Showing posts with label Publisher: BBC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Publisher: BBC. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Guilty by Association (2014)

Alex has been charged with a murder committed by a friend in a spontaneous fight; Wayne has been convicted of possessing a firearm he never touched; Joseph is serving a life sentence for a murder he didn't even see. All of them have been convicted using the law of joint enterprise, under which a person in a group or gang can be held responsible for the criminal acts of others. Joint enterprise is a 300-year-old law which has been increasingly used in recent years to combat the rise in gang violence. Its supporters argue that it ensures that those who encourage violent crimes are held responsible for their actions and that it deters further violence. It has been used to secure convictions in a number of high-profile murder cases, including two of the killers of Stephen Lawrence and the three murderers of Ben Kinsella. Others argue that it is leading to wrongful convictions of people who were only on the periphery of a crime, but who will, nevertheless, be sentenced to mandatory life sentences.

The Machine Gun and Skye's Band of Brothers (2014)

In the summer of 1914, a company of Cameron Highlanders left Portree and sailed off to war. On the battlefields of France, these raw recruits would meet the Maxim machine gun - invented in London, and capable of firing a hellish 666 rounds per minute. The German army deployed these weapons with mathematical efficiency. Neil Oliver examines the development of these ruthless, impersonal weapons, and the legacy they left on one Hebridean community.

This World: The Secret Life of Your Clothes (2014)

In Britain we give thousands of tons of our unwanted clothes to charity shops every year. But where do they actually go? It turns out most don't ever reach the rail of the local charity shop; they are exported to Africa. And even though we have given them away for free, our castoffs have created a multi-million pound industry and some of the world's poorest people pay good money to buy them. In this revealing film for BBC Two's This World, Ade Adepitan tells the fascinating story of the afterlife of our clothes. He follows the trail to Ghana, the biggest importer of our castoffs. One million pounds' worth of our old clothes arrive here every week. Ade meets the people who making a living from our old castoffs, from wholesalers and markets traders to the importers raking in a staggering £25,000 a day. But not everyone is profiting. With cheaply made western clothes flooding the market, the local textile industry has been decimated. Ade visits one of the last remaining cloth factories and finds it on its knees. And the deluge of our clothes isn't just destroying jobs; it has also had a seismic effect on Ghanaian culture.

The Doors: The Story of LA Woman (2012)

By 1969, the Doors had found themselves at the forefront of a movement that consisted of a generation of discontents. Operating against a backdrop of the Vietnam War and of social unrest and change in the USA, the Doors were hip, they were dangerous, they were anti-establishment, anti-war and they were hated by middle-America. Featuring exclusive interviews with surviving band members Ray Manzarek, John Densmore, Robby Kreiger and their closest colleagues and collaborators, along with exclusive performances, archive footage and examination of the original multi-track recording tapes with producer Bruce Botnick, this film tells the amazing story of landmark album LA Woman by one of the most influential bands on the planet.

Friday, June 13, 2014

* Royal Institution Christmas Lectures - Size Matters (2010)

Material scientist Dr Mark Miodownik gives a series of lectures on how size influences everything in science and nature, including the shape of the universe.

Why Elephants Can't Dance
How can a hamster survive falling from the top of a skyscraper, ants carry over 100 times their own body weight and geckos climb across the ceiling? In the first of this year's Christmas lectures, material scientist and engineer Dr Mark Miodownik investigates why size matters in animal behaviour. He reveals how the science of materials - the stuff from which everything is made - can explain some of the most extraordinary and surprising feats in the animal kingdom.

Why Chocolate Melts and Jet Engines Don't
Dr Mark Miodownik zooms into the microscopic world beneath our fingertips, where strange forces dominate the world and common sense goes out of the window. He reveals how this world can make objects behave like magic and discovers the secrets of the extraordinary metals that make jet engines possible. Mark reveals why chocolate is one of the most sophisticated and highly engineered materials on the planet, using special crystals designed to melt in the mouth, and he looks forward to new era of self-healing materials.

Why Mountains are So Small
Why is the tallest building on earth less than half a mile high? Why don't we have mountains as tall as those on Mars? Dr Mark Miodownik investigates the world of the very big and very tall. He reveals that, at this scale, everything is governed by a battle with one of the strangest forces in the universe - gravity. With help from acrobats, levitation devices, spiders and sticky goo, Mark discovers how gravity can make solid rock behave like a liquid and investigates whether it might be possible to build a structure from Earth into space.

* Faster Than the Speed of Light (2011)

In September 2011, an international group of scientists has made an astonishing claim - they have detected particles that seemed to travel faster than the speed of light. It was a claim that contradicted more than a hundred years of scientific orthodoxy. Suddenly there was talk of all kinds of bizarre concepts, from time travel to parallel universes. So what is going on? Has Einstein's famous theory of relativity finally met its match? Will we one day be able to travel into the past or even into another universe? In this film, Professor Marcus du Sautoy explores one of the most dramatic scientific announcements for a generation. In clear, simple language he tells the story of the science we thought we knew, how it is being challenged, and why it matters.

Dolphins: Spy in the Pod (2014)

The award-winning team behind Penguins - Spy in the Huddle use hidden cameras to go into the heart of the dolphins' world. The camera eyes of thirteen different 'Spy Creatures' allow behaviour to be captured that has never been filmed before, including a vast superpod of spinner dolphins hunting huge shoals of lanternfish while dodging the gaping mouths of giant rays.

Part 1
A newborn bottlenose dolphin learns from his mother as they follow a gathering of stingrays and hunt kingfish. He practices his sonar and plays with bubbles while nearby males play chicken with supertankers, visit a coral health spa and surf the waves. When they try to woo the females their direct approach threatens the baby, but bouquets of seaweed have the desired effect. Other sights include dolphins using rings of mud to catch fish and the spectacular leaps and corkscrews of spinner dolphins. There is humour too, when Spy Turtle encounters real amorous turtles and Spy Squid has a near miss with a hungry potato bass.

Part 2
Remote-controlled Spy Creatures reveal dolphins as never before, as we meet the orca and discover the intimacy of its remarkable family life. There are also the dolphins that wear sponges on their noses, and the Dall's porpoise, the fastest dolphin in the world. There is the story of a real dolphin secret agent that carries a camera into the pod to uncover their mysteries of communication and interactions, and a young bottlenose begins a life on his own.

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Great Bear Stakeout (2013)

There are wonderful moments in this up-close portrait of life for grizzly bears in Alaska, narrated by Billy Connolly. A team of guides and film-makers lived alongside the bears for five months and captured some brutal dramas of survival and courtship.

Endeavour: Everest (2013)

Series looking at three Everest expeditions - by balloon, canoe and climbing without oxygen.

Tom Jones: What Good Am I (2010)

As he prepares to celebrate his 70th birthday, singing legend Sir Tom Jones is still recording, performing and collaborating with some of the biggest names in pop. In this episode of Imagine, Alan Yentob examines the extraordinary story of one of Britain's most recognisable pop icons. In a frank and revealing interview, Sir Tom describes the dizzying ascent from his humble beginnings as a miner's son in South Wales to becoming a headline act in Las Vegas, and recalls many of his most cherished moments from a career that enabled him to sing alongside Elvis, establish himself as a hairy-chested sex symbol, and make one of the most successful comebacks in pop history.

Rio 50 Degrees: Carry on Carioca (2014)

As Brazil prepares to host the Fifa World Cup this summer and the Olympic Games in 2016, imagine... explores the cultural and social history of the city of Rio de Janeiro, home to more than six million Carioca. A city of extremes, Rio is still seen by many as a tropical paradise, but it is also a city divided by class, ravaged by poverty and gun crime. With its roots and rhythms in samba, the music of Rio has directly influenced decades of social and cultural change. imagine journeys through an extraordinary city, illustrated and narrated by the music and voices of this Brazilian metropolis.

The Story Of Women And Art (2014)

Professor Amanda Vickery explores the hidden journey of female creativity in Western art. From the cloistered world of Renaissance Italy and Catholic Spain, through an era of revolution and enlightenment in Britain and France, to the harsh desert landscape of New Mexico of the early 20th century, Professor Vickery will uncover the incredible stories of talented and tenacious women who throughout history have overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles to fulfil their artistic ambitions.

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Steve Coogan: The Inside Story (2014)

An unconventional look at Steve Coogan's television work and character comedy. With classic archive moments and some rarely seen early appearances, this one-hour special includes interviews with well-known faces who have collaborated with Steve, including Julia Davis, Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer, while Steve himself appears as his Irish auntie Peggy and Mickey Gold - his first showbiz agent. Narrated by Mark Williams.

Harry and Paul's Story of the Twos (2014)

As part of the 50th anniversary of BBC Two, Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse present their own unique biography of BBC Two. They romp through the story of Two's highs and lows, from imported Scandinavian dramas, via The Forsyte Saga, Tim Nice But Brooke Taylor, Late Night Line Up with Joan Bakewell Tart and Monty Python. It drops into The Office and Boys from the Blackstuff, Arena, Old Grey Whistle Test and The Apprentice among many others. The show visits and parodies in the region of 50 different shows, and there are 150 of BBC Two's favourite presenters, actors, comics and politicians on parade, most of them portrayed by either Harry or Paul, with a little help from their friends.

Time Shift (Series)

Mods Rockers and Bank Holiday Mayhem (2014)
A trip back to the days when 'style wars' were just that - violent confrontations about the clothes you wore. Spring 2014 marks the 50th anniversary of the bank holiday 'battles of the beaches', when hundreds of mods and rockers flocked to seaside resorts on scooters and motorbikes in search of thrills and spills.

Timeshift tells the story of how this led to violence, arrests and widespread concern about the state of British youth. But mods and rockers had more in common than was first obvious - they were the first generation of baby boomers to reach their teenage years at a time when greater prosperity and wider freedoms were transforming what it meant to be young.

Lost Highway: The Story of Country Music (2003)

The four-part, four-hour documentary travels the Lost Highway and uncovers the story of country music on a journey to the heart of America and the music that has come to define it. From the makers of the award-winning series Dancing in the Street and Walk On By comes another major heritage music series charting the history of American country music in the words of its greatest performers, producers, musicians and songwriters.

* Britain's Greatest Pilot: The Extraordinary Story of Captain 'Winkle' Brown (2014)

Captain Eric 'Winkle' Brown recounts his flying experiences, encounters with the Nazis and other adventures leading up to and during the Second World War. Illustrated with archive footage and Captain Brown's own photos.

Sir Kenneth Clark: Portrait of a Civilised Man (2014)

Revealing the man behind the landmark documentary series Civilisation, the Culture Show takes a look at the life of Sir Kenneth Clark. The founder of the Arts Council and independent television, and regarded by many as one of the most influential figures in 20th-century British art, Clark was a staunch defender of Reithian values. Despite accusations that he was an elitist 'posh man in tweeds', Clark held a passionate belief that art was for everyone and his mission was to share his love of art with the masses via television.

FIFA World Cup 1966 (2014)

An in-depth documentary looking back on the eighth World Cup, which was won by hosts England. Led by Sir Alf Ramsey and captained by Bobby Moore, England beat West Germany 4-2 after extra time in one of the most exciting and controversial World Cup finals of all time, Sir Geoff Hurst immortalising himself with a hat trick.

The Space Shuttle: A Horizon Guide (2011)

In 2011, after more than 30 years of service, America's space shuttle will take to the skies for the last time. Its story has been characterised by incredible triumphs, but blighted by devastating tragedies - and the BBC and Horizon have chronicled every step of its career. This unique and poignant Horizon Guide brings together coverage from three decades of programmes to present a biography of the shuttle and to ask what its legacy will be. Will it be remembered as an impressive chapter in human space exploration, or as a fatally flawed white elephant?