Wednesday 24 Sep 2014
For many people crying is part of life and a recent study revealed that people who cry are healthier. But is it something those who blub take for granted, and why do some people find shedding a tear so hard?
Comedian Jo Brand can laugh, but she can't cry. In this one-off documentary, Jo, a former psychiatric nurse turned comedian, goes in search of the secrets behind crying – why we cry, how we cry and why it appears we are all crying now.
By talking to men, women, young and old, to doctors, psychologists, crying specialists and crying clinics, Jo provides the comprehensive non-crier's handbook to crying and, in so doing, may even find her own tears.
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Front Desk Publicity
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Productions
Not every conspiracy is a theory... Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Four taps into collective paranoia with its compelling new conspiracy series, Rubicon.
Will Travers is an intelligence analyst who cracks codes for a living. But when his world is shattered by an untimely death, he begins asking questions and dives into a web of mystery and danger.
Shot in New York City, this 13-episode series was created by Jason Horwitch. The producer is Kerry Orent (Michael Clayton, Rescue Me) and the showrunner is Henry Bromell (Homicide, Chicago Hope, Brotherhood).
The cast also features: James Badge Dale (The Pacific, The Departed), Oscar-nominated actress Miranda Richardson (Sleepy Hollow), Dallas Roberts (Walk The Line), Jessica Collins (CSI: Crime Scene Investigation), Christopher Evan Welch (Vicky Cristina Barcelona), Lauren Hodges (Law & Order), and Arliss Howard (Full Metal Jacket, Natural Born Killers).
MO
Warner Horizon Television
Michael Mosley embarks on three immersive journeys to try to understand science's last great frontier – the human mind.
The mind is one of the most complex things in the universe, for centuries it was believed to be beyond the realms of scientific investigation. But in the last century, scientists have devised ingenious and unorthodox new techniques to unlock its secrets.
Tracing the history of scientific attempts to understand and manipulate the brain, Michael examines everything from risky psychological experiments that would never make it past a modern ethics committee to cutting-edge neuroscience.
He also offers himself up as a guinea pig to explore what science can tell him about himself and discovers that our decisions are not quite as free as we'd like to believe.
VAA
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Productions
Jo Brand, Joanna Scanlan and Vicki Pepperdine are reunited on female medical ward B4 for a second six-part series of the comedy of characters "getting on" with the endless procedures and minor crises in this overlooked backwater of the health service.
Devised, written and performed by all three cast members, and directed by Peter Capaldi, Getting On is a bleakly hilarious, honest and quietly compassionate story of a typical ward, the kind where none of us want to end up, but many of us will.
The first series was critically-acclaimed by The Times as "superb... brilliantly observed" and by the Mirror as "toe-curlingly sublime" and was nominated for Royal Television Society, Broadcast and Bafta awards.
Some time has passed since the last visit to B4. Nurse Kim Wilde (Jo Brand) is ploughing through her training modules, a consequence of the incident with Matron Hilary Loftus (Ricky Grover), while other unresolved conflicts simmer.
Sister Den Flixter (Joanna Scanlan) is juggling her off-on relationship with Hilary, while Doctor Pippa Moore (Vicki Pepperdine) has to compete for her own job with re-structuring on the agenda, and the prospect of a brand new wing dangled in front of the staff as the builders move in.
New admissions bring new problems, but in Getting On, the real challenge is getting on with life in a world where few things move on.
JP
A Vera production
Beauty And The Beasts
In 1960, a young secretary from Bournemouth with no scientific qualifications entered a remote forest in Africa and achieved something nobody else had ever done before.
Jane Goodall became accepted by a group of wild chimpanzees, making discoveries that transformed understanding of them, and challenged the way we define ourselves as human beings by showing just how close we are as a species to our closest living relatives.
Since then, both Jane and the chimps of Gombe, Tanzania, have become world famous – she as the beauty of many wildlife films, they as the beasts with something profound to reveal.
As one of the programme's contributors, David Attenborough suggests, Jane Goodall's story could be a fable, if it wasn't true. This revealing programme, filmed with Jane in Africa, discovers the person behind the myth, what motivates her and the personal cost her life's work has exacted from her, and why she still thinks there is much to learn from the chimps she has devoted her life to understanding.
When Britain Went Wild
The Sixties was a decade when the British were transformed from a country of pet lovers and gardeners into a nation of wildlife enthusiasts, conservationists and eco-warriors.
Back in the late Fifties, wildlife preservation was in the hands of a genteel elite and gentlemen like Sir Peter Scott and Sir Julian Huxley were prominent advocates of preserving the UK's wild places. Their international efforts were directed through the Society for the Preservation of the Fauna of the Empire, while the rest of the population carried on keeping domestic pets and tending gardens.
Occasionally, Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ viewers saw Gerald Durrell and David Attenborough trapping wild animals for London Zoo. Eventually they'd see programmes about the wild Africa of Joy Adamson (played by Virgina McKenna in Born Free) and her lions, or Jane Goodall and her chimps. Soon the British were hooked.
In 1960, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds had fewer than 10,000 members – today, its membership is a million. In 1960, there were 3,000 members of Wildlife Trusts, now there are 400,000. It is estimated that 4 million Britons are now members of a conservation organisation of one kind or another. Nature, wildlife and "environmental protection" has become an industry employing tens of thousands of people.
When Britain Went Wild tells the fascinating story of how this remarkable change came about.
VAA
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Productions
The Royal Institution's Christmas Lectures make a triumphant return to the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ, with an inspiring contribution from one of Britain’s most interesting scientists, Dr Mark Miodownik (engineer and materials scientist).
In a three-part public lecture series that asks Does Size Matter?, Mark explains how hamsters can survive falling from an aircraft without a parachute, why planet Earth is just so puny, and the extraordinary hidden powers of human hair.
In these absorbing, inspiring and entertaining lectures, Mark will also explain Why Elephants Can't Dance, Why Chocolate Melts and Jet Planes Don't and Why Mountains Are So Small.
Mark joins a long line of past lecturers – including Sir David Attenborough and Baroness Susan Greenfield – that have inspired generations of children and adults across the country in spirited annual talks that tackle some of science’s most interesting questions.
VAA
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Productions
As part of the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's year-long celebration of science, Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Four explores the tools and ethics that underpin the mechanics of modern science.
Presented by Swedish academic superstar, Hans Rosling, The Joy Of Stats takes viewers on a fascinating journey into the world of statistics and their remarkable power to change our understanding of the world we live in.
In Beautiful Equations, artist and TV art critic Matt Collings plunges into the world of mathematical equations tackling the concepts of beauty, elegance and simplicity that have been used by scientists, from Albert Einstein to Stephen Hawking, to advance their work.
From fractals to fission, DNA to dark matter, Diagrams That Shook The World gets beneath the surface of some of the most widely recognisable iconic images of the scientific world to explore the reasons for their longevity.
And, in My Father, The Bomb And Me, British historian Lisa Jardine offers an unexpected view of the morality of science as she digs deep into the archives. She unearths the unseen diaries, letters, papers and classified documents of her famous father, scientist Jacob Bronowski, and considers her father's great legacy to the ethics of science.
VAA
Wingspan Productions
In the fourth season of the multi-award-winning Mad Men, Don Draper must face himself and the changing world around him in new ways, as the critically-acclaimed American drama series continues on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Four.
As the decade, and the series, progresses, relationships are redefined, traditional norms questioned, and the simmering frustrations between women and men are examined through compelling storylines and resonant moments in the glossy and beautifully rendered advertising world of Sixties New York.
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Front Desk Publicity
An AMC production
Victoria Coren returns to host the fourth series of the popular quiz where, as in life itself, knowledge only takes you so far – patience and lateral thinking are also vital.
Each week, two teams of three players from all walks of life with shared professions, hobbies or interests, compete to draw together connections between things which, at first glance, seem utterly random.
Over four rounds, the teams deduce the concealed connections between clues from fields of knowledge as disparate as ancient Greece to modern jazz. The series, a knock-out tournament, starts with 16 teams aiming to reach the Grand Final.
Designed for high "play-along-ability", there is a hugely successful online version at: bbc.co.uk/onlyconnect. The dedicated webpage gives viewers the chance to try their hand at some devilish question-solving from the comfort of their homes. Be warned, the bar is set pretty high.
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Front Desk Publicity
A Presentable production
Returning from his successful Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Four documentary The Dirty South, comedian Rich Hall embarks on a new journey across America to explore the symbolism of the classic road movie.
Cruising through the breathtaking badlands of South Dakota to the mountains of Montana, Rich follows in the famous Thunderbird tyre-tracks of Thelma And Louise and serial killer classic Natural Born Killers, as well as Vanishing Point, Badlands, Lost In America, Easy Rider and Sugarland Express, to name a few.
This seductive exploration of the open road leads him on an inspiring journey of freedom and escapism, as he chases the horizon, discovering why the combination of road and rubber has become so iconic.
Rich Hall’s Road Movies is not only a visual feast, but also a fascinating insight into classic Americana and the history of the American highway system.
With historians, motel experts and interstate scholars joining him on his captivating journey, and with a remarkable mixture of history, symbolism, wit and classic clips, viewers can sit back, enjoy – and let Rich do the driving.
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Front Desk Publicity
An Open Mike production
An honest look into the life of controversial comedian Bill Hicks, whose timeless comedy tackled head-on the contradictions of America and modern life.
The film takes viewers across America to investigate the memorable moments, friendships and turbulence in the life of this influential comic. It follows his journey from the teenage stand up who crept out of his bedroom window to perform, to the internationally renowned comedian who challenged and changed his audiences.
Building on the foundations provided by video footage and photographs, the feature combines animation with the memories and voices of Hicks's closest friends and family to retell his remarkable story. His many performances are placed against the backdrop of his life offstage, creating an original exploration into the artistic development of this iconic figure.
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Front Desk Publicity
A Matt Harlock and Paul Thomas production
Hugh Bonneville, Jessica Hynes, Olivia Colman and Amelia Bullmore star in a new six-part comedy drama about the people paddling hard beneath the water to make the Olympics happen in London in 2012.
Written and directed by People Like Us writer John Morton and filmed in a similarly documentary style, Twenty Twelve deals with such hot topics as how to phase the traffic lights across London to get people from west to east; who to sell the Taekwondo hall to after the event; what to do when protesters leave large quantities of horse dung on the doorstep in protest at the siting of the equestrian events, and how to cope with sportsmen who want to help but are just too dull.
From getting a busload of non-English speaking Brazilians from A to B, who to appoint to run the Cultural Olympiad and what to do when the much-vaunted wind turbines won't turn because there’s no wind, it’s all in a day’s work for the men and women whose job it is to stage the greatest sporting event in the world.
The series is produced by Paul Schlesinger.
CC2
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Productions
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Β© 2014 The Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more.
This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.