Tuesday 28 February 2012

Off-air recordings for week 3rd March - 9th March 2012

Please email Rich Deakin rdeakin@glos.ac.uk if you would like any of the following programmes / series recording.*


*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.
__________________________________________________________
Sunday 4th March 2012

Documentaries

War Horse: The Real Story
Channel 4, 8:00-9:00pm

The truth about the million British horses that served in World War I is even more epic than Steven Spielberg's War Horse feature film. This documentary tells their extraordinary, moving story, begining with the mass call-up of horses from every farm and country estate in the land. Racing commentator Brough Scott tells the tale of his aristocratic grandfather General Jack Seely and his beloved horse Warrior, who would become the most famous horse of the war. The British Army hoped its illustrious cavalry regiments would win a swift victory, but it would be years before they enjoyed their moment of glory. Instead, in a new era of mechanised trench warfare, the heavy horses transporting guns, ammunition and food to the front-line troops were most important. A quarter of a million of these horses died from shrapnel wounds and disease. But the deep bond that developed between man and horse helped both survive the hell of the Somme and Passchendaele. Behind the lines an army of vets worked miracles to treat injured horses and keep them going. The finest hour of the cavalry came in spring 1918 when - led by the warhorse Warrior - they checked the German advance before going on to help win the war. But there was further heartache when the war ended. Eighty five thousand of the oldest horses were sold for meat to feed POWs and the half-starved local population. Half a million horses were sold to French farmers to help rebuild the countryside. Only 60,000 made it back to Britain. Six of these horses would pull the body of the Unknown Warrior to its last resting place in Westminster Abbey.



Factual; Science and Nature; Weather

Orbit: Earth's Extraordinary Journey
BBC1, 9:00-10:00pm, 1/3

Right now you're hurtling around the sun at 64,000 miles an hour (100,000 kms an hour). In the next year you'll travel 584 million miles, to end up back where you started. Presenters Kate Humble and Dr Helen Czerski follow the Earth's voyage around the sun for one complete orbit, to witness the astonishing consequences this journey has for us all. In this first episode they travel from July to the December solstice, experiencing spectacular weather and the largest tides on Earth. To show how the Earth's orbit affects our lives, Helen jumps out of an aeroplane and Kate briefly becomes the fastest driver on Earth.


Arts, Culture and the Media; Children's Literature

Comp Lit
BBC Radio 4, 1:30-2:00pm

A children's book using the word "Paki". An angry Daily Telegraph editorial about teen fiction. A new group of writers and teachers grappling with the difficult lives of new young readers. 'Comp Lit.' may not have been a literary genre. But it had widespread repercussions.  Nick Baker revisits a period in children's literature, the 1970s, when stories with gritty true life settings sent the boarding school story packing, at least until the arrival of Harry Potter. A new era of fiction set in state schools, aimed at a diverse new readership, hungry for stories about their lives, rather than the idealised lives of middle class children.  Nick traces the arrival of stories for and about 'ordinary' boys and girls of all ages, talking to writers Robert Leeson, Bernard Ashley, Gene Kemp, Farrukh Dhondy and Jan Needle about a time when the politics of class and the classroom, of race and gender, came together in fiction.  By the 1970s, books like The Trouble with Donovan Croft by Bernard Ashley, The Turbulent Term of Tyke Tiler by Gene Kemp and Come To Mecca by Farrukh Dhondy were depicting real life in Britain. Authors were often teachers, keen to capture the imaginations of reluctant readers with stories they'd relate to. The stories were instantly popular. They inspired the hit TV drama Grange Hill..  What kids should and did read became a hot topic. The new books told stories charged with the language and behaviour found in schools the readers went to. Fostering, working mums, benefits, multiracial friendships and racist bullying were all grist to the mill. Did they sacrifice fantasy for social realism? Should the politics of class race and gender be kept out of the children's books? Nick examines the legacy of Comp Lit.


__________________________________________________________
Monday 5th March 2012

Documentaries

The Fastest Changing Place On Earth
BBC2, 7:00-8:00pm

White Horse Village is a tiny farming community deep in rural China. A decade ago, it became part of the biggest urbanisation project in human history, as the Chinese government decided to take half a billion farmers and turn them into city-dwelling consumers. White Horse Village was to become a city of 200,000 in just a few years.  White Horse Village is a tiny farming community deep in rural China. A decade ago, it became part of the biggest urbanisation project in human history, as the Chinese government decided to take half a billion farmers and turn them into city-dwelling consumers. White Horse Village was to become a city of 200,000 in just a few years. 

Filmed over the past six years, Carrie Gracie follows the lives of three local people during this upheaval. She meets Xiao Zhang, a mother and rice farmer desperate to see her children have a better life, Xie Tingming, an entrepreneur determined to make money and push the development forward and the local Communist Party Secretary, who is caught between what the party wants and a way of life that has endured for centuries.

The Fastest Changing Place on Earth, is an extraordinary story of ordinary people in one tiny village as the Government's epic plans sweep through China at a speed and scale unimaginable anywhere else on earth. In just ten years they plan to build thousands of new cities, a new road network to rival the USA's and three hundred of the world's biggest dams.



Factual; Documentaries

Knuckle
BBC4, 10:00-11:00pm

Documentary which goes inside the secretive Traveller world - a world of long and bitter memories. Filmed over twelve years, the film chronicles a history of violent feuding between rival families, using remarkable access to document the bare-fist fights between the Quinn McDonaghs and the Joyce clans, who, though cousins, have clashed for generations. Vivid, violent and funny, the film explores the need for revenge and the pressure to fight for the honour of your family name.


__________________________________________________________
Tuesday 6th March 2012

Factual; Science and Nature; Science and Technology

Horizon: Solar Storms - The Threat to Planet Earth
BBC2, 9:00-10:00pm

There is a new kind of weather to worry about, and it comes from our nearest star. Scientists are expecting a fit of violent activity on the sun which will propel billions of tonnes of superheated gas and pulses of energy towards our planet. They have the power to close down our modern technological civilisation - and in 1989, a solar storm cut off the power to the Canadian city of Quebec. Horizon meets the space weathermen who are trying to predict whats coming our way, and organistions like the National Grid who are preparing for the impending solar storms.



Factual; Documentaries

File On 4
BBC Radio 4, 8:00-8:40pm, What Drives Fathers To Kill Their Families?

In the last two months, four fathers have killed their partners, children and themselves. File on 4 investigates what drives these men to take such drastic action.  The programme talks to relatives, expert forensic psychiatrists and academics to try to find out why they became so-called 'family annihilators'.  It looks at new research into such cases which points to a link to unemployment rates and the levels of gun ownership. It will also ask whether authorities like the health service and police could do more to watch for signs that men are a risk to their families and asks whether new gun licence measures are working.


__________________________________________________________
Wednesday 7th March 2012

Documentaries

Granny's Moving In: A Wonderland Film
BBC2, 9:00-10:00pm

With costs of retirement homes rising, more people are choosing to take care of elderly relatives themselves. This documentary follows Phil and Sue Caroll as they take in her 83-year-old mother Peggy, who is in the early stages of dementia, but proves as difficult as any teenager. Determined to enjoy herself at any cost, Peggy goes out on the town dancing while Sue and Phil are left worrying about her safety. So after a few months under the same roof, they devise what they hope will be the perfect solution - converting the garage into a granny flat to give this fun-loving OAP her independence and them their peace of mind.



__________________________________________________________
Thursday 8th March 2012

Documentaries; History

She-Wolves: England's Early Queens
BBC4, 3:45-4:45am, series 1, 1/3 - Matilda and Eleanor

Helen Castor explores the role of queens in medieval and Tudor England, analysing how they evolved from being the wives of kings to powerful figures in their own right - but faced great struggles to impose their authority in a male-dominated society. She begins by recalling the life of Matilda, the daughter of Henry I, who waged war against her cousin Stephen in the mid-12th century in a bid to be recognised as her father's rightful successor. The historian also charts the turbulent life of Eleanor of Aquitaine, the wife of Henry II, who played a major role in governing England during the latter half of the 12th century.




Documentaries; Natural World
Natural World: Grizzlies of Alaska
BBC2, 8:00-9:00pm

Ecologist Chris Morgan follows the daily struggle of a grizzly bear as she rears her two cubs in Alaska and teaches them to hunt as well as survive the harsh conditions of winter. She must also keep them safe from prowling males in a region where violent encounters between the animals are frequent.



Factual; Crime and Justice

Law In Action
BBC Radio 4, 8:00-8:30pm, 3/4 Sport and the Law

The law is increasingly impacting on sport, with landmark cases being heard in the High Court and European Court of Justice in areas like drugs and employment law. The involvement of lawyers has increased as the professionalism and importantly the money has increased. But when sport ends up in the ordinary courts the cases can be slow and in some cases financially crippling. Governing bodies are often keen to stay out of court, and sport has instituted its own courts, such as the Court for Arbitration for Sport. Many sporting governing bodies write into their constitutions that the CAS be the first port of call in dispute resolution.

The CAS will play a key role at the Olympics, but dispute resolution starts long before the games themselves. Britain's rhythm gymnastics team are already appealing against a decision not to select them for the Olympics and sprinter Dwain Chambers is awaiting a decision by CAS on whether the British Olympic Association rules that currently bar him from competing in an Olympic Games break the international rules on drug bans.

But the move away from the normal courts is not driven by cost alone. There is a debate about how far the law courts should be involved in decisions which impact on sport. The European Union has recognised the special nature of sport, and this has been welcomed by sporting governing bodies. But are we seeing the build up of a body of sports law, which might conflict with law in other areas? How far should sport be special in the eyes of the law? And where should the boundary lie between areas which are decided by traditional courts, sports courts or left up to the sport governing bodies themselves? Joshua Rosenberg talks to those involved with sport and the law.

__________________________________________________________

Wednesday 22 February 2012

Off-air recordings for week 25th February - 2nd March 2012

Please email Rich Deakin rdeakin@glos.ac.uk if you would like any of the following programmes / series recording.*


*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.
__________________________________________________________
Saturday 25th February 2012

History; Documentary

Sex, Drugs and Rock 'n' Roll: The '60s Revealed
Yesterday, 11:00pm-12:00am, 2/3
Stars who rose to fame in the 1960s, including Sean Connery, Maureen Lipman, Sylvia Syms and Hayley Mills, reflect on decades of cultural change as they watch previously unscreened interviews they gave to TV presenter Bernard Braden in 1968. They recall the changing nature of British recreational habits as television increased in popularity and the work they did during the decade that launched their careers.


__________________________________________________________
Monday 27th February 2012

Factual; Arts, Culture and the Media; Magazines and Reviews

David Hockney: The Art of Seeing - A Culture Show Special
BBC2, 7:00-8:00pm

David Hockney, widely considered to be Britain's best-loved living artist, has taken over the Royal Academy in London with his exhibition A Bigger Picture made up of recent works depicting the landscape of his native Yorkshire.   In this programme, Andrew Marr, a friend of Hockney's and an amateur painter himself, is in conversation with the artist, both at his home in Bridlington and in the galleries of the RA.



News

Panorama: The Cost of Raising Britain
BBC1, 8:30-9:00pm

With nurseries and childminders costing families up to a third of their income, and working mums feeling squeezed out of the workplace, Panorama investigates the rising cost of childcare. Shelley Jofre meets a family who moved abroad for a better deal, and reveals why budget cuts are forcing some parents to consider taking over their own nurseries


Documentary

Proud and Prejudiced
Channel 4, 10:00-11:05pm

Proud and Prejudiced is the story of two of the most controversial men in Britain. Tommy Robinson, a tanning salon manager, is the leader of the English Defence League, the biggest far-right street protest movement for a generation.  Sayful Islam, a former tax inspector, heads a small group of Muslim extremists, who have become notorious for abusing British soldiers and burning poppies on Remembrance Day.  Both men enjoy a cult-like status with loyal followers, both are specialists in making highly inflammatory speeches and defying the authorities, and both are from the same town: Luton.  Caught in the middle is Sarah Allen, the leader of Luton Borough Council's 'Luton in Harmony' initiative, the official fight back against the town's reputation as a hotbed of extremism.  Filmed over the course of a year, this is an intimate portrait of the two men and how a dangerous local feud has become an alarming national drama.



__________________________________________________________
Tuesday 28th February 2012

Factual; Science and Nature; Science and Technology

Horizon; The Truth About Exercise
BBC2, 9:00-10:00pm

Like many, Michael Mosley want to get fitter and healthier but can't face hours on the treadmill or trips to the gym. Help may be at hand.  He uncovers the surprising new research which suggests many of us could benefit from just three minutes of high intensity exercise a week. He discovers the hidden power of simple activities like walking and fidgeting, and finds out why some of us don't respond to exercise at all.  Using himself as a guinea pig, Michael uncovers the surprising new research about exercise, that has the power to make us all live longer and healthier lives.



Factual; Performances and Events

The Richard Dimbleby Lecture
BBC1, 10:35-11:20pm

In the 2012 Richard Dimbleby Lecture, leading geneticist and Nobel laureate Sir Paul Nurse explores the wonder of science and how it enhances our culture and civilisation. He investigates how science can not only help solve the world's big problems, but also be harnessed to improve health and quality of life. One of Britain's most eminent scientists, Sir Paul is the president of the Royal Society and chief executive of the UK Centre for Medical Research and Innovation.


__________________________________________________________
Wednesday 29th February 2012

Documentaries

Hasidic Cruise: A Wonderland Film
BBC2, 9:00-10:00pm

Until last October, Stamford Hill's highly orthodox Gaby and Tikwah Lock -married for 40 years and who featured in a previous Wonderland film about Hasidic weddings - had never been on a holiday. Their leisure time was spent divided between religious study and domestic duties.


Then they booked themselves a 12 day Mediterranean kosher cruise. Although it tours the same destinations as many ships, this is a cruise like no other. Alongside universal entertainments like belly dancing and a communal jacuzzi, the Golden Iris boasts religious lectures, creative towel folding and couples relationship workshops. The experience of life on board seems to bring a sparkle to many of the marriages it hosts. 'It's like putting a log in the fireplace,' says one woman, 'For the flame not to go out, you have to feed it once in a while.'

For Gaby and Tikwah, however, the story of the holiday throws a surprising and revealing spotlight on married life. Home truths and frustrations emerge from their visits to the cruise ship couples workshop, which Gaby resolves with an unexpected gift for his wife and a little more understanding of Tikwah's exasperation at his domestic shortcomings.



__________________________________________________________
Thursday 1st March 2012

Documentary

Woof! A Horizon Guide to Dogs
BBC4, 8:00-9:00pm


Dallas Campbell looks back through the Horizon archives to find out what science can tell us about our best friend the dog, and whether new thinking should change the way we treat them. From investigating the domestic dog's wild wolf origins to discovering the remarkable impact that humans have had on canine evolution, Dallas explores why our bond with dogs is so strong and how we can best use that to manage them.


Documentary

Japan: Children of the Tsunami
BBC2, 9:00-10:00pm

Exploring Japan's tsunami last year through the eyes of children who witnessed the disaster. The programme features testimonies from youngsters at two schools - one where 74 pupils were killed by the giant wave, and the other close to the Fukushima power plant, where vital cooling systems were knocked out, triggering radiation leaks and forcing the evacuation of thousands of people.


Documentaries

Make Bradford British
Channel 4+1, 10:00-11:00pm

Make Bradford British is a two-part series that brings together people of different races and backgrounds to see if they can come up with a common notion of the thread that binds them together - what it means to be British.




__________________________________________________________

Tuesday 14 February 2012

Off-air recordings for week 18-24th February 2012

Please email Rich Deakin rdeakin@glos.ac.uk if you would like any of the following programmes / series recording.*
*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.
_________________________________________________________
Saturday 18th February 2012

Factual; Arts; Culture and the Media; Documentaries

Lucian Freud: Painted Life
BBC2, 9:00-10:00pm

Painted Life explores the life and work of Lucian Freud, undoubtedly one of Britain's greatest artists. Freud gave his full backing to the documentary shortly before his death. Uniquely, he was filmed painting his last work, a portrait of his assistant David Dawson.

Lucian Freud: Painted Life also includes frank testimony from those who knew and loved this extraordinary personality. Members of his large family (he had at least fourteen children by a number of different women), close friends including David Hockney and Brigadier Andrew Parker Bowles, his dealers, his sitters and his former lovers recall for the first time a complex man who dedicated his life to his art and who always sought to transmute paint into a vibrant living representation of humanity.

The film shows how Freud never swam with the flow and only achieved celebrity in older age. He rejected the artistic fashions of his time, sticking to figurative art and exploring portraiture, especially with regards to nude portraiture, which he explored with a depth of scrutiny that produced some of the greatest works of our time.

This documentary is both a definitive biography and a revelatory exploration of the creative process.




Factual; Arts; Culture and the Media; Magazines and Reviews


The Culture Show
BBC2, 6:00-7:00pm, 22/31

Andrew Graham-Dixon presents the latest edition of The Culture Show from Glasgow, featuring the National Theatre of Scotland's new adaptation of The Wicker Man. As a major new Picasso exhibition opens at Tate Britain, Alastair Sooke looks back at his relationship with the English surrealist artist Roland Penrose. Also, forget the Oscars and the Baftas - Mark Kermode presents his very own movie awards of the year.



_________________________________________________________
Monday 20th February 2012

News

Panorama: Britain's Hidden Alcoholics
BBC1, 8:30-9:00pm

Alistair Campbell meets some of the increasing number of Britain's middle-class professionals for whom one glass of wine after work is never enough, and asks if we all need to reassess our relationship with drink.

Alistair, Tony Blair's former closest advisor, knows from bitter experience the true cost of excessive boozing: his alcoholism contributed to his nervous breakdown.
With nearly 9,000 people dying from alcohol-related diseases every year and leading medical experts describing it as a health crisis, Campbell ventures into the world of Britain's hidden alcoholics and asks how much is too much.



Documentaries

True Stories: My Social Network Stalker
Channel 4, 10:00-11:05pm

Ruth Jeffery and her boyfriend Shane Webber seemed a perfectly normal happy couple who talked about a future with marriage and children.  They had known each other for ten years, but after they rekindled their relationship from school days in early adulthood, the man Ruth loved began to secretly rip her life apart.  With exclusive access to Ruth and her family, who tell their full story on camera for the first time, this True Stories film unravels Ruth's prolonged ordeal, which came to a shocking conclusion. For three and a half years Ruth was subjected to emotional and mental abuse at the hands of an unknown stalker. It appeared she was constantly watched and Ruth was pushed to the brink of suicide after suffering the indignity of seeing naked images of her posted on adult websites and distributed to family and friends, including her parents.
After more than three years, the stalker was finally caught, but the revelation of the man's identity proved as traumatic as what she had already endured. Her tormenter was the person Ruth had confided in the most: her boyfriend.
My Social Network Stalker documents the story from Ruth's perspective, from the first abusive messages she received in 2008 - which she believed were from former school friends, isolating her from almost everyone she had ever known - to the sexually explicit photos and videos Webber circulated on the internet, some of which she is still trying to get taken off, to the extreme distress that caused her depression, symptoms of OCD and eating problems; and to how Webber was finally tracked down as the stalker.
The documentary also examines the possible motivations for Webber's shocking campaign of abuse on his loving girlfriend.   Webber has shown no remorse since his arrest, despite terrorising and humiliating the woman he claimed to love, and in October 2011 he was sentenced to four months in prison: the documentary makers are with Ruth as she and her family prepare for and react to the sentencing.
Ruth is in her final year of her degree and slowly rebuilding her life and her relationships. Webber served two months and has been released with a restraining order in place until 2016.



_________________________________________________________
Tuesday 21st February 2012

Factual; Documentaries

Storyville: The Love of Books - A Sarajevo Story
BBC4, 2:20-3:20am

Documentary which tells the story of a group of men and women who risked their lives to rescue a library - and preserve a nation's history - in the midst of the Bosnian war. Amid bullets and bombs and under fire from shells and snipers, this handful of passionate book-lovers safeguarded more than 10,000 unique, hand-written Islamic books and manuscripts - the most important texts held by Sarajevo's last surviving library.




_________________________________________________________
Thursday 23rd February 2012

Documentary; Science; Environment

This World:  Inside The Meltdown
BBC2, 9:00-10:00pm

An insight into the Fukushima nuclear plant accident told by those who fought to avoid a disaster which, according to the Japanese government, could have left a vast area of the country - even Tokyo - uninhabitable. Featuring interviews with employees, fire fighters, army officers, prime minister at the time Naoto Kan, and survivors of the tsunami, the film provides a detailed account of how close the nation came to a catastrophe that could have dwarfed the incident at Chernobyl in 1986.




_________________________________________________________
Friday 24th February

Catholics
BBC4, 3:15-4:15am, 1/3

A new, three-part documentary series about Catholicism in Britain will give an insight into some of its most intriguing, important and normally private institutions.  Catholics, by acclaimed film-maker Richard Alwyn for Wingspan Productions, goes behind the headlines that have come to define the Catholic Church to explore what it is actually like to be Catholic in Britain today.
Each of the three films – one about men, one about women, one about children – will be an intimate portrait of a different Catholic world, revealing Catholicism to be a rich but complex identity and observing how this identity shapes people’s lives. The first film, Priests, filmed over six months with extraordinary access, is an intimate behind-the-scenes portrait of Allen Hall in London, one of only three remaining Roman Catholic seminaries in Britain.
The second film, Children, focuses on a small primary school in rural Lancashire as some of the pupils head towards their first Holy Communion.
The third film, Women, uses its remarkable behind-the-scenes access to Westminster Cathedral, Britain’s biggest Roman Catholic Church, to meet the female staff, volunteers and congregation of the Cathedral to explore what it is like to be a Catholic woman in Britain today.
The series was commissioned by Richard Klein, Controller BBC Four, and Charlotte Moore, Commissioning Editor Documentaries. The series is executive produced by Wingspan’s Archie Baron and is a Wingspan Production in association with Jerusalem Productions for the BBC. The BBC executive producer is Clare Paterson.
Richard Alwyn’s previous films have been nominated for RTS and Bafta awards and include the Prix Italia-winning Beslan Siege. Richard Klein, Controller BBC Four, says: “Catholic Christianity is at the very centre of many of the western world's cultural and institutional sensibilities and yet Catholics today can feel at times like they are set apart from mainstream society. So this is a series which seeks to ask a simple question of people who are Catholics: What is it like, being a Catholic?”  Richard Alwyn says: "It’s inevitably been a very troubled time for the Catholic Church in recent years. So we are particularly proud of the access that we have gained to make films which reveal the complex reality of being Catholic away from the tabloid headlines." Archie Baron says: "I hope viewers will find this series moving, thought-provoking and closely textured."


Factual; Arts; Culture and the Media; Documentaries


Jeremy Deller: Middle Class Hero - A Culture Show Special
BBC2, 7:00-8:00pm

As Turner Prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller prepares for an exhibition at the Hayward Gallery in London, he discusses the creative processes behind some of his major works, which include a collaborative project with rock band Manic Street Preachers and a re-enactment of the Battle of Orgreave that took place during the 1984-5 UK miners' strike. The programme also follows him in Texas, where he films bats for his latest work.



Documentaries
Melvyn Bragg on Class and Culture
BBC2, 9:00-10:00pm, 1/3

Pete Townshend, Ken Loach and Faye Weldon join Melvyn Bragg as he explores how it was his generation of writers, artists and filmmakers who swept aside the culture of an earlier and more powerful class-bound era.  The grim but settled austerity years after World War Two were followed by an astonishing surge of energy that transformed perceptions of both culture and class.
Following in the footsteps of the angry young men of the 1950s, writers were expressing their frustration at the snobbery and exclusivity of the system in which they had grown up. They were saying it in books, on the stage and, by the early 60s they were saying it on television, the dominant medium of the time.  Melvyn explains: “Art goes where energy is and in the working class and lower middle class there was tremendous energy, and it came out and it took over.”


_________________________________________________________

Wednesday 8 February 2012

Off-air recordings for week 11-17th February 2012

Please email Rich Deakin rdeakin@glos.ac.uk if you would like any of the following programmes / series recording.*


*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.
__________________________________________________________
Monday 13th February

News; Current Affairs

Panorama: Poor America
BBC1, 8:30-9:00pm

With one and a half million American children now homeless, reporter Hilary Andersson meets the school pupils who go hungry in the richest country on Earth. From those living in the storm drains under Las Vegas to the tent cities now springing up around the United States, Panorama finds out how the poor are surviving in America and asks whatever happened to Barack Obama's vision for the country.


Documentaries; Crime

True Stories: America's Serial Killer
More 4, 10:00-11:25pm

In one of the worst serial killings in American history, over just two years police have discovered 11 bodies dumped on an isolated stretch of coastal road in Long Island, New York, leading to a wealthy gated community.

Four of the dead were sex workers who had advertised online, as part of a rapidly growing internet sex trade worth millions. The killer is still at large.
With access to several people close to the case and to the victims, this True Stories film pieces together a crime that exposes a darker side of middle-class, white America. The film includes compelling interviews with families of the victims and of another online escort, Shannan Gilbert, who was found nearby, and first-hand accounts from witnesses, senior police and officials close to the case.
Examining how the sex trade has increasingly moved online, the film sheds light on a world where clients can now search for individuals from the privacy of their home, and, most importantly for some, anonymously.
The most highly prized commodity in this online industry is the ordinary American girl, like many of the victims of the Long Island serial killer, who were cashing in on this seemingly straightforward, lucrative operation in order to make ends meet or earn fast money.
Shannan's fate was one of the biggest mysteries of this crime. Her disappearance triggered the man-hunt and unearthing of this gruesome, high-profile case. But when her body was finally discovered in December 2011, police concluded that Shannan's death was not linked to the serial killer, something that is still strongly contended by her family.
This film tells the chilling story of five American girls who fell prey to a new, highly dangerous form of prostitution.
As the hunt for the killer continues, the police cannot rule out the possibility that he has claimed more lives, or that he will kill again. Meanwhile, more women are taken in by the lure of the online sex trade, running the risk of becoming someone's next victim.



__________________________________________________________
Tuesday 14th February

Factual; Documentaries

Storyville - If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Liberation Front
BBC4, 1:20-2:40am

Nominated for a 2011 Academy Award, this documentary tells the remarkable story of a young American environmentalist involved with the Earth Liberation Front - a group the FBI came to describe as America's 'number one domestic terrorism threat'.

For years, the ELF - operating in separate anonymous cells without any central leadership - had launched spectacular attacks against dozens of logging companies they accused of destroying the environment. In December 2005, Daniel McGowan was arrested by federal agents in a nationwide sweep of radical environmentalists involved with the ELF.
Part coming-of-age tale, part thriller, the film interweaves a verite chronicle of Daniel as he faces life in prison, with a dramatic recounting of the events that led to his involvement with the group.


__________________________________________________________
Wednesday 15th February

Documentaries

Cutting Edge: Obsessive Compulsive Hoarder
More 4, 9:00-10:00pm


__________________________________________________________
Friday 17th February

Documentaries

Baka: A Cry from the Rainforest
BBC2, 9:00-10:30pm

Phil Agland revisits the Baka Pygmy family he filmed 25 years ago in his Bafta-winning documentary Baka – People Of The Rainforest.

He explores how life has changed for the new generation: the children of the old film are now parents; Camera, who was born at the end of the first film and named after Phil’s film camera, now has a seven-year-old daughter, Ambi. Camera’s brother Ali also has a young daughter, who is disabled.
For the first time the Baka watch themselves in the original film on a huge screen in the forest. Seeing how their parents used to live prompts an epic journey deep into the forest to rediscover the old life of their fathers. The story that unfolds is a tragic one of a family caught helplessly between the world of the forest and the outside world that rejects them. But it is also a story of redemption inspired by the children, especially Ambi, who attends school for the first time.