Composer of the Week (9.00 am R3 and rest of week) is Brahms.
Start the Week (9.00 am R4). Featuring Margaret Drabble on George Orwell, and Peter Linebaugh on early American history.
Book of the Week (9.45 am R4 and rest of week) is Alan Clarke’s diaries.
No Ice in Weymouth (10. 45 am R4, repeated 7.45 and for rest of week). The world of Jane Austen, from her novels and letters.
Random Edition (11.00 am R4). Peter Snow peruses the Manchester Times of 28 March 1829. Featuring Andrew Roberts on the Duke of Wellington’s duelling.
When Knights Were Bold (3.45 R4 and for rest of week). Michael Rosen with a five-part exploration of history in children’s fiction. Part one, "Slaves and Centurions" concentrates on the Romans, from Rosemary Sutcliffe to Asterix.
Lemurs of the Stone Forest (7.00 C5). Documentary abut Madagascar.
Pyramids and Prophets (8.00 C4). Second of two repeats featuring David Rohl.
Saving the Patient (8.00 R4). New ways for GPs to work … Final programme in series examining the government’s intended NHS reforms.
University Challenge (8.00 BBC2). More highest-scoring losers from the first round: St John’s, Oxford, vs. Edinburgh.
Animal ER (8.30 C5). Behind the scenes at the Royal Veterinary College.
What the Romans Did for Us (8.30 BBC2, not N Ireland). Daily life on Hadrian’s Wall (recently visited for both Simon Schama’s history marathon and Piers Gough’s C4 architecture series) … Later, the Open University’s re-runs of The Romans in Britain (12.30 am BBC2) feature Guy de la Bédoyère at - guess where? – Hadrian’s Wall. » Roman Britain
Horror in the East (9.00 BBC2). Two-part exploration of Japanese conduct in World War Two, featuring archive film and recollections of both Japanese and Allied PoWs. Put together by ace history documentarist Laurence Rees, of The Nazis - A Warning from History and War of the Century ilk.
Animals that Changed the World (9.00 R4). Rats. » Animals
War Months (9.00 Discovery Channel). More episodes from the Second World War. » The War Months
Neanderthal (9.00 C4). First of two programmes featuring actors dressed up as early humans and a commentary full of phrases such as "we now know…" No experts are seen talking, but the series advisers are Chris Stringer of the Natural History Museum and Oxford’s Paul Pettitt, and the pseudo-Neanderthal language used is that devised by Anthony Burgess and Desmond Morris for the 1981 film Quest for Fire. This series is no better (in fact, worse) than BBC2’s ape-man earlier this year.
Night Waves (9.30 R3). On Raymond Chandler.
Who Killed Mark Faulkner? (11.20 BBC2, also Tues and Wed). About the short life and death of a homeless, disabled man on London’s streets.
The Difference Debate (11.55 C4). Experts and other opinionated folk discuss the C4 series. (The programme is due to be recorded the day before transmission.)