Freeview 9 · Sky 116 · 78 programmes this week
BBC Four is the BBC's arts, culture and documentary channel. It broadcasts music performances, archive television, history documentaries and international drama. Available on Freeview and Sky. Much of its content is also available on BBC iPlayer.
Freeview 9 · Sky 116
05:30 – 11:30
Next: 11:30 · ..programmes start at 7.00pm
16 programmes
After he hung up his gloves in 1981, Ali traveled the world preaching his Islamic faith and became a peace icon. The film looks at his life after boxing and the impact he had beyond the ring. It cont…
0.7.0
Maggie Aderin‑Pocock and Chris Lintott explore space weather—the solar storms that can fry satellites and knock out power grids. They talk to the scientists and engineers who monitor the Sun and figu…
E86
Only Connect is Victoria Coren Mitchell’s quiz where teams look for links between unrelated clues. In this episode the remaining pairs battle for third place. If you like puzzles and a bit of competi…
1.6.0
Art historian Rose Balston has created a one‑hour look at John
0.3.0
The schedule kicks off at 7 pm, broadcast in HD.
The schedule kicks off at 7 pm, broadcast in HD.
University Challenge pits two university teams against each other in a fast‑fire quiz, with Jeremy Paxman asking the questions. This is the penultimate second‑round match; the winners will earn a spo…
21.22.0
Only Connect is a quiz that asks teams to find links between unrelated clues. This week the Cambridge Quiz Society takes on the Rugby Boys in the final, with Victoria Coren Mitchell as host. If you l…
1.7.0
Universe is a BBC Two documentary series in which Professor Brian Cox walks you through the 13.8‑billion‑year story, from the first star to the far‑future fate of the cosmos. It uses CGI, footage fro…
0.0.0
Laurence Rees revisits his 1997 series *The Nazis: A Warning from History*, explaining why Germany fell under Hitler’s sway using archive footage and rare interviews. He describes how the fall of the…
Laurence Rees’s six‑part BBC documentary follows Hitler’s rise to power, beginning with the 1933 election that installed an openly anti‑democratic chancellor. It includes unseen footage and eyewitnes…
E1
Ken Loach looks back on his final feature, *The Old Oak*. It’s a gritty portrait of a former mining village in County Durham, where residents wrestle with Syrian refugees and a pub landlord fights to…
The Old Oak follows Dave Turner’s TJ Ballantyne, a pub landlord in a shrinking County Durham mining town, as he fights to keep his only local hub open when Syrian refugees arrive in the community. Ke…
15 programmes
Ken Loach looks back on his 1965 Wednesday Play adaptation of Nell Dunn’s short‑story collection *Up the Junction*, a slice of Battersea life that follows three working‑class women. The original has …
"Up the Junction" is a 1965 BBC Wednesday Play, adapted from Nell Dunn’s short stories. It follows three Battersea factory girls—Sylvie (Carol White), Rube (Geraldine Sherman) and Eileen (Vickery Tur…
E1
In this hour‑long chat on BBC Four’s *This Cultural Life*, veteran filmmaker Ken Loach sits down with presenter John Wilson. He walks us through his Midlands upbringing, Blackpool holidays, love of C…
1.5.0
Only Connect is a quiz that asks teams to find links between unrelated clues. This week the Cambridge Quiz Society takes on the Rugby Boys in the final, with Victoria Coren Mitchell as host. If you l…
1.7.0
Universe is a BBC Two documentary series fronted by Professor Brian Cox that looks at how stars have driven creation since the first light. In the opening episode he explains how those fiery furnaces…
0.0.0
The schedule kicks off at 7 pm, broadcast in HD.
The schedule kicks off at 7 pm, broadcast in HD.
University Challenge pits two student teams against each other in the second round of the 2022/23 series, with Jeremy Paxman as the questionmaster. The BBC's classic tough quiz sees university brains…
21.23.0
Only Connect is a BBC Two quiz where two teams – this week a group of civil servants against a group of music lovers – try to spot hidden links between unrelated clues. Victoria Coren Mitchell hosts …
2.0.0
Poet Simon Armitage writes and presents a 58‑minute look at how medieval literature moulded the King Arthur legend. The programme reveals the king’s fickle origins, Norman appropriation and later res…
Unforgiven (1992) is a Western about retired gunslinger William Munny, who takes one more job to avenge a young woman and ends up confronting his own past. The film is gritty, with strong language an…
Clint Eastwood: Out of the West is the first of a two‑part Arena profile where the star looks back on a hard childhood and his early work from *Rawhide* to *Dirty Harry* and the spaghetti westerns. I…
E1
15 programmes
Arena’s second part on Clint Eastwood looks at his first turn as a director with Play Misty for Me, the thriller he shot in just five weeks before Dirty Harry made him a star. You’ll hear from Gene H…
E2
In this instalment, art‑critic Robert Hughes turns his gaze to America’s sweeping wilderness and the West, showing how painters and sculptors have turned the landscape into a kind of holy‑ground and …
0.2.0
Poet Simon Armitage takes you through the medieval texts that built up the King Arthur myth and shows why the once‑fickle king was moulded by the Normans, French writers and finally rescued by Thomas…
The schedule kicks off at 7 pm, broadcast in HD.
The schedule kicks off at 7 pm, broadcast in HD.
Jamie Theakston opens this 1999 Top of the Pops episode and runs through the week’s biggest hits. Tom Jones duets with Cerys Matthews. B*Witched teams up with Ladysmith Black Mambazo for a cheeky mas…
1998.21.0
TOTP: 1977 is a collection of the best performances from the 1977 edition of Top of the Pops. It includes everything from Osibisa’s Afro‑rock to Bob Marley
1976.0.0
Simon Bates and Richard Skinner host the 1985 edition of *Top of the Pops*, presenting the week’s chart‑topping tracks. The show includes live performances by Gary Moore & Phil Lynott, Kool & the Gan…
1984.5.0
Peter Powell and Simon Mayo host this classic Top of the Pops episode from 9 June 1988. It presents the week’s chart hits. You’ll see performances by Five Star, Mica Paris, James Brown, Maxi Priest, …
1987.9.0
A one‑off Omnibus film that profiles Ray Charles. It includes an interview with music journalist Charlie Gillett, archive clips from his early TV spots, and a full‑blown Royal Festival Hall concert w…
E7
Tina Turner at the BBC brings together a 59‑minute set of her BBC appearances, spanning the 1970s, 80s and 90
When Tina Turner Came to Britain is a one‑hour documentary that charts the singer’s 50‑year bond with the UK. It begins with her 1966 Rolling Stones support gig with Ike. The film has never‑heard‑bef…
15 programmes
Jamie Theakston opens this 1999 Top of the Pops episode and runs through the week’s biggest hits. Tom Jones duets with Cerys Matthews. B*Witched teams up with Ladysmith Black Mambazo for a cheeky mas…
1998.21.0
TOTP: 1977 is a collection of the best performances from the 1977 edition of Top of the Pops. It includes everything from Osibisa’s Afro‑rock to Bob Marley
1976.0.0
Simon Bates and Richard Skinner host the 1985 edition of *Top of the Pops*, presenting the week’s chart‑topping tracks. The show includes live performances by Gary Moore & Phil Lynott, Kool & the Gan…
1984.5.0
Peter Powell and Simon Mayo host this classic Top of the Pops episode from 9 June 1988. It presents the week’s chart hits. You’ll see performances by Five Star, Mica Paris, James Brown, Maxi Priest, …
1987.9.0
A one‑off Omnibus film that profiles Ray Charles. It includes an interview with music journalist Charlie Gillett, archive clips from his early TV spots, and a full‑blown Royal Festival Hall concert w…
E7
The schedule kicks off at 7 pm, broadcast in HD.
The schedule kicks off at 7 pm, broadcast in HD.
A look at how Britain’s weather forecasts have changed, from old‑school newspaper columns through radio bulletins to the TV graphics we see today. It examines everything from occasional hurricane‑for…
12.5.0
A dramatised documentary set in summer 2006, when Britain’s temperature spikes past 100 degrees and the country teeters into an environmental and social crisis. Narrated by Bernard Hill, it paints a …
1976: Summer of… Heat is a documentary that looks back at the scorching summer when a blocking high kept Britain above 30 °C from 23 June, peaking at 35.9 °C in Cheltenham on 3 July. The dry spell br…
The World About Us: The Year of the Ladybirds looks back at the scorching summer of 1976, the driest British summer in two centuries. It examines why many thought the countryside was doomed and asks …
E2
Horizon’s special looks back at the summer of 1976, when Britain faced a record‑breaking drought. It takes you behind the scenes with the scientists and officials who tried to make sense of the parch…
E5
17 programmes
Herbie and June Harris remember the summer of 1976, the way they faced their problems and learned to make the most of a simple life away from the noise. The story feels like a friend telling you a tr…
Keeping Up Appearances is a BBC sitcom that follows Hyacinth Bucket—who insists you say “Bouquet”—as she tries to climb the social ladder. She’ll brag that her new suite copies one at Sandring
S2 E9
Keeping Up Appearances follows Hyacinth Bucket (pronounced “Bouquet”), played by Patricia Routledge, as she tries to maintain her snobbish façade while her family constantly drags her down. In this e…
S2 E10
The World About Us: The Year of the Ladybirds looks back at the scorching summer of 1976, the driest British summer in two centuries. It examines why many thought the countryside was doomed and asks …
E2
Horizon investigates Britain’s infamous 1976 drought, when rain stopped for months and water supplies ran low. The programme shows how the dry spell affected daily life, health and the environment, a…
The schedule kicks off at 7 pm, broadcast in HD.
The schedule kicks off at 7 pm, broadcast in HD.
Lucinda Lambton visits London's last traditional wallpaper factory to see how they still make classic prints. Dan Cruickshank goes out to find the country's overlooked architectural gems – the chimne…
S2002 E3
The Modern Age of the Coach is a Timeshift documentary that brings the story of Britain’s coach right up to the present, covering everything from school outings to Indian treks. It has musician Rick …
S10 E7
Michael Palin Remembers… Michael Palin’s Hemingway Adventure brings the former Monty Python star back to his 1999 documentary, retracing Ernest Hemingway’s life and haunts. Palin talks about the jour…
Michael Palin embarks on a 100‑year‑on pilgrimage, tracing Ernest Hemingway’s trail through Europe, Africa and America in this 47‑minute opener. He mixes travel and literary history, visiting the pla…
0.0.0
Michael Palin follows Hemingway’s trail, starting in Chicago. He then visits the Michigan cottage where the writer used to fish. After that he goes to Paris and rides a tank around the Arc de Triomph…
S1 E2
Windrush: Portraits of a Generation is a 2023 documentary that marks the 75th anniversary of the HMT Empire Windrush arrival, following a project kicked off by His Majesty the King. Ten top artists f…
Michael Palin embarks on a 100‑year‑on pilgrimage, tracing Ernest Hemingway’s trail through Europe, Africa and America in this 47‑minute opener. He mixes travel and literary history, visiting the pla…
0.0.0