Off-air recordings for week 2-8 March 2013

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.
_____________________________________________
Saturday 2nd March

Natural World > Science and Nature > Documentaries

Queen of Tigers: Natural World Special
BBC2, 8:30-9:30pm


In this tender, elegaic film, wildlife cameraman Colin Stafford-Johnson charts his 13-year association with Machli, “Queen of Tigers”, in the Ranthambore National Park in India. He’s been on hand for most of the milestones in her life, but she’s reaching the end of her days (though, to the inexpert eye, she still looks pretty healthy). He wants to pay her one last visit because “I have no desire to see her when she’s dead”.

So this is effectively a greatest hits compilation from their association. She is irresistible, of course, and quite a scrapper; the footage of her fighting and killing a fully grown crocodile is familiar, yet remains incredibly powerful. Stafford-Johnson’s final “meeting” is touching and tearful.

Machli is one of the world's most famous tigers - the star of five films, with her own Facebook page and more than a million YouTube hits of her attacking a crocodile. Wildlife cameraman Colin Stafford-Johnson returns to India to find his old friend in this documentary charting the extraordinary milestones in Machli's life as a mother and a hunter.



_____________________________________________
Monday 4th March

Current Affairs > News > Documentaries

Dispatches: Death in the Wards
Channel 4, 8:00-9:00pm


Dispatches investigates the truth behind allegations that tens of thousands of seriously ill people have been put on a pathway to death - likened to legalised euthanasia - and claims from families that doctors have callously killed off patients who could have had months or even years of life to live.  Death on the Wards interviews leading specialists, terminally ill patients and families. And, it reveals the results of the first survey of thousands of doctors into how the process of dying is managed in our hospitals.

The Liverpool Care Pathway (LCP), which originated in the hospice movement for cancer patients, is intended to ease the often lengthy and painful process of dying. A key principle is to stop treating a patient’s underlying condition if treatment is judged to be futile or harmful.  Official guidelines now mean that every hospice and hospital has to have an approved end of life pathway, and the LCP is by far the most prevalent. An estimated 130,000 people last year died after being placed on the LCP and many of us can expect to have our deaths, or those of our loved ones, managed using the pathway.

However, the process has become hugely controversial. It is not only those with terminal cancer who are now being put on the LCP. Many more patients are now put on the pathway following other illnesses such as strokes and some families are claiming that their relatives could, and should, have lived longer.  At the heart of the controversy is a simple question: can doctors accurately tell when someone is dying? Dispatches includes an exclusive interview with leading neurologist Professor Patrick Pullicino, who believes they can't. "There is no data for telling that somebody is in the last hours or days of life," he tells the programme. "If you start to say somebody has a poor prognosis then you make it a self-fulfilling prophecy."

Professor Pullicino believes the case of one his patients proves him right. Salvatore De Francisci was placed on the LCP, not by him, but by doctors on a weekend team who judged his condition to have seriously deteriorated to the point he had hours to live. When returning to work, Professor Pullicino insisted Sammy be taken off the pathway. Within days he was allowed home and subsequently lived with his family for a further 14 months.  Speaking to the media for the first time, his daughter Rosaria Squire tells Dispatches: "It wasn't time for him to go. I did mention to the nurse, I did say to them my dad's not a number, he's my dad; he's a husband, a granddad. And I wanted my dad home with us."

Dispatches also interviews Professor Sam Ahmedzai, one of the UK’s leading palliative care doctors. He has more than 30 years' experience in this area yet chooses not to use the LCP with his patients. "I've no doubt that many patients do achieve a good, calm, peaceful death," he says. "The problem is that it's not always initiated at the right time, on the right patient, and the medication and the actual things that are taken away can sometimes aggravate a person's dying rather than smooth it over."

The allegations have now become so serious that the government has ordered a review to look at all aspects of the LCP, including whether cost pressures play a role. While the review is being conducted, Dispatches, in conjunction with the British Medical Journal, has carried out the first ever survey of thousands of palliative care doctors to find out what they think of the pathway.  However, many doctors support the use of the pathway. One of them is Dr Kate Granger. She is in a unique position: diagnosed with a rare cancer just before her 30th birthday, she's decided she wants to go on the LCP and is worried that the backlash is beginning to affect its use. "What would we do if we got rid of it? What would happen to these patients?" she tells Dispatches. "That really worries me, and what - what would happen to me? Would I get the comfortable, dignified, serene death that I would like? I'm not sure."



Factual > Science & Nature > Nature & Environment > Documentaries

The Great British Winter
BBC2, 6:30-7:30pm, 1/5 - Mountains


This series explores five of Britain's most extreme winter landscapes, looking at the conditions that challenge both the wildlife and people that try to survive in the countryside and uncovering a world few get to see.  Ellie Harrison looks at British mountains as she reveals the surprises this terrain holds, from volcanoes to avalanches, frogs attempting to spawn to the small herds of reindeer in Britain. There's more than meets the eye to this landscape in winter.



_____________________________________________
Tuesday 5th March

Factual > Science & Nature > Nature & Environment > Documentaries

The Great British Winter
BBC2, 6:30-7:30pm, 2/5 - Rivers and Lakes

Ellie Harrison is in the iconic landscape of the Lake District, uncovering the perils of our changeable weather, finding out about an extremely rare Arctic winter resident, and enjoying a lakeside spectacle put on by a family of otters.


Factual > Arts, Culture & the Media > Documentaries

The Kimbolton Cabinet: Secret Knowledge
BBC4, 8:00-8:30pm

Granted privileged access to the Victoria and Albert Museum after hours, John Bly seeks out the Kimbolton Cabinet, an exquisite piece of 18th century English furniture that promises to reveal much about not only our nation's craft heritage but also his very own childhood.


Factual > Arts, Culture & the Media > Documentaries

The Art of the Vikings: Secret Knowledge
BBC4, 8:30-9:00pm

Through interpretations of some of the archaeological treasures of the Swedish National Museum, now on display in Edinburgh, Dr Janina Ramirez of Oxford University explores the fascinating wealth of Viking culture and its long-lasting influence on the British Isles.


Factual > Arts, Culture & the Media > Documentaries

Treasures of the Louvre
BBC4, 9:0--10:00pm

Paris-based writer Andrew Hussey travels through the glorious art and surprising history of an extraordinary French institution to show that the story of the Louvre is the story of France. As well as exploring the masterpieces of painters such as Veronese, Rubens, David, Chardin, Gericault and Delacroix, he examines the changing face of the Louvre itself through its architecture and design. Medieval fortress, Renaissance palace, luxurious home to kings, emperors and more recently civil servants, today it attracts eight million visitors a year. The documentary also reflects the very latest transformation of the Louvre - the museum's recently-opened Islamic Gallery.


_____________________________________________
Wednesday 6th March

Factual > Science & Nature > Nature & Environment > Documentaries

The Great British Winter
BBC2, 6:30-7:30pm, 3/5 - Forests

Explores five of Britain's most extreme winter landscapes, looking at the conditions that challenge both the wildlife and people that try to survive in the countryside.


Natural World > Science and Nature > Nature and Environment > Documentaries

Nature's Microworlds
BBC4, 8:30-9:00pm, 7/7 - Scotland

Steve Backshall visits the Scottish Highlands, home to some of the most iconic wildlife in the British Isles, including red squirrels and mountain hares. The two contrasting landscapes of open moor and Caledonian forest are equally important to the animals that live there, and yet the history of the area shows that they should not exist side by side. He also reveals the part that humans have to play in allowing both habitats to thrive.


This World: America's Poor Kids
BBC2, 9:00-10:00pm


Ten-year-old Kayleigh totters along railway tracks, looking for discarded cans to recycle. It’s dangerous, of course, but she can earn up to five cents per can, and her family – her mum and brother – need all the money they can get. Kayleigh is just one of the small casualties of America’s biting recession, a sparky little girl who dreams of being a dancer and who lives in poverty, moving from cheap motel to cheap motel.

Jezza Neumann’s quietly passionate film will leave you feeling both angry and helpless, because this shouldn’t be happening anywhere. The kids are only too well aware of their plight. In San Francisco, 11-year-old Sera lives with her mum and sister in a one-roomed flat, their belongings in piles. “This is not the great American dream,” she says with a wisdom that is heartbreakingly beyond her years.

Child poverty has reached record levels in the US, with more than 16 million children now affected, food banks facing unprecedented demand and homeless shelters dealing with long waiting lists. This documentary offers a unique insight into the impact of the country's economic crisis, as three children affected by the downturn reveal how life in modern America is viewed from their perspective.


Factual > Arts, Culture & the Media > Magazines

Going Underground: A Culture Show Special

BBC2, 10:00-10:30pm

Alastair Sooke presents a cultural history of the London Underground to celebrate its 150th anniversary. He follows the progress of a major new artwork for all 270 stations by Turner Prize winner Mark Wallinger and tells the story of Frank Pick, who steered the development of the Tube's corporate identity by commissioning eye-catching commercial art, graphic design and modern architecture. With contributions by writers Paul Morley, Peter York and John Lanchester.


_____________________________________________
Thursday 7th March

Factual > Science & Nature > Nature & Environment > Documentaries

The Great British Winter
BBC2, 6:30-7:30pm, 4/5 - Estuaries

Explores five of Britain's most extreme winter landscapes, looking at the conditions that challenge both the wildlife and people that try to survive in the countryside.


Religions > Beliefs >  Documentaries

Pagans and Pilgrims: Britain's Holy Places
BBC4, 8:30-9:00pm, 1/6


Presenter and Welsh poet Ifor ap Glyn explores the wealth of Britain’s extraordinary holy places on a pilgrimage that spans almost 2,000 years of history.

Travelling across the breadth of the UK, Ifor will uncover the stories and rich history behind many of our most famous sites, explaining the myths and legends of some of Britain’s most sacred places.

Over six half-hour episodes, Ifor will visit crumbling ruins, tranquil healing pools, sacred caves, island refuges, towering mountain hideaways and ancient shrines to find out what these historical sites tell us about who we are today. From the divine to the unexpected, the series uncovers Britain’s extraordinary variety of inspirational, surprising and half-forgotten holy places, and brings to life our spiritual history.

In the first episode, Ifor explores why ruins are among the best-preserved and most-loved holy sites in Britain. He’ll take in the famous ruins of St Andrews Cathedral, the mystical atmosphere of Wales’ best-preserved Roman site, the battered remains of Coventry’s iconic cathedral and the Gothic majesty of North Yorkshire’s Whitby Abbey - the inspiration behind Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Along the way, he’ll ask why we’re drawn to holy ruins long after their religious use is over. Is it just nostalgia or something much deeper that fuels our obsession and enduring fascination with the decaying grandeur of a ruin?



Religion > Beliefs > Documentaries

How to Get to Heaven with the Hutterites
BBC2, 9:00-10:00pm


Like the Amish, the Hutterites are a religious group who live communally, keeping the world at arm’s length. “We try to insulate our people, not isolate them,” is how Zach, the minister at a remote colony in Canada, puts it.

Everyone works for the common good, men and women’s roles are clearly defined and there are strict rules about everything, whether it’s visiting relatives in another community, taking preserves from the food stores or where you sit at the communal dining table.

Lynn Alleway filmed at the Maple Grove Colony over a period of four months as they went about their lives, but while the Hutterites extol the virtues of their simple life and the benefits of an ordered system, they struggle to explain the reasoning behind the rules. “Because we’ve always done it that way,” is all they can eventually come up with.

An insight into clandestine Christian community the Hutterites, who believe that living communally and separately from what they refer to as `the world' will secure them a place in heaven. With exclusive access, this film follows one member of the religious society as he embarks on a secret escape.



______________________________________________
Friday 8th March



Factual > Arts, Culture & the Media > Arts > Factual > History


Heritage! The Battle for Britain's Past
BBC4, 3:00-4:00am, 1/3


The birth of the heritage movement and the first arguments of radical thought, from figures including John Lubbock MP, Lieutenant General Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers, Charles Darwin and John Ruskin. These remarkable individuals asked important questions and came up with the building blocks of a new world - a world that valued the past.



Factual > Science & Nature > Nature & Environment > Documentaries

The Great British Winter
BBC2, 6:30-7:30pm, 5/5 - Islands

Explores five of Britain's most extreme winter landscapes, looking at the conditions that challenge both the wildlife and people that try to survive in the countryside.


Factual > Science & Nature > Nature & Environment > Factual > Travel

Wild Arabia
BBC2, 9:00-10:00pm, 3/3 - Shifting Sands


In a rapidly changing Arabia, wildlife finds surprising opportunites and allies.



_______________________________________________