A parting of the ways for the Morel and Gren, but the search for a home goes on. Sci-fi fantasy read by Gareth Thomas. From September 2009.

John Wilson continues with his new series in which he talks to leading performers and songwriters about the album that made them or changed them. Recorded in front of a live audience at the BBC's iconic Maida Vale Studios. Each edition includes two episodes, with John initially quizzing the artist about the album in question, and then, in the B-side, the audience puts the questions. Both editions feature exclusive live performances.

Programme 5, A-side. 'Lola Versus Powerman And The Moneygoround, Part One' & 'Muswell Hillbillies' - Ray Davies goes back to the early 1970s and the making of two classic Kinks albums. Marking a period of transition for the group (as they left one British record label for an American one), both were concept albums, tackling such broad themes as corruption within the music industry and the destruction of old communities via urban regeneration. In a revealing interview, Ray Davies considers the power of the lyric and the importance of place in his song-writing. He also performs exclusive live versions of songs from the two albums.

Producer: Paul Kobrak.

Detective monk, Brother Cadfael discovers outlaws have taken Ives Hugonin prisoner.

Ellis Peters' thriller narrated by Sir Michael Hordern and starring Philip Madoc as Brother Cadfael, Douglas Hodge as Hugh, Leonard Fenton as Leonard, Moira Buffini as Ermina, Dean Magri as Ives, Peter Laird as Le Gaucher and Crispin Letts as Elyas.

This is the second series of the Chronicles of Brother Cadfael.

Dramatised by Bert Coules.

Music by Peter Salem.

Producer: Phil Clarke

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1992.

Novelist Mavis Cheek examines the birth and development of the Arvon Foundation, the creative writing centres that were founded 40 years ago in an obscure North Devon village by a group of poets.

The original course took a group of 16-year-olds and expected them to live and work like writers. Galvanised by a workshop with Ted Hughes, the Foundation took off and, in doing so, arguably gave birth to the modern Creative Writing movement.

Sarah Perry's award-winning novel, set at the end of the nineteenth century and inspired by true events.

Moving between Essex and London, myth and modernity, Cora Seaborne's spirited search for the Essex Serpent encourages all around her to test their allegiance to faith or reason in an age of rapid scientific advancement. At the same time, the novel explores the boundaries of love and friendship and the allegiances that we have to one another. The depth of feeling that the inhabitants of Aldwinter share are matched by their city counterparts as they strive to find the courage to express and understand their deepest desires, and strongest fears.

Episode Five
Cora is invited to give a talk to Joanna Ransome's class in Aldwinter school, which has unforeseen consequences for the girls.

Sarah Perry was born in Essex in 1979. She has a PhD in creative writing at Royal Holloway which she completed under the supervision of Andrew Motion. She has been writer in residence at the Gladstone Library and is the winner of a Shiva Naipaul award for travel writing. Her first novel, After Me Comes The Flood won the East Anglian Book of the Year Award in 2014. The Essex Serpent was Waterstone's Book Of The Year in 2016 and was short-listed for the Costa Novel Award 2016. She lives in Norwich.

Writer: Sarah Perry
Abridger: Jeremy Osborne
Reader: Ruth Gemmell
Producer: Rosalynd Ward

A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.

Peter White draws on the latest research to reveal the lives of physically disabled people in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Today - Finding a Voice: Peter discovers William Hay, an 18th-century MP born with spinal curvature who has left us a remarkably revealing account of his life.

Peter comments, 'This series has been full of surprises for me - surprises even after making programmes about disability for 30 years. But perhaps this discovery has been for me the most startling. It's a book which very few people know about, and even fewer have read - a personal exploration of what it's like to be disabled in the 18th century. It's full of insights we like to think of as modern.'

In his book 'On Deformity', William Hay describes his life as a disabled MP, in Parliament and on the streets. He reveals the daily humiliation of being a man of restricted growth and his fear of rowdy crowds. But he also proudly challenges the conventional thinking of the time that his disability makes him ill. He gives advice to other men in his situation about which careers they should follow. And he excels at self-deprecating humour - sometimes, he confesses, he feels like 'a Worm'.

Hay's essay is seen by historians as ground-breaking - because in William Hay, disability had for the first time found a voice. But Hay is a challenging role model for modern disability activists.

With historians David Turner, Naomi Baker, Tim Hitchcock and Chris Mounsey and readings by Jonathan Keeble.

Producer: Elizabeth Burke
Academic adviser: David Turner of Swansea University
A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4.

Kit and the single gentleman reach their destination. Conclusion of the Dickens dramatisation starring Alex Jennings. From January 2003.

In the guise of Sir Hilary Bray, Bond contacts Blofeld and learns more about his Alpine hideaway. Read by Joanna Lumley. From October 1989.

As arguments rage over her future, Anna looks set on a path of self-destruction. Stars Teresa Gallagher and Toby Stephens. From August 1997.

Graeme Garden hosts the comic debating show with Hugh Dennis, Boothby Graffoe, Steve Punt and Stuart Maconie. From August 2000.

The lights of Kathmandu are twinkling on the horizon. What can possibly go wrong? Starring Richard Ridings. From July 1996.

Stanley Baxter's first story in his new Playhouse season goes back in time to 1949, when a young man, an assistant director on Whisky Galore, falls in love with a local girl on the Hebridean island of Barra where filming is taking place.

Sixty six years later, his memories of that golden time come flooding back.

Stanley Baxter plays the old man who abandoned a career in film to stay on the island with the woman he loved, and now faces a sad farewell. The other members of the company are June Watson, Scott Hoatson, Samara Maclaren and Tracy Wiles.

Written by Michael Chaplin.
Directed by Marilyn Imrie.
.
A Catherine Bailey production for BBC Radio 4.

Nerves are fraying as Anthony's first night of Hay Fever looms, not helped by news of a dangerous prisoner loose in the area. Meanwhile, Damien contends with an angry neighbour.

A theatre company arrive in a village to stage their brutal version of the legend of Queen Boudicca's war against the Romans.

Jean Binnie's drama stars Danny Schiller as Mon (the writer).

CHORUS:
Tamas ... Elizabeth Mansfield
Halse .... Susan Sheridan
Gordi .... John Hollis
Jay .... Vincent Brimble
Ian .... Gordon Reid
Rosay .... Joan Walker

BRITONS:
Boudicca .... Eileen Pollock
Beya ... Victoria Carling
Mara.... Katie Jenkins
Abbay ... Geoffrey Whitehead
Nyman .... Christopher Good
Car .... David Goudge
Cartimandua .... Anna Cropper
Derna .... David March
Ebor .. Paul Downing
Woman ..... Marcia King

ROMANS:
Suetonius ....John Shrapnel
Marcus ....John Webb
Postumus.....David Timson
Decianus ......David King
Julius.... John Bull
Centurion ... Christopher Scott
Centurion ... Ken Cumberlidge

Director: Martin Jenkins
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1989.

Using free bus travel, Alan Coren helps Christopher Matthew to try and find the house where he was born. From September 2005.

This is the last era of radio-age writers. Authors born in the Forties and the early Fifties grew up with radio not TV; the BBC for them was a thing of sounds and voices, rather than of pictures. Susannah Clapp, of that generation, asks them what they heard and presents an archive essay talking to writers and listening, via the archive, to what they listened to and exploring the effect it had on their work.

With Richard Holmes, Andrew Motion, Alan Hollingshurst, Posy Simmonds and others. Producer: Tim Dee.

A 'musical Arabian night' set in ancient Baghdad full of romance and intrigue, recorded for BBC Radio 2 in 1994. Robert Wright and George Forrest's Tony Award-winning musical was first produced on Broadway in 1953, before successfully transferring to London's West End. The MGM film version was released in 1955.

Stars Ethan Freeman as Hajj the Poet, Julia Migenes as Lalume, Stephen Hill as Caliph, Katrina Murphy as Marsinah, Frank Middlemass as Omar Kayyam, David Adler as Wazir, David Healey as Jawan, Frank Jarvis as Hassan Ben, David Kelsey as Chief Policeman and Anny Tobin as Widow Yussef.

Wright & Forrest's classic score is based on the themes of Alexander Borodin, a book by Charles Lederer and Luther Davis, and Edward Knoblock's play.

With the Stephen Hill Singers and the BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by Kenneth Alwyn.

Producer: John Langridge

First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in 1994.

Sheridan Morley talks to the creators of the 1953 classic Broadway musical, Kismet - Robert Wright and George Forrest.

Producer: Stella Hanson

First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in 1995.

4 Extra Debut. Radio 4's literary panel show, hosted by James Walton, with team captains Sebastian Faulks and John Walsh and guests Mark Billingham and Lynne Truss. The week's author is playwright John Osborne, the creator of 1956's Look Back in Anger.

Produced by Alexandra Smith.

As the first ferry of the holiday season arrives - why is Irene back on the island?

Bittersweet comedy written by and starring Lynn Ferguson as 30-something barmaid Irene Bruce, who hankers after a better life on the mainland.

With Janet Brown as Agnes / Moira, Lewis McLeod as Alberto / Dr Hume / Ferryman / Robert, Gabriel Quigley as Ena / Bunty, Robert Paterson as the Minister /Bob and Kenneth Bryans as Dougie.

Producer: Lucy Bacon

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2002.

Claudia Roden, the cookery writer who whet our palates with chickpeas and polenta when a soggy 'spag bol' was the norm. Stars Tracy-Ann Oberman.

Comedian Mat Horne inherits 'Runaway' by Del Shannon and passes on 'Young Shields' by Casiotone for the Painfully Alone.

Arthur Smith digs out his old running shoes to help retrace the footsteps of former Olympian and athletics commentator Brendan Foster around South Tyneside.

Producer: Sharon Banoff

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2006.

Robb Wilton (1881 - 1957) was one of the most popular music hall and radio comics of the 1930s and 1940s.

Famed as an all-round pessimist - what would he have made of 1980s Britain - coping with an unusual visitor?

Michael Williams stars as Robb Wilton - making as little sense out of life as he did 40 years before...

Written by Allen Saddler.

Producer: Brian Miller

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 1986.

Gary Henderson and old man Jenkins head up a mountain road to Hill House every November 13th. But on their ascent this year, the mountain begins to shake like hell on earth. And Gary? He meets himself coming back...

As a world-wide power failure brings chaos and terror to Earth, one town in every country undergoes a curious and startling transformation.

Wally K Daly's sci-fi thriller stars James Laurenson as Gary Henderson, Nigel Anthony as Jenkins, Peter Jeffrey as AP Smith and Geoffrey Whitehead as the Prime Minister.

Director: David Hitchinson

First broadcast on the BBC World Service in 1989.

'Absolutely one of the most creative geniuses to ever work in radio comedy. He probably wrote one of the greatest radio comedy series ever; certainly the most imaginative.'

Geoffrey Perkins pays tribute to his friend, writer and BBC producer Douglas Adams - author of 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'.

Tragically Douglas died aged just 49 in 2001 and Geoffrey was 55 when he died in 2008.

Featuring:

* So Long and Thanks for All the Fish

Geoffrey Perkins pays tribute to Douglas Adams with friends and colleagues, including Stephen Fry and Griff Rhys Jones. Specially extended version. (01/09/2001)

* Last Chance to See - The Answer Is Blowing in the Wind

The plight of the Rodrigues fruit bat. One of six quests in search of a weird, exotic and endangered animal with Mark Carwardine and Douglas Adams. (25/10/1989)

* Black Cinderella Two Goes East - or Confessions Of A Glass Slipper Tryer Onner

All-star panto set in the land of Saxmania produced by Douglas Adams. With Peter Cook, John Cleese, Tim Brooke-Taylor, Rob Buckman, Graeme Garden, David Hatch, Maggie Henderson, Jo Kendall, Richard Murdoch, Bill Oddie, John Pardoe and Richard Baker.

Written by Clive Anderson and Rory McGrath (25/12/1978)

'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: The Primary Phase: Fit the First'

Arthur Dent is trying to stop his house being demolished. But what about Planet Earth? Stars Peter Jones, Simon Jones, Geoffrey McGivern, Jo Kendall, Bill Wallis and David Gooderson. (08/04/1978)

Plus a selection of Vogon poetry chosen from a listener competition.

Producer: Jayne Gibson

First Broadcast on BBC 7 in March 2003.

Another brave celebrity revisits their formative years by opening up their intimate teenage diaries.

Comedian Rufus Hound is joined by journalist Rachel Johnson. Rachel's diaries focus on her gap year in Israel, when she worked on a kibbutz with her brother and was wined and dined by an Israeli shepherd.

They also include her trip to the Andes with a boyfriend who suffered from vertigo.

Producer: Harriet Jaine
A Talkback production for BBC Radio 4.

Poems, songs and relaxation tips from Ivor Cutler and friends including fishy verse and how to jazz up mince. From May 1994.

The last episode in this series sees Terry Alderton at his very best. Sketches, songs and general hilarity from a brilliant mind. Bears, airports, stand up, accents, and even the odd catchphrase. Perfect.

Written by and starring Terry Alderton. With additional material from Johnny Spurling, Boothby Graffoe, Richard Melvin, Julia Sutherland and Owen Parker.

Sound designed by Sean Kerwin.
Produced by Richard Melvin.
A Dabster production for BBC Radio 4.

From 10.00 to midnight, 7 days a week, the Comedy Club has two hours of comedy. Plus Arthur Smith talks to Bilal Zafar and Rob Auton.

A date with a slightly disappointing superhero. Sharp sketches starring David Mitchell and Robert Webb. From May 2009.

The management consultants plug into media technology. Stars Emma Kennedy and Marcus Brigstocke. From November 2002.

Is Kit Nubbins a thief or a victim of evil Quilp's plotting?

Starring Alex Jennings as the Narrator, Daniel Bliss as Kit, Adrian Scarborough as Sampson Brass, Richard Firth as Mr Chuckster, Phil Daniels as Quilp, Lindsey Coulson as Mrs Nubbins and David Collings as Mr Garland.

Charles Dickens's fourth novel was published in 1841.

The concluding episodes dramatised by Mike Walker.

Music by Melanie Pappenheim and Anne Wood.

Director: Jeremy Mortimer

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2002.

4 Extra Debut. Charlie describes a day in his life as a young man living in Los Angeles. Where did it all go wrong? Read by Garrick Hagon. From March 1992.

John Finnemore, the writer and star of Cabin Pressure, regular guest on The Now Show and popper-upper in things like Miranda, presents a third series 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. The second series won Best Radio Comedy at both the Chortle and Comedy.co.uk awards, and was nominated for a Sony award.

This time around, John promises to stop doing silly sketches about nonsense like Winnie the Pooh's honey addiction or how goldfish invented computer programming, and concentrate instead on the the big, serious issues.

This fourth episode of the series contains a sketch that is much, much too rude; advice on how to deal with bullies; and an accidental visit to Ambridge.

Written by and starring John Finnemore, with Margaret Cabourn-Smith, Simon Kane, Lawry Lewin and Carrie Quinlan.

Producer: Ed Morrish.

Ted's wife, Kitty, goes to the sales - while George chases a film star at Waterloo.

Starring Ted Ray.

With Kitty Bluett, Peter Sellers, Patricia Hayes, Fred Yule and Leslie Perrins.

Ray's A Laugh - the successor to ITMA - follows the comedy exploits of Ted's life at home with his 'radio' wife Kitty, as well as in a variety of jobs. It ran from 1949-1961.

Scripted by Eddie Maguire and Ted Ray.

Music from Bob & Alf Pearson and The Beaux and The Belles.

BBC Dance Orchestra conducted by Stanley Black.

Producer: George Inns

First broadcast on the BBC Home Service in January 1950.

The cast take oaths of allegiance - and 'The Glums' go to the pictures.

Starring Professor Jimmy Edwards, Dick Bentley, June Whitfield, Alma Cogan and Wallace Eton.

Music from The Keynotes and the BBC Revue Orchestra.

Classic comedy scripted by Frank Muir and Denis Norden.

Producer: Charles Maxwell

First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in October 1955.

Professor Hans Rosling was 'the man in whose hands data sings'. Dubbed 'a true inspiration' by Bill Gates, the statistician became a viral celebrity thanks to his popular TED talks which broke down the statistics behind global health and economics.

Before his death in 2017, Rosling spent years asking global audiences simple questions about basic trends. How widespread is extreme poverty? What is life expectancy today? How many children in the world have been vaccinated? He quizzed everyone from medics to lecturers, bankers, political decision makers - even Nobel Laureates. And the results were always the same.

'Everyone seems to get the world not only devastatingly wrong, but systematically wrong. By which I mean, that these test results are worse than random. They are worse than the results I would get if the people answering my questions had no knowledge at all.'

Rosling identifies key instincts - from misplaced fear through a belief in destiny to the love of a simple solution - which warp our view of the world and blind us to the miracle of human progress.

Abridged by Anna Magnusson
Read by Adrian Rawlins
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie

First broadcast in five parts on BBC Radio 4 in 2018.

Fi Glover introduces a mother who wrote a book about her traumatic WW2 childhood in Germany and her son, who is planning his own book about growing up in England with a German mother, in the 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. Most of the unedited 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 The Clash to Joni Mitchell, artist Damian Hirst shares his castaway choices with Kirsty Young. From May 2013.

Radiolab asks what is it about sports games that make them feel so pivotal? 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.

Budding crime writer Carl could do with some extra cash. Renting out the top part of his house in London's Maida Vale - newly inherited from his father - will help his cash flow immensely.

And what harm could it do to sell some slimming pills from his late father's stash of 'alternative medicines' to his actress friend Stacey, who's been putting on weight in the wake of a relationship break up..?

Ruth Rendell's final novel is a dark and atmospheric tale of psychological suspense read by Patricia Hodge.

Acclaimed by her literary peers and beloved by her readers, Ruth Rendell wrote over sixty novels in a career that spanned fifty years. She received numerous awards, including the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger for 1976's best crime novel with A Demon in My View, a Gold Dagger award for Live Flesh in 1986, and the Sunday Times Literary Award in 1990. In 2013 she was awarded the Crime Writers' Association Cartier Diamond Dagger for sustained excellence in crime writing. In 1996 she was awarded the CBE and in 1997 became a Life Peer. She died in May 2015, aged 85.

Read by Patricia Hodge.

Abridger Robin Brooks.

Producer: Kirsteen Cameron.

First broadcast in 10 parts on BBC Radio 4 in 2015.

In 1959, Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond, was commissioned by the Sunday Times to explore some of the world's most exotic cities. Travelling to the Far East and then to America, he left the bright main streets for the back alleys, abandoning tourist sites in favour of underground haunts, and mingling with celebrities, gangsters and geishas. The result is a series of vivid snapshots of a mysterious, vanished world.

Fleming wrote, 'On November 2nd, armed with a sheaf of visas...one suitcase...and my typewriter, I left humdrum London for the thrilling cities of the world. All my life I have been interested in adventure and abroad. I have enjoyed the frisson of leaving the wide, well-lit streets and venturing up back alleys in search of the hidden, authentic pulse of towns. It was perhaps this habit that turned me into a writer of thrillers.'

In today's episode, Fleming flies to Tokyo where he witnesses an astonishing ju-jitsu demonstration, has his fortune told and is attended in a bath-house by one of the prettiest girls he has ever seen.

Read by Simon Williams.
Abridged by Mark Burgess.

Copyright Ian Fleming Publications Ltd 1963.

Produced by David Blount.
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.

Lonely drifter Mike Rogers finally settles down when he meets young heiress Ellie Guteman. They build the house of their dreams in a beautiful and remote area, ignoring rumours of a curse.

With their arrival, however, the curse seems to come to life, and they find themselves in grave danger...

Joy Wilkinson's adaptation of Agatha Christie's 1967 psychological thriller.

Starring Jonathan Forbes as Mike, Lizzy Watts as Ellie, Sarah Stewart as Greta, Victoria Lennox as Mrs Lee, Chris Pavlo as Mr Constantine, John Rowe as Philpott, Joseph Tremain as Young Mike, Dan Starkey as Santonix and Thomas Brown-Lowe as Oscar.

Original music by Nicolai Abrahamsen.

Director: Sam Hoyle

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2008.

Poet Daljit Nagra revisits the BBC's radio poetry archive with 'India's Beats: The Hungry Generation'.

Allen Ginsberg arrived in early 1960s Calcutta to discover a collective of angry young poets whose anti-establishment antics were uncannily reminiscent of his own past.

Over 50 years later, we follow in the footsteps of the Beat Generation to the literary centre of India and go in search of the Hungryalist poets. Who were they? Where did they fit with a rich Bengali literary tradition that includes the great Rabindranath Tagore? What eventually led to their arrests, imprisonment and disbandment?

Eventually the authorities had enough. They were rounded up and arrested on charges of obscenity and conspiracy against the state. Ginsberg attempted to intervene, sending letters of support. US literary journals carried the story and printed Hungryalist poetry. The movement floundered.

But despite this, we discover that the Hungryalist anti-establishment spirit is very much still alive in modern-day Calcutta today.

Producer: Dom Byrne

A Blakeway production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in 2015.

Set in a complex state of beliefs, Great God Om appears before a novice monk

There are gods everywhere on Discworld - you can't swing a simian librarian without hitting one - except, of course, only a few people can see them. Each small god lies in wait, desperately seeking to make someone believe in him. On Discworld, gods need people more than people need gods, for belief is the food of the gods.

Terry Pratchett's comic fantasy stars Carl Prekopp as Brutha, Patrick Barlow as Om and Alex Jennings as Vorbis. With Anton Lesser as the Narrator.

Dramatised by Robin Brooks.

Producer: Claire Grove

Director: Gordon House

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2006.

Series of chilling and intimate plays.

By Ed Hime. Trainee surgeon Andy is left with a recurring nightmare after being involved in a car crash which killed his friend. The flashbacks give him problems in the operating theatre, and, when his dreams start changing, Andy can no longer be sure what is fantasy and what really happened.

Alice ...... Lizzy Watts
Andy ...... Joseph Kloska
Richard ...... Benjamin Askew
Lovecraft ...... Stephen Hogan
Inside Out Man ...... Ewan Bailey
Dr Larson ...... Jonathan Tafler

Directed by Jessica Dromgoole.

Born on November 8th 1927, Sir Ken Dodd performed regularly to sell-out audiences around the country. As a ten-year-old, BBC Sports broadcaster Garry Richardson first saw Sir Ken perform and his fascination with 'Britain's greatest comedian' began.

Garry has been presenting on Radio 4's Today programme for 37 years, and is the longest-serving member of the team. In his spare time he regularly travelled to Sir Ken Dodd's shows.

In this special documentary made for 4 Extra, the veteran comedian gives a fascinating insight into his life. He left school at 14 to help on his dad's coal round. Dodd explains how he went from performing with a teenage 'concert party' to a record-breaking run at the London Palladium. His long career was topped at Buckingham Palace when Sir Ken received a knighthood for his services to entertainment and charity.

With archive clips, 'What a Beautiful Day!' features an extended interview with Sir Ken, as well as new interviews with Sir David Jason, Roy Hudd, Jimmy Tarbuck, Judith Chalmers and Sir Ken's scriptwriter John Martin, who's been writing jokes for the comedian for over 25 years. All of them give their own perspective on just what made the tattyfilarious Squire of Knotty Ash's comedy tick.

Producer: Peter McHugh

Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra and first broadcast in November 2017.

'How tickled I am!' Gags and songs from 'young' Ken Dodd - with a trip to Doddyland and more mysteries tackled by Professor Dodd....

With Peter Goodwright, Judith Chalmers, Leonard Williams, Karat Gardner and Jimmy Goldie.

Music from the Littlewood Songsters and the BBC Northern Dance Orchestra conducted by Bernard Herman.

Written by James Casey, Frank Roscoe and Eddie Braben.

Producer: James Casey

First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in November 1960.

The much-loved actor chooses 'The Darktown Poker Club' by Phil Harris and 'Holding Back The Years' by Simply Red.

by Bill Dare

Brian Gulliver, a seasoned presenter of travel documentaries, finds himself in a hospital's secure unit after claiming to have had a number of bizarre adventures.

This week we hear about his travels in Juradia, a country where every other person is a lawyer.

Produced by Steven Canny

Brian Gulliver's Travels is a new satirical adventure story from Bill Dare. The series has attracted an excellent cast led by Neil Pearson and award winning star of the RSC's current season, Mariah Gale. Cast includes fantastic actors Tamsin Greig, John Standing, Paul Bhattacharjee, Christopher Douglas, Catherine Shepherd, Vicky Pepperdine, Phil Cornwell, Antonia Campbell Hughes, Jo Bobin and Katherine Jakeways.

For years Bill Dare wanted to create a satire about different worlds exploring Kipling's idea that we travel, 'not just to explore civilizations, but to better understand our own'. But science fiction and space ships never interested him, so he put the idea on ice. Then Brian Gulliver arrived and meant that our hero could be lost in a fictional world without the need for any sci-fi.

Satirical targets over the series: the medical profession and its need to pathologize everything; the effect of marriage on children; spirituality and pseudo-science; compensation culture; sexism; the affect of our obsession with fame.

Gulliver's Travels is the only book Bill Dare read at university. His father, Peter Jones, narrated a similarly peripatetic radio series: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

From 10.00 to midnight, 7 days a week, the Comedy Club has two hours of comedy. Plus Arthur Smith talks to Bilal Zafar and Rob Auton.

Aspiring singer/songwriter John Shuttleworth has been posting audio cassettes of his 'finest songs to date' to pop stars throughout the land, in the hope that someone would record his material. But all to no avail.

However, the BBC has very kindly given John a series and asked him to invite pop starts to bring their music to his Sheffield home. So it is that Chas and Dave, Heaven 17, Toyah Willcox and Leee John find themselves in John's lounge having tea with wife Mary, being flirted with by Mary's friend Joan and hassled by John's agent Ken Worthington, as they try and perform not only one their greatest hits but more importantly, one of John's.

This week Mary is not happy as John has invited Toyah Willcox to the lounge and she's worried that Toyah will live up to her wild 80's image and wreak havoc in the house. So, as Mary busies herself hiding the valuables and even the pillows in case Toyah throws them around and spreads feathers everywhere, John has to keep Toyah entertained in the garden. How will he explain all this to Toyah, who is expecting to sing in the lounge?

Also Gordon Giltrap tells John how to make his songs commercial in 'Top Tips on the Telephone' and, hopefully, there's Ken in the Konservatory.

Written and Performed by Graham Fellows with special guests Toyah Willcox and Gordon Giltrap.

Producer: Dawn Ellis
A Chic Ken production for BBC Radio 4.

Full Age of Enlightenment updates, plus the Earl of Sandwich lives up to his name. Stars Marcus Brigstocke. From November 2000.

The salon is offering special two-for-one cuts. Brides and grooms are queuing up for days in the hope of getting an appointment. A childhood sweetheart of Rene's appears unexpectedly, hoping to rekindle their love.

Brothers Rene, Carlo and Charlie Quando chop, snip and crimp their lucky clients into shape at London's finest hair salon.

Six-part comedy written and performed by Rainer Hersch and Mark Maie. With Stephen Greif and Catherine Tate.

Producer: Claire Jones

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 1999.

When Inuit Edie Kiglatuk takes two tourists out on a routine hunting trip to Craig Island, she has no idea that it will end in murder.

This is bad enough, but when her beloved stepson Joe also becomes embroiled, she's determined to penetrate the mystery surrounding the deaths.

Read by Denise Gough.

White Heat is Essex born MJ McGrath's first novel. Abridged by Polly Coles.

Producer: Clive Brill

Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra by Pacificus Productions.

Sara Mohr-Pietsch explores digital re-mastering: is it the art of restoring music to its original glory; or just another way of selling us music we already own?

The whole of the Beatles back catalogue has recently been re-released in re-mastered form; a quick search of any record store or online shop will reveal that a large number of recordings have been re-mastered, from very old crackly recordings to very recent releases. But what do the words 'digitally re-mastered' on a cd actually mean?

Sara Mohr-Pietsch visits London's iconic Abbey Road Studios (recently awarded Grade II listed status) to meet some of the engineers who re-master recordings there. She asks them and others from the music industry what re-mastering actually means. She learns that sometimes re-mastering can be as much about what to leave in as what to leave out. And is it an advantage to have the original artist involved in the process?

Sara also considers the consumer's point of view; we've already bought these recordings on vinyl and cd (and possibly cassette as well) so why do we need to buy them again? Can the average listener hear any difference between the original version of (for instance) a pop song from the 1960s and the re-mastered version?

Sara looks at the technology that is used to clean up very old recordings, where the music is often buried almost completely beneath noise and the sonic distortions caused by very primitive recording equipment.

Whatever your view is of the value of re-mastering, what is clear is that the re-mastering engineers Sara meets treat the work they do with great care and reverence - they are often uncovering moments in history.

The re-opening of the Cumbrae Club goes horribly wrong when Irene notices a fatal flaw in the plan.

Meanwhile, Alberto is paranoid that a new money-making scheme could bring the island some unwanted attention.

Bittersweet comedy written by and starring Lynn Ferguson as 30-something barmaid Irene Bruce, who hankers after a better life on the mainland.

With Janet Brown as Agnes / Moira, Lewis McLeod as Alberto / Dr Hume / Ferryman / Robert, Gabriel Quigley as Ena / Bunty, Robert Paterson as the Minister /Bob and Kenneth Bryans as Dougie/Huberto.

Producer: Lucy Bacon

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2002.

David Mitchell hosts the panel game in which four comedians are encouraged to tell lies and compete against one another to see how many items of truth they're able to smuggle past their opponents.

John Finnemore, Henning Wehn, Lou Sanders and Graeme Garden are the panellists obliged to talk with deliberate inaccuracy on subjects as varied as police, submarines, books and spiders.

Produced by Richard Turner.
A Random Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4.

Living in the only house in Railway Cuttings without a telly, the lad takes action.

Starring Tony Hancock, Bill Kerr, Sidney James, Andree Melly and Kenneth Williams.

Announcer: Kenneth Williams

Written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson.

Theme and incidental music composed by Wally Stott. Recorded by the BBC Revue Orchestra conducted by Harry Rabinowitz.

Producer: Dennis Main Wilson

First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in June 1955.

Judgement day dawns for the shady lawyer, Waldorf T Flywheel.

Recreation of the Marx Brothers' lost shows charting the adventures of shady lawyer Waldorf T Flywheel and his assistant, Emmanuel Ravelli. Originally broadcast with sponsors on America's NBC radio network in the 1930s. The scripts were rediscovered in 1988.

Starring Michael Roberts as Groucho Marx as Waldorf T Flywheel and Frank Lazarus as Chico Marx as Emmanuel Ravelli.

With Lorelei King and Graham Hoadly.

Written by Nat Perrin and Athur Sheekman. Adapted by Mark Brisenden.

Music arranged and conducted by David Firman.

Producer: Dirk Maggs

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 1990.

Paul Merton, Tony Hawks, Kit Hesketh-Harvey and Alun Cochrane are the panellists for this, the first of the new series of Just a Minute.

This is the long-running panel game which tests whether people have the gift of the gab. Panellists try to speak on a given subject without hesitation, repetition or deviation. Much more difficult than it sounds...

The suave and usually unflappable Nicholas Parsons is chairman as ever. Today the panellists struggle with a huge range of subjects as diverse as My First Kiss, Conkers and Having a Duvet Day.

This show comes from The Quays Theatre at The Lowry Centre in Salford.

Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis present the week via topical stand-up and sketches

Punt and Dennis are joined this week by Ellie Taylor and Ola.

Sorrowful at the departure of his mentor and only friend, the local school master, 11-year-old Jude Fawley resolves that one day he'll follow his teacher to academia - as symbolised by the gleaming spires of distant Christminster.

Growing up, however, Jude finds more obstacles in his path then merely difficulties of study...

Thomas Hardy's 1895 novel dramatised in six parts by Elizabeth North.

Stars Michael Pennington as Jude Fawley, Mark Straker as Carter, June Barrie as Widow Edlin, Constance Chapman as Aunt Drusilla Fawley, Hazel Ellerby as Annie, John Normington as Phillotson, Elva Makins as Arabella, Jesse Lawrence as Young Jude, Esmond Rideout as Farmer Troutham and Richard Wasley as Tiler.

Produced at BBC Bristol by Brian Miller.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1986.

To remind her of him while he is abroad, a young man buys his fiancee a snappy puppy called Hector. Read by Crawford Logan. From March 2003.

When Barney's dog is run over he wonders if life is worth living but then fate in the shape of a Spanish veterinary nurse and a parrot called mittens intervenes.

Directed by Sally Avens.

Barney hates everything about his life. Everything, but his dog. His dog doesn't care that he's an awkward loser. That he's 36, single and broke. That he sweats when he's nervous. That he's been stuck in the same job for seven years and three months and still doesn't know how to work the cappuccino machine. That he's scared of his pubescent boss, and lusts after a girl who doesn't know he exists.

So when his dog is run over, Barney realises he's got nothing left to lose, but then a motivational talk from his boss is the beginning of a series of apparently life-changing events.

Sarah Perry's award-winning novel, set at the end of the nineteenth century and inspired by true events.

Moving between Essex and London, myth and modernity, Cora Seaborne's spirited search for the Essex Serpent encourages all around her to test their allegiance to faith or reason in an age of rapid scientific advancement. At the same time, the novel explores the boundaries of love and friendship and the allegiances that we have to one another. The depth of feeling that the inhabitants of Aldwinter share are matched by their city counterparts as they strive to find the courage to express and understand their deepest desires, and strongest fears.

Episode Six
Cora seeks help from her London friend, Dr Luke Garrett. Her friendship with Will is tested. Meanwhile, the summer heat seems to banish all thoughts of the Essex Serpent.

Sarah Perry was born in Essex in 1979. She has a PhD in creative writing at Royal Holloway which she completed under the supervision of Andrew Motion. She has been writer in residence at the Gladstone Library and is the winner of a Shiva Naipaul award for travel writing. Her first novel, After Me Comes The Flood won the East Anglian Book of the Year Award in 2014. The Essex Serpent was Waterstone's Book Of The Year in 2016 and was short-listed for the Costa Novel Award 2016. She lives in Norwich.

Writer: Sarah Perry
Abridger: Jeremy Osborne
Reader: Ruth Gemmell
Producer: Rosalynd Ward

A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.

Work and disability has always been an awkward fit.

Peter White says, 'When as a teenager I said I wanted to be a broadcaster, there was a sharp intake of breath. Shouldn't I be considering becoming a piano tuner, or a physiotherapist? That's what blind people did. I wanted to know what it was like in the past, when people had to work - or starve.'

What he discovers is surprising - disabled people were everywhere in the 19th century work-force. In some parts of the country, more than 60% of nurses had a disability. For other disabled men and women, earning a living meant creating a particular niche for themselves. Peter uncovers the career of the blind poet Priscilla Pointon, who made a living writing poetry about her life - signing up hundreds of people on a subscription list to become a wealthy woman. She was just one in a long tradition of blind poets.

Peter also discovers a treasure trove of letters from disabled people seeking work in the Victorian period, which have been collected by Professor Stephen King of Leicester University. They describe the indignity of being assessed by the authorities of the day, and their anger at being accused of faking disability. There are some striking parallels with today, when the debate about work and disability is in full swing.

With historians Steven King, Chris Mounsey and Julie Anderson, and readings by Gerard McDermott and Emily Bevan.

Producer: Elizabeth Burke
Academic adviser: David Turner of Swansea University
A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4.

18th-century gentleman Tristram tries to tell his tragi-comic life story through accounts of his family and friends, his experiences and his ideas. But he continually finds he must digress...

Laurence Sterne's ground-breaking comic novel dramatised in 10 parts by Graham White.

Stars Neil Dudgeon as Tristram, Julia Ford as Mother, David Troughton as Father, Adrian Scarborough as Toby, Paul Ritter as Trim, Tony Rohr as Dr Slop, Stephen Hogan as Obadiah, Helen Longworth as Susannah, Ndidi Del Fatti as Great-Grandmother, Stuart Mcloughlin as Great-Grandfather, Stuart Mcloughlin as Pontificating Man and Hugh Dickson as Bishop Hall.

Director: Mary Peate

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2005.

James Bond has made contact with Blofeld, but fears his cover story has been compromised. Joanna Lumley reads Ian Fleming's thriller in ten parts.

First published in 1963, this was Fleming's 11th Bond novel, sandwiched between 'The Spy Who Loved Me' and 'You Only Live Twice'. In movie terms, this was the sixth of the original Bond movie franchise with George Lazenby playing the hero and Diana Rigg as Tracy.

The reader Joanna Lumley had a small, unnamed role in the 1969 film of 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service', being simply referred to as 'The English Girl'.

Abridged by Michael Bakewell.

Producer: David Benedictus

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1989.

'What I couldn't take was that Mother was so offhand about life after death. That and this business of living in Crouch End.'

A story about life beyond the grave, written and narrated by Will Self.

Producer: Duncan Minshull

First broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in 1995.

Sue MacGregor and her guests - Rabbi Julia Neuberger and poet Paul Farley - discuss favourite books by Marghanita Laski, Bernard Shaw and Ian Marchant. From 2005.

Little Boy Lost Marghanita Laski
Publisher: Persephone Books

St Joan by Bernard Shaw
Publisher: Penguin Classics

Parallel Lines by Ian Marchant
Publisher: Bloomsbury.

Sketch show with a comic slant on human frailties. With Tom Basden, Stefan Golaszewski and Tim Key. From November 2008.

From 10.00 to midnight, 7 days a week, the Comedy Club has two hours of comedy. Plus Cariad Lloyd talks to John Finnemore.

The comedian explores the barriers and dilemmas which technology creates in normal everyday relationships.
Fast-paced and inventive comedy, written and starring Adam Bloom
With Rob Rouse, Hattie Hayridge and Stefano Paolini.

Producer: Adam Bromley

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2005.

Edie begins to realise that there are unusual numbers of foreigners taking an interest in the geology of Craig Island, north of the Arctic Circle.

She's also increasingly sure of a link between her stepson's apparent suicide and the murder of the two southern tourists. Then, she comes across a mysterious stone which might be the key to everything.

Read by Denise Gough.

White Heat is Essex born MJ McGrath's first novel. Abridged by Polly Coles.

Producer: Clive Brill

Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra by Pacificus Productions.

Legendary scriptwriting duo Frank Muir and Denis Norden and their producer Charles Maxwell recapture the exciting atmosphere of making one of BBC radio's most outstanding comedy series of the 1950s - and still regularly heard on BBC Radio 4 Extra.

Originally broadcast on the BBC Light Programme, Take It From Here ran for 13 series from 1948 to 1960, starring Jimmy Edwards, Dick Bentley, Joy Nichols, June Whitfield, Alma Cogan, Wallace Eton and Clarence Wright.

David Hatch, performer and BBC comedy producer, manages to ask a few questions despite irrelevant interruptions from The Glums - the dysfunctional family who became much-loved series regulars.

Producer: Charles Maxwell

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 1970.

Kate's cottage is now in ruins thanks to an over-enthusiastic builder. And is that really Michael Caine in the local Croydon nick?

Stars Letitia Dean as Penny, Phil Cornwell as Dave, Julian Rhind-Tutt as Andy and Susannah Doyle as Kate.

Simon Warne's 4-part comedy serial.

Producer: Tracey Neale

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 2000.

Second series of the award-nominated comedy drama set in Alcoholics Anonymous, written by Pete Jackson and inspired by his own road to recovery. Stars Sue Johnston, John Hannah, Eddie Marsan, Rebecca Front, Paul Kaye and Julia Deakin.

Love in Recovery follows the lives of five very different recovering alcoholics. Taking place entirely at their weekly meetings, we hear them moan, argue, laugh, fall apart, fall in love and - most importantly - tell their stories.

In this third episode of the series, the group discover that Simon (John Hannah) has been keeping another big secret from them. But he's not the only one keeping a secret. In fact, he's not even the only one keeping THAT particular secret.

Writer Pete Jackson is a recovering alcoholic and has spent time in Alcoholics Anonymous. It was there he found support from the unlikeliest group of disparate souls - with one common bond. As well as offering the support he needed throughout a difficult time, AA also offered a weekly, sometimes daily, dose of hilarity, upset, heartbreak and friendship.

There are lots of different kinds of AA meetings. Love in Recovery is about meetings where people tell their stories. There are funny stories, sad stories, stories of small victories and milestones, stories of loss, stories of hope, and those stories that you really shouldn't laugh at - but still do, along with the storyteller.

Cast:
Marion...........Julia Deakin
Fiona.............Rebecca Front
Simon............John Hannah
Julie...............Sue Johnston
Danno............Paul Kaye
Andy..............Eddie Marsan

Written and created by Pete Jackson
Producer/Director: Ben Worsfield
A Lucky Giant production for BBC Radio 4.

Doddy and chums turn their attention to cowboys and heroes of the past.

Starring Ken Dodd.

With Jo Manning Wilson, Gretchen Franklin, Talfryn Thomas, Chris Emmett and Michael McClain.

Devised and written by Ken Dodd with Dave Dutton, David McKellar, Norman Beadle and Philip & Alan Bessell.

Doddy's Diddy Orchestra conducted by Geoff Alderson.

Producer: Bobby Jaye

First broadcast on the BBC Radio 2 in August 1975.

The bungling bureaucrats play cupid for Mildred - and spark mayhem with their requisitions.
Stars Richard Murdoch and Deryck Guyler.

With Norma Ronald, Ronald Baddiley and John Graham.

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 May 1975.

Manchester Grammar School welcomes Richard Stilgoe for his amusing look at education. With Sandi Toksvig. From April 1984.

His marriage to the local pig breeder's daughter having ended disastrously, Jude once again trains his eyes and thoughts of academia on the magical Christminster, where his cousin Sue lives...

Thomas Hardy's 1895 novel dramatised in six parts by Elizabeth North.

Stars Michael Pennington as Jude Fawley, June Barrie as Widow Edlin, John Normington as Phillotson, Constance Chapman as Aunt Drusilla Fawley, Elizabeth Garvie as Sue Bridehead, Brian Jackson as Tinker Taylor, Gregory Phillips as Jack Stagg, Nicholas Blane as the Policeman, Stella Riley as Miss Fontover, Kim Hicks as Freckles, Jack Harding as the Warder, Andrew Black and Paul Wilce as the students.

Produced at BBC Bristol by Brian Miller.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1986.

On Guard: A small dog called Hector comes to dominate his mistress's life while her fiance is abroad. Read by Crawford Logan. From March 2003.

Razor-sharp observations and wit light up this heartening and humorous monologue - an examination of the counselling industry. In her 40s, Deborah Smith comes to an emotional watershed in her life. During the morning vacuuming, a radio chat show mentions the local Crisis Centre, Deborah girds up her loins, her stock of handkerchiefs and her thermos flask and prepares to get counselled.

Stars Sue Johnston.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 1999.

Sarah Perry's award-winning novel, set at the end of the nineteenth century and inspired by true events.

Moving between Essex and London, myth and modernity, Cora Seaborne's spirited search for the Essex Serpent encourages all around her to test their allegiance to faith or reason in an age of rapid scientific advancement. At the same time, the novel explores the boundaries of love and friendship and the allegiances that we have to one another. The depth of feeling that the inhabitants of Aldwinter share are matched by their city counterparts as they strive to find the courage to express and understand their deepest desires, and strongest fears.

Episode Seven
Cora hosts a midsummer party at her Aldwinter house. Her connection with Will deepens. Stella Ransome's mysterious illness gets worse, prompting a visit to London with her husband.

Sarah Perry was born in Essex in 1979. She has a PhD in creative writing at Royal Holloway which she completed under the supervision of Andrew Motion. She has been writer in residence at the Gladstone Library and is the winner of a Shiva Naipaul award for travel writing. Her first novel, After Me Comes The Flood won the East Anglian Book of the Year Award in 2014. The Essex Serpent was Waterstone's Book Of The Year in 2016 and was short-listed for the Costa Novel Award 2016. She lives in Norwich.

Writer: Sarah Perry
Abridger: Jeremy Osborne
Reader: Ruth Gemmell
Producer: Rosalynd Ward

A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.

Peter White has a close encounter with a huge wooden leg, and asks who got access to new technology in the 19th century.

Strangely, wooden legs were thought to be sexy in the 19th century. During the 22 years of war with France, tens of thousands of British soldiers and sailors gave their lives for their country. Surviving, with a missing limb, became tangible proof of valour - and virility.

However, the reality of life with a wooden leg was anything but romantic. Peter White discovers an extraordinary account written by a 19th century soldier, Thomas Jackson, who lost his leg in battle:

"Military surgeons are not very nice about hurting one. What with the tearing off of the bandages, and the opening of the wound afresh, and the tying of the ligaments of the arteries, I fear in my feeble strength I must have sunk under the excruciating pain. When fitted on, my wooden leg was strapped by the knee. I looked down with the same kind of satisfaction which a dog does when he gets a tin kettle tied to his tail."

But William Jackson was one of the lucky ones. As a military man, he had access to the latest technology. Disabled women were not so lucky - and could be confined to the house, unable to leave their bedroom. Two case studies - one soldier, one genteel woman in Bath - reveal how expectations of mobility were limited by gender. And how crucial it was to have individual ambition.

With historians Julie Anderson, Caroline Nielsen, and Amanda Vickery.

Producer: Elizabeth Burke
Academic adviser: David Turner of Swansea University
A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4.

Tristram tries to recount the tale of his birth but keeps getting distracted. Stars Neil Dudgeon and Julia Ford. From February 2005.

James Bond's cover has been blown, so he must battle to escape Blofeld's Alpine hideaway - and fast. Read by Joanna Lumley. From October 1989.

What is Sarah Millican's worst habit? Who is Richard Osman's mum's favourite recording artist? What would Nathan Caton be doing if he wasn't a comedian?

All these questions, and more, will be answered in the show hosted by Miles Jupp, where panellists are tested on how well they know their nearest and dearest.

In this case, Richard Osman picks his mother, Sarah Millican her mate Lou, and Nathan Caton his brother Mekel to answer questions about each other.

Producer: Matt Stronge.

Tongues are wagging. Certain weddings are due and some folk aren't happy...
Series set in the sleepy town of Ballylenon, Co Donegal in 1955.

Written by Christopher Fitz-Simon.

Starring TP McKenna as Phonsie Doherty, Margaret D'Arcy as Muriel McConkey, Stella McCusker as Vera McConkey, Aine McCartney as Vivienne Boal, Gerard Murphy as Rev Hawthorne, Cathy White as Josie Doherty and Tim Loane as Packy McGoldrick.
Music arranged and performed by Stephanie Hughes.

Director: Eoin O'Callaghan

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1997.

Midsummer, 1938: When a train porter is frozen to his living room chair (then nearly crowned Miss Croydon), MI-13's Harry Crow and Professor Dunning are on the case.

What links the unfortunate porter to exclusive gentleman's establishment, The Tartarus Club, whose membership appears to be rapidly dwindling?

Stars David Warner as Harry Crow and Terry Molloy as Professor Dunning.

With Guy Henry, Stephen Critchlow, David Benson, Alex Lowe, Lisa Bowerman and David Bickerstaff.

The Scarifyers follows the exploits of 1930s ghost-story writer Professor Dunning and retired policeman Harry Crow, who together investigate weird mysteries under the auspices of top-secret government department MI:13.

Written by Simon Barnard and Paul Morris.

A Bafflegab Production.

One of the world's pioneers of 'keyhole' surgery, Professor Sir Alfred Cuschieri, chats to Clare English about how the technique revolutionised the medical profession.

Producer: Philip Sime

First broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland in 2011.

Julia Davis and Marc Wootton star as a couple of maternity nurses who run their own business Sleepy Tigers' in this dark comedy drama. As they move into the home of some very new parents (played by Alex Macqueen and Rosie Cavaliero) the nurses quickly start to take over and dish out the advice: 'You are setting a pattern for baby's future the minute he comes out of the womb. Four days in and you could have a serial killer on your hands. Six weeks on and it's a lost cause, the personality is formed. But help is at hand!'.

From 10.00 to midnight, 7 days a week, the Comedy Club has two hours of comedy. Plus Cariad Lloyd talks to John Finnemore.

The Quest for the Sword of Asnagar continues and this week finds Vidar and his team outside the Citadel of Gondola which is being laid siege to by the amassed hordes of the evil Lord Darkness. But when they get searched on their way into the Citadel - there's been a lot of trouble with 'suicide fairies' - Sam comes across a love potion in Vidar's belongings and his mind unsurprisingly turns from defending the citadel to making his move on Penthiselea.

But the path of true love is never a steady one and Sam's plans for marital bliss soon fall apart when he discovers time with an amorous Penthiselea isn't all it's cracked up to be, and Vidar drinks the love potion by mistake.

An all-star cast, featuring:

Stephen Mangan as 'Sam',
Alistair McGowan as 'Lord Darkness',
Christine Kavanagh as 'The High Priestess of Gondola'
Kevin Eldon as 'Dean/Kreech',
Darren Boyd as 'Vidar',
Dave Lamb as 'Amis - The Chosen One'
Sophie Winkleman as 'Penthiselea'

The writers are Anil Gupta and Richard Pinto (Goodness Gracious Me, The Kumars At No. 42)

The producer is Sam Michell.

Making it up as they go along. Josie Lawrence and Jim Sweeney's improvised sketches driven by the audience. From February 2007.

Inuit hunter and guide Edie Kiglatuk is now convinced that her stepson Joe did not commit suicide, but was murdered.

Realising that the plane with the green livery carrying two Russians into Autisaq for a duck shooting expedition, is the same aircraft which Joe saw on the day of the second murder, Edie follows the trail to Greenland.

Read by Denise Gough.

White Heat is Essex born MJ McGrath's first novel. Abridged by Polly Coles.

Producer: Clive Brill.

Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra by Pacificus Productions.

With composer and musician, Llywelyn Ap Myrddin we travel to Guca, officially the Dragacevo Trumpet Festival, a hundred miles south of Belgrade, to explore the sound and culture of this distinctly Balkan music. Played by Roma and Serbs alike, Guca is about the only place the two cultures tolerate one another.

With BBC correspondent Allan Little, the programme reports on the culture and character of the Serbs; following the history of trumpet music which, at the Guca Festival runs parallel with the history of Serbia. The festival began as an expression of Serbian culture, which the founders wanted to celebrate and which had, to some extent, along with other ethnic music through Yugoslavia, been suppressed in the big, 'we are one people' efforts of Tito .

With great emotion for their heritage set against the absorption of Serbian traditions into wider Yugoslavia, the festival became a focus for Serbian trumpeters, but since the recent civil war, other nations in the Balkans have been invited to take part.

The different styles of music create an incredible musical range; the slower, heavier Kolo originating in the West of Serbia, to the heady swirl of dissonant melodies with an oriental flavour, that comes with the Roma Orchestras in the South, to the faster Romanian dance music that originates in the east.

Crucially, music is centre stage - neither Tito or Milosevic were permitted to attend Guca Festival. We will record the great Roma trumpet players: Boban Markovic, famous worldwide for his music in Emir Kusturica's films; along with his son Marco. Sarajevo born, Goran Bregovic along with Golden trumpet winners and musicians who gather at this extraordinary event.

Producer: Kate Bland
A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4.

Rick's ex-girlfriend is getting married and the whole family are invited. Stella's doubts about an occasion involving the entire Bartholomew clan prove to be justified...

Series 2 of Lucy Clare and Ian Davidson's sitcom about topsy-turvy family life.

Stars Duncan Preston as Patrick, Penny Downie as Stella, Claudie Blakley as Alison, Bruce MacKinnon as Rick, Catherine Shepherd as Xanthe, Daniela Denby-Ashe as Egg and Terence Frisch as the photograopher.

Producer: Elizabeth Freestone

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2004.

Broadcaster and comedian Hardeep Singh Kohli sets out to find the next generation of white, black, Asian and minority ethnic satirical sketch writers, with a keen eye on finding the funny in a multicultural Britain.

Traditionally, some of the best UK sketch comedy shines a satirical light on social issues of the time, finding comedy from difficult subject matter or awkward social convention. When it comes to multiculturalism, sketch team Goodness, Gracious Me kicked open the door with their classic 90s sketch show, including the legendary Going For An English routine.

Sketchtopia aims to make sharp observations about modern Britain and, most importantly, allow shared experiences, common points of reference and authenticity to come together and hold a mirror up to our society and tell us a truth about ourselves.

Stand-ups and comedy writers from diverse backgrounds have been invited to give us a comic snapshot of UK society through their own observations and experiences. In these divisive times, Sketchtopia aims to poke fun at our multicultural society and tries to discover a diverse, multi-ethnic Utopia through good old-fashioned British sketch comedy.

Host: Hardeep Singh Kohli.
Performer: Vivienne Acheampong
Performer: Luke Manning
Performer: Jamie-Rose Monk
Performer: Nimisha Odedra
Performer: Paul G Raymond
Script Editors: Sanjeev Kohli and Donny Mcleary

Producer: Gus Beattie.
A Gusman production for BBC Radio 4.

A new location is needed for the troublesome former governor and his wife.

Starring Leslie Phillips as the Sub-Lieutenant, Stephen Murray as the Number One, Jon Pertwee as the Chief Petty Officer, Richard Caldicot as Captain Povey, Ronnie Barker as AS Johnson, Tenniel Evans as Nunky, Heather Chasen as Lady Todhunter-Brown and Michael Bates as Mr Whittaker-Smyth.

Laughs afloat aboard British Royal Navy frigate HMS Troutbridge. The Navy Lark ran for an impressive thirteen series between 1959 and 1976

Scripted by Lawrie Wyman.

Producer: Alastair Scott Johnston

First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in December 1960.

Special agent Kenneth Horne investigates sinister giant milk bottles in Haiti, Fiona and Charles are very glad, Julian and Sandy are selling Bona Seats - and Kenneth Williams is feeling very unloved by the rest of the show's team.

With Hugh Paddick, Betty Marsden and Bill Pertwee.

Recorded at the BBC's Paris Studio in Lower Regent Street, London. Announcer: Douglas Smith

Round The Horne was born out of the demise of BBC radio comedy Beyond Our Ken, after the end of writer Eric Merriman's involvement. Using the same cast and producer, Barry Took and Marty Feldman were persuaded to write the scripts - which led to four series that ran between 1965 and 1968 - packed full of parodies, recurring characters, catchphrases and double-entendres.

Music by Edwin Braden and the Hornblowers and The Fraser Hayes Four.

Producer: John Simmonds

First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in June 1965.

James Walton tests Sebastian Faulks, John Walsh, Jane Thynne and John O'Farrell in the literary panel show. The week's author is Jilly Cooper. From October 2014.

Sofa-bound TV presenters Mike and Sue tackle a fresh update on Cinderella plus 'Changing Tombs'.

Starring Robert Duncan and Jan Ravens recorded at the Edinburgh Fringe.
With Ronnie Ancona, Alistair McGowan, Roger Blake and Steve Punt.

Written by Steve Punt from a format by Bill Dare.

Music by Mark Burton.

Producer: Aled Evans

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 1998.

Rebuffed from going to college at Christminster, Jude learns he may train for the priesthood elsewhere - perhaps at Melchester, where his cousin Sue has become a teacher.

Denied the possibility of courting her due to his marriage to Arabella, Jude can't resist travelling to Melchester to be near her....

Thomas Hardy's 1895 novel dramatised in six parts by Elizabeth North.

Stars Michael Pennington as Jude Fawley, John Normington as Phillotson, Constance Chapman as Aunt Drusilla Fawley, Elizabeth Garvie as Sue Bridehead, Brian Jackson as Tinker Taylor, Elva Makins as Arabella, Anthony Morse as Parson, Alexa Romanes as the Landlady, Melvyn Bedford as the Shepherd and Abigail Docherty, Adele Griffiths and Bob Docherty as the children.

Produced at BBC Bristol by Brian Miller.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1986.

The simple container used for savoury biscuits. Then it became a symbol of a devastating moment in history. Read by Anna Massey. From August 1992.

Rising through the ranks of the army; challenging the appalling conditions; having a baby; and performing a Caesarean operation without anaesthetic - all the while disguised as a man.

How did 'Dr Barry' make waves rising through the British Army in the 19th century?

Jean Binnie's heroic tale stars Veronica Quilligan as Dr Barry, Gordon Reid as Erskine, Jonathan Tafler as Wellesley, John Fleming as Somerset, Burt Caesar as Dantzen, Richard Earthy as Munnik, John Webb as Dr Hall, Joanna Wake as Florence Nightingale, Matthew Morgan as Jacob Eliot, Jonathan Adams as McGrigor, Nicholas Murchie as the Colonel and Maggie McCarthy as the Narrator.

Director: Martin Jenkins

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1982.

Sarah Perry's award-winning novel, set at the end of the nineteenth century and inspired by true events.

Moving between Essex and London, myth and modernity, Cora Seaborne's spirited search for the Essex Serpent encourages all around her to test their allegiance to faith or reason in an age of rapid scientific advancement. At the same time, the novel explores the boundaries of love and friendship and the allegiances that we have to one another. The depth of feeling that the inhabitants of Aldwinter share are matched by their city counterparts as they strive to find the courage to express and understand their deepest desires, and strongest fears.

Episode Eight
In Aldwinter, the mystery of the Essex Serpent appears to be solved. But there is shocking news from London for Cora.

Sarah Perry was born in Essex in 1979. She has a PhD in creative writing at Royal Holloway which she completed under the supervision of Andrew Motion. She has been writer in residence at the Gladstone Library and is the winner of a Shiva Naipaul award for travel writing. Her first novel, After Me Comes The Flood won the East Anglian Book of the Year Award in 2014. The Essex Serpent was Waterstone's Book Of The Year in 2016 and was short-listed for the Costa Novel Award 2016. She lives in Norwich.

Writer: Sarah Perry
Abridger: Jeremy Osborne
Reader: Ruth Gemmell
Producer: Rosalynd Ward

A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.

Peter White explores sex and marriage between disabled people and reveals the shameful history of eugenics in Britain.

The programme begins with a document from Buckingham Palace - an order for some glamorous undergarments for a Royal Trousseau. They were sewn by the women of the Girls' Friendly Society, a group of disabled seamstresses who made a living by sewing sexy underwear. But they themselves had no expectation of marriage, or a sex life. In fact, if they were discovered not to be a virgin they were expelled from the group.

For disabled women - or men - the idea of sex or marriage was taboo. The programme traces the fear of 'bad blood' - the early and shameful history of the eugenics movement in Britain. It was a potent mixture of bad science and fear, and it ran right through society. The birth control pioneer Marie Stopes, for instance, became hysterical at the prospect of her son marrying a girl who had bad eyesight and refused to attend the wedding.

But despite such fears, there were of course romantic relationships between disabled people - not surprising, when so many of young people were living together in residential institutions in the 19th century. New research from a Swansea institution for the deaf reveals that the official rules about sex, and the reality of what happened, were very different.

With historians Professor Joanna Bourke, Mike Mantin and Vivienne Richmond. Documents are brought vividly to life by actors Euan Bailey, Gerard McDermott and Madeleine Brolly.

Producer: Elizabeth Burke
Academic adviser: David Turner of Swansea University
A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4.

Still intent on recounting the story of his birth, Tristram introduces us to the odious Dr Slop. Stars Neil Dudgeon. From February 2005.

Having evaded capture by Blofeld's men in Switzerland, Bond tries to establish what the villain is up to. Read by Joanna Lumley. From November 1989.

MI:13's investigations into a spate of frozen deaths lead them to exclusive gentleman's establishment, The Tartarus Club, whose membership appears to be rapidly dwindling. But what is the club's secret?

To find out, Professor Dunning must travel to the sleepy village of Thornton Gibbet, where the inhabitants are afraid of a 300-year-old ghost, and Harry Crow must join the Freemasons.

Stars David Warner as Harry Crow and Terry Molloy as Professor Dunning.

With Guy Henry, Stephen Critchlow, David Benson, Alex Lowe, Lisa Bowerman and David Bickerstaff.

The Scarifyers follows the exploits of 1930s ghost-story writer Professor Dunning and retired policeman Harry Crow, who together investigate weird mysteries under the auspices of top-secret government department MI:13.

Written by Simon Barnard and Paul Morris.

A Bafflegab Production.

'I'm word-oriented rather than music-oriented.'

Ned Sherrin shares those moments in performance which send a shiver down the spine with Jeremy Nicholas.

From Cleo Laine to The Kinks, the writer/producer/director/broadcaster also looks back over his life and career.

Producer: Ray Abbott

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1993.

In the year 2525, if man is still alive, if woman can survive... then it may sound something like this. Set 511 years in the future, 2525 invites you to hear more snippets of our future from weight-gain classes to talking pets.

Cast:
Jenny Bede
Jamie Demetriou
Kieran Hodgson
Catriona Knox
Waen Shepherd

Written by Colin Birch, Ali Crockatt and David Scott, Jason Hazeley and Joel Morris, Jon Hunter, Jane Lamacraft, Alex Lowe, Paul Putner, John Luke Roberts and Eddie Robson.

Produced by Ashley Blaker.
A John Stanley production for BBC Radio 4.

From 10.00 to midnight, 7 days a week, the Comedy Club has two hours of comedy. Plus Cariad Lloyd talks to John Finnemore.

Craig Brown introduces a mixture of satire, social observation and nonsense.

Narrated by Juliet Stevenson and Steve Wright, with John Humphrys, Ronni Ancona, Jon Culshaw, Lewis MacLeod, Sally Grace, Ewan Bailey and Margaret Cabourn-Smith.

When warding off dark lords, salad is acceptable. Cerebral sketch show with Neil Edmond and Justin Edwards. From December 2003.

Edie finds herself taken prisoner. In her attempt to discover the truth about her stepson Joe's death, she's uncovering a web of intrigue and financial interests extending far beyond her native land - even reaching back generations into the past.

Read by Denise Gough.

White Heat is Essex born MJ McGrath's first novel. Abridged by Polly Coles.

Producer: Clive Brill

Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra by Pacificus Productions.

'Old Photos Fever' is sweeping China, where people are encountering their photographic history for the first time, piecing together a past destroyed in Mao's Cultural Revolution.

A new and intense appetite for images of the country's past has resulted in a publishing phenomenon: sales of books and magazines filled with historical photographs have rocketed. China's turbulent history in the twentieth century meant that archives of all kinds were destroyed: in warfare and revolutions. During the Cultural Revolution of 1966-9, the process was continued by the Red Guard. People also destroyed their own - now dangerously bourgeois - family albums. Nearly a century of photographic history was erased.

The photographs that do survive were mostly taken by foreigners, living in or visiting China, who took them out of the country to safety. Professor Robert Bickers at the University of Bristol is leading the search to collect and digitise these photographs in order to restore a historical vision of China which is unfamiliar and fascinating to its citizens now. The online collection is extraordinary in its range and reflects all aspects of life in China. There are studio portraits, gruesome police photos, industrial and rural landscapes, tourist snaps and family albums.

One of the jewels in the collection is the work of Fu Bingchang, a senior Chinese diplomat, whose access to the elite of Chinese society in the first half of the twentieth century and whose talent as a photographer make for a unique and beautiful set of images. The photos were given by Fu's son Foo Chung Hung (Johnny) and his granddaughter Yee Wah, who recall finding them in twelve leather trunks of possessions which were smuggled out of China.

The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 prompted Chinese politicians to pursure an ambitious policy of historical education, to counteract a perceived lack of knowledge in young people about China's past. New museums are now huge tourist attractions in China and the desire for photographs has arisen from this resurgence of interest in the nation's history.

This fascinating documentary brings a new and surprising insight into China's past and present.

Producer: Mary Ward-Lowery.

Sheila Hancock heads a stunning cast including Mackenzie Crook, Penelope Wilton, Felicity Montagu and Kevin Eldon. This is a clever, funny and touching series about a small town in the middle of Northamptonshire as it prepares for a talent night. It is written by and also stars Katherine Jakeways.

It's Town Talent Night at last and Ken and Keith are busy fine-tuning their pet whippets' dance routine.

Everyone nervously awaits the arrival of the celebrity judge Lady Ballantyne who is unfortunately in the spotlight for being the most recent Royal racist.

Jan does her last minute preparations for her trip to Australia. Will she be going alone or could she possibly dare to dream that Jonathan might join her at the last minute?

And finally supermarket manager Rod (Mackenzie Crook) gets to take Tanya from till 4 on a date. The true measure of success will be how many packets of scampi fries they consume. Will it be just the one? Or perhaps too many to count?

Written by Katherine Jakeways.
Produced by Claire Jones.

Simon Jones stars as Arthur Dent in a brand new full-cast series based on And Another Thing...,the sixth book in the famous Hitchhiker's Guide trilogy.

Forty years on from the first ever radio series of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Arthur Dent and friends return to be thrown back into the Whole General Mish Mash, in a rattling adventure involving Viking Gods and Irish Confidence Tricksters, with our first glimpse of Eccentrica Gallumbits and a brief but memorable moment with The Ravenous Bugblatter Beast Of Traal.

Starring John Lloyd as The Book, with Simon Jones as Arthur, Geoff McGivern as Ford Prefect, Mark Wing-Davey as Zaphod Beeblebrox, Sandra Dickinson and Susan Sheridan as Trillian, Jim Broadbent as Marvin the Paranoid Android and Jane Horrocks as Fenchurch. The cast also includes Samantha Béart, Toby Longworth, Andy Secombe, Ed Byrne, Lenny Henry, Philip Pope, Mitch Benn, Jon Culshaw and Professor Stephen Hawking.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2018, the series is written and directed by Dirk Maggs and based on And Another Thing... by Eoin Colfer, with additional unpublished material by Douglas Adams.

Music by Philip Pope
Production research by Kevin Jon Davies
Written and directed by Dirk Maggs
Based on the novel And Another Thing... by Eoin Colfer, with additional material by Douglas Adams
Recorded at The Soundhouse Ltd by Gerry O'Riordan
Sound Design by Dirk Maggs

Produced by Dirk Maggs, Helen Chattwell and David Morley
A Perfectly Normal production for BBC Radio 4.

What will George and Kate make of their first house?

Richard Briers and Prunella Scales star in their second series based on the mutual love and mistrust of a young married couple.

With Edward De Souza and Gretchen Franklin.

Originating on BBC TV, it was adapted for radio due to its popularity by Richard Waring from his own TV scripts.

A decade later, Richard Briers was starring as Tom Good in The Good Life whilst Prunella Scales starred as Sybil in Fawlty Towers. They remained friends until Richard Briers' death in 2013.

Producer: Charles Maxwell
Recorded at the BBC Paris Studio in London.
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in June 1967.

Neddie investigates a dastardly denture-stealing plan. But who wants them and why? With Valentine Dyall. From January 1956.

Susan Calman hosts the series exploring the world of the list - from the magnificent to the mundane - from the humble 'to do' list to the bucket list and many more...

With Joe Lycett, Celia Pacquola, Holly Walsh and Lloyd Langford.

Written by James Kettle and Gráinne Maguire with Max Davis and Gabby Hutchinson Crouch.

Producers: Sam Bryant and Adnan Ahmed.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in 2015.

Nigel William's comedy series returns with Jonathan Pryce and Nicholas le Prevost. Discovering that their pensions are worthless, the chums contemplate the unthinkable: welcoming a female lodger into their home.

Sam .... Nicholas Le Prevost
Peter .... Jonathan Pryce
Lupin ..... Sara Crowe.

Dashed down by Sue's marriage to Phillotson, Jude returns to Christminster as a stonemason. His drunken speechifying makes him the butt of jokes in the local public houses.

Arabella, the wife of his disastrous first marriage, has returned from Australia, destitute and determined to reclaim him....

Thomas Hardy's 1895 novel dramatised in six parts by Elizabeth North.

Stars Michael Pennington as Jude Fawley, Elizabeth Garvie as Sue Bridehead, June Barrie as Widow Edlin, John Normington as Phillotson, Elva Makins as Arabella, Ian MacFarlane as the Voice, John Church as Gillingham, Debbie Papworth as Janey, Richard Morgan as the Vicar, Hubert Tucker as the Showman and David Sharp as the Townsman.

Produced at BBC Bristol by Brian Miller.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1986.

An intriguing story with a twist explores the effect on a family when Uncle Elwyn just disappears one day. Read by Alice Arnold. From June 1992.

The remarkable love affair between the famous translator of Oriental poetry, Arthur Waley, and Alison Grant is reflected in this tribute to their extraordinary relationship which spanned many years - and finally culminated in marriage shortly before his death in 1966.

Jennifer Curry's drama based on real events.

Stars Ronald Pickup as Arthur Waley, Maureen O'Brien as Alison Grant, Carolyn Jones as Beryl, Helen Longworth as the Student, Roy Lonnen as Hugh and Ewan Bailey as John.

Producer: Cherry Cookson

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2001.

Sarah Perry's award-winning novel, set at the end of the nineteenth century and inspired by true events.

Moving between Essex and London, myth and modernity, Cora Seaborne's spirited search for the Essex Serpent encourages all around her to test their allegiance to faith or reason in an age of rapid scientific advancement. At the same time, the novel explores the boundaries of love and friendship and the allegiances that we have to one another. The depth of feeling that the inhabitants of Aldwinter share are matched by their city counterparts as they strive to find the courage to express and understand their deepest desires, and strongest fears.

Episode Nine
Cora and Will resume their deep friendship. Stella Ransome enlists the young Francis Seaborne's help with a secret project.

Sarah Perry was born in Essex in 1979. She has a PhD in creative writing at Royal Holloway which she completed under the supervision of Andrew Motion. She has been writer in residence at the Gladstone Library and is the winner of a Shiva Naipaul award for travel writing. Her first novel, After Me Comes The Flood won the East Anglian Book of the Year Award in 2014. The Essex Serpent was Waterstone's Book Of The Year in 2016 and was short-listed for the Costa Novel Award 2016. She lives in Norwich.

Writer: Sarah Perry
Abridger: Jeremy Osborne
Reader: Ruth Gemmell
Producer: Rosalynd Ward

A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.

Disabled children are everywhere in popular fiction - Tiny Tim, What Katy Did, The Secret Garden. But what about the real children of the 19th century? What were their lives like, and where can we hear their voices?

In this 9th programme in the series, Peter White searches for documents which reveal the reality of children's lives.

He discovers new research into the history of the Brave Poor Things, a charity which set out to 'save' disabled children across the country through organised games, outings, and a Guild song:

'A trouble's a ton, A trouble's an ounce
A trouble is what you make it.
And it isn't the fact that you're hurt that counts
But only how did you take it.'

The literature of the Brave Poor Things includes quotes from children - like this girl:

'O! I am so glad to be a cripple!' said a happy-faced girl one day when away in the country. 'Glad?' questioned someone. What DO you mean? And she answered, 'I can't help being glad. It is so beautiful to belong to the Guild, and I couldn't unless I had lost my leg.'

That's from fund-raising propaganda - but it's not a real girl's voice. Using images of pathetic children to raise money for charity has had a powerful legacy.

Just occasionally, there is a real child's voice. Peter discovers a letter from a little girl in a Swansea Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, and it is almost unbearably moving:

'I do feel homesick. When are you coming to see me? Do you know how long I have to stop here? The children are all dumb here, I am the only girl that can speak.'

With historians Julie Anderson, Joanna Bourke and Mike Mantin.

Producer: Elizabeth Burke
Academic adviser: David Turner of Swansea University
A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4.

Telling his life story, Tristram still has not managed to get beyond being born. Stars Neil Dudgeon and David Troughton. From February 2005.

With Blofeld's evil plan revealed, he must be stopped. But Bond is forced to use unconventional means. Read by Joanna Lumley. From November 1989.

As Professor Dunning tries to flee Thornton Gibbet, Harry Crow uncovers the incredible truth behind the chilling murders at the Tartarus Club.

Stars David Warner as Harry Crow and Terry Molloy as Professor Dunning.

With Guy Henry, Stephen Critchlow, David Benson, Alex Lowe, Lisa Bowerman and David Bickerstaff.

The Scarifyers follows the exploits of 1930s ghost-story writer Professor Dunning and retired policeman Harry Crow, who together investigate weird mysteries under the auspices of top-secret government department MI:13.

Written by Simon Barnard and Paul Morris.

A Bafflegab Production.

Playwright Kwame Kwei-Armah is a passionate advocate of Marcus Garvey, the inspirational black leader of the early twentieth century. Long before Martin Luther King or Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey was trying against all the odds to give black people a sense of pride, and to create the conditions in which they might hope to flourish and prosper. Kwame Kwei-Armah tells the story of Garvey's incredible rise and fall, and brings this impressive yet flawed man to life. He's joined by Colin Grant, the author of Negro with a Hat - a biography of Marcus Garvey. Presenter Matthew Parris contributes his own memories of living in both Jamaica and Africa.

Producer: Beth O'Dea.

Thom Tuck presents the pick of the best live sketch groups currently performing on the UK comedy circuit, from the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

The sketch groups featured in this episode are:

The Colour Ham
A brand new and exciting comedy project based in Edinburgh, written by and starring Colin Cloud, Kevin McMahon and Gavin Oattes. It's where comedy, magic and mindreading come together in a big ball of rock 'n' roll silliness!

Lead Pencil
Formed in 2012, Lead Pencil are a stylish comedy group that gives you observational sketches with a colourful twist, featuring Maddie Rice, Louise Beresford and Dave Biddy. Imagine the lovechild of Saved by the Bell and Art Attack. That's Lead Pencil and they've made a sketch show by literally sketching it!

Foil, Arms and Hog
Fringe favourites Foil, Arms and Hog are Sean Finegan (Foil), Conor McKenna (Arms) and Sean Flanagan (Hog). Ireland's top comedy trio have sold out the Edinburgh Fringe for five consecutive years and recently completed a world tour of festivals including Chicago, San Francisco and Adelaide, where they won a Fringe Comedy Award.

Producer: Gus Beattie.
A Comedy Unit production for BBC Radio 4.

Poet, performer, enemy of all that's difficult and upsetting, Matt Harvey brings his own comedy-infused, musically-enhanced, slightly interactive poetry cabaret to the airwaves. Recorded in front of an audience in Bristol, he's joined by Elvis McGonagall and one man house band Jerri Hart. Fellow poets Lucy English and Byron Vincent battle it out with Elvis in a Dead Poets' Slam, while the audience compose their own poem on the subject of Sundays.

Producer: Mark Smalley.

Comedy Victorian adventure by Mark Evans.

Pip, Harry, Pippa and Ripely are reduced to abject poverty on the banks of the Thames. Will Pip and Harry be able to find work, or will they have to end their days eating mud and listening to the gloating of Mr Benevolent?

Sir Philip ...... Richard Johnson
Young Pip Bin ...... Tom Allen
Gently Benevolent ...... Anthony Head
Harry Biscuit ...... James Bachman
Barker Wackwallop ...... Geoffrey Whitehead
Ripely ...... Sarah Hadland
Pippa ...... Susy Kane
A Vegetarian Lion ...... Mark Evans.