Off-air recordings for week 1-7 August 2009

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

Saturday 1st

BBC4 - Happy Birthday OU- 40 Years of the Open University - "In 1969 change was in the air. Man stepped on the moon and Britain launched a revolutionary new kind of university - one where the lectures were televised and the students could study at home. It was greeted with scepticism, both by politicians and academics, but went on to become a much loved, and often spoofed, British institution.
The Open University (or OU) is now forty years old, and Lenny Henry tells its story and reveals how The OU changed his own life. Featuring contributions from Sir David Attenborough, Myleene Klass and Anna Ford."

Sunday 2nd

BBC2 - Man On Wire - "Documentary based on Philippe Petit's autobiographical book To Reach the Clouds: My High Wire Walk Between the Twin Towers.
In August 1974, French wire-walker Philippe Petit spent nearly an hour walking, dancing, kneeling and lying on a wire which he and his friends had strung in secret between the rooftops of New York's Twin Towers. Six years of intense planning, dreaming and physical training fell into place that morning.
Already an accomplished wire-walker, Petit had caught sight of an article about the planned construction of the Twin Towers while in a dentist's waiting room in 1968, and at that moment an obsession was born. He spent every waking moment since that day plotting the details of his walk (which he called 'le coup') and gathered a team of people around him to assist in the planning.
Petit's preparation was expert, thorough and top secret: he took precise measurements and even aerial photographs to help him construct models of the rigging; learned about the physical effects of the wind on the swaying of the buildings; even created fake ID cards and spied on office workers to plan how best to gain access to the towers without arousing suspicion. On that August morning, his dream was realised.
Using contemporary interviews, archival footage and dramatic reconstructions, the film tells the story of this extraordinary feat, and also of Petit's previous walks between the towers of Notre Dame in Paris, and of the Sydney Harbour Bridge."

Monday 3rd

BBC2 - The Trouble with Girls - Jailbirds 1/2 - "Britain's young women are committing nearly 40 per cent more crimes than six years ago, and they're beginning to catch up with boys in the violence and theft rates. Filmed over six months, this observational documentary tells the stories of two of the young women behind these statistics, whose lives are stuck in the criminal justice system.
20-year-old Shona from Doncaster and 17-year-old Abbie from York have both been arrested dozens of times and imprisoned three times each. We meet them as Shona is coming to the end of her probation period, and when Abbie is released from a Young Offenders' Institute and moves into a hostel. Both girls want to go straight and sort their lives out, but it's not as easy as either hope. Abbie's drinking and partying lifestyle means that within days of her release she's breaching her electronic tag order and missing appointments with her Youth Offending Team. Shona, briefly free of the criminal justice system, is soon shoplifting again with her best friend Jodie.
Over the months, it becomes clear that binge-drinking and drug-taking, trips to court, and packing for prison have become a normal way of life for Shona and Abbie. Both are given second chances to turn their lives around and seem happier for it, but good intentions quickly unravel and the prospect of prison looms large again for these girls.
While Shona and Abbie may seem tough on the surface, between them they struggle to cope with difficult relationships with their parents, self-esteem, homelessness and the reality of job-hunting with a criminal past. Sometimes they wonder whether life in prison is a preferable option to life on the outside."

More 4 - Kevin McCloud and the Big Town Plan - "An urban renewal initiative set on improving the town of Castleford, West Yorkshire, is the subject of a major new series beginning in August: Kevin McCloud and the Big Town Plan.
The last five years have seen a series of different projects across the town, including the design of a new town square, the creation of several new facilities for local children and the design and build of a major new footbridge.
What's unusual about the project is that it was founded by Channel 4 Television, local community and civic groups and Wakefield Metropolitan District Council. Thousands of local people were involved in setting the project's agenda, and the design and the delivery of individual schemes. Important new work was commissioned from national and international designers and artists. And the initiative has been credited with leveraging over £200m of additional new investment in to the town.
Because of the innovative way in which it was designed, its extensive involvement of local people and its success in creating a clear, unified platform for the economic development of the town, Kevin McCloud and the Big Town Plan has won extensive praise for its best practice in urban regeneration. The project has also attracted international interest and praise. Progress so far has been discussed and highlighted at events in China the United States, Russia and Europe."

Wednesday 5th

More 4 - Dispatches: The War Against Street Weapons - "Last year, as chair of Channel 4's Street Weapons Commission, Cherie Booth QC said that the use of guns and knives among young people had become so widespread that she feared for the safety of her own children. Since then, the police and government have taken steps to deal with the problem. But are they doing enough?
To answer that question, Cherie joins police patrols on Britain's toughest streets, talks to young offenders behind bars, and visits a pioneering scheme combating Glasgow's violent gang culture.
The Street Weapons Commission Report - published in 1998 - set out a series of practical recommendations about what could be done to tackle the problem of street weapons in the UK. But one year on, the problem hasn't gone away and Cherie feels passionately that more must be done."

Thursday 6th

ITV 1- Real Crime: The Tesco Bomber - "For six months the largest supermarket in the country and its customers were the targets of a letter bomb campaign, which prompted the biggest, most secretive investigation Dorset police had ever mounted as officers tried to catch the bomber trying to extort millions of pounds from Tesco. In this programme, the police officers who worked on the case explain the difficulties they faced in tracking down the bomber and the tactics used to prevent him in carrying out his threats. In September 2000, John Purnell, then Director of Security at Tesco, received a phone call from a Bournemouth newsagent who had discovered a photocopy of a threatening letter addressed to Tesco on the shop photocopier. Signed Sally, the letter demanded the company pay the author using Tesco loyalty cards he wanted the supermarket to give away in every copy of local paper the Daily Echo, which had a circulation of roughly 50,000, to avoid a letter bomb campaign.... "

Friday 7th

BBC 1 - Panorama: Smugglers' Tales - "With compelling first-hand accounts, Panorama reveals the endless game of cat and mouse between prisoners determined to get their fix and officers equally determined to keep drugs out of their jails.
For the first time, visitors are caught on camera passing drugs to their nearest and dearest with hands as fast as any magician.
With exclusive access to a Category A jail, reporter Raphael Rowe hears from inmates and officers as well as from smugglers, mules and even a corrupt prison officer, fresh out of jail himself after being caught taking in drugs in return for money."

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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 25-31 July 2009

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


Saturday 25th

Yesterday - The Last Tommy - "Tales of heroism from Britain's last surviving World War I veterans. The Battle of the Somme in 1916 is the biggest disaster of the war, with 20,000 killed in only eight hours."

BBC 4 - Harold Pinter Night - Arena: Harold Pinter - Part 1 - The Room and part 2- A Celebration; Krapp's Last Tape; Arena: One for the Road; The Birthday Party

BBC Radio 4 - Saturday Play: Dr Jeckyll and Mr Hyde - "When a London lawyer studies the last will of his old friend Dr Jekyll, his suspicions are aroused. Why has respectable Dr Jekyll left everything to sinister Edward Hyde?


BBC Radio 4 - Archive On 4: On Northern Men - "Kay Mellor explores the way that northern English masculinities have been portrayed in British film and television, reconciling issues of blatant sentimentality with the real-life social parallels that inform the canon of the past 50 years.
She examines fictional portrayals that have changed and diversified, yet stayed much the same in many ways. From the crucial age of the Angry Young Man, marked out in This Sporting Life, she considers the contrasts and similarities between the trapped northern masculine identities portrayed in Kes and Billy Elliot.
Kay discovers that the disintegration of traditional northern male stereotypes in fiction leads us also to more diverse explorations, for example, the weak men in Coronation Street, Last of the Summer Wine and Keeping Up Appearances, British-Asian northern masculinities in East is East, the dysfunctional and proud Frank Gallagher in Shameless, and interpretations of homosexual masculinities in Queer as Folk and Jimmy McGovern's The Street.
The programme traces the relationship between changing variables of social class, heroism, 'northernness' and fictional portrayals of masculinity in film and television, using supporting material from the radio archive, and remembers some of the humour and creativity that emerges from struggle and the portrayal of difficult lives."


Sunday 26th


Channel 4 - Revelations: Muslim and Looking for Love - "If you're young, single and Muslim, finding love is getting increasingly difficult.Qualifications, height, job prospects and even complexion are high on the list of demands. Then there's the question of nationality. Will your husband or wife come from Britain or from abroad?For professional women, educated Muslim men are in short supply. Muslim men tend to marry at a younger age, not good news when you're pushing 30.At the Birmingham Central Mosque, they think they have the answer. As well as ministering to its congregation, it also offers the services of one of the largest Muslim marriage bureaus.The Bureau has over a thousand people on its books and Mr Haq and Mr Razzaq are the voluntary matchmakers. Unlikely as it may seem, these two middle-aged men are at the vanguard of a Muslim marriage revolution. For them, the Bureau offers a third way, a space between the traditional arranged marriage and the Western dating scene."


BBC 1 - Rivers with Griff Rhys Jones - 1/5 - Scotland - "Actor and comedian Griff Rhys Jones sets out on an adventure to explore how rivers have influenced, nurtured and powered our lives throughout history. From the raging torrents of Scotland to the reflective flatlands of East Anglia, Griff barges, canoes, swims and sails his way along a hidden network which has been the lifeblood of Britain.
Griff starts his journey with the wild rivers of Scotland. He travels east, upstream from Kinlochleven, into one of the most remote areas of the country, then follows the fast and furious course of the water downstream to Perth. He milks fish for their eggs, goes canyoning, and canoes a fast-flowing river that fallen pine trees have turned into an obstacle course."


BBC 2 - Gonzo: The Life and Works of Dr Hunter S. Thompson - "The definitive film biography of a mythic American figure, a man that Tom Wolfe called 'our greatest comic writer', whose suicide led the Rolling Stone Magazine, where Thompson began his career, to devote an entire issue to the man that launched a brash, irreverent, fearless style of journalism - named 'gonzo' after an anarchic blues riff by James Booker.
Borrowing from Kris Kristofferson, Thompson was a 'walking contradiction, partly truth, mostly fiction'. While his pen dripped with venom for dishonest politicians, he surprised nervous visitors with the courtly manners and soft-spoken delivery of a Southern gentleman. By many, he is considered an iconic crusader for truth, justice and a fiercely idealistic American way. Like Jack Kerouac's On the Road, his book Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas has been a wanderlust myth for generation after generation of American youth. And for America's esteemed journalists - from Tom Wolfe, and Walter Isaacson to the NY Times' Frank Rich - he remains an iconic freelance who believed that writing could make a difference. The film focuses on Thompson's work, particularly his most provocative and productive period from 1965 to 1975.
Gonzo is directed by Alex Gibney, the Academy Award nominated director of Enron: the Smartest Guys in the Room and the director of the Academy Award-winning documentary Taxi to the Dark Side. While Gibney shaped the screen story, every narrated word in the film springs from the typewriters of Thompson himself, given life by Johnny Depp.
The film is distinguished by its unprecedented cooperation of Thompson's friends, family and estate. The filmmakers had access to hundreds of photographs and over 200 hours of audiotapes, home movies and documentary footage."


Monday 27th


Channel 4 - The Scandalous Adventures of Lord Byron - part 1 of 2 - "Byron's first adventure through Spain, Greece, Albania and Turkey was about escape. Disillusioned with London's decadence, he was restless for new sensations in foreign lands; these included indiscriminate and copious sex and immersion in Eastern cultures.
During the trip, Byron began to write Childe Harold, an autobiographical work based on his travels. On its publication, Byron became the toast of London Society and his rise to fame was complete.
However, influenced by the sexual tolerance he had experienced abroad, his outrageous behaviour didn't keep him in favour for long."


Tuesday 28th


BBC Radio 3 - Homer's Landscapes: The Poet and His World - 1 of 3 - "Adam Nicolson travels along the eastern Mediterranean, from the Ionian Sea to the western coast of Turkey to trace the origins of the poems at the root of modern European thought.
Visiting the island of Chios, where Homer might have come from, and then travelling on to Troy and Ithaca and sailing the Aegean, Adam reads The Iliad and The Odyssey, to explore their landscapes and world from which these important epic poems emerged."


BBC Radio 4 - The Long View - "Jonathan Freedland presents the series that looks for the past behind the present.
Jonathan examines the policing of demonstrations and asks what lessons can be learned in our own time from the 1855 Hyde Park disturbances. The newly established police force was criticised in Parliament and the press for using excessive force to control the crowd, goading the public and coralling the protestors into a confined space.
Jonathan and guests compare that controversy with the criticisms being levelled at the police force today in light of the G20 protests."


Wednesday 29th July


BBC 3 - Tony: Ive Lost My Family - "Most teenagers row with their parents. But what happens if you leave home while you're still at school? What's it like living alone while you're still a child?
At the tender age of sixteen, Tony left home and was forced to fend for himself.
He's managed to survive alone for the last two years... but only just!
Tony's now 18 and still very much a boy, but he's had it with being unemployed, useless, skint, lonely and too ashamed of his life to go and face his mum.
This film follows his journey as he becomes a grown-up, and tries to reconcile with his family.
As he begins to sort his life out, Tony makes some extraordinary discoveries that lead him in an entirely new direction. Maybe the family he's been looking for can be found somewhere else - and maybe there's a different way to go home?"


Thursday 30th


BBC1 - Double Jeopardy - "A ground-breaking investigation into a crime where an attacker left an elderly woman for dead, and where the suspect was acquitted at the Old Bailey, despite DNA evidence. Reporter Richard Bilton looks into the new double jeopardy rule and the evidence needed to bring the case back to trial.
In 2005 the 800-year-old double jeopardy rule was swept away in England. Until then anyone found not guilty, stayed not guilty. They could never be tried again for the same crime. This is no longer the case. If there's new evidence of guilt in a crime that's so serious it involves a life sentence, there can now be a retrial."


BBC 2 - Arena: The Hunt for Moby Dick - "Acclaimed writer and authority on whales Philip Hoare tackles man's complex relationship with the whale and brings it into startling new focus through one man and one book: Herman Melville's Moby-Dick. Hoare draws an eerie parallel between Captain Ahab's obsessive pursuit of the great white whale on the high seas and today's war on terror.
In precariously tiny boats, a hundred years ago, whaling men braved the biggest animals on earth with no more than hand-held harpoons. Their furious battles were grim and without mercy. The prize catch was the mighty sperm whale, the greatest predator the world has ever seen. Today, the whale is still witnessed with awe, no longer as a monster but as a magnificent, gentle giant.
In an epic journey which takes him from the bleak northern coast of England to the whaling ports of New Bedford and Nantucket, and finally to the islands of the Azores - where whales were still hunted with traditional harpoons up to the 1980s - Hoare enters a world haunted by a bloody and violent past.
He stands at the desk where Melville wrote his masterpiece and discovers the original skeleton of a Victorian whale in Yorkshire, which inspired Moby-Dick. He visits the last remaining whaleship, the Charles W. Morgan, to see what conditions on board were really like. And out in the mile-deep waters of the Atlantic, he has his own extraordinary encounter with the legendary sperm whale itself.
In Arena: The Hunt for Moby-Dick, Hoare takes us closer than ever before to the truth behind the story of The Whale and the fear and awe it inspires. What does Moby-Dick have to tell us about our modern world?"


BBC Radio 3 - Homer's Landscapes: The Iliad - 2/3 - "Adam Nicolson travels along the eastern Mediterranean, from the Ionian Sea to the western coast of Turkey to trace the origins of the poems at the root of modern European thought.
Adam travels to Homer's Troy, walking the plains and visiting the ruins of its citadel, finding that although Homer is thought to have been blind, it is possible to directly map Homer's great poem of war onto the coastline of the Aegean, the beach of the Greek camp, the Scamander River and the hewn stone walls of Troy."


Friday 31st

BBC Radio 3 - Homer's Landscapes: The Odyssey - 3/3 - "The Odyssey: Adam Nicolson traces the origins of the poems at the root of modern European thought, visiting the locations of Homer's Odyssey.


BBC Radio 3 - The Essay: Doctoring Philosophy - 4/4 - Utility - "Professor Jonathan Wolff looks back at the philosopher Bentham's utilitarian principles and asks how an over-stretched health service should prioritise when all needs cannot be met."

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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 18-24 July 2009

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

Here's one that slipped through the net last week;

Thursday 16 July and Thursday 23 July

BBC2 - The Death of Respect - 2-parts - "John Ware asks what has happened to British values and behaviour over the last 50 years. Britons lead Europe in everything from brand awareness and rates of obesity to public drunkenness, drug use, sexually transmitted infections and family breakdown. There is also less intervention in acts of public nuisance while mutual mistrust between adults and children is growing. How did Britain get to where it is today?"

Saturday 18 July

BBC2 - Versailles: Dream of a King - "The film recreates the life and loves of France's most famous king, Louis XIV. Dubbed the Sun King by his admiring court, Louis conquered half of Europe, conducted dozens of love affairs and dazzled his contemporaries with his lavish entertainments. But perhaps his greatest achievement - and certainly his longest lasting love - was the incredible palace he built at Versailles, one of the wonders of the world.
Filmed in the spectacular staterooms, bedrooms and gardens of Versailles itself, this beautifully photographed drama-documentary brings the reign of one of Europe's greatest and most flamboyant monarchs triumphantly to life, with the help of interviews with the world's leading experts on his reign."

Sunday 19 July

Channel 4 - Revelations: The Exhumer - "An observational documentary following the work of exhumation specialist, Peter Mitchell, whose profession has already seen him exhume 30,000 bodies - sometimes individuals, sometimes whole cemeteries - and rebury them in new graves. He was the man tasked with the exhumation of 15,000 bodies from the ground beneath St Pancras station to make way for the cross channel rail link, and he's moved countless other bodies at the request of relatives.Digging up the dead raises profound ethical and religious questions, and taps into our very sense of ourselves. Whether you are in favour or against it, it provokes strong emotions.With over 25 years experience in 'bereavement services', including cemetery management and cremation, Mitchell is well-established as one the UK's leading exhumation consultants. But you can't just go around digging people up - you need a good reason, and permission from the relevant authorities - often the Church of England.We follow Peter over several months as he supervises the controversial exhumation of a Christian cemetery in Egypt - where some of the bodies have been buried for as little as just a few months - and oversees a mass exhumation job at an old churchyard in Scotland."

BBC 4 - Ray Gosling Reports - Part 1 of 3 - Bankruptcy - "For 40 years, Ray Gosling enjoyed success as a TV and radio presenter. However, work began to dry up, his partner died and then he was made bankrupt. This film follows Gosling from the time an eviction notice was served."

More 4 -Cutting Edge: The Homecoming - "At the age of four, journalist Rachel Roberts was placed in a children's home in Doncaster. Now, more than 30 years later, with only an old photo and fading recollections of her time there, she's searching for the other children she shared the home with to find out what became of them. Although focusing on Rachel's individual search, The Homecoming casts a wider look at the care system in general - and the long-lasting effects it can have on those caught up in it."

Monday 20 July

BBC 4 - Ray Gosling Reports - 2 of 3 - The Pensions of Crisis - "Documentary following TV presenter Ray Gosling's continuing refusal to face facts and sort out his bankruptcy situation. He accepts that he has done everything wrong, but it has made him sympathetic to others in his plight. Company pension schemes are going bankrupt across the country, leaving employees nothing for their old age."

BBC 4 - Storyville: The Time of Their Lives - "Set in a north London residential home for the active elderly, this documentary paints a portrait of life at the Mary Feilding Guild and of three of its oldest residents. With a combined age of almost 300, Rose, Hetty and Alison continue to be powerfully engaged in their individual brands of activism - from journalism to anti-war demonstrations - whilst quietly negotiating the final years of their lives.
Rose, Hetty and Alison are fervently concerned about the state of the wider world and work energetically to make it a better place, but their private lives and loves are equally important. Through their intimate and surprising revelations, we learn the truth about how very old people experience life and how they deal with the intense challenges, and the indignities, that old age brings."

Tuesday 21 July

BBC 1 - The Truth About Crime - 3 parts - Part 1 - Violent Crime -"Why do we think crime is rising, when the official figures suggest it is coming down?
This three-part documentary series follows presenter Nick Ross on a journey to learn the truth behind the crime headlines.
The programme conducts a unique Crime Audit: Filming 24/7 for a fortnight with the emergency services in one city, Oxford, whose crime pattern is typical of Britain as a whole, the cameras reveal what crime in one city really looks like. Using official crime figures, the series creates crime maps to show patterns of crime - when and where it happens. But The Truth About Crime also carries out an online questionnaire of the population of Oxford and the largest ever survey of the city's school children, to uncover people's hidden experiences and feelings about crime.
In the first episode, Violent Crime, Nick reveals the extent to which alcohol fuels violent crime on the street and in the home, but how there is also a lot that can be done to combat it.
In each film of the series - episode two explores Theft and Burglary; and the final one, Anti Social Behaviour - Nick asks how likely we are to be a victim of crime. He follows the stories of individual victims filmed during the crime audit to see how they are treated by the police, prosecutors and the courts. Finally, he looks beyond the Criminal Justice System to see what can be done to stop crime happening in the first place."

BBC 4 - Ray Gosling Reports - part 3 - OAP - "TV presenter Ray Gosling talks about his life as a pensioner in Nottingham semi-sheltered housing, about an OAPs weekend in Bridlington and about teaching University of the Third Age, after selling his house due to bankruptcy."

Wednesday 22nd July

BBC4 - The Dead Sea Scrolls - "
Rageh Omaar tells the story of the Dead Sea Scrolls and uncovers the truth behind the myth. The biblical find of the age, they contain the earliest versions of the Hebrew bible, maps to hidden temple treasure, and insight into the mindset of John the Baptist, Jesus, and the early Christians. But the scrolls were soon embroiled in controversy, with allegations of conspiracy and cover-up, rumours that persist today thanks to The Da Vinci Code."

Thursday 23 July

Sky 3 - Inside: Supermax - "The Utah State Prison houses some of the most dangerous criminals in the United States, from serial rapists to murderers. Inside… Supermax follows prison guards as they carry out their duties in the face of grave danger from inmates at all times. This is a place where even bringing a prisoner his lunch can result in serious injury."

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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 11-17 July 2009

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

Saturday 11th

BBC2 - 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 himself 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.
Simon Schama and Slavoj Zizek are among the contributors."

Sunday 12th

Channel 4 - Revelations: Commando Chaplains - 3/8 - "The last place you might expect to find a chaplain is on the frontline with the Royal Marines, dodging bullets in Afghanistan. And yet chaplains have served in the British Armed forces since the Middle Ages.
Their job is a vital one: administering to the wounded, listening to the fearful, and offering spiritual guidance in the heart of war. As religion is dragged into conflicts, by the rhetoric of jihad and crusade, the military chaplain is increasingly coming under the spotlight.
Filmed earlier this year, this programme follows two Royal Marine chaplains, Nigel Beardsley and William Gates, as they travel around 'their parish' in Afghanistan, bringing faith to the frontline.
Unlike the other armed services, they go whereever their parishioners need them and that often means putting themselves in the line of fire with nothing but their faith to protect them.
It is a story not just of belief, but of heroism, human grit and the role of religion on the modern battlefield."

Tuesday 14

More 4 - Taking Liberties - "A revealing and entertaining look at the shocking number of government attacks on civil liberties since the New Labour government took power in 1997.
"We're not living in a police state," insists Tony Blair towards the end of the film. But as Taking Liberties all too clearly demonstrates, we're well on the way there... Riding in on a wave of optimism and real belief in their mantra that things can only get better, they proceeded to enact some of the most authoritarian legislation in recent history.
With fast-paced satirical style, this Bafta-nominated film shows how, in just over a decade, some rights and freedoms that took centuries to build up have been rolled back or cut away.
Erosion of civil libertiesThe entitlement to habeas corpus – no detention without trial – established when the barons took on King John in the 13th century has, in some circumstances, been abolished.
Millions of CCTV cameras up and down the country undermine our right to privacy.
A series of measures has made it more and more difficult to exercise freedom of speech and already led to the arrest of a large number of peaceful protestors.
Director Chris Atkins has assembled footage to demonstrate how oppressive these new powers can be."

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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 4-10 July 2009

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

Sunday 5th July

Channel 4 - Revelations: Muslim School - 2/8 - "Muslim School traces the lives of two girls from very different backgrounds in their first year at a Muslim faith school.
The Nottingham Islamia has opened its doors to cameras, giving a rare insight, through the eyes of two children, into what it means to have a Muslim education in Britain today.
Seven-year-old Zara is third generation Pakistani, and Aysha, 12, is a white girl from a mixed English/Pakistani family. Both have transferred from regular state schools to the Nottingham Islamia: one of some 130 Muslim faith schools in Britain.
Inside the school, boys and girls line up separately at the start of each day for a timetable of Arabic lessons, Islamic studies, prayers, and a basic national curriculum.
At lunch time, the school stage in the assembly hall doubles up as a mosque, where staff and students pray together.
Filmed over one year, the film captures Zara and Aysha's lives both at school and at home as they make choices about their identity and beliefs."

Monday 6th

BBC1 - Panorama - Whatever Happened To People Power? - "When we want to fight plans to build a waste dump in our back yard, we take to the streets in protest. But what if that results in the police filming and searching us, noting down our car registrations and keeping our details on file for up to seven years?
Panorama asks if police tactics aimed at preventing troublemakers taking over demonstrations are eroding the freedom to protest for all but the most hardened activists."

ITV1 - Real Crime: Hannah's Killer - Nowhere to Hide - "The five-and-a-half-year investigation into the rape and murder of Southampton teenager Hannah Foster in 2003. After fleeing the country, Maninder Pal Singh Kohli confessed to the crime live on Indian TV, and despite a retraction and efforts to stop himself facing justice in the British courts, in 2008 he became the first Indian national to be extradited back to the UK. Featuring interviews, archive footage and dramatic reconstruction."

Channel 4 - Inside Nature's Giants - The Whale 2/4 - "In this episode experts dissect a 65-foot, 60-ton fin whale - second only in size to its 'cousin' the blue whale - that has died after being stranded off the coast of Ireland. It's a race against time as whale anatomist Joy Reidenberg flies in from New York before the animal's decomposition causes it to explode on the beach. Veterinary scientist Mark Evans helps investigate why the animal died and explores its extraordinary anatomy. Using whale-size machinery, Joy and the team set to work amidst gale force winds, driving rain, blood, intestines, evil smells and freezing conditions. Meanwhile, advancing tides threaten to engulf the whale, as the team struggles to complete the operation. Beneath the blubber, the whale's unique anatomy holds vital clues to its evolution. Using a combination of dissection and computer graphics, the programme discovers an animal whose closest living relative is the hippo. Meanwhile, evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins explains why the whale's ancestors may have taken to the water and the evolutionary problems that had to be overcome to transform a land-based mammal into an animal that swims among fish.

Tuesday 7th July

More 4 - True Stories: Maximum Jail - " In 1997, Jonathan Stack spent a year inside Angola Prison, Louisiana's maximum security prison, where he captured the lives of six men who, because of their sentences, are likely to die in prison.Over the years, Stack has remained in touch with them and the warden, Burl Cain, and this film reconnects with some of the characters, to witness the impact of the passing years on their spirits, body, and hopes. Do family members still visit, have they become hardened as the years roll by and have their memories of life outside faded? This revealing, moving film answers these questions."

Wednesday 8th

BBC4 - The Grandparent Diaries - Ian Batten 1/3 - "Documentary series about grandparents in Britain today introduces Londoner Ian Batten - fashion designer, father of four and grandfather of seven.
Ian takes all seven of his grandchildren, ranging from toddlers to teenagers, for a weekend by the sea for the first time. As a 1960s dad who brought his own children up in the liberal spirit of the time, his approach seems to be a hit with the children. Bedtimes are relaxed and the kids happily chip in, but do his own children recall their upbringings as similarly idyllic, and how has the free, liberal approach influenced their own views on parenting?
Through interviews spanning three generations, the family's archive footage and observation, the film looks at how the philosophies of the 1960s influence Ian as a grandfather whilst celebrating the enduring traditions of grandparenting through the 20th century."

Friday 10th

More 4 - Us Now - "Us Now is an optimistic documentary about how harnessing the power of the Internet for mass collaboration can potentially change society and power distribution. It examines forms of behaviour where people organise themselves - by voting how to distribute money within a local community, picking the players’ positions in a real football team, or lending money to particular people at low interest rates. The most commonly known example, and the one the film introduces us to the concepts through, is couchsurfing.com. Rather than a small company, with only seven employees, it’s actually a huge, self-policing organisation, which facilitates 1,500 people meeting and sleeping at each others’ houses, every night. This is a potent example to demonstrate the notion of trust as a way to protect yourself instead of hiding behind rules of entry, seeing as you literally let people into your living room... "

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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 27 June - 3 July 2009

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

Sunday 28 June

Channel 4 - Revelations: How To Find God - new 8-part series - "A brand new strand of eight films explores the impact religion has on the lives of believers and non-believers in Britain today..." "[In Episode 1] Author and filmmaker Jon Ronson asks, how do agnostics come to Christianity? Increasingly, it's through Alpha, a course devised many years ago in a well-heeled church in London's Knightsbridge, but which now operates in tens of thousands of churches of all denominations, in universities, prisons and military bases across the world.
Over 11 million people worldwide have now attended an Alpha course. But what happens on it? And do agnostics really become Christians in such a short space of time?
Afforded complete access to one Alpha course, at St Aldate's Church in Oxford, Jon documents the whole process over its eight weeks. "

Monday 29 June

Channel 4- Inside Nature's Giants - "Mark Evans presents a science series uncovering the anatomical secrets of some of the animal kingdom's most extraordinary species. Evolutionary biologist Professor Richard Dawkins traces the animals' places on the tree of life. Evolution has given elephants vast intestines as well as huge teeth and jaw muscles. The trunk is a wonder of evolution, capable of everything from picking up berries to ripping a tree from the ground."

ITV1 - Real Crime: Sally Ann Bowman - "Sally Anne Bowman was a beautiful teenage model with the world at her feet. She was brutally stabbed to death and raped just yards from her front door in a quiet suburban street. Her murder sent out shock waves across the UK but even with the huge amount of media coverage police still struggled to catch her killer. The early evidence pointed to one suspect – but he was the wrong man. Police had the DNA left by the doorstep killer, but without his name, could they catch him before he struck again? In this programme the police leading the investigation reveal the problems they faced. They tell how a chance incident led to the killer’s capture following months of frustration and Real Crime features actual CCTV footage of the killer’s arrest. Sally Anne’s parents speak openly about their shock and pain as well as paying tribute to their daughter. Plus, a former flatmate of the killer provides a fascinating account of how he experienced, first hand, his violent nature."

Tuesday 30 July

BBC2 - The Conspiracy Files - "Nearly four years after the 7/7 bombing, England's worst terrorist atrocity, The Conspiracy Files investigates the conspiracy theories flourishing on the internet.
There have been three official reports into the bombings on 7th July 2005, which claimed the lives of 56 people and injured 784 others.
The programme sees how conspiracy theories suggest four British Muslims were framed by the government, play on the fears of the Muslim community and spread a highly divisive and damaging message.
The Conspiracy Files: 7/7 examines the evidence in an attempt to separate fact from fiction.

Yesterday - Tales from the Green Valley - "For a year five experts ditched theory for practice, running a Welsh farm using 17th Century methods. What lessons for modern living did they learn?
The BBC series Tales from the Green Valley follows historians and archaeologists as they recreate farm life from the age of the Stuarts. They wear the clothes, eat the food and use the tools, skills and technology of the 1620s.
It was a time when daily life was a hard grind, intimately connected with the physical environment where routines were dictated by the weather and the seasons. A far cry from today's experience of the countryside, which for many involves a bracing walk ahead of a pub lunch.
While few would choose to live a 17th Century lifestyle, the participants found they picked up some valuable tips for modern life."

Wednesday 1 July

Five - The Da Vinci Shroud - Revealed - "Historical documentary series. For centuries, the Turin shroud was believed to be the cloth that was placed on the body of Christ, until carbon-dating exposed it as a medieval fake in 1988. However, scientists continue to explore how the image of a man was scorched onto the fabric. Some researchers believe that master artist Leonardo Da Vinci created the image using remarkable photographic techniques."

BBC4 - Summits - Munich 1938 - "David Reynolds, Professor of International History at Cambridge University, uncovers the fascinating behind-the-scenes story of three ground-breaking summit meetings that have shaped the modern world. Here, he examines Neville Chamberlain's hubristic misreading of Hitler at Munich in 1938. Chamberlain has gone down in history as a naive old buffer with his policy of 'appeasement', but Reynolds retraces the testy battle of wills in which it was the dictator who lost his nerve at the last moment."

Thursday 2 July

Channel 4 - Dispatches: Terror in Mumbai - "Dispatches presents a 360 degree view of last year's terrorist attacks in Mumbai with exclusive new footage, evidence and interviews. Produced and directed by award-winning filmmaker Dan Reed, Terror in Mumbai tells the story of what happened when 10 gunmen held one of the world's busiest cities hostage; killing and wounding hundreds of people while holding India's crack security forces at bay.
Featuring footage of the attacks and interviews with senior police officers and hostages, including the testimony from Kasab - the sole surviving gunman, Dispatches reveals what happened, hour by hour, from the perspective of the security forces, the terrorists, their masterminds and the victims."

Five - Megastructures - Vegas Demolition - "Gripping documentary series that explores huge engineering projects from all over the world. This instalment sees a family of demolition experts attempt to bring down an old casino hotel in the centre of Las Vegas."

BBC4 - Hidden Histories - 3/5 - "A series looking at the work of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales celebrating its centenary year. Huw Edwards and the history detectives find out why a Welsh master carpenter carved his tools into the wood of a Tudor house and why the Romans built a theatre for their troops in the Welsh hills. They also discover an outstanding example of Welsh chapel architecture."

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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 20-26 June 2009

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

Saturday 20 June

BBC2 - China's Capitalist Revolution - "When Chairman Mao died in 1976, he left China in chaos and poverty. He was succeeded by Deng Xiaoping, who overturned Maoism and taught the Chinese to love capitalism, creating special investment zones for the West. But Deng's crash course in capitalism went wrong when inflation grew and workers lost jobs.
By 1989, China faced disaster. Now, 20 years after the tragic events in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, this programme reveals an interpretation of the motives of the demonstrators that may well overturn the conventional view in the West.
The demonstrators did not begin by demanding democracy. Corruption, inflation and the hardship caused by economic reforms drove students and workers to confront the government and the army. Students went on hunger strike, and troops killed more than 2,000.
Deng Xiaoping gave the order to fire, but his ideas prevailed. This film argues that Deng's capitalist revolution created today's China."

More 4 - Strike Night: Strike: When Britain Went to War - "Feature-length documentary looking at the huge political and social changes in Britain sparked by the closing of 20 coalmines in 1984. It was an era-defining moment in which the ultimate left wing of the country led by Arthur Scargill took on the polar opposite Thatcherite Tory Party. With archive footage and many key players from both sides including politicians, pop stars, police and of course the miners and their families.”

More 4 - Strike Night: Which Side Are You On? - "Ken Loach introduces his affectionate look at the songs and poems inspired by the miners' strike in 1984. Those featured include singer Dick Gaughan, comedian Mike Elliott, redundant miner Mog Williams and Kay Sutcliffe, the wife of a striking miner. Originally commissioned by the South Bank Show, the documentary - which was shot during the industrial action - was not aired because of its 'controversial' views."

More 4 - Strike Night: The Battle of Orgreave - "A partial re-enactment of the clash between striking miners and police in the Yorkshire village of Orgreave in 1984, directed by Mike Figgis and conceived by Turner Prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller. As well as reliving one of the most violent stand-offs of the 1984-85 miners' strike, the film hears from former MP Tony Benn and those who experienced the confrontation first-hand."

Sunday 21 June

Sky3 - Wives - 2/5 'BNP Wives' - "BNP Wives: An intriguing, and at times shocking, documentary about the women who have married into and work for the British National Party. Strong language, controversial opinions."

Monday 22 June

ITV1 - Real Crime: Rachel Nickell: Case Closed - "In 1992, young mum Rachel Nickell was murdered on Wimbledon Common in a crime that shocked the nation. Rachel was killed in broad daylight in front of her two year old son, the only witness to what would become one of the country’s most notorious murders.
This is the story of how it took 16 years to convict her killer, after an innocent man wrongly suspected of the crime was persecuted. It took a revolution in DNA technology for the police eventually to bring her real killer, Robert Napper, to justice.
Speaking for the first time since Napper was sentenced, Rachel’s partner Andre Hanscombe reveals how he has dedicated the last 17 years to rebuilding his and his son’s lives and how the toddler who witnessed the violent murder of his mother has grown into a young man.
The documentary features interviews with the police officers who reveal their recollections of the lengthy process to bring Rachel’s killer to justice, and presenter Mark Austin speaks to the criminal profiler involved in the controversy about the Nickell team's focus on the wrong man. "

Channel 4 - Dispatches: Rape In The City - "In the wake of two recent, high-profile cases in which young women were brutally attacked and raped by groups of young men, journalist Sorious Samura investigates gang rape in the UK. Using data collected from various sources, including the crown courts, barristers and rape referral centres, Dispatches attempts to discover the extent and cause of the problem. Four young victims describe their traumatic experiences, while Samura also talks to groups of teenagers about their attitudes to sex and relationships. He is appalled to hear what the boys consider to be acceptable sexual activity and the fears expressed by the girls. While knife crimes and street weapons dominate the agenda on violent crime, Dispatches hears from youth workers, police officers and academics who believe this devastating type of attack requires more attention."

Tuesday 23 June

Five - Road Wars - "Officers raid a huge cannabis plantation with over 650 plants, enough to harvest £25,000 of weed a week, while elite cops hunt down two burglars on the run in Ascot. Strong language."

More4 - True Stories: Another Perfect World - "This diverting doc begins with the primary coloured success stories of virtual reality: how computer-generated cyber-worlds have boosted the economy in China. sparked huge fan clubs in Korea and given US entrpreneurs very healthy bank balances, thank you. But then it all explores the downside: the crimes it attracts, from fraud to terrorism. By its very nature, the virtual relam is an ethical shadowland, and one populated by avatars of impossible physique..."

Wednesday 24 June

Five - Jack the Ripper: Tabloid Killer - Revealed - "New run of the investigative documentary series. This edition takes a fresh look at one of the most famous serial killers in history. Former tabloid editor Kelvin MacKenzie examines the role that the press had in making Jack the Ripper a media sensation - and finds out just how far the newspapers went to ensure the Ripper remained headline news."

Thursday 25 June

ITV1 - The Terrorist Hunter: Tonight - "Should there be a public inquiry into the 7/7 attacks on London? The most senior police officer formerly in charge of the fight against terrorism, Andy Hayman, exclusively reveals to Sir Trevor McDonald his views on the bombings, the political response and the future of terrorism in the UK."

BBC4 - Hidden Histories - episode 2 - "Series looking at how the Royal Commission investigates and records Welsh history. The challenges for Huw Edwards and the history detectives include using flash photography to decipher the writing on a ninth century stone pillar, recreating what an iron age fort would have looked like and uncovering an eighteenth century copper works before it disappears beneath a housing development."

Sky 3 - Criminal Underworld Histories - "In the 1950s, mob bosses decided that Montreal was the perfect springboard for the drugs trade. But the heat brought by the gangs of dealers forced the mob to get out of town."

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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.