Coming up from Monday 10th to Friday 21st January

Horizon: What Is One Degree
Monday 10 January

9:00pm - 10:00pm
BBC2 NI

1/8

Comedian and quantum physics PhD graduate Ben Miller returns to his scientific roots to tackle an ostensibly simple question: what exactly is one degree of temperature? His quest takes him to the frontiers of science as he explores the extreme temperatures found in the hottest and coldest places in the universe. He also visits a lab that delves into the weird and wonderful quantum world and installs his very own weather station at home.


Storyville: Secrets of the Tribe
Monday 10 January

10:30pm - 12:00am
BBC4

Investigating the research of Yanomami Indians, also known as The Fierce People, conducted in the 1960s and 70s. The society in the Amazon Basin received attention from anthropologists keen to observe a community untouched by modern trends, an infiltration now regarded as scandalous for academic ethics.

The Secret Lives of the Artists 

Tuesday 11 January
9:00pm - 10:00pm
BBC4
Constable in Love
Andrew Graham-Dixon explains how John Constable's obsession with Maria Bicknell could have prompted him to turn landscape painting into a vehicle for emotional self-expression. The English artist's great love affair began in 1800 when his future wife was just 12 years old.

 

Quitting Crime 

Wednesday 12 January

10:00pm - 10:30pm
BBC2 Northern Ireland

2/2

Part two of two. Documentary charting the work of former prisoners who volunteer to go back behind bars to help persuade current inmates to turn their backs on lives of crime.

The Brain - A Secret History
Thursday 13 January

9:00pm - 10:00pm

BBC4
Emotions

2/3

Michael Mosley investigates scientists' efforts to understand people's emotions. He meets surviving participants of some of the key experiments in history, and looks at footage of some of the tests, including a baby boy being taught to fear objects, and young monkeys being given mothers made from wire and cloth. In a bid to play his part in the quest to understand human feelings, the presenter also takes part in a modern experiment.


How Drugs Work
Thursday 13 January 9:00pm - 10:00pm

BBC3

Ecstasy

2/3

Documentary using computer graphics to take a journey inside the body and brain of two recreational Ecstasy users over the course of one night, exploring how the drug induces its highs and lows. The film also looks at how it causes empathy in the user and could be implemented as a life-saving medicine in therapy, as well as highlighting the negative effects of the narcotic. Part of the Dangerous Pleasures season.

Going to the Flicks
Saturday 15 January

8:00pm - 9:00pm
BBC Radio 4
From Silents to Smooching in the Back Row
1/2

Part one of two. Barry Norman investigates how the experience of going to the cinema has changed in Britain over the past 100 years. In the first episode, he looks at the silent era, the inter-war years and the introduction of novelties such as Cinerama after the rise in popularity of television. Featuring contributions from film expert Annette Kuhn and architectural historian Richard Gray.
Repeated: Monday 17 January
3:00pm - 3:45pm
BBC Radio 4

The Need for Nonsense
Monday 17 January

2:15pm - 3:00pm
BBC Radio 4

Julia Blackburn's comic story about Victorian poet and painter Edward Lear's lifelong friendship with his eccentric Greek servant Giorgio, who encouraged him to address the painful truths in his life. With Andrew Sachs.


Life at 24 Frames a Second

Monday 17 January
3:45pm - 4:00pm 

BBC Radio 4
In the Dark
1/10

New series. David Thomson, author of The Biographical Dictionary of Film, explores the power of cinema. He begins by examining the history of film, and finds out how the medium impacts on the unconscious and nervous system.

Brief Encounters
Monday 17 January

12:53pm - 12:57pm
BBC Radio 4

1/15

New series. Short feature transporting listeners to cinemas located around the world.


God's Architect: Pugin and the Building of Romantic Britain
Monday 17 January

3:15pm - 3:30pm
BBC Radio 7

1/5

The eventful career and turbulent personal life of Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin, widely regarded as one of Britain's finest architects. Haydn Gwynne reads Rosemary Hill's biography.


Horizon: What Is Reality?
Monday 17 January

9:00pm - 10:00pm
BBC2 NI

2/8

Documentary exploring the nature of reality, revealing how clues have been pieced together from deep within the atom, the event horizon of black holes and the far reaches of the cosmos.

Isaac Julien's Guide to Artists Film-Making
Tuesday 18 January 11:30am - 12:00pm

BBC Radio 4

The installation artist provides an insider's view on how he and his contemporaries approach the use of film as a medium. He hears from Tacita Dean, who describes her love for celluloid, and Gillian Wearing, who discusses her ambivalence toward narrative and acting in her cinematic project Self Made. Isaac also details how he has tried to break down barriers between different disciplines to produce visually striking works.

Life at 24 Frames a Second
Tuesday 18 January

3:45pm - 4:00pm
BBC Radio 4
Fear and Desire
2/10

Author and critic David Thompson continues his personal exploration of the power of cinema, detailing how effective use of score and sound helps viewers experience the darkest dreams and fiercest desires of the characters depicted on-screen.

Who Killed Caravaggio? 

Tuesday 18 January

9:00pm - 10:00pm
BBC4

Art critic Andrew Graham-Dixon investigates the life and mysterious death of the famous Italian painter. While visiting his old haunts in an attempt to discover the man behind the myth, a tale of murder, violence and sexual intrigue slowly unfolds as archive sources reveal shocking facts about the troubled icon of Western art, who perished during a journey to receive a papal pardon for murder.

The Planets

Tuesday 18 January

11:50pm - 12:40am
BBC2 Northern Ireland
Different Worlds
1/8

A look at the enigmas of the solar system, asking how it was created, why the planets are so different from each other and what lies beyond. The first programme investigates early probes such as Mechta, the first man-made satellite to go into orbit around the sun.


Life at 24 Frames a Second
Wednesday 19 January

3:45pm - 4:00pm
BBC Radio 4
Wired for Sound
3/10

Author and film critic David Thomson focuses his attention on how the end of the silent era in cinema opened the doors to a new world of dreams.

The Planets

Wednesday 19 January
11:20pm - 12:10am
BBC2 NI
Terra Firma
2/8

How the discovery of active volcanos oozing boiling sulphur or frozen nitrogen on the moons of Jupiter and Neptune led to a change in man's understanding of these distant worlds.

The Brain - A Secret History

Thursday 20 January
9:00pm - 10:00pm

BBC4
Broken Brains
3/3

Michael Mosley explores how the study of abnormal brain activity has helped reveal the workings of the organ. He meets an alien hand syndrome sufferer whose condition caused one of her hands to persistently attack her and a woman who was unable to recall the names of objects following a stroke. He also visits a centre built to commemorate the life of an amnesiac used in numerous studies. Last in the series.

How Drugs Work
Thursday 20 January

9:00pm - 10:00pm
BBC 3
Cocaine
3/3

Documentary using computer graphics to take a journey inside the body and brain of three cocaine users over the course of one night, exploring how the drug induces its highs and lows. The film meets a 17-year-old who needed a pacemaker fitting after the narcotic led to a heart attack and follows a patient requiring nose surgery as a result of too many lines of coke. Last in the series.

Life at 24 Frames a Second
Thursday 20 January

3:45pm - 4:00pm
BBC Radio 4
The Big Kill Off
4/10

David Thomson continues his journey through the power of cinema, examining how the medium has made audiences see death and final moments in a number of fiendish and inventive ways. He also remembers those who lost their celluloid lives and entered into humanity's collective dreams.

Life at 24 Frames a Second 

Friday 21 January

3:45pm - 4:00pm

BBC Radio 4
You Must Remember This 

5/10

David Thomson, author of The Biographical Dictionary of Film, continues his journey through the power of cinema. In this episode he examines the meaning of time and memory in movies.

The Planets 

Friday 21 January

11:50pm - 12:40am

BBC2 Northern Ireland
Giants 

3/8

The 1977 Voyager II mission to the edge of the solar system, a four billion-mile trek through alien worlds, solving puzzles about the giant planets Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune and Saturn, which have perplexed astronomers for centuries. The 12-year journey answered questions about the rings of Saturn and the moons of Jupiter, as well as discovering terrifying radiation belts, supersonic winds and evidence of catastrophic violence.