SATURDAY 24 JUNE 2023
SAT 19:00 Women's Test Cricket (m001n9yf)
Ashes Highlights 2023
Test Match, Day Three
Highlights of the third day of the only Test match in the England v Australia Women's Ashes multi-format series.
SAT 20:00 Glastonbury (m001n9yk)
2023
Jacob Collier
Jamz Supernova introduces a set from the West Holts Stage by Jacob Collier, a Grammy Award-winning multi-instrumentalist, whose famous fans include Quincy Jones, Herbie Hancock and Chris Martin. Expect harmonies, many different instruments and gadgets - and audience participation.
SAT 21:00 Glastonbury (m001n9yp)
2023
Manic Street Preachers and Leftfield
Huw Stephens is at the helm for a double bill that sees two music worlds unfurl side by side.
First up, from the Other Stage, is Manic Street Preachers, whose debut album was released back in 1992. Fourteen albums later, the Welsh rockers show no signs of stopping as they perform for the sixth time at Glastonbury from the Other Stage.
And from rock to dance as Leftfield unleash their best dance moves to an expectant audience from the Park Stage. It’s been 23 years since they last appeared, so get ready for loud sounds and beats to dance to on a Saturday night.
SAT 23:00 Glastonbury (m001n9yr)
2023
Fatboy Slim
Closing day two of BBC Four’s Glastonbury coverage is one of the world’s top DJs, one Norman Quentin Cook, better known to the masses as Fatboy Slim.
In a career that spans more than 25 years of banging club hits, remixes, and numerous awards, his set is a guaranteed floor filler - albeit in a Somerset field. Right here, right now is where you want to be.
SAT 00:15 The Big Thinkers (b08mhnyz)
Should We Go to Mars?
The attempt to send and land astronauts on Mars risks billions of dollars and the lives of those brave enough to attempt it. Is the possible benefit really worth the risk? And is it really achievable?
Guiding us through this ethical and scientific minefield is Dr Kevin Fong. Kevin's diverse background in astrophysics, aeronautics and medicine makes him uniquely placed to understand the technical and human challenges of this perilous journey. With the help of the BBC's rich archive and a cast of supporting experts, Kevin leads us through the journey to Mars stage by stage.
For Kevin, not only is this the toughest journey we will ever attempt, it is one that he feels we ultimately must make if we are to survive as a species.
SAT 01:15 Hancock's Half Hour (p032kj02)
The Cold
Hancock is suffering with a cold, and none of his remedies seem to work. In desperation, he listens to Sid, who recommends a keep fit course to keep him healthy.
SAT 01:45 Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? (b0077jx1)
Series 1
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?
Bob thinks Terry needs new friends, but inviting him to Alan and Brenda's trendy dinner party might not be such a great idea.
SAT 02:15 imagine... (b0842jbg)
Autumn 2016
The Triumphs and Laments of William Kentridge
Alan Yentob joins South African artist William Kentridge as he prepares an epic frieze along the banks of the river Tiber in Rome. Alan visits him in his hometown of Johannesburg, the inspiration for the magical hand-drawn animated films he calls 'drawings for projection'. Brought up under apartheid, Kentridge has witnessed the fragile transition to a multi-racial democracy, and his art continues to reflect South Africa's turbulent times.
SUNDAY 25 JUNE 2023
SUN 19:00 Glastonbury (m001n9z7)
2023
The Chicks and Dermot Kennedy
Huw Stephens takes the helm for a double bill, which begins with country music, courtesy of The Chicks, who make their Glastonbury debut. Having formed in 1989 in Dallas, performing bluegrass and country standards, The Chicks have evolved over the years and developed a more contemporary sound, with politically charged lyrics, leading the way as country music’s new generation.
From The Other Stage is Dermot Kennedy, the Irish singer-songwriter who has gone from busking to a few in Dublin to performing in front of thousands across the globe. Marking his second return to Glastonbury, in the midst of a North American tour and with two number one albums under his belt - Without Fear and the follow-up, Sonder - the show highlights just what a musical force of nature Dermot Kennedy is on stage.
SUN 21:00 Glastonbury (m001n9z9)
2023
Barrington Levy and Candi Staton
Jamz Supernova introduces an hour from Glastonbury filled with reggae and soul, all from the West Holts stage.
First up is Jamaica’s 80s dancehall/reggae star Barrington Levy, whose distinctive voice brings the JA vibes to Pilton.
Then it's Candi Staton, a woman the club kids will know for the anthemic You Got the Love, while the former club kids and their parents will recall Young Hearts Run Free.
SUN 22:00 Glastonbury (m001n9zc)
2023
The War on Drugs and Queens of the Stone Age
For the closing hours of this year’s festival, Huw Stephens and Glastonbury will not be going quietly as tonight’s performances are all rocking and rolling from the Other Stage.
First up, and originally from the east coast of America, with a synth and guitar approach to rock and roll, The War on Drugs wow the crowd with their hypnotic neo-psychedelic live experience.
They are followed by fellow Americans, from the west coast of Seattle, Queens of the Stone Age, who have just released their eighth studio album, In Times New Roman...
SUN 00:15 Glastonbury (m001n49m)
We Love Glastonbury
As the excitement builds for Glastonbury 2023, this is a trip down memory lane as some of the festival’s biggest fans take a look at some of their favourite performances and the stories behind them.
Noel Gallagher, Self Esteem, Jessie Ware, Nish Kumar, Kerry Godliman, Joe Wicks and more reflect on seeing the likes of Pet Shop Boys, Beyoncé, Janelle Monáe, Foo Fighters, Miley Cyrus and The Killers at Glastonbury.
SUN 01:15 Whoever Heard of a Black Artist? Britain's Hidden Art History (b0bcy4kd)
Brenda Emmanus follows acclaimed artist Sonia Boyce as she leads a team preparing a new exhibition at Manchester Art Gallery highlighting artists of African and Asian descent who have helped to shape the history of British art.
Sonia and her team have spent the past three years scouring our public art archives to find out just how many works of art by artists of African and Asian descent the nation really owns. They have found nearly 2,000, but many of these pieces have rarely, if ever, been displayed before. We go into the stores to rediscover these works and, more importantly, meet the groundbreaking artists from the Windrush generation, the 60s counterculture revolution and the Black Art movement of the 80s.
Contributors include Rasheed Araeen, Lubaina Himid, Yinka Shonibare, the BLK Art Group and Althea McNish.
SUN 02:15 Africa Turns the Page: The Novels That Shaped a Continent (m000mf8x)
Africa has become a superpower in the world of the novel. Shortlists for the world’s major literary prizes are packed with African authors, while novelists like Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie have become international celebrities. But how did Africa become such a hotbed of literary talent? In this fascinating and insightful film, Nigerian-born presenter and historian David Olusoga explores the incredible story of the African novel.
From the 1950s, as African nations fought for independence, writers such as Chinua Achebe, Ngugi wa Thiong’o and Wole Soyinka became the conscience of a continent – often paying a personal price for speaking out against both colonialism and corruption. In their wake, the African novel was to spread around the world - writers of the African diaspora such as Buchi Emecheta and Ben Okri created masterpieces from their adopted home of the United Kingdom. These novelists wrote books that are funny, witty and often tragic. They achieved something that stretched beyond the world of literature – transforming the image of Africa itself.
The programme features interviews with some of the most pre-eminent novelists working today. We hear from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Aminatta Forna and 2019 Booker winner Bernardine Evaristo. The documentary features extraordinary archive of the key novelists and insightful contributions from leading figures whose lives were touched by their writing, including dramatist Kwame Kwei-Armah and MPs Diane Abbott and Kwasi Kwarteng.
MONDAY 26 JUNE 2023
MON 19:00 The Wonder of Bees with Martha Kearney (p01t6p8s)
Episode 1
Martha Kearney's year gets off to a bad start when unseasonal snow in spring threatens to kill the bee colonies she keeps in her garden in Suffolk. With help from a master beekeeper, Martha feeds her bees and takes one of the hives to a wildflower meadow at a neighbour's house along with two brand new hives.
She discovers the intricate hierarchy within the bee colony and learns how the organisation of the hive has become a metaphor for human society. At a London school, she learns the secrets of urban bees' success even while bees in the country as a whole are in decline. The episode ends with three new hives established on a wildflower meadow, ready to start producing classic British wildflower honey.
MON 19:30 Fred Dibnah's Made in Britain (b0078wfk)
Pattern Making
Fred and the boys are staying with the Howard brothers, some old traction engine friends, and taking a break. The engine is having a few problems so it comes into the shed, where Jack takes the front wheel off to see what the problem is. Luckily there are plenty of helping hands around.
Leaving the engine behind, Fred visits David Ragsdale, a skilled pattern maker who just happens to own six steam engines. David explains how it all works, then they go directly to the foundry to see the next stage in the process.
Steam enthusiasts manage to use steam for all manner of things. Fred visits Tom Nuttall, a man who runs a garden centre and museum - all through the power of steam.
The team take a trip out to Ashbourne to visit a clockmaker. The whole workshop is belt driven, just like Fred's garden, and has been a family business since 1826. Fred marvels at the skills and techniques involved in the delicate processes and watches how the tiny teeth are cut into the cogs.
MON 20:00 The Real T Rex with Chris Packham (b09ksl99)
Chris Packham goes on an investigative journey into the mysteries of planet Earth's super predator - Tyrannosaurus rex. The latest groundbreaking palaeontological discoveries combined with studies of modern animals are redefining this iconic dinosaur. Tackling everything from the way he looked, moved, socialised - even down to his terrifying roar - Chris strips away Hollywood myths to uncover the amazing truth, and utilizing the latest CGI wizardry, he rebuilds the most authentic T rex ever seen from the bones up.
Chris's journey begins in the badlands of Montana, where he has the chance to touch a T rex fossil still emerging from the 65-million-year-old rocks. From here he travels to Berlin to visit Tristan, a T rex skeleton recently excavated from the badlands. These bare bones pose more questions and Chris decides his challenge is to rebuild Tristan with CGI, using the latest discoveries to fill in the gaps. He visits palaeontologist Greg Erikson in Alabama, who is exploring the power of T rex's jaws by comparing them to what we can gauge from modern alligators.
Chris learns that although T rex bore similarities to reptiles, his musculature shows him to be more like a bird. He then takes a prehistoric paddle in the rivers of Dino-State Park in Texas, where exposed dinosaur footprints form long trackways that are the passion of dino-paw expert Glen Kuban. His findings lead Chris to compare T rex with modern flightless birds in an effort to work out just how fast he could move. With the help of palaeontologist and biomechanics expert John Hutchinson, he discovers that the huge tail was not a drag but the source of T rex's locomotive power - but that there were limits which we learn when they put a virtual Tristan on a treadmill.
Chris visits Larry Witmer in Ohio, who has used CT scanners to look into a fossilized skull and find the precise shape of T rex's brain. From this, he has identified supersized sensory zones - proving that he is a great hunter - but also an inner ear that indicates he was designed to hear ultra-low frequency infrasounds. Taking this lead, Chris goes to a sound studio in Berlin with palaeontologist Julia Clarke to experiment with recreating the surprising true roar of T rex.
In order to add the final look to Tristan, Julia Clarke, who has scoured microscopic samples of dinosaur skin for evidence of coloration, helps Chris find a palette based on melanin, as seen in modern birds of prey. Just before Tristan is finished, Chris takes one more trip to Alberta, Canada, where he meets palaeontologist Phil Currie, who suggests on the evidence of a recent fossil find that T rex may have been social predators, living in prides like African lions. Finally, Chris sets Tristan free and in a scene Chris has imagined his whole life, he finally gets to go nose to nose with an animal he has longed to meet.
MON 21:00 Secrets of the Jurassic Dinosaurs (m001jfzk)
Series 1
Episode 1
Liz Bonnin joins an international team of palaeontologists in the remote badlands of Wyoming as they investigate a mysterious dinosaur graveyard.
Packed with over a dozen skeletons, including predators such as the fearsome Allosaurus and iconic giants like Diplodocus, as well as fossilised plants and footprints, the site is a treasure trove that is helping to change the way we think about the Jurassic – the golden age of dinosaurs. The astonishing evidence also helps the team to answer why so many dinosaurs came here and what killed them in such great numbers 150 million years ago.
MON 22:00 Planet Dinosaur (b014r8bx)
Original Series
Lost World
From the deadliest killers to the biggest and strangest beasts, Planet Dinosaur brings to life a new and terrifying world of dinosaurs.
More dinosaurs have been discovered in the last two decades than the past 200 years. This series uses the latest CGI and cutting-edge research to reveal the deadly secrets of these new giants.
For the first time on British television, the very latest dino discoveries have been brought together and brought to life in this groundbreaking series, which features a cast of new dinosaurs that will feed the nation's nightmares. The next generation of children aren't going to be talking about the Tyrannosaurus rex; they are about to meet far bigger, badder, more vicious characters that roamed the Earth 95 million years ago.
The series starts in north Africa, where two of the world's biggest predators once battled for supremacy. At 13m and seven tonnes, the carcharodontosaurus was a huge beast, a gigantic lizard-like carnivore with shark-like teeth over six inches long. It was an efficient hunter that would slash at its prey until it bled to death.
But the discovery of an upper jaw in Morocco revealed an even bigger carnivorous killer - spinosaurus. Four metres longer than Tyrannosaurus rex, spinosaurus is thought to have been one of the biggest killers to ever walk the Earth. But unlike the meat-eating carcharodontosaurus, spinosaurus mainly ate fish, living and hunting almost exclusively in the water.
Like all predators that share an environment, the two may once have had to compete for food. Planet Dinosaur takes a look at what one such deadly battle may have looked like and finds out which giant beast would have been most likely to survive a fight to the death.
MON 22:30 Planet Dinosaur (b0151tyd)
Original Series
Feathered Dragons
The second episode of the documentary series takes a look at bizarre and extraordinary feathered dinosaurs, many of which have only just been discovered. These feathered beasts are revolutionising our understanding of life on Earth as they blur the boundaries between what we know of dinosaurs and birds.
China sits at the heart of the feathered dinosaur discoveries and is the home of one of the most unusual discoveries on Earth: the epidexipteryx. Only the size of a pigeon, this predator was the most bird-like of any dinosaur and is the first known case of ornamental feathers.
But feathers were not just confined to the small. From caudipteryx to sinosauropteryx and the eight-metre-long gigantoraptor, feathers may have been used for flight, for insulation or even to attract. These dinosaurs not only hint at how animals might have developed flight, but also suggest that dinosaurs may still live among us today - as birds.
MON 23:00 Walking with Dinosaurs (p008cm09)
Original series
New Blood
First in a six part series in which the lost world of dinosaurs is recreated using the latest technology, including computerised animation and animatronic puppets. The story begins 220 million years ago, when the first dinosaurs emerged.
MON 23:30 Walking with Dinosaurs (p008cm33)
Original series
Time of the Titans
This programme looks at the Jurassic period and follows the early years of a female Diplodocus. It also features the enormous Brachiosaurus and the flying reptile Anurognathus, which survived by hanging on to dinosaurs 150 times its own size.
MON 00:00 Coming Oot! A Fabulous History of Gay Scotland (b06qsv9r)
Celebrating the postwar history of Scotland's gay community which, over 70 years, has seen gay men and lesbians transform from Scotland's pariahs to Scotland's pride. Using a rich mix of eyewitness testimony, jaw-dropping archive and historical research, the documentary charts radically changing attitudes. Scotland was over a decade behind England and Wales in decriminalising homosexuality but now has the best gay rights in Europe: nothing short of a revolution.
MON 01:00 Fred Dibnah's Made in Britain (b0078wfk)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:30 today]
MON 01:30 The Real T Rex with Chris Packham (b09ksl99)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 today]
MON 02:30 Secrets of the Jurassic Dinosaurs (m001jfzk)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
TUESDAY 27 JUNE 2023
TUE 19:00 The Wonder of Bees with Martha Kearney (p01t6p94)
Episode 2
Martha discovers a bee with deformed wing virus in one of the hives she has set up on a Suffolk wildflower meadow. With the help of a master beekeeper, she treats the hive for verroa mite. Britain's leading bee scientist explains the role of verroa in the decline of bees throughout the country.
As spring arrives, Martha witnesses the growth of the colony and watches as bee larvae hatch out. She investigates the science behind the decline of the honey bee and examines evidence that pesticides may be to blame. Back at her cottage, she tackles a colony of angry bees by replacing their queen with a more mild-mannered individual ordered online and delivered through the post, and she meets the archbishop of Canterbury to talk about his family's love of beekeeping and why he told the bees about his girlfriends.
TUE 19:30 Fred Dibnah's Made in Britain (b0078wjp)
Engines at Work
Fred meets up with a few old friends at the North Staffs and Cheshire Traction Engine Club. All the engines are in steam so Fred is in his element, chatting to his mates and enjoying a pint or two. The next day Fred goes to see Len Crane at Bratch Pumping Station, where Len has spent the last six years restoring a great triple expansion engine that was used to pump the water.
They call in at the Severn Valley Railway at Bridgenorth for a chat about the locos and a tour round the workshops. Unfortunately Fred does so much chatting he misses his chance to have a ride on the footplate.
Moving on from Bridgenorth Fred, Alf and Jimmy visit the Black Country Living Museum to learn about the rich mining history of the area.
TUE 20:00 Hancock's Half Hour (p032khyk)
The Alpine Holiday
Hancock decides to take a holiday and after an eventful flight has to share his hotel room with a yodeller and Alpine Horn player.
TUE 20:30 Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? (b0077k1l)
Series 1
Storm in a Tea Chest
Terry helps Bob move his most treasured possessions from his old house to the new one, but Thelma refuses to have his junk in their home.
TUE 21:00 Kenneth Williams: Fantabulosa! (b0074s9v)
Witty drama adapted from Kenneth Williams's own words in his diaries. It's a spectacular journey inside the mind of one of British radio, TV and film's most popular, peculiar and comic performers. And one of its most tragic, too.
Spanning his entire life, this is the story of Williams's career and private life, a behind-the-scenes look at Williams, not only recreating some of his greatest performances, but also giving a candid and poignant insight into his professional hopes, personal upsets and sexual frustrations of a man who was uncomfortable in his own skin.
The screenplay is rude, arch, uncompromising and hilarious. Michael Sheen delivers a tour-de-force performance as ‘the man of a thousand voices’.
TUE 22:20 Comic Roots (p02rtqvm)
Series 2
Kenneth Williams
Kenneth Williams explores his roots in and around London's St Pancras, where he grew up.
Architecture, poetry, art and music were the formative influences on Kenneth Williams: the slum architecture of St Pancras where he grew up, the liquid poetry of his Gran's fruity anecdotes, the art of the Marcel wave practised by his hairdresser father and the musical knees-up at The Boot pub.
TUE 22:50 What Do Artists Do All Day? (b06qnn2d)
Yinka Shonibare
Best known for 'Nelson's Ship in a Bottle', which appeared on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square, Yinka Shonibare MBE is one of Britain's foremost contemporary artists, rising to fame as part of the 'Sensation' generation along with Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin in the early 1990s.
Since then Shonibare has created a unique body of work. Often influenced by his Nigerian origins and combining darkness and humour, his art challenges our ideas about cultural identity and the post-colonial world.
For the last 20 years Shonibare has created a series of distinctive 'mannequin' figures - anonymous, headless and dressed in African batik fabrics. This film follows Shonibare creating his latest figure and talking about his life and career.
TUE 23:20 Johnny Kingdom: A Year on Exmoor (b00793st)
Series 1
Birds and Beasts
Gravedigger Johnny Kingdom presents a look at the wildlife of the moors and woodlands of Exmoor. It's early January, normally a quiet time of year for filming wildlife. But suddenly some wild boars are let loose and Johnny and the media descend on Exmoor to try and find them. It's also the time of year to film spoonbills, one of the migrating birds that visit Exmoor in the winter, but to do that he must find a way of getting closer to them.
TUE 23:50 Johnny Kingdom: A Year on Exmoor (b00793xh)
Series 1
New Life and Old Friends
Grave-digger Johnny Kingdom presents a look at the wildlife of the moors and woodlands of Exmoor. Spring has finally arrived on Exmoor and it's Johnny's busiest time of year for filming. But he's very worried about his three-legged pet deer Bambi who he rescued 12 years ago. She is not well and Johnny knows that the day is fast approaching when he'll have to make a very difficult decision about her future.
TUE 00:20 From Ice to Fire: The Incredible Science of Temperature (b09rzqp3)
Series 1
Frozen Solid
Everything around us - from the tiniest insect on Earth to the most distant stars of the cosmos - exists somewhere on a vast scale from cold to hot. In this series, physicist Dr Helen Czerski explores the extraordinary science of temperature. She unlocks the extremes of the temperature scale, from absolute zero to searing heat of stars - and reveals how temperature works, how deep its influence on our lives is, and why it's the hidden force that has shaped our planet and the entire universe.
In episode one, Helen ventures to the bottom of the temperature scale, revealing how cold has shaped the world around us and why frozen doesn't mean what you might think. She meets the scientists pushing temperature to the very limits of cold, where the normal laws of physics break down and a new world of scientific possibility begins. The extraordinary behaviour of matter at temperatures close to absolute zero is driving the advance of technology, from superconductors to quantum computing.
TUE 01:20 Fred Dibnah's Made in Britain (b0078wjp)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:30 today]
TUE 01:50 Kenneth Williams: Fantabulosa! (b0074s9v)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
WEDNESDAY 28 JUNE 2023
WED 19:00 The Wonder of Bees with Martha Kearney (p01t6pgg)
Episode 3
Spring has well and truly sprung and the hives are going from strength to strength, but that brings with it a problem of its own - the swarm. As the colonies become overcrowded, the bees become likely to depart in a swarm with the queen, leaving just a few behind to rear a new queen. It's a natural process, but for the beekeeper it can be a disaster, leaving the hive all but empty with little prospect of a harvest of honey.
Martha discovers methods to control the swarms, including clipping the wings of the queen, but she also meets a natural beekeeper for whom wing clipping is horrifying. When one of her hives swarms, Martha's neighbours leap to the rescue and she harvests the first honey of the year.
WED 19:30 Fred Dibnah's Made in Britain (b0078wmp)
Chains and Copper
Fred, Alf and Jimmy continue their investigation of the Black Country by watching the skills of an authentic chain maker, producing chains in the same way as they would have been in 1910. After all that hard work they sit down to enjoy fish and chips washed down with a pint of local ale.
They have a long journey ahead, travelling all the way from Dudley to Anglesey to visit Parys Mountain, a vast copper mine that was once the largest in the world.
The copper from Parys Mountain would be made into sheets and taken to a copper spinner just like the one Fred goes to visit in the East Midlands. The spinning process may look easy but, as Fred discovers, there is a lot of skill involved.
After leaving Anglesey they travel further down into Wales making an overnight stop at Ffestiniog railway, originally built to transport slate from Ffestiniog to Porthmadog. While the others look after the traction engine, Fred enjoys a ride and drive on the footplate of an 1891 slate shunting engine. He also takes a look around the maintenance yard where he sees Prince - possibly the oldest working steam engine in the world, dating back to 1863.
WED 20:00 New Zealand: Earth's Mythical Islands (b07lp34l)
Cast Adrift
Isolated since the time of the dinosaurs, New Zealand's wildlife has been left to its own devices, with surprising consequences. Its ancient forests are still stalked by predators from the Jurassic era. It's also one of the most geologically active countries on earth.
From Kiwis with their giant eggs, to forest-dwelling penguins and helicopter-riding sheep dogs, meet the astonishing creatures and resilient people who must rise to the challenges of their beautiful, dramatic and demanding home.
WED 21:00 PQ17: An Arctic Convoy Disaster (b03n3297)
Jeremy Clarkson tells the dramatic story of the Arctic convoys of the Second World War, from Russia to the freezing Arctic Ocean.
Accompanied by moving first hand testimony from the men who served on these convoys, Clarkson reveals the incredible hazards faced by members of the Merchant and Royal Navy who delivered vital war supplies via the Arctic to the Soviet Union: temperatures of minus 50 degrees, huge icebergs, colossal waves, not to mention German U-boats and the Luftwaffe. It is no wonder that Churchill described the Arctic Convoys as 'the worst journey in the world.'
Between 1941 and 1945, more than 70 convoys delivered 4 million tonnes of material to the USSR, yet one convoy in particular would come to symbolise the dangers faced by the men who served on them. Codenamed PQ17, this convoy of 35 merchant ships would be described by Churchill as one of the most melancholy naval episodes of the war.
Retracing the route of PQ17 from the Arctic to the Russian winter port of Archangel, Clarkson reveals how, on the night of July 4th 1942, this joint Anglo-American convoy became one of the biggest naval disasters of the 20th century. To make matters worse, the cause of the disaster lay not in the brutal conditions of the Arctic, or the military might of the Germans, but a misjudgement made in the corridors of the Admiralty in London.
WED 22:00 Eskimo Day (b00gq60w)
Jack Rosenthal-penned comedy drama following three sets of parents as they chaperone their children through the selection process of Cambridge University.
WED 23:25 Johnny Kingdom: A Year on Exmoor (b007941d)
Series 1
I'd Love to See a Badger
Gravedigger Johnny Kingdom presents a look at the wildlife of the moors and woodlands of Exmoor. Spring is well under way and the bluebells will be out soon at Johnny's new hide, which means he should be filming badger cubs any day now. But there's a problem - there's no sign of any cubs, and the food he's put down for the badgers is being eaten by squirrels, pheasants and rats. Johnny invites Tony Thorne to the hide to see if he'll bring him luck, but he's forgotten that Tony's afraid of rats.
WED 23:55 Johnny Kingdom: A Year on Exmoor (b0079459)
Series 1
Close Encounters
Gravedigger and amateur cameraman Johnny Kingdom films the wildlife of the moors and woodlands of Exmoor. It's early summer and Johnny is determined to film red deer calves and fox cubs but he's got to find them first. He's soon on the foxes' trail but the deer search leads to a close encounter with an animal that no-one realised was living wild on Exmoor. It's also Revel Week in his home village, Bishops Nympton, and a chance to join in old customs and celebrate a new landlord at the local pub.
WED 00:25 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 01:25 Fred Dibnah's Made in Britain (b0078wmp)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:30 today]
WED 01:55 PQ17: An Arctic Convoy Disaster (b03n3297)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
WED 02:55 New Zealand: Earth's Mythical Islands (b07lp34l)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 today]
THURSDAY 29 JUNE 2023
THU 19:00 The NHS: A People's History (b0b98x61)
Series 1
Episode 1
This episode covers the first quarter-century of the service and unveils a host of unique artefacts, including the graduation certificate of a doctor who only qualified on the NHS's first day and yet was thrown straight into surgery, one of the last remaining roadworthy Invacars, specialist vehicles adapted for disabled drivers that were handed out for free in the 1960s, and even a tiny booklet listing a family's expenditure on doctor's fees - a stark reminder of life before the NHS, when every GP visit came with a charge.
Patients and staff tell their experiences of how the NHS was not immune from the prejudices of 1960s Britain. Actress Joan Hooley shares a copy of her first performance in the ITV drama Emergency Ward 10, where her role as a hospital doctor - who happened to be both a woman and black - sent shockwaves through society. We discover how a simple pair of earrings transports their owner back to a time in which draconian attitudes towards sex nearly cost her her life. And we see how an ornate ginger jar and the mysterious death of its owner exposed a British class system that allowed some GPs to operate with alarmingly little oversight.
But despite an ever more fractured society, a medical revolution was happening, and as the decades progressed, it was clear that free access to medical care was dramatically improving the health of the nation. A leading orthopaedic surgeon reveals the groundbreaking device invented by an NHS doctor in the 50s which revolutionised hip replacement surgery, whilst the daughter of a GP unfurls an incredible scroll of records of every case of childhood disease he treated; fascinating primary evidence of the extraordinary impact of the nation's first NHS-funded vaccine campaign.
Inspired by the remarkable objects still in their possession, this is the story of the ordinary people who make up an extraordinary service.
THU 20:00 Timeshift (b03gtg7g)
Series 13
When Coal Was King
Timeshift explores the lost world of coal mining and the extraordinarily rich social and cultural lives of those who worked in what was once Britain's most important industry. It's a story told through a largely forgotten film archive that movingly documents the final years of coal's heyday from the 1940s to the 1980s. One priceless piece of footage features a ballet performance by tutu-wearing colliers.
Featuring contributions from those who worked underground, those who lived in the pit villages, those who filmed them at work and at play and those - like Billy Elliot writer Lee Hall - who have been inspired by what made coalfield culture so unique.
Narrated by Christopher Eccleston.
THU 21:00 The Producers (m000x93g)
A struggling producer and timid accountant scheme to make money by putting on a Broadway show they know will flop, so none of the numerous investors will expect their cash back. A tasteless glorification of Hitler and the Nazis looks guaranteed to fail.
THU 22:25 Screen Two (p033cncb)
Series 15
Stonewall
A young gay man arrives in New York in the summer of 1969, when homosexuality is still illegal. He is drawn to Stonewall, the wild haunt of fabulous drag queens.
THU 00:00 Johnny Kingdom: A Year on Exmoor (b0079495)
Series 1
Strange Sights
Gravedigger and amateur cameraman Johnny Kingdom films the wildlife of the moors and woodlands of Exmoor. Johnny's back on the trail of the red deer calves and is determined not to give up until he finds a newborn one. But he keeps being distracted by strange sights - a red-legged partridge herding her brood of tiny chicks, a sparrow killing a privet moth and a family of stoats near his friend's kitchen. He also pays a visit to the Exmoor Pony Centre to get on a horse for the first time.
THU 00:30 Johnny Kingdom: A Year on Exmoor (b00794dr)
Series 1
Farewell Old Friend
Gravedigger and amateur cameraman Johnny Kingdom films the wildlife of the moors and woodlands of Exmoor. It's summer and Johnny has great news - he has managed to buy the land that his badger hide is on. But his excitement is overshadowed by worries about Bambi, his three-legged pet deer, whose leg is getting worse. As he tries to come to terms with this, the village ask him to open their biggest annual event, the Bishops Nympton Flower Show - a great honour, but also a daunting prospect.
THU 01:00 From Ice to Fire: The Incredible Science of Temperature (b09t9txy)
Series 1
Playing with Fire
Dr Helen Czerksi explores the extraordinary science of heat. She reveals how heat is the hidden energy contained within matter, with the power to transform it from one state to another. Our ability to harness this fundamental law of science has led to some of humanity's greatest achievements, from the molten metals that enabled us to make tools, to the great engines of the Industrial Revolution powered by steam, to the searing heat of plasmas that offer almost unlimited power.
THU 02:00 Timeshift (b03gtg7g)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 today]
THU 03:00 The NHS: A People's History (b0b98x61)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 today]
FRIDAY 30 JUNE 2023
FRI 19:00 Top of the Pops (b008s9r7)
Christmas 1994
The boys from Take That present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 25 December 1994 and featuring 1994's biggest selling songs and live performances from D:Ream, Doop, Stiltskin, Wet Wet Wet, Mariah Carey, Let Loose, Whigfield and East 17.
FRI 20:00 Top of the Pops (b0940bzk)
Steve Wright and Andy Peebles present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 28 June 1984. Featuring The Bluebells, Human League, Bob Marley & The Wailers, Alison Moyet, Scritti Politti and Frankie Goes To Hollywood.
FRI 20:30 Top of the Pops (b01l4fyj)
Noel Edmonds looks at the weekly pop chart from 1977 and introduces John Miles, Hot Chocolate, Jesse Green, Cliff Richard, Queen and Legs & Co.
FRI 21:00 Elton John: Live at Wembley 1977 (m001nc51)
This special Elton John charity concert at Wembley Arena - then called the Empire Pool, Wembley - was originally shown on BBC1 on a November evening in 1977 and shortened to 50 minutes to fit in between Are You Being Served? and an episode of Panorama.
The concert famously saw Elton announce his retirement from live touring - a commitment that fans everywhere were happy to see him eventually break.
Now, using extra footage from the BBC archives, this longer version of the show is being screened for the very first time, restoring some classic Elton performances of songs like Benny and the Jets, Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me and Don’t Go Breaking My Heart.
This new extended version also sees Elton joined onstage by fellow music legend Stevie Wonder for a special and incredibly rare guest appearance.
FRI 23:05 The Old Grey Whistle Test (m001nc55)
Blondie in Concert: 1979
Blondie perform live at the height of their powers in 1979 at the Apollo Theatre in Glasgow, with Debbie Harry wowing the audience with such hits as Dreaming, Union City Blue, Atomic, Picture This, Heart of Glass, Hanging on the Telephone and Sunday Girl.
FRI 23:45 Manic Street Preachers at Blackwood Miners' Institute (m001nc59)
Highlights of Manic Street Preachers' 2011 homecoming gig at Blackwood Miners' Institute in Wales, the first time they had played in their home town of Blackwood for over 25 years.
FRI 00:20 Texas with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (b08vfk31)
Texas join forces with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in the iconic Barrowland in Glasgow for a special collaboration, originally broadcast for BBC Music Day in 2017. The set features unique versions of classic tracks like Summer Son, I Don't Want a Lover and Black Eyed Boy.
FRI 01:20 Sparks: 6 Music Festival (m001nd67)
In an exclusive performance for 6 Music Festival 2017 at 02 Academy Glasgow, Sparks premiere songs from their album Hippopotamus and play hits from throughout their career.
FRI 02:20 The Making of Elton John: Madman Across the Water (b00vs4yv)
Documentary exploring Elton John's childhood, apprenticeship in the British music business, sudden stardom in the US at the dawn of the 70s and his musical heyday. Plus the backstory to the album reuniting him with Leon Russell, his American mentor. Features extensive exclusive interviews with Elton, plus colleagues and collaborators including Bernie Taupin, Leon Russell and others.
FRI 03:20 The Old Grey Whistle Test (m001nc55)
[Repeat of broadcast at
23:05 today]