Saturday 8th
BBC4 - All Our Working Lives: Cutting Coal - "Coal had powered Britain's industrial rise, with her mills and furnaces, railways and steamships depending on it. In the peak years a million men laboured in the mines, many in poor and dangerous working conditions like those contributor Dick Martin found when he began as pit boy aged 14.
Miners and managers tell of the poor conditions, insecurity and technical backwardness that helped the case for nationalisation in 1947. But the new NCB over-estimated the future need for coal. After massive post-war modernistaion programme, too much coal was being brought up by too many miners, and with the cutbacks came more conflict."
BBC4 - The Miners' Strike - "Documentary which captures the extraordinary passions unleashed by the 1984 miners' strike and examines how it changed Britain forever. Mining villages were consumed by violence and hatred as pickets fought running battles with police and striking and working miners were locked in confrontation.
With powerful interviews, evocative archive and dramatic reconstructions, the film follows the lives of five young miners from one village through a torrid but exciting year."
BBC4 - Dounreay: The Atomic Dream - "The story of the rise and fall of a daring experiment into atomic energy. At a time when nuclear is firmly back on the agenda, this documentary meets the original Dounreay pioneers and charts the high and lows in the history of one of Britain's most ambitious scientific projects."
Monday 10th
Five - Manson - "Feature-length drama-documentary tracing the story of Charles Manson and his 'Family'. Manson and his followers committed several high-profile murders in Los Angeles in 1969. This film pieces together events with the help of first-hand accounts and reconstructions. It also features an in-depth interview with Linda Kasabian, a Manson follower who witnessed the murders and testified against the Family during the trial."
Tuesday 11th
BBC3 - The Autistic Me - "Most young adults take their freedoms for granted - they can choose their friends, stay out late, learn to drive and decide what they want to do as a career. But for people growing up on the autistic spectrum, life is very different. Stuck in a strange limbo between childhood and adulthood, they are unable to make these choices.
This documentary follows three people with autism at pivotal moments on the rocky road to being accepted as an adult. They are all fighting for independence and responsibility, but being frustrated by the shackles imposed on them by their disability, their families and the preconceived ideas of mainstream society.
23-year-old Oli has high-functioning autism (HFA) and is looking to find work. He is finding it tough as his condition means that he can't communicate or deal with pressure in the same way others can.
Thomas has autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and is approaching 16, the legal age of adulthood. As he does so, he is demanding more independence and wants to escape his family. But the freedom he is after is not forthcoming from his parents.
Alex, 24, is looking for love, but when you have the type of autism known as Asperger syndrome, communicating and socialising can seem an impossible task."
Wednesday 12th
BBC4 - Cell - new 3-part series - "Cell delves deep into the history of science to tell the story of how we unlocked the mystery of all life on Earth.
Science journalist Adam Rutherford takes BBC Four on a compelling journey through 350 years of scientific research to reveal the secrets of the cell, from its discovery to its role in shaping our future.
Cell explores how the discovery of the cell challenged centuries of religious and scientific dogma and then examines how scientists have come to manipulate and exploit the cell for the benefit of modern medicine and science.
Finally, Adam meets with US scientists keen to turn science fiction into science reality and create living cells from scratch."
Thursday 13th
BBC2 - Louis Theroux - The City Addicted to Crystal Meth - "Central Valley, California, is home to some of the most impoverished rural towns in America where crystal meth addiction is amongst the most prolific in the country. In Fresno, Louis finds a community ravaged by this cheap and highly addictive drug.
As he infiltrates the town, he experiences the reality of meth abuse as addicts who are high (or 'tweaking' as it is known) invite him into their homes to see them take hit after hit of their favourite drug. Louis becomes surrounded by the madness of daily addiction and the meth-addled confusion which is breaking this community apart.
He sees its impact through the eyes of the local police and meets Diane and Karl, a couple who have sustained their marriage despite a 25-year meth addiction and losing custody of their five children. He witnesses arrests of sons doing meth with their mothers and family after family broken apart from generations of meth abuse.
At residential centre 'Westcare', Louis sees the work being done to combat the destruction caused by the drug. Run by ex-addicts, it offers a six-month rehab programme. He witnesses the extraordinary challenges they face dealing with often meth-addicted families - babies born already hooked with mothers trying to care for them whilst attempting to kick their own habit too.
Addiction is laid bare as Louis seeks out the stories and the people behind the drug."
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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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