Ray’s History Radio & TV Picks. No.2016/11. 26 March 2016.

BBC Two: Sat 26 Mar 2016, 21.00 – 22.00.
Broadcaster Martha Kearney, novelist Helen Oyeyemi and journalist Lucy Mangan celebrate the 200th anniversary of Charlotte Brontë’s birth by exploring the author’s life and times – and those of her siblings, Emily and Anne. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03kcd3l

The Bronte’s
BBC Four: Sun 27 Mar 2016, 20.00 – 21.00.
Tamsin Greig narrates in an exploration of how the Bronte sisters’ work has been interpreted by TV drama and documentary makers over half a century. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b075dwrd

The News from Home
BBC Radio 3: Sun 27 Mar 2016. 21.00 – 22.35.
This new play by Nick Dear written for the centenary of the Easter Rising in Dublin views the events of Easter Week 1916 and its aftermath through the eyes of Kitty and Nora, maidservants of an English country house.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b074z976

Book of The Week: This Orient Isle
BBC Radio 4: Mon 28 Mar to Fri 1 April 2016, 9.45 – 10.00. Five weekday episodes. Rptd 00.30 -00.45.
Professor Jerry Brotton, demonstrates that there was far more contact between Elizabethan England and the Islamic world than we often appreciate. Derek Jacobi reads from Brotton’s new book, which reveals Elizabeth herself as a woman fascinated with the Orient. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b074w30m

Digging for Britain
BBC Four: Mon 28 2016, 20.00 – 21.00 3 /3. North.
Professor Alice Roberts explores the year’s most exciting archaeological finds in the north of Britain. A team discovers clues to Scotland’s first kingdoms, metal detectorists unearth a hoard of Viking treasure, and a new housing development reveals a graveyard of Iron Age warriors. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b073mr9r

Art of Scandinavia
BBC Four: Mon 28 Mar 2016, 21.00 – 22.00. 3 /3: Democratic by Design.
Andrew Graham-Dixon’s northern odyssey concludes in Sweden. We learn that the home of IKEA has a tradition of innovative furniture design that stretches back to the early 20th century. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b073mp87

1916: The Irish Rebellion
BBC Four: Mon 28 Mar 2016, 22.00 – 23.25.
Liam Neeson narrates a feature-length documentary telling the story of the Easter Rising. It draws together archival narratives from those who took part and contributions from experts, and also assesses the rebellion’s cost, both at the time and in the years that have followed. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b075vnht

Making History
BBC Radio 4: Tue 29 Mar 2016, 15.00 – 15.30. 8 / 8.
The latest historical and archaeological research. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b074x9gk

In Our Time: Bedlam
BBC Radio 4: Thu 31 Mar 2016, 09.00 – 09.45.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Agrippina the Younger, one of the most notorious and influential of the Roman empresses in the 1st century AD. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b074yzwk

Ireland’s Treasures Uncovered
BBC Four: Thu 31 Mar 2016, 21.00 – 22.00.
Alice Roberts tells the stories behind some of Ireland’s most precious historical artefacts; Bronze Age jewellery, the beautifully illustrated Waterford Charter Roll created in 1373, and a doeskin gauntlet that bears the impression of William of Orange’s fingers. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b070w5kh

Easter 1916: “The Enemy Files”
BBC 2: Fri 1 Apr 2016, 19.00 – 20.00.
Using secret documents, cabinet papers, intelligence reports, military orders, diaries and letters, Michael Portillo pieces together the story of 1916 uprising in Dublin from the British point of view.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b075f1f2