SATURDAY 24 DECEMBER 2016

SAT 00:00 Midnight News (b08558wq)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.

SAT 00:30 Book of the Week (b085b9sz)
Love of Country, St Kilda

Journalist Madeleine Bunting explores the history and landscapes of the Hebrides and demonstrates how this chain of islands in the North West has shaped both Scotland and Britain. Nearing the end of her series of journeys, Madeleine Bunting reaches the evacuated archipelago of St Kilda.

Abridged by Anna Magnusson
Read by Doon Mackichan
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie.

SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b08558wt)
The latest shipping forecast.

SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b08558ww)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. BBC Radio 4 resumes at 5.20am.

SAT 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b08558wy)
The latest shipping forecast.

SAT 05:30 News Briefing (b08558x0)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.

SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b085g6s5)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Leslie Griffiths.

SAT 05:45 iPM (b085h733)
Two Christmas stories

We hear two stories from listeners who have very different upcoming Christmases, and highlights from Your News over the year. iPM@bbc.co.uk.

SAT 06:00 News and Papers (b08558x2)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.

SAT 06:04 Weather (b08558x4)
The latest weather forecast.

SAT 06:07 Open Country (b08590kb)
Winter Solstice at Newgrange

Many people will be aware of the celebrations which take place at Stonehenge for the summer solstice but at Newgrange in Ireland the winter solstice is celebrated by an equally incredible Neolithic monument. To celebrate this years winter solstice Helen Mark visits Newgrange to experience for herself the light of the rising sun on the shortest day of the year as it floods the inner passage revealing the carvings inside. Along the way Helen will discover the precision skills required in order to achieve this solar alignment and the many myths and legends which surround the monument as well as what it means to people celebrating the winter solstice today.

SAT 06:30 Farming Today (b08558xc)
Farming Today This Week: Farm-made Christmas Gifts

The latest news about food, farming and the countryside. Presented by Caz Graham and produced by Sophie Anton.

SAT 06:57 Weather (b08558xt)
The latest weather forecast.

SAT 07:00 Today (b085h737)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.

SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (b08558yh)
Arabella Weir

Arabella Weir, star of Two Doors Down, talks to Aasmah Mir and Suzy Klein about what neighbours mean to her, festive celebrations and how she got into comedy.

Mark Forsyth explains why he decided to explore the stories behind Christmas traditions- including why we have decorated trees in our house and the real Good King Wenceslas.

Writer and musician Rhodri Marsden shared a picture of where he'd be staying when he went home for Christmas and found he wasn't alone in experiencing unusual festive sleeping arrangements.

Bruno Tonioli talks to JP Devlin about his festive plans, dealing with tragedy, and what dancing means to him.

Comedian Bill Bailey shares his Inheritance Tracks: Magic Moments by Perry Como and Once in a Lifetime by Talking Heads.

Joe Wicks, known as The Body Coach, has gone from being a personal trainer to a best-selling author and fitness entrepreneur. He talks about what success means to him, becoming an optimist, and offers his festive health tips.

Mark Forsyth's A Christmas Cornucopia is out now.
Bruno Tonioli's An Italian Romance album is out now.
Bill Bailey's Remarkable Guide to British Birds is out now.
Joe Wicks The Body Coach Workout DVD is out on Boxing Day.

Producer: Claire Bartleet
Editor: Karen Dalziel.

SAT 10:30 Kevin Bacon's Game of Fame (b085h73f)
At the age of 26 Kevin Bacon rocketed to stardom but it was a long slow steady decline after that with a string of box office flops. By the time Kevin reached thirty he suffered terrible anxiety and hit rock bottom. Around this time three college students created the game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon which asserts that the Hollywood star can be connected to any celebrity in six or less steps. Kevin admits that he was initially horrified by it and thought it was a joke at his expense. But as the concept hung around he realised that it wasn't going away and so he decided to embrace it and start his foundation the Sixdegrees.org, which tries to arrange celebrity drop in's to charity events to bolster the efforts of people who run them and give them exposure on social media.

The Six Degrees Game put him at the centre of the Hollywood Universe but is that really a position he deserves?

We join Kevin as he visits a charity event because twenty years ago his name was put to a game. Gaining access to Bacon he gives an interesting insight into his own philosophy and first-hand experience of fame. Having won it lost and claimed it back to some degree.

Produced by Kate Bissell.

SAT 11:00 The Nativity (b085h7tz)
An improvised drama of The Nativity as dictated by young children as they contemplate a story where there really is rather a lot to take on board.
At age five & six they know only the world around them so even hurdling the concept of "Long, long ago" - a world where there are no cars, no planes, no televisions, no ipods, no hospitals - naturally throws up a lot of lively debate. And what with Angels appearing, and there being "no room in the inn", and having to have the baby on straw in a stable with animals, and Three Wise Men showing up with gifts and Shepherds arriving, this really is rich terrain to place in the small hands of truly natural story tellers. Who knows what we will learn?

Performed by pupils from St Malachy's Primary School, Kilclief and St Joseph's Primary, Strangford. With Liam Neeson.

Devised with ..... Frank Cottrell Boyce
Producer ..... Gemma McMullan
Production Co-ordinator ..... Morag Keating
Sound Supervisor ..... Bill Maul
Sound Supervisor ..... John Riddell.

SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (b08558yp)
Hollywood Smiles and Sweet Memories

Kate Adie introduces correspondents stories: Mary Harper goes to the Syrian dentist bringing Hollywood smiles to Somaliland; Guy Hedgecoe travels to the highlands of Spanish Catalonia, a stronghold of calls for independence; Melissa Van der Klugt is in clouds of flour in Pune, in western India, where they can't get enough of an English biscuit; Andrew Dickson has gone to the Urals and comes across a new presidential museum asking people to re-consider Russia's wild 90s, when a red-faced Boris Yeltsin was in charge; and Joanna Robertson is in the City of Light, amid thousands of bulbs, spreading their magical fairytale twinkle across Paris.

SAT 12:00 News Summary (b08558yr)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

SAT 12:04 Money Box (b08558ff)
Guide to the Unprotected - personal finance past and present

"Many young people, and especially widows and single ladies, when they first possess money of their own, are in want of advice when they have commonplace business matters to transact...... my aim throughout is to avoid all technicalities; to give plain and practical directions, not only as to what ought to be done, but how to do it."

Those words are from a personal finance book called 'Guide to the Unprotected in Every-Day Matters Relating to Property and Income' which was first published in 1863. The author, listed as 'A Banker's Daughter', was Emma Galton who was born in Birmingham in 1811.

Her book was intended for women with no knowledge of financial matters. Its clear and practical information covered shares, investments, where to find financial advice and what women could do to protect their personal fortunes within their marriages.

What was the financial environment like for nineteenth century investors, especially women? Where did they put their money and why? How much of the book is relevant today?

Paul Lewis is joined by Jeanette Rutterford, Research Professor of the True Potential Centre for the Public Understanding of Finance at the Open University Business School, Anna Sofat, Founder and Managing Director of Addidi Wealth, Dr Lucy Newton Associate Professor in Business History at Henley Business School and Alison Belbin as the voice of The Banker's Daughter.

Presenter: Paul Lewis
Producer: Charmaine Cozier
Editor: Andrew Smith.

SAT 12:30 Dead Ringers (b085bg02)
Series 17, Episode 1

It's rumoured that Adele may attempt to sing a happy song, but there's no certainty she'll succeed. Listen out for light-hearted Christmassy versions of your favourite shows from Crimewatch to The Fall.

PRODUCED AND CREATED BY
Bill Dare

A BBC Studios production.

SAT 12:57 Weather (b08558yv)
The latest weather forecast.

SAT 13:00 News (b08558yz)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.

SAT 13:15 Pick of the Year (b085bg5t)
Pick of the Year 2016

Louiza Patikas who has had a memorable year playing Helen in the radio drama 'The Archers' introduces her radio highlights from 2016

Louiza is taking time off from Ambridge and churning her characters award-winning Borsetshire Blue cheese to hand-pick tastes of the best radio on the BBC network this year.

There's nothing remotely cheesy or blue on the menu - just gourmet slivers of fabulous programmes featuring Hollywood royalty, a reformed bank robber, a centenarian killer whale, bells from the ends of the Earth and some of the best popular songwriters of all time. And of course a look back at a very dramatic year in Ambridge.

Produced in Salford by Stephen Garner

The Pick of the Year Production Team: Kay Bishton and Pete Liggins.

SAT 14:00 Drama (b085hpjw)
Munchausen

Alistair McGowan stars as Baron Munchausen and all the other 43 characters in David Spicer's comic drama about truth, lies and credibility, bringing the exploits of the legendary Lord of Lies right up to date.

Characters from history and fiction collide in a drama featuring radio's largest cast of characters but smallest acting company of the year.

The original stories, The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen, were the inventions of thief, swindler and satirist, Rudolph Raspe, and inspired by the notoriously tall stories of the real Baron Munchausen, a braggart soldier who spent most of his subsequent life attempting to sue Raspe. And well he might. Raspe's stories went viral and for the next two hundred years his name has become synonymous with outrageous lying - through books, television, film and even diseases.

Munchausen's previous exploits have included riding a cannonball, being swallowed by a whale and flying to the Moon. The Lord of Lies is now 231 years old, apparently alive and well and is arrested on a red carpet at the Cannes film festival.

That's what he claims. But is he really the Baron? Or is he some kind of spy, assassin or international terrorist? Could he perhaps be lying?

In a police interview room, the strange old man begins to tell the so-called story of his life to a tired, sceptical and overwrought detective. This is surely a masterclass in lying. But what if he is telling "the honest truth"? Because in this age of social networking, where increasingly the media is becoming the message and opinion passes as fact, who knows what the truth is?

These days, Munchausen finds the world far more credulous and open to bamboozlement.

Performed by Alistair McGowan
Written by David Spicer
Directed by Frank Stirling
A Unique production for BBC Radio 4.

SAT 15:00 A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols (b085h8q1)
A live broadcast from the Chapel of King's College, Cambridge

Hymn: Once in Royal David's City (desc. Cleobury)
Bidding Prayer read by the Dean
A Babe is born (Mathias)
First lesson: Genesis 3 vv 8-19 read by a Chorister
Jesus Christ the apple tree (Poston)
Adam lay ybounden (Gaynor Howard)
Second lesson: Genesis 22 vv 15-18 read by a Choral Scholar
Riu, riu chiu (Flecha the Elder)
In dulci jubilo (H. Praetorius)
Third lesson: Isaiah 9 vv 2, 6-7 read by a representative of the Cambridge Churches
Sussex Carol (arr. Brian Kelly)
Hymn: O Little Town of Bethlehem (arr. Vaughan Williams)
Fourth lesson: Isaiah 11 vv 1-3a, 4a, 6-9 read by a representative of the City of Cambridge
The Lamb (Tavener)
A spotless rose (Howells)
Fifth lesson: Luke 1 vv 26-38 read by a representative of our sister college at Eton
I sing of a maiden (Lennox Berkeley)
Joys Seven (arr. Cleobury)
Sixth lesson: Luke 2 vv 1 -7 read by the Chaplain
Quelle est cette odeur? (arr. Willcocks)
This ender night (Michael Berkeley - Commission (world premiere))
Seventh lesson: Luke 2 vv 8-16 read by the Director of Music
In the bleak midwinter (Darke)
Hymn: While shepherds watched (desc. Cleobury)
Eighth lesson: Matthew 2 vv 1-12 read by the Vice-Provost
Bethlehem Down (Warlock)
Ding, dong merrily (Wood arr. Wilberg and Stevens)
Ninth lesson: John 1 vv 1-14 read by the Provost
Hymn: O come, all ye faithful (arr. Willcocks)
Collect and Blessing
Hymn: Hark, the Herald Angels sing (desc. Ledger)

Organ voluntaries:
In dulci jubilo (BWV 729) (Bach)
Dieu parmi nous (La Nativité du Seigneur) (Messaien) [broadcast on Radio 3 on Christmas Day only]

Director of Music: Stephen Cleobury
Organ Scholar: Richard Gowers

Producer: Philip Billson

For many around the world, A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, live from the candlelit Chapel of King's College, Cambridge, marks the beginning of Christmas. It is based around nine Bible readings which tell the story of the loving purposes of God. They are interspersed with carols old and new, sung by the world-famous chapel choir who also lead the congregation in traditional Christmas hymns.

The College's Director of Music Stephen Cleobury writes:
The commissioned carol this year is by Michael Berkeley, who has set the mediaeval poem This ender night. The first carol I commissioned (in 1983) was from Michael's father, Lennox, who is represented in this service by his I sing of a maiden. Significant anniversaries of two composers strongly connected with the carol repertoire and the King's service are marked. Charles Wood (1866-1926) popularised Ding dong! merrily on high, and this is included in the recent arrangement by the American composers Mack Wilberg and Peter Stevens. Harold Darke (1888-1976) directed the King's Choir during Boris Ord's absence on war service in the early 1940s. His evergreen In the bleak midwinter is included. Although the main focus this year is on recent British composers, there are carols in French, German and Spanish, as well as settings not previously heard at King's of the well-known texts Adam lay bounden (composed by Gaynor Howard) and of the Sussex Carol (in an arrangement by Bryan Kelly).

SAT 16:30 Woman's Hour (b08558z5)
Weekend Woman's Hour

The Reverend Kate Bottley and palliative care nurse Simone Williams talk about working at Christmas.

The writer Sarah Phelps tells us about her latest project adapting the Agatha Christie short story 'Witness for the Prosecution' for BBC One.

The poet Liz Lochhead performs her poem 'In the Mid Midwinter' to celebrate the winter solstice.

Polly Leonard, the founder of the the textile magazine Selvedge, explores the history and heritage behind some of our favourite textile based Christmas decorations like stockings, Santa suits and ribbons.

Podcaster and craft enthusiast Helen Zaltzman on how she likes to mark the festive period with an annual gingerbread-decorating afternoon with friends. She gives Jane some icing tips and the two of them set about capturing 2016 in biscuits.

Presented by Jenni Murray
Producer: Rabeka Nurmahomed
Editor: Jane Thurlow.

SAT 17:00 iPM (b085h733)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:45 today]

SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b08558zc)
The latest shipping forecast.

SAT 17:57 Weather (b08558zf)
The latest weather forecast.

SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b08558zh)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (b08558zk)
Frank Skinner, Sheila Hancock, Amanda Abbington, Matthew Parris, Nine Below Zero, Kathryn Williams and Anthony Kerr, Sara Cox

Clive Anderson and Sara Cox are joined by Frank Skinner, Sheila Hancock, Amanda Abbington and Matthew Parris for special festive edition of Loose Ends. With music from Nine Below Zero and Kathryn Williams and Anthony Kerr.

Producer: Sukey Firth.

SAT 19:00 Profile (b085hbcz)
Raymond Briggs

On Profile this week we explore the life and career of one of the world's best loved children's illustrators. Over the last half century - much to his horror - Raymond Briggs has become a part of Christmas. Two books about a grumpy Father Christmas have become bestsellers. The film adaptation of his 1978 picture book 'The Snowman' has been shown on TV every Christmas for the past three decades. And now, this Christmas, the BBC is screening 'Ethel And Ernest' - a new film of Briggs' 1998 book about his parents. Mark Coles talks to Raymond Briggs' family and friends to find out what his books are really about.

Producer: Smita Patel
Researcher Sarah Shebbeare
Editor: Richard Knight.

SAT 19:15 Saturday Review (b08558zv)
Art at London's Old Vic, Scorsese's Silence, VR gaming, Yaa Gyasi's Homegoing, Alan Bennett

A revival of Yasmina Reza's Art at London's Old Vic revives the art of the review - is it art?
Martin Scorsese's latest film Silence has taken nearly 3 decades to reach the screen. It's the story of two Christian missionaries in 17th century Japan. Is it worth the the long wait?
We investigate Virtual Reality gaming - there are many different headsets and games on the market, but which are worth your attention
Ghanaian-American novelist Yaa Gyosi's Homegoing is a debut novel that has been garnering a lot of extremely favourable attention from readers and critics alike. It deals with slavery and its intimate weaving into the history of America
Alan Bennett's Diaries on Christmas Eve on BBC2 is described as 'a candid look into the mind' of the much-loved author, following him through the year. It includes the revelation that he has always wanted to own a donkey

Tom Sutcliffe's guests are Naomi Alderman, Sathnam Sanghera and Emma Woolf. The producer is Oliver Jones

Photo credit: Michael Lionstar.

SAT 20:00 Archive on 4 (b085hbz9)
The Many Faces of Ebenezer Scrooge

Christopher Frayling explores how Charles Dickens' classic A Christmas Carol has endured in popular culture for over 170 years.

Victorian families sat around the fire to read Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, published in 1843, over the festive season. It became an annual ritual.
Now we might sit around the TV and watch It's A Wonderful Life - an Americanised version of the story.

In between, there have been countless takes on the book - adapted for public readings, radio, television, film and stage. Cultural historian and writer Christopher Frayling considers how this short novel has shaped Christmas as we know it today, and discusses the circumstances in which it was written.

Hearing from Dickens performers Simon Callow and Miriam Margolyes, as well as historians and fans, Christopher examines how the book's potent mixture of nostalgia, social concern and celebration has become part of the cultural bloodstream.

He assesses versions starring everyone from Alastair Sim to the Muppets, via Blackadder and the Goons, getting to the very heart of Ebenezer Scrooge.

Dickens wrote of his novel, "may it haunt your house pleasantly". It has done so - in ways he could not have imagined - for over 170 years.

Producer: Jane Long
A Hidden Flack production for BBC Radio 4.

SAT 21:00 Stardust (b07xs23j)
Part 1

Challenged to retrieve a fallen star by the beautiful Victoria Forester, to whom he has lost his heart, Tristran Thorn leaves his home in the sleepy English village of Wall and crosses into the mysterious and magical land of Faerie. But when Tristran locates the fallen star he discovers it is no mere meteorite, but an injured young woman, Yvaine.

Tristran, however, is not the only person to have seen and be in pursuit of the fallen star. Deep in Faerie, Morwanneg the witch queen, is also hunting the star, whose heart she plans to cut out to restore youth to herself and her sisters.

High on Mount Huon, Primus, Tertius and Septimus, the three living heirs to the realm of Stormhold, seek out the star to claim the right to their recently deceased father's kingdom, and each will stop at nothing - not even murder - to ensure they are the only brother left in the running for the throne!

With Yvaine's life in danger, she and Tristran find themselves embarking on an extraordinary adventure, full of danger and intrigue as they flee across Faerie. Encountering Little Hairy Men, witches, and lightning-hunting sky pirates along the way, Tristran is about to uncover the secret to his own identity and a fate beyond his wildest dreams at his journey's end.

This two-part dramatisation of Neil Gaiman's spellbinding novel is narrated by Eleanor Bron and stars Matthew Beard (The Imitation Game, An Education, One Day) as Tristran and Sophie Rundle (Peaky Blinders, Dickensian, Happy Valley, Episodes) as Yvaine.

Dramatised by ..... Dirk Maggs
Sound Design ..... Wilfredo Acosta and Dirk Maggs
Directed by ..... Dirk Maggs and Heather Larmour
Producer ..... Heather Larmour.

SAT 22:00 News and Weather (b0855905)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by weather.

SAT 22:15 Psychology of Money (b0858qyf)
How much do we really understand about our relationship with money and the power it holds over us? In The Psychology of Money, award-winning journalist and broadcaster, Claudia Hammond examines how everyday encounters illuminate our complex relationship with money and how a better understanding of it can help our wallets as well as our minds.

It starts early. Very young schoolchildren have little idea where money actually comes from or its true value - but they already know that it's 'special', clutching their piggy banks and purses. But even better for children is chocolate money.

Our childhood experiences and circumstances shape our attitudes to spending. Many of us hate talking about money but there are awkward occasions when we can't avoid it. Out for dinner with friends, having a great time? The food, wine and conversation flow freely - until the bill arrives: anxiety sets in. Splitting the bill evenly seems fair but what if you didn't have any wine or dessert and you picked the cheapest main course on the menu whilst others indulged? You might feel forced into keeping the peace and paying up. Psychologists call this "the unscrupulous diner's dilemma". If you're the one who's always taking the extra financial hit for your "mates" then take note to avoid coughing up - and propose you pay for your food before the starters arrive.

If you're shopping for a laptop or tablet this Christmas beware the display of three items - the most expensive one may be there to tempt you into buying the mid-priced item, the so-called compromise effect that might leave you out of pocket.

In this programme, Claudia Hammond explores some of the latest research into the psychology of money and reveals some simple and effective tricks that can help us all.

SAT 23:00 Round Britain Quiz (b08576m3)
Programme 8, 2016

(8/12)
There's a distinctly Christmassy flavour to the opening question, at least, of the latest contest which features Paul Sinha and Marcus Berkmann of the South of England against Stuart Maconie and Adele Geras of the North of England. Tom Sutcliffe provides the usual gentle hints where necessary, as the teams grapple with the finer points of 19th century explorers of Africa and the names of famous ships in fiction.

As always, the programme includes a selection of ingenious questions sent in by listeners hoping to outwit the panel.

Producer: Paul Bajoria.

SAT 23:30 Midnight Mass (b085hg4p)
Midnight Mass, live from Westminster Abbey, on the 950th anniversary of the coronation in the Abbey of William the Conqueror. The preacher is the Very Revd Dr John Hall, the Dean of Westminster, and the celebrant is the the Revd Christopher Stoltz, Minor Canon and Precentor. The world-class Choir of Westminster Abbey, directed by Organist and Master of the Choristers, James O'Donnell, leads a packed congregation in traditional Christmas carols and hymns welcoming the birth of the Saviour. Sub-Organist: Daniel Cook. Producer: Andrew Earis

Mass setting: Missa O magnum mysterium (Victoria)
Processional Hymn: O come, all ye faithful (Adeste fiddles)
Reading: Isaiah 9.2-7
Gradual Hymn: O little town of Bethlehem (Forest Green)
Reading: Titus 2.11-14
Gospel: Luke 2.1-14
Gospel Acclamation: Puer natus in Bethlehem (Scheidt)
Sermon: The Very Revd Dr John Hall, Dean of Westminster
Offertory Hymn: It came upon the midnight clear (Noel)
Communion motets: Dormi Jesu (Rutter), The Sussex Carol (arr. Ledger)
Post Communion Hymns: Silent night (Stille Nacht)
Final Hymn: Hark! The herald angels sing (Mendelssohn)
Organ Voluntary: Prelude and Fugue in B major, Op. 7 No. 1 - Marcel Dupré.

SUNDAY 25 DECEMBER 2016

SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b085hr9l)
The latest shipping forecast.

SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b085hr9s)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. BBC Radio 4 resumes at 5.20am.

SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b085hrb1)
The latest shipping forecast.

SUN 05:30 News Briefing (b085hrb5)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.

SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (b085p38s)
Durham Cathedral

This week's Bells on Sunday which this Christmas morning comes from Durham Cathedral. Five of the bells date from 1693. The ring of eight was augmented in 1980 to bring the number to ten. The 28 hundredweight tenor is tuned to D. We hear them now ringing 'Grandsire Caters'.

SUN 05:45 Profile (b085hbcz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]

SUN 06:00 News Headlines (b085hrbk)
The latest national and international news.

SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b085hrbr)
Good Will

According to the gospels, on the first Christmas Day, angels promised peace and good will on earth. The meaning of peace is clear, but what did they mean by good will and what do we understand it to mean today?

Mark Tully discusses the spiritual and religious idea of benevolence with academic, musician and priest June Boyce-Tillman and asks how we can show good will to those around us on a day which can be both joyful and stressful.

Derek Jacobi and Adjoa Andoh read from work by Archbishop Tutu and poets Mark Turbyfill and Karen Gershon, and there's music from Tchaikovsky, Ella Fitzgerald and The Van Dykes. Albert Finney sings as well.

Readers: Derek Jacobi and Adjoa Andoh
Presented by Mark Tully
Produced by Frank Stirling
A Unique production for BBC Radio 4.

SUN 06:35 The Living World (b085p7t4)
Wren Hunt

Chris Packham relives programmes from The Living World archives.

In ancient Greece, so the legend goes - a competition to see which of all the birds could fly the highest was won by the eagle - until that is, a miniature wren emerged from the eagles feathers and flew just a little higher. The wren was crowned and evermore known as "the King of the Birds".

In this programme first broadcast in 1999 Lionel Kelleway travels to a woodland setting named Minewood near Sterling in Scotland. Despite their reputation as the King of the Birds, until the early 20th Century wrens were still hunted on St Stephen's Day, which is December 26th. But today with nearly 8 million territories in the United Kingdom, Lionel goes on a hunt with a bit of a difference as he searches for the wren king. Joining Lionel is Matthew Evans from the British Trust for Ornithology who has been coming to this woodland for many years to study this bird with an explosive song.

Producer Andrew Dawes.

SUN 06:57 Weather (b085hrbw)
The latest weather forecast.

SUN 07:00 Sunday (b085hrc2)
A Christmas special from Hampton Court Palace

In a special edition of the programme from Hampton Court Palace, Edward Stourton goes back to Christmas 1516 to explore the religious, political and social climate of the time.

Tracy Borman, joint Chief-Curator with Historic Royal Palaces tells Edward that 1516 was a good year for Henry VIII. His first child, Mary, had been born and the Christmas celebrations he hosted were described as the most extravagant ever seen.

But England and large parts of mainland Europe were about to change forever as the Protestant Reformation that was to begin in Germany in 1517 spread.

Trevor Barnes reports how the printing press acted as a catalyst, enabling the distribution of newly translated versions of the New Testament undermining the authority of the Pope and the Catholic church.

Fr Anthony Howe, Chaplain to the Chapel Royal at Hampton Court shows Edward his copy of a 1515 Sarum Missal with the name of the Pope scribbled out, demonstrating how liturgy changed in England following the split from Rome.

The broadcaster and early music expert Catherine Bott explores Henry's musical tastes and discusses some of the carols that would have been heard at the time.

Edward gets a taste of a traditional Christmas dish, Plum Possett and discovers what else would have been on the table for people to feast on with food historian Ivan Day.

Dr Matthew Champion from Birkbeck, University of London explores how the religious calendar shaped peoples' lives and then discusses with Tracy Borman some of the key factors which led to the reformation in England.

Producer: David Cook
Series Producer: Amanda Hancox

The Boar's Head Carol, In dulci jubilo & Lulling My Liking were performed by St Martin's Voices directed by Andrew Earis.

Photo: Nick Wilkinson/newsteam.co.uk.

SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (b085pf0k)
MapAction

The actor and singer Alexander Armstrong makes the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of MapAction.

Registered Charity Number 1126727
To Give:
- Freephone 0800 404 8144
- Freepost BBC Radio 4 Appeal. (That's the whole address. Please do not write anything else on the front of the envelope). Mark the back of the envelope 'MapAction'.
- Cheques should be made payable to 'MapAction'.

SUN 07:57 Weather (b085hrc4)
The latest weather forecast.

SUN 08:00 From Our Home Correspondent (b085pf90)
In a special edition for Christmas Day, Mishal Husain introduces dispatches by a range of writers on subjects as varied as a refugee partridge; night working when the days are at their shortest; why smart phones signal the demise of the Christmas phone call; the British seasonal getaway and the revival of traditional Welsh carols. H.R.H. Princess Badiya El Hassan of Jordan discusses the significance of Jesus and Mary in Islam; Kate Humble explains what she - and those also disillusioned with contemporary Christmas celebrations - do instead; Marina Warner hails the importance of social and political comment in pantomime; James Naughtie thinks he detects the apparent renaissance of one of the longest-standing of Christmas gifts - the printed book - and Sarah Oliver tells a ghost story with a personal twist.

SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (b03bksqt)
Crested Tit

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs.

Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Crested Tit. Although crested tits are quite common in Continental Europe, they are confined in the UK to the central Highlands of Scotland. They're the only small British bird with a crest so identification shouldn't be a problem and their black eye-stripe contrasts well with their grey and white face.

SUN 09:00 Christmas Service (b085pxxz)
'Surprised by an Angel' - A Service for Christmas Morning from Durham Cathedral

Canon Angela Tilby encounters the Angel of the North, the massive figure designed by Antony Gormley which dominates the main road and railway line through the North East. She reflects on the region's industrial past which has now largely disappeared and how the Angel has unexpectedly become a source of wonder and support, almost a place of pilgrimage. Angela journeys on to Durham Cathedral to contemplate the mystery of the Nativity of Jesus - how God sent his angel to surprise Mary and the shepherds with the news that the birth of a child would be how God meets us today and everyday in the struggle of human living.

With Canon David Kennedy and the Cathedral Consort of Singers directed by James Lancelot and accompanied by Francesca Massey singing seasonal music from Handel's Messiah and Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on Christmas Carols.

Producer: Stephen Shipley.

SUN 09:45 The Listening Project (b085pxyn)
Christmas Day Omnibus

Fi Glover introduces conversations about Christmas in a hospice, whether you're ever grown up enough to let go of Woody, and just how far your big sister has to travel to school. All in the Christmas Omnibus edition 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 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (b085hrdd)
Jennifer tries to keep the peace, and Lynda fears for her reputation.

SUN 11:15 Desert Island Discs (b085pxy6)
Gareth Malone

Gareth Malone is a choirmaster who has coaxed and cajoled people from nervous adults to reluctant teenagers to open their mouths and sing for the pure joy of it - in front of television cameras.

Gareth's first two TV series, which charted his attempts to build successful choirs in schools with little or no tradition of singing together, both won major awards, and gripped and inspired viewers. He has since also worked widely on TV with adult groups from a wide range of backgrounds, and his Military Wives Choir even hit the top of the charts at Christmas.

Once described as a human tuning fork, Gareth loved music from an early age - and as he recalls, his parents and grandmother took a strong interest in his own youthful performances, from his very first school concerts. As a teenager, he felt an outsider amongst his fellow pupils, because he found his music teacher so inspiring. After time spent as a youth worker, and as a music educator, Gareth's TV series have taken him all over the country becoming - in his words - "an evangelist for music.".

SUN 12:00 News Summary (b085hrds)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

SUN 12:04 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (b08578tr)
Series 66, Episode 6

Back for a second week at the Theatre Royal in Bath, regulars Barry Cryer and Tim Brooke-Taylor are joined on the panel by Jeremy Hardy and Miles Jupp with Jack Dee in the chair. Piano accompaniment is provided by Colin Sell. Producer - Jon Naismith. It is a BBC Studios production.

SUN 12:32 Food Programme (b085pxyb)
Wild Boar

In this series of four programmes broadcast over Christmas, Sheila Dillon explores the link between tradition and food.

For Christmas Day, Sheila celebrates The Wild Boar Feast - an ancient Viking tradition which still lingers on in Britain (think of 'pigs in blankets') and inspires our love of the Christmas Ham. Historian Eleanor Barraclough introduces Sheila to a stuffed boar's head in the cellars of Queen's College, Oxford, and explains about how the boar was at the centre of mid-winter pagan fertility rituals. In Cumbria, Sheila meets a field of wild boar and talks to farmer Peter Gott about the fearsome intelligence of his huge beasts. Scandinavian chef Trine Hahnemann reveals the huge importance of the Christmas boar in Sweden, and how to make a meatball sandwich for Boxing Day. And chef Giorgio Locatelli explores the passion for wild boar across Italy.

With music from The Boar's Head Carol, the oldest printed carol in English, and recipes from Trine Hahnemann and Giorgio Locatelli.

Producer: Elizabeth Burke.

SUN 12:57 Weather (b085hrdx)
The latest weather forecast.

SUN 13:00 News Summary (b085pxyf)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

SUN 13:15 Just a Minute (b085pxyj)
Just a Minute Does Panto!

2017 marks Just A Minute's 50th year, and what better way to kick off the celebrations by combining the longest-running panel show with another great British institution - the pantomime!

In Just A Minute Does Panto! Nicholas Parsons is joined by Just A Minute regulars, Paul Merton Sheila Hancock and Gyles Brandreth, as they journey through Panto-land in search of the missing Just A Minute Golden Whistle! Their companions on their quest include, Tom Allen, Pippa Evans, Tony Hawks, Rufus Hound and Julian Clary.

The show flits between the scripted pantomime sections when the team are on their quest and the usual off-the-cuff game of Just A Minute.

There'll be adventure! Genies! Panto dames! Goodies! Baddies! Audience Participation! But above all, at the heart of it, a cracking game of the nation's favourite comedy show - Just A Minute!

CREDITS

Just A Minute was chaired by Nicholas Parsons

The panel were:
Paul Merton
Sheila Hancock
Gyles Brandreth
Tony Hawks
Tom Allen
Rufus Hound
Pippa Evans

The Genie was played by Julian Clary

The pantomime script was written by Gyles Brandreth with additional material by Paul Merton and Matt Stronge

The Composer was Susannah Pearson

The lyrics to 'All About You' were written by Jenny Laville

The Musical Director was Tim Sutton

The live band was:
Tim Sutton - Piano
Katie Punter - Flute/Alto Sax
Mark White - Trumpet/Flugelhorn
Tim Maple - Guitar
Tim Weller - Drums
Nick Allen - Cello

The Production Coordinator was Hayley Sterling

The Producer was Matt Stronge

Just A Minute was devised by Ian Messiter

Just A Minute Does Panto! is a BBC Studios production.

SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b085bfvb)
Number 10 Downing Street

Eric Robson chairs a special, festive edition recorded in The State Dining Room of the Prime Minister's House, Number 10 Downing Street. The programme includes an exclusive interview with Head Gardener Paul Schooling - who's gardened at Number 10 for more than a quarter of a century.

GQT chairman Eric Robson says, "As GQT enters its 70th anniversary year, it's a delight to be taking our audience for a unique trip through that famous black door to explore the lesser-known garden beyond it."

Regular panellists Christine Walkden, Matthew Wilson and Pippa Greenwood take questions from an audience of Radio 4 listeners who are also inside Number 10.

Produced by Darby Dorras
Assistant Producer: Hannah Newton
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.

SUN 14:45 One to One (b085pxy1)
Peter Bazalgette on Empathy

Television executive Peter Bazalgette talks to Jane Davis, founder of The Reader Organisation, about the power of shared reading in developing empathy, and how books can transform lives. Jane and her volunteers run small groups in which people meet to read books and poems aloud and talk about them. They meet in care homes, libraries, hostels, mental health centres, schools and prisons.
Reading helped Jane to make sense of her own life and she wants to share that. She says: "You've already got your feelings, sometimes you just haven't got any language for them. Something happens to you in shared reading, a sudden moment - a feeling of recognition, of seeing written down something you've had as nameless (and therefore in a sense unknown), taking some form in the visible world, so you can begin to know it. And there's something so important about that - it's a form of consciousness". 3/3.
Producer Beth O'Dea.

SUN 15:00 HM The Queen (b085pztb)
The Queen's Christmas message to the Commonwealth and the nation, followed by the national anthem.

SUN 15:05 News Summary (b085pztd)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

SUN 15:15 Drama (b085trpc)
Rumpole, Rumpole and Memories of Christmas Past

Rumpole shares some of his favourite yuletide poetry, carols, and pantomime stories as he recounts seasonal legal cases which reveal, as always, the true nature of men, women, children - and She Who Must Be Obeyed!

Directed by Marilyn Imrie
A Catherine Bailey production for BBC Radio 4.

SUN 16:00 Open Book (b085pztg)
Literary Postcards

A special global edition of Open Book. Mariella Frostrup introduces a series of Literary Postcards from authors around the world. From the burgeoning book shop scene in Seoul to Wellington's love of its great novelists, via Stockholm, Toronto and Lagos, this is a programme which reveals an international community of readers, writers and book lovers.

SUN 16:30 Four Seasons (b085q3g2)
Winter Poems

An anthology of seasonal poems for the week of the winter solstice. Memorable and much loved verse by Robert Burns, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Louis MacNeice and Walter De la Mare, read by Simon Russell Beale, Noma Dumezweni, Bill Paterson and Anton Lesser, join recent poems read by the poets, Kathleen Jamie, Liz Lochhead, Don Paterson, Simon Armitage and Carol Ann Duffy. There is rain and snow and frost and a robin sings its winter song. And joining these is a brand new poem by Kayo Chingonyi remembering a teenage winter in Dagenham. Producer: Tim Dee.

SUN 17:00 The Listening Project (b085t396)
The Listening Project on the Road

Fi Glover reflects on the conversations gathered during the Listening Project Booth tour with the producers who recorded them as it travelled over 3000 miles from Bexhill to Jura and many stops in between last summer.

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 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b085hrfq)
The latest shipping forecast.

SUN 17:57 Weather (b085hrft)
The latest weather forecast.

SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b085hrg0)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (b085hrg3)
Antonia Quirke

The Christmas edition of Pick of the Week has all the ingredients you need to have yourself a merry little Christmas: expect all the usual donkeys, reindeer, magi, half a ton of wild boar; gothic horrors and various ghosts of Christmas past .... including Humphrey Bogart appearing like Banquo in an LA flophouse; Mary and Jospeh eat sliced cheese and shark on the way to Bethlehem, and TS Eliot proves why he is the Tarantino of poetry.

SUN 18:56 Radio 4 Appeal (b085pf0k)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:54 today]

SUN 19:00 The Archers (b085q4t9)
Helen has an early start, and Toby and Pip abandon tradition.

SUN 19:15 Count Arthur Strong's Radio Show! (b085t2l0)
Series 8, Randolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

After causing confusion with his Christmas nuts selection, Arthur attempts to round up reindeer and build Mont Fuji for his own Japanese themed Christmas wonderland.

All false starts and nervous fumbling badly covered up by a delicate sheen of bravado and self-assurance, an expert in everything from the world of entertainment to the origin of the species, everyday life with Arthur is an enlightening, sometimes frustrating, never dull experience.

Count Arthur Strong is supported in the Christmas special by his Radio Repertory Company (like the RSC, only better) - Alastair Kerr, Dave Mounfield, Mel Giedroyc and Alfie Delaney as Billy.

Steve Delaney has been performing as Count Arthur Strong since the late 90s. In the last 15 years the character has evolved from Edinburgh cult to a mainstay of BBC comedy, with seven series on BBC Radio 4 and a TV sitcom that has stepped from BBC2 to BBC1 and will return for a third series in 2017.

A Komedia Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4.

SUN 19:45 The Sons of Upland Farm (b085t2l2)
A resonantly beautiful seasonal story by George Mackay Brown

In Orkney, a father's lack of compassion is redressed years later by his three sons.

Read by Robert Jack

Produced by Gaynor Macfarlane.

SUN 20:00 More or Less (b085bfys)
Christmas Quiz

For the last programme of the year we are mixing up the format and holding a Christmas Quiz. Tim Harford poses some difficult numerical questions to our contestants: Stephanie Flanders, former BBC Economics Editor; Paul Lewis, presenter of Radio 4's Money Box; comedian Nathan Caton and science writer Helen Pilcher.

How will they fare with questions based on a range of topical subjects including the Olympics, the EU Referendum and reindeer? Plus, friend of the programme, Rob Eastaway poses a mathematical puzzle.

Presenter: Tim Harford
Scorekeeper: Simon Maybin
Producer: Charlotte McDonald.

SUN 20:30 Last Word (b085bfyq)
Michael Nicholson, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Lord Prior, Rabbi Lionel Blue, Pauline Oliveros

Julian Worricker on:

The journalist and TV correspondent, Michael Nicholson, who covered numerous conflicts for ITN

The actress and socialite Zsa Zsa Gabor, famous for her one-liners and nine husbands

James Prior, who served in government under Margaret Thatcher despite her regarding him as a 'wet'

Rabbi Lionel Blue, a regular presenter on Thought for the Day on Radio 4

and the composer Pauline Oliveros. an electronic music pioneer best known for her philosophy of 'deep listening'.

Producer: Neil George.

SUN 21:00 Stardust (b07xs2g4)
Part 2

Challenged to retrieve a fallen star by the beautiful Victoria Forester, to whom he has lost his heart, Tristran Thorn leaves his home in the sleepy English village of Wall and crosses into the mysterious and magical land of Faerie. But when Tristran locates the fallen star he discovers it is no mere meteorite, but an injured young woman, Yvaine.

Tristran, however, is not the only person to have seen and be in pursuit of the fallen star. Deep in Faerie, Morwanneg the witch queen, is also hunting the star, whose heart she plans to cut out to restore youth to herself and her sisters.

High on Mount Huon, Primus, Tertius and Septimus, the three living heirs to the realm of Stormhold, seek out the star to claim the right to their recently deceased father's kingdom, and each will stop at nothing - not even murder - to ensure they are the only brother left in the running for the throne!

With Yvaine's life in danger, she and Tristran find themselves embarking on an extraordinary adventure, full of danger and intrigue as they flee across Faerie. Encountering Little Hairy Men, witches, and lightning-hunting sky pirates along the way, Tristran is about to uncover the secret to his own identity and a fate beyond his wildest dreams at his journey's end.

This two-part dramatisation of Neil Gaiman's spellbinding novel is narrated by Eleanor Bron and stars Matthew Beard (The Imitation Game, An Education, One Day) as Tristran and Sophie Rundle (Peaky Blinders, Dickensian, Happy Valley, Episodes) as Yvaine.

Dramatised by ..... Dirk Maggs
Sound Design ..... Wilfredo Acosta and Dirk Maggs
Directed by ..... Dirk Maggs and Heather Larmour
Producer ..... Heather Larmour.

SUN 22:00 With Great Pleasure (b085t2wb)
With Great Pleasure at Christmas: Armstrong and Miller

It's been several years since Alexander Armstrong and Ben Miller last performed together. Here they are reunited for a special programme choosing their favourite poems, books and songs for an hour long festive edition of With Great Pleasure. Expect laughter and maybe the odd tear as they present readings from their favourite works of fiction and poetry, many with a Christmas feel, and a song or two. They're helped by one of their favourite female collaborators Sarah Alexander.

Producer: Maggie Ayre.

SUN 23:00 Glenda Jackson and the Making of King Lear (b085t2wd)
Glenda Jackson And The Making of King Lear

A fascinating and insightful documentary as we explore Glenda Jackson's epic return to the stage for the first time in 23 years. Double Oscar-winner and former politician Glenda Jackson makes a dramatic return to the theatre to play Shakespeare's tragic King Lear. The role of Lear is considered one of the crowning roles in any actor's career. It's particularly challenging if you're a woman! With contributions from the company including Jane Horrocks, Rhys Ifans, Celia Imrie, Morfydd Clarke, director Deborah Warner and The Old Vic's artistic director, Matthew Warchus.

Produced by Pauline Harris.

SUN 23:30 Something Understood (b085hrbr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:05 today]

MONDAY 26 DECEMBER 2016

MON 00:00 Midnight News (b085hrmp)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.

MON 00:15 Christmas Meditation (b085t2zj)
From Uncles dressed as Santa Claus to peanuts for presents, whether it's spent in church, with the family or the A&E department. Having turned 24 this year, poet and spoken word artist Harry Baker looks back on his own advent calendar of Christmases so far.

World Poetry Slam Champion Harry Baker published his debut anthology The Sunshine Kid in December 2014. His show of the same name was voted 'Best Spoken Word Show' of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2015. Baker is now a fully-fledged maths graduate and full-time poet/adventurer. His work has been translated into 15 different languages, in addition to being shared and viewed millions of times worldwide on TED.com. In 2016, he took a three-month #Haztralasia tour through New Zealand, Australia, Dubai, China and Thailand, and is excited to be sharing his unique mix of humour, heart and hopefulness.

Producer Carmel Lonergan.

MON 00:30 A Point of View (b085bg5w)
Word of 2016: People

"Perhaps we should try, before the year's out", writes Howard Jacobson, " to agree on the International Word of 2016 - the word that most describes where we've been these last 12 months".

"Post-truth", "Trump" and "Farage" are all in the running.

But in the end, Jacobson's chooses "people" as in "the people have spoken" for his Word of the Year.

Producer: Adele Armstrong.

MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (b085p38s)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:43 on Sunday]

MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b085hrmr)
The latest shipping forecast.

MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b085hrmt)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.

MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b085hrmw)
The latest shipping forecast.

MON 05:30 News Briefing (b085hrmy)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.

MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b085t35n)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Leslie Griffiths.

MON 05:45 Farming Today (b085hrn2)
Music from bees; Dormouse monitoring; Milk stands calendar

Phillipa Hall has been to Nottingham Trent University where scientists have been monitoring the sounds that bees make in the hive. They've been gathered using tiny sensors embedded in the honeycomb. Now the sounds have been set to music and have featured in a live orchestral concert.
Graham Barlow is in the Yorkshire Dales where conservationists are monitoring the success of a dormice reintroduction programme.
And Caz Graham finds out about the history of milk stands. They've been consigned to history, but are now being featured in a calendar produced by an artist in the Lake District.
Presented by Caz Graham and produced by Sally Challoner.

MON 05:56 Weather (b085hrn4)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.

MON 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b038qhyz)
Robin

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.

Brett Westwood presents the robin. The autumn song of the Robin is the soundtrack to shortening days, gathering mists and ripening fruit. Robins sing in spring but their autumn song is different. It may sound melancholy to us but for the Robin it has clear purpose - to defend the winter territories that male and female robins establish separately after they've moulted.

MON 06:00 The Listening Project (b085t396)
[Repeat of broadcast at 17:00 on Sunday]

MON 07:00 Today (b085hrnb)
News and current affairs. Includes Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.

MON 09:00 Start the Week (b085t3f2)
Maps, Music and Medieval Manuscripts

Andrew Marr visits the Parker Library at Corpus Christi College in Cambridge to meet the oldest non-archaeological artefact in England, which is the oldest surviving illustrated Latin Gospel in the world - the sixth century Gospel of Saint Augustine.

The Librarian Christopher de Hamel tells the stories of rare and beautiful manuscripts which have crisscrossed Europe for hundreds of years at the whim of power politics, religion and social change, but even now have secrets that are yet to be discovered.

The musician and broadcaster Lucie Skeaping has also turned detective in her study of the Elizabethan jig - a popular and bawdy play set to music - where only fragments of parchment and clues to the tunes remain.

Edward Brooke-Hitching uncovers the myths, lies and blunders which have plagued the cartographers of old, with his book of early maps. Mythical sea monsters, fabled mountain ranges, even phantom islands have all been written into the atlas of the world.

Producer Katy Hickman.

MON 09:45 Book of the Week (b085t3f4)
Snow, Snow Talk

The first episode of a meditation on snow by author Marcus Sedgwick.

Five years ago, he and his wife moved to an old chalet d'alpage high up in the Haute-Savoie (an alpine department of the eastern France bordering both Switzerland and Italy). Here for the first time he understands how snow can really shape the rhythms of daily life and during his first full winter in the mountains, he appreciates the hard daily labour involved in clearing proper alpine snow from the path outside his house.

Today he remembers the snowy winters of his childhood in Kent and muses on the many different words that describe snow.

Marcus Sedgwick is best known as a children's author. He is the winner of many prizes, most notably the Michael L. Printz Award 2014, for his novel Midwinterblood. Marcus has also received two Printz Honors, for Revolver in 2011 and The Ghosts of Heaven in 2016. Other notable awards include Floodland, Marcus' first novel, which won the Branford-Boase Award in 2001, a prize for the best debut novel for children.

His books have been shortlisted for over forty other awards, including the Carnegie Medal (six times), the Edgar Allan Poe Award (twice) and the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize (four times). He has twice been nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, in 2016 and 2017

The Reader is Jonathan Firth.
The publisher is Little Toller. The abridger is Katrin Williams and the producer is Julian Wilkinson.

MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (b085hrng)
Lauren Laverne and the best music of 2016

Lauren Laverne talks to Kate Tempest about her album 'Let Them Eat Chaos' and her work including the novel 'The Bricks That Built The Houses' and her Ted Hughes Award winning poetry collection 'Brand New Ancients'.

The author and journalist Dorian Lynskey joins Lauren to talk about the work of Bobbie Gentry who was a multi million selling, Grammy Award winning, singer songwriter of hits such as Ode to Billie Joe and Fancy who retired from the music business at the height of her fame.

Lauren picked out some of favorite performances and interviews from the musicians who have appeared on Woman's Hour this year:

The Danish singer Agnes Obel talked about her new album Citizen of Glass.

Shirley Collins was a star folksinger in the 1960s singing on, among other things, the iconic 'Red Roses' album with The Albion Band. She lost her voice in 1982 and only this year, at the age of 81, has returned to performing with her new album Lodestar.

Multi award winning singer songwriter Laura Mvula talked about tracks on her new album, The Dreaming Room.

Shiva Feshareki spoke about the pioneering musician Daphne Oram who was one of the directors of the Radiophonic Workshop.

Lauren has created a playlist of her favorite tracks by women released in 2016. Links to the playlist are on the Woman's Hour Website.

Presenter: Lauren Laverne
Producer: Eleanor Garland
Interviewed guest: Kate Tempest
Interview guest: Dorian Lynskey
Interviewed guest: Agnes Obel
Interviewed guest: Shirley Collins
Interviewed guest: Laura Mvula
Interviewed guest: Shiva Feshareki.

MON 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b085t3f6)
Northanger Abbey, Episode 6

Jane Austen
Dramatised by Hattie Naylor

Directed by Sally Avens

Henry Tilney enraptures Catherine with his tall tales of the gothic mysteries of his home Northanger Abbey but it's not long before Catherine begins to suspect there may be an element of truth in them.
Jane Austen's satire pokes fun at the popular sensationalist fiction of the day.

MON 11:00 The Untold (b085t3l6)
Life After BHS

Grace Dent follows BHS worker Anthony as he hunts for a new job - one of 11,000 BHS staff made redundant in 2016.

The story starts in August as BHS Cardiff Bay closes its doors for the last time. Furniture sales consultant Anthony resolves to leave retail and find a job with more sociable hours.

But the 50 year old finds changing direction is more difficult than he'd hoped.

Producer: Laurence Grissell.

MON 11:30 Dave Podmore Cleans Up for Christmas (b085t3l8)
Cricket, football, cycling, tennis - the world of sport has become mired in corruption. England's sleaziest cricketer Dave Podmore has got no problem with any of that - if only he saw the benefits.

But when the besmirched stars of the sporting firmament start moving onto Pod's patch and denying him even his coveted seasonal role in Pantoland, it's time to take action.

Can Pod be the unlikely hero who saves the name of global sport? Maybe - if there's a few quid in it.

A Hat Trick production for BBC Radio 4.

MON 12:00 News Summary (b085hrnk)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

MON 12:04 Home Front (b083lcg7)
26 December 1916 - Cressida Marshsall

On this day in 1916, 400 soldiers' children were entertained at Windsor Castle, and at Marshall's factory too, Boxing Day is a festive occasion.

Written by Shaun McKenna
Directed by Allegra McIlroy.

MON 12:15 You and Yours (b085hrnp)
Bank security, Live-in care, Stopping smoking and M&S

You give us our best stories and today we're going to see what happened to some of the listeners who've helped us understand things, or turned to us for help.

There's the man puzzled by how crooks used his mobile phone number to take money from his bank account, the listener we've followed as she's tried to quit smoking (can a one-day course finally do the trick?) and the woman disappointed with the clothes at M&S (she's gone shopping with the company's director of style).

We hear again from the former headteacher Keith Oliver who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease at the age of just 55. He's been telling Winifred how he has written a book about his experience of dementia.

And we're returning to problems that trouble you the most - judging from the emails you send us. Like how best to care for frail, elderly relatives - might carers who come to stay in your own home be a good option?

Today's programme is pre-recorded so we can't respond immediately to any messages you send us. But if you would like to contact us - e-mail youandyours@bbc.co.uk

Presenter: Winifred Robinson
Producer: Jon Douglas.

MON 12:57 Weather (b085hrnr)
The latest weather forecast.

MON 13:00 World at One (b085hrnt)
Analysis of news and current affairs.

MON 13:45 Travels with Bob (b086kwkr)
Episode 1

Paddy O'Connell travels the country with his dog, Bob, talking to the people he meets - perfect strangers who act as guides to where they live.

Today they're on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne. It's a spiritual place, with a rich history. Life on Lindisfarne is ruled by the tides and it's cut off from the mainland twice a day.

Producer: Hannah Marshall
A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4.

MON 14:00 The Archers (b085q4t9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Sunday]

MON 14:15 Drama (b06l22pr)
Unmade Movies, Hitchcock's The Blind Man

The world premiere of Alfred Hitchcock and Ernest Lehman's unfinished screenplay, the follow-up to North by Northwest - now completed by Mark Gatiss.

Adapted for radio by Laurence Bowen.

Set in 1961, a famous blind jazz pianist, Larry Keating, agrees to a radical new medical procedure - an eye transplant. The operation is a success but his new eyes are those of a murdered man, and captured on their retina is the image of his murderer. Larry and his new nurse, Jenny, begin a quest to track him down - before someone else dies.

The Blind Man is part of Unmade Movies, a season of radio adaptations of unproduced screenplays by the major authors of the 20th century - including Harold Pinter, Arthur Miller, Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock and Ernest Lehman.

Cast:
LARRY KEATING ............ Hugh Laurie
SYLVIA WHITEHEAD ............ Rebecca Front
VICTOR FARMER ............ Nicholas Woodeson
JENNY STILES ............ Kelly Burke
MORTIE LEVITT / CAPTAIN BARZONI ............ Andy Nyman
LINDA WHITEHEAD ............ Hilary Connell
HERMAN GRAUBNER ............ John Guerrasio
DR. MCGRAW ............ John Light
AUTOGRAPH GIRL ............ Hollie Burgess
NARRATOR, ALFRED HITCHCOCK ............ Peter Serafinowicz

Music by Blair Mowat
Sound Design by Wilfredo Acosta

Produced by Laurence Bowen and Peter Ettedgui
Co-Producer Laurent Bouzereau.Directed by Mark Gatiss

A Feelgood Fiction production for BBC Radio 4.

MON 15:45 A Point of View (b085bg5w)
[Repeat of broadcast at 00:30 today]

MON 16:00 With Great Pleasure (b085t2wb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 on Sunday]

MON 17:00 PM (b085hrnx)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.

MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b085hrnz)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

MON 18:15 Some Hay in a Manger (b085tn6g)
Episode 1

The recently-discovered correspondence between Sandy, an upbeat but ever so slightly dim camel carrying a king and some myrrh through the desert, and Martha, a thoughtful but rather sarcastic donkey taking a heavily pregnant lady to Bethlehem.

In this episode Sandy offers Martha some tactless advice about how to get comfortable in the desert by closing her nostrils, unaware that that only works for camels, and Martha worries about going back to Bethlehem because her mother is bound to wonder why she is still single. Meanwhile we learn that Sandy's rider is becoming concerned that myrrh might not be a very good gift for a baby, and Joseph is not dealing well with the pressure of being a father to be. Plus the roads are absolutely packed over-excited sheep who seem to have got hold of the wrong end of the stick about what species the Lamb of God is going to be.

Written by Robert Hudson and Marie Phillips, authors of Radio 4's previous epistolary animal comedy Warhorses of Letters.

Starring Tamsin Greig as Martha
Joel Fry as Sandy
Introduced by Stephen Fry

Produced by Gareth Edwards

A BBC Studios Production.

MON 18:30 The Tim Vine Chat Show (b085tn6j)
The Tim Vine Christmas Chat Show

Fresh from a critically acclaimed Radio 4 debut in 2016 ("A delightful show full of laugh-out-loud moments in which Vine's razor sharp wit and warmth shine through" Radio Times) The Tim Vine Chat Show returns for a one-off Christmas Special. Polish off your Boxing Day leftovers and tune in for an early evening treat as Tim talks to the Great British Public about their favourite Christmas memories.

Expect a brand new house band taking over from The Conkers ("they had a string of hits") and some more preposterous games to play along with at home. The guests (who are plucked from the audience on the night of recording) include a former air hostess from the land of Santa Claus, a budding Widow Twanky and a man with a nail-biting story about brussels sprouts.

Join internationally acclaimed stand-up Tim for the one sure-fire way of topping up your quota of cracker jokes this Christmas.

Producer: Richard Morris
A BBC Studios Production.

MON 19:00 The Archers (b085tnnw)
Lilian's plans are scuppered, and Ed feels upstaged.

MON 19:15 Front Row (b085hrp1)
The Front Row Cultural quiz

Tonight's Front Row tests how much you've been paying attention to cultural events this year.

With quiz master John Wilson is Boyd Hilton, the film and TV editor of Heat magazine, writer and broadcaster Ekow Eshun, Charlotte Higgins, who is the chief culture writer of the Guardian, and film critic Rhianna Dhillon. So can you beat their score?

MON 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b085t3f6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]

MON 20:00 Beyond Belief (b085tnvq)
Religion and consumerism

Boxing Day sales in UK in 2015 amounted to 3.7billion pounds. In Beyond Belief today Ernie Rea and guests discuss religion and consumerism. Ernie is joined by Jeremy Sinclair, one of the founders of Saatchi and Saatchi, Keith Hebden director of the Urban Theology Unit in Sheffield and Eve Poole, author of "Capitalism's Toxic Assumptions."


Producer: Rosie Dawson.

MON 20:30 Crossing Continents (b0858y3l)
Punk Art and Protest in Malaysia

Malaysia's government is mired in scandal. Billions of dollars have been looted from a state investment fund. The Prime Minister is accused of receiving $681 million into his personal bank account, although he has denied any wrongdoing.

Earlier this year, punk-inspired artist Fahmi Reza captured public dissatisfaction with an artwork caricaturing the PM as a clown. The image went viral, earning Reza comparisons to street-art provocateur Banksy. It also got him arrested and charged, one of an increasing number of Malaysians facing prison as the government ramps up its suppression of free speech and dissent.

James Fletcher travels to Malaysia on the eve of a major protest rally in Kuala Lumpur. The protest movement is known as 'Bersih', meaning 'clean', and over the past few years they've mobilised hundreds of thousands of people on the streets, dressed in yellow t-shirts, to demand transparency, fair elections, and the PM's resignation. This year they're aiming for their biggest turnout yet. Fahmi Reza is designing placards for the protesters, and plans to attend carrying a giant version of his clown carricature.

But the government is doing everything it can to stop the protest. And there's a new threat - pro-government protesters called the "redshirts", who have disrupted rallies with violence and threatened independent media and free speech advocates.

James spends time with all sides as the protest unfolds. Can art and activism bring Malaysians on to the streets and spur change? Or will the government's crackdown, and the more direct methods of the "redshirts", dampen the protests and allow the PM to ride out criticism and stay in power?

Image: The artist Fahmi Reza with his caricature of Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak at the Bersih 5 protest rally held on November 19, 2016.
Photo Credit: BBC

MON 21:00 Almost Human Rights (b08584jt)
Is a chimpanzee a thing or a person? Is an orangutan an item of property or a being with legal rights?

Around the globe, lawyers, philosophers and scientists have begun arguing such questions. While some say that only humans can hold rights, others want to grant entitlements to non-humans, too.

Evolutionary anthropologist Volker Sommer follows this current controversy about the question of who should belong to the legal "community of equals".

Most recently in November 2016 a judge in Argentina ruled that a captive chimpanzee called Cecilia was a "being" and so her "non-human rights" should be recognised. The court's closing statement quoted philosopher Immanuel Kant: "We may judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals."

In the United States, Steven Wise of the Non-Human Rights Project has been leading a high-profile court case on behalf of four chimps, applying the writ of habeas corpus, which was used in the 18th century to free James Somerset, an enslaved African.

But Steven and his team are not just focussing on apes. We join them in New York as they plan their next court case, filing on behalf of an elephant.

Volker Sommer takes us on a philosophical and scientific journey from the wilderness to the laboratory to the courtroom, following what might be the dawn of a new era of inclusivity.

Contributors include the moral philosopher Paola Cavalieri who started the Great Ape Project, ethologist Frans de Waal, primatologist William McGrew, Steven Wise of the Non-Human Rights Project, animal philosopher Judith Benz-Schwarzburg and legal expert Richard Cupp.

Producer: Caitlin Smith

Photo credit: Jutta Hof.

MON 21:30 Start the Week (b085t3f2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]

MON 21:58 Weather (b085hrp6)
The latest weather forecast.

MON 22:00 The World Tonight (b085hrp8)
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.

MON 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b085tpb3)
Persuasion, Episode 1

Jane Austen's last fully completed novel, published six months after she passed away - 200 years ago next year. Read by Samantha Bond.

The novel concerns the fortunes of 27 year old spinster Anne Elliot, whose family have fallen on hard times and are forced to rent out their family home and move to Bath.

Anne finds the superficiality of Bath society hard to take - although we are treated to a pleasant gallery of eccentric characters. Anne meets Captain Wentworth again, a man to whom she was engaged some seven years previously until she was persuaded to drop the attachment.

The novel is a story about second chances. Anne - considered "on the shelf" by some - gets another opportunity to contemplate love and a future with a man she thought was lost forever.

Written by Jane Austen
Read by Samantha Bond

Produced by Clive Brill
Abridged by Elaine Bedell

A Brill production for BBC Radio 4.

MON 23:00 Mastertapes (b03jznqt)
Paul McCartney

On the eve of the sixth series of Mastertapes (which features the likes of Laura Marling, Graham Nash and Shirley Collins) there is another chance to hear the Mastertapes special, in which Paul McCartney joins John Wilson. Recorded in the iconic BBC Maida Vale studios, they discuss songwriting, Paul's solo career in the years immediately after The Beatles, his recent collaborations with Kanye West, and working with the likes of George Martin, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson and - obviously - John Lennon. He also takes questions from an audience that includes Paul Weller, Noel Gallagher and Brad Pitt.

Producer Paul Kobrak.

TUESDAY 27 DECEMBER 2016

TUE 00:00 Midnight News (b085hrs3)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.

TUE 00:15 Shakespeare: Love Across the Racial Divide (b078xpf2)
Othello

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown explores five Shakespeare plays which cross the racial divide. No one has ever captured the joy and lunacy and power of love better than William Shakespeare. And his transgressive depictions of love in particular remain unsurpassed.

Othello, Titus Andronicus, The Merchant of Venice, Antony and Cleopatra and A Midsummer Night's Dream - in these five plays there's so much more to love than love. These are not tidy tragedies. Shakespeare apparently never left England except through his plays yet he embraced interracial relationships and supernatural relationships and turned them into thrilling, dangerous drama. We bring together scholars, directors and actors to explore how the compulsions and fears, joys and sorrows, very much part of everyday life for many in Britain today, were so brilliantly showcased by Shakespeare more than four hundred years ago.

In the first play of the series, Othello, Shakespeare creates a powerful drama of a marriage between the Moor Othello and the Venetian lady Desdemona. Shakespeare builds so many differences into his hero and heroine - differences of race, of age, of cultural background - the tragic end is almost inevitable. Yet most people who see or read the play come away feeling, but for Iago's cruel hand, the couple would have won the day.

Producer Mohini Patel.

TUE 00:30 Book of the Week (b085t3f4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Monday]

TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b085hrs5)
The latest shipping forecast.

TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b085hrs7)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.

TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b085hrs9)
The latest shipping forecast.

TUE 05:30 News Briefing (b085hrsd)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.

TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b087781k)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Leslie Griffiths.

TUE 05:45 Farming Today (b085hrsg)
Farming Chaplain

Sybil Ruscoe meets the Rev Canon Eileen Davies. She's a dairy and sheep farmer in West Wales, as well as a rural vicar covering four parishes. Eileen says her farming background helps her to understand the issues around farming in the modern age - from isolation and mental health issues to economic worries and bovine TB.
Eileen has also set up a charity - Tir Dewi - with the Bishop of St David's. It aims to offer support and a listening ear for those in farming and those associated with the agricultural industry.
We catch up with Eileen at Carmarthen Livestock Mart where she is also on hand to offer rural ministry.

TUE 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b02ttqwv)
Turtle Dove

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.

Steve Backshall presents the turtle dove. The soft purring song of the turtle Doves are mentioned in the Song of Solomon in the Bible: " The voice of the turtle is heard in our land". They are migrants from sub-Saharan Africa and are now a treat to see here in the UK where they breed in farmland and scrub where they can find weed seeds for their growing young.

TUE 06:00 Today (b085tq45)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.

TUE 09:00 The Infinite Monkey Cage (b085tq49)
The Infinite Monkey Cage Christmas Special

Brian Cox and Robin Ince return for a very special Christmas edition of the show. They are joined on stage by Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, actor and writer Mark Gatiss, cultural anthropologist Deborah Hyde and the Bishop of Leeds. They'll be discussing the joys of the Christmas ghost story, and looking at the Victorian obsession with the supernatural. They'll be asking when studying paranormal phenomenon went from a genuine scientific endeavour, to the realms of pseudoscience.

Producer: Alexandra Feachem.

TUE 09:45 Book of the Week (b0868w4h)
Snow, A Little Science

Of all weathers, snow is the one that has always affected the author Marcus Sedgwick the most. Five years ago, he and his partner bought a mountain house, an old chalet d'alpage high in the Haute Savoie (an alpine department of the eastern France bordering both Switzerland and Italy).

Today he considers the science of snow and what 'makes' a snowflake and the phenomenon of 'diamond dust'. He also remembers the snowy winters of his childhood in Kent and the infamous cold of 1963.

Marcus Sedgwick is best known as a children's author. He is the winner of many prizes, most notably the Michael L. Printz Award 2014, for his novel Midwinterblood. Marcus has also received two Printz Honors, for Revolver in 2011 and The Ghosts of Heaven in 2016. Other notable awards include Floodland, Marcus' first novel, which won the Branford-Boase Award in 2001, a prize for the best debut novel for children.

His books have been shortlisted for over forty other awards, including the Carnegie Medal (six times), the Edgar Allan Poe Award (twice) and the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize (four times). He has twice been nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, in 2016 and 2017

The reader is Jonathan Firth and the producer is Julian Wilkinson.

TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (b085hrsl)
Woman's Hour Quiz

Andi Osho, Sofie Hagen and the Scummy Mummies - Helen Thorn and Ellie Gibson - join Jane Garvey for a fun quiz.

They discuss de-cluttering, difficult women, the modern obsession with social media and phones, and some alternative sports they may consider taking up in later life.

TUE 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b085tqk0)
Northanger Abbey, Episode 7

By Jane Austen
Dramatised by Hattie Naylor

Directed by Sally Avens

Catherine is a guest of the Tilney's at Northanger Abbey. But the General's behaviour begins to arouse her suspicions; could he have committed a monstrous act?
Jane Austen's satire pokes fun at the Gothic Novel with comic results.

TUE 11:00 Glenda Jackson and the Making of King Lear (b085t2wd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:00 on Sunday]

TUE 11:30 Soul Music (b085trlz)
Auld Lang Syne

It's gone from being an 18th century song about impotence to one of the best known songs all over the world. Most of us have sung Auld Lang Syne at some point in our lives on New Year's Eve, but how many of us know more than a few of the words and anything of its origin and meaning? Soul Music hears the stories behind the song, how it went from being a reflective melancholic Scottish air about the parting of the ways, to the jaunty tune we know today. There are also stories of love, sorrow, hope and joy, emotions that are especially heightened at this time of year.

Producer: Maggie Ayre.

TUE 12:00 News Summary (b085hrsr)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

TUE 12:04 Home Front (b083lcgd)
27 December 1916 - Edie Chadwick

On this day in 1916, the Sheffield Independent praised local munitionettes' "invasion of man's vigorous pursuits" at a ladies football match, and in Tyneside too the Marshall Girls say "fiddlesticks to convention"

Written by Shaun McKenna
Directed by Allegra McIlroy.

TUE 12:15 You and Yours (b085hryx)
You and Yours special: The UK Gambling Market

In today's You & Yours we look in depth at the UK gambling market.

The terms and conditions offered by bookmakers are currently being investigated by the Competition and Markets Authority. Customers say they're unfair, their winnings are withheld, and the bonuses and promotions they're offered come with conditions attached. We speak to Sarah Harrison, Chief Executive of the Gambling Commission, who explains why the regulator took action.

It's not just winnings being withheld that punters complain about, but even getting bets on in the first place. We report on why the horse racing industry is worried that people are losing interest in the sport because of it. The gamblers say they're penalised because they study the form and know what they're doing.

We interview Guy Harding from Oddschecker, the gambling market's leading odds comparison site, about how the bookmakers have no room for mistakes now consumers can use sites like his to compare odds and get the best price.

We hear from problem gamblers who say when they bet online the bookmakers should intervene if their betting patterns show they're in the midst of a gambling binge.

On the high street, Fixed Odds Betting Terminals are under review by the government, with gambling charities and MPs calling for stakes to be lowered. We find out how people can quickly lose money on the machines and why current legislation does little to protect people playing on them.

TUE 12:57 Weather (b085hrt1)
The latest weather forecast.

TUE 13:00 World at One (b085hrt8)
Analysis of news and current affairs.

TUE 13:45 Travels with Bob (b0868qvw)
Episode 2

Paddy O'Connell travels the country with his dog, Bob, talking to the people he meets - perfect strangers who act as guides to where they live.

Today, Paddy and Bob wander the streets of Neath in South Wales, in search of the story of Harry Parr Davies. In his 1940s heyday, Davies composed many of our most famous wartime tunes, including Gracie Fields' Wish Me Luck as You Wave Me Goodbye. When he died, Fields paid tribute to him on BBC radio.

Today he's largely forgotten - even in his hometown.

With thanks to the Neath Antiquarian Society for their generous assistance.
Producer: Hannah Marshall
A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4.

TUE 14:00 The Archers (b085tnnw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Monday]

TUE 14:15 Drama (b085trs7)
Rumpole, Rumpole and the New Year's Resolutions

Rumpole shares some of his favourite yuletide poetry, carols, and pantomime stories as he recounts seasonal legal cases which reveal, as always, the true nature of men, women, children - and She Who Must Be Obeyed!

Directed by Marilyn Imrie
A Catherine Bailey production for BBC Radio 4.

TUE 15:00 Mastertapes (b03jznqt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:00 on Monday]

TUE 16:00 Objet Trouve (b085tt46)
The Chaplain's Suitcase

Jenni Crane explores the life of Second World War parachuting padre George Parry.

In 2014, presenter Jenni Crane purchased a suitcase with the intention of using it as decorative storage for a magnificent, personal shoe collection that would rival that of Imelda Marcos.

However, the case was destined for a different future.

The original owner had carefully written his name on top - Rev. G.E.M. Parry C.F. Intrigued by this small clue, Jenni embarks on a journey which unravels the incredible life of a man who set off to war with noble intentions, only to be murdered in a medical aid post on D-Day.

George Parry's family was Welsh and he was born only 20 miles away from Jenni's own birthplace in Pontypool. Desperate to find out more, Jenni takes us on a journey from South London to Normandy, as she begins to reveal the truth behind the Reverend's life and death.

In Parliament, Jenni follows up a question that was asked to the Secretary of War in 1944 about Parry's unlawful killing by the Nazis. What happened and was the matter ever investigated?

Moving on, Jenni discovers an autobiography written by George's sweetheart, Daphne Carr. She successfully tracks down the author's son, Professor Bernard Carr, a colleague and friend of Stephen Hawking. Upon meeting the presenter and her treasured suitcase, Bernard reveals how his mother, until her dying day, never forgot George Parry.

Along the way, Jenni organises a memorial service for Parry at his former church in Leytonstone, tracks down surviving family members and speaks with veterans, antique experts and an army Chaplain about religion and faith on the frontline.

Producer: Peter Shevlin
A BlokMedia production for BBC Radio 4.

TUE 16:30 Great Lives (b085ttcd)
Series 41, Ruth Holdaway on Helen Rollason

Ruth Holdaway, the Chief Executive of Women in Sport picks the sports broadcaster Helen Rollason who in 1990 became the first woman to present Grandstand.

Helen Rollason trained as a teacher, but after stints in community and local radio moved to the BBC to report for and later present the children's News programme 'Newsround'. She kept her hand in with sport and made history in 1990 when she was appointed as the first female presenter of the BBC's flagship sports programme 'Grandstand'. Sport was largely a male-dominated world at the time and there were plenty both inside and outside the Corporation who would have happily have seen her fail.

John Caunt who helped Helen write her autobiography joins the discussion, and there are contributions from Clare Balding, James Pearce and Deb Crook.

Producer: Toby Field.

TUE 17:00 PM (b085hrtk)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.

TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b085hrtn)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

TUE 18:15 Some Hay in a Manger (b085ttg5)
Episode 2

Sandy is an enthusiastic if slightly dim camel carrying a king and a box of myrrh through the desert. Martha is an intelligent but rather down-beat donkey carrying a heavily pregnant lady to Bethlehem. The two strike up an unusual correspondence that give a comical take on the Christmas Story told through a series of letters...

In the second and final episode, there is no room at any of the inns in Bethlehem, although luckily there is a bit of stable space. Or there would be if it weren't for all the sheep who seem to have got completely the wrong idea about what species the lamb of God is likely to be. A lactose-intolerant elephant, a frog and a surprisingly ingenious plan bring Sandy and Martha together to witness something miraculous. But is that going to be the end of their friendship?

By Robert Hudson and Marie Phillips, authors of Radio 4's previous epistolary beast-based comedy Warhorses of Letters.

Starring Tamsin Greig as Martha
Joel Fry as Sandy
Introduced by Stephen Fry

Produced by Gareth Edwards

A BBC Studios Production.

TUE 18:30 John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme (b085wj14)
Series 6, Episode 1

John Finnemore, writer and star of Cabin Pressure and John Finnemore's Double Acts and regular guest on The Now Show and The Unbelievable Truth, returns for a sixth series of his multi-award-winning Souvenir Programme, joined as ever by Margaret Cabourn-Smith, Simon Kane, Lawry Lewin, Carrie Quinlan and, at the piano, Susannah Pearse.

Expect sketches! Expect songs! They're what made up the previous five series, so it seems a pretty safe bet that that's what will be in this series as well. And, well, since you ask him for some tall tales...

John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme was described by The Radio Times as "the best sketch show in years, on television or radio", and by The Daily Telegraph as "funny enough to make even the surliest cat laugh". Already the winner of a BBC Audio Drama Award and a Radio Academy Silver Award, John was named the 2016 Radio Broadcaster of the Year by the Broadcasting Press Guild for his work on Souvenir Programme.

1/6
The sixth series of Souvenir Programme kicks off with a seasonal special, taking in TV adverts, woodland talent contests, a song about the best day of the Christmas season and what is almost certainly the greatest story a Finnemore has ever told.

Written by & starring ... John Finnemore
Cast ... Margaret Cabourn-Smith
Cast ... Simon Kane
Cast ... Lawry Lewin
Cast ... Carrie Quinlan

Original music composed and performed by ... Susannah Pearse

Producer ... Ed Morrish

A BBC Studios Production.

TUE 19:00 The Archers (b085wj16)
Debbie does some straight talking, and could Elizabeth have missed her chance?

TUE 19:15 Front Row (b085hrtt)
Award Winners of 2016

We speak to the big award winners from the past year.

Paul Beatty is the first American to win the Man Booker Prize for Fiction for his satirical novel The Sellout; Denise Gough was on the point of giving up acting when she was offered the role that would win her an Olivier; Sonia Friedman, who won Best Producer at the Stage Awards, brought Harry Potter to the stage; Leonardo DiCaprio finally won an Oscar after being nominated 5 times; Helen Marten won not only the inaugural Hepworth Prize for Sculpture but the Turner Prize and split the winnings; 17 year old Sheku Kanneh-Mason won the BBC's Young Musician of the Year playing Shostakovich.

Presenter: Kirsty Lang
Producer: Hannah Robins.

TUE 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b085tqk0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]

TUE 20:00 Controlling the Unaccountable Algorithm (b085wj18)
Algorithms are the powerful mathematical tools which shape so much of modern life, from the news which appears in our timelines to the adverts which pop up on our computer. But with algorithms now assessing CVs for jobs, or mortgage applications, the need to understand what they do, and if necessary challenge them is greater than ever before. So how do we exert legal or democratic control over the Unaccountable Algorithm? Emily Bell investigates.

TUE 20:40 In Touch (b085hrtx)
In Touch in Turkey meets Maggie Moore

Peter White visits Istanbul to meet Maggie Moore, who is partially-sighted and has a guide dog. Maggie is also married to Richard, British Ambassador to Turkey.
She tells Peter about her life, the impact her sight loss has had on her role as Ambassador's wife and her involvement in Turkey's first guide dog association.

She reveals to Peter that in her spare time she loves to sing comic verse and the two give an impromptu rendition of Victoria Wood's Let's Do It.

TUE 21:00 James Wong's Alternative Country Garden (b07v33l4)
Garden designer James Wong asks if British gardening is stuck in the past.

The traditional English Country Garden is synonymous with overflowing beds, informal borders, bees, butterflies and lazy summer afternoons. But for garden designer James Wong this idyll is to blame for a lack of innovation and progress in British horticulture. James argues we should take inspiration from Singapore's reinvention as a 'City in a Garden'. There, horticulture has been widely seen as a factor in turning the city state from a colonial backwater to a tiger economy in just three decades.

Yet here in Britain, while we claim to be a nation of gardeners, James argues that the idealisation of our past is limiting innovation and alienating the next generation. He digs into our assumptions about what makes a garden and presents an alternative vision for a brave new gardeners' world.

James takes advice from different schools of design and we hear from staunch defenders of the English Country Garden as well as those keen to support a horticultural revolution - including the mind behind The Eden Project, Sir Tim Smit, and one of the principle planting designers of London's Olympic Park, Nigel Dunnett.

Produced by Darby Dorras
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.

TUE 21:30 The Infinite Monkey Cage (b085tq49)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]

TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (b085hrtz)
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.

TUE 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b087652z)
Persuasion, Episode 2

Jane Austen's last fully completed novel, published six months after she passed away - 200 years ago next year. Read by Samantha Bond.

The novel concerns the fortunes of 27 year old spinster Anne Elliot, whose family have fallen on hard times and are forced to rent out their family home and move to Bath.

Anne finds the superficiality of Bath society hard to take - although we are treated to a pleasant gallery of eccentric characters. Anne meets Captain Wentworth again, a man to whom she was engaged some seven years previously until she was persuaded to drop the attachment.

The novel is a story about second chances. Anne - considered "on the shelf" by some - gets another opportunity to contemplate love and a future with a man she thought was lost forever.

Written by Jane Austen
Read by Samantha Bond

Produced by Clive Brill
Abridged by Elaine Bedell

A Brill production for BBC Radio 4.

TUE 23:00 Desolation Jests (b085wjb8)
Episode 3

David Jason stars with Jan Ravens, Rory Bremner and John Bird in David Renwick's dark and original comedy where interviewer JP Doom asks cultural icons of our times what sketches would bring a smile to their faces with oblivion just around the corner.

This week Lucian Bile, aka Rot Caries, Britain's first and only punk dentist chooses his favourite moments from a not-altogether-accurate history of comedy, including most of an announcement from the Ministry of Unfinished Business, a clock shop with a Rabbi in the window, and a sinister case from the files of Offcom Squad.

Cast:
David Jason
John Bird
Jan Ravens
Rory Bremner

Produced by Gareth Edwards

Production Coordinator: Sophie Richardson
It was a BBC Studios Production.

TUE 23:30 Poetry Please (b0856lt5)
Midwinter

Roger McGough explores the archives to find the most evocative winter poems read by some of our best actors. Poets Thomas Hardy, Miroslav Holub, Robert Frost and Shakespeare are brought to life by actors including Juliet Stevenson, Dame Harriet Walter and Hugh Laurie. Steeleye Span and Bert Jansch make up the numbers.

WEDNESDAY 28 DECEMBER 2016

WED 00:00 Midnight News (b085hry6)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.

WED 00:15 Shakespeare: Love Across the Racial Divide (b07bc1tt)
Titus Andronicus

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown focuses on the brutal revenge tragedy Titus Andronicus, and the relationship between Tamora the Goth Queen and Aaron the Moor.

In this series, Yasmin explores five Shakespeare plays which cross the racial divide. No one has ever captured the joy and lunacy and power of love better than William Shakespeare. And his transgressive depictions of love in particular, remain unsurpassed. Othello, Titus Andronicus, The Merchant of Venice, Antony and Cleopatra and A Midsummer Night's Dream - in these five plays there's so much more to love than love.

These are not tidy tragedies. Shakespeare apparently never left England except through his plays yet he embraced interracial relationships and supernatural relationships and turned them into thrilling, dangerous drama. We bring together scholars, directors and actors to explore how the compulsions and fears, joys and sorrows, very much part of everyday life for many in Britain today, were so brilliantly showcased by Shakespeare more than four hundred years ago.

Producer Mohini Patel.

WED 00:30 Book of the Week (b0868w4h)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Tuesday]

WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b085hry8)
The latest shipping forecast.

WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b085hryb)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.

WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b085hryd)
The latest shipping forecast.

WED 05:30 News Briefing (b085hryg)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.

WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b087b5ws)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Leslie Griffiths.

WED 05:45 Farming Today (b085hryj)
The £1 Farm

Vernon Harwood meets the new tenant who's taken over a National Trust-owned farm in North Wales - for £1 a year. Thirty-eight year old Dan Jones from Anglesey will be required to look after the land and it's fragile landscape on the Great Orme near Llandudno. The Trust bought the site when it was threatened with development as a golf course. The site has rare habitats and species, some of which the charity says exist nowhere else on earth.
Mr Jones shows Vernon around this precious site.

WED 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03k21n6)
Blackbird

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs

Chris Packham presents the blackbird. Resident blackbirds are on the alert just now because their territories are under siege. Large numbers of Continental blackbirds pour in to the UK each winter to escape even colder conditions elsewhere.

WED 06:00 Today (b085x6mk)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.

WED 09:00 Midweek (b085x6mm)
Katie Melua, Nigel Havers, Tom Kerridge, Alex Wheatle

Singer-songwriter Katie Melua, chef Tom Kerridge, writer Alex Wheatle and actor Nigel Havers join Libby Purves and the audience in the BBC Radio Theatre.

Katie Melua, the singer and songwriter, was born in Georgia, when it was part of the Soviet Union, and moved to Belfast when she was nine. She returned to her homeland to make her new album, In Winter, working with the Gori Women's Choir. Katie recalls her early years in Georgia, and the very different life she found in Belfast, and she and the 24 members of the Choir perform two songs.

Writer Alex Wheatle won this year's Guardian children's fiction prize for his young adult novel Crongton Knights, set around an inner-city estate. Born in 1963 to Jamaican parents living in Brixton, Alex spent much of his childhood in care, and says that a short stint in prison after the 1981 Brixton riots led to a passionate interest in literature, thanks to the advice of a fellow prisoner.

Actor Nigel Havers rose to fame as Lord Lindsay in the Oscar-winning film Chariots of Fire, and is renowned for playing charmers, cads and conmen. He's currently playing the Lord Chamberlain in panto at the London Palladium, and his varied career includes roles in Coronation Street, Downton Abbey and a high-profile cameo earlier this year in The Archers.

Tom Kerridge is chef and co-owner of The Hand and Flowers pub in Buckinghamshire - the first pub in the world to receive two Michelin stars. He is about to publish Tom Kerridge's Dopamine Diet, which draws on his own experience: he found himself very overweight, a result of the late-night lifestyle of the professional kitchen, and lost more than eleven stones after he devised a diet which remained true to the ideas which underpin his cooking.

Producer Paula McGinley.

WED 09:45 Book of the Week (b0868w9z)
Snow, The Art of Snow

Of all weathers, snow is the one that has always affected the author Marcus Sedgwick the most. Five years ago, he and his partner bought a mountain house, an old chalet d'alpage high in the Haute Savoie (an alpine department of the eastern France bordering both Switzerland and Italy).

The book explores the art, literature and science of snow, as well as Marcus Sedgwick's own experiences and memories, asking whether it really did snow more during his boyhood in Kent and whether changing climate patterns might mean snow becomes a thing of the past for many of us.

Marcus Sedgwick muses on why snow is so powerful to our imagination and so transformative. Today he explores how snow has inspired artists, musicians and filmmakers looking at the vividly 'cold' paintings of Bruegel, Schubert's beautiful but bleak Winterreise, and Werner Herzog's Of Walking in Ice created as he walked from Munich to Paris in late November to visit the dying Lottie Eisner.

Marcus Sedgwick is best known as a children's author. He is the winner of many prizes, most notably the Michael L. Printz Award 2014, for his novel Midwinterblood. Marcus has also received two Printz Honors, for Revolver in 2011 and The Ghosts of Heaven in 2016. Other notable awards include Floodland, Marcus' first novel, which won the Branford-Boase Award in 2001, a prize for the best debut novel for children.

His books have been shortlisted for over forty other awards, including the Carnegie Medal (six times), the Edgar Allan Poe Award (twice) and the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize (four times). He has twice been nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, in 2016 and 2017

The reader is Jonathan Firth, the abridger is Katrin Williams and the producer is Julian Wilkinson.

WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (b085hryn)
Mothers and Daughters: Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Janet Ellis, Author Alana Kirk, Nimko Ali, Jackie Briggs

Jenni explores the nature of mother and daughter relationships. How do our mothers shape our understanding of what it means to be a woman? And how do our choices impact the lives of our daughters?

She will be joined in the studio by singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor and her mother the broadcaster and author Janet Ellis. They discuss how their bond has developed through the years and how Sophie becoming a mother of four has affected their relationship.

Alana Kirk's mother Pat suffered a devastating stroke just four days after the birth of Alana's third child. Unable to speak or walk, Pat became dependent on carers and her family at the very point that Alana was most needed by her own children. Alana found herself in what she describes as the "sandwich years"; having to make impossible decisions about whether to prioritise her mother or her daughters. She joins Jenni to discuss her memoir The Sandwich Years: How to survive when the people in your life need you most.

And what happens when you confound your mother's expectations? Campaigner Nimco Ali discusses her decision to speak out against FGM and how it has affected her relationship with her mother. She is joined by Jackie Briggs who, despite providing a liberal and understanding environment at home, was powerless in the face of her daughter's sexual confusion.

Presenter: Jenni Murray
Producer: Laura Northedge.

WED 10:41 15 Minute Drama (b085x6mp)
Northanger Abbey, Episode 8

By Jane Austen
Dramatised by Hattie Naylor

Directed by Sally Avens

Catherine's fears about the terrible deeds that may have taken place at Northanger Abbey are confronted by Henry Tilney.
Jane Austen's satire pokes fun at the popular sensationalist fiction of the day.

WED 10:55 The Listening Project (b085x6mr)
Jo and Andy - Divorce and Diagnosis

Fi Glover introduces a conversation between a divorced couple reflecting on how her diagnosis of autism might have affected their relationship, had she had it sooner. Another in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.

The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. Most of the unedited conversations are being archived by the British Library and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the millennium. You can learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject

Producer: Marya Burgess.

WED 11:00 Slaughter of the Innocents (b085x6rq)
Journalist Tim Montgomerie reflects on the largely forgotten Collect for Holy Innocents day, celebrated on the 28th of December. This religious holiday is for recalling the murder of innocent lives, and remembering the violence and injustice of our world. Yet, despite its contemporary relevance, it has fallen into obscurity.

Tim traces this melancholy commemoration back to one of the most harrowing stories from the Bible - Herod's massacre of all infant boys in Bethlehem. He visits its most famous representation in art, Bruegel the Elder's Massacre Of The Innocents, which is kept in Her Majesty's collection at Windsor Castle. Through this painting, and its multiple retouches by its various owners to obscure away painful memories and injustices, Tim draws parallels between the fading away of this once important commemoration and the airbrushing of Elder's work to remove his messages of suffering at the hands of Spanish armies and German mercenaries of the time.

Alongside interviewees such as Cardinal Vincent Nichols and theologian Martin Palmer, Tim concludes by making an impassioned case for a greater recognition of this once important day in the Christian calendar.

Produced by Sean Glynn.

A Kati Whitaker production for BBC Radio 4.

WED 11:30 The Write Stuff (b04k7kbn)
John Osborne

Radio 4's literary panel show, hosted by James Walton, with team captains Sebastian Faulks and John Walsh and guests Mark Billingham and Lynne Truss.

Produced by Alexandra Smith.

WED 12:00 News Summary (b085hryt)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

WED 12:04 Home Front (b083lcgk)
28 December 1916 - Kitty Lumley

On this day in 1916, chronic food shortages were reported in Germany, while in Tynemouth, Kitty's friends find enough to go round.

Written by Shaun McKenna
Directed by Allegra McIlroy.

WED 12:15 You and Yours (b085hrsw)
How has gambling affected you?

How has gambling affected you?

What's been the effect of gambling on you ... and those closest to you?

We want to hear your stories - both positive and negative

How has gambling affected you?

Email us at youandyours@bbc.co.uk and please include a telephone number so we can call you back.

PRESENTER: WINIFRED ROBINSON
PRODUCER: PETE WILSON.

WED 12:57 Weather (b085hrz0)
The latest weather forecast.

WED 13:00 World at One (b085hrz4)
Analysis of news and current affairs.

WED 13:45 Travels with Bob (b0868vb0)
Episode 3

Paddy O'Connell travels the country with his dog, Bob, talking to the people he meets - perfect strangers who act as guides to where they live.

In Stroud, locals are fiercely proud of their independent retail tradition and the independent spirit it reflects.

From the owner of a health food shop opened in 1927 to a New Zealand artist who's made the town his home, people seem to agree that there's something rather special about Stroud.

Producer: Jo Coombs
A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4.

WED 14:00 The Archers (b085wj16)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Tuesday]

WED 14:15 Drama (b061017r)
Curious Under the Stars, Gone West

By Meic Povey

The first of a new series set in Glan Don, a wild and mysterious village perched on the Welsh coast.

When Gareth finds his wife Diane in bed with a stranger, the couple attempt to salvage their marriage by uprooting from London to run a pub in West Wales. But The Druid's Rest has seen better days - the wallpaper is peeling, there's something growing out of the pool table and a mysterious man called Emlyn is living in the customer toilets.

Starring Elis James (Crims), Louise Ford (Chickens) and Ifan Huw Dafydd (Gavin and Stacey), Curious Under the Stars takes us deep into a Welsh landscape of myth, magic and mayhem.

Directed by James Robinson
A BBC Cymru Wales Production.

WED 15:00 Money Box (b085hrzc)
The death of the single price?

If you've caught a train recently or booked a hotel or even taken an Uber minicab you'll be familiar with the idea that a fixed price for a single product is fast becoming a thing of the past. This practice of charging different prices based on how much people are willing to pay rather than the cost of production is known as price discrimination. The rise of online retailing and associated information on how we shop means that it is spreading.

Charging customers exactly the amount they are prepared to pay for a product is obviously good for businesses, but what about the consumer? How does it affect our relationship with goods, services, and other customers, especially when there could be a difference of hundreds of pounds between what you and your neighbour on a flight have paid? And how best to play businesses at their own game?

Presenter: Adam Shaw
Producer: Alex Lewis
Editor: Andrew Smith.

WED 15:30 Round Britain Quiz (b085x7vn)
Programme 9, 2016

(9/12)
Why might the writers of 'Orientalism', 'Carry On Cleo' and 'How I Found Livingstone' all need to move to the left?

Only Round Britain Quiz could ask a question like this, and Tom Sutcliffe has no shortage of such puzzles in the latest contest which pits Northern Ireland against the Midlands. Both teams could very much use another victory to stop them from sliding too far down the league table in this year's series. The winners, as always, will be the team who can display the widest range of ostensibly useless knowledge and string it together in ways which require as little intervention and correction as possible from the chair.

Tom will also be supplying the answer to his teaser question, left unanswered at the end of last week's contest. The programme contains the usual scattering of ingenious ideas suggested by RBQ listeners.

Producer: Paul Bajoria.

WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (b085x7vv)
Laurie Taylor discusses the relationship between literature and sociology.

What is the relationship between literature and sociology? Laurie Taylor discusses fiction and the real world with crime writer Denise Mina, criminologist Dick Hobbs and English literature lecturer Nick Bentley.

From Charles Dickens' "Oliver" to Alan Sillitoe's "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning", literary descriptions of the social world - and working class life in particular - have often been called "realistic". But how has 'real life' been misrepresented by scholars and novelists alike? Can ethnography produce fictions of its own? And what skills are vital for any writer who wants to capture the complexity of everyday life?

Plus, is it really true, as WH Auden once suggested, that "poetry makes nothing happen"? Laurie and guests discuss the influence of literature and sociology on attitudes and policy, reflecting on how both can make a meaningful impact.

Producer: Alice Bloch.

WED 16:30 The Media Show (b085hrzt)
Scoops, scandals and sackings: Piers Morgan's life story - A Media Show Special

Scoops, scandals and sackings: Piers Morgan dishes the dirt on his childhood master plan to become Britain's most talked about journalist and his rapid rise to become editor of a national newspaper aged only 28. In this special Media Show interview, he talks to Steve Hewlett about the highs and lows of his life story, including the City Slickers share-tipping scandal, phone hacking and the photographs of British troops abusing Iraqis that his newspaper admitted were fake. This former editor of the News of the World, the Daily Mirror and the Sun's Bizarre showbiz column describes how it felt to be on the receiving end of press intrusion and the difference it made to how he ran his own tabloid.

He also talks about the relationships, stolen stories and celebrity feuds and friendships that eventually led him to stardom in the United States as a judge on America's Got Talent, winner of Celebrity Apprentice and successor to Larry King. And Piers gives his insight into how to get a job on a national newspaper, what the future holds for the press and what's going on in the mind of his mate, US President-elect Donald Trump.

Presenter: Steve Hewlett
Producer: Paul Waters.

WED 17:00 PM (b085hrzx)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.

WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b085hs03)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

WED 18:15 Lenny Henry: Rogue's Gallery (b085x9sq)
The Rogues Gallery at Christmas: Kobbolovski's Little Helper

The Rogues Gallery At Christmas sees Lenny Henry writing and starring in his own twist-in-the-tale story, "Kobbolovski's Little Helper". In it he plays a Kenyan of restricted height, called A'dele, who is compelled by a voice to migrate to Kent, where he finds work as a healthcare assistant at an old people's home. He is happy there. He is able to work with other people of restricted height, and is surrounded by plenty of great facilities, including a well resourced workshop. But soon the seasons change, the cold bites and his routine is upset by the arrival of an old, skinny man who A'dele must make every effort to look after...

"Kobbolovski's Little Helper" is written by and stars Lenny Henry.

It is produced by Sam Michell

It is a BBC Studios Production.

WED 18:30 State of the Nations (b085xcfk)
Wales

Star of BBC3's Josh and Radio 4 News Quiz regular Elis James hosts four stand-up shows from the four nations of the United Kingdom which explore what it means to be variously Welsh, English, Scottish and Northern Irish in today's United Kingdom.

For the first programme in the series, Elis visits The Lyric theatre in his home town of Carmarthen where he is joined by Tudur Owen, Mike Bubbins and Kiri Pritchard-McLean to hear their thoughts on Wales and Welshness.

Producer: Richard Morris
A BBC Studios Production.

WED 19:00 The Archers (b085xcfm)
Kenton is in full creative flow, and Pip is left out.

WED 19:15 Front Row (b085hs07)
Samira Ahmed celebrates the life and work of Jane Austen, ahead of next year's 200th anniversary of her death.

2017 sees the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen's death, and the year that she will appear on the new £10 note. Samira Ahmed finds out how money dominates the novels, and visits her home at Chawton to see how much revenue Austen mania brings into her home town of Winchester.

Professor John Mullan and critic Viv Groskop choose the best and worst film and TV Austen adaptations and Samira discusses Sanditon, her last and unfinished novel with Emma Clery of Southampton University and playwright Simon Reade. Simon has adapted the manuscript for a major film which is currently in production, and Emma's book Jane Austen - The Banker's Sister is published in May 2017.

Presenter : Samira Ahmed

Producer : Dymphna Flynn.

WED 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b085x6mp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:41 today]

WED 20:00 FutureProofing (b085xcfp)
Intimacy

Presenters Timandra Harkness and Leo Johnson investigate how intimacy will change in the 21st century. Can intimacy survive the erosion of privacy within our culture? FutureProofing reveals how new technology offers opportunities to support and develop close personal relationships, but also how it threatens to radically change what we understand as intimacy and how we manage it in future.

Producer: Jonathan Brunert.

WED 20:45 Four Thought (b085xchy)
Digital Millennial

Jonnie Bayfield reflects on being the last generation to grow up in an analogue childhood.

"Looking back, I can see that no-one had any idea what the chemical, biological, or social ramifications of this burgeoning technology might be. In my school we had computer classes, but no-one ever suggested that intense use would lead to anything other than a personal and global liberation."

Producer: Sheila Cook.

WED 21:00 Science Stories (b085xclh)
Series 4, Mesmerism

Anton Mesmer's magnetic cures for nervous conditions were famous in Vienna and Paris in the 1780s. He figured that the currents of an invisible fluid in the patient's body were like movements of the fluid thought to cause the force of magnetism. And so he decided that he should use magnets to affect it.

Mesmer set up a clinic in his house in which patients came to dip their hands or feet, or even their whole bodies, into baths filled with what he called magnetized water, given healing powers by magnetized iron rods or plates immersed in them. His treatment was a performance as it involved music, gestures, and props, and his own forceful personality.

But in 1784 the suspicious French medical profession persuaded the King, Louis 16th, to launch an official investigation into Mesmer's methods. The inquiry found that his treatment was useless and possibly dangerous and should be stopped. Mesmer retreated to Austria and died in 1815.

This was one of the first occasions on which what we might now call parapsychology was put under scientific scrutiny.

Philip Ball tells the story of Mesmer and the rise and fall of animal magnetism. He talks to Simon Shaffer, Professor of the History of Science at Cambridge University, about the role of spectacle in science and medicine in the late 18th century and to Richard Wiseman, Professor of Psychology at Hertfordshire University, about the legacy of scientific scrutiny of the claims of parapsychology.

WED 21:30 Midweek (b085x6mm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]

WED 21:58 Weather (b085hs0c)
The latest weather forecast.

WED 22:00 The World Tonight (b085hs0j)
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.

WED 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b087657p)
Persuasion, Episode 3

Jane Austen's last fully completed novel, published six months after she passed away - 200 years ago next year. Read by Samantha Bond.

The novel concerns the fortunes of 27 year old spinster Anne Elliot, whose family have fallen on hard times and are forced to rent out their family home and move to Bath.

Anne finds the superficiality of Bath society hard to take - although we are treated to a pleasant gallery of eccentric characters. Anne meets Captain Wentworth again, a man to whom she was engaged some seven years previously until she was persuaded to drop the attachment.

The novel is a story about second chances. Anne - considered "on the shelf" by some - gets another opportunity to contemplate love and a future with a man she thought was lost forever.

Written by Jane Austen
Read by Samantha Bond

Produced by Clive Brill
Abridged by Elaine Bedell

A Brill production for BBC Radio 4.

WED 23:00 Sam Simmons Is Not a People Person (b085xfx5)
Italians

Comedian. Writer. Ex-Zoo Keeper. Bird Watcher. Definitely NOT a people person.

Sam and Henry are making a series about birds, and every week - armed with Sam's 'Big Book of Birds' they're looking for a different one. Sadly, and despite Henry's very best efforts, Sam keeps being distracted by the people they run into. Each encounter sparks an investigation into Sam's past, because once they've sorted out his issues, then they'll really be able to focus on the bird-watching.

This week they're in Toronto, on the hunt for a fiddle warbler.

The unique talents of the multi-award winning Sam Simmons have landed on BBC Radio 4.

"If you can imagine someone combining the rage of Basil Fawlty with the lunacy of Spike Milligan you are getting somewhere close to Simmons. Painfully frank, riotously inventive and a deserving award winner." The Evening Standard (UK)

Written by and starring SAM SIMMONS
With:
HENRY PAKER
SARAH KENDALL
MIKE WILMOT
FREYA PARKER

Sound design by CRAIG SCHUFTAN

Producers JOSEPH NUNNERY
ALEXANDRA SMITH

A BBC Studios Production.

WED 23:15 Roger McGough's Other Half (b050bmfk)
Episode 4

Roger McGough is joined by Helen Atkinson-Wood, Philip Jackson and Richie Webb in a hilarious and surreal new sketch show for BBC Radio 4. With sketches about Fandom, Fatherhood and 17th Century France, you'll hear his familiar voice in a whole new light. Expect merriment and melancholy in equal measures, and a whisker of witty wordplay too. Produced by Victoria Lloyd.

WED 23:30 The Film Programme (b08590kg)
2016 in Pictures

Santa arrives early for Francine Stock and guests Larushka Ivan-Zadeh, Clare Binns and Tim Robey with a sackful of presents including the best DVDs of the year.

THURSDAY 29 DECEMBER 2016

THU 00:00 Midnight News (b085hs3f)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.

THU 00:15 Shakespeare: Love Across the Racial Divide (b07bgs4z)
The Merchant of Venice

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown explores five Shakespeare plays which cross the racial divide.

In this edition, she focuses on The Merchant of Venice and how Shylock, arguably one of the most renowned outsiders in British theatre, navigates being a Jew in a Christian world, especially when his daughter Jessica elopes with the Christian Lorenzo and converts.

No one has ever captured the joy and lunacy and power of love better than William Shakespeare. And his transgressive depictions of love in particular, remain unsurpassed. Othello, Titus Andronicus, The Merchant of Venice, Antony and Cleopatra and A Midsummer Night's Dream - in these five plays there's so much more to love than love. These are not tidy tragedies.

Shakespeare apparently never left England except through his plays yet he embraced interracial relationships and supernatural relationships and turned them into thrilling, dangerous drama. We bring together scholars, directors and actors to explore how the compulsions and fears, joys and sorrows, very much part of everyday life for many in Britain today, were so brilliantly showcased by Shakespeare more than four hundred years ago.

Producer Mohini Patel.

THU 00:30 Book of the Week (b0868w9z)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Wednesday]

THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b085hs3k)
The latest shipping forecast.

THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b085hs3m)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.

THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b085hs3p)
The latest shipping forecast.

THU 05:30 News Briefing (b085hs3r)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.

THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b087c3dh)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Leslie Griffiths.

THU 05:45 Farming Today (b085hs3t)
Remote Island Farmer

Sally Challoner meets Alasdair Wyllie - the farm advisor heading out to work on the world's most remote inhabited island, Tristan da Cunha. With a population of less than 300 people the island has a largely subsistence agricultural system. Alasdair hopes to improve their food sustainability and security. His contract is for two years.
We also meet the man who did the same job forty years earlier. Gavin Jack now lives in Australia but has fond memories of his time on Tristan.
The island itself is half way between South Africa and South America - more than 6,000 miles from Britain. It's volcanic, and in the 1960's the entire population had to be brought to the UK following an eruption that threatened the settlement.
Produced by Sally Challoner.

THU 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03x457w)
Grey Partridge

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.

Bill Oddie presents the Grey partridge. The grey partridge, a plump game bird, is now a rarity across most of the UK. Found on farmland, a partridge pair will often hold territory in a few fields beyond which they seldom stray during their whole lives. They should be doing well but increasing field sizes, which reduce nesting cover and the use of pesticides, which kill off vital insects, have taken their toll.

THU 06:00 Today (b085xpzc)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.

THU 09:00 In Our Time (b085xpzf)
Johannes Kepler

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the German astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571 - 1630). Although he is overshadowed today by Isaac Newton and Galileo, he is considered by many to be one of the greatest scientists in history. The three laws of planetary motion Kepler developed transformed people's understanding of the Solar System and laid the foundations for the revolutionary ideas Isaac Newton produced later. Kepler is also thought to have written one of the first works of science fiction. However, he faced a number of challenges. He had to defend his mother from charges of witchcraft, he had few financial resources and his career suffered as a result of his Lutheran faith.
With
David Wootton
Professor of History at the University of York

Ulinka Rublack
Professor of Early Modern European History at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of St John's College

Adam Mosley
Associate Professor in the Department of History at Swansea University

Producer: Victoria Brignell.

THU 09:45 Book of the Week (b0868wkd)
Snow, Exposure

The fourth episode of a meditation on snow by author Marcus Sedgwick. Five years ago, he moved to an old chalet d'alpage high up in the Haute-Savoie (an alpine department of the eastern France bordering both Switzerland and Italy). Here for the first time he understands how snow can really shape the rhythms of daily life and during his first full winter in the mountains, he appreciates the hard daily labour involved in clearing proper alpine snow from the path outside his house.

In this episode, his new home prompts him to recall explorations of other snowy landscapes including his own trip to the Arctic Circle and that of the great explorer Scott as he headed for the South Pole.

Marcus Sedgwick is best known as a children's author. He is the winner of many prizes, most notably the Michael L. Printz Award 2014, for his novel Midwinterblood. Marcus has also received two Printz Honors, for Revolver in 2011 and The Ghosts of Heaven in 2016. Other notable awards include Floodland, Marcus' first novel, which won the Branford-Boase Award in 2001, a prize for the best debut novel for children.

His books have been shortlisted for over forty other awards, including the Carnegie Medal (six times), the Edgar Allan Poe Award (twice) and the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize (four times). He has twice been nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, in 2016 and 2017.

The abridger was Katrin Williams and the producer was Julian Wilkinson.
Reader Jonathan Firth.

THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (b085hs3x)
Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.

THU 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b085xpzh)
Northanger Abbey, Episode 9

By Jane Austen
Dramatised by Hattie Naylor

Directed by Sally Avens

Catherine finds herself abruptly dismissed from Northanger Abbey.
Jane Austen's satire pokes fun at the popular sensationalist fiction of the day.

THU 11:00 Crossing Continents (b085xpzk)
Mexico - The Town That Said, 'No!'

The Mexican state of Michoacan was the birth place of the Mexican drug war. The town of Cheran is much like other mainly indigenous communities, but it is unique - Cheran has no mayor, no police, and political parties are banned. There are no elections here. Cheran governs itself, after it fought and won a legal battle for political autonomy. The people of Cheran used to suffer as much as their neighbours - extortion, kidnap and murder. But by 2011 they'd had enough. That's when the community - led by women - rose up. They threw out the paramilitary loggers and organised criminal groups who had devastated their forests, then chased away the mayor and the municipal police who were colluding with them. Five years later, the town still runs itself, and the forces of law and order have been replaced by an armed, community militia. Serious crime has plummeted, and the town is re-planting its devastated forest. So how has Cheran survived - and thrived -in such a harsh environment?

Reporter: Linda Pressly
Producers: Tim Mansel & Ulises Escamilla.

THU 11:30 Acting Disabled (b085xr6j)
BBC Disability Correspondent Nikki Fox looks at the way disability is portrayed on television and in film, and asks if enough opportunities are being offered to disabled actors, particularly in roles where disability is irrelevant.

Actors Lisa Hammond of EastEnders, Mat Fraser from American Horror Story, Julie Fernandez from The Office and Eldorado, and Liz Carr from Silent Witness share their experiences.

We also hear from the Chairman of the Casting Directors Guild Andy Pryor, agent Louise Dyson, film critic Nick Duncalf, and Alison Walsh, the BBC's Disability Lead.

Presenter: Nikki Fox
Producer: Phill Brown
An Alfi Media production for BBC Radio 4.

THU 12:00 News Summary (b085hs3z)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

THU 12:04 Home Front (b083lcgq)
29 December 1916 - DR Walker

On this day in 1916, Rasputin was assassinated in Russia, while in Tynemouth D R Walker discovers an unexpected ally.

Written by Shaun McKenna
Directed by Allegra McIlroy.

THU 12:15 You and Yours (b085hs41)
Consumer affairs programme.

THU 12:57 Weather (b085hs43)
The latest weather forecast.

THU 13:00 World at One (b085hs45)
Analysis of news and current affairs.

THU 13:45 Travels with Bob (b0868vgp)
Episode 4

Paddy O'Connell travels the country with his dog, Bob, talking to the people he meets.

The London Borough of Newham is one of the most diverse areas in Britain. It was once home to Tommy Flowers, inventor of the Bletchley Park codebreaking machine, Colossus. Paddy visits Flowers' former college and wonders why this local hero isn't as well remembered as his colleague Alan Turing.

Producer: Jo Coombs
A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4.

THU 14:00 The Archers (b085xcfm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Wednesday]

THU 14:15 Drama (b061t43g)
Curious Under the Stars, Llewelyn's Chair

By Annamaria Murphy

The second in a new series set in Glan Don, a wild and mysterious village perched on the Welsh coast.

Diane enlists local eccentric Matty Evans to help launch the new 'gastro' menu at The Druid's Rest, but her food has a curious effect on people. Meanwhile Gareth is concerned about a mysterious hound lurking in the sea mist.

Starring Elis James (Crims), Louise Ford (Chickens) and Ifan Huw Dafydd (Gavin and Stacey), Curious Under the Stars takes us deep into a Welsh landscape of myth, magic and mayhem.

Directed by James Robinson
A BBC Cymru Wales Production.

THU 15:00 Open Country (b085xs50)
The Changing Face of Wind in the Willows Country

Helen Mark heads to Cookham Dean, on the edge of the Berkshire Downs, to explore the landscape that inspired author Kenneth Grahame - giving rise to the magical world of The Wind In The Willows.
After his mother died when Grahame was just six, he and his siblings moved from Scotland to Berkshire, to live with their grandmother. She allowed the youngsters to play freely in the surrounding countryside, feeding their imaginations and introducing Kenneth to the woodlands, meadows and river banks that would reappear years later in his most famous book.
As an adult, Grahame returned to live in Cookham Dean with his own family, where the stories he told his young son were eventually turned into The Wind In The Willows.
Today, changes abound: Grahame's former home is a school; the National Trust has plans to revert an area of woodland back to grassland; and the river rowers are racers rather than picnickers. But the charm of the rural setting that was home to Ratty, Mole, Toad and Badger lingers on...
Produced by Lucy Taylor.

THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (b085pf0k)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:54 on Sunday]

THU 15:30 Open Book (b085pztg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:00 on Sunday]

THU 16:00 The Film Programme (b085xtcp)
Francine Stock talks to Andrew Garfield, the star of Martin Scorsese's religious drama Silence, who explains why trained as a Jesuit priest for his role. She hears from the director's long-term friends and colleagues Thelma Schoonmaker, his editor, and writer Jay Cocks, who introduced Marty to Robert DeNiro in a Christmas party in 1971.

THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (b085hs49)
Listeners' Questions

Adam Rutherford puts listeners' science questions to his team of experts: physicist Helen Czerski, cosmologist Andrew Pontzen and biology Yan Wong. Queries include gravity on sci-fi space ships, how animals would evolve on the low gravitational field of the Moon, gravitational waves, mimicry in parrots, sea level rise, the accelerating university, dinosaur intelligence, the Higgs field and concerns about oxygen levels in the atmosphere.

Further questions are answered in the podcast version of the show. They cover Antarctic dinosaurs, reducing CO2 levels in the atmosphere by trapping it as limestone, and Neanderthal DNA.

THU 17:00 PM (b085hs4c)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.

THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b085hs4f)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

THU 18:15 15 Minute Musical (b085xtct)
Xmas 2016, Lady and the Trump

The US Elections are given a much needed Disney-style fairy tale make over. The most loved songs for the least loved candidates. With Richie Webb, Dave Lamb and Jess Robinson in Lady and the Trump.

A satirical, barbed, bittersweet fifteen-minute comedy musical. In true West End style, artistic licence is well and truly taken and stretched, as easily identifiable public figures are dressed up, gilded, fabricated and placed against a random musical backdrop for sugar coated consumption. The stories are simple and engaging but with an edge - allowing the audience to enjoy all the conventions of a musical (huge production numbers, tender ballads and emotional reprises) whilst we completely re-interpret events in major celebrities' lives.

Beautifully crafted with astronomically high production values 15 Minute Musical does for your ears what Christmas dinner does for your taste buds. All in fifteen minutes!

Winner of the Writers Guild of Great Britain Radio Comedy Award this series provides an energy boost and a seasonal treat at 1815 over the Christmas week.

Cast: Richie Webb, Dave Lamb and Jess Robinson.
Written by; Dave Cohen, David Quantick and Richie Webb
Music Composed, Performed and Arranged by: Richie Webb
Music Production: Matt Katz
Producer: Katie Tyrrell.

THU 18:30 The Cold Swedish Winter (b04d1kvg)
Series 1, Winter

A sitcom from Danny Robins, writer of the Lenny Henry comedy Rudy's Rare Records. This series is set and recorded in Sweden and stars Adam Riches, Danny Robins and some of Sweden's most popular TV comedy actors.

Geoff, a marginally successful stand-up comic from London, is moving to the tiny, cold and unpronounceable village of Yxsjö in northern Sweden - a culture shock forced on him by his Swedish girlfriend Linda's decision to move home to raise their child.

Geoff has to contend with snow, moose, pickled herring, unemployment, snow, Maypole dancing, snowmobiles, snow, meatball rolling, saunas, social democracy, snow, the weirdest pizzas in Europe, bears, deep forests, death metal, illegal alcohol, snow.

Above all, he has a new family to contend with. The Andersson's bewilder him - from father Sten who has a worrying tendency to growl like a bear and threaten him with any blunt instrument to hand, to Gunilla who threatens him with naked folk-dancing.

It's worth it all for Linda, of course - apart from her new found urge to conform with everything and except for her brother, a Goth with a propensity to set fire to things.

Episode 1: Winter
In which Geoff attempts to start a career as a comedian in Yxsjö. In a town with barely any shops, where the venue is run by Linda's father, getting an audience is going to be a problem.

Writer: Danny Robins
Director: Frank Stirling
A Unique production for BBC Radio 4.

THU 19:00 The Archers (b086tqm2)
Kaz makes an observation, and Mother Goose is reviewed.

THU 19:15 Front Row (b085hs4k)
Made in Hull: UK City of Culture 2017

One Man, Two Guvnors playwright Richard Bean, artist Spencer Tunick and film-maker Sean McAllister are some of the leading contributors to Hull UK City of Culture 2017.

John Wilson reports from the city on the banks of the Humber in the East Riding of Yorkshire on its year-long festival of arts and culture which is about to begin, and discovers that urban regeneration linked to cultural investment and its new status as UK City of Culture is already well underway.

Presenter John Wilson
Producer Jerome Weatherald.

THU 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b085xpzh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]

THU 20:00 Slaughter of the Innocents (b085x6rq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 on Wednesday]

THU 20:30 In Business (b085xvdv)
Transforming Trains?

Work on HS2 is finally due to start next year. And those whose housing will be affected have dominated the headlines. But what will it mean for business? For some it seems a huge opportunity if high speed rail kick starts much broader regeneration. Other businesses face major challenges during construction, or fear they'll lose out when the new railway changes the way people work. And what does it all tell us about how the UK copes with major infrastructure? Maryam Moshiri visits Sheffield and north London to test business opinion

Producer: Chris Bowlby.

THU 21:00 BBC Inside Science (b085hs49)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:30 today]

THU 21:30 In Our Time (b085xpzf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]

THU 21:58 Weather (b085hs4p)
The latest weather forecast.

THU 22:00 The World Tonight (b085hs4s)
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.

THU 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b08767mq)
Persuasion, Episode 4

Jane Austen's last fully completed novel, published six months after she passed away - 200 years ago next year. Read by Samantha Bond.

The novel concerns the fortunes of 27 year old spinster Anne Elliot, whose family have fallen on hard times and are forced to rent out their family home and move to Bath.

Anne finds the superficiality of Bath society hard to take - although we are treated to a pleasant gallery of eccentric characters. Anne meets Captain Wentworth again, a man to whom she was engaged some seven years previously until she was persuaded to drop the attachment.

The novel is a story about second chances. Anne - considered "on the shelf" by some - gets another opportunity to contemplate love and a future with a man she thought was lost forever.

Written by Jane Austen
Read by Samantha Bond

Produced by Clive Brill
Abridged by Elaine Bedell

A Brill production for BBC Radio 4.

THU 23:00 Wondermentalist Cabaret (b01rvpqc)
Series 2, Episode 3

Matt Harvey is joined by fellow poets Molly Naylor and Jonny Fluffypunk for poetry, laughter and cabaret in front of an appreciative audience at the Ways with Words festival at Dartington in south Devon. All this whilst one man band, Jerri Hart, continues to needle Matt from the sidelines.

Producer: Mark Smalley.

THU 23:30 Dave Podmore Cleans Up for Christmas (b085t3l8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:30 on Monday]

FRIDAY 30 DECEMBER 2016

FRI 00:00 Midnight News (b085hs7h)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.

FRI 00:15 Shakespeare: Love Across the Racial Divide (b07bgwst)
A Midsummer Night's Dream

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown explores five Shakespeare plays which cross the racial divide. In this edition, she focuses on love in the human and fairy worlds in A Midsummer Night's Dream.

No one has ever captured the joy and lunacy and power of love better than William Shakespeare. And his transgressive depictions of love in particular remain unsurpassed. Othello, Titus Andronicus, The Merchant of Venice, Anthony and Cleopatra and A Midsummer Night's Dream - in these five plays there's so much more to love than love. These are not tidy tragedies. Shakespeare apparently never left England except through his plays yet he embraced interracial relationships and relationships supernatural relationships into thrilling, dangerous drama.

We bring together scholars, directors and actors to explore how the compulsions and fears, joys and sorrows, very much part of everyday life for many in Britain today, were so consummately showcased by Shakespeare more than four hundred years ago.

Producer Mohini Patel.

FRI 00:30 Book of the Week (b0868wkd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Thursday]

FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b085hs7k)
The latest shipping forecast.

FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b085hs7n)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.

FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b085hs7q)
The latest shipping forecast.

FRI 05:30 News Briefing (b085hs7s)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.

FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b087cksn)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Leslie Griffiths.

FRI 05:45 Farming Today (b085hs7v)
Weather Forecasting and Farming

Former BBC weatherman Peter Gibbs is on a mission to better understand how farmers use weather forecasts. He meets arable farmer James Price to discuss his expectations from forecasts and how they influence his decisions on farm.

To help James understand the current capabilities and challenges of weather forecasting science, Peter takes him to the Department of Meteorology at the University of Reading. Dr Rob Thompson is working with radar to improve the detail of very short term rainfall forecasts up to a couple of hours ahead - information that would be very useful to farmers. Peter also talks to Dr Jeff Knight at the Met Office about the advances being made in the accuracy of seasonal forecasts up to months ahead.

Producer: Sophie Anton.

FRI 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b01s8vcs)
Nightingale: Part One

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. David Attenborough presents the nightingale. (Part 1 of 2) A bird whose song of rich crescendos of pure whistles and breathless phrases is hailed as one of the most complex and beautiful in the bird world and quite different to its plain brown appearance.

FRI 06:00 Today (b085yyyk)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.

FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (b085pxy6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 on Sunday]

FRI 09:45 Book of the Week (b0868wnv)
Snow, Transformations

The final episode of a meditation on snow by author Marcus Sedgwick. Five years ago, he moved to an old chalet d'alpage high up in the Haute-Savoie (an alpine department of the eastern France bordering both Switzerland and Italy). In this final episode, he studies the nature of its 'whiteness' and welcomes in the spring thaw.

Marcus Sedgwick is best known as a children's author. He is the winner of many prizes, most notably the Michael L. Printz Award 2014, for his novel Midwinterblood. Marcus has also received two Printz Honors, for Revolver in 2011 and The Ghosts of Heaven in 2016. Other notable awards include Floodland, Marcus' first novel, which won the Branford-Boase Award in 2001, a prize for the best debut novel for children.

His books have been shortlisted for over forty other awards, including the Carnegie Medal (six times), the Edgar Allan Poe Award (twice) and the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize (four times). He has twice been nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, in 2016 and 2017.

The reader is Jonathan Firth. The producer was Julian Wilkinson and the abridger was Katrin Williams.

FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (b085hs7z)
Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.

FRI 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b085yyzf)
Northanger Abbey, Episode 10

By Jane Austen
Dramatised by Hattie Naylor

Directed by Sally Avens

Catherine returns to her home after her abrupt dismissal from Northanger Abbey. Will she ever know what she did wrong and more importantly will she ever see Henry Tilney again?
Jane Austen's satire pokes fun at the popular sensationalist fiction of the day.

FRI 11:00 The Science of Dr Seuss (b085z058)
Comedian Robin Ince enters the wonderful wacky world of Dr Seuss, and uncovers some surprising real world science hidden within these childhood classics. He's joined by scientists and fellow Seuss fans Sophie Scott, Andrea Sella, Mark Miodownick and Adam Rutherford who reveal some of the very real scientific ideas hiding within the seemingly nonsensical worlds and rhymes of Dr Seuss. From "The Cat in the Hat comes Back" to "The Lorax" and "Oh the Places You'll Go" Robin and his team of scientists reveal how ideas about the environment, scale, chemistry, genetics and psychology, can all be found within some very well known favourites, and why they think Dr Seuss, perhaps surprisingly, thought like a scientist.

Producer: Alexandra Feachem.

FRI 11:30 All Those Women (b085z1bb)
Series 2, Episode 1

Comedy series by Katherine Jakeways about four generations of women living under one roof.

Between new schools, lunch clubs ('I might just crochet myself a death certificate') and teacher training, everyone seems to have something new on the horizon, everyone apart from Maggie that is. Even Nigel is going to the gym. But perhaps Maggie can be persuaded to take a chance on a meeting?

All Those Women explores familial relationships, ageing, marriages - it's about life and love and things not turning out quite the way that you'd expected them to. Every week we join Hetty, Maggie, Jen and Emily as they struggle to resolve their own problems, and support one another.

Written by KATHERINE JAKEWAYS
Producer Alexandra Smith

A BBC Studios Production.

FRI 12:00 News Summary (b085hs81)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

FRI 12:04 Home Front (b083lch1)
30 December 1916 - Lester Reed

On this day in 1916, the Allies formally rejected the German peace proposals as "less an offer of peace than a war manoeuvre", and in Tynemouth, Lester Reed stirs up the fighting spirit in those at home.

Written by Shaun McKenna
Directed by Allegra McIlroy.

FRI 12:15 You and Yours (b085hs84)
Consumer news and issues.

FRI 12:57 Weather (b085hs86)
The latest weather forecast.

FRI 13:00 World at One (b085hs88)
Analysis of news and current affairs.

FRI 13:45 Travels with Bob (b085t3q8)
Episode 5

Paddy O'Connell travels the country with his dog, Bob, talking to the people he meets. In Peterhead, he's on the harbour with local trawlerman Jimmy Buchan, a man who has fishing in blood.

The fortunes of Peterhead's fishing fleet haven't always been smooth, but the town is proud of its harbour which has never been closed by a storm.

Producer: Jo Coombs
A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4.

FRI 14:00 The Archers (b086tqm2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Thursday]

FRI 14:15 Drama (b062kx4b)
Curious Under the Stars, Gathering Storm

By Meic Povey

The last in the series set in Glan Don, a wild and mysterious village perched on the Welsh coast.

When a violent storm brings down the Great Oak of Glan Don, legend suggests that the survival of the village is threatened. So the villagers come together to attempt to save the tree. But as the weather worsens, Gareth and Bethan get trapped in the rising floodwaters and the truth of their tempestuous past is laid bare.

Starring Elis James (Crims), Louise Ford (Chickens) and Ifan Huw Dafydd (Gavin and Stacey), Curious Under the Stars takes us deep into a Welsh landscape of myth, magic and mayhem.

Directed by James Robinson
A BBC Cymru Wales Production.

FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b085z281)
Berkshire

Eric Robson and the panel are in Berkshire. Anne Swithinbank, Matthew Wilson and James Wong answer this week's horticultural questions.

The panel debates the benefits of marinating seeds in cinnamon and aspirin, offer advice on how to grow bigger celeriac, and suggest a plethora of plants fit for planting beneath an ornamental pear tree.

Also, Matt Biggs enjoys a sensory winter walk at Anglesey Abbey.

Produced by Dan Cocker
Assistant Producer: Laurence Bassett

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.

FRI 15:45 The Goldilocks Zone (b086t4wf)
As part of the series in which actors are commissioned to write stories, Sophie Ward has taken a new look at the Goldilocks tale and imagines a father-mother-child relationship which starts to come adrift.

Greg and Hal are both career-driven men in a stable relationship. But life becomes unbalanced when a third person enters their world - Eliza and Hal's son Arthur.

Written and Read by Sophie Ward
Produced by David Roper

A Heavy Entertainment Production for BBC Radio 4.

FRI 16:00 Last Word (b085z34d)
Last Word End of Year Special

This week Last Word departs slightly from its usual format, when Matthew Bannister and the BBC obituary editor Nick Serpell return to the beginning of 2016 and recall a time when obituarists were in huge demand. Together they discuss the challenges and processes involved in commemorating so many big names in so short a time; David Bowie, Alan Rickman, Terry Wogan, Paul Daniels, Ronnie Corbett , Victoria Wood and Prince.

Producer: Neil George.

FRI 16:30 A Good Read (b07ffxt5)
Judge Rinder and Stella Duffy

Barrister Robert Rinder, TV's Judge Rinder, and novelist Stella Duffy talk to Harriett Gilbert about the books that matter deeply to them.
Robert Rinder loves Hons and Rebels by Jessica Mitford so much that he says he couldn't be friends with anyone who didn't.
Stella Duffy shares her thoughts about facing mortality with Staring at The Sun: Overcoming the Dread of Death by Irvin D. Yalom.
Harriett introduces them to what she thinks is a dark comedy: A Matter of Death and Life by Andrey Kurkov, set in Kiev - but there is some dispute over its comedic value..
Producer Beth O'Dea.

FRI 16:55 The Listening Project (b085z34g)
Jo and Andy - A Written Relationship

Fi Glover introduces a conversation between a divorced couple who can now see that their different modes of communication placed a stress on the relationship. 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 (b085hs8f)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.

FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b085hs8h)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

FRI 18:15 15 Minute Musical (b085z3hm)
Xmas 2016, Cabarexit

Come join the Cabarexit! Cabaret meets Brexit - can we turn the EU referendum into a sexy, sassy, sensationalised, sublime sounding musical? Yes we can with Jess Robinson, Dave Lamb and Richie Webb.

A satirical, barbed, bittersweet fifteen-minute comedy musical.

In true West End style, artistic licence is well and truly taken and stretched, as easily identifiable public figures are dressed up, gilded, fabricated and placed against a random musical backdrop for sugar coated consumption. The stories are simple and engaging but with an edge - allowing the audience to enjoy all the conventions of a musical (huge production numbers, tender ballads and emotional reprises) whilst we completely re-interpret events in major celebrities' lives.

Beautifully crafted with astronomically high production values 15 Minute Musical does for your ears what Christmas dinner does for your taste buds. All in fifteen minutes!

Winner of the Writers Guild of Great Britain Radio Comedy Award this series provides an energy boost and a seasonal treat at 1815 over the Christmas week.

Cast: Richie Webb, Dave Lamb and Jess Robinson.
Written by; Dave Cohen, David Quantick and Richie Webb
Music Composed, Performed and Arranged by: Richie Webb
Music Production: Matt Katz
Producer: Katie Tyrrell.

FRI 18:30 Dead Ringers (b085z40h)
Series 17, Episode 2

The team look back at the year that never was, imagining what life would be like had Remain won, Trump lost and a host of other events that just might have happened.

PRODUCED AND CREATED BY
Bill Dare

A BBC Studios production.

FRI 19:00 The Archers (b085z40k)
Ruth lays down the law, and Kirsty has news to share.

FRI 19:15 Front Row (b085hs8l)
News, reviews and interviews from the worlds of art, literature, film and music.

FRI 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b085yyzf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]

FRI 20:00 Correspondents Look Ahead (b085z5jp)
2017

Owen Bennett-Jones is joined by a group of senior BBC journalists to forecast what is likely to happen over the coming year. Last time they got together they were firmly predicting that Marco Rubio would become the Republican presidential candidate - and that Britain was likely to vote to stay in the EU. So as the saying goes, making predictions is a tricky business...especially about the future. Yet our experts can at least lay out the parameters for what is likely to happen in the spheres of geopolitics, economics and society more widely - and give us essential tips on what and who to look out for in 2017.

FRI 20:50 A Point of View (b085z5jr)
The Shape Of Our Time

Adam Gopnik revisits a much explored subject - the differences between patriotism and nationalism.

In the light of the events of the past year, he questions why the politics of nationalism appear irresistible today.

He wonders "if we cannot now see that patriotism and nationalism have a more fluid, a more organic, a more connected relationship that we might want to imagine".

Producer: Adele Armstrong.

FRI 21:00 Home Front - Omnibus (b083lch3)
26-30 December 1916

In the week in 1916 when Germany's peace offer was rejected by the Allies, Christmas week still brings some festive cheer to Tynemouth.

Written by Shaun McKenna
Directed by Allegra McIlroy
Editor: Jessica Dromgoole

Story-led by Sebastian Baczkiewicz
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
Composer: Matthew Strachan
Consultant Historian: Maggie Andrews.

FRI 21:58 Weather (b085hs8t)
The latest weather forecast.

FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (b085hs8w)
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.

FRI 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b0876djl)
Persuasion, Episode 5

Jane Austen's last fully completed novel, published six months after she passed away - 200 years ago next year. Read by Samantha Bond.

The novel concerns the fortunes of 27 year old spinster Anne Elliot, whose family have fallen on hard times and are forced to rent out their family home and move to Bath.

Anne finds the superficiality of Bath society hard to take - although we are treated to a pleasant gallery of eccentric characters. Anne meets Captain Wentworth again, a man to whom she was engaged some seven years previously until she was persuaded to drop the attachment.

The novel is a story about second chances. Anne - considered "on the shelf" by some - gets another opportunity to contemplate love and a future with a man she thought was lost forever.

Written by Jane Austen
Read by Samantha Bond

Produced by Clive Brill
Abridged by Elaine Bedell

A Brill production for BBC Radio 4.

FRI 23:00 Woman's Hour (b085z5jt)
Late Night Woman's Hour

Lauren Laverne discusses the delights and perils of parties with seasoned partygoers Fran Cutler, Brigid Keenan, Bryony Gordon and Zing Tsjeng.

Fran Cutler is the queen of party organisers, and thinks nothing of dialling Cher's number to ask her to perform at one of her legendary 'dos. Writer Bryony Gordon is a former 3am girl whose idea of a good night out is a party for two in her back garden with her husband. Editor of UK Broadly, Zing Tsjeng, is no stranger to the coolest parties in town, but always leaves at 3am when the 'blue plastic bag brigade' switch off Britney and start playing intelligent dance music. Writer Brigid Keenan is a former 'trailing diplomatic spouse' and once spent an entire party locked in a loo, dressed as Mary Queen of Scots.

They are your guides for this Late Night Woman's Hour on partying. So have you fixed your hair? Lined your stomach? Drunk a glass of water? Your taxi is waiting....

The broadcast edition of this programme will be available on Iplayer soon after transmission. A longer version will be available as a podcast.

FRI 23:30 Great Lives (b085ttcd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:30 on Tuesday]

FRI 23:55 The Listening Project (b085z5jx)
Jo and Andy - Just Good Friends

Fi Glover introduces a conversation between a divorced couple about the friendship and support they continue to give each other. 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.