Gillian Tindall’s reflection on family and social history and the changing meaning of the objects that survive the passing of time is a fascinating exploration into memory, loss and how we construct the past.
Most of the objects that surround us, no matter how important in their time, will eventually be lost and forgotten. But a few, for reasons of sentiment, chance, conservation or simple inaction, escape destruction and gain new meanings. A toy train, a stack of letters in a family attic, a piece of medical equipment long out of use - each opens a window into the past and prompts an exploration into the nature of permanence.
In The Pulse Glass and the Beat of Other Hearts, Tindall explores what has survived of her own family’s history, as well as the remnants of a wider social history, glimpsed through the chance survival of artefacts that have survived against the odds of history and forgetting.
In the final episode, the story of a statue in the wood near her house in France brings Gillian to the moment when she must leave that house behind, and with it part of her own past. As she does so, she remembers again her brother, whose death began her exploration of memory and meaning.
Gillian Tindall is a novelist and historian. She combines a sharp eye for the detail of individual and domestic history with an imaginative understanding of the social and political geography of the past to find and follow the traces of past lives that survive all around us. She has written on the history of Kentish Town (The Fields Beneath), on the history of London’s Southbank through the generations living in one house (The House by the Thames), on a village in rural France through the letters written to one young girl (Celestine: Voices From a French Village), on her own family’s connection with the Left Bank in Paris (Footsteps in Paris), and on London’s past through the route to be followed by Crossrail (The Tunnel Through Time). She has lived in the same house in London for over fifty years.
Spiritual reflection to start the day with writer and broadcaster Anna Magnusson.
"Why is it so difficult to predict the weather?" asks Isabella Webber, aged 21 from Vienna.
"I am sure there are many intelligent meteorologists and it seems rather straight forward to calculate wind speed, look at the clouds, and data from the past to make accurate predictions, but yet it’s not possible."
Adam delves into the history of forecasting with author Andrew Blum, beginning with the mystery of a lost hot air balloon full of Arctic explorers.
Hannah visits the BBC Weather Centre to talk to meteorologist and presenter Helen Willetts about how forecasting has changed, and whether people get annoyed at her if she gets the forecast wrong.
Plus mathematician Steven Strogatz suggests a chaotic explanation as to why we can't produce the perfect forecast.
The latest news headlines. Including the weather and a look at the papers.
Some people dream of canoeing up the Zambezi, or exploring Venice by gondola, but Ian Marchant has always dreamed of the world's least romantic waterway: the Witham Navigable Drains, near Boston in Lincolnshire. And there is romance and beauty here. And grand sluices, mighty pumps and a box or two of maggots.
News and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
Aasmah Mir and Richard Coles are joined by Barbara Taylor Bradford who has just published her 37th book. Age 15 she started in the typing pool for a newspaper and was in Fleet Street as a reporter age 20. She published her first novel, A Woman of Substance, in 1979 and has sold 90 million books world wide.
Also in the studio is David Loftus, who is a lone identical twin whose brother John died shortly after their 24th birthday. At the start of 2018 he set himself the challenge of writing a daily memoir reflecting on the events of just over 30 years ago leading up to his brother’s tragic death.
Brenda Edwards is with us - she finally realised her dream of performing on the stage by entering the X factor in her mid 30s and is now appearing on the West End
and Simon Yates who, during a climb up the Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes, infamously cut the rope of his climbing partner Joe Simpson as depicted in the book, film and now play, Touching the Void.
As well as your thank yous, we have the inheritance tracks of conductor and violinist Andre Rieu who chooses Sphärenklänge by Josef Strauss and What a Wonderful World performed by Louis Armstrong.
Greg James digs into the BBC's archives, using current stories as a portal to the past.
Adam Fleming and the BBC's politics team bring you the essential guide to the 2019 UK general election.
Throughout Sri Lanka's decades long conflict, attention has focused on the confrontation between the majority Sinhalese and the minority Tamils. The country’s Muslims, who are just 10 per cent of the population and see themselves as a separate ethnic group, have often been ignored. But that changed after this year's Easter Sunday attacks, carried out by a small cell of Sri Lankan Islamists, which claimed 250 lives. Since then many Muslims feel they have been demonised and ostracised. Our South Asia editor Jill McGivering has been in the main city, Colombo, to investigate.
Over the past few weeks there has been a fierce crackdown by the Iranian authorities on protests across the country. The number of fatalities keeps being revised upwards, but getting precise details is tricky when the Iranian government seems determined to keep outsiders and its own citizens in the dark. As Jiyar Gol explains, even under normal conditions, BBC Persian’s journalists, who broadcast to 30 million around the world and inside the country, must resort to ingenious tactics to gather and broadcast the news. In the middle of popular unrest and a media blackout, their job is even harder.
Celebrations have been taking place in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, after the transitional authorities officially dissolved the former ruling party of the deposed president, Omar al Bashir. Our former Sudan correspondent James Copnall went back to explore the changes and began in a girls' school in Khartoum. He found a new openness in almost every conversation and that newly gained freedoms have also led to a series of unprecedented street protests.
Protests are back again in the Georgian capital Tbilisi as thousands demand electoral reform. Recently police used water cannons to disperse protesters picketing the parliament building. Campaigners want a switch to proportional representation which they say would ensure a more democratic multi- party parliament. Since 2012 the country’s legislature has been dominated by the governing Georgian Dream party. Rayhan Demytrie talks to those who fear that Georgia’s fragile democracy may be at risk, thanks to one man -a billionaire with a James Bond style hilltop lair.
And how do you cover protests as a journalist when you are also pumping breast milk? Our South America correspondent Katy Watson needs to keep up the supply of milk for her new baby but she doesn't have an office job where she can plug a in pump and sit at a desk.
The latest news from the world of personal finance plus advice for those trying to make the most of their money.
Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis present the week via topical stand-up and sketches. They're joined by Jessica Fostekew, Glenn Moore, Jess Robinson and Luke Kempner.
It was written by the cast with additional material by Rose Johnson, Mike Shephard, Laura Major and Zoe Tomalin.
Chris Mason presents debate from Cardiff's St Teilo's Church in Wales High School with Brexit Party MEP Ben Habib, Plaid Cymru AM Delyth Jewell , Labour parliamentary candidate Stephen Kinnock and the Transport Secretary Grant Shapps.
Part one of Grossman's dark and honest account of the epic battle of Stalingrad; a prequel to his novel Life and Fate.
The Radio 4 adaptation of Life and Fate triggered an enormous revival of enthusiasm for this towering Russian novel of the twentieth century, and the extraordinary life and work of its author Vasily Grossman.
Now Kenneth Branagh, Greta Scacchi and Mark Bonnar star in Grossman’s prequel to Life and Fate, newly published in its first ever English translation by Richard and Elizabeth Chandler.
Stalingrad explores the approach of war to the city of Stalingrad, through the many lives of the Shaposhnikov family and their partners. Atomic scientist Viktor Shtrum struggles with his work for the Soviet state, while his family live, love and work despite swirling rumours, to run the city’s power stations, factories and hospitals.
Meanwhile at the front, we meet old-school Bolshevik Commissar Nikolai Krymov in the thick of the Russian army’s pell-mell retreat before Operation Barbarossa, and follow the 'unknown' soldiers on the battlefield, giving their lives to hold the line at the Volga.
After three years of agonised rewrites under the censors' gaze, Stalingrad was finally published in the USSR to universal acclaim, though Grossman was soon being denounced for depicting Russians who were not always heroes. But as a former war correspondent, Grossman was determined to tell the dark and honest truth of the epic battle of Stalingrad, and the men and women caught up in it.
The whole of Grossman’s War, including Radio 4’s dramatisation of Life and Fate, is now available on BBC Sounds.
Viktor Shtrum ….. Kenneth Branagh,
Lyuda Shaposhnikova ..... Greta Scacchi
Alexandra ….. Ann Mitchell
Zhenya ….. Doon Mackichan
Stepan Spiridonov ….. Kenneth Cranham
Nina ….. Danusia Samal
Vera ….. Scarlett Courtney
Tolya ….. Will Kirk
Novikov ….. Rick Warden
Lenya ….. Greg Jones
Pryahkin ….. Clive Hayward
Yeremenko ….. Neil McCaul
Apparatchik ….. Adam Courting
Driver ….. Ikky Elias
Woman….. Sinead MacInnes
Original music composed by John Hardy, with Rob Whitehead, and performed by Oliver Wilson-Dixon, Tom Jackson, Stacey Blythe, and Max Pownall.
The rise of moths eating people's clothes and carpets has been well documented. Recently, English Heritage found that infestation levels were "alarmingly high" in southern England. But the insects are spreading further afield. And they can be very difficult to get rid of.
Presenter Felicity Evans - who is also BBC Wales' Political Editor - has some living under her floorboards. Having tried everything from obsessive vacuuming to getting holes drilled in her floor and insecticide powder sprayed, she is now turning to an unusual new method of control.
A commercial treatment originally for warehouses and theatres, she has installed a product designed to spread sexual confusion and interfere with the mating process. As a human who went through her own bout of sexual confusion in her teens, she is hoping to be immune to the effect of the pheromones, but can they stop the moths?
As these voracious pests continue to gain ground around the country Felicity asks if there's any sure way to prevent Mothmageddon.
Dr. Christian Baars, National Museum of Wales
After deaths in the US and bans around the world, how risky are e-cigarettes? In some countries, smokeless cigarettes are all the rage. In the UK, doctors say if smokers switch from tobacco to e-cigarettes, it will save lives. But in the US, where the authorities are investigating an outbreak of lung injury linked to vaping, they’re advising vapers to consider stopping. In India, Mexico and dozens of other countries, vaping is banned altogether. It’s a confused international picture.
Vaping is still relatively new and scientists are still researching how harmful it may be in the long-term. What we do know is that every year, eight million people die worldwide as a consequence of smoking tobacco. What are the potential health risks associated with vaping? We’ll find out from our expert witnesses, who include a neuroscientist, a pulmonary critical care doctor and a professor of nicotine and tobacco studies.
(A young woman smoking an electronic cigarette at the vape shop. Credit: Getty images)
Niamh Cusack, Kim Longinotto, Laura Dockrill, Rick Wakeman, Marry Waterson & Emily Barker, Athena Kugblenu, Clive Anderson
Clive Anderson and Athena Kugblenu are joined by Niamh Cusack, Laura Dockrill and Kim Longinotto for an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy. With music from Rick Wakeman and Marry Waterson & Emily Barker.
In the headlines this week was Chief Rabbi of the United Synagogue, Ephraim Mirvis.
Just weeks before the general election he made it clear that he believed Jeremy Corbyn was unfit to become PM because of his record on dealing with anti-Semitism within the Labour party - though Mr Corbyn said the party had taken "rapid and effective" action.
Edward Stourton traces the Chief Rabbi's story, which begins with a childhood in apartheid South Africa. His tenure as Chief Rabbi has been marked by a few liberalising initiatives, which have ruffled feathers and caused some disquiet within the wider Jewish community.
But observers might wonder if the initiatives have gone far enough. He is used to controversy within his own community, but unused to being in the wider public's gaze.
So what persuaded Ephraim Mirvis to enter the political fray and what does his intervention tell us about the man?
Sharp, critical discussion of the week's cultural events, with Tom Sutcliffe and guests
Georgia Bergman, who was Mick Jagger’s personal assistant in 1969, returns to the scene of one of rock’s most notorious concerts. She gives an insider’s perspective on the cultural impact of the event, detailing why it happened, what went wrong and how the concert marked the end of the 60s hippie dream.
Georgia is joined by others who worked with the Rolling Stones at the Altamont concert on December 6, 1969 - including their Business Manager Ron Schneider, the Tour Manager Sam Cutler, Production Designer Chip Monck, film maker Albert Maysles, photographer Eamon McCabe and journalist Michael Lydon.
Agnes is staying at her father's country residence and finds herself right in the middle of a new story when the infamous 'Captain Swing' returns, destroying her father's beloved steam plough. Campaigning newspaper editor Charles Dickens begins investigations but Agnes realises that there is much more at stake than broken and burnt property.
Dickens ..... Jamie Glover
Agnes ..... Jasmine Hyde
Jack ..... Freddy White
Patty ..... Jasmine Callan
Tom ..... Anthony Glennon
Joseph Paxton ..... John Dougall
Mrs. Drake ..... Ann Beach
The post-war novel that summed up middle-class white America and established John Updike as the major American author of his generation. Rabbit, Run is the first in a virtuoso Pullitzer Prize-wining quintet featuring hapless Harry Angstrom, whom we meet as a 26 year old former high school basketball star and suburban paragon in the midst of a personal crisis.
Rabbit and Ruth begin a romance of sorts after a one night stand - despite, or because of his recent escape from Janice, it is the start of a far more significant encounter.
Rabbit, Run established Updike as one of the major American novelists of his generation. In the New York Times he was praised for his "artful and supple" style in his "tender and discerning study of the desperate and the hungering in our midst's".
Radio 4 plans to broadcast all five novels in the series over the next few years.
Sima Kotecha chairs a special debate in Coventry exploring the values of diverse groups of young people, living, working and studying in the city. Can the participants come to a consensus about what it means to live a good life? At the end of the programme they are invited to come up with nine ‘truths’ – moral maxims to live by.
The cream of this year's competitors face Paul Gambaccini's questions in the contest to decide the 2019 Counterpoint champion. They'll be tested on their knowledge of music of all varieties, with 80s pop, Broadway musicals, Hollywood film scores and 19th century opera all in the mix. The winner will take home the trophy and become the 33rd person to be named Counterpoint champion since the quiz began in the 1980s.
Poet and proud Brummie Amerah Saleh takes us on a tour of the booming poetry scene in Birmingham.
From open mics to one of the city's biggest theatres, Amerah talks to the writers and performers turning Birmingham into a poetry power house. She meets people just starting out, emerging talent developing their skills, and artists established in the poetry world.
Young poets tell her about their motivation to perform in public. Emerging poet Shaun Hill speaks about coming up through small gigs and how the city has shaped his poetry. Established performer Jasmine Gardosi discusses two very different sides of Birmingham and Steven Camden, aka Polar Bear, talks about how being a Brummie is still at the heart of his work, even though he moved away.
SUNDAY 01 DECEMBER 2019
SUN 00:00 Midnight News (m000bv8s)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 00:30 Short Works (m000bs4f)
From Fact To Fiction: Waves
From Fact To Fiction: Waves by Hannah McGill. With controversies surrounding sexual identity and freedom of speech regularly making the headlines, today's short story compares three eras of feminist campaigning. The reader is Joanna Tope.
Producer: Bruce Young
SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000bv8v)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000bv8x)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000bv8z)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SUN 05:30 News Briefing (m000bv91)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (m000bv3m)
Bells on Sunday comes from the Parish Church of St Thomas, Norbury in Hazel Grove, Stockport
Bells on Sunday comes from the Parish Church of St Thomas, Norbury in Hazel Grove, Stockport. Originally cast as a peal of six bells in the late seventeenth century, they were augmented to eight with the addition of two new trebles in 1925. We hear them ringing Cambridge Surprise Major
SUN 05:45 Profile (m000btwc)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 06:00 News Headlines (m000bv1x)
The latest national and international news headlines.
SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b08qxfc2)
Clowning for God
Mark Tully asks priest and stand-up comedian, Maggy Whitehouse, how humour can puncture hypocrisy and piety in religious leaders and their congregations.
Together, they discus how holy fools can make people laugh at the pretentiousness of the powerful, the pomposity of the proud, and the absurdity of those who take themselves too seriously. They consider if Jesus himself sometimes acted as a jester, mocking human arrogance.
Mark also looks to Sufi traditions and the legendary satirical figure, Mulla Nasruddin, whose humour constantly humiliates those who feel they are above ordinary believers, demonstrating that we are all equal in the eyes of God.
Producer: Adam Fowler
A 7digital production for BCC Radio 4.
SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (m000bv1z)
Lizard Farming
Sarah Swadling discovers what it’s like to run the most southerly farm in mainland Britain. Rona and Neville Amiss graze their cattle and sheep on the clifftops at The Lizard in Cornwall. On a storm-blasted Autumn day they talk about coping with the worst, and best, the Atlantic Ocean throws at them and living in earshot of the lighthouse foghorn.
SUN 06:57 Weather (m000bv21)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 07:00 News and Papers (m000bv23)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 07:10 Sunday (m000bv25)
The First Sunday in Advent; Climate; Climate Change; Faith and Policing
It’s the first Sunday of Advent and churches and cathedrals across the country will be hosting carol concerts and services.. At Southwark Cathedral other preparations are underway for the festive season, from Santa schools to cookery workshops. Emily asks the Dean of Southwark Cathedral, Andrew Nunn what else they have in store.
Ahead of UN climate conference COP25 which starts in Madrid next week, Neil Thorns, Director of Advocacy & Communications at Catholic relief agency CAFOD and Chair of The Climate Coalition, talks hopes and aspirations for the meeting and how the Catholic Church is about to embark on a major push on the environment.
Police Constable Marie Reavey who is Chair of the Christian Police Association talks about a new resource to help faith based organisations partner with the police to help tackle social problems such as homelessness, isolation and addiction.
Producers
Carmel Lonergan
Catherine Earlam
Editor
Amanda Hancox
Picture copyright Southwark Cathedral.
SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Christmas Appeal (m000bv27)
The Radio 4 Christmas Appeal with St Martin-in-the-Fields 2019
The Revd Dr Sam Wells makes the Radio 4 Christmas Appeal for the work of St Martin-in-the-Fields with homeless and vulnerably housed people.
To Give:
- Freephone 0800 082 82 84
- Freepost St Martin's Christmas Appeal
- Cheques should be made payable to 'St Martin-in-the-Fields Christmas Appeal.'
- Online: search for Radio 4 Christmas Appeal
Reg Charity: 1156305 / 261359
The BBC Radio 4 Christmas Appeal with St Martin-in-the-Fields is now in its 93rd year. The money raised from this annual appeal supports homeless and vulnerable people across the UK, through the work of The Connection at St Martin's in London and the Vicar's Relief Fund around the country.
SUN 07:57 Weather (m000bv29)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 08:00 News and Papers (m000bv2c)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (m000bv2f)
Follow the Star - Looking Forward
Marking Advent Sunday from Holy Trinity Scottish Episcopal Church, Melrose, led by The Revd Philip Blackledge
and The Revd Rosie Frew, with an introduction by The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby.
The service takes as its theme the Church of England's Advent materials "Follow the Star."
Readings: Isaiah 2:1-5
Matthew: 24: 36-44
Hymns: Hills of the North, rejoice (Little Cornard)
Behold! The mountain of the Lord (Glasgow)
When out of poverty is born a dream that will not die (Kingsfold)
Lo, he comes with clouds descending (Helmsley)
Veni, Veni Emmanuel (Kodaly)
Conductor: James Lowe
Organist: Chris Achenbach.
Producer: Mo McCullough
SUN 08:48 A Point of View (b007wk86)
Clams Are Happy
Clive James ponders what makes us happy. In his own pursuit of happiness he sits on a bench in Central Park, relives his first slice of watermelon and considers the wise words of Lawrence of Arabia.
SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (b03thsg9)
Waxwing
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
John Aitchison presents the waxwing. Waxwings are winter visitors from Russia and Scandinavia where they breed in conifer forests. They head south to feed on berries and other fruits, and if these are in short supply on the Continent, the birds flood into the UK. It happens every few years or so and the sight of these punk-crested plunderers swarming over rowan and other berry-producing trees is sure to attract your attention.
SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (m000bv2h)
News with Paddy O'Connell including election analysis with our team of special advisers, the difficulty of coming out as HIV positive plus reviewing the news coverage - paralympian Lady Grey-Thompson and Brexit campaigner Suzanne Evans.
SUN 09:45 Radio 4 Christmas Appeal (m000c5sk)
Making a Difference
Aasmah Mir reports on how your donations from last year's Radio 4 Christmas Appeal with St Martin in-the-Fields have been spent on changing the lives of homeless people through the work of The Connection at St Martin's in London, and how crisis grants from the Vicar's Relief Fund have helped secure housing or have kept vulnerable people in accommodation all around the UK. The appeal is now in its 93rd year.
To Give:
- Freephone 0800 082 82 84.
- Send a cheque to FREEPOST St Martin's Christmas Appeal. Cheques should be made payable to St Martin-in-the-Fields Christmas Appeal.
- Or donate online via the Radio 4 website.
SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (m000bv2k)
Writer, Nick Warburton
Director, Jeremy Howe
Editor, Jeremy Howe
Jill Archer ….. Patricia Greene
David Archer ….. Timothy Bentinck
Ruth Archer.... Felicity Finch
Pip Archer ….. Daisy Badger
Helen Archer..... Louiza Patikas
Brian Aldridge ….. Charles Collingwood
Phoebe Aldridge ….. Lucy Morris
Harrison Burns ….. James Cartwright
Justin Elliott ….. Simon Williams
Rex Fairbrother ….. Nick Barber
Eddie Grundy ….. Trevor Harrison
Clarrie Grundy ….. Heather Bell
Will Grundy ….. Philip Molloy
Ed Grundy ….. Barry Farrimond
Kirsty Miller.... Annabelle Dowler
Tracy Horrobin ….. Susie Riddell
Elizabeth Pargetter ….. Alison Dowling
Freddie Pargetter.... Toby Laurence
Lily Pargetter ….. Katie Redford
Johnny Phillips ….. Tom Gibbons
Lynda Snell.... Carole Boyd
Oliver Sterling.... Michael Cochrane
Leonard Berry ….. Paul Copley
Russ Jones ….. Andonis James Anthony
Martyn Gibson..... Jon Glover
Bella.... Elinor Coleman
SUN 11:15 Desert Island Discs (m000bv2m)
Asif Kapadia, film director
Asif Kapadia is an Academy Award-winning film director, renowned for his documentaries about the musician Amy Winehouse, the Brazilian motor racing star Ayrton Senna, and the Argentinian footballer, Diego Maradona.
Born in 1972, Asif is the youngest of five children. His parents emigrated from Gujarat in the mid-1960s. His father’s ambition to seek his fortune took the family to the US for a short time in the late 70s, but by 1980 they had returned to London. Asif grew up in Hackney, and describes his all-boys secondary school as tough. His mother was ill while he was taking his GCSEs, and he vowed never to sit exams again. At 17, he worked as a runner on a film and so enjoyed feeling part of a crew that he decided he wanted to make a career in the industry.
He studied film at the Newport Film School, going on to the Polytechnic of Central London where his graduation film, Indian Tales, was highly regarded. His 1997 Royal College of Art graduation film, The Sheep Thief, shot in Rajasthan in the Hindi language, won a prize at Cannes. He made two feature films, The Warrior which won two Baftas, and Far North, which was filmed close to the North Pole.
His first documentary was Senna, which was widely acclaimed and won two Baftas. Asif used the same collage technique - drawing on camcorder snippets, TV news, and entertainment specials – on Amy, his film about Amy Winehouse. It won an Oscar, a Bafta and a Grammy Award and surpassed Senna to become the highest grossing documentary of all time in the UK. His latest documentary is about the footballer Diego Maradona: he calls it “the third part of a trilogy about child geniuses and fame”.
Asif is married to Victoria Harwood with whom he has two sons.
Presenter: Lauren Laverne
Producer: Cathy Drysdale
SUN 12:00 News Summary (m000bv2p)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 12:04 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (m000blx6)
Series 72
New Theatre Royal, Portsmouth
The nation's favourite wireless entertainment pays a visit to the New Theatre Royal in Portsmouth. Tim Brooke-Taylor and Tony Hawks compete against Rachel Parris and Marcus Brigstocke with Jack Dee in the chair. Colin Sell provides piano accompaniment. Producer - Jon Naismith. It is a BBC Studios production.
SUN 12:32 The Food Programme (m000bv2r)
Eating Animals Part 2: A Meat Q&A.
Dan Saladino, Sheila Dillon and a range of experts ranging from climate scientists to beef producers answer your questions on meat eating and the future of farming and our diets.
Featuring questions on methane, scientific trials of more carbon friendly beef, the impact of rice in climate change, the nutritional benefits of grass-fed meats and the value of traditional diets.
Among the contributors are Dr Michelle Cains, a Climate scientist at the Oxford Martin School, Minette Batters, President of the National Farmers Union, Professor of Epidemiological Genetics at Kings College London, Patrick Holden, The Sustainable Food Trust, Tara Garnett of the Food Climate Research Network and environmental campaigner George Monbiot.
SUN 12:57 Weather (m000bv2t)
The latest weather forecast
SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (m000bv2w)
Global news and analysis, presented by Mark Mardell.
SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m000bs4c)
St Ann's Allotments, Nottingham
Kathy Clugston and the team visit the St Ann's Allotments in Nottigham. Bunny Guinness, Bob Flowerdew and James Wong answer the audience's questions.
The panellists discuss what to grow in a polytunnel during winter, their favourite seasonal flowering plants and how to recover garden space after flooding. They also consider the best trees to give as gifts.
Away from the questions, James Wong visits the Camellia House in nearby Wollaton Park to meet Pete Forster and find out more about this winter flowering beauty.
Producer: Laurence Bassett
Assistant Producer: Jemima Rathbone
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 14:45 The Listening Project (m000bv2y)
The Sunday Omnibus - From this world and beyond.
Fi Glover presents the omnibus edition of the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen with three conversations about appearance and ageing; losing faith and coming out; and psychic powers in the genetic make-up.
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 Grossman's War (m000bv30)
Stalingrad
Part Two: Nikolai Krymov
By Vasily Grossman
Translated by Robert and Elizabeth Chandler
Dramatised by Jonathan Myerson
Part two of Grossman's dark and honest account of the epic battle of Stalingrad; a prequel to his novel Life and Fate.
The Radio 4 adaptation of Life and Fate triggered an enormous revival of enthusiasm for this towering Russian novel of the twentieth century, and the extraordinary life and work of its author Vasily Grossman.
Now Kenneth Branagh, Greta Scacchi and Mark Bonnar star in Grossman’s prequel to Life and Fate, newly published in its first ever English translation by Richard and Elizabeth Chandler.
Stalingrad explores the approach of war to the city of Stalingrad, through the many lives of the Shaposhnikov family and their partners. Atomic scientist Viktor Shtrum struggles with his work for the Soviet state, while his family live, love and work despite swirling rumours, to run the city’s power stations, factories and hospitals.
Meanwhile at the front, we meet old-school Bolshevik Commissar Nikolai Krymov in the thick of the Russian army’s pell-mell retreat before Operation Barbarossa, and follow the 'unknown' soldiers on the battlefield, giving their lives to hold the line at the Volga.
After three years of agonised rewrites under the censors' gaze, Stalingrad was finally published in the USSR to universal acclaim, though Grossman was soon being denounced for depicting Russians who were not always heroes. But as a former war correspondent, Grossman was determined to tell the dark and honest truth of the epic battle of Stalingrad, and the men and women caught up in it.
The whole of Grossman’s War, including Radio 4’s dramatisation of Life and Fate, is now available on BBC Sounds.
Nikolai Krymov ...... Mark Bonnar
Pyotr Vavilov ..... Richard Elfyn
Nastya Vavilov ..... Gwawr Loader
Tolya ….. Will Kirk
Filyashkin ..... Francois Pandolfo
Kovalyov ..... Gareth Pierce
Lena ..... Caitlin Richards
Malyarchuk ….. Simon Ludders
Rezchikov ..... Marc Danbury
Usurov ..... Adam Courting
Vera ..... Scarlett Courtney
Stepan Spiridonov ….. Kenneth Cranham
Marusya Spiridonova ..... Eiry Thomas
Original music composed by John Hardy, with Rob Whitehead, and performed by Oliver Wilson-Dixon, Tom Jackson, Stacey Blythe, and Max Pownall.
Directed by Jonathan Myerson
Series Producer Alison Hindell
SUN 17:00 File on 4 (m000bmy9)
Going back: The people reversing their gender transition
An increasing number of people are questioning their gender identity. Waiting lists for specialist clinics treating both children and adults with gender dysphoria are increasing, with some having to wait years to been seen. Many who transition to a gender different to the one they were assigned at birth live happy lives. But, File on 4 has spoken to some who now regret the taking of cross-sex hormones or undergoing surgery, and who are now detransitioning. They and experts working in the field of gender identity fear that other mental health issues are not being adequately explored before life-changing decisions are made and have told the BBC more help is needed for this vulnerable group.
Image credit; Natasaadzic\Getty
SUN 17:40 Radio 4 Christmas Appeal (m000c5sk)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 today]
SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m000bv32)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 17:57 Weather (m000bv34)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000bv36)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (m000bv38)
Frank Cottrell Boyce
Winter is Coming. Pull up to the fire, for a fairy tale collection. We’ve got an emperor’s new clothes, dancing red shoes, and a flying grandmother.
There’s Jumping Jack Flash, the 300 MPH kingfisher and a singer so strange no one would believe he was real. Come and be enchanted.
Presenter: Frank Cottrell Boyce
Producer: Stephen Garner
Production support: Kay Whyld
SUN 19:00 The Archers (m000bv3b)
Josh finds himself in trouble and Phoebe pushes forwards
SUN 19:15 Rich Hall's (US) Breakdown (m000bp4k)
Thanksgiving
Join multi award-winning comedian and US citizen Rich Hall as he takes a look across the pond at the current state of US politics.
A combination of stand-up, sketch and interview, Rich Hall's (US) Breakdown broadcasts live from the fictional IBBC network in Washington to the whole of the United States.
In this thanksgiving special Rich and his co-host, Nick Doody take a closer look at the impeachment process, hear from some Democratic presidential hopefuls and listen in as Trump pardons a turkey...
Written by Rich Hall & Nick Doody with additional material from Sarah Campbell and Mike Shepherd.
The cast includes Lewis McLeod, Freya Parker and Mike Wilmot. Interview Guest Dahlia Lithwick (Host of Amicus Podcast, Senior Editor at Slate)
Researcher: Mandy Baker
Production Co-Ordinator: Candace Wilson
Producer: Adnan Ahmed
A BBC Studios production
SUN 19:45 A Run in the Park (m000bv3d)
Episode 5
A group of strangers in Belfast have formed a running group, determined to go from absolute beginners to completing a 5K Parkrun in just nine weeks. As their shared runs get longer and tougher, friendships are forged and relationships challenged. But will any of them actually make it over the finish line?
Young couple Brendan and Angela are running from their doubts about their rapidly approaching wedding; librarian Cathy is in pursuit of a new life following a health scare; Syrian refugee Yana races from the trauma of her past; and recent retiree Maurice is determined to get fit for his family, step by painful step, even if he’s not actually part of their lives right now…
Author
David Park is one of Northern Ireland's most acclaimed writers. He is the author of nine novels and two collections of short stories. He has been awarded the Authors' Club First Novel Award, the Bass Ireland Arts Award for Literature, the Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize, the American Ireland Fund Literary Award and the University of Ulster's McCrea Literary Award, three times. He has also received a Major Individual Artist Award from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. His most recent novel ‘Travelling in A Strange Land’ won the Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award and was a Radio 4 ‘Book at Bedtime’.
Writer ..... David Park
Reader ..... Des McAleer
Producer ..... Michael Shannon
SUN 20:00 Feedback (m000bs4k)
Listeners ask if it was fair of Radio 4’s The Long View to compare Extinction Rebellion with the Bonfire of the Vanities, conducted by a fifteenth century prophet of doom?
The programme’s series producer discusses the comparison with Roger Bolton.
We also hear from the producer of Only Artists, a programme about which few listeners are indifferent. Most either love it or hate it.
And two listeners give their views on the World Service radio programme which suggested Zimbabwean grandmothers may have a solution to the mental health problems of the West’s Twitter generation.
Presenter: Roger Bolton
Producer: Kate Dixon
Executive Producer: Samir Shah
A Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 20:30 Last Word (m000bs4h)
Sir Jonathan Miller, Field Marshal Lord Bramall, Clive James AO, CBE
Pictured: Jonathan Miller
Matthew Bannister on
Sir Jonathan Miller, who hated the term polymath - but undoubtedly was one. He came to fame in the satirical revue Beyond the Fringe, was a celebrated opera and theatre director and sometimes regretted his decision not to concentrate on his first calling as a doctor.
Field Marshal Lord Bramall, the Chief of the Defence Staff who saw action in the D Day landings, predicted the threat of terrorism and was wrongly accused of sexual abuse late in his life.
Clive James, whose memorable turns of phrase made TV criticism an art form. He presented programmes dissecting TV from around the world, but was also a literary critic, essayist and poet who wrote acclaimed memoirs.
Interviewed guest: William Miller
Interviewed guest: Kate Bassett
Interviewed guest: Lieutenant Colonel Jan-Dirk von Merveldt
Interviewed guest: Lieutenant-General Sir Peter Royson Duffell KCB CBE MC
Interviewed guest: Russell Davies
Producer: Neil George
Archive clips from: Saturday Night Clive, BBC TV 11/11/1989; The Tingle Factor, Radio 4 Extra 02/08/2016; Desert Island Discs, Radio 4 23/01/2005; Arena, BBC Two 31/03/2012; The Complete Beyond the Fringe, Parlophone Records Ltd 21/10/1996; The Body in Question, BBC TV 06/11/1978; D-Day: The Last Heroes, BBC One 08/06/2019; Today, Radio 4 06/06/1994; The Report: Lord Bramall, Radio 4 04/02/2016; Desert Island Discs, Radio 4 16/06/2000; A Point of View, Radio 4 26/04/2009; The Clive James TV Show, ITV 1996; Front Row, Radio 4 03/04/2015.
SUN 21:00 Money Box (m000btvn)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 on Saturday]
SUN 21:25 Radio 4 Christmas Appeal (m000bv27)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 today]
SUN 21:30 In Business (m000bp4t)
Keeping the Lights On
As Britain’s sources of electricity change, along with significant changes in demand, how will the lights stay on?
The major power blackout that hit the UK in early August – the worst in more than a decade – was an indication of how increasingly complicated our electricity grid is becoming. Hundreds of thousands of people, as well as major transport hubs, were affected as electricity supplies were cut to restore balance to the system and prevent an even greater blackout.
The National Grid, which is the energy system operator, said two generators, including a major wind-farm, tripped out after lightning struck a high-voltage transmission line. The episode raised many questions about how stable the UK’s electricity supply system is.
What is clear is that the traditional coal-fired generators, which used to supply much of the UK’s electricity, are being rapidly phased out. Now many more - and varied - generators supply the grid, including small and huge wind-farms, solar farms, nuclear power stations, gas-fired plants, hydro-electric turbines and other sources. This makes the management of the system more tricky.
Then there’s the demand side. Electricity demand is growing, not least with the prospect of electrical cars becoming commonplace. Without building the right infrastructure, with the right storage, and without the correct planning, the electricity grid will not be able to cope.
For Radio 4’s In Business David Baker speaks to the National Grid, to major electricity suppliers, and to smaller, community-based generators, asking how the system is changing and what needs to be done to make sure it remains reliable, affordable and sustainable, so that the future is not one of widespread blackouts.
Producer: John Murphy
Picture: National Grid's Electricity Control Centre
SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (m000bv3h)
Radio 4's Sunday night political discussion programme.
SUN 23:00 The Film Programme (m000bp47)
Simon Beaufoy
With Francine Stock
"In screenwriting terms, it's a disaster. And yet, as a film, it's a piece of magic." Oscar winning screenwriter Simon Beaufoy on why Terrence Malick's Days Of Heaven breaks all the rules of cinema and is still a masterpiece.
SUN 23:30 Art of Now (m0008wkx)
Rwanda's Returnees
The arts are flourishing in Rwanda. This richness in theatre, literature, dance, film and photography has been made possible by exiled Rwandan artists who moved back home after the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi. Many of them were born overseas. Their parents fled the start of ethnic violence that began 60 years ago in 1959. They came back to build a new home: both literally and creatively.
Dr Zoe Norridge speaks to returnee artists who grew up in Uganda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Belgium, the UK and France to discover what it was that drew and continues to draw those in the diaspora back. Why did they leave the places where they grew up for a country with such a difficult history? And what contribution have these artists made to rebuilding both the arts and the nation?
Choreographer Wesley Ruzibiza, writer and musician Gaël Faye, theatre director Hope Azeda and actor and artist Natacha Muziramakenga, among others, explain how returnee artists drew on their international upbringing to question what it means to be Rwandan, generate new ideas and rebuild both the arts and their home.
Dr Zoe Norridge is a Senior Lecturer in African and Comparative Literature at King’s College London. She recently translated Yolande Mukagasana’s survivor testimony Not My Time to Die and is Chair of the Ishami Foundation.
Produced by Philippa Geering
An Overtone production for BBC Radio 4
MONDAY 02 DECEMBER 2019
MON 00:00 Midnight News (m000bv3k)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 00:15 Thinking Allowed (m000bnbx)
Black music cultures in London
Black music culture: Laurie talks to Caspar Melville, Lecturer in Global Creative and Cultural Industries at SOAS, about his study of the musical life which emerged in post-colonial London at the end of the twentieth century – from reggae and soul in the 1970s, to rare groove and rave in the 1980s and jungle in the 1990s. They're joined by Kim-Marie Spence, Post Doctoral Student at Solent University, Southampton, who explores the mixed fortunes of reggae and dancehall within Jamaica and beyond.
Producer: Jayne Egerton
MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (m000bv3m)
[Repeat of broadcast at
05:43 on Sunday]
MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000bv3p)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000bv3r)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000bv3t)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
MON 05:30 News Briefing (m000bv3w)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000bv3y)
Spiritual reflection to start the day with writer and broadcaster, Anna Magnusson
MON 05:45 Farming Today (m000bv40)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
MON 05:56 Weather (m000bv42)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.
MON 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03tj99h)
Wigeon
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
John Aitchison presents the wigeon. Wigeon are dabbling ducks and related to mallards and teal but unlike these birds Wigeon spend much of their time out of the water grazing waterside pastures with their short blue-grey bills. The drakes are handsome-looking birds with chestnut heads and a cream forehead which contrasts well with their pale grey bodies.
John Aitchison recorded a flock of wigeon, for Tweet listeners, on a pool in Norfolk where they had found a safe place to roost on an island.
MON 06:00 Today (m000bvw3)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
MON 09:00 Start the Week (m000bvw5)
India past and present
Corporate rapacity and government collusion are at the centre of William Dalrymple’s history of the East India Company. He tells Amol Rajan how the company moved relentlessly from trade to conquest of India in the 18th century. But Dalrymple warns against the distortion of history both by those in Britain nostalgic for an imperial past, and Hindu nationalists in India.
2019 marked the centenary of the Amritsar massacre in which more than a thousand Indians were killed by British soldiers. Although the events leading up to the atrocity are now well documented, Anita Anand has uncovered the extraordinary story of revenge which led to the shooting in London of the man responsible for the massacre.
In August this year the Indian government revoked Kashmir’s special status, sparking protests in the Muslim-majority valley. But why has this region - once a princely state, until the end of British rule - become such a flashpoint for violence? Professor Sumantra Bose explores the consequence of the Indian government’s latest actions.
Producer: Katy Hickman
MON 09:45 Grossman's War (m000bvxq)
Stalingrad: Destiny of a Novel
To Comrade Stalin
At the end of 1950 a desperate Vasily Grossman wrote to Stalin pleading for assistance in bringing his great post war novel STALINGRAD to print. No answer was ever forthcoming-it would be another two years before anyone could read it. Historian Catherine Merridale chronicles the tortuous passage to publication of Grossman’s novel ,dramatized this week on Radio 4, to reveal the insane complexities of Soviet censorship and the grim, even murderous, politics of a post war Soviet Union almost destroyed by war.
For Grossman, a hugely popular chronicler of the Soviet peoples struggle against the Nazis, the war had robbed him of his mother, brought mass murder to his fellow Soviet Jews and carried the promise of new freedoms once victory was secured. There would be no such outcome.
In the last year of the war it was announced Vasily Grossman's new project was to be a novel about the defining battle against fascism-Stalingrad. Grossman dedicated it to the 'nameless heroes who must not be forgotten'. He had already been at work on his novel for some 18 months. The next 8 years would see an increasingly maddening struggle to have his novel published. His efforts to see STALINGRAD to print coincided with the last great Stalinist purge and campaign of terror directed against Stalin’s own Jewish population. The novel underwent endless revision, censorship and criticism before first seeing print in 1952.
Through Grossman’s own tormented journey Catherine Merridale explores both the conception of a classic work of fiction, translated for the first time into English and now broadcast on Radio 4, and the turbulent, savage post war years of late Stalinism.
Reader: Anton Lesser
Producer: Mark Burman
MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000bvw9)
The programme that offers a female perspective on the world
MON 10:45 Middlemarch (m000bvwc)
Episode 7: False Expectations
A new adaptation of one of the 100 Novels That Shaped Our World
Episode 7: False Expectations
The surprises contained in Peter Featherstone’s will precipitate a lot more than an inheritance.
Cast
George Eliot ..... Juliet Aubrey
Tertius Lydgate ..... John Heffernan
Rosamond ..... Laura Christy
Mr Vincy ..... Rick Warden
Mrs Vincy ..... Heather Craney
Fred Vincy ..... Will Kirk
Mary Garth ..... Scarlett Courtney
Standish ..... Clive Hayward
Writer: Katie Hims
Director: Jessica Dromgoole
MON 11:00 The Unheard Third (m000bvxl)
As we approach the most unpredictable General Election in decades, Adrian Chiles talks to an often forgotten group - the habitual non-voter. Around 18 million people didn’t cast their ballot in the last election, so what’s keeping them from the polls?
The majority of people who don’t vote are from two groups, low income households and the young – groups often most affected by policy. Some fear being on the electoral roll and aren’t even registered, many others are registered but just don’t feel well enough informed.
“I don’t know about politics so I’m expecting leaders to show us the way but they don’t.”
“I don’t really understand any of it. I have a lack of confidence in my intelligence.”
It was not always this way. Between 1922 and 1997, voter turnout remained above 70% with a peak of nearly 84% in 1950 to return Clement Attlee to power. But in 2001, turnout slumped to 59% and has not recovered to the 70% mark since.
With over a third of the population not casting their vote in General Elections, some claim the results do not therefore represent genuine public opinion. Some call for electoral reform and changes in how we register, others argue polling day could be made more accessible. Local authorities encourage people to register but it’s down to political parties to improve political engagement, and very few of the people Adrian has spoken to for this documentary have been on the receiving end of any campaigns. With limited resources, the parties concentrate on the marginal constituencies they can win, not the areas with low turnout – as one pollster told us, "They don’t vote so they don’t matter. My clients who are interested in democracy are interested in voters, not non-voters."
In The Unheard Third, their voices do matter. As one political watcher told us, “In this election they are an x factor. They are hard to predict. They could be a disruptive force and should not be underestimated.”
Produced by Henrietta Harrison
Presented by Adrian Chiles
A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4
MON 11:30 Loose Ends (m000btw9)
[Repeat of broadcast at
18:15 on Saturday]
MON 12:00 News Summary (m000bvxt)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 12:04 Grandmothers (m000bvwl)
Episode 6
6/10
By best-selling writer, Salley Vickers.
Read by Eleanor Bron.
Three very different women’s lives collide in this tender new novel about grandparents and the children they help to raise.
It’s summertime. Nan takes Billy on holiday where they befriend Minna and Rose.
Blanche, still estranged from her grandchildren, decides a trip of her own might be called for.
Reader: Eleanor Bron
Abridger: Salley Vickers
Producer: Kirsty Williams
MON 12:18 You and Yours (m000bvwn)
News and discussion of consumer affairs.
MON 12:57 Weather (m000bvwq)
The latest weather forecast
MON 13:00 World at One (m000bvws)
Mon-Thurs: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Sarah Montague. Fri: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Mark Mardell.
MON 14:00 The Archers (m000bv3b)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Sunday]
MON 14:15 Drama (m000bvwx)
Massachusetts Avenue. Part One
by David Morley
While investigating a cyber attack on the British transport system, Louise Caxton, First Secretary at the British Embassy in Washington, meets a mysterious hacker with a very dangerous agenda.
Louise Caxton ..... Clare Corbett
Birdy ..... Dolya Ganvanski
Marcus ..... Will Kirk
Melanie ..... Scarlett Courtney
The Ambassador ..... David Durham
Malcolm King ..... Ian Conningham
Tom Walker ..... Joseph Balderamma
Colin Jeffery ..... Clive Hayward
Mark Hedges ..... Greg Jones
Waitress ..... Laura Christy
IVF Consultant ..... Jessica Turner
Directed by Marc Beeby
MON 15:00 Quote... Unquote (m000bvwz)
Ken Cheng, Helen Lewis, Luke Jennings
Quote … Unquote, the popular celebrity quotations quiz, returns for its 55th series.
Join Nigel as he quizzes a host of celebrity guests on the origins of sayings and well-known quotes, and gets the famous panel to share their favourite anecdotes.
Across forty years, Nigel Rees has been joined by writers, actors, musicians, scientists and various comedy types. Kenneth Williams, Judi Dench, PD James, Sir Ian KcKellen and Peter Ustinov... have all graced the Quote...Unquote stage.
Episode 1
Stand up comedian Ken Cheng
Journalist and author Helen Lewis
Author and dance critic Luke Jennings
Quotes read by Sally Grace
Production Coordinator: Candace Wilson
Produced by Simon Nicholls
A BBC Studios Production for BBC Radio 4
MON 15:30 The Food Programme (m000bv2r)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:32 on Sunday]
MON 16:00 The Poetry Editor (m000bvx2)
The Poetry Editor
The publishing house Faber and Faber, 90 this year is famous for its poetry list - Seamus Heaney, Sylvia Plath, Derek Walcott, Philip Larkin, Marianne Moore, W. H. Auden, Elizabeth Bishop...and T.S. Eliot who, as poetry editor, brought the work of some of these poets into the world. The Poetry Editor, then, has a significant role. Hannah Sullivan, winner of the T. S. Eliot Prize for her collection 'Three Poems', teases out poetry editors actually do.
She talks to leading poetry editors today, Neil Astley of Bloodaxe; Parisa Ebrahimi of Chatto & Windus and Matthew Hollis, who now sits at Eliot's desk at Faber. They discover and nurture new voices, but also have to sustain their lists. Might there be figures so distinguished they are beyond editing? Paul Muldoon, who might fall into this category, argues no - he longs for the exercise of editorial authority. Is the relationship of editor to poet akin to that of doctor and patient? Is the editorial office like the confessional - strictly confidential?
Sullivan speaks to several leading poets - Simon Armitage, Paul Muldoon, Julia Copus, Sarah Howe and Kayo Chingonyi - about being edited, and hears from people at the beginning of their careers such as Phoebe Stuckes.
Sullivan wrote a wrote a book that focuses on 'The Waste Land' before Ezra Pound got at it, arguing, partly, against revision. With Matthew Hollis she looks at what Pound scored out with his red pencil, and his comments. And, in the archive at Faber & Faber, she looks at early correspondence with Seamus Heaney, revealing how the career of the Nobel Prize winner began with a poetry editor spotting a few poems in a magazine, and the handsome advance of £25.
Presenter: Hannah Sullivan
Producer: Julian May
MON 16:30 Beyond Belief (m000bvx4)
Rumi
Who could have predicted that the 13th century Persian poet Rumi would have such a huge presence on the Instagram feeds of post-Millennials? Jalal ad-Din Muhammed Rumi, to give him his full name, was a Sufi master who wrote ecstatic mystical poems about joy and love and the search for divine truth. His poetry would literally move people to dance, which is where the notion of the ‘whirling dervish’ comes from. 800 years on, what is it about the poetry of Rumi that continues to strike a chord with so many today, including artists like Madonna and Coldplay’s Chris Martin? For some, Rumi has been sanitised for a secular Western audience, but not everyone can read Persian.
Ernie Rea chairs a special discussion about Rumi's appeal, recorded at the BBC's Contains Strong Language Festival in Hull.
Contributors:
Narguess Farzad – Senior Lecturer in Persian Studies at SOAS University of London;
Alan Williams – Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Religion at the University of Manchester, who is currently translating the six volumes of the Masnavi;
Shaykh Paul Salahuddin Armstrong – Managing Director of the Association of British Muslims and member of the Naqshbandi Sufi order;
Jamal Mehmood - writer and poet.
Producer: Dan Tierney
MON 17:00 PM (m000bvx6)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.
MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000bvxb)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 18:30 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (m000bvxd)
Series 72
New Theatre Royal, Portsmouth
The antidote to panel games pays a return visit to the New Theatre Royal in Portsmouth. Tim Brooke-Taylor and Tony Hawks take on Rachel Parris and Marcus Brigstocke with Jack Dee in the chair. Colin Sell attempts piano accompaniment. Producer - Jon Naismith. It is a BBC Studios production.
MON 19:00 The Archers (m000bvxg)
Helen is in a quandary and the Bridge Farm Archers rally round
MON 19:15 Front Row (m000bvxj)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
MON 19:45 Middlemarch (m000bvwc)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
MON 20:00 The Unheard Third (m000bvxl)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:00 today]
MON 20:30 Crossing Continents (m000bp3q)
The Man Who Laughed at al-Qaeda
Raed Fares, founder of Syria's legendary Radio Fresh FM, was mowed down by unknown gunmen as he left his studios in rebel-held Idlib in November 2018. The death of the man who fought hatred with humour and laughed in the faces of President Assad, ISIS and al-Qaeda, sent shockwaves way beyond his troubled homeland. When ordered by Islamist extremists to stop broadcasting music he had replied with bird song and clucking chickens. On being told to take his female presenters off air, he put their voices through software to make them sound like men. In tribute to its founder, Raed Fares's radio station has refused to die with him. One year on from his killing it continues to broadcast the comedy programmes he loved, as Assad's troops close in and bombs fall around it.
Presenter: Mike Thomson
Producer: Joe Kent
MON 21:00 Art of Now (m0007cvf)
Batter! Batter! Boom!
How are some of Scotland’s diverse communities discovering the joys of sound art? Join the new generation of noise-makers, as they get creative with their sonic environments.
The very idea of sonic art is, for many, a complete turn-off. It can feel exclusive, challenging, and even threatening. Yet in some surprising places, creative noise-making is capturing the imagination.
In Glasgow, audio innovators from a variety of backgrounds are collecting sounds around them, then shaping their recordings into playful, bizarre and beautiful compositions.
What attracts these new noise-makers? How does their work smash sonic stereotypes? And, who’s listening?
Radio producer Steve Urquhart spends time with emerging sound recordists – including unaccompanied young asylum seekers exploring their new audio environments, and people with disabilities crafting original work for an experimental art radio station.
“To go into the sound landscapes, there’s depth and openness, and valleys…”
“Around Possilpark we found the really cool sounds in puddles, bottles, squeaky doors…”
“Can I make a joyous noise here? That’d be dead good!”
Featuring work created with:
Maryhill Integration Network
New Young Peers Scotland
Project Ability
Radiophrenia
Young People’s Futures, Possilpark
Produced and presented by Steve Urquhart
A Boom Shakalaka production for BBC Radio 4
MON 21:30 Start the Week (m000bvw5)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
MON 22:00 The World Tonight (m000bvxy)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
MON 22:45 Grandmothers (m000bvwl)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 today]
MON 23:00 Have You Heard George's Podcast? (p07sq3lg)
Chapter 2
13. A North West Story
George contemplates his relationship with the audience before giving a personal account of conflict in his area.
Written by George The Poet.
Produced by Benbrick & George The Poet.
Original music by Benbrick.
Featured songs: Barbar G by Mark Kavuma, 10 Man (feat. Gappy Ranks & Big Zeeks) by Patrin, Running by Abi Ocia
Featured guests: Diggy, Henry Stone
Have You Heard George’s Podcast? is a George the Poet production for BBC Sounds.
Commissioning Executive for BBC: Dylan Haskins
Commissioning Editor for BBC: Jason Phipps
MON 23:30 The Untold (b06wcphd)
Strictly Come Langport
Grace Dent presents a new series documenting the untold stories of 21st century Britain.
Langport in Somerset has a secret. Not a dark secret, quite a happy one really - a dance competition to blow away the winter blues. Grace Dent and her producer zoom in on events and discover a classic tale of good vs evil - a sparky 70 year old widow called Mo doing the salsa; and opposing her a tango-ing video technician called Ferg. At stake, a small silver trophy and eternal local glory. So who will win Strictly Come Langport this year?
The producer is Miles Warde
TUESDAY 03 DECEMBER 2019
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (m000c5ss)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
TUE 00:30 Grossman's War (m000bvxq)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000bvy1)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000bvy3)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000bvy5)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
TUE 05:30 News Briefing (m000bvy7)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000bvy9)
Spiritual reflection to start the day with writer and broadcaster, Anna Magnusson
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (m000bvyc)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
TUE 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03thsc6)
Long-Eared Owl
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
John Aitchison presents the long-eared owl. The low moaning hoot of a long-eared owl filters through the blackness of a pine wood. Long-eared owls are nocturnal and one of our most elusive breeding birds. They nest in conifer woods, copses and shelter-belts of trees near wide open grasslands and heaths where they hunt for rodents.
TUE 06:00 Today (m000bx13)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
TUE 09:00 More or Less (m000bx15)
Election Special. 1/2
Tim Harford explores some of the numbers and statistics being discussed in the current election campaign.
TUE 09:30 Naturebang (m000610p)
The Portuguese Man O'War and the Individual
Strange things dwell out in the open ocean. Bobbing atop the waves, Becky Ripley and Emily Knight meet one such creature, the Portuguese Man O’War. With its bulbous air-sacs and trailing tentacles you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s a jellyfish, but you’d be wrong. It’s a colony, a society of tiny individual animals, who work together to eat, hunt and reproduce as one.
In the Age of the Individual, we humans like to think of ourselves as self-sufficient little nodes who don’t need nobody. But that perspective gets called into question when you consider where we live. Thanks to some complex maths and some incredible data-crunching, we’re beginning to see the cities we inhabit in a different light. They grow, move, breathe, and die, just like a living organism, according to strict mathematical principles. Just like polyps in a Man O’ War, are we really any more than cogs in a machine?
Featuring Marine Biologist Dr John Copley from the University of Southampton, and Geoffrey West, Theoretical Physicist from the Santa Fe Institute.
TUE 09:45 Grossman's War (m000bx17)
Stalingrad: Destiny of a Novel
The Black Book
Historian Catherine Merridale chronicles the tortuous passage of Vasily Grossman’s novel STALINGRAD to print.
Even before Grossman began to prepare his novel STALINGRAD for publication it became clear that victory over the Nazi’s would not bring any hard won freedoms or historical truth. Grossman, in his role as a front line Soviet journalist, had documented Nazi atrocities including the workings of the death camp of Treblinka. His mother had been murdered in his Ukrainian home town of Berdichev.
As the war had progressed he had assumed editorship of The Black Book-a vast and harrowing collection of first hand accounts of Nazi genocide on Soviet soil. Grossman himself wrote the stark chapter on the murder of the Jews of Berdichev. It would never see publication until the collapse of the Soviet Union. Closed down on Stalin’s orders it was the first intimation of a new campaign of repression & terror
Reader: Anton Lesser
Producer: Mark Burman
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000bx19)
The programme that offers a female perspective on the world
TUE 10:45 Middlemarch (m000bx1c)
Episode 8: A Small Part of An Avalanche
A misunderstanding leads Edward Casaubon to suspect his wife of perfidy, and challenge her to a test of her loyalties.
Cast
George Eliot ..... Juliet Aubrey
Dorothea ..... Olivia Vinall
Edward Casaubon ..... Charles Edwards
Will Ladislaw ..... Joseph Quinn
Arthur Brooke ..... Neil McCaul
Tertius Lydgate ..... John Heffernan
Rosamond Lydgate ..... Laura Christy
Tantripp ..... Scarlett Courtney
Writer: Katie Hims
Director: Jessica Dromgoole
TUE 11:00 Sultans of Swing (m000bx1f)
Political pollsters are under pressure to call the General Election right- with pressure to regulate the industry after a run of poll upsets. Polling expert Sir John Curtice talks to those inside and outside the industry and discovers the pressures bearing down on the Sultans of Swing.
TUE 11:30 Art of Now (m000bx1h)
Innervisions
Blind musicians have been no strangers to the concert platform and the studio - from St Cecilia herself (patron saint of music) to blues singers Willie McTell and Lemon Jefferson, from Ray Charles to Andrea Bocelli. But how do people who can't see make music in the era of composing and mixing via touch screens?
Trevor Dann meets the multi-ethnic UK-based Inner Vision Orchestra, DJ Monix, award-winning classical and jazz pianist Matthew Whitaker and the blues duo Innervision to hear about the creative brain's remarkable capacity to manage without sight and spatial awareness. Musicians and composers share their experiences and researchers explain the latest advances as listeners are taken on an audio journey into the dark.
DJ Monix, a 37-year-old New Jersey-based techno DJ, producer and podcaster, explains how he fills dance floors from Miami to Ibiza without ever seeing his audience.
Teenage keyboard sensation Matthew Whitaker discusses growing up in the era of touch screen composing and editing,
Innervision, a blues duo, talk about their secret language. Genene (she's black) and Sam (he's white) were born exactly one month apart in the same hospital and lost their vision at birth. They spent the first weeks of their lives together in the same intensive care unit and developed a musical bond which still flourishes.
Baluji Shrivastav OBE, founder of The Inner Vision Orchestra, the UK's only ensemble of visually impaired musicians, explains why the band plays in the dark to help sighted audiences experience the music exactly as the players do.
Dr Michael Proulx, from the Department of Psychology, University of Bath introduces his work on the vOICe sensory substitution device which is "helping the brain to see again".
A Folder & Co production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 12:00 News Summary (m000bx1k)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 12:04 Grandmothers (m000bx1m)
Episode 7
7/10
By best-selling writer, Salley Vickers.
Read by Eleanor Bron.
Three very different women’s lives collide in this tender new novel about grandparents and the children they help to raise.
Thrown together whilst their grandchildren play, Nan and Minna begin to form an unlikely friendship.
Reader: Eleanor Bron
Abridger: Salley Vickers
Producer: Kirsty Williams
TUE 12:18 You and Yours (m000bx1p)
Call You and Yours
News and discussion of consumer affairs.
TUE 12:57 Weather (m000bx1r)
The latest weather forecast
TUE 13:00 World at One (m000bx1t)
Mon-Thurs: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Sarah Montague. Fri: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Mark Mardell.
TUE 14:00 The Archers (m000bvxg)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 Drama (m000bx1y)
Massachusetts Avenue. Part Two
by David Morley
As investigations into the cyber attack on the British transport system continue, ex police woman Louise Caxton uncovers a conspiracy - and learns how deeply she has been compromised.
Louise Caxton ..... Clare Corbett
Birdy ..... Dolya Gavanski
Melanie ..... Scarlett Courtney
Marcus ..... Will Kirk
Tom Walker ..... Joseph Balderamma
Malcolm King ..... Ian Conningham
The Ambassador ..... David Durham
Jackson Finn ..... Neil McCaul
Colin Jeffery ..... Clive Hayward
Carolyn Jeffery ..... Jessica Turner
Mark Swift ..... Greg Jones
News Anchor ..... Laura Christy
Directed by Marc Beeby
TUE 15:00 Short Cuts (m000bx20)
Series 21
03/12/2019
Short documentaries and adventures in sound presented by Josie Long
TUE 15:30 Costing the Earth (m000bx22)
Election 2019
Tom Heap assesses the environmental policies of the major political parties.
Producer: Alasdair Cross
TUE 16:00 Power Lines (m000c2wd)
Culture
As poetry events, audiences and online views of performances multiply, poet and performer Yomi Ṣode looks at the cultures around poetry. Talking to poets where they make their work he finds that community inspires and supports new and established writers but that finding a voice can be both thrilling and painful.
Yomi hears from Kareem Parkins-Brown about winning the Roundhouse 2019 poetry slam, but still feeling like an imposter and trying to integrate his world with the poetry world. Bridget Minamore speaks about the costs of code-switching: shifting from one linguistic and cultural register to another. Sola Browne talks about the influence of mentors and performs at BoxedIN an open mic event run by Yomi where the crowd is loud and first timers and circuit stars feed off the audience energy. Malika Booker and Nick Makoha talk about craft, the global and historical community of poets and hard work.
The poets featured in this episode are:
Sola Browne
Kareen Parkins-Brown
Malika Booker
Nick Makoha
Bridget Minamore
Yomi Sode
Producer: Natalie Steed
Executive Producer: Sally Spurring
A Wire Free production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 16:30 Great Lives (m000bx24)
Series 50
Just William / Richmal Crompton proposed by Peter Oborne with Martin Jarvis
"It's absolutely joyous, one of the highlights of my career!" Peter Oborne on being joined by Martin Jarvis, the man who brings Just William to life.
Journalist Oborne is nominating both William Brown and his creator, Richmal Crompton. She wrote 39 multi-million selling books, and her delight in William is clear to hear in the archive. Other contributors include her biographer, Mary Cadogan, and her niece, Richmal Ashbee. But it's the brilliance of Martin Jarvis's impersonations of William, Ginger and the gang that brings this programme to life. Plus the interplay between Peter Oborne and Matthew Parris.
"Do you think William would have been Brexit?"
"I don't think there's any evidence."
The producer in Bristol is Miles Warde
Future programmes in this series include Jeremy Paxman on Lord Shaftesbury, Bill Bailey on Alfred Russel Wallace and Lindsey Hilsum on the brilliant photographer Lee Miller.
TUE 17:00 PM (m000bx27)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.
TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000bx29)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 18:30 Tom Wrigglesworth's Hang-Ups (m000bx2c)
Series 5
Episode 4
In the last episode of series 5, Dad attempts to take centre stage.
Starring Tom Wrigglesworth, Paul Copley, Kate Anthony and Elizabeth Bennett.
Written by Tom Wrigglesworth and James Kettle with additional material by Miles Jupp.
Produced by Richard Morris
A BBC Studios Production
TUE 19:00 The Archers (m000bx2f)
Brian takes a risk and Will receives an unexpected invitation
TUE 19:15 Front Row (m000bx2h)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
TUE 19:45 Middlemarch (m000bx1c)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
TUE 20:00 The Boy in the Video (m000bx2k)
The story starts with an everyday event - a WhatsApp message to a group set up by mums at the school gates to discuss missing jumpers and school trips.
But this message contains a video of a little boy being sexually abused. And one of the group members happens to be a BBC radio producer.
So begins an investigation into the dark world of child sexual exploitation as she tries to find out what happened to the boy. Has he been rescued? Is his abuser in jail?
Along the way she meets the police trying to combat the online proliferation of images and videos of children being abused - millions are in circulation, shared on social media platforms as if they are funny cat memes. She asks what we should do about the 450 men arrested every month for viewing and sharing this material. At the moment, end-to-end encryption means WhatsApp is a safe haven for offenders - are the tech firms doing enough?
Producer/presenter: Lucy Proctor
TUE 20:40 In Touch (m000bx2m)
News, views and information for people who are blind or partially sighted
TUE 21:00 All in the Mind (m000bx2p)
Programme exploring the limits and potential of the human mind.
TUE 21:30 More or Less (m000bx15)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (m000bx2r)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
TUE 22:45 Grandmothers (m000bx1m)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 today]
TUE 23:00 Michael Frayn's Pocket Playhouse (b0b53b02)
Series 1
08/06/2018
Martin Jarvis directs the masterly comic series written by Michael Frayn, the author of Noises Off and the most comic philosophical writer of our time. The outstanding cast is led by Ian McKellen, Joanna Lumley, Stephen Fry, Alfred Molina, Alex Jennings and Jarvis himself.
It's an astonishing tour de force of comic imagination and satire.
Each of the four episodes reveals Frayn's infectious delight in writing between the lines of theatre, fiction, television and the media, the church, relationships - life in general.
In this second episode, Darren Richardson conducts a misguided sight-seeing tour, Ian McKellen has Helpline difficulties, Nigel Anthony and Joanna Lumley revisit Listen With Mother and Martin Jarvis attempts to broadcast from The Royal Opera House. Meanwhile, Alex Jennings and Janie Dee are a confused married couple, George Blagden is an unusually literate weatherman and Ian McKellen, as Richard III, is interrupted by footnote scholars.
Cast:
Ian McKellen, Nigel Anthony, Lisa Dillon, Edward Bennett, Janie Dee, Martin Jarvis, Alex Jennings, Rosalind Ayres, George Blagden, Darren Richardson and Joanna Lumley.
Written by Michael Frayn,
Director: Martin Jarvis.
A Jarvis and Ayres production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 23:30 The Untold (b07j40wt)
Tilting at Poker
Lister has taken redundancy, sold his home - a narrowboat - and is trying to make it as a professional poker player. His aim is to go to Las Vegas. But a run of bad luck has put him in "tilt" - the mental problem that can affect poker players when their luck goes bad and they start to play badly as a reaction. Can he get his head straight and start winning again? Maybe, with the intervention of a top poker psychologist.
Presenter: Grace Dent
Producer: Jolyon Jenkins
WEDNESDAY 04 DECEMBER 2019
WED 00:00 Midnight News (m000bx2t)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
WED 00:30 Grossman's War (m000bx17)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000bx2w)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000bx2y)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000bx30)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
WED 05:30 News Briefing (m000bx32)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000bx34)
Spiritual reflection to start the day with writer and broadcaster, Anna Magnusson
WED 05:45 Farming Today (m000bx36)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
WED 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03thwdy)
White-fronted Goose
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
John Aitchison presents the white-fronted goose. Flocks of White-Fronted Geese return each year to their favourite wintering areas, the bogs and and saltmarshes of Ireland and the Severn Estuary as well as western Scotland, although smaller flocks are found elsewhere. John Aitchison recorded the musical yapping of white-fronted geese for Tweet listeners as they flew over his home in western Scotland.
WED 06:00 Today (m000bxh8)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
WED 09:00 Behind the Scenes (m000bxhd)
Amy Powney
This autumn London Fashion week was rather overshadowed by climate protestors wanting to call attention to the pollution caused by 'fast fashion' in particular - the habit of buying cheap clothes that are soon discarded.
Amy Powney is a fashion designer who resists making clothes that damage people or the planet. She sources sustainable materials and knows the factories where her garments are made by people paid a living wage. Amy has an interesting background - brought up partly living in a caravan in the Lancashire countryside, hers was a life off grid without running water or proper heating. And certainly not much in the way of fashionable clothing - or even a mirror to use.
Yet her talent has driven her to create a successful brand, win awards, be endorsed by Vogue and to begin a collaboration with High Street giant, the John Lewis Partnership.
But we ask - isn't sustainable fashion just a contraction in terms? Isn't Amy's creative ability curtailed by the need to work sustainably?
And how can she run a business that's predicated on people buying less?
Produced by Susan Marling
Narrated by Noma Domezweni
A Just Radio Production.
WED 09:30 The Curious Cases of Rutherford & Fry (m000bxhj)
Series 14
The End of the World
"What would become the dominant species if, or when, humans go extinct?"
This cheery question leads Drs Rutherford and Fry to embark on an evolutionary thought experiment.
Zoologist Matthew Cobb asks if humans really are the dominant species. Ecologist Kate Jones discusses why certain species are more vulnerable to extinction than others. Plus Phil Plait, AKA The Bad Astronomer, busts some myths about why the dinosaurs went extinct.
Send your questions for future series, along with any podcast correspondence, to: curiouscases@bbc.co.uk
Presenters: Hannah Fry, Adam Rutherford
Producer: Michelle Martin
WED 09:45 Grossman's War (m000bxhn)
Stalingrad: Destiny of a Novel
The Progress of a Manuscript
Historian Catherine Merridale chronicles the tortuous journey of Vasily Grossman’s novel STALINGRAD to print. In 1945 there was a need & eager anticipation for a literary treatment of the Soviet people’s experience of a terrible war. A book that was the Red equal to Tolstoy’s War & Peace. By 1949 Grossman was ready, poised to deliver his epic version which he then called STALINGRAD.
He had produced a text of which he was justly proud. A book that was necessary and just. Despite signs of increasing censorship and repression he still believed his novel would find acceptance and a receptive audience. Yet he was canny enough to keep a personal diary of the process of submitting his manuscript-translated into English for the first time it reveals the beginnings of a maddening journey that became an epic battle of wills.
Reader: Anton Lesser
Producer: Mark Burman
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000bxhs)
The programme that offers a female perspective on the world
WED 11:30 Lemn Sissay's Social Enterprise (m000bxhx)
Episode 2
Every year since 2013, the poet, broadcaster and author Lemn Sissay has arranged a Christmas dinner for people aged 18-25 who have left the care system and have no one with whom to have Christmas dinner. No one to give presents or receive them. No-one on the other end of the cracker.
This is not a charity. It isn't even an organisation. It's a project Lemn undertook because he understands how it feels - at 18 he was released from a children's home and given an empty flat in Wigan, with no-one in the world who had known him for longer than a year.
Lemn Sissay’s Social Enterprise is a four-part series for BBC Radio 4, considering what these dinners have taught him about charity, social enterprise, and people, through stand-up, interview and poetry.
This week he explores the idea of food - with the help of Garry Lemon, the Policy Director of the charity The Trussell Trust, and comedians Alexander Bennett and Dan Cardwell.
Written and performed by Lemn Sissay
Guest: Garry Lemon
Guest: Alexander Bennett
Guest: Dan Cardwell
Producer: Ed Morrish
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
WED 12:00 News Summary (m000bxj1)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 12:04 Grandmothers (m000bxj5)
Episode 8
8/10
By best-selling writer, Salley Vickers.
Read by Eleanor Bron.
Three very different women’s lives collide in this tender new novel about grandparents and the children they help to raise.
As their seaside holiday draws to a close, Nan and Minna reflect on their past lives and on the losses that have shaped their younger selves. Meanwhile, Blanche’s trip to Paris sharpens her understanding of the loss that’s shaping her now.
Reader: Eleanor Bron
Abridger: Salley Vickers
Producer: Kirsty Williams
WED 12:18 You and Yours (m000bxj9)
News and discussion of consumer affairs.
WED 12:57 Weather (m000bxjf)
The latest weather forecast
WED 13:00 World at One (m000bxjk)
Mon-Thurs: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Sarah Montague. Fri: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Mark Mardell.
WED 14:00 The Archers (m000bx2f)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 Curious Under the Stars (b09jf118)
Series 3
The Arrivals
By Annamaria Murphy
First in the latest series of the comedy drama set in Glan Don, a mysterious village perched on the wild Welsh coast.
Gareth and Diane's baby arrives early on the 302 bus into town, but that's not the only new arrival about to land in Glan Don. As the lives of the pub landlords are thrown into turmoil, up at the castle sleeping dragons are stirring.
Starring Elis James (Josh), Emma Sidi (W1A) and Ifan Huw Dafydd (Gavin and Stacey).
Gareth.... Elis James
Diane.... Emma Sidi
Emlyn..... Ifan Huw Dafydd
Series created by Meic Povey
Directed by James Robinson
A BBC Cymru Wales Production.
WED 15:00 Money Box (m000bxjn)
The latest news from the world of personal finance plus advice for those trying to make the most of their money.
WED 15:30 All in the Mind (m000bx2p)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Tuesday]
WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (m000bxjq)
New research on how society works.
WED 16:30 The Media Show (m000bxjs)
The programme about a revolution in media with Amol Rajan, the BBC's Media Editor
WED 17:00 PM (m000bxjv)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000bxjx)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 18:30 Susan Calman Makes Me Happy (m000bxjz)
Episode 3
Taking part in Strictly Come Dancing made Susan Calman happy. Completely, totally happy. And having lived with anxiety for so long, it was something of a surprise to discover something new that gave her feelings of joy. So, in Susan Calman Makes Me Happy, she explores and explains the other things in life that bring her happiness.
This week, aided and abetted by her studio audience and her wife Lee, Susan investigates food and drink, looking at its emotional importance above and beyond mere sustenance and pondering why a bad meal can ruin an entire day.
Produced by Lyndsay Fenner
Written by Susan Calman and Jon Hunter
Production Co-ordinator: Tamara Shilham
A Somethin’ Else production for BBC Radio 4
WED 19:00 The Archers (m000bxk1)
Pip expresses her reservations and Lynda is in demand
WED 19:15 Front Row (m000bxk3)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
WED 19:45 Middlemarch (m000bxk5)
Episode 9 : An Unexpected Electricity
Dorothea makes a terrible discovery about her late husband, and Fred Vincy makes a great step forwards in understanding himself.
Cast
George Eliot ..... Juliet Aubrey
Dorothea ..... Olivia Vinall
Celia Brooke ..... Lucy Reynolds
Tertius Lydgate ..... John Heffernan
Farebrother ..... Miles Jupp
Farebrother's Aunt ..... Heather Craney
Fred Vincy ..... Will Kirk
Mary Garth ..... Scarlett Courtney
Caleb Garth ..... Neil McCaul
Mrs Garth ..... Alison Belbin
Letty Garth ..... Grace Doherty
Writer: Katie Hims
Director: Jessica Dromgoole
WED 20:00 Moral Maze (m000bxk7)
Combative, provocative and engaging debate chaired by Michael Buerk. With Giles Fraser, Anne McElvoy, Andrew Doyle and Tim Stanley. #moralmaze
WED 20:45 The Curious Cases of Rutherford & Fry (m000bxhj)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:30 today]
WED 21:00 Costing the Earth (m000bx22)
[Repeat of broadcast at
15:30 on Tuesday]
WED 21:30 Behind the Scenes (m000bxhd)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (m000bxk9)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
WED 22:45 Grandmothers (m000bxj5)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 today]
WED 23:00 Bunk Bed (b091wb3b)
Series 4
Episode 2
Everyone craves a place where their mind and body are not applied to a particular task. The nearest faraway place. Somewhere for drifting and lighting upon strange thoughts which don't have to be shooed into context, but which can be followed like balloons escaping onto the air. Late at night, in the dark and in a bunk bed, your tired mind can wander...
The acclaimed Bunk Bed written by and featuring Patrick Marber and Peter Curran returns for its fourth series with a dozy vengeance. From under the bedclothes, they wonder what services were on offer after hearing rare archive of H G Wells admitting that he used to earn his living as "a prostitute". They also grapple with one of the most ferociously bad pop singles of all time - Cinderella Rockerfella - and get to the heart of the British aristocracy's perverse attitude to dogs. And the unlikely bedfellows deal with the emotional scars left by seeing a father wearing trousers made from horizontal corduroy.
'Bunk Bed is funny, strange, enchanting, and beautifully put together.' - The Observer
'Bunk Bed on Radio 4 is beloved by broadsheet critics, but don't let that put you off.' - Metro
Producer: Peter Curran
A Foghorn production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 23:30 The Untold (m000bcm6)
The Campaigning Medic
Nian is a fourth-year medical student in London committed to doing what she can to draw attention to climate change and the need for action: even if that means risking arrest.
Over two weeks of action she balances sleeping out with fellow campaigners in a London park, alongside her placement on the wards of a busy hospital. It's an exhausting fortnight and she feels torn about leaving the protests and worried about what will happen if the police do arrest her.
The Extinction Rebellion action starts with blockades across London bridges and roads are closed through Parliament and Trafalgar Square. Nian is one of the rebellion's spotters and starts the day cycling from location to location as they earmarked sites for action. In hushed whispers the group co-ordinate by phone using code names: they want to try and stay one step ahead of the police.
As the action gathers pace the police move quickly to stop structures being erected on Westminster Bridge. They were being transported in a hire van, which is now surrounded by police and Nian's friend jumps onto the vehicle's roof. It's a tense moment and Nian quickly raises spirits by leading the crowds in chants. But the arrests are beginning and the question is crystallised: how far will she and others be prepared to go in their environmental protests?
Producer: Sue Mitchell
THURSDAY 05 DECEMBER 2019
THU 00:00 Midnight News (m000bxkc)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
THU 00:30 Grossman's War (m000bxhn)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000bxkf)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000bxkh)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000bxkk)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
THU 05:30 News Briefing (m000bxkm)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000bxkp)
Spiritual reflection to start the day with writer and broadcaster, Anna Magnusson
THU 05:45 Farming Today (m000bxkr)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
THU 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03thwxg)
Black-throated Diver
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
John Aitchison presents the black-throated diver. Black-throated divers are strong contenders for our most beautiful bird. Their breeding plumage with a neck barcoded in white, an ebony bib and a plush grey head, is dramatic. The black dagger-like bill and broad lobed feet are perfect for catching and pursuing fish which the divers bring to their chicks in nests on the shoreline of the Scottish Lochs on which they breed.
THU 06:00 Today (m000c09y)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
THU 09:00 In Our Time (m000c0b0)
Listener Week 2019
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss a topic which will be announced at
8.30am on 5th December, in the Today programme. It is one of over 1200 different ideas that listeners have proposed this autumn for our Listener Week.
In previous Listener Weeks, we've discussed Kafka's The Trial, The Voyages of Captain Cook, Garibaldi and the Risorgimento, Moby Dick and The Thirty Years War.
This page will be updated on 5th December.
THU 09:45 Grossman's War (m000c0d8)
Stalingrad: Destiny of a Novel
‘Pull Yourself Together-Do Not Worry’
Historian Catherine Merridale chronicles the tortuous passage of Vasily Grossman’s novel STALINGRAD to print. By 1951 the voluminous corrections, alterations & revisions ran into thousands of pages. The demands of anxious editors, who both wanted to see the novel in print but always worried about the reaction from above had made Grossman begin to despair. His stubborn refusal to eradicate key passages, entire characters, or themes had resulted in a kind of stalemate. His insistence on progress and completion was met with long silences, evasion or frequent absences by editors so drunk they were checking into clinics. Just another normal day in late Stalinist Russia. But perhaps there was hope after all
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000c0b8)
The programme that offers a female perspective on the world
THU 10:41 Middlemarch (m000c0bd)
Episode 10: The Whispering Gallery
By George Eliot
Adapted by Katie Hims
A stranger arrives in Middlemarch but for one person it will prove to be a nightmare encounter.
George Eliot ..... Juliet Aubrey
Nicholas Bulstrode ..... Adrian Scarborough
John Raffles ..... Clive Hayward
Will Ladislaw ..... Joseph Quinn
Mr Trumball ..... Neil McCaul
Clerk ..... Greg Jones
Barman ..... Adam Courting
Auction Bidder ..... Will Kirk
Directed by Tracey Neale
THU 10:55 The Listening Project (m000c5sz)
Capturing the nation in conversation, in partnership with the British Library.
THU 11:00 Crossing Continents (m000c0bj)
Sri Lanka: The New Climate of Fear
There’s a new climate of fear in Sri Lanka. This time it’s the Muslim community who are fearful of the future. The Easter bomb attacks in Sri Lanka - targeting churches and international hotels - horrified the island. It’s suffered civil war but never known jihadi violence. But the attacks also intensified a creeping campaign by the Sinhala Buddhist majority against the Muslim community - with Muslims murdered, their businesses burned or boycotted. Jill McGivering investigates the growing climate of fear now driving many Muslims to emigrate and casting a shadow over those left behind. Caroline Finnigan producing.
THU 11:30 Sketches: Stories of Art and People (m000c0bm)
Not Forgotten
Writer Anna Freeman presents true stories about the art of remembering. Featuring Nudrat Afza, a self-taught photographer documenting the dwindling congregation of Bradford's last synagogue. And Arek Hersh, a Polish holocaust survivor, whose visit to a secondary school in the Lake District inspired an incredible art project involving six million buttons, one for each person in the Holocaust.
Produced by Mair Bosworth and Becky Ripley
THU 12:00 News Summary (m000c0fk)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 12:04 Grandmothers (m000c0br)
Episode 9
9/10
By best-selling writer, Salley Vickers.
Read by Eleanor Bron.
Three very different women’s lives collide in this tender new novel about grandparents and the children they help to raise.
On her return from Paris, Blanche seeks Nan out as a confidant.
Meanwhile young Rose makes a discovery so painful, that she can’t even bring herself to confide in Minna.
Reader: Eleanor Bron
Abridger: Salley Vickers
Producer: Kirsty Williams
THU 12:18 You and Yours (m000c0bt)
News and discussion of consumer affairs.
THU 12:57 Weather (m000c0bw)
The latest weather forecast
THU 13:00 World at One (m000c0by)
Mon-Thurs: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Sarah Montague. Fri: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Mark Mardell.
THU 14:00 The Archers (m000bxk1)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 Curious Under the Stars (b09jgkl4)
Series 3
One Bad Apple
By Alan Harris
Second in the latest series of the comedy drama set in Glan Don, a mysterious village perched on the wild Welsh coast.
When lightning strikes the apple tree outside the Druid's Rest, an ancient spirit is unleashed. Meanwhile, Gareth and Diane are struggling with a lack of sleep and the demands of being new parents to both a baby and a 22-year old man. Could a mysterious new cider be the answer to their prayers? Or the source of their worst nightmares?
Starring Elis James (Josh), Emma Sidi (W1A) and Ifan Huw Dafydd (Gavin and Stacey).
Gareth.... Elis James
Diane.... Emma Sidi
Emlyn..... Ifan Huw Dafydd
Series created by Meic Povey
Directed by James Robinson
A BBC Cymru Wales Production.
THU 15:00 Open Country (m000c0c0)
The Secret Life of Pigeons
“They’re wonderful creatures, wonderful creatures with wings.” Says 11-year-old Callum Brooks, who has just recently started pigeon racing.
We join Callum and other pigeon fanciers from all over the UK as they give us an insight into the highs and lows of pigeon racing and find why a sport that was once a popular pastime of the working classes is now falling out of fashion and is in danger of disappearing altogether.
We discover the art of breeding a winning bird from Clive and Jill in Radstock. Head to the back of the Larkhall Inn as pigeons are marked up ready for a Saturday race. Then spend a morning with the Convoyors as they prepare for the liberation of 5000 birds. And finally join Trevor and his son Simon on race day as they anxiously wait to find out if they have won, or even if their pigeons will return home at all.
Produced by Nikki Ruck
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Christmas Appeal (m000bv27)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 Bookclub (m000c0c2)
Ben Lerner - Leaving the Atocha Station
American author Ben Lerner talks about Leaving the Atocha Station, his first novel narrated by a young man living outside his usual experience.
Adam Gordon is a brilliant, if highly unreliable, young American poet on a prestigious fellowship in Madrid, struggling to establish his sense of self and his relationship to art. Instead of following the dictates of his fellowship, Adam's 'research' becomes a meditation on the possibility of the genuine in the arts and beyond: are his relationships with the people he meets in Spain as fraudulent as he fears his poems are? Is poetry an essential art form, or merely a screen for the reader's projections? A witness to the 2004 Madrid train bombings and their aftermath, he needs to decide whether he participates in historic events or merely watch them pass him by.
Presented by James Naughtie and recorded with a group of readers asking the questions.
To take part in future Bookclubs email bookclub@bbc.co.uk
January 2020's Bookclub Choice : The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (2011)
Presented by James Naughtie
Produced by Dymphna Flynn
THU 16:00 The Film Programme (m000c0c4)
The latest releases, the hottest stars and the leading directors, plus news and insights from the film world.
THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (m000c0c6)
Dr Adam Rutherford and guests illuminate the mysteries and challenge the controversies behind the science that's changing our world.
THU 17:00 PM (m000c0c8)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000c0cg)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 18:30 Tom Allen Is Actually Not Very Nice (m000c0cl)
Episode 1
A new series from Tom Allen, star of Mock The Week, Bake Off Extra Slice, The Apprentice: You're Fired and fresh from a sell out solo performance at The London Palladium.
Tom Allen is Actually Not Very Nice explores what happens when Tom's calm and collected exterior collapses. He used to be such a nice boy but what has happened to turn him naughty?
With help from the assembled studio audience, Tom works out how best to navigate some tricky social situations and how to keep a lid on his fury when confronted with life's small injustices.
Featuring Gabby Best.
Photo credit: Edward Moore @edshots
Producer: Richard Morris
A BBC Studios Production
THU 19:00 The Archers (m000c0cs)
Clarrie laments on the past and Josh’s plans gather pace
THU 19:15 Front Row (m000c0cv)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
THU 19:45 Middlemarch (m000c0bd)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:41 today]
THU 20:00 The Briefing Room (m000c0cx)
Combining original insights into major news stories with topical investigations.
THU 20:30 In Business (m000c0cz)
The pub is dead! Long live the micropub!
Since 2001 the UK has lost a quarter of its pubs. They've shut their doors for good. High taxes, high prices, supermarket competition, even the smoking ban have all been blamed. But there are new types of pub, the micropub, and community-owned pubs, which are bucking the trend. While larger, traditional establishments have been under pressure, these have flourished. So why have they been able to succeed where others have not? For In Business, John Murphy visits his local boozer - and others - to see what these new pubs have to offer.
Producer: Ruth Alexander
THU 21:00 BBC Inside Science (m000c0c6)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 today]
THU 21:30 In Our Time (m000c0b0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (m000c0d2)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
THU 22:45 Grandmothers (m000c0br)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 today]
THU 23:00 Where's the F in News (m000c0d4)
Series 3
Episode 5
Where's the F in News is a weekly topical show brought to you by Jo Bunting.
THU 23:30 The Untold (m000blwc)
Expectations
Hazel loves her job. She is very good at. But there is pressure on her to leave.
An impressive career has led Hazel to a perfect job at The University of Chichester: it’s stimulating, she loves the students and she is widely respected.
With no age discrimination, Hazel could continue forever. And she would like to. Work is her very identity and the idea of pootling around the garden and joining a choir fills her with horror. But Hazel suspects friends, family and colleagues think it is time to go.
“The expectation seems to be, from a lot of people, that I will give it all up, that my right job is to look after the grandchildren a bit, do a bit of painting and care for Phil, but that isn’t me, it isn’t me at all.”
When her husband, Phil, is diagnosed with Parkinson’s, the pressure escalates but Hazel doesn't see her future as just his carer.
“The joy of Phil’s and my relationship is that we’ve always been independent of each other. I don’t want to rush off and leave him, but I don’t want the burden of having the life sucked out of both of us.”
She feels judged for thinking this, for not abandoning her career to look after Phil, but if she were a man, would expectations be different?
Hazel has always been a clear-headed decision maker. She knew within 10 minutes of meeting her husband she should marry him. She even wants to write her PhD on decision-making. But this choice is proving impossible to make. What should she and what will she decide?
Producer: Sarah Bowen
FRIDAY 06 DECEMBER 2019
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (m000c0d6)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
FRI 00:30 Grossman's War (m000c0d8)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Thursday]
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000c0db)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000c0dd)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000c0dg)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
FRI 05:30 News Briefing (m000c0dj)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000c0dl)
Spiritual reflection to start the day with writer and broadcaster, Anna Magnusson
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (m000c0dn)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
FRI 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03thsbj)
Dunnock
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
John Aitchison presents the dunnock. You'll often see dunnocks, or hedge sparrows, as they were once called, shuffling around under a bird table or at the bottom of a hedge. They're inconspicuous birds being mostly brown with a greyish neck and breast. They aren't, as you might imagine, closely related to sparrows, many of their nearest relatives are birds of mountainous regions in Europe and Asia.
FRI 06:00 Today (m000c2gw)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (m000bv2m)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:15 on Sunday]
FRI 09:45 Grossman's War (m000c2jk)
Stalingrad: Destiny of a Novel
In a Crooked Mirror
Historian Catherine Merridale concludes her chronicle of the tortuous gestation of Vasily Grossman’s novel STALINGRAD to print.
Early 1953. Vasily Grossman’s epic, Tolstoyan, novel of what most Russian’s still call The Great Patriotic War had appeared to general acclaim. At the same time Stalin'se state sponsored anti-Semitic campaign of terror was culminating in the infamous ‘Doctor’s Plot’. Then ‘Comrade Stalin died without Comrade Stalin’s permission’ Millions of Soviet citizens were stunned, distraught.
What could it all mean?
It was then that the most vicious and terrifying attacks on Grossman’s novel began.
Reader: Anton Lesser
Producer: Mark Burman
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000c2h0)
The programme that offers a female perspective on the world
FRI 10:45 Middlemarch (m000c2h2)
Episode 11: Please, Remember Me
By George Eliot
Adapted by Katie Hims
Tertius Lydgate fears for his future and Will discovers yet more startling news.
George Eliot ..... Juliet Aubrey
Dr Lydgate ..... John Heffernan
Rosamond ..... Laura Christy
Dorothea ..... Olivia Vinall
Will ..... Joesph Quinn
Directed by Tracey Neale
FRI 11:00 Three Pounds in My Pocket (m000c2h4)
Series 3
Episode 1
For the past five years, Kavita Puri has been charting the social history of British South Asians to post-war Britain. Many came with as little as three pounds due to strict currency controls. By the 1980s, the ‘three pound generation’ had been here for decades – they were not going back. And their children – many born here – were coming of age. This series begins with the aftermath of race riots in 1981.
The 1980s saw a cultural flourishing take place for the South Asian community in Britain, but later in the decade there would be a backlash. And in 1984, events on the Indian subcontinent would prove to be of monumental significance for British Sikhs. The Indian Army’s storming of the Golden Temple in Amritsar, the holiest shrine of Sikhism, created anger and disbelief among British Sikhs – and led them to question their relationship both with India and the UK.
Producer: Ant Adeane
Editor: Hugh Levinson
Historical consultants:
Dr Florian Stadtler, University of Exeter
Dr Edward Anderson, University of Cambridge
FRI 11:30 In and Out of the Kitchen (b0680gtv)
Series 4
The Stag
Damien and Anthony celebrate their stag weekend in Dublin when their plans to spend it at the opera are ruined by the weather. Meanwhile, Ian is tasked with looking after Damien's mother who is recovering from laser eye surgery.
Starring:
Miles Jupp as Damien Trench
Justin Edwards as Anthony
Philip Fox as Ian Frobisher/Damien's dad/Anthony's dad
Brendan Dempsey as Mr Mullaney
Selina Cadell as Damien's mother
Alex Tregear as The Waitress
Chris Brand as Ray Jarrow
and
Stephen Critchlow as The Chef/Policeman
The producer was Sam Michell
FRI 12:00 News Summary (m000c2n8)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 12:04 Grandmothers (m000c2h9)
Episode 10
10/10
By best-selling writer, Salley Vickers.
Read by Eleanor Bron.
Three very different women’s lives collide in this tender new novel about grandparents and the children they help to raise.
A trip to Kew Gardens brings Nan, Minna, Blanche and all their grandchildren together. There, Rose - still silently distraught about her father’s affair - hatches a dangerous plan.
Reader: Eleanor Bron
Abridger: Salley Vickers
Producer: Kirsty Williams
FRI 12:18 You and Yours (m000c2hc)
News and discussion of consumer affairs.
FRI 12:57 Weather (m000c2hf)
The latest weather forecast
FRI 13:00 World at One (m000c2hh)
Mon-Thurs: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Sarah Montague. Fri: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Mark Mardell.
FRI 14:00 The Archers (m000c0cs)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Curious Under the Stars (b09jgzh5)
Series 3
Skin
By Annamaria Murphy
Last in the latest series of the comedy drama set in Glan Don, a mysterious village perched on the wild Welsh coast.
Christmas is coming and Gareth has broken his leg. Bedbound and alone in Emlyn's caravan, his paranoia begins to take root - he becomes convinced that his wife and son are having an affair. It sounds like madness, but the spell Charlie has cast on the people of Glan Don is a curious thing.
Starring Elis James (Josh), Emma Sidi (W1A) and Ifan Huw Dafydd (Gavin and Stacey).
Gareth.... Elis James
Diane.... Emma Sidi
Emlyn..... Ifan Huw Dafydd
Series created by Meic Povey
Directed by James Robinson
A BBC Cymru Wales Production.
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m000c2hk)
Dudley
Kathy Clugston and the panel are in Dudley. Pippa Greenwood, Matthew Wilson and Matthew Pottage answer the audience's horticultural queries.
Producer: Hannah Newton
Assistant Producer: Rosie Merotra
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 15:45 Radio 4 Christmas Appeal (m000c5sk)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Sunday]
FRI 16:00 Last Word (m000c2hm)
Radio 4's weekly obituary programme, telling the life stories of those who have died recently.
FRI 16:30 Feedback (m000c2hp)
The programme that holds the BBC to account on behalf of the radio audience.
FRI 16:55 The Listening Project (m000c2hr)
Capturing the nation in conversation, in partnership with the British Library.
FRI 17:00 PM (m000c2ht)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000c2hy)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 18:30 The Now Show (m000c2j0)
Series 55
Episode 7
Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis present the week via topical stand-up and sketches. They're joined by Phil Wang, Lee Ridley, Jess Robinson and Gemma Arrowsmith.
It was written by the cast with additional material by Sarah Morgan, Gabby Hutchinson-Crouch and Aidan Fitzmaurice.
It was a BBC Studios production.
FRI 19:00 The Archers (m000c2j2)
Writer, Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti
Director, Kim Greengrass
Editor, Jeremy Howe
Ruth Archer ….. Felicity Finch
Pip Archer ….. Daisy Badger
Josh Archer ….. Angus Imrie
Pat Archer ….. Patricia Gallimore
Helen Archer ….. Louiza Patikas
Tom Archer ….. William Troughton
Brian Aldridge ….. Charles Collingwood
Phoebe Aldridge ….. Lucy Morris
Rex Fairbrother ….. Nick Barber
Toby Fairbrother ….. Rhys Bevan
Clarrie Grundy ….. Heather Bell
Eddie Grundy ….. Trevor Harrison
Will Grundy ….. Philip Molloy
Mia Grundy ….. Molly Pipe
Jim Lloyd ….. John Rowe
Kirsty Miller ….. Annabelle Dowler
Elizabeth Pargetter ….. Alison Dowling
Freddie Pargetter ….. Toby Laurence
Johnny Phillips ….. Tom Gibbons
Lynda Snell ….. Carole Boyd
Robert Snell ….. Graham Blockey
Andrew ….. Tim Dutton
FRI 19:15 Front Row (m000c2j4)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
FRI 19:45 Middlemarch (m000c2h2)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (m000c2j6)
Richard Burgon, Matt Hancock, Layla Moran, Tommy Sheppard
Chris Mason presents topical debate from Chesterfield in Derbyshire with a panel including Shadow Justice Secretary Richard Burgon, Health Secretary Matt Hancock, the Liberal Democrats' Layla Moran and Tommy Sheppard from the Scottish National Party.
Producer: Lisa Jenkinson
FRI 20:50 A Point of View (m000c2j8)
A weekly reflection on a topical issue.
FRI 21:00 Archive on 4 (b0b6bw77)
The Fight of the Century
Bonnie Greer tells the story of one of the most famous sporting contests of all time - a boxing match in June 1938 between the American Joe Louis and the German Max Schmeling. The fight took on massive international, social and cultural significance and millions of people around the globe listened to the contest on their radios, making it the largest radio event in history.
Schmeling had shocked the world two years earlier when he defeated Louis and became the toast of Germany, with Hitler and Goebbels among his fans. A rematch was inevitable. For the first time, most of white America was behind a black fighter and Jews in the US and Europe, all too aware of the Nazi threat, were also cheering Louis.
With the world on the brink of war, it was projected as a contest between different social and racial ideals, a showdown between democracy and totalitarianism.
President Roosevelt told Louis, "Joe we need muscles like yours to defeat Germany."
Presenter: Bonnie Greer
Producer: Jonathan Mayo
A TBI production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (m000c2jb)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
FRI 22:45 Grandmothers (m000c2h9)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 today]
FRI 23:00 Great Lives (m000bx24)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 on Tuesday]
FRI 23:25 The Untold (m00051p0)
Innocent
Matt is attractive, dynamic and funny, but he has never had a girlfriend. As a blond 8-year-old, he was repeatedly abused by paedophiles and has resisted intimacy ever since. But is he now ready to date?
A smiling and playful prep school boy, Matt loved life. Racing around town on his bike, playing hide and seek in the sand dunes, with professional parents and a gang of good friends, he wanted for nothing.
But one hot summer's day, playing football in the park, a group of predatory paedophiles ensnared and assaulted him. And for 18 months he was subjected to horrific sexual abuse.
“Nothing prepares a child for the experiences of three grown men threatening, blaming coercing; there is such a horrible atmosphere, it is like a presence of evil. You are so scared they might kill you. You feel so complicit and the manipulation forces your silence, so you don't tell people - you go out of your way to hide it.”
Through his teenage years he pushed girls away and rejected relationships, “I remember saying to myself I am never, ever, ever going to let anyone hurt me again - and I kind of shut down.” Thrown out of university for drinking, his life was out of control.
With unique access to his therapy sessions, to his fears about intimacy and sex, Grace Dent follows this powerful and poignant story as Matt fights for back to build a steady life, a successful career and family.
So far love and intimacy have evaded him. Can he now make the huge step of finding someone to love?
Producer: Sarah Bowen
FRI 23:55 The Listening Project (m000c2jf)
Capturing the nation in conversation, in partnership with the British Library.