SATURDAY 10 AUGUST 2024

SAT 19:00 Strictly Come Dancing (p00vh2fp)
Series 1

Week 1

Bruce Forsyth and Tess Daly present the first series where celebrities are paired with professionals in a ballroom dancing competition. The celebrities and their dancing partners are David Dickinson and Camilla Dallerup, Lesley Garrett and Anton du Beke, Verona Joseph and Paul Killick, Natasha Kaplinsky and Brendan Cole, Martin Offiah and Erin Boag, Christopher Parker and Hanna Karttunen, Claire Sweeney and John Byrnes, and Jason Wood and Kylie Jones. The judges are Craig Revel Horwood, Len Goodman, Arlene Phillips and Bruno Tonioli.


SAT 20:00 Bruce Forsyth's Generation Game (m002201l)
Bruce Forsyth, assisted by Rosemarie Ford, sets more tasks for family couples from around Britain, with, as ever, one winner going through to the conveyor belt stage and the chance to win a glut of prizes, including, of course, a cuddly toy.


SAT 21:00 Lily Savage's Blankety Blank (m002201n)
Series 2

Episode 3

Lily Savage hosts another edition of the comic game show, with contestants playing for the star prize of a holiday in Barbados. The celebrity panellists on hand to help are June Whitfield, Richard Madeley, Kathy Staff, Andi Peters, Liz Carling and Neil Ruddock.


SAT 21:30 The Fight for Saturday Night (b04v85k6)
Michael Grade tells a tale of television skullduggery and dirty dealings in the battle to win the Saturday night ratings crown.


SAT 23:00 Parkinson (m002201q)
Bruce Forsyth, Boris Becker and The Corrs

In his valedictory show for the BBC, Michael Parkinson is joined by Bruce Forsyth, Patrick Kielty and Boris Becker. Music comes from The Corrs and Jamie Cullum.


SAT 00:00 Ruby with Alan Davies (m0021sv9)
Celebrity chat with Ruby Wax from 2002. Ruby's guests are Alan Davies, Joanna Lumley and Jean-Christophe Novelli.


SAT 00:45 Keeping Up Appearances (b01djr8z)
Series 1

Stately Home

Sitcom about a snobbish housewife. Hyacinth is looking forward to visiting her favourite stately home, but the trip goes wrong when her family become involved.


SAT 01:15 Butterflies (p00hm2rl)
Series 2

A Dog's Life

Russell and Adam irritate new neighbour Mr Conrad. After a visit to church, Ria nearly runs over a dog.


SAT 01:45 Strictly Come Dancing (p00vh2fp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


SAT 02:45 Parkinson (m002201q)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:00 today]

SUNDAY 11 AUGUST 2024

SUN 19:00 Eisteddfod (m0021vdn)
2024

Episode 1

One of the biggest and most vibrant cultural festivals in Europe, celebrating the best of Welsh arts, descends upon Rhondda Cynon Taff this year. It’s a spectacular showcase for music, dance, literature, theatre, circus, art, original performances and much more.

Huw Stephens heads to Pontypridd to bring all the highlights and stories from the National Eisteddfod of Wales and to discover how this ancient festival is constantly evolving to remain a relevant cultural phenomenon.

The week-long festival kicks off with a new adaptation of iconic rock opera Nia Ben Aur, 50 years on from its debut at the 1974 Eisteddfod.

Huw catches up with the new Archdruid and award-winning poet Mererid Hopwood as she presides over all the big ceremonies of the Gorsedd of the Bards throughout the week.

Huw also brings a flavour of the diverse selection of performances, from brass bands and classy pop to classical and contemporary music. Huw catches up with Pendyrus Male Voice Choir, who are celebrating their centenary with a special performance at this year’s festival. He also enjoys a stunning collaboration between classical harpist Catrin Finch and Irish fiddler Aoife Ní Bhriain as they perform together in one of the most hotly anticipated shows of the week! And he visits the Lle Celf – the largest temporary modern art exhibition in Europe.


SUN 19:30 Eisteddfod (m002203d)
2024

Episode 2

One of the biggest festivals in Europe is in the town of Pontypridd celebrating the best of Welsh culture – a vibrant mix of music, dance, art, literature, theatre, circus, original performances and so much more.

In our second visit to this week-long festival, Huw Stephens brings all the highlights and stories from the National Eisteddfod of Wales. He catches up with local band Chroma, fresh from supporting the Foo Fighters on their UK tour, as well as enjoying a host of performances from some of Wales’s top female talent on the main rock and pop stages.

Huw is treated to a stunning candle-lit concert paying tribute to a local singing sensation, Morfydd Llwyn Owen, who died in tragic and suspicious circumstances in 1918 at the age of 27.

He also catches up with singer-songwriter Lleuwen Steffan, who is performing at the Eisteddfod as part of her stirring 50-date tour, where she brings traditional folk hymns back to life through new music.

Huw also enjoys all the best performances from the big winners of the week – the poets, dancers, band and choirs, the singers and soloists!

Eisteddfod 2024 with Huw Stephens brings the best stories and performances from this truly unique event.


SUN 20:00 BBC Proms (m002203g)
2024

NYO Plays Mahler’s First at the Proms

Always one of the most exciting Proms of the summer, the brightest young stars in classical music take over the stage of the Royal Albert Hall as the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain make their annual trip to the Proms.

Expect a night of high drama and passionate emotion as these exciting young musicians explore the uniting power of music and love, with music from Mahler, Wagner, Missy Mazzioli and a new commission from Dani Howard. Linton Stephens presents, joined by a special guest.


SUN 22:05 The Alehouse Sessions (m001lcvt)
The exotic musical sound-world of 17th-century London is brought vividly to life by one of the world's most dynamic and virtuosic performing groups - Bjarte Eike and Barokksolistene - plus a cameo appearance by celebrated soprano Mary Bevan.

Beauty, improvisation, melancholy, bawdiness - Purcell, Playford and their European contemporaries bang heads with ballads, ditties, elegies, sea-shanties and folk song. Along with a variety of classical stringed instruments, their own arrangements delight us in a joyful mix of vocals, percussion, harmonium, guitar, charango and storytelling.

Filmed on location in one of London's oldest taverns, The George Inn, Southwark.


SUN 23:05 Clive James (m000fj94)
Postcard from Paris

Clive James returns to Paris, the city calls his spiritual home. As a young man he wondered how to meet the women of Paris. This time he does, including writers, models and actresses.


SUN 23:55 Arena (m000kbk6)
I Am Not Your Negro

Narrated entirely in the words of James Baldwin, through both personal appearances and the text of his final unfinished book project, this film touches on the lives and assassinations of Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr and Medgar Evers. The film brings powerful clarity to how the images and reality of black lives in America today are fabricated and enforced.


SUN 01:20 Art on the BBC (m0013c82)
Series 2

Van Gogh - Life and Art

Art historian Kate Bryan examines six decades of BBC archive to create a television history of the man who has become the embodiment of the ‘tortured artist’, Vincent Van Gogh. Van Gogh was 37 when he shot himself, but in the four years before he died, he painted some of the world’s most beloved works, using colour in ways that changed art forever.

In this programme, Kate discovers that film-makers have found it impossible to separate Van Gogh's work from his life – from his fraught relationship with fellow artist Paul Gauguin, to the heartbreaking struggle with his mental health that ended in tragedy. In their efforts to understand Van Gogh’s complex psyche, and where his talent and extraordinary feeling for colour came from, programme makers have explored the French countryside, where his most famous works were painted, set off on detective trails to solve the mystery of his severed ear, and delved into his personal letters, casting some of the world's most remarkable actors – from Benedict Cumberbatch to Kirk Douglas – to bring his words and work to life.

Drawing on archive broadcasts from Doctor Who to Simon Schama’s Power of Art, with contributions from experts and enthusiasts alike, from Jeremy Paxman to Andrew Graham-Dixon, Kate reveals how our interpretation of Van Gogh's work and his illness have undergone seismic changes through the decades.


SUN 02:20 The Alehouse Sessions (m001lcvt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:05 today]

MONDAY 12 AUGUST 2024

MON 19:00 Great British Railway Journeys (m000dbpg)
Series 11

St Ives to St Day

Michael Portillo boards the Great Western Railway at the Cornish seaside resort of St Ives. Steered by his 1930s Bradshaw’s Guide, this week he explores the West Country between the wars.

In Britain's first studio pottery, Michael attempts a decorative wax technique and feels the heat of the firing kiln. He discovers a Cornish fisherman, who, although he began painting only in his seventies, inspired established artists from the capital.

Along the Cornish Riviera at Hayle, Michael joins a family on holiday in a railway carriage called Harvey. From Redruth, Michael makes his way to the former mining village of St Day, where Feast Day celebrations are in full flow.


MON 19:30 Gareth Edwards’s Great Welsh Adventure (m00111zt)
Series 2

Episode 1

Rugby legend Gareth Edwards and wife Maureen are more than ready for a new adventure. Their first saw the childhood sweethearts causing chaos on the canals of Wales. Despite endless barge bashing and bickering, they loved it.

The pandemic hit and, like the rest of us, they were locked down for months. Thankful to see restrictions lift, Gareth and Maureen are determined to make the most of their new freedom and visit some of Wales’ most beautiful places. Their new adventures will include just that – trying things they’ve never experienced in 70-plus years.

Sir Gareth was once voted the greatest rugby player of all time. But, on their first adventure in Machynlleth, he fulfils a boyhood dream of driving a steam train. Maureen’s keen too and takes charge as they wind through the stunning Dyfi Valley. She’s less eager as they visit a centre for endangered birds of prey. She has to tackle her phobia when they meet some magnificent new feathered friends.

Maureen’s packed the schedule so as well as glamping and massaging some of Wales’ most pampered cows, they squeeze in rally car driving in a local forest, a first for them both. After tips from one of Wales’s top rally drivers Jade Paveley, the duo compete in a race. Both ‘steady Eddie’ Gareth and ‘need for speed’ Maureen are convinced they’re the better driver. The proof will be in the lap times.

As for so many, lockdown was a difficult time in which Gareth and Maureen lost friends and desperately missed family, especially the grandchildren. Back exploring their beloved Wales, they reflect on how precious life is, including the opportunity to once again enjoy such wonderful places.


MON 20:00 The Impressionists: Painting and Revolution (b012rvkl)
Gang of Four

Art writer Waldemar Januszczak explores the revolutionary achievements of the Impressionists. In the first episode, Waldemar delves into the back stories of four of the most influential Impressionists - Pissarro, Monet, Renoir and Bazille - who together laid the foundations of the artistic movement. He finds out what social and cultural influences drove them to their style of painting, how they were united and how ultimately they challenged and changed art forever.

Waldemar journeys from the shores of the West Indies, to the progressive city of Paris to the suburbs of South London, where these four artists drew inspiration from the cities and towns in which they lived. Whether it be the infamous spot on the river Seine - La Grenouillere - where Monet and Renoir beautifully captured animated people, iridescent light and undulating water or the minimalist, non-sensationalised illustrations of Pissarro's coarse countryside paintings, Waldemar discovers how the Impressionists broke conventions by depicting every day encounters within the unpredictable and ever changing sights around them.


MON 21:00 Call My Bluff (m002203s)
Robert Robinson presides over a duel of words and wit between team captains Frank Muir and Patrick Campbell, who are joined by Joanna Lumley, Miles Kington, Mary Peach and Simon Williams.


MON 21:30 Going for a Song (m002203v)
Antiques game show hosted by Max Robertson in which Jane Rossington and Tim Hollier are the celebrities trying to assess the mystery objects.


MON 21:55 The Sky at Night (m002202t)
Nicky, NASA and the Next Frontier

In this Sky at Night special, the team talk to Dr Nicola Fox, NASA’s head of science, whose life began in the UK.

Presenter Chris Lintott chats to Nicky about her early years growing up in Hitchin in Hertfordshire and discovers how she fell in love with the stars.

Maggie Aderin-Pocock takes Nicky on a trip down memory lane. Both women studied physics at Imperial College London from the late 80s to early 90s. As they revisit familiar haunts, they discuss their experiences, and Maggie finds out about Nicky’s love of astrophysics, the challenges she overcame and how she landed a dream job at NASA.

Along the way, Maggie and Nicky chat about how the university and science have changed and how new technology and deeper understanding are fuelling the missions for which Nicky is now responsible. As they come across familiar places, nostalgia hits and the two women unleash their inner child.

Finally, Chris and Nicky discuss her role as the associate administrator for the science mission directorate at NASA, and Nicky reveals what the exciting plans for future missions may reveal.


MON 22:25 Sex and Sensibility: The Allure of Art Nouveau (b01dprb6)
Paris

The delicious objects of Parisian Art Nouveau are explored by cultural correspondent Stephen Smith. Uncovering how the luscious decorative style first erupted into the cityscape, Stephen delves into the city's bohemian past to learn how some of the 19th century's most glamorous and controversial figures inspired this extraordinary movement.

Revealing the story behind Alphonse Mucha's sensual posters of actress Sarah Bernhardt, looking at the exquisite jewellery designer Renee Lalique and visiting iconic art nouveau locations such the famous Maxim's restaurant, the programme builds a picture of fin-de-siecle Paris.

But Smith also reveals that the style is more than just veneer deep. Looking further into the work of glassmaker Emile Galle and architect Hector Guimard, he sees how some of art nouveau's stars risked their reputation to give meaning and purpose to work they thought could affect social change.


MON 23:25 Maggi Hambling: Making Love with the Paint (m000nx23)
In a definitive and moving film to mark her 75th birthday, artist and national treasure Maggi Hambling tells her story while working on a mysterious black canvas.

Famously scary and a free spirit, Hambling is celebrated for her intensely moving portraits - the blind boxer Charlie Abrew, the lonely clown Max Wall - her Wave painting and Scallop, her signature sculpture on Aldeburgh beach, commemorating Benjamin Britten.

Maggi is both a comic extrovert and an intensely private artist, seen parading in a feather boa and fish nets or on television sporting a moustache. But now she mostly prefers the rural Suffolk of her childhood. It is here, for the first time, she has allowed cameras access to her studio, talking candidly to film-maker Randall Wright during breaks from work. Others offer their insights - her partner and fellow artist Tory Lawrence and much-loved friends, including art writer James Cahill and renowned artist Sarah Lucas.

As her trust in the documentary project grows, Maggi reveals her recent Laugh paintings, exploring her fascination with an expression that seems on the edge of tears. So much of her work finds beauty that is both poignant and unsettling. Her much-admired wave paintings have the majesty and restorative power of nature and yet threaten. Maggi’s major work War Requiem, inspired by Britten, presents the violence of war as terror-inspiring and awesome. Now she confronts man-made environmental disaster in the same tragic mode - her love for animals mediated by the shock that their beauty may not prevent extinction.

Finally, Maggi Hambling completes her new painting on a black canvas. Without giving too much away, the powerful image reveals a formative childhood memory. At 75, Maggi, in a morose mood, sometimes wonders at the futility of life, but she still battles every day to immortalise the memory of love.


MON 00:25 Romancing the Stone: The Golden Ages of British Sculpture (b00ydp2y)
Masons of God

Alastair Sooke reveals the astonishing range of our medieval sculpture, from the imposing masterpieces of our Gothic cathedrals to the playful misericords underneath church stalls.

He shows how the sculpture of the era casts a new light on medieval Britain, a far more sophisticated, fun-loving and maverick place than we in the modern world commonly believe. But despite the technical and emotional power of these works, the notion of a 'sculptor' did not even exist; most carving of the time was done by teams of itinerant masons and artisans working for the Church. The names of some, like William Berkeley, are known but most are lost to history.

This first golden age came to an end with Henry VIII's Reformation of the Church, unleashing a wave of destruction from which it would take centuries to recover.


MON 01:25 Great British Railway Journeys (m000dbpg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


MON 01:55 Gareth Edwards’s Great Welsh Adventure (m00111zt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


MON 02:25 The Impressionists: Painting and Revolution (b012rvkl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]

TUESDAY 13 AUGUST 2024

TUE 19:00 Great British Railway Journeys (m000dbj2)
Series 11

Truro to St Mawgan

Michael Portillo is in Cornwall’s county town, Truro, with his 1930s Bradshaw’s Guide. In the surrounding countryside, he finds the historic estate of Trewithen, whose gardens were stocked from China by professional plant hunters commissioned by its owner.

The Atlantic Coast branch line carries Michael north to Newquay, where he discovers a pioneering surfer and braves the waves on a belly board.

In the nearby village of St Mawgan, Michael is introduced to the ancient Cornish sport of 'wrassling', which surged in popularity between the wars as part of a Cornish Celtic revival. Champion wrestler Johnny Platt is standing by to take Michael on.

At Newquay Airport, he hears about the beginnings of passenger air travel to Cornwall as tourism took off during the 1920s and 30s and finds that future flight could be even faster – in space.


TUE 19:30 Gareth Edwards’s Great Welsh Adventure (p09z3hwn)
Series 2

Episode 2

Gareth Edwards and wife Maureen are in the stunning coastal town of Tenby for the second of their new adventures across Wales. After so long in lockdown, the pair are determined to get out and enjoy all life has to offer. On this particular weekend, they’ve got something special to celebrate. The former Wales and Lions captain and his childhood sweetheart are marking of 49 years of marriage. Maureen has found the perfect place for her and Sir Gareth to stay nearby – Manorbier Castle. The pair get the whole place to themselves once the last visitors leave, and being 'king of the castle' definitely scores highly with history buff Gareth as a place to spend a special anniversary.

By day, they get competitive over a game of golf and take a boat trip to photograph seals and sea birds off the Pembrokeshire coast. Gareth is concerned when Maureen takes over the controls to see how fast the boat can go. The animal theme continues as Gareth and Maureen try a zoo-keeping experience at a local wildlife park. After being put in charge of the rhinos, they brave serving breakfast to a tiger. The duo end the day by walking and feeding the New Zealand pigs before they get to enjoy a feast themselves, cooked fresh on the beach.


TUE 20:00 Keeping Up Appearances (b01djsdp)
Series 1

The Charity Shop

Hyacinth is at her wits' end, what with the charity shop, Councillor Nugent and Rose's love life. Can she cope and keep the flag flying, as well as her sanity?


TUE 20:30 Butterflies (p00f0vnv)
Series 2

Keeping Fit

Ria's visit to a keep fit class leads to a chance meeting with Leonard, who seems unwell and unhappy. Should Ria help him out?


TUE 21:00 The Ruth Ellis Files: A Very British Crime Story (b09vpgr7)
Series 1

Episode 1

In April 1955 Ruth Ellis shot her lover David Blakely dead. It's a case that shocked the nation and it still fascinates today. It has its place in ushering in the defence of diminished responsibility and the eventual abolishment of capital punishment. We all think we know the story, but why, when it was seemingly such an open-and-shut case, does it still divide opinion on whether Ruth Ellis got the justice she deserved? Film-maker Gillian Pachter wants to find out. The result is a fresh investigation with fascinating true-crime twists and turns that also shines a unique light on attitudes to class, gender and sex in 1950s London.

In this first episode Gillian takes a forensic look at the police investigation launched just after Ruth's arrest. Gillian is all too aware of the femme fatale persona that has stuck with Ruth since 1955. She wants to build Ruth Ellis back up from the evidence, and this means looking carefully at the police documentation from the time. Gillian begins with Ruth's first statement where she confesses to the crime but intriguingly states that she's 'confused'.

As Gillian follows the course of the investigation, she uncovers some worrying assumptions, problematic omissions and missed opportunities. There's a key witness who was never questioned by the police - Ruth's 10-year old son Andre, who tragically took his own life in the 1980s. He left behind an audio cassette that features a recorded conversation where Andre shares his thoughts on his mother's case. Gillian uses this to piece together what the boy knew. Then there's the murder weapon - one of thousands of guns that flooded Britain during the war. Gillian traces its provenance and it leads her to a shocking conclusion.

Experts in policing shed new light on the involvement of a possible accomplice and Gillian tracks down those who met Ruth and David. A picture begins to build of their relationship and lifestyle and it's a unique snapshot of the complex world of post-war Britain that made and then broke Ruth Ellis.


TUE 22:00 Corridors of Power: Should America Police the World? (m0020xwz)
Series 1

Bosnia – Our Soldiers Are Not Toy Soldiers

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, President George HW Bush declared the age of a new world order, where the 'rule of law supplants the rule of the jungle'. For a new generation of leaders, the west’s victory came with a responsibility – to use force to make the world a better place. Bosnia was their first test. Communism had held the disparate ethnic communities in the Balkans together as Yugoslavia, but following the seismic political changes in eastern Europe, the country deteriorated into a series of bloody wars. Should the incoming young President Bill Clinton and the then US ambassador to the UN Madeleine Albright use force to save innocent civilians from a genocide whose brutality and horror was being captured on the home movie cameras of its perpetrators?


TUE 23:00 Watergate (m000v4bq)
Series 1

Cover-Up

Nixon's burglars are caught and the president himself is at the head of a cover-up that links the crime to the White House. In November 1972, five months after the break-in, Nixon is returned to office.


TUE 23:50 Watergate (m000vbtv)
Series 1

Scapegoat

President Richard Nixon had the Watergate burglars paid to keep silent about their links to the White House, a cover-up that enabled him to win a second presidential term in 1972. But once the facts began to emerge, the president sought a succession of scapegoats. The revelation that conversations in his office had been recorded meant his crimes were no longer a secret.


TUE 00:40 Inside America's Treasure House: The Met (m000znv8)
Series 1

Episode 1

The series begins in spring 2019, when the Metropolitan Museum of Art is in its pomp – the coffers full, visitor numbers are up and staff preparing to mark, in one year's time, the museum’s 150th anniversary. The museum has long been planning a series of stand-out exhibitions and events. The art press gather for a breakfast in the American Wing sculpture court, surrounded by treasures reflecting the tastes of the philanthropist founders of the Metropolitan. These were new-money industrialists and financiers, who believed that the lives of New York's teeming millions would be improved by their proximity to beauty. That beauty, however, was vested almost exclusively in the European arts and the artefacts of classical civilisations. The museum is aware that the tastes of the Gilded Age aren't for everyone, and a dance display by the House of Gorgeous shows they're awake to the woke.

In his fifth-floor office sits Met president and CEO Dan Weiss, the art historian recently appointed to steer the largest art museum in the Americas out of a period of falling visitor numbers and financial turbulence. Overlooking Central Park, he revels in a painting by Alfred Sisley, a print of which once graced his college digs. Those who built the Met in 1870 wanted an American Louvre, an audacious vision, he says, considering they had no art. The likes of JP Morgan, a previous president, simply spent and lent big, snapping up artefacts all over the world and donating their own collections. Weiss is also spending big for next year's special exhibitions and, with the Met’s director Max Hollein, planning a slew of great events. He's also splashing out on capital projects like the new six-acre glass roof for the European Paintings gallery, at $150m, just one improvement that will make 2020 a landmark year.

The inner workings of the Met are revealed with excursions into various departments, and the warren of labs, workrooms and archives above and deep below the public areas. In the Arms and Armour workshops, they're repairing gauntlets before sending some of their massive collection off to Vienna, and preparing for the arrival from Europe of new old iron and steel for a great show of German armour, The Last Knight.

There's more quiet frenzy in the Costume Institute. The conservators have just recovered from the 2019 Met Gala, the starry night where celebrities parade for the camera and make the donations that fund this department. Staff have just delivered this year’s annual show, Camp, a pink celebration of costume drama that is pulling in the crowds. In the next room, they're amassing black garments for the monster 2020 show currently being crafted by British uber-designer Es Devlin.

The film drills deepest into preparations for a show about British mercantile expansion and its impact on interior design. Assistant curator Dr Wolf Burchard has been spirited from the National Trust to Fifth Avenue, his mission: to tell a 500-year story of enterprise from the Tudor to Victorian eras. The museum's existing British galleries are being remodelled for the occasion, and Burchard and his team must navigate the construction works to create a display of 700 items. They've got a £20m budget and seven months.

Two floors up, colleagues face similar time challenges as they build the keystone exhibition Making the Met. It tells the tale of the museum's 15 decades using objects from every department, and new ones donated by sponsors and benefactors. Outside, Austrian Max Hollein, only a few months in post, leads the drive to make the Met feel more modern, diverse and inclusive. For the first time since the austere Beaux-Arts building opened, niches in the exterior are filled with art - a series of bronzes by Kenyan-born artist Wangechi Mutu. She tells how groundbreaking this initiative is.

The Met is on a roll. We are with the glitterati flocking across the Upper East Side for a private viewing of the British exhibition. The public opening of the new galleries, on 2 March 2020, heralds the start of the 150th year programme. Curator Burchard says how strange it feels to have his galleries packed with thousands.

That very same night, the first victim of Covid-19 is in hospital. Within days, the Met will be the first large institution in the city to lock down. As New York becomes a ghost town, viewers are on the inside watching the museum trying to protect one million exhibits from light damage and moths, wrestling with 20 per cent staff cuts and losses of $150m, while working towards a reopening, sometime in an uncertain future. When that day comes, we witness emotional scenes that underline a truth: that New Yorkers regard the Met as their own. More than just a museum, it's a resource and a refuge.


TUE 01:40 Great British Railway Journeys (m000dbj2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


TUE 02:10 Gareth Edwards’s Great Welsh Adventure (p09z3hwn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


TUE 02:40 The Ruth Ellis Files: A Very British Crime Story (b09vpgr7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]

WEDNESDAY 14 AUGUST 2024

WED 19:00 Great British Railway Journeys (m000dbdg)
Series 11

Bodmin to Totnes

Clutching his 1930s Bradshaw’s Guide, Michael Portillo reaches Bodmin en route to Totnes as he explores the West Country from St Ives to Salisbury Plain.

Out on the rugged moor, Michael hears how the celebrated author Daphne du Maurier captivated readers between the wars with her tales of smuggling at the Jamaica Inn.

In Devon, Michael takes the plunge at Plymouth’s beautiful art deco Tinside Lido. At Ivybridge, he boards a vehicle like no other to cross the causeway to Burgh Island, where a 1930s playboy built a splendid art deco party palace.

One stop further on the line, Michael arrives in Totnes, at the medieval Dartington Hall, which at the time of his guidebook became a haven for artists seeking refuge from the dictatorships of Europe. Michael discovers the wealthy couple who owned the estate drew many musicians and controversial choreographers to it. The spirit of modern dance is hard to resist.


WED 19:30 Gareth Edwards’s Great Welsh Adventure (p09z3jl3)
Series 2

Episode 3

Rugby legend Gareth Edwards and wife Maureen head to one of Wales’s most popular holiday destinations. They arrive just as a heatwave hits, turning Llandudno into a resort to rival the best sunny seaside locations. Llandudno is known for its seafront hotels and B&Bs and the pair check in to a room with a sea view before going in search of the pier and ice cream.

Once, people flocked here for a traditional seaside experience, but today the area is a magnet for adrenaline seekers. Not wanting to miss out, Maureen arranges for the two of them to abseil from the Great Orme. It’s a nerve-wracking prospect, but one both are keen to try.

For 700 years the area has boasted some of the best honey in Britain, and Gareth and Maureen meet a local bee keeper and his bees before trying honey fresh from the hive. The pair travel up the Great Orme by tram, in search of the famous goats. The goats were a gift given to Queen Victoria, but found a new level of fame when they took advantage of lockdown to leave the mountain and explore the town.

Finally, they spend a day with hill farmer Gareth Wyn Jones, who tests how they measure up as traditional Welsh hill farmers, giving them tasks including working with a sheep dog and shearing. They’re rewarded with a trip to the top of a mountain and a breathtaking view out across the Menai Straits.


WED 20:00 Pole to Pole (p02j92mv)
Crossing the Line

Running badly behind schedule and far off-course, Michael travels from Ethiopia to Kenya. En route, he encounters a lion, turns to hitchhiking and meets a hippo colony while on safari.


WED 20:50 Wild (b008pxly)
2007-08 Shorts

Avocets - Born Survivors

Nature documentary about the avocet, one of the UK's most strikingly beautiful wading birds. Every spring, the avocets delight us with their magical courtship dances. But few know that behind this elegant exterior lies a turbulent history.


WED 21:00 The Fairy-Tale Castles of King Ludwig II with Dan Cruickshank (b036f9vc)
Ludwig II of Bavaria, more commonly known by his nicknames the Swan King or the Dream King, is a legendary figure - the handsome boy-king, loved by his people, betrayed by his cabinet and found dead in tragic and mysterious circumstances. He spent his life in pursuit of the ideal of beauty, which found expression in three of the most extraordinary, ornate architectural schemes imaginable - the castle of Neuschwanstein and the palaces of Linderhof and Herrenchiemsee. Today, these three buildings are among Germany's biggest tourist attractions.

In this documentary, Dan Cruickshank explores the rich aesthetic of Ludwig II - from the mock-medievalism of Neuschwanstein, the iconic fairy-tale castle that became the inspiration for the one in Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty, to the rich, baroque splendour of Herrenchiemsee, Ludwig's answer to Versailles. Dan argues that Ludwig's castles are more than flamboyant kitsch and are, in fact, the key to unravelling the eternal enigma of Ludwig II.


WED 22:00 Nathaniel Parker and Sharon Small Remember... The Inspector Lynley Mysteries (m002202l)
The Inspector Lynley Mysteries first appeared on our screens in 2001 and had viewers instantly hooked by the combination of puzzling crimes and murder investigations, spiced up with the added clash-of-class relationship between its two main cast members: Nathaniel Parker, as DI Thomas Linley, 8th Earl of Asherton, and Sharon Small, as his far less sophisticated Detective Sergeant, Barbara Havers.

We join Nathaniel and Sharon as they look back on the series, their roles and those of some very familiar guest stars, and the unique chemistry the pair managed to create over the years that helped make the show a favourite with fans of crime drama over six impressive series.


WED 22:15 The Inspector Lynley Mysteries (p032kjcw)
A Great Deliverance

Part 1

In the remote Yorkshire moors, a farmer's decapitated body is discovered in a field. DS Barbara Havers is partnered with Inspector Lynley to investigate the brutal murder.


WED 23:30 The Inspector Lynley Mysteries (p032kjcy)
A Great Deliverance

Part 2

Inspector Lynley and DS Havers continue their investigation into the Yorkshire farmhouse murder.


WED 00:45 Great British Railway Journeys (m000dbdg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


WED 01:15 Gareth Edwards’s Great Welsh Adventure (p09z3jl3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


WED 01:45 Pole to Pole (p02j92mv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


WED 02:35 The Fairy-Tale Castles of King Ludwig II with Dan Cruickshank (b036f9vc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]

THURSDAY 15 AUGUST 2024

THU 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.


THU 19:30 The Sky at Night (m002202t)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:55 on Monday]


THU 20:00 Dial M for Murder (b0078kx8)
Margot Wendice tells her former lover, Mark, that her husband, Tony, has turned over a new leaf and is loving and attentive. While Margot is worrying about a stolen love letter, Tony has devised the perfect murder.
Alfred Hitchcock's famed drama of deadly intrigue and dogged detective work.


THU 21:40 Suspicion (b00gmlrx)
Classic thriller in which a timid heiress becomes convinced that her husband is trying to kill her.

After escaping from her oppressive parents, the woman meets and marries a fortune hunter. At first, her happiness prevents her from reflecting on his character, but when events take a sinister twist, she fears that his intentions are murderous.

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, from Frances Iles's novel. Joan Fontaine won an Oscar for her role.


THU 23:15 Talking Pictures (b03xp545)
Alfred Hitchcock

A retrospective look at television appearances made over the years by iconic Hollywood director Alfred Hitchcock, reflecting on the milestones and highlights of his life and career.

Narrated by Sylvia Syms.


THU 23:55 Talking Pictures (b05v29y7)
Hitchcock's Leading Actors

To this day, Alfred Hitchcock is looked on as one of cinema's best and most influential directors. But how did the stars of his films finding working with the great man? To some he was 'the master', to others 'the manipulator'. Talking Pictures explores the relationship between Hitch and his leading actors, using rarely seen interviews of the man himself and a line-up that includes Kim Novak, Tippi Hedren, Joan Fontaine, Janet Leigh and Sean Connery.


THU 00:30 Corridors of Power: Should America Police the World? (m0020xwz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 on Tuesday]


THU 01:30 Great British Railway Journeys (m000dbnl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


THU 02:00 Maggi Hambling: Making Love with the Paint (m000nx23)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:25 on Monday]


THU 03:00 Sex and Sensibility: The Allure of Art Nouveau (b01dprb6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:25 on Monday]

FRIDAY 16 AUGUST 2024

FRI 19:00 Top of the Pops (m0009dll)
Mike Read and Simon Mayo present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 18 August 1988 and featuring Aztec Camera, Kylie Minogue, Chris Rea, Status Quo, Van Halen, Big Country, Fairground Attraction, Julio Iglesias and Stevie Wonder, Yazz & The Plastic Population, and Robbie Robertson.


FRI 19:30 Top of the Pops (m000s4ql)
Anthea Turner presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 16 August 1990 and featuring Go West, The KLF and Betty Boo.


FRI 20:00 BBC Proms (m002202j)
2024

Modern Movie Soundtracks at the Proms

Edith Bowman presents a night of music from contemporary films, celebrating a new golden age of screen composers.

The last few years have seen blockbuster scores emerge from groundbreaking cinema. The concert features excerpts from Oscar-winning films with a very distinctive sound world, including Everything Everywhere All at Once, Tár and All Quiet on the Western Front.

Robert Ames conducts the London Contemporary Orchestra.


FRI 21:50 Woodstock - Three Days That Defined a Generation (m0007n24)
For three days in August 1969, half a million people from all walks of life converged on a small dairy farm in upstate New York. They came to hear the concert of their lives, but most experienced something far more profound: a moment that came to define a cultural revolution.

This documentary tells the story of the lead-up to those three historic days, through the voices of those who were there and the music of the time. It includes extraordinary moments from the concert itself, iconic images of both performers and festival goers, and tells how this groundbreaking event, pulled off right at the last minute, nearly ended in disaster and put the ideals of the counterculture to the test.


FRI 23:15 Jimi Hendrix: The Road to Woodstock (b03p7p6v)
The definitive documentary record of one of Jimi Hendrix's most celebrated performances, now digitally remastered and featuring footage never seen on television before. It includes such signature songs as Purple Haze, Voodoo Child (Slight Return) and his rendition of the Star Spangled Banner, as well as interviews with Woodstock promoter Michael Lang and Hendrix band members Mitch Mitchell, Billy Cox, Larry Lee and Juma Sultan among others.


FRI 00:15 Sounds of the Sixties (b0074qbv)
Original Series

The Folk Revival

A trawl through the BBC's archives for 60s music with an acoustic bent. Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Tim Buckley feature.


FRI 00:45 Sounds of the Sixties (b0074qcm)
Original Series

Hip to the Trip

Ten-part series featuring rock, pop and R&B performances from the BBC archives.

This edition features psychedelia and counter-culture, with performances by The Who, Pink Floyd, Joe Cocker and the Greaseband, The Nice and The Jimi Hendrix Experience.


FRI 01:15 Top of the Pops (m0009dll)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


FRI 01:45 Top of the Pops (m000s4ql)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


FRI 02:15 Jimi Hendrix: The Road to Woodstock (b03p7p6v)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:15 today]