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/
Ursula Le Guin's enduring fantasy saga set on the magical archipelago rich with wizards and dragons.
Based on the novel The Farthest Shore by Ursula Le Guin. Adapted by Judith Adams.
A strange plague is spreading over Earthsea and the springs of wizardry are drying up. Driven to seek out the source of the trouble, Archmage Ged has embarked on a perilous journey with young prince Arren. Their travels have taken them to a land cursed with a strange soul sickness, as they seek the man behind this darkness.
Ged ..... Shaun Dooley
Tenar ..... Vineeta Rishi
Arren ..... Will Featherstone
Cob ..... Toby Jones
Nilgu ..... Noma Dumezweni
Orm Ember ..... Ayesha Antoine
Original music by Jon Nicholls
Directed by Sasha Yevtushenko.
Misha Glennie, Martin Newell and Elizabeth Bond join Chris Bigsby to explore family ties and blood relation.
In each programme, Professor Bigsby introduces a duo of writers of fact and fiction: new talent and established names. In the context of a discussion of one of the ideas and pre-occupations of our times, each presents a piece on this week's topic.
The best new writing and the freshest conversation from 2002.
Dr. Calgary joins forces with Inspector Huish to try to find out the truth about Rachel Argyle's murder. But the family is still resisting his investigation.
"Henry Miller, Norman Mailer and Charles Manson, the three pillars of misogyny," according to Gore Vidal - yet many women writers today cite Miller as an influence.
Using his time in California as a prism, acclaimed poet Kim Addonizio explores how, despite his reputation as a pornographic, unredeemed misogynist, Miller's time in Big Sur, California, transformed him into a family man and ping pong fanatic.
With an exclusive interview with his son Tony Miller, a visit to the Henry Miller Memorial Library, in Big Sur, Addonizio hears great stories of epic table tennis tournaments during the long winters, struggles to make ends meet, as she meets those who remember Miller's time in the woods during his 18 year stay.
She explores the roots of the personal growth movement that flourished on the Californian coast, at the time, of which Miller became an unexpected exponent of, at the world famous Esalen Institute, and tries to find out why he appeals to young women readers today.
Producer: Sara Jane Hall.
A Death in the Family is the first book in the six volume cycle of autobiographical novels, My Struggle. Karl Ove Knausgaard's memoir has been described, in many countries, as a masterpiece.
With searing honesty, and an unflinching gaze turned upon himself and those around him, he writes about his teenage years in Norway. Later, he looks back on the writing of this book, the changes in his life and his second marriage to Linda, and the arrival of their children. Becoming a father prompts further reflections on family life and his relationship with his own father.
Karl Ove Knausgaard was born in December 1968. He published two novels, in 1998 and 2004, which both won prizes in Norway. The six volume series of novels, titled Min Kamp in Norwegian, were published between 2009 and 2011, totalling over 3,500 pages. The sixth and final volume, translated by Don Bartlett, has recently been published in the UK. He lives in Sweden with his wife, the writer Linda Boström Knausgaard, and their four children.
Written by by Karl Ove Knausgaard
Translated by Don Bartlett
Read by David Threlfall
Abridged by Isobel Creed and Jill Waters
Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.
James Naughtie presents a series chronicling the historical influences that affected the course of classical music.
30/30. Albertopolis
The Royal Albert Hall opened in 1871 and celebrated a Prince Consort who championed both music and culture.
By Toni Morrison
Adapted by Patricia Cumper
Toni Morrison's seminal 1987 novel about a haunted house in the era that followed the abolition of slavery in the United States is adapted for radio for the first time. Toni Morrison's masterpiece melds horror and poetry as it tells the story of Sethe, a woman who escaped slavery by crossing the Ohio river, but who, eighteen years later, is still not free.
A young woman calling herself Beloved has arrived and stayed at One Twenty-Four Bluestone Road, and her hold, on each of its residents, has strengthened day by day.
Original music by Jon Nicholls
Sound design by Caleb Knightley
Director: Sasha Yevtushenko.
Letters to and from President Kennedy are published in book form and edited by Martin W Sandler to mark fifty years since the assassination of 1963. And a selection, abridged in five episodes by Penny Leicester, reveal the drama and tensions to do with American foreign policy. Other letters reveal Kennedy's wit and warmth when contacting friends and family:
5. Kennedy receives a vivid communique from his advisor JK Galbraith about the practicalities of shelter during nuclear attack. Later he writes to the British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan - words of social nicety and trepidation about the Russians.
Readers Colin Stinton, Richard Laing, Peter Marinker and Trevor White
Producer Duncan Minshull.
John's political pursuits lead him to Westminster and Welsh valley mines.
Ian McKellen stars in the story of John Hamer Shawcross - set against the wider current of events in England in the early 19th century.
Howard Spring's novel freely adapted for radio in 8 episodes by Ken Whitmore.
With Alan Meadows as Haslett, Geoffrey Wheeler as Tom Hannaway, Herbert Smith as Marsden, Jeffrey Wickham as Lord Lostwithiel of Hereward Castle, Helen Ryan as Lady Lettice Melland, June Barry as Anne Artingstall and Rosalie Crutchley as Lizzie Lightowler.
With Peter Guinness as Harry Liskeard, Andrew Jackson as Arnold, Rosalie Williams as Ellen, Vida Paterson as Pen Muff, Nina Holloway as Nell Richards, Helen Ryan as Lady Lettice Melland, Geoffrey Wheeler as Tom Hannaway, Jeffrey Wickham as Lord Lostwithiel of Hereward Castle, James Tomlinson as Carrickfergus, June Barry as Anne Artingstall, Richard Clay-Jones as Evan Vaughan, John Baldwin as Jimmy Newboult, Rosalie Crutchley as Lizzie Lightowler, Herbert Smith as Marsden and Rory Scase as the Gallery Assistant.
Director: Trevor Hill
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1979.
Broadcaster and former Sunday Times Editor Andrew Neil is in the hot seat posing questions all about him.
On the panel: comedians Sue Perkins, Caroline Quinlan, Robin Ince and Will Smith.
Comedy quiz presented by a new guest host every week. All the questions are about the host.
Script by Simon Littlefield and Kieron Quirke.
Devised and produced by Aled Evans.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2007.
The lives of Rosie and her granddaughter Jo are shaken by the return to Rosie's daughter Kate after a long spell working abroad.
Prunella Scales in the first of four series of Simon Brett's sitcom following the trials and tribulations of Rosie Burns and her event-management company based in Brighton.
With Arabella Weir as Kate, Rebecca Callard as Jo, Duncan Preston as Bob, Annette Badland as Tess, Michael Fenton Stevens as Mr Blantyre and Stephen Thorne as Mr Joost.
Producer: Maria Esposito
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2000.
Horrified residents of Marlborough Road discover Sally might be leaving them. They could never survive their own chaos without her.
Meanwhile, the free range children plan revenge on Victor...
Conclusion of series one of Annie McCartney's sitcom.
Starring Frances Tomelty as Sally, Ali White as Saffron, Marcella Riordan as Clare, Robert Patterson as Tony, Roma Tomelty as Miss Black, Katy Gleadhill as Evie, Gerard Murphy as Fintan, Alan Mckee as Victor, Bethan Lloyd as Anna, Patrick Gleadhill as Simon, Emily Walmsley as Layla, Joel McElnay as Ben, Alfie Lloyd as Sam and Gerard McSorley as Trevor.
Director: Tanya Nash
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2001.
by Jeremy Front
based on Simon Brett's novel
Directed by Sally Avens
Charles has eventually got a job in Hamlet but within a week the reality star playing Hamlet has been hospitalized and the one playing Ophelia found dead.
Charles may not have been a fan of their acting abilities but he doesn't want the show to close and he suspects foul play, but who would want to kill them?
Celia Imrie and Susie Blake star in Anne Caulfield's imaginative celebration of the classic music hall duo, Elsie and Doris Waters, and their immortal gossipy characters Gert and Daisy.
Larking about in a recording studio, Elsie and Doris created the ebullient Cockneys, who were to take them away from the East End and into a world they'd only ever dreamed about...
Doris Walters ---- Celia Imrie
Elsie Walters ---- Susie Blake
Gert ---- Tilly Vosburgh
Daisy ---- Tessa Peake-Jones
Older Elsie ---- Ann Beach
Older Doris ---- Barbara Atkinson
Sam ---- David Bradley
Young Sam ---- Chris Wright
Mother ---- Patience Tomlinson
Father ---- Geoffrey Whitehead
Jack Warner ---- Stephen Critchlow
Young Jack ---- Guy Edwards
Lord Woolton ---- David Timson
Mary ---- Jill Graham
Kenneth ---- Roger May
Kenneth's Mother ---- Zulema Dene
Pianist: Colin Guthrie
Director: Marion Nancarrow
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1996.
Anthropologist and linguist Dr Mark Turin travels to South Africa to get to grips with the country's complex language politics and policies. Until the mid 1990s, there were just two official languages, English and Afrikaans, while other indigenous African languages were sidelined. Today the situation is different, with eleven official languages recognized by the Constitution of South Africa as having equal value and importance.
But what does that mean in reality? How can so many languages operate alongside each other in Parliament? And can they all have equal weight? Mark Turin visits a Soweto school to find out which languages children learn and what they speak in the playground, and talks to multilingual journalists and writers about the importance of their mother tongues.
He meets Afrikaans speakers to learn whether their language can shake off its associations with the racist apartheid regime, and visits Cape Town to see the South African Parliament in action and meet the interpreters that make it work.
Mark Turin is used to heated discussions when it comes to politics and language, and in South Africa he finds his greatest challenge.
Clive Anderson explores the reasons behind the apparent decline in the level of respect shown to the football referee and asks - amid all the abuse, death threats and endless scrutiny and criticism - who on earth would want to be a referee.
He searches through the archives for evidence of a golden age in which the referee's decision was final, and traces the various changes in the game which appear to have fuelled the problems for referees. When and why did things turn so ugly?
Top referees, commentators, sports journalists and former players discuss how television coverage, slow motion cameras and endless analysis by pundits have contributed to the growing pressures on the man in the middle. They argue about who is blame for undermining the authority of referees - over-paid players, aggressive managers or the media. Do the referees contribute to their own problem, by making too many mistakes or being overly officious?
Former professional referee Dermot Gallagher says that, despite high-profile incidents and worrying accounts of violence against referees in parks football, there has never been a better time to be a referee.
Rugby, cricket and other sports are not without their problems in this area, but why does the situation appear to be so acute in football? Sports sociologist, Dr Richard Elliot considers whether behaviour towards sports officials reflect changes in attitudes towards authority in wider society.
An Above the Title production for BBC Radio 4.
Since he was first given a tape recorder in 1967, Wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson has been fascinated by the possibilities of sound. In this programme he revisits that first tape recorder, demonstrates cutting edge recording & editing equipment, and tells the story of the technological advances in radio from the first outside broadcast, through the Radiophonic Workshop and to the current explosion in podcasting.
We hear from some of Chris' favourite broadcasters, dip into his collection of sound recordings, and hear programmes from the world of podcasting & Sound Art Radio as well as classics from the BBC Archive.
Programmes include:
* Orchestra Under The Waves
A unique musical compilation made of sounds recorded under water, presented by Evelyn Glennie
* The Ditch
Afternoon drama by Paul Evans about a Wildlife sound recordist who goes missing, leaving some intriguing recordings behind...
* Fifteen Inches Per Second
Documentary about the use of quarter inch tape
* Six House Parties
An episode of the podcast 'Imaginary Advice', created by the poet and performer Ross Sutherland.
* The Iron Speaks - When The Far Becomes Near
Creative documentary about radio broadcasting in the United Arab Emirates, produced by Christopher John Weaver and Fari Bradley. Contributors include Dr Zaki Nussaibeh, Salim Obaid Al Alelee, Dr Yousef Aydabi and Dr. Arif Al Sheikh. Voiceovers were by Frank Key, William English & Bijan Daneshmand
The programme originally aired as part of Six Pillars, on Resonance FM https://www.resonancefm.com/
Presenter: Chris Watson
Producer: Jessica Treen
Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra and first broadcast in 2018.
Nicholas Parsons is joined by Julian Clary, Paul Merton, Graham Norton and Terry Wogan as they try to speak without hesitation, repetition or deviation. Subjects include, My Disastrous Trip to the Zoo and for Julian Clary especially... Innuendo.
Producer: Tilusha Ghelani.
Singers Tommy and Sheila have a supermarket to open - and go silver surfing.
Sweethearts Tommy Franklin and Sheila Parr won the 1962 Eurovision Song Contest, but now they're back in the big time.
Series 3 of Mike Coleman's six-part sitcom stars June Whitfield and Roy Hudd.
With Pat Coombs, Julian Eardley and Edward Halstead.
Music by Frido Ruth.
Producer: Steve Doherty
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2001.
Following her parents' divorce, six-year-old Maisie finds herself at the centre of their bitter struggle.
Written by Henry James and dramatised by Amanda Dalton.
MAISIE.....Talia Barnett
BEALE FARANGE......Andonis Anthony
IDA FARANGE....Joanne Mitchell
MISS OVERMORE / MRS BEALE......Emma Naomi
MRS WIX....Julie Hesmondhalgh
HENRY JAMES.....John Lynch
Directed by Nadia Molinari
First broadcast in five parts on BBC Radio 4 in October 2018.
The food-loving broadcaster Loyd Grossman picks 'Ragtime Cowboy Joe' and 'You Really Got Me' by The Kinks.
Poet and playwright, Adrian Mitchell, shares some of his favourite poetry and prose, including Mark Twain and William Blake.
The readers are Helen Atkinson Wood, Peter Marinker and Philip Franks.
Producer: Viv Beeby
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2007.
Lesley Joseph recreates her stage role as Dora, a 'person of restricted growth' whose performances are under threat. From 1997.
The Doctor does time on the prison planet Folly. Can he endure a year in solitary?
Peter Davison is the Fifth Doctor with his companion Nyssa played by Sarah Sutton.
This episode is one of four generated by Big Finish Productions' 2010 'Opportunity for New Writers' contest, which attracted around 1200 entries,
Peter Davison played the Fifth Doctor on BBC TV from 1981 to 1984.
Sarah Sutton played Nyssa between 1981 and 1983. She was first seen on 'The Keeper of Traken' - Traken being Nyssa's home planet, when she starred with the Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker)
Written by Rick Briggs.
Original music composed by Richard Fox and Lauren Yason.
Directed by Ken Bentley
Producer: David Richardson
A Big Finish production.
The consuming passion of a theoretical physicist leads him into a great deal of gruesome trouble.
Fear on 4 brings you more in a series of nerve-tinglers.
Stars David Suchet as Professor Richard Hargreaves, John Rowe as Jonathan Tempray, Jenny Lee as Mary, Alison Pettit as Moira, Jillie Meers as Woman at lecture and Christopher Wright as Toby.
Written by Nick Fisher.
Director: Marion Nancarrow
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1997.
Hell's got workforce problems, and Satan learns who truly wields power. Devilish sitcom stars Andy Hamilton. From October 2005.
A brand new series of Chain Reaction, the talk show with a twist where this week's guest becomes next week's interviewer. This series kicks off with Scottish actress, comedian and impressionist Ronni Ancona interviewing one of the UK's most celebrated comics, writer and star of "Not Going Out" Lee Mack.
Ronni asks Lee about being a Red Rum stable boy, his worst ever gig and his amazing juggling talents.
From 10pm to midnight, seven days a week, the Comedy Club has two hours of comedy. Plus Arthur Smith chats to Hal Cruttenden.
Invention as it happens as Josie Lawrence and Jim Sweeney perform improvised sketches driven by the audience. From February 2008.
Mark Watson continues his quest to improve the world, nimbly assisted by Tim Key and Tom Basden.
As broadcast live in November 2011 - Mark invites the audience join in via tweets and messages to work out how we can all make the world a better place.
Mark asks the big questions that are crucial to our understanding of ourselves and society - in a dynamic and thought provoking new format he opens the floor to the live audience and asks them to jump into the conversation via tweets and messages to work out how we can all make the world a better place.
This week Mark looks at "Intelligence" - A certain amount of intelligence is pretty useful. Without the ability to reflect and calculate, we would all be setting fire to our shoes and buying those novels about women who shop and have relationship issues. Yet intelligence has been something of a curse to many. Galileo was tortured for knowing more about science than the church leaders, and Paxman sighs an awful lot when he's hosting University Challenge.
We all know the phrase 'a little learning is a dangerous thing, but then so is a lot of learning, but then again you wouldn't want none at all. So... oh dear, we're basically ruined. We'd better knock down all our schools and universities.' Are we sometimes too smart for our own good?
Mark Watson is a multi-award winning comedian, including the inaugural If.Comedy Panel Prize 2006. He is assisted by Tim Key, winner of Edinburgh Comedy Awards 2009 and Tom Basden who won the the If.Comedy Award for Best Newcomer 2007.
Produced by Lianne Coop.
First broadcast live on BBC Radio 4 in November 2011.
Following the American Civil War, the spirit of a murdered child haunts the home of a former slave.
Toni Morrison's seminal 1987 novel about a haunted house in the era that followed the abolition of slavery in the United States. Melding horror and poetry, this is the story of Sethe, a woman who escaped slavery by crossing the Ohio river, but who, 18 years later, is still not free.
Narrated by Adjoa Andoh. With Nadine Marshall as Sethe, Pippa Bennett-Warner as Denver and Danny Sapani as Paul D.
Omnibus of the first five of ten parts adapted by Patricia Cumper.
Original music by Jon Nicholls
Director: Sasha Yevtushenko.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2016.
4 Extra Debut. Jack Daly's daughters are unhappy about the new woman, and new direction, in his life. Read by Dermot Crowley. From November 2002.
Not being the outdoors types, the women tackle their own more unorthodox challenges involving a bra, a man and some special equipment...
After treatment for Ovarian and breast cancer Chippy, is mad, Jill is sad and Terri is definitely dangerous to know! The road back after cancer treatment can be tricky and full of obstacles.
In 'Bad Salsa', two middle aged women and their younger friend seek to regain their zest for life and love by learning to dance at Bad Salsa, the club where everyone knows your name but no-one knows your prognosis!
Depictions of people with cancer on TV and radio too often follow a standard format; there is the diagnosis, the depression the chemo, then the false recovery followed by the tragic death.
Bad Salsa tries to paint a picture at once more hopeful and more in line with survival rates which have improved immensely over the past 20 years.
For many, 'living with cancer' is now their day to day challenge. The characters in the series have finished their treatment and are in the process of finding their way back to normal life or at least finding a "new normal." As in the real world, the challenges of everyday life go on for our characters; like us they have boring marriages, distracting crushes, troublesome children, difficult workmates and infuriating parents, but unlike us their brush with mortality has given them a new perspective.
The fun and excitement of the series is in watching them decide to preserve the pre-cancer status quo or in Terri's words, to say "sod it all" and "go for it!"
Follow the women as they embrace the world of salsa whilst they adjust to life after cancer.
The Huggett family are baffled by a mystery letter that arrives from America.
Stars Jack Warner as Joe, Kathleen Harrison as Ethel, George Howell as Bobby, Marion Collins as Jane, Charles Leno as Fred Stebbings and Patrica Hayes as Mamie Webb.
Popular working-class family, the Huggetts first hit the cinema screen with a series of Gainsborough films between 1947 and 1949. Their subsequent BBC radio series ran from 1953 to 1962.
Scripted by Eddie Maguire.
Producer: Jacques Brown
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in September 1957.
A spy film spoof takes to the rails in 'Night Train to Paris', while Ron's got money troubles in 'The Glums'.
Starring Professor Jimmy Edwards, Dick Bentley and June Whitfield.
Music from Wallace Eaton and the Keynotes and the BBC Revue Orchestra conducted by Harry Rabinowitz.
Scripted by Frank Muir and Denis Norden.
Producer: Charles Maxwell
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in May 1958.
Andrew Roberts' five essays on Winston Churchill tying in with his book about the man.
He describes the character traits and enduring influences that made up this great politician's life - the sense of destiny, the 'shades' of his father, his various friendships, his chronic 'tearfulness', and the wit and wisdom he often employed to effect.
Producer: Duncan Minshull
First broadcast in five parts on BBC Radio 4 in 2018.
Fi Glover introduces a conversation in which 63 year old Victor shares the joy of his new life, now he's learned to read and write, with the mentor who handed him the key, 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 learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject
Producer: Marya Burgess.
4 Extra Debut. Fashion - From Ella Fitzgerald to Moby. The British fashion designer shares her castaway choices with Sue Lawley. From April 2002.
Mae Martin is joined by Bisha K Ali, Ned Sedgwick, Ed Night and Cariad Lloyd in a podcast compilation on the theme of 'survival'.
If GrownUpLand is a place, then we got a bit lost along the way.
Each week on the GrownUpLand podcast, a special guest helps to answer listener questions and candidly shares their experiences, from failed dates and bizarre confrontations to guilty pleasures and worst nightmares.
Co-created by Deborah Frances-White for The Spontaneity Shop and BBC Radio 4.
Producer: Al Riddell.
Nine strangers with a variety of differing emotional and physical needs find themselves thrown together at a very remote and unconventional health resort - Tranquillum House.
Romantic novelist Frances Welty, for example, is there to mend a broken heart, a bad back and a wounded ego. The other 8 guests, though seemingly fine on the outside, are all harbouring ghosts or pain of some kind and they arrive for a little restorative break.
Tranquillum House, however, is no ordinary health resort. It's owned and run by an equally wounded and strange lady who is determined that these nine perfect strangers' lives will never be the same again after the ten days that lie ahead.
Kerry Fox reads best-selling author Liane Moriarty's page turner.
Omnibus of the first five of ten parts.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2018.
Lincoln Castle and Lincoln Cathedral stand on opposite sides of a courtyard within the city's medieval walls. They are symbols of competing powers: crown and church.
Joe Kerr finds out how each of these magnificent buildings was used as a fortress against the other, even though they were neighbours.
Series in which architectural historian Joe Kerr visits pairs of neighbouring buildings built as responses to the rivalry between their builders.
Producer: Matthew Dodd
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2002.
A young surgeon arriving at the village of Duncombe discovers that his female patients seem to require a singular remedy.
Starring Marston Bloom as Frank Harrison, Geoffrey Whitehead as Mr Morgan, Alison Pettitt as Sophy Hutton, Sophie Thompson as Mrs Rose and Rebecca Front as Caroline Tompkinson.
Elizabeth Gaskell's 1851 novella - dramatised by Jeremy Front - is notable for being a prequel to her novel Cranford.
Director: Sally Avens
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1998.
Poet Daljit Nagra revisits the BBC's radio poetry archive with 'Adventures in Poetry' featuring the story behind Anne Bradstreet's poem 'To My Dear and Loving Husband'.
Anne's poem has been anthologised in many collections of love poetry. How did a near-invalid woman, enduring not only the privations of migrating to the New World but also the stifling Puritan ethic established there, manage to write something so warm and personal that it still speaks to us today?
Producer: Christine Hall
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2009.
In a magic wood, on Midsummer's eve, a second chance is offered to those who believe they've taken the wrong turning in life. Some will take the same path, while others will have a precious glimpse of what can now never be...
Written in 1917, JM Barrie's play was adapted by Jeffrey Segal.
Starring Bernard Hepton as Dearth; Frances Jeater as Jenny Dearth; Jenny Quayle as Margaret; Lob as Jeffrey Segal; Geoffrey Beevers as Jack Purdie; Carole Boyd as Mabel Purdie; Jane Knowles as Joanna Trout; Stephen Thorne as James Matey; Brenda Kaye as Lady Caroline Laney: Anthony Newlands as Mr Coade; and Katherine Parr as Mrs Coade.
Written over a decade after Peter Pan, JM Barrie's title is taken from a line in 'Julius Caesar' summing up Shakespeare's argument that we should take responsibility for our own actions: "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars. But in ourselves that we are underlings.'
Director: Gordon House.
First broadcast on the BBC World Service in 1987.
The radical comedian offers his humorous assessment of one of the world's most influential scientists. From October 2002.
BBC Radio 4 Extra's topical sketch show Newsjack with host Angela Barnes.
A scrapbook sketch show written entirely by the Great British public.
Featuring: Angela Barnes, Mike Wozniak, Celeste Dring and Raph Wakefield
Script Editors: Jenny Laville and Robin Morgan
Producers: Adnan Ahmed and Hayley Sterling
A BBC Studios Production.
Comedy by Christopher Douglas and Nicola Sanderson. Beauty Olonga works as a carer for the Featherdown Agency and sees herself as an inspiration to other African girls hoping to achieve their goals in the land of semi-skimmed milk.
Beauty is looking after the elderly Mr Easterby, who has a new girlfriend and is behaving like a lovestruck teenager. She is also trying to get to the Aspire to Dream retreat. Meanwhile Anil is on a big cat stakeout, as several have been spotted in the region.
Beauty ...... Jocelyn Jee Esien
Sally ...... Felicity Montagu
Karen ...... Nicola Sanderson
Mrs Gupte ...... Indira Joshi
Anil ...... Paul Sharma
Mr Easterby ...... Leslie Phillips
Mrs Mason ...... Liz Fraser
Kevin/Cab Man/Steve ...... Christopher Douglas
Girl on Stretcher ...... Nicola Sanderson
Music by The West End Gospel Choir.
Now Philip has been found dead, most of the family members now believe that Dr. Calgary was right when he said that their late mother's killer is still amongst them and everyone is on their guard.
Catherine Bott tells the story of St Cecilia, the patron saint of music, examining her role as martyr, saint and muse and as the inspiration for some of the great works of music and literature, including work by Handel, Purcell and Benjamin Britten and Chaucer, Pope and Dryden. Catherine learns of Cecilia's gruesome martyrdom and subsequent place in history and witnesses preparations for the annual festival concert staged in her honour.
On the down side, Roy has lost his job as journalist, blown his chance of romance with his former teacher, Jane and is about to have his house repossessed.
But just when he thought it was safe to retreat into self-pity and fantasies about The Archers, help comes from an unexpected quarter...
Series two of Tony Bagley's romantic comedy drama serial that mixes fantasy with reality.
Starring Martin Clunes as Roy Hitchcock, Geraldine James as Jane Gallaghan, Nicky Henson as Chad Mann., David Troughton as Colin, Rebecca Front as Mrs Churchill and Sue Roderick as Gwyn.
Other parts by Simon Treves and Melanie Hudson
Producer: Paul Schlesinger:
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 1993.
Professor of Ignorance John Lloyd and his curator Lee Mack welcome comedian Athena Kugblenu; writer and podcaster Dolly Alderton; and Artificial Intelligence expert Sir Nigel Shadbolt.
This week, the Museum's Guest Committee opt for the cheapest item on a wedding list, celebrate the triumph of a machine over the best chess player in the world and feel vegetarian nostalgia for corned beef.
The show was researched by Mike Turner and Emily Jupitus of QI.
The Producers were Richard Turner and Anne Miller.
A BBC Studios production.
The lad inherits a Scottish castle and starts feuding with his nasty neighbour.
Stars Tony Hancock. With Sidney James, Bill Kerr, Hattie Jacques and Kenneth Williams.
With special guest James Robertson Justice as Seamus McNasty.
Written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson.
Theme and incidental music written by Wally Stott.
Producer: Denis Main Wilson
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in February 1957.
The station staff at Parsley Sidings go all out to boost falling passenger numbers.
The eponymous series is set in a sleepy railway station. The Hepplewhites have run 'Parsley Sidings' station for generations and the current Station Master, Horace, hopes that his son Bert will continue the line. Mild-mannered Ticket Clerk Bert wants to work anywhere but on the railways. His colleague, Station Announcer Gloria Simpkins, secretly loves him. Porter Percy Valentine is an archetypal wheeler-dealer and the ancient Signalman, Bradshaw, causes havoc and dispenses home-made remedies in equal measure. The 'Parsley Sidings' nemesis is Phineas Perkins, the station master of Potwhistle Halt, one stop down the line.
Starring Arthur Lowe as Horace, Ian Lavender as Bert, Kenneth Connor as Percy, Liz Fraser as Gloria and Elizabeth Morgan as Ethel.
Re-created Announcements by Keith Skues.
Producer: Edward Taylor
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in December 1971.
Nicholas Parsons is back with the first of a new series of Just a Minute, the show that stretches your linguistic elastic to breaking point. On today's show we learn Paul Merton's motto is Work Hard Be Happy whereas Tony Hawks' motto is You're Never Too Old to Be Told Off By a Park Keeper.
Joining Nicholas Parsons over the course of this series are Paul Merton, Stephen Fry, Josie Lawrence, Julian Clary, Gyles Brandreth, Jenny Elair, Sue Perkins, Graham Norton, Tony Hawks and new girl Fi Glover.
Separated for over a year, Doug and Molly are still finding it hard to keep out of each other's lives.
When the decree absolute arrives and Doug hears that Molly is having a drinks party he's furious. But is all as it seems?
Paul Mendelson's sitcom stars Rebecca Lacey as Molly, Paul Venables as Doug, Soumaya Keynes as Kaz, Jessie Sullivan as Ryan, Marlene Sidaway as Annie, Jonathan Tafler as Raymond and Samantha Spiro as Dawn.
Producer: David Ian Neville
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2004.
Social reformer John is tempted by Lady Lettice, as his wife fights for the suffragettes.
Ian McKellen stars in the story of John Hamer Shawcross - set against the wider current of events in England in the early 19th century.
Howard Spring's novel freely adapted for radio in 8 episodes by Ken Whitmore.
With John Baldwin as Jimmy Newboult, June Barry as Anne Artingstall, Peter Guinness as Harry Liskeard, Rosalie Crutchley as Lizzie Lightowler, Andrew Jackson as Arnold Ryerson, Vida Paterson as Pen Ryerson, Graham Tennant as Hawley Artingstall, Colin Dean as the Organ Grinder, Rosalie Williams as Ellen, Geoffrey Wheeler as Tom Hannaway, Helen Ryan as Lady Lettice Melland, Roger Grainger as the Doctor, David Boardman as Charles Shawcross, aged 8, Joan Anstey & Delia Corrie as the Wardens.
Director: Trevor Hill
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1979.
7/20. It was the great travel books written in the 19th century by Alfred Russell Wallace that inspired David Attenborough himself to achieve great things in the realm of natural history. But Attenborough tells us that Wallace was more than just a great travel writer. His power of meticulous observation and recording as he explored many parts of the world were in the highest league imaginable, even for Victorian standards - and his power of analysis very much akin with Darwin, his great contemporary. Wallace independently came up with a theory of evolution that was in parallel to Darwin's thinking - two field naturalists breaking huge conventions of the time and coming up with the single most important theory in Biology. How did they resolve the conflict between themselves?
Written and presented by David Attenborough
Produced by Julian Hector.
Casual murder becomes an obsession for a man whose time is running out. Read by Ewan Bailey.
Following the success of OxTales (2009) and OxTravels (2011), Oxfam has produced this collection of crime writing. We have chosen 5 of the best for Radio 4 Extra.
Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra by the Waters Partnership.
Pilgrim comes to Skaymer, a seaside town in Norfolk, to investigate the strange appearance of a young man believed drowned in the great flood of 1757.
Series of four modern-day fantasy adventures by Sebastian Baczkiewicz.
William Palmer ..... Paul Hilton
Helen ..... Claire Price
Doris ..... Judy Parfitt
Zach ..... William Gaunt
Aaron ..... Luke Treadaway
Freya ..... Rachael Spence
Mr Hazelbury ..... Sean Baker
Hendry ..... Jude Akuwudike
Mrs Squires ..... Sally Orrock
Legend ..... Agnes Bateman
What if all the myths and folktales of these islands were true? And what if they were not only true but present now in our world? All the spirits, existing, as they have always existed, in the gaps between tower blocks, in the shadows under bridges, in the corner of our vision. An ancient and eternal world which has existed alongside ours since time immemorial and will exist long after we have gone.
Enter Pilgrim... In 1185 William Palmer was making pilgrimage to Canterbury. Unbeknownst to him his fellow pilgrim was the Lord of Faerie. When William claimed that the Church would wipe out the belief in the Faerie world, he was cursed by the Faerie Lord and condemned forever to the walk between our world and theirs.
Director: Marc Beeby
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2010.
A Death in the Family is the first book in the six volume cycle of autobiographical novels, My Struggle. Karl Ove Knausgaard's memoir has been described, in many countries, as a masterpiece.
With searing honesty, and an unflinching gaze turned upon himself and those around him, he writes about his teenage years in Norway. Later, he looks back on the writing of this book, the changes in his life and his second marriage to Linda, and the arrival of their children. Becoming a father prompts further reflections on family life and his relationship with his own father.
Karl Ove Knausgaard was born in December 1968. He published two novels, in 1998 and 2004, which both won prizes in Norway. The six volume series of novels, titled Min Kamp in Norwegian, were published between 2009 and 2011, totalling over 3,500 pages. The sixth and final volume, translated by Don Bartlett, has recently been published in the UK. He lives in Sweden with his wife, the writer Linda Boström Knausgaard, and their four children.
Written by by Karl Ove Knausgaard
Translated by Don Bartlett
Read by David Threlfall
Abridged by Isobel Creed and Jill Waters
Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.
Global Gap is a series of five programmes where two people who do the same job, one from the UK and one from another country (in this series, Mexico), have a thought provoking conversation, to compare and contrast their working lives and the issues that arise in their jobs. The theme throughout the week is 'the next generation'; each programme features young people who are the new generation of workers in their countries. We capture the differences in society and attitudes through their conversation and recordings of in their workplace.
Episode 1 (of 5): Business Students
Luke Robinson studies Management and Spanish at the University of Leeds and he speaks to Miguel Bueno who is studying Business Administration at University in Mexico City. They discover that university is only for the rich in Mexico, but there is a growing interest in Business Studies as Mexico's economy rises. While Luke is looking forward to a placement in a large bank in the UK after university, Miguel is being encouraged to set up his own business.
Producer: Laura Parfitt
A Juniper production for BBC Radio 4.
By Toni Morrison
Adapted by Patricia Cumper
Toni Morrison's seminal 1987 novel about a haunted house in the era that followed the abolition of slavery in the United States is adapted for radio for the first time. Toni Morrison's masterpiece melds horror and poetry as it tells the story of Sethe, a woman who escaped slavery by crossing the Ohio river, but who, eighteen years later, is still not free.
When Sethe welcomed him into her house, Paul D. thought that life had thrown him a second chance. But then Beloved arrived and he was unable to resist her advances. Now he must steady himself to face the consequences.
Original music by Jon Nicholls
Sound design by Caleb Knightley
Director: Sasha Yevtushenko.
Originally broadcast in 2013, in the week marking the fiftieth anniversary of CS Lewis's death, and which saw a memorial stone to the author unveiled in Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey, Radio 4's Book of the Week marked the occasion with a reading of his famous letters from a senior to a junior devil.
Read by Simon Russell Beale
Abridged and produced by Jane Marshall.
A Jane Marshall production for BBC Radio 4.
On the island of Gont, Tenar saves a remarkable young girl from certain death. She also makes a dangerous enemy.
Ursula K Le Guin's enduring fantasy saga - based on the novel Tehanu adapted by Judith Adams.
Published between 1968 and 2001, the five novels and short story collection of Ursula K Le Guin's Earthsea cycle (A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore, Tehanu, The Other Wind and Tales from Earthsea) are re-told across 12 episodes. In the first series, the first three novels were re-told, and series two takes in Tehanu, The Other Wind and the short story Dragonfly.
As a girl, Tenar, was taken from her home and family on the island of Atuan to become Arha, the Priestess Ever Reborn, guardian of the ominous Tombs of Atuan. Deep within the Tombs, Ged and Tenar met and became unlikely allies, escaped from Atuan, and brought peace to the troubled archipelago. Now in her late middle age, widowed and with grown up children, Tenar runs a farm on the island of Gont. She has not seen Ged for many years.
Ged was born on Gont, with innate magical talent and a reckless nature. He trained in wizardry on the island Roke, where he released a terrible shadow into the world and then risked his life to restore the balance. He grew to become Archmage on Roke and the greatest wizard on all of Earthsea. When the evil wizard Cob attempted to cheat death and live forever, Ged found him and closed the breach between life and death. In doing so, he lost his powers of magic.
Set on a vast archipelago of islands, where magic is a central part of life, they tell the stories of Tenar and Ged.
Tenar . . . Nina Wadia
Ogion . . . Michael Bertenshaw
Tehanu . . .Laura Elphinstone
Therru . . . Rosie Boore
Moss . . . Elizabeth Counsell
Aspen . . . John Lightbody
Handy . . . Ryan Early
Therru's father . . . Stephen Hogan
Clearbrook . . . Sean Murray
Kalessin . . . Emma Handy
Senini . . . Lauren Cornelius
Apple . . . Kerry Gooderson
Fisherman . . . Ryan Whittle
Original music by Jon Nichols
Directed by Sasha Yevtushenko
Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra.
Sue MacGregor and her guests - philosopher, Jonathan Reé and journalist, Anne Karpf - discuss books by William Hazlitt, Kressman Taylor and Truman Capote.
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Publisher: Penguin
Address Unknown by Kressmann Taylor
Publisher: Souvenir Press
The Spirit of the Age by William Hazlitt
Publisher: The Wordsworth Trust
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2007.
Bob Fossil's latest zoo project backfires when Japanese VIPs arrive. Stars Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding. From November 2001.
A satirical review of the week's news, chaired by guest host Lucy Porter.
Joining Lucy are Hugo Rifkind, Katy Brand and stand-up comedians Rhys James and Eleanor Tiernan.
All the big news on Brexit, Universal Credit and the most controversial game of hide and seek of the week.
Writers: Benjamin Partridge, Gabby Hutchinson Crouch and Danielle Ward with Mike Shephard and Heidi Regan.
Producer: Richard Morris
A BBC Studios Production.
John Hegley with poems dedicated to privacy and paper plane proposals. With Nigel Piper and the Popticians. From October 1998.
Years have passed since Dr Watson saw Holmes and Moriarty hurtle to their inevitable deaths into the chasm. Now by chance Watson meets Holmes's brother, Mycroft...
Carleton Hobbs stars as Sherlock Holmes. The actor played the Baker Street sleuth in 80 radio dramas between 1952 and 1969.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's tale originally appeared in 'The Return of Sherlock Holmes' published 1903. Adapted by Michael Hardwick.
With Norman Shelley as Dr Watson, Stanley Lebor as the First Man, Humphrey Morton as Inspector Lestrade/Second Man, Noel Johnson as Colonel Moran, David Terence as the Third Man, Eva Huszar as Jessie and Gudrun Ure as Mrs Hudson.
Producer: Robin Midgley.
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in November 1961.
Zoologist Dr. George McGavin delves into the strange and often bizarre names given to the planet's insects.
There are an estimated 10 million living insect species, with new specimens being discovered almost daily. Entomologists are turning to ever more imaginative names, referencing everything from literary figures, celebrities and politicians to playground puns.
George takes us into the complex and intriguing world of the taxonomist. From the 18th century father of modern taxonomy Carl Linnaeus to the present day, he explains why naming the things that surround us is the foundation of all science.
There are flies named Pieza kake and S. beyonceae (after the singer); beetles with political connections - A. hitleri, A. bushi, A. cheneyi and A. rumsfeldi; and some entomologists have even named discoveries after romantic conquests. Unsurprisingly, names can prove controversial but, once set, are difficult to change.
George pieces together his story at Linnaeus' original collection at The Linnean Society, and at the capital's Natural History Museum and London Zoo. He also reveals some insects named after him at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History.
Produced by Andrea Rangecroft.
A Folded Wing production for BBC Radio 4.
Bill and Faith bicker over her children, then his ex-wife Liza turns up...
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, Belinda Lang as Liza, Brian Bowles as Dennis and Danny Schiller as Mr Roper.
Series two 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: Sioned Wiliam
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 1989.
Henry is preparing for a lecture tour of America and is desperately trying to persuade Vera to accompany him. But first he must negotiate his fiftieth birthday.
He is hoping to ignore it, but Vera has organised one of those vulgar Surprise Parties and everybody will be there - Lytton, Barrington, Hilda, DH Lollipop, his wife, Frieda and Venus, who sneaks in without an invitation and makes a nuisance of herself in the bushes.
By the end of the party a seven week lecture tour in America seems quite appealing.
Cast:
ANNOUNCER.......................................................NIGEL PLANER
VERA SACKCLOTH-VEST...............................MIRIAM MARGOLYES
HENRY MICKLETON........................................JONATHAN COY
GINNY FOX..........................................................ALISON STEADMAN
LIONEL FOX........................................................NIGEL PLANER
MRS GOSLING....................................................ALISON STEADMAN
MR GOSLING......................................................NIGEL PLANER
LYTTON SCRATCHEY......................................NIGEL PLANER
D.H.LOLLIPOP...................................................JOHN SESSIONS
FRIEDA LOLLIPOP...........................................MORWENNA BANKS
HILDA MATTHEWSON....................................MORWENNA BANKS
VENUS TRADUCES............................................MORWENNA BANKS
A Little Brother production for BBC Radio 4.
Author Gerald tries to make amends when he upsets his wife Diana.
The convoluted chronicle of an optimistic author starring Ian Carmichael as Gerald C Potter and Charlotte Mitchell as his wife.
With Jo Manning Wilson and Michael McClain.
Written by Basil Boothroyd.
Producer: Bobby Jaye
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 1977.
When planning a new bypass in leafy Surrey, the bungling bureaucrats run into more trouble.
The first of 14 shows not kept in the archive and re-recorded in 1980 - previously never broadcast in the UK, until the arrival of BBC Radio 4 Extra.
'The Men from the Ministry' ran for 14 series between 1962 and 1977.
Stars Richard Murdoch and Deryck Guyler (who replaced Wilfrid Hyde-White from 1966).
With Norma Ronald, Ronald Baddiley and John Graham.
Written and produced by Edward Taylor.
Re-recording of 'The End of the Road' made in April 1980.
The Great War dominates politics as leaders ask people to unite and Hamer's son joins up.
Ian McKellen stars in the story of John Hamer Shawcross - set against the wider current of events in England in the early 19th century.
Howard Spring's novel freely adapted for radio in 8 episodes by Ken Whitmore.
With June Barry as Anne Artingstall, Rosalie Crutchley as Lizzie Lightowler, Andrew Jackson as Arnold Ryerson, Vida Paterson as Pen Ryerson, Valerie Georgeson as Alice Ryerson, Geoffrey Wheeler as Tom Hannaway, Romy Baskerville as Lady Hannaway, Cynthia Michaelis as Mrs Ambeley-Rosewater, John Baldwin as Jimmy Newboult, Helen Ryan as Lady Lettice Melland and Peter Ellis as the Election official.
Director: Trevor Hill
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1979.
An artist's fascination for the truth in her most notorious and spectacular work holds a deadly secret. Read by Maggie Steed.
Following the success of OxTales (2009) and OxTravels (2011), Oxfam has produced this collection of crime writing. We have chosen 5 of the best for Radio 4 Extra.
Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra by the Waters Partnership.
Pilgrim has to return a changeling child - Ray Norris - to his rightful father, the King of the Greyfolk.
Ray, meanwhile, is beginning to feel the benefits of his faerie lineage, with remarkable success on the stock market.
Series of four modern-day fantasy adventures by Sebastian Baczkiewicz.
William Palmer ..... Paul Hilton
Ray ..... Stuart McLoughlin
Croft ..... Sam Alexander
Doris ..... Judy Parfitt
Penny ..... Eliza Caitlin Parkes
Mr Winstanley ..... Iain Batchelor
Jack ..... Sam Dale
Mary ..... Christine Kavanagh
Mr Hazelbury ..... Sean Baker
Legend ..... Agnes Bateman
Director: Jessica Dromgoole.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2010.
A Death in the Family is the first book in the six volume cycle of autobiographical novels, My Struggle. Karl Ove Knausgaard's memoir has been described, in many countries, as a masterpiece.
With searing honesty, and an unflinching gaze turned upon himself and those around him, he writes about his teenage years in Norway. Later, he looks back on the writing of this book, the changes in his life and his second marriage to Linda, and the arrival of their children. Becoming a father prompts further reflections on family life and his relationship with his own father.
Karl Ove Knausgaard was born in December 1968. He published two novels, in 1998 and 2004, which both won prizes in Norway. The six volume series of novels, titled Min Kamp in Norwegian, were published between 2009 and 2011, totalling over 3,500 pages. The sixth and final volume, translated by Don Bartlett, has recently been published in the UK. He lives in Sweden with his wife, the writer Linda Boström Knausgaard, and their four children.
Written by by Karl Ove Knausgaard
Translated by Don Bartlett
Read by David Threlfall
Abridged by Isobel Creed and Jill Waters
Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.
Global Gap is a series of five programmes where two people who do the same job, one from the UK and one from another country (in this series, Mexico), have a thought provoking conversation, to compare and contrast their working lives and the issues that arise in their jobs. The theme throughout the week is 'the next generation'; each programme features young people who are the new generation of workers in their countries. We capture the differences in society and attitudes through their conversation and recordings of in their workplace.
Episode 2 (of 5): Fashion Designers
Craig Lawrence is one of our brightest young knitwear designers, making clothes for Lady Gaga among others. He talks about his experiences in the fashion industry with Mexican clothes designer Marvin Duran. Craig operates in a well-established fashion industry in the UK and his year revolves around London Fashion Week. Marvin's success was almost overnight and he became famous in Mexico despite no formal training in fashion. The industry is not as established in Mexico, as people look to Paris and London. Meanwhile, the internet has meant that Craig's designs are seen around the world.
Producer: Laura Parfitt
A Juniper production for BBC Radio 4.
By Toni Morrison
Adapted by Patricia Cumper
Toni Morrison's seminal 1987 novel about a haunted house in the era that followed the abolition of slavery in the United States is adapted for radio for the first time. Toni Morrison's masterpiece melds horror and poetry as it tells the story of Sethe, a woman who escaped slavery by crossing the Ohio river, but who, eighteen years later, is still not free.
Paul D. learns about what happened eighteen years ago when Schoolteacher, the man who ran the farm where Sethe was a slave, arrived at 124 Bluestone Road and attempted to reclaim Sethe and her children.
The drama is true to the novel's uncompromising depiction of this event, portraying the violent horror and brutality of slavery.
Original music by Jon Nicholls
Singing arranged by Dominique Le Gendre
Sound design by Caleb Knightley
Director: Sasha Yevtushenko.
Originally broadcast in 2013, in the week marking the fiftieth anniversary of CS Lewis's death, and which saw a memorial stone to the author unveiled in Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey, Radio 4's Book of the Week marked the occasion with a reading of his famous letters from a senior to a junior devil.
Read by Simon Russell Beale
Abridged and produced by Jane Marshall.
A Jane Marshall production for BBC Radio 4.
A funny and dynamic quiz show hosted by Steve Punt - this week from the University of Roehampton with specialist subjects including Anthropology, Law and Linguistics and questions ranging from brachiation and morphemes to Xanadu via Kanye West and Sir Philip Sydney.
The programme is recorded on location at a different University each week, and it pits three Undergraduates against three of their Professors in an original and fresh take on an academic quiz.
The rounds vary between Specialist Subjects and General Knowledge, quickfire bell-and-buzzer rounds and the Highbrow and Lowbrow round cunningly devised to test not only the students' knowledge of current affairs, history, languages and science, but also their Professors' awareness of television, sport, and quite possibly Justin Bieber. In addition, the Head-to-Head rounds see students take on their Professors in their own subjects, offering plenty of scope for mild embarrassment on both sides.
Other Universities featured in this series include Queen's University Belfast, Hull, Derby, Liverpool and St John's College Cambridge.
Produced by David Tyler
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4.
The Tadpole played by Julian Rhind Tutt and the Dragonfly played by Alison Steadman, reveal the truth about life in a garden pond, in the first of three very funny tales, written and introduced by Lynne Truss, with sound recordings by Chris Watson.
The jaunty Tadpole revels in his youth as he darts about the pond, generally avoiding his neighbours because most of them want to eat him! "When are you going to grow up?" asks the Dragonfly. This is far from easy as the tadpole is quick to point out, as he has to go through a whole traumatic body-changing metamorphosis. The only disadvantage, he reckons, of being young and immature of course, is that you have no hands, which makes things tricky when you want to wave at anyone or take a selfie, but it's a small price to pay for the freedom of youth reckons our happy-go-lucky fellow, until a strange dream signals a life-changing event. "One minute you're wiggling, wiggling. and the next you look absolutely daft waving your bottom around, coz there's nothing on the end of it"
The Dragonfly is lighter than air, quick, beautiful; all dazzling wings and observant eyes . She is also quite highly sexed and living life at a great rate knowing that she doesn't have much time. Having spent months and months living in the murk and mud of the garden pond as an ugly, aggressive nymph, her life was transformed when she felt impelled to climb up a stem and was transformed into an adult. She is dazzling; with her aerial acrobatics, fine wings and long slender limbs. But she knows she hasn't long to live and before she dies, she must feed and find a mate "I'm gorgeous, I'm ready ... and I'm hot, hot, hot".
Producer Sarah Blunt.
Ged returns to the island of Gont on the back of a dragon. Meanwhile, the curse afflicting Tenar gathers force.
Ursula K Le Guin's enduring fantasy saga - based on the novel Tehanu adapted by Judith Adams.
Published between 1968 and 2001, the five novels and short story collection of Ursula K Le Guin's Earthsea cycle (A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore, Tehanu, The Other Wind and Tales from Earthsea) are re-told across twelve episodes. Series 2 takes in the action of Tehanu, The Other Wind and the short story Dragonfly from Tales of Earthsea.
Set on a vast archipelago of islands, where magic is a central part of life, they tell the stories of Tenar and Ged.
Tenar . . . Nina Wadia
Ged . . . Robert Glenister
Therru . . . Rosie Boore
Moss . . . Elizabeth Counsell
Aspen . . . John Lightbody
Fan . . . Sean Murray
Courtier . . . Ryan Whittle
Courtier . . . Stephen Hogan
Original music by Jon Nichols
Directed by Sasha Yevtushenko
Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra.
With hits including 'Letter From America', Craig and Charlie Reid from the Proclaimers select songs for Phil Cunningham. From February 2012.
The management consultants try to help an investment bank with some bad financing. Stars Marcus Brigstocke. From July 2004.
The Questers discover the Sword of Asnagar but no sooner has Amis had time to wield it than they fall into one of Lord Darkness' evil traps and are marched off to the most escape-proof prison camp in all of Lower Earth.
Meanwhile, with the Sword of Asnagar finally in his hands, Lord Darkness will soon be declared supreme Ruler and commander of the Forces of Evil. But first, he has to organise a festival...
Starring:
Darren Boyd as Vidar
Louise Delamere as Penthiselea's mother
Kevin Eldon as Dean/Kreech
Dave Lamb as Amis/The Gatekeeper
Stephen Mangan as Sam
Alistair McGowan as Lord Darkness
Ingrid Oliver as Penthiselea
and
Mike Wozniak as Bunny
Written by Anil Gupta and Richard Pinto.
Producer: Sam Michell.
Love is all around? It is Prunella and Julian's wedding day. Stars Geoffrey Palmer and Julian Rhind-Tutt. From July 2008.
The great detective has been ill so Dr Watson arranges for him to have a few days in the country to convalesce, but even on holiday Holmes cannot resist solving a mystery...
Carleton Hobbs stars as Sherlock Holmes. The actor played the Baker Street sleuth in 80 radio dramas between 1952 and 1969.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's tale originally appeared in 'The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes' published 1893. Adapted by Michael Hardwick.
With Norman Shelley as Dr Watson, Ivan Samson as Colonel Hayter, Philip Leaver as the Butler, Anthony Woodruff as Inspector Forrester, Wilfred Babbage as Cunningham, Malcolm Hayes as Alec Cunningham and Martin Lewis as Acton.
Producer: Robin Midgley.
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in December 1961.
Lifelong reggae fan Jonathan Charles traces the missing year when Bob Marley dropped out of the Jamaican music scene and spent a year driving a forklift truck in the Chrysler car factory in Wilmington, Delaware.
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
Sheila raises Tommy's suspicions and blood pressure, but there's method in her madness.
Ageing showbiz couple Tommy Franklin and Sheila Parr continue their second stab at fame.
Series 3 of Mike Coleman's six-part sitcom stars June Whitfield and Roy Hudd.
With Pat Coombs, Julian Eardley, Edward Halstead and William Franklyn.
Music by Frido Ruth.
Producer: Steve Doherty
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2001.
Andy Zaltzman and Anuvab Pal trace the rise and fall of the British Empire by looking at what's been left behind, in a combination of location recording and stand-up comedy.
In this first episode, Andy and Anuvab wander around London, from the docks the trading ships originally departed from in the east of London, to the final resting place of Empire in the west, via the central strongholds of power in Westminster and the City.
What and who have we chosen to remember, and what have we decided to forget? With supporting evidence from the India papers in the British library - seven miles of documents - Andy and Anuvab offer up contrasting perspectives on the shared history between Britain and India.
Andy Zaltzman is a comedian best-known for The Bugle, his weekly satirical podcast. He is a regular performer on Radio 4 both as a guest on programmes like The Now Show or as presenter of his own shows such as My Life As A... .
Anuvab Pal is a comedian who first appeared on Radio 4 on an episode of Just A Minute recorded in Mumbai. In 2018 he made his debut at the Edinburgh Fringe, and appeared on Radio 4's Fresh from The Fringe and BBC Two's Big Asian Stand-Up. He is Andy's regular co-presenter on The Bugle podcast.
Written and performed by Andy Zaltzman and Anuvab Pal.
Produced by Ed Morrish
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
A new naval directive lets Pertwee apply for a commission.
Stars Leslie Phillips as the Sub-Lieutenant, Jon Pertwee as the Chief Petty Officer, Stephen Murray as the Number One, Richard Caldicote as Captain Povey, Heather Chasen as Heather and Michael Bates as the Padre and Tenniel Evans as Taffy Goldstein.
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 November 1963.
Kenneth Horne discovers he's got an ancestor in the navy and 'Hornerama' investigates music.
With Kenneth Williams, Hugh Paddick, Betty Marsden and Ron Moody.
Written by Eric Merriman and Barry Took
Music from Pat Lancaster, the Malcolm Mitchell Trio and the BBC Review Orchestra conducted by Paul Fenoulhet.
Announcer: Douglas Smith
A madcap mix of sketches and songs, Beyond Our Ken hit the airwaves in 1958 and ran to 1964 - featuring regulars like Arthur Fallowfield, Cecil Snaith and Rodney and Charles.
The precursor to 'Round The Horne' - sadly only 13 shows survive from the original run of 21 episodes in Series 1. Audio restored using both home and overseas (BBC Transcription Service) recordings.
Producer: Jacques Brown
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in November 1958.
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. Tony Hawks, Susan Calman, Phill Jupitus and Miles Jupp are the panellists obliged to talk with deliberate inaccuracy on subjects as varied as: School, Bears, Underwear and Bottles.
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 production for BBC Radio 4.
Suspecting his wife is having an affair, Simon bugs their telephone and learns much more. Stars Hwyel Bennett. From March 1989.
Labour has a brief taste of power and fortunes are made and lost, as Hamer Shawcross concludes his memoirs
Ian McKellen stars in the story of John Hamer Shawcross - set against the wider current of events in England in the early 19th century.
Howard Spring's novel freely adapted for radio in 8 episodes by Ken Whitmore.
With John Baldwin as Jimmy Newboult, Helen Ryan as Lady Lettice Melland, Romy Baskerville as Lady Hannaway, Andrew Jackson as Arnold Ryerson, Vida Paterson as Pen Ryerson, Rosalie Crutchley as Lizzie Lightowler, Geoffrey Wheeler as Tom Hannaway, Valerie Georgeson as Alice Ryerson, Richard Durden as Charles Shawcross and Rory Scase as Pendleton.
Director: Trevor Hill
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1979.
A notorious artist recalls her most controversial work, and the night it was unveiled to the public. Read by Maggie Steed.
Following the success of OxTales (2009) and OxTravels (2011), Oxfam has produced this collection of crime writing. We have chosen 5 of the best for Radio 4 Extra.
Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra by the Waters Partnership.
In search of runaway ward, Freya, Pilgrim goes to Hollisale Well and discovers a small community dedicated to the memory of a woman lured into the water seven years ago by a magical being.
Series of four modern-day fantasy adventures by Sebastian Baczkiewicz.
William Palmer ..... Paul Hilton
Freya ..... Rachael Spence
Becker ..... Adeel Akhtar
Gordy ..... Henry Devas
Charity ..... Claire Price
Gudrun ..... Claire Harry
Legend ..... Agnes Bateman
Director: Marc Beeby
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2010.
A Death in the Family is the first book in the six volume cycle of autobiographical novels, My Struggle. Karl Ove Knausgaard's memoir has been described, in many countries, as a masterpiece.
With searing honesty, and an unflinching gaze turned upon himself and those around him, he writes about his teenage years in Norway. Later, he looks back on the writing of this book, the changes in his life and his second marriage to Linda, and the arrival of their children. Becoming a father prompts further reflections on family life and his relationship with his own father.
Karl Ove Knausgaard was born in December 1968. He published two novels, in 1998 and 2004, which both won prizes in Norway. The six volume series of novels, titled Min Kamp in Norwegian, were published between 2009 and 2011, totalling over 3,500 pages. The sixth and final volume, translated by Don Bartlett, has recently been published in the UK. He lives in Sweden with his wife, the writer Linda Boström Knausgaard, and their four children.
Written by by Karl Ove Knausgaard
Translated by Don Bartlett
Read by David Threlfall
Abridged by Isobel Creed and Jill Waters
Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.
Global Gap is a series of five programmes where two people who do the same job, one from the UK and one from another country (in this series, Mexico), have a thought provoking conversation, to compare and contrast their working lives and the issues that arise in their jobs. The theme throughout the week is 'the next generation'; each programme features young people who are the new generation of workers in their countries. We capture the differences in society and attitudes through their conversation and recordings of in their workplace.
Episode 3 (of 5): Green Politicians
Jason Kitkat is a young Green Party politician who runs Brighton and Hove City Council. He has a conversation with Arnold Richarde, who founded the Mexican Green Party and is now an environmental activist in Mexico City. They discover that Mexico City, because of its pressing problems, is more advanced than the UK in areas such as water preservation, recycling and living roof technology. Jason's council is addressing the need for cycle routes in the city, while Arnold also has campaigned to stop the mass use of cars in Mexico City.
Producer: Laura Parfitt
A Juniper production for BBC Radio 4.
By Toni Morrison
Adapted by Patricia Cumper
Toni Morrison's seminal 1987 novel about a haunted house in the era that followed the abolition of slavery in the United States is adapted for radio for the first time. Toni Morrison's masterpiece melds horror and poetry as it tells the story of Sethe, a woman who escaped slavery by crossing the Ohio river, but who, eighteen years later, is still not free.
Paul D. left 124 Bluestone Road after learning about the terrible events of Sethe's past. Now only the women remain in the house, and Sethe is not the only one about to discover the nature of the bond that binds them together.
Original music by Jon Nicholls
Sound design by Caleb Knightley
Director: Sasha Yevtushenko.
Originally broadcast in 2013, in the week marking the fiftieth anniversary of CS Lewis's death, and which saw a memorial stone to the author unveiled in Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey, Radio 4's Book of the Week marked the occasion with a reading of his famous letters from a senior to a junior devil.
Read by Simon Russell Beale
Abridged and produced by Jane Marshall.
A Jane Marshall production for BBC Radio 4.
On the run, Tenar and Therru find shelter on the royal ship. But it will take a dragon to finally rid them of their foes.
Ursula K Le Guin's enduring fantasy saga - based on the novel Tehanu adapted by Judith Adams.
Published between 1968 and 2001, the five novels and short story collection of Ursula K Le Guin's Earthsea cycle (A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore, Tehanu, The Other Wind and Tales from Earthsea) are re-told across twelve episodes. Series 2 takes in the action of Tehanu, The Other Wind and the short story Dragonfly from Tales of Earthsea.
Set on a vast archipelago of islands, where magic is a central part of life, they tell the stories of Tenar and Ged.
Tenar . . . Nina Wadia
Ged . . . Robert Glenister
Tehanu . . . Laura Elphinstone
Therru . . . Rosie Boore
King Lebannen . . . Steven Robertson
Moss . . . Elizabeth Counsell
Aspen . . . John Lightbody
Kalessin . . . Emma Handy
Handy . . . Ryan Early
Therru's father . . . Stephen Hogan
Apple . . . Kerry Gooderson
Sailor . . . Sean Murray
Spark . . . Joseph Ayre
Original music by Jon Nichols
Directed by Sasha Yevtushenko
Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra.
Mark Radcliffe profiles variety star Robb Wilton, best known as the bumbling, befuddled magistrate - Mr Muddlecombe JP.
A master of the art of storytelling which kept Britain laughing during the Second World War
Featuring Ken Dodd.
Series exploring some of the North's best-loved and most influential comedians.
Producer: Libby Cross
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2000.
Milford sets out to rescue the Crab Prince. Stars Mark Heap, Nick Frost, Kevin Eldon and Peter Serafinowicz. From November 2002.
From 10pm to midnight, seven days a week, the Comedy Club has two hours of comedy. Plus Jessica Fostekew chats to Phil Nichol.
Predicting the future and sequin waste. Manchester sketch show with Kate Ward, Smug Roberts and Robin Ince. From June 2004.
Fish Gordon has only 48 hours to save the aquarium. Pilot of Dan Freedman and Nick Romero's surreal comedy. From August 1998.
Who are Dr Trevelyan's mysterious visitors and why do they seem less interested in his consultation than in his resident patient in the front room? Another case for the great detective...
Carleton Hobbs stars as Sherlock Holmes. The actor played the Baker Street sleuth in 80 radio dramas between 1952 and 1969.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's tale originally appeared in 'The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes' published 1893. Adapted by Michael Hardwick.
With Norman Shelley as Dr Watson, Hamilton Dyce as Dr Trevelyan, Anthony Vicars as Blessington, John Bryning as Ivan, Earle Grey as Count Egrovitch and Godfrey Kenton as Inspector Lanner.
Producer: Robin Midgley.
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in December 1961.
Writer, journalist and passionate shoe collector Rowan Pelling takes us on a journey through her personal shoe collection to tell us the extraordinary story that lies behind footwear.
She discovers that, far from being simple functional objects that we put on our feet, shoes can communicate our sexual desire, aesthetic sense, social status and personality. They not only reflect social history and changing fashions, but are also a personal record of our lives - a touchstone that evokes a time, a place and an emotion.
In language and throughout literature, they can be magical as in The Red Shoes, transform lives as in Cinderella, and used as punishment in the Twelve Dancing Princesses.
Shoes have been made from jewels, can cost thousands and are often bought in the wrong size - just because we love them.
Fancy shoes, comfy shoes, old shoes, new shoes - they can change an attitude and define a generation and mean something different to us all.
Presenter: Rowan Pelling
Producer: Angela Hind
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
Daisy Haggard stars as Debra, a Crisis Branding Consultant brought in during a major boardroom crisis, with only minutes to manage how the truth comes out.
And what that truth is, exactly...
Third in a series of new comedies developed with the Comedians Theatre Company.
Written by Stephen Keyworth.
Produced and Directed by Jonquil Panting.
Hardacre's, London's worst advertising agency, go on a team-building day. Starring Nigel Havers, Josie Lawrence, and Mathew Baynton.
With a war on waste at the Civil Service - what does Jim Hacker think?
Starring Paul Eddington as Jim Hacker, Nigel Hawthorne as Sir Humphrey Appleby, Derek Fowldes as Bernard and Judy Parfitt as Betty Oldham MP.
Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn's satirical sitcom ran on BBC TV between 1980 and 1984. Yes Minister is centred around the hapless Jim Hacker and a collection of civil service underlings headed by the Machiavellian Sir Humphrey Appleby and obsequious Bernard.
Adapted for radio by producer Pete Atkin.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 1984.
Neddie Seagoon tries to set fire to the English Channel to claim the insurance. Stars Harry Secombe. From February 1957.
Tease your brain along with Chris Maslanka, Anne Bradford, Professor David Singmaster and Paul Lamford. From June 1998.
It's a full moon, Ruby's away and Paul's lovelorn. Will Maria's matchmaking succeed and will Richard ever finish the gardening?
Stars Barbara Flynn as Maria, Patrick Barlow as Richard, Diane Louise-Jordan as Ruby, Toby Longworth as Paul and Linda Polan as Amy.
Producer: Liz Anstee.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 1993.
Miss Mackenzie, a woman past the bloom of youth, inherits a fortune and is then beset by suitors. But whom will she choose?
Anthony Trollope's tale stars David Troughton as Anthony Trollope, Hattie Morahan as Miss Mackenzie, Philip Franks as John Ball and Margaret Tyzack as Lady Ball.
Dramatised by Martyn Wade
Director: Tracey Neale
Miss Mackenzie by Anthony Trollope was the runner-up in BBC Radio 4's 'Neglected Classics' vote in 2011.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2011.
4 Extra Debut. Back from honeymoon, why do newlyweds Rosalind and Ernest share a private world inhabited by rabbits? Read by June Barrie. From February 1993.
Pilgrim is the most reluctant father of the bride.
He struggles to balance the prospect of being the quarry in a savage hunt forever and a day, with seeing his daughter Doris condemned to an eternity married to Puck.
Series of four modern-day fantasy adventures by Sebastian Baczkiewicz.
William Palmer ..... Paul Hilton
Dexter ..... Lloyd Thomas
Hilda ..... Anna Wing
Doris ..... Judy Parfitt
Puck ..... Jamie Foreman
Mr Hazelbury ..... Sean Baker
Mrs Marsden ..... Leah Brotherhead
Legend ..... Agnes Bateman
Director: Jessica Dromgoole.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2010.
A Death in the Family is the first book in the six volume cycle of autobiographical novels, My Struggle. Karl Ove Knausgaard's memoir has been described, in many countries, as a masterpiece.
With searing honesty, and an unflinching gaze turned upon himself and those around him, he writes about his teenage years in Norway. Later, he looks back on the writing of this book, the changes in his life and his second marriage to Linda, and the arrival of their children. Becoming a father prompts further reflections on family life and his relationship with his own father.
Karl Ove Knausgaard was born in December 1968. He published two novels, in 1998 and 2004, which both won prizes in Norway. The six volume series of novels, titled Min Kamp in Norwegian, were published between 2009 and 2011, totalling over 3,500 pages. The sixth and final volume, translated by Don Bartlett, has recently been published in the UK. He lives in Sweden with his wife, the writer Linda Boström Knausgaard, and their four children.
Written by by Karl Ove Knausgaard
Translated by Don Bartlett
Read by David Threlfall
Abridged by Isobel Creed and Jill Waters
Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.
Global Gap is a series of five programmes where two people who do the same job, one from the UK and one from another country (in this series, Mexico), have a thought provoking conversation, to compare and contrast their working lives and the issues that arise in their jobs. The theme throughout the week is 'the next generation'; each programme features young people who are the new generation of workers in their countries. We capture the differences in society and attitudes through their conversation and recordings of in their workplace.
Episode 4 (of 5): Doctors
Laura Chambers is a young GP in the NHS in Rotherham, with a special interest in obesity and she speaks to Paula de La Garza, a doctor who runs a private clinic in Mexico City specializing in obesity and eating disorders. Laura discovers from Paula that Mexico has the largest number of children with obesity in the world, some of whom have heart attacks. Paula has even treated obese babies. While Laura has never treated very young children with these worrying symptoms, she is seeing increased obesity in her area and a reliance on junk food. Laura can refer patients to a special NHS clinic, set up alongside her GP practice, where patients are monitored and given tailor-made exercise regimes.
Producer: Laura Parfitt
A Juniper production for BBC Radio 4.
By Toni Morrison
Adapted by Patricia Cumper
Toni Morrison's seminal 1987 novel about a haunted house in the era that followed the abolition of slavery in the United States is adapted for radio for the first time. Toni Morrison's masterpiece melds horror and poetry as it tells the story of Sethe, a woman who escaped slavery by crossing the Ohio river, but who, eighteen years later, is still not free.
Only women remain at the house at 124 Bluestone Road and their isolation is becoming dangerous.
Original music by Jon Nicholls
Sound design by Caleb Knightley
Director: Sasha Yevtushenko.
Originally broadcast in 2013, in the week marking the fiftieth anniversary of CS Lewis's death, and which saw a memorial stone to the author unveiled in Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey, Radio 4's Book of the Week marked the occasion with a reading of his famous letters from a senior to a junior devil.
Read by Simon Russell Beale
Abridged and produced by Jane Marshall.
A Jane Marshall production for BBC Radio 4.
Alder, a man tormented by his dreams, seeks out the reclusive Archmage on the island of Gont.
Ursula K Le Guin's enduring fantasy saga - based on the novel The Other Wind adapted by Judith Adams.
Published between 1968 and 2001, the five novels and short story collection of Ursula K Le Guin's Earthsea cycle (A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore, Tehanu, The Other Wind and Tales from Earthsea) are re-told across twelve episodes. Series 2 takes in the action of Tehanu, The Other Wind and the short story Dragonfly from Tales of Earthsea.
Set on a vast archipelago of islands, where magic is a central part of life, they tell the stories of Tenar and Ged.
Tehanu . . . Laura Elphinstone
Ged . . . Robert Glenister
Azver . . . Narinder Samra
Alder . . . Tom Vanson
Thorion . . . Sam Dale
Woman . . . Elizabeth Counsell
Sailor . . . Ryan Early
Fishwife . . . Emma Handy
Lily . . . Lauren Cornelius
Doorkeeper . . . Stephen Hogan
Original music by Jon Nichols
Directed by Sasha Yevtushenko
Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra.
Downton Abbey actor Jim Carter tells Matthew Parris why skiffle king Lonnie Donegan is his hero.
Lonnie Donegan is probably best remembered for the novelty hits "My Old Man's a Dustman" and "Does Your Chewing Gum Lose its Flavour? " However, early hits like "Rock Island Line" were instrumental in inspiring the likes of John Lennon, Brian May and Roger Daltrey to perform.
Donegan played a decisive role in the development of British popular music. His revitalisation of skiffle provided the inspiration for the whole British beat movement that was to come. Ironically, although Donevan was the catalyst, he was soon eclipsed by the young electric guitar heroes of the mid-sixties, and he was left with the comedy and cabaret circuits.
Made for 4 Extra. Topical sketch show that anyone can write for, hosted by Angela Barnes. A scrapbook sketch show written by the great British public.
From 10pm to midnight, seven days a week, the Comedy Club has two hours of comedy. Plus Jessica Fostekew chats to Phil Nichol.
Through the medium of four open letters, the comedian Tom Wrigglesworth investigates the myriad examples of corporate lunacy and maddening jobsworths in modern Britain.
In this series his subjects range from traffic wardens to estate agents, with Tom recalling his own funny and ridiculous experiences as well as recounting the absurd encounters of others.
Tom wonders how the bankers keep getting away with it.
King George utters some unmemorable last words; DH Lawrence of Arabia writes Lady Chatterbox's Llama; and John Yogi Bear discovers the BBC but finds there's not much on.
Craig Brown's satirical history of Britain begins in the 1920s and 1930s.
Stars Joss Ackland, Eleanor Bron, Rory Bremner, Ewan Bailey, Margaret Cabourn-Smith and John Humphrys,
Producer: Victoria Lloyd
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 2006.
A lady's honour is at stake, but the great detective seems helpless to tackle a serial blackmailer - 'the worst man in London.'
Carleton Hobbs stars as Sherlock Holmes. The actor played the Baker Street sleuth in 80 radio dramas between 1952 and 1969.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's tale originally appeared in 'The Return of Sherlock Holmes' published 1904. Adapted by Michael Hardwick.
With Norman Shelley as Dr Watson, Tony Church as Charles Augustus Milverton, Dudy Nimmo as Susan and Humphrey Morton as Inspector Lestrade
Producer: Robin Midgley.
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in December 1961.
Writer and historian Alex Butterworth travels to Rome to meet the Carabinieri squad in charge of protecting Italy's priceless cultural heritage.
A helicopter circles overhead while Italian police officers and archaeologists peer into a 30-foot deep hole made in a field outside Rome. The land may look like ordinary farmland, but beneath the ground there are in fact Etruscan tombs full of treasures. The hole has been made by a group of "tombaroli"- tomb raiders who come in the night to smash open hidden tombs, and grab the artefacts inside. They sell them on to dealers, who in some cases offer them to museums for a massive price.
The police officers in attendance are a members of a special branch of the Italian Carabinieri (the military police) which was set up to try to deal with the problem of stolen art in the country. The unit, known as the Department for the Protection of Cultural Heritage (Comando Carabinieri Tutela Patrimonio Culturale in Italian) has its main headquarters in Rome and branches throughout the country. Its job is to try to stop the looting of Italy's cultural treasures- from artefacts in excavations to paintings and statues in country churches.
To try to stop the trafficking, carabinieri officers carry out regular patrols on archaeological sites, They also check items of from auction houses and exhibitions against their vast database of stolen goods. Other officers carry out checks on more contemporary artworks to make sure that they're not forged. Since the unit began in 1969, the success rate has been high, with thousands of artworks recovered.
Alex Butterworth is in Rome to watch the work of the Carabinieri TPC at first hand. He follows the archaeological section on patrol and sees how the huge database is used to recover stolen works which are sometimes changed beyond almost all recognition by the thieves to avoid detection. For example, one vast painting was stolen and then cut into several pieces and sold as separate items.
While watching the officers at work, Alex explores the changing nature of cultural protection and asks what Italy's determination to find its treasures says about the mood of the country.
Producer Emma Kingsley.
From nudism and reflexology to top-shelf magazines.
Sketch show about life, written and performed by people who've lived a bit.
Stars Eleanor Bron, Dudley Sutton , Roger Blake , Clive Swift and Paula Wilcox.
With guest star Arthur Smith.
Written by Colin Bostock-Smith, Jill Brodie, John Pidgeon, Mike Haskins, Jan Etherington, George Poles, Arthur Smith, Alan Stafford, Chris Thompson and Petr Reynolds.
Script editors: Ed Dyson and George Poles.
Music by Ronnie & The Rex.
Producer: Katie Marsden
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2004.
by Jeremy Front
Based on the novel by Simon Brett
Directed by Sally Avens
Charles has joined the cast of Hamlet but the two leads played by the winners of a Reality Show have been eliminated from the production by injury and death.
Charles is determined to find out who wanted them dead and there are plenty of suspects.
Serving up teapot hysteria and the pun-tastic '20,000 Leaks Under the Sea'.
Starring Tim Brooke-Taylor, John Cleese, Graeme Garden, David Hatch, Jo Kendall and Bill Oddie.
Sketches written by Graeme Garden, Peter Kemp 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 April 1970.
Medic Simon Sparrow's efforts to get a date for the hospital ball turn to chaos.
The misadventures of student doctor Simon Sparrow - adapted for radio by Ray Cooney from Richard Gordon's novel 'Doctor in the House' published in 1952.
Starring Richard Briers as Simon Sparrow, Geoffrey Sumner as Sir Lancelot Spratt, Ray Cooney as Tony Benskin, Edward Cast as Taffy Evans, Norma Ronald as Matron/Vera and Joan Young as Lady Spratt.
Producer: David Hatch
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 1968.
Ex-MP, novelist and broadcaster Edwina Currie is in the hot seat posing questions all about her.
Tackling the ultra-personal quiz are Sue Perkins, Caroline Quinlan, Robin Ince and Will Smith.
Comedy quiz presented by a new guest host every show. All the questions are about the host.
Script by Simon Littlefield and Kieron Quirke.
Devised and produced by Aled Evans.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2007.
Rosie's company is about to launch the autobiography of the country's most famous footballer, Lloyd Gratton.
The lives of Rosie and her granddaughter Jo are shaken by the return to Rosie's daughter Kate after a long spell working abroad.
Prunella Scales in the first of four series of Simon Brett's sitcom following the trials and tribulations of Rosie Burns and her event-management company based in Brighton.
With Arabella Weir as Kate, Rebecca Callard as Jo, Duncan Preston as Bob, Annette Badland as Tess, Jon Glover as Greg Turnball, Tracy-Ann Oberman as Lalage Croxton-Sackville and Will Ing as Lloyd Gratton.
Producer: Maria Esposito
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2000.
After two marriage proposals, Margaret Mackenzie has turned down the first, but what of the second? Stars Hattie Morahan.
Made for 4 Extra. Geoff Lloyd joins Amanda Litherland to recommend the best podcasts. Features an interview with Stephen Fry and a chat with Richard Herring.
A Death in the Family is the first book in the six volume cycle of autobiographical novels, My Struggle. Karl Ove Knausgaard's memoir has been described, in many countries, as a masterpiece.
With searing honesty, and an unflinching gaze turned upon himself and those around him, he writes about his teenage years in Norway. Later, he looks back on the writing of this book, the changes in his life and his second marriage to Linda, and the arrival of their children. Becoming a father prompts further reflections on family life and his relationship with his own father.
Karl Ove Knausgaard was born in December 1968. He published two novels, in 1998 and 2004, which both won prizes in Norway. The six volume series of novels, titled Min Kamp in Norwegian, were published between 2009 and 2011, totalling over 3,500 pages. The sixth and final volume, translated by Don Bartlett, has recently been published in the UK. He lives in Sweden with his wife, the writer Linda Boström Knausgaard, and their four children.
Written by by Karl Ove Knausgaard
Translated by Don Bartlett
Read by David Threlfall
Abridged by Isobel Creed and Jill Waters
Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.
Global Gap is a series of five programmes where two people who do the same job, one from the UK and one from another country (in this series, Mexico), have a thought provoking conversation, to compare and contrast their working lives and the issues that arise in their jobs. The theme throughout the week is 'the next generation'; each programme features young people who are the new generation of workers in their countries. We capture the differences in society and attitudes through their conversation and recordings of in their workplace.
Episode 5 (of 5): Charity Workers
Fiona Patterson works for Barnardo's in Bradford. She helps provide a special service for girls aged between 11 and 18 who are being exploited or groomed for sexual exploitation. She speaks to Sofia Almanza, a charity worker at Casa Alianza in Mexico City, who works with 12 - 18 year olds who have been abandoned, neglected or abused.
While Fiona works with young people who are housed with family or friends, Sofia's service provide residential houses for homeless young people and helps people develop tools to deal with independent life. Sometimes in Mexico, the children are part of larger criminal organisations and many are drug dependent. There are worrying side effects of the drugs, such as blindness and stomach complaints.
Fiona sees many young people with very low self esteem, some of whom have left home to live with people who are now exploiting them sexually or using them to transport drugs. Her service helps the young people to identify their situations and remove themselves to a safer environment.
Producer: Laura Parfitt
A Juniper production for BBC Radio 4.
By Toni Morrison
Adapted by Patricia Cumper
Toni Morrison's seminal 1987 novel about a haunted house in the era that followed the abolition of slavery in the United States is adapted for radio for the first time. Toni Morrison's masterpiece melds horror and poetry as it tells the story of Sethe, a woman who escaped slavery by crossing the Ohio river, but who, eighteen years later, is still not free.
The women's isolation at One Twenty-Four Bluestone Road has put them all in peril, and Denver has decided to seek help from the community. After that, news spread like wildfire; news that the ghost of Sethe's other daughter, who she chose to kill rather than allow to be bonded back into slavery, has come back to reap her revenge.
Original music by Jon Nicholls
Singing arranged by Dominique Le Gendre
Sound design by Caleb Knightley
Director: Sasha Yevtushenko.
Originally broadcast in 2013, in the week marking the fiftieth anniversary of CS Lewis's death, and which saw a memorial stone to the author unveiled in Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey, Radio 4's Book of the Week marked the occasion with a reading of his famous letters from a senior to a junior devil.
Read by Simon Russell Beale
Abridged and produced by Jane Marshall.
A Jane Marshall production for BBC Radio 4.
Dragons threaten the Inner Isles. Tenar and Tehanu have arrived on Havnor to give counsel to the King. The threat is far greater than they first thought.
Ursula K Le Guin's enduring fantasy saga - based on the novel The Other Wind adapted by Judith Adams.
Published between 1968 and 2001, the five novels and short story collection of Ursula K Le Guin's Earthsea cycle (A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore, Tehanu, The Other Wind and Tales from Earthsea) are re-told across twelve episodes. Series 2 takes in the action of Tehanu, The Other Wind and the short story Dragonfly from Tales of Earthsea.
Set on a vast archipelago of islands, where magic is a central part of life, they tell the stories of Tenar and Ged.
Tehanu . . . Laura Elphinstone
Tenar . . . Nina Wadia
Azver . . . Narinder Samra
King Lebannen . . . Steven Robertson
Alder . . . Tom Vanson
Seserekh . . . Sabrina Sandhu
Tesla . . . Sean Murray
Kalessin . . . Emma Handy
Oak . . . Stephen Hogan
Lady Iyesa . . . Lauren Cornelius
Sailor . . . Ryan Early
Original music by Jon Nichols
Directed by Sasha Yevtushenko
Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra.
Three's a crowd? Jenny Ditski and Francis Spufford join Chris Bigsby to discuss solitude versus loneliness. From March 2002.
Comedian Alex Horne is joined by his own 5 piece jazz band for a brand new series of music and comedy. The band will be joined by comedian Kevin Eldon.
Host .... Alex Horne
Trumpet/banjo .... Joe Auckland
Saxophone/clarinet ....Mark Brown
Double Bass/Bass .... Will Collier
Drums and Percussion .... Ben Reynolds
Piano/keyboard .... Joe Stilgoe
Guest performer ....Kevin Eldon
Producer .... Julia McKenzie.
The writer has quit smoking and is jetting off, but the geraniums don't want him to go. With Doon MacKichan. From February 1992.
David Baddiel and Rob Newman join Punt and Dennis in a rousing audience game of Revolution. With Mark Hurst. From February 1990.
Phyllis King and Ivor Cutler present offbeat humorous songs, stories and poems. With David Lloyd. From January 1990.