Wednesday 28 March 2012

Off-air recordings for week 31 March - 6 April 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.
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Saturday 31st March 2012

Factual; History; Documentaries

How God Made the English
BBC2, 8:00-0:00pm, 3/3, A White and Christian People

The final programme of this series examines the idea that there is an ethnic core to Englishness. Is there any basis for the claim that to be truly English you have to be Anglo-Saxon? And what about the fact that until very recently being English also meant being Church of England Christian?


In this series Professor Diarmaid MacCulloch has been arguing that God made the English. But did he also make them white and Christian?



Arts, Culture and the Media; Documentary

Arena: Jonathan Miller
BBC2, 9:30-11:00pm

The BBC's flagship arts documentary strand Arena returns with the first ever documentary exploring the extraordinary life of Sir Jonathan Miller CBE. Jonathan Miller is usually described as a 'polymath' or 'Renaissance man', two labels he personally dislikes. But no-one quite like him has made such an impact on British culture through the medium of television, radio, theatre and opera. He has straddled the great divide between the arts and the sciences, while being a brilliant humorist, a qualified doctor, and even a practising artist. With the man himself and a host of distinguished collaborators, including Oliver Sacks, Eric Idle, Kevin Spacey (who owes his first break to Miller) and Penelope Wilton, this Arena profile explores Miller's rich life and examines through amazing television archive - mostly from the BBC - how he makes these connections between the worlds of the imagination and scientific fact.


Factual

The Zoo In Winter
BBC2, 11:00-11:45pm

Reflections on a visit to Regent's Park by Jonathan Miller. Sympathetically surveying the animals in their various enclosures, he indulges in anthropomorphic fantasies about their 'offstage' existence.



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Sunday 1st April 2012

Factual; History; Documentaries

The Falklands Legacy with Max Hastings
BBC2, 9:00-10:00pm

Thirty years after the Falkland's War, journalist and military historian Max Hastings explores the conflict's impact and its legacy.  Hastings, who sailed with the Task Force in 1982 and reported on the Falklands campaign first-hand, looks at how victory in the South Atlantic revived the reputation of our armed forces and renewed Britain's sense of pride and its image abroad after years of decline as an imperial and military power.

Hastings examines how the Falklands provided a model of a swift and successful war that was matched by other conflicts Britain fought at the end of the 20th century. In contrast, the long campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan have left the British public sceptical about sending our armed forces in large numbers to war again.  The Falklands could well be the last popular war Britain fights, and certainly the country's last imperial hurrah.


Documentaries

Perspectives: Lenny Henry - Finding Shakespeare
ITV1, 10:15-11:15pm

As a working-class kid growing up in Dudley in the West Midlands, Lenny found William Shakespeare’s plays boring, irrelevant and inaccessible. But by the age of 50 and with a burning ambition to try his hand at serious acting, Lenny decided it was time he faced his fears and finally tried to get to grips with the Bard.


In this film, he sets himself the ultimate challenge for a Shakespearean actor – starring in a global telecast of Comedy of Errors at National Theatre in London. After 35 years on stage this will be the biggest show Lenny has ever done – it is about to be beamed live around the world to 700 cinemas in 22 countries.

Lenny retraces his steps, from listening to plays in his car to starring as Othello for regional theatre and now in “Comedy of Errors” for the National Theatre.

Along the way, he meets a rapper, an Oxford don, his old mentor who prepared him to play Othello, actor Dominic West who played Iago, and Adrian Lester, his pal from Hustle, who tries with Lenny to show a class of London schoolkids how they too can “get” Shakespeare. He reflects upon his education, his experiences as a younger man and his changing attitude toward the Bard, and ultimately hopes that he’s arrived at “finding Shakespeare” by finding Lenny.

Lenny admits to having had a mental block on Shakespeare as a younger man and being apprehensive about his role in the Comedy of Errors.

“It’s incredible that I’m doing this play because for most of my life I’d kept well away from Shakespeare. Like many of us, I thought I wasn’t clever enough to understand it. But where does this mental block about Shakespeare come from - and what are we missing out on if we don’t get past it?”

Lenny’s mother was a major influence on his life, and her death inspired him into education...


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Monday 2nd April 2012

Arts, Culture and the Media

Damien Hirst: The First Look
Channel 4, 8:00-9:00pm

One of the most important and influential artists of his generation, Damien Hirst provokes debate. Whatever you may think of his work, the original Young British Artist helped make art headline news and put Britain firmly on the contemporary art map. On the eve of his first major retrospective in the UK, Damien Hirst takes surrealist comedian and fellow artistic maverick Noel Fielding on an exclusive walk through his show at Tate Modern, providing a behind-the-scenes look at this landmark exhibition and a body of work spanning more than two decades.  They chat about Hirst's career highs and lows, which, together with high-profile interviews and archive footage, gives unprecedented access to the artist and his art.

The exhibition brings together over 70 of Hirst's seminal works, including his groundbreaking sculptures from the early 1990s and pieces from the painting series - spots, spins, butterflies and flies - produced throughout his career. There are also two major installations: In and Out of Love (1991) - previously unshown in its entirety since its creation - and Pharmacy (1992). Reflecting on his 25-year career - one often played out in tabloid headlines - Hirst talks Fielding through the ideas behind his most iconic works, from his early days at Goldsmiths and winning the Turner Prize to breaking auction records and keeping the public and art world on its toes. The film combines Damien and Noel's walk through the exhibition with behind-the-scenes footage showing the process of installing the exhibition, from wrangling butterflies to immersing a shark in formaldehyde.

The programme also includes interviews with an eclectic line-up of art-world heavies, celebrities and artists, including Joan Collins, Bono, Sarah Kent, Mat Collishaw, Sir John Hegarty, Ronnie Wood, Keith and Lily Allen, Ronnie O'Sullivan and even Hirst's high-school art teacher, Dave Wood, who taught him during his A-Level Art... for which Hirst got an 'E'. Packed with insight and humour, this film provides an opportunity to re-examine Hirst's work and see how it has permeated the cultural consciousness of our times.



Factual; Science and Nature; Documentaries

Mars: A Horizon Guide
BBC4, 10:00-11:00pm

The intriguing possibility of life on Mars has fuelled man's quest to visit the Red Planet. Drawing on 45 years of Horizon archive, space expert Dr Kevin Fong presents a documentary on Earth's near neighbour.  Man's extraordinary attempts to reach Mars have pushed technological boundaries past their limit and raised the tantalising prospect of establishing human colonies beyond our own planet.  While the moon lies 240,000 miles away, Mars is at a distance of 50 million miles. Reaching the moon takes three days, but to land on Mars would take nearly eight months, and only two thirds of the missions to Mars have made it. The BBC has been there to analyse the highs and lows - including the ill-fated British attempt, the Beagle.  Horizon has explored how scientists believe the only way to truly understand Mars is to send people there. If and when we do, it will be the most challenging trip humanity has ever undertaken.



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Tuesday 3rd April 2012

Arts, Culture and the Media

Damien Hirst: Thoughts, Work, Life
Channel 4, 12:15-1:05am

In an intimate and revealing portrait, Damien Hirst talks openly and honestly about his life. From his early years growing up in Leeds and his move to London in the early 80s, to his time spent at Goldsmiths College where he curated the now infamous Freeze show that brought the Young British Artists together. And, of course, his meteoric rise to fame in the 90s.


As well as a series of candid interviews with Hirst, the film includes never-before-seen footage, largely collated from the artist's own archives, and shows a private side of the artist rarely seen by the public.



Factual; Science and Nature; Science and Technology

Horizon: The Hunt for AI
BBC2, 9:00-10:00pm

Professor Marcus du Sautoy is the Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science, and a Professor of Mathematics at Oxford University. He is a broadcaster, author and science communicator, and has worked tirelessly to make mathematics more accessible to the public.


Marcus completed an undergraduate degree and a DPhil in mathematics at Wadham College, Oxford and is currently a fellow at New College, Oxford. His research involves aspects of group theory and number theory, especially understanding the world of symmetry using zeta functions, a classical tool from number theory. In 2001, he won the prestigious Berwick Prize of the London Mathematical Society awarded every two years to reward the best mathematical research made by a mathematician under 40, and in 2009 he was awarded the Royal Society’s Faraday Prize, the UK’s premier award for excellence in communicating science. He received an OBE for services to science in the 2010 New Year’s Honours List.

Marcus has used his mathematical expertise to present numerous television programs and documentaries, including Mindgames, The Story of Maths, The Code and various Horizon documentaries. He is a constant contributor to BBC and other national radio stations, and has written regular articles for The Times, The Guardian, and The Telegraph amongst others. He has published three books - The Music of the Primes, which was also televised on BBC Four in 2005, Finding Moonshine published in 2008 and The Number Mysteries published in 2010 based on the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures he presented in 2006.

Marcus lives in London with his wife and children, and when not promoting science and maths, enjoys music, playing football and supporting his beloved Arsenal.



Documentaries

The Smugglers
ITV1, 9:00-10:00pm

Filmed over two years, This Smugglers special documentary trails detectives from the City of London Police as they secretly track and arrest a gang smuggling millions of pounds worth of counterfeit goods into Britain.  Detective Superintendent David Clark from The City of London Police explains how the gang’s smuggling network stretched from China across Europe into Britain.

“This is a global smuggling network that has been brought to its knees today, make no mistake about that. It is not just about the people we have in custody who are flooding the UK market, we are talking the best part of 30 containers taken out circulation in the US and we have got the key king pin players in custody as well out in Guam.”

The compelling new documentary for ITV1 reveals how the trade in counterfeit goods is worth an estimated £1 billion a year, which is as lucrative as the cannabis market in Britain. The vast majority of counterfeit goods slip through our borders undetected every year, as criminal gangs become ever more intelligent in concealing their operations. Detectives receive intelligence about the first shipment arriving at Felixstowe, Britain’s largest container port. The smugglers have listed the container as carrying furniture parts, but inside are copies of some of Nike’s top selling trainers. In the space of three weeks, detectives secretly track the gang as they take delivery of three container loads of counterfeit trainers. For the first time, cameras follow the meticulous police surveillance operation over many months to identify the gang members involved, and discover how their large profits are being laundered through a front business and hidden in safety deposit boxes. Detective Superintendent David Clark explains how the gang has gone to great lengths to avoid detection by using a series of false identities.

“They don’t dress up specifically well, they don’t drive high powered or high value motor vehicles, they just live under that radar, but the more that you get into them, the more that you see how well organised they are, how well oiled their machine is, and the propensity and size of the illegal trade they are operating.” ...





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Wednesday 4th April 2012

Factual; Science and Nature; Documentaries

Wooly Mammoth: Secrets from the Ice
BBC2, 9:00-10:00pm

Professor Alice Roberts reveals the natural history of the most famous of Ice Age animals - the woolly mammoth. Mammoths have transfixed humans since the depths of the last Ice Age when their herds roamed across what is now Europe and Asia. Although extinct for thousands of years scientists can now paint an incredibly detailed picture of the lives of these curious members of the elephant family thanks to whole carcasses that have been beautifully preserved in the Siberian permafrost. Alice meets the scientists who are using the latest genetic, chemical and molecular tests to reveal the adaptations that allowed mammoths to evolve from their origins in the tropics, to surviving the extremes of Siberia. And in a dramatic end to the film, she helps unveil a brand new woolly mammoth carcass that may shed new light on our own ancestors' role in their extinction.

Factual; Sport; Documentaries

Sexism in Football?
BBC1, 10:45-11;35pm

Gabby Logan explores sexism in football, hearing stories from influential women working across the men's game. Just how bad is it? From Karren Brady in the boardroom to the most powerful woman in football, UEFA's Karen Espelund, one thing is common - they have all experienced discrimination. Other contributors include the first female Match of the Day commentator, Jacqui Oatley; Robbie Savage, Lawrie Sanchez and the recently-appointed first woman on the FA Board, Heather Rabbatts.

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Thursday 5th April 2012

Factual; Families and Relationships; Documentaries

Kids in the Middle
BBC4, 2:50-3:50am

Brian Hill's bittersweet observational film features the story of a separated family whose break up is so acrimonious and the parents are so loath to come in to any contact with one another at all, that it becomes impossible for the father to see his children without the involvement of a contact centre. This powerful and intimate film explores the lengths to which dads will go to see their kids, the impact of this situation on the children, and the motivations and anxieties that have led mums ands dads to this most specific of locations.


Documentaries

Natural World: The Real Jungle Book Bear
BBC2, 8:00-9:00pm

Say hello to the Indian sloth bear, real-life inspiration for Rudyard Kipling’s Baloo. They’re sweet, scruffy creatures, with shaggy black fur that sticks out in odd directions, as if they’d been styled by Robert Smith of the Cure. Watching the first film ever made about them, you may not be reminded much of Disney’s version of Baloo, although these guys certainly exist on the bare necessities, snuffling around for ants and termites that they hoover up through their snouts, or pillaging the odd bit of fruit. As the unhurried film follows several bears mooching around a beautiful area of Karnataka, we also see other fabulous creatures – tigers and leopards, yes, but also skipper frogs that walk on water and the best shot of a peacock shimmying his tail feathers you’ll ever see. What may stick in the mind, though, are the sweet, mischievous bear cubs. One very funny scene where a cub confronts his first mongoose is all too brief...


Crime; Documentaries

Fraud Squad (postponed from last week)
ITV1, 9:00-10:00pm, 2/2

From the makers of acclaimed ITV1 hit Strangeways comes this riveting documentary series about an international police investigation to bring down a multi-millionaire fraudster and his gang. Fraud is the new goldmine for organised crime and 3.2 million people in Britain have become victims. The latest scam is to con people into buying shares in fictitious companies. The gangs use bogus websites, glossy brochures and mass market emails to lure their victims in. With exclusive access to The City of London Police, Fraud Squad follows detectives as they investigate one of the biggest share frauds in Europe. Cameras shadow detectives on surveillance operations, dramatic arrests and as they seize the gang’s Ferraris and multi-million pound houses. The hunt for the gangs takes them across the playgrounds of Europe and contains many unexpected twists and turns. Fraud Squad is a thrilling insight into the world of organised crime.




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Friday 6th April

Arts, Culture and the Media

Sex and Sensibility: The Allure of Art Nouveau
BBC4, 2:30-3:30am, 3/3, Vienna

“Those rascals should have every bone in their body broken!” raged Archduke Franz Ferdinand, echoing the disgust of Vienna’s po-faced artistic establishment. Art Nouveau had finally washed up on the banks of the Danube and inspired insurrection.


A century later, tourists flock to admire the gilded masterpieces of the movement’s guiding light – Gustav Klimt – that so incensed the Archduke. Goodness knows what the latter would have made of Klimt’s racier sketches, which Stephen Smith gleefully roots out as they’re still kept under lock and key. Smith’s skill is in deftly bringing to life this heady, decadent movement, which was soon swept away by the hard-nosed practicalities of the 20th century.


Documentaries

Brick By Brick: Rebuilding Our Past
BBC2, 9:00-10:00pm

Rebuilding The Past is a brand-new architecture series, presented by Dan Cruickshank and Charlie Luxton, that brings back to life, brick by brick, some of Britain's most historic buildings which no longer exist.

Each building tells a unique story, presenting Dan and Charlie with a fascinating detective mission and the chance to uncover the history of the people who designed and adapted them. This is the story of ordinary people's architecture – and this series is also about the history of British people, told through the buildings that were part of their lives.

Every year, dozens of historic buildings are snatched from the jaws of bulldozers. Rescued by museums, conservation organisations and local enthusiasts, they are painstakingly taken apart and stored away. In each episode, Rebuilding The Past will follow a new team of local experts as they attempt to bring one of these structures back to life – without the help of an instruction book.

The teams will face puzzles and crucial decisions at every step, from choosing the right approach, to layout and building materials. They must work out the history of vernacular architecture from the ground up, interpreting clues as they go and re-learning long lost techniques. The extraordinary buildings featured will include an Edwardian coal-fired fish and chip shop in the North East and a Victorian pre-fab mission church.


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Thursday 22 March 2012

Off-air recordings for week 24-30 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.
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Saturday 24 March 2012

Factual; History: Documentaries

How God made The English?
BBC2, 8:20-9:20pm

The second in a three part series in which Diarmaid MacCulloch, Professor of Church History at Oxford University, explores both what it means to be English and what has shaped English identity through history.


Professor MacCulloch challenges the commonly held assumption that the English have a long and glorious tradition of tolerance. Rather, history shows that until recently the English were among the least tolerant peoples in the world. In a provocative take on English history, he challenges the fashionable wisdom that it is secular forces and the humanistic values of the Enlightenment that have influenced this English trait. Instead he argues that the root of English tolerance lies in its Christian history - although it's been a journey of accident rather than design.



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Sunday 25th March 2012

Factual: Science and Nature; Science and Technology

In Orbit: How Satellites Rule The World
BBC2, 9:00-10:00pm

They are constantly circling hundreds of miles above our heads, driving our daily lives - yet we barely give satellites a second thought. Satellite engineer Maggie Aderin Pocock wants to change all that. She wants to make us realise and appreciate what these unsung heroes of the modern world have done for us.


Maggie reveals how satellites have revolutionised exploration, communication, location-finding and spying. She discovers how they have transformed not only the way we see our planet but our understanding of the dangers within it, like volcanoes and earthquakes. Plus, she discovers the jaw-dropping power of the technology used by satellites to make our lives run smoothly.



Documentaries

Perspectives: David Suchet - The People I Have Shot
ITV1, 10:15-11:15pm

In this first instalment of the returning Perspectives documentary strand, actor David Suchet, a keen amateur photographer, follows in the footsteps of his grandfather, Fleet Street photographer Jimmy Jarche.


The film takes David on a very personal and immersive journey through the archives to discover more about his grandfather’s work in capturing iconic images and key historical moments during the early part of the 20th Century.

He sets himself an assignment to meet the standards of modern day Fleet Street photojournalism by emulating and in some cases replicating Jarche’s classic photographs, with the aim of getting his pictures into the Sunday Times magazine.

David’s journey takes him around the country, from a South Wales coal mine to 10 Downing Street, and from archives to art galleries. It provides an insight into Britain then and now through the images he uncovers and attempts to capture, shows how skilled photographers have to be in order to get the shot, and the challenges facing them.

Woven into the narrative is David’s story of the relationship with his grandfather, and his own passion for the unique power of photography.

Ultimately David will discover if he is equal to the task of taking photographs that bear comparison with those of his grandfather and that stand up to the ultimate test – publication in the leading newspaper supplement.

After uncovering the depth, range and quality of Jarche’s archive, David also attempts to discover what the experts’ view is of his grandfather’s work and invites their appraisal of its importance and where he sits among the pantheon of acclaimed 20th century photographers.




Factual; Families and relationships; Health and Wellbeing; Documentaries

We Won't Drop The Baby
BBC1, 10:25-11:15pm

Comedian Laurence Clark and his wife Adele both have cerebral palsy. Six years ago when they had a baby boy, Tom, they were criticised by doctors for being irresponsible. Laurence is wheelchair-bound, and Adele is heavily dependent on her crutches. But now Adele is pregnant again. And this time Adele is determined to have a natural birth. It is a brave decision, considering Laurence's cerebral palsy was caused by his own difficult birth, and Adele's CP affects her from the waist down.

For six months we join Laurence, Tom and Adele in an observational film that lays bare the joys and hurdles of disabled parenting.

As if they didn't have enough to deal with - just four weeks after Adele's due date, Laurence is set to appear at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe performing his comedy routine throughout the summer. It will be an exciting and challenging time for the Clarks as they make the journey up north, complete with their newborn baby. Will Laurence be able to balance family life with his passion for comedy?



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Monday 26th March 2012

Factual; Life Stories; Religion and Ethics

Chaplains: Angels of Mersey
BBC2, 8:00-9:00pm, 1/6

First in the series. At Alder Hey Children's Hospital, Chaplains are helping the family of a baby about to undergo serious open heart surgery. Meanwhile, James the University Chaplain is at the Fresher's fair and finds a novel way of encouraging students into church.





Factual; Documentaries

Tabloid: Sex In Chains
BBC4, 9:00-10:00pm

Documentary which follows the stranger-than-fiction account of a former beauty queen whose single-minded devotion to the man of her dreams became a tabloid sensation. Allegations that Joyce McKinney had kidnapped her estranged lover and held him captive, handcuffed to a bed in a remote cottage, became the stuff of headlines.


Directed by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Errol Morris, Joyce's crusade for love and personal vindication takes her through a surreal world of gunpoint abduction, manacled Mormons, oddball accomplices, bondage modelling, magic underwear and dreams of celestial unions.



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Tuesday 27th March 2012

Factual; News

The Mormon Candidate
BBC2, 7:00-8:00pm

John Sweeney investigates the beliefs of Mitt Romney, the man most likely to take on Barack Obama later this year, and asks whether America is ready for a Mormon president.


Sweeney travels to Utah to examine the appeal of the world's fastest growing religion. He meets the stars of its expensive ad campaign 'I'm a Mormon', who tell him of their dedication to family and charity. He meets polygamists, followers of an old Mormon tradition the official Church has turned its back on, he talks to missionaries who recruit people around the world just like Mitt Romney in the sixties, finds ex-members who claim they are cut off from their families and accuse Mormonism of being a cult, and he explores the faith with a Mormon apostle.



Factual; Science and Nature; Science and Technology

Horizon: Global Weirding
BBC2, 9:00-10:00pm

Something weird seems to be happening to our weather - it appears to be getting more extreme.


In the past few years we have shivered through two record-breaking cold winters and parts of the country have experienced intense droughts and torrential floods. It is a pattern that appears to be playing out across the globe. Hurricane chasers are recording bigger storms and in Texas, record-breaking rain has been followed by record-breaking drought.

Horizon follows the scientists who are trying to understand what's been happening to our weather and investigates if these extremes are a taste of whats to come.



Crime; Documentaries

Fraud Squad
ITV1, 9:00-10:00pm

From the makers of acclaimed ITV1 hit Strangeways comes this riveting documentary series about an international police investigation to bring down a multi-millionaire fraudster and his gang. Fraud is the new goldmine for organised crime and 3.2 million people in Britain have become victims. The latest scam is to con people into buying shares in fictitious companies. The gangs use bogus websites, glossy brochures and mass market emails to lure their victims in. With exclusive access to The City of London Police, Fraud Squad follows detectives as they investigate one of the biggest share frauds in Europe. Cameras shadow detectives on surveillance operations, dramatic arrests and as they seize the gang’s Ferraris and multi-million pound houses. The hunt for the gangs takes them across the playgrounds of Europe and contains many unexpected twists and turns. Fraud Squad is a thrilling insight into the world of organised crime.




Factual; Life Stories; Reality

The Estate
BBC1, 11:35pm-12:05am

It has twice the national average of people on unemployment benefit, is one of the biggest housing estates in Northern Ireland and is the setting for an ambitious new fly-on-the-wall documentary series from BBC Northern Ireland.


In The Estate, beginning on BBC One Northern Ireland on Monday, January 23 at 10,35pm, cameras went behind closed doors on Coleraine's Ballysally Estate, to follow the lives of some of the residents across 12 months - when money's tight and times are tough.

Series producer and director, Natalie Maynes, explains: "The Estate is an intimate and ambitious series. It does not flinch from difficult issues: poverty, the benefits trap, alcohol addiction, disability, relationships and more, are all tackled frankly across the eight parts. "We wanted to tell the untold stories of ordinary people living in Ballysally in an extraordinarily tough year of cutbacks, unemployment and recession.

"Because we spent a year with families and individuals, The Estate gets under the skin of the place and its residents. It was a privilege to be welcomed into the homes of our contributors; to share their real life dramas; their hopes and fears - in good times and in bad."

"We set out to make a series of films that reflect the lives of people in a particular place. The Estate is a window into a place shared by men, women and children, young and old, who tell it like it is - in their own words."

The first programme spends time with Louise, a single mum of five, who believes it would not pay her to go to work. Never having had a job; she finds it a struggle to survive on state benefits. She is also in trouble with the authorities because of her daughter Kelly-Anne's truancy from school. The fifteen-year-old just can't get up in the mornings...


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Wednesday 28th March 2012

Factual; Documentaries

WikiLeaks: The Secret Life of a Superpower
BBC2, 9:00-10:00pm, 2/2

In the second of two programmes about American diplomacy and the leaked US embassy cables, Richard Bilton examines what the cables reveal about how America handles its enemies and rivals.



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Thursday 29th March 2012

Entertainment; Factual; Arts, Culture & the Media

Talk at the BBC
BBC4, 11:00pm-12:00am, 2/3

Funny, surreal and extraordinary - extracts from interviews broadcast on the BBC from the 1950s to the 1970s, arguably the golden age of conversation.


Factual; History; Travel; Documentaries

The Man Who Discovered Egypt
BBC4, 3:45-4:45am

Ancient Egypt was vandalised by tomb raiders and treasure hunters until one Victorian adventurer took them on. Most of have never heard of Flinders Petrie, but this maverick underook a scientific survey of the pyramids, discovered the oldest portraits in the world, unearthed Egypt's prehistoric roots - and in the process invented modern field archaeology, giving meaning to a whole civilisation.


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Friday 30th March 2012

News

Panorama: Murdoch's TV Pirates
BBC1, 12:25-1:55am

As Rupert Murdoch faces accusations of law-breaking and corruption at his British tabloid newspapers, Panorama reveals fresh hacking allegations at the heart of News Corporation's pay-TV empire.


The investigation examines the role of former senior police officers in recruiting people to break the law - in order to bring down Murdoch's commercial rival.


Documentaries

China: Triumph and Turmoil
Channel 4, 1:05-2:05am, 3/3

Niall Ferguson asks what China's growing global presence and aggressive nationalism mean to all of us.


China's supercharged economic growth signals a seismic shift in political power from West to East. We are increasingly dependent on China's money to bail out our own fragile economies.

But at what price? How can we protest when China challenges our most deeply held beliefs about democracy and freedom of speech by locking up its citizens? Should we criticise them or just keep quiet for fear of frightening off much needed investment?

When China transforms itself from an assembler of products invented in the West to an innovator in its own right what will be left for us to do? What will it be like to work in a Chinese-dominated world?


Factual; Arts, Culture and the Media; Documentaries

Sex and Sensibility: The Allure of Art Nouveau
BBC4, 2:35-3:35am, 2/3

Britain's art nouveau heritage is excavated as cultural correspondent Stephen Smith unearths the bright, controversial but brief career of Aubrey Beardsley.


On a mission to uncover lesser known stars of Britain's version of this continental fin de siecle style, he explores the stunning work of Mary Watts and the massive influence of department store entrepreneur Arthur Liberty.

In Scotland, he celebrates the innovative art nouveau of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, but looks harder at the extraordinary and influential work of Mackintosh's wife, Margaret MacDonald.




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Thursday 15 March 2012

Off-air recordings for week 17-23 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.
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Saturday 17th March 2012

Factual; History; Documentaries

How God Made The English
BBC2, 8:00-9:00pm, 1/3 A Chosen People

The first in a three-part series in which Diarmaid MacCulloch, Professor of Church History at Oxford University and presenter of the award-winning BBC series A History of Christianity, explores both what it means to be English and what has shaped English identity, from the Dark Ages, through the Reformation to modern times. Professor MacCulloch identifies three broad traits commonly associated with the English: the idea that the English think they're better than others; the idea that they are a specially tolerant people; and the idea that to be English, quintessentially is to be white, Anglo-Saxon and Church of England Christian. He investigates whether these stereotypes are accurate and looks at what forces have shaped English identity - secular or religious?


In this first episode, Professor MacCulloch chronicles the roots of the idea that the English think themselves better than others and duty-bound to play a leading role in world affairs. He argues that the roots of this attitude lie in a tangle of religious motives. He traces its origins to the notion of a 'chosen people' - a Biblical idea which the monk and historian, the Venerable Bede, took lock, stock and barrel from the Jewish scriptures and applied to the early English.


Factual; Arts, Culture and the Media

Arena: The Dreams of William Golding
BBC2, 9:30-11:00pm

The Dreams of William Golding reveals the extraordinary life of one of the greatest English writers of the twentieth century.

With unprecedented access to the unpublished diaries in which Golding recorded his dreams, the film penetrates deep into his private obsessions and insecurities.
His daughter Judy and son David, both speak frankly about their father's demons, and the film follows Golding from the impoverished schoolmaster whose first novel, Lord of the Flies, was published when he was forty-three years old, to his winning the Nobel Prize for literature in 1983.
Other contributors include Golding's biographer John Carey, philosopher John Gray, writer Nigel Williams, the Dean of Salisbury Cathedral, The Very Revd June Osborne, and best-selling author Stephen King.
Benedict Cumberbatch, who starred in the 2004 BBC adaptation of Golding's sea trilogy To the Ends of the Earth, reads extracts from his books.


Drama; Films

Lord of the Flies
BBC2, 11:00pm-12:30am

Compelling film adaptation of William Golding's disturbing tale of a group of schoolboys stranded on a remote island following a plane crash. Their attempts to form a community end in disaster as they gradually revert to primitive savagery in the struggle to survive.


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Sunday 18th March 2012

Factual; Science and Nature

Orbit: Earth's Extraordinary Journey
BBC2, 9:00-10:00pm, 3/3

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 final episode we complete our journey, travelling back from the March equinox to the end of June. Kate Humble is in the Arctic at a place where spring arrives with a bang, whilst Helen Czerski chases a tornado to show how the earth's angle of tilt creates the most extreme weather on earth.



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Monday 19th March 2012

Factual; Crime and Justice

Crime and Punishment
BBC1, 9:15-10:00am, 6/10

A look at crime and punishment in modern Britain. Louise Minchin is at Birmingham City Centre Police HQ and Gethin Jones is behind the bars of Bristol Prison. In this diamond jubilee year, they chart the changes in crime, criminals, police and prisons over the last 60 years. They revisit dramatic landmark cases and present hard-hitting real life stories from the city streets and prison life today.


Factual

Britain's First Photo Album
BBC2, 6:30-7:00pm, 6/10, Newport to Gloucester

John Sergeant follows in the footsteps of Victorian pioneer photographer Francis Frith and his team who, in the 1860s embarked upon a monumental mission to document every city, town and village in Britain. John sets out to discover more about this extraordinary man and the unique record he left behind, travelling the country to find out what's changed, what's stayed the same and what has gone forever.  In this episode the journey continues in South Wales and John takes four more of his own pictures. John finds out about the restoration of the canals of Monmouthshire, heading deep underground to the caves beneath the Forest of Dean to try his hand at ochre mining and visiting Gloucester, where the photo of a cottage leads to the tale of how Britain's very first state schools came about.

 

Documentaries

China Triumph and Turmoil
BBC2, 8:00-9:00pm, 2/3

Niall Ferguson asks how China manages to live under a Communist system of government but with a thriving capitalist economy.

The succession of revolutions orchestrated by Mao Zedong killed more people than Hitler and Stalin combined. And yet this hard-line communist and murderer of businessmen is revered in China today as the founder of a modern-day capitalist superpower. Why?

To answer this question Niall travels from Beijing to Mao's birthplace at Shaoshan to the new supercity of Chongqing and to the rural backwaters of Anhui to track down survivors of the madness of Chairman Mao, newly minted billionaires and the Mao worshippers who believe tomorrow belongs to them.

He finds the way China is governed is eerily similar to the way it was under the First Emperor. All the power lies in the hands of nine men with expressionless faces and what looks like the same hair dye - as unelected and as powerful as Emperor Qin.

Autocracy that values unity over choice; secrecy over openness - not democracy. That has always been the Chinese way. It is the price that China is prepared to pay for the spectre that has always haunted its leaders: protest, rebellion and turmoil.


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Tuesday 20th March 2012

Factual; Crime and Justice


Crime and Punishment

BBC1, 9:15-10:00am, 7/10



Factual

Britain's First Photo Album
BBC2, 6:30-7:00pm, 7/10, Liverpool to Blackpool

John Sergeant follows in the footsteps of pioneer photographer Francis Frith and his team who, from the 1860s onwards, took thousands of photographs documenting the rapidly changing cityscapes and landscapes of Victorian Britain.


This time, John travels to the North West and to Liverpool, where he meets up with a photographic society that can trace its roots back to Frith himself. He visits Bolton and one of the world's first ever shopping malls, he drops in at Blackpool to find out more about the birth of this enduring seaside resort and to complete his travels John also takes a photograph to capture the modern setting of the Frith picture.



Factual; Science and Nature; Science and Technology

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

Surgeon Gabriel Weston discovers the surprising truth about why so many people are piling on the pounds, and how to fight the fat epidemic.  She discovers the hidden battles of hormones that control people's appetites, and sees the latest surgery that fundamentally changes what a patient wants to eat by altering how their brains work.  Gabriel is shocked to find out that when it comes to being overweight, it's not always your fault you're fat.


Factual; Disability; Documentaries

Rita Simons: My Daughter, Deafness and Me
BBC1, 10:40-11:35pm

Documentary. EastEnders actress Rita Simons has five-year old twin daughters, Maiya and Jaimee. Maiya was diagnosed with hearing loss at six-months old. Rita and husband Theo have just had the shocking news that, one day, she will probably lose her hearing completely.


Rita and her family need to make life-changing decisions for Maiya's future - should they embrace the deaf world, learn to sign and send her to a specialist school or try and give her hearing with technology, implants and artificial sound or a mixture of the two?

Every parent agonises over the choices they make for their children but it is even more difficult when you have to decide on the fate of one of your child's senses, when they are too young to make a decision for themselves.



Factual; Arts, Culture and the Media; Discussion and Talk

Talk at the BBC
BBC4, 9:00-10.00pm, 1/3

Funny, surreal and extraordinary - extracts from interviews broadcast on the BBC from the 1950s to the 1970s, arguably the golden age of conversation.

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Wednesday 21st March 2012

Factual; Crime and Justice


Crime and Punishment
BBC1, 9:15-10:00am, 8/10

Factual

Britain's First Photo Album
BBC2, 6:30-7:00pm, 8/10, Stirling to Falkirk

John Sergeant continues his journey around Britain, tracing the footsteps of pioneer photographer Francis Frith and his team who, from the 1860s onwards, took thousands of photographs documenting the rapidly changing cityscapes and landscapes of 19th Century Britain.


Using the beautiful and unique old photographs as his guide, John visits the Western Highlands to find out more about a steam ship that has been transporting tourists for over 100 years and tries his hand at traditional Scottish baking. As well as taking his own photographs of these evocative settings John also heads off to Stirling Castle, which has recently undergone an incredible restoration.



Factaul; Documentaries

Wikileaks: The Secret Life of a Superpower
BBC2, 9:00-10:00pm, 1/2

Richard Bilton uncovers a struggle at the heart of US diplomacy between the ideals of freedom and spreading democracy, and the ruthless demands of American security and narrow self-interest. He examines what the Wikileaks cables reveal about America's conflicted dealings with Egypt's deposed dictator Hosni Mubarak, and shows how US diplomats in Cairo missed warning signs that revolution in Egypt was coming. And he details the moral tension in US diplomacy brought about by America's controversial War on Terror. Using the cables, Richard uncovers the moral compromises made by America's diplomats over the repatriation of Guantanamo Bay prisoners, and he shows the secret US efforts to block investigations into alleged CIA rendition and abuse.

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Thursday 22nd March 2012

Factual; Crime and Justice


Crime and Punishment
BBC1, 9:15-10:00am, 9/10

Factual

Britain's First Photo Album
BBC2, 6:30-7:00pm, 9/10, Hartlepool to Whitby

The Victorian photographer Francis Frith spent the best part of his life documenting Britain. His aim was to photograph every city, every town and every village in the land. He and his team took tens of thousands of pictures and left us with an invaluable record of a Britain frozen in time. Now, John Sergeant is attempting to follow in Frith and his team's footsteps, finding out what has changed, what has stayed the same and what has gone forever, and he unravels some of the mysteries of this unique archive.


This time, John's journey continues along the North East Coast, where he searches for a missing rock formation in Hartlepool, visits the Victorian seaside resort of Saltburn-by-the Sea and meets a family in Whitby whose ancestors were captured on camera over 120 years ago. To complete his travels John also takes four photographs to capture the modern setting of the Frith pictures.



Nature and Wildlife

Natural World: Zambezi
BBC2, 8:00-9:00pm

The seasonal story of Africa's River Zambezi, home to animals including elephants, water buffalo, zebras and hippos. In the wet season the rains burst the banks and all creatures - people included - are forced to move out of the way, leaving the fish to swim through the villages. In the dry season, the wildlife fight over the few pools of water while predators prowl.


Documentaries; Crime and Punishment

Death Row
Channel 4, 10:00-11:00pm, 1/3

Werner Herzog meets Hank Skinner, who was sentenced to death 18 years ago for the fatal stabbing of his girlfriend and her two mentally impaired sons; he has had his execution scheduled three times.  On one occasion, Skinner was only 20 minutes away from his death, having been read his last rites and eaten his final meal (fried chicken, boiled eggs, bacon cheeseburger, large fries and a big pitcher of chocolate milkshake).  Skinner has recently won a groundbreaking lawsuit at the Supreme Court of the United States, which in essence will allow him to sue the State of Texas to examine evidence that wasn't introduced during his trial.  He is a vivid storyteller, and his account of his last few hours before execution is chilling and profound.

Factual; Arts, Culture and the Media; Documentaries

Sex and Sensibility: The Allure of Art Nouveau
BBC4, 9:00-10:00pm, 1/3

The delicious objects of Parisian Art Nouveau are explored by cultural correspondent Stephen Smith. Uncovering how the luscious decorative style first erupted into the cityscape, Stephen delves into the city's Bohemian past to learn how some of the 19th century's most glamorous and controversial figures inspired this extraordinary movement.


Revealing the story behind Alphonse Mucha's sensual posters of actress Sarah Bernhardt, looking at the exquisite jewellery designer Renee Lalique and visiting iconic art nouveau locations such the famous Maxim's restaurant, the programme builds a picture of fin-de-siecle Paris.

But Smith also reveals that the style is more than just veneer deep. Looking further into the work of glass maker Emile Galle and architect Hector Guimard, he sees how some of art nouveau's stars risked their reputation to give meaning and purpose to work they thought could affect social change.



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Friday 23rd March 2012

News

Britain's Crimes of Honour: Panorama
BBC1, 12:25-12:55am
Thousands of crimes in Britain are going unreported: beatings, imprisonment - even murder - committed by those closest to the victims, their families. These are crimes of so-called 'honour'. With access to police investigations, Panorama reveals the shocking details of 'honour' killings, of women driven to suicide and also hears from those on the run, in fear of their lives. The UK's lead prosecutor on 'honour' crimes says he will not tolerate multicultural sensitivities when it comes to this issue and a leading campaigner accuses her own community leaders of a failure of leadership in not speaking out against this abuse.



Factual; Crime and Justice

Crime and Punishment
BBC1, 9:15-10:00am, 10/10

Factual

Britain's First Photo Album
BBC2, 6:30-7:00pm, 10/10, Chesterfield to Eyam


Religion and Ethics

Reverse Missionaries
BBC2, 9:00-10:00pm, 2/3

Idealistic modern day missionaries travel to Britain to discover the historical roots of their faith and try to pursue their own missionary agenda in 21st century Britain
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Wednesday 7 March 2012

Off-air recordings for week 10-16 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.
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Saturday 10th March 2012

Factual; Science and Nature; Scinece and Technology

Horizon: To Infinity and Beyond
BBC4, 11:pm-12:55am

By our third year, most of us will have learned to count. Once we know how, it seems as if there would be nothing to stop us counting forever. But, while infinity might seem like an perfectly innocent idea, keep counting and you enter a paradoxical world where nothing is as it seems.


Mathematicians have discovered there are infinitely many infinities, each one infinitely bigger than the last. And if the universe goes on forever, the consequences are even more bizarre. In an infinite universe, there are infinitely many copies of the Earth and infinitely many copies of you. Older than time, bigger than the universe and stranger than fiction. This is the story of infinity.


__________________________________________________________
Monday 12th March 2012

Factual; Crime and Justice

Crime and Punishment
BBC1, 9:15-10:00am, 1/10

A look at crime and punishment in modern Britain. Louise Minchin is at Birmingham City Centre Police HQ and Gethin Jones is behind the bars of Bristol Prison. In diamond jubilee year, they chart the changes in crime, criminals, police and prisons over the last 60 years. They revisit dramatic landmark cases and present hard-hitting real life stories from the city streets and prison life today.



Factual

Britain's First Photo Album
BBC2, 6:30-7:00pm, 1/10 - Chelsea To Tower Bridge

Broadcaster John Sergeant follows in the footsteps of Victorian pioneer photographer Francis Frith who, in the 1860s embarked upon a monumental mission to attempt to document every city, town and village in Britain. John travels the country to discover more about this extraordinary man and his team and the unique record they left behind. John finds out what's changed, what's stayed the same and what has gone forever, and along the way he takes his own photographs inspired by the image taken by a Frith cameraman.


Today, this round-Britain trip begins in London, where John will meet the first ever lady Chelsea Pensioner, find out about the real Eliza Doolittles who inspired My Fair Lady and descend deep under Tower Bridge to witness Victorian engineering at its most impressive.



Documentaries

China: Triumph and Turmoil
Channel 4, 8:00-9:00pm, 1/3

Niall Ferguson examines China's ascendancy, and asks what the future holds for the world's most populous country and its relationship with the rest of the world.  Niall Ferguson shows how the vast apparatus of the Chinese state has always been called on to subjugate individual freedom to the higher goal of unity. Ferguson also examines how, on the other hand, centralised control produces tensions that threaten to destroy the country.



Documentaries

My Phone Sex Secrets
Channel 4, 10:00-11:05pm

As Britain experiences the worst recession since the war, over a million women are out of work. Drastic times call for drastic measures. My Phone Sex Secrets meets the women offering lip service down the line. Gone are the cliches of bored housewives earning pin money. Getting in on the act instead are all kinds of women - young and old, single and married.  My Phone Sex Secrets meets first-time recruit Rosa, who after weeks of unsuccessful job hunting, believes that phone sex will help her get back in the black. The film follows Rosa try phone sex for the very first time.  At the other end of the scale is Jenny, who, after a decade in the game, is the doyenne of dirty dialogue.  And then there's dominatrix Marnie Diamond, who wonders whether the huge pay cheque is worth the impact on other aspects of her life.



Factual

This World: Interviews Before Execution: A Chinese Talk Show
BBC2, 11:20pm-12:20am

Every Saturday night in China, millions gather around their televisions to watch Interviews Before Execution, an extraordinary talk show which interviews prisoners on death row.

In the weeks, days or even minutes before they are executed, presenter Ding Yu goes into prisons and talks to those condemned to die. Combining clips from the TV show, never-before-seen footage of China's death row and interviews with a local judge who openly questions the future of the death penalty in China, This World reveals a part of China that is generally hidden from from view.



Factual; Documentaries

Storyville: Who Is Gorky? An Abstract Life
BBC4, 10:00-11:00pm

In a personal journey into a family tragedy, filmmaker Cosima Spender explores how she and her relatives have been shaped by her grandfather - the pioneering Abstract Expressionist painter, Arshile Gorky. Following a series of tragedies, he committed suicide in 1947, leaving a young wife and two daughters behind. Through conversations with her grandmother, Gorky's widow, Spender tries to make sense of his creativity, the reasons for his death and the shadow it subsequently cast. The film takes the viewer through the pain and courage of the family, coming to an emotional climax in Gorky's Armenian birthplace.


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Tuesday 13th March 2012

Factual; Crime and Justice

Crime and Punishment
BBC1, 9:15-10:00am, 2/10

Factual

Britain's First Photo Album
BBC1, 9:15-10:00am, 2/10


Documentaries

Horizon: Out Of Control
BBC2, 9:00-10:00pm

People assume they are in control of their lives, deciding what they want and when they want it - but scientists now claim this is simply an illusion. Experiments reveal that what a person does and what they think can be very different, with the unconscious mind often influencing the decisions they make, from what they eat to who they fall in love with. Horizon reveals to what extent people really do control their own destiny.



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Wednesday 14th March 2012

Factual; Arts, Culture and the Media

Frost On Interviews
BBC4, 2:20-3.20am

Television interviews seem to have been around forever - but that's not the case. They evolved in confidence and diversity as television gradually came of age. So how did it all begin? With the help of some of its greatest exponents, Sir David Frost looks back over nearly sixty years of the television interview.

He looks at political interviews, from the earliest examples in the post-war period to the forensic questioning that we now take for granted, and celebrity interviews, from the birth of the chat show in the United States with Jack Paar and Johnny Carson to the emergence of our own peak time British performers like Sir Michael Parkinson and Sir David himself.

Melvyn Bragg, Joan Bakewell, Tony Benn, Clive Anderson, Ruby Wax, Andrew Neil, Stephen Fry, AA Gill, Alastair Campbell and Michael Parkinson all help trace the development of the television interview. What is its enduring appeal and where does the balance of power actually lie - with the interviewer or the interviewee?


Factual; Crime and Justice


Crime and Punishment
BBC1, 9:15-10:00am, 3/10


Factual

Britain's First Photo Album
BBC1, 9:15-10:00am, 3/10


Documentaries

Rights Gone Wrong?
BBC2, 9:00-10:00pm

As the public anger over the deportation of radical cleric Abu Qatada and the banning of prayers before council meetings shows, few words are more controversial in Britain today than ‘Human Rights Law’ and ‘Europe’. Together they are toxic.


In this provocative film for BBC Two, Andrew Neil uses his inside knowledge of the corridors of power to ask if human rights laws are out of control. He’ll demolish some myths, discover some surprises and search for a way Britain can regain public support for a justice system that many feel shows little common sense.


Dpcumentaries

Sri Lanka's Killing Fields: War Crimes Unpunished
Channel 4, 10:55-11:55pm

Last year Channel 4 broadcast Sri Lanka's Killing Fields, a critically-acclaimed and RTS Award winning forensic investigation into the events of the last few weeks of the decades-long war between the government of Sri Lanka and the rebel forces of the Tamil Tigers (LTTE), presented by Jon Snow. It featured devastating video evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity captured on mobile phones by both victims and perpetrators - some of the most horrific footage Channel 4 has ever broadcast.


This footage featured atrocities committed on both sides but its most disturbing finding was of a series of war crimes perpetrated by victorious Sri Lankan government forces including evidence of sexual assaults on female fighters, the execution of bound prisoners and the shelling of civilians in what were supposed to be safe ‘No Fire Zones'.

Screened at the UN in Geneva and New York and also shown to politicians at the House of Commons, the European Parliament and key figures in the US Senate, Sri Lanka's Killing Fields prompted comment from leading political figures around the world, including Prime Minister David Cameron. Yet these war crimes still have yet to be properly investigated or those responsible brought to account - despite UN sources suggesting the Sri Lankan government forces killed up to 40 thousand civilians - perhaps many more in this period.

This powerful follow-up film, also presented by Jon Snow, presents damning new video evidence of war crimes including contemporaneous documents, eye-witness accounts, photographic stills and videos relating to how exactly events unfolded during the final days of the civil war. It investigates who was responsible - the results point to the highest levels of the Sri Lankan government and complicity at the top of the army.

Sri Lanka's Killing Fields: War Crimes Unpunished forensically examines four specific cases and investigates who was responsible. The cases are: the deliberate heavy shelling of civilians and a hospital in the ‘No Fire Zone'; the strategic denial of food and medicine to hundreds and thousands of trapped civilians - defying the legal obligation to allow humanitarian aid into a war zone; the killing of civilians during the ‘rescue mission' and the systematic execution of naked and bound LTTE prisoners - featuring new chilling video footage of a 12-year-old boy who has been brutally executed.

Despite pressure from human rights groups and the report by a UN-appointed panel of experts which called for a thorough international investigation into alleged violations of international humanitarian and human rights law, the Sri Lankan government's internal inquiry, ‘The Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission' published in December last year, failed to conduct any kind of rigorous investigation into the allegations of war crimes. It specifically denied that any civilians were knowingly targeted with heavy artillery. Sri Lanka's Killing Fields: War Crimes Unpunished explores the reasons behind the apparent international inaction at the time, in calling the government of Sri Lanka to account.

Sri Lanka's Killing Fields: War Crimes Unpunished presents shocking new video footage and evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity which trace ultimate responsibility up the highest echelons of the chain of command. This film asks questions of those who still hold the reins of power in Sri Lanka - President Rajapaksa, commander in chief and his brother Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaska - and two former army chiefs who have landed prime diplomatic posts since the war ended and immunity from prosecution.

With the England cricket team set to tour Sri Lanka once again this month and Sri Lanka now confirmed as the venue for the next commonwealth heads of government meeting in 2013, this film is a stark reminder of the terrible suffering of a people who have been failed and forgotten by the international community.


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Thursday 15th March 2012

Factual; Crime and Justice
Crime and Punishment
BBC1, 9:15-10:00am, 4/10


Factual

Britain's First Photo Album
BBC1, 9:15-10:00am, 4/10


News; Documentaries

Our Kids' Rotten Teeth: Tonight
ITV1, 7:30-8:00pm

Fiona Foster investigates why childhood tooth decay is still such a problem and what can be done to eradicate it. A third of youngsters in the UK suffer from poor dental health by the time they start primary school and every year tens of thousands have teeth so rotten that they need hospital operations to remove them.


Documentaries; Arts, Culture and the Media

The Hidden Art of Islam
BBC4, 9:00-10:00pm

Rageh Omaar finds out why, if human depiction is the source of such controversy in Islamic art, it can be found in many of the artworks on show at a British Museum exhibition.



Documentaries
Our Man in... Tenerife
Channel 4, 10:00-11:05pm, 3/3

In Tenerife, consul Maria Leng helps Liverpudlian military veteran Steven get home to the UK. Vice-consul Helen supports the only British woman in prison on the island.  Meanwhile, the consulate in Barcelona deals with the victims of a street robbery. And homeless ex-salesman Nigel and his beach buddy Des need help after sharing a bottle of vodka and two cartons of wine.


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Friday 16th March 2012

Factual; Crime and Justice

Crime and Punishment
BBC1, 9:15-10:00am, 5/10



Factual

Britain's First Photo Album
BBC1, 9:15-10:00am, 5/10

Arts, Culture and the Media

The Culture Show
BBC2, 7:00-8:00pm

 Alastair Sooke meets sculptor Anthony Caro as he prepares for a retrospective exhibition at Chatsworth House, Derbyshire, and Andrew Graham-Dixon interviews Sarah Rose, an avid collector of Vorticist artist David Bomberg's work. Alan Bissett is joined by fellow writer Irvine Welsh, who discusses punk literature and his new novel Skagboys, which is a prequel to Trainspotting. Arlene Phillips offers an insight into the theatrical experience of Reasons to Dance, and singer-songwriter Kevin Rowland chats to Mark Kermode about the return of Dexys Midnight Runners.


Documentaries

Reverse Missionaries
BBC2, 9:00-10:00pm

Reverse Missionary follows three young Christian missionaries from Malawi, India and Jamaica as they travel to different parts of Britain, in a new three-part series.


Reversing the paths taken by three 19th-century British missionaries who exported Christianity around the world, they arrive in 21st-century Britain to discover the historical roots of their faith and pursue their own missionary agenda in the UK.

While they stay in Britain the modern-day missionaries engage in their own missionary work. But as the visitors learn more about life in an increasingly secular Britain they have to contemplate some of the social issues that the church grapples with today.