Visual Arts
Perspectives: Robson Green and the Pitmen Painters
Sunday 08 May
10:15pm - 11:15pm
Ulster
The actor visits his native Northumberland to tell the story of the Ashington Group, which started in 1934 as an art class for miners and found fame as the men achieved recognition for depicting their daily lives on canvas. Green - whose father worked at the same pit as some of the artists - learns more about them as he explores one of Britain's deepest coal mines and talks to ex-England footballer Jack Charlton, who briefly worked underground.
Storyville - Last Days of the Arctic: Capturing the Faces of the North
Monday 09 May
9:00pm - 10:00pm
BBC Four
Documentary following celebrated photographer Ragnar Alexsson as he endeavours to capture the vanishing lifestyles of people from far northern countries. The film examines his fascination with people who survive in extreme circumstances and the inspiration for his latest work, which is to preserve the cultures of Arctic people who are being affected by climate change. Part of the Wonders of Iceland season.
Show Me the Monet
Monday 09 May – Friday 13th
5:15pm - 6:00pm
BBC2 Northern Ireland
1/10
Artists seek approval from three critics in a bid to secure a place in a potentially lucrative exhibition and sale at London's Royal College of Art. The first episode follows Parkinson's disease sufferer Ronnie Shahmoon, whose creations are made out of plugs and sockets.
Culture
Words and Music
Sunday 08 May
10:15pm - 11:30pm
BBC Radio 3
All the World's a Stage
Works on the theme of showbusiness, reflecting how the theatre has been both celebrated as a grand metaphor for life and denigrated as the arena of moral decay. Readings from the writings of Shakespeare, Thomas Hardy, John Dryden, TS Eliot, Dorothy Parker and Frank O'Hara are accompanied by the music of Puccini, Irving Berlin, Purcell, Sondheim and Thomas Adès.
The View
Tuesday 10 May
11:15pm - 11:55pm
RTE1
Review of the arts, with John Kelly.
Psychology / Society
Something Understood
Sunday 08 May
6:05am - 6:35am
BBC Radio 4
The Two Sides of Hope
Mark Tully considers the dangers of false optimism, and reflects on how having high expectations can lead to despair if they are not realised. However, he also uses the words of Martin Luther King Jr and the music of Frank Sinatra to illustrate how enduring hope can be valuable.
Strangeways
Monday 09 May
9:00pm - 10:00pm
Ulster
1/3
New series. Documentary following day-to-day life at HM Prison Manchester in the city's Strangeways area, which was opened in 1868 and is currently the largest high-security prison in the UK, housing more than 1,200 inmates. In the first episode, a new arrival enters the Category A unit on remand due to his alleged involvement in a multimillion-pound drugs conspiracy, which he claims to know nothing about, and armed robber Adrian Fielding marries his fiancee Kelly Hansen.
Home Is Where the Heart Is
Tuesday 10 May
9:00pm - 10:00pm
Ulster
1/3
Four homeless people are taken off the streets and invited to live for a fortnight with Blur bassist Alex James, presenter Anneka Rice, chef Aldo Zilli and interior designers Colin McAllister and Justin Ryan, who hope to address the problems their guests are battling. They begin by moving into the celebrities' homes, where rough sleeper Jim Gilraine faces the prospect of spending the night in a bed after 18 years on the streets, and 23-year-old Bridgette Harvey, whose parents were alcoholics, adjusts to her new surroundings.
Wednesday 11 May
4:30pm - 5:00pm
BBC Radio 4
4/13
Psychologist Claudia Hammond reveals the latest scientific findings as she investigates the workings of the brain, the mind and the wider mental health agenda.
Wonderland: The Trouble with Love and Sex
Wednesday 11 May
9:00pm - 9:50pm
BBC2 Northern Ireland
4/8, series 3
Animated documentary following people trying to work out their personal issues with the help of Relate, a charity working to promote healthy and respectful romantic and family relationships. A man and woman reveal they cannot stand each other any more, a long-term bachelor tries to overcome his fears, and a 51-year-old man struggles to understand why his wife refuses to have sex with him.
In Our Time
Thursday 12 May
9:00am - 9:45am
BBC Radio 4
The Anatomy of Melancholy
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Robert Burton's book The Anatomy of Melancholy, which was published in 1621. The priest and mathematician created the compendium of writing partly to alleviate his own depression, and the work offers an insight into 17th-century medical theory.
Science / Nature
Inside the Human Body
Thursday 12 May
9:00pm - 10:00pm
BBC1 Northern Ireland
First to Last
2/4, series 1
Michael Mosley demonstrates how the human body keeps itself alive, from the first breath to the last. A dramatic water birth is captured in slow-motion and the programme shares the last moments of an 84-year-old as he passes away at home. Plus, people who have adapted to extreme environments, including a world champion free driver and a man who can swim in glacial lakes.
The Cell
Thursday 12 May
10:55pm - 11:55pm
BBC4
The Spark of Life
3/3
Adam Rutherford examines how scientists are trying to build cells in the laboratory. By identifying the components that first sparked life on earth billions of years ago, experts are now capable of understanding the basic elements needed to create life. He also takes a look at the new technical and medical advances in biology, with artificial cells now being able to produce diesel.
History
Irish Blood English Hearts
Friday 13 May
11:00am - 11:30am
BBC Radio 4
Writer and broadcaster Joseph O'Connor considers the complex cultural relationships between England and Ireland, in light of the Queen's first visit to the country on May 17. He discusses the misunderstandings and anxieties associated with the Anglo-Irish relationship and writes a letter to the monarch describing the land she will visit and the nature of the reception she can expect.
A History of Christianity
Sunday 08 May
7:00pm - 8:00pm
BBC4
Orthodoxy: From Empire to Empire
3/6, series 1
Diarmaid MacCulloch charts the development of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, which flourishes in the Balkans and Russia and has more than 150 million members worldwide. He visits a collection of early icons in the Sinai desert, a surviving relic of the iconoclastic crisis in Istanbul, and Ivan the Terrible's Cathedral in Moscow to discover the secret of its durability.
The Country House Revealed
Tuesday 10 May
9:00pm - 10:00pm
BBC2 Northern Ireland
South Wraxall
1/6, series 1
New series. Architectural historian Dan Cruickshank tours country homes not open to members of the public, beginning with South Wraxall Manor in Wiltshire, a relic from the medieval and Tudor periods. He explores the history of the Longs. who built the property, and rose to prominence due to their association with Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, and also examines how a murder in the family may have inspired one of Shakespeare's most famous plays.
Irish interest
Coiscéimeanna
Sunday 15 May
8:15pm - 8:45pm
TG4
3/6, series 1
Harry McGee retraces the tragic journey of the Famine Death Walk of 1849 along Doolough on the Mayo-Connemara border, where hundreds of paupers crossed the mountains in bitter winds searching for food.
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