BBC four 2026-05-19 Various contemporary acclaimed creatives and cultural historians look back on important works of art across 1,500 years of British history, including painting, sculpture, architecture, music, design and literature. The art pieces explored offer a look at pivotal and turbulent moments of historical changes in which they were created, such as the Civil War, the Industrial Revolution or World War I. 2026-05-19 2026-05-19 Long-running general knowledge quiz that tests the intellectual powers of the brightest undergraduates in Britain. Launched in 1962 and hosted by Bamber Gascoigne, the show achieved cult status with teams from two different rival colleges pitting their wits against each other each week. The questions are as varied and as tough as they can be, and competitors risk having hard-earned points deducted 2026-05-19 British quiz show, presented by Victoria Coren Mitchell, in which teams compete in a tournament of finding connections between seemingly unrelated clues. Each episode features two teams of three people competing in four rounds of gameplay. Each of the four rounds involve connections but they are not obvious or easy. The four rounds are ''What is the Connection?'', ''What Comes Fourth?'', ''Connect 2026-05-19 The story revolves around Hyacinth Bucket, a housewife from a lower class whose only aim in life is to impress others with her etiquette and social skills and climb the social ladder. She is terrified that her background will be revealed one day, and goes above and beyond to hide it. She insists her inharmonious surname is pronounced Bouquet. All her attempts as a rule lead to awkward comic situat 2026-05-19 Timothy Lumsden is a 40-something librarian, still living with his parents and under the thumb of his domineering mother Phyllis. Although Timothy has sporadic attempts at standing up for himself and abandoning his home in order to lead an independent life, all his attempts prove futile as his mother always stands in the way. It might be that the only force strong enough to break Timothy's bond wi 2026-05-19 Simon Schama traces the steps of the empire-makers to tell the extraordinary story of how this small set of islands came to rule an empire that stretched around the globe. How did a trading enterprise based on the idea of liberty become an empire built on the enslavement of millions of Africans? How did Britain lose control of its own colony – America – yet go on to conquer India? On a journey tha 2026-05-19 2026-05-19 2026-05-19 2026-05-19 In the final episode of the series, our intrepid cultural explorers Janina Ramirez and Alistair Sooke set off on their most adventurous trip yet – to Baku, capital of Azerbaijan. A former Soviet state, bordering the Caspian Sea, Baku offers a tantalising mix of the ancient and modern – at the crossroads of East meets West, on the ancient silk trading route. It is also an authoritarian state, where 2026-05-20 2026-05-20 2026-05-20 Long-running general knowledge quiz that tests the intellectual powers of the brightest undergraduates in Britain. Launched in 1962 and hosted by Bamber Gascoigne, the show achieved cult status with teams from two different rival colleges pitting their wits against each other each week. The questions are as varied and as tough as they can be, and competitors risk having hard-earned points deducted 2026-05-20 British quiz show, presented by Victoria Coren Mitchell, in which teams compete in a tournament of finding connections between seemingly unrelated clues. Each episode features two teams of three people competing in four rounds of gameplay. Each of the four rounds involve connections but they are not obvious or easy. The four rounds are ''What is the Connection?'', ''What Comes Fourth?'', ''Connect 2026-05-20 Physicist Dr Helen Czerski explores the narrow band of temperature that has led to life on Earth. She reveals how life began in a dramatic place where hot meets cold, and how every single living creature on Earth depends on temperature for its survival. She uncovers the extraordinary natural engineering that animals have evolved to keep their bodies at the right temperature. And she witnesses the 2026-05-20 In April 1955 Ruth Ellis shot her lover David Blakely dead. It's a case that shocked the nation and it still fascinates today. It has its place in ushering in the defence of diminished responsibility and the eventual abolishment of capital punishment. We all think we know the story, but why, when it was seemingly such an open and shut case, does it still divide opinion on whether Ruth Ellis got th 2026-05-20 2026-05-20 2026-05-20 2026-05-20 Controversial, witty, irreverent – Britain's best-known screenwriter, Andrew Davies, has created some of the most iconic small-screen dramas of the past 50 years. At the age of 82 he is following his smash hit adaptation of War and Peace with another global epic, Victor Hugo's Les Misérables. As he watches the production come to life during 2018, he looks back at the influence of his childhood in 2026-05-20 Physicist Dr Helen Czerski explores the narrow band of temperature that has led to life on Earth. She reveals how life began in a dramatic place where hot meets cold, and how every single living creature on Earth depends on temperature for its survival. She uncovers the extraordinary natural engineering that animals have evolved to keep their bodies at the right temperature. And she witnesses the 2026-05-21