BBC Four

Lead Balloon

Lead Balloon is a British television series produced by Open Mike Productions for BBC Four. The series was created and is co-written by comedian Jack Dee and Pete Sinclair. It stars Dee as Rick Spleen, a cynical and misanthropic comedian whose life is plagued by petty annoyances, disappointments and embarrassments. Raquel Cassidy, Sean Power and Tony Gardner also star. The first series of six episodes was broadcast on BBC Four in 2006, with the first episode achieving the highest ratings for a comedy on the channel. Repeats of the series were run on BBC Two and BBC HD, bringing it to a larger audience. A second series of eight episodes aired on BBC Two in November 2007, and a third series began airing in November 2008. A fourth and final series commenced broadcast on 31 May 2011 on BBC Two and ended on 5 July. Comparisons were made by critics to the successful American comedy Curb Your Enthusiasm, and positive comments were made about Lead Balloon's characters, particularly Magda, the Eastern European housekeeper. The first series was released on DVD in November 2007. The show's theme tune is a cover version of "One Way Road", written by Noel Gallagher and performed by Paul Weller.

Lost Cities of the Ancients

Never Mind the Full Stops

Never Mind the Full Stops is a British television panel game based on the English language, its idiosyncrasies, and its misuse. It is hosted by the British actor, author and Oscar-winning screenwriter, Julian Fellowes. Each episode lasts 30 minutes. The series was filmed in March 2006 at Channel 4's studios in Horseferry Road, Westminster. It was originally broadcast on BBC Four, and aired on BBC Two from 9 October 2006. Two teams of two people are faced with various questions and challenges concerning English grammar, spelling and usage. The show is divided into rounds, with themes such as identifying the famous author of a badly spoken sentence and correcting the punctuation in a written sentence. There is also a quick-fire round with questions such as "What is a malapropism?" Points are awarded throughout the show to determine the winning team. Each show starts with the host giving a 'difficult-to-spell' word and an example mnemonic to help remember that spelling, and by the end of the show the panellists have to have devised their own. In episode one Julian Fellowes gave the example arithmetic: A Rat In The House Might Eat The Ice Cream; and Ned Sherrin's version was: As Richard Interred The Head Master Every Tiny Infant Cheered. By the end of series 1, even Julian Fellowes had realized that these so-called mnemonics were invariably harder to remember than the spellings – particularly as they were rarely related to the words in question.

Northern Renaissance

Joseph Leo Koerner argues that the Renaissance in Northern Europe - more so than its Italian counterpart - laid the foundations of modern art.

Tory! Tory! Tory!

Tory! Tory! Tory! is a 2006 BBC television documentary series on the history of the people and ideas that formed Thatcherism told through the eyes of those on the New Right. It was nominated for the best Historical Documentary at the Grierson Awards in 2006.

Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe

Charlie Brooker's acerbic take on recent TV contains reviews of current shows, as well as stories and commentary on how television is produced.

Time

Time is a 2006 documentary television series first broadcast on BBC Four in the United Kingdom. It is written and presented by Michio Kaku.

Folk Britannia

Three 1-hour films exploring British folk music from the rebirth of English romance to the latter day revival.

Autopsy: Life and Death

In this new four-part series, anatomist Dr Gunther von Hagens and pathologist Professor John Lee get right under the skin to reveal the processes in life that tie us to our ultimate fate in death. The two scientists perform a series of autopsy demonstrations at the Institute of Plastination in Heidelberg, Germany, in which they demonstrate the process of finding a cause of death. With the aid of human dissection, live models and scientific models they are able to reveal what disease really looks like and how it works.

Rich Hall's Cattle Drive

Rich Hall's Cattle Drive is a television sitcom starring Rich Hall and Mike Wilmot. It was broadcast in 2006 in the United Kingdom on BBC Four, and ran for one series consisting of six episodes. It has been repeated on BBC Four but has not been shown on British terrestrial television.

Asian Invasion

Asian Invasion is a three-part mini-series presented by Jonathan Ross which aired on BBC Four in January 2006. Focusing on East Asian cinema, the series looked at some of the most famous films, actors and directors in Japan, Korea and Hong Kong.

Tales from the Palaces

Tales from the Palaces is a British television documentary series following the conservation teams inside Britain's Historic Royal Palaces: Hampton Court, The Tower of London, Kensington Palace, The Banqueting House and Kew Palace. It is produced by BBC and has been shown worldwide including in Australia on the SBS network. The ten-part series was filmed over a year and was shown on BBC Two in 2006.

The Music of the Primes

For more than 2,000 years, a mathematical riddle has baffled the world’s greatest minds. It’s a problem of such difficulty that it has tormented those brave enough to tackle it. Some have given up in despair. Others have been driven mad. Primes are fundamental to mathematics yet they seem to surface entirely randomly along the number line. But are the primes truly random or is there some hidden pattern? It’s the greatest unsolved problem of mathematics. In The Music of the Primes, Marcus du Sautoy investigates the fascinating story of great mathematicians who have all grappled with the problem of the primes

The Sex Inspectors

The Sex Inspectors is a late night UK TV show that focuses on sex therapy for couples facing difficulties with their relationship. The show, presented by Tracey Cox and Michael Alvear, aids couples by offering ways to spice up their relationships and sex lives. The show airs at 11PM on Channel 4, and each series usually consists of 3 to 4 episodes, with the series finale being a special episode devoted to revisiting the couples featured on the series. On the first visit, CCTVs are installed throughout the house, allowing the Tracey and Micheal to monitor the couples' lives. After a few days of monitoring, the presenters then go back to the couples to tell them what they are doing wrong and what needs to be improved.

A Digital Picture of Britain

Presented by digital photography guru Tom Ang, this major six-part companion series to A Picture of Britain visits the same six regions as the BBC One series to capture a vision of contemporary Britain in all its diversity.

The Thick of It

Set in the corridors of power and spin, the Minister for Social Affairs is continually harassed by Number 10's policy enforcer and dependent on his not-so-reliable team of civil servants.

Twenty Thousand Streets Under The Sky

A story of unrequited love set in 1930s London, against the backdrop of grimy streets and public houses.

The Late Edition

The Late Edition was a British television programme broadcast on BBC Four. It took the form of a topical chat show in the vein of The Daily Show, presented by comedian Marcus Brigstocke. Each episode typically features comical news commentary from Brigstocke, satirical interviews with fictional political figures played by Steve Furst, 'Andre Vincent investigates' and two "real" interviews. In 2007, 2008 and 2009, Brigstocke performed a special version of the show at the Edinburgh Fringe called The Early Edition with Andre Vincent.

Wild Europe

A stunning four-part series, charting the dramatic events which have shaped the ever-changing landscapes and wildlife of Europe.

Europe: A Natural History

A series chronicling the events which shaped the continent of Europe as we now know it.