Ray’s History Radio & TV Picks. No.2016/02 9 Jan 2016.

Battlefield Recovery
Channel 5: Sat 9 Jan 2016, 19.05 – 20.00.
This new WWII history series follows a team as they excavate bodies and battle relics from the Eastern Front. In Latvia, they explore a German artillery command bunker abandoned in 1945.
http://www.channel5.com/shows/battlefield-recovery/episodes/episode-1-881

Beowulf: Return to the Shieldlands
ITV: Sun 10 Jan 2016, 19.00 – 20.00. 2 / 12
New fantasy drama, not a retelling of the Anglo-Saxon poem! There’s a killer at large and pressure mounts on Beowulf to catch the perpetrator.
http://www.itv.com/presscentre/press-releases/itv-commissions-13-part-epic-warrior-drama-beowulf

War & Peace
BBC One: Sun 9 Jan 2016, 21.00 – 22.00. 2 / 6
Episode two of the Andrew Davies-scripted adaptation of Tolstoy’s epic novel and the Russian military is seemingly edging things against the forces of Napoleon. But as Andrei and Nikolai boast of their involvement at the front, are events about to take a turn for the worse for the army?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06whymr

Deutschland 83
Channel 4: Sun 10 Jan 2016, 21.00 – 22.00. (German + subtitles) 2 / 8:
Martin is given a dangerous mission to steal files from the hotel room of an important vistiing general.
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/deutschland-83/videos/all/s1-ep2-covert-mission

The Ever Widening War
BBC Radio 4: Mon 11 – Fri 15 Jan 2016, 13.45 – 14.00. .
Over five weekday episodes, Christopher Clark considers how the First World War became a truly global conflict. He begins by framing 1914–18 as a conflict of empires. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06vjv0x
Subsequent episodes deal with such subjects as how the Ottoman Empire’s entry into the war shaped the history of the Middle East. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06wkfr1/episodes/guide

Immortal Egypt with Joann Fletcher
BBC 2: Mon 11 Jan 2016, 21.00 – 22.00. 2 / 4: Chaos
What with climate change, political upheaval and famine, the pyramid age didn’t end well. As Joann Fletcher relates in the second episode of her series charting Ancient Egypt’s history, the kingdom fractured. But from the ashes of civil war, a new state would eventually arise. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06wj4bw

Victorian Bakers
BBC 2: Tue12 Jan 2016, 20.00 – 21.00. 2 / 3:
The living history series jumps to 1870, and charts life in an urban bakery. Although it’s the height of the Industrial Revolution, labour is cheap so the bakers find themselves still kneading by hand. Expect a minor rebellion on the subject of the adulterants our forebears added to their daily loaves.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06whlnx

Tumanbay
BBC Radio 4: Wed 13 Jan 2016, 14.15 – 15.00. 7 / 10. A Tale of Two Cities
While the sultan dreams of victory against rebellious provincial leader Maya, Gregor ventures into the catacombs as he pursues Sarah. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06vkj20

The Story of Scottish Art
BBC 4: Wed 13 Jan 2016, 20.00 – 21.00. 2 / 4:
In this episode Scots artist Lachlan Goudie explores how the 18th century intellectual revolution of the Enlightenment and the classical influence of the continent gave these artists the confidence and the inspiration to forge a whole new artistic landscape. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06jdnnd

Empire of the Tsars: Romanov Russia with Lucy Worsley
BBC 4: Wed 13 Jan 2016, 21.00 – 22.00. 2 / 3: Age of Extremes
Continuing her series on Russia’s ruling family, Lucy Worsley reaches the 18th century and the reign of Catherine the Great and also charts Napoleon’s invasion of Russia.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06w0gn7

Britain’s Bloody Crown
Channel 5: Thu14 Jan 2016, 20.00 – 21.00. 2 / 4:
Dan Jones’s energetic retelling of the War of the Roses reaches 1461, when Edward IV took Henry VI’s throne. It was Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, who was kingmaker. Was Warwick really, as is often said, later consumed by a lust for power that would prove disastrous for England? http://www.channel5.com/shows/britains-bloody-crown

Jericho
ITV: Thu 14 Jan 2016, 21.00 – 22.00. 2 / 8:
Set in the Yorkshire Dales in the 1870s, this new drams series is set in the shantytown of Jericho, home to a community that will live, thrive and die in the shadow of the viaduct they’ve been brought together to build.
http://www.examiner.co.uk/whats-on/film-tv/itvs-jericho-10-things-learned-10698526

Bloody Queens: Elisabeth and Mary
BBC 2: Fri 15 Jan 2016, 21.00 – 22.00.
The explosive relationship between Elisabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots – who never actually met – is explored in this documentary drama. Dramatized purely from the original words of the two queens and their courtiers; expert historians will examine, interpret and argue over the monarchs’ motives.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06wdzd1