BBC Documentaries
Season 2018
TV-PG
Documentaries produced by or for the BBC
Where to Watch Season 2018
300 Episodes
- Sue Perkins and the Chimp Sanctuary
E1Sue Perkins and the Chimp SanctuaryAnimal lover Sue Perkins travels to America to meet a group of newly retired female chimpanzees at Chimp Haven, the US national chimpanzee sanctuary. After a recent change in US law, decades of medical testing on chimpanzees has been brought to an end and cameras follow as Jill, Whitney, Paula-Jean, Tessa, Martha and Ariah settle in to the sanctuary after an 800-mile journey from a laboratory in New Mexico to rural Louisiana. Sue meets chimpanzee Jill, 24 years old, who has been used in hepatitis research all her life. In total, Chimp Haven houses over 200 medical research chimps who have been retired from laboratories to live out their days in beautiful forested surroundings. In the wild, chimps live in mixed-sex troops but these six girls have never lived with a group of boys before. When Sue first meets them, Jill gives off a clear 'warning bark' to Sue to alert her to 45-year-old boisterous alpha male Pierre in a nearby enclosure. Pierre is poised ready to spit a mouthful of water and show newcomers who is boss. The introductions are a tense time for both the sanctuary staff and the chimps. Using fixed rig cameras inside the enclosures, the film captures the moment the two groups come together to form their new chimp family. Will it all run smoothly? How will Jill get on when she starts her new life with the boys for the first time? And after seeing undercover footage of conditions in one of the labs Jill once lived, Sue travels to meet a representative from the National Institutes of Health, the government agency responsible for federal chimpanzee testing. She wants to know if they think the medical advances to human health have been worth it, and how the US government defends the conditions in which the animals were kept. - Attenborough and the Sea Dragon
E2Attenborough and the Sea DragonA remarkable 200-million-year-old fossil - the bones of an ichthyosaur, a giant sea dragon - has been discovered on the Jurassic coast of Britain. David Attenborough joins the hunt to bring this ancient creature's story to life. Using state-of-the-art imaging technology and CGI, the team reconstruct the skeleton and create the most detailed animation of an ichthyosaur ever made. Along the way, the team stumble into a 200-million-year-old murder mystery - and only painstaking forensic investigation can unravel the story of this extraordinary creature's fate. - Canvey: The Promised Island
E3Canvey: The Promised IslandEurope's largest ultra-Orthodox Jewish community has lived in Stamford Hill, London since the late 1800s. But with rents soaring, they are on the move. This film follows the Hasidic community as some of them embark on their biggest exodus since World War II. They have chosen the most unexpected place, Canvey Island, on the River Thames estuary, one of the five most pro-Brexit wards in Britain. In 2013 the island was voted the most English place in Britain. The ultra-Orthodox Hasid spend most of their time in prayer or studying the 613 commandments of their holy book, the Torah. Renowned as a tight-knit and insular community, for the first time in decades they are looking to put down roots in the new 'promised Island'. Both the Hasid and the Canvey Islanders are aware of the challenges of integration, let alone finding reliable deliveries of ultra kosher food. With unique access to this tightly closed community, we follow Naftali and Miriam Noe and their four children from Stamford Hill as they join the 25 Hasidic families who have already made the move to Canvey. Chris Fenwick, a lifelong Canvey Islander, pub landlord and manager of the rock and roll band Dr Feelgood, has devised a plan to integrate everyone. He is inviting his new neighbours to a gig in his pub, taking the Hasidic children on a guided tour of the Island, and with the help of Reverend David Tudor and the next mayor of Canvey, Barry Campagna, hoping to bring both sides together during a meal at his pub. The film follows the guests, the arrangements and the challenges of organising a dinner party for the two very different communities. Mutual understanding is top of the menu but will the Hasidic guests turn up? And will the predominantly Christian islanders learn to love their new neighbours? - The Real T-Rex with Chris Packham
E4The Real T-Rex with Chris PackhamChris Packham goes on an investigative journey into the mysteries of planet Earth's super predator - Tyrannosaurus rex. The latest groundbreaking paleontological 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 al - My Astonishing Self: Gabriel Byrne on George Bernard Shaw
E5My Astonishing Self: Gabriel Byrne on George Bernard ShawAward-winning Irish actor Gabriel Byrne explores the life, works and passions of George Bernard Shaw, a giant of world literature, and - like Byrne - an emigrant Irishman with the outsider's ability to observe, needle and puncture. With Ireland in his heart, he made England his home and London his stage. His insight was ageless - his ideas still resonate almost 70 years after his death. He is one of only two people to have ever been awarded both the Nobel Prize for Literature and an Oscar. Gabriel Byrne sees Shaw as a revolutionary - a literary anarchist. Sharing Shaw's perspective as an 'artistic exile', Byrne explores Shaw's radical and unapologetic political thinking, and his unwavering ability to charm and satirise the establishment that so adored him. It is the story of the most relevant thinker, artist and literary genius Ireland ever produced. - Acid Attack: My Story
E6Acid Attack: My StoryIn 2012 Naomi Oni was attacked with sulphuric acid after being stalked through London by someone disguised in a niqab. Since 2012, acid attacks have doubled in the UK. Now two acid attacks are carried out in the UK every single day, with 450 occurring each year in London alone. Known as ‘Face Melters’, corrosive liquids have replaced knives as the weapon of choice for gangs and others wanting to inflict maximum damage on their unsuspecting victims. The physical and psychological effects of these attacks are devastating. In an instant, a victim’s life is irreversibly transformed, as are the lives of their family, children and partners. This powerful BBC Three film reveals the story behind one of the most shocking and bizarre acid attacks of recent years. It’s a twisted story of betrayal and deceit. The documentary combines archive footage, and stylised recon with interviews with the victim, police, the medics who continue to treat her, and her family and friends. - The Story of Scotdisc
E7The Story of ScotdiscScotdisc Records is one of Scotland's most successful labels, embracing the tartan Scottish music tradition and selling millions of records and videos over its 40 years. It's the story of Dougie Stevenson and Bill Garden, who have recorded many iconic artists like Sydney Devine, Lena Martell, Stuart Anderson Jr, Tommy Scott, The Alexander Brothers, Eve Graham and The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards. The Kilsyth-based label targeted the tourist market and has created an incredible catalogue with a style of music that has been unaffected by musical trends. - The Storm That Saved a City
E8The Storm That Saved a CityOn 15 January 1968, thousands of homes were damaged when 100-miles-an-hour winds tore through the central belt. Twenty people lost their lives amid devastating scenes. But the storm shook up Scotland's biggest city in another way, too. It inspired a rethink about Glasgow's tenements. For 100 years, the city had been destroying unfit houses for new ones - but it wasn't solving the problem. It took the storm, a group of young architects and some strong-willed residents to save their city from the bulldozer. And it brought forward the transformation of Glasgow - from Britain's biggest slum to the cultural capital of Europe. - Fighting for AirE9
Fighting for AirImagine if you could change the quality of the air we breathe - in just one day. Air pollution in the UK has been declared a 'public health emergency' and Dr Xand van Tulleken is seeing what can be done about it. Enlisting the help of enthusiasts and sceptics from the Kings Heath community in Birmingham, Xand stages the first ever large-scale experiment of its kind - using people power to try and bring about a quantifiable improvement in air quality for a single day. With the pollution levels on the high street at the cusp of legal limits, the odds are stacked against Xand and his team. Can they achieve the improbable? Can the power of communities - with the help of some ingenious tech and some of the best experts in pollution science - succeed where governments have failed? Xand also becomes a case study in his own experiment. As he carefully tries to rid his body of the effects of pollution, he measures how his body functions are affected after exposing himself to a typical city street. The results are shocking. - The Miners Who Made Us
E10The Miners Who Made UsIn a special celebration of the proud history of coal mining in Wales, Lucy Owen and Will Millard explore above and below ground at the Big Pit museum in Blaenavon. A quarter of a million miners once worked in more than 3,000 Welsh collieries, risking their lives to power homes and industry. Now, ten years on from the closure of the last deep mine in Wales, Tower Colliery, the workers are reunited to celebrate their incredible achievements and reflect on their memories of life underground. - The Coronation
E11The Coronation On June 2nd 1953, on one of the coldest June days of the century, after 16 months of planning, Her Majesty the Queen set out to be crowned at Westminster Abbey, watched by millions of people throughout the world. A ceremony dating back more than 1000 years was to mark the dawn of a new Elizabethan age. Now, in what has become the longest reign of any British monarch, the Queen shares her memories of that day as well as the coronation of her father, King George VI, in 1937. Exploring the role and symbolic meaning of the Crown Jewels in the centuries-old coronation ceremony, The Coronation shows these objects of astonishing beauty in new high-resolution footage. A combination of HD cameras and special 4K lenses reveal the incredible secrets and forensic details of a set of regalia that have a rich history of their own. Amongst the many glorious objects revealed, the film tells the extraordinary story of St Edward's Crown, which was destroyed after the English Civil War and remade for the coronation of Charles II in 1661. It has only been worn by Her Majesty once, at the moment she was crowned. Shedding an entirely new perspective on this world-famous event, The Coronation brings together, the eyewitness accounts of those who participated, including the maid of honour who nearly fainted in the Abbey and the 12-year-old choirboy who was left to sing solo when his overwhelmed colleagues lost their voices. Viewing rarely seen private and official film footage of the day, Her Majesty the Queen recalls the day when the weight of both St Edward's Crown and the hopes and expectations of a nation recovering from war were on her shoulders, as the nation looked to their 27-year-old Queen to lead them to a new era. Using the Queen's recollections and new footage of the Crown Jewels, The Coronation reveals the story of this glittering ceremony. - Anjelica Huston on James Joyce: A Shout in the Street
E12Anjelica Huston on James Joyce: A Shout in the StreetJames Joyce led an eventful and turbulent life. From the beginning, he was something of an outsider. His childhood was impoverished and chaotic. Nonetheless, his alcoholic father ensured that he was educated at Ireland's elite schools. From an early age, Joyce revealed an impulse to rebel against social conventions. He not only rejected the Catholic religion, but, in his own words, 'declared open war on the Catholic church by all that I write and say and do.' He was a brilliant student - winning numerous scholarships and awards - and he was also sexually precocious, frequenting Dublin's prostitutes while still very young. Then, on June 16th, 1904, he became intimate with a young chambermaid from Galway called Nora Barnacle. That date would become the day on which he set all the action of his great novel, Ulysses. Nora became his lifelong partner, and they spent the rest of their lives outside Ireland. For many years, they lived in miserable conditions, but Joyce was ready to sacrifice himself - and others, when necessary - to further his artistic ambitions. Eventually, he won worldwide literary celebrity, but he continued to live in some chaos, and he was still subject to recurrent eye complaints and other serious illnesses. When the Nazis invaded France, he was concerned for the safety of his grandson Stephen, who was half-Jewish. Eventually, he managed to find sanctuary in Switzerland, but he died just a few weeks after he and his family had arrived there. Since then, his fame has grown, and he is now recognised by a towering figure in world literature, with Ulysses often cited as the most influential work of fiction of the twentieth century. The story of Joyce's life and work is presented by the celebrated Oscar-winning actress, Anjelica Huston. She grew up in the west of Ireland, and has had a close association with Joyce's work for many years. She delivered an acclaimed stage performance of Molly Bloom's famous soliloquy from Ulysses some years ago, an - The Lost Monastery of Deer/Air Toir Manachainn Dheir
E13The Lost Monastery of Deer/Air Toir Manachainn DheirOn the shelves of the library at Cambridge University lies a book that symbolises the heart of Scottish Gaelic culture: the Book of Deer. It is a gospel book that was written in Deer in Aberdeenshire sometime between the 8th and 12th century. Within the pages of the book is the first ever writing that exists in Scottish Gaelic. "The Book of Deer is a tiny book but it has left a huge legacy for us, not only in the north east but for the whole of Scotland. We had to wait another 200-300 years after the Book of Deer to find any more evidence of written Scottish Gaelic" - Dr Michelle MacLeod, senior lecturer in Gaelic at University of Aberdeen. Without doubt, one of the most important texts in the Scottish Gaelic language, the Book of Deer was written in the ancient monastery of Deer that disappeared over 1,000 years ago. This documentary is the story of a team of archeologists, students and volunteers who spent nine days on an archaeological dig in the hunt for the lost monastery of Deer, and they found more than they bargained for. - Millionaires' Ex-Wives Club
E14Millionaires' Ex-Wives ClubWhen your husband is a multimillionaire, life can be something of a fairy tale - there will be Ferraris and Bentleys in the driveway, a yacht in Monaco and summers in St Tropez. But when it all comes crashing down, it seems the bigger the money, the bigger the fight. This programme steps inside the world of high-profile divorce cases where millions of pounds are at stake - and London is the battleground. Here women are said to get the very best deal because, as divorce lawyer Jeremy Levison explains, a change in the law means the starting point is a 50-50 split. But for the men who have spent a lifetime building their fortunes, 'it can be a bitter pill to swallow,' says divorce lawyer Julian Lipson. The film follows two ex-wives who went into battle with their exes, spending millions of pounds and years of their lives in the process. Are these women out to fleece their men for every penny they can get, as the press often suggests? Or are they simply pursuing what they are entitled to? Michelle Young has clocked up 65 court hearings and 13 sets of lawyers in her battle with her ex-husband. And 11 years on, she still hasn't given up. Michelle, aged 53, spent 18 years with Scot Young, a property tycoon who made his first millions in the 80s - but whose real fortune came from being a fixer to oligarchs and Britain's super rich. The couple had two daughters together. Both Scot and Michelle had humble beginnings - Scot grew up in a Dundee tenement block. The couple went on to have a lavish lifestyle together - country mansions, designer clothes, a different car for every day of the week. But the end came in a shocking phone call, when it was claimed that Scot had not only lost his entire fortune overnight in a big Russian property deal, but also had a breakdown - and was having an affair. Lisa, aged 52, was married for nine years to multimillionaire Vivian Imerman. He made his first fortune from his Del Monte fruit juice business before he married her. But Vivian - Connie Fisher: Baby Love
E15Connie Fisher: Baby LoveSinger and presenter Connie Fisher tries to answer a difficult question: does she want to be a mum? Women today are waiting later than ever to start a family, but at 34, Connie feels she still doesn't know if motherhood is for her. Happily married for seven years, and enjoying a thriving career, life seems good. Why complicate things with a baby if she's not sure? Growing up as a single child, and not having much to do with kids, babies have always seemed an alien concept to Connie. But she can see the joy that children clearly bring to so many, and she worries that she and her husband will miss out if they don't start a family soon. In an attempt to resolve this dilemma, Connie sets out on a journey across Wales, meeting different women who have each made their own decision about motherhood. Connie hopes that by exploring the worlds of parenthood, child-free life and childlessness, she'll be able to make an informed decision about her own path. But a seemingly straightforward journey becomes a revealing and personal quest as, to her surprise, Connie unearths her own complicated feelings about motherhood. - Make Wales Happy
E16Make Wales HappyHappiness - what is it, why is it so important, and how can we attain it? These are some of the questions that Make Wales Happy tackles to mark the first ever Welsh Happiness Day. Across this one-hour live extravaganza, Alex Jones and Jason Mohammad are joined by a host of scientists, sports stars, comedians, singers and dancers, all with a single purpose - to make the nation happier. To achieve this, they explore what causes us to feel pleasure, euphoria and contentment; investigate how our own biology controls our ability to be happy; and reveal how doing just a few simple things could brighten your mood, boost your health and even put you firmly on the path to success. Using stunts, demonstrations, experiments and audience participation, the team lift the lid on the secrets of happiness. In the studio, volunteers discover why pain-inducing chillies are the ultimate in mood food. We meet three macho rugby players who have swapped mauls for meditation to see what difference it brings to their lives - and their brains. Our stopwatches are primed as judges from the Guinness Book of Records drop by to oversee an audacious attempt to try and break a world record. Comedian Mike Bubbins turns human guinea pig as he tries to find out if money really can buy him happiness, and he investigates whether he is better at bonding with a dog or a rock. Happiness researcher Bronwyn Tarrr guides us through the latest scientific findings and uncovers the surprising truth about singing, dancing and sex. Athletic legend and happiest man on the planet Kriss Akabusi pops in to explain the importance of physical activity, how it changed his life and how running for just one hour a week could protect us from mental health problems. Neuroscientist Tali Sharot demonstrates that, despite what many might claim, just about every human being is in reality an optimist. In fact, our brains are hardwired to deal with the good news and ignore the bad. Tali also reveals how this - Stealing Van Gogh
E17Stealing Van GoghAndrew Graham-Dixon confronts the worlds of high art and seriously organised crime to uncover the true story behind the greatest art heist of the 21st century. In December 2002, two priceless and historically important paintings were stolen from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, in a brutal and audacious robbery by experienced, professional thieves. But what happened to the masterpieces, and what is their use to criminals who can never sell or display them on the open market? Andrew travels across Europe, moving between the worlds of high art and low crime and meeting policemen, prosecutors and art experts to uncover just how the world of violent and organised crime makes extensive use of stolen art - and how lost masterpieces like these can be successfully recovered. - Rhod Gilbert: Stand Up to Shyness
E18Rhod Gilbert: Stand Up to ShynessStand-up comedian Rhod Gilbert is painfully shy. He might hide it well, but he can't even go into a cafe to buy a coffee. No joke. In fact, his social anxiety has had a massive effect on his life. In this documentary, Rhod's going to try find out why and what can be done. Talking to fellow shy comedian Greg Davies, other shy sufferers, and scientists, Rhod comes up with a radical solution for how we can all stand up to shyness. Rhod can stand up in front of 20,000 people and make them laugh for two hours solid. But he has always found it virtually impossible to talk to people one to one. From childhood, it has been a life-limiting condition. And in this Rhod is certainly not alone. It is estimated that nearly half the population in the UK have some manifestation of shyness and social anxiety. For many it is a minor irritation, for some it is a condition that can virtually destroy a life. - Michael Palin: A Life On Screen
E19Michael Palin: A Life On Screen In this documentary, Michael Palin tells the story behind his success, after being honoured with a special award at the Baftas in 2013. With an outstanding career in television and film, this special delves into the archives to showcase some of Michael's incredible work, featuring an in-depth interview with the man himself. From his early days with writing partner Terry Jones to changing the face of British comedy with Monty Python, Michael has gone from strength to strength. His career encompasses award-winning drama such as Alan Bleasdale's GBH, the hugely successful feature film A Fish Called Wanda and critically acclaimed travelogues, which attracted unprecedented TV audiences. Including interviews from people who helped shape Michael's glittering career, such as John Cleese, David Jason, Connie Booth, Armando Iannucci and Clem Vallance (producer of travelogues). - Charlotte Church: Inside My Brain
E20Charlotte Church: Inside My BrainMental health affects one in four of us, but how much do we know about the relationship between our mental health and our brains? Driven by her passion for science and her family's battle with depression, Charlotte Church is going on a scientific journey to explore the cutting edge of mental health research and seek out the answers. - Free Cece
E21Free CeceActress Laverne Cox follows the case of Chrishaun Reed “CeCe” McDonald. On an outing with a group of friends, CeCe, a transgender woman of colour, was brutally attacked. As she tried to defend herself, a man was killed. CeCe was arrested for murder and incarcerated in a men’s prison in Minnesota. Laverne Cox explores the role of race, class, and gender in CeCe’s case and follows its progression and the fight against injustice, as CeCe emerges both as a survivor and as a leader. - Chris Packham: In Search of the Lost Girl
E22Chris Packham: In Search of the Lost GirlIn 1998, wildlife enthusiast and photographer Chris Packham had a remarkable encounter with the Orang Rimba, a tribe of hunter-gatherers in the rainforests of Sumatra, Indonesia. It was the first time he had ever seen people living in perfect harmony with their environment. One photograph in particular that Chris took, a picture of a young tribal girl, has since become immensely important to him as a barometer of how we are treating our planet. In this real-life detective story, with no clues as to her identity or whereabouts other than his original photograph, Chris sets off to Sumatra 20 years on to try to find her, the girl in the picture. - Wonders of the Moon
E23Wonders of the MoonDocumentary which uses the latest, most detailed imagery to reveal the monthly life cycle of the moon. From Wales to Wyoming, Hong Kong to Croydon, the programme finds out how the moon shapes life on Earth, as well as exploring its mysterious dark side and discovering how the moon's journey around Earth delivers one of nature's most awe-inspiring events - a total solar eclipse. And at the end of a remarkable year of lunar activity, we find out why so many supermoons have been lighting up the night sky. - The Many Primes of Dame Muriel Spark
E24The Many Primes of Dame Muriel SparkKirsty Wark celebrates the life and work of Dame Muriel Spark, author of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and one of the 20th century's most enigmatic cultural figures, on the one-hundredth anniversary of her birth. Born in Edinburgh, Muriel's extraordinary life took her to colonial Africa, wartime London, literary New York and vibrant 1960s Rome. Her most famous novel - The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie - immortalised the city of her childhood but with an added darkness and acerbic wit that became her trademark style. - Machines
E25MachinesA mesmerising and unflinching look behind the doors of a textile factory in India, as director Rahul Jain observes the life of the workers and the oppressive environment they seldom escape from. Machines tells a story of the human cost of mass production in a globalised world, showing the gulf between rich and poor from both perspectives. - Elise Christie: In From The Cold
E26Elise Christie: In From The ColdSpeed skater Elise Christie received death threats after crashing out at the Winter Olympics in Sochi, but now four years on she is Great Britain's best chance of a gold medal at the 2018 Games in South Korea. And as she completes her preparation for the biggest moment of her career, BBC Sport has followed the Scottish speed skater, gaining exclusive behind the scenes access. The people who know her best - her coaches, boyfriend, teammates and friends - describe how they helped pick up the pieces after the heartbreak of Sochi as Elise talks openly about the dark times she has experienced and how she hopes to finally complete her difficult journey with Olympic gold. - Islam, Women And Me
E27Islam, Women And MeAs a 28-year-old British Muslim woman, Mehreen Baig finds that everyone seems to have an opinion about how she should live her life - the clothes she should wear, where she should go out and who she should date. Half the time she is told she's being held back by her religion, and the other half that she isn't religious enough. As she faces the prospect of marriage and finally moving out from her parents' house, she wants to know whether it's possible to be a strong, independent woman and a good Muslim in modern Britain. Mehreen meets the young women who claim Islam is a feminist religion that empowers them and a woman who has rejected the religion because she believes it's inherently sexist. She uses a Muslim dating app to date a selection of young Muslim men, finding out what they really want from a wife, and attends a Sharia council. Along the way, Mehreen discovers how widely women's experiences vary across different Muslim communities. - Love Unlimited: Polyamory in Scotland
E28Love Unlimited: Polyamory in ScotlandA growing number of people are finding that traditional relationships don't work for them. So instead of just one, they have multiple romantic relationships. It's known as polyamory. Polyamory requires the full consent of everyone involved, but even then things can get complicated. Existing partners can easily feel left out, jealous or hurt. So open and honest communication is essential for polyamory to work - plus some careful timetabling. Love Unlimited features polyamorous relationships of many kinds. Noni is a young woman with two boyfriends, Kima and Toms are a bisexual couple in an open relationship, and Ross, Iain and Pav are a trio of gay men in a three-way polyamorous partnership. Jayne and Dom are very much in love but feel it's important to keep their relationship open to the possibility of additional partners. What they all have in common is that they have rejected monogamy in favour of a more open and fluid approach to relationships. There is much negativity and confusion surrounding polyamory. It can be especially hard to understand for family and friends. There's also the emotional strain of dividing time and affection between partners and the stress and anxiety of opening up an existing relationship to new potential partners. Poly people insist that it's about multiple meaningful relationships and not an excuse to sleep with lots of different people - although that can happen too. Despite the challenges new research shows that overall satisfaction can actually be higher in polyamorous relationships. So how do you go about loving more than one person? And what can polyamory teach us all about happy healthy relationships? - Hull's Headscarf Heroes
E29Hull's Headscarf HeroesThe film tells the epic story of the Hull fishermen who did the most dangerous job in Britain and their wives whose protest ensured such a disaster never happened again. The women’s campaign was one of the biggest and most successful civil action campaigns of the 20th century. Combining rare archive and emotional testimony – including that of Yvonne Blenkinsop, the last surviving leader of the women – those who lived through the tragedy and fought for change tell their incredible stories for the first time. - Trouble at the Zoo
E30Trouble at the ZooSouth Lakes Safari Zoo hit the headlines when it was revealed that almost five hundred animals had died there in under four years. The zoo's founder David Gill was denied a new license to run the park, and in early 2017 remaining staff formed a new company to try and rescue the animal park. This observational documentary charts the events in the summer that followed, as the staff at the embattled zoo try to rescue their reputation by improving their practices, whilst struggling to meet financial targets to survive the rest of the year. The zoo has also had to take on a new director of animals, Andreas Kaufmann, to help them modernise standards. Andreas is particularly concerned with what the animals eat, which species he believes the zoo should keep, and how they play a role in global conservation efforts. Across five months of filming at South Lakes Safari Zoo, food supply problems have serious implications for one of the zoo's favourite animals and Andreas battles with the staff to vastly reduce the number of animals kept on-site. He believes they should only keep what they have capacity to care for, but others on the zoo's board worry these changes might affect visitor numbers, and the zoo's chances of survival. - Charles I's Treasures Reunited
E31Charles I's Treasures ReunitedBrenda Emmanus explores the art collection of Charles I, much of which is being reunited for the first time since his execution for a unique exhibition. Brenda hears the stories behind the works of art and learns how the collection was sold off by Parliament following Charles' death. - South Korea: Earth's Hidden Wilderness
E32South Korea: Earth's Hidden WildernessOnce a mountain kingdom of ancient palaces and emperors, Korea in the 21st century is largely known for its modern cities and decades of conflict. Tensions between North and South may be what defines it to outsiders but beyond the battle scars there is another side to Korea. In the south are large pockets of untouched wilderness where extraordinary animals flourish and Koreans continue to practice age-old traditions in tandem with the seasons and with nature. It is in these connections, rather than in division, that we see the true Korea. At the southernmost tip of the peninsular we follow a pod of bottlenose dolphins through the volcanic islands of Jeju. They click at each other as they encounter a human in their midst, but the dolphins know this diver well - they have shared the ocean with the Haenyeo, or sea women, for thousands of years. We travel onwards to the isolated island of Marado, where three generations of sea women are preparing for a dive. Today is the start of the conch season, and they work hard whatever the weather to maximise their catch. In the grounds of an ancient palace on the mainland, a raccoon dog family takes advantage of a rare event. Just once every five years, hundreds of cicadas emerge from below ground providing an easy feast for the raccoon dogs who voraciously fill their bellies. Those that escape their jaws make for the safety of the trees, where they metamorphosise into their flying form. On the mud flats of Suncheon Bay we find a habitat that is neither land nor sea. Only recently has the ecological value of mudflats been recognised. A staggering 50 per cent of the earth's oxygen is produced by phytoplankton - microscopic algae that are found here in great abundance. That is why the mudflats are known locally as the lungs of the earth. Plankton is far from the only life here - the mud of the bay is rich in nutrients and supports one of the most diverse ecosystems on the peninsula. We follow the story of a young mudskippe - Suffragette Allies
E33Suffragette AlliesProgramme looking at the men who backed votes for women. Suffrage campaigns were led by women, but some men played key supporting roles. These included male activists like Fred Pethick-Lawrence, who was convicted and forcibly fed in gaol, and MPs like John Stuart Mill and Keir Hardie who spoke out in the Commons. Without allies in the all-male parliaments of the day, women would not secure a change in the law. - Julius Caesar Revealed
E35Julius Caesar RevealedMary Beard is on a mission to uncover the real Caesar, and to challenge public perception. She seeks the answers to some big questions. How did he become a one-man ruler of Rome? How did he use spin and PR on his way to the top? Why was he killed? And she asks some equally intriguing little questions. How did he conceal his bald patch? Did he really die, as William Shakespeare put it, with the words Et tu, Brute on his lips? Above all, Mary explores his surprising legacy right up to the present day. Like it or not, Caesar is still present in our everyday lives, our language, and our politics. Many dictators since, not to mention some other less autocratic leaders, have learned the tricks of their trade from Julius Caesar. - Darcey Bussell's New Dance
E36Darcey Bussell's New DanceDarcey Bussell steps out of the world of ballet to pick two modern dance works that take familiar genres into uncharted territory. Inspired by her own love for crossing boundaries between all forms of dance, Darcey introduces us to the people and pieces that are breaking new ground with original and exciting performances. First are Olivier Award-winners Boy Blue Entertainment (aka Kenrick 'H20' Sandy and Michael Asante), who have an established reputation for transforming street dance into jaw-dropping theatrical experiences. Emancipation of Expressionism, directed by Oscar-winner Danny Boyle, has taken them even further - onto the GCSE dance curriculum as a key work. Darcey's next choice is the group taking ice dancing as far away from sequins as it is possible to skate. In Vertical, Canadian-based collective Le Patin Libre (literally 'the free skate') use the ice in daring and dazzling new ways to present a thrilling new perspective. - Akala's OdysseyE37
Akala's OdysseyWriter and hip-hop artist Akala voyages across the Mediterranean and beyond to solve some of the mysteries behind Homer's monumental poem, the Odyssey. Travelling between spectacular ruins, such as the sacred shrine of Delphi or the Greek colonies on Sicily, Akala's journey culminates on the small island of Ithaca, where he ponders the theory that this is the destination which Homer had in mind as he composed the epic. Along the way, he finds out what Homer's works may have sounded like to their first audiences, discovers how the rhythm of those ancient words connect to the beats of modern hip-hop and comes face to face with the characters from the masterpiece. He also investigates how this epic poem became the cornerstone of Western literature and how his own experiences as an artist have been impacted by a 3,000-year-old classic. Akala has undertaken this quest as part of his mission to compose his own response to the Odyssey - a new hip hop track called Blind Bard's Vision, which turns the tale on its head all over again. This is Akala's Odyssey. - Robert Campbell, Mountain Man
E38Robert Campbell, Mountain Man This is the epic rags-to-riches adventure story of a penniless Tyrone teenager who left Ulster in 1822 and ultimately became one of the wealthiest men in America. Robert Campbell was one of the first Ulster-Scots pioneers to open up the American west. He spent his first 10 years in the Rocky Mountain fur trade, a 'bold and dashing life' he called it, fighting native Americans, enduring the harshest of climates, suffering near starvation with he and his men forced to eat their horses and dogs. Leaving the mountains he became one of the leading citizens of St Louis with a business empire covering every aspect of commerce, property and river trade. In fact he gave Mark Twain his first job as a Missouri riverboat pilot. The film follows Campbell's great-great-great-great nephew - former tank commander and Northern Ireland politician Alan McFarland - as he travels across the American west to uncover his ancestor's life. He finds a character widely respected by both native Americans and settlers, and reveals a love story and a succession. - Inside Britain's Moped Crime Gangs
E39Inside Britain's Moped Crime GangsReporter Livvy Haydock meets three of the UK’s newest criminals - thieves who commit their crimes using mopeds. These thieves, who talk publicly for the first time, use mopeds to sneak up on members of the public or to getaway from crime scenes. All from London, they have contributed to an alarming rise in violent crime in the City. In 2017 there were over 23,000 crimes committed on motorbikes, an average of 64 per day. This is a 163% rise on the previous year. Livvy rides pillion on the back of a moped with a thief who points out which members of the public make good targets and which ones are protecting themselves. She accompanies an armed robber as he scouts jewelers in Notting Hill to point out security flaws, and she also helps one thief, who boasts about being a good race car driver, to quit crime by giving him a chance to impress in a Formula Renault test session. She also learns about the impressive phone security hacking involved in making the thefts profitable. One thief is filmed selling five of the latest smartphones, all robbed within one afternoon, for £150-£250 each when the normal price on the black market is £30-40 per phone. This higher price is because the thief’s buyer is able to recycle the phones abroad without any loss of functionality. - Murdered for Love? Samia Shahid
E40Murdered for Love? Samia ShahidOn 14 July 2016, Bradford girl Samia Shahid flew to Pakistan to visit her family. Six days later she was found dead. She was 28 years old. Eight days later, her first husband and father were arrested in connection with her murder. The case was taken up by Bradford MP Naz Shah, who wrote to the prime minister of Pakistan describing the case as an honour killing. With unique access to some of Samia's closest friends, this film tells the story of Samia's life - how her arranged marriage to her cousin broke down and how her decision to divorce and re-marry for love caused a huge rift with her family. The film contains the first interview with Samia's second husband, who tells the dramatic and tragic story of Samia's return to Pakistan. Samia's father was released owing to lack of evidence. He has since died. Her first husband remains in custody and the case in Pakistan continues. He denies the allegations against him. - Girls on the Edge
E41Girls on the EdgeOne in ten teenagers have a mental health problem. According to the NHS, there has been a 68% rise in hospital admissions relating to self-harm among young teenage girls in the past decade. This hour-long observational documentary follows three families whose daughters have been sectioned under the Mental Health Act to protect them from harming themselves. The teenagers are all being treated at Fitzroy House. Their detainment is indefinite and the film explores the impact on them, their parents and siblings who don't know when they will be allowed home. All have had different journeys into Fitzroy House. Jade, 17, has been sectioned for 18 months and is hoping to be discharged from hospital before her 18th birthday. Her twin sister Megan struggles with Jade's illness and finds it difficult to visit her. Jess, 17, was first sectioned when she was 13 and has been to nine different hospitals around the country. She is one of a growing number of children sent away from her area for treatment and her parents Vikki and John currently make a 300-mile round trip to visit her every weekend. Erin, 16, is nearly ready to be discharged from Fitzroy House. Her mum Emma is desperate to have her home but the responsibility of keeping her safe terrifies her. Told in their own words with directness and raw honesty, the film aims to remove shame and stigma surrounding mental illness as well as explore some of the pressures on young people growing up. - Squaddies on the Frontline
E42Squaddies on the FrontlineSquaddies on the Frontline tells the story of the British Army's experience of the Northern Ireland conflict through the eyes of the ordinary men and women that soldiered here. For almost 40 years between 1969 and 2007, a total of over a quarter-of-a-million soldiers served on the streets of Northern Ireland in 'Operation Banner', the British Army's longest ever operation. These men and women were at the heart of the key events of the conflict, with over 700 soldiers killed and more than 6,000 injured, and a further 305 deaths attributed to them. Squaddies on the Frontline is their story, taking viewers into the heart of 'Operation Banner' and the day-to-day realities of life and work here as a soldier through some of the toughest years of the Troubles, looking at the impact that it had, and continues to have, on their lives and the lives of those around them, both here in Northern Ireland and beyond. - Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road EnsembleE44
Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road EnsembleDocumentary telling the extraordinary story of the international musical collective created by legendary cellist Yo-Yo Ma. This uplifting film follows this group of diverse instrumentalists, vocalists, composers, arrangers, visual artists and storytellers as they explore the power of music to preserve tradition, shape cultural evolution and inspire hope. Named for the ancient trade route linking Asia, Africa and Europe, the Silk Road Ensemble is an international collective drawn from an ever-changing line-up of more than 50 performers. Blending performance footage, personal interviews and archival film the film focuses on the journeys of a small group of Silk Road Ensemble mainstays to create a vivid portrait of a bold musical experiment and a global search for the ties that bind. - Plastic Surgery Capital of the WorldE45
Plastic Surgery Capital of the WorldAs a baby, Annie Price was badly burnt in a caravan fire. She had life-saving operations on her face, but growing up her mum encouraged her to get on with her life rather than focusing on further plastic surgery. Now, aged 31 and about to get married, Annie is travelling to South Korea, where cosmetic surgery is so common people have double eyelid surgery and are back at work the next day. She wants to find out what some of the best plastic surgeons would recommend for her. In South Korea 60 per cent of women in their twenties have had plastic surgery, and each year hundreds of thousands of people travel there specifically to get procedures done. Annie meets Myung, who is having her eyes widened in the belief it will help her get a better job, and Viv, who is having her whole face reshaped to make herself look prettier. Having resisted pressure from doctors to operate on her face for most of her life, Annie wants to understand why these young women feel compelled to modify very normal parts of their faces. In Korean society, first impressions are very important, so Annie meets a face reader who says he can predict a person's wealth and happiness just from their features. Finally, she meets one of South Korea's top plastic surgeons to find out what they would suggest for her and tries to decide if she wants to have surgery to change her face. - Lucy Worsley's Fireworks For A Tudor Queen
E46Lucy Worsley's Fireworks For A Tudor QueenHistorian Lucy Worsley teams up with artist and materials scientist Zoe Laughlin to explore the explosive science and fascinating history of fireworks, using an original pyrotechnics instruction manual, and other 400-year-old historical documents, to recreate one of the most spectacular fireworks displays from the Tudor era. Lucy and Zoe are joined by a team of top class pyrotechnicians to replicate a mind-blowing fireworks display especially designed for Queen Elizabeth I - one of the first documented firework displays in England. Lucy pieces together clues from some of the earliest instruction manuals for making fireworks in England, as well as eyewitness accounts of the display laid on in 1575. Armed with this information, the team apply their understanding of cutting-edge pyrotechnics to recreate it in the grounds of Kenilworth Castle, Warwickshire, where it was originally staged. Using hands-on experiments to test their designs, the team construct Tudor rockets, firework fountains and a fire-breathing dragon, as well as discovering the secrets of Elizabethan gunpowder. Throughout the show, Lucy explores the history of the three-week extravaganza laid on by Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, in his final attempt to win the queen's hand in marriage - from the elaborate food the Tudor audience would have eaten, to the colours that the set might have been painted in. She also reveals the important role fireworks had during the Tudor era - from the firework effects used on stage at the Globe Theatre to the pyrotechnical experimentation that took place at the Tower of London, the MI5 of its day. But not all the clues can be found in England - some of the fireworks described need to be tracked down further afield. Lucy travels to Italy to recreate the mysterious Girandola - a horizontal spinning wheel of fire - whilst Zoe flies to South Korea to witness the ancient, and rather terrifying, rocket box launcher in action. The danger and technical challe - Putin: The New Tsar
E47Putin: The New TsarHow did a poor boy from a tiny flat in St Petersburg become one of the world's most powerful leaders? Admired by Trump and feared by his rivals, on the eve of his almost certain re-election as president of Russia, The New Tsar reveals the story of Vladimir Putin's extraordinary rise to power - from a lowly KGB colonel to Boris Yeltsin's right-hand man and ultimately his successor. There are revelations from Putin's inner circle at the Kremlin, including former confidante Sergei Pugachev, who helped Putin to power before falling from favour. Chess master Gary Kasparov recounts his failed attempt to stand against him and oligarch Mikhail Khordokovsky, who was jailed and stripped of his wealth, speaks of the consequences of experiencing the wrath of Putin. The programme also hears from former home secretary Jack Straw, who recalls Putin's first encounter with Tony Blair - the leader Putin apparently attempted to model himself on and Straw wryly observes that the two are 'very similar'. Former foreign secretary William Hague entertained Putin during the London 2012 Olympic Games and bonded over a shared love of judo - but later found himself unable to influence the decision made to invade Crimea. - Sir Bruce: A CelebrationE48
Sir Bruce: A CelebrationA very special event honouring one of this country's biggest and best-loved entertainers, Sir Bruce Forsyth. Join host Tess Daly, Sir Bruce's Strictly Come Dancing co-star of more than a decade, at the London Palladium, the theatre which helped propel him to stardom, for this tribute to the renowned broadcaster. The evening features some of Sir Bruce's favourite songs performed by a wealth of artists, including Dame Shirley Bassey, Alexandra Burke and Michael Ball and Alfie Boe, as well as dance performances from the Strictly professionals and Adam Garcia. - Being BlackerE49
Being BlackerThe film tells the story of well-known reggae record shop owner and music producer, Blacker Dread, his extended family, friends and the wider Brixton community. Made with Dineen’s characteristic intimacy, the film focuses on a tumultuous time in Blacker’s life - the death of his mother and the prospect of his first prison sentence. While the documentary focuses on Blacker’s journey, it also features a wider cast; best friend, former bank robber Naptali is struggling to go straight; sister June is trying to maintain family ties after their mother’s death, and partner Maureen is ensuring their youngest son maintains his exceptional school grades in Jamaica, having been excluded from school in the UK. With the unprecedented access granted by her old friend Blacker, Dineen shines a spotlight on the struggles the characters face on a daily basis and in doing so offers a particular understanding of both the challenges and triumphs of family and community togetherness in Blacker’s world. Being Blacker offers a unique insight into what it is to be black in Britain today. - Saving the British BulldogE50
Saving the British BulldogBritain's most iconic dog is in crisis. Comedian, actress and dog lover Catherine Tate investigates the serious health problems affecting the British bulldog and what can be done to save it. At the start of 2018 vets launched a national campaign urging prospective dog owners to think twice about buying flat-faced breeds like bulldogs. Meeting breeders, dog owners and vets Catherine asks what's causing the bulldog's problems, as well as exploring the latest scientific research, which suggests controversial ways to save the breed. Catherine also asks the Kennel Club, the leading authority in charge of pedigree dogs, whether they're doing enough. - The Rugby Codebreakers
E51The Rugby CodebreakersBroadcaster and journalist Carolyn Hitt investigates why so many men gave up their dreams of playing rugby union for Wales, seeking fame and fortune among the mills of Lancashire and Yorkshire by committing an act that was considered tantamount to treason - switching codes to play rugby league. Her journey explores the impact of class, race and economic change on the game at the heart of Welsh identity. During rugby union's amateur era (1895-1995), more than 150 full Welsh union internationals and hundreds of uncapped union players did the unthinkable and ran the risk of being both ostracised and vilified by their fellow countrymen. They may have headed north with a heavy heart, but once they had switched codes, many went on to become huge success stories across the north of England - stories that have remained largely untold in Wales. Carolyn hears open and honest reflections from former players on both sides of the border, interviewing Welsh rugby legends Gareth Edwards and Jonathan Davies in Wales, and heading north to meet the players who didn't come home. They reveal their life-changing experiences as rugby codebreakers and Carolyn uncovers the hidden history of the players who were forced to turn their back on Wales because of the colour of their skin. The Rugby Codebreakers is the story of men who were deemed pariahs and outcasts in their own country but became heroes and legends to the working men and women of the north of England - and whose achievements should now be recognised at home. - Contagion! The BBC Four Pandemic
E52Contagion! The BBC Four PandemicContagion! The BBC Four Pandemic creates the first ever life-saving pandemic in an ambitious citizen science experiment for BBC Four, fronted by mathematician Dr Hannah Fry and emergency medic Dr Javid Abdelmoneim. The government has ranked pandemic flu as a serious threat to the UK. To predict the impact of the next pandemic more accurately than ever before, new data is needed - and lots of it. Dr Hannah Fry is on the case. The groundbreaking BBC Four experiment uses app technology to ‘infect’ users whilst tracking their movements and social interactions over 24 hours. The information collected from the app could inform public health policy and help save lives during the next pandemic. But will Hannah persuade enough people nationwide to download it? If she does, this will allow a team of mathematicians from the University of Cambridge to create a simulation of how a deadly flu virus could spread across the UK, predicting how many of us will be infected - and how many might die. Whilst Hannah masterminds the experiment and adopts the role of Patient Zero - walking the streets of Haslemere in Surrey to launch the outbreak - Javid finds out why flu is such a danger to society. He meets the researchers trying to discover what makes some people more contagious than others and visits a factory that will produce vaccine when the next pandemic virus emerges. Armed with the information gathered and the results of the BBC Four experiment, Hannah and Javid make a shocking revelation. - Secrets of the Masons
E53Secrets of the MasonsIn Secrets of the Masons, cameras for the first time go behind the doors of the Grand Masonic Lodge of Scotland, in Edinburgh, the home of freemasonry, and lift the veil on the inner secrets of this normally closed world. With exclusive access to its 400-year-old archive, its members around the country and its grand master, who presides over 1,000 lodges and 100,000 Scottish Freemasons worldwide, we film at lodge meetings, the selection of new candidates and the installation of grand masters. This documentary explores the truth about an organisation characterised by many for funny handshakes and rolled trouser legs, and by others as a dangerous, secret society, "the hidden hand that has shaped Scotland". We discover famous Scots whose careers have been "helped" by being masons, including Robert Burns and leading light in the Scottish Enlightenment, James Watt. Deputy Scottish Grandmaster Ramsay McGee, ex assistant chief constable of Northern Constabulary, remembers when, in the 1970s, 50 per cent of the force under him were masons. But he defends the close links between freemasonry and the police - "I could argue all policemen should be masons, it would make them much better men!" In the bomb-proof safes below the grand lodge in Edinburgh's George Street, archivist Robert Cooper, in white gloves, finds the original minutes of the first lodge meeting in 1598. We trace how this organisation grew from stonemasons to freemasons, became enshrined in America, where 40 per cent of presidents have been masons, was banned by the Pope and Hitler, and "done in", in Robert Cooper's words, by Dan Brown. And we ask if its lasting legacy is less its influence and more its secrecy. - The Funeral Murders
E54The Funeral MurdersA new documentary by acclaimed film-maker Vanessa Engle, The Funeral Murders, follows a dramatic and deadly series of events that took place at two funerals in Belfast in March 1988. Thirty years later, those who witnessed or were intimately connected to these events tell their stories. This film offers a range of perspectives - from republicans and loyalists to the security forces and family members of those who died, who share their moving stories for the first time. - Flex Lewis: Superstar BodybuilderE55
Flex Lewis: Superstar BodybuilderWelsh bodybuilder James 'Flex' Lewis is on a mission. The reigning Mr Olympia champion is determined to claim his sixth title in a row and equal the record of his all-time hero Arnold Schwarzenegger. Known as the Super Bowl of bodybuilding, the Mr Olympia competition in Las Vegas is the biggest event of the bodybuilding calendar. A star attraction among the competitors is Flex. With more than a million Instagram followers and a host of successful businesses, he is a huge celebrity in America. He has more than 30 national and international titles under his belt and graces covers of numerous bodybuilding magazines. By contrast, back on home soil in Wales, the fame of this Llanelli-born star has barely caused a ripple. Over several months, we follow Flex in the run-up to his sixth Mr Olympia competition. We see the punishing daily regime it takes to have a shot at winning. We join him in his bespoke Florida gym where, at his daily training sessions, he can bench up to the same weight at a grand piano. But sweat and tears in the gym alone won't cut it. Flex must also stick to the superstrict diet set by coach Neil if he has any hope of shredding every last ounce of excess fat to qualify for his weight category in Vegas. Every grain of rice is accounted for. But as the calorie intake drops, the daily routine gets harder and harder to achieve. Flex has won the 212lb weight category every year since 2012. But just weeks before his sixth Mr Olympia, Flex faces the double blow of both personal tragedy and a natural disaster that forces him from his home. Out of the blue, life throws a couple of curveballs that look certain to disrupt his dreams. It falls to the tight team around Flex and his family who travel from Wales to Vegas to pull him through. As his legions of devoted fans descend upon Vegas to watch with the competition with baited breath, will Flex make it to the finish line and take his sixth consecutive title, or will his desire to equal his hero Arnold Schwarz - Picasso's Last Stand
E56Picasso's Last StandPicasso's Last Stand reveals the untold story of the last decade of the great artist's life, through the testimony of family and close friends - many of them the people he allowed into his private world in the 1960s. As his health declined in these final years, Picasso faced damaging criticism of his work and intimate revelations about his bohemian lifestyle for the first time. And yet, in the midst of disaster, he rediscovered his revolutionary spirit with a creative surge that produced some of his most sexually frank and comic work. Exhibitions of the new style horrified and disappointed contemporaries. But now his biographer Sir John Richardson and granddaughter Diana Widmaier Picasso argue that this last enormous effort produced some of his greatest and most profound art: the stunning counter-attack of a protean genius coming to terms with old age. - 50 Years of Look NorthE58
50 Years of Look NorthHarry Gration dips back into the archives as Look North celebrates half a century of broadcasting in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. Former presenters including Judith Stamper and Sophie Raworth relive their time in front of the Look North cameras - while Harry catches up with some of the people who have made the news during the programme's 50-year history. - The Queen: Her Commonwealth StoryE59
The Queen: Her Commonwealth StoryGeorge Alagiah explores the fascinating history of Queen Elizabeth II and the Commonwealth. He discovers how the role of heading this family of nations has affected the Queen as she grew and developed, both as a monarch and as a person. His journey starts in Tonga, one of the furthest-flung stops on the Queen's first Commonwealth tour in 1953. From there, George's Commonwealth tour takes him to Australia, Ghana, India and South Africa. In each country he discovers how the shy young Queen grew into a monarch who commands respect, exploring moments of triumph, diplomacy, challenge and political intrigue. Gathering testimony from people who have met the Queen across the years and from experts who have followed her journey, George builds a picture of how deftly the Queen has played her role as head of the Commonwealth. Her daughter Princess Anne also talks about the Queen's role as a woman in a male-dominated world. - Reggie Yates: Searching for Grenfell's Lost Lives
E60Reggie Yates: Searching for Grenfell's Lost LivesReggie Yates meets people whose lives have been devastated by the Grenfell fire, hoping to piece together the human stories behind some of those lost in the tragedy. With a police investigation and public inquiry examining how and why it happened, Reggie takes a step back to ask who were those people before they became victims of one of Britain's deadliest fires. Through their families and friends in the local community, Reggie learns about some of the individuals who lost their lives - a young British Moroccan, Yasin El-Wahabi, who was believed to have run back into the tower to save his family, a Filipino woman, Ligaya Moore, whose niece arrives in London to get answers about how her aunt died, a Syrian man, Mohammad Alhajali, who escaped war with his brother only to lose his life in the fire, Tony Disson, a well-known local figure whose family had lived in the area for generations, and a 12-year-old girl, Jessica Urbano Ramirez, who was one of 18 children to lose their lives. As a Londoner, and having grown up on a council estate himself, Reggie discovers that these stories aren't just the stories of individuals, they are the story of a community. - Tiredness, Tears and Tantrums: Diary of a New MumE61
Tiredness, Tears and Tantrums: Diary of a New MumPeople say having a baby is a magical experience - full of cuddles and lullabies. But what is the reality for most new parents when they first bring their tiny baby home? Annie Price has been through her fair share of tough times - surviving a caravan fire at four weeks old and being left with extensive scarring. Now she's about to become a mother for the first time. Annie brings her unfiltered honesty to the first six weeks of motherhood. How easy is breastfeeding really? What's the difference between baby blues and postnatal depression? And is it normal to take your baby to hospital nearly a half a dozen times in the first two weeks?! Annie meets a professional breastfeeding counsellor, learns infant first aid and visits a centre supported by Sport Relief that specifically helps mums who are experiencing postnatal illness. - The Porthole Mystery
E64The Porthole Mystery A cruise ship steward is sentenced to hang after an actress disappears on-board a voyage from South Africa to Southampton, but was he really guilty? Richard Latto presents fresh evidence in this fascinating cold case investigation. Hear from a key witness who didn't give her vital evidence at the 1948 trial at The Great Hall in Winchester. For the first time, see the full story of events as detailed in the extensive police file, saved by the Hampshire Policy Society from incineration. Author Antony M Brown reveals his incredible research into the death of an actress who dreamt of Hollywood, but never made it back to England. - Lenny Henry: The Commonwealth Kid
E65Lenny Henry: The Commonwealth KidIn a revealing and emotional journey, Lenny Henry travels to the Caribbean to investigate his own heritage and the relationship between the Commonwealth, the Caribbean and the UK. Lenny's life would be very different without the influence of the Commonwealth. Because of it, his parents were able to move to Dudley from Jamaica in the 1950s, putting Lenny on the path to fame and fortune in the UK. Lenny examine the deep-rooted and complicated connection between the Caribbean and Great Britain and the role the Commonwealth plays in this relationship. Where did this organisation, made up of 53 countries and 2.3 billion people, come from? How can it survive its legacy of empire and slavery? Does it have any role in the 21st century? Lenny sets off on a tour into the body, mind and soul of the Caribbean, to investigate the experiences of those who live so far from the UK, but remain members of this vast and populous club. He travels back to Jamaica to investigate his own beginnings and finds out why, 60 years ago, his mother uprooted the family to travel thousands of miles to the rainy Midlands. He meets his older brother Seymour for a tour of the remote and rural plot he would have called home if the Henrys had remained on the island. He visits a lush rum plantation in an attempt to understand what life was like for his ancestors - African slaves brought to the Caribbean against their will. Lenny spends time with Commonwealth champion Rasheed Dwyer and Olympian Sashalee Forbes and hangs out at a Chronixx gig to hear what importance, if any, the Commonwealth has to Jamaicans today. In Antigua, Lenny traces the roots of why the British ended up in the Caribbean in the first place, and meets some of the ex-pats who have decided to make the Caribbean their home. Finally he travels to Barbuda to visit the island community devastated by Hurricane Irma, to hear tragic tales from survivors and consider the role the Commonwealth could play in the future around the world - BBC Young Musician: Forty Years YoungE66
BBC Young Musician: Forty Years YoungTo mark the 40th birthday of BBC Young Musician, a look back at this hugely influential competition, focusing on the soaring careers of the three finalists from 2016, cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, saxophonist Jess Gillam and French horn player Ben Goldscheider. From its inception in 1978, BBC Young Musician has been a national institution and performers who've won or taken part amount to a roll call of contemporary British classical music. It's a showcase keenly watched by the music business and an appearance in the final often opens the door to a major career. Even by the high standards set by the competition, the most recent final in 2016 was very special indeed. The winner Sheku Kanneh-Mason is now Britain's most talked about young musician - he topped the classical charts with his first CD and played twice at the Bafta Awards. His co-finalists Jess Gillam and Ben Goldscheider are also making waves, Jess already featured as a soloist at the Proms and both tipped for stellar careers. This programme follows Sheku, Jess and Ben over the two years since the final, seeing how these young players, all are still in their late teens, are balancing the demands of a blossoming career with their studies at music school. The pressures faced by Sheku, Jess and Ben are nothing new and alongside telling the stories of the 2016 trio, the programme also meets many former winners and finalists. These include violinist Nicola Benedetti, winner in 2004 and now an ambassador for the competition, cellist Natalie Clein who won in 1994, percussionist Adrian Spillett, victor in 1998, violinist Jennifer Pike who triumphed aged just 12 in 2002, and pianist Martin James Bartlett the winner of the 2014 final. Also interviewed is acclaimed trumpeter Alison Balsom, now a regular presenter of BBC Young Musician, who feels that while she didn't win in 1998, still sees the competition as an important springboard for her career. The programme interviews Humphrey Burton who co-created the - One of Our Dinosaurs is Moving
E67One of Our Dinosaurs is MovingThe behind-the-scenes story of how Dippy the diplodocus came to Dorset on the first stop of his nationwide tour. As the nation's favourite dinosaur is squeezed into Dorset County Museum, Jon Cuthill discovers how Dippy was originally made and explores the world-famous Jurassic Coast. - My Dad, the Peace Deal and Me
E68My Dad, the Peace Deal and MePatrick Kielty was born in Northern Ireland during the Troubles and was only sixteen when his dad was murdered by paramilitary gunmen. Despite his loss, just 18 months later Patrick was taking to the stand-up stage in Belfast, forging a comedy career by telling jokes about life in what felt like a warzone. Year after year, the sectarian killings continued. Then in 1998, along with the majority of the Northern Irish population, Patrick voted in favour of the Good Friday Agreement. It meant those convicted over his dad's murder would be released from prison, but it brought a promise of peace after 30 years of conflict, with the potential to build a new society based on reconciliation. Now, on the 20th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, Patrick wants to find out if the historic peace deal has delivered on its pledge to create a new Northern Ireland, free of the hatred that took Jack Kielty's life. Patrick returns to his home village of Dundrum, where his dad was killed, and then travels around Northern Ireland meeting other people whose lives were shattered by the Troubles. He confronts those responsible for committing acts of violence on both sides, asking why they became radicalised by the bloodshed and why some still seem to be wedded to their weapons. Patrick also meets other people caught up in the conflict, including Richard Moore, who was a ten-year-old boy on his way home from school when he was shot and blinded by a British army officer's rubber bullet. He wants to know whether it's possible for victims to be reconciled to a peaceful life alongside those who hurt them. Patrick visits the border country, exploring why Brexit has put the peace deal back in the spotlight, and meets politicians from both sides. Hearing their personal stories of how their families were also caught up in the conflict, he asks DUP leader Arlene Foster and a young Sinn Fein representative, Emma Rogan, why the power-sharing government between nationalists and uni - Sex Robots and Us
E71Sex Robots and UsCyborg presenter James Young journeys across the world to meet the makers and users of sex robots who have plans for a Westworld future where sex bots live amongst us. In Barcelona, James visits Dr Sergi Santos and his wife Maritsa, creators of one of the world’s most advanced sex robots and the answer, they suggest, to many couples' miss-matched libido. Sergi tests out his latest robot and James finds out how Maritsa copes with Sergi using the dolls himself. Elsewhere in Barcelona James also finds simple versions of the robots - not yet fitted with AI - being used in a brothel, and visits a professional sex toy tester who tries out one of the latest male sex dolls to hit the market. Back in the UK, James visits Sergi’s business partner Arran who has been demo’ing a Samantha robot in a sex shop near Liverpool. Arran tells James about his latest plan - to offer his sex robots to elderly people’s homes. In Japan, James meets two of the most human-like robots to have been created before discovering a darker side to the sex robot industry when he visits a factory mass-producing ultra-realistic dolls. So do we really want sex robots in our lives? - Bacchus Uncovered: Ancient God of Ecstasy
E72Bacchus Uncovered: Ancient God of EcstasyProfessor Bettany Hughes investigates the story of Bacchus, god of wine, revelry, theatre and excess, travelling to Georgia, Jordan, Greece and Britain to discover his origins and his presence in the modern world, and explore how 'losing oneself' plays a vital role in the development of civilisation. In this fascinating journey, Bettany begins in Georgia where she discovers evidence of the world's oldest wine production, and the role it may have played in building communities. In Athens she reveals Bacchus's pivotal role in a society where his ecstatic worship was embraced by all classes, and most importantly women. On Cyprus she uncovers startling parallels between Bacchus and Christ. Finally, Bettany follows the god's modern embrace in Nietzsche's philosophy, experimental theatre and the hedonistic hippie movement to conclude that, while this god of ecstasy is worthy of contemporary reconsideration, it is vital to heed the warning of the ancients - "MEDEN AGAN" - nothing in excess. - Living with the Brainy BunchE73
Living with the Brainy BunchBringing up kids and getting them through exams is far from easy. There are countless reasons why some students do well academically and others don't, but experts agree that parental influence is one of the main factors that can affect a student's performance in school. In a groundbreaking experiment, this programme will put that to the test. Chessington Community College in Greater London, like all schools, has some students who excel and others who are failing to make the grade. In an attempt to change the paths of two of their students the school have decided to embark on a radical experiment. Like many teenagers, Year 11 students Jack and Hollie struggle with results and behaviour but with their crucial GCSEs on the horizon it is time to try and change things. In order to do this they will move into the homes of two of the highest achieving pupils in their year, for half a term. Can this complete change in home environment improve things for them? Hollie moves in with Holly H, a wannabe lawyer with a clutch of A*s in her sights and a dizzying rota of extra-curricular activities. Jack goes to live with Tharush, who arrived in the UK only a year ago from Italy but is already shining at school. Tharush's work efforts are exceptional - he does at least two hours homework every night, and that is on top of extra tuition. How will Hollie and Jack cope as they have to fit into every aspect of their new families' lives, living by their strict rules and routines? As they wrestle with the early bedtimes, tough homework schedules and curfews, can this revolutionary change in family life bring about a lasting change in their results and futures? - My Turban and Me
E75My Turban and MeDocumentary exploring Sikh identity in modern Britain. Actor and comedian Sanjeev Kohli goes on a heartwarming personal journey to explore the importance of wearing the Sikh turban in Britain and investigate why it is becoming more popular. Sanjeev, most famous for his role as Navid in the BBC1 comedy Still Game, comes from a proud Sikh heritage, but is the only male member of his family not to wear the turban and sees this journey as a reconnection with the Sikh community. He starts off by looking into his own family history, how his turban-wearing brothers were bullied at school, and questions whether he was right to make the decision at the age of 14 not to wear one. As a father of teenagers, Sanjeev tries find out whether attitudes towards the turban have changed over generations by meeting passionate young Sikhs in all walks of life. Over the course of his journey he discovers that, while many first-generation Punjabi immigrants wanted to try to fit in, their children and grandchildren are trying to stand out, and there is a resurgence of British Sikhs - both men and women - wearing the turban and reclaiming their identity. He also attempts to find out what lies behind this new-found enthusiasm to publicly embrace their religious identity. - Miranda Barbour: Serial Killer Or Liar?
E76Miranda Barbour: Serial Killer Or Liar?A dead man is found on waste ground in Pennsylvania 2013. He had been stabbed twenty-two times. The 42-year-old municipal worker, Troy LaFerarra, had answered an Internet ad from 18-year old Miranda Barbour and they had arranged to meet. Three weeks later Miranda confesses she’d killed him in self-defense. But local Sunbury police officer, Travis Bremigen, suspects the young wife has something to hide. He brings Miranda’s husband, Elytte Barbour, in for questioning. The 22-year-old admits he and his new wife just wanted to murder a stranger, “We had no reason… other than that.” Headlines brand them "The Craigslist Thrill Killlers". While awaiting trial, Miranda makes an astonishing confession to a local reporter that Troy was not her first victim. She tells Francis Scarcella she’d killed more than 22 others as part of a Satanic murder cult that began in Alaska. The resulting headlines about a Satanic teen serial killer rocked the world. Elytte Barbour also reveals to officer Bremigen that the newly weds would cut each other, “having sexual intercourse in their own blood”. Elytte firmly believes that his wife is "demon possessed". In Alaska, where Miranda was brought up, local journalist Jill Burke believes there must be more to this story than than the lurid headlines. Digging deep into Miranda's past, Jill uncovers dark secrets about her upbringing and her complex history. Do these hold the key to explaining Miranda's apparent "thrill kill" and her claims to have murdered many more people? - Wales Football: The Women in RedE77
Wales Football: The Women in RedThe Wales women's football team are so far unbeaten on their journey to qualify for the World Cup. On the eve of their crucial clash with England, we go behind the scenes to meet the player making waves across the Atlantic with Seattle Reign, as well as Wales's all-time top scorer, who juggles motherhood with football, and the new generation of women footballers dreaming of their first pro contracts. - The Naked Truth: ObesityE78
The Naked Truth: ObesityThe Naked Truth: Obesity is a revealing short-film that features five obese young people being interviewed naked talking in raw and revealing detail about what it’s like to be obese, how and why they think they became obese and how they feel about their bodies. - Art on the BBC: The Genius of Leonardo da Vinci
E79Art on the BBC: The Genius of Leonardo da VinciArt historian Dr Janina Ramirez embarks on a journey through six decades of the BBC archives to create a television history of one of the most celebrated figures in art - Leonardo Da Vinci. RamireArt on the BBC: The Genius of Leonardo da Vinci (30 April 2018) mp4z shows how experts and art presenters - from Andrew Graham-Dixon to Fiona Bruce to Kenneth Clarke - have turned to television to bring Leonardo's artwork out of galleries and into our living rooms. Through television they have explored the origins of Leonardo's boundless curiosity, his pioneering use of light and shade, and his remarkable scientific exploration. Along the way Dr Ramirez discovers Britain's little-known version of The Last Supper, the gruesome ways Leonardo acquired his anatomical knowledge - and even what lies beneath the Mona Lisa. - Islay: For Those in Peril
E80Islay: For Those in PerilGlenn Campbell travels to his home island of Islay and to the United States to tell the little-known story of the SS Tuscania and HMS Otranto. 100 years ago, in the closing months of the First World War, unimaginable tragedy and death came to the Hebrides. Within eight months, two US troopships taking their country's men to the Western Front sank off the coast of Islay. Hundreds died, and were washed up on the island's shores. Many others managed to find their way to shore, where they were rescued and taken care of by local people. What happened in 1918 forged links between two nations and their people, and would touch the lives of the families of both the survivors and the dead. - Mountain
E81MountainJaw-dropping exploration of our obsessions with high places and how they have come to capture our imagination. Only three centuries ago, climbing a mountain would have been considered close to lunacy. The idea scarcely existed that wild landscapes might hold any sort of attraction. Peaks were places of peril, not beauty. Why, then, are we now drawn to mountains? Filmed by the world's leading high-altitude cinematographers and set to a specially curated musical performance by the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Mountain captures the fierce beauty of some of the world's most treacherous landscapes and the awe they inspire. - Ballet's Dark Knight - Sir Kenneth MacMillianE82
Ballet's Dark Knight - Sir Kenneth MacMillianBallet’s Dark Knight - Sir Kenneth MacMillan is a new film exploring the life and work of celebrated yet controversial choreographer, Kenneth MacMillan, whose pioneering creativity unleashed over sixty new ballets that changed the dance landscape forever. Weaving together stunning specially-shot footage, never seen before family films and MacMillan’s own voice from the archives alongside those who were closest to him, the documentary reveals MacMillan to have been a complex figure who lit up the ballet world with his bold choreographic genius while struggling privately with alcoholism, anxiety and depression. - Jeff Beck: Still on the Run
E84Jeff Beck: Still on the RunFor many people, musicians and fans alike, Jeff Beck is the greatest ever British guitarist. For more than 50 years he has blazed an uncompromising trail across the musical landscape. Always an innovator, never a follower, Jeff has steadfastly refused to pander to the demands of the record industry. This maverick attitude required some difficult career decisions; he left The Yardbirds at the height of their popularity, deserted his own group days before their billed appearance at Woodstock and often shifted his attention to his other great passion of building hot rods rather than continuing a tour or returning to the studio. Jeff's adventurous spirit led him to embrace a wide range of musical styles and he is one of a handful of artists who have transcended and redefined the limitations of their instrument, be it the Fender Telecaster, Esquire, Strat or Gibson Les Paul. He pioneered the use of feedback on record and his ability to capture the zeitgeist made The Yardbirds forerunners of psychedelic blues. With The Jeff Beck Group and the album Truth, he nurtured two of rock music's finest performers, Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood, and gave birth to a sound that would later mutate into heavy metal. He turned even the loss of Rod Stewart to his advantage by almost single-handedly inventing the guitar instrumental album with the release of Blow By Blow, which embraced the influences of Jan Hammer and John McLaughlin whilst developing a sound that was uniquely his own. Moving forward Jeff continued to push the envelope, amassing a fantastic body of work spanning many musical genres whilst constantly developing and evolving his inimitable approach and technique. This film tells Jeff's story from his earliest days growing up in Wallington, Surrey with his homemade guitars, teenage friendship with Jimmy Page and the influences of guitarists such as Les Paul, Cliff Gallup and James Burton. With essential tracks from throughout his career it follows his journey from ar - The Jazz Ambassadors
E85The Jazz AmbassadorsIn 1955, the African-American congressman Adam Clayton Powell Jr and trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie announced a new Cold War weapon to combat the Soviet Union - America's iconic jazz musicians and their racially integrated bands would cross the globe to counter negative propaganda about racism in America. Over the next decade, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Dave Brubeck would tour the world in service of US Cold War interests. But the unfolding Civil Rights movement back home forced them into a moral bind; how could they promote a tolerant image of America abroad when racial equality remained an unrealised dream? This documentary tells the story of how the state department unwittingly gave the Civil Rights movement a voice on the world stage when it needed one most. - Too Fat For Love
E86Too Fat For Love21-year-old Emma takes a no-holds-barred look into the world of plus-sized love and sex by asking questions that everyone may be curious about but are too embarrassed to ask. If Emma believed everything she read in the media, then she’d conclude that, as a plus-size girl, she was simply too big for romance. Not only are there almost no positive role models for “big love” in popular culture, often there is actual hate. Emma is introduced to the extraordinary Athena May, a self-styled “goddess of love”, who performs a masterclass in plus-size sex at an “erotic emporium” in east London. Emma wonders whether the dating game is any easier for men so she chats to members of a plus-size football league to find out. Despite her self confidence, Emma admits that she still has some hang-ups about her body image so in an attempt to face her demons head-on, she quite literally bares it all. Her journey ends in London, where she discovers the wonders of a plus-size club night - at last, an oasis in an often hostile dating jungle. - Michael Clark's to a Simple, Rock 'n; Roll...SongE88
Michael Clark's to a Simple, Rock 'n; Roll...SongWith an introduction from the inimitable Jarvis Cocker, who credits Michael Clark with introducing him to the world of dance, the latest work by groundbreaking choreographer Michael Clark. Acclaimed by audiences and critics alike, the London Evening Standard called the production 'an adrenaline shot that sends you away buzzing'. The triple bill pays homage to three of Clark's most significant musical influences. Act 1, features commanding choreography, pulsating with a propulsive force to the punk rock of Patti Smith's landmark album, Horses. Act 2 is a reflection on Erik Satie and his influence on Clark's mentors past and present, the dance meticulous, minimalist and coolly refined. Act 3 is an iridescent tribute to David Bowie, intricate, sublime, the mood moving from elegiac to joyously rebellious. Recorded at the Barbican, London in 2017, this Olivier Award-nominated production features gorgeously arresting choreography performed by a company of fearless dancers including Harry Alexander, who won the Critics' Circle 'Emerging Artist' National Dance Award in 2017. The production also features a stage adaptation by Charles Atlas - long-time collaborator with Michael Clark - of his multi-channel video installation Painting by Numbers. - The Road to Palmyra
E90The Road to PalmyraA documentary which follows historian Dan Cruickshank and photographer Don McCullin into the heart of war-torn Syria, on a dangerous mission to document the cultural destruction wrought by so-called Islamic State, and understand what it means to the people of the nation. Their final destination is the ancient city of Palmyra, to find out what remains of the ruins. For Dan and Don these stones represent the very soul of Syria, and for Syrians and the world the debate about what to do with them is about to begin. For both men, it is a return journey to a place with which they have long been obsessed. But to get there, they have to travel through a country that is in still in the grip of war. - Vive la Revolution! Joan Bakewell on May '68
E92Vive la Revolution! Joan Bakewell on May '68In 1968 Joan Bakewell was one of the few female TV presenters, fronting the BBC's Late Night Line-Up and addressing daily the most pressing issues of the time. In this film, she looks back at the events that led to what for many became the defining event of that extraordinarily turbulent year - the protests in France in May. While the rest of the world was in turmoil, with the Vietnam War causing increasing dissent, the Civil Rights movement growing in intensity and young people finding new ways of expressing themselves, as 1968 began it seemed to France's president, General de Gaulle, that his country was immune to the kind of protest sweeping the rest of the world. - The Private Life of the Royal Academy
E93The Private Life of the Royal AcademyShot over five years, leading to its 250th anniversary this film is an intimate portrait of one of Britain's most enduring cultural institutions. With unique access, the documentary illuminates the inner workings of the Royal Academy of Arts and reveals how it embraces the challenge of balancing tradition and innovation. - Manchester Bomb: Our Story
E94Manchester Bomb: Our StoryOn 22 May 2017 the worst terror attack in the UK since 7/7 took place at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester. The majority of the 14,000 fans were young girls, there to enjoy a night of freedom. 22 people were killed, more than 250 injured and countless lives were impacted. This observational documentary hears from a number of young women aged 11-20 who were directly involved, many of whom reflect on their experiences for the first time. Following three of them in the months after the attack, this intimate film also explores the lasting psychological impact and how their lives have been changed forever. Erin (11) walked through the site where the bomb exploded. She witnessed the aftermath and is unable to speak about what she saw; she battles with flashbacks and is scared to leave the house. Her mum and sister Caitlin (14) try to support her but feel helpless. For Amelia (18), it was the first concert she had been to without her mum. She was stood 6ft away from the bomber and was physically injured in the attack, now her mum struggles to let her out of her sight, terrified of losing her. Louise's (20) whole life has been put on hold; plans to go to university have been stopped as she struggles to deal with the loss of her brother Martyn Hett, who was killed in the attack. Told in their own words with raw honesty, the film gives a unique insight into their worlds following a tragedy of national significance. - Beyond the Asylum
E95Beyond the Asylum30 years of Care in the Community, the biggest change in the treatment of mental health in the history of the NHS. Ian Hamilton speaks with those affected and asks if the policy has delivered its promises, or if it was just a an attempt to save money and shift responsibility for the most vulnerable. - Heart Transplant: A Chance to LiveE96
Heart Transplant: A Chance to LiveBased at The Freeman Hospital in Newcastle, one of Europe's leading multi-organ transplant centres, the film follows a group of seven patient's ranging in age from eight months to 56 years old, all in desperate need of a new heart. - Nigeria's Stolen DaughtersE97
Nigeria's Stolen DaughtersOn 14th April 2014, 276 school girls aged between 16 and 18 were kidnapped form a school in Chibok, northern Nigeria. They were taken by Boko Haram, a violent Islamic insurgent movement, and hidden in the vast Sambisa forest. Following a global social media campaign around the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls, featuring global celebrities and Michelle Obama, huge pressure was brought to bear on the Nigerian Government to get the girls back. Four years later more than 100 of the girls have been freed - they have been kept in a secret safe house in the capital Abuja. For the first time TV cameras have been granted access to the girls and in this powerful 60-minute documentary we follow them as they adapt to life after their traumatic imprisonment at the hands of Boko Haram. We witness reunions with family members they have not seen since they day they went missing and the process of coming to terms with what has happened to them. The Chibok Girls live in a gilded cage, cut off from contact with the world's media and provided with education and counselling that continues as they move into government funded places at the American University of Nigeria. Their fate could not be more different to the thousands of other Nigerian women who have fallen prey to Boko Haram. In the brutalised city of Maidugari we meet some of these Forgotten Girls. They have deeply disturbing stories of their treatment at the hands of Boko Haram and their troubles haven't ended on their escape from the forest - in Maidugari they are often treated with suspicion because of their connection with Boko Haram. Female suicide bombers have killed scores of people in the city. And for the Forgotten Girls there are none of the privileges afforded the Chibok Girls - many live hand to mouth in the slums and refugee camps, abandoned by the Nigerian state. Nigeria's Stolen Daughters is a moving and terrifying insight into Nigeria's brutal civil war. - Six Weeks to Save the World
E98Six Weeks to Save the WorldIn 1955 US evangelist Billy Graham arrived on an 'All Scotland Crusade' aimed at saving the country for Christianity. During the Cold War, amidst great austerity and mounting agnosticism, Graham arrived like a Christian Elvis and wowed more than a million people during a six-week residency at Glasgow's Kelvin Hall and major stadium events at Hampden, Ibrox and Tynecastle football grounds. Six Weeks to Save the World tells the story of Graham's crusade through the eyes of the people who were there and the cameras which followed him. - Rugby League's Legendary Watersplash Final
E99Rugby League's Legendary Watersplash Final Dave Woods presents a programme looking back at the 1968 Rugby League Challenge Cup final Leeds and Wakefield Trinity, which witnessed one of the most dramatic moments ever seen at a major sporting event. With what looked like the easiest of kicks to win the Wembley showpiece, Don Fox of Wakefield stepped up but somehow missed. Leeds won 11-10, and so began one of the most talked about and replayed scenes of all time in British sport. The programme looks back at that amazing match - which was played in horrific and wet conditions, hence becoming known as the Watersplash Final. Dave speaks to surviving members of both teams, including Don's brother Neil, who talks about the impact that fateful miss had on Don's life and career. It also sparked one of the most famous commentary lines: 'he's missed it, he's missed it... he's a poor lad' by Eddie Waring, as the BBC Grandstand cameras captured all the drama. - Tap America: How a Nation Found Its Feet
E100Tap America: How a Nation Found Its FeetClarke Peters, the writer of Five Guys Named Moe and actor in the likes of The Wire and Three Billboards, explores the origins, development and modern significance of a great American vernacular art form he has loved since a child - tap dancing. From 17th-century accounts of the dances performed by African slaves on American soil to celebrated 19th-century dance-offs and contests between Irish and African-American dancers, through to the troubled Hollywood heyday of tap dancing in the 1930s and 40s when black dancers were routinely excluded from the film roles their talent deserved. - Motty - The Man Behind the Sheepskin
E102Motty - The Man Behind the SheepskinThis season marks John Motson's 50th and final season working for the BBC. This special documentary charts his poignant, but fun-filled, journey around the football grounds that have provided the backdrop for so many remarkable commentaries and football stories from this unique broadcaster, famed for his love of a sheepskin coat. Along the way, we catch up with the key characters that have played starring roles in those famous Motty commentaries - starting with Hereford legend Ricky George. The programme relives some of his immortal commentary lines with the stories behind them from 'The Crazy Gang have beaten the Culture Club' at the 1988 FA Cup final to 'things are getting better and better' when England won 5-1 in Germany. What has been the secret to the success of the man found to have the perfect commentary voice? Famed for his love of statistics, he is a wonderful orator and a much loved friend to many. With unique access to Motty's farewell tour, we also hear from those closest to him including his beloved wife Annie and son Freddie, football legends Gary Lineker and Ian Wright, his two co-commentators Sir Trevor Brooking and Mark Lawrenson, plus celebrity football fans Noel Gallagher and Sir Rod Stewart. - Countdown to the Full Motty
E103Countdown to the Full MottyMatch of the Day's Gary Lineker introduces a special countdown of some of John Motson's greatest football commentaries from over 50 years as a broadcaster. A rare chance to indulge in commentary from classic matches with contributions from some of the biggest names in football, and of course from the man himself. No programme on Motty would be complete without some of his funnier moments, such as his famous report from Wycombe Wanderers in the snow wearing his beloved sheepskin coat. - Balls of Steel
E104Balls of SteelIn the shadow of the steelworks lies Taibach Rugby Club. For more than 100 years it has been the foundation stone of the community. The club is a cross-section of the town. All Port Talbot life is here. It's a place where people come together for the important things in life - rugby, weddings, birthdays and funerals. The club hosts them all. But there is one event that is the highlight of the year - the annual Christmas pantomime, written and performed by the men of the club. - The Town That Floored The World
E105The Town That Floored The WorldHow did the Scottish east coast port town of Kirkcaldy become the world centre for linoleum? The Town That Floored the World traces the history of that 'magic material' to its origins in the mid 19th century, and tells how one town built its fortunes on its manufacture. Current and former linoleum workers, and Kirkcaldy bairns including crime writer Val McDermid, share their stories of a life in flooring. Lino's role in high art and design is also traced. - Robbie's War: The Rise and Fall of a Playboy Billionaire
E106Robbie's War: The Rise and Fall of a Playboy BillionaireProperty tycoon Robbie Tchenguiz was once among Britain's super-rich. As one of the 'one per cent', this flamboyant tycoon amassed a fortune worth billions in the days when it was possible to have £16bn of assets - and yet £13bn of debt. But over the last ten years, Iranian-born Robbie's once gilded life - complete with superyacht, private jets and fast cars - has been in meltdown. He lost billions in the financial crash and then faced professional humiliation when arrested on suspicion of fraud. Though he was exonerated of any wrongdoing, today his empire is in tatters, and he is now fighting to save his home - a mansion next to London's Royal Albert Hall, worth an estimated £20million. Ten years ago, Robbie's success in the City meant he was viewed as something of a god - a dealer with the Midas touch. Robbie and his brother Vincent were notorious for their extraordinary deals, each worth hundreds of millions. But it was an empire based on debt, and these were the boom years. What goes up, often comes down. Robbie lost around 80 per cent of his net worth in the 2008 financial crash - though his real problem was to be a £1.4bn loan from an Icelandic bank that collapsed. It was this that led to his arrest in 2011. Since then, Robbie has been at war, fighting everyone from the Icelandic bank Kaupthing to the bank's receivers, Grant Thornton, who swooped across his empire, trying to recoup money for the creditors of the bank. And then there are his former trustees, Investec Trust Guernsey, who ran his offshore empire - and last but not least, the Serious Fraud Office, who arrested him. It took three years for the brothers to clear their names. They successfully sued for wrongful arrest, receiving a public apology and millions in compensation. But it is far from over. Robbie claims he is the victim of injustice, and he has been fighting the consequences for his business and family over the years. Robbie's war is run from his Mayfair office. It used to be f - Manchester: The Night of the Bomb
E107Manchester: The Night of the BombA powerful retelling of the 2017 terrorist attack for BBC2. On 22 May 2017, a Manchester-born man detonated a homemade bomb at an Ariana Grande pop concert, killing 22 people and himself. It was Britain's deadliest terrorist attack since 7/7. The documentary tells the story of that night in forensic detail, through the eyes of teenage girls who survived the attack and key members of the emergency services. It features unseen mobile phone video and unheard audio recordings. The film also explores the identity and motives of the suicide bomber. Featuring interviews with counter-terrorism police and Manchester residents, the film sheds light on what may have led Salman Abedi, a 22-year-old Manchester boy of Libyan parentage, to target a group of children attending a concert celebrating the independence and empowerment of young women. - The Village
E108The VillageA view of rural life set in the village of Ballycarry. Hidden away on the north Antrim coast is a village with a 400-year history. It's a place with strong Ulster-Scots traditions and close family ties but, with housing developments on the rise and services declining, they must work hard to keep their village community alive. - The Toddlers Who Took on Dementia
E109The Toddlers Who Took on DementiaCould a lively bunch of three- and four-year-olds be the surprising key to tackling dementia? In a bold new experiment, the first of its kind in the UK, a group of toddlers head to a dementia day-care centre to share three days of time and activities with adults in their 70s and 80s. Overseen by expert psychologists from Bangor University, north Wales, this ambitious project tests if children might be the secret weapon in helping fight the sometimes crippling effects of dementia. Despite an age gap of eight decades, the two groups have one thing in common, they both ordinarily receive day-care support. But for the adults there is one significant difference - each person has a formal diagnosis of dementia or significant memory loss. The latest research reveals that one in every three children born this year in the UK will later develop a form of dementia, for which there is currently no cure. Can these little kids crack the way we all deal with dementia? Can they find the person behind the diagnosis? The psychologists set a series of specially designed activities to see if the young children can bring the adults back from their memory loss. Using rigged cameras at the centre in Colwyn Bay, they observe every moment of this unique social experiment unfold. They tap into the passions of the adults' younger years: a vintage-car ride for chauffer David alongside four-year-old Leo, song for musicals star Iris and talk of the beautiful game for a former footballer. The aim is to trigger memories and good moments but not all older participants are immediately convinced. - Wild Escapes
E110Wild EscapesAnita Rani and JJ Chalmers journey to Italy's stunning Dolomite Mountains for a raucous three-day mini adventure. Incredible food, stunning hiking, a bit of bottom slapping and a rather itchy alpine spa experience await. Stepping off the tourist trail completely, Anita and JJ want to uncover the true Dolomites experience, ditching the tourist guides and uncovering the hidden gems the locals know about. While former Royal Marine JJ is keen to get stuck into the 'Via Ferrata' high mountain walkways built during WW1, Anita delves into the rich food culture of the region - which borrows from both Italian and German influences - as well as discovering some rather peculiar traditions - notably a very itchy alpine spa experience and the schuhplattler, a violent dance that mimics the courting ritual of the wild grouse. With a guide itinerary that packs in a week's worth of activities into just one long weekend, the travel-mad duo want to show us that you don't have to go to the ends of the Earth and spend a fortune to have the holiday adventure of a lifetime. Follow their lead and you can find everything you could ever want at the end of a short hop flight. - Jonathan Meades on Jargon
E111Jonathan Meades on JargonIn this provocative television essay, writer and broadcaster Jonathan Meades turns his forensic gaze on that modern phenomenon that drives us all up the wall - jargon. In a wide-ranging programme he dissects politics, the law, football commentary, business, the arts, tabloid-speak and management consultancy to show how jargon is used to cover up, confuse and generally keep us in the dark. He contrasts this with the world of slang, which unlike jargon actually gets to the heart of whatever it's talking about even if it does offend along the way. With plenty of what is called 'strong language', Meades pulls no punches in slaying the dragon of jargon. - Ads on the Frontline
E112Ads on the FrontlineNarrated by Eamonn Holmes, Ads on the Frontline looks at a controversial series of adverts produced by the Northern Ireland Office during the last 10 years of the Troubles. The aim was to encourage people to pass on information to a confidential phoneline to help end the violence. To some, the ads were British government propaganda, to others a cultural snapshot of Northern Ireland's brutal past. Ads on the Frontline hears from people on different sides of the debate. - The Big Crash Diet Experiment
E113The Big Crash Diet Experiment Crash diets have long had a bad reputation, but some experts say it's time to think again about the black sheep of the dieting world. Dr Javid Abdelmoneim teams up with some of Britain's top scientists in a bold new experiment that puts the latest research on crash dieting to the test. Four obese volunteers with serious weight-related health issues, including type 2 diabetes, go on an extreme weight-loss programme and give up real food, surviving on a very low calorie soups-and-shakes diet. Will they lose weight in the long run and turn around their health problems? If it works, this radical approach to weight loss could help millions, save the NHS billions of pounds and revolutionise the way we diet. - Killed By My Debt
E114Killed By My DebtIn January 2015, Jerome Rogers, a popular nineteen year old from a council estate, finally got what he’d been working for – a new motorbike and his first real job, as a courier. But in the hands of bailiffs, two £65 traffic fines rose to over a thousand pounds. Some weeks, take-home pay in his zero hours job was as low as £12. Under the pressure of his debt, Jerome went to the woods where he’d played as a kid, and took his own life. This is his story… - Nothing Like a Dame
E116Nothing Like a DameA chance to hang out with Eileen Atkins, Judi Dench, Maggie Smith and Joan Plowright and enjoy sparkling conversation spliced with a raft of astonishing archive Together, they are 342 years old. They are in their seventh decade of cutting-edge, epoch-defining performances on stage and on screen. Funny, smart, sharp, competitive, tearful, hilarious, savage, clever, caustic, cool, gorgeous, poignant, irreverent, iconic, old... and unbelievably young. Special friends, special women and special dames - and this special film is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to hang out with them all, at the same table, at the same time, and enjoy sparkling and unguarded conversation spliced with a raft of astonishing archive. Atkins, Dench, Smith, Plowright. The dream dame team. Don't miss it - The Jeremy Thorpe Scandal
E117The Jeremy Thorpe ScandalIn 1979, Panorama reporter Tom Mangold led an investigation into the trial of Jeremy Thorpe and others for the alleged conspiracy to kill Thorpe's former lover, Norman Scott. Convinced that the former Liberal Party leader would be found guilty, a special post-trial programme was prepared. This was scrapped, however, when the jury returned its verdicts of not guilty for all defendants, and the programme has remained unseen for almost 40 years. Edited and updated with new information about a fresh 2017 police inquiry into the case, Tom Mangold finally presents his story about how powerful political forces tried to protect Thorpe. The programme features revealing interviews from 1979 with Norman Scott, chief prosecution witness Peter Bessell and the alleged hitman Andrew 'Gino' Newton. - Suffragettes with Lucy Worsley
E118Suffragettes with Lucy Worsley2018 marks 100 years since the first women over the age of 30, who owned property, were allowed to vote in the UK. The fight for the vote was about much more than just the Pankhurst family or Emily Davidson's fateful collision with the king's horse. In this film, Lucy is at the heart of the drama, alongside a group of less well known, but equally astonishing, young working-class suffragettes who decided to go against every rule and expectation that Edwardian society had about them. Lucy explores the actions of these women as their campaign becomes more and more dangerous, while their own words are delivered in simple but strikingly emotive pieces of dramatised testimony. Lucy also tells this story from a range of iconic original locations, from the Houses of Parliament and 10 Downing Street to the Savoy Hotel, and has access to an amazing range of artefacts, from hunger-striking medals to defused bombs and private letters between the government and the press. In this Edwardian history drama, Lucy and her group of suffragettes from the Women's Social Political Union reveal what life was like for these young women, as she follows the trail of increasingly illegal and dangerous acts they would end up committing. For while they would start with peaceful protests, but they would go from to obstruction to vandalism and finally to arson and bomb making. Lucy investigates what drove them to break the law, to the prison conditions they experienced, including violent force feedings and the subsequent radicalisation of these women that occurred, driving them to more and more extreme actions. Lucy looks at the ways in which the press responded to the suffragettes and their own use of PR and branding to counteract the negative portrayals - from WSPU postcards to pennants and exhibitions. The decisive and largely negative role that members of Parliament played is unpacked, as they would throw out numerous attempts to give women the vote. The role of the police is explored, bo - Mackintosh: Glasgow's Neglected Genius
E119Mackintosh: Glasgow's Neglected GeniusGlasgow artist Lachlan Goudie examines the life, work and legacy of Scotland's most celebrated architect and designer, Charles Rennie Mackintosh - the man Lachlan Goudie calls "The greatest genius in the history of Scottish art". The film examines Mackintosh's iconic buildings, notably the Glasgow School of Art. Interwoven with his architecture, design and watercolours is the personal story of Mackintosh. Little known at home, his work found favour on the continent. In later years he struggled for work, and came to endure real poverty, but continued to create remarkable pieces of art. - Ugly Me: My Life With Body Dysmorphia
E121Ugly Me: My Life With Body DysmorphiaDocumentary exploring body dysmorphic disorder, a condition which causes people to believe they are extremely ugly. The film follows 29-year-old Liane and her boyfriend Mitch over a year as Liane starts therapy to try and conquer this crippling condition. Each week Liane meets Professor David Veale, one of the world's leading experts on BDD, who attempts to undo some of her deeply entrenched habits, often leading to uncomfortable and revealing realisations. The documentary also hears from a range of people who are in recovery from BDD. Talking movingly about their own personal experiences helps illuminate Liane's journey and reveals more about this illness - Grenfell
E123GrenfellThis documentary from Bafta-winning director Ben Anthony brings together multiple stories from the Grenfell Tower fire tragedy - the most devastating tower block fire in British history. It was made over the course of one year, with filming starting on the day after the fire. The meticulously crafted film draws from hundreds of hours of interview, archive, social media content and observational footage to form a compelling, moving and lasting record of the events before, during and after the fire. It features intimate accounts from many of the men, women and children whose lives were forever intertwined and irrevocably changed that night - some of whom have never spoken publicly before. The film remembers those who tragically died, while hearing from survivors, the bereaved, members of the local community, faith leaders, the police and the local councillors from Kensington and Chelsea. The documentary contains the largest collection of interviews with people connected to the tragedy to be gathered together in one single film. In the immediate aftermath of the fire, the documentary team were in the area around Grenfell Tower recording the effects on the community - in the emergency relief centres, on the streets, in temporary accommodation, in hotels and in people's homes. Over the following months, the team spent significant amounts of time filming with many of the people who were most affected, documenting both their immediate experiences and the longer-term challenges they faced as they waited to be rehoused and attempted to rebuild their lives. The documentary captures the trauma, tragedy and grief alongside extraordinary moments of courage, unity and resilience. The film tells the story from within the community with unique access to Grenfell United - the campaign group set up by the survivors in the wake of the fire - and Grenfell Speaks, the online streaming news channel created by one local resident and his iPhone which now has over five million v - Can Science Make Me Perfect? with Alice Roberts
E124Can Science Make Me Perfect? with Alice RobertsIs the human body perfect? Professor Alice Roberts doesn’t think so. Alice has been challenged by the Science Museum to embark on a bold scientific stunt: to find solutions for our anatomical flaws and design a human body that’s perfect for life in the 21st century. Millions of years of evolution have helped to make humans one of the most successful species on the planet. We have some incredible adaptations, but we’ve also inherited plenty of physical flaws. That’s why we have ears that go deaf, knees that ache, and skin that’s easily damaged. Through natural selection animals have evolved incredible biological designs, from super-sharp senses to super-powered limbs. By meeting leading medical and animal experts, Alice learns what the human body’s biggest problems are and discovers how amazing anatomical adaptations found in the animal kingdom could provide inspiration for designing a perfect human body. With the help of a virtual anatomical artist and an expert prosthetics sculptor, Alice redesigns her own body into a hyper-realistic new form - but is banished from the studio as the life-size model is made. Then, in a big reveal in front of 150 people at the Science Museum, Alice comes face to face with her ‘perfect’ self for the first time – has she really designed a body better than evolution could? Ambitious, audacious and packed with cutting-edge science, Can Science Make Me Perfect? With Alice Roberts challenges everything you thought you knew about the perfect body. - Germaine Bloody Greer
E125Germaine Bloody GreerWhat is it like being Germaine Greer? This observational documentary spends time with her and finds out. Fearless, original and utterly charismatic, the 31-year-old Germaine Greer burst in to the national consciousness in 1970 with her game-changing bestseller The Female Eunuch. What did it feel like to be at the eye of the storm? What did the events at the time mean to the people caught up in them? Germaine takes us back to those giddy days and reflects with honesty, candour and caustic wit about what it was about then and how it all feels now. A rich seam of archive, including previously unseen footage, and an explosive soundtrack immerses us in those revolutionary times. Is The Female Eunuch still relevant? Are women and girls today any less slavish when it comes to male approval? And what does Germaine think of Me Too? Germaine Greer: funny, clever, contrary, sensitive and caustic - there is simply no one like her. This film gets to know her. - I Was There: Kate Adie on Tiananmen Square
E126I Was There: Kate Adie on Tiananmen SquareKate Adie re-examines her historic coverage of the massacre in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, in June 1989. In a long-form interview, Kate recalls how she was wounded by gunfire and narrowly escaped death herself as she and her cameraman remained in the line of fire while an estimated 2,000 pro-democracy demonstrators were shot down by Chinese government troops. Kate reviews the reports she made on the ground, with additional insight from leading historian Professor Steve Tsang, and draws on the BBC's archive to assess how film-makers have portrayed China before and after the upheaval. - The World Cup Heroes of 1966
E128The World Cup Heroes of 1966As football fans across the globe look forward to Russia 2018, Dan Walker delves into the BBC archives for a look back at England's World Cup-winning team of 1966, and what happened next. With rarely seen interviews and clips featuring the likes of Geoff Hurst, Bobby Moore, Gordon Banks and the Charlton brothers, we get the players' own perspectives on that famous victory over West Germany. We also explore how the football fame-game has changed dramatically over the years, and discover the different paths the heroes of 66 followed in the decades after the triumph, with careers that ranged from football manager to more unexpected jobs like travel agent and undertaker. - Britain Celebrates Live: 100 Years of Women's Votes
E130Britain Celebrates Live: 100 Years of Women's VotesKirsty Young presents a unique celebration of the centenary of women winning the right to vote featuring live coverage of PROCESSIONS, commissioned as part of 14-18 NOW and created by Artichoke. This vibrant and immersive art experience takes place across Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh and London. The event sees tens of thousands of women and girls process through the streets of the four UK capitals in the spirit of the original campaigners for women's suffrage. Carrying artworks they have created especially for the occasion, they form a living banner in columns of green, white and violet, the colours of the Suffragettes, as they mark this moment in history. As well as celebrating such a significant centenary, Kirsty Young looks across the 100 years to mark the achievements of women past and present. - The World Cup: Hopes of a Nation
E131The World Cup: Hopes of a NationAs the football fans across the globe look forward to Russia 2018, Dan Walker delves into the BBC archives for a look at the talismanic England players who have, over the years, carried the World Cup hopes of the nation. Through rarely seen interviews and clips we explore how every England World Cup squad has featured an individual star player, whose reputation elevated them above their teammates in the eyes of the public. From Kevin Keegan in 1982 right through to Harry Kane today, via Gazza's tears and Lineker's Golden Boot, we see how these big names met the challenges of football's biggest competition and matched up to the expectations of fans increasingly desperate to see England bring the trophy 'home'. - Project Wild Thing
E132Project Wild ThingDavid Bond is a filmmaker and a father. Things have really changed since he was a kid. His children are hooked on screens and don't want to go outdoors. They want iPads, TV and plastic toys. The marketing departments of Apple, Disney and Mattel control his children better than he can. Determined to get them up and out, David appoints himself as the Marketing Director for Nature. With the help of branding and outdoor experts, he develops and launches a nationwide marketing campaign to get British children outside. But the competition is not going to lie down and let some upstart with a free product steal their market. Project Wild Thing is the entertaining, real-life story of one man's determination to get children out and into the ultimate, free wonder-product: Nature. Research shows that children are happiest when playing in nature. But according to a recent UNICEF report, children in the UK and US are among the least happy in the world. Britain's children are becoming increasingly disconnected from the outdoors, with far-reaching and serious implications for their happiness, their health and for the environment. Increased traffic, fear of stranger danger and the explosion of indoor electronic entertainment all contribute to this sedentary, nature-free existence. - The Fight For Women's Bodies
E134The Fight For Women's BodiesIn the months leading up to, and days following Ireland’s historic referendum to repeal the eighth amendment, investigative journalist Ellie Flynn follows the story of the landmark vote to legalise abortion. Ahead of the referendum, Ellie travels to Ireland to meet activists and campaigners from both sides of the debate to try and understand the impact of the Law for young Irish voters and discovers that this incredibly divisive and emotionally charged issue is not as black and white as it seems. She meets a young ‘No’ vote campaigner who believes he's only alive because the amendment stopped his mother from aborting him in her youth and speaks to a woman who made the tragic decision to travel to the UK to abort her much wanted daughter after discovering she would be in extreme pain for the few moments she was likely to survive. In a behind the scenes look at UK abortion clinic, Ellie speaks to Irish women who have travelled abroad to abort and meets the woman facilitating medical abortions on Irish soil. On May 25th, Ireland voted Yes to the constitutional amendment to legalise abortion and Ellie returned to discuss the reaction. - Before Grenfell: A Hidden History
E135Before Grenfell: A Hidden HistoryWhen Grenfell Tower caught fire in June 2017, the disaster revealed a deep division between rich and poor in this part of west London. Now, residents of the community around the tower tell the extraordinary story, 150 years in the making, of how their borough became the most unequal place in Britain. This film reveals little-known stories of how the divisions began, such as the building in the nineteenth century of a huge wall that still stands today. The wall was intended to separate the homes of the Victorian middle class from what was then the worst slum in London. Residents share their memories of the dramatic events that shaped their community - from exploitation by notorious landlord Peter Rachman in the 1950s to the first Notting Hill race riots and the construction of Grenfell Tower in the 1970s. When Grenfell Tower opened in 1974, Britain was more equal than it has ever been, before or since. For the residents who moved in then, the tower was a symbol of hope for the future. But since Grenfell opened, we have become steadily more unequal, until today levels of income inequality are the same as they were in 1850. This is the untold story of a unique part of west London, revealing how its past has shaped its present. - The Trouble with Women with Anne Robinson
E136The Trouble with Women with Anne RobinsonWhen Anne Robinson and women of her generation broke the glass ceiling 50 years ago she imagined that we'd be much further along the road to equality by now. In the light of MeToo, Times Up and recent revelations about the gender pay gap, Anne can't help wondering whether women today have become too fragile? To explore this provocative view, she meets women from across the UK to find out - 100 years on from suffrage - what's still preventing them from achieving equality and what women are doing to fight back. In an immersive journey that explores the experience of women from all walks of life, Anne starts by visiting a primary school to carry out an eye-opening experiment that reveals how young girls are still limiting their ambitions. She steps into the heart of the debate about female sexualisation by meeting grid girls at Brands Hatch who hope to hang onto their jobs despite the recent backlash, and talks to millennial women frustrated by the everyday sexism they face. Anne also tackles the thorny issue of working motherhood, meeting Gwen, a mother-of-five whose husband looks after their children and the house while she works full time. Frustrated by the fact that 50 years after the equality act there's still no equal pay, Anne challenges women's reluctance to ask for what they're worth, before meeting home carers and campaigners from Glasgow who have been fighting for ten years to receive the same wages as local bin men and gardeners. After having her opinions challenged - and in some cases changed - Anne, with her usual wit and fervour, makes a plea for all women to be free to do whatever they want, so that in the next 100 years they will have travelled further along the road to equality. - The Last Man on the MoonE138
The Last Man on the MoonWhen Apollo astronaut Gene Cernan stepped on the moon in December 1972, he left his footprints and his daughter's initials in the lunar dust. This film takes Cernan back to the launchpads of Cape Kennedy to tell his story of burning ambition, fulfilment, love and loss. Using a wealth of rare archive, home movies, scrapbooks and interviews, it recounts how Cernan's burning ambition carried him from a quiet Chicago suburb to the spectacular and hazardous environment of space. - Kyffin Williams: The Man Who Painted Wales
E139Kyffin Williams: The Man Who Painted WalesKyffin Williams was Wales' best-loved artist, famous for his brooding mountain landscapes. However, his work was never fully accepted by either critics or the art establishment, and the man himself remained an enigma. Now, in his centenary year, the presenter and painter Josie D'arby goes on the trail of Kyffin Williams both as man and artist. She visits the beautiful places where he grew up, lived and painted, in Anglesey, Snowdonia and London. She meets the people who knew him best, uncovering a personal story of loneliness, stigma and emotional damage. But she also finds in Kyffin Williams a core of talent, determination and belonging. Looking again at his art, Josie finds landscapes, portraits and seascapes that rank with the very best of their kind. These are not just depictions of the external world, but expressions of Kyffin Williams' own interior life, and often troubled emotions. Kyffin's output was huge, and the quality varied, but the best of his work is world class, and deserves to be celebrated. The programme includes interviews with Rian Evans, author of a major new study of Kyffin Williams; photographer and godson Nicholas Sinclair; and art historian Peter Lord. - Emmeline Pankhurst: The Making Of A Militant
E140Emmeline Pankhurst: The Making Of A MilitantEmmeline Pankhurst led an army of women onto the streets of Britain as the leader of the suffragettes. In this documentary, actress Sally Lindsay takes a rare look at the personal loves, losses and political passions that transformed this working mum from Manchester into a militant activist campaigning for women's right to vote. - Rebel Women: The Great Art Fightback
E141Rebel Women: The Great Art FightbackOut of the tumult and fervour of the late 1960s emerged a generation of artists who set out to start a revolution. As women around the world joined forces to fight for liberation, the formative art movement of the last four decades was about to explode into being. On both sides of the Atlantic, women were tearing up art history and reinventing the arena of art with experimental new mediums and provocative political statements. Questioning everything from the way women were presented in magazines to the right to equal pay, female artists aimed to radically change the way women were perceived. Mary Kelly caused outrage in the tabloids by displaying dirty nappies at the ICA, Margaret Harrison's depiction of Hugh Hefner as a bunny girl resulted in her exhibition being shut down by the police, and in Los Angeles Judy Chicago founded the first feminist art course and told her students to only study work by women. Alongside interviews with Turner Prize winner Lubaina Himid, Suzanne Lacy, Carolee Schneemann, Rose English, Laurie Simmons and Barbara Kruger, The Great Art Fight Back tells the story of these revolutionary artists and celebrates the grit, humour and determination that wrote women back into art history for good. - Managing England: The Impossible Job
E142Managing England: The Impossible JobBBC Sport traces the history of one of the toughest jobs in sport - the England football manager. Using rare archive and new interviews with current manager Gareth Southgate and former England managers Sven-Goran Eriksson, Fabio Capello, Roy Hodgson and Sam Allardyce, we hear first-hand the personal toll the so-called impossible job has taken on some of the game's most successful club managers. With contributions from former England captains Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer and Rio Ferdinand, along with key decision makers from within football, we take a closer look at what it will take to end England's years of hurt. - Mad About Elvis
E143Mad About ElvisMad About Elvis is part of BBC Wales's contribution to the BBC's Our Lives strand. Elvis is alive and well and partying hard in Porthcawl, South Wales. He may have died in August 1977 but, every September, this small seaside resort is invaded by Elvises of all shapes, sizes, and talents - and his disciples. Attracting 35,000 visitors, the majority in costume, the Porthcawl Elvis Festival is the biggest Elvis festival in the world! - The People VS The NHS: Who Gets The Drugs?
E144The People VS The NHS: Who Gets The Drugs?PrEP is a drug that experts believe could end the HIV and AIDS epidemic. But in 2016, after 18 months of consultation, the NHS made the controversial decision that they could not fund it. Thirty five million people have died from HIV and AIDS, but today advancements in medical science mean that HIV no longer has to be a death sentence, as Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) prevents the virus developing in the body. This is the incredible story of the battle for PrEP on the NHS: a legal fight which saw doctors, activists and AIDS charities come together to overturn the NHS decision. It was the start of an emotive battle which would see the cost of the treatment publicly pitted against the cost of prosthetic limbs, blood cancer drugs and drugs for children with cystic fibrosis. At the heart of the story is one man, Greg Owen, pictured, who helped stop thousands becoming HIV positive by setting up a website which allowed people to buy generic PrEP from drug manufacturers in India. Despite being homeless and without a wage, Greg found himself running Britain’s main gateway to PrEP from his mother’s kitchen in Belfast. - Scotland 78: A Love Story
E145Scotland 78: A Love StoryDocumentary chronicling Scotland's performance in the 1978 World Cup, when the team was under the aegis of manager Ally MacLeod. In 1978, Scotland had a team of brilliant footballers and mercurial manager in Ally MacLeod. Featuring rare archive footage, this is the story of when a nation dared to dream - Great Exhibition of the North
E146Great Exhibition of the NorthBBC Radio 6 Music's Shaun Keaveny presents a special documentary celebrating the Great Exhibition of the North. Visiting key landmarks in the north east of England, including the Swing Bridge over the River Tyne, Shaun looks ahead to the Great Exhibition of the North, a programme of exhibits, technology, performance and culture taking place across the north of England this summer. The documentary also profiles artists featured in the exhibition's opening ceremony, including Maximo Park, poet Lemn Sissay and artist Glenn Brown - Unsung Heroines: Danielle de Niese on the Lost World of Female Composers
E148Unsung Heroines: Danielle de Niese on the Lost World of Female ComposersDanielle de Niese explores the lives and works of five female composers - from the Middle Ages to the late 20th century - who were famous in their lifetimes, but whose work was then forgotten. Western classical music has traditionally been seen as a procession of male geniuses, but the truth is that women have always composed. Hildegard of Bingen, Francesca Caccini, Clara Schumann, Florence Price and Elizabeth Maconchy - all these women battled to fulfil their ambitions and overcome the obstacles that society placed in their way. They then disappeared into obscurity, and only some have found recognition again. - The Great Game: Iran v USA
E149The Great Game: Iran v USAIn the football World Cup 20 years ago, Iran and the USA came face to face in one of the most politically charged matches in history. Relations between the two countries had been hostile for two decades. Pressure on the players to prove themselves on the pitch was intense and would result in a thrilling game watched by millions. But what aren't widely known are the stories behind the scenes - an al Qaeda plot, the attempted sabotage of the game by an anti-Iranian government group and an intervention by Iran's Supreme Leader that caused a headache for match officials. In this film we bring together the players, coaches, FIFA officials and the referee to hear their untold stories and emotions as they reflect on the match of their careers. - Nature's Turtle Nursery: Secrets from the Nest
E150Nature's Turtle Nursery: Secrets from the NestNature's Turtle Nursery: Secrets from the Nest features the extraordinary natural history event of an 'arribada' - the mass nesting phenomenon of olive ridley sea turtles in Costa Rica, Central America. Dr George McGavin joins a team of international scientists as they investigate the complete story from the moment the female turtles gather offshore, then lay their eggs, to when the next generation are born. The programme embraces the larger conservation story of these ancient mariners and how they're adapting to our ever-changing world. And in a scientific first, the complete story inside a single turtle nest is revealed, using recent scientific discoveries and the latest technological advances. An egg-to-egg turtle talk is listened in on, adult females on their migration are tracked, and behaviour under the waves is analysed with a turtle shell-mounted camera. How tiny turtles behave as they hatch out of their shells and work together to dig upwards is also revealed. - The Street Food Servants
E151The Street Food ServantsAnita Rani tells the story of one man who has devoted his life to helping the homeless. Randeep Singh started his small Southall charity with just a handful of volunteers but has now transformed it into a sophisticated national task force that feeds and clothes thousands of people every week. As the charity tries to expand to other outposts they face obstacles and challenges that test their dedication. Part of the BBC's Our Lives strand. - NHS at 70 - Live
E152NHS at 70 - LiveAnita Rani and Nick Robinson present the centrepiece of the BBC's NHS at 70 season, a live broadcast from Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital. They celebrate 70 years of the NHS before asking the big questions about the NHS today and in its future, in front of an audience of patients and NHS professionals at the heart of the debate about Britain's best-loved institution. We all remember the Olympic ceremony celebrating and championing the NHS as the best health service in the world. But how good is it at keeping us alive when compared to other countries? While arguments continue in Westminster over a birthday present boost to the NHS budget, how much money does it really need to keep Nye Bevan's promise of free health care for all in the years to come? With an ageing population taking up hospital beds, obesity costing more than all cancers combined and the numbers of children and young people self-harming up threefold in just four years, how does the NHS born in 1948 reinvent itself beyond its 70th birthday? For the first time, the country's leading health and economic think tanks, including the King's Fund, the IFS, the Nuffield Trust and the Health Foundation, have all joined forces to tackle the most important questions facing the NHS at 70. Anita Rani and Nick Robinson are joined by Helen Skelton, who is live at the maternity ward of the Birmingham Women's Hospital next door, while Dr Kevin Fong looks at how new technology could transform the NHS, and Dr Zoe Williams investigates the obesity epidemic. - Japan's Secret Shame
E153Japan's Secret ShameThis film tells the moving story of 29-year-old Japanese journalist Shiori Ito, who in May 2017 shocked Japan when she went public with allegations that she was raped by a well-known TV journalist. Through Shiori's testimony, the film outlines her allegations against Noriyuki Yamaguchi, on the night the two met for a business dinner in Tokyo. Mr Yamaguchi, the biographer of Japan's prime minister, strenuously denies her claims. It recounts what led Shiori to take the unprecedented decision to go public with her allegations in a country where speaking about sex crimes remains strictly taboo. Following Shiori over the next year, the film tells the story of how criminal charges against Mr Yamaguchi were never brought, and her decision to pursue a civil case against him - a case which he is defending. It also portrays the consequences Shiori faced by speaking out in Japanese society. While the #MeToo movement saw women coming forward in solidarity across the globe, in Japan, Shiori was met with hate mail and public humiliation. Interweaving in the wider social issues of gender and traditional attitudes in Japan, the film follows Shiori on her personal journey, as she visits the institutions she believes failed her, meets with other women who are too frightened to even report assaults, and fights to affect change in Japan. - The NHS: To Provide All People
E154The NHS: To Provide All PeopleTo mark the 70th anniversary of the birth of the NHS, acclaimed poet Owen Sheers takes us on a journey that weaves the extraordinary story of the birthing of Nye Bevan's vision of free healthcare for all people with personal stories of the NHS in British society today. Based on scores of interviews with NHS workers - ranging from brain surgeons to cleaners - The NHS: To Provide All People charts the emotional and philosophical map of what defines the NHS and the personal experiences at the heart of the service, and recognises its achievements and the challenges it faces. From first breath to last breath, the film poem journeys through the joy, pain, triumph and loss that unites us all in our experiences of health and sickness, birth and death, regardless of race, gender or wealth. Featuring a stellar cast, including Michael Sheen, Eve Myles, Martin Freeman, Sian Phillips, Jonathan Pryce, Celia Imrie, Meera Syal, Susan Wokoma, Michelle Fairley, Rhashan Stone, Michelle Collins and Tamsin Greig. - Rich Hall's Working for the American Dream
E157Rich Hall's Working for the American DreamAward-winning comedian Rich Hall explores the American dream and the dictum that came over with the very first pilgrims who set foot on Plymouth Rock - work hard and you will succeed. With his sharp wit and acerbic insight, Rich looks at how Americans strive to achieve this dream and how it's been explored and perpetuated by politicians, industrialists, artists, writers and film-makers. Rich also looks at the dark heart of the American dream and considers what happens when the dream turns into a nightmare, including the Great Depression of the 1930s, the boom and bust of Detroit and the modern demise of America's shrinking middle class. The land of opportunity has attracted all comers to live the American dream, and Rich Hall explains if it actually exists or if it's just a myth that's become unobtainable for Americans. - Barry Davies: The Man, the Voice, the Legend
E158Barry Davies: The Man, the Voice, the LegendSue Barker meets commentator Barry Davies to reflect on his outstanding career as the voice of sport during more than 50 years at the BBC. As Barry takes the microphone at Wimbledon for the final time, BBC Sport celebrates some of the iconic occasions featuring his unmistakeable voice, including World Cup, FA Cup and Wimbledon finals, Olympic golden moments and the Boat Race, to name but a few. Colleagues such as fellow commentator John Motson and footballing legends Gary Lineker, Rio Ferdinand and Alan Shearer reveal their memories of Barry. Other high-profile stars from a variety of sports all have their tales to tell of him, including Sir Matthew Pinsent, Jayne Torvill, Sean Kerly and Kate Richardson-Walsh, while the programme also hears about Barry away from the mic from his devoted wife and children. - Duran Duran: There's Something You Should Know
E159Duran Duran: There's Something You Should KnowWith exclusive access, Duran Duran open up about their extraordinary career and talk candidly about the highs and lows they have endured together over four long decades. This is the band at their most relaxed, intimate and honest. The film spends time with John at his LA home, Simon pays a visit to his former choir master, Roger goes back to where it all started in Birmingham, and Nick dusts off some of the 10,000 fashion items that the band have meticulously catalogued and collected over the course of their career. Features fellow singer Boy George, fan and record producer Mark Ronson, friend, fan and supermodel Cindy Crawford and Highlander film director Russell Mulcahy. - Duran Duran: A Night In
E160Duran Duran: A Night InA celebration of one of the UK's most enduring pop bands of all time, Duran Duran. The programme joins Simon, John, Roger and Nick as they sit back, relax, watch and talk through personally selected clips of archive television, music shows, movies, performances, adverts and children's shows that have inspired them across their career spanning four decades. In this exclusive hour-long special, they discuss their influences from the worlds of music, film, TV and art. From The Beatles and Sex Pistols to Top of the Pops, Tomorrow's World and the Apollo 11 moon landing, A Night In is a trip down memory lane with the band as they remember the shows that capture a particular moment in their creative lives. - Puppy Love
E162Puppy LoveWelcome to a world of 'pawdicures' and technicolour fur coats - this is a 'dogumentary' like no other! This programme opens the doors to the weird and wonderful world of pampered pooches, where obsessive owners, or should we say puppy parents, bring their fur babies in for five-star treatments, such as the Claudia Schniffer, luxurious mud baths, 'furcials' and bright pink dye jobs. Mucky Pups luxury doggy boutique and spa business has busy salons in Cardiff and Chepstow. Owner and boss is dynamic, dog-dotty entrepreneur and young mum of five Leanne Couch. Pink-loving Leanne believes 'there is nothing better than the love of a dog' and is always thinking up madcap ideas to combine her passion for pedigree pooches and her next business venture. Dragged along for the ride are her long-suffering husband Leigh and most of her friends and family, including mum and sidekick Evelyn - who is at her side every step of the way. We follow the highs and lows of the lives of Leanne, her family, the staff and puppy parents, who all spend their time and extortionate amounts of money pampering their pets - and they all have one thing in common, they are all totally fur baby crazy! From pooch photoshoots to dog walks and fashion shows, everyone's blinded by their puppy love at the dog spa. - The Great Cheese Chase
E163The Great Cheese ChaseA unique insight into one of the West Country's craziest and most dangerous rural traditions - cheese rolling. Seb Choudhury meets the people behind the annual event, when people travel from around the world to throw themselves down a very steep hill in pursuit of a double gloucester cheese. How will Seb get on when he decides to take part in the terrifying race? Part of the Our Lives series. - The Rise and Fall of Nokia
E164The Rise and Fall of NokiaOnce upon a time there was a large Finnish company that manufactured the world's best and most innovative mobile phones. Nokia's annual budget was larger than that of the government of Finland and everyone who worked there shared in the windfall. But global domination cost the company its pioneering spirit and quantity gradually took over from quality, with new phone models being churned out by the dozen. Market share eroded, until in 2016, mobile phone production in Finland ceased. The Rise and Fall of Nokia is a wry morality tale for our times, told by those that lived and worked through the rollercoaster years in a company that dominated a nation. - The Centenary of the Royal Air Force
E165The Centenary of the Royal Air ForceSophie Raworth presents live coverage of events to mark the centenary of the Royal Air Force. Her Majesty The Queen, the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, the Duke of Cambridge, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, dignitaries and veterans gather at Westminster Abbey for a service to celebrate 100 years of aviation and endeavour. Events continue on The Mall and at Buckingham Palace, where over a thousand servicemen and women from across the RAF take part in a magnificent parade. A spectacular flypast ends the celebrations to wish the RAF a very special happy birthday. - Strokes of Genius: Federer v Nadal
E167Strokes of Genius: Federer v NadalDocumentary looking back at the 2008 Wimbledon final between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, widely acknowledged as one of the greatest matches of all time. The programme uses archive footage to tell the story of both men from their childhood years to becoming the best two players in the world, with Nadal the King of Clay and Federer the master of the Wimbledon grass. Both players describe their emotions throughout the remarkable contest that lasted nearly five hours, and there are also contributions from tennis legends such as John McEnroe, Bjorn Borg, Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova. - The Island That Saved My Life
E169The Island That Saved My LifeAt the age of 23 and suffering from depression and shyness, Sarah Moore moved from her family home near Edinburgh to the beautiful but remote Scottish island of North Ronaldsay, a place with a population of fewer than fifty people. One's Our Lives, this documentary follows Sarah's life on the island and the people she meets there. Like many remote communities, North Ronaldsay has its fair share of struggles - whether it's the cancellation of air services that bring vital supplies, extreme weather conditions or the need to hold down multiple jobs to make ends meet, Sarah has had to adapt to an entirely new way of living and thinking to survive. But the island has changed Sarah. She is much happier and she says can be the person she was always meant to be here. She has more opportunities to work, try new things and broaden her horizons. Ironically, she has a far better social life than when she lived in Edinburgh and has become an integral part of the community. But that community is under threat, with a spiral of depopulation, little employment and nowhere for people to live. Recent years have seen an exodus, particularly of young people, from the island. If things don't change soon she may no longer be able to live on the island that she says saved her life. This character-driven documentary looks at a unique way of life in an incredible place that may not be around for much longer. As Sarah works her six jobs, can she help save the island that saved her? - Joshua v Klitschko: Return to Wembley
E170Joshua v Klitschko: Return to WembleyWhen Britain’s Anthony Joshua fought Wladimir Klitschko in front of 90,000 fans at Wembley in 2017, it turned out to be the sporting event of the year. First Joshua knocked the former champion down, then he too was punched to the canvas in a fight that was more dramatic than a Rocky movie. After looking destined for defeat, Joshua produced an astonishing comeback to beat the Ukrainian in an epic 11th round. Now the two fighters will meet for the first time since that dramatic night last April. And in a brilliant new encounter they describe what really happened in the ring that night. Featuring extended highlights of the fight for the first time on free-to-air television, it provides fans with a brilliant insight into the minds of the two men as well as looking forward to Joshua’s potential defences of his heavyweight crown against fellow Britain Tyson Fury and the American champion Deontay Wilder. - Trump: A Very British Welcome?
E171Trump: A Very British Welcome?As Trump touches down for his first Presidential visit to the UK, BBC Three reporter Ben Zand goes behind the scenes with young Trump lovers as well as those who think he has gone too far. Over the course of one weekend will Britain go crazy for President Trump? - Louis Theroux: Docs That Made MeE172
Louis Theroux: Docs That Made MeDocumentary fans are in for a treat as renowned documentarian Louis Theroux dived into the BBC Archives and selected his favourite documentaries. Each of them had an impact on Louis. They cover a range of styles - some vérité-driven, others told more through interview - but in all of them you see life at its most raw, its most strange and therefore its most human. In Louis Theroux: Docs That Made Me Louis explains why he chose the documentaries and how they have inspired his work. All the documentaries are available to watch on BBC iPlayer right now: Philip and His Seven Wives (2006) Life and Death Row: Truth (2016) Exposed: Magicians, Psychics and Frauds (2014) Between Life and Death (2010) Inside Story: Mini (1975) Fourteen Days In May (1987) Rain in My Heart (2006) - Elephants on the Move
E173Elephants on the MoveElephants On The Move goes behind the scenes at Twycross Zoo as the herd of elephants which has been attracting crowds for 50 years, are set for a big change – a new home. Elephant Creek in Twycross Zoo has been a public favourite for generations, but it’s time for its inhabitants to move house – nearly 150 miles away to the seaside – to Blackpool Zoo. Mike Dilger follows Minbu, Tara, Noorjahan and Esha, a family of four female Asian elephants, as they embark on their epic journey to relocate to Blackpool as part of a European breeding programme. However, persuading a family of elephants to get into a giant transportation crate for a three-hour drive north is not that simple. It’s one of the biggest challenges the team of zoo keepers has ever had to face. As part of their daily routines the elephants are being trained to get into the crates with treats and rewards after every milestone reached. It’s going to be a long process! - Reginald D Hunter's Songs of the Border
E174Reginald D Hunter's Songs of the BorderAgainst the backdrop of President Trump's much-trumpeted wall, Reginald D Hunter takes a 2,000-mile road trip along the US-Mexico border to explore how romance and reality play out musically where third-world Mexico meets first-world USA on this broken road to the American dream. Classic American pop and country portray Mexico as a land of escape and romance, but also of danger - think of Marty Robbins's El Paso, The Drifters' Mexican Divorce or Ry Cooder's Across the Borderline. Against this evocative western soundtrack, Hunter explores the border music as it is today, much of it created by musicians drawn from the 36 million Mexican-Americans who are US citizens. Robin Hood tales of Mexican cartels, South American dance, Tex-Mex accordion, Mexican-American rap, border fence sound art and country music of both Mexican and American flavours shed fascinating insight into the topical issues of immigration, drug smuggling and Mexican-American identity, and throw the western songwriter's dream of Mexico as a place of romance, fun and escape into sharp relief. Reg's natural empathy and gentle humanity guide us on this cinematic journey, featuring Lyle Lovett, Los Tucanes de Tijuana, Frontera Bugalu, Calexico, Carrie Rodriguez, Asleep at the Wheel, Los Texmaniacs, Glenn Weyant, Eva Ybarra and Cecy B. - Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael KohlhaasE175
Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael KohlhaasDrama set in the 16th century. Horse trader Michael Kohlhaas is wrongfully taxed by a corrupt baron, his horses taken from him and his servant attacked. Thwarted in his attempts to seek compensation through the courts, he raises an army and begins a revolt in search of justice. - Whoever Heard Of A Black Artist? Britain’s Hidden Art HistoryE176
Whoever Heard Of A Black Artist? Britain’s Hidden Art HistoryBrenda 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 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 groundbreaking artists from the Windrush generation, 60s counterculture revolutionaries and the black arts movement of the 80s. Contributors include Rasheed Araeen, Lubaina Himid, Yinka Shonibare, the BLK Art Group and Althea McNish. - Murder in Soho: Who Killed Freddie Mills?
E177Murder in Soho: Who Killed Freddie Mills?A real-life murder mystery about the life and untimely death of a national boxing hero, who is often described as Britain's first sporting celebrity. Set in 1960s Soho, the film delves into the world of UK and US organised crime, with gangland figures such as the Krays, boxing, gambling, police corruption and a string of brutal unsolved murders that would become synonymous with the name Freddie Mills. With access to eight hours of previously unseen home movies, this is an intimate portrayal of a man who rose from the humble surroundings of the fairground boxing booth to become world light-heavyweight champion and became a household name appearing on television and in films. But it all ended on 25 July 1965, when he was found shot dead in the back seat of his car. - Angela Carter: Of Wolves & Women
E178Angela Carter: Of Wolves & WomenAngela Carter's surreal imagination produced some of the most dazzling fiction of the last century. Pioneering her own distinctive brand of 'magic realism,' works like The Magic Toyshop and Nights at the Circus cracked open the middle-class conventions of the postwar novel and influenced a new generation of writers. Yet in her lifetime, Carter's fierce politics, frank exploration of gender and fondness for the supernatural unnerved the macho literary establishment. She never won the Booker Prize or received the staggering advances of her male contemporaries - and regularly struggled to pay the bills, despite creating the acclaimed film The Company of Wolves. Four decades on, Carter's powerful tales of desire, fearless women and monstrous sexual predators have never felt more relevant. As Jeanette Winterson says in the film: 'Every woman writing now has a debt to Angela Carter whether or not they have read her. She was ahead of her time. And that's why we're so interested in her now because she's coming into her time almost prophetically.' Narrated by Sally Phillips, this film is a dark and delicious foray into Angela Carter's extraordinary life. While Carter's early work drew on her creepily claustrophobic childhood and miserable early marriage, it was her experience of living in Japan in the 1970s that liberated both her writing and her sexuality. And she continued to live out of kilter with polite society - horrifying critics with expletive laden put- downs, falling in love with a teenage builder in her thirties, becoming a mother at 43 and, tragically, winning the reviews of her career for Wise Children, the week after her death at the age of 51. Made by the team behind The Secret Life of Sue Townsend (Aged 68 3/4), with animation by Emmy award-winning Peepshow Collective, this film is a visual treat inspired by the surreal imagery of Carter's fiction. Hattie Morahan plays the young Angela (with extracts from unpublished letters and diaries), while Maur - Abducted - Elizabeth I's Child Actors
E179Abducted - Elizabeth I's Child ActorsThe gripping true story of a boy abducted from the streets of Elizabethan London, and how his father fought to get him back. Presented by acclaimed children's author and academic Katherine Rundell, this intriguing tale is set behind the scenes in the golden age of Shakespeare and sheds a shocking light on the lives of children long before they were thought to have rights. Thirteen-year-old Thomas Clifton was walking to school on 13 December 1600, when he was violently kidnapped. And what's most extraordinary is that the men who took him claimed that they had legal authority to do so from Queen Elizabeth I herself. Children are so often missing from history, but this tale has survived by the skin of its teeth. This inventive film pieces together Thomas Clifton's story from contemporary accounts, court documents, plays and poetry, with the missing gaps beautifully illustrated by vivid hand-drawn animation. Shedding light on politics, religion, money and fame at a time when society's anxieties were played out nightly on the stage, it is an unknown slice of British history, both bizarre and sinister. The snatching of Thomas Clifton had been organised by a theatrical impresario, who intended to put him on the stage as part of a company of child actors, who were enormously popular with the Elizabethan theatre. He wasn't the only boy lifted from the streets for this purpose - a whole host of others suffered a similar ordeal. It was a practice known as impressment - forced recruitment into public service - which meant that children could be legally taken without their parents' or their own consent. - Lost Voice Guy: Is Geordie the Funniest Accent?
E180Lost Voice Guy: Is Geordie the Funniest Accent?Lost Voice Guy Lee Ridley doesn’t like the voice on his tablet computer that he uses to speak, as it makes him sound like a posh Robocop. So he travels to Newcastle to see if he should adopt the Geordie accent. - Mackintosh's Tea Room
E181Mackintosh's Tea RoomIn 2014, Glasgow businesswoman Celia Sinclair decided that she wanted to rescue the old Willow Tea Rooms on Sauchiehall Street and restore them to their former glory. They were one of the earlier works of artist and architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Celia was inspired by pioneering Glasgow businesswoman Miss Cranston, who in 1903 commissioned the young and still largely unknown Mackintosh to design the luxurious, cutting-edge tea rooms with iconic chairs, tables, wall decorations and chandeliers. Celia bought the remains of the old Willow Tea Rooms building on Sauchiehall Street to save it for Glasgow and had a grand vision to reopen in time for Mackintosh's 150th birthday in 2018. This hour-long documentary follows Celia on her mission to raise the money to push the £10m capital building project forward, waiting anxiously to find out if her Willow Tea Rooms Trust will be granted the heritage lottery funding they need, and organising VIP events for the private donors who have given generously to her ambitious project. Celia also meets with historian Perilla Kinchin and, over a cup of tea, she learns how women came out of their homes in 1903 to take tea in the new respectable drinking establishments, and how Miss Cranston expanded her franchise. Also featured are some of the expert craft makers under pressure to deliver to tight deadlines as they attempt to exactly recreate some of the 400 pieces of Mackintosh furniture needed for the reopening of the tea rooms. - Jules Peters: My Cancer Journey
E182Jules Peters: My Cancer JourneyIn July 2016 Jules Peters was diagnosed with breast cancer. Now, 15 months after successful treatment, the programme follows the mother-of-two and wife of Alarm frontman Mike Peters as she undergoes reconstructive surgery, meets other women at different stages in their own journey through the disease and explores how such a devastating diagnosis affects women's ideas of body image, femininity and sexuality - and how she now sees her experience of cancer as an 'unlikely blessing'. - Mechanical Monsters
E184Mechanical MonstersSimon Schaffer tells the stories behind some of the most extraordinary engineering wonders of the 19th century. These were enormous feats of technology which transformed everyday life but also had the capacity to challenge the Victorians' faith in God, their place in the universe and their hopes for the future. Through stunning images of these beautiful creations, this film investigates the origins of our love-hate relationship with technology. - Sylvia Plath - Inside the Bell Jar
E186Sylvia Plath - Inside the Bell JarBringing to life that 'queer sultry summer' of 1953, this is the first film to unravel the story behind Sylvia Plath's seminal novel. The book captures the struggles of an ambitious young woman's attempts to deal with the constraints of 1950's America - the bright lights of New York dim, turn to depression and attempted suicide. The film weaves the autobiographic narrative of the book with the testimony of her friends, and daughter Frieda Hughes - some speaking for the first time. - Train Surfing Wars: A Matter of Life and Death
E187Train Surfing Wars: A Matter of Life and DeathFollowing UK teenagers who do stunts on tall buildings and ride on top of trains and buses, then post their dangerous exploits online, with access to a world famous teenage Parkour group from Guildford called Brewman. Co-founder of the group Rikke Brewer’s Train Surfing Paris Metro clip opened a new chapter in British Train Surfing. It sparked a new generation of copycat surfers keen to create their own viral presence and satisfy their need for an adrenaline fix. This film shows how the death of one of the group has created conflict in the crew, and how this and train surfing threatens to rip the group apart and ruin their friendship forever - Lost Boys? What's Going Wrong For Asian Men
E188Lost Boys? What's Going Wrong For Asian MenOver the last few years, the story we have been hearing about British Asian men has been overwhelmingly negative. But for some British Asian communities there are real problems. In this personal film, Mehreen Baig, a British-Pakistani woman, goes behind the headlines and meets a range of young men to understand their experiences of growing up in modern Britain. As a state school teacher, Mehreen saw British Asian boys from some communities falling behind. Now she wants to know why there are such huge disparities in how well different communities have integrated into the UK, why some are faring better than others in jobs and education, and why women from South Asian backgrounds are now outstripping their male peers. Mehreen begins her journey with British-Pakistani men. She travels to Bradford, which has the highest proportion of Pakistani residents of any British city. Here, there are signs that young British-Pakistani men are struggling - youth unemployment stands at 26% (nationwide the figure is 12%), and drug crime has risen in recent years, with British-Pakistani men making up a disproportionate number of convictions. Mehreen meets young men such as 17-year-old Luqman, who lives in one of the most deprived areas of the country, and who has been supporting his family since the age of 13 by working six days a week. And she talks to Nav, who grew up locally and left for university before dropping out. He gives Mehreen an insight into some of the attitudes that prevail around education in the community, and suggests some reasons why British-Pakistani boys are one of the worst performing groups at GCSE, and British-Pakistani girls are now outperforming them. And she meets some of the young recruits to a new business enterprise which is attracting lots of British-Pakistani men in the city. Setting the statistics in a historical context, Mehreen explores the story of Pakistani immigration to the northern towns of Britain, and how the closure of the mills and f - The Stolen Maharajah: Britain's Indian RoyalE189
The Stolen Maharajah: Britain's Indian RoyalDocumentary about the last Maharajah of Punjab, Duleep Singh, who was wrenched from his mother's arms as a child in the 1840s and put into the care of an official of the British Empire. Growing up in a colonial enclave in India, the boy king abandoned his Sikh religion and signed away his ancient kingdom to the British - decisions he would come to regret bitterly. He moved as a teenager to Britain, where Queen Victoria became his godmother. The Maharajah Duleep Singh lived most of his adult life here as a supremely wealthy English country gentleman, part of the British social elite. But, in time, his relationship with Britain turned sour. This film retraces the journeys of Duleep Singh and his family: from the royal palaces of Punjab to royal palaces in Britain, to his English country estate, Elveden in Suffolk, to bohemian Paris. The programme uses recently rediscovered letters by Singh, letters and diaries written by those whose knew him, extraordinary photographs and surviving artefacts. We interview historians to get at the motives and inner life of the Maharajah Duleep Singh as he set out to recover his Sikh heritage and turn his back on his colonial past. - Mark Gatiss on John Minton: The Lost Man of British ArtE190
Mark Gatiss on John Minton: The Lost Man of British ArtJohn Minton was for a time one of the most popular 20th-century British artists, more famous than his contemporaries Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud. He has also been something of an obsession for actor and writer Mark Gatiss since he first saw one of his paintings as a teenager at the National Portrait Gallery. Mark plunges back into Minton's world to celebrate his remarkable life and work, but also to find out why Minton remains all but forgotten. As well as discovering unseen photographs of the artist and previously unknown works by him, the film also gives Mark the chance to hear Minton's voice for the first time in a rare broadcast he made for the BBC Third Programme in 1947. The connections deepen further as Mark meets some of those who knew him well - former models such as actor Norman Bowler recall posing for Minton, and fellow artist David Tindle discusses the rivalries between Minton and his contemporaries, notably Francis Bacon. Drawing on all these remarkable first-hand reminiscences, Mark explores the reasons behind Minton's fall from grace and the tragic circumstances of his death at the age of just 39. - Frank Vickery: The People's Playwright
E191Frank Vickery: The People's PlaywrightWriter and actor Frank Vickery's premature death in June 2018 was a huge loss to Welsh theatre. A Rhondda boy who wrote about the place and people he loved, Frank left school at 15 without a single qualification - and yet became Wales's most commercially successful playwright. Celebrities and friends pay tribute to the man dubbed 'the voice of the Valleys'. - Tate Liverpool at 30E193
Tate Liverpool at 30When Tate Liverpool opened in 1988, it was England's first gallery of modern art, but its origins were mired in the politics of the decade. It was part of the government's response to the Toxteth riots and was not universally welcomed. Now, as it celebrates its 30th anniversary, comedian and former art student Alexei Sayle assesses its impact on his home city and meets Lord Heseltine, the politician who was made minister for Liverpool to try to solve the city's economic and social problems in the 80s. - Aretha Franklin: Respect
E195Aretha Franklin: RespectThis tribute pays respect to the voice and life of Aretha Franklin, who died on 16 August 2018 aged 76. The daughter of legendary preacher CL Franklin, who hailed from the same Deep South as many of the blues legends, Aretha was raised in Detroit where her father preached at the New Bethel Baptist Church and where she grew up singing gospel. She had her first child at 13 and signed to Columbia in 1960, and her career ignited when she signed to Atlantic in 1967. Global hits such as I Say a Little Prayer and Respect then quickly established her as the queen of soul, while her majestic delivery and regal presence made her an iconic figure in the emerging civil rights movement. Aretha enjoyed renewed success in the 1980s when she collaborated with Luther Vandross, had a cameo in The Blues Brothers and duets with the likes of Annie Lennox and George Michael. She was also the first female artist to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 and has sold over 75 million records. As recently as 2015 she stunned audiences with her extraordinary performance of (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman in front of President Barack Obama and the song's co-writer Carole King at the Kennedy Center. - A Week to Sell Your House
E196A Week to Sell Your HouseAcross Wales thousands of properties are stuck on the market, leaving families in limbo, unable to move and concerned that they may never sell their house. In this new property makeover show, Welsh interior design expert Leah Hughes and property specialist Becky Buck help homeowners who are stuck in a property rut to sell their house in just one week. Our experts have just five days to get the property in shape before a raft of potential buyers arrive to view their newly madeover home. Throughout each episode, Leah and Becky take ordinary homeowners and turn them into property supersellers, teaching homeowners to makeover, market and sell their own homes. At the end of the week, our homeowners will lead the house viewings, as a raft of potential buyers look around the property and leave sealed bids - but will our experts have done enough to help them sell their house in just one week? - Killed Abroad
E198Killed AbroadRetired police detective David Swindle investigates the deaths of two young Scots killed abroad. In May 2012, 26-year-old Craig Mallon, from Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, travelled to Lloret de Mar in Spain for his brother's stag weekend. Within a few hours of arrival he was killed by a single punch to the head. Six years later, the Spanish police have still not been able to identify his killer. In April 2017, 27-year-old Kirsty Maxwell, from Livingston, West Lothian, arrived in the Spanish town of Benidorm for her friend's hen party. Having returned home from their first night out, all the women fell asleep - but Kirsty awoke and left her room. She ended up in a tenth-floor appartment with five men from Nottingham whom she did not know. It was from a window in this appartment that she fell to her death. The men denied all responsibility for her death. Stricken by grief and feeling abandoned by the authorities, both in Spain and at home, the families of Craig and Kirsty are desperate for answers. Drawing on his 34 years of police experience, across hundreds of murder enquiries, David sets out to discover the truth of what really happened to Craig Mallon and Kirsty Maxwell. - Dwarfs in Art: A New Perspective
E199Dwarfs in Art: A New PerspectiveThis documentary explores the lives of dwarfs through centuries of representations in art and culture, revealing society's shifting attitudes towards people with dwarfism. Presented by Richard Butchins, a disabled film-maker, artist and journalist, the film shows how people with dwarfism have been seen as royal pets, creatures from a separate race, figures of fun and freaks; and it reveals how their lives have been uniquely intertwined with mythology in the popular imagination, making it it all but impossible for dwarfs to simply get on with their everyday lives. The film features interviews with artists, like Sir Peter Blake, who saw dwarfs in the circus as a young man and has featured them prominently in his work; academics, like Professor Tom Shakespeare, who has dwarfism himself and feels strongly about how dwarfs are represented in art; and ordinary people with dwarfism who would just like dwarfs to be seen like everybody else. It also features artists with dwarfism who offer us a glimpse of the world from their perspective, revealing the universal concerns that affect us all, regardless of stature. Taking in relics from antiquity, garden gnomes and some the greatest masterpieces of Diego Velazquez, the film uncovers a hidden chapter in both the history of art and the history of disability. - The Secret Life of Landfill: A Rubbish History
E201The Secret Life of Landfill: A Rubbish HistoryIn a unique science experiment, Dr George McGavin and Dr Zoe Laughlin chronicle the history of rubbish and explore how what we throw away tells us about the way we live our lives. With unprecedented access to one of the UK's largest landfill sites, the team of experts spend three days carrying out tests all over the site, revealing the secret world of rubbish. They also carry out three other 'archaeological' digs into historic landfills to chart the evolution of our throwaway society. Ultimately, their quest is to discover whether the items we throw away today have any value for tomorrow's world. - Bachelor, 38
E203Bachelor, 38An enduring love story of one man's time in London during the early 1960s. Coming of age as a young homosexual in a society where male gay sex was illegal, and prejudice ran deep, Bryan Robert Bale discovered the illicit ways gay men still sought to live and love freely in the city. It drew him into a world where sexual liberty and romantic frivolity persevered through the darkest of days for Britain's gay community. Among the "small ads" on the back page of The Sunday Times, he was introduced to a secret message board used by homosexual men to seek out some company. Illegally connecting with one another to arrange a night of forbidden intimacy or pursue a lifetime of romance. These small ads opened up a boundless world of sex, adventure and possibility. Few people would ever realise that hidden on the back pages of these newspapers, printed in plain sight for all to see, were countless untold stories of first loves, irrepressible desires and true romance. - Isle of Wight Festival at 50E204
Isle of Wight Festival at 50There may be more music festivals in a British summer than you can shake a stick at, but the very first one took place in the summer of '68... and you could only get there by boat. The original Isle of Wight festival was organised by brothers Ray, Ronnie and Billy Foulk as a fundraiser to build islanders their first public swimming pool. Over three short years, legendary names including Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, The Who, The Doors, Joni Mitchell and Miles Davis made this small holiday island the epitome of cool. It's claimed 600,000 fans attended the 1970 event, but its popularity was also its downfall. The island's council banned it until 2002 when rock promoter John Giddings stepped in. With its place in music history secured by those early events, the Isle of Wight Festival is on the bucket list of bands and music fans alike. This short film takes a fond look at the festival at 50, told entirely by those who were there, then and now. - Pump Up The Bhangra
E205Pump Up The BhangraPump up the Bhangra is the story of how British Asians came of age as they found their voice and celebrated their identity through Bhangra music. Fronted by BBC Asian Network DJ Bobby Friction, the film recounts how a simple folk tradition from India was transformed in the 1980s to become a unique part of the British club music scene, outselling many mainstream UK acts. It’s a story of cassette tapes, corner shops and glitter-clad musical heroes; of teenagers bunking school to attend secret daytime gigs and music that soundtracked battles against racism and discrimination. - Exorcism: The Battle For Young Minds
E206Exorcism: The Battle For Young MindsJournalist Andrew Gold visits an internationally renowned exorcist in Buenos Aires, who claims to cure the sick of their demons and battle against evil. As well as running the world’s first ‘school for exorcists’, Padre Manuel Acuña often appears alongside models and celebrities on Argentinian TV and radio. He has fostered a huge following in the poor suburbs of Buenos Aires, where he uses controversial techniques in an apparent attempt to heal the sick, with seemingly great success. With bizarre interactions, violent exorcisms and one particularly tense argument, this presenter-led documentary sets to uncover the murky truth about modern exorcisms. - The Joy of Winning
E209The Joy of WinningHow to have a happier life and a better world all thanks to maths, in this witty, mind-expanding guide to the science of success with Hannah Fry. Following in the footsteps of BBC Four's award-winning maths films The Joy of Stats and The Joy of Data, this latest gleefully nerdy adventure sees mathematician Dr Hannah Fry unlock the essential strategies you'll need to get what you want - to win - more of the time. From how to bag a bargain dinner to how best to stop the kids arguing on a long car journey, maths can give you a winning strategy. And the same rules apply to the world's biggest problems - whether it's avoiding nuclear annihilation or tackling climate change. Deploying 'The Joys Of...' films' trademark mix of playful animation alongside both oddball demos and contributions from the world's biggest brains, Fry shows how this field of maths - known as game theory - is the essential key to help you get your way. She reveals ways to analyse any situation, and methods of calculating the consequences of getting what you want. Expect tips on taking advantage of what your opponents do, but also pleasing proof that co-operation might get you further than conflict. Fry also hails the 20th-century scientists like John von Neumann and John Nash who worked out the science of success. They may not be household names, but they transformed economics, politics, psychology and evolutionary biology in the process - and their work, Hannah demonstrates, could even be shown to prove the existence and advantage of goodness. Along the way the film reveals, amongst other things, what links the rapper Ludacris, a Kentucky sheriff, a Nobel Prize winner and doping in professional cycling. And there's an irresistible chance to revisit the most excruciatingly painful and the most genius scenes ever seen on a TV game show, as Hannah unpacks the maths behind the legendary show Golden Balls and hails Nick Corrigan, the contestant whose cunning gameplay managed to break the suppos - The Deer Stalker - Our Lives
E210The Deer Stalker - Our LivesFor 40 years, Alex Macdonald has stalked the hills and glens above Fort William, as did his father, grandfather and great-grandfather before him. Now he wants to hand his expertise onto a fifth generation - his 15-year-old son. In this intimate portrait of a unique way of life, we follow Alex through the ferocity of one of Scotland's worst winters to the high heat of summer, as he manages the 3,000 red deer that populate the Achnacarry estate. - Drinkers Like Me - Adrian Chiles
E211Drinkers Like Me - Adrian ChilesIn this revealingly intimate documentary for BBC2, Adrian Chiles takes a long hard look at his own love of boozing. He wants to find out why he and many others don't think they are addicted to alcohol, despite finding it almost impossible to enjoy life without it. Adrian, who drinks almost every day, decides to start a drinking diary and soon finds out his intake is way over the recommended limit. He decides to visit his parents to find out what it was that motivated him to start drinking as a teenager and reveals that sneaking into pubs underage was all about friendship and being part of something, and that the allure of the social side of drinking has never really left him since his teens. So after drinking far too much for far too long, Adrian decides to get his liver checked out. The results come as a shock and after seeing an addiction therapist Adrian begins to realise that like many other people he needs to do something about his excessive boozing. His big question is does he need to quit completely or can he 'to use the world's most boring phrase drink more responsibly'. His first port of call is old mate Frank Skinner. Frank was a Pernod in the morning bed wetting kind of drinker but quit 30 years ago. His advice to Adrian is unexpected. - Riz Ahmed: Road to EnglistanE212
Riz Ahmed: Road to EnglistanNikki Bedi interviews one of Britain's most successful - and outspoken - actors, Riz Ahmed. He is currently writing Englistan, a multi-generational drama for BBC Two, and has starred in numerous critically lauded films and TV series including The Reluctant Fundamentalist, HBO's The Night Of (for which he won an Emmy) - and Rogue One - part of the world-conquering Star Wars franchise. Nikki meets Riz in Brooklyn where he has been rehearsing a new film: over a career-spanning interview, they talk about movies, music and politics, as well as the obstacles that Riz has overcome. Riz opens up about his childhood in Wembley as the son of immigrants from Pakistan, and he talks about growing up in a 'cultural no-man's land' - switching identities as he moved between his (traditionally Muslim) family-life, his predominantly white school and his mates who were into British Asian street culture. Riz discusses working with talents such as Chris Morris, his roles in films such as Nightcrawler and The Night Of, and blockbusters such as Jason Bourne, the Marvel film Venom and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. - Abortion: Beyond the Backstreet
E213Abortion: Beyond the BackstreetExactly 50 years ago, in 1968, the Abortion Act came into force. It was passed in response to the numbers of women dying from unsafe and illegal abortions. The legislation was hugely controversial at the time and abortion continues to be an issue that arouses strong views. In this film, we talk to people on both sides of the debate. We meet women who had backstreet abortions, many sharing their stories for the first time, as well as people whose lives were affected by the passage of the law including doctors, nurses and police officers. Many people opposed the act, often from religious conviction. Opposition also came from some doctors who felt that they had been put in an impossible ethical position. We talk to people who fought against the legislation and also to Lord David Steel who as a young MP at the time, championed the bill. - Killer in Our Classroom: Never AgainE214
Killer in Our Classroom: Never AgainIn February 2018, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz entered Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, carrying a semi-automatic rifle. He killed fourteen pupils and three members of staff. In the aftermath of one of the worst mass school shootings in recent history, students from the school organised what became a global, youth-led movement, campaigning for stricter gun laws in America. With filming beginning shortly after the shooting, this documentary follows pupils from the school, including Lewis Mizen, a 17-year-old British senior, as they take on the establishment to demand change. The film also tells the stories of some of the other students affected by the shooting. - The no. 5 War
E215The no. 5 WarThe story, both thrilling and dark, of the world's most famous perfume. In 1921, Coco Chanel's revolutionary perfume concept was as audacious as her outlandish designer clothing. At its launch, it was an instant hit. From the 1920s to the 1940s the Number 5 brand was at the centre of a war between the celebrated designer and her entrepreneurial business partners, the Wertheimer brothers. During WWII, with the help of her high-ranking Nazi lover, Coco Chanel attempted to oust her Jewish partners - who had fled German-occupied France and were operating the business from New Jersey - to take control of the highly lucrative business. - The Last Testament of Lillian Bilocca
E216The Last Testament of Lillian BiloccaMaxine Peake's exploration of the true story of Lillian Bilocca, a largely forgotten but formidable figure in the fight for safer trawlers. When three fishing boats sank within 10 days with the loss of 58 lives in 1968, Lillian Bilocca launched a campaign of direct action to improve safety in the notoriously dangerous fishing fleet. She proved successful in bringing about new safety legislation in Parliament but faced a backlash from sections of the community in Hull. The programme explores Lillian Bilocca's fight at the time through archive and dramatic reconstructions based on the play The Last Testament of Lillian Bilocca, written by Maxine Peake. Maxine meets with a group of local women from the Hessle Road community - the heart of what was once the fishing industry - to hear first hand about Lillian Bilocca's story and what it means to the women today. - The Joy of AI
E217The Joy of AIProfessor Jim Al-Khalili looks at how we have created machines that can simulate, augment, and even outperform the human mind - and why we shouldn't let this spook us. He reveals the story of the pursuit of AI, the emergence of machine learning and the recent breakthroughs brought about by artificial neural networks. He shows how AI is not only changing our world but also challenging our very ideas of intelligence and consciousness. Along the way, we'll investigate spam filters, meet a cutting-edge chatbot, look at why a few altered pixels makes a computer think it's looking at a trombone rather than a dog and talk to Demis Hassabis, who heads DeepMind and whose stated mission is to 'solve intelligence, and then use that to solve everything else'. Stephen Hawking remarked 'AI could be the biggest event in the history of our civilisation. Or the worst'. Jim argues that AI is a potent new tool that should enhance our lives, not replace us. - Reel Stories: Kylie Minogue
E218Reel Stories: Kylie MinogueGolden, Geishas and Gordon The Gopher. Dermot O’Leary and Kylie Minogue settle down in the cinema to watch back the twists and turns of a career spanning 4 decades. Looking back with a mixture of pride, curiosity and occasional embarrassment, Kylie relives moments of her life as handpicked by Dermot. Sometimes emotional, often bizarre, always fabulous, Kylie has lived her life on screen, but has never sat down and watched it… until now. - Made by machine: When AI Met the Archive
E219Made by machine: When AI Met the ArchiveDocumentary. Dr Hannah Fry and a virtual host present a new way of making television, as the BBC research and development department uses artificial intelligence to delve into the treasures of the BBC Archive. Computers trawl through more than quarter of a million shows using a variety of machine learning techniques, then let loose to create short programmes-within-a-programme in the style of BBC Four. - Winning It BigE220
Winning It BigMost people have dreamed of winning the lottery. It’s a dream that has become ever more common around the world as jackpots get bigger and lotteries more numerous. But does money really make us happy, and how much does this depend on where we live and how we spend it? To find out, the BBC’s Mike Thomson meets lottery winners from around the globe. Mike dines with Arab/Israeli restaurateur, Jawdat Ibrahim, who spends much of his $23 million windfall on trying to bring Palestinians and Israelis closer together, through good food and dialogue. Mike tours rural Idaho with American businessman Brad Duke, who is determined to put his mountain of money to work. Brad won’t be happy, he insists, until he has trebled his $220 million winnings. Mike goes nightclubbing with the self-declared ‘Mark Zuckerberg’ of Ghana, a man with a very different plan. The young pop video producer likes to flash his cash and seems determined to spend his way to happiness. Mike also meets Canada’s Rebecca Lapierre, who spurned a big lump sum in favour of $1000 a week for life. The former Miss Quebec has dedicated her winnings to helping the poor. True joy, she tells Mike, lies in giving rather than getting. So, what can we learn from these lottery winners, and are they any happier than the rest of us? This documentary will air as part of Money & Power - a major new season of programmes and features across the BBC’s global TV, radio and online networks exploring how the basic building blocks of our lives are being shaped and reshaped by money. - From Slavery to Windrush: My family's StoryE221
From Slavery to Windrush: My family's StoryThe BBC's Amanda Kirton journeys from Britain to Jamaica and finds her family's hidden past tells a story about the history between the two islands. She discovers why the Windrush scandal was about more than the politics of immigration. - Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Monumental Art
E222Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Monumental ArtIn the summer of 2018, on the Serpentine in London's Hyde Park, world-renowned artist Christo created his first public work of art in the UK. Inspired by ancient Mesopotamian tombs, the Mastaba is constructed from 7,506 painted oil barrels and weighs six hundred tonnes. It is the latest work in a career spanning half a century and stretching across the world. His work to date have included surrounding 11 islands off the Florida coast with pink polypropylene and wrapping Berlin's Reichstag and the Pont Neuf in Paris. This programme charts the creation of the Mastaba - from the first barrels being put on the water to its final unveiling - and paints a portrait of Christo as he looks back on a life spent making provocative works of art with his wife and partner Jeanne-Claude. Christo reveals how he funds his projects with a unique business model, and how the long, tortuous and often combative process of gaining permissions and winning people over is part of his artistic endeavour. He also talks about his escape from the communist east and his early work in 1960s Paris. A cast of friends, fellow artists, collectors and critics lend their voices to the documentary, including performance artist Marina Abramovic, New Yorker journalist and architectural critic Paul Goldberger, former New York major Michael Bloomberg, writer and art critic Marina Vaizey and architect Sir Norman Foster. - Tales of Tudor Travel - The Explorer's Handbook
E223Tales of Tudor Travel - The Explorer's HandbookA remarkable travel guide compiled from first-hand records of Tudor seafarers in the 16th Century. Professor Nandini Das explores Hakluyt's 'The Principle Navigations, Voyages and Discoveries of the English Nation' (1589), which records accounts of ventures in search of lucrative spices and dyes. It is a prototype for today's travel guides with advice, warnings, descriptions of remarkable people and a list of vocabulary to converse with foreigners. It became a book that all English seafarers kept on board ship. But the descriptions of encounters with foreigners also laid the foundations for later colonialism and conquest. - King Arthur's Britain - The Truth Unearthed
E224King Arthur's Britain - The Truth UnearthedWith exclusive access to a major new excavation, Alice Roberts pulls together all the latest evidence to reveal what Dark Age Britain was really like. In the fifth century, the future of Britain hung in the balance; after four centuries of straight roads and hot and cold running water the Romans upped and left, called back to support their own ailing Empire. The country quickly descended into chaos, plunging the native population into poverty and instability as their livelihoods - many dependent on the Romans - disappeared almost overnight. The nation was vulnerable and it didn't take long for Anglo-Saxon invaders to take advantage; a vast bloodthirsty army quickly overran the country, killing the locals and settling down to change the history of the British Isles forever. At least, that is what the fragmentary historical texts record, but the truth is we don't actually know what happened. There is no reliable written account of events and for two whole centuries sources provide the names of less than ten individuals. This pivotal moment in our national history has been shrouded in mystery until now. In this landmark history film, Professor Alice Roberts uses exciting new archaeological discoveries to decode the myths and medieval fake news, piecing together a very different story of this turning point in Britain's history. The story begins with exclusive access to the excavations of an unprecedented stone palace complex on the Tintagel peninsula in Cornwall. Long known to have been a Dark Age settlement the new evidence reveals that Tintagel was also a seat of power, but who ruled there? The rocky outcrop has mythical connections with the legendary King Arthur, but there has never been any evidence found that he actually lived there or even existed. Alice explores the link between the Arthur legend and the location, tracking down the early sources for the period and the first written reference to King Arthur. She discove - The Flu That Killed 50 Million
E226The Flu That Killed 50 MillionIt is 1918 and the end of WWI. Millions have died, and the world is exhausted by war. But soon a new horror is sweeping the world, a terrifying virus that will kill more than fifty million people - the Spanish flu. Using dramatic reconstruction and eyewitness testimony from doctors, soldiers, civilians and politicians, this one-off special brings to life the onslaught of the disease, the horrors of those who lived through it and the efforts of the pioneering scientists desperately looking for the cure. The film also asks whether, a century later, the lessons learnt in 1918 might help us fight a future global flu pandemic. - Stacey Dooley: Face to Face with ArmageddonE227
Stacey Dooley: Face to Face with ArmageddonShould we all be making plans for the end of the world? In America, a movement of people, called preppers, are doing all they can to make sure they survive global disaster. Stacey spends time with three prepper communities who are gearing up for uncertain futures, with concerns ranging from civil unrest and nuclear war, to climate change and natural disasters. Some have bought bunkers to escape to, others have isolated themselves from society. Stacey explores the reasons why they are going to such lengths to protect themselves. And she asks - should I be following their lead? - The Price of Fast Fashion
E228The Price of Fast FashionWe are consuming fashion at a rate never before seen on our planet. 100 billion garments are manufactured every year and the fashion industry continually tempts us to buy more with new ranges in the shops. But this so-called fast fashion is taking a toll on the environment. Clothes production can cause pollution and uses lots of precious natural resources, as well as creating mountains of waste that go to landfill. So what, if anything, is the fashion industry doing about this? Fashion lover Assefeh Barrat follows every stage of the production process - from cotton growers in the USA, to factory owners in Turkey and designers in the West to see who is leading the way in reducing fashion's environmental impact. And she asks consumers if they are really willing to change their fast fashion habits. - Hollywood's Brightest Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story
E229Hollywood's Brightest Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr StoryDocumentary about Hollywood wild-child Hedy Lamarr. Fleeing to America after escaping her Nazi sympathiser husband, Hedy Lamarr conquered Hollywood. Known as 'the most beautiful woman in the world' she was infamous for her marriages and affairs, from Spencer Tracy to JFK. This film rediscovers her not only as an actress, but as the brilliant mind who co-invented 1940's wireless technology. - George Shelley: Learning to Grieve
E230George Shelley: Learning to GrieveIn May 2017, the musician and presenter George Shelley tragically lost his sister in a sudden accident. Harriet Shelley was 21 and her brother's closest confidante. In his first documentary, George courageously opens up about his struggles with grief. Having spent the last 12 months struggling to talk about his loss and to deal with it, George embarks on a series of extraordinarily candid and raw discussions with his parents and best friend in a bid to help him cope with, and better understand, the process of grieving. He opens up to them in ways he has never done before and, for the first time, also speaks to other young people who have suffered the loss of a sibling, and to others from his generation who can share advice and guidance about coping mechanisms. Research suggests that bereavement is linked to high rates of suicide and mental health problems among young people. Bereavement is an extremely important issue because of the enormous and serious impact it has on wider society, especially with people under 30 being renowned for not talking about grief. George explores the relationship between his own grief and mental health. He spiralled into a deep depression when his sister died and discusses some of the revelations he has subsequently discovered about himself following conversations he has had with medical professionals. - Farther and Sun: A Dyslexic Road Trip
E231Farther and Sun: A Dyslexic Road TripCould dyslexia be a gift? Or can it only ever be a disability? Documentary maker Richard Macer sets off on a road trip with his dyslexic son Arthur to find the answer. En route, they meet Richard Branson and Eddie Izzard, and many other successful dyslexic people. Dyslexia is a difficulty with reading and writing that affects one in ten people. It causes misery to many schoolchildren, and it can lead to greater problems later in life. Fifty per cent of prisoners are thought to be dyslexic, but at the same time, many successful people are also dyslexic, and businesses like Google, Nasa and GCHQ see the benefit in a neuro-diverse workforce. Richard and Arthur are looking for an answer to this conundrum and interview academics, scientists and designers. But there is a personal narrative too. Richard struggled at school just like his son, and now 40 years on, he is assessed for dyslexia. Will the result give him closure on a lifetime of feeling different? And if he is dyslexic, does that mean his son has inherited a gift or a curse? - Drowning in Plastic
E233Drowning in PlasticOur blue planet is facing one its biggest threats in human history. Trillions of pieces of plastic are choking the very lifeblood of our earth, and every marine animal, from the smallest plankton to the largest mammals, is being affected. But can we turn back this growing plastic tide before it is too late? In this 90-minute special, wildlife biologist Liz Bonnin visits scientists working at the cutting edge of plastics research. She works with some of the world's leading marine biologists and campaigners to discover the true dangers of plastic in our oceans and what it means for the future of all life on our planet, including us. Liz travels 10,000 miles to a remote island off the coast of Australia that is the nesting site for a population of seabirds called flesh-footed shearwaters. Newly hatched chicks are unable to regurgitate effectively, so they are filling up on deadly plastic. Then, in America, she joins an emergency mission to save an entangled grey seal pup found in some of the world's busiest fishing areas, and visits the Coral Triangle that stretches from Papua New Guinea to the Solomon Islands to find out more from top coral scientists trying to work out why plastic is so lethal to the reefs, fragile ecosystems that contain 25 per cent of all marine life. Liz learns that the world's biggest rivers have been turned into huge plastic arteries, transporting 50 per cent of all the plastic that arrives in the ocean. She travels to Indonesia, where she watches a horrifying raft of plastic rubbish travel down one of the main rivers, the Citarum. Here, 60 per cent of fish species have died, so fishermen are now forced to collect plastic to sell instead of fish. With the world only now waking up to this emerging crisis, Liz also looks at whether scientists have found any solutions. She meets the 24-year-old inventor of a monumental 600-metre construction that will travel across the ocean's 'garbage patches' collecting millions of pieces of plastic pollution. - The Debt Saviours
E234The Debt SavioursAcross Britain more than four million people have debts considered unsustainable. Responsibility for advising and helping these vulnerable people is increasingly falling to charities. One of the biggest is Christians Against Poverty (CAP), led by its charismatic founder, Dr John Kirkby CBE, pictured. In this access all areas documentary, director Phillip Wood follows Dr Kirkby and some of the charity's debt coaches. CAP has more than 6,000 staff and volunteers around the country providing help to people who often face losing their homes. The film shows how the home visits often include an offer to pray with clients and asks whether the real motivation is debt relief or bringing people to Jesus, or both. - The Bank That Almost Broke Britain
E235The Bank That Almost Broke BritainTen years on from the global financial crash, this documentary tells the extraordinary story of how a small Scottish bank briefly grew to become the biggest in the world before collapsing and triggering the largest financial bail-out in British history. It focuses on a single day, 7 October 2008, when the Royal Bank of Scotland collapsed and almost took the entire UK banking system down with it. This dramatic financial thriller, set over 24 hours, is intercut with the story of the amazing rise and shocking fall of RBS. The film reveals how much of RBS's growth lay in the lucrative American subprime market and acquisitions of banks like Greenwich Capital, which were using CDOs to generate huge profits. And as RBS's profits grew spectacularly, so did its lavish spending. Goodwin flew in private RBS jets and commissioned a new £350m HQ on the outskirts of Edinburgh. Never-before-seen footage reveals the spectacular opening party at Gogarburn, attended by the Queen and the cream of Scottish society. But less than three years later, thanks largely to the collapse of the subprime mortgage market in the US, Goodwin's bank was on its knees, and those charged with protecting the British economy were faced with a stark choice - save RBS or risk the country's banking system being taken down by its collapse. Alistair Darling and the team reveal what it was like to have just 24 hours to come up with a plan and strike a deal with all of Britain's major banks, with the nation's economy at stake. In all, the bailout was to cost the taxpayer well over a trillion pounds and would effectively take RBS into public ownership. Fred Goodwin was forced to leave the bank that he had run for eight extraordinary years, but public anger centred on the fact that he hung on to most of his huge RBS pension and that no further action was taken against him, his team or the board of RBS. However, in 2012 he was stripped of his knighthood. Ten years on since that dramatic collapse and bailout, - Wonders of The Great Barrier Reef with Iolo Williams
E236Wonders of The Great Barrier Reef with Iolo WilliamsOn the other side of the world under the crystal clear blue waters of the Pacific Ocean lies one of the most enchanting places on the planet. Over ten thousand miles away on the north eastern coast of Australia lies the Great Barrier Reef, one of the natural wonders of our world. It provides shelter to some hidden wildlife sanctuaries that contain some magical marine creatures. Invited on a reef adventure by Emmy Award-winning underwater cinematographer and marine biologist Richard Fitzpatrick, conservationist and naturalist Iolo Williams dives deep beneath the surface of the coral sea to discover what state this natural wonder is in. Together they travel from the extreme swells of the northern part of the reef right down to the cooler pristine corals of the south. They discover how healthy the Great Barrier Reef really is in some of its key locations to see and find out if there are real signs of hope the reef can survive the threat of global warming. - Troubles: The Life After
E237Troubles: The Life AfterPoetic, intimate account of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, told through the stories of a handful of people who lost loved ones during the conflict. The Life After marks not only the 50th anniversary of the start of the Troubles but is a timely reminder of what could be at stake when the still fragile peace comes under new pressures, in the event of a hard border following Brexit. From 1969 to 2001, 3,532 people were killed and 47,541 injured as a result of the Troubles. Many of these were civilians caught in the crossfire as conflict and murder became part of the daily narrative. A steady succession of British and Irish politicians made promises, looked for solutions, formed unlikely alliances and wondered privately what could possibly be done to bring peace to Northern Ireland. Politicians and diplomats around the world strove for a solution, and even American presidents felt compelled to get involved. Amidst the headlines and the rhetoric ordinary people were being killed, maimed and terrorised. This film, directed by multiple Bafta winner Brian Hill and first-time director Niamh Kennedy, tells some of their stories. Stories like that of Virtue Dixon, whose daughter Ruth was killed on her 24th birthday when she was celebrating at the Droppin' Well Inn in 1982. An INLA bomb brought the roof down, killing both civilians and British soldiers. Virtue tells the story of the aftermath, of how life changed forever after the murder of Ruth. She does so partly in interview but also in specially written verses from Northern Irish poet Nick Laird. Each person in the film has their own poem, which crystallises and amplifies elements of their story. Moving from the particular and the individual to the general, Laird has written a poetic narration, spoken by Northern Irish actress Bronagh Gallagher, in which issues such as collusion are discussed. Archive footage is also employed to reveal more about the conflict and the times. Within the narratives are important question - Return to TS EliotlandE238
Return to TS EliotlandAN Wilson explores the life and work of TS Eliot. From the halls of Harvard University to a Somerset village, via a Margate promenade shelter, he follows the spiritual and psychological journey that Eliot took in his most iconic poems. From The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock to The Waste Land and from Ash Wednesday to Four Quartets, Wilson traces Eliot's life story as it informs his greatest works. Wilson travels to the places that inspired them, visiting Eliot's family's holiday home on the Massachusetts coast, following the poet to Oxford, where he met and married his first wife, Vivien Haigh-Wood, and on to London. He explores how Eliot's realisation that he and Vivien were fundamentally incompatible influenced The Waste Land and examines how Eliot's subsequent conversion to Anglicanism coloured his later works. Wilson concludes his journey by visiting some of the key locations around which the poet structured his final masterpiece, Four Quartets. Eliot's poetry is widely regarded as complex and difficult; it takes on weighty ideas of time, memory, faith and belief, themes which Wilson argues have as much relevance today as during the poet's lifetime. And whilst hailing his genius, Wilson does not shy away from confronting the discomforting and dark side of his work - the poems now widely regarded as anti-Semitic. - Eamonn McCann: A Long MarchE239
Eamonn McCann: A Long MarchA profile of the 75-year-old journalist and political activist, who was elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly for the Foyle constituency in 2016 after 50 years as a political outsider. McCann was one of the founding organisers of the Derry Housing Action Committee and was central to the setting up of the Bloody Sunday Justice Campaign - Glasgow, Love and Apartheid
E240Glasgow, Love and ApartheidIt's 100 years since Nelson Mandela was born and 70 years since the official introduction of the Apartheid laws in South Africa. Director Dhivya-Kate Chetty tells her family's story, following her parents Radha and Maggie - a mixed, and once 'illegal' couple - on a trip from Glasgow back to South Africa. Stories of the past begin to unfold, with tales of resistance, protests, surveillance, an uncle in jail and a surprise connection with Mandela, in hiding. The film blends stories of several family members to create a personal and moving account of apartheid and the fight for its downfall, illustrated by a rich archive of 8mm home movies shot in South Africa and Scotland in the 60s, 70s and 80s. It is an intimate portrayal of the effects of apartheid on one family spread across two continents - from the pain of migration, to the daily indignities of one of the abominations of the 20th century. It is a film about the past and the present, truth and reconciliation, a city united and a Glasgow love story in Super 8. - Philippines: Island TreasuresE241
Philippines: Island TreasuresNature fanatic Mike Dilger and BBC World News broadcaster Rico Hizon go in search of rich culture and rare wildlife in the Philippines. Travelling through the beautiful, tropical islands of Palawan, Coron and Luzon, Mike and Rico discover creatures living deep in an underground river, visit the eerie hanging coffins of Sagada and team up with local conservation teams as part of their journey to explore the distinct beauty, history and contemporary culture of these islands. - Beats, Bass and Bars: The Story of Grime
E242Beats, Bass and Bars: The Story of GrimeAlmost 20 years on from its first beginnings, grime dominates the music charts and awards ceremonies, and even influences politics. Here, rapper Rodney P examines how grime rose from the council estates of east London to become the most important British musical movement since punk. He discovers that its success rests upon the original styles and contributions of previous generations of artists and learns that grime can only be truly understood when viewed as part of a broader social narrative and ever-evolving musical culture that goes back to the 1980s. - Disco and Beyond with Ana Matronic and Martyn WareE243
Disco and Beyond with Ana Matronic and Martyn WareFormer Scissor Sisters singer Ana Matronic along with Martyn Ware, who was in both The Human League and Heaven 17, reveal a playlist packed with disco classics and more. Each song is hand-picked, and as they watch the performances, they explain the reasons behind their choices. Discover why the Scissor Sisters owe a debt to Boney M, and how Martyn Ware helped revive the career of a singing icon. From Donna Summer to the Doctor Who theme tune and The Temptations to Tina Turner, their playlist holds dance-along gems interwoven with candid stories. - Barneys, Books and Bust-Ups: 50 Years of the Booker PrizeE245
Barneys, Books and Bust-Ups: 50 Years of the Booker PrizeThe Man Booker Prize is the world's most distinguished literary award for English fiction. Its winners instantly acquire a level of fame and wealth of which most writers could only dream. To commemorate its fiftieth birthday this documentary looks back over the six decades of the prize, exploring how from humble beginnings the Booker quickly went on to revolutionise the sleepy world of literary fiction and become a central part of British cultural life. We hear the inside story of scandal, gossip and intrigue from a host of former winners, judges and prize administrators. Over the years, the prize has changed its rules, its sponsors and its name. But it's never lost sight of its core purpose: to stimulate debate and encourage the reading of literary fiction. This film is a tale of bruised egos and bickering judges and, most importantly of all, of countless brilliant books. Contributors include Booker-winning authors Peter Carey, Penelope Lively and John Banville. - Believer
E246BelieverBeliever follows Imagine Dragons’ Mormon frontman Dan Reynolds on a new, personal, mission to explore how The Mormon church treats its LGBTQ members. With the suicide rate rising amongst teens in the church’s home state of Utah, his concern with the church’s teachings forbidding same-sex sexual behaviour sends him on path of acceptance and change. Believer follows Dan and openly gay ex-Mormon and lead singer of Neon Trees, Tyler Glenn, as they create LoveLoud, a festival they hope will reconcile the church and members of the LGBTQ community. - Dollar Heroes
E247Dollar HeroesThe North Korean regime maintains one of the world's largest forced labour systems. The government, short of cash due to international economic sanctions, sells its own people as labourers to work in construction in Russia, China and other countries around the world - including member states of the European Union. Experts estimate that since Kim Jong-un has come to power, the number of ‘Work Brigades’ has risen to more than 150,000. While in North Korea they are lured with a promise of high wages. They find themselves in completely foreign territories, often unable to speak the language and working up to 14-hour days, under harsh conditions, for little or no pay. Their wages are transferred directly to the government. They live under constant surveillance by Korean agents and local supervisors, and their contracts last for years. The film is based on covert footage and conversations with workers, middlemen and employers in Poland, Russia and China. The workers’ sometimes shocking stories show the cynicism and inhumanity of this system. The beneficiary is the North Korean state, which finances its nuclear programme with money generated through this forced labour. However, this film also shows how construction companies, food manufacturers and shipyards in dozens of countries around the world are complicit in this gigantic scheme of modern-day slavery. Filmed over two years, this documentary shows how the North Korean regime and the forces of globalization have made a Faustian pact: Underpaid workers toil for the dictator's nuclear program while the United Nations and the European Union look away. - Mim Shaikh: Finding Dad
E248Mim Shaikh: Finding DadMim Shaikh is a radio broadcaster, actor and spoken word artist. He’s loved to entertain since he was a child, but there’s always been something or someone missing. When Mim was just six months old his mother left his father in the West Midlands, taking him with her to South London. Mim never saw – or heard from – his father again. He grew up surrounded by his mother’s family, with barely a mention of his father. They have no idea where he is, or whether he is alive or dead. Mim’s mother has suffered from mental health problems all her life and it has been impossible for Mim to ask her about his father. In this film Mim embarks on a deeply personal journey, delving into his family history to discover the truth of what happened to his parents’ marriage. His main quest is to find his dad and ask him why his mother had to leave all those years ago – and why he’s never been in touch. Information on his father is almost non-existent. Mim starts his search with three photos of his dad taken in 1991 that he’s never seen before. Speaking for the first time to close family members about his parents’ marriage he begins to build a picture of his father’s character. As he delves deeper into his father’s story, he discovers his Dad is far older than he expected – he fears that he may have died and his search will be in vain. His search takes him to Dudley, where he was born and is his dad’s last known location. But every lead turns out to be a dead end, until he meets a group of his dad’s old friends who break his case wide open. Mim sets out on an unforgettable global journey to finally get the answers he’s been wanting for 26 years. - Simply the Best: In Conversation with Tina TurnerE249
Simply the Best: In Conversation with Tina TurnerGrammy award-winning singer Tina Turner talks to Will Gompertz about her five-decade-long career as one of the biggest stars in rock music - as her memoir My Love Story is published. In a candid interview she discusses her music, her health problems, her relationship with her late ex-husband Ike and the recent death of her eldest son. - The Shankill Bomb
E250The Shankill BombOn 23 October 1993, the IRA placed a bomb in Frizzell's fish shop at Saturday lunchtime on a packed Shankill Road. Nine people died and scores were injured. One of the bombers was also killed. Twenty-five years on, using first-hand eye-witness interviews, Stephen Nolan tells the story of what happened that day, not only to those caught up in the explosion but also to those who handled the aftermath. - Death On The I-95
E251Death On The I-95Drug overdose is now the main cause of death for Americans under the age of 50, they are more likely to die from a drug overdose than a car accident or gun. More than 70,000 people died from overdoses last year as opioids and illegal fentanyl – which is up to 50 times stronger than heroin – unleashed the worst public health crisis in American history. Two years ago, BBC News reported on the growing problem of opioid addiction in the US, now we return to find out what happened to the people we met along our journey down the notorious I-95, the interstate that runs from Florida to Maine, and to see what has become of their struggle against addiction. - The Ghan: Australia's Greatest Train Journey
E252The Ghan: Australia's Greatest Train JourneyThe Ghan follows one of the world's great rail journeys, taking viewers on an immersive and visually stunning ride on Australia's most iconic passenger trains. Known as the Ghan, it travels for 2979 kilometres over 54 hours from the bottom to the top of the country. It begins in the suburban city of Adelaide, traversing a seemingly endless outback that includes the magnificent red centre, ending in the tropical coastal town of Darwin at the north western tip of Australia. The transcontinental train line led to the development of central Australia and the growth of towns along its path - Port Augusta, Alice Springs and Darwin. It took an epic 127 years to complete and was constructed by local Aboriginal surveyors and early immigrants, including the famous Afghan camel drivers, after whom the train is named. - I was a Yazidi Slave
E253I was a Yazidi SlaveIn June 2014 so-called Islamic State fighters occupied huge areas of Syria and Iraq, overwhelming the Yazidi settlements grouped around Mount Sinjar. Yazidi men were killed, young women forced into slavery. This film tells the story of Shirin and Lewiza, two Yazidi women captured by IS, who escape to Germany thanks to the intervention of Dr Jan Kizilhan, an expert on trauma. In all, he brings a thousand women and girls - all victims of IS sexual violence - from the refugee camps in Iraq to his clinic in the Black Forest for treatment. Yazidis believe that sexual contact with a non-Yazidi, even through rape, results in a loss of Yazidi identity. As a way of destroying the community, the rape of women and girls is almost as effective as the execution of the men. Kizilhan believes it will aid the women's recovery if they know that the enormity of what happened to them is recognised. With international lawyer Philippe Sands he explores the possibility of a genocide trial. We observe investigators gathering evidence of IS crimes, meet a German prosecutor intent on bringing perpetrators to justice, and consider the relevance of ongoing trials in Iraq. - The Fires that Foretold Grenfell
E255The Fires that Foretold GrenfellThis 60-minute documentary is the dramatic, haunting story of five fires that foretold the Grenfell disaster, told through the eyes of those directly involved. This vivid and moving film for BBC Two collates the memories of survivors, the bereaved, fire-fighters, safety experts and the politicians linked to five intensely fierce fire disasters that preceded Grenfell. This telling collection of interviews and archive footage shows the clear warnings that existed and could have predicted a Grenfell-type inferno happening in Britain. The programme focuses on three factors: the application of flammable material and cladding to buildings, the 'Stay Put' advice given by fire services, the absence of sprinklers - and how they contributed to each of the previous five blazes, sometimes with fatal consequences. Made over the course of 12 months, the film tells the story of the legislative history of building regulations from 1973 to the present day through five fires. It explores the causes, subsequent investigations and the recommendations that were sent to successive UK governments, ultimately posing the question: if lessons had been learned as a result of tragic repetition of errors over the decades, could Grenfell have been avoided? The five fires revisited include the Summerland disaster, Douglas, Isle of Man (1973), Knowsley Heights fire, Liverpool (1991), Garnock Court fire, Irvine, N Ayrshire (1999), Harrow Court fire, Stevenage, Herts (2005), and Lakanal House, London (2009). - We Will Remember Them with Huw Edwards
E258We Will Remember Them with Huw EdwardsTo mark the centenary of the end of World War One, Huw Edwards embarks on an emotional and explorative journey of remembrance. Travelling from Wales to the western front, Huw reveals the untold story behind the unique way in which Britain and the empire honour their fallen soldiers, who sacrificed their lives in the fight for freedom. The British government refused calls to return its war dead for burial, unlike France and America. This policy meant hundreds of thousands of families were effectively prevented from visiting the graves of their loved ones. A mothers' movement emerged fighting the ruling. But when it failed, bereaved families were left to come to terms with their grief in other ways. This is the story of the ritual of remembrance that occurs each year. The story of war memorials and commemorative events, and it's a story that still resonates so deeply, a hundred years on. - Indie & Beyond with Shaun Ryder and Alan McGee
E260Indie & Beyond with Shaun Ryder and Alan McGeeHappy Mondays frontman Shaun Ryder and Creation Records boss Alan McGee reveal a selection of their all-time favourite tracks. From first jobs to private jets, longtime friends Ryder and McGee unpack the songs that formed the soundtrack to their lives. In an hour of eclectic tunes, Shaun Ryder also discovers his lost Top of the Pops appearance and Alan McGee declares an alternative Scottish national anthem. Theirs is a blistering playlist of indie, punk and ska classics from Buzzcocks to The Specials, Junior Murvin to Marc Bolan, Orange Juice to Underworld and many more. - Synth & Beyond with Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert
E261Synth & Beyond with Stephen Morris and Gillian GilbertNew Order's Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert unpack a playlist of electro, pop and new wave classics spanning four decades. Stephen and Gillian have been married for 24 years and have been in New Order together for even longer, but they still manage to surprise one another with their musical tastes. While Stephen declares Captain Beefheart an early influence, Gillian confesses her teenage love for a disco classic. During an hour of top tunes, Stephen also reveals the moment he was mistaken for Stevie Wonder, and Gillian recalls how her Dad was a fan of punk. From Kraftwerk to Can, David Bowie to Kate Bush, Magazine to Grace Jones and many more, this stellar playlist by Stephen and Gillian is brimming with iconic performances. - Captain Jack and the Furious Few
E262Captain Jack and the Furious FewA hundred years ago, with German U-boats and battleships terrorising Allied shipping and zeppelins bombing Britain's towns and cities, Ulster-Scots teenager Jack McCleery was one of 12 young men tasked with a deadly mission on board the navy's 'mystery ship'. In Captain Jack and the Furious Few, David Hayman reveals the story of the test pilots of the world's first aircraft carrier, HMS Furious. The top guns of their day, their secret mission would revolutionise warfare. A gifted pilot, Jack McCleery was head-hunted by the navy after just nine months of intensive flight training. He was posted to the newly commissioned HMS Furious in 1917, where he would serve for two years as part of an elite squadron of test pilots. Their mission was to land a wheeled plane on the deck of a moving vessel in order to develop and test the techniques and technology that would convert the Furious into the world's first dedicated aircraft carrier, capable of launching a strategic air attack on Britain's enemies - but nothing like this had ever been attempted before. Flying from the deck of HMS Furious, the bravery and sacrifice of those 12 Royal Navy test pilots would change the course of warfare forever. Jack McCleery's diaries, letters and personal archive of sketches and previously unseen photographs are a unique record of that extraordinary period in his own life, and in the history of aviation. - WWI: The Final Hours
E264WWI: The Final HoursOn 8 November 1918, an Englishman, a Frenchman and a German gathered in secret, on a train carriage in a forest near Paris. Their meeting would last for three days. Its aim: bring peace to Europe, and an end to four long years of brutal and deadly war. One hundred years after the end of the First World War, this documentary uncovers the extraordinary events leading up to the Armistice negotiations, and the repercussions that would ripple across the continent, and throughout the 20th century - sometimes with catastrophic consequences. Now, leading historians have examined the meeting from the perspectives of the three key players on the train, as well as the people who sent them there. Each had the weight of their nation on their shoulders. Admiral Rosslyn Wemyss joined the Navy at just 13, and grew up to be the commander of the most powerful navy on earth. Britain had ruled the waves for over 100 years, and Wemyss has been sent to the meeting with one objective - keep it that way. He had to make sure that the negotiations not only gave Britain the upper hand at sea, but ensured that Germany never threaten Britain's naval dominance again - whatever the cost. Marshall Ferdinand Foch was in charge of the war on land. He had seen his beloved France decimated by a war of attrition which had cost millions of lives, on a front line which never moved more than a few miles. He was single-minded and unapologetic in his aim: dismantle Germany and prevent them from ever invading France again. German Matthias Erzberger was, unlike his French and British counterparts, not a military man, but a politician. Sent to negotiate for a nation on its knees, he had little room for manoeuvre, but still faced harsher terms than he had ever expected. While fighting his corner in the train carriage, events in Germany were unfolding faster than he could possibly imagine. This programme follows the meeting and its consequences - not only for the individuals on the train, but the countr - Dan Cruickshank's Monuments of Remembrance
E265Dan Cruickshank's Monuments of RemembranceOn the centenary of the end of the conflict, Dan Cruickshank reveals the extraordinary story behind the design and building of the iconic World War One cemeteries and memorials - including those at the Somme and Gallipoli - and of the remarkable man whose vision created them. - Prince, Son and Heir: Charles at 70
E266Prince, Son and Heir: Charles at 70A special documentary to mark the seventieth birthday of HRH the Prince of Wales. For this observational documentary, film-maker John Bridcut has had exclusive access to the prince over the past 12 months, both at work and behind the scenes, at home and abroad. He speaks to those who know him best, including HRH the Duchess of Cornwall and the Dukes of Cambridge and Sussex. His sons discuss their upbringing and their feelings about the prince's working life. As the prince reaches his seventith birthday, he has been involved in public affairs for 50 years, championing environmental and social issues long before they reached the mainstream, from plastic waste and global warming to lack of opportunity for young people. The documentary charts the prince's working life at a time when he is taking on an increasing amount of duties in support of the Queen. He is seen on working visits to County Durham, Cornwall and the Brecon Beacons, and at home at Highgrove in Gloucestershire and Birkhall in Aberdeenshire. The film features behind-the-scenes footage of the Prince with the Queen in Buckingham Palace at the time of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in April, when the prince was named as the next head of the Commonwealth. Also included is the stunning ceremonial welcome given to the prince in the Pacific island republic of Vanuatu, when he was invested as a high chief, and his visit to three Caribbean countries struggling to recover after hurricanes Irma and Maria a year ago. What emerges is a revealing and intimate portrait of the longest-serving heir to the throne, who still feels he has a lot more to do. - Egon Schiele: Dangerous Desires
E267Egon Schiele: Dangerous DesiresStruck down by the Spanish Flu in 1918, aged just 28, in his short life Egon Schiele created over 3,000 drawings and paintings, self-portraits and nudes. An agent provocateur of the modernist era, he was a taboo-busting rebel whose art looks like it was made yesterday - self-obsessed, exhibitionist and unafraid to confront questions of sexuality and identity. To mark the anniversary of Schiele's death a century ago, this film tells Schiele's dramatic story in his own words, using original letters and writings - many of them translated for the first time. The film celebrates his remarkable artistic achievements but also debates the controversies around his work. His sexually frank images shocked early 20th-century Vienna and still challenge us today. But are these the images of empowered women in control - or figures of voyeurism? And how do we view his images of young girls from our modern perspective? Schiele didn't just make groundbreaking art; he was also a new kind of artist, carefully crafting his own myth, pioneering the notion of the artist as personality and performer in a way that would influence generations of other cultural trailblazers. With contributions from Iggy Pop, Lily Cole and Jake Chapman, and visually striking dramatic reconstructions choreographed by acclaimed physical theatre company Gecko, the film conjures up the passionate, provocative world of Egon Schiele. Egon Schiele: Dangerous Desires is a BBC Studios Production. - Soul & Beyond with Corinne Bailey Rae and Trevor NelsonE268
Soul & Beyond with Corinne Bailey Rae and Trevor NelsonDJ Trevor Nelson and singer-songwriter Corinne Bailey Rae present their ultimate soundtrack in an hour of classic and contemporary soul and R&B gems. As they watch their selection, they reveal the reasons behind their choices. From childhood favourites such as The Jackson 5 and Gladys Knight to inspirational tracks from Prince, Mary J Blige, Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye, this is a playlist to satisfy any soul fan. - Deep Ocean: Lights in the Abyss
E269Deep Ocean: Lights in the AbyssIn a huge submarine canyon in California's Monterey Bay, there is an illuminating twilight zone. It is a world of countless exotic creatures, including sparkling jellyfish and deep sea fish that give off flashes. Using an ultra-high sensitivity 4K camera specifically developed for deep sea filming, together with experts in the field, Lights in the Abyss captures bioluminescent creatures in their natural habitat, deep in the Pacific Ocean. - WWI's Secret Shame: Shell Shock
E270WWI's Secret Shame: Shell ShockDan Snow investigates a century of war trauma from WW1 shell shock to modern PTSD. Historian Dan Snow breaks the silence around the devastating impact of war on the mental health of our soldiers. For 100 years, men and women who risked their lives for their country have continued to suffer on their return. In this film for BBC Two, Dan explores the challenge presented by an ongoing mental health crisis among war veterans. Dan discovers how the shell shock of WW1 has evolved into the cases of PTSD that modern soldiers suffer with today. Shockingly, lessons learnt from previous conflicts were soon forgotten. Battle trauma leads to alcoholism, broken families, violence and suicide on a shocking scale in the UK. He asks military psychiatrists and experts why we're still struggling to help the psychiatric casualties of war. Dan shares frank and moving conversations with veterans of World War Two, the Falklands and Afghanistan, and also with relatives of those who fought in World War One. Jimmy Smith was traumatised after fighting in many of the major battles of the Great War. He was sentenced to death by court martial at only 26 years old for misbehaviour and desertion. A few decades later, Victor Gregg's marriage collapsed after witnessing the horrific violence of WWII bombing raids as a prisoner of war in Dresden. With each subsequent war, the symptoms changed, but the story remained the same. Ex-paratrooper Dave Brown has struggled with adjusting to civilian life since his service in the Falklands. Sean Jones survived an IED attack in Afghanistan in 2008. He was sent back for a second tour, without realising that he had been diagnosed with suspected PTSD. Dan has many close family ties to the military campaigns of the First World War. Delving into previously unseen archives he reveals the difficult history of how Britain has reacted to the psychological consequences of warfare. - A Scottish Soldier: A Lost Diary of WWI
E271A Scottish Soldier: A Lost Diary of WWIThousands of black soldiers fought in the First World War. Poet Jackie Kay tells the story of one of them - Arthur Roberts. Arthur grew up in Glasgow and joined the King's Own Scottish Borderers in 1917. He fought at Ypres and kept a detailed diary, which gives us a unique account of the war. Arthur's evocative writing and sketches paint a vivid first-hand picture of life in the trenches. Like Arthur, Jackie Kay is a black Glaswegian, and she explores what it was like being black 100 years ago. - Air Ambulance and the Flying Doctors
E273Air Ambulance and the Flying DoctorsIn July 2017, Northern Ireland's Air Ambulance finally took to the skies. This documentary reveals the remarkable and poignant story of the doctor who was determined to make this critical service a reality and follows the air ambulance team as they respond to emergency calls during their first weeks of service. - Car Crash Who's Lying?
E274Car Crash Who's Lying?A young man is killed in a devastating crash. At first it looks like yet another tragic accident, but as the police investigation gets under way, a dark mystery emerges. Who was the driver? Who were the victims? Who's lying? This documentary is a compelling single narrative documentary that tells the story of an unlikely group of friends in a close-knit community in Hampshire, who find themselves at the centre of an intense police investigation. With access to never-before-seen police bodycam footage of the crash site, viewers are taken directly into the heart of the aftermath of a catastrophic collision between a car and a tree on a dark country road. The immediate impact of the crash leaves a young man stumbling, dazed but unharmed, from the car. Telling the on-duty sergeant he was the driver, he is clearly shocked and expresses obvious concern for his friends still in the car, before asking for a hug. As more details emerge and the young man, Dannylee, comes under police scrutiny, it's clear the events of that night have changed their friendship group forever. 'We trusted Danny, we never thought he could do anything like that.' Emotional interviews from the family members and friends of the gravely injured teens highlight what they believe happened that night, but the only ones who know the true story are those who were in the in car. As their stories change, conflicting testimonies emerge and rumours spread amongst the community, it's down to the police to unpick the mystery of what really went on that night. With the critical hard evidence and real truths finally eked out, almost a year to the day after the crash, the truth emerges. - Holst and Vaughan Williams: Making Music EnglishE275
Holst and Vaughan Williams: Making Music EnglishHistorian Amanda Vickery and broadcaster Tom Service unearth the fascinating story of the life-long friendship between composers Ralph Vaughan Williams and Gustav Holst, whose music gave birth to the 'English sound' in the first half of the 20th century. They retrace the walking trips the two composers took together across the country to discover how influences ranging from the Renaissance masters to folk music imbued their music with the 'Englishness' we recognise today. Illustrating the story, the BBC Concert Orchestra perform excerpts of both composers' music. - Reggae Fever: David Rodigan
E277Reggae Fever: David RodiganDavid Rodigan's unlikely career as a reggae broadcaster and DJ has developed in parallel with the evolution of Jamaican music in the UK. His passion and his profession have given him a privileged, insiders' view of the UK's love affair with Jamaican music that began in the 1950s. His constant championing of it has afforded him national treasure status with generations of British Jamaicans and all lovers of reggae music. This is a film about the career of David Rodigan but it's also a window through which to see a wider human story about social change in the UK: a story of immigration and integration, and music's role within it. The beginning of his career conjures up a forgotten era when reggae was reviled by liberal, hippyish music fans because of its association with skinheads. At one point, his fellow students agreed to share a house with him only if Rodigan agreed not to play reggae. Instead, he would haunt London's specialist record shops and sneak out to Jamaican clubs alone. His break first came on BBC Radio London, where his knowledge and infectious enthusiasm won him the gig. Since that first break, he's had shows on Capital, Kiss and now BBC Radio 1Xtra and BBC Radio 2. In the 80s, his radio show became such a Sunday lunchtime fixture in London's West Indian households that it was colloquially known as 'rice 'n' peas'. Bob Marley personally chose Rodigan's show to play out the world exclusive of Could You Be Loved. As well as being a DJ, Rodigan also began to 'soundclash' on a global stage. This musical competition where crew members from opposing sound systems pit their skills against each other involves the playing of records in turn, with the crowd ultimately deciding who has 'killed' the other crew, by playing the better chosen track. But standard versions of tracks don't cut it in a clash, where the true currency is 'dubplates' - versions of tracks recut, often by the original artist, with lyrics changed to praise the playing crew or diss - Primal Scream: The Lost Memphis Tapes
E278Primal Scream: The Lost Memphis TapesThe programme shows Primal Scream's Bobby Gillespie's fascination with music from an early age, listening to the sounds of Elvis and Aretha Franklin before graduating to punk. He talks about his passion for music and how to keep creativity on the right track. In the early 90s the UK music scene was changing - with Oasis and Blur emerging, this alternative rock band was recording in Memphis but suddenly sounded out of step with the music scene. As the documentary reveals, nine songs were recorded for the band's 1994 album Give Out But Don't Give Up, including Jailbird, Rocks, and Cry Myself Blind, but the album that was released, after further mixes were made to make the new album more contemporary, was not the mix Primal Scream wanted. In the film Bobby Gillespie talks candidly about how this process led him to question his own judgement and that for many years the experience left him feeling that he had failed himself and his audience. With exclusive, previously unreleased footage of behind-the-scenes studio sessions, this is the story of how the original mixtapes of the album were rediscovered in a basement by Andrew Innes, Primal Scream's rhythm guitarist. The sessions recorded by the band in Memphis with the legendary record producer Tom Dowd, along with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section musicians Roger Hawkins, drums, and David Hood, bass, did not make the light of day, because some of the mixes were not suitable in the musical climate at the time. Bobby and Andrew go back to Memphis 25 years later to revisit Ardent Studios, where the band first recorded the original album, and meet some of the musicians and engineers involved in the process. It gives Bobby the chance to remaster the album he had originally envisaged all those years ago. The film has new interviews with Bobby, Andrew, David and Jeff Powell, the original engineer, giving their own, unique perspectives of the events of more than 20 years ago. Plus, there are archive interviews with the Me - Driven: The Billy Monger Story
E279Driven: The Billy Monger StoryFollowing the remarkable story of 18-year-old Billy Monger, one of Britain's most exciting young racing drivers, who in April 2017 was involved in a devastating crash, resulting in the amputation of his legs. Incredibly, soon after his accident, Billy resolved to get back to racing, in the hope of becoming the first ever amputee to race competitively in a single-seater racing car. This film follows the extraordinary story of Billy and his family, as he pursues his dream to one day race in Formula One. With the support of the racing community and his hero Lewis Hamilton, Billy has to change the rules of motorsport and learn to drive again without legs, all while coming to terms with life as a disabled person - a term Billy is reluctant to accept. This heartwarming and inspirational story is about the incredible will of one young man, but also the extraordinary support his family provides during the toughest time of their lives. - A Great British Injustice: The Maguire Story
E280A Great British Injustice: The Maguire StoryThe story of the Maguires, an ordinary Northern Irish family living in London during the 1970s, wrongly convicted and imprisoned for making the bombs used in the Guildford pub bombings. Together with the Guildford Four, this still stands as one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in British legal history. - Valleys High
E281Valleys HighValleys High follows a year of firsts at a school where an inspirational head teacher and her committed staff are fighting for a brighter future for their pupils against the odds. It's a rollercoaster as they undergo a technological revolution, get a new head, travel to Washington DC, stage their biggest production and take their mission beyond the school gates. - The Common Riding
E282The Common RidingFor centuries, people in the Scottish Borders have been celebrating their history on horseback. In early summer each year, Hawick's common riding sees townsfolk 'ride out' in a series of ritual events to commemorate those who lost their lives in the terrible defeat at the Battle of Flodden in 1513, and the local lads who captured an English flag to restore the town's honour the following year. This film paints a portrait of the common riding, and how it is evolving in the 21st century. The traditions are guarded zealously, but there are those who say that certain aspects are outdated. Some events remain men-only, but there are women who want to ride. This film follows riders on both sides of the debate, and asks whether change is necessary, or if traditions should be maintained at all costs. - Dreaming Of A Jewish Christmas
E283Dreaming Of A Jewish ChristmasDreaming of a Jewish Christmas tells the story of a group of brilliant Jewish songwriters, including Irving Berlin, Mel Torme, Jay Livingston, Ray Evans, Gloria Shayne Baker and Johnny Marks, who wrote the soundtrack to Christianity’s most musical holiday. It’s an amazing tale of immigrant outsiders who became irreplaceable players in pop culture’s mainstream – a generation of songwriters who found in Christmas the perfect holiday in which to imagine a better world, and for at least one day a year, make us believe in it. - A Northern Soul
E284A Northern SoulDirector Sean McAllister returns to his hometown, Hull, as curator of its UK City of Culture opening. Back living with his 90-year-old parents and reflecting on changes to a city hit by cuts in public spending and divided by Brexit, Sean is drawn to the fringes of town where he encounters Steve - a struggling warehouse worker with a dream to take hip-hop to disadvantaged kids through his Beats Bus. - David Cassidy: The Last Session
E285David Cassidy: The Last SessionThis candid biography explores the life of David Cassidy, the 70s pop idol and TV star. The film includes never-before-heard audio interviews with David from 1976 and a raw and poignantly filmed final recording session shortly before his death. - The Comedy UndergroundE286
The Comedy UndergroundAshley Storrie hosts stand-up club comedy from the best, brightest and most exciting comedians in Scotland right now. Susan Riddell uncovers the perils of being single and the guilt of buying a meal for two, while Stuart McPherson is relishing being unemployed even though his parents see it differently. Scottish-Chinese comedian Christopher KC tells a fantastic story about gatecrashing a house party and somehow becoming the talk of the town. And Edinburgh's Donald Alexander and Glasgow's Ray Bradshaw have very different views of a difficult Parents' Night. Recorded at the Gilded Balloon Basement, in front of a live audience, Comedy Underground is the closest thing to a Scottish club comedy night on TV. - Evita: The Making Of A Superstar
E287Evita: The Making Of A SuperstarSuzy Klein travels deep into the world of musical theatre, and the colourful landscapes of Argentina, to discover the story of one of the West End's most celebrated characters. Intertwining the stories of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's creation with the true story of Eva Peron, she celebrates the extraordinary show in the 40th year after its creation. Meeting musical stars including Elaine Paige, Hal Prince and Tim Rice, she hears how the show came into being, all inspired by a face on a postage stamp. She then travels to Argentina, meeting politicians, performers and Eva fans to hear how this intensely divisive figure - loved by the poor, loathed by the rich - became one of the enduring icons of our time. - "Fake Homeless": Who's Begging on the Streets?
E288"Fake Homeless": Who's Begging on the Streets?Is Britain being duped by “fake homeless”, chancers posing as destitute to boost takings? Or is this a scare story to demonise real homeless? Ellie Flynn investigates. The number of people sleeping rough in England is at a record-high – a 73% increase over the last three years. Government data shows that on any given night in autumn last year, nearly five thousand people were recorded sleeping on the streets, a figure that has more than doubled since 2010. But there are claims that the UK has a serious problem with “fake homeless” begging on the street. These are people who have homes, but still go out onto the streets to beg. They pose as if they are living on the streets so that they can collect money from strangers. News stories of scammers are frequent, and some police records show that 80% of people begging have “some kind of home” to go to. With beggars in our towns and cities sometimes behaving aggressively and anti-socially, the thought that people may be pretending to be homeless when they're not has enraged many communities. In Cambridgeshire, the police say there are towns where everyone begging is fake so they practice a “zero tolerance” attitude to encountering begging, sending them for sentencing at a magistrates. But it’s not just the police who are stamping out fake begging. In Devon, Ashley Sims is taking a stand by photographing, investigating and then shaming fake homeless beggars. He claims he has cut the number of homeless in Torbay from 23 to just 6 homeless people, as all the “fake homeless” have been driven out after being exposed. Ashley has been branded a “homeless vigilante” by the press. And in Liverpool one business owner claims every beggar outside his pubs and clubs is fake homeless. So are we in a country full of scammers? Homeless charities argue that the individuals people like Ashley is photographing and Cambridge police are taking action on may well have homes, but that they have complex and chaotic liv - Jazzology with Soweto KinchE289
Jazzology with Soweto KinchJazzology with Soweto Kinch follows Soweto on a personal journey into jazz. Travelling to New Orleans, New York and London, Soweto meets and plays with fellow musicians, and discovers the roots behind the music that is political, spiritual and rooted in African American history. With jazz currently undergoing a revival, Soweto shines a light on a 100-year-old art form that’s showing no sign of slowing down. On his travels, he meets many of today’s jazz greats, including singer and bassist Esperanza Spalding and saxophonist Donny McCaslin, who both featured on David Bowie’s album Blackstar. Soweto also speaks to the latest wave of young British jazz musicians, including saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings and composer and arranger Cassie Kinoshi, who despite their roots in jazz traditions also look to the future of the art form, by drawing on contemporary influences found in grime and dubstep. - Bowie at Glastonbury
E290Bowie at GlastonburyOn Sunday 25 June 2000, David Bowie closed Glastonbury with a two-hour performance. Only half an hour or so of that stunning set was broadcast on BBC television that night at Bowie's insistence. At the time, the BBC were heavily criticised for coming off Bowie after broadcasting the first five songs of the set live and only returning for a couple of encore songs at the end of the show. Fortunately the cameras kept rolling and captured the whole set. This programme features an hour of highlights from that performance, including such previously unbroadcast hits as Ashes to Ashes, Starman and Let's Dance. Bowie was returning to the festival for the first time since 1971. His star was not in the ascendant after the Tin Machine era and such 90s solo albums as Outside, Earthling and Hours. But from the moment he walked out on the Pyramid Stage, resplendent in an Alexander McQueen frock coat with his hair in Hunky Dory mode, and launched into Wild is the Wind, it was clear that he had decided to embrace and fully restate both his catalogue and his legend. Arguably it was Bowie's greatest live performance since the 70s. After a heart attack in June 2004 while at the end of the 110-plus dates of A Reality Tour, Bowie never played live with a band again. His final stage performance was at a private Aids benefit show with pianist Mike Garson in 2006 - Shedding the Fat
E291Shedding the FatThere are 12 million obese people in the UK. This observational documentary follows the exceptionally moving weight-loss journeys of four NHS patients being treated by one of the country's leading bariatric teams based at University Hospital Ayr. Alison weighs nearly 24 stone. She loves steak and salty microwave popcorn and is addicted to food. But while she doesn't like the way she looks, she doesn't see herself as fat. Her goal is to lose enough weight to gain the confidence to wear trousers for the first time since she was a child. Stephen weighs over 26 stone. Bariatric surgery will send his diabetes into remission, but he is struggling to give up all the sugary food and drink he enjoys. Stephanie weighs over 24 stone. She has been married to former soldier Stevie for almost 30 years. When he developed PTSD she became his carer. And when the pressure got too much, she sought comfort in food. Now Stevie is caring for her. But while she is determined to lose weight, she thinks Stevie isn't being fully supportive and wants to know why. Teresa weighs over 25 stone. Four pregnancies and the breakdown of a troubled relationship all caused her weight to soar. And despite help from the NHS, for the past ten years she has failed to overcome her fraught relationship with food. She is now virtually housebound and fears she will never succeed. But all this could be about to change when a gastric balloon is inserted into her stomach. As they prepare for operations that will not just improve but save their lives, these patients must first confront their problematic relationships with food and drink. Addiction, denial, obsession and even love must all be confronted if these obstacles to weight loss are to be overcome. - Tina Turner: Simply the BestE292
Tina Turner: Simply the BestTina Turner gives an exclusive, in-depth interview to BBC Arts editor Will Gompertz, discussing the highs and lows of her extraordinary career and bringing her well-documented life story up to date. In a wide-ranging conversation, Tina talks about the tragedy of her eldest son's recent suicide, how an unexpected stroke affected the early days of her second marriage, and how her life was saved when her husband became her kidney donor. She also discusses the musical collaborations that saw her become one of the icons of the 1980s, and the abusive relationship with former husband Ike Turner that first set her on the road to stardom but also nearly destroyed her. - Stevie Wonder: A Musical HistoryE294
Stevie Wonder: A Musical HistoryWell-known fans celebrate Stevie Wonder and his music by selecting some of his best-loved songs. Wonder is one of the dominant figures in American music, a multi-faceted genius whose music has permeated popular culture, and he is not short of celebrity fans. His musical achievements are lauded in this anthology of his greatest hits. Contributors include actor Martin Freeman, singers Alexander O'Neal, James Morrison, Beverley Knight and Corinne Bailey Rae, New Order's Gillian Gilbert and Stephen Morris, DJs Ana Matronic, Trevor Nelson and Norman Jay, Heaven's 17's Glenn Gregory and Martyn Ware, journalist Sian Pattenden and presenter Emma Dabiri. - Gun No 6
E296Gun No 6This is the untold story of Britain’s deadliest illegal gun. This single handgun came to be used in 11 shootings in the space of six years. After shootings, guns in the UK are often passed on, traded, rented or hidden away. That is how this gun travelled across a major city without being seized, and was used in multiple, unrelated shootings. The only thing that connects all of these crimes is the firearm itself. The police give every gun they know about a different number, so that they can be tracked and monitored depending on their own unique characteristics. This particular gun is a black CZ 75 semi-automatic pistol made in the Czech Republic. Investigators have called it Gun No. 6. Now, almost a decade after the firearm was last used, an in-depth BBC Two documentary has tracked its journey. - Secrets of British Animation
E297Secrets of British AnimationDocumentary exploring more than a century of animation in Britain, including the creative and technical inventiveness of the UK's greatest animation pioneers. The defining characteristic of British animation has always been ingenuity. Unable to compete with the big American studios, animators in Britain were forced to experiment, developing their own signature styles. The documentary uncovers the trade secrets of animation legends like Bob Godfrey, John Halas and Joy Batchelor, Len Lye and Bristol's world-renowned Aardman Animations. Tracing the development of British animation from the end of the Victorian era to contemporary blockbusters, Secrets of British Animation shows the perseverance and determination that are part of the animator's mind-set. Focusing on the handmade tradition of animation in the UK, the programme includes newly-remastered early films from the archive of the British Film Institute. - Bridge Over the Atlantic
E298Bridge Over the AtlanticA unique musical collaboration between Canada and Scotland. Two countries, 3,000 miles apart, and connected by a bridge - a musical bridge, a cultural bridge, a fiddle bridge. Cape Breton fiddle player Colin Grant's infectiously enthusiastic playing has made him a favourite on both sides of the Atlantic. Joining him is talented young Scottish fiddler Ewen Henderson, whose own musical roots are deeply embedded in the vibrant traditional music scene of Lochaber on the West Coast of Scotland. Together Colin and Ewen take a unique road trip, a personal journey for both, and a flight of musical inspiration and discovery. They seek out musical influences in landscape and people in both Canada and Scotland and connect with musicians, and people and place, and ultimately showcase their music and shared heritage at a unique concert as part of the international music festival Celtic Colours, in Canada. - Beyond the Walls: In Search of the Celts
E299Beyond the Walls: In Search of the CeltsHistorian Dr Eleanor Barraclough travels through some of Britain’s most beautiful landscapes – Hadrian’s Wall, the Lake District and Offa’s Dyke – in search of new evidence to reveal the true story of the mysterious ancient British tribes often called the Celts. According to the official history books, the Celts were defeated and pushed to the edges of Britain by waves of Roman and Anglo Saxon invaders. However, a growing body of evidence suggests this is not the full story. To help give the Celts back their proper place in our history, Eleanor examines freshly discovered treasures, new archaeological evidence from real photographs and clues hidden in ancient poetry to reveal a fresh narrative - one that suggests the relationship between our ancient British ancestors and those who came to conquer them was much less repressive, and far more co-operative, than we have thought. - A Hotel for the Super Rich & Famous: Episode 1E300
A Hotel for the Super Rich & Famous: Episode 1Thomas Kochs, formerly general manager of Claridge's and star of the award-winning documentary series Inside Claridge's, is at the helm of a new, modern five-star hotel in London. Only seven years old, Corinthia is situated just off London's Trafalgar Square. It faces competition from London's many other five-star hotels which also woo the superrich looking for the ultimate luxury stay in London. With guests paying up to tens of thousands of pounds a night, it is Thomas's job to try to make their stay perfect. How does the eagle-eyed German master hotelier make sure his hotel stays top of the game in such a fiercely competitive environment? Thomas's latest challenge is the painstaking curation of a new afternoon tea. Not every guest can afford the Royal Penthouse at an eye-watering £22,000 a night (although we get a private tour in the film), but many of us would like a cup of tea within touching distance of the hotel's magnificent Baccarat chandelier in the Crystal Moon lounge. Over 25 meetings of intense detail, Thomas dictates the precise texture and filling of sandwiches, trials the colour and taste of the exquisite cakes, and introduces new bespoke china and Baccarat glasses to bring the visual sense of the chandelier to the hands of those taking afternoon tea. Will he be able to double the number of teas served, and will his pursuit of perfection pay off? Guests, including Cuba Gooding Jr and will.i.am, are welcomed and looked after by staff comprising 54 different nationalities. There is Max, at 16 the youngest employee, who regularly collects thousand-pound suits from Harrods, and Elena, a room attendant who was once rich herself. Yvet, the first-floor supervisor, bursts with pride over her rooms, calling them 'my daughters'. Made by Jane Treays, the multi-award-winning director of Inside Claridge's, these films shot over the course of a year revisit the land of the rich who can ask for anything they want and are willing and able to pay for - A Hotel for the Super Rich & Famous: Episode 2E301
A Hotel for the Super Rich & Famous: Episode 2Thomas Kochs, formerly general manager of Claridge's and star of the award-winning documentary series Inside Claridge's, is at the helm of a new, modern five-star hotel in London. The hotel restaurant isn't doing well and the five-star Corinthia needs a big-name chef to compete with its rivals. Tom Kerridge, the British chef most famous for his two Michelin-starred restaurants in Marlow, 28 miles outside of London, takes on the job. His acclaimed traditional British upmarket fish and chips aren't the usual fare for a five-star hotel, and it is his first restaurant in London. It is a family enterprise - his artist wife Beth is providing sculptures to enhance the space. It is not enough to wait and see if the clients come for the new food and art. Thomas makes an annual pilgrimage to Las Vegas to a five-star trade convention with 6,000 delegates. He has to sell the hotel, competing with other London and global brands, to American luxury travel agents in hundreds of four-minute meetings. It is exhausting work in 110 degrees in crazy Vegas. One of the hotel's penthouses costs an eye watering £22k a night. Some guests choose to stay in the hotel for several months and clients' bills can reach £3 million. At those prices, in such a competitive market, Thomas can never stand still. There is always more to be done to cater for his super-rich clientele. Made by Jane Treays, the award-winning director of Inside Claridge's, these films, shot over the course of a year, revisit the land of the rich, who can ask for anything they want and are willing and able to pay for perfection. - Escape from Dubai: The Mystery of the Missing PrincessE302
Escape from Dubai: The Mystery of the Missing PrincessIn February 2018, the 32-year-old daughter of the ruler of Dubai boarded a boat and set sail for India with a plan to start a new life in America. But within days her boat was stormed by Indian commandos - she was captured and presumably returned to Dubai. No one has heard from her since. But Princess Latifa had made a video in case she was caught and entrusted it to a lawyer in America. Days later it was released on YouTube. This programme pieces together Princess Latifa's life and reveals how she had been planning the escape for more than seven years. Far from living the charmed life of a princess, she was watched and restricted by her father, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. The princess claims she had been imprisoned and tortured for a previous attempt to leave. The programme investigates the mystery of her older sister Shamsa, who disappeared from the streets of Cambridge in 2000 after fleeing the family's British mansion in Surrey. And it asks if the image of Dubai we are sold - of winter sunshine and luxury hotels, is actually hiding a brutal dictatorship of human rights abuses - where surveillance, imprisonment and torture are systematic and where tourists can easily be imprisoned for the slightest infringements of their ultra conservative laws. - Barbra Streisand: Becoming An Icon 1942-1984
E303Barbra Streisand: Becoming An Icon 1942-1984Barbra Streisand grew up in working class Brooklyn, dreaming of escape from her tough childhood. A stellar student, she resisted the pressure to go to college as her sights were firmly set on Broadway. She was determined to become an actress and landed her first role aged 16, but it was two years later, when she started to sing, that her career took off. Subverting stereotypes and breaking glass ceilings, this programme looks at her rise to stardom and the remarkable achievements of her early career. - The State Of ItE304
The State Of ItRobert Florence hosts a comedy show taking a look at the state of Scotland and the world right now. Featuring explosive sketches, satirical animation and topical contributions from a range of new Scottish comic talent. This episode provides a snapshot of a society in which make-up has been banned and where taxi drivers have feedback buttons sewn onto their chests. There is also a hard-hitting look at Scotland's illicit underground party culture with the nation's vibiest new influencer - gh0stbøy. - Roxy Music: A Musical History
E305Roxy Music: A Musical HistoryDocumentary exploring the music of rock band Roxy Music, who have a good claim to be one of the UK's most influential bands. Led by charismatic front man Bryan Ferry, their striking style and great songs won them an army of fans who would go on to make their own mark in the world of music. In this celebration of the music of both Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music, insights and anecdotes are provided by household names from Sadie Frost to Glenn Gregory & Martyn Ware, Gaz Coombes, New Order's Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert, Shaun Ryder and Alan McGee, Ana Matronic and more. Formed in 1971, Roxy Music was the brain child of art student Bryan Ferry. His advert in Melody Maker gathered the initial line-up which included guitarist Phil Manzanera, saxophonist Andy Mackay, keyboard player Brian Eno and drummer Paul Thompson. Pioneers of glam, their outlandish fashion sense, songwriting and pioneering use of electronics created a glorious package. Punk, New Wave and New Romantic music owe a huge debt to Bryan and Roxy Music. Style is one thing, but the substance was reflected in a catalogue of classic songs - combined they create an enduring legacy which is celebrated in a golden hour of their greatest hits. - Soul & Beyond with Corinne Bailey Rae and Trevor Nelson
E306Soul & Beyond with Corinne Bailey Rae and Trevor NelsonDJ Trevor Nelson and singer-songwriter Corinne Bailey Rae present their ultimate soundtrack in an hour of classic and contemporary soul and R&B gems. As they watch their selection, they reveal the reasons behind their choices. From childhood favourites such as The Jackson 5 and Gladys Knight to inspirational tracks from Prince, Mary J Blige, Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye, this is a playlist to satisfy any soul fan. - Daredevils and Divas: A Night at the Circus
E307Daredevils and Divas: A Night at the Circus2018 marks the 250th anniversary of cavalryman Philip Astley’s very first circus, a spectacular horse show on the banks of the River Thames. Legendary showman Astley’s signature 42-foot circus ring was the perfect size to perform tricks on galloping horses - and it was this innovation that heralded the birth of the modern circus. The circus ring remains the same size to this day. To celebrate the 250th birthday of modern circus, this film showcases the very best of British circus through a series of lavishly filmed, spectacular live performances, presenting the art form on television as it’s seldom been seen before. The stunning cast of performers is drawn from circuses across the UK, ranging from the timeless world of traditional circus Zippos to the next generation of contemporary circus students, who are pushing the art form in new directions at the National Centre for Circus Arts. Other performers include Britain’s only fully inclusive circus, Extraordinary Bodies, the world-famous Gandini Jugglers, Tweedy the Clown of Giffords Circus, Britain’s biggest contemporary circus NoFit State, and two intrepid tightrope walkers from acclaimed circus company Cirque Bijou, attempting the first ever high-wire crossing of the River Wear in Sunderland to the delight of thousands of people lining the banks. The film also features interviews with the circus performers and intimate behind-the-scenes footage, taking viewers beyond the spectacle to bring this fascinating, almost mythical world to life. Daredevils and Divas: A Night at the Circus is hosted by the charismatic compere Doug Francisco of the cult circus troupe The Invisible Circus. Doug guides the viewer through the performances with a series of dynamic links, shot in the historic Hippodrome Circus ring in Great Yarmouth. Daredevils and Divas: A Night at the Circus is a BBC Studios Production for BBC Four. It is produced and directed by Matt David. The Executive Producer for BBC Studios is Phil D - Meet the Biohackers
E308Meet the BiohackersBiohackers are people who want to make their bodies and brains function better - by 'hacking' their biology. That could be as simple as taking vitamin supplements but if you call yourself a biohacker you're likely to be doing far more than that. The Victoria Derbyshire programme's Catrin Nye meets some of the people who want to push the limits of what it means to be human. - A Year At King's
E309A Year At King'sShare the magic of the world's most famous choir through a special year of music, in the centenary year of the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols from King's. With exclusive access to King's musical performances throughout 2018 and to their preparations for Christmas, discover what makes this one of the best choirs in the world. A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols began 100 years ago at the end of WW1 and remains an unbroken tradition at King's. It was one of the earliest BBC radio outside broadcasts and has become central to Christmas celebrations. The programme discovers what draws people to this service, and travels across the world for a chance to join the choir in the beautiful King's Chapel. Taking us with them are boy choristers who attend King's College School, including Jack and Vladimir, and choral scholars Joe and James. Along the way, we talk to former members of the choir, like 101-year-old David Briggs who sang in the first radio broadcast. The programme is introduced to Master of the Queen's Music, Judith Weir, whose new piece, O Mercy Divine, will be premiered at this year's service, and the people behind the scenes who help make this choir outstanding. This year will be the final Christmas with the choir for Director of Music Stephen Cleobury, who is stepping down after 36 years. - Wales's Christmas Home Movies
E310Wales's Christmas Home MoviesA selection box of rare and unseen films offer an intimate view of Christmas in Wales over the last century. Families and friends share their festive movies and memories, from Christmas in a castle to elaborate entertainment at home. These films capture the many ways the festive season has been celebrated in Wales. A mechanic's daughter from Pontypridd shares her father's films of their annual family Christmas show. Old friends from the village of Llangynwyd enjoy footage of the fearsome folk tradition of the Mari Lwyd. And former Sunday school pupils come together to watch the arrival of Father Christmas in the Clydach valley. - Congo: A Journey to the Heart of Africa
E312Congo: A Journey to the Heart of AfricaThe Democratic Republic of the Congo is a vast, mineral rich country the size of Western Europe. For many, it's still tainted by Joseph Conrad's brutal portrayal of colonial imperialism immortalised in The Heart of Darkness, written over 100 years ago. That's not surprising when most news reports from the DRC tell of death, disease and suffering. As the country prepares to hold long-delayed elections, Alastair Leithead takes an epic journey from the Atlantic Ocean to the far reaches of the Congo river to explore how history has shaped the Congo of today and uncover the lesser told stories of this beautiful, if troubled country. In the largest rain forest outside of the Amazon he comes face to face with its gorillas and hunts with pygmies, he travels into the heart of the Ebola outbreak with United Nations peacekeepers, and explores the cobalt mines which will drive our electric cars of the future. - Pantomime in Port Talbot: Balls of Steel
E313Pantomime in Port Talbot: Balls of SteelIn the shadow of the steelworks lies Taibach Rugby Club. For more than 100 years it has been the foundation stone of the community. The club is a cross-section of the town. All Port Talbot life is here. It's a place where people come together for the important things in life - rugby, weddings, birthdays and funerals. The club hosts them all. But there is one event that is the highlight of the year - the annual Christmas pantomime, written and performed by the men of the club. This documentary follows a year in the life of the town as they face struggles with the steelworks and prepare for the 50th anniversary of their panto. The cast is made up of rugby players and coaches, past and present, current and retired steelworkers, and a host of others. Coincidentally, it's also 50 years since the formation of British Steel. In 1967, Port Talbot was a boomtown, with 18,000 people employed in the steelworks. Some of the original workers are still alive, and many of the old boys will return for the 50th panto. This film follows this unique community and some of its extraordinary characters as the world changes around them, and they prepare to take to the stage. - Wild Man to Ironman
E314Wild Man to IronmanNobody thought Mat Pritchard would survive into his 40s. Now, Wales's favourite party boy and daredevil star of TV's Dirty Sanchez has cleaned up his life and turned into an endurance athlete, and he is about to take on his biggest endurance challenge yet. He is turning the coastline and the border of Wales into one enormous triathlon route in celebration of five years since the day he turned his life around. His aim is to be the first person to swim, cycle and run around the country he calls home - and to do it in just 14 days. If he can stay on schedule, battling fatigue, the weather and illness, he aims to finish this epic journey by running the Cardiff Half Marathon. But for Mat, this is not just an endurance challenge, it is a journey of self-discovery. This is Mat's story, from rags, to riches, and ruin to redemption. From his humble beginnings in Cardiff, Matt found he had a unique talent for the 'outsider' sport of skateboarding. His perseverance saw him become a skateboarding legend, who along with his close friends developed a reputation for not just skating but playful antics and crazy daredevil stunts, which they filmed. They eventually found TV fame and fortune with Dirty Sanchez. Despite global celebrity, Mat was struggling with his mental health, and his hedonistic lifestyle found him trapped in a dangerous and destructive whirlwind of booze binges and drug addiction. Eventually, he embarked on a quest for self-redemption, which led him from being a wild man to an ultra-fit vegan ironman. Told by Mat, and through the first-hand accounts of family and friends, the film hears how he went from a nobody, to star, to trainwreck, to an inspirational record-breaking athlete. - Victoria & Albert: The Royal Wedding
E315Victoria & Albert: The Royal WeddingLucy Worsley restages the wedding of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Each detail is brought back to life in a spectacular ceremony as Lucy reveals how this event saved the monarchy and invented modern marriage. Aided by a team of experts, Lucy recreates the most important elements of the ceremony and the celebrations, scouring history books, archives, newspapers and Queen Victoria's diaries for the details. She reveals how every moment was brilliantly stage-managed for maximum effect. Like every good marriage celebration, the film is a heady mix of fine food, fabulous clothes, music, emotion, gossip and intrigue. From the white dress to the massive tiered white cake, from the music sung by the choir to the moment rings were exchanged, each element has been carefully researched and remade for a grand staging of the big day itself. The experts include food historian Annie Gray, clothing expert Harriet Waterhouse and military historian Jasdeep Singh. Woven into the recreation of the wedding day is the story of Victoria and Albert's courtship and engagement, and its political importance. Lucy unpacks and explores the hidden iconography and symbolism of this hugely significant wedding, and reveals new insights into Victoria and Albert's relationship; both public and private. The film sheds new light on the wider implications of the wedding and reveals how this one extraordinary event helped to invent modern marriage. - 100 Years of King's Carols
E316100 Years of King's CarolsShare the magic of the world's most famous choir through a special year of music, in the centenary year of the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols from King's. With exclusive access to King's musical performances throughout 2018 and to their preparations for Christmas, discover what makes this one of the best choirs in the world. A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols began 100 years ago at the end of WW1 and remains an unbroken tradition at King's. It was one of the earliest BBC radio outside broadcasts and has become central to Christmas celebrations. The programme discovers what draws people to this service, and travels across the world for a chance to join the choir in the beautiful King's Chapel. Taking us with them are boy choristers who attend King's College School, including Jack and Vladimir, and choral scholars Joe and James. Along the way, we talk to former members of the choir, like 101-year-old David Briggs who sang in the first radio broadcast. The programme is introduced to Master of the Queen's Music, Judith Weir, whose new piece, O Mercy Divine, will be premiered at this year's service, and the people behind the scenes who help make this choir outstanding. This year will be the final Christmas with the choir for Director of Music Stephen Cleobury, who is stepping down after 36 years.
