TV & radio: what to tune in to next week (9–15 January)
Can't decide what programmes to watch or listen to this week? Here are four you won't want to miss...
The Musketeers
BBC One
Friday 9th January, 9.00pm
The swashbuckling drama continues with an episode that finds King Louis deciding to sample life as a common man in the company of D’Artagnan, only for the duo to be kidnapped to be sold as slaves. Oops. On Sunday 11th January, there’s more period drama in Foyle’s War (8.00pm, ITV), which deals with tensions around the founding of Israel.
Pick of the Week…
Britain’s Tudor Treasure: A Night At Hampton Court
BBC Two
Saturday 10th January, 9.00pm
As Hampton Court celebrates its 500th anniversary, Lucy Worsley and David Starkey look back at 15 October 1537 via a recreation of a 90-strong procession through the palace. It was a piece of pageantry to mark an internationally important event: the christening of Henry VIII’s son and heir, Prince Edward.
Drama: The Last Days Of Troy
Radio 4
Sunday 11th January, 3.00pm
Poet Simon Armitage’s acclaimed dramatisation of Homer’s epic poem, The Iliad, first performed at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester, gets a radio adaptation. Lily Cole stars as Helen, the abducted queen at the centre of bloody conflict as the Greeks lay siege to Troy.
Sunday Feature: Zola In Norwood
Radio 3
Sunday 11th January, 6.45pm
In July 1898, Emile Zola fled France for South London after being found guilty for libelling the military court in his searing public letter, J’Accuse, written in defence of Alfred Dreyfus. Michael Rosen follows in Zola’s footsteps, a journey that offers insights into the novelist’s final years.
A Brief History Of Ideas
Radio 4
Monday 12th January, 12.04pm
Melvyn Bragg and four learned guests discuss the question: “How did everything begin?” Over subsequent weekday shows, each of the quartet offers a personal take on the theme, including theologian Giles Fraser, who takes a Christian perspective via the work of St Thomas Aquinas.
Kitch!
Radio 4
Tuesday 13th January, 11.30am
When the Empire Windrush docked at Tilbury in 1948, cameras captured passenger Aldwyn ‘Lord Kitchener’ Roberts singing a calypso he had composed on the voyage, London Is The Place For Me. Antony Johnson profiles a man whose most famous song has lately enjoyed a new lease of life in the Paddington movie.
Great Lives
Radio 4
Tuesday 13th January, 4.30pm
This may be a hard sell. Author and politician Michael Dobbs speaks up for an diplomat, journalist, spy and infamous traitor, Guy Burgess. Matthew Parris is in the chair and Stewart Purvis, the biographer who uncovered the only known audio recording of Burgess, acts as expert witness.
Mein Kampf: Publish Or Burn?
Radio 4
Wednesday 14th January, 11.00am
Chris Bowlby traces the history of Mein Kampf (1925), the autobiographical manifesto that made Adolf Hitler rich. For years, the book has effectively been banned in Germany because the Bavarian authorities control the copyright. But as this copyright lapses, what happens next?
Weekend Warriors
Yesterday
Wednesday 14th January, 9.00pm
The second episode of the series following historical re-enactors introduces an international element to proceedings as enthusiasts recreate the 1813 Battle of Vitoria, one of the Duke of Wellington’s most notable victories. Expect scenes of tension between the British commander and his French counterpart.
The Inca: Masters Of The Clouds
BBC Four
Thursday 15th January, 9.00pm
Dr Jago Cooper argues that it was a clash of world views as well as a clash of arms that destroyed the Inca after the Spanish came calling. He also explores how the strengths of the empire were also factors in its rapid demise and argues we still have much to learn from the Inca legacy.
