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Must-see telly moments – on BBC iPlayer now

2016-05-16T16:13:26+00:00

Cock-eyed squids, roflcopters, Your-ovision… Get tongue tied with some of the best moments available to watch until Wednesday, 8 June.

Be slightly freaked out by these extraordinary creatures of the deep

Dive into nature - Life That Glows with David Attenborough, BBC Two

And discover more eye-opening documentaries on iPlayer.

Plus, find out which shows presenter Alex Jones has been loving in this week’s Frank Skinner On Demand With...

Trapped: How Andri’s team went from zeroes to heroes

2016-03-09T15:41:56+00:00

Spoiler alert! This post discusses events from episodes one to eight of Trapped – get up to speed on BBC iPlayer before reading on…

As BBC Four’s latest Nordic noir comes to a chilly and chilling end, we’re taking a look at how our relationship with police chief Andri and his tiny two-person team has evolved over time.

After a few rather unfortunate events at the start of the investigation, just how did we ever learn to love this seemingly useless lot? The residents of Seyðisfjörður might have been trapped, but we’ve been on quite a journey with Andri, Hinrika and Ásgeir…

First, they lost the body

With a terrible blizzard engulfing the village and police support days away, Andri set to work on the grisly case. But things quickly took a turn for the amateur when photos of the body turned up on social media – and they ‘mislaid’ it altogether.

Admittedly the body was stolen from the makeshift factory-slash-morgue, but losing track of a torso doesn’t look great when you’re trying to convince the Powers That Be that you’ve got everything under control. And things were about to get worse.

Then the suspect escaped - and died

The blame lies quite squarely with Ásgeir on this one, given he let the foul-mouthed people trafficker out of his cell, but it coloured our perception of the team as a whole.

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This was a low point – but Andri the bear was about to show his claws.

Andri took charge

Following the initial storm, Iceland’s awesome landscape played its part in proceedings for a second time when snow hurtled down the mountain towards the village. This was when we first saw Andri as a real leader, barking orders in both Icelandic and flawless English to organise the recovery of Sigurður and his father.

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Together with that rousing speech in the church, this was the turning point that we were all waiting for: finally we could get behind the gruffly heroic Andri. But what about his team?

Hinrika got all the goss

Quietly spoken, and with her forehead permanently knitted in the most sceptical of frowns, it was hard to get a read on Hinrika in the early episodes. But when she started to investigate alone her mettle – and kindness – shone through.

Ultimately she was responsible for some of the biggest breakthroughs in the case, thanks to her unlikely partnership with resident “guardian angel” Rögnvaldur and his trusty telescope.

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We met the Reykjavik team. We did not like the Reykjavik team.

When the snow storm finally cleared, Trausti and his band of decidedly unmerry men flew in by helicopter, determined to humiliate our now beloved Andri by quickly wrapping up the case.

In reality, they ignored key facts of the investigation, and bullied Sigurður into the confession which contributed to his shocking suicide.

The final showdown

As the conspiracy unravels and those involved grow increasingly desperate, we’re heading towards a face-off between the local police trio and the town’s elite. Can Team Andri complete their redemption with a rousing finale…?

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The final two episodes of Trapped will be broadcast on Saturday, 12 March from 9pm on BBC Four. Each episode will be available to watch in BBC iPlayer for 30 days after broadcast on TV.

What were the best TV moments of 2015?

2015-12-23T10:00:25+00:00

With 2015 almost at an end, it’s time to look back at the brilliant – and bonkers – TV witnessed over the past year.

From murderous soap plots to serious sporting achievements, here’s what Team BBC iPlayer picked.

Surprise whale alert on Big Blue Live

When you become a TV presenter, you probably don’t expect to be upstaged by a blue whale. But that was the position Steve Backshall found himself in this August. And he was thoroughly delighted about it.

This extraordinary moment - when he interrupted an interview to cut to live pictures of the biggest animal on earth – became an instant viral hit.

England do us proud in the FIFA Women’s World Cup

Women’s football was in the spotlight this year, with the Lionesses reaching the semi-finals of the Women’s World Cup for the first time. As ever, hopes were high that this time England’s luck would change. But sadly the team was denied victory by an agonising own goal in the 92nd minute of the game.

Doctor Who – just all of it, really

What other show could have its lead character rocking out on top of a tank one week, and delivering a powerful speech about the evils of war just a few episodes later? With all of time and space to play with, and a complex character at its heart, Doctor Who can do anything – and we sure saw that in these two glorious moments.

British triumph in the Davis Cup

The last time the UK won in tennis' Davis Cup, the Golden Gate Bridge had recently opened, the Spanish Civil War was raging, and King George VI was just getting comfy on the throne. So when Andy Murray won with the most majestic cross-court lob, a collective fist-pump rippled throughout the UK.

Jay’s jaw-dropping Strictly jive

We can forgive Bruno for getting characteristically over-excited at Jay McGuiness’ spectacular Pulp Fiction-inspired jive. Up until that moment, Jay had been mostly notable for how nervous he was, spending most of the show hiding behind his hair. But then something changed. Was it Aliona’s choreography? The cool costume? Whatever it was, Jay channelled the spirit of John Travolta and danced his way to the top of the leaderboard, and eventually claimed the glitterball trophy.

Serious sun-gazing

Stargazing Live returned again this March with hosts Professor Brian Cox and Dara O Briain, to observe the Solar Eclipse. And after a few tension-filled minutes when her plane was blown off-course, Liz Bonnin and a camera crew managed to capture the moment when the moon passed fully in front of the sun above the Faroe Islands, filming a rare astronomical occurrence for all to see.

Saga is back in The Bridge – hug at your own peril

Back and equally as brilliant as the previous series, The Bridge returned with a somewhat different Saga. Troubled, on edge, vulnerable - the ending of series two has clearly had a profound effect on her.

And if you needed further proof of the change in her, she even let Hans hug her in this emotional scene. It’s as heartfelt as it is awkward.

Nadiya Hussain winning the Great British Bake Off

Her quirky facial expressions (you always knew how she really felt) entertained us for weeks. And remember that cheesecake, with the can suspended mid-air? Or the giant chocolate peacock she made, feathers and all?

But it wasn’t just her mouth-watering bakes that won us over. It was the way she grew in confidence over the series and her speech at the end that touched us the most: “I’m never going to say I don’t think I can. I can and I will.”

Rowena Kincaid vs cancer

Speaking openly about having terminal cancer in her documentary Before I Kick the Bucket, Rowena bravely bared all.

You don’t often hear of someone picking out a superwoman costume to be buried in or trying out different coffins to find the comfiest one. But Rowena did all that on her quest to find out whether you really need a bucket list.

Nobody messes with Doctor Foster

Possibly the most complex character on our screens in 2015, Doctor Foster – played phenomenally by Suranne Jones - toyed with our emotions, kept us guessing and she left us wanting more.

Considering Suranne received the script just before going on her honeymoon, you would have forgiven her for passing it up. But luckily for us she didn’t.

Maisie Williams joins Doctor Who

Game of Thrones actress Maisie Williams burst onto our screens this year as the fiery Ashildr in Doctor Who. Whether it was launching a war against the Mire or carrying out highway robbery under the disguise of Knightmare (and let’s be honest, we haven’t quite forgiven her for Clara’s death yet), she has been responsible for some of the most gripping scenes of the series. And Maisie is equally watchable in real life, from her super-funny Vines to her very contagious laugh.

Who killed Lucy?

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EastEnders’ most hotly-debated storyline this year has to be the Lucy Beale murder mystery. With lots of characters in the frame - the majority red herrings, as it turned out – no-one had their bets hedged on angel-faced Bobby Beale.

But the real plot twist came as protective stepmother Jane Beale misguidedly covered up the crime and was even prepared to take the wrap for baby Beale’s murderous misdemeanour. And luckily for Bobby, the Beales have kept his terrible secret well and truly hidden…

The Radio 1 Ibiza Prom

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Who’d have thought that combining Jules Buckley’s Heritage Orchestra and Radio 1’s Pete Tong would create such a dance masterpiece and a social media storm? Ibiza Prom was different to anything heard at the BBC Proms before. With every Ibiza classic from Fatboy Slim to Faithless being performed at the Royal Albert Hall, it was like being transported back to San Antonio.

Adele pranked her biggest fans

This external content is available at its source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHXjxWaQs9o

You’re a global superstar, you’ve been on a break for a couple of years – what better way to make a comeback than to surprise some of your biggest fans? When Adele disguised herself as one of the tribute acts auditioning for a fictional pilot TV show, no-one seems to catch on. But the look of sheer joy on her fans’ faces when she begins to sing (and the penny drops!) makes for some of the best TV of the year.

What were your greatest TV moments of 2015?

The Bridge’s Sofia Helin untangles Saga’s complex emotions

2015-11-19T10:00:00+00:00

Saga Norén is not your usual TV cop. As Scandinavian detective drama The Bridge returns to BBC Four, actress Sofia Helin talks about the challenge of playing an intense, exhausting and surprisingly emotional role. How will she cope with a new partner, a new case and some old demons..?

I adore Saga so much. She means a lot to me. She’s been the most exhausting character to play. I have to be so intense and so concentrated.

When I first had to play her, it was difficult, because I realised I had to do something completely different from what had been done before. And also I had to dare not to give anything back to my colleagues. That was hard.

And when people are new, or if I meet someone new on set, they just start to laugh because I’m just staring at them like Saga. I think they are uncomfortable.

Sofia demonstrates her character's trademark stare in scenes from series three

We have a convention in television about how to play a police officer, since we’re doing so many crime dramas. We have a way of being kind of a bit cool and dark. And I didn’t want to do that. I wanted to be someone different. And not trying to be cool. Yeah she’s cool, but not traditionally so.

Saga has always been logical. But she gets more and more unstable during this third season of The Bridge, and more and more emotional.

I admire her for always trying. I think she’s trying so hard with her personal life, and in her relationships, to be something she can’t be.

Of course I find Saga a very annoying person too. I could never stand being around her. And she’s also an exhausting person. She’s too intense. But it’s fascinating to be so good at what you do like she is. I admire her for that.

Saga must work with a new Danish partner - and confront her past - in the new series

Whenever I create a character, I always try to think about them from top to toe. How she moves, how her eyes move, her mouth. And it’s the same with Saga, but then she was so different from me, so I had to think hard. I thought a lot about her hips. I tried to make her stand straight. And then I wanted her to be really intense and a bit too much. So she’s constantly going too close to people, going too far forward.

She’s very lonely. I feel so bad for her. I really really do. And she’s getting lonelier. In one way, she’s lost love.

Deciding to turn Martin in at the end of last series was very hard. Their relationship was something new to her. And he stayed by her. And he could stand her way of being. So that was hard. Now she’s all by herself.

Danish detective Martin and Swedish detective Saga shared a unique understanding

She tries to function without Martin. But she almost doesn’t get through it. Now, this series, her past is coming too. And she can’t run anymore. So she has to face everything that happens, including her mother coming…

What sort of a new partner does Saga need? That’s interesting. She would need someone who’s a bit like Martin. But I don’t want to reveal what happens, and what kind of partner she might have – I’ll spoil it!

Sofia Helin plays Saga in The Bridge.

The Bridge, series three, starts with a double-bill on Saturday, 21 November at 9pm on BBC Four. Each episode will be available in BBC iPlayer for 30 days after broadcast on TV.

Read The Bridge writer Hans Rosenfeldt's blog on writing his favourite scenes.

Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.

How pop made art fun

2015-08-24T11:20:34+00:00

There’s something about pop art that tends to get up people’s noses. That was certainly the case in the earliest days of the movement, at the start of the 60s, when paintings by the likes of Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein began to be seen in New York. And, to an extent, pop art still polarises opinion today: with its emphasis upon celebrities, consumer products and cartoons, it can come across as superficial. How could a painting of, say, Superman count as a serious work of art?

But pop’s sassy energy and engagement with the real world we all encounter every day is exactly what I love about it. Pop is arguably the most important movement of modern art, because it brought art to the people by focusing on Coke cans, film stars and comics. It made art sexy, glamorous and fun. Yet - as I discovered while filming Soup Cans and Superstars: How Pop Art Changed the World - it was never simply some sort of dead-behind-the-eyes cheerleader for the capitalist system. And its influence is visible all around us.

Alastair gets the pop art treatment

There’s a brilliant anecdote that helps to explain the new pop mindset. The American artist Jasper Johns, whose pioneering work in the 50s had an incalculable influence upon the development of pop art, once heard that Willem de Kooning, a senior member of the abstract expressionist art movement that was dominating New York at the time, had been badmouthing a dealer called Leo Castelli.

“That Castelli,” de Kooning supposedly said. “You could give him two beer cans and he could sell them.”

Tickled by this remark, Johns, who was already making casts of light bulbs, decided to do just that. He cast a couple of Ballantine Ale cans in bronze – and, he said, “Leo sold them.”

Like the other pop artists who followed him, Johns sensed that modern art was taking itself too seriously. If you were an abstract expressionist, you didn’t dillydally when painting a picture with frivolities such as drinking beer, but attempted on canvas to convey grand, essential truths about the human condition.

“I’m interested only in expressing basic human emotions – tragedy, ecstasy, doom,” Mark Rothko, one of the major painters associated with the group, said during an interview in 1957.

American pop artist James Rosenquist meets Alastair for BBC Four

In pop art, suddenly, the elitist, rarefied world of abstract art was confronted by the everyday culture of the street. Pop replaced the sombre self-regard of abstract expressionism with a new, more modern attitude that was nimble, witty, ironical, and flip.

This, above all, is what we find in the choice pieces of archive selected for the BBC Four Goes Pop Collection: a zesty, deadpan spirit that is as compelling today as it was when it first appeared back in the 60s.

Artist Derek Boshier explains the American influence on his Cornflakes painting

Pop Goes the Easel (1962), Ken Russell’s inventive and impressionistic documentary about the nascent pop movement in Britain, is a tour de force: the programme’s memorable style more than matches the energy of its subject matter. But there are other, less familiar treats here too, including Paul Morley’s witty investigation into the legacy of Lichtenstein, as well as the redoubtable Robert Hughes pronouncing on pop art’s biggest hitters ahead of an important exhibition of their work at the Hayward Gallery in London in 1969.

I hope that, as they have done for me, these vibrant pieces of footage will make an already lively art movement that little bit more vivid for you too.

Alastair Sooke is an art critic and author. He presents Soup Cans & Super Stars: How Pop Art Changed the World and curates the BBC Four Goes Pop Collection, a selection of archive TV programmes available to watch now in BBC iPlayer.

Soup Cans & Super Stars: How Pop Art Changed the World is broadcast on Monday, 24 August at 9pm on BBC Four and will be available in BBC iPlayer for 30 days after broadcast on TV.

See more about pop art on the BBC Four Goes Pop season page.

Alastair's author image was taken by Richard Cook.

Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.

My five top Sky at Night moments - by presenter Chris Lintott

2015-07-20T16:14:03+00:00

The Sky at Night has seen some incredible things during its 750 programmes: when the show first got started Sputnik had yet to fly, vegetation on Mars was a serious possibility, and Pluto was still firmly a planet!

The production team have always had to be flexible to keep up with breaking news - even the first programme's script was rewritten at the last moment following the appearance of a bright comet in the sky - and as a result the Sky at Night captures the excitement of exploring space. Here are five of my favourite moments:

1. Mariner to Mars (August 1969): The first planet to have a close encounter with Earth's space probes was Mars, with the Mariner Missions. This Sky at Night special was produced in 1969 to highlight the first space probe to return pictures of the red planet.

Patrick’s enthusiasm is wonderful - particularly exciting are ‘the really spectacular pictures’ showing craters rather like those on the Moon. As ever, though, he’s quick to question what we still don’t know; is there life on Mars? The close of the programme anticipates an answer ‘within the next few weeks’ to the age-old question - and it’s something we still debate today.

Sir Patrick Moore gets excited about the craters on Mars: "just look at that!"

2. Siberian Eclipse of the Sun (September 1968): Another episode from the 60s, this was an adventure of a different kind, with Patrick travelling to northern Russia for a total eclipse. His producer told me Patrick turned up at the airport with shoes held together only by rubber bands and he wears a suit throughout despite striding about the Siberian tundra.

Although there were technical difficulties in transmission, there’s nothing like a total solar eclipse, and the sheer excitement of the observing party makes this one of the great episodes. It also marks the start of a long Sky at Night eclipse tradition of interviewing people with strange equipment about to do incomprehensible experiments instead of enjoying the grandest spectacle in nature!

Sir Patrick Moore at his home in 1972

3. Neptune (September 1989): For me, the Voyager encounters with Uranus and Neptune in the late 1980s were the first space 'firsts' I remember, and I found out about them as a viewer of the Sky at Night.

Patrick's trips to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California covered all the excitement of these surprisingly interesting worlds. As Patrick says at the start - even on Voyager’s approach, Neptune proved to be more interesting than anyone hoped, from its strange ringlets to the ice volcanoes on Triton (its largest moon). Neptune gets the nod for me.

A view of Neptune, composed of images taken by Voyager 2

4. Unveiling Titan (February 2005): The Huygens probe which landed on the surface of Titan (Saturn's largest moon) was one of the great space adventures, and - having joined the Sky at Night team as a reporter by then - I had the enormous privilege of being at mission control. No one had any idea what lay beneath its dense orange clouds, and it was an enormous privilege to be at mission control to wait for the first images to come back.

From the first signals being received late in the morning in mission control itself, to the release of the first images of an icy orange surface, we followed the unveiling of a new world. All from the odd surroundings of the institute’s canteen!

Chris Lintott celebrates 45 minutes of transmission from the Huygens probe

5. Rosetta (November 2014): It seems odd to pick an episode from last year when there is so much wonderful archive to explore, but the landing of Rosetta (a space probe) on comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko in November 2014 was one for the ages.

As well as the dramatic story of Philae (the lander module) and its bouncy touchdown on the surface, we got to know the wonderful Rosetta team who welcomed us into mission control and let us see behind the scenes of these dramatic days. We watched as the spacecraft’s engineers and scientists back down on Earth struggled to understand what was going on - and then raced to make use of its short time awake on the surface.

The best bits of the programme are when we caught up with the often sleep deprived and stressed team behind the scenes - I still find their generosity in talking to us remarkable.

The European Space Agency's Monika Jones waits for some good news

Chris Lintott is a Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Oxford, and presents the Sky at Night.

The Planetary Flybys collection is available to watch in BBC iPlayer as part of the BBC Four Collections.

The Sky at Night's 750th episode is on tonight at 10pm on BBC Four. It will be available in BBC iPlayer for 30 days after broadcast on TV.

Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.

Richard Osman: My love affair with the quiz show

2015-04-15T12:09:38+00:00

Richard Osman introduces BBC Four's Classic Game Shows Collection, a nostalgic assortment of game shows from the BBC archives.

Here are a few questions for you:

Who is the longest-serving UK TV quiz host of all-time?
How many episodes of Countdown have there been?
Who created the notorious quiz show flop 24 Hour Quiz?
Why have quiz shows remained so popular on British television?

I’ll give you the answers to the first three at the end of this introduction. And if you’re thinking about them right now, then you already know the answer to the last one.

I love quiz shows, I’ve been making them for many years, and now I have accidentally stumbled into hosting them too. They rarely win Baftas, they never get reviewed in the posh papers, but the enduring ones capture a place in the hearts of the nation in a way that very few shows do.

There are a number of reasons for this, but two are particularly key.

Firstly they are, by their very nature, incredibly interactive. Viewers can’t help but play along, whether it’s trying to name the most obscure member of Westlife (Nicky) on Pointless, or punching the air in delight if you ever get a single question correct on University Challenge. I have always likened quizzes to sport for competitive people who are terrible at playing sport, myself included.

Some shows I’ve produced have been successful, some spectacularly unsuccessful, but the development process is always the same. You get an idea, a little hook, and then you play it over and over again. You play it with good quizzers, you play it with bad quizzers, just to spot any little holes in the format, anything that seems unfair or confusing. You then make little nips and tucks to address these problems.

Usually these little nips and tucks make the format even more complicated, or drag it too far away from the initial concept and the format is abandoned. But very occasionally something comes along that is robust enough to survive the process, and that’s when the ‘play-along’ question becomes key. Is it fun to play, and, much more importantly, is it fun to watch?

I remember pitching The Million Pound Drop to the head of Channel 4, and he loved playing it so much he kept asking more and more colleagues into his office just so he could watch them play it too. That is exactly what makes a hit quiz show.

Victoria Coren-Mitchell has hosted 10 series of Only Connect to date

The second reason for the success of quizzes is their sheer volume. Quizzes have always been inexpensive and quick to make. As you have the same set for every episode, you could make many, many episodes of Pointless, for example, for the same money and in the same time frame that you could make one episode of a high production drama.

Therefore quizzes become a ‘perfect storm’ for channels. Something economical and relatively quick to make, that viewers actually love. For example, two of BBC Two’s highest rating shows, week in, week out, are two of their most low-cost shows to produce: University Challenge and Only Connect.

So how does this perfect storm come about? Viewers usually spot low-cost TV a mile off and will sometimes run for cover. Well, quizzes are inexpensive and quick to make, but they are made with great attention to detail and great enthusiasm. There has always been a wonderful sub-set of people who work in TV, who simply love making quiz shows. Great producers, great format-tinkerers, and, most importantly the great unsung question writers. You might call us geeks, I couldn’t possibly comment.

This sheer volume means that quizzes become part of our daily routine. A regular workout for the brain. Every time Countdown started, my Grandad would take out his pen and his notebook, cup of tea by his side, and play along. I know people do the same with Pointless (maybe not with the pen and pad) and that always makes me feel incredibly lucky, and I know he’d be watching if he were still around. That connection with viewers is very special.

Kenneth Williams chuckles on the What's My Line? panel, with host David Jacobs in 1974

Watching some of the wonderful archive the BBC has brought together in the BBC Four Classic Game Show Collection proved to me that this has always been the case. Mostly low-cost, but such an utter joy to watch. It’s impossible to not play along with an episode of Quiz Ball from the 60s, What’s My Line from the 70s or Ask The Family from the 80s.

And because they often lack gloss or pizzazz, they also provide a peculiarly moving snapshot of Britain through the years, from the gasps of the What’s My Line studio audience on discovering that a contestant is a Woman Detective, to the wonderful sight of people answering quiz questions while smoking pipes.

So I hope you’ll dip in and gain great enjoyment from some of the shows featured. On a side-note, I would like to commend Quiz Ball for having quite the most complicated rules explanation I have ever heard. It takes about three minutes and is utterly incomprehensible. Promise me you’ll treat yourself.

David Vine presents the first episode of Quiz Ball in 1966

I’ll leave you with the answers to the questions I set.

According to the wonderful ukgameshows.com website the longest running UK TV quiz show host was Magnus Magnusson, who hosted Mastermind for just 10 days shy of 25 years. If you said Bamber Gascoigne, you’ve been unlucky, as Magnus beat him by just eight days! The record could be under threat soon however, as Jeremy Paxman is in his 21^st year as University Challenge host and Sue Barker in her 18^th year on A Question Of Sport.
Over 6,000, more than any other British TV quiz or game show. The French show on which it was based has clocked up over 20,000 episodes. Weakest Link managed 1,693, and so far Pointless is just over 800, but we’re not planning to give up any time soon.
Me. Sorry.

Richard Osman curates the BBC Four Classic Game Shows Collection, available to watch now on BBC iPlayer.

More from Richard Osman:

Pointless: How I became the co-host

Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.

Spiral: Showrunner Anne Landois answers your questions

2015-02-14T15:58:13+00:00

This post is for people who have seen the last episode of series five of Spiral. Watch the double bill finale first to avoid spoilers!

After losing Pierre Clement midway through the series it was hard to imagine where the inscrutable Josephine Karlsson, our tenacious Captain Berthaud and Judge Roban would end up. The gripping double bill finale of series five left us reeling once again but luckily Anne Landois, writer and the showrunner of Spiral, joined us from France to answer your questions afterwards.

Here is a taster of some of your questions and Anne's replies. To read the rest of Anne's replies please see the Editors' Picks below.

MoXYZ (#137) asks: "It seems that as Laure becomes more and more vulnerable, Josephine becomes darker and darker. Do you consciously create this contrast or has it simply grown with each wonderful series?"

Anne replies:

Barbara Murray (#328) asks: "It's a brilliant series, but so sad at the end. No hope of some happiness?"

Anne replies:

Joyce (#36) asks: "I thought the father of the baby had been killed in the bomb explosion. Who's the man Gilout phoned? Is it Laure's ex-boyfriend? Is he the real father? Where's he been all these weeks?"

Anne replies:

Thank you to everyone who joined us. The Q&A with Anne is now over but you can still comment below.

Spiral is on Saturday, 14 February at 9pm on BBC Four and BBC Four HD. The series five double bill finale is available to watch on BBC iPlayer until 9.45pm on Monday, 16 March.

Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.

Sunetra Sarker on Puppy Love: I’m not great with dogs!

2014-12-03T10:47:23+00:00

Casualty star Sunetra Sarker has a cameo in Joanna Scanlan and Vicki Pepperdine’s new comedy Puppy Love on BBC Four… that would be as well as making it to week 10 partnering Brendan Cole in this year’s Strictly. So with all that good fun/ hard work in hand – how does she keep going?

I have been a big fan of Joanna Scanlan for some time. I met her whilst she was doing a guest role in Casualty about five years ago and was quite star struck. I told her what a fan I was of her work with Vicki Pepperdine, especially their series Getting On, and she said she would remember me if there was ever an opportunity to work together. I never thought anything would come of it and it was just Joanna being polite, but then when Puppy Love got the go-ahead, they very kindly offered me the cameo role of the vet Lilli Kusiak. I was thrilled.

Joanna Scanlan and Sunetra Sarker film a scene with Joanna's own dog, Millie, who plays No Name

I haven't worked up north for so long, so it was lovely to film Puppy Love only a few miles from my family and old friends, and it meant that my son Noah got to spend some time with my folks. It was a real pleasure to hear the northern accents around too. The cast and crew were all very relaxed and humorous to be around.

It was too funny working with Joanna and Vicki. They are such clever, modest women, the pair of them. They are always striving for the best laugh regardless of who gets the credit. We laughed and improvised certain lines and it was the most collaborative and hilarious experience for me. Without sounding like a stalker, just to watch them repeating funny lines scene after scene was terrific. Proper belly laughs.

Writers Joanna and Vicki used local dog owners as extras 'to capture real relationships'

I'm not great with dogs! Seriously, I'm a bit scared - probably because I never grew up with dogs at home - so I put on a brave face and thankfully all the dogs on set were so well behaved. It's funny, but once I was in character I had no problem with the dogs, but as soon as they said “Cut!”, I would find myself taking a small step back!

I’d back Nana V (Joanna Scanlan’s character) to compete in next year’s Strictly Come Dancing. She would rock that floor with an array of bras for sale on her arm I'm sure!

Dancing the Waltz with her Strictly partner, Brendan Cole

It turns out Brendan Cole is a real family man as well as such a great dancer. As my partner in this year’s Strictly, he was very chilled out and told me off for not believing more in myself. We did have a laugh and teased each other a lot. But Blackpool was our hardest week.

Tackling Strictly on top of Casualty and keeping up at home is incredibly hard. Sometimes I don't believe I will get to the end of the week without burning the house down or breaking my legs! The multitasker in me has really been put to the test and my wonderful support system of family and friends have all helped keep me on track.

Sunetra as Zoe in Casualty, alongside actor William Beck (Dylan)

When I had to switch from being Sunetra the dancer to Dr Zoe Hanna on Casualty in the same day it was the Zoe clothes and stethoscope that snapped me back into doctor mode! A lot of juices, energy bars and water have helped when I'm low on energy – as well as the odd chocolate bar or five!

Sunetra Sarker plays Lilli Kusiak in Puppy Love and Dr Zoe Hanna in Casualty.

Puppy Love continues on Thursday, 4 December at 10pm, on BBC Four and BBC Four HD. For further programme times please see the episode guide.

More on Puppy Love

The Guardian: New BBC Four comedy explores the nation's canine compulsion
The Telegraph: Puppy Love - a dog's view

Comments made by writers on the BBC TV Blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.

Five creepy things to watch this Halloween

2014-10-30T13:38:27+00:00

From nightmare-inducing horror films to so many creepy crawlies you’ll be too scared to leave the sofa – carve out those pumpkins and brace yourself for a screamfest of a Halloween night in…

Are you all set for some spooky telly this Halloween?

Spider House

Available to watch now in BBC iPlayer

If the thought of spiders makes you run away in fear – look away now…

Alice Roberts and scientist Tim Cockerill hang out with the house spiders

Spider House might sound like the title of an undiscovered Alfred Hitchcock film, but it’s actually a scientific experiment – complete with some pretty nifty technology. Presenter Alice Roberts even faces her fears by spending the night in a house filled to the rafters with spiders.

See how spiders weave their webs, kill their prey – plus discover what really happens when you flush them down the sink.

You might want to check your bathroom’s an arachnid-free zone before you commit to this one…

Goth at the BBC

Friday 31 October, 10pm, BBC Four

If you’re all-set to embrace your dark side, and are longing for nothing more than a night of tormented lyrics and beastly basslines, this musical treat should get your juices going.

Goth at the BBC includes performances by Depeche Mode

Featuring classic BBC TV footage, expect ghoulishly great performances from the likes of Depeche Mode, The Cure, PJ Harvey and Siouxsie and the Banshees. And to really inject added horror, what could be scarier than a family karaoke session? *Shivers*

Leather trousers, optional.

The Curse of Frankenstein

Available to watch now in BBC iPlayer

Take a spooky step back in time… to 1957, when this classic horror film was first shown.

Baron Victor Frankenstein creates a 'monster'

Starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, this retelling of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein sees orphaned Baron Victor Frankenstein and his tutor meddling in medical science. Among their technical feats, they manage to resurrect a Dachshund from death’s door, before embarking on a mission to create human life.

With more ruffles and tailcoats than all of Saville Row, prepare for 80 minutes of classic horror (and tailoring).

Frankenstein and The Vampyre – A Dark And Stormy Night

Saturday 1 November, 9pm, BBC Two

Did you know that Frankenstein and Dracula were born on the same night? Well, kind of.

On a dark and thundery night in 1816, a group of young writers - Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (later Shelley) and Dr John Polidori - told ghost stories, as they stayed together at the Villa Diodati, by Lake Geneva, Switzerland.

Actor Rob Heaps as Byron, known as the greatest poet of his generation

Inspired by these frightening tales, Mary began writing about a monstrous creature, brought to life by an experimental doctor, while John turned the traditional vampire into a charming aristocrat in his novel, The Vampyre.

But it was the gruesome real lives of this friendship group which would turn out to be the true horror story…

The Dracula Business

Available to watch now in BBC iPlayer

This documentary – first broadcast in 1974 – sees the great-nephew of Dracula writer, Bram Stoker, revisiting Transylvania to investigate the legends surrounding the tale.

The Dracula Business traces the roots of this terrifying folklore

Featuring the UK’s own Dracula Society (yes, really), and some impressive '70s outfits, Dan Farson’s documentary looks at the folklore and religious rituals that may have shaped the idea of this blood-curdling icon of horror with a penchant for hair gel.

What terrifying TV will you be watching this Halloween? Spread the fear by sharing this post on Twitter and Facebook using the links at the top of this page.

Find even more Halloween picks in BBC iPlayer

Art Of China: My journey of discovery

2014-07-30T06:00:10+00:00

As an art historian with a strong interest in all of the different cultures of the world, I have been to some wonderful and fascinating places.

But never anywhere quite as dramatic and surprising as China, where I spent almost three months last year for BBC Four’s Art Of China.

Watch the trail: Nothing quite prepares you for the experience

China's landscapes are spectacular.

As for the painting, the sculpture, the architecture - well I hope anyone who watches Art Of China will agree that it is thrillingly strange, different from anything they've ever seen, and just breathtakingly beautiful in the way it is made.

I'd never been there before, so this was a real journey of discovery for me - and I really hope that comes across in the series that we've made.

The art of China has also been full of surprises for the Chinese themselves, especially in recent years.

So much digging and excavating has taken place, that they have made a huge number of stunning archaeological discoveries, often by chance.

One of the first places I visited was the remote remains of an ancient place called Sanxingdui, in the Sichuan Basin in south western China.

Some builders digging new foundations had uncovered jaw-droppingly bizarre and wonderful three-thousand year old relics: vast human heads made of bronze with ghoulish staring eyes, masks of beaten gold, a great tree made from metal, complete with fruit and birds perched on its branches.

The discovery of treasures of the lost and ancient city Sanxingdui

The civilisation that produced all these wonders had been all but forgotten, but now it's suddenly risen from the dead!

In neighbouring Shaanxi province I visited the most famous example of China's ancient cult of the ancestors, which led them to bury their dead along with their most precious things: the First Emperor, buried with his army of terracotta soldiers.

What most people will be less familiar with are the astounding bronze charioteers also found in his burial site, whose job it was to chauffeur him around the afterlife.

Made from more than 3,000 separate pieces, they're probably the most sophisticated objects ever made from bronze to survive from the ancient world.

Designed to be fully functioning, these bronze chariots could roll along the ground

I'll never forget reaching the great deserts of the Silk Road afterwards, like walking on the surface of the moon.

Here I visited the great Buddhist cave complex at Dunhuang, painted with images of hell and salvation by generations of artists over a thousand years and more.

Later, I travelled south to the Yellow Mountains, where you can stand above the cloud line, amid the peaks, and imagine that you've gone back a thousand years - and that you're actually standing inside the scene of some beautiful Chinese scroll painting.

China's major belief systems, Daoism, Buddhism and Confucianism, all place nature at their centre

The mountains inspired different generations of Chinese artists in different ways.

To many painters of the Song Dynasty they symbolised the mighty order of nature, but also the necessary pecking order of human society, with the Emperor as the tallest peak, surrounded by the lesser peaks of his courtiers and the foothills standing for the common man.

To the much later painters of the Yuan Dynasty, who were part of a Chinese elite marginalised and exiled by their new Mongol leaders, the mountains were a place of retreat and defeat.

Their scroll paintings of nature, although exquisite, are also infused with a sense of melancholy.

Finally I looked at Communism, mostly by travelling the urban landscape of Beijing, since it was the city on which Mao Zedong most tried to leave his stamp.

Tiananmen Square, which ironically means “Gate of Heavenly Peace Square” was his creation, for example.

When Communism was first on the rise in China it was viewed by many people with great hope – hope that their nation would finally be modernised, and at last catch up with developments in the west.

For me, the most moving work of art to survive from those years is a scroll painting by Xu Beihong, who was one of the leading artists of the time and also a friend of Mao.

A beautiful depiction of a galloping horse, meant I suspect to symbolise China itself heading towards a bright future.

Galloping Horse is an enduringly famous image, still reproduced throughout China today

The future did not turn out to be quite as bright as Xu Beihong hoped, but still his picture is a deeply touching and poignant document of its time.

I started doing the Art Of... more than 10 years ago now. There have been six series so far (and counting).

If there's a single driving purpose behind the project as a whole, it's been to broaden the horizons of art as usually seen on the telly - to go beyond the usual suspects, if you like, to look past the art of the Italian Renaissance and French Impressionism.

Where next? Suggestions gratefully received...

Andrew Graham-Dixon presents of Art Of China.
Art Of China is on Wednesday, 30 July at 9pm on BBC Four and BBC Four HD. For further programmes times please see the episode guide.

More on Art Of China
BBC Four: Art Of China: Andrew's Best Bits

Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.

The First Georgians: I found myself pitying these kings

2014-05-07T10:04:52+00:00

If you work as a curator, as I do, at Hampton Court, you sometimes wonder if there might be more to life than Henry VIII.

Of course, he’s our biggest character at Hampton Court, and always will be.

But after our re-display of the Tudor palace in 2009, which was the 500-year anniversary of Henry VIII’s coming to the throne, I began to think it was time we turned our attention to the other, Georgian, half of the building.

It is just as extensive and impressive as the Tudor part but much less familiar.

My colleagues and I at Historic Royal Palaces, the charity which looks after Hampton Court, decided we’d get the palace’s Georgian rooms ready for display by 2014, an important year: the tercentenary of George I’s coming to the throne in 1714.

Lucy Worsley admires the Georgian works at The Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace

And, as it turns out, there’s an enormous smorgasbord of Georgian activity celebrating the anniversary this summer.

As well as our re-displayed Georgian apartments at Hampton Court and Kensington Palace, there’s a wonderful exhibition of Georgian art at the Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace.

The BBC Four TV series that I’ve presented, The First Georgians, includes architecture and objects from all three palaces.

The series looks at the important developments of the Georgian age: politics, slavery, satire, stock market bubbles, innoculation against smallpox and the invention of the novel.

But I was very keen that the personal stories of George I and George II, and particularly that of his wife, Caroline, were also included.

Queen Caroline: ‘She’s not exactly a fairy-tale princess’

I'm extremely fond of Caroline, a bookworm, because I think she's the cleverest and funniest queen consort - as well as the fattest - that Britain's ever had.

These characters have been rather neglected by historians, but I spent five years researching them all in detail for a book about the Georgian court.

As I came to know them well, I found myself pitying, rather than envying these people.

They were thrust into a job – being Britain’s Royal Family – they hadn’t asked for, which didn’t suit their personalities, and which practically destroyed their personal lives.

Court gossip: Lucy on the scandalous sexual slander against George I and his household

Because of the demands of court politics and the public position in which they lived, George I, George II and their children ended up doing bizarre and horrible things to each other, such as kidnapping a baby.

After one ridiculous court quarrel, George I took guardianship of his grandchildren in order to use them as hostages for future good behaviour from his son and daughter-in-law.

One of the grandchildren, a baby boy, was then given the wrong medical treatment, and died.

In this case farce turned into tragedy, and the baby's mother (then Princess) Caroline was left feeling as if her child had been taken from her and killed.

As well as this, the Hanoverians did things like locking up a wife for adultery, forcing a teenager to give birth to her first child in a carriage at night, humiliating each other in public.

You wouldn’t believe it if you saw it in a soap opera. But there was also some kindness and kissing and even the odd deathbed reconciliation.

I wouldn’t be surprised if you’d always thought of our Georgian kings - George I, George II and George III - as German, grumpy and slightly indistinguishable from each other. But I hope you’ll see a bit more of their individuality and their humanity.

Lucy Worsley is chief curator of Historic Royal Palaces and presenter of The First Georgians: The German Kings Who Made Britain.

The First Georgians continues on Thursday 8 May at 9pm on BBC Four and BBC Four HD. For further programme times please see the episode guide.

More on The First Georgians
BBC Four: The 18th Century Season
Radio 3: The 18th Century Season
The First Georgians: Watch clips from the series
The First Georgians: A Family Tree
The First Georgians: Lucy Worsley on her favourite Georgians
The Royal Collection: Visit the First Georgians Exhibition

Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.

Secrets Of Bones: The bony adaptations we missed

2014-02-25T10:55:12+00:00

I'm an evolutionary biologist, specialising in primate adaptation and evolution.

My work now focuses on studying often-small physical differences in the skeletons of monkeys, to see how they change over time in different environments.

When the idea for Secrets Of Bones came about, a six-part series on skeletons and all things bony, the next thing I knew I was having my skull printed off, building a silverback gorilla skeleton and watching a horse on a treadmill... it all happened so quickly.

Discover how the skeletal blueprint uniting all vertebrates has come to dominate life on earth

It’s not the obvious thing that they’re all so very different that’s cool (or weird) about bones, for me it’s that they are often so very similar.

You’d be surprised at how similar a whale and frog skeleton are, for example. Well, apart from the slight difference in size, that is!

It just takes a few tweaks for a hook-like spider monkey hand to be the precision tool that is the human hand, and from there, it’s only a few adjustments until you have the bizarre and quite frankly amazing aye-aye hand.

They’re all primates and they’re all hands but with just a few changes, you have major impacts. With skeletons, a little goes a long way!

One of my favourite scenes was with a young great grey owl up in the wonderful International Centre for Birds of Prey.

The staff there had trained the chick to descend onto one of several buzzers, hidden among the leaves, to demonstrate a bizarre skeletal adaptation which gives them exceptional hearing capabilities.

The Arctic habitat of the owl means they rely on hearing to locate prey hidden underground by snow

The owl was very sweet and seemed to enjoy the day but like any young animal, he was playful and more than a little misbehaved.

While the sequence came out smooth and impressive, we had quite a few laughs throughout the day.

Given just three hours to cover the most amazing skeletal adaptations on earth is like asking an artist to recreate the Sistine Chapel ceiling 'in a couple of hours or so'.

A few special bony adaptations we missed out include when some species of seals dive to the depth of the Eiffel Tower, their rib cages fold down like a concertina to cope with immense pressure changes.

But that’s nothing to the horror frog. As if its name isn’t bad enough, this gruesome amphibian defends itself from predators by raising its front feet and clenching its toes so much that the bones split, forcing the jagged pieces through the skin, ready to swipe at a would-be predator.

And even that’s tame compared to the Spanish ribbed newt.

This potentially-tasty treat doesn’t look as if it can look after itself but any unsuspecting predator is in for a nightmarish morsel if it tries to grab this amphibian for lunch.

It squeezes its body to the point where its ribs puncture through its body.

When the ribs are cutting through the skin, they pass through toxic glands, which coat the broken bones, making them even more effective weapons.

When the predator decides that lunch really needn’t be this much of a potential fatality, the salamander simply walks off and heals, ready to fight another day.

With stories such as this still out there, there is plenty yet to cover in the world of skeletal anatomy.

Most vertebrates have pentadactyl limbs consisting of five digits, but moles have a unique adaption

A lot of people ask me for advice about articulating animal skeletons and while I say it isn’t easy, I do always say that people should give it a go.

Apart from the rather messy stages associated with removing the pink and squishy bits from the bones, it’s a very interesting, clean and rewarding pursuit for any natural historian.

It teaches us things about anatomy that we would otherwise never learn from lessons, books, or TV alone.

There are obviously several secrets associated with the work and I’m not about to reveal them (obviously, we all have secretive ‘skeletons in our closets’) but if you’re patient, interested in natural history and enjoy a challenge, then give it a go.

All you need is a drill, a skeleton and several plasters – drilled fingers are an occupational hazard, I’m afraid.

Part of the fun when building skeletons is that there are no rules and there isn’t usually a step by step guide. You don’t need a degree and you can be any age.

If you don’t believe me, check out Jake McGowan-Lowe, a young up and coming evolutionary biologist and fully-fledged bone geek, if ever I saw one.

Ben Garrod is an evolutionary biologist and presents Secrets Of Bones.

Secrets Of Bones continues on Tuesday, 25 February at 8.30pm on BBC Four. For further programme times please see the episode guide.

Secrets Of Bones is part of BBC Four's Life Inside Out season: Watch clips examining bodies as never before.

More on Secrets Of Bones
BBC Four: Secrets Of Bones: Download a free interactive ebook
BBC Nature: Nature's bizarre bone quiz

Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.

Dissected: Getting under my skin

2014-02-17T10:06:19+00:00

I had my reservations when asked if I’d like to produce Dissected, a series about the dissection of a human hand and foot.

Not because I’m particularly squeamish - I have made a lot medical series, including a stint in the main allied forces military hospital in Camp Bastion, Afghanistan. I’m used to seeing the internal mechanics of the body.

I was more concerned about whether this was something that people would actually want to watch. It was an intriguing enough proposition to make me want to do it.

I’m very glad I did as it turned out to be a fascinating exploration into what makes us human.

The point at which the project really got under my skin, as it were, was when I met the hand surgeon in the series, Donald Sammut.

Donald Sammut reveals which finger you could most easily live without

It was at Chelsea Arts Club because not only is Donald an eminent surgeon, he is also a talented artist.

This effusive and intellectual man knew every fibre of the human hand – and made me look at mine differently than I ever had before.

This was all very well looking at my own hand but we needed to dissect one.

Dissection is not something the public are normally allowed to see, it’s traditionally reserved for medical training.

This is partly for health and safety reasons to prevent the risk of the spread of disease and partly to protect the anonymity of the donor and their relatives.

We had to get the permission of Her Majesty’s Inspector of Anatomy for Scotland.

They had never agreed to filming of a dissection before but they considered the request carefully and concluded that our project was a valuable opportunity to bring a greater knowledge of human anatomy to the public.

The next challenge was to find specimens and somewhere to dissect them. We discovered that we could order arms or legs for dissection from the USA.

Importing body parts wasn’t without its complications though so we were glad not to have to go down this route.

Anatomist Quentin Fogg at Glasgow University came to our rescue. He was enthusiastic about the project and became invaluable both on and off screen.

He was licensed to dissect in the university’s 100-year-old anatomy museum. This made a wonderfully rich and atmospheric location.

Crucially, the university’s involvement meant we could use limbs donated to them for educational purposes as long as we ensured the donors’ anonymity.

Leading experts in human anatomy join Dr George McGavin to look inside our hands and feet

The Body Donor Programme throughout the country is something I wholeheartedly support.

We had chosen to only have the specimen preserved by freezing rather than embalming as this gave a more natural look.

This did mean, however, that the specimen would only last for two days.

The heat from our television lights meant the clock was ticking even faster on the useable life of our specimen.

The dissections were complicated so the time limit presented a real challenge to Quentin and the dissection team.

When Quentin first brought the limbs into the studio for filming there was a stunned silence amongst the crew. We knew we had a responsibility to make this donation worthwhile.

During the dissection, the director of photography, Alastair McCormick, who relies on his hands for his livelihood was engrossed.

Musician friends of mine have been slightly embarrassed that they’d never really considered what gave them their skill and dexterity.

I don’t think I’ve made a programme before that is so universally relevant.

The foot programme was equally as fascinating to make. In both episodes, we wanted to relate the fascinating anatomy we were seeing to the real world.

We included short insert films looking at the latest research into hands and feet including comparative animal anatomy.

We also brought people into the studio whose hands and feet have extraordinary abilities.

My personal favourite was foot painter, Tom Yendell. He had been born without arms due to the drug Thalidomide.

George McGavin kicks off his shoes and tries his foot at sketching with Tom Yendell

Watching him flip open a tablet and operate it with his feet was incredible. He then went on to quickly produce a high standard painting with his feet.

I hope people are not put off watching the programmes by the prospect of gore – they truly are a rare opportunity to see a part of ourselves as we’ve never seen it before.

Paul Overton is the series producer of Dissected.

Dissected begins with The Incredible Human Hand on Tuesday, 18 February at 9pm on BBC Four. For further programme times please see the episode guide.

Dissected is part of BBC Four's Life Inside Out season: Watch clips examining bodies as never before

Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.

The Bridge: Live web chat with Hans Rosenfeldt

2014-01-29T18:23:08+00:00

Hans Rosenfeldt is the lead writer and co-creator of Danish/Swedish crime thriller, The Bridge.

He will be answering questions live in the comments below after the series two double bill finale on BBC Four.

The comments will open before shortly the web chat starts at 11pm on Saturday, 1 February and will finish at midnight. Hans won’t be able to answer every question submitted and we also ask that questions and comments fall under our house rules.

So get your questions ready as Saga and Martin race against the clock to prevent a disaster.

Saga Norén (Sofia Helin) and Martin Rohde (Kim Bodnia)

Thank you for all your comments. To read Hans' replies please see the Editors' Picks below.

Apologies to all our new users for the delay in their posts appearing, we're working to get comments and replies up as quickly as we can.

More on The Bridge
BBC TV blog: The Bridge: Writing my favourite scenes

Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.

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