SILK

SUNDAY, AUGUST 25 @ 7:00PM & 11:00PM

“Innocent until proven guilty. Four words to live by” is just about all Martha Costello has to go on when she’s handed two big cases with only one night to mount her defenses of an accused drug mule and aggravated burglar. All this, before she must defend an accused rapist, whose alleged victim is being defended by her ruthless rival, Clive Reader.

Maxine Peake and Rupert Penry-Jones (Persuasion, The Thirty-Nine Steps) star as two barristers facing off in the competition of their professional lives, the prestigious appointment as Queen’s Counsel, while working high-stakes cases amidst the rivalry, tension, and intrigue on the front lines of criminal law.

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with GWEN IFILL

FRIDAY, AUGUST 23 @ 9:00PM

President Obama returned from his New England vacation to a myriad of overseas and national security issues. In Egypt, the interim government continues its crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood amidst the release of former President Hosni Mubarak from prison. He still faces a retrial in connection with the deaths of protestors during the Egyptian uprisings of 2011 that led to his ouster from office. How might these latest developments play as the Obama administration wrestles with whether to cut aid to the country due to the recent violence?

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THE LAW IN THESE PARTS

MONDAY, AUGUST 19 @ 11:00PM

In The Law in These Parts, acclaimed Israeli filmmaker Ra’anan Alexandrowicz has pulled off a tour-de-force examination of the system of military administration used by Israel since the Six Day War of 1967 — featuring the system’s leading creators. In a series of thoughtful and candid interviews, Israeli judges, prosecutors and legal advisers, who helped devise the occupation’s legal framework, paint a complex picture of the Middle East conflict and the balance among political interests, security and human rights that has come with it. Winner, World Cinema Jury Prize: Documentary, 2012 Sundance Film Festival.

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OUTBACK PELICANS

SUNDAY, JUNE 8  @ 7:00PM

The Australian pelican is built for long-distance travel. One of the largest pelicans in the pelican family, with a light skeleton and a wingspan of over eight feet, it can be airborne all day and deep into the night, riding far and high on rising thermals. When rare weather systems bring heavy rains, huge numbers of Australian pelicans abandon the sea and coastal waters and embark on a mass pilgrimage to a place a thousand miles inland. It’s the last place you would look for one of their kind – the Australian Outback, one of the driest, hottest places on the planet.

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THE LADY VANISHES

SUNDAY, AUGUST 18 @ 7:00PM & 11:00PM

The Lady Vanishespacks in the suspense and style when Iris Carr, a beautiful young socialite traveling alone, befriends a kindly English middle-aged woman but wakes from a nap to find her missing – and all the strangers surrounding her denying that the woman was ever there at all! This closed-door mystery classic investigates the question of madness and isolation set among increasingly sinister passengers and a train barreling through Europe toward a dangerous and dizzying final destination: the truth.

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FRIDAY, AUGUST 16 @ 9:00PM

THIS WEEK: OBAMA CONDEMNS EGYPT VIOLENCE, CHANGING MINIMUM SENTENCE POLICIES, & 2016 POLITICAL PREVIEW

Day-long clashes between Egypt’s military and supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi have left hundreds dead in Cairo. Despite the escalating violence, the Muslim Brotherhood has vowed to continue its protests over the army’s overthrow of the democratically-elected Morsi in July.

Today President Obama strongly condemned the deadly violence precipitated by the Egyptian military and announced that the U.S. is canceling joint military exercises planned for later this month. But he stopped short of cutting off $1.5 billion in U.S. financial aid to the longtime Mideast ally. Could that be something the White House is considering? Indira Lakshmanan of Bloomberg Newswill report on the Obama Administration’s attempt to strike a balance between supporting a democratic transition and ensuring stability in Egypt.

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FIXING JUVIE JUSTICE

TUESDAY, AUGUST 13 @ 7:00PM & 12:00AM

America’s reliance on juvenile incarceration is the highest among the world’s developing nations by an astonishing margin. It costs approximately $88,000 per year to send a kid to juvenile incarceration and nearly 70% of them are re-arrested after being released. A group of innovators in Baltimore, on a quest to fix the broken system, explore how the restorative justice principles of the Maori people in New Zealand could be applied to the mean streets of the United States.

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THE CITY DARK

MONDAY, AUGUST 12 @ 8:00PM

The town in rural Maine where Ian Cheney spent much of his childhood has about 4,000 residents. Waldoboro had electric lights, but on a cloudless and moonless night, it was impossible not to be struck by the incredible array of stars visible above. Cheney became deeply curious about the stars, as humans have been for millennia. He followed his passion into amateur astronomy, fashioning his own homemade telescope, and then into astrophotography to capture the wondrous scenes that revealed themselves at night.

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WASHINGTON WEEK

with GWEM IFILL

FRIDAY, AUGUST 9 @ 9:00PM

This Week: U.S.-Russia Tensions, Terror Threats and the Rules of Politics

In a rare diplomatic snub, the White House canceled next month’s meeting between President Obama and Russian President Vladimir. The move follows Russia’s decision to grant former NSA contractor Edward Snowden asylum. White House spokesperson Jay Carney said the lack of progress on other issues like missile defense and human rights also made it difficult to justify a one-on-one meeting. Doyle McManus of the Los Angeles Times will examine the factors that have led to the broader deterioration of U.S.-Russia relations.

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THE MAN WHO SAVED THE WORLD

TUESDAY, AUGUST 6 @ 9:00PM

Fifty years ago, in October 1962, the world teetered on the brink of nuclear war. On October 22, 1962, after reviewing photographic evidence, President John F. Kennedy informed the world that the Soviet Union was building secret missile bases in Cuba, just 90 miles off the shores of Florida.  For the next 13 days, the world held its breath as the Soviet Union and the United States confronted each other about missiles stationed in Cuba.  While politicians sought a resolution to the standoff, no one was aware of the events taking place inside the Soviet submarine B-59 in the waters off the coast of Florida.

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