SATURDAY 25 JULY 2026

SAT 19:00 Natural World (m000slx2)
Short Versions

Tiger Dynasty

Baghani, a Royal Bengal tiger, hunts wild boar in the Ranthambore National Park.


SAT 19:05 Life on Earth (b01qmd83)
Invasion of the Land

Some 350 million years ago, evolution reached one of its most crucial stages when fish crawled from the water onto the land and became amphibians. Today, newts, salamanders, toads and frogs still survive in great quantities, and there is even one species of frog where the male gives birth from its mouth! Presented by David Attenborough.


SAT 20:00 Voyages of Discovery (b0074t5l)
The Figure of the Earth

Explorer Paul Rose tells the story of three Frenchmen who couldn't stand each other, yet set off on an eight-year scientific mission in one of the most hostile places on the planet. Their plan, to settle an international row by measuring the shape of the planet, took them to the disease-ridden rainforests and oxygen-starved peaks of the Ecuadorian Andes.

Rose follows in the footsteps of the 18th-century explorers who were complete innocents abroad and had no idea of the horrors they were letting themselves in for. Despite disease, death and some highly disastrous sexual liaisons, the men made discoveries that fundamentally changed all our lives.


SAT 21:00 The Sentinels (m002xtm4)
Series 1

Episode 5

Irène follows a lead into a case involving Mirreau, who appears to be linked to a state secret. Meanwhile at Les Damnés, the Baron discovers that Gisèle has fled. After the tragic death of one of his brothers in arms, Gabriel wants to return to Paris to see his wife and son.

In French and German with English subtitles.


SAT 21:45 The Sentinels (m002xtm6)
Series 1

Episode 6

The Sentinels must free Mazauric, the brain behind the Dyxenal research, before he divulges critical information about the French serum to the German forces. Meanwhile, the Baron receives a visit at his club from Diane, a German spy who pledges to find Gisèle in exchange for a favour.

In French and German with English subtitles.


SAT 22:25 Monster (m002zljp)
When schoolboy Minato begins exhibiting strange behaviours, his mother, Sairo, suspects bullying by his teacher and confronts the school. The headmistress seems to be hiding something, and as Sairo pushes for answers, they turn out to be stranger than she imagined.

In Japanese with English subtitles.


SAT 00:25 Keeping Up Appearances (b007b6rh)
Series 3

Richard's New Hobby

Hyacinth realises that Richard is bored after taking early retirement and provides him with a hobby - being artistic with a video camera. However, it's a decision she will live to regret.


SAT 00:55 One Foot in the Grave (b0078p3l)
Series 2

Love and Death

Victor and Margaret head off for a weekend at the seaside. Victor is presented with a most unusual and unwelcome gift.


SAT 01:25 Life on Earth (b01qmd83)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:05 today]


SAT 02:25 Voyages of Discovery (b0074t5l)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]

SUNDAY 26 JULY 2026

SUN 19:00 Timeshift (b00nf0nl)
Series 9

The Golden Age of Liners

Paul Atterbury embarks on an alluring journey into the golden age of ocean liners, finding out how these great ships made such a mark on the popular imagination and why they continue to enchant to this day.

Paul's voyage takes him around Britain and reveals a story of design, politics, propaganda, Hollywood glamour and tragedy. Along the way, he uncovers some amazing survivals from the liners of the past - a cinema in Scotland built from the interiors of the SS Homeric, a house in Poole in which cabins from the Mauretania are lovingly preserved - as well as the design inspiration behind the first great liners.


SUN 20:00 BBC Proms (m002zljb)
2026

John Wilson at the Proms

The Sinfonia of London transcend in a programme brimming with colourful orchestration under the baton of their ever-popular artistic director, John Wilson.

Opening with Verdi’s thunderous overture to La Forza del Destino, followed by Norwegian cellist Jonathan Aasgaard in his Proms soloist debut with Walton’s hypnotic Cello Concerto and finishing with the music time capsule that is Respighi’s enchanting sun-drenched Roman Trilogy.

Presented by Katie Derham from the Royal Albert Hall.


SUN 22:00 Not I (m002ykct)
Billie Whitelaw gives a tour de force performance as a mouth suspended in space in Samuel Beckett's play.


SUN 22:15 Performance (m002yf3y)
The Entertainer

Michael Gambon stars in John Osborne's play, set in 1950s Britain, following Archie Rice, a drunken, lecherous, egotistical vaudevillian, whose act is on the downward slope.


SUN 00:15 The Levin Interviews (m002zljd)
John Osborne

Bernard Levin talks to playwright and screenwriter John Osborne, best known for his 1956 work Look Back in Anger.


SUN 00:45 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 wrote Waiting for Godot.


SUN 01:45 Turtle, Eagle, Cheetah: A Slow Odyssey (m0001kwx)
A Turtle's Journey

Ride on board with a green sea turtle as it swims around its spectacular coral reef home of Sipidan in Malaysia. Using only natural sounds and elegant embedded graphics delivering detailed information, this is an immersive journey into the turtles’ world like no other.

The turtle embarks on its daily routine, revealing how they utilise all the different areas of the reef, from the inner shallows to the deep drop-off – introducing us to all the fish and animals that they share one of the richest and most diverse places on our planet with in a mesmerising half-hour.

The turtles were filmed for Blue Planet II and part of an ongoing study into their behaviour for the Marine Research Foundation.


SUN 02:15 Timeshift (b00nf0nl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]

MONDAY 27 JULY 2026

MON 19:00 Atlantic: The Wildest Ocean on Earth (p02wnhfh)
Mountains of the Deep

In the vast South Atlantic, huge pods of dolphins, massive penguin colonies and the largest gathering of marine mammals on earth pack chains of extraordinary islands, created by powerful volcanic forces far below them. Nutrient-rich upwellings create profusions of life in some areas, whilst extreme isolation and abyssal depths host a world of bizarre creatures in others.


MON 20:00 Treasures of Ancient Greece (b05rj5xj)
The Long Shadow

Alastair Sooke explores the extraordinary afterlife of the Greek masterpieces that changed the course of western culture. Succeeding centuries have found in ancient Greek art inspiration for their own ideals and ambitions. Filming in Italy, Germany, France and Britain, Alastair's investigation includes The Venus of Knidos, the first naked woman in western art, the bronze horses of St Mark's in Venice which became a pawn in an imperial game, and the naked discus thrower, the Discobolus, personally bought by Adolf Hitler and used by him as a symbol of Aryan supremacy.


MON 21:00 Egypt's Lost Cities (b011pwms)
It is possible that only one per cent of the wonders of ancient Egypt have been discovered, but now, thanks to a pioneering approach to archaeology, that is about to change.

Dr Sarah Parcak uses satellites to probe beneath the sands, where she has found cities, temples and pyramids. Now, with Dallas Campbell and Liz Bonnin, she heads to Egypt to discover if these magnificent buildings are really there.


MON 22:30 Becoming Frida Kahlo (p0f50tcd)
Series 1

Love and Loss

Frida and Diego travel to San Francisco, where he has an important mural commission. Frida's style stirs much excitement, and she is determined to succeed in her own right in the face of Diego's affairs.

Shocked by the vast gap between rich and poor that she witnesses in Depression-era New York, she struggles to hide her disdain for high society. After losing a child to miscarriage and her mother to illness, she produces some of her most visceral and devastating works.


MON 23:30 Leonardo (b0078rw5)
The Secret Life of the Mona Lisa

She has her own bodyguards and lives in Paris in a humidified, air-conditioned box protected by triplex bulletproof glass. Despite this, she is visited by six million tourists every year. She is Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa. Alan Yentob tells the story of how the Mona Lisa came to be the most famous work of art in the world. It's a tale full of notoriety, glamour and intrigue as the Mona Lisa is abducted, vandalised and exploited across the centuries.

With the help of leading scholars and original research, Alan also finally solves the central mystery of the Mona Lisa - who she is and why she is smiling.


MON 00:30 Atlantic: The Wildest Ocean on Earth (p02wnhfh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


MON 01:30 Treasures of Ancient Greece (b05rj5xj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


MON 02:30 Leonardo (b0078rw5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:30 today]

TUESDAY 28 JULY 2026

TUE 19:00 Great British Railway Journeys (m001xr8w)
Series 15

Dundee to Loch of the Lowes

Michael’s rail journey through postwar Scotland takes him over the River Tay to Dundee on the trail of Joseph McKenzie, the father of modern Scottish photography.

In Perth, Michael meets a singer-songwriter and veteran of the early Scottish folk scene. At Perth's Wellshill Cemetery, Michael discovers the graves of 355 of the thousands of Polish soldiers, sailors, and airmen who fought for the Allies from British bases.

Alighting at Dunkeld, Michael makes for the Loch of the Lowes to spot a magnificent pair of breeding ospreys who nest in the 320-acre nature reserve.


TUE 19:30 Walking With... (m00111gr)
Series 1

Walking with Monica Galetti

Celebrity chef Monica Galetti walks through the open landscapes of the North York Moors. Along the way she meets residents and samples local produce. Starting off with a glorious view over the frost-covered valley, Monica drops down into the historic village of Rosedale Abbey.

Following the course of a stream up Rosedale, she climbs towards the heather, passing a fell runner on the way. On top of the moors she experiences the open expanse before her. Getting away from the hustle and bustle of the city gives Monica the chance to reflect and find peace. As her senses tune in to the birdsong around her, she reminisces about her homeland of Samoa and resolves to spend more time out in nature.

Crossing over to Farndale, she walks the quiet lanes and enjoys her escape from the heat of the kitchen, before ending with a well-deserved drink in the hamlet of Church Houses.


TUE 20:00 Keeping Up Appearances (b007b6wc)
Series 3

The Art Exhibition

When Hyacinth gets passionate about art, Daddy decides to join the Foreign Legion. Meanwhile, Mr Finchley has desires of his own for Rose.


TUE 20:30 One Foot in the Grave (b007bbl2)
Series 2

Timeless Time

Victor is unable to sleep, and things get so desperate that he contemplates opening Ronnie and Mildred's Christmas present from last year.


TUE 21:00 She-Wolves: England's Early Queens (b01dc66v)
Isabella and Margaret

In the medieval and Tudor world there was no question in people's minds about the order of God's creation - men ruled and women didn't. A king was a warrior who literally fought to win power then battled to keep it. Yet despite everything that stood in their way, a handful of extraordinary women did attempt to rule medieval and Tudor England. In this series, historian Dr Helen Castor explores seven queens who challenged male power, the fierce reactions they provoked and whether the term 'she-wolves' was deserved.

In 1308 a 12-year-old girl, Isabella of France, became queen of England when she married the English king. A century later another young French girl, Margaret of Anjou, followed in her footsteps. Both these women were thrust into a violent and dysfunctional England and both felt driven to take control of the kingdom themselves. Isabella would be accused of murder and Margaret of destructive ambition - it was Margaret who Shakespeare named the She Wolf. But as Helen reveals, their self-assertion that would have seemed natural in a man was deemed unnatural, even monstrous in a woman.


TUE 22:00 Castles: Britain's Fortified History (b04tt2f9)
Kingdom of Conquest

Sam Willis tells the story of the English ruler who left the most indelible mark on the castle - the great Plantagenet king, Edward I, who turned it into an instrument of colonisation. Edward spent vast sums to subdue Wales with a ring of iron comprised of some of the most fearsome fortresses ever built. Castles like Caernarfon and Beaumaris were used to impose England's will on the Welsh. But when Edward turned his attention to Scotland, laying siege to castles with great catapults, things didn't go so well for him.


TUE 23:00 Corridors of Power: Should America Police the World? (m0020xx5)
Series 1

Darfur – Carrots for a War Criminal

In 2003, the Sudanese government began a widespread ethnic cleansing campaign in the western part of the country. With the memory of the genocides in Bosnia and Rwanda still fresh, hundreds of thousands of Americans went out to protest and demand protection for the citizens of Darfur. Despite the US being bogged down in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Bush administration did not stand aside, but couldn’t take the US into another war. Following Obama’s 2008 election success, many of the people that fought so vocally for Darfur came into office. Could they make a difference?


TUE 00:00 Corridors of Power: Should America Police the World? (m0020xx8)
Series 1

Libya – If You Break It You Own It

Barack Obama's first presidential trip abroad was to Cairo. He turned to the younger generation in the Arab world and told them 'you, more than anyone, have the ability to remake this world'. A year and a half later the Arab Spring broke out, but when Muammar Gaddafi declared his intention to go to Benghazi and 'disinfect it, street after street and house after house', Obama faced a dilemma. Should he heed the call to save innocent civilians from a potential massacre?


TUE 01:00 She-Wolves: England's Early Queens (b01dc66v)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


TUE 02:00 Castles: Britain's Fortified History (b04tt2f9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]


TUE 03:00 Great British Railway Journeys (m001xr8w)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


TUE 03:30 Walking With... (m00111gr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]

WEDNESDAY 29 JULY 2026

WED 19:00 Great British Railway Journeys (m001xz55)
Series 15

Liverpool to Uttoxeter

Michael Portillo twists and shouts through postwar Liverpool, arriving in the city where the 60s burst into life to find the strikingly contemporary concrete and glass Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, inaugurated in 1967. In the Georgian Hope Street Quarter, Michael visits the former home of Adrian Henri, a prolific artist and poet who was at the heart of the Mersey scene.

At Jodrell Bank, Michael recalls the excitement of postwar space exploration and hears how physicist Sir Bernard Lovell’s revolutionary research into meteors led to the construction of one of the biggest radio telescopes in the world. At Uttoxeter, Michael discovers how, in 1945, a young engineer made a trailer out of wartime surplus material, including wheels and tyres from American army jeeps and scrap steel from old air-raid shelters.


WED 19:30 Walking With... (m00111n6)
Series 1

Walking with Jim Moir

Jim Moir goes for a ‘power stroll through a strange landscape’ as he explores the shingle peninsula of Dungeness in this corner of Kent. The comic, birdwatcher and Kent resident, famous for his comedy persona Vic Reeves, takes his time exploring a quirky section of the coast – an area he has come to know well over the years.

Filming himself with a 360-degree camera, Jim walks along the shingle and sand from Littlestone down to Dungeness. He visits the concrete ruins of the Sound Mirrors and takes a trip on a steam train before arriving at the twin lighthouses of the headland.

On his journey, he meets characters who reveal hidden aspects of his surroundings - a bee collector, a worm hunter and a power station
manager all show Jim different perspectives on the area. Sunshine gives way to sea mist as he nears the end of his walk and enjoys fish and chips on the beach.


WED 20:00 Treasures of Ancient Rome (p00wpvpr)
Warts 'n' All

Alastair Sooke traces how the Romans during the Republic went from being art thieves and copycats to pioneering a new artistic style - warts 'n' all realism. Roman portraits reveal what the great names from history, men like Julius Caesar and Cicero, actually looked like. Modern-day artists demonstrate the ingenious techniques used to create these true to life masterpieces in marble, bronze and paint.

We can step back into the Roman world thanks to their invention of the documentary-style marble relief and to a volcano called Vesuvius. Sooke explores the remarkable artistic legacy of Pompeii before showing how Rome's first emperor, Augustus, used the power of art to help forge an empire.


WED 21:00 Caligula with Mary Beard (b037w0qh)
Two thousand years ago, one of history's most notorious individuals was born. Professor Mary Beard embarks on an investigative journey to explore the life and times of Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus - better known to us as Caligula.

Caligula has now become known as Rome's most capricious tyrant, and the stories told about him are some of the most extraordinary of any Roman emperor. He was said to have made his horse a consul, proclaimed himself a living God and indulged in scandalous orgies, and that's before you mention building vast bridges across land and sea, prostituting senators' wives and killing half the Roman elite seemingly on a whim. All that in just four short years in power before a violent and speedy assassination in a back alley of his own palace at just 29 years old.

Piecing together the evidence, Mary puts Caligula back into the context of his times to reveal an astonishing story of murder, intrigue and dynastic family power. Above all, she explains why Caligula has ended up with such a seemingly unredeemable reputation. In the process, she reveals a more intriguing portrait of not just the monster, but the man.


WED 22:00 Remembers... (m001pnrn)
Sir Derek Jacobi Remembers... I, Claudius

Sir Derek Jacobi remembers the landmark 1976 TV series I, Claudius.


WED 22:15 I, Claudius (b0074srn)
A Touch of Murder

Acclaimed blackly comic historical drama series adapted from the novels by Robert Graves. Set amidst a web of power, corruption and lies, it chronicles the reigns of the Roman emperors - Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula and finally Claudius.

Livia, the scheming wife of Augustus, seeks to disinherit her husband's grandchildren in favour of her own son Tiberius.


WED 23:55 I, Claudius (b0074srq)
Waiting in the Wings

Jack Pullman's adaptation of Robert Graves's novels continues and introduces Claudius as a stumbling, stuttering child, marked out for greatness by a falling wolf cub. Livia, wife of Emperor Augustus, plots against his daughter Julia and manages to convince him to bring her son Tiberius back from exile.


WED 00:45 Treasures of Ancient Rome (p00wpvpr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


WED 01:45 Caligula with Mary Beard (b037w0qh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


WED 02:45 Great British Railway Journeys (m001xz55)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


WED 03:15 Walking With... (m00111n6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]

THURSDAY 30 JULY 2026

THU 19:00 Great British Railway Journeys (m001xz5x)
Series 15

Derby to Nottingham

Michael Portillo reaches the jet age in the Derby suburb of Peartree, where he tours the engineering colossus Rolls-Royce. In Derby city centre, Michael is on the trail of little-known modernist sculptor Ronald Pope, admiring two of his works and discovering how Pope began his working life as an engineer at Rolls-Royce.

The chance to catapult a model train along a 150-metre-long track into a purpose-built wind tunnel takes Michael to Derby's Railway Technical Centre, founded in 1967 and once the largest railway research complex in the world. Michael’s last stop is Nottingham, where he finds one of the oldest bicycle companies in the world, Raleigh, and discovers how a bold, new idea became a craze.


THU 19:30 Walking With... (m00111m9)
Series 1

Walking with Steph McGovern

Steph McGovern walks along the charming and isolated valley of Littondale in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales, describing her special connection with the area. From the hamlet of Foxup she makes her way along roads and riverside paths to the capital of the dale at Arncliffe.

Walking alone with a just a 360-degree camera, she meets farmers who have been on this land for generations and youngsters who are starting a new business. Following the course of the River Skirfare, her path passes farmhouses and through the village of Litton. Steph relishes the chance to ‘get off the treadmill’ and takes a moment to hear the flow of the water and smell the flowers.

Steph describes how the dales have always had a place in her heart – they are landscapes she returns to in difficult times. Along the way she expresses thoughts on fame and family.


THU 20:00 Talking Pictures (m002zlkc)
Seventies Legends Part II

Celia Imrie revisits one of cinema's greatest decades with a deeper dig into the BBC archives, uncovering more revealing interviews and magic movie moments from 1970s Hollywood.

From a teenage Linda Blair shrugging off the revulsion that had movie-goers' heads spinning with The Exorcist, to Clint Eastwood's hippy-sounding relaxation techniques at the time of Dirty Harry, this is the story of the movie icons who were setting new standards in acting and directing 50 years ago.

Taking a taxi ride with De Niro, jerking around with Steve Martin, making a connection with Gene Hackman and realising for the first time that Arnold Schwarzenegger wasn't just any old Iron Man, Celia helps show why the seventies had such an enduring cinematic legacy. She also shares one of the greatest-ever award acceptance speeches from Jack Nicholson, and Britain's first glimpses of the galaxy-changing Star Wars phenomenon.


THU 21:00 Taxi Driver (m002zkzb)
Travis Bickle is an alienated ex-Marine, working nights as a New York cabbie. Haunted by the squalor around him, he is drawn to the beautiful - and 'pure' - Betsy, but his attempts to woo her prove disastrous, and he begins a descent into a personal hell. Cult drama directed by Martin Scorsese and scripted by Paul Schrader.


THU 22:50 Funeral in Berlin (m001k2q8)
Harry Palmer is sent to Berlin with instructions to assist Colonel Stok, the Russian head of security for the Berlin Wall, who is eager to defect to the West. However, Palmer discovers he cannot trust anyone in the city where the double-cross is a unit of currency.


THU 00:30 Talking Pictures (m002zlkc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


THU 01:30 Becoming Frida Kahlo (p0f50tcd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:30 on Monday]


THU 02:30 Great British Railway Journeys (m001xz5x)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


THU 03:00 Walking With... (m00111m9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]

FRIDAY 31 JULY 2026

FRI 19:00 BBC Proms (m002zlht)
2026

Elgar at the Proms

A night celebrating the treasured British composer with two of his most majestic works. Ryan Wigglesworth conducts the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra who take to the stage for the sweeping First Symphony. Plus a delve into the archives to look back to Sheku Kanneh-Mason's Cello Concerto performance, standing the test of time for its brilliance.

Petroc Trelawny presents from the Royal Albert Hall.


FRI 20:25 Top of the Pops (m002zlhw)
Gail Porter presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 25 February 2000 and featuring Shania Twain, Jay-Z, Rebecca Wheatley, Eels, CRW, Aqua, Christina Aguilera and All Saints.


FRI 20:55 Top of the Pops (m002zlhy)
Jamie Theakston presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 3 March 2000 and featuring Tom Jones & Stereophonics, Daphne & Celeste, A1, Jamelia, The Bluetones, Kelis, Artful Dodger featuring Romina Johnson and All Saints.


FRI 21:25 Top of the Pops (b01mfhr1)
Noel Edmonds presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 28 July 1977 and featuring Steve Gibbons Band, Showaddywaddy, Dana, Thin Lizzy, Bob Marley and the Wailers, Boney M, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Rita Coolidge and a Legs & Co dance sequence.


FRI 21:55 Top of the Pops (b08l6sly)
Mike Read and Janice Long present another edition of the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 28 July 1983. Featuring KC and the Sunshine Band, Elvis Costello and the Attractions, The Lotus Eaters and Bananarama.


FRI 22:35 Louis Armstrong in Concert (m000yhc4)
First broadcast on the centenary of his birth, legendary jazz trumpeter and vocalist Louis Armstrong in performance.


FRI 23:30 Show of the Week (m0021khd)
Louis Armstrong

Humphrey Lyttelton introduces the story of Louis Armstrong and His All Stars: Eddie Shu, clarinet, Tyree Glenn, trombone, Billy Kyle, piano, Bud Catlett, bass and Danny Barcelona, drums.


FRI 00:35 Jazz Legends in Their Own Words (b044yqv1)
A journey into the BBC archives unearthing glorious performances and candid interviews from the golden age of jazz. Featuring some of the greatest names in American music, including the godfather of New Orleans jazz Louis Armstrong, the King of Swing Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Oscar Peterson, Dizzy Gillespie and Ella Fitzgerald.


FRI 01:35 Top of the Pops (m002zlhw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:25 today]


FRI 02:05 Top of the Pops (m002zlhy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:55 today]


FRI 02:35 Top of the Pops (b01mfhr1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:25 today]


FRI 03:05 Top of the Pops (b08l6sly)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:55 today]