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 Lost Worlds: The Nabataeans
Channel 4
Saturday 30th August, 8pm
The classicist continues her exploration of the Nabataean civilisation. Following ancient trade routes from Oman, she details how the Nabataeans had a monopoly on the incense trade. Plus Hughes witnesses the work of marine archaeologists exploring a submerged temple in the Bay of Naples.
Archive On Four: Freud V Klein: The Battle For Our Children’s Minds
BBC Radio 4
Saturday 30th August, 8pm
Anne Freud and Melanie Klein were both psychoanalysts famed for their work with children. Both were also born in Vienna to Jewish families who fled the city with the rise of the Nazis. Yet despite their similarities in background, as clinical psychologist Professor Tanya Byron explores, their professional approaches were often very different.
The Reunion
BBC Radio 4
Sunday 31st August, 10am
Since 2007, as many as eight million theatregoers have seen the National Theatre’s production of War Horse, famed for its ground-breaking use of puppetry. But how did Michael Morpurgo’s First World War story of a farmhand and his horse make it to the stage? Kirsty Wark speaks to key figures involved in adapting the novel for the theatre.
Drama: Origin
BBC Radio 4
Sunday 31st August, 3pm
Robert Glenister stars as Charles Darwin in an exploration of how The Origin Of The Species came to be written. Written by Sarah Woods, the drama was recorded on location in the great man’s Kent home and charts the role of his children in honing his thinking.
King And Conqueror
BBC One
Sunday 31st August, 9.10pm
Episode three of the historical drama and Harold Godwinson (James Norton) is in foreign parts but wants to return to Wessex to protect his beloved Edith (Emily Beecham). Meantime, William of Normandy (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) is busy plotting against Henry (Jean Marc-Barr). The whole series is available to view on BBC iPlayer.
(More Of) Ian Hislop’s Oldest Jokes
BBC Radio 4
Monday 1st September, 1.45pm
The Private Eye editor presents, as the name suggests, a second series of his show exploring the history of humour. The first of five weekday episodes focuses on the comedy staple of jokes about lawyers, beginning with a satirical poem dating from c1370.
I Am Martin Parr
BBC Four
Monday 1st September, 9pm
The satirical but affectionate work of photographer Martin Parr, conjuring up an England that’s instantly familiar yet strange and exotic, is not just extraordinary, but can be viewed as an idiosyncratic social history of the nation. Lee Shulman's documentary profiles Parr and features contributions from Grayson Perry.
The Lost Neanderthals
BBC Four
Wednesday 3rd September, 8pm
An excursion into pre-history here as cameras follow researchers investigating the Palaeolithic era. The specific focus here is on the remains of a young Neanderthal, Thorin, found in a cave in southern France, a discovery that leads to new insights into how the last Neanderthals lived – and why they died out.
Nazis, U-Boats And The Battle For The Atlantic – pick of the week
BBC Two
Wednesday 3rd September, 9pm
First shown on BBC One Northern Ireland and emphasising the place of Derry in the wider story, this two-part documentary looks back at the longest campaign of the Second World War, those years when German submarines targeting Allied convoys bringing vital supplies to Britain. Featuring decidedly eerie footage of wrecks. Concludes tomorrow.
The Orient Express: A Golden Era Of Travel
More4
Wednesday 3rd September, 9pm
For all the title here suggests a celebrity enjoying a railway jolly, this turns out to be a series that focuses instead on the line’s history. The format involves following the train on a journey across the continent, from London Victoria to Istanbul via excursions into stories about, among others, arms dealer Basil Zaharoff and, inevitably, Agatha Christie.