BBC Four

World News Today

The latest news and business developments.

World News Today: 20/05/2009

20/05/2009

BBC News Channel - World News Today, 20/05/2009

The latest news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.

The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.

BBC News Channel

An impartial and independent news service offering breaking news, analysis and insight.

A 24-hour impartial and independent news service offering breaking news, analysis and insight. It provides fast and comprehensive coverage of local, UK and international events.

Wainwright Walks: Coast to Coast

Wainwright Walks: Coast to Coast: Episode 6: The End of the Road

Episode 6

Episode 6: The End of the Road

The End of the Road

BBC Four - Wainwright Walks: Coast to Coast, The End of the Road

Julia Bradbury sets out on the final stage of her walk; Robin Hood's Bay is the goal.

Julia Bradbury sets out on the final stage of her walk. Robin Hood's Bay is the goal, but first she must complete the North York Moors and walk through Eskdale.

Julia Bradbury follows in the footsteps of legendary guidebook writer Alfred Wainwright by walking across the whole of northern England from the west to the east coast .

This was Wainwright's last great venture and has become his greatest legacy - a beautifully simple proposition, linking three national parks that lie between the Irish and the North Sea. 

36 years after its creation, Julia is off through sunshine, wind and rain, to cross the changing landscape, understand the history and meet the people that make up almost 200 miles of northern England.   

Starting at the highest and most remote overnight spot of the whole walk, Julia sets out on the final stage. Robin Hood's Bay is the goal, but first she must complete the North York Moors and walk through Eskdale, before getting a magical first glimpse of the North Sea. 

The tranquil woods of Littlebeck and the clifftop finale provide ample opportunity to reflect on a great adventure and the enduring legacy of the uniquely passionate Wainwright.

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.

Julia Bradbury walks across northern England from the west to the east coast

Julia Bradbury follows in the footsteps of guidebook writer Alfred Wainwright by walking across the whole of northern England from the west to the east coast

Wainwright Walks:Coast to Coast

6/6. The End of the Road. On the final leg of the journey, Julia Bradbury completes the North York Moors and walks through Eskdale, then on to Littlebeck, before reaching the cliffs at Robin Hood's Bay. 
Shown last Thursday

Victorian Farm

Victorian Farm: Episode 6

BBC Two - Victorian Farm, Episode 6

The team must bring in the wheat harvest. Ruth explores the craft of straw plaiting.

Documentary series following a team who live as Victorian farmers. The team's year on the farm is coming to an end, but first they have to bring in the wheat harvest.

Historical observational documentary series following a team who live the life of Victorian farmers for a year. Wearing period clothes and using only the materials that would have been available in 1885, historian Ruth Goodman and archaeologists Alex Langlands and Peter Ginn are going back in time to relive the day-to-day life of the Victorian farmer.

The project is based on the Acton Scott estate in Shropshire, a world frozen in time, lost in Victorian rural England. Its buildings and grounds are cluttered with antique tools and machinery collected by the Acton family who have lived on the estate since the 12th century.

Working for a full calendar year, Ruth, Alex and Peter are rediscovering a lost world of skills, crafts and knowledge, assisted by an ever-dwindling band of experts who keep Victorian rural practices alive. Each month and season brings pressing priorities, from tending to livestock and repairing buildings to raising crops, preparing food and crafting furniture and tools. Can they make a success of farming the Victorian way?

The team's year on the farm is coming to an end, but first they have to bring in the wheat harvest, the most crucial part of the Victorian Farm calendar. Alex and Peter must get to grips with a contraption that was state-of-the-art technology in Victorian times, the reaper binder. Ruth explores the craft of straw plaiting and discovers the art of printing. The boys try their hand at a home brew. The team bring in the wheat harvest with the help of some extra labour, and celebrate with a raucous harvest festival.

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.

Documentary series following a team who live the life of Victorian farmers for a year

Historical observational documentary series following a team who live the life of Victorian farmers for a year

6/6. As the year comes to an end, the team has to bring in the wheat harvest, the most crucial part of the Victorian calendar. As Alex and Peter get to grips with a reaper binder and their home brew, Ruth explores the art of straw plaiting and printing. 
First shown on BBC2

Feasts

Feasts: Episode 1: India

Episode 1

Episode 1: India

India

BBC Four - Feasts, India

In India, Stefan Gates experiences the festival of Onam and takes part in the tiger dance.

Stefan Gates takes part in feasts and festivals around the globe. In India, he attends an expensive Rajasthani Hindu wedding and experiences the bewildering festival of Onam.

Series in which food writer and presenter Stefan Gates immerses himself in some of the most extraordinary feasts and festivals on earth. By joining ordinary people in these strange and wonderful distillations of their culture and beliefs, he hopes to gain a revelatory insight into how the world thinks and feels. 

Stefan makes a journey across India to discover how feasts and celebration divide - and bring together - a turbulent nation that can be riven by religious tension and extremes of wealth.  

He is shocked to see how much extravagance and social engineering there is in an expensive showpiece Rajasthani Hindu wedding, yet how little emotion is actually expressed. These events are spectacular, and the scale is terrifying for a father of two young daughters.

In Kerala, Stefan experiences the bewildering festival of Onam, a Hindu celebration that brings this massive state of millions of people together, Hindu and Christian, rich and poor alike. Over several days he joins almost all of the entire 32m population in sitting down to exactly the same meal - an 11-portion feast eaten with fingers from a banana leaf.

Stefan joins in the Pulikali, the tiger dance, and is apparently he first westerner ever to take part. It is  the most physically uncomfortable, gruesome day of his life. He has his body hair shaved off with a dry razor, then spends five hours being painted with several layers of household gloss paint, holding on to two sticks to keep his arms outstretched as he dries out. He is then covered in a sweaty, sticky mask and a pair of bordello pants, and packed off into the streets to join his team in dancing like a maniac around the baking-hot streets of the city of Thrissur for four hours.

Food writer Stefan Gates immerses himself in extraordinary feasts and festivals

Series in which food writer and TV presenter Stefan Gates immerses himself in some of the most extraordinary feasts and festivals on earth

New series. 1/3. India. Stefan Gates takes part in contrasting religious and celebratory festivals. In the first programme he visits India, where he is surprised to observe the opulence at a traditional Hindu wedding, before travelling to Onam and sitting with the entire population to enjoy an 11-portion meal. 
To conclude his experience he undergoes an uncomfortable transformation to prepare him for the tiger dance. See panel. Repeated tomorrow at 10.30pm

The Great British Wedding

19/05/2009

BBC Four - The Great British Wedding

Mark Benton narrates a step-by-step guide to how the Brits tie the knot.

Step-by-step guide to how the Brits tie the knot. From the stag do to the table plan, from the rings to the first dance, a look at how Brits just manage to rise to the occasion.

Mark Benton narrates a step-by-step guide to how the Brits tie the knot. From the stag do to the table plan, from the rings to the first dance, this is a look at how the Brits just about manage to rise to the occasion on one of the most momentous days of our lives - the wedding day.

From the stag do and the table plan, to the rings and the first dance, 
Mark Benton explores how Britons tie the knot. Shown yesterday at 9pm

A Year in Tibet

A Year in Tibet: Episode 2: Three Husbands and a Wedding

Episode 2

Episode 2: Three Husbands and a Wedding

Three Husbands and a Wedding

BBC Four - A Year in Tibet, Three Husbands and a Wedding

Everyone is pulling together to get in the harvest, as Dundan worries about hailstones.

Documentary series about the society living in and around the Tibetan town of Gyantse. It's autumn and everyone pulls together to get in the harvest.

For twelve months, a television crew has followed a handful of ordinary Tibetan people living in and around Gyantse, Tibet's third largest town. The result is a unique and intimate portrait of life in one of the most mysterious and isolated societies on earth.

It is autumn in southern Tibet and everyone is pulling together to get in the harvest. Like all farmers, Dundan is worried most about hailstones flattening his crops. In the past his brother Tseden, the local shaman, protected the fields with his spells. Now the local government has installed guns to disperse the clouds and this has put Tseden out of a job. 

In the nearby town of Gyantse, Rincheu, a local builder, struggles to find enough workers during the harvest to complete his all important first government commission. 

In the monastery, the monks recover from a hectic visit by the highest ranking Buddhist Lama in Tibet. After a riotous time celebrating the success of the event, they go home to help with the harvest. 

Tseden is also helping a local family to arrange their daughter's wedding. Despite months of preparation, nobody actually gets around to telling the bride she is going to be wed - nor does anybody mention that she is expected to marry her husband's brother as well.

Documentary series following a year in the life of Gyantse, Tibet’s third largest town.

Intimate documentary series following a year in the life of the society living in and around Gyantse, Tibet’s third largest town.

A Year In Tibet

2/5. Tseden helps a family arrange their daughter's wedding but. despite months of preparation, nobody remembers to tell the bride she is going to be married.

Storyville

Amazing, shocking, inspiring and award-winning - the best in international documentaries.

Amazing, shocking, inspiring and award-winning - the best in international documentaries, shining a light on untold stories from across the globe.

Storyville: Every Good Marriage Begins with Tears

18/07/2007

Every Good Marriage Begins with Tears

BBC Four - Storyville, Every Good Marriage Begins with Tears

Bengali sisters travel from London to Bangladesh to undertake arranged marriages.

Director Simon Chambers follows the lives of young Bengali sisters as they travel from London to Bangladesh to undertake their arranged marriages.

Director Simon Chambers follows the lives of young Bengali sisters - and close personal friends of his - as they travel from London to Bangladesh to undertake the arranged marriages that have long been planned for them. Although apparently reluctant to submit to the agreed arrangements, the sisters nonetheless seem unable or unwilling to ultimately escape their traditional destiny.

Batman

Classic adventure series following the adventures of the dynamic duo in Gotham City.

Classic adventure series following the adventures of dynamic crimefighting duo Batman and Robin in Gotham City.

Batman: Series 1

Batman: Series 1: Episode 13: The Thirteenth Hat

Episode 13

Episode 13: The Thirteenth Hat

Series 1

The Thirteenth Hat

BBC Four - Batman, Series 1, The Thirteenth Hat

The Mad Hatter is on the loose, after revenge against Batman and jury that sent him down.

Adventures with the caped crusader. The Mad Hatter is on the loose, intent on revenge against Batman and the 12 members of the jury that sentenced him to prison.

Using his Super Instant Mesmerizer, paroled Jervis Tetch, alias the Mad Hatter, attempts to capture every member of the jury which originally convicted him, as well as Batman.

Batman: Series 1: Episode 14: Batman Stands Pat

Episode 14

Episode 14: Batman Stands Pat

Batman Stands Pat

BBC Four - Batman, Series 1, Batman Stands Pat

Alfred saves the day when the Mad Hatter conspires to cast Batman in plaster.

Fantasy adventure series with the caped crusader. Batman's escape from his plaster tomb puts back him on the trail of the Mad Hatter. Alfred is sent on a mission.

Batman's breathtaking escape from his plaster tomb puts him on the trail of the Mad Hatter once more. Who is the twelfth juror and why? Alfred is sent on a mission.

Mad Men

Drama series set in the world of advertising in 1960s New York.

Drama series which takes an unflinching look at the world of advertising in 1960s New York.

Mad Men: Series 2

Mad Men: Series 2: Episode 2: Flight One

Episode 2: Flight One

Series 2

Flight One

BBC Four - Mad Men, Series 2, Flight One

After an American Airlines air crash, Duck wants to go after their advertising account.

Drama series set in the 1960s New York advertising world. After an American Airlines air crash, Duck wants to go after their account, but he comes into conflict with Don.

Drama series which takes an unflinching look at the world of advertising in 1960s New York. 

After an American Airlines air crash, Duck wants to go after their account, but he comes into conflict with Don. Pete hears some shocking news. Peggy is left holding the baby.

Mad Men: Series 2: Episode 3: The Benefactor

Episode 3

Episode 3: The Benefactor

The Benefactor

BBC Four - Mad Men, Series 2, The Benefactor

Harry finds out that Ken is earning more than him and wonders how he can get a pay rise.

Drama series set in the 1960s New York advertising world. On the set of a commercial, comedian Jimmy Barrett insults an important client over her weight.

Drama series which takes an unflinching look at the world of advertising in 1960s New York. On the set of a commercial, comedian Jimmy Barrett insults an important client over her weight. Harry finds out that Ken Cosgrove is earning more than him and wonders how he can get a salary increase. Don gets close to Jimmy's wife Bobbie.

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Episode 14: Batman Stands Pat

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