Off-air recordings for week 21-27 July 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 21st July

Drama

The Hollow Crown: Henry V
BBC2, 8:00-10:15pm

Henry V has settled onto the throne and has the makings of a fine king when the French ambassador brings a challenge from the Dauphin. Inspired by his courtiers Exeter and York, Henry swears that he will, with all force, answer this challenge. The chorus tells of England's preparations for war and Henry's army sails for France. After Exeter's diplomacy is rebuffed by the French king, Henry lays a heavy siege and captures Harfleur. The French now take Henry's claims seriously and challenge the English army to battle at Agincourt


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Sunday 22nd July




Factual; Documentaries

The Bridges that Built London with Dan Cruickshank
BBC4, 8:00-9:00pm

Dan Cruickshank explores the mysteries and secrets of the bridges that have made London what it is. He uncovers stories of bronze-age relics emerging from the Vauxhall shore, of why London Bridge was falling down, of midnight corpses splashing beneath Waterloo Bridge, and above all, of the sublime ambition of London's bridge builders themselves.




Factual; Arts, Culture and the Media; Documentaries

Teenage Kicks: The Search for Sophistication
BBC4, 11:5pm-12:50am

The teenage search for sophistication is recalled in this bittersweet film about the people we were and the luxury items we thought would give us the keys to the kingdom.

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Monday 23nd July

Factual; Science and Nature; Nature and Environment; Documentaries

Nature's Microworlds
BBC4, 8:30-9.00pm, 2/6 - Serengeti

A look at one of the most famous habitats on the planet, the Serengeti in East Africa, a vast grassland that is home to some of the greatest concentrations of herbivores on the continent. But what is the key to this exceptional grassland that allows such density and diversity?




Factual; Science and Nature; Science and Technology

Horizon: The Truth about Looking Young
BBC2, 9:00-10:00pm


Plastic surgeon Dr Rozina Ali leaves the operating theatre behind for the frontiers of skin science and asks if it is possible to make your skin look younger without surgery.

She discovers the latest research about how the foods we eat can protect our skin from damage, and how a chemical found in a squid's eye is at the forefront of a new sun protection cream.

She also finds out how sugar in our blood can make us look older, and explores an exciting new science called glycobiology which promises a breakthrough in making us look younger.


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Tuesday 24th July

Factual; Science and Nature; Nature and Environment

Talking Landscapes
BBC4, 7:30-8:00pm, 3/6 - Yorkshire Dales

How have generations of Yorkshire families made a living from the bitter winds and stoney soils of the Dales? Aubrey Manning journeys high on the hillsides and deep underground to discover the key to this harsh landscape.




Factual; Families and Relationships; History

Turn Back Time - The Family 
BBC1, 9:00-10:00pm, 5/5 - 1970


In this final episode of the series, Albert Road is transformed once again for family life in the 1970s. Single mum Lisa Rhodes moves in with her two sons, joining the other parents for whom the seventies are all about nostalgia. But as daily life is turned upside down by strikes, the three-day week, power cuts, water shortages and women's liberation, the rose-tinted glasses are off and the parents realise just how tough their own parents had it.

With all the mums working, the two dads on Albert Road soon take up the strain at home: Michael Taylor puts on a pinny and cooks chicken kiev, while Phil knuckles down to the housework.

As the families living on the street pull together as a community for the penultimate decade, the question to which everyone wants to know the answer is, when do they feel the golden era for the family really was?




Documentaries

Jon Richardson: A Little Bit OCD
Channel 4, 10:00-11:05pm

Jon Richardson's life is driven by a quest for perfection. It dictates everything from his eating habits and his relationship with his mother, to his ability to go on dates or entertain the idea of living with his friends.

His obsessive nature and need to control the world around him was minutely detailed in his book, It's Not Me, It's You.

Now he delves into the world of Obsessive Compulsive Disorders. Jon is not alone. After writing an article about his exacting nature affecting his ability to find a suitable girlfriend, he was inundated with letters from readers who identified with his compulsive need for immaculate cleanliness, precision and organisation.

But Jon admits he knows very little about the condition. With his 30th birthday approaching, he's determined to find out exactly what OCD is, what it's like for people living with this disorder and whether he actually has the condition.

Jon meets some of the one million sufferers around the UK, ranging from mild to extreme conditions. Jon also talks to his friends, former flat-mates, including comedian Russell Howard, and his mother, in a bid to discover the nature of his compulsions.

He also meets staff who treat in-patients with the most extreme form of OCD, and experts in the field, to gain insight into the disorder.

And finally, in an intimate one-to-one session with one of the country's leading experts on OCD, Jon finds out once and for all if he's a simply a demanding perfectionist or if he has OCD.


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Wednesday 25th July

Factual; Arts, Culture and the Media; Documentaries

A History of Art in Three Colours
BBC4, 9:00-10:00pm, 1/3 - Gold

For the very first civilisations and also our own, the yellow lustre of gold is the most alluring and intoxicating colour of all. From the midst of pre-history to a bunker deep beneath the Bank of England, Fox reveals how golden treasures made across the ages reflect everything we have held as sacred.

Opening with early sun worship, he storms across history, reinterpreting the golden treasures of the pharaohs, the lavish mosaics of Byzantium and the alluring work of the Renaissance master Benvenuto Cellini. We bask in the glow of Gustav Klimt's The Kiss and discover the curious case of a Birmingham inventor who made the alchemist's dream come true.


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Thursday 26th July

Factual; Science and Nature; Nature and Environment; Documentaries

Natural World Special: Tiger Island
BBC1, 8:00-9:00pm


A gorgeous Sumatran tiger snarls, struts and lashes out in her tiger “prison”. The unfortunate beast has been incarcerated because she is suspected of killing local villagers (the case has not been proved).

She is one of 12 captured Sumatran tigers who might or might not have attacked their human neighbours on the Indonesian island. The problem is that no one in authority knows what to do with these tigers and it’s likely they will die behind bars.

Controversial Indonesian businessman Tomy Winata is using a lump of his considerable fortune attempting to rehabilitate the maneaters before releasing them back into the wild. But conservationist, zoologist and tiger expert Alan Rabinowitz is sceptical. Though the released tigers are supposed to be radio-collared and monitored, the data from these devices that tracks their movements has disappeared. It’s a strange, unsettling story without an easy resolution.

A millionaire tries to save jungle tigers on the Indonesian island of Sumatra by capturing them in their natural habitat, then transporting them to his own land and setting them free. However, zoologist Alan Rabinowitz is unsure about the wisdom of his scheme, particularly given the dangers the big cats pose to humans, and decides to investigate further.




Criminology: Documentaries

Fred West: Born to Kill?

Channel 5, 8:00-9:00pm, 1/6 - new series

Psychologists and criminology experts analyse the personalities of some of the world's most infamous murderers, beginning with serial killer Fred West, who was charged with 12 murders in 1994 after police discovered the remains of nine bodies at his home in Gloucester. Though he committed suicide before he could be tried for the crimes, his wife Rosemary was convicted of killing 10 women and girls in November 1995.

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Friday 27th July

History; Documentaries

The Great British Story: A People's History
BBC1, 7:30-8:30pm, 6/8 - The Age of Revolution


He was a bit of a bollocks,” says one Irish lady of Oliver Cromwell. It’s a masterly understatement considering she’s talking in Drogheda, site of an infamous massacre carried out by Cromwell’s New Model Army in 1649.

In another engrossing chapter of British history, told in the words of those involved, Michael Wood explores the British Civil Wars, the almighty conflict that set community against community and town against town throughout Britain and Ireland. In London, he stands amid the Occupy London tents, the modern day-equivalent, he says, of the Levellers and Diggers movements that grew out of the Civil Wars.

Michael Wood explores how civil war split Britain during the 17th century, beginning his journey in Dublin, where he examines artefacts of the 1641 Irish Rebellion, before travelling to Co Down to find out about the Ulster-Scots. Back in England, he explains how communities in the West Midlands were divided by the violent conflict between Parliament and the Crown, and visits a local history project that is unearthing evidence from a Cornish battlefield. He also charts the origins of revolutionary movements including the Levellers and Diggers, which he believes laid the foundations for modern British democracy.




Factual; Science and Nature; Nature and Environment; Documentaries

Snowdonia: A Year in the Wild
BBC2, 9:00-10:00pm, 1/3


 Hermione Norris purrs narration over enchanting images of the crags and valleys of the Snowdonia National Park. There are otters and falcons and boxing hares to be sure, but my favourite shot is a simple one of some rare-breed pigs crossing a stone bridge. The film takes a dim view of the tourists who flock to the area, but sorry, programmes like this will only encourage us.

The first of three films exploring life in Britain's National Parks. Snowdonia in north Wales is a landscape formed by extinct volcanos, and is home to creatures including otters, hen harriers and peregrine falcons. The programme explores the area over the course of a year through the eyes of people who live and work there, including a warden, a farmer, a climber and a poet.




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