BBC Two's blog

8:00pm Wednesday 18 April on BBC TWO

Giles Coren and the Our Food team explore Kent. This is the garden of England, rich with orchards and fruitful harvests, but it’s also on the doorstep of continental Europe – a source of new tastes and ideas.

Giles gets a taste of what British beer was like before the arrival of hops, while Alys Fowler uncovers the real roots of English cherries. The team also discover lavender’s long history as a flavour as well as a fragrance and learn the secret of some mysterious buildings on Romney Marsh.

Giles sails through Kent on the Lady of the Lea, an original Thames barge built in 1931. Rivers and estuaries put Kentish food within easy reach of the markets of London – the barges were big enough to ply their trade in coastal waters but could also venture into narrow creeks to pick up goods direct from suppliers.

Giles learns the importance of getting the tides right and meets a huffler – someone whose job it was to lower the mast so the barge could pass under bridges and sail deep into the heart of Kent.

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9:00pm Tuesday 17 April on BBC TWO

In the first episode in a new series exploring Rome from the bottom up, Professor Mary Beard asks not what the Romans did for us, but what the Empire did for Rome.

All roads lead to Rome, but this isn’t the tale of trading might and imperial power – it’s a portrait of the world’s first global metropolis as seen through the eyes of the ordinary Roman on the street. This is a city where everyone and everything came from somewhere else. The Empire affected everything Romans wore, ate, touched and worshipped.

Mary rides the Via Appia, climbs up to the top seats of the Colosseum, takes a boat to Rome’s famous port Ostia and takes us into the bowels of Monte Testaccio (‘broken pot mountain’). She also meets Eurysaces, ex-slave and eccentric baker, who made a fortune out of the grain trade, building his tomb in the shape of a giant bread-oven; Baricha, Zabda and Achiba, three prisoners of war who went on to become Roman citizens and Pupius Amicus, the purple-dye seller making imperial dye from murex shellfish imported from Tunisia.

Confirmed for Tuesday 17 April on BBC Two at 9.00-10.00pm

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8:00pm Monday 16 April on BBC TWO

The six-part seriesfollows Liverpool’s chaplains, from the work they do to the lives that they touch.

Muslim convert and chaplain Adam Kelwick is moving house to be closer to the main mosque where he works.

With his unique understanding of both Christianity and Islam, Adam is on a mission to build bridges between Muslims and the wider community.

University Rabbi Schmuli Brown is buying food for a Jewish student social event, kosher ten pin bowling. It’s all part of the Rabbi’s mission to keep students close to the Judaic path.

And chaplains at Alder Hey hospital meet up with the mum who found God when she faced her worst nightmare at the hospital.

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7:30pm Monday 16 April on BBC TWO

Great British Menu is back and for 2012 the nation’s greatest chefs are battling it out for the chance to cook a glittering Olympic Banquet. The chefs’ task is to create a menu that captures the Olympic spirit – food that is both breathtaking and awe-inspiring.

This week it’s the turn of the Central England chefs: returning Great British Menu contenders, Aktar Islam (Lasan) and Daniel Clifford (Midsummer House) and newcomer Paul Foster (Tuddenham Mill). Paralympian discus medallist Daniel Greaves takes time out to meet one of the chefs and give them valuable tips for competing at the highest level.

Twenty four of the finest chefs in the country will compete in eight regional heats for the opportunity to create a world-beating four course menu at a prestigious event at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich, hosted by British Olympic legend Sir Steve Redgrave with a glittering guest list of British sporting greats.

Great British Menu veteran Glynn Purnell returns as a regional judge to decide which chefs will go through to the judges, Prue Leith, Oliver Peyton and Matthew Fort, on Friday for a chance to make the national finals.

Monday kicks off with the starters – but which one is going to be first off the blocks? Will it be pork neck with ribwort plantain and pork scratchings, veal tartare with caramelised sweetbread and burnt onions or breast of squab with confit leg, chilli and sweetcorn shoots?

In Tuesday’s programme the chefs cook their fish course – poached ray wing with chicken skin and sea vegetables; stuffed red mullet with roasted artichoke and parmesan pur�e and pickled mackerel with smoked langoustine and infused coconut milk.

Wednesday sees the chefs prepare their main course, but which one will get top marks? Will it be goosnargh duck breast and hearts with potatoes cooked in pine, slow poached chicken and sweetcorn egg, or coriander crumbed lamb loin with sweetbread bhajis and pea pilao?

Thursday is the final chance to impress Glynn with their dessert dishes: whipped sea buckthorn with meringue and crispy rice, raspberry and tarragon roulade with cookie dough and tarragon oil and dark chocolate with raspberry jelly and raspberry sorbet.

On Friday the Great British Menu chefs will decide which of the central region chefs make it through to the national final for an opportunity for one of their dishes to be on the menu at The Olympic Feast.

10:00pm Friday 13 April on BBC TWO

Seb Coe is keen to make an announcement about the future of the Olympic Stadium post-Games and is pushing for a decision from the ODC about which bid – West Ham or Spurs – is the right one to back.

When new Head of Legacy Fiona Healey comes up with a persuasive case for West Ham, Kay finds herself staying up all night to produce a sustainability audit in support of the Spurs bid.

Clarence House has asked the ODC to look at ways of linking the Twenty Twelve Olympics with the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee: is ‘Jubilympics’ the perfect branding solution?

Daniel arrives for his first day at work as Ian’s new PA, replacing Sally, who left for personal reasons at the end of episode two. Plus, budget cuts threaten the provision of adequate sanitary accommodation in the Athlete’s Village.

Written and directed by John Morton (People Like Us), Twenty Twelve sees the return of Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey), Jessica Hynes (Spaced), Olivia Colman (Rev), Amelia Bullmore (Ashes to Ashes), Karl Theobald (Green Wing) and Vincent Franklin (The Thick Of It), who are joined this series by two new characters, played by Samuel Barnett (Beautiful People) and Morven Christie (Monday Monday). Together they form the Olympic Deliverance team, paddling hard below the waterline to keep the London 2012 Olympics on track and on budget.

Twenty Twelve is produced by Paul Schlesinger and the executive producer is Jon Plowman.

7:30pm Friday 13 April on BBC TWO

It’s decision time on Great British Menu for the chefs from Scotland.

One chef left the competition yesterday and only two remain – who will cook their entire menu for the Great British Menu judges, Prue Leith, Matthew Fort and Oliver Peyton?

The judges aren’t easily pleased and only world-class cooking will do.??

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7:30pm Friday 13 April on BBC TWO

From 404 hopefuls who auditioned across the United Kingdom for BBC Young Musician 2012, 122 were selected to be heard at the category auditions. Now only 25 young performers remain in the category finals, with the keyboard final opening the series.

With an opportunity to impress the panel of adjudicators and reach the final in May, this week sees Dominic Degavino, Victor Lim, Yuanfan Yang, Adam Boeker and Martin Bartlett take to the stage.

Presenter Clemency Burton-Hill introduces the five with extensive highlights from their performances, as they bid to become a category winner and gain a place in the semi-final.

Adjudicated by conductor Gareth Jones, Richard McMahon, head of the Keyboard department of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and Ronan O’Hora, head of Keyboard studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, who will be selected to perform again and represent their category?

7:30pm Thursday 12 April on BBC TWO

Great British Menu: The Olympic Feast continues with Scottish chefs Alan Murchison, Colin Buchan and Mark Greenaway presenting their deserts in a bid to reach the national finals.

Today is the final chance to impress Great British Menu veteran Jeremy Lee with their dessert dishes – Going for Gold, Modern Day Eton Mess and Beetroot cake with chocolate mousse and fennel ice cream.

Ep 4

1:40pm Thursday 12 April on BBC TWO

The countdown to the Grand National begins with three days of coverage from the famous Aintree race course.

Five races feature today, including the Liverpool Hurdle which Big Buck’s won last year for the third time in a row, as well as the Fox Hunters’ Chase – a race for amateur jockeys over the daunting Grand National fences.

Clare Balding will host the coverage from Aintree. She’ll be joined by Rishi Persad, Mick Fitzgerald, Richard Pitman, Richard Dunwoody, John Parrott and Gary Wiltshire. Race commentary will come from Jim McGrath, Ian Bartlett and Darren Owen.

9:00pm Wednesday 11 April on BBC TWO

In this three part series award winning historian, Bettany Hughes sets out on an epic journey across continents and back in time to trace the hidden and, often controversial, history of women in religion.

From Ancient Greece and Rome to China and India, she uncovers stories which unlock a secret history of the world: one which still affects us today.

From the dawn of time humans have felt the need to worship, to find a purpose and bring a shape to human existence. Women have always been at the heart of our understanding of the divine but, Hughes argues, this part of our history has often been ignored, buried away.

In this first episode, Betttany Hughes goes back to the beginning of time and visits the world’s oldest religious site to find startling evidence that women were there, at the very birth of organised religion. She finds the evidence of the origins of the worship of the female form and traces the development of goddess worship.

Bettany then visits a world where goddesses ruled the heavens and earth and reveals why our ancestors thought of the divine as female.Travelling across the Mediterranean and the Near East, she goes to remote places where she encounters fearsome goddesses who controlled life and death including the formidable goddesses Kybele and Gaia – the former was called on to save Rome in her hour of need.And she ends up in modern day India, where the goddess is still a powerful force for thousands of Hindus. Immersing herself in the excitement of the Durga Puja festival, Bettany Hughes experiences goddess worship first hand and finds out what she means to her devotees.

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