TV & Radio

TV and radio listings will be updated every Friday

Archive On 4: The Great Listener
Archive On 4: The Great Listener
Radio 4
Saturday 12th May, 8.00pm

Alan Dein, the acclaimed presenter of Lives In A Landscape, explores the work of his hero and inspiration, the oral historian Tony Parker. In the 1960s and 1970s, Parker interviewed thousands of people from across society, including many who were in prison. But do any tapes of these encounters survive?

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Coast
Coast
BBC Two
Sunday 13th May, 9.00pm

Nick Crane and the team return for another season of mucking about where land and sea meet. As ever, history is key to the show’s mix, with the first episode, which takes as its theme the smaller islands in our archipelago, considering the history of tall ships and conspiracy theories around the death of Lord Kitchener.

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Lost World of the Seventies
Lost World of the Seventies
BBC Two
Sunday 13th May, 10.00pm

Michael Cockerell focuses on some of the more colourful characters from the 1970s. These include Sir Walter Walker, who thought a private army was just the thing to protect Blighty from communists and trade unionists, and Lord Longford, dubbed Lord Porn for his campaigning against the sex industry.

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The Diary Of Samuel Pepys
The Diary Of Samuel Pepys
Radio 4
Monday 14th May, 10.45am

Dramatist Hattie Naylor’s excellent adaptation of Pepys’ scribblings, starring Kris Marshall, returns for another weekday run at 10.45am and 7.45pm. Also stripped across the week, The Essay: Shakespeare Around The Globe (Radio 3, 10.45pm) looks at how the Bard’s reputation has spread around the world.

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Chatsworth
Chatsworth
BBC One
Monday 14th May, 9.00pm

What’s life like behind the scenes at the grandest of English country houses? Here’s a chance to find out as a new series chronicles a year in the life of Chatsworth in Derbyshire. It takes, we learn, a staff of 500 to maintain such a vast building.

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The 70s
The 70s
BBC Two
Monday 14th May, 9.00pm

Dominic Sandbrook’s excellent series concludes with the years 1977-79. Expect tales of how Grange Hill provoked a debate the future of education, of the Two-Tone ska craze, and re-live Margaret Thatcher’s rise to power in the wake of the so-called Winter of Discontent.

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War Hero In My Family
War Hero In My Family
Five
Tuesday 15th May, 8.00pm

Helen Lederer, whose grandparents came to the UK in 1938 to escape anti-Semitism in Czechoslovakia, learns about a forebear’s role in bringing Nazis to justice. Meantime, Paddy Ashdown hears about his soldier father’s key role during the evacuation from Dunkirk.

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Roundhead Or Cavalier: Which One Are You?
Roundhead Or Cavalier: Which One Are You?
BBC Four
Tuesday 15th May, 9.00pm

Have divisions that date back to the 17th century become entrenched in our society? Celebs and historian discuss the idea that contemporary Britain consists of two tribes: Cavaliers who value panache and individuality, and Roundheads who stand for modesty and discipline. Contributors include Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, AS Byatt and Julian Fellowes.

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Felicity Kendal’s Indian Shakespeare Quest
Pick of the Week
Felicity Kendal’s Indian Shakespeare Quest
BBC Two
Wednesday 16th May, 9.00pm

Felicity Kendal, who spent her childhood travelling the subcontinent with her parents’ theatre company Shakespeareana, explores India’s abiding fascination with the Bard. A playwright who was once regarded as a symbol of imperialism, it seems, is now an inspiration to Bollywood. Preceded by the final episode of Lucy Worsley: Antiques Uncovered (8.00pm).

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Metalworks! – The Blacksmith's Tale
Metalworks! – The Blacksmith's Tale
BBC Four
Wednesday 16th May, 9.00pm

The final episode of Metalworks! focuses on a figure who was once central to day-to-day life: the blacksmith. The programme looks at both the work of influential individual craftsmen, such as Jean Tijou, Robert Bakewell and John Tresilian, and the foundries that mass-produced goods in the Victorian era.

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