TV tips : Sep17-23 2012

Masters of Money
BBC2 London 9:00pm-10:00pm (1 hour ) Mon 17 Sep
Season 1 Episode 1 of 3
Keynes New series. Stephanie Flanders explores the ideas of three influential thinkers who transformed international economics, and examines how their influence has shaped the 20th and 21st centuries. She begins by profiling John Maynard Keynes, the Cambridge-born economist whose ideas revolutionised the approach of Western governments to financial crises during the Great Depression and the Second World War, and explains why the world's leaders drew on his teachings as the global meltdown took hold in 2008

Food Unwrapped
Channel 4 8:30pm-9:00pm (30 minutes) Mon 17 Sep
Season 1 Episode 2 of 8
Reporters Matt Tebbutt, James Watt, Martin Dickie and Kate Quilton travel the globe to reveal more secrets about the manufacture of mass-produced food. Matt and Kate investigate the significance of the wax that can be found on lemons grown in Spain and Thailand, and the programme also features a report on how formed ham is made in the UK

The Thick of It
Season 4 Episode 3 of 7
BBC2 London 9:55pm-10:25pm (30 minutes) Sat 22 Sep
Peter reluctantly spends a very long weekend at a remote country house hotel with Stewart, who is holding a seminar on creative thinking as part of a bid to reinvigorate the party - with no phones, computers or ties allowed. Back at the office, Glenn continues to toil on the Fourth Sector project, as Fergus and Adam have a meeting with an attractive young economist who wants to start a bank. However, everyone's plans are thrown into disarray when a shocking story hits the headlines.

The Clintons
Season 1 Episode 2 of 3
BBC2 London 10:25pm-11:25pm (1 hour ) Sat 22 Sep
Enemies: The story of Bill Clinton's presidency continues by reflecting on how conflicts in Rwanda, Somalia and Bosnia provided a stern test of his foreign policy skills. Back in the USA, an investigation into an Arkansas company partly owned by the Clintons once again turned the spotlight on his family's affairs - while his Republican rivals, including House of Representatives speaker Newt Gingrich, gathered momentum among the electorate and prepared to launch an attack on the Democrats' budget

Primary Colors (1998)
BBC2 London 11:25pm-1:35am (2 hours 10 minutes) Sat 22 Sep
A talented political aide reluctantly joins the staff of a smooth-talking American presidential candidate, but finds himself in the firing line as his employer's alleged indiscretions are brought to light. Satirical drama, starring John Travolta, Emma Thompson, Adrian Lester and Billy Bob Thornton

Andrew Marr's History of the World
BBC1 London 9:00pm-10:00pm (1 hour ) Sun 23 Sep
Season 1 Episode 1 of 8
Survival New series. The journalist examines 70,000 years of human history, tracing the global migrations that followed man's early beginnings in Africa and the agrarian and urban developments that led to the first civilisations. Marr considers extraordinary handprints found in European caves, contemplates the ingenuity required to invent devices that are still with us today and reveals how everyday life in ancient Egypt bears more than a passing resemblance to that experienced by characters in a contemporary soap opera

18th-24th June 2012

 The Strange Case of the Law
BBC4 9:00pm-10:00pm (1 hour ) Wed 20 Jun
Season 1 Episode 1 of 3
New series. Barrister and historian Harry Potter charts the development of the English justice system. He begins by exploring the rise of trial by ordeal, a process by which painful and dangerous physical tests were used to determine guilt or innocence. He goes on to explain why Henry II's attempt to unify law in England led to the murder of Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Becket in 1170, and examines one of the most famous legal documents in history - the Magna Carta

The Men Who Made Us Fat
BBC2 London 9:00pm-10:00pm (1 hour ) Thu 21 Jun
Season 1 Episode 2 of 3
Jacques Peretti continues his investigation into eating habits with a look at how the industry has persuaded a nation of moderate eaters to want more. He begins with the concept of super-sizing, discovering how McDonalds' first large fries, which went on sale in 1972, were inspired by the extra-large buckets of popcorn sold in a Chicago cinema. He then moves on to the 1980s, when the introduction of value meals, king-size snacks and multi-buy promotions caused people to eat more - and more often

Freakonomics (2010)
Sky Atlantic 11:15pm-1:05am (1 hour 50 minutes) Thu 21 Jun
Documentary anthology inspired by Steven D Levitt and Stephen J Dubner's book. Six film-makers each explore the seemingly inconsequential things that influence human behaviour in unforeseen ways, challenging conventional wisdom on subjects ranging from paying children for academic success, how a baby's name can influence their development and the cause of crime rates

Julius Caesar
BBC4 8:00pm-10:30pm (2 hours 30 minutes) Sun 24 Jun
Gregory Doran directs an adaptation of the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of the tragedy. The setting is a modern African state in which the tyrant Caesar is about to seize power and Cassius persuades Brutus to join the conspirators plotting an assassination. Starring an all-black cast including Paterson Joseph, Cyril Nri, Jeffery Kissoon, Ray Fearon and Adjoa Andoh and shot on location and in the RSC's theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon

14-20 May

The Truth About Tax - Panorama
BBC1 London 8:30pm-9:00pm (30 minutes) Mon 14 May
With Chancellor George Osborne recently branding aggressive tax avoidance `morally repugnant', Darragh MacIntyre investigates how some of the UK's biggest companies have been using the tax haven of Luxembourg to avoid paying millions they would otherwise owe. The programme reveals that some global firms have been benefiting from big concessions on billion-pound transactions

Inside Facebook: Zuckerberg's $100 Billion Gamble
BBC2 London 8:00pm-9:00pm (1 hour ) Mon 14 May
Emily Maitlis revisits her exploration of the social network, investigating how bosses plan to earn the billions of dollars new investors will expect when it is floated on the stock market this month. With contributions by founder Mark Zuckerberg and some of the company's senior executives, Maitlis examines how Facebook can build its advertising business from the personal information its users provide, without losing their trust

The Great Euro Crash with Robert Peston
BBC2 London 9:00pm-10:00pm (1 hour ) Thu 17 May
The BBC business editor talks to historians, economists and politicians to shed light on the history of the euro, from Churchill's vision of a United States of Europe to the bail-outs of Greece, Portugal and Ireland. The reporter also meets workers across the continent and learns the high cost they are paying for the financial crisis, and ponders how a collapse of the common currency could affect Britain

Mongol: The Rise to Power of Genghis Khan (2008)
BBC4 9:00pm-11:00pm (2 hours ) Sun 20 May
The story of the formative years of the renowned emperor. The future Khan is taken into slavery as a boy, following his father's death. From his downtrodden beginnings, he rises to become a mighty leader of his people, uniting the Steppe tribes under his rule and engaging in a bitter rivalry with a former friend. Starring Tadanobu Asano and Honglei Sun. In Mongolian and Mandarin

7May-12May

This World: Michael Portillo's Great Euro Crisis
BBC2 London 9:00pm-10:00pm (1 hour ) Wed 9 May
The political commentator and eurosceptic travels to Greece and Germany to find out how the euro crisis has affected attitudes to monetary union. In Athens he wonders if there is a desire to return to the drachma, and speaks to a variety of people, including a destitute family, the former finance minister and the outgoing prime minister, about their views, some of which surprise him. In Germany he encounters taxpayers contributing to bailing out Greece while seeing angry protesters burning their country's flag, and asks whether the Eurozone is being pulled apart

30April-6 May

This World: The Shame of the Catholic Church
BBC2 London 9:00pm-10:00pm (1 hour ) Wed 2 May
Darragh MacIntyre investigates cases of child abuse by Catholic priests in Ireland. Decades of assaults and cover-ups have caused severe problems for the faith, and he reveals evidence of a new scandal that may be linked to prominent individuals in the Irish church's hierarchy

April 23-26th

Inside the Medieval Mind
BBC4 8:00pm-9:00pm (1 hour ) Mon 23 Apr
Season 1 Episode 2 of 4
Professor Robert Bartlett explores the complex passions of the Middle Ages, an era in which the Church preached hatred of the flesh and condemned women as the sinful heirs of Eve. Conversely, poetry of the same period celebrated love's heroes such as Lancelot and Guinevere, and songs regaling women as goddesses echoed across courtly walls

Ancient Apocalypse
BBC4 10:00pm-10:50pm (50 minutes) Tue 24 Apr
Season 1 Episode 2 of 4
Mystery of the Minoans Geologist Floyd McCoy offers an insight into the chaos caused by a massive volcanic eruption on the tiny Mediterranean island of Thera 3,500 years ago, and explores how this devastating event led to the collapse of the Minoan civilisation, which was based on the nearby island of Crete. First shown in 2001

26mar-1apr

China: Triumph and Turmoil
Channel 4 8:00pm-9:00pm (1 hour ) Mon 26 Mar
Season 1 Episode 3 of 3
Niall Ferguson examines the impact of China's growth on the rest of the world, and how criticism of the country's politics could jeopardise future investment in the UK. He also investigates how fragile economies around the world are increasingly dependent on Chinese money to bail them out, and whether a transition of global power from west to east could be accomplished peacefully. Last in the series

This World: The Mormon Candidate
BBC2 London 7:00pm-8:00pm (1 hour ) Tue 27 Mar
John Sweeney profiles US politician Mitt Romney, the leader in the race to become the Republican candidate in this year's presidential elections, and explores how his Mormon beliefs are likely to be received by voters across the country. Sweeney travels to Utah to examine the appeal of the world's fastest-growing religion, investigates the faith's practices, including rituals Romney is likely to have participated in, and talks to believers as well as former members of the Church

Horizon: Global Weirding
BBC2 London 9:00pm-10:00pm (1 hour ) Tue 27 Mar
The work of scientists trying to understand why the world's weather seems to be getting more extreme and if these patterns are a taste of what is to come. In the past few years, the UK has experienced very cold winters, drought and floods, while in Texas an unprecedented amount of rainfall has been followed by a record-breaking dry period

WikiLeaks: The Secret Life of a Superpower
BBC2 London 9:00pm-10:00pm (1 hour ) Wed 28 Mar
Part two of two. Richard Bilton uses the diplomatic messages to explore America's foreign policy fears, including China's rising economic power, struggles with Russian aggression and the threat of an Iranian nuclear bomb. He tells the story of a crisis at the heart of Nato with echoes of the Cold War and investigates Kremlin corruption by meeting the sources who gave information to US diplomats, as well as interviewing Chinese dissidents and talking to those who tried to persuade America to strike against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Mar18-Mar24

China: Triumph and Turmoil 
Channel 4 8:00pm-9:00pm (1 hour ) Mon 19 Mar
Season 1 Episode 2 of 3
Niall Ferguson examines how China is able to live under a communist system of government, while maintaining a thriving capitalist economy. He travels from Beijing to the birthplace of Chairman Mao at Shaoshan to discover why the former leader is revered, despite claims that he orchestrated a succession of revolutions that killed more people than Hitler and Stalin combined, and tracks down survivors of his leadership

Horizon: The Truth About Fat 
BBC2 London 9:00pm-10:00pm (1 hour ) Tue 20 Mar
Surgeon Gabriel Weston explores why so many people are piling on the pounds - and learns about new ways to fight the flab. She discovers the hidden hormones that control appetite and sees the latest surgery that fundamentally changes what a patient wants to eat - by altering how their brains work

WikiLeaks: The Secret Life of a Superpower 
BBC2 London 9:00pm-10:00pm (1 hour ) Wed 21 Mar
Part one of two. Richard Bilton speaks to leading members of the US Government about the impact of the publication of more than 250,000 diplomatic messages or cables on the WikiLeaks website, founded by Australian internet activist Julian Assange. Bilton examines what the cables reveal about America's dealings with deposed Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and the decisions made by diplomats over the repatriation of prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay

Gambling Addiction & Me: The Real Hustler 
BBC3 9:00pm-10:00pm (1 hour ) Wed 21 Mar
Documentary in which Alexis Conran sets out to understand why some people view gambling as a pleasurable pastime, while for others it is a compulsion that can lead to ruin. He talks to members of his family about his father's obsession with betting, which led to his incarceration, and travels round Britain and to Athens and Las Vegas to meet addicts and experts on the subject

11th - 17th March

China: Triumph and Turmoil 
Channel 4 8:00pm-9:00pm (1 hour ) Mon 12 MarSeason 1 Episode 1 of 3
New series. Niall Ferguson examines China's rapid rise as a global financial superpower, exploring how its communist government has maintained relative stability despite relying on a largely capitalist economy. He begins by looking at how the country's vast apparatus of state often requires subjugating individual freedom for the greater good

Horizon: Out of Control? 
BBC2 London 9:00pm-10:00pm (1 hour ) Tue 13 MaPeople assume they are in control of their lives, deciding what they want and when they want it - but scientists now claim this is simply an illusion. Experiments reveal that what a person does and what they think can be very different, with the unconscious mind often influencing the decisions they make, from what they eat to who they fall in love with. Horizon reveals to what extent people really do control their own destiny

Rights Gone Wrong? 
BBC2 London 9:00pm-10:00pm (1 hour ) Wed 14 MarAndrew Neil investigates human rights, in light of the controversy over the inability to deport radical cleric Abu Qatada and the banning of prayers before council meetings. He uses his inside knowledge of the corridors of power to ask whether human rights laws are equitable and searches for a way Britain can regain public support for a justice system that many feel lacks common sense

4th-10th March

Orbit: Earth's Extraordinary Journey 
BBC2 London 9:00pm-10:00pm (1 hour ) Sun 4 Mar
Season 1 Episode 1 of 3
New series. Kate Humble and Dr Helen Czerski examine the Earth's annual trip around the sun to show the effect it has on the planet, including its influence on the weather and the tides. The first episode covers the period from July to the winter solstice in December, with Helen leaping from an aeroplane and Kate briefly becoming the fastest driver in the world to demonstrate the consequences of the orbit on Earth's inhabitants

 Storyville: Knuckle - Bare Fist Fighting (2011) 
BBC4 10:00pm-11:30pm (1 hour 30 minutes) Mon 5 Mar
Premiere. Documentary examining the secretive world of bare-knuckle boxing among Ireland's travellers over the course of 12 years. The film focuses on a long-running feud between two rival families, and a series of brutal bouts that takes place between members of the two clans

Dirk Gently 
BBC4 9:00pm-10:00pm (1 hour ) Mon 5 Mar
Season 1 Episode 1 of 3
New series. Comedy drama based on Douglas Adams' novels about a self-styled holistic detective who specialises in discovering improbable solutions to baffling mysteries.

Horizon: Solar Storms - The Threat to Planet Earth 
BBC2 London 9:00pm-10:00pm (1 hour ) Tue 6 Mar
Scientists predict this year will see a fit of violent activity on the sun which will propel billions of tonnes of superheated gas and pulses of energy towards Earth. In 1989 one of these solar storms, which has the power to close down modern technology, cut off the power to the Canadian city of Quebec. Horizon meets the weathermen as they try to predict what's coming and organisations like the National Grid as they prepare for the cosmic tempest

19th-25th February

Horizon: Can We Make a Star on Earth?
BBC4 8:00pm-9:00pm (1 hour ) Thu 23 Feb
Despite decades of dedicated work, nuclear fusion researchers have been unable to produce electricity capable of supplying a national grid. This documentary witnesses experimental physicist Brian Cox embark on a global tour to discover whether nuclear fusion is a feasible energy source for the future. On his journey he visits a bomb-testing facility in America, and enters the reaction chamber of South Korea's K-Star - a complex that may hold the key to progress in the field of fusion research

12th-19th Feb

BBC1 London 8:30pm-9:00pm (30 minutes) Mon 13 Feb
Poor America - Panorama
Hilary Andersson meets the school pupils going hungry in the world's richest country, after statistics reveal 1.5 million American children are now homeless. She explores  the Las Vegas storm drains some youngsters now call home, and the tented communities springing up across the country, as she tries to discover what happened to Barack  Obama's vision for the United States

Bullets, Boots and Bandages: How to Really Win at War
BBC4 9:00pm-10:00pm (1 hour ) Thu 16 Feb
Season 1 Episode 3 of 3
Raising Arms Historian Saul David investigates the administrative and financial challenges faced by generals trying to properly equip their troops for battle, as he  concludes his analysis of the logistical factors that can make a crucial difference in military campaigns. Last in the series

10 O'Clock Live Channel 4 10:00pm-10:55pm (55 minutes) Wed 15 Feb
Season 2 Episode 2 of 10
Satirical current affairs show, with David Mitchell, Jimmy Carr, Charlie Brooker and Lauren Laverne. They are joined by guests from the worlds of politics, science and
culture for debates, interviews, topical comedy, investigations and opinion pieces

29Jan-4Feb

Putin, Russia & the West 
BBC2 London 9:00pm-10:00pm (1 hour ) Thu 2 Feb
Season 1 Episode 3 of 4
War An insight into the 2008 armed conflict between Russia and Georgia over the South Ossetia region. The countries' respective presidents at the time, Dmitry Medvedev and Mikheil Saakashvili, recall the intense behind-the-scenes negotiations that led up to the war, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy's efforts to broker a ceasefire. In Washington, DC, former Secretary of Defence Robert Gates and then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice describe how they considered the consequences of offering military support to their Georgian allies

Bullets, Boots and Bandages: How to Really Win at War 
BBC4 9:00pm-10:00pm (1 hour ) Thu 2 Feb
Season 1 Episode 1 of 3
Staying Alive New series. Historian Saul David explores how decisions made in offices and backrooms have influenced the outcomes of military conflicts, and explains why planning and logistics often make the difference between victory and defeat. He begins by investigating the importance of properly feeding and housing armies

22-28th January

A Century of Fatherhood 
BBC4 8:00pm-9:00pm (1 hour ) Mon 23 Jan
The Good Father Testimony, archive footage and historical research are used to investigate the important and often misunderstood role of the British father over the past 100 years. The opening programme explores the popular myth of the tyrannical Victorian-style father, and reveals these individuals were often devoted parents who took their job as provider and protector of their family seriously
 
Putin, Russia & the West 
BBC2 London 9:00pm-10:00pm (1 hour ) Thu 26 Jan
Season 1 Episode 2 of 4
Democracy Threatens Former Ukraine president Leonid Kuchma tells the inside story of his country's 2004 elections and admits to being Putin's ally. The programme explores how Russian-backed candidate Viktor Yanukovych was declared the winner at the expense of his opponent Viktor Yushchenko, sparking the Orange Revolution. Plus, Kremlin officials of the time tell how they clamped down on human rights groups and critics of Putin to ensure that those events did not bring about a similar uprising in Russia

16-21 Jan 2012

Putin, Russia & the West 
Series charting Vladimir Putin's rise to the top in Russian politics and how he has maintained his hold on power despite growing unrest in the country, including allegations of electoral fraud and thousands of protesters taking to the streets of Moscow. The programme features interviews with some of his senior colleagues and Western politicians he has clashed with, analysing how Putin became a key ally of the West after becoming president despite his earlier spell in the KGB
Season 1 Episode 1 of 4

10th - 16th Jan

The Hunt for the Higgs: A Horizon Special
BBC2 London 9:00pm-10:00pm (1 hour ) Mon 9 Jan
Jim Al-Khalili follows the efforts of particle physicists at the Cern research laboratory near Geneva, Switzerland, to find the Higgs particle, which is believed to give mass to everything in the universe. He explains why scientists believe discovering it could help answer fundamental questions about the nature of existence, and reveals why their theories are based on the idea of symmetry

Timeshift: The Rules of Drinking
BBC4 9:00pm-10:00pm (1 hour ) Wed 11 Jan
Mark Chapman narrates an exploration of Britain's complicated relationship with alcohol during the latter half of the 20th century. The programme charts how conventions surrounding the drinking habits of men and women changed from the 1940s onwards, as the largely masculine culture of pubs and working men's clubs began to recede, and also discovers the influence foreign travel and advertising had on the types of beverage that were popular in the UK

2-8 Jan 2012

 Timeshift: The Smoking Years
BBC4 9:00pm-10:00pm (1 hour ) Wed 4 Jan
The history of tobacco smoking in Britain, exploring how the habit came to the country and why it became so popular. Featuring contributions by Barry Cryer and Stuart Maconie, the programme asks whether there really was a time when people everywhere could be found shrouded in a thick blue cloud, and explores how the practice is now under threat
            
Meet Britain's Chinese Tiger Mums: A Wonderland Film
BBC2 9:00pm-10:00pm (1 hour ) Thu 5 Jan
Three British-based Chinese mothers open the doors of their homes to show how they are educating their children. The film provides an insight into the strict rules, discipline, long hours of homework and extra tuition these women impose on their sons and daughters, raising the question of whether academic excellence is worth the sacrifices the children face