Saturday 11th
BBC2 - Terror! Robespierre and the French Revolution - "The watchwords of the French Revolution were liberty, equality and fraternity. Maximilien Robespierre believed in them passionately. He was an idealist and a lover of humanity. But during the 365 days that Robespierre sat on the Committee of Public Safety the French Republic descended into a bloodbath.
'The Terror' only came to end when Robespierre himself was devoured by the repressive machinery he'd created. This drama-documentary tells the story of the Terror and looks at how Robespierre's revolutionary idealism so quickly became an excuse for tyranny and why a lover of liberty was so keen to use the guillotine.
Simon Schama and Slavoj Zizek are among the contributors."
Sunday 12th
Channel 4 - Revelations: Commando Chaplains - 3/8 - "The last place you might expect to find a chaplain is on the frontline with the Royal Marines, dodging bullets in Afghanistan. And yet chaplains have served in the British Armed forces since the Middle Ages.
Their job is a vital one: administering to the wounded, listening to the fearful, and offering spiritual guidance in the heart of war. As religion is dragged into conflicts, by the rhetoric of jihad and crusade, the military chaplain is increasingly coming under the spotlight.
Filmed earlier this year, this programme follows two Royal Marine chaplains, Nigel Beardsley and William Gates, as they travel around 'their parish' in Afghanistan, bringing faith to the frontline.
Unlike the other armed services, they go whereever their parishioners need them and that often means putting themselves in the line of fire with nothing but their faith to protect them.
It is a story not just of belief, but of heroism, human grit and the role of religion on the modern battlefield."
Tuesday 14
More 4 - Taking Liberties - "A revealing and entertaining look at the shocking number of government attacks on civil liberties since the New Labour government took power in 1997.
"We're not living in a police state," insists Tony Blair towards the end of the film. But as Taking Liberties all too clearly demonstrates, we're well on the way there... Riding in on a wave of optimism and real belief in their mantra that things can only get better, they proceeded to enact some of the most authoritarian legislation in recent history.
With fast-paced satirical style, this Bafta-nominated film shows how, in just over a decade, some rights and freedoms that took centuries to build up have been rolled back or cut away.
Erosion of civil libertiesThe entitlement to habeas corpus – no detention without trial – established when the barons took on King John in the 13th century has, in some circumstances, been abolished.
Millions of CCTV cameras up and down the country undermine our right to privacy.
A series of measures has made it more and more difficult to exercise freedom of speech and already led to the arrest of a large number of peaceful protestors.
Director Chris Atkins has assembled footage to demonstrate how oppressive these new powers can be."
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* This applies to staff members 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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