History TV and radio in the UK: what's on our screens this week?
Can't decide which shows to watch or listen to this month? Here are the latest history radio and TV programmes airing in the UK that you won't want to miss
Lost Treasures Of Rome
Channel 4
Saturday 13 August, 7pm
Hardian’s Wall stretched for 73 miles across Northern Britain and it was the biggest structure the Romans built. So what can we learn from exploring the wall and the towns, forests and gatehouses associated with it? A roundup of the latest research.
Archive On 4: Tobacco And Me
Radio 4
Saturday 13th August, 8pm
Peter Taylor has spent five decades researching the tobacco industry, a sector that currently says it is looking forward to a smoke-free future. How seriously should we take this claim? Taylor trawls the archives to help answer this question, as well as getting a rare chance to chat with Philip Morris executive chairman Andre Calantzopoulos.
The Reunion
Radio 4
Sunday 14th August, 11.15am
The series gathering together those who were there at important moments in recent history returns. First up, Kirsty Wark chats with key cast members of Grange Hill (1978–2008), including Todd Carty (Tucker Jenkins) and Susan Tully (Suzanne Ross). Importantly, it was a series that let ordinary British schoolchildren see their lives reflected on screen.
Natalie Haynes Stands Up For The Classics – Pick of the Week
Radio 4
Sunday 14th August, 4.30pm
Speaking up again for the classical world, Natalie Haynes looks back at events in AD 79, when Vesuvius buried Pompeii in ash and pumice. But what month did this happen? August as medieval texts attest or later in the year as the discovery of ripe pomegranates suggests? Featuring the insights of archaeologist Dr Sophie Hay.
India 1947: Partition In Colour
Channel 4
Sunday 14th August, 9pm
In 1947, Lord Mountbatten announced the Partition of India, yet didn’t state precisely where the border would be drawn. As the concluding part of this two-part documentary charts, the result of this was uncertainty and tension between communities, a prelude to tragedy.
A Very British Way Of Torture
Channel 4
Sunday 14th August, 10pm
The violence of the British response to the Mau Mau rebellion in Kenya represents one of the most shameful chapters in the later history of the British Empire. A documentary that features the testimony of survivors and reveals how the British in the 1950s, as the title here suggests, were guilty of torture.
In Suburbia
Radio 4
Tuesday 16th August, 11.30am
Episode two of Ian Hislop’s series and he continues to challenge the idea that suburbia is a cultural wasteland. Contributors this week include artist Darren Evans and musician JC Carroll, who remembers how his band, The Members, came to write their 1979 anthem ‘The Sound of the Suburbs’.
Great Lives
Radio 4
Tuesday 16th August, 4.30pm
Maths whizz Bobby Seagull nominates Ravi Shankar as someone who lived a great life. The programme explores how Shankar, who was born in India in 1920 and was initially a dancer, became internationally famous through working with the likes of Yehudi Menuhin and The Beatles. Matthew Parris presents.
The Repair Shop
BBC One
Wednesday 17th August, 8pm
No, it’s not really a history series, but The Repair Shop arguably says more about the importance of our connections to the past than any other current show. In the latest episode, Jay Blades and the experts set to work on, among other objects, a novelty drinks table and a barrel organ.
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