BBC Four

Pop Go the Sixties

Colourful nuggets of pop mined from the BBC's archive.

Pop Go the Sixties: Series 2

Pop Go the Sixties: Series 2: Episode 5: Sandie Shaw

Episode 5

Episode 5: Sandie Shaw

Series 2

Sandie Shaw

BBC Four - Pop Go the Sixties, Series 2, Sandie Shaw

Sandie gives an accidentally aloof ice-queen rendering of Long Live Love.

Pop moments from the BBC's 60s archive. From a rehearsal for a Top of the Pops performance, Sandie gives an accidentally aloof ice-queen rendering of Long Live Love.

Pop moments from the BBC's 60s archive. From a rehearsal for a Top of the Pops performance, Sandie gives an accidentally aloof ice-queen rendering of Long Live Love so the cameras can practice their positions. An otherworldly performance of her number 1 hit from 1965.

Knowledge, arts, music and culture from the UK and the world.

BBC Four reflects arts, music and culture with an ambitious range of intellectually and culturally enriching programmes, taking an expert and in-depth approach to its subjects.

Play for Today

Landmark productions from the BBC's rich archive of classic drama.

Landmark productions from some of the UK's greatest creative talents, as first seen in the 1970s and 1980s - part of the BBC's rich archive of classic drama.

Play For Today: Series 13

Play for Today: Series 13: Episode 8: Another Flip for Dominick

Episode 8

Episode 8: Another Flip for Dominick

Series 13

Another Flip for Dominick

BBC One - Play for Today, Series 13, Another Flip for Dominick

A time-warp drama written by Jeremy Paul and Alan Gibson.

Time-warp drama. It is now 2132 and Dominick and Ava have a son, but Dominick is called back to 1982, where he visits Jane and his great-great-grandfather.

Sequel to the popular Flipside of Dominick Hide, a time-warp drama written by Jeremy Paul and Alan Gibson.

The man from the future travels on a mission to the past to rescue one of his students, Pyrus Bonnington, who has disappeared into 1982 in a bid to emulate Hide's adventures. There he is reunited with his fomer love Jane, who lets him meet their son.

Play for Today: Series 13

BBC One

Thirteenth series of the BBC's long-running strand of one-off dramas.

Sequel to The Flipside of Dominick Hyde , which sees the time traveller searching for one of his proteges, whose actions threaten to change history. Peter Firth stars.

Metroland

02/08/2008

BBC Two - Metroland

John Betjeman's 1973 meditation on the residential suburbs near the Metropolitan Line.

In this classic 1973 documentary, sometimes in verse, poet laureate John Betjeman takes a nostalgic view of the suburban lands that branch off the Metropolitan Line.

An exploration of the English rural idyll with John Betjeman's 1973 meditation on the residential suburbs which grew up alongside the Metropolitan Line, the first steam underground in the world.

BBC Two

Knowledge, drama, comedy and the arts for a broad adult audience.

BBC Two is a lively channel of depth and substance, carrying a range of knowledge-building programming complemented by great drama, comedy and arts.

BBC4's night of programmes about the London Tube system begins with this 1973 documentary in which Poet Laureate John Betjeman waxes lyrical about the suburban districts traversed by the Metropolitan Line.

Arena

The gold standard for arts documentaries, from 1975 to the present day.

The gold standard for arts documentaries, from 1975 to the present day. A cultural map of the world’s greatest artists and musicians, as captured by exceptional film-makers.

Arena: The Underground

18/03/2007

The Underground

BBC Four - Arena, The Underground

A 150-year journey, using literature, music and film inspired by the Underground.

Documentary about the Tube, the world's oldest underground system, with its own unwritten rules of behaviour and protocol, and used by three million passengers every day.

Documentary about the Tube, the world's oldest underground system. Three million passengers use it every day, and over the past 150 years it has developed its own history, along side literature, music and film that has been inspired by the Underground. Includes contributions from the Underground's staff.

A 150-year journey through the history of the world's oldest underground rail system, using music, literature and film.
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40 Minutes

40 Minutes: Heart of the Angel

Heart of the Angel

BBC Two - 40 Minutes, Heart of the Angel

48 hours in the life of Angel tube station in the days before its refurbishment. (1989)

Acclaimed documentary that follows 48 hours in the life of London’s Angel tube station in the days before its refurbishment. (1989)

Acclaimed observational documentary by BAFTA award winning director Molly Dineen set at London’s Angel tube station in 1989, three years before its desperately needed renovation. 

The programme provides a humorous account of 48 hours in the life of the tube station, from the daily round of fraught commuters, overburdened lifts and cancelled trains to the nightly activities when 'fluffers', women who clean human hair and rubbish of the tracks to avoid a fire hazard and ‘the Permanent Way’, gangs of men who work with pickaxes in almost pitch-black conditions to renovate parts of the track, spring into action to prepare the line for the following day. (1989)

The life of London's Angel Tube station, from the bustle of daytime to the night, when it is inhabited by cleaners and maintenance workers.

Design Classics

Design Classics: London Underground Map

13/10/1998

London Underground Map

BBC Two - Design Classics, London Underground Map

Documentary about the London Underground Map, created in 1931 by Henry Beck.

A look at one of the classic British designs - the map of London's Tube network, originally created in 1931 by Underground employee Harry Beck.

Documentary about the London Underground Map. Created in 1931 by Underground employee Henry Beck, the graphically revolutionary map has become an icon of both London and British design.

1980s documentary series looking at revolutionary pieces of design

A look at the iconic 1931 map of the London Underground.

Under Night Streets

BBC Four - Under Night Streets

Documentary of a night in the life of the London Underground, filmed in 1958.

Documentary of a night in the life of the London Underground, filmed in 1958 by British Transport Films, following the 800 night-shift workers.

Documentary of a night in the life of the London Underground, filmed in 1958 by British Transport Films, following the 800 night-shift workers and includes the discovery of a broken rail in the middle of the night.

A night in the life of the London Underground, recorded in 1958 by British Transport Films.

As 9.20pm

The Martians and Us

The Martians and Us: Episode 1: From Apes to Aliens

Episode 1

Episode 1: From Apes to Aliens

From Apes to Aliens

BBC Four - The Martians and Us, From Apes to Aliens

A look at our relationship with aliens, and the sci-fi genre's interest in evolution.

Series about the history of British science fiction. This edition looks at our relationship with aliens, from Wells's invading Martians to the Daleks.

Series about the history of British science fiction. This edition looks at our relationship with aliens, from Wells's invading Martians to the Daleks, via 2001: A Space Odyssey, the Midwich Cuckoos, and the Mekon. 

It also explores the genre's preoccupation with the big questions of evolution, and includes interviews with Arthur C Clarke, Brian Aldiss, Doris Lessing and Steve Jones.

Series about the history of British science fiction.

The Martians and Us: Episode 2: Trouble in Paradise (Dystopias)

Episode 2

Episode 2: Trouble in Paradise (Dystopias)

Trouble in Paradise (Dystopias)

BBC Four - The Martians and Us, Trouble in Paradise (Dystopias)

A look at the utopias and dystopias created in books like Brave New World and 1984.

Series about the history of British sci-fi. The utopian dreams and dystopian nightmares of books like Huxley's Brave New World and Orwell's 1984.

Series about the history of British science fiction. A look at the utopian dreams and dystopian nightmares of books such as Aldous Huxley's Brave New World and 1984 by George Orwell.

One is a vision of the future full of sex and shopping, the other is a story of oppression and violence. But why have the British been better than anyone at imagining these future heavens and hells? Contributors include Margaret Atwood and Iain M Banks.

The Martians and Us: Episode 3: The End of the World as We Know It

Episode 3

Episode 3: The End of the World as We Know It

The End of the World as We Know It

BBC Four - The Martians and Us, The End of the World as We Know It

The genre of destruction, where writers declare the end of the world as we know it.

Series about the history of British science fiction. A look at the genre of destruction, where writers declare the end of the world.

Series about the history of British science fiction. A look at the genre of destruction, where the writers abandon time travel and alien invasion and declare the end of the world as we know it.

Including floods, plagues, poisonous clouds and walking plants, from late Victorian disasters like The Purple Cloud, through Day of the Triffids and TV series like Survivors.

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The Martians and Us

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