BBC Documentaries Collection

BBC A History of British Art (1996)



A six-part series tracing the history of British Art from 1066 to the modern day, presented by Andrew Graham-Dixon.

1) Dreams and Hammers.
Andrew Graham-Dixon chronicles the forgotten Middle Ages using the treasures that survived the Reformation. These are largely hidden in the corners of churches and cathedrals and paint a picture of a world populated by saints, sinners and demons.

2) North and South.
Andrew Graham-Dixon describes the fight for the soul of british art between the northern realism of Hans Holbein and the lush fantasy of Anthony van Dyck. The magical imagery of the Elizabethan world, the baroque glories of Charles I and the majesty of St Paul's are among the highlights.

3) My Wife, my Horse and Myself.
Andrew Graham-Dixon travels back to the 18th century, the golden age of British art, to explore the significance of works by such artists as Hogarth, Gainsborough and Stubbs, whose rich visual world depicted the life and preoccupations of their patrons, the aristocracy.

4) Modern Art.
Andrew Graham-Dixon travels to Norfolk, Margate and Dedham Vale in Essex, visiting the landscapes and exploring the paintings of Constable and Turner. He delves into their secret lives and loves, and reveals the "unsurpassed genius of the greatest British painters of all time." He also looks at the strange, private world of William Blake and examines the curious erotic dream images painted by Henry Fusell.

5) All Change.
Victorian artists turned their back on the technological and social changes that convulsed Britain during the 19th century. They developed a hatred of modernity, and were nostalgic for an idealised past. Artistic achievements include Pugin's Gothic Revival masterpiece, the church of St Giles, Staffordshire, and the Forth Bridge. Presented by Andrew Graham-Dixon.

6) Our House.
From Walter Sickert to Henry Moore and Lucien Freud, from Barbara Hepworth to the new enfant terribles, Andrew Graham-Dixon traces the development of modern art in Britain through all its twists and turns. He looks at the work of popular artists such as David Hockney and explores the hidden links between Francis Bacon's screaming popes, Henry Moore's polo mint nudes and the bisected cows of Damien Hirst.


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Sample screenshot

[imghttp://s18.postimage.org/tko882s15/a_history_of_british_art_3_screenshots.jpg[/img]

BBC A History of British Art (1996)



A six-part series tracing the history of British Art from 1066 to the modern day, presented by Andrew Graham-Dixon.

1) Dreams and Hammers.
Andrew Graham-Dixon chronicles the forgotten Middle Ages using the treasures that survived the Reformation. These are largely hidden in the corners of churches and cathedrals and paint a picture of a world populated by saints, sinners and demons.

2) North and South.
Andrew Graham-Dixon describes the fight for the soul of british art between the northern realism of Hans Holbein and the lush fantasy of Anthony van Dyck. The magical imagery of the Elizabethan world, the baroque glories of Charles I and the majesty of St Paul's are among the highlights.

3) My Wife, my Horse and Myself.
Andrew Graham-Dixon travels back to the 18th century, the golden age of British art, to explore the significance of works by such artists as Hogarth, Gainsborough and Stubbs, whose rich visual world depicted the life and preoccupations of their patrons, the aristocracy.

4) Modern Art.
Andrew Graham-Dixon travels to Norfolk, Margate and Dedham Vale in Essex, visiting the landscapes and exploring the paintings of Constable and Turner. He delves into their secret lives and loves, and reveals the "unsurpassed genius of the greatest British painters of all time." He also looks at the strange, private world of William Blake and examines the curious erotic dream images painted by Henry Fusell.

5) All Change.
Victorian artists turned their back on the technological and social changes that convulsed Britain during the 19th century. They developed a hatred of modernity, and were nostalgic for an idealised past. Artistic achievements include Pugin's Gothic Revival masterpiece, the church of St Giles, Staffordshire, and the Forth Bridge. Presented by Andrew Graham-Dixon.

6) Our House.
From Walter Sickert to Henry Moore and Lucien Freud, from Barbara Hepworth to the new enfant terribles, Andrew Graham-Dixon traces the development of modern art in Britain through all its twists and turns. He looks at the work of popular artists such as David Hockney and explores the hidden links between Francis Bacon's screaming popes, Henry Moore's polo mint nudes and the bisected cows of Damien Hirst.


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Video: mpeg4, yuv420p, 720x576, 25.00 fps(r)
File: a_history_of_british_art__4.avi
Size: 669074978 bytes (638.08 MiB), duration: 00:49:01, avg.bitrate: 1820 kb/s
Audio: mp3, 22050 Hz, stereo, 128 kb/s
Video: mpeg4, yuv420p, 720x576, 25.00 fps(r)
File: a_history_of_british_art__5_._www.docmasters.tv.avi
Size: 664258526 bytes (633.49 MiB), duration: 00:48:41, avg.bitrate: 1819 kb/s
Audio: mp3, 22050 Hz, stereo, 128 kb/s
Video: mpeg4, yuv420p, 720x576, 25.00 fps(r)
File: a_history_of_british_art__6.avi
Size: 663897912 bytes (633.14 MiB), duration: 00:48:38, avg.bitrate: 1820 kb/s
Audio: mp3, 22050 Hz, stereo, 128 kb/s
Video: mpeg4, yuv420p, 720x576, 25.00 fps(r)

Sample screenshot

[imghttp://s18.postimage.org/tko882s15/a_history_of_british_art_3_screenshots.jpg[/img]

BBC Arena Dickens on Film (2012)



Arena - Dickens on Film
Tue 10 Jan 2012 22:00 BBC Four

From the magical films of the silent era to the celebrated work of director David
Lean and high definition television, this documentary revisits films and interviews
from the archive to answer the question of why Dickens's novels have inspired so
many hundreds of adaptations on screen.

This co-production with Dickens 2012 not only encapsulates the history of Dickens's
time, but also of the 100 years in which his work has survived most acutely on
screen. It is not only the stories, themes and characters of Dickens's writing that
translate so well onto screen - Sergei Eisenstein argued that there is something
essentially filmic in his unique prose style; that Dickens's rapid 'cutting' within
scenes and from scene to scene coupled with his seamless mixture of the bizarrely
comic with the terrifyingly profound was itself proto-cinematic.

Dickens wrote the way a camera saw before film had been invented and he remains to
this day the most cinematic of writers.


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BBC Wonderland Meet Britains Chinese Tiger Mums (2011)



Wonderland s04ep02 Meet Britain's Chinese Tiger Mums
Thu 5 Jan 2012 21:00 BBC Two

In terms of academic achievement, British Chinese children are the most successful
ethnic group in this country, and behind each success story you'll usually find a
formidable Tiger Mother. Play by her rule book, and you get hours of homework and
music practice, strict discipline, and not too much time for play. But you're also
more likely to get A grades.

Is this the way forward? What is life like in such households? In Hannah
Berryman's film, we meet three British-based Chinese mothers doing their best to
make sure their children don't pick up the slack habits of their Western
counterparts. Do these children lose out in other ways, or are the Tiger Mothers
right in simply expecting more from thier kids?

To quote Sally, mother of six-year-old Matthew: "He only does about three hours
homework a night - plenty of time to play!".


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BBC Mrs Dickens Family Christmas (2011)



Mrs Dickens' Family Christmas
Friday 30 December 9.00-10.00pm BBC TWO

Looking at the marriage of Charles Dickens through the eyes of his wife,
Catherine, Sue Perkins exposes the lesser-known reality of the Dickens family
Christmas - very different from the heart-warming versions he pedalled in A
Christmas Carol.

In this 60-minute film for BBC Two, Sue turns her attention to the woman behind
the man, revealing parallels between the female characters he created and changing
in his affections for his wife, namely, in Dickens�s mind, her transition from
innocent virgin to middle-aged frump.

Scrutinising Dickens�s public defence in a national newspaper of his treatment of
Catherine, Sue seeks to set the record straight, revealing her unconditional love
to Dickens and support for his career.

Along the way, she has plenty of laughs, evokes the realities of Victorian
marriage, interviews many of today's leading biographers of Mr and Mrs Dickens,
explores Charles�s role in creating Christmas as we know it - and gets to follow
Catherine�s recipe to make a Twelfth Night cake.


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BBC Panorama Stephen Lawrence Time For Justice (2011)



BBC1, 3rd January 2012, 9pm
650MB, 59:21, XviD (1397kbps, 700 x 392)

On verdict day of one of the most eagerly awaited trials in recent history, this Panorama Special on the Stephen Lawrence case reveals the untold story of the murder that changed Britain.

For more than a year, reporter Mark Daly and the Panorama team have exclusively followed Stephen's mother Doreen Lawrence as her 18-year fight for justice for her murdered son neared its conclusion.

This moving film charts the history of this iconic case through the eyes of a grieving mother, and reports the inside account of the trial of the two men accused of the black teenager's killing.



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BBC Sir Jimmy Savile at the BBC Hows About That Then? (2011)



DOCUMENTARY: Sir Jimmy Savile at the BBC: How's About That Then?
On: BBC 2
Date: Wednesday 28th December 2011
Time: 19:00 to 20:00
Duration: 58:21

An affectionate tribute to Jimmy Savile via the BBC archive courtesy of Top of the Pops,
plus rarely seen footage of Clunk Click, the Saturday night entertainment show which
eventually made way for his series Jim'll Fix It.



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BBC Christmas on the Frontline (2008)



Christmas on the Frontline
BBC1, 29 December 2008

In Afghanistan, Matt Allwright has access all areas at the British military base Camp Bastion, an eight-square-mile fortress in the heart of the Hellmand province.

Matt meets the soldiers and civilians who make the camp tick and finds out what it is like to live in this place regularly heard about in the news. The film offers a view of day-to-day life for the thousands of British soldiers serving in Afghanistan.


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BBC We have Ways of making you Talk (2005)


Some graphics images contained within this documentary....

In an age of terrorism, extracting information from the enemy can be more important than flexing military might.

This candid documentary interviews the interrogators and state torturers to discover the methods varying from gentle encouragement to coercion to physical and psychological torture. The film examines the use of �torture by proxy� and looks back to how the experience of British and American POWs during the Korean War fuelled an enormous research programme in interrogation techniques developing everything from hallucinogenic drugs to electric shocks.

In modern times, the attacks of 9/11 triggered the subsequent capture, confinement and interrogation of thousands of terrorist suspects in Afghanistan, Guantanamo and Iraq. Testifying to Congress in September 2002, Cofer Black, then head of CIA�s counter terrorism centre, said: �There was a before 9/11 and there was an after 9/11. After 9/11 the gloves came off�.

According to Amnesty international, torture is a growing industry with over 130 countries known to practice torture today. At the heart of this film lies the dilemma of the interrogation room. Does torture work? How far should the democratic state go in questioning suspects in order to protect that democracy? And how brutal an interrogation regime will the public tolerate?

Filmed in France, Israel, USA, Algeria, Argentina, Uruguay, South Africa and UK .

A BBC Production


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BBC Panorama Britains Child Beggars (2011)



Panorama - Britain's Child Beggars
Wed 19 Oct 2011 21:00 BBC One

Meet 'Alice'. She is a four-year-old child out on the streets of London begging hours on end, day
in, day out. 'Alice' is just one of Britain's Gypsy child beggars, and she can earn hundreds of
pounds a day.

A special Panorama investigation uncovers the truth about these children. Reporter John Sweeney
tracks down the begging gangs to luxury homes in Romania, where he confronts the adults forcing the
children to beg.


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BBC Timeshift Epic A Cast of Thousands! (2011)



Timeshift - Epic - A Cast of Thousands!
Sat 24 Dec 2011 22:40 BBC Four

Timeshift reveals the ten commandments of big cinema as it goes behind the scenes
of the biggest film genre of them all - the epic. See the biggest sets ever known!
Hear the sound of Ancient Rome! Count the spiralling costs as budgets soared!

From Ben-Hur to The Ten Commandments, from El Cid to Cleopatra, these were films
that set a new standard in BIG. In the days before computers they recreated
ancient worlds on a vast scale, and they did it for real. Epic cinema hired
armies, defied the seasons and changed cinema. Even the screen wasn't big enough
for the epic, so Hollywood made it bigger - and some cinemagoers experienced
vertigo watching these vast productions.

Today, the epic lives on in the Oscar-laden Gladiator and the spectacular sweep of
Avatar. As this documentary reveals, the stories behind the films are as
spectacular as the films themselves.


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BBC Arena Chelsea Hotel (1981)


Documentary about the Chelsea Hotel in New York, a legendary haven for the some of the greatest artistic talent of the 20th century, from Mark Twain to Dylan Thomas.

Andy Warhol and William Burroughs have dinner in the room where Arthur C Clarke wrote 2001, and Quentin Crisp, who lived in the hotel for more than 35 years, recalls moving in.



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BBC The Many Lovers of Miss Jane Austen (2011)



The Many Lovers of Miss Jane Austen

Friday 23 December
9.00pm - 10.00pm
BBC HD

As a historian and unashamed fan, Professor Amanda Vickery is fascinated by how Jane Austen, an anonymous minor novelist in her lifetime, is 200 years later recognised as a unique British literary genius whose fame rivals Dickens and Shakespeare. From a convention centre in Texas to Princess Diana's family home, and from the trenches of World War I to the silver screen of Hollywood, Vickery explores how and why generations of readers have been won over by just six classic novels.



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BBC The Art of the Night (2011)



The BBC has topped up Waldemar Januszczak's travel expenses and he's off again like the Energizer Bunny. This time, as part of the themed programmes for the longest night of the year (in my hemisphere of the world that is), he's looking at how artists have depicted the nocturnal half of the day. This gives a nice variety to the art being discussed so if you don't like Van Gogh don't worry, Rembrandt, Velazquez, Hopper and Magritte will be along soon together with some lesser known but equally interesting artists.

Format: Xvid 960x576
Runtime: 59:55


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BBC Up In Flames Mr Reeves And The Riots (2011)



Documentary following one shop owner in the aftermath of the Croydon riots, as he tries to work out how the town he had always thought so safe could descend into arson and looting.


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