BBC Reggae Season

1977 was the 60th anniversary of the Russian Revolution, the 30th anniversary of the Partition of India, the 20th anniversary of the First Age of Rock'n'Roll, the 10th anniversary of Sgt Pepper and the Summer of Love. It was the year of Punk, the Queen's Jubilee and the death of Elvis. It was also the year that Bob Marley, with the album Exodus, reached the whole world. Marley's legendary concert at the Rainbow that summer took reggae music and the message of Rastafaria to a world that hitherto had been exposed to neither. The programme is a visual evocation of the world of 1977, a world that seems very far away now, and of the spirit of Marley's most significant album. It is not a film about the making of an album, it's a film about an artist and his world; about the impact of the world on Bob Marley and of Bob Marley on the world.

Drama telling the story of Blue, a young man of Jamaican descent living in Brixton in 1980, as he hangs out with his friends, fronts a dub sound system, loses his job, struggles with family problems and has his friendships tested by racism.

On an island where reggae is considered the voice of the people and an outlet for survival, Rise Up Reggae Star follows three aspiring artists who seek to 'rise up' from obscurity for their chance at success. This documentary takes the viewer off the beaten path, far from any tourist attractions and sandy beaches; yet it is still able to capture the beauty and magic that the Island has to offer. From the deep countryside to the whirlwind ghettos of Kingston, no matter where you are, the film makes it evident that music is the heartbeat of the culture. In a society where talent abounds and opportunity is scarce, Rise Up follows the very different lives of three artists struggling in their own unique way for their big break at stardom. Turbulence, the conscious ghetto youth with enough determination to move mountains; Ice, the young faux-gangster dancehall artist from the upper class; and Kemoy, the beautifully innocent country girl who barely realizes her amazing vocal gifts - their stories unfold as the film seamlessly interweaves their lives behind the backdrop of the bustling underground reggae scene of Jamaica. Five years in the making, Rise Up is able to capture the pure artistry and creativity of these three musicians in raw form while at the same time, able to bring the viewer into their personal lives, inside their most private moments, as they struggle to find their voice and discover their ability to overcome life's obstacles.

Mark Radcliffe introduces a set from Jamaica's Toots and the Maytals on the West Holts Stage, recorded at Glastonbury 2010.

The acclaimed BBC Four Britannia series moves into the world of British reggae. Showing how it came from Jamaica in the 1960s to influence, over the next 20 years, both British music and society, the programme includes major artists and performances from that era, including Big Youth, Max Romeo, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Jerry Dammers and The Specials, The Police, UB40, Dennis Bovell, lovers rock performers Carroll Thompson and Janet Kay, bands like Aswad and Steel Pulse and reggae admirers such as Boy George and Paul Weller. The programme celebrates the impact of reggae, the changes it brought about and its lasting musical legacy.

An all-star cast celebrates the influence of reggae on the UK's music and culture in a live concert coinciding with BBC Four's Reggae Britannia documentary season. Expect to hear hits from the 1960s to the present day telling the story of the musical evolution from ska, through rocksteady, roots, dub, lovers rock and beyond. Music director Dennis Bovell assembles a big band featuring some of the most important reggae musicians in the British scene to back up a star cast of singers and toasters including Big Youth, Ken Boothe, Neville Staple, Ali Campbell, Dave Barker, Brinsley Forde, Dennis Alcapone and Winston Reedy, Pauline Black, Janet Kay, Carroll Thompson and Rico Rodriguez. The concert celebrates the journey that captured the turmoil and channelled the dreams of Jamaicans who came to Britain, those who were born here and the white kids who grew up alongside them and embraced their culture and their roots.

The rocksteady era of Jamaican music in the mid-to-late 1960s is considered a golden age because rocksteady's sweet, soulful vocals, romantic but often socially conscious lyrics and prominent basslines gave birth to reggae, which went on to capture the world. This documentary chronicles the coming together of rocksteady's surviving vocal stars - artists like the Tamlins, U-Roy, Ken Boothe, Leroy Sibbles from the Heptones, Judy Mowatt, Dawn Penn, Rita Marley and Marcia Griffiths - and some of the island's greatest players, to celebrate their greatest 60s hits, perform a reunion concert and celebrate that golden era. Think of it as a kind of Buena Vista Social Club for the great 60s architects of Jamaican music. It is also a beautiful portrait of Jamaica. In 1962, Jamaica gained its independence from Great Britain. There was celebration, optimism, economic growth and opportunity. Recording studios popped up all over Kingston and a generation of great singers and players emerged playing the tuneful, mellow music that became known as rocksteady - tunes like The Tide Is High, Rivers of Babylon and You Don't Love Me Anymore, No No No, which were so successfully celebrated by UB40 on their Labour of Love albums. By 1968, Jamaica's economic bubble had burst and social unrest took to the streets. As poverty, violence and political upheaval spread, rocksteady became politicised, upped its tempo and began to evolve into the music they call reggae.

Live performance specially recorded for Whistle Test from the Reggae Concert at the Edinburgh Festival in 1973, featuring the Cimarons, Winston Groovy, Dennis Alcapone, the Marvels, Nicky Thomas and the Pioneers.

The student-taunting Specials perform at the Colchester Institute in 1979, playing hits such as Rat Race, Too Much Too Young and Gangsters, throwing tambourines at the bouncers and indulging in a little moon-stomping during a stage invasion.

The untold story of one of the most influential artists ever to come out of Jamaica, Toots Hibbert, featuring intimate new performances and interviews with Toots, rare archive from throughout his career and interviews with contemporaries and admirers including Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Jimmy Cliff, Bonnie Raitt, Willie Nelson, Marcia Griffiths and Paolo Nutini. From his beginnings as a singer in a Jamaican church to the universally-praised, Grammy award-winning artist of today, the film tells the story of one of the true greats of music. Toots was the first to use the word reggae on tape in his 1968 song Do the Reggay and his music has defined, popularised and refined it across six decades, with hit after hit including Pressure Drop, Sweet and Dandy, Monkey Man, Funky Kingston, Bam Bam, True Love Is Hard To Find and Reggae Got Soul. As Island records founder Chris Blackwell says, 'The Maytals were unlike anything else... sensational, raw and dynamic'. Always instantly recognisable is Toots's powerful, soulful voice which seems to speak viscerally to the listener - 'one of the great musical gifts of our time'. His songs are at the same time stories of everyday life in Jamaica and postcards from another world.

An archive celebration of great reggae performances filmed in the BBC Studios, drawn from programmes such as The Old Grey Whistle Test, Top of the Pops and Later... with Jools Holland, and featuring the likes of Bob Marley and the Wailers, Gregory Isaacs, Desmond Dekker, Burning Spear, Althea and Donna, Dennis Brown, Buju Banton and many more.