The Beatles: Love Me Do - A Documentary

The Beatles: Love Me Do - A Documentary 2005

8.00

On October 5th 1962, the Beatles released their first single, Love Me Do. It was a moment that changed music history and popular culture forever. It was also an extraordinary year in social and cultural history, not just for Liverpool but for the world, with the Cuban missile crisis, John Glenn in space and beer at a shilling a pint. Stuart Maconie explores how the Beatles changed from leather and slicked back hair to suits and Beatle mops, and how their fashion set the pace for the sixties to follow. Pop artist Sir Peter Blake, Bob Harris and former Beatles drummer Pete Best join friends to reflect on how the Beatles evolved into John, Paul, George and Ringo - the most famous band in the world.

2005

Farther and Sun: A Dyslexic Road Trip

Farther and Sun: A Dyslexic Road Trip 2018

5.00

Could dyslexia be a gift? Or can it only ever be a disability? Documentary maker Richard Macer sets off on a road trip with his dyslexic son Arthur to find the answer. En route, they meet Richard Branson and Eddie Izzard, and many other successful dyslexic people. - BBC

2018

Remember the Secret Policeman's Ball?

Remember the Secret Policeman's Ball? 2004

4.80

The Secret Policeman benefit shows for Amnesty International brought together comedy grand masters - from Python and Beyond the Fringe - and performers then relatively unknown, like Rowan Atkinson. Narrated by Dawn French, the programme includes interviews with many of the comedians and musicians who took part: John Cleese, Stephen Fry, Michael Palin, Sting, Lenny Henry and many more. The shows and their stars had a huge effect on modern British comedy. There are few comics today whose careers have not been heavily influenced by the anarchic and surreal humour of these events.

2004

The Genius of Leonardo Da Vinci

The Genius of Leonardo Da Vinci 2018

9.00

Janina Ramirez explores the BBC archives to create a TV history of Leonardo Da Vinci, discovering what lies beneath the Mona Lisa and even how he acquired his anatomical knowledge.

2018

Tutankhamun In Colour

Tutankhamun In Colour 2020

7.80

The BBC version of "King Tut In Color" documentary. A century after the world’s most exciting archaeological find - the tomb of Tutankhamun - we can witness the dramatic scenes of its discovery and marvel at its extraordinary treasures exactly as they were then, in colour.

2020

The Mountain That Had To Be Painted

The Mountain That Had To Be Painted 2011

1

Documentary about the painters Augustus John and James Dickson Innes who, in 1911, left London for the wild Arenig Valley in North Wales. Over three years, they created a body of work to rival the visionary landscapes of Matisse.

2011

The Dead Room

The Dead Room 2018

5.70

Set and filmed at the iconic Maida Vale studios, The Dead Room tells the story of a long-running radio horror series and its veteran presenter and national treasure Aubrey Judd. But times are changing. Tastes are shifting. There’s a new young producer. Whatever happened to the classic ghost stories? The good old days? Aubrey soon discovers that all is not quiet in the eerie radio studio and that elements of his own past are not as dead and buried as he perhaps hoped…

2018

The Secret Life of Bob Monkhouse

The Secret Life of Bob Monkhouse 2011

5.80

The extraordinary story of comedian Bob Monkhouse's life and career, told through the vast private archive of films, TV shows, letters and memorabilia that he left behind.

2011

Made in Japan: The Rise of Deep Purple Mk II

Made in Japan: The Rise of Deep Purple Mk II 2014

7.40

Deep Purple is one of the most influential and important guitar bands in history, one of the godfathers of the heavy metal genre, with over 100 million album sales worldwide to their name. To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Deep Purple's groundbreaking double live album Made in Japan, this documentary explores these recordings and Deep Purple Mark 2, the line-up between 1969 and 1973.

2014

Robbie Coltrane at the BBC

Robbie Coltrane at the BBC 2022

1

A look back at the life and career of Robbie Coltrane, one of Britain's best-loved stars and a giant of both the big and the small screen, through a selection of interviews and special moments from his appearances on BBC shows over the decades.

2022

Gil Scott-Heron: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

Gil Scott-Heron: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised 2003

1

Gil Scott-Heron was one of the most influential musicians and poets of the last 50 years. In Don Letts's documentary, Gil tells his own story for the first time-from being one of the first black children to integrate an all white Southern state school to becoming the Godfather of Rap. There are contributions from Chuck D, Mos Def, Richi Havens and the Last Poets, among others. Filmed in October 2003, Gil performs live and recites poetry out on the streets of Harlem, which have inspired so much of his music.

2003

Public Service Broadcasting - BBC Proms - This New Noise - Live At The Royal Albert Hall

Public Service Broadcasting - BBC Proms - This New Noise - Live At The Royal Albert Hall 2022

1

Public Service Broadcasting – a band who bring wit, invention and multimedia spectacle to the stage – return to the Proms after their previous, staggeringly innovative, 2019 outing, The Race for Space. This time, Public Service Broadcasting join conductor Jules Buckley and the BBC Symphony Orchestra for This New Noise, a world premiere specially commissioned for the BBC’s centenary The band’s use of archive footage, sampling and imaginative musical techniques travels back through a hundred years of broadcasting history, making this a musical event like no other.

2022

Everything and Nothing

Everything and Nothing 2011

8.50

what is everything, and what is nothing? Professor Jim Al-Khalili explores the true size and shape of the universe and delves into the amazing science behind apparent nothingness. EVERYTHING: what the universe might actually look like and the remarkable stories of the men and women who discovered the truth about the cosmos. NOTHING: science at the very limits of human perception, where we now understand the deepest mysteries of the universe lie. The quantum world of the super-small shaped the vast universe we inhabit today, and Jim Al-Khalili can prove it.

2011

The Joy of AI

The Joy of AI 2018

7.00

Professor Jim Al-Khalili looks at how we have created machines that can simulate, augment, and even outperform the human mind - and why we shouldn't let this spook us. He reveals the story of the pursuit of AI, the emergence of machine learning and the recent breakthroughs brought about by artificial neural networks. He shows how AI is not only changing our world but also challenging our very ideas of intelligence and consciousness. Along the way, we'll investigate spam filters, meet a cutting-edge chatbot, look at why a few altered pixels makes a computer think it's looking at a trombone rather than a dog and talk to Demis Hassabis, who heads DeepMind and whose stated mission is to 'solve intelligence, and then use that to solve everything else'. Stephen Hawking remarked 'AI could be the biggest event in the history of our civilisation. Or the worst'. Jim argues that AI is a potent new tool that should enhance our lives, not replace us.

2018

Ian Rankin Investigates: Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde

Ian Rankin Investigates: Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde 2007

8.00

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

2007

The Old Grey Whistle Test: Live for One Night Only

The Old Grey Whistle Test: Live for One Night Only 2018

1

Hosted by Bob Harris, this live studio show features music, special guests and rare archive to mark 30 years since the legendary series was last broadcast. Featuring performances from Peter Frampton, Richard Thompson, and Albert Lee among others. Guests include Dave Stewart, Joan Armatrading, Ian Anderson, Chris Difford and Kiki Dee along with fans such as Danny Baker and Al Murray. A night of reminiscence, great music and fun.

2018

Fair Cop: A Century of British Policewomen

Fair Cop: A Century of British Policewomen 2015

1

With 2015 marking the 100th anniversary of the first British policewoman being given the power of arrest, this film takes us through the remarkable history of 100 years of Britain's female police force. It explores the individual careers and ambitions of women police officers who, through their bravery and guile, were determined to succeed in a profession that never wanted them. It is a story about ingenuity and determination as well as law and order. A Fair Cop is a hidden history of our society, depicting a battle of the sexes that masked a battle for power.

2015

The Hound of the Baskervilles

The Hound of the Baskervilles 2023

8.00

The BBC Symphony Orchestra perform a live soundtrack in this premier stage adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes thriller.

2023

Under Milk Wood

Under Milk Wood 2014

6.10

An all star cast unite to perform a distinctive BBC Wales Television adaptation of Dylan Thomas's radio play, presented in collaboration with National Theatre Wales, to mark the centenary of Dylan Thomas' birth. The plot reveals the innermost thoughts of the residents of the small, Welsh fishing village Llareggub as it delves into the dreams of various townspeople including blind sailor Captain Cat, who is haunted by visions of drowned shipmates, Mog Edwards and Myfanwy Price, who dream of each other, and Mrs. Ogmore Pritchard, who dreams of her former husbands.

2014