Counter Culture

This week’s highlights include a new documentary on the Hacienda club, 2015 film The Lady in the Van and A Very British History: The Jews of Leeds.

Saturday 5 November 2022

Our Archive Century – Science (2/3) 8pm BBC Radio 4

Lord Winston and Maggie Aderin-Pocock celebrate a century of the BBC Archives and what they have to tell us about our national relationship with science and scientists.

The Hacienda: The Club That Shook Britain 10.15pm BBC2

This new documentary shows how the Manchester nightclub, which ran from 1982 to 1997, not only changed the attitudes of a generation but launched a whole new chapter in music.

Sunday 6 November 2022

The Coming Storm: The Mid-Terms 1. Groomers 1.30pm BBC Radio 4

As America goes out to vote for the first time since the tumultuous aftermath of the 2020 election, Gabriel Gatehouse is back in the deep undergrowth of the US political scene, in a bid to understand where the dark energy underpinning the January 6 assault on the Capitol is going now.

One thing the QAnon conspiracy theory about a satanic cabal of paedophiles is morphing into is a grassroots political movement against ‘groomers’ – the idea that LGBTQI+ sex educators and trans healthcare advocates are indoctrinating young people into a sexualised culture.

The battleground is America’s school boards and the prize could be a galvanised Republican base with a new crusade. At a conference in Miami of thinkers shaping the future ideas of the right, Gabriel finds the issue top of the agenda, especially for Florida governor and presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis.

And across the country, a slate of candidates linked to QAnon is running for office – how will they fare?

(see also series podcast on BBC Sounds)

A Very British History: The Jews of Leeds 12.25am BBC4

Film-maker Simon Glass explores his family history and tells the story of the Yorkshire Jews in the early 20th century. Thousands of migrants arrived by boat on the east coast of England and lived in a run-down slum area of Leeds known as the Leylands. Simon discovers stories hardship and anti-Semitism, but also success and progress as many Jews moved out of the Leylands to the more affluent suburbs. He also travels to eastern Europe where he makes a shocking discovery about what happened to his relatives who did not migrate to Britain.

Monday 7 November 2022

Understand: the Economy – Inflation 1.30pm BBC Radio 4 (also Tuesday – Friday)

Understanding inflation will help you understand why your shopping is getting more and more expensive and why prices rarely seem to come down.

Italia 90 – When Football Changed Forever (2/3) 9pm C4

As the England team progress through the rounds, their fate is in the balance on and off the pitch, with undercover British police hiding in plain sight.

The Royal Mob 9pm Sky History

Told through the eyes of Queen Victoria’s granddaughters – the Hesse sisters, and their passionate and doomed love affairs across Europe’s Royal courts – the series lifts the lid on the family tensions which set cousin against cousin and saw millions plunged into the bloodiest war the world had ever known: a world in which the chink of champagne glasses gives way to the blast of bombs, war and murder.

Tuesday 8 November 2022

Mariupol: The People’s Story 9pm BBC 1

At the beginning of the war in Ukraine, most of the 430,000 residents of Mariupol fled. In this powerful documentary, the city’s people tell their story of bravery, loss and determination.

Louis Theroux interviews (3/6)

In this episode, Louis meets Dominic Harrison aka singer and musician, Yungblud, often regarded as one of the UK music scene’s brightest stars.

Louis joins Yungblud in the USA, on the last two nights of a whirlwind tour. Along the way, Louis meets fans who follow their hero with almost religious intensity, attracted to his brand of emotionally-charged music.

In a Paris hotel, during the European leg of his tour, Louis and Yungblud sit down to discuss a range of topics – including his mental health, his sexuality and his response to outspoken critics.

Louis also travels to Doncaster to spend time with Yungblud and his family, where they discuss a turbulent upbringing.

Wednesday 9 November 2022

Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted UK 8pm National Geographic

Gordon explores England’s rugged Jurassic Coast and discovers culinary secrets buried in his own back garden. He leaps off cliffs for seaweed, milks a water buffalo in order to make mozzarella, and kayaks through choppy seas to pull massive lobsters from the water. With his former protégé, Paul Ainsworth, serving as both guide and challenger, Gordon will have to dig deep in the final cook to prevent the student from becoming the master.

Secrets and Deals: How Britain Left the Middle East 9pm BBC4

In 1971, Bahrain, Qatar, and the UAE ceased to be part of Britain’s empire in the Middle East and became fully independent states. This film, a collaboration between BBC News Arabic and BBC News Persian, uncovers the secrets that lay behind the process of decolonisation.

Unapologetic 11.05pm Channel 4

A late-night topical discussion programme that doesn’t hold back. Yinka Bokinni and Zeze Millz host as Black guests talk freely about the big issues of the day and what’s new on social media.

Thursday 10 November 2022

Ukraine: War and Words 11.30am BBC Radio4 FM

Michael Goldfarb reports from the cultural front line in Ukraine as authors, agents and translators work flat out to bring Ukrainian writing to a global readership.

The Lady in the Van (2015) 9pm BBC4

The true story of Miss Shepherd, an eccentric woman of uncertain origins, who ‘temporarily’ parked her broken-down van in writer Alan Bennett’s London driveway for 15 years.

The English 9pm BBC2 (1/6)

Emily Blunt and Chaske Spencer are two lost souls in search of meaning in this 1890s-set six-part Western drama

Friday 11 November 2022

Missing Isaiah Berlin 9pm BBC Radio 4

Twenty years after the death of Sir Isaiah Berlin, Jonathan Wolff goes in search of the public intellectuals of today. Where are they and does it matter if they no longer exist?

And in Edinburgh…

We’re approaching that time of year again – the Radical Book Fair is BACK Nov 10th – 13th at the Assembly Roxy in Edinburgh. The theme for 2022 is: Our Fight!

Under this headline the organisers hope to bring together conversations on togetherness, solidarity and resistance in a time of endlessly intersecting crises, inspiring visions of strengthened communities across divides. In what ways must we come together at this moment, under new and old threats? What harnessed power might be possible when we do?

Like previous years, the fair will be made up of book stalls, activist stalls, events, workshops and more, ranging from topics such as mutual aid and policing to grief and making art as resistance. There will also be plenty of joy-giving performances and word-smithery.

Selections by Patrick Harrington and Henry Falconer