From Radio Times 15th - 21st October 2005


SATURDAY 15th
BBC 2 7.10pm
Who Do You Think You Are?
Newscaster Moira Stuart comes from a family of high achievers who have travelled to and from the United Kingdom since the end of the 19th century. Stuart’s genealogical journey takes her to Kingussie in the Highlands in a search for one of her grandfathers before finally leading her back to the West Indies.

BBC 2 8.10pm
The Secret of drawing
Second in a series of four programmes.
Andrew Graham-Dixon presents an insightful series on how, by looking at drawings, we can arrive at a greater understanding of the history of art, science and technology.
Storylines. Drawing has been used down the centuries to tell narrative stories, many of the dark or satirical, from animation to Japanese manga books. Political cartoonist Martin Rowson explains how his savage commentaries on contemporary politicians are influenced by Hogarth while, in a rare interview, American comic-strip artist Daniel Clowes talks about what inspired his celebrated graphic novel Ghost World.

SUNDAY 16th
BBC 5.55pm
Days That Shook The World
Execution of Anne Boleyn. The harrowing story of the queen’s final hours is told. At what point did Henry VIII’s infatuation with his clever and outspoken wife lessen? And who were the enemies at court who engineered her downfall?

MONDAY 17th
BBC 2 7.00pm
The Battle for Britain’s Soul.
Third in a series of four programmes.
The Rev Peter Owen-Jones continues to chart the religious history of the British Isles.
Burning Belief. The emergence of secularism in the 20th century presented the Church with an unprecedented test and provoked a critical battle between believers and non-believers. When the Edwardian Church tried to counter atheist gains with a renewed commitment to social justice, a major split appeared in its ranks.

BBC 2 8.00pm
Map Man
Seventh in a series of eight programmes in which Nicholas Crane explores more British landscapes using pioneering historical maps.
Mrs P’s A - Z (1936). After getting lost in London, courtesy of a map that hadn’t been updated since 1918, the Bohemian writer Phyllis Pearsall decided to chart the city herself. The result was the first London A - Z, completed in 1936. Using Mrs P’s original street-by-street maps, Nicholas Crane explores the big smoke.

TUESDAY 18th
BBC 2 7.00pm
The People’s War.
Fifth in a series of emotive wartime recollections.
One Day in May. As the people of Britain celebrate peace on VE Day in 1945, a housewife tells of her missing husband, a German soldier imprisoned in Essex speaks out and a rebellious young girl from Norfolk gives her thoughts.

Five 8.00pm
Murder Mystery of Ashkelon: the True Story
A gruesome 2,000-year-old conundrum is investigated as archaeologists digging at the ancient city of Ashkelon, in what is now Israel, unearth a sinister find. How did the skeletons of a hundred newborn babies, thrown into the sewers of a Roman bathhouse, end up there?

FRIDAY 21st
BBC 2 6.30pm
Trafalgar 200: Nelson’s Glorious Victory
Live coverage of the commemorative ceremony in Portsmouth marking the bicentennial anniversary of Trafalgar. The Queen lights the first of nearly 1,000 beacons across the country, the Band of the Royal Marines beat retreat, and a broadside is fired from all 54 of Victory’s starboard guns. Presented by Huw Edwards and Neil Oliver.

BBC 2 7.30pm
Tales from the Green Valley
Tenth in a series of twelve programmes
It’s June, and time to wash the sheep in the stream before tackling the back-breaking task of shearing them by hand.

Five 7.30pm
Great British Commanders.
Third in a series of six programmes.
Profiles of the UK’s past masters in military matters.
Henry V. Born during the turmoil of the Hundred Years War, King Henry was a ruthless tactician who dedicated his life to the conquest of Franc. His obsession culminated in the famous victory at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, achieved despite decisions that almost led to disaster.



Time Team on Discovery.

A Time Team programme is scheduled for 7.00am on Saturday 15th.

There are no 7.00pm showings on Discovery this week. However from Monday - Friday there are programmes at 5.00pm.

There is also a Time Team programme listed on the new “More 4” channel ….
Saturday 15th 6.05pm
Time Team
First of three programmes
Following an excavation at a mediaeval manor house in Buckinghamshire.

From Radio Times 22nd - 28th October 2005


SATURDAY 22nd
BBC 2 7.10pm
Who Do You Think You Are?
Jim Moir - aka Vic Reeves - would love to unearth scandal in his hazy family history, driven by the long-standing rumour that his mum’s dad was a bigamist.

BBC 2 8.05pm
The Secret of drawing
Third in a series of four programmes.
Andrew Graham-Dixon presents an insightful series on how, by looking at drawings, we can arrive at a greater understanding of the history of art, science and technology.
All in the Mind. From the very beginnings of art, drawing has provided a means of intimately expressing the creative mind. A G-D traces a continuous arc from cave drawings to the work of contemporary autistic artists William and Richard Tyler.

Channel 4 7.30pm
Helen of Troy.
She was described as having “the face that launched a thousand ships”, and was the woman blamed for the Trojan War - but who was the real Helen of Troy? In this feature-length documentary, historian Bettany Hughes embarks on an epic journey across the eastern Mediterranean to disentangle myth from reality and find the thruth about this most tantalising of enigmas.

SUNDAY 23rd
BBC 2 8.00pm
Trafalgar 200: Nelson - Legend and Legacy
“England expects that every man will do his duty”. Live coverage from London’s Trafalgar Square of the Royal Navy celebrations marking the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar and the death of Viscount Horatio Nelson. Dan Snow and Neil Oliver are on hand to chronicle the life of Nelson and assess the legacy of the pivotal engagement between the combined fleets of Spain and France and the Royal Navy off the Spanish coast in 1805.

MONDAY 24th
BBC 2 7.00pm
The Battle for Britain’s Soul.
Last in a series of four programmes.
The Rev Peter Owen-Jones concludes his charting of the religious history of the British Isles.
End Game. Angels over battlefields, the birth of the welfare state, US evangelism and a revolution in sexual freedom are all factors in the evolution of today’s largely secular society. The Rev P O-J examines the final battle for Britain’s soul.

BBC 2 8.00pm
Map Man
Last in a series of eight programmes in which Nicholas Crane explores more British landscapes using pioneering historical maps.
Thomas Raven’s Clandeboye Estate Maps (1625). Thirty years of wrangling lie behind the last map in the series. In the 1600s, Ireland attracted colonists seeking land and a more prosperous life. Two wrangled for decades over a border between their lands. Can NC find the disputed border - and locate a lost village?

TUESDAY 25th
BBC 2 7.00pm
The People’s War.
Last in a series of emotive wartime recollections.
Memories of a Forgotten War. Veterans of the “forgotten war” against the Japanese in Burma return to the frontline. Soldiers who fought - and others who watched their comrade die in captivity - tell their stories.

WEDNESDAY 26th
BBC 2 9.00pm
Timewatch.
Julius Caesar’s Greatest Battle. A journey through modern France in the footsteps of Julius Caesar. Reconstructions provide an insight into the climax of Caesar’s bloody eight-year conflict in Gaul: the great siege at Alesia in 52 BC would seal Gaul’s fate and shape the future of the western world.

THURSDAY 27th
BBC 2 9.00pm
Blitz: London’s Firestorm
Vivid feature-length documentary focusing on the devastating aerial attack on the capital city on the night of 29 December 1940. Dramatic reconstructions and CGI bring to life the chaos wrought by the tens of thousands of incendiary bombs dropped by the Luftwaffe, as citizens fled their vulnerable homes for the comparative safety of air-raid shelters, and the embattled emergency services fought to control the ensuing inferno.

FRIDAY 28th
BBC 2 9.00pm
Catherine the Great.
Drama documentary showing how Catherine modernised Russia - but also engaged in bloody wars and ruthless expansionism.

BBC 2 7.30pm
Tales from the Green Valley (not Scotland)
Eleventh in a series of twelve programmes
It’s July, and puddings wrapped in intestines await the team.

Five 7.30pm
Great British Commanders.
Fourth in a series of six programmes.
Profiles of the UK’s past masters in military matters.
Cromwell. Oliver Cromwell is hailed for his prowess as a military commander and his contribution to the founding of parliamentary democracy. There are, however, darker aspects to the moods and methods of this controversial character. They’re explored in this uncompromising “warts and all” profile.



Time Team on Discovery.

A Time Team programme is scheduled for 7.00am on Saturday 22nd.

There are no 7.00pm showings on Discovery this week. However from Monday - Friday there are programmes at 5.00pm.

There are also Time Team programmes listed on the new “More 4” channel ….

Saturday 22nd 6.15pm
Time Team
Second of three programmes
Local residents hope to uncover the origins of a church near York.

And at 6.00pm weekdays:-

Monday Life by the Thames 4,000 years ago.
Tuesday The team learn the secrets of a 3rd century burial ground in Lincolnshire.
Wednesday Could a wreck off the coast of Scotland be that of a ship from the Spanish Armada?
Thursday The team excavate the remains of a monastery.
Friday An excavation in a Shropshire pub’s car park could reveal important information about the Industrial Revolution.

There were a couple of clips of the BBC's forthcoming series "Rome" on Richard and Judy this afternoon (I know, I'm sad..). It looks as if it will be a good series but definately post-watershed!

There's a short preview of Rome scheduled for after the Julius Caesar programme next Wednesday as well.

I'm going to be off line until (probably) Sunday - going away for a few days - so if someone wants to do a shift with next weeks programmes that would be helpful.

Saturday 29th October.

18:15 BBC2 The Secret of Drawing.

Andrew Graham-Dixon looks at how drawing has been used by designers. Last in the series.
Followed by exztended trailer for the new series "Rome".

19:05 Ch4 Paradise Found

Waldemar Januszczak on an epic voyage to reveal Islamic art and architecture.

20:05 BBC2 Who Do You Think You ARE?

This week Amanda Redman shakes the skeletons out of her family closet. Repeat.

****Clocks go BACK one hour at 02:00****
(Another hour in bed...bliss..)

Sunday 30th October

21:00 BBC1 Egypt

First of a series of drama-documentaries examining the re-discovery of ancient Egypt through the eyes the archaeologists kicks off with Howard Carter's discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun.

21:00 BBC2 Girls and Boys

The more recent history of popular music in the 1970s

22:00 BBC2 Egyptian Journeys

New Series. Dan Cruickshank delves into the lives of the workers who built the tombs of the pharaohs.

Monday 31st October

19:00 Brief History of Disbelief

An attempt to "balance" the excellent Battle for Britain's soul perhaps but Jonathn Miller looks at the nature and history of atheism. Richard Dawkins features.

Tuesday 1st November

19:00 BBC2 How to Rescue a House

Three single mums attempt to buy and renovate an abandoned property in London's East End.

19:15 Five Tim Marlow on Rubens

Tour of the new Rubens exhibition in the National Gallery.

21:45 ITV Gunpowder Plot

What would have happened in Guy Fawkes had succeeded? Richard Hammond blows up a replica of the old House of Lords to find out....Oh dear.

Wednesday 2nd November

21:00 BBC2 ROME

Six years in the making the first of an eleven part series starts with Julius Caesar returning to Rome in 52 BC. Contians sex, violence and bad language (in Latin?).

Thursday 3rd November

19:00 BBC2 The Culture Show

Includes Sir Thomas Clifford on 21 years as the head of Scotland's National Galleries.

20:00 BBC2 Restored to Glory

Seven home owners set about restoring seven old buildings under the watchful eye of the experts.

Friday 4th Novemeber

19:30 BBC2 Tales from the Green Valley

Last in this under-rated series set on a 17th Century farm.

19:30 Five Great British Commanders

Major Corrigan examines the reputaion of the Duke of Marlborough.

21:00 BBC2 Timewatch

Another programme about the Gunpowder plot to mark it's 400th anniversary. Timewatch tries to establish why the conspirators became so radicalised. Do I detect an echo of the 21st century there?

The only TT on Disovery this week is on Saturday at 07:00. No clue as to which episode.

More Four shows TT repeats daily, 18:15 on Saturday, 14:40 Sunday and 18:00 the rest of the week.

Sat:- Bombers in the Marsh (Preston)
Sun:- No Details.
Mon:- Cheshunt
Tue:- An Iron Age enclosure
Wed:- Missing half of a Manor House in Shropshire
Thu:- Bronze Age burial or Iron Age village?
Fri:- Roamn history of Castleford.

Thanks Fil

From Radio Times 5th - 11th November 2005


SATURDAY 5th
BBC 2 7.25pm
Who Do You Think You Are?
Actor and writer Meera Syal travels to India seeking answers to her parents’ unconventional ideas.

BBC 2 8.20pm
Auschwitz: the Nazis & the “Final Solution”
First in a new series of six programmes.
Surprising Beginnings. Laurence Rees’s harrowing history of the site of the largest mass murder that the world has ever seen.

Channel 4 7.00pm
When the Moors Ruled in Europe.
Historian Bettany Hughes traces the story of the mysterious and misunderstood Moors, the Islamic society that ruled in Spain for 700 years. A tribe of newly converted Muslims from North Africa that invaded Spain in AD 711, the Moors went on to build a progressive and powerful civilisation. But when the society collapsed, Spain was fanatically re-Christianised and almost every trace of seven centuries of Islamic rule was ruthlessly removed. It is only now, six centuries later, that the Moors’ influences on European life and culture are beginning to be fully understood.

SUNDAY 6th
BBC 1 9.00pm
Egypt
Second in a series of six programmes.
The Curse of Tutankhamun. The excitement surrounding the discovery of the young pharaoh’s tomb contrasts with his tragic life story.

BBC 2 10.00pm
Egyptian Journeys with Dan Cruickshank.
Second in a series of six programmes.
The Pharaoh Hunter. The twists and mysteries in the life of Howard Carter - the archaeologist who discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun - are traced by DC. Despite his success, Carter was never honoured in this country. DC travels through Egypt, looking for clues to this mystery.

MONDAY 7th
BBC 2 7.00pm
Jonathan Miller’s Brief History of Disbelief.
Noughts and Crosses. A look at how the number of atheists began to grow in the 15th century. Plus a visit to the Paris home of 18th-century atheist Baron d’Holbach that reveals how dangerous it could be to undermine the faith of the masses.

TUESDAY 8th
BBC 1 10.35pm
One Life.
Raising the Dead. Professor John Hunter has revolutionised the way in which British police forces recover murder victims and exhume bodies. This affecting film finds out why he left the serenity of studying Stone Age settlements on a Scottish isle to take on a far more demanding and harrowing role that has also seen him help the authorities after the 1995 massacre in Srebrenica.

Five 7.15pm
Tim Marlow on …. Rousseau.
A tour of the Tate Modern exhibition “Henri Rousseau: Jungles in Paris”. Rousseau, a self-taught artist who took up full time painting only on his retirement, created lush, exotic and visionary works of savage but enchanting tropical scenes which he had never seen and which were greatly admired by contemporaries such as Pablo Picasso and the surrealist Max Ernst.

Five 8.00pm
Hannibal of the Alps: Revealed.
First in a new series of five programmes.
Before the age of Caesar, Rome was almost destroyed by one of the greatest commanders of all time - Hannibal. A Cartheginian who swore an oath of lifelong enmity against the Romans when they attacked his homeland, he set off on an epic journey of revenge across the Alps with his army which included thirty battle elephants.

WEDNESDAY 9th
BBC 2 9.00pm
Rome.
Second in a series of eleven programmes.
A bloody battle outside the Senate ensues as tensions between Caesar and Pompey reach boiling point. This lavish - and savage - drama contains violence, strong language and scenes of a sexual nature.

FRIDAY 11th
BBC 2 9.00pm
Pol Pot: the Journey to the Killing Fields - Timewatch.
A focus on the man responsible for the deaths of almost two million Cambodians. Dramatic reconstructions, the testimony of acquaintances and the words of the Khmer Rouge leader himself combine to chart his rise to power, and his use of terror and hunger to sustain his new regime.

Five 7.30pm
Great British Commanders.
Last in a series of six programmes.
Profiles of the UK’s past masters in military matters.
Wellington. Major Gordon Corrigan vividly reveals how an impoverished minor aristocrat with a poor school record bought himself an army commission and was transformed into an inspired military tactician who would eventually turn around Britain’s fortunes in the Peninsula War and defeat Napoleon’s armies at Waterloo.



Time Team on Discovery.

A Time Team programme is scheduled for 7.00am on Saturday 5th.

There are showings on Discovery this week, from Monday - Friday at 5.00pm.

There are also Time Team programmes listed on the new “More 4” channel ….

Saturday 5th 6.15pm
Time Team
TR and the Team examine the remains of a large fort lying in the grounds of Drumlanrig Castle near Dumfries - did the Romans inhabit it?

And at 6.00pm weekdays:-

Monday A castle in Henley-in-Arden.
Tuesday Romans on the Isle of Wight
Wednesday A Saxon cemetery in the New Forest.
Thursday A palace in Kew Gardens.
Friday Mosaics in a field in Somerset.

From Radio Times 12th - 18th November 2005


SATURDAY 12th
BBC 2 8.20pm
Auschwitz: the Nazis & the “Final Solution”
Second in a series of six programmes.
Orders and Initiatives. By 1942, Rudolf Hoss had established the concentration camp as a location for mass murder, but ever more diabolical plans were being conceived.

Channel 4 8.15pm
Secret History: Killer Flu
In the wake of the most deadly war the world had ever seen came a disaster that was to claim even more lives. The 1918 influenza pandemic killed an estimated 40 million people worldwide. Providing a sobering insight into what a flu epidemic could mean for us today, stunning contemporary footage, dramatic reconstruction and personal witness reveal the full extent of this forgotten plague’s devastating journey.

SUNDAY 13th
BBC 1 9.00pm
Egypt
Third in a series of six programmes.
The Pharaoh and the Showman. An eccentric adventurer puts his engineering skills to good use when he is asked to recover a huge statue of Ramasses the Great. It is an experience that will change his life forever.

BBC 2 10.00pm
Egyptian Journeys with Dan Cruickshank.
Third in a series of six programmes.
The Rebel Pharaoh. DC charts the story of Radical ruler Akhenaten and his wife Nefertiti. Following a personal religious conversion, the pharaoh turned his back on centuries of traditional beliefs and built a sacred city in the desert dedicated to the god of his own new religion - the Sun. But the royal couple’s sumptuous lives there were destined to come to a tragic end.

MONDAY 14th
BBC 2 7.00pm
Jonathan Miller’s Brief History of Disbelief.
The Final Hour. A wide-ranging conclusion to this thought provoking assessment of atheism, covering Thomas Paine‘s philosophical treatise “The Age of Reason“, Charles Darwin‘s theories of evolution, Freud‘s labelling of religion as a ‘thought disorder‘, and religious fanaticism in the 21st century.

BBC 2 11.20pm
A second chance to see…..
In Search of Shakespeare
First in a series of four programmes.
A Time of Revolution. The Bard’s biography is full of tantalising mysteries, as Michael Wood’s compelling historical detective story reveals. He begins by assessing his schooling, his father’s shady business deals and the secret that ruined his family.

Channel 4 9.00pm
The Somme.
Powerful drama documentary recounting the bloodiest day in British military history - 1st July 1916. The British attack was meant to break the stalemate of trench warfare on the Western Front but the battle plans were fatally flawed. The story is told through the soldiers’ letters, diaries and journals.

TUESDAY 15th
BBC 2 7.00pm
The Lost World of Mitchell & Kenyon.
Sport and Pleasure. The first known film of Manchester United, made within weeks of the club adopting its new name, is among the footage reflecting leisure time in the Edwardian era.

Five 7.15pm
Brian Sewell‘s Grand Tour.
First in a new series of five programmes.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, no young English nobleman’s education was complete without a ‘grand tour’ of Europe to learn about art, architecture and life itself. Here art critic and historian BS retraces the footsteps of such luminaries as Byron, Turner and Boswell - and a tour he himself undertook 50 years ago - as he begins his epic journey in Turin.

Five 8.00pm
Franklin’s Lost Expedition: Revealed
In 1845, Sir John Franklin, two ships and a team of 132 men set out to find the fabled lost passage - a route to Asia via the Arctic. None of the men involved in the doomed expedition ever returned, and an ensuing search-and-rescue operation by the British Admiralty unearthed just one piece of evidence - a document stating that the ships had become trapped and Franklin was dead. Does the full explanationstill lie out there, buried under the ice.

WEDNESDAY 16th
BBC 2 9.00pm
Rome.
Third in a series of eleven programmes.
As Caesar makes a triumphant return to Rome, a beleaguered Pompey sends his son back to the city to track down the treasury gold. Pullo enjoys some unexpected good fortune. This lavish - and savage - drama contains violence, strong language and scenes of a sexual nature.

FRIDAY 18th
BBC 2 9.00pm
Children of the Doomed Voyage - Timewatch.
On 17th September 1940, a German U-boat attacked the evacuee ship SS Benares, en route to Canada, killing 258 of the 401 on board, including 80 of 100 child passengers. Sixty-five years on, those still living recall how they escaped death by hypothermia and drowning.



Time Team on Discovery.

A Time Team programme is scheduled for 7.00am on Saturday 12th.

There are showings on Discovery this week, from Monday - Friday at 5.00pm.

There are also Time Team programmes listed on the new “More 4” channel ….

Saturday 12th 6.00pm
Time Team
The Team have three days to investigate a huge circular enclosure in Peterborough (repeated at 2.40pm on Sunday 13th).

And at 6.00pm weekdays:-

Monday Bones found deep in a Derbyshire cave.
Tuesday A cliff-top mound in the Shetland Islands.
Wednesday A Royal palace at Greenwich.
Thursday Finding Liberty‘s 19th century silks factory.
Friday Roman remains in Bath.

Radio 4 are broadcasting a series about the parasites that live on and in our bodies. As well as information from the experts the bugs get the chance to put their own point of view across.

Really revolting and I'm sure the kids will love it.

Tomorrow Tony Robinson provides the voice for the pin worm.

Radio 4 at 15:45.

From Radio Times 19th - 25th November 2005


SATURDAY 19th
BBC 2 8.50pm
Auschwitz: the Nazis & the “Final Solution”
Third in a series of six programmes.
Factories of Death. How bigger gas chambers and crematoria enabled Auschwitz and Treblinka to handle a huge influx of Jews from across Europe.

Channel 4 8.05pm
Secret History: Dogfight
Computer-generated graphics, real-time flying and forensic detection re-create the 1918 dogfight that led to the downfall of Baron Manfred von Richthofen, aka the Red Baron. The film also charts innovations in aerial dog fighting through WWI.

SUNDAY 20th
BBC 1 9.00pm
Egypt
Fourth in a series of six programmes.
The Temple of the Sands. The story of 19th-century Egypt exploror Giovanni Belzoni concludes with his two major discoveries that stunned the world.

BBC 2 10.00pm
Egyptian Journeys with Dan Cruickshank.
Fourth in a series of six programmes.
Building for Eternity. Driven by their obsession with magic and the afterlife, the ancient Egyptians developed techniques to preserve their bodies, their possessions and the monumental tombs in which they were laid to rest. DC visit’s the pyramids at Saqqara and Giza, the hoge stone temple at Dendera and also examines the process of mummification.

Channel 4 8.00pm
Not Forgotten.
First in a new series of four programmes.
Commemoration. Ian Hislop presents this insightful series tracing the stories behind some of the names listed on British war memorials. Hislop, who learnt of his own grandfather’s wartime experiences while making the BBC series ”Who Do You Think You Are?”meets some of the soldiers descendants in order to better understand the impact of their sacrifice and the effect that WWI had on British society.
He begins by finding out about the postwar movement to commemorate those who had died in action abroad.

MONDAY 21st
BBC 2 7.00pm
Dickens in America.
First in a new series of four programmes.
In 1842 Charles Dickens embarked on a road trip across Asmerica. Armed with the notes from his journey, actress Miriam Margoyles retraces his steps and reflects on how the USA has since changed.
The Passage Out. Following her transatlantic voyage to New York, Miriam sets out for Boston.

BBC 2 11.20pm
A second chance to see…..
In Search of Shakespeare
Second in a series of four programmes.
The Lost Years. Michael Wood on the untimely death of the Bard’s great rival Christopher Marlow.

Channel 4 9.00pm
Prince Eddy: the King we Never Had.
A fascinating portrait of Prince Eddy, a great uncle of the Queen who, but for his death in 1892, would have become king instead of George V. His name has become synonymous with the decadent side of Victorian life - he was even accused of being Jack the Ripper - but historian Andrew Cook aims to turn his tarnished reputation on its head with the help of newly discovered letters written by the prince himself.

TUESDAY 22nd
Five 7.15pm
Brian Sewell‘s Grand Tour.
Second in a series of five programmes.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, no young English nobleman’s education was complete without a ‘grand tour’ of Europe to learn about art, architecture and life itself.
Having traversed the snow-covered plain of the River Po, BS arrives in the mediaeval town of Cremona, birthplace of the violin. His tour then continues on to the cathedral city of Parma, famous for its ham, and ends in Bologna, with a visit to the church where the Pope crowned Holy Roman Emperor Charles V in 1519.

Five 8.00pm
Boudicca‘s Treasures: Revealed
Two pieces of a gold necklace reputedly belonging to the warrior queen Boudicca have recently been reunited at the British Museum. The find has inspired a new archaeological dig to unearth the treasures of her tribe, the Iceni, who inhabited Norfolk 2,000 years ago. A deeply mystical people, the Iceni buried valuables in the ground as sacred offerings to their gods. This documentary follows the hunt to unearth these important Iron Age artefacts.

WEDNESDAY 23rd
BBC 2 9.00pm
Rome.
Fourth in a series of eleven programmes.
How will Caesar play Pompey? Meanwhile Pullo tries to teach Octavian about soldiering. This lavish - and savage - drama contains violence, strong language and scenes of a sexual nature.

FRIDAY 25th
BBC 2 9.00pm
Inside the Mind of Adolf Hitler - Timewatch.
How, in 1943, a team of Harvard psychologists managed to draw startlingly accurate conclusions from a profile they drew up of the Fuhrer, in a bid to predict his future conduct.



Time Team on Discovery.

A Time Team programme is scheduled for 7.00am on Saturday 19th.

There are showings on Discovery this week, from Monday - Friday at 5.00pm.

There are also Time Team programmes listed on the new “More 4” channel ….

Saturday 19th
Time Team
5.05pm
The Team have three days to investigate a huge circular enclosure in Peterborough.
6.10pm
Exploring the wreck of a mediaeval warship found on the bed of the River Hamble, near Southampton. (repeated at 2.45pm on Sunday 20th).

And at 6.00pm weekdays:-

Monday Return to Athelney for the 100th episode.
Tuesday A Royal palace in Kew Gardens.
Wednesday A bronze Age cemetery in Fife.
Thursday Digging up the lawns of Castle Howard.
Friday Roman remains in Sedgefield.

From Radio Times 26th November - 2nd December 2005


SATURDAY 26th
BBC 2 8.50pm
Auschwitz: the Nazis & the “Final Solution”
Fourth in a series of six programmes.
Corruption. How corruption became rife among SS members working at the Auschwitz death camp.

Channel 4 8.10pm
The Crucified Soldier.
On 24th April 1915, rumours circulated that a Canadian soldier had been found crucified near Ypres, Belgium. German claims that the reports were Allied propaganda were upheld, yet this documentary offers evidence supporting the story and puts a name to the victim.

SUNDAY 27th
BBC 1 9.00pm
Egypt
Fifth in a series of six programmes.
The Mystery of the Rosetta Stone. The marathon duel between two geniuses to crack Egypt’s ancient hieroglyphs.

BBC 2 10.00pm
Egyptian Journeys with Dan Cruickshank.
Fifth in a series of six programmes.
Pharaoh’s Wives. The dark side of the court of Ramesses III revealed, exposing the pharaoh as having little control over his harem and tracing the conspiracy that led to rebellion and possibly to his death.

Channel 4 8.00pm
Not Forgotten.
Second in a series of four programmes.
Class. Ian Hislop looks at how WWI informed the development of the British class system. Growing numbers of middle-class men were recruited to replace fallen members of the landed gentry - a phenomenon that proved unpopular in the officers’ mess - while the majority of working-class men found the war a brutalising experience. Including the story of Walter Tull, who overcame barriers of both class and race to become Britain’s first black officer.

MONDAY 28th
BBC 2 7.00pm
Dickens in America.
Second in a series of four programmes.
In 1842 Charles Dickens embarked on a road trip across America. Armed with the notes from his journey, actress Miriam Margoyles retraces his steps and reflects on how the USA has since changed.
The Republic of my Imagination. At the halfway point of her journey, MM finds Philadelphia, which possesses the only life-sized statue of the writer anywhere in the world, to be a city obsessed with Dickens. From there, she ends this leg of the trip in security-conscious Washington.

BBC 2 11.20pm
A second chance to see…..
In Search of Shakespeare
Third in a series of four programmes.
The Duty of Poets. Tragedy strikes the Bard as Hamnet, Shakespeare‘s only son, dies at the age of just 11.

Channel 4 9.00pm
TIME TEAM SPECIAL **********************
Journey to Stonehenge.
Stonehenge may be Britain’s most famous ancient monument, but a mile away was an even bigger henge - Durrington Walls. In a major dig this summer, archaeologists linked the two and discovered a Neolithic road, the first to be found in Europe. Remarkably, inside this henge was a huge wooden monument with 160 trees arranged in perfect circles. Theories fly thick and fast as the team attempt to build a full-sized replica.

TUESDAY 29th
Five 7.15pm
Brian Sewell‘s Grand Tour.
Third in a series of five programmes.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, no young English nobleman’s education was complete without a ‘grand tour’ of Europe to learn about art, architecture and life itself.
Leaving Bologna, the art critic and historian travels 50 miles to Florence. He takes in the Santa Maria del Fiore cathedral (the Duomo) and the Pitti Palace, home of the city’s Medici family. Greta works there include paintings by Renaissance and Baroque masters such as Raphael, Correggio and Rubens, but there’s only one artist whose sublime genius ultimately holds Brian’s interest - Michaelangelo. Sewell marvels at his magnificent sculpture, David.

Five 8.00pm
The Da Vinci Code Myth: Revealed.
An attempt to separate the fact from the fiction in the extraordinary claims of Dan Brown’s best-selling novel “The Da Vinci Code”. Experts including art historian Brian Sewell, Priory of Sion authority Lynn Pickett and architect Maxwell Hutchison examine the author’s view that Leonardo’s artwork held secret messages which referred to a cover-up by the Church, and that Mary Magdalene was pregnant with Jesus Christ’s baby at the time of the Crucifixion.

WEDNESDAY 30th
BBC 2 9.00pm
Rome.
Fifth in a series of eleven programmes.
Mark Antony’s loyalty is divided. With violence, strong language and scenes of a sexual nature.



Time Team on Discovery.

A Time Team programme is scheduled for 7.00am on Saturday 26th.

There are showings on Discovery this week, from Monday - Friday at 5.00pm.

There are also Time Team programmes listed on the new “More 4” channel ….

Saturday 26th
Time Team
6.05pm
A three-day search in Gloucestershire to locate a villa dating from roman Britain. (repeated at 2.45pm on Sunday 20th).

And at 6.00pm weekdays:-

Monday Three historic jail buildings in Cumbria.
Tuesday the remains of a 16th-century abbey.
Wednesday Searching for a Roman villa in Somerset.
Thursday A prehistoric man-made island in Loch Migdale.
Friday A Saxon cemetery in Lincoln.

.

From Radio Times 3rd - 9th December 2005


SATURDAY 3rd
BBC 2 8.20pm
Auschwitz: the Nazis & the “Final Solution”
Fifth in a series of six programmes.
Frenzied Killing. How the deportation of Hungary‘s Jews following occupation in 1944 precipitated the most intense period of killing in the camp‘s history.

Channel 4 8.00pm
Britain’s Boy Soldiers.
Research in the War Graves Commission records indicates that during WWI the British army’s ranks were swollen by up to 250,000 underage troops. Although the minimum age for overseas soldiers was 19, it seems the government of the time, desperate for recruits, often turned a blind eye to volunteers as young as 14. This poignant documentary asks why so many youths were allowed to enlist and follows the struggle of one MP to secure the return of thousands of them from Europe’s battlefields.

SUNDAY 4th
BBC 1 7.00pm
The Story of God.
First in a new series of three programmes.
Professor Robert Winston explores the fascinating history of mankind’s search for the divine.
Life, the Universe and Everything. Do prehistoric cave paintings indicate the dawn of spiritual awareness? How is it that some religions allow for multiple deities while others recognise only one? And why did humans begin to believe in a higher being in the first place?

BBC 1 9.00pm
Egypt
Last in a series of six programmes.
The Secrets of the Hieroglyphs. Code-cracker Jean-Francois Champollion visits Egypt‘s enigmatic tombs and temples, but faces opposition from the church, who fear that his findings may contradict Christian doctrine.

BBC 2 10.00pm
Egyptian Journeys with Dan Cruickshank.
Last in a series of six programmes.
The Death of Ancient Egypt. Travelling the length of the country, DC traces the key events that marked the brutal decline in the ancient Egyptians and profiles the rich cast of characters - from Alexander the Great to Cleopatra - who featured in the death of this 3,000-year-old civilisation.

Channel 4 8.00pm
Not Forgotten.
Third in a series of four programmes.
Women. Ian Hislop turns his attention to the female contribution to WWI. Whether serving in a medical capacity - as nurses and ambulance drivers - or employed as secretaries and munitions workers, this was the first conflict in which women toiled near the front line. Many were killed as they did their bit for the war effort. But women’s lives were also affected by the loss of their men folk, as mothers, wives, sisters and daughters were forced to cope with new challenges after the deaths of family members.

MONDAY 5th
BBC 2 7.00pm
Dickens in America.
Third in a series of four programmes.
In 1842 Charles Dickens embarked on a road trip across America. Armed with the notes from his journey, actress Miriam Margoyles retraces his steps and reflects on how the USA has since changed.
Pistols, Preachers and Prisons. In the company of cowboys, MM follows the author’s footsteps along the Ohio river to Louisville, Kentucky, where she attends the famous Derby. She also meets a pistol-toting Christian minister, visit’s the women inmates at the penitentiary and tours Virginia’s tobacco factories.

BBC 2 11.20pm
A second chance to see…..
In Search of Shakespeare
Last in a series of four programmes.
For all Time. How the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 inspired the Bard to write Macbeth. Plus his strange bequest to his wife.

TUESDAY 6th
Five 7.15pm
Brian Sewell‘s Grand Tour.
Fourth in a series of five programmes.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, no young English nobleman’s education was complete without a ‘grand tour’ of Europe to learn about art, architecture and life itself.
BS heads towards Rome along the Via Cassia. On the way he samples the local chianti and stops at Siena, taking in its glorious 14th-century cathedral , and pauses to marvel at Luca Sicnorelli’s “Last Judgement” inside Orvieto cathedral, which influenced both Michelangelo and Raphael. His penultimate location before the capital is Bomarzo, home of a fantastical sculpture park.

WEDNESDAY 7th
BBC 2 9.00pm
Rome.
Sixth in a series of eleven programmes.
The conflict between Pompey and Caesar finally erupts into bloody battle. Meanwhile Atia schemes to safeguard her family’s position. With violence, strong language and scenes of a sexual nature.



Time Team on Discovery.

A Time Team programme is scheduled for 7.00am on Saturday 3rd.

There are showings on Discovery this week, from Monday - Friday at 5.00pm.

There are also Time Team programmes listed on the new “More 4” channel ….

Saturday 3rd
Time Team
6.05pm
From Wemyss Caves near the Firth of forth, a search for a Pictish settlement. (repeated at 2.45pm on Sunday 4th).

And at 6.00pm weekdays:-

Monday A Roman fort between the Kent coast and London?
Tuesday Green Island in Poole Harbour.
Wednesday Mediaeval iron-working in a Staffordshire valley.
Thursday The beach of the River Severn.
Friday An IA hill fort at Wittenham.

I also noticed that the Durrington special had a second airing last night - so this Channel (More 4) seems to be one to watch out for if you miss any programmes. I wouldn't mind betting that there will be repeats of the next new series on weekdays.

From Radio Times 9th - 16th December 2005


SATURDAY 9th
BBC 2 8.50pm
Auschwitz: the Nazis & the “Final Solution”
Last in a series of six programmes.
Liberation and Revenge. The reality of life in the concentration camps was revealed upon the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau and Bergen-Belsen in 1945. But what was the fate of the remaining prisoners and the SS garrisons? The final days of the war and its immediate aftermath is a story as shocking as it is surprising, with Jewish survivors facing appalling treatment in their home countries and large numbers of SS perpetrators remaining hidden.

Channel 4 7.00pm
The Real Patron Saints.
Dr Robert Beckford takes an in-depth look at the myths surrounding the four patron saints of Great Britain and Ireland. Surprisingly, only one of the four came from the country he represents - two never even set foot in the British Isles. Beckford discovers that these saints are relevant figures even today, still venerated across a wide geographical and religious spectrum. Saint George, for instance, is also the patron saint of Catalonia, Moscow and Turkey.

SUNDAY 11th
BBC 1 7.00pm
The Story of God.
Second in a series of three programmes.
Professor Robert Winston explores the fascinating history of mankind’s search for the divine.
No God, but God. RW explores Judaism, Christianity and Islam as he continues to chart the history of mankind’s search for the divine. Which ideas do these Abrahamic faiths share, and what are the issues that divide them? How does God want us to live? If God created humanity, why does He allow his people to suffer? Winston travels to Jerusalem, Rome and Iran to find out.

Channel 4 8.00pm
Not Forgotten.
Third in a series of four programmes.
Survivors. Ian Hislop follows the stories of some of the 5 million men who fought in, and survived, WWI. For them, talk of a postwar “land fit for heroes” proved to be a hollow promise. Often hampered by physical disabilities as a result of injuries sustained during the conflict, or psychologically scarred by their wartime experiences, many returned home not to pick up the pieces where they had left off, but to face the twin demons of poverty and unemployment. Indeed, their suffering was so great great that by 1919, many among the British public had begun to question the reasons for war.

MONDAY 12th
BBC 2 8.00pm
Around the World in 80 Treasures.
In this revised repeat in which Dan Cruickshank continues his journey to find man’s greatest man-made treasures, and turns Indiana Jones, hunting for the legendary Ark of the Covenant - the greta gold box that held the original Ten Commandments. His journey takes him from Jordan to the Holy Lands of Israel and Palestine and finally to Ethiopia - Africa’s Garden of Eden.

Channel 4 8.00pm
Opus Dei and the Da Vinci Code
Former monk Mark Dowd gains unprecedented access to the inner workings of Opus Dei, the secretive Christian organisation ade infamous by Dan Brown’s international bestseller “The Da Vinci Code”. taking the hugely popular novel as his starting point, Dowd explores the history surrounding the notoriously tight-lipped religious order and tries to separate fact from fiction. Does Opus Dei deserve its sinister portrayal, or is it just a conservative religious movement trying to drag itself into the 21st century?

TUESDAY 13th
Five 7.15pm
Brian Sewell‘s Grand Tour.
Last in a series of five programmes.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, no young English nobleman’s education was complete without a ‘grand tour’ of Europe to learn about art, architecture and life itself.
The art critic and historian arrives in Rome on the final leg of his journey, but remains distinctly unmoved by the experience. Regarding such world-famous tourist attractions as the Trevi Fountain and Coliseum as cliched, Sewell is none the less in awe at the Vatican as he admires Michelangelo’s sculpture Pieta. Finally, like the Grand tourists before him, he has his portrait painted.

Five 8.00pm
Bad Boys of the Blitz: Revealed.
The dark days of WWII offered a steady stream of ill-gotten gains for British crooks. Here, unrepentant criminals such as “Mad” Frankie Fraser and Roy Hill get dewy-eyed about the black market, prostitution and thieving rackets that thrived while the rest of the nation was busy fighting the Nazis.

WEDNESDAY 14th
BBC 2 9.00pm
Rome.
Seventh in a series of eleven programmes.
Caesar‘s fevered pursuit of Pompey takes him to Egypt, where he makes a terrible discovery. Pullo and Vorenus seek Cleopatra - only to be drawn into a secret that must never be revealed. With violence, strong language and scenes of a sexual nature.



Time Team on Discovery.

A Time Team programme is scheduled for 7.00am on Saturday 10th.

There are showings on Discovery this week, from Monday - Friday at 5.00pm.

There is also a Time Team programme listed on the new “More 4” channel ….

Saturday 10th
Time Team
6.15pm
The team have three days to redraw the historical map of St Osyth, a picturesque town on the Essex coast. (repeated at 2.20pm on Sunday 11th).