Off-air recordings for week 28th January - 3rd 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.
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Saturday 28th January

Factual; History; Documentaries

Atlantis: The Evidence - A Timewatch Special
BBC4, 8:00-9:00pm

In this Timewatch special, historian Bettany Hughes unravels one of the most intriguing mysteries of all time. She presents a series of geological, archaeological and historical clues to show that the legend of Atlantis was inspired by a real historical event, the greatest natural disaster of the ancient world.

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Sunday 29th January

Factual; Science and Nature; Nature and the Enviroment

Penguin Island
BBC1, 3:30-4:00pm, 1/6

Meet Bluey and Sheila, one of the 13,000 little penguin couples who live on Phillip Island, off the coast of Australia. As the devoted penguin couple returns to their cliff-top home to begin the annual breeding cycle, Penguin Island introduces the dedicated team of rangers and scientists who will monitor and protect them through the hottest summer on record.

Among them is Marg Healy. With over 26 years of experience with penguins and other animals, Marg runs Phillip Island's animal hospital, looking after injured wildlife including little penguins, possums, koalas and other birds.

Field researcher Leanne Renwick weighs and examines the penguins to ensure they are up to the task of breeding. Her colleague Elizabeth Lundahl-Hegedus is a parade ranger and has lived within the Summerlands penguin colony for 30 years. It is a short walk from her house to the Penguin Parade, where the nightly parade of little penguins returns from sea.

We meet the feathered residents of the Penguin Cafe, a cluster of 'love nests' behind the busy Phillip Island tourist centre, where perennial bachelor Rocky and the determined yet slightly dim-witted Spike vie for the attention of the passing females as they attempt to attract a mate - including recent divorcee Tash.

Meanwhile, Bluey and Sheila lay their first clutch of eggs. While Sheila is off at sea hunting for food, the eggs hatch and Bluey must guard them until Sheila is home to meet her two young sons for the first time.



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Monday 30th January

Factual; Arts, Culture and the Media; History

The Secret Catacombs of Paris
BBC Radio 4, 11:00-11:30am

Famously known as the City of Light, Paris is a diverse metropolis rich in architecture and steeped in history. But it has a dark alter ego that lies 30 metres under the ground, mirroring centuries of bloody wars, revolutions and riots on the surface. For Paris is porous - built on 177 miles of tunnels that were formed when limestone and gypsum were quarried to build the capital. Most people are only aware of just a tiny fraction of these tunnels - the world famous ossuary known as The Catacombs. The authorities have tried to keep a lid on the full extent of the labyrinthine remainder for hundreds of years. But there are little known entry points everywhere - in basements, in train stations, cellars and sewers. Throughout history, invaders have always found a way in, whether they were fighting Prussian soldiers, fleeing royalty of the French Revolution, the Nazis or The Resistance. Today they're home to the cataphiles - urban explorers who use the tunnels as an art space, a music venue or even a clandestine meeting point for secret societies.

The Guardian's architecture and design correspondent Jonathan Glancey investigates the underground maze of Paris, revealing a mysterious and intriguing history.

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Tuesday 31st January

Factual; Documentaries

Wonderland: My Child The Rioter
BBC2, 9:00-10:00pm

In August 2011, parents all over Britain were waking up to a morning they had never imagined. For some, it was the police knocking on the door, for others, it was the sight of a pile of stolen goods in their child's bedroom. Some simply realised that it was their kid who had been out on the streets, smashing windows, looting shops and attacking the police.


In sitting rooms and kitchens around the country, these families endured some of the most difficult conversations of their lives. Olly Lambert's film takes viewers inside those homes and inside those conversations. Many of these families would find their children facing lengthy prison sentences, and they themselves were singled out by a prime minister who blamed the worst riots in recent British history on 'a lack of proper parenting, a lack of proper upbringing, a lack of proper ethics, a lack of proper morals'.

Eileen and Alan Bretherton's son Liam had recently served in Afghanistan, and was at the beginning of a promising career in the army. He got caught up in the events of last summer while home on leave; consequently, his parents now have to face the fact that the son in whom they took so much pride is now an ex-offender whose military career is in ruins.

In Manchester, childhood sweethearts Kerry and Liam Parkes looked on as their 19-year-old son defended the riots and took pride in what he did on the streets of Manchester. And in Willesden, David Clark watched his son break down in tears in fear of what his future may now hold.

This simple film cuts to the heart of families at the frontline of rioting Britain.


Factual; Politics

What Are The Police For?
BBC Radio 4, 8:00-8:30pm, 1/3

With policing top of the political agenda, and major change on the way, Mark Easton asks what we want from our police.

Mark spends time with police officers doing jobs as diverse as roads policing, neighbourhood policing and monitoring sex offenders to paint a picture of how we are policed in 2012 and examine whether the daily reality matches the political rhetoric. And he speaks to politicians, academics and the public to assess whether what we are getting is what we want.

In this first programme, he digs into the origins of the current political debate over policing, and asks what the huge political changes lined up for policing in 2012 - including budget cuts, elected Police and Crime Commissioners and major changes to working practices - will mean for the service.


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Wednesday 1st February

Factual; Crime and Justice

Burglar in the House
BBC1, 10:45-11:30pm

Every two minutes a house in Britain is burgled, and for years Nottingham has suffered the highest burglary rates in the UK. But the city's police are fighting back, and are now capturing the burglars on camera. They are installing hidden minicams inside ordinary homes, which record the thieves in action. They call them 'capture houses', Nottingham's new weapon in the fight against crime. But is this new technology as reliable as the police think? And should the police be allowed to set traps for burglars?

Part of the Modern Crime season, this gripping documentary takes viewers to the frontline of a surburban crime-wave, witnessing first-hand the cat-and-mouse battle currently being played out across Nottingham. The film shows heart-stopping footage of burglars breaking into homes, and follows the intelligence and burglary teams as they hunt the burglars down. And cameras are there in the interview room as the burglar is shown the damning footage. Many burglars protest their innocence at first, but once they see the capture house footage, the game is up.

 
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Thursday 2nd February

Factual; History

Lost Kingdoms of Africa
BBC4, 11:10pm-12:10am, 1/4, The Kingdom of Asante

We know less about Africa's distant past than almost anywhere else on Earth. But the scarcity of written records doesn't mean that Africa lacks history - it is found instead in the culture, artefacts and traditions of the people. In this series, art historian Dr Gus Casely-Hayford explores some of the richest and most vibrant histories in the world, revealing fascinating stories of four complex and sophisticated civilisations: the Kingdom of Asante, the Zulu Kingdom, the Berber Kingdom of Morocco and the Kingdoms of Bunyoro & Buganda.


In this episode, Dr Casely-Hayford travels to Ghana in West Africa, where a powerful kingdom once dominated the region. Asante was built on gold and slaves, which ensured its important place in an economy that linked three continents. He reveals how this sophisticated kingdom emerged from the unlikely environment of dense tropical forest and how it was held together by a shared sense of tradition and history - one deliberately moulded by the kingdom's rulers.


Factual; History; Youth Culture

Teen Spirit
Yesterday, 9:00-10:00pm, 1/3

In this first episode, Suggs takes a look at post-war Britain in the 50s where the word teenager didn't even exist.  Instead children simply left school and entered straight into adult life by getting a job, getting married and having children themselves.  In an era where homes finally got the washing machine, electric fire and the telephone, young adults were also starting their own rebellious uprising.  Bored of following the establishment, they decided to cry out to society by donning drainpipe trousers, drape jackets and crepe shoes to form the well known culture of the Teddy Boys.  Suggs takes viewers back in time to explore the music, fashions and rebellious attitudes of the 50s teens. Don't forget your hair grease and comb.


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Friday 3rd February

News; Factual; Current Affairs

Egypt: Children of the Revolution
BBC2, 7:00-8:00pm

Documentary following three revolutionaries after the downfall of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak during the Arab Spring, exploring their different visions for the country's future. Western-educated Gigi Ibrahim discusses his desire for a more liberal Egypt, Ahmed Hassan hopes the changes will lead to greater employment opportunities, and Tahir Yasin, who was tortured while in prison, dreams of the nation becoming an Islamic state.