Off-air recordings for week 24-30 October 2009

Please email Rich Deakin <rdeakin@glos.ac.uk> or <fchmediaservices@glos.ac.uk> if you would like any of the following programmes / series recording.*

Saturday 24th

BBC4 - Terror! Robespierre and the French Revolution - "The watchwords of the French Revolution were liberty, equality and fraternity. Maximilien Robespierre believed in them passionately. He was an idealist and a lover of humanity. But during the 365 days that Robespierre sat on the Committee of Public Safety, the French Republic descended into a bloodbath.
'The Terror' only came to end when Robespierre was devoured by the repressive machinery he'd created. This drama-documentary tells the story of the Terror and looks at how Robespierre's revolutionary idealism so quickly became an excuse for tyranny, and why a lover of liberty was so keen to use the guillotine."

Sunday 25th

Channel 4 - Not Forgotten: The Men who Wouldn't Fight - "In this special edition of Not Forgotten, journalist and broadcaster Ian Hislop explores the compelling and emotive stories of conscientious objectors during the First World War.
Ian visits war memorials and the battlefields of the Western Front, and looks for evidence in local archives and personal war diaries to inspire his search for stories. He meets the descendants of some of the ‘Conchies’ and hears how they have dealt with the social stigma of their relatives’ refusal to fight.
Ian discovers that conscientious objectors fell into two loose categories; the ‘alternativists', those prepared to undertake non-combative roles, such as ambulance drivers and stretcher-bearers; and the ‘absolutists', the most determined and extreme COs who refused to carry out any work that aided the army – they wouldn't even peel a potato if it helped the war effort. Ian also explores the experiences of volunteers, who on witnessing the horrors of the battlefield, became committed COs. Ian uncovers stories of imprisonment, physical abuse, tragedy and extreme bravery.
At the heart of the film he asks, if we memorialise the courage of those who fought and died, should we not also remember and honour those who had the courage not to fight?"

More 4 - Secret History: Brighton Bomb - "The story of the IRA's audacious terrorist attack in October 1984, when they planted a devastating bomb in Brighton's Grand Hotel, aiming to kill the PM Margaret Thatcher."

Monday 26th

BBC 1 - Panorama: Freed To Offend Again - "Are we safe from dangerous prisoners released back onto our streets? A Panorama investigation reveals that known sex offenders and violent offenders are committing many more serious crimes, including rape and murder, on their release from prison than the government tells us about."

Channel 4 - Race and Intelligence: Science's Last Taboo - "In 2007, Nobel Prize winning US scientist James Watson was quoted referring to research suggesting that black people were less intelligent than other races. His comments caused a storm of controversy, Watson was condemned.
Although he apologised for the offence he caused, his public engagements were cancelled and he left his British speaking tour in disgrace.
Meanwhile, right wing websites hailed him as the new Galileo - a martyr to political correctness that was concealing the fact that there is indeed evidence that shows different races score differently in IQ tests. But are the tests biased? Is race really a scientific category at all?
In this documentary, part of the season Race: Science's Last Taboo, Rageh Omaar sets out to find out the truth, meeting scientists who believe the research supports the view that races can be differentiated as well as those who vehemently oppose this view. By daring to ask the difficult questions, Omaar is able to explode the myths about race and IQ and reveal what he thinks are important lessons for society."

Tuesday 27th

BBC2 - Horizon: Fix Me - "Horizon follows the emotional journey of three young people with currently untreatable conditions to see if within their lifetime, they can be cured.
Sophie is desperate to discover if there's a medical breakthrough which will get her walking again - a car crash after celebrating her A level results left her paralysed from the waist down. Anthony's leg was amputated after a rugby accident on the eve of his eighteenth birthday. Will he ever be able to regrow his leg? Father of four Dean is desperate for a cure for his damaged heart to avoid an early death. They've all read the headlines about the astonishing potential of stem cells to heal the body. Now they've been given access to the pioneering scientists who could transform their lives.
With so much at stake, each meeting is highly emotional as our three young people find out if science can fix them."

Channel 4 - Bleach, Nip, Tuck: The White Beauty Myth - 1/2 - "The Body (pt 1) follows the emotional journeys of ethnic minorities desperate to change their bodies, as well as showing incredible surgery including pioneering limb lengthening procedures."

Wednesday 28th

More 4 - True Stories: Four Wives , One Man - "Film-maker, Nahid Persson - born and raised in Iran - goes back to her roots to explore the functional and psychological problems faced by a family which comprises one man, his four wives, 20 children and his irascible, foul-mouthed mother. There's another problem underway: 50-year-old Heda wants to take a fifth wife, this time a virgin who won't talk back.
Although the Quran permits a man to take more than one wife, polygamy is not common in Iran. It is found mainly in rural areas and only 14 per cent of Iranians practise it. Persson makes this clear from the outset - this is not a comment about Iran, rather a look at four women in an extreme situation. In an early scene, Heda's mother condemns it. 'All my son thinks about is pussy,' she states..."

BBC2 - Natural World: Bearwalker of the North Woods - "Wildlife documentary. In the forests of northern Minnesota, biologist Lynn Rogers uses food to gain the trust of wild black bears, a controversial technique developed over his own forty-year journey from fear to fascination.
Following the fortunes of mother bear June and her three cubs over a year, the film reveals an intimate portrait of the lives of black bears."

BBC2 - Andrew Marr's The Making of Modern Britain - New 6-part series - "In the first of a six-part series, Andrew Marr revisits Britain at the dawn of the 20th century. He finds the country mourning the death of Queen Victoria; fighting an intractable war against the Boers in South Africa; enjoying the bawdy pleasures of music hall; and worrying about the physical and moral strength of the working class.
There are stories of political intrigue between David Lloyd George and his arch enemy Joseph Chamberlain; the beginning of the struggle for women's suffrage; and an account of the day Mr Rolls met Mr Royce and kicked off a revolution in motoring.
With powerful archive and vivid anecdotes, Andrew Marr gets to the heart of Edwardian Britain. He brings to life Britain's struggle to maintain its imperial power in the world in the years before the First World War."

Thursday 29th

BBC4 - Timeshift: The Men Who Built The Liners - "Many of the most famous passenger liners in history were built in the British Isles, several in the shipyards along the banks of the Clyde. This series combines personal accounts and archive footage to evoke a vivid picture of the unique culture that grew up in the Clyde shipyards. Despite some of the harshest working conditions in industrial history and dire industrial relations, it was here that the Queen Mary, the Queen Elizabeth and the QE2 were built. Such was the Clyde shipbuilders' pride in their work, and the strength of public support, that in 1971 they were able to defy a government attempt to close them down and win the right to carry on shipbuilding."

Channel 4 - The Event: How Racist Are You? - "Are we all more racist than we realise or would like to admit?
For this Channel 4 documentary Jane Elliott, a controversial former schoolteacher from Ohio, is recreating the shocking exercise she used forty years ago to teach her nine-year-old pupils about prejudice.
Elliott is asking thirty adult British volunteers - men and women of different ages and backgrounds - to experience inequality based on their eye colour to show how susceptible we can all be to bigotry, and what it feels like to be on the other side of arbitrary discrimination.
Does Elliott's exercise still have something to teach us four decades on and in a different country? Presented by Krishnan Guru-Murthy, the exercise is observed throughout by two expert psychologists, Prof Dominic Abrams and Dr Funké Baffour, who will be unpicking the behaviour on display."

Friday 30th

Channel 4 - Unreported World - Greece: The Unwanted - "Unreported World travels to the European Union's eastern border, to the illicit crossing points for hundreds of thousands of Afghans making their way to our shores. Reporter Jenny Kleeman and director Jacob White follow migrants on the dangerous eight-mile crossing from Turkey to the Greek island of Lesbos, before gaining rare access to Pagani detention centre on the island. The team follows the migrants to Athens, where they witness the squalor in which they live and hear allegations of police violence against these desperate and determined people, who, it's clear, will stop at nothing for a chance to start a new life in Europe."

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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.

Off-air recordings for week 17-23 October 2009

Please email Rich Deakin <rdeakin@glos.ac.uk> or <fchmediaservices@glos.ac.uk> if you would like any of the following programmes / series recording.*

Saturday 17th October

BBC4 - 100 Years of the Girl Guides - "In September 2009 the Girl Guides celebrate their centenary. With a membership of over 600,000, nearly half the female population of Britain has been involved with the Brownies and Girl Guides at some time during their lives.
Throughout their history, the movement has given girls the opportunity to have fun and form life-long friendships. Narrated by Dominic West (The Wire), 100 Years of the Girl Guides delves into the movement's extraordinary archive and interviews a host of former Girl Guides from veterans to household names Kelly Holmes, Clare Short, Kate Silverton and Rhona Cameron.
In 1909 Robert Baden-Powell agreed to let girls have their equivalent of the Boy Scouts. It was a time when women couldn't vote, couldn't work once married, couldn't borrow money or seek contraception.
The guides have always risen to the challenge in times of national crisis. During the First World War, they worked in munitions factories and in the Second World War, young women in the Guides International Service worked alongside British soldiers to help Jewish inmates liberated from Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
The Guide's progressive vision has pioneered the change in attitudes over disability. Their inclusive approach has produced many successful sportswomen including Kelly Holmes and paralympians Barbara Howie and Tanni Grey-Thompson.
The Girl Guides would not be the Girl Guides without their camping adventures. Baden Powell believed the great outdoors was the best way for the youth of the day to stay healthy and sane.
At the heart of the Girl Guide's ethos lies their commitment to helping others and being a good citizen."

BBC4 - Voices from the Doll's House - "Sybil Canadine, in the early years of the 20th century, wanted to be a girl scout but was repeatedly told scouting was for boys only. It was as a result of her determination that Baden Powell eventually agreed to the establishment of the movement which became the Girl Guides. Mrs Canadine talks about her experiences."

BBC4 - Ian Hislop's Scouting for Boys - "In this entertaining and affectionate film, Ian Hislop uncovers the story behind the book which kick-started the Scout movement. Robert Baden-Powell's Scouting for Boys, published 1908, may be largely forgotten today but was one of the best-selling books of the 20th century. A seemingly idiosyncratic read, it was also radical for its time, addressing modern issues such as citizenship, disaffected youth and social responsibility. As well as an interview with Baden-Powell's grandson, the documentary features contributions from the Minister for Culture David Lammy, Baden-Powell biographer Tim Jeal, and the editor of the recent re-issue of the original Scouting for Boys, Elleke Boehmer."

Sunday 18th

BBC4 - Sunday Schools: Reading, Writing and Redemption - "Documentary investigating the radical impact Sunday schools have had on British society. Their early pioneers upset local bigwigs and the state by teaching the lower orders to read. By Victorian times, huge numbers attended the schools and they even gave birth to major football clubs. In the twentieth century they still had a rich influence on the personal lives of people like Patricia Routledge, Roy Hattersley and Anne Widdecombe. Huw Edwards discovers their forgotten history."

Monday 19th

BBC1 - Panorama: Undercover - Hate on the Doorstep - "Bullied, attacked and racially-abused more than fifty times in eight weeks. That's the experience of two British Asian reporters posing as a couple and living undercover on a housing estate in Britain during summer 2009.
In a shocking insight into race hate and anti-social behaviour in our neighbourhoods, Tamanna Rahman was pelted with glass and stones and threatened with a brick during an attempted mugging by an 11-year-old boy. Her "husband," Amil Khan, was punched in the head. Yet the head of the government's equality watchdog has said that having a neighbour of a different ethnic background isn't an issue any more.
Panorama investigates the truth about racism and anti-social behaviour in Britain today."

Channel 4 - Age 8 and Wanting a Sex Change - "As experts consider a review of UK guidelines for treating transgender children, this film follows a number of children in the US who told their parents they were born in the wrong body.
In America, children under 16 can be prescribed hormone 'blockers' to prevent the onset of puberty, with a view to then follow with hormone treatment to become their new gender. This film follows the American experience.
Eight-year-old Josie was born a boy but has been living as a girl for two years since revealing the full extent of his feelings about his identity to his mother.
Kyla is also eight. He was born a boy but loves anything pink and sparkly, has grown his hair, and is preparing to return for school after summer dressed as a girl for the first time. He says: 'If I had to wear boys' clothes and be a boy for the rest of my life, I'd probably die.'
They have both been diagnosed with gender dysphoria.
Sixteen-year-old Chris, who was born a girl, started testosterone treatment at 14. She now has a deep voice and plentiful body hair, and shaves regularly.
These children and their parents reveal what it is like to face life-changing questions, giving a frank insight into a subject most people never have to consider."

BBC4 - Glamour's Golden Age - new 3 part series, part 1 - "Hermione Norris narrates a three-part series on the 1920s and 30s, which creates a portrait of a golden age so daring, so influential, so exciting that it still shapes who we are today.
The decades between the world wars saw a cultural revolution in music, fashion, design and the arts. Mass media, mass production and the resulting mass exposure to an alluring, seductive glamour saw the world changing at a dizzying pace, amid which many of our modern obsessions were born.
The first part looks at how architecture and design both created and reflected the spirit of the time. The fun and frivolity of Art Deco sat alongside the pure, functionality of modernism and helped democratise style. Streamlining followed, making sleek, sophisticated, elegant design part of ordinary people's everyday lives. At home, the radio became a beautiful object. In the urban environment a new aesthetic changed the way buildings looked, while planes, trains and automobiles started to shrink the world.
Featuring photographs of the Hoover Factory, Saltdean Lido, the Midland Hotel, the Savoy Theatre, the De La Warr Pavilion, the New Victoria Palace cinema, plus archive newsreel of the Mallard, the Queen Mary, the Schneider Trophy and Bluebird."

Tuesday 20th

BBC2 - Horizon: The Secret You - "With the help of a hammer-wielding scientist, Jennifer Aniston and a general anaesthetic, Professor Marcus du Sautoy goes in search of answers to one of science's greatest mysteries: how do we know who we are? While the thoughts that make us feel as though we know ourselves are easy to experience, they are notoriously difficult to explain. So, in order to find out where they come from, Marcus subjects himself to a series of probing experiments.
He learns at what age our self-awareness emerges and whether other species share this trait. Next, he has his mind scrambled by a cutting-edge experiment in anaesthesia. Having survived that ordeal, Marcus is given an out-of-body experience in a bid to locate his true self. And in Hollywood, he learns how celebrities are helping scientists understand the microscopic activities of our brain. Finally, he takes part in a mind-reading experiment that both helps explain and radically alters his understanding of who he is."

More 4 - True Stories: The End of the Line - "The True Stories strand presents Rupert Murray's acclaimed film looking at the consequences of unchecked, unregulated sea fishing across the globe.
It is not a film about what might happen, it is a film about what has happened.
The collapse of the cod population saw the end of 40,000 jobs; the bluefin tuna is being hunted to extinction; it takes five kilos of anchovies to produce one fish farmed salmon.
And while there are some positive signs, with Walmart and McDonalds both selling fish from sustainable sources, some outlets still sell endangered species.
But the final chilling conclusion is that unless more radical steps are taken globally, including the reduction of overfishing, it will take just 50 years for the world's ocean's to be all fished out."

Wednesday 21st

Five - The Lost Symbol: Truth or Fiction - "Investigative documentary exploring the story behind Dan Brown's new novel, The Lost Symbol. Featuring unique access to Freemason lodges throughout the world, the film examines the history of the organisation and explores the biggest conspiracy theories surrounding it. After centuries of rumour, suspicion and scandal, do the Freemasons deserve their mysterious reputation?"

BBC4 - Legends: Josephine Baker - The First Black Superstar - "A look at the life of the black entertainer Josephine Baker, who was a pioneer in every sense of the word and whose impact on the cultural history of the 20th century was profound."

BBC4 - Art Deco Icons - "The Art Deco movement swept through Britain in the 1930s, bringing a little glamour to everyone's life. In this series, architectural historian David Heathcote explores and enjoys four of the best examples of Art Deco in Britain.
Heathcote checks into Claridge's Hotel in London's Mayfair and explores the Art Deco makeover of the 1930s, which transformed the old Victorian hotel into a fashionable destination for the rich and famous.
He enjoys the glamour of the Deco fumoir which made smoking sexy and glamorous, even for women, and samples the cocktail bar with Guy Oliver, the man whose job it is to renovate and restore the hotel's glamorous 1930s image.
Heathcote then settles into a perfect Art Deco bath complete with glass panels, bubble bath and two bell pulls - one for the maid and the other for the butler."

BBC4 - A Tale of Two Britains - "The conventional view of 1930s Britain is of slag heaps, unemployed men hanging round street corners with nothing to do, hunger marches and economic depression.
This is only part of the truth, as the 1930s was a period of transformation. While most of the world suffered from the depression, the UK was able to shrug off the worst effects thanks to prudent management of the economy by the National Government and a degree of protectionism. Areas of high unemployment remained, but they were isolated from the general trend.
For many, it was a time of rising prosperity. Consumption increased as new gadgets - vacuum cleaners, cookers, fridges - came on the market. Car ownership increased massively and, as leisure time grew, so did travel as people took holidays, often for the first time. Millions went to the cinema and eating out became commonplace. To back up the increase in consumption new forms of credit emerged, with HP the most popular.
Using interviews with people who remember the decade, this documentary offers an alternative vision of Britain in the 30s and shows that, after the recovery from the slump that followed the crash of 1929, life was good for a large proportion of the country.
It celebrates the growing market for entertainment and consumer goods; shows how a boom in housing transformed the lives of millions of slum dwellers and how new towns grew up near centres of economic growth; and it challenges the view that the period was one of national gloom and austerity.
A considerable amount of research has shed new light on the period, and historians like Peter Scott, Richard Overy, Juliet Gardiner and Martin Pugh underpin the film's thesis, which will both surprise and cheer many viewers who have lived under the shadow of the bleak 1930s."

Thursday 22nd

BBC4 - The Golden Age of Liners - "Paul Atterbury recalls the heyday of ocean liners in this Time Shift documentary, revealing a story of design, politics and tragedy as he finds out how great ships captured the public's imagination.

Friday 23rd

Channel 4 - Unreported World: Guatemala - Riding with the Devil - "In Guatemala City, bus drivers are being murdered at a rate of one every other day as part of an extortion campaign by criminal gangs that is threatening to bring the city to its kness. Extortion is so lucrative for the gangs that they don't stop at the buscompbaies - practically any business in the city is a target , as this diquieting documentary reveals."

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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.

Off-air recordings for week 10-16 October 2009

Please email Rich Deakin <rdeakin@glos.ac.uk> or <fchmediaservices@glos.ac.uk> if you would like any of the following programmes / series recording.*

Monday 12th

Channel 4 - The Enemy Within - "
An extremist ideology is sweeping across Europe. Fundamentalist terrorist groups are operating in London. They want to end the British way of life and a minority are prepared to bomb and kill to get what they want.
But the year is 1892: Victorian England, where the government is fighting a war on terror against many of its own citizens.
Over 100 years later, Britain is home to another community which some claim is in deep conflict with its fundamental values.
The Enemy Within explores the discontent which fuelled radical sentiment in the 19th century and the anger that fuels it again today.
It tells the story of a largely forgotten period of English history - an Anarchist insurgency that took place in Victorian London - and examines the parallels that can be drawn with the modern-day war on terror.
A cast of non-professional actors, young British Muslims, speak the words of the 19th-century Anarchists involved with the terror campaign. Their performances are intercut with interviews in which they explain how they feel about being a Muslim in Britain today.
The programme uses surveillance-style camera techniques to evoke an atmosphere of tension and paranoia as it examines the feelings of oppression, persecution and anger that can lead to extremism."

Tuesday 13th

BBC2 - Horizon 1/6 -'Do I Drink Too Much?' - "Alcohol is by far the most widely used drug - and a dangerous one at that. So why are so many of us drinking over the recommended limits?
Why does alcohol have such a powerful grip on us? How much of our relationship with this drug is written in our genes? What are the real dangers of our children drinking too young?
Addiction expert John Marsden, who likes a drink, makes a professional and personal exploration of our relationship with alcohol. He undergoes physical and neurological examinations to determine its impact, and finds out why some people will find it much harder than others to resist alcohol. Even at the age of 14 there may be a way of determining which healthy children will turn into addicts.
John experiments with a designer drug being developed that hopes to replicate all the benefits of alcohol without the dangers. Could this drug replace alcohol in the future?"

More 4 - True Stories: Last of the Honey Bees - "Jeremy Simmons' moving film about the plight of honeybees throughout the world but this time from a very human angle.
Through the stories of three American beekeepers; Nicole Ulibarri from Montana, Eric Mills from Carolina and Matt Hutchens from Washington State, Simmons follows their efforts to make the epic journey with their hives to the biggest event on the beekeepers' calendar - the pollination of the almond groves of California.
But in common with many of the world's apiarists, the three are suffering from unexplained colony collapse disorder (CCD) which results in devastating consequences not just for the bees but for the beekeepers whose livelihoods are at stake.
The film hints at the global consequences of CCD continuing unchecked: the possibility that the crops, fruit and flowers that humanity rely will not be pollinated and will die out."

Friday 16th

Channel 4 - The Force - new 3 part series - "With unprecedented access to Hampshire Constabulary, this series follows the investigation of three major crimes, offering a rare and unique insight into the reality of modern policing." Part 1 - "
A woman's body, burned beyond all recognition, is discovered lying in a cornfield on an idyllic summer's day.
Two days into the case, Hampshire Constabulary know their victim has been strangled, her body carried in a suitcase to a field near a tiny Hampshire village, and then set alight; but not who she or who her killer is.
House-to-house inquiries unearth a witness who's seen a battered Vauxhall being driven slowly around the crime scene, the day before the killing. The offender profilers advise that whoever chose that lonely spot had done so because he knew the area, and a database search of car registrations throws up four names, one of them with a Hampshire bank account.
The chase is on, and as the case unfolds it presents an extraordinary snapshot of Britain in the 21st century - the passions and divisions hidden beneath the placid surface of middle England - and a unique insight into the fragility of modern policing."

Channel 4 - Unreported World: Liberia - Stolen Childhood - "The foreign affairs documentary series reveals how the west African country of Liberia is facing a child rape crisis. Six years after a brutal civil war in which rape was routinely used as a weapon, children are still at risk of being attacked. Reporter Jenny Kleeman and director Matt Haan meet victims at safe houses and children's hospitals to hear their harrowing stories. With little being done to bring rapists to justice, just how serious is the Liberian government about tackling child rape?"

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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.

Off-air recordings for week 3-10 October 2009

Please email Rich Deakin <rdeakin@glos.ac.uk> or <fchmediaservices@glos.ac.uk> if you would like any of the following programmes / series recording.*

Saturday 3rd

BBC2 - The Three Lives of Gandhi - 1/3 - "In the first of three programmes examining the life and legacy of Mahatma Gandhi, journalist and newsreader Mishal Husain journeys through Gandhi's early years in India to the end of his controversial career in South Africa. Along the way, she confronts accusations of racism and hypocrisy levelled against Gandhi in this period, and discovers how London played a vital role in the development of the Indian Messiah."

Sunday 4th

BBC1 - Emma - 1/4 - "Jane Austen's masterpiece Emma is to be adapted by award-winning writer Sandy Welch (Our Mutual Friend, Jane Eyre, North And South) into a fresh, humorous and perceptive 4 x 60-minute serial for BBC Drama Production, for transmission on BBC One in autumn 2009.
Austen's classic comic novel follows the story of the "handsome, clever and rich" Emma Woodhouse.
Dominating the small provincial world of Highbury, Emma believes she is a skilled matchmaker and repeatedly attempts to pair up her friends and acquaintances... "

ITV1 - South Bank Show - Alison Jackson on Warhol - "Award-winning artist Alison Jackson has made a film for The South Bank Show, looking in to our obsession with celebrity through the works of Andy Warhol. Alison explores how Andy Warhol understood the power of celebrity imagery better than anyone else before or since. He founded the original gossip magazine, Interview and introduced the concept of “15 minutes of fame”. But was Warhol celebrating celebrity or was there an underlying irony to his output? What would he make of today’s celebrity-driven society and the increasingly commercialised art world that has shifted from aesthetics to money? Alison considers Warhol’s major iconic pieces: Marilyn, Mao, Elvis, Mick, and talks about the importance of these beautiful works and how Warhol influences her own work. "

Monday 5th

BBC1 - Panorama: Migrants Go Home - "Reporter Paul Kenyon continues his journey out of Africa following the route taken by 40,000 migrants a year seeking a better life in Europe. He discovers the way to the UK blocked by a new hardline policy in France to round up economic migrants and send them home, and an unlikely partnership with Libya's Colonel Gaddafi, who has reached an agreement with Italy to capture Europe-bound migrants at sea and lock them up in desert prisons.
But what about those fleeing war and persecution, and relying on Europe to protect them? Can it really justify handing them over to a military dictatorship outside the rule of international law?"

BBC4 - The Life and Death of A Mobile Phone - "Through the life cycle of one mobile phone, this documentary investigates the million and one ways in which the mobile has made itself indispensable to modern life.
One in every two human beings has a mobile, and this inanimate lump of plastic and minerals is made privy to people's innermost secrets - conversations with friends, lovers and family. It holds family photos, plays favourite music and yet, as an instrument of communication, it has its paradoxes. People are dumped by text, some pretend to be deep in a telephone conversation to avoid speaking to real people and others are affronted when their bellowed conversations on public transport are overheard.
Then, at the end of a strangely intimate relationship, it becomes one of the one billion phones discarded every year - reconditioned for re-use or smelted down for the precious metals it contains."

Tuesday 6th

BBC2 - Blitz: The Bombing of Coventry - "On 14th November 1940, the Luftwaffe launched the most devastating bombing raid so far on Britain. The target was Coventry, deep in the heart of England.
In a 12 hour blitz the Luftwaffe dropped thousands of tons of bombs. Three-quarters of the city centre was devastated, including the ancient cathedral. The Nazis coined a phrase - 'to Coventrate' - to describe the intense destruction.
It was a baptism of fire for Coventry and Britain. For years the government feared that aerial bombardment could destroy civilian morale. In Coventry, those fears were tested, and in the immediate aftermath of the blitz the evidence was not encouraging. Panic and hysteria gripped the city, and half of Coventry's population fled. However, within weeks - and contrary to all expectations - the city revived. Factories were soon turning out aircraft parts which would be used to avenge the attack on Coventry.
The RAF studied the Nazi bombing techniques and perfected the art of 'Coventration'. In Dresden, Hamburg and Berlin the Nazis reaped the whirlwind they had sown in their devastating attack."

ITV1 - Black Market Britain - "A look at how the counterfeit racket has become an international, highly organised and extremely profitable operation. The programme-makers go undercover to discover that in Britain, gangs often employ everything from baseball bats to firearms to further their careers in this illegal business. "

More 4 - True Stories: The Glasshouse - " Hamid Rahmanian's film is a unique insight into Iran through the prism of a day centre for troubled women run by Marjaneh Halatin, a psychologist now based in London. Among those featured are Nazila, trying to find an escape through rap music (which is illegal for women in the country), and Sussan, who has fled her abusive drug-addicted brother.Most affecting is Samira, aged 14, who became a drug addict after being force-fed heroin by her equally addicted mother. As Rahmanian follows their stories, their shared spirit and mutual support shine through in this surprising and illuminating documentary."

Wednesday 7th

BBC4 - Iran and Britain - "Documentary in which writer and journalist Christopher de Bellaigue explores the fraught but often surprisingly intimate history of Britain's relations with Iran, and asks why Iranians think that if something goes wrong in Iran then Britain must have something to do with it.
De Bellaigue has lived in Tehran, speaks fluent Persian and knows well the phenomenon of 'Uncle Napoleonism', the notion that the cunning British are 'out to get you' that has been a common attitude in Iranian society for 100 years.
He looks at some key events in the relationship, notably Britain's role in the overthrow of several Iranian governments, its control of Iran's oil and the on-off support for Iran's democrats."

Thursday 8th

BBC2 - My Life in Verse: Robert Webb - "Robert Webb was 16 when he first heard The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock by TS Eliot. His English class were grappling with The Wasteland when a cheeky classmate described it as 'meaningless'. Robert's teacher responded by reaching for Prufrock, reading the class the entire poem and asking if that had enough meaning for them. Robert was blown away by Prufrock and that classroom encounter sparked a lifelong passion for the poem.... "

Friday 9th

Channel 4 - Unreported World - Peru: Blood and Oil - "
Unreported World travels deep into the Peruvian jungle to investigate how the government's auctioning off vast tracts of the Amazon rainforest to global corporations has led to violent clashes with thousands of indigenous tribal people.
Reporter Ramita Navai and director Alex Nott begin their journey travelling for three days up the river Corrientes into the homeland of the Achuar people, who've lived in one of the Amazon's remotest areas for thousands of years. They find the community of Jose Olaya almost deserted. Despite its remoteness, oil companies have been drilling in the area for years. The drilling has frightened away the animals and the men of the village have been forced to take work with the oil companies to feed their families. One villager claims that families have become sick after drinking water from the polluted river. A government study has shown that two thirds of all children tested had above safe levels of lead in their blood. The company involved denies the allegations, and says it's unaware of any credible data to support them.... "



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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.

Off-air recordings for week 26 September - 2 October 2009

Please email Rich Deakin <rdeakin@glos.ac.uk> or <fchmediaservices@glos.ac.uk> if you would like any of the following programmes / series recording.*


Saturday 26th September


BBC4 - Ian Rankin Investigates: Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde - "Crime writer Ian Rankin investigates The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Starting with Robert Louis Stevenson's nightmare in September 1885, Rankin traces the roots of this story, which stretches back to Stevenson's childhood. Grave-robbers, hallucinatory drugs and prostitution all play their part in the disturbing account of Henry Jekyll's double-life, as Rankin's journey takes him into the yeasty draughts and unlit closes of the city that inspired the tale - Edinburgh.


BBC4 - Conan Doyle for the Defence - "Rare archive film of Sherlock Holmes' creator, alongside testimony from modern-day experts, illustrates the author-cum-detective's role in two of the most controversial and illuminating cases of injustice he handled in real life. "


BBC4 - Murder Rooms: The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes - "Drama inspired by the real-life relationship between Arthur Conan Doyle and his tutor, pioneering forensic pathologist Dr Joseph Bell. The two embark on a grisly and disturbing case dealing in death, drugs and disease in the highest circles and lowest depths of Edinburgh."


BBC Radio 4 - Archive on 4: Self on Ballard - "
Will Self explores the imagination and work of writer JG Ballard, who he came to know in his final years. Will draws on the many telling interviews that Ballard gave throughout his working life and on Self's own tapes of his encounters with him.
From his life of suburban anonymity, Ballard charted the realms of innerspace and the madness of the modern world with a cool eye and visionary prose."


Monday 28th


ITV1 - Cops Vs Stalkers: Tonight - "Is enough being done to protect vulnerable women from stalking and harassment? Fiona Foster reveals results from a survey of over 2,000 victims of stalking, and gets exclusive access to a new police initiative set to be rolled out nationwide."

BBC4 - Designing the Decades - 1/4 1970s - "Designing the Decades, a new four part series for BBC TWO, revisits the nation's design heritage, from the 1960s to the 1990s, and takes a journey through forty years of iconic architecture, interiors, fashion and design.
From the Mini to the Dyson; the Post Office Tower to Waterloo's Eurostar terminal; Laura Ashley to IKEA and the waterbed to the Filofax, the programme charts the designs – both popular and classic – that encapsulated the spirit of each decade.
Designing the Decades remembers some of the best British and international designs which have achieved success on the British market, such as Robin Day's best-selling stacking chair, Mary Quant's mini-skirt, Barbara Hulanickii's Biba, Clive Sinclair's calculator, Richard Roger's Lloyds building, the Paul Smith suit, the Dyson vacuum cleaner and the IMAC.
The series also explores how design icons reflect the aspirations and ideals of each decade.
The series follows the career progression of and features interviews with some of Britain's most enduring designers including Norman Foster, Richard Rogers, Terence Conran, Robin Day, James Dyson and Paul Smith.
And consumers, historians, critics and fans share their personal recollections of the trends that changed the face of their homes and lives.

BBC4 - Upgrade Me - "Poet and gadget lover Simon Armitage explores people's obsession with upgrading to the latest technological gadgetry.
Upgrade culture drives millions to purchase the latest phones, flatscreen TVs, laptops and MP3 players. But is it design, functionality, fashion or friends that makes people covet the upgrade, and how far does the choice of gadgets define identity? Simon journeys across Britain and to South Korea in search of answers."

BBC4 - Watching the Dead - "Documentary which explores television's fascination with forensics, revisiting classic shows like Quincy and Marius Goring's The Expert and looking at the appeal of contemporary dramas such as Silent Witness, Waking The Dead and CSI.
The film examines how scientific advances like genetic fingerprinting have been reflected in the crime drama, finds out how pathology got so sexy, how accurate the science shown on screen actually is, and how TV cops solved crimes before DNA."

Yesterday - Their Finest Hour - "Series celebrating the unsung heroes of World War II. In an effort to meet Britain's huge demand for coal, the Bevin Boys were conscripted to work in the mines. "

Wednesday 30th

BBC1 - The Secret Life of Twins - 2 parts (concludes Thursday 1st) - "Investigating the weird and wonderful world of identical twins, the first in a special two-part series looks at what science can learn from the uncanny similarities between twins.
Two hundred and fifty pairs of twins gather at St Thomas' Hospital to celebrate their contribution to science, while identical twin doctors Chris and Xand Van Tulleken set out to discover if their shared genes mean they will forever be identical. Meet twins raised apart as they're finally reunited, twins who suffer identical illnesses at the same time, and find out how identical twins hold the key to understanding what makes us all who we are."

BBC4 - The British Way of Death - "A look at the evolution of how we deal with death, from the ostentatious mourning of Victorian times, via the rise of funeral homes, to today's individualistic and informal memorials."

BBC4 - Dan Cruickshank's Adventures In Architecture - Death - "Historian and writer Dan Cruickshank celebrates the creative force of architecture as he explores the world's greatest cities, buildings and monuments.
Dan travels the globe to explore how different cultures have created architecture inspired by our mortality. In the Czech Republic, he reveals the macabre tale of a chapel decorated with human bones. Even more shocking is the Yaxha Mayan pyramids in Guatemala, sites of brutal human sacrifice.
In Egypt, Dan explores how pharaohs ensured the passage of their spirit to the afterworld through elaborate mortuary temples. He visits Europe's greatest cemetery in Genoa, Staglieno, home to a spectacular collection of beautiful and erotic memorial statues. And finally, Dan comes face-to-face with death itself in Varanasi in India, a sacred Hindu town where people come to die."

Thursday 1st

BBC4 - The Victorian Way of Death - "Dan Cruickshank examines how Victorian society confronted death, uncovering body snatchers, overflowing inner-city graveyards, lavish cemeteries and a resistance to cremation."

Channel 4 - Captive for 18 Years: The Jaycee Lee Story - "In June 1991, Jaycee Lee Dugard was waiting at the bus stop on her way to school in South Lake Tahoe when a man and a woman pulled up in a grey Ford saloon, jumped out, bundled her into the car and drove off. The kidnap was witnessed by Jaycee Lee's stepfather, who chased in vain after the car.
Eighteen years later, on 24 August 2009, an investigation began that would lead to an astounding discovery: Jaycee Lee Dugard was alive and for the last 18 years had been held captive by a notorious sex offender.
Jaycee Lee had given birth to two daughters, fathered by the sex offender, Phillip Garrido. Jaycee Lee and her daughters had been kept in a maze of tents and sheds in the back garden of Garrido's home in Antioch, California.
Featuring interviews with some of those closest to the young Jaycee, including family members, classmates and her headmistress, Cutting Edge also meets the neighbours and business associates of her captor Philip Garrido, and the investigators involved in her case, to piece together one of the most incredible missing person stories of all time.
The programme includes an interview with Carl Probyn, Jaycee Lee's stepfather, who witnessed the kidnap. He was the prime suspect in the case for 18 years. His marriage to Jaycee Lee's mother broke up; his life, to all intents and purposes, was ruined.
He reveals his story from the day he saw his stepdaughter kidnapped: his anguished 911 call to the police, how the events of the day changed his life forever, and the joy and sadness that engulfed him when he heard she'd been found alive and well."

Friday 2nd

Channel 4 - Unreported World - Philippines: Holy Warrriors - "Unreported World uncovers a deepening sectarian conflict between Muslims and Christians on the southern Filipino island of Mindanao, which has claimed 100,000 lives."

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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.

Off-Air Recordings for week 19-25 September 2009

Please email Rich Deakin <rdeakin@glos.ac.uk> if you would like any of the following programmes / series recording.*

Saturday 19th

BBC1 - Montezuma - "Dan Snow travels to Mexico to investigate the history, character and legacy of Montezuma, the last great ruler of the Aztecs of central America.
He uncovers the extraordinary story of the Aztecs themselves, a cultured and civilised people whose lives were governed by eleborate ceremony and blood-curdling ritual.
Dan Snow also discovers how, in a titanic clash of cultures, their leader Montezuma faced up to a mortal threat from another world - the weaponry, gold-lust and greed of 16th century Spanish conquistadors."

BBC4 - The Great Ossian Hoax: McCall Smith Investigates - "Crime writer Alexander McCall Smith investigates one of the greatest literary frauds in history. When James Macpherson uncovered heroic Scottish poems dating back more than a thousand years, they caused a sensation. But they sparked a 20-year war with the literary giant Dr Johnson, and left Macpherson with a reputation as a calculating swindler. McCall Smith travels through the Highlands to uncover the true story of the poems of Ossian, and how they changed the course of European art forever."

More 4 - The Living Body - "The team behind the acclaimed Animals in the Womb, The Living Body combine Emmy Award-winning CGI, special effects photography and cutting-edge medical imagery to follow the development of one body, from the inside.
The programme concentrates primarily on the life of one female subject, from the moment of birth through the crisis of puberty and on to adulthood and old age.
Looking at how the body deals with accidents, infection, disease and infirmity, the film uses its unique point of view to look inside the extraordinary world of the human body, revealing a stunning new perspective on how our bodies function, grow and mature."

Monday 21st

Channel 4 - Dispatches: Cops on the Cheap? - "They're known as 'Blunkett's Bobbies' or 'Plastic Police'. There are 16,500 Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) walking the 'beat', costing the taxpayer hundreds of millions of pounds per year.
Critics have always attacked them for providing policing on the cheap and a political gimmick, but their supporters say they have been useful in curbing antisocial behaviour and visible reassurance to the public.
Filming with PCSOs at work on the streets of Lancashire, Dispatches investigates whether PCSOs have proven to be a policing success story or an expensive mistake."

Tuesday 22nd

ITV1 - To Catch A Paedophile - 1of 2 - "First of two programmes in which child protection expert Mark Williams-Thomas follows officers in the Metropolitan Police's Paedophile Unit. Detectives go into internet chat rooms posing as teenage girls and investigate the startling number of paedophiles trawling for images and sex. The programme reveals the disturbing exchanges and tricks that the men use to entice children to show nude pictures of themselves and meet up for sex."

More4 - True Stories: Pray The Devil Back To Hell - "
In 2003, the African nation of Liberia was in turmoil; its president Charles Taylor was involved in a vicious civil war with war lords who wanted to take his place. Caught in the middle were innocent civilians who bore the brunt of the violence.
One woman, Leymah Gbowee, had had enough and she and her fellow church members, soon to be joined by their female Muslim counterparts, began their protests.
Their plan was simple; every day they would gather in the central market of the capital of Monrovia wearing T-shirts and carrying placards simply asking for peace.
As their numbers swelled, Taylor reluctantly bowed to the pressure and peace talks were set up in Ghana. From their actions came Taylor's exile and the election in 2005 of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Africa's first woman head of state."

Thursday 24th

BBC2 - Inside Story Special: Chappaquiddick - "An investigation of the accident on Chappaquiddick Island, Massachusetts, in July 1969, when Senator Edward Kennedy's car plunged off a bridge and Kennedy's companion, Mary Jo Kopechne, drowned. The film was made in 1994, for the 25th anniversary of the event."

FIVE - Vice Squad - new 6-part series - "New series following the work of the Metropolitan Police Vice Unit. Officers risk life and limb as they go undercover in the heart of Soho to close down an illegal clip joint. Elsewhere, undercover policewomen aim to catch kerb crawlers who are prowling the streets for sex."

Friday 25th

Channel 4 - Unreported World - Ingushetia: Russia's Dirty War - "Unreported World uncovers the largely hidden but bloody conflict in the Russian Republic of Ingushetia. In a country to which few Western journalists have been able get access, Unreported World reveals allegations that hundreds of innocent civilians are disappearing and being tortured and murdered by the security forces in an increasingly violent campaign that threatens to turn into another Chechnya.
Shortly after reporter Evan Williams and director Clancy Chassay arrive in Nazran, the largest town in Ingushetia, they are taken to a house and met by a crowd of grieving women. One of them tells Williams that, just a few days earlier, 400 heavily-armed Russian soldiers had surrounded the house before dragging her outside. She claims the troops killed her son Musa and blew up his body with a grenade. In the cellar of the house, the team is shown blood and flesh on the bricks and signs of a blast. Musa's father tells Williams that his son, who was training to be an architect, had just got married and had a one-month-old baby."

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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.

Off-air recordings 5-18 September 2009

Please email Rich Deakin <rdeakin@glos.ac.uk> if you would like any of the following programmes / series recording.*

Wednesday 9th

BBC4 - Jonathan Meades - Off Kilter - 1 of 3 - "Jonathan Meades takes a quixotic tour of Scotland, a country which has intrigued him since he first encountered lists of towns only known from football coupons. Architecture critic Meades celebrates Aberdeen, the granite city full of 'brand new' 300 year old buildings."

Saturday 12th

BBC2 - The Last Nazis - 1 of 3 - "In the autumn of 1941, a young Austrian doctor called Aribert Heim was assigned to the Mauthausen Concentration Camp. In just six weeks, he murdered hundreds of inmates by carrying out horrific and needless experiments.
His 'procedures' included injecting poison directly into the hearts of his patients, often timing them to see how long it took them to die. He would amputate limbs without reason, and without anaesthetic, and would even keep mementos of his victims, using skin as a lamp shade, and a skull as a paperweight.
He evaded capture and has never answered for his crimes - but now 60 years on and with Heim well into his 90s, fresh evidence has emerged suggesting that he might still be alive.
This film follows Dr Efraim Zuroff in his international manhunt for one of the world's most wanted Nazi war criminals.
With Heim's horrific crimes soon to be consigned to history forever, this Nazi hunt will be the last of its kind and the clock is ticking for Zuroff to bring his target to justice. "

Monday 14th

BBC4 - Thatcher and the Scots - "Is Margaret Thatcher the mother of the Scottish Parliament? BBC World Affairs Correspondent Allan Little looks back at the tumultuous Thatcher years, and assesses the effect they had on Scotland.
The programme also examines the personal, human relationship between Margaret Thatcher and Scotland. Why did she become the subject of so much bile? And what does that say about the Scots and their attitudes?
With superb archive film and in-depth interviews with two of her Scottish Secretaries, her political opponents, leading historians and those who lived through and reported on the Thatcher years, the programme is the definitive account of the effect Thatcherism had on Scotland."

BBC4 - The Scots: Natural Born Sinners - "Denis Lawson narrates a lighthearted documentary about the effect of Calvinism on the Scottish psyche, in which a cast of well-known Scots ruminate on growing up under Calvin's shadow.
Artist Jack Vettriano relishes memories of his Methil childhood, while Kirsty Wark is thankful for her mother's no-nonsense Presbyterian influence. Footballer-turned-pundit Pat Nevin reflects with Dougie Donnelly on the inability of the Calvinist Scot to celebrate their achievements, and against the backdrop of his Highland constituency, MP Charles Kennedy reflects on how Calvin's culture of disapproval affected the Gaelic community.
Bill Drummond of the band KLF visits the Dumfries and Galloway of his childhood where his father was a Church of Scotland minister, novelist A L Kennedy talks of doom and damnation, and Andrew Marr praises the Calvinist legacy of education."

BBC4 - Dinner with Portillo: Why Should We Care about Scottish Independence? - "By his own admission, Michael Portillo finds it difficult to get worked up either way about Scottish independence. But is he, and the English, too complacent? Would England suffer a crisis of identity without Scotland and could Scotland cope on its own? Should Scottish demands for independence be taken seriously? These are some of the questions that Michael Portillo and guests chew over in this edition of Dinner With Portillo.
At the table are columnist and broadcaster Rod Liddle, Scottish historian Michael Fry, former First Minister of Scotland Henry McLeish, broadcaster and writer Hardeep Singh Kohli, Vernon Bogdanor, Professor of Government at the University of Oxford, Tom Clougherty, Executive Director of the Adam Smith Institute, and Timothy Garton Ash, Professor of European Studies at the University of Oxford."

BBC4 - Napoli: City of the Damned - Storyville - "When we think of devastated cities in WW2 Naples is often forgotten, but when it was liberated by the Allies it was on its last legs, with 200,000 homeless and no power, transport, food or running water.
The Allies quickly brought food to the starving population and medicine to the sick, but the introduction of many troops and lots of supplies led to the creation of a huge black market involving almost the entire population. One third of women became prostitutes as Naples became a kind of Sodom and Gomorrah, a city of vice, crime and chaos where everything that could be sold and stolen was sold and stolen.
Perplexingly, the Americans decided to introduce Italo-American criminals into positions of power in southern Italy, such as Vito Genovese, a gangster escaping a murder rap in New York. Genovese began setting up a crime empire in Naples - after Mussolini had effectively suppressed organised crime in Italy, the Allies brought it back.
When WW2 ended, alarmed and surprised by Soviet support for the Italian communist parties, the Allies responded with their own propaganda. Combined with the Marshall Plan, this became a massive covert effort by the Americans to swing the elections towards the parties of the right. The Catholic Church helped them, with priests telling congregations that they would go to hell if they didn't vote Christian Democrat.
After great political and ideological struggle in which the Cold War was waged by proxy for the first time, the 1948 elections were won by the Christian Democrats, a result that may not have been truly fair.
The CIA were pleased with the result and partially credited it to their own operations. They recommended that the US should continue with the covert manipulation of political outcomes in foreign countries."

Wednesday 16th

BBC4 - Talking Landscapes - The Weald - "Aubrey Manning sets out to uncover the history of Britain's ever-changing landscape. This edition focuses on the Weald, investigating why so much woodland has survived here when so much ancient forest has been felled elsewhere. A trip to the Mary Rose and Nelson's Victory reveals the full story of the Weald and its valuable timber."

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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.