SATURDAY 06 FEBRUARY 2021
SAT 00:00 Midnight News (m000rwxp)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
SAT 00:30 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
SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000rwxr)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000rwxt)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
SAT 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000rwxw)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SAT 05:30 News Briefing (m000rwxy)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000rwy0)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Revd Dr Paul Mathole.
Good Morning.
Sixty nine years ago today, was the death of King George VI, and the day when our Queen, Elizabeth II, acceded to the throne.
George VI became King at the end of 1936 and so his reign was dominated by the tumult of the Second World War.
He’s a figure who’s been warmly remembered in a number of films and television series in the past decade.
The most recent example is the 2017 Oscar-winning film, The Darkest Hour. In the film, the action turns on a key night-time scene between Prime Minister Winston Churchill and King George at a time of national peril. Churchill is weighed down by a lack of support for what he was trying to do. The King says to Churchill, “let me give you some advice. Go to the people…let them instruct you... quite silently, they usually do… but tell them the truth... unvarnished”.
As the film goes on, Churchill follows the King’s advice. And the rest, as they say, is history.
The film taps into one of the oldest things you come across in stories of all kinds. When there is a good King or Queen on the throne, there is harmony in the land. Even when other upheavals and uncertainties come, such as war or, of course, pandemic. A good monarch brings stability and continuity. We have been blessed to have lived for decades under such a one.
Almighty God, the fountain of all goodness,
bless our Sovereign Lady, Queen Elizabeth,
and all who are in authority under her;
that they may order all things in wisdom and equity, righteousness and peace,
to the honour and glory of your name
and the good of your Church and people;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord.
Amen.
SAT 05:45 Soundstage (b07cyvjx)
The Reed Bed
When you stare into a bank of reeds in early May you can see very little, yet hear so much inside, so sound recordist Chris Watson decided to try and capture the changing soundscape within the reeds over 24 hours. But tall phragmites reeds growing out of sodden ground and watery dykes make them impenetrable places by foot, so Chris sets up his microphones around the edge of the reedbed and prepares to listen from dusk until dawn. Reed beds are magical places. The resident wildlife is either very well camouflaged or secretive and yet the sounds are extraordinary - from the booming fog-horn like calls of Bittern, which are very rarely seen but whose calls reverberate across the reed beds, to the pig-like squeals of the water rail (again a bird you are very unlikely to see but will hear). Dusk is accompanied by the screams and clicks of swifts and swallows as the swoop back and forth catching insects on the wing. As the temperature drops, the reed bed becomes a quieter place but just before dawn the silence is broken and the orchestra strikes up once again: Bitterns, reed buntings and chattering reed and sedge warblers as well as the reeling grasshopper warblers are the first to be heard. Then there's the bell-like high pitched calls of Bearded tits, and finally a soloist as a cuckoo calls to attract a mate. Producer Sarah Blunt.
SAT 06:00 News and Papers (m000s1zc)
The latest news headlines. Including the weather and a look at the papers.
SAT 06:07 Open Country (m000rvpc)
Twelve months of Open Country
Helen Mark looks at some of the highlights from the last twelve months of Open Country. This includes contributions from Olympic rower Helen Glover and her husband Steve Backshall in their garden in Buckinghamshire, and Dame Julie Walters talking about her attachment to Warley Woods in Smethwick. Helen heads up into the Ardnamurchan Lighthouse on the most Westerly tip of Scotland with light keeper, Davie Ferguson, and from her family farm in Binevenagh she and Seamus Byrne share their passion for the huge flocks of Whooper Swans which make that part of Northern Ireland their home from September until March. Brett Westwood brings us bird song from the woods close to his home in Stourbridge, and Sybil Ruscoe is on top of Cleeve Common gazing out at the view. Artist Frances Anderson reflects on the experience of cross-channel swimming, and beneath the water Jack Greenhalgh and Tom Fisher are capturing the sounds of insects and plants. Back in Scotland the mountain of Ben Shieldaig is where we find artist Lisa Fenton O'Brien as she explores the mountain's unique temperate rainforest habitat, and singer-songwriter Kitty Macfarlane serenades the wildfowl from the banks at RSPB Hamwall.
With the United Kingdom back in lockdown let Open Country bring the outdoors into your home.
Producer: Toby Field
SAT 06:30 Farming Today (m000s1zf)
Farming Today This Week
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside
SAT 06:57 Weather (m000s1zh)
The latest weather forecast
SAT 07:00 Today (m000s1zk)
Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (m000s1zm)
Russell Kane
Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles are joined by award winning comedian, presenter and writer Russell Kane. He's been the host of three series of Live At The Electric, appearanced on Live At Apollo, Unzipped, Celebrity Juice, I Am Celebrity Get Me Out of Here Now and the host of podcast Boys Don't Cry and Radio 4 series Evil Genius, we talk to him about how he got there.
Listener Viv Bird accidentally joined an elite club in 1991 when she became one of few people to survive a plane crash - she joins us to tell her tale.
Riyadh Khalaf is a broadcaster, celebrity masterchef winner and LGBTQ campaigner of Irish/Iraqi descent - he tells his story.
Claire Martin was a foundling from Hong Kong who was adopted by a couple in the UK. She tells about her search for her birth relatives.
Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead chooses his Inheritance Tracks: Sweetheart Contract by Magazine and Brotherhood of Man by Oscar Peterson along with Terry Clarke
and we have your thank you.
Producer: Corinna Jones
SAT 10:30 The Kitchen Cabinet (m000s193)
Series 30
Home Economics: Episode 26
Jay Rayner hosts the culinary panel show from home. Joining him for the 200th episode are Dr Annie Gray, Sophie Wright, Rachel McCormack and Tim Hayward - along with a virtual audience.
This week, the panel tackles questions about caper recipes and the best french dishes, and there's some sage advice from Rachel McCormack about romantic meals ahead of Valentine's Day. Author Yasmin Khan also joins the panel to share her knowledge on the best of Persian cuisine.
Producer: Laurence Bassett
Assistant Producer: Jemima Rathbone
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 11:00 The Week in Westminster (m000s1zp)
The FT's George Parker and guests look back at the week's developments in politics.
SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m000s1zr)
Insight, wit and analysis from BBC correspondents, journalists and writers from around the world
SAT 12:00 News Summary (m000s1zt)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SAT 12:04 Money Box (m000s175)
The latest news from the world of personal finance
SAT 12:30 The News Quiz (m000rwx6)
Series 104
Episode 6
A satirical review of the week's news with Andy Zaltzman and guests Mark Steel, Helen Lewis, Athena Kugblenu and Chris McCausland.
Andy and the panel reflect on a week when the UK blasted through the 10 million vaccine barrier and the world discovered the greatest Zoom meeting guests of all time.
Written by Andy Zaltzman with additional material from Alice Fraser, Mike Shephard and Laura Lexx.
Producer: Richard Morris
A BBC Studios Production
SAT 12:57 Weather (m000s1zw)
The latest weather forecast
SAT 13:00 News (m000s1zy)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4
SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (m000rwxb)
Joan 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 Joan 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
SAT 14:00 Any Answers? (m000s200)
Have your say on the issues discussed on Any Questions?
SAT 14:45 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
SAT 15:00 Drama (m000r33t)
Marais and The Soul of the Termite
Shaun Evans (ITV's Endeavour) plays the naturalist and poet Eugene Marais in Mike Walker's mesmerising play about bereavement and 'the bigger picture'. Directed by David Morley.
Eugene Marais was a South African lawyer, naturalist and poet who virtually single-handedly created the scientific study of animal behaviour. Ignored or traduced during his lifetime, he is now lauded - by Robert Ardrey and Richard Dawkins amongst many others.
He spent three years in the wild observing apes for a classic work, The Soul of the Ape. His masterpiece is The Soul of the White Ant, a passionate and hugely accessible study of termites, an enthralling journey into an alien and yet ultimately familiar world which he evokes with startling vividness. Originally a series of articles published in 1923, they were plagiarised by the Belgian Nobel Prize-winning writer Maurice Maeterlinck, who published Termites, an almost line for line transcription of Marais' work. Marais tried to get recompense or even acknowledgement but was unable to prevail against the world-famous writer.
In 1936, Marais was found dead of a self inflicted gunshot wound.
Cast:
EUGENE MARAIS - SHAUN EVANS
DAHON - LUCY DOYLE
MAETERLINCK – PHILIP FRANKS
LETTIE – ALEXANDRA GUELFF
MABELEL – BESSIE ASHLEY
WALTER & LALELE – JUDE OWUSU
PIET & KRUGER – PETER NOBLE
Sound design: Tom Maggs
Writer: Mike Walker
Producer/ Director: David Morley
Executive Producer: Dirk Maggs
Original Music by Chris O'Shaughnessy
Pianist, Paddy McDonald
Image of Shaun Evans by Faye Thomas
A Perfectly Normal production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 16:00 Woman's Hour (m000s204)
Weekend Woman's Hour: Arlo Parks performs, Susannah Constantine and alcoholism & internet sensation Jackie Weaver
The singer/songwriter Arlo Parks was named the BBC Introducing Artist of the Year in October. She tells us about her debut album Collapsed in Sunbeams – and performs the track Green Eyes.
Susannah Constantine the author, journalist and fashionista tells us about her alcoholism. Sober now for seven years, she believes a lot of women are struggling with alcohol addiction during lockdown. She tells us about the feelings of shame surrounding her drinking and how she believes it leads to a sense of isolation and loneliness.
We hear why women are at the forefront of protests in India against new farming laws. BBC’s South Asia Correspondent Rajini Vaidyanathan and Usha Seethalakshmi from Makaam, a forum for Women's Farmers Rights in India discuss.
The Ministry of Justice recently announced plans for up to 500 new prison cells to be built in women's jails. They say these will be created in existing women's prisons to increase the number of single cells available and improve conditions. But these announcements have drawn criticism from a number of organisations. We hear from Kate Paradine from Women in Prison, Joy Doal the CEO of Anawim, a Women’s Centre in Birmingham, and from Lucy Frazer the Prisons Minister.
Zara Mohammed is the first woman and the youngest person to be elected to lead the Muslim Council of Britain - the largest umbrella organisation representing British Muslims. She discusses her new role with us.
And the internet sensation Jackie Weaver tells us all about ‘that’ Parish Council Zoom meeting.
Presenter: Anita Rani
Producer: Rabeka Nurmahomed
Editor: Lucinda Montefiore
Guest: Susannah Constantine
Guest: Rajini Vaidyanathan
Guest: Usha Seethalakshmi
Guest: Arlo Parks
Guest: Lucy Frazer
Guest: Joy Doal
Guest: Kate Paradine
Guest: Zara Mohammed
Guest Jackie Weaver
SAT 17:00 PM (m000s206)
Full coverage of the day's news
SAT 17:30 The Bottom Line (m000rvq0)
Return to Brexit
Almost five years ago on The Bottom Line - just before the EU referendum – debated the pros and cons of being in the EU. In a tribute to Radio 4’s The Reunion, the programme has reassembled most of the original contributors to get a sense of whether hopes and fears have been delivered. From current customs glitches, aspirations to increase UK global exports, to Brussels red tape versus ease of trading in a European Single Market. What do guests think now?
Joining Evan Davis will be:
Jon Moynihan, venture capitalist
Rachel Kent, head of financial services regulation at the law firm Hogan Lovells
Julia Gash, artist and entrepreneur
and Christopher Nieper, managing director of clothing manufacturer David Nieper,
SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m000s209)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SAT 17:57 Weather (m000s20c)
The latest weather forecast.
SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000s20f)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4
SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (m000s1t3)
Sylvester McCoy, Zoe Adjonyoh, Angela Scanlon, Perfume Genius, Soothsayers, Scottee, Clive Anderson
Clive Anderson and Scottee are joined by Sylvester McCoy, Zoe Adjonyoh and Angela Scanlon for an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy. With music from Perfume Genius and Soothsayers.
SAT 19:00 Profile (m000s16q)
Clare Smyth
The first female british chef to win 3 Michelin stars hails from a farm in County Antrim. Mark Coles talks to those who know Clare Smyth well - at home and in the of kitchen. She left Northern Ireland to train in England at just 16 and has gone her own way ever since. A protegee of some of the best known chefs, she learnt from Alain Ducasse and Gordon Ramsay before setting up her own restaurant, Core, just three years ago. Now closed as a result of the pandemic she is offering fine dining takeaways and contemplating what to do next..
Presenter: Mark Coles
Researcher: Maia Lowerson
Producer: Beth Sagar-Fenton
Editor: Rosamund Jones
SAT 19:15 Grounded with Louis Theroux (p091pg54)
19. FKA twigs
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.
In the latest episode, Louis has a remote conversation with musician and actor Tahliah Debrett Barnett, better know as FKA twigs. They discuss being trolled online and her love for Adam Ant and Shakespears Sister. Twigs also speaks out about her relationship with Shia LaBeouf.
Producer: Paul Kobrak
Assistant Producers: Catherine Murnane and Molly Schneider
A Mindhouse production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 20:00 Archive on 4 (m000s20k)
A Backwards Catastrophe
Travelling in reverse through the BBC archives to trace some of the present problems and oblique antecedents of the environmental crisis.
Backwards Catastrophe is the latest in an occasional series of Archive on 4 programmes which journey through their subjects in reverse chronology.
It’s not a current affairs programme – and it doesn’t focus primarily on the scientific or political debates.
It’s an elegy: part polemic, part satire, part lyrical collage.
It begins from the uncontroversial acceptance that man-made climate change is real and that the consequent cascading problems affecting the earth’s life-sustaining systems are exacerbated by the apparent difficulty of collective action in a deeply unequal world. The effects of climate change are projected to be felt everywhere and are also projected to fall disproportionately on the poor and vulnerable – and on those historically least responsible for the problem.
The programme is broken into five sections.
The first section is introduced by Jo Dodds, who has first-hand experience of the now regular and devastating bush fires in New South Wales, Australia. It begins with the poem A Song on the End of the World by Czesław Miłosz and covers some of the debates of the present day, ending with the resolutions of the 2009 Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.
The second section is introduced by Marinel Ubaldo, a climate activist from the Philippines. It begins with the poem Fire and Ice by Robert Frost and proceeds from the time of the Millennium back to the Kyoto Conference in 1997.
The third section is introduced by Hilda Nakabuye, the founder of Uganda’s Fridays for Future movement. It begins with the poem Estuary by Ian Hamilton Finlay and moves between 1988 – when Dr James Hansen testified to the US Senate that ‘climate change has begun’ – and 1992, when the UN Earth Summit was held in Rio.
The fourth section is introduced by Eleanor Terrelonge, who founded the Jamaica Climate Change Youth Council. It begins with The World is Too Much With Us by William Wordsworth, read by Tony Harrison, and centres around some pre-climate change catastrophising from the early 1970s.
The fifth section begins with the poem Not Waving But Drowning by Stevie Smith. It is introduced by Nemonte Nenquimo, a member of the Waorani people from the Ecuadorean Amazon, a recent winner of the Goldman Environmental Prize. She takes us further back in time – to an island in the southern Pacific which might have something to say about our future.
It made sense to bring the natural world into the programme, and so as the archive spools backwards in time it is accompanied by a variety of recordings by Peter Cusack, BJ Nilsen, Chris Watson and Martin Williams.
The programme rolls along to variations on a melody whose title goes some way to encapsulating things: Mad World.
Thanks to Emma Lewis, Sophie Pinchetti of Amazon Frontlines, Abid Hossan Raju, and Cam Walker of Friends of the Earth.
Reading by Diana Almeida.
Producer: Martin Williams.
SAT 21:00 Brief Lives (b07knkhr)
Series 9
Episode 2
Brief Lives by Tom Fry and Sharon Kelly
Episode 2
A man is arrested for suspected arson at a primary school. The school is mainly Muslim, is there a racially motivated element? Frank and Sarah unravel the underlying cat's cradle of complex community and relationship tensions.
FRANK.... David Schofield
SARAH.... Sally Dexter
DS POOLE....Emily Pithon
SAMEERAH.....Zoe Iqbal
HASSAN.... Dean Smith
IAN.........James Cartwright
Director/Producer Gary Brown
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
SAT 21:45 The Why Factor (b07krdvp)
Series 3
Magicians
Tricksters, conjurers, the world of magicians. Who are they and why do they do what they do? We began by asking ourselves why we enjoy magic shows and why we allow them to deceive us. But the psychology of the magicians themselves is as interesting as the psychology of the audience. So what is in the mind of a magician?
Presenter:Mike Williams
Producer: Ben Carter
Editor:Andrew Smith
First broadcast on the BBC World Service
SAT 22:00 News (m000s20m)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4
SAT 22:15 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
SAT 23:00 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
SAT 23:30 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
SUNDAY 07 FEBRUARY 2021
SUN 00:00 Midnight News (m000s20p)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 00:15 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 00:30 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
A BBC Northern Ireland production.
SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000s20r)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000s20t)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000s20w)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SUN 05:30 News Briefing (m000s20y)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (m000s17c)
Minster Church of St Cuthburga, Wimborne Minster in Dorset
Bells on Sunday comes from the Minster Church of St Cuthburga, Wimborne Minster in Dorset. The central tower and nave were founded in Saxon times, but the surviving building is predominantly Norman in design and construction, with Gothic components from various periods. The west tower contains a ring of twelve bells, the trebles cast by Whitechapel in 2012 and the back ten by Gillet and Johnson in 1911. The tenor weighs twenty nine and a half hundredweight and is tuned to the note of D. We hear them ringing Cambridge Surprise Maximus.
SUN 05:45 Profile (m000s16q)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 06:00 News (m000s15b)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b047w8k1)
The Outer Limits
Samira Ahmed reaches for the edge of the possible and explores the urge to exceed it - from the heights of a tallest tower to the depths of the ocean.
Samira hears about the physical limits pushed by free divers as Kevin Fong, an expert in medicine in extreme environments, describes how their stubborn determination not to breathe has challenged scientists' expectations of human capability. She explores the limits of her own dexterity as she recalls the challenge of Bach's Prelude and Fugue No 2, and considers the fate of Richard Matheson's Shrinking Man on a journey beyond the limits of human experience.
The programme includes readings from works by Carol Ann Duffy, Don Patterson and the deep sea pioneer William Beebe.
The Readers are Peter Marinker, Adjoa Andoh and Michael Lumsden.
Producer: Natalie Steed
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (m000s15d)
Farming for Nature: The Long Game
Caz Graham makes virtual return visits to two people she's met before, who are trying to manage their land with the environment in mind. Martin Lines runs his Cambridgeshire arable farm with the aim of achieving the best outcomes for nature, while still needing to turn a profit, and Tom Orde-Powlett at the Bolton Castle Estate in Wensleydale manages his grouse moor to aid curlew recovery. Two years on, Caz checks in with them for progress reports.
SUN 06:57 Weather (m000s15g)
The latest weather forecast
SUN 07:00 News and Papers (m000s15j)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 07:10 Sunday (m000s15l)
A look at the ethical and religious issues of the week
SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (m000s15n)
Haemochromatosis UK
Actor Stephen McGann makes the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of Haemochromatosis UK.
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 ‘Haemochromatosis UK’.
- Cheques should be made payable to ‘Haemochromatosis UK’.
- You can donate online at bbc.co.uk/appeal/radio4
Registered Charity Number: 1001307
SUN 07:57 Weather (m000s15q)
The latest weather forecast
SUN 08:00 News and Papers (m000s15s)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (m000s15v)
Chinese New Year
Marking Chinese New Year and what is likely to be the largest UK immigration from outside Europe since Windrush, from Hong Kong. Chinese Christians have been worshiping in the UK for at least 70 years. Today the Chinese Christian community flourishes with congregations preaching in English, Mandarin and Cantonese in most major towns and cities across the country. As Chinese New Year approaches Rev Henry Lu of Chinese Overseas Christian Mission leads today’s Sunday Worship, exploring the themes of hospitality and welcome, particularly in anticipation of the many immigrants expected to arrive in the UK from Hong Kong in the coming months. Preacher: Rev Connie Yu. Producer: Ruth Thomson.
SUN 08:48 A Point of View (m000rwxd)
Weekly reflections on topical issues from a range of contributors.
SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (b04hkwnn)
Andean Cock-of-the-Rock
Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.
Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Andean Cock-of-the-rock from Peru. Deep in a cloud forest a female awaits the display of her displaying males. Gathered in front of her several head-bobbing wing-waving males, these males are spectacularly dazzling; a vibrant orange head and body, with black wings and tails, yellow staring eyes, and ostentatious fan-shaped crests which can almost obscure their beaks. Male cock-of-the rocks gather at communal leks, and their performances include jumping between branches and bowing at each other whilst all the time calling loudly. Yet, for all the males' prancing and posturing, it is the female who's in control. Aware that the most dominant and fittest males will be nearest the centre of the lekking arena, it's here that she focuses her attention.
SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (m000s15x)
The Sunday morning news magazine programme. Presented by Paddy O'Connell.
SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (m000s15z)
Writer, Tim Stimpson and Sarah McDonald Hughes
Director, Jessica Bunch & Julie Beckett
Editor, Jeremy Howe
Tony Archer ..... David Troughton
Tom Archer ..... William Troughton
Natasha Archer ..... Mali Harries
Lilian Bellamy. Sunny Ormonde
Harrison Burns ..... James Cartwright
Neil Carter ..... Brian Hewlett
Susan Carter ..... Charlotte Martin
Tracy Horrobin ..... Susie Riddell
Jazzer McCreary ..... Ryan Kelly
Johnny Phillips ..... Tom Gibbons
Robert Snell ..... Graham Blockey
Lynda Snell ..... Carole Boyd
Oliver Sterling ..... Michael Cochrane
Peggy Woolley ..... June Spencer
Rebecca. ..... Rose Robinson
SUN 10:54 Tweet of the Day (m000s161)
Tweet Take 5 : Pheasants
Pheasants are native to Asia. But following introductions many centuries ago these large gamebirds have now established themselves as part of the rich fauna of the British landscape. Millions of pheasants are reared each year on estates and the familiar sound of a pheasant calling at dusk can connect us to another ancient world. Much rarer is the golden pheasant which while also introduced, is a difficult bird to see, as we'll hear in this extended version of Tweet of the Day featuring, Chris Packham, wildlife cameraman John Aitcheson and sound recordist Gary Moore.
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Andrew Dawes
SUN 11:00 Desert Island Discs (m000s163)
George McGavin, entomologist and broadcaster
George McGavin is an entomologist, explorer and broadcaster, who has spread the word about the importance of insects to audiences in their millions.
Born in Glasgow, he grew up in Edinburgh where he studied zoology at university. Following a PhD in entomology, he went on to teach and research at the University of Oxford. He gave up his post as the assistant curator of the university’s Museum of Natural History after 25 years to follow his dream of becoming a television presenter.
He has presented documentaries from far-flung locations including Borneo, Guyana and New Guinea. He has made it his life’s work to uncover the mysteries of the largely uncatalogued world of invertebrates which he says makes up close to 80% of life on earth.
In 2018 he was diagnosed with a rare form of skin cancer and the following year he turned the camera on himself to present a very personal programme about his diagnosis and treatment.
Presenter: Lauren Laverne
Producer: Paula McGinley
SUN 11:45 The Battles That Won Our Freedoms (m0001ygc)
3 Freedom of Religion
In this episode, Phil Tinline asks Professor Justin Champion how the idea of religious toleration emerged from the struggles of post-Civil War England, going from being a horrifyingly radical idea in the 1670s to becoming law in 1689 - at least for Protestants.
And Phil questions Dr Richard Scott, author of 'Christians in the Firing Line', about his experience as a Christian doctor in Britain today - and how it relates to the innovations of the 17th century.
First broadcast in 2019.
Producer: Phil Tinline
SUN 12:00 News Summary (m000s165)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 12:04 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
SUN 12:32 The Food Programme (m000s167)
Cooking Blind
Amar Latif, entrepreneur and presenter, became the first blind contestant on BBC One's Celebrity Masterchef in 2019. During the series he inspired viewers, sighted, blind and partially sighted, as well as the Masterchef judges with this recipes and flair for flavours.
Amar is one cook speaking to Sheila Dillon about his culinary inspiration and his rejuvenated enthusiasm for cooking. Sheila also speaks to double world champion, Paralympic Gold medal winning tandem cyclist, lifetime home cook and healthy food blogger Lora Fachie MBE about what role cooking has played in her life and career. And blind writer Simon Mahoney explains why he was inspired to write his first cookbook when he taught himself to cook after his wife, "his eyes" passed away.
Sheila hears food stories and kitchen inspiration for aspiring cooks, whether sighted or blind.
Presented by Sheila Dillon.
Produced in Bristol by Clare Salisbury.
SUN 12:57 Weather (m000s169)
The latest weather forecast
SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (m000s16c)
Edward Stourton looks at the week’s big stories from both home and around the world.
SUN 13:30 The Listening Project (m000s16f)
Conversations which will be stored in the British Library for future generations as a testament of how we live our lives today
Fi Glover presents friends and strangers in conversation as the nation adjusts to the 'new normal'. In this week's programme: 90-year-old Joan from and 86-year-old Joyce on how old age doesn't have to mean a slowing down of the mind or the spirit; Ghillie and Teleri on what it’s like to live in remote parts of the country and battle the elements; Ava and Zoe talk about their varied interests, school life such as it is, with GCSEs on the horizon and how their lives and hopes have changed since the pandemic; and Simon and Polly talk about how they became solo parents by choice – through sperm donation and surrogacy - and how they plan to discuss the subject with their children when the time comes.
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 (m000rwww)
GQT at Home: Begonias and Window Boxes
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. They tackle the thorny issue of pests targeting newly planted bulbs, as well as resilient houseplants and the best flowers to brighten your window boxes.
Away from the questions, Dr Chris Thorogood travels to Lanzarote to teach us about the multi-talented Agave plant, and Matt Biggs speaks to gardener Mo Badat on how he created his dream tropical garden in South London.
Producer - Jemima Rathbone
Assistant Producer - Rosie Merotra
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 14:45 Disability: A New History (b02143yp)
Sex and Marriage
Peter White explores sex and marriage between disabled people and reveals the shameful history of eugenics in Britain.
The programme begins with a document from Buckingham Palace - an order for some glamorous undergarments for a Royal Trousseau. They were sewn by the women of the Girls' Friendly Society, a group of disabled seamstresses who made a living by sewing sexy underwear. But they themselves had no expectation of marriage, or a sex life. In fact, if they were discovered not to be a virgin they were expelled from the group.
For disabled women - or men - the idea of sex or marriage was taboo. The programme traces the fear of 'bad blood' - the early and shameful history of the eugenics movement in Britain. It was a potent mixture of bad science and fear, and it ran right through society. The birth control pioneer Marie Stopes, for instance, became hysterical at the prospect of her son marrying a girl who had bad eyesight and refused to attend the wedding.
But despite such fears, there were of course romantic relationships between disabled people - not surprising, when so many of young people were living together in residential institutions in the 19th century. New research from a Swansea institution for the deaf reveals that the official rules about sex, and the reality of what happened, were very different.
With historians Professor Joanna Bourke, Mike Mantin and Vivienne Richmond. Documents are brought vividly to life by actors Euan Bailey, Gerard McDermott and Madeleine Brolly.
Producer: Elizabeth Burke
Academic adviser: David Turner of Swansea University
A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 15:00 Drama (m000s16h)
Devils
Devils. Part 3
Jonathan Forbes, Charlotte East and Joseph Arkley star in Dostoevsky’s unsettling tale of revolution and betrayal. As the young revolutionaries turn their guns on each other, despair and self-destruction takes hold of the hearts and minds of the town’s inhabitants and Darya must decide if she can ever forgive Nicholai for the hideous things he has done.
Dramatised by Melissa Murray.
Stepan ..... Gary Lilburn
Mrs Stavrogina ..... Jane Whittenshaw
Nicholai ...... Joseph Arkley
Pyotr ..... Jonathan Forbes
Darya ..... Charlotte East
Shatov ..... Stefan Adegbola
Lisa ..... Cecilia Appiah
Krillov ..... Hasan Dixon
Virginsky ..... Ian Dunnett Jr
Marie ..... Emma Handy
Written by Melissa Murray
Directed by Carl Prekopp
Produced by Marc Beeby and Anne Isger
SUN 16:00 Bookclub (m000s16k)
Tana French - The Wych Elm
James Naughtie and a group of readers talk to acclaimed Irish crime writer Tana French about her novel The Wych Elm, which was named a New York Times Notable Book of 2018, and a Best Book of 2018 by NPR, The New York Times Book Review, Amazon, The Boston Globe, LitHub, Vulture, Slate, Elle, Vox, and Electric Literature.
The Wych Elm is the first stand-alone novel from the author of the Dublin Murder series – and Tana French has been celebrated by writers including Stephen King, Gillian Flynn and John Boyne.
Twentysomething Toby has always thought of himself as lucky, and he’s been mostly untouched by the darker side of life, until a traumatic attack leaves him permanently changed both physically and emotionally. After returning to the family home which has always been a haven to him, he finds himself peeling back the layers of hidden secrets and trying to understand both his family history, and his own role in it.
To join in future Bookclub programmes email us bookclub@bbc.co.uk
Presenter : James Naughtie
Producer : Allegra McIlroy
March's Bookclub Choice : The Cartographer Tries to Map a Way to Zion by Kei Miller (2014)
SUN 16:30 Modern Metamorphoses (m000s16m)
Episode 1
Michael Symmons Roberts begins a bold new three-part series examining the fascination poets have forever held with notions around metamorphosis and the body.
From Homer’s account of Circe’s transformation of men into swine and Ovid’s great classic Metamorphosis, the conceit has been picked up through the centuries by many of our greatest writers including Shakespeare, Kafka and Stevenson.
Over the course of the series, Michael examines how poets today are engaging with the theme of transformation, whether that is through re-imagining classical works from a feminist perspective or using it as a means to explore identity in the 21st Century. Some of the biggest and most interesting names in contemporary poetry shaer their thoughts - Jorie Graham, Michael Longley, Alice Oswald, Patience Agbabi, Fiona Benson, Will Harris, Andrew McMillan and more.
In this first episode, Michael talks with Professor Edith Hall about the reasons metamorphosis was such source of fascination for writers in Ancient Greece and Rome. He also speaks with writers including Cheri Magid and Fiona Benson who are re-writing Ovid’s tales with renewed emphasis upon the sexual assaults that so often feature in these foundational stories and which have frequently been air-brushed out of historical translations.
Part Two will deal with the possibilities that technology and science offer in terms of future transformations, while Part Three will consider the changes that take place in our bodies over the course of a lifetime.
A TBI Media production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 17:00 File on 4 (m000rw3s)
Covid 19: Doctors and Deniers
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.
SUN 17:40 Profile (m000s16q)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m000s16s)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SUN 17:57 Weather (m000s16v)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000s16x)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (m000s16z)
Emma Freud
Emma Freud chooses the best of BBC Radio this week
SUN 19:00 Stillicide (m0008h6t)
Episode 6: Dragonfly
Cynan Jones' timely new series, set in the very near future.
Water is commodified and the Water Train that feeds the capital 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: a Professor makes an unexpected discovery that could change everything...
Readers: John Bowler and Katherine Press
Writer: Cynan Jones
Producer: Justine Willett
Music: Original music by Kirsten Morrison
SUN 19:15 Stand-Up Specials (m000s171)
Gemma Arrowsmith: Emergency Broadcast
A sketch show from The Now Show’s Gemma Arrowsmith
Gemma Arrowsmith presents a lockdown sketch show, trapped inside Broadcasting House. With Tom Crowley, Adam Courting, Hugh Dennis & Susan Harrison.
Gemma Arrowsmith, a familiar voice on The Now Show and BBC One’s Tracey Breaks the News, presents her very own sketch show, while trapped in Broadcasting House.
Written by and starring Gemma Arrowsmith, with Tom Crowley, Adam Courting, Hugh Dennis and Susan Harrison.
Produced by Victoria Lloyd
A BBC Studios Production
SUN 19:45 The Last Resort (m000s173)
Alma
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: Beccy Henderson
Writer: Jan Carson
Producer: Michael Shannon
A BBC Northern Ireland production.
SUN 20:00 More or Less (m000rvjr)
Teachers, Test & Trace and Butterflies
Prominent Labour politicians have claimed teachers are more likely to catch Covid-19, is that true?
England’s Test and Trace programme has been widely criticised, has it raised its game in recent months? A ferocious row has broken out between scientists about how effective fast turnaround Lateral Flow tests are, and how they should be used. We examine the data.
Plus, we examine a claim from Extinction Rebellion that British butterflies have declined by 50% since 1976.
(A Primary Academy teaches smaller pods of students to maintain social distancing measures, London UK. Credit: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
SUN 20:30 Last Word (m000rwx0)
Lewis Wolpert, Cicely Tyson, Prince Khalid Abdullah and Captain Sir Tom Moore
Matthew Bannister on
The biologist Lewis Wolpert who developed new theories about embryo development and was a passionate communicator of science.
The award winning actor Cicely Tyson, best known for portraying strong, dignified African American women on stage and screen.
Saudi Prince Khalid Abdullah who became one of the world’s most successful racehorse owners. His horses included the great Frankel who was unbeaten in 14 races.
Captain Sir Tom Moore, the second world war veteran who became a national hero when he raised millions of pounds for NHS charities as he approached his 100th birthday.
Producer: Neil George
Interviewed guest: Julian Muscat
Interviewed guest: Brough Scott
Interviewed guest: Matt Wolfe
Interviewed guest: Prof Jim Smith
Archive clips from: Desert Island Discs, Radio 4 TX 25.
6.1996; The Essay, Radio 3 TX 25.
3.2008; Conversations, Radio 3 TX 27.
3.1993; The Michael Ball Show, Radio 2 TX 6.
9.2020
SUN 21:00 Money Box (m000s175)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 on Saturday]
SUN 21:25 Radio 4 Appeal (m000s15n)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 today]
SUN 21:30 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
SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (m000s177)
Radio 4's Sunday night political discussion programme.
SUN 23:00 The Film Programme (m000rvpf)
Angela Allen
Script supervisor Angela Allen on what it was really like to work with Marilyn Monroe, Orson Welles and John Huston, and why Monroe believed she was having an affair with husband Arthur Miller.
With Antonia Quirke.
SUN 23:30 Something Understood (b047w8k1)
[Repeat of broadcast at
06:05 today]
MONDAY 08 FEBRUARY 2021
MON 00:00 Midnight News (m000s179)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
MON 00:15 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.
MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (m000s17c)
[Repeat of broadcast at
05:43 on Sunday]
MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000s17f)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000s17h)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000s17k)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
MON 05:30 News Briefing (m000s17m)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000s17p)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Revd Dr Paul Mathole
Good morning.
In the early eighteenth century, Daniel Defoe wrote A Journal of the Plague Year, about the plague of 1665.
There’s something about the narrative that is strangely familiar to our own pandemic experience.
The narrator begins by talking about how uncertain the early news of the disease was. Of course there wasn’t the news media that we have now, just bits of information here and there or word-of-mouth rumours.
And it didn’t seem to be a problem at first. So we’re told with some foreboding: “Hence it was that this rumour died off again and people began to forget it as a thing we were very little concerned in, and that we hoped was not true.”
How wrong that early view would prove to be.
Part of what began to change things was the “weekly bills of mortality”. These showed the number of burials taking place. And here it bears an eerie resemblance to our current times, and our regular daily death totals. As they went into the first winter of the disease, the weekly bills began to raise eyebrows. This went from initial concern to growing alarm.
And thus it began. And would continue for many months. People watching the numbers. Looking for signs of hope.
But it’s a reminder that what we’re going through is not new. Though things feel overwhelming, ultimately this too will pass. The Bible offers us encouragement, Psalm 90 reads, “teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom”.
Heavenly Father, you are Lord of history. Help us to know you hold all things in your hands. That we can trust our days to you. In Jesus’ name.
Amen.
MON 05:45 Farming Today (m000s17r)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
MON 05:56 Weather (m000s17t)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.
MON 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b04dvk7n)
Hoatzin
Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.
Sir David Attenborough presents the South American hoatzin. Moving clumsily through riverside trees the funky Mohican head crested hoatzin looks like it has been assembled by a committee. Hoatzin's eat large quantities of leaves and fruit, and to cope with this diet have a highly specialised digestive system more like that of cattle, which gives them an alternative name, 'stink-bird'.
MON 06:00 Today (m000s1rd)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
MON 09:00 Start the Week (m000s1rh)
Empire and class, shaping Britain
Britain is a direct product of its imperial past. So argues the writer Sathnam Sanghera in his latest book, Empireland. He tells Tom Sutcliffe how we need to move beyond simplistic feelings of shame or pride in Britain’s empire if we are to truly understand who we are.
It’s not just the story of empire shaping modern Britain but the longer more entrenched history of class. In Snakes and Ladders: The Great British Social Mobility Myth, the historian Selina Todd explores how class distinctions still prevail today.
Class and empire weave their way into the work of the poet Anthony Anaxagorou. His family is from Cyprus - an island deeply divided and with a history of colonisation. He charts his rise as a poet in the pocket-book series, ‘How to… Write it’. And his last collection, After the Formalities, explores the anxieties inherent in his British and Cypriot heritage.
Producer: Katy Hickman
MON 09:45 Fall: The Mystery of Robert Maxwell by John Preston (m000s1t9)
Episode 1 - Humble Beginnings
Robert Maxwell remains an enigma. A hugely successful tycoon who came from humble beginnings as an Orthodox Jew in Czechoslovakia, and whose father sold animal skins for a living, Maxwell became a British war-hero, decorated for his heroism, then a Labour MP, all the while amassing a huge fortune as the owner of publishing and newspaper businesses.
But when he fell from his yacht, the Lady Ghislaine, in the middle of the night in 1991, another story was revealed - of debts and unscrupulous dealings. No-one had ever fallen so far and so quickly.
John Preston's gripping biography sets out to give the definitive account of Robert Maxwell's rise and fall and to explain why underneath this apparent model of society lay an amoral and bloated wreck.
The Reader is Henry Goodman
The Abridger is Richard Hamilton
The Producer is Elizabeth Allard
MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000s1rm)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.
MON 10:45 Faith, Hope and Glory (m000s1rp)
Series 1
Hope and Jim
The history of post-war Britain is told through the lives of Hope Kiffin, Eunice Lamming and Gloria de Soto, bound forever by one moment in 1946. Today, Hope and Jim face the dilemma of bringing up their beautiful baby girl in a hostile environment.
Cast
Jim ..... Martins Imhangbe
Hope ..... Danielle Vitalis
Writer ..... Roy Williams
Director ..... Mary Peate
Producer ..... Jessica Dromgoole
NOTES
Radio 4 has commissioned Faith Hope and Glory an ambitious new series telling brilliant intimate domestic stories that together illuminate the emergence of modern Britain. This first week of 15’ dramas lays out the origin story that in 1946, Hope and Jim’s baby, entrusted to Eunice to take home to Antigua, is lost at Tilbury Docks, and found by Gloria and Clement, a celibate couple, who decide to keep her and call her Joy. Joy’s life spans the entire series, up to the present day.
Roy Williams has written the series of five 15’ plays to kick off, which is shortly followed by three 45’ plays – Clement and Gloria by Rex Obano, Hope and Jim, by Roy, and Faith and Trevor by Winsome Pinnock.
The cast includes Shiloh Coke as Faith, Danielle Vitalis as Hope, and Pippa Bennett Warner as Gloria, together with Gary Beadle as Trevor, Martins Imhangbe as Jim and Stefan Adegbola as Clement.
MON 11:00 My Name Is... (m000s1rr)
My Name Is Anna. I've been called a terf.
When Anna, 24, started her university dissertation on the word ‘terf’, she expected to run into some controversy. The term is a byword for transphobia and it wasn’t long before Anna was branded a terf herself and sent abuse and threats online.
Terf stands for trans-exclusionary radical feminist and was originally coined to describe feminists who oppose trans women accessing single-sex spaces like female toilets and changing rooms, sports and events. It carries an implication of hatred of trans people – a view that Anna firmly denies.
She wants to understand the term – where did it come from, what effect is it having on feminist politics, and what is at the heart of the debates in which the word is used?
She speaks to trans people and fellow radical feminists as she interrogates her own views and looks for solutions to some of the thorny issues around trans inclusion that have torn feminism apart for decades.
Producer: Lucy Proctor
MON 11:30 How to Vaccinate the World (m000s1rt)
Tim Harford reports on the global race to create a vaccine to end the Covid-19 pandemic.
MON 12:00 News Summary (m000s1rw)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 12:03 Shipping Forecast (m000s1ry)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
MON 12:06 Light Perpetual by Francis Spufford (m000s1s0)
Episode 1
1944: In the fictional south London borough of Bexford, a German rocket explodes, destroying an entire store and part of the high street. Among the dead are Valerie, Jo, Vern, Alec and Ben - four-year-olds who were accompanying their mothers to Woolworths.
‘Their part in time is done’ but what of their possible futures? In ‘some other version of the reel of time’ their might-be and could-be lives are played out across the next 65 years.
1949 finds Val, Jo, Vern and Alec in a school singing lesson. Meanwhile, nine-year-old Ben is taken to a Millwall game.
Francis Spufford’s first novel, Golden Hill, won the Costa First Novel Award, the RSL Ondaatje Prize, and the Desmond Elliott Prize. His second novel takes its title from the Book of Common Prayer - Give to the departed eternal rest. Let light perpetual shine upon them.
Written by Francis Spufford
Read by Jamie Parker
Abridged by Jill Waters and Isobel Creed
Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4
MON 12:20 You and Yours (m000s1s2)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
MON 12:57 Weather (m000s1s4)
The latest weather forecast
MON 13:00 World at One (m000s1s6)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Sarah Montague.
MON 13:45 Trading Spaces (m000s1s8)
Episode 1
Professor Deborah Sugg Ryan examines the pandemic's impact on the High Street.
MON 14:00 Homeschool History (m000sbn9)
Leonardo da Vinci
Join Greg Jenner in 15th-century Italy to meet Leonardo da Vinci, one of the most influential artists to ever live.
While Leonardo is renowned for creating the Mona Lisa, the most famous painting in the world, he was also a fantastic inventor and dreamed up all kinds of marvellous creations that wouldn’t become reality for another 500 years.
Script: Gabby Hutchinson Crouch, Emma Nagouse and Greg Jenner
Historical Consultant: Professor Catherine Fletcher
Research Assistant: Hannah MacKenzie
Producer: Abi Paterson
Produced by The Athletic for BBC Radio 4
MON 14:15 Drama (m00027y9)
Pieces
When the sisters were little, Ellie believed that Jess would save her if she was wearing her Superman cloak. Now that they are grown up life is not so simple. Ellie is a successful heart surgeon. Jess has a job and a husband and child. They don't always manage to keep in touch. When Ellie's own heart actually splinters, Jess is summoned as the person most likely to know how to mend her. She has to rummage in Ellie's life to find the pieces that will fill the holes left by love, grief and hiraeth. In the process Jess discovers some of Ellie's secrets and gains an understanding of all the ways in which they are indelibly connected to each other.
Sian Owen's modern fairy tale explores the healing power of love and magic.
Little Jessica ... Eva-Maria Thomas
Little Ellie ... Catrin Jordan
Jessica ... Carys Eleri
Ellie ... Sara Gregory
Archie ... Rhodri Meilir
Amy ... Claire Cage
Writer, Sian Owen
Director, Gilly Adams
A BBC Cymru Wales production
MON 15:00 Counterpoint (m000s1sb)
Series 34
Semi-final 1
(10/13)
This year's Counterpoint tournament reaches the semi-final stage, with Paul Gambaccini welcoming back three of the heat winners from earlier in the series, all competing via remote link in a time of Covid lockdown.
The pace hots up and the competitors can expect the questions to be tougher, as the race is on in earnest for places in the 2021 Final. As always, they'll be tested on their knowledge of a wide variety of music, with plenty of musical extracts both rare and familiar.
Today's returning semi-finalists are
Eugene Gallagher, a computer analyst from Cheshire
Anne Hodkinson, a retired recruitment officer from Dudley
Martin Warlow, a retired civil servant from Milford Haven.
Producer: Paul Bajoria
MON 15:30 The Food Programme (m000s167)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:32 on Sunday]
MON 16:00 Sketches: Stories of Art and People (m000s1sf)
Tribute
Capturing someone's essence, really seeing them, is a way of honouring them. The writer Anna Freeman hears stories of people using their creativity to pay tribute to others, through drawing, painting and song.
There's the Leeds-based writer and musician using song to honour elderly members of the local community though a series of musical portraits. An art teacher drawing every member of the British armed forces to have lost their lives in the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. And there's a mural that appears on a wall in Leith depicting a face familiar to many locals. But where has the subject of the painting gone?
Produced by Mair Bosworth and Maggie Ayre
MON 16:30 The Infinite Monkey Cage (m000s1sh)
The Fundamentals of Reality
The Fundamentals of Reality
Brian Cox and Robin Ince are joined by Nobel prize winning physicist Frank Wilczek, cosmologist Janna Levin, comedians Eric Idle and Sara Pascoe to look at what physics has revealed about the reality of our universe. From Einstein's equations more than a 100 years ago through to the amazing discoveries we've made in the last few years about blackholes and gravitational waves, the universe we think we see is not necessarily the true fundamental reality that physics has uncovered. What is real and what is not? All will be revealed.
Producer: Alexandra Feachem
MON 17:00 PM (m000s1sk)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000s1sp)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 18:30 The Unbelievable Truth (m000s1sr)
Series 25
Episode 5
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.
Sindhu Vee, Lloyd Langford, Zoe Lyons, and Henning Wehn are the panellists obliged to talk with deliberate inaccuracy on subjects as varied as goats, sound, fighting and ghosts.
Produced by Jon Naismith
A Random Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4
MON 19:00 The Archers (m000s18z)
The walls close in on Neil and Alice is touched by an unexpected gift.
MON 19:15 Front Row (m000s1st)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
MON 19:45 Incredible Women - Series 8 (m000nd9n)
Episode 1
Jeremy Front and Rebecca Front return for the 8th Series of Incredible Women.
In the latest series of his podcast profiling great women, Jeremy Front profiles the famous academic parapsychologist and Skeptic Dr Fay Sullivan, whose interest in the paranormal started when she was at the centre of an infamous poltergeist hoax as a child. Fay, now retired and living in what was once said to be the most haunted house in England, invites Jeremy to join her for a week to learn about her life and work, and to find out what inspired her to invent the Hatch End Haunting which gripped the nation in the 1970s.
Episode 1:
A breakdown service tows Jeremy to the country house of Dr Fay Bee, the famous skeptic behind the Hatch End Haunting hoax.
Dr Fay Sullivan – Rebecca Front
Jeremy – Jeremy Front
The Man from the AA – Sanjeev Kohli
Young Fay – Imogen Front
Fay's Mum - Margaret Cabourn-Smith
Written by Jeremy Front
Sound design by Olga Reed
Produced & Directed by Victoria Lloyd
MON 20:00 After Trump (m000s1sw)
Overseas
James Naughtie looks at how Joe Biden will change how America deals with the world.
In this second episode in this series, James examines foreign policy. Donald Trump had a unique style and approach. Joe Biden has painted himself as more traditional, and it is already clear that Biden's style will be very different, and his approach far more consensual. But on the substance of policy - whether that is China or the Middle East, how different will his policies really be? Speaking to senior officials close to both men, as well as senior leaders from around the world, James asks what will change After Trump.
Producers: Giles Edwards and Jonathan Brunert.
MON 20:30 Analysis (m000s1sy)
Rogue Cops
Is it possible to identify rogue cops before they commit offences? Can we change police culture to improve police interactions with the public? The brutal killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis shone a spotlight on how police treat suspects, particularly black suspects. In this Analysis, David Edmonds asks what the science of criminology has discovered about how such tragedies can be stopped. Producer Bethan Head.
Editor Jasper Corbett
MON 21:00 Afterlives (m000rw2p)
Harry and Anne
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
MON 21:30 Start the Week (m000s1rh)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
MON 22:00 The World Tonight (m000s1t1)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
MON 22:45 Light Perpetual by Francis Spufford (m000s1s0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:06 today]
MON 23:00 Loose Ends (m000s1t3)
[Repeat of broadcast at
18:15 on Saturday]
MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (m000s1t5)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament
TUESDAY 09 FEBRUARY 2021
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (m000s1t7)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 00:30 Fall: The Mystery of Robert Maxwell by John Preston (m000s1t9)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000s1tc)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000s1tf)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000s1th)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
TUE 05:30 News Briefing (m000s1tk)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000s1tm)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Revd Dr Paul Mathole
Good morning.
Yesterday, I talked about Daniel Defoe who wrote A Journal of the Plague Year, about the terrible plague of 1665.
When we read about what life was like then, it has a strangely familiar ring to it. As the plague progressed it took hold of ordinary life. The governing authorities did what they could to contain the disease. Orders were issued for the City of London. Transport and the movement of people was a big worry. Hackney-coaches (like our modern taxis) were to be well aired and be given five or six days between uses. Keeping clean was high priority: Streets were to be swept, no infected garments were to be taken out of houses. The hospitality industry was crushed: the theatres were all closed, “all public feasting” at taverns and alehouses was prohibited. It was thought that in these places the plague was most easily transmitted.
And some of the instructions are haunting: They appointed “watchmen” to stop people entering or leaving infected houses. They appointed “women searchers” who went into check parishes for infections. It must have been the most sacrificial frontline work.
And infected houses were shut up and marked with a red cross, a foot long, in the middle of the door, and the words “Lord, have mercy upon us”.
It has an extraordinary Biblical echo. At the Exodus, the people put red blood on the doorposts of their houses. At the sign of that blood, the people would be spared.
Gracious Lord, living in a pandemic reminds us that we are all fragile human beings. In the words of the Psalmist, “Remember, Lord, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old.”
Amen.
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (m000s1tp)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
TUE 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b04t0nw9)
Blue Rock Thrush
Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.
Liz Bonnin presents the blue rock thrush, perched high on a Spanish castle. The blue rock thrush has a slim silhouette, rather like that of a blackbird, but these largely sedentary, elusive and sun-loving birds are a rare sight in northern Europe. They are widespread in summer across southern Europe and also occur in the Arabian Peninsula and across most of south-east Asia. The male lives up to his name, as in sunlight his deep indigo body feathers contrast with his darker wings and tail. His mate is a more muted mid brown, and barred beneath. Blue rock thrushes often nest in old ruins, but can also be found in houses in villages and on the edge of towns. Here in sunny spots they feed on large insects like grasshoppers and will even take small reptiles in their long thrush-like bills.
Producer Andrew Dawes.
TUE 06:00 Today (m000s17w)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
TUE 09:00 The Global Philosopher (m000s4jv)
Vaccine Ethics
Michael Sandel and an international panel discuss the moral issues around Covid-19 vaccination. The Harvard philosophy professor poses a series of tough questions. Is it acceptable to pay to jump the queue by flying to country with an ample stock of vaccine? Once wealthier countries have vaccinated health and care workers and their most vulnerable citizens, should they offer their vaccine stocks to poorer countries which are more at need? Should governments compel citizens to be vaccinated? Will vaccine passports, giving access to restaurants and sports facilities for example, create a two-class society?
Professor Sandel elucidates the ethical issues underlying these practical questions with the help of contributors from countries including Japan, the US, Belgium, Argentina, China, India, Australia, Nigeria, Norway and the UK.
Producer: Richard Fenton-Smith
Researcher: Jonelle Awomoyi
Studio Manager: James Beard
TUE 09:45 Fall: The Mystery of Robert Maxwell by John Preston (m000s1b4)
Ep 2 - Early Business Dealings
Henry Goodman reads the next instalment of John Preston’s eye-watering biography about the notorious tycoon. Today, Robert Maxwell’s shape-shifting youth is marked by heroism, love and a murky start in business.
The life story of the larger-than- life newspaper owner Robert Maxwell, takes us from his birth to his mysterious death at sea. Maxwell remains an enigma, he was a hugely successful businessman who came from humble beginnings as an Orthodox Jew in Czechoslovakia, and whose father sold animal skins for a living, Maxwell became a British war-hero, decorated for his heroism, then a Labour MP, all the while amassing a huge fortune as the owner of publishing and newspaper businesses.
But when he fell from his yacht, the Lady Ghislaine, in the middle of the night in 1991, another story was revealed - of debts and unscrupulous dealings. No-one had ever fallen so far and so quickly.
John Preston's gripping biography sets out to give the definitive account of Robert Maxwell's rise and fall and to explain why underneath this apparent model of society lay an amoral and bloated wreck.
The Reader is Henry Goodman
The Abridger is Richard Hamilton
The Producer is Elizabeth Allard
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000s186)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.
TUE 10:45 Faith, Hope and Glory (m000s188)
Series 1
Hope
New series charting the emergence of modern Britain. Today, Hope has made a painful decision for the sake of her baby.
Hope ..... Danielle Vitalis
Writer ..... Roy Williams
Director ..... Mary Peate
Producer ..... Jessica Dromgoole
TUE 11:00 Black and Blue (m000s18d)
Hugh Muir has spent much of his journalistic career chronicling the working lives of Britain’s black and minority ethnic police officers. In this programme, he investigates claims that racism is on the rise within policing in the UK.
In 1990, the Met acknowledged that it had a problem holding on to its black officers and decided to ask black and Asian staff why so many of them were leaving. Almost all the force’s black police officers attended a two-day meeting at the then Bristol Polytechnic that summer. They had no choice - it was mandatory. The officers all shared experiences of racist ‘banter’ and other mistreatment they had suffered on the job. Many found it therapeutic.
However, 30 years on from the ‘Bristol meeting’, black officers say that despite some initial improvements, not much has changed. Some even contend that racism within policing got worse. And since the backlash that followed the killing of George Floyd last year, black officers now face growing hostility from outside as well as from within.
For this programme, Hugh has spoken to several black and minority ethnic officers, both serving and retired. They include Andrew George, President of the National Black Police Association, and retired superintendent Leroy Logan, whose life story was recently adapted for the screen by the Oscar-winning director Steve McQueen in his film anthology Small Axe.
“I think black cops deserve more internal and external support as the key to making the real progress we all say we want,” Hugh says.
Produced by George Luke
A Cast Iron Radio production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 11:30 Mary Portas: On Style (m000s4zf)
All Change: from fast fashion to rental with Jane Shepherdson, talking tights with Tahlia Gray, and the home office.
Sometimes trends emerge slowly, and sometimes they arrive with a bang. This week Mary Portas examines just a few of the ways the events of the past year have impacted the way we dress, shop and live. We look at our high streets; how they adapted, who thrived - and who didn't. In a year when we were all forced to slow down and think, how did our relationship to fast fashion fare? Did 2020 make ethical consumers of us, and will those habits stay?
How did staying home change what our homes meant to us and what we needed from them? We look at designing a home office that makes it feel like you are working from home, rather than living at work. And what do we need from a sofa today? We hear from made.com design director Ruth Wassermann, and from Sonia Solicari from The Museum of the Home.
As the woman who made Topshop the coolest shop on the planet, Jane Shepherdson's name was once synonymous with the high street. We find out we she thinks the future is rental, not retail.
And we meet one entrepreneur who couldn't wait for change, and created it herself. Tahlia Gray could never find tights that matched her skin tone, which led her to found Sheer Chemistry tights for women of colour.
Presenter: Mary Portas
Producer: Jessica Treen
TUE 12:00 News Summary (m000s18g)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 12:03 Shipping Forecast (m000s18j)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
TUE 12:06 Light Perpetual by Francis Spufford (m000s18l)
Episode 2
1944: In the fictional south London borough of Bexford, a German rocket explodes, destroying an entire store and part of the high street. Among the dead are Valerie, Jo, Vern, Alec and Ben - four year-olds who were accompanying their mothers to Woolworths.
‘Their part in time is done’ but what of their possible futures? In ‘some other version of the reel of time’ their might-be and could-be lives are played out across the next 65 years.
It's 1964 and Alec has followed in his father’s footsteps as a typesetter. Val takes a trip to Margate.
Francis Spufford’s first novel, Golden Hill, won the Costa First Novel Award, the RSL Ondaatje Prize, and the Desmond Elliott Prize. His second novel takes its title from the Book of Common Prayer - Give to the departed eternal rest. Let light perpetual shine upon them.
Written by Francis Spufford
Read by Jamie Parker
Abridged by Jill Waters and Isobel Creed
Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 12:20 You and Yours (m000s18p)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
TUE 12:57 Weather (m000s18r)
The latest weather forecast
TUE 13:00 World at One (m000s18t)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Sarah Montague.
TUE 13:45 Trading Spaces (m000s18w)
Episode 2
Professor Deborah Sugg Ryan examines the pandemic's impact on the High Street.
TUE 14:00 The Archers (m000s18z)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 Drama (m000s191)
Who Cares
Matt Woodhead's verbatim drama tells the story of 3 young carers in Salford, who had no choice but to become the adult in their families. Based on over a hundred hours of interviews, this play premiered at the Lowry Theatre before touring the UK and prompting many 'hidden' young carers to come forward and receive support.
Nicole ..... Lizzie Mounter
Jade ..... Jessica Temple
Connor ..... Luke Grant
Produced by Toby Swift
Who Cares began life as a theatre project and was created to provide a rare insight into a day in the lives of young carers from Salford. The original production was co-produced by The Lowry and LUNG in partnership with Gaddum, a charity providing health and wellbeing support across Greater Manchester.
For information and support for young carers:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1rsZS8dzkkVSqQhJXHY67kj/information-and-support-carers
TUE 15:00 The Kitchen Cabinet (m000s193)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:30 on Saturday]
TUE 15:30 The Curious Cases of Rutherford & Fry (m000s195)
Series 17
A Weighty Matter Part 2
The doctors continue their investigation into gravity, and answer Peter Fraser’s question: Is dark matter a proper theory or just a fudge to fit existing 'proper' theories to otherwise inexplicable observations?
Whilst scientists are pretty convinced our understanding of gravity is largely correct, there are still some significant gaps. Namely, given the way galaxies are observed to behave, around 85% of the matter that they think should be in our universe. So where – and, as importantly, what – is it? Cosmologist Andrew Pontzen introduces the evidence from our observations of the cosmic microwave background, light leftover from the Big Bang, which indicate that dark matter exists.
However, this evidence alone is not enough for science. Physicist Chamkaur Ghag is trying to find particles of dark matter here on Earth. Unsurprisingly, no-one is quite sure where these critters are hiding in the particle zoo of protons, neutrons, electrons, quarks, bosons, muons and the rest – or even what they look like. One theory suggests a weakly interacting massive particle, or WIMP, may be the dark matter minibeast. Hundreds of thousands of these could be flying through our fingertips every second. To tell whether they’re there, Cham and hundreds of scientists are building detectors: Huge vats of liquid xenon in underground caverns.
Bond villain-esque lairs don’t come cheap, and listener Peter’s query is valid – what if dark matter goes the same way as the aether, an all-permeating (and ultimately non-existent) material that was hypothesised to carry light through the vacuum of space? Astrophysicist Katy Clough reiterates that experiments are the way to test predictions. Building a picture of how gravity works continues to take many people enormous effort, but this is the scientific process.
Presenters: Hannah Fry & Adam Rutherford
Producer: Jen Whyntie
A BBC Audio Science Unit production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 16:00 Word of Mouth (m000s197)
Hilary Mantel in conversation with Michael Rosen
Hilary Mantel, author of the Wolf Hall Trilogy, talks in depth to Michael Rosen about her life in writing and language.
Producer Beth O'Dea
Also available to download as part of the Word of Mouth podcast.
TUE 16:30 A Good Read (m000s199)
Tuppence Middleton & Matthew Shribman
Actress Tuppence Middleton and environmentalist Matthew Shribman talk about the books they love with presenter Harriett Gilbert. Matthew chooses The Baron in the Trees by Italo Calvino, Tuppence picks The Loser by Thomas Bernhard and Harriett goes for Hot Milk by Deborah Levy.
Producer for BBC Audio in Bristol: Becky Ripley
Comment on instagram: @agoodreadbbc
TUE 17:00 PM (m000s19c)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000s19h)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 18:30 Victoria Wood - From Soup to Nuts (b0b2mrc5)
From Soup...
A two-part look back at Victoria Wood's stand-up and songs using her own archives and tapes, including never-heard-before material. Presented by Rebecca Front.
With unprecedented access to Victoria Wood's own boxes of battered cassette tapes, this programme is a shameless chance to hear some wonderful stand-up comedy, characters and songs, mixed with a look back at what made her so funny and so universally loved.
Presented by Rebecca Front
With thanks to:
Libby Gregory
Lucy Ansbro
Phil McIntyre Entertainments
Executive Producer: Geoff Posner
Produced by David Tyler
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 19:00 The Archers (m000s19k)
Susan faces the consequences and Tony is surprised when he glimpses another side of someone.
TUE 19:15 Front Row (m000s19m)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
TUE 19:45 Incredible Women - Series 8 (m000nc1k)
Episode 2
Episode 2:
Jeremy starts to experience unexplained phenomena, much to the disdain of his interviewee, the famous Skeptic Dr Fay Sullivan.
Dr Fay Sullivan – Rebecca Front
Jeremy – Jeremy Front
Young Fay – Imogen Front
Fay's Mum - Margaret Cabourn-Smith
Written by Jeremy Front
Sound design by Olga Reed
Produced & Directed by Victoria Lloyd
TUE 20:00 File on 4 (m000s19p)
Unmasked: Stories from the PPE Frontline
After the Covid-19 pandemic hit, reserves of personal protective equipment quickly dried up. Stories about frontline staff lacking the kit they needed made headlines night after night and photos of nurses wearing bin bags for protection began circulating on social media. In response, the government began hunting down new supplies just as global demand surged. It started using emergency powers to award PPE contracts worth tens of millions of pounds without opening them to competition, leading to claims that some companies were favoured because of their political connections. Phil Kemp investigates how well the government spent the £15 billion it was allocated for PPE and uncovers concerns about the quality of some of the kit that was bought.
Producer: Anna Meisel
Editor: Gail Champion
TUE 20:40 In Touch (m000s19r)
News, views and information for people who are blind or partially sighted
TUE 21:00 Inside Health (m000s19t)
A weekly quest to demystify health issues, bringing clarity to conflicting advice.
TUE 21:30 The Global Philosopher (m000s4jv)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (m000s19w)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
TUE 22:45 Light Perpetual by Francis Spufford (m000s18l)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:06 today]
TUE 23:00 Fortunately... with Fi and Jane (m000s19y)
Fi Glover and Jane Garvey are joined by musician and broadcaster Yolanda Brown.
TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (m000s1b0)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament
WEDNESDAY 10 FEBRUARY 2021
WED 00:00 Midnight News (m000s1b2)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
WED 00:30 Fall: The Mystery of Robert Maxwell by John Preston (m000s1b4)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000s1b7)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000s1b9)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000s1bc)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
WED 05:30 News Briefing (m000s1bf)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000s1bh)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Revd Dr Paul Mathole
Good morning.
Marilynne Robinson wrote the Pulitzer Prize winning novel Gilead. She is also a thoughtful essayist. She suggests modern culture suffers from an increasingly troubling reflex - the need to demonstrate that my 'group' or tribe is in the right.
To illustrate she describes this scene: She saw a woman publicly rebuke an older man for a remark that she interpreted as improperly ethnocentric. The man accepted the rebuke and was saddened and embarrassed. Robinson writes that this “was not a scene from some guerilla war against unenlightened thinking”. Rather, the woman “made a demonstration of the fact that her education was more recent, more fashionable, and more extensive than his”, and as if to imply that “right thinking was a property or attainment of hers in a way it never could be of his”. All this done in front of an audience already in agreement with her view.
What troubled Robinson was this was not a genuine attempt to enlist or persuade, but actually an attempt to undermine. I am right and you are wrong. I am inside and you are outside. Correction actually masked for reinforcing superiority.
By contrast, Jesus told his disciples: “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them ... Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all”. The task of explaining the gospel of Christ was not about reinforcing their superiority. Humility came first.
Gracious God, we are humbled by your grace. Help us to see all people, however different, as those you value and care for. May our gratitude to you make us servants of all.
Amen.
WED 05:45 Farming Today (m000s1bk)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
WED 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b04dvvnn)
Dupont's Lark
Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.
Sir David Attenborough presents the Dupont's lark of southern Europe and North Africa. The European home for the Duponts lark is the arid grasslands of south-east Spain where Spaghetti Westerns were once filmed. The Dupont's lark is notoriously difficult to find as it skulks between tussocks of dry but at dawn and again at sunset, male Dupont's larks emerge from their hiding places and perform display flights over their grassy territories. As they rise into the sky their song is a melancholy refrain, which once heard is rarely forgotten.
WED 06:00 Today (m000s2jl)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
WED 09:00 More or Less (m000s2jq)
Tim Harford explains - and sometimes debunks - the numbers and statistics used in political debate, the news and everyday life.
WED 09:30 Steelmanning (m000s2js)
Episode 5
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 the former head of policy at Number 10, Baroness Cavendish, to debate sugar taxes. Other contributors include the journalist Madeline Grant and former Supreme Court judge Lord Sumption.
Producer: Peter Snowdon
WED 09:45 Fall: The Mystery of Robert Maxwell by John Preston (m000s2lr)
Ep 3- Fleet Street
Henry Goodman reads from John Preston’s breath-taking biography. Today, it’s the 1960s and Maxwell has made and lost several fortunes, and he continues to dream of becoming part of the British establishment. His yearning for a Fleet Street newspaper has been thwarted time and again but remains unabated. At home, a devastating family tragedy unfolds.
The life story of the larger-than- life newspaper owner Robert Maxwell, takes us from his birth to his mysterious death at sea. Maxwell remains an enigma, he was a hugely successful businessman who came from humble beginnings as an Orthodox Jew in Czechoslovakia, and whose father sold animal skins for a living, Maxwell became a British war-hero, decorated for his heroism, then a Labour MP, all the while amassing a huge fortune as the owner of publishing and newspaper businesses.
But when he fell from his yacht, the Lady Ghislaine, in the middle of the night in 1991, another story was revealed - of debts and unscrupulous dealings. No-one had ever fallen so far and so quickly.
John Preston's gripping biography sets out to give the definitive account of Robert Maxwell's rise and fall and to explain why underneath this apparent model of society lay an amoral and bloated wreck.
The Reader is Henry Goodman
The Abridger is Richard Hamilton
The Producer is Elizabeth Allard
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000s2jx)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.
WED 10:45 Faith, Hope and Glory (m000s2jz)
Series 1
Eunice
The history of post-war Britain is told through the lives of Hope Kiffin, Eunice Lamming and Gloria de Soto, bound forever by one moment in 1946. Today, Eunice's plan to help her childhood friend Hope has gone disastrously wrong.
Eunice ..... Shiloh Coke
Writer ..... Roy Williams
Director ..... Mary Peate
Producer ..... Jessica Dromgoole
WED 11:00 After Trump (m000s1sw)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 on Monday]
WED 11:30 Ability (m000s2k1)
Series 3
Robot Hitler
Matt is 27. He has cerebral palsy and can only speak via an app on his iPad. Everyone who cares about Matt knows that this isn't the defining thing about him.
He is funny and clever and "up for stuff" - partly because he is keen to show that there's nothing he can't do, but also because, if he's honest, he's aware that he's less likely than other people to get the blame.
In this third series of the award-nominated comedy, Matt is still sharing a flat with his best mate, Jess (Sammy Dobson). He still has his rubbish carer, Bob (Jason Lewis) and, over the last year or so, the three of them have been through a lot together - well a lot of drinking and hangovers anyway. And now, finally, Matt meets a woman he likes and who also seems to like him (Anna, played by Lisa Hammond).
And they seem to have so much in common - she is even a wheelchair user so they can share their annoyance and grief at people's crazy attitudes to disabilities. What could possibly go wrong?
As well as his mechanical voice, Matt also has a strong inner-voice, played by Andrew Hayden-Smith.
Ability is the semi-autobiographical co-creation of the 2018 Britain’s Got Talent winner, Lee Ridley, otherwise known as Lost Voice Guy. Like his sitcom creation, Lee has cerebral palsy and can only speak via an app. He is - probably - the first stand up comedian to use a communication aid. Prior to BGT, Lee won the BBC New Comedy Award in 2014. He has written and performed four full Edinburgh shows and completed major sell out tours of the UK.
The series is co-written by Kat Butterfield and Daniel Audritt. It's set in Newcastle and many of the cast last played together as children in Biker’s Grove.
A Funny Bones production for BBC Radio 4
WED 12:00 News Summary (m000s2k4)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 12:03 Shipping Forecast (m000s2k6)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
WED 12:06 Light Perpetual by Francis Spufford (m000s2k8)
Episode 3
1944: In the fictional south London borough of Bexford, a German rocket explodes, destroying an entire store and part of the high street. Among the dead are Valerie, Jo, Vern, Alec and Ben - four year-olds who were accompanying their mothers to Woolworths.
‘Their part in time is done’ but what of their possible futures? In ‘some other version of the reel of time’ their might-be and could-be lives are played out across the next 65 years.
It's 1964 and 24 year-old Vern needs to secure a loan. He takes a young Millwall footballer out to lunch.
Francis Spufford’s first novel, Golden Hill, won the Costa First Novel Award, the RSL Ondaatje Prize, and the Desmond Elliott Prize. His second novel takes its title from the Book of Common Prayer - Give to the departed eternal rest. Let light perpetual shine upon them.
Written by Francis Spufford
Read by Jamie Parker
Abridged by Jill Waters and Isobel Creed
Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4
WED 12:20 You and Yours (m000s2kb)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
WED 12:57 Weather (m000s2kd)
The latest weather forecast
WED 13:00 World at One (m000s2kg)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Sarah Montague.
WED 13:45 Trading Spaces (m000s2kj)
Episode 3
Professor Deborah Sugg Ryan examines the pandemic's impact on the High Street.
WED 14:00 The Archers (m000s19k)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 Dangerous Visions (m000s2kl)
Welcome to MedPatch
Dangerous Visions: Welcome to Medpatch by Kevin Core
It is the day after tomorrow. The NHS is history and the Artificial Intelligence health app Medpatch has ushered in a new era of diagnosis and treatment. As ex-health workers adjust to a vanished career, Jenna, a former doctor, finds herself employed on a new frontier of public health. And she’s about to make a discovery. Thriller about healthcare and technology.
Jenna........................Ophelia Lovibond
Medpatch/Lauren.....Meera Syal
Luke............................Joe Bannister
Dean............................James Cooney
Sash..............................Verity Henry
Jake..............................Kenny Blyth
Director/Producer Gary Brown
Drawing on the revolution in remote, smartphone led diagnostics and advances in health AI, it’s a thriller about how much of ourselves we’re willing to hand to the private sector. And as corporations vie to become the Google of Health - Welcome to Medpatch considers questions about technology and healthcare which may have to be answered sooner than we think.
WED 15:00 Money Box (m000s2kp)
Paul Lewis and a panel of guests answer calls on personal finance.
WED 15:30 Inside Health (m000s19t)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Tuesday]
WED 16:00 Sideways (m000s7n1)
Siding with the Enemy
Best-selling author Matthew Syed explores the ideas that shape our lives with stories of seeing the world differently.
A criminal walks into a Swedish bank brandishing a machine gun. He takes a handful of bank workers hostage. The police lock the victims and their captors in the vault and then things start to get weird. Despite being held captive and threatened with violence, the hostages side with the criminals.
Stockholm Syndrome is born.
In this episode, Matthew Syed reexamines the birth of this peculiar psychiatric disorder and discovers that all is not what it seems.
Producer: Gemma Newby
Music, Sound Design and Mix: Benbrick
Series Editor: Russell Finch
Executive Producers: Sean Glynn and Max O'Brien
A Novel production for BBC Radio 4
WED 16:30 The Media Show (m000s2kw)
Topical programme about the fast-changing media world
WED 17:00 PM (m000s2ky)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000s2l2)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 18:30 Gossip and Goddesses with Granny Kumar (m000s2l4)
Episode 1
Granny Kumar is back! Meera Syal’s glorious comedy creation returns, with her great granddaughter Maya (Ambreen Razia) and arch nemesis “frenemy” Geeta (Harvey Virdi) to chat with the sisters.
Left alone while her family are stuck in quarantine on a world cruise, Granny Kumar decides to host her own series, born out of frustration at seeing or hearing the same old parade of guests on chat shows (mainly male, pale and stale).
She wonders why no one interviews any of the sisters and asks them about their extraordinary, complex and uplifting stories.
So, Gossip and Goddesses is born – Ummi Kumar gathers together her favourite inspirational women at Wembley Community Centre, aided by her millennial great granddaughter Maya and her arch nemesis “frenemy” Geeta, leader of the local Asian Ladies Silver Bats community group.
The show is a women-only party, where they share stories, laugh loads and chew the fat/dish the dirt/eat the biscuits…
A blend of sitcom, silliness and improvised chat, led by the best kind of interviewers who know how to make anyone talk - two really nosy old Indian women.
Guests:
Multi-award winning journalist Samira Ahmed and BAFTA winning actress Thandie Newton.
Cast:
Ummi Kumar – Meera Syal
Geeta Bhandari – Harvey Virdi
Maya Kumar – Ambreen Razia
Written by Meera Syal
Music by Sanjeev Bhaskar and Meera Syal
Producer: Liz Anstee
A CPL production for BBC Radio 4
WED 19:00 The Archers (m000s2l7)
Shula questions her future and two residents dig for information.
WED 19:15 Front Row (m000s2l9)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
WED 19:45 Incredible Women - Series 8 (m000nf2v)
Episode 3
Episode 3:
After a spooky night in the remote house of his latest interviewee, the famous Skeptic Dr Fay Bee, Jeremy discovers a room full of antique magic tricks.
Dr Fay Sullivan – Rebecca Front
Jeremy – Jeremy Front
Nadezdha – Imogen Front
Written by Jeremy Front
Sound design by Olga Reed
Produced & Directed by Victoria Lloyd
WED 20:00 Moral Maze (m000s2lc)
Combative, provocative and engaging live debate examining the moral issues behind one of the week's news stories. #moralmaze
WED 20:45 Soundstage (b05mt6m2)
The Wash
The Wash is a large rectangular-shaped tidal estuary in East Anglia bordering Lincolnshire and Norfolk. Wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson has long been fascinated by both the mystery of King John's treasure which it's claimed was lost and buried in the mud here, and the wildlife of the Wash. This is a strange and haunting habitat; a no man's land where twice each day the tide sweeps in across the mud and drives tens of thousands of wading birds off their feeding grounds and onto a temporary roost by the shingle and gravel pits at the R.S.P.B. reserve at Snettisham in Norfolk. It's a bewitching spectacle, especially on a spring tide. At low tide the birds disperse and only the feint roar of the distant sea can be heard across the vast expanses of exposed mud. Beneath the mud however there are the sounds of crustaceans and worms; a rich food supply and the reason why so many thousands of birds are attracted to The Wash. As the tide turns, rivulets of water trickle across the mud. The tide gathers pace, and as it does it so, it forces the birds towards the shore and into the air. Huge flocks numbering hundreds then thousands of birds are pushed off the mud and onto the gravel pits. When Chris visited, the birds were roosting well away from the water and in complete darkness. Yet soon after the tide turned and by some unknown signal the knots' chattering calls increased and then the leading edge of the flock suddenly took off and thousands of birds departed creating a huge wave of sound rather like the take-off of a large jet aircraft. Within a few minutes quiet and calm was restored to the gravel pits. For Chris, it's these wild sounds of the birds revealed as the tides ebb and flow which are the real hidden treasures of The Wash. Producer Sarah Blunt.
WED 21:00 The Power of... (m000qwsk)
The Power of Celibacy
You might think that sex is essential for life, but you'd be wrong!
Lucy Cooke travels to the Hawaiian island of Oahu to meet a community of mourning geckos - self-cloning sisters who have done away with males altogether.
An array of reptiles, amphibians and fish, along with a host of spineless wonders, from snails to spiders, can reproduce without sex. It's what biologists call parthenogenesis, from the Greek meaning “virgin birth”.
Many, like the mourning gecko, make great “weed” species. They're explosive opportunists capable of rapidly colonising new territory, as they don’t need to waste energy finding a mate. But without the mixing up of genes, that sex with a male provides, they are less able to adapt and change.
So sex pays if you don’t want to go extinct.
Yet there is one self-cloning sister that defies that theory - the Bdelloid Rotifer. Living for millions of years and comprising over 450 species, these microscopic water dwelling creatures have conquered the planet. They get around the drawbacks of no sex, by stealing genes, and escape disease by desiccating and then coming back to life.
Producer: Beth Eastwood
WED 21:30 The Media Show (m000s2kw)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 today]
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (m000s2lf)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
WED 22:45 Light Perpetual by Francis Spufford (m000s2k8)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:06 today]
WED 23:00 Bunk Bed (m000s2lh)
Series 7
Episode 6
Actress Rachael Stirling and her husband, singer Guy Garvey join Patrick Marber and Peter Curran in the dark to discuss poignant and comic mishaps while caring for Rachael's mother, Dame Diana Rigg, towards the end of her life.
A Foghorn Company production for BBC Radio 4
WED 23:15 The Skewer (m000s2lk)
Series 3
Episode 5
Jon Holmes's award winning satirical river of sound returns to twist itself into the news.
WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (m000s2lm)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament
THURSDAY 11 FEBRUARY 2021
THU 00:00 Midnight News (m000s2lp)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
THU 00:30 Fall: The Mystery of Robert Maxwell by John Preston (m000s2lr)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000s2lt)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000s2lw)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000s2ly)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
THU 05:30 News Briefing (m000s2m0)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000s2m2)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Revd Dr Paul Mathole.
Good Morning.
This coming Sunday is Valentine's day. It’s a day that has accrued many layers of association: affection, romance, sentiment, celebration and perhaps too... consumerism.
Valentine's Day falls just after the anniversary of the first publication of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. It’s the story of Miss Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy. Their initial mutual disdain and dislike thaws into a warm and true affection. Since its publication over two centuries ago, it’s been read and reread, recast on television and cinema screens.
What has often struck me is how Austen's story hinges upon an act of selfless love. Mr Darcy rescues Elizabeth's sister and saves her family from disgrace. But he does so in secret; Elizabeth is unaware of what he’s done for her family. His desire is to do Elizabeth good. It is a desire so genuine that, at that point, it is not based upon what he might get in return. Indeed, he knows it may come in the face of her ongoing rejection.
It isn't often that we compare Mr. Darcy to Christ, but what strikes me is that this unconditional, undemanding love resonates strongly with the portrayal of Jesus' love. Jesus' sacrificial death is selfless and for the good of humanity. And as he lays down his life it is not based on him receiving approval or even much thankfulness. In fact, as he walked the path to Calvary, nearly everyone had rejected him. And yet this is how he ‘so loved the world’.
Loving God, may our love for one another increasingly have the quality of Jesus’ love. Make us selfless, unconditional. May we freely love others because you first loved us and laid down your life for us.
Amen.
THU 05:45 Farming Today (m000s2m4)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
THU 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b020tpqx)
Gannet
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Gannet. The North Atlantic is the international stronghold for this impressive seabird - with its wingspan of nearly 2 metres, remorseless expression and dagger-like bill.
THU 06:00 Today (m000s2qb)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
THU 09:00 In Our Time (m000s2qd)
The Rosetta Stone
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the most famous museum objects in the world, shown in the image above in replica, and dating from around 196 BC. It is a damaged, dark granite block on which you can faintly see three scripts engraved: Greek at the bottom, Demotic in the middle and Hieroglyphs at the top. Napoleon’s soldiers found it in a Mamluk fort at Rosetta on the Egyptian coast, and soon realised the Greek words could be used to unlock the hieroglyphs. It was another 20 years before Champollion deciphered them, becoming the first to understand the hieroglyphs since they fell out of use 1500 years before and so opening up the written culture of ancient Egypt to the modern age.
With
Penelope Wilson
Associate Professor of Egyptian Archaeology at Durham University
Campbell Price
Curator of Egypt and Sudan at the Manchester Museum
And
Richard Bruce Parkinson
Professor of Egyptology and Fellow of The Queen’s College, University of Oxford
Producer: Simon Tillotson
THU 09:45 Fall: The Mystery of Robert Maxwell by John Preston (m000s2qg)
Ep 4 - Opulence and Debt
Henry Goodman reads from John Preston’s compelling biography. Today, Maxwell’s success is uncontested, it’s the 1980s and the age of flash. But opulent parties and champagne business launches mask the cracks appearing in his empire’s finances.
The life story of the larger-than- life newspaper owner Robert Maxwell, takes us from his birth to his mysterious death at sea. Maxwell remains an enigma, he was a hugely successful businessman who came from humble beginnings as an Orthodox Jew in Czechoslovakia, and whose father sold animal skins for a living, Maxwell became a British war-hero, decorated for his heroism, then a Labour MP, all the while amassing a huge fortune as the owner of publishing and newspaper businesses.
But when he fell from his yacht, the Lady Ghislaine, in the middle of the night in 1991, another story was revealed - of debts and unscrupulous dealings. No-one had ever fallen so far and so quickly.
John Preston's gripping biography sets out to give the definitive account of Robert Maxwell's rise and fall and to explain why underneath this apparent model of society lay an amoral and bloated wreck.
The Reader is Henry Goodman
The Abridger is Richard Hamilton
The Producer is Elizabeth Allard
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000s2qj)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.
THU 10:45 Faith, Hope and Glory (m000s2ql)
Series 1
Gloria and Clement
The history of post-war Britain is told through the lives of Hope Kiffin, Eunice Lamming and Gloria de Soto, bound forever by one moment in 1946. Today, we meet Gloria de Soto and her husband Clement.
Gloria ..... Pippa Bennett Warner
Clement ..... Stefan Adegebola
Waitress ..... Emma Handy
Writer ..... Roy Williams
Director ..... Mary Peate
Producer ..... Jessica Dromgoole
THU 11:00 From Our Own Correspondent (m000s2qn)
Insight, and analysis from BBC correspondents around the world
THU 11:30 The Lost Sounds Orchestra (m000s2qq)
For the vast majority of the 200,000 years humans have been on the earth, let alone its first 4.6 billion years of existence, the sonic story has been a fleeting, unrepeatable live show. Miss it, and you missed out. But now, thanks to the efforts of a dedicated cohort of scientists, historians and musicians, some of the world's most weird and wonderful ‘lost sounds’ are making a comeback. Mary-Ann Ochota meets the people who are bringing sounds of the past to life through the technology of the present.
Professor Julia Clark of Texas University takes issue with Hollywood’s presentation of dinosaur sounds and has been reconstructing the sound of a Tyrannosaurus Rex. She’s identified a voice box in an early bird fossil, revealing clues about vocal structures in dinosaurs. By studying crocodilians, she has a partial glimpse at dinosaur sound-making. Combining them together, then adjusting the frequency to match the size of the massive T-Rex, Julia has given us a better understanding of how the world’s largest land carnivore may have sounded.
Domenico Vicinanza is a scientist and music composer at Anglia Ruskin University who is pioneering data sonification: a computer modelling process that turns data into sounds to give voice to inaudible vibrations from the Earth’s atmosphere. We hear about his latest project creating music from infrasonic measurements captured at Yellowstone National Park in America. Oscillations of the Earth's eruptions are translated into a frequency range we can actually hear, as flute music pieces.
It wasn’t until the 19th century that we first began to capture sounds, but those early efforts were also lost to time, until recently. Patrick Feaster and David Giovannoni have been at the forefront of discovering the oldest sound recordings of the human voice. When they began, the earliest sound anyone could hear was from 1888. In 2008 they pushed that date back 28 years and in so doing showed that it wasn’t the American Thomas Edison who first recorded sound on his phonograph as previously thought, but the Frenchman Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville, who made the world's first recordings of airborne sounds in Paris on a machine he called a phonautograph.
Finally, Emily Thompson is a member of a growing community of historians who’ve turned their attention to the aural landscape, interrogating the materiality and texture of our sonic worlds. Emily explains how she brought alive the soundscape of 1920s New York City through a multimedia database of audio recordings, video and documented noise complaints from the Roaring Twenties, breathing new life into a lost world.
Special thanks to the University of South Carolina and the Municipal Archives, City of New York for use of their archives. To hear more sounds from the Roaring Twenties, visit nycitynoise.com
Presented by Mary-Ann Ochota
Produced by Melissa FitzGerald
A Blakeway production for BBC Radio 4
THU 12:00 News Summary (m000s2qs)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 12:03 Shipping Forecast (m000s2qv)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
THU 12:06 Light Perpetual by Francis Spufford (m000s2qx)
Episode 4
1944: In the fictional south London borough of Bexford, a German rocket explodes, destroying an entire store and part of the high street. Among the dead are Valerie, Jo, Vern, Alec and Ben - four year-olds who were accompanying their mothers to Woolworths.
‘Their part in time is done’ but what of their possible futures? In ‘some other version of the reel of time’ their might-be and could-be lives are played out across the next 65 years.
It's 1979. Ben is 39 years-old and,having been taken off medication and thrust back into the workplace, he is struggling to keep going in a world of internalised, brutally cruel voices. Working as a bus conductor offers the relief and distraction of keeping busy.
Francis Spufford’s first novel, Golden Hill, won the Costa First Novel Award, the RSL Ondaatje Prize, and the Desmond Elliott Prize. His second novel takes its title from the Book of Common Prayer - Give to the departed eternal rest. Let light perpetual shine upon them.
Written by Francis Spufford
Read by Jamie Parker
Abridged by Jill Waters and Isobel Creed
Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4
THU 12:20 You and Yours (m000s2qz)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
THU 12:57 Weather (m000s2r1)
The latest weather forecast
THU 13:00 World at One (m000s2r3)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Sarah Montague.
THU 13:45 Trading Spaces (m000s2r5)
Episode 4
Professor Deborah Sugg Ryan examines the pandemic's impact on the High Street.
THU 14:00 The Archers (m000s2l7)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 Drama (m000s2r7)
In Search Of The Severn Serpent
New drama by Annamaria Murphy.
Dr Jelena Petrovic heads to Weston-super-Mare to investigate recent sightings of a Sea Serpent in the Severn. Why would people believe they have seen a plesiosaur when the most recent bones are 60 million years old? Or is there really something in the water? Starring Anamaria Marinca.
Dr Jelena Petrovic - Anamaria Marinca
Denny - Stuart McLoughlin
Wanda - Abra Thompson
Sylvia - Heather Craney
David the Swimmer - John Cording
Beach Comber - Ashleigh Haddad
and
Evan Davis as Evan Davis
Based on an original idea by The Guerrilla Media Unit at Weston Artspace .
Image from the Biodiversity Heritage Library.
Directed by John Norton
A BBC Cymru Wales Production
THU 15:00 Ramblings (m000s2r9)
Anneka Rice on the Thames Path in London
Anneka Rice is a self-declared obsessive rambler who says she feels out of sorts if she doesn’t walk every day. Today she takes Clare on her favourite route along the banks of the Thames where she discusses how the river ‘tethers’ her, something she needs following a childhood that left her feeling ‘untethered’. Anneka became a household name in the 1980s thanks to the TV series Treasure Hunt, which followed her zipping about in a helicopter and racing against the clock to find clues on behalf of studio-bound contestants. Next came Challenge Anneka where she led groups of volunteers in the creation of community-based projects. At the height of her TV success, she took time out to study at Chelsea College of Art and now spends much of her time painting.
Clare and Anneka start the walk at approx Grid Ref: TQ215764, and walk along the Thames Path in the direction of Kew Gardens, then return on the opposite side of the river ending at Dukes Meadows Bandstand, Grid Ref: TQ214767
Producer: Karen Gregor
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (m000s15n)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 Bookclub (m000s16k)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Sunday]
THU 16:00 The Film Programme (m000s2rc)
Film programme looking at the latest cinema releases, DVDs and films on TV
THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (m000s2rf)
Dr Adam Rutherford and guests illuminate the mysteries and challenge the controversies behind the science that's changing our world
THU 17:00 PM (m000s2rh)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000s2rk)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 18:30 Elephant in the Room (m000s2rm)
Series 2
Episode 6
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 Ninia Benjamin, Bethany Black, Cal Wilson and Gary Delaney.
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 (m000s2rp)
Writer, Katie Hims and Daniel Thurman
Director, Peter Leslie Wild
Editor, Jeremy Howe
Tony Archer .... David Troughton
Brian Aldridge.... Charles Collingwood
Alice Carter ... Hollie Chapman
Chris Carter ... Wilf Scolding
Susan Carter ... Charlotte Martin
Neil Carter.... Brian Hewlett
Justin Elliot.... Simon Williams
Emma Grundy .... Emerald O'Hanrahan
Shula Hebden-Lloyd .... Judy Bennett
Tracy Horrobin.... Susie Riddell
Kirsty Miller .... Annabelle Dowler
Peggy Woolley ... June Spencer
THU 19:15 Front Row (m000s2rr)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
THU 19:45 Incredible Women - Series 8 (m000ncn2)
Episode 4
Episode 4:
Jeremy's interviewee, Skeptic Dr Fay Sullivan, decides that, as a sensitive and gullible believer in the paranormal, he might be an interesting case to study.
Dr Fay Sullivan – Rebecca Front
Jeremy – Jeremy Front
Nadezdha – Imogen Front
Written by Jeremy Front
Sound design by Olga Reed
Produced & Directed by Victoria Lloyd
THU 20:00 The Briefing Room (m000s2rt)
David Aaronovitch and a panel of experts and insiders explore major news stories.
THU 20:30 The Bottom Line (m000s2rw)
Evan Davis chairs a round table discussion providing insight into business from the people at the top
THU 21:00 BBC Inside Science (m000s2rf)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 today]
THU 21:30 In Our Time (m000s2qd)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (m000s2rz)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
THU 22:45 Light Perpetual by Francis Spufford (m000s2qx)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:06 today]
THU 23:00 Henry Normal: A Normal... (m000gtnq)
Universe
Henry Normal: A Normal... Universe
"Shove up National Treasures. We need to make room for Henry Normal"
Simon O'Hagan - Radio Times
The sixth instalment in this acclaimed, occasional series in which acclaimed, occasional writer Henry Normal uses poetry, stories and comedy to tackle those subjects so big only radio can possibly contain them.
In this new episode Henry explores our relationship to the vastness of the universe throughout eternity and beyond, taking us on a curious journey of time and space with the aid of a very big microscope and some dodgy rhymes.
Henry Normal is a multi-award winning writer, producer and poet. Co-writer of award winning TV programmes such as The Royle Family, The Mrs Merton Show, Coogan’s Run and Paul Calf, and producer of, amongst many others, Oscar-Nominated Philomena, Gavin and Stacey and Alan Partridge.
He has published several volumes of poetry, including Travelling Second Class Through Hope, Staring Directly at the Eclipse, Raining Upwards and his new volume This Phantom Breath. And his memoir, A Normal Family: Everyday adventures with our autistic son.
Praise for previous episodes in this series:
"It's a rare and lovely thing: half an hour of radio that stops you short, gently demands your attention and then wipes your tears away while you have to have a little sit down"
"It's a real treat to hear a seasoned professional like Henry taking command of this evening comedy spot to deliver a show that's idiosyncratic and effortlessly funny"
"Not heard anything that jumps from hilarious to moving in such an intelligent, subtle way as Henry Normal's show"
Written and performed by Henry Normal
Production Coordinator - Beverly Tagg
Produced by Carl Cooper
This was a BBC Studios production.
THU 23:30 Today in Parliament (m000s2s3)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament
FRIDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2021
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (m000s2s5)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 00:30 Fall: The Mystery of Robert Maxwell by John Preston (m000s2qg)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Thursday]
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000s2s7)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000s2s9)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000s2sc)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
FRI 05:30 News Briefing (m000s2sf)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000s2sh)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Revd Dr Paul Mathole.
Good morning.
Today is Chinese New Year, or Lunar New Year, celebrated as it is in many parts of the world. A friend and member of my congregation is from Hong Kong. She described how Chinese New Year is like Christmas, but more dramatic!
She told me it’s a time for family: People travel great distances to get home to be with them and eat with them. There are celebrations with flower markets, lion dances, firecrackers and fireworks.
And she described it as a time of blessing. As people stick red paper everywhere with calligraphy messages wishing people well.
Of course, this year, lots of this has been curtailed. Many won’t be able to travel to see their families and friends, with the lockdown here and around the world. Many will feel isolated and far from home, including many international students in the UK.
My friend also explained that at Chinese New Year it’s common for every household to put the red wishes on the tops and sides of the door frame. The legend has it that it stops a new year monster from going into people’s houses to kill them on new year’s eve. My friend is a Christian and it’s always reminded her of the Exodus story, and the red blood on the doorposts. Those inside were kept safe by God.
Heavenly Father, we pray for those celebrating the Lunar New Year. We pray for many who are far from family and for whom this will be a more painful time. We pray that as they wish one another blessing, they may know you are a gracious God who cares for them.
Amen.
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (m000s2sk)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
FRI 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b0952zl1)
David Rothenberg on the White-Crested Laughingthrush
The white-crested laughingthrush is a superb accompaniment to David Rothenberg as he plays the clarinet, the best bird to play along with in this Tweet of the Day.
Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. In this latest 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 Tim Dee
Image WikiCommons / cuatrock77.
FRI 06:00 Today (m000s3nh)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (m000s163)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:00 on Sunday]
FRI 09:45 Fall: The Mystery of Robert Maxwell by John Preston (m000s3r2)
Ep 5 - Maxwell's Disappearance
Henry Goodman reads from John Preston’s biography. Today, Maxwell is at sea. His reputation and business empire are in peril.
The life story of the larger-than- life newspaper owner Robert Maxwell, takes us from his birth to his mysterious death at sea. Maxwell remains an enigma, he was a hugely successful businessman who came from humble beginnings as an Orthodox Jew in Czechoslovakia, and whose father sold animal skins for a living, Maxwell became a British war-hero, decorated for his heroism, then a Labour MP, all the while amassing a huge fortune as the owner of publishing and newspaper businesses.
But when he fell from his yacht, the Lady Ghislaine, in the middle of the night in 1991, another story was revealed - of debts and unscrupulous dealings. No-one had ever fallen so far and so quickly.
John Preston's gripping biography sets out to give the definitive account of Robert Maxwell's rise and fall and to explain why underneath this apparent model of society lay an amoral and bloated wreck.
The Reader is Henry Goodman
The Abridger is Richard Hamilton
The Producer is Elizabeth Allard
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000s3nr)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.
FRI 10:45 Faith, Hope and Glory (m000s3nt)
Series 1
Faith and Trevor
The history of post-war Britain is told through the lives of Hope Kiffin, Eunice Lamming and Gloria de Soto, bound forever by one moment in 1946. Today, Faith and Trevor meet in a pub near Tilbury Docks.
Cast
Faith ..... Shiloh Coke
Trevor ..... Gary Beadle
Writer ..... Roy Williams
Director ..... Mary Peate
Producer ..... Jessica Dromgoole
FRI 11:00 The Disrupters (m000s6xq)
DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis
Rohan and Kamal talk to artificial intelligence expert, neuroscientist and entrepreneur Demis Hassabis. A former chess child prodigy, Demis is chief executive of DeepMind, the artificial intelligence business bought by Google for £400m only three years after it had started. But previously Demis had another company, which had failed. In this podcast he talks about lessons learnt from that experience; the dangers of being over idealistic, burn out and knowing when to cut your losses.
FRI 11:30 Suggs: Love Letters to London (m000s3nw)
Oxford Street
Suggs takes you on a trip through a familiar part of London, Europe’s busiest shopping street, also known as Oxford Street. There's a few stories, a couple of songs and even a well crafted joke or two.
Performed by Suggs
Written by Suggs with Owen Lewis
Directed by Owen Lewis
Musical Director: Owen Parker
Producer: Richard Melvin
A Dabster production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 12:00 News Summary (m000s3ny)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 12:03 Shipping Forecast (m000s3p0)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
FRI 12:06 Light Perpetual by Francis Spufford (m000s3p2)
Episode 5
1944: In the fictional south London borough of Bexford, a German rocket explodes, destroying an entire store and part of the high street. Among the dead are Valerie, Jo, Vern, Alec and Ben - four year-olds who were accompanying their mothers to Woolworths.
‘Their part in time is done’ but what of their possible futures? In ‘some other version of the reel of time’ their might-be and could-be lives are played out across the next 65 years.
It's 1979 and, five months into the dispute between printworkers and management at The Times, Alec is on the picket. In California, Jo is making music but still rebuffed by love.
Francis Spufford’s first novel, Golden Hill, won the Costa First Novel Award, the RSL Ondaatje Prize, and the Desmond Elliott Prize. His second novel takes its title from the Book of Common Prayer - Give to the departed eternal rest. Let light perpetual shine upon them.
Written by Francis Spufford
Read by Jamie Parker
Abridged by Jill Waters and Isobel Creed
Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 12:20 You and Yours (m000s3p4)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
FRI 12:57 Weather (m000s3p6)
The latest weather forecast
FRI 13:00 World at One (m000s3p8)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Edward Stourton.
FRI 13:45 Trading Spaces (m000s3pb)
Episode 5
Professor Deborah Sugg Ryan examines the pandemic's impact on the High Street.
FRI 14:00 The Archers (m000s2rp)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Drama (m000s3pd)
The Bully
Zalie Burrow's drama based on the true ordeal of a mum and her young son's traumatic journey with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. At times harrowing and painful but with love, hope and inspiration at its core.
Mum, Kate ..... Juliet Aubrey
Joe ..... Charlie Brand
Angie/Mrs Morton ..... Tracy Wiles
Dr Taylor ..... Hasan Dixon
Virginia Steele ..... Jessica Turner
Doreen ..... Jane Slavin
Professor Dickinson/Bruce ..... Nicholas Murchie
Older Joe ..... Luke Nunn
Writer Zalie Burrow
Directed by Tracey Neale
OCD, left untreated, can quickly overwhelm the sufferer and in Joe's case it leads to entire days being filled from beginning to end with repeated rituals, intrusive thoughts and irrepressible panic. Based on a true story, Zalie Burrow tells the harrowing story of Kate and her son Joe and their painful but yet inspiring path in finding the right treatment for OCD.
The Bully stars Juliet Aubrey as Joe's mum Kate. Juliet played Dorothea in BBC TV's Middlemarch and was the Narrator, George Eliot in Radio 4's recent adaptation of the novel. She also played Edith in five series of Radio 4's The Little Ottleys. Juliet's other TV and film work includes Primeval, Five Daughters, Snatch, Go Now, Fallen, The Infiltrator and LX 2048.
And Joe is played by Charlie Brand. This is his first lead role in a audio drama. His previous work includes playing young Linton in Radio 4's adaptation of Wuthring Heights..
This is Zalie's second drama for Radio 4 but her first solo credit. Her first drama, co-written with Guy Meredith, was 24 Hours From Tulse Hill. Zalie has previously written on-line dramas for The Wireless Theatre Company. Her play School Run appeared at the Leicester Square Theatre and Canal Cafe Theatre.
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m000s3pg)
GQT at Home: Episode Forty-Three
Kathy Clugston hosts the horticultural Q&A. Matthew Wilson, Chris Beardshaw and Bunny Guinness answer questions from the virtual audience.
Producer - Hannah Newton
Assistant Producer - Rosie Merotra
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 15:45 Short Works (m000s3pl)
Progress by Jo Lloyd
With their rural house yet to join the National Grid, a couple disagree about what constitutes progress in this specially commissioned work for for radio.
Writer Jo Lloyd grew up in South Wales and won the BBC National Short Story Award in 2019 for "The Invisible", inspired by the life of an 18th Century woman from Carnarvonshire. It is one of the stories included in her debut collection The Earth, Thy Great Exchequer, Ready Lies which is published by Swift Books in February 2021
Reader: Amanda Lawrence
Producer: Ciaran Bermingham
FRI 16:00 Last Word (m000s3pq)
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 (m000s2jq)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 on Wednesday]
FRI 17:00 PM (m000s3pv)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000s3q3)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 18:30 The News Quiz (m000s3q7)
Series 104
Episode 7
A satirical review of the week's news
FRI 19:00 Front Row (m000s3qc)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
FRI 19:45 Incredible Women - Series 8 (m000nd08)
Episode 5
Jeremy Front and Rebecca Front return for the last episode of the 8th Series of Incredible Women.
Episode 5:
Jeremy finishes his interview with Dr Fay Sullivan, suspicious that she has been hoaxing him all along.
Dr Fay Sullivan – Rebecca Front
Jeremy – Jeremy Front
The Man from the AA – Sanjeev Kohli
Nadezdha – Imogen Front
Victoria - Margaret Cabourn-Smith
Written by Jeremy Front
Sound design by Olga Reed
Produced & Directed by Victoria Lloyd
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (m000s3qh)
Dehenna Davison MP, Ben Lake MP, Lara McNeill, Bejay Mulenga
Chris Mason presents political debate and discussion with a panel all aged under 30: the Conservative MP Dehenna Davison, the Plaid Cymru MP Ben Lake, the Youth Representative on Labour's NEC Lara McNeill and the entrepreneur Bejay Mulenga.
Producer: Camellia Sinclair
Studio direction: Kirsty Starkey
FRI 20:50 A Point of View (m000s3qm)
Weekly reflections on topical issues from a range of contributors.
FRI 21:00 Fatwa (m000s58r)
Omnibus (1/2)
The hidden story of the 1989 fatwa issued against Salman Rushdie - the forces which led to the death sentence and the consequences for all of us. The series covers a 20-year period from 1979 to 1999 and explores race relations in Britain, identity, free speech and the connection between the fatwa and contemporary violent jihad.
Producer: Chloe Hadjimatheou
Presenters: Chloe Hadjimatheou and Mobeen Azhar
Editor: Richard Knight
This episode includes clips from Love Thy Neighbour (a Thames Television production for the ITV network) and My Beautiful Laundrette (directed by Stephen Frears, produced by Working Title Films) as well as clips from the BBC’s own archive.
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (m000s3qr)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
FRI 22:45 Light Perpetual by Francis Spufford (m000s3p2)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:06 today]
FRI 23:00 Americast (m000s3qw)
Emily Maitlis and Jon Sopel follow the the US election.
FRI 23:30 Today in Parliament (m000s3qy)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament