Please email parkmediaservices@glos.ac.uk if you would like any of the following programmes / series recordings.
Saturday 12th January 2013
Archive on 4: Rural Rides
Radio 4, 8.00pm - 9.00pm
Mark Steel's review of reporters' journeys round Britain, starting with
William Cobbett, the great English journalist and radical campaigner who was
born 250 years ago. Mark talks to veteran horseman Dylan Winter and analyses a
classic radio and TV genre that owes more than it realises to Cobbett - the
tradition of going out and taking a look at Britain.
The formula is a simple one: a hired hack goes on a whistle-stop tour of a
part of the country that's unfamiliar to him (it's usually a him) and then
publishes his ill-informed impressions together with any wild generalisations he
cares to base upon them.
In print, it starts with Cobbett's 'Rural Rides' and ends with the likes of
Bill Bryson, Beryl Bainbridge and of course Mark Steel, taking in along the way
such scribblers as James Boswell, J.B.Priestley and George Orwell. In radio it's
Tom Vernon ('Fat Man on a Bicycle'), Ray Gosling, the many incarnations of 'Down
Your Way'... and Mark Steel (again). In TV it runs from Alan Whicker to Clare
Balding and Griff Rhys Jones.
When it's done well, Cobbettry can celebrate the differences between us. It
can give us an insight into people and places we might be interested to know
more about; it can illuminate the human condition by shining a light on
particular examples.
When it's done badly - as it often is - Cobbettry can be feeble, patronising
and full of cliches. In his own prejudiced and over-simplified whistle-stop
tour, Mark Steel demonstrates that Cobbett's legacy has been a mixed blessing.
Oranges and Sunshine
BBC 2, 9.45pm - 11.25pm
The story of Margaret Humphreys, a social worker from Nottingham who, in
1986, uncovered one of the most significant social scandals of recent times: the
deportation of thousands of children in care from the United Kingdom to
Australia.
Almost single-handedly, against overwhelming odds and with little regard for
her own well-being, Margaret reunited thousands of families, brought authorities
to account and drew worldwide attention to an extraordinary miscarriage of
justice.
Children as young as four had been told that their parents were dead, and
been sent to children's homes on the other side of the world. They were promised
oranges and sunshine: they got hard labour and life in institutions.
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Sunday 13th January 2013
Inside the Aid Industry (2/2)
Radio 4, 1.30pm - 2.00pm
The Kibera slum is five minutes from the centre of Nairobi in Kenya, one of
the wealthiest cities in Africa and also the hub for humanitarian aid in the
region. Over the years, hundreds of aid agencies have poured energy and
resources into Kibera, yet there is still no running water or power, families
live in one-room huts and children play near open sewers. Why does it seem that
aid makes so little difference in a place like this?
In this programme Edward Stourton investigates the 'Kibera conundrum' as the
effectiveness of international aid comes under increasing scrutiny.
Over the last 60 years, aid has saved lives in the poorest countries in the
world. More children are going to school, fewer are dying from preventable
diseases thanks to vaccination programmes funded by foreign aid. But could aid
delivered by charities, the government and multilateral organisations such as
the UN do more?
In Kibera, Edward Stourton talks to local people about the impact aid is
having in the slum. He hears how many of the estimated 800 aid organisations
claiming to work there - in an area covering two square miles - are 'briefcase
NGOs', set up to access funding but which exist in name only. Other agencies
such as Medecins Sans Frontiers provide vital healthcare for the community.
How far is aid tackling the causes and not just the symptoms of poverty? And
are aid agencies sufficiently honest about the limits to what they can
achieve?
Oxfam, Save the Children and Medecins Sans Frontiers talk candidly about how
far aid is the solution to eradicating poverty.
Sir Patrick Moore Talks to Mark Lawson
BBC 4, 9.00pm - 10.00pm
Mark Lawson talks to the astronomer and English eccentric Sir Patrick Moore
about his early life, career and the future of space exploration in an interview
that was recorded in 2007. The late Sir Patrick presented the BBC programme The
Sky at Night for over 50 years, making him the longest-running host of the same
television show ever. He presented the first edition of the programme on 24th
April 1957 and last appeared in an episode broadcast in late 2012.
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Monday 14th January 2013
Why the Industrial Revolution Happened Here
BBC 2, 9.30pm - 10.30pm
Professor Jeremy Black examines one of the most extraordinary periods in
British history: the Industrial Revolution. He explains the unique economic,
social and political conditions that by the 19th century, led to Britain
becoming the richest, most powerful nation on Earth. It was a time that
transformed the way people think, work and play forever.
He traces the unprecedented explosion of new ideas and technological
inventions that transformed Britain's agricultural society into an increasingly
industrial and urbanised one. Why the Industrial Revolution Happened Here
explores two fascinating questions - why did the industrial revolution happen
when it did, and why did it happen in Britain?
Professor Black discusses the reasons behind this transformation; from
Britain's coal reserves, which gave it a seemingly inexhaustible source of
power, to the ascendency of political liberalism, with engineers and
industrialists able to meet and share ideas and inventions. He explains the
influence that geniuses like Josiah Wedgewood had on the consumer revolution and
travels to Antigua to examine the impact Britain's empire had on this
extraordinary period of growth.
Storyville: the House I Live In
BBC 4, 10.00pm - 11.45pm
Storyville: As America remains embroiled in overseas conflict, a less visible
war is taking place at home, costing countless lives, destroying families and
inflicting untold damage on future generations of Americans. For over forty
years, the War on Drugs has accounted for 45 million arrests, made America the
world's largest jailer and damaged poor communities at home and abroad. Yet for
all that, drugs are more available today than ever before.
Filmed in more than twenty states, this film captures a definitive and
heart-wrenching portrait of individuals at all levels of America's War on Drugs.
From the dealer to the grieving mother, the narcotics officer to the senator,
the inmate to the federal judge, the film offers a penetrating look inside
America's longest war, revealing its profound human rights implications.
While recognising the seriousness of drug abuse as a matter of public health,
the film investigates the tragic errors and shortcomings that have instead
treated it as a matter for law enforcement, creating a vast political and
economic machine that feeds largely on America's poor, especially minority
communities. Yet beyond simple misguided policy, the film investigates how
political and economic corruption have fuelled the war for forty years, despite
persistent evidence of its moral, economic and practical failures.
Ultimately, the documentary seeks, through compassionate inquiry, to promote
public awareness of the history and contemporary mechanics of this human rights
crisis and to begin a national conversation about its reform.
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Tuesday 15th January 2013
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Wednesday 16th January 2013
Pop-Up Economics (1/5)
Radio 4, 8.45pm - 9.00pm
A brand new Radio 4 series in which Tim Harford tells a pop-up audience short
stories about fascinating people and ideas in economics.
The Financial Times' "Undercover Economist" and presenter of Radio 4's "More
or Less" weaves together economic ideas with remarkable personal histories in
some unusual locations.
At a shop on Regent Street in London we meet Bill Phillips - war hero,
engineer, crocodile hunter, creator of an extraordinary water-based computer in
the world and...one of the most influential fathers of macroeconomics.
Via a discussion about heated hot pants - oh yes! - Tim turns his attention
to the business of innovation. We hear the moving story of Mario Capecchi whose
struggle to get funding for his experiments tell us much about where new ideas
come from, and how to foster them.
Growing Up Poor (2/2)
BBC 3, 9.00pm - 10.00pm
Filmed over one summer, this documentary follows three very different teenage
boys all on the cusp of adulthood and dealing with the pressures of growing up
with one similarity - they are all surviving on under a tenner a day.
Craig doesn't want to leave home but his mum has lost her job and cannot keep
the house, leaving him unsure of where to go or what to do.
After growing up with no father figure, Wes is determined to be part of his
son's life - but being there and financially supporting him are two different
things, so finding work is a priority in a city where jobs are scarce.
Life on the streets means the smallest mistake can affect your entire future,
as Frankie knows only too well. He is a changed person now and has a plan, but
in a recession just getting a chance is hard enough.
Each of the guys lets us into their world and we witness them trying to make
their dreams come true.
Saving Face
Channel 4, 10.00pm - 11.10pm
Every year in Pakistan, over 100 people - mostly women - suffer brutal acid attacks. Saving Face follows plastic surgeon Dr Mohammad Jawad as he tries to help them.
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Thursday 17th January 2013
Cornershop
Radio 4, 11.30am - 12.04pm
In the early 1990's the Anglo-Indian band, Cornershop, had had a couple of
decent singles, but as a group they were rather ramshackle. Then in 1997, with
the release of their album, When I was Born for the Seventh Time, they
re-emerged with a different and refreshing sound. Their British Asian fusion was
raucously experimental; their attitude was spiky, smart and often hilarious.
They'd created a masterpiece of cross cultural music which gave them a worldwide
hit, Brimful of Asha. The release prompted an excited music press to hail the
album as a breakthrough in the integration of white and Asian music, and to
predict an explosion in multi-cultural rock. Musician, Talvin Singh; and Rolling
Stone music critic, David Fricke, join band members Ben Ayres, and Tjinder
Singh, to explore how the album was made, the impact it had at the time, and
whether its promise of musical integration has endured.
Married in Britain
BBC 2, 9.30pm - 10.30pm
For better or for worse: the vows may be the same, but in our increasingly
diverse society, popular wedding traditions are far from what you would
expect.
Married In Britain provides a portal into the lives of Britain's newest
arrivals facing the everyday challenges of establishing a new life in the UK, as
they prepare for one of the biggest days of their lives.
We are invited to celebrate a diverse array of customs and cultures as
couples embrace their new home while seeking to hold on to familiar traditions.
They offer us a fresh look at Britain, sharing their experiences of getting
married in one of the most exciting nations on earth.
Gareth Thomas - Coming Out: My Secret Past
Channel 5, 10.00pm - 11.00pm
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Friday 18th January 2013
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