Ray’s History Radio & TV Picks. No.31. 4 Sept 2015.

A Place of Greater Safety: Episode 1 of 3: Liberty.
BBC Radio 4,  Sun 6 Sept 2015, 15.00 – 16.00.
This radio drama adaption of Hilary Mantel’s award winning 1992 novel is a gripping account of the cataclysmic events of the French Revolution seen through the eyes of three of its most important figures, Georges Danton, Camille Desmoulins and Maximilien Robespierre. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b068sjpb

Time Crashers
Channel 4: Sun 6 Sept 2015, 20.00 – 21.00 New Series: 3 / 6.
Tony Robinson presents an “immersive history” series that sees ten famous faces time travel to different moments in history. This week they are in 1913 as servants in an Edwardian home.
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/time-crashers

The Queen’s Longest Reign: Elizabeth and Victoria
BBC One: Mon 7 Sept 2015, 21.00 – 22.00
On Wednesday 9th September, Queen Elizabeth II becomes the longest-serving monarch in British history. Sophie Raworth presents a documentary that compares and contrasts Elizabeth’s reign with that of Queen Victoria, who was on the throne for 63 years and seven months.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06b4ktn

Bletchley Park: Code-Breaking’s Forgotten Genius.
BBC Two: Mon 7 Sept 2015, 21.00 – 22.00
Gordon Welchman was one of the original elite codebreakers crucial to the allies defeating the Nazis in World War II. Filmed extensively at Bletchley Park, the centre for codebreaking operations during World War II, this documentary tells how the story of this forgotten genius of Bletchley Park.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b069gxz7

Treasures of the Indus.
BBC Four: Mon 7 Sept 2015, 21.00 – 22.00. 2/ 3: The Other Side of the Taj Mahal
Sona Datta, from the British Museum, tells the story of the Indian sub-continent told through the treasures of three very different people, places and dynasties that have shaped the modern Indian world. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b069g53h

The Long View
BBC Radio 4, Tues 8 Sept 2015, 9.00 – 9.30. 1 / 4: The Living Wage.
Jonathan Freedland looks at current issues through the prism of the past returns. In the first episode the Guardian columnist looks at debates around the living wage via an 1894 treatise written by Sir Mark Oldroyd, mill owner and Liberal MP. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006s7d6

Canals: the Making of a Nation.
BBC Four: Tue 8 Sept 2015, 20.00 – 21.00. 2/ 6: Geology..
Liz McIvor travels along the Kennet and Avon and, via the story of William ‘Strata’ Smith (1769-1839), she traces the place of the canals within the development of the science of geology.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06823cv

The Ascent of Woman
BBC Two: Wed 2 Sept 2015, 21.00 – 22.00. 2 / 4: Separation
Travelling to Vietnam, China and Japan, Dr Amanda Foreman explores the role of women in Asia under the philosophy religions of Confucianism and Buddhism. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06b8g1d

A Very British Map: The Ordnance Survey Story
BBC Four: Wed 9 Sept 2015, 20.00 – 21.00.
For more than 200 years, Ordnance Survey has charted the British Isles. This documentary in the Timeshift strand explores what the maps made by this very British institution, created initially for military purposes, tells about our history and us. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06b36q3

Caesar! Episode 1 of 3: Meeting at Formiae:
BBC Radio 4 Extra, Wed 9 Sept 2015, 15.00 – 16.00.
Repeat of Mike Walker’s 2008 drama based on Seutonius’s AD 121 work The Twelve Caesars. Julius Caesar secretly seeks senate leaders Cicero and Cato’s support to shake up the rule of Rome. Stars David Troughton. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00ct508

Caesar! Episode 2 of 3: The Arena.
BBC Radio 4 Extra , Thu 10 Sept 2015, 15.00 – 16.00.
As Julius’s appointed heir, young Octavian uses his legendary skills to outwit enemies and rule Rome.
Stars Richard Johnson. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00ctjz4

Caesar! Episode 3 of 3: Peeling Figs for Julius
BBC Radio 4 Extra , Fri 11 Sept 2015, 15.00 – 16.00.
His name is now a byword for depravity, but growing up in Tiberius’s court, how evil was Emperor Caligula? Stars David Tennant. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00ctml6