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The Zelensky Story (2024) #1560
DOCUMENTARY
Main,Disk
3x1 hour episodes. BBC. With unique access to Volodymyr Zelensky and Olena Zelenska, this episode charts Zelensky’s extraordinary journey from aspiring comedian to president of his country. Ep 1: The Comedian and the Dictator. Opening with the collapse of the Soviet Union – an event which had a profound effect on Zelensky and Vladimir Putin in very different ways – to the Maidan Revolution sparking a political awakening in Zelensky, this episode explores his role as the Ukrainian president in the hit TV show Servant of the People and his decision to run for president in real life. Ep 2: President in the Real World. After the high of his election victory, Zelensky is forced to face political reality. Using in-depth interviews with Zelensky, his wife Olena Zelenska and their closest advisors, this episode puts viewers inside the room as Zelensky grapples with what it means to be the leader of a country. From Zelensky’s infamous phone call with Donald Trump to his only meeting with Vladimir Putin in Paris, the former comedian has a brutal initiation into the ruthless world of power politics. As Putin becomes increasingly belligerent and the drumbeat of war grows louder, Zelensky is under a huge amount of pressure. Is Ukraine prepared for war? Is Zelensky up to the job? Ep 3: War Leader. Opening in the first hours of the Russian invasion, this final episode follows explores how Zelensky used the skills he’d honed as an entertainer to galvanise people, as well as taking viewers inside Ukraine’s peace negotiations with Russia. And the Zelenskys reveal what happened in the first hours of the Russian invasion, and open up about the realities of living through war and the difficulty of making life and death decisions. |
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The Classical Collection (2023) #1471
MUSIC
Special
6x1 hour episodes. BBC. A selection of memorable performances of classical music from the BBC's archives. 01 JS Bach. A selection of memorable performances of classical music from the BBC's archives. 02 Daniel Barenboim. Conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim is one of the legendary cultural forces of his generation, and has been a regular and familiar presence on BBC Television since the 1960s. In this programme, we revisit some of the standout moments of an extraordinary career, including performances with his first wife Jacqueline du Pré, intimate chamber music, solo recitals, masterclasses and epic orchestral concerts. 03 Neglected Masterpieces. A celebration of the newly recognised glories of classical music, featuring a wealth of works written by largely forgotten or neglected composers, including Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Florence B Price, Grace Williams and Erich Korngold. 04 Christmas. Christmas music broadcast on BBC Television. Including seasonal classics by Bach, Handel, Vivaldi and Berlioz, Rudolph Nureyev dancing Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker, carols both old and new from Benjamin Britten to the King’s Singers and much more. 05 Sheku Kanneh-Mason. After winning BBC Young Musician in 2016, cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason became an overnight sensation. This collection showcases his extraordinary journey from teenage virtuoso to a leading light of the classical music world and features performances with orchestras and ensembles as well as with the wider Kanneh-Mason family. 06 Nature. The natural world has always been a powerful inspiration to composers. From vast forests and tiny fish to wild storms and epic seascapes, this programme takes us on an evocative journey through some of the best-loved musical responses to our living planet. |
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Barbie (2023) #1534
FILM
Main
1h 54m Barbie and Ken are having the time of their lives in the colorful and seemingly perfect world of Barbie Land. However, when they get a chance to go to the real world, they soon discover the joys and perils of living among humans. |
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Survivors: Portraits of the Holocaust (2022) #1397
DOCUMENTARY
Main
1 hour. BBC. Film following a project spearheaded by the Prince of Wales, who has commissioned seven leading artists to paint seven survivors of the Holocaust. Throughout the programme, we hear the testimonies of the remarkable men and women who were children when they witnessed one of the greatest atrocities in human history, as well as meeting the artists as they grapple with their paintings. We see some of the sittings and witness the touching friendships that have emerged between artist and sitter over the course of nearly two years. The finished portraits, destined for the Royal Collection, will be unveiled at the Queen’s Gallery in Buckingham Palace. They represent pain and loss as well as dignity and hope, and serve as a lasting reminder of horrors which will one day be lost to living memory. |
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Living (2022) #1550
FILM
Disk
1h 42m In 1950s London, a humorless bureaucrat decides to take time off work to experience life after receiving a grim diagnosis. |
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Keeler, Profumo, Ward and Me (2020) #1238
DOCUMENTARY
Special
1 hour. BBC. In 1962, Tom Mangold was newly arrived at the Daily Express – and his first big assignment was the John Profumo/Christine Keeler scandal. It would culminate in the evening of 30 July 1963, when Tom visited Stephen Ward, the man at the centre of the affair. The next day, Ward was scheduled to hear whether he was guilty of living off the immoral earnings of Christine Keeler and her friend Mandy Rice-Davies. Ward handed Mangold a suicide letter, which Tom has retained for more than 55 years. He will reveal its full contents for the first time on television. Tom Mangold is one of the only surviving reporters who covered the Profumo story at such close quarters. He had under exclusive contract not only Stephen Ward but also a prostitute known as 'Miss Whiplash', who was a key witness in the trial. Ronna Ricardo confided to Tom that because she had been threatened by the police, she had lied in court to help convict Ward. She followed Tom’s advice and retook the stand to withdraw her evidence. This film reveals the inside story of the Profumo-Keeler-Ward story by the legendary BBC Panorama reporter who was there and had unique access to key players. The story has continued to fascinate Tom Mangold. He met and interviewed Mandy Rice-Davies shortly before she died in 2013, he has obtained exclusive diaries and manuscripts, and has now received more than 20 hours of audiotape recordings of research interviews with Christine Keeler and Mandy Rice-Davies, which have never been broadcast. Christine talks about the famous Cliveden weekend, her affair with Profumo, her brief relationship with Soviet naval attaché Eugene Ivanov, and how police pressured her into manufacturing a case against Stephen Ward. Through Tom's experience of working with Stephen Ward throughout the hectic summer of 1963, he believes that Ward was no saint, but no criminal either. He was not living off Keeler or Rice-Davies, as charged and found guilty. On the contrary, Ward subsidised both women. The programme also features an exclusive audiotape interview with Stephen Ward, recorded two weeks before his suicide, and an extract from what would have been his autobiography - all revealed for the first time. Finally, Tom casts his critical eye over the inquiry ordered by the prime minister, Harold MacMillan. Carried out by the master of the rolls, Lord Denning, Tom has obtained the diaries of the most senior civil servant on the inquiry, which point to another political sex scandal of the time that was hushed up. |
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The Windermere Children: In Their Own Words (2020) #1240
DOCUMENTARY
Main
1 hour. BBC. The story of the pioneering project to rehabilitate child survivors of the Holocaust on the shores of Lake Windermere. In the year that marks the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II and the Holocaust, this powerful documentary, which accompanies the BBC Two drama, The Windermere Children, reveals a little-known story of 300 young orphaned Jewish refugees, who began new lives in England’s Lake District in the summer of 1945. With compelling testimony from some of the last living Holocaust survivors, the film explores an extraordinary success story that emerged from the darkest of times, all beginning with the arrival of ten Stirling bombers carrying the 300 children from Prague to Carlisle on 14 August 1945. The survivor interviews include extraordinary first-hand accounts of both their wartime experiences, separation from their families and the horrors they experienced, but also their wonder at arriving in Britain and their lives thereafter. The children hailed from very different backgrounds, including rural Poland, metropolitan Warsaw Czechoslovakia and Berlin. Some had grown up in poverty, others in middle-class comfort. Their rehabilitation in England was organised by one charity, the Central British Fund (CBF). Leonard Montefiore, a prominent Jewish philanthropist, used his pre-war experience of the Kindertransport and successfully lobbied the British government to agree to allow up to 1,000 young Jewish concentration camp survivors into Britain. It was decided that the first 300 children would be brought from the liberated camp of Theresienstadt to Britain. And serendipitously, empty accommodation was found on the shores of Lake Windermere in a defunct factory. During the war, it had built seaplanes, but after D-Day the factory was closed, and the workers’ accommodation stood empty. With space to house them and in a truly beautiful setting, it was to prove the perfect location for these traumatised children. The CBF, however, was in uncharted territory. A project to mass-rehabilitate a group of traumatised children had never been attempted before. But in the idyllic setting of Windermere and with just the right team assembled, the children were given the chance to unlearn the survival techniques they’d picked up in the camps. With the freedom to ride bikes, play football, learn English, socialise with local teenagers and swim in the lake, they began to come to terms with the horrors they had experienced and the fact that their mothers, fathers and siblings had perished. Despite the fact that the UK government initially only offered two-year temporary visas, with strict immigration policies enforced in other countries and without families to return to, it soon became clear that there was nowhere else for most of the children to go. Many of the 300 stayed in the UK for their entire lives, becoming British citizens and raising children of their own. Now, 75 years later, the close friendships that were forged in Windermere remain and many consider each other as family. Reflecting on the survivors’ lives after Windermere, the film includes touching home movie footage and remarkable success stories, like Sir Ben Helfgott’s incredible weightlifting career, representing Britain at the 1956 Olympics, only eleven years after arriving in the UK. The documentary also tells the story of the charity they formed, the 45Aid society. With footage of their annual reunions, the documentary gives a sense of the generations of families who all trace their British beginnings to Windermere. |
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The Unwanted: The Secret Windrush Files (2019) #1200
DOCUMENTARY
Main
1 hour. BBC. David Olusoga opens secret government files to show how the Windrush scandal and the ‘hostile environment’ for black British immigrants has been 70 years in the making. The film features Sarah O’Connor, Anthony Bryan and Judy Griffith. Settled here legally since childhood, they were re-classified as illegal immigrants by new ‘hostile environment’ regulations. Unable to show proof of their nationality status, they lost jobs, savings and their health, facing deportation back to countries they could barely remember. David reveals how today’s scandal is rooted in the secrets of the past. The first Windrush generation were Commonwealth citizens - many of them ex-servicemen - coming to rebuild war-torn Britain. Yet even before arriving, they were seen by the Government with hostility. Civil servants and MPs warned of dire consequences if what they called a ‘coloured element’ was introduced into the UK. PM Clement Attlee even suggested diverting the Windrush passengers to east Africa - to pick peanuts. The same government was actively recruiting tens of thousands of white volunteer workers from Europe - some of them former members of Waffen-SS regiments which stood accused of war crimes on the Eastern Front - for ‘permanent settlement here with a view to their inter-marrying and complete absorption into our own working population’. The files expose how successive British governments spent the next decade trying to devise a way to prevent further Caribbean arrivals without appearing to discriminate against them. PM Winston Churchill, dissatisfied with ministers’ response to what he saw as a serious problem, kept the issue on the cabinet agenda and a special Working Party was set up to gather information to make the political case for immigration controls. Two weeks after the Queen’s coronation as head of the UK and Commonwealth, a secret race survey was undertaken and completed, looking for proof that Commonwealth immigrants were a burden on the Welfare State. Chief constables in major cities were asked if ‘the coloured community as a whole, or particular sections of it, are generally idle or poor workmen’, and if they were ‘addicted to drug-trafficking or other types of crime’. The Working Party found no evidence for the view that the ‘coloured community’ was less law-abiding or hard working than other Brits. When Harold Macmillan’s government introduced the 1962 Immigration Act, its control mechanism was the employment prospects of would-be immigrants. The files show how home secretary ‘Rab’ Butler, described the ‘great merit’ of the scheme was that it ‘can be presented as making no distinction on grounds of race or colour’, but would, in practice, ‘operate on coloured people almost exclusively’. By that time, Caribbean immigration had shrunk to a fraction of earlier levels. But, fearing further restrictions, the Windrush generation now arranged for their children to come. The ‘children of the Windrush' had full legal rights to join their parents in the UK, and many arrived with little paperwork or official record keeping. Successive governments passed new immigration and nationality legislation, often in response to perceived ‘problems’ or ‘crises’. Harold Wilson rushed through the 1968 Immigration Act, in just three days to stop arrivals of thousands of passport-holding British-Indians living in Kenya, whose businesses and livelihoods were threatened by its government. Edward Heath’s 1971 Act tried to restrict the legal definition of ‘Britishness’. It also placed the burden of proof on the claimant should their Britishness be challenged—a fateful clause for the ‘children of the Windrush’. Throughout the multiple changes to immigration and nationality law enacted up to 2014, the nationality status of the ‘children of Windrush’ remained unchanged and unchallenged. As British citizens with full legal rights to live here, they put down roots, pursued careers, raised children and grandchildren and contributed in ways great and small to the creation of modern Britain. But with the introduction of the so-called ‘hostile environment’ legislation of 2014 and 2016, their situation changed. Though they were never the intended targets of the new laws, the hostile environment machine that evolved over the decade wasn’t designed to make allowances. Suddenly required to prove their status (due to the 1971 Act), Sarah, Anthony and Judy found themselves unable to show the levels of proof demanded by the new ‘hostile environment’ regulations. All three lost their jobs for up to two years and ran up debt trying to make ends meet. Anthony was arrested twice by Immigration Officers and held for weeks in detention centres. Then a ticket was bought to deport him to Jamaica, a country hadn’t seen since he left, aged eight, in 1965. ‘They broke me in there’, Anthony says. ‘It was hard’. Judy Griffith, still struggling to repay her debts, says: ‘It makes you question the whole, what is British? What is Britishness?’ |
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Black Earth Rising (2018) #1144
TV DRAMA
Special
With Michaela Coel, John Goodman, Noma Dumezweni, Lucian Msamati. Kate Ashby was rescued as a child from the Rwandan genocide by her renowned international lawyer adopted mother Eve. Living in London and working for barrister Michael Ennis, Kate's mother takes on a case involving an African militia leader which will upend both their lives forever. 8x1 hour episodes. BBC. 1/8 In Other News: British citizen Kate Ashby finds the shadow of her Rwandan past impossible to escape. 2/8 Looking at the Past: A shocking incident in the Hague throws Kate into a new investigation. 3/8 A Ghost in Name: Facing down personal threats, Kate works with Michael to defend Alice Munezero. 4/8 A Bowl of Cornflakes: A notorious war criminal appears in the UK, creating tensions between Kate and Michael. 5/8 The Eyes of the Devil: Alienated from Michael, Kate considers helping the Rwandans bring Ganimana to justice. 6/8 The Game's True Nature: Kate risks her life to find a key file prepared by her mother years earlier. 7/8 Double Bogey on the Ninth: As Michael works to expose a crime, Kate learns the truth about her own history. 8/8 The Forgiving Earth: Kate travels alone to Africa seeking the final truths about her personal history. |
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The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra - Benjamin Britten (2018) #1173
DOCUMENTARY-MUSIC
Main
1 hour. BBC. Discovering...Series 1 Episode 2 of 4 Benjamin Britten’s The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra (1945) is one of the most frequently performed works of any British composer. It has introduced and enlivened the interest of whole generations of children in the instruments of the orchestra, in thrilling style. It is, however, much more than an instruction manual for youngsters. Now a classic of the concert hall, it is frequently performed to children and adults alike. Katie Derham presents a detailed analysis of the composition, and the story behind its creation, before it is performed in full by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales with guest conductor Moritz Gnann in Cardiff’s Hoddinott Hall. Orchestra members explain to Katie how Britten drew on the past for themes and techniques, and reapplied them in a twentieth-century context to show off each instrument in captivating fashion. Through interviews and archive Katie learns how the piece was commissioned for a Ministry of Education film during a post-war Britain filled with the optimism and promise of building a new world that would provide high culture for all - a central tenet of Britten’s own approach; to write music that is ‘useful, and to the living’. The film demonstrates how Britten takes the orchestra apart, allowing each instrument its own variation on Henry Purcell’s theme of 250 years earlier. Through the performance we see how the 13 variations get to the essence of each instrument’s characteristics, showing each section of the orchestra at its individual best. |
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Leave No Trace (2018) #1175
FILM
Main
Directed by Debra Granik. With Thomasin McKenzie, Ben Foster, Jeffery Rifflard, Derek John Drescher. A father and his thirteen year-old daughter are living an ideal existence in a vast urban park in Portland, Oregon, when a small mistake derails their lives forever. |
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Eric, Ernie and Me (2017) #1069
TV DRAMA
Main
1 hour. BBC. For over a decade, the Liverpudlian ex-market stall trader Eddie Braben penned Morecambe and Wise's material, reshaping the double act into the Eric and Ernie that the nation took to its heart. But it wasn't all sunshine. This comedy-drama follows the story of how The Golden Triangle was formed and celebrates the man behind Morecambe and Wise's greatest successes. In 1969 Eddie Braben was persuaded by the BBC's then Head of Light Entertainment Bill Cotton to make the journey to London to meet Eric and Ernie and their producer John Ammonds. It wasn't a meeting of the minds. But there was a spark, something different and special that Braben saw in the music hall double act who had yet to crack their on-screen presence. He set out to uncover the essence of what would transform them into television's most beloved entertainers. What followed was years of dedication, determination and hard graft - comedy comes at a price. With the help and support of his wife Deidree, Eddie dug deep, taking on a huge scripting workload that saw Eric and Ernie take over the living rooms and hearts of the UK population. Year on year a new series, a new Christmas special, incredible celebrity guests and the never-ending commute from home in Liverpool to work in London saw Eddie work himself to the point of exhaustion. A man desperate for a break, but driven by perfection and the need to make people laugh. The film culminates in a journey to the iconic 1977 Christmas Show, celebrates a decade of enormous success for both Braben and Morecambe & Wise whilst not shying away from the pressure and pain Eddie went through to help create the screen work of Britain's most beloved double act. |
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David Hurn: A Life in Pictures (2017) #1101
DOCUMENTARY
Main
40 mins. BBC. The world-renowned Magnum Photos photographer David Hurn is Wales's most important living photographer. This year he is donating his archive to the National Museum Wales, alongside a unique collection of 700 photographs by other photographers, including Henri Cartier-Bresson, Bill Brandt and Dorothea Lange. It is a remarkable gift to the nation. As Magnum Photos celebrates 70 years at the forefront of photojournalism, this film celebrates one of its longest serving members and profiles David's extraordinary portfolio and bequest from a career spanning 60 years. David has spent his whole career capturing moments in time. Now 83, the film shows him pursuing new goals in his photography, in Wales and abroad, and reunites him with actress Jane Fonda, 50 years after he photographed her on the film set of Barbarella. David's photographic career began when he photographed the Hungarian uprising against the Soviet state in 1956. His images were published in Picture Post. By the 60s he was one of London's leading young photographers. He took the iconic poster shot of Sean Connery as James Bond, was alongside The Beatles when they filmed A Hard Day's Night' and was on set with Jane Fonda. David was filmed for BBC's Monitor programme by his friend Ken Russell and was at the epicentre of a creative circle including fellow photographers Sir Don McCullin and Philip Jones Griffiths. David reflects on this dynamic group, his younger self and that period in his life when he was at the heart of the Swinging Sixties. |
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Earth: One Amazing Day (2017) #1330
FILM
Main
93 mins. From BBC Earth Films, the studio that brought you Earth, comes the sequel - Earth: One Amazing Day, an astonishing journey revealing the awesome power of the natural world. Over the course of one single day, we track the sun from the highest mountains to the remotest islands to exotic jungles. Breakthroughs in filmmaking technology bring you up close with a cast of unforgettable characters. Told with humour, intimacy and a jaw-dropping sense of cinematic splendour, Earth: One Amazing Day highlights how every day is filled with more wonders than you can possibly imagine- until now. Earth. Our home planet and the only one in the universe that can support living organisms. Earth is home to a vast array of environments and animals, but what is a single day in the life of these creatures like? In this sequel to the BBC's Earth, we take a journey across the world, investigating the lives of these extraordinary creatures, all in the course of 24 hours. |
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The Last Seabird Summer? (2016) #583
DOCUMENTARY
Main
With Adam Nicolson. 2x1 hour. BBC. Series following Adam Nicolson and the seabirds of the Shiants, a small cluster of Scottish islands. With crisis threatening their future, Adam traces the history of our relationship with seabirds. 1/2 Living with the Birds. As they arrive from the Atlantic, Adam traces our history of dependence on seabirds. 2/2 Trouble at Sea. In Iceland, Adam sees colonies where nearly all the birds have been wiped out. |
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Ethel & Ernest (2016) #956
ANIMATION
Main
Directed by Roger Mainwood. With Jim Broadbent, Brenda Blethyn, Luke Treadaway, Pam Ferris. This hand drawn animated film, based on the award winning graphic novel by Raymond Briggs, is an intimate and affectionate depiction of the life and times of his parents, two ordinary Londoners living through extraordinary events. |
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Royal Shakespeare Company: Hamlet (2016) #1284
FILM
Main
Directed by Simon Godwin. With Paapa Essiedu, Tanya Moodie, Clarence Smith, Ewart James Walters. Hamlet has the world at his feet. Young, wealthy and living a hedonistic life studying abroad. Then word reaches him that his father is dead. Returning home he finds his world is utterly changed, his certainties smashed and his home a foreign land. Struggling to understand his place in a new world order he faces a stark choice. Submit, or rage against the injustice of his new reality. Simon Godwin (The Two Gentlemen of Verona 2014) directs Paapa Essiedu as Hamlet in Shakespeare's searing tragedy. As relevant today as when it was written, Hamlet confronts each of us with the mirror of our own mortality in an imperfect world. |
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The Light Between Oceans (2016) #1349
FILM
Main
Directed by Derek Cianfrance. With Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander, Rachel Weisz, Florence Clery. A lighthouse keeper and his wife living off the coast of Western Australia raise a baby they rescue from a drifting rowing boat. |
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Artsnight - Design (2016) #1562
DOCUMENTARY
Disk
60mins BBC. The Brits Who Designed the Modern World Artsnight Series 4 If there were an Olympic league table for design, Britain would be right at the top. Since the Second World War, British designers have revolutionised our homes, our workplaces, our roads and our public institutions. In November 2016, the Design Museum opened its new £83m home in Kensington. To mark this great moment for British design, BBC Arts profiles ten great living British designers. Arts reporter Brenda Emmanus meets and profiles our 'Top 10', to find out what inspires them to make such phenomenal objects. She reveals how designers have responded to society's evolving tastes, from the brash 60s modernism of Margaret Calvert's road signs through to the colourful technology of Rick Dickinson's ZX Spectrum. She also meets Britain's most prolific designer, Sir Kenneth Grange (Intercity 125, bus shelters, the Kenwood Chef...), as well as Andrew Ritchie, who gave the world the Brompton Bike. And we also hear from an illustrious panel of celebrities whose lives have been transformed by British design, including Will.i.am, Jeremy Paxman, Pete Waterman, Ade Adepitan and Jenny Eclair. |
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The Secret Rules of Modern Living: Algorithms (2015) #908
DOCUMENTARY
Main
1 hour. BBC. Without us noticing, modern life has been taken over. Algorithms run everything from search engines on the internet to satnavs and credit card data security - they even help us travel the world, find love and save lives. Mathematician Professor Marcus du Sautoy demystifies the hidden world of algorithms. By showing us some of the algorithms most essential to our lives, he reveals where these 2,000-year-old problem solvers came from, how they work, what they have achieved and how they are now so advanced they can even programme themselves. |