Sat 18th June - Fri 24th

Visual Arts

Fake or Fortune?

Sunday 19 June

7:00pm - 8:00pm

BBC1 Northern Ireland

Monet

1/4

New series. Fiona Bruce and art expert Philip Mould investigate the complex and controversial stories surrounding the origins of potentially valuable works of art from around the world. They begin by examining a painting they believe to be an unacknowledged work by Monet, and aim to persuade luminaries from within the art world to believe them.

Culture

Words and Music

Sunday 19 June

10:20pm - 11:35pm

BBC Radio 3

Exile

Frances Barber and Greg Hicks read poetry and prose on the theme of exile. The texts explore differing reactions to being away from home, or thinking that home should be somewhere other than where it is. Shakespeare, Du Maurier, Yeats, AE Housman, Browning, Shelley, John Clare, Edward Lear, and Emily Dickinson provide the words, while the music is by Chabrier, Byrd, Bach and Bob Marley among others.

Art Deco Icons

Tuesday 21 June

7:30pm - 8:00pm

BBC4

Claridge's

1/4

Architectural historian David Heathcote explores four of the best examples of the art deco movement in Britain, beginning with Claridge's Hotel in London. The establishment underwent a transformation during the 1930s, making it a fashionable destination for the rich and famous. The presenter samples the cocktail bar and then settles into a perfect example of an art-deco bath.

Vampires v Zombies!

 Thursday 23 June

11:30am - 12:00pm

BBC Radio 4

 Natalie Haynes explores the modern fascination with blood-drinkers and the living dead, and the anxieties they express about food, addiction, sex and disease. She talks to writers who have depicted the creatures in works of fiction, and questions why an American high school is seemingly the perfect setting for a vampire slayer, and whether zombies know what they are.

Psychology / Society

Born Liars: Why We Can't Live without Deceit

Monday 20 June - Fri 24th

9:45am - 10:00am

BBC Radio 4

1/5

By Ian Leslie, read by Tim McInnerny and abridged by Pete Nichols. Exploring studies that suggest the transition from ape to human was not a simple evolutionary process of the best forager surviving, but that social contacts and an understanding of deceit played crucial roles.

All in the Mind

Tuesday 21 June

9:00pm - 9:30pm

BBC Radio 4

10/13

Claudia Hammond joins Professor Peter Kinderman from Liverpool University as he prepares to conduct a scientific study of the nation's mental well-being. The Stress Test aims to use a pioneering online experiment to help determine which factors best explain the changes in a person's psychological health, and point out which people are more likely to suffer when under pressure.

Abused: Breaking the Silence

Tuesday 21 June

11:05pm - 11:55pm

BBC1 Northern Ireland

Documentary about former pupils of two Catholic prep schools in England and Tanzania who claim to have suffered abuse at the institutions. The programme highlights the stories of 22 men, now aged between 50 and 60, who have decided to launch legal proceedings against the Rosminian Order.

Kids Behind Bars

Thursday 23 June

11:45pm - 12:45am

BBC3

Crying Cos I Can't Hit No-One

2/3

Following the lives of three girls at the Vinney Green Secure Unit in Gloucestershire. One of the youngsters harms herself so badly she has been locked up for her own protection, while the other two display violent behaviour and present a challenge for the staff.

Science / Nature

Botany: A Blooming History

Tuesday 21 June

9:00pm - 10:00pm

BBC4

Hidden World

3/3

Timothy Walker charts how scientists unlocked the genetic structure of plants, enabling them to transform the breeding of flowers and crops into a precise science rather than a process of trial and error. He explores the risks some botanists were forced to take in order to protect their discoveries, and reveals how the study of plant genetics could help feed the world's growing population. Last in the series.

Apples: British to the Core

Thursday 23 June

8:00pm - 9:00pm

BBC4

Garden designer Chris Beardshaw finds out how Britain has helped shape the apple. He visits the original Bramley apple tree, discovers what drove Victorian horticulturists to create so many varieties and learns about the work of scientists who have unlocked the fruit's deepest secrets and helped make it a mass-market success.

History

Machines Time Forgot

Tuesday 21 June

4:35am - 5:30am

Channel 4

Crane

1/4

Exploring mankind's ingenuity throughout the ages by looking at a selection of history's least-remembered inventions. In the first instalment, film set designer Julian Weaver focuses on a crane that was used 800 years ago to aid the building boom sweeping across medieval Europe. Along with an international team of carpenters and blacksmiths he visits the ruined abbey of Hambye in Normandy, and attempts to replicate this impressive early piece of machinery, which proved invaluable in building the towering gothic cathedrals.

Maps: Power, Plunder and Possession

Wednesday 22 June

8:00pm - 9:00pm

BBC4

Windows on the World

1/3

Professor Jerry Brotton explains the creation and importance of maps, discovering the latest technology that is improving the cartographer's art and revolutionising man's knowledge of the world. On a visit to the oldest known map, etched into a hillside 3,000 years ago, he considers how different cultures have approached map-making over millennia, often as a tool for expansionism and political control.

Planet of the Apemen: Battle for Earth

Thursday 23 June

8:00pm - 9:00pm

BBC1 Northern Ireland

Homo Erectus

1/2

The first in a two-part docu-drama exploring how Homo sapiens survived against all the odds. The programme begins 75,000 years ago in Indonesia, where a catastrophic volcanic eruption forced a showdown between man's ancestors and Homo erectus - a different species that up until then had reigned supreme.

Ancient Egyptians

Monday 20 June

3:35am - 4:30am

Channel 4

The Battle of Megiddo

1/4

Stories of life in the age of the Pharaohs, beginning with the Battle of Megiddo, which saw the forces of young ruler Tuthmosis III engaging in combat with a 10,000-strong army led by Syrian warlord the Prince of Kadesh. Visual effects and location filming document how events unfolded, and capture the feel of combat in an ancient land.

Sat 11th June - Fri 17th

Visual Arts

A History of Horror with Mark Gatiss

Sunday 12 June

9:00pm - 10:00pm

BBC Four

Home Counties Horror

2/3

The League of Gentlemen star turns his attention to the mainly British movies of the 1950s and 60s, which were dominated by Hammer Films made in the English Home Counties. He meets key figures from the production company to find out why its works conquered the world, the excessive emphasis on sex that contributed to its decline, and talks to stars Barbara Shelley and David Warner about their experiences.

Naked

Tuesday 14 June

10:15pm - 11:15pm

RTE1

An Arts Lives documentary in which Olympic swimmer Melanie Nocher, writer John Waters and art critic Gemma Tipton serve as sitters for artists Sahoko Blake, Nick Miller and Una Sealy, who set out to prove that nude portraits are not just images of sensuality, but also an exposure of character and identity.

This Is Not Magritte

Thursday 16 June

11:30am - 12:00pm

BBC Radio 4

Richard Strange visits Rene Magritte's former apartment and the Magritte Museum in Brussels to explore the surrealist artist's vision and its contrast with his seemingly ordinary lifestyle. The Belgian played with scale, perspective, shadow and illusion in the creation of his images, which feature a language of brick walls, the sky, apples, rocks, bowler hats and drawn words. With contributions by Monty Python's Terry Jones, writer Suzi Gablik and Naresh Ramchandani.

The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2011 - A Culture Show Special

Thursday 16 June

11:50pm - 12:50am

BBC2 Northern Ireland

Alastair Sooke presents from the 243rd open submission show at the Royal Academy of Arts, the largest and longest-running exhibition of its kind. He goes behind the scenes to follow the selection process and explore the gallery, which is curated by Michael Craig-Martin and features works by Cornelia Parker, Michael Landy and Tony Bevan. Ben Lewis also listens in as the judges of 2011's Wollaston Award decide the winner.

Culture

Blind Date with Bloomsday

Sunday 12 June

4:30pm - 5:00pm

BBC Radio 4

Peter White visits Dublin for Bloomsday, the city's celebration of James Joyce's novel Ulysses. Held each year on June 16th - the date when all the novel's events take place - the festivities feature fans re-enacting scenes from the book, and the presenter explains why he believes the text may be more suited to the spoken word than the printed page. He also discusses his experiences of reading Ulysses in braille, and explores the use of blindness and myopia in Joyce's work.

Passion in Port Talbot: It Has Begun

Sunday 12 June

10:25pm - 11:25pm

BBC1 Wales

Highlights from Michael Sheen's secular re-telling of the Passion of Christ, which was staged in various locations around the town of Port Talbot during the Easter weekend and featured more than 1,000 members of the local community - as well as a cameo by rock band Manic Street Preachers.

Sunday Feature

Sunday 12 June

9:30pm - 10:30pm

BBC Radio 3

Europe - The Art of Austerity

Michael Goldfarb looks back to the Europe of the 1930s and asks how artists, writers and film-makers responded to the poverty, mass unemployment and political instability of the Great Depression. Through the work of Carlo Levi, Bertolt Brecht, Fritz Lang, George Orwell and others, he charts the devastating impact as the economic slump impoverished the continent, engulfing highly industrialised nations such as Germany and the more agrarian economies of Greece, Spain and Ireland. As economic faultlines again threaten to divide Europe, he also asks whether a new art of austerity is now emerging in response to the latest wave of banking crises, spending cuts and popular protest.

Words and Music

Sunday 12 June

10:30pm - 11:30pm

BBC Radio 3

To Infinity and Beyond

Sakia Reeves and David Annen read poetry and prose inspired by the idea of infinity.

James Joyce: A Biography

Mon 13 June  - Fri 17th

9:45am - 10:00am

BBC Radio 4

1/5

By Gordon Bowker, abridged by Penny Leicester. Biography of James Joyce, who spent eventful years in Trieste, Zurich and Paris with his wife Nora Barnacle, and produced the masterpiece Ulysses during his time in exile. The writer's early life in Dublin is also explored. Narrated by Jim Norton.

The No 219 Sodcast Project

Tuesday 14 June

1:30pm - 2:00pm

BBC Radio 4

Ian McMillan investigates an ambitious campaign by the users of bus service against passengers who insisted on playing intrusively loud music on their mobile phones. He meets former perpetrators, schoolgirls who have taken the habit to a new level, and the producer of one of the tracks most frequently played on public transport, before trying to convince a busload of sceptics that sharing music is an act of cultural charity rather than a nuisance.

The View

Tuesday 14 June

11:15pm - 12:00am

RTE1

Liam Fay, Sinead Gleeson, Cristin Leach and Hugh Linehan join John Kelly to discuss the work of arts critics. They provide an insight into the skills possessed by a good reviewer, and explore the risks of airing a negative opinion while working in a relatively small country. Last in the series.

Welsh Greats

Wednesday 15 June

10:45pm - 11:15pm

BBC1 Wales

Laura Ashley

A profile of the life and career of Laura Ashley, revealing how the Dowlais-born designer went from printing scarves on her kitchen table to running a popular international fashion chain. Narrated by Philip Madoc.

Psychology / Society

Terry Pratchett: Choosing to Die

Highlight

Monday 13 June

9:00pm - 10:00pm

BBC2 Northern Ireland

The author, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2008, travels to the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland to investigate whether ending his own life before the disease takes complete hold is possible. In addition to witnessing the organisation's assisted-death procedures, he confronts the point at which he would have to take the lethal drug.

Choosing to Die: Newsnight Debate

Monday 13 June

10:00pm - 10:30pm

BBC2 Northern Ireland

Jeremy Paxman talks to Terry Pratchett about his documentary, and a panel of studio guests debate the issues surrounding assisted death.

All in the Mind

Tuesday 14 June

9:00pm - 9:30pm

BBC Radio 4

9/13

Claudia Hammond is joined by author Dan Gardner and psychologist Dylan Evans to discuss why many people are drawn to predictions made by so-called experts, including economists and government intelligence agencies, even when they have been previously proven wrong. Together, they speculate on whether the key to success is to make a confident forecast rather than a vague one, and examine the apparent human aversion to uncertainty.

The Scheme

Tuesday 14 June

11:05pm - 11:55pm

BBC1 Northern Ireland

1/4

New series. Documentary following the fortunes of six families living on a large housing scheme in north-west Kilmarnock over the course of 18 months. The first programme introduces the Cunninghams, whose eldest son is about to be sent to prison, and a single mother-of-two who provides shelter to homeless people.

A Scattering

Wednesday 15 June

2:15pm - 3:00pm

BBC Radio 4

By Christopher Reid, read by Robert Bathurst. A collection of poems written in response to the death by cancer of the author's wife, the actress Lucinda Gane. They describe the journey from the first diagnosis of illness to the poet's provisional acceptance of his position as one 'the left-over living'.

Wonderland - The Kids Who Play with Fire

Wednesday 15 June

9:00pm - 10:00pm

BBC2 Northern Ireland

Documentary following three children who have a history of setting fires. Ten-year-old Liam sleeps on a charred mattress, Ryan is brazenly fascinated by flames, and 14-year-old Hulya has repeatedly set her bedroom alight. Fire service counsellors, determined to put a stop to their behaviour, try to understand the anger and frustration that provokes them.

The Downside of High

Thursday 16 June

12:20am - 1:15am

RTE1

Documentary investigating the claim made by new research that smoking cannabis before the age of 16 makes people four times more likely to develop schizophrenia.

The Sex Researchers

Thursday 16 June

10:00pm - 11:05pm

Channel 4

1/3

New series. Documentary about the scientists whose findings over the past 100 years have transformed the way people think about sex. The first episode concentrates on theories relating to the differences between men and women, including the work of 1950s gynaecologist Bill Masters and his secretary Virginia Johnson, who wrote a best-selling book after recording 10,000 orgasms in their laboratory.

Science / Nature

Jane Goodall: Beauty and the Beasts

Sunday 12 June

8:00pm - 9:00pm

BBC Four

Documentary telling the story of Jane Goodall, the secretary from Bournemouth who famously befriended a group of wild chimpanzees in the forests of Gombe, Tanzania, in 1960. The programme details how she became a conservationist, and explains the personal cost of her achievements. Narrated by Neil Stuke.

Botany: A Blooming History

Tuesday 14 June

9:00pm - 10:00pm

BBC Four

The Power of Plants

2/3

Timothy Walker explains why the process of photosynthesis in plants is vital to the survival of life on Earth, and traces how the research of 17th-century botanists provided the foundations for scientists to discover the link between sunlight and plant growth. He also examines modern-day attempts to artificially replicate the process, and meets those hoping that photosynthesis could provide a solution to the world's fuel supply problems. Part of the Botany Season.

Apples: British to the Core

Wednesday 15 June

9:00pm - 10:00pm

BBC Four

Garden designer Chris Beardshaw finds out how Britain has helped shape the apple. He visits the original Bramley apple tree, discovers what drove Victorian horticulturists to create so many varieties and learns about the work of scientists who have unlocked the fruit's deepest secrets and helped make it a mass-market success.

Unnatural Histories

Thursday 16 June

9:00pm - 10:00pm

BBC Four

2/3

Documentary revealing mankind's impact on some the world's most famous wildernesses and areas of natural beauty.

History

The Country House Revealed

Tuesday 14 June

9:00pm - 10:00pm

BBC2 Northern Ireland

Marshcourt

6/6

Dan Cruickshank reaches the end of his tour with a visit to Marshcourt in Hampshire, an Edwardian country house designed by Edwin Lutyens, and situated above the River Test. The historian discovers how the property was paid for by Herbert Johnson, a broker who narrowly evaded bankruptcy three times and managed to keep his opulent home standing. Last in the series.

4th-10th June

Visual Arts

Mark Lawson Talks to Tracey Emin

Wednesday 08 June

10:30pm - 11:30pm

BBC Four

The controversial artist discusses her artistic career, including the unmade bed installation that brought her to the attention of the media and public.

Paul Merton's Birth of Hollywood

Friday 10 June

9:30pm - 10:30pm

BBC2 Northern Ireland

3/3

The comedian traces the rise of studios by recounting the history of MGM, Metro Goldwyn Mayer, and explores the work of renowned producer Irving Thalberg. He expanded the business by challenging the power of directors, dealing with the notorious egos of film-makers including Erich Von Stroheim, to help create movies such as Mutiny on the Bounty, which steered 1930s Hollywood into the era of sound. Last in the series.

Culture

Edgar Allan Poe: Love, Death and Women

Sunday 05 June

8:00pm - 9:00pm

BBC Four

Crime author Denise Mina explores the life and work of the horror writer, focusing on the impact of the women in his life. Travelling between New York, Virginia and Baltimore, she reveals how his mother, wife, paramour and muse provided inspiration for some of the most influential short stories of the early 19th century, with dramatised inserts providing an insight into his relationships.

Words and Music

Sunday 05 June

10:25pm - 11:40pm

BBC Radio 3

Turning Points

Helena Bonham Carter and Hugh Bonneville read verse and prose on the theme of turning-points in life, including works by Shakespeare, Coleridge, George Eliot and Marc Chagall. In other excerpts, Alan Bennett describes his mother's final days, and the Industrial Revolution provokes opposing reactions from Erasmus Darwin and William Blake. The lives of Hilaire Belloc's Matilda and the Bible's Saul are changed for ever by versions of the truth, and Estelle Sylvia Pankhurst recalls her part in an episode in the fight for women's suffrage. Music includes pieces by Bach, Beethoven, Janácek, Rachmaninov, Vaughan Williams and Erma Franklin, among others.

All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace

Monday 06 June

9:00pm - 10:00pm

BBC2 Northern Ireland

The Monkey in the Machine and the Machine in the Monkey

3/3

Adam Curtis explores the work of evolutionary biologist WD Hamilton, who hypothesised that people's behaviour is shaped and guided by mathematical codes in their genes. The film interweaves the strange roots of the scientist's genetic theories with the history of the West's relationship with the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda over the past 100 years, showing how liberal attempts to help post-colonial Africa have sometimes ended in disaster. Last in the series.

Fintan O'Toole: Power Plays

Tuesday 07 June

10:15pm - 11:15pm

RTE1

Critic, biographer and columnist Fintan O'Toole discusses why he thinks the country's theatre scene failed to meet the challenge of producing provocative material during the boom, and identifies whether playwrights and performers are now ready to dramatise a society in crisis. With contributions by director Garry Hynes and actors Sean McGinley, Marie Mullen and Robbie Sheehan, who help identify instances in which Irish productions were able to touch a nerve.

The View

Tuesday 07 June

11:15pm - 12:00am

RTE1

Journalists Edel Coffey, Marion McKeone and Mick Heaney join John Kelly to review John Michael McDonagh's debut film The Guard, starring Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle. Also examined is John Butler's San Francisco-set coming-of-age tale The Tenderloin, a production of Stacey Gregg's play Perve, and Ian Power's drama The Runaway.

Psychology / Society

The Essay

Monday 06 June – Friday 10th

10:45pm - 11:00pm

BBC Radio 3A Letter to My Body - Sarah Graham

1/5

Thinkers, artists and writers ask themselves how they relate to their own bodies. Therapist and addictions counsellor Sarah Graham explores her relationship with her body. From the age of eight she was given medical treatment for a sexual development disorder - but only learned the real nature of her diagnosis at the age of 25 when a gynaecologist revealed that she is an intersex woman. The shock led Sarah on a path of depression and addiction that nearly killed her. Here she makes peace with her body and questions society's polarised expectations of gender.

All in the Mind

Tuesday 07 June

9:00pm - 9:30pm

BBC Radio 4

8/13

Claudia Hammond explores the effectiveness of using a compassionate approach as a basis for talking therapies. She hears from Professor Paul Gilbert, a psychologist in Derby who makes use of the method to help people from neglected or abusive backgrounds overcome feelings of shame and self-criticism, enabling them to respond better to treatment.

Poor Kids

Tuesday 07 June

11:05pm - 12:15am

BBC1 Northern Ireland

Documentary providing an insight into the lives of the 3.5million children being raised in poverty in the UK. The programme places the spotlight on a 10-year-old girl from Glasgow who hides the fact she lives in a Gorbals tower block from her friends, and an 11-year-old Leicester boy whose single-parent father struggles to bring up his family alone. Also featured are sisters from Bradford who play in a dangerous derelict building.

Wonderland - Travels with My Family

Wednesday 08 June

9:00pm - 10:00pm

BBC2 Northern Ireland

7/8

Documentary exploring the trivial and momentous aspects of family car journeys by following four different trips. The Hennessseys are taking their son, who has Asperger's, on a pilgrimage to the Stan Laurel museum in Cumbria. Ian Craig and his sister Alison are headed to a prison visitor centre, and Kerry Lewis is taking his three young sons to the Isle of Wight, to scatter their mother's ashes a year after her death.

Science / Nature

Darwin's Struggle: The Evolution of the Origin of Species

Tuesday 07 June

8:00pm - 9:00pm

BBC Four

Secret notes and correspondence, film extracts and interviews with biographers and scientists provide an insight into the process Charles Darwin went through while writing his book On the Origin of Species. This documentary reveals how he suffered family tragedies, physical illness and moments of self doubt during his time spent on the publication.

Botany: A Blooming History

Tuesday 07 June

9:00pm - 10:00pm

BBC Four

A Confusion of Names

1/3

New series. Timothy Walker explores how mankind developed its understanding of plants, and demonstrates what the study of botany has revealed about life on Earth. He begins by tracing how the study of variation in plants became regarded as a scientific rather than religious discipline, and examines the creation of the first artificial hybrid flower, which forced botanists to reassess their theories about how plants are related.

Unnatural Histories

Thursday 09 June

9:00pm - 10:00pm

BBC Four

Serengeti

1/3

New series. Mankind's impact on the world's wildernesses, beginning with the Serengeti. The programme assesses the impact of generations of hunters, traders, scientists and tourists on the region, and recalls how an Italian expeditionary force unwittingly introduced a deadly virus to Africa, devastating the continent's wildlife and livestock. Narrated by Deborah MacLaren.

History

The Country House Revealed

Tuesday 07 June

9:00pm - 10:00pm

BBC2 Northern Ireland

Clandeboye

5/6, series 1

Dan Cruickshank visits Clandeboye Estate in Bangor, Co Down, which has become a monument to the British Empire. The house is filled with relics from Lord Dufferin's various travels, including stuffed bear cubs, Egyptian monuments, tiger skins and weaponry from India, Canada and Burma, and has remained relatively unchanged since his death in 1902.