BBC Four

21st Century Bach

Series exploring the music of Johann Sebastian Bach

Series exploring the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, using innovative techniques to offer dramatic interpretations of the work

21st Century Bach: Series 3

21st Century Bach: Series 3: BWV 544

13/08/2007

BWV 544

Series 3

BBC Two - 21st Century Bach, Series 3, BWV 544

A unique and innovative interpretation of J.S. Bach's organ works.

A unique and innovative interpretation of J.S. Bach's organ works played by York Minster organist John Scott Whiteley on Bach's original organs in Germany.

BBC Two

BBC Two is a TV channel that started broadcasting on the 20th April 1964.

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

21st Century Bach: the Complete Organ Works

A performance of Prelude and Fugue in B minor.

The Candidate

14/09/2008

BBC Four - The Candidate

A young, liberal lawyer runs for the Senate in an honest and transparent campaign.

Political drama about a young, liberal lawyer who agrees to run for the Senate, convinced that he can win by running a completely open campaign.

Political drama about a young, liberal lawyer who agrees to run for the Senate on condition that his campaign is completely honest and transparent. 

As he is an outside candidate, his manager apparently goes along with this refreshingly unusual approach, but gradually anxiety to win the power that will let him make a difference leads the candidate to make a fatal compromise. Won the Oscar for Best Screenplay.

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.

Political drama starring Robert Redford. An idealistic young lawyer, whose father was a former governor of California, is persuaded to run for the Senate, but only on the condition that he is not forced to toe the party line. 
Beginning BBC4's US President strand. Director Michael Ritchie (1972, PG)  Andrew Collins on the US presidency/ elections on film: page 35

Timeshift

Documentary series which ranges widely over Britain's social and cultural history.

Documentary series which ranges widely over Britain's social and cultural history, its narrative-led storytelling offering a richly immersive and varied window onto the past.

How to Be a Good President: Timeshift

Timeshift: Series 8: How to Be a Good President

How to Be a Good President

Series 8

BBC Four - Timeshift, Series 8, How to Be a Good President

Journalist and author Jonathan Freedland asks what qualities make a great US president.

Helped by contributors including Shirley Williams, Douglas Hurd and Simon Hoggart, journalist Jonathan Freedland attempts to define the qualities which make a great US president.

In a whistlestop tour through the history of the US presidency, journalist and author Jonathan Freedland asks what qualities make a great president and what we can learn from the likes of Theodore Roosevelt, JFK or even Richard Nixon about what it takes to make a mark in the White House. 

Freedland is helped by distinguished contributors, including James Naughtie, Shirley Williams, Douglas Hurd, Simon Hoggart and Bonnie Greer, who give frank assessments of some of America's greatest presidents.

Timeshift: Series 8

A series of documentaries exploring British cultural history

New. As part of the Timeshift strand, journalist Jonathan Freedland examines the US presidency and explores what qualities make a great 
American leader. See panel.

Primary Colors

15/04/2000

BBC Three - Primary Colors

Political satire. An idealistic aide manages the campaign of a presidential candidate.

John Travolta stars in this American political satire following an idealistic first-time aide as he manages the election campaign of a presidential candidate.

Satire on American politics, based on the bestselling anonymous insider novel following an idealistic first-time aide as he manages the election campaign of a presidential candidate. Will the campaign team dig the dirt, or preserve some notion of personal integrity?

BBC Three

A multi-platform service for 16-34s, featuring comedy, entertainment and factual content.

The BBC’s multi-platform service for 16 to 34s, innovating with breakthrough comedy, stand-out entertainment, brave documentary and intellectual factual content.

Wry political comedy drama starring John Travolta as aspiring Democratic presidential candidate Jack Stanton. As the race for the nomination hots up, Jack's womanising past threatens to scupper his campaign. Review p40. Director Mike Nchols (1998, 15)   The US President strand continues tomorrow with The Man in the Mansion at 7.30pm 
Andrew Collins on the US presidency/ elections on film: page 35

Call the Cops

Call the Cops: Episode 5: The Sweeney

Episode 5

Episode 5: The Sweeney

The Sweeney

BBC Four - Call the Cops, The Sweeney

How The Sweeney ushered in an age where television coppers acted just like the villains.

Series about the history of British police dramas looks at The Sweeney, which ushered in a new age where television coppers talked and acted just like the villains.

A look at groundbreaking 1970s police drama The Sweeney, created when writer Ian Kennedy Martin realised that the real police were not behaving quite like their TV counterparts on Z Cars and wanted a more accurate portrayal of the new breed of coppers. 

Interviews with the cast and crew reveal that The Sweeney's fictional version of the Flying Squad was only slightly exaggerated. After its launch, despite the show getting no direct help from Slipper of the Yard, the Met's serious crime boys very quickly adopted the extra trappings of their screen equivalents - punch first and ask questions later, drive fast, drink hard and be the biggest, hardest gang on the block.

With lead characters Regan and Carter looking and talking just like the villains, the series was unrelentingly macho, with explicit violence, ripe language and a studiedly old-fashioned attitude towards women. However, it was massively entertaining, consciously funny and managed to attract a large number of children among its viewers.

Interviewees include creator Ian Kennedy Martin , producer Ted Childs and actors Stephanie Turner and Garfield Morgan.

A look at the history of police-based TV drama

How to  Be a Good President

The Real Life on Mars

11/08/2008

BBC Four - The Real Life on Mars

A look at the world of 'old-style policing' as portrayed on TV in Life on Mars.

Documentary which looks at the world of policing before the 1980s and asks whether the non-politically correct methods were as bad as that portrayed on TV in Life on Mars.

Documentary which looks at the world of policing before the 1980s and asks whether 'old-style policing' was as bad as that portrayed on TV in Life on Mars or whether it might have actually been more effective than the political correctness and forensic paraphernalia of today. Includes interviews with ex-cops, criminals, academics and writers.

Creating Life on Mars

Call the Cops: Episode 1

Episode 1

BBC Four - Call the Cops, Episode 1

Documentary taking a forensic look at the history of the police procedural on British TV.

Using interviews with writers, directors, producers and former police officers, this documentary takes a forensic look at the history of the police procedural on British TV.

Documentary which takes a forensic look at the history of the police procedural on British TV and investigates what it was about the police, society and television that saw the archetypal policeman change from the avuncular Dixon of Dock Green to the maverick thief-taker of The Sweeney to the scientific methodologists of Cracker, Silent Witness and Waking the Dead. 

By interviewing writers, directors, producers and former officers, the film combs the land between police reality and police television. Brian Paddick states that the level of violence used in The Sweeney would have been justified by the law at the time under 'reasonable force', while Jane Tennison's real-life model Jackie Malton explains that collaborating in the creation of Prime Suspect made her feel she had betrayed the police. Tony Garnett reveals that the help he got from the Police Service in setting up The Cops disappeared when they saw how the police were portrayed in the programmes, and Nigel McCrery tells how the police lost a simple and effective interrogation technique because criminals saw it used so often on screen in the police drama.

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Call the Cops

Episode 5: The Sweeney

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