History TV and radio: what’s on next week (17–23 November 2018)
Can't decide which shows to watch or listen to next week? Here are 10 programmes you won't want to miss...
Archive On 4: The Black Footballer’s Dilemma
BBC Radio 4
Saturday 17 November, 8pm
In 1978, Nottingham Forest full back Viv Anderson became the first black player to win a full cap for England. Four decades on, former player Clark Carlisle considers how black players dealt with racism, directed at them both from the terraces and within the dressing room.
Pick of the week
Holst And Vaughan Williams: Making Music English
BBC Two
Saturday 17 November, 9pm
Amanda Vickery and Tom Service tell the story of the friendship between Ralph Vaughan Williams and Gustav Holst. The two composers, we learn, took walking trips together in the country and shared a range of influences that gave their music an “Englishness”. Featuring music from the BBC Concert Orchestra.
Drama: The Fortune Of War
BBC Radio 4
Sunday 18 November, 3pm
The first episode in a three-part adaptation of Patrick O’Brian’s historical naval novel finds Captain Jack Aubrey and Dr Stephen Maturin forced to abandon ship in the South Atlantic. It’s a prelude to becoming prisoners of war in Boston. Starring David Robb and Richard Dillane.
The Little Drummer Girl
BBC One
Sunday 18 November, 9pm
The excellent John Le Carré adaptation, which atmospherically conjures up the Europe of the Cold War, continues with Charlie (Florence Pugh) being contacted by Michel’s team. This requires her to put on the performance of her life, as a terrorist moll.
Inside North Korea’s Dynasty
National Geographic
Sunday 18 November, 9pm
For anyone struggling to understand how North Korea became such a brutal dictatorship, here’s a primer. This four-part series begins in the years after the Second World War, when Korea was divided after the defeat of Japan and Kim Il-sung ascended to power.
’71: The Vote To Go In
BBC Radio 4
Monday 19 November, 8pm
Ben Wright looks back at the parliamentary vote that paved the way for Britain to join the European Economic Community, held after six days of debate. Prime minister Edward Heath celebrated by playing Bach on his clavichord and Harold Macmillan lit a bonfire of celebration on the cliffs of Dover. Not everyone was quite so pleased…
Bristol Scout: Rebuilding History
PBS America
Monday 19 November, 9pm
What do you do when you find some pieces of a First World War vintage aircraft flown by your grandfather? If you’re David Bremner, you embark on a 14-year odyssey to recreate the plane, a Bristol Scout, as this documentary recounts.
Sir Walter Raleigh – A Devon Man
BBC Radio 4 Extra
Tuesday 20 November, 10am
First broadcast on Radio Devon, here’s a play penned by John Nettles of Bergerac fame. He’s long been a fan of Elizabeth’s one-time favourite, and here he charts both the explorer-courtier’s rise, and his spectacular fall. Repeated at 3pm and 3am.
Flying Dreams: Women Airforce Pilots Of WWII
PBS America
Tuesday 20 November, 9pm
During the Second World War, 25,000 Americans volunteered to become Women Airforce Service Pilots. This documentary traces their contribution to the war effort, which came abruptly to an end at the end of 1944 when their service was abruptly and unceremoniously disbanded.
Britain By Boat
Channel 5
Friday 23 November, 8pm
Michael Buerk and John Sergeant team up to take to the high seas in search of (gentle) adventure. More a travelogue than a history series in truth, but the first episode in a four-part series finds the duo visiting a craft involved in a famous rescue mission.
