The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
Philanthropy & charitable giving: Is there such a thing as a free gift? Laurie Taylor talks to Linsey McGoey, Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Essex and author of a study of contemporary philanthropy. The amount of money placed in philanthropic trusts helps make the charitable sector one of the fastest growing global industries. Is this a new 'golden age' of giving which promises to replace the role of government as provider of social welfare? What are the potential conflicts between good deeds and hard profit? They're joined by Tom Hughes Hallett, philanthropist and Non Executive Chair of the Marshall Institute at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Also, John Mohan, Professor of Social Policy at the University of Birmingham, discusses his British study into the logic of charity in 'hard times'.
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Right Reverend Marcus Stock, Bishop of Leeds.
The Government has cut the recommended daily intake of dairy in our diet by a half - from 15% to 8%. It's part of their aim to reduce the amount of sugar and fat we eat. But the dairy industry says it's disappointed by the guidance, and that dairy products are an important part of a healthy diet.
And a South Wales farmer brings together all the experts and companies she works with - to illustrate just how much value a successful farm business adds to the local economy.
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Kate Humble presents the willow warbler. The first willow warblers return from Africa in late March. Willow warblers were once the commonest and most widespread summer migrant to the UK but in the last two decades numbers in the south and east of England have dropped by two thirds. Fortunately in Scotland, Ireland and the west, numbers seem to be holding up.
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
On Start the Week Andrew Marr looks at the pace of life with the writer Robert Colvile who celebrates today's accelerating flow of change and argues that we are hard-wired to crave novelty, speed and convenience. But Carl Honoré challenges this cult of speed in his praise of slowness. The scientist Steve Jones looks back at another period of history where the pace of change was revolutionary impacting scientifically, socially and politically - the French Revolution. And the writer Sarah Dunant focuses on 16th century Italy at a time when ideas in politics, religion and art were gathering pace.
Marceline Loridan-Ivens searingly honest memoir is written as an intimate letter to her lost father. In 1944 and aged just fifteen she was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau along with her father. While she survived the horror he never came back. Here she tells the man she would never know as an adult about the terrible events that continue to haunt her, and she also reveals the profound sense of loss that his death brought her.
The actress, screenwriter and director Marceline Loridan-Ivens was born in 1928 and lives in Paris.
Betty Jackson, Justice Nasira Iqbal, Denise Gough, Domestic violence statistics
Betty Jackson CBE is a British fashion designer with an extraordinary CV. She found success working with Ossie Clark in the 1970s before setting up her own label in the 1980s. In 2000 she launched the Autograph Collection for Marks and Spencer and now works on the Betty Jackson Black label for Debenhams. Betty tells Jane about presenting the inaugural Anne Tyrrell Student Design Award and introduces us to the winner and runner-up.
Justice Nasira Iqbal was one of the first five women to be appointed to the Lahore High Court and served from 1994 until 2002. She was a full time mother until she decided to retrain after seeing an advert for a local law examination. Married to Justice Javid Iqbal, the Former Chief Justice of Lahore High Court and a judge of the Supreme Court, she decided to wait until he had retired before embarking on her own judicial career to avoid complaints of nepotism. Jane speaks to her about her remarkable career and her hopes for the future of Pakistan.
The National Theatre's play People, Place and Things takes an unflinching look at addiction. Now transferred to London's West End, Denise Gough stars as its recovering addict. She joins Jane to discuss a gripping, demanding but award-winning role.
After a number of recent items on the programme looking at domestic violence there was some debate as to the accuracy of statistics around this issue. Charlotte McDonald from the World Service programme, More or Less, has investigated further and reveals her findings.
When Transaviation Flight 179 from Boston crashes into the Sierra Nevada on its approach to to LAX, killing everyone on board, it seems at first like a simple but tragic case of human error.
But when Caceres discovers that Curtis Wexler (Nathan Osborn), a limo driver who was due to meet a wealthy businessman from the flight, is now dating this businessman's widow, she gets the feeling there may be more to this disaster than first appears.
Hollywood Endings starts with the seemingly straightforward, if tragic, loss of the incoming plane. But as Caceres gradually unpicks a complex web of anger, lust and revenge, the story takes us to some dark and wholly unexpected places.
Grace Dent presents untold stories of modern Britain. Today, a tale of homelessness in Poole as we follow the life of Mel.
From a career in high finance, Mel has ended up sleeping rough in the stairwell of a multi storey car park. We follow her daily - and nightly - routine as she tries to survive with no fixed abode.
Events conspire to raise the stakes for Mel and the need for a roof over her head becomes more urgent than ever.
Banned from boxing and in the wilderness, can Boswell help Muhammad Ali out of it and make The Greatest – Greatester?
Jon Canter’s sitcom sees James Boswell become a time-travelling biographer - doing for other celebrities what he did for Dr Johnson.
James Boswell ..... Miles Jupp
Muhammad Ali ..... Lenny Henry
Boxing Commentator ..... Ewan Bailey
In 2004, the Ukrainian presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko was mysteriously poisoned during his election campaign. He has spoken to Witness about the night he was taken ill and the symptoms he suffered. Badly disfigured, he managed to carry on campaigning and win the Presidency against his Moscow-backed rival. He spoke to Dina Newman.
Most parents have a few worries about rental accommodation when their children go to university. The Deposit Protection Service can decide who should have the money when there's a dispute at the end of the tenancy - we sit its boss down with a student who used it.
And hundreds of thousands of people in the UK pay a company to help manage their debt. But the future of many of them are in doubt because the Financial Conduct Authority is carrying out a review of the sector. The charity, Stepchange, says more and more people are asking for help and many of the schemes are completely inappropriate.
And when big firms sound like sad teenagers: We'll hear a few more of your 'Needy Emails' - the messages you get from companies when you unsubscribe from their email lists.
You and Yours hit the headlines after proving on air how sim cards were a route to hacking into people's banks. Our listener, Peter Finneran, tells us how his sim was taken over - and Vodafone explain the failures which allowed it to happen.
Also the government's plans to include poppers in the New Psychoactive Substances Act have hit a problem. Their own drug advisers have told them it is not a psychoactive substance.
Professor Sunil Khilnani, from the King's India Institute in London, looks at the life of Indira Gandhi, India's first woman prime minister, whose darkest moment was a two year period known as "the emergency". Jails filled up with her critics while journalists and editors were detained alongside the political opposition. Those arrested could be held without trial and and she attempted to reduce the birth rate by offering men incentives to be sterilized. "Indira Gandhi in many ways issued the greatest threat to democracy in independent India's history," says Professor Khilnani, "weakening constitutional regularities established by her father. Yet the enduring effect of her rule was to open the state to a deeper and more accessible democracy".
4 Extra Debut. Award-winning novelist, John Banville, imagines an encounter between Elizabeth Bowen and John Betjeman as they meet for luncheon in a Dublin hotel during the Second World War. As their conversation ranges over their lives, their loves, their politics, we are given a portrait of wartime Dublin and London and of the place of the artist in a world at war.
Writer ..... John Banville
Director ..... Gemma McMullan
Producer ..... Gemma McMullan.
The All England club at Wimbledon officially caters for tennis and which other sport? What are the first two prime numbers you come to when counting upwards from 100? Which border is the setting for author Cormac McCarthy's so-called 'Border Trilogy'?
These are just three of the questions the competitors have to face in the penultimate heat of this year's Brain of Britain contest. Russell Davies is in the chair, at Media City UK in Salford. The winner will go through to the semi-finals next month.
There's also a chance for a listener to 'Beat the Brains' and win a prize with devious questions of his or her own.
The story of contemporary community dance in Oxford, and the extraordinary woman who launched it thirty years ago.
Cecilia Macfarlane believes that we are all dancers from the cradle to the grave. More than that, really: she thinks that we dance from our first kick in the womb to our very last blink - and, perhaps, beyond.
At her convent school in Bath, when she declared that she was going to be a dancer, the Head Mistress told Cecilia: "Go dance your life away!".
When she came to Oxford as a young mother, she found only ballet was available for children, and started up Oxford Youth Dance for her own son and daughter. Thirty years on, Oxford - a city better known for more prestigious art-forms - has the longest-running and perhaps most vibrant community dance scene in the country.
You can be two or 92, in a wheelchair or able-bodied, a middle-aged office worker or a young man planning a professional careeer in dance - in Oxford, you really can "dance your life away".
The Archbishop of Canterbury is working with other Christian churches to agree on a fixed date for Easter, which he hopes would happen "in between five and 10 years time". The first attempt to make such a change was in the 10th Century. The date, which is different in the Eastern and Western Christian traditions, is also intrinsically linked to the Jewish celebration of Passover and Christian church liturgy is steeped in its Jewish origins. Why historically has the date been different among Christians? What would it take to agree on a fixed date? Why does it matter? What could a change to a fixed date mean for Christians and Jews?
David Cameron spoke out to try to heal a party rift over controversial spending cuts
Nicholas Parsons asks Gyles Brandreth, Esther Rantzen, Paul Merton & Tim Rice to speak on the topic of his choosing, without deviation, repetition or hesitation for Just a Minute.
This week's topics include: Bubble & Squeak, A Leap Year and A Mission to Mars.
Hayley Sterling blows the whistle.
Johnny is learning from David about the practices of rolling the seedbed. They take a break with homemade gingerbread. David says farming is part of you - but it can also be chaotic. Johnny likes that about farming, and he is keen to learn even more. David says if Johnny carries on like this, he will secure a job with Tom and Tony. Later, Johnny and Ruth discuss the new herd. David rings to say there's been trouble at Hollowtree. Ruth says this is a farmer's lot: one minute all is well and the next, everything is falling apart.
Rex buys tons of Easter eggs for him and Toby. He is excited because the pastured hens are arriving tomorrow! They talk about the egg-mobile, which is now ready. Rex tries to stop Toby bothering him about Pip, who is in Cumbria with Matthew. Then they smell burning... They get out of the truck to find the egg-mobile is on fire! Toby is distraught, while Rex calls the fire brigade. Toby has a lightbulb moment - rather than delay the hens' arrival and the launch of their business, they could use their caravan! Rex and David are sceptical but Toby is determined.
The A Word is a six-part drama on BBC One that portrays a family coming to terms with their son being diagnosed as autistic. Its writer Peter Bowker joins us in the studio.
Four years after breaking up Steph and Greg think they might get together again. Trouble is, she's married to someone else, and he's taken up with her best friend. Kirsty talks to playwright Neil LaBute about 'Reasons to be Happy', the second in his trilogy about these characters, and to director Michael Attenborough, about staging this very American work in Britain.
The death was announced yesterday of the writer Barry Hines. The poet Ian McMillan used to work in the office next door to the one he wrote in and Barry used to try dialogue out on him. McMillan tells Kirsty about the example Hines set him, and the importance of this northern writer's work, which was far from confined to Kes.
Ottessa Moshfegh is a novelist from Boston whose thriller, Eileen, has had rave reviews in the US and has already been optioned by film producer Scott Rudin who made Gone Girl. Kirsty Lang talks to the debut novelist about her book and the hype surrounding it.
The Olympic legacy has failed to translate into greater sporting opportunities for our children and in this programme Peter White hears from them and their counterparts in the United States. In Britain there is still a mismatch between funding for elite sports and the fitness and activity that health experts say youngsters need. With audio diaries tracking the weekly activity of pupils, Peter unpicks what was promised in the run up to the Olympics and what has actually transpired: asking what more, if anything, could be done?
Billboards across the country tell us: "This girl can", to encourage younger women to participate in sport. But why should this succeed when, according to the former Minister for the Olympics, Tessa Jowell, the billions spent on the 2012 Games failed to deliver a legacy of sporting engagement?
She believes that we squandered a once in a lifetime opportunity. But perhaps the writing was already on the wall even before the cheers for Farah, Ennis, Rutherford and co had died on our lips. A Freedom of Information request revealed in September 2012 that one-third of Councils in the UK said they had recently cut grass-roots sports facilities, or raised charges for them: playing-fields, parks and sports centres. Meanwhile, according to numerous head teachers, sport hardly gets a look-in when the Ofsted inspector comes calling.
Although the chief Medical Officer of Health has said he wants children to be taking five or six hours of exercise each week, PE lessons are struggling to reach two hours; there's also evidence that the numbers of disadvantaged children taking part in sport is falling. And yet every week there are headlines about the crisis in childhood obesity.
As Rio approaches Peter asks why we should believe that an Olympic gold medallist will encourage a thirteen-year-old boy to set aside his play station on a wet December evening and go for a run? Some, such as former Olympic coach Tom McNab, claim that we are mired in a very fundamental confusion about elite sport and elite sporting competition, both of which actually have little to do with health-related fitness: to assume that one will influence the other is misguided.
He feels that Government stats which group together dedicated club athletes with people who like a run round the block now and again are just misleading. Local authorities and schools could do much more to encourage health and fitness, but this has nothing to do with elite sport, and most national sporting bodies are aimed at national competitors, not people who want to lose a bit of weight or improve their general health.
So can this ever be untangled? If we're hoping to tackle our predicted obesity epidemic through exercise, then some solutions are absolutely necessary. This programme seeks answers through recordings with sports scientists, administrators, doctors, politicians, and children; and by exploring whether other countries, like the United States, are doing better at navigating the current gaps in provision and performance.
Phil Tinline finds out what happens when institutions lose their memory and how they can best capture and share the lessons of the past.
Is science quite as scientific as it's supposed to be? ITV Science Correspondent Alok Jha takes a look at how science research is really carried out, to find out if it is really as rigorous as scientists would like us to think.
In the second and concluding part of this series, Alok looks at the practices and cultures undermining the integrity of scientific research.
Are scientists being pushed into shortcuts and unethical behaviour by the competitiveness of their field?
Has the PM done enough to heal a rift within his party? We hear from a former Tory cabinet minister; President Obama's visit to Cuba - we talk to a Cuban American who's concerned with human rights. And a hundred years on, we remember conscientious objectors from the First World War.
Hot Milk is the latest novel by Man Booker shortlisted author Deborah Levy. Set in Southern Spain it explores female rage and sexuality and the stubborn primal bond that exists between a hypochondriac mother and her daughter.
Sophia, a young anthropologist, has 'been sleuthing her mother's symptoms' for as long as she can remember as Rose, the older woman, is suffering from a form of paralysis that might or might not be imagined. Driven to find a cure beyond the realms of conventional medicine, they have come to Almeria in Southern Spain to visit the clinic of Dr Gomez. His methods appear to have little to do with physical medicine and he prompts both women to confront the true nature of their relationship. Why is Sophia unable to escape her mother's constant complaints? Are Rose's symptoms psychosomatic?
The oppressive desert heat pushes both to examine the root of Rose's illness and the cause of Sofia's fractured identity. And Sofia discovers the sting of desire, and the need to be vital and alive.
The reader is Indira Varma and Hot Milk is abridged by Sally Marmion.
Andrew Maxwell takes a long look at a theme running through world news. The topic for this show is populism. With the rise of Trump, Putin's continued influence, not to mention ISIS, populist parties in Europe and referendums, populism is having its day in the sun again. But why is this happening now - and how should we react to this political trend? Legendary comedian Andrew Maxwell delves deeper to find out.
TIP: The Prime Minister pays tribute to the former Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith and praises his chancellor as he attempts to draw a line under the weekend's headlines. Meanwhile there's defeat in the House of Lords over unaccompanied child refugees. Susan Hulme reports from Westminster.
TUESDAY 22 MARCH 2016
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (b07414cm)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
TUE 00:30 Book of the Week (b0741kpb)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b07414cp)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b07414cr)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b07414ct)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 05:30 News Briefing (b07414cw)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b0742hqr)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Right Reverend Marcus Stock, Bishop of Leeds.
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (b07425y3)
MEPs to vote on glyphosate and produce labelling
MEPs will vote today in the next step towards a binding new law to label lightly processed meat and dairy products with their country of origin. They hope it would help to rebuild confidence in the provenance of food.
And we speak to a vet who wants other vets to be banned from prescribing or recommending homeopathic remedies. Dr Danny Chambers has started a petition which he will present to the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons.
Presented by Anna Hill and produced by Sally Challoner.
TUE 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b01sbyxy)
Redshank
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. David Attenborough presents the Redshank. Redshanks are one of our commonest wading birds at home in freshwater marshes and on estuaries where you can easily recognise them from their combination of long scarlet legs, white rumps and wing-bars and greyish brown bodies.
TUE 06:00 Today (b07426hh)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather and Thought for the Day.
TUE 09:00 The Life Scientific (b07428bk)
Carolyn Roberts on flood control
Barely a month goes by without news of another catastrophic flood somewhere in the world, like the Boxing Day tsunami in 2004 or the flooding of New Orleans with Hurricane Katrina a year later, and the role of climate change is often mooted. Here in the UK this winter, flood victims were once again caught in a cycle of despair and anger as they tried to make sense of why their homes were flooded and what could be done to prevent it happening again.
Jim talks to environmental scientist, Professor Carolyn Roberts, who is pre-occupied by problems like this. She applies water science, in particular, to work out why such events occur and the role we humans play in them. Her passion for problem solving in watery places also takes her into the intriguing world of forensics where she assists the police when bodies are found floating in rivers and canals.
Producer: Beth Eastwood.
TUE 09:30 One to One (b07428bm)
Sathnam Sanghera talks to Janice Turner
Sathnam Sanghera explores class. As the son of an illiterate factory worker who ended up going to Cambridge and working for The Times, he now regards himself as firmly middle class.
In the first of his two programmes for One to One, he interviews Janice Turner, a fellow journalist from The Times, at her home in South London. She had a similar journey to Sathnam; she moved from working class Doncaster to the London media establishment, but she feels very differently about which class she belongs to.
Producer: Perminder Khatkar.
TUE 09:45 Book of the Week (b0759wfk)
But You Did Not Come Back
The Return
Marceline Loridan-Ivens's searingly honest memoir is about how she survived the Holocaust and is written as a letter to her father who did not survive the horrors and who she would never know as an adult. In today's episode she recalls the return home from the concentration camps without her beloved father, and tells how her memories of the horrors she experienced in the concentration camps have haunted her. Sara Kestelman reads.
Translated by Sandra Smith
Abridged by Penny Leicester
Produced by Elizabeth Allard.
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (b07414cy)
Women and Teeth
In the Woman's Hour dental clinic Dr Uchenna Okoye, Clinical Director of the London Smiling Dental Group and and Mrs Linda Hillman, Consultant in Dental Public Health for Public Health, England are on hand to answer all the questions about teeth you can never get round to asking when you're in the dentist's chair. How are women's teeth affected by pregnancy and menopause? Do veneers last? And, should wine be drunk through a straw?
Rachel Bairsto, Curator at the British Dental Association Museum on why a lovely pair of pink vulcanite dentures were a good investment for young women in the past And, the legacy of Lilian Lindsay, the first woman to qualify as a dentist in the UK in 1895.
If you don't clean your teeth for 12 years your smile isn't exactly Hollywood. Liz Leonard talks to Sharon, Debbie, Ellen & Elaine at Turning Point Scotland 218 in Glasgow, a service which supports women involved in the criminal justice system. They've all suffered pain and shame because of bad teeth but never talk about it, even to each other.
Leigh and Ruth both saved hard to transform their teeth after years of smiling with their mouths closed. They tell Jane the difference it has made to their confidence.
Cosmetic dentistry and tooth whitening are big business and for many a worthwhile investment . But is the bar now too high and is the selfie to blame for the rise in dental dissatisfaction? Nicole Mowbray had cosmetic work done on her teeth and now urges those who don't really need it to steer well clear.
TUE 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b074l9lg)
Hollywood Endings
Episode 2
Kathleen Turner stars as Detective Anna Caceres of the LAPD.
When Transaviation Flight 179 from Boston crashes into the Sierra Nevada on its approach to to LAX, killing everyone on board, it seems at first like a simple but tragic case of human error.
But when Caceres discovers that Curtis Wexler (Nathan Osborn), a limo driver who was due to meet a wealthy businessman from the flight, is now dating this businessman's widow, she gets the feeling there may be more to this disaster than first appears.
Hollywood Endings starts with the seemingly straightforward, if tragic, loss of the incoming plane. But as Caceres gradually unpicks a complex web of anger, lust and revenge, the story takes us to some dark and wholly unexpected places.
A Big Fish production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 11:00 The Horns of a Dilemma (b07428br)
The majority of white and black rhinoceros are found in South Africa. This stronghold for these magnificent creatures is now being threatened by poachers killing rhino for their horns.
Rhino horn, traded illegally in parts of Asia, is thought to be a cooling agent in traditional Chinese medicine. It's recently been hailed as a cure for cancer, and is seen as a status symbol in Vietnam. Made from keratin, the same stuff as hair or fingernails rhino horn has negligible medical properties, yet people are willing to pay up to £40,000 a kilogramme for it.
International trade in rhino horn has been banned under CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) since the 1990s. Trade in horn was banned within South Africa in 2009. Since then, poaching has increased exponentially, reaching more than 1300 rhino poached in 2015.
Protecting the rhino in National and Provincial parks and privately owned reserves is a very dangerous and expensive undertaking. The government-run parks, such as Kruger National Park have about 75% of the South African rhino and are losing the most animals to poachers. The best protected rhino tend to be in the privately owned farms.
Many private rhino owners want the ban on the sale of rhino horn to be lifted.
This is because, unlike elephant ivory, pangolin scales and the bones from lions, rhinos can be dehorned without harming the animal. Many rhino owners are already removing the horns from their animals to stop them attracting poachers so they are sitting on stockpiles of harvested horn.
With education and demand-reduction schemes not working quickly enough rhino owners hope to satisfy the demand by legally selling harvested horn. Some just want to trade within South Africa while others want CITES to allow a trade agreement between South Africa and China or Vietnam. They say they would use the money earned to put back into conserving and protecting rhino.
Others worry that this would just increase demand for horn and that by making trade legal, you are making people think that it has medical benefit.
It's a huge dilemma.
Producer: Fiona Roberts.
TUE 11:30 The Women Who Wrote Rock (b07428bt)
Kate Mossman tells the story of the long-overlooked female pop and rock writers of the 1960s.
As a music journalist herself, when Kate entered the profession she found herself surrounded by men - men who had very definite ideas about how it should be done... writing for monthly magazines that were aimed at men and covering artist who were mainly men. The whole industry of writing about 'serious' popular music seemed to have been established in the late 1960s and the mid-1970s with the writer-characters of Rolling Stone and our own New Musical Express.
But there was a time before all this - a time when the newly invented teenagers were finding their feet... and a new kind of journalism was emerging to chronicle the rapidly changing time. A journalism spearheaded by women.
There was Nancy Lewis, who wrote for Fabulous and the NME; June Harris, who wrote for Disc, then went to New York and contributed to Rave (as well as marring legendary rock agent and promoter Frank Barsalona); Maureen O'Grady who began her career as a music journalist at Boyfriend and progressed onto Rave, where she also joined Dawn James. And the doyennes of them all was the Evening Standard's Maureen Cleave, to whom John Lennon claimed that the Beatles were bigger than Jesus.
Kate Mossman meets them and celebrates the tone of their writing that was so fascinatingly different from rock journalism as we came to know it, and yet captured all the confusion, excitement and social changes of the time.
Producer: Paul Kobrak.
TUE 12:00 News Summary (b07414d0)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 12:04 Witness (b074w35k)
Fidel Castro Takes Havana
In January 1959 the rebel leader entered Cuba's capital city. The US-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista had fled and Castro immediately set about establishing his left-wing revolution. Carlos Alzugaray was then a teenager, and one of thousands of people who turned out to greet him.
TUE 12:15 You and Yours (b07414d2)
Call You and Yours: Are apprenticeships worth it?
Apprenticeships for young people in England aren't delivering the promised training and opportunities. That's according to the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission. It says too many are in sectors with poor pay and prospects - childcare, retail and hairdressing and they don't offer young people a foundation to build on. Applications are flat-lining just as the government is taxing businesses to pay for millions of new training places.
Winifred Robinson asks: Are apprenticeships worth it? What's your experience - as an employer or an apprentice? Email youandyours@bbc.co.uk. The phone number when we're on-air is 03 700 100 444.
TUE 12:57 Weather (b07414d4)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 13:00 World at One (b07428bw)
Thirty four people are believed to have been killed in terror attacks in Brussels. The Belgian Prime Minister describes it as a tragic moment in the country's history. We have the latest from there and examine security at airports and public transport.
TUE 13:45 Incarnations: India in 50 Lives (b07428by)
Satyajit Ray: India without Elephants
Sunil Khilnani explores the life and work of filmmaker Satyajit Ray.
In the history of Indian cinema, there is a Before Ray, and an After. As Sunil Khilnani says, "he's the first truly modern filmmaker we have." But Satyajit Ray's career in India might not have continued past its first few films had he not been celebrated in the West.
In his native Bengal, several of his films were popular. More were loathed. In today's thriving Bengali film culture, he's often held at arm's length: the guy who served it up for the West, and served it up a little sweet.
But Ray's films made ideas hanging in the air feel fresh, for he brought to them an unusually large range of small gifts: psychological and sensory acuity, humour, humanism, a deep appreciation of family relationships, an ability to withhold judgement, an ear equally adept at dialogue and sound, and the visual imagination of a third-generation illustrator and photographer. These were sufficient to allow him, time and again, to achieve a realism few in Indian cinema wanted to meet.
"It's the truth in a situation that attracts me," he told his actors. "And if I've been able to show it, that's enough for me."
The result was a body of work of which the director Akira Kurosawa would remark, "Not to have seen the cinema of Ray means existing in the world without seeing the sun or the moon."
Producer: Martin Williams.
TUE 14:00 The Archers (b0741n40)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 Drama (b0742d2w)
This Is Not a Banksy
By Alan Harris
Sam's life is turned upside down when his girlfriend, Molly, discovers a Banksy on his bottom. Molly insists they make it permanent down the tattoo parlour and before long Sam has become a living work of art. And that's when his problems really begin.
A comedy about the madness of the international art market, starring Elis James (Crims), Kimberley Nixon (Fresh Meat), Steffan Rhodri (Gavin and Stacey) and Tim Key (Alpha Papa). Writer Alan Harris lives and works in Cardiff, he was a runner-up in the 2014 BBC Wales Drama Award and won the judges' award at the 2015 Bruntwood Prize.
Directed by James Robinson
A BBC Cymru Wales Production.
TUE 15:00 Making History (b0742d2y)
Tom Holland is joined by Dr Nick Beech from Queen Mary University of London and Professor Emma Griffin from the University of East Anglia.
We're in Toxteth, Liverpool, to find out more about the history of the terraced house.
Christian Wolmar joins us from King's Cross railway station where he asks whether the Flying Scotsman deserves to be so famous.
And we explore the history of Easter with the Bishop of Norwich who explains why it moves around the calendar.
Helen Castor catches up with Dr Oleg Benesch at the University of York who argues that the Samurai of the nineteenth century borrowed heavily from the Victorian notion of chivalry.
Finally, the author Jenny Uglow shares with us her favourite year - 1798.
Producer Nick Patrick
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 15:30 Costing the Earth (b0742d31)
Litter
The government in Westminster has promised England a new, national anti-litter strategy. But how do you persuade a throwaway society to use a bin? Chris Ledgard reports on anti-littering campaigns, from the litter ambassadors in the Swiss mountains, to litter enforcement officers in Wolverhampton. And he meets David Sedaris, a man dedicated to cleaning up the streets where he lives.
Producer: Chris Ledgard.
TUE 16:00 Law in Action (b0742d34)
Mental-Health Offenders
Precise numbers are difficult to pin point but prisons in England and Wales are full of people with mental health problems and are increasing. This week, Joshua Rozenberg looks at mental health and the criminal justice system and asks how joined up is mental health system and the criminal justice system? Are they in tune with each other?
Joshua spends the morning with the Norfolk Police and one of their new custody centres to see what happens when someone is first brought into the criminal justice system. What do the Police do if they arrest offenders with mental health problems and what happens to them? And Joshua talks to a local solicitor who specialises in crime and one of the country's top forensic psychiatrists who express concerns about the numbers of people with mental health issues who are sent to prison.
Producer: Jim Frank.
TUE 16:30 A Good Read (b0742d38)
Marian Keyes and Nikki Bedi
Bestselling author Marian Keyes and broadcaster Nikki Bedi talk about their favourite reads with Harriett Gilbert. They've chosen The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver's tale of American missionaries in the Congo, Nick Hornby's first novel High Fidelity, and Imtiaz Dharker's poetry collection Over the Moon, which deals with themes of grief and loss. But which protagonist does Marian Keyes realise she identifies with? Producer Sally Heaven.
TUE 17:00 PM (b07414d6)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b07414d8)
More than 30 people killed in attacks in Brussels by the so-called Islamic State group
TUE 18:30 Clare in the Community (b0612n9l)
Series 10
My Kinda Town
Clare gets involved with a devious TV producer who's making a documentary about the Sparrowhawk estate.
Brian has gone on a fitness kick and joined a men's group, which is threatened by the arrival of a new member.
Sally Phillips is 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.
Clare continually struggles to control both her professional and private life In today's Big Society there are plenty of challenges out there for an involved, caring social worker. Or even Clare.
Written by Harry Venning and David Ramsden.
Clare ...... Sally Phillips
Brian ...... Alex Lowe
Alan ...... Richard Lumsden
Carl ...... Richard Lumsden
Simon ...... Andrew Wincott
Libby ...... Sarah Kendall
Lou ...... Lizzie Roper
Caspar ...... Karl Theobald
Malcolm ...... Anil Goutam
Producer: Alexandra Smith.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2015.
TUE 19:00 The Archers (b0742hlc)
Toby tells David the egg-mobile fire has been confirmed as arson. Toby shows David around their replacement "hen palace" - the Fairbrothers' caravan converted to house hens! The problem is Toby and Rex have nowhere to stay. David shuts down the suggestion of them staying at Brookfield, but suggests the B & B. They bid good night to their hens and head off for another night in the tent. They can't afford the B & B - they have to save every penny they can.
Shula and Carol root around in storage for costumes for the pageant. Carol tells Shula about Bert's garden. After the egg-mobile fire, on top of everything else, Bert wonders if he is a magnet for disaster. Bert shows Carol the sketches for his garden. Hearing that Lynda's garden is to open on the Queen's birthday, Bert decides to open his then, too. David and Bert discuss their work with the Fairbrothers. Bert invites David in for a cup of tea, but Ruth needs David at the farm. David drives off and leaves Bert alone.
TUE 19:15 Front Row (b07414db)
Glenn Close in Sunset Boulevard, Maigret with Rowan Atkinson, Sunken Cities
Glenn Close discusses reprising her role as Norma Desmond in Andrew Lloyd Webber's hit musical Sunset Boulevard on stage at the English National Opera in London.
Rowan Atkinson is the latest actor to take on the part of Inspector Jules Maigret in ITV's new adaptation of Georges Simenon's novel Maigret Sets a Trap. Crime fiction specialist Jeff Park reviews.
As a series of cartoons drawn by the Sex Pistols' Johnny Rotten in the mid-1970s on the wall of a house in London's Denmark St are given listed status, Roger Bowdler, director of listings at Historic England, and Henry Scott-Irvine from the Save Denmark St campaign, assess the importance of the preservation.
Sunken Cities: Egypt's Lost Worlds, the British Museum's first major show on underwater archaeology, will open in May. As the first of more than 200 discoveries found beneath the sea by the French diver and archaeologist Franck Goddio are installed, John Wilson gets an early preview. Goddio and curator Aurélia Masson-Berghoff introduce him to 'Hapi', a 5.4-metre, 6-tonne red granite statue of the god of fertility.
Presenter John Wilson
Producer Jerome Weatherald.
TUE 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b074l9lg)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
TUE 20:00 The Returnees (b0742hlf)
On an August bank holiday in 2014, Shiraz Maher at the International Centre for Study of Radicalisation at Kings College London received an email sent by a disillusioned British jihadist from Syria.
"We came to fight the regime and instead we are involved in gang warfare. It's not what we came for but if we go back to Britain we will go to jail. Right now we are being forced to fight - what option do we have?"
The man in his twenties claimed to represent dozens of other jihadists' desperate to return to the UK but fearing long prison sentences.
Gordon Corera explores the British government's response to managing returnees. In the last two years Britain has brought in temporary exclusion orders and is able to confiscate passports to prevent people preparing to travel to Syria.
France has gone one step further - since the Paris attacks in November police has placed over 400 citizens under house arrest and can strip French born dual nationals of citizenship. Denmark and Germany have taken a different approach and instead try to rehabilitate rather than imprison; helping young men and women get jobs, housing and education.
The Home Office estimates that around 800 British nationals have travelled to Syria since the start of the conflict and that around half of those have returned, though experts say these are conservative figures. What's the best way to deal with this growing threat, particularly when returnees are responsible for attacks such as those in Paris last November?
Gordon Corera speaks with Shiraz Maher, Rashad Ali of the Institute of Strategic Dialogue, solicitor Gareth Peirce, Hanif Qadir of the Active Change Foundation and counter-terrorism officer DAC Helen Ball. We also hear from a returnee.
Producer: Caitlin Smith.
TUE 20:40 In Touch (b07414dd)
Follow-up eye appointments, Access to festivals
We hear from a leading ophthalmologist about delays in all-important, follow-up eye appointments which are putting people's sight at risk. We also find out whether summer music festivals are making it easy for blind people to book tickets and get all the information needed to prepare for a weekend of wall-to-wall sounds.
TUE 21:00 Inside Health (b07414dg)
Preventive HIV therapy, Sugar tax, Bowel cancer, Surgery
The average five-year-old consumes their own body weight in sugar every year in this country - a scary illustration of the scale of the sugar problem. The new sugar tax is supposed to tackle this, but what's the evidence that a tax on sugary drinks alone will make a difference? Dr Margaret McCartney reviews the evidence from other countries, which have also used fiscal measures to nudge their populations into eating a healthy diet.
PrEP - pre-exposure prophylaxis - is the latest advance in the ongoing battle against HIV. Studies show this preventive HIV therapy can reduce the risk of HIV infection by 86%. So the announcement by NHS England that it wasn't its responsibility to commission the drug has been met by shock and disappointment. Sexual Health and HIV consultant, Dr Jake Bayley, tells Mark that PrEP is a game changer in preventing HIV in high risk groups and the news that it won't be rolled out nationally, as expected, means the UK is falling behind in HIV prevention.
"We don't like to talk about our bottoms", Maureen Williams tells Inside Health is one reason why take up of bowel cancer screening across the country is so patchy. Maureen was one of the first people to receive the faecal occult blood test ten years ago as part of the roll out of the bowel cancer screening programme and despite having no symptoms, they found early stage bowel cancer. Ten years later Maureen campaigns for people to complete and return the potentially life-saving test. The clinical head of the Scottish Bowel Cancer Screening Programme talks to Mark about the new, simpler screening test called FIT, the Faecal Immunochemical Test, due to be rolled out in Scotland, and perhaps soon in the rest of the UK as well.
Researchers in Taiwan have concluded that most patients who undergo surgery can start showering 48 hours after an operation - a finding that flies in the face of traditional thinking that scars need to be kept dry and under a dressing for a week or more, before getting wet. Consultant Surgeon Nicholas Markham from North Devon District Hospital details the dramatic changes for patients undergoing surgery, including keyhole surgery, changes in the use of anaesthetic, access to food and water and bed rest.
TUE 21:30 The Life Scientific (b07428bk)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
TUE 21:58 Weather (b07414dj)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (b07414dl)
Islamic State group 'behind Brussels attacks'
As the Belgian capital Brussels is hit by bomb attacks targeting the main airport and a metro station, Belgium's prime minister Charles Michel calls it a black day for his nation. We'll have the latest from our reporter Paul Henley on the aftermath and the security operation, and ask what more could be done to prevent further attacks.
TUE 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b0742hlh)
Hot Milk
Episode 2
Hot Milk is the latest novel by Man Booker shortlisted author Deborah Levy. Set in Southern Spain it explores female rage and sexuality and the stubborn primal bond that exists between a hypochondriac mother and her daughter.
Sophia, a young anthropologist, has 'been sleuthing her mother's symptoms' for as long as she can remember as Rose, the older woman, is suffering from a form of paralysis that might or might not be imagined. Driven to find a cure beyond the realms of conventional medicine, they have come to Almeria in Southern Spain to visit the clinic of Dr Gomez. His methods appear to have little to do with physical medicine and he prompts both women to confront the true nature of their relationship. Why is Sophia unable to escape her mother's constant complaints? Are Rose's symptoms psychosomatic?
The oppressive desert heat pushes both to examine the root of Rose's illness and the cause of Sofia's fractured identity. And Sofia discovers the sting of desire, and the need to be vital and alive.
Today: Sofia vows to release a German shepherd and receives a persistent late night caller.
The reader is Indira Varma and Hot Milk is abridged by Sally Marmion.
The producer is Julian Wilkinson.
TUE 23:00 Love in Recovery (b0742hlk)
Series 2
Gillian
The group have a visitor with a story to tell.
Gillian doesn't want to join their group, she doesn't want to wait her turn, she doesn't even want a biscuit - she just wants to be listened to.
Continuing the award-nominated comedy drama set in Alcoholics Anonymous, written by Pete Jackson and inspired by his own road to recovery.
It follows the lives of five very different recovering alcoholics. Taking place entirely at their weekly meetings, we hear them moan, argue, laugh, fall apart, fall in love and - most importantly - tell their stories.
Gillian ...... Samantha Bond
Marion ...... Julia Deakin
Fiona ...... Rebecca Front
Simon ...... John Hannah
Julie ...... Sue Johnston
Danno ...... Paul Kaye
Andy ...... Eddie Marsan
Writer Pete Jackson is a recovering alcoholic and has spent time in Alcoholics Anonymous. It was there he found support from the unlikeliest group of disparate souls - with one common bond. As well as offering the support he needed throughout a difficult time, AA also offered a weekly, sometimes daily, dose of hilarity, upset, heartbreak and friendship.
There are lots of different kinds of AA meetings. Love in Recovery is about meetings where people tell their stories. There are funny stories, sad stories, stories of small victories and milestones, stories of loss, stories of hope, and those stories that you really shouldn't laugh at - but still do, along with the storyteller.
Written and created by Pete Jackson
Producer/Director: Ben Worsfield
A Lucky Giant production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in March 2016.
TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (b0742hp2)
Sean Curran reports as George Osborne returns to the Commons to defend his Budget. The Home Secretary updates MPs on the terrorist bombings in Brussels. And will the boss of Sports Direct be forced to give evidence on his company's working practices ?
Editor: Peter Mulligan.
WEDNESDAY 23 MARCH 2016
WED 00:00 Midnight News (b07414g9)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
WED 00:30 Book of the Week (b0759wfk)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b07414gc)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b07414gf)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b07414gh)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 05:30 News Briefing (b07414gk)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b0742jt0)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Right Reverend Marcus Stock, Bishop of Leeds.
WED 05:45 Farming Today (b0742jt2)
Brexit farming manifesto, Coastal farming, Farming at school, Glyphosate decision
The Brexit supporters launch their manifesto for farming, but will they be able to give enough assurances to get the votes?
Farmers and landowners along the vulnerable west coast of the Wash in Lincolnshire have formed the Wash Frontagers Group to work together to rebuild the flood defence banks.
A group of 16 farmers from South Wales descended on an inner city primary school in London to help educate pupils about where their food comes from.
Presented by Anna Hill and produced by Beatrice Fenton.
WED 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b020tp6d)
Goldfinch
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Goldfinch. With its bright yellow wing-flashes and face painted black, white and red, the goldfinch is one of our most colourful birds.
WED 06:00 Today (b0742jt4)
Morning news and current affairs. Includes Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather and Thought for the Day.
WED 09:00 Midweek (b0742jt6)
Meera Syal, James Runcie, Elliot Ackerman, Philip Hoare
Libby Purves meets actor and writer Meera Syal; writer and director James Runcie; former soldier Elliot Ackerman and Philip Hoare, author, broadcaster and whale chaser.
Philip Hoare is a writer and broadcaster. He narrates Chasing the Whale, a show inspired by the 19th century journeys of whaling ships from Britain to the South Seas. Philip's stories delve into the log books of history to tell of the dangers and hardships endured by the crews on their epic voyages. The author of the award-winning Leviathan and the Whale, he also recalls his own memories of swimming alongside whales. Chasing the Whale is on tour.
James Runcie is a writer, director and filmmaker. He is the author of The Grantchester Mysteries series about full-time priest and part-time detective, Sidney Chambers. Inspired in part by his father, the former Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie's experiences, the series is set in the 1950s. James is visiting professor at Bath Spa University. The second series of Grantchester, based on The Grantchester Mysteries, is on ITV with James Norton as Sidney Chambers. Sidney Chambers and The Problem of Evil is published by Bloomsbury.
Elliot Ackerman is an author who spent eight years in the US military as an infantry and special operations officer. He served five tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan and is the recipient of the Silver Star, the Bronze Star for Valor and the Purple Heart. His novel Green on Blue tells the story of an Afghan boy who joins a US-funded militia after his parents are killed and who finds himself trapped in a savage and complex war. Green on Blue is published by Daunt Books.
Meera Syal CBE is an actor and writer. Her third novel, The House of Hidden Mothers, deals with the themes of late parenthood and surrogacy. Her first novel Anita and Me is based on her life growing up in Wolverhampton and is now a national curriculum set text. She has starred in the TV series The Kumars at No. 42 and Goodness Gracious Me. Her theatre work includes Beatrice in the RSC's Much Ado About Nothing and Zehrunnisa in David Hare's play, Behind the Beautiful Forevers at the National Theatre. She is appearing with Kenneth Branagh's theatre company as the nurse in Romeo and Juliet at London's Garrick Theatre. The House of Hidden Mothers is published by Black Swan.
Producer: Paula McGinley.
WED 09:45 Book of the Week (b0742jt8)
But You Did Not Come Back
The Final Days
Marceline Loridan-Ivens searingly honest acount of how she survived the Holocaust is written in the form of a letter to her father who did not survive the horrors, and who she has never known as an adult. In today's episode she recalls her final and terrible days in the concentration camps, and tries to imagine what happened to her father as he was forcibly marched hundreds of kilometres, away from the advancing Allies. Sara Kestelman reads.
Translated by Sandra Smith
Abridged by Penny Leicester
Produced by Elizabeth Allard.
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (b07414gn)
Oscar winning costume designer Jenny Beavan talks about her career.
Oscar winner Jenny Beavan talks about her career designing costumes for films such as Mad Max: Fury Road, A Room with a View, The Kings Speech and Lolita.
As the in and out camps argue over what a vote to remain or leave the EU would mean for women's rights, we hear from key figures on each side of the referendum debate. Remain campaigner Yvette Cooper MP joins Leave campaigner Suzanne Evans of UKIP, together with Catherine Barnard, Professor of European Union law, University of Cambridge.
Poet Vita Sackville-West is as famous for her love affairs as she is for her writing. Jenni talks to her granddaughter - the author Juliet Nicolson - about her new memoir 'A House Full of Daughters' which tracks the joys and sorrows of the aristocratic family.
And Dr Pooky Knightsmith Director of the Children, Young People and Schools Programme at the Charlie Waller Memorial Trust and Penelope Gibbs whose daughter struggled with anorexia on why they want more support to help schools deal with eating disorders.
Presented by Jenni Murray
Producer Beverley Purcell.
WED 10:41 15 Minute Drama (b074lc9w)
Hollywood Endings
Episode 3
Kathleen Turner stars as Detective Anna Caceres of the LAPD.
When Transaviation Flight 179 from Boston crashes into the Sierra Nevada on its approach to to LAX, killing everyone on board, it seems at first like a simple but tragic case of human error.
But when Caceres discovers that Curtis Wexler (Nathan Osborn), a limo driver who was due to meet a wealthy businessman from the flight, is now dating this businessman's widow, she gets the feeling there may be more to this disaster than first appears.
Hollywood Endings starts with the seemingly straightforward, if tragic, loss of the incoming plane. But as Caceres gradually unpicks a complex web of anger, lust and revenge, the story takes us to some dark and wholly unexpected places.
A Big Fish production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 10:55 The Listening Project (b0742kvw)
Mel and Andy – The University of Life
Fi Glover introduces a conversation between friends who are considering the world of work after gaining a degree and who know that their future in uncertain. Another in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.
The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. Most of the unedited conversations are being archived by the British Library and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the millennium. You can learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject
Producer: Marya Burgess
WED 11:00 Out of the Ordinary (b0742kvy)
Series 4
A Better Mousetrap
Build a better mousetrap, so the saying goes, and the world will beat a path to your door. But is it true? There are over 4,500 mousetrap patents but this doesn't stop inventors coming up with new designs - even though the basic spring-loaded trap was designed in the nineteenth century and, you might think, is unimprovable. Jolyon Jenkins talks to people who dream of riches from mousetraps, and one who has even managed it. And he invents his own, ultra-humane, hi-tech trap. Will it impress the professionals?
Presenter/Producer: Jolyon Jenkins.
WED 11:30 A Charles Paris Mystery (b0742kw0)
A Decent Interval
Episode 3
Actor Charles Paris has landed a job in Hamlet but within a week the reality star playing Hamlet has been hospitalized and the one playing Ophelia found dead.
Charles may not have been a fan of their acting abilities but he doesn't want the show to close and he suspects foul play, but who would want to kill them?
Bill Nighy stars as Simon Brett's bit part actor cum amateur sleuth, Charles Paris.
Charles ...... Bill Nighy
Frances ...... Suzanne Burden
Maurice ...... Jon Glover
Geraldine ...... Amelia Bullmore
Milly ...... Rebecca Hamilton
Sam ...... George Watkins
Tony ...... Ewan Bailey
Will ...... Caolan McCarthy
Doug ...... Richard Pepple
DI Hadlow ...... Debra Baker
Adapted from the novel by Jeremy Front.
Director: Sally Avens
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2016.
WED 12:00 News Summary (b07414gq)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 12:04 Witness (b074w141)
The Death of Jan Palach
In January 1969 a student set himself alight in protest at the crushing of the Prague Spring in Czechoslovakia. Soviet tanks had rolled into the country the year before to bring an end to liberalising reforms. Jan Palach's funeral became, briefly, a rallying point for opposition to Soviet rule.
This is a Made in Manchester Production for the BBC.
WED 12:15 You and Yours (b0742kw2)
Flooding insurance, Holiday childcare, Rent rises
New research by the charity 4Children suggests that sixty per cent of childcare providers shut down in school holidays. Where does this leave working parents who don't have enough leave to cover this? How has there been a six percent drop in the number of registered providers of school holiday care when the government is investing as never before in childcare? You and Yours investigates.
On April 1 the long-awaited government-backed fund to help households at high risk of a flood to get insurance begins. We talk to householders in Cumbria who are hoping it will help keep premiums manageable. But what about the small businesses and those who live in new-build homes. They're currently not part of the new scheme. How will they fare?
Buy-to-Let landlords are facing tax increases on the properties they rent out. The aim of the changes is to free up properties for first-time and other buyers who need a home. But we've found that rent rises have been the unintended consequence. Is this a policy that's going to backfire?
WED 12:57 Weather (b07414gs)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 13:00 World at One (b0742kw4)
Analysis of news and current affairs.
WED 13:45 Incarnations: India in 50 Lives (b0742kw6)
Charan Singh: A Common Cause
Professor Sunil Khilnani, from the King's India Institute in London, explores the life and legacy of Charan Singh, the lawyer turned politician who championed the cause of India's farmers. Singh is remembered today as the politician who took on Indira Gandhi in the Congress Party's heartland state. Uttar Pradesh. He redistributed power and altered the social structure of Northwest India, non violently. And he helped the world see the potential of the Indian farmer a bit more clearly. He succeeded in becoming India's first peasant prime minister but went from the highest office in a flash, replaced by his nemesis Indira Gandhi. Although today he is most often remembered for being a leader of his own caste, Professor Khilnani argues that Charan Singh has a unique status in Indian history.
Producer: Mark Savage.
WED 14:00 The Archers (b0742hlc)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 Drama (b0742mq5)
Blake in Lambeth
One night in present-day Lambeth a rootless young woman meets a wild-eyed man who sees things others can’t. What she doesn’t know is that this is none other than the poet and visionary William Blake, out of place and out of time.
Lambeth, South London in 1794. William Blake is in the middle of composing his first illuminated work of biblical prophesy, The Book of Urizen. It’s a turning point in his career – or rather the point where Blake begins to realise he has no career at all, just a series of mindless, cash-in-hand engraving jobs. He’s in his mid-30s and it’s becoming clear he’s not going to be a great society painter, his poetry isn’t going to make him famous or rich, and his political and religious beliefs are entirely out of step with the establishment. He needs to choose between making a basic living, settling down and starting a family or retreating fully and firmly into his own visionary world, dedicating himself entirely to his art and condemning his wife Catherine to a life of poverty and childlessness.
Recorded on location in Lambeth, with some scenes recorded in the Blake Garden of Roots and Shoots, a charity which provides vocational training for young people from the inner city, mainly from the London boroughs of Lambeth and Southwark.
William Blake.........Toby Jones
Catherine Blake.....Jo Joyner
Hope......................Kirsty Oswald
Henry.....................Tom Hanson
Written by Tim Wright
Sound design by Alisdair McGregor
Directed by Jeremy Mortimer
Executive Producer: Joby Waldman
A Somethin’ Else production for BBC Radio 4 firs broadcast in Marc h 2016.
WED 15:00 Money Box (b0742mq8)
Money Box Live: Living Wage
Last summer Chancellor George Osborne announced a new living wage. By 2020 he said that workers would earn at least £9 an hour. In a couple of weeks time this new national living wage comes into force.
For many it'll mean a pay rise but some businesses are warning they will need to cut employee hours and re-negotiate contracts so they can afford to pay it.
Are you an employee who will benefit? Or an employer still not sure how what it will mean for your business? We'd love to hear from you.
E mail moneybox@bbc.co.uk with your questions and comments. Or ring the programme. 03 700 100 444. Lines are open from
1pm on Wednesday.
Presenter: Louise Cooper
Producers: Alex Lewis and Ben Carter.
WED 15:30 Inside Health (b07414dg)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Tuesday]
WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (b0742mqb)
Eviction, Self-build
Evicted: Laurie Taylor explores the lives of people who are compelled to leave their homes. Matthew Desmond, Associate Professor in the Social Sciences at Harvard University, went into the poorest neighbourhoods in Milwaulkee to tell the stories of people on the edge of a rapidly expanding form of hardship in America. They're joined by Kirsteen Paton, Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Leeds, who provides a British perspective on evictions.
Self Build: creating a home of their own in the absence of 'Grand Designs' style budgets. Michaela Benson, Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Goldsmiths, University of London, discusses her research amongst people who are determined to make affordable housing for themselves and their families.
Producer: Jayne Egerton.
WED 16:30 The Media Show (b07414gv)
Twitter's impact on journalism, Mail on Sunday editor Geordie Greig, Ashley Highfield of Johnston Press
Twitter is ten years old and has had an "utterly transformative" impact on journalism. That's according to Emily Bell, Director of the Tow Centre for Digital Journalism at the Columbia Journalism School. She says it has been the most important journalistic tool since the phone. We'll hear from her and from radio and TV presenter Richard Bacon, one of the UK's pioneers in using Twitter. He has 1.5 million followers and has experienced both the bright and very dark sides of Twitter.
We'll also ask if we - all of us - are too quick to share pictures and video on Twitter and other social media in the aftermath of terror attacks, like those in Brussels yesterday? We'll be hearing from Hend Amry who began #ISISMediaBlackout on Twitter to discourage users from sharing ISIS propaganda online. She feels that sharing footage of attacks inadvertently serves the purpose of terror groups who hope to spread panic.
Also - the editor of the Mail on Sunday, Geordie Greig, will reveal what he thinks helped his newspaper to win Newspaper of Year at last night's Society of Editors Press Awards.
And the Chief Executive Officer of Johnston Press, Ashley Highfield, will discuss his plans for the i newspaper, which the Johnston Press is in the process of buying. How will the i thrive without the content previously supplied by the Independent newspaper? And with so many local newspapers in the Johnston Press empire now labelled "non-core" or "sub-core", will their future be blighted by cuts, strikes and closures? All questions for Ashley Highfield.
WED 17:00 PM (b07414gx)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b07414h0)
Belgian police confirm that two brothers were among the bombers who attacked Brussels.
WED 18:30 Chain Reaction (b0742mqd)
Series 11
Sandi Toksvig interviews Roy Hudd
Series 11 of the show where one week's interviewee becomes the next week's interviewer. The first episode of Chain Reaction was broadcast on BBC Radio Five in 1991 when John Cleese was the first comedian in the hot seat. Now, 25 years on, a new series sees another raft of the world's best-loved comedians talking to each other about their lives and work. This week, the writer, broadcaster and erstwhile News Quiz host Sandi Toksvig turns interviewer as she chats to comedy icon, Roy Hudd.
Sandi Toksvig is a prolific writer and broadcaster who chaired the News Quiz on BBC Radio 4 for nine years and over 220 episodes. In 2015 she was a founder member of the Women's Equality Party and, later that year was announced as the new host of the long-running BBC television series, QI.
Roy Hudd has clocked up more than 50 years in showbusiness, starting out as a Butlins redcoat in the 1950s and then developing a stellar career through numerous successes on stage, radio and screen. BBC Radio listeners know him best as the host of the much loved News Huddlines on Radio 2 for 26 years. More recently, Roy gained plaudits for his moving portrayal of Bud Flanagan in the BBC drama 'We're Doomed! The Dad's Army Story'.
In this the year of his 80th birthday, Roy tells Sandi about his beginnings in showbusiness, reveals how Arthur Askey gave him a leg up in the early days and shares his favourite pantomime story courtesy of Tom O'Connor.
Producer: Richard Morris
A BBC Radio Comedy Production.
WED 19:00 The Archers (b0742mqg)
Lynda picks over the details of the garden with Eddie. Lynda is dismissive of Bert's garden, and his enjoyment of what should be a serious project. Lynda is aghast to hear that Bert plans to open his garden on the same day as her. She is becoming exasperated with all her various projects.
Helen tries to evade Kirsty. She says she needs to get on - Pat has been storing baby clothes for her and she needs to sort through them. Kirsty thinks Helen is scared that Rob might see them talking. She tries to bring Helen to her senses, but she continues making excuses. She has a family now, which means she has more to worry about... Kirsty tells Helen she rang a helpline on her behalf. Helen is appalled. Kirsty gives her the helpline number and Helen responds by telling her to go away.
At the village shop, Brian congratulates Ed on his qualification. Brian books another course for him, considering him an important part of the Home Farm team. Clarrie speaks of her pride for Ed, taking his college course. Clarrie has been washing Alf's clothes, like she does for the rest of the family. Alf says he will join Clarrie at the Good Friday service, and Clarrie calls him "a changed man". Later, however, Clarrie realises there are twenty pounds missing from her purse...
WED 19:15 Front Row (b07414h2)
The RSC's Hamlet, Culture Minister Ed Vaizey, Batman v Superman, Underworld
The Royal Shakespeare Company's latest production of Hamlet sees Paapa Essiedu become the first black actor in the company's history to take on the title role. Theatre critic Susannah Clapp joins Samira Ahmed to review it. Hamlet runs until August 13th and will be in cinemas from June 8th.
Culture Minister Ed Vaizey discusses his new Culture White Paper, the first for 50 years.
Director Zack Snyder on his new film Batman v Superman.
Electronic group Underworld have released their ninth album, Barbara Barbara We Face A Shining Future. One half of the duo Karl Hyde tells us about synaesthesia, music as architecture and whether their biggest track, Born Slippy, is an albatross round their neck.
Producer: Dixi Stewart.
WED 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b074lc9w)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:41 today]
WED 20:00 Moral Maze (b0742mqj)
Brussels Bombing
The fact that the Belgian authorities had been expecting an attack doesn't diminish the shock of yet another bombing with mass casualties in a European capital. Belgium's foreign minister said on Sunday that Salah Abdeslam, the prime surviving suspect in the Paris attacks, could have been plotting more operations. Tragically, he was proved right. That Salah was able to hide in Brussels, under the noses of the Belgian police, for more than four months raises uncomfortable questions for them - and also for us. The UK government is still fighting to get its Investigatory Powers Bill onto the statute book. Its supporters believe it will enable the police and security services to fight terrorism and crime more effectively. Opponents say it will destroy our fundamental right to privacy and believe their arguments have been given more force by the revelations of Edward Snowdon about the extent of secret surveillance. The Brussels bombs came on the day that the FBI in America said they'd found a way to get round Apple's security and unlock the phone of an Islamist terrorist who killed 14 people in California last December. Apple had refused to co-operate, saying it would have security implications for millions of iPhone users all over the world. When we're faced with ruthless terrorists, intent on committing mass murder, how much privacy do we have a right to demand? And who should police it? These bombs were in the city that is the symbolic heart of the European Union and that has - for many - come to symbolise the hard-won freedoms and values we cherish in the West. What price do we place on those freedoms and values? And how much are we willing to compromise them to ensure our safety? How free do you want to be? Witnesses are Professor Anthony Glees, Mike Harris, Douglas Murray and Inayat Bunglawala.
WED 20:45 Lent Talks (b0742mql)
The Tomb
Dr Julian Litten is author of "The English Way of Death: The Common Funeral Since 1450". This final "Lent in the Landscape" is from one of Britain's greatest Victorian cemeteries - Kensal Green in north-west London. It contains a host of memorials of the great and good and is still a working cemetery. Dr Litten will take us to the site of his last resting place which he has reserved there. Producer: Phil Pegum. Series Producer: Amanda Hancox.
WED 21:00 Costing the Earth (b0742d31)
[Repeat of broadcast at
15:30 on Tuesday]
WED 21:30 Midweek (b0742jt6)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (b07414h4)
Latest from terror scenes in Brussels
Latest on Brussels terror attacks; aid agencies boycott Greek migrant centres; and what can be done to save BHS?
WED 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b0742mqn)
Hot Milk
Episode 3
Hot Milk is the latest novel by Man Booker shortlisted author Deborah Levy. Set in Southern Spain it explores female rage and sexuality and the stubborn primal bond that exists between a hypochondriac mother and her daughter.
Sophia, a young anthropologist, has 'been sleuthing her mother's symptoms' for as long as she can remember as Rose, the older woman, is suffering from a form of paralysis that might or might not be imagined. Driven to find a cure beyond the realms of conventional medicine, they have come to Almeria in Southern Spain to visit the clinic of Dr Gomez. His methods appear to have little to do with physical medicine and he prompts both women to confront the true nature of their relationship. Why is Sophia unable to escape her mother's constant complaints? Are Rose's symptoms psychosomatic?
The oppressive desert heat pushes both to examine the root of Rose's illness and the cause of Sofia's fractured identity. And Sofia discovers the sting of desire, and the need to be vital and alive.
Today: Dr Gomez takes Rose and Sofia out for lunch and graffiti is spray-painted onto the walls of the clinic.
The reader is Indira Varma and Hot Milk is abridged by Sally Marmion.
The producer is Julian Wilkinson.
WED 23:00 The Croft & Pearce Show (b0742mqq)
Episode 3
Sketch show series from award-winning duo Croft and Pearce, rising stars of the UK comedy scene.
These Edinburgh Fringe favourites were the break-out hit of BBC Radio 4's Sketchorama and have performed sell-out shows in London, New York and around the UK.
Packed with sharply observed characters, this debut from writer-performers Hannah Croft and Fiona Pearce is not to be missed.
In the third episode, highly-strung ladies June and Jean have a meltdown in John Lewis, a bullish Brown Owl teaches her Brownies troop the importance of stealing, and Jeannette starts to wonder if her cranky 90-year-old Momma will ever die.
Written and performed by Hannah Croft and Fiona Pearce
Producer: Liz Anstee
A CPL production
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2016.
WED 23:15 History Retweeted (b03xf1k0)
The Fall of the Berlin Wall
The programme that sends us back in time as we hear people from the past comment on a series of major world events, in less than 140 characters.
In The Fall of The Berlin Wall, East meets West in the field of online dating, 80's children's programming pops up on your screen, and Tim Berners-Lee tweets about his world-changing new invention.
Turning statuses into sounds, History Retweeted transports us to timelines gone by, feeding hashtags, trolls and trending topics into moments from history.
Featuring the voices of Tim Barnes and Simon Berry, Wayne Forester and Annabelle Llewellyn, Peter Temple and Jelly Macintosh. With Lucy Beaumont as the voice of The Computer.
Written by Tim Barnes and Simon Berry
Produced by Sally Harrison
A Woolyback production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (b0742mqs)
Susan Hulme reports from Westminster as the Brussels attacks dominate the day - there's reaction from the Commons and the Lords. Also in the programme: Prime Minister's Question Time, and Boris Johnson appears before a Committee of MPs to make the case for leaving the EU. Editor: Rachel Byrne.
THURSDAY 24 MARCH 2016
THU 00:00 Midnight News (b07414jt)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
THU 00:30 Book of the Week (b0742jt8)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b07414jw)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b07414jy)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b07414k0)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 05:30 News Briefing (b07414k2)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b0756dl9)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Right Reverend Marcus Stock, Bishop of Leeds.
THU 05:45 Farming Today (b0745d32)
Farm Demo in London, Labour's Kerry McCarthy on Bremain, Tesco's fictional farms
'No Farmers No Food' was the cry as UK farmers protested on the streets of London yesterday. They want the government to recognise that falling prices are causing them real problems. David Gregory-Kumar reports.
Also, farming and the EU. Many farmers feel there's still not enough clarity about what a post EU future would look like for them to make an informed decision. Kerry McCarthy, who's the Shadow Secretary of State for Farming, tells Caz Graham why she's got her feet firmly placed in the 'In' camp.
This week Tesco has re-branded its budget range of fresh food products under new labels that sound like British farms. But they're not. So you can buy a Woodside Farms gammon steak - but the meat may not be from Britain and it wasn't produced on a farm called 'Woodside'. Professor David Hughes of Imperial College, London is an expert on food marketing. He explains that it goes against calls for greater transparency.
And the Essex coastal farmer who's responding to increased breaches of his sea walls at certain high surge tides by growing a different crop - Sea Buckthorn - for it's nutritious but bitter berries.
Presented by Caz Graham and produced by Mark Smalley.
THU 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b020vp98)
Common Sandpiper
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Common Sandpiper. This bird can look slightly pot-bellied as it bobs nervously on the edge of an upland lake or on a midstream boulder. Get too close though and it will be off - flickering low over the surface on bowed wings.
THU 06:00 Today (b074b8hh)
News and current affairs. Includes Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather and Thought for the Day.
THU 09:00 In Our Time (b0745d37)
Aurora Leigh
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Elizabeth Barrett Browning's epic "Aurora Leigh" which was published in 1856. It is the story of an orphan, Aurora, born in Italy to an English father and Tuscan mother, who is brought up by an aunt in rural Shropshire. She has a successful career as a poet in London and, when living in Florence, is reunited with her cousin, Romney Leigh, whose proposal she turned down a decade before. The poem was celebrated by other poets and was Elizabeth Barrett Browning's most commercially successful. Over 11,000 lines, she addressed many Victorian social issues, including reform, illegitimacy, the pressure to marry and what women must overcome to be independent, successful writers, in a world dominated by men.
With
Margaret Reynolds
Professor of English at Queen Mary, University of London
Daniel Karlin
Winterstoke Professor of English Literature at the University of Bristol
And
Karen O'Brien
Professor of English Literature at King's College London
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
THU 09:45 Book of the Week (b0745d39)
But You Did Not Come Back
Living with the Past
Marceline Loridan-Ivens's searingly honest memoir about surviving the Holocaust is written in the form of a letter to her father who did not survive the concentration camps. In today's episode she reflects on how the loss of her father and the horrors she experienced and witnessed as a fifteeen year old have shaped her adult life. Sara Kestelman reads.
Translated by Sandra Smith
Abridged by Penny Leicester
Produced by Elizabeth Allard.
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (b07414k6)
Paula Wilcox, Deborah Levy
Deborah Levy's latest novel, Hot Milk is Radio 4's Book at Bedtime this week. A fraught inter-dependent relationship between mother and daughter, set in Almeria, Southern Spain, it follows Sophia and her mother Rose as they try to find a cure for Rose's mysterious paralysis. The Man Booker-shortlisted novelist tells Jenni why she wanted to write about mothers and daughters, and hypochondria.
Of all the decades of life, your twenties seems to be the one where the pressure is off. Not so, says Dr Meg Jay, whose book The Defining Decade argues that your twenties is the best decade to get serious and put the groundwork in for a successful life. We hear from her and speak to Virginia Ironside and Julia Sutherland about whether our twenties really define us.
From 1999 Jayne Senior managed a youth project in Rotherham called Risky Business - working with girls at risk of and experiencing sexual abuse. She befriended the girls, and fought to expose the scandal of child sexual exploitation. Yet still the authorities failed to act. Today she publishes her memoir, Broken and Betrayed, and joins Jenni to talk about her long and committed struggle to help the girls being abused.
The second series of the BBC One sitcom Boomers begins this Friday. It follows the ups and downs of three couples spending their retirement in Thurnemouth, 'Norfolk's only West-facing resort'. Among its cast are Paula Wilcox, Alison Steadman, Russ Abbot, Stephanie Beacham, June Whitfield and James Smith. Paula Wilcox joins Jenni.
Presenter: Jenni Murray
Producer: Kirsty Starkey.
THU 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b074lch8)
Hollywood Endings
Episode 4
Kathleen Turner stars as Detective Anna Caceres of the LAPD.
When Transaviation Flight 179 from Boston crashes into the Sierra Nevada on its approach to to LAX, killing everyone on board, it seems at first like a simple but tragic case of human error.
But when Caceres discovers that Curtis Wexler (Nathan Osborn), a limo driver who was due to meet a wealthy businessman from the flight, is now dating this businessman's widow, she gets the feeling there may be more to this disaster than first appears.
Hollywood Endings starts with the seemingly straightforward, if tragic, loss of the incoming plane. But as Caceres gradually unpicks a complex web of anger, lust and revenge, the story takes us to some dark and wholly unexpected places.
A Big Fish production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 11:00 Crossing Continents (b074lmsm)
Romania: The Shepherds Revolt
Lucy Ash asks why thousands of angry Romanian shepherds recently stormed the parliament in Bucharest. Sparked by an amendment to Romania's hunting law, the unprecedented protest was over plans to limit numbers of sheepdogs and restrict grazing rights. The increasing size of flocks is leading to growing conflict with both hunters and conservationists over land use. Romania has an influential hunting lobby - around two thirds of MPs are hunters - and they accuse shepherds dogs of scaring off or sometimes even killing their quarry. They also claim overgrazing is damaging the natural habitat of the deer, the boar and other wild animals they hunt. Environmental campaigners are concerned that winter grazing by ever larger flocks is having a catastrophic effect on biodiversity. At heart this is an argument about what the countryside is for. Is its main purpose an economic one? Is it primarily for leisure? Or should it be about the people who live there? Shepherds insist the law is an attack on centuries of sheep-rearing and their culture and traditions.
THU 11:30 Setting the Past Free (b0745d3c)
Part II, Mark Lawson on how the story of Rudolf Kastner, the Jew who negotiated with Eichmann, continues to be retold
For some Rudolf Kastner is a hero, for others a traitor. Mark Lawson explores the cultural retellings of a story that began in Nazi occupied Hungary in 1944. At the time Kastner, a lawyer and a journalist, was deputy chairman of the Relief and Rescue Committee. His negotiations with Adolf Eichmann, the man responsible for the deportation and extermination of the Jewish communities in Europe, saved Jewish lives but did he pay for them with other Jewish lives?
This question has been the subject of court trials, books, poetry, documentaries, television dramas, and plays - each one retelling Kastner's story from a new perspective. Two of those cultural retellings, one in the UK - the 1987 play Perdition, and the other in Israel - the 1994 television drama The Kastner Trial, managed to make headlines of their own.
And still the retellings continue with one of Israel's most celebrated playwrights, Motti Lerner, in the process of writing a new version of Kastner's story. The new play will be staged at Israel's National Theatre in 2017, thirty years after Jim Allen's play, Perdition, led to one of the most incendiary episodes in British theatre history.
In part 2, Mark Lawson talks to those, within Israel - including the playwright Motti Lerner, the Chief Historian of Yad Vashem Professor Dina Porat, and the literary critic Professor Dan Laor - who have wrestled with Kastner's story and the issues it raises.
Presenter - Mark Lawson
Interviewed Guest - Motti Lerner
Interviewed Guest - Ilan Ronen
Interviewed Guest - Professor Dan Laor
Interviewed Guest - Professor Dina Porat
Interviewed Guest - Gaylen Ross
Actor - James Puddephatt
Actor - Gemma Paige North
Actor - Cokey Falkow
Poem reader - Dr Omer Edhan
Producer - Ekene Akalawu.
THU 12:00 News Summary (b07414kb)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 12:04 Witness (b074w397)
Battle of Tora Bora
After the fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan, in late 2001, the hunt for Osama bin Laden began in earnest. CIA commander Gary Berntsen led the drive to catch the Al Qaeda leader. In December 2001 he ordered a small group of special forces soldiers and Afghan fighters into the White Mountains close to Pakistan in the hope of cornering bin Laden in the caves of Tora Bora.
THU 12:15 You and Yours (b07414kd)
Wage theft, Tesco lamb, Charity fundraising
The UK lamb market has always been volatile and the cost of production is key to its survival. Tesco have announced they will invite 100 British sheep farmers from across its supply base to take part in a trial of an industry first to help make lamb production more viable for UK sheep farmers
An increasing number of people are not being paid in full for the work they do. The non-payment of wages owed is called wage theft" and frequently happens among lower paid casual workers. In some cases employers deliberately underpay people including taking money from their wages without good reason, often misrepresent people's working hour and pay below national minimum wage. Or not paying wages for a long period of time at all.
There are calls from the telecoms industry for BT Openreach to publicise how often their engineers miss appointments. We speak to customers who say BT engineers have not turned up on numerous occasions
Starting next month, Cancer Research UK is giving its supporters the chance to 'opt-in' to future fundraising communications. All new supporters will be asked for permission before they are contacted for any further support. And, if people do not opt in they will not receive any more fundraising requests.
Producer: Maire Devine
Editor: Chas Watkin.
THU 12:57 Weather (b07414kg)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 13:00 World at One (b0745d3g)
Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Martha Kearney.
THU 13:45 Incarnations: India in 50 Lives (b0745d3j)
MF Husain: Hindustan Is Free
Professor Sunil Khilnani, from the King's India Institute in London, looks at controversy over the Indian artist MF Husain, who spent the last days of his life in exile. Husain is considered by some to be the face of modern art in India but not necessarily by people in India itself. Husain died in his nineties having completed around ten thousand works. His paintings often attracted high prices but he became a target for mob anger over his portraits of Hindu goddesses and Indian feminine icons. Female deities had often shown nude in traditional art, but what enraged right-wing Hindus was that these images were created by a Muslim artist. "Had Husain been less popular beforehand, he probably would have been less hated." says Professor Khilnani.
Producer: Mark Savage.
THU 14:00 The Archers (b0742mqg)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 Drama (b0745d3l)
A Sudden Surge
by Jack Dickson
A 58-year old Glaswegian discovers the unexpected benefits of a sudden surge of hormones.
Gary McGuire likes a drink, is suspicious of hugging and never, ever, talks about his feelings. He's ripe for a life-changing experience and when he begins a course of anti-androgen therapy to shrink his prostate tumour, that's exactly what he gets. But how will his family and friends react when the hormones flood his system and this ordinary Scottish male begins to 'feel' - for the first time in his unreconstructed life?
Directed By Eilidh Mccreadie.
THU 15:00 Ramblings (b0745gt3)
Series 32
Eyam, Derbyshire
Clare Balding walks to Eyam this week - the Derbyshire village best known for its heroic approach to the bubonic plague in the 17th century. She rambles along the brand-new Peak Pilgrimage long distance footpath, devised to commemorate the 350th anniversary of the plague, during which Eyam famously put itself into quarantine to stop the disease spreading further.
Producer: Karen Gregor.
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (b074171c)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 Open Book (b0741b8t)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Sunday]
THU 16:00 The Film Programme (b07414kj)
Ben Affleck is Batman
With Antonia Quirke
Ben Affleck discusses the parallels between Bruce Wayne and Donald Trump in his super-hero movie Batman V Superman.
Antonia visits one of the few remaining video shops in this country, 20th Century Flicks in Bristol, which has an eleven seater cinema where you can watch one of their 19,000 films.
Alan Clarke, the controversial director of Scum, The Firm and Rita, Sue and Bob Too, is remembered by writer David Leland and actor Phil Davis who explains why he is a cult hero of British cinema and television.
Director Pablo Larrain discusses his award-winning drama The Club about a safe-house for disgraced priests, where neighbours are unaware of their crimes, until one of their victims turns up.
THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (b07414kl)
Flu, Coffee yeasts, Wave machine, Cochlear implants
The flu season is running later this year. And it has been unusually virulent.
Professor Wendy Barclay, virologist at Imperial College London, tells Tracey Logan about the constant race to keep up with flu mutations in order to build an effective vaccine.
Wine has a microbial terroir which is thought to affect its taste. A new paper suggests coffee and chocolate might do too. Aimee Dudley from the Pacific Northwest Diabetes Research Institute in Seattle has studied global populations of yeast found on cacao and coffee beans. She explains that these yeast varieties are genetically diverse. Tracey Logan travels to coffee supplier Union, to meet scientist-turned-coffee-buyer, Steve Macatonia, and unpick the flavours of coffee.
In Delft, the world's biggest artificial waves are pitted against a new kind of super-strong sea wall. The Delta Flume team, led by Mark Klein Breteler, has created a giant concrete channel with a wave generator. Reporter Roland Pease turns up in time to see the team testing their artificial waves against a 10 metre dyke.
People with cochlear implants hear a degraded version of speech. Using subtitles helps train the brain to understand it faster. Matt Davis and Ed Sohoglu from the Medical Research Council's Cognition and Brain Science Unit in Cambridge suggest that this feeds into a model of how the brain learns called Perception Learning.
THU 17:00 PM (b07414kn)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b07414kq)
The former Bosnian Serb leader has been sentenced to 40 years in prison.
THU 18:30 Hal (b04pr6sy)
Series 1
Death
Hal Cruttenden stars as a 40-something husband and father who, years ago, decided to give up his job and become a stay at home father. His wife, Sam, has a successful business career which makes her travel more and more. His children, Lilly and Molly, are growing up fast, and his role as their father and mentor is diminishing by the day.
Written by Hal Cruttenden and Dominic Holland.
With Dominic Holland, Ed Byrne, Anna Crilly, Gavin Webster, Dominic Frisby and Samuel Caseley.
In this episode, Hal faces a horrifying thought - he might have testicular cancer. So he tries to look mortality in the face - not easy for an overly sensitive and emotional man. He tries to bond with his entrepreneurial stepson Jack, but a visit to a football match doesn't work out as Hal planned.
An unlikely form of salvation arrives when it's suggested that Hal takes part in a charity run. Things take an unexpected turn and Hal actually surprises himself - but not in the way he planned.
Producer: Paul Russell
An Open Mike production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in November 2014.
THU 19:00 The Archers (b0745gt5)
Lynda has finally settled on a typeface for her "resurgam" stone. Lynda goes round to Bert's, telling him that he has been on her mind. Lynda asks if Bert is looking after himself properly - he is, the mess is down to Rex and Toby. They are staying with him while they sort themselves out. Lynda requests that Bert opens his garden on a different day, but Bert makes a moving point about how he wants to commemorate his late wife Freda.
Helen sees a consultant. He tells her that the decision to have a home birth would be against medical advice. She agrees to reconsider. At Ursula's leaving party, Helen tries to discipline a rowdy Henry. Henry says he hates his mum because she wants to send him away. Ursula pretends not to know what the row is about. Helen says "this is too much. He's gone too far." It is clear that she has discovered Rob's plans to send Henry to boarding school. Ursula admits what the raucous was about, and Pat agrees that Helen's reaction wasn't quite rational.
Helen confronts Rob. Rob doesn't believe that she will manage raising two children. Helen breaks down and apologises. Rob asks if she even cares that she ruined Ursula's last day with them?
THU 19:15 Front Row (b07414ks)
The Passion, Zootropolis, Max Stafford Clark, Blue Eyes
Samira Ahmed talks to director Penny Woolcock and conductor Harry Christophers about a new version of Bach's St Matthew Passion, performed by homeless people in Manchester.
Viv Groskop reviews Disney's animation, Zootropolis.
Director Max Stafford-Clark on his new production of Samuel Becket's play All That Fall, in which the audience are blindfolded.
And Bridget Kendall reviews Blue Eyes, the Swedish TV drama series about far-right extremists.
THU 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b074lch8)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
THU 20:00 Law in Action (b0742d34)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Tuesday]
THU 20:30 The Bottom Line (b0745q4l)
Life after a Blockbuster
Whether it's creating Angry Birds, the best-selling mobile app, or developing the best-selling Alzheimer's drug or discovering one of the world's biggest oil fields in recent years, every company dreams of blockbuster success.
But what happens after you hit the jackpot? How do you sustain that level of success? And what's needed to adapt from small start-up to big business?
Evan Davis and guests share the secrets of success and explore their experiences of trying to maintain their market position.
Guests:
Kati Levoranta, CEO, Rovio Entertainment (creators of Angry Birds)
Dr David Jefferys, Global Senior Vice President, Eisai Pharmaceuticals
Jón Ferrier, CEO, Gulf Keystone Petroleum
Producer: Sally Abrahams.
THU 21:00 BBC Inside Science (b07414kl)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 today]
THU 21:30 In Our Time (b0745d37)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (b07414kv)
Karadzic guilty of genocide
Does this ruling make it more likely that other world leaders will be brought to justice?
Picture: Radovan Karadzic; credit AP.
THU 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b0745q53)
Hot Milk
Episode 4
Hot Milk is the latest novel by Man Booker shortlisted author Deborah Levy. Set in Southern Spain it explores female rage and sexuality and the stubborn primal bond that exists between a hypochondriac mother and her daughter.
Sophia, a young anthropologist, has 'been sleuthing her mother's symptoms' for as long as she can remember as Rose, the older woman, is suffering from a form of paralysis that might or might not be imagined. Driven to find a cure beyond the realms of conventional medicine, they have come to Almeria in Southern Spain to visit the clinic of Dr Gomez. His methods appear to have little to do with physical medicine and he prompts both women to confront the true nature of their relationship. Why is Sophia unable to escape her mother's constant complaints? Are Rose's symptoms psychosomatic?
The oppressive desert heat pushes both to examine the root of Rose's illness and the cause of Sofia's fractured identity. And Sofia discovers the sting of desire, and the need to be vital and alive.
Today: Ingrid Bauer proves to be deft with both an arrow and a needle, and Sofia endures more Medusa stings.
The reader is Indira Varma and Hot Milk is abridged by Sally Marmion.
The producer is Julian Wilkinson.
THU 23:00 Small Scenes (b0745q59)
Series 3
Episode 4
Award-winning sketch series starring Daniel Rigby, Mike Wozniak, Cariad Lloyd, Henry Paker and Jessica Ransom. Featuring more overblown, melodramatic scenes from modern life, such as a woman who uncovers the conspiracy behind cryptic crosswords, a captain who's inappropriately cool in a crisis and the perils of dating a banker.
Written by Benjamin Partridge, Henry Paker and Mike Wozniak, with additional material from the cast.
Produced by Simon Mayhew-Archer.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2016.
THU 23:30 Today in Parliament (b0745q5n)
Sean Curran reports from Westminster. Are doctors holding the country to ransom?
FRIDAY 25 MARCH 2016
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (b07414mm)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
FRI 00:30 Book of the Week (b0745d39)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Thursday]
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b07414mp)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b07414mr)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b07414mt)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 05:30 News Briefing (b07414mx)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b0756cgt)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Right Reverend Marcus Stock, Bishop of Leeds.
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (b0745xkm)
Mid-Wales coastal village of Fairbourne facing abandonment to sea in 40 years
Rising sea levels threaten the mid-Wales coastal villagers of Fairbourne near Barmouth. Sybil Ruscoe meets some of them, and finds out why the local authority, Gwynedd Council, says it's planning to abandon the village to the sea in the mid century. Built on a low-lying coastal strip one hundred years ago, residents are campaigning for improved sea defences to protect their homes from the collapse in their value since the Shoreline Management Plan was announced. The residents are seeking to take legal action. A Welsh government spokesman says that "it is important that all those at risk of coastal flooding or erosion are aware of the risks they face and plan for future change."
Presented by Sybil Ruscoe and produced by Mark Smalley.
FRI 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b01sby1j)
Blackcap
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. David Attenborough presents the Blackcap. Many Blackcaps winter in sub-Saharan Africa, but increasingly birds have been wintering in the Mediterranean and over the last few decades spent the winter in the UK.
FRI 06:00 Today (b0756cgy)
Morning news and current affairs. Includes Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather and Thought for the Day.
FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (b07418qw)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:15 on Sunday]
FRI 09:45 Book of the Week (b0745xkq)
The Onlooker
Paris at the outbreak of World War Two. Hugo is a classic dandy in the European tradition. He spends his time dining with aristocrats, enjoying all the delicacies and fine art Paris has to offer. But he is an outsider, an American with an international heritage. It's a status he enjoys and that he believes - along with his wealth - insulates him from the imminent war. But that war eventually comes to get him.
Irene Némirovsky is best known for her novel Suite Francaise. She was also a highly accomplished short story writer, and this is an example of her mastery of the form. A story of exquisite taste with a sting in its tale, made even more poignant in the knowledge that Némirovsky herself perished in a Nazi death camp.
Author: Irene Némirovsky
Reader: David Suchet
Translator: Bridget Patterson
Abridger: Lisa Martinson
Producer: Simon Richardson.
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (b07414n2)
Jackie Kay the new Scots Makar, Shaping the Body
The acclaimed writer Jackie Kay has just been announced as the next Scots Makar - Scotland's national poet. She tells Jenni about the plans she has for her new role.
Today a new exhibition examining how food, fashion and lifestyle have shaped women's bodies and lives opens at York Castle Museum. The curator Ali Bodley and fashion historian Lucy Adlington join Jenni to talk about 400 years of squeezing and binding. And, how the current vogue for big bottoms and padded underwear echoes the false rumps of the past.
Mary Magdalene - what do we know about the woman who was described as the constant companion of Jesus, who wept at the foot of the Cross, and who gave the first account of the empty tomb? What is it about her story that continues to fascinate and what evidence is there that she was a prostitute or even the wife of Jesus? Michael Haag author of The Quest for Mary Magdalene speaks to Jenni.
Penrose Halson author of "Marriages are Made In Bond Street" traces the history of one of Britain's most successful marriage bureaux founded by two twenty-four year olds in the Spring of 1939. Penrose eventually became the proprietor and she tells Jenni about the remarkable cross-section of British society in the 1940's who found partners through this tiny London office.
FRI 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b0741kpd)
Hollywood Endings
Episode 5
Kathleen Turner stars as Detective Anna Caceres of the LAPD.
When Transaviation Flight 179 from Boston crashes into the Sierra Nevada on its approach to to LAX, killing everyone on board, it seems at first like a simple but tragic case of human error.
But when Caceres discovers that Curtis Wexler (Nathan Osborn), a limo driver who was due to meet a wealthy businessman from the flight, is now dating this businessman's widow, she gets the feeling there may be more to this disaster than first appears.
Hollywood Endings starts with the seemingly straightforward, if tragic, loss of the incoming plane. But as Caceres gradually unpicks a complex web of anger, lust and revenge, the story takes us to some dark and wholly unexpected places.
A Big Fish production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 11:00 The Easter Rising 1916 (b0745xks)
'Changed Utterly'
This spring Ireland will commemorate the centenary of the Easter Rising - the insurrection against British rule in 1916 which triggered the secession of 26 Irish counties from the United Kingdom into an independent state. But commemoration raises awkward questions, not least, the fact that the rebels' aspiration for a 32-county independent Irish Republic was not achieved. North and South, the Rising commemoration requires the Irish to engage with the violent nature of the uprising, its lack of mandate and its mythologization as a moment of national rebirth as well as with the memory of brutal British repression. How can such a traumatic and complex event be sensitively commemorated? And what will be the lessons of this years commemorations for Ireland north and south?
FRI 11:30 Dilemma (b03w0j4d)
Series 3
Episode 4
Sue Perkins puts Nick Doody, Angela Barnes, Dominic Lawson and Cush Jumbo through the moral and ethical wringer.
The panellists attempt to resolve dilemmas based around horses and awkward family situations.
Plus a real-life dilemma about identity - and an attempt to help an audience member with affairs of the heart.
Devised by Danielle Ward.
Producer: Ed Morrish
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2014.
FRI 12:00 News Summary (b07414n4)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 12:04 Witness (b074w4br)
Last of the Red Hot Mamas
Sophie Tucker was a singer, a comedian and a radio and recording star. She was funny and outspoken, and in the early part of the 20th century she was one of America's most popular celebrities. Hear from two people who knew her, alongside interviews from the BBC archives.
FRI 12:15 You and Yours (b07414n6)
Argos-Sainsbury's, Wonga letters, Rail cancellation fees
Peter White investigates why the loan company Wonga offered to lend hundreds of pounds to a man with Down's Syndrome who has little sense of the value of money. The company sent a letter claiming that he had previously agreed to be sent information about products and services, yet his mother told us that he's unable to read or write and couldn't possibly have given consent. Our investigation has led Wonga to review the wording they use on marketing letters.
Sainsbury's wants to take over Argos. If it goes ahead, a huge new retailer will be created. We examine why the supermarket is keen on the takeover and what it would mean for shoppers, and the company's rivals.
You & Yours listeners have told us that making a small mistake in booking a railway journey can lead to hefty cancellation fees. We have discovered that staff at two companies have been imposing excessive charges, when customers have tried to change their bookings.
Producer: Jonathan Hallewell
Presenter: Peter White.
FRI 12:57 Weather (b07414n8)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 13:00 World at One (b0745xkw)
Rigorous analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Shaun Ley.
FRI 13:45 Incarnations: India in 50 Lives (b07466kv)
Dhirubhai Ambani: Fins
Professor Sunil Khilnani from the King's India Institute in London, on the life and legacy of the Indian business tycoon Dhirubhai Ambani, founder of Reliance Industries. The son of a penurious schoolteacher, Ambani credited himself with an almost animal instinct for trading, coupled with a steel trap memory and an appetite for audacious risk. Today fifteen per cent of all India's exports go out in his company's name. It's the ultimate rag to riches story, mixed with street cunning and dazzling deals. In one case, which began with a tip from an underworld don, Ambani executives were accused of violating the Official Secrets Act by possessing sensitive Cabinet documents, including a draft national budget. A joke quickly did the Delhi rounds: the budget wasn't leaked to Reliance; Reliance had leaked the budget to the ministry.
Producer: Mark Savage
Editor: Hugh Levinson.
FRI 14:00 The Archers (b0745gt5)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Sarah Wooley - Planning Permission (b04nvbpc)
In the 1930s, the Brutalist architect Erno Goldfinger bought a row of Georgian terrace houses in Hampstead.
His plan was to knock down the houses and build a modernist dream home for his family to live in. The only problem was - the neighbours.
Justin Salinger stars as Erno Goldfinger in Sarah Wooley's comedy about neighbours, architecture, tradition versus modernism - and James Bond.
Director: Gaynor Macfarlane
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2016.
FRI 15:00 Good Friday Meditation (b07466l6)
As believers everywhere mark the most solemn moment of the Christian year, and in the 400th anniversary year of Shakespeare's death, Canon Mark Oakley meets Shakespearean actor David Bradley, who has played roles and characters the bard has based on The Good, the Bad and the Redeemed. These 'everyman' types of humanity are to be found in the Passion narrative, either on - or at the foot of - Golgotha's three Crosses. At the Shakespeare Hospice in Stratford-upon-Avon, a place close to David's and many RSC actors' hearts, we meet people facing their own deaths - and those who love and care for them. Informed by an understanding of 'what a piece of work' is a man or woman, how we contemplate mortality and eternity is common to us all - and it's something Shakespeare himself understood deeply and intimately within his characters and in his own family. With music reflecting the story of the Passion which is told in the language of the Geneva Bible, the translation to which Shakespeare's own language owed so much; this will be a Good Friday Meditation to remember. Producer: Rowan Morton-Gledhill.
FRI 15:30 An Image of Sound (b051w066)
Photographer Andrew Heptinstall is embarking on a quest to see whether a photograph can deliver information over and above a pure image; details of the sound of a place that only the photographer could have known at the time of its capture.
He spends a day on Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland with blind contemporary photographer Rosita McKenzie and meets Professor Fiona Macpherson, a philosopher from Glasgow University to gain an insight into human senses and perception.
His many attempts over 6 months to capture the quality of sound within his images take him on a journey as far as Australia; yet he is only at the beginning of his journey as he continues to search for An Image of Sound.
Presenter: Andrew Heptinstall
Producer: Andrew Dawes.
FRI 15:45 First for Radio (b07466lb)
Series 3
Re-enactment
An outsider called Marko lands a job at The Well Digger's Wallet Saloon, where mock shoot-outs are staged. Shoot-outs, that is, with enigmatic endings.
Patrick Kennedy reads Tea Obreht's short story.
Readings of acclaimed novelists' first stories for radio.
Producer Duncan Minshull
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2016.
FRI 16:00 Last Word (b07414nb)
Vlasta Dalibor, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Dr Robert Acland, Asa Briggs, Barry Hines, Johan Cruyff
Julian Worricker on:
Asa Briggs, social historian and university administrator, who wrote a five-volume history of the BBC.
Austrian conductor, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, famed for his pursuit of authenticity in both early and modern music.
Vlasta Dalibor, co-creator of Pinky and Perky.
Professor Robert Acland, a pioneer of microsurgery in both Britain and America.
Barry Hines, the author and screenwriter, who adapted his novel A Kestrel for a Knave into the film 'Kes'.
And....one of football's greatest players and most successful managers, Johan Cruyff.
FRI 16:30 Feedback (b07466ld)
The Archers, From T20 to PM
The Archers' plot of Rob abusing Helen has been a source of constant discussion among the Ambridge faithful. Is it too painful to continue? Is it too important to lose? And, is the depiction of domestic abuse true to life? Polly Neate, CEO of Women's Aid, a charity that advised the programme makers on the reality of abuse, joins Roger Bolton to explain whether she feels that the storyline provides a believable picture of a coercive, controlling relationship.
And at
5:30 on 18th March, Radio 4 Longwave listeners were eagerly anticipating the climactic moments of one of English cricket's greatest ever comebacks. But they were whisked away from Mumbai and into the middle of Eddie Mair's PM programme, denying them the game's thrilling finish. Feedback's Rob Crossan finds out why.
A recent edition of the Today programme included a feature from the School Report, in which a 12 year old reporter informed the audience about the introduction of Combined Cadet Forces into his school, part of a wider initiative to bring the CCF into more deprived areas. But we hear from listeners who were incensed by the piece.
Finally, Roger is joined by Mohit Bakaya to discuss Radio 4's latest foray into using visual accompaniments to its traditional radio programming - The Global Philosopher, a high tech debate format hosted by Michael Sandel. But why should Radio 4 even want to go visual? And does adding a visual element mean accepting compromises in the radio programme?
Producer: Kate Dixon.
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 16:55 The Listening Project (b07466lg)
Gillian and Ian - Healing the Sick
Fi Glover introduces a conversation between GPs who find that more and more of their time is consumed with data, when what they want is contact with their patients. Another in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.
The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. Most of the unedited conversations are being archived by the British Library and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the millennium. You can learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject
Producer: Marya Burgess.
FRI 17:00 PM (b07414nd)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b07414ng)
Three people have been arrested in another dramatic anti-terror operation in Brussels.
FRI 18:30 The Now Show (b07466lj)
Series 48
Episode 4
Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis are joined by Ellie Taylor, Jon Holmes and Mitch Benn to present the week in news through stand-up and sketches.
This week the gang take a look at the fallout from Iain Duncan Smith's surprise resignation, Ellie Taylor explains why Millennials are so anxious, Jon lets his appreciations for the Great British public be known in no uncertain terms and Punt and Dennis discuss the lack of sound opposition in the House of Commons with the Assistant Editor for The Spectator Isabel Hardman.
FRI 19:00 The Archers (b07466ll)
It's Good Friday, and Ambridge is marking last year's floods with a special church service. Clarrie angrily blames Alf for stealing money from her purse. She says she would have been happy to share money with him, because he is family. Alf gives a full apology, and Clarrie gives him a second chance.
Helen tries to play with Henry but he says she never plays with him. Helen reiterates to him that she will never send him away. Ursula left before Helen had the chance to say goodbye. Rob says, after Helen's performance yesterday, who can blame Ursula for wanting to rush off? Rob says she is "unlike herself" today. Helen calls the midwife and goes against Rob's decision to have a home birth. Rob confiscates her car keys. This is the last straw for Helen.
Helen summons the courage to call the helpline. She tells the helpline woman about Rob's violence. Helen thinks she should be grateful for all that she has, but when the woman offers support Helen clams up. Rob comes in enquiring about supper. Helen says he should make it and walks out of the room.
FRI 19:15 Front Row (b07414nj)
Kirsty Lang interviews theatre producer Sonia Friedman
Sonia Friedman is one of the most prolific and successful producers in the history of the West End and Broadway. This year she has been nominated for 20 Olivier Awards, one more than she has already won. They sit like chess pieces next to the half a dozen Tony Awards she has won, in her office above the shop at the Duke of York's Theatre. In her eyrie she talks to Kirsty Lang about risk and reward, the changing ecology of theatre, how she began producing - at the age of 3- and professionally in her early 20s. She has worked with a catalogue of great actors, directors and writers on, she thinks, about 140 productions, and we hear from three of them: Tom Stoppard, Mark Rylance and Richard Eyre. But has she, the editor of The Stage newspaper muses, perhaps become too dominant? And Sonia explains why she has supported the Good Chance Theatre in the Jungle camp in Calais.
Producer: Julian May
Image: Sonia Friedman
Image credit: Jason Alden.
FRI 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b0741kpd)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (b07466ln)
Laura Bates, Minette Batters, Frederick Forsyth, John King
Ritula Shah presents topical debate and discussion from the Radio Theatre at Broadcasting House, London, with Laura Bates from the Everyday Sexism Project; Deputy President of the National Farmers' Union Minette Batters; the authors Frederick Forsyth and John King. They explore whether we're more secure in or out of the EU; the possible causes of terrorism; whether they would vote for Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump; the nature of celebrity; and the right to strike for junior doctors.
FRI 20:50 A Point of View (b07466lq)
Allergic to Food
Finding himself on a restricted diet, Will Self reflects on the rise of food allergies and intolerances which used to fail to invoke his sympathy.
"It's not so much that I doubt the physiological component of all this tummy rumbling and grumbling, it's more that the social and cultural aspects of the malaise have grown still louder in the past half decade.".
FRI 21:00 Incarnations: India in 50 Lives (b07466ls)
Incarnations: India in 50 Lives - Omnibus
Indira Gandhi, Satyajit Ray, Charan Singh, MF Husain, Dhirubhai Ambani
Sunil Khilnani presents an omnibus edition of Incarnations: India in 50 Lives.
FRI 21:58 Weather (b07414nl)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (b07414nn)
Belgian police have shot and wounded two suspects during a series of anti-terror raids in Brussels.
Arrests in Belgium, France and Germany but Islamic State jihadists are still at large in Europe
The Syrian government appears close to recapturing the hugely symbolic city of Palmyra
and the allure of the BBC drama The Night Manager
FRI 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b07466lv)
Hot Milk
Episode 5
Hot Milk is the latest novel by Man Booker shortlisted author Deborah Levy. Set in Southern Spain it explores female rage and sexuality and the stubborn primal bond that exists between a hypochondriac mother and her daughter.
Sophia, a young anthropologist, has 'been sleuthing her mother's symptoms' for as long as she can remember as Rose, the older woman, is suffering from a form of paralysis that might or might not be imagined. Driven to find a cure beyond the realms of conventional medicine, they have come to Almeria in Southern Spain to visit the clinic of Dr Gomez. His methods appear to have little to do with physical medicine and he prompts both women to confront the true nature of their relationship. Why is Sophia unable to escape her mother's constant complaints? Are Rose's symptoms psychosomatic?
The oppressive desert heat pushes both to examine the root of Rose's illness and the cause of Sofia's fractured identity. And Sofia discovers the sting of desire, and the need to be vital and alive.
Today: Rose insists on buying a watch of fake diamonds and Sofia guesses the identity of the graffiti artist.
The reader is Indira Varma and Hot Milk is abridged by Sally Marmion.
The producer is Julian Wilkinson.
FRI 23:00 Woman's Hour (b07466ly)
Late Night Woman's Hour - Forgiveness
Lauren Laverne meets three women with different experiences of forgiveness.
Lesley Bilinda is a vicar in the Church of England whose husband was killed in the Rwandan genocide.
Zrinka Bralo, escaped from Sarajevo during the Bosnian War.
Laura Coel was abused by her stepfather throughout her childhood. She eventually built up the courage to report him to the police and he was convicted and jailed.
Presenter: Lauren Laverne
Producer: Luke Mulhall.
FRI 23:30 A Good Read (b0742d38)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 on Tuesday]
FRI 23:55 The Listening Project (b07468l6)
Sharon and Jonathan - Job for Life, or Not
Fi Glover with a conversation between a British Library employee of over 40 years, and a recent graduate employee she manages; their working lives will bear little resemblance. Another in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.
The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. Most of the unedited conversations are being archived by the British Library and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the millennium. You can learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject
Producer: Marya Burgess.