Bbc Documentary

Alasdair Gray is a giant of Scottish arts. He's a great writer, artist, irascible interviewee and controversial essayist. In this intimate portrait, filmed over 15 years, we see him creating work that has become part of the living heritage of Scotland. His novel Lanark is the finest work of Scottish 20th-century literature, and his painting of the Oran Mor Arts Centre is Scotland's 21st-century Sistine Chapel. This documentary reveals a character who is by turns incisive, chaotic and laugh-out-loud funny.

With the recent exhumation and removal of Franco's remains from a public mausoleum for the fallen - a symbolic gesture by the current socialist government to give the 500,000 victims of the Spanish Civil War their rightful recognition - this Storyville documentary is a timely reminder of Spain's traumatic past. Filmed over six years, it reveals the epic struggle of the victims of Spain's 40-year dictatorship under General Franco, as they organise a groundbreaking international lawsuit and fight a government-sanctioned 'pact of forgetting' the crimes that they suffered. A cautionary tale about fascism and the dangers of forgetting the past.

Forty years ago Raymond Briggs used a pot of coloured pencils to create The Snowman, a wordless book of illustrations which would inspire the film enjoyed by millions of British households every Christmas. His timeless story of the friendship between a young boy and a Snowman continues to delight generation after generation with its effortless blend of warmth, humour and sadness.

Sharanjit Leyl explores Singapore's early beginnings through the stories of some of the first settlers, examining compelling and remarkable characters who helped to forge a modern nation. She uncovers the secrets and little-known history of this fascinating city.

Monty Don explores different aspects of Japanese gardens.

When your husband is a multimillionaire, life can be something of a fairy tale, but when it all comes crashing down, it seems the bigger the money, the bigger the fight. This programme steps inside the world of high-profile divorce cases where millions of pounds are at stake, and London is the battleground.

Katie Derham introduces highlights from the past ten years at the Royal Ballet. Presented on location in Covent Garden at the iconic Royal Opera House, Katie weaves the history of ballet through carefully curated excerpts from the past decade of performances and goes behind the scenes to see what it takes to be a dancer in the company of the Royal Ballet as they prepare to take to the stage.

Terrorist attack in London: 400 years ago, on November 5, 1605, a group of fanatical Catholics planned to blow up Parliament, the King and the entire court with a huge load of gunpowder.

In recent years the world has become an unsettling place, from the mass movements of refugees to political upheaval, both in this country and abroad. Disturbingly, history shows that it's at unsettled times like these that dictators can rise - leaders who promise they can solve every problem, if only they're granted supreme power. David Olusoga examines fifty years of BBC documentary archives to try and discover why dictators can have such a powerful appeal.

Forget oil, coal and gas - a new set of materials is shaping our world and they're so bizarre they may as well be alien technology. In the first BBC documentary to be filmed entirely on smartphones, materials scientist Prof Mark Miodownik reveals the super elements that underpin our high-tech world. We have become utterly dependent on them, but they are rare and they're already running out. The stuff that makes our smartphones work could be gone in a decade and our ability to feed the world depends mostly on a mineral found in just one country. Mark reveals the magical properties of these extraordinary materials and finds out what we can do to save them.