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
Hitler: The Lost Tapes
Channel 4
Saturday 1st October, 6.15pm
Adolf Hitler presented himself to the German people as a single man devoted to his country. In truth, he valued and even needed the company of women. The series drawing on home archives, charts Hitler’s relationship with, among others, his niece, Geli Raubal, and his mistress, Eva Braun.
Archive On 4: Kate Bush: The Power Of Strange Things
Radio 4
Saturday 1st October, 8pm
The use of Running Up That Hill in Stranger Things has brought Kate Bush to a new generation. But why did it so connect? As Bush’s LP The Dreaming reaches its 40th anniversary, lifelong fan Ann Powers explores both Bush’s rise and the appeal of a famously singleminded and innovative artist.
KaDeWe: Our Time Is Now
BBC Four
Saturday 1st October, 9pm & 9.50pm
A second double bill of the German drama set in Berlin during the Weimar Republic era. With inflation soaring, many of the city’s workers struggle just to get enough to eat. Family pressure grows on Fritzi to end her affair with Heidi.
Sunday Feature: Frank Johnson, Queen Victoria And The Black Brass Band – pick of the week
Radio 3
Sunday 2nd October, 6.45pm
The Sunday Feature slot often throws up docs that offer unfamiliar stories from history. Here’s a case in point, as Uchenna Ngwe tells the story of African-American bandleader Francis Johnson (1792–1844). Not only was he a groundbreaking musician but, it’s said, Queen Victoria personally presented him with a silver bugle.
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Drama On 3: Sizwe Banzi Is Dead
Radio 3
Sunday 2nd October, 7.30pm
South African writer Athol Fugard (who is now 90) introduces a new production of his play, first performed in 1972. Set at the height of apartheid and beginning with a customer arriving at a studio to get a new photograph for his passbook, it deals with themes of oppression and identity.
Icon
Radio 4
Tuesday 4th October, 11.30am
The series dealing with celebrity via the life of Elizabeth Taylor focuses on her time in rehab. When she entered the Betty Ford Center, Taylor was, we learn, the first A-list celebrity so publicly to seek help for addictive illness.
Sensationalists: The Bad Girls And Boys Of British Art
BBC Two
Tuesday 4th October, 9pm
The early 1990s were good to many of those latterly dubbed the Young British Artists. Following economic turmoil, abandoned spaces were available to use as makeshift galleries. These kinds of shows helped bring them to the attention of Charles Saatchi and the YBAs’ journey to the heart of the art establishment began in earnest.
My Grandparents’ War
Channel 4
Thursday 6th October, 8pm
Actor Toby Jones explores the wartime experiences of his grandparents, Reggie and Doreen Heslewood. Doreen, we learn, volunteered for the Entertainment National Service Association and travelled to war zones to entertain the troops, while Reggie fought the Japanese in the jungles of Burma and India.
In Our Time
Radio 4
Thursday 6th October, 9am
Melvyn Bragg and learned guests discuss the Knights Templar. This was a military order with the mission to protect pilgrims in the Holy Land and which was, at its height, rich and powerful. So how did the order come to be persecuted out of existence?
From Paris To Rome With Bettany Hughes
Channel 5
Friday 7th October, 9.00pm
Continuing her 21st-century take on the Grand Tour, Bettany Hughes heads for Venice where, following a coffee in St Mark’s Square, she takes in the Doge’s Palace. She also discusses Peggy Guggenheim’s art collection with the famous socialite’s granddaughter.
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