17 April 2014 Art/Music

BBC - Danny Boy The Ballad That Bewitched the World (2013)

How did an obscure Irish melody become one of the greatest songs of all time, recorded by music's biggest names? One hundred years after 'Danny Boy' was first published, the true story of its astonishing past is uncovered, while contributors including Gabriel Byrne, Rosanne Cash, Brian Kennedy and Barry McGuigan explain its enduring appeal and what it has come to symbolise. See the Document Here.

15 April 2014 Nature/Travel

ORF - Danube - Europe's Amazon (2012)

Romantic river banks and unspoilt nature - these landscapes flank the Danube River. This comprehensive cinematic portrait of Europe's secondlongest river presents scenes of breathtaking beauty along the banks of the Danube, and investigates the tension between humans and nature, civilisation and wilderness. Dams and power stations alternate with sections of natural wilderness along this mighty river, which flows through metropolises such as Vienna, Bratislava and Budapest and untouched natural landscapes like the Danube National Park and the Kopaki Rit. Further south, between the Carpathian mountain range in Romania and the Serbian Ore mountains, the river passes through the socalled Iron Gate, 137 kilometres of Gorges that are among the largest in Europe. See the Serie Here.

13 April 2014 History/Travel

BBC - Coast Series 7 (Blu-ray) (2012)

COAST explores the edge of our lives, the coastline that marries us to the sea. It takes in the life of that coastline, the people who live there, the history played out upon it and the sea itself, a tempestuous and unpredictable bride that also brings food and comfort to those who visit its shores. Nick Crane is joined by a fascinated and fascinating team of expert presenters including Neil Oliver, Miranda Krestovnikoff, Mark Horton, Tessa Dunlop, Dick Strawbridge, Andy Torbet, Hermione Cockburn, Ian McMillan and Ruth Goodman as they discover the rich landscapes and lifestyles that appear along our shores. See the Serie Here.

9 April 2014 Science/Health

Ch4 Secret History - Return of the Black Death (2014)

The Black Death in 1348 was the worst disaster ever to hit London. It was a brand new disease, which swept through the city, killing old and young, rich and poor, within days of their first symptoms. But exactly how many died, and why they died, has long been a mystery. Received wisdom has long suggested that the culprit was bubonic plague, spread by the fleas of infected rats. Now 25 skeletons uncovered during the construction of Crossrail, Europe's largest engineering project, could settle the argument. This Secret History documentary follows experts from a range of disciplines as they pick through the evidence and reveal why the plague killed on such a scale, and that it's still a threat today. In 2013, a team led by archaeologist Jay Carver dug a shaft on the edge of Charterhouse Square in central London and uncovered a large number of skeletons, neatly buried in layers. They had found a corner of a long-lost emergency burial ground, created by Edward III's men in 1348, when the Black Death reached British shores. DNA analysis proved that the skeletons died of bubonic plague; painstaking analysis of contemporary wills showed that more than 60% of Londoners died in that single apocalyptic year: the equivalent of nearly five million Londoners today. But there's nothing about bubonic plague that explains such a high death count. Bubonic plague is still around today, and kills in the dozens, rather than in the hundreds of thousands. Twenty-first-century pandemic experts from Porton Down reveal the real killer, as well as why London in 1348 proved the perfect soil for the disease to kill in such large numbers, and what this 650-year-old cataclysm can teach us. Every disease has its time and place; what is coming for us next? See the Document Here.

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