BBC Schedule Update: The Documentary (Weekend): Dying For a Song – Postponed

Please note that The Documentary (Weekend): Dying For a Song  (and as promoted on the recent BBC What’s On) originally scheduled for Saturday 31 December is being postponed.

Instead the placings for this slot will therefore be split between two programs: The Story of The Bamboo Club (a repeat – full program information below), and The Woman Who Exposed Russian Doping (see the updated slots below).

Program title:                                The Story of The Bamboo Club
First aired:                                  Saturday 31 December
Broadcast window:                       31 December 2016 – 6 January 2017
Number of episodes:                    1
Program duration:                    49 minutes 30 seconds (23 minutes & 26 minutes 30 seconds) or 59 minutes including the News Bulletins, billboards & promos
Download availability:                   from Saturday 31 December 2016 13:30 GMT for 7 days

http://www.bbc.co.uk/partners/english/programmes/the-story-of-the-bamboo-club-

Program description:

The story of The Bamboo Club – a legendary music venue in St. Pauls in Bristol, England, that was a lifeline for the West Indian community.

It is fifty years since one of the most iconic clubs in England, The Bamboo Club, opened in Bristol. The world-famous blues and reggae club was the first West Indian nightspot in the city, built for the people of St. Pauls – for the people who were victimised or not welcome elsewhere because of the colour of their skin.

We hear from club members, musicians, or simply occasional visitors who all say that there were always two themes running through the club – community and music. We hear from those who set up the first black cricket team in Bristol, about the first meetings of the famous St. Pauls Festival, and how the club was used for charity events to support local causes regardless of colour.

But it was the music that made this club so unique. We hear memories from those who sat and spoke with a young Bob Marley, and from sisters who grew up with Desmond Dekker before watching him perform on the Bamboo stage the week he was UK number one in the music charts. And we hear from those who played on the stage – including the last act to play The Bamboo Club in 1977 before the club went up in flames.

Regular Weekend Documentary slots BBC broadcast times:
APM | Sat 31 December 22:06-22:59 rpt Sun 1 January 13:06-13:59 EST

Program title:                                The Woman Who Exposed Russian Doping
First aired:                                  Saturday 31 December
Broadcast window:                       31 December 2016 – 27 January 2017
Number of episodes:                    1
Program duration:                    49 minutes 30 seconds (23 minutes & 26 minutes 30 seconds) or 59 minutes including the News Bulletins, billboards & promos
Download availability:                   from Saturday 31 December 2016 20:00 GMT for 28 days

www.bbc.co.uk/partners/english/programmes/the-woman-who-exposed-russian-doping

Program description:

 Lucy Ash meets the couple who have been living like fugitives ever since they decided to blow the cover on the widespread use of performance-enhancing drugs among Russian athletes.

For the past two years, Russian athlete Yuliya Stepanova, her husband Vitaly and their three year old son, Robert, have been on the run, living in a secret location in the USA. They fear for their lives, after they exposed one of the greatest sporting scandals of all time – the systemic Russian state sponsored doping programme.

With very little money or support from any sporting authority, a life of solitude and uncertainty is the prize for the whistle-blower who brought down Russian sport.

Yuliya’s husband, Vitaly, was an anti-doping official who was sincere about cleaning up Russian sport. He encouraged his wife to secretly record coaches and fellow athletes over almost two years as they urged her to take banned substances. The evidence she collected helped destroy Russia’s dreams of gold in the 2016 Rio Olympics so many of her compatriots view her as a traitor.

But, in the wake of the scandal, President Vladimir Putin has pledged tighter controls and reforms. So Lucy travels to Moscow, to ask if Russia is really cleaning up its act

Regular Weekend Documentary slots BBC broadcast times:

APM | Saturday 31 December 15:06-15:59 rpt Sun 1 January 07:06-07:59 EST; Wed 4 January 02:06-02:59, 18:06-18:59 EST