Saturday 28th April 2012
Terminator: Salvation
Channel 4, 9.30pm - 11.45pm
(2009) The fourth part of the sci-fi action franchise. It's now 2018 and machines have massacred mankind in a bid to rule the planet. Christian Bale heads the resistance to the robots.
Unreliable Evidence (4/4)
Radio 4, 10.15pm - 11.00pm
Clive Anderson and top legal experts discuss the best way to achieve justice in the wake of massive human rights violations in the Arab Spring countries. What role should the international community play in the process?
Libyan lawyer Elham Saudi and US ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues, Stephen Rapp, reflect on how successfully transitional justice was achieved in the past, in Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Iraq, South Africa and Yugoslavia, and argue about the best way forward in Libya as well as in Egypt and Tunisia.
Should prominent members of the former Libyan regime, such as Saif Gadaffi, be tried in Libya, where they would face the death penalty, or dealt with in the International Criminal Court in The Hague?
Other guests on the programme are Claudio Cordone of the International Centre for Transitional Justice and Geoffrey Robertson QC who served as the first President of the Special Court in Sierra Leone.
Are criminal trials the best way to address the horrors of a long and brutal regime? Or are truth and reconciliation commissions better placed to allow a society to move forward? And if there are to be trials, should members of revolutionary forces also be prosecuted for human rights violations?
Mean Streets
BBC 2, 10.30pm - 12.20am
A graphic portrayal of life in the underworld of the Little Italy district in New York City. The episodic narrative deals with the experiences and relationships of a petty hoodlum, his epileptic lover, and her unstable cousin who is on the run from a loan shark. Widely acknowledged as one of director Martin Scorsese's best films and a landmark of 1970s cinema.
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Sunday 29th April 2012
| Scooby-Doo |
| Young Frankenstein |
(1974) Gene Wilder and Marty Feldman star in Mel Brooks's parody of all the classic Frankenstein pictures, with Peter Boyle as the monster. Also starring Madeline Kahn.
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Monday 30th April 2012
| Ampers-Fan |
The dark horse of the keyboard, the ampersand exists to join things together, yet remains set apart. Whilst everyone can read and understand the ampersand, or the & symbol, how many of us know where it came from?
Alistair Sooke traces the history of the funny little character that has quietly given joy to so many, from a bored medieval scribe right the way through to a modern day digital font designer. Delighting type designers throughout the centuries as a chance within a font to create a small piece of art, it is a joyful moment in a functional resource. Speaking to Ampersfans Alastair enters into a world of letterpress, punchcutting and typography and discovers how the ampersand can be found at every step of the way, bringing a joyful flick of a tail to the dullest document.
If you thought the ampersand was a bright young thing in the world of type, you couldn't be more wrong; first credited to Marcus Tiro around 63 BC, combing the letters e and t from the Latin word "et". Fighting off competition from his nemesis, the "Tironian Mark", Alastair then tracks the ampersand to 16th Century Paris where it was modelled in the hands of type designer to the King, Claude Garamond, then back across the sea to William Caslon's now famous interpretation, designed with a joyful array of flourishes and swirls. Alastair will discover how the ampersand became a calling card for many typographers, showcasing some of their best and most creative work.
A simple twist of the pen, the ampersand has managed to captivate its audience since print began, in Ampersfan Alistair tries to pin down this slippery character down once and for all.
| Digital World (1/7) |
Aleks Krotoski asks not just what technology can do for us but also what is it doing to us and the world we're creating? Each week she takes us on a journey to where people are living their digital lives to explore how technology touches everything we do both on and offline.
Taking broad themes of modern living as a starting point she charts the experiences of homo digitas; both the remarkable and the mundane, to understand how we are changing just as quickly as the advances in our technology.
What does the deluge of images from digital photography mean for our memory when every second is being recorded, edited and posted online for posterity? Are the identities we create in social media no more than exercises in personal branding, to be managed and protected like any other product? And as traditional churches struggle to leverage technology to spread their faith do the behaviours we all display online have more in common with religion than rationality?
The time for wonder at the digital world is over, we live with it in every day. The question really is who are we now because of it?
| The King and the Playwright (2/3) |
It's 1606, and in the aftermath of the Gunpowder Plot the authorities are cracking down on Catholics. Shakespeare's Macbeth captures the anxiety and obsessions of the time, with James continuing to focus on succession and legitimacy, while food riots in the Midlands create the climate for the gripping tragedy of Coriolanus.
| The 70s (3/4) |
Historian Dominic Sandbrook takes viewers on an eye-opening and refreshing journey deep into the 1970s, a decade where the old Britain of the post-war years was transformed into the nation of today.
This episode looks at the Britain of 1975-77. New sex discrimination laws challenged the British bloke, while football hooliganism and industrial unrest heralded the end of the post-war peace. Equal pay and rights meant that women could, technically, work on an equal standing to men. Dominic contrasts their new 'equality' with the epidemic of casual sexism in British culture.
Fighting on the football terraces brought the national game into disrepute, while in industry there was a sense that Britain was slipping out of control: despite the government ploughing millions into British Leyland, the company was unable to control its workforce or to make cars that people wanted.
And in the midst of silver jubilee fever, a different cultural force was challenging society. Punk, embodied by the Sex Pistols, was sweeping the nation.
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Tuesday 1st May 2012
| Conjuring Halie |
Cerys Matthews celebrates the life of one of her musical heroines, the great gospel singer Mahalia ("Halie") Jackson, who died in 1972. Jackson became one of the most influential gospel singers in the world at the height of her popularity, inspiring singers like Aretha Franklin and Mavis Staples. But she was also one of the unsung heroes of the civil rights movement in America, described by the legendary historian and broadcaster Studs Terkel as one of the bravest people he'd ever met.
As a child she suffered illness, poverty and deprivation. The Church was her shelter. During the late 1920s, at the height of the great migration, she toured Illinois performing in churches. But it was in Chicago that she made her name and carved out a place for herself as the first professional gospel singer. She refused to sing secular music, a pledge she kept throughout her professional life. Even Louis Armstrong couldn't persuade her to sing jazz with him. By the 1950s and 60s, touring across Europe, she was being described as "the greatest spiritual singer alive." Throughout, she remained a close friend and comrade of Martin Luther King, travelling with him to the deepest parts of the segregated south and often singing at gatherings where he spoke including at the famous march on Washington.
In this programme Cerys talks to gospel singer Vermettya Royster and to the Reverend Stanley Keeble both of whom knew and played with Mahalia. We also hear archive recordings of the historian Studs Terkel talking with Mahalia in the years when they became close friends. We hear from blues and gospel writers Val Wilmer and Viv Broughton. As well as hearing her live performances.
| Life and Death of the Frontline |
The recent deaths in Syria of the journalists Marie Colvin and Remi Ochlik have once again highlighted the dangers faced by correspondents and media teams reporting from areas of war and conflict. 10 journalists have died in Syria already this year and last year the International News Safety Institute recorded more than 120 deaths of journalists and media staff around the world.
After 30 years reporting from hot-spots around the world, the BBC's World Affairs Editor, John Simpson reflects on what it's like to work in the face of frequent danger, on the personal pressures and doubts as well as the relationship between front-line journalists and their managers back at base. He examines the pressure to "get the story" and how journalists on the ground judge the boundaries beyond which they should not stray. Simpson also looks at recent developments to improve the safety of journalists through training, support and the work of organisations aiming to raise international awareness. He asks whether the focus of these efforts is right or whether in the end it largely comes down to experience, judgement and luck.
In a world that has come to expect news and eye-witness reporting almost instantly from every corner of the globe are the dangers faced by journalists who seek to shine a light on some of the ugliest aspects of the human story a price worth paying?
| Lolita |
(1997) Jeremy Irons plays Humbert and Dominque Swain is Lolita, the underage object of his obsession in this controversial film of forbidden temptation. Strong language/violence.
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Wednesday 2nd May 2012
| The Unforgettable Hughie Green |
Tribute to Hughie Green, a phenomenally successful child star and professional pilot who became TV's Mr Opportunity with the talent show Opportunity Knocks. Friends and family recall a driven, highly ambitious man whose appetite for fame and success was insatiable and who was ahead of his time in his instinct for innovative TV. With contributions from Michael Grade, Eddie Large, Bobby Crush and others. SUB
| The British Soap Awards |
Phillip Schofield presents the British Soap Awards 2012, a glittering ceremony honouring outstanding achievement in some of the country's most popular TV shows, as chosen by the public and an expert panel. The stars of Coronation Street, Doctors, EastEnders, Emmerdale and Hollyoaks take to the red carpet to find out who will be going home with an award. Categories include Villain of the Year, Best Actor and Actress, Best Comedy Performance, Best Young Performance, Best Exit and Best Single Episode. SUB
| Leader Conference (1/3) |
Andrew Rawnsley chairs a live discussion about the top stories of the moment.
| This World: The Shame of the Catholic Church |
Decades of clerical abuse and cover up have left the Catholic church in Ireland at breaking point. Now Darragh MacIntyre reveals new evidence of a scandal that goes to the very top of the Irish church.
| Parkinson: The Interviews |
Michael Parkinson looks back at his unique interview with talented and troubled film star Richard Burton. Back in 1974, Burton was battling against alcoholism and had spent six weeks in hospital for treatment prior to the interview. Parkinson persuaded him to talk candidly about his career, love life and drink problems.
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Thursday 3rd May 2012
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Friday 4th May 2012
| The Sixth Sense |
(1999) Bruce Willis and Hayley Joel Osment star in M Night Shyamalan's supernatural horror about a boy who claims that, everywhere he looks, he 'can see dead people'.
| Peter Green: Man of the World |
Legendary blues guitarist BB King named Peter Green as one of the greatest exponents of the blues, and the 'only guitar player to make me sweat'. If Green had only written Black Magic Woman, his name would still have a place in blues rock history forever.
His three short years leading Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac saw the band established as one of the biggest-selling groups of the 1960s. Yet at the height of their fame Green left the group, with his life spiralling into turmoil as drug-induced mental health issues took control. Rumours of his demise began to spread, and sightings of him became notorious.
After years battling his mental illness, Green is writing and recording again. Featuring archive performances and interviews with Carlos Santana, Noel Gallagher, founding members of Fleetwood Mac and Green himself, this film tells the story of one of blues rock's living legends.
| Pearl Jam Twenty |
In 1990 they started a band, their first album went gold, then sold 13 million copies. The band would go on to sell more than 60 million records worldwide and perform in nearly every major city in the world. Now they have opened their vault, with 20 years of rare and never-before-seen footage to tell their extraordinary story. From one of the great directors of our generation.
Told in big themes and bold colours with blistering sound, this is the definitive portrait of Pearl Jam - part concert film, part intimate insider-hang, part testimonial to the power of music and uncompromising artists.
Carved from more than 1,200 hours of footage, live performances and recent interviews, the film chronicles the years leading up to Pearl Jam's formation, their rise to fame and the chaos that ensued soon thereafter.
Academy Award-winning director Cameron Crowe has assembled the best-of-the-best from Pearl Jam's past and present in a compelling narrative that recreates the visceral feeling of what it is to love music and feel it deeply.
After 20 years, nine bestselling albums, 60 million record sales and thousands of live performances across the globe, Pearl Jam has a devoted fanbase often compared to that of music legends like the Grateful Dead, Bruce Springsteen and the Who, propelling them into superstardom and solidifying their position as one of the biggest, most magnetic touring acts in the world.
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