The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
Back in London, Handel finds a highly charged political landscape and reviews of his new work are mixed; meanwhile, he confronts the terrible truth that he is going blind.
his life. That master would become King George II and the composer was
George Frederic Handel. He would be at the heart of musical activity in
Messiah. Jane Glover, who has conducted Handel’s work in opera houses
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Rev Rose Hudson Wilkin
iPM is the news programme that starts with its listeners. Email ipm@bbc.co.uk. Twitter: @BBCiPM. Presented by Luke Jones.
The latest news headlines. Including the weather and a look at the papers.
Leicester’s hidden gem - Bradgate Park - bought for the locals, but where’s all the archive?
Just 5 miles from Leicester City Centre is Bradgate Park, 850 acres of natural landscape, an ancient deer park which was the home of Lady Jane Grey the nine day queen who was convicted of high treason and executed at the Tower of London.
This year marks Bradgate’s 90th year and over the last 18 months local residents and photographers have been encouraged to take pictures of everything from the 600 deer to the wardens, the visitors and wildlife to start to create an archive. Because despite the rich history and significance of the landscape Peter Tyldesley, director of ‘Bradgate Park Trust’, a charity who runs the park discovered there was virtually no archive and quality images of the park.
Taking up the challenge Helen Mark with help from Rob Doyle from the Leicester Photographic Society, gets tips on how to take a perfect image. Along the way she meets volunteer Joy Braker who has been visiting the park since she was a child and is now restoring a walled garden to get it back to how it would have looked in the days of Lady Jane Grey.
Helen also meets Charles Bennion, whose great grandfather a local businessman bought the park in 1928 for the people of Leicestershire. Charles named after his great grandfather shows Helen the original deeds to the park and a family scrap book from the 1920’s.
The day ends with local performer Andy Griffiths who has been inspired to write a song about Bradgate Park and Helen hoping that her Open Country image that she took at the start of the day might just be good enough to make it into Bradgate’s 90th Birthday archive.
The journalist John Harris examines the potency of narrative, both in the stories that define us as individuals and in those that shape our understanding of the public domain.
Story is ubiquitous - and not simply in the realm of literature and entertainment. From television and advertising to religion, science, business and politics, narratives shape our world. They make connections, explain cause and effect and infer meaning. More than that - stories bewitch us. And recent political events have demonstrated quite how potent they can be.
In this episode, John reflects on how our understanding of ourselves - and the idea of the self - is shaped by story. He hears from people who are compelled to convey persuasive stories of their lives, for example at the Job Centre, as well as researcher Lynne Friedli who challenges the heroic qualities required by such accounts. John also talks to a therapist who works with narrative Suzanne Elliot, behavioural psychologist Nick Chater who believes we are all brilliant re-inventers of ourselves from one minute to the next, and philosopher Galen Strawson who challenges whether we actually do - or even should - think of ourselves in terms of narrative.
Paul Waugh of HuffPost looks behind the scenes at Westminster.
Correspondents around the world tell their stories and examine news developments in their region
It's been a week of panic, turmoil and last-minute fight-fighting for the writers as they cope with panic, turmoil and last-minute fire-fighting in Westminster.
Satire and impressions from Jon Culshaw, Jan Ravens, Duncan Wisbey and Lewis MacLeod. The series is written by Private Eye writers Tom Jamieson and Nev Fountain, together with Tom Coles, Ed Amsden, Laurence Howarth and many more.
Producer... Bill Dare
Jonathan Dimbleby presents political debate from Bishop Luffa School in Chichester Sussex with a panel including the Chair of the Brexit Select Committee Hilary Benn MP, Conservative MP Peter Bone, the leader of the Liberal Democrats Sir Vince Cable MP and the Immigration Minister Caroline Nokes MP.
As part of Radio 4's celebration of Oscar Wilde and the making of a modern celebrity, Mathew Baynton, Jeany Spark, Abhin Galeya and Gemma Jones star in a sparkling new production of his much-loved comedy.
Sue Johnston, Lauren Child, Dan Schreiber, The Kingdom Choir, The Burning Hell, YolanDa Brown, Nikki Bedi
Nikki Bedi and YolanDa Brown are joined by Sue Johnston, Dan Schreiber and Lauren Child for an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy. With music from The Kingdom Choir and The Burning Hell.
An insight into the character of an influential person making the news headlines
Six months before Neil Armstrong’s ‘one small step’ came humanity’s giant leap. It was December 1968. Faced with President Kennedy’s challenge to land a man on the Moon before the end of the decade, NASA made the bold decision to send three astronauts beyond Earth orbit for the first time. Those three astronauts spent Christmas Eve orbiting the moon. Their legendary photograph, "Earthrise" showed our planet as seen from across the lunar horizon - and was believed to have been a major influence on the nascent environmental movement. Through extraordinary NASA archive, the first British astronaut Helen Sharman goes inside the capsule to tell the story of the first time man went to another world.
One of Britain's finest TV writers comes to Radio 4 with a taut psychological thriller that can only be told in sound.
While at university, Meggie lost her sight in an acid attack. Fifteen years later, through grit and tenacity, she has learned to cope with her "dark gift", making a success of her life as an audiobook director. Now, an invitation to join her old college friends at a country cottage offers a chance to mend some broken bridges. But it is not long before the shadows of her past begin to re-emerge.
Jayne Lake is a chilling look at the tests of friendship and the altered perception caused by time and changing circumstance. Told from the perspective of a blind person, the play follows Meggie's terror and confusion as she strains to understand a series of shocking events and the silences in between.
Featuring a debut performance from comedian Georgie Morrell, who lost her own sight in her early twenties.
The writer, Matthew Graham, is the co-creator of Life On Mars and Ashes To Ashes. He has also written for, among other things, Spooks, This Life and Doctor Who.
Dot Davies presents a discussion live from Ty Pawb ("everybody's house") - a "cultural community resource" in Wrexham town centre which hosts cafes, a market and an art gallery. Young people from either side of the Wales/England border debate what leaving the EU might mean for the generation most affected by the 2016 Referendum result and its implementation.
How do their outlooks differ on each side of the border, and how optimistic or pessimistic are they about the prospects for their area in the new economic climate?
Alex Loven (30) voted Leave. He has amassed a £55-million fortune building an online retail sports retail business.
It was Ezra Pound who wrote: "Literature is news that stays news." What would the news sound like if poets had a go?
Ritula Shah presents the news with poets. She is joined by BBC correspondents Lyse Doucet, Allan Little and Norman Smith, and a lyrical line-up that includes Wendy Cope, Ian McMillan, Caleb Femi, Gillian Clarke and Maura Dooley.
And original poetry composed for this programme by Gillian Clarke and Ian McMillan.
SUNDAY 16 DECEMBER 2018
SUN 00:00 Midnight News (m0001lw7)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
SUN 00:30 Short Works (m0001kc3)
Pale Blue Dots
Written by Adam Marek and specially-commissioned for Radio 4.
Adrienne, a high-spec virtual assistant, explains its advantages to a new subscriber, and demonstrates its considerable power.
Adam Marek is the award-winning writer of two short story collections - Instruction Manual For Swallowing and The Stone Thrower - some of which were broadcast on Radio 4Extra as ‘he Stories Of Adam Marek in 2014. A specially-commissioned story, The Bullet Racers, featured later that year on Radio 4 as part of the series Short Rides In Fast Machines. Another, Companions, appeared as part of Short Works in 2016. He was shortlisted for the inaugural Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award and his story The 40-Litre Monkey was included in The Penguin Book Of The British Short Story in 2015.
Writer: Adam Marek
Reader: Teresa Gallagher
Producer: Jeremy Osborne
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m0001lw9)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m0001lwc)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m0001lwf)
The latest shipping forecast
SUN 05:30 News Briefing (m0001lwh)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (m0001lwk)
St Anne’s Limehouse in London
Bells on Sunday comes from St Anne’s Limehouse in London. The bells are a complete ring of eight originally cast in 1824. The tenor weighs 12-and-a-quarter hundredweight and is tuned to E. We hear them ringing Cambridge Surprise Major.
SUN 05:45 Profile (m0001lvz)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 06:00 News Headlines (m0001msg)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 06:05 Something Understood (m0001msl)
The Annunciation
In conversation with former BBC Deputy Director General, the journalist and author, Mark Byford, Mark Tully asks why the story of the Angel Gabriel’s visit to Mary has become a neglected part of Jesus’ narrative. They discuss the literal and metaphorical importance of the conception of Christ, the idea of the Virgin Birth and the iconography of Mary. The programme draws on the poetry of Denise Levertov and Elizabeth Jennings and there is music from Sir John Tavener, Percy Grainger and Norwegian pop composer Milton Nascimento.
The readers are Jane Whittenshaw and David Holt.
Presenter: Mark Tully
Producer: Frank Stirling
TX: 16th December 2018 0605 and 2330
SUN 06:35 The Living World (m0001msp)
Caledonian Pine Forest
Standing next to a tree which was likely a sapling when wolves roamed freely in Scotland is a humbling experience. And so it was that Lionel Kelleway began this Living world from 2002. Joining Lionel next to a venerable 'granny tree' is renowned naturalist Roy Dennis MBE who explains that today just 1% of the original 1.5 million hectares survives. Unraveling the complexities of what happened to this huge tract of the Caledonian Forest which the Romans called 'silva caledonia' is revealed as the duo trudge across the landscape looking for ecological clues and to revel in the abundant wildlife that still thrives here, from pine marten to Scottish crossbill.
But what of the future? To bring the story up to date since this programme was first broadcast in 2002, wildlife presenter Lindsey Chapman refreshes the story for today's audience, including some ambitious plans to rewild the area once more.
Producer Andrew Dawes
SUN 06:57 Weather (m0001msr)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 07:00 News and Papers (m0001mst)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 07:10 Sunday (m0001msw)
A Christmas Experience
Sunday morning religious news and current affairs programme presented by Edward Stourton.
SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (m0001m7z)
Prostate Cancer Research Centre
Stephen Fry makes the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of Prostate Cancer Research Centre.
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 ‘Prostate Cancer Research Centre’.
- Cheques should be made payable to ‘Prostate Cancer Research Centre’.
Registered Charity Number: 1138287.
SUN 07:57 Weather (m0001msy)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 08:00 News and Papers (m0001mt0)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (m0001mt2)
The Candle of Joy
Popular speaker and author Canon J John preaches as the third candle of the Advent Wreath is lit the Candle of Joy. A feast of Christmas Carols includes Joy to the World, Silent Night, O Little Town and See him lying on a bed of straw. Readings: Isaiah 9:2, 6 and 7; Matthew 2:1-11. From Christ Church Chorleywood. Leader; the Vicar the Revd David Hall. Musical Director: Mary Hall. Producer: Andrew Earis
SUN 08:48 A Point of View (m0001kcr)
Money Sense
"I listen to Money Box on Radio 4 as others might to a recording of Indonesian gamelan music", writes Will Self, "thrilling to the intricacies, even as I find them altogether alien".
Will ponders why personal finance is such an alien concept for him.
But his thoughts move to “those hundreds of thousands out there for whom the words ‘personal finance’ are, quite simply, terrifying”.
Producer: Adele Armstrong
SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (m0001mt4)
Monty Don's Fieldfare Season
For writer, gardener and TV presenter Monty Don, the changing seasons herald different sounds and atmospheres in the garden. In autumn as the leaves begin to fall, the arrival of flocks of fieldfares from the north of Europe are as much a part of the garden in winter as are summer migrants during the long days of June. A mixture of truculence and shyness, everything about fieldfares is harsh or jerky, but for Monty he likes them.
Monty Don takes over the Tweet of the Day output this week with a selection of episodes by Sir David Attenborough.
Producer Andrew Dawes
SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (m0001mt6)
Sunday morning magazine programme with news and conversation about the big stories of the week. Presented by Paddy O'Connell.
SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (m0001mt8)
Writer ..... Sarah McDonald Hughes
Director ..... Gwenda Hughes
Editor ..... Jeremy Howe
Jill Archer ..... Patricia Greene
David Archer ..... Timothy Bentinck
Ben Archer ...... Ben Norris
Tony Archer ..... David Troughton
Pat Archer ..... Patricia Gallimore
Tom Archer ..... William Troughton
Brian Aldridge .... Charles Collingwood
Jennifer Aldridge ..... Angela Piper
Christine Barford ..... Lesley Saweard
Lilian Bellamy ..... Sunny Ormonde
Joe Grundy ..... Edward Kelsey
Clarrie Grundy ..... Heather Bell
Will Grundy ..... Philip Molloy
Shula Hebden Lloyd ..... Judy Bennett
Alistair Lloyd ..... Michael Lumsden
Kirsty Miller ..... Annabelle Dowler
Elizabeth Pargetter ….. Alison Dowling
Lily Pargetter ..... Katie Redford
Lynda Snell ..... Carole Boyd
Roy Tucker ..... Ian Pepperell
Peggy Woolley ..... June Spencer
Natasha .... Mali Harries
Russ ..... Andonis James Antony
SUN 11:15 Desert Island Discs (m0001mtb)
Mariana Mazzucato, economist
Professor Mariana Mazzucato is an economist, who focuses on value and innovation.
Born in Italy, Mariana moved to America as a child, when her father accepted a post at Princeton University. She has lived in the UK for the last 20 years and is currently Professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value and the Director of the Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose at University College London.
She examined how government funding has enabled highly profitable inventions in the private sector in her 2013 book The Entrepreneurial State. She advises policymakers around the world on how to deliver sustainable growth, and has also taken a particular interest in pricing and profit in the pharmaceutical industry.
Earlier this year she published The Value of Everything, in which she argued that we need to re-think our ideas about how wealth is created in the global economy. In 2013 she was named as one of the 'three most important thinkers about innovation' by the New Republic.
Presenter Lauren Laverne
Producer Sarah Taylor
SUN 12:00 News Summary (m0001n9f)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 12:04 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (m0001hkc)
Series 70
Episode 5
The godfather of all panel shows pays a visit to Venue Cymru in Llandudno. Regular Tim Brooke-Taylor is joined on the panel by programme stalwarts Susan Calman, Richard Osman and Rob Brydon with Jack Dee in the chair. Colin Sell accompanies on the piano.
Producer - Jon Naismith.
It is a BBC Studios production.
SUN 12:32 The Food Programme (m0001mnl)
The Changing World of Chocolate
Presenter Charlotte Smith puts down her beloved Kit Kat to discover a world of rich, bitter and often rather pricey chocolate as she explores how small producers and big manufacturers are adapting to demands for less sugar and less dairy but hopefully not less fun. She asks what this means for growers and for us when we pick up a bar for a pick me up.
SUN 12:57 Weather (m0001mth)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (m0001mtk)
Global news and analysis, presented by Mark Mardell.
SUN 13:30 Sketches: Stories of Art and People (b0bgrw3t)
Series 1
Portraits
True stories of life-changing encounters with art in all its forms.
Each week, writer Anna Freeman presents a showcase of stories about art and people around Britain. In this second episode, Anna and the Sketches producers tell stories about portraits.
Becky travels to West Wales to find out why artist Grahame Hurd-Wood is painting a portrait of every single inhabitant of the city of St Davids. Mair meets the seamstress Lydia Higginson who gave away all the clothes she owned and made a whole new wardrobe from scratch. And Polly unfolds the story behind a mysterious piece of street art in Birmingham.
Producers: Mair Bosworth, Becky Ripley and Polly Weston
Presenter: Anna Freeman
SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m0001kc1)
Horsham District
Eric Robson and the team are in the Horsham District, West Sussex. Matt Biggs, Pippa Greenwood and Bob Flowerdew are on hand to answer the questions from keen gardeners.
This week, they discuss using seaweed as a mulch, what to plant in a large pot, and how to deal with large quantities of compost. They also help gardeners with saving plants from vine weevils and dealing with damage to a tree from hornets, and consider what flowers they would visualise after a yoga class.
James Wong heads to Kew Gardens in London to speak to Orchid expert Bala Kompalli and finds out more about this exotic plant family which has over 28,000 species.
Produced by Darby Dorras
Assistant Producer: Hester Cant
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 14:45 The Listening Project (m0001mtm)
Omnibus – Women and Work
Three conversations exploring the ever-changing face of women at work-in engineering, in business and in the army. Fi Glover presents another 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: Mohini Patel
SUN 15:00 Drama (m0001mtp)
Born to Be Wilde: An Ideal Husband
Oscar Wilde's classic comic melodrama is given a sparkling and surprising new production, featuring the music of Steppenwolf, Taylor Swift and Amy Winehouse.
Robert Chiltern is the man of the moment: a rising star in government, wealthy and with a loving wife. All this is thrown into jeopardy when the mysterious Mrs Cheveley rolls into town with damning evidence of a past misdeed. Robert Chiltern turns to his friend Lord Goring for help, an apparently idle philanderer and one of Wilde's greatest dramatic creations. Goring has his own dirt on the blackmailer, but can he make it count to save his friend's career, let alone his marriage?
Robert Chiltern . . . John Heffernan
Laura Cheveley . . . Miranda Raison
Arthur Goring . . . Ryan Whittle
Gertrude Chiltern . . . Lucy Doyle
Mabel Chiltern . . . Saffron Coomber
Lord Caversham . . . Michael Bertenshaw
Lady Markby . . . Elizabeth Counsell
Phipps . . . Tony Turner
Mason . . . Sean Murray
Musical direction and arrangement by Colin Sell
Directed by Sasha Yevtushenko
An Ideal Husband is part of a celebration of Oscar Wilde's life and Work, Born to be Wilde, offering a 21st century perspective on the making of a modern celebrity. Featuring energetic adaptations of his best-loved plays, and an imaginative approach to the less familiar aspects of his biography - this is Wilde's life before the fall.
We encounter Wilde on the make, Wilde in his pomp, Wilde on the edge of the abyss.
We see the young Wilde create his own celebrity and fame, before he'd produced any work to be famous for. We see Wilde the devoted family man, having to confront his growing estrangement from his wife. We see a hubristic Wilde, flirting with danger by publically hinting at his own sexuality.
These biographical elements are given greater poignancy by our knowledge of what happened next. And the successes of An Ideal Husband and The Importance of Being Earnest in 1895 marked the climax of his theatrical career, but also the point of his downfall.
Each of the plays are introduced by Oscar Wilde himself (played by Max Bennett).
SUN 16:00 Open Book (m0001m81)
Joyce Carol Oates, The Wind in the Willows, Orphans in fiction
Veteran US novelist Joyce Carol Oates discusses her latest novel Hazards of Time Travel, which imagines a dystopian near future in which the events of 9/11 have triggered a repressive crackdown on individual liberty.
Author and journalist Jeremy Seabrook considers the appeal of orphaned characters for writers of fiction.
Biographer Matthew Dennison and Professor Emeritus in Children's Literature at Cardiff University Peter Hunt, discuss the life of Wind in the Willows creator Kenneth Grahame.
And as part of our series visiting local bookshops, Joey Jones of Southampton's October Books explains how the shop has adapted over its 41 year history and the vital role the local community plays in the shop's survival.
SUN 16:30 Welsh Ladies (m0001mtr)
Taking inspiration from her collection of vintage and antique 'Welsh lady' postcards, poet Mab Jones seeks out their stories, and tries to find out what they would say if they could, in a poetic tribute to them.
They sit, in traditional dress, in photos from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, looking uncomfortable in tall black hats and scratchy woollen shawls. Occasionally they're arranged around a harp. Usually they're in a domestic setting - silent, obedient, rooted to the spot. Mab wants to find out who these Welsh women of bygone ages were. What were their lives like? How did they think, and feel?
Finding out more about them isn't a straightforward task, because although the subject of wry greeting cards today, the voices of women in Wales of that era have largely been absent from its historiography. Could it be that they didn't really exist at all? The costume was partly invented during the romantic revival in Wales, at a time when the old rural ways were dying out. More decorous than practical, it was celebrated by tourists and visitors, and became an emblem of national identity.
But even if their ways of life have vanished, the female poetic voices of the pre-industrial era are still traceable. In seeking them out, Mab finds poems that speak of the experience and imagination of women through a rich heritage of folk traditions and ancient oral traditions, from anonymous old verses thought to have been written by women, to individual voices that are only now being recovered and translated into English.
Mab composes a poem to the picture postcard version of the Welsh Ladies, who for the camera seem to be inhabiting a life that was not theirs, bringing her warmth and wit to this attempt to bring them, and their forbears, back to life.
Producer: Megan Jones for BBC Wales
SUN 17:00 Drawing a Line Under the Troubles (m0001hx6)
“Why am I still being investigated after all these years? I feel betrayed. The IRA gets an amnesty and I could be gaoled for life.” Those are the words of a former member of the Parachute Regiment who faces prosecution for events arising out of 'Bloody Sunday' in 1972 - not the deaths of IRA gunmen but injuries to civilians caused by ricochets. Another former soldier adds: "You can’t drag cases like this through the courts 40 years later. There should be a statute of limitations.”
The British Government has decided to try and draw a line under the ‘Troubles’ in Northern Ireland with a plan that includes military veterans facing possible prosecution for events that took place decades ago. These ex-soldiers see themselves as victims of a witch hunt. They demand that no prosecution could be launched once a specific number of years (probably ten) had passed after the event. Many veterans would accept this being extended to members of the IRA too.
There is profound political disagreement about this, however. In a private letter to the Prime Minister, the Defence Secretary, Gavin Williamson, has expressed his support for the idea, arguing that "our veterans need the protection of a statute of limitations in respect of Troubles-related offences. If this means a wider amnesty, so be it…” Theresa May disagreed: “We cannot countenance a proposal where amnesties would be provided for terrorists.”
But no less important are the stories of the victims. In a number of cases, their families seek an apology from the government. Their emotions are visceral too. In a thought-provoking programme, Peter Taylor explores the political, legal and moral questions over attempts to achieve justice in Northern Ireland many years after the original events and where these may be leading.
SUN 17:40 Profile (m0001lvz)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m0001mtt)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 17:57 Weather (m0001mtw)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m0001mty)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (m0001mv0)
Sheila McClennon
This week- Christmas Eve 1968 and Apollo 8 orbits the moon, we’ve archive from the mission as the crew remarks on the beauty of the earth from space. Just months later, Peacelines, or peace walls, were built in Belfast intended as temporary barriers - but they are still there nearly 50 years later. Two writers recall growing up alongside them.
There's the sparkling wit of Oscar Wilde's dialogue, life in the cold Swedish winter and the warmth and candor of singer Lily Allen on Mastertapes, while historian Bettany Hughes guides us round the Land of Fire – Azerbaijan. We explore the language of sleeplessness, and on the flip side to insomnia we’ve got some of the best snorers we could find on the BBC. Not all of them human…
SUN 19:00 The Archers (m0001mnd)
The pressure gets to Lily and Christmas at Brookfield looks set to be a memorable affair
SUN 19:15 Drama (m0001mv2)
Looking for Oil Drum Lane
A dramatisation of Ray Galton and Alan Simpson's comedy writing partnership - from Tony Hancock's departure to striking gold with Steptoe and Son. Starring Marc Wootton, Phil Cornwell, Barry Castagnola, James Hurn and Toby Longworth.
Weaving comedy archive and newly written scenes, the show follows the tortuous search for Oil Drum Lane, the fictional address of Steptoe and Son.
Ray Galton and Alan Simpson met in a tuberculosis sanatorium in 1948. They became friends through a shared passion for radio comedy. To amuse themselves, they broadcast their own sketches over the hospital radio. After sending their material to famous comedy writers of the day Denis Norden and Frank Muir, Alan and Ray were encouraged to post some scripts to the BBC. An unexpectedly positive response left the fledgling writers ecstatic.
Soon they became regular sketch writers for the BBC. They met Tony Hancock and rose to the top of their profession.
But when Hancock decided to go it alone Galton and Simpson were devasted and left high and dry.
The team was then commissioned by the colourful head of light entertainment at the BBC, Tom Sloane, to write ten comedy plays - but the loss of Hancock generated an impenetrable writer's block - until they hammered out a pilot sit-com that became Steptoe and Son.
Ray Galton........................................Marc Wootton
Alan Simpson...................................Barry Castagnola
Tony Hancock/Wilfred Brambell......James Hurn
Harry H Corbett...............................Phil Cornwell
Tom Sloan........................................Ian Pearce
Duncan Wood..................................Toby Longworth
Other parts were played by the cast
Written by Ian Pearce
Script Editor - Nick Romero
Directed and Produced by Andrew McGibbon
A Curtains For Radio production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 19:45 Turbulence (m0001mv4)
Kochi to Doha
Twelve flights. Twelve travellers. Twelve stories.
In David Szalay's masterful short story series, twelve travellers circumnavigate the globe en route to see lovers, children, parents, brothers and sisters, or nobody at all. From London to Madrid, Dakar to Sao Paolo, Seattle to Hong Kong, and beyond, these are stories of lives in turmoil, each in some way touching the next.
Today: an Indian worker in Qatar wrestles with some very uncomfortable emotions...
Writer: David Szalay
Reader: Nikesh Patel
Producer: Justine Willett
Original Music: Kirsten Morrison
SUN 20:00 Feedback (m0001kc7)
Radio 4's forum for audience comment.
SUN 20:30 Last Word (m0001kc5)
Peter Boizot, Judith Kazantzis, Sir Sze-Yuen Chung, Sister Cecylia Roszak, Scott English
Pictured: Peter Boizot
Matthew Bannister on
Peter Boizot who founded the Pizza Express chain of restaurants and invested heavily in his home town of Peterborough.
Judith Kazantzis, the feminist poet, novelist and activist.
Sir Sze-Yuen Chung, the Hong Kong businessman who led the campaign for residents' views to be heard during the handover negotiations between the UK and China.
Cecylia Roszak, the Polish nun who helped to save Lithuanian Jews from the Nazis during the second world war.
Scott English the songwriter who gave us "Hi Ho Silver Lining" and "Mandy".
Interviewed guest: Clementine Allen
Interviewed guest: David Lowndes
Interviewed guest: Michèle Roberts
Interviewed guest: Baroness Lydia Dunn
Interviewed guest: Jonathan Ornstein
Interviewed guest: Geoff Barker
Producer: Neil George
Archive clips from: Nationwide, BBC One 13/08/76; Nationwide, BBC One 05/05/81; Table Talk in the 60s, Radio 3 23/05/93; Look East, BBC Norwich 17/02/03; Newsbeat, Radio 1 04/12/97; I Write the Songs: The Barry Manilow Profile, Radio 2 21/11/06; Radio 4 News, 30/06/97.
SUN 21:00 Money Box (m0001lv7)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 on Saturday]
SUN 21:25 Radio 4 Appeal (m0001m7z)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 today]
SUN 21:30 In Business (m0001ksl)
The Golden Opportunity
Will life sciences lead Britain towards a new economic future? Brexit's causing uncertainty. But as Ruth Alexander discovers, there's a dynamic 'golden triangle' now linking medical and other cutting edge research at Oxford and Cambridge universities with London's political and financial power. The government's putting this at the centre of its vision for a transformed economy. So what's behind all this, and can this sector live up to the ambition?
Producer: Chris Bowlby
Editor: Penny Murphy
(Researchers in a lab. Credit: Getty Images)
SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (m0001mv7)
Preview of the week's politics with politicians, pundits and experts.
SUN 23:00 The Film Programme (m0001ks4)
Pitch Battle: The Conclusion
With Antonia Quirke
In a year when we've seen yet more bio-pics about Oscar Wilde, Winston Churchill and Queen Victoria, The Film Programme decided to do something about and find some subjects that are also suitable for the movie treatment. They put out a call to historians and history buffs for some serious alternatives. The candidates have ranged from the queen who was behind the Gunpowder Plot to an African American bare knuckle boxer who tried to take the British title at the start of the 19th century. And in this week's edition, those pitches are heard by a panel of industry insiders - BFI Senior Production Executive Lizzie Francke, Head Of Creative at Film 4 Ollie Madden and development consultant Rowan Woods. Find out what they would green-light in this concluding part of Pitch Battle.
They hear pitches from historians Tracy Borman, Kate Williams, Helen Antrobus, and Stephen Bourne, writers Jack Bernhardt and Greg Jenner, and listener Gerard Corvin.
SUN 23:30 Something Understood (m0001msl)
[Repeat of broadcast at
06:05 today]
MONDAY 17 DECEMBER 2018
MON 00:00 Midnight News (m0001mv9)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
MON 00:15 Thinking Allowed (m0001jpz)
Au pairing and domestic labour
With her 1974 study The Sociology of Housework, Ann Oakley offered a comprehensive sociological study of women’s work in the home. Analysing interviews with urban housewives, she found that most women, regardless of class, were dissatisfied with housework. It was a finding that contrasted with prevailing perspectives, and a study that challenged the scholarly neglect of housework. Now that this landmark text has been reissued, Ann talks to Laurie Taylor about its significance and reflects on what has changed in the decades since it was published.
Also, Rosie Cox discusses her co-authored study of au pairing in the twenty first century, As an Equal? Drawing on detailed research, the book examines the lives of au pairs and the families who host them in contemporary Britain, arguing that au pairing has become increasingly indistinguishable from other forms of domestic labour.
Producer: Alice Bloch
MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (m0001lwk)
[Repeat of broadcast at
05:43 on Sunday]
MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m0001mvc)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m0001mvf)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m0001mvh)
The latest shipping forecast
MON 05:30 News Briefing (m0001mvk)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m0001mvm)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Rev Rose Hudson Wilkin
MON 05:45 Farming Today (m0001mvp)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside
MON 05:56 Weather (m0001mvr)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.
MON 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03k7330)
Tawny Owl (Winter)
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
David Attenborough presents the Tawny Owl. Tawny owls are our most urban owls, often living close to the centre of towns and cities, so long as there are hollow trees or old buildings in which they can nest.
MON 06:00 Today (m0001mmm)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
MON 09:00 Start the Week (m0001mmp)
National myths with Neil MacGregor
Kirsty Wark explores national stories and myths – from both inside and outside a country’s borders.
Neil MacGregor discusses how Dickens, Monty Python and the Suez Crisis have influenced the way Britain is perceived abroad. He visits five different countries to find out which historical events, cultural influences and objects have shaped the way how others see us. The answers may well surprise people back home.
Sweden has a strong sense of its own national identity: it boasts the world’s oldest free press and prides itself on its special brand of social democracy. But the journalist Kajsa Norman looks beyond this utopian myth to expose the darkness in the Swedish soul. She reveals what happens to those who dare to dissent from consensus.
Japan’s national image abroad is one of staid tradition mixed with bizarre pop culture, and the samurai warrior alongside the grey mass of ‘salarymen’. But the academic Christopher Harding argues there is far more to Japanese society than these enduring clichés. He looks at how Japan has been reinventing itself over the last century and a half, and the often radical and outspoken resistance to conformity.
Producer: Katy Hickman
MON 09:45 Book of the Week (m0001mmr)
Bolder: Making the Most of Our Longer Lives
Episode 1
How do we make the most of our longer lives?
Journalist Carl Honoré brought the Slow Movement to wider attention with his book ‘In Praise of Slow’. Now he charts a major shift in our approach to ageing as he meets the revolutionaries who are inspiring us to live better for longer.
Read by Darren Boyd
Abriged by Eileen Horne
Produced by Eilidh McCreadie
MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (m0001mmt)
The programme that offers a female perspective on the world
MON 10:45 15 Minute Drama (m0001mmw)
The Haunting of M.R. James
The Mezzotint
By the master of the ghost story M.R. James. The new engraving Dr. Williams orders for the university collection reveals a disturbing story.
Dramatised by Neil Brand
M.R. James ..... Mark Gatiss
Dr. Williams ..... Patrick Brennan
Dr. Binks ..... Tony Turner
Dr. Nisbet ..... Don Gilet
Mrs. Filcher ..... Jeanette Percival
Verger ..... Michael Bertenshaw
Director: David Hunter
MON 11:00 The Untold (m0001mmy)
Van Life
When Kirsty's youngest son goes to university, she decides to go in search of adventure. At the age of 47 she buys an old plasterer's van, and moves into it - knowing nothing about vehicles or DIY, and with a fear of heights so strong she gets scared of big hills.
She starts a Youtube channel to record her journey, and over the next eighteen months goes through a radical change. But through the story of this change, we hear about her past - and what she's left behind.
Produced in Bristol by Polly Weston.
MON 11:30 Chain Reaction (b08k1sv1)
Series 12
Tim Vine Interviews Sir Ken Dodd
In this edtition, Tim Vine turns interviewer and invites his chosen guest Sir Ken Dodd into the Chain Reaction hot seat.
Chain Reaction is the talk show with a twist where one week's interviewee becomes the next week's interviewer. John Cleese was first in the hot seat back in 1991 and since then, a procession of big names from the world of comedy and entertainment including Jennifer Saunders, Jarvis Cocker and Eddie Izzard have helped continue the chain.
Tim Vine is best known for his frenetic stage shows, rammed full of rapid one liners, songs and props. He previously starred in BBC1s Not Going Out, ITV1s The Sketch Show and hosted the seminal Channel 5 quiz show Whittle.
Revered as one of Britain's funniest comedians, Ken Dodd has enjoyed a professional career spanning over 60 years during which he has received numerous awards and accolades. Ken Dodd was made Sir Ken in the 2017 New Year's Honours List; and is a comedian of legendary status who has been entertaining audiences for a lifetime of happiness and laughter.
Recorded at the Bluecoat in Liverpool, Tim talks to Ken about his long career, the length of his live shows, and performs a Liverpudlian version of Hamlet...
Producer: Adnan Ahmed
Production Co-Ordinator: Luke Mason
A BBC Studios Production
Photo Credit: Brian Roberts.
MON 12:00 News Summary (m0001mn0)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 12:04 Barbara Kingsolver - Unsheltered (m0001mn2)
Episode 11
The new novel from Barbara Kingsolver, bestselling author of THE POISONWOOD BIBLE, THE LACUNA and FLIGHT BEHAVIOUR, interweaves the past and the present to explore the human capacity for resilience and compassion in times of great upheaval. It is a portrait of life in precarious times - when characters discover that the past has failed to prepare them for the future.
Alternating between two centuries, Kingsolver examines the personal and social shocks that ensue when people’s assumptions about the world and their place in it are shaken to their foundations.
1875. Thatcher tries to come to terms with the shooting of Uri Carruth.
2016. Willa's father-in-law, Nick, requests an unusual outing.
Abridged by Sian Preece
Read by Patrick Kennedy and Laurel Lefkow
Producer: Gaynor Macfarlane
MON 12:18 You and Yours (m0001mn4)
Care Quality Commission, Plant disease, Kinship carers
In an exclusive broadcast interview, we speak to Andrea Sutcliffe, the outgoing chief inspector of adult social care at the Care Quality Commission, about what she thinks she's achieved after five years in the job. At the end of the month, she'll be leaving her post at the care regulator to become chief executive of the Nursing and Midwifery Council. During her time at the Care Quality Commission, Ms Sutcliffe has made big changes to how the regulator works, introducing a new Ofsted-style inspection regime and publishing ratings for care homes and home care agencies. She talks to our presenter, Winifred Robinson, about what's changed in the care system following intervention from the regulator and what still needs improving.
Our reporter, Bob Walker, investigates concerns about diseases which are threatening plant life in the UK. Next month a new plant health assurance scheme will be rolled out across the industry, setting new standards for all suppliers. We speak to those on the frontline of the battle to protect our natural flora including the Royal Horticultural Society, which has been warning gardeners to be particularly vigilant about Xylella fastidiosa - a disease that restricts water movement, kills plants, and has wreaked havoc across parts of France, Spain and Italy.
We examine if grandparents, relatives and friends who take over responsibility for looking after a child should be offered more support. Whereas adoptive parents get initial financial support and foster carers receive ongoing allowances, kinship carers don't get the same kind of help. A parliamentary taskforce estimates there are more than 180,000 children in kinship care in the UK.
Presenter: Winifred Robinson
Producer: Tara Holmes
MON 12:57 Weather (m0001mn6)
The latest weather forecast.
MON 13:00 World at One (m0001mn8)
Mon-Thurs: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Sarah Montague. Fri: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Mark Mardell.
MON 13:45 The Creation of an Icon (m0001mnb)
Doors Between Two Worlds
"We are glorified door makers” says Aidan Hart, a professional iconographer, “because we create a door between the world and heaven.” “I feel like a composer and poet but working in colour and form rather than notes and words.” Aidan Hart, a former Greek Orthodox monk has painted icons for over 30 years. In this series he will lift the veil on this powerful and compelling art form. Over five programmes during Advent Aiden paints an icon of the Annunciation, when the angel Gabriel revealed to Mary that she would give birth to Jesus, the son of God. Whilst he paints he talks about the process, the symbolism and the ideas behind icon painting. You can follow Aiden’s progress via the picture gallery on the programme web page.
The producer is Phil Pegum.
MON 14:00 The Archers (m0001mnd)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Sunday]
MON 14:15 Drama (m0001mng)
Born to Be Wilde: The Warhol Years
The young Oscar Wilde, who has not yet written anything of note, embarks on an American tour, determined to be famous for 15 minutes - and then some. Max Bennett and Dervla Kirwan star in Marcy Kahan's new play. Part of Radio 4's celebration of Oscar Wilde and the making of a modern celebrity.
Directed by Emma Harding
Oscar Wilde.....Max Bennett
Charles Kitteridge.....Liam Lau Fernandez
Speranza Wilde.....Dervla Kirwan
Sarah Bernhardt......Alexandra Constantinidi
Colonel Morse.....John Guerrasio
Walt Whitman.....Tony Turner
Henry James.....Don Gilet
Napoleon Sarony.....Lewis Bray
Elton.....Cameron Percival
Reporter.....Sean Murray
MON 15:00 WIQ (m0001mnj)
A new quiz show hosted by Jo Brand that takes the opportunity, in this anniversary year of Female suffrage, to celebrate all things female. Two Women's Institutes from Manchester and Cambridge compete in front of an audience to see who can get ahead in the field of general knowledge, popular culture and baking.
Producer...Julia McKenzie
BBC Studios Production
MON 15:30 The Food Programme (m0001mnl)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:32 on Sunday]
MON 16:00 Marking Time (m0001mnn)
Lida Kindersley is Britain's best known letter cutter. She stands in the tradition of Eric Gill and is responsible for many beautiful gravestones, plaques and embellishments to buildings. She reveals not only the skill involved in cutting words into stone, wood or metal to create a lasting memory , but the ideas that inform her work.
This is a personal story too. The programme opens with Lida, accompanied by a childhood friend, laying a line of bright white shells on a desolate beach in Suffolk. As we discover, it's another way of marking time with a poignant story attached.
We follow the production of a new gravestone for the poet and artist William Blake and the unveiling of that stone in Bunhill Fields in the City of London, hearing from Lida's clients - including Tom, who wants five felled elm beams to be carved with sunflowers to brighten and adorn his garden, a place of peace and welcome.
Presenter: Susan Marling
A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4
MON 16:30 Beyond Belief (m0001mnq)
Purple
Associated since antiquity with nobility, luxury and power the colour purple is also deeply connected with mystery, magic and spiritual ideals. Originally created from the desiccated glands of sea snails, the process of making the dye was long, difficult and expensive and therefore purple was seen as exclusive, elitist and other worldly.
Joining Ernie Rea in this edition of Beyond Belief to discuss the colour purple and how it is used in society and religion, are the Right Reverend Dr Helen-Ann Hartley, Bishop of Ripon; the artist and colour expert Nicola Green and British Classicist and art historian Professor Robin Cormac.
Producer: Catherine Earlam
Series Producer: Amanda Hancox
MON 17:00 PM (m0001mns)
PM at
5pm: interviews, context and analysis.
MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m0001mnv)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 18:30 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (m0001mnx)
Series 70
Episode 6
Back for a second week at Venue Cymru in Llandudno, Tim Brooke-Taylor is joined on the panel by programme stalwarts Susan Calman, Richard Osman and Rob Brydon with Jack Dee in the chair. Piano accompaniment is provided by Colin Sell.
Producer - Jon Naismith.
It is a BBC Studios production.
MON 19:00 The Archers (m0001mdx)
Pat resorts to drastic measures and Tom learns the truth
MON 19:15 Front Row (m0001mnz)
Live daily magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
MON 19:45 15 Minute Drama (m0001mmw)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
MON 20:00 Belonging (m0001l7h)
Tomorrow's Stories
What is required to create a society based on a shared sense of belonging? Former Cabinet minister Douglas Alexander explores the power of stories - in politics and in fiction - to bind diverse communities together. He asks what a new national story might look like and what might stand in the way of its telling. Does the huge array of media outlets mean a shared story is difficult to hear? Are our politicians up for the task? And if we don't reduce inequality will any story - no matter how compelling - fall on deaf ears?
Producer: Rosamund Jones
MON 20:30 Crossing Continents (m0001krj)
China's Hidden Camps
China is accused of locking up as many as a million Uighur Muslims without trial across its western region of Xinjiang. The government denies the claims, saying people willingly attend special "vocational schools" to combat "terrorism and religious extremism". But a BBC investigation has found important new evidence of the reality - a vast and rapidly growing network of detention centres, where the people held inside are humiliated and abused. Using detailed satellite analysis and reporting from a part of the country where journalists are routinely detained and harassed; China correspondent John Sudworth offers his in-depth report on China's Hidden Camps.
MON 21:00 Impotential (b09by75t)
Most men will experience erection problems at some stage in their life but few will seek help because of shame and embarrassment. In this documentary, men speak openly to psychologist Dr Petra Boynton about their erection difficulties and how it’s affected them and their relationships.
“You don’t feel like a man. You can really kick yourself in the teeth. You can feel suicidal. You can feel the dark depressions of the ends of the earth. It’s a terrible thing for a bloke.”
Some men interviewed in the programme have erection problems because of surgery. Knowing the cause helped them find the right treatment but it didn’t make erectile dysfunction any easier to accept. We speak to them, with their partners, about how they’ve come to terms with the changes and how, in some cases, managed to maintain a physical and intimate relationship.
For most men, the origin of erectile dysfunction is psychological with performance anxiety the main cause. A lack of sex education and an unrealistic expectation can add to the pressure men feel. We hear from one man who believes pornography and childhood trauma affected his ability to perform and another who used drink as a cover for his erection problems.
Erectile dysfunction can be an indicator of other health problems like heart disease or diabetes so it is important to seek help if the problem is long lasting.
But men still find it hard to talk.
In this frank and honest half-hour documentary, men do talk and share what erectile dysfunction is like, perhaps encouraging other men to do the same.
Producer: Henrietta Harrison
A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4
MON 21:30 Start the Week (m0001mmp)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
MON 22:00 The World Tonight (m0001mp2)
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.
MON 22:45 Barbara Kingsolver - Unsheltered (m0001mn2)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 today]
MON 23:00 Mastertapes (m0001mp4)
Series 8
The Good, The Bad & The Queen (A-side)
John Wilson returns with another run of the series in which he talks to leading performers and songwriters about the album that made them or changed them. Recorded in front of a live audience at the BBC's iconic Maida Vale Studios. Each edition includes two episodes, with John initially quizzing the artist about the album in question, and then, in the B-side, the audience puts the questions. Both editions feature exclusive live performances.
A-side: The Good, The Bad & The Queen.
Modern day super-group, DAMON ALBARN, PAUL SIMONON, TONY ALLEN and SIMON TONG talk to John Wilson about their acclaimed debut album "The Good, The Bad & The Queen."
Released in 2007, the album brought together Blur’s front-man, the bassist from the Clash, the Afrobeat pioneer who was also Fela Kuti’s drummer, and former guitarist from the Verve who co-created the Magnetic North. Described by Damon Albarn as “a song cycle that's also a mystery play about London”, the record was voted the Best Album of 2007 by the Observer Music Magazine and it includes the singles Herculean, Kingdom of Doom and Green Fields.
Although Simon Tong and Paul Simonon appeared on the next Gorillaz album and Tony Allen collaborated with Damon Albarn on Rocket Juice & The Moon, the band have not released any more material… until now – their long-overdue follow-up Merrie Land was released in November.
Producer: Paul Kobrak
MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (m0001mp6)
All the news from today's sitting at Westminster.
TUESDAY 18 DECEMBER 2018
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (m0001mp8)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
TUE 00:30 Book of the Week (m0001mmr)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m0001mpb)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m0001mpd)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m0001mpg)
The latest shipping forecast
TUE 05:30 News Briefing (m0001mpj)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m0001mpl)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Rev Rose Hudson Wilkin
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (m0001mpn)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside
TUE 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03mhyzf)
Raven
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
David Attenborough presents the story of the raven. Ravens are one of the most widely distributed birds in the world and can survive Arctic winters and scorching deserts. In the UK, Ravens were once widespread, even in cities but persecution drove them back into the wilder parts of our islands. Now they're re-colonising the lowlands and are even turning up on the outskirts of London where, since Victorian times, the only ravens were the ones kept at the Tower.
TUE 06:00 Today (m0001md1)
News and current affairs, including Yesterday in Parliament, Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
TUE 09:00 The Life Scientific (b016812j)
Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell
Jim Al-Khalili talks to astronomer Jocelyn Bell Burnell.
Jocelyn Bell Burnell forged her own path through the male-dominated world of science - in the days when it was unusual enough for women to work, let alone make a discovery in astrophysics that was worthy of a Nobel Prize.
As a 24-year old PhD student, Jocelyn spotted an anomaly on a graph buried within 100 feet of printed data from a radio telescope. Her curiosity about such a tiny detail led to one of the most important discoveries in 20th century astronomy - the discovery of pulsars - those dense cores of collapsed stars.
It's a discovery which changed the way we see the universe, making the existence of black holes suddenly seem much more likely and providing further proof to Einstein's theory of gravity.
Jocelyn Bell Burnell was made a Dame in 2008 and a year later became the first ever female President of the Institute of Physics.
Producer: Anna Buckley.
TUE 09:30 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".
Producer Beth O'Dea
TUE 09:45 Book of the Week (m0001md6)
Bolder: Making the Most of Our Longer Lives
Episode 2
How do we make the most of our longer lives?
Journalist Carl Honoré brought the Slow Movement to wider attention with his book ‘In Praise of Slow’. Now he charts a major shift in our approach to ageing as he meets the revolutionaries who are inspiring us to live better for longer. In his quest for knowledge Carl experiences first-hand the dramatic effects of ageing on the body.
Read by Darren Boyd
Abridged by Eileen Horne
Produced by Eilidh McCreadie
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (m0001md8)
The programme that offers a female perspective on the world
TUE 10:45 15 Minute Drama (m0001mdb)
The Haunting of M.R. James
Casting the Runes
by the master of the ghost story, M.R.James. The tale of a curse passed on by a curiously inscribed slip of paper.
dramatised by Neil Brand
M.R. James ..... Mark Gatiss
Dunning ..... John Bowler
Karswell ..... Ewan Bailey
Gayton ..... Paul Heath
Mrs. Gayton ..... Saffron Coomber
Harrington ..... Ronny Jhutti
Assistant ..... Lewis Bray
Director: David Hunter
TUE 11:00 George Soros and His Enemies (m0001mdd)
The wealthy investor George Soros first became famous when he made a billion pounds from speculating on Britain's dramatic exit from the ERM in 1992, one of many successful deals that amassed him a fortune and made him one of the world's richest men. But it is what he does with his money politically that brings him enemies.
His political commitment and funding has made him the subject of intense hostility from critics in several countries, but a hero to those who support or benefit from his engagement. So how important really is George Soros? Why does he arouse so much venom? Should we be grateful for a billionaire who wants to put his money to social causes?
His life and career span the catastrophe of World War 2 through attempts to create a more cooperative world order and the current challenges from nationalists and populists around the globe.
Allan Little looks at the making of the man and his way of thought, and the reaction to his involvement in political and civic organisations in many countries.
Producer: Adam Bowen
TUE 11:30 The Art of Living (m0001mdg)
In My Mind's Eye
Following two artists as they work with parents and children in Pembrokeshire to bring autism and the arts together.
Daniel Settatree and Catherine Dyson have given disposable cameras to a group of young people affected by autism and asked them to take pictures of things that interest them. For these children, talking about their emotions, about their feelings and about the things which fascinate them is very difficult. The camera is a way in which these artists can unlock the humanity and creative potential of this very particular group.
Will it work? How will the participants react? And what can we learn from their pictures?
Produced by Glyn Tansley for BBC Wales
Photograph by Kes Warner
TUE 12:00 News Summary (m0001mdj)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 12:04 Barbara Kingsolver - Unsheltered (m0001mdl)
Episode 12
The new novel from Barbara Kingsolver, bestselling author of THE POISONWOOD BIBLE, THE LACUNA and FLIGHT BEHAVIOUR, interweaves the past and the present to explore the human capacity for resilience and compassion in times of great upheaval. It is a portrait of life in precarious times - when characters discover that the past has failed to prepare them for the future.
Alternating between two centuries, Kingsolver examines the personal and social shocks that ensue when people’s assumptions about the world and their place in it are shaken to their foundations.
2016. Willa and Tig conspire on a secret mission and there is further bad news about the house.
Abridged by Sian Preece
Read by Laurel Lefkow
Producer: Gaynor Macfarlane
TUE 12:18 You and Yours (m0001mdn)
Radio 4's consumer affairs programme.
TUE 12:57 Weather (m0001mdq)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 13:00 World at One (m0001mds)
Mon-Thurs: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Sarah Montague. Fri: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Mark Mardell.
TUE 13:45 The Creation of an Icon (m0001mdv)
Symbolism of Paint
World renowned iconographer Aidan Hart paints an icon for Advent and explores the meaning and theology of this ancient religious art form. Today he explains the significance of colour in the icon.
You can follow his progress in the picture gallery on the programmes webpage.
Presenter: Phil Pegum
TUE 14:00 The Archers (m0001mdx)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 Drama (m0001mdz)
Born to be Wilde: Oscar and Constancy
Oscar Wilde's marriage under scrutiny in Lavinia Murray's fantasy drama. A battle is being fought inside Oscar's head. His domestic and creative lives vie for supremacy and then the characters from his poetry and fairy tales assume the role of his conscience and begin talking back to him. Part of Radio 4's celebration of Oscar Wilde and the making of a modern celebrity.
Oscar ..... Max Bennett
Sphinx/Giant/Constance ..... Amanda Hale
Speranza ..... Dervla Kirwan
Robbie Ross ..... Cameron Percival
Willie Wilde/Hermes,/Miller ..... Don Gilet
Arthur/Little Hans ..... Lewis Bray
Freddie Nutt ..... Tom Forrister
With Tony Turner and Alexandra Constantinidi
Directed by Gemma Jenkins
TUE 15:00 Short Cuts (m0001mf1)
Series 17
The Gloaming
Josie Long presents new short documentaries on searching for hope in the gathering darkness.
John McCarthy and Brian Keenan look back on a single act of human kindness that glows amid much darker memories, a late night conversation explores the hope bound up in playing the lottery and we hear as voices fade in a Danish hospice.
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 15:30 Mastertapes (m0001mf3)
Series 8
The Good, The Bad & The Queen (B-side)
John Wilson continues with another recording for the series in which leading artists discuss the album that made them or changed them. Recorded in front of a live audience at the BBC's iconic Maida Vale Studios, each edition includes two episodes, with John initially quizzing the artist about the album in question, and then, in the B-side, the audience asks the questions. Both editions feature exclusive live performances.
Having discussed the making of the 2007 album that gave them their name, "The Good, The Bad & The Queen" (in the A-side of the programme, broadcast on Monday 11th December 2018 and available online), Damon Albarn, Paul Simonon, Tony Allen and Simon Tong responds to questions from the audience and perform live versions of their follow-up album, 2018's "Merrie Land".
Producer: Paul Kobrak
TUE 16:00 Inherited Fear (b09zv3d3)
The American journalist Sally Herships has long felt she carries within herself a sense of the trauma suffered by her grandmother a century ago, in Russia, and subsequently passed down through her own mother. How is it possible to explain a fear that isn’t of any thing tangible or present, a fear that isn't our own, that isn't rooted in direct experience?
Psychiatrists know that behaviour can condition how we feel with physically-measurable impact - for example, upon the PAG or periaqueductal gray which is the primary control centre for pain modulation. But now, neuro-epigeneticists believe it's possible that our biology may be altered by trauma and then, apparently, carried on through reproduction to future generations.
"It’s like the ghost of a ghost," says Sally, "or the memory of a shadow".
Starting with testimony from her own family, Sally examines the relationship between psychology and biology, talking to the offspring of victims of the Holocaust, and a neuroscientist who has studied the impact of trauma on the foetuses of pregnant women caught up in the 9/11 attacks. As Sally describes their experience,"fear manages to grip us just the same".
The programme includes contributions from Aviva Sucher (whose mother Erzsébet Klein, in the light coat and headscarf, is shown in this photograph on her arrival at Auschwitz), psychiatrist Dr Bessel Van Der Kolk, neuroepigeneticist Professor Isabelle Mansuy and neuroscientist Dr Rachel Yehuda.
Presented and produced by Sally Herships.
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 16:30 Great Lives (m0001mf6)
Tim Smit on Humphrey Jennings, Film Maker
Tim Smit has admired Humphrey Jennings since seeing Danny Boyle’s Olympics Opening Ceremony in 2012.
Jennings was a film maker, artist, and co-founder of the Mass Observation Movement. Many of the scenes in that memorable Olympic ceremony were inspired by his work. His films about ordinary British life during the Second World War are a poetic testament to the people of the British Isles,
Tim Smit wants to know why Jennings isn’t better known?
Smit is founder of the Eden Project. He’s joined in studio by curator Ros Cranston from the British Film Institute, with contributions from Jennings' biographer Kevin Jackson
Clips from Listen To Britain 1941 © Crown and London Can Take It 1940 GPO courtesy of the BFI National Archive. The films are free to view on the BFI website https://player.bfi.org.uk/free
The presenter is Matthew Parris.
Producer: Maggie Ayre
TUE 17:00 PM (m0001mf8)
PM at
5pm: interviews, context and analysis.
TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m0001mfb)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 18:30 Tom Wrigglesworth's Hang-Ups (b06s9l5c)
Series 3
A Christmas Not Special
Episode 6, 'A Christmas Not Special'. A ring of the doorbell interrupts an already unconventional Wrigglesworth family Christmas.
Series 3 of the sitcom where Tom Wrigglesworth phones home for his weekly check-in with his Mum, Dad and Gran, giving listeners a glimpse into his family background and the influences that have shaped his temperament, opinions and hang-ups.
Episode 6 "A Christmas Not Special": The Wrigglesworths receive a Christmas visitor while Tom struggles to get home in time for dinner.
Starring Tom Wrigglesworth, Paul Copley, Kate Anthony, Elizabeth Bennett and Chris Pavlo.
Written by Tom Wrigglesworth and James Kettle with additional material by Miles Jupp
Produced by Richard Morris
A BBC Radio Comedy Production.
TUE 19:00 The Archers (m0001l7z)
Helen receives a helping hand and Ruairi attempts to drum up support
TUE 19:15 Front Row (m0001mfd)
Live daily magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
TUE 19:45 15 Minute Drama (m0001mdb)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
TUE 20:00 The Power of Twitter (m0001mfg)
How did Twitter, invented to allow friends to keep track of each other's social lives and interests, become a key forum for political debate? And what effect has the social media platform had on the nature and quality of public life?
Presenter David Baker speaks to the man who taught President Trump everything he knows about Twitter, the head of President Obama's social media campaign, and Twitter's own leader on strategy for public policy, to explore the real effect that it has had on politics.
Producer: Jonathan Brunert
TUE 20:40 In Touch (m0001mfj)
News, views and information for people who are blind or partially sighted.
TUE 21:00 All in the Mind (m0001l83)
Programme exploring the limits and potential of the human mind.
TUE 21:30 The Life Scientific (b016812j)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (m0001mfl)
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.
TUE 22:45 Barbara Kingsolver - Unsheltered (m0001mdl)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 today]
TUE 23:00 Wireless Nights (m0001mfq)
Series 6
Night Train
Jarvis Cocker’s series exploring the human condition after dark boards the Wireless Nights Express – a train travelling through the night. He begins on the Caledonian Sleeper, leaving the noise and crowds of London Euston and winding its way across the country to the Scottish Highlands. In the dining car and creaking corridors he meets fellow passengers and stewards. And as he starts to drift off in his cabin, the train makes some unscheduled stops; as we hear magical, strange stories of sleeper- and sleepless – trains.
Geoff Maccormack recalls taking the Trans-Siberian express with his childhood friend David Bowie and a sobering stop at the East German border. Tessa Smit inadvertently boards a twenty-four hour party train with over one-thousand eighteen year olds; and travel writer Colin Thubron reflects on his own adventures on the night train.
Producer: Georgia Catt
TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (m0001mfv)
All the news from today's sitting at Westminster.
WEDNESDAY 19 DECEMBER 2018
WED 00:00 Midnight News (m0001mfz)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
WED 00:30 Book of the Week (m0001md6)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m0001mg3)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m0001mg7)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m0001mgc)
The latest shipping forecast
WED 05:30 News Briefing (m0001mgh)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m0001mgm)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Rev Rose Hudson Wilkin
WED 05:45 Farming Today (m0001mgp)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside
WED 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03k5c63)
Snow Bunting
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
David Attenborough presents the snow bunting. The ornithologist and author, Desmond Nethersole-Thompson, described the snow bunting as 'possibly the most romantic and elusive bird in the British Isles'. When you disturb a flock of what seem to be brownish birds, they explode into a blizzard of white-winged buntings, calling softly as they swirl around the winter strandline.
WED 06:00 Today (m0001l6y)
News and current affairs, including Yesterday in Parliament, Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
WED 09:00 Soul Music (m0001l70)
Series 27
River
A new series of Soul Music begins with stories of Joni Mitchell's 'River', from her iconic 1971 album Blue. A song about the breakdown of a relationship and of a longing to be elsewhere that has become a melancholy Christmas anthem.
It's coming on Christmas / They're cutting down trees / They're putting up reindeer / And singing songs of joy and peace / Oh I wish I had a river / I could skate away on....
Emotional true stories of what the song means to different people, including comedian Chris Forbes, who lost his father on Christmas Day; Isobel, who fell sick far from home and understands the longing to be elsewhere captured in the song; Laura, who heard the song while pregnant at Christmastime; writer Rob Crossan, who will forever associate the song with his first love; Canadian poet Lorna Crozier who describes the frozen rivers of her and Joni's Saskatchewan childhood; and from Joni Mitchell's biographer David Yaffe.
Includes a rare live recording of 'River' from a BBC Concert in 1970, hosted by John Peel. The other versions of the song are by (in order of appearance) Joni Mitchell (Blue, 1971), Scott Matthews (Live Session for BBC 6 Music, 2011), Béla Fleck and the Flecktones (Jingle All the Way, 2008) and the Belgian indie choir Scala & Kolacny Brothers (Live Session for BBC 6 Music, 2011).
Producer: Mair Bosworth
WED 09:30 The Curious Cases of Rutherford & Fry (m0001l73)
Series 12
The Good Bad Food
“Why does bad food taste so good?” asks Alan Fouracre from Tauranga, New Zealand, "And by ‘bad’ food, I mean the things we are told to hold back on like sausage, chips and chocolate."
From sugar to salt and fat, we investigate why our body derives pleasure from certain foods, which we're often told to cut down on.
Adam discovers why retronasal smelling makes bacon taste delicious, on a trip to the BBC canteen for breakfast with materials scientist Mark Miodownik.
Hannah consults food scientist Linda Bartoshuk on her fizzy pop habit. And The Angry Chef, Anthony Warner, discusses the dangers of labeling certain foods as 'bad'.
Presenters: Hannah Fry, Adam Rutherford
Producer: Michelle Martin
WED 09:45 Book of the Week (m0001l75)
Bolder: Making the Most of Our Longer Lives
Episode 3
How do we make the most of our longer lives?
Journalist Carl Honoré brought the Slow Movement to wider attention with his book ‘In Praise of Slow’. Now he charts a major shift in our approach to ageing, asking if creativity is always the preserve of the young prodigy.
Read by Darren Boyd
Abridged by Eileen Horne
Produced by Eilidh McCreadie
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (m0001l78)
The programme that offers a female perspective on the world
WED 10:41 15 Minute Drama (m0001l7b)
The Haunting of M.R. James
The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral
by the master of the ghost story, M.R. James. A tale of likely murder, mysterious cats and ecclesiastical carvings.
dramatised by Neil Brand
M.R. James ..... Mark Gatiss
Archdeacon Haynes ..... Sean Baker
Letitia Haynes ..... Carolyn Pickles
Jane ..... Saffron Coomber
Verger ..... Michael Bertenshaw
Pulteney ..... Neil Brand
Stevens ..... Cameron Percival
Runciman ..... Lewis Bray
Director: David Hunter
WED 10:55 The Listening Project (m0001l7f)
Aunt and niece - The importance of women asserting themselves in the workplace
Aunt and niece debate the importance of women asserting themselves in the workplace. Fi Glover presents another conversation in a series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.
WED 11:00 Belonging (m0001l7h)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 on Monday]
WED 11:30 The Tim Vine Chat Show (b07ks074)
Series 1
Episode 4
A new show from the internationally acclaimed master of the one-liner Tim Vine sees Tim interview members of his live audience as he embarks on a quest to hear the life stories of the Great British public while simultaneously showcasing his trademark gleeful wordplay and preposterous songs.
The last show in the current series features a mysterious job in a reservoir and a quiz about trifle.
Producer: Richard Morris
A BBC Studios Production.
WED 12:00 News Summary (m0001l7k)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 12:04 Barbara Kingsolver - Unsheltered (m0001l7m)
Episode 13
The new novel from Barbara Kingsolver, bestselling author of THE POISONWOOD BIBLE, THE LACUNA and FLIGHT BEHAVIOUR, interweaves the past and the present to explore the human capacity for resilience and compassion in times of great upheaval. It is a portrait of life in precarious times - when characters discover that the past has failed to prepare them for the future.
Alternating between two centuries, Kingsolver examines the personal and social shocks that ensue when people’s assumptions about the world and their place in it are shaken to their foundations.
Thatcher has to choose sides - with terrible consequences.
Willa and Tig go on their secret mission.
Abridged by Sian Preece
Read by Patrick Kennedy and Laurel Lefkow
Producer: Gaynor Macfarlane
WED 12:18 You and Yours (m0001l7p)
Radio 4's consumer affairs programme.
WED 12:57 Weather (m0001l7r)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 13:00 World at One (m0001l7t)
Mon-Thurs: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Sarah Montague. Fri: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Mark Mardell.
WED 13:45 The Creation of an Icon (m0001l7w)
Holy Perspectives
Iconographer and former Greek Orthodox monk Aidan Hart paints an icon and explains their meaning. Today he talks about the strange perspectives of the icon.
You can follow Aidan's painting on the programme's webpage.
Producer: Phil Pegum
WED 14:00 The Archers (m0001l7z)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 Drama (b085766f)
Fairytale of New Malden
By Katherine Jakeways
Festive comedy drama starring Geoffrey Palmer.
Cathy’s barely seen her dad George since her mum died. She suspects his grandkids may have forgotten who he is. But now she’s persuaded him to dress up as Santa for the school’s Christmas fair and finally they have an opportunity to talk.
Writer Katherine Jakeways (North by Northamptonshire) is described by The Radio Times as the 'new Victoria Wood' saying "her character comedy is so acutely observed and so sharp that it's in danger of causing permanent injury." Geoffrey Palmer has starred in some of the best comedies of the last thirty years –The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, Butterflies, Fawlty Towers, Blackadder, As Time Goes By.
George.... Geoffrey Palmer
Cathy.... Rosie Cavaliero
Liz Tucker.... Katherine Jakeways
Reindeer Handler.... John Dougall
Directed by James Robinson
A BBC Cymru Wales Production
WED 15:00 Money Box (m0001l81)
Paul Lewis and a panel of guests answer calls on personal finance.
WED 15:30 All in the Mind (m0001l83)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Tuesday]
WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (m0001l85)
Laurie Taylor explores the latest research into how society works.
WED 16:30 The Media Show (m0001l87)
A topical programme about the fast-changing media world.
WED 16:55 The Listening Project (m0001l89)
Mother and Daughter – Things I could have been
Mother and daughter reflect on the patronising nature of careers advice given to black girls in the past. Fi Glover presents another conversation in a series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.
WED 17:00 PM (m0001l8c)
PM at
5pm: interviews, context and analysis.
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m0001l8f)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 18:30 Women Talking About Cars (m0001l8h)
Series 3
Una Stubbs
Actress, dancer and national treasure Una Stubbs talks to Victoria Coren Mitchell about her remarkable career from Summer Holiday to Sherlock, with memories of childhood and motherhood, movies and needlework, and discusses the vehicles she has driven along the way and why these days she has chosen to live car-free.
With Readings by Sarah Hadland
Produced by Gareth Edwards
A BBC Studios production.
WED 19:00 The Archers (m0001l8k)
There's a shock for Brian and Roy finds himself caught in the middle
WED 19:15 Front Row (m0001l8m)
Live daily magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
WED 19:45 15 Minute Drama (m0001l7b)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:41 today]
WED 20:00 Brexit on the Border (m0001l8p)
Northern Ireland - Republic of Ireland
Young people discuss the implications of Britain's departure from the EU on the younger generations of people in the UK. How do prospects differ either side of the UK border?
WED 20:45 The Curious Cases of Rutherford & Fry (m0001l73)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:30 today]
WED 21:00 Science Stories (m0001l8r)
Series 8
Lucretius, Sheep and Atoms
Naomi Alderman's tale is of Lucretius, author of a 2000 year old poem that theorised about atoms and the natural world. Written in the first century BCE, during a chaotic and frightening time when the Roman Republic was collapsing, Lucretius encouraged people to feel free through contemplating the physics of the Universe. Naomi learns that many of the theories still hold water today and that the poem, De Rerum Natura, is an epic beautiful and persuasive piece of work.
WED 21:30 Soul Music (m0001l70)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (m0001l8v)
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.
WED 22:45 Barbara Kingsolver - Unsheltered (m0001l7m)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 today]
WED 23:00 The Damien Slash Mixtape (m00013w5)
Series 2
Episode 2
Multi-character YouTube star Damien Slash makes the move from online to Radio 4, in this new fast-paced, one-man sketch comedy show. From the surreal to the satirical, from the zeitgeist to the absurd, Damien serves up a range of high octane characters, all from his own voice. Adverts, actors, hipsters, trolls - no aspect of modern life is left un-skewered.
Written by and starring Damien Slash (aka Daniel Barker).
Guest starring Natasia Demetriou
Production coordinated by Hayley Sterling
Produced by Matt Stronge
A BBC Studios production.
WED 23:15 Pam Ayres at Christmas (b06scz8z)
Much-loved poet, comedienne and broadcaster Pam Ayres brings us 'Operation Christmas'.
This Christmas for the first time ever, long-married Pam and Gordon are on their own. But how to spend the festive season? A posh hotel? A cruise? Extreme sports?
Fortunately the crisis is resolved by a letter from the NHS....
Written by Pam Ayres
Starring Pam Ayres as Pam and Geoffrey Whitehead as Gordon.
Produced by Claire Jones
WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (m0001l8x)
All the news from today's sitting at Westminster.
THURSDAY 20 DECEMBER 2018
THU 00:00 Midnight News (m0001l8z)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
THU 00:30 Book of the Week (m0001l75)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m0001l91)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m0001l93)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m0001l95)
The latest shipping forecast
THU 05:30 News Briefing (m0001l97)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m0001l99)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Rev Rose Hudson Wilkin
THU 05:45 Farming Today (m0001l9c)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside
THU 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03k7177)
Knot
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
David Attenborough presents the knot. Knot are dumpy waders which breed in the high Arctic but winter in hundreds of thousands on our estuaries and salt-marshes. Crammed together shoulder to shoulder at the water's edge, you can see how they got their scientific name Calidris canutus...a tribute to King Canute who discovered, despite his best attempts, that he didn't have the power to turn back the tides.
THU 06:00 Today (m0001m6z)
News and current affairs, including Yesterday in Parliament, Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
THU 09:00 In Our Time (m0001m73)
The Poor Laws
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss how, from 1834, poor people across England and Wales faced new obstacles when they could no longer feed or clothe themselves, or find shelter. Parliament, in line with the ideas of Jeremy Bentham and Thomas Malthus, feared hand-outs had become so attractive, they stopped people working to support themselves, and encouraged families to have more children than they could afford. To correct this, under the New Poor Laws it became harder to get any relief outside a workhouse, where families would be separated, husbands from wives, parents from children, sisters from brothers. Many found this regime inhumane, while others protested it was too lenient, and it lasted until the twentieth century.
The image above was published in 1897 as New Year's Day in the Workhouse.
With
Emma Griffin
Professor of Modern British History at the University of East Anglia
Samantha Shave
Lecturer in Social Policy at the University of Lincoln
And
Steven King
Professor of Economic and Social History at the University of Leicester
Producer: Simon Tillotson
THU 09:45 Book of the Week (m0001m90)
Bolder: Making the Most of Our Longer Lives
Episode 4
How do we make the most of our longer lives?
Journalist Carl Honoré brought the Slow Movement to wider attention with his book ‘In Praise of Slow’. Now he charts a major shift in our approach to ageing as he meets the revolutionaries who are inspiring us to live better for longer. As his journey continues, Carl discovers that what we see really does influence how we feel.
Read by Darren Boyd
Abridged by Eileen Horne
Produced by Eilidh McCreadie
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (m0001m77)
The programme that offers a female perspective on the world
THU 10:45 15 Minute Drama (m0001m79)
The Haunting of M.R. James
A Warning to the Curious
by the master of the ghost story, M.R. James. The unearthing of an Anglo Saxon crown in the dunes unleashes supernatural forces for unfortunate medievalist Paxton.
dramatised by Neil Brand
M.R. James ..... Mark Gatiss
Paxton ..... Paul Heath
Jeffers ..... Michael Bertenshaw
Long ..... Tony Turner
Vicarl ..... Ewan Bailey
Molly ..... Saffron Coomber
Woman ..... Clare Corbett
Director: David Hunter
THU 11:00 Crossing Continents (m0001m7c)
DNA, Me and the Family Tree
Where do you come from? Tracing your ancestry in the USA is one of the most popular hobbies along with gardening and golf. TV is awash with advertising for the do-it-yourself genetic testing kits which have become much sought after gifts, especially at Christmas time. The kits have revolutionised family tree research and gone are the days of sifting through old documents. But, as Lucy Ash reports, the DNA results are now revealing far more than many had bargained for. How do you react when you find out your mother had a secret affair half a century ago…and the man who raised you isn’t your dad? Produced by Charlotte McDonald.
THU 11:30 The Noisy Page (m0001m7f)
Imagine putting your ear to Great Expectations like a shell - and hearing it whisper to you. Not the text itself, but a distillation of its sound-world - a beetle running across Miss Havisham's wedding table, the claustrophobic atmosphere of Satis House, the clink of Joe Gargery's hammer in the forge - everything you'd hear if you could walk through the pages of the book, mixed together to create "essence-of-Dickens".
Multi-award-winning documentary-maker Cathy FitzGerald listens in on fictional soundscapes by Edgar Allan Poe, Richard Wright, Virginia Woolf and more. She hears how the relationship between sound and literature has become a fashionable academic topic of late and imagines what a visit to a library of these noisy novels might be like.
With contributions from musician and author David Toop, writer Zoe Gilbert and academics Anna Snaith (Kings College, London) and Jennifer Lynn Stoever (Binghampton University). We also hear from poets Michelle Penn and Rishi Dastidar, hard at work in the Department of Onomatopoetics.
Presenter and Producer: Cathy FitzGerald
A White Stiletto production for BBC Radio 4
THU 12:00 News Summary (m0001ndw)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 12:04 Barbara Kingsolver - Unsheltered (m0001m7k)
Episode 14
Alternating between two centuries, Barbara Kingsolver's new novel examines the personal and social shocks that ensue when people’s assumptions about the world and their place in it are shaken to their foundations.
Ultimately, Willa can't save her house but there good news and hope for the future.
Abridged by Sian Preece
Read by Laurel Lefkow
Producer: Gaynor Macfarlane
THU 12:18 You and Yours (m0001m7m)
Radio 4's consumer affairs programme.
THU 12:57 Weather (m0001m7p)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 13:00 World at One (m0001m7r)
Mon-Thurs: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Sarah Montague. Fri: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Mark Mardell.
THU 13:45 The Creation of an Icon (m0001m7t)
Shinning with Divine Splendour
Day four in iconographer Aidan Hart's studio. As he continues to paint an icon Aidan Hart talks about transfiguration and how to use paint to create a divine light.
You can see how he creates the icon in the picture gallery on the programme's website.
Producer: Phil Pegum
THU 14:00 The Archers (m0001l8k)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 Tracks (p06rtws9)
Series 3: Tracks - Chimera
Episode Eight
Part 8 of the conspiracy thriller. Written by Matthew Broughton, starring Hattie Morahan and Jonathan Forbes.
Helen discovers the truth behind her mystery pregnancy.
A gripping thriller, chart topping podcast and winner of Best Sound (BBC Audio Drama Awards) and Best Fiction (British Podcast Awards), now Tracks is back with another 9 part headphone filling thrill-ride.
Helen…. Hattie Morahan
Freddy….. Jonathan Forbes
Rachel…. Fiona O’Shaughnessy
Mrs Soames…. Emma Handy
Dr Grace…. Claire Cage
Dawn…. Saffron Coomber
Doctor…. Sean Murray
Andrea…. Eiry Thomas
Directed by James Robinson
A BBC Cymru Wales Production
THU 15:00 Open Country (m0001m7x)
Moorland on the mend
Countryside magazine featuring the people and wildlife that shape the landscape of Britain
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (m0001m7z)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 Open Book (m0001m81)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Sunday]
THU 16:00 The Film Programme (m0001m83)
Christmas Presents
With Antonia Quirke
Critics Tim Robey and Larushka Ivan-Zadeh and cinema programme Clare Binns swap gifts around the imaginary Film Programme tree and discuss the best films of 2018.
THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (m0001m85)
Gareth Mitchell investigates the news in science and science in the news.
THU 17:00 PM (m0001m87)
PM at
5pm: interviews, context and analysis.
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m0001m89)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 18:30 John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme (b086s7dk)
Series 6
Episode 2
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, and Carrie Quinlan.
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.
2/6
This week on Souvenir Programme, John makes a decision on behalf of the nation; delivers an unusual rhythm; and has a bright idea about money. And, well... Since you ask him for a tale of strange transformations...
Written by & starring ... John Finnemore
Cast ... Margaret Cabourn-Smith
Cast ... Simon Kane
Cast ... Lawry Lewin
Cast ... Carrie Quinlan
Production Coordinator...Sophie Richardson
Producer ... Ed Morrish
A BBC Studios Production.
THU 19:00 The Archers (m0001m8c)
Elizabeth is left terrified and Emma finds herself in a sticky situation
THU 19:15 Front Row (m0001m8f)
Live daily magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
THU 19:45 15 Minute Drama (m0001m79)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
THU 20:00 The Briefing Room (m0001m8h)
Current affairs series combining original insights into major news stories with topical investigations.
THU 20:30 In Business (m0001m8k)
The Business of Sleep
David Baker suffers from insomnia. He's not alone in that, and there's a growing global industry being set up to deal with the problem - which has a clear impact on lives, workplaces and productivity. From posh mattresses to pillow sprays, books and sleep workshops, there’s money to be made from curing our sleeplessness.
Producer: Smita Patel
THU 21:00 BBC Inside Science (m0001m85)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 today]
THU 21:30 In Our Time (m0001m73)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (m0001m8n)
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.
THU 22:45 Barbara Kingsolver - Unsheltered (m0001m7k)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 today]
THU 23:00 TEZ Talks (m0001m8q)
Series 3
14. Make Christmas Great Again
Series 3. Episode 6. Make Christmas Great Again
Comedian Tez Ilyas returns for a third series of TEZ Talks.
In this episode Tez gives his thoughts on Christmas.
Written and performed by... Tez Ilyas
Produced by... Carl Cooper
This is a BBC Studios Production.
THU 23:15 The Pin (b07v2ncp)
Series 2
Ep 2: Shoestring
Following a hugely successful first series, which drew praise from the likes of David Walliams and Ben Stiller, Alex and Ben are back with their weird twist on the double-act sketch show. Strap in for a 15-minute delve in to a world of oddness performed in front of a live studio audience.
This week, The Pin are out to prove their accountant wrong, and make a great show on a budget.
About The Pin
The Pin are an award-winning comedy duo, and legends of Edinburgh festival. They deconstruct the sketch form, in a show that exists somewhere between razor-sharp smartness and utterly joyous silliness.
After a sold-out run in Edinburgh, and a string of hilarious performances across BBC Radio 4 Extra, BBC 3, Channel 4, and Comedy Central, this is The Pin’s debut solo show for Radio 4. Join them as they celebrate, make, collapse and rebuild their jokes, each other, and probably the radio too.
For fans of Adam and Joe, Vic and Bob, and Fist of Fun - a show of absurd offerings from two loveable idiots.
- 'The Pin prove it's still possible to play with the conventions of the medium of sketch comedy.’ - The Guardian
- 'Knowing and inventive: a 15 minute blast.' - The Times
- 'The sketches are funny, and made special by Ben Ashenden and Alexander Owen also examining, subverting and reversing familiar tropes. The material is excellent.' - Radio Times
- 'Eviscerating their chosen form completely.' - The Sunday Times
- 'A very classy, very funny show indeed.' - The Telegraph
Producer: Sam Bryant
A BBC Studios Production
THU 23:30 Today in Parliament (m0001m8t)
All the news from today's sitting at Westminster.
THU 23:55 The Listening Project (m0001m8w)
Mother and daughter – Defined by my career
Mother and daughter reflect on retirement and how women's working lives have changed between generations. Fi Glover presents another conversation in a series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.
FRIDAY 21 DECEMBER 2018
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (m0001m8y)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
FRI 00:30 Book of the Week (m0001m90)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Thursday]
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m0001m92)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m0001m94)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m0001m96)
The latest shipping forecast
FRI 05:30 News Briefing (m0001m98)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m0001m9b)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Rev Rose Hudson Wilkin
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (m0001m9d)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside
FRI 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03mg1dc)
Song Thrush (Winter)
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
David Attenborough presents the story of the song thrush and reads a passage from Thomas Hardy's poem, The Darkling Thrush.
Written at the end of the 19th century, this poem is about the hope that birdsong can bring at the bleakest time of the year. This episode examines how often song thrushes sing in winter.
FRI 06:00 Today (m0001p60)
Radio 4's flagship news and current affairs programme; including Thought for the Day
FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (m0001mtb)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:15 on Sunday]
FRI 09:45 Book of the Week (m0001p62)
Bolder: Making the Most of Our Longer Lives
Episode 5
How do we make the most of our longer lives?
Journalist Carl Honoré brought the Slow Movement to wider attention with his book ‘In Praise of Slow’. Now he charts a major shift in our approach to ageing as he meets the revolutionaries who are inspiring us to live better for longer. As his journey concludes, Carl makes some unexpected discoveries about love and sex after the first flush of youth.
Read by Darren Boyd
Abridged by Eileen Horne
Produced by Eilidh McCreadie
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (m0001p64)
The programme that offers a female perspective on the world
FRI 10:45 15 Minute Drama (m0001p66)
The Haunting of M.R. James
Rats
by the master of the ghost story, M.R. James. A remote inn, a locked room and young Thomson, the only guest, is curious.
dramatised by Neil Brand
M.R. James ..... Mark Gatiss
Thomson ..... George Watkins
Betts ..... Michael Bertenshaw
Mrs Betts ..... Carolyn Pickles
Stewart ..... Sean Baker
Director: David Hunter
FRI 11:00 Designing Dundee (b0bgc00j)
AL Kennedy grew up in Dundee in the 1970s and remembers a litany of industrial decline, council corruption and dodgy developments. So when she heard the V&A was coming to the city, she couldn't help feeling sceptical.
Returning to her home town today she discovers a dramatic transformation along the waterfront with the new V&A Dundee, Scotland's first design museum, providing a beautiful new public space. ALK can hardly believe her eyes.
Traditionally, Dundee is not a city that shouts about its achievements, struggling to have its voice heard over the din of looms in the jute mills and more widely eclipsed in favour of Glasgow's patter and Edinburgh's prim posh. Now though, there's a new confidence in Dundee's creative community, with writers celebrating its distinct dialect, street art cropping up in hidden corners and a vibrant music scene has grown from the town's folk heritage. It's also high time everyone knew that design triumphs from The Beano to Grand Theft Auto were made in Dundee.
The question is, will all this creative capital have a tangible, positive impact on the citizens of Dundee. AL Kennedy visits Art Angel, where people experiencing mental health issues create art, and finds that for some, art provides the most valuable lifeline. It remains to be seen if the cultural regeneration of Dundee will have the same effect.
Credit: Hufton+Crow
FRI 11:30 Time Spanner (m0001p68)
The Dan in the High Castle
A new episode of the time-travelling adventure-cum-love story narrated by the first dog in space (played by John Finnemore) and starring Simon Kane as Martin Gaye, a man with the most powerful object in the universe stuck up his nose; David Mitchell as power-hungry reality TV star Daniel Kraken; Sally Phillips as an angel with very poor judgement; John Finnemore as Laika, the Russian space dog; London Hughes as Gabbie Hayes, the world's most optimistic charity worker; and Jeremy Limb as Mister Mergatroid, a love-sick talking robot.
Following on from last year's episode that went out as part of Radio 4's Day of Misrule, Martin Gaye is torn between using the Time Spanner to travel into the future to save humanity from certain destruction, and using it as a way to spend more time with the woman he met this morning. And the more the angel who gave him the Spanner tries to persuade him off the importance of his mission, the more he gets pre-occupied by Gabbie, who he is already sure she is the light-bulb in his lampshade.
Meanwhile Daniel Kraken will stop at nothing to get his hands on the Spanner, if only his private army of Yellowcoats were able to open a door without detailed step by step instructions, and there are sinister forces in Heaven getting ready to take back the Spanner for themselves...
Written by Simon Kane
Martin Gaye - Simone Kane
Daniel Kraken - David Mitchell
The Angel - Sally Phillips
Gabbie - London Hughes
Laika - John Finnemore
Mr Mergatroid - Jeremy Limb
Produced by Gareth Edwards
FRI 12:00 News Summary (m0001p6c)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 12:04 Barbara Kingsolver - Unsheltered (m0001p6f)
Episode 15
Alternating between two centuries, Barbara Kingsolver's new novel examines the personal and social shocks that ensue when people’s assumptions about the world and their place in it are shaken to their foundations.
Unexpected treasures are uncovered as both Willa and Thatcher face the future.
Abridged by Sian Preece
Read by Laurel Lefkow and Patrick Kennedy
Producer: Gaynor Macfarlane
FRI 12:18 Four Seasons (m0001p6h)
Poems for the Winter Solstice
A collection of seasonal poems for the winter solstice to mark the turn of the season. Poets Caroline Bird and Vanessa Kissule join actors Simon Russell Beale, Juliet Stevenson, Anton Lesser and Siobhan Redmond to share readings of much loved and memorable verse. There is rain, snow, darkness and warmth to mark the shortest day of the year.
FRI 12:20 You and Yours (m0001p6k)
Radio 4's consumer affairs programme.
FRI 12:57 Weather (m0001p6m)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 13:00 World at One (m0001p6p)
Mon-Thurs: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Sarah Montague. Fri: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Mark Mardell.
FRI 13:43 Four Seasons (m0001p6r)
Poems for the Winter Solstice
A collection of seasonal poems to mark the turn of the seasons
FRI 13:45 The Creation of an Icon (m0001p6t)
Halos
Aidan Hart is painting an icon to mark the season of Advent. Today he puts in the finishing touches and explains how the halo has changed through history and the connection between icons and modern art.
You can see how Aidan created this icon by going to the picture gallery on the programme's webpage.
Producer: Phil Pegum
Series Producer: Amanda Hancox
FRI 14:00 The Archers (m0001m8c)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Drama (m0001p6w)
The Moon That Night
On Christmas Eve, delayed by the seasonal diaspora traffic out of London, a family of four arrives just in time for the Christingle service at the 14th century Anglican church beside their country cottage - a second home, where they plan to spend Christmas.
It's a cold night, but luckily the villager who is the key-holder, keeping an eye on the cottage on the 300 plus days they don't use it, will have turned up the Aga and lit the wood-burning stove.
Reaching the church as the service begins, they sing carols, including the one about King Wenceslas who, when “brightly shone the moon that night”, gave hospitality to a poor man he saw in the snow. The Vicar takes that hymn as the gift for her homily, stressing the importance in these bleak and austere times of helping the poor.
After congratulating the vicar on her sermon and exchanging seasonal greetings, the family get to the cottage, surprised that the lights have been left on. The door is also, oddly, unlocked and, inside, they find that the key-holder, a single mother, and her child have moved in after being unable to pay the rent on their flat.
“You have two houses. We don’t have one now. So…”
The family faces a clash between their Christmas plans and their liberal / Christian principles, with generational tension between the parents and children over the obligations of charity and equity. Are they prepared to share their home and hospitality?
Cast
ANTHONY – Tim McInnerny
EMILY - Juliet Aubrey
RUBY - Macy Nyman
RUFUS* - Tom Glenister
REV JULIE - Amaka Okafor
TESS - Jeany Spark
Written by Mark Lawson
Directed by Eoin O’Callaghan
A Big Fish Radio production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m0001p6y)
West Yorkshire
Eric Robson and the panel are in West Yorkshire. Answering the horticultural questions are Neil Porteus, Bunny Guinness and Matthew Wilson.
Produced by Hannah Newton
Assistant producer: Rosie Merotra
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 15:45 Short Works (m0001p70)
My Sister Biira, by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi
The award winning writer Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi's new short story, specially written for Radio 4, is all about a family secret. Babirye Bukilwa is the reader.
Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi is a Ugandan novelist and short story writer. In 2014 she won the Commonwealth Short Story Prize for her story, Let's Tell This Story Properly, and her debut novel, Kintu was published in 2018.
Produced by Elizabeth Allard
FRI 16:00 Four Seasons (m0001p72)
Poems for the Winter Solstice
A collection of seasonal poems to mark the turn of the seasons
FRI 16:03 Last Word (m0001p74)
Matthew Bannister tells the life stories of people who have recently died, from the rich and famous to unsung but significant.
FRI 16:30 Feedback (m0001p76)
Radio 4's forum for comments, queries, criticisms and congratulations
FRI 17:00 PM (m0001p78)
PM at
5pm: interviews, context and analysis.
FRI 17:58 Four Seasons (m0001p7b)
Poems for the Winter Solstice
A collection of seasonal poems to mark the turn of the seasons
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m0001p7d)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 18:30 Dead Ringers (m0001p7g)
Christmas Specials 2018
Episode 3
Satire and impressions from Jon Culshaw, Jan Ravens, Duncan Wisbey, Lewis MacLeod and Debra Stephenson.
The series is written by Private Eye writers Tom Jamieson and Nev Fountain, together with Tom Coles, Ed Amsden, Laurence Howarth and others.
A BBC Studios Production.
FRI 19:00 The Archers (m0001p7j)
Writer ..... Liz John
Director ..... Kim Greengrass
Editor ..... Jeremy Howe
Jill Archer ..... Patricia Greene
David Archer ..... Timothy Bentinck
Ben Archer ...... Ben Norris
Pat Archer ..... Patricia Gallimore
Helen Archer ..... Louiza Patikas
Tom Archer ..... William Troughton
Brian Aldridge .... Charles Collingwood
Jennifer Aldridge ..... Angela Piper
Ruairi Donovan ..... Arthur Hughes
PC Harrison Burns ..... James Cartwright
Justin Elliott ..... Simon Williams
Eddie Grundy ..... Trevor Harrison
Emma Grundy ..... Emerald O'Hanrahan
Ed Grundy ..... Barry Farrimond
Shula Hebden Lloyd ..... Judy Bennett
Kirsty Miller ..... Annabelle Dowler
Elizabeth Pargetter ….. Alison Dowling
Lily Pargetter ..... Katie Redford
Lynda Snell ..... Carole Boyd
Roy Tucker ..... Ian Pepperell
Lee ..... Ryan Early
Russ ..... Andonis James Antony
FRI 19:15 Front Row (m0001p7l)
Live daily magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
FRI 19:45 15 Minute Drama (m0001p66)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (m0001p7n)
Joanna Cherry MP, Jacob Rees Mogg MP, Keir Starmer MP
Jonathan Dimbleby presents topical debate from St John's Wood Church in London with a panel including the SNP MP Joanna Cherry, the Chairman of the European Research Group Jacob Rees Mogg MP, and the Shadow Brexit Secretary Keir Starmer MP.
Producer: Lisa Jenkinson
FRI 20:50 A Point of View (m0001p7q)
Weekly reflections on topical issues from a range of contributors.
FRI 21:00 Living With The Gods (m0001p7s)
Living With The Gods Omnibus
One God or Many
Neil MacGregor continues the omnibus editions of his series on the expression of shared beliefs in communities around the world and across time.
In this programme he considers the societies that live with one God - and those that live with many. He explores the communities that share the world around them with the spirits that inhabit particular places. He also visits communities living not only with their own gods but with the gods of others.
Producer Paul Kobrak
The series is produced in partnership with the British Museum, with the assistance of Dr Christopher Harding, University of Edinburgh.
Photograph (c) The Trustees of the British Museum.
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (m0001p7v)
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.
FRI 22:45 Barbara Kingsolver - Unsheltered (m0001p6f)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 today]
FRI 23:00 Great Lives (m0001mf6)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 on Tuesday]
FRI 23:30 Today in Parliament (m0001p7x)
All the news from today's sitting at Westminster.
FRI 23:55 Four Seasons (m0001p7z)
Poems for the Winter Solstice
A collection of seasonal poems to mark the turn of the seasons