SATURDAY 08 FEBRUARY 2020
SAT 00:00 Midnight News (m000dyq8)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SAT 00:30 Surfacing, by Kathleen Jamie (m000clcf)
Episode 5
Beneath the broad Alaskan sky, long-buried artefacts spill from the thawing tundra. In the eroding sand dunes of a Scottish island, preserved Neolithic hearths and homes are uncovered by the wind. And in a grandmother’s tenement flat, memories surface of a long-ago mining accident and a mother who was kind.
In the last of the extracts from Kathleen Jamie's collection of essays, the poet draws together her reflections on nature, memory and family.
Read by Maureen Beattie
Abridged by Linda Cracknell
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie
SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000dyqb)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000dyqd)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
SAT 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000dyqg)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SAT 05:30 News Briefing (m000dyqj)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000dyql)
Reflection and prayer to begin the day, with Rev Cheryl Meban.
SAT 05:45 The Curious Cases of Rutherford & Fry (m000dyqn)
Series 15
The Golden Secret
"How do you make gold?" asks curious listener, Paul Ruddick.
Inspired by the promise of riches, Hannah and Adam embark on a mission to discover the origin of gold. It's a tale that takes them from the clandestine codes of Aristotle to the alchemy of Isaac Newton, alongside materials scientist Mark Miodownik.
They boldly go into the cosmos with astronomers Lucie Green and Andrew Pontzen, to learn what happens in the most exotic areas of space. By the end one thing is for sure - you'll never look at your gold jewellery in quite the same way again.
Presenters: Hannah Fry, Adam Rutherford
Producer: Michelle Martin
SAT 06:00 News and Papers (m000f5yg)
The latest news headlines. Including the weather and a look at the papers.
SAT 06:07 Open Country (m000dxtk)
Halsway Manor
Helen Mark heads to the Quantock Hills to visit the national centre for folk arts and meet some of the people taking part in a 'Winter Warmer' celebration of music and dance. She meets musician Becki Driscoll whose track 'Cold Light' was composed in the summer house at the Manor, and asks Chief Executive Crispian Cook about the history of this residential haven for folk arts. Helen catches Moira Gutteridge for a chat just as she's about to lead a walk, and high on top of the Quantocks she speaks to Philip Comer, Chair of the 'Friends of the Quantocks' about the area, the grazing rights on common land and why it's not a good idea to feed the wild ponies. Roger and Nanette Phipps tell Helen why the spot for the Maypole is currently taken up with flower bulbs, and how according to local legend dragons may still lurk in the surrounding hills. There's also time for a spot of sword-dancing which is not as easy as it's made to look.
The music is performed by Becki Driscoll, Ted Morse, Peter and Moira Gutteridge and Mary Rhodes.
Producer: Toby Field
SAT 06:30 Farming Today (m000f5yj)
Farming Today This Week
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside
SAT 06:57 Weather (m000f5yl)
The latest weather forecast.
SAT 07:00 Today (m000f5yn)
News and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (m000f5ys)
Tracey Thorn
Richard Coles and Aasmah Mir are joined by Tracey Thorn, who escaped from suburbia, went to Hull University and emerged as one half of pop group Everything but the Girl. Her latest book details the influence of her background on her journey – not least how boredom was for her a catalyst for creativity. She joins us on Saturday Live.
Jenny Tong went from rebellious childhood and repeated school exclusions to trying weightlifting at University where she was doing an International Relations and Politics degree. Today she holds three British Under-23 records and finished fifth at the European Youth Championships in Romania. She joins us.
We also have Monty Halls, who left the Royal marines when he realised his passion was the marine part – he retrained as a marine biologist and has done expeditions and documentaries about marine life ever since. His latest one sees him take his whole family with him, to the Galapagos islands.
Stephen Saunders learnt to fly after he lost a leg in an accident – then he flew a hot air balloon under Clifton Suspension bridge. He’s also a Saturday Live listener – he joins us.
Ainsley Harriot chooses his Inheritance Tracks - Be My Life’s Companion performed by The Mills Brothers and I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl performed by Nina Simone. And we have your thank you.
Producer: Corinna Jones
Editor: Eleanor Garland
SAT 10:30 The Kitchen Cabinet (m000f5gw)
Series 26
Rye
Jay Rayner hosts the culinary panel show from Rye. Tim Anderson, Sophie Wright, Jordan Bourke and Dr. Annie Gray are on hand to answer questions from keen cooks.
This week, they come up with brunch suggestions for Mothers Day, recipe ideas for Mussels, and the best hot drinks for bed time.
The panel is joined by John Botterell of Botterells Fresh Fish and Richard Hutley from the Lazy Bakery. John brings some fresh scallops and shows the best technique for dry cutting them, and Richard - a local baker - has varieties of Rye bread.
Producer: Hannah Newton
Assistant Producer: Rosie Merotra
Food Consultant: Anna Colquhoun
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 11:00 The Week in Westminster (m000f5yv)
Radio 4's assessment of developments at Westminster with Tom Newton Dunn of The Sun.
The editor is Jonathan Brunert.
SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m000f5yx)
Insight, wit and analysis from BBC correspondents, journalists and writers from around the world.
SAT 12:00 News Summary (m000f6wy)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SAT 12:04 Money Box (m000f5sf)
The latest news from the world of personal finance plus advice for those trying to make the most of their money.
SAT 12:30 The News Quiz (m000dypp)
Series 101
Trump's dream week, petrolheads and dangerous lost property
Andrew Maxwell, Zoe Lyons, Daily Telegraph journalist Michael Deacon and stand-up comedian Sophie Duker join Nish this week.
On the menu this week: non-impeachment, a kerfuffle of Iowans, a blow for petrolheads and some dangerous lost property.
Producer: Richard Morris
A BBC Studios Production
SAT 12:57 Weather (m000f5z1)
The latest weather forecast
SAT 13:00 News (m000f5z3)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (m000dypw)
Lord Deben, Professor John Denham, Owen Jones, Olivia Utley
Chris Mason presents political debate from Winchester University with a panel including Lord Deben the Chair of the Committee on Climate Change, Professor John Denham from the Centre for English Identity and Politics at the University of Southampton, Guardian columnist Owen Jones and the Sun journalist Olivia Utley.
Producer: Lisa Jenkinson
SAT 14:00 Any Answers? (m000f5z5)
Have your say on the issues discussed on Any Questions?
SAT 14:45 Blood, Sex and Money by Emile Zola (b06pphck)
Blood
Animals
Blood, Sex and Money by Emile Zola, Season 1 - Blood
Animals by Dan Rebellato
The first season of 24 hours of drama inspired by the works of literature's greatest whistleblower - Emile Zola. Glenda Jackson stars as Dide, 104 years old and matriarch to a family of wolves - the Rougon-Macquarts.
France is on the brink of a new empire. This episode is a compelling combination of biting humour and tragedy, as Pierre, Dide's son, siphons off her money and steals his illegitimate siblings' inheritance. By stark contrast, Dide strikes up a caring and loving relationship with her great-grandson, Silvère, whose friendship and love for Miette is heartbreaking as they run off to join the Republican uprising.
Dide ...... Glenda Jackson
Pierre ....... Robert Lindsay
Felicité ....... Fenella Woolgar
Antoine .......Ian Hart
Silvère ....... Ashley Margolis
Miette ........ Shannon Flynn
Eugene ......... Robert Jack
Col Masson/Sicardot ....... Jonathan Keeble
Burgat/Roudier ...... Seamus O'Neill
Ursule ...... Kate Coogan
Produced and Directed by Pauline Harris
SAT 16:15 Woman's Hour (m000f5z7)
Anorexia, Rugby, Narcissism
We speak to Hannah Pearson who feels she's not getting the support she needs with her anorexia and bulimia. She’s been told she has to wait 18 months for an assessment because currently she's described as a "health weight". After Hannah, Dr Agnes Ayton, chair of the Eating Disorder Facility of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, describes some of the challenges when trying to get medical help.
Catherine Spencer was captain of the England women’s rugby team from 2007 to 2010. She's now retired but has written a book called Mud, Maul, Mascara.
We hear from Danielle Thomas, who’s 32. Her mother is in the late stages of Huntingdon's Disease. Danielle has recently found out that she has the gene too, so what are her plans for the future?
We talk about having a cleaner and being a cleaner. And we find out what it means to be a narcissist, particularly in a relationship.
SAT 17:00 PM (m000f5z9)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news, plus the sports headlines.
SAT 17:30 The Bottom Line (m000dxv7)
Synthetic Biology
Synthetic Biology is a process that allows the re-engineering of cells in everything from humans to plants and even mosquitoes. It allows scientists to manipulate DNA to make nature do things it wouldn't naturally, for example mosquitoes that don't pass on malaria. But it has applications in healthcare, agriculture and could even stop our reliance on oil. This is why the UK government is investing heavily in the science as they believe it could be worth around 400 billion. Evan Davis and guests discuss the business of Synthetic Biology.
SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m000f5zd)
The latest shipping forecast.
SAT 17:57 Weather (m000f5zg)
The latest weather forecast.
SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000f5zj)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (m000f5zl)
Rebecca Front, Sheila Atim, John Kani, Andrew Hunter Murray, The Lost Hours, David Morrissey, Clive Anderson
Clive Anderson and David Morrissey are joined by Rebecca Front, Sheila Atim, John Kani and Andrew Hunter Murray for an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy.. With music from The Hu and The Lost Hours.
SAT 19:00 Profile (m000f5ry)
Waad al-Kateab
The citizen journalist behind the highly acclaimed film 'For Sama', which tells the story of life, love and motherhood in war-torn Aleppo.
Already the winner of 25 awards, including a BAFTA, the documentary is now in the running for an Oscar.
Mark Coles reveals the extraordinary life of the Syrian student compelled to capture the daily lives of citizens trapped in the terror of civil war.
Producers: Phoebe Keane & Diane Richardson
SAT 19:15 Saturday Review (m000f5zn)
Mr Jones, Death of England, The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates, British Baroque, This Life
Director Agnieszka Holland assembles a cast including James Norton and Vanessa Kirby to tell the story of Welsh journalist Gareth Jones who in 1933 travelled to Soviet Russia and told the truth about the famine in Ukraine.
At the National Theatre, Clint Dyer directs the play he has co-written with Roy Williams, Death of England, starring Rafe Spall as a white working-class man whose father has died and who has to face up to his conflicted feelings about his country and the people who live in it.
Ta-Nehisi Coates has earned a great reputation as a writer and thinker on race in America. His first novel, The Water Dancer, is the story of Hiram Walker who becomes involved in a struggle to leave slavery and save those close to him.
British Baroque at Tate Britain takes a look at art from the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 until the death of Queen Anne in 1714, highlighting the jostling for power at court and beyond and illustrating the creation of the great buildings of the age.
And This Life returns to BBC4, a drama of young people entering the world of work in the law, perhaps best remembered for the simmering sexual tension between Miles and Anna. Will its fans from 1996 stick with it - and can it draw a new audience?
Tom Sutcliffe's guests this week are Jen Harvie, Carl Anka and Terence Blacker.
Podcast Extra recommendations
Carl: Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, manga series
Jen: film, Parasite on general release
Terence: the music of Paolo Conte
Photo: James Norton and Vanessa Kirby,
(c) Signature Entertainment
SAT 20:00 Archive on 4 (m000f5zq)
Andrea Levy: In her own words
Profiling the life and work of Andrea Levy, the best-selling author of Small Island, who died in February 2019.
Speaking on condition that the recording would only be released after her death, Andrea Levy gave an in-depth interview to oral historian Sarah O’Reilly for the British Library’s Authors’ Lives project in 2014. Drawing on this recording, along with comments from friends, family and collaborators, this programme explores Levy’s changing attitude towards her history and her heritage and how it is intimately bound up with her writing.
Andrea Levy grew up in North London in the 1960s, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants. Her father Winston came to Britain in 1948 on the Empire Windrush, and her mother Amy arrived six months later. At home, Jamaica was never discussed. Levy recalls how her parents believed that, in order to get on in this country they should live quietly and not make a fuss, and the silence around race in the family home haunted her throughout her life: "I have dreams now where I sit down with my parents and we talk about the difficulty of being a black person in a white country. But at the time? No help whatsoever."
A significant day arrived when she attended a racism awareness course in her workplace in the 1980s. Staff were asked to split into two groups. "I walked over to the white side of the room. But my fellow workers had other ideas and I found myself being beckoned over by people on the black side. I crossed the floor. It was a rude awakening. It sent me to bed for a week."
Writing came to Levy's rescue. Her first three books - Every Light In The House Burnin' (1994), Never Far from Nowhere (1996) and Fruit of the Lemon (1999) - explored questions of immigrant identity and were semi-autobiographical. Through her writing, she explored the historical connection between Britain and the Caribbean as a profoundly British concern, and her literary project was to make people of both small islands aware of their intertwined history.
It was the publication of the prize-winning Small Island in 2004 that propelled Andrea Levy to international acclaim. The novel told the story of Jamaican families like her own integrating into post-war Britain and drew directly from the experiences of her parents and their passage to the Mother Country. The success of Small Island held deep personal significance for Andrea: "From then on I thought, 'Things are possible'".
Writing The Long Song, her novel set on a 19th century Caribbean slave plantation, was, she says, "the most terrifying thing to have to go into". With the recent Windrush scandal and wider debates about the legacy of the slave trade in Britain, Levy’s work could not be more relevant. The Long Song was published in 2010 and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. But it was during the writing of this book that Andrea was diagnosed with the cancer that would, she knew, eventually kill her.
Andrea Levy speaks here for the first time about living with a terminal illness and her hopes for posterity. And we hear an excerpt from a previously unpublished dialogue from her archives, now housed at the British Library, in which she tackles her imminent demise with her trademark wit and wisdom.
With Gary Younge, Baroness Lola Young, Louise Doughty, Helen Edmundson, Sarah Williams, Margaret Busby, Sharmaine Lovegrove, Catherine Hall and Andrea's husband Bill Mayblin.
Voice actors: Josef-Israel and Lynsey Murrell.
Produced by Melissa FitzGerald & Sarah O'Reilly
A Blakeway production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 21:00 Sebastian Baczkiewicz - Pilgrim (b01r5s1y)
Series 4
Bleaker Lake
by Sebastian Baczkiewicz
Episode 4: Bleaker Lake
The showdown. At Bleaker Lake, where Merlin is held sealed up under the water, Pilgrim hopes to find an end, at least to the war of attrition with Birdie, at best to his own immortality.
William Palmer ..... Paul Hilton
Birdie ..... Kate Fleetwood
Cliff ..... Philip Jackson
Harmony ..... Lizzy Watts
Randell ..... Carl Prekopp
Hunnicutt ..... Patrick Brennan
Girl ..... Agnes Bateman
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole
SAT 21:45 Annika Stranded (b0bjz6q3)
Series 4
Breadcrumbs
Eight new cases to challenge the detective wit of Annika Strandhed, queen of the Oslo Police boat patrol.
Since we last met her, Annika has been promoted to Chief Inspector. Her first act was - apart from choosing a new speedboat - to co-opt Mikel, her forensic photographer of choice, to accompany her. Her son Tor is about to start school.
Being Chief Inspector means a bigger case-load. What follows will test her physically and emotionally as never before.
Episode 5: Breadcrumbs
A teenage girl in Oslo is kidnapped. Annika and Mikel find themselves in a race against time.
Nick Walker is the author of two critically-acclaimed novels, Blackbox and Helloland. His plays and short stories have often featured on BBC Radio 4, including the First King of Mars stories (2007 - 2010) and the plays Life Coach (2010) and Stormchasers (2012). The previous series of Annika Stranded were broadcast in 2013, 2014 and 2016.
Writer: Nick Walker
Reader: Nicola Walker
Sound Design: Jon Calver
Producer: Jeremy Osborne
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 22:00 News and Weather (m000f5zs)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SAT 22:15 Moral Maze (m000f080)
Healing the Nation
In the last three and a half years, freedom has clashed with fraternity, families have fallen out and friends have become foes. What happens next is – the Prime Minister promises – “a moment of real national renewal”. Post-Brexit Britain is not yet a week old and there is much left to negotiate about its future relationship with the EU, but at last we have certainty on one thing: we’re out. Inevitably there are still die-hard remainers re-branding themselves as ‘rejoiners’ and continued shouts of “You lost, get over it!” from their victors, but the tired rhetoric of both sides is now being tempered by hopeful talk of “healing the nation.” What exactly does this mean? It must surely begin by identifying the sickness: poisonous politics, an inability to engage with opposing views, abuse directed towards MPs, women, minorities and religious groups? Then we should try to determine whether these symptoms are acute or chronic. Are we witnessing an hysterical spasm that will pass away in time or are we entering an historic period of irreconcilable cultural divisions? And what about the prescription? Is all the talk of ‘coming together’ and ‘common visions’ well-meaning waffle? Or is the language of healing crucial if we are to recover the art of compromise and civility? History tells us that it often takes a crisis to provoke a cure and that the deepest divisions can eventually be reconciled. But wounds can fester and usually leave scars. Can the past offer us hope for a more united future?
Guests: David Goodhart, Diarmaid Maccullough, Jane Robins and Jennifer Nadel.
Producer: Dan Tierney
SAT 23:00 Round Britain Quiz (m000dybh)
Programme 4, 2020
(4/12)
Facing Tom Sutcliffe's convoluted puzzles in today's contest are Val McDermid and Alan McCredie of Scotland, versus Freya McClements and Paddy Duffy of Northern Ireland. They have no idea what subjects may come up in the course of the quiz, but a knowledge of South American literature, folk music, television thrillers and units of currency in obscure countries may prove very helpful to them today.
Tom will be assigning points depending on the number of helpful hints he has to give them in order to arrive at the answers. As usual, there'll be a representative sample of the best question ideas received recently from Round Britain Quiz listeners.
Producer: Paul Bajoria
SAT 23:30 Don't Log Off (m00035tp)
Series 9
The Road Less Travelled
In this week's episode, Alan connects with people in Sweden, Brazil, Australia, Poland, and beyond. Conversations include a trans man in the military getting ready for fatherhood, a burlesque performer building queer community in Brazil, and a woman who wonders how different her life might have been if she never found roller derby.
Producer: Arlie Adlington
SUNDAY 09 FEBRUARY 2020
SUN 00:00 Midnight News (m000f5zv)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 00:30 Short Works (m000dyp9)
From Fact to Fiction: Summer Son
A new story inspired by this week's news. As the Scottish Government reviews the difficult situation of students cut off from their parents, Damian Barr writes about the painful and increasingly visible reality of family estrangement.
Damian Barr is an award-winning writer, journalist, interviewer and columnist. His memoir 'Maggie and Me' is a darkly witty account of surviving Thatcher's Britain, while his recent debut novel 'You Will Be Safe Here' was a Guardian, Observer and Financial Times pick for 2019 as well as a Radio 4 Book at Bedtime.
Writer Damian Barr
Reader Finn den Hertog
Producer Eilidh McCreadie
A BBC Scotland Production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000f5zx)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000f5zz)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000f601)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SUN 05:30 News Briefing (m000f603)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (m000f5sm)
The Church of St Matthew, Chapel Allerton, Leeds in West Yorkshire
Bells on Sunday comes from the Church of St Matthew, Chapel Allerton, Leeds in West Yorkshire. The tower contains a peal of six bells cast by Taylor’s of Loughborough in 1946. They were hung dead at the time and it was not until 1954 that they were hung as a ringing peal. The tenor weighs seven and a half hundredweight and is tuned to the key of B flat. We hear them ringing Plain Bob Doubles.
SUN 05:45 Profile (m000f5ry)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 06:00 News Headlines (m000f5qq)
The latest national and international news headlines.
SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b03s69dg)
Moving with God
Mark Tully discusses the relationship between dance and spirituality. Both movement and specifically dance are part of the rich history of spirituality, but somehow this is often overlooked.
Mark Tully aims to redress the balance by investigating the relationship between the movement and dance and the transience of spirituality. He asks how physicality can play a part in formal worship and looks at dance as a metaphor for divine philosophy. He also talks to choreographer and dancer Akram Khan about his theories on the spirituality of movement and the ability of dance to cross cultural and religious borders.
The readings include poetry ranging from W. B. Yeats to Rumi, and there's music from Leonard Cohen to Stravinsky.
The readers are Adjoa Andoh and Michael Feast.
Producer: Frank Stirling
A Unique production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (m000f5qs)
Cheese Wars
Since the 1980s the Errington family have been making cheese in South-West Scotland. Made from unpasteurised sheep's milk, their Lanark Blue has long been a favourite with cheese lovers but it has put them in conflict with food safety authorities suspicious of any dairy products that haven't been pasteurised.
Caz Graham hears their story and tastes their latest cheeses.
SUN 06:57 Weather (m000f5qv)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 07:00 News and Papers (m000f5qx)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 07:10 Sunday (m000f5qz)
Sunday morning religious news and current affairs programme.
SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (m000f5r1)
Tropical Health and Education Trust
Julie Walters makes the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of Tropical Health and Education Trust.
To Give:
- Freephone 0800 404 8144
- Freepost BBC Radio 4 Appeal. (That’s the whole address. Please do not write anything else on the front of the envelope). Mark the back of the envelope ‘Tropical Health and Education Trust’.
- Cheques should be made payable to ‘Tropical Health and Education Trust’.
- You can donate online at bbc.co.uk/appeal/radio4
Registered Charity Number: 1113101
SUN 07:57 Weather (m000f5r3)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 08:00 News and Papers (m000f5r5)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (m000f5r7)
Stories of Redemption – broken and blessed
A service exploring the Beatitudes linking to modern stories of redemption. The service will be led by Anita Cleverly, and sermon will be given by the Rev Charlie Cleverly, Rector of St Aldates, who will reflect on the Beatitudes. They are a set of blessings in the Gospel of Matthew, spoken by Jesus during the Sermon on the Mount and are 'treasured paradoxical writings'. For example - 'Blessed are those who mourn', how can mourning be blessed? Although during a time of suffering people can feel broken, often a blessing can follow. Worship Director: Lauren Harris.
Producer: Miriam Williamson
SUN 08:48 A Point of View (m000dypy)
Sodcasting
From the “pernicious fife-footlers polluting the sooty Victorian cities” to the “fiendish electronic cacophony” of today, Will Self bemoans the ever-increasing difficulty of finding a bit of peace and quiet.
He wonders why we tolerate this growing noise pollution, even though we know that high levels of ambient noise cause stress, insomnia and even, if persistent, poor mental health.
Producer: Adele Armstrong
SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (b09ntd0c)
Jane Smith on the Snipe
Wildlife artist Jane Smith reveals why she feels such a strong connection with Snipe which produce a drumming sound which seems to encapsulate the sound of the Hebrides.
Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world.
Producer: Sarah Blunt
Photographer: Milo Bostock.
SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (m000f5r9)
The Sunday morning news magazine programme. Presented by Paddy O'Connell
SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (m000f5rc)
Writer, Liz John
Director, Jeremy Howe
Editor, Jeremy Howe
Jill Archer ….. Patricia Greene
David Archer ….. Timothy Bentinck
Pip Archer ….. Daisy Badger
Josh Archer ….. Angus Imrie
Jolene Archer ….. Buffy Davis
Kenton Archer ….. Richard Attlee
Helen Archer ….. Louiza Patikas
Lilian Bellamy ….. Sunny Ormonde
Neil Carter ….. Brian Hewlett
Susan Carter ….. Charlotte Martin
Alice Carter ….. Hollie Chapman
Rex Fairbrother ….. Nick Barber
Bert Fry ….. Eric Allan
Kate Madikane ….. Perdita Avery
Kirsty Miller ….. Annabelle Dowler
Freddie Pargetter ….. Toby Laurence
Johnny Phillips ….. Tom Gibbons
Hannah Riley ….. Helen Longworth
Lynda Snell ….. Carole Boyd
Peggy Woolley ….. June Spencer
Jakob Hakansson ….. Paul Venables
Philip Moss ….. Andy Hockley
Lee Bryce ….. Ryan Early
Gavin ….. Gareth Pierce
SUN 11:15 Desert Island Discs (m000f5rf)
Zoe Ball, broadcaster
Zoe Ball, broadcaster and Radio 2 breakfast show host, shares the eight tracks, book and luxury she would want to take with her if cast away to a desert island.
Presenter: Lauren Laverne
Producer: Sarah Taylor
SUN 12:00 News Summary (m000f5yd)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 12:04 The Unbelievable Truth (m000dybw)
Series 23
Episode 6
David Mitchell hosts the panel game in which four comedians are encouraged to tell lies and compete against one another to see how many items of truth they're able to smuggle past their opponents.
Marcus Brigstocke, Lou Sanders, Cally Beaton and Neil Delamere are the panellists obliged to talk with deliberate inaccuracy on subjects as varied as religion, kissing, languages and the Vikings.
Produced by Jon Naismith
A Random Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 12:32 The Food Programme (m000f5rk)
What Is Making My Child Fat? Part 1: Finding Solutions to the UK’s Child Obesity Issue
When Professor Dame Sally Davies left her role as Chief Medical Officer for England in Autumn 2019, she didn't go quietly. Instead, she published a strongly titled, independent, 96 page report with a rallying call: 'Time To Solve Childhood Obesity'.
"The Government ambition" she wrote "is to halve childhood obesity by 2030 – in England, we are nowhere near achieving this. Yet, if we are bold, we can."
What followed was a plethora of recommendations for Government bodies, local authorities, schools, researchers, the NHS, the private sector and more.
In the first of two programmes, Sheila Dillon meets the young people at the heart of this issue. She asks them what they think needs to change for them to lead healthy lives in the future. She meets individuals, schools and organisations trying to make sense of the complex issues surrounding child obesity and asks what really needs to change before we see a reduction in levels of child obesity in the UK.
Presented by Sheila Dillon.
Produced by Clare Salisbury.
SUN 12:57 Weather (m000f5rm)
The latest weather forecast
SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (m000f5rp)
Global news and analysis, presented by Mark Mardell.
SUN 13:30 The Inside Story of Election 19 (m000f5rr)
What lies behind Boris Johnson's overwhelming election victory? In this programme, Anne McElvoy talks to the key figures across the political spectrum about how the 2019 general election was fought and lost.
To what extent was this a 'Brexit election' and how did the Conservative Party reach out to voters in places that it had not won for decades and in some cases generations? Why did the Opposition Parties agree to holding the election in the first place? What led to Labour's worst defeat since 1935 and why did Jeremy Corbyn's campaign fail to make the impact he had made in 2017? Why did the Liberal Democrats struggle to make the breakthrough that they had hoped for and what difference did the Brexit Party's decision to stand down in Conservative held seats make to the result.
Producer: Peter Snowdon
SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m000dyp7)
Dumfries & Galloway
Kathy Clugston and the panel are in Dumfries and Galloway. James Wong, Matthew Wilson and Christine Walkden answer questions from the audience.
This week, the panellists discuss encouraging plants to grow in a stone garden wall. They also advise on over-wintering a fig tree and consider the best plant varieties for a garden with low drainage.
Matt Biggs meets GQT listener Sarah Davison, who is blind. She guides Matt round her garden and shows him how sight isn't essential to gardening.
Producer: Dan Cocker
Assistant Producer: Rosie Merotra
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 14:45 The Listening Project (m000f5rt)
Sunday Omnibus: Tattoos, voice communication and the dark side of comedy
Fi Glover presents the omnibus edition of the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen - with three conversations about tattoos, voice communication and harsh comedy environments.
The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. Most of the unedited conversations are being archived by the British Library and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the millennium. You can learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject
Producer: Mohini Patel
SUN 15:00 Drama (m0006zl8)
Black Water: An American Story
by Joyce Carol Oates, adapted by Sarah Wooley
A gripping drama with its origins in American political history adapted from the Pulitzer-nominated novel.
Young political writer, Kelly, is staying with friends on an island off the coast of Maine for a Fourth of July party. She is surprised and delighted when a famous US Senator arrives and, over the course of an afternoon of drinking, talking and tennis, she captivates him. The two leave in the evening to catch the last ferry, to have dinner and spend the night together. But something goes terribly wrong.
July 18th 2019 marks 50 years since the Chappaquiddick incident.
Kelly ..... Lydia Wilson
The Senator ..... Elliot Cowan
Narrator/Mother ..... Laurel Lefkow
Buffy ..... Kelly Burke
Ray ..... Chris Pavlo
Felicia/Operator ..... Emma Lau
Stacey/Woman at Party ..... Hannah Wood
Directed by Gaynor Macfarlane
SUN 16:00 Open Book (m000f5rw)
100 Novels; Love and Romance with Marion Keyes, David Nicholls, Sara Collins
Open Book celebrates the BBC's 100 Novels That Shaped Our World this month zooming in on Love, Sex and Romance.
Mariella talks to bestselling novelist Marion Keyes about her new book Grown Ups. The story of the Casey family who have a seemingly good life at birthday parties, weekends away and Tuscan summer vacations, but under the surface conditions are murkier. Addictions are rife, love affairs brewing and when momentous secrets are revealed the family's dysfunctions come to the fore.
Costa winning author of The Confessions of Frannie Langton, Sara Collins, takes a forensic look at the writing of James Baldwin in a close reading of his stirring tale of a doomed love affair Giovanni's Room.
Marion Keyes and Mariella are also joined by author of Us, Sweet Sorrow and One Day, David Nicholls to discuss the novels about love, sex and romance that shaped them both as readers and writers.
SUN 16:30 The Noisy Page (m0001m7f)
Imagine putting your ear to Great Expectations like a shell - and hearing it whisper to you. Not the text itself, but a distillation of its sound-world - a beetle running across Miss Havisham's wedding table, the claustrophobic atmosphere of Satis House, the clink of Joe Gargery's hammer in the forge - everything you'd hear if you could walk through the pages of the book, mixed together to create "essence-of-Dickens".
Award-winning documentary-maker Cathy FitzGerald listens in on fictional soundscapes by Edgar Allan Poe, Richard Wright, Virginia Woolf and more. She hears how the relationship between sound and literature has become a fashionable academic topic of late and imagines what a visit to a library of these noisy novels might be like.
With contributions from musician and author David Toop, writer Zoe Gilbert and academics Anna Snaith (Kings College, London) and Jennifer Lynn Stoever (Binghampton University). We also hear from poets Michelle Penn and Rishi Dastidar, hard at work in the Department of Onomatopoetics.
Presenter and Producer: Cathy FitzGerald
A White Stiletto production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 17:00 File on 4 (m000dy6g)
Sewage Sludge
For decades sewage sludge from waste treatment works has been used as a fertiliser on agricultural land. But File on 4 hears serious concerns over whether it could pose a risk to human health and whether tougher regulation is needed.
The practice is perfectly legal. Treated sewage known as 'sludge' or 'biosolids' provides a rich and cost-effective source of nutrients for soil which is then used to grow crops. The process saves more than three and a half million tonnes of human waste going into landfill or being incinerated.
But reporter Claire Bolderson hears from scientists worried about the chemicals, plastics and medicines that could be damaging soil and making their way into the food chain. And she investigates the process of regulating the treatment, storage and use of sludge, amid claims from experts that rules are outdated and oversight lacking.
Recycling sewage as fertiliser fits today’s environmental agenda for waste. But do we know enough about what the potential impact of the practice might be in the future?
Reporter: Claire Bolderson
Producer: Ben Robinson
Editor: Carl Johnston
SUN 17:40 Profile (m000f5ry)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m000f5s0)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 17:57 Weather (m000f5s2)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000f5s4)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (m000f5s6)
Julie Hesmondhalgh
The best of BBC Radio this week.
SUN 19:00 The Archers (m000f5s8)
Alice reels from the latest gossip and Robert finds his Valentine plans thwarted
SUN 19:15 The Skewer (m000f088)
Series 1
Episode 5
From the mind of Jon Holmes comes topical satire like you've never heard it before.
SUN 19:45 No One Called Her Angel (m000f5sb)
Episode 5
Angel resolves to fight her husband for the flat, while an enraged Lynn forbids her daughter from having contact with the other woman.
A series about truth, perspective and memory by Louise Welsh.
Read by Maryam Hamidi
Produced by Eilidh McCreadie
SUN 20:00 More or Less (m000dypf)
Tracking Terror Suspects
Costing counter-terrorism, interrogating tomatoes, the UK's reading age, and the politics of GDP. It's a busy week on More or Less. We start in Streatham, where counter-terrorism officers shot dead a man they'd been following after he began stabbing people. Officials have been tight-lipped about the costs of tracking suspects. But we reached into the archive to find an interview with the former head of MI5, who gives a sense of the scale of the challenge and the expense facing the security services. We fact-check a claim from the Prime Minister about the level of economic growth under 'this government'. And there are broader questions: are today's tomatoes less healthy than those grown in the 1950s? Is there such a thing as a nation's 'reading age'? And are nurses disproportionately led by men?
Presenter: Tim Harford
Producer: Neal Razzell
SUN 20:30 Last Word (m000dypc)
Kirk Douglas, Terry Hands CBE, Hazel Murphy, Seamus Mallon
Pictured: Kirk Douglas
Julian Worricker on:
Terry Hands, long serving artistic director of the RSC, who co-founded the Liverpool Everyman theatre and revived the Clwyd theatre Cymru...
The wine marketer, Hazel Murphy, who's credited with spearheading Australia's wine invasion of Europe....
The nationalist Northern Ireland politician, Seamus Mallon, whose negotiating skills helped secure the Good Friday Agreement...
And the actor Kirk Douglas, whose career in film spanned seven decades, and involved memorable portrayals of all-action if not always likeable characters...
Interviewed guest: Paul Allen
Interviewed guest: Jancis Robinson OBE
Interviewed guest: Barry Turley
Producer: Neil George
Archive clips from: Desert Island Discs, Radio 4 08/08/1981; Australian Table Wines, Monty Python’s Previous Record, Charisma 1973; BBC News, 03/02/2000; 1800 News, Radio 4 14/10/1999; The Vikings, directed by Richard Fleischer, Brynaprod S.A./ Bavaria Film/ Curtleigh Productions 1958; Kirk Douglas: I am Issur Danielovitch, Eyes On Cinema 21/10/2016; Parkinson, BBC One 16/04/1979; The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, directed by Lewis Milestone, Hal Wallis Productions 1946; Lust for Life, directed by Vincente Minnelli, MGM 1956; Woman’s Hour, Radio 4 26/09/1988; The Oscars, ABC 1996.
SUN 21:00 Money Box (m000f5sf)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 on Saturday]
SUN 21:25 Radio 4 Appeal (m000f5r1)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 today]
SUN 21:30 Analysis (m000dyc2)
The NHS, AI and Our Data
The NHS has a unique resource - data. David Edmonds asks whether a combination of data and Artificial Intelligence will transform the future of the NHS. The programme features among others Sir John Bell, who leads the government’s life-sciences industrial strategy and Matthew Gould chief executive of NHSx, the unit set up to lead the NHS's digital transformation. As the NHS tries to exploit its data, the programme raises the danger that data may be flogged off to the private sector at bargain basement prices.
Producer Sheila Cook
Editor Jasper Corbett
SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (m000f5sh)
Radio 4's Sunday night political discussion programme.
SUN 23:00 The Film Programme (m000dxtr)
Bong Joon-ho on Parasite
With Antonia Quirke.
Director Bong Joon-ho talks about his award-winning Korean thriller Parasite, which has been a surprise hit in the United States. And he reveals the debt of gratitude his film owes to Alfred Hitchcock.
Matthew Sweet finds out how he could get a dystopian science fiction novel from 1954 optioned as a movie. He is aided in his quest by film development consultant Rowan Woods.
As A Streetcar Named Desire returns to the big screen, Brando biographer William J Mann takes us behind the scenes of this ground-breaking movie which made its star a heart-throb over night.
To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Federico Fellini, The Film Programme unearths a gem from its archive - the late director Anthony Minghella recounts how watching I Vitelloni felt like Fellini was burrowing into his head and capturing the time he spent as a young man in the Isle Of Wight.
SUN 23:30 Something Understood (b03s69dg)
[Repeat of broadcast at
06:05 today]
MONDAY 10 FEBRUARY 2020
MON 00:00 Midnight News (m000f5sk)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 00:15 Thinking Allowed (m000f07g)
Nudity
NUDITY – Laurie Taylor explores the cultural history of nudity and its impact on ideas about the body from the early twentieth century to the present. He talks to Sarah Schrank, Professor of History at California State University, about the unusual eras and locations in which it thrived - from Depression-era collectives to 1950s suburban nudist communities—as well as the more predictable beaches and resorts. They’re joined by Barbara Górnicka, Assistant Professor in Sociology at University College, Dublin, who asks why we find exposing bodies shameful and draws on her own participation in a nudist swimming club.
Producer: Jayne Egerton
MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (m000f5sm)
[Repeat of broadcast at
05:43 on Sunday]
MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000f5sp)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000f5sr)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000f5st)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
MON 05:30 News Briefing (m000f5sw)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000f5sy)
Reflection and prayer to begin the day, with Rev Cheryl Meban.
MON 05:45 Farming Today (m000f5t0)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
MON 05:56 Weather (m000f5t2)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.
MON 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b09nxvy1)
Jane Smith on the Ringed Plover
Wildlife artist Jane Smith is captivated by a group of Ringed Plovers and their ability to seemingly appear and disappear before her eyes so good is their colouring at camouflaging them, but their calls give them away!
Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world.
Producer: Sarah Blunt
Photograph: Denis Eagling.
MON 06:00 Today (m000f6sk)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
MON 09:00 Start the Week (m000f6sm)
Dresden - 75 years on
As the 75th anniversary of the Allied bombing of Dresden approaches, the historian Sinclair McKay looks back at the obliteration of a city and its aftermath. He tells Tom Sutcliffe about the terrible suffering of the 25,000 people who were killed in one night.
The artist Edmund de Waal is showcasing his latest work in Dresden. The installation ‘library of exile’ is a place of contemplation and dialogue, and celebrates the cultures of migration. De Waal also outlines the importance of Dresden as the centre of European porcelain.
In recent decades this former East German city has seen a huge increase in support for far-right groups. The journalist Stefanie Bolzen argues that there are many who feel their lives have not benefited either from the rebuilding of the city after the war or from the unification of Germany since.
Sasha Havlicek is the founding CEO of the global counter-extremism organisation, ISD, which studies the online tactics of far-right groups across Europe and the US. She has seen a rise in the support of anti-migrant political parties, as well as increases in hate speech and terror attacks against minority communities.
Producer: Katy Hickman
MON 09:45 How to Argue with a Racist, by Adam Rutherford (m000f6sp)
Episode 1
Dr Adam Rutherford offers a scientific toolkit to separate fact from myth in understanding how we are different and how we are the same.
In the first episode, he examines the genetics of skin colour. Human beings rely heavily on how things look and so pigmentation is one of the first indicators often used to superficially categorise people. But just how useful is it?
Adam Rutherford has a PhD in Genetics and a degree in evolutionary biology, is an honorary Research Fellow at University College London and a former audio-video editor at the journal Nature. He is a presenter of BBC Radio 4 's Inside Science and also The Curious Cases of Rutherford and Fry with Dr Hannah Fry. He has also presented several TV documentaries and written regularly for newspapers and journals. He has published several books related to genetics and the origin of life.
Written and read by Dr Adam Rutherford
Abridged by Jill Waters and Isobel Creed
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4
MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000f6sr)
The programme that offers a female perspective on the world
MON 10:45 24 Kildare Road (m000f6st)
Episode 6
A woman's body is found in the snow. Over ten episodes we discover what led her there. In this episode, PC Hayley Morton is desperate to discover the identity of the old woman found in the snow.
Hayley ..... Christine Bottomley
Mick ..... David Reed
Phil ..... Ian Conningham
Shirley ..... Heather Craney
Directed by Mary Peate
Written by Katie Hims
MON 11:00 The Untold (m000f6sw)
Jack's Back
When Jack was a baby, he got meningitis, and acquired a brain injury which left him with complex disabilities, and extremely challenging behaviour. With the care he needs so hard to come by, for the last 8 years he's been living in a special facility. The only problem is, it's hours away from his family.
But now, thanks to mum Jo, he's got a place in a special care accommodation block just 10 minutes from their door. For the first time in 8 years Jack is back, and the family are delighted.
Grace Dent follows the story as he settles in, and they get adjust to having him so close, and to being a complete family again.
Produced by Gemma Dunstan
MON 11:30 Loose Ends (m000f5zl)
[Repeat of broadcast at
18:15 on Saturday]
MON 12:00 News Summary (m000f6sz)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 12:04 The Secret Guests, by BW Black (m000f6t1)
Episode 1
In 1940, at the height of Blitz, the two young princesses Elizabeth and Margaret are secretly evacuated from Buckingham Palace for their own safety and sent to an isolated rural estate in neutral Ireland. However Clonmillis Hall may prove to be even more dangerous than wartime London…
Irish police detective Strafford has been assigned to watch over the girls during their stay and so must form an uneasy alliance with their governess Miss Celia Nashe, an undercover MI5 officer charged with the princesses’ safety. However, with a contingent of soldiers patrolling the woods and rumours of IRA terrorists in the vicinity, they soon find their task even more treacherous than expected. But is the real threat from outside, or from within Clonmillis Hall itself?
An imagined historical adventure and enthralling mystery, as read by Sorcha Cusack (BBC’s Father Brown).
Writer
B.W. Black is the pen name of acclaimed Irish author John Banville. He is the author of several novels, including The Sea, which won the 2005 Man Booker Prize. In 2013 he was awarded the Irish PEN Award for Outstanding Achievement in Irish Literature. He has published a number of crime novels, most featuring Quirke (an Irish pathologist based in Dublin) which were adapted into a TV series starring Gabriel Byrne.
Author, B.W. Black
Abridger, Neville Teller
Reader, Sorcha Cusack
Producer, Michael Shannon
MON 12:18 You and Yours (m000f6t3)
News and discussion of consumer affairs.
MON 12:57 Weather (m000f6t5)
The latest weather forecast
MON 13:00 World at One (m000f6t7)
Mon-Thurs: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Sarah Montague. Fri: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Mark Mardell.
MON 13:45 Equal As We Are (m000f6t9)
Episode 1
Laura Wade eavesdrops on conversations between men and women from the past to examine some of today's thorniest gender issues
1. What does the encounter between Sir Lancelot and Lady Phelot in Thomas Mallory's Morte d'Arthur reveal about the true meaning of chivalry?
Dr Hetta Howes from City, University of London uncovers the origins of a very gender-based form of manners which continues to cause ripples today
Why might that 17th century mother-of-all-rows between Adam and Eve in Milton’s Paradise Lost contain the secret of a happy marriage? How might Mr B’s predatory interest in Pamela in Samuel Richardson’s 18th century novel help today’s young people understand issues of consent? Are there uncomfortable erotic truths hidden in the sex scene between Rupert and Hilary in Jilly Cooper’s 1985 bonk-buster, Riders?
Recent high-profile campaigns around sexual consent, harassment, the pay gap and power imbalances between men and women have encouraged many of us to re-examine everyday gender relations. In ten programmes covering 500 years, Laura Wade eavesdrops on literary encounters between men and women to explore some of today’s most pressing issues.
She starts with the encounter between Lancelot and Lady Phelot in Thomas Malory’s Morte D’Arthur to consider why chivalry is such a contested issue and culminates with the on-off relationship between Connell and Marianne in Sally Rooney’s hit 2018 novel, Normal People, to understand why younger people find it increasingly hard to commit to a single partner today.
Readings by real-life couple Adrian Lester and Lolita Chakrabarti
Laura Wade is an Olivier award-winning playwright - author of “Posh" “Home, I’m Darling” and a recent adaptation of Jane Austen's The Watsons
Producer; Beaty Rubens
MON 14:00 The Archers (m000f5s8)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Sunday]
MON 14:15 Blood, Sex and Money by Emile Zola (b06ptdd8)
Blood
Food
Blood Sex and Money, an epic 24 hours of drama inspired by the works of literature’s greatest whistleblower, Emile Zola.
Season 1. Blood. Episode 3. Food.
Lisa Macquart’s brother-in-law turns up on her doorstep and her entire future seems threatened.
A story of love, jealousy and betrayal dramatised by Oliver Emanuel.
Glenda Jackson stars as Dide, 104 years old, the matriarch to a family of wolves – the Rougon-Macquarts.
Cast:
Dide ..… Glenda Jackson
Lisa ….. Jodie McNee
Florent ..… James Anthony Pearson
Old Man / Revolutionary ..… Jonathan Keeble
Quenu ….. Graeme Hawley
Pauline ….. Millie Kinsey
Gervaise ….. Julie Hesmondhalgh
Directed by Kirsty Williams
MON 15:00 Round Britain Quiz (m000f6tc)
Programme 5, 2020
(5/12)
Tom Sutcliffe welcomes another two teams to the challenging cryptic quiz. Elizabeth-Jane Burnett and Stephen Maddock play for the Midlands, taking on Marcus Berkmann and Paul Sinha of the South of England. As usual, they have no idea what obscure knowledge they may need to dredge up, as they unpick the programme's apparently impenetrable trademark teasers. There may not be much obvious connection between cricket and 90s dance music, or Norse mythology and the Flintstones, but a knowledge of all of these could come in very handy today.
They'll win points according to the amount of help they get from the chair in arriving at the solutions: the heavier the hints, the more points they'll drop.
Producer: Paul Bajoria
MON 15:30 The Food Programme (m000f5rk)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:32 on Sunday]
MON 16:00 Sea Border (m0003cm6)
Northern Irish magical realist author Jan Carson mixes the strange and otherworldly with the ordinary and the everyday.
Hailing from rural County Antrim, her accent is a blend of Northern Irish and Scottish tones and Jan says her writing comes from somewhere in-between. But liminal spaces can be full of longing and the sea is changing from place to place. Are you here or there? Arriving or leaving? It can be hard to tell which side you're on.
With ownership shifting with the rumbling tide, Jan brings us stories from the Irish Sea between Scotland and her native Northern Ireland. But it can be a dangerous thing to cross a dividing sea...
Producer: Conor Garrett
MON 16:30 The Infinite Monkey Cage (m000f5hl)
Series 21
Quantum Worlds
Quantum Worlds
Brian Cox and Robin Ince are joined by comedian Katy Brand, and physicists Sean Carroll and Jim Al-Khalili as they enter the strange and bizarre world of quantum mechanics. Schroedinger's famous thought experiment stuck a cat in a box and asked if it is dead or alive. Quantum physics says the cat is both dead and alive, until we open the box. This mind-bending idea may seem the realm of philosophy, but is actually the science that underpins most of modern life as we know it. Once the panel have dealt with the controversial issues surrounding cats in boxes, they explore whether quantum physics is really an accurate description of reality, and if it is, are there, as the theory suggests, infinite copies of you, me and everything in our universe all existing in every possible combination of ways of existing? If that is the strange but true reality of existence, will we ever be able to prove it?
MON 17:00 PM (m000f6tj)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.
MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000f6tl)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 18:30 Nature Table (m000f6tn)
Series 1
Episode 1
Nature Table is comedian, broadcaster and writer Sue Perkins’ new comedy ‘Show & Tell’ series celebrating the natural world and all its funny eccentricities.
Taking the simple format of a ‘Show & Tell’, each episode Sue is joined by celebrity guests from the worlds of comedy and natural history. Each of the natural history guests brings an item linked to the wild world to share with the audience, be it an amazing fact or funny personal anecdote. Each item is a springboard for an enlightening and funny discussion, alongside fun games and challenges revealing more astonishing facts. We also hear from some of the London Zoo audience, a mix of London Zoo staff and members of the public, as they bring us their own natural history ‘show and tells’ for Sue and the guests to discuss.
Nature Table has a simple clear brief: to positively celebrate and promote the importance of all our planet’s wonderfully wild flora and fauna in a fun and easily grasped way... whilst at the same time having a giggle.
Episode 1
Recorded at London Zoo, this week Sue Perkins is joined by special guests marine biologist Helen Scales, zoologist Lucy Cooke, ethnobotanist James Wong and Australian comedian Felicity Ward. This week’s ‘Show & Tell’ objects include: the fossilised eardrum of a whale, a flower of broccoli and a beaver’s gland.
Written by: Catherine Brinkworth, Kat Sadler & Jon Hunter
Produced by: Simon Nicholls
Music by Ben Mirin. Additional sounds were provided by The Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
A BBC Studios Production
MON 19:00 The Archers (m000f5gs)
Johnny loses his cool and Alistair tries his luck
MON 19:15 Front Row (m000f6ts)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
MON 19:45 24 Kildare Road (m000f6st)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
MON 20:00 My Name Is... (m000f6tv)
My Name Is Immie
"When I was in primary school, I remember being asked to draw our house. I drew our temporary accommodation, which back then was just an ordinary house. And I think about children living in these office blocks - what would they draw?"
When Immie was growing up, she lived in emergency and then temporary accommodation with her mum and three sisters. Temporary can be permanent for many people, but today she feels much more secure. Then one day something odd happened. She was on the bus, on the to deck, looking into the first floor of an ugly office block on the side of the busy A12 in north east London. She could see it had been converted, and there were people living up and down all seven floors. In tiny flats. Some of them were much smaller than the government's minimum space standard.
Immie wanted to know how this was possible.
We often hear that there is a national housing crisis, but don't always understand what that means. Immie, who is just 22, has made over 80 freedom of information requests to find out how many people are being temporarily housed in office blocks. She discovers that it is perfectly legal to do this - developers can bypass normal planning regulations thanks to Permitted Development Rights or PDR. She meets an architect and a council leader who both say it's wrong, though their reasons are not the same.
Features interviews with architect Julia Park of Leviit Bernstein; and Joseph Ejiofor, the head of Haringey Council … plus some dramatic location recordings too.
The producer in Bristol is Miles Warde
MON 20:30 Analysis (m000f6tx)
The Early Years Miracle?
The government spends billions on free early years education. The theory goes that this is good for children, their parents and society as a whole. But does the evidence stack up? Despite the policy's lofty intentions, Professor Alison Wolf discovers that the results aren’t at all what anyone expected.
Contributors include:
Steven Barnett - National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University
Christine Farquharson - Institute for Fiscal Studies
Liz Roberts - Nursery World Magazine
Torsten Bell - Resolution Foundation
Lynne Burnham - Mothers at Home Matter
Neil Leitch - Early Years Alliance
Presenter: Professor Alison Wolf
Producer: Beth Sagar Fenton
Editor: Jasper Corbett
With thanks to N Family Club
MON 21:00 Code Red (m000dy4y)
Eddie was set to become another statistic, another teenager killed by rising levels of knife crime.
But Eddie’s life was saved by the new field of trauma science. It is revolutionising the way people are treated after shootings, traffic accidents or any injury that causes catastrophic bleeding.
The doctors that pioneered the work call it Code Red. Your chances of surviving major bleeding are now higher than ever before.
So what changed? Quite simply trauma medicine has been turned on its head. Before 2007, doctors would have treated Eddie’s catastrophic bleeding by trying to replace the fluid leaking out of his stab wounds. Salty water, called saline, and just one component of our blood – the oxygen carrying red blood cells – would be put back into Eddie’s body - in what's called a massive transfusion.
It seemed like a good idea. Keep the blood pressure up, keep oxygen moving round the body and keep the patient alive. But that’s not what happened - around half of people died on the operating table. The principles were wrong. They were damaging the body’s natural way of stemming blood loss – clotting.
It was around 2003 that the ideas behind the Code Red protocol started to take shape. The poster child of the new field of trauma science was revealing the vital role of clotting. Karim Brohi, Professor of Trauma Sciences at Queen Mary, University of London, discovered that major trauma could disrupt the blood’s ability to clot within minutes of the injury, and patients affected were more likely to die. What's more, saline was diluting the blood and making the bleeding worse.
Over a decade ago, the Royal London Hospital decided to do something radical. It introduced Code Red, also known as damage control resuscitation, and shifted the focus from blood pressure to blood clotting - get blood products into patients to get on top of any abnormalities there first.
Making that happen took a huge culture shift. This is not a normal research environment. There’s no time to ponder, patients are hovering between life and death; and every second counts. But now the innovation has been accepted across the NHS, and recent research reveals a massive drop in the death rate of patients with catastrophic bleeding.
Producer: Beth Eastwood
MON 21:30 Start the Week (m000f6sm)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
MON 22:00 The World Tonight (m000f6v0)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
MON 22:45 The Secret Guests, by BW Black (m000f6t1)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 today]
MON 23:00 Word of Mouth (m000dy62)
Real Talk
Michael Rosen talks to conversation analyst Elizabeth Stokoe about the science of talk. Why infinitesimal pauses and saying hello matter, and the choice of 'speak' over 'talk' can save lives. Where does comedy get it right, and where does artificial intelligence get it wrong? Producer Sally Heaven.
MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (m000f6v2)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament
TUESDAY 11 FEBRUARY 2020
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (m000f6v4)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
TUE 00:30 How to Argue with a Racist, by Adam Rutherford (m000f6sp)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000f6v6)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000f6v8)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000f6vb)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
TUE 05:30 News Briefing (m000f6vd)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000f6vg)
Reflection and prayer to begin the day, with Rev Cheryl Meban.
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (m000f6vj)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
TUE 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b09ny18b)
Jane Smith on the Whitethroat
Wildlife artist Jane Smith describes her excitement at hearing the song of the whitethroat heralding his return to her garden every year.
Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world.
Producer: Sarah Blunt
Photograph: Dave Bushell.
TUE 06:00 Today (m000f5fx)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
TUE 09:00 The Life Scientific (m000f5fz)
Optical communications pioneer Polina Bayvel
We’ve come to expect to be connected instantly to anywhere in the world and to have unlimited information at our fingertips. We shop online, stream music, download books and boxsets onto our electronic devices. We share videos of our pets just because we can. But how much time have you spent recently thinking about the remarkable feats of engineering that make all this possible?
Polina Bayvel has been at the forefront of creating the optical fibre networks that are capable of transporting vast quantities of data from one place to another: linking continents via cables laid under oceans or enabling computer systems in data centres to share information. Without these high speed networks, ultra-fast high-capacity broadband will remain a dream. Polina tells Jim Al Khalili how she moved to the UK from the Soviet Union when she was 12 and worked in industry for many years, before deciding that she wanted to set up a lab to find out what optical fibres were capable of: just how much data could they transport, and how fast?
Producer: Anna Buckley
TUE 09:30 One to One (m000f5g1)
Lady Hale and Elsie Owusu on architecture & justice
Architect Elsie Owusu discusses the refurbishment of the Supreme Court building with Lady Hale.
The creation of the Supreme Court in 2009 was a defining moment in UK legal history. And in architectural history, too. It was decided to refurbish the century-old Middlesex Guildhall which stands in London's Parliament Square. At the time it housed seven Crown Courts and was, according to Lady Hale, 'cluttered and gloomy'. Lady Hale, who has recently retired as the first female President of the Supreme Court, was involved in the renovation process, and worked alongside Elsie Owusu who was one of the architects. Just over 10 years on, they get together to discuss what they wanted to achieve: a building of 'light and transparency' which would mirror the aims of the Supreme Court itself.
Producer: Karen Gregor
TUE 09:45 How to Argue with a Racist, by Adam Rutherford (m000f5g3)
Episode 2
Dr Adam Rutherford offers a scientific toolkit to separate fact from myth in understanding how we are different and how we are the same.
Adam Rutherford has a PhD in Genetics and a degree in evolutionary biology, is an honorary Research Fellow at University College London and a former audio-video editor at the journal Nature. He is a presenter of BBC Radio 4 's Inside Science and also The Curious Cases of Rutherford and Fry with Dr Hannah Fry. He has also presented several TV documentaries and written regularly for newspapers and journals. He has published several books related to genetics and the origin of life.
Written and read by Dr Adam Rutherford
Abridged by Jill Waters and Isobel Creed
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000f5g6)
The programme that offers a female perspective on the world
TUE 10:45 24 Kildare Road (m000f5g8)
Episode 7
A woman's body is found in the snow. Over ten episodes we discover what led her there. In this episode, someone finally comes forward with some information about the old woman.
Joe ..... John Rowe
Mick ..... David Reed
Girl ..... Scarlett Courtney
Hayley ..... Christine Bottomley
Directed by Mary Peate
Written by Katie Hims
TUE 11:00 The Purity Spiral (m000d70h)
Journalist Gavin Haynes heads into the eye of two seemingly unlikely moral storms. He discovers bitter rows over diversity and racism within the world of Young Adult literature and Instagram knitting.
You might think online knitting and teen fiction would be innocuous cosy communities formed around a shared love of craft and a good yarn. However, as Gavin reveals, both scenes have recently become embroiled in what he terms The Purity Spiral. These vicious cycles of accusation and judgement see communities engaging in moral feeding frenzies. As a result, individuals are targetted and savaged by mobs who deem them problematic.
Gavin meets Nathan Taylor, an Instagram knitting star who unwittingly triggered a race row after attempting to reach out to people of colour using the hashtag Diversknitty. Nathan watched in horror as a wave of accusations of white supremacy and Nazism flowed into his inbox. This brush with the toxicity of a Purity Spiral was so severe that Nathan was hospitalised by his husband following a suicide threat.
In Young Adult literature, Gavin discovers a scene similarly beset by ideological battles. We hear from the founder of the hashtag Own Voices which has come to symbolise books featuring minority characters written by authors from a similar racial or cultural background. We enter the world of the 'sensitivity reader' and meet author Laura Moriarty who almost had a well-reviewed book cancelled after hordes of people labelled it a 'white saviour narrative' despite the fact they'd never read it as it had yet to be published.
Writer and Presenter: Gavin Haynes
Producers: Gavin Haynes and Eve Streeter
A Novel production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 11:30 Not Enough Pride for Charley Pride (m0009b00)
With millions of records sold around the world, prestigious awards and a cultural and racial legacy, why don't we all know more about Charley Pride?
In 1925, a Nashville-based radio show, WSM's Barn Dance, was launched. Later known as the Grand Ole Opry, one of its first stars was "Harmonica Wizard" DeFord Bailey - an African-American and the first black musician to perform on the Opry. He was one of the earliest African-American stars of country music, but the voice that dominated the next generation belonged to Charley Pride.
He was born to sharecroppers in Sledge, Mississippi in 1934 and the Opry was a feature in the cabin where he grew up. Pride would impersonate the jingles and mimic the acts. His voice was being trained for future success. Not that Pride knew this - he wanted to break out of poverty by playing baseball.
Despite moderate success, injury forced Charley out of baseball and into music. His back-up plan became his career when he followed the recommendation of Country singer-songwriter Red Sovine to visit a Nashville studio for an audition. He was signed on the spot.
His new manager and label were aware that, in order for his voice to make it to Country radio, they couldn't reveal that Charley was black. So they released his debut single without a picture of him on the cover.
Following his debut single in 1966, Pride went on to become the most successful artist on the RCA record label in the 1970s. In total, he has lent his revered baritone to 56 albums and gained 29 US Number One singles. He became a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 1993, was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2000 and received a Lifetime Achievement Grammy in 2017.
Now well into his 80s, Charley Pride continues to tour worldwide. We hear about the life and career in his own words.
Presented by Jacqueline Springer
Produced by Tom Woolfenden
A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 12:00 News Summary (m000f5gb)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 12:04 The Secret Guests, by BW Black (m000f5gd)
Episode 2
In 1940, at the height of Blitz, the two young princesses Elizabeth and Margaret are secretly evacuated from Buckingham Palace for their own safety and sent to an isolated rural estate in neutral Ireland. However Clonmillis Hall may prove to be even more dangerous than wartime London…
Irish police detective Strafford has been assigned to watch over the girls during their stay and so must form an uneasy alliance with their governess Miss Celia Nashe, an undercover MI5 officer charged with the princesses’ safety. However, with a contingent of soldiers patrolling the woods and rumours of IRA terrorists in the vicinity, they soon find their task even more treacherous than expected. But is the real threat from outside, or from within Clonmillis Hall itself?
An imagined historical adventure and enthralling mystery, as read by Sorcha Cusack (BBC’s Father Brown).
Writer
B.W. Black is the pen name of acclaimed Irish author John Banville. He is the author of several novels, including The Sea, which won the 2005 Man Booker Prize. In 2013 he was awarded the Irish PEN Award for Outstanding Achievement in Irish Literature. He has published a number of crime novels, most featuring Quirke (an Irish pathologist based in Dublin) which were adapted into a TV series starring Gabriel Byrne.
Author, B.W. Black
Abridger, Neville Teller
Reader, Sorcha Cusack
Producer, Michael Shannon
TUE 12:18 You and Yours (m000f5gh)
Call You and Yours
News and discussion of consumer affairs.
TUE 12:57 Weather (m000f5gk)
The latest weather forecast
TUE 13:00 World at One (m000f5gm)
Mon-Thurs: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Sarah Montague. Fri: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Mark Mardell.
TUE 13:45 Equal As We Are (m000f5gp)
Episode 2
Laura Wade eavesdrops on conversations between men and women from the past to examine some of today's thorniest gender issues
Recent high profile campaigns around issues such as sexual consent, harassment and assault, the pay gap and power imbalances between men and women have encouraged many of us to re-examine everyday gender relations. In ten programmes covering the last 500 years, playwright Laura Wade eavesdrops on encounters between men and women in great literary works to shed light on some of today’s most pressing issues.
2.Dr Will Tosh from Shakespeare's Globe explains why new-style "Companionate Marriage" in the era after the Reformation presented a challenge to same-sex friendships - and perhaps still does to this day. Are we honest enough about the sacrifices we make in terms of former same-sex friendships when we embark upon marriage?
With readings by real-life couple Adrian Lester and Lolita Chakrabarti
Laura Wade is an Olivier Award-winning playwright, the author of “Posh” and “Home, I’m Darling”. Her recent adaptation of Jane Austen’s unfinished story, “The Watsons”, transfers to the West End in 2020.
Producer: Beaty Rubens
TUE 14:00 The Archers (m000f5gs)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 Blood, Sex and Money by Emile Zola (b06ptw77)
Blood
Politics
Blood Sex and Money, an epic 24 hours of drama inspired by the works of literature’s greatest whistleblower, Emile Zola.
Season 1. Blood. Episode 4. Politics.
Eugène Rougon was once at the heart of government. Now he’s just another member of the public, and it’s killing him. When his cousin Lisa Macquart turns up with proof that her brother-in-law is embroiled in a plot to assassinate the Emperor, a game of political chess begins.
A story of power and the politics of silence dramatised by Oliver Emanuel.
Glenda Jackson stars as Dide, 104 years old, the matriarch to a family of wolves – the Rougon-Macquarts.
Cast:
Dide ..… Glenda Jackson
Eugène ….. Robert Jack
Clorinde ..… Laura Dos Santos
Lisa ….. Jodie McNee
Merle ..… James Anthony Pearson
Quenu ..… Graeme Hawley
Gilquin ..… Jonathan Keeble
Directed by Kirsty Williams
TUE 15:00 The Kitchen Cabinet (m000f5gw)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:30 on Saturday]
TUE 15:30 The Secret History of Science and Religion (m000614f)
1. The Nature of the Beast
Nick Spencer explores the history of the relationship between science and religion and questions the received wisdom that they have always been in conflict with one another. He tells the story of science and religion not as if they were big, abstract ideas but as it happened, through the lives and cultures of different people and different times. From the Islamic 'Golden Age' to Galileo, he examines how they were engaged in the exploration of the natural world between the 8th and 17th centuries to discover where the fault lines began to emerge.
Contributors:
John Holmes - Professor of Victorian literature and culture at Birmingham University;
John Hedley Brooke - Historian of Science and author of "Science and Religion: Some Historical Perspectives";
Fern Elsdon-Baker - Professor of Science, Knowledge and Belief in Society at the University of Birmingham;
Peter Harrison - Professor in the History of Science at the University of Queensland and author of “The Territories of Science and Religion”;
Jamil Ragep - Professor of the History of Science in Islamic Societies at McGill University in Montreal;
James Hannam - Author of "God’s Philosophers: How the Medieval World Laid the Foundations of Modern Science";
Jack Cunningham - Reader in Ecclesiastical History at Bishop Grosseteste University, Lincoln;
Tom McLeish - Professor of Natural Philosophy at the University of York;
Dava Sobel - Author of "Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love".
Producer: Dan Tierney
Series Editor: Christine Morgan
TUE 16:00 Word of Mouth (m000f5gy)
Sindhu Vee
Michael talks to comedian Sindhu Vee about her life in language. Why hearing Nepalese, a language she no longer speaks, can make her cry, how she uses Hindi idioms in comedy, and how she cured her stutter with a thesaurus. Producer Sally Heaven
TUE 16:30 A Good Read (m000f5h0)
Sarah Phelps and Dane Baptiste
Screenwriter Sarah Phelps and comedian Dane Baptiste talk to Harriett Gilbert about books they love, including work by Truman Capote and Elizabeth Taylor and Weapons of Mass Instruction, a critique of contemporary schooling. Producer Sally Heaven.
TUE 17:00 PM (m000f5h2)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.
TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000f5h4)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 18:30 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (b09th4hf)
Hexagonal Phase
Episode 1
Simon Jones stars as Arthur Dent in a brand new full-cast series based on And Another Thing..., the sixth book in the famous Hitchhiker's Guide trilogy.
Forty years on from the first ever radio series of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Arthur Dent and friends return to be thrown back into the Whole General Mish Mash, in a rattling adventure involving Viking Gods and Irish Confidence Tricksters, with our first glimpse of Eccentrica Gallumbits and a brief but memorable moment with The Ravenous Bugblatter Beast Of Traal.
Starring John Lloyd as The Book, with Simon Jones as Arthur, Geoff McGivern as Ford Prefect, Mark Wing-Davey as Zaphod Beeblebrox, Sandra Dickinson and Susan Sheridan as Trillian, Jim Broadbent as Marvin the Paranoid Android and Jane Horrocks as Fenchurch. The cast also includes Samantha Béart, Toby Longworth, Andy Secombe, Ed Byrne, Lenny Henry, Philip Pope, Mitch Benn, Jon Culshaw and Professor Stephen Hawking.
The series is written and directed by Dirk Maggs and based on And Another Thing... by Eoin Colfer, with additional unpublished material by Douglas Adams.
Music by Philip Pope
Production research by Kevin Jon Davies
Written and directed by Dirk Maggs
Based on the novel And Another Thing... by Eoin Colfer, with additional material by Douglas Adams
Recorded at The Soundhouse Ltd by Gerry O'Riordan
Sound Design by Dirk Maggs
Produced by Dirk Maggs, Helen Chattwell and David Morley
A Perfectly Normal production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 19:00 The Archers (m000f5h6)
Freddie has concerns and Emma’s actions cause raised eyebrows
TUE 19:15 Front Row (m000f5h8)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
TUE 19:45 24 Kildare Road (m000f5g8)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
TUE 20:00 File on 4 (m000f5hb)
Second Class Citizens: The Post Office IT Scandal
In December last year, the Post Office agreed to pay nearly £60 million in compensation to more than 550 of its workers and former workers, after losing a High Court battle. It was a key victory for Subpostmasters after a 20 year fight for justice. Many hold the Post Office responsible for destroying their lives by falsely accusing them of theft and fraud. Some ended up in prison, others completely bankrupt - and many have been left with their health and reputations in ruins.
File on 4 investigates how the Horizon computer system, brought in to Post Office branches in 2000, could have led to accounting shortfalls at branches - and asks why for years the Post Office denied this was possible, instead pursuing its own Subpostmasters for the money, which may have never been missing in the first place.
Reporter: Hayley Hassall
Producers: Mick Tucker and Nick Wallis
Editor: Carl Johnston
TUE 20:40 In Touch (m000f5hd)
News, views and information for people who are blind or partially sighted
TUE 21:00 Inside Health (m000f5hg)
Farrah Jarral demystifies health issues, separating fact from fiction and bringing clarity to conflicting health advice, with the help of regular contributor GP Margaret McCartney
TUE 21:30 The Life Scientific (m000f5fz)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (m000f5hj)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
TUE 22:45 The Secret Guests, by BW Black (m000f5gd)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 today]
TUE 23:00 The Infinite Monkey Cage (m000f5hl)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 on Monday]
TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (m000f5hn)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament
WEDNESDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2020
WED 00:00 Midnight News (m000f5hq)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
WED 00:30 How to Argue with a Racist, by Adam Rutherford (m000f5g3)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000f5hs)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000f5hv)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000f5hx)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
WED 05:30 News Briefing (m000f5hz)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000f5j1)
Reflection and prayer to begin the day, with Rev Cheryl Meban.
WED 05:45 Farming Today (m000f5j3)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
WED 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b09r7h4v)
Penny Anderson on the Mandarin Duck
Mandarin Ducks are flamboyant, brightly coloured ducks which originally hail from the Middle East. A feral population established here in the last century here and a pair regularly visit the garden of ecologist Penny Anderson where they waddle across the lawn, roost on her ponds and perch in her trees.
Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world.
Producer: Sarah Blunt
Photograph: Derek Morgan.
WED 06:00 Today (m000f76k)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
WED 09:00 In Wordsworth's Footsteps (m000f76m)
3. A Sense Sublime
William Wordsworth was not only one of the greatest English poets but also a creative and political radical. 250 years after his birth in 1770, Professor Jonathan Bate travels in his footsteps to reveal the true story of the making of the poet.
3. A Sense Sublime
Jonathan travels to the West Country to tell the story of the formative years which Wordsworth spent there, reunited with his sister Dorothy and in the first flush of his collaborative friendship with Samuel Taylor Coleridge. It was a collaboration that was to lead to the publication of the radical poetry collection Lyrical Ballads - a collection that, for the first time, celebrated the lives of the poor and dispossessed, the disabled and the mentally ill. He goes on to find the very spot where Wordsworth took inspiration for one of his most sublime celebrations of humanity.
Featuring Simon Russell Beale as Wordsworth and music specially composed by Emily Levy. With contributions from leading British poet Alice Oswald, actor Emily Woof and Adam Nicolson, author of a new study of the collaboration between Coleridge and Wordsworth. Also with Laura Christy as Dorothy Wordsworth and viola playing by Aby Vulliamy .
Professor Sir Jonathan Bate is a British academic, novelist and broadcaster, and the author of a forthcoming biography of Wordsworth
Producer: Beaty Rubens
WED 09:30 The Curious Cases of Rutherford & Fry (m000f76p)
Series 15
The Power of Love
Two questions about love and heartbreak in this episode for our Valentine's special edition.
Jessica Glasco, aged 29, wrote in to ask about the power of love and how it affects our brain.
Hannah tracks down Dr Helen Fisher, who conducted some of the first MRI studies on love by putting besotted couples into the brain scanner.
Adam talks to broadcaster Claudia Hammond, author of Emotional Rollercoaster, to find out how psychologists have grappled with the messy business of love. And we hear why a small furry vole was thought to hold the answer to the mystery of monogamy.
Our second question concerns the pain of heartbreak - why does our heart ache? Can emotional hurt cause physical pain? On call is our very own agony aunt, Irene Tracey, Prof of Pain Research.
Presenters: Hannah Fry, Adam Rutherford
Producer: Michelle Martin
WED 09:45 How to Argue with a Racist, by Adam Rutherford (m000f78f)
Episode 3
Dr Adam Rutherford offers a scientific toolkit to separate fact from myth in understanding how we are different and how we are the same.
In episode 3, he looks at how the science of genetics has becom hijacked by those seeking to create a sense of authentic blood lines as 'proof' of racial purity.
Adam Rutherford has a PhD in Genetics and a degree in evolutionary biology, is an honorary Research Fellow at University College London and a former audio-video editor at the journal Nature. He is a presenter of BBC Radio 4 's Inside Science and also The Curious Cases of Rutherford and Fry with Dr Hannah Fry. He has also presented several TV documentaries and written regularly for newspapers and journals. He has published several books related to genetics and the origin of life.
Written and read by Dr Adam Rutherford
Abridged by Jill Waters and Isobel Creed
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000f76t)
The programme that offers a female perspective on the world
WED 10:41 24 Kildare Road (m000f76w)
Episode 8
A woman's body is found in the snow. Over ten episodes we discover what led her there. In this episode, Lee gets a phone call about his elderly mother.
Lee ..... Neil Dudgeon
Saskia ..... Amelia Bullmore
Hayley ..... Christine Bottomley
Directed by Mary Peate
Written by Katie Hims
WED 10:55 The Listening Project (m000f76y)
Capturing the nation in conversation, in partnership with the British Library.
WED 11:00 My Name Is... (m000f6tv)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 on Monday]
WED 11:30 Conversations from a Long Marriage (m000f770)
Series 1
Episode 4 - Let's Spend the Night Together
Joanna Lumley and Roger Allam play a couple who have been married ‘for ever’. Children of the Sixties, they’re still free spirits, drawn together by their passion for music and each other. Their warm and witty conversations dance around everyday chores and appointments as well as dealing with problems within long-held friendships, and tackling their own frustrations with each other. But underlying it all is their enduring love for each other and their desire to keep the passion alive.
On a long car journey, they reminisce about their first meeting and a long-held secret is revealed.
Written for Joanna Lumley and Roger Allam by award-winning comedy writer and journalist Jan Etherington, who’s been married for 35 years to Gavin Petrie, with whom she created many hit radio and TV series (Second Thoughts, Next of Kin, Faith in the Future, The Change). Conversations from a Long Marriage is her first solo narrative comedy series.
Produced by Claire Jones
A BBC Studios production
WED 12:00 News Summary (m000f7jl)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 12:04 The Secret Guests, by BW Black (m000f774)
Episode 3
In 1940, at the height of Blitz, the two young princesses Elizabeth and Margaret are secretly evacuated from Buckingham Palace for their own safety and sent to an isolated rural estate in neutral Ireland. However Clonmillis Hall may prove to be even more dangerous than wartime London…
Irish police detective Strafford has been assigned to watch over the girls during their stay and so must form an uneasy alliance with their governess Miss Celia Nashe, an undercover MI5 officer charged with the princesses’ safety. However, with a contingent of soldiers patrolling the woods and rumours of IRA terrorists in the vicinity, they soon find their task even more treacherous than expected. But is the real threat from outside, or from within Clonmillis Hall itself?
An imagined historical adventure and enthralling mystery, as read by Sorcha Cusack (BBC’s Father Brown).
Writer
B.W. Black is the pen name of acclaimed Irish author John Banville. He is the author of several novels, including The Sea, which won the 2005 Man Booker Prize. In 2013 he was awarded the Irish PEN Award for Outstanding Achievement in Irish Literature. He has published a number of crime novels, most featuring Quirke (an Irish pathologist based in Dublin) which were adapted into a TV series starring Gabriel Byrne.
Author, B.W. Black
Abridger, Neville Teller
Reader, Sorcha Cusack
Producer, Michael Shannon
WED 12:18 You and Yours (m000f776)
News and discussion of consumer affairs.
WED 12:57 Weather (m000f778)
The latest weather forecast
WED 13:00 World at One (m000f77b)
Mon-Thurs: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Sarah Montague. Fri: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Mark Mardell.
WED 13:45 Equal As We Are (m000f77d)
Episode 3
Laura Wade eavesdrops on conversations between men and women from the past to examine some of today's thorniest gender issues
Recent high profile campaigns around thorny subjects such as sexual consent, harassment and assault, the pay gap and power imbalances between men and women have encouraged many of us to re-examine everyday gender relations. In ten programmes covering the last 500 years, Laura Wade eavesdrops on literary encounters between men and women from the past to explore some of today’s most pressing issues.
3. Adam and Eve after the Fall in Paradise Lost: Dr Joe Moshenska from the University of Oxford on marriage, divorce and marital rows through Milton's eyes
Readings by real-life couple Adrian Lester and Lolita Chakrabarti
Laura Wade is an Olivier Award-winning playwright - author of “Posh" “Home, I’m Darling” and a recent adaptation of Jane Austen's The Watsons
Producer; Beaty Rubens
WED 14:00 The Archers (m000f5h6)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 Blood, Sex and Money by Emile Zola (b06pv1g2)
Blood
Drink
Blood Sex and Money, an epic 24 hours of drama inspired by the works of literature’s greatest whistle blower, Emile Zola.
Season 1. Blood. Episode 5. Drink.
Gervaise Macquart has spent her life chasing happiness. Now, as she sits across the table from a bottle of brandy and a quiet, handsome man, she realises just how priceless that feeling is.
A story of how other people’s addictions have shaped one woman’s life, dramatised by Oliver Emanuel.
Glenda Jackson stars as Dide, 104 years old, the matriarch to a family of wolves – the Rougon- Macquarts.
Cast:
Dide ….. Glenda Jackson
Gervaise ….. Julie Hesmondhalgh
Goujet ..… Mark Holgate
Directed by Kirsty Williams
WED 15:00 Money Box (m000f77g)
The latest news from the world of personal finance plus advice for those trying to make the most of their money.
WED 15:30 Inside Health (m000f5hg)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Tuesday]
WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (m000f77j)
New research on how society works.
WED 16:30 The Media Show (m000f77l)
The programme about a revolution in media with Amol Rajan, the BBC's Media Editor
WED 17:00 PM (m000f77n)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000f77s)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 18:30 Alex Edelman's Peer Group (m000f77v)
Series 3
Bubbles
Award-winning comedian Alex Edelman discusses the different bubbles he lives in and how he tries to break out of them. With help from his "peer group" at the University of Arts London, he examines how living in bubbles defines us all, and how sometimes they need to be burst.
Alex Edelman's Peer Group is written and performed by Alex Edelman, with additional material from Alfie Brown, Rebecca Nicholson, David Burstein, Catherine Brinkworth and Kat Sadler.
It is produced by Sam Michell and is a BBC Studios Production.
WED 19:00 The Archers (m000f6bh)
Chris puts his foot in it and it’s a difficult day for Jill
WED 19:15 Front Row (m000f77x)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
WED 19:45 24 Kildare Road (m000f76w)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:41 today]
WED 20:00 Moral Maze (m000f77z)
Combative, provocative and engaging live debate examining the moral issues behind one of the week's news stories. #moralmaze
WED 20:45 The Curious Cases of Rutherford & Fry (m000f76p)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:30 today]
WED 21:00 Out of the Ordinary (b09rzs61)
Series 6
Free Energy
For centuries, people have dreamed of perpetual motion machines, and many ingenious inventors have tried to come up with devices that will keep going forever with no external input. All have failed. But in recent decades there's been a new take on the idea. A large community of people now believe that it is possible to build a machine that will create free energy. Not only will it keep going forever, but it will also be able to do useful work. They say that this does not contravene any laws of physics because the machines harvest quantum "zero point energy" from the environment.
Indeed, many believe that such machines have already been successfully invented, but that they have been suppressed by the forces of Big Oil, who do not want to see their profits hit. There are many conspiracy theories, and talk of "men in black" who put the frighteners on inventors and even - in extreme cases - apparently go as far as to kill them.
Undeterred, reporter Jolyon Jenkins buys plans for a free energy machine online. For less than £100 it's going to give him energy independence from the big power companies. But it turns out to be tricky to build. Will he get it to work, or will the men in black get to him first?
Presenter/Producer: Jolyon Jenkins.
WED 21:30 In Wordsworth's Footsteps (m000f76m)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (m000f781)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
WED 22:45 The Secret Guests, by BW Black (m000f774)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 today]
WED 23:00 The Skewer (m000f783)
Series 1
Episode 6
From the mind of Jon Holmes comes topical satire like you've never heard it before.
WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (m000f785)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament
THURSDAY 13 FEBRUARY 2020
THU 00:00 Midnight News (m000f789)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
THU 00:30 How to Argue with a Racist, by Adam Rutherford (m000f78f)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000f78k)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000f78p)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000f78v)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
THU 05:30 News Briefing (m000f78z)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000f793)
Reflection and prayer to begin the day, with Rev Cheryl Meban.
THU 05:45 Farming Today (m000f797)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
THU 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b09fzmjk)
Fyfe Dangerfield on the Pigeon
Musician Fyfe Dangerfield enjoys how his young son's interest in some of our more common birds helps stop him from overlooking everyday avian beauty.
Producer: Mark Ward
Photograph: Tori Andrews.
THU 06:00 Today (m000f69n)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
THU 09:00 In Our Time (m000f69q)
Battle of the Teutoburg Forest
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the great Roman military disaster of 9 AD when Germanic tribes under Arminius ambushed and destroyed three legions under Varus. According to Suetonius, emperor Augustus hit his head against the wall when he heard the news, calling on Varus to give him back his legions. The defeat ended Roman expansion east of the Rhine. Victory changed the development of the Germanic peoples, both in the centuries that followed and in the nineteenth century when Arminius, by then known as Herman, became a rallying point for German nationalism.
With
Peter Heather
Ellen O'Gorman
And
Matthew Nicholls
Producer: Simon Tillotson
THU 09:45 How to Argue with a Racist, by Adam Rutherford (m000f69s)
Episode 4
Dr Adam Rutherford offers a scientific toolkit to separate fact from myth in understanding how we are different and how we are the same.
Today - how the tired tropes that seek to explain the success of black athletes in some fields are evidence of centuries of racist assumptions.
Adam Rutherford has a PhD in Genetics and a degree in evolutionary biology, is an honorary Research Fellow at University College London and a former audio-video editor at the journal Nature. He is a presenter of BBC Radio 4 's Inside Science and also The Curious Cases of Rutherford and Fry with Dr Hannah Fry. He has also presented several TV documentaries and written regularly for newspapers and journals. He has published several books related to genetics and the origin of life.
Written and read by Dr Adam Rutherford
Abridged by Jill Waters and Isobel Creed
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000f69v)
The programme that offers a female perspective on the world
THU 10:45 24 Kildare Road (m000f69x)
Episode 9
A woman's body is found in the snow. Over ten episodes we discover what led her there. Today, Lee and his wife go to the hospital to find out if the old woman really is his mother.
Lee .... Neil Dudgeon
Saskia ..... Amelia Bullmore
Joe ..... John Rowe
Hayley ..... Christine Bottomley
Baxter ..... Will Kirk
Directed by Mary Peate
Written by Katie Hims
THU 11:00 From Our Own Correspondent (m000f69z)
Insight, and analysis from BBC correspondents around the world
THU 11:30 Cyrano for Hire (m000f6b1)
It's hard to think of a more intimate, personal form of communication than the love letter. We seal them with our kisses, salt them with our tears, are present in every inky smudge. So it's a truth universally acknowledged that we usually write them ourselves.
But not necessarily...
Cathy FitzGerald hears what it's like to be a love-letter ghostwriter from Rebecca L. Pierce, who runs Love Letter for Hire. Whether you need a letter to make up or a letter to break up, Rebekah can help - but she'll ask you some searching questions along the way.
Author and former ghostwriter Samara O'Shea introduces one of her clients, Steven, and together they share the story of a letter written in despair. And we hear about Vida Select, a company that offers "virtual dating assistants" who'll write flirty messages to potential matches for you on Tinder, Plenty of Fish and other online dating websites.
Cathy decides to have a go for herself and sets up Cyrano for Hire. Her first client is Jason from Brooklyn - what will his girlfriend, Elke, make of her ghostwritten love letter?
Presenter and Producer: Cathy FitzGerald
Executive Producer: Steven Rajam
Photo: David Gochfeld
Interviewees: Rebekah L Pierce, Samara O'Shea, Steven, Chloe Rose Stuart Ulin, Scott Valdez, Jason Nunes, Elke Dehner
A White Stiletto production for BBC Radio 4
THU 12:00 News Summary (m000f6b3)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 12:04 The Secret Guests, by BW Black (m000f6b5)
Episode 4
In 1940, at the height of Blitz, the two young princesses Elizabeth and Margaret are secretly evacuated from Buckingham Palace for their own safety and sent to an isolated rural estate in neutral Ireland. However Clonmillis Hall may prove to be even more dangerous than wartime London…
Irish police detective Strafford has been assigned to watch over the girls during their stay and so must form an uneasy alliance with their governess Miss Celia Nashe, an undercover MI5 officer charged with the princesses’ safety. However, with a contingent of soldiers patrolling the woods and rumours of IRA terrorists in the vicinity, they soon find their task even more treacherous than expected. But is the real threat from outside, or from within Clonmillis Hall itself?
An imagined historical adventure and enthralling mystery, as read by Sorcha Cusack (BBC’s Father Brown).
Writer
B.W. Black is the pen name of acclaimed Irish author John Banville. He is the author of several novels, including The Sea, which won the 2005 Man Booker Prize. In 2013 he was awarded the Irish PEN Award for Outstanding Achievement in Irish Literature. He has published a number of crime novels, most featuring Quirke (an Irish pathologist based in Dublin) which were adapted into a TV series starring Gabriel Byrne.
Author, B.W. Black
Abridger, Neville Teller
Reader, Sorcha Cusack
Producer, Michael Shannon
THU 12:18 You and Yours (m000f6b7)
News and discussion of consumer affairs.
THU 12:57 Weather (m000f6b9)
The latest weather forecast
THU 13:00 World at One (m000f6bc)
Mon-Thurs: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Sarah Montague. Fri: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Mark Mardell.
THU 13:45 Equal As We Are (m000f6bf)
Episode 4
Laura Wade eavesdrops on conversations between men and women from the past to examine some of today's thorniest gender issues
Recent high profile campaigns around thorny subjects such as sexual consent, harassment and assault, the pay gap and power imbalances between men and women have encouraged many of us to re-examine everyday gender relations. In ten programmes covering the last 500 years, Laura Wade eavesdrops on literary encounters between men and women from the past to explore some of today’s most pressing issues.
3. A shocking encounter between the serving maid Pamela and her master, Mr B, in Samuel Richardson's Pamela: reveals an 18th century power dynamic which could just as well be happening in Hollywood today, as Dr Rebecca Bullard from the University of Reading discusses
Readings by real-life couple Adrian Lester and Lolita Chakrabarti
Laura Wade is an Olivier Award-winning playwright - author of “Posh" “Home, I’m Darling” and a recent adaptation of Jane Austen's The Watsons
Producer; Beaty Rubens
THU 14:00 The Archers (m000f6bh)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 Blood, Sex and Money by Emile Zola (b06pxt3y)
Blood
Art
Art by Martin Jameson
Glenda Jackson stars as Dide, 104 years old, and the matriarch to a family of wolves.
Dide secretly set aside money to support her great-grandson, Claude Lantier, in his pursuit of becoming a great artist. She's hopeful that the bad blood in the family line won't taint his talent. Claude, as one of the pioneers of impressionist art, is determined to paint the truth around him, contrary to popular fashion. At the same time he's desperate to be accepted by the national salon, but when this happens, it's devastating. Continues in Masterpiece.
Dide ...... Glenda Jackson
Claude ..... Bryan Dick
Christine ..... Georgina Campbell
Pierre ..... Richard Hand
Fagerolles ..... Stephen Fletcher
Bongrand ..... David Fleeshman
Produced and directed by Pauline Harris
Further Info:
Georgina Campbell won a BAFTA for Leading Actress for her role in Murdered by My Boyfriend for BBC 3.
Art and the next episode, Masterpiece, are a re-versioning of Emile Zola's His Masterpiece, and a fictional account of Zola's friendship with several artists of the period, including Manet, Monet and Cézanne. The novel is an accurate and vivid portrayal of the Parisian art world in the mid 19th century. Pierre, in the story, is widely acknowledged to be Zola himself.
First season of 24 hours of dramas inspired by the works of literature's greatest whistleblower - Emile Zola.
THU 15:00 Ramblings (m000f6bk)
Steve Backshall & Helen Glover on Winter Hill
Steve Backshall and Helen Glover walk with Clare Balding on Winter Hill in Berkshire.
Throughout this series of Ramblings Clare Balding is exploring how walking affects our well-being. She is hiking with people of differing beliefs and none to discover how the simple act of being in the natural world can change how we feel. Today, she’s climbing Winter Hill in Berkshire with the Olympic rower Helen Glover and her husband, the wildlife broadcaster and adventurer, Steve Backshall. They spend their working and waking lives outside and know more than most how joyful and beneficial this can be. They had their first child, Logan, in 2018 and are expecting again very soon. They discuss how important they feel it is to raise children with a love of the outdoors, and all the benefits that brings.
Producer: Karen Gregor
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (m000f5r1)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 Open Book (m000f5rw)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Sunday]
THU 16:00 The Film Programme (m000f6bm)
The latest releases, the hottest stars and the leading directors, plus news and insights from the film world.
THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (m000f6bp)
Dr Adam Rutherford and guests illuminate the mysteries and challenge the controversies behind the science that's changing our world.
THU 17:00 PM (m000f6br)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000f6bt)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 18:30 Elephant in the Room (m0007cwj)
Episode 7
Sarah Millican hosts a panel show using surveys to discover who is the most Average Jolene, and who is the most Maverick Matilda. This week's panel features Jo Caulfield, Emma Kennedy, Jessica Fostekew and Mark Watson.
Surveys on subjects including childhood, daily rituals and favourite cheese are the basis for Sarah's questions to the panellists, discovering who is the closest to, and furthest from, the average. Surprising quirks, hilarious insights and unexpected anecdotes are revealed along the way.
The winner will be the most average. But joint winner will be the most different, the furthest from the norm.
A little bit like a dinner party, but one where you know all of the spoons.
A Chopsy production for BBC Radio 4
THU 19:00 The Archers (m000f6bx)
Jakob’s behaviour causes concern and David has a change of heart
THU 19:15 Front Row (m000f6bz)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
THU 19:45 24 Kildare Road (m000f69x)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
THU 20:00 The Briefing Room (m000f6c1)
Combining original insights into major news stories with topical investigations.
THU 20:30 The Bottom Line (m000f6c3)
Evan Davis hosts the business conversation show with people at the top giving insight into what matters
THU 21:00 BBC Inside Science (m000f6bp)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 today]
THU 21:30 In Our Time (m000f69q)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (m000f6c6)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
THU 22:45 The Secret Guests, by BW Black (m000f6b5)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 today]
THU 23:00 Joz and Roxy are Useless Millennials (m000f6c8)
Roxy Dunn and Joz Norris on belonging to the strange and rudderless Generation Y.
THU 23:30 Today in Parliament (m000f6cb)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament
FRIDAY 14 FEBRUARY 2020
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (m000f6cd)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
FRI 00:30 How to Argue with a Racist, by Adam Rutherford (m000f69s)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Thursday]
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000f6cg)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000f6cj)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000f6cl)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
FRI 05:30 News Briefing (m000f6cn)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000f6cq)
Reflection and prayer to begin the day, with Rev Cheryl Meban.
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (m000f6cs)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
FRI 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b099y91f)
Samuel West on the Bullfinch
Actor and Birdwatcher Samuel West discusses the stocky almost brutish looking bullfinch and it's rather wheezy complex high pitched song.
Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world.
Producer: Tom Bonnett
Photo: Gareth Hardwick.
FRI 06:00 Today (m000f7xj)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (m000f5rf)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:15 on Sunday]
FRI 09:45 How to Argue with a Racist, by Adam Rutherford (m000f7zd)
Episode 5
Dr Adam Rutherford offers a scientific toolkit to separate fact from myth in understanding how we are different and how we are the same.
In the final episode he tackles the fraught subject of whether there is a genetic factor in how our cognitive abilities vary.
Adam Rutherford has a PhD in Genetics and a degree in evolutionary biology, is an honorary Research Fellow at University College London and a former audio-video editor at the journal Nature. He is a presenter of BBC Radio 4 's Inside Science and also The Curious Cases of Rutherford and Fry with Dr Hannah Fry. He has also presented several TV documentaries and written regularly for newspapers and journals. He has published several books related to genetics and the origin of life.
Written and read by Dr Adam Rutherford
Abridged and produced by Jill Waters and Isobel Creed
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000f7xn)
The programme that offers a female perspective on the world
FRI 10:45 24 Kildare Road (m000f7xq)
Episode 10
A woman's body is found in the snow. Over ten episodes we discover what led her there. In this, the final episode, Joe goes back to the intensive care unit to see his old friend Marion who is still in a coma.
Joe ..... John Rowe
Marion ..... Marcia Warren
Lee ..... Neil Dudgeon
Saskia ..... Amelia Bullmore
Directed by Mary Peate
Written by Katie Hims
FRI 11:00 And the Academy Award Goes To... (m000f7xs)
Series 9
Gone With The Wind
It’s amongst Tinseltown’s curious ironies that in February 1940, as war raged across Europe, a turbulent love story, played out against America’s national tragedy of the Civil War, carried all before at the 12th Academy Awards ceremony, winning nine statuettes for Gone With the Wind.
This week, Paul Gambaccini tells the story of ‘GWTW’, one of cinema’s most famous creations and in which British acting talent was surprisingly prominent. For this quintessentially American story of the Old South, English heartthrob Leslie Howard turned in a rather stiff performance as Ashley Wilkes, husband to Olivia de Havilland’s somewhat milk-and-water Melanie Hamilton. But it was, of course, the dashing Vivien Leigh, as the coquettish, headstrong Scarlett O’Hara, who took the Best Actress Oscar – a part she landed after almost all Hollywood’s leading actresses had screentested for the coveted part. “Sshh, she’s the Scarlett dark horse” David O Selznick, GWTW’s producer wrote to his wife.
With film historians David Thomson and Toby Miller, Clark Gable’s biographer Chrystopher Spicer and critic Larushka Ivan-Zadeh, as well as archival contributions from Olivia de Havilland, co-star Evelyn Keyes and the film’s Academy Award winner for Best Editing, Hal Kern.
Producer: Simon Elmes
FRI 11:30 A Normal... (b09r4qdm)
Love
Part three in an occasional series in which the occasional writer Henry Normal uses poetry, storytelling and comedy to tackle those subjects so big only radio can possibly contain them.
Last year Henry brought us his acclaimed show - 'A Normal Life', which was awarded a Silver ARIA for Best Comedy / Entertainment production at the 2017 Radio Academy Awards.
This time Henry returns with his new show for Valentine's Day - 'A Normal Love', exploring love, romance and other unreasonable expectations.
Henry Normal is a multi-award winning writer, producer and poet. Co-writer of award winning TV programmes such as The Royle Family, The Mrs Merton Show, Coogan's Run and Paul Calf, and producer of, amongst many others, Oscar-Nominated Philomena, The Mighty Boosh, Gavin and Stacey and Alan Partridge.
Written and performed by Henry Normal
Produced by Carl Cooper
This was a BBC Studios production.
FRI 12:00 News Summary (m000f7zs)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 12:04 The Secret Guests, by BW Black (m000f7xx)
Episode 5
In 1940, at the height of Blitz, the two young princesses Elizabeth and Margaret are secretly evacuated from Buckingham Palace for their own safety and sent to an isolated rural estate in neutral Ireland. However Clonmillis Hall may prove to be even more dangerous than wartime London…
Irish police detective Strafford has been assigned to watch over the girls during their stay and so must form an uneasy alliance with their governess Miss Celia Nashe, an undercover MI5 officer charged with the princesses’ safety. However, with a contingent of soldiers patrolling the woods and rumours of IRA terrorists in the vicinity, they soon find their task even more treacherous than expected. But is the real threat from outside, or from within Clonmillis Hall itself?
An imagined historical adventure and enthralling mystery, as read by Sorcha Cusack (BBC’s Father Brown).
Writer
B.W. Black is the pen name of acclaimed Irish author John Banville. He is the author of several novels, including The Sea, which won the 2005 Man Booker Prize. In 2013 he was awarded the Irish PEN Award for Outstanding Achievement in Irish Literature. He has published a number of crime novels, most featuring Quirke (an Irish pathologist based in Dublin) which were adapted into a TV series starring Gabriel Byrne.
Author, B.W. Black
Abridger, Neville Teller
Reader, Sorcha Cusack
Producer, Michael Shannon
FRI 12:18 You and Yours (m000f7xz)
News and discussion of consumer affairs.
FRI 12:57 Weather (m000f7y1)
The latest weather forecast
FRI 13:00 World at One (m000f7y3)
Mon-Thurs: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Sarah Montague. Fri: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Mark Mardell.
FRI 13:45 Equal As We Are (m000f7y5)
Episode 5
Laura Wade eavesdrops on conversations between men and women from the past to examine some of today's thorniest gender issues
5. Professor John Mullan from University College London decodes Darcy's proposal and Elizabeth's refusal in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and considers contemporary expectations of marriage
Recent high profile campaigns around thorny subjects such as sexual consent, harassment and assault, the pay gap and power imbalances between men and women have encouraged many of us to re-examine everyday gender relations. In ten programmes covering the last 500 years, Laura Wade eavesdrops on literary encounters between men and women to explore some of today’s most pressing issues.
Readings by real-life couple Adrian Lester and Lolita Chakrabarti
Laura Wade is an Olivier award-winning playwright - author of “Posh" “Home, I’m Darling” and a recent adaptation of Jane Austen's The Watsons
Producer; Beaty Rubens
FRI 14:00 The Archers (m000f6bx)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Blood, Sex and Money by Emile Zola (b06pxyt8)
Blood
Masterpiece
Masterpiece by Martin Jameson
Glenda Jackson stars as Dide, 104 years old, the matriarch to a family of wolves. Only she had high hopes for Claude. Dide has invested her last bit of money in her great-grandson, hopeful that his talent as an artist will pull him out of the dregs of 'bad blood' that have cursed the family. Claude suffered a terrible humilation when his painting was exhibited in the National Salon gallery. He and Christine now have a son and he feels rejuvenated, but his obsession to create 'the' masterpiece wreaks havoc.
Dide ..... Glenda Jackson
Claude ..... Bryan Dick
Christine ..... Georgina Campbell
Young Jacques ..... Talia Barnett
Pierre ..... Richard Hand
Fagerolles ..... Stephen Fletcher
Bongrand ..... David Fleeshman
Jacques ..... William Ash
Produced and directed by Pauline Harris
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m000f7y7)
Winsford, Cheshire
Kathy Clugston is in Winsford, Cheshire. She's joined by Bob Flowerdew, Bunny Guinness and Matthew Wilson to answer the audience's horticultural queries.
Producer: Laurence Bassett
Assistant Producer: Jemima Rathbone
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 15:45 Short Works (m000f7y9)
Heart Day by Annabel Banks
A magical and terrifying story specially commissioned for Radio 4. A teenage girl prepares for the day when the sparrows will take her heart away, jealous of her friend Mally.
Writer: Annabel Banks
Reader: Liv Hill
Producer: Ciaran Bermingham
FRI 16:00 Last Word (m000f7yc)
Radio 4's weekly obituary programme, telling the life stories of those who have died recently.
FRI 16:30 More or Less (m000f7yf)
Tim Harford explains - and sometimes debunks - the numbers and statistics used in political debate, the news and everyday life.
FRI 16:55 The Listening Project (m000f7yh)
Capturing the nation in conversation, in partnership with the British Library.
FRI 17:00 PM (m000f7yk)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000f7yp)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 18:30 The News Quiz (m000f7yr)
Series 101
Episode 5
A satirical review of the week's news, chaired by Nish Kumar
FRI 19:00 The Archers (m000f7yt)
Writer, Adrian Flynn
Director, Dave Payne
Editor, Jeremy Howe
Jill Archer ….. Patricia Greene
David Archer ….. Timothy Bentinck
Ruth Archer ….. Felicity Finch
Ben Archer ….. Ben Norris
Kenton Archer ….. Richard Attlee
Jolene Archer ….. Buffy Davis
Alice Carter ….. Hollie Chapman
Chris Carter ….. Wilf Scolding
Emma Grundy ….. Emerald O'Hanrahan
Shula Hebden Lloyd ….. Judy Bennett
Tracy Horrobin ….. Susie Riddell
Alistair Lloyd ….. Michael Lumsden
Elizabeth Pargetter ….. Alison Dowling
Freddie Pargetter ….. Toby Laurence
Johnny Phillips ….. Tom Gibbons
Lynda Snell ….. Carole Boyd
Robert Snell ….. Graham Blockey
Jakob Hakansson ….. Paul Venables
FRI 19:15 Front Row (m000f7yw)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
FRI 19:45 24 Kildare Road (m000f7xq)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (m000f7yy)
Anneliese Dodds MP, Lord Forsyth, John Nicolson MP
Chris Mason presents topical debate from the Lemon Tree in Aberdeen with a panel including Shadow Treasury Minister Anneliese Dodds , the former Scottish Secretary Lord Forsyth and the SNP MP John Nicolson MP.
Producer: Lisa Jenkinson
FRI 20:50 A Point of View (m000f7z0)
A weekly reflection on a topical issue.
FRI 21:00 Equal As We Are (m000f7z2)
Omnibus 1/2
Laura Wade eavesdrops on conversations between men and women from the past to examine some of today's thorniest gender issues
Recent high profile campaigns around thorny subjects such as sexual consent, harassment and assault, the pay gap and power imbalances between men and women have encouraged many of us to re-examine everyday gender relations. In ten programmes covering the last 500 years, Laura Wade eavesdrops on literary encounters between men and women to explore some of today’s most pressing issues.
An Omnibus edition of the first five of ten episodes
1. Lancelot and Lady Phelot in Thomas Malory’s Morte D’Arthur: Dr Hetta Howes from City, University of London
2. Beatrice and Benedick in Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing: Dr Will Tosh from The Globe Theatre
3. Adam and Eve in Milton’s Paradise Lost: Dr Joe Moshenska from the University of Oxford
4. Pamela and Mr B in Samuel Richardson’s Pamela: Dr Rebecca Bullard from the University of Reading
5. Elizabeth Bennett and Fitzwilliam Darcy from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice: Professor John Mullan from University College, London
Readings by real-life couple Adrian Lester and Lolita Chakrabarti
Laura Wade is an Olivier award-winning playwright - author of “Posh" “Home, I’m Darling” and a recent adaptation of Jane Austen's The Watsons
Producer; Beaty Rubens
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (m000f7z4)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
FRI 22:45 The Secret Guests, by BW Black (m000f7xx)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 today]
FRI 23:00 A Good Read (m000f5h0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 on Tuesday]
FRI 23:30 Today in Parliament (m000f7z6)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament
FRI 23:55 The Listening Project (m000f7z8)
Capturing the nation in conversation, in partnership with the British Library.