Saturday 27th
Channel 4 - Time Team Special; Londinium, the Edge of the Empire - "Two thousand years ago London didn't exist. It was created by the Romans in the first century AD, when they settled in the area now occupied by the City. The settlement started as a simple bridge over the River Thames, but within 100 years it had become a bustling city with a population of 30,000.
A long way from Rome, Londinium has tended to be regarded as something of a frontier town, an unsophisticated outpost perched precariously on the very edge of the Roman empire. In the past decade, though, a huge amount of redevelopment has taken place in the City, providing an unparalleled opportunity for archaeologists to find out more about the old Roman city beneath the modern streets and buildings. What they've discovered suggests that far from being a relatively uncivilised backwater Londinium was in fact one of the most sophisticated and advanced cities in the entire empire."
Sunday 28th
More 4 - Cutting Edge: The Millionaire and the Murder Mansion - "In August 2008, a devastating fire raged at a Shropshire mansion. As the flames engulfed Osbaston House, mystery surrounded the disappearance of Christopher Foster, his wife Jill and 15-year-old daughter Kirstie. What started out as a fire became a double-murder, suicide and arson investigation that would shock Britain. As vital evidence went up in smoke before their eyes, the police were faced with a number of conspiracy theories and a frenzy of press speculation about the Fosters' fate. With exclusive access to the West Mercia police's painstaking investigation and interviews with close friends and family members, The Millionaire and the Murder Mansion charts the complex jigsaw puzzle involving pathologists, forensic anthropologists, and arson, ballistics and CCTV specialists. Interspersed with the detailed investigation are the emotional interviews with family members and friends who provide an insight into the dark secrets and many sides of the apparently doting husband and father who committed this horrific crime."
Monday 29th
BBC1 - Panorama: Passports to Kill - "It was a murder plot all captured on CCTV: the victim, and the disguised hit squad who stalked then killed him in a hotel room in Dubai. But who murdered Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, and why?
Panorama's Jane Corbin tracks down the answers in Israel, Gaza and Dubai, and shows how British passports and stolen identities were used in a crime which was never meant to be revealed to the world."
BBC4 - How to Win an Election Special: A Panorama Guide - "In the 1950s, politicians cared little for what Churchill called the 'idiot's lantern'. Now television is central to a political leader's image and his chances of winning an election.
This is the story of how politicians abandoned the soapbox for the studio - from the early performances of the two Harolds, Macmillan and Wilson, through the TV campaigns of Margaret Thatcher to the spin-doctored presentation of Tony Blair. Has television finally reduced our politicians to actors spouting soundbites?
With six decades of fascinating archive from television's longest running current affairs programme -Panorama - this is the story of how television has changed British politics."
Tuesday 30th
BBC4 - The Genius of Omar Khayyam - "Filmed in part across Iran during the run up to the 2009 election and presented by Sadeq Saba.
Born almost 1000 years ago in Persia, Omar Khayyam was an astronomer, mathematician and poet. His contribution to algebra and geometry has sealed his reputation as one the greatest mathematicians of all time; and a lunar crater has been named after him for his advances in astronomy.
Omar Khayyam lived during a medieval golden age of science and learning in the East. He was among a group of pioneering scientists who were influenced by ideas from ancient Greece, India and China. The film reveals how Islam and the advancement of science went hand in hand.
In the West, Khayyam is best known for the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam most famously translated by a Victorian man of letters called Edward Fitzgerald. Published in 1859, the same year as Darwin's On the Origin of Species, the film shows how and why the Rubaiyat became one of the most famous poems in the English language, attracting a who's who of literary admirers including Thomas Hardy, TS Eliot and Arthur Conan Doyle.
A decade after its success in England, the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam was published in America where its message of live for the day instantly captured the public imagination. Its popularity spawned all sorts of products including Omar tooth powder, playing cards, and the first illustrated editions of the Rubaiyat. America's favourite poet, Walt Whitman was a fan, and soldiers took miniature copies of the Rubaiyat to the battleground.
Omar Khayyam remains a significant figure in present day Iran, and the film explores why despite his apparent religious scepticism, Khayyam's philosophy continues to resonate with modern Iranians."
Wednesday 31st
BBC2 - Who Needs Fathers? - new series - "A major series to mark 20 years since the passing of the Children Act, investigates whether its key principle is being adhered to - that in family breakdown and divorce, the welfare of the child is paramount. One in three British children have parents who are separated, and it's their relationship with the absent parent that's the key factor in their long-term wellbeing. The film follows two families in very different circumstances."
Friday 2nd
Channel 4 - Unreported World: Nigeria's Killing Fields - "As the world focuses on recent sectarian violence in Nigeria, this film looks at the eventsleading up to the latest round of bloodletting... "
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* This applies to staff members and students at the University of Gloucestershire only. Any recordings made are to be used only for educational and non-commercial purposes under the terms of the ERA Licence.
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