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 week? Here are the latest history radio and TV programmes airing in the UK that you won't want to miss
Bettany Hughes’s Treasures Of The World
Channel 4
Saturday 1st November, 7.20pm
The classicist and historian heads for Switzerland to explore how, in one of Europe’s most mountainous regions, different communities have prospered down the years. The Great Saint Bernard Pass, William Tell and cheesemaking all feature. Followed by Great British Train Journeys From above (8.20pm), in which cameras follow the route of the West Somerset Railway.
Archive On 4: Out Of This World – 25 Years Of The ISS
BBC Radio 4
Saturday 1st November, 8pm
Alice Bunn, former head of the UK Space Agency, traces the history of the International Space Station down the years, a story of international cooperation and, sometimes, tension. For those fascinated by the history of mankind’s adventures beyond the atmosphere, Once Upon A Time In Space (BBC Two, Monday 3rd November, 9pm) focuses on Russia’s Mir space station.
Ian McNeice Remembers… Edge Of Darkness
BBC Four
Saturday 1st November, 9pm
The actor looks back at a BBC thriller from 1985 that drew career-defining performances from Bob Peck and Joanne Whalley, and which dramatised the geopolitical tensions of the late Cold War era. If you’ve never seen Edge Of Darkness, do so. The first two episodes can be seen at 9.15pm and 10.10pm.
Northanger Abbey
BBC Radio 4
Sunday 2nd November, 3pm
Marking the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth, here’s a new two-part adaptation of the author’s posthumously published novel, a book that poked fun at Gothic literature. Madelaine Gary stars as Catherine Morland, who receives an invitation to Bath that seems replete with peril. Adapted by Clara Glynn.
Intimate Histories
BBC Radio 4
Monday 3rd November, 11.45am
History, contends Hallie Rubenhold, is about more than stories of the great and good. The often unreported lives of ordinary people matter profoundly if we’re to understand the past. In the first of five weekday essays, she begins to build a case for what the programme notes here call “the intimacy of history”.
The Forsytes
5
Monday 3rd November, 9pm
Episode three of the family saga based on John Galsworthy’s novels and Frances hopes the revelation over Jolyon’s children will, in the longer term, strengthen the duo’s relationship. Elsewhere, the Forsytes’ seemingly endless feuding over the direction of the family business continues.
The Essay: Empty Spaces
BBC Radio 3
Monday 3rd November, 9.45pm
Abandoned places still hold meaning. That’s the premise of this series of weekday talks by poets that begins with Liz Berry visiting – and mourning – red-brick Selly Oak Library in Birmingham. It closed in 2017, but there's a deep personal connection here: Berry's mother was a librarian and worked in Selly Oak.
Sandi Toksvig’s Hidden Wonders
More4
Tuesday 4th November, 9pm
Prior to building a career in comedy, Sandi Toksvig took a degree in archaeology and anthropology at Cambridge. Four decades on, she’s keen to take up her trowel again. A four-part series begins with Toksvig joining a dig at an Iron Age cemetery in Dorset.
Original Gangsters With Sean Bean
Sky History
Tuesday 4th November, 9pm
Sean Bean presents a new series looking back at the history of organised crime. He begins with the real-life Peaky Blinders, a term that encompassed a number of gangs in Birmingham. Billy Kimber, a thuggish bookmaker and a relatively minor character in the Peaky Blinders TV series, is among those Bean profiles.
Empire With David Olusoga – pick of the week
BBC Two
Friday 7th November, 9pm
At its height, the British Empire was the largest the world has ever seen. It still, contends David Olusoga, shapes our world today. In the first of four episodes, the historian looks back at the roots of empire, which he finds during the reign of Elizabeth I in the 16th century, and the colonisation of the Americas.