Saturday 16th June 2012
| Into Orbit: A Culture Show Special |
Anish Kapoor and Cecil Balmond's Orbit sculpture is the most spectacular artistic creation of 2012 - a gravity-defying, breathtakingly dynamic, scribble of crimson steel. Standing twice the height of Nelson's column, it now towers over the Olympic Park, and has already inspired strong reactions. It is the biggest piece of public sculpture this country has ever seen - a bold statement of artistic ambition and a giant engineering challenge.
In this one-off special the Culture Show goes behind-the-scenes to follow it from commission to completion, and discovers just how difficult it is to build a tower for the 21st century.
Featuring interviews with Boris Johnson and Lakshmi Mittal along with exclusive access to Kapoor and Balmond as they strive to realise their vision in the face of some Olympian challenges.
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Sunday 17th June 2012
| Plan B, Leona and Labrinth: Project Hackney |
Plan B is going back to his old school in east London on a mission to change young lives: 'I'm at an age now, I've experienced enough that I can go into that school and plant some positive seeds inside some of these kids' heads and hopefully make them dream bigger, 'cos the problem is, they don't dream big enough.'
Plan B went to a pupil referral unit in Newham where kids unable to attend mainstream school go. He joins forces with two other big east London names, Leona Lewis and Labrinth, to work with a group of teenagers at the school, gain their trust and help focus them on their future.
The stars may all have come from the East End, but they are both surprised and moved when they come face to face with some of the unique challenges and experiences these young people face growing up in the Olympic boroughs today.
The artists, who are all in the line-up for BBC Radio 1's Hackney Weekend, work intensively with the teenagers, coaching them towards a special musical performance in front of 250 of their peers. The teens, who have never performed in an event like this before, are challenged by Labrinth, Leona and Plan B to come up with, rehearse and deliver this musical moment, even though simply attending school regularly is a challenge for some of them.
The celebrities also explore how important family, diversity and neighbourhoods are in the Olympic boroughs, and how life in the inner city can affect opportunities for young people - for better and worse.
| Parkinson: The Tommy Cooper and Frankie Howard Interviews |
Michael Parkinson introduces a recut of two interviews he did with Frankie Howerd during the Parkinson show series and a Christmas interview with Tommy Cooper.
Frankie Howerd wanted everything scripted, resulting in an unprompted and unrehearsed interview whilst Tommy Cooper managed to run rings around a delighted Parkinson. Includes clips from Up Pompeii, The Main Attraction and The Bob Monkhouse Show.
| Time Shift: Hotel Deluxe |
Timeshift invites you to make a reservation in the world of hotels for the super rich. The Savoy, the Ritz, the Dorchester - the very names of Britain's grand hotels spell luxury around the world. The film charts how luxury hotels have met the needs of new forms of wealth, from aristocrats to rock stars and beyond, with comfort, innovation and, above all, service.
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Monday 18th June 2012
| Natural World: Unnatural History of London |
Seals, parakeets and even pelicans that eat pigeons have all made London their home. That's as well as badgers, foxes, scorpions, and pigeons that ride the tube. But even more wonderful are the people who love the exotic wildlife of our capital, from Billingsgate fish porters to Indian Chefs to 'Crayfish Bob', who scours London's canals for Turkish invaders. This is a warm-hearted portrait of the world's greenest capital city and the Londoners who love its secret wildlife.
| King George and Queen Mary: The Royals Who Rescued The Monarchy |
A two-part portrait of Elizabeth II's grandparents, King George V and Queen Mary, which examines the lasting legacy of the couple who rescued the monarchy from potential disaster, and whose influence persists to this day.
This episode focuses on King George V. George could not have been a more unlikely moderniser. Born and brought up in the Victorian age he was conservative to his fingertips. Yet in the face of unstoppable social change after the First World War he turned out to be a remarkable innovator, creating the House of Windsor, embracing democratic reform, and reinventing many of the royal traditions that we know today. When he celebrated his silver jubilee in 1935 the monarchy was more popular than ever.
But as a parent King George V was far less successful - he bullied his children and alienated his eldest son and heir, Prince Edward. As one courtier remarked at the time, 'the royal family are like ducks, they sit on their children'. By contrast, King George had a loving relationship with his granddaughter and much of Queen Elizabeth's style and commitment to duty can be traced back to this early influence.
| Let Our Dad Die |
...Dispatches: Tony Nicklinson has locked-in syndrome. He wants to die but can't do it without help, which would constitute murder. On the eve of a historic legal ruling he tells his story.
| A Short Journey Into Tajikistan |
Tajikistan, in central Asia, was once one of the smallest and poorest republics of the USSR. In the last twenty years it has moved from communism to capitalism, from atheism to a rediscovery of Islam.
Reporter Khayrulla Fayz returns to his village to discover what life is like for people there now. He talks to cotton farmers in the fields where he picked cotton as a child, meets migrant workers forced to leave their families to find work in Russia and asks the new entrepreneurs about the challenges of doing business there.
When Khayrulla was a boy he spoke Russian and looked up to Lenin as the father of the nation. He finds out who the new heroes are for the younger generation carving out an identity for this newly-independent country.
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Tuesday 19th June 2012
| All in the Best Possible Taste with Grayson Perry |
Grayson Perry explores British tastes, using his discoveries as inspiration for works of art. In this episode he meets the upper class and unveils his tapestries.
| Inside Man |
Heist thriller with a twist as a calculating gang carry out what their leader describes as the perfect bank robbery. As the drama unfolds, a tough policeman and the bank president's 'fixer' pit themselves against the criminal mastermind leader.
| Rude Britannia (1/3) |
In the early 18th century, Georgian Britain was a nation openly, gloriously and often shockingly rude. This was found in the graphic art of Hogarth, Gillray, Rowlandson and George Cruikshank, and the rude theatrical world of John Gay and Henry Fielding. Singer Lucie Skeaping helps show the Georgian taste for lewd and bawdy ballads, and there is a dip into the literary tradition of rude words via the poetry of Alexander Pope, Jonathan Swift and Lord Byron, and Laurence Sterne's novel Tristram Shandy.
| The Reith Lectures (1/4) |
The eminent economic historian Professor Niall Ferguson argues that institutions determine the success or failure of nations. In a lecture delivered at the London School of Economics and Political Science, he says that a society governed by abstract, impersonal rules will become richer than one ruled by personal relationships. The rule of law is crucial to the creation of a modern economy and its early adoption is the reason why Western nations grew so powerful in the modern age.
But are the institutions of the West now degenerating? Professor Ferguson asks whether the democratic system has a fatal flaw at its heart. In the West young people are confronting the fact that they must live with the huge financial debt generated by their parents, something they had no control over despite the fact that they were born into a democracy. Is there a way of restoring the compact between different generations?
| Law in Action (3/4) |
As the lines blur between the work of solicitors and barristers , Joshua Rozenberg asks whether a cheaper service provides better value for money or is it leading to poor advocacy and ultimately miscarriages of justice? Joshua Rozenberg looks at where the legal professions are going and how best to make sure that future legal advocates are up to scratch.
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Wednesday 20th June 2012
| The Secret History of Our Streets (3/6) |
In 1886 Charles Booth embarked on an ambitious plan to visit every one of London's streets to record the social conditions of residents. His project took him 17 years.
Once he had finished he had constructed a groundbreaking series of maps which recorded the social class and standing of inhabitants. These maps transformed the way Victorians felt about their capital city.
This series takes six archetypal London streets as they are now, discovering how they have fared since Booth's day.
Booth colour coded each street, from yellow for the 'servant keeping classes', down to black for the 'vicious and semi-criminal'. With the aid of maps the series explores why certain streets have been transformed from desperate slums to become some of the most desirable and valuable property in the UK, whilst others have barely changed.
This landmark series features residents past and present, exploring how what happened on the street in the last 125 years continues to shape the lives of those who live there now.
This episode features Caledonian Road, which starts next to King's Cross station and heads north for over a mile. From its beginning, the street has been resolutely working class and when Charles Booth visited he found it a depressing district.
But the people of 'the Cally', as it is affectionately known to residents, have held their community together despite being challenged by powerful outside forces as well as a reputation for being a bit rough around the edges.
Featuring fascinating and often passionate accounts from residents both past and present, the film tells the story of the changing faces of this remarkable street.
| Embarrassing Bodies |
Tropical disease specialist Dr Logan is up to his neck with parasitic hookworms in Thailand, while Dr Pixie meets a woman addicted to coffee enemas.
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Thursday 21st June 2012
| The Men Who Made Us Fat |
Jacques Peretti investigates how the concept of 'supersizing' changed our eating habits forever. How did we - once a nation of moderate eaters - start to want more?
Speaking to Mike Donahue, former McDonalds Vice President, Peretti explores the history behind the idea of supersizing. 40 years ago, McDonalds hired David Wallerstein, a former cinema manager who had introduced the idea of selling larger popcorn servings in his Chicago cinema. Wallerstein realised that people would eat more but they didn't like the idea of appearing gluttonous by going back for seconds. By increasing the portion sizes and the cost, he could sell more food. In 1972, he introduced the idea to McDonalds and their first large fries went on sale.
By the 1980s, we were eating more - and eating more often. Perretti speaks with industry professionals to examine the story behind the introduction of value meals, king-size snacks and multi-buy promotions. How did the advertising industry encourage us to eat more often?
The programme also explores the developments in dietary advice - by 2003, the Chief Medical Officer was warning of an 'obesity time bomb.' Peretti speaks to obesity expert Professor Philip James, who made recommendations in his 1996 report that the food industry should cease targeting children in their advertisements. He also speaks with Professor Terry Wilkin, who led a pioneering study into childhood weight gain; and former Labour MP David Hinchliffe, who chaired the 2003 Parliamentary Select Committee on Health.
| The House That 50s Built |
Brendan Walker explores the 1950s innovations in the bedroom that gave birth to the modern teenager, from nylon lingerie to transistor radios, PVC records, hairspray and electric guitars.
| Staff No Fee: The Other Life Of Brian |
Barry Johnston explores the forgotten work of his father Brian to reveal a remarkable broadcasting career long before he became affectionately known as 'Johnners'.
Today, the name Brian Johnston is largely remembered for Test Match Special and Down your Way. However as both of these programmes happened after he retired as a BBC staff member in 1972 they have overshadowed a fascinating television and radio career starting in the late forties.
In those early years Brian's BBC contract was marked 'SNF' - 'Staff No Fee'. This meant he could be booked by any BBC radio or TV programme for no extra fee because he was on a salary. It is these fascinating engagements which will be explored in this programme.
On In Town Tonight he rode bareback on a circus horse, was attacked by a police dog, busked in the street, was shaved onstage by the Crazy Gang and hid inside a pillar box. He commentated on King George VI's funeral, the Coronation, the Boat Race, the Festival of Britain and the Monte Carlo Rally - as well as appearing on Hancock's Half Hour, quizzes, children's TV and much more.
Brian's interview list includes such names as Field Marshall Montgomery, Bernard Delfont, Donald Campbell, Donald Bradman, Bobby Charlton and Henry Cooper.
His son and presenter of this programme Barry Johnston has been collecting and preserving archive clips along with his father's own scrapbooks and press cuttings and we will hear recordings from the great man himself along with gaining a unique insight into a slice of broadcasting history.
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Friday 22nd June 2012
| David Bowie and the Story of Ziggy Stardust |
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars is arguably the most important album in the mind-blowing career of David Bowie. Released in 1972, it's the record that set the mercurial musician on course to becoming one of the best-known pop stars on the planet. In just over a year, Bowie's messianic Martian invaded the minds of the nation's youth with a killer combination of extraterrestrial rock 'n' roll and outrageous sexuality, all delivered in high-heeled boots, multi-coloured dresses and extravagant make-up. In Bowie's own words, Ziggy was 'a cross between Nijinsky and Woolworths', but this unlikely culture clash worked - Ziggy turned Bowie into stardust.
This documentary tells the story of how Bowie arrived at one of the most iconic creations in the history of pop music. The songs, the hairstyles, the fashion and the theatrical stage presentation that merged together to turn David Bowie into the biggest craze since the Beatles. Ziggy's instant success gave the impression that he was the perfectly-planned pop star. But, as the film reveals, it had been a momentous struggle for David Bowie to hit on just the right formula that would take him to the top.
Narrated by fan Jarvis Cocker, it reveals Bowie's mission to the stars through the musicians and colleagues who helped him in his unwavering quest for fame - a musical voyage that led Bowie to doubt his true identity, eventually forcing the sudden demise of his alien alter ego, Ziggy.
Contributors include Trevor Bolder (bass player, Spiders from Mars), Woody Woodmansey (drummer, Spider from Mars), Mike Garson (Spiders' keyboardist), Suzi Ronson (Mick Ronson's widow, who gave Bowie that haircut), Ken Scott (producer), Elton John (contemporary and fan), Lindsay Kemp (Bowie's mime teacher), Leee Black Childers (worked for Mainman, Bowie's production company), Cherry Vanilla (Bowie's PA/press officer), George Underwood (Bowie's friend), Mick Rock (Ziggy's official photographer), Steve Harley, Marc Almond, Holly Johnson, Peter Hook, Jon Savage, Peter Doggett and Dylan Jones.
| The Genius of David Bowie |
A selection of some of David Bowie's best performances from the BBC archives, which also features artists who Bowie helped along the way, such as Mott the Hoople, Lulu, Iggy Pop and Lou Reed.
