History TV and radio in the UK: what's on our screens this week?
Can't decide which shows to watch or listen to this week? Here are the latest history radio and TV programmes airing in the UK that you won't want to miss
Archive On 4: Against The Current: The Great Gatsby At 100
BBC Radio 4
Saturday 26th April, 8pm
It’s a century since the publication of F Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, a book about which it may seem there’s not much left to say. Not true, suggests writer Sarah Churchwell: Gatsby, often framed solely as a critique of the American Dream, remains widely misunderstood and perhaps even underrated.
Sunday Feature: Tango Goes East
BBC Radio 3
Sunday 27th April, 7.15pm
Think tango and Argentina immediately springs to mind. But, as outlined here by Juliette Bretan, eastern Europe has been crucial to tango’s development. It’s a story that encompasses, for instance, Polish-Jewish musicians working in the wake of the First World War and, going further back, the influence of eastern European migrants on tango’s initial development in Buenos Aires.
Indispensable Relations
BBC Radio 4
Monday 28th April, 11am
BBC State Department correspondent Tom Bateman traces the story of the relationship between the USA and Israel. In the first of three episodes, he goes back to 1947 and Harry Truman’s decision to support the foundation of a Jewish state. Plus how did Exodus (1958), Leon Uris’s novel about the founding of Israel, help shape US public opinion?
Great British Railway Journeys
BBC Two
Monday 28th April, 6.30pm
More days on the tracks for Michael Portillo as he journeys around Essex. In the first of five weekday episodes, he’s in Epping, where the highlights include a visit to a historical London Transport signal cabin that’s been preserved by enthusiasts.
Who Do You Think You Are?
BBC One
Tuesday 29th April, 9pm
Mishal Husain explores her family history. The journalist and broadcaster begins in Visakhapatanam, southern India, where she learns that her great-great grandfather may have been a doctor to a maharaja. She also looks in depth at an American branch of her family, research that reveals an ancestor who played an important role in the Revolutionary War.
Drama: Liberation And Fall
Radio 4
Wednesday 30th April, 2.15pm
It’s 50 years since the Vietnam War ended. It’s a conflict that, even now, is often shown solely from an American perspective. May Ngo’s drama, however, is based on the experiences of her father, a Chinese-Cambodian soldier who fought on the side of North Vietnam, yet whose politics later shifted.
Motorway: The Secret Genius Of Modern Life
BBC Two
Wednesday 30th April, 8pm
How did it come to be that Britain has more than 2,000 miles of motorways? Dr Hannah Fry tells the story of the technological advances behind their building, including a 1960s revolution in road signs and the pioneering work of a Formula One hero.
In Our Time
BBC Radio 4
Thursday 1st May, 9am
Melvyn Bragg and learned guests discuss the Korean Empire. This was founded in 1897, when King Gojong seized a chance to be accorded the same status as the neighbouring Russian, Chinese and Japanese emperors. He also wanted to ensure Korean independence and sovereignty, only for Japan to annex the country in 1910.
Classic Movies: The Story Of The Ipcress File
Sky Arts
Thursday 1st May, 8pm
Ian Nathan returns with a new series of the show exploring the cultural context of classic movies. He begins with The Ipcress File (1965), starring Michael Caine as a bespectacled and less than glamorous agent, which was intended as a kind of kitchen sink counterpoint to James Bond.
VE Day: We Were There – pick of the week
BBC Two
Thursday 1st May, 9pm
With the 80th anniversary of VE Day approaching, Rachel Burden talks to some of the last-surviving veterans to hear their memories of 8 May 1945. Interviewees include former servicemen who fought against Nazi Germany, child evacuees and Jamaican volunteers who served with British forces.