BBC Four

World News Today

The latest news and business developments.

World News Today: 24/08/2009

24/08/2009

BBC News Channel - World News Today, 24/08/2009

The latest news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.

The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.

BBC News Channel

An impartial and independent news service offering breaking news, analysis and insight.

A 24-hour impartial and independent news service offering breaking news, analysis and insight. It provides fast and comprehensive coverage of local, UK and international events.

Legends

A look at some true legends from the world of music.

Legends: Roy Orbison - The 'Big O' in Britain

12/12/2008

Roy Orbison - The 'Big O' in Britain

BBC Four - Legends, Roy Orbison - The 'Big O' in BritainSearch BBC

Profile of Roy Orbison and his relationship with British musicians and the British public.

Documentary celebrating the extraordinary talent of Roy Orbison and his relationship with his loyal fans, British musicians and the British public.

Roy Orbison was the best singer in the world. That's what Elvis Presley said, and he should know. 

To mark the 20th anniversary of Orbison's death, this programme celebrates the extraordinary talent of 'The Big O' and his relationship with his most loyal and enduring fans, British musicians and the British public. Through a combination of interview and archive, it charts Orbison's career in Britain, from the sell-out tour with the Beatles that sky-rocketed him to international superstardom, right up to the collaboration with lifelong friend George Harrison on the Travelling Wilburys project in the late 1980s. Effortlessly cool, musically sophisticated, Orbison was a rock and roll legend, whose legacy continues to captivate both the listeners and performers of today.

Knowledge, arts, music and culture from the UK and the world.

BBC Four reflects arts, music and culture with an ambitious range of intellectually and culturally enriching programmes, taking an expert and in-depth approach to its subjects.

Legends: Roy Orbison - the Big O in Britain

A celebration of the life and career of Roy Orbison, featuring interviews with the musician's widow Barbara, as well as Elvis Costello, Bono and Bill Wyman.

Only Connect

BBC Two

BBC Two is a TV channel that started broadcasting on the 20th April 1964.

Quiz show in which connections must be made between apparently unconnected things.

Victoria Coren Mitchell challenges teams to make connections between apparently unconnected things, where patience and lateral thinking are as vital as knowledge.

Only Connect: Series 2

Only Connect: Series 2: Episode 7: Chessman v Mathematicians - The Competition for Third Place

Episode 7

Episode 7: Chessman v Mathematicians - The Competition for Third Place

Series 2

Chessman v Mathematicians - The Competition for Third Place

BBC Two - Only Connect, Series 2, Chessman v Mathematicians - The Competition for Third Place

Three chess players take on three mathematicians in the battle for third place.

Quiz in which connections must be made between seemingly random elements sees the battle for third place in the series.

Quiz show presented by Victoria Coren in which knowledge will only take you so far, as patience and lateral thinking are also vital. 

Three avid chess players take on a trio unified by their love of mathematics as they compete for the glory of third place in the series, trying to draw together the connections between elements which, at first glance, seem utterly random.

Quiz show in which patience and lateral thinking are as vital as knowledge

New. 7/9. Three chess players challenge the mathematicians in a bid to win third place in the quiz. Victoria Coren presents. Repeated tomorrow at 7.30pm

Wallander

Swedish drama series about a maverick detective.

Swedish drama series about a maverick detective, based on the novels by Henning Mankell. (In Swedish with English subtitles.)

Wallander: Series 1

Wallander: Series 1: Episode 9: The Container Lorry

Episode 9

Episode 9: The Container Lorry

Series 1

The Container Lorry

BBC Four - Wallander, Series 1, The Container Lorry

A murder investigation is launched after the discovery of a lorry full of dead refugees.

Adaptation of Henning Mankell's detective series. Police launch a murder investigation after finding an abandoned lorry with a container full of dead refugees.

The police launch a murder investigation after finding an abandoned lorry with a container full of dead refugees.

In Swedish with English subtitles.

New. The Container Lorry. A murder investigation is launched when dead refugees are found in an abandoned lorry. Starring 
Krister Henriksson and Johanna Sallstrom. In 
Swedish with English subtitles. See panel. For cast see page 102 Rptd Thu at 10.15pm

The Weather

The Weather: Episode 1: Rain

Episode 1

Episode 1: Rain

Rain

BBC Four - The Weather, Rain

Film taking a scientific look at rain and how mankind has adapted or succumbed to it.

Documentary series about the weather. A look at rain, including the true shape of a raindrop, how and why rain falls, and stories of adaptation to this elemental force of nature.

Documentary series about the weather. The rain is an essential part of being British, giving us the English lawn, the sliding tackle and endless grounds for complaint, but what do we really know about it? 

The programme uncovers the true shape of a raindrop, shows how and why rain falls, and tells remarkable stories of how we have adapted or succumbed to this elemental force of nature, such as James Glaisher's seven-mile hot-air balloon ascent in 1862, and how Charles Macintosh invented the waterproof coat. 

The Victorians believed that they could master the rain and push it aside, but today climate change threatens us with rain that is wilder and more unpredictable than ever.

Series taking a scientific look at different aspects of British weather

The first of three programmes about the weather explores the significance of rain, revealing exactly what it is, how it has shaped our landscape and our lives, and how individuals have adapted to it. See panel.

The Weather: Episode 2: Snow

Episode 2

Episode 2: Snow

Snow

BBC Four - The Weather, Snow

Taking a scientific journey into the microscopically tiny world of the snow crystal.

A journey into the world of the snow crystal, as science explains a notorious episode in British Rail's history and why a British company is the world's leading snow producer.

Documentary series about the weather. This episode looks at snow, that most fleeting and beautiful of elements which endlessly fascinates us. 

Using rare footage, we journey into the microscopically small world of the snow crystal, finding out how a snowflake forms and why it is always six-sided. 

The science of snow tests British Rail's claim that the snow that crippled their rolling stock in 1991 really was the 'wrong type of snow', and explains how, thanks to a scientific discovery, a British company became the world's leading producer of snow.

The extensive news coverage of last 
February's heavy snow is testimony to our fascination with this most beautiful of elements. The second programme on the weather explores the anatomy of snowflakes and tests British Rail's infamous claim about "the wrong type of snow".

The Weather: Episode 3: Winds

Episode 3

Episode 3: Winds

Winds

BBC Four - The Weather, Winds

A look at wind - a phenomenon which took scientists over a thousand years to explain.

Documentary series about the weather looks at wind, caused by the interaction of temperature, pressure and the earth's rotation, which took scientists over 1,000 years to explain.

Documentary series about the weather. This episode looks at wind - a phenomenon caused by the interaction of temperature, pressure and the earth's rotation, which took scientists over a thousand years to fully explain. 

We witness some remarkable wind-related stories, such as the tornado that flung Dorothy Allwright and her caravan into the air, and how Scottish engineer James Blyth invented the first electricity-producing wind turbine in 1887.

Once we looked to the gods to explain the wind, until science unlocked its mysteries. Today, we may have come to understand the wind, but we have also realised that we will never master it, and that this elemental force cannot be ignored.

The final programme explores the history and science of this invisible force whose origins had scientists scratching their heads for millennia.

Style on Trial

Style on Trial: Episode 5: 1980s

Episode 5

Episode 5: 1980s

1980s

BBC Four - Style on Trial, 1980sSearch BBC

Caryn Franklin, John Taylor and Stevie Stewart reflect on 1980s fashion.

To discuss 1980s fashion, Stuart Maconie and Lauren Laverne are joined by The Clothes Show's Caryn Franklin, Duran Duran's John Taylor and fashion designer Stevie Stewart.

Stuart Maconie and Lauren Laverne put British style and fashion between the 1940s and the 1990s into the dock. To discuss the 1980s they are joined in the studio by former fashion editor of i-D magazine and host of The Clothes Show, Caryn Franklin; bass player from Duran Duran, John Taylor; and Stevie Stewart, a designer from Boy George's favourite fashion label of the decade, Bodymap.

British style and fashion from the 1940s to the 1990s is put into the dock

double bill. The fashions that defined the 1980s and 90s

Style on Trial: Episode 6: 1990s

Episode 6

Episode 6: 1990s

1990s

BBC Four - Style on Trial, 1990sSearch BBC

Ben de Lisi, Mica Paris and Pearl Lowe reflect on the vagaries of 1990s fashion.

To discuss 1990s fashion, Stuart Maconie and Lauren Laverne are joined by designer Ben de Lisi, singer and broadcaster Mica Paris and musician, model and designer Pearl Lowe.

Stuart Maconie and Lauren Laverne put British style and fashion between the 1940s and the 1990s into the dock. They are joined in the studio by design specialist Ben de Lisi, singer and fashion broadcaster Mica Paris and musician, model and designer Pearl Lowe to discuss whether the 90s will be remembered as the golden age of celebrity, glamour and the triumph of the high street or as a bland, joyless decade in which the globalisation led to homogeneity of style.

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Episode 6: 1990s

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