Barrister Hashi Mohamed reads the concluding episode of his account of social mobility in modern Britain. Here he considers what might be possible, with a little imagination and determination.
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Revd Azariah France-Williams
On this day in 2005 the activist Rosa Parks died at the age of ninety two. In 1955 Rosa lived in a world which carefully governed black bodies, giving prominence and dominance to white bodies. These laws stretched across society During a bus journey, if a white passenger requested a seat and a black person was occupying that seat, the black person would be required to get up, move to the back of the bus and stand for the remainder of the journey if there were no rear seats available. One day, Rosa was asked by a white passenger to stand and move, and she refused. This sparked a bus boycott and the American black civil rights era began in earnest.
What was it that motivated her ‘no’, at the risk of her own freedom? It was that she had a bigger sense of ‘yes’ to the freedom of all; white and black. She had seen the promised land. Mere weeks before, she had engaged in a conscious act of civil disobedience, she had witnessed black and white people sitting together as equals. It was at the Highlander Folk School which was an integrated setting where black and white people sat, ate, and taught together for a common purpose. She had never seen this before but she could not now unsee it. Segregation is sin. The Early Church Father Cyril of Alexandria wrote ‘Satan has broken us up.’
Gracious God, empower us to see that a better world is possible, to nurture those places where we have influence, and, seeing and encountering all through your eyes, play our part in making a world on earth, as it is in heaven.
Anne-Marie Douglas discusses her own experience of empathy-infused services, and why we need to see more of them.
Anne-Marie's charity, Peer Power, works with children, young people and adults who have experienced significant trauma and adversity, using an empathy-focused approach to support them. In this powerful, personal talk, she outlines how her own experiences prompted her to focus on this approach.
The latest news headlines. Including the weather and a look at the papers.
Richard Waddingham, a Norfolk farmer has been the inspiration for a remarkable project which is recovering and restoring Norfolk’s ponds. Norfolk has more ponds than any other English county; around 23,000 ponds. In North Norfolk many of these ponds were created in the 17-19th centuries as marl pits to provide lime-rich clay to improve the soil for crops. But over the last 50 years many of these ponds have suffered neglected or been filled in, largely as a result of changes in farming practices. Today, the Norfolk Pond Project is working to recover and restore these ponds. And where there is life in a pond there is sound; for example, water boatmen, respiring plants and water beetles all produce sounds, so by listening to the underwater sounds in a pond, you can estimate its health. For one composer, this was also an opportunity to create music. Not only does a healthy pond ‘sing’, but it increases the biodiversity in an area, and as Richard Waddingham first discovered and demonstrated, pond conservation and intense agriculture can coexist.
Jay Rayner hosts the cookery panel show. Pulling up a chair around the virtual dinner table for this week's show are Jordan Bourke, Sue Lawrence, Dr Zoe Laughlin and Asma Khan.
This week the panel answer questions on making the perfect nut roast, how you use up a glut of walnuts, and their preferred tool for peeling vegetables. Also joining the panel this week is Thuy Pham from the 'Little Viet Kitchen' in London to discuss the delicious Vietnamese dish of Pho.
Pippa Crerar of the Daily Mirror presents Radio 4's review of the political week. This weekend, we discuss how cities and regions will recover from Coronavirus restrictions with Steve Rotheram, Labour Mayor of the Liverpool City region, the impact of the pandemic on families and children with Labour's Stella Creasy and Conservative Miriam Cates, animal welfare and food standards after Brexit with vet and Conservative MP, Dr Neil Hudson, and the enduring appeal of political dramas with political historian, Professor Steven Fielding, and former script consultant, Kate Conway.
A satirical review of the week's news with Andy Zaltzman and guests Anand Menon, Chris McCausland, Lucy Porter and Sara Barron.
It's the last in the present series as Andy and some oven-ready teams tackle Trump and Tiers and try to predict some future news.
Written by Andy Zaltzman with additional material by Max Davis, Alice Fraser and Mike Shephard.
Chris Mason presents political debate and discussion from Broadcasting House in London with a panel including Deputy Leader of Welsh Labour and parliamentary private secretary to Sir Keir Starmer Carolyn Harris MP, the Scottish Government's Economy, Fair Work and Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop MSP, former governor of the Bank of England and crossbench peer Mervyn King and the leader of the Scottish Conservatives Douglas Ross MP.
Dedicated young physicist, Jane, makes a discovery that she believes will enable nuclear fusion and pave the way for limitless clean energy. She confides in her opera-singer flatmate, Elvira. But Elvira realises that her brilliant, idealistic friend will need to be protected from all the vested interests out in the world.
Charlotte Ritchie and Cecilia Appiah star in a comedy about nuclear science - and opera - by Marcy Kahan.
With additional music from Helen Neeves, Tom Raskin and Jessica Gillingwater from the BBC Singers and pianist Christopher Weston
Singing nuns, Long Covid, US presidential elections, Victoria Wood, Women and homelessness, Sister Bliss.
The Poor Clares of Arundel are a community of nuns. They've just released an album'Light for the World' described as 'traditional plainchant with added beats'. We hear from Sisters Leo & Sisters Aelread.
What impact is Long Covid having on women’s lives, and where are we with treatment and support?
How will the female vote impact the USA presidential elections? Melissa Milewski, a lecturer in American History at the University of Sussex and Dr Michell Chresfield Lecturer in United States History, at the University of Birmingham discuss.
The number of women sleeping rough and living in temporary accommodation has risen. Katya Adler hears from Dame Louise Casey who, as “Homelesssness Tsar”, championed the “Everyone In” policy which got rough sleepers off the street and into temporary accommodation during the height of the pandemic and Petra Salva, the head of the Rough Sleepers Unit at the charity St. Mungos.
Sister Bliss is a DJ, songwriter and electronic artist. She is perhaps best-known as a member of the British electronic band Faithless.
Victoria Wood, the Lancashire born comedian, writer, actor, stand up and singer died in 2016 having never written her own story. With access to letters, and interviews with friends and family Jasper Rees has written ‘Let’s Do it’ – The Authorized Biography of Victoria Wood.
Is the pandemic a spur to a world of temps and zero hour contracts? Hundreds of thousands of people have been losing their jobs during the crisis. Many are turning to the gig economy to boost their income. Should we welcome the acceleration of the move away from conventional employment? Evan Davis and guests discuss the pros and cons of the expanding gig economy.
Damon Albarn, Bill Bryson, Jenny Landreth, Mark Radcliffe, Adrianne Lenker, Tré Burt, Tom Allen, Clive Anderson
Clive Anderson and Tom Allen are joined by Damon Albarn, Bill Bryson, Jenny Landreth and Mark Radcliffe for an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy. With music from Adrianne Lenker and Tré Burt.
The chief strategic advisor to PM Boris Johnson who thrives on getting things done and who was once regarded as Margaret Thatcher's favourite council leader.
A former alarms company executive, Edward Lister's political career began in the London Borough of Wandsworth which was at the forefront of Thatcherism at the turn of the 1980s.
A council leader for nearly two decades, he made the leap to City Hall when Boris Johnson made him his deputy - and he's been a trusted aide and fixer ever since.
Despite his position, Sir Edward has kept a low public profile, working behind the scenes resolving recent Brexit stalemates.
This week he's been the go-between in the negotiations between the government and city mayors in the North of England in the debate over the financial cost of Covid-19.
Mark Coles profiles the life of the man described as the 'grown-up' at Number 10 who thrives on solving problems.
Actor Jane Horrocks hosts a dinner party with a twist - all her guests are from beyond the grave, her heroes brought back to life by the magic of the BBC radio archive.
She's joined by singer and entertainer Cilla Black, poet and novelist Sylvia Plath, TV celebrity chef Fanny Cradock (and her sidekick, Jonny), singer-songwriter Ian Dury and underwater explorer Jacques Cousteau.
While the Lancashire hotpot bubbles in the oven, the dinner party conversation becomes loud and mischievous – from the thrill of breaking taboos on stage, to the wonder of the sea, from the loneliness of fame to the joy of English eccentricity - and plenty of singing/performance around the dinner table.
Ice T's controversial hit Cop Killer epitomised the turbulence of 1990s LA, consumed by the outrage of the Rodney King beating.
But Ice himself would go on to play a cop on TV - showing California's talent for absorbing dissidence into the mainstream.
In February 2018, BBC journalist Razia Iqbal travelled to New York to interview a newspaper man whose name was a byword for serious investigative journalism. From his flat in New York, Razia Iqbal spoke to Sir Harold Evans about giving voice to the voiceless, risking going to prison and changing British law in his lifelong pursuit of the truth.
Mark Gatiss and Adrian Scarborough star as a philosopher and scientist investigating ghostly outbreaks in a country wood in 1768. Neither is quite prepared for the shocking truth that they uncover. Nigel Kneale’s legendary lost 1963 TV play, famed for its haunting climax, has been adapted by Toby Hadoke.
GIDEON COBB .... Mark Gatiss
SIR TIMOTHY HASSALL .... Adrian Scarborough
LADY LAVINIA HASSALL .... Hattie Morahan
JETHRO .... Colin McFarlane
TETSY .... Susan Wokoma
LUKEY PLATT .... Francis Magee
BIG JEFF .... .Ralph Ineson
John Updike's masterful Rabbit quintet established Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom as the quintessential American White middle class male. The first book Rabbit, Run was published in 1960 to critical acclaim. Rabbit Redux was the second in the series, published in 1971 and charted the end of the sixties - featuring, among other things, the first American moon landing and the Vietnam War.
This third book finds Rabbit in middle age and successful, having inherited his father in law's car business - selling newly imported Toyotas to the mass American market. But his relationship with his son Nelson was severely compromised by Rabbit's affair with Jill and her subsequent death has left them both wary of each other.
Published in 1981, Rabbit is Rich won Updike, among other awards, the Pulitzer Prize for fiction - and it's extraordinary how many of its themes continue to reverberate down to the present day.
By November, 1 million young people in the UK will be unemployed, according to a report out this week from the newly-launched Alliance for Full Employment. It has the backing of the former Prime Minister and Chancellor Gordon Brown, who warned of a “lost Covid generation” of young people with no prospects and nothing to do. The cost, he says, is more than just a financial one: “It destroys self-worth; it hurts family life; it shatters communities”. So what should our moral obligation be to this generation? A parallel has been drawn with the post-war period which saw the birth of the Welfare State. While there is widespread support for short-term financial help, there are those who caution against what they see as writing off an entire generation as ‘lost’, or institutionalising state dependency; they believe that the pandemic has merely accelerated inevitable economic change from which a brighter future can emerge. There are many young people who don’t share that optimism, and point to how the Covid crisis has exposed pre-existing health and wealth inequalities, which, for them, raises bigger questions about the morality of global capitalism. This is the moment, they argue, to change capitalism so that it focuses on what humans really want and need, and to actively promote the things we value beyond financial success and economic usefulness. Capitalism’s supporters, however, see our quality of life as being intrinsically bound up with markets and economic growth. For them the moral response to Covid is to kick start the consumer boom and allow people the freedom to make money unconstrained. Is it time for a radical challenge to unbridled capitalism for sake of the young, or is the ‘invisible hand’ still the best way to get a leg up? With Grace Blakeley, Ian Goldin, Daniel Pryor and Jamie Whyte.
The current season of the general knowledge tournament reaches the grand Final, with the four semi-final winners playing off for the title Brain of Britain 2020.
A tense contest is assured as the 'cream of the crop' compete for the handsome Brain of Britain trophy, behind closed doors at the Radio Theatre in London. Russell Davies is in the question-master's chair, and by tradition the 'Beat the Brains' questions for the interlude are supplied by last year's champion.
The crime novelist Mark Billingham believes there's more to the country icon Hank Williams than catchy melodies and a white suit.
Recorded on location during a promotional tour of the UK, Mark has chosen Hank as his muse because he believes the singer confronted an eternal artistic dilemma head on: how do you please a crowd and still please yourself? As the author of a popular, long-running crime series, it's a question which fascinates him. Crime fiction fans demand a book a year - but the challenge for any artist is to keep pushing their own creativity - so how did Hank manage it?
Mark meets Michael Weston-King of the band My Darling Clementine to discuss how the country singer's raw, brutal lyrics mined his own tumultuous life. He asks fellow crime novelist Christopher Brookmyre how he manages to balance the demands of commerce with the need to enjoy writing. And there are insights from the author MJ Hyland about the dangerous route taken by authors who decide to make a radical change in their writing. There's an unexpected detour into artistic motivation with Mark Radcliffe on 6Music and a chat on the streets of Liverpool about the dangers of "series fatigue" with the author Luca Veste. Having explored the real-life conflicts and tragedies which became fuel for Hank's art - Mark explores a step taken by Hank which is as radical as any by David Bowie or Bob Dylan - he became someone else - developing his Luke the Drifter alter ego which spurred him on to even greater creativity.
On a publicity dash across the UK - our presenter hears of the obsessions which made his muse a unique - if short-lived legend. As Mark Billingham discovers - Hank Williams can change your creative life.
SUNDAY 25 OCTOBER 2020
SUN 00:00 Midnight News (m000nssq)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 00:15 A British History in Weather (b07bbyj2)
Rain
Alexandra Harris tells the story of how the weather has written and painted itself into the cultural life of Britain. Why does British rain fall on British people in spits and spots?
Imagine a history told in rain. King Offa's Mercia in eight-century rain, stonemasons building St Andrews cathedral in the rain. The rain as it fell on St Swithin (whose views on the matter are not recorded other than in legend), and the same old rain falling centuries later on Thomas More and his daughter, on Milton, on Dr Johnson and Mrs Thrale. How do they feel? Do they go indoors? Does the rain they see fall like tears or an ill omen or a blessing? There would be a lot of repetition in this history. Rain is continuity: it's what we share. And yet it never rains in the same way twice, and even in the same shower, no two people see the same.
The shipping forecast at 48 minutes past midnight takes us on a ritual tour of rain as it falls in darkness on the sea. Images form of places we have probably never been. Cold headlands appear, unvisited beaches, discs and dials in a cabin, moving lights on black swell, crossed by slanting rain. Malin, Hebrides, Bailey. Listening, we think of others listening. Rain, then showers. Moderate, occasionally poor.
Music by Jon Nicholls.
A BBC Audio production, made in Bristol
SUN 00:30 Short Works (m000nm6b)
Angela's Mother
An original short story commissioned by BBC Radio 4, written and read by Michèle Forbes.
Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Michèle Forbes is an award-winning theatre, television and film actress. Her first novel Ghost Moth was published in 2013 to great critical acclaim and Forbes was shortlisted for Newcomer of the Year at the Irish Book Awards, for First Book Award at the 2014 Edinburgh Festival and selected as one of The Observer’s Seven Debut Novels That Will Make A Splash in 2014. Her second novel Edith & Oliver was a Sunday Times Book of the Year. Her short stories have won both The Bryan MacMahon and The Michael Laverty Award. She lives in Dalkey, Dublin.
Reader: Michèle Forbes
Writer: Michèle Forbes
Producer: Michael Shannon
A BBC Northern Ireland production.
SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000nssv)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000nssz)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000p2wg)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SUN 05:30 News Briefing (m000p2wj)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (m000ntt2)
St Mary with St Faith and St Francis in Alverstoke, Hampshire
Bells on Sunday comes from St Mary with St Faith and St Francis in Alverstoke, Hampshire. The ring of eight bells hangs in a tower built in 1904 to commemorate the end of the South African War. The tenor weighs thirteen hundredweight and is tuned to F sharp. We hear them ringing Grandsire Triples.
SUN 05:45 Profile (m000nssg)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 06:00 News (m000ntqn)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b00zq9tb)
Trains
'Trains are made for meditation', John Betjeman wrote, celebrating slow travel back in 1940. He was only one of many poets, writers and musicians who have found inspiration in rail travel. Hypnotised by the rhythm of the train, they find a freedom to think and to dream, inspired by the unfolding landscape outside.
Mark Tully chooses the best train poetry and music and talks to the Chaplain of St Pancras Station, Jonathan Barker, about his work on the station. With music by Glenn Miller, Anton Dvorak, Villa Lobos and Baron Samedi.
Producer: Elizabeth Burke
A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (m000ntqr)
Mint revival
A century ago peppermint used to be grown as a commercial crop in Britain. The need to maximise food production during the Second World War put an end to that, but thirty years ago one farm owner in Hampshire went on a crusade to revive mint production. Now it's a successful crop on his farm, and is used to make everything from luxury chocolates to hand lotion. In this programme, Anna Jones visits the farm to find out how mint is grown and how it is distilled to produce essential oil, turning one of the farm barns into a smell sensation! She also hears from the man whose brainchild the whole enterprise was back in the 1990s.
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Emma Campbell.
SUN 06:57 Weather (m000ntqt)
The latest weather forecast
SUN 07:00 News and Papers (m000ntqw)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 07:10 Sunday (m000ntqy)
Edward Stourton takes a look at the ethical and religious issues of the week
SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (m000ntr0)
Shine
Maria Wall whose daughter has spina bifida makes the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of Shine.
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 ‘Shine’.
- Cheques should be made payable to ‘Shine’.
- You can donate online at bbc.co.uk/appeal/radio4
Registered Charity Number: 249338
SUN 07:57 Weather (m000ntr2)
The latest weather forecast
SUN 08:00 News and Papers (m000ntr4)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (m000ntr6)
Bible Sunday
Join Revd Dr Sam Wells and St Martin’s Voices, directed by Andrew Earis, as they explore the difference between reading the Bible, thinking we know what it’s saying, and letting the Bible read us, allowing our idea of ourselves and the world to be turned upside-down. They look closely at the Old Testament story of Israel in slavery in Egypt, and the way the story transforms our hearts and our lives. Live from St Martin-in-the-Fields. Producer: Katharine Longworth.
SUN 08:48 A Point of View (m000nm6v)
Brief Encounters
"My mother tended to do it in shops and on public transport - my father favoured pubs..."
Taking a leaf out of his parents' book, Will Self advocates a novel "practice" for our times.
Producer: Adele Armstrong
SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (b03zrcdf)
Little Grebe
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Kate Humble presents the little grebe. Little grebes are our smallest grebes. They're dumpy birds with dark brown feathers and in the breeding season have a very obvious chestnut patch on their necks and cheeks. Little grebes are secretive birds, especially in the breeding season when they lurk in reeds and rushes or dive to avoid being seen.
SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (m000ntrb)
The Sunday morning news magazine programme. Presented by Paddy O'Connell
SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (m000ntrg)
Writers, Nick Warburton & Katie Hims
Director, Peter Leslie Wild
Editor, Jeremy Howe
Ruth Archer ..... Felicity Finch
Pip Archer ..... Daisy Badger
Josh Archer ..... Angus Imrie
Harrison Burns ..... James Cartwright
Rex Fairbrother ..... Nick Barber
Kirsty Miller ..... Annabelle Dowler
Philip Moss ..... Andy Hockley
Elizabeth Pargetter ..... Alison Dowling
Freddie Pargetter ..... Toby Laurence
Lily Pargetter ..... Katie Redford
Fallon Rogers ..... Joanna Van Kampen
Vince Casey ..... Tony Turner
SUN 10:54 Tweet of the Day (m000ntrl)
Tweet Take 5 : Capercaillie
In Britain you would need to travel to the farthest areas of Scotland to witness the bizarre mesmerising sounds of the capercaillie. This largest member of the grouse family, whose name means horse of the forest, are found at traditional leks during springtime. Males strut and display to each other in the hope of pairing with a female. However you will have to get up early to witness these displays as you will hear in this extended version of Tweet of the Day, featuring wildlife presenter Kate Humble, actor Samuel West and sound recordist Gary Moore.
Produced by Andrew Dawes for BBC Audio in Bristol
SUN 11:00 Desert Island Discs (m000ntrq)
Chris Boardman, cyclist
Chris Boardman is an Olympic cyclist, businessman and the Cycling and Walking Commissioner for Greater Manchester.
Both his parents were keen competitive amateur cyclists and they backed Chris as he gradually became interested in the sport as a teenager. He left school at 16, and trained as a carpenter to fund his cycling, and his love of making things has never left him. He met his wife Sally when they were teenagers and she supported him when he took time off work to train and compete.
He became a household name in 1992 at the Olympics in Barcelona, as the first British cyclist to win a gold medal in 72 years. He moved on to road racing and wore the yellow jersey in the Tour de France on three occasions. After retiring from racing, he was instrumental in the success of Team GB cycling at subsequent Olympics, with his focus on how improvements could be made in all aspects of design.
He also launched his own range of bicycles catering for elite and everyday cyclists, and as Greater Manchester's Cycling and Walking commissioner, he is finding ways to help people leave their cars at home.
Presenter Lauren Laverne
Producer Sarah Taylor
SUN 11:45 Let's Talk About Rama and Sita (b03w164s)
A Good Woman?
Award-winning poet and broadcaster Daljit Nagra takes stories from the Ramayana into his community and finds the ancient tales alive with contemporary Asian dilemmas. Is Sita a valuable role model for women today?
Contributors include playwright Amber Lone, musician Kuljit Bhamra, Jatinder Verma - Artistic Director of Tara Arts, Bhavit Mehta - director of London's South Asian Literature Festival, members of the City Hindus Network, and students from Avanti House Free School in Stanmore.
Producer: Marya Burgess
SUN 12:00 News Summary (m000ntrv)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 12:04 Just a Minute (b00qgz7x)
Compilation
Episode 1
Nicholas Parsons chairs the devious word game. Paul Merton and Graham Norton talk about how to pass the time if you're stuck in traffic, and Sue Perkins and Liza Tarbuck debate whether bikers should be clad in leathers or lettuce.
First broadcast in 2010.
SUN 12:32 The Food Programme (m000ntrz)
Eat Your Way to Power: Food and Politics on the Campaign Trail
Food can tell us a lot about our politicians, at least that seems to be what we think. We love to see them eat and we obsess about what goes in their mouths. It can be a high-wire act. Do it right to prove that you are just like your voters but do it wrong and you are a slob, a phoney or a weirdo.
In this week’s food programme Sheila Dillon investigates the power of public eating in political campaigning. We talk to Trump’s former communications Director Anthony 'The Mooch' Scaramucci about the president’s love of fast food and why he communicates so well through what he eats. Ed Miliband’s former advisor Ayesha Hazarika tells us why photos of him eating a bacon sandwich had measurable effect on the 2015 General Election. We also talk to James Beard winning photo journalist Gary He about his time with some of the Democratic Candidates taking photos of every single thing they ate.
Presented by Sheila Dillon
Produced by Sam Grist for BBC Audio in Bristol
SUN 12:57 Weather (m000nts3)
The latest weather forecast
SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (m000nts7)
Global news and analysis, presented by Mark Mardell.
SUN 13:30 The Listening Project (m000nts9)
Fi Glover presents the longer weekly edition of the programme in which strangers and new friends share their experience of lockdown and 'the new normal'.
In this edition two young people who live in Wales, Amira and Beth, talk about having mental health issues and the impact of the pandemic on their lives; Yorkshire-based Donna and Jon talk about how the pandemic has affected their working lives; a return to head teachers Ciran and Chris - based in Slough, Buckinghamshire and Wisbech, Cambridgeshire respectively - with an update on what it’s been like to run a secondary school since September and what effect it’s had on their personal lives; and Kieran and Sue, two people who met in their local park in Glasgow, describe how they formed an unlikely and lasting friendship in lockdown.
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. The
conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moments 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 this decade of the millennium. You can learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject
Producer: Mohini Patel
SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m000nm68)
GQT at Home: Episode Twenty-Nine
Kathy Clugston presents this week's horticultural panel show. Pippa Greenwood, Matthew Wilson and Christine Walkden answer questions sent in by listeners via social media and email.
This week the panel discuss plants inspired by women for a W.I. 100th celebration, give advice on a poorly String-of-Pearls, and give suggestions for winter projects in the garden.
Aside from the questions, Wisley's Alex Young talks us through building a photo frame with succulents, and garden designer, Humaira Ikram is giving tips on winter planting.
Producer - Rosie Merotra
Assistant Producer - Jemima Rathbone
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
Photo cred: RHS Garden Wisley
SUN 14:45 Legacy of War (m000l6mz)
Episode 8
Sean Bean presents a series exploring the ways in which wartime experiences have filtered down through the generations.
A proudly Irish family endorsed Dr Aidan MacCarthy's decision to serve as an RAF medic in World War Two, but his daughters Niki and Adrienne knew nothing of what he had experienced.
Finally, in the 1970s, Dr MacCarthy began to talk about what he had faced. From Dunkirk to the Far East, he had offered medical support to the sick and dying, in battle and as a prisoner of war. His extraordinary legacy was to take Niki on a journey to Nagasaki, Japan, to the site where the second atomic bomb was dropped in 1945.
She was to discover the truth behind a gleaming Japanese ceremonial sword, brought back by Dr MacCarthy and kept in the family home ever since the end of the war.
Producer Mark Rickards
SUN 15:00 Electric Decade (m000ntsc)
USA by John Dos Passos
Episode Two
USA is an epic saga following a group of characters through the opening decades of the 20th century, in a grand sweep that takes us from post-war boom to Great Depression bust.
It has modernist flair, a sharp social eye, and a profound humanity. We follow key individuals, drawn from all walks of life, as their paths cross to creating a complex and moving tapestry of American society.
One by one, we are introduced to the players, and we learn about each in depth from infancy to maturity. We see them growing up, negotiating adolescence, looking for love and finding their place in the world, meeting each other as fortune dictates, and following their destiny to success or failure.
Dramatised by Robin Brooks from John Dos Passos's USA trilogy: The 42nd Parallel, 1919 and The Big Money
Episode Two: Janey Williams, Eveline Hutchins, Richard Savage, Daughter.
Janey Williams’s fate becomes tangled with that of Moorehouse. Eveline Hutchins shows us her side of the story. Daughter is a spoilt Texan belle with a wild tomboy streak. Richard Savage is a young man in a hurry. With the end of the war, as the Paris peace conference exerts its pull, we see how their lives collide.
Cast:
John Ward Moorehouse ..... Tom Bateman
Eleanor Stoddard ..... Tanya Reynolds
Eveline Hutchins ..... Hannah Genesius
Janey Williams ..... Sheila Atim
Richard Savage ..... Luke Thallon
Daughter (Anne Elizabeth) ..... Kelly Burke
Jack Washburn ..... Christopher Ragland
Bud ..... Gabriel Freilich
Gertrude Staple ..... Laurel Lefkow
Jerry Burnham ..... Will Howard
Freddy Sergeant ..... Calam Lynch
Other parts played by members of the company.
Producer / Director - Fiona McAlpine
Sound Design & Music Arrangement - Lucinda Mason Brown
Production Manager - Lucy Barter
Broadcast Assistant - Georgia Brown
An Allegra production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 16:00 Open Book (m000ntsf)
Hilary Mantel, Lee Child and Andrew Grant, Editor's Pick
Sara Collins talks to the acclaimed Hilary Mantel about her latest book Mantel Pieces, a collection of twenty reviews, essays and diary entries written for the London Review of Books over thirty years.
Bestseller author Lee Child and his brother Andrew Grant discuss their writing relationship as Andrew takes over Lee's Jack Reacher novels. What next for the modern day Robin Hood? And Zoe Turner of Comma Press recommends Cat Step by Alison Irvine, a contemporary twist on motherhood from Dead Ink Press.
SUN 16:30 Terrifying Verse (m000ntsh)
Caroline Bird celebrates the under-represented dark side of poetry, asking the poems that confront terror to step out of the shadows and into the light.
One of Caroline's poetic heroes, the poet Jane Hirshfield said ‘the poem carries love or terror or it carries nothing’. Whilst poetry about love is hardly news, the poetry of terror has been under-discussed and under-valued. In this programme argues that terrifying verse is just as important and resonant. Caroline speaks to Jane Hirshfield about how love and terror balance each other out, the fear involved in the act of writing itself, and what use poetry is in face of the very real horror of the climate crisis.
And through the now commonplace, but disconcerting medium of Skype, Caroline speaks to Roger Robinson, TS Eliot Prize winner for his collection 'A Portable Paradise' about confronting the Grenfell Tower Disaster in his work, and writing about every parent's worst nightmare. And Rachel Rachel Long discusses her childhood fear of biblical language, and the inherent creepiness of dolls. Rachel's' Debut poetry collection 'My Darling From The Lions' is published by Picador.
And what are nightmares? Caroline asks Dr Antonio Zadra from the University of Montreal, who has researched emotions and imagery common to nightmares and bad dreams.
The music in this programme is from the sound artist Sarah Angliss, who has collaborated with Caroline Bird to create a soundscape using Caroline's 'scariest poem yet', 'Emotional Reasoning'.
Caroline Bird was nominated for the TS Eliot Prize for her book 'In These Days of Prohibition'. Her latest collection is The Air Year. All Caroline's books are published by Carcanet.
Presenter: Caroline Bird
Producer: Jessica Treen
SUN 17:00 File on 4 (m000nl8h)
Taxing Situations
For decades there was a boom in tax avoidance where people were paid using loans – and lowered their tax bills in the process. The boom went bust when the government clamped down, leaving some users with vast tax bills.
Many of those people now owe life-changing amounts to HMRC yet campaigners say there has been insufficient action against the companies that promoted the schemes.
But while some individuals face ruin, File On 4 has discovered that the businesses behind some of those loan schemes are still active. But now they’ve been targeting front-line COVID workers.
Reporter: Felicity Hannah
Producer: Anna Meisel
Editor: Gail Champion
SUN 17:40 Profile (m000nssg)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m000ntsk)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SUN 17:57 Weather (m000ntsm)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000ntsp)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (m000ntsr)
Sheila McClennon
What have Batman, the Great Baldini and a bearded vulture got in common..? They’ve all been lifting our spirits during lockdown. In this week's programme, we hear what’s been getting you through difficult days.
Fleetwood Mac get told off by 10 year old Sophie for making band members sing about their own failed romances, David Nicholls discusses tricky teenagers in his novel 'Us', and, as we head into a Covid second wave, a family share their moving story of losing their father during the first.
Presenter: Sheila McClennon
Producer: Elizabeth Foster & Richard McIlroy
Production support: Sandra Hardial
Studio Manager: Tim Archer
Contact potw@bbc.co.uk
The full programmes of all of the selections featured can be accessed in the Related Links section on the Pick of the week homepage.
SUN 19:00 The Whisperer In Darkness (m000ntst)
Episode 13
An unexpected phone call turns Matthew Heawood’s attention to a mystery in the gloom of Rendlesham Forest. Folklore, paranormal, otherworldly? Up for debate, but fertile ground for a new investigative podcast, that’s for sure. One question still lingers, will our host be re-joined by his roaming researcher, Kennedy Fisher?
The duo’s last venture patched together frantic updates from Baghdad, as they pursued suspected occultists in The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. Very little hope lingered of solving the mystery, and maybe even less that Kennedy would return home safe. But for now, a new investigation calls.
Following the success of The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, (Silver, British Podcast Awards) Radio 4 commissions a return to this HP Lovecraft-inspired universe. Once again, the podcast embraces Lovecraft’s crypt of horror, braving the Sci-Fi stylings of The Whisperer in Darkness.
Episode Thirteen
Kennedy decides to investigate April Marston, Thomas Marston’s daughter, after Walter Brown cites her in his will.
Cast:
Matthew Heawood……………BARNABY KAY
Kennedy Fisher.....................JANA CARPENTER
Army contact…………………..STEPHEN MACKINTOSH
Albert Wilmarth………………..MARK BAZELEY
Slide……….…………………..FERDINAND KINGSLEY
Isobel…………………………..NICOLA STEPHENSON
April Marston………………….REBEKAH STATON.
Parker………………………….PHOEBE FOX
Henry Akeley…………………..DAVID CALDER
Producer: Karen Rose
Director/Writer: Julian Simpson
Sound Recordist and Designer: David Thomas
Production Coordinators: Sarah Tombling and Holly Slater
Music by Tim Elsenburg
Executive Producer: Caroline Raphael
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 19:15 Love in Recovery (m00020z1)
Series 3
Cupboard
Third series of the award-nominated comedy drama set in Alcoholics Anonymous. Written by Pete Jackson and inspired by his own road to recovery. Stars Rebecca Front, John Hannah, Sue Johnston, Paul Kaye and Johnny Vegas.
Love in Recovery follows the lives of five very different recovering alcoholics. Johnny Vegas is Andy, the sweet but simple self-appointed group leader. Sue Johnston plays straight talking Julie, who's been known to have the odd relapse here and there - and everywhere. Rebecca Front is the snobby and spiky Fiona, an ex-banker who had it all and then lost the lot. John Hannah is Simon, a snide journalist who’s not an alcoholic – he got caught drink driving, his boss made him attend the meeting, but he fell in love with Fiona and stayed. And, despite her best efforts, she fell in love with him too. Paul Kaye is Danno, a down and out two-bit chancer with a shady past but a lot of heart, who’s desperate to turn his life around.
As we follow their weekly meetings, we hear them moan, argue, laugh, fall apart, fall in love and, most importantly, tell their stories.
In episode three, Andy is convinced that everyone’s forgotten his birthday - just like every other year. What he doesn't know is that Simon and Danno are hiding in the cupboard with a cake. But finding an appropriate time to burst out cheering proves difficult when Julie comes in with a dark secret she wants to reveal.
Writer Pete Jackson is a recovering alcoholic and has spent time in Alcoholics Anonymous. It was there he found, as most people do, support from the unlikeliest group of disparate souls, all banded together due to one common bond. As well as offering the support he needed throughout a difficult time, AA also offered a weekly, sometimes daily, dose of hilarity, upset, heartbreak and friendship.
Love in Recovery doesn’t seek to represent an AA meeting exactly as it might happen in real life, but to capture the funny stories, the sad stories, the stories of small victories and of huge milestones, stories of loss, stories of hope, and most importantly, the many highs and lows in the journey of recovery.
Cast:
Fiona….. Rebecca Front
Simon….. John Hannah
Julie….. Sue Johnston
Danno….. Paul Kaye
Andy..... Johnny Vegas
Penny…. Zoe Buckney
Fran…. Susan Worsfield
Written and created by Pete Jackson
Producer/Director: Ben Worsfield
A King Bert production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 19:45 The Hotel (m000ntsw)
6: The Wedding
The next in Daisy Johnson's series of deliciously unsettling of ghost stories, with a feminist twist.
In today's story, and a young woman is invited to a hen party at the Hotel. There she is haunted by an old love that has never died...
Writer: Daisy Johnson
Reader: Alexandria Riley
Producer: Justine Willett
SUN 20:00 Feedback (m000nm6g)
There is to be a new chairman of the BBC, and several high profile figures have been linked with the position.
In Feedback this week Roger attempts to try and find out how much power the new chairman will have, and whether he or she will be accountable in any way to the licence-fee payer.
Journalist and broadcaster Anne McElvoy talks about her attempts to get political opponents to actually listen to each other in her new Radio 4 series of, Across the Red Line.
And two British born American listeners review the Americast podcast, how does it compare to US election coverage?
Presenter: Roger Bolton
Producer: Kate Dixon
Executive Producer:
A Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 20:30 Last Word (m000nm6d)
Herbert Kretzmer, James Nash, Tom Maschler, Sister Chiara Hatton Hall
Pictured: Herbert Kretzmer
Matthew Bannister on
Herbert Kretzmer, the journalist turned lyricist, best known for writing the lyrics for the musical Les Misérables.
James Nash, the flamboyant adventurer who came under fire as a Colonial Officer in the Middle East during the last days of the British Empire.
Tom Maschler, the influential publisher who promoted the careers of many leading novelists and founded the Booker Prize.
Sister Chiara Hatton Hall, known as 'The Galloping Nun'. She taught Princess Anne and many other students to ride before taking holy orders as a forty-two year old widow.
Interviewed guest: Don Black
Interviewed guest: Russell Davies
Interviewed guest: John Harding
Interviewed guest: Peter Straus
Interviewed guest: Sister Jane Bertelsen
Interviewed guest: Ginny Elliott MBE
Interviewed guest: Steve Axon
Producer: Neil George
Archive clips from: The Reunion, Radio 4 17/10/2003; Desert Island Discs, Radio 4 17/10/2003; Gamal Abdel Nasser’s speech on Yemen 1962, IEPlus 27/03/2015; Everything You Need To Know About The Permissive Society, Radio 4 22/07/1971; Kaleidoscope: First Among Equals, Radio 4 22/10/1986; Burghley Horse Trials, AP / British Movietone 21/07/2015; Nuns’ Vows at Ladywell Convent 1962, British Pathe 13/04/2014.
SUN 21:00 Money Box (m000nsrf)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 on Saturday]
SUN 21:25 Radio 4 Appeal (m000ntr0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 today]
SUN 21:30 Analysis (m000nllr)
The Rise and Fall of the Bond Market Traders
In the 1980s, Margaret Thatcher famously said that 'You can’t buck the markets' and Governments back then feared that, if they borrowed too much, they'd pay a terrible price in the markets in terms of higher borrowing costs. But now governments around the world are borrowing record amounts but paying record-low rates. In this programme Philip Coggan examines how the markets were tamed.
Philip talks to Don Kohn, former vice chairman of the Federal Reserve, economist and author Eric Lonergan, Andrew Balls, Chief Investment Officer at Pimco and economist and author Stephanie Kelton.
Producer: Ben Carter
Editor: Jasper Corbett
SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (m000ntsy)
Radio 4's Sunday night political discussion programme.
SUN 23:00 The Film Programme (m000nlzm)
Shirley
With Antonia Quirke
Antonia continues her look at women and horror with directors Josephine Decker and Natalie Erika James. Relic was inspired by Natalie's experience of looking after her grandmother who had been diagnosed with dementia. Shirley is the story of Shirley Jackson, the author of The Haunting Of Hill House, but is not a conventional bio-pic, instead it treats an episode in her life as if it was the subject of one of her own Gothic novels.
Writer Nat Segnit starts a new series on Scene Stealers, the memorable bit-part actors whose faces you recognise but whose names you can't quite remember. Nat's first subject is The Godfather alumnus and former oil baron, G.D. Spradlin.
SUN 23:30 Something Understood (b00zq9tb)
[Repeat of broadcast at
06:05 today]
MONDAY 26 OCTOBER 2020
MON 00:00 Midnight News (m000ntt0)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
MON 00:15 Thinking Allowed (m000nmd8)
Fashion & VIP Parties
Fashion & VIP parties - Laurie Taylor explores the hidden stories behind the glamour and wealth. He's joined by Giulia Mensitieri, Social Anthropologist and Ethnologist Research Fellow at the Université Paris Nanterre, and author of a study which investigates the fashion industry and uncovers the harsh and exploitative realities which lurk beneath the glittering façade. Also, Ashley Mears, Associate Professor in Sociology at Boston University, describes the exclusive global nightclub and party circuit, from New York City to Saint-Tropez, revealing a culture of ostentatious display & waste.
Producer: Jayne Egerton
MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (m000ntt2)
[Repeat of broadcast at
05:43 on Sunday]
MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000ntt4)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000ntt6)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000ntt8)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
MON 05:30 News Briefing (m000nttb)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000nttd)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Revd Azariah France-Williams
Good morning.
We are the product of algorithms’ targeted attention. A.I in our pockets challenges our identities and sells us myths of beauty and perfection, often leaving us feeling defective and dejected as everyone else seems to be living their best life, without us. We feel we can mount little resistance to the march of technology’s eventual takeover.
On this day back in 1984, James Cameron’s ‘The Terminator’ was released in the US. The film considered how a big data computer system called Skynet became sentient and triggered a nuclear holocaust. Over the decades this increasingly powerful A.I system produced cyborgs called Terminators to battle the human resistance which had arisen to combat the digital threat.
It is, of course, science fiction. Yet today, algorithms and big data constantly target our personal attention, impact our lives and threaten our sense of identity and those we know.
Creator God, may those of us who use technology to influence others apply the ethic of love to ensure those who encounter us and our products have their sense of identity enriched, and treasured. Jesus, you were the first to say in effect ‘I’ll be back’. May we be ready to embody your return in our engagement with technology, to build a world where we are connected to ourselves, each other and you, without fear.
Amen.
MON 05:45 Farming Today (m000nttg)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
MON 05:56 Weather (m000nttj)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.
MON 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03zr0qn)
Great Grey Shrike
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Kate Humble presents the great grey shrike. Great grey shrikes feed on small birds, which they can catch in flight. They also eat mice, voles and shrews and, as spring approaches, they'll include bees and larger beetles in their diet. Shrikes are also known as "butcher birds" because of their habit of impaling their prey on thorns, just as a butcher hangs his meat on hooks.
MON 06:00 Today (m000nv4t)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
MON 09:00 Start the Week (m000nv4w)
China and the global order
The pandemic has exposed serious weaknesses in Western governments, according to John Micklethwait, editor-in-chief of Bloomberg and former editor of The Economist. In The Wake-Up Call he argues that the Covid crisis has accelerated a shift in balance of power from the West to East. Micklethwait tells Andrew Marr that unless the West can respond more creatively to what is happening, the prospect of a new Eastern-dominated world order, with China at the centre, will be inevitable.
But the historian Rana Mitter argues that China is increasingly presenting itself as the creator and protector of the international order, rather than its threat. In China’s Good War he explores how the country is revisiting its role as an Allied Force in World War II, to assert newfound confidence abroad and to shape a new nationalism at home.
And Katya Adler, the BBC's Europe Editor, looks at the problems facing the EU, including the relationship of China and the impact of coronavirus. She assesses how Macron, Merkel, Ursula von der Leyen and other leaders have handled this year's challenges.
Producer: Hannah Sander
MON 09:45 The Haunting of Alma Fielding by Kate Summerscale (m000nv4y)
Episode 1 - Flying Teacups
In Kate Summerscale's acclaimed new book the ghost hunter Nandor Fodor sets out to unravel the mystery of the haunting of Alma Fielding, a housewife living in Thornton Heath in the 1930s. The reader is Emma Fielding.
The Haunting of Alma Fielding tells the story of a housewife whose home and family are assailed by a lively and frightening poltergeist in 1938. Reports in the papers pique Nandor Fodor's interest, and the chief ghost hunter of the International Institute for Psychical Research embarks on a quest to establish the authenticity of Alma's experiences. Alma undergoes investigations at the Institute involving sitting and seances before its members, and when the proceedings take an unsettling turn, Fodor turns to the methodologies pioneered by Sigmund Freud. Against these events, war looms large over Great Britain, with popular culture and a deepening interest in spiritualism reflecting the anxieties of the day.
Kate Summerscale's new book has been published to critical acclaim. Her 2008, The Suspicions of Mr Whicher was a bestseller which went on to win the Samuel Johnson Prize.
Abridged by Julian Wilkinson
Produced by Elizabeth Allard
MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000nv51)
The programme that offers a female perspective on the world
MON 10:45 Fifteen Dogs (m000nwmf)
Episode 1
Over drinks in Stoke Newington, Hermes and Aphrodite get into a debate about whether animals could live happily if they had the same cognitive and speech abilities as humans. They decide to wager a year of servitude on the outcome of granting the gifts of human reasoning and language to a group of dogs in a nearby kennel.
Given their newfound abilities, the dogs are able to escape, where they set up their own new protosociety. The novel then explores the functioning of their new society through the impact of human values, such as individuality and personal freedom, on the conventionally hierarchical social order of dog packs. Key characters in the canine society include Atticus, a Neapolitan Mastiff who naturally emerges as the group leader; Majnoun, a black poodle who is reluctant to trust other dogs; and Princess, a mongrel who embraces her language skills to become a poet.
The novel was written by Canadian writer André Alexis and has been freely adapted by Mike Harris who has many successful Radio 4 credits to his name.
Cast:
Zeus ..... Paterson Joseph
Aphrodite ..... Emma Pierson
Hermes ..... Arty Froushan
Majnoun ..... David Ajoa
Atticus ..... Paul Kemp
Princess ..... Kate Chambers
Bonny and Rosie ..... Lotte Rice
Mick ..... John Hollingworth
Nira ..... Prisca Bakare
Kim ..... Christopher Buckley
Women ..... Felicity Duncan
The Fates and all other parts played by members of the cast.
Adapted for Radio by Mike Harris
Produced and Directed by Clive Brill
A Brill Production for BBC Radio 4
MON 11:00 The Untold (m000nv53)
Untold stories of 21st-century Britain.
MON 11:30 Loose Ends (m000nssb)
[Repeat of broadcast at
18:15 on Saturday]
MON 12:00 News Summary (m000nv56)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 12:04 Love by Roddy Doyle (m000nv58)
6/10
Davy and Joe don’t often go out drinking anymore. Old friends, now married and with grown-up children, their lives have taken seemingly similar paths. But Joe has a story he has to tell Davy, and Davy, a secret he wants to keep from Joe. Both are not the men they used to be.
Neither Davy nor Joe know what the night has in store, but as two pints turns to three, then five, and the men set out to revisit the haunts of their youth, the ghosts of Dublin entwine around them. Their first buoyant forays into adulthood, the pubs, the parties, broken hearts and bungled affairs, as well as the memories of what eventually drove them apart.
As the two friends try to reconcile their versions of the past over the course of one night, Love offers up a delightfully comic, yet moving portrait of the many forms love can take throughout our lives.
Author
Roddy Doyle was born in Dublin in 1958. He is the author of eleven acclaimed novels including The Commitments, The Snapper, The Van and Smile, two collections of short stories, and Rory & Ita, a memoir about his parents. He won the Booker Prize in 1993 for Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha.
Writer: Roddy Doyle
Reader: Brendan Gleeson
Music: 'Mary' by Glen Hansard
Abridger: Rowan Routh
Producer: Michael Shannon
MON 12:18 You and Yours (m000nv5b)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
MON 12:57 Weather (m000nv5d)
The latest weather forecast
MON 13:00 World at One (m000nv5g)
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 A Natural History of Ghosts (m000nv06)
The Whitewashed Ghost
Illustration by Seonaid Mackay
'Ghosts feel hot and smell faintish. Their voices are high and thin. Some ghosts grow very fat if they get plenty to eat. They are very fond of honey. '
If you tour a plantation in the Southern States of the USA, you might hear the tale of a black ghost. Black ghost stories are very popular on tours, generating income not just from tickets, but even from merchandise. You may hear the story Chloe, or Molly, or Virginia. She might be described as a servant (not a slave) who had an affair with (not that she was raped by) the master of the house. Tales of the white owners of historic Southern properties may be linked to real life events, but the stories of the enslaved people have no basis in historical fact. The result, is often a whitewashing of troublesome history, a cover-up of things people in the modern day still do not want to face.
And yet, as Kirsty Logan finds, there is a plethora of under-told black ghost lore, that was rich, complex and vital for the enslaved people who had to endure some of the worst treatment imaginable. Kirsty explores the stories, both the made up and the examples of true folklore, and discovers how a little truth in our tales could have the power to do real good.
MON 14:00 Tracks (m000nv5k)
Series 5: Abyss
Abyss: Episode One
By Matthew Broughton
The final series of the conspiracy thriller begins.
Dr Helen Ash is coming to terms with the fact she has just 9 months to live, when she’s emailed a video of a boat mysteriously sinking in stormy seas. And the email is from her dead father.
A gripping thriller, Tracks was the first drama to hit the top of the iTunes podcast chart back in 2017. It went on to win Best Sound (BBC Audio Drama Awards) and Best Fiction (British Podcast Awards). Now Tracks is back with a fifth and final 9 part series.
All four previous series of Tracks are available now in full on BBC Sounds.
Helen… Olivia Poulet
Freddy…. Jonathan Forbes
Eddy…. Mark Bonnar
Lucy…. Kiran Sonia Sawar
Yvonne…. Bettrys Jones
Cancer Specialist…. Finlay Robertson
Directed by James Robinson
A BBC Cymru Wales Production
MON 14:45 The Unseen - A History of the Invisible (b07dkkjy)
Invisible Forces
Science writer and broadcaster Philip Ball sets out on a quest to explore the peculiar world of the invisible, a mysterious realm where magic and science meet.
In this first episode, Philip finds himself face to face with the death mask of Sir Isaac Newton. At the Royal Society in London he meets librarian Keith Moore who reveals that Newton’s work on invisible forces such as gravity was influenced by his secret fascination with the occult.
The notion that the world was governed by invisible universal forces was a central feature of natural magic. Newton was scorned by critics such as Gottfried Leibniz, who labelled him an occultist, yet he was able to mathematise his invisible forces and prove them to be very real. So the idea of an invisible force acting across empty space didn’t get consigned to the realm of superstitious magic - instead, it became a central feature of physics.
Presenter: Philip Ball
Producer: Max O’Brien
A Juniper production for BBC Radio 4
MON 15:00 Quote... Unquote (m000nv5n)
Paterson Joseph, Juno Dawson, Jonathan Freedland
Nigel Rees quizzes a host of celebrity guests on the origins of sayings and well-known quotes, and gets the famous panel to share their favourite anecdotes and quotes.
*Actor Paterson Joseph, known for Noughts + Crosses, Timeless, Peep Show and Neverwhere
*Young Adult Author Juno Dawson, known for The Good Doctor, Meat Market and Margot & Me
*Broadcaster and writer Jonathan Freedland, also known by his pen name as thriller writer Sam Bourne
This is the 56th series of the popular humorous celebrity quotations quiz.
Producer: Ella Watts
Production co-ordinator: Gwyn Davies
Sound design: Hedley Knights
A BBC Studios Production
MON 15:30 The Food Programme (m000ntrz)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:32 on Sunday]
MON 16:00 Michael Morpurgo's Folk Journeys (m000nv5r)
Four Loom Weaver
The author Michael Morpurgo (War Horse, Private Peaceful) explores the ways in which folk songs have reflected timeless human experiences, both in the past and today.
With help from singers, songwriters and other passionate experts, Michael admires the indelible stories within classic songs that deal with migration, war, protest and love.
Over the four themed episodes, Michael considers the locations and historical contexts that gave rise to much-loved traditional songs, and finds out how the same topics are inspiring new folk songs in the 2020s.
In the second episode, Michael considers a song of protest: Four Loom Weaver.
A 7digital production for BBC Radio 4
MON 16:30 The Digital Human (m000nv5t)
Series 21
Nocturne
There's a perception that it’s always daytime on the internet. What that misses is that it’s not always the case for us when we go there. We gravitate to different parts of the digital world during the night. We slow down without the bombardment of emails updates and notifications.
We become explorers of soundscapes on meditation apps, we listen to soft, soothing mumblings on podcasts lulling us to sleep. For those digital night owls, it’s an Alice like experience falling through a labyrinth of interconnected internet rabbit holes discovering subjects you wouldn’t even have thought about when the sun is up.
In this episode Aleks celebrates 'noctunality' on the internet whether for those seeking sleep or those for whom this is the time to wake up.
Producer: Peter McManus
MON 17:00 PM (m000nv5w)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000nv5y)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 18:30 Just a Minute (b01r0dzt)
Compilation
Episode 2
Paul Merton, Sheila Hancock, Josie Lawrence, Marcus Brigstocke attempt to talk for 60 seconds with no hesitation, repetition or deviation under the watchful eye of Nicholas Parsons.
Produced by Tilusha Ghelani.
From 2013.
MON 19:00 The Archers (m000nv3n)
Pip finds herself in an awkward spot and Ben unleashes his master plan.
MON 19:15 Front Row (m000nv60)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music.
MON 19:45 Fifteen Dogs (m000nwmf)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
MON 20:00 Back to Uni (m000nt9t)
With university staff trying to police student antics, the youngsters have been increasingly resourceful as they find new ways to party late into the night. They show no signs of stopping as Covid cases start to rise. Hundreds are now in isolation and some freely admit the risks they took and would continue to take. They feel that nothing can effectively dent the socialising as they forge new friendships.
Anoushka reveals what is really happening, talking to new students as they settle into halls and find their feet. She has taken a job working in a nightclub and as the new 10 pm closing time hits home, she takes her recorder to track what happens next, with friends dispersing to house parties and hall gatherings. Her phone is buzzing with news of new Covid cases and she ventures off to find out what is happening to those in isolation. Might this finally make them see sense?
The recordings are presented by Anoushka, who last year won the New York Radio Festival award for her Radio 4 documentary Degrees of Love. In an earlier programme for The Untold she tracked her decision as she weighed up whether being mixed race would make it hard to accept an offer at Cambridge. In this programme she provides insights into student life that help explain why infection rates have peaked and how strongly students feel about being scapegoated.
She remembers how hard it was during her first year as she tried to settle in and cope with home-sickness - and that was only twelve months ago, when the full array of Freshers Week activities was running. For this year's intake there are mostly virtual get-togethers and many students talk about the difficulty of trying to forge friendships against this backdrop. They say they have been all but abandoned by institutions which are keen to charge them but much slower when it comes to helping them adjust.
Produced by Sue Mitchell
Presented by Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty
MON 20:30 Analysis (m000nv62)
The Future of Welfare
The furlough scheme, introduced in response to Covid-19, has raised a question: should Britain’s social insurance be a bit more German? Germany has what’s known as an earnings-related contributory system – individuals pay quite a lot in, and if they lose their job, they receive quite a lot out - around 60% of their previous salary, for at least a year. Critics of the German system say it’s costly and puts too little emphasis on redistribution. But advocates claim it commands far wider support than the British system. So does the pandemic and the calls it has provoked for a fresh look at the shape and scope of our welfare state provide an opportunity? Should Britain move towards a system that is more like Germany’s?
Presenter Ben Chu
Producer David Edmonds
Editor Jasper Corbett
MON 21:00 Across the Red Line (m000nmcm)
Series 5
Does impartiality impede good journalism?
Anne McElvoy presents the debate programme which invites two public figures who disagree on an issue of principle to listen closely to each other's arguments - and then to find out what drives them.
In this edition, Anne is joined by James O'Brien, LBC presenter and author of 'How Not to Be Wrong', and Roger Mosey, former Head of BBC Television News, to debate whether impartiality impedes good journalism.
And Anne works with conflict resolution specialist Louisa Weinstein to foster a more exploratory conversation, to encourage both speakers to probe the values and experiences that underpin each other's beliefs.
Producer: Phil Tinline
MON 21:30 Start the Week (m000nv4w)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
MON 22:00 The World Tonight (m000nv66)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
MON 22:45 Love by Roddy Doyle (m000nv58)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 today]
MON 23:00 Lights Out (m000nv68)
Series 3
From the Ashes of New Cross
The documentary series that invites a closer listen.
On 18th January 1981, Yvonne Ruddock was celebrating her 16th birthday party in the family home at 439 New Cross Road in south-east London. What followed devastated countless families, scarred the community and shifted the position of black politics in British society. A fire broke out in a downstairs room and 13 young people were killed, including Yvonne and her elder brother Paul. A 14th young person died subsequently.
With the 40th anniversary of the fire approaching, Lights Out revisits the events of that night and their aftermath. The musician Johnny Osbourne encapsulated the official and media response to the fire in his song Thirteen Dead and Nothing Said.
At first, the police and local community suspected arson - a racist attack. After all, this was only a short time after the Battle of Lewisham in which black residents and activists had successfully confronted a National Front march just up the street. But no one was ever charged and, at the Inquest, an open verdict was returned.
Survivors of the fire - including members of the Ruddock family and Wayne Haynes, who was DJ'ing that night, along with community activists such as Sybil Phoenix who were witnesses to it and the subsequent Black People's Day of Action - share their understanding of what happened and what the New Cross Fire has come to symbolise.
With a specially commissioned sequence of poems by unofficial Lewisham Laureate, Mark 'Mr T' Thompson.
Produced by Cherise Hamilton-Stephenson and Alan Hall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
MON 23:30 Ingenious (m000h2cp)
The Ginger Gene
Redheads - famed and feared throughout history. From strawberry blonde to sultry auburn, red hair always stands out in a crowd. But where does the redhead gene come from? Does it really affect the way we feel pain? And are redheads really endangered?
Dr Kat Arney finds out with the help of Jacky Colliss Harvey, author of "Red: A History of the Redhead", ginger gene expert Professor Ian Jackson from the University of Edinburgh, and some spicy mice.
Presenter: Kat Arney
Producer: Beth Sagar-Fenton
MON 23:45 Today in Parliament (m000nv6b)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament
TUESDAY 27 OCTOBER 2020
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (m000nv6d)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 00:30 The Haunting of Alma Fielding by Kate Summerscale (m000nv4y)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000nv6g)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000nv6j)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000nv6l)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
TUE 05:30 News Briefing (m000nv6n)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000nv6q)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Revd Azariah France-Williams
Good Morning.
Stage musicals in the fifties and sixties had a pattern of wowing theatre audiences, then following up with an album of favourite and memorable songs. Fifty years ago today a special pairing reversed the formula by releasing the album first. They had to test the water before their main character could walk on water – or at least take to the stage. A young Andrew Lloyd Weber and Tim Rice used the album to help generate the funding and the interest to finally stage the idea.
The musical was Jesus Christ Superstar. Tim Rice wanted to explore a more sympathetic view of Judas Iscariot, but some Christians felt the story was only theirs to tell and deemed it controversial. The pair’s ingenuity paid off, and they won over many of their detractors. If you are an artist or a freelancer, the current climate can feel particularly difficult. Plato said: ‘Necessity is the mother of invention’. Limitations force a new form of problem solving. Lloyd Weber and Rice used their creative skills to recreate conditions in their favour. Jesus Christ himself told stories that challenged the dominant narratives of his day. He helped us became more compassionate towards outsiders and the demonized.
God of justice, help us tell stories about Jesus that open and do not close our imaginations. Grant us fresh creativity to engage with new forms of community. Lead us in this current climate not just to survive but to thrive, and let us follow you onto the water and find we can walk without sinking.
Amen.
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (m000nv6s)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
TUE 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03zrckq)
Ruddy Duck
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Kate Humble presents the ruddy duck. Ruddy ducks are natives of North America. In the late 1950s and early 1960s several ruddy ducks escaped from the Wildfowl Trust's collection at Slimbridge and within 30 years they had become established breeding birds in the UK. Some even migrated to Spain where they mated with a very rare threatened relative, the white-headed duck. Many ornithologists believed that the resulting hybrids threatened to undermine years of conservation work in Spain, so after taking scientific advice, the UK government set out to eradicate the ruddy duck. This action has reduced our population to a handful so your best chance of hearing the courtship display is by visiting a wildfowl collection.
TUE 06:00 Today (m000nv2w)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
TUE 09:00 Bringing Up Britain (m000nw8p)
Series 13
How can I help my son's anxiety with Body Image
Vanessa is concerned that her teenage sons are facing a barrage of images and ideas about what constitutes the perfect male body. Ideals of male physique are as old as the ancient Greeks but today, boys are faced with a bombardment of images suggesting that the only figure worth having involves a ripped torso and massive biceps. The pressures to conform to an 'idea' of beauty are familiar to women but now its men and boys who are feeling the gaze.
Anjula speaks to Psychologist Dr Matthew Hall of Arden University about Vanessa's concerns and hears figures that suggest she's very far from alone. He talks about some of the impacts of body image anxiety, ranging from mental health issues to the misuse of steroid's and dietary illness.
And she seeks for advice from Julie Cameron of the Mental Health Foundation who co-authored a report for the Scottish government on Body Image. She also hears from Ella Guest of the Centre for Appearance Research at the University of the West of England where they're encouraging interventions in schools to equip boys to be aware of media exaggeration and manipulation.
And finally she talks to Rachel Barber-Mack of MediaSmart about efforts being made to help boys navigate the images that they're bombarded with on social media and the internet.
Producer: Tom Alban
TUE 09:45 The Haunting of Alma Fielding by Kate Summerscale (m000nw8r)
Episode 2 - The Pilfering Poltergeist
In Kate Summerscale's new book, the ghost hunter Nandor Fodor takes Alma to the seaside where once again her poltergeist creates a stir. At the same, Fodor also turns to psychoanalysis to explain Alma's experiences. Emma Fielding reads.
The Haunting of Alma Fielding is the latest book from the prize winning author of The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, Kate Summerscale. It tells the story of a young and vivacious housewife whose home and family are assailed by a lively and frightening poltergeist in 1938. Reports in the papers pique Nandor Fodor's interest, and the chief ghost hunter of the International Institute for Psychical Research embarks on a quest to establish the authenticity of Alma's experiences. Against these events, war looms large over Great Britain, with popular culture and a deepening interest in spiritualism reflecting the anxieties of the day.
Abridged by Julian Wilkinson
Produced by Elizabeth Allard
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000nv32)
The programme that offers a female perspective on the world
TUE 10:45 Fifteen Dogs (m000nwmm)
Episode 2
Over drinks in Stoke Newington, Hermes and Aphrodite get into a debate about whether animals could live happily if they had the same cognitive and speech abilities as humans. They decide to wager a year of servitude on the outcome of granting the gifts of human reasoning and language to a group of dogs in a nearby kennel.
Given their newfound abilities, the dogs are able to escape, where they set up their own new protosociety. The novel then explores the functioning of their new society through the impact of human values, such as individuality and personal freedom, on the conventionally hierarchical social order of dog packs. Key characters in the canine society include Atticus, a Neapolitan Mastiff who naturally emerges as the group leader; Majnoun, a black poodle who is reluctant to trust other dogs; and Princess, a mongrel who embraces her language skills to become a poet.
The novel was written by Canadian writer André Alexis and has been freely adapted by Mike Harris who has many successful Radio 4 credits to his name.
Cast:
Zeus ..... Paterson Joseph
Aphrodite ..... Emma Pierson
Hermes ..... Arty Froushan
Majnoun ..... David Ajoa
Atticus ..... Paul Kemp
Princess ..... Kate Chambers
Bonny and Rosie ..... Lotte Rice
Mick ..... John Hollingworth
Nira ..... Prisca Bakare
Kim ..... Christopher Buckley
Women ..... Felicity Duncan
The Fates and all other parts played by members of the cast.
Adapted for Radio by Mike Harris
Produced and Directed by Clive Brill
A Brill Production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 11:00 The Wedding Detectives (m000nv34)
Episode 2
Wedding albums capture the happiest day of a couple’s life. But what happens when those pictures are lost, discarded or even thrown away? Wedding album collector Charlotte Sibtain and journalist Cole Moreton uncover the stories behind the photographs and try to reunite them with the family.
This time, the Wedding Detectives have a remarkable wedding album from 1952 that belonged to London couple George and Kathleen Sewell. There are enough clues in the album for the Wedding Detectives to discover that George was a pioneering film maker in the 1930s, inspired by his time in the trenches in the First World War. Film critic Mark Kermode assesses his work.
George Sewell’s film The Gaiety of Nations can be viewed at:
http://www.eafa.org.uk/catalogue/2681
Produced by Jonathan Mayo
A TBI Media production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 11:30 Art of Now (m000nv36)
Playing With The Dead
Art has long promised to transport us, to enable us to step outside ourselves and encounter experiences we never would otherwise. Now Jordan Erica Webber explores a possibility only video games can offer, a way to commune with long-dead friends and relatives, sometimes years after their deaths.
This experience has a familiar ring to it – finding a photo, a video, or a loved one’s notes scrawled in the margins of a book – but it’s also profoundly different, because in video games you can get to interact with your loved one, to play with their ghost.
Sometimes this is accidental: a deceased parent’s data left as a high score, a ghostly shape that races you to the finish line, or Artificial Intelligence storing some part of the person and surprising us with them later. But some game designers have memorialised loved ones in their art intentionally, like Dan Hett, who made a series of microgames about the loss of his brother Martyn in the Manchester Arena bombing, or Ryan and Amy Green who coded their son Joel into a video game character that has already outlived him.
Can you bear to beat the high score and erase that recording forever? And when do the Greens stop playing with Joel? This programme examines profound questions that have been posed in all kinds of art from poetry to sculpture to performance, and asks what it means when the ghosts are interactive.
Producers: Giles Edwards and Patrick Cowling
TUE 12:00 News Summary (m000nvqk)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 12:04 Love by Roddy Doyle (m000nv3b)
7/10
Davy and Joe don’t often go out drinking anymore. Old friends, now married and with grown-up children, their lives have taken seemingly similar paths. But Joe has a story he has to tell Davy, and Davy, a secret he wants to keep from Joe. Both are not the men they used to be.
Neither Davy nor Joe know what the night has in store, but as two pints turns to three, then five, and the men set out to revisit the haunts of their youth, the ghosts of Dublin entwine around them. Their first buoyant forays into adulthood, the pubs, the parties, broken hearts and bungled affairs, as well as the memories of what eventually drove them apart.
As the two friends try to reconcile their versions of the past over the course of one night, Love offers up a delightfully comic, yet moving portrait of the many forms love can take throughout our lives.
Author
Roddy Doyle was born in Dublin in 1958. He is the author of eleven acclaimed novels including The Commitments, The Snapper, The Van and Smile, two collections of short stories, and Rory & Ita, a memoir about his parents. He won the Booker Prize in 1993 for Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha.
Writer: Roddy Doyle
Reader: Brendan Gleeson
Music: 'Mary' by Glen Hansard
Abridger: Rowan Routh
Producer: Michael Shannon
TUE 12:18 You and Yours (m000nv3d)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
TUE 12:57 Weather (m000nv3g)
The latest weather forecast
TUE 13:00 World at One (m000nv3j)
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 A Natural History of Ghosts (m000nv3l)
The Tell Tale Ghost
Illustration by Seonaid Mackay
‘In Greenbrier County, West Virginia, USA, there is a trail marker with the following emblazoned on it. ‘Interred in nearby cemetery is Zona Heaster Shue. Her death in 1897 was presumed natural until her spirit appeared to her mother to describe how she was killed by her husband Edward. Autopsy on the exhumed body verified the apparition's account. Edward, found guilty of murder, was sentenced to the state prison. Only known case in which testimony from a ghost helped convict a murderer.’
Kirsty tells the story of The Greenbrier ghost, and explores why tales of murder victims coming back to seek justice have always loomed large in the history of ghost lore.
TUE 14:00 The Archers (m000nv3n)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 Riot Girls (b09rx3w0)
Polygamy for Girls
'It takes a village to raise a child.' Feminist vlogger Chloe undertakes a radical domestic experiment, when she recruits some extra wives to help raise her baby daughter. Lauren Cornelius and Luke Bailey star in Julie Mayhew's witty new play. Part of a season of provocative women's writing about transgressive women.
Directed by Emma Harding.
TUE 15:00 The Kitchen Cabinet (m000nsr5)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:30 on Saturday]
TUE 15:30 Costing the Earth (m000ntc1)
The Future of Environmentalism
As our planet continues to warm, and climate issues move rapidly up the political agenda, the environmental movement itself is also changing shape.
In the second of a two-part series looking at the past, present and future of the environmental movement, Journalist and Black and Green Ambassador Jasmine Ketibuah-Foley looks to the future. Speaking to academics, futurologists, and the activists and campaigners on the front lines, she asks how things are changing, who is changing them, and what they'll need to do to make sure the message gets through. From tactics to technology, from local to global, and from the affluent western world to some of the places climate change is hitting hardest, Jasmine follows the campaign for climate justice into the coming decades, and finds out what it might look like.
Produced by Emily Knight
TUE 16:00 Law in Action (m000nv3q)
The International Criminal Court
An independent investigation into the International Criminal Court has revealed examples of bullying, sexual harassment and judicial incompetence. Victims of war crimes are having to wait a lifetime for reparations. But, as Joshua Rozenberg has been hearing, those same victims are hugely grateful to a court that has given them a voice.
And with a week to go before the presidential election, courts across the United States have already been dealing with voting-related challenges. Will the next US president be chosen by the judges?
Researcher: Diane Richardson
Producer: Neil Koenig
TUE 16:30 A Good Read (m000nv0d)
Jonathan Safran Foer & Daliso Chaponda
Writer Jonathan Safran Foer and comedian Daliso Chaponda pick their favourite books to discuss with Harriett Gilbert. What does Jonathan make of his first ever fantasy novel, Daliso's choice of Seventh Son by Orson Scott Card? Jonathan (author of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close) nominates Little Virtues by Natalia Ginzburg as his good read, whereas Harriett goes for Sombrero Fallout by Richard Brautigan, but will either of the guests enjoy this particular brand of absurdity?
Producer Sally Heaven
join the conversation on instagram at @agoodreadbbc
TUE 17:00 PM (m000nv3s)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000nv3x)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 18:30 Rob Newman (m000nv3z)
Rob Newman's Half-Full Philosophy Hour
What Is A City For?
Rob dices with death on the school run, sets up a Slow Travel rail franchise, and offers a bonanza of future-proofing pollution solutions.
Written by Rob Newman
Performed by Rob Newman, with Rachel Austin
Produced by Jon Harvey
A Naked production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 19:00 The Archers (m000ntb8)
Alice offers a helping hand and Lily has concerns
TUE 19:15 Front Row (m000nv41)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
TUE 19:45 Fifteen Dogs (m000nwmm)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
TUE 20:00 File on 4 (m000nv43)
Locked Up in Lockdown
Are court backlogs creating miscarriages of justice? When the UK locked down, so did its court system, adding to a backlog that’s left defendants, witnesses and victims facing long waits for trials. Helen Grady speaks to people inside the justice system to find out how it’s coped with the pandemic - from delays in making courts covid-secure to a lack of PPE and overcrowding in prisons. We hear stories from prisons under lockdown and talk to lawyers who fear delays are leading to abuses of the criminal justice system.
Producer: Rob Cave
TUE 20:40 In Touch (m000nv45)
Futsal Star Steve Daley; Blind Actors in TV Ads
Peter White chats with Steve Daley who, at the age of 43, retired as captain of England's partially sighted, 5-a-side "Futsal" team after last year's World Cup final.
In total he represented England at nine World Cups and nine European Championships, winning Silver and Bronze medals along the way.
The FA has now offered him the Head Coach role which Steve has accepted.
And, with a new TV advert featuring a blind actress, we'll hear from the people who made the ad. Are opportunities growing on the small screen for blind and visually impaired actors?
PRODUCER: Mike Young
TUE 21:00 Inside Health (m000ntbd)
A weekly quest to demystify health issues, bringing clarity to conflicting advice.
TUE 21:30 Bringing Up Britain (m000nw8p)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (m000nv47)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
TUE 22:45 Love by Roddy Doyle (m000nv3b)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 today]
TUE 23:00 To Hull and Back (b09sn1hl)
Series 3
Stockholm Syndrome
Sophie tries to find some new customers for the salon. However, in doing so, she unwittingly attracts the attention of a couple of animal rights activists who are looking for somewhere new to protest...
Written by Lucy Beaumont
Produced by Sam Michell.
TUE 23:30 Ingenious (m000h1m8)
The Milkshake Gene
Are you dairy intolerant? If so, you’re not alone – more than two-thirds of adults in the world are unable to digest delicious milkshakes and other dairy products properly. 10,000 years ago all humans were like that. So why on earth did some of us evolve the ability to tuck into cheese, butter and cream with a vengeance? And why are farming - and farting - vital parts of the story?
Dr Kat Arney finds out, with the help of evolution expert Professor Mark Thomas of UCL.
Presenter: Kat Arney
Producer: Beth Sagar-Fenton
TUE 23:45 Today in Parliament (m000nv49)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament
WEDNESDAY 28 OCTOBER 2020
WED 00:00 Midnight News (m000nv4c)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
WED 00:30 The Haunting of Alma Fielding by Kate Summerscale (m000nw8r)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000nv4f)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000nv4h)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000nv4k)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
WED 05:30 News Briefing (m000nv4m)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000nv4p)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Revd Azariah France-Williams
Good morning.
Back in 1971 on this day in South Australia at
4.09 am GMT, Britain launched a research satellite, Prospero, on a British-built rocket, the Black Arrow. This was a first. Black Arrow’s origins were part of a British reaction to the Blitz. The devastation brought about by German rockets deploying missiles catalysed the desire to have similar, or superior, power.
After the war, German scientists were employed by the British government to develop the necessary technology to build missile launching rockets but which later were adapted to launch small satellites instead. Whilst in transit to the launch site, there was a twist in the tale. What was then the British space programme lost its Ministry of Defence funding. As the rocket and satellite had already left British shores, the launch was permitted but left Prospero without hope of future satellite siblings launched by other British rockets. The remains of Black Arrowwere left to disintegrate in the Australian outback.
Perhaps It is easier to fund projects arising out of fear of the enemy than faith in the future. In the last couple of years, scientists from Scotland have salvaged what remains of Black Arrow. They paid for it to be returned to the UK with the hope of building new rockets inspired by aspects of the Black Arrow’s design. The company that did this says: ‘together we will bring access to space and help make our world a more connected and sustainable place.’
Dear God, show us this world through your eyes. Enlarge our faith and expand our imagination, in the name of Christ.
Amen.
WED 05:45 Farming Today (m000nv4r)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
WED 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03zrcm9)
Goosander
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Kate Humble presents the goosander. Goosanders are handsome ducks and belong to a group known as 'sawbills' because their long slender bills are lined with backward pointing 'teeth', for gripping slippery fish. Underwater they're as agile as otters, chasing fish in raging currents or nosing for them under riverbanks.
WED 06:00 Today (m000nt9k)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
WED 09:00 Across the Red Line (m000p0k8)
Series 5
Do we need to learn to live with more risk?
Anne McElvoy presents the debate programme which invites two public figures who disagree on an issue of principle to listen closely to each other's arguments - and then to find out what drives them.
In this edition, Anne is joined by Claire Fox of the Institute of Ideas and ex-Justice Secretary David Gauke, to debate whether we need to learn to live with more risk.
And Anne works with conflict resolution specialist Gabrielle Rifkind to foster a more exploratory conversation, to encourage both speakers to probe the values and experiences that underpin each other's beliefs.
Producer: Phil Tinline
WED 09:45 The Haunting of Alma Fielding by Kate Summerscale (m000nw8x)
Episode 3 - Astral Projection
In Kate Summerscale's new book, it's 1938 and the clouds of war are gathering. Meanwhile, Alma tells the ghost hunter, Nandor Fodor about an experience of astral projection. Questions are raised, and at the same time, unease over her case builds. Emma Fielding reads.
The Haunting of Alma Fielding is the latest book from the prize winning author of The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, Kate Summerscale. It tells the story of a young and vivacious housewife whose home and family are assailed by a lively and frightening poltergeist in 1938. Reports in the papers pique Nandor Fodor's interest, and the chief ghost hunter of the International Institute for Psychical Research embarks on a quest to establish the authenticity of Alma's experiences. Against these events, war looms large over Great Britain, with popular culture and a deepening interest in spiritualism reflecting the anxieties of the day.
Abridged by Julian Wilkinson
Produced by Elizabeth Allard
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000nt9r)
The programme that offers a female perspective on the world
WED 10:45 Fifteen Dogs (m000nwmp)
Episode 3
Over drinks in Stoke Newington, Hermes and Aphrodite get into a debate about whether animals could live happily if they had the same cognitive and speech abilities as humans. They decide to wager a year of servitude on the outcome of granting the gifts of human reasoning and language to a group of dogs in a nearby kennel.
Given their newfound abilities, the dogs are able to escape, where they set up their own new protosociety. The novel then explores the functioning of their new society through the impact of human values, such as individuality and personal freedom, on the conventionally hierarchical social order of dog packs. Key characters in the canine society include Atticus, a Neapolitan Mastiff who naturally emerges as the group leader; Majnoun, a black poodle who is reluctant to trust other dogs; and Princess, a mongrel who embraces her language skills to become a poet.
The novel was written by Canadian writer André Alexis and has been freely adapted by Mike Harris who has many successful Radio 4 credits to his name.
Cast:
Zeus ..... Paterson Joseph
Aphrodite ..... Emma Pierson
Hermes ..... Arty Froushan
Majnoun ..... David Ajoa
Atticus ..... Paul Kemp
Princess ..... Kate Chambers
Bonny and Rosie ..... Lotte Rice
Mick ..... John Hollingworth
Nira ..... Prisca Bakare
Kim ..... Christopher Buckley
Women ..... Felicity Duncan
The Fates and all other parts played by members of the cast.
Adapted for Radio by Mike Harris
Produced and Directed by Clive Brill
A Brill Production for BBC Radio 4
WED 11:00 Back to Uni (m000nt9t)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 on Monday]
WED 11:30 The Wilsons Save the World (m0003cnp)
Series 2
Live Forever
Spurred on by the notoriously anti-environment neighbour ‘BMW Paul’ and his apparent saintly u-turn on plastics and waste, Mike lays down a no-plastic challenge to the family which is taken up with competitive relish. Meanwhile Max’s Mum Pauline pays another visit and dishes out a heap of straight-talking common sense in her own inimitable way. It turns out that the purpose of her visit is to drop another bombshell which sends Max reeling and forces her to confront a number of difficult issues head on.
Mike…Marcus Brigstocke
Max…Kerry Godliman
Cat..Mia Jenkins
Lola…India Brown
Pauline...Liza Tarbuck
BMW Paul…Mike Wozniak
Writers…Marcus Brigstocke and Sarah Morgan
Producer...Julia McKenzie
A BBC Studios Production
WED 12:00 News Summary (m000nvxj)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 12:04 Love by Roddy Doyle (m000nt9y)
8/10
Davy and Joe don’t often go out drinking anymore. Old friends, now married and with grown-up children, their lives have taken seemingly similar paths. But Joe has a story he has to tell Davy, and Davy, a secret he wants to keep from Joe. Both are not the men they used to be.
Neither Davy nor Joe know what the night has in store, but as two pints turns to three, then five, and the men set out to revisit the haunts of their youth, the ghosts of Dublin entwine around them. Their first buoyant forays into adulthood, the pubs, the parties, broken hearts and bungled affairs, as well as the memories of what eventually drove them apart.
As the two friends try to reconcile their versions of the past over the course of one night, Love offers up a delightfully comic, yet moving portrait of the many forms love can take throughout our lives.
Author
Roddy Doyle was born in Dublin in 1958. He is the author of eleven acclaimed novels including The Commitments, The Snapper, The Van and Smile, two collections of short stories, and Rory & Ita, a memoir about his parents. He won the Booker Prize in 1993 for Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha.
Writer: Roddy Doyle
Reader: Brendan Gleeson
Music: 'Mary' by Glen Hansard
Abridger: Rowan Routh
Producer: Michael Shannon
WED 12:18 You and Yours (m000ntb0)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
WED 12:57 Weather (m000ntb2)
The latest weather forecast
WED 13:00 World at One (m000ntb4)
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 A Natural History of Ghosts (m000ntb6)
The Spiritualists
Illustration by Seonaid Mackay
‘Having seen so much of Katie lately, when she has been illuminated by the electric light, I am enabled to add to the points of difference between her and her medium.
Katie's height varies; in my house I have seen her six inches taller than Miss Cook. Last night, with bare feet and not tip-toeing, she was four and a half inches taller than Miss Cook.
Katie's neck was bare last night; the skin was perfectly smooth both to touch and sight, whilst on Miss Cook's neck is a large blister...
Miss Cook's hair is so dark a brown as almost to appear black; a lock of Katie's, which is now before me, and which she allowed me to cut from her luxuriant tresses,, is a rich golden auburn.’
Kirsty Logan examines the Spiritualist movement, via the life of medium Florence Cook, and her spirit guide, Katie King, and discovers how a career communication with spirits could result in both opportunity and ruin for Victorian women.
WED 14:00 The Archers (m000ntb8)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 Riot Girls (b09ry6jt)
Male Order
59-year-old dentist Barbara (Belinda Lang) has been arrested; the victim of her alleged crime is 20-year-old Brazilian waiter, Fabio (Lino Facioli) - her new husband...
Comedy drama from award-winning writer Ming Ho. Part of a season of provocative women's writing exploring female transgression. Ming Ho's previous play for BBC Radio 4, 'The Things We Never Said', won Best Radio Drama in the Writers' Guild Awards 2018.
Directed by Emma Harding
Immigration law advice ..... Colin Yeo.
WED 15:00 Money Box (m000ntbb)
Paul Lewis and a panel of guests answer calls on personal finance.
WED 15:30 Inside Health (m000ntbd)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Tuesday]
WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (m000ntbg)
Laurie Taylor explores the latest research into how society works.
WED 16:30 The Media Show (m000ntbj)
Topical programme about the fast-changing media world
WED 17:00 PM (m000ntbl)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000ntbq)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 18:30 Ability (m0004f3w)
Series 2
Weekend Away
Matt is 25. He has cerebral palsy and can only speak via an app on his iPad. Everyone who cares about Matt knows that this isn't the defining thing about him. He is funny and clever and "up for stuff" - partly because he is keen to show that there's nothing he can't do, but also because, if he's honest, he's aware that he's less likely than other people to get the blame.
In this second series of the award nominated comedy, Matt is still sharing a flat with his best mate, Jess. He is still in love with her but, much as she likes him, she is still not in love with him. She does however, fancy Matt’s rubbish carer, Bob (Allan Mustafa). Well just a tiny bit anyway. Not that she would ever admit it. After all, Bob is even more lazy and useless at most things than she is.
But Bob is willing. And although domestic duties are not really his forte, he likes Matt and treats him like a real person. And over the last year or so the three of them have been through a lot together - well a lot of drinking and hangovers anyway.
Ability is the semi-autobiographical co-creation of the 2018 Britain’s Got Talent winner, Lee Ridley, otherwise known as Lost Voice Guy. Like his sitcom creation, Lee has cerebral palsy and can only speak via an app. He is - probably - the first stand up comedian to use a communication aid. Prior to BGT, Lee won the BBC New Comedy Award in 2014, has written and performed four full Edinburgh shows and has just completed a major sell out tour of the UK.
Katherine Jakeways, the co-creator and co-writer of Ability, is a multi-award nominated writer. She has written North by Northamptonshire, Guilt Trip and All Those Women for BBC Radio 4 as well as numerous radio plays. She has also written for Crackanory and The Tracey Ullman Show for TV.
The series is set in Newcastle and many of the cast last played together as children in Biker’s Grove.
Cast includes:
Matt............Lee Ridley – aka Lost Voice Guy
Bob..............Allan Mustafa
Jess..............Sammy Dobson
Matt's Inner Voice.............Andrew Hayden-Smith
A Funny Bones production for BBC Radio 4
WED 19:00 The Archers (m000ntbs)
Ben puts his foot in it and Jennifer offers some pearls of wisdom
WED 19:15 Front Row (m000ntbv)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
WED 19:45 Fifteen Dogs (m000nwmp)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
WED 20:00 Moral Maze (m000ntbx)
Combative, provocative and engaging live debate examining the moral issues behind one of the week's news stories. #moralmaze
WED 20:45 Four Thought (m000ntbz)
Selfhood
Ranjit Saimbi explains why he doesn't want to be defined by his cultural heritage.
In this talk, by turns intimate, by turns expansive, Ranjit describes the disconnect he felt from the Sikh culture in which he was born and raised, and proclaims his wish to be able to assert his own identity, free both from the constraints of that community and those in the rest of society who wish to put him in a particular box.
Producer: Giles Edwards
WED 21:00 Costing the Earth (m000ntc1)
[Repeat of broadcast at
15:30 on Tuesday]
WED 21:30 The Media Show (m000ntbj)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 today]
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (m000ntc3)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
WED 22:45 Love by Roddy Doyle (m000nt9y)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 today]
WED 23:00 The Hauntening (m000ntc5)
Series 3
Pedalling
Travel through the bad gateway in this modern ghost story as writer and performer Tom Neenan discovers what horrors lurk in our apps and gadgets.
In this episode, Tom has to stay ahead of the pack - in every sense.
Modern technology is terrifying. The average smartphone carries out three-point-three-six billion instructions per second. The average person can only carry out one instruction in that time. Stop and think about that for a second. Sorry, that’s two instructions - you won’t be able to do that.
But what if modern technology was literally terrifying? What if there really was a ghost in the machine?
Starring
Tom..............Tom Neenan
Heidi............Jenny Bede
DI Gerry......Nicholas Woodeson
DC Freck.....Ethan Lawrence
Olivia............Freya Parker
‘Rency .........Naz Osmanoglu
Written by Tom Neenan
Produced & Directed by David Tyler
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4
WED 23:15 Bunk Bed (b07hhqv2)
Series 3
Kathy Burke
Award-winning actor and director Kathy Burke has given life to some of our best-loved comedy characters on screen. She won Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival for her harrowing performance in the film Nil By Mouth. Now, sadly, she has to spend the night with a pair of middle-aged men who can't stop talking.
Together they discuss fatness, smoking in the bath, and the horror of Hollywood stars who improvise.
A Foghorn Company production for BBC Radio 4
WED 23:30 Ingenious (m000h0v8)
The Alzheimer's Gene
Alzheimer's is a devastating disease - so would you want to know whether it lies in your future? Some online tests say they can tell you how likely you are to develop it, based on which version you have of a single gene. But can we really believe the stats? Would you want to know your own risk level? And what good, bad - and just plain weird - responses do people have to finding out?
Dr Kat Arney makes up her mind about whether to take the test, with the help of social scientist Dr Richard Milne and genetic counsellor Professor Anna Middleton.
Presenter: Kat Arney
Producer: Beth Sagar-Fenton
WED 23:45 Today in Parliament (m000ntc7)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament
THURSDAY 29 OCTOBER 2020
THU 00:00 Midnight News (m000ntc9)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
THU 00:30 The Haunting of Alma Fielding by Kate Summerscale (m000nw8x)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000ntcc)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000ntcf)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000ntch)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
THU 05:30 News Briefing (m000ntcm)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000ntcr)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Revd Azariah France-Williams
Good morning.
Lt Nathan Bedford Forrest had a chequered history. His death came on this day in 1877. He lived in the American deep south and had been a plantation owner and slave master. During the civil war he became a highly regarded confederate general. Post war, his notoriety and anti-black, white supremacist views made him a natural leader of the emerging Klu Klux Klan. He was appointed in 1867 as the first Grand Wizard of the secret hate organisation, although he contested his level of involvement when asked.
Over time, however, the level of raw violence against black people meted out by his new troops disturbed him. His grappling with tenets of the Christian faith enlightened him and in 1869 he tried to disband the Klu Klux Klan. He was unsuccessful. It continued but not with him. There is controversy surrounding how genuine or not his conversion was to a deeper view of humanity. Nevertheless, in 1875 a black organisation dedicated to black voting rights and fairness in employment, (a precursor to the NAACP), invited him as a guest speaker. This was an honour no white person had had before. At that meeting a black woman offered him flowers as an expression of gratitude for what he had done with and for the black community since his change of heart and attitude.
Loving God, in this black history month, in a time of renewed focus on the sin of racism, lead each one of us from hate to love, from death to life, from violence to peace, from fists to flowers, from grand wizards to the great wisdom shown through your son our Saviour Jesus Christ, Amen
THU 05:45 Farming Today (m000ntcx)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
THU 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03zrcnt)
Red-throated Diver
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Kate Humble presents the red-throated diver. The eerie wails of a red-throated diver were supposed to foretell rain. In Shetland the red-throated diver is called the "rain goose" but anyone who knows the island knows that rain is never far away. Like all divers, red-throats are handsome birds with sharp bills, perfect for catching fish. In summer they have a rusty throat patch and zebra-stripes on the back of their neck but in winter they're mainly pearly grey and white.
THU 06:00 Today (m000nvsg)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
THU 09:00 In Our Time (m000nvsl)
Piers Plowman
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss William Langland's poem, written around 1370, about a man called Will who fell asleep on the Malvern Hills and dreamed of Piers the Plowman. This was a time between the Black Death and The Peasants’ Revolt, when Christians wanted to save their souls but doubted how best to do it - and had to live with that uncertainty. Some call this the greatest medieval poem in English, one offering questions not answers, and it can be as unsettling now as it was then.
With
Laura Ashe
Professor of English Literature at Worcester College, University of Oxford
Lawrence Warner
Professor of Medieval English at King’s College London
And
Alastair Bennett
Lecturer in Medieval Literature at Royal Holloway, University of London
Producer: Simon Tillotson
THU 09:45 The Haunting of Alma Fielding by Kate Summerscale (m000nw9h)
Episode 4 - An Unsettling Turn of Events
In Kate Summerscale's new book about a1938 haunting in London, events take an unsettling turn and the ghost hunter, Nandor Fodor, has questions to answer about his own role in the quest to understand the nature of Alma's supernatural phenomena. Emma Fielding reads.
The Haunting of Alma Fielding is the latest book from the prize winning author of The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, Kate Summerscale. It tells the story of a young and vivacious housewife whose home and family are assailed by a lively and frightening poltergeist in 1938. Reports in the papers pique Nandor Fodor's interest, and the chief ghost hunter of the International Institute for Psychical Research sets out to establish the authenticity of Alma's experiences. Against these events, war looms large over Great Britain, with popular culture and a deepening interest in spiritualism reflecting the anxieties of the day.
Abridged by Julian Wilkinson
Produced by Elizabeth Allard
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000nvsq)
The programme that offers a female perspective on the world
THU 10:45 Fifteen Dogs (m000nwh9)
Episode 4
Over drinks in Stoke Newington, Hermes and Aphrodite get into a debate about whether animals could live happily if they had the same cognitive and speech abilities as humans. They decide to wager a year of servitude on the outcome of granting the gifts of human reasoning and language to a group of dogs in a nearby kennel.
Given their newfound abilities, the dogs are able to escape, where they set up their own new protosociety. The novel then explores the functioning of their new society through the impact of human values, such as individuality and personal freedom, on the conventionally hierarchical social order of dog packs. Key characters in the canine society include Atticus, a Neapolitan Mastiff who naturally emerges as the group leader; Majnoun, a black poodle who is reluctant to trust other dogs; and Princess, a mongrel who embraces her language skills to become a poet.
The novel was written by Canadian writer André Alexis and has been freely adapted by Mike Harris who has many successful Radio 4 credits to his name.
Cast:
Zeus ..... Paterson Joseph
Aphrodite ..... Emma Pierson
Hermes ..... Arty Froushan
Majnoun ..... David Ajoa
Atticus ..... Paul Kemp
Princess ..... Kate Chambers
Bonny and Rosie ..... Lotte Rice
Mick ..... John Hollingworth
Nira ..... Prisca Bakare
Kim ..... Christopher Buckley
Women ..... Felicity Duncan
The Fates and all other parts played by members of the cast.
Adapted for Radio by Mike Harris
Produced and Directed by Clive Brill
A Brill Production for BBC Radio 4
THU 11:00 From Our Own Correspondent (m000nvss)
Insight, and analysis from BBC correspondents around the world
THU 11:30 The Year the Music Stopped (m000nvsv)
For musician and poet Arlo Parks, 2020 was set to be massive. Festivals, a US tour. Then the world shifted. Her gigs were postponed, festivals cancelled. We watched Glastonbury's empty fields from our sofas where Arlo played, but only for the cows.
So instead, she did gigs online, put out new tracks to wide critical acclaim, wrote new music and published poetry on social media. Her thoughtful, intimate music has been the soundtrack to many people's life in lockdown. But still, live performing is on hold. Her fans, once singing her lyrics back at her at shows, feel very far away. She left a bit of her heart out there, on the road.
While the world gets back to normal, Arlo explores what the psychological effect will be of a world with - for now - no live music in it. She asks other artists how they've dealt with the void, managed the impact on their creative process and where the silver linings lie. And she connects with her fans, the people she can't wait to get back to see in the flesh, down in the auditorium, when music venues are once more able to open their doors.
Presented by Arlo Parks.
Produced by Clare Salisbury for BBC Audio in Bristol.
THU 12:00 News Summary (m000nvzt)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 12:04 Love by Roddy Doyle (m000nvsz)
9/10
Davy and Joe don’t often go out drinking anymore. Old friends, now married and with grown-up children, their lives have taken seemingly similar paths. But Joe has a story he has to tell Davy, and Davy, a secret he wants to keep from Joe. Both are not the men they used to be.
Neither Davy nor Joe know what the night has in store, but as two pints turns to three, then five, and the men set out to revisit the haunts of their youth, the ghosts of Dublin entwine around them. Their first buoyant forays into adulthood, the pubs, the parties, broken hearts and bungled affairs, as well as the memories of what eventually drove them apart.
As the two friends try to reconcile their versions of the past over the course of one night, Love offers up a delightfully comic, yet moving portrait of the many forms love can take throughout our lives.
Author
Roddy Doyle was born in Dublin in 1958. He is the author of eleven acclaimed novels including The Commitments, The Snapper, The Van and Smile, two collections of short stories, and Rory & Ita, a memoir about his parents. He won the Booker Prize in 1993 for Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha.
Writer: Roddy Doyle
Reader: Brendan Gleeson
Music: 'Mary' by Glen Hansard
Abridger: Rowan Routh
Producer: Michael Shannon
THU 12:18 You and Yours (m000nvt1)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
THU 12:57 Weather (m000nvt5)
The latest weather forecast
THU 13:00 World at One (m000nvt7)
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 A Natural History of Ghosts (m000nvt9)
20th Century Poltergeist
Illustration by Seonaid Mackay.
'Once a door is open, it’s difficult to close, even if we try.'
Poltergeists, noisy spirits, have been reported since antiquity. But in the 20th Century, the idea of what the poltergeist was changed in collective culture. When in the past, reported poltergeist activity would be put down to outside, supernatural beings, in the 20th Century supposed poltergeist activity was said to come from within a living being: the psyche made physical.
Kirsty tells the story of three famous 20th century poltergeist cases, exploring what happens to the person at the centre, and discovering how the attention from investigators and the media can be more damaging than any ghost.
THU 14:00 The Archers (m000ntbs)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 Riot Girls (b09rz655)
Unfit
It's hard for Gemma to form new relationships when she has to reveal that she chose to leave her two young children. Katherine Jakeways' new play about a woman who breaks the rules. Part of a season of provocative writing by women about female transgression.
Directed by Emma Harding.
THU 15:00 Open Country (m000nvtc)
The Bord Waalk of Amble
Amble lies at the mouth of the River Coquet on the North Sea coast of Northumberland. Today it is a lively coastal port with a harbour village, a lobster hatchery, sandy beaches and boat trips to Coquet Island where the only colony of Roseate Terns in the UK nest and breed. But this hasn’t always been the case as we hear. Formerly a coal mining town, Amble suffered terrible economic decline. But in the last 25 years or so, the area has been rejuvenated and community self confidence, self esteem and economic prosperity have grown. The latest project in this regeneration inspired by the landscape and the wildlife called Bord Waalk is a Bird Sculpture Trail which follows a route from Low Hauxley along the coast, around Amble and along the river to Warkworth. Whilst the starting point take us back in time as rising sea levels at Low Hauxley are uncovering extraordinary archaeological remains including Beaker pots and burial cairns, the sculptures and accompanying phone app have been inspired by the wildlife and landscape of the present; including seabirds and starling murmurations over the nearby reedbeds. Presenter Helen Mark, Producer Sarah Blunt
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (m000ntr0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 Open Book (m000ntsf)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Sunday]
THU 16:00 The Film Programme (m000nvtf)
Film programme looking at the latest cinema releases, DVDs and films on TV
THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (m000nvth)
Dr Adam Rutherford and guests illuminate the mysteries and challenge the controversies behind the science that's changing our world
THU 17:00 PM (m000nvtk)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000nvtp)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 18:30 Rich Hall's (US) Breakdown (m000nvtr)
Rich Hall's (US Election) Breakdown 2020
Episode 1
Multi award-winning comedian and US citizen Rich Hall follows the closing stages of the US presidential race, offering an acerbic look at the electoral system and the two candidates vying for the most important job in the world.
A combination of stand-up, sketch and interview, Rich Hall’s (US Election) Breakdown broadcasts live from the fictional IBBC network in Washington to the whole of the United States.
Rich and his producer Nick Doody take calls from every corner of the United States to hear the concerns of voters, offering their take on the issues troubling the American electorate.
Cast: Lewis McLeod, Freya Parker and Kemah Bob
Producer: Adnan Ahmed
A BBC Studios Audio Production
THU 19:00 The Archers (m000ntz3)
Writers, Nick Warburton & Helen Aitken
Director, Peter Leslie Wild
Editor, Jeremy Howe
Ruth Archer ….. Felicity Finch
Ben Archer ….. Ben Norris
Josh Archer ….. Angus Imrie
Pip Archer ….. Daisy Badger
Jennifer Aldridge ….. Angela Piper
Alice Carter ….. Hollie Chapman
Susan Carter ….. Charlotte Martin
Ruairi Donovan ….. Arthur Hughes
Rex Fairbrother ….. Nick Barber
Toby Fairbrother ….. Rhys Bevan
Elizabeth Pargetter ….. Alison Dowling
Lily Pargetter ….. Katie Redford
Bernard Lyons ….. Christopher Scott
THU 19:15 Front Row (m000nvtv)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
THU 19:45 Fifteen Dogs (m000nwh9)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
THU 20:00 Law in Action (m000nv3q)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Tuesday]
THU 20:30 The Bottom Line (m000nvtx)
Bolton Business
Bolton has perhaps suffered more than most English towns from this pandemic. Not only was it subjected to the national lockdown, but it subsequently became a hotspot, under even tighter restrictions. With a town centre that was already in decline, how has the pandemic affected local businesses and what does the future hold for the town? Evan Davis and guests discuss.
Producer: Julie Ball
THU 21:00 BBC Inside Science (m000nvth)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 today]
THU 21:30 In Our Time (m000nvsl)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (m000nvv0)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
THU 22:45 Love by Roddy Doyle (m000nvsz)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 today]
THU 23:00 The Likely Dads (m000nvv2)
Series 1
Expectations
Former Blue Peter presenter Tim Vincent hosts a new comedy discussion series.
Tim has undertaken many challenges throughout the course of his life - from painting Blackpool Tower and snow survival training with the army in Norway to flying in Tornado jets and running the New York marathon. But do any of them compare to his latest challenge - being the middle-aged father to two-year-old twin boys? And how does his experience of fatherhood so far compare to that of other dads?
In this first episode, Tim and his fellow Likely Dads, Russell Kane and Mick Ferry, reflect on their expectations of fatherhood, from pregnancy through to their kids' teenage years and adulthood. Is it easier becoming a dad when you’re full of the vigour of youth or when you’re a bit older and, hopefully, wiser?
In a regular feature, we ask the children of one of our Likely Dads a series of questions to determine which of them knows their children better - and vice versa.
Our special guest Likely Dads joining Tim, Russell and Mick this week are actor Chris Bisson and comedian Che Burnley.
A Made in Manchester production for BBC Radio 4
THU 23:30 Ingenious (m000h263)
The Cyclops Gene
What links cyclops lambs, poisonous flowers, and six-toed cats? They're all involved in the story of a gene called Sonic Hedgehog - yes, that is its real name – which has its genetic fingers in all kinds of developmental processes. Sonic Hedgehog helps to decide how many bits you have, where they go, and whether you’re symmetrical, so it’s not surprising that when Sonic makes mistakes there can be serious consequences. We take a look at the mind-bogglingly intricate process of creating a body, and the key role our favourite blue hero plays in making sure everything goes to plan.
Dr Kat Arney is joined by hedgehog experts Dr Bob Riddle of the US National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, Professor Robert Hill of Edinburgh University, and Dr Natalia Riobo-Del Galdo of Leeds University.
Presenter: Kat Arney
Producer: Beth Sagar-Fenton
THU 23:45 Today in Parliament (m000nvv4)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament
FRIDAY 30 OCTOBER 2020
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (m000nvv6)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 00:30 The Haunting of Alma Fielding by Kate Summerscale (m000nw9h)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Thursday]
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000nvv8)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000nvvb)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000nvvd)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
FRI 05:30 News Briefing (m000nvvg)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000nvvj)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Revd Azariah France-Williams
Good morning.
On this day in 1938 there was pandemonium as a number of Americans were unwittingly tricked into believing that Martians were invading the earth.
Long before the term ‘fake news,’ a gifted Orson Welles had adapted sections of the English author H.G. Wells book ‘War of the Worlds’ and broadcast them on radio. Although the beginning of the broadcast indicated it was a radio drama, the way in which the dramatic bulletins were delivered by the actors, and the fact that the structure of the radio show was altered to exclude the usual ad breaks, added a sense of credibility. So much so that many who tuned in were carried along thinking the story true. The next day Orson Welles was known by everyone. He denied it was a purposeful attempt to dupe listeners, though some cast doubt on his apology.
Intended or not, it catapulted him into the national spotlight. He hacked the consciousness of the nation and a number were gripped. In these precarious moments in our national life we can become glued to the news and the fears which seem threatening not just our way of life, but life itself. One of the Bible’s most frequent affirmations is some variation of ‘Fear not’ or ‘do not be afraid’. A friend often reminds me ‘when things do not go to plan, respond, don’t just react’. Another frequent affirmation in the Christian Scriptures is to ‘praise God’: to choose to find the good , to not ignore our fears but find the wisdom and then courage buried within them.
God of truth, make us an invasion of love within the world you have made. Make us a blessing to our families, and friends, knowing that we have come in peace.
Amen.
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (m000nvvl)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
FRI 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03zrcq9)
Fulmar
Series of stories about British birds, inspired by their calls and songs. Kate Humble presents the fulmar.
FRI 06:00 Today (m000ntyj)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (m000ntrq)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:00 on Sunday]
FRI 09:45 The Haunting of Alma Fielding by Kate Summerscale (m000nw9k)
Ep 5 - An Encounter with Sigmund Freud
In Kate Summerscale's account of Alma Fielding's supernatural experiences in London in 1938, explanations prove controversial. With questions remaining, is the real reason for her haunting knowable? Emma Fielding reads.
The Haunting of Alma Fielding is the latest book from the prize winning author of The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, Kate Summerscale. It tells the story of a young and vivacious housewife whose home and family are assailed by a lively and frightening poltergeist in 1938. Reports in the papers pique Nandor Fodor's interest, and the chief ghost hunter of the International Institute for Psychical Research sets out to establish the authenticity of Alma's experiences. Against these events, war looms large over Great Britain, with popular culture and a deepening interest in spiritualism reflecting the anxieties of the day.
Abridged by Julian Wilkinson
Produced by Elizabeth Allard
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000ntyl)
The programme that offers a female perspective on the world
FRI 10:45 Fifteen Dogs (m000nwhd)
Episode 5
Over drinks in Stoke Newington, Hermes and Aphrodite get into a debate about whether animals could live happily if they had the same cognitive and speech abilities as humans. They decide to wager a year of servitude on the outcome of granting the gifts of human reasoning and language to a group of dogs in a nearby kennel.
Given their newfound abilities, the dogs are able to escape, where they set up their own new protosociety. The novel then explores the functioning of their new society through the impact of human values, such as individuality and personal freedom, on the conventionally hierarchical social order of dog packs. Key characters in the canine society include Atticus, a Neapolitan Mastiff who naturally emerges as the group leader; Majnoun, a black poodle who is reluctant to trust other dogs; and Princess, a mongrel who embraces her language skills to become a poet.
The novel was written by Canadian writer André Alexis and has been freely adapted by Mike Harris who has many successful Radio 4 credits to his name.
Cast:
Zeus ..... Paterson Joseph
Aphrodite ..... Emma Pierson
Hermes ..... Arty Froushan
Majnoun ..... David Ajoa
Atticus ..... Paul Kemp
Princess ..... Kate Chambers
Bonny and Rosie ..... Lotte Rice
Mick ..... John Hollingworth
Nira ..... Prisca Bakare
Kim ..... Christopher Buckley
Women ..... Felicity Duncan
The Fates and all other parts played by members of the cast.
Adapted for Radio by Mike Harris
Produced and Directed by Clive Brill
A Brill Production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 11:00 Race and the American Vote (m000nwhg)
In a diverse and racially divided country, the relationship between race and elections in America is often misunderstood. Monica Campbell goes behind the headlines to unravel how the ways in which race became such an intensely partisan issue, and its role in politics, is transforming in the age of Trump.
Talking to a diverse array of voters from both sides of the aisle, she hears how concerns over racial disparities, tensions and discrimination run far deeper than any one election can solve, but also why many see this vote as one with exceptionally high stakes for non-white voters. Trump's divisive language has helped embolden those who embrace white identity politics in America - but he retains loyal support from some Latinos and Black conservatives.
Meanwhile, the Democrats face a long term battle to maintain the stability of their own increasingly diverse coalition, with divides along lines of ideology, gender and generation playing out in defiance of assumptions of monolithic party support.
Presenter: Monica Campbell
Producer: Robert Nicholson
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 11:30 Zoe Lyons: Passport Paddy (m0000mr2)
Episode Two: The Present
Amid Brexit, comedian Zoe Lyons grabs her shiny, newly issued Irish passport and returns to her roots. In these tumultuous times, what does it mean to belong somewhere, and will the Motherland welcome her back into the fold with open arms?
After recalling cherished memories of her Irish childhood in the previous episode, Zoe now delves a little further into the Ireland of today. Travelling from Cork city, through Dunmore East, Greystones and north to Dublin, she meets with Irish citizens who are both native and adopted, but who all share a passionate love for the Emerald Isle they call home.
Where does Ireland see itself in the world today, where is it headed, and has Zoe's trip inspired her to embrace her Irish roots and be a part of its future?
An Impatient production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 12:00 News Summary (m000ntyq)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 12:04 Love by Roddy Doyle (m000ntys)
10/10
Davy and Joe don’t often go out drinking anymore. Old friends, now married and with grown-up children, their lives have taken seemingly similar paths. But Joe has a story he has to tell Davy, and Davy, a secret he wants to keep from Joe. Both are not the men they used to be.
Neither Davy nor Joe know what the night has in store, but as two pints turns to three, then five, and the men set out to revisit the haunts of their youth, the ghosts of Dublin entwine around them. Their first buoyant forays into adulthood, the pubs, the parties, broken hearts and bungled affairs, as well as the memories of what eventually drove them apart.
As the two friends try to reconcile their versions of the past over the course of one night, Love offers up a delightfully comic, yet moving portrait of the many forms love can take throughout our lives.
Author
Roddy Doyle was born in Dublin in 1958. He is the author of eleven acclaimed novels including The Commitments, The Snapper, The Van and Smile, two collections of short stories, and Rory & Ita, a memoir about his parents. He won the Booker Prize in 1993 for Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha.
Writer: Roddy Doyle
Reader: Brendan Gleeson
Music: 'Mary' by Glen Hansard
Abridger: Rowan Routh
Producer: Michael Shannon
FRI 12:18 You and Yours (m000ntyv)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
FRI 12:57 Weather (m000ntyx)
The latest weather forecast
FRI 13:00 World at One (m000ntyz)
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 A Natural History of Ghosts (m000ntz1)
Did you hear that?
Illustration by Seonaid Mackay
'You set up a tape recorder and leave it running, recording silence. You ask your questions into the silence, leaving a sufficient pause for a response. Later, you listen back to the recording. Through the mush and static, if you listen very carefully, you may be able to just about make out people speaking.'
Kirsty Logan explores the modern quest to capture a ghost in a machine, from Telsa and Edison feuding over a spirit phone, to the apparent capture of voices in white noise and on tape. And she discovers that somewhere in the 21st century our wish to contact the dead has changed, we went from wanting to catch the spirit of the dead, to creating ghosts of ourselves.
FRI 14:00 The Archers (m000ntz3)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Pilgrim by Sebastian Baczkiewicz (m000ntz5)
The Timbermoor Imp (Part 2)
It's Hallowe'en, the night of the Timbermoor Dance, when the townsfolk bring offerings to the Sun Stone and dance around, while - unbeknownst - beneath and around them, the recent dead dance to freedom. But the Timbermoor Imp is out and about, and disrupting the traditions of the town.
Cast
William Palmer ..... Paul Hilton
Rabbit Owens ..... Louis Jay Jordan
John Wayne ..... Stefan Adegbola
Janice Wayne ..... Ellie Piercy
Amy Lister ..... Charlotte East
Piper Lawrence ..... Katie Redford
Ginger Richards ..... Emma Handy
Vaughan Richards ..... Luke Nunn
Eddie/Mr Buttoner ..... Roger Ringrose
Sally Mop ..... Jane Whittenshaw
Writer, Sebastian Baczkiewicz
Directors, Marc Beeby and Jessica Dromgoole
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m000ntz7)
Hampton Court Palace: Postbag Edition
Peter Gibbs chairs this week's horticultural panel show. Joining Peter at the beautiful Hampton Court Palace gardens to answer questions sent in via email and social media are Matt Biggs, Christine Walkden and Humaira Ikram.
Producer - Dan Cocker
Assistant producer - Rosie Merotra
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 15:45 Short Works (m000ntz9)
Trip and Fall by Maria Thomas
London Short Story Prize winner Maria Thomas puts a black female academic at the centre of her original short story Trip and Fall. A middle aged English lecturer fears her job is going the same way as that of many of her non white colleagues. Fearing she's about to get the chop, she comes up with a plan to trip and fall before she's pushed.
Read by Adjoa Andoh
Producer: Maggie Ayre for BBC Audio Bristol
FRI 16:00 Last Word (m000ntzc)
Matthew Bannister tells the life stories of people who have recently died, from the rich and famous to unsung but significant.
FRI 16:30 Feedback (m000ntzg)
The programme that holds the BBC to account on behalf of the radio audience
FRI 17:00 PM (m000ntzm)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000ntzr)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 18:30 The Now Show (m000ntzv)
Series 57
Episode 1
Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis get to grip (from a safe distance) with all things 2020 in the form of sketches and guest contributions.
Joining them are Ellie Taylor, with music from Tim Sutton and Sooz Kempner
Additional voices from Luke Kempner and Gemma Arrowsmith
Written by the cast, with additional material from Robin Morgan, Catherine Brinkworth, Ola Labib and Simon Alcock
Production Co-Ordinator: Caroline Barlow
Engineer and Editor: David Thomas
Producer: Adnan Ahmed
A BBC Studios Production
FRI 19:00 Front Row (m000nv00)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
FRI 19:45 Fifteen Dogs (m000nwhd)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (m000nv02)
Sarah Elliott
Chris Mason presents political debate and discussion from Broadcasting House in London with a panel including the Chair of Republicans Overseas UK Sarah Elliott.
FRI 20:50 A Point of View (m000nv04)
Weekly reflections on topical issues from a range of contributors.
FRI 21:00 A Natural History of Ghosts (m000p19p)
Omnibus 2
Kirsty Logan explores the evolution of Ghost Lore. In this omnibus edition, she explores discovers how the tourist trade in the Southern United states whitewashes history rather than drawing on African American ghost stories, explores the only known case where the testimony of a ghost secured the conviction of their murderer, dives into the life of one of the most celebrated mediums of the Victorian era, reveals that a spirit is not the most dangerous part of a poltergeist case, and asks if in the 21st century we are less interested in finding ghosts, rather than creating them.
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (m000nv08)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
FRI 22:45 Love by Roddy Doyle (m000ntys)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 today]
FRI 23:00 Americast (m000nv0b)
Emily Maitlis and Jon Sopel follow the US election.
FRI 23:30 Frost/Biden (m000p19r)
In 1987 David Frost met Senator Joe Biden, who was seeking his party’s nomination for president. Their remarkable conversation was never broadcast because Biden withdrew from the race soon after, due to accusations of plagiarising a speech by Neil Kinnock. David Frost's son Wilfred presents excerpts from the original two-hour interview, in which Biden talks about his faith, his family and his hopes for America.
Producer: Hugh Levinson
FRI 23:45 Things That Made the Modern Economy (m000gtn1)
Series 2
Glasses
How many people around the world need glasses and don’t have them? Until surprisingly recently, nobody knew. Now we have an eye-popping answer: 2.5 billion. Many of these people may not be aware that a simple pair of reading glasses could help them to see more clearly. The very first pair of spectacles was probably made in Italy in the late thirteenth century, inspired by the writings of an eleventh-century Arabic scholar. They were a godsend for ageing monks and merchants – and, as Tim Harford explains, they ended up inspiring the invention of the microscope and telescope, too.
Producer: Ben Crighton
Editor: Richard Vadon