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21 The Trial of Christine Keeler (2019) #1238 TV DRAMA Special
With Sophie Cookson, James Norton, Ellie Bamber, Emilia Fox. Story of Christine Keeler, who found herself at the heart of a political sex scandal that rocked British government in the 1960s.
6x1 hour episodes. BBC.

1/6 In 1960s London, model Christine Keeler deals with an explosive love triangle.
2/6 Christine Keeler tells her story to the press, and a chill wind blows for John Profumo.
3/6 Christine flees to Spain as Profumo publicly denies their affair.
4/6 Christine’s star rises, Profumo faces the music, and Stephen Ward is in the firing line.
5/6 Stephen Ward's trial begins at the Old Bailey. Has Christine forsaken him?
6/6 Stephen's life hangs in the balance as his sentence is decided.
22 A Very British Christmas (2019) #1334 FILM Main
Directed by Steven Nesbit. With Rachel Shenton, Mark Killeen, Isla Cook, Michele Dotrice. Opera singer Jessica's flight to her concert in Vienna gets delayed and she is stuck in a remote area of England. The only place to stay is a bed-and-breakfast in an enchanting village run by a handsome widower named Andrew.
Also billed as 'A Very Yorkshire Christmas' this film stars Knaresborough.
23 Lucy Worsley's Christmas Carol Odyssey (2019) #1340 DOCUMENTARY-MUSIC Main
1 hour. BBC. In this festive treat featuring the Kingdom Choir and Hampton Court Choir, Lucy Worsley reveals that there’s much more to our best-loved carols than meets the eye. She reveals how their stories add up to a special kind of history of Christmas itself. In the ancient past, the wassail, a pagan fertility ritual, gave us door-to-door carol singing. Wassailing was also an integral part of an older midwinter festival that was adopted by Christianity when it came to Britain, and was rebranded as ‘Christmas’.

Religion, however, soon turned its back on carols. They were far too frivolous for the Puritans, who wanted to ban Christmas altogether. French Catholics on the other hand didn’t mind fun and frolics, and Lucy crosses the channel to learn a French renaissance jig, written by a dancing priest in the 16th century. The tune she dances to went on to become the carol Ding Dong Merrily on High in the 19th century.

In strict Protestant Britain, the carol survived outside the Church and new ones turned up in some surprising places. Lucy visits the British Library, where she discovers an 18th-century children’s book that contains a little memory game called The Twelve Days of Christmas. Christmas carols could also be politically dangerous and subversive. British Catholics were oppressed for generations after the Reformation, but one Catholic scribe, John Francis Wade, hid a coded message of support for a Jacobite rebellion in the carol O Come All Ye Faithful.

Eventually, the Church of England couldn’t resist the power of the carol, and finally opened its doors to all of them, thanks to a chance pairing of words and music in Hark the Herald Angels Sing, performed in the programme by the renowned gospel ensemble, The Kingdom Choir. In the 20th century, Ralph Vaughan Williams’s passion for English folk music took him to the villages of Surrey. Here, Lucy meets a folk singer who tells the tale of an elderly farm labourer, Henry Garman, who sang a tune for Vaughan Williams, which became O Little Town of Bethlehem.

Finally, in the snowy Austrian Alps, Lucy discovers the simple story of a young parish priest with a poem in search of a tune. When he found one, the result was Silent Night. During the First World War, this simple carol would become a hymn for peace during the famous Christmas truce of 1914. Silent Night also reminds us that carols are, and have always been, ‘popular music’, music for the people, fulfilling an enduring need to celebrate and sing together at Christmas.
24 Greed (2019) #1343 FILM Main
Directed by Michael Winterbottom. With Caroline Flack, Steve Coogan, David Mitchell, Isla Fisher. Satire about the world of the super-rich.
Thought (by me at least) to be about Sir Philip Nigel Ross Green (born 15 March 1952) - the British businessman who is the chairman of Arcadia Group, a retail company that includes Topshop, Topman, Wallis, Evans, Burton, Miss Selfridge, Dorothy Perkins and Outfit. The defunct BHS chain was also part of the group.
25 Art, Passion & Power: The Story of the Royal Collection (2018) #1080 DOCUMENTARY Special
4x1 hour. BBC. In a major new series, Andrew Graham-Dixon explores the history of the Royal Collection, one of the largest and most important art collections in the world, built up over 500 years.

1/4 Dangerous Magic.How art was used by Henry VIII and Charles I, the great founders of the Royal Collection.
2/4 Paradise Regained. The story of Royal Collection's remarkable resurrection under Charles II and George III.
3/4 Palaces and Pleasuredomes. Exploring George IV's extravagant taste and Victoria and Albert's shared love of art.
4/4 Modern Times. How art was used to steady the ship of British monarchy through an uncertain age.
26 Great British Railway Journeys: York to Frizinghall (2018) #1102 DOCUMENTARY Main
30 mins. BBC. Series 9. Armed with his Edwardian Bradshaw's guide, Michael Portillo conducts important research in an historic tea room, built by an Edwardian immigrant to the city of York. Research of a more sombre kind leads Michael to the roots of our modern welfare state in the work of an early 20th-century Quaker investigator, whose family manufactured chocolate.

Next stop is Leeds, where Michael discovers the city's textile heritage, which relied in Edwardian times on a group of skilled Jewish immigrants to take it forward. Michael learns how some of the big names built their empires in Leeds and measures up to a footballing legend. At Bradford Grammar School, Michael hears the story of a talented Edwardian student who became a famous composer and enjoys one of his works, sung by a music pupil of today.
27 Cunk on Britain (2018) #1104 COMEDY Main
5x30 min. BBC.
1/5 Philomena Cunk explores the Big Bang and interviews Robert Peston about British politics.
2/5 Philomena's odyssey takes her from King Henry VIII to Lord Horatio Nelson.
3/5 Philomena examines the Victorians and is joined by Chris Packham.
4/5 Philomena examines the early 20th century, with two world wars but no world cup.
5/5 The Arse End of History. In the final episode, Cunk has made it to the 21st century and Brexit.
28 BBC Proms: Folk Prom 2018 (2018) #1123 MUSIC Main
2 hours. BBC Proms

Folk Prom 2018

Traditional music for modern times as the ever-versatile BBC Concert Orchestra and conductor Stephen Bell collaborate with leading musicians in this celebration of the diverse folk scenes and songbooks of the British Isles. The Unthanks, Sam Lee, Julie Fowlis, Jarlath Henderson and ALAW perform stirring songs and driving jigs in a genre that is constantly renewing and reinvigorating itself.
From the Outer Hebrides, multi-award-winning singer Julie Fowlis is a torchbearer for her native Gaelic tradition and famously lent her crystalline vocals to the theme song of the Pixar film Brave. Her co-presenter on the Prom is Mercury-nominated singer-songwriter, nightingale whisperer, song collector and traditional music specialist Sam Lee.

The innovative, eclectic approach of Northumbria's The Unthanks has won them fans across the musical spectrum, and here the orchestral setting enhances the widescreen drama of their atmospheric epic Mount the Air. Jarlath Henderson from County Tyrone in Northern Ireland is a master of the uilleann pipes and whistles, and in 2003 was the youngest ever BBC Young Folk Musician award winner. Trio ALAW demonstrate their passion for the traditional music of Wales through unearthing and reimagining gems, and creating original tunes.

It's an exhilarating musical journey through the evolving folk traditions of our islands, where innovation and tradition intertwine.
29 What Do Artists Do All Day? Mahtab Hussain (2018) #1128 DOCUMENTARY Main
30 mins. BBC 4. 15th August 2018. As part of the Big British Asian Summer season, What Do Artists Do All Day? celebrates prominent Asian artists and performers.

Mahtab Hussain is a photographer whose work chronicles the complex experiences of the British Muslim community. His portraits of young, working-class Muslim men were the basis of an acclaimed exhibition and book You Get Me?, exploring questions of masculinity and self-esteem in a series of striking images.
Recently, his work has also focused on the changing identity of British Muslim women. This film follows Mahtab at work on his latest photographic project and hears from some of his subjects.
30 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.
31 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.
32 The Joy of Winning (2018) #1161 DOCUMENTARY Main
1 hour. BBC. How to have a happier life and a better world all thanks to maths, in this witty, mind-expanding guide to the science of success with Hannah Fry.

Following in the footsteps of BBC Four's award-winning maths films The Joy of Stats and The Joy of Data, this latest gleefully nerdy adventure sees mathematician Dr Hannah Fry unlock the essential strategies you'll need to get what you want - to win - more of the time. From how to bag a bargain dinner to how best to stop the kids arguing on a long car journey, maths can give you a winning strategy. And the same rules apply to the world's biggest problems - whether it's avoiding nuclear annihilation or tackling climate change.

Deploying 'The Joys Of...' films' trademark mix of playful animation alongside both oddball demos and contributions from the world's biggest brains, Fry shows how this field of maths - known as game theory - is the essential key to help you get your way. She reveals ways to analyse any situation, and methods of calculating the consequences of getting what you want. Expect tips on taking advantage of what your opponents do, but also pleasing proof that cooperation might get you further than conflict. Fry also hails the 20th-century scientists like John von Neumann and John Nash who worked out the science of success. They may not be household names, but they transformed economics, politics, psychology and evolutionary biology in the process - and their work, Hannah demonstrates, could even be shown to prove the existence and advantage of goodness.

Along the way the film reveals, amongst other things, what links the rapper Ludacris, a Kentucky sheriff, a Nobel Prize winner and doping in professional cycling. And there's an irresistible chance to revisit the most excruciatingly painful and the most genius scenes ever seen on a TV game show, as Hannah unpacks the maths behind the legendary show Golden Balls and hails Nick Corrigan, the contestant whose cunning gameplay managed to break the supposedly intractable 'Prisoner's Dilemma'.

Other contributors to The Joy of Winning include European number one professional female poker player Liv Boeree, Scottish ex-pro cyclist and anti-doping campaigner (banned for 2 years in 2004 for doping) David Millar, Israeli game theory expert Dr Haim Shapira - who shows why it is sometimes rational to be irrational - and top evolutionary game theorist Professor Karl Sigmund from the University of Vienna.
33 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.
34 Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) #1212 FILM Main
Directed by Bryan Singer. With Rami Malek, Lucy Boynton, Gwilym Lee, Ben Hardy. The story of the legendary British rock band Queen and lead singer Freddie Mercury, leading up to their famous performance at Live Aid (1985).
35 Red Joan (2018) #1359 FILM Main
Directed by Trevor Nunn. With Judi Dench, Sophie Cookson, Stephen Campbell Moore, Tom Hughes. The story of Joan Stanley, who was exposed as the K.G.B.'s longest-serving British spy.
36 Peterloo (2018) #1371 FILM Main
Peterloo: Directed by Mike Leigh. With Rory Kinnear, Maxine Peake, Pearce Quigley, David Moorst. The story of the 1819 Peterloo Massacre where British forces attacked a peaceful pro-democracy rally in Manchester
37 British History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley (2017) #977 DOCUMENTARY Main
3x1 hour. BBC. Lucy Worsley explores how British history is a concoction of fibs and stories manipulated by whoever was in power at the time.

1/3 The Wars of the Roses. Lucy debunks the foundation myth of one of our favourite royal dynasties, the Tudors.
2/3 The Glorious Revolution. Debunking the Glorious Revolution, when William of Orange stole the throne from James II.
3/3 The Jewel in the Crown. Lucy debunks the fibs that surround India, the 'jewel in the crown' of the British Empire.
38 The Man Who Shot Tutankhamun (2017) #987 DOCUMENTARY Main
1 hour. BBC. Margaret Mountford travels to Egypt's Valley of the Kings to discover the story of an unsung hero of British photography - Harry Burton, the man whose images of the Tutankhamun excavation created a global sensation in the 1920s.

As she explores the spectacular locations where Burton worked, including Tutankhamun's tomb, she investigates how Burton's photographs inspired a craze for Egyptian designs and made the archaeologist Howard Carter an international celebrity. She discovers why Burton's images are still studied today by Egyptologists around the world. And she works with a present-day photographer Harry Cory Wright to find out how Burton pushed the boundaries of photographic art to create his extraordinary and influential pictures of the world's most famous archaeological discovery.
39 Britain at War: Imperial War Museum at 100 (2017) #992 DOCUMENTARY Main
1 hour. BBC. 2017 marks the centenary year of the establishment of Imperial War Museums. It was founded while the First World War was still raging - and over the past century, IWM has expanded hugely, with five sites including the Churchill War Rooms and HMS Belfast. It shares stories of those who have lived, fought and died in conflicts involving Britain and the Commonwealth.

This programme, presented by Falklands veteran and charity campaigner Simon Weston CBE, looks at ten key objects from the IWM's collection. Each of the objects has a special advocate to explore what it reveals about the story of conflict - Bear Grylls ventures onto HMS Belfast, Al Murray looks at a Spitfire at Duxford, and the artists Cornelia Parker and Steve McQueen discuss how they have responded to war and loss in their work. Kate Adie tells the remarkable tale of the typewriter in the Churchill War Rooms, Dame Kelly Holmes meets the extraordinary Johnson Beharry VC to hear about his experiences in the Iraq War, and Anita Rani explores the incredible heroism of one soldier in the British-Indian Army.
40 Britain in Focus: A Photographic History (2017) #993 DOCUMENTARY Main
3x1 hour. BBC. Series in which Eamonn McCabe celebrates Britain's greatest photographers, sees how science allowed their art to develop, and explores how they have captured our changing lives and country.

1/3 Exploring how the new art of photography developed in 19th-century Britain.
2/3 Eamonn traces the emergence of photojournalism in the early 20th century.
3/3 How the colour boom and digital revolution have shaped modern British photography. [Including Peter Mitchell's 'Planet Yorkshire' at Impressions Gallery Bradford.]

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