Esther Safran Foer finds answers among the horrors of the past, and her quest to find the truth is fulfilled. Sara Kestelman.
Esther Safran Foer knew little of her parents' early years during WWII in Ukraine where so many of her family perished during the Holocaust. Then in her early forties, Esther decided to uncover the truth about what happened to her mother and father and their extended families during the Holocaust. In the absence of memory, mementos, photos, or even a name, Esther finds her own way to remember and record her family's legacy. What emerges is a powerful story about loss, memory and the power of kinship and community.
Esther Safran Foer was the CEO of Sixth and I, a centre for arts, ideas and religion. She lives in Washington D.C with her husband Bert. They are the parents of Franklin, Jonathan, and Joshua, and the grandparents of six.
A reflection and prayer to start the day with the Archdeacon of Bangor, Mary Stallard.
Good morning.
As we approach the end of January it still feels that we’re deep in winter, and in the continuing pandemic the intensity of this apparently fallow season seems even greater. In such times even small glimmers of an approaching spring can feel welcome.
I caught a glimpse of this recently when I received a free loyalty reward from a supermarket, of a bunch of daffodils. It felt like quite a measly gift when I collected them: a handful of unpromising green stalks with brownish, rather shrivelled tips. My expectations were definitely limited when I eventually put them in water.
Over the first 24 hours absolutely nothing seemed to happen to them, but the following evening I noticed a flash of yellow had appeared at the tips of one or two stalks which, over the next day, gradually grew and blossomed into a blaze of colour: the whole jar was transformed into something quite special.
It seems to me that I’ve much to learn from plants. Where I sometimes set my hopes much too low they show something very different. Another plant, an amaryllis bulb, I received for Christmas seems to be growing at an astonishing rate, so fast that I almost feel I ought to be able actually to see it moving. This kind of growth offers an inspiring image of how change and new life can appear even in the coldest seasons.
God of creation, thank you for the gift of life even in the midst of winter. Help us to notice and treasure today signs of all that’s growing. Where we feel weary or low, bless us with courage and open our eyes to notice signs of beauty and hope. Amen.
A Black Grouse lek is one of the most extraordinary sound spectacles in Britain and they occur every year from September until the birds breed in Spring; the peak time being April to May. Male Black Grouse gather at traditional sites on upland moors and display to each other and to the females before dawn. Hidden in a small wooden hut Chris Watson captures the sounds of their remarkable theatrical performance, by burying microphones the previous evening and running long cables back to recorders in the hide. The first males arrive at the lek site under cover of dark. They can be heard before they are seen. They fan out their black lyre-shaped tails to reveal white under-feathers as they strut back and forth to one another like partners on a dance floor. These displays determine the ranks of the birds to one another prior to breeding. The dance is accompanied by a startling vocal display; bubbling sounds, far-carrying rolling coos, pops, gurgles and explosive ‘sneezes’ which once heard are never forgotten! Females are attracted to the lek, listening and looking for a prospective mate! As the sun rises, the performers drift away, leaving an empty stage, a circle of trodden grass in the heather and the echoes of their remarkable display. Producer Sarah Blunt
The latest news headlines. Including the weather and a look at the papers.
The writer Julia Blackburn has lived much of the last forty years on the Suffolk coast where she has written biographies, poetry, radio plays and accounts of her own life. In recent years it is the landscape that has captured her imagination and her most recent book, 'Time Song', tells of how she became fascinated with the area known as Doggerland - a mass of land that once joined Suffolk and Holland and which is now submerged beneath the waves of the North Sea.
Helen Mark joins Julia for a virtual walk along the Suffolk coast, starting at Sizewell and the shadow of the nuclear power station and along to the marshlands at Minsmere with all its accompanying bird-life. From there it's onto Dunwich where Julia once found a human skull, and onto Covehithe where she came across a bit of Mammoth vertebrae. For Julia these objects are part of the 'visitable past' and they become a means of telling stories about this precarious landscape. They finish in Pakefield where, in 2001, two men discovered a fragment of flint that provided proof of human settlements dating back 700'000 years. For Julia these objects tell a story of a fragment of time, which combined with the huge skies and the muddy sea make it a magical place.
With contributions from Alex Pilling from RSPB Minsmere and Professor Martin Bell from the University of Reading.
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Toby Field, with additional recordings by Sophie Anton and Alex Pilling.
Queen of Shops Mary Portas has carved out a role as a retail fixer, style guru and successful broadcaster. She joins Richard and Nikki to discuss her extraordinary career and a new season of On Style, a four-part series on Radio 4 exploring what style means to us and the way we live today.
Actor Adrian Dunbar grew up in Northern Ireland and moved to London as a young man to train as an actor in London. His career has included appearances in films My Left Foot and The Crying Game and television programmes such as Cracker and Ashes to Ashes, but most famously, since 2012 Adrian has played Superintendent Ted Hastings in Line of Duty. He tells us about his recent trip around his homeland for Adrian Dunbar’s Coastal Ireland.
Ella Risbridger is the author of cookbook and memoir Midnight Chicken which chronicles how cooking helped her through an anxiety disorder, depression and bereavement. She shares her favourite recipes from the book and explains how she feels cooking saved her life.
When listener Mark Davies’ uncle died last year, he was shocked to discover that he was a secret hoarder. As Mark cleared his house, he found every nook and cranny filled with both mundane and extraordinary objects from apple pips to World War II medals.
Jay Rayner hosts the culinary panel show from home. He's joined by Dr Zoe Laughlin, Jordan Bourke, Asma Khan and Sue Lawrence who answer questions sent in by the audience.
This week is all about the inimitable legacy of Madhur Jaffrey, author of An Invitation to Indian Cooking. The panellists discuss the importance of ghee, their favourite recipes showcasing onions, and their go-to repeat recipes at home.
Insight, wit and analysis from BBC correspondents, journalists and writers from around the world
This week the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, was taken to court by mothers who claim the self-employed income support scheme discriminates against them as a result of taking maternity leave during the period their profits were assessed. The government currently calculates how much a self-employed person should receive in their grant, which covers lost profits during the pandemic, by looking at the money made in the previous three tax years. And the maternity discrimination charity, Pregnant then Screwed, claims this disadvantages mothers who have taken maternity leave in recent years. Paul Lewis talks to one of the mothers affected and speaks to Anna Dews from solicitors Leigh Day.
A record one billion pounds will be spent next year on compensating victims of financial miss-selling by firms that have gone out of business, according to a forecast in The Financial Services Compensation Scheme Plan and Budget for 2021/22. The cost is more than a third higher than was paid this year and that was over a third higher than last year’s total. It has just about doubled over three years. What's going on? Paul Lewis talks to FSCS Chief Executive, Caroline Rainbird.
Nearly two months after Money Box first reported that the DWP was wrongly taking hundreds of pounds from the pay packets of thousands of people, the programme continues to hear from listeners who say it is still going on. The Government told Money Box before Christmas that it had sorted the problem out. But Dan Whitworth talks to one woman who had £1400 deducted from her pay in December.
The self assessment tax deadline has been extended to 28 February, so if you file after original deadline of 31 January , the £100 penalty can be avoided. But the tax does still needs to be paid by the end of this month, not February. Confused? Don't worry because Heather Self, tax partner at Blick Rothenberg explains all.
Andy Zaltzman is joined by Alice Fraser, Fern Brady, Hugo Rifkind and Daliso Chaponda to quiz the week's news.
This week's episode features the vaccine latest, a quick state of the union update and a News Quiz debut for the Scapegoater Vx57, the Machine of Ultimate Blame.
Written by Andy Zaltzman with additional material from Charlie Dinkin, Mike Shephard and Mo Omar.
Chris Mason presents political debate and discussion with the culture minister Caroline Dinenage MP, the former Met Police Chief and crossbench peer Lord Hogan-Howe, the shadow home office minister Sarah Jones and the education minister in Wales Kirsty Williams.
For more than 30 years arts journalist and broadcaster Rosie Millard has reported on people following their dreams and striving for success in the unpredictable world of the creative arts. But just what is success and failure, particularly in the creative industries? And who makes that judgement anyway? The fairy story we love to hear is that all you need to do is follow your dream, and success will be yours. But for many the dream does not materialise. They don’t get that lucky break. For others it’s just a long hard slog, and then there are those who reframe their ambitions as they go through life. In this programme Rosie talks to amateur actor and director Ben Hopwood about living his own dream - on his own terms.
Jim ..... Peter Sullivan
Mike ..... Sam Troughton
Teenage Jim ..... Tom Glenister
Teenage Mike ..... Josh Barrow
Jim as a child ..... Aaron Gelkoff
Mike as a child ..... Bert Davis
Director ..... Sally Avens
Jim and Mike are identical twins. As children they were inseparable now they barely speak. With the arrival of the pandemic and the death of both their parents they are forced to confront their relationship. Over forty years we see what drove them apart and how both nature and nurture played their part. Can they overcome their entrenched views to concentrate on what they have in common?
David Eldridge is a dramatist and screenwriter from Romford. His plays have been produced on the West End and Broadway. Stage work includes, The Knot of The Heart, In Basildon and Beginning. Radio work includes Jenny Lomas and Picture Man for which he won the Prix Europa.
Peter Sullivan is a TV and stage actor. He was asked to join the National Theatre by Deborah Warner and has since worked with David Hare, Trevor Nunn, Tom Stoppard, Richard Eyre and in the award winning films Conspiracy (2001), Hancock & Joan (2008), Sex Traffic (2004) and State of Play (2003).Television includes The Borgias and Poldark. He will shortly be seen in Around The World in Eighty Days.
Sam Troughton is a stage and screen actor. He has appeared in Robin Hood, Chernobyl and The Hollow Crown. He has worked extensively at the RSC and in 2017 he starred at the National in David Eldridge's play Beginning. He is about to appear in the film Mank directed by David Fincher.
Nick Robinson gets beneath the surface in a personal and political interview.
Petula Clark, Marian Keyes, Melanie Challenger, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Steve Earle, Tunng, YolanDa Brown, Clive Anderson
Clive Anderson and YolanDa Brown are joined by Petula Clark, Marian Keyes, Melanie Challenger and Kingsley Ben-Adir for an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy. With music from Steve Earle and Tunng.
Danish billionaire Anders Holch Povlsen is the biggest private landowner in Scotland and the biggest private shareholder in ASOS, the online fashion company that is in talks to buy Topshop.
Having cut his teeth in the family fashion business, Bestseller, and following a series of canny investments, Anders Povlsen has more recently become known for his ambitious plans to ‘rewild’ large areas of Scotland To that end he has bought up hundreds of thousands of acres, now owning more land there than the Queen. He is determined to transform the landscape, turning it back into forest, through sometimes controversial means.
After kidnap attempts and family tragedy he has gained a reputation as a man of extreme privacy. So just who is Anders Holch Povlsen? Mark Coles tries find out the secrets of the eco-conscious online fashion supremo and CEO.
18. Leah Remini
Covid-19 hasn’t gone away and, due to travel restrictions, neither has Louis Theroux. In the second outing of his podcast series, he tracks down more high-profile guests he’s been longing to talk to - a fascinating mix of the celebrated, the controversial and the mysterious.
Emmy Award winning actor and TV presenter Leah Remini talks to Louis Theroux about life in the Church of Scientology and her reasons for leaving.
It is remembered as the most barbaric medical procedure of the 20th century, but lobotomy was once hailed as a miracle cure. Claire Prentice explores the archives to uncover the hidden history of lobotomy, the surgery which some believed would make treating mental illness 'easier than curing a toothache'.
Developed by Egas Moniz, a Portuguese neurologist in the 1930s, lobotomy, an operation in which healthy brain tissue was destroyed to treat mental illness, was adopted by doctors around the world to treat the most seriously ill psychiatric patients.
The most prolific lobotomist in the UK was Sir Wylie McKissock who carried out an estimated 3,000 lobotomies. He was a larger than life figure, lionised by the newspapers of the day, who was based in London but was happy to give up his weekends to travel around the UK carrying out lobotomies wherever there was a need.
But for every patient who was returned to family and friends cured of depression, anxiety and delusions there were scores who were left docile, incontinent, child-like and affectless.
Combining archive from the 1940s to 2010 with new interviews with neurosurgeons, medical historians and Howard Dully, who was given a lobotomy when he was just 12 years old, this programme explores the rise and decline of a procedure which once captivated doctors, the media and the public.
Return of the popular drama series set in Manchester. Two young women are arrested for fighting in a hotel. Frank and Sarah reckon it's a fuss over nothing. Until one of the women is accused of theft.
Series nine of the popular afternoon drama series starring David Schofield. Frank Twist's and Sarah Gold's legal advisers operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week to set free burglars, muggers, murderers and even some innocent people who find themselves on the wrong side of a cell door. Sarah and Frank have a child but their relationship is purely business as they clean up the mean streets of Manchester. The combination of complex crime stories and witty humour make this a popular returning series
Mike Williams asks why some weeks just fly by but sometimes minutes can seem like hours? Why do we perceive time differently in different circumstances? Mike talks to Pakistani writer and broadcaster Raza Rumi, Claudia Hammond, author of "Time Warped" and John McCarthy, a British journalist taken hostage in Lebanon in 1986.
Helen Lewis returns with a new series of interviews with people offering radical solutions to the big problems we face, and explores how their personal experiences drive their work and thinking.
In his book Spoon-Fed, the genetic epidemiologist Tim Spector argues that almost everything we have been told about food is wrong. He tells Helen why - and what he thinks can be done to transform the situation.
Today's Counterpoint contest once again features competitors taking part on remote links from their own homes during the Covid lockdown. The rivalry is no less keen than if they were together on stage, with all three hoping their musical knowledge will win them a place in the semi-finals. Dolly Parton, John Coltrane, Stephen Sondheim, Pavarotti and Michael Jackson all feature in the questions - and will anyone pick the specialist round on James Bond themes?
BBC Radio 6 Music Poet in Residence Murray Lachlan Young is Roger McGough's guest making his selection of poems. His choices include works by Dylan Thomas, Kathleen Jamie and Emily Dickinson. He reads a couple of his own poems - Liverpool Poem and Negative Thoughts
SUNDAY 31 JANUARY 2021
SUN 00:00 Midnight News (m000rt91)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 00:15 Disability: A New History (b0211jrg)
Doing and Being
Work and disability has always been an awkward fit.
Peter White says, 'When as a teenager I said I wanted to be a broadcaster, there was a sharp intake of breath. Shouldn't I be considering becoming a piano tuner, or a physiotherapist? That's what blind people did. I wanted to know what it was like in the past, when people had to work - or starve.'
What he discovers is surprising - disabled people were everywhere in the 19th century work-force. In some parts of the country, more than 60% of nurses had a disability. For other disabled men and women, earning a living meant creating a particular niche for themselves. Peter uncovers the career of the blind poet Priscilla Pointon, who made a living writing poetry about her life - signing up hundreds of people on a subscription list to become a wealthy woman. She was just one in a long tradition of blind poets.
Peter also discovers a treasure trove of letters from disabled people seeking work in the Victorian period, which have been collected by Professor Stephen King of Leicester University. They describe the indignity of being assessed by the authorities of the day, and their anger at being accused of faking disability. There are some striking parallels with today, when the debate about work and disability is in full swing.
With historians Steven King, Chris Mounsey and Julie Anderson, and readings by Gerard McDermott and Emily Bevan.
Producer: Elizabeth Burke
Academic adviser: David Turner of Swansea University
A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 00:30 Short Works (m000rnlh)
Where Joy Gone?
By Ingrid Persaud. Joy is in the late stages of dementia. Every week, her daughter Lani visits her in the care home and tries to trigger her memory with food.
Born in Trinidad, Ingrid Persaud won the Commonwealth Short Story Prize in 2017 and the BBC Short Story Award in 2018. Her first novel, Love After Love, won the 2020 Costa Prize First Novel Award.
Writer: Ingrid Persaud
Reader: Ingrid Persaud
Producer: Jeremy Osborne
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000rt93)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000rt95)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000rt97)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SUN 05:30 News Briefing (m000rt99)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (m000rt9c)
The Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Wilfred, Ripon, in North Yorkshire
Bells on Sunday comes from the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Wilfred, Ripon, in North Yorkshire. Ripon is the oldest of the three cathedral churches within the Diocese of West Yorkshire and the Dales. The South West Tower contains a peal of twelve bells. Taylors of Loughborough cast them as a peal of ten in 1933 and two trebles were added in 2008. The Tenor weighs 23 hundredweight and is tuned to E flat. We hear them ringing Cambridge Surprise Maximus.
SUN 05:45 Profile (m000rt8s)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 06:00 News (m000rv4z)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b06psb4w)
The Teen Within
When you look back at your teenage years, what do you remember most about them? Mercurial and angst-ridden? Empowering and passionate? Samira Ahmed explores the ways adolescence can resonate in later life, and reflects on staying in touch with one’s inner teen.
Teenage years are for trying out different versions of our selves - dipping a toe into adulthood, as childish things are put away. It’s the time for dreaming of the limitless possibilities life might bring, while being simultaneously daunted by them.
Samira is joined by Alom Shaha who grew up on a tough South London council estate in a strict Bangladeshi Muslim family. After his mother died, Alom, aged just thirteen, took responsibility for his younger siblings. Now a science teacher, he wrote The Young Atheist's Handbook, to help other teenagers who decide to leave the faith they were raised in.
All that angst and passion - the teenage spirit - where does it go? Does it still glimmer within or does it dissipate with adulthood? We hear from British poet Anthony Thwaite, about the way his teenage years have come to inspire his poetry in much later life.
And Samira reflects on what we might say to our teenage self - with some funny and moving insights from the pen of Peter Capaldi.
With readings of prose and poetry from writers including John Steinbeck, Claude Tardat and Josephine Miles, and music by artists including J S Bach, Nouvelle Vague and Laura Marling.
Producer: Caroline Hughes
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (m000rv53)
Wye College
For more than a hundred years, Wye College in Kent trained generations of students of agriculture and horticulture, and gained an international reputation. It closed in 2009, and a public inquiry is now deciding the fate of the historic buildings which have been standing empty ever since. Charlotte Smith talks to former students and staff, and finds out about the history of the college.
Produced by Emma Campbell.
SUN 06:57 Weather (m000rv57)
The latest weather forecast
SUN 07:00 News and Papers (m000rv5c)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 07:10 Sunday (m000rv5h)
A look at the ethical and religious issues of the week
SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (m000rv5m)
Coroners' Courts Support Services
Karen Bartram, a beneficiary of the charity, makes the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of Coroners' Courts Support Services
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 ‘Coroners' Courts Support Services’.
- Cheques should be made payable to ‘Coroners' Courts Support Services’.
- You can donate online at bbc.co.uk/appeal/radio4
Registered Charity Number: 1105899
SUN 07:57 Weather (m000rv5r)
The latest weather forecast
SUN 08:00 News and Papers (m000rv5w)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (m000rv60)
Belfast, a City Shaped by the Sea
The Very Rev Stephen Forde, Dean of Belfast whose cathedral stands not far from Belfast’s docks reflects on those who go down to the sea in ships, and do business in great waters.
With Canon Mark Niblock and Gillian McCaughey
Jonah 1.3-13
Mark 4.
35.41
All my hope on God is founded (MICHAEL)
Kyrie Eleison (Fauré)
Psalm 107 v23-32 ( Plainsong)
The Lord is my Shepherd (Schubert)
Jesus lover of my soul (ABERYSTWYTH)
Eternal Father strong to save (MELITA)
Irish Blessing (Bob Chilcott)
Director of Music: Matthew Owens
Organist: Jack Wilson
Producer: Bert Tosh
SUN 08:48 A Point of View (m000rnm0)
Sacking the Capitols
Sarah Dunant finds chilling parallels between recent events in Washington and the Sack of Rome in 1527.
"Both seemed to feel," Sarah writes, "that whatever the threat, 'God's Holy City' or 'the seat of American democracy', were somehow, by their very nature, inviolate. I mean nobody would dare, would they?"
Powerful first-hand accounts, the crowd fired up by wild stories and the use of new technology are all there.
Producer: Adele Armstrong
SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (b04dvyfs)
White-Bearded Manakin
Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.
Sir David Attenborough presents the White-Bearded manakin of tropical South America. The sound of party-poppers exploding in a forest clearing tells you that white-bearded manakins are displaying at a lek. At a carefully chosen spot each male clears the forest floor of leaves and other debris before his performance begins. The commonest display is the snap-jump. As he jumps forward he strikes the back of his wings together creating a loud snapping sound followed by an excited "pee-you" call. Snap-jumps are often followed by grunt jumps or a manoeuvre known as "slide-down-the-pole". These displays continue throughout the day, but intensify when females visit.
SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (m000rv64)
The Sunday morning news magazine programme. Presented by Paddy O'Connell
SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (m000rv66)
Writers, Naylah Ahmed & Keri Davies
Director, Julie Beckett
Editor, Jeremy Howe
Pip Archer ….. Daisy Badger
Ruth Archer ….. Felicity Finch
Tom Archer ….. William Troughton
Natasha Archer ….. Mali Harries
Brian Aldridge ….. Charles Collingwood
Phoebe Aldridge ….. Lucy Morris
Justin Elliott ….. Simon Williams
Rex Fairbrother ….. Nick Barber
Shula Hebden Lloyd ….. Judy Bennett
Elizabeth Pargetter ….. Alison Dowling
Freddie Pargetter ….. Toby Laurence
Lily Pargetter ….. Katie Redford
Alistair Lloyd ….. Michael Lumsden
Kirsty Miller ….. Annabelle Dowler
Stephanie Casey ….. Kerry Gooderson
SUN 10:54 Tweet of the Day (m000rv68)
Tweet Take 5 : Great Spotted Woodpecker
It was only in the 1930's that it was finally proved that great spotted woodpeckers use their bill to provide that familiar drumming sound in woodlands during late winter and early spring. These birds are one of conservation success stories as their population is increasing even in urban landscapes, as we'll hear in this extended version of the series featuring Chris Packham, naturalist Brett Westwood and Professor Chris Baines.
Producer : Andrew Dawes for BBC Audio in Bristol
SUN 11:00 Desert Island Discs (m000rv6b)
Monica Galetti, chef and restaurateur
Monica Galetti is a chef, restaurateur and cook book writer, who is also known as a judge on the television series MasterChef: the Professionals.
Born on the island of Upolu in Western Samoa, she grew up on the family plantation where her earliest food memories are of collecting eggs and mangoes and peeling bananas for special suppers. When she was eight she moved to New Zealand where her mother and stepfather had emigrated a couple of years earlier.
After studying hospitality management and enjoying success in numerous cooking competitions, she travelled around Europe before settling in London where she found work as a commis chef at the Roux family’s restaurant, Le Gavroche. Under the watchful eye of Michel Roux Jr, she rose through the ranks to become Le Gavroche’s first female sous chef.
She opened her own restaurant in 2017 where she works alongside her husband David who is head sommelier and co-owner.
Presenter: Lauren Laverne
Producer: Paula McGinley
SUN 11:45 The Battles That Won Our Freedoms (m0001xt1)
2 Freedom from Unlawful Detention
Series exploring the long history of struggles for liberty in Britain.
In this episode, Phil Tinline asks lawyer Clive Stafford-Smith about his use of the law of 'habeas corpus' on behalf of a British prisoner in Guantanamo Bay - and asks historian Dr Rachel Hammersley to explain how this attempt to stop unlawful detention emerged from the power struggle between Parliament and King in the 17th century, before finding its way to America.
First broadcast in 2019.
Producer: Phil Tinline
SUN 12:00 News Summary (m000rv6d)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 12:04 The Unbelievable Truth (m000rmjm)
Series 25
Episode 3
David Mitchell hosts the panel game in which four comedians are encouraged to tell lies and compete against one another to see how many items of truth they're able to smuggle past their opponents.
Sarah Millican and Gary Delaney, Marcus Brigstocke and Rachel Parris, and Lucy Porter and Justin Edwards are the panellists obliged to talk with deliberate inaccuracy on subjects as varied as rabbits, marriage, and crisps.
Produced by Jon Naismith
A Random Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 12:32 The Food Programme (m000rtyt)
Flavours of Home: The refugees forging new lives through food
COVID-19 may have pushed it from the front pages, but the refugee crisis rages on around the world, fed by war, famine and political persecution; and that’s before you even factor in a global pandemic.
In this programme, Sheila Dillon explores the remarkable stories of asylum seekers and refugees in the UK, forging new lives and careers through food.
She hears from Josie Naughton, co-founder and CEO of refugee aid organisation Choose Love; Chernise Neo and her team at Proof Bakery in Coventry, an artisan bakery that trains and employs refugee women; Jess Thompson, the founder of Migrateful - a social enterprise where asylum seekers and refugees teach cooking classes, passing on dishes from their homelands - and one of their teaching team, Ahmed Sinno; and catches up with Chef Imad Alarnab, ahead of the opening of his London restaurant.
Rebuilding your life in a different country, learning a new language, integrating into a new community: none of this is easy. But cooking and sharing food can offer some rare common ground, bringing people together no matter where they're from.
Presented by Sheila Dillon
Produced in Bristol by Lucy Taylor
SUN 12:57 Weather (m000rv6j)
The latest weather forecast
SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (m000rv6n)
Radio 4’s look at the week’s big stories from both home and around the world.
SUN 13:30 The Listening Project (m000rv6s)
LONG: Fi Glover presents friends and strangers in conversation as the nation adjusts to the 'new normal'. In this week's programme, three conversations, all between men. None of them knew each other before being brought together by our producers to reflect on their shared interests and experiences.
Cocoa and Ian come from different backgrounds but share a passion for charity work. Nigel and Faisal are mad about sci fi and the George Lucas franchise. And Steve and Jack, two men in their 60s, have a remarkable, harrowing conversation about how they were sexually abused as children and the effect its had on their lives.
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 (m000rnlf)
GQT at Home: Worm Casts and Rainy Day Plants
Horticultural programme featuring a group of gardening experts, hosted by Peter Gibbs.
Joining him on the panel are pests and diseases expert Pippa Greenwood, RHS curator Matthew Pottage, and plantsman Matt Biggs. They answer questions about worm casts, shrubs that look best in rainy climes, and bouquet trends.
Away from the questions, Matthew Wilson and his wife, Jane, discuss how to secure blooming success, and Peter Gibbs speaks to Janet Terry and Jo Wenham of the Millennium Seed Bank about collecting, storing and sowing seeds to unlock their full potential.
Producer - Daniel Cocker
Assistant Producer - Rosie Merotra
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 14:45 Disability: A New History (b0213yg1)
Wooden Legs and Wheelchairs
Peter White has a close encounter with a huge wooden leg, and asks who got access to new technology in the 19th century.
Strangely, wooden legs were thought to be sexy in the 19th century. During the 22 years of war with France, tens of thousands of British soldiers and sailors gave their lives for their country. Surviving, with a missing limb, became tangible proof of valour - and virility.
However, the reality of life with a wooden leg was anything but romantic. Peter White discovers an extraordinary account written by a 19th century soldier, Thomas Jackson, who lost his leg in battle:
"Military surgeons are not very nice about hurting one. What with the tearing off of the bandages, and the opening of the wound afresh, and the tying of the ligaments of the arteries, I fear in my feeble strength I must have sunk under the excruciating pain. When fitted on, my wooden leg was strapped by the knee. I looked down with the same kind of satisfaction which a dog does when he gets a tin kettle tied to his tail."
But William Jackson was one of the lucky ones. As a military man, he had access to the latest technology. Disabled women were not so lucky - and could be confined to the house, unable to leave their bedroom. Two case studies - one soldier, one genteel woman in Bath - reveal how expectations of mobility were limited by gender. And how crucial it was to have individual ambition.
With historians Julie Anderson, Caroline Nielsen, and Amanda Vickery.
Producer: Elizabeth Burke
Academic adviser: David Turner of Swansea University
A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 15:00 Drama (m000rv6x)
Devils
Devils. Part 2
Jonathan Forbes, Cecilia Appiah, Gary Lilburn and Joseph Arkley star in Dostoevsky’s unsettling tale of revolution and betrayal.
Nicholai’s darkest secrets are revealed, and Lisa’s reputation is hanging by a thread as the factories are being burned to the ground in a town on the brink of revolution.
Dramatised by Melissa Murray.
Nicholai ..... Joseph Arkley
Pyotr ..... Jonathan Forbes
Stepan ..... Gary Lilburn
Krillov ..... Hasan Dixon
Marya ..... Georgia Henshaw
Shatov ..... Stefan Adegbola
Mrs Stavrogina ..... Jane Whittenshaw
Lisa ..... Cecilia Appiah
Darya ..... Charlotte East
Virginsky ..... Ian Dunnett Jr
Written by Melissa Murray
Directed by Carl Prekopp
Produced by Marc Beeby and Anne Isger
SUN 16:00 Open Book (m000rv71)
Richard Flanagan; How To Read Well; Editor's Tip
Australian writer Richard Flanagan talks to Johny Pitts about his new novel The Living Sea of Waking Dreams. He tells Johny why he prefers writing about women, why he believes that a twentieth century belief in the indiviual has gone too far, and how he addresses that in his writing.
Also on the programme, a book recommendation for February; Jacob Ross of Peepal Tree Press reveals what it's like for a publisher to win a major book prize during a pandemic, and Andy Miller and Richard Lea offer Johny tips on how to read lots, well.
Presenter: Johny Pitts
Producer: Nicola Holloway
Programme co-ordinator: Belinda Naylor
SUN 16:30 Poetry Please (m000rv75)
Paul Muldoon
Poet Paul Muldoon's choices range from Edward Thomas, through Brian Patten and Terrance Hayes to Hannah Silva and Ellen Bass. Producer Sally Heaven
SUN 17:00 File on 4 (m000rmp1)
A Year of Covid
A year ago this week, the first reported case of Covid-19 was recorded in the UK. Within weeks frontline medics faced their toughest ever test. Doctors and nurses in intensive care units recorded diaries for a powerful and insightful episode of File on 4 which illustrated the true scale of the challenge they faced. So one year on, how do they think they coped? What have they learned about themselves and the National Health Service which many warn could be overwhelmed by the current second wave of Covid 19 which continues to claim tens of thousands of lives. Reporter Jane Deith revisits some of those doctors and nurses to find out how they themselves survived the biggest challenge of their careers. And she asks whether when they recorded their original diaries, did they envisage they’d be where they are now in battle against the pandemic?
SUN 17:40 Profile (m000rt8s)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m000rv79)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SUN 17:57 Weather (m000rv7f)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000rv7k)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (m000rv7r)
Chris Hawkins
Chris Hawkins chooses the best of BBC Radio this week
SUN 19:00 Stillicide (m0008b0x)
Episode 5: Chaffinch
Stephen Campbell Moore continues Cynan Jones' electrifying short story series set in the very near future.
Water is commodified and the Water Train that feeds the city is increasingly at risk of sabotage. And now ice bergs are set to be transported to a huge ice dock outside the capital city.
Today: an increasingly erratic executive at the Water Company faces media scrutiny over the building of the ice dock..
Reader: Stephen Campbell Moore
Writer: Cynan Jones
Producer: Justine Willett
Music: Original music by Kirsten Morrison
SUN 19:15 Stand-Up Specials (m000rv7y)
Elvis McGonagall: Full Tartan Jacket
Elvis McGonagall performs the pick of a year’s biting and savagely funny satire in a blend of provocative verse and politically savvy stand-up comedy. It's imbued with his customary searing wit, wordplay and anarchic invective.
Pulling no punches, Elvis directs his scurrilous diatribes at the powers-that-be from Westminster to Waitrose, taking aim at the injustices of our septic isle and beyond. Stockpiling and the pickiness of cats, celebrity branding, the nature of truth, some bloke called Trump, the Prime Minister and Mr Benn, Government rules, ecotricity, Samuel Pepys - it’s all there. There’s even a love poem.
Full Tartan Jacket presents the prime cuts from the work of a comic poet at the top of his game – all current and bang on target. Join this World Poetry Slam Champion and Saturday Live alumnus as he bellows into the void in exasperation at the world, from the Gracelands Caravan Park somewhere near Dundee.
Recorded remotely in front of a virtual audience.
Written and performed by Elvis McGonagall
Produced by Frank Stirling
A 7digital production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 19:45 The Last Resort (m000rv84)
Vidas
A caravan-park on the Northern Irish coast is beset by a series of impossible thefts, forcing its disparate group of residents to come together to find their missing belongings. However, in this uncanny place where static caravans teeter on an eroding a cliff-edge overlooking the ocean, each holidaymaker soon finds themselves similarly wavering between certainty and doubt; one world and the next; the past and the present; and even reality and fantasy.
Author
Jan Carson is a writer and community arts facilitator based in Belfast. Her most recent novel ‘The Fire Starters’ was awarded the EU Prize for Literature 2019 and the author was acclaimed as “one of the most exciting and original Northern Irish writers of her generation” by the Sunday Times. She has also written ‘Wings’ for BBC Three, ‘UnRaveling’ for BBC Radio 3, several short stories for BBC Radio 4’s ‘Short Works’ series and was shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award 2020.
Reader: Ignacy Rybarczyk
Writer: Jan Carson
Producer: Michael Shannon
A BBC Northern Ireland production.
SUN 20:00 More or Less (m000rln5)
Deaths at Home, Supermarket Infections and the Cobra Effect
Since the start of the pandemic there have been many warnings that people might die not just from the coronavirus itself, but also if they didn’t seek medical help out of fear that hospitals might be dangerous. Is there any evidence that this has happened? David Spiegelhalter is on the case.
The UK is in lockdown, but tens of thousands of people a day are still testing positive for Coronavirus. Where are they catching it? Grim data on drug deaths in Scotland has been called into question on social media. We ferret out the truth. Plus, what can venomous snakes tell us about the government's plan to increase the number of people self-isolating?
SUN 20:30 Last Word (m000rnlk)
Larry King, Catherine Ennis, Margaret Weston, Gerry Cottle
Matthew Bannister on
Larry King, the American TV interviewer whose long running show on CNN attracted guests ranging from Presidents to pop stars. Christiane Amanpour pays tribute.
Catherine Ennis, the organist at the City of London Church of St Lawrence Jewry who helped to design four major organs in the capital.
Dame Margaret Weston, the Director of the Science Museum who spread funding around the UK by opening the National Railway Museum in York and the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television in Bradford.
Gerry Cottle, the charismatic circus owner who overcame bankruptcy and sex and cocaine addiction to evolve the art form as public tastes changed
Producer: Neil George
Interviewed guest: Christiane Amanpour
Interviewed guest: Michael Carlson
Interviewed guest: Sir Roger Gifford
Interviewed guest: Sir Andrew Parmley
Interviewed guest: Heather Mayfield
Interviewed guest: David Morgan
Interviewed guest: Professor Vanessa Toulmin
Interviewed guest: John Haze
Archive clips from: Profile, Radio 4 TX
26.03.1974; In Tune, Radio 3 TX
14.10.2016; Desert Island Discs, Radio 4 TX 21.
9.1984
SUN 21:00 Money Box (m000rt80)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 on Saturday]
SUN 21:25 Radio 4 Appeal (m000rv5m)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 today]
SUN 21:30 The Corrections (m000phx6)
Trojan Horse: Brit-ish?
The Trojan Horse Affair was one of the most divisive news stories of recent years, a supposed plot by Islamists to take over schools in Birmingham. The Corrections has been exploring how journalists told it and how they could have told it differently.
In this final episode, Jo Fidgen considers its impact. The Education Secretary Michael Gove responded by making it compulsory for schools in England and Wales to promote British values, including democracy, the rule of law and mutual respect. Undermining those values became grounds for prohibiting someone from managing a school.
The list of values generated a lot of debate and left some British Asians wondering whether they were really at home in the UK.
Presenter: Jo Fidgen
Editor: Emma Rippon
SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (m000rv8b)
Radio 4's Sunday night political discussion programme.
SUN 23:00 The Film Programme (m000rlm9)
Leslie Caron
With Francine Stock
Francine reflects on the career of Leslie Caron, who is 90 this year, and hears about her adventures in La La Land with Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire and Cary Grant.
SUN 23:30 Something Understood (b06psb4w)
[Repeat of broadcast at
06:05 today]
MONDAY 01 FEBRUARY 2021
MON 00:00 Midnight News (m000rv8j)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
MON 00:15 Word of Mouth (m000rmnj)
Adam Bradley: The Poetry of Pop
Literary critic Adam Bradley talks to Michael about pop lyrics, melody and performance, and how they all work together.
Producer Sally Heaven.
MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (m000rt9c)
[Repeat of broadcast at
05:43 on Sunday]
MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000rv8r)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000rv8x)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000rv91)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
MON 05:30 News Briefing (m000rv94)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000rv96)
A reflection and prayer to start the day with the Archdeacon of Bangor, Mary Stallard.
Good morning. One of the traditions of Saint Brigid of Kildare, who’s remembered today, is that she kept an eternal flame in her Abbey in Ireland. The idea of an undying flame tended for years, even generations, is intriguing. For Christians it might point to a belief in a love that never dies.
Fire as a symbol has always been powerful and mysterious capturing both the warmth and light that are essential to life and also warning of fearsome power, risk and danger. Perhaps that’s why fire has always been used in secular and sacred festivals. The image of passing on a flame to others offers a strong sign of our desire to keep on going into the future.
Some years ago, whilst on holiday our family went looking for Brigid’s undying fire in Kildare. We’d heard that a statue had been made in her memory and wondered if we’d find the flame alight. To our disappointment we didn’t, but a small notice in one of the churches led us to a house where religious sisters named “Brigidines” were living. We told them about our quest to find the holy fire and they welcomed us, made us tea and gave us a poster of St Brigid which we’ve treasured to this day. We may not have found a literal eternal fire but the warmth of their love spoke to us of the blazing faith of a saint from long ago and a flame of friendship and commitment that continues to burn brightly and to be passed on and shared.
Eternal God thank you that you kindle the fire of your love in our hearts. Help us to tend and nurture all that brings life and hope to others through our words and actions today. Amen.
MON 05:45 Farming Today (m000rv98)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
MON 05:56 Weather (m000rv9b)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.
MON 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b04dv7fc)
Blue Bird of Paradise
Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.
Sir David Attenborough presents the blue bird of paradise. The crow sized blue birds of paradise provide a spectacular flash of blue in the Papua New Guinea rainforests yet it is the males dazzling courtship performance which grabs a female's attention. Tipping forward from his perch he hangs upside down fluffing out and shimmering his gauzy breast feathers. As if this weren't enough, as the female approaches, he increases the frequency of his calls to produce a hypnotic mechanical buzzing, more like the song of a giant cicada than any bird.
Producer : Andrew Dawes
MON 06:00 Today (m000rtxs)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
MON 09:00 Start the Week (m000rtxv)
The fall of Maxwell – the end of an era.
He was born into abject poverty in Czechoslovakia, fought for the British and was decorated for his heroism in WWII, and became a successful businessman and press baron courted by political leaders around the world. Yet Robert Maxwell ended his life reviled as the embodiment of greed and corruption. The writer John Preston discusses his book, Fall: The Mystery of Robert Maxwell, with Andrew Marr.
The journalist Julia Langdon was appointed the political editor of the Daily Mirror in 1984 when Maxwell owned the newspaper. She looks back at his often extraordinary behaviour. But Langdon also examines the difficult and changing relationship between those in power in politics and the media moguls.
Maxwell was brash and theatrical working from luxury apartments at his rechristened Maxwell House, complete with Doric columns at the entrance. Emily Bell, formerly a media journalist now academic at Columbia University, sees certain parallels with Trump Tower. But the media landscape since Maxwell’s days has changed dramatically, and it’s now the owners of today’s social media companies who wield the power.
Producer: Katy Hickman
MON 09:45 Karachi Vice by Samira Shackle (m000rtxx)
Episode 1 - Safdar and Parveen
Samira Shackle's debut takes us on a fast paced journey through the streets of Karachi, a mega-city of 20 million. We are in the company of four people who live there. The first is Safdar the ambulance driver, who is compelled to help those in need. There is Parveen, a teacher and activist with a powerful sense of right wrong who courts danger by defying the gangsters who run her neighbourhood, and also Siraj who is a map maker. By marking out the neighbourhoods where the poorest live, he gives them a tool to lay claim to their lands and access mains electricity and water. Lastly, there is Zille, a hardened crime reporter, who is driven to get every scoop that he can and is rarely short of work in this crime ridden city until events take a frightening turn.
Samira Shackle debut tells the story of Karachi's recent past through the voices of several young people who have been compelled to navigate the fallout of gang rivalries and widespread corruption. She is a British journalist who writes on politics, terrorism and gender with a focus on the Indian subcontinent.
Read by Vineeta Rishi
Abridged by Penny Leicester
Picture credit - Owen Kean
Produced by Elizabeth Allard
MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000rty0)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.
MON 10:45 An Invitation to Indian Cooking by Madhur Jaffrey (m000rty2)
Episode 1
Madhur Jaffrey is a well-known writer and performer, whose work was seminal in introducing Indian and Asian cooking to the USA and UK. Her first cookbook, An Invitation to Indian Cooking, was an instant hit, in 1973.
By then, Ms Jaffrey was already a Broadway name, living in New York. The Jaffreys' dinner parties were hugely popular, in part because of Madhur’s wonderful cooking, and attended by many celebrities, such as Merchant and Ivory. She made her name from her family recipes, sent by her mother in letters from home, and their enthusiastic reception culminated in An Invitation to Indian Cooking.
Leading dramatist Anjum Malik has used this iconic cookbook to create a drama series charting how the book came about but, just as importantly, mapping Ms Jaffrey’s acting career, from her childhood love of acting, through training at RADA, and on to her success in global cinema, winning the Silver Bear for Best Actress for her performance in Shakespeare Wallah, at the Berlin Film Festival in 1965.
The drama stars Archie Panjabi (The Good Wife, The Fall) as Madhur and Raj Ghatak as Ismail Merchant, her close friend and professional colleague.
Episode 1:
Madhur Jaffrey takes us back to her childhood in Delhi, where her love of food was equalled by her love of acting, with Marlon Brando her cinematic role model.
Producer Polly Thomas and independent production company Somethin’ Else have been turning cookery books into popular audio drama for BBC Radio 4 since 2014. The first was Nigel Slater’s funny, poignant food memoir, Eating for England starring Celia Imrie and Julian Rhind Tutt. That was followed by A Girl Called Jack by Jack Monroe with Jaime Winstone and June Whitfield, Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain starring Michael Esper, and A Book of Middle Eastern Cooking by Claudia Roden starring Tracy Ann Oberman.
Cast:
Madhur Jaffrey………………………………….Archie Panjabi
Ismail Merchant………………………………...Raj Ghatak
Kashmiran Rani (Madhur’s mother)…………...Balvinder Sopal
Mrs McKelvie………………………….. ……..Rina Mahoney
Dramatist………………………………….Anjum Malik
Production Co ordinator………………..Darren Spruce
Producer…………………………………Polly Thomas
Executive Producer……………………..Darby Dorras
A Somethin’ Else production for BBC Radio 4
MON 11:00 My Name Is... (m000rmhr)
My Name is Jordan
Twenty year old student, Jordan Lee, had been planning to have fun at University: with his dyed pink hair and sense of humour he thought this would be a given. The pandemic changed everything and he’s now working locally to challenge vaccine hesitancy and the fake news reports behind it.
Jordan is one of twenty Covid Ambassadors recruited in West Yorkshire from BAME backgrounds to talk to people in communities where vaccination drives are meeting resistance. It’s hard to counter the avalanche of misinformation at a national level, but Jordan and the team think they can make inroads locally and help to rebuild trust.
In this programme he talks to doctors, community leaders and government officials. He also speaks to people living in some of the poorest parts of the city about their fears and what can be done to address them. He says he wanted to get involved because he knows how hard people are finding life and he believes this direct approach will work:
“We have to build the trust: you need the community to accept you and what makes this project special is that we are all from a BAME background. We’re coming up with ideas and we’re on their side. They can see us and know that we have no ulterior motive or agenda, there is such a strong collection of us.”
Jordan starts by meeting Shadim Hussain, a member of a Government steering group who lives in a multigenerational house in Bradford. His Mum sadly passed away from Covid in November and he’s just got a call from his GP offering his 78 year old Dad the vaccine. He says it’s normal for many others in his South Asian community to be advocates for their first generation parents:
“However, what is not normal is the number of children who will receive this call and refuse the vaccine on behalf of their parents! This is very worrying...we must work hard and fast to understand these fears and anxiety and protect this core of 70-80 year olds who are clearly at risk.”
Jordan talks to Dr John Wright, an epidemiologist who heads of the Bradford Institute for Health Research. He’s been collecting data on both the number of missed vaccine appointments across different communities and those who are refusing the appointments at the outset. In-depth interviews locally are revealing the impact of various factors, including social media.
“The city is now braced for a fight against disinformation and antivax conspiracy theories. There’s a lot of worry and hesitancy about the vaccine, particularly in our South Asian communities,” says Dr Wright.
A revealing conversation with Abdul Majid highlights the gulf that exists – he says he was good at science and has a science degree. His own father is in intensive care with covid-19 and his 61 year old uncle died of complications from covid: “I used to laugh. I thought there was no such thing. I laughed at it and now it's laughing at me. It's heart-breaking."
Abdul tells Jordan that he has shared many conspiracy theories about the pandemic on social media, and believes that scepticism locally is now widespread. This complicates the task of the covid testers in Bradford, who find that there is no answer at about half of the houses they visit, and that residents who do answer often refuse to be tested.
"Some people won't be tested because they are too busy, some don't believe in it and think it's a government conspiracy, some people won't test because if they turn out to be positive they don't want to self-isolate because of financial worries," says Ishaq Shafiq, who runs community testing for Bradford's Covid Response Hub.
Producer: Sue Mitchell
MON 11:30 How to Vaccinate the World (m000rty5)
Vaccine Nationalism
No one’s safe until everyone is safe - it’s a phrase we are getting used to hearing. We are all going to look after each other and make sure everyone gets the vaccines they need. But this noble sentiment seems to be buckling under first contact with political reality, as rich countries jockey for position at the front of a very long queue. The elbows are out - just ask AstraZeneca. In this episode of How To Vaccinate the World, Tim Harford and a panel of expert guests, have a lively discussion about the dangers and perhaps the advantages of vaccine nationalism.
Producers: Sandra Kanthal and Josephine Casserly
Listeners questions can be emailed to vaccine@bbc.co.uk
MON 12:00 News Summary (m000rty7)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 12:03 Shipping Forecast (m000rty9)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
MON 12:06 The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman (m000rtyc)
Episode 6
Compelling, witty and endearing crime thriller, a bestseller by TV presenter and producer Richard Osman. Abridged by Sara Davies and read by Haydn Gwynne.
The Thursday Murder Club are residents at a retirement village in rural Kent. Their hobby, puzzling out clues from unsolved murders, has taken over their real lives. Now they have not one, but two murders to investigate.
For full details see Monday 25th January 2021.
Producer...Mary Ward-Lowery
MON 12:20 You and Yours (m000rtyf)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
MON 12:57 Weather (m000rtyh)
The latest weather forecast
MON 13:00 World at One (m000rtyk)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Sarah Montague.
MON 13:45 The River (b07nprbk)
Sabrina and the Fish of No Return
Writer, naturalist and broadcaster, Paul Evans watches a salmon struggle against the flowing waters to climb up a weir and return to the pool where she was born to lay her eggs. The struggle takes place on the River Severn, which was known to the Romans as Sabrina. Sabrina is also the name of the Severn Cruise boat in Shrewsbury, a woman from Greek mythology who was drowned in a river and a 1950s British glamour model and film star. In this essay, Paul weaves together the stories of these different Sabrinas as he watches the salmon driven by instinct to travel “against the flow, up the one way street“ ….Like a film premiere with the star staggering up the red carpet, the crowd shouts encouragement, holds its collective breath, takes photographs, sighs as she stumbles back yet again...and again”.
Written and presented by Paul Evans
Actor Adie Allen and Susan Jameson
Additional sound recordings by Chris Watson
Producer Sarah Blunt
MON 14:00 Homeschool History (m000s484)
The Great Fire of London
Join Greg Jenner in 17th-century London as an out of control fire razes much of the city to the ground. Why did it spread so quickly? Why wasn't it extinguished immediately? And why didn't anyone make the most of the opportunity to build a better London?
The Historical Consultant for this episode was Rebecca Rideal.
Produced by Abi Paterson
Scripted by Gabby Hutchinson Crouch and Emma Nagouse
Research Assistance by Hannah MacKenzie
A production by The Athletic for BBC Radio 4
MON 14:15 Stone (m000rtym)
Protection
Dad
Detective Series created by Danny Brocklehurst.
Series 9: Protection. Episode 1 'Dad' written by Vivienne Harvey.
DCI Stone's investigation into the tragic stabbing of a teenager comes dangerously close to home.
DCI JOHN STONE....Hugo Speer
DS SUE KELLY....Deborah McAndrew
DI MIKE TANNER....Craig Cheetham
ALICE....Sydney Wade
JOLENE/KAREN/VALERIE.....Angela Lonsdale
YUSEF /SECURITY GUARD.....Eddie Capli
RUBY / FI.....Lucy Dixon
TOLGA / JO JO.....James Cooney
Produced and directed by Nadia Molinari
BBC Audio Drama North
MON 15:00 Counterpoint (m000rtyr)
Series 34
Heat 9
(9/13)
The one remaining place in the Counterpoint semi-finals for 2021 will be filled by the winner of today's contest, recorded under Covid lockdown conditions with Paul Gambaccini and the competitors taking part from home.
The range of music covered is as wide as ever, with questions in the opening round on Puccini, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Iron Maiden and The Weeknd. The competitors will also have to choose a special topic on which to answer a round of individual questions - with no prior warning of what the categories are.
Taking part today are
Vanessa McNaughton, a direct marketer from South London
Tom Mead, a civil servant from Stocksbridge in South Yorkshire
Tim Wise, a retired salesman from Wallington in Surrey.
Producer: Paul Bajoria
MON 15:30 The Food Programme (m000rtyt)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:32 on Sunday]
MON 16:00 Sketches: Stories of Art and People (m000rtyw)
Tides
The writer Anna Freeman presents a showcase of true stories about lives changed by art. This week, stories of high tides and low tides; of things washed up and things washed away; and of people making art at the water's edge.
What is it like to turn up as a guest to your own wake? We hear stories of a concert organised in tribute to a London musician, reported missing in the chaos following the Boxing Day tsunami in 2004. Of Sean Corcoran, a sand artist on the Copper Coast of Ireland on the joy he gets from making his drawings and letting them go with the changing tides. How he came to form a friendship with another sand artist in Wales never meeting him but simultaneously creating art on either side of the Irish Sea. Two Shetland women remember a remarkable woman and artist who created work from the beach finds she collected near her home on the island of Yell. Their brief encounters with Jeanette Nowak and her work inspired each to write a song about her.
Produced by Mair Bosworth and Maggie Ayre
MON 16:30 The Infinite Monkey Cage (m000rtyy)
The Science of Cooking
The Science of Cooking
Brian Cox and Robin Ince get their chef's hats on as they look at the science of cooking. They are joined by comedian Katy Brand, author and food critic Grace Dent, material scientist Mark Miodownik and science writer Harold McGee, whose seminal book on the science of the kitchen launched the craze for molecular gastronomy. They look at some of the lores of the kitchen are backed up by the science, and ask whether a truly delicious dinner is really a science or an art. Is cooking just chemistry?
Producer: Alexandra Feachem.
MON 17:00 PM (m000rtz0)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000rtz2)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 18:30 The Unbelievable Truth (m000rtz4)
Series 25
Episode 4
David Mitchell hosts the panel game in which four comedians are encouraged to tell lies and compete against one another to see how many items of truth they're able to smuggle past their opponents.
Frankie Boyle, Sara Pascoe, Miles Jupp, and Holly Walsh are the panellists obliged to talk with deliberate inaccuracy on subjects as varied as Glasgow, religion, spying, and puppets.
Produced by Jon Naismith
A Random Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4
MON 19:00 The Archers (m000rtz6)
Jazzer’s got love on the brain and Oliver’s worried about Grey Gables.
MON 19:15 Front Row (m000rtz8)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
MON 19:45 An Invitation to Indian Cooking by Madhur Jaffrey (m000rty2)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
MON 20:00 After Trump (m000rtzb)
Episode 1
In a new series, James Naughtie examines what President Trump altered about America, and what President Biden will do differently.
The Trump administration achieved a series of major changes, some of which seem likely to persist - in foreign policy, how America's economy functions, the membership of the country's highest court and, in this first episode, American politics.
Speaking to key figures in the orbits of both men, James will explore the implications of a consequential presidency, which reconstructed the country's political coalitions, gave voice to many who had felt ignored and overlooked, and dramatically reshaped what being president means and how one should behave.
James will also examine the darker forces unleashed by President Trump, ask whether Trumpism can exist beyond Trump himself, and consider how President Biden will seek to do things differently. Will it be possible just to turn the clock back, or is a very new model of presidential leadership now required?
Producers: Giles Edwards and Jonathan Brunert.
MON 20:30 Analysis (m000rtzf)
Personality Politics
Are we predisposed by our personality to be drawn to certain political policies or certain ideologies? And if so, should we take account of this when our views differ from other people? James Tilley, a professor of politics at Oxford University, talks to leading academics in the field about how this might help explain the current political polarisation seen in countries like the UK and the US.
Producer: Bob Howard
Editor: Jasper Corbett
MON 21:00 A Year of Misinformation (m000r1sq)
The final months of Donald Trump’s presidency and the coronavirus pandemic led to an explosion of misinformation – conspiracy theories, rumours, misleading social media posts and so-called “fake news”.
It’s meant busy times for a team inside the BBC who work to untangle truth from fiction and identify the bad actors behind bad info.
BBC Trending presenter Mike Wendling and specialist disinformation and social media reporter Marianna Spring have investigated some of the most viral falsehoods and conspiracy theories circulating online.
With the help of colleagues, they explored the rise of the pro-Trump movement QAnon. And they unpicked wild rumours and pseudoscience about Covid-19 that led to real-world harm – including deaths, riots and the destruction of mobile phone masts.
In this programme, they look back at some of the biggest stories of the past year, and reflect on what they learned about who spreads disinformation, who believes it, and what we all need to watch out for in the year ahead.
Producer: Ed Main
MON 21:30 Start the Week (m000rtxv)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
MON 22:00 The World Tonight (m000rtzj)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
MON 22:45 The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman (m000rtyc)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:06 today]
MON 23:00 Loose Ends (m000rt8q)
[Repeat of broadcast at
18:15 on Saturday]
MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (m000rtzm)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament
TUESDAY 02 FEBRUARY 2021
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (m000rtzp)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 00:30 Karachi Vice by Samira Shackle (m000rtxx)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000rtzr)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000rtzt)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000rtzw)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
TUE 05:30 News Briefing (m000rtzy)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000rv00)
A reflection and prayer to start the day with the Archdeacon of Bangor, Mary Stallard.
Good morning. Some ancient festivals of faith are so pregnant with meaning that each year fresh resonances appear. Today’s Candlemas, the church’s official conclusion of Christmas, and the time when Christians begin to look towards Easter. It’s the last big moment in the story of the birth of Jesus and the start of a whole series of encounters that’ll lead up to his crucifixion and resurrection.
Candlemas tells an inter-generational story, in which Mary, Joseph and the Christ-child encounter two elderly people: Simeon and Anna. They recognise who Jesus is and give thanks to God for him. It’s a beautiful picture of a diverse community of faith: old and young, men, women and a child gathering in blessing, giving and praying, and together looking towards God’s future.
At this moment in our own unfolding story, it feels as though we’re also in a transition time: longing for a conclusion, hoping we’re coming through this experience of pandemic towards recovery. So many of us are hoping and praying that we’ll be able to move to a less restricted way of living.
Snowdrops now appearing in many places are sometimes called “Candlemas bells”. They offer a wonderful sign of the moment of transition between one season and another, and in their combination of fragility and resilience they embody a hopeful vision of possibility and new life.
God of endings and beginnings, thank you for signs of hope and encouragement. Help us to notice your presence and to be attentive to all those we encounter. Amen
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (m000rv02)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
TUE 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b09tgv6c)
Chris Baines on the Great Spotted Woodpecker
In another of his TWEETS about the birds which are encouraged by his 'wildlife-friendly' garden in inner-city Wolverhampton, naturalist and environmentalist Chris Baines is delighted to find Great Spotted Woodpeckers visiting after he noticed that a local neighbour had success with tempting fat bars!
Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world.
Producer: Sarah Blunt
Photograph: Ian Redman.
TUE 06:00 Today (m000rw1w)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
TUE 09:00 The Life Scientific (m000rw25)
Anne Johnson on public health
Professor Jim Al-Khalili talks to leading scientists about their life and work, finding out what inspires and motivates them and asking what their discoveries might do for us
TUE 09:30 One to One (m000rvlb)
My Donation Story: Sabet Choudhury with Kay Hamilton
Five years ago Sabet Choudhury donated a kidney to his mother. It transformed her life. Sabet, a BBC journalist, says the experience changed his life for the better too. He’s now fitter and healthier than before and he’s forged a closer relationship with his parents. Organ donation was never on his radar before his mother became so ill, but it’s an issue that’s very real to him now. In this, the first of three programmes, Sabet talks to Kay Hamilton, his Kidney Coordinator, who played such an important part in his donation journey – and someone he has kept in close contact with since his operation.
Produced by Jo Dwyer for BBC Audio in Bristol
TUE 09:45 Karachi Vice by Samira Shackle (m000rw45)
Ep 2 - Siraj and Parveen
Samira Shackle's debut takes us on a fast paced journey through Karachi's recent past. Today, we meet Siraj, the map-maker who reflects on the human cost of ethnic conflict in the mega city of 20 million. Meanwhile, Parveen has left her neighbourhood and its gang rivalries behind her but there's soon to be a shocking revelation. Vineeta Rishi reads.
Samira Shackle tells the story of Pakistan's largest city in the company of those who live out their daily lives against the backdrop of corruption, and deadly gang violence. The first is Safdar the ambulance driver, who is compelled to help those in need. There is Parveen, a teacher and activist with a powerful sense of right wrong, and also Siraj, a map maker. By marking out the neighbourhoods where the poorest live, he gives them a tool to lay claim to their lands and access mains electricity and water. Lastly, there is Zille, a hardened crime reporter, who is driven to get every scoop that he can, and is rarely short of work in this crime ridden city until events take a frightening turn. Samira is a British journalist who writes on politics, terrorism and gender with a focus on the Indian subcontinent.
Abridged by Penny Leicester
Picture credit - Owen Kean
Produced by Elizabeth Allard
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000rw2f)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.
TUE 10:45 An Invitation to Indian Cooking by Madhur Jaffrey (m000rw2k)
Episode 2
Madhur Jaffrey is a well-known writer and performer, whose work was seminal in introducing Indian and Asian cooking to the USA and UK. Her first cookbook, An Invitation to Indian Cooking, was an instant hit, in 1973.
By then, Ms Jaffrey was already a Broadway name, living in New York. The Jaffreys' dinner parties were hugely popular, in part because of Madhur’s wonderful cooking, and attended by many celebrities, such as Merchant and Ivory. She made her name from her family recipes, sent by her mother in letters from home, and their enthusiastic reception culminated in An Invitation to Indian Cooking.
Leading dramatist Anjum Malik has used this iconic cookbook to create a drama series charting how the book came about but, just as importantly, mapping Ms Jaffrey’s acting career, from her childhood love of acting, through training at RADA, and on to her success in global cinema, winning the Silver Bear for Best Actress for her performance in Shakespeare Wallah, at the Berlin Film Festival in 1965.
The drama stars Archie Panjabi (The Good Wife, The Fall) as Madhur and Raj Ghatak as Ismail Merchant, her close friend and professional colleague.
Episode 2:
Madhur Jaffrey goes to London in 1965, winning a scholarship to RADA. She loves acting but is homesick, and very underwhelmed by pallid English food. She starts cooking at her digs, following her mother’s hand written recipes.
Producer Polly Thomas and independent production company Somethin’ Else have been turning cookery books into popular audio drama for BBC Radio 4 since 2014. The first was Nigel Slater’s funny, poignant food memoir, Eating for England starring Celia Imrie and Julian Rhind Tutt. That was followed by A Girl Called Jack by Jack Monroe with Jaime Winstone and June Whitfield, Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain starring Michael Esper, and A Book of Middle Eastern Cooking by Claudia Roden starring Tracy Ann Oberman.
Cast:
Madhur Jaffrey………………………………….Archie Panjabi
Ismail Merchant………………………………...Raj Ghatak
Kashmiran Rani (Madhur’s mother)…………...Balvinder Sopal
Fiona Jones / Bianche Go…………………..……..Rina Mahoney
Dramatist………………………………….Anjum Malik
Production Co ordinator………………..Darren Spruce
Producer…………………………………Polly Thomas
Executive Producer……………………..Darby Dorras
A Somethin’ Else production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 11:00 Afterlives (m000rw2p)
Two parents share their stories of life’s pain - but also its unexpected gifts - after the death of their sons, who each took their own life. They have never met but Afterlives brings them together for the first time to examine and interrogate their journeys since their sons’ suicides.
Patrick Biggs-Davison was 25 when he died by suicide in 2015. His father Harry describes his beautiful son with the magnetic personality who learnt about failure at a young age and, after struggling with drug addiction for half his life, decided that he didn’t want to go on living.
Anne Thorn lost her only child to suicide in 2011. He was 23. Since his death, she has been to university and trekked across the Sahara and, while she cannot understand how life has gone on, feels she deserves a medal for embracing life – in memory of her son Toby.
Neither leave you with any doubt about the heart-breaking experience of losing a child in this way, or the legacy of pain and guilt it leaves. But through this conversation – where they simply share their stories and ask about each other’s journey – hope emerges.
Both are passionate about raising awareness of the prevalence of suicide – especially among young men. But both also, through their brokenness and survival, talk of the courage it has given them and how life goes on.
Producer: Anna Scott-Brown
An Overtone production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 11:30 Mary Portas: On Style (m000mt0t)
Joy: with The Repair Shop's Jay Blades, Lizzie Ostrom on Perfume and BCALLA and the Art of Drag
Mary Portas explores style with substance, democratic design and fashion that is fun, but not frivolous, in her new series on what style means to us and the way we live today. In the first episode of the series we are in search of joy and colour, celebrating style that brings us closer to the people we live.
Mary is joined by fragrance specialist Lizzie Ostrom aka 'Odette Toilette' to discuss invisible style: perfume. Scent is intrinsically linked to memory, and we examine the way it has brought us closer to the people and places we've missed in lockdown. We also look at how the perfume market fared during the past 12 months, and get some tips from Lizzie on choosing a signature scent online.
One of the unlikely TV hits of the past few years has been The Repair Shop, the programme where much loved heirlooms are given a new lease of life by a team of experts. The Repair Shop presenter Jay Blades joins us from his workshop in Wolverhampton to discuss what makes the show so special, how to bring back dying crafts, and his own work as a designer and furniture restorer.
Drag Culture is truly having its moment, so Mary speaks to Brad Callahan, the designer behind BCALLA. The go-to designer for many Queens, his outlandish, colorful, high concept fashion looks have also been seen on the likes of Lady Gaga and Miley Cyrus.
We also drop in on just a few of the makers, designers and shopkeepers across the country bringing joy to our homes and wardrobes, keeping our high streets vibrant and challenging our addiction to mindless consumerism by offering us a slower, better and more sustainable way to shop.
Presenter: Mary Portas
Producer: Jessica Treen
TUE 12:00 News Summary (m000rw2t)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 12:03 Shipping Forecast (m000rw2w)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
TUE 12:06 The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman (m000rw2y)
Episode 7
Bestselling crime thriller by Richard Osman, abridged by Sara Davies and read by Haydn Gwynne. The police believe they have a suspect, there are unexplained bones in the graveyard, and The Thursday Murder Club are both witnesses to and suspects in a second murder case.
Producer...Mary Ward-Lowery
TUE 12:20 You and Yours (m000rw30)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
TUE 12:57 Weather (m000rw32)
The latest weather forecast
TUE 13:00 World at One (m000rw34)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Sarah Montague.
TUE 13:45 The River (b07npx3c)
Soul Estuary: The Mouth of the River
“While we existed on dry land, and swam in the river, we lived for the sea”, says Alan Read, Professor of Theatre at Kings College London as he explores Estuary Soul and recalls the time he spent growing up by the riverine estuary of Essex. “Those of us without boats, and that was all of us, swam through the summers and other colder months too, and when after hours of up and down, in and out, going nowhere, we rested, it was in the water still.” The mouth of the estuary was their playground, and the history of this landscape fed into the estuary soul; the music, people, industry and culture “in the end, we knew we were all at the end, of the river, together, alone.“
Written and presented by Alan Read
Actor Susan Jameson
Additional sound recordings by Chris Watson
Producer Sarah Blunt
TUE 14:00 The Archers (m000rtz6)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 Stone (m000rw36)
Protection
Daughters
Stone
Detective series created by Danny Brocklehurst.
Episode 2 'Daughters' by Carol Russell.
Stone and his team follow leads that take them into investigating violent crime among young people.
DCI JOHN STONE... Hugo Speer
DS SUE KELLY...... Deborah McAndrew
DI MIKE TANNER....Craig Cheetham
ALICE / KID 2...... Sydney Wade
JOLENE / GRETA.... Angela Lonsdale
JAX / RENITA ...... Doña Croll
WC / PARAMEDIC...Hamish Rush
NESSY / DR ABIOLA .....Danielle Henry
MADISON / DC NOVACK..... Sacha Parkinson
Director Gary Brown. Producer Nadia Molinari
TUE 15:00 The Kitchen Cabinet (m000rt7k)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:30 on Saturday]
TUE 15:30 The Curious Cases of Rutherford & Fry (m000rw38)
Series 17
A Weighty Matter Part 1
The doctors investigate a millennia-old query, as listener Emma in New Zealand asks, ‘How does gravity pull us?’.
People have been thinking about how gravity works for a very long time. Way longer than when that particular apple almost certainly didn’t fall on the head of Isaac Newton. Cosmologist Andrew Pontzen begins guiding us through our journey by taking us back to the almost entirely incorrect writings of ancient Greeks.
We then fast forward past Galileo and Newton, and throw in an extra dimension. Using an all-too-believable analogy where some merry cyclists suddenly ride into a meteor crater, astrophysicist Katy Clough tells us how Einstein’s spacetime works.
Limitations of analogies accepted, this explains some of the observations that didn’t fit with Newton’s workings alone. But there are other snags with our understanding of gravity, both at the very small quantum scale and the very large galactic scale. Physicist Chamkaur Ghag introduces what scientists think may account for some of these issues: The mysterious dark matter.
Presenters: Hannah Fry & Adam Rutherford
Producer: Jen Whyntie
A BBC Audio Science Unit production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 16:00 Word of Mouth (m000rw3b)
Bulls and Bears: animal metaphors in business language
Michael Rosen finds out from journalist Dhruti Shah why there are so many terms relating to animals in the business world. From dragon kings to yak shaving, her aim is to open up these mysterious and sometimes excluding ways of using language to make finance easier for everyone to understand.
Producer Beth O'Dea
Bear Markets and Beyond: A Bestiary of Business Terms is by Dhruti Shah and Dominic Bailey.
TUE 16:30 A Good Read (m000rw3d)
Helen Mort & Mo Omar
Poet Helen Mort and comedian Mo Omar talk about the books they love with presenter Harriett Gilbert. Helen chooses Climbers by M. John Harrison, the acclaimed book about rock-climbing, Mo picks the science fiction novel Binti by Nnedi Okorafor and Harriett goes for A History of Love by Nicole Krauss.
Producer for BBC Audio in Bristol: Becky Ripley
Comment on instagram: @agoodreadbbc
TUE 17:00 PM (m000rw3g)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000rw3l)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 18:30 Beta Female (m000rw3n)
Series 1
Episode 4
Beta Female is a semi-autobiographical sitcom by Amna Saleem, starring Kiran Sonia Sawar (Black Mirror, Pure) as Amna, a young woman trying to find her place in the world - in her work, in her relationships, and in her family.
The Surprise: Amna tries to sabotage a family gathering, only to realise that she's sabotaging herself.
Amna ... Kiran Sonia Sawar
Mum ... Sudha Bhuchar
Sunnha ... Hiftu Quasem
Dad ... Bhasker Patel
Raf ... Darren Kuppan
Maya ... Sukh Ojla
Nora ... Evelyn Lockley
Auntie ... Sajeela Kershi
Theo ... Tom Stourton
Written by Amna Saleem
Produced & directed by Ed Morrish
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 19:00 The Archers (m000rvkg)
Tom puts his foot down and Tony gets a surprise.
TUE 19:15 Front Row (m000rw3q)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
TUE 19:45 An Invitation to Indian Cooking by Madhur Jaffrey (m000rw2k)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
TUE 20:00 File on 4 (m000rw3s)
Covid-19: 2021
When Prime Minister Boris Johnson said three households would be allowed to mix for 5 days over Christmas, experts and NHS bosses warned the health service would be overwhelmed by cases of Covid 19. Editors of the Health Service Journal and the British medical Journal BMJ said they believed the relaxation of the rules would cost many lives. Three days before Christmas the government was forced to scrap the plans for London and much of South East England when scientists revealed a new coronavirus variant was spreading more rapidly. In other regions the 5 day plan was reduced to Christmas Day – but only for those in the same bubble. In this episode of File on 4, frontline medics chart the rapid rise in Covid cases and deaths post-Christmas, via personal audio diaries which reveal their innermost thoughts, concerns and experiences as they battle the pandemic. The NHS has never been in a more precarious position, with 75 per cent more patients than there were at the April 2020 peak.
TUE 20:40 In Touch (m000rw3v)
News, views and information for people who are blind or partially sighted
TUE 21:00 Inside Health (m000rvkn)
A weekly quest to demystify health issues, bringing clarity to conflicting advice.
TUE 21:30 The Life Scientific (m000rw25)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (m000rw3x)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
TUE 22:45 The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman (m000rw2y)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:06 today]
TUE 23:00 Fortunately... with Fi and Jane (m000rw3z)
Pantechnicons and Disco Infernos with Katya Adler
Fi Glover and Jane Garvey chat to BBC Europe Editor Katya Adler. Katya comes live from Brussels to give the lowdown from across the channel and tell us about her latest Radio 4 series Dante 2021, which explores what we can learn from the famous Italian poet. Before Katya descends into the Fortunately circle of hell there is Iron Age surveying, small trucking and morning groans.
Get in touch: fortunately.podcast@bbc.co.uk
TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (m000rw41)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament
WEDNESDAY 03 FEBRUARY 2021
WED 00:00 Midnight News (m000rw43)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
WED 00:30 Karachi Vice by Samira Shackle (m000rw45)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000rw47)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000rw49)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000rw4c)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
WED 05:30 News Briefing (m000rw4f)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000rw4h)
A reflection and prayer to start the day with the Archdeacon of Bangor, Mary Stallard.
Good morning. Are you sitting comfortably? Then I’ll begin: Once upon a year, actually today, it’s World Read Aloud Day, celebrating the power of story-telling.
This came home to me recently with the sad and sudden loss of a friend and fellow priest, a man called Lloyd Jones, who was a fantastic raconteur. He had the most amazing reading voice and could make even the least exciting bits of the Bible come alive.
Preparing for his funeral I was struck by the stories people told about him. Children at the local school spoke of how Mr Jones the vicar visited regularly, helping them laugh together. Colleagues who were so saddened at his loss would break into sudden smiles as they recalled funny things he’d said.
Lloyd delighted in history and in the lives of the saints. He was the one who’d remarked how our ancient, large churches where people in generations past had lived through plague or sought shelter, are often ideally suited for socially distanced worship. His wife showed a similarly graceful attitude, saying, `’if you have to tell anyone the sad news of Lloyd’s death, please tell them also of his faith, because he wouldn’t have wanted anyone to be discouraged”.
When we retell stories of someone like Lloyd I think we’re also pointing to an even greater narrative: about a life that never ends and a God who‘s always with us, who wants us to find joy and meaning as a part of the story of all creation.
God of beginnings and endings, thank you that you’re interested in every part of our lives, help us to live and tell our own story with truth and courage, today and every day. Amen
WED 05:45 Farming Today (m000rw4k)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
WED 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b01sby1j)
Blackcap
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. David Attenborough presents the Blackcap. Many Blackcaps winter in sub-Saharan Africa, but increasingly birds have been wintering in the Mediterranean and over the last few decades spent the winter in the UK.
WED 06:00 Today (m000rvjm)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
WED 09:00 More or Less (m000rvjr)
Tim Harford explains - and sometimes debunks - the numbers and statistics used in political debate, the news and everyday life.
WED 09:30 Steelmanning (m000rvjt)
Episode 4
Timandra Harkness tries to test her views by steelplating the arguments of her opponents on a range of controversial topics. Each week, she will debate a subject with a different sparring partner, who will receive coaching to fortify their case. In this episode, Timandra meets Alun Michael, Police and Crime Commissioner of South Wales to debate the use of facial recognition technology. Other contributors include the Chair of the Oakland Privacy Campaign, Brian Hofer.
Producer: Peter Snowdon
WED 09:45 Karachi Vice by Samira Shackle (m000rvm2)
Ep 3 - Zille and Safdar
On Samira Shackle's fast paced journey through Karachi's streets we are about to meet Zille, a crime reporter drawn magnetically to the pull of the scoop. Meanwhile, Safdar the ambulance driver remembers a deadly shift. Along with the danger of their working lives, both men have one other thing in common, families who worry about their sons, and long for them to marry. Vineeta Rishi reads.
Samira Shackle tells the story of Pakistan's largest city in the company of those who live out their daily lives against the backdrop of corruption, and deadly gang violence. The first is Safdar the ambulance driver, who is compelled to help those in need. There is Parveen, a teacher and activist with a powerful sense of right wrong, and also Siraj, a map maker. By marking out the neighbourhoods where the poorest live, he gives them a tool to lay claim to their lands and access mains electricity and water. Lastly, there is Zille, a hardened crime reporter, who is driven to get every scoop that he can, and is rarely short of work in this crime ridden city until events take a frightening turn. Samira is a British journalist who writes on politics, terrorism and gender with a focus on the Indian subcontinent.
Abridged by Penny Leicester
Picture credit - Owen Kean
Produced by Elizabeth Allard
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000rvjy)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.
WED 10:45 An Invitation to Indian Cooking by Madhur Jaffrey (m000rvk0)
Episode 3
Madhur Jaffrey is a well-known writer and performer, whose work was seminal in introducing Indian and Asian cooking to the USA and UK. Her first cookbook, An Invitation to Indian Cooking, was an instant hit, in 1973.
By then, Ms Jaffrey was already a Broadway name, living in New York. The Jaffreys' dinner parties were hugely popular, in part because of Madhur’s wonderful cooking, and attended by many celebrities, such as Merchant and Ivory. She made her name from her family recipes, sent by her mother in letters from home, and their enthusiastic reception culminated in An Invitation to Indian Cooking.
Leading dramatist Anjum Malik has used this iconic cookbook to create a drama series charting how the book came about but, just as importantly, mapping Ms Jaffrey’s acting career, from her childhood love of acting, through training at RADA, and on to her success in global cinema, winning the Silver Bear for Best Actress for her performance in Shakespeare Wallah, at the Berlin Film Festival in 1965.
The drama stars Archie Panjabi (The Good Wife, The Fall) as Madhur and Raj Ghatak as Ismail Merchant, her close friend and professional colleague.
Episode 3:
Madhur Jaffrey finds herself in New York, working on Broadway, married and starting a family. She begins a lifelong friendship with Ismail Merchant and together they start to make ambitious plans for the film Shakespeare Wallah.
Producer Polly Thomas and independent production company Somethin’ Else have been turning cookery books into popular audio drama for BBC Radio 4 since 2014. The first was Nigel Slater’s funny, poignant food memoir, Eating for England starring Celia Imrie and Julian Rhind Tutt. That was followed by A Girl Called Jack by Jack Monroe with Jaime Winstone and June Whitfield, Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain starring Michael Esper, and A Book of Middle Eastern Cooking by Claudia Roden starring Tracy Ann Oberman.
Cast:
Madhur Jaffrey………………………………….Archie Panjabi
Ismail Merchant………………………………...Raj Ghatak
Kashmiran Rani (Madhur’s mother)…………...Balvinder Sopal
Dramatist………………………………….Anjum Malik
Production Co ordinator………………..Darren Spruce
Producer…………………………………Polly Thomas
Executive Producer……………………..Darby Dorras
A Somethin’ Else production for BBC Radio 4
WED 11:00 After Trump (m000rtzb)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 on Monday]
WED 11:30 Rob Newman (b08pf09g)
Rob Newman's Neuropolis
Skull and Bonce
One of Britain's finest comedians, Rob Newman, is our guide on a unique audio odyssey of the brain, taking in everything from love and guilt to robot co-workers and the unlikely importance of prehistoric trousers.
It's a witty, fact-packed series mixing stand-up and sketches, challenging notions of neuroscience with a new theory that's equal parts enlightening and hilarious.
Rob offers an alternative to some of the more bizarre claims in modern popular science, as well as rejigging theories of our brains in light of what we know about nature, artificial intelligence and Belinda Carlisle.
Created by the award-winning team behind Robert Newman's Entirely Accurate Encyclopaedia of Evolution.
Written by and starring Rob Newman
Co-starring Claire Price and Richard McCabe
Producer: Jon Harvey
Executive Producer: Richard Wilson
A Hat Trick production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 12:00 News Summary (m000rvk2)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 12:03 Shipping Forecast (m000rvk4)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
WED 12:06 The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman (m000rvk6)
Episode 8
Bestselling crime thriller by Richard Osman, abridged by Sara Davies and read by Haydn Gwynne.
Have the members of the Thursday Murder Club uncovered another murder?
Producer...Mary Ward-Lowery
WED 12:20 You and Yours (m000rvk8)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
WED 12:57 Weather (m000rvkb)
The latest weather forecast
WED 13:00 World at One (m000rvkd)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Sarah Montague.
WED 13:45 The River (b07nrlqz)
Rivers of Faith
In the third of five illustrated essays by different writers on the theme of The River, Martin Palmer, Secretary General of The Alliance of Religions and Conservation reflects on the significance of rivers in religious stories and traditions. Drawing on examples he considers how rivers are a metaphor for life. They are also about being a part of something greater. They flow into the sea and the sea flows into the ocean. “As such the river is a natural symbol of the soul returning to the Source – God, the Divine whatever name you give it.”
Written and narrated by Martin Palmer,
Actors: Adie Allen and Susan Jameson
Additional sound recordings by Chris Watson
Producer Sarah Blunt
WED 14:00 The Archers (m000rvkg)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 Stone (m000rvkj)
Protection
Sisters
Detective series created by Danny Brocklehurst.
Series 9: Protection. Episode 3 'Sisters' written by Carol Russell.
With Layla still missing and time running out for Charlene the pressure is mounting for DCI Stone and Jax is forced to make a heartbreaking decision.
DCI JOHN STONE.....Hugo Speer
DI MIKE TANNER.....Craig Cheetham
DS SUE KELLY .....Deborah McAndrew
ALICE.....Sydney Wade
JAX BRAITHWAITE .....Doña Croll
LAYLA.....Sade Malone
NESSY / DR ABIOLA.....Danielle Henry
DENNY RASHFORD / ADAM COLLINS.....Hamish Rush
YUSEF.....Eddie Capli
Directed and produced by Nadia Molinari
BBC Audio Drama North
WED 15:00 Money Box (m000rvkl)
Fraud
Fraudsters and scammers are always finding new ways to part you from your money, pressurising you to make a hasty decision or tricking you into sharing personal information.
Fake investment firms took around £78m from UK consumers last year according to fraud reporting centre Action Fraud and now warnings are being given about Covid-19 vaccine scams.
On Wednesday's programme Adam Shaw and guests will look at how to spot financial fraud and what to do if you've been taken in by these convincing criminals.
We'd love to hear your questions and experience so e-mail moneybox@bbc.co.uk now.
Presenter: Adam Shaw
Producer: Diane Richardson
Editor: Rosamund Jones
WED 15:30 Inside Health (m000rvkn)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Tuesday]
WED 16:00 Tales from the Stave (m000lvc8)
Bartok's Concerto For Orchestra
Although a composer whose life and work is steeped in the folk traditions of his native Hungary, Bela Bartok's last great orchestral work was composed in the United States. The Concerto for Orchestra was commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra conductor Serge Koussevitzky. He got wind of the fact that Bartok, who came to the States at the start of the war, was struggling, both for income and health. They didn't know it at the time but he was later diagnosed with leukaemia. Koussevitzky visited him in hospital and asked for a piece for orchestra, $500 dollars now and $500 on completion. Bartok wasn't sure if he'd ever get it finished but the project sparked a new surge of energy and the new work was given its Boston debut in December 1944 with the composer in attendance.
Loras Schissel is the host at the Library of Congress as he and three players from Washington's National Symphony Orchestra explore a manuscript which is a favourite of professional American orchestras, combining as it does the wealth of European tradition with the energy Bartok managed to engender from his new US home. Laurel Bennert Ohlson is Associate Principal Horn, David Murray is a trombonist and Susan Stokdyk is the NSO librarian and former bassoon player.
As well as the neat and fiendishly difficult manuscript there's also Koussevitzky's conducting score with rehearsal directions given by the composer and letters describing the origins of the piece and the part played by Bartok's wife Ditta and his Hungarian friend, the violinist Josef Szegeti. But it's the music that takes centre stage with its wit, melancholy and famous Bronx Cheers! (Trombone glissandos which musicologists believe are a side-swipe at the popularity of Shostakovich at the time.)
The programme was recorded in February with the National Symphony Orchestra's plans for a Southeast Asian tour being cancelled for what appeared to be a limited outbreak of a new form of flu!
Producer: Tom Alban
WED 16:30 The Media Show (m000rvkq)
Topical programme about the fast-changing media world
WED 17:00 PM (m000rvks)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000rvkx)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 18:30 Conversations from a Long Marriage (m000rvkz)
Series 2
Episode 6 - I've Been Loving You Too Long to Stop Now
Conversations from a Long Marriage is a two-hander, starring Joanna Lumley and Roger Allam, as a long-married couple who met in the Summer of Love and are still passionate about life, music and each other. We listen to – and empathise with - their dangling ‘conversations’ covering everything from health scares, jealousy and confessions, to TV incompatibility and sourdough bread.
In EPISODE 6, ‘I’ve Been Loving you too long to stop now’, Joanna complains they’re ‘in a rut’, so Roger plans a spontaneous day out but is thwarted at every turn. Undeterred, he cooks her a ‘date night’ supper and they talk about their long marriage.
Written by Jan Etherington. Produced and directed by Claire Jones. Production co-ordinator Beverly Tagg. A BBC Studios Production.
WED 19:00 The Archers (m000rvl1)
Lynda is intrigued and Tracy puts on a brave face.
WED 19:15 Front Row (m000rvl3)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
WED 19:45 An Invitation to Indian Cooking by Madhur Jaffrey (m000rvk0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
WED 20:00 The Spark (m000rvl6)
Noreena Hertz and Loneliness
Helen Lewis returns with a new series of interviews with people offering radical solutions to the big problems we face, and explores how their personal experiences drive their work and thinking.
In her book The Lonely Century, economist Noreena Hertz explains why she considers loneliness a pressing political problem. She tells Helen about her strange encounters while researching the subject, and outlines what she thinks are the necessary political solutions to fix a lonely society.
Producer: Phil Tinline
WED 20:45 One to One (m000rvlb)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:30 on Tuesday]
WED 21:00 Mysteries of Sleep (b09jd32l)
Series 1
Sleep Deprivation and Insomnia
Lack of sleep can make us sick, fat and slow. But what if a sleep disorder is to blame? What happens when no matter how much sleep you get, it's never enough?
In the last of a three-part series, neurologist Dr Guy Leschziner explores medical causes of sleep deprivation or disruption and their consequences. We meet some of his patients, including 17 year-old Vincent, whose internal body clock runs on a different rhythm from the world around him, leaving him wide awake when everyone else is tucked up in bed. We hear from Mary Rose, whose restless legs stop her from getting to sleep and staying asleep and Claire, whose severe insomnia led to a breakdown. And we talk to Maria, whose mysterious symptoms turned out to be due to one of the most common sleep disorders, sleep apnoea.
In this programme, we learn about the medical causes of lack of sleep and the serious impact that these conditions have on our brain function, mood and general health.
Presenter: Dr Guy Leschziner
Producer: Sally Abrahams.
WED 21:30 The Media Show (m000rvkq)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 today]
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (m000rvlg)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
WED 22:45 The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman (m000rvk6)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:06 today]
WED 23:00 Bunk Bed (m000rvll)
Series 7
Episode 5
Late-night entertainment and wondering with Patrick Marber and Peter Curran, musing in the dark.
Tonight - the long and torturous story of how an eight-year-old Peter Curran learned never to pretend to cry again. And Suzi Quatro's song Devil Gate Drive and AC/DC's Highway to Hell are compared for their ability, or failure, to evoke a sense of satanic menace.
A Foghorn Company production for BBC Radio 4
WED 23:15 The Skewer (m000rvlq)
Series 3
Episode 4
Jon Holmes's award winning satirical river of sound returns to twist itself into the news.
WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (m000rvlv)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament
THURSDAY 04 FEBRUARY 2021
THU 00:00 Midnight News (m000rvly)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
THU 00:30 Karachi Vice by Samira Shackle (m000rvm2)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000rvm7)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000rvmc)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000rvmh)
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THU 05:30 News Briefing (m000rvml)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000rvmp)
A reflection and prayer to start the day with the Archdeacon of Bangor, Mary Stallard
Good morning. I only recently learnt that it’s world cancer day today, an annual observance that began in 2000 at a world summit. Perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that a cluster of diseases that’ve been so fearsomely successful in their power to destroy life should achieve sufficient notoriety to have a dedicated global day of focus. The statistics about the impact of cancer are shocking, suggesting that one in two of us may expect to develop a form of cancer at some point in our lives.
Cancer struck my own family in the past year when my Dad was suddenly diagnosed with advanced brain cancer that sadly took his life in quite a short period of time.
But even more than the virulence and malignant effects of cancer, what struck me most during Dad’s illness were some of the hugely positive reactions that cancer can provoke. In our case, even during the pandemic, the care we received was extraordinary. No treatment was possible for Dad, but staff at the hospitals and carers all seemed determined to do everything they could to ensure he was comfortable and to protect his dignity. I discovered whole communities online who were willing to share their own experience, and to be vulnerable about their suffering in order to reach out and help others, like me.
It seemed that on every step of our journey the pain and cruelty of cancer was more than matched by the goodness and resilience of countless people determined not to be overcome by suffering.
God of life may your love and healing grow strongly in all our lives and communities, bless us with courage and resilience and lead us always in the paths of hope. Amen.
THU 05:45 Farming Today (m000rvmr)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
THU 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b0423fpl)
Whimbrel
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
David Attenborough presents the story of the whimbrel. Whimbrels are sometimes known as 'seven whistlers' from the number of notes in their call and in parts of the English midlands these sounds in the darkness gave rise to a folk tale about the six birds of fate which flew around the heavens seeking the seventh. When they were all reunited, went the story, the world would end. Mercifully, it wasn't true but it was our ancestor's way of interpreting the mystery of nocturnal migration.
THU 06:00 Today (m000rvnd)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
THU 09:00 In Our Time (m000rvnj)
Emilie du Châtelet
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the outstanding French mathematicians and natural philosophers of the 18th Century, celebrated across Europe. Emilie du Châtelet, 1706-49, created a translation of Newton’s Principia from Latin into French that helped spread the light of mathematics on the emerging science, and her own book Institutions de Physique, with its lessons on physics, was welcomed as profound. She had the privileges of wealth and aristocracy, yet had to fight to be taken seriously as an intellectual in a world of ideas that was almost exclusively male.
With
Patricia Fara
Emeritus Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge
David Wootton
Anniversary Professor of History at the University of York
And
Judith Zinsser
Professor Emerita of History at Miami University of Ohio and biographer of Emilie du Châtelet.
Producer: Simon Tillotson
THU 09:45 Karachi Vice by Samira Shackle (m000rvqc)
Episode 4 - Parveen
In Samira Shackle's journey through Karachi's crime ridden streets, Parveen's sense of justice leads her to court danger during a meeting with Lyari's kingpin. Vineeta Rishi reads.
Samira Shackle tells the story of Pakistan's largest city in the company of those who live out their daily lives against the backdrop of corruption, and deadly gang violence. The first is Safdar the ambulance driver, who is compelled to help those in need. There is Parveen, a teacher and activist with a powerful sense of right wrong, and also Siraj, a map maker. By marking out the neighbourhoods where the poorest live, he gives them a tool to lay claim to their lands and access mains electricity and water. Lastly, there is Zille, a hardened crime reporter, who is driven to get every scoop that he can, and is rarely short of work in this crime ridden city until events take a frightening turn. Samira is a British journalist who writes on politics, terrorism and gender with a focus on the Indian subcontinent.
Abridged by Penny Leicester
Picture credit - Owen Kean
Produced by Elizabeth Allard
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000rvnn)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.
THU 10:45 An Invitation to Indian Cooking by Madhur Jaffrey (m000rvnq)
Episode 4
Madhur Jaffrey is a well-known writer and performer, whose work was seminal in introducing Indian and Asian cooking to the USA and UK. Her first cookbook, An Invitation to Indian Cooking, was an instant hit, in 1973.
By then, Ms Jaffrey was already a Broadway name, living in New York. The Jaffreys' dinner parties were hugely popular, in part because of Madhur’s wonderful cooking, and attended by many celebrities, such as Merchant and Ivory. She made her name from her family recipes, sent by her mother in letters from home, and their enthusiastic reception culminated in An Invitation to Indian Cooking.
Leading dramatist Anjum Malik has used this iconic cookbook to create a drama series charting how the book came about but, just as importantly, mapping Ms Jaffrey’s acting career, from her childhood love of acting, through training at RADA, and on to her success in global cinema, winning the Silver Bear for Best Actress for her performance in Shakespeare Wallah, at the Berlin Film Festival in 1965.
The drama stars Archie Panjabi (The Good Wife, The Fall) as Madhur and Raj Ghatak as Ismail Merchant, her close friend and professional colleague.
Episode 4:
Madhur Jaffrey returns to her family in India, as her divorce is finalised. While there, she films Shakespeare Wallah with Merchant and Ivory. Its success at the Berlin Film Festival heralds an exciting fresh start for her.
Producer Polly Thomas and independent production company Somethin’ Else have been turning cookery books into popular audio drama for BBC Radio 4 since 2014. The first was Nigel Slater’s funny, poignant food memoir, Eating for England starring Celia Imrie and Julian Rhind Tutt. That was followed by A Girl Called Jack by Jack Monroe with Jaime Winstone and June Whitfield, Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain starring Michael Esper, and A Book of Middle Eastern Cooking by Claudia Roden starring Tracy Ann Oberman.
Cast:
Madhur Jaffrey………………………………….Archie Panjabi
Ismail Merchant………………………………...Raj Ghatak
Kashmiran Rani (Madhur’s mother)…………...Balvinder Sopal
Dramatist………………………………….Anjum Malik
Production Co ordinator………………..Darren Spruce
Producer…………………………………Polly Thomas
Executive Producer……………………..Darby Dorras
A Somethin’ Else production for BBC Radio 4
THU 11:00 From Our Own Correspondent (m000rvns)
Insight, and analysis from BBC correspondents around the world
THU 11:30 Behind the Scenes (m000rvnv)
Joyce DiDonato
Joyce DiDonato, the superstar American mezzo soprano, is described by the New Yorker as 'the most potent singer of her generation'.
Here, the multi-Grammy award winner lets us into her world - not just the fabulous stage performances that came to a halt last March but how she is surviving lockdown, keeping the voice in shape and finding new virtual audiences.
Joyce is a diva without any of the attendant hauteur and capriciousness. Honest and funny and humane , she was born in Kansas to a large family that struggled financially. She was destined to be a teacher, not a global opera star. But her ambition goes beyond taking leading roles at the Royal Opera and the Met. Her masterclasses for young singers are legendary. And we hear how her background has shaped her as an activist - working, for example, with prisoners in a New York high security prison.
With the help of Sir Antonio Papanno, music director of the Royal Opera, and Richard Morrison chief music critic of The Times , this programme offers an account of an exceptional, world class talent..
Produced by Susan Marling
A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4
Picture: Simon Pauly
THU 12:00 News Summary (m000rvnx)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 12:03 Shipping Forecast (m000rvnz)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
THU 12:06 The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman (m000rvp1)
Episode 9
Bestselling crime thriller by Richard Osman, abridged by Sara Davies and read by Haydn Gwynne. The Thursday Murder Club has found a key witness to one of the murders, and now they're investigating the mystery of the unexplained bones.
Producer...Mary Ward-Lowery
THU 12:20 You and Yours (m000rvp3)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
THU 12:57 Weather (m000rvp5)
The latest weather forecast
THU 13:00 World at One (m000rvp7)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Sarah Montague.
THU 13:45 The River (b07nrxdd)
The Tay
For many years writer and essayist Kathleen Jamie climbed the steep hill near her home and looked out across the view “You have a hawk's eye view of the Tay as it makes its entrance, curving round the hills upstream, to accept the waters of the river Earn and at once becomes estuarial” For many years this was her relationship with the River. This changes when when some Bronze Age swords and a wooden boat are dredged out of the River and she decides to venture out onto the river in a kayak “Suddenly, it wasn't enough to look from the sidelines. I wanted to participate, to get a sense for this majestic river as pre-historic people would.”
Additional sound recordings by Chris Watson
Producer Sarah Blunt
THU 14:00 The Archers (m000rvl1)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 Stone (m000rvp9)
Protection
Blame
Stone. Detective series created by Danny Brocklehurst.
Series 9 Protection: Episode 4 'Blame' written by Martin Jameson
Fifteen year old Layla has gone missing, determined to seek retribution for her sister’s murder.
DCI JOHN STONE.... Hugo Speer
DS SUE KELLY ........Deborah McAndrew
DI MIKE TANNER.......Craig Cheetham
ALICE....... Sydney Wade
JAX BRAITHWAITE ........Doña Croll
LAYLA / DS NOVAK.........Sade Malone
PHIL SIMPSON / DOUGIE...... Rupert Hill
RUBY ............ Lucy Dixon
Director Gary Brown. Producer Nadia Molinari
THU 15:00 Open Country (m000rvpc)
Countryside magazine featuring the people and wildlife that shape the landscape of Britain.
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (m000rv5m)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 Open Book (m000rv71)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Sunday]
THU 16:00 The Film Programme (m000rvpf)
Film programme looking at the latest cinema releases, DVDs and films on TV
THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (m000rvph)
Dr Adam Rutherford and guests illuminate the mysteries and challenge the controversies behind the science that's changing our world
THU 17:00 PM (m000rvpk)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000rvpp)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 18:30 Elephant in the Room (m000rvpr)
Series 2
Episode 5
Sarah Millican's hit panel show returns, using surveys to discover who is the most Average Jolene and who is the most Maverick Matilda. This week's sparkling panel features Kemah Bob, Josie Long, Joanne McNally and Stephen Bailey.
Surveys on subjects including childhood, daily rituals and favourite cheese are the basis for Sarah's questions to the panellists, discovering who is the closest to, and furthest from, the average. Surprising quirks, hilarious insights and unexpected anecdotes are revealed along the way.
The winner will be the most average. But joint winner will be the most different - the furthest from the norm.
A little bit like a dinner party, but one where you know all of the spoons.
Written by Sarah Millican, Gabby Hutchinson Crouch, Juliet Meyers and Sindhu Vee.
Produced by Lianne Coop.
A Chopsy production for BBC Radio 4
THU 19:00 The Archers (m000rvpt)
Susan is led on and Natasha makes a plan.
THU 19:15 Front Row (m000rvpw)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
THU 19:45 An Invitation to Indian Cooking by Madhur Jaffrey (m000rvnq)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
THU 20:00 The Briefing Room (m000rvpy)
David Aaronovitch and a panel of experts and insiders explore major news stories.
THU 20:30 The Bottom Line (m000rvq0)
Evan Davis chairs a round table discussion providing insight into business from the people at the top.
THU 21:00 BBC Inside Science (m000rvph)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 today]
THU 21:30 In Our Time (m000rvnj)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (m000rvq3)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
THU 22:45 The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman (m000rvp1)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:06 today]
THU 23:00 The Confessional (m000rvq5)
Actor, comedian and broadcaster Stephen Mangan presents a comedy chat show about shame and guilt.
We’re used to hearing celebrity interviews, where stars are persuaded to show off about their achievements and talk about their proudest moments. Stephen is not interested in that. He doesn’t want to know what his guests are proud of, he wants to know what they’re ashamed of. That’s surely the way to find out what really makes a person tick.
Here, in a half hour of wit, hilarity and toe-curling revelation, he takes the confession of award-winning theatre, TV and film star David Tennant.
Tennant’s three stories of embarrassment and shame – that he’s carried around in secret for years – are put under the microscope and awarded appropriate penances, so that he can leave feeling guilt free.
Written and presented by Stephen Mangan
With extra material by Nick Doody
Produced by Dave Anderson and Frank Stirling
A 7digital production for BBC Radio 4
THU 23:30 Today in Parliament (m000rvq7)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament
FRIDAY 05 FEBRUARY 2021
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (m000rvq9)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 00:30 Karachi Vice by Samira Shackle (m000rvqc)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Thursday]
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000rvqf)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000rvqh)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000rvqk)
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FRI 05:30 News Briefing (m000rvqm)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000rvqp)
A reflection and prayer to start the day with the Archdeacon of Bangor, Mary Stallard.
Good morning. In an age of a strong opinions and deep divisions, perhaps one of the most useful but underrated skills is that of listening.
If you’ve experienced someone really listening to you, you might agree how comforting it can be to feel heard: to have another person give you their undivided attention is to receive a powerful gift.
Recently I’ve become more aware of what a poor listener I can be: I use a daily prayer app on my phone each morning, but frequently my mind wanders and I’ve no idea at all about what I’ve just heard. Sometimes I’ve had to replay it five times before I’ve actually listened.
And a recent experience of listening to an audiobook read by the author, a man with whom I strongly disagree, is teaching me something else: At the beginning I wanted to shout out every few minutes telling him why he’s wrong. But after many hours of listening, to my surprise I’ve begun to notice a subtle change. As I’ve grown familiar with his voice, I haven’t changed my mind about the subject but I’m beginning to feel a little differently about the author. I’ve begun to think about who he is as a person and I’m starting to feel a tiny bit less reactive and more reflective about him and his writing.
It’s showing me how the art of listening might offer an opportunity for the kind of movement towards understanding and change that our world so badly needs.
God of hope, thank you that you always hear our prayers. Help us to notice those who feel unheard today, lead us to be unselfish in our listening and ready to hear new things, Amen.
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (m000rvqr)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
FRI 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03mzv7x)
Shoveler
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Chris Packham presents the story of the shoveler. Swimming in circles, their huge beaks trawling the surface, shovelers do the job of baleen whales on our lakes and ponds. In winter our shoveler population is boosted by Continental birds. They're rather shy though and you're not likely to see them taking bread on the park lake!
FRI 06:00 Today (m000rww3)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (m000rv6b)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:00 on Sunday]
FRI 09:45 Karachi Vice by Samira Shackle (m000rww5)
Ep 5 - Zille, Parveen, Siraj and Safdar
Samira Shackle's debut takes us on a journey through Karachi's recent past. Today, it's 2013 and a brutal government crackdown on crime is underway. Meanwhile, Zille finds himself on the receiving end of frightening news; Parveen experiences a devastating loss; Siraj sees hope in his map-making work, and Safdar looks to the future. Vineeta Rishi reads.
Samira Shackle tells the story of Pakistan's largest city in the company of those who live out their daily lives against the backdrop of corruption, and deadly gang violence. The first is Safdar the ambulance driver, who is compelled to help those in need. There is Parveen, a teacher and activist with a powerful sense of right wrong, and also Siraj, a map maker. By marking out the neighbourhoods where the poorest live, he gives them a tool to lay claim to their lands and access mains electricity and water. Lastly, there is Zille, a hardened crime reporter, who is driven to get every scoop that he can, and is rarely short of work in this crime ridden city until events take a frightening turn. Samira is a British journalist who writes on politics, terrorism and gender with a focus on the Indian subcontinent.
Abridged by Penny Leicester
Picture credit - Owen Kean
Produced by Elizabeth Allard
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000rww7)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.
FRI 10:45 An Invitation to Indian Cooking by Madhur Jaffrey (m000rww9)
Episode 5
Madhur Jaffrey is a well-known writer and performer, whose work was seminal in introducing Indian and Asian cooking to the USA and UK. Her first cookbook, An Invitation to Indian Cooking, was an instant hit, in 1973.
By then, Ms Jaffrey was already a Broadway name, living in New York. The Jaffreys' dinner parties were hugely popular, in part because of Madhur’s wonderful cooking, and attended by many celebrities, such as Merchant and Ivory. She made her name from her family recipes, sent by her mother in letters from home, and their enthusiastic reception culminated in An Invitation to Indian Cooking.
Leading dramatist Anjum Malik has used this iconic cookbook to create a drama series charting how the book came about but, just as importantly, mapping Ms Jaffrey’s acting career, from her childhood love of acting, through training at RADA, and on to her success in global cinema, winning the Silver Bear for Best Actress for her performance in Shakespeare Wallah, at the Berlin Film Festival in 1965.
The drama stars Archie Panjabi (The Good Wife, The Fall) as Madhur and Raj Ghatak as Ismail Merchant, her close friend and professional colleague.
Episode 5:
When acting work is slow, despite her recent Berlin festival triumph, Madhur starts writing about Indian food for magazines, to make money. An interview with legendary food critic Craig Claiborne changes everything.
Producer Polly Thomas and independent production company Somethin’ Else have been turning cookery books into popular audio drama for BBC Radio 4 since 2014. The first was Nigel Slater’s funny, poignant food memoir, Eating for England starring Celia Imrie and Julian Rhind Tutt. That was followed by A Girl Called Jack by Jack Monroe with Jaime Winstone and June Whitfield, Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain starring Michael Esper, and A Book of Middle Eastern Cooking by Claudia Roden starring Tracy Ann Oberman.
Cast:
Madhur Jaffrey………………………………….Archie Panjabi
Ismail Merchant………………………………...Raj Ghatak
Craig Claiborne………………………………...Martin T Sherman
Dramatist………………………………….Anjum Malik
Production Co ordinator………………..Darren Spruce
Producer…………………………………Polly Thomas
Executive Producer……………………..Darby Dorras
A Somethin’ Else production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 11:00 The Disrupters (m000rx0x)
Founder of The Cambridge Satchel Company, Julie Deane
Julie Deane started The Cambridge Satchel Company at her kitchen table with £600. Ten years on the company sells 10,000 bags a month. But getting to this point hasn’t been easy. She talks to Kamal and Rohan about having to fire her manufacturer whilst orders piled up and how pressure from venture capitalists nearly brought her company under.
Presenters: Kamal Ahmed and Rohan Silva
Producer: Georgia Catt
FRI 11:30 Skeletons in the Cupboard (m000rwwc)
Killing David
Having discovered Lesley's diary in David's possession, the sisters, Maureen and Lesley, are more convinced than ever that David is planning to kill them and steal their house.
Just like he's done, they surmise, with the other three houses he owns.
They arm themselves and attempt to lure David to the house for a final showdown, but the confrontation is interrupted by the sound of a doorbell. Outside is an old woman who comes bearing the truth.
A Little Brother production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 12:00 News Summary (m000rwwf)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 12:03 Shipping Forecast (m000rwwh)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
FRI 12:06 The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman (m000rwwk)
Episode 10
Final episode of our bestselling crime novel by Richard Osman, abridged by Sara Davies and read by Haydn Gwynne. The Thursday Murder Club unravel the tangled threads that have led to two more killings.
Producer...Mary Ward-Lowery
FRI 12:20 You and Yours (m000rwwm)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
FRI 12:57 Weather (m000rwwp)
The latest weather forecast
FRI 13:00 World at One (m000rwwr)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Edward Stourton.
FRI 13:45 The River (b07nrzjg)
Flow
“I look down at my feet, not quite sure how I’m going to follow the course of the river North Tyne from its source to the sea when I’m having trouble putting one foot in front of the other” says wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson as he recalls a journey he made, capturing the sounds of the river and the landscape through which it flows from its source to the sea,. This is an immersive journey in sound through moorland, bogs, rushy flats and steep valleys, past scrapyards and rowing clubs, under bridges and past ferry landings and through the city of Newcastle upon Tyne, before heading out to the Black Middens and the sea at Tynemouth where eider ducks bow and coo in the swell.
Narrated and recorded by Chris Watson
Producer Sarah Blunt
FRI 14:00 The Archers (m000rvpt)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Stone (m000rwwt)
Protection
Episode 5
Detective series created by Danny Brocklehurst.
Series 9: Protection. Episode 5 'Control' written by Martin Jameson.
‘DCI Stone's new informant is taking matters into her own hands leading the case into dangerous new territory.
DCI JOHN STONE.....Hugo Speer
DS SUE KELLY .....Deborah McAndrew
DI MIKE TANNER.....Craig Cheetham
ALICE.....Sydney Wade
LAYLA.....Sade Malone
JAX BRAITHWAITE / DOCTOR BASSEY....Doña Croll
WC .....Hamish Rush
SOLICITOR.....Darren Kuppan
Directed and produced by Nadia Molinari
BBC Audio Drama North
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m000rwww)
GQT at Home: Episode Forty-Two
Kathy Clugston hosts this week's gardening panel show. Anne Swithinbank, Humaira Ikram and Christin Walkden answer questions sent in by listeners across the country.
Producer - Jemima Rathbone
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 15:45 Short Works (m000rwwy)
Lift
An original short story specially commissioned by BBC Radio 4 from the Northern Irish writer Glenn Patterson.
Glenn Patterson is an author and screenwriter from Belfast. He has written ten novels as well as audio dramas for Radio 3 and Radio 4 and is the co-writer of 'Good Vibrations', an award-winning movie based on the life of Belfast punk impresario Terri Hooley.
Writer ….. Glenn Patterson
Reader ..... Maggie Cronin
Producer ….. Michael Shannon
FRI 16:00 Last Word (m000rwx0)
Matthew Bannister tells the life stories of people who have recently died, from the rich and famous to unsung but significant.
FRI 16:30 More or Less (m000rvjr)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 on Wednesday]
FRI 17:00 PM (m000rwx2)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000rwx4)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 18:30 The News Quiz (m000rwx6)
Series 104
Episode 6
A satirical review of the week's news
FRI 19:00 Front Row (m000rwx8)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
FRI 19:45 An Invitation to Indian Cooking by Madhur Jaffrey (m000rww9)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (m000rwxb)
Baroness Bakewell, Daniel Hannan, Martin Lewis, Professor Sir Mark Walport
Chris Mason presents political debate and discussion from Broadcasting House in London with the broadcaster, journalist and Labour peer Baroness Bakewell, the columnist and new Conservative peer Daniel Hannan, the founder of MoneySavingExpert Martin Lewis and the government's former Chief Scientific Adviser Professor Sir Mark Walport.
Producer: Emma Campbell
Studio direction: Laura Thomas
FRI 20:50 A Point of View (m000rwxd)
Weekly reflections on topical issues from a range of contributors.
FRI 21:00 Archive on 4 (b00ly0nx)
George Blake: The Confession
A remarkable interview with the notorious double agent, who recently passed away. George Blake became a senior MI6 officer - even though he had converted to the Communist cause while held as a prisoner in North Korea. He photographed vast numbers of classified documents, and by his own estimates betrayed around 500 agents working for the Western powers. In the late 1980s, the journalist Tom Bower secured the first interview with Blake, in which he freely confessed to betraying his colleagues and described in detail his sensational escape from Wormwood Scrubs Prison in London, and his journey to exile in Moscow.
This radio version was first broadcast in 2009.
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (m000rwxh)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
FRI 22:45 The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman (m000rwwk)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:06 today]
FRI 23:00 Americast (m000rwxk)
Emily Maitlis and Jon Sopel follow the the US election.
FRI 23:30 Today in Parliament (m000rwxm)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament