SATURDAY 10 APRIL 2021

SAT 00:00 Midnight News (m000twvj)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 00:32 Meditation (m000vjcv)
A meditation following the death of His Royal Highness Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, led by the Rev Dr Sam Wells, Vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields, in London.


SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000twvl)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000twvn)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.


SAT 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000twvq)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SAT 05:30 News Briefing (m000twvs)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000twvv)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Cardinal Vincent Nichols

Good morning.

Today we mourn the death of His Royal Highness Prince Philip, a man of such vitality, determination and noble sense of duty. Who can forget the pageant on the River Thames marking the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee when he stood for hours in the rain at her side, not counting the cost? I recall also, at the Palace of Holyrood House, he stood alongside the Queen and the Pope, all three in their eighties, each committed to serving nation or church without regard for age or personal cost. A little time later, in an interview marking his ninetieth birthday, Prince Philip said that he would slow down and reduce his duties, stating that he had ‘done his bit’. Only much later did he in fact retire from public life.

This is how many of us will remember Prince Philip – always there beside his wife and sovereign, but active in his own right. This was the life he chose when he married her, knowing that she would one day be Queen. At the Coronation he was not crowned of course, but knelt before her with her hands enclosing his, and swore to be her ‘liege man of life and limb’. At the Diamond Jubilee the Queen referred to him as her ‘constant strength and guide’.

Lord, we thank you for the long life which you gave to your servant, Prince Philip, a life lived in loyalty and service to his Queen and to our country . As he now rests from his labours may he share in your peace and rise in glory.

Amen


SAT 05:45 Bodies (m000rcp7)
Episode 2: The skull cup and the shape-shifters - The body in prehistory

The human body is the battleground where our most fundamental ideas about the way the world is come into sharp focus.

When we think and talk about the body, we are suddenly very aware of that pattern of thinking which frames concepts in opposition, divides the world up between dark and light, material and immaterial, technology and humanity, invisible and visible, mind and body, body and soul.

In this new ten part series, academic and broadcaster Professor Alice Roberts traces how human knowledge of anatomy has grown and changed over time, and how this changing understanding has in turn affected our understanding of who we are.

Episode 2: The skull cup and the shape-shifters - The body in pre-history

What did our pre-historic ancestors think of the human body? Did they see it as the same as the animals they hunted – a collection of bones, muscle, sinews and blood vessels. Or was it somehow separate? Professor Alice Roberts contemplates tantalising glimpses of human bodies from our deep past – a human skull used as a drinking vessel, a statue of a half-man half-lion being, tiny figurines of Ice Age women.

Presenter: Professor Alice Roberts
Actor: Jonathan Kydd

A Made in Manchester production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 06:00 News and Papers (m000v236)
The latest news headlines. Including the weather and a look at the papers.


SAT 06:07 Open Country (m000twh9)
Canna

Canna is four miles long and one mile wide. It has no doctor and the primary school closed a few years ago. The islanders depend on a weekly ferry service for post, food and medical supplies. Fiona Mackenzie and her husband, Donald, have lived on the island for six years. Donald is the harbourmaster and Fiona is the archivist for the priceless collection of Gaelic music, photographs and literature stored in Canna House. She's also an accomplished folk singer - the ideal guide for an Open Country visit to the island.

The folklorist and Gaelic scholar, John Lorne Campbell, bought the island in the 1950s. His family was part of Scotland's landed gentry, but he was opposed to sporting estates and absentee landlords and wanted to develop Canna as a flourishing, Gaelic-speaking community. He lived in the island's Big House with his wife, Margaret Fay Shaw - a Gaelic song collector. Canna House became a bohemian Hebridean retreat with a constant flow of colourful visitors including Compton Mackenzie, the author of Whiskey Galore. Campbell's vision for Canna never fully materialised and he gave the island and its archive to the National Trust for Scotland in 1981. It is run as a sheep and moor farm and has a population of just 14.

As well as her archive work, Fiona Mackenzie gives visitors impromptu history and nature walks. She and Fiona Hutton, owner of the island's only guesthouse, take the listeners on a tour of some of the island's sights of historic interest. Fiona and her neighbours also discuss the rewards and challenges of living in a small island community, particularly during the Covid lockdowns.

Down at the shoreline, she finishes the programme with a treat for the listener, a 'Song for Attracting Seals' – .and she promises it does work!


SAT 06:30 Farming Today (m000v238)
10/04/21 - Farming Today This Week: Dogs in the countryside, wetland rewilding and spring on the farm

Should dogs be kept on leads all the time whenever they're out in the countryside? The Country Land and Business Association says yes. There's been a 10% increase in dog attacks on sheep since this time last year, but there's another problem dogs can cause for farmers: parasites found in some dog poo can be passed on to cattle, and can even cause cows to abort calves. Charlotte Smith hears from a dairy farmer about the emotional and financial impact of getting the infection in a herd.

Peat is a major ingredient in compost used by gardeners and farmers alike. But it's harvested from the wild, damaging peatland habitats and releasing carbon into the atmosphere. The Royal Horticultural Society has announced it will be completely peat free by 2025 as it switches to other growing media including sphagnum moss. But does it come as too little, too late?

We find out more about a project in East Devon to recreate a huge tidal wetland at Budleigh Salterton. A 200 year old sea embankment will be breached, to allow fields in the estuary of the River Otter to flood, creating salt marsh and mud flats, with the aim of improving habitats and capturing carbon.

And we bring you the sounds of Spring on the farm - from new calves and lambs, to the last seeds being planted.

Presented by Charlotte Smith
Produced for BBC Audio by Heather Simons


SAT 06:57 Weather (m000v23b)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SAT 07:00 Today (m000v23d)
Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (m000v23g)
Mel Giedroyc and Alice Cooper

Nikki Bedi and Rev Richard Coles are joined by Mel Giedroyc, one half of Mel and Sue who shot to fame hosting Light Lunch, and then warmed our hearts and made us drool with the comforting TV cooking competition programme Great British Bake Off. Since Mel has acted, presented, podcasted about quilting, and she’s written her first novel.
Stuart Lawrence’s life was thrown into disarray aged 17 when his adored older brother Stephen was killed in a racially motivated attack. Determined to have an positive impact on young people, he became a teacher, and is now a motivational speaker.
Tiggi Trethowan is a listener who contacted us with her story of losing her sight.
Ade Adepitan is a paralympian and TV presenter whose latest series meets the people whose lives have already been affected by climate change.
Alice Cooper chooses his Inheritance Tracks: Train Kept a Rollin’ by The Yardbirds and Thunderclap Newman, Something in the air
and your Thank you.
Producer: Corinna Jones


SAT 10:30 The Kitchen Cabinet (m000v23j)
Series 31

Home Economics: Episode 28

Jay Rayner and his culinary panel are back with another episode, packed full of tasty titbits. Sumayya Usmani, Tim Hayward, Jordan Bourke and Dr Annie Gray answer your questions about how to achieve the perfect quiche, uses for wild garlic, and surprising gadgets they didn't know they needed.

And Melek Erdal joins the panel to talk about her favourite Kurdish dishes.

Producer: Hannah Newton
Assistant Producer: Millie Chu

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 11:00 The Briefing Room (m000twhw)
Global supply chains - is the UK vulnerable?

When the 400 metre long Ultra Large Container Vessel, Ever Given, got wedged diagonally across the Suez Canal at the end of March, it brought one of the world’s most important trade routes to a standstill for six days. Around ten per cent of global shipping passes through the canal.
Shipping itself is responsible for some 90 per cent of global trade. The blockage served to revive worries that global supply chains have become a source of vulnerability for economies that rely on international trade. The immediate effect of the Ever Given accident for the UK may not become clear for several weeks.
The Briefing Room asks what longer term vulnerabilities has it exposed and how might these best be mitigated?


Presenter: David Aaronovitch
Production team: Tim Mansel, Paul Moss and Kirsteen Knight



Satellite image shows stranded container ship Ever Given in Suez canal. Egypt March 25th 2021. Credit: Reuters


SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m000v23l)
Jordan's palace intrigues

Jordan is often portrayed as a stable, moderate country whose royal family have guided it wisely through turbulent times in a dangerous neighbourhood. But that royal family has rifts of its own and they burst into full view in recent weeks, as a public feud broke out between King Abdullah and his half-brother, the former Crown Prince Hamza. The BBC’s Middle East editor, Jeremy Bowen, has his own memories of the country’s intimate power struggles – past and present.

In Rwanda, a man once seen around the world as a hero is now standing trial accused of terrorism. Paul Rusesabagina, a former hotel manager, sheltered hundreds of people from the killers during the 1994 genocide. But he became a critic in exile of the government of Rwanda's President, Paul Kagame - and apparently a target for Rwandan intelligence. Michela Wrong has spent years investigating the complex background to the story.

As the military crackdown on strikers and demonstrators goes on in Myanmar, journalists are also being targeted as they try and cover the situation. Ben Dunant has just returned to the UK after years spent reporting in Myanmar and reflects on the prospects for the colleagues he left behind.

As you might expect, the residents of Paris have been particularly pained by the closure of their restaurants and cafes. But for those in the know, there were still some illicit ways to eat out: networks of private dining rooms and functions. Recently some of those secret arrangements were revealed to the French public – and many who hadn’t been invited were outraged. Joanna Robertson reports.


SAT 12:00 News Summary (m000v23n)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 12:04 Money Box (m000v23q)
Why is the state pension so complicated?

More than 200 pensioners responded to a request to tell us how much their state pension was. They were nearly all different amounts. Next week the basic pension is rising to £137.60 a week and the new state pension paid to younger pensioners to £179.60. But those are amounts that hardly anyone actually gets. So why are pensions - the old and the new - so complicated?

Who better to answer that than two former pensions ministers. Sir Steve Webb had that job throughout the years of the coalition government and Baroness Ros Altmann for just over a year under David Cameron.

Pockit is not a bank. But it does offer what it calls a current account. In fact that is a pre-paid card which customers load money onto and then can spend it almost as if it was a bank account. But some users have told Moneybox that their accounts have been locked and they they have struggled to get through to Pockit to find out what's going on. Paul talks to Martyn James, consumer rights expert at Resolver.

It is now more than 90 days since the UK left the ambit of the EU at the end of the transition period. And more than one million UK people living in EU countries must adapt to the laws that apply to foreign residents. And if you have thought that maybe one day you would like to go to work or retire to an EU country what are the rules you will now have to follow? This week we look at Spain which is home to more people from the UK than any other EU country. Barry Davys is a partner in Spectrum International Financial Adviser group based in Catalunya.

Researcher: Sowda Ali
Producer: Ben Carter
Editor: Richard Vadon


SAT 12:30 The Now Show (m000twv4)
Series 58

Episode 7

Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis present the week via topical stand-up and sketches in front of a remote audience - and all from their own home!

Joining them from a safe distance is Ria Lina and Alun Cochrane with music supplied by Rachel Parris .

Voice Actors: Katie Norris and Luke Kempner

Producer: Pete Strauss
Production Co-Ordinator: Carina Andrews
Editor/Engineer: David Thomas

BBC Studios Production


SAT 12:57 Weather (m000v23s)
The latest weather forecast


SAT 13:00 News and Weather (m000v23v)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (m000twv8)
Lord Hennessy, Jennie Bond, Stephen Bush, Sir Max Hastings, Professor Margaret MacMillan, Sir Simon Schama

Chris Mason presents discussion on the impact of the life of Prince Philip and on how the UK and the world changed in his lifetime. Joining him are the constitutional historian Lord Hennessy; former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond; political editor of The New Statesman Stephen Bush; journalist and historian Sir Max Hastings, historian Professor Margaret MacMillan and broadcaster and historian Sir Simon Schama.
Producer: Camellia Sinclair
Studio director: Kirsty Starkey


SAT 14:00 Any Answers? (m000v23x)
Prince Philip, and Northern Ireland

Did you ever meet Prince Philip – have you got a story to tell? We’d love to hear from you.

What about other news – there’s been another night of rioting in Belfast -- are you in Northern Ireland? How worried are you?


SAT 14:45 One to One (m000lmdx)
Introverts & Extroverts: Russell Kane talks to Mark Vernon

What are you: an introvert or an extrovert? Russell Kane is a comedian, so he has always assumed he's a textbook loud-mouthed extrovert. But now he's not so sure.

Across this series of interviews, Russell explores exactly what we mean by the terms "introvert" and "extrovert". He questions whether it is useful to define people in this way and whether we have a cultural bias towards one personality type over the other.

In this first of three parts, Russell asks psychotherapist and author Mark Vernon about the origins of the terms "introvert" and "extrovert" as coined by psychoanalyst Carl Jung in 1921. How have Jung's definitions been interpreted over the last 100 years? And can his theories help us better understand ourselves?

Producer: Becky Ripley


SAT 15:00 Nora Webster (m000b5hr)
Episode 1

Dramatisation of Colm Tóibín’s powerful bestselling novel Nora Webster, by BAFTA winning screenwriter Adrian Hodges.

In late ‘60s Ireland, Wexford woman Nora Webster is grieving for her husband Maurice. She’s just 40, still wounded by their last weeks in hospital and now a single parent to four children. While her girls are away at school and college, Nora and the boys do their best at home, finding it hard to connect to one other. Nora’s world shrinks around her, forcing her back to the job she did as a young woman before marriage and children. Gradually, tentatively, through music and friendship, Nora begins to find hope again.

Siobhan McSweeney (DERRY GIRLS) stars as Nora Webster and leads a stellar Irish cast including Brid Brennan, Norma Sheahan, Ruth Bradley, Gary Lilburn, Edward MacLiam, Jonathan Forbes, Paul Reid, Sophie Robinson and Lauren Coe.

The bestselling and critically acclaimed novelist Colm Tóibín is perhaps best known for Brooklyn (which became a film starring Saoirse Ronan) and The Master.

Award-winning winning writer for screen and television Adrian Hodges wrote the Oscar nominated film My Week with Marilyn, BAFTA winning TV series Amongst Women (adapted from the novel by John McGahern), the BBC adaptation of Philip Pullman’s The Ruby in the Smoke starring Billie Piper, and was the writer and creator of The Musketeers and co-creator of Primeval.

Written by Colm Tóibín
Dramatised by Adrian Hodges
Directed by Allegra McIlroy

Cast:
Nora Webster …… Siobhan McSweeney
Aunt Josie ….. Brid Brennan
Una …… Norma Sheahan
Catherine …… Ruth Bradley
Jim Webster …… Gary Lilburn
Mick Sinnott …… Edward MacLiam
William Jnr …… Paul Reid
Fiona …… Sophie Robinson
Aine …… Lauren Coe
Conor …… Sinead McGee
Donal …… Tommy Harris
Sister Thomas …… Jessica Turner
Peggy Gibney …… Heather Craney
Other parts were played by the cast.
Sound design ….. David Chilton

Nora Webster is a BBC Northern Ireland Production


SAT 16:00 Woman's Hour (m000v23z)
Weekend Woman's Hour: Body image; Caring for an abuser; Tracey Thorn on her friend Lindy Morrison

The 2011 Census found that 6.5 million people in the UK are carers and provide unpaid care by looking after an ill, older or disabled family member, friend or partner. It found that women are more likely to be carers than men, with 58% of carers being female and 42% male. Emily Holzhausen, Director of Policy and Public Affairs at Carers UK and Alyson Corner, psychologist and co-runs the 'My Horrid Parent' website discuss carers who have a relationship with the person they are caring for that involves a history of abuse.

A parliamentary report into body image has just been published. The Women's and Equalities Committee has been looking into why so many people feel dissatisfied about the way they look. We hear from Caroline Nokes MP, Chair of the committee. Tatyana Findlater who's 21 and has visible burn scars who gave evidence to the Committee and Dawn Estefan, Psychotherapist who works with black women's groups.

Janice Baker, shepherdess on a farm in the Durham Hills, was badly injured when she working having been trampled by one of her own sheep. Her son, the Countryfile and former One Show presenter Matt Baker dropped everything to help keep the farm going. They discuss what happens when the roles are reversed and a child has to help a parent.

Women play a critical role in the cacao industry in West Africa but their voices are rarely heard. Dr Nyagoy Nyong'o’s, Fairtrade Global CEO talks about what life is like for women cocoa farmers.

Hairdressers and beauty salons have been closed for a total of eight months since the start of the pandemic. Weddings were banned in the UK for more than three months last year. Our reporter Melanie Abbott spoke to hair and make-up artist Kirsty McCall.

Writer and singer-songwriter Tracey Thorn talks about her new book, My Rock 'n' Roll Friend. The friend in question is Lindy Morrison who was drummer for an Australian band, The Go-Betweens. Tracey talks about friendship, being a female performer and why she chose to write about Lindy.

Presenter: Anita Rani
Producer: Paula McFarlane
Editor: Siobhann Tighe


SAT 17:00 PM (m000v241)
Full coverage of the day's news


SAT 17:30 Political Thinking with Nick Robinson (m000v243)
Nick Robinson talks to the Scottish health secretary, Jeane Freeman, in a personal and political interview, about her journey from communism via Labour to the SNP, why she thinks Alex Salmond is not fit to hold office, and what went wrong over covid in Scotland's care homes.

Producer: Martin Rosenbaum


SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m000v245)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SAT 17:57 Weather (m000v247)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000v249)
Prince Charles has spoken movingly, in his first public comments since the death of the Duke of Edinburgh. He said his 'dear Papa' had given the most remarkable, devoted service.


SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (m000v1nb)
Dr Michael Mosley, Yasmeen Khan, Tez Ilyas, Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi, Emma Freud, Clive Anderson

Clive Anderson and Emma Freud are joined by Michael Mosley, Yasmeen Khan and Tez Ilyas for an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy. With music from Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi and Philippe Cohen Solal and Mike Lindsay.


SAT 19:00 Profile (m000v24d)
Lex Greensill

The billionaire banker whose finance firm has collapsed and who is now at the centre of a lobbying scandal involving ex-Prime Minister, David Cameron.

Alexander "Lex" Greensill, grew up on his family’s sugar cane and melon farm in Queensland, Australia. After moving to the UK, he went into investment banking, founded a supply chain finance empire - complete with private jets - and, under David Cameron, secured a role in Britain’s Conservative-led Coalition government. After leaving office, the ex-PM became an adviser to the firm – Greensill Capital - which went bust last month, putting at risk 50,000 jobs worldwide.

Mark Coles charts the rise and fall of the farmer’s son who, so the story goes, began his finance company to help small firms get paid more quickly by big businesses.

Researchers: Matt Murphy and Stefania Okereke
Producer: Sally Abrahams
Editor: Richard Vadon


SAT 19:15 The Infinite Monkey Cage (m000s1sh)
Series 23

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, and 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 100 years ago through to the amazing discoveries we've made in the last few years about black holes 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


SAT 19:45 Just One Thing - with Michael Mosley (m000v3fz)
Early Morning Walk

Michael explores the secret power of early-morning light, revealing the surprising ways it can affect your brain to boost your mood and help get a better night’s sleep. But it’s not just when you go that’s important… He speaks to Marie Murphy, Professor of Exercise and Health at Ulster University, who’s shown how a simple change to the way you walk could cut your risk of heart disease by 20-50%.


SAT 20:00 Archive on 4 (m000v24g)
Gagarin and the lost Moon

On 12 April 1961, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became an explorer like none other before him, going faster and further than any human in history, into what had always been the impenetrable and infinite unknown.

Raised in poverty during the Second World War, the one-time foundry worker and a citizen of the Soviet Union became the first human to fly above the Earth in the vastness of space.

In doing so he became an instrument in The Cold War – an ideological battle between the superpowers: East versus West, communism versus democracy.

Dr Kevin Fong tells the story of how 27 year old Yuri Gagarin came to launch a new chapter in the history of exploration and follows the cosmonaut’s one hour flight around the Earth.

The Soviet Union's triumph in 1961 was the event that galvanised the United States to win the Space Race: to send the first people on the Moon by the end of the decade. Yuri’s own ambitions to voyage to the Moon were frustrated by his political masters, a faltering Soviet lunar space program and two tragic accidents.

As well as presenting archive recordings, Kevin talks to space historians and writers:

Tom Ellis, historian at the London School of Economics
Stephen Walker, author of ‘Beyond’
Slava Gerovitch, author of Soviet Space Mythologies’ and ‘Voices of the Soviet Space Program’
Andrew Jenks, author of 'The Cosmonaut who couldn’t stop smiling’
Cathleen Lewis, curator at the National Air and Space Museum

Actor Stewart Campbell is the voice of Yuri Gagarin. Tony Turner is Soviet space program founder Sergei Korolev. Nicholas Murchie is General Nicolai Kaminin, head of cosmonaut training.

Technical production is by Giles Aspen and Jackie Margerum.

Co-writer and producer: Andrew Luck-Baker of the BBC Radio Science Unit.

(Picture: Russian Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. Photo credit: Imagno/Getty Images.)


SAT 21:00 Tumanbay (b06rz91n)
Series 1

Coming of Age

In the third episode of this epic saga inspired by the Mamluk slave-dynasty, fourteen year old daughter (Olivia Popica) of slave merchant Ibn (Nabil Elouahabi) is adrift at sea in a small boat and captive to an escaped slave (Akin Gazi). Now she must depend on her slave captor for her survival. Madu (Danny Ashok), the spoilt nephew of the Sultan, also has to grow up quickly as he swaps palace life for hard graft in the army.

Tumanbay, the beating heart of a vast empire, is threatened by a rebellion in a far-off province and a mysterious force devouring the city from within. Gregor (Rufus Wright), Master of the Palace Guard, is charged by Sultan Al-Ghuri (Raad Rawi) with the task of rooting out this insurgence and crushing it.

Cast:
Gregor.....................................Rufus Wright
Heaven....................................Olivia Popica
Slave.......................................Akin Gazi
Cadali......................................Matthew Marsh
Al-Ghuri...................................Raad Rawi
Sarah......................................Nina Yndis
Ibn..........................................Nabil Elouahabi
Shajar.....................................Sarah Beck Mather
Madu.......................................Danny Ashok
Daniel.....................................Gareth Kennerley
The Hameed Brothers............Christian Hillborg and Alec Utgoff
Shamsi....................................Laure Stockley
General Qulan........................Christopher Fulford
Sergeant................................Nadir Khan
Maid........................................Laure Stockley

Music - Sacha Puttnam
Sound Design - Steve Bond, Jon Ouin
Editors - Ania Przygoda, James Morgan
Producers - Emma Hearn, Nadir Khan, John Dryden

Written by Mike Walker
Directed by John Dryden

A Goldhawk production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 21:45 The Black Dog (b08h0g4k)
Melissa Harrison's first short story for radio explores how tales take root in the countryside, and in our souls.

Melissa Harrison's debut novel, Clay, won the Portsmouth First Fiction Award, was selected for Amazon's Rising Stars programme and chosen by Ali Smith as a Book of the Year for 2013. Her second novel, At Hawthorn Time, was shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award 2015 and longlisted for the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction 2016. A freelance writer, occasional photographer and columnist for The Times, the Weekend FT and the Guardian, Melissa lives in South London.

Written by Melissa Harrison
Read by Lia Williams
Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 22:00 News (m000v24j)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 22:15 The Reunion (m000lstj)
Black Wednesday

Kirsty Wark brings together bankers, traders and politicians to recall the events of Black Wednesday in 1992, when the collapse of sterling forced Britain’s exit from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism.

In 1990, the ERM was a central part of the then Chancellor John Major’s anti-inflationary policy, to “place Britain at the heart of Europe”. But as Prime Minister in 1992, he had to make the painful decision to pull out after a frenetic day in the City. Sterling was pegged to the deutsche mark and the idea was to use intervention on the exchanges to hold it within set bands on either side of a central rate. But a wave of short selling, led by the American hedge-fund manager George Soros, overwhelmed the ability of the Bank of England to support the pound.

Chancellor Norman Lamont raised interest rates from 10% to 12%, then to 15%, and authorised the spending of billions of pounds to buy up the sterling being frantically sold on the currency markets. But the measures failed to prevent the pound falling lower than its minimum level in the ERM.

Home Secretary Kenneth Clarke spent the day in crisis talks with the PM.

Sir Alex Allan was John Major’s principle private secretary.

Mark Clarke was the foreign exchange dealer at the Bank of America who sold half a billion pounds, making £10 million for his employers in eight hours of trading.

Jim Trott was the Bank of England’s chief currency dealer who bought more sterling in a day than anyone before or since.

Jeff Randall was the Sunday Times City Editor who watched the drama unfold.

Presenter: Kirsty Wark
Producer: Emily Williams
Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 23:00 Round Britain Quiz (m000tvlw)
Programme 5, 2021

(5/12)
The Welsh and the Scots do battle in the fifth contest of the 2021 season, with Val McDermid and Alan McCredie representing Scotland and Myfanwy Alexander and David Edwards playing for Wales. Tom Sutcliffe is on hand to ask the programme's trademark cryptic questions, and to give the teams helpful hints and nudges wherever required - on the understanding that the more help they need, the fewer points they'll get.

Today's edition has again been recorded under lockdown conditions so the panellists are beaming in from home rather than gathering in a studio.

There's the usual helping of questions based on listeners' ideas, and Tom will also be providing the answer to the question he left unanswered at the end of the previous episode.

Producer: Paul Bajoria


SAT 23:30 Grasshead Racers (b00x58v4)
To honour the great motor racing commentator, Murray Walker, who died last month aged 97, Radio 4 is repeating the programme that, in 2004 , tempted him out of retirement - Grasshead Racers.

In his long career as a commentator Murray Walker covered all manner of motor sports, so when radio producer Julian May told him about lawn mower racing he was intrigued. He agreed to present a programme exploring it, on one condition - that he would not have to commentate.

At the Le Mans (if he’s not mistaken) of the lawn mower racing world - a field dotted with straw bales in Kingston Maurwood, Dorset, Murray spends a summer's day with members of the British Lawn Mower Racing Association and discovers this is a sport with wide appeal. Sir Stirling Moss reveals he was a keen lawn mower racer; Oliver Reed was as enthusiastic, but less controlled. Murray meets one competitor with more world championships than Michael Schumacher.

So impressed is Murray by these grasshead racers and their diligently fettled machines that he can't resist picking up the announcer's microphone and painting the scene in words, commentating one last time on this most spectacular and democratic motor sport.

Lawnmowers, Murray reveals, have a surprisingly sexy provenance: Mr Benz of Mercedes launched his career making lawn mowers; Royal Enfield, more famous for their guns and motorcycles, made mowers. So did Rolls Royce!

But the real enthusiasts, like Bugatti owners, like to mount their chariots and tank them. Murray Walker joins them, enjoying the heady aroma of 2 stroke and grass clippings as, lap after lap, the grasshead racers gun their classic mowers over Kingston Maurwood's greensward at speeds approaching a dizzying 35mph.

Presenter: Murray Walker
Producer: Julian May



SUNDAY 11 APRIL 2021

SUN 00:00 Midnight News (m000v24m)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


SUN 00:30 Swipe Right (m000twtt)
Cake by Bryan Washington

Two men meet in a bar shortly before the covid pandemic locks down Houston, Texas.
Both single-ish, both wary, but drawn to eachother, they swap mobile numbers and go their separate ways. After weeks of locked-down isolation they tentatively make contact over the phone, play eachother music and, finally, arrange to meet, irl.

Continuing the Swipe Right series of stories examining contemporary romance on and off the dating apps, American writer Bryan Washington's original short work 'Cake' masterfully captures the pain and poignancy of love under lockdown.

Written and read by Bryan Washington, multi-award winning writer from Houston.
He is currently adapting his two previous works, Lot and Memorial, for television.

Produced by Karen Holden


SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000v24p)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000v24r)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.


SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000v24t)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SUN 05:30 News Briefing (m000v24w)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (m000v24y)
Westminster Abbey

Bells on Sunday today are heard half muffled in remembrance of His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh. They come from Westminster Abbey. The Company of Ringers at Westminster Abbey goes back as far as 1255, when the foundation possessed five bells. The current ten were hung by the Whitechapel foundry in 1971 and they have a Tenor weighing thirty and a quarter hundred weight tuned to D. We hear the bells ringing Stedman Caters, half muffled at one stroke. This involves a leather pad being strapped to one side of the clapper, an arrangement used on solemn occasions such as this.


SUN 05:45 Profile (m000v24d)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


SUN 06:00 News Summary (m000v2l1)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b04dh2gt)
Ignorance

Mark Tully invites us to accept our own ignorance as a first step on a voyage of discovery, taking his lead from Socrates' well known thought that, "The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing."

He also quotes from Nobel Prize winning theoretical physicist David Gross, who says that "there is no evidence that we are running out of our most important resource – ignorance." Mark discusses this importance of ignorance to science with Stuart Firestein, Chair of the Department of Biological Sciences at Columbia University, who feels that knowledge is followed by ignorance, rather than vice versa, and that facts are not always the most reliable part of scientific advances.

On a more personal level, the programme considers how we might be more tolerant of the world views and beliefs of others, by understanding the limits of our knowledge and realising that we, too, will always be ignorant.

Producer: Adam Fowler
A Unique production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (m000v2l5)
Your Farming Questions Answered

In this programme, Caz Graham goes in search of answers to questions about farming asked by Radio 4 listeners. Basing herself on James Robinson's organic dairy farm near Kendal in Cumbria, she picks his brains on topics raised by curious listeners, also calling on other farmers, academics and industry experts for explanations. She finds out how farmers decide what to grow or raise by talking to James and to an arable grower out on his tractor planting sugar beet. They explain what they base their decisions on. A member of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board's environment team explains the rules on disposing of slurry for a listener who says he's often wondered when out walking in the countryside about the pollution it can cause. A soil scientist talks about the reasoning behind decisions to plough up and down slopes rather than around the contours. Two listeners ask questions about eggs and get answers from a poultry farmer, who explains why you're never likely to get a fertilised egg in a box you buy from the supermarket.

Produced by Emma Campbell


SUN 06:57 Weather (m000v2l9)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SUN 07:00 News and Papers (m000v2ld)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.


SUN 07:10 Sunday (m000v2lg)
The Duke of Edinburgh's Faith, Northern Ireland Violence, The Musical Human

Following the death of the Duke of Edinburgh, William Crawley looks back on his life and reflects on his faith with Bishop Graham James, Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, historian Coryne Hall and the writer Martin Palmer.

Also in the programme, as violence returns to the streets of Northern Ireland, how significant is this moment and do religious leaders have any influence on events? With the Catholic Bishop Noel Treanor, and the Presbyterian Moderator, Dr David Bruce.

And the musicologist Michael Spitzer, author of the new book 'The Musical Human: A History of Life on Earth', explores how music was fundamental to our evolution and its relationship to religious and spiritual beliefs across the world and across time.

Producers: Dan Tierney and Rosie Dawson.


SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (m000v2lj)
The Leprosy Mission (England and Wales)

Dame Darcey Bussell makes the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of The Leprosy Mission (England and Wales).

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 ‘The Leprosy Mission’.
- Cheques should be made payable to ‘The Leprosy Mission’.
- You can donate online at bbc.co.uk/appeal/radio4

Registered Charity Number: 1050327

Photo credit: Charlotte MacMillan


SUN 07:57 Weather (m000v2ll)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SUN 08:00 News and Papers (m000v2ln)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.


SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (m000v82x)
A Service of Thanksgiving from Westminster Abbey

A Service of Morning Prayer in Thanksgiving for the Life of His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, recorded in Westminster Abbey.

Jesu, the very thought of thee (Bairstow)
Be still, my soul (Finlandia)
Lamentations 3: 22–33
Psalm 90 (Lang)
John 14: 1-7
O God, our help in ages past (St Anne)
The address (The Very Revd Dr David Hoyle, Dean)
The Lesser Litany, Lord's Prayer and Responses followed by the Prayers and Grace
Bring us, O Lord God (Harris)
Blessing followed by the National Anthem
Elegy (Thalben-Ball) (played by Sub-Organist: Peter Holder)

Minor Canon and Precentor: The Revd Mark Birch
First lesson read by The Revd Tricia Hillas, Chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons
Second lesson read by The Revd Anthony Ball, Canon in Residence

Organist and Master of the Choristers: James O’Donnell
Sub-Organist: Robert Quinney
Producer: Andrew Earis


SUN 08:48 A Point of View (m000n6rp)
Reflections on My Mother's Kenwood Mixer

"The K beater, the whisk and the dough hook are rattling around in the bowl, and I am tasting butterscotch Angel Delight on my lips."
Rebecca Stott relives memories of her 1970s childhood with one kitchen device taking centre stage.
And she sees a lesson for today.

Producer: Adele Armstrong


SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (b03x472x)
Peregrine

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.

Bill Oddie presents the peregrine. The peregrine is a truly awesome predator and a bird that we associate with wild places where, with wings flickering like knife-blades, it chases its prey in thrilling pursuits and breath-taking dives. Our city churches, cathedrals and other tall buildings are a perfect substitute for cliffs and quarries where they like to nest and with a plentiful supply of town pigeons they’re thriving in these artificial eyries.


SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (m000v2ls)
The Sunday morning news magazine programme. Presented by Paddy O'Connell

This week BH reflected on the death of Prince Philip; Northern Ireland’s Children’s Commissioner told us the recent violence has been caused by criminal exploitation of ‘at-risk’ children and young people; and we visited our adopted pub in Bristol preparing to reopen after the next lifting of Covid restrictions.
Presented by Paddy O'Connell.
Editor: Sophie Bauckham


SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (m000v2lv)
Jazzer questions his choices and Kirsty contemplates where to go from here


SUN 10:54 Tweet of the Day (m000v2lx)
Tweet Take 5 : Ring Ouzel

Closely related to the common blackbird, the ring ouzel is a rare summer visitor to the British Isles. Wintering in North Africa, the best chances of seeing one here is as they make a stop over on their migration to breed in the mountains of Scotland or the uplands of north and west of England and Wales. As we'll hear in this extended version of Tweet of the Day featuring Bill Oddie, nature writer Mark Cocker and Urban Birder David Lindo.

Producer : Andrew Dawes


SUN 11:00 The Reunion (m000v2lz)
Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

Kirsty Wark brings together well control experts, US Coast Guard Officials and environmentalists who fought to contain a massive off-shore oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig suffered a catastrophic blowout and exploded in April 2010.

For the next 87 days, BP engineers tried to staunch the flow of crude oil gushing out of the well on the ocean floor. An estimated 184 million gallons were spilt, 18 times the amount spilled by the Exxon Valdez, making it the largest accidental marine oil spill in the world, and the largest environmental disaster in US history.

As oil coated more than 1,000 miles of coastline in six US states, Americans grew more and more angry. A group calling itself “Seize BP” held demonstrations in 50 US cities, calling for the company to be stripped of its assets. BP’s CEO Tony Hayward was told by an angry US Congressional panel that his company had shown a reckless lack of attention to safety. After the company’s share price plummeted and 12 billion pounds was wiped off its value in a single day, Tony Hayward was forced to resign.

The programme includes: Mark Mazzella, BP’s resident well-control expert, who fought on and off-shore to stop the oil flowing before finally capping it; Admiral Thad Allen, National Incident Commander, who was in charge of the federal response; PJ Hahn, then Director of coastal zone management for Plaquemines parish, Louisiana, which was on the front line of the oil spill; Keith Jones, whose son Gordon worked on the Deepwater Horizon rig and was killed in the accident; and Bob Kaluza one of two BP supervisors on the rig that night.

Presenter: Kirsty Wark
Producer: Emily Williams
Series Producer: David Prest
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 11:45 Just One Thing - with Michael Mosley (m000v3g2)
Eat Some Bacteria

In this episode, Michael speaks to expert Kirsten Berding Harold, University College Cork, for all the latest science on all things good bacteria. Our willing human guinea pig Clare has a go making her own kefir at home and Michael has a go at cultivating some healthy bacteria in the form of sauerkraut - which he claims is far simpler to make at home than you might think!


SUN 12:00 News Summary (m000v2m1)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 12:04 Just a Minute (m000tvm7)
Series 86

Episode 7

Stephen Fry hosts a special episode of Just a Minute where he challenges guests Paul Merton, Sue Perkins, Desiree Burch and Jenny Eclair to talk on the subjects of his choice for 60 seconds. Hesitation, deviation, and repetition are strictly forbidden. This episode was produced using remote recording technology, with both panel and audience joining from their homes all over the world. Caroline Barlow blows the whistle.

Devised by Ian Messiter

Produced by Victoria Lloyd

A BBC Studios Production


SUN 12:33 The Food Programme (m000v1nv)
The Urban Growing Revolution

Planting and growing food has had a massive boost during the pandemic - and that hasn't been limited to those with gardens.

Right across the country, people have been making the most of balconies, rooftops, even window boxes to get their green-fingered fix, as increasing numbers of us enjoy the benefits of interacting with nature and having a hand in producing our own food.

Hot on the heels of her own spring planting project, Leyla Kazim explores stories of food being grown in cities: from individuals re-purposing tiny outdoor spaces during lockdown; to community garden projects providing fresh food and mental health support; through to innovative urban farms offering ideas for our future food security.

Leyla speaks to writer and YouTube gardening sensation Huw Richards; Dr Jill Edmondson from the University of Sheffield, who's collecting data on national growing habits; and a range of first-time growers who've been following her tutorials on social media.

She also hears from Woodlands Community Garden in Glasgow, and the Grow Cardiff city growing project - and heads to Stockport rooftop garden The Landing with chef Sam Buckley from Where The Light Gets In and Jo Payne from Manchester Urban Diggers, to find out just how valuable a green space for growing food in the heart of a city can be...

Presented by Leyla Kazim; produced in Bristol by Lucy Taylor.


SUN 12:57 Weather (m000v2m4)
The latest weather forecast


SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (m000v2m6)
Caroline Wyatt looks at the week’s big stories from both home and around the world.


SUN 13:30 The Listening Project (m000v2m9)
Stories of sibling love and loss

Kofi Smiles presents friends, strangers and relatives in conversation.

This week: Alan and Joanne share what it's like to be left behind when a sibling becomes a missing person; darts enthusiasts Jo and Richard consider how the image of the sport has evolved over time; and sisters Janet and Sue, who were separated as very young children, reflect on the process of developing a sibling bond when they were reunited in their fifties.

If you think you might have information regarding either Donald or Lisa please contact Missing People (missingpeople.org.uk)

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: Ellie Bury


SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m000twtr)
GQT at Home: Wedding Favours and Pungent Neighbours

Kathy Clugston hosts the gardening panel show, joined by Anne Swithinbank, Matthew Pottage and Humaira Ikram to answer questions sent in by listeners.

This week, the panel answers questions on plants they regret in their garden, rare houseplants and the optimistic sounds they look forward to with the coming of Spring.

Away from the questions, Ashley Edwards gives us a rundown of how and why we deadhead, and florist Hazel Gardiner discusses her favourite spring flowers for arrangements.

Producer - Rosie Merotra
Assistant Producer - Millie Chu

A Somethin' Else production for Radio 4


SUN 14:45 The New Anatomy of Melancholy (m000j80m)
Mirth and merry company

In 1621, Robert Burton published The Anatomy of Melancholy. It was the first attempt in the modern western world to understand and categorise causes, symptoms and treatments of that universal human experience.

In this episode, writer Amy Liptrot taps into the theme of connection and friendship that runs through Burton’s book on melancholy.

Gemma Cairney, broadcaster and author of advice books for young people, shares her thoughts on loneliness, social media and changing relationships in the 21st century. She is a great believer in the power of friendship, like Burton: ‘The best way for ease is to impart our misery to some friend, not to smother it up in our own breast.’

Dr Amy Orben, from the University of Cambridge, researchers the effect of social media on young people. She reveals how the picture is much more nuanced than we might think.

Professor Frances Rice from Cardiff University and Dr Daisy Fancourt from UCL discuss innovative approaches to depression including behavioural activation and social prescribing. Is it possible that knowledge of these approaches can be found in Burton’s Anatomy?

As Burton drew on the writing of others and made a patchwork of texts within his Anatomy of Melancholy, each episode ends with a modern-day contribution for a new and updated Anatomy of Melancholy.

In this episode, Gemma Cairney offers the song Creshendorious by Brigitte Aphrodite.

Simon Russell Beale brings the voice of Robert Burton to life with extracts from The Anatomy of Melancholy.

Presenter: Amy Liptrot
Reader: Simon Russell Beale
Producer: Ruth Abrahams
Series consultant: John Geddes

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 15:00 The Magic Mountain (m000v2mf)
Episode 1

Young Hugh Casthorpe goes on a short visit to a sanatorium in the mountains, and finds that he cannot leave. Is it because he has a respiratory disease which the sanatorium is supposed to cure, or is it because he has fallen helplessly in love with another patient, a beautiful married woman?

Either way, Hugh becomes a long-term patient. Trapped on this enchanted and sinister mountain, Hugh meets and learns from his fellow patients, gets acquainted with another constant companion, Death, and explores the dark and dangerous aspects of love.

Thomas Mann’s novel is a literary icon, a tragi-comedy, a masterpiece of deep thought, sly irony, sex, love and death.

Cast:
Narrator ..... Lucy Robinson
Hugh Casthorpe ..... Luke Thallon
James Simpson ..... Hugh Skinner
Doctor Crowmarsh ..... Sandy Grierson
Professor Jones ..... Richard Harrington
Clauda Civet ..... Genevieve Gaunt
Edie Robinson ..... Keziah Joseph
Marjorie ..... Georgina Strawson
Stour ..... Ed Jones

Written by Thomas Mann
from a translation by John E Woods
Dramatised by Robin Brooks

Directed and Produced by Fiona McAlpine
Sound Design by Alisdair McGregor
An Allegra production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 16:00 Open Book (m000v2mm)
Spring Special: Bookshops Reopen, Naomi Ishiguro, Clearing out books

Johny Pitts visits his local bookshop, Review in Peckham, as it prepares to reopen and talks to manager Ben Pope about missing bookseller recommendations

Naomi Ishiguro discusses her debut novel Common Ground, about a friendship across a cultural divide and the importance of open space for everyone.

And we reflect on making room in our homes for Spring. Do books count as clutter? Eleanor Ray and Jess Kidd, two authors who have written about hoarding, discuss.

Image credit: Rosie Powell


SUN 16:30 Recall of the Rock (m000v2mr)
To mark its centenary, mountaineering members of the all-female Pinnacle Club have recorded their memories for the British Library Sound Archive. Climber and poet Helen Mort responds to these recordings in a poetic interview with a constant witness - the rock itself.

Interwoven with Helen’s new poem, we hear voices from the new archive - women sharing stories and thoughts about challenge, fear, independence, identity and risk.

The club's oral history project has recorded the distinct ways in which women plan together, adventure together, and remember together. Recollections range from the private ambitions that propelled a girl up her local cliff for the first time, to dramatic expeditions in far flung mountain ranges.

Social expectations in the early 20th century placed barriers between women and climbing. Among the determined pioneers were those who founded the Pinnacle Club in 1921. One hundred years later, the club thrives, with members including renowned mountaineers and relative novices; it is one of several groups that exist to support women in scaling rock on their own terms.

Helen Mort's poem personifies and ‘interviews’ the rock - millstone grit of Derbyshire, limestone of Kalymnos, rhyolite of Snowdonia, gabbro of Skye, granite of Yosemite - being as it is the great and ancient witness, the inspiration, the opportunity and the obstacle that attracts adventurers with a promise of personal achievement, which can also be a dasher of dreams and sometimes bodies.

Written and read by Helen Mort
Produced by Jon Lewis
Music by Diagrams (Sam Genders)
A 7digital production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 17:00 Intrigue (m000tt9x)
Mayday: The Evidence Gatherers

In a secret location in a European city is an archive that contains over a million documents. It’s run by a tough-talking Canadian, Bill Wiley, who set up an evidence-gathering organisation funded by Western governments. Using undercover criminal investigators operating inside a war zone, the Commission for International Justice and Accountability (CIJA) has spent the last eight years extracting official documents from Syria. Wiley says that evidence will prove that the Assad regime has been responsible for a campaign of torture and murder against its own people. CIJA's documents are being used right now in a criminal case in the West to prosecute members of the Syrian regime. But there are those who would discredit the evidence and the people who gather it. These include a group of respected academics here in the UK who are accused of spreading misinformation and conspiracy theories about the war, twisting the narrative so that the Syrian regime becomes the victim and the British government bears responsibility for war crimes. It is a new kind of warfare being fought not on the ground but on the internet. Who will win?

Correction: We stated that Feras Fayyad won an Oscar - instead his films were nominated on two occasions for an Oscar but did not win.


SUN 17:40 Profile (m000v24d)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m000v2mw)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SUN 17:57 Weather (m000v2n0)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000v2n4)
Royal family pay tribute after church services for Duke of Edinburgh


SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (m000v2n8)
Audrey Brown

Presenter: Audrey Brown
Producer: Elizabeth Foster & Richard McIlroy
Production support: Emmie Hume
Studio Manager: Jonathan Esp


SUN 19:00 Ayeesha Menon - Undercover Mumbai (b039rmyj)
Body of Christ

The body of a young girl is washed up on a beach. A tattoo on her ankle leads police inspector Alia Khan on the trail of a child prostitution ring.

Set and recorded on location in Mumbai, this fast-paced six-part police thriller continues throughout this week. It follows Alia Khan, a young woman inspector in the Bandra Division of the Mumbai Police Force, as she attempts to solve a series of crimes, make sense of her troubled past and cope with being a woman in a male-dominated and chauvinistic police force.

Sound Recordist: Hitesh Chaurasia
Sound Design: Steve Bond
Editing Assistants: Andrew Lewis and Aditya Khanna.
Script Editor: Mike Walker
Assistant Producer: Toral Shah

Producer: Nadir Khan
Music: Sacha Putnam.
Writer: Ayeesha Menon
Director: John Dryden

A Goldhawk production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 19:15 Mark Steel's in Town (b07vs3mw)
Series 7

Hebden Bridge

"That was So Hebden Bridge"

Mark visits the beautiful Yorkshire town of Hebden Bridge, where he discovers how this former mill town and one time home of Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath become the new age, multi cafe, hippie friendly, lesbian capital of Britain that it is today.

Mark Steel's award winning show that travels around the country, researching the history, heritage and culture of six towns that have nothing in common but their uniqueness, and performs a bespoke evening of comedy for the local residents.

Written and performed by ... Mark Steel
Additional material by ... Pete Sinclair
Production co-ordinator ... Hayley Stirling
Producer ... Carl Cooper

A BBC Radio Comedy production first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2019.


SUN 19:45 Enchanted Isle (m000v2nd)
Kow by Jo Clement

An argument between a couple living on the edge of poverty leads to the discovery of a duffel bag full of cash. Or does it? This original short story for Radio 4 revives the Northumberland myth of the Hedley Kow and asks if money really can solve everything. What’s the difference between need and desire? Appearances can be deceiving.

Dr. Jo Clement is a New Writing North: Northern Writers' Award-winner. She is the author of Moveable Type and with Damian Le Bas, a co-author of Outlandish. Both poetry books were published with support from Arts Council England and Durham Book Festival. Jo is the Managing Editor of Butcher's Dog poetry magazine and is currently editing the first Roma Women’s Poetry Anthology made possible with support from the European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture.

Kow is read by Hayley Corney
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Maggie Ayre


SUN 20:00 Feedback (m000twty)
Why does Saturday Live’s the Reverend Richard Coles insist on using his title when he presents non-religious programmes? That’s one of the questions put to the former pop star and polymath by Roger Bolton.

What does the BBC’s Annual Plan tell listeners about the future of radio? Roger Mosey the former Editorial Director of the BBC gives his view.

And in Out of your Comfort Zone, two amateur reviewers give their verdict on the BBC Radio podcast I’m Not a Monster. Were they convinced?

Presenter: Roger Bolton
Producer: Kate Dixon
Executive Producer: Samir Shah

A Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 20:30 Last Word (m000twtw)
Doreen Lofthouse OBE, Dr Chris Doake, Barbara Hosking CBE, Bernice Cohen

Matthew Bannister on

Doreen Lofthouse, the Lancashire businesswoman who took Fisherman’s Friends lozenges from a Fleetwood chemist’s shop to a multi-million pound international company.

Dr Chris Doake, the glaciologist who was able to predict with great accuracy the break-up of the Antarctic ice shelf.

Barbara Hosking, who served as a Downing Street press officer under both Harold Wilson and Ted Heath and came out as a lesbian in her nineties.

Bernice Cohen, the self-taught investor who became a TV star.

Producer: Neil George

Interviewed guest: Duncan Lofthouse
Interviewed guest: David Pearce
Interviewed guest: Dr Andy Smith
Interviewed guest: Iain Dale
Interviewed guest: Lawrence Lever

Archive clips used: Women of the Year: BBC One, TX 16.10.1989; Government ad re preparations for the European Single Market: BBC One, TX 12.7.1990; Horizon: Antarctica - Ice Station Rescue: BBC Two, TX 5.2.2018; The Emma Barnett Show: Radio 4, TX 14.2.2018; The Morning Show: BBC One, TX 14.2.2003; Woman’s Hour: Radio 4, TX 4.6.1999


SUN 21:00 Money Box (m000v23q)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:04 on Saturday]


SUN 21:25 Radio 4 Appeal (m000v2lj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:54 today]


SUN 21:30 Short Cuts (m0007kjl)
Series 20

Deep Time

A solar eclipse repeats over and over, a musical key unlocks lost memories and a life marked out in books. Josie Long presents short documentaries and adventures in sound on our experience of time.

Crow
Featuring Christina McLeish
Produced by Jaye Kranz

A Channel of Music
Produced by Nanna Hauge Kristensen

Totality
Written and produced by Mae-Li Evans
Sound and composition by Calum Perrin
This piece is an adapted extract from a performance developed and supported by The Yard Theatre, Camden People’s Theatre and Hearsay Festival.

Production Team: Andrea Rangecroft and Alia Cassam

Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (m000v2nj)
Radio 4's Sunday night political discussion programme.


SUN 23:00 The Film Programme (m000twhc)
The Power

With Antonia Quirke

The Power is set in a spooky hospital during the electrical blackouts of the early 70s. Antonia visits the set, itself a spooky old hospital, and meets director Corinna Faith and producer Rob Watson, who reveals that the set itself might be haunted

Maria Djurkovic, the production designer who re-created the Anglo-Saxon mounds in Sutton Hoo for The Dig, reveals exactly where she was when she discovered that she had been nominated for a BAFTA at this weekend's ceremony.

Cinema owner Kevin Markwick looks forward to the films that will be released, when (hopefully) cinemas will re-open from May 17th

Woody Strode was one of the first Black Americans to play in the NFL after World War II and went on to become a Hollywood actor in films like Spartacus and Sergeant Rutledge. Writer Nat Segnit tells the story of his life.


SUN 23:30 Something Understood (b04dh2gt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:05 today]



MONDAY 12 APRIL 2021

MON 00:00 Midnight News (m000v2nl)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


MON 00:15 Thinking Allowed (m000tskb)
Community & Social Capital

Community & social capital. Laurie Taylor talks to Robert D Putnam, Malkin Research Professor of Public Policy at Harvard University and co-author of a new study which revisits some of the themes of 'Bowling Alone' his 20 year old, groundbreaking book, which argued that Americans were losing their connections with one another. His latest research takes a look at trends over the last century which have brought us from an “I” society to a “We” society and then back again. What lessons can be drawn from the past, especially at a time of increased economic inequality, political polarisation and loss of social capital and trust, all of which are playing out against the backdrop of a global pandemic? Is it, as he suggests, time for an 'upswing', more focused on our responsibilities to each other and one which, for the first time, must properly account for the way in which racism has shaped America?

They’re joined by Emily Falconer, Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Westminster, who considers the extent to which Robert Putnam's arguments apply to the UK. She also discusses her own research, which focuses on collective singing as a manifestation of social capital and community, in action. Her study of an Online Zoom community choir - at a time when so many face-to-face activity have disappeared - suggests that virtual, group singing has afforded deep connections between people in a landscape in which the future of social gatherings remains uncertain.

Producer: Jayne Egerton

Produced in partnership with The Open University


MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (m000v24y)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:43 on Sunday]


MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000v2nn)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000v2nq)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.


MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000v2ns)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


MON 05:30 News Briefing (m000v2nv)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4


MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000v2nx)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Bishop David Walker

Good Morning.

I was a mere fourteen years old when my father died. And although he had been ill, and in and out of hospital for many months, it still came as a great shock. He had been there for the duration of my whole life. And even in the last few months, our family life had revolved around him, as we sought to support him in his sickness. Now he was gone, and I found myself literally at a loss, unsure of how to feel and express my emotions.

It's hard to prepare for the losing of a loved one. Whether death be sudden, or come as the end of a gradual, gentle decline, there is an unavoidable starkness when the last breath has been drawn. One who had been, however tenuously, alive, is no more. A body remains, but the being who inhabited it has gone. Even where that final moment can properly be characterised as bringing a blessed relief, death remains the moment of loss at its most raw.

National and public grief are not hugely distinct from private loss. We stand further from the centre of events; not gathered around a bedside nor holding a widowed spouse's hand, but watching and listening on radio and TV. Yet in spirit we are present. A life is over. A specific date will be recorded, first on paperwork, later on stone. But now we begin to grieve.

Almighty God, all life comes from you and must return to you. Be with us in the perplexity and confusion of bereavement. In particular we ask your blessing at this time for Her Majesty the Queen, for Charles, Prince of Wales, and all Prince Philip’s family and friends. Help them both to grieve in private. And to give us space to grieve with them in public. For Jesus' sake.

Amen.


MON 05:45 Farming Today (m000v2nz)
12/04/21 The 'Brains of Brexit' Shanker Singham, pubs re-opening, greening landfill

This weekend marked 100 days since the end of the Brexit transition period. Leaving the European Union has been a massive change for food and farming businesses. From subsidy to trade, from rules on genetic editing to rules on exports, it's all change and so far it hasn’t all been straightforward. We start the week with a man described as the ‘Brains of Brexit’, former member of the British Government’s Trade and Agriculture Commission, Shanker Singham.
Rural pubs have had a tough few years - and lockdown will have tipped some into closing for good. But today, in England at least, those that survived get a chance to revive as pubs welcome people back.
A Gloucester landfill site was one of the country's biggest waste tips until it closed two years ago, now it's set for a brand new, greener, future.

Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Beatrice Fenton.


MON 05:56 Weather (m000v2p2)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.


MON 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03tht7c)
Skylark

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.

John Aitchison tells the story of the skylark. No other UK bird is capable of sustaining such a loud and complex song while hovering high above the ground, rapidly beating its wings to stay aloft. Some songs can last 20 minutes or more and their performance is likely to be as much a territorial display as an exhibition of the male's physical fitness to impress a female.


MON 06:00 Today (m000v1mx)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


MON 09:00 Start the Week (m000v1mz)
Nuclear destruction

In 1962 the world teetered on the edge of nuclear destruction as the Presidents of the USA and the Soviet Union fought over Soviet warheads installed on the islands of Cuba. In Nuclear Folly: A New History of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the historian Serhii Plokhy retells the tortuous decision-making and calculated brinkmanship of John F Kennedy, Nikita Khrushchev and Fidel Castro. He tells Amol Rajan it was ultimately fear that saved the planet, and it’s time to draw lessons from the many mistakes that were made at the time.

The Cold War era did produce a nuclear arms-control agreement – the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty – signed in 1987. But the nuclear physicist and former director of the UN Institute for Disarmament Research Patricia Lewis says that in 2019 the United States and Russia withdrew their support. Lewis, who now leads the International Security programme at Chatham House, asks whether we are now entering a second nuclear age.

The BBC journalist Sarah Rainsford visited the sites of the Soviet Union's nuclear stations in Cuba when she was posted there in 2011. She wrote about her experiences and the end of the Castro era in Our Woman in Havana. Rainsford is now the BBC’s Moscow correspondent and explores how far Khrushchev’s political scheming and disinformation compare to the strategy of President Putin.

Producer: Katy Hickman


MON 09:45 The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym by Paula Byrne (m000v1pr)
Ep 1 - In Which Life Begins for Our Heroine

Paula Byrne's joyous and illuminating new biography of one of the twentieth century's wittiest novelists. Hattie Morahan is the reader.

Philip Larkin regarded her as the era's very own Jane Austen and yet today Barbara Pym is little known. She lived through a period of social and political upheaval, and her novels charted the impact of these changes on women in the public and the domestic realm. In the 1930s she went up to Oxford; spent time in Nazi Germany before WWII; in the 1950s as a single woman she went out to work, and she bore witness to the sexual revolution of the 1960s. By the early 60s she had published six novels, and though she struggled for recognition from 1963 onwards, she continued to write and went on to make a triumphant comeback.

Her diaries are prefaced 'The Adventures of Miss Pym' emulating Henry Fielding's 'Tom Jones', and in turn Paula Byrne as written her shrewdly observed biography of this courageous and funny novelist in the style of a picaresque adventure.

Paula Byrne is the bestselling and acclaimed biographer and novelist. Her non-fiction includes 'The Real Jane Austen', 'The Genius of Jane Austen' and 'Mad World' the story of Evelyn Waugh and Brideshead.

Photo credit: The Barbara Pym Society

Abridged by Julian Wilkinson
Produced by Elizabeth Allard.


MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000v1n3)
Amanda Owen & Clare Eglin on women feeling the cold, Clare Balding on Rachael Blackmore, Pippa Wicks & teacher Andria Zafirakou

Shepherdess Amanda Owen & the academic Clare Eglin talk about why women tend to feel colder than men. We talk to Clare Balding about Rachael Blackmore the first woman to win the Grand National this weekend. As lockdown eases and the shops reopen, we talk to the Executive Director of John Lewis Pippa Wicks and Andria Zafirakou who won a million dollar global teaching prize tells us how she's spending the money and talks about her new book "Those Who Can, Teach - What it Takes to Make the Next Generation."

Presenter: Emma Barnett
Producer: Lisa Jenkinson
Studio Engineer: Gayl Gordon


MON 10:45 Marcovaldo (m000v1n5)
Mushrooms in the City

Mushrooms in the City from Italo Calvino's Marcovaldo, dramatised by Toby Jones from a translation by William Weaver
Marcovaldo finds mushrooms growing by the tram stop but is dismayed to find that he isn't the only one who has spotted them.

NARRATOR.....Toby Jones
MARCOVALDO…….Mackenzie Crook
AMADIGI…….Lloyd Hutchinson
ISOLINA……Isla Johnston
MICHELINO……Aaron Gelkoff
PIETRUCCIO……Tyler Howitt

Directed by Nadia Molinari


MON 11:00 The Untold (m000v1n8)
Shanty Fever

In an unexpected twist of Lockdown 3, sea shanties blew up on social media. Suddenly, everyone was singing ‘Wellerman’, a mid-19th Century whaling song about life on-board a whaling ship. A song of hope and unity which brought people together via the power of the internet.

JD, Dave, Andy and Robbie find themselves at the centre of this shanty storm. They are old friends who together make up The Longest Johns, a sea shanty band from Bristol. Back in 2018, they released a version of Wellerman on their second album, and now - suddenly - it's gone viral.

They’ve been a band for years and they've never exactly been 'mainstream'. But now that 2021 has woken up to shanties, everything is about to change for them...

Produced in Bristol by Becky Ripley.


MON 11:30 Loose Ends (m000v1nb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:15 on Saturday]


MON 12:00 News Summary (m000v1qg)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


MON 12:04 We Are All Birds Of Uganda by Hafsa Zayyan (m000v1ng)
Episode 6

In search of space, Sameer has postponed his relocation to Singapore and is on the way to Uganda to look up an old family friend.
Read by Sacha Dhawan and Vincent Ebrahim

This elegant and eye-opening debut crosses continents and generations as it explores love, duty and the long shadows cast by colonialism. Themes of romance and exile combine with a stunning portrayal of modern Uganda as a young man tries to find his place in the world. Winner of the New Writer’s Prize from Stormzy’s imprint Merky books, Hafsa Zayyan takes us from East Africa to the East Midlands - and back again.

Written by Hafsa Zayyan
Abridged by Patricia Cumper
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie


MON 12:18 You and Yours (m000v1nj)
"The Laundry Guy"; Footstock; Electric Car Subscriptions

Forget Marie Kondo - there's a new lifestyle guru in town who's telling you how to wash your clothes. Patric Richardson is "The Laundry Guy" and tells Winifred Robinson how we can get the most out of our clothes.

Another gambling website has gone bust - this time it's Footstock, just weeks after Football Index went into administration. Customers have lost thousands of pounds. Will they ever see their money again?

We hear from the campaigners trying to protect empty Debenhams buildings that have architectural value.

And, electric car subscriptions are growing. We ask if it's a good way to make the switch to electric vehicles.

Presenter: Winifred Robinson
Producer: Lydia Thomas

Main image shows Patric Richardson - The Laundry Guy (Discovery Plus)


MON 12:57 Weather (m000v1nl)
The latest weather forecast


MON 13:00 World at One (m000v1nn)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Sarah Montague.


MON 13:45 The Northern Bank Job (m000v1nq)
Episode Six: The Mastermind

It was the biggest bank robbery in British and Irish history. Days before Christmas 2004, gangs of armed men take over the homes of two Northern Bank officials in Belfast and County Down. With family members held hostage, the officials are instructed to remove cash from the vaults of Northern Bank headquarters in Belfast city-centre and load it into the back of a van - not once, but twice - before the van disappears into the night, along with more than £26.5 million in new and used notes. With the finger of blame pointed at the IRA, the raid makes headlines around the world and sends shock-waves through an already faltering Northern Ireland peace process.

Through dramatized court testimonies, new interviews and archive, Glenn Patterson takes us into the unfolding story of a meticulously planned heist and its chaotic aftermath. Military precision giving way to soap powder boxes stuffed with cash. The bickering of politicians against the silence of the man said to be the robbery’s mastermind. There are even rumours that proceeds from the robbery are to be used as a pension fund for IRA members as it prepares to disarm and disband.

Glenn Patterson has unfinished business with the Northern Bank Job. In fact, he thinks all of Northern Ireland does.

Episode Six: The Mastermind
As news breaks of the robbery, along with a swirl of accusations and counter accusations, one politician uses parliamentary privilege to name the individual he believes was responsible for its meticulous planning.

Written and presented by Glenn Patterson

Music: Phil Kieran

Producer: Conor Garrett


MON 14:00 Drama (m000cl6p)
Eight Point Nine Nine

What if doping were allowed in athletics? How much faster could we go? And at what cost?

A timely retelling of the Julian Mason scandal, one year on from the closure of Project Hermes, the controversial doping program that enabled Mason to run the 100m in under nine seconds. What drove the scientists at the heart of the project? What made the athletes sign up? And who was to blame when things went wrong?

A searing investigation into the risks and rewards of pushing the boundaries of sport science, from the award-winning partnership of James Fritz and Becky Ripley.

Made in collaboration with the Wellcome Trust.


MON 14:45 The Why Factor (b07knkhk)
Series 3

Time Perception

Mike Williams asks why some weeks just fly by but sometimes minutes can seem like hours? Why do we perceive time differently in different circumstances? Mike talks to Pakistani writer and broadcaster Raza Rumi, Claudia Hammond, author of "Time Warped" and John McCarthy, a British journalist taken hostage in Lebanon in 1986.

Presenter:Mike Williams
Producer:Bob Howard
Editor; Andrew Smith

First broadcast on the BBC World Service


MON 15:00 Round Britain Quiz (m000v1ns)
Programme 6, 2021

(6/12)
Leicester's chairman, Shakespeare's weaver and Richard Gough's village: are they in the right order?

The panellists in today's quiz will be trying to unravel this and many other impenetrable-seeming puzzles, as the South of England take on the Midlands in the sixth of this year's contests. Paul Sinha and Marcus Berkmann appear for the South of England, opposite Elizabeth-Jane Burnett and Stephen Maddock on the Midlands team. Tom Sutcliffe asks the questions, and provides helpful hints as the panellists work towards their solutions. But the more hints and steers they need, the fewer points they'll win.

As always there are musical clues to identify and connect, and a sprinkling of questions devised by Round Britain Quiz listeners and submitted to the programme in recent months.

Producer: Paul Bajoria


MON 15:30 The Food Programme (m000v1nv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:33 on Sunday]


MON 16:00 Iran’s Secret Art Collection (m000tt7z)
In the decade leading up to the Iranian revolution of 1979, the Shah's wife, Farah Pahlavi spent much of her time encouraging the building of museums and institutions intended to celebrate the art and craft of the country. But alongside buildings housing priceless carpets and glassware, she was also keen to use the country's oil wealth to bring examples of modern western art to the capital, Tehran. The result was the collection of works by Jackson Pollock, Henry Moore, Picasso, Bacon, Chagall and Renoir. It remains one of the most valuable collections outside Europe and the US. She even commissioned a portrait by Andy Warhol.
The ambition was to house these very expensive works alongside the modern art of Iran in the newly designed and proudly modernist Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art.
But in 1979, Her Royal Highness had to flee Iran with her husband and the Islamic revolution had little time or appetite for Western art. Through a mix of bravery on the part of local curators, and good luck, the collection survived.
Alastair Sooke talks to Her Royal Highness Farah Pahlavi about the collection and discovers why the popular press coverage suggesting that it was her vanity project was so wrong. He also speaks to Joachim Jaeger, the German Art Director who so nearly managed to organise an exhibition of part of the collection in the west a few years ago. It was to be seen in Berlin and Rome before returning home. The exhibition planners in both Germany, Italy and Iran, had got as far as printing a catalogue when the political authorities in Iran decided it wouldn't be going ahead.
And Alastair hears from those who remember the pre-revolutionary days when the ambition to bring the arts of East and West together in Iran seemed, not only possible, but inevitable. The Empress even kept a memoir in which she explained her vision for the culture of her country, in spite of the turmoil going on outside the palace gates.
Will this extraordinary collection, some of which is now being shown in Tehran for the first time in years, be a force for change in cultural mood? Or will the challenge of works by Francis Bacon and Henry Moore stay safe, but out of the public gaze?

Producer: Tom Alban


MON 16:30 Beyond Belief (m000v1nx)
Prince Philip

Ernie Rea and a multi-faith panel discuss the spiritual life of Prince Philip.

Producer: Helen Lee


MON 17:00 PM (m000v1nz)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.


MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000v1p3)
Busy day on many high streets, while pubs and restaurants re-open outdoors in England


MON 18:30 Just a Minute (m000v1p5)
Series 86

Episode 8

Julian Clary hosts a special episode of Just a Minute where she challenges guests Jo Brand, Gyles Brandreth, Tony Hawks and Shappi Khorsandi to talk on the subjects of her choice for 60 seconds. Hesitation, deviation, and repetition are strictly forbidden. This episode was produced using remote recording technology, with both panel and audience joining in from their homes all over the world. Caroline Barlow blows the whistle.

Devised by Ian Messiter

Produced by Victoria Lloyd

A BBC Studios Production


MON 19:00 The Archers (m000v1p7)
Jazzer’s out to impress while christening plans leave Alice ragged.


MON 19:15 Front Row (m000v1p9)
Too Close, Rachel Whiteread, Chloe Zhao, Rosa Rankin Gee

Leila Latif reviews Too Close, ITV’s new psychological thriller starring Emily Watson and Denise Gough, which will be broadcast on consecutive nights this week.

On the day that commercial art galleries are allowed to re-open in England, Rachel Whiteread discusses her new exhibition Internal Objects at the Gagosian gallery in London. The exhibition features new resin sculptures, and the gallery's two main rooms are occupied by two new works - large sheds made of found materials and painted in white household paint.

As the BAFTA winners were announced over the weekend, Chloe Zhao’s film Nomadland won four prizes including best film, best actress for star Frances McDormand and best director. Film critic Leila Latif joins Kirsty to tell us more about the exciting young director, and her first feature film Songs My Brothers Taught Me which has just been released for the first time in the UK.

Novelist Rosa Rankin Gee joins Kirsty to talk about her new novel, Dreamland, set in a dystopian future where rising tides and political extremism have left one coastal community, and one small family, to fend for itself.

Presenter: Kirsty Lang
Producer: Simon Richardson

Main image: Emily Watson as Dr Emma Robertson in Too Close
Image credit: ITV.com


MON 19:45 The Shadow Over Innsmouth (m000v1pc)
Episode 1

A foggy seafront town where something’s coming from the water. An ancient cult, a stranger with a bandaged face and a body in a shallow grave. The podcast investigation continues.

Podcasters Matthew Heawood and Kennedy Fisher return and this time the story is Kennedy Fisher. A simple investigation into the disappearance of a young man from a mental health facility has taken them from Rhode Island to Iraq, to the Suffolk countryside – as they realised that everything uncovered in season one threaded through to season two.

Towards the end of 'The Whisperer In Darkness,' the investigation turned inward as Kennedy discovered a possible family connection to the uncovered conspiracy. And evidence forces Heawood to question the veracity of Kennedy's account of her time in Iraq. As Kennedy heads off to Innsmouth, to look into her apparently spooky ancestry, Heawood is going to Iraq to answer the most disturbing of all questions: could Kennedy be a killer?

Both Kennedy and Heawood make life-changing discoveries as the two investigations come together and reach a gripping conclusion, just as the Coronavirus pandemic is sweeping the world.

Barnaby Kay and Jana Carpenter star in writer/director Julian Simpson’s H.P. Lovecraft-inspired universe.

Episode One:
Our mystery podcasters return to close the story,

MATTHEW HEAWOOD ................Barnaby Kay
KENNEDY FISHER...........................Jana Carpenter
CASEY.................................................Kyle Soller
JASPER...............................................Steven Mackintosh
DOCTOR WILLETT.........................Mark Bazeley
CHARLES DEXTER WARD...........Samuel Barnett
IRAQ MAN..................................Walles Hammond

SOUND....................................................David Thomas
PRODUCTION COORDINATOR......Sarah Tombling
PRODUCER.............................................Karen Rose
MUSIC......................................................Tim Elsenburg

WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY Julian Simpson
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4


MON 20:00 Read My Lips (m000v1pg)
Never judge a book by its cover. This is the only rule at the Human Library, where books are people and reading is a conversation.

The Librarian has thousands of surprising, stimulating and eye-opening titles, and today she recommends three books for presenters James Peak and Sharmistha Michaels.

Now is our chance to find out whether Wheelchair User actually wants help, if Satanist actually worships Satan, and what Child of Alcoholic Parents would tell her terrified four-year-old self.

Made with The Human Library Organisation.

The Librarian: Harriet Carmichael
Assistant Producer: Ruby Churchill
Editor: David Chilton
Executive Producer: Phillip Abrams
Presenters: James Peak and Sharmistha Michaels
Producer: James Peak
An Essential Radio production for BBC Radio 4


MON 20:30 Crossing Continents (m000twgs)
Denmark: goodbye to mink

Can Denmark's mink industry rise again? Denmark was the world's top producer of mink for the luxury market. Last year a coronavirus variant was found in the animals, and transmitted to people. There was a fear the variant - Cluster 5 - might interfere with the efficacy of any vaccine developed for humans. So in November, the Danish government ordered a cull of all 17 million farmed mink. But questions have continued to be asked about the decision to effectively end production. Was it driven by an anti-fur, political agenda? Was the science reliable? For Crossing Continents, Linda Pressly and Danish journalist, Rikke Bolander, meet some of those with skin in the game. What are the chances of a revival of Denmark's mink business?

Producers / presenters: Linda Pressly and Rikke Bolander
Editor, Bridget Harney


MON 21:00 A Pyrotechnic History of Humanity (m000tt7x)
Agriculture

In part two of his history of the human use of energy, Justin Rowlatt explores what was the original solar energy revolution – harnessing the sun’s rays to grow food. Some 10,000 years ago our ancestors began to till the soil, producing the energy surpluses needed to feed the first cities and civilisations.

Growing crops was gruelling work, as Justin discovers at Butser Ancient Farm, when he tries to till some soil himself with a replica Stone Age mattock. Resident archaeologist Claire Walton gives Justin a tour through ten millennia of British farming history.

But what first prompted our ancestors to take up such an arduous way of life in the first place? Anthropologist Robert Bettinger thinks it was down to the unusually benign conditions since the end of the last Ice Age. In any case, agriculture delivered domesticated plants and animals that could sustain much bigger human populations, according to Mark Nesbitt of Kew Gardens, and Melinda Zeder of the Smithsonian Institution. And that in turn made the discovery of radical new technologies possible.

Producer: Laurence Knight
Presenter: Justin Rowlatt
Studio manager: Rod Farquhar
Production co-ordinator: Zoe Gelber
Editor: Rosamund Jones


MON 21:30 Start the Week (m000v1mz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


MON 22:00 The World Tonight (m000twvg)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective


MON 22:45 We Are All Birds Of Uganda by Hafsa Zayyan (m000v1ng)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:04 today]


MON 23:00 Word of Mouth (m000tt8z)
Alphabetical Order

Michael Rosen and historian Judith Flanders talk about how we categorise things, using alphabetical order and more.

Produced by Sally Heaven for BBC Audio in Bristol


MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (m000v1pm)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament



TUESDAY 13 APRIL 2021

TUE 00:00 Midnight News (m000v1pp)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


TUE 00:30 The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym by Paula Byrne (m000v1pr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Monday]


TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000v1pv)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000v1px)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.


TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000v1pz)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


TUE 05:30 News Briefing (m000v1q1)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4


TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000v1q5)
Good Morning,

Muslims all over the world are celebrating the start of the holy month of Ramadan.

From before Dawn till Dusk we’re not eating or drinking. And it really is a month, not a day or two. Twenty-nine or thirty days depending on how the moon wanes.

Last Ramadan was the strangest I ever experienced because of the Pandemic.

• Gone were the daily trips to the local mosque
• Gone were the visits to relatives to open fast with them - or to share ours
• And gone was the great gathering of Eid.

It was a humbling experience to witness how vulnerable we all were to an invisible enemy.

In our home, we transformed our front room turned into a mosque. It became permanently dedicated to prayer in Ramadan last year. I heard how some Muslim families went to great lengths to even create a mini-mosque complete with decorations and nooks normally associated with mosques inside their homes.

As I look back, I think the opportunity to be together like that as a family was a wonderful experience for us, but against a backdrop of sadness and mourning for many in our community.

That was last year’s Ramadan.

This year the mosques are open. However, we are socially distanced, masked up and carrying our own prayer mats.

This year’s different, and doubly so with the announcement of a Royal death. We all offer our sincere condolences to her Majesty the Queen.
Lord, every experience has something to teach us. Open the eye of our hearts to cherish our time together during this period of mourning and spiritual reflection.


TUE 05:45 Farming Today (m000v1q9)
13/04/21 - UK Trade and Business Commission, Exports to the EU, Selling brown wool

A cross-party independent commission has been set up to suggest ways to improve the new EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement and smooth current exporting difficulties. It’s not a government-backed body - it’s being run by the Best Of Britain group, which calls itself a ’pro-internationalism campaign’. Anna Hill speaks its leader, the Labour MP Hilary Benn.

100 days have passed since the Brexit transition period came to an end, and we continue our focus on how UK food and farming businesses are adapting. Today we hear from Ian Wright, Chief Executive of the Food and Drink Federation.

For many UK sheep farmers, it now costs more to shear their sheep than they receive for the fleeces. We visit a New Forest smallholder who is on a one-woman mission to find a different market for her wool.

Presented by Anna Hill
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Heather Simons


TUE 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b0910n6g)
Tim Birkhead on the Puffin

Large numbers of visitors come to Skomer just to see puffins, however for seabird zoologist Tim Birkhead puffins are boring dull birds, in this Tweet of the Day.

Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world.

Producer: Tom Bonnett
Photograph: Sam Linton.


TUE 06:00 Today (m000v2rp)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


TUE 09:00 The Life Scientific (m000v2rt)
Theresa Marteau on how to change behaviour

We all know how to be more healthy. And yet we are also remarkably good at NOT doing what we know is good for us. We keep meaning to get fit, but the sofa seems so much more appealing than a run. We know we shouldn’t have another slice of cake, but we do.
Behavioural psychologist, Professor Dame Theresa Marteau wants to understand why, despite the best of intentions, so many of us fail to adopt healthier lifestyles. She talks to Jim Al-Khalili about her life and work and why, after studying the evidence she changed her mind about how to change our behaviour.
Back in the 90s, it seemed reasonable to assume that telling people they were at high risk of dying would jolt them into eating more healthily and taking more exercise. Now we know better. Thanks in large part to research pioneered by Theresa, we have a much more sophisticated understanding of what drives our behaviour. It turns out that small scale interventions to redesign our environment can exert a big influence on our behaviour by nudging us all into make better decisions, in ways that are beyond our awareness. Spoiler alert - smaller wine glasses really do make you drink less!
Responses to Covid-19 show that nations can act rapidly and radically in response to immediate threats to health, even at huge cost. Can we do the same to tackle other threats to global health?
Producer: Anna Buckley


TUE 09:30 One to One (m000v2rw)
OCD: Tuppence Middleton talks to Gazal Jones

Actress Tuppence Middleton has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). It's not something she's really talked about before, except with a therapist. That is, until now. In this series, she's on a mission to find out more about the disorder - and herself - and to bust some myths along the way.

Today, she talks to clinical psychologist Dr Gazal Jones. What's going on in the brain? How does it affect people differently? And what's the best way to get treatment?

Photo credit: Robert Harper. Producer: Becky Ripley.


TUE 09:45 The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym by Paula Byrne (m000v2tj)
Ep 2 - In Which Miss Pym Tours Germany

Paula Byrne's shrewdly observed and joyous new biography of one of the twentieth century's wittiest novelists. In today's episode, Barbara Pym indulges her love of German culture with visits to 1930s Germany where her broken heart is also mended.

Philip Larkin regarded her as the era's very own Jane Austen and yet today Barbara Pym is little known. She lived through a period of social and political upheaval, and her novels charted the impact of these changes on women in the public and the domestic realm. By the early 60s she had published six novels, and though she struggled for recognition from 1963 onwards, she continued to write and went on to make a triumphant comeback.

Her diaries are prefaced 'The Adventures of Miss Pym' emulating Henry Fielding's 'Tom Jones', and in turn Paula Byrne has written her celebratory biography of this courageous and funny novelist in the style of a picaresque adventure.

Paula Byrne is the bestselling and acclaimed biographer and novelist. Her non-fiction includes 'The Real Jane Austen', 'The Genius of Jane Austen' and 'Mad World' the story of Evelyn Waugh and Brideshead.

Photo credit: The Barbara Pym Society

Abridged by Julian Wilkinson
Produced by Elizabeth Allard.


TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000v2s0)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.


TUE 10:45 Marcovaldo (m000v2s2)
Moon and Gnac

Moon and Gnac from Italo Calvino's Marcovaldo, dramatised by Toby Jones from a translation by William Weaver.

Marcovaldo's efforts to teach his children about the night sky are thwarted by a large neon sign.

NARRATOR.....Toby Jones
MARCOVALDO…….Mackenzie Crook
FIORDALIGI/ GODIFREDO.....Ashley Margolis
ISOLINA……Isla Johnston
MICHELINO……Aaron Gelkoff
PIETRUCCIO……Tyler Howitt

Directed by Nadia Molinari


TUE 11:00 A Pyrotechnic History of Humanity (m000v2s4)
Fossil Fuels

In the third instalment in his history of energy’s role in the rise of our species, Justin Rowlatt looks at the bonanza provided by coal, oil and gas in just the last two centuries. Our modern comfortable way of life is only made possible by burning through a finite stock of fossilised chemical energy.

Today we are a fossil fuel society, according to the noted energy historian Vaclav Smil. Fossil fuels underpin everything we take for granted – our long leisurely lives, our material goods, even the crops needed to feed our gigantic populations.

Justin takes a tour through the history of the engine with Professor Paul Warde at London’s Science Museum. He explores the dark library of hydrocarbon fuels with chemist Andrea Sella. And he discovers how coal and natural gas created the materials that built our modern urban worlds. Indeed, our megacities emerged to exploit fossil fuels more efficiently, and to provide the crucible for an explosion of technology, according to physicist Geoffrey West, in a process analogous to the evolution of the human brain.

Producer: Laurence Knight
Presenter: Justin Rowlatt
Studio manager: Rod Farquhar
Production co-ordinator: Zoe Gelber
Editor: Rosamund Jones


TUE 11:30 Britain in Ten Operas (m000p78g)
Royals and Rogues

Renowned baritone Roderick Williams picks his top ten highlights from over three centuries of opera in Britain and discovers what our opera story can tell us about British identity.

Britain has often held an ambivalent attitude towards opera. At many points over the last 350 years, sung dramas have spoken to and for a mass audience. At other times we’ve viewed opera as elitist and foreign. In this first three-part series we'll see how, throughout that history, the changing place of opera in British culture tells a revealing story about who we are.

In this first episode, Roderick looks at our early opera story and sees how Britain’s struggle with a new, flamboyant and decidedly decadent style of musical theatre from Europe mirrored the dramatic changes that were happening in British society during the eighteenth century. We hear from treasured works by Purcell and Handel, along with a celebrated patriotic anthem still famous today.

With contributions from: conductor Sir Mark Elder, musicologist Suzanne Aspden, cultural historian Danielle Thom, sopranos Soraya Mafi and Danielle de Niese, baritone Sir Thomas Allen and musicologist Susan Rutherford.

Produced in Cardiff by Chris Taylor and Amelia Parker


TUE 12:00 News Summary (m000v2zr)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


TUE 12:04 We Are All Birds Of Uganda by Hafsa Zayyan (m000v2s8)
Episode 7

Although Sameer has settled in to life with his wealthy friends the Shahs, he’s keen to explore his family roots elsewhere in Uganda.
Read by Sacha Dhawan and Vincent Ebrahim

This elegant and eye-opening debut crosses continents and generations as it explores love, duty and the long shadows cast by colonialism. Themes of romance and exile combine with a stunning portrayal of modern Uganda as a young man tries to find his place in the world. Winner of the New Writer’s Prize from Stormzy’s imprint Merky books, Hafsa Zayyan takes us from East Africa to the East Midlands - and back again.

Written by Hafsa Zayyan
Abridged by Patricia Cumper
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie


TUE 12:18 You and Yours (m000v2sb)
Call You and Yours: What is it like trying to buy or sell a home at the moment?

On Call You and Yours, we'd like to know what it's like trying to buy or sell a home at the moment.

The pandemic has changed things. People want to move, but there's not much to buy. Gardens have become more important and office space too. There are also problems selling some flats. What's it like for you?

We'd like to hear from buyers and sellers - tell us how you've found it.

Email us - youandyours@bbc.co.uk and please leave us a phone number so we can call you back.

During the programme, call 03 700 100 444.

Producers: Jess Quayle and Samantha Fenwick
Presenter: Winifred Robinson


TUE 12:57 Weather (m000v2sd)
The latest weather forecast


TUE 13:00 World at One (m000v2sg)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Sarah Montague.


TUE 13:45 The Northern Bank Job (m000v2sj)
Episode Seven: Burning Embers

It was the biggest bank robbery in British and Irish history. Days before Christmas 2004, gangs of armed men take over the homes of two Northern Bank officials in Belfast and County Down. With family members held hostage, the officials are instructed to remove cash from the vaults of Northern Bank headquarters in Belfast city-centre and load it into the back of a van - not once, but twice - before the van disappears into the night, along with more than £26.5 million in new and used notes. With the finger of blame pointed at the IRA, the raid makes headlines around the world and sends shock-waves through an already faltering Northern Ireland peace process.

Through dramatized court testimonies, new interviews and archive, Glenn Patterson takes us into the unfolding story of a meticulously planned heist and its chaotic aftermath. Military precision giving way to soap powder boxes stuffed with cash. The bickering of politicians against the silence of the man said to be the robbery’s mastermind. There are even rumours that proceeds from the robbery are to be used as a pension fund for IRA members as it prepares to disarm and disband.

Glenn Patterson has unfinished business with the Northern Bank Job. In fact, he thinks all of Northern Ireland does.

Episode Seven: Burning Embers
Irish police follow a money laundering trail to County Cork, where someone is going to extreme lengths to get the cash off their hands

Written and presented by Glenn Patterson

Music: Phil Kieran

Producer: Conor Garrett


TUE 14:00 The Archers (m000v1p7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Monday]


TUE 14:15 McLevy (b07x2zd6)
Series 12

Ep 2. A Man Of Honour

Victorian detective drama starring Brian Cox and Siobhan Redmond.

Written by David Ashton.

Episode two: A Man Of Honour.

McLevy’s relations with Jean Brash turn frosty but he doesn’t understand why. Mulholland chases a knife assailant over the rooftops of Leith Harbour – but in the tussle the man falls to his death. A family friend holds the police responsible for his godson’s death and determines to kill Mulholland in a duel.

McLevy………………………………………………….Brian Cox
Jean………………………………..……….Siobhan Redmond
Mulholland……………....…….Michael Perceval-Maxwell
Roach………………………………..…………….David Ashton
Ballantyne..........................................Finlay McLean
Callum………………………….…………………Ron Donachie
Josie Spence………………………………….…Samuel Keefe
Sim Burnside………………………………….……Ben Clifford
Annie Mills………………………………………Charlene Boyd

Other parts played by the cast.
Producer/Director: Bruce Young
BBC Scotland


TUE 15:00 The Kitchen Cabinet (m000v23j)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:30 on Saturday]


TUE 15:30 Costing the Earth (m000v2qz)
Maritime Nation

How well protected is Britain's coast and its wildlife after Brexit? Chef and fisheries campaigner, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall joins Peter Gibbs to examine the health of our seas.

Can our network of Marine Protected Areas be strengthened and expanded? What impact is climate change having on our waters? How can we lift the curse of plastic pollution from our beaches? Surfers, fishermen, campaigners and conservationists join Peter and Hugh to consider the issues.

Producer: Jonathan Wiltshire


TUE 16:00 Word of Mouth (m000v2sl)
Changing Names

Michael Rosen and BBC presenter Ben Boulos talk about how we change names

Produced by Sally Heaven for BBC Audio in Bristol


TUE 16:30 Great Lives (m000v2sn)
Chinua Achebe, Nigerian novelist

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown picks Nigerian novelist, Chinua Achebe, the author of Things Fall Apart. With archive contributions from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Chinua Achebe himself. He was born in Nigeria in 1930 and Yasmin Alibhai Brown met him twice in Uganda in the 1960s and remains deeply impressed by both his books and his life.

The presenter is Matthew Parris, the producer is Miles Warde


TUE 17:00 PM (m000v2sq)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.


TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000v2sv)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


TUE 18:30 Bridget Christie: Mortal (m000v2sx)
Birth

Episode 1 - Birth

Following on from her hugely successful, award-winning previous series – ‘Minds The Gap’ and ‘Utopia’, Bridget now turns her attention to Mortality, covering ‘Birth’, ‘Life’, ‘Death’ and ‘The Afterlife’.

Like many of us forced to work from home during lockdown, Bridget has recorded this series herself in her house, and in her local park, on a pre-sanitised recording device sent to her in the post. Batteries weren’t included. She had to buy them all herself.

In a collection of informative, personal and absurd recordings, she confronts the difficult questions most of us spend our lives avoiding - all whilst being interrupted by cats, chores, children, foxes and a plumber.

“Do twins share a soul or do they get one each?”, “Why don’t we bury our placentas and plant a tree on top of them?” and “Who’s blocked the toilet again?”

If you are mortal, then this is the show for you.

Written and performed by Bridget Christie
With guest appearances from her dad, her sister and her friend.
Producer... Carl Cooper

Bridget Christie: Mortal is a BBC Studios Production


TUE 19:00 The Archers (m000v2qb)
Kate demands to be heard while Harrison offers an ear.


TUE 19:15 Front Row (m000v2t0)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music. Producer: Alice Feinstein.


TUE 19:45 The Shadow Over Innsmouth (m000v2t2)
Episode 2

A foggy seafront town where something’s coming from the water. An ancient cult, a stranger with a bandaged face and a body in a shallow grave. The podcast investigation continues.

Podcasters Matthew Heawood and Kennedy Fisher return and this time the story is Kennedy Fisher. A simple investigation into the disappearance of a young man from a mental health facility has taken them from Rhode Island to Iraq, to the Suffolk countryside – as they realised that everything uncovered in season one threaded through to season two.

Towards the end of 'The Whisperer In Darkness,' the investigation turned inward as Kennedy discovered a possible family connection to the uncovered conspiracy. And evidence forces Heawood to question the veracity of Kennedy's account of her time in Iraq. As Kennedy heads off to Innsmouth, to look into her apparently spooky ancestry, Heawood is going to Iraq to answer the most disturbing of all questions: could Kennedy be a killer?

Both Kennedy and Heawood make life-changing discoveries as the two investigations come together and reach a gripping conclusion, just as the Coronavirus pandemic is sweeping the world.

Barnaby Kay and Jana Carpenter star in writer/director Julian Simpson’s H.P. Lovecraft-inspired universe.

Episode Two
Innsmouth is not what Kennedy expected. Heawood is thrown when he runs into a familiar face in Iraq.

MATTHEW HEAWOOD ................Barnaby Kay
KENNEDY FISHER...........................Jana Carpenter
CASEY.................................................Kyle Soller
JASPER...............................................Steven Mackintosh
DOCTOR WILLETT.........................Mark Bazeley
CHARLES DEXTER WARD...........Samuel Barnett
MAN IN IRAQ..............................Walles Hammond

WRITER...................................................Julian Simpson
SOUND....................................................David Thomas
PRODUCTION COORDINATOR......Sarah Tombling
PRODUCER.............................................Karen Rose
MUSIC......................................................Tim Elsenburg

WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY Julian Simpson
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 20:00 Able to Parent (m000v2t4)
Emily Yates and her partner Christopher ' CJ' Johnston have been together four years. CJ really wants a baby but Emily - a wheelchair-user with Cerebral Palsy - has fears and barriers that she feels she needs to overcome.

Will she be able to carry a baby? What extra strain will her disability put on her and CJ's relationship as parents? What impact will her disability have on their child as he or she grows up?

To help quell these concerns and make a final decision, the couple look around them for advice and inspiration. They meet Kelly, a powerchair-user and mum to two boys, who offers practical advice on handling trickier situations. Megan was raised by a paraplegic mother and gives a child's perspective, while the artist Alison Lapper - arguably Britain's highest-profile disabled parent - shares her story, including the astonishing level of vitriol she received during her pregnancy. In 2019, Alison's son Parys tragically died of an accidental drug overdose. How will this experience colour Alison's advice to Emily and CJ?

As they explore all this together, Emily increasingly realises that many of the barriers she faces are ones of perception rather than practicality.

Producer: Leeanne Coyle
A Bespoken Media production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 20:40 In Touch (m000v2t6)
News, views and information for people who are blind or partially sighted


TUE 21:00 The Jump (m000t47k)
Bird Flu

Chris van Tulleken on the human behaviours that are causing pandemics, paying the price for getting too close to animals by degrading their territory and allowing viruses to jump. As we've all been locked down for one virus our poultry have been locked down for another. Currently all chicken farms in the UK are behind closed doors due to an H5N8 outbreak across Europe. In Russia there have been some cases in people this year but so far it has not passed from human to human. In 1997 the H5N1 Bird Flu outbreak in Hong Kong poultry markets infected a small number of people but had a 30 % mortality rate including children. Virologist Professor Malik Peiris was at the centre of the outbreak and recalls the concern that a pandemic was on the cards. Culling of all poultry flocks halted that event but not before the virus entered the wild bird population – a reservoir where the virus ‘card pack is shuffling.' Professor Nicola Lewis explains how common dabbling ducks are able to fly hundreds of miles in one hit, migrating across the world and intermingling with domestic animals. An ever increasing number of rice paddy fields is another risk factor while Dr Jessica Leibler underlines the contribution of industrial poultry and pig farming to viruses jumping. We know it would take a small number of mutations for bird flu to become human to human transmissible. NERVTAG virologist Wendy Barclay says, in the end, a bird flu pandemic is inevitable.

If you find dead or sick wild waterfowl (swans, geese or ducks) or other dead wild birds, such as gulls or birds of prey, do not touch them but in the UK call the Defra helpline (03459 33 55 77).

Produced by Erika Wright


TUE 21:30 The Life Scientific (m000v2rt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (m000v2t8)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective


TUE 22:45 We Are All Birds Of Uganda by Hafsa Zayyan (m000v2s8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:04 today]


TUE 23:00 Fortunately... with Fi and Jane (p06snwvx)
‘A burst of hamstery energy’, with Dame Esther Rantzen

Dame Esther Rantzen, ‘proper legend’ of broadcasting, is whisked from the pizza and into a private room in Broadcasting House for a chat with Fi and Jane. Over hot chocolates, they discuss how Esther went from studio manager and sound effects wizard, to producing and presenting her own TV shows. It’s not long before she’s put on the Fortunately naughty step. Plus, Esther reveals how a conversation with Jane inspired her to found The Silver Line charity, and why 78 is the new 78.

From November 2018


TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (m000v2td)
Today in Parliament

News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament



WEDNESDAY 14 APRIL 2021

WED 00:00 Midnight News (m000v2tg)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


WED 00:30 The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym by Paula Byrne (m000v2tj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Tuesday]


WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000v2tl)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000v2tn)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.


WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000v2tq)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


WED 05:30 News Briefing (m000v2ts)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4


WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000v2tv)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Bishop David Walker

Good Morning

Both as a family member and as a priest, I have spent a lot of time over the years in the company of people who are gathering around their common grief at a life just ended. Well ahead of any formal ceremonies or rites, being together matters.

Many of those encounters were in my professional role, supporting others in their loss. I noticed however, how different it felt when I had known the person who had died, perhaps a member of the church or someone I met in my wider community engagements. Whether or not we had been especially close, in these occasions I was no longer simply attending on a grief, but fully part of it myself. I needed the assistance of those around me, to cope with my own sense of loss. And that made my time spent with the bereaved, even I was still primarily there as vicar, quite different.

Mourning is not just a private activity, but something we do, when we can, together. Handshakes, hugs and facial expressions, all help to convey that our sadness is shared. Often what matters most is simply to be able to talk together about the one we have lost. Our conversations are rarely focussed on the big staging posts of their life, rather we find ourselves drawn to some little moment that typified the person they were; a word, a joke or a gesture. Something that can provoke a smile through our tears.

Holy God,
You make us not to be alone but to find comfort in one another,
Help us this day, to share our memories,
To retell to those around us our own tales from the life of [our Queen/Prince Philip]
And to listen with care to what others wish to tell us.
That together we may may grieve,
Even as Jesus himself grieved with his friends at the loss of a loved one.

Amen.


WED 05:45 Farming Today (m000v2tx)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.


WED 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b08vzt86)
Joe Harkness on the Woodlark

After a bad day at work, Joe Harkness recalls an encounter with a woodlark on Buxton Heath in Norfolk for Tweet of the Day.

Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world.

Producer Maggie Ayre.


WED 06:00 Today (m000v2pp)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


WED 09:00 Life Changing (m000v61m)
I stole €1.75 million from work to feed my gambling habit

Jane Garvey talks to Tony O’Reilly about the time he was forced to confront his spiralling addiction.

Tony O’Reilly is from County Carlow in the Republic of Ireland. He placed his first bet at the age of 24. It was 1998 and like many, he was watching the World Cup. He and a mate put a pound on Kluivert to score the first goal in the Netherlands - Argentina quarter final and a final result of 2-1. He won. And so began his relationship with gambling.

It started as a bit of fun at the weekend but years later, once he’d got an online account, the betting escalated rapidly and soon turned in to a full-on addiction.

On his wedding day, Tony believed he’d lost all the money that was to pay for the event. He was saved when a horse he’d backed came from nowhere to win at the Epsom Derby. And so his addiction remained a secret. Now, with mounting debts and a baby on the way, Tony started to steal from his employer in a desperate attempt to try and win and pay everything back. By the end he had stolen 1.75 million Euros. On the day the auditors arrived to check the accounts Tony went on the run.

He ended up in prison, his marriage fell apart and he lost his home but he never placed another bet. Now, a decade on, Tony is a full-time gambling addiction counsellor with Extern Problem Gambling and gives talks at secondary schools about the dangers of betting.

Details of organisations offering information and support with addiction are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline, or you can call for free, at any time to hear recorded information on 08000 155 947

Do you have an extraordinary story that you’d like to share? You can contact the programme at Lifechanging@bbc.co.uk


WED 09:30 Chinese Characters (b09yhj36)
Matteo Ricci: Jesuit and Geometrist

Better living through geometry. That was one of the lessons shared with the Chinese emperor by the Jesuit priest Matteo Ricci. He was part of an enterprising group of Jesuits priests who brought their faith to China, along with new ideas drawn from the scientific revolution changing early modern Europe. A collaboration rather than a conquest, Ricci worked with Chinese colleagues to develop ideas in astronomy, mathematics and even music - giving a favourable impression of the west to the elites of the Chinese court. And he even made a few Catholic converts, his life a demonstration that western religion in China didn't have to be about invasion, gunboats and opium trading.
Chinese Characters is a series of 20 essays exploring Chinese history through the life stories of key personalities.
Presenter: Rana Mitter
Producer: Ben Crighton
Researcher: Elizabeth Smith Rosser.


WED 09:45 The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym by Paula Byrne (m000v2pr)
Ep 3 - In Which Our Heroine and her Sister Take Up Residence in London

Paula Byrne's biography of the twentieth century novelist celebrates her wit and her talent for chronicling matters of the human heart. Today, Barbara Pym makes her unique mark on the literary landscape of 1950s Britain. Hattie Morahan is the reader.

Philip Larkin regarded her as the era's very own Jane Austen and yet today Barbara Pym is little known. She lived through a period of social and political upheaval, and her novels charted the impact of these changes on women in the public and the domestic realm. By the early 60s she had published six novels, and though she struggled for recognition from 1963 onwards, she continued to write and went on to make a triumphant comeback.

Her diaries are prefaced 'The Adventures of Miss Pym' emulating Henry Fielding's 'Tom Jones', and in turn Paula Byrne has written her shrewdly observed biography of this courageous and funny novelist in the style of a picaresque adventure.

Paula Byrne is the bestselling and acclaimed biographer and novelist. Her non-fiction includes 'The Real Jane Austen', 'The Genius of Jane Austen' and 'Mad World' the story of Evelyn Waugh and Brideshead.

Photo credit: The Barbara Pym Society

Abridged by Julian Wilkinson
Produced by Elizabeth Allard.


WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000v2pt)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.


WED 10:45 Marcovaldo (m000v2pw)
The Rain and the Leaves

The Rain and the Leaves from Italo Calvino's Marcovaldo dramatised by Toby Jones from a translation by William Weaver.

Marcovaldo's increasing obsession with nurturing the plant at the factory where he works brings surprising results..

NARRATOR.....Toby Jones
MARCOVALDO…….Mackenzie Crook
DOMITILLA/ RECEPTIONIST.....Deborah McAndrew
VILIGELMO.....Mark Bonnar
ISOLINA.....Isla Johnston
MICHELINO.....Aaron Gelkoff
PIETRUCCIO.....Tyler Howitt

Directed by Nadia Molinari


WED 11:00 Read My Lips (m000v1pg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Monday]


WED 11:30 Susan Calman - Keep Calman Carry On (b09hw51h)
Series 2

Festivals

Susan Calman is the least relaxed person she knows. She has no down time, no hobbies (unless you count dressing up your cats in silly outfits) and her idea of relaxation is to sit on her sofa playing Assassin's Creed, an hour into which she is in a murderous rage with sky high blood pressure. Her wife had to threaten to divorce her to make her go on holiday, and she's been told by the same long-suffering wife that unless she finds a way to switch off, and soon, she's going to be unbearable.

Susan decided her best bet was to try to immerse herself in the pursuits that her friends find relaxing, to find her inner zen and outer tranquillity. In the first series of this show she attempted to ditch the old Susan Calman and attempted to find the new Susan Calm, by watching Cricket; going Hillwalking; visiting an Art Gallery and being spontaneous. She enjoyed these pursuits, but all too soon found herself slipping back into her old ways. So she's trying again. This week she takes a trip to the Latitude Festival with Robin Ince, to try and understand why all her friends think a weekend of noisy camping is a relaxing way to spend their time.

In other episodes Susan will learn about gardening with Val McDermid, try her hand at baking with Selasi Gbmormittah and have a go at birdwatching with Emma Kennedy.

Keep Calman Carry On is an audience stand up show in which Susan reports on how successful she's been - both at relaxing and at the pursuit itself - as well as playing in and discussing a handful of illustrative clips from her efforts. It's an attempt to find out how people find solace or sanctuary in these worlds and how Susan can negotiate her own place in them.

Written by Susan Calman and Jon Hunter.
Produced by Lyndsay Fenner.
A BBC Studios Production.


WED 12:00 News Summary (m000v2py)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


WED 12:04 We Are All Birds Of Uganda by Hafsa Zayyan (m000v2q0)
Episode 8

As Sameer’s friendship with Maryam deepens, his grandfather’s letters reveal the reality of life as a refugee from Idi Amin’s Uganda.
Read by Sacha Dhawan and Vincent Ebrahim

This elegant and eye-opening debut crosses continents and generations as it explores love, duty and the long shadows cast by colonialism. Themes of romance and exile combine with a stunning portrayal of modern Uganda as a young man tries to find his place in the world. Winner of the New Writer’s Prize from Stormzy’s imprint Merky books, Hafsa Zayyan takes us from East Africa to the East Midlands - and back again.

Written by Hafsa Zayyan
Abridged by Patricia Cumper
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie


WED 12:18 You and Yours (m000v2q2)
News and discussion of consumer affairs.


WED 12:57 Weather (m000v2q4)
The latest weather forecast


WED 13:00 World at One (m000v2q6)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Sarah Montague.


WED 13:45 The Northern Bank Job (m000v2q8)
Episode Eight: See No Evil

It was the biggest bank robbery in British and Irish history. Days before Christmas 2004, gangs of armed men take over the homes of two Northern Bank officials in Belfast and County Down. With family members held hostage, the officials are instructed to remove cash from the vaults of Northern Bank headquarters in Belfast city-centre and load it into the back of a van - not once, but twice - before the van disappears into the night, along with more than £26.5 million in new and used notes. With the finger of blame pointed at the IRA, the raid makes headlines around the world and sends shock-waves through an already faltering Northern Ireland peace process.

Through dramatized court testimonies, new interviews and archive, Glenn Patterson takes us into the unfolding story of a meticulously planned heist and its chaotic aftermath. Military precision giving way to soap powder boxes stuffed with cash. The bickering of politicians against the silence of the man said to be the robbery’s mastermind. There are even rumours that proceeds from the robbery are to be used as a pension fund for IRA members as it prepares to disarm and disband.

Glenn Patterson has unfinished business with the Northern Bank Job. In fact, he thinks all of Northern Ireland does.

Episode Eight: See No Evil
Weeks after the robbery a man is murdered outside a packed Belfast bar but no witnesses are coming forward.

Written and presented by Glenn Patterson

Music: Phil Kieran

Producer: Conor Garrett


WED 14:00 The Archers (m000v2qb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Tuesday]


WED 14:15 The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (m0008hkb)
The House of Unexpected Sisters

A new dramatisation by Alexander McCall Smith from his popular novels set in Gabarone's only detective agency.

The House of Unexpected Sisters
Mma Ramotswe dips a reluctant toe into local politics while the Agency is charged with investigating a simple case of wrongful dismissal.

Mma Ramotswe ... JANICE ACQUAH
Mma Makutsi ... NADINE MARHSALL
Mr JLB Matekoni ... BEN ONWUKWE
Mr Polopetsi ... STEVE TOUSSAINT
Mma Potokwani ... SARAH NILES
Charity ... SAFFRON COOMBER
Charity's mother ... LORNA GAYLE

A BBC Scotland production directed by Eilidh McCreadie


WED 15:00 Money Box (m000v2qd)
Remote Working

Working from home is changing the way we think about where we base our life and careers, but how remote can we be from our business or office?

Can you live and work hundreds of miles away from your employer and what could that mean for your personal life and finances or for the company you work for?

Whether you’re an employee or an employer we’d love to hear from you, e-mail moneybox@bbc.co.uk now with your thoughts, questions and experiences.

Joining the conversation with presenter Felicity Hannah at 3pm on Wednesday 14 April are Neil Carberry, CEO at the Recruitment and Employment Confederation and Jodie Hill, Director at employment law firm Thrive Law.

Presenter: Felicity Hannah
Producer: Diane Richardson
Editor: Emma Rippon


WED 15:30 Three Pounds in My Pocket (m000r5nj)
Series 4

Episode 2

2001: the year everything changed for British South Asians. Since 2014, Kavita Puri has been charting the social history of this community in post-war Britain. Many came with as little as three pounds due to strict currency controls.

After the optimism and progress of the 1990s, there was an abrupt change in 2001. The year began positively enough - in Spring, Foreign Secretary Robin Cook declared chicken tikka masala a national dish. It may not have been something that many - if any - British South Asians cooked at home, but Cook's speech was an imagining of Britain as diverse, open and multicultural.

Later that year, there was civil unrest in areas with large numbers of British South Asians, including Oldham, Burnley and Bradford. Racial tensions in Oldham were stoked by the British National Party. Their leader Nick Griffin made some electoral gains in the General Election in June. And then a few months later, on September 11th, al-Qaeda attacked the Twin Towers in New York City.

Producer: Ant Adeane
Editor: Hugh Levinson

Historical consultants:
Dr Florian Stadtler, University of Exeter
Dr Edward Anderson, Northumbria University


WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (m000v2qg)
Laurie Taylor explores the latest research into how society works. Producer: John Goudie


WED 16:30 The Media Show (m000v2qj)
Social media, anti-social media, breaking news, faking news: this is the programme about a revolution in media with Amol Rajan. Prod: Eleanor Garland (Beverley Purcell April-July)


WED 17:00 PM (m000v2ql)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.


WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000v2qn)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


WED 18:30 Alone (m000v2qq)
Series 3

Unpacking The Yada Yada

A sitcom about five single, middle aged neighbours living in flats in a converted house in North London .- written by Moray Hunter and starring Angus Deayton, Abigail Cruttenden, Pearce Quigley, Kate Isitt and Bennett Arron,

Mitch (Angus Deayton) is a widower and part-time therapist who is looking to put his life back together now that he is single and living with Will (Pearce Quigley), his younger, more volatile and unhappily divorced half-brother. Elsewhere in the building are schoolteacher Ellie (Abigail Cruttenden) who is shy, nervous and holds a secret candle for Mitch. Overly honest, frustrated actress Louisa (Kate Isitt), and socially inept IT nerd Morris (Bennett Arron) complete the line-up of mis-matched neighbours.

In the second episode, Unpacking the Yada Yada, a disappointed Ellie tries to jog Mitch’s memory regarding their date, which didn’t happen due to Mitch’s cycling accident, while Will and Louisa have a night out to remember. And then to forget. And then to pretend never happened.

Cast:
Angus Deayton- Mitch
Abigail Cruttenden- Ellie
Pearce Quigley- Will
Kate Isitt- Louisa
Bennett Arron- Morris

Created and Written by Moray Hunter
Script Edited by Ian Brown and James Hendrie
Directed by Moray Hunter and Gordon Kennedy
Recorded and Edited by Jerry Peal
Production Manager: Sarah Tombling
Based on an original idea developed in association with Dandy Productions
Recorded at The Soundhouse Studios
Produced by Gordon Kennedy

An Absolutely production for BBC Radio 4


WED 19:00 The Archers (m000v2qs)
There are too many cooks at the christening buffet while Tracy and Jazzer come clean.


WED 19:15 Front Row (m000v2qv)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music. Producer: Alice Feinstein.


WED 19:45 The Shadow Over Innsmouth (m000v2qx)
Episode 3

A foggy seafront town where something’s coming from the water. An ancient cult, a stranger with a bandaged face and a body in a shallow grave. The podcast investigation continues.

Podcasters Matthew Heawood and Kennedy Fisher return and this time the story is Kennedy Fisher. A simple investigation into the disappearance of a young man from a mental health facility has taken them from Rhode Island to Iraq, to the Suffolk countryside – as they realised that everything uncovered in season one threaded through to season two.

Towards the end of 'The Whisperer In Darkness,' the investigation turned inward as Kennedy discovered a possible family connection to the uncovered conspiracy. And evidence forces Heawood to question the veracity of Kennedy's account of her time in Iraq. As Kennedy heads off to Innsmouth, to look into her apparently spooky ancestry, Heawood is going to Iraq to answer the most disturbing of all questions; could Kennedy be a killer?

Both Kennedy and Heawood make life-changing discoveries as the two investigations come together and reach a gripping conclusion, just as the Coronavirus pandemic is sweeping the world

Episode Three
Kennedy bumps into an old acquaintance in Innsmouth. In Iraq, Heawood cannot believe his eyes.

MATTHEW HEAWOOD ................Barnaby Kay
KENNEDY FISHER............................Jana Carpenter
ELEANOR PECK.................................Nicola Walker
CASEY...................................................Kyle Soller
DOCTOR WILLETT...........................Mark Bazeley
MELODY CARTWRIGHT.................Karla Crome
ALICE....................................................Jennifer Armour
SLIDE....................................................Ferdinand Kingsley
CHARLES DEXTER WARD.............Samuel Barnett

SOUND.....................................................David Thomas
PRODUCTION COORDINATOR.......Sarah Tombling
PRODUCER..............................................Karen Rose
MUSIC........................................................Tim Elsenburg

WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY Julian Simpson
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4


WED 20:00 Life Changing (m000v61m)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


WED 20:30 Shock Waves (m000sy3g)
Poet and musician Cornelius Eady

When a shock wave hits the world, how do artists respond? Public performance has all but halted, silence and solitude reigns in our performance spaces and places. But the virus cannot kill creativity. In a new five-part series, artists chronicle how they have responded to the crisis and the challenge of performance. Dare they dream and imagine what work might emerge out of the pandemic?

For Cornelius Eady, a leading Black American poet, playwright and musician, the virus struck just as he was about to go into a studio at Nashville to record with his regular music collaborators Lisa Liu and Charlie Rauh. By mid March the three were separated by the gulf of Covid 19, all gigs cancelled, a fearful city surging with infections. Eady had survived prostate cancer, had clapped and watched as the first-responders made their way to Ground Zero on 9/11, but now life was atomised, the enemy was unseen. What began as an attempt just to stave off the panic and worry gradually coalesced over the weeks and months into a pandemic folk song project, 'Don't Get Dead'. The three had to learn to collaborate remotely whilst Eady's work has had to encompass not just a pandemic but the impact of Trump's policies and upheaval of Black Lives Matter. Looking back now on his earliest songs in the spring of the pandemic feels almost like a different age for Cornelius as his project expanded to embrace the spiralling chaos and disaster. His latest song celebrates the actions of Officer Eugene Goodman during the mob insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. As he anxiously awaits the vaccine, he and his collaborators hone their latest song whilst reflecting on a terrible year and the possibilities ahead.

Producer: Mark Burman


WED 21:00 The Royal Conservationist (m000vjd9)
Lindsey Chapman tells the story of the Duke of Edinburgh’s lifelong work to raise awareness of ecological problems.

The programme includes archive of Prince Philip's many passionate speeches on the subject and his informed and characteristic bluntness in communicating the pressing nature of environmental concerns.

With Sir David Attenborough, environmental journalist Geoffrey Lean and archive of Sir Peter and Lady Philippa Scott - who founded the World Wildlife Fund (now the Worldwide Fund for Nature) and invited Prince Philip to be its first British president.

Producer: Ellie Sans

Executive Producer: James Cook


WED 21:30 The Media Show (m000v2qj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:30 today]


WED 22:00 The World Tonight (m000v2r1)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective


WED 22:45 We Are All Birds Of Uganda by Hafsa Zayyan (m000v2q0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:04 today]


WED 23:00 Athena's Cancel Culture (m000v2r3)
Episode 2

Over the last few years, if a celebrity has ever said or done anything remotely controversial, then they've probably been cancelled. Largely performed through social media, some describe it as necessary evil to help democratise the internet and reflect the expectancy of an artist’s audience, for others it’s just a chance to shut up gobby celebs!

Whatever your view, it certainly helps empower fans by diminishing celebrity cultural capital and helping keep their egos and opinions in check. It's a growing phenomenon that's left almost no one unscathed, from comedians and actors to musicians and TV hosts. It’s also happening to the not so famous - remember the bin cat lady?

With stand up and sketch comedy, Athena explores cancel culture and the world of offence in modern times. Over four episodes, Athena will help explain the phenomenon of cancel culture among celebrities, look at the history of offence, and offer up some cancel rules for guidance. Athena then puts all that cancel knowledge to the test on her own social media activity from 10 years ago. There’s just no escape from cancel culture justice, even for Athena!

Writer and Performer: Athena Kugblenu.
Support cast: James McNicholas and Jamie-Rose Monk
Producer: Gus Beattie
A Gusman production for BBC Radio 4


WED 23:15 Joseph Morpurgo's Walking Tour (b09ghmgs)
Series 1

The East End

Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee 2015 and triple Chortle Award Winner Joseph Morpurgo presents a series of 'educational' audio adventures for BBC Radio 4.

Join us on our walking tour of London's historic east end, which you'll be exploring through its pubs.

Written and performed by Joseph Morpurgo, with Naomi Petersen and Jonathan Broke.
Sound design by Craig Schuftan
Producer Alexandra Smith

A BBC Studios Production.


WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (m000v2r5)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament



THURSDAY 15 APRIL 2021

THU 00:00 Midnight News (m000v2r7)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


THU 00:30 The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym by Paula Byrne (m000v2pr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Wednesday]


THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000v2r9)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000v2rc)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.


THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000v2rf)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


THU 05:30 News Briefing (m000v2rh)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4


THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000v2rk)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Bishop David Walker

Good Morning.

Three and a half years after I had returned to my birth city of Manchester as its bishop, a terrorist detonated a bomb in the foyer of a concert venue, killing both himself and some 22 others. Part of my duties became to help my city grieve. Over the weeks and months that followed I got to know some of those who had lost loved ones in the attack. I learned how much it had mattered to them that their grief was not only a private thing, but deeply shared by the city, the nation, and many across the world. I discovered also how much they appreciated the opportunities some had had to share their stories with Royal visitors.

One of the duties our Royal Family have taken upon themselves, is to be present with those who have suffered injury or bereavement in some major catastrophe or disaster. To be able to share our personal loss in a private moment, with one who symbolises our common life, is to be assured that our hurt is also the nation's hurt. I know that such encounters have been deeply comforting to the victims of tragedy.

Not only those who have experienced such comfort in times past, but all of us, as a nation, have opportunity now to respond in turn; to share the grief of those who have been there to share our times of national grieving.

Almighty God,
At this time of bereavement, in both commonwealth and nation,
We give thanks for how our Royal family have supported others in times of loss.
Help us this day, to hold them before you in their own time of grief,
Supporting them in our prayers, even if we cannot by our presence.
And may you be the source of their greatest comfort, now and always.
Amen.


THU 05:45 Farming Today (m000v2rm)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.


THU 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03mzv6d)
Merlin

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.

Chris Packham presents the story of the merlin. These diminutive falcons nest in deep heather on moorland, mainly in the north and west. In winter they also hunt over open country, hillsides and coastal marshes. The male merlin or jack is our smallest falcon, about the size of a mistle thrush.


THU 06:00 Today (m000v2w3)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


THU 09:00 In Our Time (m000v2w7)
Arianism

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the form of Christianity adopted by Ostrogoths in the 4th century AD, which they learned from Roman missionaries and from their own contact with the imperial court at Constantinople. This form spread to the Vandals and the Visigoths, who took it into Roman Spain and North Africa, and the Ostrogoths brought it deeper into Italy after the fall of the western Roman empire. Meanwhile, with the Roman empire in the east now firmly committed to the Nicene Creed not the Arian, the Goths and Vandals faced conflict or conversion, as Arianism moved from an orthodox view to being a heresy that would keep followers from heaven and delay the Second Coming for all.

The image above is the ceiling mosaic of the Arian Baptistry in Ravenna, commissioned by Theodoric, ruler of the Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy, around the end of the 5th century

With

Judith Herrin
Professor of Late Antique and Byzantine Studies, Emeritus, at King's College London

Robin Whelan
Lecturer in Mediterranean History at the University of Liverpool

And

Martin Palmer
Visiting Professor in Religion, History and Nature at the University of Winchester

Producer: Simon Tillotson


THU 09:45 The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym by Paula Byrne (m000v2xz)
Ep 4 - In Which Miss Pym Enters the Wilderness Years

In Paula Byrne's shrewdly observed biography of the witty novelist the literary establishment turns its back on Barbara Pym. With James Bond riding high in the bestseller lists, publishing's appetite for novels about the lives of middle-class British women diminishes and Pym is cast out into the wilderness.

Philip Larkin regarded her as the era's very own Jane Austen and yet today Barbara Pym is little known. She lived through a period of social and political upheaval, and her novels charted the impact of these changes on women in the public and the domestic realm. By the early 60s she had published six novels, and though she struggled for recognition from 1963 onwards, she continued to write and went on to make a triumphant comeback.

Her diaries are prefaced 'The Adventures of Miss Pym' emulating Henry Fielding's 'Tom Jones', and in turn Paula Byrne has written her celebratory biography of this courageous and funny novelist in the style of a picaresque adventure.

Paula Byrne is the bestselling and acclaimed biographer and novelist. Her non-fiction includes 'The Real Jane Austen', 'The Genius of Jane Austen' and 'Mad World' the story of Evelyn Waugh and Brideshead.

Photo credit: The Barbara Pym Society

Abridged by Julian Wilkinson
Produced by Elizabeth Allard.


THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000v2wc)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.


THU 10:45 Marcovaldo (m000v2wf)
The Wrong Stop

The Wrong Stop from Italo Calvino's Marcovaldo dramatised by Toby Jones from a translation by William Weaver.

Marcovaldo gets lost in thick fog after a night at the cinema.

NARRATOR.....Toby Jones
MARCOVALDO…….Mackenzie Crook
GENT…….Lloyd Hutchinson
GENT.....Toby Jones
BARMAID.....Deborah McAndrew

Directed by Nadia Molinari


THU 11:00 Crossing Continents (m000v2wh)
Sexual Healing in the Israeli Military

Soldiers returning from the line of duty with injuries affecting sexual performance are universal to all militaries around the world, but Israeli psychologist Dr Ronit Aloni set about making hers the only nation that offers a unique therapeutic approach to restoring the sexuality of their troops as a matter of course: surrogate partner therapy (SPT), or sexual surrogacy. After studying the niche treatment in the US in the early nineties, Dr Aloni conducted studies, lobbied the government and met with religious leaders in order to make this therapy, considered fringe and often taboo in other nations, available to those who need it via Ministry of Defense funding. But why is Israel alone in this? The therapy is best described as traditional psychotherapy combined with intimate sexual therapy with a surrogate lover, in every form that can mean, and it was Dr Aloni’s dogged belief in its life-changing benefits for her clients that caused her to pursue provision for the troops. For Crossing Continents, Yolande Knell tells the story of that policy through Dr Aloni’s work and her Tel Aviv clinic, the work of surrogate partner Seraphina, and two military veterans who have accessed the service: one of the first to be offered it on the MoD’s time in the late nineties, and one a conscripted young man paralysed by his injuries who after years of begging for death, says the therapy “restored his humanity”.

Produced by Philip Marzouk.
Editor, Bridget Harney


THU 11:30 Peter Brook (m000v2wk)
An intimate and personal look at Peter Brook's life's work in conversation with Glenda Jackson. Brook has been cited as 'our greatest living theatre director'. With landmark productions that changed the face of British theatre, such as the electrifying Marat Sade and the liberating, landmark acrobatic production of Midsummer Night's Dream, and since moving to Paris, internationally renowned The Mahabharata.

Presented by Glenda Jackson
Produced by Pauline Harris
BBC Audio, North


THU 12:00 News Summary (m000v37k)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


THU 12:04 We Are All Birds Of Uganda by Hafsa Zayyan (m000v2wp)
Episode 9

Sameer’s trip to Uganda has changed his life but before he can take the next step he must return to Leicester and face his family.
Read by Sacha Dhawan and Vincent Ebrahim

This elegant and eye-opening debut crosses continents and generations as it explores love, duty and the long shadows cast by colonialism. Themes of romance and exile combine with a stunning portrayal of modern Uganda as a young man tries to find his place in the world. Winner of the New Writer’s Prize from Stormzy’s imprint Merky books, Hafsa Zayyan takes us from East Africa to the East Midlands - and back again.

Written by Hafsa Zayyan
Abridged by Patricia Cumper
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie


THU 12:18 You and Yours (m000v2wr)
News and discussion of consumer affairs. Producer: Chas Watkin


THU 12:57 Weather (m000v2wt)
The latest weather forecast


THU 13:00 World at One (m000v2ww)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Sarah Montague.


THU 13:45 The Northern Bank Job (m000v2wy)
Episode Nine: Testimony

It was the biggest bank robbery in British and Irish history. Days before Christmas 2004, gangs of armed men take over the homes of two Northern Bank officials in Belfast and County Down. With family members held hostage, the officials are instructed to remove cash from the vaults of Northern Bank headquarters in Belfast city-centre and load it into the back of a van - not once, but twice - before the van disappears into the night, along with more than £26.5 million in new and used notes. With the finger of blame pointed at the IRA, the raid makes headlines around the world and sends shock-waves through an already faltering Northern Ireland peace process.

Through dramatized court testimonies, new interviews and archive, Glenn Patterson takes us into the unfolding story of a meticulously planned heist and its chaotic aftermath. Military precision giving way to soap powder boxes stuffed with cash. The bickering of politicians against the silence of the man said to be the robbery’s mastermind. There are even rumours that proceeds from the robbery are to be used as a pension fund for IRA members as it prepares to disarm and disband.

Glenn Patterson has unfinished business with the Northern Bank Job. In fact, he thinks all of Northern Ireland does.

Episode Nine: Testimony
When Glenn attends the trial of the only person charged in direct connection with the raid, he's struck by what he hears in court and what he sees on TV that night

Written and presented by Glenn Patterson

Music: Phil Kieran

Producer: Conor Garrett


THU 14:00 The Archers (m000v2qs)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Wednesday]


THU 14:15 The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (m0008p5s)
The Colours of All the Cattle

A new dramatisation by Alexander McCall Smith of his popular novels set in Gabarone's only detective agency.

The Colours of All The Cattle
As election day approaches, Mma Ramotswe struggles with conflicted feelings over an old family mystery.

Mma Ramotswe ... JANICE ACQUAH
Mma Makutsi ... NADINE MARSHALL
Mr JLB Matekoni/Chairman ... BEN ONWUKWE
Mr Polopetsi ... STEVE TOUSSAINT
Mma Potokwani ... SARAH NILES
Stephen/John ... JASON BARNETT
Mingie Ramotswe ... DEBBIE KORLAY
Charlie ... MAYNARD EZIASHI
The Neighbour ... SAFFRON COOMBER
Mma Gopalang ... LORNA GAYLE

A BBC Scotland production directed by Eilidh McCreadie


THU 15:00 Open Country (m000v2x0)
Songs of England

English Heritage manages some of our most important historic sites, such as Stonehenge and Hadrian's Wall. In this Open Country, folk singer and song collector Sam Lee explains how he has paired these sites with relevant or revealing folk songs from the British Isles.

We meet Sam at Stonehenge, to hear him perform the song 'John Barleycorn'. From Salisbury we travel to Hadrian's Wall with The Brothers Gillespie and the borders song 'When Fortune Turns the Wheel'. At Whitby Abbey Fay Hield performs the tragic tale of 'The Whitby Lad' and at Ironbridge, the birthplace of industry, Abel Selaocoe sings about the impacts of the industrial revolution in 'The Four Loom Weaver’.

The aim of English Heritage and the musicians of the Nest Collective is to connect us to the people who inhabited these historic landscapes through the power of song. The music gives voice to how people felt and how they lived in a way that the monuments and buildings we have left cannot. Their hope is that by hearing these stories from the past we can connect with the landmarks we see today, even when we can’t visit them in person.

Produced by Helen Lennard

Photo: English Heritage/Andre Pattenden


THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (m000v2lj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:54 on Sunday]


THU 15:30 Open Book (m000v2mm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:00 on Sunday]


THU 16:00 The Film Programme (m000v2x2)
Film programme looking at the latest cinema releases, DVDs and films on TV. Producer: Alice Feinstein


THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (m000v2x4)
A weekly programme that illuminates the mysteries and challenges the controversies behind the science that's changing our world.


THU 17:00 PM (m000v2x6)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.


THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000v2xb)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


THU 18:30 Meet David Sedaris (m000v2xd)
Series 8

Instalment 5

What with the whole world grinding to a viral halt and everything, this special series of essays and diary entries is recorded at the Sussex home of the world-renowned storyteller.

In 2021, it's 25 years since David Sedaris first shared his very particular world view with the listeners to BBC Radio 4, having brought us The SantaLand Diaries back in 1996. In this eighth series of Meet David Sedaris, he continues to entertain with sardonic wit and incisive social critiques.

David Sedaris has become one of America’s pre-eminent humour writers and, in 2019, was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. The great skill with which he slices through cultural euphemisms and political correctness proves that he's a master of satire and one of the most observant writers addressing the human condition today.

Sedaris's first book, Barrel Fever (1994), which included The SantaLand Diaries, was a critical and commercial success, as were his follow-up efforts, Naked (1997), Holidays on Ice (1997) and Me Talk Pretty One Day (2000). He became known for his bitingly funny recollections of his youth, family life and travels, making semi-celebrities out of his parents and siblings.

David Sedaris has been nominated for three Grammy Awards for Best Spoken Word and Best Comedy Album. His latest international best-selling book is a collection of stories entitled Calypso. A feature film adaptation of his story C.O.G. was released after a premier at the Sundance Film Festival in 2013.

This week:
1. Don't Think About Sex Robots
2. Haven't We Met?
3. On Hoarding
4. Crystal Ball
5. Jazz Hands
6. Getting There
7. Skirt
8. Goldenheart

Producer: Steve Doherty
A Giddy Goat production for BBC Radio 4


THU 19:00 The Archers (m000v2xg)
Writers, Liz John & Tim Stimpson
Director, Rosemary Watts
Editor, Jeremy Howe

Tony Archer .... David Troughton
Helen Archer .... Louiza Patikas
Jennifer Aldridge .... Angela Piper
Lee Bryce .... Ryan Early
Harrison Burns .... James Cartwright
Susan Carter.... Charlotte Martin
Alice Carter .... Hollie Chapman
Tracy Horrobin .... Susie Riddell
Jim Lloyd .... John Rowe
Kate Madikane .... Perdita Avery
Jazzer Mccreary .... Ryan Kelly
Fallon Rogers .... Joanna Van Kampen
Lisa .... Katherine Jakeways


THU 19:15 Front Row (m000v2xj)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music. Producer: Alice Feinstein.


THU 19:45 The Shadow Over Innsmouth (m000v2xl)
Episode 4

A foggy seafront town where something’s coming from the water. An ancient cult, a stranger with a bandaged face and a body in a shallow grave. The podcast investigation continues.

Podcasters Matthew Heawood and Kennedy Fisher return and this time the story is Kennedy Fisher. A simple investigation into the disappearance of a young man from a mental health facility has taken them from Rhode Island to Iraq, to the Suffolk countryside – as they realised that everything uncovered in season one threaded through to season two.

Towards the end of 'The Whisperer In Darkness,' the investigation turned inward as Kennedy discovered a possible family connection to the uncovered conspiracy. And evidence forces Heawood to question the veracity of Kennedy's account of her time in Iraq. As Kennedy heads off to Innsmouth, to look into her apparently spooky ancestry, Heawood is going to Iraq to answer the most disturbing of all questions; could Kennedy be a killer?

Both Kennedy and Heawood make life-changing discoveries as the two investigations come together and reach a gripping conclusion, just as the Coronavirus pandemic is sweeping the world.

Ep 5
Kennedy researches her ancestry with help from an unexpected quarter.

MATTHEW HEAWOOD ................Barnaby Kay
KENNEDY FISHER............................Jana Carpenter
ELEANOR PECK.................................Nicola Walker
CASEY...................................................Kyle Soller
DOCTOR WILLETT...........................Mark Bazeley
MELODY CARTWRIGHT.................Karla Crome
ALICE....................................................Jennifer Armour
SLIDE....................................................Ferdinand Kingsley
CHARLES DEXTER WARD.............Samuel Barnett

SOUND.....................................................David Thomas
PRODUCTION COORDINATOR.......Sarah Tombling
PRODUCER..............................................Karen Rose
MUSIC........................................................Tim Elsenburg

WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY Julian Simpson
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4


THU 20:00 The Briefing Room (m000v2xn)
David Aaronovitch and a panel of experts and insiders present in-depth explainers on big issues in the news.


THU 20:30 The Untold (m000v1n8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 on Monday]


THU 21:00 BBC Inside Science (m000v2x4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:30 today]


THU 21:30 In Our Time (m000v2w7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


THU 22:00 The World Tonight (m000v2xr)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective


THU 22:45 We Are All Birds Of Uganda by Hafsa Zayyan (m000v2wp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:04 today]


THU 23:00 It's Not What You Know (b07x6jcr)
Series 4

Episode 3

Joe Lycett discovers how well a panel of celebrity guests know their nearest and dearest.

This week Joe probes into the lives of of Terry Christian, Jocelyn Jee Esien and Aisling Bea

Production coordinator: Emily Hallett

Producer: Matt Stronge

A BBC Studios production.


THU 23:30 Today in Parliament (m000v2xt)
Today in Parliament

News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament



FRIDAY 16 APRIL 2021

FRI 00:00 Midnight News (m000v2xw)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


FRI 00:30 The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym by Paula Byrne (m000v2xz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Thursday]


FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000v2y2)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000v2y6)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.


FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000v2yb)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


FRI 05:30 News Briefing (m000v2yg)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4


FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000v2yl)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Bishop David Walker


FRI 05:45 Farming Today (m000v2yq)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.


FRI 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b08tfsq2)
Tristan Gooley on the Wood Pigeon

Tristan Gooley describes how for him the wood pigeon is a special bird for Tweet of the Day

Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world.

Producer Miles Warde.


FRI 06:00 Today (m000v3pk)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


FRI 09:00 The Reunion (m000v2lz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 on Sunday]


FRI 09:45 The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym by Paula Byrne (m000v3rd)
Ep 5 - In Which the Fortunes of Miss Pym are Reversed

In Paula Byrne's joyous and illuminating biography of the witty novelist, Barbara Pym is once again enjoying literary success. Meanwhile, an old flame also makes a comeback, and she finds that life is mirroring the plot line of one of her very own novels.

Philip Larkin regarded her as the era's very own Jane Austen and yet today Barbara Pym is little known. She lived through a period of social and political upheaval, and her novels charted the impact of these changes on women in the public and the domestic realm. By the early 60s she had published six novels, and though she struggled for recognition from 1963 onwards, she continued to write and went on to make a triumphant comeback.

Her diaries are prefaced 'The Adventures of Miss Pym' emulating Henry Fielding's 'Tom Jones', and in turn Paula Byrne has written her celebratory biography of this courageous and funny novelist in the style of a picaresque adventure.

Paula Byrne is the bestselling and acclaimed biographer and novelist. Her non-fiction includes 'The Real Jane Austen', 'The Genius of Jane Austen' and 'Mad World' the story of Evelyn Waugh and Brideshead.

Photo credit: The Barbara Pym Society

Abridged by Julian Wilkinson
Produced by Elizabeth Allard.


FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000v3pr)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.


FRI 10:45 Marcovaldo (m000v3pt)
Smoke, Wind and Soap-Bubbles

Smoke, Wind and Bubbles from Italo Calvino's Marcovaldo dramatised by Toby Jones from a translation by William Weaver.

Marcovaldo’s children attempt to make money by selling detergent samples but soon find themselves in deep, bubbly, water.

NARRATOR.....Toby Jones
MARCOVALDO…….Mackenzie Crook
ISOLINA.....Isla Johnston
MICHELINO.....Aaron Gelkoff
PIETRUCCIO.....Tyler Howitt
WOMAN.....Deborah McAndrew
SHOPKEEPER.....Mark Bonnar

Directed by Nadia Molinari


FRI 11:00 The Prime Minister at 300 (m000v3pw)
A job for the fourth century

It's 300 years since Sir Robert Walpole took office as the first recognisable office holder of Prime Minister. To mark the anniversary, the historian and biographer Sir Anthony Seldon, examines how the role came about and why it has survived despite various crises and periods of change in the life of the nation. What do Walpole and Boris Johnson, the 55th occupant of the office, have in common?

Former Prime Ministers, Foreign Secretaries, Cabinet Secretaries and others at the heart of government talk about the pressures on the modern office and the responsibilities that come with it. Has the job become too difficult to perform effectively and what could be done to enhance the role of Prime Minister?

As the office enters its fourth century, the final programme explores whether the responsibilties of the role have become too great for it to be performed effectively and what could be done to enhance the role.

Producer: Peter Snowdon


FRI 11:30 Paul Sinha's General Knowledge (m00088nj)
Series 1

Episode 3

Paul Sinha - comedian, lapsed GP, Chaser and genuinely the fourth best quizzer in the United Kingdom - returns to tell you about... well, everything.

Paul has already told you about history in the Rose d'Or-winning Paul Sinha's History Revision, as well as Britishness (Paul Sinha's Citizenship Test), Magna Carta (The Sinha Carta), the Olympics (The Sinha Games) and, most importantly, cricket (The Sinha Test).

But, as a competitive quizzer, Paul learns fascinating facts all the time. As a curious man, he then looks up the stories behind those facts and they often turn out to be even more fascinating. In Paul Sinha's General Knowledge, he shares these stories with you.

In this week's episode, Paul explains the illustrious company he’s joined since the previous recording of this series - in a showbiz-themed episode that ranges over the great American songbook, the biggest-selling single to have never been a hit in America, and a Nobel Literature Laureate's contribution to action movies.

Written and performed by Paul Sinha
Produced by Ed Morrish

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4


FRI 12:00 News Summary (m000v3rw)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


FRI 12:04 We Are All Birds Of Uganda by Hafsa Zayyan (m000v3q0)
Episode 10

As Sameer returns to Uganda, his grandfather’s letters reveal how he made the same trip decades before.
Read by Vincent Ebrahim and Sacha Dhawan

This elegant and eye-opening debut crosses continents and generations as it explores love, duty and the long shadows cast by colonialism. Themes of romance and exile combine with a stunning portrayal of modern Uganda as a young man tries to find his place in the world. Winner of the New Writer’s Prize from Stormzy’s imprint Merky books, Hafsa Zayyan takes us from East Africa to the East Midlands - and back again.

Written by Hafsa Zayyan
Abridged by Patricia Cumper
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie


FRI 12:18 You and Yours (m000v3q2)
News and discussion of consumer affairs. Producer: Chas Watkin


FRI 12:57 Weather (m000v3q4)
The latest weather forecast


FRI 13:00 World at One (m000v3q6)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Edward Stourton.


FRI 13:45 The Northern Bank Job (m000v3q8)
Episode Ten: This Country

It was the biggest bank robbery in British and Irish history. Days before Christmas 2004, gangs of armed men take over the homes of two Northern Bank officials in Belfast and County Down. With family members held hostage, the officials are instructed to remove cash from the vaults of Northern Bank headquarters in Belfast city-centre and load it into the back of a van - not once, but twice - before the van disappears into the night, along with more than £26.5 million in new and used notes. With the finger of blame pointed at the IRA, the raid makes headlines around the world and sends shock-waves through an already faltering Northern Ireland peace process.

Through dramatized court testimonies, new interviews and archive, Glenn Patterson takes us into the unfolding story of a meticulously planned heist and its chaotic aftermath. Military precision giving way to soap powder boxes stuffed with cash. The bickering of politicians against the silence of the man said to be the robbery’s mastermind. There are even rumours that proceeds from the robbery are to be used as a pension fund for IRA members as it prepares to disarm and disband.

Glenn Patterson has unfinished business with the Northern Bank Job. In fact, he thinks all of Northern Ireland does.

Episode Ten: This Country
So where did all the money go? And what went with it?

Written and presented by Glenn Patterson

Music: Phil Kieran

Producer: Conor Garrett


FRI 14:00 The Archers (m000v2xg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Thursday]


FRI 14:15 Drama (m00045lb)
Longline

Henry Darke's first drama for radio tells the story of Jay, a rookie observer on a deep sea trawler. He must ensure adherence to the strict international laws covering fishing quotas, sustainability and safety. It's a time when you need to know who your friends are.

Jay ..... Matthew Aubrey
Kim-Long ..... Chike Chan
Kate ..... Sarah Ovens
Esther ..... Franchi Webb
Carlitos ..... Joseph Balderrama
Juan/Radio Operator ..... Simon Scardifield
Dad ..... Kenny Blyth
Lecturer ..... Michael Bertenshaw
Sisco/Lazrus ..... Richie Campbell

Directed by Gemma Jenkins


FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m000v3qb)
GQT at Home

Peter Gibbs hosts the horticultural Q&A with experts James Wong, Matthew Wilson and Christine Walkden who answer questions sent in by email and from the virtual audience.

Producer - Jemima Rathbone
Assistant Producer - Millie Chu

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4


FRI 15:45 Swipe Right (m000v3qd)
We'd Need To Manage It

Continuing the Swipe Right series of contemporary love stories, We'd Need To Manage It by Naoise Dolan takes place at a house party in Dublin. Siobhan and Fiadh used to share a house, now Siobhan lives in London and Fiadh lives in Dublin with her boyfriend. A weekend visit stirs up some old memories and unresolved feelings.

Naoise Dolan's debut novel Exciting Times is longlisted for both the Women's Prize for Fiction and the Dylan Thomas Prize.


FRI 16:00 Last Word (m000v3qg)
Matthew Bannister tells the life stories of people who have recently died, from the rich and famous to unsung but significant. Prod: Eleanor Garland (Beverley Purcell Apr-July)


FRI 16:30 Feedback (m000v3qj)
Radio 4's forum for comments, queries, criticisms and congratulations


FRI 17:00 PM (m000v3ql)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.


FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000v3qq)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


FRI 18:30 The News Quiz (m000v3qs)
Series 105

Episode 1

Andy Zaltzman squares up to the week's headlines with panellists Hugo Rifkind, Susie McCabe, Daliso Chaponda and Lucy Porter.

Producer: Richard Morris
A BBC Studios Production


FRI 19:00 Front Row (m000v3qw)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music. Producer: Alice Feinstein.


FRI 19:45 The Shadow Over Innsmouth (m000v3qy)
Episode 5

A foggy seafront town where something's coming from the water. An ancient cult, a stranger with a bandaged face and a body in a shallow grave. The story continues.

True-life mystery podcasters Matthew Heawood and Kennedy Fisher return and this time the story is Kennedy Fisher. A simple investigation into the disappearance of a young man from a mental health facility has taken them from Rhode Island to Iraq, to the Suffolk countryside – as they realised that everything uncovered in season one threaded through to season two. But towards the end of 'The Whisperer In Darkness', the investigation turned inward as Kennedy discovered a possible family connection to the uncovered conspiracy. And evidence forces Heawood to question Kennedy’s account of her time in Iraq. As Kennedy heads off to Innsmouth, to look into her apparently spooky ancestry, Heawood is going to Iraq to find an answer to the most disturbing of all questions; could Kennedy be a killer?

Both Heawood and Kennedy make life-changing discoveries as the two investigations come together, just as the Coronavirus pandemic is sweeping the world.

Episode Five
Heawood has picked up new and vital information from Melody Cartright. But can he believe her?

MATTHEW HEAWOOD ................Barnaby Kay
KENNEDY FISHER............................Jana Carpenter
ELEANOR PECK................................Nicola Walker
CASEY..................................................Kyle Soller
JASPER.................................................Steven Mackintosh
MELODY CARTWRIGHT.................Karla Crome
ALICE....................................................Jennifer Armour
HENRY AKELEY................................David Calder

SOUND.....................................................David Thomas
PRODUCTION COORDINATOR.......Sarah Tombling
PRODUCER..............................................Karen Rose
MUSIC.......................................................Tim Elsenburg

WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY Julian Simpson
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4


FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (m000v3r0)
Chris Mason presents political debate and discussion from venues around the UK. Producer: Chris Ledgard.


FRI 20:50 A Point of View (m000v3r2)
Weekly reflections on topical issues from a range of contributors. Producer: Penny Murphy.


FRI 21:00 The Duke’s Award (m000vj8m)
The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme has touched the lives of thousands of young people since its creation in 1956. Now run in 144 counties, it celebrates the virtues of personal challenge and self-reliance.

Helen Skelton looks back on the history of the award.

Producer: Mark Rickards

Executive Producer: David Stenhouse


FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (m000v3r6)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective


FRI 22:45 We Are All Birds Of Uganda by Hafsa Zayyan (m000v3q0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:04 today]


FRI 23:00 Great Lives (m000v2sn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:30 on Tuesday]


FRI 23:30 Today in Parliament (m000v3r8)
Today in Parliament

News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament