VISUAL ARTS
Romancing the Stone: The Golden Ages of British Sculpture
Sunday 13 February
8:00pm - 9:00pm
BBC FOUR
Masons of God
1/3
Alastair Sooke examines the three `golden ages' of British sculpture and the technical breakthroughs that made them possible. He begins with a look at the Norman ecclesiastical building programme and the masterworks created by anonymous medieval masons and artisans to the glory of God - until Henry VIII's Reformation brought wholesale destruction. Part of the Focus on Sculpture season.
BBC HD Film Shorts
Sunday 13 February
12:00am - 12:50am
BBC HD
Special programme premiering 13 shorts films, including Oscar-nominated Wish 143 and Bafta-nominated Turning, and features starring Russell Tovey, Alfie Allen and Sean Pertwee.
The Beauty of Books
Monday 14 February
8:30pm - 9:00pm
BBC FOUR
Medieval Masterpieces
2/4
A look at the reading material of medieval times, focusing on the shift from manuscripts in the 14th and 15th centuries to the literature that followed. The programme focuses on The Luttrell Psalter, a book of psalms that featured humorous and vivid pictures of rural life and a grotesque demonic world, and Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, which was adopted by William Caxton as the first publication to be created by his printing press in London.
The View
Tuesday 15 February
11:25pm - 12:10am
RTE1
Comedian Kevin Gildea, writer Hilary Fannin and journalist Eamonn McCann join John Kelly to review Charles Ferguson's documentary film Inside Job, which tells the story of the culture of money on Wall Street. Also examined are Darach Mac Con's TV crime drama Corp + Anam, folk singer James Yorkston's book It's Lovely to Be Here, and theatre production Connected, written and performed by Will Irvine and Karl Quinn.
Girl with a Pearl Earring
Tuesday 15 February
12:05am - 1:40am
BBC1 Northern Ireland
British director Peter Webber makes an astonishing feature debut with this ravishing period drama. Based on a bestselling novel by Tracy Chevalier, it's a fictionalised reconstruction of the story behind 17th-century Dutch master Johannes Vermeer's celebrated painting Girl with a Pearl Earring.
One Foot in the Past
Wednesday 16 February
8:30pm - 9:00pm
BBC FOUR
Sculpture
Kirsty Wark goes in search of the perfect fountain to commemorate Princess Diana, but discovers that even Britain's finest examples are neglected and in bad shape. Sculptor Alexander Stoddart discusses the hidden depths in the work of Canova, creator of the Three Graces, and Roger Bowdler explores the world of grotesques, goblins and gremlins. Part of the Focus on Sculpture season.
Romancing the Stone: The Golden Ages of British Sculpture
Wednesday 16 February
9:00pm - 10:00pm
BBC FOUR
Mavericks of Empire
2/3
Alastair Sooke tells the stories of sculptors John Flaxman, Francis Chantrey and Alfred Gilbert, who bucked trends in the 18th and 19th centuries. He examines the technical breakthroughs behind their key works - such as carving in marble with a pointer machine and the lost-wax technique - which were produced at a time of increased interest in sculptural projects to celebrate the size of the British Empire. Part of the Focus on Sculpture season.
Rolf on Welsh Art
New series
Wednesday 16 February
7:30pm - 8:00pm
BBC1 Wales
1/4
New series. Australian entertainer and musician Rolf Harris goes on a personal journey to explore four artists who found inspiration in Wales and its people, beginning with Anglesey-born painter Kyffin Williams, renowned for his dramatic landscapes and portraits. Rolf visits Ynys Môn and Snowdonia and makes revealing discoveries, before trying to do a painting in Kyffin's style.
How to Get a Head in Sculpture
Wednesday 16 February
10:00pm - 11:00pm
BBC FOUR
Documentary examining the role played by the head - one of the most enduring subjects in world sculpture - from Roman times to contemporary British art. Actor David Thewlis has his head modelled by three sculptors, while the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams, artist Maggi Hamblin and art critic Rachel Johnston discuss art's eternal preoccupation with the self. Part of the Focus on Sculpture season.
Civilisation
Wednesday 16 February
10:00pm - 10:50pm
BBC HD
The Great Thaw
Kenneth Clark explores the reawakening of European civilisation in the 12th century, which led to the building of Chartres Cathedral.
Force of Nature: The Sculpture of David Nash
Thursday 17 February
9:00pm - 10:00pm
BBC4
The life and work of the sculptor, tracing his artistic journey from the Chelsea School of Art in London to his studio in the mining landscape of Blaenau Ffestiniog, North Wales, via exhibitions around the world. The programme features footage by Pete Telfer, who has been recording the artist carving wood and shaping living trees into works of art since 1996. The film concludes with a look at Nash's latest pieces at Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Part of the Focus on Sculpture season.
Imagine
Friday 18 February
12:00am - 12:50am
BBC4
The Year of Anish Kapoor
1/7
Alan Yentob follows the progress of celebrated sculptor Anish Kapoor's solo exhibition at the Royal Academy, an event that marks the first time a living British artist has been granted the whole gallery space. The presenter reveals the inspiration behind Kapoor's mysterious works, and discovers how the artist has captivated the public imagination through his inventive use of reflective surfaces and dark voids. Part of the Focus on Sculpture season.
CULTURE
Faulks on Fiction
Saturday 12 February
9:00pm - 10:00pm
BBC2 Northern Ireland
The Lover
2/4, series 1
Author Sebastian Faulks examines how literary characters have revealed the truth about love, from Mr Darcy in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice to Nick Guest in Alan Hollinghursts's The Line of Beauty. Featuring contributions from Helen Fielding, John Carey, Adam Phillips, Alain de Botton, Simon Schama, Rowan Pelling and Alan Hollinghurst.
Words and Music
Sunday 13 February
10:15pm - 11:30pm
BBC Radio 3
The Opium of the People
John Sessions and Claire Harry read texts on the subject of faith and atheism by Nietzsche, Philip Larkin, Lucretius, Karl Marx and Charles Darwin, with music by Beethoven, Richard Strauss, Janácek, Byrd and Mahler.
The Art of Breaking Apart
Monday 14 February
11:00pm - 11:30pm
BBC Radio 4
Stuart Maconie explores the art of the `break-up' album with the help of fellow writers and musicians. He studies various records that are the result of pop and rock artists channelling their emotions about the end of long-term relationships into songs, and considers which are the best.
The Essay
Monday 14 February
11:00pm - 11:15pm
BBC Radio 3
The Team Photo
1/5
Five writers look back on team photos from their past and consider the moment when they were captured not as an individual, but as part of a group. The first to contribute is former MI5 chief Stella Rimington, who published her autobiography Open Secret in 2002. Her first novel, At Risk, appeared in 2004.
Bleep Bleep Bloop: Music and Video Games
Tuesday 15 February
1:30pm - 2:00pm
BBC Radio 4
Paul Bennun, a leading director with Somethin' Else digital production company, explores the growing popularity and ambition of music composed for video games. He explains how these soundtracks have evolved from simple melodies into sweeping scores that often rival the scope of Hollywood productions, prompting Bafta and the Ivor Novellos to recognise the genre with its own awards category.
Birth of the British Novel
Tuesday 15 February
11:00pm - 12:00am
BBC FOUR
Author and critic Henry Hitchings explores the evolution of the novel in 18th-century Britain, and offers his view that it was a time of cultural revolution. He examines the social and political history of the period, uses paintings by great artists to illustrate scenes from key novels, and explains how major genres from light entertainment for female readers to political thrillers were perfected. Along the way, he also meets authors including Martin Amis, Will Self, Tom McCarthy and Jenny Uglow.
The Essay
Tuesday 15 February
11:00pm - 11:15pm
BBC Radio 3
The Team Photo
2/5
Five writers look back on team photos from their past and consider the moment when they were captured not as an individual but as part of a group. The series continues with Hisham Matar, who was born in New York in 1970, spent his childhood in Libya and Egypt and has lived in London since 1986. His first novel In the Country of Men, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2006, and his latest, Anatomy of a Disappearance, is due in March.
The Essay
Wednesday 16 February
11:00pm - 11:15pm
BBC Radio 3
The Team Photo
3/5
Former dancer and choreographer Eva Salzman, whose books of poetry include Double Crossing: New and Selected Poems, The English Earthquake and Bargain with the Watchman, looks back on an old group photo from her past.
The Culture Show
Thursday 17 February
11:20pm - 12:20am
BBC2 Northern Ireland
2/5
Andrew Graham-Dixon examines Tate Britain's new exhibition, Watercolour, Michael Smith investigates the regeneration of London's East End, and Alain de Botton trawls the BBC archive for philosophical gems. Clemency Burton-Hill looks behind the scenes of the Royal Opera House's new production about model Anna Nicole Smith, Nancy Durrant chats to artist Mary Kelly and Tom Dyckhoff travels to Miami to meet architect Frank Gehry, who discusses his next project for the New World Symphony.
The Priest, the Badger and the Little Green Men from Mars
Thursday 17 February
11:30am - 12:00pm
BBC Radio 4
The story of the Rev Lionel Fanthorpe, who wrote more than 150 pulp fiction novels under various names for Badger Books during the late 1950s and early 1960s. The prolific science fiction author wrote 89 of his books in a three-year period while holding down a teaching job, and one of his methods was to write while hiding under a rug. Featuring readings by Fanthorpe himself and dramatic re-creations of his most interesting and memorable work.
The Essay
Thursday 17 February
11:00pm - 11:15pm
BBC Radio 3
The Team Photo
4/5
Writer and City-based IT director Farahad Zama reflects on a photograph of himself as a member of a bank's IT team, engaged on a project that was to have far-reaching consequences for his own career. Zama is the author of two novels, The Marriage Bureau for Rich People and The Many Conditions of Love.
The Essay
Friday 18 February
11:00pm - 11:15pm
BBC Radio 3
The Team Photo
5/5
In the last of five essays, writer Horatio Clare, whose books include Running for the Hills, Truant: Notes from the Slippery Slope and A Single Swallow, considers a photograph taken when he was a teenager, depicting him with his fellow members of a lifeboat crew.
SCIENCE / NATURE
The Story of Science - Power, Proof and Passion
Sunday 13 February
7:00pm - 8:00pm
BBC FOUR
What Is Out There?
1/6
Michael Mosley embarks on an ambitious journey to illustrate how the evolution of scientific understanding is intimately related to the development of civilisation. He begins by telling the story of one of the most monumental discoveries in human history - the realisation that Earth was not at the centre of the universe.
Horizon: How to Mend a Broken Heart
Monday 14 February
9:00pm - 10:00pm
BBC2 Northern Ireland
6/8
Dr Kevin Fong finds out how close scientists are to being able to repair hearts that stop working. He meets people who have undergone pioneering operations - including a man with a heart powered by a mechanical pump - and scientists who are pushing the limits on cardiac treatment.
Who Killed the Honey Bee?
Tuesday 15 February
9:00pm - 10:00pm
BBC FOUR
Martha Kearney examines the decline in the bee population due to a mystery affliction dubbed `colony collapse disorder', which is believed to have wiped out more than a third of the UK's colonies. The programme explores the effect the extinction of the insect and the loss of pollination would have on nature and the world's food supply.
The Elephant: Life after Death
Wednesday 16 February
9:00pm - 10:35pm
Channel 4
Biologist Simon Watt leads a team of experts as they use remote cameras and night-vision equipment to examine what happens to the carcass of a recently deceased elephant in Tsavo West National Park in Kenya. The event leads to several days of feeding in which vultures, big cats and insects feast on the six million calories worth of fat, meat and guts left behind, providing an insight into the never-ending cycle of life and death.
Scientists of the Subprime
Thursday 17 February
9:00pm - 9:30pm
BBC Radio 4
Ehsan Masood considers whether an understanding of biology could have prevented the financial crisis, and asks how insights from science could change the world of banking. It now seems an understanding of ecosystems or the spread of infectious disease could even help reform the financial world.
PSYCHOLOGY / SOCIETY
Sunday Feature
Sunday 13 February
9:30pm - 10:15pm
BBC Radio 3
The World Is Out of Order! - The Life, Work and Legacy of Georg Buchner
Complementing Radio 3's productions of Danton's Death and Woyzeck, Peter Thompson investigates the life of dramatist Georg Büchner and analyses his importance today. Büchner was only 23 when he died of typhus in Zurich in 1837, but had already written the play Danton's Death, and a novella, Lenz, the first to delineate a schizophrenic breakdown, which marked the beginning of modern German prose literature. He also left behind the unfinished Woyzeck, the first play to feature a working-class central character. Helping to dissect Buchner's work are Professor Susanne Kord of University College, London, Professor Karen Leeder of Oxford University, and Howard Brenton, whose version of Danton's Death was recently produced by the National Theatre.
Mind Changers
Sunday 13 February
1:30pm - 2:00pm
BBC Radio 4
1/3, series 5
New series. Claudia Hammond meets psychologist Elizabeth Loftus, whose research into how testimony by eye witnesses drawn from memory can be influenced by subsequent events has led to changes in the way police and courts deal with people who have seen crimes take place.
Leaving Mr Wrong
Monday 14 February
11:00am - 11:30am
BBC Radio 4
Roisin McAuley explores the growing number of females petitioning for divorce in their 50s and 60s. She asks whether it is a case of `empty nesters' looking for a new challenge, or if significant legal and social changes, as well as the women's liberation movement, have contributed to wives opting to strike out alone in search of an independent life.
For Crying Out Loud
Monday 14 February
9:00pm - 10:00pm
BBC FOUR
Jo Brand investigates the act of crying to find out why people do it and whether it has always been common. She discusses the matter with Phill Jupitus, Shappi Khorsandi and Richard E Grant, and learns more by interviewing historians, psychologists and biochemists. There is also a visit to an eye hospital to ensure the comedienne's tear ducts are in working order, before joining crying drama students and spending time with Princess Diana's psychotherapist Susie Orback.
True Stories: War Child
Tuesday 15 February
10:00pm - 11:40pm
More4
Bafta-winning film-maker Jezza Neumann's follow-up to Dispatches: Children of Gaza, providing a second portrait of children living with the aftermath of the Israeli attack on Gaza in 2008. Cameras follow the youngsters over the course of a year, witnessing how they grapple with the harsh realities of their new lives, and revealing how the violence suffered by some of the youths predisposes them toward extremist views in the hope of avenging the deaths of their loved ones.
The Richard Dimbleby Lecture 2011
Tuesday 15 February
11:05pm - 11:50pm
BBC1 Northern Ireland
Novelist, playwright and Save the Children ambassador Michael Morpurgo explores the issue of children's rights and the wrongs young people are forced to endure. He draws on his work as a campaigner and a visit to the Middle East, where he witnessed first-hand the difficulties youngsters face during times of conflict.
Ireland
What we leave in Our Wake
Monday 14 February
10:35pm - 11:55pm
RTE1
Filmic essay that unfolds as a series of conversations on Ireland, exploring themes including emigration, mythology, consumerism, socialism and the sense of a civic society.
The Story of Ireland
Tuesday 15 February
10:15pm - 11:25pm
RTE1
2/5
Fergal Keane explores the country's cultural, economic and social history, documenting its role on the international stage, in an adaptation of Neil Hegarty's book of the same name.
General
The Call
Tuesday 15 February
9:30am - 9:45am
BBC Radio 4
3/5
Dominic Arkwright meets Mark Craig, who decided not to recycle his answer-phone tapes, and ended up inadvertently creating an audio diary using the back catalogue he saved over the course of 20 years. Carefully selecting messages from the collection, he created a short film that documents the progress of his life, charting his development from a reckless youth to his more stable older years.
The Listeners
Thursday 17 February
2:30pm - 3:00pm
BBC Radio 7
Broadcaster Peter White meets three people who use their acute sense of hearing to help others. Featuring a mussel fisherman who listens for signs of life at earthquake disaster zones, a man who can detect tiny variations in the heartbeats of newborn children, and another who listens for distant life in the universe.
Tourism and Hospitality
The Spice Trail
Thursday 17 February
9:00pm - 10:00pm
BBC2 Northern Ireland
9:00pm - 10:00pm
BBC2 Northern Ireland
Pepper & Cinnamon
1/3
Kate Humble uncovers India and Sri Lanka's early trading history with a fragrant journey that begins on India's "Spice Coast". Her first lesson is the story of pepper - once known as black gold and now the most consumed spice in the world - before heading south to Sri Lanka, the land of cinnamon. There she attends the spectacular Buddhist festival of Perahera and learns how to harvest the spice and transform it into a cinnamon quill. She also gets a lesson in negotiation as farmers attempt to sell their crops for profit.
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