Catch up TV
Series 10: 5. Italian Noir: The Story of Italian Crime Fiction
Timeshift profiles a new wave of Italian crime fiction that has emerged to challenge the conventions of the detective novel. There are no happy endings in these noir tales, only revelations about Italy's dark heart - a world of corruption, unsolved murders and the mafia. \n\nThe programme features exclusive interviews with the leading writers from this new wave of noir, including Andrea Camilleri (creator of the Inspector Montalbano Mysteries) and Giancarlo De Cataldo (Romanzo Criminale), who explains how his work as a real-life investigating judge inspired his work. From the other side of the law, Massimo Carlotto talks about how his novels were shaped by his wrongful conviction for murder and years spent on the run from the police. \n\nThe film also looks at the roots of this new wave. Carlo Emilio Gadda (That Awful Mess) used the detective novel to expose the corruption that existed during Mussolini's fascist regime and then, after the Second World War, Leonardo Sciascia's crime novels (The Day of The Owl) tackled the rise of the Sicilian mafia. These writers established the rules of a new kind of noir that drew on real events and offered no neat endings. \n\nAlso featuring Italian writers Carlo Lucarelli and Barbara Baraldi, the film uses rarely seen archive from Italian television.
Source: BBC 4
Most recent episodes of Timeshift
Timeshift
Series 13 - Hurricanes And Heatwaves: The Highs And Lows Of British Weather
A national obsession is explored in this archive-rich look at the evolution of the weather forecast from print via radio to TV and beyond - and at the changing weather itself.
12-02-2026
BBC 4
Timeshift
The History Of Pubs
The pub has been the mainstay of British society since medieval times, a cornerstone of any community playing a unique role in national life. But in the past 50 years the pub ha ...
17-01-2026
BBC 4
Timeshift
Series 11 - Of Ice And Men
Documentary which looks at why the most inhospitable place on the planet has exerted such a powerful hold on the imagination of explorers, scientists, writers and photographers.
11-01-2026
BBC 4
Timeshift
Series 14 - Killer Storms And Cruel Winters - The History Of Extreme Weather
Lucie Green looks back through Britain's most dramatic weather history and sees how our reactions helped forge a weather science that today allows us to predict the worst extremes.
10-12-2025
BBC 4
Timeshift
Series 3: 18. Jet Set
Rich, distant and opulent, the jet set fascinated the public as they waved to us from airplane doorways before winging their way across the skies heading for yachts and exotic l ...
04-11-2025
BBC 4
Timeshift
Series 16: 1. Bridging The Gap: How The Severn Bridge Was Built
2016 sees the fiftieth anniversary of the Severn Bridge, which completed the motorway link between England and Wales. Timeshift tells the inside story of the design and construc ...
12-10-2025
BBC 4
Most popular episodes of Timeshift
Timeshift
Series 14 - Killer Storms And Cruel Winters - The History Of Extreme Weather
Lucie Green looks back through Britain's most dramatic weather history and sees how our reactions helped forge a weather science that today allows us to predict the worst extremes.
10-12-2025
BBC 4
Timeshift
Series 11 - Of Ice And Men
Documentary which looks at why the most inhospitable place on the planet has exerted such a powerful hold on the imagination of explorers, scientists, writers and photographers.
11-01-2026
BBC 4
Timeshift
Series 13: 7. How To Be Sherlock Holmes: The Many Faces Of A Master Detective
16-01-2018
BBC 4
Timeshift
Series 6: Switch Off Something: Britain And The Three-day Week
Philip Glenister narrates a documentary about Britain and the Three-Day Week. In the winter of 1973-74, a confrontation between the big unions and the government took the countr ...
29-11-2022
BBC 4
Timeshift
Series 12 - The Joy Of (train) Sets
The Model Railway Story: How the British have been in love with model railways for more than a century, with unique archive and contributions from modellers such as Pete Waterman.
16-09-2025
BBC 4
Timeshift
Series 11 - Hotel Deluxe
Documentary which charts how luxury hotels have met the needs of new forms of wealth - from aristocrats to rock stars and beyond - with comfort, innovation and service.
13-12-2021
BBC 4
