History TV and radio: what’s on next week? (18–24 May 2019)
The Yorkshire Dales
BBC Two
Saturday 18 May, 7pm
In a three-part travel series that features plenty of history, Paul Rose rambles through the Dales. He begins in the area around Wensleydale, where he learns about the origins of thoroughbred horses and sees a castle where Mary, Queen of Scots once took up residence.
Britain’s Most Historic Towns
Channel 4
Saturday 18 May, 8pm
Alice Roberts hosts a second series of the show looking back at key periods in British history through the stories of individual towns. First up, Roberts heads Dover in Kent, where she focuses on its role in the struggle against the Nazis, notably during the Battle of Britain.
Archive On 4: The University Of The Air
BBC Radio 4
Saturday 18 May, 8pm
The Open University is celebrating its 50th year. Marking the anniversary, one of its former tutors, Gordon Brown, looks back at the history of the institution and considers what challenges may lie ahead for it. Contributors include OU graduate Lenny Henry and Willy Russell, writer of Educating Rita.
Gentleman Jack
BBC One
Sunday 19 May, 9pm
Based on the real-life story of Anne Lister, this new drama from the pen of Sally Wainwright (Last Tango In Halifax and Happy Valley) explores the life of a landowner and lesbian who kicked hard against the stifling conventions of her age. In the first of six episodes, it’s 1832, and Lister (Suranne Jones) returns home after years of travelling.
Pick of the week
Sunday Feature: Alexander Korda – Producer, Director, Exile, Spy
BBC Radio 3
Sunday 19 May, 6.45pm
While he found fame as a filmmaker, Hungarian émigré Alexander Korda had a rather more shadowy career during the Second World War. He was, as Matthew Sweet reveals here in a tale involving the FBI, Winston Churchill and spies in Latin America, both a British agent and, in months when the USA maintained an isolationist stance, a well-connected propagandist.
Thatcher: A Very British Revolution
BBC Two
Monday 20 May, 9pm
Marking 40 years since Margaret Thatcher came to power, this new series charts her political rise and fall. We begin in the early 1970s when, as education secretary, she was dubbed “milk snatcher” after the government stopped giving free milk to schoolchildren aged between seven and 11. Featuring interviews with political friends and enemies.
The Reith Lectures
BBC Radio 4
Tuesday 21 May, 9am
This year’s Reith lecturer is Jonathan Sumption, a distinguished historian of the Hundred Years’ War and, until recently, a justice of the UK’s Supreme Court. In the first of five lectures with the overarching title Law and the Decline of Politics, Sumption argues that law is taking over space that was once the preserve of politics. Anita Anand presents.
Rhythms of India
BBC Four
Tuesday 21 May, 9pm
British-Asian composer Soumik Datta presents a three-part series exploring Indian music and its history. He begins in Kolkata, where he spent 19 years mastering the 19-string sarod, before heading south, hearing music played in palaces and temples along the way, and considering the role of empire and religion in India’s story.
Summer of Rockets
BBC Two
Wednesday 22 May, 9pm
Writer and director Stephen Poliakoff’s latest drama takes us back to the 1950s and the Cold War era. It’s 1957 and MI5 have an assignment for Russian émigré and inventor Samuel Petrukhin (Toby Stephens). But who can Petrukhin trust? A strong cast also includes Keeley Hawes and Timothy Spall.
Victorian Sensations with Hannah Fry
BBC Four
Wednesday 22 May, 9pm
In the first of three documentaries exploring the idea of the 1890s as a time of huge changes, Dr Hannah Fry considers scientific advances during the decade. Electricity, Fry argues, signified modernity, and she also looks at such inventions as x-rays, photo-flying machines and the safety bicycle.
from History Extra http://bit.ly/2VAhLXm
http://bit.ly/30vPNA3
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