SATURDAY 29 NOVEMBER 2025

SAT 00:00 Midnight News (m002mn1f)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 00:30 The End of Family? By Zoe Strimpel (m002mn03)
5. Families of the Future

In Zoe Strimpel's series on family in contemporary Britain, the journalist asks some thought provoking questions. Today, thoughts on alternatives to traditional, nuclear family structures, and what family life could look like in the future.

In her specially commissioned series for Radio 4, Zoe Strimpel grapples with the role family plays in British society. Across the five episodes she considers a number of thorny themes. First of all Strimpel looks at the enduring appeal of marriage for those couples who have decided to tie the knot, she then turns her attention to what happens after the wedding presents have been opened and family life begins. The gendered case for the family is under the spot light as she assesses the seismic social changes that have taken place in the wake of Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex and Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique. Later in the series she'll ask about the outcomes for children caught in the crossfire of warring parents who live apart, or under the same roof, and lastly she'll consider alternatives to the conventional nuclear family.

Zoe Strimpel is an author, newspaper columnist and broadcaster. She has a PhD in modern British history and the history of feminism, gender and intimacy.

The producer is Elizabeth Allard


SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002mn1h)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002mn1k)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.


SAT 05:30 News Summary (m002mn1m)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002mn1p)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m002mn1r)
An invitation from St Andrew

Spiritual reflection with Ronnie Convery, Director of Communications for the Catholic Archdiocese of Glasgow.

Script:
Hello and good morning to you.
Tomorrow is St Andrew’s Day — that’s Scotland’s national day, and one that celebrates a man whose story reminds us that friendship and simplicity can matter much more than fame or power.
It’s a shame that most people, if they know anything about St Andrew at all, just know how he died – crucified on an ‘X-shaped’ cross. But like most saints he teaches us more by his life than by his death.
Andrew wasn’t a man of high social status. He was a fisherman — practical, ordinary, and unremarkable in worldly terms. But when he met Jesus, his first instinct wasn’t to keep the discovery to himself, but to go and tell his brother Simon Peter, “Come and see”, he said … “We’ve found the Messiah.” His instinct was to invite others, to bring them closer to something greater than himself, and I think there’s something very human about that.
Most of us don’t live our lives in the spotlight. We do small, unseen things — helping out with babysitting, maybe sharing a meal, making time for someone who’s struggling. And like Andrew, we might never see the full impact of those gestures. But the quiet act of bringing others together, of opening a door rather than closing it, can transform people’s lives more than we realise.
So on this St Andrew’s Day, as saltire flags flutter and music fills the air, perhaps we might take a moment to remember that the patron saint of Scotland (and Greece and Russia of course!) was, basically a guy who brought people together.
So maybe a good prayer for today is that we might have the courage to reach out a hand to someone we meet over the next 24 hours and say, like Andrew - “Come and see.”
It’s a simple invitation, but one that can change everything.
Amen. Oh - and Happy Saint’s Day!


SAT 05:45 In the Loop (m001p7f1)
5. Particle Accelerator

…a circle has no beginning and no end. It represents rebirth and regeneration, continuity and infinity. From wedding rings to stone circles, in poetry, music and the trajectories of the planets themselves, circles and loops are embedded in our imaginations.

In this five-part series poet Paul Farley goes walking in circles in five very different ‘loopy’ locations. He visits a stone circle, a roundabout and a rollercoaster to ask why human beings find rings and circles so symbolic, significant and satisfying.

Paul has circular conversations with mathematicians and physicists, composers and poets, each one propelling him into a new loop of enquiry. And that’s because a circle has no beginning and no end…

Paul's final circle is 27 kilometres in circumference and lies deep beneath the Swiss/French border. The Large Hadron Collider is a ring of supercooled magnets which accelerates subatomic particles to unimaginable speeds and smashes them together. Melissa Yexley and Simon Albright from CERN are Paul’s guide to an extraordinary loop which is revealing the secrets of the Universe. Physicist Paddy Regan explains the cosmic forces which keep our planet locked in orbit around the Sun. And we close the loop with dance teacher Karen Michaelsen as we explore the power of linking hands and dancing in circles.


SAT 06:00 News and Papers (m002myqq)
The news headlines, including a look at the newspapers.


SAT 06:07 This Natural Life (m002mp9y)
Sarah Perry

The Essex Serpent author Sarah Perry takes Martha Kearney to see the great rook and jackdaw roost at Buckenham Carrs in Norfolk. At dusk thousands of birds descend to settle in the trees for the night, a sight that Sarah finds both magical and comforting. She explains the role that nature plays in her novels, as active as any other character.

Sarah Perry is the author of After Me Comes the Flood, The Essex Serpent, Melmoth, Enlightenment and Death of an Ordinary Man.

Producer: Beth O'Dea


SAT 06:30 Farming Today (m002myqs)
29/11/25 Farming Today This Week: Farmer protests over the budget and inheritance tax, agriculture course suspended, dairy

Farmers were in London again to protest about the re-imposition of inheritance tax on farming and business assets of more than £1 million, something announced last year. In her budget, the Chancellor made a change to transferring inheritance tax allowances between spouses, but farmers said it wasn't enough.

Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Beatrice Fenton.


SAT 06:57 Weather (m002myqv)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SAT 07:00 Today (m002myqx)
Today (Saturday)


SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (m002myqz)
Ben Miller, Synaesthesia, Women's Football, and the Inheritance Tracks of Chris and Xand van Tulleken

We’re in the company of Ben Miller, comedian, actor, writer and some time student of physics...here to tell us how Father Christmas can in fact deliver a gift to every child in just one night with his new book "The Night I Met Father Christmas".

Someone who has had an early Christmas present already is Lucy Steeds, who this week was crowned the winner of the Waterstones Book of the Year. She reveals the process of how her debut book, "The Artist", has become so successful - and how he channels her synaesthesia.

Grace Vella spent her childhood dreaming of becoming a professional footballer, she almost made it playing for Liverpool and Man City, but didn’t quite make the grade, so made football her business instead and has founded the women's sports brand Miss Kick.

All that, plus Hollie McRae, daughter of iconic rally driver Colin McCrae, tells us how she has become determined to keep rally driving in the family - and we have the shared Inheritance Tracks of Chris and Xand van Tulleken.

Presenter: Adrian Chiles
Producer: Ben Mitchell
Assistant Producer: Catherine Powell
Researcher: Jesse Edwards
Editor: Glyn Tansley


SAT 10:00 Curious Cases (m002myr1)
Series 24

Planetary Wobble

Could you survive an eternal winter? Or is endless summer sun a more appealing prospect? Lots of us are grateful for the seasonal changes that shape the world around us, but this week Hannah and Dara are asking what life would look like without the axial tilt that brings each hemisphere closer and further away from the sun as the seasons change each year. Listener Andrew from Melbourne wants to know what would happen if the planet stood perfectly upright, no lean, no tilt, no seasons. But what else could happen? Is Earth’s 23-degree slant the cosmic fluke that made life possible?
To find out, Hannah and explore how losing the tilt reshapes climate, ecosystems, evolution and maybe even the fate of the dinosaurs.

You can send your everyday mysteries for the team to investigate to: curiouscases@bbc.co.uk
Contributors
Dr Robin Smith - Climate modelling researcher at the University of Reading
Professor Rebecca Kilner - Evolutionary Biologist and Head of the Department of Zoology at Cambridge
Professor Amaury Triaud - Professor of Exoplanetology at the University of Birmingham
Aidan McGivern - Meteorologist and Senior weather presenter at the MET Office

Producer: Emily Bird
Executive Producer: Sasha Feachem
A BBC Studios Production


SAT 10:30 The Kitchen Cabinet (m002myr3)
Series 50

Birmingham

Jay Rayner and the panel are at the Crescent Theatre in Birmingham answering questions from an audience of keen home cooks. Joining Jay to discuss noodle soup and microwave meals are chefs, cooks and food writers Jocky Petrie, Tim Anderson and Jeremy Pang, and materials experts Dr Zoe Laughlin.

Jay and the panel share their best vegetarian bakes for a packed lunch, their top noodle soup recipes to make at home, and answer the most philosophical of questions - what's the point in cavolo nero?

Situated in Birmingham, home to one of the UK's largest Vietnamese communities, Jay chats to local restaurateur, Oliver Ngo from Vietnamese Street Kitchen about the flavour profiles, toppings and variations of a pho.

Produced by Dulcie Whadcock
Assistant Producer: Suhaar Ali

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 11:00 The Week in Westminster (m002myr5)
Sonia Sodha takes a look at Chancellor Rachel Reeves' long-awaited Budget with former Treasury Minister and now Shadow Leader of the House, Conservative MP Jesse Norman and Labour MP Jeevun Sandher who until recently served on the Treasury Select Committee.

To discuss proposed peace plans for Ukraine, Sonia is joined by Ivanna Klympush Tsintsadze, who chairs the Ukrainian parliament’s committee on integration with the EU.

Leaked proposals this week suggest the government is considering limiting trial by jury to only the most serious crimes. To discuss this. Sonia is joined by criminal defence barrister Joanna Hardy-Susskind and Danny Shaw, a former BBC correspondent and former adviser to Yvette Cooper.

And, this week, the Education Select Committee launched an inquiry looking into the decline in reading for pleasure by children. To discuss how to keep the joy of reading alive, Sonia is joined by Labour MP Jess Asato, who is on the Committee and children’s author AF Steadman, whose Skandar series has been translated into 46 languages.


SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m002myr7)
Nigeria's school kidnapping crisis

Kate Adie introduces stories from Nigeria, Ukraine, the United States, Sweden and France.

Nigeria's president, Bola Tinubu, has declared a nationwide security emergency amidst a spate of kidnappings in the country’s north. More than 250 children abducted from a Catholic school last week are still missing, according to authorities. Mayeni Jones reports from Minna, in Niger state.

Moscow, Abu Dhabi, Kyiv and Geneva have all hosted peace negotiations this week, but despite the distances travelled, is an end to the war in Ukraine any closer? BBC Ukraine correspondent James Waterhouse has been watching the latest efforts to end the war, as nightly assaults continue in many Ukrainian cities.

When Donald Trump returned to the White House in January, he was quick to repeal a range of policies introduced by the previous administration. Among them, a moratorium on Federal Executions. Hilary Andersson was recently selected as a media witness for an execution in Oklahoma.

The longest strike in the modern history of Sweden recently passed its second anniversary. It’s a simple argument: whether or not to recognize the right of the union to negotiate on behalf of its members. Tim Mansel meets the mechanics taking on one of the world's richest companies, Tesla.

And finally, we head to the Loire Valley in central France, where over centuries the steady flow of the Allier River has shaped the distinctive setting for a small village. While the ebb and flow of the river has long influenced life in the region, the effects of climate change mean its future is now less certain. Sara Wheeler reflects on its unusual evolution.

Series Producer: Serena Tarling
Production coordinators: Katie Morrison and Sophie Hill
Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith


SAT 12:00 News Summary (m002myr9)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 12:04 Money Box (m002myrc)
Cash ISA Change and Carers Allowance

The Chancellor announced dozens of changes in the Budget that will affect the money in your pocket from wages and energy bills to savings. Many of them won't happen for some time - years in some cases - so we look at the more imminent tax changes. That will include the freezing of tax thresholds that will see higher taxes for many and changes to the Cash ISA limits.

A "bewildering system" of benefits - that's how the author of a new report has described the plight of tens of thousands of unpaid carers who were thrown into debt because of the overpayment of Carer's Allowance. This week an independent review was published that's been a year in the making. It started because carers had been working but had unwittingly slipped over the amount they're able to earn before losing their Carer's Allowance - a payment they're entitled to if they care for someone for over 35 hours a week, leaving them in debt to the government. Paul Lewis interviews the author of the report Liz Sayce, who has told Money Box the government must implement her recommendations "at pace".

And, the families of thousands of people who were infected with HIV and Hepatitis C by the NHS when it used contaminated blood in the 1970s and 80s will not have to pay tax on the compensation many of them are still waiting for. That commitment came from Rachel Reeves in the Budget, after Money Box reported on a campaign to ensure those relatives weren't subject to inheritance tax bills of tens of even hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Presenter: Paul Lewis
Reporters: Dan Whitworth and Jo Krasner
Researcher: Eimear Devlin
Editor: Jess Quayle
Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson

(First broadcast 12pm Saturday 29th November 2025)


SAT 12:30 The Naked Week (m002mn0y)
Series 3

A Budget, A Bombshell, and a Bedtime Story.

This week, The Naked Week fingers some fudge, profits from the spoils of war, and reads everyone a lovely bedtime story with a very special guest.

From host Andrew Hunter Murray and The Skewer's Jon Holmes, Radio 4’s newest Friday night comedy The Naked Week returns with a blend of the silly and serious. From satirical stunts to studio set pieces via guest correspondents and investigative journalism, it's a bold, audacious take not only on the week’s news, but also the way it’s packaged and presented.

Host: Andrew Hunter Murray
Guests: Kate Cheka, Janet Ellis

Investigations Team: Cat Neilan, Cormac Kehoe, Freya Shaw

Written by:
Jon Holmes
Katie Sayer
Gareth Ceredig
Jason Hazeley
James Kettle

Additional Material:
Karl Minns
Molly Punshon
Helen Brooks
Pete Redfern
Cooper Mawhinny Sweryt
Kevin Smith
David Riffkin

Additional Music:
Jake Yapp

Live Sound: Jerry Peal
Post Production: Tony Churnside
Clip Assistant: David Riffkin
Production Assistant: Molly Punshon

Assistant Producer: Katie Sayer
Producer and Director: Jon Holmes

Executive Producer: Phil Abrams.

An unusual production for BBC Radio 4.


SAT 12:57 Weather (m002myrf)
The latest weather forecast


SAT 13:00 News (m002myrj)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (m002mn14)
Daisy Cooper MP, Julia Lopez MP, Patrick Maguire, Lucy Rigby MP

Alex Forsyth presents political debate from St Mary's Church in Walthamstow, East London, with the Liberal Democrat deputy leader and Treasury spokesperson Daisy Cooper MP; shadow science, innovation and technology secretary, Julia Lopez MP; The Times chief political commentator Patrick Maguire; and the economic secretary to the Treasury, Lucy Rigby MP.

Producer: Paul Martin
Assistant producer: Lowri Morgan
Production co-ordinator: Ishmael Soriano
Lead broadcast engineer: Rob Dyball
Editor: Glyn Tansley


SAT 14:05 Any Answers? (m002myrm)
Listeners respond to the issues raised in the preceding edition of Any Questions?

Producer: Ed Prendeville
Assistant Producer: Ribika Moktan
Researcher: Jesse Edwards
Editor: Glyn Tansley


SAT 14:45 The Archers (m002mn10)
Amber checks in with George at the Pole Barn to see how Ed is doing. She reckons falling down the stairs could’ve led to a far worse injury, before heading off to a nail appointment.
While taking Brad to Felpersham for a dating app date Rex recounts his own mixed experiences of online dating, most of which didn’t work out as he’s still single. Rex still hopes to meet somebody one day, though preferably not through an app. Brad asks Rex to turn round and take him home, having decided he’d prefer to meet someone in real life too. Back in Ambridge Brad bumps into Amber, who tells him how attentive George has been with Ed.
Emma tells Ed about a two-person job she’s lined up, hoping Ed’s better by next week. George texts, offering to make lunch for them, but Emma beats him to it. Ed then repeats to Emma what really happened with George. Ed’s certain George never meant him to fall, but they have to ensure no-one ever has cause to think otherwise. George turns up, feeling guilty and scared in case anyone thinks he intended to hurt Ed, but Ed assures him they don’t.
Brad arrives later, telling Ed and Emma he saw the look on George’s face when Ed fell, suspecting it wasn’t an accident. They admit that George pushed Ed, but didn’t mean to hurt him. However, if the story gets out, George could go back to prison. Brad agrees that if it was an accident there’s no point in making everything worse.


SAT 15:00 Drama on 4 (m002myrp)
The New Real

David Edgar’s political drama finds two American political consultants, formerly colleagues, advising opposing presidential candidates in an emerging democratic Eastern European country. It is not long before darker influences make their presence felt. An origin story for the populist politics that have spread across Europe and America, the play speaks powerfully to our times.

David Edgar’s original stage play, The New Real, was first performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company at The Other Place in Stratford in October 2024, directed by Holly Race Roughan. It was his tenth premiere with the company. David has been writing for theatre, television and radio since 1971. His plays have been performed across the world - in the UK, Ireland, throughout Europe, the US, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Japan. In 2023 the BBC published an audio collection of 17 productions of his work.

Rachel Moss ..... Fenella Woolgar
Larry Yeates ..... Jonathan Slinger
Liudmilla Bezborodko ..... Dolya Gavanski
Caro Wheeler ..... Cara Theobold
Petr Lutsevic ..... Roderick Hill
Zhudov ..... Sandy Grierson
Natalia Bezborodko ..... Ava Benkova
Oleg ..... Daniel Krmpotic
Ken Helms ..... Clifford Samuel

Production Co-ordinator, Jenny Mendez
Translations, Mirela Ivanova
Sound designer, Peter Ringrose
Executive Producer, Ed Crozier
Director, Toby Swift
Producer, Nicholas Newton

A Promenade production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 16:30 Woman's Hour (m002myrr)
Weekend Woman’s Hour: Kids social media ban in Australia, Cassa Pancho, Rage rooms, Camille O’Sullivan

Australia’s under-16 social media ban comes into force soon. From 10th December, platforms must take 'reasonable steps' to stop under-16s from opening accounts and remove accounts that already belong to them. Companies who fail to comply could face fines of up to £25m. BBC Sydney correspondent Katy Watson has been talking to teenagers in the state of Victoria. She explains how we got here and updates us on a new legal action being brought to challenge the ban.

Cassa Pancho founded Ballet Black in 2001, aged 21, in response to there being no black or Asian women performing in any of the UK’s ballet companies. This week Ballet Black conclude their UK tour of SHADOWS at London's Sadler's Wells and features as part of its double bill Cassa's adaptation of Oyinkan Braithwaite’s international bestselling novel, My Sister, The Serial Killer.

Have you heard of rage rooms? Or even visited one? Turns out demand for them is surging, and 90% of the UK customers are women. Believed to have started in Japan in the early 2000s, rage rooms are places where people can smash up items such as electronics, white goods and crockery. Nuala McGovern is joined by Jennifer Cox, psychotherapist and author of Women are Angry: Why Your Rage is Hiding and How To Let It Out, and culture journalist Isobel Lewis who has visited a rage retreat.

Camille O’Sullivan has toured with the Pogues and was chosen by Yoko Ono to perform at Meltdown festival in the Royal Festival Hall – now the Irish-French singer is bringing her hit show to the Soho Theatre in London. LoveLetter is a personal response to the loss of the artists who inspired her - particularly her late friends Shane McGowan and Sinéad O’Connor.

Presenter: Anita Rani
Producer: Annette Wells


SAT 17:00 PM (m002myrt)
Trump rachets up tensions with Venezuela

The US president says Venezuela's airspace should be considered 'closed' as he weighs military action against the South American nation.


SAT 17:30 Political Thinking with Nick Robinson (m002myrw)
Kemi Badenoch: Shooting from the hip

Why did the leader of the opposition call the chancellor 'spineless' and 'shameless'?

Kemi Badenoch joins Nick in the Political Thinking studio to reflect on what lay behind the personal and political debates around Budget Day.

How can she emulate Margaret Thatcher's regeneration of the Conservative Party?

How did anger help drive her into politics?

And why do her kids wish she still worked at McDonald's?

Producer: Daniel Kraemer
Research: Chloe Desave
Editor: Jonathan Brunert
Sound: Ged Sudlow and Andrew Mills


SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m002myry)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SAT 17:57 Weather (m002mys0)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002mys2)
Oscar-winning playwright Sir Tom Stoppard dies at 88

Sir Tom's best-known works include Arcadia, The Real Thing and Rozencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.


SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (m002mys4)
Stuart Maconie, Angie Le Mar, Phil Ellis, Nabil Elouahabi, Seb Lowe, Goodnight Louisa

Stuart Maconie welcomes Angie Le Mar to talk about appearing in her son Travis Jay's Radio 4 comedy Rum Punch. The actor Nabil Elouahabi talks about his role as the veteran explosives officer in the TV drama Trigger Point and comedian Phil Ellis is about to tour the country with his new show Bath Mat. He joins us to tell us why he's about to wipe the floor with his new show.

And we've music from Seb Lowe and Glasgow's Goodnight Louisa, who perform their new single 'Drew Barrymore'.

Presenter: Stuart Maconie
Producer: Elizabeth Foster


SAT 19:00 Profile (m002mys6)
Zarah Sultana

The Coventry MP who left the Labour party and joined Jeremy Corbyn's new left-wing ‘Your Party'. Zarah Sultana's husband and friends tell us how her upbringing shaped her politics and reveal her questionable taste in music. 'I think she would describe her taste as no taste', claims her husband Craig Lloyd. She was born in Birmingham to political parents who were both members of the Labour party. Her father even took her on a Labour party delegation to the occupied West Bank when she was a student, an important trip that inspired her to join those campaigning for a free Palestine and she's continued campaigning ever since. Her political career hasn't always been smooth sailing, leaving the Labour party over a row about lifting the two-child benefit cap. However her friends say she is driven by something deeper than her own career aims, she's trying to reshape British politics.

Guests:
Craig Lloyd, husband
Sienna Rodgers, deputy editor of parliament's The House magazine
Ian Byrne, Labour MP for Liverpool West Derby
Bell Ribeiro-Addy, Labour MP for Clapham and Brixton Hill
Georgie Robertson, friend and activist
Barnaby Raine, friend and activist

Production team:
Presenter: Mark Coles
Producers: Sally Abrahams, Mhairi MacKenzie, Phoebe Keane and Tom Farmer
Production co-ordinators: Maria Ogundele
Sound: Gareth Jones
Editor: Justine Lang

Credits:
Married At First Sight, CPL productions
Ladybarn Primary School, Facebook


SAT 19:15 The Infinite Monkey Cage (m002kjvd)
Series 34

What’s the deal with eels? – Lucy Porter, David Righton and Caroline Durif

Fishing rods at the ready, Brian Cox and Robin Ince attempt to reel in a creature that has baffled scientists since Aristotle: the eel. Wriggling in to help them uncover the mysteries of one of nature’s slimiest subjects are marine scientists David Righton and Caroline Durif, and comedian Lucy Porter.

How do eels navigate such vast distances so deep under water? Why has no one ever seen them reproduce? And WHY would anyone eat them jellied with pie and mash?! The panel discovers that Spanish eels are always late and that eels from all different countries are thought to meet up somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean for a huge annual orgy.

Producer: Melanie Brown
Assistant Producer: Olivia Jani
Executive Producer: Alexandra Feachem
A BBC Studios Production


SAT 20:00 Archive on 4 (m002mys8)
A Journey Behind Bars

Pioneering documentary-maker Rex Bloomstein reflects on more than 50 years of television and radio programmes he’s made about the British penal system, offering a unique insight into the events and issues which has led to the current crisis in our prisons.

Rex’s ground breaking television series about life In Strangeways prison in Manchester - as well as hugely revealing documentaries about prisoners serving life-sentences, the parole system and the work of the Prison Inspectorate - reveals a prison service under huge pressure.

His programmes observe prisoners sharing single cells, suffering the indignity of slopping out and being treated with contempt by prisoner officers. He’s been witness to neglect of prisoners’ mental illness and summary justice dispensed to those who break the rules. While he has seen reform and improvements over the years, many of the intrinsic shortcomings persist.

Former Chief Inspector of Prisons, Nick Hardwick, argues that prison simply does not work. Sir Marin Narey, former Director General of the prison service reveals how his decision to join the prison service, and his commitment to a policy of introducing decency to prison life, was inspired by watching Rex’s 1979 documentary cataloguing the demeaning conditions in Strangeways. And Pia Sinha, chief executive of the Prison Reform Trust, talks about the insidious discrimination which exists in prisons to this day.

Producer: Brian King
Additional Research: Naomi Bloomstein
Executive Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 21:00 Moral Maze (m002mmy5)
Politics: Whose Morality Is It Anyway?

The Dutch historian Rutger Bregman, whose BBC Reith Lectures start this week, is calling for a moral revolution to change our societies for the better, charting how small groups of committed people – abolitionists, suffragettes, and temperance activists – have brought about positive social change.

Politics, Bregman argues, is in trouble in an age of apathy and backsliding democracy: “The moral rot runs deep across elite institutions of every stripe”, he says, “if the right is defined by its shameless corruption, then liberals answer with a paralyzing cowardice”.

So where might our moral salvation come? What are the deep values that underpin our contrasting political worldviews – left and right – and which should we look to prioritise now? Does any part of the political spectrum have the greatest claim to morality?

Chair: Michael Buerk
Panel: Matthew Taylor, James Orr, Mona Siddiqui and Tim Stanley.
Witnesses: Tim Montgomerie, Eleanor Penny, Joanna Williams, Paul Mason
Producer: Dan Tierney.


SAT 22:00 News (m002mysb)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 22:15 The Food Programme (m002mn01)
The Great Tartan Tea Swindle

When Tam o’ Braan began marketing Scottish Tea from his Wee Tea Plantation, the response was astonishing. Upmarket retailers such as Fortnum and Mason and hotels from the Dorchester in London to the Balmoral in Edinburgh paid top prices for the supplies of this rare treat. Scottish farmers caught the bug and bought tea bushes from Tam's plantation that he promised were bred especially for harsh Scottish conditions. Magazines, national newspapers and even the BBC profiled the entrepreneur behind the innovations that were putting Scotland on the tea map of the world.

The only problem was that Tam’s business was based on lies. His name wasn’t Tam o’ Braan, he wasn’t an award-winning tea grower and his tea certainly wasn’t Scottish. Jaega Wise follows the story of Tam and his tea from the hills of Perthshire through the tea salons of London to Falkirk's Sheriff Court.

Producer: Nina Pullman


SAT 23:00 Time of the Week (m0020yq8)
Series 1

2. Deepfakes, Vaping, Richard III

It’s Listeners’ Week! Host Chloe Slack (Sian Clifford) is listening to the listeners who have suggested things to listen to, including vaping, the maths of parenting and murder.

Sian Clifford stars as self-important journalist Chloe Slack in this comedy series parodying women’s current affairs and talk shows, surrounded by an ensemble cast of character comedians.

Chloe Slack - Sian Clifford

Ensemble cast:
Ada Player
Alice Cockayne
Aruhan Galieva
Em Prendergast
Jodie Mitchell
Jonathan Oldfield
Lorna Rose Treen
Mofé Akàndé
Sara Segovia

Additional voice: Etta Treen

Created by Lorna Rose Treen and Jonathan Oldfield

Writing team:
Alice Cockayne
Catherine Brinkworth
Jodie Mitchell
Jonathan Oldfield
Lorna Rose Treen
Priya Hall
Will Hughes

Script Editor - Catherine Brinkworth
Photographer - Will Hearle
Production Coordinator - Katie Sayer
Producer - Ben Walker

A DLT Entertainment Production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 23:30 Punt & Dennis: Route Masters (m0023zj7)
Series 1: From Beer to Eternity

5 - From Elton John to the Air Fryer

Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis are on a mission to get from Elton John to the air fryer in the most entertaining way possible, in a warm and witty podcast that celebrates new and half-remembered trivia as they try to find unlikely links between random places, people and things.

Could you make your way from The Starship Enterprise to the air fryer, armed only with A Level Economics and a Geography degree? Hugh Dennis is going to have to. While Steve Punt will have to pick his way across Africa, to find what links Machiavelli and Madagascar. Across the series, they’ll be joined by guests including Ken Cheng, Kiri Pritchard McLean, Isy Suttie and Marcus Brigstocke, on a scenic route which takes in Shampoo, The Gruffalo, Watford Gap Services and Yoghurt.

Written and hosted by Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis
With Kiri Pritchard-McLean
Produced by Victoria Lloyd
Recorded at Maple St Creative
Mixed by Jonathan Last

A Listen Production for BBC Radio 4

SUNDAY 30 NOVEMBER 2025

SUN 00:00 Midnight News (m002mysd)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 00:15 Take Four Books (m002mmdc)
Karl Ove Knausgaard

Karl Ove Knausgaard speaks to Take Four Books about his new novel The School Of Night and together with presenter James Crawford they explore its connections to three other texts. The School of Night follows the character of Kristian Hadeland, a young photography student who's seething with ambition and contempt. Newly arrived in London, Kristian feels that his own family back in Norway don't understand him, and his fellow students bore him, but he knows he's destined for greater things.

Karl Ove's three choices were: Dr Faustus by Thomas Mann published in 1947; a non-fiction book examining the murder of the playwright Christopher Marlowe in 1593 called The Reckoning by Charles Nicholl published in l992; and a book of memoir entitled 'Bunnyman' by the Echo & the Bunnymen guitarist, Will Sergeant.

Producer: Dominic Howell
Editor: Gillian Wheelan

This was a BBC Audio Scotland production.


SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002mysg)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002mysj)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.


SUN 05:30 News Summary (m002mysl)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002mysn)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (m002mysq)
All Saints in Basingstoke.

Bells on Sunday comes from All Saints in Basingstoke. The bells are highly unusual in that the nine bells installed in 1916 were tuned such that a peal of eight bells could be rung either in the Dorian mode during Lent, or in the Major mode at other times. Though not the original intention, by 1946 the somewhat unique practice of ringing all nine together was frequently taking place. The tenor weighs eleven hundredweight and is tuned to the note of F. In 2016 a new Treble bell was added to create a more traditional ring of ten. We hear them ringing Grandsire Caters on the original nine bells.


SUN 05:45 In Touch (m002mmsy)
Parents and the Blatchington Court Trust

What is it like to bring up a child who is blind or visually impaired in 2025? As a parent, how easy is it to find the right support and information and indeed, the correct level of understanding about your child's needs. Fern Lulham meets parents who attended a recent Parents and Professionals Conference hosted by Blatchington Court Trust, a visually impaired children and young person's charity based in Sussex, to discuss those very questions.

Presenter: Peter White
Producer: Fern Lulham
Production Coordinator: Lydia Depledge-Miller
Website image description: Peter White sits smiling in the centre of the image and he is wearing a dark green jumper. Above Peter's head is the BBC logo (three separate white squares house each of the three letters). Bottom centre and overlaying the image are the words "In Touch" and the Radio 4 logo (the word ‘radio’ in a bold white font, with the number 4 inside of a white circle). The background is a bright mid-blue with two rectangles angled diagonally to the right. Both are behind Peter, one is a darker blue and the other is a lighter blue.


SUN 06:00 News Summary (m002mz01)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 06:05 Heart and Soul (w3ct6vp7)
Gaudí: God’s architect

In one of his final official acts before he died, Pope Francis put Antoni Gaudí, Spain’s most famous architect, onto the path to sainthood.

Gaudí's masterpiece, the Sagrada Familia, is a towering basilica, strangely designed and bursting with colour. It stands in the heart of Barcelona and its walls recount the entire story of the Catholic religion. After 140 years, having survived wars, arson attacks and dictatorship, it is still under construction. As Gaudí worked on it throughout his life, he became obsessive and it intensified his devotion. By the end of his life he was living like a monk.

Today, millions come every year to see his work. Some have been so affected by his art and approach they have converted to Catholicism. The process to confirm Gaudí as a saint is secretive and potentially long. But for the creator of the world’s longest ongoing construction, there’s no rush.

The BBC's Max Horberry has been to Barcelona to see Gaudí's work and speak to the people who have been working to finish the Sagrada Familia and campaigning for Gaudí's sainthood. We will find out more about the path to sainthood and how architecture, nature and religion intertwine in Gaudí’s life.

[Credit: Fundació Junta Constructora del Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família]

Producer/Presenter: Max Horberry
Executive Producer: Rajeev Gupta
Editor: Chloe Walker
Production Coordinator: Mica Nepomuceno


SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (m002mz03)
Reservoir Farm

Hannah Thorogood has spent 15 years building up an organic farm business from scratch. She runs it with her twin daughters and sells produce from her cattle, sheep and hens in a farm shop. Once a month she opens up her fields to visitors and gives farm tours to explain her farming methods . Now the future of Inkpot Farm in Scredington hangs in the balance. The farm and thousands of acres of Lincolnshire countryside around it, are in the middle of a proposed site for a giant reservoir.

Produced and presented by Rebecca Rooney.


SUN 06:57 Weather (m002mz05)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SUN 07:00 News and Papers (m002mz07)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 07:10 Sunday (m002mz09)
The Pope has been marking a historic Christian anniversary during his visit to Turkey - and on Sunday is heading to Lebanon, just days after Israeli airstrikes on its capital, Beirut. A key moment of the trip has been in the Turkish town of Iznik, the site of the ancient city of Nicaea. Pope Leo and leaders of other Christian traditions gathered to mark the anniversary of an ancient council that took place there 1,700 years ago. In 325 AD, among other key decisions, more than 200 bishops at the council affirmed the belief that Jesus was the son of God, eventually leading to what is known as the Nicene Creed. We hear the latest from his trip to the region.

Islamophobic incidents at football grounds have reached record highs in recent years, according to the anti-racism charity Kick it Out. Now more Premier League clubs are introducing dedicated prayer rooms, with some hosting Iftar celebrations on the pitch. In September, Djed Spence also became the first Muslim player to represent the England men’s national team. In the latest sign of progress, this weekend the Chelsea Muslim Supporters faced the Manchester United Muslim Supporters in the first match of its kind.

Following on from the Songs of Praise list of people's favourite school hymns, we hear about what the hymn writing process from Northern Irish composer, Keith Getty, who received a Grammy nomination for the contemporary hymn 'In Christ Alone'. And you share yours with us too.

PRESENTER: WILLIAM CRAWLEY
PRODUCERS: KATY BOOTH & JAMES LEESLEY
STUDIO MANAGERS: CARWYN GRIFFITH, SAM BIDDLE & LYNSEY AKEHURST
EDITOR: CHLOE WALKER


SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (m002mz0c)
Trees for Cities

Actor and comedian Michael Palin makes the BBC Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of the charity Trees for Cities.

The Radio 4 Appeal features a new charity every week.
Each appeal then runs on Radio 4 from Sunday 0755 for 7 days.

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 ‘Trees for Cities’.
- Cheques should be made payable to ‘Trees for Cities’.
- You can donate online at bbc.co.uk/appeal/radio4
- Please ensure you are donating to the correct charity by checking the name of the charity on the donate page.

Registered Charity Number: 1032154. If you’d like to find out more about the charity’s work visit *https://www.treesforcities.org/
*The BBC is not responsible for content on external websites

Producer: Anna Bailey


SUN 07:57 Weather (m002mz0f)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SUN 08:00 News and Papers (m002mz0h)
The news headlines, including a look at the newspapers.


SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (m002mz0k)
Advent Authors: Edwin Muir

Live from St Salvator’s Chapel in the University of St Andrews.
Throughout Advent, Sunday Worship explores the works of literary greats from around the United Kingdom and reflects on what they can tell us about this season of preparation.
On this St Andrew’s Day, Rev Dr Donald MacEwan, University Chaplain, and Rev Prof Alison Jack of New College, Edinburgh, explore the work and spirituality of the great Scottish writer Edwin Muir, tracing his developing faith and its influence on his writings.
With the Chapel Choir directed by Claire Innes-Hopkins.
Organ: Daniel Toombs and Calum Landon
Readings: Matthew 4:12-17, 4: 18-20
Hymn: O Come, O Come Emmanuel (Tune: Veni Emmanuel)
A Tender Shoot (Kerensa Briggs)
Hymn: Before The World Began (Tune: Incarnation) (John L Bell)
Psalm 150, O Praise God In His Holiness (Stanford)
Canticle of Zachariah (James MacMillan)
Hymn: Now the heavens start to whisper (Tune: Abbot's Leigh)


SUN 08:48 Witness History (w3ct74ms)
The Czech Freedom Train

On 11 September 1951, the 9.55am train from Prague to Aš, in Communist Czechoslovakia was hijacked and driven to freedom in West Germany.

One hundred and eleven people were on board and 34 of them never returned, starting new lives on the other side of the Iron Curtain.

The remaining 77 returned to Czechoslovakia to face state security, the Státní bezpečnost, and many were jailed.

Rachel Naylor uses an archive interview with Karel Ruml, one of the hijackers, who went on to move to the United States.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.

Recent episodes explore everything from football in Brazil, the history of the ‘Indian Titanic’ and the invention of air fryers, to Public Enemy’s Fight The Power, subway art and the political crisis in Georgia. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: visionary architect Antoni Gaudi and the design of the Sagrada Familia; Michael Jordan and his bespoke Nike trainers; Princess Diana at the Taj Mahal; and Görel Hanser, manager of legendary Swedish pop band Abba on the influence they’ve had on the music industry. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the time an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at the President of the United States in protest of America’s occupation of Iraq; the creation of the Hollywood commercial that changed advertising forever; and the ascent of the first Aboriginal MP.

(Photo: A steam train in Czechoslovakia in 1960. Credit: Alamy)


SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (m002mz0m)
Frances Tophill on the Turnstone

Turnstones are so named because of their habit of turning over stones to look for food. These common winter visitors to the UK are mainly found on wetlands, along estuaries and the coastline, where they can be seen creeping and fluttering over rocks. They have mottled brown or chestnut plumage, with white underparts and bright orange legs.

For gardener and TV presenter Frances Tophill, the turnstone is a bird she heavily associates with the British coastline. She often encounters them as she swims or walks along the Devon coast and has childhood memories of seeing turnstones on the beaches in Kent, where she grew up. She enjoys the companionship of their presence and the sound of their chattering calls to one another.

Presented by Frances Tophill and produced by Jo Peacey. A BBC Audio Bristol production.


SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (m002mz0p)
Tom Stoppard: 'one of our greatest writers'

Playwright Tom Stoppard has died aged 88. Actors Tom Hollander and Dame Harriet Walter tell us he was the greatest writer of his generation. We digest the week in Westminster as the Chancellor denies she misled the public over the UK’s finances prior to the Budget. Also, Petroc Trelawney’s guide to Advent music across the UK.


SUN 10:00 Desert Island Discs (m002mz0r)
Gordon Buchanan, cameraman and presenter

Gordon Buchanan is a wildlife cameraman and TV presenter. He is best known for the Animal Family & Me series of BBC documentaries in which he gets up close to wild bears, Arctic wolves, elephants and reindeer among other species.

Gordon was brought up in Tobermory on the Isle of Mull where he spent his days exploring the island and developed his lifelong love of the outdoors. In 1988, when he was 17, he met the charismatic wildlife cameraman Nick Gordon who invited him to become his assistant for a project to film primates on the island of Tiwai in Sierra Leone.

Gordon spent 18 months in Sierra Leone working with Nick and after that the two of them worked in West Africa and South America. At 22 Gordon set up on his own – his first job was a year-long assignment to make three half-hour programmes for a 14-part wildlife series called Wild Islands.

In 2001 he made his debut as a presenter on the BBC’s Natural World strand. He was appointed an MBE for services to conservation and wildlife filmmaking in 2020.

Gordon lives in Glasgow with his wife Wendy. They have two children.

DISC ONE: Take Me Home, Country Roads - John Denver
DISC TWO: Brandy in the Airidh - Peat & Diesel
DISC THREE: Purple Haze – The Jimi Hendrix Experience
DISC FOUR: Heart-Shaped Box - Nirvana
DISC FIVE: High and Dry - Radiohead
DISC SIX: Last Nite - The Strokes
DISC SEVEN: Electrical Storm - U2
DISC EIGHT: Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It) - Beyoncé

BOOK CHOICE: Teach Yourself Tap Dancing by Derek Hartley
LUXURY ITEM: A mask, snorkel and fins
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: High and Dry - Radiohead

Presenter: Lauren Laverne
Producer: Paula McGinley

Desert Island Discs has cast many wildlife experts and broadcasters away including Dr George McGavin, Professor Carl Jones, Sir David Attenborough and Dr Jane Goodall. You can hear their programmes if you search through BBC Sounds or our own Desert Island Discs website.


SUN 11:00 The Archers Omnibus (m002mz0t)
THE ARCHERS WEEK 47

Writer: Sarah McDonald Hughes
Director: Kim Greengrass
Editor: Jeremy Howe

23rd - 28th Nov

Pip Archer.... Daisy Badger
Ruth Archer.... Felicity Finch
Tony Archer.... David Troughton
Leonard Berry.... Paul Copley
Alice Carter.... Hollie Chapman
Justin Elliott.... Simon Williams
Rex Fairbrother.... Nick Barber
Amber Gordon.... Olivia Bernstone
Ed Grundy.... Barry Farrimond
Eddie Grundy.... Trevor Harrison
Emma Grundy.... Emerald O'Hanrahan
George Grundy.... Angus Stobie
Brad Horrobin.... Taylor Uttley
Tracy Horrobin.... Susie Riddell
Joy Horville.... Jackie Lye
Kirsty Miller.... Annabelle Dowler


SUN 12:15 Profile (m002mys6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


SUN 12:30 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (m002mmmj)
Series 84

3. Seafood Film Club

The godfather of all panel shows pays a visit to the Hull New Theatre. On the panel are Rory Bremner, Tony Hawks, Lucy Porter and Henning Wehn, with Jack Dee in the umpire’s chair.

Regular listeners will know to expect inspired nonsense, pointless revelry and Colin Sell at the piano.

Producer: Jon Naismith
A Random production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 12:57 Weather (m002mz0w)
The latest weather forecast


SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (m002mz0y)
Can Europe unite to defend itself?

The UK's efforts to access a key EU defence scheme fail. Where does this leave the government's reset of relations with Brussels? Also, after President Zelensky's top aide quits after an anti-corruption raid, one of Kyiv's MPs tells us further resignations are needed.


SUN 13:30 Currently (m002mz10)
Playing Spies

The words "spy ring" conjure up images straight from the enigmatic literary worlds of John le Carre and Graham Greene.
But the recent prosecutions of a group of Bulgarians and the arsonists who set fire to a warehouse containing communications equipment for Ukraine, suggest a new, less glamorous front in the hidden world of espionage.
Necessity is the mother of invention and the expulsion of Russian spies combined with sanctions on the technology of modern warfare have seen a move away from traditional "foreign agents".
Communication platforms like Telegram are enabling the remote commissioning of low-level criminality - acts of sabotage and information gathering. Often, these outsourced agents are not even aware of who they're working for.
They are, as the Director General of MI5, Sir Ken McCallum would have it "Playing Spies" and they are entirely disposable.
Author and journalist Gordon Corera considers this new ecosystem of state interference and the dangerous players who are more Slow Horses than shaken not stirred.
He hears from investigative journalist Roman Dobrokhotov, Head of Counter Terrorism Policing Dominic Murphy, Senior Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute Matthew Redhead and Daniela Richterova, Senior Lecturer in Intelligence at the Department of War Studies at King's College London.
Police and Crime Commissioner for Suffolk Tim Passmore gives us his take on fears that Russia's drone war is having a direct impact on farmers in the UK.

Presented by Gordon Corera
Produced by Kev Core


SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m002mn0m)
Henley-on-Thames

What’s the strangest thing wildlife has whisked away from your garden? How can I prevent codling moth from spoiling apples? And how do I make reliably nutritious compost using horse manure?

Peter Gibbs and a panel of green-fingered experts return to Henley-on-Thames, where a lively audience of passionate gardeners awaits answers to their most pressing horticultural dilemmas.

Joining Peter are pest and disease specialist Pippa Greenwood, head gardener Matthew Pottage, and the ever-enthusiastic plantswoman Christine Walkden.

Later in the programme, Bunny Guinness offers her expert advice on creating your very own dead hedge.

Senior Producer: Dan Cocker
Junior producer: Rahnee Prescod
Assistant Producer: Suki Glocking
Assistant Producer: William Norton

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 14:45 Opening Lines (m002mz12)
The Princess Bride

According to its introduction, The Princess Bride is a long, sprawling book by the great Florinese writer S. Morgenstern that renowned screenwriter and novelist William Goldman has been obliged to abridge so that his son doesn’t have to struggle through all the boring bits.

But as John Yorke reveals, all is not as it seems in this metafictional novel from 1973 that Goldman himself went on to adapt into a screenplay for a much-loved film. The Princess Bride may ostensibly be a fairy story, but there’s a lot more going on beneath the surface.

John Yorke has worked in television and radio for 30 years and shares his experience as he unpacks the themes and impact of the books, plays and stories that are being dramatised in BBC Radio 4’s Sunday Drama series. As former Head of Channel Four Drama and Controller of BBC Drama Production he has worked on some of the most popular shows in Britain - from EastEnders to The Archers, Life on Mars to Shameless. As creator of the BBC Writers Academy, he's trained a generation of screenwriters - now with over 70 green lights and thousands of hours of television to their names. He is the author of Into the Woods, the bestselling book on narrative, and he writes, teaches and consults on all forms of narrative - including many podcasts for R4.

Natalie Haynes is a classicist, broadcaster and author of books including A Thousand Ships and Stone Blind.
Stephen Keyworth is a writer and director who has adapted two of William Goldman’s novels – The Princess Bride and Marathon Man – for Radio 4.
Interview with William Goldman, BBC Radio 3 Third Ear, March 1988

Reader: Riley Neldam
Music: Torquil MacLeod
Researcher: Henry Tydeman
Production Hub Coordinator: Dawn Williams
Sound: Sean Kerwin
Producer: Torquil MacLeod
Executive Producer: Sara Davies

A Pier production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 15:00 The Princess Bride (m0012rv9)
The Dramatisation: Part 1

“This is my favourite book in all the world, though I have never read it”. When William Goldman discovers The Princess Bride by S Morgenstern is not the swashbuckling fantasy his father read him as a child, but is in fact a patchy and extensive historical satire, he sets out to create the “Good Parts” version…

A tale of true love and high adventure featuring a fighting giant that loves to rhyme, a swordsman on the ultimate quest for revenge, a pirate in love with a princess, a princess in love with a farm boy and a prince in love with war.

First a novel, then a film, now an audio experience:

The Best Bits of the Good Parts Version by Stephen Keyworth.

A two-part dramatisation of swashbuckling adventure plus five bitesize backstories which can be enjoyed as stand-alone stories or to enhance your experience of the drama.

The Dramatisation: Part 1

Buttercup is the most beautiful woman in the world and she’s in love with a farm boy who is about to become the most notorious man in the world…

Cast:
Buttercup … Ruby Barker
Fezzik … Tyler Collins
Inigo… Emun Elliott
Vizzini… Maryam Hamidi
Count Rugen … Robin Laing
Goldman Snr / Father / Roberts … Crawford Logan
Westley … Lorn Macdonald
Prince Humperdinck / William Goldman … Grant O’Rourke
Countess … Rosalind Sydney

Sound recording: Joanne Willott
Sound design: Fraser Jackson

Directed by Kirsty Williams


SUN 16:00 Take Four Books (m002mz14)
Alexander McCall Smith

International bestseller Sir Alexander McCall Smith joines James Crawford to discuss The Private Side of Friendship, and shares the literary works that influenced it.

After the acclaim of his his The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, Sandy has written over a hundred books, selling tens of millions of copies in English alone – not to mention the 46 other languages in which his work has appeared. In his latest novel, he is taking readers to a city he knows very well, as six young Edinburgh students embark on a flatshare, and navigate new friendships, against the backdrop of the social unrest of the 1980s miners’ strikes.

For his three influences Sandy chose: The More Loving One by W.H. Auden (1957), Friends: Understanding the Power of our Most Important Relationships by Robin Dunbar (2021), and The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (2011).

Including an extract from the audiobook of Friends by Robin Dunbar, published by Hachette.

Producer: Caitlin Sneddon
Editor: Gillian Wheelan

This is a BBC Audio Scotland production.


SUN 16:30 Punt & Dennis: Route Masters (m0023zj9)
Series 1: From Beer to Eternity

6 – From Hot Air Balloons to The Shipping Forecast

Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis are on a mission to get from hot air balloons to the Shipping Forecast in the most entertaining way possible, in a warm and witty podcast that celebrates new and half-remembered trivia as they try to find unlikely links between random places, people and things.

Across the series, they’ll be joined by guests including Ken Cheng, Kiri Pritchard McLean, Isy Suttie and Marcus Brigstocke, on a scenic route which takes in Shampoo, The Gruffalo, Watford Gap Services and Yoghurt.

Written and hosted by Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis
With Angela Barnes
Produced by Victoria Lloyd
Recorded at Maple St Creative
Mixed by Jonathan Last

A Listen production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 17:00 Witness History (w3ct74qx)
The Howard Hughes literary hoax

In 1971, the publishing world was rocked by one of the biggest hoaxes in literary history – a fake autobiography of the reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes.

Hughes was an aerospace engineer, film producer, record-breaking aviator and business tycoon, who’d built a $2 billion fortune to become one of the richest people in the world.

But for years he’d been living as a recluse, reportedly so terrified of catching a disease that he had almost no contact with the outside world.

That's why the publishers, McGraw Hill, were delighted when Clifford Irving, an American author, persuaded the billionaire to talk. They paid him a $750,000 advance.

But Irving had faked the entire manuscript, and after his scam was discovered, he was sentenced to jail. Jane Wilkinson has been through the BBC archives to find out how it happened.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there.

For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.

Recent episodes explore everything from the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue.

We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron – Argentina’s Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous ‘tear down this wall’ speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler’s List; and Jacques Derrida, France’s ‘rock star’ philosopher.

You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest; the disastrous D-Day rehearsal; and the death of one of the world’s oldest languages.

(Photo: Howard Hughes, 1947. Credit: Bettmann/Getty Images)


SUN 17:10 Three Ages of Child (m002kfpq)
Episode 2: The Middle Years

Dr Guddi Singh is a paediatrician looking for answers. She’s worried about the patients whose problems can’t be fixed with a prescription – babies who are not thriving because their parents can’t afford to heat their home or children who are obese because they don’t have access to outdoor space. Children in the UK face some of the worst health outcomes in Europe. Dr Singh wants to find solutions.

In a three-part series, she travels across England through the three ages of childhood: the early years, the primary school years and adolescence. She meets people in the community, from health workers to teachers, on a quest to discover what’s going wrong and what it will take to turn things around.

In the second episode, she’s in London, travelling from east to west across the capital to find out what’s making the difference for children in their school years. She goes to an adventure playground in Tower Hamlets, meets community health workers in Westminster and visits a school in Feltham that puts wellbeing at the heart of education.

Presenter: Guddi Singh
Producer: Jo Glanville
Editor: Kirsten Lass
Executive Producer: Rosamund Jones
Production Executive: Lisa Lipman
Sound Engineers: Dan King and Jon Calver
Photography of Guddi Singh courtesy of Anad Singh
Commissioning Editor: Daniel Clarke

A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m002mz17)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SUN 17:57 Weather (m002mz19)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002mz1c)
The Chancellor denies misleading the public in the run up to this week's budget

The Conservatives call on Rachel Reeves to resign


SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (m002mz1f)
Chris Power

This week, we're finding ourselves in flux via audio, between broken stones and baffling markets, crisps on the radio to the crinkle of crisp packets bringing joy to Paul Farley and his newly fitted hearing aids. Plus, we hear about the prison farm helping inmates come closer to freedom, as well as the power of the sitar being unleashed on pop music with George Harrison, and a little help from a friend.

Presenter: Chris Power
Producer: Anthony McKee
Production Coordinators: Caoilfhinn McFadden and Caroline Peddle

A BBC Audio Northern Ireland production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 19:00 The Archers (m002mz1h)
Eddie’s concerned about Clarrie, whose hands are swollen and sore. With turkey plucking day fast approaching it leaves them with a problem. Clarrie shouldn’t be doing it, but she sees little alternative. Everyone she’s tried for help is busy. Eddie ponders; there must be something they can do. Later Clarrie’s horrified to find Eddie’s taken the back off the washing machine. He’s had an idea that might make her life a bit easier. Clarrie retorts the only thing that will do that is if he puts the machine back together, this instant. Reassuringly Eddie makes a trip to the scrapyard and acquires a drum and motor to progress his plan. He now has the makings of a Grundy Turkey Plucker! No more hand plucking necessary – Clarrie won’t have to lift a finger. Sceptical Clarrie’s will believe it when she sees it.

Chris makes plans to drop off Martha for a sleepover while he has a date with Carly. When George finds out Martha’s staying at Little Grange he says he’ll come over – he hasn’t seen Martha for ages and misses her. He wants to check in on Ed anyway. Emma hesitates before agreeing it’s fine. Later Ed and Emma note how pleased Martha was to see George. Emma’s glad he’s come. However Chris calls in unexpectedly and is shocked to find George there. This can’t happen, and Alice would agree. He takes Martha home. George feels bad; he understands where Chris is coming from. Dejected, he leaves. Emma’s worried about him; she’s never seen him like this.


SUN 19:15 Currently (m002mz1k)
Four Months in Gaza

A raw and intimate perspective on the terror, anger, and hope of living through war.

As bombs hit ever closer to her home in central Gaza, Hanya Aljamal spots her elderly neighbour tending to his garden. “He's been raking the earth,” she says, “prepping the soil for new seeds. Given everything that's already happening, it's quite interesting seeing him do that right now. I mean, if grandpa thinks it's a good time to put seeds in, then I don't know, maybe there's hope.”

In audio diaries sent from her balcony over four months, Hanya sees impromptu volleyball matches, flying shrapnel, and a hastily constructed tent village as Israel expands its military action. But after she questions whether she will live to see the end of the conflict, a fragile peace is finally agreed and Hanya’s personal situation changes dramatically.

Producer/presenter: Simon Maybin
Editor: Clare Fordham
Sound mix: Gareth Jones
Production co-ordinator: Katie Morrison


SUN 19:45 Just One Thing - with Michael Mosley (m00101jt)
Play Video Games

Do you struggle with multi-tasking, filtering out distractions, and prioritising your to-do list? Believe it or not, video gaming might help. In this episode, Michael Mosley enters the world of gaming to find out how it can benefit our brains! He enlists the help of cognitive neuroscientist Professor Daphné Bavelier to find out how, to Michael’s surprise, video games could actually help improve our vision and what types of features we should look out for when we play...


SUN 20:00 Feedback (m002mpb0)
Mark Steel's in Town. Materials of State. Test Match Special Podcast - Interview of the Year nomination.

Mark Steel's In Town has just completed it's 14th series, and listeners from Shetland to Rutland and beyond have been tuning in. But what do they make of it? And what goes into putting each episode together? Mark joins presenter Andrea Catherwood on Feedback to answer your questions and unravel how the programme works.

Some listeners also had questions about Radio 4's Materials of State, which is being broadcast this week. The first programme in the series covered the story of the UK's national flag - listeners claimed calling it the Union Jack was wrong. Malcolm Farrow, President of The Flag Institute, weighs in to clear up any confusion.

And there's one final nomination for Feedback's Interview of the Year before nominations close. It comes from a listener who tuned in to Test Match Special Podcast to hear the BBC's Chief Cricket Reporter Stephan Shemilt interviewing veteran cricketer David Larter.

Presenter: Andrea Catherwood
Producer: Pauline Moore
Assistant Producer: Rebecca Guthrie
Executive Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown Scotland production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 20:30 Last Word (m002mn0r)
Jimmy Cliff, Charlotte Bingham, Skye Gyngell, David Bellos

Kirsty Lang on:

Jimmy Cliff, who took reggae music onto the global stage. His former record producer and founder of Island Records, Chris Blackwell pays tribute.

Charlotte Bingham, the writer who mined the experience of her upbringing and relationships to pen dozens of novels and screenplays.

Skye Gyngell, the Australian born chef whose devotion to fresh seasonal produce made a lasting impact on modern British cooking.

David Bellos, the award-winning literary translator who revelled in linguistic challenges.

Interviewee: Chris Blackwell
Interviewee: Lloyd Bradley
Interviewee: Candida Brady
Interviewee: Thomasina Miers
Interviewee: Rory O'Connell
Interviewee: Alex Bellos

Producer: Gareth Nelson-Davies
Assistant Producer: Ribika Moktan
Researcher: Jesse Edwards
Editor: Glyn Tansley

Archive used:
Jimmy Cliff interview, The First Time, BBC Radio 6, 26/08/2012; The Harder They Come, Official Film Promo 1972, Director: Perry Henzell, International Films Inc; Charlotte Bingham, If I had A Million, BBC Television, 23/11/1968; Skye Gyngell interview, The Food Programme, BBC Radio 4, 09/09/2007; Skye Gyngell interview, The Conversation, Star Chef, BBC World Service, 23/07/2018; David Bellos, The Verb, BBC Radio 3, 16/09/2011


SUN 21:00 Money Box (m002myrc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:04 on Saturday]


SUN 21:25 Radio 4 Appeal (m002mz0c)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:54 today]


SUN 21:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m002myr7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:30 on Saturday]


SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (m002mz1m)
Ben Wright breaks down the Budget

Ben Wright is discusses the fallout from the Budget and claims the Chancellor misled people about the need to raise taxes with MPs Catherine Atkinson for Labour, Conservative former Cabinet minister Sir Andrew Mitchell, and Lib Dem Bobby Dean. They're also joined by George Parker, political editor of the Financial Times. Iain Watson reports from the inaugural Your Party conference in Liverpool. And the panel look ahead to an expected announcement from the Justice Secretary on restricting the right to jury trial.


SUN 23:00 In Our Time (b07cyfkg)
Margery Kempe and English Mysticism

To celebrate Melvyn Bragg’s 27 years presenting In Our Time, five well-known fans of the programme have chosen their favourite episodes. Author and columnist Caitlin Moran has picked the episode on the English medieval mystic Margery Kempe and recorded an introduction to it. Margery Kempe (1373-1438) produced an account of her extraordinary life in a book she dictated, "The Book of Margery Kempe." She went on pilgrimage to Jerusalem, to Rome and Santiago de Compostela, purchasing indulgences on her way, met with the anchoress Julian of Norwich and is honoured by the Church of England each 9th November. She sometimes doubted the authenticity of her mystical conversations with God, as did the authorities who saw her devotional sobbing, wailing and convulsions as a sign of insanity and dissoluteness. Her Book was lost for centuries, before emerging in a private library in 1934.

This In Our Time episode was first broadcast in June 2016. The image (above), of an unknown woman, comes from a pew at Margery Kempe's parish church, St Margaret’s, Kings Lynn and dates from c1375.

With

Miri Rubin
Professor of Medieval and Early Modern History at Queen Mary, University of London

Katherine Lewis
Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Huddersfield

And

Anthony Bale
Professor of Medieval Studies at Birkbeck University of London

Producer: Simon Tillotson

Reading list:

John H. Arnold and Katherine J. Lewis (eds.), A Companion to the Book of Margery Kempe, (D. S. Brewer, 2010)

Anthony Bale (trans.), The Book of Margery Kempe (Oxford University Press, 2015)

Santha Bhattacharji, God is an Earthquake: The Spirituality of Margery Kempe (Darton, Longman and Todd, 1997)

Anthony Goodman, Margery Kempe and her World (Longman, 2002)

Karma Lochrie, Margery Kempe and the Translations of the Flesh (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1991)

Gail McMurray Gibson, The Theater of Devotion: East Anglian Drama and Society in the Late Middle Ages (University of Chicago Press, 1989)

Lynn Staley, Margery Kempe’s Dissenting Fictions (Pennsylvania State University Press, 1994)

Jonathan Sumption, Pilgrimage: An Image of Mediaeval Religion (Faber & Faber, 2002)

Brett Whalen, Pilgrimage in the Middle Ages: A Reader (University of Toronto Press, 2011)

Barry Windeatt (ed.), The Book of Margery Kempe: Annotated Edition (D. S. Brewer, 2006)

Barry Windeatt (ed.), The Book of Margery Kempe (Penguin Classics, 2000)

Spanning history, religion, culture, science and philosophy, In Our Time from BBC Radio 4 is essential listening for the intellectually curious. In each episode, host Melvyn Bragg and expert guests explore the people, ideas, events and discoveries that have shaped our world

In Our Time is a BBC Studios production


SUN 23:45 Short Works (m002mn0p)
small letters by Louise Kennedy

Dervla Kirwan reads an original story for Radio 4 by the award-winning author of Trespasses, set in the West of Ireland.

A divorced couple do their best to remain civil for the sake of their daughter on a school visit – until a small volume of poetry unleashes powerful memories from their past…

Dervla Kirwan is an award-winning stage and screen actor, best known for her roles in Ballykissangel, and most recently The House of Guinness.
Author: Louise Kennedy is best known for her acclaimed debut novel, Trespasses, a searing story of forbidden love in 1970s Belfast set against the backdrop of the Troubles. It went on to win Eason's Novel of the Year at the An Post Irish Book Awards, Book of the Year: Debut Fiction at the British Book Awards, and was shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction, the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize and Barnes and Noble Discover Prize. It has recently been made into a Channel 4 drama. Her short story collection, The End of the World is a Cul de Sac won the John McGahern Prize. Before she started writing, she spent nearly thirty years working as a chef.
Produced by Justine Willett

MONDAY 01 DECEMBER 2025

MON 00:00 Midnight News (m002mz1p)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


MON 00:15 Wokewash (m001w12p)
Race

Satirist Heydon Prowse offers a tongue-in-cheek investigation into how companies embraced race as the next social justice bandwagon to flaunt their woke credentials.

After the murder of George Floyd organisations suddenly tweeted and posted support for a movement they had never seemed to care about, rushing to be the first to be seen to make donations. CEOs took the knee in the office, a toy company paused its marketing of its police themed range.

Heydon himself was in a panic – should he post a black square with the hashtag #blackouttuesday in support of Black Lives Matter? If he did, he feared the profoundly performative act of solidarity that required zero effort was wokewashing, if he didn’t wouldn’t he look like a full blown racist.

To discover who did it right and who did a facepalm, Heydon meets:
Enes Freedom, former NBA star whose career came to a sudden halt when he chose to protest an issue beyond BLM
Podcaster Zubi, who wonders if wokewashing is a brilliant con to subdue the left
Marketing guru Katie Martell, who hails the advert that got people setting fire to their trainers
Comedian Kae Kurd, who ponders if Pepsi or Dr Pepper is the best drink for a protest
Judd Legum who unearthed financial hypocrisy, and academics Lily Kunda and Francesca Sobande who discuss what, if anything, has changed as a result – and a favourite ice cream.

Producer: Sarah Bowen
Assistant Producer: Oliva Sopel


MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (m002mysq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:43 on Sunday]


MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002mz1r)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002mz1t)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.


MON 05:00 News Summary (m002mz1w)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


MON 05:04 Yesterday in Parliament (m002mz1y)
Susan Hulme asks whether we need a Budget Speech and looks back to a time when the only way women could watch Parliament was through a ventilation shaft.


MON 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002mz20)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m002mz22)
Impatient for the New Year?

Spiritual reflection with Ronnie Convery, Director of Communications for the Catholic Archdiocese of Glasgow.

Script:
Hello, good morning to you — and let me start by wishing you a very happy New Year.

No you’re not hearing things … it might be just the first of December, but in the Christian calendar, today is the first weekday of Advent and Advent marks the start of a new Church year.

Advent is best described as the season of waiting. I remember when I was a wee boy it was super exciting to open the first window of the Advent calendar and burn down the first number of the Advent candle at home – we didn’t have smoke alarms at the time thankfully! Waiting was thus transformed into something ‘fun’.

Waiting isn’t something we’re very good at these days though. We live in a world of instant delivery pizzas and real time mobile phone apps, where even a buffering screen can make us impatient.

We’re used to filling in every break in a movie or wait at the checkout by checking our messages, ticking off lists, moving on to the next thing.

But Advent suggests something very different. It’s an invitation to stop rushing toward what’s next, and to pay attention to what’s here. What’s inside. There is so much of life to be discovered in that ‘in-between’ space -while we wait for the pizza to arrive, of course …

Maybe we need to move away from ‘enduring’ waiting, to ‘exploring’ waiting — looking inside and learning to let patience make us gentler, more aware, more ready. Today we can pray for patience … When life feels uncertain or slow to unfold, let’s try to practise patience— with others, and with ourselves.

And if you follow the shape of the Christian year, remember to wish someone a Happy New Year today, and be patient if they don’t quite get it!


MON 05:45 Farming Today (m002mz24)
01/12/25 Government's environmental improvement plan, water management and flooding, hedge laying

The government's new environmental improvement plan for England is launched today. The Department for the Environment Food and Rural Affairs has set out what it calls 'an ambitious roadmap' with a 'clear plan to restore the environment.' That encompasses a new plan to stop pollution from forever chemicals, tougher measures on waste crime and more tree planting. They also highlight £500 million worth of funding for the landscape recovery schemes, long term, big scale projects where landowners work together to improve nature. We ask Wildlife and Countryside Link, a coalition of 94 environmental and wildlife groups, what they make of the plan.

Storm Desmond hit the North West of England 10 years ago and brought record breaking amounts of heavy rain: a month's worth fell in just 24 hours. That led to flooding, bridges, roads and livestock were washed away, farmland ruined and thousands of homes inundated. The eventual bill for the damage was put at more than a billion pounds. In Glenridding in Cumbria the flooding led to a project working with farmers, nature and the landscape. Its aim: to try and reduce the vulnerability of the area to future flooding.

All week we're going to look at the jobs left for winter when things on the farm are a bit quieter. We're starting with hedge laying: winter is the traditional time to tackle this - the birds have long finished nesting, and by partly cutting through the trees and shrubs that you lay over to form the hedge, you allow it to rejuvenate in time for next spring. 

Presenter = Charlotte Smith
Producer = Rebecca Rooney


MON 05:57 Weather (m002mz26)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for farmers


MON 06:00 Today (m002n05x)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


MON 09:00 Start the Week (m002n05z)
Space, Quantum Frontiers and Cosmic Clues

What can the cosmos tell us about our past and future? Tom Sutcliffe and guests look skyward and deep into the quantum world to ask how much we can really know about the universe - and about ourselves.

Space scientist Maggie Aderin-Pocock, presenter of this year’s Royal Institution Christmas Lectures, shares her passion for inspiring the next generation to think big, as she explores the wonders of our solar system and the questions that still puzzle astronomers.

Physicist and cosmologist Paul Davies introduces his new book Quantum 2.0, charting the strange and revolutionary principles of quantum mechanics and how they are reshaping technology, science, and our understanding of reality itself.

From the Natural History Museum, Caroline Smith brings insights from meteorites — fragments of ancient worlds — and explains how these cosmic messengers help scientists search for life beyond Earth and piece together the story of our solar system’s origins.

Together, in Radio 4's weekly ideas discussion programme Start the Week, they consider the limits of knowledge: whether in decoding quantum mysteries, interpreting rocks from space, or imagining the motivations of those who first looked to the stars.

Producer: Ruth Watts
Assistant Producer: Natalia Fernandez


MON 09:45 Wild Bond (m001d51t)
The Spy

The name's Bond. James Bond. Everyone's favourite spy has been serving up the guns, the glamour, the girls and the gadgets on the silver screen for 60 years, and we're celebrating... In a slightly unusual way. Emily Knight is taking the iconic characters from the Bond world and re-casting them, from the animal kingdom. Which of our animal cousins would make the best 007? Who do we cast as the Bond Girl? In nature, who comes equipped with the best gadgets? Who are villains, bent on world domination, and who are the henchmen, just following orders?

In this first episode, we're starting in the obvious place: James himself. His Majesty's lapdog. The fighter. The lover. The spy.

Animal espionage is all around us in nature: from experts in disguise, camouflaging themselves to avoid detection, to masters of mimicry, pretending to be something they're not. But true, deliberate deception - what biologists call 'tactical deception' - is surprisingly rare in the animal world. It requires high intelligence, social graces, and 'theory of mind' - an ability to conceive of yourself through the eyes of another. Emily learns about some sneaky birds, and some crafty capuchins, who might just have mastered it.

With Bond expert Ian Kinane from the University of Roehampton, and Evolutionary Anthropologist Brandon Wheeler from the University of Kent.

Presented and Produced in Bristol by Emily Knight


MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (m002n061)
Former Finland PM Sanna Marin, HIV and women, Left-Handed Girl

Sanna Marin is the former Prime Minister of Finland who made history as the youngest female head of government in the world. She went on to become the longest-serving female prime minister of Finland, leading a coalition government entirely headed by women. Sanna talks to presenter Clare McDonnell about her rise to the top, leading her country through the challenges of the Covid 19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as well as dealing with enormous criticism when her personal life becoming very public – all themes in her new memoir Hope In Action.

It’s World Aids Day and the government has just unveiled its new HIV Action Plan with the stated goal of tackling to stigma and end transmissions in England by 2030. Public Health Minister Ashley Dalton joins us to discuss the policy along with Ellie Harrison, who was diagnosed HIV positive when she was 21.

With the rise of no and low alcohol drinks on supermarket shelves, a new survey from the University of Plymouth has been talking to expectant mothers about their relationship with these drinks and their understanding of what constitutes a safe percentage. To hear more, Clare is joined by Dr Kate Maslin, Senior Research Fellow in Maternal and Child Health School of Nursing and Midwifery at Plymouth University, who led the study.

Filmmaker Shih Ching Tsou’s debut feature Left Handed Girl tells the story of a single mother, Shu-Fen, and her two daughters who move to Taipei, Taiwan to open a night-market stall. When I-Jing, the younger, five-year old daughter – who is left-handed - is forbidden from using what her traditional grandfather dubs her ‘devil hand,’ a chain of events is set in motion, which eventually unravels a family secret. Tsou joins Clare to talk about directing and co-writing the drama which is inspired by her own childhood, cultural superstition about the left hand and the lives of working-class Taiwanese women.

Presented by: Clare McDonnell
Produced by: Sarah Jane Griffiths


MON 11:00 Behind the Crime (m001b43m)
'Ian'

Sally Tilt and Dr Kerensa Hocken are forensic psychologists who work in prisons.

Their role is to help people who have committed crimes to look at the harm they’ve caused to other people, understand why, and work out how to make changes to prevent further harm after they’ve been released.

In Behind the Crime, they take the time to understand someone whose crimes have led to harm and in some cases, imprisonment.

In this final episode they talk to Ian*, who pleaded guilty to the offence of indecent exposure. Ian received a non-custodial sentence, was placed on the register of sex offenders and was ordered to attend a sex offender treatment programme.

Ian’s story is one of a compulsion that started early in childhood and continued into his adult years. By talking through the key moments in Ian’s life and upbringing, we can start to understand how he, and others, reach the point where they cause harm through shameful acts that cause disgust to society.

Ian's conviction led to him seeking further help to curb his compulsions, and he has successfully learned how to live safely. His behaviour has been under control for over ten years, and his successful treatment may have prevented further, far more serious harm happening in the future.

Ian engaged with a specialist charity called StopSO, which offers treatment to perpetrators and offers support for survivors of sexual offending. www.stopso.org.uk

*Ian’s name has been changed to protect his identity.

A warning that some people may find this programme distressing.

For details of organisations that can provide help and support, visit bbc.co.uk/actionline

Producer: Andrew Wilkie
Editor: Hugh Levinson
Behind the Crime is a co-production between BBC Long Form Audio and the Prison Radio Association.


MON 11:45 Tom Stoppard: A Life by Hermione Lee (m000n5gn)
1. Childhood

Sir Tom Stoppard is among British theatre’s giants.

Hermione Lee's evocative and immersive biography tells the story of the man and his work. Read by Alex Jennings.

Since 1964 Stoppard has been writing for the theatre, big screen, TV and radio. His plays are among the most studied of the last century.

As a young child, he was forced to flee Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia; growing up in India and then England.

A campaigning activist on behalf of Eastern European and Soviet prisoners of conscience - along with the influence of, and his friendship with Vaclav Havel.

And always his work, the writing, rehearsing, casting and his ever present humour.

Tom remains at the forefront of British theatrical life, even in a moment of crisis. His personal and highly acclaimed play, Leopoldstadt, fell victim to Covid-19, when its run in the West End was suspended in March, 2020, before resuming in August, 2021.

Read by Alex Jennings.

Hermione Lee is a leading literary biographer, and with access to private papers, diaries and letters, interviews with the playwright's friends, and Stoppard himself, she has created an intimate portrait of the writer.

Abridged in five parts by Katrin Williams

Producer: Elizabeth Allard.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2020.


MON 12:00 News Summary (m002n063)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


MON 12:04 You and Yours (m002n065)
Black Friday Sales, Food Waste, Rage Rooms

As the Black Friday sales make way for the Cyber Monday deals - we ask what impact the promised price drops have made on how we shop.

After last week's budget - we look at how the Chancellor's plans will affect the hospitality trade.

What happens to the food dumped in the bins at the back of supermarkets?

How we're being told to be cautious of unlicensed street fundraisers who claim they're from charities

And how rage rooms, places where you can go and smash things, can make you feel better

PRESENTER: WINIFRED ROBINSON

PRODUCER: JAY UNGER


MON 12:57 Weather (m002n067)
The latest weather forecast


MON 13:00 World at One (m002n069)
Starmer: 'There was no misleading' in Budget build-up

The Prime Minister insists the Chancellor did not mislead the public before the Budget. Rachel Reeves is accused of not giving the upsides to forecasts in a speech on 4 November . We hear economic and Political reaction. Also a Gazan student reflects on starting at university in the UK.


MON 13:45 The History Podcast (m002n06c)
The Arrest

1. The Lawyer

As Augusto Pinochet recovers from minor surgery in London in October 1998, a lawyer for his victims races to seize an unlikely opportunity to bring the Chilean dictator to justice.

The general, who seized power in a military coup in 1973, is thought to be responsible for orchestrating the execution of more than 3,000 political opponents, and the torture, kidnapping and disappearance of 40,000 more. Until this point he has been untouchable - safe from prosecution in Chile, and protected by diplomatic immunity abroad.

Two Spanish lawyers have spent the last few years building a case against him, and the authorities in London might now be able to help, but to succeed they’ll need to act fast, pull in some favours, and cut a few corners.

The Arrest is presented by Philippe Sands
The series producer is Simon Tulett.
Sound design and mixing is by Tom Brignell.
The production co-ordinators are Helena Warwick-Cross and Tammy Snow
The editor is Matt Willis.

Philippe Sands is the author of '38 Londres Street: On Impunity, Pinochet in England and a Nazi in Patagonia'.


MON 14:00 The Archers (m002mz1h)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Sunday]


MON 14:15 Whatever Happened to Baby Jane Austen? (m002n06f)
Series 3

Episode 2 – A Bridgerton Too Far

Once more, to her sister’s fury, success clings to Selina as she’s invited to join the cast of Regency blockbuster Bridgerton, with hot rumpo consequences.

Meanwhile Florence enters the arena of crowdfunding with her much-unawaited stab at crime writing, Lucy has more revelations concerning her pregnancy, and Mrs Ragnarrok continues her stanning of Adrian Chiles.

The first series of Whatever Happened To Baby Jane Austen? won the Writers’ Guild Award for Best Radio Comedy and the second series won the British Comedy Guide Award for Best Radio Sitcom for the second year in a row.

“Thank you, Mr Quantick – this is nigh on perfect” Radio Times

Written by David Quantick

Florence - Dawn French
Selina - Jennifer Saunders
Mrs Ragnarrok – Rebecca Front
Lucy – Georgia Tennant
All the men - Alistair McGowan

Producer: Liz Anstee
A CPL production for BBC Radio 4


MON 14:45 Faith, Hope and Glory (m000s1rp)
Series 1: Eps 1-8

1. Hope and Jim

The history of post-war Britain is told through the lives of Hope Kiffin, Eunice Lamming and Gloria de Soto, bound forever by one moment in 1946. Today, Hope and Jim face the dilemma of bringing up their beautiful baby girl in a hostile environment.

Cast
Jim ..... Martins Imhangbe
Hope ..... Danielle Vitalis

Writer, Roy Williams
Director, Mary Peate
Producer, Jessica Dromgoole

NOTES
Radio 4 has commissioned Faith Hope and Glory an ambitious new series telling brilliant intimate domestic stories that together illuminate the emergence of modern Britain. This first week of 15’ dramas lays out the origin story that in 1946, Hope and Jim’s baby, entrusted to Eunice to take home to Antigua, is lost at Tilbury Docks, and found by Gloria and Clement, a celibate couple, who decide to keep her and call her Joy. Joy’s life spans the entire series, up to the present day.

Roy Williams has written the series of five 15’ plays to kick off, which is shortly followed by three 45’ plays – Clement and Gloria by Rex Obano, Hope and Jim, by Roy, and Faith and Trevor by Winsome Pinnock.

The cast includes Shiloh Coke as Faith, Danielle Vitalis as Hope, and Pippa Bennett Warner as Gloria, together with Gary Beadle as Trevor, Martins Imhangbe as Jim and Stefan Adegbola as Clement.


MON 15:00 A Good Read (m002n06h)
Michelle Ogundehin and Lisa St Aubin de Terán

Michelle Ogundehin is a broadcaster, magazine editor and author also known as a presenter on TV's Interior Design Masters. She and author Lisa St Aubin de Terán give their book recommendations. Michelle's is 4000 Weeks: Time Management For Mortals by Oliver Burkeman which she says has helped her simplify her life. Lisa chooses Small Boat by Vincent Delecroix the powerful retelling of the 2021 incident in which 27 people drowned in the English Channel attempting to make the crossing from France. It's a fictionalised account of a real event told from the perspective of the French Coastguard blamed for not taking adequate action.
Harriett's choice is The Party by Tessa Hadley set in post war Bristol.

Have your say on any of these books on Instagram @agoodreadbbc

Producer: Maggie Ayre


MON 15:30 Curious Cases (m002myr1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Saturday]


MON 16:00 Currently (m002mz10)
[Repeat of broadcast at 13:30 on Sunday]


MON 16:30 The Kitchen Cabinet (m002myr3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:30 on Saturday]


MON 17:00 PM (m002n06k)
Spending watchdog resigns after budget leak

The Chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility, Richard Hughes, resigns after his organisation published details of the budget before the Chancellor delivered it last week. We speak to the Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey, and from Cabinet minister Douglas Alexander. A court in Bangladesh has found the Labour MP Tulip Siddiq guilty of a corruption charge - we hear from Cherie Blair, who has concerns about the case. Plus, new data shows many public clocks are broken - we look at the role public time keeping plays in our lives.


MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002n06m)
The head of the Office for Budget Responsibility resigns

The head of the Office for Budget Responsibility, Richard Hughes, has resigned after his organisation released details of the budget before the Chancellor had delivered her speech. Also: The Prime Minister has denied that the Rachel Reeves misled people about the state of the public finances. And the World Health Organisation calls for fairer access to weight loss jabs.


MON 18:30 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (m002n06p)
Series 84

4. Hospital Radio Songbook

The godfather of all panel shows returns to the Hull New Theatre. On the panel are Rory Bremner, Tony Hawks, Lucy Porter and Henning Wehn with Jack Dee in the umpire’s chair.

Regular listeners will know to expect inspired nonsense, pointless revelry and Colin Sell at the piano.

Producer: Jon Naismith
A Random production for BBC Radio 4


MON 19:00 The Archers (m002n06r)
Joy’s keen for information from Hannah on Berrow’s entry for the Christmas tractor run. Hannah tells her Martyn wants them to have a strong presence. She doesn’t share Joy’s enthusiasm at this news – it’s just more for her to do when she’s already busy. Joy offers to help, and turns up later at the Berrow workshop. Hannah reckons she’ll be fine; she’s had a brilliant idea for their entry. Joy’s excited, but Hannah wants to keep it secret until the day. Joy protests that as the organiser she really needs to know. Hannah reveals the concept is ‘space’; she’ll be dressed as an astronaut and there’ll be aliens. She assures Joy it will be fabulous.

Emma apologises to George for last night and Chris taking Martha home. George doesn’t blame Chris. Emma assures him people will move on in time. She offers him work with her on a tree surgery job, as an extra pair of hands, which he accepts. When Emma pushes him on his low mood George admits he thinks Amber doesn’t want to be with him anymore. Emma speaks to Amber, who admits she’s no longer sure she wants to marry George. She asks Emma’s advice. Emma counsels Amber, from experience, to take time to think what she wants. She needs to be honest with George. Amber duly tries to explain her confused feelings to George, who protests he still loves her and just wants everything to be as it was. Frustrated with Amber’s lack of clarity, he storms out.


MON 19:15 Front Row (m002n06t)
Front Row remembers Tom Stoppard

A celebration of the life and work of one of Britain’s greatest modern playwrights, Sir Tom Stoppard, who died at the weekend. He was 88.

We hear from theatre critic Michael Billington, actress Emma Fielding, director Patrick Marber, biographer Hermione Lee, and literary critic Tristram Fane Saunders.


MON 20:00 The Briefing Room (m002mpb2)
What's happening with the Ukraine peace plan?

President Trump wants an end to the war in Ukraine. The Ukrainians want peace too - but not at any cost. The past week saw the emergence of a leaked US 28 - point- plan which was wholly unacceptable to President Zelensky and European leaders. But how it originated and why it looked like a Russian wish list has led to intense debate. ( It included Ukraine giving up territory it still holds in the east, as well as the area already occupied by Russia, a cap on the Ukrainian army of 600 thousand, a permanent ban on NATO membership for Ukraine and an amnesty on all war crimes. ) Talks hastily took place in Europe and Abu Dhabi and there’s now a revised version still to be agreed with Russia. President Zelensky wants to meet President Trump to agree the most sensitive issues.. So why did this latest attempt at peace in Ukraine emerge through a leaked document which many assumed had come straight from Russia? How has Europe and Ukraine responded and could it really mean an end to nearly four years of war?

Guests:
Angela Stent, Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and former National Intelligence Officer for Russia and Eurasia.
Sir Lawrence Freedman, Emeritus Professor of War Studies at King’s College, London
Christopher Miller, Financial Times’ Chief Ukraine Correspondent
Sir Laurie Bristow, former UK Ambassador to Russia and President of Hughes Hall, Cambridge.

Presenter: David Aaronovitch
Producers: Caroline Bayley, Cordelia Hemming, Kirsteen Knight
Production co-ordinator: Maria Ogundele
Sound Engineer: James Beard
Editor: Richard Vadon


MON 20:30 BBC Inside Science (w3ct8txm)
Why aren’t gene therapies more common?

This week, a world first gene therapy treats rare Hunter syndrome. Could these personalised medicines be used more widely? We speak to Claire Booth, professor in Gene Therapy at Great Ormond Street Hospital.

And high in the Chilean desert, the last bit of 13 billion year old light has hit the mirror of the Atacama Cosmology Telescope for the last time. Dr Jenifer Millard, a science communicator and host of the Awesome Astronomy podcast, tells us what it’s been up to for the past 20 years.

And Penny Sarchet, managing editor at New Scientist brings her pick of the latest new discoveries.

Think you know space? Head to bbc.co.uk, search for BBC Inside Science, and follow the links to the Open University to try The Open University Space Quiz.

Presenter: Tom Whipple
Producers: Alex Mansfield, Ella Hubber, Jonathan Blackwell, Tim Dodd and Clare Salisbury
Editor: Martin Smith
Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth


MON 21:00 Start the Week (m002n05z)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


MON 21:45 Wild Bond (m001d51t)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 today]


MON 22:00 The World Tonight (m002n06w)
UK-US agree zero tariffs deal on pharmaceutical shipments

UK-US agree zero tariffs deal on pharmaceutical products. The agreement means that the NHS will have to pay more for new medicines. We speak to a leading member of pharmaceutical industry.

Also:
The chairman of the Office for Budget Responsibility resigns after the body mistakenly released its assessment of the budget early. We hear from one MP supportive of the chairman's decision to quit. And Zootropolis, the new Disney animation that is breaking records.


MON 22:45 Small Boat by Vincent Delecroix (m002n06y)
Episode 1

Small Boat by Vincent Delecroix , translated by Helen Stevenson, is inspired by the actual events surrounding the deaths of 27 migrants who drowned in the English Channel in the early hours of the 24th November 2021.  As the sea overwhelmed the dinghy they had set out in, the migrants’ telephone calls for help and the French call operator’s responses and frequently off the cuff, callous asides, were recorded, and later published by the French media. 

The author takes these events as the starting point for a work of fiction. The narrative is voiced in the words of the French naval coastguard - it was her job , she is at pains to tell the police investigator, to assess the calls for help and allocate the rescue centre’s limited resources according to the most urgent need. But as her increasingly defensive arguments begin to unravel, we witness a mind where intrusive images of drowning figures crowd in. Accused of being a monster for her lack of empathy, the accusation is thrown back at us – where is our humanity and what did we do to save the drowning souls ?

This is a story which puts all of us in the spotlight – complicit in looking the other way, implicated in readily blaming others, and guilty for not wanting to think too much about where responsibility lies for the deaths of those who felt their limbs grow cold and leaden as the black of night gave way to grey dawn.

In an interview with Dua Lipa for her global book club, Service95, Vincent Delecroix observed that "imagination is the first moral faculty". In this work of fiction, he asks us to deploy our own imaginations as fully as we can, before we venture to make any kind of moral judgement.

Producer Jill Waters says, "I have rarely if ever finished a recording session so fired up by the energy of a challenging text brought viscerally to life. Small Boat is a gripping portrait of a woman struggling to deflect guilt, deny responsibility and maintain that these deaths - this journey - was not her idea. But every so often her argument collapses in on itself and we glimpse an internal chasm of doubt and fear. Lydia Wilson gives a superb performance, moving between demotic bluster and brittle sarcasm with devastating moments of guileless indifference, whilst all the time shame gnaws at her soul.

Small Boat was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2025 . It was originally published in 2023 in French by Gallimard as "Naufrage".

Read by Lydia Wilson and Tommy Sim’aan (episodes 5 and 6)

Written by Vincent Delecroix, translated by Helen Stevenson

Abridged and directed by Jill Waters

The Waters Company for BBC Radio 4


MON 23:00 Limelight (m001sltj)
Spores: Series 1

3. Drift

A psychological horror story set in rural Wales amid the mysterious world of mycelium.

When social worker Cassie discovers mould in the flat of a vulnerable service user she puts it down to poor quality housing. But then she discovers it in her own house and begins to fear for the safety of her family.

For partner Morgan and young son Bryn, it’s not the mould that troubles them but Cassie’s mental health. As the fungus continues to grow and spread, Cassie resorts to more extreme measures to combat it. But why will no one listen to her when she warns of danger? Cassie finds an ally in the reclusive Hywel when the Polish girl makes contact again.

In Greek mythology, Cassandra was condemned to speak the truth yet never be believed. A story of trust and what happens when we lose it. And of a hidden threat attacking the very thing that makes us powerful.

Written and created by Marietta Kirkbride

Cassie …… Kate O’Flynn
Ola …… Aggy K. Adams
Hywel ….. Lloyd Meredith
Interviewer ….. Laurel Lefkow
Morgan…… Owain Gwynn

Other voices played by the cast

Production Manager: Anna de Wolff Evans
Production Assistant: Teresa Milewski
Executive Producer: Sara Davies

Title Music: Ioana Selaru & Melo-Zed
Sound Design: Jon Nicholls

Directed and Produced by Nicolas Jackson

An Afonica production for BBC Radio 4


MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (m002n070)
Susan Hulme reports from Westminster as opposition MPs demand answers from the government over the leaks surrounding last week's budget.