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.
___________________________________________________
Sunday 22nd April 2012
Documentaries
Secrets of the Saxon Gold: A Time Team Special
Channel 4, 7:55-9:00pm
Two years after an Anglo-Saxon treasure hoard worth over three million pounds was discovered in Staffordshire, Time Team returns to see the results of the post-excavation process.
Documentaries
Indian Ocean with Simon Reeve
BBC2, 8:00-9:00pm, 1/6, South Africa to Zanzibar
In his greatest adventure yet Simon Reeve travels the Indian Ocean, uncovering stories from some of the world’s most remote, dangerous and beautiful locations.
He starts his journey on the rugged tip of South Africa, joining conservationists struggling to save the little-known and highly endangered African Penguin.
Further up the coast he meets the South African authorities using high speed boats to hunt down poachers targeting a sea creature called Abalone, a delicacy for which Chinese gourmets will pay big money. This illegal trade is dominated by drug-dealing gangsters, whom Simon encounters in a poverty-stricken township in Cape Town.
But it is the Indian Ocean’s greatest predator that dominates this leg of the journey. In his first ocean dive, Simon swims with huge and fearsome-looking ragged tooth sharks. Following a ride on a container ship travelling to the glorious coast of Mozambique, he accompanies local fisherman as they land a huge bull shark in their tiny boat, which is later butchered on the beach for its fins. It is part of a global tragedy that is seeing millions of sharks killed each year.
Finally, Simon makes an emotional journey to the tropical island of Zanzibar, steeped in the long history of the slave trade.
Factual; Travel; Documentaries
Ewan McGregor: Cold Chain Mission
BBC2, 9:00-10:00pm, 1/2
In this brand new two-parter for BBC2, Ewan McGregor is on a mission to the ends of the earth to immunise some of the hardest-to-reach children in the world. Against the odds, health workers deliver vaccines to the world's most remote children. But their fragile nature means the vaccines must be kept constantly cold as they are passed along the supply chain, from freezer to freezer - wherever that may be. The routes these vaccines travel are known as cold chains, and a vast network of them exists across the globe. In this series Ewan is following two of these cold chains supported by Unicef.
In the first episode, Ewan chooses a route that takes him through India. In a country with a booming population, often on the move, the cold chain is a race against time to stop polio before it can enter the country and spread. From India, Ewan continues his journey into the isolated wilderness of Nepal. He must endure a gruelling two-day trek to reach a tiny community secluded high in the Himalayas, but not before attempting to land at one of the world's most dangerous airstrips.
These two programmes give Ewan an opportunity to go to three very different countries, three situations, and look in detail at one strand of Unicef's work - the vaccine trail or the cold chain. It's the perfect kind of match, says Ewan, 'of furthering my work with Unicef and at the same time, going on an adventure, which I really like to do'.
Documentaries
Perspectives: David Walliams - The Genius of Dahl
ITV1, 10:15-11:15pm
“As a comedian I’ve spent a lot of time trying to work out how to say things that if said in a serious way would be completely unacceptable, and I haven’t always gotten away with it. In Dahl’s world, a grandma can be poisoned by her grandson. Parents can be eaten by a rhinoceros. And yet somehow it’s acceptable. It takes a true genius to pull that off.” – David Walliams on Roald Dahl.
It is perhaps not surprising that David Walliams is a huge fan of Roald Dahl, when some of his acting creations almost seem like Dahl characters – exaggerated and extreme, subversive and absurd, capable of cruelty, and challenging rules with dark humour.
In the latest installment of the Perspectives documentary strand, comedian and children’s author David Walliams delves into the electrifying, fantastic and dark world of Roald Dahl. He explores what makes Dahl one of the great storytellers, why his stories are loved by millions of readers and whether after many decades, they still stand the test of time.
Along the way, he visits Dahl’s house in Buckinghamshire, his childhood home of Cardiff, explores his Norwegian family roots and inspects the author’s writing hut – where his famous tales germinated. Famous fans including Joanna Lumley and Tim Minchin wax lyrical on the magical world of Dahl, alongside well-known children’s author Anthony Horowitz and Dahl experts and biographers Michael Rosen and Donald Sturrock.
Ultimately, in searching for the very essence of Dahl’s storytelling, David discovers the tragedies which shaped the author’s world view and writing, finds out how infamous characters such as Miss Trunchbull in Matilda were created, and even learns that the iconic Oompa Loompas in Charlie and The Chocolate Factory were very nearly known as something else.
“When I was a child I devoured every book I could get my hands on. I loved losing myself in colourful and dramatic stories – and my absolute favourite was this, Charlie And The Chocolate Factory. Everything about it electrified me, and when I reread Roald Dahl’s books as an adult it surprised me; there’s nothing prescriptive or predictable about them, with little sense of narrative rules. And they are nearly all perfect.
“Children’s books are often seen as the poor relation of literature. But children are just as demanding as adult readers, if not more so. I should know. I’m a children’s writer myself. Yet I will never be as good as Dahl. In this film I want to try and understand where Dahl’s magic touch came from.”
___________________________________________________
Monday 23rd April 2012
Documentaries
Jungle Special: Inside Nature's Giants
Channel 4, 8:00-9:00pm, 3/3
The team take on their hardest challenge so far, to dissect an entire ecosystem - the jungle. Deep in the rainforest of Borneo they erect a high-tech dissection laboratory to investigate giant bugs and titan trees, and to reveal why the jungle is home to the most diverse collection of living things on our planet.
With a team of all-star biologists, anatomists and tree climbers, they delve into the mysteries of the rainforest: how it fits together and the extraordinary roles the strange creatures that live in it play; how waterfalls flow uphill, life springs from death and parasites hold the key to holding the jungle in balance.
Veterinary scientist Mark Evans climbs 60 metres into the canopy to catch the world's largest ants; comparative anatomist Joy Reidenberg heads deep into the forest to catch venomous centipedes and giant moths; and biologist Simon Watt investigates the most sinister organism of them all - an enormous parasitic fig tree.
Inside Nature's Giants lifts the lid on this confusing environment, delving deep into the workings of some of the rainforest's most spectacular inhabitants to bring viewers natural history like it's never been seen before.
Factual; History; Documentaries
The 1970s
BBC2, 9:00-10:00pm, 2/4, Doomwatch, 73-74
Historian Dominic Sandbrook takes viewers on an eye-opening and refreshing journey deep into the 1970s, a decade where the old Britain of the post-war years was transformed into the nation of today.
This episode looks at the impact of a fast changing world on British life and how Britain could no longer pretend to be a island nation that stood apart. Dominic explores the effects of the oil price hike of the 70s and of rampant inflation on Britain's living standards. He also looks at how many British people were choosing to live different kinds of lives embracing everything from environmentally aware lifestyles to the sexual revolution.
__________________________________________________
Tuesday 24th April 2012
Factual; Documentaries
The Mighty Mississippi with Trevor McDonald
ITV1, 9:00-10:00pm, 3/3
In the third episode of the series Trevor visits the town which inspired the Huckleberry Finn novels, the island dedicated to making guns and the city known for being one of the best places to live in America.
The third part of Trevor’s journey sees him arrive in St Louis, Missouri on Independence Day and head to the St Louis Cardinals baseball stadium to meet the players and talk to them about being a part of the ultimate American sport.
Trevor visits an area of St Louis which is home to the largest community of Bosnians in American after they fled the civil war in the eastern European country. He meets one couple who have just got married and a businessman who takes him to ‘Little Bosnia’ and explains that the previously run-down area is now thriving with Bosnian businesses.
Trevor’s next stop is the town of Hannibal which was home to writer Sam Clements who wrote the Huckleberry Finn novels under the name of Mark Twain. Trevor takes to the water and gets behind the wheel of a paddle steamer in a nod to Mark Twain’s life as a river pilot in his younger years.
He says: “It is a gorgeous way to spend a day. Very calm and very contemplating. Very soothing. The river is still a route for cargo today and these barges are now the work horses.”
As Trevor continues on his journey up the Mississippi he visits Rock Island, Illinois, which is one of the largest weapons manufacturing facilities in the world. Workers on the 950 acre island use scrap metal to make guns and have provided weapons for every major conflict America has been involved in since the civil war.
Factual; Life Stories; Reality
The Estate
BBC1, 5/8, 11:40pm-12:10am
Fly-on-the-wall drama continues in Ballysally with romance in the air for Kelly Ann. Mum of five Louise takes delivery of free furniture from a charity. Noel struggles to keep his band members sober, and will single mum Emma pass her exams and get to University?
__________________________________________________
Wednesday 25th April 2012
Documentaries
Beautiful Minds
BBC4, 9:00-10:00pm, 3/3, Richard Dawkins
In the mid 1960s Richard Dawkins was lecturing in zoology at the University of Oxford when he came upon an idea put forward by zoologist Bill Hamilton. The theory suggested that it is genes rather than individuals or species which are the drivers for natural selection. It could have revolutionised evolutionary theory but it was little understood outside academic circles. That is until political events lead Richard to have some time on his hands.
__________________________________________________
Thursday 26th April 2012
News
Is Britain Running Dry?: Tonight
ITV1, 7:30-8:00pm
Two consecutive dry winters have taken their toll and Britain is now facing its worst drought for more than 30 years, with millions of people having already had hosepipe bans imposed and some experts predicting the climate will continue to get drier and warmer. Jonathan Maitland examines what is being done to protect dwindling water supplies and asks whether everyone needs to change the way they use resources.
Documentaries
Louis Theroux: Extreme Love
BBC2, 9:00-10:00pm, 2/2, Dementia
As one of the big retirement destinations for middle class Americans, Phoenix Arizona has also become a capital of dementia care. Louis visits the city in order to spend time in state-of-the-art care home Beatitudes and with home-based carers, whose love is tested by a condition that steadily erodes the personality and character of their partners.
At Beatitudes Louis meets Gary, a 69-year-old patient who thinks he is serving in the military and that it is his job to check the state of everyone's teeth. Louis submits to a dental check-up, is introduced to two of Gary's new resident girlfriends and spends time with Gary's wife of 20 years, Carla – a woman whom Gary robustly denies ever having married.
In a suburban Phoenix bungalow Louis agrees to become carer-for-a-day to Nancy, a formerNew York model with a personality to match. He finds a woman who can no longer remember her way through a complete sentence, but also a husband who finds much to love in the glimpses of personality that still sparkle through the dementia.
Factual; Arts, Culture and the Media; Documentaries
The King and the Playwright: A Jacobean History
BBC4, 9:00-10:00pm, 1/3, Incertainties
World-renowned American scholar Professor James Shapiro begins his three-part series about Shakespeare in the reign of King James with the anxious mood of 1603, when a new dynasty comes to power. Puritans, plague, an extravagant gift to a Spanish diplomatic delegation and a new British coin called the unite all figure in Shapiro's rich and fascinating history of a troubled time which saw an extraordinary creative outpouring.
_________________________________________________
Friday 27th April 2012
News
Undercover: Elderly Care - Panorama
BBC1, 12:25-12:55am
Panorama reveals the appalling treatment of an elderly care home resident with dementia, captured on film after a concerned relative hid a secret camera. The abuse - in a care home passed as "excellent" by the national regulator, the Care Quality Commission - has led to five care workers being sacked, with one pleading guilty to assault. It was recorded by a secret camera placed in the elderly woman's bedroom by her daughter, who speaks for the first time about what happened. Fiona Phillips, whose parents suffered from dementia and whose mother died in a care home, investigates whether the regulator and care home provider did enough to prevent such abuse and asks whether the system of elderly care itself can be trusted.
News; Documentaries
Unreported World - Afghanistan: Lights, Camera, Death Threats
Channel 4, 7:30-7:55pm, 3/8
Unreported World finds out what it takes to survive in the world's toughest movie industry.
Cinema was outlawed in Afghanistan under the Taliban and a decade later, despite their overthrow, death threats remain a fact of life for Afghan film-makers.
Reporter Jenny Kleeman and director Andrew Lang join the country's biggest film stars on set, and discover a passionate family of film-makers and actors, drawing strength and humour from each other as they risk their lives to produce movies.
Thirty years ago, Kabul was full of record shops, cinemas and theatres. But the Taliban declared that making and watching films perverted people's minds, and banned films during their rule. Since they fell in 2001, a handful of brave film directors have started working again.
The team begin their journey on set with Saba Sahar - an actress, screenwriter and Afghanistan's first female film director. In a country where few women work at all, Saba is directing her sixth production - a TV series about the Afghan police force.
The only woman on set, Saba has complete authority, even over the real policemen who are acting as her extras. As well as directing, Saba is playing the heroine, who's a female cop succeeding in a man's world.
Saba's high-profile job is provoking some of the most dangerous people in the country. The drug lords and the Taliban have threatened her life. 'Each morning when I leave the house I think I'll never see my family again. I might be killed,' she tells Kleeman.
Kleeman and Lang meet Salim Shaheen, Afghanistan's most prolific film director. He's directed and starred in over 100 low-budget, high-octane movies over three decades.
With a large fan base, Salim has a huge influence on ordinary Afghans. He takes Kleeman on to the film set where he's in the middle of directing a fight scene.
Salim fears the departure of foreign troops from Afghanistan could mean the end of his career. 'There's going to be a civil war here,' he warns. 'If the Taliban come back, films will be banned. I'll have to leave the country.' ...
_________________________________________________
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment