Off-air recordings for week 7-13 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 7th April 2012

factual; Science and Nature; Documentaries

Natural World: The Iceberg That Sank The Titanic
BBC2, 6:50-7:40pm

Documentary which explores one crucial piece of the Titanic jigsaw that always escapes attention - the iceberg that caused the catastrophe. Conceived 15,000 years before the Titanic, its life story is every bit as fascinating. With the help of ice scientists, its origins of are revealed - its creation in the heart of the Greenland Ice Sheet, its dramatic birth from the mother glacier and an epic 4,000 mile journey through Arctic seas, towards a terrible date with destiny.



Factual; History; Documentaries

Timewatch: Myths of The Titanic
BBC2, 7:40-8:30pm

There have been many shipwrecks, but none has captured the public's imagination like the Titanic. From the moment Titanic hit an iceberg and sank on 14 April 1912, the public has been captivated by the story. Of over 2,200 passengers and crew, only 705 survived.


In 1912, the newspapers were full of stories of heroism and villainy, and the story of the Titanic has been told and retold ever since in an endless stream of books and films. Some of the stories are true, many are myths which were first told in 1912, but have been passed on from generation to generation ever since.

With the help of rare archive footage and location filming in America, Britain and Northern Ireland, Timewatch attempts to answer the mystery - why does the story of the Titanic have such a hold on people?



Factual; Crime and Justice; Discussion and Talk

Unreliable Evidence
BBC Radio 4, 1/4, Joint Enterprise

In the first of a new series, Clive Anderson and guests discuss the controversial law of joint enterprise under which people can be convicted of murder even if they didn't physically participate in an assault or strike the fatal blow.


Francis Fitzgibbon QC, who has defended people in joint enterprise cases, argues that this complex and unwieldy law is being applied indiscriminately to combat gang violence, and is leading to miscarriages of justice.

Solicitor Simon Natas calls for the law to be changed to make it necessary to prove that a defendant intended that someone should be killed or seriously injured.

But Mark Heywood QC who has prosecuted in the trials of people accused of murder following the death of a young man during a knife attack by a gang in Victoria Station, defends the way joint enterprise law is currently being applied.


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Sunday 8th April 2012

Art, Culture and the Media; Documentaries

Crucifixion
Channel 4, 10:00-11:20pm

For centuries, artists of all kinds - from Michelangelo to Martin Scorsese, Salvador Dali to Damien Hirst and Andrew Lloyd Webber to Monty Python - have attempted to convey the meaning of the crucifixion through their work.


For many it has been a deeply personal expression of belief. Now anatomist Dr Gunther von Hagens, who made his name showing the world the wonders of the human body through his Body Worlds exhibitions, has decided to create a crucifix.

The new piece, which he's been planning for over six years, is revealed in this documentary, which features interviews with leading art historians and theologians, amongst others, and examines the enduring iconic image of the crucifix.

The documentary follows von Hagens, who in 2011 revealed that he is suffering from Parkinson's disease, as he undertakes an intensely personal journey to create his crucifix.

Von Hagens is famous for using donated human bodies in his 'plastinated' works, and the new piece was made by injecting liquid plastic into bones and blood vessels, from a number of donors' bodies, which then hardens to create perfect casts.

The resulting figure, which does not contain any human tissue, was then mounted on a wooden cross cut from a tree felled near von Hagens' family home in Germany.

The documentary traces the representation and interpretation of the crucifix from illustrations on fourth-century tombs, through centuries of church-sanctioned depictions to contemporary portrayals.



Drama; Spiritual; Performances and Events

Passion In Port Talbot, It Has Begun
BBC4, 10:30-11:30pm

At Easter 2011, actor Michael Sheen (Twilight, Frost/Nixon) returned to his hometown of Port Talbot to direct and star in a modern, secular retelling of the Passion of Christ. This film captures the highlights of three days of drama played out in the streets, beach and shopping centre of the South Wales industrial town.


The play includes suicide bombers, mass public protest and ghostly visions, and features a guest appearance from Welsh rock band Manic Street Preachers. It climaxes with a terrifying scene of public execution in front of an audience of 12,000 people on a roundabout at the seafront. Described in the leading national newspaper as 'one of the oustanding theatrical events of the decade', the play featured over 1,000 members of the community.



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Monday 9th April 2012

Documentaries

Inside Nature's Giants: Hippo
Channel 4, 8:00-9:00pm, 1/3

So many hippos congregate to feed in Zambia's Luangwa Valley that they threaten the survival of other species in the park, so the authorities cull around 200 of them every year.


The cull offers veterinary scientist Mark Evans and comparative anatomist Joy Reidenberg the opportunity to dissect one of these magnificent animals.

Hippos are often mistakenly seen as Africa's laziest giant, lolling around all day in the mud. But as the team discover, at night they're surprisingly active.

The first obstacle in the dissection is the hippo's inch-thick skin. This acts as a protective shield against the foot-long canines of rival hippos. Mark and Joy are amazed to discover that the skin produces its own sun cream.

As they delve deeper into the guts and weigh the contents of the stomach, the vast quantities of half-digested vegetation confirm the hippo's reputation as a gluttonous feeding machine.

Meanwhile, Simon Watt searches for hippo dung to find out why these grazers incessantly flick their muck using their short tails.

Richard Dawkins reveals the surprising fact that the hippos' closest living relatives are whales. As the dissection draws to a close, Joy finally succeeds in extracting the hippo's voice-box and finds a remarkable similarity with their ocean-dwelling cousins.



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Tuesday 10th April 2012

Factual; Science and Nature; Science and Technology; Documentaries

Horizon: Defeating Cancer
BBC2, 9:00-10:00pm

Over the past year, Horizon has been behind the scenes at one of Britain's leading cancer hospitals, the Royal Marsden in London. The film follows Rosemary, Phil and Ray as they undergo remarkable new treatments - from a billion pound genetically targeted drug designed to fight a type of skin cancer, to advanced robotic surgery. We witness the breakthroughs in surgery and in scientific research that are offering new hope and helping to defeat a disease that more than one in three of us will develop at some stage of our lives.



Documentaries

The Mighty Mississsippi with Trevor McDonald
ITV1, 9:00-10:00pm, 1/3

The first part of the series sees Trevor take to the air to look down upon the mouth of the Mississippi in the Gulf of Mexico, before heading to New Orleans, where he attends a colourful jazz funeral, meets a debutante and witnesses the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina still evident years after the tragedy.


His journey takes him to a plantation, one of a few still working, and he is shocked to see inside a slave cabin. Trevor also takes a ride on an airboat through a primeval swamp and comes face to face with one of his worse nightmares.

As he starts his exploration of the Mississippi, Trevor is mesmerised by the breath-taking view as his seaplane swoops over the vast wetland created by the river as it meets the sea.

His first stop is the vibrant city of New Orleans where he heads for the Garden District to see its impressive collection of mansions, some of which have been in the same family for generations. He meets the Favrow family who have lived in the area for 200 years. He talks to their daughter about the debutante ball season, a traditional period which sees daughters of wealthy New Orleans' families attend a year long calendar of parties and balls in lavish gowns.

In contrast to the Garden District, Trevor also visits the Third Ward of the city where most of the inhabitants are descendants of slaves. He attends a jazz funeral, a music and dance parade to see off one of the much-loved members of the community.

Next Trevor takes to the river itself and ventures aboard a tug boat to learn about the challenges and dangers of navigating the Mississippi.

And he heads to downtown New Orleans where jazz began and visits the Howling Wolf Club to listen to the music and join in the dancing. One band member reveals to Trevor how joining a jazz band has saved his life. He explains that so many of his contemporaries have suffered from depression because of the high crime rates in the area and some have even turned to drugs...





Factual; Life Stories; Reality

The Estate
BBC1, 11:4-pm-12:10am

Reality series set in recession-hit Ballysally, in Coleraine. Jimmy gets a job interview but Emma's job is in jeopardy, Martin continues his battle with the bottle and handyman Noel helps build a new drop-in centre for young people



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Wednesday 11th April 2012

Documentaries

Divine Women
BBC2, 9:00-10:00pm, 1/3, When God Was A Girl

Historian Bettany Hughes reveals the hidden history of women in religion, from dominatrix goddesses to feisty political operators and warrior empresses.


In this provocative upcoming series, Bettany tells the stories of the extraordinary women whose legends and lives cast new light on some of the hottest arguments about the role of women in religion today.

Drawing on cutting edge scholarship and archaeological evidence, she reveals what her favourite women in religion tell us about the lives of the real flesh and blood women of their day.

The series tells the story of the relationship between women and religion from 9000 BC onwards. The female of the species has always formed 50% of the population but has never occupied 50% of human history.

Yet the connection between women and the divine has been so strong in all societies that when we follow the stories of 'divine women' we uncover new evidence for the character of humanity and a fuller, truer history of the world.

Programme One looks at the evolution of the goddess in Turkey, Greece, Rome and India.


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Thursday 12th April 2012

News

Are Your Kids Contagious? Tonight
ITV1, 7:30-8:00pm

The number of cases of serious childhood illnesses such as measles and whooping cough is rising in the UK. Fiona Foster investigates why some parents are deciding not to immunise their children against these highly contagious diseases and looks at what is being done to protect the health of future generations.

News

Ivory Wars: Out of Africa
BBC1, 9:00-10:00pm

With wildlife crime now thought to be second only to drugs in terms of profit, Rageh Omaar goes on the trail of the ivory poachers, smugglers and organised crime syndicates to investigate the plight of Africa's elephants. As demand for ivory rises in the Far East, this Panorama special - made jointly with the BBC's Natural History Unit - goes undercover in central Africa and China to ask whether the African elephant can survive in some parts of the continent.


Last year saw the highest number of large seizures of illegal ivory for over two decades - despite a 23 year global ban on its international sale. One area of northern Kenya has lost a quarter of its elephants in the last three years - largely due to poaching. Panorama visits an elephant orphanage to see the impact of the killing on the young and, with access to Interpol's largest ever ivory operation, confronts the dealers in Africa and in China - now the world's biggest buyer of illegal ivory.



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Friday 13th April 2012

News;

Unreported World: Terror In Sudan
Channel 4, 7:30-7.55pm, new series 1/8

As George Clooney campaigns against the atrocities being committed in Sudan, Unreported World has filmed extensive documentary footage from the war zone.


Aidan Hartley and Daniel Bogado gained rare access to the Nuba Mountains to film the heroic doctors who are saving children in a largely hidden war being perpetrated on civilians by one of the world's most brutal dictatorships.

The Nuba Mountains region, in the South Kordofan oil fields upriver from Khartoum, is a troubled part of Sudan where a civil war has continued since the 1980s.

Nuba always fought alongside its southern black African Christian neighbours against the Arab Islamic regime in Khartoum, but the region was left behind in the peace accord that led to the independence of South Sudan in mid-2011.

In June 2011, President Omar al-Bashir's forces launched fresh attacks against opposition supporters in Nuba, many of them Christians and black Africans.

The Unreported World team highlights how government forces are carrying out almost constant aerial bombardment of civilian settlements, driving them from their fields so they cannot grow crops, while banning relief deliveries by international agencies.

As soon as they arrive in Nuba, Hartley and Bogado are caught in an air raid by Sukhoi ground attack jets firing rockets as terrified families dive into foxholes while explosions rumble in the surrounding villages. In another incident soon after, the team films traumatised children running into caves to hide from Antonov bombers.

The impact of Khartoum's refusal to allow medicines into Nuba is clear as doctors are forced to carry out operations on shrapnel-wounded children without anaesthetics and almost no medicines apart from traditional herbs.

Hartley and Bogado visit the Catholic Mother of Mercy hospital, the only functioning hospital for a million civilians trapped by the war. Made for 80 beds, it has 500 patients. The situation is so dire that even the medical staff are not eating as they tend the wounded and sick.





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