The BBC Four Thread

Harry Palmr

"Throw another book on the barbie"! :pac:

Harsh, its certainly no backwater these days though one can see why the famous foursome (and plenty of others) got out in the late 50s/60s.

Skid X

It's sad to see Clive James not well. He's one of those people everyone will rave about when he's gone, but rarely talk about him now.

He has a great archive of his own work on his website
http://www.clivejames.com/

OldRio

I can highly recommend 'Unreliable Memoirs'.

I made the mistake of trying to read this book on a long train journey. Smiles became giggles. Then giggles full blown laughter. At one stage I had to stop reading because the tears of laughter had became to much to see. The looks of derision from the other passengers only made me laugh more.
Well you can imagine the wife was not impressed and before i was sent to the naughty step (quite dangerous on a train) I put the book down.

Brilliant book.

Harry Palmr

Another of the interesting audio visual poems to a theme on BBC4 tonight - A Century in Film: From Scotland with Love at 9 PM if the World Cup final is not your bag. The films made about coal and the coasts shown in the last couple of years were very good.

evilivor

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Another of the interesting audio visual poems to a theme on BBC4 tonight - A Century in Film: From Scotland with Love at 9 PM if the World Cup final is not your bag. The films made about coal and the coasts shown in the last couple of years were very good.

It was on BBC Scotland a few weeks ago: it's not as good as The Big Melt or From the Sea to the Land Beyond but it's got a nice score from King Creosote and it's a lot better than last week's Velorama.

Harry Palmr

evilivor wrote: »

It was on BBC Scotland a few weeks ago: it's not as good as The Big Melt or From the Sea to the Land Beyond but it's got a nice score from King Creosote and it's a lot better than last week's Velorama.

Just watched it, I loved it! Such beautiful evocative footage of Scotland when it was powered by muck and brass.

Harry Palmr

Rich Hall is back with another of his docs about the old country - this time California - which is just the kinda place he really doesn't like!

Sunday 9pm and several repeats thereafter

Harry Palmr

Anyone else watch it? Rich Hall - he shouts at yor for 90 minutes and then the programmes ends! :pac:

Just watched part 4 of Edge of Darkness, terrific stuff.

BBC4s "classic serial" selection had been flawless

Boys from the Blackstuff
I Clavdivs
Singing Detective
Advise and Consent
Between the Lines
Our Friends in the North
The Crow Road
The Naked Civil Servant
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

and a few others I've forgotten

italodisco

Which of the BBC stations show all the Scandinavian films and original scandy Walander? Is that BBC 4 ??

Harry Palmr

Yep.

italodisco

Thanks , best tv guide for BBC4 ?? I miss all he good stuff

Harry Palmr

I use www.tvguide.co.uk you can select the channels you want.

BBC Four page http://my.tvguide.co.uk/channellisting.asp?ch=109&cTime=7/23/2014&thisTime=&thisDay=

Harry Palmr

Monty Pyton alert! 10 pm tonight

A Liar's Autobiography: The Untrue Story of Monty Python's Graham Chapman (2012)

Premiere. Animated comedy based on the Python's surreal fictionalised account of his life story. Featuring recordings of Chapman's readings from the original book made before his death in 1989, and the voices of John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam

Harry Angstrom

Rod Stewart: I don't think I'll ever get him. Wannabe Scot disguised as a cockney, and more wives than your average Mormon.....

Nate--IRL--

Harry Angstrom wrote: »

Rod Stewart: I don't think I'll ever get him. Wannabe Scot disguised as a cockney, and more wives than your average Mormon.....

Incredibly useless comment... but I really really can't thank you enough for pointing me to this thread from the front page . It is golden.

Nate

brian_t

BBC4 have just announced their new season.

Belgian drama Cordon is to become BBC4’s latest foreign language drama acquisition.

Speaking at the Edinburgh International Television Festival, BBC4 channel editor Cassian Harrison announced the 10 x 60-minute drama, while he also revealed that Spiral and The Bridge will return for a fifth and third series respectively.

An outbreak of a deadly virus in Antwerp will be the focus of the latest Saturday night foreign drama on BBC4, with the broadcaster also due to show the new series of The Bridge and French cop series, Spiral.
The Belgian city is sealed off from the outside world in the 10-part thriller, Cordon, following the discovery of a contagious and deadly virus which brings out the very best of the people trapped inside, but also the very worst.

Other new series include a season of programmes exploring the nation’s fascination with all things Gothic across BBC3 and BBC4 and a series of Storyville films about love in the 21st century.

Elsewhere, Strictly Come Dancing judge Len Goodman will join Lucy Worsley to tell the story of British dance in a three-part series, Dancing Cheek to Cheek.

Other new BBC4 shows already announced include metal detector sitcom The Detectorists, starring Mackenzie Crook, and Puppy Love from Getting On co-creators, The Thick of It star Joanna Scanlan and Vicki Pepperdine.
The gothic season will include programmes about Frankenstein, gothic architecture and a goth music special featuring The Cure, Sisters of Mercy and The Mission.

A new documentary, Spider House, will feature a gothic family house taken over by spiders, showing “in unprecedented detail” the secret world of the spider, while three-part Treasures of the Indus will explore the treasures of the Indian Subcontinent.

The three-part love season will include 100 Years of Love and Courtship, featuring the “very first kisses ever caught on film” with a soundtrack by Richard Hawley, a documentary about a Japanese love hotel and 112 Weddings, about 112 weddings.

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/aug/21/bbc4-belgian-drama-bridge-spiral-edinburgh-tv-festval

Harry Palmr

Finally - a new Euro crime series next Saturday - 6 episodes.

Crimes of Passion (2013) is a Swedish drama series set in the 50s. Looks very Nicholas Ray/Douglas Sirk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_UhHzsgplg

italodisco

Just finished watching ' Cafe de Flore ' . Another great French film on BBC4 .

God I love this channel

Harry Palmr

Al Murray goes to war at 8 pm with Matthew Sweet and Dan Snow, then The Eagle HAs Landed followed by Peter Capaldis documentary about the Cricklewood Greats (a repeat)

Harry Angstrom

Simon Schama's History of Britain being repeated on BBC Four. Excellent stuff.

Harry Palmr

Bump for the new Scandi series and a decent doc about boxing in the filums at around 11.30 I think (repeat obviously).

brian_t

The Secret Life of Books starts tomorrow Tuesday 2nd September at 8:30pm

Tony Jordan takes us into the pages of Great Expectations for a bit of textual and authorial analysis.

Using the author’s own private manuscripts, Jordan explores how the serialized form may have shaped Dickens’ storytelling – there are more cliffhangers in Oliver Twist than the old Doctor Who – and why he performed a last-minute rewrite to give Pip and Estrella a happy ending.

http://www.themetropolist.com/tv/highlights/secret-life-books-series-premiere-bbc4/

Other works to be featured are Shakespeare’s First Folio of plays, with a focus on King Lear; Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway, Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre and The Mabinogion.

http://www.thebookseller.com/news/bbc-offer-more-books-coverage.html

evilivor

Proud, sad day for BBC Four as "Only Connect" departs for BBC Two - I hope they don't try and dumb it down.

Dozen Wicked Words

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Bump for the new Scandi series and a decent doc about boxing in the filums at around 11.30 I think (repeat obviously).

Was the new drama any good?

Harry Palmr

No idea, I read the Guardian reaction, and it was very negative, so deleted it!

Harry Angstrom

evilivor wrote: »

Proud, sad day for BBC Four as "Only Connect" departs for BBC Two - I hope they don't try and dumb it down.

In fairness though, it's one of the best quiz shows on TV and it deserves a more prominent profile now.

Dozen Wicked Words

Harry Palmr wrote: »

No idea, I read the Guardian reaction, and it was very negative, so deleted it!

Found 3 reactions to it on the Guardian, one very negative (presumably the one you read), one mixed, and one positive. So I'm none the wiser. Will have to give it a go, although mixed review has a spoiler at the end so I know who dun it.


Positive review here anyway.

http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2014/aug/30/crimes-of-passion-swedish-crime-drama-the-killing

dfx-

Harry Angstrom wrote: »

In fairness though, it's one of the best quiz shows on TV and it deserves a more prominent profile now.

Hopefully this series will see the new question setters settle into the format. Some of them last series in terms of the sequences were absolutely impossible or based on a very obscure reading of the individual parts.

Great show though.

Harry Palmr

Two hours of poet John Betjeman tonight, I think they are both repeats. Worth watching if you like his work and observations on suburbia.

edit the appraisal doc was new. Its 40 years since the great man's death.

Dozen Wicked Words

Portillo in the rose of the shires on his train now. Can't imagine Bradshaw being glowing in his praise for the market town.