SATURDAY 11th Channel 4 7.00pm The First World War. Jihad. The Ottoman Empire began the war as the ally that nobody wanted, but became a major force on the German side, winning at Gallipoli after terrible losses on both sides and forcing the British into a humiliating surrender at Kut, south of Baghdad. This programme recalls the Ottoman Empire's controversial call for jihad against the Allies in November 1914 and charts its attempts to win back lost Ottoman lands and its desire to restablish a Turkic empire in the east
Channel 4 8.00pm Tony Robinson's Romans. Three legendary Roman emperors - Nero, Caesar and Caligula - are the subjects of a four-part historical series presented by Time Team host Tony Robinson. This week Tony looks at the most infamous of them all - Nero. He had a well-connected childhood as the nephew of Caligula and came to power at the tender age of 16. Treated like a rock star, he cut a glamorous figure at court, yet the enormous power he wielded was slowly but surely corrupting him. His mother was found murdered, he caused public resentment by imposing new taxes, and he used the burgeoning Christian sect as a scapegoat.
SUNDAY 12th ITV 1 9.00pm Henry VIII. Ray Winstone leads an all-star cast in this two-part historical drama. A 17-year-old Henry is called to his father's deathbed and told in no uncertain terms to produce a male heir. Concludes next Sunday.
MONDAY 13th BBC 1 9.00pm Colosseum - Rome's Arena of Death. Dramatised documentary about a real-life gladiator, Verus, who fought during the opening games of the Colosseum in Rome in AD 80. Using spectacular stunt fights and computer-generated images of ancient Rome, the programme follows Verus from humble slave to stardom in the gladatorial arena while also telling the story of Rome's magnificent building.
BBC 2 7.30pm (In Scotland only) Landscape Mysteries. Eight-part series with Aubrey Manning showing viewers how to unravel the secrets of the landscape. Britain Before the Ice Age. What was Britain's landscape like before the last Ice Age? In his third investigation, AM's starting point is a 29,000-year-old skeleton, found in a cave on the Welsh coast. In nearby caves, stalactites, bones and long-buried insects conjure up a very different Britain.
Channel 4 8.00pm Speed Machines. The fourth in an eight-part series looking at the history of fast machines. Each episode focuses on a different mode of transport. This programme turns it attention to the fast, furious and often deadly powerboat races of the 1920s and 1930s - a period when huge crowds of spectators would partake of the vicarious thrill from high-speed racing on water.
TUESDAY 14th BBC 2 7.30pm Time Flyers. Archaeologists Mark Horton and Dave MacLeod are joined by military expert Ellie Goldsworthy for the first in an eight-part series of aerial insights into Britain's history. Fooling Hitler. The team examine evidence of a remarkable WWII hoax on the edge of the Humber.
BBC 2 8.00pm What The Industrial Revolution Did For Us. Second of six programmes in which Dan Cruickshank explores one of the most inventive periods in history. Working Wonders. How inventions, including the steam engine, transformed the world of work.
BBC 2 8.30pm Hidden Treasure Saxons, Vikings and Monsters. Last autumn, a gold Anglo-Saxon sword handle was unearthed from a cold and windswept Lincolnshire field. Nothing like this has been found since the discovery of the Sutton Hoo burial site in 1939. Miranda Krestovnikoff and the team investigates.
Five 7.30pm The Glory of Gothic. A documentary profiling the V & A's exhibition "Gothic: Art for England 1400-1547", which opened in London last Thursday. Over 300 objets d'art from the war-torn late medieval period are on display - including jewellery, tapestries, sculptures, and paintings - which combine to evoke an impression of one of England's richest artistic eras.
WEDNESDAY 15th Five 7.30pm Heroes of WWII The Man Who Saved Britain's Cities. Nigel Spivey tells the story of RV Jones, the research scientist whose brilliance helped to foil the Luftwaffe's bombing strategies during WWII.
THURSDAY 16th BBC 2 7.30pm (England) Landscape Mysteries. Eight-part series with Aubrey Manning showing viewers how to unravel the secrets of the landscape. Britain Before the Ice Age. What was Britain's landscape like before the last Ice Age? In his third investigation, AM's starting point is a 29,000-year-old skeleton, found in a cave on the Welsh coast. In nearby caves, stalactites, bones and long-buried insects conjure up a very different Britain.
BBC 2 8.00pm Time Commanders. In 216 BC, Cannae in southern Italy is the setting for a meeting between a young African general with big ideas and more than 70,000 Roman soldiers assembled to crush his invasion. Can a team of Bedfordshire police officers inflict a humiliating defeat on Rome by recreating the tactical genius of Hannibal?
BBC 2 9.00pm Seven Wonders of the Industrial World. Drama-documentary series, focusing on some of the key technological achievements of the industrial age. The Hoover Dam. The Colorado River is one of the most dangerous and unpredictable rivers in the world. Last in the series tells the tale of of how 100 lives were lost when the ruthless Frank Crowe strived to tame the raging river with the Hoover Dam.
BBC 2 9.50pm Industrial Nation. The last of four (ten minute) programmes in which Adam Hart-Davis meets fans with a passion for reconstructing the heritage of the industrial revolution.
Five 7.30pm Great Artists with Tim Marlow. A 12-part run for the series in which art historian and writer Marlow evaluates the life and work of major artists. Goya. Examining the visionary, satirical. provocative and innovative work of the great Spanish master Francisco Goya.
FRIDAY 17rd BBC 2 7.30pm This Land. In Scotland ........ The Lakes. South of the Border ........ Snowdonia.
Five 7.30pm Mission To The Deep. Mystery of the Marie Celeste. Explorers search for the remains of the legendary "ghost ship" abandoned in the Atlantic over 100 years ago.
Five 8.00pm Ancient Murder Mysteries. Headless Warriors. What happened to the skulls from the 2,000-year-old headless bodies of Celtic warriors found in France? Archaeologist Martin Brown thinks he has the answer.
TIME TEAM REPEATS ON DISCOVERY
A TT programme is scheduled for 7.00am and 5.00pm on Saturday 11th and 7.00am and 7.00pm on Sunday 12th.
Monday London. Tuesday Bath. Wednesday Athelney. Thursday Kew. Friday Featuring a rare Bronze Age cemetery in Fife.
And don't forget - UKHistory has a full schedule of historical/archaeological programmes for those with access to digital, satellite or cable. Voted best new channel of the year 2003.
I find it really strange that broadcasters want to keep us guessing about when they are going to screen series we want to see. Do they assume we have no outside lives and as such can drop everything at the last minute to watch programmes they've decided to show with little or no notice?
The same goes for scheduling a programme on one channel in direct conpetition with a similar show on another. Do they really think we'll 'choose' which channel we like best and just watch that!
Robert - I have (for the first time) bought the BBC History magazine this month. It will go a long way towards what you are looking for. It gives an overview of upcoming programmes about a month ahead and also mentions some of the stuff that appears on the cable/satellite channels. Doesn't seem to do much for the terrestrial independent channels though - wonder why?
SATURDAY 18th Channel 4 7.00pm The First World War. Shackled to a Corpse. The war played out on the Eastern front is the focus of the fifth part of the documentary series charting the Great War. A highly mobile conflict fought across brutal terrain from the Urals to the Alps, the war on the Eastern Front was a bitter racial battle between Slav and Teuton. It also initiated many horrors of 20th century military action with chemical weapons, the mass expulsions of civilians and the persecution of Jews being used as instruments of warfare.
Channel 4 8.00pm Fact or Fiction: Robin Hood. A one-off documentary in which Tony Robinson travels all over England - from Yorkshire to Shropshire, Warwickshire, Kirklees Priory, and finally to Sherwood Forest - to uncover the fact behind the fiction of the legend that is Robin Hood. With the help of historic records, experts' contributions and ancient ballads, TR looks to answer a number of questions. Did Robin actually exist? Did he really steal from the rich to give to the poor? And who were the merry men?
SUNDAY 19th BBC 2 8.00pm Concorde: a Love Story - Timewatch. Due to be taken out of service on Friday, the world's only supersonic passenger plane is finally brought to ground. But our love affair with Concorde looks set to endure for years to come. Celebrity frequent fliers, engineers, pilots and stewardesses tell the story of an icon.
ITV 1 9.00pm Henry VIII. Ray Winstone leads an all-star cast in this historical drama. Violence rages throughout the kingdom as the public backlash against the reform of the Church reaches its peak.
MONDAY 20th BBC 1 9.00pm Pompeii - the Last Day Dramatised reconstruction that uses full-scale special effects to re-enact one of the most destructive volcanic eruptions in history. Two thousand years ago, in under 24 hours, the Roman city of Pompeii and at least 5,000 of its people were obliterated by the molten lava spewing forth from Mount Vesuvius.
BBC 2 7.30pm (In Scotland only) Landscape Mysteries. Eight-part series with Aubrey Manning showing viewers how to unravel the secrets of the landscape. Secrets of the Flood. Did people once live in what is now a lost landscape in the Solent? With objects coming to light at low tide, AM explores the secret of a mysterious flood off the south coast of England. He travels to Scotland, where incredible changes in sea-level appear to be linked with those at the other end of the country.
Channel 4 8.00pm Speed Machines. The fifth in an eight-part series looking at the history of fast machines. Each episode focuses on a different mode of transport. This programme focusses its attention on the race to break the sound barrier - which was often highly dangerous and began in earnest during WWII, when the British uncovered German plans for a 1,000mph aircraft.
TUESDAY 21st BBC 2 7.30pm Time Flyers. Super Rich Roman Britain. While a team of archaeologists excavate a sumptuous Roman villa complex hidden beneath a school playing field in Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire, Mark Horton, Jo Caruth and Dave MacLeod take to the skies to investigate who could have owned such a lavish home.
BBC 2 8.00pm What The Industrial Revolution Did For Us. Third of six programmes in which Dan Cruickshank explores one of the most inventive periods in history. On The Move. In 1750 transport was as basic as it had been at the time of the Romans. 100 years later, Britain was the hub of global locomotion.
BBC 2 8.30pm Hidden Treasure Find of the Series. There's another chance to marvel at a range of British treasure-troves, from Roman gold to Iron Age coins, as a panel of experts assembles for the last of the series to select their favourite archaeological find.
WEDNESDAY 22nd Five 7.30pm Heroes of WWII The Man Who Hoodwinked Hitler. Nigel Spivey tells the story of Ewen Montague, the intelligence officer who devised a cunning plan, involving faked top-secret documents, that enabled the Allies to invade Sicily.
Five 8.00pm Alexander the Great's Mysterious Death: Revealed. Macedonian king Alexander the Great was one of the greatest empire builders in history, but the circumstances of his death in 323 BC remain shrouded in mystery. Was he struck down by a virus, or poisoned by his enemies? Scotland Yard's Commander John Grieve examines the evidence.
THURSDAY 23rd BBC 2 7.30pm (England) Landscape Mysteries. Eight-part series with Aubrey Manning showing viewers how to unravel the secrets of the landscape. Secrets of the Flood. Did people once live in what is now a lost landscape in the Solent? With objects coming to light at low tide, AM explores the secret of a mysterious flood off the south coast of England. He travels to Scotland, where in incredible changes in sea-level appear to be linked with those at the other end of the country.
BBC 2 8.00pm Time Commanders. The Battle of Raphia in 217 BC saw two nearly identical armies led by heirs of Alexander the Great clash for control of the border territories that separated their rival kingdoms. Will tonight's team of modern day commanders match the winning tactics of Egypt's Ptolemy IV, or will the might of Seleucid king Antiochos III prevail?
Five 7.30pm Great Artists with Tim Marlow. A 12-part run for the series in which art historian and writer Marlow evaluates the life and work of major artists. David. This week Jacques Louis David, the French painter famed for his iconic neo-classical portraits of Napoleon Bonaparte in the 1800s.
FRIDAY 24th BBC 2 7.30pm (Scotland only) This Land. Black Isle.
BBC 2 9.00pm Zulu: The True Story - Timewatch. One of the most effective cover-ups in British military history is explored. Battle re-enactments on location, and dramatisation of Queen Victoria's journals illustrate the story of how, in what is now South Africa, the British Army suffered its most humiliating defeat.
Five 7.30pm Mission To The Deep. Quest for Nazi Gold. One man's search for lost Nazi booty.
Five 8.00pm Ancient Murder Mysteries. Mutilated skeletons of Peru. Research accounting for the mutilated skeltons left behind by the Moche Indians, who lived in northern Peru.
TIME TEAM REPEATS ON DISCOVERY
A TT programme is scheduled for 7.00am and 5.00pm on Saturday 18th and 7.00am and 7.00pm on Sunday 19th.
Monday Castle Howard in North Yorkshire. Tuesday A possible Roman town near Sedgefield. Wednesday A prisoner treadmill from 1771. Thursday Prehistoric timbers in London. Friday Was Ancaster a major Roman settlement?
And don't forget - UKHistory has a full schedule of historical/archaeological programmes for those with access to digital, satellite or cable. Voted best new channel of the year 2003.
SATURDAY 25th BBC 2 4.00pm The Great War. A rerun of this epic 26-part series, updated for broadcasting on both digital and analogue channels. First shown in 1964, the series - showing on both BBC 2 and BBC 4 - uses eyewitness accounts and archive film to bring to life the 1914 - 1918 conflict. Narrated by Michael Redgrave. Surely We Have Perished. On the Western Front in 1917, the British fought alone for three-and-a-half months during one of the wettest summers Flanders has ever seen. The horrific battle of Passchendale features in episode 17.
Channel 4 7.00pm The First World War. Breaking the Deadlock. Covering the years from 1915 to 1917 on the Western Front, the sixth part of the series charting WWI provides a new insight into how the conflict played out in Europe. Rather than being a stalemate that left soldiers immobile in their trenches, life was characterised by innovation and counter-innovation, and rather than the machine gun or the tank becoming the key weapon, it was the artillery that came to the fore.
Channel 4 8.00pm Harem The closed world of the Ottoman harem in the 16th century is the subject of the first of this two-part documentary. In this period the Ottoman turks ruled the greatest Islamic empire ever known, with Istanbul at its hub. Deemed the property of the sultan, hundreds of women were captured and brought to the Imperial Palace situated in the capital. But one woman, Aleksandra Lisowska, the daughter of a Russian Orthodox priest, managed to steal the heart of the greatest sultan of all. This is her story.
MONDAY 27th BBC 1 9.00pm Looking for Victoria. Prunella Scales is both presenter and star of this two-part dramatised documentary portrait of Queen Victoria. This opener charts her traumatic childhood years, coronation at the tender age of 18 and, barely a year later, marriage to her beloved first cousin, Albert.
BBC 2 7.30pm (In Scotland only) Landscape Mysteries. Eight-part series with Aubrey Manning showing viewers how to unravel the secrets of the landscape. The Tower People of Shetland. A series of monumental stone towers, called "brochs", once dominated the landscape of Shetland. But their origins are a mystery. AM explores who might have built them and what they could have been for.
Channel 4 8.00pm Speed Machines. The sixth in an eight-part series looking at the history of fast machines. Each episode focuses on a different mode of transport. This programme focusses on the golden age of the clipper, when high speed vessels such as the "Cutty Sark" faced perils such as typhoons and pirates on their 15,000-mile journey home from China. In 1866 the great tea race was fought between 16 clippers and resulted in the eclipsing of the previous record time.
TUESDAY 28th BBC 2 7.30pm Time Flyers. Clash of the Clans. As excavations take place at the ancient sea fort of Dun Eisdean on the Hebridean island of Lewis, the team make an aerial investigation of the bloody 16th century feud between the clans Morrison and MacLeod.
BBC 2 8.00pm What The Industrial Revolution Did For Us. Fourth of six programmes in which Dan Cruickshank explores one of the most inventive periods in history. Modern Medicine. At the start of the Industrial Revolution disease was rife and the average life expectancy was just 36 years. DC recalls the work of the pioneers of medical science who changed this and considers the moral and social questions that arose from modernisation.
BBC 2 8.30pm Days That Shook The World. New series featuring dramatic explorations of global events that had a resounding historical impact, hour-by-hour, as they unfold. Kristallnacht. Recalling the terrible events of November 9 1938 - "the night of the broken glass" - that marked the beginning of Germany's slide into the abyss of the Holocaust.
WEDNESDAY 29th Five 7.30pm Heroes of WWII The Men Who Liberated Belsen. The story of the Allied liberation of Belsen concentration camp in April 1945, which finally exposed the appalling truth about the Nazi's "Final Solution"
THURSDAY 30th BBC 2 7.30pm (England) Landscape Mysteries. Eight-part series with Aubrey Manning showing viewers how to unravel the secrets of the landscape.
Five 7.30pm Great Artists with Tim Marlow. A 12-part run for the series in which art historian and writer Marlow evaluates the life and work of major artists. Constable. The art historian turns his attention to John Constable, one of England's greatest landscape artists, and the painter of such enduring images as The Hay Wain.
Five 8.00pm Young Elizabeth. The first in a two-part documentary tracing the life of the young Queen Elizabeth II, from her childhood to her accession. Tonight's programme looks at the influence on the young Elizabeth of her grandmother, Queen Mary, and the princess's first meeting with her future husband, Prince Phillip.
FRIDAY 31st BBC 2 7.30pm (Scotland only) This Land. Snowdonia.
BBC 2 9.00pm The Greatest Storm - Timewatch. Freak weather conditions on 31st January 1953 led to a massive storm that cut a destructive swathe across the North Sea coastlines of Britain and the Netherlands. Over 2,000 people were killed and thousands more left homeless in the worst national peacetime disaster of the 20th century. This documentary charts the course of events, uncovering poignant stories of heroism and suffering, and asks how this catastrophe came to be forgotten so quickly.
Five 7.30pm Mission To The Deep. Treasures of the Iron Age. Charting the discovery of well-preserved remains of two 3,000-year-old Phoenician trading ships.
TIME TEAM REPEATS ON DISCOVERY
A TT programme is scheduled for 7.00am and 5.00pm on Saturday 25th and 7.00am and 7.00pm on Sunday 26th.
Monday A beautiful jar found amongst the seaweed at Kinlochbervie, Scotland. Tuesday A 13th-century unisex monastery. Wednesday Ironbridge Gorge, Shropshire. Thursday A Roman site in Cheshunt, Hetfordshire. Friday An Iron Age chamber in Cornwall
And don't forget - UKHistory has a full schedule of historical/archaeological programmes for those with access to digital, satellite or cable. Voted best new channel of the year 2003.
SATURDAY 1st Channel 4 7.00pm The First World War. Blockade. The seventh part of the series charting WWI investigates how naval engagements during the conflict were played out, with German submarines turning the North Sea into a no-go area, and the British blockading Europe to starve the enemy out. Also detailed is the story of the British code-breakers who deciphered the Zimmermann telegram, an act that threw a reluctant America into battle with its revelation that Germany was encouraging Mexico to attack the country.
Channel 4 8.00pm Harem After Suleyman the Magnificent fell for a slave girl, life in the Ottoman imperial harem changed for ever and the women were no longer completely without power. However, as the conclusion of this two-part documentary shows, influence could not be wielded as a concubine but rather under a maternal guise. A breed of powerful queen mothers followed and, in the 17th century, Kosem - "the ram who leads the sheep" - virtually became a female sultan.
MONDAY 3rd BBC 1 9.00pm Looking for Victoria. Prunella Scales is both presenter and star of this two-part dramatised documentary portrait of Queen Victoria. While grief-stricken by the death of Prince Albert, Queen Victoria's long years of widowhood were not devoid of intimacy. This conclusion examines the queen's close bonds with Scottish ghillie John Brown and Indian servant "the Munshi".
BBC 2 7.30pm (In Scotland only) Landscape Mysteries. Eight-part series with Aubrey Manning showing viewers how to unravel the secrets of the landscape. The Abandoned Marsh. AM visits Kent's Romney Marsh to uncover the truth behind behind the stories of communities lost at sea. Ruined buildings in the middle of fields are testament to the thriving towns that existed in the 13th century, but the evidence shows that a series of natural disasters wrought great changes on the landscape and its inhabitants.
Channel 4 8.00pm Speed Machines. The penultimate installment in the series looking at the history of fast machines. Each episode focuses on a different mode of transport. This programme looks back at motor-racing in the 1920s and 1930s, with a focus on the intense rivalry between Bentley and Mercedes. Just as Bentley's glory years were in full swing, Mercedes challenged its superiority, with the backing of Hitler and the Third Reich.
TUESDAY 4th BBC 2 7.30pm Time Flyers. The Stonehenge of the North. Investigating the arrangement of giant earthworks, banks and ditches that dominates a wide swathe of the landscape of North Yorkshire and stretches for over a mile.
BBC 2 8.00pm What The Industrial Revolution Did For Us. Fifth of six programmes in which Dan Cruickshank explores one of the most inventive periods in history. War Machine. How did mechanisation and mass production transform the battlefield?
BBC 2 8.30pm Days That Shook The World. New series featuring dramatic explorations of global events that had a resounding historical impact, hour-by-hour, as they unfold. Romanovs. Communism was arguably born on the night of July 16th 1918 in Russia, when Tsar Nicholas II and the Romanov family faced their last stand as they were placed under house arrest while civil war raged outside.
BBC 2 9.00pm The Victoria Cross: for Valour. In 1944 Major Robert Cain won what was described as the finest VC of WWII. In an effort to find out what Cain did to win his medal and to discover what it takes to be a VC winner, Jeremy Clarkson travels to the scene of the battle, talks to military experts and meets eyewitnesses. He also meets some of the 15 living recipients of an honour that has been conferred only 1,354 times.
WEDNESDAY 5th Five 7.30pm Heroes of WWII The Men Who Lit Up Germany. A tribute to the pilots of the RAF's Pathfinder Squadron, whose navigational skills and bravery enabled Britain to gain an aerial advantage over Germany.
THURSDAY 6th BBC 2 7.30pm (England) Landscape Mysteries. Eight-part series with Aubrey Manning showing viewers how to unravel the secrets of the landscape. The Abandoned Marsh. AM visits Kent's Romney Marsh to uncover the truth behind behind the stories of communities lost at sea. Ruined buildings in the middle of fields are testament to the thriving towns that existed in the 13th century, but the evidence shows that a series of natural disasters wrought great changes on the landscape and its inhabitants.
Channel 4 9.00pm The Queen's Lost Uncle. The Queen's father, King George VI, and her uncle, King Edward VIII, are both major figures in history, but they had another brother who remains more of an enigma. Prince George, the Duke of Kent, who was killed in a mysterious air crash in 1942 at the age of just 39. This film focusses on the scandals that surrounded him during his life and on the secret mission that occupied him at the time of his death.
Five 7.30pm Great Artists with Tim Marlow. A 12-part run for the series in which art historian and writer Marlow evaluates the life and work of major artists. Delacroix. In the last programme of the series, TM turns the spotlight on 19th century French artist Eugene Delacroix, whose powerful romantic works inspired a late renaissance in history painting.
Five 8.00pm Young Elizabeth. Second in a two-part documentary tracing the life of the young Queen Elizabeth II, from her childhood to her accession. Tonight's programme looks at the strain felt by the future queen as the realities of war sank in, coupled with the declining health of her father and the duties of being a naval officer's wife.
FRIDAY 7th BBC 2 9.00pm The Last Tomb Raider - Timewatch. Circus strongman-turned-adventurer Giovanni Belzoni filled the British Museum with some of Egypt's greatest treasures. But as a result of a bitter feud he died in obscurity This docudrama advances the case for Belzoni as one of Egyptology's founding fathers. Followed by a 10-minute Egyptology snippet
Five 7.30pm Mission To The Deep. WWI's Deadliest U-Boat. Following the quest to find the wreck of German captain Otto Hersing's famed U-21 submarine.
TIME TEAM REPEATS ON DISCOVERY
A TT programme is scheduled for 7.00am and 5.00pm on Saturday 1st and 7.00am and 7.00pm on Sunday 2nd.
Monday The Team is at High Ercall, Shropshire. Tuesday Throckmorton in Worcestershire. Wednesday Castleford. Thursday Seeking remnants of a medieval castle. Friday ????
And don't forget - UKHistory has a full schedule of historical/archaeological programmes for those with access to digital, satellite or cable. Voted best new channel of the year 2003.
SATURDAY 8th BBC 2 4.45pm The Great War. A rerun of this epic 26-part series, updated for broadcasting on both digital and analogue channels. First shown in 1964, the series - showing on both BBC 2 and BBC 4 - uses eyewitness accounts and archive film to bring to life the 1914 - 1918 conflict. Narrated by Michael Redgrave. Fat Rodzyanko Has Sent Me Some Nonsense. The Russian Revolution heartens the Allies in Episode 18.
Channel 4 7.00pm The First World War. Revolution. The eighth part of the series charting WWI examines the role played by insurgency. Enemy agents on both sides sought to foment rebellion, taking advantage of the increasing civil unrest in their adversaries' countries. Britain helped the Arabs revolt against Turkish rule, while Germany backed Irish independence and funded Lenin's coup d'etat in Russia. The ability to instigate revolution was to become a powerful weapon of war.
SUNDAY 9th ITV 1 11.05pm The Adventure of English (continuing the series begun earlier this year) Documentary series tracing the development of the English language. The final four programmes follow the remarkable journey which turned a local dialect into a language spoken worldwide. Presented by Melvyn Bragg.
MONDAY 10th Channel 4 8.00pm Speed Machines. The final installment in the series looking at the history of fast machines. Each episode focuses on a different mode of transport. This programme looks back at the intense rivalry between Malcolm Campbell and Harry Segrave as they battled to break the land-speed record during the 1920s and 1930s.
TUESDAY 11th BBC 2 7.30pm Time Flyers. Millionaire Monks. The British countryside is littered with the remains of mediaeval Cistercian abbeys and churches. But far from being isolated prayer houses, these abbeys were hives of industrial activity and home to some of the most astute and wealthiest businessmen of their day.
BBC 2 8.00pm What The Industrial Revolution Did For Us. Last of six programmes in which Dan Cruickshank explores one of the most inventive periods in history. City Living. With the Industrial Revolution came the urban middle-class - and home life was to change irrevocably.
BBC 2 8.30pm Royal Gardeners. New series - Alan Titchmarsh digs deep into 1,000 years of royal gardening, uncovering the stories behind them and the monarchs who created them. The first of six episodes focusses on a mediaeval safari park and Britain's oldest lawn.
THURSDAY 13th BBC 2 7.30pm (England only - to be shown next Monday in Scotland) Landscape Mysteries. Eight-part series with Aubrey Manning showing viewers how to unravel the secrets of the landscape. The Riddle of the Yorkshire Tracks. AM visits Whitby to examine possibly Britain's first ever chemical industry. It seems the rutted foreshore at Ravenscar is the result of quarrying for shale, which in turn yielded alum, a vital component in the cloth-dyeing industry of the early 17th century.
BBC 2 11.20pm Peacemakers. In January 1919 delegates from all over the world came to Paris to decide the peace settlements that would end WWI. But was the Treaty of Versailles a short-sighted settlement or one offering leniency and compromise?
Channel 4 9.00pm Ancient Egyptians. Extraordinary true stories from the age of the Pharaohs are brought to life in this lavish new dramatised documentary series using location location filming and cutting-edge visual effects. The Battle of Megiddo. In the first of four films, young Pharaoh Tuthmosis III must defend his country from the might of a Syrian warlord.
FRIDAY 14th BBC 2 9.00pm Mystery of the Missing Ace - Timewatch. (In England - to be shown on Saturday in Scotland). Revealing the extraordinary detective story behind the disappearance in 1944 of highly-decorated pilot Wing Commander Adrian Warburton, whose vanishing, at the age of 26, sparked a 60-year mystery. Followed by The Rise and Fall (10-minutes)
BBC 2 9.00pm (In Scotland only) The Sword and The Cross. A new four-part series on the dramatic story of how Christianity has shaped the history of Scotland. Columba - Warrior Abbot. From turmoil and bloodshed in the first millennium AD, the nation was born. At the heart of the story is the enigmatic Columba - seemingly a mild-mannered saint, but a man with a troubled past and ties to a violent world.
TIME TEAM REPEATS ON DISCOVERY
A TT programme is scheduled for 7.00am and 5.00pm on Saturday 8th and 7.00am and 7.00pm on Sunday 9th.
Monday A sixth-century bucket found in Breamore, Hampshire. Tuesday A Saxon skeleton in Northamptonshire. Wednesday A cliff-top mound in the Shetland Isles. Thursday A collection of human bones in a cave in the Peak District. Friday Liberty's first factory in the south of London.
And don't forget - UKHistory has a full schedule of historical/archaeological programmes for those with access to digital, satellite or cable. Voted best new channel of the year 2003.
SATURDAY 15th BBC 2 5.00pm The Great War. A rerun of this epic 26-part series, updated for broadcasting on both digital and analogue channels. First shown in 1964, the series - showing on both BBC 2 and BBC 4 - uses eyewitness accounts and archive film to bring to life the 1914 - 1918 conflict. Narrated by Michael Redgrave. The Hell Where Youth and Laughter Go. Episode 19 recounts the war's terrible effects; not just the scale of the loss of life but also the toll it took upon the human spirit.
BBC 2 10.45pm Mystery of the Missing Ace - Timewatch. (In Scotland only). Revealing the extraordinary detective story behind the disappearance in 1944 of highly-decorated pilot Wing Commander Adrian Warburton, whose vanishing, at the age of 26, sparked a 60-year mystery.
Channel 4 7.00pm The First World War. Germany's Last Gamble. The penultimate part of the series charting the Great War focusses on Germany's bid to win the war before the Americans arrived in force. The success of Germany's military strategy in the summer of 1918 demoralised the Allies, and the offensive on the Western Front forced the British Fifth Army into defeat. But the stage was set for change as Germany's allies began to wither, German civillian life saw the spread of socialist ideology and the army suffered from a lack of direction and supplies.
Channel 4 8.00pm Seven Ages of Britain. Making the LAnd. This new seven-part series following the development of British Society from the Stone Age to the Industrial Revolution begins with a look at the role played by the country's physical environment. In 6,000 BC, as global warming transformed Britain into an island and generated a huge increase in forest growth, humankind's relationship with nature had to be re-evaluated. Presented by historian Bettany Hughes.
SUNDAY 16th BBC 1 9.00pm Charles II - the Power and the Passion. A four-part dramatisation of the life of the charismatic monarch. In 1660, after years of exile, Charles II is restored to the throne of England.
ITV 1 11.05pm The Adventure of English Documentary series tracing the development of the English language. Melvyn Bragg recalls how self-appointed experts created rules of grammar, pronounciation and vocabulary.
MONDAY 17th BBC 2 7.30pm (Scotland only) Landscape Mysteries. Eight-part series with Aubrey Manning showing viewers how to unravel the secrets of the landscape. The Riddle of the Yorkshire Tracks. AM visits Whitby to examine possibly Britain's first ever chemical industry. It seems the rutted foreshore at Ravenscar is the result of quarrying for shale, which in turn yielded alum, a vital component in the cloth-dyeing industry of the early 17th century.
TUESDAY 18th BBC 2 7.30pm Time Flyers. Scotland's Exodus. The dark truth behind Scotland's empty wilderness is revealed in the last of the second series of aerial insights into Britain's history. In the far north, the team find a tale of cruelty inflicted by rich and powerful landlords.
BBC 2 8.00pm What The Industrial Revolution Did For Us - the Roadshow. Last of the series features an event from Ironbridge Gorge in Shropshire - the heart of the Industrial Revolution - where Adam Hart-Davis meets those keeping the legacy of the industrial pioneers alive.
BBC 2 8.30pm Royal Gardeners. During Elizabethan times, the aim was to outdo one's neighbour and to impress the Queen. In the second of his series Alan Titchmarsh digs deep into 1,000 years of royal gardening, uncovering the stories behind them and the monarchs who created them. Here he investigates the late 1500s, which saw house and garden design advance with the appearance of steam-powered water features, terraces and gazebos.
THURSDAY 20th BBC 2 7.30pm (In England only) Landscape Mysteries. The Terraces of Avalon.
BBC 2 9.00pm Horizon Bible Code. American journalist-turned-author Michael Drosnin claims he can predict the future using a 3,000-year-old code hidden within the Bible. With professed scientific backing from a theoretical mathematician, Drosnin believes that Armageddon could take place in 2006, while in 1994 he accurately predicted the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, a year before it happened. Could he have stumbled upon one of the most important discoveries ever made? Horizon puts the Bible Code to the test.
Channel 4 9.00pm Ancient Egyptians. Extraordinary true stories from the age of the Pharaohs are brought to life in this lavish new dramatised documentary series using location location filming and cutting-edge visual effects. Tomb Raiders. Quarryman Amenpanufer was arrested and tried for robbing the tombs of the Pharaohs at Thebes in 1110 BC.
Channel 4 11.15pm Forbidden Fruit. Beginning a three-part series charting the history of interracial relationships in Britain. The first programme recalls abusive sexual relationships amid the brutality of plantation life, the arrival of many former slaves in Britain during the eighteenth century and any tolerance of interracial relationships ending in the days of Empire.
FRIDAY 21st BBC 2 9.00pm (In England only - to be shown on Saturday 22nd in Scotland) Timewatch - Britain's Greatest Hoax. For 40 years the science world was hoodwinked by a forged "missing link" between ape and man. But who was responsible for the "Piltdown Man" hoax?
BBC 2 9.00pm (In Scotland only) The Sword and The Cross. A four-part series on the dramatic story of how Christianity has shaped the history of Scotland. The Great Breaking. In 1560 Scotland underwent a religious revolution that saw Catholicism replaced with Protestantism. The fiery preacher is traditionally credited with single-handedly bringing about this remarkable change, but just how much truth is there in this statement? Richard Holloway investigates.
DISCOVERY CHANNEL, MONDAY TO FRIDAY REBUILDING THE PAST. What can the rebuilding of a Roman villa in Hampshire teach us about the way they lived? Monday 7.00pm - A team of amateurs builds a Roman villa from scratch using original methods. First, they seek archaeological evidence to support the project. 7.30pm - The experiment is hindered by a false start. Tuesday 7.00pm - The villa building team needs some expert advice. 7.30pm - Tension mounts as the project starts to go wrong. Wednesday 7.00pm - A learned scholar in Roman history advises the team on their project to rebuild a Roman villa from scratch. 7.30pm - An elated team lay the roof on their Roman villa. Thursday 7.00pm - A look at how ancient Roman rooms were used and decorated. 7.30pm - The Roman villa begins to take recognisable shape. Friday 7.00pm - The team works on the villa's mosaics, frescoes and windows. 7.30pm - The team assesses the success of their project.
TIME TEAM REPEATS ON DISCOVERY
A TT programme is scheduled for 7.00am and 5.00pm on Saturday 15th and 7.00am and 7.00pm on Sunday 16th.
Monday A Somerset farmer unearths a mosaic floor under his pigsties. Tuesday In search of a Roman cemetery under the Royal Crescent, Bath. Wednesday Searching for Roman remains in Castleford, West Yorkshire. Thursday The team is in the Cotswolds. Friday The experts exhume a Roman cemetery in Birdoswald, Cumbria.
And don't forget - UKHistory has a full schedule of historical/archaeological programmes for those with access to digital, satellite or cable. Voted best new channel of the year 2003.
quote:Originally posted by Valerie: BBC 2 10.45pm Mystery of the Missing Ace - Timewatch. (In Scotland only)...
Anyone with NTL (and possibly other) cable TV: the four BBC 1 national variations are now available on channels 926-929. So living in wales doesn't mean you have to miss BBC 1 Scotland programmes.
TUESDAY 18th BBC 2 7.30pm Time Flyers. Scotland's Exodus. The dark truth behind Scotland's empty wilderness is revealed in the last of the second series of aerial insights into Britain's history. In the far north, the team find a tale of cruelty inflicted by rich and powerful landlords.
SATURDAY 22nd BBC 2 7.30pm Arena: Dylan Thomas - from Grave to Cradle. In the 50th year since his tragic death, author and broadcaster Nigel Williams examines the work and legend of one of the most famous poets of the 20th century - Dylan Thomas. Born in 1914 in Swansea, he was an unruly child, yet determined to become a poet. Though cited by Bob Dylan, John Lennon and other cultural icons as a profound influence, it was his death that truely made him a legend. But did Thomas really die after drinking 18 straight whiskies? Starting with his death, Arena works back through his life to find the man behind the myth.
BBC 2 10.40pm (In Scotland only) Timewatch - Britain's Greatest Hoax. For 40 years the science world was hoodwinked by a forged "missing link" between ape and man. But who was responsible for the "Piltdown Man" hoax?
Channel 4 7.00pm The First World War. War Without End. The final part of the series charting the Great War focusses on the end of the bitter conflict. By improving their command structures, and increasing the number of men and weapons at their disposal, the Allies were finally able to defeat the German forces and manoeuvre them into an unconditional surrender.
Channel 4 8.00pm Seven Ages of Britain. Home. The impact of environmental factors on the fledgling societies of 1500BC - as widespread flooding rendered land cleared for farming useless - is the topic of the second of a seven-part series following the development of British Society from the Stone Age to the Industrial Revolution. By the Iron Age's later stages, a number of structured tribes had been formed that traded successfully with their continental neighbours, but this development served to put the country at greater risk of invasion. Presented by historian Bettany Hughes.
SUNDAY 23rd BBC 1 9.00pm Charles II - the Power and the Passion. A four-part dramatisation of the life of the charismatic monarch. A fiery comet in the sky is rumoured to portend doom on Charles's reign. And, as the Queen fails to produce a legitimate heir, Charles comes under pressure to divorce and remarry.
ITV 1 11.05pm The Adventure of English Documentary series tracing the development of the English language. Melvyn Bragg recalls explores the effect on the language of British Imperialism, which saw English exported globally.
Channel 4 8.00pm Matt's Old Masters. Matt Collings presents the first of four new programmes on classical painters, analysing their work in an accessible manner. Beginning with Titian, he investigates the artists "painterly" style. Defined by its "melting touch and suave effect", it was developed and refined by Titian over the course of the 16th century in his studio in the Biri Grande in Venice.
MONDAY 24th BBC 1 11.05pm Oliver Cromwell: Warts and All. 1649: Charles I has been executed and an East Anglian farmer is about to become leader of all England. Using drama and documentary this film tells the remarkable story of Cromwell, one of the most important characters of British history, yet revered and hated in equal measure.
TUESDAY 25th BBC 2 8.00pm Days That Shook The World. Series featuring dramatic explorations of global events that had a resounding historical impact, hour-by-hour, as they unfold. Few moments in history have stunned the world more than John F. Kennedy's assassination in Dallas 40 years ago. In a minute-by-minute reconstruction of the shooting and its immediate aftermath, contributors include the family standing closest to JFK when the bullet struck, the surgeon tried saving his life and his assistant press secretary - the man who had to tell America that its young President, arguably the most popular ever, had been killed.
BBC 2 8.30pm Royal Gardeners. Horticultural style blossomed under Charles I and II, but when the puritanical Oliver Cromwell came to prominence, the elaborate plots belonging to the Lord Protectors enemies were flattened. In the third of his series Alan Titchmarsh recalls major players in 17th century history shaped the gardens of Britain, and how William and Mary's parterres and topiary raised gardening to new heights of extravagance.
THURSDAY 27th Channel 4 9.00pm Ancient Egyptians. Extraordinary true stories from the age of the Pharaohs are brought to life in this lavish new dramatised documentary series using location location filming and cutting-edge visual effects. Murder In The Temple. It is March 632 BC and the nation is in turmoil. For decades the people of Middle Egypt have suffered under the brutal reign of Petiese, the cousin of Egypt's new Pharaoh, but now the time has come for revenge against his unsuspecting family in the shape of a brutal murder plot hatched by a group of priests.
Channel 4 11.15pm Forbidden Fruit. The second of a three-part series charting the history of interracial relationships in Britain. The programme deals with the Victorian era, a time of great repression when sex across the race divide was strongly disapproved of, yet was also turned into a tantalising exotic fantasy by pornographers.
FRIDAY 28th BBC 2 9.00pm Gallipoli: The First D-Day - Timewatch. (In England only) Examining the disaterous assault on Gallipoli in 1915 which nearly ended Winston Churchill's military career.
BBC 2 9.00pm (In Scotland only) The Sword and The Cross. A four-part series on the dramatic story of how Christianity has shaped the history of Scotland. Covenant or King. Few tales in Scotland's history are as rich in legend as that of the Covenanters. This episode tells the story of their incredible struggle throughout most of the 17th century to assert their belief that God, not the King, was the ehad of the church. Prepared to die in their battle against the forces that threatened their religious freedom, their steely lack of compromise was their greatest strength - but it was almost their undoing. Yet, against all the odds, the Covenanters survived, bringing into being a Presbyterian state which was to have a profound influence on the Scottish psyche. Richard Holloway investigates.
TIME TEAM REPEATS ON DISCOVERY
A TT programme is scheduled for 7.00am and 5.00pm on Saturday 22nd and 7.00am and 7.00pm on Sunday 28th.
Monday At Henry VIII's favourite palace in Greenwich. Tuesday Athelney, the seat of King Alfred's fighback against the Vikings. Wednesday Searching for George III's lost palace at Kew. Thursday A rare Bronze Age cemetery found on development land in Fife. Friday Underneath the lawns at Castle Howard in N. Yorkshire.
And don't forget - UKHistory has a full schedule of historical/archaeological programmes for those with access to digital, satellite or cable. Voted best new channel of the year 2003.
