Please email parkmediaservices@glos.ac.uk if you would like any of the following programmes / series recording.*
Saturday 24th December 2011
The John Craven Years
BBC 2, 7.00pm - 8.00pm
Celebrating 40 years of John Craven on the BBC.
Generations have grown up with John Craven, a television legend whose career has spanned 40 years. This one-off celebration of John's key moments is a nostalgic journey through the past four decades and includes interviews with Jon Culshaw, Noel Edmonds and Martin Bell. We also go behind the scenes of Countryfile to see John in action. From his psychedelic jumpers on Newsround to wellies on Countryfile, John's relaxed, informed and calm style has touched us all.
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Sunday 25th December 2011
Johnny Cash at Christmas
BBC 4, 9.50pm - 10.40pm
A classic archive country concert special from Nashville in 1970, as the Man in Black is joined by his nearest and dearest including his mum and dad, the Carter Family, old friends from the Sun Records days like Roy Orbison and Carl Perkins, the Statler Brothers and the Everly Brothers. Country TV gold.
Britain's Favourite Christmas Songs
Channel 5, 10.00pm - 1.00am
Which songs really break the ice at Christmas? The Jackson 5’s Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Greg
Lake’s I Believe in Father Christmas or Jona Lewie’s Stop the Cavalry are on many lists. Do
They Know It’s Christmas? might still ring true, but has Mud’s Lonely this Christmas passed its sell-by
date? And where would we be without The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl's Fairytale of New York or the Waitresses' Christmas Wrapping?
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Monday 26th December 2011
Wonders of the Universe (1/4)
BBC 4, 7.00pm - 8.00pm
Having explored the wonders of the solar system, Professor Brian Cox steps boldly on to an even bigger stage - the universe.
Who are we? Where do we come from? For thousands of years humanity has turned to religion and myth for answers to these enduring questions. But in this series, Brian presents a different set of answers - answers provided by science.
Transformers
Film 4, 9.00pm - 11.45pm
Those robots in disguise get a live action outing as the war between the evil Decepticons and the heroic Autobots erupts on Earth once again.
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Tuesday 27th December 2011
You Have Been Watching... David Croft
BBC 2, 8.00pm - 9.00pm
From Dad's Army to 'Allo 'Allo!, Are You Being Served? to It Ain't Half Hot, Mum, David Croft had a hand in them all. This programme pays tribute to his comedy genius through the friends, family and colleagues who knew him.
The Royal Institution Christmas Lectures (1/3)
BBC 4, 8.00pm - 9.00pm
Why does your brain look like a giant walnut, how does it fit in enough wiring to stretch four times around the equator and why can a magnet on your head stop you in mid-sentence? In the first of this year's Christmas Lectures, Professor Bruce Hood gets inside your head to explore how your brain works. He measures the brain's nerve cells in action, reads someone's mind from 100 miles away and reveals how the brain ultimately creates its own version of reality.
MASH
Film 4, 12.55am - 3.10am
Robert Altman's anti-establishment comedy set during the Korean War but satirising the US Vietnam war effort. Stars Donald Sutherland, Elliot Gould and Robert Duvall.
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Wednesday 28th December 2011
Ad of the Year
ITV1, 8.00pm - 9.00pm
Programme celebrating the best TV ads from the last 12 months and revealing the fascinating stories behind them. People who wrote, directed or starred in the commercials talk about their involvement and say what, in their opinion, made their ad a hit. This year's top commercials have featured cats with thumbs, dancing clothes from Cadbury's, and a young Darth Vader using the Force. There have also been some great time-travelling ads from British Airways and John Lewis. Which will come out on top and win the coveted title of Ad of the Year?
The Untold Tommy Cooper
Channel 4, 9.00pm - 10.35pm
A unique portrait of Tommy Cooper, drawing on his manager's meticulous diaries, previously unseen archive footage, and the testimony of a variety of his celebrity fans.
The Royal Institution Christmas Lectures (2/3)
BBC 4, 8.00pm - 9.00pm
Your brain is constantly being bombarded with information, so how does it decide what to trust and what to ignore, without you even being aware? Professor Bruce Hood leads us through the second of this year's Christmas Lectures - testing the limits of our memory, finding out how we learn, how our brain takes shortcuts and why multi-tasking can be dangerous. Bruce will make you say the wrong thing and fail to see what's right in front of you. Can you really believe your eyes? Possibly not.
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Thursday 29th December 2011
Dragons' Den: the Hilary Devey Story
BBC 2, 8.00pm - 9.00pm
The newest star of the most popular series of Dragons' Den is the larger than life, inimitable giant of the haulage industry - Hilary Devey. She brought a unique style and a whole new language into the Den, and this insightful documentary that charts her business career explains how and why she achieved the success that she has.
We see Hilary return to her Bolton roots, where she gained early experience of business success and failure as she lived through her father's bankruptcy and subsequent business rehabilitation running a variety of local pubs and clubs. We visit the aircraft hangar that (along with the rats and a single toilet shared with 50 blokes) housed the first incarnation of Hilary's continually expanding worldwide empire. Hilary also opens up her home and her heart to discuss the stroke that threatened her life and career only two years ago.
Her fellow Dragons give their take on how the new girl fitted in, and we're with Hilary as she takes her first steps with some of her Den investments to see how they're getting on.
The Royal Institution Christmas Lectures (3/3)
BBC 4, 8.00pm - 9.00pm
Have you ever seen a face in a piece of burnt toast, or given your car a name? Why do you feel pain when someone else is hurt? Why are people so obsessed with other people? In the last of this year's Christmas Lectures, Professor Bruce Hood investigates how our brains are built to read other people's minds. With a little help from a baby, a robot and a magician, Bruce uncovers what makes us truly human.
Dorian Gray
Channel 4, 9.00pm - 11.10pm
Oliver Parker's walk on the Wilde side is a crisp retelling of the tale of roister- doisterers undone by the ravages of time.
Comic Strip Presents... The Hunt for Tony Blair
Channel 4, 11.10pm - 12.15am
The Comic Strip team return for a special 50s-style 'fugitive' film noir spoof.
The 60-minute film, penned by Peter Richardson and Pete Richens, follows Prime Minister Tony Blair (Stephen Mangan), wanted for murder and on the run. Escaping from Number 10 and leaving behind his adoring wife Cherie (Catherine Shepherd), Tony vows to clear his name no matter what the consequences.
But on a foggy London night, Tony has few friends willing to harbour a wanted man. With front pages demanding his capture, Blair has no choice but to go on the run, with Inspector Hutton (Robbie Coltrane) and his sidekick (James Buckley) hot on his trail. The chase unfolds thanks to evidence gleaned from his 'allies' Mandelson (Nigel Planer) and Brown (Ford Kiernan), as well as an unlikely encounter with Margaret Thatcher (Jennifer Saunders, channelling Bette Davies in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?).
Surely Tony's an innocent man, pursued for a crime he didn't commit?
The cast also includes Harry Enfield as Alastair Campbell, Rik Mayall as Professor Predictor, Morgana Robinson as Carole Caplin, John Sessions as Thatcher's butler and Ross Noble as an 'old Labour' tramp.
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Friday 30th December 2011
The Many Faces of... Dame Judy Dench
BBC 2, 8.00pm - 9.00pm
Documentary tracing the career of Dame Judi Dench using excerpts from performances and interviews with friends and colleagues.
The programme shows very early recordings of Dame Judi performing Shakespeare and her first television appearance in Z Cars.
We see performances in classic 60s dramas, 'Talking to a Stranger' and 'Four in the Morning' then show how she became a television sitcom star in 'A Fine Romance' and 'As Time Goes By'. Her sense of humour is illustrated by rarely seen outtakes from the shows.
Dame Judi's career enjoyed a late flourish when three films propelled her into the international spotlight 'Goldeneye', 'Mrs Brown' and 'Shakespeare in Love' reinvented her as a film star and earned her an Oscar.
Among many colleagues, the programme features Sir Michael Parkinson, Geoffrey Palmer and Simon Callow.
BBC Proms 2011
BBC 4, 8.30pm - 10.30pm
A celebration of the Golden Age of Hollywood film musicals performed by John Wilson who, returning to the Proms for a third season, conducts his hand-picked, high-octane orchestra and a line-up of star soloists.
Hooray for Hollywood takes us from the dawn of the 'talkies' and the birth of the movie musical through to the 1960s. There are excerpts from 42nd Street, Top Hat, Strike Up the Band, Swing Time and Shall We Dance, with a special tribute to the RKO films of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.
Lemmy: The Movie
BBC 4, 11.30pm - 1.25am
This two-hour film celebrates the life and rock 'n' roll philosophy of Motorhead frontman and bassist Lemmy. Lemmy became the bass player in Hawkwind and sang their biggest hit Silver Machine before forming his own hard rockin' metal trio Motorhead in the mid-70s, blending punk and primal rock into a foot to the floor, hard driving rock 'n' roll aesthetic which resulted in monster hits like Ace of Spades and the live album No Sleep Til Hammersmith in the early 80s and to which he has remained constantly steadfast.
Still touring, still enjoying the rock 'n' roll lifestyle, still inspired by Little Richard and the Beatles, Lemmy remains the ultimate unredeemed and unrepentant rocker. Joining Lemmy and members of Motorhead to celebrate his life and times are Hawkwind's Dave Brock, Metallica's James Hetfield, Dave Grohl, Alice Cooper, Peter Hook and Jarvis Cocker.
Legends - Thin Lizzie: Bad Reputation
BBC 4, 1.25am - 2.25am
Affectionate but honest portrait of Thin Lizzy, arguably the best hard rock band to come out of Ireland.
Starting with the remix of the classic album Jailbreak by Scott Gorham and Brian Downie, the film takes us through the rollercoaster ride that is the story of Thin Lizzy. From early footage of singer Phil Lynott in Ireland in his pre-Lizzy bands the Black Eagles and Orphanage, it follows his progress as he, guitarist Eric Bell and drummer Brian Downie form the basic three-piece that was to become Thin Lizzy - a name taken from the Beano.
Using original interviews with Bell, Downie, the man who signed them and their first manager, it traces the early years leading to the recruitment of guitarists Brian 'Robbo' Robertson and Scott Gorham - the classic line-up. The film uses a number of stills, some seen on TV for the first time, archive from contemporary TV shows and a range of tracks both well known and not so famous.
There are hilarious self-deprecating anecdotes, from the stories behind the making of the Boys are Back in Town to the hiring of Midge Ure. We hear about the 'revolving door' as guitarist after guitarist was fired and hired, and the recording of Bad Reputation and Live and Dangerous - where producer Tony Visconti pulls no punches in talking about how he recorded the latter - putting the controversy to bed for the final time. Except that Downie and Robertson still disagree with him.
Finally we hear how drugs and alcohol impacted on the band and how the music suffered, how one member later substituted golf for heroin, and how addiction and the related lifestyle led to the death of Phil Lynott.
Contributors include Brian Downie, Scott Gorham, Eric Bell, Brian Robertson, Midge Ure, Bob Geldof, Tony Visconti, Joe Elliot (Def Leppard) and many others.
Thursday, 22 December 2011
Wednesday, 21 December 2011
Off-Air Recordings for week 17th December to 23rd December 2011
Please email parkmediaservices@glos.ac.uk if you would like any of the following programmes / series recording.*
Saturday 17th December 2011
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
BBC 1, 2.55pm - 4.30pm
Comedy adventure, combining cartoon characters with live action. Hollywood 1947. Cartoon star Roger Rabbit can't focus on his acting because he thinks his wife Jessica is playing pattycake with someone else. The studio hires detective Eddie Valiant to snoop on her. But the stake-out becomes a crime investigation when Marvin Acme is found dead and Roger is the prime suspect.
Defiance
BBC 2, 9.00pm - 11.05pm
Thriller based on a true story. In 1940s Eastern Europe, four Jewish brothers flee to the forest to escape persecution and death at the hands of Nazi forces after their parents are murdered. Once there, they find more refugees are using the forest as a hideout, so they band together to share resources and attempt to outwit the German forces, who are always on their tail.
ITV 2, 11.15pm - 12.15am
Tribute to the late singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse and her music. To mark the release of the much-anticipated posthumous album Lioness: Hidden Treasures, the programme celebrates Amy's musical legacy and explores the influence that her turbulent life had on her songwriting. Featuring contributions from the people who knew her best and a look at the story behind the new album.
Film 4, 4.50pm - 6.25pm
(2002) Studio Ghibli Season: Hiroyuki Marita's fantasy animation follows a young girl who is rewarded with a trip to the Kingdom of Cats after saving a feline's life.
Radio 4, 8.00pm - 9.00pm
As the Eurozone lurches from crisis to crisis, John Tusa takes us back to the very start of the journey to the single currency: to the vision, and the realpolitik, that made European union happen in the first place.
In 1950, France and Germany, along with Italy, Belgium, Holland and Luxemburg, agreed to surrender national control over some of their most vital industries. Just six years after the Nazis had been driven out of Paris.
John traces how a highly unusual mix of vision and canny national self-interest drove a handful of leading statesmen to take this decisive step.
Robert Schuman was the French Foreign Minister - but had fought for the Germans in the First World War. Then, as a French politician and member of the Resistance, he narrowly avoided being sent by the Nazis to Dachau.
Konrad Adenauer, West Germany's first Chancellor, was proposing a form of European unity as early as 1923. Having survived the Nazi era, he was intent on sacrificing power to bind his pariah nation into the West - and keep it safe from Stalin.
More surprisingly, the idea of European union was also championed by Winston Churchill, in a rousing run of speeches across the Continent in the years after VE Day. The great patriot even advocated a European Army.
But John also explores why - once Churchill was back in power in 1951 - he chose not to join the emergent union.
Meanwhile, Churchill's wartime ally, America, was actively pushing the Europeans to unite - and was prepared to pay handsomely to ensure they wouldn't drag American troops into yet another war.
And John finds out how the whole project came to the brink of collapse within weeks of its birth. In June 1950, the Communists invaded South Korea. Western capitals panicked: was West Germany next? Was this the start of World War 3?
America demanded that West Germany be re-armed. But the French public were outraged, and took to the streets with large photos of Nazi atrocity victims held aloft.
John explores how the project was rescued, and how its strange fusion of realism and idealism presages the crises of today.
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Sunday 18th December 2011
BBC 1, 10.25pm - 11.45pm
One of the most-anticipated reunions in pop music history took place in the summer of 2011 when all five original members of Take That opened their spectacular Progress Live 2011 UK Tour at the City of Manchester Stadium.
Playing to massive sell-out audiences around Europe, Gary Barlow, Howard Donald, Jason Orange, Mark Owen and Robbie Williams took over 2.1 million people with them on their 'Progress' journey, with a monumental two and half hour set filled with all the biggest hits from their incredible 20 year history. Progress Live 2011 is the first time the band had toured as a five-piece since 1995.
The huge production wowed audiences with a non-stop, jaw-dropping spectacle, which included roller-skating bees, a giant purple caterpillar, Shaolin monks, a dancing chess set, a massive 30m wall of water scaled by acrobatic dancers, and a huge 20m robot named OM who moved ominously through the audience throughout the night. The show opened with Gary, Howard, Jason and Mark performing hits including Rule the World and Shine, before Robbie made his entrance for the start of a thumping solo set including Let Me Entertain You and Angels. All five members were then reunited for the song that marked their historic return, The Flood; and classic hits such as Never Forget, A Million Love Songs, and Pray.
Channel 5, 8.00pm - 10.00pm
(2008) A hard-living superhero who has fallen out of favor with the public enters into a questionable relationship with the wife of the public relations professional who's trying to repair his image.
BBC 4, 7.30pm - 9.00pm
The extraordinary story of comedian Bob Monkhouse's life and career, told for the first time through the vast private archive of films, TV shows, letters and memorabilia that he left behind.
BBC 4, 11.00pm - 12.05pm
Sir Alan Ayckbourn is often described as the world's most performed living playwright. Yet it is his popularity that has often led to him being overlooked as a serious dramatist in the UK. As he premieres his 75th play in his seaside theatre in Scarborough, Imagine sets out to discover why Ayckbourn is so popular, and a chorus of distinguished fans explain why he must be recognised as one of the great dramatists of our time.
Radio 4, 2.45pm - 3.00pm
Five programmes exploring the ways in which we reveal our true histories to the world.
5. Bankruptcy
Hannah, like many students, left university with a burden of debt in addition to her student loan. Unable to find a job in the field she had trained for, her debts escalated to the point where she had to consider bankruptcy. With her father and a friend who had also had to declare herself bankrupt she looks back over the depression and guilt which accompanied her financial disaster and is now able to draw some positive conclusions from it.
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Monday 19th December 2011
Radio 4, 1.45pm - 2.00pm
In 1870 the telegraph system came under the control of the post office, in the first ever instance of the government nationalising a commercial industry. The aim was to provide an extended and more efficient network, to serve the public and make a profit.
In the late nineteenth century the Post Office became a key instrument of the State.
Providing a national telegraph service, as censor and channel in the first world war, as a model employer in the 1930s and pioneer in communications technology for much of the twentieth century. The last four decades have seen the State pulling away from Royal Mail leaving it's future very much uncertain.
Radio 4, 8.00pm - 8.30pm
As the debate about wealth in British society continues, Professor Hugh Cunningham presents a timely history of philanthropic giving
2. Victorian Philanthropy and its Critics
The Victorian era is often seen as the high-point of philanthropic giving and Hugh Cunningham starts his journey by recalling his own great-grandfather, Andrew Usher, a brewer and distiller who donated £100,000 to the city of Edinburgh to build the Usher Hall.
However, he has questions about such major capital projects, which might have enhanced the lives of the poor but did little to relieve their poverty.
Hugh also chases a less familiar story: that of the critics who believed that philanthropy would create what is sometimes today called a 'dependency culture'.
He travels to Stoke and to Manchester, exploring the lives of the 'deserving' and 'undeserving' poor; looking into how women increasingly participated in philanthropic activity and how this, in turn, helped their struggle for equality.
He hears about the Victorian trend towards the poor helping the poor.
He talks to historian and Labour MP Tristram Hunt, and to Nick Hurd, Conservative MP and Minister for Civil Society in the Coalition Government, about the obstacles which can stand in the way of philanthropists combating poverty today.
And he interviews Dame Susie Sainsbury, who speaks both of the major capital projects to which she has donated and about her willingness to give to the "less sexy items on the philanthropic shopping list".
Hugh Cunningham is Emeritus Professor of History in the University of Kent, and was academic consultant and co-writer of Radio Four's major narrative history series 'The Invention of Childhood'.
Channel 4, 9.00pm - 10.00pm
Throwing a spotlight on what Christmas means in contemporary Britain, King of Christmas Lights finds out what motivates people to cover their houses in Christmas every year.
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Tuesday 20th December 2011
Radio 4, 1.45pm - 2.00pm
In 1914 the post office was called upon to play a vital role in the country's war effort. Every week twelve and half million letters left Britain for Flanders, and it took 2 days for a letter to reach the front. The post office also supported the army's censorship activities, preventing sensitive information reaching enemy hands and helping to capture spies.
As Royal Mail faces an uncertain future, Dominic Sandbrook charts the development of the post office and examines it's impact on literacy, free speech, commerce and communication. The Post Office has become a cherished social institution, linking people together and extending their vision outward into the wider world.
It's called Royal Mail but it should be known as the People's Post
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Wednesday 21st December 2011
Radio 4, 1.45pm - 2.00pm
In the 1930s the GPO was a model employer, pioneering equal opportunities and offering staff a secure career path. Employees were encouraged to attend academic classes and leisure pursuits, but lateness and inefficiency weren't tolerated.
As Royal Mail faces an uncertain future, Dominic Sandbrook charts the development of the post office and examines its impact on literacy, free speech, commerce and communication. The Post Office has become a cherished social institution, linking people together and extending their vision outward into the wider world.
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Thursday 22nd December 2011
Radio 4, 1.45pm - 2.00pm
When a national post-code system was introduced in the 1970s it met with fierce resistance: from postal workers, concerned about the pace of change, and a general public incensed by "useless symbols". Intended to aid sorting mechanisation, today postcodes are used by geodemographic databases to classify households for the benefit of commerce, government services and political canvassing.
As Royal Mail faces an uncertain future, Dominic Sandbrook charts the development of the post office and examines its impact on literacy, free speech, commerce and communication. The Post Office has become a cherished social institution, linking people together and extending their vision outward into the wider world.
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Friday 23rd December 2011
Radio 4, 1.45pm - 2.00pm
In 1969 the post office ceased being a government industry to become a nationalised industry. It avoided being sold off in the 1980s, only to face even bigger challenges in the 2000s: sustaining the costs of a huge labour force, and rivalry from digital communications. As it sits on the brink of privatisation, what does the Royal Mail mean today?
As Royal Mail faces an uncertain future, Dominic Sandbrook charts the development of the post office and examines its impact on literacy, free speech, commerce and communication. The Post Office has become a cherished social institution, linking people together and extending their vision outward into the wider world.
Ocean Waves
Film 4, 5.30pm - 7.00pm
Studio Ghibli Season: Animated romantic drama about a man remembering his school days while he's on a flight back to reunite with his old classmates. In Japanese/subs.
Le Donk and Scor-Zay-Zee
More4, 2.50am - 4.30am
(2009) Shane Meadows' hilarious mockumentary about ageing roadie Paddy Considine, who's vicariously seeking fame via his protégé, Nottingham rapper Scor-zay-zee (Dean Palinczuk).
Dolly Parton: Platinum Blonde
BBC 4. 11.35pm - 12.35am
Dolly Parton is one of the world's great superstars, feted for her figure as much as for her music. Platinum Blonde goes inside her world to discover the woman under the wigs as she returned to the concert stage in the UK in 2002 after an absence of 20 years. Born into grinding poverty in rural Tennessee, Dolly has risen to the top of her tree in music, films and as a businesswoman who owns her own theme park.
Friends, family and colleagues - including Lily Tomlin, Kenny Rogers, Billy Connolly, Dabney Coleman and Alison Krauss - help tell her story, along with the full and frank views of Dolly herself. With cameo appearances from Sinead O'Connor, Norah Jones, Jonathan Ross and Terry Wogan.
Country at the BBC
BBC 4, 10.05pm - 11.35pm
Grab your partner by the hand - the BBC have raided their archive and brought to light glittering performances by country artists over the last four decades.
Star appearances include Tammy Wynette, Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash and, of course, Dolly Parton. All the greats have performed for the BBC at some point - on entertainment shows, in concert and at the BBC studios. Some of the rhinestones revealed are Charley Pride's Crystal Chandeliers from the Lulu Show, Emmylou Harris singing Together Again on the Old Grey Whistle Test and Billie Jo Spears's Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad from the Val Doonican Music Show.
We're brought up to date with modern country hits by kd lang, Garth Brooks, Alison Krauss and Taylor Swift, plus a special un-broadcast performance from Later...with Jools Holland by Willie Nelson.
The Joy of Country
BBC 4, 9.00pm - 10.05pm
This celebration of the history and aesthetic of country music tracks the evolution of the genre from the 1920s to the present, exploring country as both folk and pop music - a 20th century soundtrack to the lives of working-class Americans in the South, forever torn between their rural roots and a mostly urban future, between authenticity and showbiz.
Exploring many of the great stars of country from Jimmie Rodgers and Hank Williams to Johnny Cash and Dolly Parton, director Andy Humphries's meditation on the power and pull of country blends brilliant archive and contributions from a broad cast that includes Dolly Parton, the Handsome Family, Laura Cantrell, Hank Williams III, kd lang and many more.
If you have ever wondered about the sound of a train in the distance, the keening of a pedal steel guitar, the lure of rhinestone or the blue Kentucky hills, and if you want to know why twang matters, this is the documentary for you.
Saturday 17th December 2011
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
BBC 1, 2.55pm - 4.30pm
Comedy adventure, combining cartoon characters with live action. Hollywood 1947. Cartoon star Roger Rabbit can't focus on his acting because he thinks his wife Jessica is playing pattycake with someone else. The studio hires detective Eddie Valiant to snoop on her. But the stake-out becomes a crime investigation when Marvin Acme is found dead and Roger is the prime suspect.
Defiance
BBC 2, 9.00pm - 11.05pm
Thriller based on a true story. In 1940s Eastern Europe, four Jewish brothers flee to the forest to escape persecution and death at the hands of Nazi forces after their parents are murdered. Once there, they find more refugees are using the forest as a hideout, so they band together to share resources and attempt to outwit the German forces, who are always on their tail.
| The Amy Winehouse Story |
Tribute to the late singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse and her music. To mark the release of the much-anticipated posthumous album Lioness: Hidden Treasures, the programme celebrates Amy's musical legacy and explores the influence that her turbulent life had on her songwriting. Featuring contributions from the people who knew her best and a look at the story behind the new album.
| The Cat Returns |
(2002) Studio Ghibli Season: Hiroyuki Marita's fantasy animation follows a young girl who is rewarded with a trip to the Kingdom of Cats after saving a feline's life.
| Archive on 4: The European Dream |
As the Eurozone lurches from crisis to crisis, John Tusa takes us back to the very start of the journey to the single currency: to the vision, and the realpolitik, that made European union happen in the first place.
In 1950, France and Germany, along with Italy, Belgium, Holland and Luxemburg, agreed to surrender national control over some of their most vital industries. Just six years after the Nazis had been driven out of Paris.
John traces how a highly unusual mix of vision and canny national self-interest drove a handful of leading statesmen to take this decisive step.
Robert Schuman was the French Foreign Minister - but had fought for the Germans in the First World War. Then, as a French politician and member of the Resistance, he narrowly avoided being sent by the Nazis to Dachau.
Konrad Adenauer, West Germany's first Chancellor, was proposing a form of European unity as early as 1923. Having survived the Nazi era, he was intent on sacrificing power to bind his pariah nation into the West - and keep it safe from Stalin.
More surprisingly, the idea of European union was also championed by Winston Churchill, in a rousing run of speeches across the Continent in the years after VE Day. The great patriot even advocated a European Army.
But John also explores why - once Churchill was back in power in 1951 - he chose not to join the emergent union.
Meanwhile, Churchill's wartime ally, America, was actively pushing the Europeans to unite - and was prepared to pay handsomely to ensure they wouldn't drag American troops into yet another war.
And John finds out how the whole project came to the brink of collapse within weeks of its birth. In June 1950, the Communists invaded South Korea. Western capitals panicked: was West Germany next? Was this the start of World War 3?
America demanded that West Germany be re-armed. But the French public were outraged, and took to the streets with large photos of Nazi atrocity victims held aloft.
John explores how the project was rescued, and how its strange fusion of realism and idealism presages the crises of today.
_____________________________________
Sunday 18th December 2011
| Take That: Progress Live |
One of the most-anticipated reunions in pop music history took place in the summer of 2011 when all five original members of Take That opened their spectacular Progress Live 2011 UK Tour at the City of Manchester Stadium.
Playing to massive sell-out audiences around Europe, Gary Barlow, Howard Donald, Jason Orange, Mark Owen and Robbie Williams took over 2.1 million people with them on their 'Progress' journey, with a monumental two and half hour set filled with all the biggest hits from their incredible 20 year history. Progress Live 2011 is the first time the band had toured as a five-piece since 1995.
The huge production wowed audiences with a non-stop, jaw-dropping spectacle, which included roller-skating bees, a giant purple caterpillar, Shaolin monks, a dancing chess set, a massive 30m wall of water scaled by acrobatic dancers, and a huge 20m robot named OM who moved ominously through the audience throughout the night. The show opened with Gary, Howard, Jason and Mark performing hits including Rule the World and Shine, before Robbie made his entrance for the start of a thumping solo set including Let Me Entertain You and Angels. All five members were then reunited for the song that marked their historic return, The Flood; and classic hits such as Never Forget, A Million Love Songs, and Pray.
| Hancock |
(2008) A hard-living superhero who has fallen out of favor with the public enters into a questionable relationship with the wife of the public relations professional who's trying to repair his image.
| The Secret Life of Bob Monkhouse |
The extraordinary story of comedian Bob Monkhouse's life and career, told for the first time through the vast private archive of films, TV shows, letters and memorabilia that he left behind.
| Imagine… Alan Ayckbourn: Greetings from Scarborough |
Sir Alan Ayckbourn is often described as the world's most performed living playwright. Yet it is his popularity that has often led to him being overlooked as a serious dramatist in the UK. As he premieres his 75th play in his seaside theatre in Scarborough, Imagine sets out to discover why Ayckbourn is so popular, and a chorus of distinguished fans explain why he must be recognised as one of the great dramatists of our time.
| Coming Out: Bankruptcy |
Five programmes exploring the ways in which we reveal our true histories to the world.
5. Bankruptcy
Hannah, like many students, left university with a burden of debt in addition to her student loan. Unable to find a job in the field she had trained for, her debts escalated to the point where she had to consider bankruptcy. With her father and a friend who had also had to declare herself bankrupt she looks back over the depression and guilt which accompanied her financial disaster and is now able to draw some positive conclusions from it.
_____________________________________
Monday 19th December 2011
|
In 1870 the telegraph system came under the control of the post office, in the first ever instance of the government nationalising a commercial industry. The aim was to provide an extended and more efficient network, to serve the public and make a profit.
In the late nineteenth century the Post Office became a key instrument of the State.
Providing a national telegraph service, as censor and channel in the first world war, as a model employer in the 1930s and pioneer in communications technology for much of the twentieth century. The last four decades have seen the State pulling away from Royal Mail leaving it's future very much uncertain.
| How New is the New Philanthropy (2/3) |
As the debate about wealth in British society continues, Professor Hugh Cunningham presents a timely history of philanthropic giving
2. Victorian Philanthropy and its Critics
The Victorian era is often seen as the high-point of philanthropic giving and Hugh Cunningham starts his journey by recalling his own great-grandfather, Andrew Usher, a brewer and distiller who donated £100,000 to the city of Edinburgh to build the Usher Hall.
However, he has questions about such major capital projects, which might have enhanced the lives of the poor but did little to relieve their poverty.
Hugh also chases a less familiar story: that of the critics who believed that philanthropy would create what is sometimes today called a 'dependency culture'.
He travels to Stoke and to Manchester, exploring the lives of the 'deserving' and 'undeserving' poor; looking into how women increasingly participated in philanthropic activity and how this, in turn, helped their struggle for equality.
He hears about the Victorian trend towards the poor helping the poor.
He talks to historian and Labour MP Tristram Hunt, and to Nick Hurd, Conservative MP and Minister for Civil Society in the Coalition Government, about the obstacles which can stand in the way of philanthropists combating poverty today.
And he interviews Dame Susie Sainsbury, who speaks both of the major capital projects to which she has donated and about her willingness to give to the "less sexy items on the philanthropic shopping list".
Hugh Cunningham is Emeritus Professor of History in the University of Kent, and was academic consultant and co-writer of Radio Four's major narrative history series 'The Invention of Childhood'.
| King of Christmas Lights |
Throwing a spotlight on what Christmas means in contemporary Britain, King of Christmas Lights finds out what motivates people to cover their houses in Christmas every year.
_____________________________________
Tuesday 20th December 2011
|
In 1914 the post office was called upon to play a vital role in the country's war effort. Every week twelve and half million letters left Britain for Flanders, and it took 2 days for a letter to reach the front. The post office also supported the army's censorship activities, preventing sensitive information reaching enemy hands and helping to capture spies.
As Royal Mail faces an uncertain future, Dominic Sandbrook charts the development of the post office and examines it's impact on literacy, free speech, commerce and communication. The Post Office has become a cherished social institution, linking people together and extending their vision outward into the wider world.
It's called Royal Mail but it should be known as the People's Post
_____________________________________
Wednesday 21st December 2011
|
In the 1930s the GPO was a model employer, pioneering equal opportunities and offering staff a secure career path. Employees were encouraged to attend academic classes and leisure pursuits, but lateness and inefficiency weren't tolerated.
As Royal Mail faces an uncertain future, Dominic Sandbrook charts the development of the post office and examines its impact on literacy, free speech, commerce and communication. The Post Office has become a cherished social institution, linking people together and extending their vision outward into the wider world.
_____________________________________
Thursday 22nd December 2011
|
When a national post-code system was introduced in the 1970s it met with fierce resistance: from postal workers, concerned about the pace of change, and a general public incensed by "useless symbols". Intended to aid sorting mechanisation, today postcodes are used by geodemographic databases to classify households for the benefit of commerce, government services and political canvassing.
As Royal Mail faces an uncertain future, Dominic Sandbrook charts the development of the post office and examines its impact on literacy, free speech, commerce and communication. The Post Office has become a cherished social institution, linking people together and extending their vision outward into the wider world.
_____________________________________
Friday 23rd December 2011
|
In 1969 the post office ceased being a government industry to become a nationalised industry. It avoided being sold off in the 1980s, only to face even bigger challenges in the 2000s: sustaining the costs of a huge labour force, and rivalry from digital communications. As it sits on the brink of privatisation, what does the Royal Mail mean today?
As Royal Mail faces an uncertain future, Dominic Sandbrook charts the development of the post office and examines its impact on literacy, free speech, commerce and communication. The Post Office has become a cherished social institution, linking people together and extending their vision outward into the wider world.
Film 4, 5.30pm - 7.00pm
Studio Ghibli Season: Animated romantic drama about a man remembering his school days while he's on a flight back to reunite with his old classmates. In Japanese/subs.
Le Donk and Scor-Zay-Zee
More4, 2.50am - 4.30am
(2009) Shane Meadows' hilarious mockumentary about ageing roadie Paddy Considine, who's vicariously seeking fame via his protégé, Nottingham rapper Scor-zay-zee (Dean Palinczuk).
Dolly Parton: Platinum Blonde
BBC 4. 11.35pm - 12.35am
Dolly Parton is one of the world's great superstars, feted for her figure as much as for her music. Platinum Blonde goes inside her world to discover the woman under the wigs as she returned to the concert stage in the UK in 2002 after an absence of 20 years. Born into grinding poverty in rural Tennessee, Dolly has risen to the top of her tree in music, films and as a businesswoman who owns her own theme park.
Friends, family and colleagues - including Lily Tomlin, Kenny Rogers, Billy Connolly, Dabney Coleman and Alison Krauss - help tell her story, along with the full and frank views of Dolly herself. With cameo appearances from Sinead O'Connor, Norah Jones, Jonathan Ross and Terry Wogan.
Country at the BBC
BBC 4, 10.05pm - 11.35pm
Grab your partner by the hand - the BBC have raided their archive and brought to light glittering performances by country artists over the last four decades.
Star appearances include Tammy Wynette, Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash and, of course, Dolly Parton. All the greats have performed for the BBC at some point - on entertainment shows, in concert and at the BBC studios. Some of the rhinestones revealed are Charley Pride's Crystal Chandeliers from the Lulu Show, Emmylou Harris singing Together Again on the Old Grey Whistle Test and Billie Jo Spears's Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad from the Val Doonican Music Show.
We're brought up to date with modern country hits by kd lang, Garth Brooks, Alison Krauss and Taylor Swift, plus a special un-broadcast performance from Later...with Jools Holland by Willie Nelson.
The Joy of Country
BBC 4, 9.00pm - 10.05pm
This celebration of the history and aesthetic of country music tracks the evolution of the genre from the 1920s to the present, exploring country as both folk and pop music - a 20th century soundtrack to the lives of working-class Americans in the South, forever torn between their rural roots and a mostly urban future, between authenticity and showbiz.
Exploring many of the great stars of country from Jimmie Rodgers and Hank Williams to Johnny Cash and Dolly Parton, director Andy Humphries's meditation on the power and pull of country blends brilliant archive and contributions from a broad cast that includes Dolly Parton, the Handsome Family, Laura Cantrell, Hank Williams III, kd lang and many more.
If you have ever wondered about the sound of a train in the distance, the keening of a pedal steel guitar, the lure of rhinestone or the blue Kentucky hills, and if you want to know why twang matters, this is the documentary for you.
Friday, 9 December 2011
Off-Air Recordings for week 10th December to 16th December 2011
Please email parkmediaservices@glos.ac.uk if you would like any of the following programmes / series recording.*
Saturday 10th December 2011
Ponyo
Film 4, 6.55pm - 9.00pm
(2008) Studio Ghibli Season: Charming animated family fantasy-adventure about a five-year-old boy who befriends a small fish who wants to become human. But her wizard father is not so keen.
More 4, 9.00pm - 10.25pm
The final episode of the series looks at how movies became more serious after 9/11, the rise of Romanian films, the movies of David Lynch, and interviews Russian director Aleksandr Sokurov.
More 4, 10.25pm - 12.35am
(2007) Danny Boyle's sci-fi epic imagines a future in which Earth suffers a perpetual winter and humanity's only hope is a spaceship that will kick-start the dying sun. Strong language.
White Noise
Film 4, 11.05pm - 12.55am
(2005) Michael Keaton is in deep mourning for his dead wife Anna (Chandra West) when medium Ian McNeice shockingly tells him that she is attempting to contact him. Supernatural horror.
_____________________________________
Sunday 11th December 2011
Film 4, 1.00pm - 3.00pm
(2006) Action-packed fantasy starring John Malkovich as the despotic ruler Galbatorix who thinks he has exterminated all the Dragon Riders, but one survives to challenge his reign.
ITV 1, 5.40pm - 6.05pm
The story of the life and career of Larry Grayson, one of Britain's best-loved entertainers. The Generation Game star was hailed as an overnight success at the age of 51, but the programme shows that his life before fame was far from ordinary. Featuring contributions from Bernard Manning, Terry Wogan and Liz Dawn as well as interviews with Grayson's friends and family, home movie footage and rarely seen archive performances, the show reveals the amazing and previously untold life story of a TV legend.
BBC 2, 7.00pm - 8.00pm
In the teeth of the worst financial crisis in living memory, BBC Business Editor Robert Peston examines how the world got to this point and how the collossal imbalances in the global ecoonomy have left the UK in need of a radical economic overhaul.
In the second of two programmes Peston asks how Britain can compete in the new world economic order. After years of living beyond our means the country surely needs to wean itself off the consumer society, but doing so threatens our retail dependent economy. In Germany the model of thrift and investment, far from the quick buck mentality of the City of London, has produced a powerful manufacturing and exporting economy that Britain, once so proud of its modern finance based approach, is desperate to imitate.
It is a long road to rebalancing the British model and with the Eurozone crisis still threatening further financial armageddon, Peston asks whether we are in for decades, rather than years, of sluggish growth. Featuring interviews with senior economists, bankers and politicians, as well as the ordinary people in several countries, whose livelihoods depend on the outcome of this vast economic reordering of the world.
Channel 4, 8.15pm - 9.30pm
Documentary capturing the impact of the earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan earlier this year, using amateur footage filmed by those caught up in the disaster.
Film 4, 11.20pm - 1.10am
(2007) Nathan Fillion tries to kill himself after witnessing his wife and child's murder but, brought back to life, he finds he can see the auras of those about to die. Supernatural horror.
_____________________________________
Monday 12th December 2011
Radio 4, 1.45pm - 2.00pm
The arrival of Universal Penny Postage in 1840 marked the beginning of the post office as a genuine public service. Introduced by the social reformer, Rowland Hill, he argued that lowering the cost of postage would mean more people would send more letters leading to wider social benefits and increased profits. As secretary of the post office, Hill oversaw the implementation of the world's first adhesive postage stamp, the Penny Black.
As Royal Mail faces an uncertain future, Dominic Sandbrook charts the development of the post office and examines it's impact on literacy, free speech, commerce and communication. The Post Office has become a cherished social institution, linking people together and extending their vision outward into the wider world.
It's called Royal Mail but it should be known as the People's Post.
Radio 4, 4.00pm - 4.30pm
Mark Lamarr looks at the little-known story of Memphis Minnie, known for her guitar skills, her rowdy ways and the song 'When the Levee Breaks' a musical celebration of a key moment in Blues history.
'Levee', later made famous by Led Zeppelin and Dylan, was released in 1929, long before guitars found amplification, in reference (like many blues songs of the time), to the great Mississippi flood of 1927.
The flood was a huge factor in the Migration of African Americans into what would become the great RnB and Blues towns of Detroit, Memphis & Chicago. When the Levee Breaks is its most famous telling.
Neither born in Memphis nor called Minnie, the musician who wrote and recorded it travelled that now well worn blues journey both physically and musically in the first wave of blues musicians emerging from the Delta in the late 20s.
When the Levee Breaks was one of over two hundred songs written by Minnie during her lifetime, many are blues classics. Though her story has been largely ignored when compared to Robert Johnson, Leadbelly and other Blues artists of the time.
In a journey that starts along the banks of the Mississippi in a post Katrina New Orleans and ends in the promised land of the Blues, Chicago, Mark Lamarr explores her story, the flood itself and the development of the Blues that emerged around the Great Migration.
BBC 1, 8.30pm - 9.00pm
The world economy appears to be in meltdown, the euro is in turmoil and the economic future looks bleak. But does it have to be this bad? Panorama investigates how Britain plc could survive the crisis. Reporter Adam Shaw explores the potential for growth away from Europe in the fast-growing economies of places like Brazil, China and India. He also asks what our government needs to do to chart a path to a brighter future.
ITV 2, 9.00pm - 11.25pm
High-octane homage to the cop movie genre. A talented London sergeant is transferred to a sleepy village where his over-enthusiastic partner badgers him with queries about car chases and gun fights. As the sergeant insists that real city policing is not as exciting as the movies, he begins to notice that the village's low crime rate is offset by a suspiciously high accident rate. The pair's investigation reveals the horrible truth about their tranquil rural idyll.
BBC 4, 11.30pm - 12.30pm
Three-part series presented by historian Benjamin Woolley about popular games in Britain from the Iron Age to the Information Age, in which he unravels how an apparently trivial pursuit is a rich and entertaining source of cultural and social history.
In part one, Woolley investigates how the instinct to play games is both as universal and elemental as language itself and takes us from 1st-century Britain to the Victorian era.
Ancient and medieval games weren't just fun, they were fundamental, and often imbued with prophetic significance. By the late Middle Ages this spiritual element in games began to be lost as gaming became increasingly associated with gambling. Dice and card games abounded, but a moral backlash in Victorian times transformed games into moral educational tools.
This was also the era in which Britain established the world's first commercial games industry, with such classics as the Staunton Chess Set, Ludo and Snakes and Ladders leading the way, all adaptations of original games from other countries.
In the case of Snakes and Ladders, what once represented a Hindu journey to enlightenment was transformed into a popular but banal family favourite, and Woolley sees this as the perfect analogy for how the sacred energy which once imbued games had become gradually drained away by commercialisation.
_____________________________________
Tuesday 13th December 2011
Radio 4, 1.45pm - 2.00pm
The post office played a vital role in the spread of mass consumerism.
Thanks to cheap postage, businesses could advertise and interact with people in their own homes. When it took over the Parcel Post in 1883 the Post Office offered the first genuinely joined up postal service, leading to a boom in mail order catalogues.
BBC 2, 9.00pm - 10.00pm
The last episode in Vanessa Engle's series about our personal attitudes to money.
Forty grand is, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the average British income for a household where two adults are working. This film features a set of households who all live on this same net amount of money annually. Some consider forty grand to be a large amount of money, whilst others struggle to get by. The film compares the way the various households spend their identical budgets, revealing a wide range of priorities and values, as well as big differences in their life situations
BBC 1, 10.35pm - 11.40pm
With the rise of electronic books, is the final chapter about to be written in the long love story between books and their readers? Will the app take the place of the traditional book?
Alan Yentob discusses the subject with writers Alan Bennett, Douglas Coupland, Ewan Morrison and Gary Shteyngart, publisher Gail Rebuck, agent Ed Victor and librarian Rachael Morrison. They also smell books, making precise notes about the distinctive aroma of each.
_____________________________________
Wednesday 14th December 2011
Radio 4, 1.45pm - 2.00pm
Universal penny postage meant people from all backgrounds could afford to sustain long distance relationships. But it also led to increased pressure: lovers were expected to write two or three times a week, even if they lived in the same town. Sales of letter-writing manuals rocketed, allowing people to copy model examples of the perfect love letter.
BBC 2, 9.00pm - 10.00pm
Broadly considered a brand that inspires fervour and defines cool consumerism, Apple has become one of the biggest corporations in the world, fuelled by game-changing products that tap into modern desires. Its leader, Steve Jobs, was a long-haired college dropout with infinite ambition, and an inspirational perfectionist with a bully's temper. A man of contradictions, he fused a Californian counterculture attitude and a mastery of the art of hype with explosive advances in computer technology.
Insiders including Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, the chairman who ousted Jobs from the company he founded, and Jobs' chief of software, tell extraordinary stories of the rise, fall and rise again of Apple with Steve Jobs at its helm.
With Stephen Fry, world wide web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee and branding guru Rita Clifton, Evan Davis decodes the formula that took Apple from suburban garage to global supremacy.
BBC 4, 10.00pm - 11.00pm
An edited version of a landmark series first broadcast in 1984. The distinguished BBC commentator John Arlott talks to former England cricket captain Brearley about growing up between the wars, his career as a helper in a mental hospital, a policeman, a poet, a wine and football correspondent, and a cricket writer and commentator. The interview provides a fascinating insight into the life experience and attitudes of a liberal thinker born almost a hundred years ago and who died in 1991.
_____________________________________
Thursday 15th December 2011
Radio 4, 1.45pm - 2.00pm
During the nineteenth century the post office became a central pillar in the community; a symbol of order, stability and public service. As well as stamps and stationary, sub-postmasters supplied news, advice and local gossip. From 1862 the Post Office Savings Bank offered savings accounts to poorer people for the first time.
As Royal Mail faces an uncertain future, Dominic Sandbrook charts the development of the post office and examines it's impact on literacy, free speech, commerce and communication.
BBC 1, 10.45pm - 11.30pm
When the riots struck in August there was no-one more taken by surprise than Maurice Reeves, 80-year-old owner of Croydon's Reeves Furniture store, who had to watch his 144-year-old family business go up in flames.
This film follows him in the aftermath of that night, trying to work out how the town he had always thought so safe could descend into arson and looting, and whether he should ever open up shop again in the midst of a community that could spiral out of control so drastically.
In the weeks that follow he meets other victims of the riots, comes face to face with disaffected Croydon young people, and takes on local politicIans - becoming more and more Churchillian by the week, a steadfast octogenarian rebuttal to riot and violence.
_____________________________________
Friday 16th December 2011
Radio 4, 1.45pm - 2.00pm
By 1890 Britain had a state of the art postal service with six daily deliveries in Britain's towns. To achieve this service, delivery staff often worked six day weeks with shifts split over a twelve or fourteen hour day. In sorting offices, postal staff complained of leaky roofs and inadequate toilets. Worse still, postmen weren't permitted their own independent union, and in 1890 frustration turned to industrial action.
As Royal Mail faces an uncertain future, Dominic Sandbrook charts the development of the post office and examines it's impact on literacy, free speech, commerce and communication.
BBC 4, 10.45pm - 12.15am
Documentary telling the story of swing, an obscure form of jazz that became the first worldwide pop phenomenon, inspired the first ever youth culture revolution and became a byword for sexual liberation and teenage excess well before the Swinging Sixties.
In the process, swing threw up some of the greatest names in 20th century music, from Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington to Billie Holiday and Frank Sinatra. The film uses archive and contemporary accounts to shed light on why it endures today.
Saturday 10th December 2011
Ponyo
Film 4, 6.55pm - 9.00pm
(2008) Studio Ghibli Season: Charming animated family fantasy-adventure about a five-year-old boy who befriends a small fish who wants to become human. But her wizard father is not so keen.
| The Story of Film: an Odyssey |
The final episode of the series looks at how movies became more serious after 9/11, the rise of Romanian films, the movies of David Lynch, and interviews Russian director Aleksandr Sokurov.
| Sunshine |
(2007) Danny Boyle's sci-fi epic imagines a future in which Earth suffers a perpetual winter and humanity's only hope is a spaceship that will kick-start the dying sun. Strong language.
White Noise
Film 4, 11.05pm - 12.55am
(2005) Michael Keaton is in deep mourning for his dead wife Anna (Chandra West) when medium Ian McNeice shockingly tells him that she is attempting to contact him. Supernatural horror.
_____________________________________
Sunday 11th December 2011
| Eragon |
(2006) Action-packed fantasy starring John Malkovich as the despotic ruler Galbatorix who thinks he has exterminated all the Dragon Riders, but one survives to challenge his reign.
| The Unforgetable ... Larry Grayson |
The story of the life and career of Larry Grayson, one of Britain's best-loved entertainers. The Generation Game star was hailed as an overnight success at the age of 51, but the programme shows that his life before fame was far from ordinary. Featuring contributions from Bernard Manning, Terry Wogan and Liz Dawn as well as interviews with Grayson's friends and family, home movie footage and rarely seen archive performances, the show reveals the amazing and previously untold life story of a TV legend.
| The party's over: How the West went bust |
In the teeth of the worst financial crisis in living memory, BBC Business Editor Robert Peston examines how the world got to this point and how the collossal imbalances in the global ecoonomy have left the UK in need of a radical economic overhaul.
In the second of two programmes Peston asks how Britain can compete in the new world economic order. After years of living beyond our means the country surely needs to wean itself off the consumer society, but doing so threatens our retail dependent economy. In Germany the model of thrift and investment, far from the quick buck mentality of the City of London, has produced a powerful manufacturing and exporting economy that Britain, once so proud of its modern finance based approach, is desperate to imitate.
It is a long road to rebalancing the British model and with the Eurozone crisis still threatening further financial armageddon, Peston asks whether we are in for decades, rather than years, of sluggish growth. Featuring interviews with senior economists, bankers and politicians, as well as the ordinary people in several countries, whose livelihoods depend on the outcome of this vast economic reordering of the world.
| Japan tsunami: caught on camera |
Documentary capturing the impact of the earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan earlier this year, using amateur footage filmed by those caught up in the disaster.
| White Noise 2: The Light |
(2007) Nathan Fillion tries to kill himself after witnessing his wife and child's murder but, brought back to life, he finds he can see the auras of those about to die. Supernatural horror.
_____________________________________
Monday 12th December 2011
|
The arrival of Universal Penny Postage in 1840 marked the beginning of the post office as a genuine public service. Introduced by the social reformer, Rowland Hill, he argued that lowering the cost of postage would mean more people would send more letters leading to wider social benefits and increased profits. As secretary of the post office, Hill oversaw the implementation of the world's first adhesive postage stamp, the Penny Black.
As Royal Mail faces an uncertain future, Dominic Sandbrook charts the development of the post office and examines it's impact on literacy, free speech, commerce and communication. The Post Office has become a cherished social institution, linking people together and extending their vision outward into the wider world.
It's called Royal Mail but it should be known as the People's Post.
| When the Levee breaks |
Mark Lamarr looks at the little-known story of Memphis Minnie, known for her guitar skills, her rowdy ways and the song 'When the Levee Breaks' a musical celebration of a key moment in Blues history.
'Levee', later made famous by Led Zeppelin and Dylan, was released in 1929, long before guitars found amplification, in reference (like many blues songs of the time), to the great Mississippi flood of 1927.
The flood was a huge factor in the Migration of African Americans into what would become the great RnB and Blues towns of Detroit, Memphis & Chicago. When the Levee Breaks is its most famous telling.
Neither born in Memphis nor called Minnie, the musician who wrote and recorded it travelled that now well worn blues journey both physically and musically in the first wave of blues musicians emerging from the Delta in the late 20s.
When the Levee Breaks was one of over two hundred songs written by Minnie during her lifetime, many are blues classics. Though her story has been largely ignored when compared to Robert Johnson, Leadbelly and other Blues artists of the time.
In a journey that starts along the banks of the Mississippi in a post Katrina New Orleans and ends in the promised land of the Blues, Chicago, Mark Lamarr explores her story, the flood itself and the development of the Blues that emerged around the Great Migration.
| How to survive the meltdown: Panorama |
The world economy appears to be in meltdown, the euro is in turmoil and the economic future looks bleak. But does it have to be this bad? Panorama investigates how Britain plc could survive the crisis. Reporter Adam Shaw explores the potential for growth away from Europe in the fast-growing economies of places like Brazil, China and India. He also asks what our government needs to do to chart a path to a brighter future.
| Hot Fuzz |
High-octane homage to the cop movie genre. A talented London sergeant is transferred to a sleepy village where his over-enthusiastic partner badgers him with queries about car chases and gun fights. As the sergeant insists that real city policing is not as exciting as the movies, he begins to notice that the village's low crime rate is offset by a suspiciously high accident rate. The pair's investigation reveals the horrible truth about their tranquil rural idyll.
| Games Britannia |
Three-part series presented by historian Benjamin Woolley about popular games in Britain from the Iron Age to the Information Age, in which he unravels how an apparently trivial pursuit is a rich and entertaining source of cultural and social history.
In part one, Woolley investigates how the instinct to play games is both as universal and elemental as language itself and takes us from 1st-century Britain to the Victorian era.
Ancient and medieval games weren't just fun, they were fundamental, and often imbued with prophetic significance. By the late Middle Ages this spiritual element in games began to be lost as gaming became increasingly associated with gambling. Dice and card games abounded, but a moral backlash in Victorian times transformed games into moral educational tools.
This was also the era in which Britain established the world's first commercial games industry, with such classics as the Staunton Chess Set, Ludo and Snakes and Ladders leading the way, all adaptations of original games from other countries.
In the case of Snakes and Ladders, what once represented a Hindu journey to enlightenment was transformed into a popular but banal family favourite, and Woolley sees this as the perfect analogy for how the sacred energy which once imbued games had become gradually drained away by commercialisation.
_____________________________________
Tuesday 13th December 2011
|
The post office played a vital role in the spread of mass consumerism.
Thanks to cheap postage, businesses could advertise and interact with people in their own homes. When it took over the Parcel Post in 1883 the Post Office offered the first genuinely joined up postal service, leading to a boom in mail order catalogues.
| Money (3/3) |
The last episode in Vanessa Engle's series about our personal attitudes to money.
Forty grand is, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the average British income for a household where two adults are working. This film features a set of households who all live on this same net amount of money annually. Some consider forty grand to be a large amount of money, whilst others struggle to get by. The film compares the way the various households spend their identical budgets, revealing a wide range of priorities and values, as well as big differences in their life situations
| Imagine - Books: the last chapter? |
With the rise of electronic books, is the final chapter about to be written in the long love story between books and their readers? Will the app take the place of the traditional book?
Alan Yentob discusses the subject with writers Alan Bennett, Douglas Coupland, Ewan Morrison and Gary Shteyngart, publisher Gail Rebuck, agent Ed Victor and librarian Rachael Morrison. They also smell books, making precise notes about the distinctive aroma of each.
_____________________________________
Wednesday 14th December 2011
|
Universal penny postage meant people from all backgrounds could afford to sustain long distance relationships. But it also led to increased pressure: lovers were expected to write two or three times a week, even if they lived in the same town. Sales of letter-writing manuals rocketed, allowing people to copy model examples of the perfect love letter.
| Steve Jobs: Billion dollar hippy |
Broadly considered a brand that inspires fervour and defines cool consumerism, Apple has become one of the biggest corporations in the world, fuelled by game-changing products that tap into modern desires. Its leader, Steve Jobs, was a long-haired college dropout with infinite ambition, and an inspirational perfectionist with a bully's temper. A man of contradictions, he fused a Californian counterculture attitude and a mastery of the art of hype with explosive advances in computer technology.
Insiders including Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, the chairman who ousted Jobs from the company he founded, and Jobs' chief of software, tell extraordinary stories of the rise, fall and rise again of Apple with Steve Jobs at its helm.
With Stephen Fry, world wide web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee and branding guru Rita Clifton, Evan Davis decodes the formula that took Apple from suburban garage to global supremacy.
| John Arlott in conversation with Mike Brearley |
An edited version of a landmark series first broadcast in 1984. The distinguished BBC commentator John Arlott talks to former England cricket captain Brearley about growing up between the wars, his career as a helper in a mental hospital, a policeman, a poet, a wine and football correspondent, and a cricket writer and commentator. The interview provides a fascinating insight into the life experience and attitudes of a liberal thinker born almost a hundred years ago and who died in 1991.
_____________________________________
Thursday 15th December 2011
|
During the nineteenth century the post office became a central pillar in the community; a symbol of order, stability and public service. As well as stamps and stationary, sub-postmasters supplied news, advice and local gossip. From 1862 the Post Office Savings Bank offered savings accounts to poorer people for the first time.
As Royal Mail faces an uncertain future, Dominic Sandbrook charts the development of the post office and examines it's impact on literacy, free speech, commerce and communication.
| Up in flames: Mr Reeves and the riots |
When the riots struck in August there was no-one more taken by surprise than Maurice Reeves, 80-year-old owner of Croydon's Reeves Furniture store, who had to watch his 144-year-old family business go up in flames.
This film follows him in the aftermath of that night, trying to work out how the town he had always thought so safe could descend into arson and looting, and whether he should ever open up shop again in the midst of a community that could spiral out of control so drastically.
In the weeks that follow he meets other victims of the riots, comes face to face with disaffected Croydon young people, and takes on local politicIans - becoming more and more Churchillian by the week, a steadfast octogenarian rebuttal to riot and violence.
_____________________________________
Friday 16th December 2011
|
By 1890 Britain had a state of the art postal service with six daily deliveries in Britain's towns. To achieve this service, delivery staff often worked six day weeks with shifts split over a twelve or fourteen hour day. In sorting offices, postal staff complained of leaky roofs and inadequate toilets. Worse still, postmen weren't permitted their own independent union, and in 1890 frustration turned to industrial action.
As Royal Mail faces an uncertain future, Dominic Sandbrook charts the development of the post office and examines it's impact on literacy, free speech, commerce and communication.
| The swing thing |
Documentary telling the story of swing, an obscure form of jazz that became the first worldwide pop phenomenon, inspired the first ever youth culture revolution and became a byword for sexual liberation and teenage excess well before the Swinging Sixties.
In the process, swing threw up some of the greatest names in 20th century music, from Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington to Billie Holiday and Frank Sinatra. The film uses archive and contemporary accounts to shed light on why it endures today.
Friday, 2 December 2011
Off-Air Recordings for week 3rd December to 9th December 2011
Please email parkmediaservices@glos.ac.uk if you would like any of the following programmes / series recording.*
Saturday 3rd December 2011
The Story of Film: An Odyssey
More 4, 9.00pm - 10.25pm
The story of the brilliant, flashy, playful movies in the English-speaking world in the 90s, from Tarantino to the Coen brothers, Baz Luhrmann and the digital film revolution.
BBC 2, 8.00pm - 9.00pm
Cliff Richard, Bruce Forsyth, Michael Crawford and Andrew Lloyd Webber are among the stars sharing the gossip, glamour and behind-the-scenes shenanigans of the world's most famous theatre as it celebrates its 100th birthday.
Channel 4, 9.00pm - 10.50pm
(2008) Action thriller starring Liam Neeson as a former CIA operative desperate to track down his daughter after she is kidnapped while on a European holiday. Shocking gory violence.
Radio 4, 8.00pm - 9.00pm
How did the notion of journalistic impartiality develop? Former ITN editor Stewart Purvis explores how the line that separates reporting from opinion - and even propaganda - has been drawn and redefined over the past 80 years. Through rare archive and through interviews with some of the twentieth century's best-known correspondents, he charts the move from wartime censorship and Cold War clashes between broadcasters and the Government to more authored styles of reporting including Martin Bell's famous 'journalism of attachment'.
Stewart Purvis is Professor of Television Journalism at City University, London. Newsreel historian Jeff Hulbert helped with the archive research for this programme. The producer is Helen Grady.
The Host
Film 4, 11.40pm - 1.55pm
(2006) Korean monster horror in which a mutant kidnaps the daughter of a fast-food stand owner. The authorities refuse to help, so the father and his family attempt a rescue operation.
____________________________________
Sunday 4th December 2011
BBC 2, 7.00pm - 8.00pm
In the teeth of the worst financial crisis in living memory, BBC Business Editor Robert Peston examines how the world got to this point and how the collossal imbalances in the global ecoonomy have left the UK in need of a radical economic overhaul.
In this first of two programmes Peston examines how, thirty years ago, momentous decisions were taken which shaped the world we live in today. In China, Deng Xiao Ping opened up the country to foreign capitalists; in Britain and America, the free market revolution was unleashed by Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan. "The Party's Over" compares the lives of workers in a Chinese company with their co-workers in Britain.
Robert Peston interviews bankers, politicians and economists, and concludes that the boom we enjoyed before the crash was based on an illusion, and that the world's economy is now so unbalanced that in the West we face a sobering wake-up call.
BBC 2, 9.00pm - 10.00pm
In just seven years, Mark Zuckerberg has gone from his Harvard college dorm to running a business with 800 million users, and a possible value of $100 billion. His idea to 'make the world more open and connected' has sparked a revolution in communication, and now looks set to have a huge impact on business too.
Emily Maitlis reports on life inside Facebook. Featuring a rare interview with Zuckerberg himself, the film tells the story of Facebook's creation, looks at the accuracy of The Social Network movie, and examines Facebook's plans to use the personal information it has collected to power a new kind of online advertising.
_____________________________________
Monday 5th December 2011
BBC 1, 8.30pm - 9.00pm
With their price drops, rollbacks and brand matches - as well as that old firm favourite, the two-for-one offer - Britain's leading supermarkets are doing battle for customers' cash. They claim their price war is good news for shoppers in these tough times, but are their money-saving offers all they seem?
Sophie Raworth takes her trolley round the aisles of Britain's biggest supermarket chains and reveals some nasty surprises at the checkout.
Channel 4, 8.30pm - 9.00pm
Jon Snow and a team of undercover reporters find out what really happens to those desperate to find a home, now that the housing minister wants councils to work with private landlords.
Channel 4, 9.00pm - 10.00pm
Two million families are on the UK housing list, but there are a million empty homes in Britain. George Clarke tries to find out why and to get some families housed in time for Christmas.
BBC 2, 9.00pm - 10.00pm
The Royal Bank of Scotland was once a famous Scottish institution; a bank with a reputation for prudence. But in October 2008, less than a decade after Fred Goodwin took over as chief executive, it came within hours of collapsing. RBS later posted the biggest loss in UK corporate history - 24 billion pounds - which damaged the bank's reputation for financial prudence and Scotland's image as a global financial centre. Using previously unbroadcast footage of the bank's top executives and interviews with bank insiders, this documentary tells the compelling story of a national catastrophe.
ITV 4, 11.15pm - 1.30am
Period crime adventure loosely based on the real story of the Irish immigrant who wreaked havoc in 1870s Australia. After being falsely accused of a crime, the Kelly brothers form a gang and go on the rampage, committing a series of robberies and hijacking an entire town. They soon become notorious, managing to evade the oppressive local police force - but can their luck hold out?
____________________________________
Tuesday 6th December 2011
BBC 2, 9.00pm - 10.00pm
The second episode in Vanessa Engle's three-part documentary series exploring our personal attitudes to money.
This film about couples looks at how money affects our personal relationships. The top five causes of conflict in relationships are money, sex, work, children and housework - in that order. Couples from around the country - young and old, rich and poor - reveal the intimate truth about the role money plays in their relationships.
BBC 4, 7.30pm - 8.00pm
In the 1950s, the newsreel company Pathe mined their archive to produce a series of programmes for television called Time to Remember. Made by the producer Peter Baylis, they chronicled the political, social and cultural changes that occurred during the first half of the 20th century.
Each episode was narrated by a prominent actor such as Ralph Richardson, Michael Redgrave, Anthony Quayle, Edith Evans, Basil Rathbone and Joyce Grenfell, all reading scripts recalling historic, evocative or significant moments from an intriguing past.
In 2010, the material from the original Time to Remember has been collected together thematically to create a new 12-part series under the same title that offers a rewarding perspective on the events, people and innovations from history that continue to shape and influence the world around us.
Archive footage from the theatres, music halls and cinemas of the 1920s and 30s combines with characterful voiceover to give a glimpse of the entertainment industries in their early 20th century golden age. It includes footage of Charles Laughton applying his own stage make-up, chorus line auditions and rehearsals in the West End, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks visiting Europe, and Alfred Hitchcock's first talkie, 1929's Blackmail.
__________________________________________
Wednesday 7th December 2011
BBC 2, 9.00pm - 10.40pm
Charles Ferguson's Academy Award-winning forensic analysis of the 2008 global financial crisis. The film traces the emergence of a rogue culture within the finance industry which has corrupted politics, regulation, and academia. At a cost over $20 trillion, the crisis caused millions of people to lose their jobs and homes in the worst recession since the Great Depression, and nearly caused global financial collapse.
ITV 2, 10.00pm - 11.00pm
New series in which Hollywood gossip blogger Perez Hilton catches up with top celebrities in a bid to find out just what makes them tick. In this episode, Perez spends time with his friend Lady Gaga in Hollywood, California and Sydney, Australia. The duo share close conversation, private and exclusive interviews and some fun antics - including cooking together in pyjamas. Perez also follows Gaga behind the scenes at performance dress rehearsals and heads backstage at concerts.
Catch-22
ITV 4, 11.45pm - 1.35am
Adaptation of Joseph Heller's classic anti-war novel, set in 1944 on a US Air Force base. As the number of bombing raids increases, a captain finds his life becoming ever more bizarre and horrific. He decides to have himself declared mentally unfit to fly but soon learns that, since no sane person would want to fly, anyone making such a request must be sane - and that the logic of this deadly Catch-22 operates at every turn. With Alan Arkin, Martin Balsam, Richard Benjamin, Arthur Garfunkel, and Jack Gilford.(1970)
_______________________________________
Thursday 8th December 2011
Film 4, 11.45pm - 1.35am
(2009) Adult-themed claymation film about the 20-year pen-pal relationship between a girl living in Melbourne, Australia, and a man 35 years her senior living in New York.
_______________________________________
Friday 9th December 2011
Backstage Tales
Radio 4, 11.00am - 11.30am
Getting a music tour on the road is a massive undertaking, particularly if the star has a large entourage. A big tour can be the size of a small town, and every night it ups sticks and takes to the road again. Just feeding the crew is a military operation, which takes an army of caterers. So how do they do it? Having spent nearly 30 years on the road, Midge Ure is perfectly placed to spill the beans on musicians on tour. As Midge says, it is an incredible thing to be part of but it is also a hermetically sealed bubble, detached from the real world and creating its own reality.
In this programme, Midge Ure goes backstage into the bizarre world of musicians on tour, to explore how touring has changed since his heyday in the 80s and to meet the army of crew behind the scenes who put the tour together: the roadies, lighting technicians, sound engineers, tour managers, caterers, and the artists themselves. He hears their backstage tales and finds out exactly what it takes to get the show on the road.
Radio 4, 9.00pm - 10.00pm
Introduced by Henry VIII to aid the spread of intelligence, the first 200 years of Royal Mail saw a series of attempts to reform the postal system with mixed results. By the early 19th century the system had reached breaking point as all social classes sought ever more ingenious ways to avoid the high cost of postage.
Launched in 1516, the Royal Mail was intended to support official communications and bolster intelligence. It was only a rise in literacy and trade that stimulated a demand for a public service. In the paranoid era of the English Civil War the postal network became an important instrument of state control. In a secret room deep in the post office building, agents opened and copied letters from suspected dissidents on a grand scale.
Launched in 1680, The London Penny Post was the first accessible and cheap method for sending mail within the capital for the equivalent of £6.
During the eighteenth century an expanding postal network offered new possibilities for long-distance relationships. From travelling preachers to sailors and their families, people from all backgrounds found ways to write home.
Introduced in 1784 the mail coach slashed journey times by two thirds, provided a new state of the art form of public transport, and allowed newspapers to reach the provinces within 24 hours. The timepieces carried by guards also had the unintended consequence of creating standard UK time in the era before GMT.
In the early 1800s the post office operated an expensive and illogical payment system. This forced letter-writers into ever more imaginative ways of avoiding postage, from using private couriers, to sending coded newspapers. MPs were allowed to send letters for free, but as only a signature was required it created a system that was ripe for abuse.
BBC 4, 9.00pm - 10.00pm
In the late 1980s Public Enemy were the biggest rap group on the planet. Their mission: to raise the consciousness of a generation. With a rebellious attitude to match their militant image they sold millions of records preaching pro-black politics to fans of all races, all done through a groundbreaking wall of noise that changed the sound of hip hop. White, middle Americans were outraged, but their kids loved it.
Not surprisingly, this confrontational approach attracted controversy. Critics claimed the group themselves were racist, exposing racial divides rather than promoting equality. They were banned from some TV and radio stations and when one member reportedly made anti-Semitic remarks in a newspaper interview the resulting media-storm threatened to end their career. Tensions were running high and arguments within the band ended in violence. Could they keep it together long enough to get their message across?
Includes exclusive new interviews with Chuck D, Flavor Flav, Professor Griff, Hank and Keith Shocklee and the S1Ws. Plus contributions from Run DMC, Method Man (Wu-Tang Clan), Anthrax's Scott Ian, Jurassic 5's Chali 2na, Bahamadia, writer and activist Kevin Powell and DJ Dave Pearce.
ITV1, 9.00pm - 10.30pm
Amanda Holden narrates a special programme celebrating the amazing catalogue of Bee Gees hits and counting down the top 20 to reveal the nation's favourite. The show reveals the stories behind the songs and features in-depth interviews with Barry and Robin Gibb as well as a version of Stayin' Alive which has been lost since 1977. The Gibb brothers have created some of the greatest songs in modern music history - but which is the greatest of the lot? With tracks including How Deep Is Your Love, Chain Reaction, Tragedy, How Can You Mend a Broken Heart and Night Fever, voters are spoilt for choice. There are also contributions from celebrity fans including Elton John, Cliff Richard, Ronan Keating, Mick Hucknall, Dave Grohl and Katie Melua.
BBC 4, 10.00pm - 11.00pm
Hip hop through the decades from the BBC archives, including the Sugarhill Gang in 1979, Run DMC, LL Cool J and Eric B & Rakim in the 80s, Ice T, Monie Love, Fugees and the Roots in the 90s and concluding with Dr Dre & Eminem, Dizzee Rascal and Jay-Z.
Saturday 3rd December 2011
The Story of Film: An Odyssey
More 4, 9.00pm - 10.25pm
The story of the brilliant, flashy, playful movies in the English-speaking world in the 90s, from Tarantino to the Coen brothers, Baz Luhrmann and the digital film revolution.
| 100 Years at the Palladium |
Cliff Richard, Bruce Forsyth, Michael Crawford and Andrew Lloyd Webber are among the stars sharing the gossip, glamour and behind-the-scenes shenanigans of the world's most famous theatre as it celebrates its 100th birthday.
| Taken |
(2008) Action thriller starring Liam Neeson as a former CIA operative desperate to track down his daughter after she is kidnapped while on a European holiday. Shocking gory violence.
| Achive on 4: When reporters cross the line |
How did the notion of journalistic impartiality develop? Former ITN editor Stewart Purvis explores how the line that separates reporting from opinion - and even propaganda - has been drawn and redefined over the past 80 years. Through rare archive and through interviews with some of the twentieth century's best-known correspondents, he charts the move from wartime censorship and Cold War clashes between broadcasters and the Government to more authored styles of reporting including Martin Bell's famous 'journalism of attachment'.
Stewart Purvis is Professor of Television Journalism at City University, London. Newsreel historian Jeff Hulbert helped with the archive research for this programme. The producer is Helen Grady.
The Host
Film 4, 11.40pm - 1.55pm
(2006) Korean monster horror in which a mutant kidnaps the daughter of a fast-food stand owner. The authorities refuse to help, so the father and his family attempt a rescue operation.
____________________________________
Sunday 4th December 2011
| The party's over: How the West went bust |
In the teeth of the worst financial crisis in living memory, BBC Business Editor Robert Peston examines how the world got to this point and how the collossal imbalances in the global ecoonomy have left the UK in need of a radical economic overhaul.
In this first of two programmes Peston examines how, thirty years ago, momentous decisions were taken which shaped the world we live in today. In China, Deng Xiao Ping opened up the country to foreign capitalists; in Britain and America, the free market revolution was unleashed by Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan. "The Party's Over" compares the lives of workers in a Chinese company with their co-workers in Britain.
Robert Peston interviews bankers, politicians and economists, and concludes that the boom we enjoyed before the crash was based on an illusion, and that the world's economy is now so unbalanced that in the West we face a sobering wake-up call.
| Mark Zuckerberg: Inside Facebook |
In just seven years, Mark Zuckerberg has gone from his Harvard college dorm to running a business with 800 million users, and a possible value of $100 billion. His idea to 'make the world more open and connected' has sparked a revolution in communication, and now looks set to have a huge impact on business too.
Emily Maitlis reports on life inside Facebook. Featuring a rare interview with Zuckerberg himself, the film tells the story of Facebook's creation, looks at the accuracy of The Social Network movie, and examines Facebook's plans to use the personal information it has collected to power a new kind of online advertising.
_____________________________________
Monday 5th December 2011
| The truth about supermarket price wars: Panorama |
With their price drops, rollbacks and brand matches - as well as that old firm favourite, the two-for-one offer - Britain's leading supermarkets are doing battle for customers' cash. They claim their price war is good news for shoppers in these tough times, but are their money-saving offers all they seem?
Sophie Raworth takes her trolley round the aisles of Britain's biggest supermarket chains and reveals some nasty surprises at the checkout.
| Landlords From Hell: Dispatches |
Jon Snow and a team of undercover reporters find out what really happens to those desperate to find a home, now that the housing minister wants councils to work with private landlords.
| The Great British Property Scandal |
Two million families are on the UK housing list, but there are a million empty homes in Britain. George Clarke tries to find out why and to get some families housed in time for Christmas.
| RBS: Inside the bank that ran out of money |
The Royal Bank of Scotland was once a famous Scottish institution; a bank with a reputation for prudence. But in October 2008, less than a decade after Fred Goodwin took over as chief executive, it came within hours of collapsing. RBS later posted the biggest loss in UK corporate history - 24 billion pounds - which damaged the bank's reputation for financial prudence and Scotland's image as a global financial centre. Using previously unbroadcast footage of the bank's top executives and interviews with bank insiders, this documentary tells the compelling story of a national catastrophe.
| Ned Kelly |
Period crime adventure loosely based on the real story of the Irish immigrant who wreaked havoc in 1870s Australia. After being falsely accused of a crime, the Kelly brothers form a gang and go on the rampage, committing a series of robberies and hijacking an entire town. They soon become notorious, managing to evade the oppressive local police force - but can their luck hold out?
____________________________________
Tuesday 6th December 2011
| Money (part 2/3) |
The second episode in Vanessa Engle's three-part documentary series exploring our personal attitudes to money.
This film about couples looks at how money affects our personal relationships. The top five causes of conflict in relationships are money, sex, work, children and housework - in that order. Couples from around the country - young and old, rich and poor - reveal the intimate truth about the role money plays in their relationships.
| Time to remember |
In the 1950s, the newsreel company Pathe mined their archive to produce a series of programmes for television called Time to Remember. Made by the producer Peter Baylis, they chronicled the political, social and cultural changes that occurred during the first half of the 20th century.
Each episode was narrated by a prominent actor such as Ralph Richardson, Michael Redgrave, Anthony Quayle, Edith Evans, Basil Rathbone and Joyce Grenfell, all reading scripts recalling historic, evocative or significant moments from an intriguing past.
In 2010, the material from the original Time to Remember has been collected together thematically to create a new 12-part series under the same title that offers a rewarding perspective on the events, people and innovations from history that continue to shape and influence the world around us.
Archive footage from the theatres, music halls and cinemas of the 1920s and 30s combines with characterful voiceover to give a glimpse of the entertainment industries in their early 20th century golden age. It includes footage of Charles Laughton applying his own stage make-up, chorus line auditions and rehearsals in the West End, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks visiting Europe, and Alfred Hitchcock's first talkie, 1929's Blackmail.
__________________________________________
Wednesday 7th December 2011
| Storyville |
Charles Ferguson's Academy Award-winning forensic analysis of the 2008 global financial crisis. The film traces the emergence of a rogue culture within the finance industry which has corrupted politics, regulation, and academia. At a cost over $20 trillion, the crisis caused millions of people to lose their jobs and homes in the worst recession since the Great Depression, and nearly caused global financial collapse.
| Perez Hilton Superfan |
New series in which Hollywood gossip blogger Perez Hilton catches up with top celebrities in a bid to find out just what makes them tick. In this episode, Perez spends time with his friend Lady Gaga in Hollywood, California and Sydney, Australia. The duo share close conversation, private and exclusive interviews and some fun antics - including cooking together in pyjamas. Perez also follows Gaga behind the scenes at performance dress rehearsals and heads backstage at concerts.
Catch-22
ITV 4, 11.45pm - 1.35am
Adaptation of Joseph Heller's classic anti-war novel, set in 1944 on a US Air Force base. As the number of bombing raids increases, a captain finds his life becoming ever more bizarre and horrific. He decides to have himself declared mentally unfit to fly but soon learns that, since no sane person would want to fly, anyone making such a request must be sane - and that the logic of this deadly Catch-22 operates at every turn. With Alan Arkin, Martin Balsam, Richard Benjamin, Arthur Garfunkel, and Jack Gilford.(1970)
_______________________________________
Thursday 8th December 2011
| Mary and Max |
(2009) Adult-themed claymation film about the 20-year pen-pal relationship between a girl living in Melbourne, Australia, and a man 35 years her senior living in New York.
_______________________________________
Friday 9th December 2011
Backstage Tales
Radio 4, 11.00am - 11.30am
Getting a music tour on the road is a massive undertaking, particularly if the star has a large entourage. A big tour can be the size of a small town, and every night it ups sticks and takes to the road again. Just feeding the crew is a military operation, which takes an army of caterers. So how do they do it? Having spent nearly 30 years on the road, Midge Ure is perfectly placed to spill the beans on musicians on tour. As Midge says, it is an incredible thing to be part of but it is also a hermetically sealed bubble, detached from the real world and creating its own reality.
In this programme, Midge Ure goes backstage into the bizarre world of musicians on tour, to explore how touring has changed since his heyday in the 80s and to meet the army of crew behind the scenes who put the tour together: the roadies, lighting technicians, sound engineers, tour managers, caterers, and the artists themselves. He hears their backstage tales and finds out exactly what it takes to get the show on the road.
| The people's post: a narrative history of the Post Office |
Introduced by Henry VIII to aid the spread of intelligence, the first 200 years of Royal Mail saw a series of attempts to reform the postal system with mixed results. By the early 19th century the system had reached breaking point as all social classes sought ever more ingenious ways to avoid the high cost of postage.
Launched in 1516, the Royal Mail was intended to support official communications and bolster intelligence. It was only a rise in literacy and trade that stimulated a demand for a public service. In the paranoid era of the English Civil War the postal network became an important instrument of state control. In a secret room deep in the post office building, agents opened and copied letters from suspected dissidents on a grand scale.
Launched in 1680, The London Penny Post was the first accessible and cheap method for sending mail within the capital for the equivalent of £6.
During the eighteenth century an expanding postal network offered new possibilities for long-distance relationships. From travelling preachers to sailors and their families, people from all backgrounds found ways to write home.
Introduced in 1784 the mail coach slashed journey times by two thirds, provided a new state of the art form of public transport, and allowed newspapers to reach the provinces within 24 hours. The timepieces carried by guards also had the unintended consequence of creating standard UK time in the era before GMT.
In the early 1800s the post office operated an expensive and illogical payment system. This forced letter-writers into ever more imaginative ways of avoiding postage, from using private couriers, to sending coded newspapers. MPs were allowed to send letters for free, but as only a signature was required it created a system that was ripe for abuse.
| Public Enemy: prophets of rage |
In the late 1980s Public Enemy were the biggest rap group on the planet. Their mission: to raise the consciousness of a generation. With a rebellious attitude to match their militant image they sold millions of records preaching pro-black politics to fans of all races, all done through a groundbreaking wall of noise that changed the sound of hip hop. White, middle Americans were outraged, but their kids loved it.
Not surprisingly, this confrontational approach attracted controversy. Critics claimed the group themselves were racist, exposing racial divides rather than promoting equality. They were banned from some TV and radio stations and when one member reportedly made anti-Semitic remarks in a newspaper interview the resulting media-storm threatened to end their career. Tensions were running high and arguments within the band ended in violence. Could they keep it together long enough to get their message across?
Includes exclusive new interviews with Chuck D, Flavor Flav, Professor Griff, Hank and Keith Shocklee and the S1Ws. Plus contributions from Run DMC, Method Man (Wu-Tang Clan), Anthrax's Scott Ian, Jurassic 5's Chali 2na, Bahamadia, writer and activist Kevin Powell and DJ Dave Pearce.
| The Nations Favourite Bee Gees Song |
Amanda Holden narrates a special programme celebrating the amazing catalogue of Bee Gees hits and counting down the top 20 to reveal the nation's favourite. The show reveals the stories behind the songs and features in-depth interviews with Barry and Robin Gibb as well as a version of Stayin' Alive which has been lost since 1977. The Gibb brothers have created some of the greatest songs in modern music history - but which is the greatest of the lot? With tracks including How Deep Is Your Love, Chain Reaction, Tragedy, How Can You Mend a Broken Heart and Night Fever, voters are spoilt for choice. There are also contributions from celebrity fans including Elton John, Cliff Richard, Ronan Keating, Mick Hucknall, Dave Grohl and Katie Melua.
| Hip hop at the BBC |
Hip hop through the decades from the BBC archives, including the Sugarhill Gang in 1979, Run DMC, LL Cool J and Eric B & Rakim in the 80s, Ice T, Monie Love, Fugees and the Roots in the 90s and concluding with Dr Dre & Eminem, Dizzee Rascal and Jay-Z.
Monday, 28 November 2011
Off-Air Recordings for week 26th November to 2nd December 2011
Please email parkmediaservices@glos.ac.uk if you would like any of the following programmes / series recording.*
Saturday 26th November 2011
The Story of Film: An Odyssey
More 4, 9.15pm - 10.40pm
Few saw it coming, but cinema entered a golden age in the 90s, from Iran to Japanese horror, France and Mexico. The programme meets Abbas Kiarostami, Shinji Tsukamoto and Claire Denis.
_______________________________________
Sunday 27th November 2011
More 4, 10.00pm - 11.55pm
The Kennedys kept their family life hidden from the outside world. But much of it was recorded on colour home movies. These remarkable films reveal the private story of the Kennedy clan.
_____________________________________________
Monday 28th November 2011
Joan Armatrading: More Guitar Favourites
Alex Kapranos
Radio 4, 1.45pm - 2.00pm
Following on from the success of her first series, legendary guitarist, singer and songwriter, Joan Armatrading, brings together a collection of great guitarists form around the world, in this five part series. Alex Kapranos, front man of the Scottish band, Franz Ferdinand has captured Joan's attention for this great musical sense and performance. She brings out the staccato style of his guitar, the tone changes in the music, the influence of his Greek heritage, and the importance of the Glasgow art scene to his ideas about and attitude towards music.
BBC 1, 8.30pm - 9.00pm
As Government spending cuts bite, one group of businessmen know they will keep making vast profits from our taxes while getting us ever deeper into debt. Since 1997 almost every new school and hospital in the UK has been built by private companies who lease them back to the government. But what's in it for the taxpayer?
John Ware investigates the inflexible terms and conditions of what has become the government's flexible friend - the Private Finance Initiative - a kind of ministerial credit card which racks up huge public debts without showing on the nation's balance sheet. He uncovers evidence of how government claims that PFI gives taxpayers value for money have been manipulated.
And he asks why the coalition government signed so many PFI deals when in opposition both the prime minister and his deputy branded them as 'dodgy accounting'.
____________________________________
Tuesday 29th November 2011
Joan Armatrading: More Guitar Favourites Sharon Isbin
Radio 4, 1.45pm - 2.00pm
Following on from the success of her first series, legendary guitarist, singer and songwriter, Joan Armatrading, brings together a collection of great guitarists from around the world, in this five part series. In today's programme she meets Sharon Isbin, America's leading Classical guitarist and winner of 2 Grammys for her guitar playing: virtually unheard of in the Classical music world. Joan hears how Sharon has recorded with a diverse range of musicians around the world, adding richness and complexity to the classical guitar repertoire. Sharon describes her rendition of older pieces and her care to set them in an accurate musical context for their time.
BBC 2, 9.00pm - 10.00pm
A new three-part documentary series from acclaimed director Vanessa Engle, exploring our personal attitudes to money.
This first episode follows people who dedicate their lives to getting rich, documenting the extraordinary world of wealth trainers. Featuring renowned American wealth gurus Robert Kiyosaki and T. Harv Eker, as well as a selection of their British followers, the film examines whether anyone can get rich if they truly apply themselves.
More 4, 10.00pm - 11.45pm
...Secrets and Lies: The definitive account of the 'wiki-saga', with the first major television interview with Julian Assange, in a tale of cutting-edge journalism and human emotion.
_________________________________________________
Wednesday 30th November 2011
Joan Armatrading: More Guitar Favourites Richard Thompson
Radio 4, 1.45pm - 2.00pm
Following on from the success of her first series, legendary guitarist, singer and songwriter, Joan Armatrading, brings together a collection of great guitarists from around the world, in this five part series.
In today's programme, she talks to Richard Thompson, the guitarist's guitarist and all round philosopher. Inspired by Django Rheinhardt, Richard is the Fairport Convention veteran guitarist who brought the excitement of rock to British folk music.
BBC 2, 9.00pm - 10.00pm
Nick Robinson examines how governments collect and spend public money. In the second of a two-part series, Nick shows how hard it is for politicians to raise the taxes needed to pay for all the things we want.
In a journey that takes him across Britain, Nick asks if the rich should pay more tax and discovers how little most of us understand about our often baffling tax system. He reveals the perils and pitfalls in store for chancellors who try to meddle with the system, and the ingenious methods they use to get us all to fork out more. Former chancellor Alistair Darling tells him: 'Talking about tax and politics is a bit like talking about sex in public. Everyone knows it's around, but they don't like to talk about it too much.'
In this film, Nick peels back the curtains to reveal the truth about the politics of tax.
_________________________________________
Thursday 1st December 2011
Joan Armatrading: More Guitar Favourites Jennifer Batten
Radio 4, 1.45pm - 2.00pm
Following on from the success of her first series, legendary guitarist, singer and songwriter, Joan Armatrading, brings together a collection of great guitarists from around the world, in this five part series. In today's programme she talks to the American rock chick, effects supremo, shredder and tapper Jennifer Batten, who rose to fame with Michael Jackson and then Jeff Beck. Jennifer is the one of the world's great session guitarists with an added ability to perform. She was Jackson's 'blonde twin' who he dressed in camp outfits and choreographed her to fly to stage alongside him. She never tires of pushing her guitar to the limits, finding the latest technology and effects to dazzle her listeners.
Channel 4, 8.00pm - 9.00pm
Cutting Edge meets some of the country's thriftiest people, from families obsessed by discount vouchers to a bride determined her wedding will cost less than a wedding dress.
BBC 4, 9.00pm - 10.00pm
Life was an iconic weekly magazine that specialised in extraordinarily vivid photojournalism. Through its most dynamic decades, - the 40s, 50s and 60s - Life caught the spirit of America as it blossomed into a world superpower. Read by over half the country, its influence on American people was unparalleled. No other magazine in the world held the photograph in such high esteem. At Life the pictures, not the words, did the talking. As a result, the Life photographer was king.
In this film, leading UK fashion photographer Rankin celebrates the work of Life's legendary photographers including Alfred Eisenstaedt and Margaret Bourke-White, who went to outrageous lengths to get the best picture - moving armies, naval fleets and even the population of entire towns. He travels across the USA to meet photographers Bill Eppridge, John Shearer, John Loengard, Burk Uzzle and Harry Benson who, between them, have shot the big moments in American history - from the assassination of Robert F Kennedy, the Civil Rights struggle and Vietnam to behind the scenes at the Playboy mansion and the greatest names in Hollywood.
These photographers pioneered new forms of photojournalism, living with and photographing their subjects for weeks, enabling them to capture compelling yet ordinary aspects of American life too. Rankin discovers that Life told the story of America in photographs, and also taught America how to be American.
______________________________
Friday 2nd December 2011
Channel 4, 4.05am - 5.00am
The story of Linda Carty, a British grandmother currently awaiting execution by lethal injection in Texas for a crime in which she has always denied any involvement.
Joan Armatrading: More Guitar Favourites Baaba Maal
Radio 4, 1.45pm - 2.00pm
Following on from the success of her first series, legendary guitarist, singer and songwriter, Joan Armatrading, brings together a collection of great guitarists from around the world, in this five part series.
In today's programme she transforms listeners to the northern most reaches of Senegal and the music and culture of Baaba Maal, an inspirational musician at home and abroad. She hears about the core of classical music at the heart of traditional and contemporary music, the range of instruments that make up the beautiful sounds from the region and the extraordinary position of Senegal in Africa, a meeting place for Arabic and African cultures. Baaba demonstrates some different tunings to Joan, that reveal the geographic and cultural origins of the music; he also discusses the resurgence of interest in traditional music among young musicians in Dakar.
BBC 4, 7.30pm - 8.00pm
Simon Russell Beale tells the story behind Allegri's Miserere, one of the most popular pieces of sacred music ever written. The programme features a full performance of the piece by the award-winning choir The Sixteen, conducted by Harry Christophers.
BBC 4, 8.00pm - 9.00pm
Simon Russell Beale continues his Sacred Music journey in this special celebration marking the 400th anniversary of the death of the great Spanish Renaissance composer Tomas Luis de Victoria. In exploring the extraordinary world of this intensely spiritual man - musician, priest and mystic - Simon's travels take him to some of Spain's most stunning locations, from the ancient fortified city of Avila, with its medieval walls and glorious cathedral, to the magnificent El Escorial palace, where Philip II would listen to Victoria's music though a small door leading off his bedroom directly to the high altar of the Basilica.
In Madrid, Simon explores the dramatic religious paintings of Victoria's contemporary El Greco in the Prado Museum and visits the convent of Las Descalzas Reales, named after the barefoot nuns who worshipped there and where Victoria spent the final three decades of his life as choirmaster and organist.
The music is specially performed by Harry Christophers and The Sixteen in the church of San Antonio de los Alemanes, a hidden baroque jewel built in Victoria's lifetime in the heart of Madrid.
BBC 4, 9.00pm - 10.00pm
After 15 years of soaring success with the Commodores, Lionel Richie left the group to go solo in what many considered to be a risky move. His first solo album, Lionel Richie, grabbed the world's attention, whilst the follow-up, Can't Slow Down, turned him into a global superstar. But could he maintain sustained popularity without the group he'd known as brothers behind him?
This documentary shows how Lionel achieved his dream of becoming 'as big as the Beatles' and how much of what he learnt from his years with the Commodores prepared him for that success.
Contributors include: Billboard Magazine editor Adam White; Motown songwriter and producer Gloria Jones; Kenny Rogers; video director Bob Giraldi; songwriter and producer David Foster; General Manager at Motown in 1978, Keith Harris; UK soul singer Lemar; and Pearly Gates of the Flirtations.
BBC 4, 10.00pm - 11.00pm
A selection of Lionel Richie's greatest moments from the BBC archives, from his first Top of the Pops appearance with the Commodores in 1979 to highlights from his 2009 concert at the BBC's Maida Vale studios.
Saturday 26th November 2011
The Story of Film: An Odyssey
More 4, 9.15pm - 10.40pm
Few saw it coming, but cinema entered a golden age in the 90s, from Iran to Japanese horror, France and Mexico. The programme meets Abbas Kiarostami, Shinji Tsukamoto and Claire Denis.
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Sunday 27th November 2011
| The Lost Kennedy Home Movies |
The Kennedys kept their family life hidden from the outside world. But much of it was recorded on colour home movies. These remarkable films reveal the private story of the Kennedy clan.
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Monday 28th November 2011
Joan Armatrading: More Guitar Favourites
Alex Kapranos
Radio 4, 1.45pm - 2.00pm
Following on from the success of her first series, legendary guitarist, singer and songwriter, Joan Armatrading, brings together a collection of great guitarists form around the world, in this five part series. Alex Kapranos, front man of the Scottish band, Franz Ferdinand has captured Joan's attention for this great musical sense and performance. She brings out the staccato style of his guitar, the tone changes in the music, the influence of his Greek heritage, and the importance of the Glasgow art scene to his ideas about and attitude towards music.
| Who's Getting Rich on Your Money?: Panorama |
As Government spending cuts bite, one group of businessmen know they will keep making vast profits from our taxes while getting us ever deeper into debt. Since 1997 almost every new school and hospital in the UK has been built by private companies who lease them back to the government. But what's in it for the taxpayer?
John Ware investigates the inflexible terms and conditions of what has become the government's flexible friend - the Private Finance Initiative - a kind of ministerial credit card which racks up huge public debts without showing on the nation's balance sheet. He uncovers evidence of how government claims that PFI gives taxpayers value for money have been manipulated.
And he asks why the coalition government signed so many PFI deals when in opposition both the prime minister and his deputy branded them as 'dodgy accounting'.
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Tuesday 29th November 2011
Joan Armatrading: More Guitar Favourites Sharon Isbin
Radio 4, 1.45pm - 2.00pm
Following on from the success of her first series, legendary guitarist, singer and songwriter, Joan Armatrading, brings together a collection of great guitarists from around the world, in this five part series. In today's programme she meets Sharon Isbin, America's leading Classical guitarist and winner of 2 Grammys for her guitar playing: virtually unheard of in the Classical music world. Joan hears how Sharon has recorded with a diverse range of musicians around the world, adding richness and complexity to the classical guitar repertoire. Sharon describes her rendition of older pieces and her care to set them in an accurate musical context for their time.
| Money |
A new three-part documentary series from acclaimed director Vanessa Engle, exploring our personal attitudes to money.
This first episode follows people who dedicate their lives to getting rich, documenting the extraordinary world of wealth trainers. Featuring renowned American wealth gurus Robert Kiyosaki and T. Harv Eker, as well as a selection of their British followers, the film examines whether anyone can get rich if they truly apply themselves.
| True Stories: Wikileaks - Secrets and Lies |
...Secrets and Lies: The definitive account of the 'wiki-saga', with the first major television interview with Julian Assange, in a tale of cutting-edge journalism and human emotion.
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Wednesday 30th November 2011
Joan Armatrading: More Guitar Favourites Richard Thompson
Radio 4, 1.45pm - 2.00pm
Following on from the success of her first series, legendary guitarist, singer and songwriter, Joan Armatrading, brings together a collection of great guitarists from around the world, in this five part series.
In today's programme, she talks to Richard Thompson, the guitarist's guitarist and all round philosopher. Inspired by Django Rheinhardt, Richard is the Fairport Convention veteran guitarist who brought the excitement of rock to British folk music.
| Your Money and How They Spend It |
Nick Robinson examines how governments collect and spend public money. In the second of a two-part series, Nick shows how hard it is for politicians to raise the taxes needed to pay for all the things we want.
In a journey that takes him across Britain, Nick asks if the rich should pay more tax and discovers how little most of us understand about our often baffling tax system. He reveals the perils and pitfalls in store for chancellors who try to meddle with the system, and the ingenious methods they use to get us all to fork out more. Former chancellor Alistair Darling tells him: 'Talking about tax and politics is a bit like talking about sex in public. Everyone knows it's around, but they don't like to talk about it too much.'
In this film, Nick peels back the curtains to reveal the truth about the politics of tax.
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Thursday 1st December 2011
Joan Armatrading: More Guitar Favourites Jennifer Batten
Radio 4, 1.45pm - 2.00pm
Following on from the success of her first series, legendary guitarist, singer and songwriter, Joan Armatrading, brings together a collection of great guitarists from around the world, in this five part series. In today's programme she talks to the American rock chick, effects supremo, shredder and tapper Jennifer Batten, who rose to fame with Michael Jackson and then Jeff Beck. Jennifer is the one of the world's great session guitarists with an added ability to perform. She was Jackson's 'blonde twin' who he dressed in camp outfits and choreographed her to fly to stage alongside him. She never tires of pushing her guitar to the limits, finding the latest technology and effects to dazzle her listeners.
| The Ultimate Guide to Penny Pinching |
Cutting Edge meets some of the country's thriftiest people, from families obsessed by discount vouchers to a bride determined her wedding will cost less than a wedding dress.
| America in Pictures: the Story of Life Magazine |
Life was an iconic weekly magazine that specialised in extraordinarily vivid photojournalism. Through its most dynamic decades, - the 40s, 50s and 60s - Life caught the spirit of America as it blossomed into a world superpower. Read by over half the country, its influence on American people was unparalleled. No other magazine in the world held the photograph in such high esteem. At Life the pictures, not the words, did the talking. As a result, the Life photographer was king.
In this film, leading UK fashion photographer Rankin celebrates the work of Life's legendary photographers including Alfred Eisenstaedt and Margaret Bourke-White, who went to outrageous lengths to get the best picture - moving armies, naval fleets and even the population of entire towns. He travels across the USA to meet photographers Bill Eppridge, John Shearer, John Loengard, Burk Uzzle and Harry Benson who, between them, have shot the big moments in American history - from the assassination of Robert F Kennedy, the Civil Rights struggle and Vietnam to behind the scenes at the Playboy mansion and the greatest names in Hollywood.
These photographers pioneered new forms of photojournalism, living with and photographing their subjects for weeks, enabling them to capture compelling yet ordinary aspects of American life too. Rankin discovers that Life told the story of America in photographs, and also taught America how to be American.
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Friday 2nd December 2011
| The British Woman on Death Row |
The story of Linda Carty, a British grandmother currently awaiting execution by lethal injection in Texas for a crime in which she has always denied any involvement.
Joan Armatrading: More Guitar Favourites Baaba Maal
Radio 4, 1.45pm - 2.00pm
Following on from the success of her first series, legendary guitarist, singer and songwriter, Joan Armatrading, brings together a collection of great guitarists from around the world, in this five part series.
In today's programme she transforms listeners to the northern most reaches of Senegal and the music and culture of Baaba Maal, an inspirational musician at home and abroad. She hears about the core of classical music at the heart of traditional and contemporary music, the range of instruments that make up the beautiful sounds from the region and the extraordinary position of Senegal in Africa, a meeting place for Arabic and African cultures. Baaba demonstrates some different tunings to Joan, that reveal the geographic and cultural origins of the music; he also discusses the resurgence of interest in traditional music among young musicians in Dakar.
| The Story of Allegri's Miserere |
Simon Russell Beale tells the story behind Allegri's Miserere, one of the most popular pieces of sacred music ever written. The programme features a full performance of the piece by the award-winning choir The Sixteen, conducted by Harry Christophers.
| God's Composer |
Simon Russell Beale continues his Sacred Music journey in this special celebration marking the 400th anniversary of the death of the great Spanish Renaissance composer Tomas Luis de Victoria. In exploring the extraordinary world of this intensely spiritual man - musician, priest and mystic - Simon's travels take him to some of Spain's most stunning locations, from the ancient fortified city of Avila, with its medieval walls and glorious cathedral, to the magnificent El Escorial palace, where Philip II would listen to Victoria's music though a small door leading off his bedroom directly to the high altar of the Basilica.
In Madrid, Simon explores the dramatic religious paintings of Victoria's contemporary El Greco in the Prado Museum and visits the convent of Las Descalzas Reales, named after the barefoot nuns who worshipped there and where Victoria spent the final three decades of his life as choirmaster and organist.
The music is specially performed by Harry Christophers and The Sixteen in the church of San Antonio de los Alemanes, a hidden baroque jewel built in Victoria's lifetime in the heart of Madrid.
| Lionel Ritchie: Dancing on the Ceiling |
After 15 years of soaring success with the Commodores, Lionel Richie left the group to go solo in what many considered to be a risky move. His first solo album, Lionel Richie, grabbed the world's attention, whilst the follow-up, Can't Slow Down, turned him into a global superstar. But could he maintain sustained popularity without the group he'd known as brothers behind him?
This documentary shows how Lionel achieved his dream of becoming 'as big as the Beatles' and how much of what he learnt from his years with the Commodores prepared him for that success.
Contributors include: Billboard Magazine editor Adam White; Motown songwriter and producer Gloria Jones; Kenny Rogers; video director Bob Giraldi; songwriter and producer David Foster; General Manager at Motown in 1978, Keith Harris; UK soul singer Lemar; and Pearly Gates of the Flirtations.
| Lionel Ritchie at the BBC |
A selection of Lionel Richie's greatest moments from the BBC archives, from his first Top of the Pops appearance with the Commodores in 1979 to highlights from his 2009 concert at the BBC's Maida Vale studios.
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