Saturday 11th February 2012
| AVP: Alien vs Predator |
(2004) An archaeological expedition to the Antarctic is reduced to chaos when the scientists become embroiled in a conflict between two savage extraterrestrial species.
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Sunday 12th February 2012
Key Matters
Radio 4, 2.45pm - 3.00pm
Ivan Hewett explores how different musical keys seem to have distinct characteristics and create specific moods.
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Monday 13th February 2012
| Poor America: Panorama |
With one and a half million American children now homeless, reporter Hilary Andersson meets the school pupils who go hungry in the richest country on Earth. From those living in the storm drains under Las Vegas to the tent cities now springing up around the United States, Panorama finds out how the poor are surviving in America and asks whatever happened to Barack Obama's vision for the country.
| Storyville - If a Tree Falls: a Story of the Earth Liberation Front |
Nominated for a 2011 Academy Award, this documentary tells the remarkable story of a young American environmentalist involved with the Earth Liberation Front - a group the FBI came to describe as America's 'number one domestic terrorism threat'.
For years, the ELF - operating in separate anonymous cells without any central leadership - had launched spectacular attacks against dozens of logging companies they accused of destroying the environment. In December 2005, Daniel McGowan was arrested by federal agents in a nationwide sweep of radical environmentalists involved with the ELF.
Part coming-of-age tale, part thriller, the film interweaves a verite chronicle of Daniel as he faces life in prison, with a dramatic recounting of the events that led to his involvement with the group.
The Essay: On Directing (1/5)
Radio 3, 10.45pm - 11.00pm
In the first essay of the series, Roger Michell reflects on the mix of emotion he feels on the first day of any production, and allows us to accompany him as he travels to the location of his most recent film Hyde Park On Hudson.
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Tuesday 14th February 2012
The Essay: On Directing (2/5)
Radio 3, 10.45pm - 11.00pm
In the second of five essays, the theatre director Emma Rice explores the role of the director as storyteller, and elaborates on the undertaking that transforms a text into a fully-fledged production.
Duets at the BBC
BBC 4, 8.00pm - 9.00pm
The BBC delves into its archive to celebrate Valentine's day with the best romantic duets performed at the BBC over the last fifty years. Whether it's Robbie and Kylie dancing together on Top of the Pops or Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge singing into each other's eyes on the Whistle Test, there's plenty of chemistry. Highlights include Nina and Frederik's Baby It's Cold Outside, Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers, Sonny and Cher, Shirley Bassey and Neil Diamond, Peaches and Herb, and a rare performance from Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush.
Jo Brand on Kissing
BBC 4, 9.00pm - 10.00pm
Following on from her popular exploration of crying, Jo Brand is back - and this time she has got a bee in her bonnet about kissing. Jo is convinced that the kiss has lost its value - we are either air kissing people we have never even met before or snogging each other's faces off in public. Either way Jo has had enough of it and decides it is time to find out whether the kiss really is 'kisstory'. Along the way she meets some voracious kissers in our closest animal relatives, the bonobo monkeys, learns a bit about the history and science of 'locking lips' and discovers the beauty of the kiss in some rather extraordinary oral sculptures.
Death Unexplained (2/3)
BBC 1, 10.35pm - 11.20pm
Alison Thompson's team is called to investigate the case of a man who died at the scene of a suspicious fire, and an unusual road traffic fatality. In court the coroner must reach her verdict; who were the deceased, and when, where and how did they die?
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Wednesday 15th February 2012
| Britain's Favourite Supermarket Foods |
We're used to hearing the bad news about our food. What's the good news? Cherry Healey puts some favourite supermarket staples to the test and uncovers the surprising secrets and unexpected powers of the food that people take for granted. With the help of members of the public from around the country, plus a team of experts, she investigates how milk can help muscles recover from exercise; what effect the way tea is brewed has on its health benefits; why there is more to baked beans than meets the eye; and whether it's really possible to be addicted to chocolate.
The Essay: On Directing (3/5)
Radio 3, 10.45pm - 11.00pm
Tony Award-winning director Bartlett Sher explores how a director must search for the play's 'inward sound' when creating theatre.
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Thursday 16th February 2012
| A Dad is Born: a Wonderland Film |
If there is one day on which a boy turns into a man, it is the day he becomes a dad himself. Award-winning film-maker Kira Phillips follows three men in the weeks before and after this day. She watches the struggle to become new men, the drama of birth and joins them on the steep learning curve of paternity leave.
Jamie, a city HR worker, attacks the prospect of parenthood by reading every self-help guide he can, but nothing he finds inside the pages of a book quite prepares him for his new life.
Mini-cab driver Viktor has resolved to put a history of womanising behind him and become the perfect family man.
And for multi-millionaire trader Greg, who left his wife and baby son, his girlfriend's pregnancy offers a second chance to be the dad he wants to be.
The one thing that is true for all these men is that the experience is nothing like they expected. And it leaves them all softer, gentler and much, much more tired.
The Essay: On Directing (4/5)
Radio 3, 10.45pm - 11.00pm
Josie Rourke, the Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse, reminds us that working in theatre isn't always plain sailing. In her essay, she looks at what happens when disaster strikes and things go wrong. It's in these situations that a director is truly tested.
The series is produced by Sasha Yevtushenko.
Josie Rourke trained with directors Peter Gill, Michael Grandage, Nicholas Hytner, Phyllida Lloyd and Sam Mendes. Before coming to the Bush she worked for five years as a freelance director and was the Associate Director of Sheffield Theatres and Trainee Associate Director at the Royal Court. At the Royal Court she directed Loyal Women by Gary Mitchell. She was the tour director of The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler. For the Royal Shakespeare Company she directed Believe What You Will and King John.
Rourke was the Artistic Director of the Bush Theatre between 2007 and 2011, where she also directed many of its hits including Nick Payne's If There Is I Haven't Found It Yet. In 2011, Rourke directed a production of Much Ado About Nothing at Wyndham's Theatre, starring David Tennant and Catherine Tate. She became Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse in January 2012. Her first production as director is George Farquhar's The Recruiting Officer which runs at the Donmar between February and April 2012.
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Friday 17th February 2012
Arena: Sonny Rollins - Beyond the Notes
BBC 4, 9.00pm - 10.00pm
2011 is the 82nd year in the extraordinary life of arguably the greatest saxophone player in the world, Sonny Rollins. Four decades ago, as a young filmmaker and aspiring musician, Dick Fontaine followed Rollins up onto the Williamsburg Bridge in Manhattan during one of his legendary escapes from the perils of 'the jazz life'. Today, still resisting stereotype and compromise, and revered by a new generation of young musicians, Rollins continues his single-minded search for meaning in his music and his life. Dick Fontaine's film is built around the explosive energy of Sonny's 80th Birthday Concert, where legendary figures Roy Haynes, Jim Hall and Ornette Coleman join him to celebrate his journey so far, his music and its future for a new generation.
Arena: Sonny Rollins '74 - Rescued!BBC 4, 10.00pm - 11.00pm
Featuring a specially-shot introduction with Jamie Cullum, Arena presents a lost treasure - Sonny Rollins performing at Ronnie Scott's in 1974. After nearly 40 years unseen, this unique film shows a spellbinding performance from arguably the greatest saxophone player in the world. Having played alongside Miles Davis, Charlie Parker and Thelonious Monk, Rollins is one of the few surviving jazz greats. This gig captures him after his 1972 comeback when his bands started to sound funkier and to use electric guitar and bass. The band for this1974 set features Japanese guitarist Yoshiaki Masuo and soprano saxophone player Rufus Harley, who doubles on the bagpipes.
The Essay: On Directing (5/5)
Radio 3, 10.45pm - 11.00pm
In the final essay of this series, Mike Figgis reflects on the lessons he learned while working on big studio films in Hollywood, and on how those experiences shaped his own approach to directing.
Omnibus: Ronnie Scott and All That Jazz
BBC 4, 11.00pm - 12 midnight
Documentary celebrating the founding of Ronnie Scott's Jazz club in 1959. Scott, a rising young saxophone player, opened a club where he and his friends could play the music they liked. Over the following years, the club had its ups and downs, reflecting the changes in attitudes to jazz and the social life of surrounding Soho.
Now Ronnie Scott's is known throughout the world as the hearbeat of British jazz. In this tribute, Omnibus talks to some of Ronnie's greatest admirers including Mel Brooks, the Rt Hon Kenneth Clarke MP and writer Alan Plater, and features rare archive footage of some of the club's historic performances by Zoot Sims, Sonny Rollins, Dizzy Gillespie and Ella Fitzgerald.
