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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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My Government and I (2022) #1444
DOCUMENTARY
Main
1 Hour. BBC. Once a week, the prime minister had a private audience with Her Majesty the Queen, just as Sir Winston Churchill did at the start of her reign. With the help of her surviving prime ministers, William Shawcross examines this critical relationship at the heart of our constitutional system. Featuring interviews with Baroness Thatcher, Lord Callaghan, Sir Edward Heath, Sir John Major, Tony Blair, Theresa May and Boris Johnson. |
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A Slow Odyssey: The Great Wall of China (2019) #1171
DOCUMENTARY
Main
90mins. BBC. Slow television. A spectacular aerial journey flying over the world’s longest man-made monument, the Great Wall of China. In classic slow-TV style - without commentary and using authentic location sound - fly 2,500 kilometres along the 2,300-year-old wall, from the Yellow Sea in the crowded east, near Beijing, to the remote Gobi Desert in the west. This epic adventure explores 20 location highlights of the UNESCO-world-heritage site, built by the Ming Dynasty between 1368 and 1644, starting at Old Dragon’s Head on the east coast and ending at the extraordinary Jaiyuguan Fortress - once the gateway into China from the ancient Silk Road trading route. With the help of informative captions, witness the classic stone, crenellated walls, ramparts and watchtowers, which rise and fall over the high mountain ranges for the first 500 kilometres of the Great Wall, north of Beijing. Highlights include the famous tourist wall of Badaling, which has seen visits from 500 heads of state, including the Queen and US Presidents Nixon and Obama. It was the first section of the Great Wall to open to tourists in 1957. The middle section explores the rarely seen rammed-earth mud wall, built in provinces with few stone or brick resources, which is much more fragile. More than a third of the entire Great Wall has been destroyed by nature, war and progress over the last three centuries. There is a significant meeting of two Chinese icons as the Great Wall crosses the great Yellow River, known as the cradle of Chinese civilisation. In the final third of the journey, the wall stretches off across desolate floodplains as it starts to border the remote western Gobi Desert. Flying high above one of the last remaining ancient walled towns, its name becomes obvious - Yongtai or ‘Turtle Town’ – as its 17th-century walls and watchtowers resemble the shape of a turtle. The final dramatic climax comes at the Qilian Gorge, 80 metres above a roaring river, with the snow-capped mountains of the Tibetan plateau in the distance. The end tower is just a few kilometres from the impressive double-walled Jaiyuguan Fortress, whose three gigantic temple towers dominate the landscape, brandishing the words: ‘The First and Greatest Pass under Heaven’. This was the intimidating welcome to all new arrivals entering China from the west along the Silk Road. A Slow Odyssey is a TV first, showing The Great Wall as it has never been seen before – entirely from the air. |
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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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Charles I: Downfall of a King (2019) #1204
DOCUMENTARY
Special
3x1 hour episodes. BBC. Historian Lisa Hilton discovers how, in just fifty tempestuous days, Charles I’s rule collapsed, laying the foundations for civil war, the loss of royal power and, ultimately, the king’s head. 1/3 Two Worlds Collide. While Charles I is in Edinburgh, Parliament passes a vote of no confidence in his rule. 2/3 A Nation Divided. Rumours of the Queen's involvement in the Irish rebellion worsen Charles's position. 3/3 The Final Showdown. The stakes are raised as Charles marches on Westminster. |
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Imagine: Hockney, the Queen and the Royal Peculiar (2018) #1140
DOCUMENTARY
Main
1 hour. BBC. It has been the site of royal weddings, funerals and nearly every British coronation since 1066, Westminster Abbey is also known as a Royal Peculiar - a church controlled not by a bishop but by the monarch herself. Crowned there 65 years ago, Queen Elizabeth II is now the world's longest-reigning monarch and to celebrate, Westminster Abbey has commissioned an historic new work - a towering stained-glass window. The artist behind it is David Hockney - who famously refused a knighthood and declined an invitation to paint the Queen's portrait because he was too busy painting landscapes in Yorkshire. Adopting an art form which is over 1,000 years old is yet another surprising move from an artist whose career has continually defied expectation. With unique access, imagine... follows the whole process from design to installation. |
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World War One Remembered: Westminster Abbey (2018) #1148
DOCUMENTARY
Main
110mins. BBC. 11th November 2018. From Westminster Abbey. Sophie Raworth, Fergal Keane and Sean Fletcher present live coverage from Westminster Abbey to mark the centenary of the Armistice. Present at the service are HM the Queen, other senior members of the royal family, the prime minister, leading politicians and representatives of nations from both sides of the war. Exactly one hundred years ago the guns of World War One fell silent, this special service at Westminster Abbey marks the final act of commemoration in four years of centenary events. |
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King Charles III (2017) #998
TV DRAMA
Main
90mins. BBC. King Charles III, adapted by Mike Bartlett from his Tony-nominated stage play, is part political thriller, part family drama, and a timely examination of contemporary Britain. Prince Charles has waited his entire life to ascend to the British throne. But after the Queen's death, he immediately finds himself wrestling his conscience over a bill to sign into law. His hesitation detonates a constitutional and political crisis, and his family start to worry, with William and Kate becoming aware his actions may threaten their future. Meanwhile, an unhappy and frustrated Prince Harry starts a relationship with a 'commoner', just at the moment that the press is looking for a way to attack. With the future of the monarchy under threat, protests on the streets and his family in disarray, Charles must grapple with his own identity and purpose to decide whether, in the 21st century, the British crown still has any real power. This adaptation retains the daring verse of the original text while fully realising on screen the ambitious scale and spectacle suggested by the play - from Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace to the restless streets of London. Tim Pigott-Smith (Downton Abbey, The Hour) reprises the role of Charles from the acclaimed West End and Broadway production, while Charlotte Riley (Close to the Enemy, Peaky Blinders) stars as Kate Middleton. Olivier award-winner Rupert Goold (The Hollow Crown, True Story) directs. It is produced by Drama Republic, the company behind Golden Globe, Bafta and RTS Award-winning dramas The Honourable Woman, Doctor Foster and An Inspector Calls. |
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Elizabeth I's Secret Agents (2017) #1046
DOCUMENTARY
Main
3x1 hour. BBC. A look at the secret network behind Queen Elizabeth I's 40-year reign and the world's first secret service run by her spymasters Robert and William Cecil. 1/3 Spymaster William Cecil must stop Catholic assassins after the queen is declared a heretic. 2/3 An ambitious aristocrat tries to take over Robert Cecil's spy network. 3/3 Robert Cecil exposes the gunpowder plot. |
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Elizabeth at 90: A Family Tribute (2016) #582
FILM
Main
Directed by John Bridcut. With Prince Charles, Princess Alexandra, Sarah Armstrong-Jones, Clementine Churchill. A unique celebration of the Queen's ninety years as she reaches her landmark birthday in April. Film-maker John Bridcut has been granted special access to the complete collection of Her Majesty's personal ciné films, shot by the Duke of Edinburgh and the Queen herself, as well as by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. Much of it has never been seen publicly before. Various ... 70mins. BBC. 21st April 2016. |
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The Diamond Jubliee Concert (2012) #783
DOCUMENTARY
Main
BBC. Celebrating The Queen's Diamond Jubilee On Monday 4 June 2012 there was a star-studded concert, set against the spectacular backdrop of Buckingham Palace, celebrating Her Majesty the Queen's 60 year reign. In the presence of HM the Queen and the royal family, an array of stars from the last sixty years of rock, pop and classical music perform on a spectacular stage built around the Queen Victoria Memorial, right in front of Buckingham Palace. Hit songs and show-stopping performances are promised, with hosts including Rob Brydon, Miranda Hart, Lenny Henry and Lee Mack. Proceedings conclude with HM the Queen lighting the National Beacon. Release date: 4 June 2012 3 hours, 15 |
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The Queen (2006) #527
FILM
Main
Directed by Stephen Frears. With Helen Mirren, Michael Sheen, James Cromwell, Alex Jennings. After the death of Princess Diana, Queen Elizabeth II struggles with her reaction to a sequence of events nobody could have predicted. |
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Alice in Wonderland (1951) #427
FILM-ANIMATION
Main
Directed by Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske. With Kathryn Beaumont, Ed Wynn, Richard Haydn, Sterling Holloway. Alice stumbles into the world of Wonderland. Will she get home? Not if the Queen of Hearts has her way. Disney |
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Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) #435
FILM-ANIMATION
Main
Directed by William Cottrell, David Hand, Wilfred Jackson. With Adriana Caselotti, Harry Stockwell, Lucille La Verne, Roy Atwell. Snow White, pursued by a jealous queen, hides with the Dwarfs; the queen soon learns of this and prepares to feed her a poison apple. Disney |