TV & radio: what to tune in to next week (24–29 January 2015)

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Holocaust: Night Will Fall
Channel 4
Saturday 24th January, 9.00pm

In the wake of the concentration camps being liberated, the Ministry of Information’s Sidney Bernstein planned to make a film showing the horror of what had been done, even bringing in Alfred Hitchcock to help. This powerful documentary, which features harrowing footage recorded by army cameramen, explores why the documentary never saw the light of day.

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Churchill: 100 Days That Saved Britain
ITV
Sunday 25th January, 10.20pm

The title of this docu-drama is a reference to those weeks in the late spring and summer of 1940 after Winston became prime minister, and when it looked all too likely the Nazis would defeat Britain. Robert Hardy plays Churchill and Jemma Redgrave portrays his wife, Clementine.

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David Starkey’s Magna Carta
BBC Two
Monday 26th January, 9.00pm

The historian charts the story of Magna Carta, drawn up in 1215 and designed to curb abuses of power perpetuated by King John. It’s a story that encompasses its export to the US constitution and ends with a warning that we mustn’t sacrifice liberty for security.

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The Essay: The Fall and Rise of the British Castle
Radio 3
Monday 26th January, 10.45pm

Echoing the theme of Sam Willis’s recent BBC Four series, five writers reflect on the enduring power of Britain’s castles. The first of the weeknight talks finds historian Jeremy Black discussing the castle as an instrument of power and control.

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Holocaust Memorial Day
BBC Two
Tuesday 27th January, 7.00pm

Marking 70 years since the liberation of Auschwitz, 200 survivors attend a special commemoration for Holocaust Memorial Day. In Touched By Auschwitz (BBC Two, 9.00pm), Laurence Rees explores the legacy of crimes perpetuated at the camp. Meanwhile The Holocaust: A Story of Remembrance (BBC One, Wednesday 28th January, 10.45pm) sees three women, including author Judith Kerr, reflecting on what occurred.

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Pick of the Day...

Churchill: The Nation’s Farewell
BBC One
Wednesday 28th January, 9.00pm

Jeremy Paxman recalls events 50 years ago, when Winston Churchill was granted a lavish state funeral in London in recognition of his service as Britain’s wartime leader between 1940 and 1945. The former Newsnight presenter explores what the event represented, and meets people who were present on the day.

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Wolf Hall
BBC Two
Wednesday 28th January, 9.00pm

Epsiode two of the terrific adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s novels and events are moving apace. With out-of-favour Cardinal Wolsey (Jonathan Pryce) banished to York and Anne Boleyn (Claire Foy) becoming impatient, low-born but clever Thomas Cromwell (Mark Rylance) has to tread carefully if he’s to help his patron and also to maintain his own upward trajectory in society. 

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In Our Time
Radio 4
Thursday 29th January, 9.00am

Melvyn Bragg and learned guests discuss the ancient Greek historian Thucydides (c460–c395BC), whose History of the Peloponnesian War charts conflict between Athens and Sparta in the fifth century BC. The text is noted for offering a discussion of politics, human motivation, and even the nature of history itself.

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Timeshift: Battle for the Himalayas – The Fight to Film Everest
BBC Four
Thursday 29th January, 9.00pm

The ever-excellent Timeshift series explores how filmmakers have used the Himalayas, so often visited by military-style expeditions, for propaganda purposes. Followed by The Epic of Everest (10.00pm), a brooding silent documentary charting the ill-fated 1924 attempt by George Mallory and Andrew Irvine to conquer the world’s highest mountain.

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