The makers of this short history of country music had done a good job of rounding up interviewees, who included such veterans as Ray Price, Merle Haggard and Charley Pride alongside the offspring of several country legends. We met Shooter Jennings (son of Waylon), Hank Williams III and Georgette Jones (daughter of Tammy Wynette and George Jones). Trouble is, by the time their interviews had been diced into small fragments and lobbed in with an additional list of pundits and critics, their impact had dissipated. The solution? This should either have been a longer film or the first of two (or three) parts, because it isn't as if the history of country lacks incident or character. OK, I know - it's the budget, stupid. Anyway, even this potted survey was enough to illustrate - somewhat schematically - the way social change inspired the music's drastic stylistic developments and to tick off some timeless country icons (pictured above, the legendary Johnny Cash). In the beginning, at least in this version of the story, was Jimmie Rodgers, the so-called "Singing Brakeman" (he used to work on the railroad) and the inventor of the "blue yodel". Then we galloped ahead to singing cowboy Gene Autry and the rise of the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville - the cowboy, we learned, became a symbol of frontierless freedom in the era of the Wall Street crash and widespread penury - and onward to bluegrass pioneer Bill Monroe, Bob Wills and Western Swing, heartbreak and honky-tonk from Hank Williams and the suburbanisation of country via Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn. But the better it got, the more you wished it would slow down and show us a bit more of these assorted great artists. Elvis came and went in the twinkling of an eye and a few fleeting bars of music, even though he was a vital link between country and rock'n'roll. There was a great clip of Merle Haggard and Johnny Cash duetting on Merle's "Sing Me Back Home", but the cloth-eared editor faded it just as they came to the chorus. The shot of Patsy Cline singing "Crazy" was just enough to get you thinking "that was great, now how about a bit of 'Walking After Midnight'?", when she was gone. There was a bit of Waylon and a glimpse of Willie but only a still photo of Kris Kristofferson, though Tammy Wynette and Dolly Parton (pictured above) were more generously served. In fact the film went out of its way to stress the contribution of country's female performers, so maybe there had once been a plan to do a show each on the men and the women. The Joy of Country screeched to an abrupt halt by suggesting that the ineffable D. Parton may well be the last of the all-time country legends, then illustrated the way the great tradition has morphed into stadium-sized pointlessness with shots of Garth "the anti-Hank" Brooks and Taylor Swift. It was a bit unfair to put poor Taylor up against Johnny Cash's video for "Hurt", a terrifying valediction in which his life and death flashed before our eyes, because there has never been another artist on the planet who could stare down the Man in Black. But it was a forceful reminder of the richness, power and character in the work of the finest country artists, and of the fact that there are no younger ones coming up capable of pulling on their boots.

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Alejandro Tazo, a 30-something Chilean, arrives at Nashville on a Greyhound bus from the West Coast. He has been mugged on board? Why is he here? How did he get here? What will he do in Music City?

Awards ceremony honoring the country music industry's accomplishments during the previous year.

Tennessee singing G.I. Verne Brand travels to New York City after his Army discharge. Alongside his buddies, he convinces a former bookie turned record executive to sign him, leading to a massive publicity blitz and attention from socialite Zsa Zsa Gabor. The situation draws Verne's hometown sweetheart, Marietta. to the city just as Verne becomes a television sensation in a high-stakes network ratings battle. Ultimately, Verne chooses his roots over fame, returning to Tennessee with Marietta to open a local recording studio.

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Tom Service takes a cinematic journey through Russia on the musical trail of that Romantic giant, Sergei Rachmaninoff. Via Moscow, St Petersburg, Novgorod, Tambov (and Senar in Switzerland), Tom chronicles a classic tale of right man, wrong time. Born in Russia in 1873 and dying in America in 1943, not only did Rachmaninoff weather the false accusation that he was an anachronism who wrote sentimental, gushing Romanticism in a firmly modern century, his life intersected with one of the darkest periods in Russian history - Revolution, Civil War and two World Wars. Yet, from the world-famous Second Piano Concerto in C Minor to the chocolate box 18th variation from the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, time and time again the melodious yet melancholic wonderment of this unstarry, aristocratic Russian has touched the collective unconscious, and The Joy Of Rachmaninoff celebrates our love affair with this passionate, dark and tremendously popular composer. Tom visits key locations in Russia that informed Rachmaninoff’s artistic life - from the beautiful, throaty sound of the bells of St Sophia’s Cathedral Novgorod to the breath-taking endless steppe of Ivanovka (pictured), his Russian estate in Tambov Oblast. Tom also gains rare access to Rachmaninoff’s bespoke Swiss villa ‘Senar’ on the banks of Lake Lucerne, and hears the famous 18th Paganini Variation played on the piano on which it was written. With respected Rachmaninoff scholar Geoffrey Norris, Tom also gets to grips with the original scores of the Second Piano Concerto and C Sharp Minor Prelude in Moscow. The film also brings to life key moments in Rachmaninoff’s career, from the abortive premier of his First Symphony to a disastrous meeting in Moscow with that giant of Russian literature, Leo Tolstoy, and his hurried and final departure from Russia in 1917, fleeing the perils of Bolshevism - moments that led to self-doubt and depression for the composer. Tom also explores how Rachmaninoff invoked a melancholia in his work that suggests an almost prophetic ability: how in his music you might hear an expectation of great tragedy that would characterise the Russian 20th century. With specially shot performances (including Vespers 1,5 & 6, extracts from the piano concerti, C Sharp Minor Prelude and Cello Sonata) and contributions from great musicians including Vladimir Ashkenazy, Denis Matsuev, Steven Isserlis, Lucy Parham, Alexander Vinogradov, Iain Burnside, James Rhodes, Stephen Hough and Vladimir Jurowski.

Combining European musical influences, perfect production and lyrics of love and loss, ABBA made us fall in love with the sound of Swedish melancholy. This documentary explores the music of ABBA and chronicles how they conquered both Sweden and Britain in the face of constant criticism.

How Canadians adjust to their long, snowbound season. Filmed with humour, 'The Joy of Winter' shows people making the best of what they cannot change. From tiny tots to human polar bears the film leaves no doubt that, in the eyes of many Canadians, winter may offer more attractions than summer.

In an acting class, some young aspiring actors follow the instructions of an influential teacher, who asks them to participate in a peculiar musical exercise. Among them is Tomàs, who confronts the professor's particular methods, while questioning himself what he is willing to do (or not do) to find the longed-for “truth”.