BBC Four TV Guide — Monday, 8 June 2026

The second round of the student quiz continues, with two more teams of four pitting their wits against one another as they attempt to secure a place in the quarter-finals. Jeremy Paxman asks the questions

Victoria Coren Mitchell hosts the second semi-final of the quiz as the Chessmen take on the Rugby Boys, making connections between things that initially do not appear to be linked. One set of clues comprises Carmilla, Neo, Lord Voldemort and Sir Leigh Teabing

Art historian Rose Balston explores six decades of BBC archive to discover how TV has influenced people's understanding of John Constable. The artist pushed the boundaries of landscape painting, to the extent he was rejected by the establishment. But perhaps just as surprisingly, he poured his love for one woman on to the canvas as no painter of landscapes had done before

Andrew Graham-Dixon explores the role of artists and architects in the development of American cities and culture, as the country sought to step out of Europe's shadow. He travels to Manhattan, Chicago and Massachusetts to examine the work of Norman Rockwell, John Sloan, George Bellows and Louis Sullivan, before charting the links between the Great Depression of the 1920s and 30s and the rise of abstract expressionism. He also visits Jackson Pollock's studio in Long Island and Mark Rothko's Chapel in Houston, Texas

The team examines the threat of space weather, meeting some of the dedicated people working to keep the Earth safe from the very worst that the Sun can throw at it. Chris Lintott meets Jim Wild, the president of the Royal Astronomical Society, learn about the Carrington Event of 1859, when a massive solar storm caused aurorae as far south as the Caribbean. Maggie Aderin drops into Warwick University to discover how Dr Ravindra Desai's research is helping people grasp how the matter spat out by the sun interacts with the Earth

Exploration of the cultural impact of the USA's spectacular landscape, revealing how although the country had no ruins or ancient monuments, natural wonders could be found almost anywhere. Presenter Robert Hughes shows how the rise of the railroad opened up a whole new world of discovery while at the same time inaugurating America's industrial future

Historian Simon Sebag Montefiore describes how the Habsburgs transformed Vienna into a multinational city of music, culture, art and ideas. Simon explores the Habsburgs' rise to power and discovers more about how Vienna marked Europe's front line in the struggle to defend both Christendom and the Catholic Church from revolutionaries who plotted to destroy them