Recommended Television Programmes

[Bryn]

Rock Island Line
The story of the Lonnie Donegan 1956 skiffle hit: the song's genesis in Southern US prisons, recording in prison by the Lomaxes, then taken over by
Lead Belly. The birth of skiffle via Lonnie in the Ken Collyer Band and Chris Barber Jazz Band and the influence of skiffle on the emergence in the sixties of British Rock. A fascinating story fronted by Billy Bragg on BBC 4 (2018).

So not currently available on the iPlayer, and neither is the Radio 4 programme from 2010 with the same title. However, "The Song That Made Britain Rock" which deals with the subject is:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000433l

Strangely it is not listed under the A-Z button.

[LezLee]

So not currently available on the iPlayer, and neither is the Radio 4 programme from 2010 with the same title. However, "Britain Rock" which deals with the subject is:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000433l

It's repeated on BBC4 at 3.00am tomorrow morning.

[kernelbogey]

So not currently available on the iPlayer, and neither is the Radio 4 programme from 2010 with the same title. However, "Britain Rock" which deals with the subject is:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000433l

Same programme - I omitted the subtitle, now added. Thanks for the URL Bryn.

[Bryn]

Same programme - I omitted the subtitle, now added. Thanks for the URL Bryn.

I wonder if it was basically the same as the earlier Radio 4 programme but with pictures.

[kernelbogey]

I wonder if it was basically the same as the earlier Radio 4 programme but with pictures.

Tbh, I thought it a rather rough-and-ready bit of television - so that could be the reason!

[johncorrigan]

Tbh, I thought it a rather rough-and-ready bit of television - so that could be the reason!

Agreed, kb, and not sure Billy Bragg was the right guy for it. But I did quite enjoy it in bits, especially 'Freight Train', a favourite song when I was growing up. This video sounds like it was recorded by Joe Meek.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QoKkXDPGmw

[LMcD]

Episode 1 of the new series of 'Last Tango In Halifax' aired on BBC1 last night. Sally Wainwright's merciless dissection of family life (and strife) flawlessly delivered by Anne Reid, Derek Jacobi and colleagues. Not a single unnecessary word or gesture. Funny it may be, but cosy it definitely isn't.

[cloughie]

Episode 1 of the new series of 'Last Tango In Halifax' aired on BBC1 last night. Sally Wainwright's merciless dissection of family life (and strife) flawlessly delivered by Anne Reid, Derek Jacobi and colleagues. Not a single unnecessary word or gesture. Funny it may be, but cosy it definitely isn't.

A perfection of strife to set up the series! ...a great cast!

[Stanfordian]

A perfection of strife to set up the series! ...a great cast!

Derek Jacobi working on the tills in a supermarket! Great stuff!

[Cockney Sparrow]

Using the family (daughter's) Netflix subscription, we've just finished making our way through "The Crown". So last week we saw Jacobi play the Duke of Windsor in his final days. I presume Jacobi can manage a role as a checkout operative, so I should be able to adjust my vision. (Also we finished the Christine Keeler series and saw the Profumo character scrubbing floors at Toynbee Hall). What with Johnson wielding a mop ...etc...etc.... they're all acting.....

[johncorrigan]

Just watched an old Andrew Graham Dixon three-parter on the 'Art of Germany', from about ten years ago. Hadn't seen it before. I found it really fascinating throughout. Part three which took us from Dix and Grosz through the Bauhaus and the Third Reich to Joseph Beuys and the reunited Germany was particularly well done. Especially fascinated by the photographs of August Sander, about whom I was unaware. But I found the series terrific throughout.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wcqms

[gurnemanz]

Just watched an old Andrew Graham Dixon three-parter on the 'Art of Germany', from about ten years ago. Hadn't seen it before. I found it really fascinating throughout. Part three which took us from Dix and Grosz through the Bauhaus and the Third Reich to Joseph Beuys and the reunited Germany was particularly well done. Especially fascinated by the photographs of August Sander, about whom I was unaware. But I found the series terrific throughout.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wcqms

I saw it was on but did not watch again. I might now do so. I think it was through seeing this programme the first time round that we became aware of August Sander. We made the trip to Liverpool Tate to see what turned out to be an excellent exhibition combining his photos with the work of Otto Dix, including his horrifyingly vivid First World War prints. There's a good 5 min video on that site. My wife is German and I bought her a book of Sander photos for her upcoming birthday. The photos give a fascinating pictorial insight into the Germany her parents grew up in between the Wars. We also went to a Sander show a couple of years ago at Hauser and Wirth in London.

[johncorrigan]

I saw it was on but did not watch again. I might now do so. I think it was through seeing this programme the first time round that we became aware of August Sander. We made the trip to Liverpool Tate to see what turned out to be an excellent exhibition combining his photos with the work of Otto Dix, including his horrifyingly vivid First World War prints. There's a good 5 min video on that site. My wife is German and I bought her a book of Sander photos for her upcoming birthday. The photos give a fascinating pictorial insight into the Germany her parents grew up in between the Wars. We also went to a Sander show a couple of years ago at Hauser and Wirth in London.

Thanks for that, gurney. As I watched, I thought that I would look for a book of Sander's photos for my Pal's birthday. I'll look for the one you mention. I assume it's available in English. That looked like a great exhibition in Liverpool.

I loved the limewood sculptures of Tilman Riemenschneider in the first programme of the series - as Andrew says, someone making art with the material that was available. So many beautiful things to be seen in the series.

[gurnemanz]

Thanks for that, gurney. As I watched, I thought that I would look for a book of Sander's photos for my Pal's birthday. I'll look for the one you mention. I assume it's available in English. That looked like a great exhibition in Liverpool.

I loved the limewood sculptures of Tilman Riemenschneider in the first programme of the series - as Andrew says, someone making art with the material that was available. So many beautiful things to be seen in the series.

I was prompted to go back and watch the first programme again today and will also watch the rest. I spent a year in Bavaria when I was a student, not far from Rothenburg which featured in the film. I was able to get to see quite a lot Riemenschneider's wood carvings and also similar work in stone by Adam Kraft, eg the amazing Sacrament House in the Lorenzkirche in Nürnberg. The school I was working at as English assistant in nearby Schwabach was actually named after Adam Kraft.

[kernelbogey]

I've just discovered the The Goes Wrong Show on BBC, now on iPlayer: six half hour episodes. In each playlet, multiple errors occur, from faulty or inadequate set design to missed cues, non-functioning props and fluffed lines. Television floor managers make inappropriate entries and technical staff are seen fixing problems when they should be out of sight. The actors play both the part in the play they are performing and that of the hapless participant - a beautifully handled duality. The physical disasters are the stuff of farce, but their ubiquity and frequency is managed with extraordinary facility. I can't remember laughing so continuously or so hard at a half hour programme in a very long time. Highly recommended.