BBC Four

World News Today

The latest news and business developments.

World News Today: 07/09/2009

07/09/2009

BBC News Channel - World News Today, 07/09/2009

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.

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The Sky at Night

Iconic series exploring space science and the incredible universe all around us.

Look up! Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock and Professor Chris Lintott present the iconic, inspirational look at cutting-edge space science and the incredible universe all around us.

The Sky at Night: Jupiter Rising

Jupiter Rising

BBC Four - The Sky at Night, Jupiter Rising

Patrick Moore examines a huge scar in Jupiter's gas cloud caused by a collision.

Patrick Moore and Jupiter experts John Rogers and David Rothery examine the huge scar in the planet's gas cloud caused by the impact of a large, mysterious object.

In July, a mysterious large object crashed into Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system, leaving behind a scar in the gas cloud the size of the Earth. Sir Patrick Moore examines this new feature with Jupiter experts John Rogers and David Rothery. Imaging experts Pete Lawrence and Paul Abel compete to capture the best images of the gas giant, while Chris Lintott has this month's news notes.

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.

New. Patrick Moore is joined by experts John Rogers and David Rothery to examine a new scar left on Jupiter, created when an object crashed into the gas giant in July, leaving a mark the size of Earth. 
Extended version of yesterday's BBC1 editton

Michael Palin on the Colourists

BBC Two - Michael Palin on the Colourists

Michael Palin presents a portrait of four Scottish artists known as the Colourists.

Michael Palin explores the lives and paintings of four Scottish artists known as the Colourists. Their works hang in 10 Downing Street, but in their time they shocked the critics.

Michael Palin explores the lives and paintings of four Scottish artists known as the Colourists: John Duncan Fergusson, George Leslie Hunter, Samuel John Peploe and Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell. Their works hang in 10 Downing Street, but in their own lifetimes their vibrant vision shocked the critics.

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.

Michael Palin on....

The Colourists. The This is Scotland strand continues with a profile of artists Cadell, Fergusson, Hunter and Peploe, collectively known as the Scottish 
Colourists, whose work is defined by their use of vivid, vibrant pigments.

A Portrait of Scotland

BBC Four - A Portrait of Scotland

Peter Capaldi examines the paintings and artists that have made Scottish art special.

Actor Peter Capaldi explores the story of Scotland's art, examining the paintings and artists that have made Scottish art special. He focuses on the tradition of portraiture.

Peter Capaldi explores the story of Scotland's art. He had a talent for drawing and a love for art that took him to art school in Glasgow, but soon after graduating he became an actor.

Capaldi spends time with the paintings and the artists that have made Scottish art special. He sketches some of the most important Scottish portraits, and by focusing on the tradition of portraiture that goes back 500 years, Capaldi shows how Scotland's art has reflected the changing face of the nation.

New. Actor Peter Capaidi takes a tour through the early days of Scottish art and its influences, including the Enlightenment, the Ossian works and representations of famous Scots, and explores more modern pieces of work. 
Part of This Is Scotland week. See panel. Repeated on Thursday at 12.40am   Simulcast in HD on the BBC HD channel  
This Is Scotland season continues tomorrow at 8pm

How the Beatles Rocked the Kremlin

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: How the Beatles Rocked the Kremlin

06/09/2009

BBC Four - Storyville, How the Beatles Rocked the Kremlin

Documentary which tells the unknown story of how The Beatles helped to destroy the USSR.

A Storyville documentary telling how The Beatles' legend soaked into the lives of a generation of Soviet kids, paving the way for the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Soviet system.

Documentary which tells the extraordinary unknown story of how The Beatles helped to destroy the USSR.
 
In August 1962, director Leslie Woodhead made a two-minute film in Liverpool's Cavern Club with a raw and unrecorded group of rockers called The Beatles. He arranged their first live TV appearances on a local show in Manchester and watched as the Fab Four phenomenon swept the world. 

Twenty-five years later while making films in Russia, Woodhead became aware of how, even though they were never able to play in the Soviet Union, The Beatles' legend had soaked into the lives of a generation of kids. This film meets the Soviet Beatles generation and hears their stories about how the Fab Four changed their lives, including Putin's deputy premier Sergei Ivanov, who explains how The Beatles helped him learn English and showed him another life. 

The Soviet authorities were alarmed by the seditious potential of rock 'n' roll, with The Beatles a special target and denounced as 'bugs' in official papers. Their smuggled records were destroyed and their music was banned, but the myth blossomed as bootlegs and photos were covertly traded and even rented amongst fans. 

Soon there were thousands of rock bands across the USSR trying to make music with crude homemade guitars. Speakers on lampposts installed to broadcast propaganda were grabbed by rock hopefuls, while reports that an electric pickup could be cannibalised from a telephone led to phone boxes being raided and disabled.

Millions of young people fell in love with The Beatles and the culture of the Cold War enemy, and defected emotionally from the Soviet system. The Beatles prepared the cultural way for the fall of the Berlin Wall and ultimately helped to wash away the foundations of that system.

How The Beatles Rocked the Kremlin: Storyville

Examining how the band's music may have contributed towards the fall of the Soviet Union, and charting the influence The Beatles had on changing the views of a new generation of young Soviet people. Part of Beatles Week. See choice, p70. 
Shown yesterday at 8pm

Pop Britannia

Pop Britannia: Episode 2: A Well Respected Man

Episode 2

Episode 2: A Well Respected Man

A Well Respected Man

BBC Four - Pop Britannia, A Well Respected Man

In the 60s Britain went pop mad as artists created a truly authentic British sound.

Series telling the story of British pop music since the 1950s. In the 60s a group of artists and entrepreneurs prised pop out of the grasp of showbiz interests.

Three-part documentary series telling the story of British popular music and its place in British culture since the 1950s. In the 60s Britain went pop mad. The architects were a group of artists and entrepreneurs who would prise pop out of the grasp of showbiz interests to create a truly authentic British sound of the Beatles, Stones and Who and at the same time prepared the way for a new, more corporate pop business. With Pete Townsend, Sir George Martin, Bryan Ferry, Sandie Shaw and Lulu.

Documentary charting the history of British pop music.

The story of British popular music in the 1960s, when a truly authentic British pop identity was at last forged - spearheaded by The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and The Who.  Beatles Week continues on Thursday at 9.30pm

How the Celts Saved Britain

How the Celts Saved Britain: Episode 1: A New Civilisation

Episode 1

Episode 1: A New Civilisation

A New Civilisation

BBC Four - How the Celts Saved Britain, A New Civilisation

How the Irish saved Britain from cultural oblivion during the Dark Ages of 400-800AD.

Dan Snow reveals how the Irish saved Britain from cultural oblivion in the Dark Ages. He examines the demise of civilisation in Britain after the Romans left.

Dan Snow blows the lid off the traditional, Anglo-centric view of history and reveals how the Irish saved Britain from cultural oblivion during the Dark Ages, in this provocative, two-part documentary. 

Travelling back in time to some of the remotest corners of the British Isles, Dan unravels the mystery of the lost years of 400-800 AD, when the collapse of the Roman Empire left Britain in tatters. 

In the first episode, Dan shows how in the 5th century AD Roman 'Britannia' was plunged into chaos by the arrival of Anglo-Saxon invaders. As Roman civilisation disappeared from Britain, a new civilisation emerged in one of the most unlikely places - Ireland. Within a few generations, Christianity transformed a backward, barbarian country into the cultural powerhouse of early medieval Europe.

This is a visually and intellectually stimulating journey through one of the least known chapters of British history.

Dan Snow reveals how the Irish saved Britain from cultural oblivion during the Dark Ages.

Provocative two-part documentary in which Dan Snow reveals how the Irish saved Britain from cultural oblivion during the Dark Ages.

How the Celts Saved Britain: Episode 2: Salvation

Episode 2: Salvation

Salvation

BBC Four - How the Celts Saved Britain, Salvation

How Irish missionaries brought literacy and technology to Scotland and England.

Dan Snow reveals how the Irish saved Britain from cultural oblivion in the Dark Ages, as missionaries brought literacy and technology to Scotland and England.

Provocative two-part documentary in which Dan Snow blows the lid on the traditional Anglo-centric view of history and reveals how the Irish saved Britain from cultural oblivion during the Dark Ages. 

He follows in the footsteps of Ireland's earliest missionaries as they venture through treacherous barbarian territory to bring literacy and technology to the future nations of Scotland and England.

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How the Celts Saved Britain

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