SATURDAY 29 DECEMBER 2018

SAT 00:00 Dermot Bolger - Haunting Women (b016q02f)
The Riding Crop

A bitter dispute between sisters 200 years ago means a precious wedding gift must be cared for in the present.


SAT 00:15 Matt Haig - The Keepers (b047d0wn)
Matt Haig's vision in which a man wonders from his cage in a zoo what it means to be human. In a letter to his daughter he describes the events leading up to the moment humankind's supremacy came to an end.

Read by Barnaby Kay
Produced by Gemma Jenkins

Bestselling author of The Humans, A Boy Called Christmas and How To Stay Alive.


SAT 00:30 Off the Page (b04cnqz1)
Countryside

Rock critic Neil McCormick, poet Dorothea Smartt and writer Andy Miller share their love and fear of rural Britain.

Matthew Parris introduces a group 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.


SAT 01:00 Miss Marple (b007jvbc)
They Do It With Mirrors

Episode 4

Someone is systematically trying to poison Miss Marple's old friend, Carrie Louise. But who - and why?

Agatha Christie's whodunit stars June Whitfield as Miss Marple. With Ursula Howells as Carrie Louise, Keith Barron as Inspector Curry, Rebecca Lacey as Gina Hudd, Natasha Pyne as Mildred Strete and Nick Waring as Alexis Restarick.

From the book first published in 1952 and dramatised by Michael Bakewell.

Director: Enyd Williams

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2001.


SAT 01:30 About the Boys (b03mfvlc)
From a solo boy chorister singing "Once in Royal David's City" at King's College, Cambridge on Christmas Eve to Aled Jones hitting the Top 10 with "Walking in the Air", the voice of the boy treble has long held a fascination for composers and audiences. But why? Is it because of its impermanence or what it implies about our notions of boyhood? Or is it just the sheer soaring quality?

Christopher Gabbitas knows about being a treble because, as a child, he was a chorister at Rochester Cathedral. He's now a baritone with the world famous a cappella group "The King's Singers", but he remembers his treble days and the repertoire he sang, with great affection. In this programme he asks what it is about the singing voice of a boy which can inspire a range of reactions. And he finds out how different composers through the centuries have used- and continue to gain inspiration from - the treble voice.

Among the people he talks to are his King's Singer colleague, Paul Phoenix, who became famous in the 1970s as the treble soloist for the theme music to the BBC's drama series "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy".

Christopher also meets academic Martin Ashley to hear how the sound of boys' voices has changed over the decades.

And he eavesdrops on a singing lesson to hear what makes a successful treble sound.

We also hear about the way in which composers in opera have used boy's voices from Handel to Britten and into the present day.

And there's an interview with the film composer Elliot Goldenthal who's used treble voices in his scores for "Alien 3" and "Interview with the Vampire".

Producer: Emma Kingsley


SAT 02:00 Book at Bedtime (b040lwwb)
History of the Rain

Episode 5

We are our stories. We tell them to stay alive or to keep alive those who only live now in the telling.

19-year-old Ruth Swain is lying in her childhood home in the small Irish village of Faha in the attic room at the top of the stairs in the bed which her father had to construct in situ and which turned out to be as much boat as bed. She has Something Wrong with her, having collapsed during her fresher year at Trinity in Dublin, and finds herself bedbound in the attic room beneath the rain, in the margins between this world and the next.

Ruth is in search of her father. To understand the father she has lost. To find him Ruth journeys through the ancestry of the curious Swain family - from the Reverend Swain her great-grandfather, to her grandfather Abraham to her father Virgil – and in doing so discovers an enchanting story of pole-vaulting, soldiering, stubbornness, leaping salmon, poetry, the pursuit of the Impossible Standard, and the wild rain-sodden history of fourteen acres of the worst farming land in Ireland. Above all, Ruth embarks on a journey through books. Three thousand, nine hundred and fifty-eight books to be precise, which are piled high and line the walls of her attic room. As Ruth searches for her father in their pages, her story becomes a vital, witty and poignant celebration of imagination, books, love and the healing power of storytelling.

Niall Williams is also the author of bestselling novels including As It is In Heaven, The Fall of the Light, Only Say the Word and Four Letters of Love.

Abridged by Doreen Estall

Read by Ailish Symons

Producer: Heather Larmour

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2014.


SAT 02:15 The Invention of Childhood (b00s9f4y)
A Thousand Histories and Fables

Michael Morpurgo learns about the impact of printing, and how it raised fears among adults that it was corrupting children.


SAT 02:30 Charlotte Bronte - The Professor (b00m1tfr)
Deceit

William now finds himself attracted to the fascinating Zoraide Reuter, head of the girls' school. But not everything is as it seems...

The least-known of Charlotte Bronte's novels: a subtle, ambiguous and unsettling love story dramatised in ten parts by Rachel Joyce.

Starring Paul Venables as William Crimsworth, Roger May as Pelet and Niamh Cusack as Zoraide Reuter.

Director: Tracey Neale

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2005.


SAT 02:45 Book of the Week (b04vjh7p)
Stories in the Stars

26/12/2014

A seasonal reading for clear and frosty nights, when the skies sparkle with thousands of dots forming half remembered, almost traceable shapes. These are the stories behind the names and shapes of the constellations that pattern the night sky.

Stories In The Stars by Susanna Hislop is read by a range of voices and accents from around the country and the globe. It might be one of the stories that the great Egyptian astronomer Ptolemy assigned to them in his masterwork that became known as the Almagest, or it might be a personified first person narration from the constellation Chameleon having a grumble about the number of different names and imagined shapes assigned to him over the millennia.

From Greco-Roman mythology to the lives of the eighteenth century astronomers, this is a delightful miscellany which gives us a reason to step outside, look up and wonder at the magic lantern show above us.

Readers: Colman Domingo, Paul Copley, Maggie Steed

Episode Five:
Virgo - The Maiden points towards Spring. Canis Major is leader of the pack.

Abridged, directed and produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 03:00 Charles Dickens - The Pickwick Papers (b007jzkz)
Christmas and a Wedding

Back from Ipswich, Samuel Pickwick prepares for his Christmas visit to Dingley Dell...

Charles Dickens 1837 novel dramatised in eight parts by Barry Campbell and Constance Cox.

Charles Dickens ..... Simon Cadell
Mr Pickwick ... Freddie Jones
Mr Winkle .... Philip Bond
Mr Tupman ..... Michael Graham Cox
Mr Snodgrass .... Stephen Thorne
Sam Weller ... Douglas Livingstone
Tony Weller .... John Hollis
Mrs Weller .... Stella Tanner
Mr Stiggins .... Christopher Benjamin
Mr Wardle --- Jack May
Old Mrs Wardle .... Kathleen Helme
Emily .... Heather Bell
Isabella .... Anne Rosenfeld
Arabella Allen .... Rosalind Ayres
Ben Allen ..... Tim Piggott Smith
Bob Sawyer .... Nigel Anthony
Joe .... Michael Troughton
Emma ... Jane Knowles
Coachman ... Michael Goldie
Mr Trundle .... Kenneth Shanley

Director: Jane Morgan

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1977.


SAT 04:00 Bernard Cribbins (m0001sk6)
Punch Line

For his 90th birthday, Bernard Cribbins looks back to his panellist role on Radio 2’s 1975 comedy quiz ‘Punch Line’.

Bernard, Bob Monkhouse and June Whitfield throw the punches.

Terry Wogan referees.

From an idea by MYLES RUDGE , who also wrote the sketches

Producer EDWARD TAYLOR

First Broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in 1975


SAT 04:30 Life in London (b0121lz3)
An End to Life in London

With Bob "on the Fleet" for debts, Tom betrayed by Kate and Jerry so fatigued that rustication is recommended, is this an end to the trio's adventures?

Some years on, an older, more reflective Egan ruminates on the heyday of Life in London.

Conclusion of Pierce Egan’s 19th-century comic novel adapted in six-parts by Dan Tetsell.

Pierce Egan ... Geoffrey McGivern
Theodore Holt ... Giles Taylor
Corinthian Tom ... Greg Wise
George Sala ... Ben Graves
Jerry Hawthorn Mark Gatiss
Fanny Margaret ... Cabourn Smith
Bob Logic ... James Bachman
Corinthian Kate ... Amanda Abbington

Original music by Ben Walker

Producer: Tilusha Ghelani

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 2006.


SAT 05:00 Trapped (b0076h5p)
A Boy in a Well

A local TV news team are desperate for a dramatic story to boost their ratings.

Pennine News Network needs a big story to go national and keep them all employed. So when 9-year-old boy falls down a well - will he be trapped long enough for the team to keep their jobs?

Black comedy by Mark Maier and Daniel Maier.

Ben .... Paul Popplewell
Trevor .... Chris Pavlo
Mrs Pickery .... Catherine Tate
MacFee .... Ralph Ineson
Becky .... Catherine Shepherd
Mike .... Paul Copley
Stuart .... Philip Jackson

Producer: Alex Walsh-Taylor

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2003.


SAT 05:30 The Shuttleworths (m0001q6g)
Visiting Time

John Shuttleworth has to combine his Christmas Broadcast with a visit to the local hospital, as his friend Alan the Opera Singer is in for tests.

John’s wife Mary, along with Ken Worthington and Joan Chitty, accompany him to the hospital for the day trip. Once the rather expensive fee has been paid in the hospital car park, the ladies go off to the café and hospital shop while John and Ken visit the patient.

John has his trusty keyboard with him to play Alan a Christmas medley, but, when he arrives at the ward, Alan is nowhere to be found and his bed is worryingly empty. As Ken begins to panic about Alan’s state of health, John sings his new song Going Rapidly Downhill to take his mind off Alan’s disappearance.

When Joan turns up with some mistletoe, John decides it’s time to go looking for Alan – especially as his tummy is rumbling.

Written and performed by Graham Fellows
Produced by Dawn Ellis
A Chic Ken production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 06:00 Hood (b070n8g7)
Noble Secrets

England, 1201: King John reigns and Phillip De Nicholay, Sheriff of Nottingham, is in trouble. The treasury is empty, looted by his former friend; his position and hopes of marrying the Lady Marion are in danger. His only hope is to recover the money. To do that though, he'll need the help of the notorious outlaws of Sherwood Forest. Phillip is about to learn that his actions will be the making of the man they will come to call Robin Hood.

Stars Lee Ingleby as Philip De Nicholay, Peter Greenall as Little John, Damian Cooper as Will Scarlet and Sean Connolly as Brother Tuck.

Director: Iain Meadows.

Produced by Iain Meadows and Matt Hopper for Spiteful Puppet Entertainment.


SAT 07:15 Lady Curzon and a Pineapple (b00cm6ww)
Ian Peacock picks up his spoon and delves into the history of "The King of Fruits".

The "most wanted" additions to any early 20th-century dinner party were said to have been Lady Curzon and a Pineapple. The former for her wit and charms, the latter for its taste, of course, but also for its status as a symbol of wealth and exoticism. Pineapples are believed to have been discovered by Columbus in 1493, and by the 18th century they were so sought-after that many wealthy landowners were attempting to grow them here in Britain. Some were successfully grown as far north as Falkirk in Central Scotland.

Lucinda Lambton discusses pineapple representation in architecture here and abroad, while Ian meets a young pineapple grower and tastes a one cooked to an ancient recipe on a spit over an open fire.

Producer: Caroline Barbour

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2005.


SAT 07:30 Britain in a Box (m0001sh1)
Series 1

It's Only a Game

Paul Jackson explores how locking strangers in the Big Brother house became the TV phenomenon of a new millennium.

The show, which spawned the reality genre, proved that showing ordinary people could make great TV, thereby democratising the celebrity process. And viewers, who watched in their millions, could change the story as it went on.

Includes insights from John De Mol, the Dutchman who dreamt up The Golden Cage (which later became Big Brother); Tim Gardam, the man who brought it to Channel 4 in July 2000; and former contestants Anthea Turner and Nick Bateman.

Producer: Paul Kobrak

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2003.


SAT 08:00 Archive on 4 (b00765kl)
Twice Nightly

For many years Variety, with its brilliant stars, singers, comedians, chorus girls and novelty acts was the lifeblood of British live entertainment.

Veteran variety star Stan Stennett recreates the heyday of the British variety theatre, revisiting some of its greatest moments and its most enduring stars ... and recalls the shared triumphs and tribulations of a profession whose performers trod the boards twice-nightly in theatres, halls and piers from one end of the country to the other.

Researched and written by Roger Stennett.

Producer: Sara Davies

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2001.


SAT 09:00 The Game's Afoot: Sherlock Holmes Special (b00cm07d)
Hear the evidence gathered clue by clue - as Sherlock Holmes enthusiast, Nick Utechin investigates how the Baker Street sleuth has been portrayed on radio across the decades.

Stretching from the Forties to the Noughties, this 3 hour showcase of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle great detective features some rare recordings of Holmes and Watson in action:

* The Adventure of the Speckled Band (17/05/1945)
Why did Helen Stoner's twin sister die in mysterious circumstances on the eve of her wedding? Stars Cedric Hardwicke as Sherlock Holmes and Finlay Curry as Dr Watson.

* The Red-Headed League (19/10/1954);
The strange case of an ad seeking only red-haired men… Stars Ralph Richardson as Holmes and John Gielgud as Watson.

* The Boscombe Valley Mystery (12/12/1966)
The sleuth probes a murder in Herefordshire, but the crime's roots are down under. Stars Carleton Hobbs as Holmes and Norman Shelley as Watson.

* The Return of Sherlock Holmes: The Solitary Cyclist (17/03/1993)
The sleuth investigates who's following music teacher Violet Smith. Stars Clive Merrison as Holmes and Michael Williams as Watson.

* The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: The Abergavenny Murder (18/05/2004)
When a man dies in his Baker Street apartment, the detective is bound to investigate. Stars Clive Merrison as Holmes and Andrew Sachs as Watson.

Plus: Nick talks to writer and dramatist Bert Coules.

Produced by Sarah Wade for BBC Radio 4 Extra.


SAT 12:00 Flying the Flag (b00sxjmy)
Series 2

No Sudden Moves

“It's hard enough coping with adult life as it is, without having children going about being cleverer than you are.”

East meets West in an epic chess game where politics, pride and chicken nuggets are at stake...

Alex Shearer's Eastern bloc embassy sitcom.

Starring Dinsdale Landen as HM Ambassador Mackenzie, Peter Acre as William Frost, Moir Leslie as Helen Waterson, Christopher Benjamin as Colonel Surikov and Richard Pearce as Keith Branley.

Producer: Pete Atkin

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 1988.


SAT 12:30 Dilemma (b03w0j4d)
Series 3

Episode 4

Sue Perkins puts Nick Doody, Angela Barnes, Dominic Lawson and Cush Jumbo through the moral and ethical wringer.

The panellists attempt to resolve dilemmas based around horses and awkward family situations, plus a real-life dilemma about identity and an attempt to help an audience member with affairs of the heart.

Devised by Danielle Ward.

Producer: Ed Morrish.


SAT 13:00 Good News Stories (Omnibus) (m0001sh4)
Five short contemporary dramas inspired by stories from the old and new testaments. There’s a plague of frogs, a visitation from an angel and even a miracle - maybe. In anxious, godless times, there is still a chance of redemption.

Five drama gems from much-loved playwright Katie Hims.

LAURA ..... Nadia Clifford
MR VENTURA ..... Michael Bertenshaw
LEILA ..... Jayda Pryce
MOSES ..... Joseph Nicholas
AMBER ..... Ella Purton

Director ..... Mary Peate

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


SAT 14:10 Inheritance Tracks (m0001sh6)
Stephen Mangan

The actor chooses ‘I Recall A Gypsy Woman’ by Don Williams and ‘Who Knows Where the Time Goes?’ by Fairport Convention.


SAT 14:15 Frankly Speaking (b05t3f72)
Harold Lloyd

Silent film comedy great, Harold Lloyd, answers questions from Liam O'Leary and Peter Duval Smith.

Heralding from the same era as Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd was one of the most popular film comedians of the golden age of silent film. After starting acting aged just 12, Lloyd reveals he never wanted to be a matinee idol. He also attributes his success to a good cameraman and carefully crafted stunts.

Launched in 1952, Frankly Speaking was a completely novel and ground breaking BBC series. Initially there were three interviewers and the series was both unrehearsed and unscripted.

First broadcast on the BBC Home Service in 1962.


SAT 14:45 Kenneth Williams - Ad Lib (b05qdpnl)
Episode 1

Kenneth Williams presents the first of a compendium of entertaining reminiscences and personal opinions recorded in front of an audience at BBC Pebble Mill.

Beginning with the tale of his trip to Lichfield - the literary home of Samuel Johnson - the master raconteur shares tales of historical people and places.

Williams winds his way through stories of writers, buildings, the death of Thomas Cromwell and the funding of wars - and touches on the monarchy, the legal system and anecdotes of Prime Ministers past.

Produced by Michael Ford

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1982.


SAT 15:00 Archive on 4 (b00765kl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]


SAT 16:00 Hood (b070n8g7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]


SAT 17:15 Lady Curzon and a Pineapple (b00cm6ww)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:15 today]


SAT 17:30 Britain in a Box (m0001sh1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]


SAT 18:00 Nick Stafford - The Fire Inside (b0075gpk)
A stranger seeks shelter at an isolated farmhouse in the depths of winter. The occupants, Jack and Mavis, put him in an upstairs room, sparking a sinister chain of events - and an investigation into what has really been going on...

Nick Stafford's supernatural tale stars Philip Jackson as Jack, Kate Rutter as Mavis, Jonathan Tafler as Ellis and Stephen Critchlow as Colin.

Director: Claire Grove

First broadcast in the Elemental Tales series on Radio 4 in 1999


SAT 18:45 Fairy Tales Retold by Sara Maitland (b01pt9nf)
Mother Love

Mother Love, a dark and powerful fairy tale of maternal jealousy retold by Sara Maitland. It's read by Lia Williams.

Producer Beth O'Dea.


SAT 19:00 The Game's Afoot: Sherlock Holmes Special (b00cm07d)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


SAT 22:00 Old Harry's Game (b00wtb2v)
Series 6

Ginger

Satan finally resolves Edith's murder, while she discovers something astonishing about humans descended from angels.

Andy Hamilton's comedy set in Hell.

Starring Andy Hamilton as Satan, Annette Crosbie as Edith, Robert Duncan as Scumspawn and Jimmy Mulville as Thomas.

Other characters played by Michael Fenton Stevens, Philip Pope, Felicity Montagu and Nick Revell.

Producer: Paul Mayhew-Archer

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2007.


SAT 22:30 Chain Reaction (m0001sh8)
Series 7

Rhys Thomas talks to Simon Day

The Down the Line and The Fast Show comics in the talk-tag show, where this week's guest is next week's interviewer. From July 2011.


SAT 23:00 The Simon Day Show (b01jhjs3)
Series 2

Billy Bleach

Simon Day and his characters welcome listeners to The Mallard, a small provincial theatre somewhere in the UK. Each week one of Simon's comic characters come to perform at The Mallard while the staff struggle with rivalries, self-doubt and the new owner's vision for the theatre's future.
This week popular, Fast Show favourite Billy Bleach returns to The Mallard, the theatre that last series gave him his first big break.

Cast list:
Billy Bleach ..... Simon Day
Emanuel Akinyemi ..... Felix Dexter
Pat Bennet ... Morwenna Banks
Ron Bone ..... Simon Greenall

Written by Simon Day
Produced by Colin Anderson.


SAT 23:30 Mark Watson Makes the World Substantially Better (b00d0sjl)
Series 2

Patience

The comedian examines the virtue of holding your horses. With poetry and songs by Tim Key and Tom Basden. From August 2008.