Dear colleagues
*Apologies for cross-posting*
I’m emailing to let you know about two programmes about death, co-produced
by the Open University, that are going to be on the BBC across the UK next
week (descriptions of the programmes at the end of this email). International
subscribers to this list will be able to watch them via the BBC iplayer for one
week after the transmission dates.
Please feel free to circulate this information to anyone you think may be
interested.
Many thanks
Kate
Richard Wilson: Two Feet in the Grave
Tuesday 29 September, 10:35-11:35pm, BBC ONE ( England), 11.15pm-
00.15am (Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland)
The Art of Dying
Wednesday 30 September, 9:00-10:00pm, BBC FOUR
Both programmes will be available on the BBC iplayer for one week after
transmission and are accompanied by an interactive website, which features
interviews with the presenters, surveys, articles and much more.
http://www.open2.net/deathanddying/
You can also request a free booklet which explores the traditions and taboos
surrounding death. Call 0845 366 80 16 or visit the website to order a copy.
The programmes have been produced in relation to the Open University’s highly
successful distance learning course, ‘Death and Dying’. You can find out more
about the course by visiting the website above.
Programme details
Richard Wilson: Two Feet in the Grave
Tuesday 29 September, 10:35-11:35pm, BBC ONE (England), 11.15pm-
00.15am (Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland)
In this first programme, Richard Wilson sets out to uncover just what happens
to our bodies when we die and the very different ways people deal with death
and grief. Richard meets some of the army of people whose jobs bring them
into daily contact with dead people, including pathologists, mortuary
technicians, embalmers, and crematorium operatives. He explores the role of
memorial photography through history with Professor Glennys Howarth and
considers new rituals like roadside memorials and ‘ghostbikes’, as well as grave
reclamation and garden burial.
The Art of Dying
Wednesday 30 September, 9:00-10:00pm, BBC FOUR
In this second programme, art historian Dan Cruickshank confronts the
unavoidable issue of his own certain death. Reliving his own family losses, he
explores how death has been dealt with through the ages: from the epic
depiction of "Doom" paintings that show the day of judgement to the fashion
for death masks and death bed paintings; from the art of the obituary writer
to the incredible wartime memorial of Kathe Kollwitz; from the medieval tomb of
an archbishop of Canterbury to his own death mask. Along the way he reflects
on his own obituary and meets art historian and contemplative, Sister Wendy
to quiz her on the helpfulness of art in the face of death; painter Maggi
Hambling who portrayed her deceased mother; and Jamie McCartney who took
a plaster cast of his own dead father.
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