this week, we're going back in time, the horrible histories team and their take on rotten romans, roman britain in the rule of emperor nero. boudica, the celts, lee mack and nick frost — those well—known ancients. someone also had the bright idea of making the current war, starring michael shannon as george westinghouse, in a battle for the best light bulbs in america. illuminating. and we escape to the greek island of hydra for a love story that lasted 60 years and inspired some of the most heartbreaking and famous songs 1960s, marianne and leonard: words of love. horrible histories, is this something i should take my nieces to? horrible histories was a boon for parents and families and something that everyone could watch and enjoy. it had great success on tv, where it has more of a sketch format, going from to romans and victorians and the greeks and the 1940s and wartime. this is them just doing one thing, rotten romans, where they make the transition to the big screen and concentrate on one aspect. it hasn't got the original cast, so if you are a fan of them, they're not really in this. some make cameos, but they have got a bit starry for this, with a lot of famous faces. every kid studies roman britain, so the young emperor nero, played by craig roberts, dominated by his mum, kim cattrall — she's not in the original! she sends atticus, atti, off to the wilds of the of the empire, the untamable stain of the empire, britain, where boudica is rousing the troops to rebellion and inspiring young women all over the place to take up arms, much to the disappointment of their fathers. here, orla, played by emelia jones, has captured atti and nick frost is not happy about it. now, who says i'm not ready to be a warrior? what have you done? taken a roman prisoner. all on my own. told you i could do it. you're just going to have to take him back. what? i thought you'd be pleased. you can't keep a prisoner, it's hard work! you have to feed it, you have to exercise it. who's going to clean up after him? i am here, you know. he's my prisoner, i found him, i want to keep him. 0k, fine. you'll get bored soon enough and then someone will have to get rid of him. there's no pleasing some people. good fun? i like it. what i like is that we're so used to pixar films that are perfect, honed, thejokes are perfect, everything is perfection. and this one looks like it's been shot in the local park. i like that ropiness, there's an ad hoc nature to it — a nice latin phrase! there are lots of funny gags, alexander armstrong, nick frost, people making cameo performances, derekjacobi. high vs all round! derekjacobi being in is funny to me! that gets the parents in. the current war, which i kind of feel should be good? look at the cast! benedict cumberbatch as thomas edison, michael shannon playing george westinghouse. you're saying, who are these two? it's billed as a battle for the future of america, whether you will use alternating current or direct current to light up america. that's exciting, isn't it? it should be! it was quite important. it was. it feels like vhs versus betamax, lycos versus google, the way big brands battle now, i suppose that's what was supposed to be interesting about it. is there a but coming? i didn't really know why. there was light—bulb moments all round, and the person who greenlit this — i'm going to do some lighting puns — there's no heart, you don't know what they're arguing about. there is the invention of the electric chair and neither want to be associated with that so there is a moral element. there is no jeopardy involved, and you wonder why, with this cast, tom holland, nicholas hoult, matthew macfadyen. .. again, it should be good, but. but the current war, it's a turn—off. end of puns! your third choice? just as it's holiday time, let's go to greece, the island of hydra. marianne is a beautiful woman, leonard is leonard cohen, one of the most famous, depressing songwriters of the 1960s. this is when they met on the greek island of hydra in the 1960s. it was taken over by poets and artists and hippies and there was lots of free love. it's kind of love island in the 60s, but with people who can actually read. into this comes the documentary maker nick broomfield, who is rather famous with his t—shirt and jeans and boom mic and recording equipment. he asserts himself into the story in a way he's never done before, he becomes marianne‘s lover. here is broomfield recalling those heady days of the 60s. i was mesmerised by the island's beauty, and had never before met so many golden, sun—kissed people of either sex, having so much fun together. it felt like anything was possible. marianne gave me my very first acid trip, which she said had come from a friend of leonard's in london, called malcolm. and she took these pictures of me the morning after. i had no intention of leaving, but then one of marianne's other lovers unexpectedly showed up on the island, and i found myself hastily boarding the next boat back to athens. reference to other lovers gives you a sense of the time and what was going on. free love. there's a moment in this that you think, gosh, that sounds great! i wish they could be attained, but it obviously can't sustain itself. this was part of the hippy trail, so there is too much, an excess of poetry and drugs and lying around and sun, sea and sex, you can't sustain it. they had this love affair, marianne and leonard, that sustained for 56 years. he became a rock star and was rather promiscuous around the world, leaving marianne rather hurt, but they had this love story and it kept coming back. i think it's rather brilliant, a film that makes you remember those fleeting love stories. what it is about love that endures. they had a pure love, even though it was caught up in many different things, there was a gorgeousness to this, an idyll that has preserved. it is a holiday romance that lasted almost a lifetime. it looks very beautiful, do you need to like his music, need to be interested in him as a musician, or is that secondary? it's secondary. you hear a bit about leonard cohen, i don't know much about him myself, but it is more about her. you insert yourself into the story and i remember people who were influential on me, i remember moments in my own life, turning points, that's what it's about. i think it's one of the best films of the year and one of the best that nick broomfield's ever made. the most emotional, i was welling up at the end of it. a love story in the form of a documentary. and another love story is the best out this week, the best for you? it is such a good british film, doesn't even look like a british film, it looks french! it has a european sexiness and freedom to it and confronts issues. it's about the difficulties of maintaining love through the travails of trying to proceed through the travails of health. the actor is about to be prince charles in the crown, so if you want to know what prince charles looks like without any clothes on, you have to watch only you. it is directed by a woman who brings an excellent touch to her very first film. if you can find it, please do. very beautiful, a simple film and lovely. and a quick thought about what we should be streaming? a film that has just dropped on netflix — everywhere else, they're released, netflix, they're dropped. it is the great hack, about the harvesting of our data. they used these to create the political shocks of our time, trump and brexit. cambridge analytica come under the microscope here, other whistle—blowers are featured. you seethe with the injustice of it, because all of us have been played by the state to harvest and that has been going on. watch if you dare, perhaps? there's nothing much you can do about it, your data is probably being harvested as you watch it on netflix! thank you very much, jason, see you next week. enjoy your cinema going, bye—bye. hello. we've made it to the end of what has been an extraordinary week of weather. initially it looked like we hadn't broken the uk's all—time temperature record, but in the last 2a hours some new information has come to light — a temperature reading from cambridge university botanic garden of 38.7 degrees on thursday afternoon. now, this still needs to be verified, it needs to be checked by the met office, that will happen in the coming days and weeks, but if that temperature stands, that will be a new uk record. but, and i'm sure many people will welcome this, a very different feel this weekend. much cooler weather with some heavy rain in places. that rain could be enough to cause some disruption, because we have this slow—moving weather front draped across the british isles, bringing some rain across the eastern side of the uk during saturday morning. quite a muggy feel, some mist and murk as well. those temperatures as we start the day between 14—17, not quite as warm i suppose as it has been on recent mornings. as we go through the day, this band of cloud and rain really making very little progress, wet weather across the south—east into east anglia, the midlands, parts of northern england and up into scotland. the rain heavy and persistent, perhaps enough to cause some localised flooding, certainly the chance of some travel disruption. to the north—east of scotland, northern ireland, wales and the south—west, either side of that system, it's likely to stay dry, with some spells of sunshine, and those temperatures 18—23. on saturday night the front will pivot and move westwards to some extent, but there's uncertainty about exactly how far west that front will get. it could well introduce some rain into northern ireland, but some uncertainty about that. and it is going to be a somewhat fresher night, by no means a chilly night, but 12—15, a little more comfortable for sleeping. so, during sunday, ourweatherfront still wriggling around, still sitting in place. rain perhaps into northern ireland, some hanging around south—west scotland and some rain dangling down into northern england, the midlands. a few showers in the south—east. but again, either side of the front, to the north—east and the south—west, we see a lot of dry weather, some spells of sunshine and those temperatures still in the 20s. as we go into monday, our old weather front still probably sitting across the northern half of the uk, so that will allow some showers to develop. and late in the day, an area of low pressure is likely to throw some rain towards the far south—west of england. elsewhere, some sunny spells, a little warmer down to the south but still nothing like it has been. an unsettled start then to next week. it settles down and warms up a bit towards the end of the week, but no return to the heat. this is bbc news — welcome if you're watching here in the uk, on pbs in america or around the globe. i'm reged ahmad. our top stories: the us supreme court rules on donald trump's border wall — clearing the way to divert military funds to build it. the united states says it's reached an agreement with guatemala to help stem the flow of migrants reaching its southern border. the united nations accuses the world of turning its back on syria — after more than 100 people are killed injust ten days. air strikes kill and maim significant numbers of civilians several times a week and the response seems to be a collective shrug. and south african musician johnny clegg is remembered by family, friends and fans at a memorial service in johannesburg.

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