SATURDAY 24 SEPTEMBER 2022

SAT 19:00 Francesco's Italy: Top to Toe (b00791vw)
The Romantic North

Francesco da Mosto gets romantic in Juliet's home town of Verona, witnesses the birth of western art, has a fashion makeover from Giorgio Armani, is invited into a closed convent to see the tomb of the most notorious woman in European history, and goes deep-sea diving in pursuit of a childhood dream.


SAT 20:00 Himalaya with Michael Palin (b0074qpt)
Annapurna to Everest

Michael Palin continues his Himalayan trek. During a Gurkha recruitment Palin is disturbed by Maoist insurgents, but survives to suffer as he climbs to 15,000 feet and sees the majesty of Annapurna Sanctuary. In Kathmandu he is blessed by the Nepalese king before meeting some holy men. Crossing into Tibet he meets his first yaks at the highest monastery in the world before heading up the Rongbuk glacier towards the summit of Everest.


SAT 21:00 KaDeWe - Our Time Is Now (m001cjtc)
Series 1

City of Women

Harry Jandorf returns from the horrors of the Great War trenches to resume his role as advertising manager at his family’s iconic Berlin department store, only to find many changes.

The city’s population is struggling with the hardships of the new peace. Harry's sister, ambitious feminist Fritzi, demands that she continue her involvement in the business, and his father has become reliant on the abilities of Georg Karg, a brilliant but strait-laced accountant.

Meanwhile, shop worker Hedi is only too aware that it's her salary that is keeping her family afloat.

In German with English subtitles.


SAT 21:45 KaDeWe - Our Time Is Now (m001cjth)
Series 1

The Purest Pleasure

Having convinced Georg to cook the KaDeWe books, Harry accompanies his father to the bank to try to persuade them to give a substantial loan, despite the poor economic climate.

The new catalogue is published but fails to make the immediate impact that everyone had hoped for.

Hedi has to deal with a domestic crisis and begins to realise that she is in love.

In German with English subtitles.


SAT 22:35 Berlin 1945 (m000p9t9)
Series 1

Episode 1

At the beginning of 1945, Berlin remains under the spell of the Nazi promise of salvation, an illusion at odds with the city’s daily reality. Every day there are bombing attacks, fires to be extinguished and corpses to be buried. Life goes on as the front lines of the war close in each day. Death comes for men, women, the old, the young, the National Socialists and the forced labourers.

In April, the Red Army stands ready outside the city. In a time of uncertainty on the front lines, nobody has a clear view of what will happen. Civilians hiding, SS soldiers shooting deserters, and Red Army soldiers hoping to survive the final days of the war. As the war comes closer and closer to the metropolis, it returns everything to its roots, showing no mercy.


SAT 23:30 Storyville (m001c94m)
One Day in Ukraine

A snapshot of one day in a country under siege. Filmed on 14 March 2022, the 2,944th day of the Russian-Ukrainian war, by a collective of Ukrainian film-makers who wanted to document life in Kyiv for ordinary civilians, citizens-turned-activists and groups of territorial defence soldiers. Written and directed by Volodymyr Tykhyy and the Babylon 13 Collective.


SAT 00:45 Keeping Up Appearances (b007c3nz)
Series 5

Episode 7

Sitcom. When Hyacinth hears that Emmet is rehearsing a musical, she is beside herself. Unfortunately sorting out Daddy's antics has to take priority.


SAT 01:15 Ever Decreasing Circles (p00c1k2z)
Series 3

Episode 3

The suburban sitcom continues. New neighbours are due to move in to the close, much to Martin's chagrin.


SAT 01:45 Francesco's Italy: Top to Toe (b00791vw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


SAT 02:45 Himalaya with Michael Palin (b0074qpt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]

SUNDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2022

SUN 19:00 Classic Cellists at the BBC (b084nscd)
Julian Lloyd Webber takes an extraordinary musical journey through the BBC archives from the 1950s to the present to celebrate the world of the cello through some of its greatest interpreters. From dazzling performances by legendary masters such as Paul Tortelier, Jacqueline du Pre and Mstislav Rostropovich to some of today's leading interpreters including Yo Yo Ma, Steven Isserlis and Mischa Maisky, Julian gives us a cellist's perspective on an extraordinary virtuoso tradition.


SUN 20:00 Chamber Music at the BBC (b03p7p6q)
Yehudi Menuhin at the BBC

Petroc Trelawny presents music performances at the BBC by the great violinist Yehudi Menuhin, including his appearance with Stephane Grappelli on Parkinson and his performance of Cesar Franck's Sonata in A for Violin and Piano with his sister Hephzibah. Also included is an extract from the Walton Viola Concerto conducted by the composer and a performance from Blue Peter as Menuhin joined Valerie Singleton for an item about Paganini's violin. Petroc also talks to programme maker and Menuhin biographer Humphrey Burton about this extraordinary musician.


SUN 21:00 Ukraine’s Musical Freedom Fighters with Clive Myrie (m001c1ww)
Clive Myrie travels across Ukraine to meet musicians who are preparing to leave their families in their war-torn country in order to create an orchestra and perform at the Royal Albert Hall. With only ten days to rehearse, can they succeed in their ambition to fight the war with their music, instead of with guns? And will the concerts touch the world in the way that they hope?


SUN 22:00 BBC Proms (m001b0sm)
2022

Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra

Petroc Trelawny and special guests introduce a Prom that promises to be one of the most poignant and moving of the season as the Royal Albert Hall becomes the first stop on a world tour by the newly formed Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra, following their inaugural concert.

Assembled by Canadian-Ukrainian conductor Keri-Lynn Wilson, the orchestra includes musicians from Ukraine and brings us works by Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov alongside Chopin, Beethoven and Brahms. With world renowned soloists Liudmyla Monastyrska (soprano) and Anna Fedorova (piano).


SUN 00:05 Secrets of the Museum (m000fjg5)
Series 1

Episode 3

Inside every museum is a hidden world, and now, cameras have been allowed behind the scenes at the world-famous Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Only a small part of the two million wonders in the collection are on display to the public. But in this new series we go behind closed doors to explore all the treasures of art, design and performance the museum has to offer.

We follow experts and conservators at work in this treasure trove of the nation’s favourite objects, as they breathe new life into fragile marvels, uncover hidden stories, and battle to keep the past alive.

This week, we join curators Steph and Jenny as they plan a major new exhibition celebrating the work of innovative British fashion designer Mary Quant. They want to illustrate how the designer shook up women’s fashion in the 1960s with clothing that liberated women from decades of corsetry. Although the museum has a big archive of Quant dresses already, Steph has a critical gap in the collection. After an appeal to the public, a woman from Yorkshire comes forward with a dress that could be perfect to show how off exactly how Quant hiked hemlines higher than ever before.

Jenny Fenwick was 17 years old when she bought her mustard-coloured Mary Quant mini-dress from the Sheffield branch of Topshop. But after years of hard partying, the dress will need all the love and skill that conservator Frances can muster in order to make it exhibition-ready.

When the Quant exhibition opens, Jenny arrives to see her dress in pride of place - and is moved to think that these dresses meant freedom for her, and a whole generation of women.

Meanwhile, curator Julius is delving deep into the stores to uncover some of the very first objects ever given to the museum. He tracks down a hand-painted writing case, made in Kashmir in the 1850s, that once belonged to Queen Victoria, who donated it to the museum. We’ll see inside the beautiful handmade piece, including the original knife and scissors the Queen used to cut and sharpen her quill pens. The writing case will join a spectacular serving dish, or salver, made from fine silver and gold filigree, in a special display to mark 200 years since Victoria and Albert were born.

The museum also receives donations today, just as it did when it first started. A woman from west London, Shalaleh, has offered the V&A her treasured family collection of rare saris, dating back to the 1930s. Shalaleh’s grandmother was part of the Indian aristocracy in the days of the Raj, and travelled to Paris in order to buy fabrics from the top fashion houses of the day for her saris.

These beautiful chiffons and silks are a welcome addition to curator Divia’s collection. With no daughters to give the saris to, Shalaleh knows her grandmother would be delighted to see the saris join the museum for the public to enjoy.

But modern-day objects are just as important as historic items to the museum’s collection. We’ll see Rapid Response curator Corinna hit the streets as she gather the most significant designs of today - that could become the treasures of tomorrow. The team have are hoping to acquire the flags and logo of climate change activists Extinction Rebellion. When they join the collection, these contemporary pieces will sit alongside other emblems of social change now - such as an umbrella from the Hong Kong protest movement, and a burqini.

We’ll also follow conservators as they prepare for the return of a huge Victorian masterpiece to the galleries. ‘The Pilgrim Outside the Garden of Idleness’, by renowned Pre-Raphaelite artist Edward Burne-Jones, is from 1898. But the heavy and extremely valuable artwork is in its delicate original frame and calls for careful conservation to preserve the fragile gilt construction. For 100 years the museum has kept the painting safe, but it’s now down to tech services Allen and a team specialists to manhandle the artwork up several flights of stairs to its original place on the gallery wall.


SUN 01:05 The Art Mysteries with Waldemar Januszczak (m000gp0h)
Series 1

Seurat's Les Poseuses

Hanging in the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, Seurat’s Les Poseuses is probably his least-known painting. It is also a picture brimming with codes and hidden meanings. It shows three nudes in the artist’s studio, but included in the background is Seurat’s famous masterpiece, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.

Why is it there? What is it trying to say? Why two pictures at once? Waldemar Januszczak investigates.


SUN 01:35 Classic Cellists at the BBC (b084nscd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


SUN 02:35 Ukraine’s Musical Freedom Fighters with Clive Myrie (m001c1ww)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]

MONDAY 26 SEPTEMBER 2022

MON 19:00 Great American Railroad Journeys (m000frfz)
Series 4

Kamloops to Calgary

Clutching his 1899 Appleton’s Guide, Michael Portillo boards one of the world’s most famous trains, the Rocky Mountaineer, to cross the backbone of the North American continent from Kamloops to the spa resort of Banff. This magnificent journey takes him to the highest point of the 19th-century transcontinental Canadian Pacific Railway line at Kicking Horse Pass, past Lake Louise and inside spiral tunnels blasted through the mountains.

Along the way, Michael hears of the harsh and dangerous conditions endured by the Chinese and European labourers who built the railway. He looks back at the historic driving of the Last Spike, which completed the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1885.

Reaching Banff, Michael follows his Appleton’s guide to the luxurious Banff Spring Hotel, built by the railway company. By Sulphur Mountain, he explores an underground hot spring discovered by railway workers in 1883 and learns how it prompted the creation of Canada’s first national park.

In Calgary, Alberta, Michael saddles up with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, hears about their origins and learns about their role today.

He tastes life as a ranch hand at Bar U Ranch, where the cattle business boomed after the arrival of the transcontinental railway in 1885. New markets led to fame worldwide, prompting a surprise royal visit from Britain in 1919 by Edward, Prince of Wales.

Riding the 'C' train, Michael heads downtown to the Calgary Petroleum Club to hear about the first oil strike in Western Canada and the prosperity the city has enjoyed since. It is festival time, and Michael is introduced to a Calgary delicacy - the prairie oyster.

The city’s Ukrainian community is the second largest outside the Ukraine and keeps its culture alive. Michael rashly accepts an invitation to dance the hopak.


MON 20:00 Art of Persia (m000kjj2)
Series 1

Episode 3

In the last episode, Samira Ahmed travels to the crumbling ruins of an ancient walled city and goes back to when Persia faced her gravest threat, Genghis Khan. But from the death and destruction there emerged a golden age of Persian poetry and art.

In the fabled city of Isfahan, Samira encounters the dynasty of shahs that succeeded the Mongols - the Safavids, who gave Iran a powerful new identity through Shia Islam and carved its message in stone, brick and tile.

Finally, Samira travels to Persepolis to tell the story of Iran’s last shah and his ill-fated attempt to link his dynasty to Persia’s ancient kings, with momentous consequences for the world.


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

Episode 1

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

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

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


MON 22:00 Treasures of the Anglo Saxons (b00t6xzx)
Art historian Dr Nina Ramirez reveals the codes and messages hidden in Anglo-Saxon art. From the beautiful jewellery that adorned the first violent pagan invaders through to the stunning Christian manuscripts they would become famous for, she explores the beliefs and ideas that shaped Anglo-Saxon art.

Examining many of the greatest Anglo Saxon treasures - such as the Sutton Hoo Treasures, the Staffordshire Hoard, the Franks Casket and the Lindisfarne Gospels - Dr Ramirez charts 600 years of artistic development which was stopped dead in its tracks by the Norman Conquest.


MON 23:00 Armada: 12 Days to Save England (p02pkxkm)
Series 1

Day One

In the first part of a major three-part drama documentary series, Anita Dobson stars as Elizabeth I, and Dan Snow takes to the sea to tell the story of how England came within a whisker of disaster in summer 1588. Newly discovered documents take us right inside the Spanish Armada for the very first time and reveal a missed opportunity that could have spelled the end of Tudor England.


MON 00:00 Calculating Ada: The Countess of Computing (p030s5bx)
Ada Lovelace was a most unlikely computer pioneer. In this film, Dr Hannah Fry tells the story of Ada's remarkable life. Born in the early 19th century, Ada was a countess of the realm, a scandalous socialite and an 'enchantress of numbers'. The film is an enthralling tale of how a life infused with brilliance, but blighted by illness and gambling addiction, helped give rise to the modern era of computing.

Hannah traces Ada's unlikely union with the father of computers, Charles Babbage. Babbage designed the world's first steam-powered computers - most famously the analytical engine - but it was Ada who realised the full potential of these new machines. During her own lifetime, Ada was most famous for being the daughter of romantic poet Lord Byron ('mad, bad and dangerous to know'). It was only with the advent of modern computing that Ada's understanding of their flexibility and power (that they could be far more than mere number crunchers) was recognised as truly visionary. Hannah explores how Ada's unique inheritance - poetic imagination and rational logic - made her the ideal prophet of the digital age.

This moving, intelligent and beautiful film makes you realise we nearly had a Victorian computer revolution.


MON 01:00 Berlin 1945 (m000p9t9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:35 on Saturday]


MON 01:55 Great American Railroad Journeys (m000frfz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


MON 02:55 Art of Persia (m000kjj2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]

TUESDAY 27 SEPTEMBER 2022

TUE 19:00 Great American Railroad Journeys (m000g1dp)
Series 4

Halifax to Prince Edward Island

Michael Portillo begins a new journey on the tracks of the Ocean line to explore Canada’s maritime provinces en route to Quebec City.

Clutching his 1899 Appleton’s Guide to Canada, he begins in the Atlantic port of Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he discovers an 18th-century British hilltop citadel, manned at the time of his guide by the 78th Highland Regiment. Michael joins the men who recreate the roles of those Scottish soldiers today. At the mercy of the young 'sergeant major', Michael learns the drill in kilt and sporran.

Michael follows his Appleton’s to a vast Victorian dry dock, still in use today by shipbuilders for the Royal Canadian Navy and finds out what it takes to build a state-of-the-art Arctic Patrol vessel. He learns of a catastrophic explosion in Halifax harbour in 1917, which killed 2,000 people and left 25,000 homeless. Former residents of an African-Canadian community torn in two by the railway tell Michael of their struggle for redress.

Paddling along the Shubenacadie Canal, he discovers a 'marine railway', and on Banook Lake, he joins 15 'warriors' preparing for battle in a war canoe.

In the picturesque harbour town of Pictou, Nova Scotia, Michael discovers the first wave of Scots to settle in the region, who arrived on board a ship named Hector. Aboard a replica of the 18th-century vessel, he hears of their gruelling 11-week voyage across the Atlantic and is invited to join young dancers in a Scottish reel. At the Northumberland Fisheries Museum, Michael investigates what it takes to keep Nova Scotia’s top export on the menu.

From Caribou, Michael catches the ferry to Prince Edward Island to meet its most famous resident at her beautifully kept home. Charmed by the red-haired Anne of Green Gables and her fiery temper, he heads to the island’s provincial capital, Charlottetown, to see her record-breaking musical.

Following the island’s famous red roads, Michael arrives at the Red Shores racetrack, where they’re preparing for an evening harness race. Champion driver Kenny Arsenault takes Michael out for a hair-raising spin.


TUE 20:00 Keeping Up Appearances (b007c95l)
Series 5

Episode 8

Sitcom. When Bruce and Violet’s constant arguing threatens Hyacinth’s luxury barbecue, she resorts to desperate musical measures to keep her family scandals from public exposure.


TUE 20:30 Ever Decreasing Circles (p00c1k4s)
Series 3

Episode 4

Martin saves a little girl from drowning and is hailed a hero. At first he isn't quite sure how to cope with his new-found fame, but he soon gets to grips with being the centre of attention.


TUE 21:00 Storyville (m001cjyf)
And Still I Sing

Controversial Afghan pop star and activist Aryana Sayeed mentors young hopefuls as they prepare to appear on their country’s hit TV show Afghan Star. With two young women on the verge of being named the show’s first ever female winners, the Taliban take over and their lifelong dreams of becoming pop stars are suddenly under threat.


TUE 22:30 Storyville (m000kjnt)
Welcome to Chechnya: The Gay Purge

Welcome to Chechnya: The Gay Purge lays bare the Russian Federation republic's deadly war against its gay citizens. Countless victims have been killed and hundreds more are missing. With the LGBTQ community living in fear and secrecy, this brave and searing film follows the underground team fighting to rescue them before it is too late.

Since 2017, Chechnya’s tyrannical leader Ramzan Kadyrov has waged a depraved operation to ‘cleanse the blood’ of LGBTQ Chechens, overseeing a government-directed campaign to detain, torture and execute them. With no help from the Kremlin, and only faint global condemnation, activists have taken matters into their own hands. From a safe house in a secret location in Russia, they risk their own lives by running rescue missions into Chechnya and providing temporary shelter.

This film follows the extraordinary bravery of the activists and Chechens whose lives are being threatened. Deploying a groundbreaking, new digital ‘face-double’ technique that has never been used before in documentary film-making, the identities of those most at risk are protected. By the close of the film, 151 people have been located with the help of the LGBTQ pipeline. Yet 40,000 others remain in hiding and in need of protection.


TUE 00:10 Armada: 12 Days to Save England (b05xj5t4)
Series 1

The Battle for England

In the second part of a major three-part drama-documentary series, Anita Dobson stars as Elizabeth I, and Dan Snow takes to the sea to tell the story of how England came within a whisker of disaster in summer 1588. Using newly discovered documents, Dan relives the fierce battles at sea and we go behind the scenes in the royal court of Elizabeth as the Spanish fleet prepares for full-on invasion.


TUE 01:10 Great American Railroad Journeys (m000g1dp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


TUE 02:15 Lost Home Movies of Nazi Germany (m000crdf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Monday]

WEDNESDAY 28 SEPTEMBER 2022

WED 19:00 Great American Railroad Journeys (m000g6q2)
Series 4

Springhill Junction to Quebec City

Clutching his 1899 copy of Appleton’s Guide to Canada, Michael Portillo travels on the Ocean train from Nova Scotia to New Brunswick. Along the way, he investigates the world’s biggest tide at Hopewell Rocks and admires its dramatic rock formations and caves.

Michael apparently defies gravity on a magnetic hill in a 1965 Pontiac Bonneville. North of Moncton in Miramichi, he joins the Elsipogtog First Nation in a pow wow, where he learns about quilting and traditional dress. In Amherst, Michael investigates the history of an ambitious ship railway designed to ferry ships by rail over the isthmus between the Bay of Fundy and the Northumberland Strait. He quarries highly-prized Wallace sandstone for a 150-year-old family firm.

In the Acadian fishing village of Neguac, New Brunswick, Michael discovers sea farmers are producing up to 15 million oysters a year. Michael takes to the water to investigate how it is done and is rewarded with a taste of the freshest mollusc he has ever sampled.

Michael's guidebook leads him to Miramichi, where he reads that French-speaking Acadians settled after they were expelled by the British from lands they had occupied further south. Intrigued by a tale of 18th-century ethnic cleansing, Michael visits an historic village to find out about these people and why Britain took such drastic action against them.

Boarding the night sleeper for the next 400 miles of his journey, Michael heads for Quebec City, where old Europe survives in the New World. With its narrow streets and flights of steps and a hotel modelled on a 16th-century chateau, Quebec City was the heart of New France and reminds Michael of Paris - yet the Quebecois national dish leaves him cold.


WED 20:00 From Ice to Fire: The Incredible Science of Temperature (b09sc7yj)
Series 1

A Temperature for Life

Physicist Dr Helen Czerski explores the narrow band of temperature that has led to life on Earth. She reveals how life began in a dramatic place where hot meets cold, and how every single living creature on Earth depends on temperature for its survival. She uncovers the extraordinary natural engineering that animals have evolved to keep their bodies at the right temperature. And she witnesses the remarkable surgery that's using temperature to push the human body to the very brink of life.


WED 21:00 Walter's War (b00fh1w1)
Drama inspired by the life of Walter Tull who, after years in an orphanage, went on to become a professional footballer and then the first black commissioned officer to lead British troops during the First World War.

The action concerns Tull's turbulent passage from ordinary soldier to extraordinary officer at officer training camp, where he had to face his own demons as well as fight the prejudice that surrounded him.


WED 22:00 Our Friends in the North (p00yh4h3)
Series 1

1984

1984: The miners' strike dominates both the country and the lives of the four friends.


WED 23:05 Our Friends in the North (p00yh54y)
Series 1

1987

On the night of the 1987 hurricane, Nicky leaves Mary. Tosker and Elaine, broken by the stock market crash, find comfort in each other.


WED 00:25 Our Friends in the North (p00yh6r5)
Series 1

1995

1995: Nicky goes back to his roots and to Mary. Geordie has become an alcoholic, and Tosker realises his dream of a floating nightclub.


WED 01:40 Great American Railroad Journeys (m000g6q2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


WED 02:40 From Ice to Fire: The Incredible Science of Temperature (b09sc7yj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]

THURSDAY 29 SEPTEMBER 2022

THU 19:00 Great American Railroad Journeys (m000ggdc)
Series 4

Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupre to Winnipeg

Michael Portillo explores the province of Quebec with his 19th-century Appleton’s Guide to Canada. He takes the fabulously scenic Charlevoix train along the north bank of the mighty St Lawrence River to La Malbaie.

Following his guidebook to the beautiful basilica at Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupre, Michael discovers the racks of crutches discarded by the healed and meets modern-day visitors in search of miracles.

The Train de Charlevoix, built to transport pilgrims, now conveys tourists along the north bank of the St Lawrence River to the Murray lakes. Michael tours the fine 19th-century houses, which were once the haunt of the Gatsby generation. Taking to the skies in a seaplane, Michael flies over the Laurentian Mountains to land on an isolated lake, where he fishes for trout for his supper.

At Baie St Paul, Michael heads for the high ground, where he discovers 6,500 tomato vines are under cultivation to produce wine. The waterfall at Montmorency is a spectacular sight – especially from a zip wire!

From Quebec, Michael relocates to Canada’s Central Plains to begin a 1,000-mile journey across the vast Prairie aboard Canada’s last trans-continental passenger line. From the very heart of the country, he travels west to the majestic Rocky Mountains.

On this leg, Michael explores the Manitoban capital, Winnipeg, the nation’s chief railroad centre, known as the 'gateway to the west'. Joining the ranks of the 17,000 Canadian national students to have studied at the giant freight company’s national training centre, Michael has a go at marshalling a wagon.

In the French quarter of Saint Boniface, Michael cashes in at the Canadian Royal Mint and discovers the origins of the half-million Canadians who today identify as Metis. Michael meets a descendant of the 19th-century rebel leader now known as the Father of Manitoba and enjoys their traditional fiddle music.


THU 20:00 Wild China (b00bf5b0)
Heart of the Dragon

The fairy-tale hills of Guilin and the cormorant fishermen of the Li River form the heart of this exploration of the colourful rice-growing cultures and strange creatures of southern China - a land of endless hills, mysterious caverns, spectacular rock pinnacles and traditional cultures with a taste for wildlife.


THU 21:00 The Hurt Locker (m000bhgw)
Baghdad, 2004. A maverick member of a US military unit tackling IEDs and bomb disposal aggravates his teammates.

Powerful Oscar and BAFTA-winning drama.


THU 23:05 Armada: 12 Days to Save England (b05yxltf)
Series 1

Endgame

The final episode of a three-part drama-documentary series telling the story of how England came within a whisker of disaster in summer 1588.

Newly discovered documents reveal a remarkable web of misunderstandings that stopped the Spanish from invading, and show how the English victory forged the reputation of Elizabeth.


THU 00:05 Treasures of the Anglo Saxons (b00t6xzx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 on Monday]


THU 01:05 Great American Railroad Journeys (m000ggdc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


THU 02:05 Wild China (b00bf5b0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]

FRIDAY 30 SEPTEMBER 2022

FRI 19:00 How Pop Songs Work (b008nk4h)
Celebration of the magic of pop music and the skill and musical dexterity that goes into writing, performing and producing hit records. Conductor Charles Hazlewood explores the mechanics of pop songs such as Imagine, Tomorrow Never Knows and Back to Black by breaking them down into six key areas, aided by contributions from a cast of writers, producers and arrangers including Guy Chambers, Martin Fry, Steve Levine, Richard Niles, Nick Ingman, John Altman and Rob Davis.


FRI 20:00 Top of the Pops (m001cjqv)
Tony Dortie presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 12 August 1993. Featuring Green Jellÿ, Sarah Washington, Billy Joel, Bad Boys Inc., Culture Beat, Apache Indian, Yazz & Aswad and Freddie Mercury.


FRI 20:30 Top of the Pops (m001cjqx)
Mark Franklin presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 19 August 1993. Featuring The Bee Gees, The Pogues, UB40, Aftershock, Bitty Mclean, Tasmin Archer, Sinclair and Freddie Mercury.


FRI 21:00 Phil Collins at the BBC (m000x2qq)
The sound of Phil Collins is in the air tonight as we take a trip through the BBC’s archives with the man who, against all odds, went from being the drummer in Genesis to one of the biggest solo performers of the 1980s and 90s. This collection features Phil’s performances on a range of BBC shows, from Top of the Pops to Parkinson and The Two Ronnies, as well as the hits that saw him top the charts multiple times here and in the US, including You Can’t Hurry Love, A Groovy Kind of Love, One More Night, I Missed Again and Two Hearts.


FRI 22:00 The Old Grey Whistle Test (m001cjqz)
Genesis

Anne Nightingale introduces a recording of a Genesis concert performed at the Lyceum Ballroom, London, on 7 May 1980. The band is fronted by a bearded Phil Collins.


FRI 22:40 Later... with Jools Holland (m001cjr1)
Collaborations

Jools looks back at some of the unique collaborations that have appeared on the show, from the epic combination of Johnny and June Carter Cash, Pops Staples and Carleen Anderson in 1994 to a Dusty Springfield performance in 1995, featuring Sinéad O'Connor and Alison Moyet on backing vocals, and the wonderful pairing of Nick Cave and Shane MacGowan from the first ever series of Later… in 1992.

There are also reminders of more recent collaborations with the likes of Damon Albarn and Kano teaming up in 2007, and Michael Kiwanuka and Little Simz in 2019. Of course, the programme would not be complete without a collab or two from the show’s master of ceremonies, Jools Holland.


FRI 23:40 Duets at the BBC (b01c2xwt)
The BBC delves into its archive for the best romantic duets performed at the BBC over the last 50 years. Whether it is Robbie and Kylie dancing together on Top of the Pops or Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge singing into each other's eyes on the Whistle Test, there is plenty of chemistry. Highlights include Nina and Frederik's Baby It's Cold Outside, Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers, Sonny and Cher, Shirley Bassey and Neil Diamond, Peaches and Herb, and a rare performance from Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush.


FRI 00:40 Top of the Pops (m001cjqv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


FRI 01:10 Top of the Pops (m001cjqx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]


FRI 01:40 How Pop Songs Work (b008nk4h)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


FRI 02:40 Phil Collins at the BBC (m000x2qq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]