I wasn't expecting too much from this programme, I thought it was going to be "Big brother in armour". It turned out to be quite good, looked a touch dangerous though !

quote:

Originally posted by Tetricus:

quote:

Originally posted by Valerie:

Monday Bridgnorth Castle.
Tuesday Palace field, Lindisfarne.
Wednesday Basildon, Essex.
Thursday Alveston caves near Bristol.
Friday Salisbury Plain.

Wednesday Basildon, Essex.... I think not !

In my defence - I only typed up what appeared in the Radio Times

From Radio Times 26th February - 4th March 2005


SATURDAY 26th
BBC 2 6.35
Around the World in 80 Treasures. (Second chance to see this programme, first shown last Monday).
First in a new series of ten programmes.
Peru to Brazil. A trip deep into the Amazonian rain forests of Brazil to the peaks of the Peruvian mountains marks the beginning of Dan Cruickshank’s journey to over 40 countries in search of of man’s most beautiful and precious achievements. Here, he visits the ruins of Machu Picchu and Rio’s giant statue of Christ, plus the gold treasures of the Moche people, who ritually sacrificed humans.

SUNDAY 27th
BBC 2 67.15pm
Time Commanders.
Seventh in a series of eight programmes.
Contestants eager to recreate the battles of history’s greatest generals line up in a second series. A tem of mental health workers from Wales lead the Norman army against King Harold at the Battle of Hastings in 1066.

BBC 2 8.00
Ray Mears’s Bushcraft. (Repeat)
Aboriginal Britain. The survival expert reveals how hunter-gatherers lived in Stone Age Britain.

Channel 4 5.00pm
TIME TEAM *******************************
Ninth in a series of 13 programmes.
Lost Centuries of St Osyth. The Team visit Essex to examine timbers exposed in St Osyth Creek. Possibly the remains of a wharf that served the town in the 15th century, the find may also provide clues to a 12th century settlement that was linked to a famous priory.

MONDAY 28th
BBC 2 9.00pm
Around the World in 80 Treasures.
Second in a series of ten programmes.
Mexico to America. Ancient Mayan tombs, the Statue of Liberty, Thomas Jefferson’s elegant home in Virginia and the town of Mesa Verde in Colorado - just some of the landmarks Dan Cruickshank explores as he continues his search for man’s most beautiful achievements. On a darker note he appraises the ruthlessly efficient 1851 Navy Colt handgun.

TUESDAY 1st
BBC 2 7.30pm
Nation on Film.
Second in a series of six programmes.
At the Chalkface. Britain’s social history captured on celluloid over the past 100 years. They’re the happiest days of our lives we’re told. Here schooldays are remembered on film. Some 60 years ago, secondary modern schools were created to give each child the right education for their age and ability. So why, 20 years later, were teachers calling for their closure?

Five 8.00pm
Search For the last Fighter Bombers.
In 1942, A squadron of American WWII aircraft crash-landed onto the Greenland icecap. Although the crews were rescued, their planes were lost and buried under the ice. Some 40 years later, a pair of adventurous businessmen became explorers, as, in 1981, they began an ambitious quest to locate and retrieve the ghostly planes.

WEDNESDAY 2nd
BBC 2 7.00pm
Theft of the Crown Jewels - Days That Shook The World.
Its May 1671: after a lifetime of failed abductions and petty crimes, “Colonel” Thomas Blood instigates his most audacious plan yet - an attempt to steal the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London.

BBC 2 8.00pm
What the Ancients Did For Us.
Third in a series of nine programmes.
The Aztec, Maya and Inca. An enthralling examination of inventions dating from ancient times, conducted by a team of reporters and put to the test by Adam Hart-Davis. From the heart of Mexico City to the lost citadels of Macchu Piccu, Hermione Cockburn tells the story behind the golden age of these inventive peoples. Plus AH-D demonstrates the lasting effect the New World of Central America has had on the technology we use today, from suspension bridges to scalpels.

THURSDAY 3rd
BBC 2 9.00pm
Horizon.
The Lost Civilisation of Peru. The Moche built huge pyramids and produced some of the most exquisite jewellery during their rule of the northern coast of Peru 2,000 years ago. Yet, until recently, despite other great achievements, very little was known of this extraordinary civilisation that simply “vanished”. Over the last three decades, scientists and archaeologists have returned to Peru to attempt to piece together the Moche’s history - only now can they reveal a torrid story concerning natural disasters and human sacrifice.

Five 7.15pm
Riddle of the Chinese Miracle Mummy.
Deep in the heart of China in 1972, archaeologists unearthed the remains of a woman over 2,000 years old. The discovery rocked the scientific world, as it was the best preserved ancient body ever found. As scientists unravelled the mystery of how her body remained intact, details about the cause of her death emerged that made medical history.

FRIDAY 4th
BBC 2 9.00pm
Murder in Rome - Timewatch.
First in a new series of five programmes.
Rome 81BC: Sextus Roscius is accused of patricide. If found guilty, he faces a brutal execution. Defending him is a young lawyer - Cicero. Using the actual trial record, this drama reconstructs one of the most celebrated murder trials in history.



And for Tony Fans:-

Wednesday 2nd
BBC 2 10.00pm
Blackadder II.
Lord Blackadder feels an attraction for his manservant Bob and seeks help from the wise woman in a repeat run of the Elizabethan comedy.



Time Team on Discovery.

A Time Team programme is scheduled for 8.00am on Saturday 27th.

Monday An Oxfordshire house that has played host to royalty.
Tuesday Blaenavon.
Wednesday A 2,000 year old Cotswold family.
Thursday A secluded valley in Wales.
Friday The remains of a Norman castle.

Immediately after Friday’s TT there is a showing of Extreme Archaeology’s programme examining a mysterious group of stones and walls at Burgi Geos, Shetland.

And don’t forget UKTV History, which has a range of history and archaeology programmes for those with access to digital, satellite or cable channels.

Did anyone see Ray Mear's Bushcraft programme the other night (it was a repeat) ? He applied his bushcraft techniques to the way 'Stone Age' man lived, based very much on archaeology. For me it was a great way of bringing that world to life.

From Radio Times 5th - 11th March 2005


SATURDAY 5th
BBC 2 6.35
Around the World in 80 Treasures. (Second chance to see this programme, first shown last Monday).
Second in a series of ten programmes.
Mexico to America. Ancient Mayan tombs, the Statue of Liberty, Thomas Jefferson’s elegant home in Virginia and the town of Mesa Verde in Colorado - just some of the landmarks Dan Cruickshank explores as he continues his search for man’s most beautiful achievements. On a darker note he appraises the ruthlessly efficient 1851 Navy Colt handgun.

Channel 4 7.15pm
The Last Dragon
Docudrama following a fictional palaeontologist’s investigation into the discovery of a bizarre beast frozen in an ice cave. Will the scientist, who harbours a belief in the past existence of dragons, finally find proof to support his opinion? Interwoven with developments in the cavern are a series of documentary-style segments purporting to show the history of the dragon. Ian Holm narrates as computer graphics bring the hunting, fighting and mating habits of these legendary creatures to life.

SUNDAY 6th
BBC 2 8.00
Ray Mears’s Bushcraft. (Repeat)
Jungle Camp. Three of the Yekuana people join Ray outside a remote Amazon village. From building a shelter out of bark to treating illness with plants, they instruct him in the skills necessary for survival..

Channel 4 5.00pm
TIME TEAM *******************************
Tenth in a series of 13 programmes.
The Team head to South Perrott in Dorset inspired by the discovery of Roman brooches and coins, but the dig reveals contents linked to a very different period. Was it once a Stone Age burial site?

MONDAY 7th
BBC 2 9.00pm
Around the World in 80 Treasures.
Third in a series of ten programmes.
Australia to Cambodia. Dan Cruickshank‘s enlightening travelogue explores erotic cave paintings in Australia, the grisly rituals of an Indonesian funeral, an ornate Thai heirloom and Cambodia‘s majestic Angkor temples.

BBC 2 11.20pm
Mary Seacole - a Hidden History.
A biography of the Jamaican-born nurse who saved thousands of soldiers’ lives in the Crimea.

TUESDAY 8th
BBC 2 7.30pm
Nation on Film.
Fourth in a series of six programmes.
Private Passions. Britain’s social history captured on celluloid over the past 100 years. In the years between the Great Depression and WWII, film-making became a popular hobby among the middle-classes, with amateur film-makers documenting their varied interests, from technological innovations to family life.

BBC 2 8.30pm
Fred Dibnah’s Made in Britain.
First in a new series of twelve programmes.
The Passion of a Lifetime. In the last series he made before his death last November, the Bolton steeplejack attempts to fulfil a lifelong ambition - a tour of the UK on the 1912 steam traction engine he’s spent 27 years restoring. He’ll be seeking out the bygone skills used to build the engine, but first he has to ensure that the vehicle is roadworthy.

Five 7.15pm
Tim Marlow on … Caravaggio: the Final Years.
The art historian explores the National Gallery’s new exhibition of darkly sensual and starkly realist paintings, created during the last four turbulent years of the radical 16th-century Italian artist - who was on the run during that period, having killed a man.

Five 8.00pm
The Great Escape: Revealed
A team of archaeologists and war veterans pay a visit to the remains of the German POW camp Stalag Luft 3 to search for traces of the tunnels that inspired the film “The Great Escape”.

WEDNESDAY 9th
BBC 2 8.00pm
What the Ancients Did For Us.
Fourth in a series of nine programmes.
The Romans. An enthralling examination of inventions dating from ancient times, conducted by a team of reporters and put to the test by Adam Hart-Davis. On location in Rome, Amani Zain tells the stories behind the Colosseum , the Pantheon and the Circus Maximus, built during the golden age of the Roman Empire. Meanwhile A H-D reveals the legacy of Roman technology, from bath houses to ballistas, the military to marble-cutting.

FRIDAY 4th
BBC 1 Comic Relief Night.
Scheduled in the 8.00-830pm slot is:-
Rowan Atkinson, Rachel Stevens, Jim Broadbent, Simon Pegg, MacKenzie Crook and TONY ROBINSON star in the blockbuster “Spider-Plant Man”.



And for Tony Fans:-

Wednesday 9th
BBC 2 10.00pm
Blackadder II.
Edmund finds himself in a spot of bother after being appointed Lord High Executioner; in a repeat run of the Elizabethan comedy.



Time Team on Discovery.

A Time Team programme is scheduled for 8.00am and 4.00pm on Saturday 5th.

Monday Roman pottery at an A-S burial ground.
Tuesday Dinosaur hunting in Montana.
Wednesday The first Liberty factory.
Thursday Romans in Bath.
Friday Athelney, King Alfred‘s base.


And don’t forget UKTV History, which has a range of history and archaeology programmes for those with access to digital, satellite or cable channels.

Possibly not showing in all regions but Peter Ackroyd's three part series on London starts a re-run at 19:00 on BBC 2, Monday.

Not showing north of the border Fil - we get something about 3 generations of Pakistani women and an old Gaelic islander telling the story of the 1955 journey of a young girl to Lewis in the Outer Hebrides

Possibly due to criticism of the schedules already being too "London centric", and who south of the border is going to interested in life in the Outer Hebridies c1955?

Not many of us north of the Border are all that interested either

From Radio Times 12th - 18th March 2005


SATURDAY 12th
BBC 2 7.05
Around the World in 80 Treasures. (Second chance to see this programme, first shown last Monday).
Third in a series of ten programmes.
Australia to Cambodia. Dan Cruickshank‘s enlightening travelogue explores erotic cave paintings in Australia, the grisly rituals of an Indonesian funeral, an ornate Thai heirloom and Cambodia‘s majestic Angkor temples.

Channel 4 8.15pm
The Queen’s Lost Uncle.
Prince George, Duke of Kent, had many affairs with men and women, was a drug addict and was killed in a mysterious air crash in 1942 at the age of just 39. This film focuses on the numerous scandals that surrounded him and reveals the secret mission that occupied him at the time of his premature death.

SUNDAY 13th
BBC 2 6.15pm
Time Commanders.
Last in a series of eight programmes.
Contestants eager to recreate the battles of history’s greatest generals line up in a second series. Its 106 AD, and the Roman Emperor Trajan gas the Dacian citadel of Sarmizegethusa in his sights. Will his generals - played here by a team of climbers from Suffolk - prevail?

Channel 4 5.00pm
TIME TEAM *******************************
Eleventh in a series of 13 programmes.
A Time Team fan invites the archaeologists to Skipsea, East Yorkshire, to examine a field in which she has found impressive mediaeval pots. A geophysics plot reveals incredible results that may link the area with a whole Norman village lost to the records.

MONDAY 14th
BBC 2 9.00pm
Around the World in 80 Treasures.
Fourth in a series of ten programmes.
Japan to China. From swords of the Samurai to the tranquillity of a temple, Dan Cruickshank experiences the extremes of Japan. Then, in China, he walks the Great Wall, contemplates the massed ranks of the Terracotta Army and finds peace in the Empress of China’s marble Boat.

TUESDAY 15th
BBC 2 7.30pm
Nation on Film.
Fifth in a series of six programmes.
Selling Salvation. Britain’s social history captured on celluloid over the past 100 years. Could the permissive society of Britain in the 1950s and 60s be saved? Rarely-seen footage and eyewitness accounts testify to the Church‘s attempts to spread its message via film.

BBC 2 8.30pm
Fred Dibnah’s Made in Britain.
Second in a series of twelve programmes.
In the last series he made before his death last November, the Bolton steeplejack attempts to fulfil a lifelong ambition - a tour of the UK on the 1912 steam traction engine he’s spent 27 years restoring.
Collecting the Coal. Stocking up with coal is Fred’s first task. A mine near Wigan could be the answer - but its an uphill struggle as the engine runs out of steam and water a few miles from home.

Five 7.15pm
Pevsner’s Cities.
Newcastle with Gavin Stamp. Revisiting some of the cities examined by art historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner in his extensive series of books “The Buildings of England”, Professor Gavin Stamp assesses Newcastle, the city that became one of the great powerhouses of the Industrial Revolution. He visit’s the city’s famous bridges, tours the world’s oldest locomotive works and, following a revival of fortunes in the North East, he also inspects some of the more worthy recent additions.

WEDNESDAY 16th
BBC 2 7.00pm
The Trial of Galileo - Days That Shook the World.
In 1633 Galileo found himself on trial for heresy after suggesting that the Sun, rather than the Earth, was the centre of the known universe. Would the astronomical evidence he had amassed be enough to convince the Catholic Church to abandon centuries-old teachings?

BBC 2 8.00pm
What the Ancients Did For Us.
Fifth in a series of nine programmes.
The Indians. An enthralling examination of inventions dating from ancient times, conducted by a team of reporters and put to the test by Adam Hart-Davis. From Town Planning to plastic surgery, numerals to yoga, the discoveries of the golden age of India have had a lasting impact on the modern world. A H-D tests some of the ancient inventions, while Jamie Darling travels the length of the country to explore their origins.

FRIDAY 18th
BBC 2 8.00pm
Royal Gardeners.
First in a series of six programmes.
Alan Titchmarsh unearths the stories behind royal gardens and the monarchs who created them. Tonight, a mediaeval safari park and Britain’s oldest lawn.



And for Tony Fans:-

Wednesday 16th
BBC 2 10.00pm
Blackadder II.
Potato. After Sir Walter Raleigh gains the Queen’s favour with a root crop, Edmund decides its time he too became an explorer. With guest star Tom Baker.



Time Team on Discovery.

A Time Team programme is scheduled for 8.00am and 4.00pm on Saturday 12th.

Monday Kew Gardens.
Tuesday A rescue mission in Fife.
Wednesday Castle Howard.
Thursday Sedgefield.
Friday Appleby police station.


And don’t forget UKTV History, which has a range of history and archaeology programmes for those with access to digital, satellite or cable channels.

quote:

Originally posted by Valerie:
From Radio Times 5th - 11th March 2005
Five 8.00pm

The Great Escape: Revealed
A team of archaeologists and war veterans pay a visit to the remains of the German POW camp Stalag Luft 3 to search for traces of the tunnels that inspired the film “The Great Escape”.

Good programme.

Third time it's been on though...

For anybody stuck at home or armed with a VCR and who missed it last time BBC 2 are showing the landmark series "The Great War" again every weekday at 14:20 starting next Monday (14th).

Got to be better than Tricia.

For those who have Sky and want to keep up to date

Latest Sky listings available here, as Word Document.
http://www.wildsat.com/

For programming in stations to “Other Channels”, which are not on the EPG. This enables you to view all ITV regional stations.
* Note that Anglia and Tyne Tees have recently moved frequency *

http://www.wildsat.com/astra.htm

Apologies that this did not appear to the usual schedule last night - but my house was upside down with double-glazing being fitted. Still better late than never!


From Radio Times 19th - 25th March 2005


SATURDAY 19th
BBC 2 6.30pm
Around the World in 80 Treasures. (Second chance to see this programme, first shown last Monday).
Fourth in a series of ten programmes.
Japan to China. From swords of the Samurai to the tranquillity of a temple, Dan Cruickshank experiences the extremes of Japan. Then, in China, he walks the Great Wall, contemplates the massed ranks of the Terracotta Army and finds peace in the Empress of China’s marble Boat.

SUNDAY 20th
BBC 2 8.00
Ray Mears’s Bushcraft. (Repeat)
Jungle Trek. Dramatic waterfalls and iridescent clouds of butterflies delight Ray in the Venezuelan jungle. He‘s on a well-worn trade route that runs in the shadow of what native Indians call tepui - strange, flat-topped mountains that inspired Arthur Conan Doyle‘s captivating dinosaur tale “The Lost World“.

Channel 4 5.00pm
TIME TEAM *******************************
Twelfth in a series of 13 programmes.
A head-scratching search begins for a Roman military cemetery under a 1960s housing estate in South Shields. Limited by space and time, will the Team manage to uncover the site?

MONDAY 21st
BBC 2 9.00pm
Around the World in 80 Treasures.
Fifth in a series of ten programmes.
India to Sri Lanka. Fertility and sex get Dan Cruickshank’s blood pumping as he grapples with a naked ten-armed goddess in Calcutta, comes face-to-face with triple-breasted goddess Menakshi and enters the world’s greatest temple of love - the Taj Mahal. To calm down, he finds enlightenment in the celestial city of Jaipur, and is blessed by an elephant.

TUESDAY 22nd
BBC 1 9.00pm
The Iceman Murder.
Was he a shepherd caught in a storm, a chieftain with blood on his hands or an outsider fleeing for his life? This gripping drama documentary employs forensic evidence to recreate the life and death of Otzi the iceman, whose body lay frozen in the Alps for 5,300 years until found in 1991.
There is a feature article on this programme in RT on p16

BBC 2 7.30pm
Nation on Film.
Last in a series of six programmes.
Make Yourself at Home. Britain’s social history captured on celluloid over the past 100 years. Thousands of Asian immigrants made the long journey to Britain between the 1950s and 1970s. Cameras recorded how they were received, and how they adapted to their new lives, while cinemas provided many with a taste of home.

BBC 2 8.30pm
Fred Dibnah’s Made in Britain.
Third in a series of twelve programmes.
In the last series he made before his death last November, the Bolton steeplejack attempts to fulfil a lifelong ambition - a tour of the UK on the 1912 steam traction engine he’s spent 27 years restoring.
The Source of Iron. The picturesque Lake District is not usually associated with industry, but iron ore was once mined here on a large scale. Fred visit’s the Florence mine at Egremont - the last operational deep iron ore mine in Western Europe - before heading to the local pub to chat to some former steel workers about the old days.

Five 7.15pm
Turks at The Royal Academy.
An intriguing look at the exhibition of Turkish art, crafts and culture at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, which runs until 15th April, in the company of MP and journalist Boris Johnson. The collection celebrates Turkey’s blend of eastern and western cultures with a millennium’s worth of artefacts from the Ottoman Empire.

Five 8.00pm
The Russian Revolution in Colour.
First of two programmes.
Freedom and Hope. The storming of the Winter Palace, the death of the tsar, the insurgency, and the ensuing civil war after Lenin had come to power are all shown in colorized archive footage for the first time. Augmented by dramatised reconstructions they combine to illustrate how the dream of prosperity and equality turned into the nightmare of oppression.

WEDNESDAY 23rd
BBC 2 7.00pm
Execution of Anne Boleyn - Days That Shook the World.
The harrowing story of the Queen’s final hours is told. After three years marriage to Henry VIII, she was in the Tower of London, about to become the first English Queen to be executed. How did spies contribute to her downfall - and was she innocent?

BBC 2 8.00pm
What the Ancients Did For Us.
Sixth in a series of nine programmes.
The Mesopotamians. An enthralling examination of inventions dating from ancient times, conducted by a team of reporters and put to the test by Adam Hart-Davis. From beer to battering rams, from batteries to sails, and from writing to chariots, the Mesopotamians had a lasting impact on the world. A H-D tests some of their inventions, while Hermione Cockburn unearths the stories behind the people and their discoveries.

THURSDAY 24th
Channel 4 9.00pm
The Search for the North West Passage.
Deep within the Arctic Circle lies the most dangerous place on earth to sail a ship. A maze of islands and drifting ice stretches for 1,000 miles over the Canadian Arctic and finding a route across it - the fabled Northwest Passage - has been the Holy Grail of exploration for more than 400 years. This documentary reconstructs two perilous missions that came to symbolise this epic search - those of Sir John Franklin and Roald Amundsen. Of the two men, only one would survive, and both would pay a devastating price in their battle with the ice maze.

Five 7.15pm
World War I in Colour.
First in a new series of six programmes.
The Great War is given a fascinating new perspective as computer technology is used to recast black-and-white footage in detailed colour. The images are accompanied by poignant first-hand testimony from veterans and harrowing excerpts from letters sent by shell-shocked youngsters at the front.
Catastrophe. The conflict began with a seemingly obscure incident - the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria on 28th June, 1914. An explosive mix of alliances caused this “local” disturbance to snowball into mass war.


FRIDAY 25th
BBC 2 9.00pm
Princess Margaret: a Love Story - Timewatch.
Her romance with a dashing fighter pilot was the stuff of fairy-tales - yet the prospect of marriage between the Queen’s sister and Group Captain Peter Townsend, a divorced commoner, divided opinion. In 1955 she ended two years of tabloid speculation by choosing duty over love - but was it a needless sacrifice?



And for Tony Fans:-

Wednesday 23rd
BBC 2 10.00pm
Blackadder II.
Money. A red hot poker looms when the Bishop of Bath and Wells drops by.



Time Team on Discovery.

A Time Team programme is scheduled for 8.00am and 4.00pm on Saturday 19th, and 8.00am on Sunday 20th.

Monday Syon House, Chiswick.
Tuesday A Roman villa in Somerset.
Wednesday Loch Migdale.
Thursday A field near Lincoln.
Friday The grounds of a Kent hotel.


Sunday 20th
9.00am to 6.00pm Discovery Channel is showing nine editions of Tony Robinson’s “The Worst Jobs in History”.


And don’t forget UKTV History, which has a range of history and archaeology programmes for those with access to digital, satellite or cable channels.

From Radio Times 26th March - 1st April 2005


SATURDAY 26th
BBC 2 6.45pm
Around the World in 80 Treasures. (Second chance to see this programme, first shown last Monday).
Fifth in a series of ten programmes.
India to Sri Lanka. Fertility and sex get Dan Cruickshank’s blood pumping as he grapples with a naked ten-armed goddess in Calcutta, comes face-to-face with triple-breasted goddess Menakshi and enters the world’s greatest temple of love - the Taj Mahal. To calm down, he finds enlightenment in the celestial city of Jaipur, and is blessed by an elephant.

BBC 2 8.20pm
Princess Margaret: a Love Story - Timewatch.
Her romance with a dashing fighter pilot was the stuff of fairy-tales - yet the prospect of marriage between the Queen’s sister and Group Captain Peter Townsend, a divorced commoner, divided opinion. In 1955 she ended two years of tabloid speculation by choosing duty over love - but was it a needless sacrifice?

BBC 2 9.40pm
Richard the Lionheart and Saladin: Holy Warriors
A polished drama documentary filmed on location in the Middle East that provides new insights into the epic and bloody 12th century fight for control of the holy city of Jerusalem between Crusader and English King Richard the Lionheart and Muslim leader Saladin. Based on the latest into the original Christian and Muslim sources it traces the contrasting origins of both men and challenges contemporary judgements about their characters.

SUNDAY 27th
BBC 2 8.00
Ray Mears’s Bushcraft. (Repeat)
Africa Camp. The Hadza of Tanzania are one of the few remaining hunter-gatherer tribes. it’s a way of life that demonstrates a deep connection to the natural world, one that’s greatly admired by the survival expert. Here, he films the bushcraft experts.

MONDAY 28th
BBC 2 9.30pm
Around the World in 80 Treasures.
Sixth in a series of ten programmes.
Uzbekistan to Syria. The rarely visited trading domes of Uzbekistan and Fire Temple of Azerbaijan get an exclusive Dan Cruickshank appraisal, before he moves on to scale a cliff face towards arguably the biggest archaeological puzzles of the 19th century: the Bisitun carvings. The historian also takes in the remains of the great city of Persepolis in modern-day Iran, explores the exotic souk in Syrian capital Damascus, and then indulges himself with some pampering at a hammam - the local steam bath.

TUESDAY 29th
BBC 2 8.30pm
Fred Dibnah’s Made in Britain.
Fourth in a series of twelve programmes.
In the last series he made before his death last November, the Bolton steeplejack attempts to fulfil a lifelong ambition - a tour of the UK on the 1912 steam traction engine he’s spent 27 years restoring.
Castings. Heading north of the border, Fred marvels at the ingenuity of the Falkirk Wheel and visits one of the few surviving iron works in the area. Then, after repairs at the Bo’ness and Kinneil railway, he takes off to cross the Forth Road Bridge.

Five 7.15pm
Tim Marlow on … Turner, Whistler, Monet.
The sumptuous exhibition at London’s Tate Britain devoted to three of the 19th century’s most influential painters, JMW Turner, James Whistler and Claude Monet, is scrutinised by art historian Tim Marlow. Each artist radically changed the course of landscape painting by exploring the effects of light and weather.

Five 8.00pm
The Russian Revolution in Colour.
Second of two programmes.
Fear and Paranoia. The story of how the dream of peace, prosperity and equality turned into a nightmare. The Kronstadt sailors’ loyalty helped defend the revolution at first, but when they became disillusioned, Bolshevik forces were sent to quell them. The savage storming of the naval base signalled Lenin’s embrace of totalitarianism and refusal to countenance any opposition.

WEDNESDAY 30th
BBC 2 7.00pm
Challenger Disaster - Days That Shook the World.
On 28 January 1986, the space shuttle Challenger exploded, just 73 seconds into its flight, killing all seven astronauts on board. This is the story of how an engineer’s unheeded warnings led to that fateful day.

BBC 2 8.00pm
What the Ancients Did For Us. (Not Scotland)
Seventh in a series of nine programmes.
The Egyptians. An enthralling examination of inventions dating from ancient times, conducted by a team of reporters and put to the test by Adam Hart-Davis. It was a superpower of the ancient world, and every schoolchild knows about pyramids and mummies. But A H-D digs deeper to show some other less well-known Egyptian inventions, while Marty Jopson pays tribute to these early toolmakers.
THURSDAY 31st
BBC 2 8.00pm
What the Ancients Did For Us. (Scotland only)
Seventh in a series of nine programmes.
The Egyptians. An enthralling examination of inventions dating from ancient times, conducted by a team of reporters and put to the test by Adam Hart-Davis. It was a superpower of the ancient world, and every schoolchild knows about pyramids and mummies. But A H-D digs deeper to show some other less well-known Egyptian inventions, while Marty Jopson pays tribute to these early toolmakers.

Channel 4 9.00pm
The Search for the North West Passage.
Deep within the Arctic Circle lies the most dangerous place on earth to sail a ship. A maze of islands and drifting ice stretches for 1,000 miles over the Canadian Arctic and finding a route across it - the fabled Northwest Passage - has been the Holy Grail of exploration for more than 400 years. This documentary reconstructs two perilous missions that came to symbolise this epic search - those of Sir John Franklin and Roald Amundsen. Of the two men, only one would survive, and both would pay a devastating price in their battle with the ice maze.

Five 7.15pm
World War I in Colour.
Second in a series of six programmes.
The Great War is given a fascinating new perspective as computer technology is used to recast black-and-white footage in detailed colour. The images are accompanied by poignant first-hand testimony from veterans and harrowing excerpts from letters sent by shell-shocked youngsters at the front.
Slaughter in the Trenches. Having raced each other to the Channel to prevent a flanking manoeuvre in the early days of the war, both sides dug in, creating 475 miles of continuous trenches. A combination of new arms technology and generals who doggedly insisted on old-fashioned tactics created battles of unsurpassed horror, with 19,000 British soldiers dying on one day alone in the Somme. Poignant first-hand testimony illustrates the testimony illustrates the terror of the combatants.


FRIDAY 1st
BBC 2 8.00pm
Royal Gardeners.
Third in a series of six programmes.
Alan Titchmarsh unearths the stories behind royal gardens and the monarchs who created them. Horticultural style bloomed under Charles I and II but, when the puritanical Oliver Cromwell came to power, lavish lots belonging to the Lord Protector’s enemies were flattened.

BBC 2 9.00pm
The Killer Wave of 1607 - Timewatch
Its 9am on 20 January 1607, a 12ft-high wall of water devastates the counties of the Bristol Channel, killing in the region of 2,000. The catastrophe altered the coastline forever - yet its been all but forgotten. Scientists Ted Bryant and Simon Haslett team up to find archaeological evidence to support their belief that the event was not a freak storm but a tsunami.



And for Tony Fans:-

Wednesday 30th
BBC 2 10.00pm
Blackadder II.
Beer. Edmund’s rich aunt and uncle arrive to discuss his inheritance, but their visit coincides with an incident involving a suggestively-shaped turnip, an ostrich feather and a beer drinking contest.



Time Team on Discovery.

A Time Team programme is scheduled for 8.00am and 4.00pm on Saturday 26th, and 8.00am on Sunday 27th.

Monday No TT programme.
Tuesday Green Island, Poole Harbour.
Wednesday Oakamoor, Staffordshire.
Thursday Goldcliff, by the River Severn.
Friday Cranbourne Chase.


And don’t forget UKTV History, which has a range of history and archaeology programmes for those with access to digital, satellite or cable channels.

Valerie, my copy of Radio Times has "The Games" on at 21:00 Thursday 31st, C4 rather than the second episode of Northwest Passage. Regional variations perhaps?

For the EAFF who attended the Bletchley Park meet on the 12th the film Enigma is on BBC1 on Easter Day (Sunday) at 22:15. A chance to see how those props looked on screen.

Quite right Fil!

Just checking to see if anyone was listening

No you got me bang to rights - I somehow didn't edit that out from last weeks screed

And I had meant to mention Enigma - but forgot - seems I'm not on top form tonight

Damn, got the time of the Enigma film wrong and missed first hour, luckily BBC 1 Scotland had it on at 11:45.