121 |
Swarm: Nature's Incredible Invasions (2014) #858
DOCUMENTARY
Main
1 hour. BBC. When Worlds Collide episode 1 of 2 This documentary reveals the awe-inspiring world of animal swarms, discovering what happens when superswarms invade people's lives and, using the latest camera techniques, going to the heart of the swarm to reveal how the creatures therein view our world. Real-life footage from camcorders and mobile phones captures the amazing impact they can have. Killer bees mount an attack on an international football match in Costa Rica. In the US, the Illinois River boils with leaping silver carp, an alien species that has hijacked the river, smashing into boats and injuring people. In South Australia a sea of mice raids farms, consuming and destroying in their millions on a scale that defies belief. The largest swarm on Earth erupts from Lake Victoria: trillions of flies blanket villages, but the locals have learnt to turn the swarm into a highly nutritious fly burger. In Rome, cameras fly alongside ten million starlings, the largest swarm in Europe. Their mesmeric waves stop many residents in their tracks, but as they roost they smother the city in tons of excrement. One man has learnt to control the ultimate swarm. He has become their 'queen bee' with startling results, learning to control what most people fear and to understand one of the most incredible forces of nature. |
122 |
Treasures of Ancient Egypt (2014) #860
DOCUMENTARY
Main
3x1 hour. BBC, Alastair Sooke tells the story of Ancient Egyptian art through 30 extraordinary masterpieces. 1/3 The Birth of Art. Alastair Sooke looks at Ancient Egyptian masterpieces through the eyes of an art lover. 2/3 The Golden Age. Alastair Sooke explores the sumptuous treasures of the golden age of Egyptian art. 3/3 A New Dawn. How the final era of the Egyptian Empire saw its art enjoy revival and rebirth. |
123 |
The Men Who Made Us Spend (2014) #861
DOCUMENTARY
Main
3x1 hour. BBC. Why do we buy what we buy? Jacques Peretti investigates consumerism and the people who try and shape the public's appetites. 1/3 Jacques Peretti reveals how consumerism is driven by an appetite for 'new' products. 2/3 Jacques Peretti reveals how fear is used by marketers to drive consumer spending. 3/3 We learn how selling to children makes childlike consumers of us all. |
124 |
Majesty and Mortar: Britain's Great Palaces (2014) #863
DOCUMENTARY
Main
3x1 hour. BBC. From the Tower of London to Buckingham Palace, Dan Cruickshank tells the story of a thousand years of palace building, the mystery of why so many have vanished and the magic of the ones that survive. 1/3 Towards an Architecture of Majesty. Dan Cruickshank reveals the buildings which cemented the monarch's claim to the throne. 2/3 Inventing a National Style. A new style emerged as monarchs demanded that architecture proclaim their right to rule. 3/3 Opening the Palace Doors. More recent times saw restoration and conservation and the uncovering of palace secrets. |
125 |
Elgar: The Man Behind the Mask (2014) #867
DOCUMENTARY
Main
90 mins. BBC. The composer of Land of Hope and Glory is often regarded as the quintessential English gentleman, but Edward Elgar's image of hearty nobility was deliberately contrived. In reality, he was the son of a shopkeeper, who was awkward, nervous, self-pitying and often rude, while his marriage to his devoted wife Alice was complicated by romantic entanglements which fired his creative energy. In this revelatory portrait of a musical genius, John Bridcut explores the secret conflicts in Elgar's nature which produced some of Britain's greatest music. |
126 |
Dave Allen: The Immaculate Selection (2014) #885
COMEDY
Main
1 hour. BBC. An anthology of Dave Allen's finest, funniest and most irreverent material, compiled from his time at the BBC from 1971 to 1986. |
127 |
What We Did on Our Holiday (2014) #962
FILM
Main
Directed by Andy Hamilton, Guy Jenkin. With Rosamund Pike, David Tennant, Billy Connolly, Ben Miller. Doug and Abi take their kids on a family vacation. Surrounded by relatives, the kids innocently reveal the ins and outs of their family life and many intimate details about their parents. It's soon clear that when it comes to keeping a big secret under wraps from the rest of the family, their children are their biggest liability... Find out how the rest of the family cope and see if the holiday will ever end. |
128 |
Sammy Davis Jr: The Kid in the Middle (2014) #1035
DOCUMENTARY
Main
1 hour. BBC. Sammy Davis Jr was born to entertain. He was a human dynamo who made his debut at the age of five and by the time he was a teenager was wowing audiences across America. A gifted dancer, actor and singer, and a key member of the Rat Pack, Davis is best remembered for his unforgettable rendition of Mr Bojangles and his number one single The Candyman. However, as a black man, making his way in the entertainment business saw him struggle to overcome racial prejudice, letter bombs and death threats. Davis fought back with his talent and in the 1960s marched alongside Dr Martin Luther King. Despite his reputation as a civil rights campaigner and one of the world's greatest entertainers, Davis remains an enigma. Those closest to him tell of a man never quite comfortable in his own skin, a workaholic and spendaholic who put his career before his family and who died leaving them millions of dollars in debt. This documentary is Sammy Davis Jr's remarkable life story - his rise and his fall - told by those who knew him best. For the first time his family and friends including Paul Anka, Engelbert Humperdinck, Reverend Jesse Jackson and Ben Vereen share their memories - shedding new light on the legacy of one of the most gifted and loved performers in show business. |
129 |
Jobs (2013) #247
FILM
Main
Directed by Joshua Michael Stern. With Ashton Kutcher, Dermot Mulroney, Josh Gad, Lukas Haas. The story of Steve Jobs' ascension from college dropout into one of the most revered creative entrepreneurs of the 20th century. |
130 |
Finding Vivian Maier (2013) #487
FILM
Main
Directed by John Maloof, Charlie Siskel. With Vivian Maier, John Maloof, Daniel Arnaud, Simon Amédé. A documentary on the late Vivian Maier, a nanny whose previously unknown cache of 100,000 photographs earned her a posthumous reputation as one of the most accomplished street photographers. |
131 |
Bach: A Passionate Life (2013) #641
DOCUMENTARY
Main
90 mins. BBC. John Eliot Gardiner goes in search of Bach the man and the musician. The famous portrait of Bach portrays a grumpy 62-year-old man in a wig and formal coat, yet his greatest works were composed 20 years earlier in an almost unrivalled blaze of creativity. We reveal a complex and passionate artist; a warm and convivial family man at the same time a rebellious spirit struggling with the hierarchies of state and church who wrote timeless music that is today known world-wide. Gardiner undertakes a 'Bach Tour' of Germany, and sifts the relatively few clues we have - some newly-found. Most of all, he uses the music to reveal the real Bach. |
132 |
Rupert Murdoch - Battle With Britain (2013) #744
DOCUMENTARY
Main
1 hour. BBC. In the wake of the phone-hacking scandal, Rupert Murdoch has been accused of corrupting British media and contaminating politics. Yet the caricature image of him as the 'Dirty Digger', the sinister head of a global media empire, in fact obscures deeper, more significant truths - not least about Britain itself. Rupert Murdoch can be seen as an agent of change, a revolutionary almost, who has been a vital part of the transformation of Britain over the last 45 years. He rode the wave of social change that swept a gloomy postwar country into the modern world and his ability to understand what people wanted and give it to them made him rich and powerful. Yet his part in this cultural, political and industrial revolution also brought Rupert Murdoch into conflict with the establishment and vested interests in all their guises. It may even have ultimately cost him his life's ambition - to see the business he has built carried on inside the family by one of his children. Steve Hewlett tells the story of Rupert Murdoch's 40-year battle with Britain. |
133 |
Horizon: The Secret Life of the Cat (2013) #751
DOCUMENTARY
Main
1 hour. BBC. Horizon discovers what your cat really gets up to when it leaves the cat flap. In a groundbreaking experiment, 50 cats from a village in Surrey are tagged with GPS collars and their every movement is recorded, day and night, as they hunt in our backyards and patrol the garden fences and hedgerows. Cats are fitted with specially developed cat-cams which reveal their unique view of our world. You may think you understand your pet, but their secret life is more surprising than we thought. |
134 |
Alan Whicker's Journey of a Lifetime: Europe (2013) #753
DOCUMENTARY
Main
1 hour. BBC. Celebrating a remarkable fifty years on television, TV legend and undisputed travel king Alan Whicker sets off round the world on a journey reflecting his incredibly varied life and career. In this first episode, Whicker revisits Venice, a city of massive significance and very close to his heart, to retrace his steps from war to peace, from soldier to Fleet Street journalist, and then his subsequent move into the fledgling world of television. Included in the films revisited in this episode are Whicker's earliest surviving TV appearance, in-depth profiles of John Paul Getty and Baroness Fiona Thyssen, and a legendary encounter with millionaire Yorkshireman and eccentric Percy Shaw - the man who invented cats' eyes. Finally, the remarkable story of what happened when Whicker became the first man to enter a closed and silent order of nuns - and got them to talk to him. |
135 |
Martin Luther King and the March on Washington (2013) #754
DOCUMENTARY
Main
1 hour. BBC. Documentary commemorating the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King's March on Washington, a pivotal moment in the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. This programme tells the story of the how the march for jobs and freedom began, speaking to the people who organised and participated in it. Using rarely seen archive footage the film reveals the background stories surrounding the build up to the march as well as the fierce opposition it faced from the JFK administration, J. Edgar Hoover's FBI and widespread claims that it would incite racial violence, chaos and disturbance. The film follows the unfolding drama as the march reaches its ultimate triumphs, gaining acceptance from the state, successfully raising funds and in the end, organised and executed peacefully - and creating a landmark moment in the struggle for civil rights and racial equality in the united states. Including interviews with some of the key actors: members of the inner circles of the core organizational groups such as Jack O'Dell, Clarence B. Jones, Julian Bond and Andrew Young; Hollywood supporters and civil rights campaigners including Harry Belafonte, Diahann Carroll and Sidney Poitier; Performing artists at the March such as Joan Baez and Peter Yarrow; as well as JFK administration official, Harris Wofford; the CBS Broadcaster who reported from the March, Roger Mudd; Clayborne Carson, the founding director of Stanford's Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute and a participant in the March; as well as those who witnessed the march on TV and were influenced by it, such as Oprah Winfrey, and most of all, the remembrances of the ordinary citizens who joined some 250,000 Americans at the capital on that momentous. |
136 |
The Genius of Turner: Painting the Industrial Revolution (2013) #758
DOCUMENTARY
Main
1 hour. BBC. A film that looks at the genius of JMW Turner in a new light. There is more to Turner than his sublime landscapes - he also painted machines, science, technology and industry. Turner's life spans the Industrial Revolution, he witnessed it as it unfolded, and he painted it. In the process he created a whole new kind of art. The programme examines nine key Turner paintings and shows how we should rethink them in the light of the scientific and Industrial Revolution. Includes interviews with historian Simon Schama and artist Tracey Emin. |
137 |
The Two-Thousand-Year-Old Computer (2013) #762
DOCUMENTARY
Main
1 hour. BBC. In 1901, a group of divers excavating an ancient Roman shipwreck near the island of Antikythera, off the southern coast of Greece, found a mysterious object - a lump of calcified stone that contained within it several gearwheels welded together after years under the sea. The 2,000-year-old object, no bigger than a modern laptop, is now regarded as the world's oldest computer, devised to predict solar eclipses and, according to recent findings, calculate the timing of the ancient Olympics. Following the efforts of an international team of scientists, the mysteries of the Antikythera Mechanism are uncovered, revealing surprising and awe-inspiring details of the object that continues to mystify. |
138 |
Secret Voices of Hollywood (2013) #764
DOCUMENTARY
Main
90mins. BBC. In many of Hollywood's greatest movie musicals the stars did not sing their own songs. This documentary pulls back the curtain to reveal the secret world of the 'ghost singers' who provided the vocals, the screen legends who were dubbed and the classic movies in which the songs were ghosted. |
139 |
After Life: The Strange Science of Decay (2013) #768
DOCUMENTARY
Main
90mins. BBC. Ever wondered what would happen in your own home if you were taken away, and everything inside was left to rot? The answer is revealed in this fascinating programme, which explores the strange and surprising science of decay. For two months in summer 2011, a glass box containing a typical kitchen and garden was left to rot in full public view within Edinburgh Zoo. In this resulting documentary, presenter Dr George McGavin and his team use time-lapse cameras and specialist photography to capture the extraordinary way in which moulds, microbes and insects are able to break down our everyday things and allow new life to emerge from old. Decay is something that many of us are repulsed by. But as the programme shows, it's a process that's vital in nature. And seen in close-up, it has an unexpected and sometimes mesmerising beauty. |
140 |
Imagine: Hitler, the Tiger and Me (2013) #848
DOCUMENTARY
Main
70 mins. BBC, imagine... tells the story of Judith Kerr, creator of some of our best-loved children's books, including Mog and The Tiger Who Came to Tea. Now 90, she still runs up stairs to work all day in her studio. Born in Berlin, she was forced to flee Germany aged nine as her father, a writer, was an outspoken opponent of the Nazis. Her children's novel When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit tells their story and is now a set text in German schools. With Alan Yentob, she revisits Berlin and takes tea in the London kitchen to which that tiger came. With Lauren Child, Michael Morpurgo and Michael Rosen. |