, weather phenomena or optical illusions, others remain mysterious. Could they be the result of secret new technology? And what would it take for alien engineers to traverse vast distances to send probes or visit Earth from other solar systems? Explore the evidence as astrophysicists and engineers use new technologies to investigate the strangest objects in our skies.


WED 20:50 Talking Art: Cezanne (m002v4p1)
Celebrities talk about which of Cezanne's works they find most inspiring.


WED 21:00 Building Britain's Biggest Nuclear Power Station (m000ww0l)
Series 1

Episode 2

In the second episode, our cameras pick up and follow the projects’ next major construction milestones.

We get up close and personal with the world’s largest land-based crane during the biggest lift on the project to date. We learn how the team has created an extensive flood defence system to protect the site from the worst imaginable weather events - including a once-in-10,000 year storm surge - to avoid a nuclear disaster like the one that befell the Fukushima Daiichi power plant in Japan. We also follow specialists as they work to uncover unexploded World War II bombs that threaten the installation of the 4500-tonne cooling water intake heads.


WED 22:00 This Life (b0078061)
Series 1

Just Sex

Warren falls in love, but when his romance turns sour he makes the decision not to live a lie.

Meanwhile, Milly and O'Donnell are becoming increasingly close at work, and Jerry finds an unexpected ally in Anna.


WED 22:40 This Life (b0078082)
Series 1

Father Figure

O'Donnell could prove to be Milly's knight in shining armour, but will she risk her relationship with Egg for a romantic fantasy?

Meanwhile, Anna decides that an older man is just what she needs, and Miles deals with a flasher who claims to be a nudist.


WED 23:20 Catching History's Criminals: The Forensics Story (p02l4q38)
Instruments of Murder

Sherlock has his mind palace, Morse his music - every detective has an edge. For most, it's forensic science. This three-part series provides a rare and fascinating insight into the secret history of catching murderers, charting two centuries of the breakthroughs that have changed the course of justice. Surgeon and writer Gabriel Weston explores this rich history through some of the most absorbing, and often gruesome, stories in the forensic casebook - and looks ahead to how forensics will continue to solve the murders of the future.

Where there's a murder there's usually a weapon. It's a key piece of evidence that can hold all the clues needed to catch the killer and shine a light into the mind of the murderer. In this final episode, Gabriel investigates the forensic advances that have elevated the murder weapon from its role of mere evidence to that of key witness.

Arsenic, the undetectable weapon of choice in the 19th century, was exposed as the murder weapon with one simple chemical test, and distinctive marks left on a victim's skull led detectives to the murder weapon and the killer.

Gabriel also looks to the future and the latest advances in forensics. Scientists have developed 3D laser scanning that can be used to reconstruct the exact sequence of events at the scene of a gun crime and decipher whether a shooting was murder or self-defence. Gabriel also investigates the pioneering chemistry that can now determine where in the world someone has spent time based on just a few strands of their hair.


WED 00:20 Canal Boat Diaries (m000bpkr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


WED 00:50 Fred Dibnah's Industrial Age (b0074mbm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


WED 01:20 Building Britain's Biggest Nuclear Power Station (m000ww0l)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


WED 02:20 Catching History's Criminals: The Forensics Story (p02l4q38)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:20 today]

THURSDAY 16 APRIL 2026

THU 19:00 Fred Dibnah's Industrial Age (b0074mbg)
Ships and Engineering

Fred Dibnah examines the skill of the shipbuilders and machine engineers who turned Britain into a great manufacturing nation.

In Bristol, Fred visits the SS Great Britain and pays tribute to the designer and his hero, Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

Fred also travels to Scotland to take a voyage on the paddle steamer Waverley. Back in England, he visits the Windermere Steamboat Museum, the Long Shop Museum in Leiston, Suffolk, and the Kew Bridge Steam Museum.

Plus, Fred drives his pride and joy, the Aveling & Porter steam roller, talking about its history and recalling one rather dramatic crash he had while driving it.


THU 19:30 Pubs, Ponds and Power: The Story of the Village (b0bsrqj7)
Series 1

London

Archaeologist Ben Robinson explores London, the ultimate 'city of villages'. Despite many rural settlements like Hornsey and Dagenham being swallowed up by the expanding capital, Hampstead residents successfully fought to preserve their village heritage. And in recent years, Londoners have created a new breed of urban villages like Crouch End and Walthamstow.


THU 20:00 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.


THU 21:00 The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (m002v369)
Two unlikely partners in a bounty-hunting scam join forces in a new venture as they try to outdo a sadistic criminal looking for the $20,000 that a soldier has buried somewhere in the desert.


THU 23:50 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 00:50 Fred Dibnah's Industrial Age (b0074mbg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


THU 01:20 Pubs, Ponds and Power: The Story of the Village (b0bsrqj7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


THU 01:50 Dan Cruickshank and the Family That Built Gothic Britain (b04m3ljr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]

FRIDAY 17 APRIL 2026

FRI 19:00 Top of the Pops (m002v4qm)
Gail Porter presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 10 September 1999 and featuring Martine McCutcheon, Shaft, Enrique Iglesias, Shania Twain, A1, The Offspring, DJ Jean and Lou Bega.


FRI 19:30 Top of the Pops (m002v4qp)
Emma Ledden presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 17 September 1999 and featuring Supergrass, Sixpence None the Richer, Thunderbugs, The All Seeing I feat Phil Oakey, Lolly, Lyte Funkie Ones, Suede and Vengaboys.


FRI 20:00 Top of the Pops (b08gk7wl)
Richard Skinner and Janice Long present another edition of the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 21 April 1983. Featuring Culture Club, The Human League, FR David, Heaven 17, Thompson Twins, Spandau Ballet and David Bowie.


FRI 20:35 Top of the Pops (m001jn48)
Mark Goodier presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 21 April 1994 and featuring Crash Test Dummies, Bitty McLean, C. J. Lewis, The Pretenders, Erasure, Crystal Waters, Deacon Blue, Toni Di Bart and Prince.


FRI 21:05 Prince and His Songs at the BBC (m0020zwg)
A collection of hits from one of pop music’s greatest geniuses - Prince, aka ‘The Artist Formerly Known as Prince’, aka ‘the Unpronounceable Symbol’, and more.

Whichever alias he assumed, Prince was always fascinating as both a performer and songwriter, and here are the best of his own appearances on a selection of BBC shows, alongside a rich selection of performances from artists who covered his songs over the years.

The playlist includes Beyonce, Muse, Tom Jones, The Bangles, Pink, Alicia Keys, Michael Kiwanuka, Chaka Khan and, of course, Sinead O’Connor, all brought together to demonstrate beyond doubt why Nothing Compared 2 Him.


FRI 22:05 Prince and The Revolution: Live (m001mpgh)
James Brown had the Apollo. Jimi Hendrix had Monterey Pop. And Prince had Syracuse, New York’s Carrier Dome – the site of his 30 March 1985 Purple Rain Tour performance that was beamed to millions live via satellite and captured for posterity as a Grammy-nominated concert film.

For the first time, this powerful performance by Prince and The Revolution has been entirely remixed and remastered, and the picture quality has been improved significantly. The film features smash hits from the legendary Prince albums Purple Rain, Controversy and 1999, including a mind-bending 18-minute version of the song Purple Rain.


FRI 23:25 New Power Generation: Black Music Legends of the 1980s (b0177bjb)
Prince: A Purple Reign

Film which explores how Prince - showman, artist, enigma - revolutionised the perception of black music in the 1980s with worldwide hits such as 1999, Kiss, Raspberry Beret and Alphabet Street. He became a global sensation with the release of the Oscar-winning, semi-autobiographical movie Purple Rain in 1984, embarking on an incredible journey of musical self-discovery that continued right up to his passing in April 2016, aged 57.

From the psychedelic Around the World in a Day to his masterpiece album Sign O' the Times and experiments with hip-hop and jazz, Prince was one of most ambitious and prolific songwriters of his generation. He tested the boundaries of taste and decency with explicit sexual lyrics and stage shows during his early career, and in the 1990s fought for ownership of his name and control of his music, played out in a public battle with his former label, Warner. Highly regarded as one of the most flamboyant live performers ever, Prince was a controversial and famously elusive creative force.

Contributors include Revolution guitarist Dez Dickerson, Paisley Park label president Alan Leeds, hip-hop legend Chuck D and Prince 'Mastermind' and UK soul star Beverley Knight.


FRI 00:25 Word Up! Black American Pop at the BBC (b017gss8)
A selection of some of the best performances by African-American artists of the 1980s from the BBC archives, featuring Cameo, Shalamar, Salt-n-Pepa, Chaka Khan, Kid Creole, Doug E Fresh, Whitney Houston and Luther Vandross.


FRI 01:25 Top of the Pops (m002v4qm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


FRI 01:55 Top of the Pops (m002v4qp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


FRI 02:25 Top of the Pops (b08gk7wl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


FRI 03:00 Top of the Pops (m001jn48)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:35 today]