Saturday 3rd March 2012
| The Story of Light Entertainment (2/8) |
Straight from the Victorian music halls with their traditional mix of song, dance and comic skit came the tradition of the all round entertainer - an artiste who could 'do it all'. But despite this incredible mix of skills and after ruling the world of light entertainment for years, their chief mode of employment was to become hosts of variety shows, game shows, quizzes and competitions. And whilst an obvious waste of their talents, it did provide huge fame and money, as game shows quickly became the biggest hits on TV.
| I'm in a Girl Group! (2/3) |
It is as true today as it was in the early days of rock 'n' roll - a girl group in full sway is an irresistible and uplifting force of nature, while life within the group is a heady and combustible mix of talent, ambition and hairspray. Members of legendary girl groups Bananarama, The Bangles, Sister Sledge, The Ronettes, The Supremes, The Spice Girls and Girls Aloud discuss what it is really like inside these mysterious sisterhoods.
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Sunday 4th March 2012
| File on 4 |
Their judgments send markets into freefall. It is alleged that their mistakes led to the Enron collapse and the 2008 financial crisis. They are the credit rating agencies. Who exactly are they and what exactly do they do?
Is this exploration of the complex world of the "Big Three" rating agencies, BBC Chief Economics Correspondent Hugh Pym takes listeners behind the scenes of the world economy. Through revealing interviews with insiders and former analysts at Standard and Poor's (S&P), Moody's and Fitch, along with leading investors and bankers, Hugh tells the story of the world's ongoing financial woes from a new perspective and ask if anything has really changed. S&P managing director John Chambers explains why governments listen to what his company says.
In Italy the agencies - rarely heard about until recently - have suddenly been subject to police raids and front page headlines. Italy, like many European nations, is unhappy about its recent downgrade and campaigner Elio Lannutti is on a mission to break the power of the rating agencies. But is there any truth in the idea that they're acting politically in their judgements on the Eurozone?
Real concern about the "Big Three" began following the collapse, in 2001-2003, of several major multinationals, including Parmalat, dubbed Europe's Enron. Ordinary people who lost money know only too well what it means when the rating agencies get it wrong. When mortgage-backed securities began going bad in 2007, alarm bells rang again. Why had financial products riddled with bad debt been given Triple A ratings?
So is there any way of breaking the "Big Three's" grip on power - or are they an inevitable fact of life in a global financial landscape?
| Inglourious Basterds |
(2009) Quentin Tarantino's history-tweaking homage to the war movie sees the director back on exhilarating form as Brad Pitt's squad of soldiers go Nazi hunting in occupied France.
| QPR: The Four Year Plan |
In 2007 Queens Park Rangers Football Club, facing relegation and bankruptcy, was rescued by four high-profile billionaires. Their vision: to take a community of reluctant fans, semi-talented players and a roster of ever-changing managers to Premiership glory. The new owners, risking ridicule and commercial failure, allowed cameras unprecedented access to record the roller-coaster ride.
One of modern football's most extraordinary stories, told from inside the boardroom, changing rooms and sidelines, the programme features the boardroom battles, telephone conversations, matches and private chats that reveal the inside story of the turbulent and dramatic developments that led to QPR's heroic promotion to the Premier League four tumultuous years later.
| The Machinist |
(2004) Christian Bale plays a factory machinist who, convinced he is the victim of a conspiracy, gives up eating and sleeping. Strong language/bloody violence.
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Monday 5th March 2012
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Tuesday 6th March 2012
| Law in Action (3/4) |
The law is increasingly impacting on sport, with landmark cases being heard in the High Court and European Court of Justice in areas like drugs and employment law. The involvement of lawyers has increased as the professionalism and importantly the money has increased. But when sport ends up in the ordinary courts the cases can be slow and in some cases financially crippling. Governing bodies are often keen to stay out of court, and sport has instituted its own courts, such as the Court for Arbitration for Sport. Many sporting governing bodies write into their constitutions that the CAS be the first port of call in dispute resolution.
The CAS will play a key role at the Olympics, but dispute resolution starts long before the games themselves. Britain's rhythm gymnastics team are already appealing against a decision not to select them for the Olympics and sprinter Dwain Chambers is awaiting a decision by CAS on whether the British Olympic Association rules that currently bar him from competing in an Olympic Games break the international rules on drug bans.
But the move away from the normal courts is not driven by cost alone. There is a debate about how far the law courts should be involved in decisions which impact on sport. The European Union has recognised the special nature of sport, and this has been welcomed by sporting governing bodies. But are we seeing the build up of a body of sports law, which might conflict with law in other areas? How far should sport be special in the eyes of the law? And where should the boundary lie between areas which are decided by traditional courts, sports courts or left up to the sport governing bodies themselves? Joshua Rosenberg talks to those involved with sport and the law.
| Nazi Titanic: Revealed |
The bizarre story of a forgotten propaganda film made by the Nazis about the sinking of the Titanic.
Made at the height of World War II, this film was conceived as the ultimate propaganda movie with the famous disaster recast as a story of Allied weakness and German courage. At the time it was one of the most expensive and ambitious movies ever filmed. The story of its creation rivals a Hollywood movie script with tales of betrayal, murder and massacre. It featured military personnel moved from the front to act as extras, the director was arrested and possibly executed on the orders of Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels and, in the last days of the war, the ship used for the filming was sank, as the Nazis tried to cover up the horrors of the Holocaust.
For 60 years, the film was shrouded in secrecy. Now, using Goebbels’s private diaries, unseen home-movies shot behind-the-scenes during the production and the original production design book, we reveal for the first time the extraordinary story of the Nazi Titanic.
| Murderball |
Documentary exploring the sport of wheelchair rugby, unofficially known as murderball. Created by quadriplegic athletes and played with bone-breaking intensity, the game is as aggressive as the name suggests. It is an official event at the Paralympics and the film documents the fierce rivalry between the American and Canadian teams before and during the Athens games of 2004.
Filmmakers Henry Alex Rubin and Dana Adam Shapiro document this fierce competition as well as the personal stories of the athletes who are passionate, driven and determined to win.
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Wednesday 7th March 2012
| Gok Wan: Made in China |
Gok explores the world of Chinese mass production, meeting the people and touring the factories that supply the West with jeans, bras, bed sheets, mobile phones and even London's black cabs.
| The Fisherman's Apprentice with Monty Halls (2/6) |
Marine biologist Monty Halls explores the challenges facing the British fishing industry by living and working as a traditional Cornish fisherman.
In this episode he goes it alone and soon learns that making a living as an inshore fisherman is a lot harder than he thought. A bout of violent sea sickness puts the whole project in jeopardy.
In this episode he goes it alone and soon learns that making a living as an inshore fisherman is a lot harder than he thought. A bout of violent sea sickness puts the whole project in jeopardy.
| Granny's Moving In: a Wonderland Film |
With costs of retirement homes rising, more people are choosing to take on the care of elderly relatives in their own homes. Sue and Phil Carroll have decided they have to do something about Sue's 83-year-old mother, Peggy. Paddy Wivell's film follows them as they try to manage an octogenarian who has become as difficult as a teenage daughter.
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Thursday 8th March 2012
| 2012 Pride and Punishment: Tonight |
Should Britain's fastest man be free to race at the Olympics? Dwain Chambers is currently barred from London 2012 but a court case next week might force the British Olympic Association to give him a second chance. The programme follows him at home and abroad in the run-up to the decision, and reveals how he is trying to put things right. A host of current and former Olympians including Sharron Davies, Kriss Akabusi, Greg Searle and Kim Collins give their views. Should Chambers be allowed to compete or should the BOA's uncompromising stance on former drug cheats stand?
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Friday 9th March 2012
| Melvynn Bragg on Class and Culture (3/3) |
In this three-part series, Melvyn Bragg explores the relationship, from 1911 to 2011, between class and culture - the two great forces which define and shape us as individuals and as a society.
| Still Bill: The Bill Withers Story |
You know the music - now meet the man. Still Bill is an intimate portrait of soul legend Bill Withers, best known for his classics Ain't No Sunshine, Lean on Me, Lovely Day, Grandma's Hands and Just the Two of Us. With his soulful delivery and warm, heartfelt sincerity, Withers has written songs that resonate within the fabric of our times. Through concert footage, journeys to his birthplace and interviews with music legends, his family and closest friends, this documentary presents the story of an artist who has written some of the most beloved songs of our time and who truly understands the heart and soul of a man.
