# BBC Four Collections

BBC Four Collections is a selected variation of factual television episodes and series available on British video-on-demand service BBC iPlayer. The collections themselves primarily involve "experts" like Richard Osman, Janet Street-Porter and David Attenborough selecting various programmes from the BBC Archive to be made available on the iPlayer service. Every programme is marked with a short introduction marking the collection with BBC Four branding. Each collection has a particular theme like modern classical music, the British Army and interviews with famous figures. Some collections were established in 2012, more being added to the service until 2014. As of 2023, most of the content is still available on the iPlayer service, with some becoming unavailable due to rights or other reasons, like the Tim Westwood sexual assault allegations.

## List of collections

Only collections with a noted author (mentioned at the start of each programme) are included in this list.
| Expert | Collection | Year | Programme | Episode Title or Date | Available (as of 2023) |
| Mark Urban | Army: A Very British Institution | 1968 | Breakaway | 5. "My Friends Think I'm Mad" | Yes |
| Mark Urban | Army: A Very British Institution | 1990 | Everyman | "A Game of Soldiers" | Yes |
| Mark Urban | Army: A Very British Institution | 1977 | In Her Majesty's Service | 6. Corporal of Horse Christopher Slater, The Life Guards Squadron of the Household Cavalry Regiment | Yes |
| Mark Urban | Army: A Very British Institution | 1989 | In the Highest Tradition | N/A, 6-episode series | Yes |
| Mark Urban | Army: A Very British Institution | 1989 | Inside Out: Ticking with the Crow/The Officers' Mess | N/A | Yes |
| Mark Urban | Army: A Very British Institution | 1960 | Meet the Red Devils: Parachute Regiment | N/A | Yes |
| Mark Urban | Army: A Very British Institution | 1985 | Moment of Truth | Episode 6 | Yes |
| Mark Urban | Army: A Very British Institution | 1969 | Omnibus | Makers of the Queen's Music | Yes |
| Mark Urban | Army: A Very British Institution | 1975 | Panorama | Sandhurst | Yes |
| Mark Urban | Army: A Very British Institution | 1983 | The Paras | N/A, 7-episode series | Yes |
| Mark Urban | Army: A Very British Institution | 1977 | The Regiment | N/A | Yes |
| Mark Urban | Army: A Very British Institution | 1977 | Silver Jubilee | Review of the British Army | Yes |
| Mark Urban | Army: A Very British Institution | 1977 | Trooping the Colour | Silver Jubilee | Yes |
| Mark Urban | Army: A Very British Institution | 1952 | Trooping the Colour | 1952 | Yes |
| Mark Urban | Army: A Very British Institution | 1974 | Tuesday Documentary | The Bomb Disposal Men | Yes |
| Mark Urban | Army: A Very British Institution | 1968 | Tuesday Documentary | Death or Glory | Yes |
| Simon Jenkins | London | 1987 | Open Space | Bad Meaning Good | No |
| Simon Jenkins | London | 1975 | Going Places | 12 | Yes |
| Simon Jenkins | London | 1964 | A City Crowned with Green | N/A | Yes |
| Simon Jenkins | London | 1950 | The Debate Continues | N/A | Yes |
| Simon Jenkins | London | 1946 | First-Year Flashbacks | N/A | Yes |
| Simon Jenkins | London | 1999 | Inside Story | Fish Tales | Yes |
| Simon Jenkins | London | 1968 | One Pair of Eyes | Georgia Brown: Who are the Cockneys Now? | Yes |
| Simon Jenkins | London | 1956 | Special Enquiry | A Girl Comes to London | Yes |
| Simon Jenkins | London | 1960 | A House in Bayswater | N/A | Yes |
| Simon Jenkins | London | 1969 | How They Dug the Victoria Line | N/A | Yes |
| Simon Jenkins | London | 1971 | Man Alive | Hyde Park | Yes |
| Simon Jenkins | London | 1969 | I Love This Dirty Town | N/A | Yes |
| Simon Jenkins | London | 1985 | Ours to Keep | Incomers | No |
| Simon Jenkins | London | 1959 | After the Battle | London - Ed Murrow Reports | Yes |
| Simon Jenkins | London | 1957 | Eye To Eye | London-New York | Yes |
| Simon Jenkins | London | 1955 | Cities of Europe | London: We Live by the River | Yes |
| Simon Jenkins | London | 1968 | Contrasts | Marble Arch to Edgware | Yes |
| Simon Jenkins | London | 1976 | Inside Story | The Market | Yes |
| Simon Jenkins | London | 1991 | Clive James | Postcard from London | Yes |
| Simon Jenkins | London | 1985 | Just Another Day | Soho | Yes |
| Simon Jenkins | London | 1985 | Just Another Day | The Tower of London | Yes |
| Simon Jenkins | London | 1996 | Modern Times | Streetwise | Yes |
| Simon Jenkins | London | 1967 | Three Swings on a Pendulum | N/A | Yes |
| Simon Jenkins | London | 1985 | To the World's End: Scenes and Characters on a London Bus Route | N/A | Yes |
| Clemency Burton-Hill | Modern Classical Music | 2005 | Boulez at 80 | N/A | Yes |
| Clemency Burton-Hill | Modern Classical Music | 2005 | BBC Proms 2005 | Michael Berkeley, Ben Britten & Vaughan Williams | Yes |
| Clemency Burton-Hill | Modern Classical Music | 1964 | Celebrity Recital | Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears. | Yes |
| Clemency Burton-Hill | Modern Classical Music | 2004 | John Cage Live at the Barbican | N/A | Yes |
| Clemency Burton-Hill | Modern Classical Music | 1978 | Julian Bream Masterclass | N/A, 5-episode series | Yes |
| Clemency Burton-Hill | Modern Classical Music | 2001 | Music Masters | Stockhausen | No |
| Clemency Burton-Hill | Modern Classical Music | 2001 | Music Masters | John Adams | Yes |
| Clemency Burton-Hill | Modern Classical Music | 1968 | Omnibus | Diaghilev: The Years Abroad | Yes |
| Clemency Burton-Hill | Modern Classical Music | 2001 | ''Philip Glass Concert: Live at the Barbican | N/A | Yes |
| Clemency Burton-Hill | Modern Classical Music | 2013 | The Sound and the Fury in Concert | N/A, 3 episode series | Yes |
| Clemency Burton-Hill | Modern Classical Music | 1964 | War Requiem | N/A | Yes |
| Gary Boyd-Hope | Steam Railways | 1968 | 4472 - Flying Scotsman | N/A | Yes |
| Gary Boyd-Hope | Steam Railways | 1963 | Let's Imagine | A Branch Line Railway with John Betjeman | Yes |
| Gary Boyd-Hope | Steam Railways | 1975 | The World About Us | The Romance of Indian Railways | Yes |
| Gary Boyd-Hope | Steam Railways | 1986 | Steam Days | N/A, 6 episode series | No |
| Gary Boyd-Hope | Steam Railways | 1979 | The Rainhill Story: Stephenson's Rocket | N/A | Yes |
| Gary Boyd-Hope | Steam Railways | 1988 | The Train Now Departing | N/A, 6 episode series | No |
| Gary Boyd-Hope | Steam Railways | 1969 | Tuesday Documentary | Engines Must Not Enter the Potato Siding | Yes |
| Gary Boyd-Hope | Steam Railways | 1962 | In View | Men of Steam | Yes |
| Gary Boyd-Hope | Steam Railways | 1980 | The Past at Work | Railway Mania | Yes |
| Gary Boyd-Hope | Steam Railways | 1980 | The Great Railway Cavalcade: Rocket 150 at Rainhill | N/A | Yes |
| Gary Boyd-Hope | Steam Railways | 1977 | With a Fine Feeling for Steam | N/A | Yes |
| Robin Lane Fox | Archaeology at the BBC | 1956 | Animal, Vegetable, Mineral? | 3 May 1956 | Yes |
| Robin Lane Fox | Archaeology at the BBC | 1958 | Animal, Vegetable, Mineral? | 1 October 1958 | Yes |
| Robin Lane Fox | Archaeology at the BBC | 1960 | The Grandeur That Was Rome | N/A, 3 episode series | Yes |
| Robin Lane Fox | Archaeology at the BBC | 1958 | Armchair Voyage: Hellenic Cruise | N/A, 3 episode series | Yes |
| Robin Lane Fox | Archaeology at the BBC | 1974 | Sir Mortimer and Magnus | N/A, 6 episode series | Yes |
| Robin Lane Fox | Archaeology at the BBC | 1966 | Chronicle | Vikings in North America | Yes |
| Robin Lane Fox | Archaeology at the BBC | 1966 | Chronicle | The Roman Goose March: The Holy Sailors | Yes |
| Robin Lane Fox | Archaeology at the BBC | 1973 | Chronicle | The Ape Man That Never Was | Yes |
| Robin Lane Fox | Archaeology at the BBC | 1954 | Buried Treasure | Stonehenge | Yes |
| Robin Lane Fox | Archaeology at the BBC | 1956 | Buried Treasure | The Walls of Jericho | Yes |
| Robin Lane Fox | Archaeology at the BBC | 1958 | Buried Treasure | King Solomon's Mines | Yes |
| Robin Lane Fox | Archaeology at the BBC | 1957 | Buried Treasure | Mohenjo-daro | Yes |
| Robin Lane Fox | Archaeology at the BBC | 1954 | Buried Treasure | The Peat Bog Murder Mystery | Yes |
| Julian Joseph | Blues | 1985 | Arena | Blues Night (5-episode series) | Yes |
| Julian Joseph | Blues | 1979 | The Devil's Music (series 2) | N/A, 4-episode series | Yes |
| Julian Joseph | Blues | 1972 | Sounding Out | B.B. King | Yes |
| Janet Street-Porter | Post-War Architecture | 1986 | Architecture at the Crossroads | Doubt and Reassessment | Yes |
| Janet Street-Porter | Post-War Architecture | 1986 | Architecture at the Crossroads | Stop the Bulldozer | Yes |
| Janet Street-Porter | Post-War Architecture | 1986 | Architecture at the Crossroads | Houses Fit for People | Yes |
| Janet Street-Porter | Post-War Architecture | 1988 | Building Sights | Schlumberger Building | Yes |
| Janet Street-Porter | Post-War Architecture | 1988 | Building Sights | Byker Wall | Yes |
| Janet Street-Porter | Post-War Architecture | 1988 | Building Sights | Alexander Fleming House | Yes |
| Janet Street-Porter | Post-War Architecture | 1989 | Building Sights | Janet Street-Porter | Yes |
| Janet Street-Porter | Post-War Architecture | 1991 | Building Sights | Lloyd's Building | Yes |
| Janet Street-Porter | Post-War Architecture | 1991 | Building Sights | Trellick Tower | Yes |
| Janet Street-Porter | Post-War Architecture | 1991 | Building Sights | Boarbank Hall Oratory | Yes |
| Janet Street-Porter | Post-War Architecture | 1996 | Building Sights | Canary Wharf | Yes |
| Janet Street-Porter | Post-War Architecture | 1996 | Building Sights | Worsley Medical Building | Yes |
| Janet Street-Porter | Post-War Architecture | 1996 | Building Sights | Hauer-King House | Yes |
| Janet Street-Porter | Post-War Architecture | 1996 | Building Sights | Humber Bridge | Yes |
| Janet Street-Porter | Post-War Architecture | 1996 | Building Sights | Wood Street Police Station | Yes |
| Janet Street-Porter | Post-War Architecture | 1996 | Building Sights | Alton Estate | Yes |
| Janet Street-Porter | Post-War Architecture | 1996 | Building Sights | Willis Corroon | Yes |
| Janet Street-Porter | Post-War Architecture | 1972 | Nairn Across Britain | N/A, 3-episode series | Yes |
| Janet Street-Porter | Post-War Architecture | 1969 | Omnibus | The More We Are Together | Yes |
| Janet Street-Porter | Post-War Architecture | 1979 | Where We Live Now | New Town, Home Town | Yes |
| David Attenborough | The Early Years | 2013 | David Attenborough: The Early Years | N/A | Yes |
| David Attenborough | The Early Years | 1963 | Adventure | Quest under Capricorn (6-episode series) | Yes |
| David Attenborough | The Early Years | 1965 | Adventure | Zambezi (3 episodes) | Yes |
| David Attenborough | The Early Years | 1961 | Zoo Quest | To Madagascar (5 episodes) | Yes |
| David Attenborough | The Early Years | 1956 | Zoo Quest | for a Dragon (6 episodes) | Yes |
| David Attenborough | The Early Years | 1955 | Zoo Quest | to West Africa | Yes |
| David Attenborough | The Early Years | 1960 | The People of Paradise | First 5 episodes of 6 | Yes |
| David Attenborough | The Early Years | 1969 | The Miracle of Bali | N/A, 3-episode series | Yes |
| David Attenborough | The Early Years | 1961 | Elsa the Lioness | N/A | Yes |
| Michael Parkinson | Talk | 1959 | Face to Face | Bertrand Russell | Yes |
| Michael Parkinson | Talk | 1959 | Face to Face | Dame Edith Sitwell | Yes |
| Michael Parkinson | Talk | 1959 | Face to Face | Carl Jung | Yes |
| Michael Parkinson | Talk | 1960 | Face to Face | Stirling Moss | Yes |
| Michael Parkinson | Talk | 1960 | Face to Face | Evelyn Waugh | Yes |
| Michael Parkinson | Talk | 1960 | Face to Face | Adam Faith | Yes |
| Michael Parkinson | Talk | 1961 | Face to Face | Martin Luther King | Yes |
| Michael Parkinson | Talk | 1994 | Face to Face | Maya Angelou | Yes |
| Michael Parkinson | Talk | 1994 | Face to Face | Jeanette Winterson | Yes |
| Michael Parkinson | Talk | 1995 | Face to Face | Lauren Bacall | Yes |
| Michael Parkinson | Talk | 1995 | Face to Face | Ken Dodd | Yes |
| Michael Parkinson | Talk | 1972 | Parkinson | David Niven | Yes |
| Michael Parkinson | Talk | 1974 | Parkinson | Dr Jacob Bronowski | Yes |
| Michael Parkinson | Talk | 1998 | Parkinson | Billy Connolly & David Attenborough | Yes |
| Michael Parkinson | Talk | 1974 | The Frost Interview | David Frost interviews Muhammad Ali | Yes |
| Michael Parkinson | Talk | 1974 | The Frost Interview | Brian Clough | Yes |
| Michael Parkinson | Talk | 2003 | Breakfast with Frost | Tony Blair | Yes |
| Michael Parkinson | Talk | 2003 | Breakfast with Frost | Dominique de Villepin | Yes |
| Michael Parkinson | Talk | 2004 | Breakfast with Frost | Donald Rumsfeld | Yes |
| Michael Parkinson | Talk | 1965 | Late Night Line-Up | 16 October 1965 | Yes |
| Michael Parkinson | Talk | 1966 | Late Night Line-Up | 20 November 1966 | Yes |
| Michael Parkinson | Talk | 1966 | Late Night Line-Up | Coco the Clown | Yes |
| Michael Parkinson | Talk | 1966 | Imtimations | 10. John le Carre | Yes |
| Michael Parkinson | Talk | 1966 | People to Watch | Ronald Reagan | Yes |
| Michael Parkinson | Talk | 1960 | Monitor | Henry Moore | Yes |
| Michael Parkinson | Talk | 1955 | In Town Tonight | 22 October 1955 | Yes |
| Michael Parkinson | Talk | 1955 | In Town Tonight | 29 October 1955 | Yes |
| Michael Parkinson | Talk | 1955 | Panorama | Salvador Dali | Yes |
| Michael Parkinson | Talk | 1955 | Panorama | Ed Murrow | Yes |
| Michael Parkinson | Talk | 1955 | Press Conference | Orson Welles | Yes |
| Michael Parkinson | Talk | 1982 | Arena | Desert Island Discs | Yes |
| Michael Parkinson | Talk | 1963 | The Solitary Billionaire: J. Paul Getty | N/A | Yes |
| Michael Parkinson | Talk | 1971 | Daphne Du Maurier | N/A | Yes |
| Michael Parkinson | Talk | 1984 | Wogan | 18 February 1984 | Yes |
| Michael Parkinson | Talk | 1984 | Wogan | 25 December 1984 | Yes |
| Michael Parkinson | Talk | 1987 | Wogan | 9 November 1987 | Yes |
| Michael Parkinson | Talk | 1970 | Personal Choice | Jane Fonda | Yes |
| Michael Parkinson | Talk | 1956 | Picture Parade | Joan Crawford | No |
| Adam Curtis | All American | 1972 | Alistair Cooke's America | The First Impact | No |
| Adam Curtis | All American | 1981 | Arena | Chelsea Hotel | Yes |
| Adam Curtis | All American | 2004 | Arena | Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus | Yes |
| Adam Curtis | All American | 1999 | Close Up | Jackson Pollock: Love and Death on Long Island | Yes |
| Adam Curtis | All American | 1965 | Inside America | 13. The Quiet Persuader | Yes |
| Adam Curtis | All American | 1985 | Omnibus | Stud Terkel's Chicago | Yes |
| Adam Curtis | All American | 1966 | Panorama | California 2000 | Yes |
| Adam Curtis | All American | 2001 | Timewatch | The Empire State Story | Yes |
| Adam Curtis | All American | 1967 | Whicker's World | Conflict in Kentucky | Yes |
| Richard Osman | Classic Game Shows | 2000 | Friends Like These | 18 November 2000 | Yes |
| Richard Osman | Classic Game Shows | 1982 | Ask the Family | 2 November 1982 | Yes |
| Richard Osman | Classic Game Shows | 2009 | The Weakest Link | 27 January 2009 | No |
| Richard Osman | Classic Game Shows | 2001 | Big Break | 19 May 2001 | Yes |
| Richard Osman | Classic Game Shows | 1987 | Bob's Full House | 19 December 1987 | Yes |
| Richard Osman | Classic Game Shows | 1974 | What's My Line? | 19 January 1974 | No |
| Richard Osman | Classic Game Shows | 1999 | Call My Bluff | 19 November 1999 | No |
| Richard Osman | Classic Game Shows | 1966 | Quiz Ball | 22 December 1966 | Yes |
| Richard Osman | Classic Game Shows | 1954 | Animal, Vegetable, Mineral? | 28 October 1954 | Yes |
| Max Hastings | The Great War Interviews | 1960s | The Great War Interviews | N/A, 13-episode series | Yes |