Saturday 14th January 2012
| The Man Who Made Eric and Ernie |
During the 1970s, BBC shows like Morecambe and Wise, the Two Ronnies, the Generation Game, Dad's Army and Parkinson transformed the world of television entertainment and delighted audiences in their millions.
The man behind the success of these shows was entertainment impresario Sir Bill Cotton, who died in 2008. Stars including Ronnie Corbett, Sir Michael Parkinson and Bruce Forsyth celebrate the golden age of entertainment and remember the man who made it happen.
| Archive on 4: Bertrand Russell - the First Media Academic? |
Bertrand Russell was one of the greatest thinkers of the last century. His contributions to the field of mathematics and philosophy are still widely acknowledged as some of the most important of their kind. But, as Robin Ince discovers, he was also arguably one of the first great media academic stars, who brought his own brand of rationalism and intellect to an audience far beyond the academic and political circles he routinely mixed with. His relationship with the BBC goes back almost to the beginning of its own history, and his many broadcasts and appearances on radio, in particular, brought his ideas to a whole new audience. He delivered the very first Reith Lectures back in 1948, and was a regular panellist on the hugely popular "The Brains Trust". His thoughts on themes ranging from education, through to nuclear armament and religion, were regularly broadcast on the BBC, right up to the end of his life. Robin Ince takes a listen back to some of Russell's great contributions to broadcasting and looks at the life of arguably the first great media academic.
| Ken Russell: Bit of a Devil |
Following the recent death of Ken Russell, Alan Yentob looks back over the career of the flamboyant film director responsible for Women In Love, Tommy and The Devils. Friends and admirers - including Glenda Jackson, Terry Gilliam, Twiggy, Melvyn Bragg, Robert Powell and Roger Daltrey - recall a pioneering documentary-maker, talented photographer and fearless film director.
When at the BBC in the Sixties, Russell first established his name with brilliant documentaries on Elgar, Delius and Debussy. Not only did he bring alive their music with inspiring images, he also humanised them by using actors, something unthinkable in factual film-making at the time. His unfettered imagination soon led to feature films. Women In Love earned Glenda Jackson an Oscar and notoriety for a nude wrestling scene featuring Oliver Reed and Alan Bates. Although infamy dogged him with The Devils, he enjoyed considerable commercial success with The Boyfriend and his extravagant take on The Who's Tommy. Furiously creative to the end, Russell showed himself determined to pursue his original ideas, sometimes regardless of the personal cost.
| Women in Love |
Powerful adaptation of the classic DH Lawrence novel, set in the West Midlands in the 1920s, about the intertwined lives of two strong-willed sisters. Their relationship with one another is examined, as are their love affairs with two friends, one of whom is obsessed with the question of what love really means. Glenda Jackson won an Oscar for her portrayal of Gudrun.
| What Makes a Masterpiece? |
Matthew Cain explores music's extraordinary effect on the human brain, and learns how many composers are now exploiting the science of music in their work.
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Sunday 15th January 2012
| Dying Inside |
The film-maker Rex Bloomstein has pioneered the prison television documentary from the award-winning series "Strangeways" in 1980, to the ground breaking programme "Lifer - Living with Murder" in 2003. He presents his first radio documentary on the growing phenomenon of older prisoners in our prisons and hears from those who face the prospect of dying inside.
This country has the largest prison population in Europe with around 88,000 inmates costing the tax payer on average £45000 per year per Prisoner. The fastest growing group within it are older prisoners, who number over 8000. This is largely due to sentences becoming harsher and longer. At present there is no national strategy to deal with this issue. Prisons cope as best they can. Inmates are classed as older prisoners from the age of 50 when they are more likely to suffer with diabetes or coronary heart disease or have problems with their mobility.
For the first ever broadcast programme on this subject on British radio or television, Bloomstein visited three prisons: HMP Maidstone, HMP Whatton and he was given exclusive access to the Elderly Lifer Unit at HMP Norwich, the first time in its history that anyone from media has been allowed in.
He discovered that one of the most extraordinary aspects of this story is that over 40% of older prisoners are men convicted of sexual offences. An increasing number of them committed their crimes many years ago but have been caught by advances in DNA techniques. At the heart of this documentary is the testimony of the prisoners themselves, some of whom have been in jail for many years, while others have been sentenced late in life after their pasts have caught up with them.
Bloomstein also spoke to prisoners with very serious health problems and who are facing the possibility of dying in prison.
| Robin and the 7 Hoods |
The Robin Hood legend is updated to 1928 Prohibition-era Chicago in this spoof gangster film in which a good-at-heart mobster becomes a folk hero among the poor when he and his merry gang set about usurping the underworld's new kingpin. Songs include My Kind of Town, which was nominated for an Academy Award.
...Sings Musicals
BBC 4, 10.00pm - 11.00pm
... Sings Musicals delves into the BBC archives and presents an eclectic mix of performances from musicals from the 60s to the present. Featuring the likes of Ella Fitzgerald singing Mack the Knife from the Threepenny Opera, Captain Sensible performing a classic from South Pacific, Jeff Beck going down the yellow brick road of Oz, Jay Z taking on Annie, and all points in between.
| Bloody Sunday |
The story of the events of 30 January 1972, when British soldiers shot dead 13 unarmed civilians taking part in a civil rights march in Derry. The film follows the soldiers and the police, as well as civilians from both sides of the sectarian divide. It focuses in particular on the stories of four men who experienced the events of a day which was to become a major turning point in the history of the Troubles.
| Underworld |
(2003) Kate Beckinsale stars as the leader of a group of vampires who are fighting werewolves led by Michael Sheen. The prize is control of all humans. Strong language/violence.
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Monday 16th January 2012
| I'm Rather Worried About Jim |
Penelope Keith - was herself a huge fan. She talks to original cast members and directors of the show - to discover what made it such a phenomenon and why its legacy lives on today. She reveals the magic ingredients that made it so popular, how the story lines reflected what was really going on in society, and what happened when the original Mrs Dale played by Ellis Powell - was suddenly replaced by the international actress and film star, Jessie Matthews.
"I'm Rather Worried about Jim" is a fascinating and amusing look at a once much cherished English institution.
| The One Griff Rhys Jones |
| Richard Wilson on Hold |
| Secrets of the Shoplifters |
| Underworld: Evolution |
| Horizon: Playing God |
It is part of a new field of research, synthetic biology, with a radical aim: to break down nature into spare parts so that we can rebuild it however we please.
This technology is already being used to make bio-diesel to power cars. Other researchers are looking at how we might, one day, control human emotions by sending 'biological machines' into our brains.
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Wednesday 18th January 2012
Once Upon A Time In The Midlands
Film 4, 10.45pm - 12.45pm (2002)
Robert Carlyle and Rhys Ifans fight for the love of a woman (Shirley Henderson) in Shane Meadows' western set in... Nottingham. Strong language.
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| Putin, Russia and the West |
Vladimir Putin, after eight years as president of Russia and four more as prime minister, is stubbornly holding onto power. He has announced his intention to return as president and declared his party the winner in parliamentary elections that are widely seen as fraudulent. In Moscow 100,000 protesters have taken to the streets in the largest demonstrations since Putin took office. Putin began his career as a KGB spy but when he became president, he made himself a valued ally of the West. How did he do it? And what made Washington and London turn against him? This four-part series is made by Norma Percy and the team at Brook Lapping with a track record for getting behind closed doors with multi-award-winning series like The Death of Yugoslavia, The Second Russian Revolution, and Iran and the West. For the first time Putin's top colleagues - and the Western statesmen who eventually clashed with him - tell the inside story of one of the world's most powerful men. In this episode, George W Bush meets Putin in June 2001 and declares he looked him in the eye and 'got a sense of his soul'. Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice recall their discomfort. But Rice, the only Bush adviser in the private talks, reveals that, three months before 9/11, Putin gave Bush a prophetic warning about Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Taliban. After 9/11, Putin describes how he convinced his shocked colleagues that Russia should align with the West. Sergei Ivanov, Russian's defence minister, tells how the Taliban secretly offered to join forces with Russia against America.
| Fig Leaf: The Biggest Cover-up in History |
Writer and broadcaster Stephen Smith uncovers the secret history of the humble fig leaf, opening a window onto 2,000 years of Western art and ethics. He tells how the work of Michelangelo, known to his contemporaries as 'the maker of pork things', fuelled the infamous 'fig leaf campaign', the greatest cover-up in art history; how Bernini turned censorship into a new form of erotica by replacing the fig leaf with the slipping gauze; and how the ingenious machinations of Rodin brought nudity back to the public eye. In telling this story, Smith turns many of our deepest prejudices upside down, showing how the Victorians had a far more sophisticated and mature attitude to sexuality than we do today. He ends with an impassioned plea for the widespread return of the fig leaf to redeem modern art from cheap sensation and innuendo.
| The Story of Musicals |
The final episode brings the story up to the 90s and beyond. We see the rise of the jukebox musical as Bjorn Ulvaeus and Judy Craymer tell the story of the creation of Mamma Mia! Ben Elton and Brian May reveal how We Will Rock You defied the critics to become a smash hit. And as pop culture invaded musical theatre with celebrities like Jason Donovan taking leading roles, the Jerry Springer Opera proved a step too far for the moral majority. Billy Elliot took inspiration from the doyenne of British musical theatre, Joan Littlewood, as the hit movie was recreated for the stage, while Andrew Lloyd Webber embraced the medium of television to find new stars.
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Friday 20th January 2012
| Jaws |
Thriller based on the novel by Peter Benchley about a coastal community plagued by a killer shark. With the summer tourist season at hand, the mayor is keen to keep a shark attack hushed up. But when more attacks occur, an expert claims that the attacks are the work of a giant great white. There is only one solution - to kill the monster fish before it can feed again.
| Monitor: 100 Elgar |
Ken Russell's classic 1962 biography of the composer Edward Elgar, which includes reconstructed events in his life using actors and was made for the 100th edition of the pioneering documentary strand, Monitor.
| Transatlantic Sessions |
Folk musicians come together in what have been called 'the greatest backporch shows ever'. Paul Brady hooks up with Scottish chanteuses Eddi Reader and Karen Matheson and a few others in a performance of his song, Rainbow. Also featured are Iris DeMent in a rare appearance in the UK, joining Joan Osborne and Bruce Molsky, with the instrumental talents of Sharon Shannon on accordion and Russ Barenberg on guitar.
| Paul Simon: Live at Webster Hall, New York |
In June 2011, Paul Simon ended his So Beautiful or So What tour of small clubs and theatres in the United States by playing Webster Hall, an historic 1,400-person club in New York. The set list was drawn from his legendary career and includes several songs that haven't been performed live in many years. Kodachrome, Mother and Child Reunion, Gone at Last and The Obvious Child are just some of the highlights, along with songs from Simon's latest album So Beautiful or So What including Dazzling Blue, Rewrite, The Afterlife and the album's propulsive title track. Joining Simon on stage are Vincent Nguini (guitar), Jim Oblon (guitar, drums), Mick Rossi (piano), Andrew Snitzer (saxophone, keyboard), Bakithi Kumalo (bass), Mark Stewart (guitar), Jamey Hadad (percussion) and Tony Cedras (multi-instrumentalist).
| BBC One Sessions: Paul Simon |
The legendary American singer-songwriter with his six-piece band in an intimate concert from LSO St Luke's in London's Shoreditch. Simon plays songs from throughout his solo career and his 60s heyday with Simon and Garfunkel including You Can Call Me Al, The Only Living Boy in New York, The Boxer and Still Crazy After All These Years, alongside songs from his gold-selling album, Surprise. The band sing jawdropping harmonies, play everything from penny whistle to baritone sax and accordion while Simon sings, plays guitar and conducts the band in front of 250 fans.
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