The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
Noo Saro-Wiwa was brought up in England, but every summer she was dragged back to Nigeria - a country she viewed as an annoying parallel universe where she had to relinquish all her creature comforts and sense of individuality. Then her father, activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, was executed there by the military government causing international outrage, and she didn't return for 10 years. Recently, she decided to rediscover and come to terms with the country her father loved. The emotional conclusion to her journey takes her to her father's house in Port Harcourt and then on to her ancestral village, where she is reunited with members of her extended family.
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. BBC Radio 4 resumes at
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Revd Nicholas Papadopulos.
"She takes no prisoners" Meet the winner of the iPM New Year Honour, Kay Salter, a gymnastics coach fighting for Paralympic recognition. Also hear Kenneth Cranham read a short story about wonky sat-nav written by listener Calum Kerr (written as part of his flash365 project). With Eddie Mair and Jennifer Tracey. iPM@bbc.co.uk.
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
Knockando woolmill, near Aberlour on Speyside, has produced fabric since 1784. Its original machinery has supported families down the centuries and the mill has retained a place at the heart of the local community, working with wool from local sheep and weaving tweed and blankets for the flocks' owners. A break had to come, though, for renovation and renewal work which, it is hoped, will allow it to continue its work into the next century and beyond. The trust which runs the mill is determined that it should continue to be far more than a living museum, so Helen Mark visits Knockando just as the restoration work comes to an end to ask where it might market its products, whether anyone nowadays has the skills to keep it alive, and how the Knockando community can be involved in its survival.
Presenter: Helen Mark.
2011 was the year that the UK had one of the fastest increases in food prices in Europe. Charlotte Smith looks at predictions for food prices in 2012, and beyond. According to figures from analysts Kantar Worldpanel the average retail price of lamb roasting joints increased by 48% between 2009-2011, and the retail price of beef mince increased by 11 percent. Warwickshire livestock farmer Adam Quinney discusses the factors behind the prices, how much he's being paid, and why rising prices don't necessarily mean bigger profits. At a time of high grain prices he shows Charlotte how waste breakfast cereal and the by-products of whiskey making are helping him cut costs.
Morning news and current affairs, presented by Evan Davis and Justin Webb, discussing Labour's policy on top pay (
Twiggy, Luke Wright, Arlene Phillips, Body Double, Boy Bus Driver, Born in a Cab, multilinguist
Richard Coles with fashion icon Twiggy, poet Luke Wright, a woman whose baby was born in the back of a cab, a boy who drives his own school bus, a 70 year old Hollywood body double, and a man who speaks 26 languages. Plus choreographer Arlene Phillips' Inheritance Tracks.
John McCarthy meets three intrepid women travellers who cross the generations as well as the continents. Naomi Molten is a veteran of many adventures through south-east Asia, India and Afghanistan as well as Europe and the Far East, travelling mostly alone during the 1950s. Isobel Talks is a young student who has just returned from Ecuador where she lived and worked in different local communities as well as tracking down the rare butterfly that was named after her. She also visited Bolivia and the Galapagos Islands. Felicity Goodall is a writer who has retraced the steps taken by evacuees escaping the Japanese Army in 1942. She recounts the horrific experiences of half a million people who fled for their lives on the remarkable trek from Burma to India.
Felicity's own father served in the British army then and had a lucky escape when his wristwatch deflected a Japanese bullet.
Meera Syal reveals her love of the boxing ring in the first of a new series of "Reasons To Be Cheerful". The multi-talented writer, actress and comedian exercises by getting into the ring and taking slugs at her trainer Paul Webb. Meera, who describes herself as a "pacifist boxer", says the fact that women can now enjoy this male dominated sport is one of her big Reasons To Be Cheerful.
This is the third series of the programme which takes a light hearted swipe at the Grumpy Old Men and Grumpy Old Women who usually control the airwaves. Meera, star of The Kumars at No. 40 and Goodness Gracious Me, praises karaoke as a wonderful piece of modern living, which allows even the shyest person in the room to get up and shine. The mother of two also looks at modern motherhood and the improved way that parents are communicating with their children.
She is joined by experts Rosalind Edwards, Professor in Social Policy at the University of Southampton, Professor Kath Woodward from the Open University and Ethnomusicologist Rachel Harris from the School of Oriental and African Studies. Meera visits the Centre for Well-Being and quizzes founder Nic Marks for tips on how to live a well balanced life.
Meanwhile she does her best to convince fellow actress and comedian Helen Lederer to renounce her grumpy ways.
Producers: Jo Coombs and Martin McNamara.
There's been much political talk recently about attracting the women's vote. The Tories are said to be losing their traditional strength among women. Labour have been trying to exploit this. It's the latest episode in a contest for women's votes visible in the last election, as leaders courted the so-called Mumsnet vote and addressed issues said to concern women in particular.
But what about the male vote? Why is that never talked about in the same way? Do men vote differently to women? Can they be won over by particular language, certain policies and so on? Why don't parties spend their energy trying to appeal to men? Or do they privately plan how to improve their appeal to male voters, but avoid trumpeting it for fear of alienating women?
In this programme Anita Anand investigates how a party might go about trying to attract more of the male vote. She visits a group in Brighton trying to put men's issues on the policy agenda, and explores how political advertising, which has always treated men and women differently, might be used. And she discusses with pollsters and political experts why there is still such a difference in the way the different genders are approached by the parties and their campaigners.
Can international pressure on the military-backed government in Burma be relaxed now a series of reforms is underway? Fergal Keane has been accompanying the British foreign secretary on his visit there and offers an assessment of latest developments there. A year after the assassination of the Governor of Punjab Owen Bennett-Jones has been to Pakistan to examine the impact that killing's had there. John Sweeney talks of how it may be eighty years since millions of Ukrainians died in a famine but the tragedy remains deeply controversial today, the reasons behind it still the subject of heated debate. Libby Spurrier's just been for a cruise down the River Nile and says it's clear that ten months of instability in Egypt has proved devastating for that country's tourist industry. Stephen Sackur's been getting tips on gastronomy from the man behind what some say is the world's best restaurant and he's emerged with controversial suggestions about what you might want on your Christmas table next December!
A leading car insurer has been adding extra insurance to customers policies even when they have indicated they do not want it. Initially the product is free. But when the policy is renewed the cost of the extra product is added on to the premium unless the customer specifically asks for it to be removed. Bob Howard's been looking at one listener's experience. The programme hears from Adrian Webb, Head of Communications at E-Sure and Ingrid Gubbay, consumer specialist lawyer for the firm Hausfeld and Co.
A new EU law in force from 1 January means electronic bank transfers must arrive in the recipient's account by the next business day. In practice this means most payments in the UK will be credited in two hours under the Faster Payments system. But a Money Box survey has found wide variations in the limits and rules that banks apply to Faster Payments.
If you want to invest your money then something called an 'absolute return' fund might sound attractive. They aim to give you a positive return even in difficult times. But for a lot of people who invested in these funds last year the results didn't quite live up to the name. Ben Carter reports and Paul Lewis talks to Merryn Somerset-Webb, editor-in-chief at Moneyweek.
Thousands of people whose mortgages have been transferred from the Bank of Ireland to a subsidiary of Nationwide are facing an anxious wait to see if their mortgage repayments will rocket. Those currently on the SVR rate of
%, but Nationwide won't say when the change will take place.
Money Box speaks to mortgage expert Ray Boulger, senior technical manager at John Charcol.
Season Tickets, Silicon & Synchronised Swimming. Sandi Toksvig hosts Radio 4's best panel show, in the week that rail fares rose a record 10%, politicians argued over who would cover the cost of replacing 40,000 silicon implants, and tickets for the Olympic synchronised swimming event were massively over-subscribed. Tom Allen, Susan Calman, Jeremy Hardy and Fred Macaulay dissect the stories of the week, and Harriet Cass reads the news. Produced by Victoria Lloyd.
Jonathan Dimbleby presents a panel discussion of news and politics from Preston, Hertfordshire, with Stephen Twigg, Shadow Secretary of State for Education; Lionel Barber, Editor of the Financial Times; Jesse Norman, Conservative MP and author of The Big Society; and Constance Briscoe, barrister and author of memoirs Ugly and Beyond Ugly.
Call Jonathan Dimbleby on 03700 100 444 or email any.answers@bbc.co.uk or tweet #bbcaq. Topics this week include: The Lawrence verdict, Diane Abbott's comments on twitter, Assisted suicide, and the future of schools in England? Does the rise of academies and free schools mean the comprehensive system has failed?
Based on the template of Don Quixote, The Quest of Donal Q, is the story of two rival brothers who journey through Scotland in search of a childhood sweetheart. Specially written for and starring Brian Cox and Billy Connolly.
DONAL (Billy Connolly) and SANDY (Brian Cox) have been separated as kids in an orphanage. Donal adopted by a rich couple and taken off to grow up in sunny California, Sandy never chosen and left to live all his life in not quite so sunny Dundee.
It's ten years since the brothers last met and at that time they had a fierce falling out. Now Donal is back - turning up out of the blue at Sandy's tobacconist shop, "Paterson's Inferno", to demand that his brother drop everything and travel on an urgent mission.
The Quest is to find a girl they were both in love with at the Orphanage; Jeanette, red haired, fair skinned and beautiful. An ideal princess. Donal claims she has written to say that she's in dire straits and needs a knight in shining armour to come to her rescue.
And so begins a journey - a journey that will make or break both brothers as conflict breaks out between past, present and future.
Donal ....................... BILLY CONNOLLY
Sandy ...................... BRIAN COX
Hamish/Mr Quigley.... JOHN KIELTY
Jeanette/Leonora ...... SANDY McDADE
Fergus/Mungo .......... FORBES MASSON
Mother/Maybelle ....... LINDY WHITEFORD
Mary ........................ HELEN MACKAY
Margo/Mrs Quigley.... TRACY WILES
Gilchrist.................... CARL PREKOPP
Prester John/Ernie .... DAVID ASHTON
Candy ...................... VICTORIA INEZ HARDY
Immediately after the success of the BBC Radio Ballads, Ewan MacColl set about the Herculean task of trying to drag British folk music into mainstream culture. Frustrated by the dreary amateurishness of folk song performance, he decided to establish his own centre of excellence to professionalise the art. He called it "The Critics Group".
MacColl tutored select artists "to sing folk songs the way they should be sung" and to think about the origins of what they were singing. He introduced Stanislavski technique and Laban theory into folk performance and explored style, content and delivery.
BBC producer Charles Parker recorded these sessions to aid group analysis. 40 years on, the tapes have come to light. For the first time, a clear sound picture can be constructed of this influential group in action. Former group members Peggy Seeger, Sandra Kerr, Frankie Armstrong, Richard Snell, Brian Pearson and Phil Colclough recount six frantic years of rehearsing, performing and criticising each other. They recall the powerful hold that Ewan MacColl exerted which was eventually to lead to the collapse of the group in acrimony and blame.
Presenter Martin Carthy MBE, now an elder statesman of the British folk music scene, shared many of McColl's ambitions but didn't join the group himself. He listens to the recordings and assesses the legacy of MacColl's controversial experiment.
Meryl Streep on her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher; cosmetic fillers; living with extended family; and will 2012 see a resurgence in grammar schools? Highlights from the Woman's Hour week. Presented by Jane Garvey.
Carolyn Quinn presents a fresh perspective on the day's news with sports headlines.
Clive Anderson and guests with an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy.
BBC political editor Nick Robinson talks to Clive about the new series of 'Decision Time' on Radio 4. Nick will be opening up the doors of Whitehall and Westminster to ask how controversial decisions are reached. The series starts Wednesday 11th January at
Morwenna Banks drops in from the Chatsworth Estate to talk about playing ruthless project consultant Carmen in the new series of 'Shameless'. The Gallaghers and half the estate are being evicted, as part of a crackdown on the benefits culture in social housing. Will Chatsworth take it lying down, or will the underbelly strike back? 'Shameless' returns to Channel 4 on Monday 9th January at
Nikki Bedi will be co-habiting with comedian Milton Jones, whose Channel 4 comedy showcase 'House Of Rooms' sees Milton and his mother trying to manage a house of uncontrollable tenants. 'House of Rooms' is on Friday 13th January at
Award winning actor Rory Kinnear discusses his role as Reverend Septimus Crisparkle in the BBC's new two-part adaptation of Dickens' 'The Mystery of Edwin Drood', a disturbing and strangely modern tale of drugs, stalking and darkness visible. Episode one is on Tuesday 10th January on BBC Two at
Brooklyn quintet Milagres perform 'Here To Stay' from their debut album 'Glowing Mouth'. They won't be staying long as they're currently on a UK tour.
Spaghetti Western Orchestra saddle up and gallop in to bring the Wild Wild West to the Loose Ends studio. They perform 'Unplugged Medley' with various unconventional instruments, including playing cards, coat hangers and cornflake packets.
As two men begin life sentences for the murder of Stephen Lawrence, Andy Denwood profiles Imran Khan the lawyer who helped the teenager's family in their tireless fight for justice. When he was first contacted about the murder of a young black man in south London, Khan was a little known-solicitor who had qualified only 18 months earlier. He's since acted in some of the most high profile cases in recent British legal history. He represented the family of Victoria Climbie at the public inquiry into her death and has also been involved in major terrorist trials, including the 21st July London bombings.
Born in Karachi, Pakistan, in 1964, his family emigrated to England four years later. But life in 70's and 80's east London was tough. They were the only Asian family on their street and Khan would often get into fights at school. These early experiences are thought to have motivated him to fight against racism and injustice. They also shaped his political views and he stood in the 1997 general election for East Ham, representing Arthur Scargill's Socialist Labour Party.
NB This programme has been edited from the original broadcast in which we wrongly described the Socialist Labour Party as "defunct".
Tom Sutcliffe and his guests the novelists Deborah Moggach and Michael Arditti and academic and critic Maria Delgado review the week's cultural highlights including The Iron Lady.
The Iron Lady is Phyllida Lloyd's film about Britain's first woman Prime Minister - Margaret Thatcher. Written by Abi Morgan it stars Meryl Streep in the leading role.
Edmund White's novel Jack Holmes and His Friend follows its two central characters - Jack and Will - across several decades from the early 1960s in New York City. Jack is gay and can never quite get over his unrequited love for Will who is straight.
Rodrigo Garcia's film Mother and Child weaves together various narrative strands all of which explore the relationship between mothers and - in most cases - their daughters. Annette Bening plays Karen - a woman in her fifties whose life has been overshadowed by the absence of the child she gave up for adoption when she was in her early teens.
Fog is a new play written by Tash Fairbanks and Toby Wharton which has opened at the Finborough Theatre in London. Cannon (Victor Gardener) is a father trying to rebuild his family after leaving the army. Wharton plays his son - Fog - who has been in care for the last ten years and moves into a flat with his dad where they both face the challenge of getting to know each other.
The Mystery of Edwin Drood was the novel which Charles Dickens was writing at the time of his death - it consequently remains unfinished. Gwyneth Hughes has written a two part adaptation for BBC1, starring Freddie Fox as Drood and Matthew Rhys as his sinister uncle John Jasper. The first part takes the action up to the point where Dickens's novel ends, the second part is Hughes's ingenious extrapolation.
It is not an exercise in nostalgia about a man universally considered to be the greatest cricket commentator and 'the voice of an English summer' it is an exploration of Arlott as a political figure both inside and outside the world of cricket.
John Arlott's politics can best be summed up as those of a radical liberal, and he twice stood unsuccessfully as a parliamentary candidate for the Liberal Party. But he would have found obedience to the party whip difficult, and he rarely adopted a party political stance during the many years that he appeared on the panel of the BBC Home Service's Any Questions. He appeared with such people as Richard Man, Michael Foot and a young Margaret Thatcher; and he attacked the political orthodoxies of both left and right. He always championed the 'common man' against the power or money or privilege.
His political bravery was most obvious within the deeply conservative world of English cricket. He challenged its leaders prejudices on both race and class. He was responsible for bringing Basil D'Oliveira to England, and we broadcast - for the first time - the correspondence between the two men in 1960. He refused to commentate when white South African teams came, and he was centrally involved in the Stop The Tour campaign in 1970. We interview Peter Hain about Arlott's influence. He also supported the Professional Cricketers Association - the players' trade union - and said that being elected its first President was the greatest honour ever shown him.
The programme uses archive from the BBC and beyond. Written and presented by Mark Whitaker.
Sony award-winning writer Ayeesha Menon reworks Charles Dickens 'Martin Chuzzlewit' and sets it amongst the Catholic community in modern-day Mumbai, India.
Convinced his relatives are after his money, miserly old recluse Martin Chuzzlewit (Roshan Seth), adopts orphan girl, Mary (Nimrat Kaur), to be his carer. As she will inherit nothing upon his death, he believes she will do her utmost to keep him in good health. But when his grandson Mickey (Zafar Karachiwala) falls in love with her, Martin's plans are thrown into disarray. Disinheriting him, Martin triggers a complex web of deceit, betrayal and manipulation as the extended family and hangers-on close in, in pursuit of his fortune.
Told from the point of view of orphan Thomas (Karan Pandit), an observer into the world of the Chuzzlewits, this is a fast-paced drama full of intrigue, romance, suspense and murder...
Thomas, an orphan, is apprentice to the scheming architect Pinto, a cousin to miserly old Martin Chuzzlewit, the richest landlord in Bandra. Drawn into the world of the Chuzzlewits, he forms a close friendship with the spirited Mickey, grandson of Martin and heir to the family fortune. When old Martin gets ill, Thomas witnesses attempts by family members to worm their way into his life and secure his fortune, while Mickey gives up everything in pursuit of love...
Ayeesha Menon is an award-winning writer who works extensively in film and radio. For BBC Radio 4 she has written several outstanding adaptations including: Q & A (Slumdog Millionaire) which won Gold for Best Drama at the Sony Radio Academy Awards; THE Cairo Trilogy, starring Omar Sharif, which won a Bronze at the Sony Awards; My Name is Red from the novel by Orhan Pamuk; and Six Suspects from the novel by Vikas Swarup.
Martin ..... Roshan Seth
Thomas ..... Karan Pandit
Mickey ..... Zafar Karachiwala
Pinto ..... Rajit Kapur
Mercy ..... Preetika Chawla
Charity ..... Ayeesha Menon
Anthony ..... Sohrab Ardeshir
Joseph ..... Nadir Khan
Mary ..... Nimrat Kaur
Mrs. Gomes ..... Radhika Mital
Louis ..... Rohit Malkani
Doctor ..... Shernaz Patel
Monty ..... Arghya Lahiri
Manek ..... Vivek Madan
Young Mickey ..... Zaal Madon
Young Thomas ..... Nominath Ginsburg
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by weather.
In the first few months parents control their children's lives but even weaning and potty training could be said to be the first steps towards independence. From then on the debates about when a child can cycle to school go to a sleep-over or play out with friends are a daily occurrence. But, a failure to foster true independence even in young children is key to debates being had now about whether young people are coping at university and work and with life in general.
Are we raising a generation unable to deal practically and emotionally with adult life after years of parental indulgence and funding? As a parent, getting involved in playground disputes, obsessively supervising play and, later, University and careers can sometimes seem the responsible and caring thing to do, but is it really?
The recession and rising house prices might mean that adult children increasingly come back home or never leave. So, how do parents and adult children live together and what might we lose or gain if living with Mum and Dad becomes inevitable?
With Dr Terri Apter, author of 'The Myth of Maturity', the Guardian journalist Deborah Orr who writes about the family and society, Dr Helene Guldberg, author of 'Reclaiming Childhood: Freedom and Play in an Age of Fear' and Matt Whyman, who offers advice to young people about how to manage their parents via the advice web-site TheSite.org.
Russell Davies hosts the eighth heat of the current series of the evergreen general knowledge quiz, featuring competitors from East Lothian, West Yorkshire, Merseyside and Nottinghamshire. This week the programme comes from the BBC studios in Salford.
The winner will go through to the semi-finals and will be one step closer to the coveted title of 'Brain of Britain 2012'.
As ever, a Brain of Britain listener gets the chance to outwit the contestants with devious questions of his or her own, in 'Beat the Brains'.
The third in Ruth Padel's landmark series exploring the pleasures of writing and reading poems comes from Newcastle, where Ruth leads a workshop for group of poets working on their own poems on the theme of The City.
Poetry and poetry fans are everywhere - on the underground, buses and the internet; in schools, colleges and universities; on the stage at slams and festivals; in pubs, theatres and concert halls; in reading groups and writing workshops. All over the country groups of aspiring poets meet regularly to work together on their craft, and in this series Ruth taps into the energy of these poetry workshops to explore how poems work for both writers and readers. In Newcastle, she joins seven poets at the beginning of their writing careers, who have all won recent awards for their poetry, to work on some of their poems on the theme of The City The text of all the poems featured will be available on the Radio 4 website a few days before the broadcast.
Ruth and the group listen to the poems and offer practical and inspirational pointers to each other. As they go behind the scenes of the poems, testing and pruning, exploring technical points like structure, rhyme and line endings, they reveal the imagination and the skill that makes poetry so rewarding for both writers and readers of poetry.
The group also share and appreciate a poem by the award winning poet Sean O'Brien called Essay on Snow.
SUNDAY 08 JANUARY 2012
SUN 00:00 Midnight News (b01940dl)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
SUN 00:30 Brief Sparks (b01946nz)
The Snobs
Muriel Spark had one of the most distinctive voices in twentieth-century writing, was capable of incisive and darkly-comic observation, and won prizes for her writing across the World.
Spark worked as a novelist, dramatist and children's author, but it is perhaps her short stories that best exemplify her sharp eye and beautifully-crafted work, where she coolly probes the idiosyncrasies that lurk beneath veneer of human respectability. The three stories in this series include the darkly funny 'Ladies and Gentlemen', which contrasts well with the wry humour of social comedy 'Snobs' and the sharp satire of class, aspiration and phobia in 'You Should Have Seen the Mess'.
The series begins with Patricia Hodge reading 'The Snobs', a deliciously acerbic and witty dissection of snobbery, insensitivity and social climbing.
Producer: David Roper
A Heavy Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b01940dn)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b01940dq)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b01940ds)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 05:30 News Briefing (b01940dv)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (b01946p1)
The bells of St Lawrence Jewry in London.
SUN 05:45 Profile (b01944k5)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 06:00 News Headlines (b01940dx)
The latest national and international news.
SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b01946p3)
Touch Me, Touch Me Not
Mark Tully considers our sense of touch and how we take it for granted. Somehow our other senses seem more active, even more important to us. We might fear the loss of our sight, or our hearing, but seldom do we worry about losing the ability to touch. But how would we cope without being able to feel anything through our skin? Or, indeed, how would we function if we could not feel our limbs? Tully relates the case of Ian Waterman who had to face life without the sense of touch when he lost all sensation below the neck at the age of nineteen.
He also looks at different cultural attitudes to touch, from the reserved Anglo-Saxon handshake to the more "touchy-feely" ways of greeting in Latin countries. What do our ways of touching, or not touching, say about us?
The programme also considers the notion of inappropriate touch, but at the same time explores the dangers of avoiding touch for fear of being accused of wrong-doing. Tully quotes from author, Judy Rigby, who maintains: "All too often, when we hear about touch, it's in the context of pornography, abuse and violence ... we are afraid of touching because our actions might be misinterpreted. Hence children are deprived of appropriate touch at a very early age. Our response has been analogous to that of a person, who having eaten some bad food, decides that the best course of action in the future is not to eat at all, rather than ensuring what is eaten is healthy."
With poetry from John Betjemen and Michael Ondaatje; and music from Irving Berlin, John Dowland and Rachmaninov, Mark Tully wonders at the seeming simplicity of touch, but its power to transmit and transform. And he celebrates the fact that we need to go on touching if we are to go on caring.
Producer: Adam Fowler.
A Unique Production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (b01946p5)
Mackerel, once considered one of the lowliest fish and derided as a scavenger of the seas, is now Scotland's most valuable catch. It's also its most contentious, lying at the heart of a long-running international dispute. In 2008 when Iceland and the Faroe Islands declared their own quotas for mackerel, allowing themselves far more than had ever previously been agreed, a war of words - and sometimes even of direct action - broke out.
Scotland is the heartland of Britain's mackerel fleet, with twenty five trawlers, based mainly in Fraserburgh, Peterhead and Shetland. Fishing has long been crucial to the survival of towns like Fraserburgh, so to what extent could this dispute threaten the future of an already fragile economy? And do local sympathies lie with the mackerel fishermen, or has the decline of fishing and the rise of the oil industry destroyed the traditional allegiances?
Presented and produced by Moira Hickey.
SUN 06:57 Weather (b01940dz)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 07:00 News and Papers (b01940f1)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 07:10 Sunday (b01946p7)
On this weekend's Sunday programme, Samira Ahmed talks to Rev David Cruise, a close friend of Stephen Lawrence's family, about why he finds forgiveness difficult. Samira also discusses whether or not, eighteen years down the line, racism is still an issue in our society, with Rev Nims Obunge, Pastor at the Freedom's Ark Church, in Tottenham, London.
Joan of Arc was a French national heroine who became one of its patron saints. Now six hundred years after her birth, Samira examines Joan of Arc's legacy within Catholicism and how her form of protest compares with that we see today, with Professor Frank Furedi, Professor of Sociology at the University of Kent and Dr. Sarah Jane Boss, Director of the Centre for Marian Studies at Roehampton University.
As the victims of last year's bombings in Alexandria are remembered in a memorial service, His Grace Bishop Angaelos, General Bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the UK talks to Samira about his concerns for the future of the Coptic community in Egypt.
He's one of our Olympic 2012 hopefuls, but for British Rower Mohammed Sbihi competing in the Games during Ramadan is set to provide a whole new challenge as he explains to our Reporter Charles Carroll.
A year long inquiry by the Commission on Assisted Dying has concluded that it is possible to allow assisted dying within a strict set of rules to ensure it's not abused. Samira talks to two people who've changed their position on this issue, the Reverend Canon Dr James Woodward, who sat on the Commission and Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain.
And Trevor Barnes reveals details of how you can get involved in the BBC's interactive project for Holy Week known as The People's Passion. www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/peoples-passion
Series Producer: Amanda Hancox.
SUN 07:55 Radio 4 Appeal (b01946p9)
Motor Neurone Disease
Joss Ackland presents the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of the charity Motor Neurone Disease Association.
Reg Charity: 294354
To Give:
- Freephone 0800 404 8144
- Freepost BBC Radio 4 Appeal, mark the back of the envelope Motor Neurone Disease Association
Give Online www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/appeal.
SUN 07:57 Weather (b01940f3)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 08:00 News and Papers (b01940f5)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (b01946pc)
"We saw his star in the east". On the feast of Epiphany, Fr James Hanvey SJ travels to the Pope's summer palace outside Rome, home to the Vatican Space Observatory, to explore how God can speak through space and science. Preacher: Dr Guy Consolmagno SJ, Chair of the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society and planetary scientist at the Vatican Observatory.
First heard in 2008
Producer Mark O'Brien.
SUN 08:50 A Point of View (b018xy35)
Information Overload
The historian Lisa Jardine reflects that information overload is not a new problem. "By the seventeenth-century there was widespread anxiety that the sheer volume of available knowledge was getting out of hand." There were also fears that wars and unrest could obliterate knowledge through the destruction of archives. Nowadays, losing knowledge completely is harder thanks to the internet, but the need to sift it is as great as ever.
Producer: Sheila Cook.
SUN 08:57 Weather (b01940f7)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (b01946pf)
Paddy O'Connell presents news and conversation about the big stories of the week.
SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (b01946ph)
For detailed synopsis, see daily episodes
Writer ..... Caroline Harrington
Director ..... Rosemary Watts
Editor ..... Vanessa Whitburn
Jill Archer ..... Patricia Greene
David Archer ..... Timothy Bentinck
Ruth Archer ..... Felicity Finch
Elizabeth Pargetter ..... Alison Dowling
Lily Pargetter ..... Georgie Feller
Pat Archer ..... Patricia Gallimore
Helen Archer ..... Louiza Patikas
Tom Archer ..... Tom Graham
Brian Aldridge ..... Charles Collingwood
Jennifer Aldridge ..... Angela Piper
Debbie Aldridge ..... Tamsin Greig
Adam Macy ..... Andrew Wincott
Ian Craig ..... Stephen Kennedy
Clarrie Grundy ..... Rosalind Adams
William Grundy ..... Philip Molloy
Nic Hanson ..... Becky Wright
Emma Grundy ..... Emerald O'Hanrahan
Neil Carter ..... Brian Hewlett
Susan Carter ..... Charlotte Martin
Roy Tucker ..... Ian Pepperell
Brenda Tucker ..... Amy Shindler
Caroline Sterling ..... Sara Coward
Annabelle Shrivener ..... Julia Hills
Andrew Eagleton ..... John Flitcroft
Bert Horrobin ..... Martyn Read
Tracy Horrobin ..... Susie Riddell
Registrar ..... Marian Kemmer.
SUN 11:15 Desert Island Discs (b01946pk)
Dame Monica Mason
Kirsty Young's castaway is the director of the Royal Ballet, Dame Monica Mason.
Her working life has been dedicated to dance. When she joined the Royal Ballet at fifteen she was the youngest dancer to be admitted to the company and, during her career, its legendary choreographer Kenneth MacMillan created five roles for her. She became director ten years ago and is due to step down this summer. She says: "I couldn't bear it if I thought that, behind closed doors, somebody was saying 'she's here again, you know', so I shall keep my distance and only go in when asked."
Producer: Leanne Buckle.
SUN 12:00 The Unbelievable Truth (b018wvmx)
Series 8
Episode 2
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. Mark Watson, Phill Jupitus, Ed Byrne and Henning Wehn are the panellists obliged to talk with deliberate inaccuracy on subjects as varied as: The Olympics, Butter, Bees and Blood.
The show is devised by Graeme Garden and Jon Naismith, the team behind Radio 4's I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue.
Producer: Jon Naismith
A Random Entertainment Production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 12:32 The Food Programme (b01946pm)
Food Stories: What Happened Next?
Sheila Dillon reports on the major developments in the big food stories of 2011.
Producer: Rich Ward.
SUN 12:57 Weather (b01940f9)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (b01946pp)
Shaun Ley presents the latest national and international news, with an in-depth look at events around the world. Email: wato@bbc.co.uk; twitter: #theworldthisweekend.
SUN 13:30 David Cameron's Big Idea (b01946pr)
Episode 1
When David Cameron became the Conservative leader in 2005, he memorably declared "There is such a thing as society; it's just not the same as the state."
Steve Richards presents a three-part series telling the story behind that famous phrase, tracing David Cameron's vision of a reformed state and a "Big Society" from the early days of opposition to the reality of government.
The first programme explores the period from the beginning of Cameron's leadership in 2005 to the decision to place the Big Society at the heart of the 2010 general election campaign.
Through interviews with Cameron's friends and advisers, such as Danny Kruger, Ian Birrell and David Willetts, and with critics such as Polly Toynbee and Maurice Glasman, the programme shows how the idea was formed and how it was tested, even in the early days.
We go back to the discussions among excited young politicos at Policy Exchange and the dinner tables of Notting Hill. We recall key moments such as the presentation of the Big Society idea in 2009 and the decision to place that theme at the heart of the Conservative general election campaign the following year, a plan which was later heavily criticised.
We show how the idea was difficult to pin down and explore the different versions of the "Big Society" which emerged.
And we examine the impact of the financial crash, revealing the tensions which surfaced between David Cameron and George Osborne.
Producer: Leala Padmanabhan.
SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b018xy2n)
North Somerset
Eric Robson chairs a gardening Q and A with panellists Chris Beardshaw, Anne Swithinbank and Bunny Guinness.
Matt Biggs revisits St Anns allotments in Nottingham to make plans for the coming year. Part of the Listeners' Gardens series.
Guest presenter Toby Buckland visits a commercial cider apple grower.
In addition: can you add chicken feathers to the compost heap? And the pruning principle for evergreens.
Questions answered in the programme are:
Can you add chicken feathers to the compost heap?
Do you have planting advice for an Agapanthus brough over from Madeira.
When and how much can I prune my Garrya Eliptica?
How can I establish my Orange Crocosmia transplanted from Penzance to Somerset?
How high a barrier will ward off carrot fly?
My 60ft mixed border needs more colour in July/August.
Suggestions included: Sedum Matrona and Salvia Huntington Spires.
How do I eliminate Mealybugs on my hoyas?
Can you use homemade compost for seed & potting use?
How do I tackle the buttercup infestation around my large pond?
Why are the central plants of my 100m privet hedge dying?
Produced by Howard Shannon
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 14:45 Welsh's Scottish Journey (b01946wb)
Episode 1
In 1934 the Orcadian poet Edwin Muir embarked on his iconic 'Scottish Journey' a set of travels round depression-era Scotland where he tried to get to grips with Scottish identity and to consider what the future held for a country whose industries were being devastated by a recession
'. . . a silent clearance is going on in industrial Scotland, a clearance not of human beings, but of what they depend upon for life'
As a man very much of his time, of the 1930s, he wavered between socialism and nationalism as cures for Scotland's ills, but in-between reflected on the nature of work, poverty, Scottishness, tourism, the ideal way of living, the highland and the lowland character and the possible existence of a best of all possible worlds on his native Orkney. In the summer of 2011, crime writer Louise Welsh decided to embark on a mini whistle-stop version of Muir's journey, taking to the roads in an open-top car, just as he did, and trying to get a flavour now of a country also in the grip of austerity and flirting with nationalism. How are people reacting in the wake of the bank crash today? Appropriately enough, we start in Edinburgh with funds manager Douglas Watt contrasting it with Muir's idyllic Orkney.
SUN 15:00 Classic Serial (b01946wd)
The Mumbai Chuzzlewits
Episode 2
By Ayeesha Menon
Sony award-winning writer Ayeesha Menon reworks Charles Dickens' Martin Chuzzlewit and sets it amongst the Catholic community in modern-day Mumbai, India.
Convinced his relatives are after his money, miserly old recluse Martin Chuzzlewit (Roshan Seth), adopts orphan girl, Mary (Nimrat Kaur), to be his carer. As she will inherit nothing upon his death, he believes she will do her utmost to keep him in good health. But when his grandson Mickey (Zafar Karachiwala) falls in love with her, Martin's plans are thrown into disarray. Disinheriting him, Martin triggers a complex web of deceit, betrayal and manipulation as the extended family and hangers-on close in, in pursuit of his fortune.
Told from the point of view of orphan Thomas (Karan Pandit), an observer into the world of the Chuzzlewits, this is a fast-paced drama full of intrigue, romance, suspense and murder...
Disinherited by his grandfather, Mickey Chuzzlewit escapes India and tries to make his fortune in Dubai. In his absence, the scheming Pinto and murderous Joseph join forces in an attempt to get hold of the old man's fortune. And while Thomas's feelings grow for Mickey's fiancé, Mary, a mysterious lodger with a terrible secret moves in next door ...
Ayeesha Menon is an award-winning writer who works extensively in film and radio. For BBC Radio 4 she has written several outstanding adaptations including: Q & A (Slumdog Millionaire) which won Gold for Best Drama at the Sony Radio Academy Awards; The Cairo Trilogy, starring Omar Sharif, which won a Bronze at the Sony Awards; My Nane Is Red from the novel by Orhan Pamuk; and Six Suspects from the novel by Vikas Swarup.
Cast:
Martin ..... Roshan Seth
Thomas ..... Karan Pandit
Mickey ..... Zafar Karachiwala
Pinto ..... Rajit Kapur
Mercy ..... Preetika Chawla
Charity ..... Ayeesha Menon
Anthony ..... Sohrab Ardeshir
Joseph ..... Nadir Khan
Mary ..... Nimrat Kaur
Mrs. Gomes ..... Radhika Mital
Louis ..... Rohit Malkani
Doctor ..... Shernaz Patel
Monty ..... Arghya Lahiri
Manek ..... Vivek Madan
Young Mickey ..... Zaal Madon
Young Thomas ..... Nominath Ginsburg
Sound Recordist: Ayush Ahuja
Sound Design: David Chilton
Music: Sacha Puttnam
Producer and Casting: Nadir Khan
Producer: John Dryden
A Goldhawk Essential Production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 16:00 Open Book (b01946wg)
Open Book Listeners' Funniest Books
To brighten up the dark days of January, Mariella Frostrup with Prof John Mullan, celebrate Open Book's listeners' nominations for their funniest book. From The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Three Men in a Boat to Cold Comfort Farm, they discuss the enduring pleasure of classic comic writing.
Sue Townsend explains how it feels that her novel The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole aged 13 3/4 was the winner of the Open Book Funniest Book Balloon debate and her thoughts on the book thirty years on from its first publication.
Amanda Hocking had never sold a single book before 15th April 2010. She has now sold over one million. Having had all 17 of her novels rejected by publishing houses, she began publishing them herself as e-books and has now been described as her generation's first literary phenomenon. With her books finally being published in paperback form, Amanda explains her drive to write and find the audience she knew was out there.
Samantha Harvey explains how her latest novel All Is Song has been inspired by her degree in philosophy and her great interest in the life and work of the Greek philosopher Socrates.
Producer: Andrea Kidd.
SUN 16:30 Poetry Please (b01946wj)
Winter, star-gazing and time
Roger McGough presents a selection of poetry about Winter, star-gazing and time, read by Pippa Haywood, Peter Marinker, Mark Meadows and Nadia Williams.
There are well-known works by Sheenagh Pugh and Alfred Tennyson contemplating the new year. Roger marks Stephen Hawking's 70th birthday with a poem by Robert Frost about the importance of telescopes.
Winter looms large, with poems by Longfellow, Edna St. Vincent Millay and Dana Gioia, but in contrast there are rays of sunshine from John Lyons.
Producer: Toby Field.
SUN 17:00 Inside Fortress Bill (b018xs8p)
Katie Derham takes a 'warts and all' look at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and examines the immense political power and global influence that it now wields.
In June 2008 Bill Gates retired from the day to day running of Microsoft and began to devote his time to distributing his fortune. Now the Foundation's fund, swelled by a $31 billion pledge over ten years from Warren Buffett in 2006, is estimated at $33.5 Billion making it the world's largest grant-giving organisation giving away up to $4billion a year. Gates' views are now welcomed by world leaders, he addressed the G20 in November of 2010, and the man credited with putting computers into every household, is now fighting a battle to save American Education, beat malaria, TB and polio. His status as a great philanthropist is not up for debate.
However, this is a sharp contrast with his former persona of ruthless businessman flaunting competition law, buying off rivals and pursuing his goals with a vengeance. Critics believe his market-led philosophies can distort the picture, allowing Governments to be let off the hook, causing a brain drain in countries where they are backing aid, and the way that funds are distributed seems to be at the whim of the co-chairs who are beyond any form of accountability.
In this programme, Katie Derham has been given unique access to key decision makers at the Gates Foundation in Seattle, follows Bill Gates as he lobbies European opinion formers in Paris, and hears how some of the grantees view their relationship with the richest man in the world.
Producer: David Prest
A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 17:40 Profile (b01944k5)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b01940fc)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 17:57 Weather (b01940ff)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b01940fh)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (b01946wl)
Ian McMillan makes his selection from the past seven days of BBC Radio
On this week's programme we hear the music of the Antarctic ice in a new series of Nature, the tribulations of a Dolly Parton tribute act who wants to be much more than an island in Kenny Rogers's stream, and the radical side of the great cricket commentator John Arlott. We've tales of the transporter bridge in Middlesbrough and the River Dee from its source to the sea, and a phone call to a woman in snowy Nova Scotia by the great Alan Dein. And if you missed this week's revelations about the Chicken Island in Bungay and the identity of the great graphic artist Barney Bubbles, then Pick of the Week will help you out.
Email: potw@bbc.co.uk or www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/potw
Producer: Jessica Treen
In Search of Barney Bubbles - Radio 4
Sunday Feature: Dee - Radio 3
Afternoon Play: Dolly Would - Radio 4
Mark Steel's in Town - Radio 4
A Short Gentleman - Radio 4
Don't Log Off - Radio 4
Transporter Stories - BBC Tees
Front Row - Radio 4
Beyond Belief - Radio 4
Black is a Country - Radio 4
Nature - Radio 4
Cricket's Radical Voice - Radio 4
Don Black on John Barry - Beyond Bond - Radio 2.
SUN 19:00 The Archers (b01946wn)
After chipping up everyone's Christmas trees, ready to turn to compost, Mike calls on Neil to discuss the Queen's diamond jubilee. He suggests planting a jubilee oak tree in the churchyard. Neil agrees to bring it up at this weeks' parish council meeting.
Tracy tells Bert she's very tempted to move in to 6, The Green but she's worried about the future, if anything happened to Bert. She suggests adding her name to the tenancy and has already spoken to the housing association about it. If it means she'll move in, he's happy to do it.
Tracy tells Neil that she's sorted things and will be moving in - just as soon as Neil gets the alternations done.
Brian asks Jennifer to take Ruairi back to school. He's had a call from Annabelle to say that the Borchester Echo will be splashing news of the mega dairy on Thursday. He knows they'll put the worst possible spin on it, so urgently needs to draft a statement to attempt some damage limitation. Jennifer wonders who might have leaked the story. Brian can't get rid of a nagging suspicion that someone has blabbed.
SUN 19:15 It's Your Round (b01946wq)
Series 2
Episode 3
Another panel of comedians endeavour to beat each other at their own games, watched over by Angus Deayton.
Featured rounds:
Will Self's "What's In My Hand?"...further explanation unnecessary.
Glyes Brandreth's "It's My Party", in which panellists must all pitch their own, new political party.
Sara Pascoe's "Tax Loss Entertainment", in which panellists must improvise the worst play in history.
Arthur Smith's "How Much Would It Cost For You To?", a refinement of a game he's played before in which panellists must guess the money they'd require in order to complete various unpleasant tasks.
Producer: Sam Michell.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2012.
SUN 19:45 A Dalmatian Trilogy (b01946ws)
Dalmatian Muse
Episode 2 (of 3): Dalmatian Muse by James Hopkin
Danko lives in a secluded bay on the island. There is a strip of coast-line which he claims represents the whole of life: the island's illegal dumping site; then, further along, an eco-village of simple living and great food and wine; and finally, on the sea itself, the rusting guns of the old military occupation. At night he takes Polyanna out on his boat in search of phosphorescence.
James Hopkin has lived and travelled widely in Europe, including time spent on the Dalmatian islands off the coast of Croatia. These three specially-commissioned stories explore the history and landscape of the area, as well as providing a colourful journey for the senses.
Hopkin gained a First Class honours degree in English and Philosophy in Manchester, then a Distinction in his MA on modern fiction, followed by a British Academy Award for his PhD. In September 2002, he won an Arts Council short story competition with 'Even the Crows Say Krakow'.
His novel Winter Under Water (2007) was an assured and critically-acclaimed debut marking the arrival of a major new writer. He published a small collection of stories in 2008, along with the paperback of Winter Under Water.
James Hopkin's A Georgian Trilogy, also produced by Sweet Talk, was broadcast in 2010.
Reader: Raquel Cassidy
Producer: Jeremy Osborne
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 20:00 More or Less (b018xy2v)
Using statistics in court
Tim Harford tackles the use of statistics in court, the average rise in rail fares, infinity and resolves another marital dispute about probability.
SUN 20:30 Last Word (b018xy2s)
Eve Arnold, Ronald Searle, Sir Michael Dummett and Bob Anderson
Matthew Bannister on
The photographer Eve Arnold - who produced revealing images of all her subjects - from film stars like Marilyn Monroe to some of the world's poorest people.
The cartoonist Ronald Searle, so much more than the creator of St Trinians and Nigel Molesworth. Martin Rowson, Mike Leigh and Russell Davies pay tribute.
The philosopher Sir Michael Dummett, who had radical ideas about meaning and language and also campaigned against racism
And the Hollywood fight director Bob Anderson, who wielded Darth Vader's light sabre and accidentally stabbed Errol Flynn.
SUN 21:00 Money Box (b019449d)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:00 on Saturday]
SUN 21:26 Radio 4 Appeal (b01946p9)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:55 today]
SUN 21:30 In Business (b018xwtc)
Class Struggle
In nearly every country in the world, there's one sector that everyone seems to think is in crisis: education. America produces legions of Nobel laureates and has the best universities in the world - and yet faces an epidemic of failing state-run schools. India churns out vast numbers of engineers ready for the modern economy, and yet its business leaders yearn for the kind of creative thought that is taught in the Anglo-Saxon system. In the UK we worry about discipline and standards, while at the same time welcoming thousands of foreigners anxious to get qualifications and training that are non-existent in their home counties.
Peter Day asks why everyone thinks education is so bad and what schools and businesses are doing to try to improve it.
Producer: Mike Wendling.
SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (b01948x8)
Carolyn Quinn discusses the challenges facing the leaders of Britain's main political parties in 2012. Her guests are Nick Watt, Chief Political Correspondent of the Guardian, Janan Ganesh, Political Correspondent of the Economist, and Philip Cowley, Professor of Parliamentary Government at Nottingham University.
The Conservative MP Michael Ellis explains why members of the Houses of Parliament have decided to present the Queen with the gift of a window to celebrate her Diamond Jubilee. Mr Ellis chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.
SUN 22:45 What the Papers Say (b01948xb)
Episode 85
Andrew Grice of The Independent analyses how the newspapers are covering the biggest stories in Westminster and beyond.
SUN 23:00 The Film Programme (b018xwt1)
The Film Programme strays into the territory of Greek tragedy this week embracing the family, family politics and politics itself. Francine Stock talks to Olivia Colman about playing opposite Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady, Phyllida Lloyd's film about Margaret Thatcher; she discusses teenage pregnancy,lost daughters and redemption with Rodrigo Garcia the director of Mother and Child which stars Annette Bening and Naomi Watts; and she joins the critic Jonathan Romney to assess the celebrated Chilean film, Post Mortem which is released this month on DVD. Then, in a final flourish she invites the historian Jeffrey Richards, to reflect on the strange impact which an Atlantic crossing can have on a film''s title.
Producer: Zahid Warley.
SUN 23:30 Something Understood (b01946p3)
[Repeat of broadcast at
06:05 today]
MONDAY 09 JANUARY 2012
MON 00:00 Midnight News (b01940g2)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
MON 00:15 Thinking Allowed (b018xtrk)
Uniforms and status in hospitals - Cities under siege
How important is the way we dress for work? Laurie speaks to Stephen Timmons who has studied the impact on a hospital of removing professional markers and having almost all staff dress the same.
Also how cities are the new battleground of our increasingly urban world: Stephen Graham, author of Cities Under Siege, tells Laurie that from the slums of the global South to the financial districts of the developed world political violence is policed with increasingly military tactics. He claims that the all over the world the city shows more and more features of a war zone. They discuss what he calls the 'new military urbanism' with Melissa Butcher.
Producer: Charlie Taylor.
MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (b01946p1)
[Repeat of broadcast at
05:43 on Sunday]
MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b01940g4)
The latest shipping forecast.
MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b01940g6)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b01940g8)
The latest shipping forecast.
MON 05:30 News Briefing (b01940gb)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b0194dhz)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Revd Nicholas Papadopulos.
MON 05:45 Farming Today (b0194dj3)
Charlotte Smith hears that live animal exports are on the increase. More than 80 thousand animals were shipped from Ramsgate last year. The animal welfare charity Compassion in World Farming is now launching a campaign to end the transport of calves and sheep across long distances, which it claims can cause suffering.
Wildlife Trusts in Wales are asking people to keep an eye for the elusive hare, to get an idea of the current population, which is believed to have dropped by around three quarters since the second world war. Rob Parry from the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales tells Farming Today intensive agriculture is to blame for the hare's decline.
And first it was battery eggs, now there are warnings that by next year European bacon could be breaking the law. With new EU welfare rules due to be introduced next January, British pig farmers warn many European countries won't meet the deadline. Mick Sloyan from BPEX, which represents the pig industry, tells Farming Today that UK producers risk being undercut by cheap, illegally-produced meat.
Presenter: Charlotte Smith; Producer: Melvin Rickarby.
MON 05:57 Weather (b01940gd)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.
MON 06:00 Today (b0194dj5)
Morning news and current affairs, presented by John Humphrys and Sarah Montague, including Duwayne Brooks on the Lawrence verdict (
07:50), Scotland's deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon on the independence referendum (
08:20) and actress Vanessa Redgrave on her feelings about politicians (
08:44). Debating whether top pay can and should be curbed (
08:10) and secret recordings of IRA members (
08:30).
MON 09:00 Start the Week (b0194dj7)
Austerity: Antony Gormley, David Kynaston and Anna Coote
On Start the Week, Andrew Marr begins the new year with a look at austerity. Anna Coote argues that it's time to embrace a new set of values that are not dependent on high rolling consumerism and, as unemployment rises, to share out the working hours more evenly. The great chronicler of Austerity Britain of the fifties, David Kynaston, explores whether there are any lessons to be learnt from earlier decades of thrift and dissent. The artist Antony Gormley discusses a new collaboration in which he explores the idea of survival in a world in which we are bombarded with information but have very little direct control. And Fintan O'Toole, Irish Times columnist, looks at at how Ireland is dealing with its 5th austerity budget and asks if there are lessons we can learn from the fate of the Celtic Tiger.
Producer: Katy Hickman.
MON 09:45 Book of the Week (b0194l3b)
Stop What You're Doing and Read This
Memories and Expectations
Passionate, funny, revelatory and inspiring, this series is a mission statement about the transformative power of reading; about the way it inspires us, the tangible impact it can have on our well-being and the importance it holds for us now and will continue to hold in the future.
Stop What You're Doing And Read This! features five of our finest authors and advocates from the world of publishing. Michael Rosen, Jeanette Winterson, Tim Parks, Carmen Callil and Mark Haddon, are all united here in a passionate belief in the distinctive and irreplaceable pleasures and powers of reading. Their essays argue that reading literature is, and must continue to be, a fundamental part of our daily life, as it directly improves our mental health and well-being, enriches our experience and broadens our imaginations.
As the ways people read, what they read, where they buy their books and in what format are all changing rapidly, this series argues unapologetically for the paramount importance of books and reading in a fast-moving, dislocated, technology-obsessed world.
Today; Michael Rosen reads Memories and Expectations, in which he describes his childhood, family and books and the blurring of the lines in his remembrance of each.
Producer: David Roper
A Heavy Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (b0194dj9)
Parental Favouritism, Work-life Balance, Women in Business
How natural is it for a parent to have a favourite child and should you acknowledge it? We hear from one mother who talks about the taboo subject. One Conservative MP has openly expressed her frustration at her lack of promotion from the backbenches. She's just one of a larger group of women MPs from the 2010 intake who are keen to get ahead. How likely are they to get a foot on the ladder in the next government reshuffle? The term work life balance is much used but does it fudge the necessary choices that have to be made as a working mother? In Women in Business we catch up with inventor Tanya Ewing and her mentor. Presented by Jane Garvey.
MON 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b0194djc)
Ruthless
Episode 1
A light-hearted look at the world of Personal Assistants and office intrigue from the creator of Channel 4's Teachers, Tim Loane.
Ruth Brown arrives for her first day at a busy management consultancy and is thrown into a world of corporate jargon and menial and mind numbing tasks, all topped off with an unhealthy dollop of executive stress and a smidgen of scandal!
Hired to urgently plug a gap, Ruth is thrust into the life of a corporate PA alongside co-workers Tanya, Michelle and Beatrice. The real beating heart of the company, the PAs attend to the whims of the company CEO Oliver Carlton and keep the corporate plates spinning. However, with the consultancy undergoing an 'efficiency' assessment due to its record levels of stress-related illness, the atmosphere is anything but relaxed. Trying to settle in to her first week as a PA on the 'top floor', Ruth's interest is also piqued by the conflicting stories surrounding the fate of her predecessor Ingrid. What is the secret her colleagues are so keen to keep hidden?
As she begins uncovers a web of secrets, and scandal and as the stress levels rise, can Ruth learn to play her co-workers at their own game, and win?
With Olivia Hallinan as Ruth, the cast includes Joe Armstrong, Charles Edwards, Claire Rushbrook, Olivia Poulet, Gillian Kearney, Miche Doherty and Seainin Breannan.
A writer, director and actor, Tim Loane's screenwriting credits include the comedy films Out of The Deep Pan (BBC), Reversals (ITV) and he was creator and lead writer of the Bafta-nominated Teachers for Channel 4. He wrote the four-part conspiracy thriller Proof 2 (RTE), the three-part family drama serial Little Devil (ITV) and the 2009 updating of 80's television classic Minder (Channel 5). A co-founder of Northern Ireland's Tinderbox Theatre Company, his stage plays include Caught Red Handed and To Be Sure while he also directed the 1997 Oscar nominated short film Dance Lexie Dance. For radio he was written the inner-city thriller The Tunnel and the post-ceasefire ensemble comedy I can see clearly.
MON 11:00 Don't Log Off (b0194djf)
Series 1
Episode 2
Alan Dein attempts to cross the world on a series of late night excursions via Facebook and Skype - discovering the real life dramas behind the online profiles.
It's a hesitant start as Alan starts from a "Friend" count of zero, struggling to lure users away from the anonymity of the keyboard to the glare of the webcam - and engage in real verbal communication. Yet over five long late nights, he gradually builds up a circle of friends, crossing the time zones and discovering some startling stories.
In this second programme, he's among those dreaming of freedom, talking to a man car-jacked in Caracas, and an Iranian evading the electronic eavesdropping of the authorities who's determined to flee the country.
Five years ago, Alan Dein brought us the acclaimed Don't Hang Up, in which he set himself the task of calling phone boxes around the world to see who picked up. This time, the project reaches a whole new scale.
Producers: Laurence Grissell and Sarah Bowen.
MON 11:30 Party (b011pkqg)
Series 2
It's Technology, Stupid
The young aspiring politicians of the new political Party get to grips with technology and whether it is making people stupid.
Meanwhile, they launch a recruiting campaign on the internet.
Second series of Tom Basden's satirical comedy.
Simon ..... Tom Basden
Duncan ..... Tim Key
Jared ..... Jonny Sweet
Mel ..... Ann Crilly
Phoebe ..... Katy Wix
Jared's Mum ..... Jane Whittenshaw
Producer: Julia McKenzie
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 2011.
MON 12:00 You and Yours (b0194djh)
Private investigators, online piracy and North South divide.
Radio 4's Consumer Affairs Programme with Julian Worricker.
A Government committee examines why statutory regulation of private investigators still hasn't happened ten years after it was first called for.
Some parts of the music industry in the UK say its urgent that we enforce legislation to police online piracy. Other countries are bringing in strict new laws: we'll be finding out why we're lagging behind.
The Coalition Government pledged to narrow the North South divide but instead the gap is widening. Will this get worse as the recession bites deep into 2012?
MON 12:57 Weather (b01940gg)
The latest weather forecast.
MON 13:00 World at One (b0194djk)
National and international news with Martha Kearney. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
MON 13:45 To Strive and Seek (b0194kkt)
Episode 1
Focusing on the often forgotten, but revealing stories of the individuals involved, this highly textured series, authoritatively presented by Sara Wheeler marks the centenary of Scott's ill fated polar expedition.
Scott's Terra Nova Expedition famously reached the South Pole on 17th January 1912. When they arrived they discovered that Amundsen had got there 33 days before them. They all perished on the return trip. The stated aim of the endeavour had been "to reach the South Pole and to secure for the British Empire the honour of this achievement".
This series of five programmes will focus on the individuals involved, drilling down into the minutiae of their lives and thoughts, analysing what they reveal. The expedition was so much more than simply Scott. The others - whose lives were lost or changed forever by the unfolding drama - reveal much about this ultimate moment of human endeavour, this key moment at the end of empire, this tragic catalogue of misjudgement.
In all there were sixty-five men involved in the ship and shore parties, This is the story of five of them. Key individuals, each with their own reasons for being there, their own fascinations and interests, their own Terra Nova Expedition.
These highly textured programmes weave together the thoughtful and informed script of Sara Wheeler, diary entries, and a specially commissioned sound design. There are also descriptions of Herbert Ponting's photographs courtesy of the Royal Collection.
Episode One focuses on Herbert Ponting.
Producer: Kevin Dawson
A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 14:00 The Archers (b01946wn)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Sunday]
MON 14:15 Drama (b0194kkw)
Network
Discovering a stash of mobile phones belonging to his out-of-work step-daughter Charlie, Darren Collins stumbles across an ominous voicemail message. Curious as to how Charlie can afford so many phones and what the message might mean, Darren decides to investigate and calls the number on the phone. Unwittingly, Darren uncovers a network of individuals apparently using mobile technology to arrange various protests and demonstrations. As he starts to get drawn into the world of the network Darren begins to wonder is there something more sinister at work at its core? But what exactly? And how is Charlie involved?
Determined to discover the truth, Darren infiltrates the network further, but at what cost to both himself, and to Charlie?
A new thriller from Tony McHale. Formerly Executive Producer of BBC's Holby City, Tony McHale is a writer, director, producer and actor whose numerous credits include Trial and Retribution, Waking the Dead, Silent Witness, Boon, Casualty, Murphy's Law, The Bill, EastEnders, Dangerfield and Dalziel and Pascoe.
Cast:
Darren..........Shaun Dingwall
Natasha.........Sara Griffiths
Charlie..........Ciara Janson
Lennox..........Karl Collins
Jango............Iain Robertson
The Network...Christopher Webster, Victoria Inez Hardy, Jonathan Forbes, Michael Shannon, John Anthony and Laura Conway.
Other parts played by members of the cast.
Producer/Director: Heather Larmour.
MON 15:00 Brain of Britain (b0194kky)
(9/17)
Which major battle took place at Drumossie Moor near Inverness? And if Shakespeare was known as the 'Swan of Avon', which writer was the 'Swan of Usk'?
Russell Davies puts these and many other questions to the competitors in today's ninth heat of the general knowledge quiz, each of them aiming for a place in the semi-finals and a further step towards the coveted title 'Brain of Britain 2012'. Today's contestants come from London, Stevenage and Edinburgh.
Producer: Paul Bajoria.
MON 15:30 The Food Programme (b01946pm)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:32 on Sunday]
MON 16:00 Merzman: The Art of Kurt Schwitters (b0194kl0)
It took a long time for the British artworld to recognise the influence of Kurt Schwitters, a German artist who died in Cumbria just after the end of World War Two. But in 2011, the Lake District barn he worked in during his last days was rebuilt stone for stone in the West End of London, and in 2013 a major retrospective of Schwitters' work will open at Tate Britain. In this programme, Bob Dickinson explains why Schwitters has become so highly regarded, and traces Schwitters' journey from Hannover to Cumbria, where he visits the original barn in Elterwater where Schwitters' final, most ambitious work began to be constructed - and Newcastle on Tyne, where that sculpture, built on to one complete wall of the barn, was transported during the 1960s.
Kurt Schwitters was one of the great European modern artists - a founder of the Dada movement in Germany, and an inventor of the technique we now call collage - piecing artworks together from fragments of found images, print, text, or discarded objects which even included rubbish. Eventually he developed a style he called Merz, and started making elaborate sculptures you could walk inside, called Merzbau - the forerunners of today's installation art. But the rise of the Nazis forced Schwitters to flee, leaving his wife and family in Hannover, and moving to Norway and then Britain.
Almost immediately arrested as an enemy alien, Schwitters was incarcerated in the Hutchinson Square camp on the Isle of Man, but on release made his way to London and then the Lake District, where he decided to settle. But he couldn't get art dealers to take his work seriously, and he had to survive by painting pictures and trying to sell them on the streets of Ambleside, where he lived with an English girlfriend he called Wantee - because every time she entered the room she asked him "Want tea?" By the end of the war, Schwitters health was in decline. His German wife had died. His home in Hannover, containing his first and biggest Merzbau construction, had been destroyed by Allied bombing. But in a stone-built barn barn in Elterwater, not far from Ambleside, Schwitters started work on his final, most ambitious project which he called the Merzbarn, encouraged by a grant - and recognition - he had received from the Museum of Modern Art in New York. One wall of the Merzbarn was complete by 1947 when Schwitters died.
The programme includes interviews with experts on Schwitters including the British painter and critic, Bill Feaver, and the curator of Schwitters' archive in Hannover, Dr Isabel Schulz. The Littoral Trust, which administers the Elterwater barn in Cumbria, regularly organises events dedicated to Schwitters, and actuality from several recent events is also included in the programme, including performances of Schwitters' amazing sound poetry that took place in 2011 in the basement of a mill in Bury, Lancs, which once held enemy aliens, including Schwitters.
MON 16:30 Beyond Belief (b0194kl2)
Mystical Experiences
Shamanic cultures have been using substances for thousands of years to induce altered states of consciousness. X ray vision is said to be a key feature of the shamanic experience. This has been observed in Aboriginal rock art where the skeletons of animals are depicted. Cannabis is sacred to the Hindu God Shiva and even ancient Buddhists were known to use drugs. In India there was a substance called Soma, which is mentioned in the ancient Hindu scriptures, the Vedas, which probably used hallucinogenic mushrooms.
There's now a strong working hypothesis amongst academics that traditional religious practices such as meditation can activate chemicals in the brain which produce the same effects as LSD. But Robert Zaehner, an early 20th century British academic argued that only theistic mysticism was sacred and that all other mystical states were profane or immoral.
Joining Ernie Rea to discuss mystical experiences are Dr David Luke, Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Greenwich and President of the Parapsychological Association, Shamanic Practitioner, Dr Zoe Bran and Shaunaka Rishi Das, Director of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies.
MON 17:00 PM (b0194kl4)
Eddie Mair presents the day's top stories. Including Weather.
MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b01940gj)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 18:30 The Unbelievable Truth (b0194kl6)
Series 8
Episode 3
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, Alan Davies, Tom Wrigglesworth and John Finnemore are the panellists obliged to talk with deliberate inaccuracy on subjects as varied as: Hamburgers, Pens, Snoring and Crocodiles.
The show is devised by Graeme Garden and Jon Naismith, the team behind Radio 4's I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue.
Producer: Jon Naismith
A Random Entertainment Production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 19:00 The Archers (b0194kl8)
The Environment Agency will be back any day soon, so David can't put off doing the NVZ records. He's brought the record book out of the tractor but it looks as if it's been dropped in mud. David needs Ruth's help to decipher some of the writing - even though it's his own. He takes a break from inputting the records to research slurry tanks, which might be the best way forward.
Tom's working hard, with Brenda's support, at promoting his new range of ready-made pork based meals.
Brenda bumps into Jennifer, who's out birthday shopping for Pat and Nolly. They chat about all the effort Lilian's going to for Pat's party.
Although Annabelle has fine-tuned his statement, Brian's not convinced it will do any good. He needs to get their side across to the planning department before the Echo comes out.
Brian tells David about the set-back and wonders if David knows how the Echo got hold of the story. David doesn't think it would be any of the potential suppliers he suggested to Brian. Brian agrees it's unlikely he'll ever find out who talked. He's probably just got to take it on the chin and move on.
MON 19:15 Front Row (b0194klb)
Steven Spielberg on War Horse; Philip Larkin's poetry
With Mark Lawson.
Oscar-winning film-maker Steven Spielberg discusses his new adaptation of Michael Morpurgo's book War Horse.
Andrew Collins reviews the audio version of cultural theorist Marshall McLuhan's most famous work. The Medium Is The Massage is a mash-up of musings, music and bizarre effects and is re-released 40 years after it first assailed the ears of the general public.
Archie Burnett discusses his collection of Philip Larkin's complete poems, which is considerably larger than the slim volumes that the poet published in his lifetime. Mark Lawson finds out if he has unearthed any lost treasures.
Producer Katie Langton.
MON 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b0194djc)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
MON 20:00 The Bishop and the Prisoner (b0194kz2)
Episode 2
In this three part series the BBC is given a rare degree of access to prisons as it accompanies the Rt Rev James Jones, the Church of England's "Bishop for prisons," into the country's jails. Conversations with prisoners - voices rarely heard on radio - are the centrepieces of these programmes, but the Bishop also talks to prison staff, politicians and opinion-formers about what prison should be for, how prisoners can be helped to become useful citizens and whether community sentences can ever win the public's confidence as a viable alternative to prison.
Prisoners who are released from prison without a job to go to are far more likely to re-offend than those who have. In this second programme, the Bishop visits training schemes which offer inmates a chance to gain new skills and may even guarantee them a job. The shoe manufacturer Timpsons has training workshops in Liverpool and Forest Bank; High Down is home to the infamous Clink restaurant where prisoners cook and serve Michelin-style food to members of the public.
But rehabilitation may depend more on a change of heart than a change in circumstance. The Government says all the evidence points to the effectiveness of Restorative Justice schemes in cutting re-offending - whether through Victim awareness schemes, encounters between victims and perpetrators, Community Payback or the offender making financial reparations.
James Jones hears from prisoners who say that encountering a victim has changed their lives. Some victims tell him that Restorative Justice has positively transformed their own lives; others feel that the Government's emphasis on it sidelines victims yet further within the Criminal Justice system. Prisons minister Crispin Blunt responds.
In his encounters with prisoners and ex-offenders, the Bishop challenges those who seek to evade responsibility for their crimes, and those who think that, while they are worth rehabilitating, others are not.
This programme was first broadcast on January 9th 2012.
MON 20:30 Crossing Continents (b018xw68)
Saving the Brazilian Amazon
The Amazon rainforest is perhaps the world's greatest single environmental asset. For years the accepted wisdom has been that the remorseless tide of destruction there is unstoppable. Justin Rowlatt travels to Brazil to question this conventional account and finds that over the last five years rates of deforestation have plummeted by more than half. There is now serious and credible discussion about stopping deforestation completely and even replanting rainforest in deforested areas.
He joins raids deep in the jungle with a team of armed Brazilian environment agents - and watches as a gang of loggers are caught in the act. He meets the farmers and ranchers who are now conserving rather than cutting the forest, including one of the world's biggest farmers, the man they call the King of Soya, Blairo Maggi. He meets an Indian tribe who have been enlisted as "smoke jumpers" - frontier firefighters protecting the forest from wild fires.
He travels to the most remote state in Brazil to see a project which has created a viable market for the traditional industry of wild rubber tapping by building a condom factory in the middle of the jungle.
Of course there is still enormous pressure on the forest. 2011 saw a spike in deforestation and a big debate about the management of the forest which has shown the continued power of the rural lobby. While Brazil's success in taming deforestation remains fragile Justin asks if there is cause for hope that the greatest ecosystem on the planet can be preserved.
Producer: Keith Morris.
MON 21:00 Material World (b018xwt3)
The ancient Mayans had two calendars; the solar calendar of the agricultural year and a lunar calendar on which they based their religious festivals. The two don't coincide very often. The longest cycle they considered lasts 5 125 years and completes a cycle on 21st December 2012 at the midwinter solstice. That has given rise to predictions that this is when the world will end - something not stated in the Mayan texts. It was also the basis for the Hollywood epic "2012" with earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions and all the special effects of modern film making.
So how might the world actually end? Could geological or cosmic catastrophe take place this year, and if not, how do we know? But this is not just about geology and astronomy. It's also about human psychology. Why do predictions of an apocalypse continue? What drives those who invent them, and their followers who sometimes have such strong beliefs that they commit mass suicide?
And will the world end eventually, and if so, how and when? Quentin Cooper investigates the end of the world with the help of astronomers, psychologists and anthropologists.
Producer: Martin Redfern.
MON 21:30 Start the Week (b0194dj7)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
MON 21:58 Weather (b01982kv)
The latest weather forecast.
MON 22:00 The World Tonight (b0194kz6)
National and international news and analysis with Ritula Shah.
MON 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b0194kz8)
Honoré de Balzac - Cousin Bette
Episode 6
Cousin Bette is one of the best loved and most admired of Honore de Balzac's novels, written when his powers were at their height and marking the culmination of his extraordinary chronicle, La Comedie Humaine.
A tale of seductive women and philandering men, of passionate affairs and spiralling debts, Cousin Bette paints a vivid portrait of Paris in the 1830s and '40s. In a city full of temptations, money is king, morals are loose and the appeals of the virtuous are usually in vain. In the midst of it all sits a poor relation, Cousin Bette, like a spider in her web. Fuelled by bitterness and jealousy, she is determined to weave destruction into the lives of her extended family, the socially superior Hulots.
With her friend and accomplice, the beautiful Madame Marneffe, Bette sets out to manipulate events so that men are brought to their knees and their wives to despair, and she attains the power and prestige she seeks.
In today's episode, Hortense discovers Wenceslas's interest in Valerie and Valerie drops a bombshell on all four of her lovers at once.
Cousin Bette was written in less than a year, in serial instalments, often only completed just before the deadline. Within its pages, Balzac conjures a kaleidoscope of characters from all walks of life, chronicles the rise of a grasping bourgeoisie and tells a gripping tale of jealousy, passion and treachery.
The reader is Alex Jennings.
The translator was Marion Ayton Crawford and the abridger was Sally Marmion.
The producer is Di Speirs.
MON 23:00 Word of Mouth (b018xs89)
Comparing the way we bring up children and train dogs
Do dog training techniques work just as well on children? Michael Rosen investigates, comparing the way we bring up our children and train our dogs. Taking part are Victoria Stilwell of TV's It's Me or the Dog, John Bradshaw, Jez Rose, Steven Rose and parents who have strong views on the subject..
Producer Beth O'Dea.
MON 23:30 Ten Rare Men (b00sds35)
Anybody who sees a rare bird has a dilemma. How does you confirm that it's correctly identified and, most importantly, how can you be sure that someone will believe you? In the latter case, the ultimate arbiters are the Ten Rare Men, more properly known as the British Birds Rarities Committee.
Howard Stableford, a keen but by no means expert naturalist, celebrates 50 years of the Ten Rare Men by setting out to find his own rarity with the help of writer and birder Stephen Moss. On the way he meets the experts whose job it is to review and ratify records of rare birds they've received from all over the UK. As he discovers this isn't just about birds, but concerns hard-won reputations and diplomacy: a rejection is in the public eye and has to be handled carefully.
After 50 years the list of nearly 600 species seen in the UK is still growing. Some birds still pose knotty problems beyond their identification involving international research, questions about provenance, and even whether the bird was ship-assisted or not. Talking to past and present "rare men" Howard reviews some tricky cases from the archives including the never-to-be-repeated Slender-billed Curlew of 1998, which may now be extinct, and the fraudulent case of the Chipping Ongar hermit thrush. He also explores the future for the Ten Rare Men. As molecular analysis reveals more hidden species, and digital photography and the internet allow instant identification, is there a continuing role for the Ten Rare Men? Most important of all, will there ever be a Rare Woman?
Presented by Howard Stableford
Produced by Brett Westwood.
TUESDAY 10 JANUARY 2012
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (b01940h3)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
TUE 00:30 Book of the Week (b0194l3b)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b01940h5)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b01940h7)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b01940h9)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 05:30 News Briefing (b01940hc)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b019dhvq)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Revd Nicholas Papadopulos.
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (b0194l3d)
Is conservation being sacrificed for the economy when it comes to the high speed rail proposals? Anna Hill investigates.
A decision on whether to push ahead with the controversial 32 billion pounds High Speed rail link between London and Birmingham is expected to be announced later today by the Transport Secretary Justine Greening.
Farming Today speak to Countryside Alliance who are against the proposals and research group Greengauge 21 argue why the HS2 needs to be started now before the rail network reaches its capacity.
And new rules to improve conditions for pigs in Europe will come into force in 2013. The high welfare laws will mean an end to routine tail docking without anaesthesia and will prevent sows being kept in narrow stalls for the whole of their pregnancy and will also not allow them to be tethered. The RSPCA explains how sow stalls in Europe compare and we visit a pig farmer in Nottinghamshire to see how UK breeding sows conditions are different.
Presented by Anna Hill. Produced by Clare Freeman in Birmingham.
TUE 06:00 Today (b0194l3g)
Morning news and current affairs, presented by John Humphrys and Justin Webb, including our New Year leader interview with Ed Miliband (
08:10) and discussing HS2 (
08:30) and whether health professionals should nudge patients into healthier lifestyles (
07:50).
TUE 09:00 The Long View (b0194l3j)
Diamond Jubilee Celebrations
Jonathan Freedland compares Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee with that of Queen Victoria.
Image: Queen Victoria and her envoy in a horse-drawn carriage ride past a crowd of cheering onlookers as part of her Diamond Jubilee celebrations, 1897
TUE 09:30 Musical Migrants (b015yt4c)
Series 3
Nashville
Five portraits of people who relocated to other countries, influenced by music.
The man now known as Jesse Lee Jones went by a different name when he was living in Brazil. His decision to change his name was an expression of his desire to reinvent himself following his move to the USA.
Throughout a difficult upbringing, Jesse Lee always found solace in American music and dreamed of being there, but as a young man, he "was going nowhere fast". Then, out of the blue, the members of his church, in an effort to help him, clubbed together and bought him a plane ticket. Shortly afterwards, Jesse Lee arrived in Miami, Florida with a 12 string guitar but no English and no plan. On his first day, while travelling on a Greyhound Bus, he was robbed of the few possessions he had - including his money and that guitar.
He got off the bus in Peoria, Illinois. Out of pity, some people from a local church took him in. They became his "American family" and Peoria was his home for the next decade. Jesse Lee took a series of jobs (including training as a law enforcement officer) but he kept up with the music on the side - playing all kinds of American music in local bars. Then a friend gave him a CD by the country and western legend Marty Robbins. After that, Jesse Lee realised that his true passion was traditional country music. He headed to Nashville and got a job scrubbing the decks of the General Jackson Showboat for $
3.25 an hour. However, within a few years, a series of serendipitous encounters led to his becoming first leader of the house band, then owner, of the "best honkytonk in Nashville" right in the heart of Lower Broadway.
Producer: Rachel Hopkin
A Falling Tree Production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 09:45 Book of the Week (b019lvg7)
Stop What You're Doing and Read This
A Bed. A Book. A Mountain
Passionate, funny, revelatory and inspiring, this series is a mission statement about the transformative power of reading; about the way it inspires us, the tangible impact it can have on our well-being and the importance it holds for us now and will continue to hold in the future.
Stop What You're Doing And Read This! features five of our finest authors and advocates from the world of publishing. Michael Rosen, Jeanette Winterson, Tim Parks, Carmen Callil and Mark Haddon, are all united here in a passionate belief in the distinctive and irreplaceable pleasures and powers of reading. Their essays argue that reading literature is, and must continue to be, a fundamental part of our daily life, as it directly improves our mental health and well-being, enriches our experience and broadens our imaginations.
As the ways people read, what they read, where they buy their books and in what format are all changing rapidly, this series argues unapologetically for the paramount importance of books and reading in a fast-moving, dislocated, technology-obsessed world.
From reading about the Cairngorms in bed Jeanette Winterson reveals how books open doors to new worlds for readers and passionately the power of words to transport us in A Bed. A Book. A Mountain.
Producer: David Roper
A Heavy Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (b0194mvn)
Women and alcohol; making a successful business from a market stall
The problem with a drink to unwind at the end of the day. The hidden issues of domestic violence among older people and how they're being tackled. We talk to women who've launched successful businesses on markets and see what advice they'd offer anyone thinking of setting up stall. Women's representation in the Indian parliament. Presented by Jane Garvey.
TUE 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b0196wt3)
Ruthless
Episode 2
A light-hearted look at the world of Personal Assistants and office intrigue from the creator of Channel 4's Teachers, Tim Loane.
Ruth Brown arrives for her first day at a busy management consultancy and is thrown into a world of corporate jargon and menial and mind numbing tasks, all topped off with an unhealthy dollop of executive stress and a smidgen of scandal!
Hired to urgently plug a gap, Ruth is thrust into the life of a corporate PA alongside co-workers Tanya, Michelle and Beatrice. The real beating heart of the company, the PAs attend to the whims of the company CEO Oliver Carlton and keep the corporate plates spinning. However, with the consultancy undergoing an 'efficiency' assessment due to its record levels of stress-related illness, the atmosphere is anything but relaxed. Trying to settle in to her first week as a PA on the 'top floor', Ruth's interest is also piqued by the conflicting stories surrounding the fate of her predecessor Ingrid. What is the secret her colleagues are so keen to keep hidden?
As she begins uncovers a web of secrets, and scandal and as the stress levels rise, can Ruth learn to play her co-workers at their own game, and win?
With Olivia Hallinan as Ruth, the cast includes Joe Armstrong, Charles Edwards, Claire Rushbrook, Olivia Poulet, Gillian Kearney, Miche Doherty and Seainin Breannan.
A writer, director and actor, Tim Loane's screenwriting credits include the comedy films Out of The Deep Pan (BBC), Reversals (ITV) and he was creator and lead writer of the Bafta-nominated Teachers for Channel 4. He wrote the four-part conspiracy thriller Proof 2 (RTE), the three-part family drama serial Little Devil (ITV) and the 2009 updating of 80's television classic Minder (Channel 5). A co-founder of Northern Ireland's Tinderbox Theatre Company, his stage plays include Caught Red Handed and To Be Sure while he also directed the 1997 Oscar nominated short film Dance Lexie Dance. For radio he was written the inner-city thriller The Tunnel and the post-ceasefire ensemble comedy I can see clearly.
TUE 11:00 Nature (b0194mvq)
Series 5
The Water Boatman's Song
For over a year, sound recordist Tom Lawrence has been capturing the sounds of Pollardstown Fen in Ireland. These are no ordinary sounds, but the sounds of a hidden world; an underwater world, where an orchestra of creatures create an extraordinary and vibrant music. Above the water's surface, grasshoppers and crickets stridulate; that is, they rub one part of their body across another to produce 'those fiddling tunes so evocative of summer'. Below the surface, something similar happens as water beetles, water scorpions, great diving beetles, water boatmen and lesser water boatmen and hundreds of other species produce sounds day and night at over 2Khz, reaching 99 decibels in some cases - the equivalent of sitting in the front row of an orchestra "Tapping, knocking, hammering, drumming, clicking, creaking, cracking, croaking, buzzing, fuzzing, bleeping, winding, reeling, revving, puttering, pattering, humming, pulsing, squealing, shrieking.... the insects reveal themselves". Writer and narrator Paul Evans meets Tom Lawrence and takes a journey into the Fen to hear these sounds for himself. Tom leads the way. His friend, Jim Schofield joins them, bringing with him a boat (an inflatable boat that they first have to pump up), and then the three men 'wobble' along reed-lined drains into the Fen. It's a journey of revelations; not only does Paul encounter the underwater orchestra, but also Old Ireland and with it a magical adventure; They find a snake, haul up a bag of treasure, climb the steps of a Famine Tower, experience vertigo as they stand with their heads in the clouds high above the quarried land, watch Peregrines swipe through the air like sharp knives, and learn the story of a hanged man, his lost love and a vixen who wanders amongst the reeds, her piercing cry echoing through the darkness.
Producer Sarah Blunt.
TUE 11:30 Songs for Madame Vasnier (b0194mvs)
Relish the lyrical riches of Théodore de Banville, Alfred de Musset, Paul Bourget, Théophile Gautier and Paul Verlaine - the poets French composer Claude Debussy chose to express his love for an older, married woman, Marie Blanche Vasnier.
Hearing her sing moved Debussy, then an impressionable young student, to create a treasury of songs specially with her voice in mind.
Among the many songs he wrote for Madame Vasnier, is the unpublished "La fille aux cheveux de lin". It was the starting point of Debussy's fascination with setting words to music, an obsession that reached a high point in "Pélleas et Mélisande" some 20 years later. But it's Madame Vasnier Debussy acknowledges as "the only muse to ever inspire musical feelings", and that's he confesses, "only to talk of the musical ones!"
Presented by Richard Langham Smith and originally broadcast on the 150th anniversary of Debussy’s birth.
Producer: Johannah Smith
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2012.
TUE 12:00 You and Yours (b0194mvv)
Call You and Yours
David Cameron says he's going to get tough with rich people and companies who employ, in his words, fancy lawyers to avoid paying tax. These lawyers are reckoned to have saved their clients around £200 billion in tax last year- it's a sum which if collected would go some way to sharing the burden of present economic woe which the government says it's keen to do.
But what are the specific practices that he is talking about? And if identified, what are the chances of clawing money from people and businesses that operate on a global level and who don't want to pay it? Is the Prime Minister grandstanding or does he mean business.
Today we'd like to hear from you - and your ideas for making the tax system more equitable. Are there any specific loopholes that could and should be closed? Perhaps the fault is with the government in the first place for making the tax system so complex. A simpler, slimmer code would close down the opportunities to slip between the growing volumes of tax laws.
We'll hear from a philosopher who will tell us about the moral argument for tax. Do you believe that it is the citizen's duty to hold onto as much of their own money as possible? That the individual is best placed to decide how to spend their money. That technical wizardry by clever accountants on behalf of their clients is a vital part of a democratic political system which reminds the state that it serves the people and not the other way around.
Or perhaps you believe that business is only able to thrive in this country because of the social and political investment over centuries that have been paid for by the tax system.
TUE 12:57 Weather (b01940hf)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 13:00 World at One (b0194mvx)
National and international news with Martha Kearney. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
TUE 13:45 To Strive and Seek (b019dhvs)
Episode 2
Focusing on the often forgotten, but revealing stories of the individuals involved, this highly textured series, authoritatively presented by Sara Wheeler marks the centenary of Scott's ill fated polar expedition.
Scott's Terra Nova Expedition famously reached the South Pole on 17th January 1912. When they arrived they discovered that Amundsen had got there 33 days before them. They all perished on the return trip. The stated aim of the endeavour had been "to reach the South Pole and to secure for the British Empire the honour of this achievement".
In all there were sixty-five men involved in the ship and shore parties, this is the story of five of them. Key individuals, each with their own reasons for being there, their own fascinations and interests, their own Terra Nova Expedition.
Today's episode focuses on Tom Crean.
Producer: Kevin Dawson
A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 14:00 The Archers (b0194kl8)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 Drama (b019c8kr)
Birkett
Birkett and the Green Bicycle
By Caroline and David Stafford.
2/ 4
A story of murder, pacifism and chocolate taken from the casebook of Norman Birkett, the most celebrated advocate of the inter-war years.
Norman Birkett...Neil Dudgeon
Billie...Bonnie Engstrom
Edgar...Alun Raglan
Sir Edward...Nicholas Jones
Cadbury...James Lailey
Cox/Enoch...Adam Billington
Judge...Gerard McDermott
Lily/Muriel...Francine Chamberlain
Ronald...Christopher Webster
Graham...Simon Bubb.
TUE 15:00 Short Cuts (b0194mvz)
Series 1
Misadventures
A selection of brief encounters, true stories and found sound find a home in this new series for BBC Radio 4.
Nina Garthwaite, the founder of the public listening phenomenon 'In the Dark', presents a showcase for delightful and adventurous short documentaries.
In the first edition of Short Cuts, she delves into tales of misadventure - starting with a chance encounter on a train where a couple's absorption in the crossword disguises a possible hidden romance. And encompassing the writer Joe Dunthorne's reminiscences of his misspent gap year selling door to door in Australia.
From the charged atmosphere on the London underground to distorted visions on the top of a mountain - Nina navigates tales of love, loss and wild abandonment.
Produced by Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree Production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 15:30 Questions, Questions (b0132p83)
Stewart Henderson presents another sparkling series of Questions Questions - the programme which offers answers to those intriguing questions of everyday life, inspired by current events and popular culture.
Each programme is compiled directly from the well-informed and inquisitive Radio 4 audience, who bring their unrivalled collective brain to bear on these puzzlers every week.
In this week's programme Stewart ventures into the mystery of the maze to find out what exactly these landscaped convolutions were for. And from mazes to webs - the worldwide one to be precise, he finds out just how much power it takes to keep such technological wizardry going. And finally, armed with a trowel he drops into the city of Verulamium below St. Albans to find out why ancient settlements end up underneath us.
Producer: Kate Taylor
A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 16:00 Word of Mouth (b0194mw1)
Stories from other cultures
Michael Rosen listens to traditional stories from other countries, including Uganda, Pakistan, Trinidad, Poland and India, told by people from those cultures who learned them from their parents and are now passing them on by word of mouth to the next generation. He finds out about the changes that happen when stories move across countries and languages with those who remember and tell them.
And he visits a junior school to find out how a pioneering translation project is encouraging bilingual children to share the stories they've inherited from their families and translate them into English.
Contributors include Monica Byanjeru Chalmers, Faustin Charles and Sita Brand.
Producer Beth O'Dea.
TUE 16:30 Great Lives (b0194mxs)
Series 26
Joseph Rotblat
Astronomer Royal Sir Martin Rees tells Matthew Parris why his hero, physicist Joseph Rotblat, lived a "great life".
Rotblat was a brilliant physicist who was the only scientist to resign from the Manhattan Project once it became clear that Germany would not make an atomic bomb. Rotblat believed that all scientists have a moral obligation to work for the benefit of mankind, and spent his life campaigning against the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
Joining Lord Rees and Matthew Parris in the studio is Rotblat's friend and colleague Kit Hill.
TUE 17:00 PM (b0194mxv)
Eddie Mair presents the day's top stories. Including Weather.
TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b01940hh)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 18:30 Mark Steel's in Town (b0194mxx)
Series 3
Wigan
In this third series comedian Mark Steel visits 6 more UK towns to discover what makes them and their inhabitants distinctive.
He creates a bespoke stand-up show for that town and performs the show in front of a local audience.
As well as shedding light on the less visited areas of Britain, Mark uncovers stories and experiences that resonate with us all as we recognise the quirkiness of the British way of life and the rich tapestry of remarkable events and people who have shaped where we live.
During the series 'Mark Steel's In Town' Mark will visit Berwick-Upon Tweed, Holyhead, Basingstoke, Douglas (Isle of Man), Bungay and Wigan.
Episode 6 - In this episode Mark performs a show for the residents of Wigan, where he talks about entering pie eating competitions, living under floorboards, and the radicalism of George Formby. From January 2012.
Written and performed by Mark Steel with additional material by Pete Sinclair.
Produced by Sam Bryant.
TUE 19:00 The Archers (b0194n0l)
Arriving back from Cape Verde, Will happily carries Mrs Grundy over the threshold. They enjoy a proper cup of tea, thanks to Clarrie who has left fresh milk in their fridge. Nic's glad to be home but asks Will if they can change the name of Casa Nueva. Will suggests renaming it Greenwood Cottage, which Nic likes.
It may be her birthday but Pat's happy to help Tony with the milking, which he's having to do while Tom visits a butcher in Felpersham. Pat thinks Tony looks tired but he assures her he'll be fine for her party later. Pat's finally starting to believe that the re-launch is going to work and they'll pull the business back from the brink.
Pat's party goes very well. Kathy loves all the old photos which Lilian has had blown up, and Helen enjoys the pianist. She suggests they should have live music for the launch party. Tom doesn't think there's room in the shop. Lilian stops them from talking business tonight, and Pat thanks her for such a wonderful party. Lilian insists that after what they've been through this year, if anyone deserves a party it's Pat.
TUE 19:15 Front Row (b0194n0n)
JC Chandor on his film Margin Call; composer Anna Meredith
With Mark Lawson.
Writer-director J C Chandor discusses his acclaimed feature directorial debut Margin Call, about an American investment bank during the financial crisis, starring Kevin Spacey, Jeremy Irons and Demi Moore.
The writer and former cricketer Ed Smith reviews a TV documentary by former England cricket captain Freddie Flintoff about depression in sport.
Scottish composer Anna Meredith discusses her new piece, entitled Hands-Free. It's written for the National Youth Orchestra but uses no instruments, involving instead clapping, body-percussion and beat-boxing.
David Quantick tucks into the long history of songs featuring food - from Oliver, via The Beatles and Bob Dylan, to reggae, ska and beyond.
Producer Timothy Prosser.
TUE 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b0196wt3)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
TUE 20:00 Dying Inside (b0194n0q)
The film-maker Rex Bloomstein has pioneered the prison television documentary from the award-winning series "Strangeways" in 1980, to the ground breaking programme "Lifer - Living with Murder" in 2003. He presents his first radio documentary on the growing phenomenon of older prisoners in our prisons and hears from those who face the prospect of dying inside.
This country has the largest prison population in Europe with around 88,000 inmates costing the tax payer on average £45000 per year per Prisoner. The fastest growing group within it are older prisoners, who number over 8000. This is largely due to sentences becoming harsher and longer. At present there is no national strategy to deal with this issue. Prisons cope as best they can. Inmates are classed as older prisoners from the age of 50 when they are more likely to suffer with diabetes or coronary heart disease or have problems with their mobility.
For the first ever broadcast programme on this subject on British radio or television, Bloomstein visited three prisons: HMP Maidstone, HMP Whatton and he was given exclusive access to the Elderly Lifer Unit at HMP Norwich, the first time in its history that anyone from media has been allowed in.
He discovered that one of the most extraordinary aspects of this story is that over 40% of older prisoners are men convicted of sexual offences. An increasing number of them committed their crimes many years ago but have been caught by advances in DNA techniques. At the heart of this documentary is the testimony of the prisoners themselves, some of whom have been in jail for many years, while others have been sentenced late in life after their pasts have caught up with them.
Bloomstein also spoke to prisoners with very serious health problems and who are facing the possibility of dying in prison.
The programme is presented by Rex Bloomstein
Producers: Rex Bloomstein & Simon Jacobs
A Unique Production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 20:40 In Touch (b0194n0s)
Lack of Help Getting Work and the Power of Words - 10/01/12
Susannah Hancock is blind and deeply unimpressed with the level of help she's getting trying to find work, since being made redundant several months ago. She has been told by her job centre that they are not able to send her information via email and it has taken months to get her other printed material transcribed into Braille.
Following an email from a listener, Peter talked to Cathy Yelf from the Macular Disease Society about the use of the word 'blind' to describe the long-term effect of AMD. Cathy said that there is a move away from using 'blindness' to that of 'severe sight loss' to prevent undue anxiety and worry for people who have the restricting eye condition.
TUE 21:00 Inside Health (b019c8kt)
Med devices, Testosterone, Itching, BP, Pills, Tourette's
New Series: Dr Mark Porter demystifies the health issues that perplex us and separates the facts from the fiction. He brings clarity to conflicting health advice, explores new medical research and tackles the big health issue of the moment revealing the inner workings of the medical profession and the daily dilemmas doctors face.
This week Mark Porter looks at the regulation covering medical devices and implants - everything from artificial joints, to pacemakers and heart valves - and explains why more needs to be done to protect the general public who are often unwitting guinea pigs for untried technology.
He asks why is it so much easier to get approval for devices like new hip or breast implants compared with the strict protocols observed for drugs? All you need for most devices is the equivalent of the CE mark - the sort of approval you would expect to find on a toy or a kitchen appliance, not a pacemaker - which may explain why some have unacceptably high failure rates.
Inside Health's psychiatrist Dr Max Pemberton investigates a question tweeted to the programme - what's the role of testosterone supplements in men. And following the Prime Minister's comment about Tourette's syndrome Max tells Mark what the condition really involves.
Mark talks to Prof Tony Heagerty from the University of Manchester and Professor Tom McDonald from the University of Dundee about new research suggesting that taking pills at night rather than in the morning reduces the risk of complications like stroke and heart attack.
And there's a column from GP Margaret McCartney about what goes on in her head when she's making a diagnosis.
If there is an issue that confuses you - that you've read or heard about - then please get in touch. Contact us on twitter @BBCRadio 4 using the hash tag #InsideHealth or email the programme via the Radio 4 website.
Producer: Erika Wright.
TUE 21:30 The Long View (b0194l3j)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
TUE 21:58 Weather (b01940hk)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (b0194n2z)
President Assad of Syria gives his first public speech for 6 months. But will anything change?
New Hampshire votes in the Republican primary.
How local politics can be a gritty business.
With Ritula Shah.
TUE 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b0194n31)
Honoré de Balzac - Cousin Bette
Episode 7
Cousin Bette is one of the best loved and most admired of Honore de Balzac's novels, written when his powers were at their height and marking the culmination of his extraordinary chronicle, La Comedie Humaine.
A tale of seductive women and philandering men, of passionate affairs and spiralling debts, Cousin Bette paints a vivid portrait of Paris in the 1830s and '40s. In a city full of temptations, money is king, morals are loose and the appeals of the virtuous are usually in vain. In the midst of it all sits a poor relation, Cousin Bette, like a spider in her web. Fuelled by bitterness and jealousy, she is determined to weave destruction into the lives of her extended family, the socially superior Hulots.
With her friend and accomplice, the beautiful Madame Marneffe, Bette sets out to manipulate events so that men are brought to their knees and their wives to despair, and she attains the power and prestige she seeks.
In today's episode, Baron Hulot faces the humiliation of being caught inflagrante with dignity and his loyal Adeline prepares to lose everything for his sake.
Cousin Bette was written in less than a year, in serial instalments, often only completed just before the deadline. Within its pages, Balzac conjures a kaleidoscope of characters from all walks of life, chronicles the rise of a grasping bourgeoisie and tells a gripping tale of jealousy, passion and treachery.
The reader is Alex Jennings.
The translator was Marion Ayton Crawford and the abridger was Sally Marmion.
The producer is Di Speirs.
TUE 23:00 I, Regress (b0194n33)
Series 1
Episode 2
A dark, David Lynch-ian comedy, ideally suited for an unsettling and surreal late night listen. 'I, Regress' sees Matt Berry (The IT Crowd, Garth Marenghi's Dark Place, Snuff Box) playing a corrupt and bizarre hypnotherapist taking unsuspecting clients on twisted, misleading journeys through their subconscious.
Each episode sees the doctor dealing with a different client who has come to him for a different problem (quitting smoking, fear of water, etc). As the patient is put under hypnosis, we 'enter' their mind, and all the various situations the hypnotherapist takes them through are played out for us to hear. The result is a dream- (or nightmare-) like trip through the patient's mind, as funny as it is disturbing.
Episode 2: Robin Hood - no relation - comes to Dr Matt Berry with a fear of spiders. The diagnosis seems to be that this may all be down to an unusually potent encounter between an arachnid and a South African grandmother.. Featuring Simon Greenall (I'm Alan Partridge) and Jack Klaff (For Your Eyes Only, Star Wars).
The cast across the series include Katherine Parkinson (IT Crowd), Morgana Robinson (The Morgana Show), Simon Greenall (I'm Alan Partridge), Jack Klaff (Star Wars, For Your Eyes Only), Tara Flynn (The Impressions Show, Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle), Alex Lowe (Barry From Watford, The Peter Serafinowicz Show), and Derek Griffiths (Playschool, Bod, and The Royal Exchange).
A compelling late night listen: tune in and occupy someone else's head!
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2012.
TUE 23:15 Continuity (b00tgf1c)
Episode 2
Alistair McGowan stars in this subversive sitcom about a continuity announcer, brooding on the escalating disasters of his private and professional life at the same time as attempting to give us a preview of the programmes on offer in the coming week on Radio 4. Or what might be Radio 4 in a parallel universe.
This week we welcome the return of 'Musical Notebook', cast our minds back to the controversial career of that terror of the music halls, the irrepressible comic Lennie Bloom, and we discuss the revamp of Desert Island Discs. It's all good.
Written by Hugh Rycroft. Also starring Lewis Macleod, Sally Grace, Charlotte Page and David Holt.
Producers: David Spicer and Frank Stirling
A Unique production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (b0194n35)
As MPs and peers return after their Christmas and New Year break, Sean Curran reports on a busy day at Westminster.
* The Government gives the go ahead to the controversial 32 Billion pound plan for a new high speed rail line running north from London, firstly to Birmingham and then on to Manchester and Leeds.
* The Scottish Secretary tells MPs the Scottish Government in Edinburgh does not have the power to hold a binding referendum on the separation of Scotland from the rest of the United Kingdom.
* A member of the group of bankers known as the 'NatWest Three' explains to a committee of MPs why he doesn't want to see a system of plea bargaining introduced into this country.
* Cuts in legal aid are condemned by opposition peers in the House of Lords.
* The Commons debates changes to local government financial arrangements.
WEDNESDAY 11 JANUARY 2012
WED 00:00 Midnight News (b01940j5)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
WED 00:30 Book of the Week (b019lvg7)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b01940j8)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b01940jb)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b01940jd)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 05:30 News Briefing (b01940jg)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b019djqn)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Revd Nicholas Papadopulos.
WED 05:45 Farming Today (b0196qc6)
Denmark is racing to raise pig welfare standards in time for next year's new EU rules. John Howard from the Danish Agriculture and Food Council says that they will be ready in time, but that Denmark will continue to castrate the animals. The UK currently has different pig welfare standards than the rest of the EU, Melvin Rickarby visits a Nottinghamshire farm to discover what the conditions are for British pigs.
Battery hens have recently been outlawed across the EU, but 14 countries have not yet complied with the new regulations. Scottish egg producer John Campbell, thinks that the UK market will be flooded with illegal imports from the countries that still have battery hens.
And we might be in deep mid-winter but the first signs of Spring have already appeared. Primroses and other wildflowers are currently in bloom in Wales. Dr Sarah Whild from the University of Birmingham explains how the unusually mild winter is confusing the flowers - if a heavy frost comes along now the plants will suffer.
Presented by Anna Hill, Produced by Emma Weatherill.
WED 06:00 Today (b0196qc8)
Morning news and current affairs, with Sarah Montague in London and James Naughtie in Edinburgh, where he debates the Scottish independence referendum with First Minister Alex Salmond (
07:50) and former Labour chancellor Alistair Darling (
08:10). Also on the programme, director Ken Loach on changes in UK film funding (
07:30) and debating whether Hungary is next in the eye of the financial storm (
08:40).
WED 09:00 Midweek (b0196qcb)
This week Libby Purves is joined by Tasmin Little, John Akomfrah, Andrew Higgins and Sir Stephen Waley-Cohen.
Tasmin Little is the acclaimed violinist who features in a BBC Four documentary celebrating Vaughan Williams's 'The Lark Ascending', which is a piece dear to her heart. The documentary tells the intriguing story behind the nation's most popular piece of classical music as voted for by more than 25,000 radio listeners last year.
John Akomfrah is an award-winning film director and one of the founders of the Black Audio Film Collective. His new film, 'The Nine Muses', shot in Alaska, looks at the history of mass migration to post-war Britain using Homer's poem The Odyssey as a starting point.
Dr Andrew Higgins is a vet. In 1974 he was posted to Oman during the Dhofar War as one of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps who was brought in to help win the hearts and minds of the local population. He was responsible for looking after the Jebali people's livestock - goats, camels and sheep - as well as the Sultan of Oman's horses, pedigree dogs, exotic birds, bears and hyenas.
Since 1994 theatre owner and manager Sir Stephen Waley-Cohen has been the producer of Agatha Christie's play The Mousetrap which celebrates its 60th Anniversary this year. In 1997 he founded Mousetrap Theatre Projects which has introduced thousands of disadvantaged young people to the theatre.
Producer: Paula McGinley.
WED 09:45 Book of the Week (b019lzgl)
Stop What You're Doing and Read This
Mindful Reading
Passionate, funny, revelatory and inspiring, this series is a mission statement about the transformative power of reading; about the way it inspires us, the tangible impact it can have on our well-being and the importance it holds for us now and will continue to hold in the future.
Stop What You're Doing And Read This! features five of our finest authors and advocates from the world of publishing. Michael Rosen, Jeanette Winterson, Tim Parks, Carmen Callil and Mark Haddon, are all united here in a passionate belief in the distinctive and irreplaceable pleasures and powers of reading. Their essays argue that reading literature is, and must continue to be, a fundamental part of our daily life, as it directly improves our mental health and well-being, enriches our experience and broadens our imaginations.
As the ways people read, what they read, where they buy their books and in what format are all changing rapidly, this series argues unapologetically for the paramount importance of books and reading in a fast-moving, dislocated, technology-obsessed world.
In 'Mindful Reading' Tim Parks revels in the very particular impact of letters and words on a page, on how they impact our senses and transport us and on what reading really means in the fullest sense - from the functional to the evocative and enriching.
Producer: David Roper
A Heavy Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (b0196qcd)
Foreign national women are one of the fastest growing groups in the prison population in England and Wales. Now the Prison Reform Trust is calling for a new strategy to deal with this group of vulnerable women many of whom have been trafficked or coerced into offending.
Carey Mulligan on her latest screen role, Sissy, the wayward sister of a sex addicted New Yorker in the film Shame. And steak should be one of the simplest things to cook. Masterchef winner Tim Anderson says all you need is a pan, some oil, salt and pepper. So why is it so easy to get wrong?
Plus how will the new quarterly magazine, Critical Muslim address women's issues and represent women and their perspective?
Producer Louise Corley
Presented by Jenni Murray.
WED 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b0196wtr)
Ruthless
Episode 3
A light-hearted look at the world of Personal Assistants and office intrigue from the creator of Channel 4's Teachers, Tim Loane.
Ruth Brown arrives for her first day at a busy management consultancy and is thrown into a world of corporate jargon and menial and mind numbing tasks, all topped off with an unhealthy dollop of executive stress and a smidgen of scandal!
Hired to urgently plug a gap, Ruth is thrust into the life of a corporate PA alongside co-workers Tanya, Michelle and Beatrice. The real beating heart of the company, the PAs attend to the whims of the company CEO Oliver Carlton and keep the corporate plates spinning. However, with the consultancy undergoing an 'efficiency' assessment due to its record levels of stress-related illness, the atmosphere is anything but relaxed. Trying to settle in to her first week as a PA on the 'top floor', Ruth's interest is also piqued by the conflicting stories surrounding the fate of her predecessor Ingrid. What is the secret her colleagues are so keen to keep hidden?
As she begins uncovers a web of secrets, and scandal and as the stress levels rise, can Ruth learn to play her co-workers at their own game, and win?
With Olivia Hallinan as Ruth, the cast includes Joe Armstrong, Charles Edwards, Claire Rushbrook, Olivia Poulet, Gillian Kearney, Miche Doherty and Seainin Breannan.
A writer, director and actor, Tim Loane's screenwriting credits include the comedy films Out of The Deep Pan (BBC), Reversals (ITV) and he was creator and lead writer of the Bafta-nominated Teachers for Channel 4. He wrote the four-part conspiracy thriller Proof 2 (RTE), the three-part family drama serial Little Devil (ITV) and the 2009 updating of 80's television classic Minder (Channel 5). A co-founder of Northern Ireland's Tinderbox Theatre Company, his stage plays include Caught Red Handed and To Be Sure while he also directed the 1997 Oscar nominated short film Dance Lexie Dance. For radio he was written the inner-city thriller The Tunnel and the post-ceasefire ensemble comedy I can see clearly.
WED 11:00 Among the Managers (b0196rn8)
Episode 2
What can football managers learn from their counterparts in the boardrooom? The BBC's business editor Robert Peston finds out.
WED 11:30 A Short Gentleman (b0196rnd)
Episode 2
Robert woos Elizabeth, by means of a putty-coloured carpet.
Hugh Bonneville stars as Robert Purcell, QC, a perfect specimen of the British Establishment, who applies faultless legal logic to his disastrous personal life.
Jon Canter's comic novel 'A Short Gentleman' adapted by Robin Brooks.
Elizabeth ..... Lyndsey Marshal
Guy ..... Adam Billington
Sophie ..... Francine Chamberlain
Anthony ..... Carl Prekopp
Isabel ..... Lauren Mote
Alan ..... Gerard McDermott
Director: Jonquil Painting.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2012.
WED 12:00 You and Yours (b0196rng)
With Shari Vahl.
Less than half of the characters in The Archers could afford to live in Ambridge and in reality only 55% of newly forming households in rural areas are able to afford a house in their own backyard. Efforts to preserve our 'picture postcard' image of the countryside are creating exclusive rural communities, according to research by Professor Mark Shucksmith at Newcastle University's School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape. He joins the programme to discuss the need for affordable rural housing and plans to simplify and relax the planning laws.
A free helpline for whistleblowers in the NHS and social services was launched at the start of the year.
It's part of Health Secretary Andrew Lansley's drive to ensure staff can raise "genuine concerns" about standards "without fear of reprisal". The Royal College of Nursing and NHS Employers (part of the NHS Confederation) join the programme.
Producer Helen Roberts.
WED 12:30 Face the Facts (b0196rnl)
Fitness to Practise
The organisation we count on to protect us from dangerous or incompetent dentists is having its own abilities called into question. There have been a series of critical reports into the way the General Dental Council deals with complaints. There's a backlog of work, it has had 4 chief executives in a little over a year and the resignation of a chair prompted the government to demand an investigation. So is our dental watchdog fit to practise?
Presented by John Waite
Produced by Matthew Barlow.
WED 12:57 Weather (b01940jj)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 13:00 World at One (b0196rnn)
National and international news with Martha Kearney. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
WED 13:45 To Strive and Seek (b019djqq)
Episode 3
Focusing on the often forgotten, but revealing stories of the individuals involved, this highly textured series, authoritatively presented by Sara Wheeler marks the centenary of Scott's ill fated polar expedition.
Scott's Terra Nova Expedition famously reached the South Pole on 17th January 1912. When they arrived they discovered that Amundsen had got there 33 days before them. They all perished on the return trip. The stated aim of the endeavour had been "to reach the South Pole and to secure for the British Empire the honour of this achievement".
In all there were sixty-five men involved in the ship and shore parties, this is the story of five of them. Key individuals, each with their own reasons for being there, their own fascinations and interests, their own Terra Nova Expedition.
Today's episode focuses on Raymond Priestley.
Producer: Kevin Dawson
A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 14:00 The Archers (b0194n0l)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 Drama (b0196rns)
Blurred
by Frazer Flintham.
When old University friends Nikki and Hannah meet up more than ten years after they lost touch, Nikki makes a shocking revelation.
Hannah ..... Naomi Frederick
Nikki ..... Rosie Cavaleiro
Ben ..... Simon Bubb
Caroline ..... Adjoa Andoh
Pam ..... Tracy Wiles
Jerry ..... Christopher Webster
directed by Mary Peate.
This is Frazer Flintham's first play for radio.
WED 15:00 Money Box Live (b0196rnx)
Paul Lewis and guests take your calls on wills and inheritance tax.
There's always uncertainty when it comes to personal finance, but the one thing you can control is what happens to your assets after you die. But to make sure your money goes to your nearest and dearest, and not to undeserving relations or the taxman, you need to do advance planning.
If you have a partner but you're not married or in a civil partnership, it's even more important to detail who you want your assets to go to, otherwise you can cause your partner serious financial difficulties after your death.
You can leave up to £325,000 tax-free to anyone, not just your spouse or civil partner, and estates are liable to a 40 per cent tax above this ceiling. But it may be more efficient in terms of tax to give gifts before your death, provided they meet certain conditions.
So, where should you start in making a will - do you have to go to a solicitor or are the services provided by some high street banks and shops good enough?
What happens to estates that are intestate - that is, the person has died without a valid will?
How can you manage some of your assets with a trust? It can be complicated but it can also give you more control over who gets your assets and when.
How often should you update your will? And how should you choose your executors, the people charged with carrying out the instructions in your will?
And what if you live in Scotland, where the rules are different?
This week the panel will be answering your questions about wills and inheritance tax.
Expert panel:
Nicola Plant, Pemberton Greenish
Mike Warburton, Grant Thornton
Alan Barr, Brodies and Director of Legal Practice at University of Edinburgh
Lines open at
13:00. The number to ring - 03 700 100 444.
WED 15:30 Inside Health (b019c8kt)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Tuesday]
WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (b0196rp1)
Cosmetic tourism - Debt 5,000 years
In Britain the market for cosmetic surgery is now estimated to be worth about £900 million per year, and world-wide it is growing fast too, with people increasingly combining surgery with a holiday abroad. The lines between a hospital procedure and a recuperative break are being blurred and Laurie hears of new research from Ruth Holiday exploring the experiences of people who have a face-lift in Costa Rica or liposuction in Koh Samui. Jacqueline Sanchez-Taylor tells him about her study of young British women who view breast augmentation as a beauty treatment, 18 women from one group of friends have all had the op and are very relaxed about the risks.
Also on the programme - being in the red is nothing new: David Graeber tells Laurie about his anthropological study of 5,000 years of Debt which shows that dispensing credit precedes even the invention of money.
Producer: Charlie Taylor.
WED 16:30 The Media Show (b0196rp3)
Steve Hewlett presents a topical programme about the fast-changing media world including, today, Netflix and the future of TV.
Netflix, the video streaming service which enables customers to watch films and selected TV programmes over the internet, launched in the UK on Monday. Reed Hastings, the company's founder, claims that 'on demand' services like Netflix represent the future of TV. For the past 70 years or so, TV viewing habits have been dominated by schedules set by TV networks. With the rise of catchup and on demand services like the BBC iPlayer, ITV Player and Channel 4's 4OD, viewers have been able to take more control over what they watch and when they watch it. So is Netflix really the beginning of the end for traditional TV? Or will it struggle to make an impact in the UK market, where several catchup and on demand services are already well established? Reed Hastings makes his case to Steve, who discusses the issues with Tess Alps from the TV marketing organisation Thinkbox and Geoff Slaughter from comparison website SimplifyDigital.
Steve is also joined by broadcast consultant Stephen Price for an overview of the last year's viewing figures. Who's going up, who's going down and what does that tell us about longer term viewing trends?
The Leveson Inquiry into the culture, ethics and practices of the press has resumed after the Christmas break. This week it's been the turn of the newspaper editors to have their say, from Dominic Mohan of The Sun to Lionel Barber of the Financial Times.The Financial Times' chief media correspondent Ben Fenton has been following developments.
The producer is Simon Tillotson.
WED 17:00 PM (b0196rp7)
Eddie Mair presents the day's top stories. Including Weather.
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b01940jl)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 18:30 Isy Suttie: Pearl and Dave (b0196rpc)
Isy Suttie ('Dobby' from Channel 4's 'Peep Show' & double British Comedy Award nominee.) recounts a moving love story involving a socially awkward childhood neighbour (her first pen pal) and a 'well-bred' girl from Surrey - the titular Pearl and Dave. She interweaves the narrative with her own tales of failed relationships, internet dating and eventual happiness, much of which is told through song. Adapted from her sell out Edinburgh 2011 Edinburgh show of the same name. From BBC Radio Comedy.
"I'm overjoyed to be doing my Edinburgh show on Radio 4. Having spent a month playing to audiences who'd been rained on all day, some of them dashing in late, I advise listeners to wrap up warm, eat a hearty meal and leave enough time for the journey from the sofa to the radio." Isy Suttie Nov 2011.
The Producer is John Pocock.
WED 19:00 The Archers (b0196rpf)
There are no places at Loxley Barratt school for now, and Tracy can't bear the thought of the journey to their old school all through winter. She's grateful Gary has taken them today. Neil has measured up for the alterations. He'll start at the weekend. Tracy reminds Bert about putting the tenancy in both their names. Bert dutifully signs the letter she's typed up for the housing association.
Clarrie's bought Will and Nic some chocolates with her first benefits payment. Clarrie's amazed at all their wedding presents. Emma was sniffy when Will offered her their old dinner service. Clarrie suggests Eddie could sell it at a car-boot, so Will might get a few bob for it.
Jake tells Clarrie that he and Mia have decided to change their names to Grundy. Clarrie suggests they should also start calling her Grandma, like George does.
Tom and Brenda agree Pat's birthday party was brilliant. Tom mentions the meatball canapés. The caterers told him what was in them, and he reckons they could scale them up into a ready-meal with pasta. Brenda tries it out and Tom agrees it's the best yet - just what the ready-meal market has been waiting for.
WED 19:15 Front Row (b0196rph)
The Crusades; Emeli Sande; Guy Martin
With John Wilson
Historian Thomas Asbridge discusses his forthcoming three-part TV series about the Crusades, which considers the medieval holy war from both the Christian and the Muslim perspectives.
Scottish singer-songwriter Emeli Sande has won the Brits Critics' Choice for 2012 - a prize for new talent, with previous winners including Adele, Jessie J and Florence And The Machine. She reflects on her unusual career path - she studied medicine and neuroscience before entering the music business full-time.
Early in 2011, photographer Guy Martin travelled to Egypt and Libya to record the unfolding Arab Spring. This project was cut short, when he was seriously injured in a rocket attack. Two of his colleagues, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Tim Hetherington and photojournalist Chris Hondros, were killed in the same attack. Now images Guy produced up to that point are on show, and he reflects on the experience of working under fire.
Gentrification is having an unexpected effect on Hollywood, as it's running out of dark New York alleys to film in. According to reports, only two remain, and even they are under threat of closure. Adrian Wootton of Film London discusses whether the UK will soon suffer a similar shortage of grimy urban locations.
Producer Ellie Bury.
WED 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b0196wtr)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
WED 20:00 Decision Time (b0196rpp)
Nick Robinson returns with a new series of the programme that goes behind the closed doors of Whitehall and inside Westminster to explore how controversial decisions are reached. Each week, he asks people with senior experience of government and politics how a government, of whatever political colour, would approach a looming decision. Producer, Rob Shepherd.
WED 20:45 Four Thought (b0196rpr)
Series 2
Judith Clegg: Pay it Forward
Entrepreneur Judith Clegg argues that the special culture of technology start-ups could make the world a dramatically better place, if adopted more widely.
Even after a year of dramatic change, she believes we could do with some more - in sectors as varied as banking, government and energy companies.
The start-up culture of pay-it-forward, decent treatment of staff, enthusiasm and hard work is just what we need in every sector in these hard economic times, she says.
With a family background steeped in entrepreneurial spirit, and a career spent breathing life into start-ups, she now runs the Takeout consultancy, which helps big organisations learn lessons from the start-up community, and the Glasshouse, a meeting space for entrepreneurs, and is co-founder of a startup investment fund.
Producer: Giles Edwards.
WED 21:00 Big Game, Little Game (b00v1rh8)
Episode 2
In the second of two programmes, Mark Stephen charts a unique swap involving two gamekeepers - one from the Kalahari, the other from the Angus Glens.
Gamekeeper Andy Malcolm is swapping 40,000 acres of heather moorland high in the Angus Glens for a reserve on the edge of the Kalahari in South Africa. The game warden from there will travel to Scotland in a unique swap documented for BBC Radio 4.
The programmes offer the very different perspectives of Scottish gamekeeper Andy Malcolm and his South African counterpart Dylan Smith. Both men track their experiences in the form of audio diaries and in reflections to presenter Mark Stephen who is alongside them in this job exchange. How they deal with issues ranging from land conservation to animal welfare and how far experiences in their own landscapes can translate into ideas for their new ones, is at the heart of the recordings.
Producer: Sue Mitchell.
WED 21:30 Midweek (b0196qcb)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
WED 21:58 Weather (b01940jn)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (b0196rpw)
National and international news and analysis with Carolyn Quinn.
WED 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b0196rpy)
Honoré de Balzac - Cousin Bette
Episode 8
Cousin Bette is one of the best loved and most admired of Honore de Balzac's novels, written when his powers were at their height and marking the culmination of his extraordinary chronicle, La Comedie Humaine.
A tale of seductive women and philandering men, of passionate affairs and spiralling debts, Cousin Bette paints a vivid portrait of Paris in the 1830s and '40s. In a city full of temptations, money is king, morals are loose and the appeals of the virtuous are usually in vain. In the midst of it all sits a poor relation, Cousin Bette, like a spider in her web. Fuelled by bitterness and jealousy, she is determined to weave destruction into the lives of her extended family, the socially superior Hulots.
With her friend and accomplice, the beautiful Madame Marneffe, Bette sets out to manipulate events so that men are brought to their knees and their wives to despair, and she attains the power and prestige she seeks.
In today's episode, Hulot's wicked plan to pay off his debts by sending his uncle to speculate in Algeria are discovered and his disgrace has disastrous consequences.
Cousin Bette was written in less than a year, in serial instalments, often only completed just before the deadline. Within its pages, Balzac conjures a kaleidoscope of characters from all walks of life, chronicles the rise of a grasping bourgeoisie and tells a gripping tale of jealousy, passion and treachery.
The reader is Alex Jennings.
The translator was Marion Ayton Crawford and the abridger was Sally Marmion.
The producer is Di Speirs.
WED 23:00 Tina C (b0196rq2)
Tina C's Global Depression Tour
The United States
Country legend Tina C challenges the Secretary for the US Treasury, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve and the former CEO of Goldman Sachs.
Where they have failed, she can come up with a solution to the Global Recession.
So Tina sets off on a six country tour to prove it - and her first stop is the United States of America.
Tina C ...... Christopher Green
"Christopher Green's Tina C is one of the great comic creations of the age. A genuinely fine country singer, but with a twist of satire and insight which is rare and highly to be prized." STEPHEN FRY.
With:
Financial journalist, Gillian Tett
Victoria Inez Hardy
James Lailey
Musical arrangements by Duncan Walsh Atkins and Christopher Green
Director: Jeremy Mortimer
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2012.
WED 23:15 What to Do If You're Not Like Everybody Else (b00tjqzx)
Series 1
Personal Appearance
What lengths do we need to go to "look good"?
Andrew Lawrence examines the effort we all put into our personal appearance and the pressure we feel to take action.
From South London comedy club 'Up The Creek'.
The first of four mini-comedic monologues taking a light-hearted look at various aspects of conventional living and the pressure we feel to conform to social norms and ideals.
Written by Andrew Lawrence.
Producer: Jane Berthoud
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 2010.
WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (b0196rq6)
Susan Hulme with the day's top news stories from Westminster. The Conservatives and Labour show a display of unity over a Scottish independence referendum at PMQs. But there are angry exchanges over the rise in rail fares, with both main parties accusing the other of getting facts wrong. On committee corridor, the Chancellor of the Exchequer suggests banks wondering how to pay for the Vickers banking reforms should look to their own remuneration packages.
THURSDAY 12 JANUARY 2012
THU 00:00 Midnight News (b01940k7)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
THU 00:30 Book of the Week (b019lzgl)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b01940k9)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b01940kc)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b01940kf)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 05:30 News Briefing (b01940kh)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b019djsb)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Revd Nicholas Papadopulos.
THU 05:45 Farming Today (b0196tcm)
The average price of farmland has more than doubled over the last 5 years years, from £1,800 to £4,000 an acre according to the estate agents Savills. That means it has been a better investment than stocks and shares, gold, or property. Continuing Farming Today's exploration of welfare standards in pig production, we find out what the 4 biggest supermarkets require from EU farms which supply imported pork. And, the Welsh Assembly Government is considering a cull to control the increasing number of deer.
Presenter: Charlotte Smith
Producer: Sarah Swadling.
THU 06:00 Today (b0196tcp)
Including Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather, Thought for the Day.
THU 09:00 In Our Time (b0196tcr)
The Safavid Dynasty
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Safavid Dynasty, rulers of the Persian empire between the 16th and 18th centuries.In 1501 Shah Ismail, a boy of fifteen, declared himself ruler of Azerbaijan. Within a year he had expanded his territory to include most of Persia, and founded a ruling dynasty which was to last for more than two hundred years. At the peak of their success the Safavids ruled over a vast territory which included all of modern-day Iran. They converted their subjects to Shi'a Islam, and so created the religious identity of modern Iran - although they were also often ruthless in their suppression of Sunni practices. They thrived on international trade, and their capital Isfahan, rebuilt by the visionary Shah Abbas, became one of the most magnificent cities in the world. Under Safavid rule Persia became a cultural centre, producing many great artists and thinkers. With:Robert GleaveProfessor of Arabic Studies at the University of ExeterEmma LoosleySenior Lecturer at the School of Arts, Histories and Cultures at the University of ManchesterAndrew NewmanReader in Islamic Studies and Persian at the University of Edinburgh.Producer: Thomas Morris.
THU 09:45 Book of the Week (b019lzlz)
Stop What You're Doing and Read This
True Daemons
Passionate, funny, revelatory and inspiring, this series is a mission statement about the transformative power of reading; about the way it inspires us, the tangible impact it can have on our well-being and the importance it holds for us now and will continue to hold in the future.
Stop What You're Doing And Read This! features five of our finest authors and advocates from the world of publishing. Michael Rosen, Jeanette Winterson, Tim Parks, Carmen Callil and Mark Haddon, are all united here in a passionate belief in the distinctive and irreplaceable pleasures and powers of reading. Their essays argue that reading literature is, and must continue to be, a fundamental part of our daily life, as it directly improves our mental health and well-being, enriches our experience and broadens our imaginations.
As the ways people read, what they read, where they buy their books and in what format are all changing rapidly, this series argues unapologetically for the paramount importance of books and reading in a fast-moving, dislocated, technology-obsessed world.
From a childhood on Melbourne's beaches to a publishing career in London, Carmen Callil has been surrounded by and immersed in books. In 'True Daemons' she describes the guiding powers of books and the enrichment she has enjoyed from reading.
Producer: David Roper
A Heavy Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (b0196tct)
The government's announced a review of the regulation of cosmetic procedures. Health Minister Anne Milton joins Jenni Murray to discuss the latest on the row over who picks up the bill for the removal and replacement of faulty breast implants - the NHS or private providers.
We catch up with one of the 'female engagement teams' working in Afghanistan visiting women in their homes offering advice about healthcare and schools.
David Cameron recently suggested age ratings to protect children from the racy content of music videos. Artists like Lady Gaga and Rhianna have come in for criticism for their raunchy videos, showing women too, choose to portray themselves in this way. What's does it tell us about the position of women in the music industry and culture today?
Plus six hundred years since the birth of Joan of Arc we talk to the author American author and historian, Nancy Goldstone about her new book The Maid and the Queen - The Secret History of Joan of Arc and Yolande of Aragon.
Presented by Jenni Murray.
THU 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b0196wvk)
Ruthless
Episode 4
A light-hearted look at the world of Personal Assistants and office intrigue from the creator of Channel 4's Teachers, Tim Loane.
Ruth Brown arrives for her first day at a busy management consultancy and is thrown into a world of corporate jargon and menial and mind numbing tasks, all topped off with an unhealthy dollop of executive stress and a smidgen of scandal!
Hired to urgently plug a gap, Ruth is thrust into the life of a corporate PA alongside co-workers Tanya, Michelle and Beatrice. The real beating heart of the company, the PAs attend to the whims of the company CEO Oliver Carlton and keep the corporate plates spinning. However, with the consultancy undergoing an 'efficiency' assessment due to its record levels of stress-related illness, the atmosphere is anything but relaxed. Trying to settle in to her first week as a PA on the 'top floor', Ruth's interest is also piqued by the conflicting stories surrounding the fate of her predecessor Ingrid. What is the secret her colleagues are so keen to keep hidden?
As she begins uncovers a web of secrets, and scandal and as the stress levels rise, can Ruth learn to play her co-workers at their own game, and win?
With Olivia Hallinan as Ruth, the cast includes Joe Armstrong, Charles Edwards, Claire Rushbrook, Olivia Poulet, Gillian Kearney, Miche Doherty and Seainin Breannan.
A writer, director and actor, Tim Loane's screenwriting credits include the comedy films Out of The Deep Pan (BBC), Reversals (ITV) and he was creator and lead writer of the Bafta-nominated Teachers for Channel 4. He wrote the four-part conspiracy thriller Proof 2 (RTE), the three-part family drama serial Little Devil (ITV) and the 2009 updating of 80's television classic Minder (Channel 5). A co-founder of Northern Ireland's Tinderbox Theatre Company, his stage plays include Caught Red Handed and To Be Sure while he also directed the 1997 Oscar nominated short film Dance Lexie Dance. For radio he was written the inner-city thriller The Tunnel and the post-ceasefire ensemble comedy I can see clearly.
THU 11:00 Crossing Continents (b0196tcw)
What happened to the Kurdish spring?
Twenty years ago, the Kurdish region in Northern Iraq achieved effective autonomy after the first Gulf War, establishing a liberal constitution and a democratic assembly. The region is booming economically, thanks to its huge oil reserves.
But things are not that simple on the ground. In February, there were protests in the city of Sulaimaniya against corruption and the dominance of the two parties which govern the region. The demonstration was violently suppressed, resulting in the deaths of several activists. Some Kurds believe that the generation of peshmerga guerillas who fought for autonomy in the 1980s and 1990s are now blocking more openness and democracy. Yet even critics concede that the Kurds have achieved far greater stability and security than the rest of Iraq.
Gabriel Gatehouse asks if the Kurdish region should be a model for the rest of the Middle East to follow or avoid?
Producer: Natalie Morton.
THU 11:30 Black Is a Country (b0196tcy)
Episode 2
Singer and songwriter Erykah Badu presents a two-part series exploring the extraordinary underground music generated by the Black Power movement of the late Sixties and early Seventies: radical, beautiful and rare.
Contributors include: Ornette Coleman, Archie Shepp, founder of the Black Arts Movement Amiri Baraka, Black Arts poet Sonia Sanchez, jazz flautist Lloyd McNeil, Abiodun Oyewole of the Last Poets, Gill Scott Heron's co-writer Brian Jackson, hip-hop artist Talib Kweli and former Black Panther leader and songwriter Elaine Brown.
Presenter: Erykah Badu
Producer: Simon Hollis
A Brook Lapping Production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 12:00 You and Yours (b0196td0)
TripAdvisor, flood insurance and cars - winners and losers
Tripadvisor's co-founder Steve Kaufer answers its critics, and outlines the future of the company which revolutionised the way we choose our holidays.
In the first of a series about the UK car industry today we hear what's selling, and what's not.
We hear from the listener unable to get insurance because he shares a postcode with homes at flood risk - despite living 40 meters above water level. And we ask where the ending of the government's agreement with the insurance industry leaves people who live in homes liable to flooding.
Shoppers in many UK shopping malls are being tracked by the owners - should we be worried that our phones are being used to follow our every move?
Producer: Rebecca Moore.
THU 12:57 Weather (b01940kk)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 13:00 World at One (b0196td2)
On today's programme, reaction to the decision that no member of the intelligence services will face charges over the alleged torture of terrorism suspects. Lib Dem peer Baroness Tonge tells us Nick Clegg "isn't thinking straight" over welfare reform changes. Plus as Waterstone's announces it's scrapping the punctuation mark from its name, John Humphrys and Michael Rosen debate the future of the apostrophe.
THU 13:45 To Strive and Seek (b019djsd)
Episode 4
Focusing on the often forgotten, but revealing stories of the individuals involved, this highly textured series, authoritatively presented by Sara Wheeler marks the centenary of Scott's ill fated polar expedition.
Scott's Terra Nova Expedition famously reached the South Pole on 17th January 1912. When they arrived they discovered that Amundsen had got there 33 days before them. They all perished on the return trip. The stated aim of the endeavour had been "to reach the South Pole and to secure for the British Empire the honour of this achievement".
In all there were sixty-five men involved in the ship and shore parties, this is the story of five of them. Key individuals, each with their own reasons for being there, their own fascinations and interests, their own Terra Nova Expedition.
Today's episode focuses on Lawrence Oates.
Producer: Kevin Dawson
A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 14:00 The Archers (b0196rpf)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 Drama (b0196td4)
Jo Shapcott - Erebus
A poetic drama by Jo Shapcott about the search for the North-West Passage. The 1845 expedition led by John Franklin was lost in the ice and never returned. The mysteries remain. In the intervening time rescue and, subsequently, archaeological expeditions have gone in search of clues as to what went wrong. Fragments of evidence have been found in the ice and latterly frozen bodies too. Why did the mission fail, did the sailors resort to eating their colleagues, were there encounters with Inuit and if so what did the local ice-experts make of the men who carried an organ and a library of books with them as they struggled from their ice-bound ships looking for help?
With Russell Boulter, David Birrell, Peter Marinker, John Mackay and Jasmine Hyde. Music by Jon Nicholls. Produced by Tim Dee.
THU 15:00 Open Country (b0196td6)
Olympics
This is the year of the London 2012 Olympic Games. In just 6 months time, 60,000 people are expected to flood into Weymouth and Portland every day for 2 weeks to watch the sailing events. GB has topped the Sailing medals table at the last three Olympic Games. British sailors will be hoping to repeat the feat at London 2012, battling their rivals in Weymouth Bay. Weymouth and Portland have been preparing for this moment since the location of the sailing events was announced over five years ago. The area has seen major developments in terms of the roads, the marina and the esplanade. For this week's Open Country, Helen Mark visits the area to find out how it has prepared to host such a major event and what impact these changes are having on local residents.
Presenter : Helen Mark
Producer : Anna Varle.
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (b01946p9)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:55 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 Open Book (b01946wg)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Sunday]
THU 16:00 The Film Programme (b0196td8)
Francine Stock weighs up the week's two big releases -- Steven Spielberg's War Horse and Steve McQueen's Shame. Spielberg is already being tipped for an Oscar and McQueen has been gathering plaudits from all over the world for his film which features Carey Mulligan and Michael Fassbender in a study of sex addiction.
Producer: Zahid Warley.
THU 16:30 Material World (b0194kz4)
This week, as Education Secretary Michael Gove calls for better computer science in schools, Quentin looks at how cheap or open source software and hardware could help. Seeing the invisible: the most detailed map of dark matter in the universe has been unveiled at this weeks' meeting of the American Astronomical Society. Royal Horticultural Society reveals its list of the worst garden pests of 2011. And Adam Rutherford samples horrible sounds with So You Want To Be A Scientist finalist Izzy Thomlinson.
Producer: Martin Redfern, Victoria Kent.
THU 17:00 PM (b0196tn1)
Eddie Mair presents full coverage and analysis of the day's news.
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b01940km)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 18:30 Clare in the Community (b014qxbj)
Series 7
The Prisoner
Clare in the Community returns with Sally Phillips as Clare Barker the social worker who has all the right jargon but never a practical solution.
A control freak, Clare likes nothing better than interfering in other people's lives on both a professional and personal basis. Clare is in her thirties, white, middle class and heterosexual, all of which are occasional causes of discomfort to her.
Each week we join Clare in her continued struggle to control both her professional and private life. In her private life Clare is struggling to come to terms with Brian's infidelity. Will their relationship survive?
In today's Big Society there are plenty of challenges out there for an involved, caring social worker. Or even Clare.
Clare: SALLY PHILLIPS
Brian: ALEX LOWE
Megan/Nali: NINA CONTI
Ray: RICHARD LUMSDEN
Helen: LIZA TARBUCK
Simon: ANDREW WINCOTT
Libby: SARAH KENDALL
WPC Petherington: SOPHIE THOMPSON
Mr. Chisholm: GERARD MCDERMOTT
Mr Barton: SIMON BUBB
Shuliman Olibaju/Annabel: VICTORIA INEZ HARDY
School Girl: GEORGIA LOWE
Written by Harry Venning and David Ramsden
Produced by Katie Tyrrell.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2011.
THU 19:00 The Archers (b0196tn3)
Pat's seen the story about the mega-dairy in the Borchester Echo. She can't believe Borchester Land, and particularly Brian, could contemplate such a scheme. When Jill tells her Adam's against it, Pat's sure most of the village will feel the same.
Tom's after some home-grown leaks for a sausage casserole. He suggests Tony should grow more exotic crops. Tony asks if Tom can do an extra milking to make up for missing Tuesday but Tom's too busy. They discuss the launch party and agree it's important to keep the press happy. Pat's reluctant to do the speech but Tom insists she should spearhead the event.
At the parish council meeting, Jill confirms that Alan has agreed to conduct the promises auction in aid of Britain in Bloom, to be held in the Bull Upstairs on Shrove Tuesday. There's unanimous agreement to the plans for the green burial site open day on 30 January. Neil brings up Mike's proposal to purchase a jubilee oak sapling, which also gets approval.
They agree to debate the BL dairy scheme properly once the plans are published. Jim tells Tom and Mike that it's clear Brian's going to have his work cut out selling it to the village.
THU 19:15 Front Row (b0196tn5)
Antony Gormley; painting Blair; beyond popcorn
With Mark Lawson.
Artists Jonathan Yeo and John Keane have both painted the portrait of Tony Blair - the former in an official commission in 2008, and the latter in an unofficial series of new paintings which depict Blair at the Chilcot Inquiry. The artists discuss what they found looking into the face of the former Prime Minister.
Sculptor Antony Gormley has teamed up with choreographer Hofesh Shechter for Survivor, a new musical work which features 150 amateur drummers, audience participation and live video projection. They explain how they divided up the creative work and how Shechter's artistic anger informed the piece.
As a cinema joins forces with chef Leigh Rowley to offer film-goers a meal while watching their movie, popcorn historian Andrew F Smith discusses the long history of eating while gazing at the big screen.
The chain of bookshops originally founded by Tim Waterstone has decided to drop the apostrophe in its name. Linguistics expert David Crystal considers this decision, and assesses whether it spells the beginning of the end for the apostrophe.
Producer Stephen Hughes.
THU 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b0196wvk)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
THU 20:00 The Report (b0196tn7)
Problem leases
Adrian Goldberg investigates alleged malpractice in the UK's multi-billion pound leasing industry, in both the private and the public sector. He hears from people who signed up to leasing contracts and have lost six figure sums, seen their businesses close, and been forced into bankruptcy. And beyond the stories of personal anguish, he looks into the role of some of Britain's major banks and finance houses involved in leasing and asks if it's time for a radical overhaul in the way the leasing industry is regulated.
THU 20:30 In Business (b0196tn9)
All Together Now
In these tough times, are there better ways of doing business: worker cooperatives, for example?
In crisis-battered Spain, Peter Day visits the world's biggest worker coop in Mondragon, to find out what makes it different. And, in the UK where the cooperative movement began, will 2012, designated the year of the cooperative see the rise of the mutual business model?
Producer : Sandra Kanthal.
THU 21:00 Nature (b0194mvq)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:00 on Tuesday]
THU 21:30 In Our Time (b0196tcr)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
THU 21:58 Weather (b01940kp)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (b0196tnc)
The head of the Arab League talks to us about their mission in Syria. Robin Lustig interviews him in Cairo and also visits the town where the Egyptian uprising began.
We hear how difficult it is to prove allegations of torture.
And a report on how the economic downturn has affected social attitudes in the UK.
The World Tonight with Robin Lustig in Cairo and Carolyn Quinn in London.
THU 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b0196tnf)
Honoré de Balzac - Cousin Bette
Episode 9
Cousin Bette is one of the best loved and most admired of Honore de Balzac's novels, written when his powers were at their height and marking the culmination of his extraordinary chronicle, La Comedie Humaine.
A tale of seductive women and philandering men, of passionate affairs and spiralling debts, Cousin Bette paints a vivid portrait of Paris in the 1830s and '40s. In a city full of temptations, money is king, morals are loose and the appeals of the virtuous are usually in vain. In the midst of it all sits a poor relation, Cousin Bette, like a spider in her web. Fuelled by bitterness and jealousy, she is determined to weave destruction into the lives of her extended family, the socially superior Hulots.
With her friend and accomplice, the beautiful Madame Marneffe, Bette sets out to manipulate events so that men are brought to their knees and their wives to despair, and she attains the power and prestige she seeks.
In today's episode, as Hulot's debts spiral further out of control, Bette seizes on a new plan to destroy her detested family.
Cousin Bette was written in less than a year, in serial instalments, often only completed just before the deadline. Within its pages, Balzac conjures a kaleidoscope of characters from all walks of life, chronicles the rise of a grasping bourgeoisie and tells a gripping tale of jealousy, passion and treachery.
The reader is Alex Jennings.
The translator was Marion Ayton Crawford and the abridger was Sally Marmion.
The producer is Di Speirs.
THU 23:00 Meanwhile, It's Will & Greg (b0196tnh)
Episode 2
Comedy performers William Andrews and Greg McHugh explore the surreal and the absurd through characters and everyday situations in their first sketch show for BBC Radio 4. Along with live sketches recorded in front of an appreciative Glasgow audience, the show also features studio based sketches with Will & Greg as "themselves" exploring a particular scenario and utilising their hilarious relationship with each other and their trademark skew-whiff logic. The studio based sketches allows them to play with sound and atmosphere of the radio sketch form and blend them with the live audience material.
Together with brand new regulars and one-off sketches, the series explores the bizarrely familiar, the recognisably odd and the upbeat offbeat way of life that only exists when the planet is touched by Will and Greg.
Stars William Andrews and Greg McHugh with Gavin Mitchell and Kirsten Mclean.
Director: Iain Davidson
Script Editor: Chris Grady
Original music by Alex Attwood.
Producer: Gus Beattie
A Comedy Unit production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 23:30 Today in Parliament (b0196tpj)
Sean Curran with the day's top news stories from Westminster where MPs have been discussing the fall-out from peers defeating the Government on cuts to welfare benefits. There's a report on gambling legislation, introduced in 2005, and its impact on the gambling culture. And MPs from all parties debate how to increase the number of women, ethnic communities and disabled people in Parliament. Also on the programme: concerns that changing the voter registration system will disenfranchise thousands of people; and one Minister's tip for losing weight.
FRIDAY 13 JANUARY 2012
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (b01940l6)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
FRI 00:30 Book of the Week (b019lzlz)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Thursday]
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b01940l8)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b01940lb)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b01940ld)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 05:30 News Briefing (b01940lg)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b019dkhv)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Revd Nicholas Papadopulos.
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (b0196tr3)
British egg farmers with egg on their faces, as the European Commission reveal up to half a million hens are still kept in banned battery cages on home soil.
Caz Graham hears from Compassion in World Farming who say they're disappointed after 12 years that the UK hasn't made the deadline. The British Egg Industry Council defends its moral high ground, saying only 1% of egg producers haven't converted and that all British Lion Eggs are within the law.
But with 14% of egg production across Europe now illegal, Farming Today asks the European Commission what penalties the 15 non-compliant countries will face.
Presented by Caz Graham. Produced by Clare Freeman in Birmingham.
FRI 06:00 Today (b0196tr5)
Morning news and current affairs presented by James Naughtie and Evan Davis, discussing how the police should change stop and search (
08:10), whether Michael Gove is right to make the process for firing teachers faster (
08:30) and looking at a golden silk cloth used making thread from spiders (
07:20).
FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (b01946pk)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:15 on Sunday]
FRI 09:45 Book of the Week (b019lzsy)
Stop What You're Doing and Read This
The Right Words in the Right Order
Passionate, funny, revelatory and inspiring, this series is a mission statement about the transformative power of reading; about the way it inspires us, the tangible impact it can have on our well-being and the importance it holds for us now and will continue to hold in the future.
Stop What You're Doing And Read This! features five of our finest authors and advocates from the world of publishing. Michael Rosen, Jeanette Winterson, Tim Parks, Carmen Callil and Mark Haddon, are all united here in a passionate belief in the distinctive and irreplaceable pleasures and powers of reading. Their essays argue that reading literature is, and must continue to be, a fundamental part of our daily life, as it directly improves our mental health and well-being, enriches our experience and broadens our imaginations.
As the ways people read, what they read, where they buy their books and in what format are all changing rapidly, this series argues unapologetically for the paramount importance of books and reading in a fast-moving, dislocated, technology-obsessed world.
From the moment he won six Penguin Classics in a school competition Mark Haddon has been an avid reader. But it's not the plots of books he focuses on but the words themselves, the images they conjure up, the world's they introduce him to. In 'The Right Words In the Right Order' he explains how reading, and reading the right books at the right time is a life-enhancing experience.
Producer: David Roper
A Heavy Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (b0196tyc)
Margaret Thatcher and the North, Finance and missing persons and Shirley Woodman
Was Margaret Thatcher responsible for the north/south divide? Jenni speaks to two former northern MPs Elizabeth Peacock and Joyce Quin to get their take on the 1980s. Shirley Woodman fought a long battle to be able to sue the man who tried to rape her - after he won seven million pounds in the lottery. She tells Jenni about her long campaign. Plus - if a person goes missing should it be easier for families to access that person's finances? There's a call to bring the law in England and Wales in line with that in Scotland and Northern Ireland. We also examine the morality of the present breast implant scandal.
FRI 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b0196wxp)
Ruthless
Episode 5
A light-hearted look at the world of Personal Assistants and office intrigue from the creator of Channel 4's Teachers, Tim Loane.
Ruth Brown arrives for her first day at a busy management consultancy and is thrown into a world of corporate jargon and menial and mind numbing tasks, all topped off with an unhealthy dollop of executive stress and a smidgen of scandal!
Hired to urgently plug a gap, Ruth is thrust into the life of a corporate PA alongside co-workers Tanya, Michelle and Beatrice. The real beating heart of the company, the PAs attend to the whims of the company CEO Oliver Carlton and keep the corporate plates spinning. However, with the consultancy undergoing an 'efficiency' assessment due to its record levels of stress-related illness, the atmosphere is anything but relaxed. Trying to settle in to her first week as a PA on the 'top floor', Ruth's interest is also piqued by the conflicting stories surrounding the fate of her predecessor Ingrid. What is the secret her colleagues are so keen to keep hidden?
As she begins uncovers a web of secrets, and scandal and as the stress levels rise, can Ruth learn to play her co-workers at their own game, and win?
With Olivia Hallinan as Ruth, the cast includes Joe Armstrong, Charles Edwards, Claire Rushbrook, Olivia Poulet, Gillian Kearney, Miche Doherty and Seainin Breannan.
A writer, director and actor, Tim Loane's screenwriting credits include the comedy films Out of The Deep Pan (BBC), Reversals (ITV) and he was creator and lead writer of the Bafta-nominated Teachers for Channel 4. He wrote the four-part conspiracy thriller Proof 2 (RTE), the three-part family drama serial Little Devil (ITV) and the 2009 updating of 80's television classic Minder (Channel 5). A co-founder of Northern Ireland's Tinderbox Theatre Company, his stage plays include Caught Red Handed and To Be Sure while he also directed the 1997 Oscar nominated short film Dance Lexie Dance. For radio he was written the inner-city thriller The Tunnel and the post-ceasefire ensemble comedy I can see clearly.
FRI 11:00 But They Are Only Russians (b0196tyf)
Truth-tellers and cover-up artists: John Sweeney takes a classic example from Stalin's great famine of the 1930s which killed up to 10 million peasants, with a famous and feted journalist Walter Duranty reporting in the New York Times that there was no famine and very few deaths, and ridiculing another journalist, Gareth Jones (once David Lloyd George's private secretary), who had defied a state ban to go and see the suffering for himself, and reported the horrible truth. Duranty later won a Pulitzer; Jones was killed in China in mysterious circumstances.
In 'But They Are Only Russians' - a dismissive phrase used by Duranty when admitting privately to western officials that thousands were dying - John Sweeney investigates the truth-tellers and the cover-up artists, their motivation, their fate, and why it is that the public always finds it easier to believe in a fantasy rather than a reality.
Sweeney has been to Ukraine, following in the footsteps of Jones, and meeting a few aged famine survivors, who tell him of desperate hunger driving many to cannibalism. He visits and reports from Stalin's villa and one of his gulags, and observes that in Vladimir Putin's Russia, where only 'positive history' is promoted, Stalin is being rehabilitated and school-books reducing the history of the famine to half a page.
He talks to Doris Lessing, who confesses to having been duped into promoting Stalin's vision of society, and he hears how politically naive many celebrities of the time proved to be. As were intellectuals. Or useful idiots, as Lenin called them - who ignored or accepted, sometimes promoted, tyrannies and tyrants. He meets Gareth Jones' niece and Walter Duranty's biographer.
Sweeney brings the story up to date, by noting that some current world leaders act abominably or dubiously, even if not on Stalin's scale, and what they do is reported by the Durantys and the Jones - cover-up artists and truth-tellers.
Producer: David Coomes.
FRI 11:30 North by Northamptonshire (b0196tyh)
Series 2
Episode 6
Norman may have stopped the parade, but the festival must go on. Meanwhile Helen has news for Jan and Frank, and love blossoms for a most unlikely couple.
Sheila Hancock narrates the bittersweet adventures of the residents of a small town in Northamptonshire.
Written by Katherine Jakeways.
John Biggins................................Keith
Mackenzie Crook...........................Rod
Kevin Eldon...................Jonathan / Ken
Shelia Hancock....................... Narrator
Jessica Henwick...........................Helen
Katherine Jakeways........ Esther / Jacqui
Felicity Montagu..............................Jan
Geoffrey Palmer........................Norman
Lizzie Roper..............................Angela
Penelope Wilton............................Mary
Rufus Wright................................Frank
Producer: Victoria Lloyd
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2012.
FRI 12:00 You and Yours (b0196tyk)
Why Arsenal is top of the league for diversity and equality
Easyjet's new administration charge that's replaced online card charges.
Arsene Wenger's latest addition to Arsenal's trophy cabinet - this time an award for diversity and equality.
How new technology could change the future of travel - digital breadcrumbs could solve the problems of lost luggage, delays and even queuing.
And the £100 austerity cruise - how a travel company is hoping to tap into our appetite for cruises by offering a route from South Shields to Harwich.
The presenter is Peter White. The producer is Alex Lewis.
FRI 12:57 Weather (b01940lj)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 13:00 World at One (b0196tym)
National and international news with James Robbins. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
FRI 13:45 To Strive and Seek (b019dqw0)
Episode 5
Focusing on the often forgotten, but revealing stories of the individuals involved, this highly textured series, authoritatively presented by Sara Wheeler marks the centenary of Scott's ill fated polar expedition.
Scott's Terra Nova Expedition famously reached the South Pole on 17th January 1912. When they arrived they discovered that Amundsen had got there 33 days before them. They all perished on the return trip. The stated aim of the endeavour had been "to reach the South Pole and to secure for the British Empire the honour of this achievement".
In all there were sixty-five men involved in the ship and shore parties, this is the story of five of them. Key individuals, each with their own reasons for being there, their own fascinations and interests, their own Terra Nova Expedition.
Today's episode focuses on Cherry Apsley-Garrard.
Producer: Kevin Dawson
A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 14:00 The Archers (b0196tn3)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Drama (b0196v3q)
You Drive Me Crazy
Once he loved powering down the motorway; now the very thought brings on a cold sweat. Paul Dodgson's play reflects on living with his newly-acquired fear of driving. Looking back on the cars in his life to try and trace the source of his anxiety, he remembers being 'Prince of the back seat' at six years old in his parents' half timbered Morris Traveller. Then, as a teenager, he couldn't wait for his 17th birthday and the chance to get behind the wheel of the family's Austin Princess himself. Later, as a young man in his thirties, he fell in love with his red MG Midget - enjoying nothing more than belting down country lanes blasting music way too loud. Then, something changed, and a fear began to take hold, a fear that would suddenly skew his vision, make the road seem to slide away, and his heart beat violently in his chest - a fear that quickly turned into a debilitating terror. Paul Dodgson writes and narrates his own story of living with driving anxiety disorder.
A BBC Cymru/Wales production, directed by Kate McAll.
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b0196v3s)
Birmingham
Anne Swithinbank, Bob Flowerdew and Matthew Wilson join gardeners in Birmingham for a horticultural Q&A. Eric Robson is the chair.
Guest presenter, Alys Fowler visits Garden Organic's Heritage Seed Library and Matthew Biggs sings out for his Plant of the Moment: Viburnum bodnantense 'Dawn'.
Questions addressed in the programme:
Is there a definitive difference between a plant and weed?
Can I put manure on my veg. plots at this time of year? Once the veg. are growing when can I feed them? How strict should my veg. rotation be?
Last year, I lost a willow tree to Honeyfungus. Are we safe now or do we have to wait to plant anything again?
What advice do you have for naturalising bulbs in a dark, shaded woodland.
My trumpet vine did very little the last 6yrs. Last year, however, there was lots of growth and it flowered non-stop since August. How should I best prune it?
Why do the hips on my Rugosa Roses shrivel and die before changing colour?
Sawfly have attacked our Berberis and Gooseberry shrubs. What to do?
Am I wasting my time planting a winter mix of green manure?
How can I heat my greenhouse without using electricity.
Produced by Howard Shannon
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 15:45 New Year, New Writers (b0196v3v)
Departures
Stories to mark the New Year by new writers from Scotland.
'Departures' by Katy McAulay.
A woman yearns for some January sun until an encounter at the airport changes everything. Read by Julie Duncanson.
FRI 16:00 Last Word (b0196v3x)
Sir Robert Horton, Clive Robbins, Alexis Weissenberg, Sir Roger Jowell and Harry Fowler
Matthew Bannister on
The former BP chairman and chief executive Sir Robert Horton who was ousted in a boardroom coup and went on to run Railtrack
Clive Robbins, who teamed up with Paul Nordoff to create a powerful type of music therapy
Sir Roger Jowell - the statistician who measured changing attitudes in British society
The cockney actor Harry Fowler, who appeared in The Army Game and many Ealing comedies
And the Bulgarian born pianist Alexis Weissenberg - whose musical talent saved his life in a Nazi concentration camp.
FRI 16:30 More or Less (b0196v3z)
High Speed 2 and Executive Pay
Tim Harford looks at the arguments for high speed rail with railway consultant Chris Stokes and Alison Munro from HS2 Ltd. He investigates the different measures of the rise in executive pay with Steve Tatton from Income Data Services and Sarah Wilson from research group Manifest. He resolves a four year-old bet on climate change between climate scientist James Annan and astrophysicist David Whitehouse and Wesley Stephenson looks behind the figures for youth unemployment in Spain.
FRI 17:00 PM (b0196v41)
Eddie Mair presents the day's top stories. Including Weather.
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b01940ll)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 18:30 The News Quiz (b0196vgp)
Series 76
Episode 4
Scotland, Speed, and Office Stupor: Sandi Toksvig presents Radio 4's perenially popular topical quiz in the week that Alex Salmond named a date for a referendum on Scotland leaving the union, plans for the controversial HS2 train link were unveiled, and 1 in 4 office workers were said to be endangering their lives through boredom. Jeremy Hardy and Sue Perkins take on Fred Macaulay and Bob Mills, and Corrie Corfield reads the news. Produced by Victoria Lloyd.
FRI 19:00 The Archers (b0196vgr)
Brian's heard about the uproar at last night's parish council meeting and is keeping a low profile. Shula tells him she's keeping an open mind. Brian thinks she'll be pleasantly surprised when she sees the real plans, rather than the rubbish in the Echo.
Tracy insists on going with Neil to the DIY store, where she picks out a bathroom suite and expensive tiles. Neil points out that Bert's not going to want anything so stylish, and she mustn't forget he's paying. Their shopping trip is interrupted by a call from the school. Gary's forgotten to pick up the children. Tracy tells Neil he'll have to take her there, now.
The Environment Agency have been to Brookfield. Their NVZ records are satisfactory. Shula's learned that David and Ruth might have to sell the herd. She assures them that Phil trusted their judgement and would have understood. David and Ruth explain what they're up against.
David receives a quote for a slurry tank - just under £22k. It makes more sense than patching up the old lagoon but is still a lot of money. David wonders if it's time to admit they can't make dairying pay but Ruth's not prepared to call time on her cows. Not yet.
FRI 19:15 Front Row (b0196vgt)
Heidi Thomas on Call the Midwife; trumpeter Alison Balsam
With John Wilson
Screenwriter Heidi Thomas, whose credits include Cranford, discusses her forthcoming TV adaptation of Jennifer Worth's best-selling memoir Call The Midwife, set in the East End of London in the 1950s.
John talks to the trumpeter Alison Balsom, twice-winner of the Female Artist Of The Year award at the Classic Brits, whose latest CD showcases 20th century works for trumpet, including a piece written for Alison by the composer James MacMillan
Publisher Jamie Byng tells the story behind The Last Holiday, the posthumous memoir of singer-songwriter Gil Scott-Heron
In a year where arts organisations around the UK are calling for volunteers for a range of projects, Turner Prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller explains why he's advertising for people to help with his own installations, which include a fully-functional cafe.
Producer Rebecca Nicholson.
FRI 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b0196wxp)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (b0196vgw)
Musselburgh, East Lothian
Jonathan Dimbleby chairs a live discussion of news and politics from Loretto School in Musselburgh, East Lothian with Secretary of State for Scotland, Michael Moore; Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland, Margaret Curran; journalist and broadcaster, Lesley Riddoch; and Scottish Finance Secretary, SNP MSP John Swinney.
Producer: Victoria Wakely.
FRI 20:50 A Point of View (b0196vgy)
The Art of Gardening
The historian Lisa Jardine recalls the seventeenth century Lord Chancellor, and keen gardener, Sir Francis Bacon as she reflects on the art of gardening, as both pure human pleasure and a means of self advancement. "Perhaps the innocence and sustaining consolation of gardens is not quite such a simple matter after all. The shadow of political self-interest falls across the sweet-smelling flowerbeds and shady bowers too."
Producer: Sheila Cook.
FRI 21:00 Saturday Drama (b011290q)
Deep Down and Dirty Rock 'n' Roll
By Mark Davies Markham. Suggs stars in a drama set in the music industry. Once Carl was the tragic suicidal poet of the band Lost Youth. Fourteen years earlier Carl feigned a mysterious disappearance. If he comes out of hiding now Lost Youth are history.
Ed...Suggs
Carl...Burn Gorman
Tanya...Philippa Stanton
Sophie...Alex Tregear
Doreen...Joanna Monro
Olly...Stuart McLoughlin
Miss Brookes...Jane Whittenshaw
Phil...Brian Bowles
Music composed by Dave Gale
Directed by Claire Grove
Ed (SUGGS) and Carl (BURN GORMAN) are two musicians in mid-life meltdown, who've been friends and rivals since primary school. Carl, the supposedly dead or missing poet of the band Lost Youth, has been in hiding for fourteen years. But with Lost Youth's comeback tour and new album imminent maybe he's about to be outed. Ed has been living the rock and roll life and he's in serious debt. If Carl comes out of hiding Lost Youth are history, and so is he.
SUGGS was a founder member of Madness, the ska revivalists who erupted out of Camden Town in the late '70's and became one of the greatest pop groups of the '80s. He presents a music show on Radio 2.
BURN GORMAN is best known for Torchwood. He also played Bill Sykes in Oliver in the West End
Mark Davies Markham writes hugely entertaining scripts for TV, theatre and radio. 'Taboo' the West End musical he wrote for Boy George was nominated for an Olivier Award . 'Eric' his recent play for the Liverpool Everyman was also about the music industry.
FRI 21:58 Weather (b01982kz)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (b0196vh0)
Robin Lustig is in Egypt again tonight, as election results are announced, he will examine the country's political future and ask how last year's Arab Spring has left the region.
David Eades is in London and will discuss key developments in the euro-zone.
And do you remember the sound of silence? We consider how to enjoy a bit of peace and quiet in a world of texts, tweets and emails - and how rude do you feel if you don't reply?
That's the World Tonight with Robin Lustig and David Eades.
FRI 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b0196vh2)
Honoré de Balzac - Cousin Bette
Episode 10
Cousin Bette is one of the best loved and most admired of Honore de Balzac's novels, written when his powers were at their height and marking the culmination of his extraordinary chronicle, La Comedie Humaine.
A tale of seductive women and philandering men, of passionate affairs and spiralling debts, Cousin Bette paints a vivid portrait of Paris in the 1830s and '40s. In a city full of temptations, money is king, morals are loose and the appeals of the virtuous are usually in vain. In the midst of it all sits a poor relation, Cousin Bette, like a spider in her web. Fuelled by bitterness and jealousy, she is determined to weave destruction into the lives of her extended family, the socially superior Hulots.
With her friend and accomplice, the beautiful Madame Marneffe, Bette sets out to manipulate events so that men are brought to their knees and their wives to despair, and she attains the power and prestige she seeks.
In today's final episode, the Brazilian discovers that his love has been betrayed and wrecks vengeance that quite outdoes all Bette's most wicked plans. And the incorrigible Baron is returned to his family, for now..
Cousin Bette was written in less than a year, in serial instalments, often only completed just before the deadline. Within its pages, Balzac conjures a kaleidoscope of characters from all walks of life, chronicles the rise of a grasping bourgeoisie and tells a gripping tale of jealousy, passion and treachery.
The reader is Alex Jennings.
The translator was Marion Ayton Crawford and the abridger was Sally Marmion.
The producer is Di Speirs.
FRI 23:00 Great Lives (b0194mxs)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 on Tuesday]
FRI 23:30 Today in Parliament (b0196vh4)
Mark D'Arcy with the day's top news stories from Westminster.