TV & Radio

TV and radio listings will be updated every Friday

Archive On 4: A History Of The Stiff Upper Lip
Archive On 4: A History Of The Stiff Upper Lip
Radio 4
Saturday 19th May, 8.00pm

Once upon a time, Britons were famed for lacking emotion. Today, in a world of hyper-reality telly, it sometimes seems as if we can’t stop emoting. How did this come about? Louisa Foxe looks through the archives for clues. Contributors include Ralph Fiennes, David Starkey and Andrew Motion.

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Cutty Sark: National Treasure Reopened
Cutty Sark: National Treasure Reopened
BBC Two
Saturday 19th May, 8.00pm

Despite a major fire during the restoration process, the clipper Cutty Sark has now reopened to the public. This documentary features interviews with those who helped bring the ship back to life, including the Duke of Edinburgh. Followed by Off By Heart Shakespeare (9.00pm), which follows a project to get schoolchildren learning some of the Bard’s greatest speeches.

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Trevor McDonald’s Queen And Country
Trevor McDonald’s Queen And Country
History
Sunday 20th May, 7.00pm

The newscaster continues his series marking Elizabeth II’s diamond jubilee with an episode that focuses on royal visits. Also on History this week, No County For Old Men (Tuesday 22nd May, 10.00pm) finds comedians John Thomson and Simon Day in Lancashire, where they’re challenged to eat the biggest breakfast in the world.

Visit the History website for more information

 

Chatsworth
Chatsworth
BBC One
Monday 21st May, 9.00pm

More scenes from life in a country mansion as the fly-on-the-wall series joins preparations for the Chatsworth International Horse Trials. There’s also a tulip crisis related to an unusually warm spring and the ironing of an enormous tablecloth doesn’t go as planned.

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The Fall Of Singapore: The Great Betrayal
The Fall Of Singapore: The Great Betrayal
BBC Two
Monday 21st May, 9.00pm

In December 1941, the Japanese attacked Malaya. Just 10 weeks later, Singapore fell in what Churchill described as “the largest capitulation in British history”. How did this sorry state of affairs come to pass? A documentary that claims British officers spied for Japan.

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War Hero In My Family
War Hero In My Family
Five
Tuesday 22nd May, 8.00pm

Another two celebrities discover how close relatives spent the Second World War. For cricketer David Gower, this means hearing tales of his naval commander uncle, who captained HMS Swift on harsh Arctic missions. DJ Sara Cox, meantime, hears that her mechanic grandfather, who had previously served on the Home Front, was sent to Italy in 1944.

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Harlots, Housewives and Heroines: A 17th-century History for Girls
Pick of the Week
Harlots, Housewives and Heroines: A 17th-century History for Girls
BBC Four
Tuesday 22nd May, 9.00pm

In a new three-part series, Lucy Worsley explores the lives of women in Restoration England. She begins with those at the top of society. Charles II, a man with a roving eye and much influenced by enforced time on the continent, not only took a string of mistresses, but granted them real political influence.

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Hitler’s Children
Hitler’s Children
BBC Two
Wednesday 23rd May, 9.00pm

What’s it like to grow up knowing that your family name is forever associated with some of the worst atrocities of the 20th century? Close relatives of Heinrich Himmler, Hermann Göring, Rudolf Hess and Hans Frank reflect on whether you can ever truly escape the shadow of forebears’ crimes.

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In Our Time
In Our Time
Radio 4
Thursday 24th May, 9.00am

Melvyn Bragg and learned guests discuss the life of Marco Polo, the 13th-century Venetian merchant and explorer. Just how did Rustichello da Pisa’s account of Polo’s 20-year-long Asian journey come to be so widely popular in the era before printing? Also at 9.30pm.

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National Treasures Jubilee Special
National Treasures Jubilee Special
BBC One
Thursday 24th May, 9.00pm

The history magazine show hosted by Dan Snow and Sian Williams returns for a one-off episode from Westminster Abbey. Reports include Lucy Worsley comparing the London of 1897, the year of Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, to the capital today, and the memories of some of the choristers who sang at the coronation in 1953.

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