The BBC has announced that it has a sustainable plan for the future of the BBC Singers, in association with The VOCES8 Foundation.
The threat to reduce the staff of the three English orchestras by 20% has not been lifted, but it is being reconsidered.
See the BBC press release here.
RADIO-LISTS: BBC RADIO 4 Extra
Unofficial Weekly Listings for BBC Radio 4 Extra — supported by bbc.co.uk/programmes/
Steve's been away for a year. Back in Tipton he finds all is not as it should be with his dead relatives.
Alex Jones's tale of the supernatural stars Terry Molloy as Bill, David Holt as Steve, Jillie Meers as Joan and Lorna Laidlaw as Karen.
Music by Alex Jones.
Producer: Sue Wilson
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1995.
John Wilson continues with the second series of Mastertapes, 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 1, A-side. "Anglicana" with Eliza Carthy and her father Martin Carthy.
Together Eliza Carthy and her parents Martin Carthy and Norma Waterson have consistently breathed new life and vitality into English folk music. Martin Carthy MBE has influenced the likes of Bob Dylan and Paul Simon with his interpretations of the traditional music of these shores. His guitar playing continues to inspire artists in all genres and he continues to tour and record on his own, and when working with wife Norma Waterson and daughter Eliza Carthy as Waterson:Carthy.
Eliza Carthy has continued to expand the legacy of her parents work, reinterpreting and reinvigorating English folk in her own unique style. Her fiddle playing is in a class of its own and throughout her career she has experimented with unusual musical collaborations, including the hugely successful Imagined Village project. "Anglicana" was released in 2002 and gained Eliza her second Mercury nomination. It features both Martin Carthy and her mother Norma Waterson and was hailed as a new definition of what it means to be English in the 21st Century.
Eliza and Martin Carthy, came to the BBC Maida Vale studios to discuss the making of "Anglicana", their constantly evolving interpretations of traditional folk songs and their work together with Norma Waterson as Waterson:Carthy.
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The B-side of the programme, where it's the turn of the audience to ask the questions, can be heard tomorrow at 3.30pm
Complete versions of the songs performed in the programme (and others) can be heard on the 'Mastertapes' pages on the Radio 4 website, where the programmes can also be downloaded and other musical goodies accessed.
Producer: Helen Lennard.
Doctor Cameron gets two arch enemies to look after each other, while Doctor Finlay moons over Nurse Angus.
Ready with his black bag, Dr Finlay sets out to remedy all manner of ailments suffered by his patients in the Scottish Highland town of Levenford.
AJ Cronin's stories about Scotland's most celebrated doctor dramatised by Sue Rodwell.
Stars John Gordon Sinclair as Dr Finlay, Brian Pettifer as Dr Cameron, Celia Imrie as Janet, Stella Gonet as Nurse Angus, Phyllis Logan as the Widow Robb and David Ashton as Tam.
Produced and directed at BBC Bristol by Jeremy Howe and Viv Beeby.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2002.
Rachel Johnson talks to women, now in their 90s, who as part of their cultural education, visited Germany in the 1930s. A few went to Hitler rallies, remembering the sound of metalled boots on specially metalled roads. One was a member of the Hitler youth, and recalls how all the boys she was at school with perished in the war. One was questioned by the Gestapo for boasting about British military supremacy in the street. Another visited a dark and dingy beer cellar, to have drinks with Unity Mitford, Rudolf Hess and Adolf Hitler. Their experiences in Germany in the years building up to the war give a unique insight into the rise of Nazism from the point of view of artistocratic teenage girls.
Sophia feels she has committed a terrible sin and must pay for it, but how? Read by Emma Fielding and William Gaminara.
While sport is endlessly talked of as a force for unity, in today's edition of Sport and the British, Clare Balding's in Belfast on the Falls Road, where it's clear that here sport was just another arena to reinforce divisions that rent the community in two.
In Northern Ireland the sporting choices for people were, for so long, based on their religious and political backgrounds. In soccer there was one team for the Catholics, Belfast Celtic, Linfield for the Protestants. Clare hears about the violent clashes that always ensued when these two teams met, finally leading to the disbandment of Celtic. Boxer, Barry Mcguigan talks about how he tried to be identified with neither side and we hear about the only sporting hero that did manage to straddle the divide, uniting both sides, George Best
Producer: Lucy Lunt.
Series One (5 episodes)
Episode Five
Much to the dismay of Alymer, Edith has forgiven Bruce for his romantic liaison with another woman.
Ada.........Haydn Gwynne
Alymer.....Jonathan Firth
Bruce.......Bertie Carvel
Edith........Juliet Aubrey
Mavis........Deeivya Meir
Anne.........Jane Whittenshaw
Eugenia.....Joanna Monro
Hyacinth....Alex Tregear
Cecil..........Stuart McLoughlin
Directed by Tracey Neale.
In Paris, Proust sets out in search of lost time in a sound-proofed study, Stravinsky creates musical mayhem, and Duchamp finds a wheel; in Prague, Einstein yearns for Elsa and Kafka for Felice; in Munich, Lulu is banned, and Münter captures her Klee; in Vienna, Freud falls out with Jung, and Stalin and Hitler stroll, and maybe meet, in the grounds of a palace.
This is Europe in 1913 - the year before the storm. Florian Illies captures a world on the edge of a cataclysm, in which armies are enlarged and and nationalistic lines are drawn.
But Illies' snapshots are of a Europe, though laden with premonition, that is still vibrant and creative. The Futurists, Fauvists and Expressionists are redefining art; Proust and Joyce are reshaping literature; Freud and Jung are battling their way through the subconscious; Stravinsky has tapped a primitive nerve in music; and Einstein is, well, Einstein.
The anecdotes and observations embrace Picasso, Braque, the Mona Lisa (mostly missing), Thomas Mann, Duchamp, Franz Ferdinand, Kirchner, Klee, Klimt, Kandinsky, Kafka, Wedekind, Einstein, King George V, Stalin, Hitler, Redl, Machu Picchu, Münter and many more.
Florian Illies trained as an art historian at Bonn and Oxford. He was editor of FAZ's 'Berliner Seiten' and the arts section of 'Die Ziet', and he co-founded the arts magazine 'Monopol'. He is currently a managing partner at the fine art auction house Villa Grisebach in Berlin. 1913: The Year Before The Storm has so far sold over 200,000 copies in Germany.
Writer: Florian Illies
Translators: Shaun Whiteside and Jamie Lee Searle
Reader: Michael Maloney
Abridger: Pete Nichols
Producer: Karen Rose
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.
The Confessions of Caminada by Christopher Reason
Jerome Caminada was a real life detective in nineteenth century Manchester. This drama is based on a real life case from his memoirs. It is 1889 and eighteen year old Charlie Parton has been convicted of murder of a respected local councillor. He faces execution but prominent social campaigner Mrs Annie Swinton knows the lad and refuses to believe he is guilty.
Caminada................................George Costigan
Annie Swinton..........................Julia Ford
Father Dermot/Bannister..........Russell Dixon
Fletcher/Wood..........................Jonathan Keeble
Moods.......................................Justin Moorhouse
Charlie......................................Oliver Lee
Producer/Director Gary Brown
Manchester is gripped by an economic depression, the political atmosphere is febrile, there are demonstrations on the streets and crime is spiralling. Only this isn't 2013, it's the 1880s and the man keeping chaos at bay is Detective Inspector JEROME CAMINADA. Combining high principles with low cunning, he cracks down on both political dissent and criminality with single-minded ruthlessness. And yet for all his hard nosed pragmatism, he is capable of moments of insight, humour and compassion. The man is an enigma.
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.
Arthur Smith, Henning Wehn, Bridget Christie and Ed Byrne are the panellists obliged to talk with deliberate inaccuracy on subjects as varied as poison, etiquette, jelly and David Mitchell.
The show is devised by Graeme Garden and Jon Naismith, the team behind Radio 4's I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue.
Producer: Jon Naismith
A Random Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4.
'I'm sorry, Mother. It's just that that's the fourth time you've said you're not feeling at all well in the last hour".
Sarah is missing her daughter Clare - and her mother Eleanor is still very irritating.
Simon Brett's comedy about three generations of women - struggling to cope after the death of Sarah's GP husband - who never quite manage to see eye to eye.
Starring Prunella Scales as Sarah, Joan Sanderson as Eleanor, Benjamin Whitrow as Russell and Gerry Cowper as Clare.
Four radio series were made, but instead of moving to BBC TV - Thames Television produced 'After Henry' for the ITV network.
Producer: Pete Atkin
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 1989.
Popular poet Pam Ayres is joined in her poetry and sketch series by Felicity Montagu and Geoffrey Whitehead. This week they focus on Winter.
This week she looks at subjects including that magic combination of cold weather and broken boilers; the art of comparing ailments; she updates the Yuletide song The 12 Days of Christmas and, as we reach the end of the Winter season tells how to fan the dying flame of passion, come Valentine's Day.
Her poems this week include: Who's Had My Scissors, Ever Since I Had Me Op and Insomnia.
Produced by Claire Jones.
Gaby Roslin hosts the funny, entertaining film quiz with impressions by Alistair McGowan and Ronni Ancona. This week, team captains John Thomson and Ellie Taylor are joined by special guests Rachel Parris and Stephen Tompkinson.
Presented by Gaby Roslin
Team Captains: John Thomson and Ellie Taylor
Impressionists: Alistair McGowan and Ronni Ancona
Created by Gaby Roslin
Written by Carrie Quinlan and Barney Newman
Produced by Gordon Kennedy, Gaby Roslin and Barney Newman
An Absolutely production for BBC Radio 4.
Jo is aged 12 and a half, but old for her years. She wants to escape to "somewhere else" from a country that is now fragmented and filled with hate and fear.
Then she meets Alma and discovers the future has to be faced, not run from - the future must rest with her.
Gilly Fraser's drama imagines how will society develop in the future.
Starring Kathy Staff as Alma and Pauline Quirke as Jo.
With Karen Archer as Grace, John Drummond as Max, Diane Whitley as Poppy, Brian Southwood as the Man and Francis Middleditch as the Boy.
Director: Kay Patrick
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1983.
Elderly Jean exacts revenge on the man who raped her when she was only a teenager.
Ruth Rendell's short story read by Kathy Staff.
Producer: Julia Butt
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2001.
Visiting Australia and New York and meeting some colourful friends along the way...
Founding member of The Goon Show and one of the foremost comic minds of his generation - Michael Bentine returns with behind-the-scenes tales of his offbeat and extraordinary life in show business, the RAF and civvy street; putting wrongs to right and right to wrongs.
With extracts from some of his most memorable comic performances and eccentric characters.
Recorded at the Secombe Theatre, Sutton, Surrey.
Michael Bentine CBE was born in 1922 and died in 1996.
Producer: Andy Aliffe
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in November 1994.
The Egg: Hailed as a wonder food; condemned as dangerous; it's fattening; it's slimming; it's ethical; it's unethical. It's been a luxury and dirt cheap. Times change, the egg doesn't. In 1955 they cost the equivalent of £14.80 a dozen but then came the battery farms. The "Go to work on an Egg" campaign is a classic of TV advertising. In 1965 consumption peaked at five eggs per person per week and then fell as doctors warned of cholesterol. The press exposed battery farm conditions and a government minister said they were deadly. In the 00's the egg bounced back. Delia hailed it; the NHS said they were good for you after all- eat as many as you like! Scrambled is not a history of the egg rather it is about how the egg may be seen as symbolic of our attitude to food in general in the past half century as medical science, diet fads, changing lifestyle habits, and animal welfare issues have impacted on how we perceive and consume what on the face of it is as close to a perfect and unchanging food as we have.
Presented by Allegra McEvedy.
What makes a great hero? Why do some villains get all the best lines? The poet, rock star, broadcaster, comedian and cultural icon Dr John Cooper Clarke returns to BBC Radio 4 Extra to rummage through the archives for a curated selection of radio heroes and villains.
Along the way he will talk us through the heroic characters and the unscrupulous rogues who lit up his own childhood imagination.
Expect good guys and gunslingers, Second World War spy rings and a 'Shadowy figure', with stars including Humphrey Bogart, Orson Welles and Peter O'Toole. Through this surprising mix of hidden radio treasure, Dr John Cooper Clarke will discover whatever happened to all the heroes? And attempt to explain why sometimes good guys don't wear white.
After the cottage inferno in Steeple Bumpleigh, Bertie Wooster plots a fake burglary.
PG Wodehouse romp adapted in seven-parts by Chris Miller.
Starring Michael Hordern as Jeeves, Richard Briers as Bertie Wooster, Michael Kilgarriff as Stilton Cheesewright, Jonathan Cecil as Boko Fittleworth, Peter Woodthorpe as Percy, Lord Worplesden, Rosalind Adams as Nobby Hopwood and Denise Bryer as Edwin the Boy Scout.
Producer: Simon Brett
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1978.
Sue Perkins puts Dave Gorman, Richard Herring, Rebecca Front and Dominic Lawson through the moral and ethical wringer in the panel show spotlighting the choices bombarding us in Britain today, as well as some more theoretical problems.
Would you provide an alibi to someone you hate? Would you confront an elderly relative about casual racism at a family gathering?", and what are the relative merits of Silvio Berlusconi, Vlad the Impaler, L. Ron Hubbard and Amanda Holden?
There are no "right" answers - but there are some deeply damning ones.
Devised by Danielle Ward.
Producer: Ed Morrish.
Tess is married to a real live hero, Scott Carter, an astronaut aboard the International Space Station. What an honour for her. Or is it? Is she always going to be simply Mrs Scott Carter?
Colin Bytheway's comedy drama chronicling the ultimate long distance relationship.
Omnibus - originally broadcast in five-parts.
Tess .... Tamsin Greig
Scott .... Adam James
Anna .... Georgie Glen
Shariq .... Nick Mohammed
Sylvie .... Felicite Du Jeu
Dmitry .... Neil McCaul
Reporter .... Ryan Early
Director ..... Sally Avens.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2018.
The Iron Maiden singer, pilot and fencer chooses 'Child in Time' by Deep Purple and 'Fire' by the Crazy World of Arthur Brown.
Former MI5 chief, Sir Martin Furnival-Jones tells Derek Jones about his love of bird-watching
The Redshank and Bee Eater are among his choice of recordings from the BBC Sound Archives.
Sir Martin Furnival Jones CBE (1912-1997) was Director General of MI5, the UK's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency, from 1965 to 1972.
Produced in Bristol by John Burton
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1975.
"He's blackmailing me. We're done for!" Roger Ditchley starts menacing the Fosdyke family.
A classic tale of struggle, power, personalities and tripe. Bill Tidy and John Junkin's family saga - based on Tidy's Daily Mirror cartoon strip (1971-1985) parodying John Galsworthy's 'The Forsyte Saga' novels.
Starring Stephanie Turner as Rebecca Fosdyke, Philip Lowrie as Josiah Fosdyke, Miriam Margolyes as Victoria Fosdyke, David Threlfall as Tom Fosdyke, Enn Reitel as Albert Fosdyke, Christian Rodska as Roger Ditchley and Larry Lamb as Von Richtofen
With Trevor Cooper, David English, Nick Maloney and Nick Revell.
Producer: Alan Nixon
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 1983.
John and Laura Bennett are on holiday in Venice, trying to get over the tragic death of their daughter.
They seem to be succeeding, until a blind psychic starts relaying messages from beyond the grave...
Daphne du Maurier's classic tale of slow-dawning terror first published in 1971.
Stars Michael Feast as John, Anna Chancellor as Laura, Sean Baker as the Policeman, Ewan Bailey as the Waiter, Colette O'Neil as Sister, Carolyn Pickles as Elidah and Carl Prekopp as the Porter.
Dramatised by Ronald Frame.
Director: Patrick Rayner
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2001.
Satan thinks humans can't handle knowledge, but the professor thinks they can. Satanic sitcom stars Andy Hamilton. From March 2001.
Comedian Will Smith is obsessed with 1980s detective series Bergerac, so uses an audio book of its star, John Nettles, reading the Tao, to navigate the minefield of his life with the help of a special guest.
Will wonders how he can defend his machismo when he is scared of his builders.
With Ewan Bailey, John Nettles, Dan Tetsell, Roger Drew and Rachel Bavidge.
With no headliner at The Mallard, newcomer Billy Bleach is asked to extend his stand-up set. With Simon Greenall. From May 2011.
Back where it started out - Matt Lucas and David Walliams' oddball TV smash hit, without the cameras. From March 2001.
It's 1908 and Bruce and Edith, The Little Ottleys, as they were called, live in a very new, very small, very white flat in Knightsbridge.
And so begins Ada Leverson's witty and wonderful social comedy set in Edwardian London
Ada Leverson............Haydn Gwynne
Bruce.......................Bertie Carvel
Edith........................Juliet Aubrey
Hyacinth...................Alex Tregear
Cecil........................Stuart McLoughlin
Anne........................Jane Whittenshaw
Eugenia....................Joanna Monro
Omnibus of Martyn Wade's five-part dramatisation of three short novels Love's Shadow, Tenterhooks and Love At Second Sight. Written between 1908 and 1916, the three were grouped as 'The Little Ottleys' in 1962.
Director: Tracey Neale
First broadcast in five-parts on BBC Radio 4 in 2011.
4 Extra Debut. In William's 21st year of officiating tennis at Wimbledon, his eyes are drawn elsewhere... Written and read by David Benedictus.
We continue to find Kerry Goldiman making her vitally important weekly lists - without which she simply wouldn't survive as a mother, working comedian and actress.
Husband Ben (Ben Abell) is waging a very personal war on the local council with a street protest against the speed bumps that have been put into their road. Around this protest, Kerry's List includes being thrifty, shaping her eyebrows, teaching her daughter to ride a bike, fixing the smoke alarm and reading an OFSTED report.
We encounter some truly odd You Tube gurus, Kerry meets the supermarket checkout girl from hell and Ben finds himself at odds with the local police force.
Also, we find out how Kerry's best friend Hazel (Bridget Christie) is doing - and sadly, she's not doing very well!
The cast includes co-writer David Lane Pusey, Rosie Cavaliero, Lucy Briers, Nicholas Le Prevost, and Melissa Bury - with a guest appearance form Jenni Murray.
Producer: Paul Russell
An Open Mike production for BBC Radio 4.
Schoolboy Jimmy is determined to go to the fair, no matter what mayhem he sparks!
Starring Jimmy Clitheroe. With Peter Sinclair as Grandfather, Patricia Burke as Mother, Diana Day as Susan and Leonard Williams as Theodore Craythorpe,
With Tony Melody, Brian Trueman, Bettye Alberge and Alan Rothwell.
Just 4 feet 3 inches tall, the success of comic entertainer Jimmy Clitheroe (1921-1973) sprang from a BBC Variety Playhouse try-out in the late 1950s. His naughty schoolboy act was a smash and he even wore school uniform during recordings! At its peak, ten million fans were tuning into 'The Clitheroe Kid' on the BBC Light Programme.
Every week, the Kid's schemes sparked havoc - with the ever present threat of a good spanking from Grandad. The Clitheroe Kid clocked up 16 series in its run from 1956 to 1972.
Scripted by James Casey and Frank Roscoe.
Theme music by Alan Roper and played by the BBC Northern Dance Orchestra directed by Alan Ainsworth
Producer: James Casey
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in April 1960.
Can Ron pull off his starring stage role in 'The Glums'? - and the adventure of the Scarlet Pimple!
Starring Professor Jimmy Edwards, Dick Bentley, June Whitfield, Alma Cogan and Wallace Eton.
Classic comedy scripted by Frank Muir and Denis Norden.
Music from The Keynotes and the BBC Revue Orchestra with Harry Rabinowitz.
Announcer. David Dunhill
Producer: Charles Maxwell
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in February 1956.
Dr Thor Hansen on the nature and necessity of bees.
Bees are like oxygen - ubiquitous, essential and, for the most part, unseen. While we might overlook them, they lie at the heart of relationships that bind the human and natural worlds. Dr Hanson takes us on a journey that begins 125 million years ago, when a wasp first dared to feed pollen to its young.
From honeybees and bumbles to lesser-known diggers, miners, leafcutters, and masons, bees have long been central to our harvests, our mythologies, and our very existence. They have given us sweetness and light, the beauty of flowers and as much as a third of the foodstuffs we eat. And, alarmingly, they are at risk of disappearing.
Dr Thor Hanson is a Guggenheim Fellow, a Switzer Environmental Fellow and an award winning author and biologist. His other books include The Triumph of Seeds, The Impenetrable Forest, Feathers and the illustrated children's favorite, Bartholomew Quill. His writing has been translated into more than ten languages and has earned many accolades, including The John Burroughs Medal, the Phi Beta Kappa Award, the AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize and two Pacific Northwest Book Awards.
Omnibus originally broadcast in five parts. Read by Elliot Levey.
Abridged by Polly Coles
Produced by Clive Brill
A Brill production for BBC Radio 4.
Fi Glover introduces a conversation between a couple who met LARPing about their favourite characters and the way Live Action Role Play has influenced their own personalities, proving once again that 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 Chopin to Frank Sinatra, the textile designer shares her castaway choices with Kirsty Young. From March 2015.
True stories told live in in the USA: Fatou Wurie introduces stories that explores what it is to be a woman in the world today.
The Moth is an acclaimed not-for-profit organisation dedicated to the art and craft of storytelling based in the USA. Since 1997, it has celebrated both the raconteur and the storytelling novice, who has lived through something extraordinary and yearns to share it. Originally formed by the writer George Dawes Green as an intimate gathering of friends on a porch in Georgia (where moths would flutter in through a hole in the screen), and then recreated in a New York City living room, The Moth quickly grew to produce immensely popular events at theatres and clubs around New York City and later around the USA, the UK and other parts of the world.
The Moth has presented more than 15,000 stories, told live and without notes, to standing-room-only crowds worldwide. The Moth podcast is downloaded over 27 million times a year.
Featuring true stories told live on stage without scripts, from the humorous to the heart-breaking.
The Moth Radio Hour is produced by Jay Allison and Atlantic Public Media in Woods Hole, Massachusetts and is distributed by the Public Radio Exchange.
Set in Western Australia, this is a heart-wrenchingly brutal and yet lyrical tale of survival in the outback featuring the irrepressible Jaxie Clackton.
Still in his teens, damaged, sullen and angry, Jaxie's life has always been harsh. He's grown up in a world of knives and guns, hunters and drinkers. But things are about to change for Jaxie. But then, you must always be careful what you wish for...
Adam Fitzgerald reads The Librarian by acclaimed author Tim Winton.
Omnibus of the first five parts of a ten-part reading.
Tim Winton is Australia's most acclaimed contemporary novelist. He has won the Miles Franklin Award four times. His books include: Shallows, Riders, Cloudstreet and Breath.
Abridger: Richard Hamilton
Producer: Justine Willett.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2018.
Stephen Fry traces the evolution of the mobile phone, from hefty executive bricks that required a separate briefcase to carry the battery to the smart little devices complete with personal assistant we have today.
There are more mobile phones in the world than there are people on the planet: Stephen Fry talks to the backroom boys who made it all possible and hears how the technology succeeded, in ways that the geeks had not necessarily intended.
Stephen Fry meets the men who created the first texting facility, as well as other less commercially successful products like taxifones, payphones on trains and in-car fax machines. He hears how texting triumphed unexpectedly when paging was all the rage, partly because paging services never seemed to work on Friday afternoon. On the earliest handsets there was no way of replying to a text. Later, just in case someone might want to reply, they included a short list of possible pre-set answers: yes, no and later. In the mid 90s texting was just one of countless facilities embedded within the new digital mobile phones: no one thought it that important. In 2010 alone, a staggering 6.1 trillion text messages were sent. And most of them received a reply.
Producer: Anna Buckley.
The 'present day' finds two men, unaware of each other, retracing their steps through the Lincolnshire countryside. An American Second World War airman and an English doctor find memories of unfinished relationships and ghosts from the past.
Margaret Steward's haunting drama
Tom Mason ... William Gaunt
Earl Grant .... Garrick Hagon
Young Tom .... Tom Wright
Mrs Mason ... Sunny Ormonde
Jenny .... Jenny Lee
Janet Grant ....Elizabeth Kelly
Eddie .... David Bannerman
Johnnie .... Angus Wright
Bob .... Paul Downing
Jim .... Andrew Wincott
Director: Sue Wilson
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1991.
Poet Daljit Nagra revisits the BBC's radio poetry archive with 'A House Divided - American Civil War'.
The war inspired poets from Whitman to Dickinson. Southern author Allan Gurganus considers the role of poetry in understanding that conflict.
On the 12th of April 1861 Confederate forces attacked the US Military's Fort Sumter, thus beginning the bloodiest war in American history. It is this conflict, more than the American Revolution or Second World War that has had the most dramatic impact on the nation's character.
In a war of brother against brother; the conflict created a tragic human drama as the country struggled to define itself. America's most distinguished poets were affected by unprecedented levels of carnage. Herman Melville wrote a chronological, impressionistic volume of poetry on the Civil War.
Walt Whitman, a volunteer nurse during the war wrote heart-wrenching poems about wounded soldiers beside piles of amputated limbs. Emily Dickinson was most productive during this time, though she never wrote directly about the war. However, her meditations on death, violence and the bloody landscape provide a deep insight into the nation's character.
Featuring music and poetry from before, during and after the war.
Slaves like George Moses Horton who sold poetry in the hopes of buying his own freedom reflects on the meaning of liberty. Soldiers like Obediah Ethelbert Baker who wrote for his wife back home, talks about the righteousness of the Union cause. Northern abolitionist Quakers regale the noble Northern mission and the "poet laureate of the Confederacy", Henry Timrod, recalls the birth of a new nation.
Producer: Colin McNulty
A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in 2011.
Farmers Nathan and Hester Huntroyd shower love and money on their handsome son Benjamin.
But he has ambitions above their humble station, and the result is unexpected to say the least...
Elizabeth Gaskell's collection of intriguing "true" tales dramatised by Sally Hedges.
Stars Elizabeth Spriggs as Mrs Gaskell, Elizabeth Spriggs, Peter Meakin as Nathan, Mary Randle as Hester, Kathryn Hunt as Bessy, Crispin Bonham-Carter as Benjamin.
With David Holt, Richard Mitchley and Brett Usher.
Producer: Nigel Bryant
An Armada production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in 1998.
Mr Mariner is looking forward to Christmas Eve when there's an unexpected knock at the door. Read by Robert Lang.
by Bill Dare
Brian Gulliver, a seasoned presenter of travel documentaries, finds himself in a hospital's secure unit after claiming to have experienced a succession of bizarre adventures.
This week Brian relives his experiences in Chamanoa, a land where naturites battle nurturites, where genetics is pitted against education.
Brian Gulliver & Thake ..... Neil Pearson
Rachel Gulliver..... Mariah Gale
Kath & Hendl ..... Lisa Dillon
Bordle ..... Toby Longworth
Violinist ..... Amy Butterworth
Producer ..... Steven Canny
This is the second series of this satirical adventure story from Bill Dare. The series has attracted an excellent cast led by Neil Pearson and including, Duncan Wisbey, Vicki Pepperdine, Lisa Dillon, Colin Hoult, Toby Longworth, Adrian Scarborough, Dan Tetsell, Barunka O'Shaughnessy, Debra Stephenson, Nina Conti, Jo Bobin and Marcus Brigstocke.
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.
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.
The best in contemporary comedy. Arthur Smith talks to Bounder and Cad.
The bossy social worker sticks her oar in Helen's wedding and Megan's home birth. Starring Sally Phillips. From October 2005.
Matthew Kelly joins Sheffield singer John for a special edition of Stars in Their Eyes. With Mitch Benn. From March 2000.
When scarlet fever hits Levenford, Doctor Finlay tries his hand at being a private detective - with disastrous results...
Ready with his black bag, Dr Finlay sets out to remedy all manner of ailments suffered by his patients in the Scottish Highland town.
AJ Cronin's stories about Scotland's most celebrated doctor dramatised by Sue Rodwell.
Stars John Gordon Sinclair as Dr Finlay, Brian Pettifer as Dr Cameron, Celia Imrie as Janet, Sharon Maharaj as Mrs Prentice, John McGlynn as Hendry, Tracy Wiles as Jeanie and David McKail as Dr Snoddie.
Produced and directed at BBC Bristol by Jeremy Howe and Viv Beeby.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2002.
Kevin O Brien's century for Ireland against England in the 2011 World Cup was the fastest of all time. Irish cricket fans had waited at least a hundred years to celebrate such a victory.
Before the game there had been precious few victories, but also precious few supporters and players to celebrate them. But after the match cricket fans in Ireland slowly started a whispering chorus of texts, tweets and emails, as the enormity of their team's achievement spread from the few who understood, to the masses who didn't.
On the state broadcaster RTE's main tea time show, their chief political correspondent finished a very serious report about the ongoing coalition talks and suddenly broke into an impassioned monologue to listeners:
'I don't know if you remember the Norwegian commentator the night when Norway beat England? He started shouting 'are you listening Maggie Thatcher?'. Well -.are you listening Geoffrey Boycott? Are you listening Mick Jagger? Are you listening Oliver Cromwell? Our boys just thrashed you at cricket!'
It was an extraordinary moment. Cricket had crashed into the national consciousness.
Ireland may have the third oldest cricket club in the world - Phoenix cricket club in Dublin - but in the centuries since it was established, there have been concerted efforts to ban it and relegate it to the bottom of Ireland's sporting fixtures. Viewed as unpatriotic and a colonial imposition, the GAA - the national sporting association - banned its members from playing or watching 'foreign sports'. Playing cricket became a political decision.
In Over the Boundary, Kevin Connolly tells the story of how cricket batted its way into Ireland's sporting arena.
Producer: Rachel Hooper
A Falling Tree Production for BBC Radio 4.
Journalist Roy's plan to insinuate himself further into his old teacher Jane's good books gets a boost when she needs his help to save a tree.
But a major obstacle remains in the path of fulfilment, in the macho form of Chad Mann - Media Hero and Jane's current lover.
Tony Bagley's romantic comedy drama serial with a twist.
Starring Zoe Wanamaker as Miss Callaghan, Martin Clunes as Roy Hitchcock, Toyah Wilcox as Elsa, David Troughton as Mr Say, Nicky Henson as Chad, Sue Roderick as Wyn, Geoff McGivern as Dick, John Baddeley as Mickey, Keith Drinkel as the Reporter, David Holt as the Host and Melanie Hudson as the Presenter.
Producer: Paul Schlesinger:
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 1993.
The 69th series of Radio 4's multi award-winning 'antidote to panel games' promises more homespun wireless entertainment for the young at heart. This week the programme pays a return visit to the Leeds City Varieties where regulars Tim Brooke-Taylor and Barry Cryer are once again joined on the panel by Tony Hawks and Caroline Quentin, with Jack Dee in the chair. At the piano - Colin Sell.
Producer - Jon Naismith.
It is a BBC Studios production.
With a tax bill looming, the lad consults crooked chartered accountant Sid.
Starring Tony Hancock, Sidney James, Bill Kerr and 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 October 1956.
Originally un-broadcast pilot episode of the seaside saga of pier perpetuation, with Arthur Lowe's only appearance due to his subsequent death.
This sequel to 'Dad's Army' begins in 1948. Life post-Home Guard, sees Arthur Wilson now managing a bank and his former Captain and boss, George Mainwaring arrives in need of a loan...
Starring Arthur Lowe as Mainwaring and John Le Mesurier as Wilson. With Josephine Tewson, Dougie Brown and Haydn Wood.
To replace Arthur, the following full series had to be revamped to feature the Dad's Army characters played by Bill Pertwee and Ian Lavender instead. The series was later adapted for ITV by Yorkshire TV.
Written by Harold Snoad and Michael Knowles, based on the characters originally created by Jimmy Perry and David Croft.
Producer: Jonathan James-Moore.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in July 1981.
Sue Perkins puts Nick Revel, Danielle Ward, Grace Dent and Ricky Wilson through the moral and ethical wringer in the show where there are no "right" answers - but some deeply damning ones...
Would you let an annoying colleague take credit for your work if it meant they would get a job elsewhere? and Would you take part in a sham marriage? - and the panel try to solve some Dilemmas from the audience.
Devised by Danielle Ward.
Producer: Ed Morrish.
Ambrose dreams of running a school and hopes Uncle Beau will help him to 'acquire' some pupils...
Arnold Evans' six-part sitcom.
Starring David Bamber as Beau Nash, Eiry Thomas as Annie, James Westaway as Ambrose, Brendan Charleson as Mr Whistle, James Greene as Joshua and Andrew Wincott as Dr Cheyne.
Composer: John Hardy.
Directed at BBC Wales by Alison Hindell
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 1999.
Tobias Smollet's uproarious satire of 18th-century life, dramatised by Yvonne Antrobus.
Squire Bramble and family embark on their whistle-stop tour of Great Britain. They encounter adventure, mayhem and the enigmatic Humphry Clinker.
Mathew Bramble ...... Nigel Anthony
Tabitha Bramble ...... Marcia Warren
Lydia Melford ...... Helen Longworth
Jery Melford ...... Dan Starkey
Winifred Jenkins ...... Joanna Page
Humphry Clinker ...... Stuart McLoughlin
Sir Ulic Mackilligut ...... Sam Dale
John Thomas ...... Ben Crowe
Barton ...... Nyasha Hatendi
Lord Newcastle ...... John Rowe
Other parts played by Stephen Critchlow, Liz Sutherland and Chris Pavlo.
Directed by Marc Beeby.
A man finds that his neighbour, Mrs Vonnesbech, is always complaining to him about the behaviour of the mysterious tenant at the top of their mansion block. Trouble is, no one has ever actually seen him. Read by Tim McInnerny.
An occasional series of stories from life's murkier places.
Taken from the 2018 collection 'Last Train To Helsingør' by Heidi Amsinck.
Heidi Amsinck, a writer and journalist born in Copenhagen, has written numerous short stories for radio. A graduate of the MA in Creative Writing at Birkbeck, University of London, Heidi lives in Surrey.
Producer: Jeremy Osborne
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4 Extra.
Autumn,1897: Victorian undercover agent Loveday Brooke investigates a group of nuns who appear to have forsaken their vows - and taken to burglary.
From the Golden Age of the crime short story, 'The Lady Detectives' is a series of four female sleuths to rival the great Sherlock himself.
Catherine Louisa Pirkis' mystery stars Gayanne Potter as Loveday Brooke, Paul Young as Inspector Gunning, Neil McKinven as Sergeant Blaine, Noreen Leighton as Sister Monica and Lucy Paterson as Sister Anna.
Dramatised by Roger Danes.
Producer: Patrick Rayner
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2005.
12 year old Meena Kumar is an Asian girl living a fairly uneventful life in the Black Country village of Tollington near Wolverhampton in the 1970s - surrounded by her loving, if slightly eccentric, Punjabi family.
But then one days she meets Anita Rutter..
Actress and comedy writer Meera Syal reads her first novel - abridged in ten parts by Doreen Estall.
Producer: Di Speirs
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1996.
Week five of the series that explores how sport made Britain and Britain made sport. In this episode Clare Balding visits The Imperial War Museum to discover the vital role sport has played, both on the battle field and on the home front, during both World Wars. She starts in the Hall of Remembrance in front of John Singer Sargent's, Gassed, an oil painting more than twenty feet long, depicting the aftermath of a mustard gas attack during the First World War, with a line of wounded soldiers walking towards a dressing station. Yet in the background there are groups of men playing football. As Prof. Tony Collins of De Montfort University explains, sport became an essential part of army life, alleviating the boredom and the terror, by 1916 there was a football ground in each brigade area of the Western Front.
During the Second World War, Prof Tony Mason explains the importance of sport to those captured and detained in German prisoner of war camps, with football, in particular being used as a way of providing entertainment for troops overseas.
The series was made in partnership with The International Centre for Sport History and Culture at De Montfort University, Leicester.
The Reader is Alun Raglan
Technical presentation: John Benton
Producer: Garth Brameld.
Episode One
It's 1916. The Little Ottleys, as they were called, have a new daughter and have moved from their very concise flat to a very concise house. Time has passed and Edith has tried to forget Aylmer Ross. A little difficult when you are married to someone like Bruce. But they are about to have a visitor ..
Ada Leverson..............Haydn Gwynne
Edith..........................Juliet Aubrey
Bruce.........................Bertie Carvel
Madame Frabelle.........Jane Whittenshaw
Directed by Tracey Neale.
Award winning comedian Jennifer Saunders reads her funny, honest and touching memoir.
Jennifer Saunders has been making us laugh for three decades and is best known for the long running sketch show French and Saunders which she co-wrote and starred in with her comedy partner, Dawn French. Later she created the worldwide hit series Absolutely Fabulous in which she also played champagne swilling, Edina Monsoon. She has won three BAFTAs (including the Bafta Fellowship), an International Emmy, a British Comedy Award, a Rose d'Or, two Writers' Guild Awards and a People's Choice Award.
Abridged by Richard Hamilton.
Produced by Elizabeth Allard.
Four million years ago, the crew of the starship Challenger abandoned their search for Earth and made their home on Paradise, the third planet of a solar system on the fringe of the galaxy. But now the crew's settled life is soon to be shattered.
James Follett's cult sci-fi drama is a gripping sequel to the original Earthsearch.
Starring Sean Arnold as Commander Telson, Amanda Murray as Sharna, Haydn Wood as Darv and Kathryn Hurlbutt as Astra.
Director: Glyn Dearman
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1982.
Martha Kearney and her guests - novelist, Colm TóibÃn and actor, Tony Robinson - discuss books by Mark Twain, Juan Jose Saer and Tim Winton. From 2006.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Publisher: Penguin
The Witness by Juan Jose Saer, trans. Margaret Jill Costa
Publisher: Serpent's Tail
Cloudstreet: A Novel, by Tim Winton
Publisher: Picador.
The Grebulons arrived some time ago upon the tenth planet in our Solar system, named Persephone upon its discovery, but now nicknamed Rupert after some philosopher's parrot. Their huge battlecruiser bristles with armaments and camouflage devices but has crashlanded on this cold and remote world far from anyone who can tell them their mission. They have been sent to monitor an unknown location for unknown purposes, the unknowns in this instance being caused by the fact that, while they were in hibernation, a meteorite took out that part of the ship that stored both their, and its, memories. In essence they have literally lost their minds, but on monitoring the considerable outpourings of Earth's popular media they are developing quite a taste for soap opera, puppet shows and reruns of 70s cop shows.
Searching for his lost love Fenchurch, lost on a routine hyperspace jump, Arthur Dent has hitchhiked across the Galaxy to the location where once he found the Earth - only to find an Earthlike planet called Nowwhat upon which there is very little to comfort him except the shapes of the continents. Nursing a bite on the thigh from a Boghog he accepts the advice of a telepathic pseudopodic creature on the Information Desk and moves on to look for Hawalius, a planet of soothsayers. Here he hopes to get guidance and advice. What he gets is a reminder that his old girlfriend Trillian is now a reporter for the Siderial Daily Mentioner, travelling through both time and space to get news stories, effectively putting the soothsayers out of work.
In a parallel universe, upon the 'new' Earth where Arthur met Fenchurch, Tricia MacMillan - the blonder, more American counterpart to Arthur's friend Trillian - interviews Gail Andrews, an astrologer, and confides that she is haunted by a party she once attended where she failed to get off with a tall two-headed alien called Zaphod. Those of us who have been following the saga know of course that the 'other' Tricia - the one we know as Trillian - in fact got off with Zaphod at the same party on HER Earth and that is why she is now roaming the Galaxy doing pieces to camera and noddy shots. Tricia - the blonder, more American one - is however still Earthbound. She made Zaphod wait while she went to fetch her bag, and, as (the other) Trillian could have told her, Zaphod waits for no-one.
In fact Zaphod's patience has run out completely. He has lived for nearly eleven episodes with the frustration of knowing that - whatever Trillian might have thought - he was NOT drunk on Pan Galactic Gargleblasters when he visited the Hitchhiker's Guide Building (in the Secondary Phase) and encountered a strange and sinister person called Zarniwoop, who had built a virtual universe inside his office, in which Zaphod was tortured by a machine called the Total Perspective Vortex, opening his senses so they could perceive Everything Everywhere All At Once. Now Zaphod returns to the Hitchhiker's Building, relocated to the planet Saquo-Pilia Hensha, where he finds Zarniwoop very much in charge of a very sinister operation.
Add to this zesty mixture Ford Prefect, who has snuck into the Hitchhiker's Building on a mission to clear his expenses. This is a mission that involves considerable subterfuge and cunning, as Ford's business affairs as a Hitchhiker's Guide Researcher are an accounting nightmare. In the course of finding his way past the security screens to the Editor's Office for a grovelling phase to open negotiations, Ford catches and reprograms one of the melon-sized security robots that patrol the corridors, renaming it Colin. Colin reveals to Ford that the Guide is under a wonderful new management. This immediately arouses Ford's suspicions. Things are Not Right with The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy.
The best in contemporary comedy. Laura Lexx talks to Sindhu Vee.
The topical satirical show that mixes political vituperation with media mauling and celebrity savaging.
Where can you escape all talk of Brexit, The World Cup, Wimbledon and Love Island? Certainly not in Dead Ringers.
The series is written by Private Eye writers Tom Jamieson and Nev Fountain, together with Tom Coles, Ed Amsden, Sarah Campbell, Laurence Howarth, James Bugg, Laura Major, Max Davis and others.
The series stars Jon Culshaw, Jan Ravens, Debra Stephenson and Josh Berry.
A BBC Studios Production.
A temp with a scary clown face aids the tour guide. Starring Marcus Brigstocke, Danny Robins and Dan Tetsell. From July 2006.
When new-fangled Alternative Medicine hits Levenford, Finlay and Cameron find they're losing all their patients, even Janet.
Ready with his black bag, Dr Finlay sets out to remedy all manner of ailments suffered by his patients in the Scottish Highland town.
AJ Cronin's stories about Scotland's most celebrated doctor dramatised by Sue Rodwell.
Stars John Gordon Sinclair as Dr Finlay, Brian Pettifer as Dr Cameron, Celia Imrie as Janet, David Bamber as Lestrange and Claire Neilson as Annie Grant.
Produced and directed at BBC Bristol by Jeremy Howe and Viv Beeby.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2002.
Retracing JB Priestley's footsteps of 1933, poet Lemn Sissay heads south to begin his odyssey around modern England.
Faith nurses poorly Bill, but he's in for a nasty surprise...
Sitcom about the battles of divorcees Bill MacGregor and Faith Greyshott trying to forge a relationship whilst balancing the demands of his ex-wife, Liza and her teenage children, Hannah and Joe.
Stars Lynda Bellingham as Faith, James Bolam as Bill, Kelda Holmes as Hannah, Mark Denham as Joe, Belinda Lang as Liza, John Samson as Alex and John Moffatt as Richard.
Series one of four inspired by the real lives of its writers, husband and wife Jan Etherington and Gavin Petrie.
A TV version made by LWT for ITV appeared in 1991 and ran for four series, with a spin-off 'Faith in the Future'.
Producer: Pete Atkin
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 1988.
Pippa Evans reads from her diaries, which tell of crushes, Christian camp, and her days as a Michael Palin superfan.
Presenter: Rufus Hound
Producer: Harriet Jaine
A Talkback production for BBC Radio 4.
Jean and Lionel devise a plan to get rid of Mrs Flack.
Starring Judi Dench as Jean and Geoffrey Palmer as Lionel. With Moira Brooker as Judith, Philip Bretherton as Alistair and Vivienne Martin as Mrs Flack.
A six-part adaptation by Bob Larbey of series three of his popular BBC TV sitcom. Two former lovers Jean and Lionel have been reunited unexpectedly after losing contact for 38 years.
After falling in love in the early 1950s, army officer Lionel was sent to Korea, but they lost touch after a letter he sent to her never arrived. Both assumed the other had lost interest, but their paths have crossed again on his return to England.
Producer: Martin Fisher
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in March 1999.
The arrival of a computer means the bumbling civil servants are facing the axe...
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 August 1976.
Confectioner, Cyril Foster harbours dark secrets from his past, until he's offered a most unlikely escape...
Series one of short stories by WS Gilbert dramatised by Stephen Wyatt.
Starring Jonathan Coy as WS Gilbert, Ian Brooker as Cyril Foster, Sara Coward as the Fairy, Lennox Greaves as Jake and David Bannerman as Samuel.
Playwright and humourist, Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (1836-1911) is best known for his comic opera collaborations with Sir Arthur Sullivan, which first captivated audiences across the English-speaking world in the late 19th century.
Director: Sue Wilson
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2003.
The Expedition of Humphry Clinker
Tobias Smollet's uproarious satire of 18th-century life, dramatised by Yvonne Antrobus.
The family is stranded. Bramble is keen to continue their grand tour, but how can they leave London when Humphry is in gaol?
Mathew Bramble ...... Nigel Anthony
Tabitha Bramble ...... Marcia Warren
Lydia Melford ...... Helen Longworth
Jery Melford ...... Dan Starkey
Winifred Jenkins ...... Joanna Page
Humphry Clinker ...... Stuart McLoughlin
Lieutenant Lismahago ...... John Rowe
Mr Martin ...... Chris Pavlo
Mr Micklewhimmen ...... Sam Dale
Dutton/Wilson ...... Nyasha Hatendi
Gaoler ...... Stephen Critchlow
Directed by Marc Beeby.
Lilian will stop at nothing, first to become - and then to remain, the organist at her local church. Read by Tim McInnerny
An occasional series of stories from life's murkier places.
Taken from the 2018 collection 'Last Train To Helsingør' by Heidi Amsinck.
Heidi Amsinck, a writer and journalist born in Copenhagen, has written numerous short stories for radio. A graduate of the MA in Creative Writing at Birkbeck, University of London, Heidi lives in Surrey.
Producer: Jeremy Osborne
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4 Extra.
Miss Florence Cusack, one of Victorian London's most clever and determined private consulting detectives, investigates a case where a man's fate depends on his weight in gold.
From the Golden Age of the crime short story, 'The Lady Detectives' is a series of four female sleuths to rival the great Sherlock himself.
LT Meade and Robert Eustace's mystery stars Elizabeth Conboy as Miss Cusack, Crawford Logan as Dr Lonsdale and Paul Young as Inspector Schilling.
Dramatised by Roger Danes.
Producer: Patrick Rayner
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2005.
During the long summer break from school, Meena is desperate to be accepted by her peers. Meera Syal reads her own novel.
Clare Balding discovers how the birth of broadcasting changed British sport for ever. Radio played a crucial role in the popularisation of sport, suddenly you didn't need to be at the event to know exactly what happened or to be swept up in the excitement of the match. Jean Seaton, the BBC's historian explains how the events that were chosen for outside broadcast began to provide a secular calendar for the year, with the schedule being dominated by the most commentator friendly sports; football and tennis were a fit, flying fishing and pigeon racing were not.
We hear some of the earliest and most celebrated sports broadcasters ; George ' by Jove' Allison, Raymond Baxter, Brian Johnson and John Arlott, who describes the man responsible for the first sports programming on the BBC, Seymour Joly de Lotbiniere.
The series was made in partnership with The International Centre for Sport History and Culture at De Montfort University.
Readers: Stuart McLoughlin and Jo Munro
Technical presentation: John Benton
Producer: Lucy Lunt
Executive producer: Ian Bent.
Episode Two
Edith is devastated to discover that Aylmer Ross has been injured in the War. She's desperate to know how seriously hurt he is ...
Ada Leverson..............Haydn Gwynne
Edith..........................Juliet Aubrey
Bruce.........................Bertie Carvel
Aylmer.......................Jonathan Firth
Madame Frabelle.........Jane Whittenshaw
Dulcie.........................Leah Brotherhead
Directed by Tracey Neale.
In Bonkers: A Life in Laughs award winning comedian, Jennifer Saunders, recollects a life filled with laughter and the occasional bit of heartache, but very little misery. Today, it is 1981 and life on the comedy circuit begins.
Jennifer Saunders has been making us laugh for three decades and is best known for the long running sketch show French and Saunders which she co-wrote and starred in with her comedy partner, Dawn French. Later she created the worldwide hit series Absolutely Fabulous in which she also played champagne swilling, Edina Monsoon. She has won three BAFTAs (including the Bafta Fellowship), an International Emmy, a British Comedy Award, a Rose d'Or, two Writers' Guild Awards and a People's Choice Award.
Abridged by Richard Hamilton.
Produced by Elizabeth Allard.
On Jay Rayner's menu are Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Marguerite Patten, Henrietta Green and Matthew Thorpe. From September 2005.
The end of the school year- and the end of an era.
Written and created by Jim Eldridge, ten series of this comedy about a junior school ran between 1985 and 1998. King Street Junior Revisited ran from 2002 to 2005.
Written by John Fawcett Wilson.
Stars Karl Howman as Mr Sims, James Grout as the Headteacher, Marlene Sidaway as Miss Lewis, Margaret John as Mrs Stone, Paul Copley as Mr Long, Deirdre Costello as Mrs Patterson, Vivienne Martin as Mrs Rudd, Tom Watson as Mr Holliday, Jacqueline Beatty as Miss Reed, Tom Watson as Mr Holiday, Rachel Atkins as Fiona Travis, Scott Clarke as Steven, Kristy Bruce as Sarah and Rikki Doughty as Paul.
Producer: John Fawcett Wilson
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 1998.
Telson and Darv make contact with the Earth ship, but the response is unexpected. James Follett's space epic stars Sean Arnold.
Geoffrey Wheeler visits Yorkshire's home of pantomime and a steadfast dance troupe. With Bill Pertwee.
Lach was the King of Manhattan's East Village and host of the longest running open mic night in New York. He now lives in Scotland and finds himself back at square one, playing in a dive bar on the wrong side of Edinburgh.
His acclaimed night, held in various venues around New York, was called the Antihoot. Never quite fitting in and lost somewhere lonely between folk and punk music, Lach started the Antifolk movement. He played host to Suzanne Vega, Jeff Buckley and many others. He discovered and nurtured lots of talent including Beck, Regina Spektor and the Moldy Peaches - but nobody discovered him.
In 1982, the "Village" was the centre of all worldly excitement. Iggy Pop played small venues to those in the know, style was everybody's own, your heroes drank in the local bars, and anointment was just a few chords away.
Produced by Richard Melvin
A Dabster production for BBC Radio 4.
By Christopher Green.
Ida Barr is a music hall singer who has embraced hip hop and rap, reflecting the cultural diversity of London's East End, where she has been living in retirement for several decades. Ida has a genuine love of talking to people so each week she investigates a new topic and creates a unique brand of music-hall, hip-hop fusion with beat boxer Shlomo. This week, the topic is "Diversity".
Produced by Claire Grove
Ida Barr is the creation of award-winning performer Christopher Green (aka spoof country and western singer Tina C). "Missy Elliott meets Marie Lloyd" - Guardian. Each week Ida investigates a current political buzz word - Choice, Responsibility, Diversity and Transparency - and records her findings on her Ida-pod - an ancient battery operated cassette machine with a greasy earpiece. Her target groups include the Sutton House over 55's drama group, children from the Italia Conti Aacademy and Theatre Venture's Youth Company from Stratford East.
Beat box artist Shlomo was heard by 3.9 billion people around the world when he and Björk performed "Oceania" at the opening ceremony of the 2004 Athens Olympics. He has also worked with artists such as Martha Wainwright, Damon Albarn, and Nitin Sawhney. He is a classically-trained percussionist and heads the world's only human beatbox choir, the Vocal Orchestra.
Christopher Green has written and performed three Tina C series for BBC Radio 4 plus Tina C's Election Night BBQ Special (Nov 2008). 'Ida Barr's Bingo' was at the Brighton Festival and the South Bank earlier this year and 'Ida Barr: So This Is Christmas' was at the Barbican Centre in December 2008.
When the Questers get drunk to celebrate Vidar's birthday, Sam tries once again to gain (albeit with customary cack-handedness) the affections of Penthiselea, much to her consternation. Meanwhile, Lord Darkness is anxious to get one over his old nemesis, Kaybar the Maleficent, and so decides to do something really newsworthy and light the "Beacon of Doom".
If the "Beacon of Doom" is lit then the runes dictate that one of the Questers must do battle in hand-hand combat with Lord Darkness himself. And so, to impress Penthiselea, Sam volunteers to be that Quester. Problem is, Sam doesn't have the first idea how to fight hand-to-hand. Fortunately, nor it seems, does Lord Darkness. Should make for an interesting showdown then...
Starring:
Darren Boyd as Vidar
Kevin Eldon as Dean/Kreech
Dave Lamb as Amis, aka the "Chosen One"
Alistair McGowan as Lord Darkness
Stephen Mangan as Sam
and
Sophie Winkleman as Penthiselea
Written by Anil Gupta and Richard Pinto
Producer: Sam Michell.
Deputy curator Rod steps up his campaign to save the museum and pursue Prunella. With Julian Rhind-Tutt. From June 2007.
As the squabble over who is the most up-to-date doctor gets more heated, it takes a baby to teach Cameron and Finlay a lesson in humility.
Ready with his black bag, Dr Finlay sets out to remedy all manner of ailments suffered by his patients in the Scottish Highland town of Levenford.
AJ Cronin's stories about Scotland's most celebrated doctor dramatised by Sue Rodwell.
Stars John Gordon Sinclair as Dr Finlay, Brian Pettifer as Dr Cameron, Stuart McQuarrie as MacFinnon, Pauline Lockhart as Jessie Todd, Andrew Mackintosh as Dougal Todd and Tina Gray as Mrs Todd.
Produced and directed at BBC Bristol by Jeremy Howe and Viv Beeby.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2002.
Retracing JB Priestley's footsteps of 1933, poet Lemn Sissay heads north to complete his odyssey around England.
It's Stella's birthday - and it's a big one with a nought on the end!
Surely the perfect time for a big family get-together?
Series 3 of Lucy Clare and Ian Davidson's sitcom about topsy-turvy family life.
Stars Duncan Preston as Patrick, Pippa Haywood as Stella, Claudie Blakley as Alison, Bruce MacKinnon as Rick, Catherine Shepherd as Xanthe and Daniela Denby-Ashe as Egg.
Director: Elizabeth Freestone
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2006.
The hit series returns for a sixth series with more shop based shenanigans and over the counter philosophy, courtesy of Ramesh Mahju and his trusty sidekick Dave. Written by and starring Donald Mcleary and Sanjeev Kohli.
Set in a Scots-Asian corner shop, the award winning Fags, Mags & Bags sees a return of all the shop regular characters, and some guest appearances along the way, from the likes of Julia Deakin and Mina Anwar.
In this episode, Malcolm and Ramesh's relationship steps up a gear, and Dave dips his toes into the delight of online dating apps.
Join the staff of Fags, Mags and Bags in their tireless quest to bring nice-price custard creams and cans of coke with Arabic writing on them to an ungrateful nation. Ramesh Mahju has built it up over the course of over 30 years and is a firmly entrenched, friendly presence in the local area. He is joined by his shop sidekick, Dave.
Then of course there are Ramesh's sons Sanjay and Alok, both surly and not particularly keen on the old school approach to shopkeeping, but natural successors to the business. Ramesh is keen to pass all his worldly wisdom onto them - whether they like it or not!
Written by Donald Mcleary and Sanjeev Kohli
Producer: Gus Beattie
A Comedy Unit production for BBC Radio 4.
Johnson's not keen when the Chief hatches a money-making wheeze using surplus crew pyjamas.
Stars Jon Pertwee as the Chief Petty Officer, Leslie Phillips as the Sub-Lieutenant, Stephen Murray as the Number One, Ronnie Barker as AS 'Fatso' Johnson/Lt Commander Stanton, Richard Caldicote as Captain Povey and Heather Chasen as Ramona Povey.
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 March 1961.
A deadly doctor returns, Rambling Syd Rumpo sings of courting, while celebrity wannabe Kenneth Horne gets some bona advice from Julian and Sandy.
With Kenneth Williams, 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 May 1966.
Wordaholics is Radio 4's brand new comedy panel game all about words.
Gyles Brandreth presides as linguistic brainboxes and comedians including the legendary Stephen Fry, Fresh Meat star Jack Whitehall, Radio 4 regular Milton Jones and Countdown stalwart Susie Dent vie for supremacy in the ring.
This week linguistic brainbox Natalie Haynes and poet Michael Rosen vie for wordy supremacy with comedians Arthur Smith and Paul Sinha.
Today the panel unravel the meanings of Cockney rhyming slang, attempt to reduce some long pieces of prose and poetry to the length of a tweet and try to guess the meanings of some words no longer in common parlance, taken from this week's guest dictionary compiled by Dr Samuel Johnson.
Gyles is the longest-serving wordsmith in Countdown's Dictionary Corner and the author of numerous wordplay books. But now it's time for him to encourage other people to show off their knowledge of words and playfulness with language.
Wordaholics is clever, intelligent, witty and unexpected. There are toponyms, abbreviations, euphemisms, old words, new words, cockney rhyming slang, Greek gobbledegook, plus the panellists' picks of the ugliest and the most beautiful words: the whole world of words in twenty-eight minutes.
Find out the meaning of words like giff-gaff, knock-knobbler and buckfitches - the difference between French marbles, French velvet and the French ache - hear the glorious poetry of the English language, as practiced from writers varying from William Shakespeare to Vanilla Ice - and spend half an hour laughing and learning with some of the finest Wordaholics in the business.
Writers: Jon Hunter and James Kettle
Producer: Claire Jones.
Sofa-bound TV presenters Mike and Sue share some eyebrow-raising revelations about their pasts...
Starring Robert Duncan and Jan Ravens.
With Roger Blake, Alistair McGowan and Ronnie Ancona.
Written by Ian Brown and James Hendrie from a format by Bill Dare.
Music by Mark Burton.
Producer: Aled Evans
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 1999.
Tobias Smollet's uproarious satire of 18th-century life, dramatised by Yvonne Antrobus.
The Bramble family's adventures continue as they begin the long trip home, a journey full of surprises and unexpected revelations.
Mathew Bramble ...... Nigel Anthony
Tabitha Bramble ...... Marcia Warren
Lydia Melford ...... Helen Longworth
Jery Melford ...... Dan Starkey
Winifred Jenkins ...... Joanna Page
Humphry Clinker ...... Stuart McLoughlin
Lieutenant Lismahago ...... John Rowe
Sir Thomas Bullford ...... Trevor Peacock
Oxmington/Dennison ...... Sam Dale
Wilson/French valet ...... Nyasha Hatendi
Frogmore ...... Stephen Critchlow
Other parts played by Chris Pavlo, Joan Walker and Ben Crowe.
Directed by Marc Beeby.
Cecilie is the resident psychiatrist at a mental hospital in Øresund. On Christmas Eve, a Mr Jørgensen bursts into her office, claiming to be hearing voices...
Read by Tim McInnerny
An occasional series of stories from life's murkier places.
Taken from the 2018 collection 'Last Train To Helsingør' by Heidi Amsinck.
Heidi Amsinck, a writer and journalist born in Copenhagen, has written numerous short stories for radio. A graduate of the MA in Creative Writing at Birkbeck, University of London, Heidi lives in Surrey.
Producer: Jeremy Osborne
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4 Extra.
The vivacious Miss Violet Strange shines in the best New York society. But, unknown to her friends, she's also a professional agency detective. Here, in a case from 1910, she investigates 'The Inseparables', four rich young women suspected of a series of thefts.
From the Golden Age of the crime short story, 'The Lady Detectives' is a series of four female sleuths to rival the great Sherlock himself.
Anna Green's mystery stars Teresa Gallagher as Violet Strange, Crawford Logan as Driscoll, Lesley Hart as Alicia and Gayanne Potter as Theresa.
Dramatised by Roger Danes.
Producer: Patrick Rayner
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2005.
Twelve-year-old Meena faces racial abuse and is shocked to learn a piece of major family news. Meera Syal reads her own novel.
Clare Balding continues to explore how Britain shaped sport and sport shaped Britain. Horse racing may be the sport of kings but the princes, playboys and plutocrats of the modern era have preferred motor racing and the British have been at the wheel throughout. Stirling Moss, Graham Hill, Jackie Stewart, James Hunt, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button have all led the way but in the early days women were central to this story too, with Mrs EM Thomas being the awarded the first 120 mph badge at Brooklands in 1928.
The series was made in partnership with The International Centre for Sport History and Culture at De Montfort University.
Technical presentation: John Benton
Producer: Sara Conkey.
Episode Three
Aylmer Ross has returned to London and the attraction between him and Edith is as electric as ever but where do they go from here? ...
Ada Leverson..............Haydn Gwynne
Edith..........................Juliet Aubrey
Bruce.........................Bertie Carvel
Aylmer.......................Jonathan Firth
Madame Frabelle.........Jane Whittenshaw
Directed by Tracey Neale.
In Bonkers: A Life in Laughs award winning comedian, Jennifer Saunders, recollects a life filled with laughter and the occasional bit of heartache, but very little misery. Today, it is 1991 and Absolutely Fabulous is about to hit our TV screens.
Jennifer Saunders has been making us laugh for three decades and is best known for the long running sketch show French and Saunders which she co-wrote and starred in with her comedy partner, Dawn French. Later she created the worldwide hit series Absolutely Fabulous in which she also played champagne swilling, Edina Monsoon. She has won three BAFTAs (including the Bafta Fellowship), an International Emmy, a British Comedy Award, a Rose d'Or, two Writers' Guild Awards and a People's Choice Award.
Abridged by Richard Hamilton.
Produced by Elizabeth Allard.
The crew members believe they have outwitted the Angels and can wait out the flood. James Follett's space epic stars Sean Arnold and Haydn Wood.
British-Iranian Omid Djalili reveals to Bruce Morton how disco-dancing and experimental theatre shaped his life and work.
Series in which Bruce Morton talks to top stand-up comedians about life, the universe and comedy.
Producer: Carol Purcell
First broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland in August 2005.
1/6: Counter Plot. In this first episode of the series, Richard is alarmed to discover that Uljabaan has commandeered six allotments for some sort of experiment, while Katrina is more concerned that he's arrested Lucy. But what kind of plants is he planting inside the building he has built?
Welcome To Our Village, Please Invade Carefully is a sitcom about an alien race that have noticed that those all-at-once invasions of Earth never work out that well. So they've locked the small Buckinghamshire village of Cresdon Green behind an impenetrable force-field in order to study human behaviour and decide if Earth is worth invading.
The only inhabitant who seems to be bothered by their new alien overlord is Katrina Lyons, who was only home for the weekend to borrow the money for a deposit for a flat when the force-field went up. So along with Lucy Alexander (the only teenager in the village, willing to rebel against whatever you've got) she forms The Resistance - slightly to the annoyance of her parents Margaret and Richard who wish she wouldn't make so much of a fuss, and much to the annoyance of Field Commander Uljabaan who, alongside his unintelligible minions and The Computer (his hyper-intelligent supercomputer), is trying to actually run the invasion.
Written by Eddie Robson
Script-edited by Arthur Mathews
Produced by Ed Morrish.
The best in contemporary comedy. Laura Lexx talks to Sindhu Vee.
Faye's cooker is beeping, work deadlines are looming and flat-hunting sucks. Stars Daisy Haggard and Adam Buxton. From May 2007.
The Laird challenges Dougal to swim, cycle and run in a MacAthlon. Stars Barry Cryer and Graeme Garden. From March 2004.
Murder, intrigue and a fast-talking parrot aboard a luxury cruiser. Improvised family saga with Paul Merton. From July 1994.
Doctor Finlay is distracted from medicine by a fishbone that brings the promise of a fast fortune!
Ready with his black bag, Dr Finlay sets out to remedy all manner of ailments suffered by his patients in the Scottish Highland town of Levenford.
AJ Cronin's stories about Scotland's most celebrated doctor dramatised by Sue Rodwell.
Stars John Gordon Sinclair as Dr Finlay, Brian Pettifer as Dr Cameron, Celia Imrie as Janet, Stella Gonet as Nurse Angus, Maureen Beattie as Maggie Dallas and David Tennant as McKellor.
Produced and directed at BBC Bristol by Jeremy Howe and Viv Beeby.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2002.
Laurie Taylor investigates the pain - and occasional pleasure - of the UK's public address announcements and goes on a mission to improve people who make these announcements. It's a form of broadcasting that often has very little or no training whatsoever, yet it's heard by millions each day.
Laurie discovers what elements are needed to make us listen to public messages and asks if the people who make them simply get handed a microphone and told to speak. What causes the un-natural pronunciation with the stress nearly always in the wrong place? Why is the language often so archaic? Laurie holds a master-class for shop workers eager to improve their announcements and tests the before and after results.
Comedian Arthur Smith, who has trained train workers to speak, challenges Laurie to master the tannoy himself and we hear what happens when he takes over making the announcements on the 12.03 to Birmingham.
The producer is Howie Shannon, and this is a White Pebble production for BBC Radio 4.
The useless officers' crackdown on fly posting leads to the disappearance of "Daddy Warbucks" - and the sight of Bernie in a bright red wig.
Britain's longest serving PCSO is paired with the laziest in Dave Lamb's sitcom. (Dave is the voice of TV's Come Dine With Me)
Geoff............................Richie Webb
Nigel............................ Nick Walker
The Guv....................... Sinead Keenan
Jermain.........................Leon Herbert
Bernie...........................Chris Emmett
Geoff's Dad:...........................Noddy Holder
Producer: Steve Doherty
A Top Dog production for BBC Radio 4.
Frank Skinner loves history, but just doesn't know much of it. So he's devised a comedy discussion show in order to find out more about it.
Along with his historian in residence, Professor Kate Williams, Frank is joined by a selection of celebrity guests who help him navigate his way through the annals of time, picking out and chewing over the funniest, oddest, and most interesting moments in history.
The guests are Miles Jupp and Zoe Lyons, who discuss King Arthur, Ivan the Terrible, Napoleon and Josephine, and Sir Walter Raleigh.
Produced by Mark Augustyn and Justin Pollard
An Avalon production for BBC Radio 4.
The showbiz veteran relates a calamitous tale of a double act gone wrong. Written and read by Peter Jones. From September 1993.
A newspaper claims Neddie Seagoon is set to inherit a million pounds. Stars Spike Milligan and Peter Sellers. From October 1956.
Peter Jones hosts the entertainment quiz about comedy as he tests a panel of experts: Bob Monkhouse, Larry Adler and George Axelrod.
Funny You Should Ask ran for 8 series from 1976 to 1982.
Questions compiled by Michael Pointon.
Producer: Paul Mayhew-Archer.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in January 1981.
Bertie Wooster must mend bridges after the debacle of the fake burglary.
PG Wodehouse romp adapted in seven-parts by Chris Miller.
Starring Michael Hordern as Jeeves, Richard Briers as Bertie Wooster, Jonathan Cecil as Boko Fittleworth, Peter Woodthorpe as Percy, Lord Worplesden, Bronwen Williams as Florence Craye and Denise Bryer as Edwin the Boy Scout.
Producer: Simon Brett
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1978.
A beautiful and wealthy Australian girl marries into the English Aristocracy, but the traditional order is changing.
Published in 1946, Australian writer, Martin Boyd's novel dramatised by Elspeth Sandys.
Stars Juliet Aubrey as Lucinda, Jonathan Firth as Hugo, Angela Pleasence as Julie, James Laurensen as Fred, Abigail McKern as Lydia, Eleanor Bron as Lady Wendale and Penelope Wilton as Marian.
Director: Janet Whitaker
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2005.
Leif has a strange encounter when he is locked in overnight at an art gallery. Read by Tim McInnerny
An occasional series of stories from life's murkier places.
Taken from the 2018 collection 'Last Train To Helsingør' by Heidi Amsinck.
Heidi Amsinck, a writer and journalist born in Copenhagen, has written numerous short stories for radio. A graduate of the MA in Creative Writing at Birkbeck, University of London, Heidi lives in Surrey.
Producer: Jeremy Osborne
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4 Extra.
From the author of 'The Woman in White' and 'The Moonstone', the sensational, Gothic tale of Valeria Woodville's quest to clear her husband of murdering his first wife.
From the Golden Age of the crime short story, 'The Lady Detectives' is a series of four female sleuths to rival the great Sherlock himself.
Wilkie Collins' mystery stars Abigail Docherty as Valeria Woodville, Richard Conlon as Eustace and Ralph Riach as the Reverend Starkweather.
Dramatised by Roger Danes.
Producer: Patrick Rayner
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2005.
It's a busy time for Meena with Diwali, the fair coming to town and the arrival of an ambulance. Meera Syal reads her own novel.
Clare Balding's at Lords Cricket ground in London to explore the demise of the amateur gentleman and the rise of the professional player, as the 1960's saw the beginning of a new, more egalitarian era, in British sport.
In all walks of life, Britain's 'Establishment' was being scrutinized, criticised and satirised so it was hardly surprising that sport and particularly cricket should come under fire.
Dr Dilwyn Porter of The International Centre for Sport History and Culture at De Montfort University explains how the MCC had to finally abandon its long-standing distinction between gentlemen and players or amateurs and professionals. The distinction epitomised by David Sheppard (later Bishop of Liverpool) and Yorkshireman, Fred Trueman.
Readers: Sean Baker and Nyasha Hatendi.
Technical Presentation: John Benton
Producer: Garth Brameld.
Episode Four
Bruce and Madame Frabelle appear to be two of a kind and Edith has set Aylmer thinking by telling him that Dulcie is in love with him ...
Ada Leverson..............Haydn Gwynne
Edith..........................Juliet Aubrey
Bruce.........................Bertie Carvel
Aylmer.......................Jonathan Firth
Madame Frabelle.........Jane Whittenshaw
Hyacinth.....................Alex Tregear
Dulcie.........................Leah Brotherhead
Lady Conroy................Joanna Monro
Directed by Tracey Neale.
In Bonkers: A Life in Laughs award winning comedian, Jennifer Saunders, recollects a life filled with laughter and the occasional bit of heartache, but very little misery. Today, the creator of Absolutely Fabulous is off to India, to write a screenplay with Ruby Wax.
Jennifer Saunders has been making us laugh for three decades and is best known for the long running sketch show French and Saunders which she co-wrote and starred in with her comedy partner, Dawn French. Later she created the worldwide hit series Absolutely Fabulous in which she also played champagne swilling, Edina Monsoon. She has won three BAFTAs (including the Bafta Fellowship), an International Emmy, a British Comedy Award, a Rose d'Or, two Writers' Guild Awards and a People's Choice Award.
Abridged by Richard Hamilton.
Produced by Elizabeth Allard.
Bran wants the crew to destroy an artefact floating in space. Will they co-operate? James Follett's space epic stars Michael Maloney.
Matthew Parris is joined by Diane Abbott MP and biographer and critic Michael Billington to explore the life of playwright and Nobel Laureate Harold Pinter.
His name - if you add an "esque" to it, as in Thatcheresque or Ortonesque - defines that which is 'marked especially by halting dialogue, uncertainty of identity, and air of menace'. But today's great life is not an easy man to encapsulate. He was a polymath - a playwright, poet, screenwriter, actor, director, political activist and Nobel Laureate - whom his biographer describes as 'an instinctively radical poet whose chosen medium is drama.' He was one of Britain's most celebrated writers - the master of the pause - Harold Pinter.
Pinter is said to have 'stamped his mark on the cultural and political scene as an observer of suburban brooding and as an irate iconoclast.' He was also born in Hackney, which explains in part why he has been chosen by Diane Abbott, Shadow Minister for Public Health, and MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington.
The programme explores Pinter's life and his appeal for Abbott with expert assistance from Pinter's biographer, the writer and critic Michael Billington.
Made for 4 Extra. Brand new podcast from the team behind the long-running main show, hosted by Darren Harriott.
John's wife Mary starts bidding for a fancy toaster on the internet, complete with crumb tray, but John becomes obsessed that she'll be outbid.
The Shuttleworths is written and performed by Graham Fellows, and the series is produced by Dawn Ellis.
Aspirations abound as Mel and Vicki launch themselves into the glittering world of showbiz.
It's all eyes and teeth as they look forward to careers as out-of-work actresses.
Starring Mel Hudson and Vicki Pepperdine with Martin Hyder, Lewis MacLeod and Jim North.
Written by the cast with Danny Robins and Dan Tetsell, and edited by Graeme Garden.
Music by Richie Webb.
Producer: Chris Neill
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2003.
The story of English cricket's arrogant, politically incorrect money-grabbing star. Stars Christopher Douglas. From May 2001.
Doctor Finlay is serving for a love match, but tensions rise over who will be his doubles partner...
Ready with his black bag, Dr Finlay sets out to remedy all manner of ailments suffered by his patients in the Scottish Highland town of Levenford.
AJ Cronin's stories about Scotland's most celebrated doctor dramatised by Sue Rodwell.
Stars John Gordon Sinclair as Dr Finlay, Brian Pettifer as Dr Cameron, Celia Imrie as Janet, Siobhan Redmond as Georgina McNab, Stella Gonet as Nurse Angus, Gordon Reid as John Angus and Jamie Glover as Dr Freddie Lawrence.
Produced and directed at BBC Bristol by Jeremy Howe and Viv Beeby.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2002.
Young British Composer Tarik O' Regan tells the story of how the tradition of Western classical music, its composers and maestros, underpinned the golden age of Hollywood film score.
More or less the entire Hollywood music scene, as it blossomed in the 1930s, looked to serious European and Russian composers for film score composition. Stravinsky, Schoenberg, two of the greatest composers of 'serious' 20th century music, both lived and worked in LA - much to the consternation of the European classical music establishment.
Many composers on the run from Europe in the 1930s would arrive in New York and, failing to make inroads into the concert scene or Broadway (as Kurt Weil had done), continued their journey West. Even as early cinema flourished, America was still struggling to find its own authentic 'classical' music - one that strived to be equal to the European symphonic sound but that had its own voice too. The film score was precisely that.
Meanwhile most of the Hollywood film orchestras were filled with British and European émigré musicians who taught American musicians the European symphonic style that became the hallmark of Hollywood film music. This programme also explores how some of the most successful soundtrack composers today - John Williams and others - are completely caught up in that sound-world.
Presented by Tarik O'Regan, an émigré composer himself who moved to the US, with contributors including Andre Previn, Larry Schoenberg, conductor and composer Esa-Pekka Salonen and music writer Alex Ross.
Produced by Simon Hollis
A Brook Lapping production for BBC Radio 4.
Back to the BBC's early wireless days of 1922.
The microphone jammed if a speaker talked too loudly, the letters of praise and complaint flooded in, and then a new Director-General, John Brown, came to take over the British Broadcasting Company.
Written by Jimmy Perry, the man behind Dad's Army and Hi-De-Hi.
Starring Graham Crowden as John Brown, Jimmy Perry as Colonel Beecham, Roy Hudd as Fred "Keep 'em Laughing" Hicks, Bill Pertwee as Sergeant Lucas, Jeffrey Holland as Roger Eccles and Joann Munro as Miss Nightingale
Producer: Jo Clegg.
First broadcast nightly on BBC Radio 2 in September 1994.
Gaby Roslin hosts the funny, entertaining film quiz with impressions by Alistair McGowan and Ronni Ancona. This week, team captains John Thomson and Ellie Taylor are joined by special guests Tiff Stevenson and Kerry Howard.
Presented by Gaby Roslin
Team Captains: John Thomson and Ellie Taylor
Impressionists: Alistair McGowan and Ronni Ancona
Created by Gaby Roslin
Written by Carrie Quinlan and Barney Newman
Produced by Gordon Kennedy, Gaby Roslin and Barney Newman
An Absolutely production for BBC Radio 4.
Professor Prune is incarcerated and Bill Oddie rhapsodises the flowers in the garden.
Starring Tim Brooke-Taylor, John Cleese, Graeme Garden, David Hatch, Jo Kendall and Bill Oddie.
Sketches written by Graeme Garden 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 Bill Oddie, Liam Cohen and Dave Lee.
Producer: David Hatch/Peter Titheradge
First broadcast on the BBC Radio 2 in March 1969.
Les Dawson's Southfork spoof of Dallas and Whispering Grass is sung by the Ink Splots.
With Daphne Oxenford, Eli Woods and Colin Edwynn.
Music by Brian Fitzgerald.
Scripted and produced by James Casey.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in February 1985.
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.
Marcus Brigstocke, Holly Walsh, John Finnemore and Rufus Hound are the panellists obliged to talk with deliberate inaccuracy on subjects as varied as Eton, babies, Russia and hats.
The show is devised by Graeme Garden and Jon Naismith, the team behind Radio 4's I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue.
Producer: Jon Naismith
A Random Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4.
"If you've decided you're going to settle permanently in Australia.... well, it could make sense for me to rent the place out."
With daughter Clare off on her travels, Sarah is plotting... .
Simon Brett's comedy about three generations of women - struggling to cope after the death of Sarah's GP husband - who never quite manage to see eye to eye.
Starring Prunella Scales as Sarah, Joan Sanderson as Eleanor, Benjamin Whitrow as Russell, Gerry Cowper as Clare and Fabia Drake as Lady Newby.
Four radio series were made, but instead of moving to BBC TV - Thames Television produced 'After Henry' for the ITV network.
Producer: Pete Atkin
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 1989.
After her society marriage, Lucinda arrives in England from Australia, but all is not as she expected. Stars Jonathan Firth.
Made for 4 Extra. Jessica Fostekew joins Amanda Litherland to recommend her favourite podcasts, including Self Renovators and Ctrl Alt Delete.
Twelve-year-old Meena's mother finally gives birth, and she decides to form a gang with Anita. Meera Syal reads her own novel.
Clare Balding takes a look at Britain's most successful export ever - football. Yet in giving it to others, the British lost control of the game they had created and crafted. Clare, with the help of Prof Tony Mason of The International Centre for Sport History and Culture at De Montfort University, looks at our troubled relationship with the sport's governing body FIFA and asks if a British team will ever again come close to winning the World Cup.
Readers: Sean Baker and Nyasha Hatendi
Technical Presentation: John Benton
Producer: Garth Brameld.
Episode Five
Has Madame Frabelle discovered Edith's secret love for Aylmer? ...
Ada Leverson..............Haydn Gwynne
Edith..........................Juliet Aubrey
Bruce.........................Bertie Carvel
Aylmer.......................Jonathan Firth
Madame Frabelle.........Jane Whittenshaw
Directed by Tracey Neale.
In Bonkers: A Life in Laughs award winning comedian, Jennifer Saunders, recollects a life filled with laughter and the occasional bit of heartache, but very little misery. Today, a final tour with Dawn and some unexpected news.
Jennifer Saunders has been making us laugh for three decades and is best known for the long running sketch show French and Saunders which she co-wrote and starred in with her comedy partner, Dawn French. Later she created the worldwide hit series Absolutely Fabulous in which she also played champagne swilling, Edina Monsoon. She has won three BAFTAs (including the Bafta Fellowship), an International Emmy, a British Comedy Award, a Rose d'Or, two Writers' Guild Awards and a People's Choice Award.
Abridged by Richard Hamilton.
Produced by Elizabeth Allard.
On an abandoned artificial sun, the Challenger crew probes the computer in charge. James Follett's space epic stars Sean Arnold.
John Wilson continues with the second series of Mastertapes, 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 4 (the B-side). Having discussed the making of Eliza's award winning 2004 album, "Anglicana" (in the A-side of the programme, broadcast on Monday 17th June and available online), Eliza Carthy and her father Martin Carthy respond to questions from the audience and perform live versions of some of the songs from the album, as well as discussing their work together with Norma Waterson as Waterson:Carthy.
Producer: Helen Lennard.
The second heat of the BBC New Comedy Award 2018, recorded at Up the Creek Comedy Club in London and hosted by Mae Martin. Ten new acts compete for a place in the Edinburgh semi-final of this prestigious new act competition.
Acts are: Ada Campe, Cansu Karabiyik, Esther Manito, Harry Carr, Isa Bonachera, Joe Hobbs, Kat Sadler, Matt Hutchinson, Riordan DJ and Rosie Holt.
The judges are: Steve Bennett (editor of chortle.co.uk), BBC Executive Producer Victoria Lloyd and comedian Jocelyn Jee Esien.
Produced by Lyndsay Fenner. A BBC Studios production.
The Comedy Club has two hours of comedy. Plus Arthur Smith talks to Sarah Keyworth.
Chat show in which last week's interviewee becomes this week's interviewer.
Robert Llewellyn interviews Dave Gorman, the comedian responsible for shows like Are You Dave Gorman?, Googlewhack Adventure and Genius. Robert asks Dave about cycling across Britain, online stalkers and life-threatening trips to Mexico.