Future Highlights

*New Series - Channel Premiere*

Peter Ackroyd's Thames [HD]

Author Peter Ackroyd takes viewers on a tour of one the world's most famous rivers, in a new series inspired by his recent bestseller: Thames: Sacred River. Examining the Thames in all its moods, Peter meets the people who have grown up on its banks, and finds out how painters, poets, writers and musicians have portrayed it down the centuries. His journey takes him from the source of the river, deep in the Oxfordshire countryside, to the mysterious place where it meets the open sea and captures the river's "unending cycle of movement and change".

Thursday 4 September 20.30

*Channel Premiere*

Centre Stage: David Gilmour: Live at the Albert Hall - Remember That Night [HD]

David Bowie, Robert Wyatt, David Crosby and Graham Nash are among the special guests joining Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour to perform tracks from his 2006 album On An Island, as well as some Pink Floyd classics, including Wish You Were Here and Comfortably Numb. Performed live in front of fans at a packed Royal Albert Hall, the concert will be screened in high definition for the first time.

Saturday 6 September 21.00

Johnny Cash Night

Sky Arts pays tribute to Johnny Cash on the fifth anniversary of his death, dedicating a night of programming to the Man in Black. The night begins with the documentaries Anthology and Half A Mile A Day, featuring rare archival footage, photos and commentary from those who knew him. Cash's iconic performance in front of the inmates of San Quentin follows at 22.30. Intercut with interviews with prisoners and guards, Cash gives a rousing performance of hits, including Jackson, A Boy Named Sue and I Walk The Line. The evening concludes with his appearance at the 1994 Montreux Jazz Festival, with support from his wife June Carter.

Friday 12 September 20.00

*UK Premiere*

John Waters: This Filthy World [HD]

Curb Your Entusiam's Jeff Garlin directs Hairspray writer/director John Waters in his one-man, vaudeville act. Unafraid to tackle such taboo topics as paedophilia, gay marriage and drug use, Waters discusses his early negative artistic influences, his fascination with true crime, exploitation films and fashion lunacy, and the extremes of the contemporary art world. This joyously devious monologue from the 'Pope of Trash' elevates all that is trashy in life into a call to arms to 'filth followers' everywhere.

Thursday 18 September 22.30

*UK Premiere*

Back Story: Moebius Redux [HD]

Profile of one of the most influential comic strip illustrators and authors of all time, Jean Giraud. He achieved worldwide recognition not only for his comic book work, often under the pseudonym Moebius, but also for his artistic input into a host of hit films, including Tron, The Fifth Element, Space Jam and Alien.  Winner of Best Documentary and Best Picture at San Diego ComiCon!, Moebius Redux features Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee and American comic book artists Jim Lee (X-Men) and Mike Mignola (Hellboy), as well as Alejandro Jodorowsky and Dan O’Bannon (Alien), discussing the breathtaking work of a true visionary.

Tuesday 9 September 21.00

*UK Premieres*

Sky Arts Goes Green [HD]

Sky Arts goes green in September, with a range of environmentally conscious programmes including the UK premieres of: The Greening Of Southie, a documentary following the triumphs and hardships of a construction team that sets out to build Boston’s first residential green building; Big Ideas For A Small Planet, a topical documentary series examining some of the most important environmental concerns facing humanity; and Manufactured Landscapes, a documentary following the work of photographer Edward Burtynsky as he travels the world, observing changes in the landscapes caused by industrial work and manufacturing.

Big Ideas For A Small Planet [HD] - Monday 15 September 19.30

The Greening Of Southie - Sunday 21 September 20.00

Manufactured Landscapes [HD] - Sunday 28 September 20.00

*UK Premiere*

A Day To Remember

"Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few." Winston Churchill, 20 August 1940

Originally conceived by Bill Bond, founder of the Battle of Britain Historical Society, The Battle of Britain Monument on London's Victoria Embankment is a lasting mark of respect commemorating the 'few' who fought bravely and tenaciously against the Luftwaffe, causing the Germans to postpone and eventually cancel their invasion plans. This film documents the struggle faced by the project managers, who oversaw the creative process from concept to construction, as artist Paul Day set about sculpting one of London's newest, and most overdue, monuments.

Monday 15 September 18.00

Sky Arts Launches New Channels

Sky Arts, the UK's only TV channel dedicated to all areas of the arts, will launch a new channel on Monday 20 October, offering viewers the greatest choice of arts content. Sky Arts 1 will be home to cutting-edge documentaries, cult films, classic concerts and ground-breaking drama. Sky Arts 2, meanwhile, will offer the biggest and best selection of classical music, opera, dance and fine-art programming. These new channels will be complemented by Sky Arts HD, a showcase of the best content from both channels, all in crystal clear high definition. With more original content and exclusive commissions than ever before, Sky Arts will offer viewers an unrivalled choice of the best arts on television.

*New Series* *UK Premiere*

Suggs' Italian Job [HD]

From Milan to the Mafia, who better to explore the artistic chaos of Italy ancient and modern than Suggs, a singer with his own special knowledge of Madness. Having owned a home in Puglia for years, the London frontman is the perfect guide in this eight-episode series, exclusive to Sky Arts. Travelling in a classic Mini between the great cities of Italy – Rome, Naples, Verona, Venice – Suggs samples five centuries of culture.

In Cremona, the musician finds a museum with 700 violins constructed by Stradivarius. He steers his Mini into Modena, the birthplace of Italian car design and home of Maserati, Lamborghini and Ferrari. In the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Suggs walks through a secret passageway built on the orders of Cosimo de Medici, but adapted by Mussolini for his clandestine talks with Hitler.

From paintings by Caravaggio to screen epics made at the Cinecitta Studios, Suggs presents a fascinating tour of an unseen Italy, one in which artists continue to build on the legacy of previous generations.

Tuesday 21 October 19.00 Sky Arts 1; Sky Arts HD

*New Series* *UK Premiere*

Seago: The Forgotten Painter [HD]

Regarded by many as Britain’s leading Impressionist painter of the 20th century, Edward Seago was a hugely sought after artist and favourite of the Royals. Despite this, he was continually shunned by the art establishment and was never made a Royal Academician. He left behind a huge body of work not only of English scenes – particularly East Anglia - but also of Italy and France, where his trips up the Seine to Paris produced canvasses that would rival the French Impressionists themselves. Selina Scott presents a new series exploring the life and work of the talented artist, featuring tributes from those who knew and admired him, including the Duke of Edinburgh.

Sunday 26 October 19.30 Sky Arts 2; Sky Arts HD

*New Series* *UK Premiere*

The Book Show [HD]

Mariella Frostrup returns with the UK’s only dedicated TV book show, featuring an array of A-list authors and other big-name guests in the studio, discussing their favourite reads and their own works, as well as reports on all things literary from around the country. No page will be left unturned in this essential series for book lovers everywhere.

Thursday 23 October 19.00 Sky Arts 1; Sky Arts HD

*UK Premiere*

Tim Marlow On...Bacon [HD]

Sky Arts’ critic Tim Marlow explores the work of Francis Bacon in a new exhibition at the Tate Britain. Bacon is widely acknowledged as one of the 20th century’s greatest painters of the figure. His paintings of the 1940s bore witness to the shattered psychology of the time and shot him to a prominence that hardly diminished over the next 50 years. He captured sexuality, violence and isolation in his unflinching depictions of the anxieties of the modern condition.

Marlow will guide viewers through the key pictures in the collection of around 70 works in an exhibition that will be part of a major celebration heralding the artist’s centenary in 2009. As the first UK retrospective since 1985, it will afford a re-assessment of his work in the light of the new research that has emerged since the revelations of his studio and its contents following the artist’s death in 1992.

Also showing in October will be the UK premiere of the documentary, The Art Of Francis Bacon.

Monday 20 October 19.30 Sky Arts 1; Sky Arts HD

*Channel Premiere*

Dudley Moore - After The Laughter

He was called 'the sex thimble', the diminutive, Dagenham-born comedian who married four beautiful women, bedazzled Hollywood in 10 and earned an Academy Award nomination for Arthur. Yet his first love was music rather than movies. He started playing the piano at six, won a music scholarship to Oxford, then toured America with his jazz trio. Music was Moore's way in to acting, as he joined Alan Bennett and Peter Cook in their mould-breaking comic revue, Beyond The Fringe.

It was with Cook that Moore first got a taste of Hollywood glamour, but his later superstar status was all his own work. "He could make the world laugh," said Liza Minnelli, his co-star in Arthur. After The Laughter looks back on Moore's musical feats over a career spanning four decades, even unearthing a string quartet composition he wrote as a student. "Music is my main comfort now," says Moore in this poignant BAFTA-winning documentary, made shortly before his death. Cuddly Dudley, he was only a biscuit over five foot two, but he'll be long-remembered.

 

*Channel Premiere*

Pi

Max Cohen is a brilliant mathematician. He's also increasingly unhinged. Exhausted by head-splitting migraines, he studies in his room, endlessly searching for a specific number code. Maths guides the universe, Max reasons, so there should be a way to read everything numerically, even something as complex as Wall Street. "Within the stock market there is a pattern," he says. "Right in front of me... hiding behind the numbers."

His mentor Sol advises the young man to take a break, get some air, anything to break the cycle of stifling thought. But headaches are the least of Max's problems, when his research attracts the attention of two very different groups. Wall Street traders want him to discover algorithms that could make billions, while a sect of Hasidic Jews think Max has stumbled on something far more valuable: a code hidden in the Torah which reveals the secret name of God. Low in budget but brilliant in conception, this dizzying psychological thriller won critical acclaim worldwide.

*Channel Premiere*

Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert & Documentary

"I'm a shooting star leaping through the skies." Freddie Mercury's star always did burn brighter than his contemporaries. Six months after his death in 1992, musicians from around the world gathered for a Wembley Stadium tribute to the inimitable Queen frontman. Roger Taylor, John Deacon and Brian May, the three surviving members of the group, are joined onstage by legends including David Bowie, Roger Daltrey, Liza Minnelli, Robert Plant, Seal, Slash and George Michael.

For Queen fans, there are a handful of landmark renditions, including a rare live collaboration with Bowie and Annie Lennox for Under Pressure. George Michael sings Somebody To Love, Seal sings Who Wants To Live Forever, while the unlikely pairing of Elton John and Axl Rose brings the house down with Bohemian Rhapsody. Following the concert will be a documentary featuring rehearsal footage, shot behind the scenes at Wembley, including drummer Taylor talking about Freddie, clips of the man himself and the Queen band members discussing the thinking behind the musical collaborations.

Monday 20 October from 21.00

*UK Premiere*

Soundtrack To War

Although armies have been marching to drums for centuries, the US Army might be the first to go to war with a backbeat of thrash metal. Perhaps it's not so surprising, given the sheer ordnance ranged against Saddam's Iraq, from armoured cars, trucks and tanks, to helicopters, fighter jets and rockets. "War itself is heavy metal," says one soldier, who reveals that the most popular track in his tank is Drowning Pool's 'Let The Bodies Hit The Floor'.

Australian war artist George Gittoes has been covering conflict since Vietnam. He's captured footage from Rwanda, Cambodia, Bosnia, Somalia, Afghanistan and Nicaragua. Through interviews with ordinary US soldiers, he finds that some use rap or gospel as an escape from the horror, while others choose rock to amp up their adrenaline. "It's the ultimate rush," says one. "You're going into a fight and you've got a good song in the background. That gets you real fired-up."

Tuesday 21 October 23.00 Sky Arts 1

*UK Premiere*

Matthew Barney - No Restraint

To read criticism of Matthew Barney, one would think he'd just designed an emperor's new clothing line. Although the New York-based artist has always drawn strong feelings, both detractors and supporters agree that he has a gift for the spectacular. For his latest project, Barney teams up with his partner, Icelandic singer Björk, for an artwork involving 45,000 pounds of petroleum jelly, human sashimi and a Japanese whaling factory.

Many of Barney's artworks involve a counterbalance between freedom and restriction. In several, the artist himself is tied while he tries to sketch. Drawing Restraint 9 is a film that depicts two westerners meeting on a whaling ship off the Nagasaki coast. As the local fishermen perform their daily tasks, the westerners don outlandish costumes and cut hunks off their own bodies with flensing knives. While their cabin fills with slimy gunk, the two slowly mutate into whales. Brilliant or bizarre? With Barney, you never know. 

Thursday 23 October 23.00 Sky Arts 1

*UK Premiere*

The Body As A Matrix - Matthew Barney's Cremaster Cycle

Artist Matthew Barney has never been easy to pin down. Is he a performance artist or a film-maker? Symbolist or realist? Throughout the five films of the Cremaster Cycle, Barney reaches across sport, sexuality, biology and urban mythology. The artist talks about his creations and the fantastical imagination and unsettling juxtapositions which have made him one of contemporary art's enfants terribles.

The title of the cycle is taken from the male muscle that regulates the position of the testes. From that unlikely starting point, Barney has built a sealed world of rules and hidden sexuality. The five films reach out like tentacles, snaring writer Norman Mailer, sculptor Richard Serra and Bond girl Ursula Andress. They build stories comprised of fractured segments: the Chrysler building, two blimps crossing a football field, murderer Gary Gilmore, magician Harry Houdini. From an escape artist to an artist who escapes definition, this is a remarkable documentary.

Friday 24 October 19.00 Sky Arts 1

*Channel Premiere*

Hurly Burly

Casting director Eddie (Sean Penn) has a hacienda in the Hollywood hills and an all-consuming cocaine habit. His manipulative business partner Mickey (Kevin Spacey) considers himself superior to Eddie's sex-and-drugs lifestyle, until sly producer Artie (Garry Shandling) drops off a 'care package' in the form of Donna (Anna Paquin), a teenage drifter who'll do anything for shelter.

Based on an award-winning stage play, Hurly Burly paints a scathing picture of Tinseltown's movers and shakers. It's written by playwright David Rabe, who also penned another Sean Penn film, Casualties Of War. Although it is Penn's crazed casting director that carries the film, he's aided by a who's who supporting cast, including Robin Wright Penn as his on-off girlfriend, Chazz Palminteri as an ex-con turned actor and Meg Ryan as a stripper. Caustic drama of Hollywood insiders packed with razor-sharp lines.

 

*UK Premiere*

The Who - The Vegas Job

It was supposed to be a concert for a billion fans. A new software firm offered technology that would play the songs across the internet. Although the technology was a scam, the 1999 concert rocked. In the end, the lucky ones who heard 14 classic Who hits were the select audience of 3,000 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

While songs such as 5:15 showcase the wonderful, subtle skills of John 'The Ox' Entwistle, The Vegas Job is all about the big hits. Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend really get their picks into songs such as Pinball Wizard and the era-defining My Generation.

Returning to their original five-man structure for the first time in 20 years, The Who were reinforced by John Bundrick on keyboard and Zak Starkey, son of Ringo Starr, on the drums. The Vegas Job was billed as a reunion concert, but in the light of bassist John Entwistle's 2002 death (fittingly, at the Hard Rock Hotel), it is almost a swansong – his final live performance with the band.

Friday 31 October 21.00 Sky Arts 1

*UK Premiere*

This Is Nollywood

Lights, camera, action! But what happens when the leading man doesn't show up? Or local thugs extort protection money? Or the electricity shuts down? Welcome to the Nigerian film industry, where between 500 and 1,000 films are made every year. Production values may be low, but demand is high, with more than 50 million video players in Nigeria. Only this year, a Nollywood movie channel launched in the UK on Sky.

Director Bond Emeruwa has £10,000, two lights and one digital camera. He's making an action film on the outskirts of Lagos. Bond has nine days and the clock is ticking. It's like Jack Bauer with a megaphone. During the filming of one critical scene, a nearby mosque broadcasts the call to prayer. But Emeruwa has been in this position before. "In Nollywood we don't count the walls," he says, "we learn how to climb them." A documentary going behind the cameras to profile the world's third largest film industry.

Tuesday 28 October 23.00 Sky Arts 1

*UK Premieres*

Met Opera Season

Sky Arts 2 presents a season of spectacular opera in October, screening some of the picks of the New York Metropolitan Opera's 2007-2008 season. The first opera will be Roméo et Juliette. Charles Gounod’s ultra-sensual interpretation of Shakespeare's classic tragedy has the incandescent Anna Netrebko as Juliette, while Plácido Domingo presides on the podium. Also featuring in October will be Engelbert Humperdinck’s masterful treatment of Hansel and Gretel staring Philip Langridge, Alice Coote and Christine Schäfer, and Verdi's Macbeth.

From Monday 20 October 20.00 Sky Arts 2

*UK Premieres*

Vanessa Mae's Classical Top Ten

Passionate about Prokofiev? Delighted by Debussy? Or simply bowled over by Beethoven? Acclaimed violinist Vanessa Mae adds another string to her bow in October, presenting a run down of the top ten classical music concerts, as voted for by Sky Arts' viewers.

From Tuesday 21 October 20.00 Sky Arts 2

*New Series* *UK Premiere*

Art Rocks [HD]

Sky Arts 1 reveals the hidden artistic talents of some of music’s most prolific icons in a new, five-part HD series Art Rocks. Narrated by Jerry Hall, the series provides a rare insight into how some of music’s most successful showmen have found relief from the industry in the world of art, fusing their boisterous musical talents in the silence of an image.

The series kicks off with infamous rock 'n' roll hellraiser Iggy Pop who reveals his love for Haitian art. After a career of excess, drugs and financial problems, Iggy has turned to painting as a meticulous and therapeutic past time. His Haitian-inspired paintings reflect his constantly frenzied state of mind and allow him to connect to his past. Other featured artists include Moby, George Clinton, Graham Nash and Dave Stewart.

Saturday 25 October 20.30 Sky Arts 1; Sky Arts HD

*New Series* *UK Premiere*

Dead Art [HD]

Discover a treasure trail of hidden art in some very unusual places… in city cemeteries. This series, presented by Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider (left), explores the eclectic memorial sculptures of New York, London’s Gothic renaissance graves, the tourist mecca of Chopin’s resting place in Paris and more. Gain an unusual view of art that is far from six-feet under.

Friday 31 October 19.30 Sky Arts 1; Sky Arts HD

Sky Arts Launches New Channels
Sky Arts, the UK's only TV channel dedicated to all areas of the arts, will launch a new channel on Monday 20 October, offering viewers the greatest choice of arts content. Sky Arts 1 will be home to cutting-edge documentaries, cult films, classic concerts and ground-breaking drama. Sky Arts 2, meanwhile, will offer the biggest and best selection of classical music, opera, dance and fine-art programming. These new channels will be complemented by Sky Arts HD, a showcase of the best content from both channels, all in crystal clear high definition. With more original content and exclusive commissions than ever before, Sky Arts will offer viewers an unrivalled choice of the best arts on television.

*New Series* *UK Premiere*
Suggs' Italian Job [HD]
From Milan to the Mafia, who better to explore the artistic chaos of Italy ancient and modern than Suggs, a singer with his own special knowledge of Madness. Having owned a home in Puglia for years, the London frontman is the perfect guide in this eight-episode series, exclusive to Sky Arts. Travelling in a classic Mini between the great cities of Italy – Rome, Naples, Verona, Venice – Suggs samples five centuries of culture.
In Cremona, the musician finds a museum with 700 violins constructed by Stradivarius. He steers his Mini into Modena, the birthplace of Italian car design and home of Maserati, Lamborghini and Ferrari. In the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Suggs walks through a secret passageway built on the orders of Cosimo de Medici, but adapted by Mussolini for his clandestine talks with Hitler.
From paintings by Caravaggio to screen epics made at the Cinecitta Studios, Suggs presents a fascinating tour of an unseen Italy, one in which artists continue to build on the legacy of previous generations.
Tuesday 21 October 19.00 Sky Arts 1; Sky Arts HD

*New Series* *UK Premiere*
Seago: The Forgotten Painter [HD]
Regarded by many as Britain’s leading Impressionist painter of the 20th century, Edward Seago was a hugely sought after artist and favourite of the Royals. Despite this, he was continually shunned by the art establishment and was never made a Royal Academician. He left behind a huge body of work not only of English scenes – particularly East Anglia - but also of Italy and France, where his trips up the Seine to Paris produced canvasses that would rival the French Impressionists themselves. Selina Scott presents a new series exploring the life and work of the talented artist, featuring tributes from those who knew and admired him, including the Duke of Edinburgh.
Sunday 26 October 19.30 Sky Arts 2; Sky Arts HD

*New Series* *UK Premiere*
The Book Show [HD]
Mariella Frostrup returns with the UK’s only dedicated TV book show, featuring an array of A-list authors and other big-name guests in the studio, discussing their favourite reads and their own works, as well as reports on all things literary from around the country. No page will be left unturned in this essential series for book lovers everywhere.
Thursday 23 October 19.00 Sky Arts 1; Sky Arts HD

*UK Premiere*
Tim Marlow On...Bacon [HD]
Sky Arts’ critic Tim Marlow explores the work of Francis Bacon in a new exhibition at the Tate Britain. Bacon is widely acknowledged as one of the 20th century’s greatest painters of the figure. His paintings of the 1940s bore witness to the shattered psychology of the time and shot him to a prominence that hardly diminished over the next 50 years. He captured sexuality, violence and isolation in his unflinching depictions of the anxieties of the modern condition.
Marlow will guide viewers through the key pictures in the collection of around 70 works in an exhibition that will be part of a major celebration heralding the artist’s centenary in 2009. As the first UK retrospective since 1985, it will afford a re-assessment of his work in the light of the new research that has emerged since the revelations of his studio and its contents following the artist’s death in 1992.
Also showing in October will be the UK premiere of the documentary, The Art Of Francis Bacon.
Monday 20 October 19.30 Sky Arts 1; Sky Arts HD

*Channel Premiere*
Dudley Moore - After The Laughter
He was called 'the sex thimble', the diminutive, Dagenham-born comedian who married four beautiful women, bedazzled Hollywood in 10 and earned an Academy Award nomination for Arthur. Yet his first love was music rather than movies. He started playing the piano at six, won a music scholarship to Oxford, then toured America with his jazz trio. Music was Moore's way in to acting, as he joined Alan Bennett and Peter Cook in their mould-breaking comic revue, Beyond The Fringe.
It was with Cook that Moore first got a taste of Hollywood glamour, but his later superstar status was all his own work. "He could make the world laugh," said Liza Minnelli, his co-star in Arthur. After The Laughter looks back on Moore's musical feats over a career spanning four decades, even unearthing a string quartet composition he wrote as a student. "Music is my main comfort now," says Moore in this poignant BAFTA-winning documentary, made shortly before his death. Cuddly Dudley, he was only a biscuit over five foot two, but he'll be long-remembered.

 

*Channel Premiere*
Pi
Max Cohen is a brilliant mathematician. He's also increasingly unhinged. Exhausted by head-splitting migraines, he studies in his room, endlessly searching for a specific number code. Maths guides the universe, Max reasons, so there should be a way to read everything numerically, even something as complex as Wall Street. "Within the stock market there is a pattern," he says. "Right in front of me... hiding behind the numbers."
His mentor Sol advises the young man to take a break, get some air, anything to break the cycle of stifling thought. But headaches are the least of Max's problems, when his research attracts the attention of two very different groups. Wall Street traders want him to discover algorithms that could make billions, while a sect of Hasidic Jews think Max has stumbled on something far more valuable: a code hidden in the Torah which reveals the secret name of God. Low in budget but brilliant in conception, this dizzying psychological thriller won critical acclaim worldwide.

*Channel Premiere*
Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert & Documentary
"I'm a shooting star leaping through the skies." Freddie Mercury's star always did burn brighter than his contemporaries. Six months after his death in 1992, musicians from around the world gathered for a Wembley Stadium tribute to the inimitable Queen frontman. Roger Taylor, John Deacon and Brian May, the three surviving members of the group, are joined onstage by legends including David Bowie, Roger Daltrey, Liza Minnelli, Robert Plant, Seal, Slash and George Michael.
For Queen fans, there are a handful of landmark renditions, including a rare live collaboration with Bowie and Annie Lennox for Under Pressure. George Michael sings Somebody To Love, Seal sings Who Wants To Live Forever, while the unlikely pairing of Elton John and Axl Rose brings the house down with Bohemian Rhapsody. Following the concert will be a documentary featuring rehearsal footage, shot behind the scenes at Wembley, including drummer Taylor talking about Freddie, clips of the man himself and the Queen band members discussing the thinking behind the musical collaborations.
Monday 20 October from 21.00

*UK Premiere*
Soundtrack To War
Although armies have been marching to drums for centuries, the US Army might be the first to go to war with a backbeat of thrash metal. Perhaps it's not so surprising, given the sheer ordnance ranged against Saddam's Iraq, from armoured cars, trucks and tanks, to helicopters, fighter jets and rockets. "War itself is heavy metal," says one soldier, who reveals that the most popular track in his tank is Drowning Pool's 'Let The Bodies Hit The Floor'.
Australian war artist George Gittoes has been covering conflict since Vietnam. He's captured footage from Rwanda, Cambodia, Bosnia, Somalia, Afghanistan and Nicaragua. Through interviews with ordinary US soldiers, he finds that some use rap or gospel as an escape from the horror, while others choose rock to amp up their adrenaline. "It's the ultimate rush," says one. "You're going into a fight and you've got a good song in the background. That gets you real fired-up."
Tuesday 21 October 23.00 Sky Arts 1

*UK Premiere*
Matthew Barney - No Restraint
To read criticism of Matthew Barney, one would think he'd just designed an emperor's new clothing line. Although the New York-based artist has always drawn strong feelings, both detractors and supporters agree that he has a gift for the spectacular. For his latest project, Barney teams up with his partner, Icelandic singer Björk, for an artwork involving 45,000 pounds of petroleum jelly, human sashimi and a Japanese whaling factory.
Many of Barney's artworks involve a counterbalance between freedom and restriction. In several, the artist himself is tied while he tries to sketch. Drawing Restraint 9 is a film that depicts two westerners meeting on a whaling ship off the Nagasaki coast. As the local fishermen perform their daily tasks, the westerners don outlandish costumes and cut hunks off their own bodies with flensing knives. While their cabin fills with slimy gunk, the two slowly mutate into whales. Brilliant or bizarre? With Barney, you never know. 
Thursday 23 October 23.00 Sky Arts 1

*UK Premiere*
The Body As A Matrix - Matthew Barney's Cremaster Cycle
Artist Matthew Barney has never been easy to pin down. Is he a performance artist or a film-maker? Symbolist or realist? Throughout the five films of the Cremaster Cycle, Barney reaches across sport, sexuality, biology and urban mythology. The artist talks about his creations and the fantastical imagination and unsettling juxtapositions which have made him one of contemporary art's enfants terribles.
The title of the cycle is taken from the male muscle that regulates the position of the testes. From that unlikely starting point, Barney has built a sealed world of rules and hidden sexuality. The five films reach out like tentacles, snaring writer Norman Mailer, sculptor Richard Serra and Bond girl Ursula Andress. They build stories comprised of fractured segments: the Chrysler building, two blimps crossing a football field, murderer Gary Gilmore, magician Harry Houdini. From an escape artist to an artist who escapes definition, this is a remarkable documentary.
Friday 24 October 19.00 Sky Arts 1

*Channel Premiere*
Hurly Burly
Casting director Eddie (Sean Penn) has a hacienda in the Hollywood hills and an all-consuming cocaine habit. His manipulative business partner Mickey (Kevin Spacey) considers himself superior to Eddie's sex-and-drugs lifestyle, until sly producer Artie (Garry Shandling) drops off a 'care package' in the form of Donna (Anna Paquin), a teenage drifter who'll do anything for shelter.
Based on an award-winning stage play, Hurly Burly paints a scathing picture of Tinseltown's movers and shakers. It's written by playwright David Rabe, who also penned another Sean Penn film, Casualties Of War. Although it is Penn's crazed casting director that carries the film, he's aided by a who's who supporting cast, including Robin Wright Penn as his on-off girlfriend, Chazz Palminteri as an ex-con turned actor and Meg Ryan as a stripper. Caustic drama of Hollywood insiders packed with razor-sharp lines.

 

*UK Premiere*
The Who - The Vegas Job
It was supposed to be a concert for a billion fans. A new software firm offered technology that would play the songs across the internet. Although the technology was a scam, the 1999 concert rocked. In the end, the lucky ones who heard 14 classic Who hits were the select audience of 3,000 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
While songs such as 5:15 showcase the wonderful, subtle skills of John 'The Ox' Entwistle, The Vegas Job is all about the big hits. Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend really get their picks into songs such as Pinball Wizard and the era-defining My Generation.
Returning to their original five-man structure for the first time in 20 years, The Who were reinforced by John Bundrick on keyboard and Zak Starkey, son of Ringo Starr, on the drums. The Vegas Job was billed as a reunion concert, but in the light of bassist John Entwistle's 2002 death (fittingly, at the Hard Rock Hotel), it is almost a swansong – his final live performance with the band.
Friday 31 October 21.00 Sky Arts 1

*UK Premiere*
This Is Nollywood
Lights, camera, action! But what happens when the leading man doesn't show up? Or local thugs extort protection money? Or the electricity shuts down? Welcome to the Nigerian film industry, where between 500 and 1,000 films are made every year. Production values may be low, but demand is high, with more than 50 million video players in Nigeria. Only this year, a Nollywood movie channel launched in the UK on Sky.
Director Bond Emeruwa has £10,000, two lights and one digital camera. He's making an action film on the outskirts of Lagos. Bond has nine days and the clock is ticking. It's like Jack Bauer with a megaphone. During the filming of one critical scene, a nearby mosque broadcasts the call to prayer. But Emeruwa has been in this position before. "In Nollywood we don't count the walls," he says, "we learn how to climb them." A documentary going behind the cameras to profile the world's third largest film industry.
Tuesday 28 October 23.00 Sky Arts 1

*UK Premieres*
Met Opera Season
Sky Arts 2 presents a season of spectacular opera in October, screening some of the picks of the New York Metropolitan Opera's 2007-2008 season. The first opera will be Roméo et Juliette. Charles Gounod’s ultra-sensual interpretation of Shakespeare's classic tragedy has the incandescent Anna Netrebko as Juliette, while Plácido Domingo presides on the podium. Also featuring in October will be Engelbert Humperdinck’s masterful treatment of Hansel and Gretel staring Philip Langridge, Alice Coote and Christine Schäfer, and Verdi's Macbeth.
From Monday 20 October 20.00 Sky Arts 2

*UK Premieres*
Vanessa Mae's Classical Top Ten
Passionate about Prokofiev? Delighted by Debussy? Or simply bowled over by Beethoven? Acclaimed violinist Vanessa Mae adds another string to her bow in October, presenting a run down of the top ten classical music concerts, as voted for by Sky Arts' viewers.
From Tuesday 21 October 20.00 Sky Arts 2

*New Series* *UK Premiere*
Art Rocks [HD]
Sky Arts 1 reveals the hidden artistic talents of some of music’s most prolific icons in a new, five-part HD series Art Rocks. Narrated by Jerry Hall, the series provides a rare insight into how some of music’s most successful showmen have found relief from the industry in the world of art, fusing their boisterous musical talents in the silence of an image.
The series kicks off with infamous rock 'n' roll hellraiser Iggy Pop who reveals his love for Haitian art. After a career of excess, drugs and financial problems, Iggy has turned to painting as a meticulous and therapeutic past time. His Haitian-inspired paintings reflect his constantly frenzied state of mind and allow him to connect to his past. Other featured artists include Moby, George Clinton, Graham Nash and Dave Stewart.
Saturday 25 October 20.30 Sky Arts 1; Sky Arts HD

*New Series* *UK Premiere*
Dead Art [HD]
Discover a treasure trail of hidden art in some very unusual places… in city cemeteries. This series, presented by Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider (left), explores the eclectic memorial sculptures of New York, London’s Gothic renaissance graves, the tourist mecca of Chopin’s resting place in Paris and more. Gain an unusual view of art that is far from six-feet under.
Friday 31 October 19.30 Sky Arts 1; Sky Arts HD