BBC Four

Victorian Sensations transports us to the thrilling era of the 1890s. Dr Hannah Fry, Paul McGann, and Philippa Perry explore a decade of rapid change that still resonates today.

The History of the World Backwards is a comedy sketch show written and starring Rob Newman. It is a mock history programme set in an alternative world, where time flows forwards, but history flows backwards. It was shown on BBC Four, starting on 30 October 2007, and later shown on BBC Two. It was Newman's first television project for 14 years.

In an absorbing study, Andrew Graham-Dixon tells the story of a national art that conveys passion, precision, hope and renewal. He juxtaposes escapism with control and a deep affinity with nature against love for the machine. The fascinating story takes us from the towering cathedral of Cologne, the woodcuts of Albrecht Dürer and paintings of Grünewald to the gothic fairytale Neuschwanstein Castle, the Baltic landscapes of Caspar David Friedrich and the industrialisation lent expression of Adolph Menzel and Käthe Kollwitz. As the series progresses, it presents a rare focus on the cultural impact of Hitler's obsession with visual art, reveals how art became an arena for the Cold War and examines the redemptive work of the "visionary" Joseph Beuys – the most influential artist of modern times.

Simon Russell Beale presents a radical reappraisal of the place of the symphony in the modern world and explores the surprising way in which it has shaped our history and identity.

7 celebrities champion 7 buildings that have played a key role in helping to define Britain's gay history. Presented by Stephen Fry.

Rich Hall's Fishing Show was a comedy programme written by and starring Rich Hall and Mike Wilmot. It was first broadcast on 11 November 2003 in the United Kingdom on BBC Four. It was repeated in the UK on Dave in 2008. The Fishing with the Corleones sequence involving the late Anita Roddick was omitted from the repeat. The show was set in the lochs of Scotland, on which Hall and Wilmot would go fishing. However, very few fish were caught, and the situation instead formed the setting for dialogue between the pair which would be vaguely themed on subjects like love or the Olympic Games. Some episodes featured sketches involving characters such as Bob, a decapitated limousine driver whose head had survived, and Charles Manson, a reclusive salesman who, despite his appearance, was not the convicted serial killer of the same name. Each episode would end with a celebrity guest who was invited on to the boat to talk and fish with the pair. At the end of each show, a celebrity guest would appear and talk with Hall and Wilmot. The idea was seen earlier in a pilot the pair had called Rich Hall's Badly Funded Think Tank. In that show, the segment was titled "Fishing with the Corleones", but in the Fishing Show these sections are unappended.

Professor Jim Al-Khalili shows how, by uncovering its secrets, scientists have used light to reveal the universe.

Dr Helen Czerski goes on a spectacular journey to the extremes of the temperature scale, where everyday laws of physics break down and a new world of scientific possibility begins.

Birds Britannia is a four-part BBC Four television series about the birds of the United Kingdom, first shown in 2010. It was produced by Stephen Moss. Each of the four, sixty-minute episodes concentrates on one kind of bird: garden birds, waterbirds, seabirds and birds of the countryside. The series has no presenter, and is narrated by the Scottish actor Bill Paterson, with filmed interviews with a wide range of experts and bird enthusiasts, including David Attenborough, Mark Cocker, Jeremy Mynott, Tim Birkhead, Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall, Christopher Frayling, Kate Humble, Rob Lambert, Desmond Morris, David Lindo, Helen Macdonald, Andrew Motion, Tony Soper, and Bill Oddie. It has been announced that a book of the same title, by Stephen Moss, will be published by Collins in April 2011.

The grit, humour and courage of ordinary people in the bleakest of circumstances. Darkly comic, poignant and sometimes devastating monologues about life in poverty.

In a series of authored films, some of our most engaging experts reveal their favourite hidden objects, forgotten places and artistic passions.

The Great Outdoors was a British television sitcom. The show follows the friendships of a misfit rambling club in Southern England in which patronising group-leader Bob becomes embroiled in a battle of wills against new arrival and deputy group-leader Christine, who is determined that things should be done her way. She previously lived and rambled in Barnstaple and appears to perhaps be autistic and have an obsessive-compulsive personality disorder. The show comprised three episodes, first airing on Wednesdays between 28 July and 12 August 2010 on BBC Four.

Aubrey Manning sets out on a journey to study the changing face of Britain's countryside

Dawn French, interviews her favorite comediennes and asks about their upbringing, family life, entree into comedy, routines for generating material, whether they hang out with other funny people, comedic influences, professional jealousy and how being funny affects one's love life. The series began as three episodes comprised of clips from 36 interviewees, but returned four months later with these six full-length interviews of Whoopi Goldberg, Catherine Tate, Kathy Burke, Julie Walters, Victoria Wood and Joan Rivers. —Samb Hicks

The story of quantum entanglement, perhaps the strangest concept in science. Mind-bending concepts and brilliant experiments lead us to a profound new understanding of reality.

The often-hilarious stories of the BBC's first 50 years. The corporation's pioneers describe its evolution – which was often by accident rather than design.

Art of Spain is a BBC Four documentary series on Spanish art presented by Andrew Graham-Dixon. It consists of three one-hour episodes, and premiered on 31 January 2008.

Michael Parkinson reflects on the most memorable subjects of his interviews from the 1970s and 1980s.

The search is on for an exciting new name in British photography. Six talented photographers from across the UK embark on the photographic masterclass of a lifetime with Rankin.