BBC Four

Sex and Sensibility: The Allure of Art Nouveau

How the Art Nouveau movement flourished in the burgeoning cities of Europe at the end of the 19th century.

She-Wolves: England's Early Queens

Historian Dr Helen Castor explores the lives of seven English queens who challenged male power, the fierce reactions they provoked and whether the term 'she-wolves' was deserved.

Dirk Gently

Detective Dirk Gently operates based on the fundamental interconnectedness of all things.

Timothy Spall: All at Sea

Timothy Spall and his wife Shane are back on board their beloved barge the Princess Matilda as they conclude their trip around the British coast.

Bullets, Boots and Bandages: How to Really Win at War

Survivors: Nature's Indestructible Creatures

It is estimated that 99 per cent of species have become extinct and there have been times when life's hold on Earth has been so precarious it seems it hangs on by a thread. This series focuses on the survivors - the old-timers - whose biographies stretch back millions of years and who show how it is possible to survive a mass extinction event which wipes out nearly all of its neighbours. The Natural History Museum's professor Richard Fortey discovers what allows the very few to carry on going - perhaps not for ever, but certainly far beyond the life expectancy of normal species. What makes a survivor when all around drop like flies? Professor Fortey travels across the globe to find the survivors of the most dramatic of these obstacles - the mass extinction events.

Jonathan Meades On France

Jonathan Meades scrutinises the 95 per cent of France that Brits drive through and don't notice en route to the 5 per cent that conforms to their expectation

Illuminations: The Private Lives of Medieval Kings

Through this three part series Art Historian Dr Janina Ramirez tells the story of the Medieval monarchy as preserved through stunning illuminated manuscripts from the British Library's Royal Manuscripts collection.

The Joy Of...

A witty and stimulating look at Chance, Logic, Data and Statistics and the roles they play in our lives.

Jerusalem: The Making of a Holy City

Author and historian Simon Sebag Montefiore presents a three-part series that illuminates the history of the sacred, and peerlessly beautiful city - Jerusalem.

Art of America

Andrew Graham-Dixon embarks on his most ambitious journey yet, an exploration of the rich, exciting and diverse art history of the United States of America

Symphony

Simon Russell Beale presents a radical reappraisal of the place of the symphony in the modern world and explores the surprising way in which it has shaped our history and identity.

Ceramics A Fragile History

Ceramics are one of the oldest and most-fundamental art forms around. Ceramics are used for everything from eating and drinking to celebrating birth, marriage or even death. Many people believe that ceramics contain social DNA and reveal about the taste and habits of a nation. This three-part series explores the history of the art form in Britain, beginning in Tudor times, and traces the evolution of different techniques and styles used in the art of pottery. The programme also explores key figures who helped put British ceramics on the map and revolutionised the industry.

Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

Professor Jim Al-Khalili tells the electrifying story of our quest to master nature's most mysterious force - electricity. Until fairly recently, electricity was seen as a magical power, but it is now the lifeblood of the modern world and underpins every aspect of our technological advancements. Without electricity, we would be lost. This series tells of dazzling leaps of imagination and extraordinary experiments - a story of maverick geniuses who used electricity to light our cities, to communicate across the seas and through the air, to create modern industry and to give us the digital revolution.

Sandhurst

Documentary series shot at the Royal Military Academy over the course of a year, following the journey of one intake of cadets through the 200-year-old institution.

Law of the Dragon

Examine how justice is served in rural areas of China so remote and isolated that the villagers have almost no contact with, and are deeply mistrustful of, the central government.

Elegance and Decadence: The Age of the Regency

Historian Lucy Worsley presents a series marking the 200th anniversary of one of the most explosive and creative decades in British history, the Regency.

Timothy Spall: Back At Sea

Untrained mariner Timothy Spall has spent a fortune on technology for his new challenge - the unpredictable Irish Sea - as he and his wife continue their mini-odyssey around Britain

British Masters

British Masters is a three-part BBC television series on 20th century British art, presented by Dr James Fox and first broadcast in July 2011 on BBC Four. The series covers the period from 1910 to 1975. The first programme explored the lives and works of Mark Gertler, Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Walter Sickert, Wyndham Lewis, Lawrence Atkinson, David Bomberg, Richard Nevinson, Paul Nash and Stanley Spencer. The second programme explored the works of John Nash, Stanley Spencer, Alfred Munnings, William Coldstream, Paul Nash and John Piper. In the third programme, subtitled 'A New Jerusalem,' Fox explored British art in the aftermath of the 2nd world war, and examined the works of Lucian Freud, Graham Sutherland, Francis Bacon, Richard Hamilton, David Hockney and Keith Vaughan. In this final programme of the series Fox explored how the themes of evil, brutality, dehumanisation, consumerism and optimism can be seen in the works of these postwar artists. Fox contends in this programme that the death of Lucian Freud and the emergence of conceptual art have marginalised, eclipsed and brought to an end the tradition of British figurative painting. In each case, the backgrounds, techniques, subjects and interests of each artist are analysed against a backdrop of the social and political events of their day, especially the two world wars, the decline of Edwardian values and traditions, the poverty and economic turmoil of the 1920s and 1930s and the relative sense of optimism following both wars. The programmes also reflect a personal and national search for security in enduring but elusive British values, beliefs and identity in what Fox depicts as a century of crisis and upheaval, in which much more had perhaps been lost than gained.

World War Two: 1941 and the Man of Steel

English historian David Reynolds reassesses Stalin's role in the life-and-death struggle between the Soviet Union and Germany in World War II.