The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
Paris, 1933: Three contemporaries meet over apricot cocktails at the Bec-de-Gaz bar on the rue Montparnasse. They are the young Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir and longtime friend Raymond Aron, a fellow philosopher who raves to them about a new conceptual framework from Berlin called Phenomenology. "You see," he says, "if you are a phenomenologist you can talk about this cocktail and make philosophy out of it!"
It was this simple phrase that ignited a movement, inspiring Sartre to integrate Phenomenology into his own French, humanistic sensibility, creating an entirely new philosophical approach inspired by themes of radical freedom, authentic being and political activism. This movement swept through the jazz clubs and cafés of the Left Bank before making its way across the world as Existentialism.
Featuring philosophers, playwrights, anthropologists, convicts and revolutionaries, At the Existentialist Café follows the existentialists' story - from the first rebellious spark through the Second World War, to its role in postwar liberation movements such as anticolonialism, feminism, and gay rights.
Interweaving biography and philosophy, this is an epic account of passionate encounters - fights, love affairs, mentorships, rebellions, and long partnership. It's also an investigation into what the existentialists have to offer us today - at a moment when we are once again confronting the major questions of freedom, global responsibility and human authenticity in a fractious and technology-driven world.
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. BBC Radio 4 resumes at
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Reverend Clair Jaquiss.
How one listener set about discovering the identities of two unknown Kindertransport children who appeared in a cinefilm found in his loft.
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
Helen Mark visits the National Forest as its marks 25 years since it started to create huge areas of woodland.
The entire area covers 200 square miles across the boundary of the East and West Midlands over the three counties of Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Leicestershire. Helen explores how this regeneration through nature has impacted upon the lives of the people in the area.
Charlotte Smith is at the University of Bristol's School of Veterinary Science on the slopes of the Mendip Hills in Somerset. Both an academic teaching school and state-of-the-art research centre this facility covering 255 hectares has for over 50 years pioneered many of the animal welfare and veterinary practices now used across the country. Charlotte hears of research into hens, antimicrobial use in the farming industry and what the new generation of vets could be researching.
We also meet research happening in crop spraying technology, listen to academic thoughts on bees and pollinators and work being undertaken to alleviate some of the issues as we feed an ever increasing Global population.
Morning news and current affairs. Including Yesterday in Parliament, Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
Aasmah Mir and the Rev. Richard Coles talk to the actress Michelle Collins about her love of markets and clothes, her singing and acting career from EastEnders to Coronation Street, and her latest role in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Wayne Hemingway shares his passion for classic cars, boot sales and his vast collection of vintage vinyl.
The 'natural navigator' Tristan Gooley, explains how to read water - drawing on his own pioneering journeys to reveal the clues, signs and patterns in ponds, puddles, oceans and even in the bath. And Tom Gregory remembers swimming the Channel at the age of 11.
JP Devlin meets Pat Stewart aka "The Girl in the Spotty Dress" to hear about the iconic 1950s photograph taken of her and friend Wendy Clarke on Blackpool Promendade, her association with Laurel and Hardy and the significance of song her husband left her.
And the film director, Peter Greenaway, shares his Inheritance Tracks: An Elephant Never Forgets, performed by Henry Hall and the BBC Dance Band, and Concerto in A minor for Bassoon, composed by Antonio Vivaldi and performed by Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields and Neville Marriner.
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is currently playing at Cliffs Pavilion, Southend and is then on tour around the country.
How to Read Water, by Tristan Gooley is out now.
The Classic Car Boot Sale is at Lewis Cubitt Square, King's Cross, London N1C 4UZ, today and tomorrow, 16 / 17 April.
1916: Francine Stock continues her series on the cultural responses to the conflict with a focus on the tank. Prefigured in drawings by Leonardo and H.G. Wells' short story 'The Land Iron Clads', the tank appears at the Battle of the Somme on September 15, 1916. Quickly becoming a British icon, it attracts enormous public interest and sparks the production of popular souvenir items like handbags, teapots, toys and cartoons, popular songs and musical shows. The first officially commissioned war artist Muirhead Bone is sent out to the Somme and creates a series of dramatic charcoal drawings to illustrate its mesmerising appearance.
Meanwhile, hugely popular musicals like The Bing Boys are Here, Theodore and Co and Oscar Ashe's Chu Chin Chow provide distractions for maimed soldiers or those returning on leave from the horror of war. At cinemas across the country, twenty million people crowd to see the war first hand and spot their friends and family in The Battle of the Somme. As Mallins and McDowell lug their huge cameras around muddy trenches, you can lip-read men saying hello to their mums and see the naked fear on their faces before going over the parapet.
With huge swathes of children back home losing their fathers, Francine discovers how books such as 'War in Dollyland', tried explain the alien world of war from a child's point of view. And she visits the study in Essex where H. G. Wells wrote one of the best-selling works of wartime fiction, Mr Britling Sees it Through. Many parallels can be drawn between Wells and the protagonist, not least the question, which Britling often poses, of whether an intellectual can really capture the realities of war from the comfort of his armchair.
George Parker of the Financial Times hears that the Prime Minister can't survive a 'Leave' vote in the EU referendum. What's the point of an 'awayday' for MPs? Has David Cameron slipped up on spin? And how did Labour 'come round' to the EU?
Colouring in the spaces between the world headlines. In this edition, trouble for ladies who lead - with Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff facing impeachment and a traditional chief in Malawi going into battle against child marriage. No ordinary kitchen-sink drama: we go inside the recording studio where they make a radio soap opera beamed into war-ravaged Syria. Has child protection in Norway become overzealous? And why's the subject hit a raw nerve in the former Communist countries of eastern Europe? And is it a case of wanderlust lost as Germans seemingly fall out of love with the foreign holiday?
This week, in any other year, your benefits would have gone up with inflation. But in 2016 they have all been frozen - apart from the basic state pension which increases by 2.9%. With doubts over the sustainability of the triple lock, how long can pensioners escape benefit cuts?
The Government wants to crack down on claims management companies. So it is proposing that the fees they charge should be capped, both in pounds and percentage terms. The companies say that will kill off their business. But financial advisers say it is a good thing if it stops frivolous claims.
The Supreme Court handed HMRC a victory this week when it ruled against a group of film scheme investors seeking to appeal a February decision that their actions constituted tax avoidance. What does this mean for the future of similar schemes?
Nowhere in Britain has embraced PFI quite like Scotland. The recent closure of 17 schools in Edinburgh built through public-private partnerships highlights how widespread it is. We discuss the long-term effect on the Scottish taxpayer.
Jeremy Hardy, Susan Calman, Danny Finkelstein and Cariad Lloyd are Miles' guests for this the first episode of Series 90 of the satirical quiz.
Jonathan Dimbleby presents political debate from Knutsford Multi Academy Trust in Cheshire with a panel including the former conservative minister Edwina Currie, the Executive Director of War on Want John Hilary, Tim Montgomerie who writes for The Times newspaper and the leader of Plaid Cymru Leanne Wood.
TAX AVOIDANCE: Is tax avoidance sophisticated investment planning or dodgy dealing?
Call 03 700 100 444. Lines are open from 1230-1430 on Saturday. .The email address; any.answers@bbc.co.uk. Hashtag BBCAQ for those of you who are Tweeting. And you can follow us @bbcanyquestions.
John Galsworthy's epic novels of love, money and betrayal in an upper class family.
1920 and Soames Forsyte would do anything for his sparkling daughter, Fleur. But when she begins to fall in love with the wrong man, how can he stop history repeating itself?
Dramatisations of all 9 books in John Galsworthy's The Forsyte Saga. An epic tale of sex, money and power in the lives of an upper middle-class family in London, it spans 50 years from 1886 to 1936.
The Forsytes Continues is the 2nd of 4 series of The Forsyte Saga, which follows the life of young Fleur Forsyte, the baby born at the end of series one. Now 19 and thoroughly spoiled by her doting father, Fleur is relishing everything the 1920s has to offer.
It's 20 years since Soames Forsyte divorced the love of his life, Irene, who went on to marry his cousin Jo. Now their respective children have grown up, neither knowing their parents' troubled history.
When adult life inflicts its first wounds, Fleur throws herself into smart society determined to embrace all that is considered modern. She's an archetypal bright young thing, a restless soul, on a mission to burn her wings. This young generation which has survived the horrors of war is hell bent on consuming all that is shiny and new - it's fast cars and fast living, where scruples are old hat and collecting "sensations" is the thing. To Soames, every inch the Victorian man, this modern age feels increasingly strange and he wonders about his place in it and how to protect his daughter from it.
Still insulated from reality by their wealth and class, the Forsytes and their kind can no longer ignore the threat of social change.
Award-winning writers Shaun McKenna and Lin Coghlan are dramatising the complete novels and Interludes and have taken a new approach to the books - delving deeper to bring more of Galsworthy's wonderful insight, wit and observation from the page. Although focussed on the period in which they were written - in the first 20 years of the 20th century - the novels feel remarkably contemporary and have much to reveal of our own world and inner lives.
Hibo Wardare has published her memoir Cut: One Woman's fight against FGM in Britain today. She tells us about being cut at the age of six and how she's still suffering the consequences today.
The journalist Zaina Erhaim talks about winning the Index for Censorship award for journalism and her work training reporters in Syria and providing women with access to the internet.
Elena Ferrante's final novel in her Neapolitan Quartet has been shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize. We discuss the Ferrante phenomenon with Guardian columnist Deborah Orr and Joanna Biggs of the London Review of Books.
The Cardiff born artist Gwenno discusses her unique blend of music, mixing electronic synth pop with Welsh and Cornish lyrics.
The latest annual figures from the Tavistock Clinic the country's only gender identity clinic for the under 18s reveal that almost twice as many of the young people referred there last year were born female, as opposed to those born male. We hear from Consultant Clinical Psychologist Bernadette Wren on the reasons why and from Sasha who received treatment from the Tavistock clinic in his teens.
Athleisure - sportswear as high fashion. It's an industry worth more than £4.5 billion pounds. Joanne Admiral founder of athleisure wear company 'Hey Jo' and Fashion Features Director at Elle UK Kenya Hunt discuss how to best wear this latest trend.
Flatulence is hilarious to some and mortifying to others but when it comes to relationships is it ever okay to break wind in front of a partner? The GP Clare Gerada and journalist Daisy Buchanan discuss.
Pope Francis has visited a camp for migrants in Greece, where he called on wealthy nations to show more compassion. He returned to the Vatican with 12 Syrian Muslim migrants.
Clive Anderson, Arthur Smith, Lesley Sharp, Harlan Coben, Jeremy Hardy, Charles Bradley, Nick Harper
Clive Anderson and Arthur Smith are joined by Lesley Sharp, Harlan Coben and Jeremy Hardy for an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy. With music from Charles Bradley and Nick Harper.
Mark Coles looks at the life and career of footballer Jamie Vardy. In just four years Vardy has gone from being a relative unknown, being paid a few hundred pounds a week at a non-league club, to one of the biggest names in European football. As well as playing for England, Vardy is Leicester City's star player - the team are now hotly tipped to win the Premier League.
Rejected by Sheffield Wednesday while a member of their youth team for being too short, Vardy spent years working in a factory in Sheffield, his recent success nothing short of a Hollywood fairy-tale. Indeed, a Hollywood film is in the pipeline. But his rise hasn't been problem free - in 2007 he was convicted of assault after an altercation outside a pub, and last year he was fined £40,000, by his own club, for reportedly making a racist comment in a casino.
Mark Coles speaks to Vardy's childhood friend Liam Muirhead, his former teacher Dr Chris Wall and one of his first football coaches Gary Marrow, about what has made him the player he is today.
Eye in the Sky, Hotels of North America, The Suicide, Flowers, Conceptual Art in Britain 1964-1979
Helen Mirren, Alan Rickman and Aaron Paul star in Eye in the Sky, a contemporary thriller set in the world of counter intelligence and drone warfare - is the life of a 9 year old girl acceptable collateral damage?
Rick Moody's new novel Hotels of North America has an unusual narrative voice. It takes the form of a series of hotel reviews, as written by Reginald Edward Morse, one of the top reviewers on RateYourLodging.com, where his many reviews reveal more than just details of hotels -they tell his life story.
Playwright Suhayla El-Bushra takes Nikolai Erdman's Soviet classic The Suicide and sets it in contemporary urban London at London's National Theatre, starring Javone Prince from E4's Phone Shop.
A new comedy drama on Channel 4, Flowers, stars Olivia Colman and Julian Barratt (The Mighty Boosh) and features an eccentric family struggling to hold themselves together in a crumbling old house.
Conceptual Art in Britain 1964-1979 at Tate Britain shows how artists working in Britain transformed the nature of art, bringing together 70 works by 21 artists.
Writer-broadcaster Stuart Maconie provocatively traces the depiction of working class people - from the heroes of popular culture in the 50s and 60s, to the real-life TV characters in so-called "poverty porn", which confronted viewers head on 60 years later.
His quest starts with pop. He's not alone in noticing that today's stars tend to be that little bit posher than the Brians, Georges and Erics of 1960s fame. Nick Robinson noticed the same thing on the Today programme. And there's been similar concern about actors. Nowadays, it seems, working people can't afford to train for a career on stage and screen.
The 60s docu-dramas, like Up the Junction, took up where the New Wave of Room at the Top and Saturday Night and Sunday Morning left off. Then came the observational documentaries of Paul Watson. But his milestone 1974 series, The Family, was received as entertainment rather than social document. Watson robustly denies that he was "the godfather of reality TV".
Towards the end of Maconie's personal and outspoken programme, we hear TV professionals arguing that shows like Skint and Benefits Street simply relate difficult truths about modern Britain. And even Skint had a hero, a kind of flawed role model in the figure of a man called Dean.
Maconie enlists cultural historian Matthew Sweet to decode heroes in postwar films and talks to Peter Flannery, creator of Our Friends in the North, the 90s drama series about politics and class. Maxine Peake talks about how northern dramas always sound working class to a wider audience.
And in the series Educating Yorkshire, how do the aspirations of a confident Year 8 pupil to become either an actor or firefighter look in 2016?
Adapted for radio by Jeanette Winterson from her acclaimed novel.
A unique coming of age story and a darkly funny tale of religious excess and human obsession.
Mrs Winterson has grand plans for her adopted daughter. Having received Little Jeanette from the Lord she intends to give her back to the Lord - she'll be a Missionary and save the world from sin. But despite her strange and zealous upbringing Little Jeanette begins to question her future. Inspired by the legends of the Holy Grail, she may forge her own path - much to her mother’s despair.
Mrs Winterson ….. Lesley Sharp
Little Jeanette ….. Eleanor Worthington-Cox
Jeanette ….. Katie West
Miss Jewsbury ….. Pauline Lynch
Mrs White ….. Susan Jameson
May ….. Adie Allen
Elsie Norris ….. Angela Pleasence
Louie ….. Claire Cage
Mrs Arkwright ….. Vicky Licorish
Man ..... Sam Rix
Winner of the Whitbread Prize for best first fiction, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit is Jeanette Winterson’s semi-autobiographical novel.
Lesley Sharp is an award-winning stage, film and television actress, particularly well known for her variety of British television roles including Clocking Off, Scott & Bailey, Bob & Rose and Afterlife.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by weather.
The Anglican Communion, the global body of the Anglican Church, is deeply divided over how it reconciles its differences on same-sex marriage. Many feel the Communion is being ripped apart by, on the one hand, Western provinces where gay Christians are welcomed into the Church and where there is growing support for same-sex marriage and, on the other, conservative provinces in Africa where homosexuality is seen as a 'sin' and in places is criminalised. It is a debate not just about different scriptural interpretations, but a power struggle between two opposing cultural world views. For some it is simply a question of what should come first; unity or justice? Jayne Ozanne is a gay British evangelical Christian. Reverend Canon Hassan John is from the Anglican church in Nigeria. They both join Matthew Taylor to see whether despite strongly opposing views they can agree to differ.
Russell Davies welcomes four more semi-finalists to the Radio Theatre in London, competing for a place in the 63rd Brain of Britain Final.
This week's competitors, from Edinburgh, Leicester, Buckinghamshire and Merseyside, are all either heat winners or top-scoring runners-up from earlier in the series. To win through to the Final they'll need to know the name of the battle commemorated by the climactic section of Tchaikovsky's '1812' overture, the surname of the Goods' neighbours in the sitcom The Good Life, and the sporting tournament whose winner is awarded the Wanamaker Trophy.
There'll also be the usual opportunity for a listener to 'Beat the Brains', with fiendish questions of his or her own devising.
The inscription on Muriel Spark's tombstone in Tuscany reads 'Muriel Spark. Poeta'.
Surprising perhaps: because, despite the fact that Spark always referred to herself as a poet, it's her reputation as a novelist, and the creator of the charismatic Jean Brodie, for which she's better known.
Before Muriel was anywhere near her prime, she'd established a reputation as a poet. Aged just fourteen, she won a prestigious poetry competition celebrating the centenary of Walter Scott. Later, she published several collections to glowing reviews and completed a controversial stint as Editor of the Poetry Review, during which time she gathered as many enemies as her fictional alter-ego, Jean Brodie (notably Marie Stopes about whom she famously quipped: 'I used to think it a pity that her mother rather than she had not thought of birth control')!
Muriel Spark kept writing poetry throughout her life. 10 years after her death, AL Kennedy, a long term admirer of her novels and short stories, wonders what new insights the poems might lend to her writing and character.
SUNDAY 17 APRIL 2016
SUN 00:00 Midnight News (b0770qgz)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
SUN 00:30 Shorts (b03vd1kp)
Series 13
The Punch
Scottish Shorts, the best writing from Scotland.
The Punch by Kenneth Steven.
An argument with his brother sets Ranald on the journey of a lifetime. Reader Iain Macrae. Produced by Eilidh McCreadie.
Kenneth Steven's novel WELL OF THE NORTH WIND is out now.
SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b0770qh1)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b0770qh3)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. BBC Radio 4 resumes at
5.20am.
SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b0770qh5)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 05:30 News Briefing (b0770qh7)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (b07738jn)
St Andrew's and St George's West, Edinburgh
This week's Bells on Sunday comes from the church of St Andrew's and St George's West, Edinburgh, Scotland. This Grade A listed building was completed in 1784 and serves the Edinburgh New Town Parish. The church is notable for its elliptical plan, the first as such in Great Britain. The tower holds a peal of 8 bells cast by William & Thomas Mears of London in 1788. The tenor weighs fourteen and a half hundredweight and is tuned to E. This week we hear part of a full peal of Marlborough Surprise Major.
SUN 05:45 Profile (b077062z)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 06:00 News Headlines (b0770qh9)
The latest national and international news.
SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b07738jq)
The Suspension of Disbelief
Described by The New York Times as "one of the smartest writers alive", award winning novelist Rachel Cusk makes her debut as a presenter on Radio 4 with a reflection on the "suspension of disbelief", inspired by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
"It was given to us as an explanation of how stories work," she explains, " the suspension of our disbelief is what allows the unreal to become, momentarily, real."
Using the poetry of T S Eliot, Wordsworth, Herbert and Coleridge himself, Rachel takes the listener on a journey through reality and belief, which ultimately affects our understanding of ourselves.
"We want to be transported by stories out of our own lives, much as we want to be lifted by faith out of doubt. Yet the drama of our own experience is so much closer and more real to us - the problem is that it lacks the coherence and order of narrative. To bear reality, we need to believe that our lives constitute some kind of story. We want the writer to write it for us, to arrange things into a meaningful pattern, to help us suspend our disbelief."
Music from Beethoven, Radiohead, Britten and Karl Jenkins help Rachel reveal the "value of disbelief" and "the possibilities for freedom it offers".
A TBI Media production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (b07738js)
Future Food: McDonald's Beef Carbon Project
Dan Saladino visits Stephen Hobbs's beef farm near Milton Keynes, to find out about a project by McDonald's that aims to help beef farmers work more sustainably.
As he walks round, Dan is joined by Connor McVeigh, the Supply Chain Director for McDonald's UK, which sourced 40,000 tonnes of beef from around 16,000 British and Irish farms in 2015.
This is the second in a special series of three programmes, profiling the finalists in the 'Future Food' category in the 2016 BBC Food and Farming Awards. Joining Dan are this year's judges, farmer Mike Gooding and Managing Editor of The Grocer magazine, Julia Glotz.
Producer: Rich Ward.
SUN 06:57 Weather (b0770qhc)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 07:00 News and Papers (b0770qhf)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 07:10 Sunday (b0770qhh)
Shakespeare's religion, Pope in Lesbos, What do Muslims really think?
Presenter William Crawley hears reaction to Pope Francis' visit to Lesbos, and explores the significance of the joint approach to the migrant crisis by the Catholic and Orthodox churches.
Ahead of the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare's death, Trevor Barnes reports on the religion of Shakespeare's England, and the influence of the Bible on his language.
This week's Channel 4 documentary "What British Muslims really think", has been heavily criticised by members of Muslim communities for putting across what they see as a skewed picture of Islam in Britain. The programme's executive producer Samir Shah and author and activist Shelina Janmohamed discuss.
Liz Leonard examines the current religious landscape of Scotland, in light of the recent Scottish Social Attitudes survey which suggests that most people in Scotland are 'not religious'.
What is it like to live in Britain as a member of the persecuted Ahmadi Muslim sect? Author Adil Khan profiles the history and beliefs of Ahmadis following the discovery of leaflets in a South London Mosque calling on them to be killed.
The three Christian denominations which run the Church in Jerusalem, believed to be on the site of Jesus' tomb, have reached an agreement to carry out much-needed repair work. Archaeologist Martin Biddle explains the rich history of the shrine.
Producers:
Dan Tierney
Peter Everett
Series producer:
Amanda Hancox.
SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (b0773dpn)
MedEquip4Kids
Kirsten O'Brien presents The Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of MedEquip4Kids
Registered Charity No 1102830
To Give:
- Freephone 0800 404 8144
- Freepost BBC Radio 4 Appeal, mark the back of the envelope 'MedEquip4Kids'
- Cheques should be made payable to 'MedEquip4Kids'.
SUN 07:57 Weather (b0770qhk)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 08:00 News and Papers (b0770qhm)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (b0773dpq)
Hallowed Be Thy Name
In the second of an occasional series of services exploring the Lord's Prayer, Sunday Worship visits St Catharine's College, Cambridge. The service is led by the Chaplain, Revd David Neaum, and explores with students and staff of the College the different ways in which they find sacred space for God in their lives. The preacher is the University of Cambridge theologian Professor Catherine Pickstock.
The service includes a performance by the winner of the BBC Radio 2 Young Chorister of the Year competition, Agatha Petters, a chorister at the College. Music is led by the Girls' Choir and Chapel Choir, directed by Edward Wickham. The producer is Andrew Earis.
SUN 08:48 A Point of View (b076prgx)
When Is Enough Enough?
Sarah Dunant takes an historical look at avarice. She argues that the revelations in the Panama Papers are just the latest proof that man's greed is woven into the human psyche.
Dante gave it a harder time than lust...two centuries later, it's one of Machiavelli's central themes and many of the greatest works of art exist only because they were paid for by rich, often corrupt, figures, many within the church.
And - Sarah asks - aren't many of us, to some extent, guilty? Can any of us really say that when it comes to money we know when enough is enough?
Producer:
Adele Armstrong.
SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (b01s6y1h)
Cuckoo - Male
David Attenborough narrates the first in a new series of short stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs, beginning with the Cuckoo. After spending winter in Africa, the migratory urge propels the Cuckoos northwards. And for many of us their return is a welcome sign that spring is well and truly here.
SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (b0770qhp)
Sunday morning magazine programme with news and conversation about the big stories of the week. Presented by Paddy O'Connell.
SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (b0773dps)
Please see daily episodes for a detailed synopsis.
SUN 11:15 The Reunion (b0773lcc)
Euro 96
The European Championship of 1996 was the opportunity for English football to recapture some pride, after the failure to qualify for the 1994 World Cup. England were the hosts, and an extraordinarily hot summer set the stage.
The tournament became poised as an important national moment - sales of St. Georges flags exploded and Skinner and Baddiel's Britpop infused tournament anthem Three Lions was inescapable.
But as the start of the tournament approached, lead striker Alan Shearer was struggling for goals, coach Terry Venables had had little time to implement his strategy, and no-one knew if the unpredictable but brilliant midfielder Paul Gascoigne would be able to show the form for which he was famous. While excitement built at home, the players were in the headlines for the wrong reasons when a pre-season tour of the Far East combined failings on the pitch with drunken photographs of players in the tabloid newspapers.
But once the tournament started, the team rode luck and individual brilliance to the semi-final.
Sue is joined by Darren Anderton, who played all five games, and by Ted Buxton, who was the assistant to the manager and the Chief Scout. David Davies was in charge of the team's relationship with the press, Harry Harris was covering the tournament as Chief Football Writer for the Daily Mirror, and Barry Davies was commentating for the BBC.
Producer: Robert Nicholson
Series Producer: David Prest
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 12:00 News Summary (b0770qhr)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 12:04 The Unbelievable Truth (b076bz3n)
Series 16
Episode 2
David Mitchell hosts the panel game in which four comedians are encouraged to tell lies and compete against one another to see how many items of truth they're able to smuggle past their opponents.
Joe Lycett, Sam Simmons, Richard Osman and Aisling Bea are the panellists obliged to talk with deliberate inaccuracy on subjects as varied as kitchens, pigeons, the Vatican and breakfast cereal.
The show is devised by Graeme Garden and Jon Naismith, the team behind Radio 4's I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue.
Produced by Jon Naismith
A Random Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 12:32 The Food Programme (b0773lcp)
Food in Extreme Places: Space (3/3)
Food in the most extreme cooking environment, space. Dan Saladino tries menus for Mars.
SUN 12:57 Weather (b0770qht)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (b0770qhw)
Global news and analysis.
SUN 13:30 An Excellent Dumb Discourse: Shakespeare in Silence (b0773ld6)
Isn't silent Shakespeare an oxymoron? All that's nuanced, beautiful, meaningful in the poetry - silenced. Yet between 1899 and 1927, when the first commercial sound film was released, nearly three hundred Shakespeare films were made.
Judith Buchanan, director of Silents Now and Professor in the Department of English and Related Literature at the University of York, celebrates this phenomenon - the muted, gesturing figures, the stop-motion magic.
She is joined by the actor Samuel West - along with Flora Spencer-Longhurst (actress, on her silenced Lavinia in the Globe's latest Titus Andronicus), Christopher Wheeldon (Choreographer, associate of the Royal Ballet, Covent Garden in London) and Paata Tsikurishvili (Director of Synetic Theatre in America).
Together they explore Shakespeare in picture and movement.
A Rockethouse production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b076prgg)
Bury St Edmunds
Eric Robson hosts the horticultural panel programme from Bury St Edmunds. Bunny Guinness, Matthew Wilson and Christine Walkden answer the questions from an audience of local gardeners.
Produced by Dan Cocker
Assistant Producer: Hannah Newton
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 14:45 The Listening Project (b0773ldg)
Sunday Omnibus - Mothers and Sons
Fi Glover introduces conversations which reveal the close bond between mothers and sons, from Cumbria, Northern Ireland and Scotland, all in the Omnibus of 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.
SUN 15:00 Drama (b0773ldq)
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit
Episode 2
Adapted for radio by Jeanette Winterson from her acclaimed novel.
A unique coming of age story and a darkly funny tale of religious excess and human obsession.
Now 16, Jeanette’s future as a budding missionary is called into question when she falls in love with one of her converts, Melanie. It’s not long before Mrs Winterson discovers her daughter’s ‘unnatural passions’. As the congregation determine to exorcise her demons, Jeanette is forced to choose between her church, home and family or the woman she loves.
Mrs Winterson ….. Lesley Sharp
Jeanette ….. Katie West
Pastor Spratt …..Vincent Franklin
Miss Jewsbury ….. Pauline Lynch
Melanie ..... Nicola Ferguson
Mrs White ….. Susan Jameson
May ….. Adie Allen
Elsie Norris ….. Angela Pleasence
Louie ….. Claire Cage
Mrs Arkwright ….. Vicky Licorish
The demon ….. Sam Rix
Piano performed by David Thomas
From the award winning novel by Jeanette Winterson
Dramatised for radio by Jeanette Winterson
Directed by Helen Perry
A BBC Cymru/Wales Production
Winner of the Whitbread Prize for best first fiction, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit is Jeanette Winterson’s semi-autobiographical novel.
Lesley Sharp is an award-winning stage, film and television actress, particularly well known for her variety of British television roles including Clocking Off, Scott & Bailey, Bob & Rose and Afterlife.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2016.
SUN 16:00 Open Book (b0773ldz)
Barney Norris
On the 400th anniversary of his death, Mariella Frostrup discusses the work and legacy of Miguel de Cervantes with authors Daniel Hahn and Deborah Levy. Cervantes is often credited with inventing the modern novel and the playful wit and digressive plotting of Don Quixote have influenced generations of writers.
Playwright Barney Norris talks to Mariella about his first novel Five Rivers Met On A Wooded Plain . Set in Salisbury, it's about five characters whose lives are united - and transformed - by a car accident. He talks about the importance of the cathedral city to his life and work.
Also on the programme, Mariella investigates new ways of getting a book published with self publishing star Rachel Abbott and Angus Phillips from the Oxford Centre for Publishing, and novelist Francesca Haig rails against the critical term 'literary'.
SUN 16:30 Poetry Please (b0773msq)
Poetry by Heart
Roger McGough is back with the first in a new series of the poetry requests show. This programme comes from the annual Poetry by Heart competition. Students learn and recite a variety of poems, from Sylvia Plath's Morning Song to A Satirical Elegy by Jonathan Swift. There's a wealth of talent on display, but who will be crowned winner?
If you fancy making a request then get in touch at poetryplease@bbc.co.uk or tweet us @bbcpoetryplease. Producer Sally Heaven.
SUN 17:00 Justice across Borders (b076hsd5)
Allan Little explores the work of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in the Hague and assesses its legacy as it prepares to close in 2017.
In March this year, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in the Hague delivered a verdict for its highest profile defendant - Radovan Karadžic, finding him guilty of 10 out of 11 counts of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and other atrocities in the Bosnian war of the 1990s. It came 23 years after the Tribunal was first set up by the UN and 20 years after its first prosecution began. The ICTY was the first war crimes court created by the UN and built on the legacy of the Nuremberg and Tokyo tribunals.
It was formed to investigate crimes committed during the wars in the former Yugoslavia and to bring those responsible to justice. It was seen as a pioneer in the field of international justice and has indicted 161 people.
But the ICTY is now preparing to close. A completion strategy, put in place some years ago, will see it shut its doors at the end of December 2017 . Outstanding cases will be handed over to the recently formed Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals.
BBC reporter Allan Little has spent much time at the ICTY during his coverage of the Balkans conflict. He explores the Tribunal's history, talks to those who work there, and assesses its legacy. Has it been a model for other forms of transitional justice? And how do people in the Balkans, for whom it was hoped the court process might bring closure, see its work?
Allan visits the ICTY to talk to a range of people who staff it. He visits the vast archives which hold 9 million documents and also sees the holding cells outside the courtrooms for those who are on trial. He also hears from others who have studied the ICTY and who are experts in the area of international justice.
Producer: Emma Kingsley.
SUN 17:40 Profile (b077062z)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b0770qhy)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 17:57 Weather (b0770qj0)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b0770qj2)
The Brazilian parliament is about to vote on calls to impeach the country's first woman president, Dilma Rousseff. Riot police have been deployed on the streets of major cities.
SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (b0773pck)
Simon Parkes presents Pick of the Week- the best of BBC Radio in the last seven days it includes programmes asking people where they're going; there's a play where the two main characters talk over each other; a documentary examining the dilemmas of not being able to smell and why the weather in 1816 had such a profound impact on art and culture.
Production team: Kevin Mousley & Kay Bishton.
SUN 19:00 The Archers (b0773pcm)
Ed asks Eddie why Lynda is now withholding the payment for her shepherd's hut. She reckons it is an abomination against her and the Queen! Eddie frets about money as they also have to cover Alf's debt. Ed suggests painting the chimney matt black to appease Lynda. Eddie and Ed discuss the new watch that George has bought himself. When they erect the shepherd's hut in the garden, Lynda takes a tour. Lynda tells Eddie he won't be getting his fee until the job is absolutely finished. Eddie begrudgingly agrees he will be back to make the finishing touches.
Adam asks Brian if he can run through his presentation for the Board meeting. Adam and Brian talk about Adam's no-till farming and mob-grazing ideas. Brian says he will back him.
Henry makes Helen a birthday present. Tom reports that the journalists are still circling, while Pat is stressed by all of Henry's questions. Pat has a go at Tom for getting rid of Jazzer and putting even more of a strain on the family and the farm. Pat starts crying and says she feels as if she has lost Helen, and they might not get her back.
SUN 19:15 The Rest is History (b0773pcp)
Series 2
Episode 3
Frank Skinner loves history, but just doesn't know much of it. So he's devised a comedy discussion show in order to find out more about it.
Along with his historian in residence, Professor Kate Williams Frank is joined by Holly Walsh and Richard Herring, who discuss Burke and Hare, Mussolini, Catherine Parr and the jokes of yesteryear.
Producers: Mark Augustyn and Justin Pollard
An Avalon production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in April 2016.
SUN 19:45 Infinite Possibilities and Unlikely Probabilities (b041vcqy)
Serving Children
Three contemporary stories by Anita Sullivan - commissioned specially for Radio 4 - set in a seaside town and exploring a wider world that co-exists with our everyday lives.
Serving Children:
Lem waits tables at a local restaurant, but he brings so much more than food to the customers.
Anita Sullivan has written a number of plays and short stories for BBC Radio, among them 'Countrysides' (2011), 'The Last Breath' (created with Ben Fearnside, 2012) and the adaptation for 'An Angel At My Table', which won Best Audio Drama (series or serial) at the BBC Audio Drama awards in 2014.
Reader: Tom Riley
Producer: Jeremy Osborne
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 20:00 More or Less (b076prgl)
Celebrity Deaths
Celebrity deaths
A number of people have asked the team if more famous people have died this year compared to other years. It's a hard one to measure - but we have had a go at some back of the envelope calculations with data from Who's Who and BBC obituaries. Is the intuitive feeling that more people have died this year misplaced?
'What British Muslims really think' poll
This week many news outlets covered polling research carried out for a documentary on Channel 4. Some of the points that came out included that half of all British Muslims think homosexuality should be illegal and that 23% want Sharia Law. But how representative are these views? We speak to Anthony Wells from the blog UK Polling Report who explains the difficulties of carrying out polling.
The number of Brits abroad
Figures released this week suggested that there was an increase in the number of people coming to the UK from other parts of Europe. But many listeners have been asking - how many Brits are living in other parts of Europe? We try to find the best figures available.
European Girls Maths Olympiad
In 2012 a new international maths competition was started at the University of Cambridge. It was a chance for female students to get a chance of meeting girls from other countries and try to solve hard maths problems, as they are under represented at most other international competitions. We hear about how the competition got started in celebration of this year's competition in Romania.
Presenter: Tim Harford
Producer: Charlotte McDonald
Short clip of Alan Rickman from Sense and Sensibility, Columbia Pictures.
SUN 20:30 Last Word (b0766gcw)
Arnold Wesker, Howard Marks, Peggy Fortnum, Merle Haggard and Rachel Johnson
Matthew Bannister on
The playwright Sir Arnold Wesker whose work celebrated working class life,
Howard Marks, the convicted cannabis smuggler and raconteur who became a folk hero to some.
Peggy Fortnum, the children's book illustrator who brought Paddington Bear to life.
The country singer Merle Haggard whose music was steeped in traditional redneck America.
And Rachel Johnson, last surviving resident of the Scottish island of St Kilda which was evacuated in 1930.
SUN 21:00 Money Box (b0766gnh)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 on Saturday]
SUN 21:26 Radio 4 Appeal (b0773dpn)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 today]
SUN 21:30 In Business (b076mqb8)
European Unicorns
A Unicorn is a mythical animal. But it's also the name now given to private start-up companies, mainly in the tech or internet sector which are valued at a billion dollars or more.
They're extremely fast-growing and are often keener to increase customers rather than make profits at this stage. They rely on private investors to fund their growth and those investors give the companies their valuations.
Through interviews with European unicorns including BlaBlaCar, a ride-sharing service and Hello Fresh which delivers measured fresh ingredients and recipes to your door, Caroline Bayley asks how "real" the tech unicorns are and whether the billion dollar plus valuations are fuelling another tech bubble which could be in danger of bursting.
Producer Anna Meisel.
SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (b0770qjs)
Weekly political discussion and analysis with MPs, experts and commentators.
SUN 23:00 The Film Programme (b076mq2q)
The Jungle Book Revisited
With Francine Stock.
"I wanna be like you, I wanna talk like you, be like you too" could easily be the refrain sung by Hollywood producers intent on flooding the market with re-boots, remakes, sequels and prequels. As The Jungle Book is the latest to get a computer-generated makeover, Francine talks to the King Of The Swingers, director Jon Favreau.
Many of us who live in the city dream about moving to the country when they retire. Many cinephiles dream about moving to the country and setting up a cinema. Alastair Till and Suzie Sinclair have done just that. They sold their business in London and built a cinema in Newlyn in Cornwall, without any previous experience of the film industry. Francine pays them a visit to see how they're getting on.
Director Agnieszka Holland recalls her life in exile after she defected to the West from her home country, Poland, in 1981, and what happened when the communist authorities stopped her contacting her daughter.
SUN 23:30 Something Understood (b07738jq)
[Repeat of broadcast at
06:05 today]
MONDAY 18 APRIL 2016
MON 00:00 Midnight News (b0770qlf)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
MON 00:15 Thinking Allowed (b076mmlc)
Ethnography Award winner, Transcultural football
The winner of the 2016 British Sociological Association & Thinking Allowed Ethnography award, Maxim Bolt, Lecturer in Anthropology and African Studies at the University of Birmingham, talks to Laurie Taylor about his groundbreaking study of insecure lives on the border farms between Zimbabwe and South Africa. How do people create homes and stability in times of mass unemployment and uncertainty? Also, transcultural sport: Max Mauro, Associate Lecturer in Sports Studies at Southampton Solent University, considers young Congolese migrants establishing a sense of belonging in a Dublin football team.
Producer: Jayne Egerton.
MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (b07738jn)
[Repeat of broadcast at
05:43 on Sunday]
MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b0770qlh)
The latest shipping forecast.
MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b0770qlk)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b0770qlm)
The latest shipping forecast.
MON 05:30 News Briefing (b0770qlp)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b078cvyt)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Reverend Clair Jaquiss.
MON 05:45 Farming Today (b07740nh)
NFU views on Brexit, poultry industry, traditional grasses
The NFU position on the EU referendum will be decided today, Farming Today looks at the choices it must make. At the start of a week putting the poultry industry under the microscope, when should antibiotics be used? And how important are the UK's traditional grasses for farmers?
Presented by Charlotte Smith
Produced by Alun Beach.
MON 05:56 Weather (b0770qlr)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.
MON 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03zr1zj)
Common Whitethroat
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Kate Humble presents the common whitethroat. Whitethroats are warblers which winter in the Sahel region south of the Sahara desert and spend spring and summer in Europe. When they arrive in April the males establish a territory by singing that scratchy song from hedgerow perches or by launching themselves into the air.
MON 06:00 Today (b0774ys8)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
MON 09:00 Start the Week (b0774ysb)
Reporting War and Conflict
On Start the Week Tom Sutcliffe discusses the writing of war and conflict. The journalist Patrick Cockburn looks back at his years covering crises in the Middle East, especially the rise of the so-called Islamic state. The Turkish writer Ece Temelkuran looks at the difficulty of reporting in a country where press freedoms are severely curtailed and asks whether fiction and poetry are a way of telling a more truthful story. The legendary American investigative reporter Seymour Hersh first gained recognition in the 1960s for exposing the My Lai massacre and its cover-up during the Vietnam War and has spent his career uncovering wrong-doing at the highest level. But reporting is changing and the academic Charlie Beckett celebrates the rise of citizen journalism.
Producer: Katy Hickman.
MON 09:45 Book of the Week (b0774ysd)
A House Full of Daughters
Episode 1
Juliet Stevenson reads Juliet Nicolson's journey through seven generations of women, including her Flamenco dancing great great grandmother Pepita, her grandmother Vita Sackville West and her mother Philippa - all of whom have shaped and formed, in extraordinary ways, exactly who she has become today.
We journey through the slums of 19th century Malaga to the political elite of Washington, from English boarding schools during the second world war, to London in the 60s and New York in the 80s.
It is one woman's investigation into how her past forms and informs her future.
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (b0770qlt)
Primary school offer day, Black and Asian organ donors, #Whomademyclothes
Across the country today thousands of families will find out the primary schools offers their children have received. We discuss what to do if you're not happy with your options.
Black and Asian people are more likely to need an organ transplant than the rest of the population but these groups generally have fewer organ donors. We hear from an Asian woman who desperately needed a liver transplant and find out why there are so few Black and Asian organ donors in the UK.
Women make up only 5 percent of Britain's prison population but once in prison they appear to contravene prison rules more often than men. We explore the causes of women behaving badly in prisons.
Fashion Revolution Week kicks off with the launch of the hashtag #Whomademyclothes. We explore who shoulders the responsibility for ethics on the high street.
When Ian Brennan's partner was raped twenty-five years ago, he says the entire course of his life was altered. Since then he's worked in the field of violence prevention and written a novella, Sister Maple Syrup Eyes, that explores how rape might affect more than just the person attacked.
Presenter: Jane Garvey
Producer: Lucinda Montefiore.
MON 10:45 John Galsworthy - The Forsyte Saga (b0774ysg)
The Forsytes Continues
Episode 2
John Galsworthy's epic family saga of love, money and betrayal.
Dramatised for radio by Lin Coghlan
In desperate need of distraction, a newly married Fleur throws herself into the social whirl of 1920s London. When a troubled poet declares he's in love with her, she wonders how she can add him to her collection of Bright Young Things
Original music composed by Neil Brand
Produced and directed by Gemma Jenkins
Today's play marks the start of the fourth novel in the series, The White Monkey.
The story continues every day this week in the 15 Minute Drama slot and concludes in the Saturday Drama at 1430.
MON 11:00 The Business of Music with Matt Everitt (b07752bx)
The Pirate Ship
In the first of a two-part series, journalist and broadcaster Matt Everitt talks to record executives, industry insiders, artists and fans about the decisions that have transformed the record industry.
In the late 1990s, when Debbie Southwood-Smith was working as an A&R manager at the height of the CD boom, it seemed the money would never run out. She would stay in the Four Seasons Hotel every week, she'd follow bands around the world. But then, one day, she walked past her younger brother's room and heard the sound of CDs spinning and hard drives whirring. "It was my job to notice trends - but Napster, I didn't see that coming."
The launch of Napster in 1999 shifted the power of the industry. Since then global music revenues have shrunk by 45%. MP3s and online file-sharing gave listeners the opportunity to take risks without having to buy a CD. Soon, a generation brought up on free music regarded the music bosses as overfed and considered that downloading was not stealing.
The industry struck back and took legal action - but what a different story it might have been if Napster had been co-opted and been turned into a paid service for the industry.
Secret talks would lead to the launch of iTunes - but people bought tracks, not albums, and revenues fell. The record labels fought digital, and digital won.
Record executives, managers and industry insiders including Roger Ames, Daniel Glass, Peter Mensch and Brian Message are asked, could the music industry have saved itself, or was it the inevitable victim of the sudden shift in technology?
Producer: Barney Rowntree
A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 11:30 Fags, Mags and Bags (b07753hg)
Series 6
Chickpea Landslide
Ramesh's girlfriend Malcolm has opened up Lenzie's first food bank to help the local needy.
However, the patrons appear to be quite pernickety about what's on offer, and a debate opens up about who is actually eligible to use the food bank, causing tension amongst the Lenzidens.
More Scots-Asian corner shop shenanigans written by and starring Donald Mcleary and Sanjeev Kohli.
The staff are back for their tireless quest to bring nice-price custard creams and cans of coke with Arabic writing on them to an ungrateful nation. Ramesh Mahju has built it up over the course of over 30 years and is a firmly entrenched, friendly presence in the local area. He is joined by his shop sidekick, Dave.
Then of course there are Ramesh's sons Sanjay and Alok, both surly and not particularly keen on the old school approach to shopkeeping, but natural successors to the business. Ramesh is keen to pass all his worldly wisdom onto them - whether they like it or not!
Ramesh ...... Sanjeev Kohli
Dave ...... Donald McLeary
Sanjay ...... Omar Raza
Alok ...... Susheel Kumar
Malcolm ...... Mina Anwar
Janice Littbarski ...... Julia Deakin
Bishop Briggs ...... Michael Redmond
Mrs Birkett ...... Stewart Cairns
Mr Hepworth ...... Tom Urie
Producer: Gus Beattie
A Comedy Unit production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in April 2016.
MON 12:00 News Summary (b0770qlw)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 12:04 Home Front (b076bdvd)
18 April 1916 - Emily Colville
On this day in 1916, dissent divided the cabinet over the extension of conscription, while in Ashburton Emily Colville faces unexpected hostility.
Written by Lucy Catherine
Directed by Allegra McIlroy
Editor: Jessica Dromgoole
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
SECRET SHAKESPEARE
A Shakespeare quote is hidden in each Home Front episode that is set in 1916. These were first broadcast in 2016, the 400th anniversary year of the playwright's death. Can you spot them all?
MON 12:15 You and Yours (b0770qly)
Bogus Universities, Legal Jargon, Healthy Juices
In the last year, the websites of around thirty bogus universities have been closed down in the UK. More than two hundred organisations have been identified, which are falsely claiming to be British universities offering UK degrees. You & Yours has learned that overseas students are being misled into paying thousands of pounds for online courses, which they believe will give them a degree from a prestigious British university.
The hard shoulder is disappearing from more than five hundred miles of motorway in the UK, despite objections from motoring organisations. It's known as all lane running and is part of a plan to convert many major routes into so-called smart motorways.
The legal profession is being told to ditch the jargon and technical language and use simpler, plainer language that ordinary people will find easier to understand. We hear a response from the Law Society, which represents solicitors in England and Wales.
Many people are trying to reduce the amount of sugar in their diet. We ask if fruit juices which contain high levels of natural sugar should be regarded as a healthy option or something to avoid.
Producer: Jonathan Hallewell
Presenter: Winifred Robinson.
MON 12:57 Weather (b0770qm0)
The latest weather forecast.
MON 13:00 World at One (b07753hj)
News with Martha Kearney including Treasury analysis of Brexit, a possible rebellion over the Housing Bill plus Palmyra's arch recreated in London.
MON 13:45 Scenes from Student Life (b07754yp)
A Gift of Raisins
It's October 2015 and 2000 new students at St Andrews University celebrate Raisin Weekend. Raisin's origins are lost, but the ritual of new students joining new academic families goes back to the very beginning of student life. The tradition at St Andrews was to present a gift of raisins - now new students offer alcohol to their new families.
In a booze-fuelled, fancy-dressed series of rituals over one weekend, freshers or bejants get adopted by academic "parents" and meet their new brothers, sisters, uncles and cousins, partying in their halls and digs, and celebrating on the street with ambulance crews, university security and extra police standing nervously by.
New presenter Ellie Cawthorne, who recently completed an MA at Nottingham University, braves the initiation rites. She uncovers past Raisin celebrations with the help of university historians - including the fateful year, 1933, when Raisin was banned outright, partly due to theft of female nightwear.
As we hear from University historian Dr Norman Reid, the idea of academic families goes back to a pre-university era, possibly in the 13th century, when informal groups of scholars - some as young as 12 - gathered round a fatherly master, himself a recent student. There were no university buildings, and teaching took place either in a Church or the master's home.
Producer: Nick Baker
A Testbed production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 14:00 The Archers (b0773pcm)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Sunday]
MON 14:15 Drama (b07756b8)
The Busker
Actor-singer Brian Protheroe, stars as Wilfy, an ageing busker on the London underground. When a young man stops to listen to his music, Wilfy's life takes an unexpected twist that has echoes for his own personal life. Joe Ward Munrow's first play for radio, is a poignant and surreal glimpse into the world of busking. It asks the question what happens when life gives you a second chance.
Producer/Director, Jessica Brown
Brian Protheroe is a singer, songwriter and actor. He is best known for his 1970s hit single, 'Pinball'. He performs all the music in The Busker.
Joe Ward Munrow is a new, young writer based in Liverpool. He grew up in London, where his father is a licensed busker on the London underground.
MON 15:00 Brain of Britain (b07756bb)
Semi-Final 3, 2016
(15/17)
The third of this year's semi-finals features competitors from London, Merseyside, Lincolnshire and the West Midlands. Russell Davies asks the questions.
As well as being a football ground, Stamford Bridge is a village where a battle took place in 1066 - in which present-day English county? What was the name of the US Air Force base in California where Space Shuttle landings took place from 1981-2001? Which building was described in the Architectural Review in 1932 as 'the new Tower of London'?
Today's winner will go through to the 63rd Brain of Britain Final in two weeks' time. There'll also be a chance for a listener to win a prize by devising questions to stump the competitors.
Producer: Paul Bajoria.
MON 15:30 The Food Programme (b0773lcp)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:32 on Sunday]
MON 16:00 Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics (b07756bd)
Series 2
Ovid
Join Natalie Haynes and guests for half an hour of comedy and the Classics from the BBC Radio Theatre in London.
Natalie is a reformed comedian who is a little bit obsessive about Ancient Greece and Rome.
Tonight she stands up in the name of Roman poet, Ovid. Expect frottage at the races, Greek myths from a female perspective, and enough inspiration for painters, writers and sculptures to last a couple of millenia.
With special guests Llewelyn Morgan and Michael Squire.
Producer...Mary Ward-Lowery
MON 16:30 The Digital Human (b07756bg)
Series 9
Taste
Food is a universal necessity, human brains light up more for food than any other experience, so it's little wonder that food culture has exploded online. Social media is festooned with pictures, recipes, cooking videos and we can't seem to ever get enough.
But, is the digital world doing more than getting our mouths watering? Could technology be changing the very way we taste?
In this episode, Aleks Krotoski explores how food trends develop and shape our culture and spread on social media, as well as exploring new tech that may change the way we eat - from 3D printed delights, to Chef Watson who creates recipes in the cloud, and even how we might manipulate our brains to change how we perceive flavour.
Producer: Elizabeth Ann Duffy.
MON 17:00 PM (b0770qm2)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b0770qm4)
18/042016 Row as Treasury report claims EU exit could dent UK tax receipts
The government has released Treasury analysis, suggesting Britain would be permanently worse off if it left the EU. Leave campaigners say the forecast is "deeply flawed".
MON 18:30 The Unbelievable Truth (b07756bj)
Series 16
Episode 3
David Mitchell hosts the panel game in which four comedians are encouraged to tell lies and compete against one another to see how many items of truth they're able to smuggle past their opponents.
Elis James, Reginald D Hunter, Maeve Higgins and David O'Doherty are the panellists obliged to talk with deliberate inaccuracy on subjects as varied as the 1970s, toys, the moon and electricity.
The show is devised by Graeme Garden and Jon Naismith, the team behind Radio 4's I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue.
Produced by Jon Naismith
A Random Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 19:00 The Archers (b07756bl)
Neil goes to the Bull to keep Jazzer company, who has been drowning his sorrows all day. Jolene joins, chuffed that their St George's Day event seems to be taking off. Jim comes in and Kenton quizzes him all about St George. Jolene jokes they could hire a dragon for the event and this gives Kenton an idea. Jolene lets Neil know that Josh has been trying to sell the Fairbrothers' eggs to The Bull. He is furious - Josh has gone too far this time!
Both Anna and Pat are determined to find out why Helen did what she did. Anna meets Helen. Helen is concerned about what Henry saw on the night of the incident. Anna probes her about what Henry saw, but Helen is not forthcoming with details. Anna thinks she was protecting Henry, and she learns that Rob told Helen she's not fit to be a mother. Helen asks what will happen when the baby is born? Anna soothes Helen but tells her that she is going to need more answers in order to help her. Afterwards, Anna tries to reassure Pat on the phone that they have made a start. Anna says that she detected some strength when Helen talked about Henry and the baby - they can build on that.
MON 19:15 Front Row (b0770qm6)
Malorie Blackman, Bastille Day, Sam Gold, Simon Russell Beale
Former Children's Laureate, Malorie Blackman takes a twist on Othello into the future and outer space in her new book for young adults, Chasing the Stars. She tells Kirsty why she chose sci-fi to explore contemporary issues such as immigration and prejudice.
Idris Elba plays a lone wolf CIA operative in the new Paris-based thriller Bastille Day, who enlists the assistance of a reluctant American played by Richard Madden from Game of Thrones. Antonia Quirke reviews the film whose release was postponed after the Paris attacks.
The Flick is a Pulitzer Prize winning play about the staff at a run-down cinema in Massachusetts. Kirsty talks to its director Sam Gold as it starts its run at the National Theatre this week.
As part of our Shakespeare's People series, Simon Russell Beale chooses Benedick from Much Ado About Nothing.
Presenter : Kirsty Lang
Producer : Dymphna Flynn.
MON 19:45 John Galsworthy - The Forsyte Saga (b0774ysg)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
MON 20:00 Are Human Rights Really Universal? (b07756bn)
Episode 1
In the aftermath of the Second World War, the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaimed a set of rights for all humankind, belonging to each of us simply by virtue of being human. Universalism - that they belong to everyone, everywhere - is the key idea that grounds human rights, it gives them meaning, application and authority.
Talking to legal philosophers, historians, sceptics and advocates, Helena Kennedy QC explores the philosophical and historical foundations of human rights. Are they really universal or is this just moral posturing on a grand scale, a legal fiction, a philosophical sleight of hand?
Human rights are routinely ignored by states around the world. They may aspire to be universal in their application but, instead, they are universally broken.
There are lots of claimed universalisms in the world - religions, political creeds, ideas of the common good - why should this one, the language of universal human rights, be adhered to above all others? What are universal human rights really, are they a moral, legal or political idea? And where did they come from, were they created or discovered?
Going back to ideas of justice in the ancient world, Helena Kennedy explores the case for the defence - that human rights tap into the deeper threads that bind us and that, far from being a post-war Western construct, their roots are indeed universal, embedded across space and time.
Presenter: Helena Kennedy
Producer: Simon Hollis
A Brook Lapping production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 20:30 Crossing Continents (b076mnky)
Norway: Parents Against the State
Norway's widely regarded as one of the world's most progressive societies, yet it's at the centre of an international storm over its child protection policies. Campaigners accuse its social workers of removing children - some from immigrant backgrounds - from their parents without justification, and permanently erasing family bonds. Tim Whewell meets parents who say they've lost their children because of misunderstood remarks or "insufficient eye contact" - and Norwegian professionals who call the system monstrous and dysfunctional. Is a service designed to put children first now out of control?
MON 21:00 The Neglected Sense (b076cg3n)
We may fear going blind, deaf or dumb, but few of us worry about losing our olfactory senses. And yet more than 200,000 people in the UK are anosmic - they cannot smell.
Radio 4 announcer Kathy Clugston is anosmic and presents this programme 'from the inside', giving a first hand account of the condition. In this programme, Kathy sets out on a personal mission to discover why she can't smell. She has never before researched the extent to which smell guides and shapes our lives, how we smell and what parts of the brain are affected - for example, is her 'terrible memory' connected to the condition?
Referred to by the experts as the forgotten or neglected sense, we reveal the seriousness of not being able to smell.
Anosmia can be caused by a virus or a head injury, allergies, polyps, or a brain tumour, but for many, including Kathy, it is something that's missing from birth. Sanguine as she is, Kathy knows she's vulnerable - "I've left the gas on, fallen asleep with a pot on the stove".
She adds, "As I got older I began to realise how much I miss out on. People say "Oh, you can't smell B.O.! Lucky you!" but then it dawns on them that I can't smell freshly brewed coffee, newly cut grass, a baby's head, my partner's hair, a rose. I can't catch a whiff of something and be instantly transported back to my grandma's kitchen or an exotic holiday. It's as if life has a missing layer."
A Cast Iron Radio production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 21:30 Start the Week (b0774ysb)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
MON 21:58 Weather (b0770qm8)
The latest weather forecast.
MON 22:00 The World Tonight (b0770qmb)
Do Treasury Brexit numbers add up?
Does the Treasury's analysis of the economic impact of EU membership stack up? We ask the IFS's Paul Johnson and ask the NFU why it's supporting remain - but won't be campaigning. As the President of Brazil moves a step closer to impeachment proceedings, Paul Moss has a special report from the capital. And new research suggests that dinosaurs were doomed even before the asteroid struck Earth.
MON 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b0775pfd)
10 Days
Episode 1
A gripping thriller by Orange Prize-shortlisted author Gillian Slovo. Ten unpredictable days of violence erupt from a stifling heat wave. And, as Westminster careers are being made or ruined, lives are at stake.
Ten Days is about what happens when politics, policing and the hard realities of living in London collide.
Read by Jasmine Hyde and Ben Onwukwe
Abridged by Eileen Horne
Produced by Clive Brill
A Brill production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 23:00 Word of Mouth (b076hrcn)
House Names
Michael Rosen talks to Dr Laura Wright about her new research on popular house names, from Foo Choo Villas to Nutty Hagg to Orchard Cottage, and what this tells us about our history. She's uncovered why some houses have names but some have numbers, and what this tells us about our history. Place names expert Professor Richard Coates joins them to talk about the origins of these words in the UK.
Producer Beth O'Dea.
MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (b0775pfg)
Susan Hulme reports from Westminster on junior doctors' contracts, defeats for the Government on the housing bill and an inquiry into whether using the hard shoulder on motorways is a good idea.
TUESDAY 19 APRIL 2016
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (b0770qnv)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
TUE 00:30 Book of the Week (b0774ysd)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b0770qnx)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b0770qnz)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b0770qp1)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 05:30 News Briefing (b0770qp3)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b078nsdp)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Reverend Clair Jaquiss.
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (b077g82h)
NFU position on Brexit
A new advert for a supermarket chain guarantees that the cows providing its milk "have access to grazing". But what does that mean in practice? Around 90% of hens' beaks are trimmed in the UK, but the practice is controversial. A Wiltshire poultry farmer thinks the industry has an alternative.
In the West of England conservationists are using an ingenious way to monitor the endangered glass eel. Schools, hospitals, jobs and transport remain concerns for rural voters as campaigning continues in the Welsh National Assembly elections.
Presented by Anna Hill and produced by Vernon Harwood.
TUE 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b02tx41n)
Sparrowhawk
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Steve Backshall presents the sparrowhawk.
A garden visit from a sparrowhawk can be an exciting affair. They're smash-and grab raiders, using bushes, hedgerows and fences as cover to take their victims by surprise. Males are blue-grey above, with a striking rusty-orange chest and are smaller than the brown females - this allows the pair to take a wide range of prey.
TUE 06:00 Today (b077gd50)
Morning news and current affairs. Includes Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather and Thought for the Day.
TUE 09:00 Shakespeare and the American Dream (b077gd52)
Episode 1
Robert McCrum journeys across America tracing the origins of the country's love affair with Shakespeare. He finds Americans of all ages, races and classes who feel Shakespeare gives them a voice to express very real concerns about contemporary politics and society. He watches Henry V in Nashville set during the Civil War, sees Shakespeare performed two blocks from the US Congress where issues of politics and leadership play out both on stage and on the senate floor with an audience made up of power brokers. He meets Stephen Sondheim and actor Alec Baldwin, both great Shakespeare lovers to discuss what still makes him relevant today
Producer: Maggie Ayre.
TUE 09:30 One to One (b074x31b)
Sathnam Sanghera speaks to Alpesh Chauhan
Sathnam Sanghera feels he has come a long way from his working class Wolverhampton background and now regards himself as firmly middle class.
In this second programme for One to One, he meets Alpesh Chauhan, an Asian Brummie from a working class background, who has become an Assistant Conductor with the CBSO (City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra).
As someone who has broken through so many social barriers, has Alpesh's ethnic background proved to be a bigger hurdle than his social class?
Producer: Perminder Khatkar.
TUE 09:45 Book of the Week (b077gd54)
A House Full of Daughters
Episode 2
Juliet Stevenson reads Juliet Nicolson's journey through seven generations of women, including her Flamenco dancing great great grandmother Pepita, her grandmother Vita Sackville West and her mother Philippa - all of whom have shaped and formed, in extraordinary ways, exactly who she has become today.
We journey through the slums of 19th century Malaga to the political elite of Washington, from English boarding schools during the second world war, to London in the 60s and New York in the 80s.
It is one woman's investigation into how her past forms and informs her future.
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (b0770qp5)
The history of underwear, Sylvia Day, Sexual harassment in schools.
Sylvia Day is the best selling author of the Crossfire series. As the fifth and final instalment is published, Sylvia talks about sex, romance and selling over a hundred thousand books in 5 days in the UK alone.
Research from the University of Surrey's Sleep Research Centre has found that the disruption of sleep cycles can impact more negatively on women than men. We hear from the report co-author and Research Fellow Dr Nayantara Santhi.
The first parliamentary inquiry into the scale and impact of sexual harassment and sexual violence in schools is launched today by the Women and Equalities Committee. Evidence from their pre-consultation work shows sexting, online bullying and the normalisation of pornography are all issues for students and they want more support in dealing with them. Jane speaks to Kat Banyard, Founder and Co-Director of UKFeminista who takes sexual harassment workshops into school, and Niamh Sweeney, Executive member of the Association of Teacher and Lecturers.
The Victoria and Albert Museum's new exhibition is Undressed: A Brief History Of Underwear and features over 200 examples of underwear from the 18th century to the modern day. Jane Garvey was shown everyday stays and fetishwear by the curator Edwina Ehrman.
In Shakespeare's day, there were no professional female actresses acting on the stage in England. Shakespeare's female roles were played by boys or young men until 1660. New research uncovered by the British Library reveals the prejudice the first few ground breaking women faced when they were eventually allowed to take on the major Shakespearean characters. Zoe Wilcox is the lead curator at the 'Shakespeare in Ten Acts' exhibition at the British Library. She talks to Jane about these female acting pioneers.
TUE 10:45 John Galsworthy - The Forsyte Saga (b077gd56)
The Forsytes Continues
Episode 3
John Galsworthy's epic family saga of love, money and betrayal.
Dramatised for radio by Lin Coghlan
Soames ruffles feathers at a board meeting when he questions the modern way of doing business
Original music composed by Neil Brand
Produced and directed by Gemma Jenkins.
TUE 11:00 All in the Womb (b077gd58)
Can Post Traumatic Stress Disorder be passed from mother to child? Evidence is growing that the anxiety and mood disorders of PTSD can indeed be passed on from mothers to their offspring. In other words, the environment in which a child is raised - including the environment in the womb - can affect that child's stress response, hard-wiring it for life.
This idea challenges one of the cornerstones of biology - that inheritance is controlled solely by genes. Welcome to the field of "epigenetics" (meaning literally "beyond the genes"), the mechanism by which chemical switches control how the genes actually work, turning them on or off as appropriate and moderating how strongly they act.
Science writer Sue Armstrong explores the phenomenon as it relates to stress with researchers on the front line in Edinburgh and New York, and with the people who are the focus of their studies - survivors of the Holocaust and the collapse of the World Trade Center on 9/11 and their families. She asks what prospects our greater understanding of the physical impact of mental trauma holds for better treatment of PTSD, and whether there are lessons here for addressing the needs of people caught up in the traumatic events of today.
Producer: Ruth Evans
A Ruth Evans production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 11:30 Soul Music (b077gd5b)
Series 22
The Way You Look Tonight
'The Way You Look Tonight' was written by Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields for the 1936 film 'Swing Time'. Sung by Fred Astaire to Ginger Rodgers while she was washing her hair, the song won an Oscar. It's been recorded by Frank Sinatra and Billie Holiday. Sarah Woodward, daughter of actor Edward, recalls how age seven, she watched him sing it on The Morecambe and Wise Christmas Show with his 'angelic' voice; theatre director Michael Bawtree remembers the song being his father's favourite, and being distraught when he broke the gramophone record as a five year old; and Glaswegian singer Eddie Toal describes making an album of jazz songs, including 'The Way You Look Tonight' to remember his late wife, Irene.
TUE 12:00 News Summary (b0770qp7)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 12:04 Home Front (b076bf09)
19 April 1916 - Rose Fairweather
On this day in 1916, the Western Times announced that two British Officers had escaped from POW camp, and Rose Fairweather feels trapped on Blackfold farm.
Written by Lucy Catherine
Directed by Allegra McIlroy
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
Editor: Jessica Dromgoole
TUE 12:15 You and Yours (b0770qp9)
Call You and Yours: What can we learn from the Queen's generation?
The Queen turns 90 years old this week. Winifred Robinson asks: What can we learn from the Queen's generation?
The number to call when the programme is on-air is 03700 100 444. Text 84844. You can email anytime youandyours@bbc.co.uk.
TUE 12:57 Weather (b0770qpc)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 13:00 World at One (b077gd5d)
Analysis of news and current affairs.
TUE 13:45 Scenes from Student Life (b077gd5g)
Town and Gown
The tension between university students and local people flared up into a bloody battle in Oxford on February 10, 1355 - known as the St Scholastica's Day Riot.
Recent graduate Ellie Cawthorne travels to Oxford to meet local historian Mark Davies and hear the grisly facts - 63 students lost their lives and others were scalped as the townspeople exacted their revenge on the scholars. Documents at the Bodleian Library show that King Edward III came down heavily on the side of the University, exacting penance from the town which continued for 500 years.
Chief archivist Simon Bailey tells Ellie that a final burying of the hatchet occurred as late as 1955 - 600 years after the event - when the City Mayor and University Chancellor granted each other reciprocal privileges.
The friction between town and gown is traced forward to today, with locals unhappy about the takeover of pubs and living quarters as university numbers increase.
Sidney Sussex college at Cambridge commissioned a video to make students more self-aware, and advised them to "ditch the gown" on a night out so as not to offer a target. But other events attempt to bring both sides together, whether it's a fun run or, at Oxford, the annual Town and Gown Boxing Match where both sides put on gloves and bash the living daylights out of each other.
Producer: Richard Bannerman
Series Producer: Nick Baker
A Testbed production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 14:00 The Archers (b07756bl)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 Drama (b040hx6n)
Silk: The Clerks' Room
John
By Mick Collins
From an original idea by Janice Okoh and Mick Collins
Based on the BBC1 series Silk, the radio series tells of the adventures and mishaps in the Clerks' Room at the Shoe Lane chambers.
As the battle of supremacy of the clerks' room reaches fever pitch, John finds himself caught in the crossfire.
Head Clerk Billy Lamb and Practice Manager Harriet Hammond have made no secret of their disdain for each other's work practices. The conflict passes the point of no return when they both independently conspire to oust each other. As second-in-command, John soon finds out how highly both sides value his allegiance. Forced to pick a side, it's not long before he's embroiled in plotting a devious coup.
BBC1's Silk created by Peter Moffat
Executive producer: Hilary Salmon
Director: Sasha Yevtushenko.
TUE 15:00 The Design Dimension (b077ggv7)
Series 3
Death by Design
Tom Dyckhoff examines the importance of design after death. He looks at the environmental considerations around the disposal of the body - including the work of British Columbia University's Death Lab.
With more than 75 per cent of the UK population being cremated, Tom takes a behind the scenes look at a crematorium which pipes its waste energy to heat a neighbouring Leisure Centre swimming pool - and takes a dip.
He also considers the option of a bespoke coffin designed in a range of replica shapes from musical instruments to cars, trains, planes and boats and hears from a woman who has already planned her green funeral in a coffin shaped like a pink satin ballet shoe.
Finally, Tom visits the most famous Victorian Cemetery of all at Highgate North London which numbers amongst its occupants celebrities, artists, musicians and philosophers including Karl Marx.
Produced by Sara Parker
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 15:30 Costing the Earth (b077ggv9)
The Mars of the Mid-Atlantic
Ascension Island is a tiny scrap of British territory, marooned in the tropical mid-Atlantic roughly halfway between Brazil and Africa. It's the tip of a giant undersea volcano - rugged, remote and, up until around 150 years ago, almost completely devoid of vegetation.
Peter Gibbs visits to learn how 19th-century botanist Joseph Hooker, encouraged by Charles Darwin, planted a forest on the island's summit to trap moisture brought by the trade winds, introducing a panoply of flora from around the world - ginger, guava, bamboo, ficus and dozens more.
But is Ascension's cloud forest all it appears? He talks to conservationists struggling to cope with invasive species running riot, hears about the rescue of Ascension's tiny endemic ferns, encounters nesting turtles on the beaches and ventures among the chattering 'wideawakes' on the sweltering lava plains by the coast.
Producer: Matthew Teller.
TUE 16:00 Word of Mouth (b077ggvc)
Metaphors for the Past: From Dinosaurs to Victorian Values
Michael Rosen and Dr. Laura Wright talk to Dr Ross Wilson about how we talk about historical eras in order to define the way we live now, and how we've progressed. Ross Wilson is a historian at the University of Chichester who's written a book called The Language of the Past delving into the origins of terms about periods in history - Stone Age, mediaeval, Victorian Values - when we came up with them and why we use them. How historically accurate are they and does it matter?
Producer Beth O'Dea.
TUE 16:30 Great Lives (b077ggvf)
Series 39
Ray Peacock chooses the life of Lenny Bruce
To his followers Lenny Bruce was a genius and a free speech hero. To his detractors he was labelled sick and dirty.
Bruce shocked his audiences intentionally. In his uncompromisingly frank humour he took on organized religion, government, jingoism, capitalism, the death penalty, war, and sexual mores.
But he was eventually destroyed by the battle he fought with the US justice system.
The comedian, Ray Peacock nominates Lenny Bruce as his great life as he regards him as a pioneer in stand-up. Along with expert Dr Oliver Double and presenter Matthew Parris they uncover a controversial life.
To illustrate the life of Lenny Bruce this programme does play some audio which some listeners may find offensive.
The producer is Perminder Khatkar.
TUE 17:00 PM (b0770qpf)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b0770qph)
Justice Secretary Michael Gove says a UK exit from the EU won't affect free trade
TUE 18:30 Clare in the Community (b06442qh)
Series 10
This Is a Man's World
Nali's ex-husband arrives unexpectedly and Clare takes it upon herself to intervene. Simon has some bad news about Brian's vitamin supplements.
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
Nali ...... Nina Conti
Simon ...... Andrew Wincott
Justin ...... Dustin Demri-Burns
Thomas ...... Stefan Ramsden
Producer: Alexandra Smith.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2015.
TUE 19:00 The Archers (b077ghk5)
Pip and Rex talk about Josh's business two-timing with the Fairbrothers and Neil. Rex reports that he told Josh to back off the marketing as a result, but he doubts that Josh listened. Rex bemoans the fact that he is making enemies: the Christmas geese and turkey wars with the Grundys and now Neil. Rex tries to flirt with Pip but Pip deflects the conversation. The rebuilt egg mobile is ready and Pip helps Rex and Bert move it to Hollowtree.
Ursula visits Rob, who has been moved out of Intensive Care. Ursula says he should be coming home this weekend, but Rob insists he sees Henry before then - this afternoon. At the hospital, Henry was bursting for the toilet, and Pat suspects he held it in so as to not make Rob cross. Pat and Tony are awkward but Henry is excited to see Rob. Rob promises Henry that he is getting better... Tony takes Henry away so Pat can talk to Rob alone. Pat wants to talk about Helen, but Ursula interrupts. She tells Pat that she should go and not come to visit again. If Rob wants to see Henry then Ursula can bring him. Later, Pat gets emotional: "First John. Then Greg. Now this." Tony reminds her that they got through those troubles, and they can get through this.
TUE 19:15 Front Row (b0770qpk)
Sharpe on Flowers, Don Warrington on Lear, Yvvette Edwards
Samira Ahmed talks to Will Sharpe about Flowers, the surreal Channel 4 sitcom he has written and directed, and in which he stars with Olivia Colman.
As part of our Shakespeare's People series, Don Warrington chooses the tragic figure of King Lear.
Tim Robey reviews Jane Got a Gun, a new Western starring Natalie Portman.
Yvvette Edwards discusses her novel The Mother, which is told from the perspective of a woman whose teenage son is stabbed. Yvvette was inspired to write when her own step son was the victim of random violence.
TUE 19:45 John Galsworthy - The Forsyte Saga (b077gd56)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
TUE 20:00 Held Hostage in Syria (b077kkgn)
Speaking together for the first time, four European hostages of so-called Islamic State talk to Lyse Doucet about their period of incarceration between March 2013 and June 2014. Aid worker Federico Motka, journalists Didier Francois and Daniel Rye, and blogger Pierre Torres were all held for between 10 and 14 months each.
Producer: David Prest
A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 20:40 In Touch (b0770qpm)
Guide dogs on EasyJet, Strangers who try to help you out
In order to fly, guide dogs must have the correct paperwork, but EasyJet admit to us that they got it wrong recently with one passengers and his dog. They apologise and say they'll be more flexible in future.
And when does helping become interfering? We've come across a new situation where well-meaning strangers are tapping on your smart phones, thinking they're off when actually you're using a privacy setting called a screen curtain. So what should you do? Tom Walker reports.
TUE 21:00 The Joy of 9 to 5 (b06qkkzm)
Lucy Kellaway investigates the persistent taboo over salaries, and asks who benefits from this secrecy.
What we are paid is rarely a meritocracy. Studies show that if you are taller, more attractive, have better hair, you're likely to take home a bigger pay packet. Even the most popular way of rewarding extra effort at work - performance related pay - has been shown to demotivate and demoralise workers.
Lucy steps inside at a broad range of offices to investigate - from Suma Wholefoods in Halifax where all 200 employees, whether driving a forklift or trading commodities, earns exactly the same amount, to Gravity Payments, where the CEO has just cut his million dollar salary to fund his promise that no employee will earn less than $70,000.
Speaking to workers and business leaders, Lucy asks whether there is a fairer way of cutting up the cake.
Written and presented by Lucy Kellaway
Producer: Lucy Greenwell
Executive Producer: Russell Finch
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 21:30 Shakespeare and the American Dream (b077gd52)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
TUE 21:58 Weather (b0770qpp)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (b0770qpr)
Brexit won't end free trade - says Michael Gove
Michael Gove says UK would negotiate a deal to join a free trade zone, but wouldn't be part of the EU's single market.
A suicide bomb attack by the Taliban has killed nearly thirty people and injured hundreds more in Kabul
We'll hear the pollsters view of the presidential primaries in New York.
And ask why the rate of new cases of dementia has slowed significantly in the UK.
TUE 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b07869zw)
10 Days
Episode 2
A gripping thriller by Orange Prize-shortlisted author Gillian Slovo. Ten unpredictable days of violence erupt from a stifling heat wave. And, as Westminster careers are being made or ruined, lives are at stake.
Ten Days is about what happens when politics, policing and the hard realities of living in London collide.
Episode 2:
As the heat wave persists, in the aftermath of an unfortunate death involving the Metropolitan Police, the Home Secretary grapples with personal and professional intrigues.
Read by Jasmine Hyde and Ben Onwukwe
Abridged by Eileen Horne
Produced by Clive Brill
A Brill production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 23:00 Love in Recovery (b077gjkl)
Series 2
The Wake
Second series of the award-nominated comedy drama set in Alcoholics Anonymous, written by Pete Jackson and inspired by his own road to recovery. Stars Sue Johnston, John Hannah, Eddie Marsan, Rebecca Front, Paul Kaye and Julia Deakin.
Love in Recovery 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.
In this final episode of the series, the group leave their meeting room to take Andy (Eddie Marsan) to his mum's wake. Andy hasn't seen the rest of his family in a long time and he's nervous, anxious and a little angry. He just wants to say goodbye to his mum and leave. But it's not as simple as that.
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.
TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (b077gl2m)
A Treasury report saying UK households will be worse off outside the EU has been dismissed by a Tory MP as 'disgracefully dodgy' and 'worthy of Jackanory'. Sean Curran reports on more Conservative in-fighting over Europe.
Also on the programme:
* The Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond tells the Commons no British troops will be sent to Libya to tackle IS terrorists.
* MPs debate the plight of unaccompanied child refugees from Syria and other conflict zones.
WEDNESDAY 20 APRIL 2016
WED 00:00 Midnight News (b0770qr7)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
WED 00:30 Book of the Week (b077gd54)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b0770qr9)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b0770qrc)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b0770qrf)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 05:30 News Briefing (b0770qrh)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b078ykry)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Reverend Clair Jaquiss.
WED 05:45 Farming Today (b077gpnl)
NFU position on Brexit
The NFU in England and Wales has announced its support for the 'Britain Stronger in Europe' campaign for the referendum on 23rd June. We speak to farmers and the NFU president to find out why.
What makes an egg free range? We meet two farmers housing their hens in different systems as part of our look at the poultry industry.
And the Dorset farmer who may have beaten scientist Edward Jenner to inventing the first smallpox vaccine after experimenting on his own cattle and family.
Presented by Anna Hill and produced by Sally Challoner.
WED 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b0378xmn)
Common Tern
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Michaela Strachan presents the common tern. The Common Tern is the most widespread of our breeding terns and is very graceful. It has long slender wings and a deeply forked tail with the outer feathers extended into long streamers. These features give the bird its other name, sea swallow, by which terns are often called.
WED 06:00 Today (b077gqk3)
Morning news and current affairs. Includes Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather and Thought for the Day.
WED 09:00 Midweek (b0790gz0)
Hunter Davies, Daniel Evans, Henry Normal, Fiona Bird
Libby Purves meets writer Hunter Davies; artistic director Daniel Evans; poet Henry Normal and forager and cook Fiona Bird.
Fiona Bird is a forager, writer and cook. A former finalist on Masterchef, her new book Let Your Kids Go Wild Outside is full of enthusiasm for the natural world and aims to encourage children to get off the sofa and explore the great outdoors. Fiona lives on the Isle of South Uist where she forages for seaweed which she features in a range of dishes from casseroles and soups to bread and biscuits. Let Your Kids Go Wild Outside is published by CICO Books.
Hunter Davies OBE is an author, journalist and broadcaster. He is the author of over 50 books, including biographies, novels, children's fiction and several books about the Lake District.. He wrote the only official biography of the Beatles. In his memoir, The Co-Op's Got Bananas! he reflects on his childhood and coming of age in post-war Britain. The Co-Op's Got Bananas! is published by Simon and Schuster.
Daniel Evans is the outgoing artistic director of Sheffield Theatres who is taking on the same role at Chichester Festival Theatre. As a director at Sheffield Theatres his productions include The Effect, The Full Monty and An Enemy of the People. As an actor, his work for the company includes Company, The Pride, Cloud Nine and The Tempest. His performance in Sunday in the Park with George won him his second Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical and a Tony Award nomination. His production of Show Boat is at the New London Theatre.
Henry Normal - whose real name is Peter Carroll - is a comedian, producer and poet. As a writer and producer he has won awards for his work on The Royle Family, Gavin and Stacey and the Mrs Merton Show. He also wrote and produced the Oscar-nominated film Philomena. He is performing his poetry at the Stratford-Upon-Avon Literary Festival and his programme A Normal Family, about his son who has autism, returns to BBC Radio 4 later this year. The Stratford-Upon-Avon Literary Festival is at the Stratford Artshouse.
Producer: Paula McGinley.
WED 09:45 Book of the Week (b077gqk7)
A House Full of Daughters
Episode 3
Juliet Stevenson reads Juliet Nicolson's journey through seven generations of women, including her Flamenco dancing great great grandmother Pepita, her grandmother Vita Sackville West and her mother Philippa - all of whom have shaped and formed, in extraordinary ways, exactly who she has become today.
We journey through the slums of 19th century Malaga to the political elite of Washington, from English boarding schools during the second world war, to London in the 60s and New York in the 80s.
It is one woman's investigation into how her past forms and informs her future.
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (b0770qrk)
Shakespeare's mothers and sons, When should you go public about sexism?
Political journalist and assistant editor of the Spectator, Isabel Hardman, was offended when an MP addressed her as 'totty' - he said specifically, 'I want to talk to the totty.' She complained to the Whips and posted her experience on social media, though she chose not to name the MP. But is speaking out always the best thing to do? Journalist Isabel Oakeshott last week said that, "Strong women don't need to whine about sexists calling us 'totty'... there are better ways to handle things." So should we always call out sexism in every situation? Are there sometimes, 'better ways to handle things'? Jenni is joined by Edwina Currie and Laura Bates, who explores the issue in her new book Girl Up.
In October last year we interviewed two women affected by the closure of the SSI's Teesside's iron and steel making plant. It resulted in the loss of over 2,000 jobs. Six months later, Jenni catches up with those two women, Michelle Posthill and Linda Robinson.
As we approach the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death, we look his portrayal of the mother and son relationship. Our reporter Judi Herman talks to actors set to perform in Saturday's production of Hamlet at The Globe.
And France has passed a law making the act of paying for sex illegal, but what does history tell us about the effectiveness of criminalisation? Jenni is joined by historians Hallie Rubenhold and Julia Laite to discuss the impact of criminalising sex work in the 18th and 19th Century Europe.
WED 10:41 John Galsworthy - The Forsyte Saga (b077gqk9)
The Forsytes Continues
Episode 4
John Galsworthy's epic family saga of love, money and betrayal.
Dramatised for radio by Lin Coghlan
While Fleur decides to flirt with danger, Michael wrestles with his conscience at work
Original music composed by Neil Brand
Produced and directed by Gemma Jenkins.
WED 10:55 The Listening Project (b077gqkc)
Holly and Axel - Aftershock
Fi Glover introduces a conversation between a young couple who were trekking in Nepal at the time of the earthquake and who feel they've responded differently to the experience. Another in 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 Are Human Rights Really Universal? (b07756bn)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 on Monday]
WED 11:30 Chain Reaction (b03q8z47)
Series 9
Neil Innes talks to Graham Linehan
Ex-Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band member and Monty Python collaborator Neil Innes continues the chain talking to comedy writer and director Graham Linehan.
Chain Reaction is the long-running host-less chat show where last week's interviewee becomes this week's interviewer.
Producer: Carl Cooper
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2014.
WED 12:00 News Summary (b0770qrm)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 12:04 Home Front (b076bf9h)
20 April 1916 - Elspeth Taverner
On this day in 1916, a cabinet crisis was narrowly averted when the Prime Minister agreed to extend conscription, but the rift widens between Halecot and Blackfold farms.
Written by Lucy Catherine
Directed by Allegra McIlroy
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
Editor: Jessica Dromgoole
WED 12:15 You and Yours (b0770qrp)
Recycling confusion, Matchmaker services, Online estate agents
Matchmaker services are different to online dating. They're supposed to be a bespoke service, offering tailored introductions to individuals. Because they're bespoke they can be very expensive. We talk to one woman who used a matchmaking agency. A year and a half later, she's still single but is four thousand pounds poorer. What can you expect from a matchmaking agency? And what can you do when it goes wrong? You and Yours reports.
Profits are down at several of the UK's biggest estate agents, while online estate agents like Yopa, Purplebricks or eMoov are reporting rapid gains. Are we moving away from the traditional model of buying or selling our houses? Is online the future? Or are there things we would miss about the old way of doing things?
Across the UK, for the first time in 15 years, we're recycling less waste than we did. Confusion over which rubbish goes where is part of the problem and it isn't helped by the fact that every council has its own recycling rules. We go to Hull to hear how residents reacted when the council confiscated 2,000 bins from people who weren't sorting their rubbish properly and look at what is causing councils across the country to act in this way.
WED 12:57 Weather (b0770qrr)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 13:00 World at One (b077gs01)
President Obama visits Saudi Arabia amid tensions between Riyadh and Washington. We examine this critical relationship.
David Cameron and Jeremy Corbyn have clashed at Prime Minister's Questions over academies, Brexit and Labour's candidate for London Mayor. We discuss that with a senior panel of MPs.
New research investigates how loneliness can effect your health.
WED 13:45 Scenes from Student Life (b077gs03)
The Wits
University brings together talent of all kinds. Students who study one subject emerge to do something entirely different, often taking their place in the wider world as writers, actors and - sometimes - wits.
Recent graduate Ellie Cawthorne enters the 16th century hall at St Johns College Cambridge, where one of the earliest satirical plays about student life was performed. The Parnassus Plays of 1598 showed two eager students fending off temptations of alcohol and lust, only to end up as impoverished shepherds.
She talks to St John's Librarian Mark Nicholls about the plays, which were part of a flowering of talent that enlivened the cultural world of Elizabethan England. Writers like Thomas Nashe and Christopher Marlowe were Shakespeare's contemporaries. They, as Professor Jennifer Richards of Newcastle University points out, could be considered forerunners of many later students who lived off their wits as much as their degrees. Hugh Laurie arrived at Cambridge to row, but met Stephen Fry, joined the Footlights, and both were launched into a performing career.
Ellie talks to the award-winning young director Liz Stevenson who tested her theatre skills at Nottingham University, and to Nish Kumar, stand-up comic, writer and broadcaster, who found during his years at Durham that he could make it as a latter-day 'Wit'.
Producer: Richard Bannerman
Series Producer: Nick Baker
A Testbed production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 14:00 The Archers (b077ghk5)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 Drama (b042zcqk)
Original British Dramatists
Rock Me Amadeus
By Simon Topping
Charlie was born a boy but has always known that she's really a girl. What's to be done?
The arrival of a German exchange student prompts Charlie to take action.
Simon Topping won the BBC Writer's Prize in 2013.
This is his first play for radio.
Directed by Sally Avens.
WED 15:00 Money Box (b077gsv8)
Money Box Live: Wedding Costs
Does your big day need a big budget? Or can a modest amount make a memorable occasion?
Recent research by one wedding planning website has just revealed that the average cost of creating your dream day has topped £24,000.
We'd love to hear your tips for keeping wedding costs under control, how you negotiated the best price, as well as discuss what your options are if you feel like you've been stung.
Share your ideas and questions with Ruth Alexander and guests. Call 03700 100 444 from
1pm to
3.30pm on Wednesday or e-mail moneybox@bbc.co.uk
Joining Ruth will be:
Dominique Douglas, UK Alliance of Wedding Planners.
Rachel Southwood, Editorial Director, Wedding Ideas Magazine.
Gary Rycroft, Solicitor & Partner, Joseph A. Jones & Co.
Jemma Robinson, Lead Officer for Civil Law, Trading Standards Institute
Standard geographic charges from landlines and mobiles will apply.
WED 15:30 The Joy of 9 to 5 (b06qkkzm)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Tuesday]
WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (b077gt3g)
Happiness and government, Good parenting
Happiness - Should the government promote it? Danny Dorling, Halford Mackinder Professor of Geography at the University of Oxford, talks to Laurie Taylor about the necessity to inspire a better politics with new measures of what matters most to us. These would include the avoidance of misery, the gaining of long term life satisfaction, the feeling of fulfilment, of worth, of kindness, of usefulness and love. Politicians, he contends, should promote a collective good which incorporates these priorities. They're joined by Paul Ormerod, economist and Visiting Professor at UCL Centre for Decision Making Uncertainty, who contends that policymakers should not claim that they can increase happiness through public policy decisions.
Also, do dominant ideals of 'good' parenting contain a class bias? Esther Dermott. Professor of Sociology, argues that the activities of the most educationally advantaged parents are accepted as the benchmark against whom others are assessed.
Producer: Jayne Egerton.
WED 16:30 The Media Show (b0770qrt)
The decline of TV news, Celebrity injunction, Local TV
A new report by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism suggests that with steadily shrinking news audiences, TV news can expect to experience a disruptive period similar to that faced by the newspapers a decade ago. Joining Andrea to explore the declining viewership, the significance of the threat and how TV news might respond in the future is one of the report authors and former editor of BBC news Richard Sambrook, and Ben de Pear editor of Channel 4 news. Plus John McAndrew Executive Editor of Sky News shares his views and explains how new programme 'The Pledge' and its format could be the way to attract new audiences.
The Supreme Court will tomorrow hear the case of a celebrity who wants to keep his name out of a tabloid newspaper story about an alleged extra-marital relationship. Justices are to hear the argument following a decision by Court of Appeal judges on Monday that an injunction preventing his name being revealed should be lifted. This particular injunction has been in the headlines constantly over the last few weeks, leading some to conclude that this has given the story more attention than it otherwise would have had. Andrea Catherwood speaks to PR expert Mark Borkowski about the advice he'd give to celebrity clients when their stories hit the tabloids.
Five local TV channels; London, Manchester, Birmingham, Oxford and Southampton, have been given the go ahead by OFCOM to cut their local programming commitments. Joining Andrea Catherwood to discuss why the local TV channels requested the reduction and what the change in local programming might mean for the viability and relevance of local TV is Chris Johnson, chair of Local TV network & CEO of Bay TV.
Producer: Katy Takatsuki.
WED 17:00 PM (b0770qrw)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b0770qry)
The comedian and actor, Victoria Wood, has died of cancer at 62
WED 18:30 Welcome to Our Village, Please Invade Carefully (b04md4nr)
Series 2
Questioning Loyalties
Field Commander Uljabaan's loyalty cards, rewarding villagers for their collaboration, are not only ruining Katrina's plans but also Richard's chances in the weekly pub quiz. They turn to Ron, the landlord of the Rose & Crown for help in scuppering the scheme.
Series two of Eddie Robson's sitcom about an alien race that have noticed that those all-at-once invasions of Earth never work out that well. So they've locked the small Buckinghamshire village of Cresdon Green behind an impenetrable force field in order to study human behaviour and decide if Earth is worth invading.
The only inhabitant who seems to be bothered by their new alien overlord is Katrina Lyons, who was only home for the weekend to borrow the money for a deposit for a flat when the force field went up.
So along with Lucy Alexander (the only teenager in the village, willing to rebel against whatever you've got) she forms The Resistance - slightly to the annoyance of her parents Margaret and Richard who wish she wouldn't make so much of a fuss, and much to the annoyance of Field Commander Uljabaan who, alongside his unintelligible minions and The Computer (his hyper-intelligent supercomputer), is trying to actually run the invasion.
Katrina Lyons ...... Hattie Morahan
Richard Lyons ...... Peter Davison
Margaret Lyons ...... Jan Francis
Lucy Alexander ...... Hannah Murray
Field Commander Uljabaan ...... Julian Rhind-Tutt
Computer ...... John-Luke Roberts
Ron ...... Dave Lamb
Lawrence ...... Michael Bertenshaw
Written by Eddie Robson
Script-edited by Arthur Mathews
Original music written and performed by Grace Petrie
Producer: Ed Morrish.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2014.
WED 19:00 The Archers (b077gt9n)
Pip and Ruth marvel at the problems Josh's business decisions have caused. Pip wonders if it is too soon to ask Tom again about her mob-grazing proposal, and Ruth says he might be glad of the distraction. Pip and Tom have lunch at Fallon's Tea Room. He laments his sister's situation, and Pip is sympathetic. Tom is receptive to her mob-grazing plan, as he thinks that looking after fewer cattle might be helpful for his family right now. Later, Ruth suggests Pip take a loan from her and David rather than a bank. Pip asks her mother if she spoke to Josh - she has but she's not sure if he was really listening.
Lynda rings Eddie in alarm - the folding bed he had installed in her shepherd's hut has collapsed! Eddie and Joe set about fixing it, reassuring Lynda that the new timber they are using is hard-wearing. Eddie politely enquires how hard-wearing the bed needs to be. It's raining, so Eddie doesn't quite finish work on the hut. Lynda is in a rush to see it completed so she can better visualise her garden. She says that the garden is for the whole village - and if it doesn't turn out well she will be deeply ashamed.
WED 19:15 Front Row (b0770qs0)
Victoria Wood remembered, Curtis Sittenfeld, Maya Sondhi, Lucian Msamati
Geoff Posner, who produced Victoria Wood's first TV Show and then went on to work with her on other TV shows including Dinner Ladies, shares his memories and discusses how important she was in terms of paving the way for other female comedians.
In our continuing series Shakespeare's People, Lucian Msamati nominates Iago.
Curtis Sittenfeld, author of American Wife, talks about her new novel, Eligible. Set in Cincinnati, it's a modern-day re-telling of Pride and Prejudice, with Liz Bennet as a successful magazine journalist, and Darcy as a neurosurgeon.
Maya Sondhi is perhaps best known for her role as the long-suffering daughter in Citizen Khan, or currently as WPC Maneet Bindra in Line of Duty. Maya Sondhi discusses Sket, the first play she has written, which examines the sexualisation of teenagers, which opened last night.
Presenter Samira Ahmed
Producer Rebecca Armstrong.
WED 19:45 John Galsworthy - The Forsyte Saga (b077gqk9)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:41 today]
WED 20:00 Agree to Differ (b077gtvz)
Series 2
Artificial Intelligence
We are witnessing a momentous speed up in Artificial Intelligence - in the power of machines to learn, communicate and interact with us. On any day, AI provides hundreds of millions of people with search results, traffic predictions, translations in real time and it speeds up the operation of our laptops by guessing what we'll do next. Several companies are working on cars that can drive themselves? and AI techniques are playing a major role in science and medicine.
While the potential benefits of AI are thought to be huge, there have been increasing warnings from prominent figures in science and technology about the potential dangers. Just how 'intelligent' might the machines become? Will they be able to 'think' for themselves? Could they ever be 'conscious' - or is that just the stuff of science-fiction? And would we want them to be? Matthew Taylor is joined by Murray Shanahan, Professor of Cognitive Robotics at Imperial College and Mark Bishop, Professor of Cognitive Computing, Goldsmiths, University of London.
WED 20:45 Four Thought (b078c9l2)
Dead White Composers
Simon Zagorski-Thomas thinks we fail to treat the study of popular music with the seriousness it deserves because we overvalue classical music studies.
"It seems to be up to the younger universities to take the lead in analysing musical forms that live outside of the world of the classical score and to create a musicology that is more relevant to our experience of music now."
Producer: Sheila Cook.
WED 21:00 Costing the Earth (b077ggv9)
[Repeat of broadcast at
15:30 on Tuesday]
WED 21:30 Midweek (b0790gz0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (b0770qs2)
London Mayoral Contest in Extremism Row
London Mayoral contest in extremism row - cleric at the centre speaks out; a special report on resistance fighters from Raqqa in Syria ; and remembering the comic genius of Victoria Wood.
WED 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b0786b1r)
10 Days
Episode 3
A gripping thriller by Orange Prize-shortlisted author Gillian Slovo. Ten unpredictable days of violence erupt from a stifling heat wave. And, as Westminster careers are being made or ruined, lives are at stake.
Ten Days is about what happens when politics, policing and the hard realities of living in London collide.
Episode 3:
Cathy and her daughter are caught up in the street protests that the Met and the government are struggling to contain.
Read by Jasmine Hyde and Ben Onwukwe
Abridged by Eileen Horne
Produced by Clive Brill
A Brill production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 23:00 Nurse (b077gtw3)
Series 2
Episode 3
A bittersweet comedy drama about a community mental health nurse created by Paul Whitehouse and David Cummings.
Liz (played by Esther Coles), the community psychiatric nurse of the title makes her rounds to visit "service users" in their homes. Most of those patients are played by comedy chameleon Paul Whitehouse himself – with supporting roles for Rosie Cavaliero, Vilma Hollingbery and Cecilia Noble.
Whitehouse brings us an obese bed-bound mummy's boy, an agoraphobic ex-con, a manic ex-glam rock star, ageing rake Herbert who hoards his house with possessions and memories, a Jewish chatterbox in unrequited love with his Jamaican neighbour, and a long-suffering carer and his Alzheimer's-afflicted mother.
There are new characters too in the guise of a self-proclaimed DJ and a Geordie struggling with his wife's job in the world's oldest profession.
We follow their humorous, sometimes sad and occasionally moving interactions with Liz, whose job is to assess their progress, dispense medication and offer support.
Nurse gives a sympathetic insight into the world of some of society's more marginalised people in a heartfelt and considered way.
Written by David Cummings and Paul Whitehouse, with additional material by Esther Coles.
Paul Whitehouse
Esther Coles
Margaret Cabourn-Smith
Rosie Cavaliero
Sue Elliott-Nichols
Charlie Higson
Vilma Hollingbery
Jason Maza
Cecilia Noble
A Down The Line production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in April 2016.
WED 23:15 Tim Key's Late Night Poetry Programme (b03s9pjl)
Series 2
Survival
Tim Key has travelled to 'the wilds' to recite poems which grapple with the concept of survival.
Tom Basden plays the banjo.
Written and presented by Tim Key.
Producer: James Robinson.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2014.
WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (b077gtw5)
Susan Hulme reports from Westminster on PMQs: arguments over Academy schools, the EU referendum and extremism. Also in the programme: MPs debate claims of genocide by so-called Islamic State against ethnic and religious minorities; and Labour says the Home Secretary has done a U-turn over the Border Force budget. Editor: Rachel Byrne.
THURSDAY 21 APRIL 2016
THU 00:00 Midnight News (b0770qtl)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
THU 00:30 Book of the Week (b077gqk7)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b0770qtn)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b0770qtq)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b0770qts)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 05:30 News Briefing (b0770qtv)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b0790g17)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Reverend Clair Jaquiss.
THU 05:45 Farming Today (b077j3fj)
European Subsidies Update
English farmers still waiting for their European subsidies are to be given 'bridging payments' to tide them over until the full amount can be paid, following delays in the system. The Rural Payments Agency, which administers the money coming from Europe, has been criticised after failing to meet its own deadline to pay 'nearly all' farmers by the end of March. Problems with a new IT system and poor management have been blamed.
And we are on the automated packing line with an egg producer in Scotland as part of our look at the British poultry industry.
Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Sally Challoner.
THU 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b02tvys6)
Osprey
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Steve Backshall presents the osprey. Ospreys are fish-eaters and the sight of one of these majestic birds plunging feet first to catch its prey is a sight to cherish. The return of the ospreys is one of the great UK conservation stories. After extinction through egg-collecting and shooting in the 19th and early 20th centuries, birds returned in the 1950s and have responded well to protection.
THU 06:00 Today (b077kkqf)
Morning news and current affairs. Includes Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather and Thought for the Day.
THU 09:00 In Our Time (b077j4yv)
1816, the Year Without a Summer
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the impact of the eruption of Mt Tambora, in 1815, on the Indonesian island of Sambawa. This was the largest volcanic eruption in recorded history and it had the highest death toll, devastating people living in the immediate area. Tambora has been linked with drastic weather changes in North America and Europe the following year, with frosts in June and heavy rains throughout the summer in many areas. This led to food shortages, which may have prompted westward migration in America and, in a Europe barely recovered from the Napoleonic Wars, led to widespread famine.
With
Clive Oppenheimer
Professor of Volcanology at the University of Cambridge
Jane Stabler
Professor in Romantic Literature at the University of St Andrews
And
Lawrence Goldman
Director of the Institute of Historical Research at the University of London
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
THU 09:45 Book of the Week (b077j4yx)
A House Full of Daughters
Episode 4
Juliet Stevenson reads Juliet Nicolson's journey through seven generations of women, including her Flamenco dancing great great grandmother Pepita, her grandmother Vita Sackville West and her mother Philippa - all of whom have shaped and formed, in extraordinary ways, exactly who she has become today.
We journey through the slums of 19th century Malaga to the political elite of Washington, from English boarding schools during the second world war, to London in the 60s and New York in the 80s.
It is one woman's investigation into how her past forms and informs her future.
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (b0770qtx)
Mediation in divorce, Being 90
A look at the role of mediation in divorce. Attending an assessment meeting for mediation if divorce proceedings were initiated became law two years ago but a recent freedom of information request has shown few couples are being made to attend. Why is the law not being imposed and what effect is that having? Jenni is joined by Jane Robey, CEO of National Family Mediation and Emma Nash, a solicitor with The International Family Law Group.
As the Queen marks her 90th Birthday we talk to two women who've already reached that milestone 90 year old Jackie Marcus and 99 year old Honour Harlow. What's their secret?
As part of the events marking the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death, Judi Herman explores the role of the compliant daughter and the overbearing father in Shakespeare's plays.
And a celebration of the life and work of Victoria Wood.
Presenter Jenni Murray
Producer Beverley Purcell.
THU 10:45 John Galsworthy - The Forsyte Saga (b077j4yz)
The Forsytes Continues
Episode 5
John Galsworthy's epic family saga of love, money and betrayal.
Dramatised for radio by Lin Coghlan
Soames visits his cousin George and muses on life and death.
Original music composed by Neil Brand
Produced and directed by Gemma Jenkins.
THU 11:00 Crossing Continents (b077j4z1)
'Islamic State's' Most Wanted
Chloe Hadjimatheou tells the astonishing story of a group of young men from Raqqa in Syria who chose to resist the so-called Islamic State, which occupied their city in 2014 and made it the capital of their "Caliphate". These extraordinary activists have risked everything to oppose IS; several have been killed, or had family members murdered. IS has put a bounty on the resistance leaders' heads. But the group continues its work, under the banner 'Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently'. Chloe meets the group's founders, some of whom are now organising activists in Raqqa from the relative safety of other countries.
THU 11:30 Will Gompertz Gets Creative (b0631npz)
Pottery
Will Gompertz visits the Hole In The Wall Pottery Group in Emsworth in Hampshire and is joined by leading ceramicist Kate Malone and her former pupil Johnny Vegas for a special one-off masterclass in clay-born creativity.
If you are inspired to get involved in pottery - or indeed any other areas of artistic endeavour - there's lots to discover at the BBC's Get Creative website http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/sections/get-creative
Producer: Clare Walker.
THU 12:00 News Summary (b0770qtz)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 12:04 Home Front (b077j4z3)
21 April 1916 - Tobias Holden
On this day in 1916, a British naval patrol intercepted Sir Roger Casement bringing munitions to Ireland, and Tobias Holden tries to mend bridges.
Written by Lucy Catherine
Directed by Allegra McIlroy
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
Editor: Jessica Dromgoole
THU 12:15 You and Yours (b0770qv1)
All Tomorrow's Parties and our iWonder guide
The You & Yours inbox receives lots of your requests for help with spotting scams - so we've launched a handy online tool which you can share with family members. It's an iWonder guide we've developed with BBC Learning. We'll launch it with a story about a really clever fraud which has caught out thousands.
And we've reported about how the music festival, All Tomorrow's Parties, has left fans in the lurch and without refunds before. Now, a festival set to take place on Friday in Manchester has been cancelled. In 2014, ATP cancelled Jabberwocky Festival at London's Excel Centre with three days to go. Some music fans still haven't had their money back. We'll be asking how the organiser, Barry Hogan, plans to refund fans who have paid for travel, accommodation and tickets.
And the TV streaming company Netflix is committing billions of dollars to new shows like House of Cards, Unbreakable Kimmy Scmidt, Jennifer Jones and Daredevil. But its latest forecasts suggests it's not picking up subscribers as quickly as it hoped. We'll talk to the BBC technology reporter Zoe Kleinman about whether it's a bump in the road or something more serious.
And as the big banks close high street branches, we'll ask if you can give great financial customer service with no street outlets at all. Anthony Thomson thinks you can - he's launching a new online only bank.
You can email us at you and yours - youandyours@bbc.co.uk.
THU 12:57 Weather (b0770qv3)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 13:00 World at One (b077j4z5)
Analysis of news and current affairs.
THU 13:45 Scenes from Student Life (b077j4z7)
The Diarist and the Blogger
Recording Cambridge student life in 1690 was Abraham de la Pryme, member of St John's College. His daily studies in logic, his passion for science and mathematics, the grim event when a friend commits suicide, silly pranks played by other students, and famous neighbours like Isaac Newton - all are carefully noted in his diary.
Ellie Cawthorne meets Cambridge chief archivist Jacky Cox who shows her the actual large battered diary kept at the University Library.
Jumping forward 300 years, Ellie talks to Bethany Hutson, who kept a blog during her time at Gloucester University. There are differences - Pryme forswore alcohol and romance but indulged in magic, while Bethany enjoyed a drink and tangled with love, but not with magic. Both though were equally committed to their studies, experienced the freedoms and the pressures of university life, leading up to the final exams and the degree ceremony when they bowed before the chancellor and became, as Pryme describes it, "compleat batchellours".
Producer: Richard Bannerman
Series Producer: Nick Baker
A Testbed production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 14:00 The Archers (b077gt9n)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 Drama (b077jb6h)
Holy Father
It is the near future in the Vatican. A charismatic Pope has died with his radical reforming mission incomplete. As the Cardinals gather in the Vatican for the late pontiff's funeral and then the secret conclave that will elect his successor, two men are considered the most likely papabili. One - Cardinal Brendan Faber - would become the first English Pope since Nicolas Brakespeare; the other - Cardinal Dieudonne Simouri - would be the first African pontiff. Faber represents the liberal reformist wing of the Catholic Church; Simouri the conservative, counter-reformist section. They have become symbolic of a struggle for the soul of the church. However, on the eve of the conclave, Faber receives an unexpected visitor in Rome.
Writer ..... Mark Lawson
Producer ..... Eoin O'Callaghan
Director ..... Eoin O'Callaghan.
THU 15:00 Open Country (b077jb6m)
Old Oswestry Hillfort
Helen Mark visits the Iron-Age Hillfort in Oswestry, Shropshire to discover why it's the "Stonehenge of the Iron Age" and how plans for housing might affect the landscape. Dr Rachel Pope tells Helen why the size and scale of the Western entrance ramparts help make the Hillfort one of the most important Iron-Age monuments in England, and why it's a symbol for community and trade rather than defence. Dr George Nash explains how the site was used to train soldiers in trench warfare and mortar practice during World War One. John Waine links this to soldier and poet Wilfred Owen who returned to his home-town of Oswestry for training and may have written 'Storm' in the shadow of the Hillfort. Helen meets Sarah Gibson of the Shropshire Wildlife Trust and goes in search of Yellowhammers and Linnets which nest in the ramparts, and finds out how the Violet Oil Beetle hitches a lift on the backs of bees. Following Shropshire Council's decision to include a piece of land near the Hillfort in their plan for development, Bill Klemperer of Historic England explains how they hope to minimise its impact should an application for housing be made. But for Rachel Pope the Hillfort has so many tales to tell that any erosion to the landscape around it would devalue its setting.
Producer: Toby Field.
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (b0773dpn)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 Open Book (b0773ldz)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Sunday]
THU 16:00 The Film Programme (b0770qv5)
Bastille Day, Flatpack Film Festival
Francine Stock visits the Flatpack Festival in Birmingham and tries out Blind Cinema, where she is blindfolded as a small child whispers in her ear, describing the action on the screen.
The director of the record-breaking Woman In Black, James Watkins explains why the release of his new film, Bastille Day, a violent thriller set in Paris, was delayed after the terrorist attacks in the French capital.
THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (b0770qv7)
EU membership and UK science, Quantum games, Fixing genes
The UK science community draws vital benefits from EU membership and could lose influence in the event of an exit, says a House of Lords report out this week.
UK researchers placed a high value on collaboration opportunities afforded by EU membership.
A number also believe the UK would lose its ability to influence EU science policy in the event of leaving - something that's disputed by pro-Brexit campaigners. To debate the ins and outs of being in or out of the EU, Adam is joined by Viscount Matt Ridley, a member of the committee, and Professor Paul Boyle, the Vice Chancellor of Leicester University and former president of Science Europe.
Scientists at Aarhus University in Denmark are developing a quantum computer. To help them solve a particular problem, they have turned to human brain power, harnessing our ability to play computer games. The team have designed video games, such as Quantum Moves - that are helping them to understand the problem of 'slosh'- that atoms move about, when moved, like water sloshing in a cup.
Many diseases are caused by a particular type of DNA error called a 'point mutation'. In our genomes, the substitution of a single letter of genetic code can be the root cause of diseases such as Alzheimer's, sickle cell anaemia, and a whole range of cancers. Recently, a new technique for editing DNA, called CRISPR, a precise genetic engineering tool, was developed, which might help combat these diseases. The problem is that the cell often reacts to this editing; trying to mend what it perceives as damage to its DNA. This week, David Liu, from Harvard University, published new research showing how his team have managed to switch out a single letter, a base pair, whilst tricking the cell into not correcting this edit.
THU 17:00 PM (b0770qv9)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b0770qvc)
UK and Welsh governments offer to buy 25% of Tata Steel to attract potential buyers
THU 18:30 Don't Make Me Laugh (b077jb6z)
Series 2
Episode 2
David Baddiel hosts the second series of the panel show where some of the funniest comedians have to go against all their instincts and try not to make an audience laugh.
Featuring Omid Djalili, Sara Pascoe, Russell Kane, Adam Hess.
A So Radio production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 19:00 The Archers (b077jb73)
Brian makes his feelings clear about Lilian staying at Home Farm. Lilian says Justin adores the Dower House, although she is certain that he needs more furniture. Lilian asks Brian to hurry today's board meeting so she can hit the shops with Justin. At the meeting, the board rally around Adam's no-till proposal. Brian says Adam emphasised the right point: profit.
At the department store, Lilian encourages Justin to test a mattress with her. He is less excited to be out shopping. Lilian says one way to put him in Ambridge's favour would be for him to buy the stage curtains. Justin concedes.
Jill and Shula tend to the bees, chewing over various village events. It's Elizabeth's birthday and her celebratory meal is to be held later. Apart from Dan it's going to be a full house of Archers! At the meal, Jill reflects that it is good to have everyone close at this difficult time for the wider family. They raise a glass to "absent friends". David toasts Elizabeth too, calling her Woman of the Year in this family. They also toast to the other Elizabeth - the Queen, on her birthday.
THU 19:15 Front Row (b0770qvf)
Remembering Prince, Opera North's Ring Cycle, novelist Georgina Harding
Singer Mica Paris remembers Prince who was her friend and mentor, and biographer Matt Thorne and journalist Kevin Le Gendre assess his legacy.
As Opera North's Music Director Richard Farnes and General Director Richard Mantle prepare to present six complete productions of the company's much praised "austerity" Ring Cycle, they discuss the art of creating great opera on a budget. The Ring Cycle opens at Leeds Town Hall on 23 April and goes on to tour the Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham, The Lowry in Salford, the Royal Festival Hall in London, and Sage Gateshead.
Georgina Harding's latest novel, The Gunroom, opens with a description of the image of Don McCullin's Shell Shocked Soldier. It then becomes a work of fiction which explores the impact of taking that photo on the photographer as he endeavours to escape the horror of what he has seen. Georgina Harding discusses what inspired her to write this story. The Gun Room is out now.
THU 19:45 John Galsworthy - The Forsyte Saga (b077j4yz)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
THU 20:00 Borders, An Odyssey (b077rxbt)
The Journey
Is home just a story we tell ourselves? This three-part series continues with Frances Stonor Saunders following Homer's Odysseus, the mythical avatar of all our journeys, as he struggles to get home and asks how much home we really need. With Judith Kerr, Helen Sharman, Misha Glenny, Neal Ascherson, David Willetts, Edith Hall. Readings by Sam West.
Producer: Fiona Leach
Researcher: Ruth Edwards.
THU 20:30 In Business (b077jb7j)
Selling Shakespeare
As part of the festivities for the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare's death, In Business asks how the Bard has had an impact on the corporate world. As well as being a profitable part of the British economy, particularly for the tourist sector in Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare's plays have been exported to almost every country there is. In Neuss, Germany, a replica of the Globe has stood since 1991. In Bollywood, Shakespeare's stories have been retold since the dawn of Indian cinema, and become major money-spinners courtesy of movies such as Omkara (Othello) and Haider (Hamlet). In corporate America, his plays have been seized upon by executive training teams. And in China, Shakespeare's works are being marketed to a new generation of domestic consumers, eager for a taste of historical culture.
Author and critic Andrew Dickson goes on a globe-trotting journey to find out how the Bard is still very much in business - and discovers one of the most successful and flexible cultural brands there is. Produced by Nina Robinson.
THU 21:00 BBC Inside Science (b0770qv7)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 today]
THU 21:30 In Our Time (b077j4yv)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (b0770qvh)
Pop superstar Prince dead at 57
The American pop star and musical innovator Prince has died at the age of 57. We reflect on his career with Susan Rogers - a sound engineer who worked on his best known albums. As the government says it's willing to take a 25% stake in Tata Steel's UK operations we hear a critic of the idea and also speak to Sir Vince Cable. And as the Queen turns 90 we discuss what the future holds for the monarchy.
Picture: Prince in 1986, Press Association.
THU 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b0786b48)
10 Days
Episode 4
A gripping thriller by Orange Prize-shortlisted author Gillian Slovo. Ten unpredictable days of violence erupt from a stifling heat wave. And, as Westminster careers are being made or ruined, lives are at stake.
Ten Days is about what happens when politics, policing and the hard realities of living in London collide.
Episode 4:
While the Prime Minister is away at a trade conference, the new Police Commissioner is focused on finding the Molotov Man who has become the tabloid face of the London riots.
Read by Jasmine Hyde and Ben Onwukwe
Abridged by Eileen Horne
Produced by Clive Brill
A Brill production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 23:00 Down the Line (b01sjhj0)
Series 5
Episode 4
The ground-breaking Radio 4 phone-in show, hosted by the legendary Gary Bellamy and brought to you by the creators of The Fast Show.
Starring Rhys Thomas, with Amelia Bullmore, Simon Day, Felix Dexter, Charlie Higson, Lucy Montgomery, Adil Ray, Robert Popper and Paul Whitehouse.
Producers: Charlie Higson and Paul Whitehouse
A Down The Line production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 23:30 Today in Parliament (b077jb7l)
Sean Curran reports from Westminster where MPs and Peers pay tribute to the Queen on her 90th birthday and the Culture Secretary says his faith in press freedom has been "tested".
A Transport Minister says people should not over-react to a reported drone strike on a passenger plane flying into Heathrow Airport. And peers add to the pressure on the Government to refer so-called Islamic State to the UN for acts of genocide.
FRIDAY 22 APRIL 2016
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (b0770qxm)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
FRI 00:30 Book of the Week (b077j4yx)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Thursday]
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b0770qxp)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b0770qxr)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b0770qxt)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 05:30 News Briefing (b0770qxw)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b078j45j)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Reverend Clair Jaquiss.
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (b077jp0v)
Police and crime commissioners elections, Campylobacter in poultry, Rural Payments Agency and subsidies and dairy
Farming Today covers the rural issues affecting the election of Police and Crime Commissioners. The latest research into ridding the poultry industry of the food poisoning bug Campylobacter. And cows visit the centre of Bristol as the dairy industry attempts to re-connect with the public.
Presented by Anna Hill
Produced by Alun Beach.
FRI 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b02tw750)
House Martin
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Steve Backshall presents the house martin.
House martins are often confused with swallows , but look shorter-tailed and lack the rusty throats. They're compact birds which build their with pellets of mud under our eaves and although they're so familiar to us in summer, we still can't be certain where they spend the winter. Ornithologists believe that they may spend our winter catching insects high over African rainforests.
FRI 06:00 Today (b077jp0x)
Morning news and current affairs. Includes Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather and Thought for the Day.
FRI 09:00 The Reunion (b0773lcc)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:15 on Sunday]
FRI 09:45 Book of the Week (b077jp0z)
A House Full of Daughters
Episode 5
Juliet Stevenson reads Juliet Nicolson's journey through seven generations of women, including her Flamenco dancing great great grandmother Pepita, her grandmother Vita Sackville West and her mother Philippa - all of whom have shaped and formed, in extraordinary ways, exactly who she has become today.
We journey through the slums of 19th century Malaga to the political elite of Washington, from English boarding schools during the second world war, to London in the 60s and New York in the 80s.
It is one woman's investigation into how her past forms and informs her future.
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (b0770qxy)
Harriet Tubman, Single ladies, Shakespeare, Syrian architect, Marathons
Unmarried women now outnumber married women in the US. American author Rebecca Traister's book 'All the Single Ladies' explores the history of the single woman and her power in contemporary society. Jenni is joined by columnist Polly Vernon and social scientist Catherine Hakim to discuss the rise of unmarried women in the UK.
To mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death we look at the impact his work has had on women and the feminist movement. Dr Sophie Duncan, lecturer in English at Magdalen College, Oxford and Dr Diane Purkiss, tutor in English at Keble College, Oxford reflect on the way women are depicted in and have responded to Shakespeare's work.
US Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew has proposed replacing the slaveholding Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill with Harriet Tubman, the former slave and abolitionist. Crystal Sanders, Assistant Professor in history and African American studies at Penn State University in Pennsylvania joins Jenni to talk about the significance of the move.
34-year-old Syrian architect and mother of two, Marwa al-Sabouni lives in Homs, Syria's third largest city. She was born and grew up there and stayed with her family when war broke out five years ago. Al-Sabouni talks to Jenni about why she believes that architecture plays a crucial role in the future of Syria and writing her memoir, The Battle for Home.
In this year's London Marathon, 39 per cent of the field will be female compared to less than five per cent when it first took place in 1981. Women's running may be enjoying a surge in popularity, but as women we receive so many messages about sport and our bodies. Jenni is joined by runner and writer Bridget Minamore and Elizabeth Hufton, editor of Woman's Running UK.
Presenter: Jenni Murray.
FRI 10:45 John Galsworthy - The Forsyte Saga (b077jp11)
The Forsytes Continues
Episode 6
John Galsworthy's epic family saga of love, money and betrayal.
Dramatised for radio by Lin Coghlan
Michael learns a secret from Fleur's past and Soames's suspicions about a business deal are confirmed
Original music composed by Neil Brand
Produced and directed by Gemma Jenkins.
FRI 11:00 The Anglo-Irish Century (b077jp13)
Out of the sea of blood
In this, the first of four programmes looking back at a century of Anglo-Irish relations, Diarmaid Ferriter begins with the Anglo-Irish agreement of 1921. The names on the treaty document, and indeed the names missing from it, tell a story in themselves. Ireland's Michael Collins signed fearing it was a suicidal gesture, accepting, as it did the New Free States allegiance to the Crown. Churchill felt it was one of his first great political successes, bringing an end to a damaging war. The Irish leader De Valera had operated at arms length from the Irish negotiating team and his opposition to the resulting treaty resulted in the violent turmoil that followed.
But the years leading up to the treaty were themselves some of the most bloody in Irish history. Diarmaid turns back to the failed Easter Rising and the brutal suppression of it, the growing tensions and the electoral disaster of the Irish Parliamentary Party in the 1918 elections. Thereafter there was a slide towards a war of independence that saw brutality on both sides. It reached a grim climax with the events of Bloody Sunday on 21st November 1920 which prompted a parliamentary debate in which the former Prime Minister H. H. Asquith attacked both sides from the back benches.
Diarmaid also explains the importance of the unlikely partnerships forged during the subsequent treaty negotiations, partnerships of mutual understanding if not friendship, between the likes of Michael Collins and Winston Churchill. That they were able to reach a compromise accepted by the majority of the new Irish parliament and the country is significant. But as this first programme in the series underlines, the new Free State had been born out of an armed struggle and the arms were not yet to be turned into ploughshares.
Producer: Tom Alban.
Photo: University College Dublin
FRI 11:30 Josie Long: Romance and Adventure (b077jp15)
Series 1
Episode 4
Josie and Darren go camping but find themselves disastrously ill equipped for the great outdoors.
Comedy drama about a young woman trying to build a more fulfilling life for herself in Glasgow.
Based on characters from the short films "Romance and Adventure" and "Let's Go Swimming" by Josie Long and Douglas King.
Josie ...... Josie Long
Darren ...... Darren Osborne
Margaret ...... Clare Grogan
PCSO Officer ...... Chris Pavlo
The Podcaster ...... Jesse Thorn
Shondra ...... Claudia O'Doherty
Unfeasably Handsome Man ...... John Early
Written by Josie Long.
Producer: Colin Anderson
A BBC Radio Comedy production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in April 2016.
FRI 12:00 News Summary (b0770qy0)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 12:04 Home Front (b076bk9l)
22 April 1916 - William Fulford
On this day in 1916, Emmeline Pankhurst condemned her daughter Sylvia's involvement in an anti-conscription rally, and in Ashburton, William Fulford too is at odds with his parents.
Directed by Allegra McIlroy
Editor: Jessica Dromgoole
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
SECRET SHAKESPEARE
A Shakespeare quote is hidden in each Home Front episode that is set in 1916. These were first broadcast in 2016, the 400th anniversary year of the playwright's death. Can you spot them all?
FRI 12:15 You and Yours (b0770qy2)
Pharmacies, Sneaky advertising, The RBS archives
Up to a quarter of England's pharmacies could close because of funding cuts. Those most at risk are smaller, family-run pharmacies that serve local communities. The 2.8 billion Community Pharmacy - annual funding - could be cut by £170 million pounds - 6 per cent - as part of efficiency savings across the NHS.
Sometimes on You and Yours we get the chance to go behind the scenes of places it's otherwise difficult to get into. For instance, banks can be protective of access to their archives. Our reporter Mike Young has been allowed into the archives of the Royal Bank of Scotland to see how consumer banking has developed over the years.
Academic and author Vybarr Cregan Reid tells us why he loves to run and why you shouldn't spend loads on running shoes. His new book Footnotes: how running makes us human will be published in May
With such ready access to the internet and smart phones, it's so much easier to stumble across interesting features and blogs. But with the rise of content marketing - articles being written on behalf of brands as promotional content - how do you know that what you're reading is genuine and transparent? Does it really matter?
Presenter: Peter White.
FRI 12:57 Weather (b0770qy4)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 13:00 World at One (b077jp17)
Analysis of news and current affairs.
FRI 13:45 Scenes from Student Life (b077jp19)
Lords and Sizars
In 1805 Lord Byron, a new arrival at Trinity College Cambridge, wrote to his friend requesting '4 dozen of wine', plus port, sherry, claret and Madeira. The life of a student Lord was very different to that of a sizar. Sizars came from modest backgrounds and had to wait at tables and serve in other ways to earn their keep at their College. Byron kept horses and even a tame bear, as well as spending much of his time drinking, playing cards and going to the races at Newmarket.
Recent graduate Ellie Cawthorne talks to Trinity historian Dr. Ross Wilson about Byron's time at the College and the great gap between the privileged and the rank-and-file.
Jumping on to 2016, Tom Jenkin, Deputy Editor of the online student newspaper The Tab, acknowledges that the class divide also thrives. What school you went to and where you're from are often the first questions you're asked when you arrive, and a father with a Landrover Defender has the same curiosity value and clout as Byron's post-horse and carriage.
For the less well-off student, the part-time job beckons, as it did for Gloucester student Bethany Hutson, who earned extra cash in an all-you-can-eat Chinese.
There is, though, in these competitive times, a new urgency to the degree which students aim for - nothing less than a 2:1 will do.
Producer: Richard Bannerman
Series Producer: Nick Baker
A Testbed production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 14:00 The Archers (b077jb73)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Drama (b077jq32)
Big Time
Shakespeare died four hundred years ago on the same day as Cervantes, the author of Don Quixote. Except they didn't. The calendars of their two countries were ten days apart. Cervantes has got wind of this and plots to outwit his appointed death by nipping out of Spain. If he can do this and get to Stratford, he intends to get Shakespeare out of his death bed and jump the life to come with the other great literary adventurer of their shared age. Immortality beyond their artistic reputation would be assured that way. The only obstacle in the Spaniard's way is Shakespeare distractingly beautiful young housekeeper, Regina, and also the bard's somewhat odd collection of bottled coloured liquids. A new play by Jonathan Holloway. Cervantes: Simon Callow; Shakespeare: Nicky Henson; Regina: Laura Elphinstone. Producer: Tim Dee.
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b077jq34)
Bushey
Peter Gibbs hosts the horticultural panel programme from Bushey in Hertfordshire. Bob Flowerdew, Anne Swithinbank and Pippa Greenwood answer the questions from an audience of local gardeners.
Produced by Hannah Newton
Assistant Producer: Laurence Bassett
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 15:45 Gyles Brandreth’s What Ho, Your Majesty? (b077jq36)
In a specially commissioned new comic story for Radio 4, the author and broadcaster Gyles Brandreth presents his very own 90th birthday gift to the Queen.
As a lifelong admirer of P G Wodehouse, Gyles has chosen to re-imagine the bygone world of gentlemen’s clubs, pan-handling politicians and helpful St James’s shopkeepers - the world of Willie Dabney, confidant of the Prime Minister and godson to Her Majesty.
Willie wants only to do the best for everybody, but his generosity gets the better of him when he is asked to run an errand for the Queen, involving a senior peer, the Astronomer Royal and a hostess gift with a difference.
A Heavy Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 16:00 Last Word (b0770qy6)
Prince, Ray Fitzwalter, Victoria Wood, June Jolly, Phil Sayer
Matthew Bannister on
Rock superstar Prince - we recall his intimate gig for a handful of people here in Broadcasting House.
Ray Fitzwalter the Editor of ITV's World In Action who championed investigative journalism.
Victoria Wood - we have a tribute in song from the young comedian she inspired.
The nurse June Jolly who transformed the treatment of children in hospital - she once brought a baby elephant and a lion on to the ward to entertain her patients.
And - Mind The Gap - the voice of hundreds of station announcements Phil Sayer.
Interviewed guest: Fergus Dudley
Interviewed guest: Paul Gambaccini
Interviewed guest: Roger Corke
Interviewed guest: Vikki Stone
Interviewed guest: Margaretta Jolly
Interviewed guest: Sue Burr
Interviewed guest: Elinor Hamilton.
FRI 16:30 More or Less (b077jqps)
Brexit Numbers
EU Treasury report
This week there was much debate over the Treasury report which modelled how leaving the EU would affect the economy. Tim Harford speaks to the Spectator's Fraser Nelson about how the document was presented to the public, and how it was reported. Chris Giles of the Financial Times explains that there are useful points to take from the Treasury's analysis.
Hinckley Point nuclear power station
What is the most expensive "object" ever built? The environmental charity Greenpeace has claimed it is set to be the most expensive object on Earth. But could it really cost more to build than the Great Pyramids? We take a look at some of the most costly building projects on the planet.
Chances of serving on a jury
A listener in Scotland is curious to know what the chances are of being selected for jury service. Several of his family members have received summons, but he has not. We look at who is eligible to serve, and what your odds are of receiving a summons.
European Girls Maths Olympiad
Last week we told the story of how the European Girls Maths Olympiad (EGMO) came into being. We followed the UK team on their recent journey to Romania to compete against 38 other teams from Europe and around the world.
Life expectancy of a Pope
In 2014 Pope Francis alluded to the fact he didn't expect to live more than another two or three years. A group of statisticians have taken a look at the life expectancy of popes over the centuries and decided that he may have been rather pessimistic.
Presenter: Tim Harford
Producer: Charlotte McDonald.
FRI 16:55 The Listening Project (b077jqpv)
Mandy and Geri – It’s Not My Name That Matters
Fi Glover introduces a conversation between friends about commitment to fund-raising and the disappointment when you don't achieve your goal - 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 (b0770qy8)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b0770qyb)
President Obama warns Brexit would put the UK "at the back of the queue" for trade deals with the US. Leave campaigner, Boris Johnson, calls the intervention '"hypocritical".
FRI 18:30 The News Quiz (b077jqpx)
Series 90
Episode 2
Jeremy Hardy, Rebecca Front, Edwina Currie and Francis Wheen are Miles' guests in the long-running satirical quiz of the week's news.
A BBC Radio Comedy Production
Producer: Richard Morris.
FRI 19:00 The Archers (b077jqpz)
It's St George's Day... almost. Kenton has plans to celebrate at The Bull across the whole weekend. He banters with Scottish Jazzer who isn't entering into the English spirit of things. Eddie has finally been paid by Lynda, but is worried about money because of Alf's debt. Kenton dons chain-mail for St George, but Jolene refuses to dress up as the dragon. When Jazzer declines too, Kenton draws the short straw. Jolene, meanwhile, makes a fine George. The Quiz Night is a success.
DS Madeley goes to see Rob in hospital to get his statement. Rob says he is not as strong as he was, so Madeley will have to push his wheelchair for him. Rob tells Madeley that Helen had been acting strangely for some time. Madeley wants to know about the night in question but Rob seems intent on telling Madeley about the events before. Madeley asks if there was a trigger for this incident, and Rob asks for time to ponder that. Rob's voice cracks with emotion as he talks about Kirsty. He implies that Kirsty and Helen's relationship is deeper than friendship. Rob insists that he can't remember much of the day of the incident. He is tasked with going through his statement and signing it off. Rob starts crying, saying that all he ever did was love Helen.
FRI 19:15 Front Row (b0770qyd)
400 years of Shakespeare with Rufus Wainwright, Kim Cattrall, Dominic Cooke and William Leahy
William Shakespeare takes centre stage 400 years after his death. As The Hollow Crown returns to BBC One with the next series of the playwright's history plays, theatre director Dominic Cooke discusses his TV directorial debut making the series. The cast of Henry VI Parts I and II and Richard III include Benedict Cumberbatch, Judi Dench and Hugh Bonneville.
Actor Kim Cattrall describes why she loves playing Cleopatra, as part of our series Shakespeare's People, in which celebrated actors choose the character they've enjoyed playing most.
Rufus Wainwright's new album Take All My Loves adapts nine of Shakespeare's sonnets into rock ballads, operatic pop songs and dramatic readings. The musician talks about his personal take on the playwright's poetic work.
Was Sir Henry Neville the real author of Shakespeare's works? A new book, Sir Henry Neville Was Shakespeare: The Evidence by John Casson and Professor William Rubinstein, provides fresh evidence supporting the claim. Professor William Leahy, Chair of the Shakespeare Authorship Trust, reviews the evidence.
Over the last two years, Ladi Emeruwa has played Hamlet in 197 different countries, travelling 180,000 miles in the process. He is one of a cast of 12 actors who have taken Shakespeare to all corners of the world from Bhutan to Belize and Cambodia to Cameroon. The tour reaches its climax this weekend when the final four performances take place at London's Globe theatre.
Presenter John Wilson
Producer Angie Nehring.
FRI 19:45 John Galsworthy - The Forsyte Saga (b077jp11)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (b077jqq1)
Hilary Benn MP, Mick Cash, Nigel Farage MEP, Justine Greening MP
Jonathan Dimbleby presents political debate and discussion from Tunbridge Wells in Kent with a panel including the Shadow Foreign Secretary Hilary Benn MP, the General Secretary of the RMT Mick Cash, the Leader of UKIP Nigel Farage MEP and the Secretary of State for International Development Justine Greening MP.
FRI 20:50 A Point of View (b077jqq3)
Reading Renaissance Art
Taking a tour of some recent blockbuster art exhibitions, Sarah Dunant reflects on the importance of context for us to properly appreciate art.
She argues that increasingly we're sold art as a list of superstars. "To grab the headlines, put big numbers through the turnstiles, means focusing on the stars" she writes.
But understanding the great Renaissance masterpieces demands an understanding of the intellectual climate that produced them.
A scantily clad Ursula Andress emerging from the sea holding a conch will not really help us understand Botticelli's Birth of Venus.
Producer: Adele Armstrong.
FRI 21:00 Home Front - Omnibus (b076bwv0)
18-22 April 1916
On the week, in 1916, when a British naval patrol intercepted Sir Roger Casement bringing munitions to Ireland, alliances are broken and made in Ashburton.
Written by Lucy Catherine
Directed by Allegra McIlroy
Editor: Jessica Dromgoole
Story-led by Richard Monks
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
Composer: Matthew Strachan
Consultant Historian: Maggie Andrews
SECRET SHAKESPEARE - Did you spot them?
A quote is hidden in each episode of 2016. If you discover one, tweet it using #BBCHomeFront.
FRI 21:58 Weather (b0770qyg)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (b0770qyj)
UN expert attacks UK's civil society
Is 'Prevent' dividing, stigmatising and alienating parts of the UK population? And how can Leicester capitalise on its sporting success.
FRI 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b0786bk7)
10 Days
Episode 5
A gripping thriller by Orange Prize-shortlisted author Gillian Slovo. Ten unpredictable days of violence erupt from a stifling heat wave. And, as Westminster careers are being made or ruined, lives are at stake.
Ten Days is about what happens when politics, policing and the hard realities of living in London collide.
Episode 5:
Crisis point has been reached - for London, for Peter Whiteley, for Cathy and her daughter, and for Joshua Yares, struggling to stop the rioting and find an officer gone rogue.
Read by Jasmine Hyde and Ben Onwukwe
Abridged by Eileen Horne
Produced by Clive Brill
A Brill production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 23:00 Great Lives (b077ggvf)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 on Tuesday]
FRI 23:30 Today in Parliament (b077jqq5)
Mark D'Arcy reports from Westminster.
FRI 23:55 The Listening Project (b077jqq7)
Tim and Ali - Everest: The Other Woman
Fi Glover introduces a conversation between a woman and her husband, who was leading an Everest climb at the time of the Nepal earthquake, about the need for communication. 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.