SATURDAY 11 APRIL 2026

SAT 00:00 Midnight News (m002tqmf)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 00:30 Lifeboat at the End of the World by Dominic Gregory (m002tql7)
Episode 5

Dungeness is an extraordinary spur of land jutting out from the Kent coast, made up of billions of sea worn flint shards rounded into pebbles, extending 12 square miles and in some places, 20 metres deep. It is home to a nature reserve, a nuclear power station, and two lighthouses. As well as to Derek Jarman’s famous ‘Prospect Cottage’ with its flotsam garden and the Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway. It is also the location of the Dungeness lifeboat station.

When he moved to Dungeness, Dominic Gregory decided to volunteer with the lifeboat. After some hesitation, he rang the number he’d been given by a neighbour and spoke to the coxswain, Stuart Adams. And so began ‘the volunteer’s story’, the first published account of what it is to be part of a lifeboat crew.

From the meticulous, repetitive training to the first experience of a call out, Dominic Gregory charts the experience of being part of this rare community of people. The lifeboat family is full of ordinary men and women who drop everything at the sound of the pager, day or night to do something which is quite simply, remarkable.

Call outs may be to a trawler or a tanker in distress, a yacht with engine difficulties, a day tripper blown out to sea or a swimmer caught by the current. But it is when inflatable dinghies – overloaded with desperate people – begin arriving on the shores of Dungeness that the lifeboat crew must face perhaps their greatest test.

‘Dominic Gregory hasn’t just delivered a survey of courage and determination – Lifeboat at the End of the World is a hymn to human decency, and that makes it a very timely book indeed’ Tim Winton

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is a public fundraising charity that provides a full-time lifeboat service for the coastlines of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. The charity remains independent of government, and over 95 per cent of its shore and boat crews are volunteers. There are 238 lifeboat stations around the coast of the UK and the Republic of Ireland, each providing life-saving search and rescue coverage 24 hrs, 7 days a week. The Dungeness lifeboat was first established on the Romney coast exactly two hundred years ago.

Written by Dominic Gregrory

Abridged and Produced by Jill Waters and The Waters Company

Read by James Lailey

Location sounds recorded on Dungeness by the author.


SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002tqmh)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002tqmk)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


SAT 05:30 News Summary (m002tqmm)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002tqmp)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m002tqmr)
Finding Inspiration

A reflection and prayer to start the day with Andrea Rea.

Good morning.

Although I would not call myself sporty, every time the Olympics come around, I become a true ‘armchair fan’, watching the television coverage. And my admiration for anyone who reaches Olympic levels of sporting skill is all the more intense for my own lack of sporting ability.

On this day in 1896 at the first modern Olympic Games in Athens, a Dublin-born Irishman achieved something that today would be completely impossible. John Boland, competing for Great Britain and Ireland, won both the men’s singles and men’s doubles finals in tennis on the same day. Now, the game of tennis and the Olympics have both changed a great deal in 130 years, but that achievement to me still stands out. I also love the fact that, because the numbers of entrants for the doubles matches were small, the teams were of mixed nationality. Boland’s partner was German.

Now, though my enthusiasm for sporting achievement is not fuelled by personal experience. I’m happy to be part of any crowd that supports something of quality – especially if it represents a new interest. It could be a different kind of music, unexplored visual art, dance, film… or yes, even a new sport – the possibilities are endless. And that’s the point.

Because along the way, we encounter undiscovered pockets of inspiration that may lead further. To better understanding, more admiration, and to the greater knowledge and appreciation that keeps our passions - and the passions of others - alive.

Lord, in these days when inspiration can be hard to come by and many of us are afraid to step away from our usual paths, help us to seek out and appreciate experiences that stretch and enrich and feed us.

Amen


SAT 05:45 Life Without (m002tqlm)
Life Without Standard Time

Spring Forward, Fall Back or what if we just didn’t? In this episode of Life Without, Alan Davies looks at how our circadian rhythms would be impacted if we simply stopped changing the clocks.

Some scientists have argued to do away with the twice-yearly clock change in order to see some beneficial impacts on our health. So why have some parts of the world adopted this system while places like Russia and Mexico don’t use it at all?

This episode features Aarti Jagannath, a leading chronobiologist and Associate Professor at the University of Oxford, and Dr Rebecca Struthers who is a watchmaker, author, historian and Honorary Research Fellow at University of Birmingham.

An ITN production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 06:00 News and Papers (m002tzdl)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 06:07 Open Country (m002tpvb)
Carrifran Wildwood

Martha Kearney visits one of the UK’s earliest environmental restoration projects. Southern Scotland was once covered in broadleaf woodland, rich scrub, heath and bog. That was before sheep, humans and conifers took hold. Now a group of visionary volunteers are restoring that landscape in what they call the ‘wild heart of southern Scotland’.

Set in a 1600 acre glacial valley in lowland Scotland, Carrifran Wildwood is the first tranche of a wider restoration area which aims to wheel back six thousand years. The idea is to recreate the primeval forest that proliferated back then. It will act as a carbon sink, a flood mitigator and a generator of biodiversity.

The planting schedule is drawn from a catalogue created from evidence in the ancient peat bog. Unlike other ‘rewilding’ projects, Carrifran Wildwood aims to exclude human beings from this valuable space, an unusual step which the founders see as crucial to its success.

Producer: Mary Ward-Lowery


SAT 06:30 Farming Today (m002tzdn)
11/04/26 Farming Today This Week: Wildfires, bioethanol plant reopening, spring planting, oilseed rape

In a week that has seen several wildfires break out across the country, we hear from Dr Matthew Jones, who leads a group researching wildfires across the globe. He explains to Charlotte Smith why the risk of wildfires is so high in the Spring months. We also hear from a farmer still dealing with the aftermath of wildfires last year.

The impact of the Iran conflict has led to government concerns about a potential shortage of CO2 - an important ingredient in many food and drink production processes. In response, the government has awarded a £100 million pound grant to the Ensus factory at Redcar to re-start production after it was mothballed last year. The plant produces bioethanol, CO2 and animal feed from wheat and maize. However, the National Farmers’ Union are concerned that “the £100m investment from government is not conditional on Ensus using British wheat”. Caz Graham speaks to Grant Pearson, the chairman of Ensus.

As many farmers are continuing or starting to plant Spring crops for harvest later in the year, we hear from the AHDB about how this year's Spring cereal and oilseed drilling is progressing across the country. We also visit a project in Cumbria doing a different type of planting: using a drone to plant a crop of on wet peatland, known as Paludiculture.

With fields of bright yellow oilseed rape coming into bloom across the country, one grower tells us why more farmers have been planting the crop this year compared to last.

Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Jo Peacey. A BBC Audio Bristol production.


SAT 06:57 Weather (m002tzdq)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SAT 07:00 Today (m002tzds)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (m002tzdv)
Dom Jolly, Walter Presents, Worm Whispering, and the Inheritance Tracks of Noah Wyle.

Dom Jolly joins Adrian for extraordinary stories from remarkable people.


SAT 10:00 What's Up Docs? (m002tppx)
How should we think about cholesterol?

Welcome to What’s Up Docs?, the podcast where doctors and identical twins Chris and Xand van Tulleken untangle the confusion around every aspect of our health and wellbeing.

In this episode, they take on one of nutrition’s most misunderstood topics: fat. What is it, and why does our body need it? At what point does something normal and essential become something we worry about? What do cholesterol blood tests actually measure, and how well do they predict disease?

Chris and Xand also explore the relationship between diet and cholesterol, asking how much influence what we eat really has, whether certain fats deserve their bad reputation, and what gets lost when we focus on single nutrients instead of overall dietary patterns.

They’re joined by Nita Forouhi, Professor of Population Health and Nutrition at the University of Cambridge, to help separate evidence from hype and offer a clearer way to think about fat, cholesterol, and healthy eating.

If you want to get in touch, you can email us at whatsupdocs@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp us on 08000 665 123.

Presenters: Drs Chris and Xand van Tulleken
Guest: Professor Nita Forouhi
Producer: Faye Lyons-White
Executive Producer: Rami Tzabar
Editor: Jo Rowntree
Researcher: Grace Revill
Tech Lead: Reuben Huxtable
Social Media: Leon Gower
Digital Lead: Richard Berry
Composer: Phoebe McFarlane
Sound Design: Olga Reed

At the BBC:

Assistant Commissioner: Greg Smith
Commissioning Editor: Rhian Roberts

A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 10:30 The Kitchen Cabinet (m002tzdx)
Postbag

Jay Rayner and the Kitchen Cabinet panel return with a Postbag edition, answering questions sent in by you, the listeners.

Chefs, cooks and food writers, Jocky Petrie, Sophie Wright, Melek Erdal and Jeremy Pang, wrestle with a bumper serving of culinary dilemmas. Topics include, what you should do with two kilos of fresh lychees, whether flouring mean before browning is recommended or an unnecessary faff, and which kitchen gadgets are more trouble to clean than they’re worth.

Along the way they tackle fears of fish bones, scepticism about expensive caviar, complaints about the word “smell”, and the perennial question of whether chefs lean too heavily on onions and garlic.

Producer: Dan Cocker
Assistant Producer: William Norton

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 11:00 Radical with Amol Rajan (m002tpw0)
The Reading Recession: Are We Making Ourselves Less Intelligent? (James Marriott)

This week, the columnist and writer James Marriott argues that reading is essential to the rise and fall of liberal democracy. He proposes that reading helps the spread of information, encourages critical thinking, and forces people to structure their ideas logically.

But he’s concerned the shift from deep reading to digital skim-reading - driven largely by screens - is weakening our ability to think in complex, reflective ways. He suggests the decline has political consequences - that a less literate, more screen-dependent public may be more vulnerable to misinformation and less capable of meaningful democratic participation.

GET IN TOUCH

* WhatsApp: 0330 123 9480
* Email: radical@bbc.co.uk

Episodes of Radical with Amol Rajan are released every Thursday. Your Radical Questions is released every Monday.

Amol Rajan is a presenter of the Today programme on BBC Radio 4, and he’s the host of University Challenge on BBC One. Before that, Amol was media editor at the BBC and the editor of The Independent newspaper.

Radical with Amol Rajan is a Today Podcast. It was made by Lewis Vickers and Rufus Gray with Anna Budd, Cordelia Hemming and Oscar Pearson. Digital production was by Gabriel Purcell-Davis. Technical production was by Johnny Hall. The editor is Sam Bonham.


SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m002tzdz)
Donald Trump and a dangerous ultimatum

Kate Adie introduces stories on President Trump's threats towards Iran, how the war in Ukraine has reshaped Kyiv, why the Trump family sees potential in Albania, Indonesia's plastic waste problem, and the dawn of the year 2976 in Morocco.

Citizens of Iran and nearby gulf countries held their breath this week after Donald Trump threatened 'a whole civilisation would die' if a ceasefire wasn’t agreed. The BBC’s State Department correspondent Tom Bateman has been following the proclamations of an unpredictable president.

The BBC's Vitaly Shevchenko is originally from Ukraine and recently returned home for the first time since Russia's full-scale invasion began in 2022. While there, he saw how the war has reshaped Kyiv, and how the town of Bucha is recovering from the massacre which took place at the start of the conflict.

The white sands of the Albanian Rivera are catching the eye of global property developers - President Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, and her husband Jared Kushner among them. The country is being touted as the next must-visit destination, but there are environmental concerns finds Emily Wither.

Indonesia's tourist hot spots and remote beaches alike are being hit by waves plastic waste., with videos of floating rubbish tips going viral. Rebecca Henschke saw the plastic problem up close while snorkeling in once pristine waters.

The Amazigh are North Africa’s most-populous indigenous group, having inhabited the region for centuries before Arab migrations. With long-standing traditional customs, the Amazigh also have their own calendar. Peter Yeung travelled to the Atlas Mountains to welcome in the year 2976.

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


SAT 12:00 News Summary (m002tzf1)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 12:04 Money Box (m002tzf3)
Teacher's Pension Delays and Best Savings Rates

The National Union of Headteachers says the government "must step in" to help teachers in England and Wales who have retired but are facing long delays before their pension is paid. The Teachers' Pension Scheme is one of the biggest in the country with two million members. The Department for Education which has overall responsibility for the scheme says it’s working closely with Capita who administrate the pensions to monitor performance and address any emerging issues. Capita has apologised and says it's working closely with the government to ensure cases are progressed correctly and in line with scheme rules.

In the last month average two year fixed mortgage rates have jumped from around 4.8% to 5.9% and there are around 1 in 6 fewer mortgages deals available to house buyers and people whose fixed mortgages are running out. How is that affecting the housing market?

Mortgage rates going up is bad news but when interest rates rise savers, who far outnumber people with mortgages, many see it as better news. What are the best offers out there?

And what does the lifting of the two-child benefit cap mean for families? 

Presenter: Paul Lewis
Reporters: Hannah Mullane and Jo Krasner
Researcher: Catherine Lund
Editor: Jess Quayle
Senior News Editor: Henry Jones

(First broadcast on Radio 4 at 12pm on Saturday 11th April 2026)


SAT 12:30 The Naked Week (m002tqm0)
Series 4

Swearing, Steeplechase and Strikes

Following Trump's tirade, The Naked Week team bleep the hell out of the bleeping news, swear at a steeplechase, and stage a walk out.

From The Skewer’s Jon Holmes and host Andrew Hunter Murray comes The Naked Week; a fresh way of dressing the week’s news in the altogether and parading it around for everyone to laugh at.

With award-winning writers and a crack team of contemporary satirists - and recorded in front of a live audience - The Naked Week delivers a topical news-nude straight to your ears.

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

Additional Material:
Karl Minns
Jane Fae
Molly Punshon
Darren Phillips
Kevin Smith

Investigation team:
Cat Neilan
Becky Pinnington

Guest Correspondent: Katie Norris

Production Team: Tony Churnside, Jerry Peal, David Riffkin.

Production Coordinator: Molly Punshon
Assistant Producer: Katie Sayer
Executive Producer: Philip Abrams

Produced and Directed by Jon Holmes

An unusual production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 12:57 Weather (m002tzf5)
The latest weather forecast


SAT 13:00 News (m002tzf7)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (m002tqm6)
Douglas Alexander MP, Miles Briggs MSP, Stephen Flynn MP, Gillian Mackay MSP

Alex Forsyth presents political debate from The Parish Church of St Cuthbert, Edinburgh with the Secretary State for Scotland Douglas Alexander MP; the Scottish Conservatives Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills, Miles Briggs; Stephen Flynn, the Scottish National Party MP for Aberdeen South and the party’s leader at Westminster; and the co-leader of the Scottish Green Party Gillian Mackay;

Producer: Gareth Nelson-Davies
Assistant producer: Jo Dwyer
Production coordinator: Ishmael Soriano
Lead broadcast engineer: Gav Murchie
Editor: Glyn Tansley


SAT 14:05 Any Answers? (m002tzf9)
Listeners respond to the issues raised in the preceding edition of Any Questions?


SAT 14:45 The Archers (m002tqm2)
5-10 April 2026
Writer: Nick Warburton
Director: Pip Swallow and Rosemary Watts
Editor: Jeremy Howe

Brian Aldridge … Charles Collingwood
David Archer …Timothy Bentinck
Pip Archer … Daisy Badger
Ruth Archer … Felicity Finch
Chris Carter … Wilf Scolding
Alan Franks … John Telfer
Usha Franks … Souad Faress
Emma Grundy … Emerald O’Hanrahan
George Grundy … Angus Stobie
Usha Franks… Souad Faress 
Adam Macy … Andrew Wincott  
Azra Malik … Yasmin Wilde 
Khalil Malik … Krish Bassi 
Lynda Snell … Carole Boyd
Robert Snell … Michael Bertenshaw 
Oliver Sterling … Michael Cochrane
Carol Tregorran … Mia Soteriou


SAT 15:00 Drama on 4 (m002tzfc)
A Broken Order

Inspired by true events. As the Bishop withholds new members from joining a small convent, its days appear numbered. Determined to shrink the community and dissolve the order, the Bishop moves to close their home, threatening their peaceful way of life and forcing the sisters to confront an impossible choice - obedience or defiance.

Into their small community comes Vic Siffer, an outsider introduced by the Bishop, whose presence opens Sister Marie, the Mother Superior’s eyes to a world beyond their convent walls. Vic confirms a buried legal technicality could offer a glimmer of hope, a loophole that could free them from episcopal control. However, Sister Clara is uncomfortable with the influence Vic is having on Sister Marie.

What follows tests the limits of canon law and religious obedience, as the nuns begin to take matters into their own hands. Their resistance takes an audacious and unexpected turn, carrying them far beyond the cloister into a world of flashy sports cars, casinos, racehorses and sudden freedom.

Faith, loyalty and institutional power collide as the sisters fight to preserve their order, their home and their shared identity.

Written by Amelia Bullmore, whose credits include the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize-winning play Mammals, and television writing on This Life and Scott & Bailey.

Produced by Eloise Whitmore and Tony Churnside, the team behind Money Gone and Collapsing Orbits.

Sister Clara ……………………………….……………....................................Shirley Henderson
Sister Marie…………………………….…………………………………...............…Helen Schlesinger
The Bishop…………………………….………………………………….……………......Finbar Lynch
Vic Siffer…………………………….…………………………………………....................Bryan Dick
Sister Isabelle …………………………….…………………………….......................Sara Kestelman                  
Sister Caterina …………………………….…………………………………………..............Shelley King         
Sister Colette …………………………….………………………………...................…Richenda Carey
Priest/Police Officer …………………………….……………………….…....…….. Michael Shelford 

Writer…………………………….…………………………………………………………………Amelia Bullmore
Story Consultant …………………………….………………………………………………….…Gilles Aufrey
Production Manager…………………………….……………………………………………Sally Richardson
Director…………………………….…………………………………………………………………Tony Churnside
Producer…………………………….………………………………………………………………Eloise Whitmore
Executive Producer …………………….…………………………………………………….…Melanie Harris

A Naked production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 16:00 Woman's Hour (m002tzff)
Highlights from the Woman's Hour week


SAT 17:00 PM (m002tzfh)
Full coverage of the day's news


SAT 17:30 Sliced Bread (m002tpv0)
Earwax Removers

Almost everyone is guilty of fiddling with their ears, especially if they can feel a build-up of earwax in there. But what actually works to get rid of it, and should we be messing with them in the first place?

Listener Martin got in touch after finding out his earwax build-up was returning - and wanted to know if drops alone would solve his problem, or if he needed to seek professional help to remove it?

Greg Foot speaks to professor of Audiology at Manchester University, NIHR senior Investigator and former chairman of the British Society of Audiology, Kevin Munro - to find out. 

All of our episodes start with YOUR suggestions. If you’ve seen an ad, trend or wonder product promising to make you happier, healthier or greener, email us at sliced.bread@bbc.co.uk OR send a voice note to our WhatsApp number, 07543 306807.

RESEARCHER: PHIL SANSOM

PRODUCER: KATE HOLDSWORTH & GREG FOOT


SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m002tzfk)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SAT 17:57 Weather (m002tzfm)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002tzfp)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (m002tzfr)
Ralf Little, Nina Gilligan, Sam Riley, Janet Devlin, Will Brown, Kiri Pritchard-McLean

Kiri Pritchard-McLean welcomes the actor and writer Ralf Little as he tours the country with the first ever stage adaptation of John le Carré's classic book The Spy Who Came In From The Cold.

Comedian Nina Gilligan joins us to talk about her new Radio 4 comedy special and her upcoming stand-up tour, Lemoncake.

Actor Sam Riley is about to star in the new BBC romantic crime drama Mint.

And we've music from Kansas-born preacher's son Will Brown, and Janet Devlin with her new single, co-written with Jack Savoretti.

Presenter: Kiri Pritchard-McLean
Producer: Elizabeth Foster


SAT 19:00 Profile (m002tzft)
Viktor Orbán

Viktor Orbán has been a powerful force in Hungarian politics for nearly 40 years, spending 20 of them as Prime Minister. This weekend he’s trying to win a sixth term in the top job, as voters go to the polls in parliamentary elections.

The story of his political career is entwined with the story of Hungarian democracy; at the end of the Cold War, a young Orbán emerged as both canny operator and gifted orator in the anti-Communist youth movement, Fidesz, steering it through splits and ideological shifts into government, first between 1998 and 2002, and then again from 2010 to today.

As a pursuer of self-described ‘illiberal democracy’ who casts the EU as his constant adversary, Orbán has become an icon for the global hard right and, to his critics, a borderline autocrat and populist.

Presenter Stephen Smith speaks to those who know him well to understand the personal side of this very political beast.

Guests:
Esther Pataki - former Press Secretary to Viktor Orban
David Campanale - Liberal Democrat activist, journalist and fellow of the Danube Institute
Zsuzsanna Szelényi - founding Fidesz member and author of Tainted Democracy:Viktor Orbán and the Subversion of Hungary
Nick Thorpe - BBC Budapest correspondent

Presenter: Stephen Smith
Producers: Ben Crighton, Nathan Gower
Editor: Richard Vadon
Programme Coordinator: Janet Staples
Sound Engineer: Neil Churchill


SAT 19:15 This Cultural Life (m002tptr)
Danielle de Niese

John Wilson talks to the Australian born opera singer Danielle de Niese. A soprano renowned for her vibrant stage presence, she made her professional operatic debut with the Los Angeles Opera at the age of 15 and, and four years later she became one of the youngest singers to perform at Metropolitan Opera in New York. Her international breakthrough came in 2005 at the Glyndebourne Festival, where her performance as Cleopatra in Handel’s Giulio Cesare established her as a major operatic star. Since then she has sung leading roles at opera houses around the world, specialising particularly in Baroque repertoire, and has recorded six studio albums of music by composers including Handel and Mozart. She is the recipient of the 2026 Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera.

Producer: Edwina Pitman


SAT 20:00 Archive on 4 (m002tzfw)
The Sarkozy Affair

The story of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s rise and fall is part spy novel, part box set of The Thick of It. Allegations of a secret pact with a dictator. Unexplained meetings between figures close to government and a known terrorist. And so much cash that party workers don’t know what to do with it.
The former French President was jailed last year for conspiring to fund his 2007 election campaign with money from the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. He’s currently appealing his sentence. And he has some powerful supporters.
Using archive recordings and contemporary interviews with those who know Sarkozy well, Tristan Redman tells the story of how he became the first former French head of state to end up behind bars since Nazi collaborator, Philippe Pétain. He hears details of extraordinary meetings in Libya between prominent members of the French government and Abdullah Senoussi – a man linked to terrorist acts including Lockerbie and the attack on a French plane which crashed in 1989, killing all 170 people on board. But he also hears stories of a man determined to change France, a charismatic politician with boundless energy. How did Nicolas Sarkozy go from politician who inspired Obama-esque excitement to inmate #320535 of the notorious La Santé prison?
Featuring investigative journalist, Fabrice Arfi from Mediapart; Daniele Klein whose brother was killed in the ‘French Lockerbie’ and her niece Melanie who lost her father; Alain Minc, one of Nicolas Sarkozy’s closest friends and advisers; the British writer and academic Andrew Hussey and Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank, who was Sarkozy’s finance minister.

Presenter: Tristan Redman
Producer: Adele Armstrong
Sound: Peregrine Andrews
Editor: Penny Murphy

Credits: Mediapart, Euronews, France Télévisions, TF1 and France 2


SAT 21:00 Moral Maze (m002tpsv)
What is education for?

Universities across the country are cutting back on humanities courses – philosophy, history, modern languages – subjects long seen as central to a well-rounded education. The reason is familiar: falling student numbers, financial pressure, and a growing insistence that degrees must demonstrate clear economic value. If a course doesn’t lead to a well-paid job, why should anyone fund it?

That points to a deeper divide about what education is for. Is it an intrinsic good: valuable in itself, shaping critical thinking, moral judgment, and an understanding of the world? Or is it an extrinsic one: a means to an end, justified by the jobs it produces and the growth it delivers?

For centuries, from Socrates onwards, education has been tied to human flourishing – to forming citizens, not just workers. But today, the language has shifted. Students are consumers. Universities compete. Courses are judged by salary. And the tensions don’t stop there. If education is a public good, why does access remain so uneven, divided between state and private schools, with women significantly underrepresented in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) – opportunity shaped as much by background as by ability? And as our understanding of neurodiversity deepens, a further challenge emerges. What if the system itself – built around standardisation, testing, and conformity – has actively hindered the prospects of many it was meant to serve?

So what, ultimately, is education for? Is it possible to maximise economic potential and enable every individual to flourish? And if our system does the former at the expense of the latter, can it still claim to be a moral one?

Chair: Michael Buerk
Panel: Mona Siddiqui, Tim Stanley, Carmody Grey and Giles Fraser.
Witnesses: Maxwell Marlow, Julian Baggini and Jess Wade and Chris Bonnello.
Producer: Dan Tierney
Editor: Tim Pemberton.


SAT 22:00 News (m002tzfy)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 22:15 The Food Programme (m002tql5)
About the Girls

Sheila Dillon discusses the rise of eating disorders among young women as part of Radio 4’s “About the Girls” series, which is hearing from teens across the UK about life in 2026.

As the number of young girls suffering from eating disorders increases in the UK, Sheila Dillon hosts a discussion about what's causing the rise, and what can be done to improve treatment outcomes.

Details of help and support with eating disorders are available at BBC Action Line

Produced by Natalie Donovan for BBC Audio in Bristol


SAT 23:00 The Matt Forde Focus Group (m002tpvp)
Series 2

5. The Politics of Denial

The cheese is locked up. The Navy can't sail to a war. Reform won't touch the triple lock pension. And nobody, apparently, has anything to answer for. Top political comedian Matt Forde convenes his Focus Group in front of a live theatre audience with a forensically matched panel — journalist and author Helen Lewis, conservative commentator Tim Montgomerie, and former SNP MP Mhairi Black — to ask whether denial has become the default setting in British politics.

From a shoplifting epidemic that politicians have decided not to notice, to the vast gap between Britain's naval self-image and its actual capacity to put to sea, and the cross-party conspiracy of silence around a pension policy everyone suspects is unaffordable but nobody will touch, this is an episode about the uncomfortable distance between what politicians know and what they're prepared to say.

Written and presented by Matt Forde
With additional material from Karl Minns, Ruth Husko and Richard Garvin
Produced by Richard Garvin
Co-Producer: Daisy Knight
Sound Design and Edit: David Thomas
Executive Producers: Jon Thoday and Richard Allen Turner
An Avalon production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 23:30 Round Britain Quiz (m002tpbh)
Programme 1 - England v Scotland

Teams from all over the UK nations will face Kirsty Lang's cryptic questions across the series, with Kirsty offering support and the odd hint where it might be needed.

First up are the pairs from England and Scotland.

The rivalry promises to be fierce as last year's champions Jenny Ryan and Stuart Maconie representing the newly formed England team, face Val McDermid and Alan McCredie for Scotland, on home soil, as this series takes place in Edinburgh.

As always, they'll drop points every time they need a clue from the chair to steer them towards the right solution.

You can follow the questions for this episode which will appear below on the day of the match.

Teams:
Jenny Ryan and Stuart Maconie - England
Val McDermid and Alan McCredie - Scotland.

Host: Kirsty Lang
Recorded by: Phil Booth
Sound Design: Chris Maclean
Production Coordinator: Caroline Barlow
Producer: Carl Cooper

A BBC Studios Production for Radio 4

Questions set by Lucy Porter, Martin Mor and by you, the listeners!

Questions in today's edition:

Q1 Where would you remember, a Vicious boy, a Precious Pearl, the old-age owner of a walking device, a Welsh son of the sea and a black and white snapper?

Q2 (from Hugh Betterton)
From savannah to suburbia with this one - a large African antelope’s name evolves into a Tudor antiquary, then a Lancashire motor town, and finally a huge, horticultural horror that is bound to annoy the neighbours.
What is it?

Q3 (from Helena Minton) Music:
How might one put their houses in order?

Q4 (from Stephen Murphy)
How might: A Doctor’s floral assistant, some Dominican monks, Poirot’s last case, and a worldly but tasty thistle, kill a few hours for a few pennies?

Q5: (from Michael Hipkins) Whose death led to:

The Arabian Nights pantomimically
A 1905 operetta by a prolific Austro-Hungarian composer
A venomous arachnid
A prominent feature of the sinciput
A product of Reims

Q6 Music: If Andy Warhol designed the packaging for these tracks, why would you need to check your fly before listening?

Q7: A recipe…
First, take some Sole Meunière
Then fry it rapidly on a high heat, tossing frequently
Next, melt grated Gruyère with wine, garlic, lemon juice, and cornflour
Accompany this with a cold coffee

Then explain why you might top it off with a chewy meringue?

Q8 (based on question idea from Alan Hay) We’re going to end with a question sent in by… well, I won’t give you her name, as it’s one of the clues… Let’s just say she’s ‘A Lady of Letters’, and Victoria Wood was a big fan…

Final question for Scotland. Val and Alan, we’re going to end with a question sent in by… well, I won’t give you her name, as it’s one of the clues…
Let’s just say she’s ‘A Lady of Letters’, and Victoria Wood was a big fan of hers.
She says:
First, you’ve got Harold Lloyd Jenkins who, despite sounding like a firm of solicitors in Huddersfield, was actually a singer of the country persuasion.
Then there’s that Philadelphia Flyers mascot, that looks like a ginger hearthrug that’s had a nasty shock.
Next, we’re dealing with the sort of man who goes out for a tin of sardines and comes back having daydreamed he’s liberated occupied France.
And then a Lady Who Vanishes without so much as a by-your-leave.
And what I want to know is, why these characters might lead you to a car for Caractacus?

SUNDAY 12 APRIL 2026

SUN 00:00 Midnight News (m002tzg0)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 00:15 Bookclub (m002tpbf)
Dorothy Koomson

Led by presenter James Naughtie, the writer Dorothy Koomson takes questions from a Bookclub audience about her 2010 novel The Ice Cream Girls. The novel follows the characters of Poppy Carlisle and Serena Gorringe who are tried for the murder of predatory schoolteacher, Marcus Hansley. Poppy is jailed, while Serena is allowed to walk free, and, among other things, the novel examines how the teenagers' experiences with Marcus have far-reaching consequences.

Described by the Independent newspaper as "one of the biggest selling black authors in Britain" Dorothy Koomson has been writing novels since she was thirteen years old. In 2022 she was a judge for the Women's Prize for Fiction.

Author image credit: Niall McDiarmid.

Producer: Dominic Howell
Editor: Gillian Wheelan
This was a BBC Audio Scotland production.


SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002tzg2)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002tzg4)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


SUN 05:30 News Summary (m002tzg6)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002tzg8)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (m002tzgb)
The church of St Mary's Patshull in Staffordshire

Bells on Sunday comes from St Mary’s church in Patshull, Staffordshire. The church was constructed around 1743 replacing an earlier medieval church. In 1874 a domed bell tower was added housing a ring of six bells cast by the Mears and Stainbank foundry of London and hung in a two-tier wooden frame. The tenor weighs ten hundredweight and is tuned to the note of A-flat. We hear them ringing Grandsire Doubles.


SUN 05:45 In Touch (m002tpqh)
Running, Reading, Radioing

In Touch speaks with three visually impaired people about their current work and projects. Clarke Reynolds, aka Mr Dot, is an artist and a runner who is taking on the Brighton marathon with the help of Rayban Meta smart glasses and Be My Eyes. Jixie Dye is trying to inspire young readers with her latest children's book, The Welsh Witch and the Queen's Curse and Frazer Tibbitts is the 2026 winner of one of the Make a Difference Awards and is an avid football fan. Frazer has turned his passion for football into a regular slot on his local radio station, BBC WM and Beacon Vision's talking newspaper.

Presenter: Peter White
Producer: Beth Hemmings
Production Coordinator: Helen Surtees
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 (m002tzl0)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 06:05 Heart and Soul (w3ct983c)
God, grief and the chatbot

When Megan Garcia travelled to Rome, she carried with her a mother’s grief.

At the Vatican she met the Pope and asked him to pray for her son Sewell, who died last year at the age of 14. In the months after his death, Megan discovered something she says she had never imagined: for more than a year, Sewell had been spending hours talking to an artificial-intelligence chatbot which he believed was a real person. He formed a deep emotional attachment to it, confiding in it about his life and feelings.

Megan believes that relationship played a part in her son’s death. She is now pursuing legal action against the company behind the chatbot, arguing that safeguards for young users were inadequate. The company disputes the claims.

But this is not only a story about technology. It is also a story about faith.

Rather than losing her belief, Megan says her tragedy intensified it. She turned to prayer and devotion to the Virgin Mary, finding comfort in the idea of a mother who also knew the pain of losing a child.

“I felt like Our Lady was grieving for me as a mother who lost a child,” she says. “And I was grieving for her as a mother who lost a child. We were grieving together.”

For Heart and Soul, we hear Megan’s story in her own words — a deeply personal journey through grief, belief, and the new moral questions raised by artificial intelligence: what happens when machines become companions, and where do faith, responsibility and protection meet in a digital world?

[Photo Description: Megan Garcia with her son Sewell, Photo Credit: Megan Garcia]

Presenter: Colm Flynn
Series Producer: Rajeev Gupta
Editor: Chloe Walker
Production Coordinator: Mica Nepomuceno

If you are suffering distress or despair and need support, you could speak to a health professional or an organisation that offers help. Details of support available in many countries can be found at Befrienders Worldwide — that’s befrienders dot org.


SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (m002tzl2)
Badlands To Gladlands

At 17, David Cooper moved alone to a derelict farm blighted by a huge coal opencast site. But he had a vision... and 22 years later he and his wife Cora have 5,000 acres of productive land, and 3,000 sheep. They’ve restored the opencast, bought a swathe of hill ground, and carried out a huge peatland restoration project. Yet they still have all the time in the world for their three young children, who are at the centre of their lives. So how are they doing it? Richard Baynes has been to Tardoes Farm, in East Ayrshire to find out.

Presented and produced by Richard Baynes


SUN 06:57 Weather (m002tzl4)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SUN 07:00 News and Papers (m002tzl6)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 07:10 Sunday (m002tzl8)
A look at the ethical and religious issues of the week


SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (m002tzlb)
Born Free Foundation

Trustee of the Born Free Foundation Jenny Seagrove makes the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of the charity. It works to protect threatened species, including the lions of Kenya's Meru National Park, the homeland of Elsa.

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 ‘Born Free Foundation’.
- Cheques should be made payable to ‘Born Free Foundation’.
- 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: 1070906. If you’d like to find out more about the charity’s work visit *https://www.bornfree.org.uk/
*The BBC is not responsible for content on external websites

Producer: Katy Takatsuki


SUN 07:57 Weather (m002tzld)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SUN 08:00 News and Papers (m002tzlg)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (m002tzlj)
Jesus in Our Midst

A service recorded at the Christian festival Spring Harvest in Skegness. Lead by Jo Moir with music from Cathy Burton, Evie Loose and Graham Kendrick. The preacher is Jade Reynolds, who explores the story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus, and asks: where is God in the aftermath of a tragedy?

Reading:

Luke 24: 19-32

Music:

Raise a Hallelujah - Led by Evie Loose
Praise - Led by Cathy Burton
Knowing You, Jesus - Written and led by Graham Kendrick
Jesus of the Scars - Written and led by Graham Kendrick
Goodness of God - Led by Cathy Burton
In Christ Alone - Led by Evie Loose


SUN 08:48 Witness History (w3ct7458)
The invention of the mobility scooter

In 1967, American plumber Al Thieme promised his wife with multiple sclerosis that he would find her an alternative to a wheelchair.

He came up with a battery-powered seat on wheels.

He called it an ‘amigo’ and soon other people wanted one too. In 1968, he started selling his vehicles around the world.

He speaks to Rachel Naylor.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by and curious about 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 how the Excel spreadsheet was developed, the creation of cartoon rabbit Miffy and how the sound barrier was broken.

We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: the moment Reagan and Gorbachev met in Geneva, Haitian singer Emerante de Pradines’ life and Omar Sharif’s legendary movie entrance in Lawrence of Arabia.

You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, like the invention of a stent which has saved lives around the world; the birth of the G7; and the meeting of Maldives’ ministers underwater. We cover everything from World War Two and Cold War stories to Black History Month and our journeys into space.

(Photo: Al Thieme with an early model. Credit: Amigo Mobility International)


SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (m002tzll)
Polly Atkin on the Grey Wagtail

Non-fiction writer Polly Atkin tells the story of a magical moment when a grey wagtail joined her swimming by a waterfall in a tree-lined gorge.

Produced by Sophie Anton for BBC Audio in Bristol.

Featuring audio recorded by Jarek Matusiak from Xeno-Canto (Grey Wagtail -XC360715).


SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (m002tzln)
The Sunday morning news magazine programme. Presented by Paddy O'Connell


SUN 10:00 The Reunion (m002tzlq)
The Iraq War Peace Bus

Kirsty Wark reunites a group of people who travelled in double decker buses from Britain to Baghdad to act as human shields at the start of the Iraq War.

President George Bush’s “War on Terror” put the focus on Iraq’s suspected cache of Weapons of Mass Destruction. UN weapons inspectors carried out numerous searches but despite finding nothing, US and western allies joined forces to invade Iraq. But many were unconvinced about the case for war and took matters into their own hands.

On a bright January day in 2003, three buses set off from London for Iraq. On board were people of all ages and walks of life who had committed to become “human shields” – placing themselves at strategic sites to deter allied bomb attacks. Among the 25 passengers were a former diplomat, an Australian Big Brother contestant and a Big Issue seller from Lincoln.

The journey was supposed to take two weeks, but break-downs and harsh weather added a nearly a week to the journey. There were freezing nights sleeping on the bus and internecine arguments, but incredible welcomes from supporters en route. The convoy finally arrived in Baghdad on 15th February – the same day as historic anti-war protests around the globe.

Joining Kirsty to discuss this incredible journey are Joe Letts who owned two of the buses, Sue Darling who had been a diplomat for more than 20 years, Parisian truck driver Alex Benuraud who drove through snowstorms and jubilant crowds, Charlotte Edwardes who joined the trip to document it for The Telegraph and Donna Mulhearn, an Australian who heard about the trip on the radio and dropped all plans to join the Shields.

Presenter: Kirsty Wark
Producer: Karen Pirie
Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 11:00 The Archers Omnibus (m002tzls)
5-10 April 2026
Writer: Nick Warburton
Director: Pip Swallow and Rosemary Watts
Editor: Jeremy Howe

Brian Aldridge … Charles Collingwood
David Archer …Timothy Bentinck
Pip Archer … Daisy Badger
Ruth Archer … Felicity Finch
Chris Carter … Wilf Scolding
Alan Franks … John Telfer
Usha Franks … Souad Faress
Emma Grundy … Emerald O’Hanrahan
George Grundy … Angus Stobie
Usha Franks… Souad Faress 
Adam Macy … Andrew Wincott  
Azra Malik … Yasmin Wilde 
Khalil Malik … Krish Bassi 
Lynda Snell … Carole Boyd
Robert Snell … Michael Bertenshaw 
Oliver Sterling … Michael Cochrane
Carol Tregorran … Mia Soteriou


SUN 12:15 Profile (m002tzft)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


SUN 12:30 Unspeakable (m002tpnk)
Series 3

4. Awkwardly, Anecdotally, Indecisively

This episode we hear Hugh Dennis's word for decision fatigue, Katy Wix's coinage for when you find yourself stuck telling a story in public to break an awkward silence, and Jess Fostekew's word for that nuggety squashed sock you find stuck inside a duvet cover.

Ever struggled to find the right word for a feeling or sensation? Unspeakable sees comedian Phil Wang and lexicographer Susie Dent invite celebrity guests to invent new linguistic creations, to solve those all too relatable moments when we're lost for words.

Hosts: Phil Wang and Susie Dent
Guests: Hugh Dennis, Jess Fostekew and Katy Wix
Created by Joe Varley
Writers: Matt Crosby and James Farmer
Recorded by Jerry Peal
Producer: Jon Harvey
Executive Producers: Joe Varley and Akash Lockmun

A Brown Bred production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 12:57 Weather (m002tzlv)
The latest weather forecast


SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (m002tzlx)
A look at the week's big stories and preview of the week to come.


SUN 13:30 Currently (m002tzlz)
About the Girls: The Puberty Puzzle

This week, as BBC Radio 4 explores what it means to grow up as a girl in 2026, health presenter Laura Foster is examining a striking scientific reality: that girls today are hitting puberty earlier than their parents and grandparents did. Question is why is this happening — and what does it mean for the adults they will become?

With the trend showing no sign of slowing down, Laura speaks to leading researchers to decode the forces behind this shift. With girls hitting puberty earlier than ever - we pay a visit to one primary school which has moved puberty lessons forward to keep pace. From genetics and childhood obesity to screens, stress and the Covid pandemic, we examine the complex mix shaping the bodies and minds of today’s girls.

What does earlier puberty mean for their physical, emotional and social development? Can the downward trend be stopped? And what support do young people need from families, schools and policymakers right now? Join us for About The Girls: The Puberty Puzzle as we explore why growing up is starting earlier than we expect.

Presenter: Laura Foster

Producer: Kate White
Editor: Martin Smith


SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m002tqlp)
Edgworth & District

Kathy Clugston and the Gardeners' Question Time panel visit the picturesque Lancashire village of Edgworth, nestled on the edge of the West Pennine Moors.

This week, the team are being hosted by the Edgworth and District Horticultural Society. Kathy is joined by Matthew Wilson, Christine Walkden and Marcus Chilton‑Jones, answering questions from an enthusiastic local audience.

The team shares practical advice on topics from choosing the best potatoes to grow for chips, to bee‑friendly planting in boggy conditions, and share reflections on the sentimental value of well‑loved gardening tools.

Later in the programme, Matthew Pottage delivers a timely spring masterclass on dividing grasses and perennials.

Producer: Rahnee Prescod
Assistant Producer: William Norton

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4

* If listening on BBC Sounds and you wish to view the plant list, please go to the Gardeners' Question Time website and open this week's episode page.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qp2f/episodes/guide


SUN 14:45 Human Intelligence (m0026vvv)
Series 1

Teachers: Mary Somerville

Mary Somerville was a brilliant polymath who found time to correct the work of Isaac Newton whilst looking after her infant children. Naomi Alderman investigates her extraordinary work ethic and expansive interests.

Somerville's writings, across a range of disciplines – maths, astronomy, botany, geography – became essential reading for those learning science, and helped to define what a scientist was in the early 19th century.

Special thanks to Dr Brigitte Stenhouse, Lecturer in the History of Mathematics at The Open University.

Produced by BBC Studios Audio in partnership with The Open University.


SUN 15:00 Drama on 4 (m001q0lb)
An African in Greenland

Tété-Michel Kpomassie, a teenager in 1950s Togo, is about to embark on the journey of a lifetime. After a heart-stopping encounter with a snake in a coconut tree, Tété-Michel happens upon a book in his local library. It shows him a land of ice and snow, 4000 miles from home. Immediately spellbound, he runs away from home and starts his intrepid journey to Greenland.

This is the story of Tété-Michel’s voyage of discovery, and his relationship to a country, and a people, that helped him find a new understanding of home.

CAST
Older Tété-Michel ….. Danny Sapani
Younger Tété-Michel ….. Tunji Kasim
Tété-Michel’s father….. Richard Pepple
Callaut/Knud ….. Ewan Bailey
Adam …. Salik Lennert
Paulina/ Kathrina ….. Dina Fisker Sandgreen
Lydia/Mrs. Steffensen ….. Kuluk Helms
Hans/Erik Steffensen Angunnguaq Larsen
Thue ….. Miki Petrussen
Robert Mattaq ….. Klaus Geisler

Dramatised by Rex Obano
Directed by Anne Isger

A BBC Audio Production

Dramatised from the Flammarion edition of An African In Greenland


SUN 16:00 Take Four Books (m002tzm1)
Jenni Fagan

Scottish novelist and poet Jenni Fagan tells presenter James Crawford about her new novel, The Delusions, in which she takes readers to the afterlife - or, at least, to its entry portal. It is a place where the newly dead are required to queue up and account for the truth of their lives - and extract all their delusions - if they are to have any chance of passing into eternity.

Jenni’s three chosen influences are Nina Cassian’s poem Temptation (1966), Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818), and Jeanette Winterson’s Weight (2005).

Producer: Rachael O'Neill
Editor: Gillian Wheelan
This was a BBC Audio Scotland production.


SUN 16:30 Round Britain Quiz (m002tzm3)
Programme 2 - Wales v Northern Ireland.

Teams from all over the UK will face Kirsty Lang's cryptic questions across the series, with Kirsty offering support and the odd hint where it might be needed.

The second match in the series is between Wales and Northern Ireland.

As always, they'll drop points every time they need a clue from the chair to steer them towards the right solution.
You can follow the questions for this episode which will appear below on the day of the match.

Teams:
Wales - Myfanwy Alexander and Cariad Lloyd
Northern Ireland - Paddy Duffy and Freya McClements

Host: Kirsty Lang
Recorded by: Phil Booth
Sound Design: Chris Maclean
Production Coordinator: Caroline Barlow
Producer: Carl Cooper

A BBC Studios Production

Questions set by Lucy Porter, Martin Mor and by you, the listeners!


SUN 17:00 Witness History (w3ct7454)
My dad created Mr Men and Little Miss

In 1971, advertising writer Roger Hargreaves's eight-year-old son Adam asked him an unusual question: 'What does a tickle look like?'

Inspired, Roger got out his marker pens and created an orange character with a round body, long stretchy arms and a blue bowler hat.

That character would become Mr Tickle, one of the first Mr Men books.

Adam Hargreaves tells Megan Jones how his late father's children's books became a worldwide success.

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: Roger Hargreaves with Mr Wrong. Credit: Gerrit Alan Fokkema/Fairfax Media via Getty Images)


SUN 17:10 Toxic! (m002rdnn)
A Recipe for Disaster?

The foods we eat, the water we drink, the products we coat our faces in, and even the clothes on our backs all contain tiny, invisible chemicals that most of us trust without a second thought. But should we? Are these substances actually safe? Are they lingering inside our bodies and, if so, what does this mean for our health?

In this first episode of Toxic!, materials scientist Mark Miodownik explores the far-reaching and unsettling world of PFAS – so-called ‘forever chemicals’, named for their stubborn tendency to persist in the environment for… well… almost forever. Speaking to expert scientists, Mark discovers just how fantastically useful this vast family of chemicals is, while also confronting the more sinister and mounting evidence around their short- and long-term health implications.

Joined by his friend and colleague, leading PFAS expert Dave Megson, Mark brings the investigation into his kitchen and cooks lunch. From fish to frying pans to dishwasher tablets, he uncovers the surprising places that PFAS are lurking in our everyday lives. And finally – for a dose of optimism – he explores the exciting new science that might one day help us flush the PFAS out of our bodies more quickly.

Series Producer: Mel Brown
Producer Geraldine Fitzgerald
Researcher: Alex Rodway
A BBC Studios Production


SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m002tzm6)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SUN 17:57 Weather (m002tzm8)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002tzmb)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (m002tzmd)
Claudia Hammond

This week, we’re launching into the stars with the 13 Minutes podcast following the historic Artemis II mission. Meanwhile, Front Row revisits the humble beginnings of the box in the corner of the living room that made stars of some - the humble telly. And we learn of the invention that allowed women who wanted to, to meet a wider pool of men - the pneumatic tyre. Plus, Radio 4 celebrates the life and legacy of Sir Tom Stoppard, as we journey to the Dark Side of the Moon with his 2013 Pink Floyd radio play.

Presenter: Claudia Hammond
Producer: Anthony McKee
Editor: Peter McManus
Production Co-ordinator: Caoilfhinn Mc Fadden

A BBC Audio Northern Ireland production for Radio 4.


SUN 19:00 The Archers (m002tzmg)
Bert is threatening to sue, and Brian feels he’s being ambushed.


SUN 19:15 Illuminated (m002tzmj)
Journey through a cow

A farmer, a cheesemaker, a philosopher and a scientist take us on a guided tour through a cow.

Told in five acts, this programme weaves together the voices of our four guides - artist-philosopher Samar Nasrullah Khan, cheesemaker Peter Dixon, farmer Nikki Yoxall and Professor of Animal Science and Microbiology Sharon Huws.

They take us on a journey from deep in the soil, through a plant, into a cow’s mouth, through her four stomach compartments – home to vast civilisations of bacteria, protozoa and fungi – and, of course, out the other end. Finally, the cow is milked and her dung is devoured by microorganisms, who turn it back into soil – starting the cycle again.

Part documentary, part creative interpretation, the programme uses field recordings to immerse us in the multi-species communities we encounter along the way. These mingle with the voice of the cow herself, and those of our human guides, who explain and reflect on the interactions and transformations occurring at each stage.

Humans and cattle have co-evolved. Over thousands of years, we have harnessed, exploited and relied on their ability to transform protein-poor plants into milk and dung, providing nourishment for people and soil. But still, what actually goes on inside a cow – and between a cow and its environment – to make these transformations possible remains a source of wonder.

Featuring Nikki Yoxall, Samar Nasrullah Khan, Professor Sharon Huws and Peter Dixon

Producer and narrator: Katie Revell

Executive producer: Carys Wall

Sound design, music and mix: Ev Buckley

Additional recordings by Gastric Mill

A Bespoken Media Scotland production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 19:45 Just One Thing - with Michael Mosley (m001z6jt)
Deep Calm - with Michael Mosley

Deep Calm - Episode 2: Relaxing Your Body

Sit back, leave behind the cares of the day and take a sonic journey with Dr Michael Mosley. In this new podcast series, designed to help you let go and unwind, each episode focuses on a scientifically-proven technique for activating the body’s built-in relaxation response, and takes a deep dive to explore what’s happening inside as we find stillness and calm.

Deliberately tensing and then relaxing groups of muscles all through the body is a potent technique for engaging your body’s relaxation response. We also encounter the magnificently-named Golgi tendon organ afferent nerve cells, and the interconnected nodes of the brain.

Guest: Ian Robertson, professor at Trinity College Dublin.

Series Producer, sound design and mix engineer: Richard Ward
Researcher: William Hornbrook
Editor: Zoë Heron
Specially composed music by Richard Atkinson (Mcasso)
A BBC Studios Audio production for BBC Sounds / BBC Radio 4.


SUN 20:00 Feedback (m002tpvd)
Broadcasting House, and When It Hits the Fan

Andrea Catherwood meets with Paddy O'Connell, longtime presenter of Broadcasting House. But this time we're going behind the scenes as Paddy has granted the Feedback team special access to the programme's inbox - and like Feedback's listeners, Broadcasting House's listeners have a lot to say. And how do you get the balance right when reporting on news during a day that is supposed to be dedicated to calm? Paddy gives his thoughts.

And some listeners had questions about a recent episode of Any Answers. Why did it only deal with one subject?

Finally, it's time for another edition of our VoxBox - this time it's two friends and PR professionals, Lauren and Dan, giving their take on the BBC's programme all about crisis management, When It Hits The Fan. Does the series do its best to inform, educate, and entertain, or is it all spin?

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 (m002tqlt)
Sir Craig Reedie, Bronwen Naish, Geoff Yeadon, Margareta Magnusson

Matthew Bannister on

Sir Craig Reedie, the sports administrator who led London’s successful bid for the 2012 Olympics and went on to become President of the World Anti-Doping Agency. Lord Coe pays tribute.

Bronwen Naish, the musician who devoted her life to promoting the joys of the double bass.

Geoff Yeadon, the world record breaking cave diver from Yorkshire.

And Margareta Magnusson, best known as the author of the book “The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning”.

Producer: Ed Prendeville
Assistant Producer: Catherine Powell
Researcher: Jesse Edwards
Editor: Glyn Tansley


SUN 21:00 Money Box (m002tzf3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:04 on Saturday]


SUN 21:25 Radio 4 Appeal (m002tzlb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:54 today]


SUN 21:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m002tzdz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:30 on Saturday]


SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (m002tzml)
Radio 4's Sunday night political discussion programme.


SUN 23:00 In Our Time (m002tptk)
Handel's Messiah

Misha Glenny and his guests discuss the most famous oratorio of George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) and his librettist Charles Jennens (1700-1773). For his libretto, Jennens drew from Old and New Testament texts: prophecies about the coming of Jesus, the Messiah, the nativity, the suffering of Christ and his death and the Day of Judgement and redemption for all. Handel's Messiah had its premiere in 1742 in a secular Dublin music hall to great acclaim with a packed audience and Handel continued to adapt his Messiah for later performances, often shaping the work to the choirs or individual singers available. Messiah proved to be one of his most popular works, becoming a favourite of massed choirs around the world far beyond the scale of Handel’s original.

With

Donald Burrows
Emeritus Professor of Music at the Open University

Ruth Smith
Trustee and Council Member of the Handel Institute

And

Larry Zazzo
Countertenor, and Senior Lecturer in Music at Newcastle University

Producer: Simon Tillotson

Reading list:

Donald Burrows, Messiah (full score, 2 vols, Hallische Händel Ausgabe, forthcoming)

Donald Burrows, Messiah (Edition Peters, 1987)

Donald Burrows, Messiah, Cambridge Music Handbooks (Cambridge University Press, 1991)

Donald Burrows, Handel: Master Musicians series, 2nd edition (Oxford University Press, 2012)

George Frideric Handel (ed. Donald Burrows et al.), Collected Documents vol. 3 (1734-42), vol 4 (1742-50), (Cambridge University Press, 2019, 2020)

G.F. Handel, facsimile ‘Messiah’: the composer’s autograph manuscript (British Library, 2009)

G.F. Handel, facsimile the composer’s Conducting Score of Messiah (Scolar Press, 1974)
Arthur Holroyd, Reassuring 18th-Century Protestants: The Librettist’s Intended Message for Handel’s ‘Messiah’ (Quacks Books, 2018)

Charles King, Every Valley: The Story of Handel’s Messiah (Doubleday/Bodley Head, 2024)

Jens Peter Larsen, Handel’s Messiah: Origins, Composition, Sources (Adam and Charles Black, 1957)

Richard Luckett, Handel’s Messiah: A Celebration (Victor Gollancz, 1992)

Watkins Shaw, A Textual and Historical Companion to Handel’s ‘Messiah’ (Novello and Co, 1965)

Ruth Smith, ‘The Achievements of Charles Jennens (1700–1773)’ (Music & Letters, 70, 1989)

Ruth Smith, Charles Jennens: The Man behind Handel’s ‘Messiah’ (Handel House Trust/The Gerald Coke Handel Foundation, 2012)

Ruth Smith, Handel’s Oratorios and Eighteenth-Century Thought (Cambridge University Press, 1995)

Calvin R. Stapert, Handel’s Messiah: Comfort for God’s People (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2010)

Judy Tarling, Handel’s Messiah: A Rhetorical Guide (first published 2014; Punnett Press, 2025)

In Our Time is a BBC Studios production

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 Misha Glenny and expert guests explore the characters, events and discoveries that have shaped our world.


SUN 23:45 Short Works (m002tqlr)
Nora's Abyss by Aimée Walsh

An original short story specially commissioned by BBC Radio 4 from the writer Aimée Walsh. Read by Nicky Harley.

The Author.
Aimée Walsh is a writer from Belfast. Her short stories have been longlisted for the London Magazine Short Story Prize and published in Extra Teeth. Her non-fiction and book criticism has appeared in The Irish Times, The Observer, RTÉ Culture, Dazed and The Independent amongst others. Walsh holds a PhD in Irish Literature and Cultural History. Her debut novel ‘Exile’ was published in 2024.

Writer: Aimée Walsh
Reader: Nicky Harley
Producer: Michael Shannon

A BBC Audio Northern Ireland Production for BBC Radio 4.

MONDAY 13 APRIL 2026

MON 00:00 Midnight News (m002tzmn)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


MON 00:15 Crossing Continents (m002tpqk)
Albania: Land, Money and the Sea

Albania has had many different faces over the last hundred years. Once ruled by the Ottomans, it became a kingdom before turning into a totalitarian communist state after the Second World War. During this time, no one was allowed in or out; all private property became state-owned, and bunkers sprang up across the country. After the fall of the communist regime, Albania descended into chaos. In 1996, a pyramid scheme that three quarters of the population had paid into, collapsed. People lost everything, and the country, especially the south, erupted into violence.

These days, Albania is aiming to shake off its past and transform its reputation from a country marked by corruption to one known for luxury tourism. With its miles of unspoilt beaches, snow capped mountains, and olive groves that could rival anything Greece has to offer, it’s unsurprising that it’s quickly attracting investors. Among them are Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, who are hoping to build a resort on an island off the coast of Vlorë. They have visited the secluded beaches of Zvërnec and Nartë; currently home only to endangered monk seals, sea turtles, and a few sheep. They, like others, hope to benefit from new government incentives to build luxury 5 star plus resorts.

However, ghosts of Albania’s communist past remain. Land disputes, allegations of corruption, and a lack of infrastructure could derail these resorts before they’ve even broken ground. For Crossing Continents, Emily Wither travels to Albania to find out whether it will be able to re-brand itself, and whether its dream of luxury escapism will become a reality.

Producer: Lizzy McNeill
Programme Mix: Neil Churchill
Production co-ordinator: Katie Morrison
Editor: Penny Murphy


MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (m002tzgb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:43 on Sunday]


MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002tzmq)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002tzms)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


MON 05:00 News Summary (m002tzmv)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


MON 05:04 Last Word (m002tqlt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 on Sunday]


MON 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002tzmx)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m002tzmz)
The Place of Modesty

A reflection and prayer to start the day with Andrea Rea.

Good morning.

I was born in America, a place that has always come across as – possibly – a bit overconfident. However, I’ve lived most of my life in Northern Ireland, where people are generally quick to put you in your place if you boast or act big-headed.

On this day a year ago, Northern Irish golfer Rory McIlroy won the US Master’s Tournament, becoming only the sixth person in history to complete what’s known as the Grand Slam of golf. It was a lifelong ambition of McIlroy’s to win the Masters, but he still calls golf “just a game”.

Northern Irish poet Seamus Heaney never called poetry “just words”. But he did describe poems as ‘stepping stones’, a fairly modest analogy: “Every now and again”, he said, “you write a poem that gives you self-respect and steadies your going a little bit farther out in the stream”.

Well, few poets went further into that stream than Heaney, and very few are better known. Yet, he was unfailingly down to earth, and famous for his modesty. His death in 2013 at age 74 was a terrible shock to all who knew him and many who didn’t.

In the lecture he delivered when awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995 Heaney spoke eloquently of his very ordinary childhood and humble home life. He quoted the work of other poets more than his own poetry in that lecture, unfailingly modest.

Today would have been Seamus Heaney’s 87th birthday - another stepping stone, if you will, in a life that continues through his poems, his literary legacy and in fond memory.

Lord God, help us to listen less to the sound and fury of arrogance and threat in our lives, and more to the poetry of modesty and peace.

Amen


MON 05:45 Farming Today (m002tzn1)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.


MON 05:57 Weather (m002tzn3)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for farmers


MON 06:00 Today (m002v0yl)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


MON 09:00 Start the Week (m002v0yn)
Challenges and solutions

Is radical change possible to solve some of today’s most intractable problems? In Radio 4's weekly discussion programme, Tom Sutcliffe is joined by three journalists to discuss the challenges of trying to live differently.

John Kampfner has travelled the world to find examples of places and people bravely and imaginatively confronting some of our most pressing problems – from climate change to health, housing and education. His book is called Braver New World: The Countries Daring to Do Things Others Won’t.

But Nicolas Niarchos questions how we live sustainably when the hidden costs of the green transition can be so devastating. In The Elements of Power he investigates the global supply of rare earth metals, essential for decarbonisation, and the terrible, bloody human cost for those involved in their extraction.

Natasha Walter explores how activism is being reshaped in the era of climate emergency. In Feminism for a World on Fire, she reflects on the movements fighting for justice, and asks what forms of solidarity and resistance are needed when the planet itself is under threat.

Together, the panel consider the innovations, compromises and moral dilemmas that come with trying to live well on a warming planet.

Producer: Katy Hickman
Assistant Producer: Natalia Fernandez


MON 09:45 Café Hope (m002v0yq)
A chair for chats

Dean Perryman, the founder of community group Empty Chairs, tells Rachel Burden how he's trying to reduce loneliness by encouraging strangers to chat to each other in pubs.

After his best friend Rob took his own life, Dean wanted to make sure that people could connect and talk. Empty Chairs happens in pubs across the UK, around a small table with a few chairs left intentionally free, so people can sit down and start a conversation if they need to.

Café Hope is our virtual Radio 4 coffee shop, where guests pop in for a brew and a chat to tell us what they're doing to make things better in big and small ways. Think of us as sitting in your local café , cooking up plans, hearing the gossip, and celebrating the people making the world a better place.

We're all about trying to make change. It might be a transformational project that helps an entire community, or it might be about trying to make one life a little bit easier. And the key here is in the trying. This is real life. Not everything works, and there are struggles along the way. But it's always worth a go.

If you are suffering distress or despair and need support, including urgent support, a list of organisations that can help is available at bbc.co.uk/actionline.

You can contact us on cafehope@bbc.co.uk

Presenter: Rachel Burden
Series Producer: Uma Doraiswamy
Researcher: Daisy Herman
Sound Design: Nicky Edwards
Editor: Tom Bigwood


MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (m002v0ys)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.


MON 11:00 The Invention Of... (m002v0yv)
The birth and death of Yugoslavia

Misha Glenny returns to the Balkans to report on the birth and death of Yugoslavia.

With contributions from Lea Ypi, Radina Vucetic, Ivan Veyvoda, Tim Heneage, Jelena Dureinovic, plus former soldier turned writer Faruk Sehic in Sarajevo. Includes archive of Fitzroy Maclean and Steed Wickham, plus an interview with the scientific director of the Jewish Museum in Thessaloniki, Xenia Eleftheriou.

This is series eighteen of The Invention of ... on Radio 4, following on from previous visits to Taiwan, Turkey, Brazil and beyond.

The producer is Miles Warde


MON 11:45 City of Lies: Love, Sex, Death and the Search for Truth in Tehran by Ramita Navai (m002v0yx)
Dariush

Ramita Navai was a journalist in Tehran when she began writing City of Lies: Love, Sex, Death and the Search for Truth in Tehran, published in 2014.

It tells the real stories of people whose lives were affected by the regime - stories that were often censored. Names and some details have been changed to protect people.

Dariush is the story of an MEK militant who has grown up in America returning to Tehran to execute an assassination for the Group. But the Group's information and equipment is out of date - and the hit is botched.

Ramita Navai is a double Emmy and Robert F. Kennedy award winning foreign affairs journalist, documentary maker and author who has reported from over 45 countries.

After starting her career as the Tehran correspondent for The Times, she joined Channel 4’s acclaimed foreign affairs documentary series Unreported World. Her investigations included the war in South Sudan, blood diamonds in Zimbabwe, sex trafficking in Mexico, gang assassins in El Salvador, and the war in Syria.

Her investigative documentaries on the war against ISIS, Shia militias in Iraq, sexual abuse among UN peacekeepers, corruption and rape in India and women’s rights in Afghanistan have won many awards. Her latest documentary Gaza: Doctors Under Attack for Channel 4 has been nominated for a BAFTA.

Her book City of Lies: Love, Sex, Death and the Search for Truth in Tehran won the Debut Political Book and was awarded the Royal Society of Literature's Jerwood Prize for non-fiction. It has been translated into six languages.

She is the creator and host of THE LINE OF FIRE, a top 10 Apple podcast about the moment of facing death.

She is the recipient of the Women in Film and TV Award recognising outstanding achievement by a woman in news.


MON 12:00 News Summary (m002v0yz)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


MON 12:04 You and Yours (m002v0z1)
News and discussion of consumer affairs


MON 12:57 Weather (m002v0z3)
The latest weather forecast


MON 13:00 World at One (m002v0z5)
News, analysis and comment from BBC Radio 4


MON 13:45 About the Girls (m002v0z7)
Becoming a Woman

Teenage girls all over the country talk candidly to Catherine Carr about what it is like to be a girl in 2026. They reflect on where they get their ideas about femininity from, and how these are often shaped by the boys.

They explain how they feel that women are innately programmed to care for those around them as well as to care about what they think, leading them to modify their behaviour. They also talk extensively about their fears as girls and young women, and how that could affect the kinds of lives they might have.

Catherine hears from adults making a difference in girls’ lives and finds out how girls struggle to find their niche in a world where ‘cool girl’ reigns.

Thanks to:
Cardinal Langley School Rochdale
Dr Hannah Yelin, University of Oxford
The Girl Guiding Association
South Dartmoor Community College
Ola Demkowicz, University of Manchester
The Children’s Society
North Birmingham Academy
Dance United Yorkshire
Dumfries & Galloway’s Young Women’s Network

Producer: Catherine Carr
Researcher: Jill Achineku
Executive Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4


MON 14:00 The Archers (m002tzmg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Sunday]


MON 14:15 Boswell's Lives (b09w10b3)
Series 3

Boswell's Life of Christie

James Boswell meets Agatha Christie and soon becomes involved in deception, disappearances and an unnatural death.

Jon Canter’s sitcom sees James Boswell become a time-travelling biographer - doing for other celebrities what he did for Dr Johnson.

Boswell ...... Miles Jupp
Agatha Christie ...... Vicki Pepperdine

Producer: Sally Avens

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2018.


MON 14:45 Human Intelligence (m0026vst)
Series 1

Teachers: Peter Ramus

Naomi Alderman meets Peter Ramus – a teacher determined to simplify and systematise the teaching of difficult things. He spoke his mind and thrived on stirring up trouble.

Ramus was behind one of the most important learning devices in history. A system of organising knowledge that helped overthrow the primacy of Aristotle in medieval universities and allowed everyone to access ideas, regardless of birth or status. He was a fighter (literally on some occasions), a brilliant speaker and devoted to the idea that knowledge deserved to spread far beyond the cloistered walls of higher education.

Special thanks to Robert Goulding, Associate Professor in the Program of Liberal Studies at the University of Notre Dame.

Produced by BBC Studios Audio in partnership with The Open University.


MON 15:00 Great Lives (m002tzqt)
Alistair McGowan on HE Bates

HE Bates is probably best known for the Darling Buds of May and Fair Stood the Wind for France, but Alistair McGowan is surprised that he is not known for his short stories, which he believes are the best ever written. "To me it's a minor literary tragedy that he is so little known and so little trumpeted."
Joining him in studio is HE Bates' granddaughter, Vicky Wicks; and from South Africa his son, Richard Bates who was executive producer of the wildly successful tv adaptations of the Darling Buds of May starring David Jason. The programme also includes Bates own voice plus an extract from Fair Stood the Wind for France, his second world war novel about a British plane that crash lands in German occupied France.

Produced in Bristol for BBC Studios by Miles Warde


MON 15:30 Illuminated (m002tzmj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:15 on Sunday]


MON 16:00 Currently (m002tzlz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 13:30 on Sunday]


MON 16:30 The Kitchen Cabinet (m002tzdx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:30 on Saturday]


MON 17:00 PM (m002v0z9)
Full coverage of the day's news


MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002v0zc)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


MON 18:30 Unspeakable (m002v0zf)
Series 3

5. How to Cull Friends and Nickname People

This episode we hear Desiree Burch's word for pruning your friends list, Max Fosh's description for the nicknames that children give you, and Rebecca Front's coinage for bingeing on junk TV.

Ever struggled to find the right word for a feeling or sensation? Unspeakable sees comedian Phil Wang and lexicographer Susie Dent invite celebrity guests to invent new linguistic creations, to solve those all too relatable moments when we're lost for words.

Hosts: Phil Wang and Susie Dent
Guests: Desiree Burch, Max Fosh and Rebecca Front
Created by Joe Varley
Writers: Matt Crosby and James Farmer
Recorded by Jerry Peal
Producer: Jon Harvey
Executive Producers: Joe Varley and Akash Lockmun

A Brown Bred production for BBC Radio 4


MON 19:00 The Archers (m002tzq0)
Alice catches up with Fallon, and Lilian makes a promise.


MON 19:15 Front Row (m002v0zh)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music.


MON 20:00 How Did We Get Here? (m002rvng)
Israel and the Palestinians

10: From 2010 to the present day

In the last of ten programmes exploring the origins and tracing the history of the Middle East conflict, presenter Jonny Dymond is joined by journalist Jane Corbin, who has covered the region for three decades, and the BBC’s International Editor Jeremy Bowen.

They start by discussing Israel’s economic success in the 2010s, and the situation in that period for Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. This episode also covers Gaza’s “tunnel economy”, continuing Hamas attacks on Israel, the wars in Gaza in 2008, 2012 and 2014, the expansion of Israeli settlements on the West Bank, the stalling of Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts in the 2010s, and the Abraham Accords of 2020 between Israel and several Arab nations.

Jonny and his guests conclude the series by looking at the impact and significance of Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7th, 2023. How has that event and the war in Gaza that followed affected the long-term prospects for an end to the conflict?

'How Did We Get Here? Israel and the Palestinians' is a BBC News Long Form Audio production.
The presenter is Jonny Dymond and the editor is Penny Murphy.
The Radio 4 commissioners are Hugh Levinson and Dan Clarke.
The studio engineers are Neil Churchill, James Beard, Rod Farquhar, Mike Regaard and David Crackles.


MON 20:30 BBC Inside Science (w3ct977f)
Return to the moon

This week, humans once again looked down on the magnificent desolation of the lunar surface, from the orbit of the moon itself. They saw earth rise and earth set. They named the craters on the far side. They travelled further from Earth than any human has travelled before. Now, the Artemis mission returns home. Libby Jackson, Head of Space at the Science Museum, joins Inside Science to illuminate whether this lunar flyby is nothing but a test ride or significant for the future of human spaceflight and science.

Nasa believes Artemis II will pave the way to not only land on the moon but establish a lunar base. Kelly Weinersmith, author of A City on Mars, joins Tom to discuss the complications that are likely to arrive when and if humans attempt to establish a semi-permanent presence on the lunar surface. Is it really possible?

Presenter: Tom Whipple
Producer: Harrison Lewis and Katie Tomsett
Editor: Martin Smith


MON 21:00 Start the Week (m002v0yn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


MON 21:45 Café Hope (m002v0yq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 today]


MON 22:00 The World Tonight (m002v0zl)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective


MON 22:45 Few and Far Between by Jan Carson (m002v0zn)
Episode One

The stunning new novel from the winner of the EU Prize for Literature, a magically surreal story about history, identity and redemption. Read by Tara Lynne O’Neill (‘Derry Girls.’)

It’s summer 2017 and the last few residents of the Lough Neagh Archipelago, nicknamed the Ark, are facing imminent eviction. The flood planned to combat a devastating algae outbreak will submerge their homes, forcing them back to the Mainland for the first time in fifty years.

Rosemary, Robert-John and Marion Connolly came to the islands as children in the 1970s following their mercurial father RJ; an anthropologist studying the unique society that had developed there. For many, the Neagh Archipelago represented a utopia, a chance to be free of the prejudices and history of Troubles era Northern Ireland. But perhaps this utopia wasn’t all that it seemed.

The four main islands on the Far Side of the Ark are: Tom’s Hard, a ‘popular’ suicide spot; Middle Flat, where the centre for traumatized comatose individuals – commonly known as Sleepers – is based; Church Flat, a kind of limbo populated by the mute ghostly presence of locals hovering between life and death; and Eglish Flat, an illegal dumping ground which appears to consume whatever is deposited there.

Marion and Robert-John have grown accustomed to their haunted existence on the Ark as caretakers of the mysterious islands. How will they cope with a new life on the Mainland? Is it possible to leave the past behind? And will the Ark ever let them go...

Author
Jan Carson is a writer based in Belfast. She has published three novels, three short story collections and two micro-fiction collections. Her novel ‘The Fire Starters’ won the EU Prize for Literature for Ireland 2019 and her subsequent novel ‘The Raptures’ was shortlisted for the An Post Irish Novel of the Year and Kerry Group Novel of the Year in 2022. She is the Seamus Heaney Centre Fellow at Queen’s University Belfast 2025 and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Reader: Tara Lynne O’Neill
Writer: Jan Carson
Abridger: Katrin Williams
Producer: Michael Shannon

A BBC Audio Northern Ireland Production for BBC Radio 4.


MON 23:00 Limelight (p0fjx0md)
An Eye for a Killing

4. Anger on the Streets

Welcome to hell. The true story of Scotland’s notorious serial killers, Burke and Hare.

As Burke’s murder trial continues at the High Court, a rumour spreads on the streets that there has been a series of killings – and the man buying the bodies is the anatomist, Dr Robert Knox. An angry mob surrounds Knox’s house threatening to lynch the doctor.

Powerful five-part drama-documentary series from BBC Radio 4 with bonus scenes on BBC Sounds.

Written and dramatised by Colin MacDonald.

Narrator ….. Jack Lowden
Burke ….. Gavin Mitchell
Hare ….. James Boal
Sir William Rae ….. Stuart McQuarrie
Galbraith ….. Andy Clark
Robert Knox ….. Simon Donaldson
Madgy Docherty ….. Maureen Carr
Margaret Hare ….. Lucianne McEvoy
John Fisher ….. Robert Jack
Michael Campbell ….. James Rottger
Lord Justice Clerk ….. Paul Young
Other parts played by the cast.

Producer/director: Bruce Young


MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (m002v0zq)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament