SATURDAY 18 MARCH 2023

SAT 19:00 Michael Palin: The Art of Travel (m001k9mf)
Series 1

LNER

Michael Palin takes his golf clubs to St Andrews on a journey up the 'drier side of Britain', where the London North Eastern Railway's publicity department of the 1920s and 1930s promoted an industrial service alongside more familiar holiday resorts and the glamour of fast trains.


SAT 19:10 Michael Palin's Hemingway Adventure (p00xb6vx)
Episode 1

Michael Palin follows Ernest Hemingway's footsteps across Europe, Africa and America. He starts in Spain for Pamplona's bull run, Valencia's bullfighting and a Kenyan safari.


SAT 20:00 Michael Palin: Travels of a Lifetime (m000n7c8)
Series 1

Episode 1

How ex-Monty Python comic Michael Palin became an accidental traveller when he accepted an offer to go around the world in 80 days, following the route of Phileas Fogg in the classic Jules Verne story. He looks back on the programmes and his diaries to reveal how the series was made and the impact it had. And fans and friends including Sir David Attenborough, Joanna Lumley and Simon Reeve reflect on his achievements. Little did he know the resulting series would become a huge hit, changing the face of TV travel programmes.

Journeying from London to Venice, Michael first encounters the grubby side of that famous city as he does a shift with its refuse collectors. Then it is on to Egypt, where he is thrown into the maelstrom of Cairo life and starts to get a taste for the unexpected. Gradually, Michael, who began the series nervous about the scale of this undertaking, sheds his inhibitions and embrace the joy of travelling.

After a detour overland across Saudi Arabia, Michael experiences a magical voyage on an open-topped boat called a dhow across the Arabian Sea to India. On board, he discovers a natural talent for engaging with people from completely different backgrounds – a style of presenting that became his signature. India presents huge challenges, but a train journey from Bombay to Madras also offers a chance to meet more local people and capture the character of this huge country. From here, it is on to Hong Kong and into Communist China, which, at the time, was a closed and mysterious land to most Westerners.

Michael’s journey through China reveals a country and a people most of his viewers had never seen in this way. Finally, after crossing the Pacific, the USA and the Atlantic, Michael arrives home to find England greyer - and less friendly - than he would have hoped. But he has completed the challenge in 80 days, and with it, he has discovered his passion for travel.


SAT 21:00 Paris Police 1905 (p0f032zx)
Series 1

Episode 5

Armed with information provided by Dr Socquet, Cochefert makes an eventful visit to Dr Verlot. Lépine asks his daughter to invite L'abbé Gardey to supper to provide moral support, and Jouin and Fiersi join forces to break into the Château de Bagatelle.

In French with English subtitles.


SAT 21:55 Paris Police 1905 (p0f0361c)
Series 1

Episode 6

Guichard falls into the trap when he is lured to Château de Bagatelle by a phone call from Fiersi's son, Julien. And Commissioner Lépine confronts Fondari, the head of the vice squad.

In French with English subtitles.


SAT 22:50 As Time Goes By (p045tmnk)
Series 1

Relationships

After their visit to Norwich, it becomes clear that Alistair is in love with Jean, not Judy. Meanwhile, Jean aims to get back at Lionel for what happened at the lecture.


SAT 23:20 Michael Palin's Hemingway Adventure (p00xb6vx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:10 today]


SAT 00:05 Clive James (m000g6m0)
Postcard from Miami

Clive James goes to Miami in search of vice. He's given a boat tour of the Miami islands by an ex-CIA agent, speeds out into the Gulf with US Customs to track down drug runners, and cruises through Coconut Grove in a Miami Police patrol car.

He also meets Miami Vice star Don Johnson, Gloria Estefan of the Miami Sound Machine, columnist for the Miami Herald Dave Barry, and Joel Hirschhorn, who defends alleged drug barons.


SAT 00:55 Paris Police 1900 (p09tqjbm)
Series 1

Episode 1

Paris, 1899. The French Republic is in turmoil as rumours spread about the release from Devil's Island of Dreyfus, previously arrested for spying. Police Chief Louis Lepine is recalled to office from retirement. When a suitcase is recovered from the Seine, young and ambitious Police Inspector Antoine Jouin finds himself embroiled in his first murder case.

In French with English Subtitles.


SAT 01:55 Paris Police 1900 (p09tqjy6)
Series 1

Episode 2

Meg starts spying for Puybaraud and is told to infiltrate the Guérin family, who are behind the anti-Semitic league. Meanwhile, Lepine arrives to take charge of the Parisian police department. Jouin, grieving the death of his partner, focuses on the case of the body found in the Seine.

In French with English subtitles


SAT 02:55 Bent Coppers: Crossing the Line of Duty (m000vlmw)
Series 1

Taking a Drink

By the late 1970s, armed robbery had been brought to a state of near-perfection. Seen as a ‘glamour crime’, it was committed by men prepared to take big risks, survive shootouts with the police and die for the prize. But despite violent armed robbers being arrested, evidence was being watered down, and criminals were being granted bail. Money seemed to be passed to bent cops via middlemen to get lawbreakers released.

Despite sweeping changes brought in by Sir Robert Mark in the Metropolitan Police, this final instalment reveals how, in the late 1970s, corruption within the City of London’s CID had grown out of control - and how Operation Countryman was launched in response.

SUNDAY 19 MARCH 2023

SUN 19:00 Come Dancing (m001k9n8)
1977

Grand Final

Terry Wogan introduces the 1977 grand final from the Lyceum Ballroom, London. Midlands and West dance against the North West for the Come Dancing title. Barri Haynes provides the commentary.


SUN 19:40 Inside Classical (m001k9nb)
Series 1

Sol Gabetta plays Elgar’s Cello Concerto with the BBC Symphony Orchestra

The BBC Symphony Orchestra and their guest principal conductor Dalia Stasevska bring you an evening of stirring and poignant music from the Barbican in London. Starting with Elgar’s hauntingly beautiful Cello Concerto, performed by multi-award-winning Argentine cellist Sol Gabetta, the evening culminates in Sibelius’s electrifyingly stormy First Symphony.

In between, there’s a surprise in store. The orchestra performs A Party with Auntie, a piece written by Iain Farrington to celebrate the BBC’s 100th anniversary that features no less than 15 BBC theme tunes hidden within Iain’s own original music.


SUN 21:10 Wayne Shorter at the London Jazz Festival (m001k9nd)
Multi-award-winning saxophonist and composer Wayne Shorter performs at the London Jazz Festival in 2001.


SUN 21:50 Britain's Most Fragile Treasure (b0161dgq)
Historian Dr Janina Ramirez unlocks the secrets of a centuries-old masterpiece in glass. At 78 feet in height, the famous Great East Window at York Minster is the largest medieval stained-glass window in the country and the creative vision of a single artist, a mysterious master craftsman called John Thornton, one of the earliest named English artists.

The Great East Window has been called England's Sistine Chapel. Within its 311 stained-glass panels is the entire history of the world, from the first day to the Last Judgment, and yet it was made 100 years before Michelangelo's own masterpiece. The scale of Thornton's achievement is revealed as Dr Ramirez follows the work of a highly skilled conservation team at York Glaziers Trust. They dismantled the entire window as part of a five-year project to repair centuries of damage and restore it to its original glory.

It is a unique opportunity for Dr Ramirez to examine Thornton's greatest work at close quarters, to discover details that would normally be impossible to see and to reveal exactly how medieval artists made images of such delicacy and complexity using the simplest of tools.

The Great East Window of York Minster is far more than a work of artistic genius, it is a window into the medieval world and mind, telling us who we once were and who we still are, all preserved in the most fragile medium of all.


SUN 22:50 Clive James (m000g6m2)
Postcard from Chicago

Chicago is America's best-kept secret. Clive James discovers there's more to it than memories of Al Capone and Mayor Daley.


SUN 23:45 Victorian Sensations (m0005pr9)
Series 1

Seeing and Believing

In the final episode of this series, psychotherapist Philippa Perry time-travels back to the 1890s to explore how the late Victorian passion for science co-existed with a deeply held belief in the paranormal. Using a collection of rare and restored Victorian films from the BFI National Archive, she shows how the latest media innovations made use of contemporary ideas of ghosts and the afterlife – and how this ‘new media’ anticipated today’s networked world.

The final years of Queen Victoria’s reign were a moment when the old Victorian order rubbed shoulders with the beginnings of our modern world. It was a chaotic, febrile time of discovery and innovation in science and technology, entertainment and art, and the Victorians had to make sense of it all.

Philippa finds out how Marconi’s early experiments with wireless telegraphy encouraged speculation amongst the public and scientists that telepathy – communication between minds – would be the next scientific breakthrough. She also replicates eminent physicist Oliver Lodge’s pioneering experiment with radio waves and discovers his fascination for exploring the paranormal with the Society for Psychical Research (SPR). This Victorian group of ghost hunters included William James, a pioneer of psychology, biologist Alfred Russel Wallace and even Prime Minister William Gladstone. Buried in the archives of the SPR in Cambridge University Library, Philippa finds an incredible Census of Hallucinations that contains 17,000 ghostly encounters sourced from the Victorian public.

Maybe it’s not surprising that people of the age saw so many ghosts because, in a sense, spirits did haunt the Victorian home. Every Victorian innovation - from photography to motion pictures, phonographs to fantasy books – had its own supernatural genre. Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of the hyper-rational Sherlock Holmes, drew on his real-life experience as a ghostbuster to write his ghostly fiction. Philippa learns the art of spirit photography from Almudena Romero and poses for her own ghostly picture as well as exploring a rare private collection of phonographs, the recent craze that allowed Victorians to hear communications from the past and listen to their loved ones after their deaths for the first time.

Philippa also explores the impact of the arrival in 1896 of motion pictures, the decade’s greatest and most magical media innovation. BFI curator Bryony Dixon shows her restored Victorian trick films, from the funny and feminist to a disturbing fake execution. Philippa then creates her own homage to the Big Swallow trick film and eats the cameraman.

The boundary between fact and fantasy was often blurred, and sensationalism infused the new tabloid journalism. At Cambridge University’s Institute of Astronomy, Philippa learns about other forms of long-distance communication and the flurry of press interest in stories from Mars. Dr Joshua Nall reveals that some of the greatest public figures of the decade, from Nikola Tesla to Sir Francis Galton, were convinced that signalling with Martians was possible. HG Wells’s story The Crystal Egg takes up this theme and predicts future media developments and the power of communications. And even Queen Victoria herself took advantage of the globally networked world that was emerging to allow the film cameras in to capture her triumphant Diamond Jubilee procession for all her imperial subjects. The jubilee was the first global mass media event and the footage captures the essence of the 1890s: the old Victorian order with an empire and an empress, rubbing shoulders with a world we recognise - a modern one of film cameras and global communications. This was the decade the future landed.


SUN 00:45 Sold! Inside the World's Biggest Auction House (b083s5t6)
Episode 1

The programme goes behind the scenes in London, Dubai, New York and Hong Kong, as staff, experts, advisers and buyers set art trends, prices and records.

However, in 2016, the auction house's 250th anniversary year, there are fears that a downturn in the global economy could have a negative impact on the multibillion-pound industry.


SUN 01:45 Britain's Most Fragile Treasure (b0161dgq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:50 today]


SUN 02:45 Michael Palin: Travels of a Lifetime (m000n7c8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Saturday]

MONDAY 20 MARCH 2023

MON 19:00 Great British Railway Journeys (m000dbnl)
Series 11

Paignton to Tiverton

Michael Portillo's exploration of the West Country continues in south Devon. Guided by his 1930s Bradshaw’s, Michael arrives in Paignton to investigate an extraordinarily high murder rate in the literature of the 1930s! The Dartmouth Steam Railway conveys him in style to the beautiful home of Agatha Christie, in the company of her great-grandson, James Prichard.

At Dawlish, Michael discovers violets were so prized between the wars they had their own train to London and that the flower trade continues to flourish at Whetman Pinks, established in the same year as Michael’s Bradshaw’s.

Exeter Station takes centre stage as Michael hears from the granddaughter of publisher Allen Lane how he was inspired to invent the Penguin paperback.

Striking north to Tiverton, in the pretty Culm Valley, Michael traces the origins of a national institution, the Young Farmers’ Clubs, and sees how the organisation has evolved.


MON 19:30 The Flying Archaeologist (b01s1ll4)
Stonehenge

Archaeologist Ben Robinson flies over Wiltshire to uncover new discoveries in the Stone Age landscape. Sites found from the air have led to exciting new evidence about Stonehenge. The discoveries help to explain why the monument is where it is, and reveal how long ago it was occupied by people.


MON 20:00 Archaeology: A Secret History (p0109k4g)
The Power of the Past

Archaeologist Richard Miles presents a series charting the history of the breakthroughs and watersheds in our long quest to understand our ancient past. He shows how 20th-century attention turned from civilisation and kings to the search for the common man against a background of science and competing political ideologies.


MON 21:00 Britain's Lost Masterpieces (b07xjsqj)
Series 1

Swansea

The Swansea museum store contains everything from a stuffed pigeon to a police car, but can Bendor and Jacky reveal a multimillion-pound lost masterpiece that will not only become a jewel of Swansea museum's collection, but also rewrite art history? Also, a rare appearance at the museum of a giant painting of local coal miners prompts Jacky to re-examine the life of the man who painted them, the renowned Polish artist Josef Herman. She tracks down those who remember him in south Wales.


MON 22:00 The Rise of the Murdoch Dynasty (m000l44m)
Series 1

The Rebel Alliance

An alliance forms, including star Hugh Grant, that is willing to take on the Murdoch empire, and a huge scandal threatens Rupert’s dream of passing on the family business to one of his children.

This is the sensational story of the scandal that almost ruined Rupert Murdoch, and resulted in 'the most humble day' of his life. After Murdoch’s incredible rise, this episode charts his fast fall from grace that left him an isolated figure. It tells the story of how Murdoch’s huge political influence in the UK was finally challenged, revealing a closeness between Murdoch and politics that was suggested to distort democracy and eventually saw four living prime ministers face questioning at the Leveson Inquiry, changing British politics and press forever.

Amid accusations of nepotism, Rupert Murdoch gives his son a senior role within his organisation, a move that many see as a test to see if his son is fit to one day take over. Would-be prime ministers continue to court Murdoch in the hope of winning his support, but whilst Murdoch is being treated like a ‘renaissance pope’ by the political elite, an unlikely alliance begins to form that aims to bring down his empire.

An investigative journalist receives an anonymous tip off that is so explosive that it sets in motion an incredible sequence of events. His investigation reveals crime, corruption and scandal at the heart of the Murdoch empire, leading all the way to one of the prime minister's key advisers. An alliance begins to form around the journalist that includes actor Hugh Grant and politician Tom Watson.

In response to the revelations, the Murdoch empire goes on the offensive, and the alliance comes under sustained pressure. But whistleblowers begin to emerge, and a bombshell revelation completely changes public opinion. A sequence of disastrous events leave Murdoch’s business plans in ruins, he closes a newspaper, employees are ‘thrown under the bus’, and his son finds himself at the heart of the scandal, ruining Rupert’s plans for succession. Murdoch and his son are hauled in to Parliament to face a reckoning, the eyes of the world trained on them. Rupert is humiliated, his once friendly political allies desert him, and his reputation is left in tatters.


MON 23:00 Sword, Musket & Machine Gun: Britain's Armed History (b087llsj)
Cut & Thrust

In the first of this three-part series, Dr Sam Willis charts the evolution of weaponry in Britain throughout the Middle Ages.

Beginning with the Battle of Ethandun in 878, when the future of Anglo-Saxon England lay in the balance, Sam examines the weapons and tactics used by King Alfred to keep the Viking raiders at bay, and gets hands-on experience as he joins re-enactors behind a shield-wall, used by the Anglo-Saxons en masse as an attacking weapon to drive back and defeat the Vikings.

Sam travels to France to examine the famous Bayeux Tapestry, with its depiction of the huge arsenal massed by William the Conqueror for his invasion of England in 1066. With the Norman mounted knight came innovations in weapon technology, chiefly stronger and lighter swords, and Sam is given a lesson in swordsmanship using the earliest known combat manual.

Sam also visits the Chateaux de Tancarville in Normandy to tell the story of William Marshal, said to be the greatest knight who ever lived, and how he forged his reputation using a new weapon - the lance - in the extreme sport of its day, the tourney. To get a real sense of the tourney, Sam watches a display of its later incarnation - the joust.

The increasing number of castles and sieges brought with it a new age of projectile missile weaponry, principally the crossbow. Holed up in a castle tower, Sam gets to test-fire different crossbows and discovers why they became outlawed by the pope as instruments of the devil. Visiting the battlefield sites of Halidon Hill in Northumberland and Crecy in northern France, and again getting hands-on with the weapon in question, Sam examines how King Edward III strategically deployed the traditional longbow in vast numbers to devastating effect against the Scots and the French, and as such how it came to be regarded as the chief weapon of the Middle Ages.


MON 00:00 Archaeology: A Secret History (p0109k4g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


MON 00:55 Great British Railway Journeys (m000dbnl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


MON 01:25 The Flying Archaeologist (b01s1ll4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


MON 01:55 The Rise of the Murdoch Dynasty (m000l44m)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]


MON 02:55 Britain's Lost Masterpieces (b07xjsqj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]

TUESDAY 21 MARCH 2023

TUE 19:00 Great British Railway Journeys (m000dblt)
Series 11

Taunton to Salisbury Plain

Michael Portillo crosses the county line from Devon into Somerset on his rail exploration of the West Country steered by his 1930s Bradshaw's guide.

He sees first-hand how willow farmers sought to overcome the challenge from the production of synthetic plastics during the 1930s. He hears how tourism for all budgets spread across the region, especially amongst the young, for whom youth hostels sprang up, with good wishes from none other than the prime minister of the day, Stanley Baldwin.

In the city of Bath, Michael visits the former home of a refugee emperor, whose country was invaded by the Italian dictator Mussolini, and in whose name a religious movement began, which now flourishes worldwide.

Travelling east into Wiltshire, Michael reaches the largest training area of the British Army, Salisbury Plain, where the Royal Tank Regiment, established in 1939, is on manoeuvres with its awesome Streetfighter tank.


TUE 19:30 The Flying Archaeologist (b01s1czf)
Norfolk Broads

Archaeologist Ben Robinson flies over the Broads where aerial photos have discovered a staggering 945 previously unknown ancient sites. Many are making historians rethink the history of the area.

The fate of the Roman town of Caistor St Edmund has puzzled archaeologists for decades. It's long been a mystery why the centre never became a modern town. Now archaeologists have discovered a key piece of evidence. And near Ormseby, the first proof of Bronze Age settlement in the east of England has been revealed.


TUE 20:00 As Time Goes By (p045tmrl)
Series 1

The Picnic

Realising how absurd it is that Judy and Alistair have feelings for Jean and Lionel instead of each other, the elders plan a picnic to show them that they are meant to be together.


TUE 20:30 The Mistress (m001k9q3)
Series 2

Episode 5

Luke realises that the only way he can heal the breach with Maxine is by spending a Sunday together. She, however, has other plans.


TUE 21:00 A History of Britain by Simon Schama (b0074lsn)
Series 2

The Wrong Empire

Simon Schama traces the steps of the empire-makers to tell the extraordinary story of how this small set of islands came to rule an empire that stretched around the globe. How did a trading enterprise based on the idea of liberty become an empire built on the enslavement of millions of Africans? How did Britain lose control of its own colony - America - yet go on to conquer India? On a journey that takes him to Barbados, North America, Canada and India, Schama reveals how Britain came to rule 'the wrong empire'.


TUE 22:00 Timewatch (b0078w1y)
2004-2005

The Killer Wave of 1607

At 9am on 20 January 1607, a massive wave devastated the counties of the Bristol Channel. It came without warning, sweeping all before it. The flooding stretched inland as far as the Glastonbury Tor. Two hundred square miles of Somerset, Devon, Glamorganshire and Monmouthshire were inundated. Up to 2,000 people died. Yet for 400 years, the killer wave of 1607 has been forgotten. Timewatch relives the terror and the human tragedy of 1607 and follows the research of two scientists who are increasingly convinced that the wave was not simply a freak storm but a tsunami.


TUE 22:50 Climbing Blind (m000jb7t)
The incredible story of Jesse Dufton as he attempts to be the first blind person to lead a climb of the Old Man of Hoy, a sea stack with sheer cliff faces rising out of the sea, in Orkney, Scotland

Jesse was born with 20% central vision. At four years of age, Jesse was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a rare genetic disease that breaks down the retina’s cells. When he was 20, Jesse could no longer read. By the time he was 30, he could only detect light, with around a one to two per cent field of view. As a lifelong climber, what Jesse has achieved flies in the face of adversity, training for world cup events and leading traditional rock climbs with his sight guide and fiancée Molly.

As his sight degenerates, his climbing continues to make remarkable progress. His attempt on the Old Man of Hoy is testimony to his ambition to take on new and greater challenges, despite his devastating condition.

This engrossing documentary will make you laugh and cry as it delivers not just a truly gripping climbing story but an inspiring tale of human endeavour and attitude.


TUE 23:50 How to Make (m000gwzd)
Series 1

The Trainer

Zoe Laughlin, designer, maker and materials engineer, is fascinated by the science and technology hidden within the everyday objects we take for granted. In this series, she dismantles and dissects three classic items to understand the wonders of form, function and material that go into making them, before building her own truly bespoke versions, step by step.

In this episode, Zoe takes on the trainer - a much-loved modern classic that's a marvel of engineering and design. Setting out in search of inspiration, she meets some of the UK's leading trainer designers and manufacturers, as well as the young inventors working on mind-blowing sustainable creations such as material made by bacteria and self-deodorising fabrics.

Zoe also goes behind the scenes at Britain's largest footwear factory, where high-speed injection-moulding processes turn out a shoe every nine seconds. And she meets one of the country's pre-eminent trainer historians, Thomas Turner, to find out how our favourite everyday footwear would be nothing without car tyres. All before building her own bespoke trainers. In Zoe's own words, ‘they are mad, but they're mine - and that makes them special!’


TUE 00:50 Great British Railway Journeys (m000dblt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


TUE 01:20 The Flying Archaeologist (b01s1czf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


TUE 01:50 Timewatch (b0078w1y)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]


TUE 02:40 A History of Britain by Simon Schama (b0074lsn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]

WEDNESDAY 22 MARCH 2023

WED 19:00 Great British Railway Journeys (m000dl5b)
Series 11

Canterbury to Alexandra Palace

Steered by his 1930s Bradshaw’s guidebook, this week Michael Portillo explores the east of England in the interwar period.

Beginning in Canterbury in Kent, Michael treads the boards as he uncovers the political message behind a play, published in 1936, inspired by the 12th-century murder of Archbishop Thomas à Becket.

In Maidstone, Michael learns of the international origins of the most British symbol of remembrance, before paying his respects at a war memorial based on London’s Cenotaph.

Outside Sevenoaks, Michael visits the country home of one of his political heroes, Sir Winston Churchill, and discovers how the 1930s were wilderness years at Chartwell, as Churchill warned against Nazi German appeasement.

As Michael enters the capital, there is a visit to the brand new London Bridge station before he heads to Alexandra Palace, the birthplace of television.


WED 19:30 The Flying Archaeologist (b01s1llz)
Hadrian's Wall: Life on the Frontier

Archaeologist Ben Robinson flies over Hadrian's Wall to reveal a new view of its history. The first full aerial survey of Hadrian's Wall has helped uncover new evidence about the people who once lived there. Carried out over the last few years by English Heritage, it is allowing archaeologists to reinterpret the wall. Across the whole landscape hundreds of sites of human occupation have been discovered, showing that people were living here in considerable numbers. Their discoveries are suggesting that far from being a barren military landscape, the whole area was richly populated before during and after the wall was built. There is also exciting new evidence that the Romans were here earlier than previously thought.


WED 20:00 Chris Packham's Animal Einsteins (m000t1r0)
Series 1

Builders

Finding somewhere to keep safe is one of the biggest challenges an animal faces. But some animals don’t have to find a safe place - they build one.

In this episode, Chris reveals some of the best building animals in the world - a group that is incredibly varied. Accomplished animal architects include everything from beavers to bees and prairie dogs to bowerbirds. They don’t only build homes, however - they also make structures to raise their young, store food, catch prey and impress mates. But what can be learnt from their building brilliance?


WED 21:00 Six Wives with Lucy Worsley (b086zd44)
Episode 3

This episode follows Henry's marriage annulment to Anne of Cleves due to non-consummation. Middle-aged Henry then marries teenager Catherine Howard two weeks later, only for her to be convicted of treason and beheaded.

Henry's last wife, Katherine Parr, is a good stepmother to his children, but her religious views differ greatly from the king's. Her book, Prayers or Meditations, is the first book to be written in English by a woman, but its popularity threatens Henry's advisors. Lucy observes as Katherine narrowly escapes being arrested for treason.

Henry dies and his son Edward VI takes the throne. Katherine remarries and gets pregnant but tragically dies a week after the baby is born.


WED 22:00 The Six Wives of Henry VIII (m001k9r5)
Series 1

Catherine Howard

Classic series of historical plays, first broadcast in 1970, each taking as its focus one of Henry VIII's six wives. In this episode, Angela Pleasence stars as Catherine Howard.


WED 23:30 The Six Wives of Henry VIII (m001k9r9)
Series 1

Catherine Parr

Classic series of historical plays, first broadcast in 1970, each taking as its focus one of Henry VIII's six wives. In this episode, Rosalie Crutchley stars as Catherine Parr.


WED 01:00 Great British Railway Journeys (m000dl5b)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


WED 01:30 The Flying Archaeologist (b01s1llz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


WED 02:00 Six Wives with Lucy Worsley (b086zd44)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


WED 03:00 Chris Packham's Animal Einsteins (m000t1r0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]

THURSDAY 23 MARCH 2023

THU 19:00 Great British Railway Journeys (m000dl64)
Series 11

Limehouse to Rochford

Following his 1936 Bradshaw’s guidebook, Michael Portillo explores the east of England, in London and Essex, en route to Lincolnshire.

On this leg, Michael alights at Limehouse in east London for Cable Street, which became the focus of Britain’s fight against fascism in the 1930s.

Heading east, he arrives in Dagenham, the location of one of Henry Ford’s first car factories in the UK. Michael discovers the story of the first £100 family vehicle and gets behind the wheel of a pioneering pick-up truck.

Leaving London, Michael crosses into Essex and in Southend gets the scoop on a seaside favourite, and heads to the world-famous pier with his ‘gelato’ cart.

In Rochford in Essex, Michael learns how an unusual alliance between London’s Crossrail railway project and conservation is helping thousands of birds.


THU 19:30 The Flying Archaeologist (b01s1hnr)
The Thames: Secret War

Archaeologist Ben Robinson flies over the Thames to uncover new discoveries about World War 1. A whole network of trenches has been discovered on The Hoo peninsula. Invisible from the ground, they were recently found from aerial images of the area next to the former Chattenden Barracks. The trenches were used for experimentation and training of soldiers and can be directly linked to trenches used in Belgium in WW1. The trenches are just one feature revealed by the first full aerial survey of the area by English Heritage. Much of the history of this area is being recorded from the air before its destroyed by coastal erosion and development.


THU 20:00 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.


THU 21:00 Victoria and Abdul (m000h9xb)
Period drama. Adbul Karim is whisked from his clerk's job at an Accra prison to present a ceremonial coin to Queen Victoria for her golden jubilee, along with his more reluctant companion Mohammed. The queen, who is tired of her fawning courtiers, takes a liking to the young man and developing a fascination with all things Indian, promotes him to become her Munshi, or teacher, much to the resentment of her family and household.


THU 22:45 Florence Foster Jenkins (b084zbf0)
Based on a true heartwarming story. In the autumn of 1944, as war rages in the Pacific, New York heiress and founder of the Verdi Club Florence Foster Jenkins devotes her life to music with the unswerving support of her eminent actor and monologist husband St Clair Bayfield. Delighted to provide support for other musicians, she is finally inspired by a Lili Pons recital to revive her own singing career, despite having very little talent in that regard.


THU 00:30 imagine... (m001k9s1)
2023

Stephen Frears: Director for Hire

imagine… profiles acclaimed British director Stephen Frears. Despite decades of success across both cinema and television, Frears likes to fly under the radar, subscribing to Billy Wilder’s maxim, ‘The best director is the one you don’t see’. He has helmed an array of critically acclaimed films - My Beautiful Laundrette, The Grifters, Dangerous Liaisons, The Queen and Philomena, to name just a few. Some say he’s notoriously grumpy, others that he’s mischievous and misunderstood. Now for the first time, Frears opens up about his life and career. What drives this 81-year-old, who has over 70 productions to his name across cinema and television?

The programme follows Frears as he embarks on his latest project in Vienna – a new drama series for HBO starring Hugh Grant and Kate Winslet. Alan Yentob spends time with him in the city where The Third Man was filmed, following in the footsteps of Orson Welles’s character Harry Lime on the famous Ferris wheel and down the sewers.

With contributions from Judi Dench, Helen Mirren, Glenn Close, Hugh Grant, John Malkovich, Jack Black, Steve Coogan, Hanif Kureishi, Christopher Hampton and film critic Ellen E Jones.


THU 01:35 Great British Railway Journeys (m000dl64)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


THU 02:05 The Flying Archaeologist (b01s1hnr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


THU 02:35 Victorian Sensations (m0005pr9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:45 on Sunday]

FRIDAY 24 MARCH 2023

FRI 19:00 Top of the Pops (m001k9s9)
Mark Goodier presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 26 May 1994 and featuring The Prodigy, Maxx, Carleen Anderson, Bruce Dickinson, Gloworm, Pet Shop Boys with Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley, Galliano, All-4-One and the Manchester United Football Squad.


FRI 19:30 Top of the Pops (m001khlx)
Simon Mayo presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 2 June 1994 and featuring Pulp, Arrested Development, Big Mountain, The Beautiful South, The Grid, Salt-N-Pepa, Pink Floyd, Mariah Carey and Wet Wet Wet.


FRI 20:00 Top of the Pops (b070n0l9)
Richard Skinner introduces the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 26 March 1981 and featuring Graham Bonnet, Hazel O'Connor, Tony Capstick, Gillan, Lene Lovich, Bad Manners, Shakin' Stevens, Linx, Landscape, The Polecats, Kim Wilde and Legs & Co.


FRI 20:30 Top of the Pops (b0bhmyyh)
Janice Long and Simon Bates present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 20 March 1986 and featuring Jim Diamond, Pet Shop Boys, Cliff Richard and The Young Ones, The Real Thing, Diana Ross and Mr. Mister.


FRI 21:00 Dolly Parton at the BBC (m0013wts)
Dolly Parton is one of the biggest and best-loved music stars on the planet. Here, we celebrate all things Dolly with a look back at some of her greatest performances on the BBC, incorporating all her biggest hits and finest moments.

From Jolene and 9 to 5, to Islands in the Stream and Here You Come Again, this collection showcases the enduring songwriting talents and the sense of humour that first made her name back in the 1970s.


FRI 22:00 Dolly Parton: Here I Am (m000crhq)
A landmark documentary that explores the extraordinary life and music of Dolly Parton.

Featuring incredible archive footage and exclusive interviews with Dolly and stars like Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, this film lifts the lid on the songwriting genius behind I Will Always Love You, Jolene, 9 to 5 and a host of other chart-topping hits.

From her humble beginnings to her global success, the film discovers how a young girl from the Smoky Mountains conquered Nashville to become the queen of country music.


FRI 23:30 Glastonbury (b04d8xv8)
2014

Dolly Parton

From the Glastonbury Festival, the complete set by the undisputed queen of country music Dolly Parton from the Pyramid Stage in the now-traditional legends spot on Sunday afternoon. As the Somerset sunshine shone, and in front of one of the biggest and most enthusiastic crowds that the Pyramid Stage has ever seen, Dolly performed a rousing and crowd-pleasing set including self-penned classics such as Jolene, Coat of Many Colours, 9 to 5, Islands in the Stream and I Will Always Love You. A legendary moment that the Glastonbury crowd and hopefully Dolly Parton will never forget.


FRI 00:40 Country Queens at the BBC (p028vwnv)
Classic female country stars in action on a variety of BBC studio shows and featuring Bobbie Gentry, Anne Murray, Emmylou Harris, Tammy Wynette, Billie Jo Spears, Crystal Gayle, Taylor Swift, Lucinda Williams with Mary Chapin Carpenter and more. A chronological celebration of country queens at the BBC whether on Top of the Pops, OGWT, Later with Jools Holland, Parkinson or their own entertainment specials.


FRI 01:40 Top of the Pops (m001k9s9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


FRI 02:10 Top of the Pops (m001khlx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


FRI 02:40 Top of the Pops (b070n0l9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]