SATURDAY 13 APRIL 2024

SAT 19:00 Rick Stein's Long Weekends (b083bzx2)
Copenhagen

This week, Rick Stein visits the home of new Nordic cuisine - Copenhagen - where groundbreaking chefs create artful dishes and religiously stick to seasonal Danish ingredients.

Rick goes foraging for rosehip, learns about the art of pickling buds, bark and flowers and how to create razor clam shells from dough. But he is cheered to also find plenty of traditional favourites, like the city's famous Smorrebrod open sandwiches on rye bread, delicious poached turbot with cabbage and lemon butter sauce and of course the ubiquitous Danish pastry or two!

At home, he cooks fried pork belly with lovage potatoes and parsley sauce - voted Denmark's favourite dish.


SAT 20:00 Amazon with Bruce Parry (b00f0ytw)
Episode 4

Bruce Parry reaches the halfway point of his epic journey in the vast nature reserve of Mamiraua, home to the Amazon's most iconic species. He lives with the Ribeirinho, the river people, and hunts for the Amazon's biggest fish, the pirarucu.


SAT 21:00 Wisting (m001xx1l)
Series 3

Episode 1

On an idyllic summer evening, six-year-old Clifford Greenwood disappears from the hotel owned by his grandfather. The next morning, an employee is found brutally murdered. Detective William Wisting believes the boy was kidnapped. The Greenwood family is shocked, but Wisting soon discovers they have secrets of their own.


SAT 21:45 Wisting (m001xx1n)
Series 3

Episode 2

A ransom demand arrives for Clifford, bearing a very cryptic message that suggests he's been taken as part of a revenge plot. Meanwhile Line discovers that her ex, Tommy, has been hanging around with a very bad crew and wonders if they could be connected.


SAT 22:30 Tommy Cooper at the BBC (m000stwt)
To mark 100 years since the birth of comedy legend Tommy Cooper, Sir Lenny Henry - one of Tommy’s biggest fans - takes a look back through the BBC’s archives and shares some of the great man’s finest and funniest moments. This collection features some of Cooper’s most famous routines, and shows that his reputation for terrible tricks that inevitably went wrong was all based on an act.He was actually a master magician, perfectly suited to television’s golden age.


SAT 23:00 The Art of Tommy Cooper (b007hzl2)
Tommy Cooper was a national comedy institution whose catchphrases still remain in the language today. This bumbling giant with outsized feet and hands, whose mere entrance on stage had audiences erupting with uncontrollable laughter, was born in Caerphilly in 1921, where a statue is now erected in his honour - unveiled by Sir Anthony Hopkins.

This programme looks at the life and art of the man in the fez, whose clumsy, fumbling stage magic tricks hid a real talent as a magician. His private life was complicated and often difficult, but as far as his audiences were concerned, he was first and foremost a clown whose confusion with the mechanisms of everyday life made for hilarious viewing.


SAT 23:30 Parkinson: The Interviews (b01f7x12)
Series 1

Tommy Cooper and Frankie Howerd

Michael Parkinson introduces a recut of two interviews he did with Frankie Howerd during the Parkinson show series and a Christmas interview with Tommy Cooper.

Frankie Howerd wanted everything scripted, resulting in an unprompted and unrehearsed interview, whilst Tommy Cooper managed to run rings around a delighted Parkinson. Includes clips from Up Pompeii, The Main Attraction and The Bob Monkhouse Show.


SAT 00:05 To the Manor Born (b007881n)
Series 3

Birds vs Bees

Audrey starts a business selling honey. A rare bee-eating bird spotted by Marjorie brings lots of people to the village. Audrey sees this as an ideal opportunity to sell her honey.


SAT 00:35 No Place Like Home (p0hl2zb9)
Series 1

Episode 2

Arthur is perturbed when his eldest daughter discards her inept husband to return home to join all the others.


SAT 01:05 Rick Stein's Long Weekends (b083bzx2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


SAT 02:05 Amazon with Bruce Parry (b00f0ytw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]

SUNDAY 14 APRIL 2024

SUN 19:00 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 20:00 Flying Scotsman from the Footplate (b087k5rf)
Another chance to enjoy the view from the driving seat of the world's most famous steam locomotive as Flying Scotsman travels the length of the Severn Valley Railway.

Special 'cab cameras' and microphones capture all the action from the footplate. Viewers can appreciate the evocative sound of steam transportation as this magnificent engine attracts crowds from far and wide.

Veteran driver Roger Norfolk and fireman Ryan Green guide Scotsman on the leisurely journey through the countryside of the English midlands, from Bridgnorth in Shropshire to Kidderminster in Worcestershire. Hundreds of enthusiasts also watch and wave from platforms, bridges and surrounding fields.


SUN 21:00 Sir Neville Marriner at the Proms: Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony (m001ych5)
Neville Marriner conducts leader Kenneth Sillito and the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields in a performance of Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony. They are joined by tenor Anthony Rolfe Johnson in Britten's Les Illuminations. Introduced by Richard Baker.


SUN 21:55 Sir Neville Marriner: Schubert's Symphony No 10 (m001ych7)
Schubert was a sick man by the year of his death, yet in that last year, 1828, he still managed to complete an incredible number of masterpieces. He died at the tragically early age of 31, leaving sketches for a tenth symphony.

Jane Glover discusses the work involved in realising these sketches with Brian Newbould, professor of music at the University of Hull, and it is performed by the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields, led by Christopher Warren-Green and conducted by Neville Marriner.

Recorded in St David's Hall, Cardiff.


SUN 22:30 imagine... (b00fqn6q)
Autumn 2008

Richard Serra: Man of Steel

Sculptor and giant of modern art Richard Serra discusses his extraordinary life and work.

A creator of enormous, immediately identifiable steel sculptures that both terrify and mesmerise, Serra believes that each viewer creates the sculpture for themselves by being within it.

To this end, a Japanese family are reminded of the Temples of Kyoto, a Londoner finds sanctuary in the Serra near Liverpool Street station, and most movingly, a Holocaust survivor sees one piece as a wall separating the living from the dead.

Contributors include Chuck Close, Philip Glass and Glenn D Lowry, Director of MoMA.


SUN 23:25 Face to Face (p0069smj)
Henry Moore

John Freeman interviews Henry Moore in this programme from the series renowned for its frank and open approach. Moore talks about his much-loved father, his inspirational school art teacher, the cost of materials and how much he hates working to commission.


SUN 23:55 What Do Artists Do All Day? (b03z08ms)
Antony Gormley

Sir Antony Gormley is one of the world's most popular artists. His iconic Angel of the North is a universally-admired work of public art and his sculptures have been seen by millions in cities all over the world.

In this film we follow Gormley and his team in their busy Kings Cross studio, preparing a work called Tanker Field - a group of 60 enormous steel figures that are to be shown together at the Paul Klee museum in Bern. Reflecting on the ideas behind his sculptures, the collaborative nature of his studio and the excitement he still feels as new projects come together, the film offers an intimate and fascinating insight into one of the great artists of our time.


SUN 00:25 Britain's Most Fragile Treasure (b0161dgq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


SUN 01:25 Flying Scotsman from the Footplate (b087k5rf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


SUN 02:25 Sir Neville Marriner: Schubert's Symphony No 10 (m001ych7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:55 today]

MONDAY 15 APRIL 2024

MON 19:00 Great Australian Railway Journeys (m0009v31)
Series 1

Port Augusta to Darwin: The Ghan

Michael Portillo ventures down under to experience one of the world’s greatest rail journeys aboard the legendary Ghan Railway. His 1913 Bradshaw’s Guide tells him 'a transcontinental railway is being constructed' and he traces its route from the southern harbour of Port Augusta to the port of Darwin on the north coast.

Along the way, Michael uncovers the history of the ambitious project, which stretches nearly 2,000 miles across Australia’s red centre, and learns why it took nearly a century to complete.

Steaming through the Flinders Ranges, Michael travels on the Pichi Richi heritage railway - the only remaining part of the Old Ghan line in operation - before boarding the luxurious modern passenger service at Alice Springs bound for Darwin. Nearly a kilometre in length, the Ghan is hauled by two locomotives and three power vans, contains four kitchens, five restaurants, five bars and 23 carriages of accommodation.

In the Outback city of Alice Springs, Michael meets the indigenous Arrente people of the region around their campfire, where he hears dreaming stories and shares their bush-tucker. He learns first-hand how their grandparents were mistreated at the time of his guidebook, when state policy required that children be taken from their families to be assimilated into white society.

Orphaned joeys Tilly and Max are pleased to see Michael at Brolga’s Kangaroo Sanctuary in Alice Springs. Max enjoys a cuddle, while a hungry Tilly wants to be fed.

Close by, at Bond Springs Cattle Station, Michael discovers the rags to riches story of the early 20th-century cattle king Sidney Kidman, and meets the family who today run one of his former ranches. Fellow passengers aboard the Ghan take Michael by surprise on his journey between Alice Springs and Katherine, where he alights to explore the traditional lands of aboriginal groups along the exquisite Katherine Gorge.

Arriving in Darwin, capital of the tropical Northern Territory, on the eve of ANZAC day, Michael joins Australians to mark the anniversary of the First World War battle that defined their nation.


MON 20:00 Britain in Focus: A Photographic History (b08k0srb)
Series 1

Episode 3

In the final episode, Eamonn McCabe traces the story of British photography from the explosion of colour images in the late 1950s to the ongoing impact of the digital revolution.

Eamonn enters the colourful Britain of postcard producer John Hinde, whose postwar experiments with colour photography captured a new mood of optimism and leisure in the country. He sees how colour snaps began to replace black-and-white prints in the family album as cheaper cameras and new processing techniques allowed ordinary people to record the world around them in colour. Eamonn meets John Bulmer, who broke new ground by using colour for documentary photography in his striking images of the north of England for the Sunday Times colour magazine. And he finds out why Jane Bown refused to follow the trend by sticking to black and white for her striking portraits of the era's most memorable faces.

Eamonn explores how a new, independent movement in photography emerged in the 1970s, fostering talents like Peter Mitchell, who used colour photography to comment on a changing urban Britain. Eamonn sees how this new movement encouraged Fay Godwin to infuse her poetic landscapes with political and environmental concerns, and meets Birmingham-based photographer Vanley Burke, whose work chronicled the growing African-Caribbean community in Handsworth. And Eamonn joins one of today's best-known British photographers, Martin Parr, to find out how he has trained a satirical eye on modern society.

Assessing the impact of the 'big bang' of digital photography, Eamonn goes back to his roots as a sports photographer - covering boxing in the East End of London. He reflects on how technology has developed from when he started in the 1970s, with manual cameras and rolls of film, to the digital cameras of today. Eamonn then sees how the digital revolution has shaped a new generation of practitioners - in whose hands a thoroughly 21st-century British photography is being created.


MON 21:00 Britain's Lost Masterpieces (m000b1gs)
Series 4

Birmingham

Could two anonymous landscape paintings, discovered at Birmingham Art Gallery, be by artists whose work profoundly influenced the development of European landscape painting in the 17th and 18th centuries?

The first, a very badly damaged picture whose panel has spilt into two pieces is currently just attributed to the Flemish School rather than any single artist. The second is a forest scene thought to be a copy of a famous painting by Gainsborough.

Dr Bendor Grosvenor believes the damaged painting is by Jan Breughel the Elder, a seminal figure in Antwerp during the 16th century. He believes the second painting is good enough to be by Gainsborough himself. The Flemish landscape tradition was a source of inspiration to Thomas Gainsborough. If these works are, as Bendor suspects, by these two eminent artists, they provide a fascinating, and previously missing, episode in the story of the development of landscape painting in European art.


MON 22:00 Pompeii: The Mystery of the People Frozen in Time (b01rn6c2)
The city of Pompeii uniquely captures the public's imagination - in AD79 a legendary volcanic disaster left its citizens preserved in ashes to this very day. Yet no-one has been able to unravel the full story that is at the heart of our fascination - how did those bodies become frozen in time?

For the first time, the BBC has been granted unique access to these strange, ghost-like body casts that populate the ruins and, using the latest forensic technology, the chance to peer beneath the surface of the plaster in order to rebuild the faces of two of the people who were killed in this terrible tragedy.

Margaret Mountford turns detective to tell a new story at the heart of one of history's most iconic moments, as she looks at the unique set of circumstances that led to the remarkable preservation of the people of Pompeii. By applying modern-day forensic analysis to this age-old mystery, Margaret dispels the myths surrounding the events in AD79. She also explores the lives of the individuals who once lived in this vibrant and enigmatic city and recreates the last moments of the people caught up in this tragedy.


MON 23:00 A Picture of Birmingham, by Benjamin Zephaniah (m001bmc0)
Poet Benjamin Zephaniah revisits the place of his birth, Birmingham, on a mission to compose a new poem, which he will then read out on the streets of the city. While there, he watches Aston Villa and revisits the approved school he went to when he was a child.


MON 23:30 Victorian Sensations (m00059cx)
Series 1

Electric Dreams

Victorian Sensations transports us to the last years of Queen Victoria’s reign to explore a moment of thrilling discovery and change that continues to resonate today.

In the first of three films focusing on the technology, art and culture of the 1890s, mathematician Dr Hannah Fry explores how the latest innovations, including x-rays, safety bicycles and proto-aeroplanes, transformed society and promised a cleaner, brighter and more egalitarian future.

Whereas Victorian progress in the 19th century had been powered by steam and gas, the end of the 1800s marked the beginning of a new 'Electric Age'. Hannah discovers how electrical energy dominated the zeitgeist, with medical quacks marketing battery-powered miracle cures, and America’s new electric chair inspiring stage magicians to electrify their illusions. The future had arrived, courtesy of underground trains and trams (as well as electric cars), and in the 1890s the first houses built specifically with electricity in mind were constructed.

Like our own time, there was concern about where this technology would lead and who was in control. HG Wells warned of bio-terrorism, while the skies were increasingly seen as a future battleground, fuelling the race to develop powered flight.

Hannah outlines the excitement around the coming Electric Age. Electricity was a signifier of modernity, and Hannah discovers how electric light not only redefined the way we saw ourselves but changed what we expected from our homes. The new enthusiasm for all things electric was also something exploited by canny entrepreneurs. In the 1890s, many believed that electricity was life itself and that nervous energy could be recharged like a battery.

In 1896, out of nowhere, the x-ray arrived in Britain. Hannah delves into the story of what Victorians considered to be a superhuman power. This cutting-edge technology was a smash hit with the public, who found the ghoulish ability to peer under flesh endlessly entertaining. In the medical profession, x-rays caused a revolution and, as well as changing our views of our bodies, the x-ray revealed new fears in society about personal privacy and control over technology - concerns that sound very familiar today.

Electricity ruled the imagination, but it was a simple mechanical device that brought the greatest challenge to the social order: the safety bicycle. It offered freedom on a scale unimagined before and, for women of the time in particular, a new independence, changes to their clothes to make cycling easier and the opportunity for a chance encounter with a member of the opposite sex. But there was also a darker side, with fears of how technology might be turned against us becoming a constant element in contemporary 1890s fiction.

One technological landmark that the Victorians knew was coming, and that they (rightly) anticipated would one day unleash fire and bombs on British cities, was the flying machine. A thing of fantasy yet also, due to the ingenuity of the age’s engineers, something that might become a reality at any moment. Leading the way for British hopes of achieving powered flight was Percy Pilcher. Hannah looks at how, after several successful flights, Pilcher designed a triplane with an engine he intended to fly, when disaster struck.


MON 00:30 Henry VIII's Enforcer: The Rise and Fall of Thomas Cromwell (b01t03ky)
Thomas Cromwell has gone down in history as one of the most corrupt and manipulative ruffians ever to hold power in England. A chief minister who used his position to smash the Roman Catholic church in England and loot the monasteries for his own gain. A man who used torture to bring about the execution of the woman who had once been his friend and supporter - Anne Boleyn.

Diarmaid MacCulloch, professor of the history of the church at Oxford University, reveals a very different image of Cromwell. The award-winning novels of Hilary Mantel began the revival of Cromwell's reputation, and now Professor MacCulloch presents Henry VIII's chief minister as a principled and pioneering statesman who was driven by radical evangelism.

Cromwell's extraordinary career blossomed after a childhood marked by poverty and violence. The unschooled son of a brewer, he travelled across Europe as a young man and mysteriously taught himself to speak several languages in addition to accounting and knowledge of the law. When Henry VIII failed to persuade the pope to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, Cromwell engineered an incredible solution. Using his political skills he persuaded Parliament and the people to accept a mythological rewriting of the history of England in which the English monarch was as an emperor whose power superseded that of the pope.

Professor MacCulloch describes Cromwell as an evangelical reformer, determined to break the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic church and introduce the people of England to a new type of Christianity in which each individual makes direct contact with God.


MON 01:30 Great Australian Railway Journeys (m0009v31)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


MON 02:30 Britain in Focus: A Photographic History (b08k0srb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]

TUESDAY 16 APRIL 2024

TUE 19:00 Great Australian Railway Journeys (m000b1zx)
Series 1

Sydney to Broken Hill

Michael Portillo explores New South Wales, steered by his 1913 Bradshaw’s Guide. He strikes west into the Blue Mountains and travels 570 miles into the interior of the vast Australian continent to reach the mining city of Broken Hill.

Beginning in the waterside metropolis of Sydney, the NSW capital, Michael investigates the origins of the city as a penal colony, visiting the Hyde Park Barracks, where many of the first convicts were housed. Taking his courage in both hands, Michael climbs to the top of the Coathanger to admire the view of the harbour and tours the city’s iconic Opera House.

At Bondi Beach, he joins volunteers from the Bondi Surf Bathers’ Life Saving Club, founded at the time of his guidebook, for rescue practice. In the Blue Mountains, Michael hears from indigenous guide Yamandirra about his people’s relationship to the land and is ceremonially 'welcomed to the country'.

At Katoomba, Michael is in for the ride of his life on the steepest railway in the world. How to follow this 125-second thrill? With an overnight journey on one of the world’s longest trains, the luxurious Indian Pacific Railway.

Arriving deep in the parched Outback at Broken Hill, Michael discovers the precious metal that put this isolated outpost on the international map, silver.


TUE 20:00 To the Manor Born (b00788t9)
Series 3

Cosmetics

DeVere negotiates an important business deal with the beautiful Mademoiselle Dutoit, but when she decides to mix business with pleasure, he invents a wife... Audrey!


TUE 20:30 No Place Like Home (p0hl2zyg)
Series 1

Episode 3

Arthur goes on holiday with his neighbour Trevor, hoping to escape the problems of home, but they reach an unexpected destination.


TUE 21:00 Secrets of Size: Atoms to Supergalaxies (m0017njc)
Series 1

Going Big

In the concluding episode of the series, Jim encounters ever larger cosmic structures to reveal the latest breakthroughs in our understanding of the universe. For example, there’s the heliosphere, a vast cloud of solar plasma that surrounds and protects the solar system. Its unique physics help us understand why life is possible. Larger still, Jim comes face to face with our galactic home the Milky Way, a monstrous structure sculpted by the gravitational forces of dark matter. Jim finds out from pioneering researcher Adrian Fabian about the black hole at its centre, whose strange behaviour includes emitting the lowest note that can be heard in the cosmos.

At an even greater scale, Jim encounters huge structures such as the Laniakea Supercluster, of which the Milky Way is only a tiny part. Then there’s 'the giant arc', a collection of galaxies that account for more than three per cent of the observable universe. Jim learns from its discoverer, British PhD student Alexia Lopez, that this gargantuan structure is forcing scientists to reassess their theory of how the universe evolves and may overturn some of the most fundamental principles in physics.


TUE 22:00 Ministry of Evil: The Twisted Cult of Tony Alamo (m001ycfg)
Series 1

Episode 3

While on the run, Alamo orders his followers to leave the compound and take his wife's body whilst he tries to evade arrest.


TUE 22:45 Ministry of Evil: The Twisted Cult of Tony Alamo (m001ycfj)
Series 1

Episode 4

Once released from prison, Tony Alamo begins 'wedding' young girls. As the child abuse escalates, former members urge the FBI to intervene.


TUE 23:30 The Cult Next Door (b08c3vrx)
This documentary by acclaimed director Vanessa Engle tells the extraordinary story of a strange cult, which came to light in 2013 when a sensational news story broke about three women emerging from a small flat in Brixton in south London after decades in captivity. Tracing the group back to its roots in the 1970s, the film describes how its leader Aravindan Balakrishnan, a student of Indian origin, believed in an international communist revolution and created a tiny political sect that followed the teachings of China's Chairman Mao.

The film features exclusive interviews with two of the women who escaped - Aisha Wahab, a 72-year-old Malaysian woman who was part of Balakrishnan's group for 40 years, and Katy Morgan-Davies, Balakrishnan's daughter, who was born and raised in captivity. The film documents how this left-wing collective evolved into a bizarre pseudo-religious cult, where members were controlled, threatened and brainwashed so that they were too terrified to leave.


TUE 00:30 Pompeii: The Mystery of the People Frozen in Time (b01rn6c2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 on Monday]


TUE 01:30 Great Australian Railway Journeys (m000b1zx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


TUE 02:30 Britain's Lost Masterpieces (m000b1gs)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Monday]

WEDNESDAY 17 APRIL 2024

WED 19:00 Great Australian Railway Journeys (m000b8m9)
Series 1

Adelaide to Perth: The Indian Pacific

Michael Portillo embarks on a rail adventure aboard the transcontinental Indian Pacific Railway, which stretches from the southern port city of Adelaide, South Australia, 1,700 miles deep into the desert, to the gold rush town of Kalgoorlie, before finishing in Perth, Western Australia.

First, Michael explores McLaren Vale, where an enterprising early 19th century Briton with a murky past began to grow vines. Michael enjoys the fruits of his labours and hears his story from his great great great granddaughter.

Boarding the mighty Indian Pacific, Michael embraces the luxury of a previous age as he travels across Australia's notoriously remote and inhospitable Nullarbor Plain. He discovers the 100-year-old history behind the ambitious line and the tremendous feat of engineering it took to deliver it. In the ghost town of Cook, Michael helps to top up the train's water and is rewarded with dinner under the stars at Rawlinna. He strikes gold in one of the most lucrative goldfields in the world and strikes it lucky in the traditional Australian gambling game of 'Two Up'.

He pays a flying visit to the doctor to hear how patients in remote Western Australia are cared for, then takes to the skies to admire Perth, one of the world's most isolated cities, and its port of Fremantle. South of the city, in Pinjarra, he uncovers a dark chapter in the histories of both Britain and Australia – a child migration programme devised at the time of Michael’s Bradshaw's Guide.

Back in Perth, Michael hears how Edward VIII was caught up in a train accident near Bridgetown and is invited to an Aussie barbie.


WED 20:00 Himalaya with Michael Palin (b0074qsf)
Bhutan to Bay of Bengal

In Bhutan, Palin finds himself back in the land of yaks for a last look at the high Himalaya. Trekking to Chomolhari base camp he meets a nomad with a penchant for yak songs before heading down to Paro to witness the Buddhist festival or Tsechu. In a bar in Thimphu, he discusses reincarnation and the pursuit of happiness with Benji and Khendum, two of the king's cousins, and en route to Bangladesh is taken by Benji to see the rare black-neck cranes.

On his journey south through Bangladesh, Michael visits the ship-breaking beaches of Chittagong and grid-locked Dhaka. He meets a man who made a fortune in Birmingham in the poultry business, and a woman who lends money only to women. On a 1920s paddle steamer he is serenaded with the words of Bengal's Shakespeare, and he completes his epic Himalayan journey aboard a fishing boat that carries him out into the Bay of Bengal and a westering sun.


WED 21:00 Siân Phillips at 90 (m001ww4q)
Dame Siân Phillips is very much still a working actor, even at the remarkable age of 90. Now, the star of television series I, Claudius and ex-wife of Peter O’Toole opens her heart on camera for the first time about her life and career.

From Hollywood films to theatre, television and radio, Siân has done it all. Her international career highlights include films such as Goodbye Mr Chips and Dune, TV dramas like How Green Was My Valley and Shoulder to Shoulder, as well as acclaimed roles in the musicals Pal Joey and Marlene, where she was Marlene Dietrich in the West End show.

Today, Siân shows no signs of slowing down and is in demand for roles in theatre and film. She’s as busy as ever, and her strict pilates regime keeps her match fit. However, her path to success hasn’t been easy.


WED 22:00 Shoulder to Shoulder: Remembered by Siân Phillips, Waris Hussein and Moira Armstrong (m001ycfs)
Siân Phillips is joined by directors Moira Armstrong and Waris Hussein, to look back on the 1974 drama series Shoulder to Shoulder, which told the story of the Pankhurst family and the birth of the women’s suffrage movement.

Over six episodes, the series followed the challenges that faced the Pankhursts as they launched the fight for women's right to vote. Siân took on the key role of matriarch Emmeline Pankhurst, while Moira and Waris shared directing responsibilities.

The trio recall the challenges they themselves faced bringing this crucial slice of British history to life and doing justice to the story of the struggle. They also share fond memories of working with one of the key figures behind the series’ success, acclaimed BBC producer Verity Lambert.


WED 22:20 Shoulder to Shoulder (p0h845dz)
The Pankhursts

1898: Dr and Mrs Pankhurst and their four children are living comfortably in Manchester. However, in that year an event occurs which will radically change all their lives.


WED 23:35 Shoulder to Shoulder (b009s76k)
Annie Kenney

1904: Annie Kenney - a mill worker since the age of ten. What has Women's Suffrage to offer her?


WED 00:50 Shoulder to Shoulder (p0h84bjr)
Lady Constance Lytton

1908: Constance Lytton: daughter of the Viceroy of India, she came from one of the leading families in the land. Almost any door was open for her.


WED 02:10 Himalaya with Michael Palin (b0074qsf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]

THURSDAY 18 APRIL 2024

THU 19:00 Great Australian Railway Journeys (m000bhgk)
Series 1

Canberra to Melbourne

Armed with his 1913 Bradshaw’s Guide, Michael Portillo crosses the south east of Australia from the seat of government in Canberra to the multi-ethnic heart of its second largest city, Melbourne.

Floating above Canberra in a hot air balloon, Michael sees how Australia’s Bush Capital was planned in the early 20th century. He discovers the story behind the Ashes at the hallowed Melbourne Cricket Ground and cheers for England in the last 20 20 match of the season. Hard on the heels of the infamous outlaw Ned Kelly, Michael enjoys a special screening of the world’s first feature film, made in 1906, which tells of his exploits. At the beautiful former home of superstar soprano, Dame Nellie Melba, Michael discovers her origins and her global fame and listens to one of her best-known songs.

The Puffing Billy narrow gauge steam railway, built in 1900, takes Michael through the rainforest of the Dandenong mountains across a spectacular trestle bridge. Michael meets some of the 1,000 volunteers who keep the line in service.

Michael finishes at Birregurra, 80 miles west of Melbourne, on a 500-acre sheep farm, which was founded by British settlers from Devon during the 1840s. Here, he discovers the story of Australia told in a single family - and learns how to shear a sheep.


THU 20:00 The Bermuda Triangle: Beneath the Waves (b007c68n)
Professor Bruce Denardo attempts to prove whether there is any truth behind the legend of the Bermuda Triangle, where many ships and planes have disappeared in mysterious circumstances. New investigation techniques reveal the truth behind the infamous disappearance of Flight 19. Graham Hawkes is also able to reveal, by using a state-of-the-art submarine, how five wrecks mysteriously wound up 730 feet down in the heart of the Bermuda Triangle.


THU 21:00 Sweet Charity (m001nx09)
Musical comedy about the romantic ups and downs of a dance partner-for-hire at a seedy New York dance hall, who longs for true love but has bad luck with men.


THU 23:25 Parkinson (m001qwqj)
Parkinson Meets Shirley MacLaine

Michael Parkinson interviews American actress Shirley MacLaine.


THU 23:50 Talking Pictures (b03ybq28)
Shirley Maclaine

A retrospective look at television appearances made over the years by one of Hollywood's most outspoken stars, Shirley Maclaine, with interviews and clips capturing the milestones and highlights of her Oscar-winning career. Narrated by Sylvia Syms.


THU 00:40 Ministry of Evil: The Twisted Cult of Tony Alamo (m001ycfg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 on Tuesday]


THU 01:25 Ministry of Evil: The Twisted Cult of Tony Alamo (m001ycfj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:45 on Tuesday]


THU 02:10 Tommy Cooper at the BBC (m000stwt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:30 on Saturday]


THU 02:40 Great Australian Railway Journeys (m000bhgk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]

FRIDAY 19 APRIL 2024

FRI 19:00 Top of the Pops (m000qpgf)
Christmas Special 1995

Bjork and Jack Dee introduce the biggest-selling songs of 1995, plus the Christmas Day Number One.


FRI 20:00 Top of the Pops (b0bk8y65)
Gary Davies presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 17 April 1986. Featuring Big Country, Falco, A-ha, Janet Jackson, It's Immaterial, George Michael and Whitney Houston.


FRI 20:30 Top of the Pops (b071gy17)
Peter Powell introduces the pop programme, featuring Bad Manners, Girlschool, Department S, The Beat, The Cure, The Nolans, UK Subs, The Jacksons, Whitesnake, Spandau Ballet, Sugar Minott, Bucks Fizz and Ennio Morricone, and a dance performance from Legs & Co.


FRI 21:00 Pet Shop Boys at the BBC (m001m85r)
A look back at one of British music’s most enduring and significant partnerships, Pet Shop Boys, with highlights from Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe’s many appearances on the BBC that demonstrate their dedication to both style and substance.

It’s a journey that takes us from the early days of just two men and a synth right up to the fun and flamboyance of their modern live shows, including hit collaborations with Liza Minelli, Dusty Springfield and David Bowie - proving that Pet Shop Boys stand alongside the great pioneers of pop.


FRI 22:30 imagine... (m001yblg)
2023/24

Pet Shop Boys: Then and Now

Pet Shop Boys, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, are the most successful duo in the history of British pop. They have sold more than 50 million records, produced over forty Top 40 singles, four UK number ones, performed in several world tours, and they are still making new music together.

Their songs have often commented on Britain and the world around them with wit, sensitivity and intelligence driving the stories they want to share through some of the most memorable synth-pop music ever created.

Maintaining their privacy and mystique has kept cameras at bay for decades and now for the first time they have allowed backstage access as Alan Yentob and imagine... accompany them on their global Dreamworld tour - filming rehearsals in London and backstage in Helsinki.

Spring 2024 sees the release of their latest album, Nonetheless, which comes 40 years after the original release of their timeless hit West End Girls. imagine... is given a sneak preview of the new album and talks to Tennant and Lowe about its creation and their creative evolution over the past four decades.

Contributors include fellow musicians Brandon Flowers, Jake Shears, Olly Alexander and Marc Almond, music journalist Miranda Sawyer, and creative collaborators Stuart Price, James Ford, Es Devlin, Javier De Frutos, Tom Scutt and Mark Farrow.

This is an intimate look inside the world and creations of Pet Shop Boys with Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe unguarded, poignant and hilarious.


FRI 00:00 Radio 2 Live (m0008k88)
Hyde Park Headliners

Pet Shop Boys: Live in Hyde Park

Live coverage of Pet Shop Boys’ headline set at Radio 2 Live in Hyde Park. Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe are the most successful duo in UK music history. Having achieved 42 top 30 singles in the UK since 1985, there is no shortage of hits for them to choose from as they play their only UK gig of the year in front of more than 40,000 festivalgoers. Keep an eye out for a mystery guest artist.


FRI 01:05 Reel Stories (m001m85t)
Pet Shop Boys

Often sublime, occasionally ridiculous, never boring; Pet Shop Boys sit down with Dermot O’Leary to watch back the twists and turns of a career like no other.

Since forming in 1981, Pet Shop Boys have become one of the best-selling, most enduring artists the world has ever seen. With three Outstanding Contribution to Music Awards and a Godlike Genius Award to their name already, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe are music titans - but music titans full of paradoxes.

Of pop culture yet outside pop culture, commercial giants yet eternally contrary, and artistic innovators but consistent hitmakers, Pet Shop Boys have led a rebellion against convention since 1981, and here they relive every moment.


FRI 01:55 Top of the Pops (b071gy17)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]


FRI 02:25 Top of the Pops (b0bk8y65)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


FRI 02:55 Top of the Pops (m000qpgf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]