SATURDAY 27 SEPTEMBER 2025

SAT 00:00 Midnight News (m002jsx1)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 00:30 A History of England in 25 Poems by Catherine Clarke (m002jsvn)
5: Green - ‘The Groundsman’ by Zaffar Kunial

Catherine Clarke reads her new and original history of England - told through poetry.

Through five poems across a week, Clarke takes us onto battlefields, inside royal courts, below stairs of great houses and onto cricket pitches, with vivid voices, and surprising stories. In a portal to the past, she takes us inside the words and moments these poems capture, with new perspectives on how England has dreamed itself into existence - and who gets to tell its story.

What and whose is English history now? Clarke explores the future of England's 'green and pleasant land' through Zaffar Kunial's 2022 poem, 'The Groundsman', set on an English cricket pitch.

Writer and reader: Catherine is a Professor at the Institute of Historical Research, University of London, and Director of the Victoria County History of England.
Abridger: Richard Hamilton
Producer: Justine Willett


SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002jsx3)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002jsx5)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.


SAT 05:30 News Summary (m002jsx7)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002jsx9)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m002jsxc)
Developing confidence in your own potential

A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with Emma - Lopen Ani Pema Deki

Good morning.

Buddhism says that every living being has the potential to become Enlightened, meaning full of compassion and wisdom.

This seemingly simple idea really struck a chord with me. It seemed ridiculously positive! Here was I, floundering about, achieving some things, failing at others, trying to be kind but all too often ending up impatient - and yet Buddhism was saying that all the while, something about my inherent nature, my essence, had the potential to flower into total compassion and wisdom.

I really had to sit with this and wonder, why was it so hard for me to have confidence in this possibility? Even more than that, could seeing myself in this way free me from the harshness with which I might often perceive myself and others.

I decided to examine these ideas; I learnt that this essence is called Buddha nature and that it lives in all sentient life – ants, bees, humans. All have this same potential.

But the most helpful form is to be born as a human. This is because it is the human which has the most potential to help the largest number of beings. This human life is therefore seen as a remarkable opportunity to develop our Buddha nature from an essence into a fully-fledged form.

So everyday I try to remember that, underneath the layers of confusion within myself and others, this essence continues to shine at all times. I find actually visualising that very helpful.

I would like to close with these words;

‘May all beings be at peace and may this begin with us’


SAT 05:45 Untaxing (m0029hd7)
1. The Napkin That Changed the World

Albert Einstein called tax ‘the hardest thing in the world to understand’ - but was he right? Tax expert and campaigner, Dan Neidle delves into the bizarre, brilliant and sometimes disastrous ways tax shapes our lives, our choices and the world around us.

A quick sketch over dinner in 1974 became one of the most influential ideas in economic policy. Art Laffer’s curve promised that tax cuts could pay for themselves - but was it brilliant insight or a costly illusion?

Producer: Tom Pooley
A Tempo+Talker production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 06:00 News and Papers (m002k39v)
The news headlines, including a look at the newspapers.


SAT 06:07 Open Country (m002jtvf)
The Stones of Snuff Mills

Tucked away in a wooded valley on the outskirts of Bristol is a magical woodland nature reserve, Snuff Mills. Helen Mark discovers what lies beneath the trees, a now peaceful place with a history of heavy industry, where milling and stone quarrying has left behind a stunning playground for walkers and climbers. Local residents John, Beryl and Margaret grew up next to the quarry and witnessed its transformation from their secret playground to a busy public park. Engineer Geoff Wallis helped to literally unearth a fascinating piece of industrial history, and Steve England shows Helen the natural secrets of the valley.

Following the stones of the quarry Helen crosses the river and finds the grounds of what was once Bristol’s asylum and – Helen hears from volunteer Anwyl Cooper-Willis - a landscape carefully designed to be therapeutic for patients and speed their recovery. But where does the name Snuff Mills come from? Is it really one of the most haunted places in Bristol? And which Hollywood star has a connection with the Asylum's story?

Presented by Helen Mark
Produced by Beth Sagar-Fenton
Assistant production by Ellie Richold
Series Producer: Emma Campbell


SAT 06:30 Farming Today (m002k39x)
27/09/25 Farming Today This Week: Bumper harvest of autumn fruits, cybersecurity, eating seasonally

As the fallout continues from cyber attacks on Jaguar Land Rover and nursery chain Kido in recent days, so too does scrutiny of the food supply chain and how vulnerable it may be to hackers.

We've talked a lot about the problems the baking weather this summer has caused farmers, but for apple, pear and plum growers it has been great. The Lyth Valley in south Cumbria is known for its damson orchards, a dazzle of snowy white blossom in spring and this year creaking under the weight of a bumper harvest. It's such a bumper crop that some growers have more damsons than they know what to do with.

What will you eat today and where will it come from? For Max Cotton that's an easy question: he'll be having what's in season and grows in the UK. For the past year he has been following a UK only diet on a strict budget and he's made a series about how and why, Food Britannia on BBC Radio 4 next week.

Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Beatrice Fenton.


SAT 06:57 Weather (m002k39z)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SAT 07:00 Today (m002k3b1)
Today (Saturday)


SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (m002k3b3)
Mary Portas, Finding Happiness, Rebuilding a Life, and Joanna Page's Inheritance Tracks

Mary Portas joins Adrian Chiles for extraordinary stories from remarkable people.


SAT 10:00 You're Dead to Me (p0f3kqpl)
Early Medieval Papacy

Greg Jenner is joined by guests Prof Brett Whalen and comedian Alison Spittle in 9th-century Rome to explore the early medieval papacy. As the political heart of the papacy is plunged into chaos, we step into a world consumed by debauchery and a thirst for power and hear about perhaps the most unhinged courtroom trial of all time.

Research by Jessica Honey
Written by Emma Nagouse, Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow and Greg Jenner
Produced by Emma Nagouse and Greg Jenner
Assistant Producer: Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow
Project Management: Isla Matthews
Audio Producer: Steve Hankey

You’re Dead To Me is a production by The Athletic for BBC Radio 4.


SAT 10:30 The Kitchen Cabinet (m002k38v)
Series 49

Warwick

Jay Rayner and a panel of food experts are in Warwick discussing marinated tomatoes and mozzarella ‘balloons’.

Joining Jay are chefs, cooks and food writers Jocky Petrie, Tim Anderson and Sophie Wright, and resident food historian Dr Annie Gray.

The panel suggest breakfast ideas involving mozzarella and how to use lettuce in cooking, and answer the intriguing question 'is there anything you wouldn’t eat?'.

Jay stops to chat to James Hill from Napton Water Buffalo about the unique quality of buffalo milk.

Producers: Matt Smith and Dulcie Whadcock

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 11:00 Radical with Amol Rajan (m002jtw6)
The Weaponisation of Science: How to Avoid a Global Catastrophe (Carlo Rovelli)

Physicist Carlo Rovelli thinks we need natural intelligence and not artificial intelligence in an age of confrontation.

Ten years ago he wrote a short book called Seven Brief Lessons on Physics, which became an international bestseller and catapulted him to scientific stardom.

A decade on he thinks the world is at a dangerous moment as the West’s dominance declines and global powers prioritise competition over collaboration.

One area he's most concerned about is AI, which he thinks is overhyped but needs to be controlled nonetheless.

He also explains some mind-bending ideas about time, space and why he thinks the Big Bang was actually a Big Bounce.

GET IN TOUCH

* WhatsApp: 0330 123 9480
* Email: radical@bbc.co.uk

Episodes of Radical with Amol Rajan are released every Thursday and you can also watch them on BBC iPlayer: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m002f1d0/radical-with-amol-rajan

Amol Rajan is a presenter of the Today programme on BBC Radio 4. He is also the host of University Challenge on BBC One. Before that, Amol was media editor at the BBC and editor at The Independent.

Radical with Amol Rajan is a Today Podcast. It was made by Lewis Vickers with Grace Reeve. Digital production was by Gabriel Purcell-Davies. Technical production was by Phil Bull. The editor is Sam Bonham. The executive producer is Owenna Griffiths.


SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m002k3b5)
Insight, wit and analysis from BBC correspondents, journalists and writers from around the world.


SAT 12:00 News Summary (m002k3b7)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 12:04 Money Box (m002k3b9)
Teachers' Pensions and Car Insurance Compensation

The National Association of Head Teachers has written to the Department for Education demanding it take action to address what it describes as the failing Teachers' Pensions Scheme. The union has told Money Box it's shocked at the number of members contacting it for help describing a litany of delays, miscommunication and the failure to carry out even basic services leaving many in financial disarray. The government says it understands these problems have caused frustration and it's continuing to work closely with Teachers’ Pensions to resolve these issue as soon as possible.

This year's Winter Fuel Payment in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is going to all pensioners but instead of everyone keeping it, those who have an income of more than £35,000 will have it taken back by HMRC. How will that work in practice?

Fake news stories about the state pension have been worrying many listeners. We'll have some advice on what to look out for.

And tens of thousands of motorists could be eligible for a share of £200m in compensation after insurers paid them too little on their claims.

Presenter: Paul Lewis
Reporters: Dan Whitworth and Catherine Lund
Researchers: Eimear Devlin and Jo Krasner
Editor: Jess Quayle
Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson

(First broadcast 12pm Saturday 27th September 2025)


SAT 12:30 The News Quiz (m002jswh)
Series 118

4. A Lib Dem Conference and a Seagull Summit

In the week where Trump addressed the UN, Lib Dems conferred on the beaches of Bournemouth, and a Seagull Summit came to Inverness, Andy Zaltzman is joined by Simon Evans, Neil Delamere, Tiff Stevenson and Cindy Yu to break it all down. Expect talk of the Burnham from behind, the Boriswave, and the wettest generation since the floods.

Written by Andy Zaltzman.

With additional material by: Jade Gebbie, Miranda Holms, Ruth Husko and Peter Tellouche.
Producer: Rajiv Karia
Executive Producer: James Robinson
Production Coordinator: Jodie Charman
Sound Editor: Marc Willcox

A BBC Studios Production for Radio 4.


SAT 12:57 Weather (m002k3bc)
The latest weather forecast


SAT 13:00 News (m002k3bf)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (m002jswp)
Dame Andrea Jenkyns, Paul Nowak, Anna Turley MP, Sir Jeremy Wright MP

Alex Forsyth presents political debate from Gainsborough Old Hall in Lincolnshire with the mayor of Greater Lincolnshire, Dame Andrea Jenkyns of Reform UK; the general secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Paul Nowak; Labour Party chair and cabinet office minister, Anna Turley; and the Conservative MP and former Cabinet minister, Sir Jeremy Wright.

Producer: Paul Martin
Lead broadcast engineer: Carwyn Griffith


SAT 14:05 Any Answers? (m002k3bh)
Listeners respond to the issues raised in the preceding edition of Any Questions?


SAT 14:45 The Archers (m002jswk)
Writer: Tim Stimpson
Director: Marina Caldarone
Editor: Jeremy Howe

Brian Aldridge.... Charles Collingwood
Ben Archer.... Ben Norris
Jill Archer.... Patricia Greene
Pip Archer.... Daisy Badger
Leonard Berry.... Paul Copley
Susan Carter.... Charlotte Martin
Ruairi Donovan.... Arthur Hughes
Justin Elliott.... Simon Williams
Alan Franks.... John Telfer
Amber Gordon.... Charlotte Jordan
Emma Grundy.... Emerald O'Hanrahan
George Grundy.... Angus Stobie
Adam Macy.... Andrew Wincott
Azra Malik.... Yasmin Wilde
Stella Pryor.... Lucy Speed
Oliver Sterling.... Michael Cochrane
Dane.... Stavros Demetraki
Meg Mellor.... Sue Jenkins


SAT 15:00 Spotlight (m00236fr)
Ivanov

Rory Kinnear plays the title role in a new version of Russian playwright Anton Chekhov's first major stage play. Ivanov is a man whose world is falling apart despite the best efforts of his delusional and self-absorbed friends and family. Writer/composer duo Katherine Tozer and John Chambers follow up their razor-sharp adaptations of The Cherry Orchard and The Seagull.

Nicholas Ivanov ..... Rory Kinnear
Sarah ..... Dorothea Myer-Bennett
Sasha ..... Holli Dempsey
Paul ..... Joseph Kloska
Matthew ...... Dominic Coleman
Michael ..... Tyger Drew-Honey
Luke ..... Clifford Samuel
Zuzu ..... Joan Iyiola
Martha ..... Saffron Coomber
Ava ..... Melanie Kilburn
Dominic ..... Nuhazet Diaz Cano

Cellist ..... Liz Hanks.
Sound designer ..... Peter Ringrose
Production Co-ordinator ..... Jenny Mendez

Directed by Toby Swift
A BBC Studios production for Radio 3.

In 1887, at the age of 27, Chekhov was commissioned to write a stage play. The result - Ivanov - was completed in just ten days and then premiered in Moscow towards the end of that year. Greatly disappointed, he rewrote the play and 14 months later it was produced in St. Petersburg where it was hailed as a triumph. Chekhov was maturing into the playwright now celebrated as the author of some of the greatest stage plays ever written.


SAT 16:30 Woman's Hour (m002k3bl)
Weekend Woman's Hour: Annie Lennox, Motorway anxiety, New play Punch

Journalist Mary McCarthy has been avoiding motorways for years, even planning her life around how to dodge them. She's discovered it’s a far more common problem than you might think, especially among women in mid-life.

The multi award-winning singer, songwriter and Global Feminist Activist Annie Lennox OBE has been part of the musical landscape for almost 50 years, from her days in The Tourists, to the Eurythmics and then going solo. Now at the age of 70, Annie has brought out a book of photographs called Annie Lennox: Retrospective, and tells us about her life and career.

Punch is a play that looks at the ripple effects of a single punch, thrown by a teenager on a night out in Nottingham with fatal consequences. It is on stage in London and the mother of the young man killed, Joan Scourfield, is played by Julie Hesmondhalgh. Both Julie and Joan join Anita to discuss this remarkable story of restorative justice.

Presenter: Anita Rani
Producer: Simon Richardson


SAT 17:00 PM (m002k3bn)
Full coverage of the day's news


SAT 17:30 Political Thinking with Nick Robinson (m002k3bq)
Preparing Farage for Power: Danny Kruger on defecting to Reform UK

Danny Kruger had been at the heart of the Conservative Party since it was led by David Cameron, until he decided that party was "over".

He is now a Reform UK MP and has been tasked with preparing the party for government.

He sits down with Nick to explain why we need a "revival" of Christian conservatism.

Producer: Daniel Kraemer
Reserach: Chloe Desave
Sound: Ged Sudlow and Hal Haines
Editor: Giles Edwards


SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m002k3bs)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SAT 17:57 Weather (m002k3bv)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002k3bx)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (m002k3bz)
Nigel Planer, Rowan McCabe, Bryony Kimmings, Emma-Jean Thackray, Studio Electrophonique

Nigel Planer, Bryony Kimmings and Rowan McCabe join Stuart Maconie with music by Emma-Jean Thackray and Studio Electophonique


SAT 19:00 Profile (m002k3c1)
Kristi Noem

Kristi Noem is the controversial Secretary of Homeland Security. A staunch MAGA loyalist, she's in charge of ICE detention facilities, including one in Dallas, Texas, that was attacked this week.

As the face of the Trump administration's intensified raids and arrests by US Immigration and Enforcement (ICE) agents, Kristi Noem has become a lightening rod in America, both loved and hated for her combative approach and her many viral media moments - some call her the 'ICE Barbie'.

A former South Dakota Snow Queen winner, she's risen fast from her cowgirl roots. There's even talk of a run for president in 2028.

Presenter: Mark Coles
Producer: Lucy Proctor, Ben Crighton and Natasha Fernandes
Researchers: Alex Loftus and Adriana Urbano
Production coordinators: Sabine Schereck and Maria Ogundele
Editor: Justine Lang
Sound Engineer: Neil Churchill


SAT 19:15 This Cultural Life (m002jttv)
Jackie Kay

Jackie Kay is one of the best known and most popular Scottish literary figures. A poet and novelist, she served as Makar - the name for Scotland’s poet laureate - for five years from 2016. Since her debut poetry collection The Adoption Papers in 1991, she has published 20 works of fiction and verse for adults and children, and a memoir about meeting her biological parents called Red Dust Road. Jackie Kay was made a CBE for services to literature in 2020.

Jackie talks to John Wilson about her childhood in Glasgow as the mixed-race, adopted daughter of a loving couple. From a young age, Jackie was entranced by the parties her parents hosted in their house to raise money for the Communist Party and where they would debate and sing songs. It was her first introduction to performance and theatre. As a teenager, hearing poets such as Tom Leonard and Liz Lochhead recite their own work also had a big impact on her literary aspirations.

Growing up in the Glasgow of the 60s and 70s, Jackie had very few black role models and took inspiration from the work of the African American poet Audre Lorde and the American political activist Angela Davis. Jackie also recalls finding her birth parents and how a visit to her birth father's ancestral village in Nigeria finally gave her a sense of dual identity.

Producer: Edwina Pitman

Other poets who have appeared on This Cultural Life include Michael Rosen, Linton Kwesi Johnson and George The Poet, along with children’s authors including Katherine Rundell and Michael Morpurgo. You can find them in the This Cultural Life archive, which contains over 130 previous episodes.


SAT 20:00 Archive on 4 (m0010n8c)
Remember Oluwale

Two police officers stood trial in 1971 accused of the manslaughter of Nigerian vagrant David Oluwale. Few questions were asked about the circumstances of his death, until a whistleblowing young police cadet implicated two senior policemen. The trial shook and shamed Leeds.

Not far away, Tony Phillips was growing up in the only black family on his Leeds estate. The name David Oluwale reaches far back into his childhood memory of becoming black, black and Yorkshire, and black and British.

In Remember Oluwale, Tony reflects on the impact of David’s story, exposing the lasting importance and relevance of the story today.

He uses archive and face to face interviews with people who knew Oluwale and examines a particular altercation with the police that year which appears to have catapulted David on the road to decline, and his ultimate death in the River Aire.

We meet defence lawyer who argued that race had nothing to do with Oluwale’s death, and use archive for the prosecution lawyer, who was convinced the two officers killed David – although they were only ever convicted of assault.

With cross-bench peer Victor Adebowale, Tony highlights the inequalities in mental health and policing that continue to adversely affect black people today, while Joe Williams, who runs the Black History Tours in Leeds, puts the whole story in the context of colonialism.

With contributions from Linton Kwesi Johnson and music by Ellen Smith, David Oluwale’s story becomes social history and political statement - examining how a constellation of public issues impacted on one man’s body, how we so easily forget our inglorious past, and how misunderstood the deep, underlying problems of racism are.

An Overtone production for BBC Radio 4
Produced by Anna Scott-Brown


SAT 21:00 Moral Maze (m002jtyz)
Is recognising the state of Palestine a moral duty?

Prime Minister Kier Starmer has described the UK’s formal recognition of a Palestinian state as a “moral duty”, saying the change in policy would, "revive the hope of peace and a two-state solution". The rising number of UN members following suit this week, marks a turning point in their approach to Israel since it began its war against Hamas in Gaza, following the October 7th atrocities. In that time, tens of thousands have been killed and more than one million displaced by Israel's military offensive.

Why is Palestinian statehood recognition a ‘moral duty’ now, as opposed to decades ago? Does it put pressure on Israel to push for a ceasefire or does it reward terrorism? Does it represent moral leadership or gesture politics and hypocrisy?

The Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he had long opposed a Palestinian state because it would constitute “an existential danger to Israel”. Meanwhile, over a century of colonial legacies, wars, and failed diplomatic endeavours has led to scepticism that Palestinians’ aspirations for equality and freedom can ever be achieved. To what extent is the recognition of Palestine a moral priority in such a long and intractable conflict between two peoples who have competing claims to land, and who see the other as a threat?

Chair: Michael Buerk
Panel: Matthew Taylor, Giles Fraser, Mona Siddiqui and Tim Stanley.
Producer: Dan Tierney


SAT 22:00 News (m002k3c3)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 22:15 The Food Programme (m002jsvl)
Wales's Secret Ingredient: Lessons from Cymru on the Future of Food

Sheila Dillon is joined by four guests who each have a deep connection with Welsh food and farming for a panel discussion recorded at the 2025 Abergavenny Food Festival. Beca Lyne-Pirkis is a food writer and broadcaster; Patrick Holden is an organic farmer and founder of the Sustainable Food Trust; Carwyn Graves is a Welsh food historian and author; and Sue Pritchard leads the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission. Together, they explore what is currently making Wales’s approach to food distinctive — and what lessons it might offer for the future of food across the UK.

Presented by Sheila Dillon
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Natalie Donovan


SAT 23:00 Icklewick FM (m002j89h)
Series 2

5. The Libertine

Icklewick enters mourning mode when a beloved wedding DJ unexpectedly dies from eating too much at an incredibly wet buffet. Grief pushes Chris to take drastic action and Amy mourns an old flame. Meanwhile, Simon learns the truth about his past and Mr Patel honours a handshake deal.

Icklewick FM is created and written by Chris Cantrill and Amy Gledhill, with additional material from the cast.

Starring:
Amy Gledhill
Chris Cantrill
Mark Silcox
Colin Hoult
Janice Connolly
Phil Ellis
Lucy Beaumont
Henry Paker
Darren J Coles
Shivani Thussu
Joe Kent Walters
Jin Hao Li
Tom Lawrinson
Tom Burgess
Nicola Redman
Tai Campbell
Em Humble
James Carbutt

Series Artwork by Sam O'Leary

Music, sound design and additional material by Jack Lewis Evans.
Line Produced by Laura Shaw
Produced by Benjamin Sutton.
A Daddy’s Superyacht production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 23:30 The 3rd Degree (m002js8r)
Series 15

2. Queen Mary, University of London

This episode coming from Queen Mary University of London, The 3rd Degree is a funny, upbeat and brainy quiz show.

The specialist subjects this week are Dentistry, Medicine and Politics, so there’ll be references to Melt-Quench Processing, Biliary Sludge and Quintin Hogg - clue, only one of them was a Conservative Cabinet Minister. Plus your chance to play Vaccine Scrabble!

The show is recorded on location at a different University each week, and pits three Undergraduates against three of their Professors in this fresh take on an academic quiz. The General Knowledge rounds include a quickfire bell-and-buzzer finale and the Highbrow & Lowbrow round cunningly devised to test not only the students’ knowledge of history, art, literature and politics, but also their Professors’ awareness of TV, music and sport. Meanwhile there are the three Specialist Subject rounds, in which students take on their Professors in their own subjects, and where we find out whether the students have actually been awake during lectures.

In this series, universities include Bristol, Queen Mary University of London, Kent, Worcester College Oxford, and Manchester Metropolitan University.

Producer: David Tyler

A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4

SUNDAY 28 SEPTEMBER 2025

SUN 00:00 Midnight News (m002k3c5)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 00:15 Take Four Books (m002js8p)
Graham Norton

BAFTA Award-winning broadcaster and novelist Graham Norton discusses Frankie, his fifth novel, which centres on the life of an apparently unremarkable Irish woman in her eighties as she recounts her story to a young carer.

Graham Norton shares the three key literary influences that helped shape the novel: Elizabeth Bowen’s The Last September (1929), Armistead Maupin’s Significant Others (1987), and Gabrielle Zevin’s Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow (2022).

Joining the discussion is acclaimed Irish author, poet, and LGBT+ activist Mary Dorcey.

Producer: Rachael O’Neill
Editor: Esme Kennedy
This was a BBC Audio Scotland production.


SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002k3c7)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002k3c9)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.


SUN 05:30 News Summary (m002k3cc)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002k3cf)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (m002k3ch)
St Mary’s Church in Lymm, Cheshire.

Bells on Sunday comes from St Mary’s Church in Lymm, Cheshire. Overlooking nearby Lymm Dam and dating back to 1521, the Church was substantially rebuilt in the 19th century after falling into disrepair. There are eight bells all cast by the John Taylor bell foundry of Loughborough in 1891. The tenor weighs twenty nine and three quarter hundredweight and is tuned to the note of D. We hear them ringing Stedman Triples.


SUN 05:45 In Touch (m002jsqx)
Leaving the Macular Society, Age Verification Help

Since the spring, we have been receiving a steady stream of emails from people who are deeply concerned about developments at the Macular Society. The concerns have primarily been over the plans to make a number of the Society's regional managers redundant. In the background, there have been events evolving based around a WhatsApp group chat, which included a number of the regional managers who were told they could be made redundant. In Touch speaks to one of the regional managers, following her dismissal from the charity over the WhatsApp group chat.

A few months ago, age verification checks became a requirement on certain websites under the Online Safety Act. The aim of the Act is to protect children and young people from content that is deemed to be harmful. But, In Touch heard from listeners that they are having issues with the accessibility of these age verification measures, and subsequently are struggling to access content they should be entitled to view as adults. Since we discussed this on the programme, we have heard from the The Age Verification Providers Association who offered to provide some advice on how people with visual impairments can navigate these systems. Their Executive Director Iain Corby gives some pointers.

Presenter: Peter White
Producer: Beth Hemmings
Production Coordinator: Paul Holloway
Website image description: Peter White sits smiling in the centre of the image and he is wearing a dark green jumper. Above Peter's head is the BBC logo (three separate white squares house each of the three letters). Bottom centre and overlaying the image are the words "In Touch" and the Radio 4 logo (the word ‘radio’ in a bold white font, with the number 4 inside of a white circle). The background is a bright mid-blue with two rectangles angled diagonally to the right. Both are behind Peter, one is a darker blue and the other is a lighter blue.


SUN 06:00 News Summary (m002k3f2)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 06:05 Beyond Belief (m002jsq9)
Faith versus Fear

Giles Fraser delves into the moral and theological tensions surrounding immigration, asking whether Christian faith leads to exclusion or radical inclusion. British politician and prominent catholic Ann Widdecombe opens with a candid reflection on the limits of national capacity and the need for fair rules, citing scripture to support her belief in prioritizing care for one’s family and community. The discussion broadens with insights from Journalist & Historian Tim Stanley, human rights advocate Yasmin Halima, and Theos researcher George Lapshynov, who presents data showing Christians are more hostile toward immigration than the general public. The panel explores the biblical imperative to welcome the stranger, the concept of “ordered love” from Saint Augustine, and the practical challenges of balancing compassion with security. Author and activist Onjali Raúf adds a deeply personal lens, highlighting the human cost of displacement and the rhetoric that dehumanizes refugees.

Beyond Belief is a BBC Audio North production for Radio 4.

Presenter: Giles Fraser
Producer: Bara’atu Ibrahim
Assistant Producer: Linda Walker
Editor: Tim Pemberton


SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (m002k3f4)
A Plum Job

In the Gloucestershire countryside, close to the River Severn and on the edge of the Forest of Dean, sits Hayling’s Farm at Flaxley with its 200 year old fruit orchard. It’s here that Ben Swinley not only tends to his 1,600 trees but also indulges his passion for unique local varieties of plum. Among the organic Victorias and Czars he grows other plums which are native to this corner of the county; ones with evocative names such as Dymock, Blaisdon Red, Rodley Blackjack and Westbury Rivers Early Prolific.

As harvest gets underway, Vernon Harwood joins Ben to find out why he’s become a champion of the ‘unusual, little known and very local’ and to explore the family ties to the village which go back to the 1600s. Ben is following in the footsteps of his father, Captain Bill Swinley, who made a lasting impact when he featured in a memorable edition of On Your Farm in 1995. But 30 years later, is it possible to make a living from growing seasonal English plums in the face of supermarket competition and year-round availability?

Produced and presented by Vernon Harwood


SUN 06:57 Weather (m002k3f6)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SUN 07:00 News and Papers (m002k3f8)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 07:10 Sunday (m002k3fb)
A look at the ethical and religious issues of the week


SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (m002k3fd)
War Child UK

Claudia Hammond makes the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of War Child UK. The charity provides psychologists and social workers in conflict zones across the world helping children recover from the experience of war.

The Radio 4 Appeal features a new charity every week.
Each appeal then runs on Radio 4 from Sunday 0755 for 7 days.

To Give:
- Freephone 0800 404 8144
- Freepost BBC Radio 4 Appeal. (That’s the whole address. Please do not write anything else on the front of the envelope). Mark the back of the envelope ‘War Child UK’.
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Registered Charity Number: 1071659. If you’d like to find out more about the charity’s work visit *https://www.warchild.org.uk/
*The BBC is not responsible for content on external websites

Producer: Katy Takatsuki


SUN 07:57 Weather (m002k3fg)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SUN 08:00 News and Papers (m002k3fj)
The news headlines, including a look at the newspapers.


SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (m002k3fl)
The God of all Creation - Live worship from Lichfield Cathedral

‘Maker of all that is, seen and unseen, through Him all things were made.’

This phrase, from the 1700 year old declaration of faith that is The Nicene Creed, holds a particular pertinence today. In light of climate change, extinction and our disconnection with the natural world, what can returning to the idea of God as creator of all things, seen and unseen, tell our society.

The leader is the Revd Canon Andrew Stead and the preacher is the Revd Canon Dr Gregory Platten, with a welcome by the Dean of Lichfield, The Rt Revd Jan McFarlane.

Lichfield Cathedral Chamber Choir are directed by Martyn Rawles and the organist is Liam Condon.

MUSIC:
Thou, whose almighty Word (Moscow)
Immortal, Invisible (St Denio)
Praise to the Lord, the almighty (Lobe den Herren)

Seek him that maketh the seven stars - Antony Joule
My Eyes for beauty pine - Elizabeth and Thomas Coxhead
Sing Praise to God - Richard Lloyd

READINGS:
Hebrews 1:1-4
Ephesians 6.1-6
Romans 8.19-25

Producer: Katharine Longworth


SUN 08:48 Witness History (m002k5jt)
When Stalin silenced Shostakovich

Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich was one of the greatest musicians of the 20th century. But in 1936, Joseph Stalin attended a performance of Shostakovich's opera, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk.

The Soviet leader was unimpressed and left early. Days later, the state newspaper Pravda published a scathing review titled 'Muddle instead of music', castigating the music as bourgeois.

Shostakovich was blacklisted from public life, and feared for his safety during Stalin's ongoing purges.

The traditional style of his comeback Symphony No 5 in 1937 was a hit with the authorities, and Shostakovich's reputation was restored. But his true intentions are hugely debated – some experts argue the Fifth Symphony was a cleverly veiled act of dissent.

Fifty years on from the composer's death, his son Maxim Shostakovich unfolds the mystery with Ben Henderson.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive.

Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there.

For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.

Recent episodes explore everything from the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue.

We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron – Argentina’s Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous ‘tear down this wall’ speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler’s List; and Jacques Derrida, France’s ‘rock star’ philosopher.

You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest; the disastrous D-Day rehearsal; and the death of one of the world’s oldest languages.

(Photo: Dmitri Shostakovich and his son Maxim Shostakovich. Credit: Express/Getty Images)


SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (m002k3fn)
Hannah Stitfall on the Firecrest

As autumn ripens in Cornwall, wildlife filmmaker and TV presenter Hannah Stitfall goes out in search of the firecrest. For Hannah, the firecrest is a jewel of the forest, with its dazzling golden crest and bright white eye-stripe. The dense evergreen woodlands and mild climate in Cornwall offer the perfect shelter and feeding grounds. Most firecrests seen in Cornwall in autumn are migrants from central Europe, pausing here on their way to their wintering grounds in southern Europe and north Africa. Hannah finds them notoriously difficult to film, but if you're lucky you might spot one hunting for insects hidden in leaves and pine needles.

Presented by Hannah Stitfall and produced by Sophie Anton for BBC Audio in Bristol.


SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (m002k3fq)
The Sunday morning news magazine programme. Presented by Paddy O'Connell


SUN 10:00 Desert Island Discs (m002k3fs)
Michael Sheen, actor

Michael Sheen is an award-winning actor.

After finding his love for the stage with the West Glamorgan Youth theatre as a teenager, he studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.

He spent the 1990s making a name for himself as a stage actor, shining in the classics from Romeo and Juliet to Peer Gynt as well as in 20th century masterpieces such as Look Back in Anger and Amadeus, receiving several Olivier Award nominations along the way.

A relocation to the US in the early 2000s with his then partner, the actress Kate Beckinsale, and their young daughter Lily prompted a move into films. His breakthrough came in 2003 when he portrayed Tony Blair in a Stephen Frears film called The Deal. It was the beginning of what became an unlikely specialism: morphing into real people from recent history: Kenneth Williams, David Frost, Brian Clough, Chris Tarrant, and Prince Andrew – with two more outings as Tony Blair thrown in for good measure.

Michael was born in Newport, South Wales, in February 1969, the eldest of two children to Meyrick and Irene. He grew up in Port Talbot from the age of eight and considers it his hometown.

His first love was football, and he was spotted as youngster by an Arsenal talent scout to play for their youth team. His parents decided against moving the family to London and he turned to acting instead and graduated from RADA in 1991.

Alongside the classic dramas, his range extends to appearing in fantasy and science fiction films such as The Twilight Saga and Tron: Legacy.

Michael has said that the most meaningful project to him was a modern restaging of the passion play in Port Talbot in 2011, which involved the participation of a thousand local people, because it opened his eyes to the difficulties many of them were experiencing. He has since used his own money to fund the 2019 Homeless World Cup in Cardiff and set up an organisation which supports community groups.

Michael lives in Wales with his partner, the actress Anna Lundberg, and their two young daughters.

Presenter: Lauren Laverne
Producer: Sarah Taylor

There are more than 2000 programmes in our archive available for you to listen to. We have cast away other notable actors including Sir Anthony Hopkins and some of the people Michael has played including Kenneth Williams, Chris Tarrant and Tony Blair. You can find all those episodes and more by searching BBC Sounds.


SUN 11:00 The Archers Omnibus (m002k3fv)
Writer: Tim Stimpson
Director: Marina Caldarone
Editor: Jeremy Howe

Brian Aldridge.... Charles Collingwood
Ben Archer.... Ben Norris
Jill Archer.... Patricia Greene
Pip Archer.... Daisy Badger
Leonard Berry.... Paul Copley
Susan Carter.... Charlotte Martin
Ruairi Donovan.... Arthur Hughes
Justin Elliott.... Simon Williams
Alan Franks.... John Telfer
Amber Gordon.... Charlotte Jordan
Emma Grundy.... Emerald O'Hanrahan
George Grundy.... Angus Stobie
Adam Macy.... Andrew Wincott
Azra Malik.... Yasmin Wilde
Stella Pryor.... Lucy Speed
Oliver Sterling.... Michael Cochrane
Dane.... Stavros Demetraki
Meg Mellor.... Sue Jenkins


SUN 12:15 Profile (m002k3c1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


SUN 12:30 Just a Minute (m002jscp)
Series 95

6. Do you believe in soul mates?

Sue Perkins challenges Julian Clary, Rachel Parris, Paterson Joseph and Paul Merton to speak for 60 seconds without repetition, deviation or hesitation. Subjects include my Spanish exchange, Paddington Bear and shoulder pads.

Production Coordinator: Sarah Nicholls
Sound Editor: Marc Willcox
Producer: Georgia Keating
Executive Producer: James Robinson
Additional material by Eve Delaney

An EcoAudio certified production.
A BBC Studios Production for Radio 4.


SUN 12:57 Weather (m002k3fx)
The latest weather forecast


SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (m002k3fz)
Radio 4's look at the week's big stories from both home and around the world.


SUN 13:30 Currently (m002kcyy)
Flag Town

In towns and cities across Britain, flags are appearing in ever greater numbers. On rooftops, down terraced streets, outside pubs and community centres, they flutter as both a statement of pride and a challenge to what many feel the country is becoming. In York, the group known as the Flag Force see their work as part of a wider national campaign. For them, raising the Union Flag or the Cross of St George is about honouring history, heritage and a sense of belonging they believe is slowly being stripped away by government neglect, the cost of living crisis and, above all, immigration.

The Flaggers insist their cause is not rooted in racism or exclusion, but in the preservation of British culture. Yet for others, the message is harder to separate. To some, the same symbols that inspire pride in one street can read like a warning in another. Not a call for unity, but a signal that certain people do not belong.

At the heart of this story is a clash of meanings. Supporters describe the flags as an antidote to division, a way to bring fractured communities together under a shared identity. Opponents counter with flags of their own, from Switzerland to Bermuda to the rainbow Pride flag, aiming to show that being British can mean welcoming different cultures rather than resisting them.

The result is a patchwork of banners across the country, each one loaded with history, politics and personal belief. What was once a simple piece of fabric is now a frontline in a debate about who we are and who we want to be. The very symbols meant to unite us are instead exposing how deeply divided we remain.

Presented and Produced by Jonny I'Anson
Edited by Clare Fordham


SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m002jsw3)
St Austell: Kiwis, Proud Plants and Frozen Seeds

When do kiwis produce fruit in the UK? What plant cuttings are the panel most proud of propagating? Should we freeze our seeds in water before planting them in the ground?

Kathy Clugston and a powerhouse panel of gardening experts return to the iconic Eden Project outside St Austell in Cornwall where they field questions from a green fingered live audience. Tackling everything from persistent pests to planting dilemmas, the panel includes houseplant specialist Anne Swithinbank, award-winning garden designer Chris Beardshaw, and horticulturalist Frances Tophill.

Later in the programme, continuing our autumn feature series, Matthew Wilson provides an extensive guide to dividing your perennial plants.

Senior producer: Dominic Tyerman
Junior producer: Rahnee Prescod

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 14:45 Opening Lines (m002k3g1)
A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian

John Yorke looks at the background to A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian and assesses the appeal of this worldwide best seller by Marina Lewycka. Two feuding sisters unite to thwart their newly widowed father’s impending marriage to Valentina - a voluptuous gold-digger from Ukraine who loves green satin underwear and boil-in-the-bag cuisine and who’ll stop at nothing in her single-minded pursuit of the luxurious Western lifestyle she dreams of.

John Yorke has worked in television and radio for 30 years and shares his experience with Radio 4 listeners as he unpacks the themes and impact of the books, plays and stories that are being dramatised in BBC Radio 4’s Sunday Drama series. As former Head of Channel Four Drama and Controller of BBC Drama Production he has worked on some of the most popular shows in Britain - from EastEnders to The Archers, Life on Mars to Shameless.  As creator of the BBC Writers Academy, he's trained a generation of screenwriters - now with over 70 green lights and thousands of hours of television to their names.  He is the author of Into the Woods, the bestselling book on narrative, and he writes, teaches and consults on all forms of narrative - including many podcasts for R4.

Contributor:
Professor Andrew Wilson, Professor of Ukrainian studies at University College London and author of ‘The Ukrainians’

Archive:
Radio 4 – Marina Lewycka on 'Book Club', 8th January 2015

Readings from A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian: Marina Lewycka (Penguin Essentials, 71), 2017

Reader: Janet Ellis
Producer: Alison Vernon-Smith
Sound: Sean Kerwin
Researcher Henry Tydeman
Production Hub Coordinator: Nina Semple
Executive Producer: Caroline Raphael

A Pier production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 15:00 Drama on 4 (m002k3g3)
A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian

Episode 1

Episode 1 of A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, adapted for radio by Tanika Gupta, introduces us to Mykolai, an eccentric 84-year-old Ukrainian widower living in England. Still grieving his late wife Ludmyla, Mykolai shocks his daughter Nadiya with the news that he plans to remarry - to a glamorous 36-year-old woman from Ukraine named Valentyna.

To Mykolai, she is the embodiment of youth, art, and love - to his daughters, she is clearly an opportunist seeking British citizenship, money, and a future for her son, Stanislav.

As Nadiya struggles with disbelief and frustration, she is drawn back into a tense relationship with her estranged sister Vira. Both women wrestle with their own resentments and childhood grievances, even as they try to protect their father from Valentyna’s manipulations. Mykolai, however, insists that love and morality compel him to rescue Valentyna from hardship in Ukraine, dismissing warnings from his family and community.

Interwoven with the present-day drama are haunting recollections from Ludmyla, whose voice narrates fragments of family history - tales of war, famine, revolution, and loss. These memories connect the struggles of the past with the dilemmas of the present, reminding us that survival, desire, and hope are always entwined.

The episode closes with Mykolai’s dreams of love colliding with harsh reality - money, betrayal, and scandal deepen family tensions, setting the stage for battles over loyalty, inheritance, and truth.

An International Arts Partnership production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 16:00 Take Four Books (m002k3g6)
William Boyd

Booker shortlisted writer William Boyd speaks to Take Four Books this week about his new spy novel, The Predicament, and together with presenter James Crawford, and the crime writer Louise Welsh, they explore its connections to three other literary works. In his new novel, which is the second in a trilogy, travel writer turned accidental spy, Gabriel Dax, finds himself caught up in events in Guatemala, and then in Berlin, where he becomes aware of a plot to assassinate the charismatic, young president John F Kennedy. The stakes are high, the pace is fast, and Gabriel is finding the allure of his handler, Faith Green, difficult to resist.

For his three influences William chose: Mountolive, published in 1958, and which is the third volume in The Alexandria Quartet series by Lawrence Durrell; Len Deighton's debut novel The Ipcress File from 1962, this was later turned into a film, of the same name, starring Michael Cane; and John Le Carre's iconic The Spy Who Came In From The Cold published in1963.

Producer: Dominic Howell
Editor: Gillian Wheelan

This is a BBC Audio Scotland production.


SUN 16:30 The 3rd Degree (m002k3g8)
Series 15

3. University of Kent

This episode coming from the University of Kent, The 3rd Degree is a funny, upbeat and brainy quiz show.

The specialist subjects this week are Forensic Science, Architecture and English Literature, so we’ll be charging James Bond under the Firearms Act, watching friendly bombs fall on Slough and chatting about the worst bits of Titus Andronicus. All this plus dinosaurs!

The show is recorded on location at a different University each week, and pits three Undergraduates against three of their Professors in this fresh take on an academic quiz. The General Knowledge rounds include a quickfire bell-and-buzzer finale and the Highbrow & Lowbrow round cunningly devised to test not only the students’ knowledge of history, art, literature and politics, but also their Professors’ awareness of TV, music and sport. Meanwhile there are the three Specialist Subject rounds, in which students take on their Professors in their own subjects, and where we find out whether the students have actually been awake during lectures.

In this series, universities include Bristol, Queen Mary University of London, Kent, Worcester College Oxford, and Manchester Metropolitan University.

Producer: David Tyler

A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 17:00 Witness History (w3ct74jk)
Brazil’s biggest bank heist

In August, 2005, a gang of robbers tunnelled their way into a Brazilian bank vault in a heist straight out of the movies.

Three months before, the thieves had set up a landscaping business, Grama Sintetica - or Synthetic Grass, from a house close to the Banco Central in Fortaleza. But it was a plot to disguise their real activity.

Working in shifts, they dug an 80 metre tunnel from the house, under a neighbouring street and into the vault before escaping with more than 160million reais, then the equivalent of $70million.

Antonio Celso Dos Santos, then a federal police chief, was one of the detectives who tracked down the gang. He spoke to Jane Wilkinson about the investigation.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there.

For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.

Recent episodes explore everything from the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue.

We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron – Argentina’s Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous ‘tear down this wall’ speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler’s List; and Jacques Derrida, France’s ‘rock star’ philosopher.

You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest; the disastrous D-Day rehearsal; and the death of one of the world’s oldest languages.

(Photo: Police and journalists examine the Banco Central tunnel, 2005. Credit: Tuno Viera/AFP via Getty Images)


SUN 17:10 Artworks (m002d0cq)
Monstrous Regiment

Playwright April de Angelis tells the dramatic story of pioneering women’s theatre company Monstrous Regiment, 50 years on from its creation.

In the 1970's, the newly founded Women's Liberation Movement rocked the world. But British theatre was still a largely male preserve. Actresses found themselves in left-leaning fringe productions auditioning for minor roles as sidekicks to male protagonists. Sick and tired of being marginalised, a group of actresses led by Gillian Hanna, Chris Bowler and Mary McCusker decided to form their own company to focus on the lives of women and promote roles for women in all areas of theatre, on and off stage.

Monstrous Regiment was born, named ironically after John Knox's vituperative description of Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots.

Across two decades of extraordinary social and political upheaval, this group of women changed theatre history, fuelled by ambition, passion and ideology.

Presented by April De Angelis
Sound mix by Steve Bond
Production Coordinator - Anna de Wolff Evans
Executive Producer - Sara Davies
Produced, recorded and edited by Nicolas Jackson

With special thanks to Monstrous Regiment, Mary McCusker, Russell Keat, Helen Glavin, Lily Susan Todd, Roger Allam, Bryony Lavery, Susan Croft, Gerda Stevenson, Rosa Clay Slade, Adrian Berry, Jackson’s Lane and Unfinished Histories.

Audio clips of Margaret Thatcher courtesy of BBC Radio programmes: Woman’s Hour; The New Elisabethans; Call Yourself a Feminist.

Songs courtesy of Monstrous Regiment and Helen Glavin.

For more information about Monstrous Regiment visit https://monstrousregiment.co.uk/

An Afonica production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 17:40 Short Works (m000h26b)
This Is Somewhere Else

"I don’t know if it’s the schnapps that hits me or Gabriella’s pointed question but my head starts to spin. Why do I want to be Romanian? Is it possible that I just want it, not that I actually am?” Original short story for radio, written and read by Henry C. Krempels. Produced by Becky Ripley.


SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m002k3gb)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SUN 17:57 Weather (m002k3gd)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002k3gg)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (m002k3gj)
Anna Phoebe

A selection of highlights from the past week on BBC radio


SUN 19:00 The Archers (m002k38p)
Stella has a crisis of confidence, and Ian is less than impressed.


SUN 19:15 Illuminated (m002k3gl)
Driving, Driving, Driving on the Autobahn

Alan Dein takes to the road to explore the social and cultural resonances of Kraftwerk’s Autobahn.

The music begins the way journeys begin: with a clunking car door and churning ignition, before rolling onwards on a warm rhythmic throb - a 23-minute conceptual road-trip of swerves and curves, gentle gradients and blaring horns, tarmac-rumbling rhythms and doppler-shift effects that simulate the sensory whoosh of passing vehicles.

Kraftwerk's lyrical paean to the possibilities of freedom via the German motorway system is fifty years old. It was released in late 1974 and became popular worldwide in 1975. These were years in which a new West Germany was being created, one in which a more overt reckoning with history was possible, and in which a new characteristically German culture could be asserted, free from -- and implicitly in opposition to -- that history: new art, writing, cinema, and, with Kraftwerk, among others, music.

The autobahn wasn't an innocent choice of subject for Kraftwerk. It connected them back to the 1930s, when the autobahn system was begun and became an integral part of the infrastructure of the Third Reich. After the war it became a symbol of the West German 'economic miracle'. Beginning in darkness, the autobahn could be conceived as a road that drove towards progress and optimism.

'Wir fahren, fahren, fahren auf der autobahn': 'We’re driving, driving, driving on the autobahn.'

Alan Dein is on the autobahn as well – driving, driving, driving – in Kraftwerk’s wake, and tuned in to the cultural world of West Germany in the 1970s.

Featuring:
Berthold Franke, cultural historian
Daniel Miller, musician and founder of Mute records
Emil Schult, artist and sometime member of Kraftwerk

With grateful thanks to Dietmar Post and Uwe Schutte.

Photograph shows Emil Schult and Alan Dein. Behind them is Schult's painting, used as the original cover of Kraftwerk's Autobahn album.


SUN 19:45 Just One Thing - with Michael Mosley (m0017kc7)
Drink Coffee

Coffee drinkers rejoice! Did you know that a simple cup of coffee can improve your mood, boost your workout and even stimulate your brown fat, helping you burn calories? In this episode, Michael Mosley finds out all the benefits of our beloved bean - with research suggesting that it could help your brain and heart. What’s more, if you time it right, a simple cup of coffee could help you get more out of your workout and could even change the way you break down fat. Michael speaks to Professor James Betts at the University of Bath to find out how much coffee is the best dose, and what to bear in mind when having a cup.


SUN 20:00 Word of Mouth (m002jtvh)
It's not what you say, it's how you say it

Michael Rosen on the linguistic comfort food of clichés, pragmatics and how we use language to connect us beyond the actual words used. Derek Bousfield explains how words do more than carry meaning: context governs what we say and how it’s understood.
Dr Bousfield is Reader in Pragmatics and Communication and Co-Director of The Manchester Centre for Research in Linguistics and co-author of Talking in Clichés: The Use of Stock Phrases in Discourse and Communication.
Produced for BBC Audio Bristol by Beth O'Dea, in partnership with the Open University.
Subscribe to the Word of Mouth podcast and never miss an episode: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/b006qtnz


SUN 20:30 Last Word (m002jsw7)
Sir Nicholas Grimshaw, John Stapleton, Mary Elizabeth Dodd, Claudia Cardinale

Matthew Bannister on

Sir Nicholas Grimshaw, the architect who designed the international terminal at London’s Waterloo Station and the Eden Project.

John Stapleton, the TV presenter who fronted Watchdog with his wife and ITV’s breakfast and daytime shows. His friend Greg Dyke pays tribute.

Mary Elizabeth Dodd, the physiotherapist who pioneered new treatments for cystic fibrosis.

And the glamorous Italian film star Claudia Cardinale who was a muse for the directors Federico Fellini and Luchino Visconti.

Interviewee: Andrew Whalley
Interviewee: Greg Dyke
Interviewee: Professor Kevin Webb
Interviewee: Rita Di Santo

Producer: Ed Prendeville

Archive used:
The Late Show, BBC Television 01/02/1989 ; The Eden Project, BBC News 15/03/2001 ; Desert Island Discs – Nicholas Grimshaw , BBC radio 4 , 14/12/2003; John Stapleton in conversation , BBC Radio Wales 01/11/2013; John Stapleton, Argentina report; Newsnight, BBC Two, 13/04/1982 ; John Stapleton , report on Motorways, Nationwide, BBC One, 01/03/1976; The Time The Place, Central Television, ITV, 09/11/1992; John Stapleton, BBC Election 1987, 12/06/1987; Watchdog, BBC One, 11/01/1988 ; John Stapleton report, Panorama, The Class of 81, BBC One, 07/09/1981; Life File , BBC 12/02/1988; The Leopard, director: Luchino Visconti, from the novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp 1963; Hardtalk - Claudia Cardinale , BBC 29/11/2011


SUN 21:00 Money Box (m002k3b9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:04 on Saturday]


SUN 21:25 Radio 4 Appeal (m002k3fd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:54 today]


SUN 21:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m002k3b5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:30 on Saturday]


SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (m002k3gn)
Radio 4's Sunday night political discussion programme.


SUN 23:00 On the Run (m0023g63)
At Their Feet

Writer, Poet and Runner Helen Mort tracks a history of running, from prehistoric times to present day to chart the development of humanity's relationship with running.

In this episode, Helen examines the role running played in societies from Europe's Dark Ages to the early 20th century. She'll be finding out who the runners were, what inspired them to ran, and the impact it made on their social status.

Helen will discover the surprising religious origins of Britain's modern-day position in global athletics. She'll chart the ups and downs of the participation and perception of women runners. And she'll learn how 17th century foot messengers became a powerful tool in the struggle between indigenous North Americans and European colonisers.

Interviewees:
Neil Baxter - Sociologist and running historian
Sam Edwards - Historian, Loughborough University
Bill Hillmann - Bull runner and writer
Katie Holmes - Women's running historian
Dustin Martin - Executive Director of Wings of America
Peter Radford - Olympian and sports historian
Roger Robinson - Runner and author of 'Running in Literature'

Thanks to Thor Gotaas, author of 'Running: A Global History'

Producer: Becca Bryers


SUN 23:45 Short Works (m002jsw5)
Shadowing Gordon by Jan Carson

An original short story specially commissioned by BBC Radio 4 from the author Jan Carson. Read by Seamus O’Hara (‘Blue Lights’).

The Author
Jan Carson is a writer and community arts facilitator based in East Belfast. Her novel ‘The Fire Starters’ was awarded the EU Prize for Literature 2019 and the author was acclaimed as “one of the most exciting and original Northern Irish writers of her generation” by the Sunday Times. Her most recent novel ‘The Raptures’ was shortlisted for the Irish Book Awards Novel of the Year and the Kerry Group Novel of the Year. She is a frequent contributor to BBC Radio 4 was shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award 2020, the An Post Irish Short Story of the Year and the Seán Ó Faoláin Short Story Prize. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2023.

Writer: Jan Carson
Reader: Seamus O’Hara
Producer: Michael Shannon

A BBC Audio Northern Ireland Production for BBC Radio 4.

MONDAY 29 SEPTEMBER 2025

MON 00:00 Midnight News (m002k3gq)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


MON 00:15 Crossing Continents (m002jsqz)
‘A new foe’: Conscripting women in Denmark

Denmark is eyeing up the military threat from Russia – and dramatically increasing the numbers in its national service. Now, 18-year-old girls are facing a call up.

The BBC has been granted rare access to a military base on the outskirts of Copenhagen to see the newest recruits learn how to operate on the battlefield.

Anna Holligan attends a “Defences Day” where teenagers find out whether they’re fit to serve, and draw a conscription lottery ticket that could shape their future.

Presenter: Anna Holligan
Producer: Ellie House
Production Coordinator: Katie Morrison
Sound Mix: Rod Farquhar
Editor: Penny Murphy


MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (m002k3ch)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:43 on Sunday]


MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002k3gs)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002k3gv)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.


MON 05:00 News Summary (m002k3gx)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


MON 05:04 Last Word (m002jsw7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 on Sunday]


MON 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002k3gz)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m002k3h1)
Boundaries and Retreats

A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with Emma - Lopen Ani Pema Deki

Good morning.

I have just come out of a period of solitary retreat in the mountains of Bhutan. I find such times of stepping back and concentrating on clearing my mind and assessing how things are going to be so helpful.

In Tibetan the word for retreat is tsam which actually simply means a boundary, to draw a line and someone who is in retreat is a tsam pa, someone who has deliberately drawn this line for a set period of time.

The drawing of a line can be for any length of time and actually anywhere but in Buddhism it does need to be a deliberate, chosen decision and one arising from a place of compassion for self and others.

On my path there have been so many things to learn and one of them is renunciation and the question of what is sufficient for mental contentment. This becomes very real when one enters a formal retreat where the house or hut is very simple and you think deliberately ‘what do I want to take with me, to take beyond this boundary.

For me it was a good supply of food and a duvet for the body and for the mind a clear timetable of practices of prayer and meditation to do throughout the day and I came out feeling energised and ready to play my part in the great dance of life once more.

I wish you good luck with finding your own peace, with drawing your own lines and knowing what is sufficient for your own contentment.

‘May all beings be at peace and may this begin with us’


MON 05:45 Farming Today (m002k3h3)
27/09/25: Prime Minister's farming priority, Armagh Bramleys, livestock markets

As the Labour Party Conference continues, the Prime Minister says improving profitability is his priority for farming. There's no sign of change on the decision to reimpose Inheritance Tax on farms worth over £1 million.

We begin a week focussing on the role of livestock markets in 21st century farming, and ask are they as relevant now as a generation ago?

County Armagh, in Northern Ireland, is famous for its Bramley Apples and we visit a grower who says his family has apple in their blood.

Presenter: Charlotte Smith
Producer: Sarah Swadling


MON 05:57 Weather (m002k3h5)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for farmers


MON 06:00 Today (m002k37w)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


MON 09:00 Start the Week (m002k37y)
Steven Pinker on common knowledge

The experimental cognitive psychologist and popular science writer, Steven Pinker delves into the intricacies of human interactions in his latest book, ‘When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows...: Common Knowledge and the Science of Harmony, Hypocrisy and Outrage’. From avoiding the elephant in the room to the outing of the emperor’s new clothes, Pinker reveals the paradoxes of human behaviour.

Common knowledge can bind people and communities together in a shared purpose, but Aleks Krotoski, the presenter of BBC Radio 4’s The Artificial Human and The Digital Human, journeys to the fringes of human endeavour in The Immortalists. There, Silicon Valley tech billionaires are using their wealth to focus on their own futures, attempting to disrupt and defy their own mortality.

How people behave to strangers and how much they’re willing to spend to help them, is at the heart of David Edmonds’s biography of the philosopher Peter Singer. Death in a Shallow Pond considers Singer’s most famous thought experiment and his contention that we’re morally obliged to come to the aid of those less fortunate if we can. It’s a practical philosophy that has divided opinion, but also inspired a new movement of effective altruism.

Producer: Katy Hickman
Assistant Producer: Natalia Fernandez


MON 09:45 Café Hope (m002k380)
Bringing loved ones home

Co-founder of the Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust, Colin Bell, tells Rachel Burden how his son's death abroad, was the start of his charity that repatriates loved ones.
26-year-old Kevin, from Newry, County Down in Ireland, was killed in a suspected hit-and-run in New York in June 2013.

The community in Newry, raised around £150,000 to bring Kevin back home. Inspired by their generosity, Colin and his family started the charity, which is funded entirely through donations and fundraising, to help families in the same position bring their loved one home.

Café Hope is our virtual Radio 4 coffee shop, where guests pop in for a brew and a chat to tell us what they’re doing to make things better in big and small ways. Think of us as sitting in your local café, cooking up plans, hearing the gossip, and celebrating the people making the world a better place.

We’re all about trying to make change. It might be a transformational project that helps an entire community, or it might be about trying to make one life a little bit easier. And the key here is in the trying. This is real life. Not everything works, and there are struggles along the way. But it’s always worth a go.

You can contact us on cafehope@bbc.co.uk

Presenter: Rachel Burden
Series Producer: Uma Doraiswamy
Sound Design: Nicky Edwards
Researcher: Maeve Schaffer
Editor: Clare Fordham


MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (m002k382)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.


MON 11:00 Three Ages of Child (m002k384)
Episode 1: The Early Years

Dr Guddi Singh is a paediatrician looking for answers. She’s worried about the patients whose problems can’t be fixed with a prescription – babies who are not thriving because their parents can’t afford to heat their home or children who are obese because they don’t have access to outdoor space. Children in the UK face some of the worst health outcomes in Europe. Dr Singh wants to find solutions.

In a three-part series, she travels across England through the three ages of childhood: the early years, the primary school years and adolescence. She meets people in the community, from health workers to teachers, on a quest to discover what’s going wrong and what it will take to turn things around.

In the first episode, she visits Hartlepool in north-east England, where she grew up, to explore the early years of childhood. It’s one of the most deprived parts of the country. She meets people on the frontline in the voluntary sector and public health, visits a school that is providing social support to families and finds out from parents what’s needed to survive and nurture their children.

Presenter: Guddi Singh
Producer: Jo Glanville
Editor: Kirsten Lass
Executive Producer: Rosamund Jones
Production Executive: Lisa Lipman
Sound Engineers: Dan King and Jon Calver
Photography of Guddi Singh courtesy of Anad Singh
Commissioning Editor: Daniel Clarke

A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4


MON 11:45 Dangerous Miracle by Liam Shaw (m002k387)
Episode 1: Tiny Beasts

Biologist Liam Shaw explores the surprising history and uncertain future of antibiotics, one of humanity's greatest medical advances.
In a remote region of Canada, scientists drill into the permafrost in search of antibiotic resistance.

Read by James Macnaughton
Abridged by Eileen Horne
Produced by Eilidh McCreadie
A BBC Audio Scotland production for BBC Radio 4


MON 12:00 News Summary (m002k38b)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


MON 12:04 You and Yours (m002k38d)
News and discussion of consumer affairs


MON 12:57 Weather (m002k38g)
The latest weather forecast


MON 13:00 World at One (m002k38j)
News, analysis and comment from BBC Radio 4


MON 13:45 Food Britannia (m002k38l)
The Supermarket Dilemma

Max Cotton, a retired political journalist, is on a mission to eat only food grown in the UK for an entire year, on a £30 per week budget. Why? He wants to know if Britain can produce the diet we need, when as a nation we import nearly half our food.

The series begins by asking why processed food labels make it so difficult to know where ingredients come from, and reveals that staples like supermarket bread may not be as British as we think.

Presenter: Max Cotton
Producer: Tessa Browne
Executive Producer: Kate Dixon
A Good Egg production for BBC Radio 4


MON 14:00 The Archers (m002k38p)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Sunday]


MON 14:15 Alone (m0009klr)
Series 2

A Few Loose Ends

Ellie meets Kath, an old female friend of Mitch, and invites her to visit them.

But there’s more to Kath’s story than at first appears and Mitch and Will soon find themselves at loggerheads.

Meanwhile, Louisa acts the role of Morris’ partner to help her career and hopefully to heighten his pulling power at a party.

Sitcom about five single, middle aged neighbours living in flats in a converted house in North London.

Mitch is a widower and part-time therapist, looking to put his life back together now that he is single and living with Will, his younger, more volatile and unhappily divorced half-brother.

Elsewhere in the building is schoolteacher Ellie who is shy, nervous and holds a secret candle for Mitch. Overly honest, frustrated actress Louisa, and socially inept IT nerd Morris complete the line-up of mis-matched neighbours.

Mitch ...... Angus Deayton
Will ...... Pearce Quigley
Ellie ...... Abigail Cruttenden
Louisa ...... Kate Isitt
Morris ...... Bennett Arron
Kath and Alice ...... Morwenna Banks

Written and created by Moray Hunter
Produced by Gordon Kennedy
Based on an original idea developed in association with Dandy Productions

An Absolutely production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in October 2019.


MON 14:45 Mrs Bridge by Evan S Connell (m0019rk6)
Episode 7

Evan S. Connell's Mrs Bridge is an extraordinary tragicomic portrayal of suburban life and one of the classic American novels of the twentieth century. Mrs Bridge, a conservative housewife in Missouri, has three children and a kindly lawyer husband. Her married life begins in the early 1930s – and soon after she and her young family move to a wealthy country club suburb of Kansas City. she spends her time shopping, going to bridge parties and bringing up her children to be pleasant, clean and have nice manners. The qualities that she values above all else. And yet she finds modern life increasingly baffling, her children aren't growing up into the people she expected, and sometimes she has the vague disquieting sensation that all is not well in her life. In a series of comic, telling vignettes, Evan S. Connell illuminates the narrow morality, confusion, futility and even terror at the heart of a life of plenty.

First published in 1959 it was perhaps overshadowed by the critical attention paid to contemporaries like Philip Roth and John Updike. Although Mrs Bridge was a finalist for the National Book Award in that year. Ten years later Connell published Mr Bridge which follows that same events largely from the point of view of Walter Bridge. In 1990 James Ivory directed the film Mr and Mrs Bridge based on both novels and starring Paul Newman and his wife Joanne Woodward. Fans of the book today include the novelist David Nicholls and Tracey Thorne, author and singer.

Mrs Bridge by Evan S. Connell
Read by Fenella Woolgar
Abridged by Isobel Creed and Jill Waters
The Waters Company for BBC Radio 4


MON 15:00 Great Lives (m002k38r)
Sylvia Plath

Lucy Jones, author of Matrescence, chooses the writer Sylvia Plath.

Sylvia Plath was a precocious, prize-winning child,. Her mother had high expectations for her. Her father had died when she was 8 (but could have been saved if only he'd gone to see a doctor).

When she was well, Plath was energetic, fun, bright, attractive, funny and incredibly smart.

Her first depressive episode at the age of 20, was 'treated' with botched electric shock therapy. She was awake throughout the ordeal, which left her terrified and traumatised.

Lucy Jones believes that Plath has an unfair reputation as a depressing writer, because of the shadow that her suicide casts backwards over her life. But Jones finds Plath's poetry incredibly alive, brave, comforting and inspiring. "I don't think I would have been able to write Matrescence without Plath's work"

Both Lucy Jones and Plath's biographer, Heather Clark, believe that at the end of her life, recently separated and struggling through a particularly bad winter with two very small children, she may have been suffering from post-natal depression.

With archive recordings of Sylvia Plath reading her poems Daddy and Mushrooms, as well as being interviewed with Ted Hughes.

Produced in Bristol by Ellie Richold and presented by Matthew Parris


MON 15:30 You're Dead to Me (p0f3kqpl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Saturday]


MON 16:00 Currently (m002kcyy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 13:30 on Sunday]


MON 16:30 The Kitchen Cabinet (m002k38v)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:30 on Saturday]


MON 17:00 PM (m002k38x)
News and current affairs, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines


MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002k38z)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


MON 18:30 Paul Sinha's Perfect Pub Quiz (m002k391)
Series 4

Foxy Flag Facts

Paul Sinha tests his audience in Leicester on their knowledge of their home county, Trivial Pursuit-style - with all the colours of questions, from geography to entertainment, getting asked. Can they fill the wedges, and can Paul answer their favourite questions, about crisps, bells and cricket?

Written and performed by Paul Sinha
Additional material: Oliver Levy
Additional questions: The Audience

Original music: Tim Sutton

Recording engineer: Jerry Peal
Mixed by: Rich Evans
Producer: Ed Morrish

A Lead Mojo production for BBC Radio 4


MON 19:00 The Archers (m002k394)
There's bad news for the Grundys, and Alice attempts a brave face.


MON 19:15 Front Row (m002k396)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music


MON 20:00 Rethink (m002jtvk)
Rethink... winners and losers

Do you agree with either of these statements?

Illegal migrants come here and are a burden on services and the taxpayer.
OR
The only way to reduce inequality is to tax billionaires and giant companies who avoid tax.

They may seem on opposite poles of the political spectrum, but both anti-migrant campaigners and anti-capitalists share an identical mindset. Both are demonstrating zero-sum thinking; the belief that if one group wins, another has to lose.

In itself, zero-sum thinking isn't moral or immoral, right or wrong. But Economists claim it leads to poor economic policy, and they say evidence shows it is possible to create win-win situations for everyone.

But many of the main parties at Westminster also use zero-sum thinking in their political rhetoric - from Reform and the Greens, to the Conservatives and Labour. Also, the first past the post electoral system is literally a zero-sum process. So is this kind of thinking baked-into UK politics?

So are there particular groups of people that are more prone to zero-sum beliefs? Where did this mindset come from? What economic conditions encourage zero-sum thinking, and how deeply are these beliefs held?

Presenter: Ben Ansell
Producer: Ravi Naik
Editor: Richard Vadon

Contributors:
Stefanie Stantcheva, Nathaniel Ropes Professor of Political Economy at Harvard and founder and director of the Social Economics Lab.
Dr Patricia Andrews Fearon, behavioural science researcher at social impact accelerator The Agency Fund, and Stanford University. Her research on zero-sum mindsets began during her doctoral studies at Cambridge, where she was a Gates Scholar.
Dr Parth Patel, Associate director for democracy & politics at the Institute of Public Policy and Research
Iain Mansfield, Director of Research and Head of Education and Science at Policy Exchange
Cleo Watson, Former Downing Street strategist, adviser to Theresa May and Boris Johnson, author, and presenter of Radio 4's "How to win a campaign"


MON 20:30 BBC Inside Science (m002jtvm)
The science behind autism

What do we know about the causes of autism? Laura Andreae, Professor of Developmental Neuroscience at King’s College London explains the science. It’s after President Trump made unproven claims the condition is linked to taking paracetamol in pregnancy.

Tim O’Brien, Professor of Astrophysics at The University of Manchester and Associate Director of Jodrell Bank Centre, explains why NASA is planning to send a crew of astronauts around the moon for the first time in 50 years.

Tim Minshall, inaugural Dr John C. Taylor Professor of Innovation at the University of Cambridge dives into the mysterious world of manufacturing. His book ‘Your Life is Manufactured’ is shortlisted for the Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize 2025. And we hear from Dave Sexton, conservationist on the Isle of Mull, and his search for one unusual bird.

If you want to test your climate change knowledge, head to bbc.co.uk search for BBC Inside Science and follow the links to The Open University to take the quiz.


MON 21:00 Start the Week (m002k37y)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


MON 21:45 Café Hope (m002k380)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 today]


MON 22:00 The World Tonight (m002k398)
In-depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective.


MON 22:45 The Plot Against America by Philip Roth (m002k39b)
Episode 6

Richard Schiff (The West Wing) reads Roth's chilling vision of an alternative American history, in which Charles Lindbergh defeats Roosevelt in 1940 and makes a deal with Hitler. Aunt Evelyn and her lover Rabbi Bengelsdorf are invited to a reception at the White House in honour of German foreign minister, von Ribbentrop.

Produced by Mair Bosworth and Fay Lomas for BBC Audio
Abridged by Sara Davies
Sound by Ilse Lademann
Assistant producer Alice McKee


MON 23:00 Tracking the Planet (m001xmgv)
Navigating the Anthropocene

Our planet is alive. A dynamic, moving, pulsating organism. Air pressure rises and falls, ocean currents meander, and the climate continues, by tiny increments, to warm.

And at the same time, billions of animals are on the move.

All over the planet, animals are fitted with sophisticated tracking devices by teams of dedicated scientists, which tell us so much about what they’re up to. From rhinos in bulky satellite collars, to microscopic chips glued to the back of a bee, they record where the animals go, what they eat, and how and why they migrate across the globe.

But they record so much more than that too – modern trackers can also log local climactic conditions, windspeed, temperature, even some measures of the animal’s own health; heartbeat, or skin temperature. Every tagged animal is transformed into a tiny dynamic weather station, collecting data on climactic conditions and the health of ecosystems, which would be impossible to collect otherwise.

Diving Weddell seals bring back data on the melting speed of a deep water glacier. Roving Tiger Sharks uncover previously unknown sea-grass habitats. High-flying sea-birds on annual migration tell us about changing wind patterns across the tempestuous equator, and farm animals in the mountains of Italy, moving nervously in their fields, give a silent alert: an earthquake is on the way.

In this series, Emily Knight explores some of the stories that can be told about the animals that call this world home, and the much larger over-arching story too: How the changing conditions on this planet are transforming THEIR lives, changing their migration routes, re-positioning their food-stocks, bringing new diseases or challenging weather. We can track how they’re coping with it all, and how, sometimes, they’re not.


MON 23:30 Being Roman with Mary Beard (m001yxgt)
7. The Whistleblower

Beneath starched Shakespearean togas and the pungent fug of gladiator sweat there are real Romans waiting to be discovered. To know what it was to be Roman you need to gather the scattered clues until they form a living, breathing human, witness to the highs and horrors of Europe’s greatest empire.

Mary Beard, Britain’s best-selling historian of the ancient world, rebuilds the lives of six citizens of the Roman Empire, from a poet to a squaddie. Her investigations reveal death and deceit on the Nile and the art of running a Roman pub, but it’s the thoughts and feelings of individual Romans she’s really interested in.

It's 61CE. The rebellion of Boudicca has finally been quashed, but London and other Roman cities lie in ruins. A new finance officer for the province, Gaius Julius Classicianus arrives, to face an enormous recovery job. Standing in his way is the Governor, busy exacting terrible reprisals from the local population. Classicianus does what brave subordinates have done ever since. He whistle-blows – writing to the emperor to remove the Governor from British shores. The stage is set for an imperial face-off. For the people of Britain, the stakes could not be higher.

Producer: Alasdair Cross

Expert Contributors: Matthew Nicholls, University of Oxford and Michael Marshall, Museum of London Archaeology

Cast: Tacitus played by Robert Wilfort

Translations by Mary Beard

Special thanks to the British Museum