BBC four

Former politician-turned-travel journalist Michael Portillo takes to the tracks around the British Isles, armed with a copy of the definitive 19th century Bradshaw railway guide, to see how life has changed over the years. Stopping off at busy city interchanges, commuter town stations and village request stops on country lines, Michael meets and chats to people with fascinating stories to tell of

As Hetty Wainthropp (Patricia Routledge) reaches retirement age at 60 and faces an uncertain future financially, she decides that the life of a pensioner is not for her and opens a detective agency instead. Armed only with her no-nonsense Lancashire attitude and her notebook, she embarks on a series of criminal investigations. Aided by her teenage sidekick and reformed thief, Geoffrey, and her dev

There are very few famous personalities who have not sat on the interview couch with veteran broadcaster Michael Parkinson, for an in-depth conversation exploring their childhoods, early career starts and professional successes and occasional failures. World leaders, top sports people, filmmakers, legendary actors, political campaigners, business chiefs and famous musicians have shared stories and

As Hetty Wainthropp (Patricia Routledge) reaches retirement age at 60 and faces an uncertain future financially, she decides that the life of a pensioner is not for her and opens a detective agency instead. Armed only with her no-nonsense Lancashire attitude and her notebook, she embarks on a series of criminal investigations. Aided by her teenage sidekick and reformed thief, Geoffrey, and her dev

Former politician-turned-travel journalist Michael Portillo takes to the tracks around the British Isles, armed with a copy of the definitive 19th century Bradshaw railway guide, to see how life has changed over the years. Stopping off at busy city interchanges, commuter town stations and village request stops on country lines, Michael meets and chats to people with fascinating stories to tell of

Fiona Bruce and the team travel to Portchester Castle in Hampshire on the south coast of England, where treasures include an extraordinary set of RAF medals awarded for extreme bravery to an airman who served in Dunkirk and the Battle of Britain. The team also admire some rare punk clothing by fashion designer Vivienne Westwood and a roll of ornate Arts and Crafts wallpaper destined for the bonfir

In the first programme in this 3-part series, Lucy Worsley debunks the foundation myth of one of our favourite Royal dynasties: The Tudors. According to the history books, after 30 years of bloody battles between the white-rosed Yorkists and the red-rosed Lancastrians, Henry Tudor rid us of civil war and the evil king Richard III. But Lucy reveals how the Tudors invented the story of the "Wars of

Intertribal conflict was a familiar fixture for Australia's First Nations people, but nothing could prepare them for the conflict with the British and European arrivals over land and livelihood. In the first part of this authored series, film-maker Rachel Perkins, who has both European and First Nations ancestry, examines these first encounters following the British arrival in 1788. The British Em

Join historian Lucy Worsley as she examines fabricated stories from throughout British history, separating the truth from the lies and revealing how the ruling powers manipulated the stories to bolster public opinion. Some of these events and moments are the hugely important on the timeline of British history, and Worsley scours historical archives and documents to debunk the fibs and falsehoods t

Documentary that brings pioneering images that capture the dazzling array of mysterious and wonderful creatures that live in China's most beautiful landscapes. China's heartland is the centre of a five-thousand-year-old civilization and is home to the giant panda, the golden snub-nosed monkey and the golden takin. China faces environmental problems, but the relationship the Chinese have with their

This is the story of how our solar system will be transformed by the ageing Sun, before coming to a spectacular end in about eight billion years. Astronomers can peer into the far future to predict how it will happen by analysing distant galaxies, stars and even planets in their final moments. In this film, Horizon brings these predictions to life in a peaceful Midwestern town that has a giant sca

The story of Voyager, an epic of human achievement, personal drama and miraculous success. (Senderinfo).

Alastair Sooke reveals the astonishing range of our medieval sculpture, from the imposing masterpieces of our Gothic cathedrals to the playful misericords underneath church stalls. He shows how the sculpture of the era casts a new light on medieval Britain, a far more sophisticated, fun-loving and maverick place than we in the modern world commonly believe. But despite the technical and emotional