History TV and radio in the UK: what’s on our screens in April 2021?
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
Published:
This week: 10–16 April 2021
The Windsors: Inside The Royal Dynasty
Channel 4
Saturday 10 April, 8pm*
The story of our current royal family continues with an episode that traces the life and times of Prince Charles. Further back in time over on Channel 5, Edward VII: The Playboy Prince Who Changed Britain (9pm) argues that ‘Bertie’, Victoria’s eldest son, was for all his foibles a successful and even enlightened monarch.
*correct at time of publication, though royal documentaries may be postponed
Archive On 4: Gagarin And The Lost Moon
Radio 4
Saturday 10 April, 8pm
On 12 April 1961, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man to fly in space. Sixty years later, Dr Kevin Fong traces how this came about and considers how the Soviet Union lost its lead in the Cold War-era Space Race – much to the frustration of Gagarin himself.
Recall Of The Rock
Radio 4
Sunday 11 April, 4.30pm
It’s a century since Emily Kelly and fellow climbers founded the Pinnacle Club, an all-female mountaineering club. Marking the anniversary, poet Helen Mort listens to interviews with members recorded for the British Library Sound Archive. She responds by imagining an interview with a witness to the endeavours of these women – the rock itself.
Royals Declassified: Queen Elizabeth: Politics, Power And Prime Ministers
Channel 4
Sunday 11 April, 9pm*
Queen Elizabeth II has asked 14 different prime ministers to form a government during her reign. This documentary uses declassified documents and personal testimony to explore how the queen has dealt with men and women of very different personalities and political persuasions.
*correct at time of publication, though royal documentaries may be postponed
Mercovaldo
Radio 4
Monday 12 April, 10.45am & 7.45pm
Mackenzie Crook, surely a man who will attain national treasure status when he has a few more grey hairs, stars as Mercovaldo, a country man forced to live a life of economic hardship in industrial and urban Italy. Based on a 1963 collection of short stories by Italo Calvino and deftly adapted by Crook’s Detectoristssidekick, Toby Jones.
Free Thinking
Radio 3
Tuesday 13 April, 10pm
The first of two new episodes of Free Thinking this week focuses on Octavia Butler (1947–2006), the American science fiction writer whose Kindred was a time-travel tale of slavery and female power. On Wednesday, Matthew Sweet and guests revisit Jacques Tati’s 1971 film Traffic, a prescient and comic exploration of the effects of mass car use.
Pick of the week
Bent Coppers: Crossing The Line Of Duty
BBC Two
Wednesday 14 April, 9pm
Philip Glenister of Life On Mars fame narrates a three-part series tracing the story of bad behaviour by policemen in London in the 1970s. The first episode focuses in great part on a Times investigation into the Met, which revealed a “firm in a firm” of corrupt coppers.
Open Country
Radio 4
Thursday 15 April, 3pm
Folk singer and song collector Sam Lee travels to four historically important sites: Stonehenge, Ironbridge, Hadrian’s Wall and Whitby, all places owned by English Heritage and where folk music is played. It’s a way to explore the idea that we can gain a deeper understanding of locales via the songs and stories associated with them.
Leonardo
Amazon Prime
Streaming from Friday 16 April
Aidan Turner stars as Leonardo da Vinci in an eight-part drama that charts the life and times of the genius polymath. In the first episode, we meet an older Leonardo in jail before jumping back in time to see him as a young apprentice.
Churchill: Path To Victory
Channel 5
Friday 16 April, 9pm
The series tracing Churchill’s life reaches years when the Second World War began to turn in the Allies’ favour. This ultimately put the PM in a difficult position as Britain found itself the junior partner because it could not muster the same level of resources as the Soviet Union and USA.
Last week: 3–9 April 2021
The Windsors: Inside The Royal Dynasty
Channel 4
Saturday 3 April, 8pm
The series tracing the story of the Windsors continues with the early years of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign. Also this week on Channel 4, Queen Elizabeth And The Spy In The Palace (Easter Day, 9pm) asks whether Anthony Blunt, surveyor of the Queen’s pictures, passed damaging information about the royals to Moscow.
Pick of the week
The Reunion
Radio 4
Easter Day, 11am
The series that brings together those involved in a key moment in modern history returns. The first of five new episodes looks back at the car park discovery and subsequent reburial of the remains of Richard III, and features the reflections of archaeologists, scientists, the Dean of Leicester and one of the monarch’s descendants. Presented by Kirsty Wark.
Eleanor Rising
Radio 4
Easter Monday, 10.45am & 7.45pm
The historical drama charting the life of the young Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122–1204) returns. In the first of five weekday episodes, guilt over the massacre at Vitry-sur-Marne causes problems between Eleanor (Rose Basista) and her husband, King Louis (Joel McCormack). Written by Shaun McKenna.
River Hunters
Sky History
Easter Monday, 9pm
Wild swimmer Rick Edwards and US river detectorist Beau Ouimette team up again for a second series of diving in search of archaeological evidence about the past. First up, the duo head for River Garry in the Highlands of Scotland on the hunt for evidence of one of Scotland’s bloodiest eras, the Jacobite Rebellions.
A Pyrotechnic History Of Humanity
Radio 4
Tuesday 6 April, 11am
Justin Rowlatt’s energy-focused look at humanity’s story continues with what he calls the original solar energy revolution, using the Sun’s rays to grow food. Some 10,000 years ago, we learn, farmers first began to till the soil, thus producing the surpluses needed to feed cities and civilisations.
Iran’s Secret Art Collection
Radio 4
Tuesday 6 April, 11.30am
In a museum basement in Tehran can be found one of the most valuable collections of modern western art to be found outside the USA and Europe. Alastair Sooke tells how it came to be there, a story in which the Empress Farah Pahlavi, the Shah’s wife and an art collector, is central.
The Michelangelo Code: Secrets Of The Sistine Chapel
Sky Arts
Tuesday 6 April, 9pm
Marking the 500th anniversary of work beginning on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Art critic Waldemar Januszczak tells the story of how Michelangelo created his masterpiece. Januszczak also offers new ideas about what the painting is really trying to tell us.
The Terror
BBC Two
Wednesday 7 April, 9pm
The psychological chiller set in the icy north concludes. Suffice to say things are grim for the explorers as they face a final confrontation with eldritch entities. Meanwhile, Edward Little tries to organise a rescue party. The full series is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
The Prime Minister At 300
Radio 4
Friday 9 April, 11am
Sir Anthony Seldon continues his series charting the story of the office of prime minister. In the second of three episodes, he looks back at the Victorian era, when a small number of exceptional PMs shaped the job and thus helped to ensure its survival to the present day.
Churchill: A Gathering Storm
Channel 5
Friday 9 April, 9pm
The series tracing the turbulent life and times of Winston Churchill focuses on years when he returned from the political wilderness. Churchill, the war leader who became a national hero, subsequently led Britain through some of the darkest days of the 20th century.
