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Florence Nightingale
Sunday 1 June
7.00-8.00pm BBC ONE
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 Florence Nightingale, played by
Laura Fraser, experiences the
horrors of the Crimean War Costume drama Florence Nightingale tells the untold story of one of Britain's greatest heroines, based on her own words.
Starring Laura Fraser, this film brings to life the story of Florence Nightingale's spiritual and emotional breakdown after the Crimean War: a moment of crisis, doubt and failure that ultimately inspired her revolutionary career in medicine. It also features actor and comedian Roy Hudd as the leader of a raucous music hall troupe, who dip in and out of the action with songs in the style of the times.
After her return from the military hospital in Scutari in 1857, Florence seemed to be the only good thing to have come out of the disastrous Crimean War. The whole military campaign had been a farce of mismanagement that needlessly exposed British servicemen to suffering, disease and death.
Bent on vengeance, Florence badgered the authorities into allowing her to investigate the ineptitude of the military commanders through a Royal Commission. What she failed to anticipate was that this investigation would reveal her own shortcomings – both to herself and to others.
In despair, Florence withdrew from even her closest family and suffered a complete breakdown and a massive crisis of faith.
Florence Nightingale is written and directed by multi-award-winning director Norman Stone (Shadowlands, Man Dancin', Tales From The Madhouse, CS Lewis – Beyond Narnia), and contains extracts from Florence's own letters and correspondence.
The cast also includes Michael Pennington, Barbara Marten, Andrew Harrison, Ian Bartholomew and Catherine Tyldesley.
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The Culture Show
Tuesday 3 June
10.00-10.30pm BBC TWO
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Lauren Laverne and co-presenter Mark Kermode are back with a summer run of the ever-packed Culture Show.
They begin on set in America with Ricky Gervais as he directs his first-ever feature film, This Side Of The Truth. Set in a world where no one has ever lied, it features an all-star cast including Rob Lowe, Patrick Stewart and Jennifer Garner. Ricky Gervais plays a story-teller who invents lying – and hence fiction. Cult podcaster and thinker Karl Pilkington finds out what it's like to play an extra in such a metaphysically profound film.
Art critic Andrew Graham-Dixon goes to Vienna to attempt a Freudian analysis of the work of Gustav Klimt. The biggest show of Klimt's works ever staged in the UK opens at Tate Liverpool on 30 May. Andrew wonders what Klimt's Viennese contemporary Sigmund Freud would have made of the artist's luscious, erotic depictions of women and of his masterwork, the Beethoven Frieze. This is Klimt's attempt to create a Gesamtkunstwerk, a total work of art – a giant visual version of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. A replica of the Beethoven Frieze is the centrepiece of the Tate Liverpool show.
Simon Armitage is one of Britain's most acclaimed contemporary poets, but in his new book, Gig, he's come out as a frustrated rock star. Mark Kermode accompanies Simon to the ordeal of his first-ever gig as the lead singer of the Scaremongers, in super-cool Shoreditch. Find out what happens when a 40-something poet tries to become a pop star...
Also this week, Mark Kermode delivers his verdicts on the week's biggest films.
Music comes from Sparks, who from 16 May to 11 June attempt their own Gesamtkunstwerk: 21 gigs, covering all 21 of their albums, in 21 days. Lauren finds out why brothers Ron and Russell Mael are attempting such an epic. For the Culture Show Sparks mark the end of the Hillary Clinton vs Barack Obama primary marathon with This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both of Us, from their classic 1974 album Kimono My House.
In The Culture Show Uncut later this week (Friday 6 June, 11.35pm-12.20am), there's a chance to see all of that again plus extra material including cool French beatbox star Camille, who takes up the show's busking challenge, entertaining the crowds at St Pancras station with songs from her hit album Music Hole; a showcase of brilliant cartoons from Britain's top young animators; and extra songs from Sparks.
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The Liverpool Sound
Sunday 1 June
11.00pm-12.30am BBC TWO
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To celebrate Liverpool's year as European Capital of Culture, Sir Paul McCartney takes centre stage at a special one-off concert, in front of more than 30,000 people, at the famous Anfield Stadium, home to Liverpool FC. Sir Paul will be joined by Kaiser Chiefs and other special guests.
BBC Two brings viewers Sunday's recorded highlights from the concert.
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