Now a fully-fledged OAP, George Smith is set for a special mission with Andrea Sunbeam and Mrs Cookson.

Colin Swash's dystopian comedy stars Stephen Moore as George, Patsy Byrne as Doris, Geoffrey McGivern as O'Connell, Edna Dore as Mrs Cookson, Lorelei King as Andrea Sunbeam, Melanie Hudson as Wilma P Random. With Christopher, Lewis MacLeod and Peter Serafinowicz.

Producer: Richard Wilson.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1998.

"I'm convinced it's the best thing ever written and recorded in the history of things written and recorded" - Moby.

Rhapsody in Blue was first heard exactly 90 years ago when it premiered on February 12, 1924, in New York's Aeolian Hall. Through its use at the opening of Woody Allen's 'Manhattan' it has become synonymous with the city that inspired its creation. But for people around the world, George Gershwin's "experiment in modern music" has become imbued with the most personal of memories.

LA based screen writer Charles Peacock reflects on how this piece has become entwined with his life and how, on an evening at the Hollywood Bowl this music "healed him". When Adela Galasiu was growing up in communist Romania, Rhapsody in Blue represented "life itself, as seen through the eyes of an optimist". For world speed champion Gina Campbell, the opening of that piece will forever remind her of the roar of the Bluebird's ignition as it flew through the "glass like stillness of the water" and brings back the memories of her father, the legendary Donald Campbell - it was played at his funeral when he was finally laid to rest decades after his fatal record attempt on Coniston Lake.

Featuring interviews with Professor of Music Howard Pollock and musician Moby.

C. J. Sansom's bestselling Tudor crime novel, adapted for radio by Colin MacDonald.

Betrayed and abandoned by Mark, Shardlake must act alone to catch the killer of Orphan Stonegarden, Novice Whelplay and Brother Gabriel.

Produced and directed by Kirsteen Cameron.

Distressed Antoinette must come to terms with her future. Prequel to Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre concluded by Adjoa Andoh.

From 'She Loves You' in German, to 'Space Oddity' in Italian - it wasn't unusual in the 1960s to find pop artists from the Beatles to David Bowie, attempting to boost their sales with foreign language versions of their British hits.

Mark Radcliffe looks at one of pop music's quirkier episodes.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2007.

A stranger tells his seatmate a chilling story on a night flight to Germany and then asks for his help. But is this soft-voiced, smiling man capable of murder? Bill Nighy reads the concluding instalment of Stranger in the Night from Bernhard Schlink's new collection of short fiction.

Abridged and produced by Jane Marshall
A Jane Marshall production for BBC Radio 4.

In 1947 Sir Robert Robinson received the Nobel prize for Chemistry "in recognition of his investigations of plant products of biological importance, especially the alkaloids". This powerful family of plant chemicals was proving a potent medical tool.

Professor Kathy Willis traces the natural role of alkaloids in plants and the first attempts to isolate one of the best know - quinine, from chinchona bark growing in the Andes. This development gave rise to the emergence of a new kind of laboratory scientist equally able to handle botanical and chemical data. As Mark Nesbitt, Keeper of Kew's Economic Botany Collection explains, this was to eliminate the chance and guesswork in identifying "good" plants from "bad".

Professor Monique Simmons of Kew's Jodrell Laboratory, assesses why chemicals from the plant kingdom are still needed in the fight against some of our most challenging diseases, from breast cancer to cardiovascular disease, and how making the nuanced connections between plant species is central to success in this field.

Producer Adrian Washbourne.

The Dogs and The Woves by Irene Nemirovsky, translated by Sandra Smith
Dramatised by Ellen Dryden
Ep.5/5
Ben turns up suddenly at Ada's. There is a warrant out for his arrest for fraud and Harry's family bank has crashed. There will be a scandal. Ada is faced with a terrible dilemma - in order to save Harry from financial ruin, she turns to his rich wife, Laurence.

Produced and directed by Pauline Harris.

Life is becoming untenable for the Bugan family and when a courier is needed, it's Carmen who volunteers.

Burying The Typewriter is Carmen Bugan's memoir of growing up in Romania in the 1970s and 1980s when the country was governed by Ceausescu, and his network of agents and informers, the Securitate, exerted a malign influence in every sphere of society.

Carmen Bugan was educated at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) and Balliol College, Oxford, where she was awarded a doctorate. Her first book of poetry, Crossing The Carpathians, was published by Oxford Poets/Carcanet in 2004.

"A beautiful, vivid memoir..."
The Guardian

"It is the more moving and powerful for being so quiet and thoughtful..."
The Independent

"A warm and humane work..."
The Observer

Reader: Anamaria Marinca
(BAFTA award winner for 'Sex Traffic' 2005)

Abridged by Pete Nichols

Produced by Karen Rose
A Sweet Talk Production for BBC Radio 4.

Both Fanny and Tom face disappointment and hope in equal measure. Stars Hannah Gordon, Amanda Root and Jane Lapotaire.

Martin Young hosts the famous people quiz show with team captains Francis Wheen and Fred Housego and guests Claire Rayner and David Aaronovitch. From November 2000.

Ian Hislop and Nick Newman's epic tale of bitter rivals whose destinies are tragically intertwined.

Written by master storyteller "Archie Jeffries", this six-part series is set in Durban at the Transworld Oil Conference - with the world on the brink of war.

What could divide two close friends, the aristocratic Foxwell Cravate (Martin Jarvis) and American tycoon Max Pomeroy (Mac Macdonald), so far apart that their rivalry has come to threaten the human race? There's only one way to find out - with flashbacks - as we discover how their rivalry began at Cambridge.

The two women in the rivals' lives are Lolanthe Diamond (Caroline Quentin) and Arabella Derbyshire (Felicity Montagu). Also featuring Mandy Knight, Julian Dutton and Jonathan Coy.

Spoofing the novels of Jeffrey Archer, Private Eye editor Ian Hislop originally joked that the series was adapted from the blockbuster novel of the same name - aping the style of the best TV mini-series of the 90s.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 1994.

Pam Ayres returns with a new series packed with poetry, anecdotes and sketches.

Pam is joined by Geoffrey Whitehead and Felicity Montagu for poems about French cycling holidays, the up-side to riding a tandem, getting fit on gym bikes and how to banish the middle-age blues by getting kitted out with a motorbike and leathers.

The cast of TV's hugely popular sketch show return for their second series on BBC Radio 4. Pete Baikie, Morwenna Banks, Moray Hunter, Gordon Kennedy and John Sparkes revisit some of their much-loved sketch characters, while also introducing some newcomers to the show.

In 2013, the group that made their name on Channel Four in the 1980s and 90s got back together for Radio 4's Sketchorama: Absolutely Special - which won the BBC Audio Drama Award for Best Live Scripted Comedy. The first series of The Absolutely Radio Show picked up a Celtic Media Award nomination for Best Radio Comedy.

The third episode of the series features the Little Girl with her views on what is or isn't the Truth, Frank Hovis inviting us to support his new charity, the Reverend McMinn having a surprise encounter in his local minimart with a visiting President, the Tour Guide taking us on a trip round what may possibly be Edinburgh and Calum Gilhooley giving some unhelpful and unwelcome advice to a train ticket collector. There are songs about addiction to being healthy and the joys or otherwise of middle age, a look at the perils of box set bingeing and a brand new, same-as-all-the-rest police drama about a TV detective who is always off the case.

Cast:
Peter Baikie
Morwenna Banks
Moray Hunter
Gordon Kennedy
John Sparkes
Gus Beattie
Gordon Kennedy

Produced by Gordon Kennedy and Gus Beattie.
An Absolutely/Gusman production for BBC Radio.

An unknown agent is ensnared in a sinister plot to brainwash scientists and trade them across the Iron Curtain.

Len Deighton's gripping Cold War thriller was first published in 1962. This taut BBC radio dramatisation is by Mike Walker.

Starring Ian Hart as the Agent, James Laurenson as Colonel Ross, Jonathan Coy as Major Dalby, Fenella Woolgar as Jean, Rachel Atkins as Alice, Jamie Bamber as Chico, Peter Marinker as Jay and Kerry Shale as Skip.

Producer: Toby Swift
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2004.

Jazz musician and broadcaster Humphrey Lyttelton explores the troubled world of British band leaders after 1945. From November 2005.

"You can't have suspense without information" - Alfred Hitchcock on making films

"At first I thought they're going to need subtitles in the picture" - Shelley Winters on Michael Caine's cockney accent in 'Alfie'.

"Milligan and I are both manic depressives" - Peter Sellers.

Alfred Hitchcock, Shelley Winters, Peter Sellers, Sammy Davis Jr, Richard Burton, David Niven, Vincent Price, Sean Connery, Shirley Maclaine, Joan Greenwood, Paul McCartney and John Lennon. These are just some of the big name interviewees featuring in this hugely entertaining review of the work of interviewer Peter Noble.

Long before BBC 1's Film review show, film fans' main port of call was Movie-Go-Round which ran on the BBC Light Programme/ Radio 2 on Sunday afternoons from 1956 to 1969.

Travelling around the globe, the programme's film location reporter Peter Noble chatted to the superstars and directors of the day. Tragically none of the original programmes were saved in the BBC archive, but luckily Peter held onto all his irreplaceable taped interviews.

Not heard since 1995, this look back with Movie-Go-Round's original host Peter Haigh showcases film-fan Peter Noble's love of cinema with the best of his vast personal collection of tapes.

Producer: Barry Littlechild
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in 1995.

Gavin Henderson is passionate about music. Formerly a noted trumpeter in an orchestra, he's been Director of Brighton Arts Festival, Principal of Trinity College of Music and is now Principal of the Central School of Speech and Drama in London.

In this sequence of programmes, he explores the complex creative communities that coalesce to bring a piece of music to life in a concert hall. Becoming a member of a musical ensemble has been described as "more like joining a cause than a profession". He talks to members of orchestras and ensembles to get their personal perspectives on music making. What do they feel about their own instrument? What are relations like between members of the orchestra? Or between an orchestra and a conductor?

It's a world of titanic egos, and creative humility; where the rigours of touring and performing, the frustrations of forever being the second violin and the vagaries of venue acoustics and audience responsiveness can be forgotten in a feat of collective creative expression.

Gavin throws light on some of the less known inner workings of an orchestra and the sometimes intuitive relationships "behind the podium" - such as that between the Orchestral Librarian and Conductor, or piano tuner and pianist.

And he tries to understand and convey what motivates a group of individuals to act like an organism greater than the sum of its parts, bringing pleasure and, occasionally, transcendence, to performers and audience alike.

Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra by Pier Productions.

Stuart Maclean celebrates the city of Calgary in Alberta.

Discover why Calgary may be the one place you should visit if you want to get to know Canada. And enjoy Stuart's tale about Dave - the owner and operator of "The Vinyl Cafe", the record store whose motto is "We May Not Be Big, But We're Small". In today's episode, Dave decides to try a sensory deprivation tank...

With musical guests Reuben and the Dark

First broadcast by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation from 1994, the variety show Vinyl Cafe sadly lost its host, author and humourist Stuart McLean, after his death in February 2017.

First broadcast by CBC in 2015.

Omnibus: The legendary landlady of 28 Barbary Lane embarks on a road trip that will take her deep into her past. Stars Kate Harper.

Campaigner Bianca Jagger inherits 'Casta Diva' sung by Maria Callas and passes on 'Blowin' in the Wind' by Bob Dylan.

Brian Johnston is in Gloucestershire to hear a story of three people who were executed for a murder that was never committed. He also finds out about two unusual annual events - the Scuttlebrook Wake and Dover's Games.

Down Your Way was a schedule staple for decades - starting on the BBC Home Service in 1946 and ending its run on BBC Radio 4 in 1992. Using a variety of hosts, including Richard Dimbleby and Brian Johnston, the programme toured villages, towns and cities across the UK. At the height of the series' success in the 1950s, it was attracting ten million listeners a week.

Producer: Anthony Smith
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 1986.

Like Jonah, the Sixth Doctor and Peri find themselves inside a whale - and they're not alone...

An adventure originally written for the BBC's Doctor Who TV series but never made.

Colin Baker stars as the Sixth Doctor.

With Nicola Bryant as Peri, John Benfield as Captain Greeg, Neville Watchurst as Stennar, John Banks as the Caller, Susan Brown as the Chief Engineer, Toby Longworth as Stafel and Alex Lowe as Axel.

Written by Pat Mills.
Director: John Ainsworth
Producer: David Richardson
Made by Big Finish and reversioned for broadcast by BBC Radio 4 Extra.

The first in a new series in which Richard Herring reclaims objects that we've grown to hate. This week he's reclaiming the toothbrush moustache on behalf of comedy - taking it back from Hitler to give to it's rightful owner Charlie Chaplin. Based on his Edinburgh show Richard examines why a particular piece of facial hair can evoke revulsion in all who see it when in fact the person first associated with it was one of the funniest people on the planet. He grows his own toothbrush moustache and hears what passers by make of it, talks to a German moustache expert about Hitler's vanity and describes how wearing it on the day after the BNP won seats in the last European election strengthened his resolve to continue his campaign. The show was recorded in front of an audience.

Producer ..... Alison Vernon-Smith.

John Finnemore, the writer and star of Cabin Pressure, regular guest on The Now Show and popper-upper in things like Miranda and Family Guy, records a second series of his hit sketch show.

The first series was described as "sparklingly clever" by The Daily Telegraph and "one of the most consistently funny sketch shows for quite some time" by The Guardian. It featured Winnie the Pooh coming to terms with his abusive relationship with honey, how The Archers sounds to people who don't listen to the Archers and how Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde decided whose turn it was to do the washing up.

Of those things, this episode includes another sketch about how the Archers sounds to people who don't listen to the Archers, as well a song about a dog and a sketch about a mathematician's agent.

John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme is written by and stars John Finnemore. It also features Margaret Cabourn-Smith, Simon Kane, Lawry Lewin and Carrie Quinlan. Original music is by Susannah Pearse. It is produced by Ed Morrish.

From 10pm to midnight, seven days a week, the Comedy Club has two hours of comedy. Plus Arthur Smith chats again to Simon Brodkin.

Radical proposals to improve our lives with the comedian's education shake-up. From October 1992.

EPISODE 1

A new fast-moving audience sketch show set in the world of a call centre called Smile5, a company that sells anything and everything. This week, a new Guy called Scott starts work at Smile 5, while sketches include a man calling to complain about a faulty bowl.

Aleesha and other characters ..... Chizzy Akudolu
Bernie and other characters ..... Margaret-Cabourn Smith
Big Tony, Ralph and other characters ..... Colin Hoult
Sailesh, Bradley and other characters ..... Phaldut sharma

Writers ..... Various

Script editor ..... Dan Tetsell/James Kettle.

Producer ..... Tilusha Ghelani

WELCOME TO SMILE5!

Smile5 is a mail order catalogue company selling everything from Rolex watches to lawnmowers, from financial products to phone and broadband, from holidays to health insurance. And somewhere in a brown-field wasteland miles from the nearest town, it runs one of the largest call centres operating in the UK. This is the world of The Headset Set.

Each episode features a host of sketches set eavesdropping on both sides of the bizarre, horrific and ludicrous business-customer relationship. The remaining sketches are set in the Smile5's offices. We meet four of the call centre's employees:

Sailesh - Officially the team leader, Sailesh has recently moved from Bangalore seemingly bringing a wealth of call-centre experience and an admirable work ethic lacking in his fellow Headsetters, which the others resent him for.

Bernie - As she's been here longer than anyone, she refuses to recognise Sailesh's authority. She also refuses to learn how to use anything more technologically advanced than a 1980s trim phone.

Aleesha - A self-loathing street-wise cynic who resents having to work at Smile 5. Or in fact, having to work at all.

Big Tony - Tony spends most of his time on the phone, but not necessarily on Smile 5 business. He's always running some sort of dodgy scam, like a minicab office from his desk.

Other sketches feature Smile5's unsympathetic counsellor and the head of training Ralph, who trains the most inept of the call centre staff, such as the child-like Bradley.

The series stars Chizzy Akudolu (Holby City), Margaret Cabourn Smith (Fresh Meat, Miranda), Colin Hoult (Being Human; Life's Too Short), Lucy Montgomery (Armstrong and Miller; Lucy Montgomery's Variety Pack) and Phaldut Sharma (Eastenders)

WRITERS

This is a team written sketch show originated by Stephen Carlin and James Kettle. Established sketch writers such as Stephen Carlin, James Kettle, Jon Hunter and Colin Hoult are joined by the best comedy writers to have emerged from recent 'open door' radio shows. These recent Radio 4 and 4 extra shows, Recorded for Training Purposes and Newsjack, gave new comedy writers an opportunity to hone their skills.

Omnibus. Ada grows up during the Jewish pogroms in the Ukraine and falls in love with a rich cousin. Narrated by Anna Francolini.

4 Extra Debut. Chicago 1963: When Carla sees JFK shaking Ed Dwight's hand, she believes anything is possible. Written and read by Bonnie Greer.

Tom's mum is not best pleased when Tom's dad pressgangs her into helping out at a celebration he's planning to celebrate 168 years since the repeal of the Corn Laws ("Well, it'd be tempting fate to hold on for the bicentennary") and they've chosen the Toby Carvery as a suitable dining venue.

Meanwhile, Tom has decided to buy a flat in London, much to his gran's chagrin.

Archie Andrews encourages his mentor Peter Brough to fight the flab.

Radio ventriloquism with Dick Emery, Warren Mitchell, Pearl Johnson and Ronald Chesney.

Running from 1950- 1958, Educating Archie introduced a number of soon-to-be household names to listeners, including Tony Hancock, Benny Hill, Harry Secombe, Dick Emery, Hattie Jacques, Bruce Forsyth and Max Bygraves - all taking a turn in tutoring Archie.

Music by from the BBC Variety Orchestra conducted by Paul Fenoulhet
Producer: Roy Speer

From a series made by ABC in Australia and also first broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in October 1957.

Professor Jimmy Edwards hatches an elaborate plan to win a cash prize in a school popularity contest. With Roddy Maude-Roxby.

Starting life on BBC TV before transferring to radio, Chiselbury School is run "for the sons of gentlefolk". Headmaster, Professor James Edwards, MA never misses a trick when it comes to exploiting the students and their parents. Sports pitches are given over to growing vegetables, which the boys nurture for their head to sell. Classes never exceed 95 pupils - 50 if private tuition is paid for at five guineas extra. It's only thanks to the efforts of the devoted deputy head, Mr Pettigrew, that the school exists at all.

Written by Frank Muir and Denis Norden and adapted for radio by David Climie.
Producer: Edward Taylor
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in August 1961.

Examining our passion for watery worlds, Philip Hoare arrives in Cape Cod and feels the lure of the sea. Read by Tobias Menzies.

Fi Glover presents a conversation from Cumbria about the etiquette of the washing basket and the daily irritations of living with someone you love in Radio 4's series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.

The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. Many of the long conversations are being archived by the British Library and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the millennium. You can upload your own conversations or just learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject

Producer: Marya Burgess.

4 Extra Debut. From Frank Sinatra to Dylan Thomas. Actor Roy Dotrice shares his castaway choices with Roy Plomley. From January 1977.

Michael Feydeau and David Pershore recall some 1960s cunning villainy. Stars Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis. From October 2001.

Radiolab asks, what does conservation really mean in the 21st century? With Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich.

Radiolab is a Peabody-award winning show about curiosity. Where sound illuminates ideas, and the boundaries blur between science, philosophy, and the human experience.

First broadcast on public radio in the USA.

Omnibus: Montag has quit his job as a fireman, burning books for a living. Now he is in danger. Concluded by Alex Jennings.

Actor, playwright, songwriter, director and star - Noel Coward never quite added sleuth to his astonishing achievements. But just before the war with Hitler, there's a gap in his memoirs. Is there a murder mystery within those days...?

Marcy Kahan's mystery stars Malcolm Sinclair as Noel Coward, Eleanor Bron as Lorn Loraine, Krisin Milward as Winifrid Ashton, Tam Williams as Cole Lesley and Nicholas Boulton as Edward Shale.

Piano: Neil Brand
Director: Ned Chaillet
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2000.

BBC Radio 4's Poet in Residence, Daljit Nagra revisits the BBC's radio poetry with 'Lost Voices: ASJ Tessimond'.

Poet Brian Patten showcases the undeservedly forgotten poet Arthur Seymour John Tessimond - known to his friends as Tessy - who died in 1962.

The details of his life are now almost entirely consigned to oblivion, but his poetry lives on, largely in anthologies or as requests on Poetry Please, and Brian Patten was determined to find out as much as he could about the man who wrote some beautiful poetry about love. And cats. And, oddly, Luton.

For a man who never found the love he dreamed of, he was conspicuously tenacious in looking for it - but, as a Tessimond researcher explains in Lost Voices, he had a fatal tendency to seek love from unsuitable women - chorus girls and nightclub hostesses. Nevertheless, Tessimond is clearly a man who inspired affection - what will Brian make of Tessy?

Poems read by Nigel Anthony.
Producer: Christine Hall.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2010.

by Katie Hims. Ralf Little stars as a small-time 1950s psychic, who hungers for fame, despite his inability to read the thoughts of anyone, let alone the woman he works with.

Directed by Jessica Dromgoole.

Musing in his chair one evening, Professor Zeitt stumbles on a way of looking at the events of his life from outside time, and reviews a crucial decision he made as a young man which has left him unhappy in love - unhappy in life.

Stories abridged by Robin Brooks

Read by Matthew Marsh

Producer: Clive Brill
A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4.

Uh-oh - Marcus Brigstocke has been put in charge of a thing!

Each week, Marcus finds he's volunteered to be in charge of a big old thing and each week he starts out by thinking "Well, it can't be that difficult, surely?" and ends up with "Oh - turns out it's utterly difficult and complicated. Who knew...?"

We would like to inform you that this week, Marcus Brigstocke has decided to open a bank. That'll be £25 please. If you would like to call our customer helpline... that will be another £25

Waiting to serve you are Rufus Jones ("W1A", "Holy Flying Circus"), William Andrews ("Sorry I've Got No Head") and Margaret Cabourn-Smith ("Miranda")

The show is a Pozzitive production, and is produced by Marcus's long-standing accomplice, David Tyler who also produces Marcus appearances as the inimitable as Giles Wemmbley Hogg. David's other radio credits include Jeremy Hardy Speaks To The Nation, Cabin Pressure, Thanks A Lot, Milton Jones!, Kevin Eldon Will See You Now, Armando Iannucci's Charm Offensive, The Castle, The 3rd Degree, The 99p Challenge, My First Planet, Radio Active & Bigipedia. His TV credits include Paul Merton - The Series, Spitting Image, Absolutely, The Paul Calf Video Diary, Three Fights Two Weddings & A Funeral, Coogan's Run, The Tony Ferrino Phenomenon and exec producing Victoria Wood's dinnerladies.

Written by Marcus Brigstocke, Jeremy Salsby, Toby Davies, Nick Doody, Steve Punt & Dan Tetsell

Produced by David Tyler
A Pozzitive production for the BBC.

From 10pm to midnight, seven days a week, the Comedy Club has two hours of comedy. Plus Arthur Smith chats to Simon Brodkin in the guise of Lee Nelson.

Aisling Bea and Yasmine Akram become Ais and Yaz and are the very best pals. They are taking their role as Ireland's freshest story-tellers to the British nation very seriously indeed but they haven't had the time to do much research, learn their lines or work out who is doing which parts.

The girls' unconventional way of telling stories involves a concoction of thoroughly inappropriate modern-day metaphors and references to many of the ancient Irish stories.

With a natural knack for both comedy and character voices Yasmine Akram and Aisling Bea will bring you warm, modern re-workings of popular ancient Irish stories.

Today it's Children of Lir.

Written and performed by Aisling Bea and Yasmine Akram
Producer: Raymond Lau.

Kim calls Neil into the bathroom for an impromptu debate about shaving, the Krankies and Phantom of the Opera - but to what end?

What do long term partners really argue about? Sharp new comedy from Frank Skinner returns for a second series. Starring Frank Skinner and Katherine Parkinson.

The first series of Don't Start met with instant critical and audience acclaim:
"That he can deliver such a heavy premise for a series with such a lightness of touch is testament to his skills as a writer and, given that the protagonists are both bookworms, he's also permitted to use a flourish of fine words that would be lost in his stand-up routines". Jane Anderson, Radio Times

"Writing and starring in the four-parter Don't Start (Radio 4) Frank Skinner gives full rein to his sharp but splenetic comedy. He and his co-star Katherine Parkinson play a bickering couple exchanging acerbic ripostes in a cruelly precise dissection of a relationship". Daily Mail

.. "a lesson in relationship ping-pong" .. - Miranda Sawyer, The Observer
Series 2 follows hard on its heels. Well observed, clever and funny, Don't Start is a scripted comedy with a deceptively simple premise - an argument. Each week, our couple fall out over another apparently trivial flashpoint - the Krankies, toenail trimming and semantics. Each week, the stakes mount as Neil and Kim battle with words. But these are no ordinary arguments. The two outdo each other with increasingly absurd images, unexpected literary references (the Old Testament, Jack Spratt and the first Mrs Rochester, to name a few) and razor sharp analysis of their beloved's weaknesses. Underneath the cutting wit, however, there is an unmistakable tenderness".

Frank says:
"Having established, in the first series, that Neil and Kim are a childless academic couple who, during their numerous arguments, luxuriate in their own, and each other's, learning and wit, I've tried, in the second series, to dig a little deeper into their relationship. Love and affection, occasionally splutter into view, like a Higgs boson in a big tunnel-thing, but can such emotions ever prevail in a relationship where the couple prefers to wear their brains, rather than their hearts, on their sleeves? Is that too much offal imagery?"

Directed and Produced by Polly Thomas
Executive Producer: Jon Thoday
An Avalon production for BBC Radio 4.

Tom's inappropriate singing at a football match has unexpected consequences. Stars Suggs and Bob Monkhouse. From July 2001.

Travis Sivart, 'the detective's detective' has gone missing. Raymond Chandler meets Kafka in this surreal tale of skulduggery and somnambulism.

Somewhere in an unnamed, rainy city, Charles Unwin, a lowly but efficient clerk in a big detective agency, finds his world turned upside down when his detective boss, Travis Sivart, disappears.

Unwin is suddenly promoted to the role - and forced out into the field for the first time in his life. Unprepared and untrained, armed only with his trusty umbrella and The Manual of Detection, he sets out on his first mission: to find out what happened to his boss.

Unwin begins a frantic search while all around him, Sivart's closed cases have sprung open again...

Read by Toby Jones

Abridged by Eileen Horne

Produced by Clive Brill

Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra by Pacificus Productions.

Jolyon Jenkins tells a little known story of the Cold War.

The Brixmis officers were some of the most effective gatherers of military intelligence behind the Iron Curtain, stealing Soviet military hardware and searching East German rubbish dumps for classified information.

by Christopher William Hill. It's 1937 on the remote Scilly Island of St. Martin's, where the islanders are resisting the attempts of the Penzance GPO man to modernise the post office - around which their world revolves.

Episode 4: Barter. Morwenna is trying to improve herself and Frank needs a lesson in island economics.

Directed by Mary Peate.

Sound by Jenni Burnett, Anne Bunting and Caleb Knightley
Production Co-ordinator, Jessica Brown.

The nation's favourite wireless entertainment pays a visit to the Victoria Theatre in Halifax. Old-timers Barry Cryer and Tim Brooke-Taylor are joined on the panel by Susan Calman and John Finnemore with Jack Dee in the chair. Colin Sell provides piano accompaniment. Producer - Jon Naismith. It is a BBC Studios production.

Find out 'What's My Gender', plus a galactic 'Panorama'.

Starring Fred Harris, Jo Kendall, Nigel Rees and Chris Emmett.

Cult sketch comedy series which originally ran from 1976 to 1980.

Scripted by David Renwick and Andrew Marshall.
Producer: David Hatch
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 1980.

Captain Mainwaring is horrified when some prisoners of war escape from a camp.

Starring Arthur Lowe as Captain Mainwaring, John Le Mesurier as Sergeant Wilson, Clive Dunn as Corporal Jones, John Laurie as Private Frazer, Ian Lavender as Private Pike, Arnold Ridley as Godfrey and Larry Martyn as Private Walker.

Adapted for radio from Jimmy Perry and David Croft's TV scripts by Harold Snoad and Michael Knowles.

Producer: John Dyas

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 1975.

The teams examine the life and work of "Author of the Week", playwright and creator of "Flare Path", Sir Terence Rattigan.

Regular captains Sebastian Faulks and John Walsh are joined by Sir Andrew Motion and children's author, Sue Limb as they answer questions based around Rattigan's life and work, as well as more general literary brainteasers, set by host James Walton.

For the finale of the show, the teams are asked to imagine Rattigan discarding his stiff-upper-lip-style and writing a gritty, kitchen sink-style drama.

Marcia is bored on the island. Will joining the lifeboat crew help liven things up? Stars Rebecca Front. From July 1997.

Jane Austen's classic novel dramatised by Helen Edmundson.

Forced to leave their beloved family home after the death of their father, Elinor and Marianne try to make a new life for themselves at Barton Cottage. While Marianne unexpectedly meets the dashing Willoughby who sweeps her off her feet, Elinor has a surprise visit from Edward. But with neither fortune nor connections, the prospect of marrying the men they love appears remote.

Directed by Nadia Molinari

Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen's first published novel is a delightful comedy of manners and a powerful analysis of the ways in which women's lives were shaped by the claustrophobic society in which they had to survive. It is an engrossing story of love, money, passion and prudence. Intelligently written, carefully plotted and beautifully detailed. It has been dramatised in two parts by Helen Edmundson whose previous radio dramatisations include Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge; Bennet's Anna of the Five Town's and Woolf's The Voyage Out.

A man's friendship with a penguin helps him come to terms with a friend's death many years before. Read by Oliver Ford Davies.

In 'This Be The Verse', Philip Larkin famously bemoans the impact parents have on their children. In Philip and Sydney, playwright Alan Pollock uncovers some of the reasons why Larkin may have had such a profound sense of anguish.

In 1937, Philip Larkin's father took him on holiday to Germany. Sydney was Coventry's City Treasurer and had a keen interest in the Nazi regime.

It was a holiday that Philip never spoke of. But, taking inspiration from Sydney's diaries, Philip and Sydney imagines what might have happened during their trip.

A witty and powerful coming of age drama starring Tim McInnerny as Sydney and Pip Carter as Philip.

With Melody Grove as Liesl and John Rowe as the Hotel Keeper.

Director: Kirsty Williams
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2010.

Stephen Tompkinson reads Keith Waterhouse's classic comic story about a young dreamer who fantasises about a more exciting life.

When in 1934 botanist Kenneth Thimann isolated the plant hormone auxin, he put an end to one of the great botanical mysteries - how plants move and respond to their surroundings. For decades plant scientists had been mystified as to how plants, without any apparent nervous system, bent towards light, flowered at the right time of year, or grew away from other plants.

Professor Kathy Willis hears from historian Jim Endersby on how the discovery of plant hormones was the culmination of a journey that had involved Charles Darwin and a series of probing experiments published in his book "The Power of Movement in Plants". They discuss how new technologies enabled successful isolation of what we now have come to recognise as a suite of hormones regulating a whole series of plant responses from stem growth to fruiting.

We hear how another hormone during the 1950s went on to steal the limelight - gibberellin whose discovery owes much to Japanese rice crops that grew so tall they would simply fall over, rendering them useless. The race to harness the power of gibberellin would lead to dwarf varieties of key crops that transformed global production in what became known as the Green Revolution.

Professor Nick Harberd, a plant geneticist at Oxford University, has been researching the molecular basis of plants' response to this powerful hormone and he sheds light on developing crops suitable for harsher environments in future.

Producer Adrian Washbourne.

By Charlotte Jones.

Ever wondered what your favourite literary characters would do if they were around today? City boy James takes inspiration from his girlfriend's beloved Austen in plotting how to win her back. He wants to grab her attention with an offer he hopes she can't refuse.

Produced by Lucy Collingwood.

"The judges were presented with a singular case on Monday 14 June, a month after they had heard their first divorce suit. Henry Oliver Robinson, a civil engineer, was petitioning for the dissolution of his marriage on the grounds that his wife, Isabella, had committed adultery, and he submitted as evidence a diary in her hand."

These bare facts - the angry husband and the incriminating words - are, in the author's hands, shaped to tell a riveting story, that says much about the individuals involved and the social world they moved in...

One day Isabella Robinson makes the acquaintance of Mr Robert Lane and this inspires the writing of a diary which, when unearthed, will have astounding consequences for both parties...

Abridged in five parts by Katrin Williams and read by Emma Fielding.
Producer Duncan Minshull.

The future of the OAPs and, indeed, of the whole of civilisation, hangs in the balance.

The conclusion of Colin Swash's six-part dystopian comedy series set in 22nd-century Britain.

Starring Stephen Moore as George, Patsy Byrne as Doris, Geoffrey McGivern as O'Connell, Edna Dore as Mrs Cookson and Lorelei King as Andrea Sunbeam. Other parts by Melanie Hudson, Joanna Brookes, Christopher Douglas, Peter Serafinowcz and Lewis MacLeod.

Producer: Richard Wilson.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1998.

Sue MacGregor and her guests - the founder of MORI, Sir Robert Worcester and poet Martin Newell - discuss favourite paperbacks by Virginia Woolf, Jeremy Paxman and Hubert Selby Jr. From 2004.

Mrs Dalloway, by Virginia Woolf
Publisher: Vintage Classics

The English, by Jeremy Paxman
Publisher: Penguin

Last Exit to Brooklyn, by Hubert Selby Jr
Publisher: Bloomsbury.

Galileo is too busy to party with the Pope. Award-winning comedy with Justin Edwards and Neil Edmond. From November 2005.

It's a momentous week for Theresa May as she makes her first appearance on Dead Ringers as Prime Minister.

Ministers sacked, the Labour party in meltdown, Brexit fears remain unabated this is a fabulous time for Laura Kuenssberg, Andrew Neil, Robert Peston, Jon Snow, Andrew Marr, Kirsty Wark , Hugh Edwards, all feeding off the trough of political failure.

Starring: Jon Culshaw, Jan Ravens and Lewis Macleod.

Written by: Nev Fountain & Tom Jamieson, Laurence Howarth, Ed Amsden & Tom Coles, James Bugg, Laura Major, Sarah Campbell, Jack Bernhardt, Alex Harvey and Sara Gibbs.

Produced and created by Bill Dare.
BBC Studios Production.

Recorded in July 1994, Brian Perkins, Ken Livingstone and Nigel Planer foresee ego transplants and the USA invading Narnia.

Unwilling investigator Charles Unwin discovers that the disappearance of Detective Sivart is connected to a mystery corpse, two green eyed twins with murder in mind, and a mysterious siren with a limp...can his Manual help him to untangle this knotty challenge? Read by Toby Jones.

Somewhere in an unnamed, rainy city, Charles Unwin, a lowly but efficient clerk in a big detective agency, has found his world turned upside down when his detective boss, Travis Sivart, disappears.

Suddenly promoted to the role - Unwin's been forced out into the field for the first time in his life. Unprepared and untrained, armed only with his trusty umbrella and The Manual of Detection, his first mission is to find out what happened to his boss.

Abridged by Eileen Horne

Produced by Clive Brill

Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra by Pacificus Productions.

A rare insight into the family life of Jane Austen through her favourite songs. She collected songs all her life, but many of them have only just come to light, in manuscripts inherited by one of her descendants. Jazz singer Gwyneth Herbert performs some of these songs.

Professor Richard Jenkyns inherited a pile of music manuscripts which are only just being looked at by the Austen scholars. He shows us what he found: some have been laboriously copied out by Jane herself - among the music manuscripts in Jane's handwriting is a piano piece which he believes she composed.

David Owen Norris brings him together with scholars Deirdre Le Faye and Samantha Carrasco at Jane Austen's house in Chawton, Hampshire. Together they cast a new light on one of our best-loved and most enigmatic writers.

Some of the songs included are:

A romantic song by Robert Burns, to which she changed the words, so that the final words referred to herself -"the charms of your Jane."

A tragic French song, "Les Hirondelles", which ends with imprisonment and death. Jane's sister in law Eliza had lived in France, and her first husband was guillotined in the Terror.

"The Ploughboy" - a popular song of the time, witty, and with a politically subversive message about corrupt politicians who are only interested in money, and manage to buy their way into power.

"Goosey Goosey Gander" - Jane had a lot of nursery rhymes, and was constantly surrounded by boisterous nephews and nieces.

Producer: Elizabeth Burke
A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4.

Mr Finchley finds himself on his way to Paris to track down a rather irresponsible client. But before he sets off, he has an important question to put to a certain widow of his acquaintance...

Richard Griffiths returns as the shy solicitor's clerk, Edgar Finchley - in a second series of adventures written by Victor Canning.

With Anna Cropper as Mrs Crantell, James Grout as Mr Sprake, Piers Gibbon as Lawrence Hume, Jill Graham as Mrs Patten and Barry Gordon as the Frenchman. James Villiers narrates.

Adapted for radio by Andy and Eric Merriman.
Producer: Gareth Edwards
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in May 1994.

The globetrotting, trash-picking, aisle-rolling storyteller with more words of wit and wisdom. This week, urban myths, the truth and what it means to be called a liar in Of Mice and Men. Also, A Can of Worms, a story about overheard conversations and the right way to eat pie.

With sardonic wit and incisive social critiques, David Sedaris has become one of America's pre-eminent humour writers. The great skill with which he slices through cultural euphemisms and political correctness proves that he is a master of satire and one of the most observant writers addressing the human condition today.

David Sedaris's first book, Barrel Fever (1994), which included The SantaLand Diaries. was a critical and commercial success, as were his follow-up efforts, Naked (1997), Holidays on Ice (1997) and Me Talk Pretty One Day (2000). He became known for his bitingly funny recollections of his youth, family life and travels, making semi-celebrities out of his parents and siblings.

David Sedaris has been nominated for three Grammy Awards for Best Spoken Word and Best Comedy Album. A feature film adaptation of his story C.O.G. was released after a premier at the Sundance Film Festival (2013). He has been a contributor to BBC Radio 4 since 1996.

Producer: Steve Doherty
A Giddy Goat production for BBC Radio 4.

Harold's aghast when he discovers exactly 'What the Butler Saw'!

Starring Wilfrid Brambell as Albert and Harry H Corbett as Harold. With Norma Ronald and Anthony Sharpe.

Following the conclusion of their hugely successful association with Tony Hancock, writers Ray Galton and Alan Simpson wrote 10 pilots for the BBC TV's Comedy Playhouse in 1962. The Offer was set in a house with a yard full of junk, featuring the lives of rag and bone men Albert Steptoe and his son Harold and it was the spark for a run of 8 series for TV.

Written for TV and adapted for radio by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson.

Produced by Bobby Jaye

First broadcast on the BBC Radio 2 in March 1976.

A peculiar potion grows on the bumbling bureaucrats.

A weekly tribute to all those who work in government departments.

Stars Richard Murdoch and Deryck Guyler. With Norma Ronald, Clive Dunn and Gordon Clyde.

Written by Edward Taylor and John Graham.

'The Men from the Ministry' ran for 14 series between 1962 and 1977. Deryck Guyler replaced Wilfrid Hyde-White from 1966. Sadly many episodes didn't survive in the archive, however the BBC's Transcription Service re-recorded 14 shows in 1980 - never broadcast in the UK, until the arrival of BBC Radio 4 Extra.

Producer: Edward Taylor
First broadcast on the BBC Radio 4 in August 1970.

The sofa-bound daytime presenters look at families and relationships. Stars Robert Duncan and Julia Hills. From April 1996.

Jane Austen's classic novel dramatised by Helen Edmundson.

Elinor and Marianne are invited to stay at Mrs Jennings' house in London. But Marianne has a surprising encounter with Willoughby and complications arise for Elinor and Edward. Will the Dashwood sisters find happiness and love?

Directed by Nadia Molinari

Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen's first published novel is a delightful comedy of manners and a powerful analysis of the ways in which women's lives were shaped by the claustrophobic society in which they had to survive. It is an engrossing story of love, money, passion and prudence. Intelligently written, carefully plotted and beautifully detailed. It has been dramatised in two parts by Helen Edmundson whose previous radio dramatisations include Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge; Bennet's Anna of the Five Town's and Woolf's The Voyage Out.

Sixty years ago, Frank's romantic hopes were dashed on a New York quayside. Will he now confront the past? Read by Dermot Crowley.

by Jonathan Myerson

The BBC's Technology Correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones stars as himself in this wicked comedy about internet fakery by the creator of Number 10.

When stay-at-home mum Ali finds herself lampooned on a mothers' chat site by 'BumsTooBig' and 'BubblyMummly', she can't help wishing she knew the real identity of her tormentors. But when her wish comes true, she finds she's unleashed an unstoppable global revolution.

Produced and Directed by Jonquil Panting.

Billy is now engaged to two girls in his Yorkshire home town, but he imagines an escape to London. Read by Stephen Tompkinson.

In 1947 an ambitious project began to survey and catalogue the biodiversity of plants in East Africa. It was to take 60 years and turned out to be one of the largest regional "floras" ever assembled, involving 135 botanists from 21 countries amassing a host of new species to science.

Professor Kathy Willis examines the deceptive simplicity of creating Floras - books in which plants are catalogued, described and often lavishly illustrated. She explores how they're proving powerful tools for unlocking the range of newly discovered species for plant enthusiasts and conservationists.

And she unlocks the secrets of the rigorous art of botanical illustration, a tradition that goes back as far as when the botanical impresario Sir Joseph Banks first employed an illustrator on board the Endeavour. Kathy Willis discovers why this discipline is unlikely to ever be superseded by photography.

With contributions from Henke Beentje, former editor of Flora of Tropical East Africa, senior botanist Iain Darbyshire, Quentin Luke of National Museum of Kenya and illustrator Lucy Smith

Producer Adrian Washbourne.

By Charlotte Jones.

Ever wondered what your favourite literary characters would do if they were around today? City boy James takes inspiration from his girlfriend's beloved Austen in plotting how to win her back.
He wants to grab her attention with an offer he hopes she can't refuse.

Produced by Lucy Collingwood.

"The judges were presented with a singular case on Monday 14 June, a month after they had heard their first divorce suit. Henry Oliver Robinson, a civil engineer, was petitioning for the dissolution of his marriage on the grounds that his wife, Isabella, had committed adultery, and he submitted as evidence a diary in her hand."

These bare facts - the angry husband and the incriminating words - are, in the author's hands, shaped to tell a riveting story, that says much about the individuals involved and the social world they moved in...

Isabella cements her friendship with Edward Lane, but in her dairy their time together is recounted in more passionate detail. What to believe?

Read by Emma Fielding.
Producer Duncan Minshull.

Gyles Brandreth chairs the scandals quiz, with Anthony Holden, Stella Duffy, Lynne Truss and Rowan Pelling. From November 2003.

Edna Turner has just saved the worlds - again. Can she kick-back and enjoy summer?

Ben Moor's comic sci-fi saga stars Alex Tregear as Edna, Duncan Wisbey as Tankerton, Sophie Duval as Ida and Rhys Jennings as Tarzacula/ Sonny Jim.

By the end of series two Edna Turner has met her father for the first time and a sister she never knew she had. She's saved the universe twice (good) but has seen her job disappear and found that her friend and mentor had been using her for his own ends (really rather bad). But things are about to get a lot worse for her as she arrives back in London....

Producers: Colin Anderson and Lyndsay Fenner
Made for BBC Radio 7 and first broadcast in 2009.

'Are You Being Served?' actor Frank Thornton shares his fascination for birds with Derek Jones.

The Snipe, Oriole and Towhee are among his choice of recordings from the vast BBC Sound Archives.

Produced in Bristol by John Burton.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1980.

Sitcom by David Nobbs, set in a museum.

Warring curators, wedding cleaners and a dodgy alarm system all add to the unwanted pressure on Walter.

Rod Millet ...... Julian Rhind-Tutt
Walter Brindle ...... Geoffrey Palmer
Prunella Edgecumbe ...... Rachel Atkins
Susie Maltby ...... Margaret Cabourn-Smith
Julian Crumb-Loosely ...... Ben Willbond
Wilf Arbuthnot ...... Geoff McGivern
Eva Tattle ...... Juklia Deakin
Des Wainwright ...... Michael Smiley
Stelios Constantinopoulis ...... Chris Pavlo.

The best in contemporary comedy. Tonight Jake Yapp chats to Angela Barnes.

September & October. Autumn brings gloom for Sylvia Plath, Thomas Hardy and Max Clifford.

A second chance to hear satirist Craig Brown dip into the private lives of public figures from the 1960's to the present day.

Voiced by Jan Ravens, Alistair McGowan, Lewis McLeod, Ewan Bailey, Margaret Cabourn-Smith and Dolly Wells.
Written by Craig Brown.
Produced by Victoria Lloyd.

On one hand, Ben is on the trip of a lifetime to Sub-Antartica. On the other, he's trapped in an icy hell with one other person, a dodgy internet connection and a dictaphone. Loneliness is something of a problem. His fellow travelling scientist Graham should alleviate this, but the tragi-comic fact is, they are nerdy blokes, so they can only stumble through yet another awkward exchange. Ben experiences all the highs and lows that this beautiful, but lonely place has to offer but fails miserably to communicate this to Graham. So, Ben shares his thoughts with us in the form of an audio 'log'.

Apart from his research studying the Albatross on the Island, Ben attempts to continue normal life with an earnestness and enthusiasm which is ultimately very endearing. We're with him as chats awkwardly with Graham, telephones his mother and as he tries to form a long distance relationship with a woman through Chemistry.com. In fact, we follow Ben as everything occurs to him. We also hear the pings and whirrs of machinery, the Squawks and screeches of the birds and the vast expanse outside. Oh, and ice. Lots of ice.

EPISDE FOUR:

Bird Island is the story of Ben, a young scientist working in Antarctica, trying to socially adapt to the loneliness by keeping a cheery audio diary on his Dictaphone. An atmospheric 15 minute non audience comedy.

In this final episode Graham gives the shock news that a new member of the team is joining them.

Written by ..... Katy Wix

Produced by ..... Tilusha Ghelani.

Arriving in Cardiff, the country singer and global activist has a very special announcement to make. Stars Christopher Green. From February 2005.

Rookie Detective Unwin is plunged deeper into the mystery of his missing boss, and struggles to apply the wisdom of the chapters in his Manual to a series of events that seem to make no sense at all - but an explanation is in sight when he is given the secret to Chapter 18.....now if only he can find it. Read by Toby Jones.

Somewhere in an unnamed, rainy city, Charles Unwin, a lowly but efficient clerk in a big detective agency, has found his world turned upside down when his detective boss, Travis Sivart, disappears.

Suddenly promoted to the role - Unwin's been forced out into the field for the first time in his life. Unprepared and untrained, armed only with his trusty umbrella and The Manual of Detection. His first mission is to find out what happened to his boss.

Abridged by Eileen Horne

Produced by Clive Brill

Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra by Pacificus Productions.

After 40 years as arguably the most elegant ship at sea, QE2 docked at her final resting place in Dubai to be converted into a floating hotel. The story of the ship's eventful life, from construction on the Clyde in the 1960s, through refitting as a cruise ship that epitomised a golden age of luxury travel, to service in the Falklands, is told through the words of serving and former staff and recordings made on board the vessel during one of her final cruises.

A Falling Tree production.

Paul and Ruby have moved out of the Reynolds' house, but not too far away. Stars Dave Lamb and Barbara Flynn. From May 1998.

Alec is late as usual. But Percy is wearing different socks. Something big is brewing.

Michael Palin joins Cabin Pressure actor and writer John Finnemore in the last of this series of two-handers.

Written by John Finnemore
Produced by David Tyler

A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4.

Devious Pertwee's plan to help a travelling fair is sunk when HMS Troutbridge must put to sea.

Starring Leslie Phillips as the Sub-Lieutenant, Jon Pertwee as the Chief Petty Officer, Dennis Price as Number One, Richard Caldicot as Captain Povey, Heather Chasen as Heather, Michael Bates as Commander Shaw, Ronnie Barker as AS Johnson and Tenniel Evans as Communication Officer Prout.
The Navy Lark ran for an impressive thirteen series on BBC Radio between 1959 and 1976.

Scripted by Lawrie Wyman.
Producer: Alastair Scott Johnston.
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in April 1959.

Griselda's plan to clear out the lad's house backfires spectacularly.

Starring Tony Hancock. With Sidney James, Bill Kerr, Hattie Jacques and Kenneth Williams.

Written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson.

Theme and incidental music written by Wally Stott.

Producer: Tom Ronald

First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in May 1958.

4 Extra Debut. Ian McMillan's irreverent literary game with Mark Thomas, Linda Smith, David Stafford and Stuart Maconie. From June 1999.

Cantankerous bachelor Robin Lightfoot has encountered many strange phenomena since the universes collided. Now he's got to contend with two Arthur Smiths for the price of one.

Hugh Bonneville stars in the third series of the comedy drama about a confirmed bachelor Robin Lightfoot dealing with life in a parallel universe where he has kids and an ex-wife who hates him.

With Josie Lawrence as Lesley, Stephen Frost as Dirk, Ann Gosling as Maxine, Christopher Kelham as Alan, Sam Bradley as Ned and Arthur Smith as Arthur Smith.

Written by Tony Bagley.
Producer: Claire Jones
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2001.

The first omnibus of Season 10, Our Daily Bread, set in Folkestone, in the week, in 1917, when the Chinese Labour Corps set up camp in Folkestone.

Written by Shaun McKenna
Directed by Allegra McIlroy
Editor: Jessica Dromgoole

Story-led by Sarah Daniels
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
Composer: Matthew Strachan
Consultant Historian: Maggie Andrews.

Bewildered by the changes in her life, an aunt finds solace in an unexpected place. Read by Penelope Wilton.

50 years after the end of the war that first brought them together, three Special Operations Executive agents meet once again to record interviews for a TV documentary investigating the murder of their colleague Patricia at the hands of the Gestapo.

Whilst waiting to be interviewed Vera Atkins, Leo Marks and John Harrison reminisce but soon move beyond pleasantries to re-examine their conduct during the war. In doing so they gradually reveal a complicated history of lies, self-deception and guilt. In the murky world of sabotage and spying each one was compromised and the lines between right and wrong became blurred. Why did Vera and the London team apparently ignore evidence that the Gestapo had infiltrated Patricia's SOE network in France? And what does her cold exterior hide? Could the genius code maker Leo have done more to persuade his superiors to stop sending young agents to inevitable capture in France? What is the truth about John Harrison's years spent in German captivity? Did he break under interrogation? In this drama, inspired by real characters and events, it is only as the three former agents depart for London in a taxi that the disturbing truth finally emerges.

Written by David Morley
Directed by Philip Franks

Producer: Richard Clemmow
A Perfectly Normal Production for BBC Radio 4.

Billy is in big trouble both at work and home, so he returns to his dreams of London and Ambrosia. Read by Stephen Tompkinson.

During the early hours of October 16th 1987, hurricane force winds ripped through southern England recording gusts of 110 mph. In just a few hours 15 million trees across the country were felled. Dawn revealed over 700 of Kew's trees sprawled on their sides, their root systems spread in the cool calm air after the storm.

Kathy Willis explores how one Kew oak tree - the Turner Oak - that didn't fall, helped transform the understanding of tree planting, arboreal care and provided insights into why trees stay upright.

She takes a walk with arborealist Tony Kirkham around Kew Gardens to learn how this natural clearout gave a once in a generation chance to rethink Kew's arboreal canvas. It also created an opportunity for the first ever comprehensive tree root survey which has since transformed our approach to tree planting and long term care that's now finding its way into horticultural practices today.

Producer Adrian Washbourne.

By Charlotte Jones.

Ever wondered what your favourite literary characters would do if they were around today? City boy James takes inspiration from his girlfriend's beloved Austen in plotting how to win her back. He wants to grab her attention with an offer he hopes she can't refuse...

With music from London based choir MKC.

Produced by Lucy Collingwood.

"The judges were presented with a singular case on Monday 14 June, a month after they had heard their first divorce suit. Henry Oliver Robinson, a civil engineer, was petitioning for the dissolution of his marriage on the grounds that his wife, Isabella, had committed adultery, and he submitted as evidence a diary in her hand."

These bare facts - the angry husband and the incriminating words - are, in the author's hands, shaped to tell a riveting story, that says much about the individuals involved and the social world they moved in...

Isabella continues to see Edward Lane, but her feelings are not returned by him. Still, there is
also Eugene Le Petit to enjoy the company of...

Reader Emma Fielding
Producer Duncan Minshull.

Edna is planning a trip to the Primary to find out what happened to Tankerton. Ben Moor's comic sci-fi saga with Alex Tregear, Al Murray and Kevin Eldon.

Hiroko Kawanami, Richard Lloyd Parry and Imran Yusuf explore the idea of Japan. What is it really like, and how does it match up to people's preconceptions?

Hiroko Kawanami is a Japanese lecturer in Buddhism who prefers living in the UK. Richard Lloyd Parry is Asia Editor of The Times and has lived in Tokyo for sixteen years. British stand-up comedian Imran Yusuf has visited Japan and loved it.

All three write and talk about the Japan they know, with presenter Dominic Arkwright - who has never been to Japan and freely admits he knows little about it..

Producer: Beth O'Dea.

Stephen K Amos' sitcom about his own teenage years, growing up black, gay and funny in 1980s South London.

Written by Jonathan Harvey with Stephen K Amos. Produced by Colin Anderson.

The best in contemporary comedy. Tonight Jake Yapp is joined once again by Angela Barnes.

Intrepid reporter David Lander investigates the Sincere Repentist Church. Stars Stephen Fry and Harry Enfield. From August 1987.

The comedian presents a selection of classic comic songs. With special guest Steve Brown. From October 2006.

Unwin and the Manual's author, Edwin Moore, join forces to try and solve the mystery, but the whole city is sleepwalking, and the only possible explanation lies deep in the Agency archives. Read by Toby Jones.

Somewhere in an unnamed, rainy city, Charles Unwin, a lowly but efficient clerk in a big detective agency, has found his world turned upside down when his detective boss, Travis Sivart, disappears.

Suddenly promoted to the role - Unwin's been forced out into the field for the first time in his life. Unprepared and untrained, armed only with his trusty umbrella and The Manual of Detection. His first mission is to find out what happened to his boss.

Abridged by Eileen Horne
Produced by Clive Brill

Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra by Pacificus Productions.

Joe Queenan explores the story of Eliot Ness, the incorruptible federal agent who was brave enough to stand up to Al Capone in prohibition-era Chicago. The subject of many books and films, gangbuster Ness continues to loom large in the American imagination.

The BBC's maverick hack, George Cragge kicks off a murder trail at Wembley Stadium.

Mark Tavener's six-part sequel to his comedy thriller 'In the Red' set in the world of football, the BBC and party politics.

With Europe becoming a hot potato, can the Prime Minister hold on to his job? To make matters worse, England are hosting the World Cup and a killer is on the loose.

Starring Michael Williams as George Cragge, Barry Foster as Superintendent Jefferson and Jeremy Clyde as the PM.

With Robert Bathurst, Tracy Ann Oberman, Jim Carter, Peter Woodthorpe, Susie Brann and Christian Rodska.

Music by Paul Mottram
Producer: Paul Schlesinger
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 1997.

"The most exciting new comedy duo working today" - David Walliams

Their hugely successful second series won critical acclaim and a slew of awards. Now double-act The Pin are back with more of their trademark offbeat nonsense.

In this episode, in a desperate bid not to be cut, Alex and Ben are determined to prove they can be educational...

"One of the smartest, punchiest new comedy duos to have appeared in a while...had me laughing out loud on my own in an empty room" The Guardian

"Exquisitely silly and very funny...makes you feel as though you might be hearing the next Mitchell and Webb" The Times

"Genuine moments of hilarity and a real breath of comedic fresh air" RadioTimes

Written and performed by Ben Ashenden and Alex Owen.
Featuring Steve Brody and Jo Enright.
Produced by Sam Bryant.
A BBC Studios Production.

Can Kate and George cope with an unexpected arrival?

A series based on the mutual love and mistrust of two newlyweds. Starring Richard Briers as George Starling and Prunella Scales as Kate Starling.

With Derek Waring, Frederick Treves, Peter Hawkins, Joan Sanderson, Geoffrey Sumner, Diana King, Philip Guard, Rosemary Miller, Peter Gilmore, Isabel Rennie and John Baddeley.

This 1960's newlyweds sitcom brought Richard Briers and Prunella Scales to prominence. Originating on BBC TV, it was adapted for radio due to its popularity. A decade later, Richard Briers went on to play Tom Good in The Good Life and Prunella Scales went on to star as Sybil in Fawlty Towers.

Written by Richard Waring.
Producer: Charles Maxwell
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in August 1965.

Captain Seagoon investigates a mustard-and-cress-flavoured mystery at Clapham Junction. Stars Spike Milligan. From March 1954.

Simon Mayo hosts the comedy show that pits the comic generations against each other to find out which is the funniest.

Team captains Jon Richardson, Lucy Porter and Adrian Walsh are joined by Jack Whitehall, Sarah Kendall and Ronnie Golden.

Is team bonding best practised while senior manager Peter and HR's Sam are inebriated? Stars Jonathan Pryce. From February 2009.

The second omnibus of Season 10, Our Daily Bread, set in Folkestone, in the week, in 1917, when the Food Controller's Wheat, Rye and Rice Restriction Order came into effect.

Written by Shaun McKenna
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole

Story-led by Sarah Daniels
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
Composer: Matthew Strachan
Consultant Historian: Maggie Andrews.

A strange transformation brings attention and tragedy to a trailer park mother. Read by Debora Weston.

Harry's long and tedious marriage to selfish Joyce reaches an all-time low when she begins to experience reincarnation. Stars David Horovitch, Marcia Warren and Gerard McDermott.

As he goes to perform his pub act, things get even more complicated for the three-timing romeo. Read by Stephen Tompkinson.

By the end of the 20th century, concerns raised in the 1992 Rio Earth Summit about the fate of wild plants and their ecosystems meant that conservation in the field now needed to be complemented by methods away from a plant's natural habitat.

Professor Kathy Willis pays a visit to the underground vaults of Kew's Millennium Seed Bank Partnership (MSBP), one in a network of 1300 seed banks around the world - and one of the main "ex situ" methods for conserving plant genetic material.

Knowing the longevity and quality of seeds is vital if they're to be put to good use in the real world. We hear a testament to the length of seed survival as head of the MSBP reveals recent success in germinating a 200 year old packet of seeds collected from the Dutch East India Company Gardens in South Africa. And Kathy Willis discovers how research into variable climates during crop cycles on seed quality is providing new leads into which varieties of crops seeds to store, to ensure future sustainable food supplies.

With contributions from seed morphologist Wolfgang Stuppy, MSB seed manager Janet Terry, Paul Smith head of the MSBP, and Hugh Pritchard head of MSBP seed conservation.

Producer Adrian Washbourne.

By Charlotte Jones.

Ever wondered what your favourite literary characters would do if they were around today? City boy James takes inspiration from his girlfriend's beloved Austen in plotting how to win her back. He wants to grab her attention with an offer he hopes she can't refuse...

With music from London based choir MKC.

Produced by Lucy Collingwood.

"The judges were presented with a singular case on Monday 14 June, a month after they had heard their first divorce suit. Henry Oliver Robinson, a civil engineer, was petitioning for the dissolution of his marriage on the grounds that his wife, Isabella, had committed adultery, and he submitted as evidence a diary in her hand."

These bare facts - the angry husband and the incriminating words - are, in the author's hands, shaped to tell a riveting story, that says much about the individuals involved and the social world they moved in...

High drama, as the diaries of Mrs Isabella Robinson are discovered and taken away.
By no less a person than her opportunistic husband...

Reader Emma Fielding
Producer Duncan Minshull.

Edna faces her childhood possessions and probes London's Low Quality Expedition. Ben Moor's comic sci-fi saga with Alex Tregear and Emma Kennedy.

Matthew Parris presents the biographical series in which his guests choose someone who has inspired their lives.

George Galloway chooses British poet and political activist John Cornford, who died at the age of 21 fighting fascism in the Spanish Civil War. Professor Stan Smith joins in the discussion.

In his debut solo Radio 4 show, comedian Thom Tuck recounted heart-rending tales of loves lost while drawing comparisons with 54 Straight-to-DVD Disney movies he'd watched, so we don't ever have to.

Thom now turns his attention to other genres of Straight-to-DVD movies - seeking out further underrated gems and drawing parallels with captivating personal tales from his own life experience, backed by cinematic music, so we can rest easy.

In this second episode, Thom looks at the strangely lucrative world of faith films, and draws parallels to the narrative in these underrated gems with stories of his own experiences as a child growing up whilst his family travelled the globe through Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and Yorkshire.

"...a seductive experience" The Guardian

Produced by Lianne Coop.

The sketch show team take the audience to Mike's house, but they get lost. With Tim Firth and Michael Rutger. From April 1990.

Who hasn't thought about running away from it all at some time or other?

Throwing caution to the wind, wrenching oneself out of a long established orbit to head for the deep space of the unknown?

In series two of Shedtown, our wooden 'man-cave', icon of escape and isolation - the shed - continues to be a symbol of possibility and change.

Episode 2:
As William weds his blushing, boiler-suited, berk of a bride, old Johnny Edwards takes a turn for the worse.

Barry............................Tony Pitts
Jimmy..........................Stephen Mangan
Eleanor.........................Ronni Ancona
Johnny..........................Alan Leith
Colin.............................Johnny Vegas
Deborah........................Emma Fryer
William.........................Adrian Manfredi
Diane...........................Rosina Carbone
Dave............................Shaun Dooley
Father Michael.............James Quinn
Wes............................Warren Brown
Nell.............................Eleanor Samson

Narrator.......................Maxine Peake
Music..........................Paul Heaton and Jonny Lexus

Written and Directed by Tony Pitts
Produced by Sally Harrison
A Woolyback production for BBC Radio 4.

All Unwin's dreams of returning to his day job rest on rescuing his boss Travis. But will he make it in time? The dark forces of Enoch Hoffmann are closing in. Concluded by Toby Jones.

Somewhere in an unnamed, rainy city, Charles Unwin, a lowly but efficient clerk in a big detective agency, has found his world turned upside down when his detective boss, Travis Sivart, disappears.

Suddenly promoted to the role - Unwin's been forced out into the field for the first time in his life. Unprepared and untrained, armed only with his trusty umbrella and The Manual of Detection. His first mission is to find out what happened to his boss.

Abridged by Eileen Horne

Produced by Clive Brill

Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra by Pacificus Productions.

Lucy Neal reviews the archive of Victorian reformer Mary Neal, exploring the divisions in the English Folk Dance movement. From November 2007.

Pam Ayres returns with a new series packed with poetry, anecdotes and sketches.

Pam is joined on stage by Geoffrey Whitehead and Felicity Montagu for poems and sketches on the subject of Shopping. Featuring sketches about braving the cosmetics department, and how some shop assistants think anyone over 40 should only wear beige.

Pam's shopping poems include 'Nowadays We Worship at Saint Tesco', the Contact Lens poem and 'I Can't Find Nice Knickers', one of her briefer poems.

The cast of TV's hugely popular sketch show return for their second series on BBC Radio 4. Pete Baikie, Morwenna Banks, Moray Hunter, Gordon Kennedy and John Sparkes revisit some of their much-loved sketch characters, while also introducing some newcomers to the show.

In 2013, the group that made their name on Channel Four in the 1980s and 90s got back together for Radio 4's Sketchorama: Absolutely Special - which won the BBC Audio Drama Award for Best Live Scripted Comedy. The first series of The Absolutely Radio Show picked up a Celtic Media Award nomination for Best Radio Comedy.

The final episode of the series features a fractious Stoneybridge Town Council meeting where there's controversy even when there's no agenda, the Little Girl with her take on US politics, Frank Hovis revealing how he met his wife, the Commissionaire on how best to manage a border wall between countries, Calum Gilhooley making a mountain out of buying a cup of coffee and Gwynedd shocking Denzil when she reveals her new beachwear - a beaver skin furkini. The team look at the rise of mobile phone zombies and there's a song about the pitfalls of being a self help junkie, while ageing rockers Joe and Davie try to resurrect the old magic in the recording studio.

Produced by Gordon Kennedy and Gus Beattie.
An Absolutely/Gusman production for BBC Radio 4.

Tim Brown's Schooldays - and John and Mary in the country.

More quick-fire sketches, terrible puns, humorous songs and parodies.

Stars Tim Brooke-Taylor, John Cleese, Graeme Garden, David Hatch, Jo Kendall and Bill Oddie.

Written by Tim Brooke-Taylor, John Cleese, Graeme Garden, Eric Idle and Bill Oddie.

Originating from the Cambridge University Footlights revue 'Cambridge Circus', ISIRTA ran for 8 years on BBC Radio and quickly developed a cult following.

Music and songs by Dave Lee, Bill Oddie and Leon Cohen.
Producer: Humphrey Barclay
First broadcast on the BBC Home Service in May 1966.