SATURDAY 05 MARCH 2022
SAT 00:00 Midnight News (m0014xyl)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
SAT 00:30 Death by Conspiracy? (m0014yx3)
5. Reflections in the Glass
Gary’s death is covered in the local media – and online, the information battle heats up.
Gary Matthews was a talented artist and photographer, sociable and well-liked - a familiar face in his hometown of Shrewsbury. A few years ago, his friends noticed that he was getting into conspiracy theories. Like millions of others, he fell for Covid pseudoscience when the pandemic hit. In January 2021, at the age of 46, Gary caught the virus, and died.
Marianna Spring, the BBC’s specialist disinformation reporter, travels to the serene medieval Shropshire town that Gary Matthews called home to investigate what happened to him - and why. While delving into the conspiracy underbelly of this picturesque town, she finds out more about Gary's life - and discovers a story that's been repeated across the country, and around the world.
Producer: Ant Adeane
Editor: Mike Wendling
SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m0014xyn)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m0014xyq)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.
SAT 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m0014xys)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SAT 05:30 News Briefing (m0014xyv)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m0014xyx)
A spirtitual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Rev Dr Emma Whittick, the University of Wales Trinity Saint David's Chaplain at Lampeter and Carmarthen.
SAT 05:45 Witness (b01qldlt)
The fall of Singapore
In February 1942 when Singapore fell to Japanese forces, tens of thousands of Commonwealth soldiers became prisoners of war. They were sent to work in prison camps across South East Asia. Maurice Naylor was put to work building a railway bridge over a river in Thailand - the River Kwai. After World War Two ended, he typed up his memories of internment.
SAT 06:00 News and Papers (m00153zq)
The latest news headlines. Including the weather and a look at the papers.
SAT 06:07 Ramblings (m0014xtw)
After Eunice - Guarlford, Worcestershire
Clare explores a rural route near the Worcestershire village of Guarlford. Storm Eunice has just left, Franklin is underway and the River Severn is up so this is a last-minute change to the planned walk. Originally Clare and her guest, poet Catherine Swire, had planned to hike the first stretch of the Monarch's Way which runs along the banks of the Rivers Teme and Severn in Worcester but flooding has pushed them a little further south.
Catherine has recently published her first book of poetry, 'Soil', which takes the theme of historic trauma and explores how it is etched on our landscape. Worcester was the site of the first proper skirmish, and the last battle, of the English Civil War, something featured within Catherine's work.
The Monarch's Way is a long distance path which traces the very indirect escape route - from Worcester to Suffolk - of Charles II after his loss at the Battle of Worcester in 1651.
Guarlford (not on the Monarch's Way) is about two miles east of Great Malvern, and a good mile and a half west of the River Severn - hopefully far enough to keep their feet dry.
The grid reference for their starting point in Guarlford is SO 813 453. The map is OS Explorer 190 Malvern Hills and Bredon Hill
Presenter: Clare Balding
Producer: Karen Gregor
SAT 06:30 Farming Today (m00153zs)
05/03/22 Farming Today This Week: New Zealand trade deal, cannabis farm in the Irish Sea, farming in Ukraine
This week the Government signed its trade deal with New Zealand which includes phasing out all tariffs on imports of beef, dairy and lamb. We hear reaction from sheep farmers.
A huge cannabis farm could be built on the Isle of Man. The £100m production plant, growing medicinal cannabis, is being planned for land on the outskirts of Douglas.
Ukraine has long been known as the breadbasket of Europe. Now it's a war zone but amidst the fighting and bombing, and the fear and terror of war, farming continues. We speak to Kees Huizing who has been farming in Ukraine for 20 years. He has 400 workers, 15,000 hectares of crops and milks 2000 dairy cows.
Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Beatrice Fenton.
SAT 06:57 Weather (m00153zv)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SAT 07:00 Today (m00153zx)
Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (m00153zz)
Marcus Wareing
Marcus Wareing joins Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles. The award-winning chef, food writer, restauranteur and judge on MasterChef: The Professionals is now learning new skills as he produces food on his small holding in East Sussex.
Ellie Pacey is a former British Tractor Pulling champion who has recently taken part in BBC 3’s The Fast and the Farmer-ish. She’s also a Formula 1 apprentice test technician and has been a Miss England finalist.
Tulsi Vagjiani survived a plane crash which killed her parents and younger brother in 1990. She underwent more than 50 operations to repair facial burns. Going through this extraordinary ordeal would eventually set her on a path to becoming a campaigner for those with visible differences. She’s now a motivational speaker, never happier than when she is giving talks in schools.
Trisha Goddard shares her Inheritance Tracks: I Want You Back by The Jackson 5 and Say Ladeo by Bobby McFerrin.
Andy McCluskey founded Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark with a school friend. The band have sold over 25 million singles and 15 million albums. But Andy’s first love was art. He explains why he’s a devoted collector of Maurice Wade, and why sharing his work is important.
Marcus Wareing’s Tales from a Kitchen Garden continues Monday to Friday on BBC 2 at
6.30pm. And you can watch any episodes you’ve missed via the iPlayer.
Trisha Goddard presents You Are What You Eat, the full series is available on My5 and there’s also a companion book.
Maurice Wade, Silent Landscapes - The Andy McCluskey Collection opens Friday 25th March at Trent Art Gallery, Newcastle under Lyme.
Producer: Claire Bartleet
Editor: Richard Hooper
SAT 10:30 Rewinder (m0015401)
Man With A Pigeon On His Head
Greg James, host of the Radio 1 Breakfast show and self-confessed 'proud radio nerd', uses his access-all-areas pass to the BBC Archives to track down audio gems, using listener requests, overlooked anniversaries and current stories as a springboard into the vast vaults of past programmes.
This week, as the final series of Killing Eve hits TV screens, Greg looks back at the career of its star Jodie Comer, from her first role in a BBC Radio 3 drama aged just 14 to her myriad accents as globetrotting assassin Villanelle.
It's 50 years since David Bowie's extra-terrestrial creation Ziggy Stardust looked down the TV lens on Top of the Pops and influenced the hairstyles, make up and jumpsuits of a generation of young people: Greg looks at some of Bowie's characters and finds out how audiences reacted to the superstar at the time. He also revisits the moment 40 years ago when David Bowie starred in Baal, a play by Bertolt Brecht, on BBC One at the heart of the evening schedule.
It's a big year for Birmingham, leading Greg on an eccentric's tour of the city in which he encounters a coal-powered car, tortoise racing, a topless dress and a man with a pigeon on his head.
Listener requests take him to memories of D-Day, the coronation of Queen Victoria, and the inimitable corpsing of Brian Johnston.
Producer: Tim Bano
SAT 11:00 The Week in Westminster (m0015403)
Radio 4's assessment of developments at Westminster
SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m0015405)
The flight from Kyiv
Ukrainian civilians have taken up arms in the face of the Russian onslaught over the last nine days, while women and children were forced to flee. Attacks on residential buildings and infrastructure have killed hundreds of civilians and the French President has warned that worse is yet to come. Lyse Doucet is in Kyiv has seen the week’s events unfold.
Over one million refugees have fled Ukraine in the days since the Russian invasion began. And as the long convoy of Russian military tanks closes in on Kyiv, the rush to escape to neighbouring countries has become ever more frantic. Nick Thorpe is at the Hungarian border and reflects on a different invasion.
This week Switzerland, after much soul searching – some might say dithering – decided to adopt all the European Union’s sanctions against Russia. It was hailed around the world as a huge step, a virtual abandonment of the country’s strict neutrality. But was it? Imogen Foulkes gauges the reaction of Swiss locals.
The Kasbah of Algiers has been recognised as a world heritage site. The ancient mosques, Ottoman palaces and souks are well-conserved. But the city’s young people are disillusioned, with unemployment levels running high and the splendour of the citadel offers little opportunity for jobs. Rob Crossan spoke to some young men in a queue for liver sandwiches.
Media organisations have deployed large numbers of correspondents to Ukraine since the Russian offensive began. Several of the correspondents have experience of reporting on conflict, but Nick Robinson found himself in unfamiliar terrain. This is his experience as a witness to the days preceding Putin’s invasion and the sudden turn of events that everyone hoped would never happen.
Presenter: Kate Adie
Producer: Serena Tarling
SAT 12:00 News Summary (m001541l)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SAT 12:04 Money Box (m00153z0)
How to stop investing in Russia
As Russian military forces continue bombarding Ukrainian cities and civilians, are your investments supporting the Kremlin's regime? International companies have been pulling out of Russian investment, and pension funds and investment firms say they are reducing holdings in Russian companies. But what can ordinary investors do? Are you aware that a tracker fund or an investment bond might help support Russian firms? We hear from Lucy Coutts, Investment Director at JM Finn Wealth Management.
For 1.7 million people across the UK, funeral plans offer peace of mind that when the inevitable happens their loved ones will be spared having to pay for a funeral. But there is big change on the way for the industry and those customers. By this summer all firms in the sector must be authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority, to raise standards in the industry. But an indirect consequence of this is that tens of thousands of customers could lose out. Money Box reporter Dan Whitworth has been investigating. We also hear from Matt Brewis, Director of Insurance at the Financial Conduct Authority, and from James Daley of Fairer Finance.
Many listeners have been getting in touch to ask about rises in the standing charge in their energy bills. We hear from Helen Barnard, Associate Director at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
And Money Box has won back more than £8,000 for a listener who received a huge - and incorrect - fuel bill from Ecotricity. The company founder, Dale Vince, explains what went wrong and what he thinks is going wrong with the wider energy sector - and how to fix it.
Presenter: Paul Lewis
Producer: Paul Waters
Reporter: Dan Whitworth
Researcher: Ben Henderson
Editor: Emma Rippon
(Photo credit: Anghi / Getty Images)
SAT 12:30 The News Quiz (m0014xy6)
Series 107
Episode 10
Recorded at the BBC Radio Theatre, this week Andy Zaltzman is joined by Mark Steel, Sindhu Vee, Daniel Finkelstein and Lucy Porter to discuss war in Ukraine and the international reaction. Last in the series.
Hosted by Andy Zaltzman
Chairs script by Andy Zaltzman
Additional Material from Alice Fraser, Mike Shephard, Cameron Loxdale, Jade Gebbie and Peter Tellouche.
Production Co-ordinator: Katie Baum
Sound Editor: Marc Willcox
The Producer is James Robinson, and it is a BBC Studios Production.
SAT 12:57 Weather (m0015409)
The latest weather forecast
SAT 13:00 News and Weather (m001540c)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4
SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (m0014xyb)
Katy Clark MSP, Alister Jack MP, Angus Robertson MSP, Angus Roxburgh
Chris Mason presents political debate and discussion from The Moredun Foundation, Penicuik, with a panel which includes the Scottish Labour MSP Katy Clark, Scottish Government's Cabinet Secretary for the Constitution, External Affairs and Culture Angus Robertson MSP, the Secretary of State for Scotland Alister Jack MP and the former BBC Moscow Correspondent, author and former adviser to the Kremlin Angus Roxburgh.
Producer: Camellia Sinclair
Lead broadcast engineer: Ken Garden
SAT 14:00 Any Answers? (m001540f)
Have your say on the issues discussed on Any Questions?
SAT 14:45 39 Ways to Save the Planet (m000r368)
Chilling Food
Chilled lorries are the backbone of our food distribution system, keeping our pork pies and hummus safe and fresh on route to the supermarket. The problem for our air quality and carbon emissions is that many of the refrigeration units are powered by diesel engines.
Tom Heap meets a team converting these Transport Refrigeration Units from diesel to liquid nitrogen. If successful they could take a bite out of greenhouse gases in the west and, more importantly, offer a clean chilling option for farmers and food companies in the developing world. Food that spoils on the way to the consumer hurts farmers, causes hunger and increases carbon emissions. If meat, dairy, fruit and vegetables can be kept fresh for longer then everyone wins.
Dr Tamsin Edwards of King's College, London helps Tom calculate just how much carbon dioxide could be removed from the environment if we use techniques like this to slash food waste.
Producer: Anne-Marie Bullock
Researcher: Sarah Goodman
Produced in association with the Royal Geographical Society. Special thanks for this episode to Dr Harry Kennard from University College London.
SAT 15:00 Drama (m001540h)
Bed for the Night
This contemporary play tackles something of the aftermath of Britain’s colonial past and the contentious issue of illegal immigration. The action takes place in a house located in Brighton in 2022.
One evening, Daniel, now in his 80s, answers his front door and is confronted by Amos who asks him for a bed for the night. When Amos tells him that he is the grandson of someone Daniel employed when he worked in Rhodesia, Daniel invites him in. He feels deeply obligated to Amos and to the promises he made all those years ago to his grandfather.
Amos explains he is in the country illegally which presents problems for Daniel - especially when he is visited by the police. The two men form a close bond and memories flood back forcing Daniel to confront the years he spent in Rhodesia. Amos also helps with Daniel’s wife, Flora, and the two clearly enjoy each other’s company. Before long it is clear that Amos has’ in effect, become the family servant just like his grandfather had been Daniel’s servant many years before.
The play follows Amos' attempts to stay in the country, to be reunited with his family and to escape political problems in Zimbabwe. Together, the two men find a remarkable way to right former wrongs and form an even closer bond.
Nigel Anthony, Stefan Adegbola and Sarah Badel star in this powerful new play by David Pownall, one of radio’s most-distinquished writers. Martin Jenkins has directed over 30 plays by David Pownall.
Cast:
Daniel .......... Nigel Anthony
Amos .......... Stefan Adegbola
Flora .......... Sarah Badel
Other roles played by:
Jenny Funnell, Alan Leith and Jane Whittenshaw
Written by David Pownall
Directed by Martin Jenkins
Sound Design by David Thomas
Production Co-ordinator: Sarah Tombling
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 16:00 Woman's Hour (m001540k)
Weekend Woman's Hour: Priya Ragu, Women in the Ukraine, Inheritance laws
Swiss-Tamil singer Priya Ragu has been shortlisted in the BBC Sound of 2022 Poll – joining Adele, Jessie J and Celeste. She tells us how her music plays homage to her heritage and is a fusion of traditional Tamil music, RnB and Soul, which she uniquely calls ‘Ragu Wavy’.
All week we've been covering Ukraine. We hear from Lesia Vasylenko, a Ukrainian MP who describes her new reality of being trained to use an assault rifle to defend her family and her country and Olena Symonenko who decided to flee Kyiv, and has escaped to Poland with her 6 year old son.
If the Mona Lisa could speak what would she say? A new novel by Natasha Solomons gives voice to the painting and lets her tell her own story. We speak to Natasha and the Da Vinci expert Professor Martin Kemp.
A person guilty of manslaughter or murder is already prevented from inheriting their victim’s estate by what’s known as the Forfeiture Rule. But should that law be extended to somebody guilty of domestic abuse? We speak to MP Florence Eshalomi, who is attempting to change the law. We also hear Tom Guha's story. He has had to deal with exactly this issue since his mother died and his stepfather’s behaviour was found to have a direct link to her death.
Swiss-Tamil singer Priya Ragu, who has been shortlisted in the BBC Sound of 2022 Poll -joining Adele, Jessie J and Celeste, talks to Anita about how her music plays homage to her heritage and is a fusion of traditional Tamil music, RnB and Soul, which she uniquely calls ‘Ragu Wavy’.
Danielle Marin is the author of Top Girl, a book exploring her first-hand experiences with drug dealing, gangs and violent crimes. Danielle wants people to know about young women who get caught up in this kind of lifestyle, and how she found a way out.
And in our new series called Threads, celebrating the emotional power of old clothes, listener Sarah tells us about a very special pair of knickers, given to her by her dear friend Ruth on her 21st birthday almost 40 years ago.
SAT 17:00 PM (m001540m)
Full coverage of the day's news
SAT 17:30 The Bottom Line (m0014xvb)
Russia and the global economy
What will the consequences of the invasion of Ukraine be for the world's economy - and for us? From the effects on the energy markets to the tough sanctions regime, we can already see ripple effects across Europe and the rest of the globe, at a time when the world's economy is still in a febrile post-Covid state. Evan Davis and guests discuss the likely and immediate picture for business, growth and incomes.
Guests:
Duncan Weldon, economist and author of the Value Added newsletter on Substack.
Anna Leach, deputy chief economist at the CBI
Chris Rogers, supply chain economist for Flexport
Greg Jackson, CEO of Octopus Energy
Producer: Julie Ball
Research: Johnny I'Anson
Production Coordinators: Sophie Hill and Siobhan Reed
Editor: Hugh Levinson
Produced in association with The Open University.
SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m001540q)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SAT 17:57 Weather (m001540s)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m001540v)
Ukraine and Russia blame each other for failure to evacuate thousands of civilians. Ukraine's president issues fresh appeal for no-fly zone, but Russian leader warns against it.
SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (m001540x)
Philippa Perry, Catherine Bohart, Shobna Gulati, Nicôle Lecky, Judi Jackson, Mica Millar, Anneka Rice
Anneka Rice is joined by Philippa Perry, Catherine Bohart, Shobna Gulati and Nicôle Lecky for an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy. With music from Judi Jackson and Mica Millar.
SAT 19:00 Profile (m00153yh)
Jens Stoltenberg
As the Ukraine crisis continues to escalate, NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, finds himself in the thick of it - tasked with preventing a third world war.
Norway’s former prime minister gained international renown for his stoic response to the 2011 terror attacks. Described by NATO colleagues as the ‘Trump whisperer’, he is known for being cool, calm and collected under pressure. Does he have what it takes for this latest challenge?
Mark Coles profiles the longest serving NATO chief in a generation.
Producers: Sally Abrahams and Ellie House
Editor: Damon Rose
Credits:
Professor John J Mearsheimer, courtesy of King's College, Cambridge Politics department
‘No Harm’ by Smerz
SAT 19:15 This Cultural Life (m001540z)
Joyce DiDonato
Acclaimed American mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato talks to John Wilson about the works and events that have made her the performer she is. A Grammy and Olivier award-winning opera star, Joyce is renowned for her range, control and dramatic performances on stages around the world.
She reveals her most formative influences including her teenage love of Billy Joel; the struggle to perfect her singing technique; her breakthrough role as Rosina in Rossini's The Barber of Seville; and the film and opera of Dead Man Walking, which ultimately led her to take part in life-changing work in Sing Sing maximum security prison.
Producer: Edwina Pitman
SAT 20:00 Archive on 4 (m0015411)
Disgusted, Mary Whitehouse
It’s 40 years since Mary Whitehouse took the National Theatre to court for what she called gross indecency. She never saw the play, The Romans in Britain, but felt compelled to act against its director as part of her holy mission against obscenity.
For this programme, Samira Ahmed has spent months studying the private diaries and letters of Mary Whitehouse, now deposited in the Bodleian Library, to better understand the work and legacy of the decency campaigner whose name became a byword for prudery and censorship.
The diaries and those who knew Mary Whitehouse reveal a more complex picture - a sophisticated operator taking on the establishment, playing the media at their own game, and challenging the snobbery and sexism of the men who ran the TV and theatre industry. She was, and remains, a controversial figure but her decades-long battle against the normalisation of pornography and child exploitation is more relevant than ever.
Unknown to Mary Whitehouse at the time, one of her closest allies and advisors was later accused of being a violent abuser of children.
To better understand Mary Whitehouse, Samira speaks to Mary’s granddaughter Fiona Whitehouse, Nicole Gilroy and Francesca Alves at the Bodleian Library, critics Michael Billington and Nicholas de Jongh, and actor and director Samuel West.
Readings by Lisa Bowerman
Producers: Simon and Thomas Guerrier
Executive Producer: David Prest
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 21:00 Riot Girls (b07142ln)
Susan
First of three new plays charting British feminism through three generations of women. We begin in 1975 with a frank exploration of the era's changing ideas about marriage, independence and female sexuality.
Birmingham, 1975. Susan makes the radical decision to leave her husband and take her two children, Emma and Tim, to live in a commune. When this first commune doesn't work – largely because commune life begins to mimic the gender power structures of the outside world – Susan feels compelled to move to an all-female commune. But this means leaving her 6 year old son. By Lucy Catherine.
Susan ..... Sarah Thom
Derek ..... Gerard McDermott
Emma ..... Harmonie Lloyd
Tim ..... Joshua Vaughan
Anne ..... Susan Jameson
Maggie ..... Katherine Jakeways
Dave ..... Ewan Bailey
Charlie ..... George Watkins
Gina ..... Katie Redford
Director ..... Emma Harding
Producer ..... Abigail le Fleming
SAT 21:45 Enchanted Isle (m000vp1f)
Arawn And Her Dogs by Eluned Gramich
Anwen in out walking on the promenade in Aberystwyth avoiding revising for her A-levels when she meets and buys food for an old woman and her dogs. The woman doesn't thank her for her kindness. Instead she rewards her by taking her on an eerie journey to the underworld in search of the answer to whether Anwen's mother who is in hospital will live or die.
Eluned Grimach's retelling of one of the Welsh Mabinogi legends and myths from the 12th century or earlier.
Eluned Gramich is a Welsh writer and translator. She's lived in Germany and Japan, and is now based in Cardiff. She won the inaugural New Welsh Writing Award in 2015 for her memoir of Hokkaido, Woman Who Brings the Rain, which was later shortlisted for the Wales Book of the Year 2016. Recently, her novella about the Welsh language protests appeared as part of Hometown Tales: Wales (Orion Books).
Read by Nadia Kamil
Produced by Maggie Ayre for BBC Audio in Bristol
SAT 22:00 News (m0015413)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4
SAT 22:15 Moral Maze (m0014x1m)
Putin - did we help create a war criminal?
We don't know how the Ukrainian conflict will end. But how did it begin? The responsibility for the Ukraine conflict lies squarely with Vladimir Putin - described by some as cunning and crazy by others - this is his war. But was there a chance to prevent it? Would he have done this if the West behaved differently after the collapse of the Soviet Union when the new Ukraine was born? In these last decades, Russia built up its military strength while the European democracies made every effort to disarm. NATO might have trained Ukrainian troops and sent supplies right up to the invasion, but it repeatedly said it wouldn’t get directly involved. And now we have sanctions that could take years to act. Are the democracies weak? Or is despotism always doomed to fail in the end?
What happens if, as seems likely, Putin takes Kyiv and installs a puppet regime. There will be a Resistance and our own Prime Minister is committed to helping it. How far should we go with that – food and medicine, of course, but will we potentially fund fighters who, to us, will be patriots but to the Kremlin will be terrorists? Russia is already waging “hybrid war” against the democratic nations. Should we try to beat Putin at his own game of cyber-attacks and deniable operations? To defeat a monster, must we become monstrous ourselves? With Alan Mendoza, Director of the right leaning think tank, The Henry Jackson Society; Political Scientist Yascha Mounk; Former MI6 officer Christopher Steele and Professor Janina Dill who researches the role of law and morality in International Relations.
Produced by Olive Clancy
SAT 23:00 Counterpoint (m0014x7c)
Series 35
Semi-Final 1, 2022
(10/13)
The music quiz tournament reaches the semi-final stage, with three of the competitors who won their heats vying for a place in the 2022 Final. As the competition goes up a notch, the players may find the questions getting tougher and they'll certainly find it harder to be first on the buzzer. As always they'll be asked to choose a special theme or musical topic on which to answer questions of their own, with no prior warning of the categories on offer.
Taking part today are
Andy Cormican from Sheffield
Damian Evans from West London
Frankie Fanko from Leicestershire
Producer: Paul Bajoria
Assistant Producer: Stephen Garner
SAT 23:30 Pony Tales (b07wgkz8)
Pony books are generally considered a rather minor literary genre - pulp-fiction for a certain type of pre-adolescent girl. In spite of being one of the most seriously-rated of authors for young people, Meg Rosoff begs to differ.
She tells the story of her own lifelong passion for pony books and explores the reasons why girls - and some menopausal women - are drawn to them.
In a programme which gallops between the riding stables in Suffolk where Meg used to keep her own horse to a conference on pony books in Cambridge and back to her own book-lined study, Meg considers some of the tired old arguments about ponies as a sort of erotic transitional object for girls and some women. She also looks into them as a form of romantic preparation and an escape into a world of physical freedom.
But this is a programme which takes ponies and pony books far beyond the reading habits of small girls in jodhpurs.
Meg's personal conclusion about the appeal of these books is surprising. She relates the idea of "thoroughness" in riding (a connectedness between horse and rider most often referred to in dressage but essential to all good riding) to her own experience as a writer - with the rider representing the conscious mind and the horse being the far more powerful unconscious. And she links rider, writer and reader in a thought-provoking arc that lifts the very best books in the pony genre to a whole new level.
Meg Rosoff is the winner of numerous awards, including the 2016 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, the biggest cash prize in the world for a writer of books for children and young people.
Presenter and Producer: Beaty Rubens
SUNDAY 06 MARCH 2022
SUN 00:00 Midnight News (m0015415)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 00:15 Tom Mayhew Is Benefit Scum (m000sr6m)
Get a Job
Working-class comedian Tom Mayhew takes you on an autobiographical journey through the benefits system in a stand-up series that takes a wry sideways look at the prejudices that people have towards benefits claimants and turns those assumptions on their heads. In this episode, Tom heads to the job centre to meet his advisor, Carol, and talks about what it's really like at the Jobcentre Plus. Also featuring guest comic Darren Harriott.
Tom Mayhew is a critically acclaimed comedian, whose material about being working class – mixing the personal and the political, with the punchline-rate of a one-liner comic – sets him apart from any other act on the circuit. Tom Mayhew Is Benefit Scum is based on Mayhew's acclaimed Edinburgh show I, Tom Mayhew, which transferred to a sell-out run at the Soho Theatre.
Produced by Benjamin Sutton
Production Co-ordinator...Carina Andrews
A BBC Studios Production
SUN 00:30 Short Works (m0014xxy)
Soft Boiled Eggs by Jane Fraser
Food and farming seem to have become the heart of Megan and Gordon's long marriage. But is that enough? Sharon Morgan reads an original story by Welsh writer Jane Fraser set on the Gower peninsula.
Sound design by Catherine Robinson
Produced by Emma Harding
A BBC Cymru Wales production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m0015417)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m0015419)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.
SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m001541c)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SUN 05:30 News Briefing (m001541f)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (m00153z6)
The parish church of St Peter, Woolton in Liverpool.
Bells on Sunday comes from the parish church of St Peter, Woolton in Liverpool. It was at a St Peter’s Garden Fete in 1957 that future “Beatles” John Lennon and Paul McCartney first met and played together. Built in 1888 the church originally had a ring of 8-eight bells cast by Taylors of Loughborough. In 2019 they were augmented to a ring of ten by the addition of two trebles cast by the Royal Eijsbout foundry in the Netherlands. The tenor weighs nineteen and three quarter hundredweight and is tuned to E. We hear the bells ringing Stedman Caters
SUN 05:45 Profile (m00153yh)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 06:00 News Summary (m00153x8)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b00t60pf)
Knights in Shining Armour
Sometimes the figure offering salvation from physical or spiritual peril isn't who we'd expect, as Tom Robinson reflects.
Producer: Alan Hall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 06:35 Natural Histories (b07zz5y6)
Toad
Unlike frogs, toads have long suffered from a bad press. Thomas Pennant, a Welsh naturalist described them as "The most deformed and hideous of all animals …. its general appearance is such as to strike one with disgust and horror" in 1776, and Shakespeare didn’t do much for their PR when he had the three witches toss the toads into the charmed pot in Macbeth.
And whilst its true that Toads have glands which contain toxic substances which deter predators, they have also been viewed as evil spirits and a widely held belief concerned the toadstone - a jewel that was supposed to be found inside the toad’s head, which could protect the wearer from foul play. Kenneth Grahame did his best to dispel many of these myths when he introduced his readers to the loveable rascal Mr Toad in Wind in the Willows, although this toad terrorised everyone with his wreckless driving! This is somewhat ironic given that thousands of toads are killed every year on our roads by cars as they return to their breeding ponds. But as Brett Westwood discovers, help is at hand – as huge number of volunteers venture out every year to gather up toads from the roads and release them in nearby pools and lakes, to breed once again. All this and an encounter with the bootle organ as Brett explore our relationship with the Toad.
Originally broadcast in a longer form 25th October 2016
Original Producer Sarah Blunt
Archive producer for BBC Audio in Bristol Andrew Dawes
SUN 06:57 Weather (m00153xd)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SUN 07:00 News and Papers (m00153xg)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 07:10 Sunday (m00153xj)
Russian Orthodox response to Putin; Ukraine's Chief Rabbi in exile; The Christian radio station broadcasting defiantly from Kyiv
There are growing calls for the Russian Orthodox Church, led by the Moscow Patriarch Kirill, to condemn the Russian President Vladimir Putin for his decision to invade Ukraine. Earlier this week, the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church called on Patriarch Kirill to urge the leaders of the Russian Federation to ‘immediately cease the hostilities that threaten to turn into a world war’. And Russian Orthodox priests around the world are speaking out against the invasion. We hear from one in Durham and Edward Stourton speaks to Father Stephen Platt, Secretary for Inter-Christian Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church in Great Britain and Ireland.
We will also hear from Ukrainian refugees in Poland on their plight and the welcome they've received from Polish churches and the Jesuit Refugee Service. Tetiana Stawnychy, president of Caritas Ukraine, tell us what aid is needed now. And we find out about the Christian radio station broadcasting defiantly from Kyiv, offering spiritual and practical support as the city is surrounded by war.
There's some good news too as we return to Barmston in Yorkshire, where back in January curate Richard Townend tweeted a picture of his empty church after no one turned up for his Sunday service. After hearing his story on the programme, 14 people showed up the following week - including some new to church-going. And now villagers have launched a "bums on pews" campaign to save the church.
SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (m00153xl)
Play Action International
Dr Lavan Baskaran, an active suppporter of the charity, makes the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of Play Action International.
To Give:
- UK Freephone 0800 404 8144
-You can donate online at bbc.co.uk/appeal/radio4
- 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
'Play Action International’.
- Cheques should be made payable to ‘Play Action International’.
Please note that Freephone and online donations for this charity close at
23.59 on the Saturday after the Appeal is first broadcast. However the Freepost option can be used at any time.
Registered charity number: 1172875
SUN 07:57 Weather (m00153xn)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SUN 08:00 News and Papers (m00153xq)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (m00153xs)
A Passion for Hospitality
Dr Krish Kandiah launches a Lent series from Bath Abbey, ‘A Passion for Hospitality.’ As the nation emerges from a period of unprecedented isolation how can the disciplines of Lent benefit neighbour, friend and stranger alike? Music: Forty Days and Forty Nights, Blessed are the pure in heart (Walford Davies), Kyrie (Byrd), Thou Knowest Lord (Purcell), Lead us, Heavenly Father, Lead us, When I needed a neighbour, Do not be afraid (Philip Stopford). Reading: Matthew 4: 1-11. Leader: The Revd Chantal Mason (Abbey Pastor), Huw Williams (Director of Music), Shean Bowers (Organ), Producer: Philip Billson. A link to online resources for Lent can be found on the Sunday Worship web page.
SUN 08:48 A Point of View (m0014xyd)
Return of the Bomb
Will Self tells the story of Vasily Arkhipov, the commander of a Soviet nuclear-armed submarine, who during the Cuban Missile Crisis refused to fire his vessel's nuclear weapon and averted, many believe, a Third World War.
In the light of President Putin's actions this week, Will argues that the threat of nuclear apocalypse has never really gone away, however much we've tried to convince ourselves otherwise.
Producer: Adele Armstrong
Production Coordinator: Gemma Ashman
Sound: Rod Farquhar
Editor: Hugh Levinson
SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (b03mzty6)
Black-necked Grebe
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
David Attenborough presents the story of the Black-Necked Grebe. In winter the black-necked grebe is largely grey and white with a dark cap and eyes like rubies. You'll need to seek out Black headed grebes in their favourite spots which include large London reservoirs and shallow seas along the south coast.
SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (m00153xv)
The Sunday morning news magazine programme. Presented by Paddy O'Connell
SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (m00153xx)
Writer, Caroline Harrington
Directors, Julie Beckett & Dave Payne
Editor, Jeremy Howe
Brian Aldridge ….. Charles Collingwood
Phoebe Aldridge ….. Lucy Morris
Lilian Bellamy ….. Sunny Ormonde
Leonard Berry ….. Paul Copley
Harrison Burns ….. James Cartwright
Chris Carter ….. Wilf Scolding
Neil Carter ….. Brian Hewlett
Justin Elliott ….. Simon Williams
Rex Fairbrother ….. Nick Barber
Amy Franks ….. Jennifer Daley
Tracy Horrobin ….. Susie Riddell
Jazzer McCreary ….. Ryan Kelly
Kirsty Miller ….. Annabelle Dowler
Hannah Riley ….. Helen Longworth
Fallon Rogers ….. Joanna Van Kampen
Lynda Snell ….. Carole Boyd
Roy Tucker ….. Ian Pepperell
SUN 11:00 Desert Island Discs (m00153xz)
Oti Mabuse, dancer
Oti Mabuse is a dancer, choreographer and TV talent show judge. She has enjoyed great success on the BBC show Strictly Come Dancing and is one of only two professional dancers to win the glitterball trophy twice.
Oti was born in South Africa in 1990, the year that Nelson Mandela was released from prison, and dance was a central part of her life from a very early age: her mother had set up a dance school so that black children could learn ballroom and Latin dancing. Oti followed in the footsteps of her two older sisters, winning dance competitions in South Africa and taking part in international events. She competed in Blackpool when she was just 11 years old, and retains strong memories of the elegant Tower Ballroom and the poor weather.
Oti's father trained as a lawyer and her mother worked in education, and they felt that their youngest daughter needed the security of a professional qualification, so Oti studied civil engineering at university. Shortly before qualifying, she decided to abandon her degree and become a professional ballroom dancer, joining her sister Motsi in Germany.
She first appeared on Strictly Come Dancing in 2015 and has recently announced her departure from the show. She lives in London with her husband, the dancer Marius Lepure.
DISC ONE: Lose My Breath by Beyoncé (with Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams)
DISC TWO: My Afrikan Dream by Vicky Sampson
DISC THREE: A Song for Mama by Boyz II Men
DISC FOUR: Dance With My Father by Luther Vandross
DISC FIVE: Un-break my Heart by Toni Braxton
DISC SIX: I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman by Britney Spears
DISC SEVEN: It’s My Life by Bon Jovi
DISC EIGHT: Survivor by Destiny’s Child
BOOK CHOICE: Will by Will Smith
LUXURY ITEM: A photo of Oti and her Grandma
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: It’s My Life by Bon Jovi
Presenter Lauren Laverne
Producer Sarah Taylor
SUN 11:45 Letter from Ukraine (m0015h6b)
The day the world changed
Ukrainian writer Andrey Kurkov reflects on the tumultuous events of the last few days and his family's flight from their home in Kyiv.
Written and read by Andrey Kurkov
Translated by Elizabeth Sharp
Produced by Emma Harding
Production co-ordinator Eleri McAuliffe
Technical producer Catherine Robinson
A BBC Cymru Wales production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 12:00 News Summary (m00153y1)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 12:04 Just a Minute (m0014x7n)
Series 88
Episode 2
Sue Perkins challenges Zoe Lyons, Gyles Brandreth, Shazia Mirza and Paul Merton to speak for 60 seconds without repetition, deviation or hesitation.
The long running Radio 4 national treasure of a parlour game is back for a new series with subjects this week ranging from Stephen Sondheim to My Favourite Kardashian.
Production co-ordinator: Caroline Barlow
Sound editor: Marc Willcox
Producer: Hayley Sterling
A BBC Studios Production
SUN 12:32 The Food Programme (m00153y3)
Ukraine: War in the breadbasket of the world
Dan Saladino looks at the war in Ukraine through the lens of food. Are people already going hungry? And what does conflict mean for the millions dependent on Ukrainian wheat?
Fundraising for people impacted by the war is already underway; Cook for Ukraine https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/cookforukraine, and, as featured in the programme there is the World Central Kitchen https://wck.org/
This week's Radio Appeal came on behalf of the Disasters Emergency Committee https://www.dec.org.uk/
Produced and presented by Dan Saladino.
SUN 12:57 Weather (m00153y5)
The latest weather forecast
SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (m00153y7)
Radio 4’s look at the week’s big stories from both home and around the world.
SUN 13:30 The Archbishop Interviews (m00153y9)
Tony Blair
In this series, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has deep conversations with people who have made a significant contribution to public life about what they believe. How have the navigated their inner life alongside their public profile? What has been their moral ‘touchstone’ through the good times and the bad? How do they engage with faith and spirituality?
This week's guest is the former UK Prime Minister Sir Tony Blair. “We don't do God” is one of the most quoted lines from his 10-year premiership. While famously not wearing religion on his sleeve as a politician, he is open about how his faith has been foundational to the principles that underpinned his politics. This programme seeks to explore the beliefs, values and desires that lay behind decisions he took in office and the inner resources needed to deal with their consequences.
Producer: Dan Tierney for BBC Audio North.
SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m0014xxw)
GQT at Home: Unseasonal Flowers and Leaves with Power
Horticultural programme featuring a group of gardening experts. Kathy Clugston is joined by Kirsty Wilson, Matthew Pottage, and Anne Swithinbank. Together, they answer your gardening queries.
As the climate warms, more and more plants are flowering unseasonably early or else staying in flower for much longer. This week the panel tackles all sorts of untimely blooms, from a climbing rose to a woody rosemary plant.
To investigate the issue further, Peter Gibbs speaks to University of Cambridge researcher Ulf Büntgen who explains why the climate crisis is having this effect on plants.
Meanwhile at Oxford Botanic Garden, Chris Thorogood and a team of researchers have uncovered the secrets of the Giant Amazonian Waterlily, and Chris explains how important this knowledge will be for the future of construction and design.
Producer - Hannah Newton
Assistant Producer - Aniya Das
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 14:45 The Seventh Test by Vikas Swarup (b044j7pn)
The Visitor
Sapna Sinha works as a sales assistant in a TV showroom in New Delhi. Being the only bread-winner in the family she works long hours to provide for her widowed mother and younger sister. But then a man walks into her life with an extraordinary proposition: pass seven "life" tests of his choosing and she will have wealth and power. At first the tests seem easy, but things are not quite as they seem. Dramatised by Ayeesha Menon and John Dryden from Vikas Swarup's best-selling novel "The Accidental Apprentice".
9) The Visitor
A thriller set in India from the author of "Slumdog Millionaire".
In jail for murder, Sapna is trying to make sense of the past few months. But there is hope in an unexpected visit from someone she has helped in the past. Dramatised from Vikas Swarup's best-selling novel "The Accidental Apprentice".
Writers:
Vikas Swarup is an Indian diplomat and a best-selling novelist. His first novel "Q & A" was made into the Oscar winning film "Slumdog Millionaire" as well as Sony Award winning radio drama serial for BBC Radio .
Ayeesha Menon dramatized Vikas Swarup's other novels SIX SUSPECTS and Q & A, which won a Sony Award for Best Drama. She also wrote for Radio 4 THE MUMBAI CHUZZLEWITS, UNDERCOVER MUMBAI, THE CAIRO TRILOGY and MY NAME IS RED. Her stage play PEREIRA'S BAKERY AT 76 CHAPEL ROAD, which was developed with the Royal Court Theatre, was recently staged by the Curve Theatre, Leicester.
John Dryden wrote the original three-part dramas series SEVERED THREADS, THE RELUCTANT SPY and PANDEMIC, which won the Writer's Guild Award for best radio drama script. His dramatisation of BLEAK HOUSE won a Sony Award for Best Drama. Other dramatisations include A SUITABLE BOY, A HANDMAID'S TALE and FATHERLAND one of the most repeated dramas on R4 Extra.
Cast:
Sapna ... Rasika Dugal
Acharya ... Vijay Chrishna
Karan ... Neil Bhoopalam
Nirmila Ben / Rosie ... Radhika Mittal
Sapna's Mother - Shernaz Patel
Raja ... Sumeet Vyas
Kuldeep Singh / Roaji ... Rajit Kapur
Neha ... Amrita Puri
Priya Capoor / Pushpa / Female Judge ... Ayesha Raza
Badan Singh / Politician / Constable ... Kenny Desai
Madan ... Vivek Madan
Neelam / Babli ... Prerna Chawla
Rent Collector ... Satchit Puranik
Production:
Sound Design - Steve Bond
Editing Assistant - Varun Bangera
Script Editor - Mike Walker
Assistant Producer - Toral Shah
Music - Sacha Putnam
Dramatised by Ayeesha Menon and John Dryden from the novel "ACCIDENTAL APPRENTICE" by Vikas Swarup.
Director - John Dryden.
Producer - Nadir Khan
A Goldhawk Production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 15:00 Drama (m00153yc)
White Debt (Part 2)
Written and presented by Thomas Harding
Dramatised by Patricia Cumper
Based on the book White Debt by Thomas Harding
In 1823 Demerara was the most profitable and one of the most brutally violent of Britain’s West Indian colonies. For the slaveholders, it meant profit, luxury and power. For the enslaved, it meant a lifetime of terrible servitude. But the enslaved outnumbered the colonists thirty to one. The uprising led by Jack Gladstone and his father Quamina was to be, up to that point, the largest in British history.
The author and journalist Thomas Harding tells the story of the Demerara Uprising in 1823 that he argues had a decisive effect on Britain’s own attitude to slavery. This piece of history is brought to life with actors as audio drama, written by Patricia Cumper.
But the programme also contains a contemporary strand. In the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd and the increased attention being paid to Britain's colonial past, this two-part programme explores the legacy of Britain’s slavery today and asks the question, what, if anything should we do about it?
Jack . . . . . Martins Imhangbe
Quamina . . . . . Cyril Nri
John . . . . . Mark Edel-Hunt
Jane . . . . . Grace Cooper Milton
Primo . . . . . Justice Ritchie
Seaton . . . . . Chris Jack
Sandy . . . . . Kemi Durosinmi
Stewart . . . . . Michael Begley
Hamilton . . . . . Sam Dale
M’Turk . . . . . Ben Crowe
Leahy . . . . . Joseph Ayre
Produced by Sasha Yevtushenko
SUN 16:00 Bookclub (m00153yf)
Sarah Moss
Sarah Moss joins James Naughtie to answer listener questions about her novel The Tidal Zone - a story of healthcare, parenting, and the echoes of the past.
Adam and Emma are parents to 15 year old Miriam and 8 year old Rose. One day, Miriam collapses at school: her heart briefly stopped beating. She is rushed to hospital. The Tidal Zone considers the impact of this event on Miriam, and all of her family, as they spend time in hospital and then learn to live with what has happened. Interwoven with this story of contemporary family life, is the story of the re-building of Coventry Cathedral after the Second World War, the subject of Adam's academic research. The novel ask questions about how we rebuild and recover after trauma, and how we learn to live with history, both personal and political.
Our next recordings for Bookclub are with Karen Joy Fowler and Nick Harkaway. Follow the links on the website to take part and ask a question.
SUN 16:30 Egypt's New Capital (m000nl7d)
With a population that's grown from 2.5 million to 20 million since 1950, Cairo is among the most congested cities in the world, and its inefficiency costs Egypt 4% of its GDP every year. The bold solution - to build an all new administrative and residential capital, totally from scratch, 45km away from Cairo in a place where before there was only desert.
Jonathan Glancey travels from Old Cairo to this new and as yet unnamed metropolis, touring the enormous ghost town as it springs into life.
The numbers are impressive. The so-called Sisi’s City will cover 270 square kilometres - the same size as Singapore island, house 6.5 million inhabitants, boast a 10km green area larger than New York’s Central Park. The new city will house all of the Egyptian governments 34 ministries, as well as the stock exchange and central bank.
While other cities have risen out of the desert, the likes of Las Vegas and Doha still did so somewhat organically. Here we have an entirely pre-planned city. But can such a project possibly predict and satisfy the needs of its inhabitants? Will the Egyptians have learned the lessons of the past 100 years of urbanism and be able to build a truly functioning city from scratch?
Presented by Jonthan Glancey
Produced by Dom Byrne
A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 17:00 File on 4 (m0014wvf)
The Paedophile Preacher
File on 4 tells the story of a charismatic preacher on the run from British police for child sex offences. Three years ago, File on 4 tracked him down to an impoverished Roma community in Bulgaria where he was sexually abusing boys as young as 10. Daniel Erickson-Hull was arrested and charged by the Bulgarian authorities after he was confronted by File on 4 but has since been released and continues to offend. Yet despite overwhelming evidence, the self-styled preacher from London has been left alone. Paul Kenyon asks why the Metropolitan Police has failed to use its powers to bring him to justice and stop boys being sexually abused.
Reporter: Paul Kenyon
Producer: Ben Robinson
Editor: Carl Johnston
SUN 17:40 Profile (m00153yh)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m00153yk)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SUN 17:57 Weather (m00153ym)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m00153yp)
Families trying to flee caught in the line of fire. Evacuation of civilians from Mariupol fails again. Nearly 4,000 people arrested during anti-war protests across Russia.
SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (m00153yr)
Pat Nevin
We will be looking at Ukraine and the reactions from various parts of our society including the position of sport in the conflict, not forgetting the departure of Roman Abramovich. We'll hear from soccer mums wanting the best for their budding stars, not before Tom Jones turns up as an unexpected guest and almost faints.
We'll even provide some information that might just save your life, if you find yourself in the company of a headless snake.
Presenter: Pat Nevin
Producer: Emmie Hume
Production Coordinator: Elodie Chatelain
Studio Manager: David Crackles
SUN 19:00 The Archers (m00153yt)
Alice gets uncomfortable Amy on board with arrangements for Martha’s first birthday party. As they chat Amy’s horrified when Fallon arrives. Tension simmers between them as oblivious Alice presses on. But when Amy leaves abruptly, Alice demands to know from Fallon what’s going on. With an effort Fallon evades Alice’s question, but Alice can’t understand why Fallon’s taking out her tetchiness on Amy, their good friend. She couldn’t do any of this without the two of them, and begs Fallon to make things right with Amy. Fallon reluctantly agrees.
Jazzer wants to know what’s bothering grumpy Alistair, who eventually gives up that he’s miffed not only to miss the tradition of being persuaded to attend cricket training, but also that Tracy thinks he’s eligible for the veterans team. Does he really look sixty-five? He’s not even sixty yet! Jazzer reckons it’s his dress sense letting him down, but Alistair counters it’s lack of sleep. The noise coming from Jazzer’s room when Tracy stays over is keeping him awake. Jazzer conveys this delicate information to Tracy, and suggests they spend more time at hers. No, says Tracy, the walls are paper thin at No.6. Jazzer has the idea of creating a secret love nest in one of the rooms at Grey Gables. As Tracy protests it’s more than her job’s worth, Jazzer can tell she’s a little excited too. It’s mad, but they have to do it – as soon as possible.
SUN 19:15 Now You're Asking with Marian Keyes and Tara Flynn (m00153yw)
The Shoplifter Problem
Marian and Tara tackle front-fastening bras, anxiety, conspiracy theorists and a shoplifting mother with trademark kindness and good humour.
Marian Keyes is a multi award-winning writer, with a total of over 30 million of her books sold to date in 33 languages. Her close friend Tara Flynn is an actress, comedian and writer. Together, these two friends have been through a lot, and now want to use their considerable life experience to help solve your biggest - and smallest - problems.
From dilemmas about life, love and grief, to the perils of laundry or knowing what to say at a boring dinner, we’ll find out what Marian and Tara would recommend - which might not solve the problem exactly, but will make us all feel a bit better.
Recorded in Dublin with emails received from listeners around the world, the hosts invite you to pull up a chair at their virtual kitchen table as they read and digest their inbox.
Got a problem you want Marian and Tara to solve? Email: marianandtara@bbc.co.uk.
Producer: Steve Doherty.
A Giddy Goat production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds
SUN 19:45 Bright Lights, Dead City (m00153yy)
Episode 9. The Cheap Seats
An American film crew descends on a Northern Irish city to make a lavish prestige drama series about the Troubles called ‘Dead City’, inspiring the locals to get involved in the production, only for filming to be halted by the mysterious disappearance of the lead actress.
The Writer
Séamas O'Reilly is a columnist for the Observer and has written about media and politics for the Irish Times, New Statesman, Guts, and VICE. His memoir 'Did Ye Hear Mammy Died?' was an Irish Times Number One Bestseller and was awarded the Dubray Biography of the Year Award at the 2021 An Post Irish Book Awards.
Reader: Dearbháile McKinney
Writer: Séamas O'Reilly
Producer: Michael Shannon
Exec Editor: Andy Martin
A BBC Northern Ireland production.
SUN 20:00 More or Less (m0014x0f)
Troop and Casualty Numbers in Ukraine
How reliable are the figures coming out of the conflict in Ukraine?
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, we consider claims about the numbers of troops involved, people killed, and planes downed.
Also: are the prime minister’s parliamentary claims about growing numbers of NHS staff backed up by data? We investigate the perplexing claim that the Chagos Islands are 100 metres below sea level. How long do you have to drive an electric car to offset the pollution from making the battery? And do we really make 35,000 decisions a day?
SUN 20:30 Last Word (m0014xy0)
Sonny Ramadhin (pictured), Sister Catherine Wybourne, Captain Raymond Savage, Anna Karen
Matthew Bannister on
Sonny Ramadhin, the West Indian bowler who was one of the heroes of the side that scored a famous victory over England in 1950.
Sister Catherine Wybourne, who was known as the 'digital nun' for her use of blogs and social media to communicate the messages of her order.
Captain Raymond Savage, one of the last surviving prisoners of war who worked on the notorious Burma railway in the 1940s.
Anna Karen, the actor best known for her appearances in the TV sitcom 'On The Buses' and the 'Carry On' films.
Producer: Neil George
Interviewed guest: Kenneth Ramchand
Interviewed guest: Joshua Surtees
Interviewed guest: Eric Southworth
Interviewed guest: Caroline Aston
Interviewed guest: Linda Regan
Archive clips used: YouTube, Melbourne 1960 - The Tied Test; British Pathé, West Indies Cricketers Look 'Aussie' Class (1950); Joshua Surtees, Interview with Sonny Ramadhin; BBC SOUND ARCHIVE, ENGLAND V WEST INDIES 29/06/1950; Imperial War Museum, IWM 4823 Interview with Raymond Savage; British Pathé/ Reuters, The Fall of Singapore 1942; London Weekend Television, On The Buses TV Show 1971; Rabbit and Snail / Morris Bright MBE Interview with Anna Karen; Hammer Films/EMI, Holiday on The Buses (1973); The Rank Organization, Carry on Camping (1969); BBC One, Eastenders 20/01/1997; BBC Radio 4, Listening Corner - Sally's Secret by Shirley Hughes 04/04/1983.
SUN 21:00 Money Box (m00153z0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 on Saturday]
SUN 21:25 Radio 4 Appeal (m00153xl)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 today]
SUN 21:30 Analysis (m0014x7v)
The case for public service reform
Chris Naylor asks if there's a better way to deliver public services. Many of these were designed nearly a century ago to address the challenges of that time; from cradle to grave, offering help and support during times of need - just enough to get you back on your feet. But as we approach the quarter-way mark in the 21st century, our context today is radically different to that of 100 years ago. Dig a little deeper and some of the other assumptions that underpinned Beveridge’s vision of a welfare state no longer hold either: full employment; economic and fiscal growth; the presumption of unpaid domestic care (then done by women) and of affordable housing. Little wonder that services designed to respond to momentary problems in a person or household life can’t cope with the tsunami of demand that comes when those problems last for decades. And if our public services can’t cope with collective demand, the worry is this is contributing to a collapse in the trust we place in our public institutions and therefore in our politics too. As the years go by, as trust declines, so the problems get harder and harder to resolve.
So what are we going to do about this? Is there a better way to deliver public services? Chris Naylor, the former Chief Executive of Barking and Dagenham Council assesses the need for public service reform, meeting innovators and talking to those who design and use public services. Is it time for a radical rethink?
Producer: Jim Frank
Production Coordinators: Maria Ogundele and Jacqui Johnson
Editor: Hugh Levinson
SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (m00153z2)
Carolyn Quinn discusses the Ukraine crisis and the UK government's response with the Conservative MP Sir John Redwood; Labour frontbencher Nia Griffith; and the defence expert, Professor Michael Clarke. Lucy Fisher - deputy political editor of the Daily Telegraph - brings additional insight and analysis.
SUN 23:00 The Curious Cases of Rutherford & Fry (m0014xty)
Series 19
Surprising Symmetries
Two eyes, two arms, two legs - we’re roughly symmetrical on the outside, but inside we’re all over the place! We just have one heart, which is usually on the left, one liver on the right, one spleen and one appendix….‘Why is that?’ wonders listener Joanne.
Our science sleuths discover that being symmetrical down the middle - at least on the outside - is by far the most common body plan across the animal kingdom. Professor Sebastian Shimeld from the University of Oxford takes us on a journey into the deep evolutionary past, to uncover how two-sided body structures first emerged in ancient worm-like creatures, and why this layout eventually proved so useful for swimming, walking and flying.
Garden snails turn out to be a surprising exception – their shells coil in one direction and on just one side of their body. Professor Angus Davison from the University of Nottingham tells the tale of his international quest to find a romantic partner for Jeremy – a rare left-coiling snail who could only mate with another left-coiling snail!
Dr Daniel Grimes from the University of Oregon unfolds the delicate mechanisms by which an initally symmetrical embryo starts to develop differently down one side, and everyone puzzles over the mystery of the left-handed 'mirror molecules' - so called L-amino acids - which turn out to be the building blocks of every living organism. A curious case indeed!
Presenters: Hannah Fry and Adam Rutherford
Producer: Ilan Goodman
SUN 23:30 Something Understood (b00t60pf)
[Repeat of broadcast at
06:05 today]
MONDAY 07 MARCH 2022
MON 00:00 Midnight News (m00153z4)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
MON 00:15 Wireless Nights (m0011rv1)
Series 7
Bat Night
Jarvis Cocker is back with a new series of Wireless Nights
Tonight, armed with a bat detector Jarvis sets off through a wetland in search of bats and bat stories.
He finds ecologist John Altringham crouched beside a cave in North Yorkshire awaiting a swarm of bats that come once a year to dance the night away.
Jayne Hyde Dryden is using her powers of echo location to find her way around on a night walk. Being blind, this helps her see in sound.
And Gail Armstrong is on watch at the Bat Hospital in Lancashire, nursing injured bats back to good health and finally returning them to the wild.
Thanks to Lisa Woodward at the London Wetland Centre
Producer Neil McCarthy
MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (m00153z6)
[Repeat of broadcast at
05:43 on Sunday]
MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m00153z8)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m00153zb)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.
MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m00153zd)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
MON 05:30 News Briefing (m00153zg)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m00153zj)
A spirtitual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Rev Dr Emma Whittick, the University of Wales Trinity Saint David's Chaplain at Lampeter and Carmarthen.
MON 05:45 Farming Today (m00153zl)
07/03/22 - Welsh port facilities, the NI Protocol and sheep's milk vodka
In July Britain will bring in new certificates and physical checks on goods coming in from the EU - they’ve been delayed several times - but the British Retail Consortium says they’re concerned the facilities at ports wont be ready in time - especially for goods coming across the Irish Sea into Wales. Two inspection points will be built in Wales by 2023 - until then limited checks will be done at temporary facilities at Holyhead, Fishguard and Pembroke.
All this week we’re looking at the Northern Ireland Protocol and what it means for food and farming. That’s a big sector in Northern Ireland which is a net exporter of food - to Great Britain, to the Republic of Ireland and to the rest of Europe. When we left the EU it was decided not to check goods leaving or entering at the border between the north and south of Ireland, but instead to do those checks at ports. And as part of the agreement, Northern Ireland follows EU rules on product standards.
And we meet the sheep farmers producing vodka from a by-product from cheese making.
Presented by Charlotte Smith
Producer for BBC Audio in Bristol by Heather Simons
MON 05:56 Weather (m00153zn)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.
MON 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b02twnw4)
Herring Gull
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Steve Backshall presents the herring gull.
Herring gulls now regularly breed inland and that's because of the way we deal with our refuse. Since the Clean Air Acts of 1956 banned the burning of refuse at rubbish tips, the birds have been able to cash in on the food that we reject: And our throwaway society has provided them a varied menu. We've also built reservoirs around our towns on which they roost, and we've provided them with flat roofs which make perfect nest sites.
MON 06:00 Today (m001546h)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
MON 09:00 Start the Week (m001546k)
Creating art; reflecting life
New York, 1984: the iconic artist Andy Warhol meets the rising star Jean-Michel Basquiat. Their relationship as they work together on a landmark exhibition is at the heart of the world premiere of Anthony McCarten’s new drama, The Collaboration, at the Young Vic theatre. The director Kwame Kwei-Armah tells Kirsty Wark how the drama pulls apart the creative, racial and sexual tensions between the two, and explores artistic reputations and rivalries.
The artist Louise Bourgeois was already in her 70s in the 1980s and slowly getting the attention she deserved. An exhibition at the Hayward Gallery in London focuses on the decades that followed as she had a late burst of creativity using fabric and textiles. The curator of Woven Child Ralph Rugoff explains how the artist began to incorporate clothes from all stages of her life into her art, mining themes of personal trauma, memory, identity and reparation.
The Somali-British poet Warsan Shire has been hailed as the voice of a generation, who has collaborated with the superstar Beyoncé. Her debut collection, Bless The Daughter: Raised By A Voice In Her Head is full of sounds and smells, exploring the lives of refugees and the relationship between mothers and daughters. While she is celebrated as an exciting poet of our time, Shire says she looks to Somalia’s literary heritage for inspiration.
Producer: Katy Hickman
Photo credit: Jeremy Pope and Paul Bettany in 'Collaboration' (c) Marc Brenner. Concept and design by Émilie Chen.
MON 09:45 Death by Conspiracy? (m001546m)
6. Tristan's Quest
Filmmaker Tristan hears about the death of his cousin Gary. Seeking to understand what happened, Tristan returns to Shrewsbury, where he encounters Charlie Parker.
Gary Matthews was a talented artist and photographer, sociable and well-liked - a familiar face in his hometown of Shrewsbury. A few years ago, his friends noticed that he was getting into conspiracy theories. Like millions of others, he fell for Covid pseudoscience when the pandemic hit. In January 2021, at the age of 46, Gary caught the virus, and died.
Marianna Spring, the BBC’s specialist disinformation reporter, travels to the serene medieval Shropshire town that Gary Matthews called home to investigate what happened to him - and why. While delving into the conspiracy underbelly of this picturesque town, she finds out more about Gary's life - and discovers a story that's been repeated across the country, and around the world.
Producer: Ant Adeane
Editor: Mike Wendling
MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (m001546p)
HER Ensemble, Dame Margaret Hodge MP, Surrogacy & IVF in Ukraine, Anne Dickson
Emma speaks to BBC Ukraine correspondent Zhanna Bezpiatchuk about the situation in Ukraine.
Today the Commons discuss the long-awaited Economic Crimes Bill. A cross party alliance of MPs will be tabling amendments to strengthen the bill. Amongst them is Labour MP, Dame Margaret Hodge who has been calling for tougher anti-corruption laws for many years, and has said there are "worrying loopholes in the bill". She joins Emma
Last year, just 5% of the classical music pieces performed worldwide were written by women. That’s the highest percentage recorded to date. When the violinist Ellie Consta found this out she brought together a string orchestra called Her Ensemble to perform a range of music written by women. Ellie and violinist Sarah Daramy-Williams joins Emma.
Anne Dickson's book, A Woman in your own Right: The art of assertive, clear and honest communication, was first published 40 years ago. It has been in print ever since. Anne joins Emma to outline the skills and techniques she pioneered and to discuss why she believes they are as relevant today as they were 40 years ago.
One of the unforeseeable consequences of the war in Ukraine is how it has affected the hundreds of people from the UK and Ireland who visit the country every year to undergo fertility treatment or use Ukrainian surrogates. This has left families in a quandary about whether or not to continue treatment, and worried about the welfare of surrogate mothers and what could happen to any babies born during the conflict. Emma hears from Senator Mary Seery Kearney who is campaigning for surrogate women to be given refuge in Ireland and from Rend Platings who was due to return there this month for her next round of IVF.
Presenter: Emma Barnett
Producer: Lucinda Montefiore
MON 11:00 My Name Is... (m001546r)
My Name is Sam
Sam is 23, and suffers from a severe muscle wasting disorder. He wants to know why - like hundreds of thousands of other disabled people - he can't find a suitable home of his own.
Since graduating from university last summer, he's had to live in hotel rooms for several months, and now in temporary council accommodation which could be taken from him if he refuses to accept permanent housing he feels is very unsuitable.
Sam's Duchenne muscular dystrophy means he needs a home with proper equipment suited to his care needs. In common with hundreds of thousands of others around the UK, he is desperate to live independently - but the severe lack of accessible and suitable housing now jeopardises not just his domestic comfort, but also his job and mental health.
Presenting 'My Name Is Sam' for BBC Radio 4, he goes in search of answers from landlords, government officials and builders to discover why they aren't providing anywhere near enough suitable housing for those in dire need.
MON 11:30 Loose Ends (m001540x)
[Repeat of broadcast at
18:15 on Saturday]
MON 12:00 News Summary (m001546v)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
MON 12:04 Sea Change by Alix Nathan (m001567p)
Episode 1
England is beset by social unrest and the threat of Napoleonic invasion. Parted following a freakish accident, Sarah Battle and her daughter Eve try to rediscover each other.
With her mother widely believed to be dead, Eve is raised by Sarah’s erratic artist friend Joseph in London. Sarah - traumatised in mind and body - must rebuild herself in a Norfolk fishing village at the parsonage of the strangely-motivated Reverend Snead.
Episode One
London 1802. Sarah is on board a balloon that takes flight to celebrate the Peace of Amiens.
Alix Nathan is the author of His Last Fire, a collection of short stories, and the novels The Flight Of Sarah Battle and The Warlow Experiment.
Writer: Alix Nathan
Reader: Samantha Spiro
Abridger: Jeremy Osborne
Producer: Jeremy Osborne
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4
MON 12:18 You and Yours (m001546x)
Rising Prices, Charity Shop Bargains and Recycling
How is the war in Ukraine affecting prices over here? Oil and gas prices soared as markets opened this morning - so what will go up in price here?
As pretty much every high street has a charity shop - we decided to send our reporter out to see where the best bargains can be found....buy new or go second-hand...and is it really all about the price?
Why are more and more of us getting blinded by the light when we are driving? We look at the latest campaign to stop dazzling headlights on UK roads
What's the best way to be green when it comes to recycling at home? We hear whether crushing your cans, de-labelling your jars and collapsing your plastic bottles really is the right thing to do before chucking them in the recycling bin.
And what happened to all those gift vouchers that drifted out of date during the Covid lockdown? We try to find out if many places extended the deadline
PRODUCER: JAY UNGER
PRESENTER: NICOLA BECKFORD
MON 12:57 Weather (m001546z)
The latest weather forecast
MON 13:00 World at One (m0015471)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Sarah Montague.
MON 13:45 The Museums That Make Us (m0015473)
Stowe and the Temple of British Worthies
Neil MacGregor presents a new series for BBC Radio Four celebrating the museums to be found in all corners of Britain. The ambition is to explore local, regional and city museums across the length and breadth of the country, and in the process to answer the question ‘What are Museums For in 2022?’.
Museums have always been telescopes trained on the past to help locate a sense of place in the present. Neil believes that role is an active one, responding to changes in the people museums serve and the shifting social and cultural landscape they inhabit. After spending much of his life at the centre of our national Museum life in London, Neil is taking to the road to discover more about the extraordinary work being done in Museums outside the capital, from Stornoway to Stowmarket, and Belfast to Birmingham.
In each episode he visits a single museum, inviting them to choose an object from their collections which they feel best illustrates their civic role, and the way they relate and want to relate to their local audience. Very rarely have they chosen a crown jewel from their often priceless collections. More often it's an object with a particular local resonance, or which helps tackle episodes from the past which are being viewed very differently by citizens in the 21st century.
He’ll be visiting the great national museums of Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland, as well as major city institutions in Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool and elsewhere. And in spite of the challenges of the last two years, everywhere he meets passionate teams who are dedicated to providing a unique experience for both local audiences and visitors from further afield.
Neil writes: “What’s going on in our museums is at once challenging and exciting and it can only really be understood by visiting as many as possible and finding out how they have approached what is a vital role in providing a sense of local, regional and national identity.”
The first programme will establish Neil’s approach to the subject on a visit to the gardens of Stowe in Buckinghamshire, where in the 1740s the first example of a vision of Britain outside London, was established, complete with a Temple of British worthies.
Producer -Tom Alban
Original music composed by Phil Channell
MON 14:00 The Archers (m00153yt)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Sunday]
MON 14:15 Drama (m0015476)
Talking About a Revolution
By Sarah Daniels
When Maya unearths new information about her Aunt’s death, and the curious circumstances behind a car crash that happened over 40 years ago, she’s determined to find out the truth. What she discovers opens up a murky world of radicalisation and revenge.
A story about violence against women that imagines the extremes that some women might go to in order to fight back.
Maya ….. Saffron Coomber
Diane ….. Clare Perkins
Louise ….. Christine Kavanagh
Jude ….. Rebecca Crankshaw
Ava ….. Amy Golden
Young Diane ….. Elexi Walker
Young Nina ….. Alexandra Hannant
The Police Officer ….. Neil McCaul
Written by Sarah Daniels
Directed by Anne Isger
MON 15:00 Counterpoint (m0015478)
Series 35
Semi-final 2, 2022
(11/13)
All three competitors in the second semi-final of this year's Counterpoint tournament are women, and all three are heat winners from the earlier stages of the competition. Paul Gambaccini puts them through their paces again, and the standard is sure to be high as they have their sights set on a place in the 2022 Final.
As always, all genres of music are fair game for questions. How are they on the films of Doris Day or the arias of Handel, and if they get those will they also recognise a hit by Olivia Rodrigo or the lyrics to a song by Madonna?
Taking part today are
Isabelle Heward from North Lincolnshire
Rebecca Pasha from North Buckinghamshire
Rachel Thomas from Hertfordshire.
Assistant Producer: Stephen Garner
Producer: Paul Bajoria
MON 15:30 The Food Programme (m00153y3)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:32 on Sunday]
MON 16:00 Banding: Love, Spit and Valve Oil (m0014xtb)
The mines are dead, but the music and the people are not.
Folk musician Martin Green explores the phenomenon that is modern brass banding. After following a poster at the National Mining Museum Scotland that said “brass in the park, this Saturday”, Martin discovered one of the most inspiring social music making acts he’d ever witnessed. If the mines are dead, the music and the people most definitely are not.
Determined to find out what continues to draw people into brass banding, both musically and socially, Martin decides to write a piece of music for brass band and seek advice from those in the community. He finds a series of interesting juxtapositions and discovers the important role brass banding has in people's lives.
Produced by Rebecca Gaskell and Martin Green
A Sparklab and Lepus co-production for BBC Radio 4
MON 16:30 The Digital Human (m001547c)
Series 25
Folk Wisdom
A special kind of wisdom is transmitted from generation to generation - proverbial knowledge with no basis in fact, but still intuitive: chicken soup cures a cold; live, love, laugh; turn a coin in your pocket in the moonlight to secure a fortune. Proverbs have always helped to answer life’s important questions, and in some cases, this kind of wisdom can save a community from disaster.
In the past, traditional knowledge was held by a matriarch or a wise man. When they died, that wisdom went with them. Now, this knowledge has jumped online. But sometimes, the internet doesn’t just preserve tradition; it manipulates it. This wisdom can be used to discredit expertise, and create distrust in institutions.
In this episode, Aleks Krotoski asks why we are turning away from experts for answers to life’s important questions, and how looking instead to the advice of strangers on the internet for guidance is leading to alternative truths, and conspiracy.
MON 17:00 PM (m001547f)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.
MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m001547h)
Russia is bombarding key Ukrainian cities despite offering escape routes, Ukraine says.
MON 18:30 Just a Minute (m001547k)
Series 88
Episode 3
Sue Perkins challenges Dane Baptiste, Stephen Fry, Sheila Hancock and Paul Merton to speak for 60 seconds without repetition, deviation or hesitation.
This week's panellists prove that it can be much more difficult than you would think to talk about brushing your teeth.
Production co-ordinator: Caroline Barlow
Sound editor: Marc Willcox
Producer: Richard Morris
A BBC Studios Production
MON 19:00 The Archers (m001547m)
Amy begs to talk to Fallon at the Tearoom but gets an icy reception. Amy can’t bear the atmosphere between them. Fallon agrees to keep things civil, but only for Alice’s sake. She points out Alice is trying to put her life back together, and Amy’s risking her friend’s recovery. Amy crumbles; she doesn’t want any of this to be happening, and she has feelings for Chris. Her head’s all over the place. Fallon urges her gently to go home. Amy leaves to figure out what to do. Later she calls Fallon and tells her she’s decided to leave Ambridge after Martha’s party.
Tracy and Jazzer are furtive at Grey Gables Reception as she sorts him out a room key card for their tryst. She cuts short his clowning around for fear of being discovered, and sends him off to open up the room. Tracy’s intercepted by Oliver, who informs her that a guest is being moved to the room she’s just put Jazzer in. Tracy rushes to oust now naked Jazzer, having despatched the guest to the bar to delay her arrival. But before Jazzer can get his clothes back on, Oliver arrives at the room and lets himself in. They’re sprung. Oliver’s furious at their breach of trust and sends mortified Tracy home. He’s suspending her immediately, pending further action.
MON 19:15 Front Row (m001547p)
Sean Baker, The Shires, Kaveh Akbar
Director Sean Baker discusses his new film Red Rocket that was nominated for the Palme D’Or - the top prize at Cannes.
The Iranian-American poet Kaveh Akbar discusses his new poetry collection, The Pilgrim Bell, and his fascination with the English metaphysical poet, John Donne.
Ahead of the release of their new album ’10 Year Plan’ British country stars The Shires discuss song-writing and going back on the road, plus they perform two new tracks live in the studio including their latest single ‘I See Stars'.
Presenter: Samira Ahmed
Producer: Jodie Keane
MON 20:00 Pay Freezes (m001547r)
From the Big Freeze to the Winter of Discontent
Labour shortages and the cost of living are back as big issues for the first time in years.
There are predictions that the biggest pay squeeze in decades is imminent.
So in this new three-part series for BBC Radio 4, documentary-maker Phil Tinline traces the ups and downs of the politics of pay in Britain since 1945. How did we get here? And what can our history tell us about where we might now be heading?
Our way into this story is through British winters. When workers are powerless, winter puts them under greater pressure. When they have power, winter gives them greater bargaining leverage.
In this first episode, we head back to the big freeze of 1947, when energy and labour shortages were urgent issues. We discover how, as the government grappled with all this, and with inflation, post-war British politics began to be steered by a strange, half-forgotten notion: 'incomes policy'. Why did the state intervene to encourage unions to hold down pay demands, and businesses to hold down profits? And why did anyone co-operate?
Phil traces how this approach shaped the politics of pay for decades - and how it began to break down in the 1960s, even before the winter coal strikes of 1972 and 1974, and the advent of the 'Winter of Discontent'.
Alongside this, he draws on the BBC's archive to reconstruct the long struggle to equalise men and women's pay, from satirical protests outside Parliament in the 1950s, to the impact of the ground-breaking strike by sewing machinists at Ford's Dagenham plant in 1968.
Series contributors include: Kate Bell, Margaret Beckett, Neil Carberry, John Edmonds, Stuart Hill, Linda Hoffman, Gavin Kelly, Tara Martin Lopez, Lucy Neville-Rolfe, Rain Newton-Smith, Michael Portillo, Dominic Sandbrook, Stefan Stern, Selina Todd, Norman Tebbit, Nick Timothy
Producer/ Presenter: Phil Tinline
MON 20:30 Analysis (m001547v)
Ending Violence
Is a world without violence possible? Violence blights the lives of countless individuals each year. The Crime Survey of England and Wales suggests there were 1.2 million incidents of violent crime in the year ending March 2020.
Sonia Sodha focuses on one category of violence – gender-based violence – and assesses the global progress in tackling this issue. Statistics show that most perpetrators – and victims – of violent crime are men. As a result, many violence prevention initiatives have traditionally focused on reducing men’s propensity for violence. But how effective is this gender-based approach? And does it provide any clues for the best way to reduce violence in society as a whole?
Presenter: Sonia Sodha
Producer: Dan Hardoon
Production Coordinators: Maria Ogundele and Jacqui Johnson
Sound: James Beard
Editor: Hugh Levinson
MON 21:00 Soccer Mums (m0014wt4)
When journalist and broadcaster Rosemary Laryea’s son tells her he has dreams of playing professional football, she soon learns that this involves a lot more than cheering supportively from the touchline.
The role of an aspiring footballer’s parent – and increasingly it’s the mums who take it on – is multi-faceted. She finds herself learning about diet and wellbeing strategies, coordinating travel arrangements, and dealing with clubs, coaches and potential agents. Crucially, it also involves making sure schoolwork continues to be done, especially if, like her son Rahman, the A-levels are looming.
We follow Rosemary over a six-month period as Rahman aims to make the step up from boys’ football to the world of under-23s and seniors. The early signs are positive. Impressive performances get Rahman noticed and the signs are that, like fellow Wembley boy Raheem Sterling, now an England star, Rahman many be on the road to a pro contract.
Along the way Rosemary shares stories of maternal highs and lows with other dedicated soccer mums. She meets Jennifer, who spends so much time driving her two sons to matches that “I basically live in the car”. Toni, a PE teacher, tells us how the determination of her 13-year-old daughter to make the grade has seen the family’s routine re-jigged in support of the cause. And Pam, from a football-mad household, describes how she's taken on the role of post-match critic and analyst for her son's games.
For all these mums, supporting their kids’ dreams is a job well worth doing. But it comes at the cost of sleepless nights as they worry about the all-too-real possibilities of injury setbacks and eventual disappointment.
Picture Credit: Inigo Laguda
Producers: Rosemary Laryea and Hugh Costello
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4
MON 21:30 Start the Week (m001546k)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
MON 22:00 The World Tonight (m001547y)
Outrage as Moscow offers safe routes to Russia and Belarus
In-depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
MON 22:45 Sea Change by Alix Nathan (m001567p)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 today]
MON 23:00 You're Dead To Me (p07qrwq7)
Stonehenge
Greg Jenner digs into the history and mystery surrounding Stonehenge. Is it really the symbol of fertility and scene of sacrifice it’s portrayed to be, and what part of Stonehenge is the henge exactly?
Featuring podcasting legend Richard Herring alongside archaeologist Susan Greaney from English Heritage. It’s history for people who don’t like history!
Produced by Dan Morelle
Script by Greg Jenner
Research by Emma Nagouse
A Muddy Knees Media production for BBC Radio 4
MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (m0015480)
Susan Hulme reports on as new laws are rushed through the Commons to crack down on Russian investment in the UK.
TUESDAY 08 MARCH 2022
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (m0015482)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 00:30 Death by Conspiracy? (m001546m)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m0015484)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m0015486)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.
TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m0015488)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
TUE 05:30 News Briefing (m001548b)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m001567s)
A spirtitual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Rev Dr Emma Whittick, the University of Wales Trinity Saint David's Chaplain at Lampeter and Carmarthen.
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (m001548d)
08/03/22 - The Catch App, replacing wheat from Ukraine and the NI Protocol
Small-scale fishermen believe they could face prosecution because of an App which has been launched to monitor their catches, which they say doesn’t work for them. From the end of February, English vessels of under 10m have been obliged to use the Catch App - designed by the Marine Management Organisation - to record what species and how much they catch, and where they land it. Failure to do so accurately could lead to an unlimited fine. A group of fishermen from around England - under the campaign name "Scrap the App" - have now applied for permission for a judicial review, to get the MMO to delay enforcing the new regulations.
Irish farmers are being asked by their Government to plant more cereals, as part of emergency plans to offset a predicted food security crisis because of the invasion of Ukraine. Between them, Russia and Ukraine account for 30% of global wheat exports. We asked DEFRA if we could expect a similar move here - it told us it’s in regular contact with major grain traders, manufacturers and food retailers … and it doesn't expect to see any significant direct impact on UK food supply.
And as part of a week long focus on the impact of the Northern Ireland Protocol on food and farming, we hear from one company that has benefited from an increase in exports to the Republic of Ireland.
Presented by Anna Hill
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Heather Simons
TUE 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03zrcgb)
Capercaillie
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Kate Humble presents the capercaillie. The bizarre knife-grinding, cork-popping display of the male capercaillie is one of the strangest sounds produced by any bird. The name 'Capercaillie' is derived from the Gaelic for 'horse of the woods', owing to the cantering sound, which is the start of their extraordinary mating display. These are the largest grouse in the world and in the UK they live only in ancient Caledonian pine forests.
TUE 06:00 Today (m0015495)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
TUE 09:00 The Life Scientific (m0014wt0)
Shankar Balasubramanian on decoding DNA
Producer: Anna Buckley
Image ©University of Cambridge
TUE 09:30 The Political Butterfly Effect (m000846b)
Did your holiday photos spread global chaos?
The arrival of Facebook’s News Feed in 2016 didn't seem like much at first. Billed by Mark Zuckerberg simply as a way to make sure “you don’t miss the photo album of your friend’s trip to Nepal,” the News Feed went on to change the world in all sorts of ways.
Jim Waterson explores the libertarian philosophy underlying its introduction - and how Facebook’s quest for never-ending growth helped spread chaos throughout the world.
Presenter: Jim Waterson
Producer: Robbie MacInnes
An SPG production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 09:45 Death by Conspiracy? (m00154c4)
7. Gary's Final Days
Marianna examines new evidence and fills in the gaps of Gary’s last days.
Gary Matthews was a talented artist and photographer, sociable and well-liked - a familiar face in his hometown of Shrewsbury. A few years ago, his friends noticed that he was getting into conspiracy theories. Like millions of others, he fell for Covid pseudoscience when the pandemic hit. In January 2021, at the age of 46, Gary caught the virus, and died.
Marianna Spring, the BBC’s specialist disinformation reporter, travels to the serene medieval Shropshire town that Gary Matthews called home to investigate what happened to him - and why. While delving into the conspiracy underbelly of this picturesque town, she finds out more about Gary's life - and discovers a story that's been repeated across the country, and around the world.
Producer: Ant Adeane
Editor: Mike Wendling
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (m001549f)
Women and Equalities Minister. Celebrating the achievement of mothers. Ukraine refugees.
Why in 2022 is there no position in the Cabinet solely dedicated to the job of Women and Equalities? Why is it always tagged onto another cabinet role? Emma talks to Amber Rudd who juggled the job of being Home Secretary while she was Work and Pensions Secretary too. Plus, Shadow Women and Equalities Minister Anneliese Dodds, who's also Chair of the Labour Party.
When the war in Ukraine was just unfolding we spoke to Iryna Terlecky who's Chair of the Association of Ukrainian Women in Great Britain. Since then she's has been busy responding to the refugee crisis by representing the Ukrainian community in meetings with the Government, talking to both Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, and with the Home Secretary Priti Patel. Emma spoke to her about what she makes of the latest government response to what's going on.
Do you think motherhood gets enough recognition? We meet Agnes Agyepong, the founder of the Glomama Awards, a space celebrating the achievements of mothers, and one of this year’s winners, Safiyya Vorajee.
Plus, why more and more organisations are seeking out staff and volunteers with direct experiences to help them front campaigns, fundraise and inform policy. We hear from Tom Quinn, Director of External Affairs at Beat, the UK’s Eating Disorder Charity and Miriam Taylor, a psychotherapist and author who specialises in trauma about why is it so important to have people with what's termed "lived experience" and why safeguards must be in place to protect them.
Presenter Emma Barnett
Producer Beverley Purcell
TUE 11:00 Eider Island (m001549h)
An intimate tale of bird-human interdependence.
Eider ducks probably nested on Æðey - a small island in the Icelandic Westfjords - long before the first settlers arrived. And when the settlers arrived, the birds continued to nest there.
There is one house on the island and, with spring, an extended family of eider farmers gathers from all over Iceland for an annual ritual. The farmers tend to the eider ducks, offering them protection in exchange for a harvest of precious feathers. Acclaimed Danish feature-maker Rikke Houd captures a day - and a centuries old tradition - on Æðey.
Presented and produced by Rikke Houd
With specially composed music by Sóley Stefánsdóttir
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 11:30 Rap Gets Real (m001549k)
Rap is changing. High profile UK artists such as Stormzy and Dave are shunning the genre's dominant tropes of hypermasculinity and aggression. Instead they’re putting their battles with mental illness at the forefront of their music. From North America, Drake, J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar are proving it’s ok - and commercially viable - to be vulnerable.
References to mental health in rap lyrics have more than doubled in the last two decades. With black men the demographic most likely to suffer from mental illness – and also the least likely to seek help – the MOBO Award-winning rapper, author and broadcaster Guvna B assesses the extent to which rap now actively tackles this epidemic.
For Guvna B, this is deeply personal. When his Dad passed away a few years ago, he sank into a depression and subsequently suffered a mental breakdown. Looking back now on his childhood and upbringing, with the help of his lifelong best friend Joe, he reflects on possible causes of his breakdown and on the progress he’s made through writing so openly and honestly.
Mike Silvera from the charity Mind explains why black men are affected disproportionately by mental health issues. The veteran hip hop MC / producer Nigel Cudjoe (Asaviour aka Savvy) recalls how other artists have enabled him to share his innermost feelings.
Leading UK rapper Che Lingo reveals how his very personal lyrics have “literally saved people’s lives”. And BBC Radio 1Xtra’s Remi Burgz considers whether this new era of emotional rap is a passing fad - or here to stay.
Presenter: Guvna B
Producer: Charlie Towler
Executive Producer / Sound Design: Steve Urquhart
Commissioned as part of the Multitrack Audio Producers Fellowship
A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 12:00 News Summary (m00154r8)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
TUE 12:04 Sea Change by Alix Nathan (m001567v)
Episode 2
England is beset by social unrest and the threat of Napoleonic invasion. Parted following a freakish accident, Sarah Battle and her daughter Eve try to rediscover each other.
With her mother widely-believed to be dead, Eve is raised by Sarah’s erratic artist friend, Joseph in London. Sarah - traumatised in mind and body - must rebuild herself in a Norfolk fishing village at the parsonage of the strangely-motivated Reverend Snead.
Episode Two
Rescued at sea, a mute and paralysed woman is brought to the parsonage at Sowerthorpe.
Alix Nathan is the author of His Last Fire, a collection of short stories, and the novels The Flight Of Sarah Battle and The Warlow Experiment.
Writer: Alix Nathan
Reader: Samantha Spiro
Abridger: Jeremy Osborne
Producer: Jeremy Osborne
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 12:18 You and Yours (m001549p)
Call You & Yours: How are rising fuel prices affecting you?
Today on Call You & Yours we want to know - how are rising fuel prices affecting you?
Petrol and energy costs were already rising before the invasion of Ukraine. Now we’re seeing record prices.
What impact will these rising prices have on your budget?
Do you rely on a car for work?
Are you able to turn the heating down, or does your health or housing make that difficult?
Let us know how it's affecting your finances – are there things you'll stop spending on in order to cover the essentials?
Email the programme at youandyours@bbc.co.uk and please leave a phone number so we can call you back. From
11:00am on Tuesday 8th March, you can call us direct on 03700 100 444.
Presented by Nicola Beckford.
Produced by Beatrice Pickup.
TUE 12:57 Weather (m001549r)
The latest weather forecast
TUE 13:00 World at One (m001549t)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Sarah Montague.
TUE 13:45 The Museums That Make Us (m001549w)
The Tower Museum, Derry Londonderry
Neil MacGregor presents a new series for BBC Radio Four celebrating the museums to be found in all corners of Britain. The ambition is to explore local, regional and city museums across the length and breadth of the country, and in the process to answer the question ‘What are Museums For in 2022’.
Today he's in Derry/Londonderry, where the Tower Museum strives to broaden the city's reputation away from one of division and violence by celebrating the lost industry of shirt making. At it's height, in the early 20th century, Derry shirts were exported all over the world. Although there is almost nothing left of that once booming trade, there remains a pride in the Shirt, chosen by the museum to demonstrate their sense of what matters to the local community.
Museums have always been telescopes trained on the past to help locate a sense of place in the present. Neil believes that role is an active one, responding to changes in the people museums serve and the shifting social and cultural landscape they inhabit. After spending much of his life at the centre of our national Museum life in London, Neil is taking to the road to discover more about the extraordinary work being done in Museums outside the capital, from Stornoway to Stowmarket, and Belfast to Birmingham.
In each episode he visits a single museum, inviting them to choose an object from their collections which they feel best illustrates their civic role, and the way they relate and want to relate to their local audience. Very rarely have they chosen a crown jewel from their often priceless collections. More often it's an object with a particular local resonance, or which helps tackle episodes from the past which are being viewed very differently by citizens in the 21st century.
He’ll be visiting the great national museums of Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland, as well as major city institutions in Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool and elsewhere. And in spite of the challenges of the last two years, everywhere he meets passionate teams who are dedicated to providing a unique experience for both local audiences and visitors from further afield.
Neil writes: “What’s going on in our museums is at once challenging and exciting and it can only really be understood by visiting as many as possible and finding out how they have approached what is a vital role in providing a sense of local, regional and national identity.”
Producer - Tom Alban
Original music composed by Phil Channell
TUE 14:00 The Archers (m001547m)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 Broken Colours (m001549y)
Episode 3
Jess discovers more about the shadowy world Dan moves in, but she's also increasingly aware of its benefits. She's moved into the dockside studio owned by Dan's employers - the gangster-run Tactical Security. And though Dan himself remains something of a mystery, the studio is starting to inspire Jess’s art. Holli Dempsey and Josef Altin star in a new thriller of conflicting perception from Matthew Broughton (the creator of Tracks). Written by Faebian Averies.
Jess.....Holli Dempsey
Dan.....Josef Altin
Clem…..Francois Pandolfo
Melissa.....Alexandria Riley
Ryan.....Justice Ritchie
Petal.....Rina Mahoney
Ronnie.....Alun Raglan
Security Guard.....Chris Jack
Sound design by Catherine Robinson and Nigel Lewis
A BBC Cymru Wales production for BBC Radio 4, directed by John Norton and Emma Harding
TUE 15:00 Short Cuts (m00154b0)
Weather Report
Clouds gather and rain begins to fall as Josie Long presents short documentaries about the weather. From a bird that emerges as a storm rolls across the sea from a writer's living experiment to get all her news from the weather report.
Helicopter and Canoe
Produced by Kaija Siirala
Thank you to Kari Siirala, Bailey Renshaw, Maarit Siirala, Gord, Micah and Casey Smith for sharing their memories of the trip.
Days Without Rain
Written and read by Laura Barton
Storm Petrels
Featuring David Bensen and Dr. Bill Montevecchi
Produced by Rebecca Nolan
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 15:30 Costing the Earth (m00154b2)
Carbon Farming
Landowners are being offered big money for land to absorb carbon dioxide emissions. What does it mean for British farming and the shape of the countryside? Tom Heap reports.
Producer: Sarah Swadling
TUE 16:00 Law in Action (m00154b4)
Gender recognition
Is Scotland's Gender Recognition bill a progressive step forward, or a threat to women? Joshua Rozenberg investigates the legislation, which removes the need for medical evidence when changing gender and reduces the age at which this can be done.
Lawyers in the City of London bring in billions of pounds to the UK economy. English law is popular overseas for its predictability and for the independence of its judges. But is this reputation as a beacon for the rule of law being eroded by a lack of court funding and also by what some see as government undermining the judiciary? Fears raised by the Lord Chief Justice and echoed by the body representing City of London solicitors.
And why is there still a pay gap between male and female barristers?
Producer: Arlene Gregorius
Research: Octavia Woodward and Imogen Serwotka
Sound: Graham Puddifoot
Production Coordinators: Maria Ogundele and Jacqui Johnson
Editor: Hugh Levinson
TUE 16:30 A Good Read (m00154b6)
Alistair Petrie and Alex Wheatle
Actor Alistair Petrie, from TV series Sex Education, found Joan Didion's meditation on grief, The Year of Magical Thinking, unexpectedly uplifting. Writer Alex Wheatle, subject of one of Steve McQueen's Small Axe films, found Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island a means of escape from the horrors of his childhood, and presenter Harriett Gilbert enjoyed Men Don't Cry, by Faiza Guene.
Producer Sally Heaven
TUE 17:00 PM (m00154b8)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.
TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m00154bd)
Ukrainians are escaping fighting after Russia agreed to humanitarian corridors.
TUE 18:30 The World of Simon Rich (m00154bg)
Series 3
Episode 1
Simon Rich is a one-man comedy phenomenon, described by The Guardian as "the funniest man in America" and with credits including The Simpsons, Pixar movies and Saturday Night Live. He created the hit sitcom Miracle Workers starring Steve Buscemi and Daniel Radcliffe, and his debut movie An American Pickle was released in 2020, starring Seth Rogen.
Now Simon returns to Radio 4 with a third series of his charmingly absurd stories, performed by a top-drawer British cast. Featuring parenting pirates, a baby detective, an unlikely retelling of Beauty And The Beast, and a super monster being promoted into management, this is unlike anything else you’ll hear this year.
Starring Mat Baynton, Ed Eales-White, Kieran Hodgson, Cariad Lloyd, Claire Price and Adjani Salmon
Produced by Jon Harvey and Clarissa Maycock
Editor: David Thomas
Executive Producer: Polly Thomas
A Naked production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 19:00 The Archers (m00154bk)
Susan can see Neil has something on his mind. With reluctance he shares with her that Berrow’s future is on the line. Shocked Susan can’t believe everyone might lose their jobs. Neil hopes it won’t come to that. He and Hannah are going to work out some cost effective ideas to strengthen Brian’s case, which Susan thinks sounds stressful. She puts it to Neil that he might want to consider retiring. But Neil’s not ready to give up on Berrow yet. He wants to try and steer his team through this crisis. Susan declares Neil a good man. She’s glad he’s talked to her. Neil tells her she mustn’t mention this to Tracy in case Jazzer finds out. He hopes to save Jazzer’s job before he’s even aware it’s at risk.
Tracy’s terrified of what Oliver’s going to say to her. Jazzer advocates simply apologising. Oliver thinks a lot of her; he’ll calm down. The meeting is set for
6pm, and Tracy’s sweating. Meanwhile Jazzer calls Oliver. He admits the whole room incident was his idea, and his fault. But his efforts fall on deaf ears and Oliver hangs up on him. Later at the meeting Oliver’s stern. Tracy begs him not to lose faith in her, but he insists he has to do things by the book. However to her joy he lets her off with a written warning. She pledges to awkward Oliver that she’ll never let him down again.
TUE 19:15 Front Row (m00154bm)
Howard Jacobson, Russian Cultural Philanthropy, Women's Fiction Prize, Turning Red
Howard Jacobson, who won the Booker prize for his novel The Finkler Question, discusses his new memoir Mother's Boy, an exploration of how he became a writer, of belonging and not-belonging, of being both English and Jewish.
Katie Razzall, the BBC's Culture Editor, reports on the influence of Russian money and philanthropy in British cultural institutions. What do sanctions mean for the arts?
Turning Red is Pixar's first film animation to have an all-female leadership team. Director Domee Shi and producer Lindsey Collins discuss their story of a girl who metamorphoses into a giant red panda.
Alex Clark analyses the longlist for this year's Women’s Prize for Fiction.
Presenter: Nick Ahad
Producer: Helen Roberts
TUE 20:00 File on 4 (m00154bp)
Controlling My Birth Control
Reproductive coercion: a form of abuse you've probably never heard of.
From deliberately sabotaging contraceptives to forcing someone to have an abortion, it is used to gain power and control - and can have devastating consequences.
But with links to domestic violence and even homicide, is enough being done to spot the signs?
Rachel Stonehouse investigates.
Producer: Alys Harte
Editor: Maggie Latham
Details of organisations that can provide help and support are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline including:
Domestic abuse
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3FQFSnx6SZWsQn3TJYYlFNy/information-and-support-domestic-abuse
Sexual abuse and Violence
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/22VVM5LPrf3pjYdKqctmMXn/information-and-support-sexual-abuse-and-violence
Emotional distress
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4WLs5NlwrySXJR2n8Snszdg/information-and-support-suicide-emotional-distress
TUE 20:40 In Touch (m00154br)
Book Share; Winter Paralympics 2022
The Marrakesh Treaty, or more informally referred to as Book Share, is an international agreement that gives visually impaired people access to a world of accessible books - quite literally! Countries that have signed up to the Marrakesh Treaty are able to share their online libraries with other countries involved. But listener Jackie Brown raised the point that the UK's system sometimes doesn't work as efficiently as other countries' services do and that the RNIB's Book Share service should stretch further. We invited Jackie Brown onto the program to put this point to the RNIB's head of consumer and business services, Alison Long. We also invited Kevin Mulhern and Lina Kouzie to give us a wider, more international perspective.
The 2022 Winter Paralympic Games are underway in Beijing and Team GB's visually impaired athletes have already secured some fantastic wins, including gold, silver and bronze medals. Alpine skier Menna Fitzpatrick will bring home some of these medals. We spoke to Menna and her guide Gary Smith about her wins so far, how the business of guiding actually works and her upcoming races.
Presenter: Peter White
Producer: Beth Hemmings
Production Coordinator: Liz Poole
Website image description: pictured is Peter White inside one of the BBC's recording studios, interviewing Menna Fitzpatrick and Gary Smith. The two are on a computer monitor in front of Peter. They are wearing their blue Paralympic uniforms and white medical masks. Behind them is a white wall that is decorated with the British Paralympic Association's logo (a red lion).
TUE 21:00 Inside Health (m00154bt)
Multiple sclerosis and the Epstein Barr virus
We get to the bottom of a medical mystery – what causes multiple sclerosis? A series of studies have compellingly pointed the finger at the virus behind glandular fever. We see if they stack up and assess what it means for the future of preventing and treating MS. Then nearly two years since the World Health Organization described Covid as a pandemic, James chats to Dr Maria van Kerkhove, who is the WHO's technical lead for its response to Covid, about the successes and failures of the past two years and where we’re all heading next?
Producer: Andrew Luck-Baker
TUE 21:30 The Life Scientific (m0014wt0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (m00154bw)
Zelensky first foreign leader to address MPs inside Commons
In-depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
TUE 22:45 Sea Change by Alix Nathan (m001567v)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 today]
TUE 23:00 Fortunately... with Fi and Jane (m00154by)
225. Belgian Sheets and Swirling Flip Flops, with Michelle Ogundehin
This week on the podcast, Fi and Jane are joined by interiors guru Michelle Ogundehin, lead judge on BBC One's Interior Design Masters. The interiors guru, presenter and author gives Fi and Jane the lowdown on Interior Design Masters and working with the show's host Alan Carr. Michelle also hears Fi and Jane's home woes and answers some of their cushion questions. Before their guest joins them, Fi and Jane try to pin down exactly when halcyon days appear and they begin by thinking a bit about international events.
Interior Design Masters begins 9th March 2022 on BBC One at
9pm, continuing weekly on Wednesdays.
Get in touch: fortunately.podcast@bbc.co.uk
TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (m00154c0)
News from Westminster with Sean Curran.
WEDNESDAY 09 MARCH 2022
WED 00:00 Midnight News (m00154c2)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
WED 00:30 Death by Conspiracy? (m00154c4)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m00154c6)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m00154c8)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.
WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m00154cb)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
WED 05:30 News Briefing (m00154cd)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m00154cg)
A spirtitual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Rev Dr Emma Whittick, the University of Wales Trinity Saint David's Chaplain at Lampeter and Carmarthen.
WED 05:45 Farming Today (m00154cj)
09/03/22 - Low carbon agriculture, NI Protocol negotiations and Dai Jones Llanilar
The war in Ukraine has started to shift the balance of discussions around food security and sustainability. The European farming unions Copa and Cogeca say Europe must equip its agriculture with a ‘food shield’ to face the consequences of both the war in Ukraine, and climate change. And those two pressing issues, have brought the dilemma of how to grow more food, while protecting the environment, into much sharper focus.
All week we’re taking stock of the Northern Ireland Protocol and how it’s affecting farming businesses. We’ve heard how trade between Northern Ireland and GB has changed, and how some farming businesses have benefitted from more sales between the province and the Irish Republic. Protocol negotiations are still continuing - so how much progress has been made, and what still needs to be finalised for it to work in the long term?
And we hear memories of Dai Jones Llanilar - one of Wales’s best loved rural broadcasters - who died last week.
Presented by Anna Hill
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Heather Simons
WED 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03x458y)
Great Crested Grebe
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Bill Oddie presents the great crested grebe. In Spring, great crested grebes perform a high ritualized mating display. This includes head shaking and a spectacular performance during which both male and female birds gather bunches of waterweed and as they swim towards each other, before rising vertically in the water, chest to chest, and paddling furiously to keep themselves upright.
WED 06:00 Today (m00154cl)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
WED 09:00 The Anatomy of Kindness (m00154cn)
The Anatomy of Kindness Results
Claudia Hammond and guests announce the results of the biggest ever public science project on Kindness. With over sixty thousand participants from across the world this unique work helps to fill some of the research gaps and learn more about how kindness is viewed within society at large. Led by a team of researchers based at the University of Sussex, in partnership with BBC Radio 4, Claudia is joined on stage at the BBC Radio Theatre by Professor Robin Bannerjee who has been crunching the data. Together with poet Raymond Antrobus, Stylist magazine editor in chief Lisa Smosarski , comedian Elvis McGonagall and clinical ethicist Professor Deborah Bowman they unpick what the results tell us about how experiences of kindness might relate to health, well-being, and other social and psychological apects integral to human nature.
WED 09:45 Death by Conspiracy? (m00154cr)
8. Tracking the Timeline
Marianna looks at the role that social media played in pushing Gary towards conspiracy theories.
Gary Matthews was a talented artist and photographer, sociable and well-liked - a familiar face in his hometown of Shrewsbury. A few years ago, his friends noticed that he was getting into conspiracy theories. Like millions of others, he fell for Covid pseudoscience when the pandemic hit. In January 2021, at the age of 46, Gary caught the virus, and died.
Marianna Spring, the BBC’s specialist disinformation reporter, travels to the serene medieval Shropshire town that Gary Matthews called home to investigate what happened to him - and why. While delving into the conspiracy underbelly of this picturesque town, she finds out more about Gary's life - and discovers a story that's been repeated across the country, and around the world.
Producer: Ant Adeane
Editor: Mike Wendling
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (m00154ct)
Joss Stone, Maya Forstater
With worldwide sales in excess of 15 million albums, the Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter Joss Stone is without question among the most iconic soul singers of the modern era. She rose to fame at the age of 13 by winning a BBC talent competition and more recently won The Masked Singer. Joss has now reunited with legend Dave Stewart for her new album Never Forget My Love.
In an exclusive interview in the week that her employment tribunal case continues, Maya Forstater speaks to Emma about losing her role at a company in 2019, after she had posted tweets and had conversations about sex and gender. She took her case to an employment tribunal on the basis that, amongst other claims, she had been discriminated against because of her belief – that biological sex is real, important, immutable and cannot be conflated with gender identity. Maya lost the preliminary hearing, on the basis that her beliefs were not protected under the Equality Act 2010, but she appealed and in June 2021 that decision was overturned. The ruling meant that gender critical beliefs are a protected philosophical belief under the Equality Act 2010. This week the next part of her employment tribunal starts, and it will decide whether her employer discriminated against her because of her belief.
Presenter: Emma Barnett
Producer: Lisa Jenkinson
Studio Mangaer: Tim Heffer
WED 11:00 The Case of the Brillante Virtuoso (m00154cw)
Episode 3
When the Brillante Virtuoso, a massive, decrepit oil tanker, was attacked and badly damaged off the coast of Yemen in 2011, it seemed at first like just the latest in a spate of daring raids launched by Somali pirates in an increasingly lawless region. On the surface it was a shocking but straightforward crime. In reality, it was anything but.
Over the next decade, the scandal swirling around the ship would come to involve lies on an industrial scale, corruption, violent threats, Greek Shipowners, Yemeni power brokers, British lawyers, Filipino sailors, the murder of a British man that remains tragically unsolved, and his family's fight to unravel a web of organised crime.
Journalist Nick Wallis follows a story that goes all the way from the bleeding edge of the Arab Spring to the heart of the City of London.
Presenter: Nick Wallis
Producer: Robert Nicholson
Executive Producer: Will Yates
Sound Design: Leonie Thomas
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4
WED 11:30 Angstrom (b09pmbdh)
Series 1
The Hunter Is the Hunted and the Hunter
Matthew Holness stars as Knut Ångström, a brooding, alcoholic, maverick Swedish detective from the tough streets of Oslo, in a Scandinavian detective yarn adapted from the bestselling Ångström trilogy by Martin English (writing as Bjorgen Swedenssonsson).
Following the death of his wife, Ångström is posted to the Njalsland peninsula where he becomes embroiled in a labyrinthine murder (or possibly not-murder) case which bears an eerie similarity to the Askeladden killings - a case from his distant past.
In episode 4, the last in this series, the investigation takes Ångström and Mina to the remote Celibate Puffin Island (but it's all one word in Swedish) where they find a possible connection between the Askeladden murders and the sinister Bolax Corporation, bringing them closer to finally discovering the identity of the mysterious Ash Lad...
A new comedy series by writers of the Ladybird Books for Grown Ups, Charlie Brooker's ...Wipe, That Mitchell and Webb Look and A Touch of Cloth.
Written by Joel Morris and Jason Hazeley
Cast: Matthew Holness, Nadia Kamil, Simon Kane, Morgana Robinson, David Reed, Freya Parker.
Production Co-ordinator: Tamara Shilham
Produced by Lyndsay Fenner
A BBC Studios production.
WED 12:00 News Summary (m00154cy)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
WED 12:04 Sea Change by Alix Nathan (m001567x)
Episode 3
England is beset by social unrest and the threat of Napoleonic invasion. Parted following a freakish accident, Sarah Battle and her daughter Eve try to rediscover each other.
With her mother widely-believed to be dead, Eve is raised by Sarah’s erratic artist friend, Joseph in London. Sarah - traumatised in mind and body - must rebuild herself in a Norfolk fishing village at the parsonage of the strangely-motivated Reverend Snead.
Episode Three
Reverend Snead reveals Sarah to the parishioners of Sowerthorpe at the Sunday service.
Alix Nathan is the author of His Last Fire, a collection of short stories, and the novels The Flight Of Sarah Battle and The Warlow Experiment.
Writer: Alix Nathan
Reader: Samantha Spiro
Abridger: Jeremy Osborne
Producer: Jeremy Osborne
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4
WED 12:18 You and Yours (m00154d0)
Psychology of Fraud, Corner shop Wines, Card Only
With the popularity of fraud dramas like The Tinder Swindler and Inventing Anna - fraud is being discussed a lot at the moment - with the usual scoffing from people saying they wouldn’t ever fall for it. But people do - as we show from our reporting. We discuss why we fall for scams - the psychology of fraud - with Tammy Barnes, a fraud protect officer from Derbyshire Police, and Jenny Ratcliffe, who is described as a 'people hacker'.
The Health Secretary Sajid Javid announced a series of healthcare reforms yesterday. Proposals include ways to cut the huge NHS backlog of 6 million currently people waiting for hospital treatment. Patients will now be able to travel outside their area for treatment if it cuts their wait, and for those waiting longer than 18 months, they'll be offered treatment privately. We're joined by Rachel Power from the Patients Association to discuss the proposals.
Students and young people are turning to their trusty corner shop over the local supermarket when they want to pick up a bottle of wine. According to Wine Intelligence - a consumer research group - forty six per cent of 18 to 24 year olds in the UK buy their wine from convenience stores, compared to just 20 per cent of over 45's. We hear from independent wine expert and writer Aleesha Hansel why the well known brands like like Echo Falls, Hardys and Blossom Hill are popular buys from corner shops.
Presenter: Nicola Beckford
Producer: Miriam Williamson
WED 12:57 Weather (m00154d2)
The latest weather forecast
WED 13:00 World at One (m00154d4)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Sarah Montague.
WED 13:45 The Museums That Make Us (m00154d6)
Penrhyn Castle, North Wales
Neil MacGregor presents a new series for BBC Radio Four celebrating the museums to be found in all corners of Britain. The ambition is to explore local, regional and city museums across the length and breadth of the country, and in the process to answer the question ‘What are Museums For in 2022’.
In the third programme Neil is in North Wales to see Penrhyn Castle. Built on money from slavery, the abolition of slavery and then the Slate Quarry nearby, the castle is now run by the National Trust who are striving to tell the story of their rich collection of art alongside the reality of what made it possible.
Museums have always been telescopes trained on the past to help locate a sense of place in the present. Neil believes that role is an active one, responding to changes in the people museums serve and the shifting social and cultural landscape they inhabit. After spending much of his life at the centre of our national Museum life in London, Neil is taking to the road to discover more about the extraordinary work being done in Museums outside the capital, from Stornoway to Stowmarket, and Belfast to Birmingham.
In each episode he visits a single museum, inviting them to choose an object from their collections which they feel best illustrates their civic role, and the way they relate and want to relate to their local audience. Very rarely have they chosen a crown jewel from their often priceless collections. More often it's an object with a particular local resonance, or which helps tackle episodes from the past which are being viewed very differently by citizens in the 21st century.
He’ll be visiting the great national museums of Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland, as well as major city institutions in Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool and elsewhere. And in spite of the challenges of the last two years, everywhere he meets passionate teams who are dedicated to providing a unique experience for both local audiences and visitors from further afield.
Neil writes: “What’s going on in our museums is at once challenging and exciting and it can only really be understood by visiting as many as possible and finding out how they have approached what is a vital role in providing a sense of local, regional and national identity.”
Producer - Tom Alban
Original music composed by Phil Channell
WED 14:00 The Archers (m00154bk)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 From Fact to Fiction (m000fx2b)
A Fair Shot
Millionaire business-woman Maria Wild launches a new brand of centrist politics promising a fairer shot for voters and minority parties and is met with a curiously mixed response.
Maria is a celebrity entrepreneur, television personality and UN Goodwill Ambassador. For most of her life she has been the force behind a successful beauty brand that combines social enterprise and impressive profits. In recent years she has become a popular figure on television, heading up the judging panel on a hit TV show about entrepreneurship. She's the sort of person people want to see in politics — but who never survives for long. Recently appointed as leader of a fledgling centrist party in the UK, she has the perfect opportunity to set out her stall with a game-changing speech at the United Nations. But is she the real deal? Or a false dawn?
Tamara Travis is Maria’s new speechwriter. A former lobby journalist and Parliamentary adviser, she’s a rising star in the world of political speech writing. Tamara believes it's her life’s work to make Maria Wild into a figure who can galvanise the political system and re-invigorate the centre. The only difficulty is that Maria is - in Tamara’s eyes — more right-wing and old-fashioned than she seems.
This is an intense, entertaining and ambitious two-hander about a woman who might have been coming to the end of her career but recognises that she has a potential extraordinary second act in her grasp. The trouble is, she is horrified by some of the compromises she is being asked to make. The tensions between the two reach breaking point as they struggle to find a common language they can agree on for this speech — and events from the outside world keep encroaching on their agenda.
As the day of the speech approaches, they attempt to outwit each other and second-guess the demands of the moment. And then we hear the speech itself. Which changes everything.
Cast:
Maria ……………………..………………………………………. Barbara Flynn
Tamara ………………………………………………………… Viv Groskop
Nicola …………………………………………………………….. Jane Slavin
James ……..……………...……………………………………….. Gerrard McArthur
Written by Viv Groskop
Produced and directed by Eoin O'Callaghan
A Big Fish Radio production for BBC Radio 4
WED 15:00 Money Box (m00154d8)
Renting lowdown
The average UK rent has broken through the £1000 barrier for the first time and inflation is starting to push up landlords costs.
How do you beat the rush for viewings? Could rent controls be a short term solution? And could a good tenant and landlord relationship solve all your woes?
Charmaine Cozier is joined by an expert panel for tenants and landlords to answer questions and offer advice.
Ruth Ehrlich, Policy Manager at Shelter.
Chris Norris, Director of Policy and Campaigns at the National Residential Landlords Association.
Elsie Bradley-Middle, Member of ACORN Renters Union.
For more information on renting and letting:
https://www.nrla.org.uk/
https://www.shelter.org.uk/
Producer: Drew Hyndman
Editor: Emma Rippon
WED 15:30 Inside Health (m00154bt)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Tuesday]
WED 16:00 Rewinder (m0014fr2)
Agatha Christie's Raspberry Jam
Greg James, host of the Radio 1 Breakfast show and self-confessed 'proud radio nerd', uses his access-all-areas pass to the BBC Archives to track down audio gems, using listener requests, overlooked anniversaries and current stories as a springboard into the vast vaults of past programmes.
As Kenneth Branagh returns to our cinema screens as Hercule Poirot in Death on the Nile, Greg gets caught up in his own mystery as he tracks down rare BBC appearances by Poirot's creator, the 'Queen of Crime' Agatha Christie.
The Superbowl sends him stateside as he gets to grips with American Football, fierce coaches and spectacular halftime shows, including an early interview with this year's headliner Kendrick Lamar.
A listener request sends Greg in search of 'The Nightingale of the Wireless' - the now largely-forgotten singing star Mavis Bennett. She was said to have 'the perfect microphone voice' - so much so that one major record company would regularly invite her into the studio just to test their latest technology. She made dozens of appearances in the early days of radio, but avoided TV after an unfortunate experience on her screen debut in 1939.
And in a Rewinder first, a special guest drops by with his own extraordinary archive.
Producer Tim Bano
WED 16:30 The Media Show (m00154db)
A News Cold War
A media crackdown in Russia, including a new law against ‘fake news’, has led many independent news outlets to shut down. Some major western media have pulled out of the country completely. But the BBC is not only staying - it is actually increasing its services aimed at Russians. So what news can ordinary Russians access? And what impact is that information is having?
Guests: Jamie Angus, Controller of BBC News Output & Commissioning; Peter Pomerantsev, author of This Is Not Propaganda; Vera Krichevskaya, co-founder of TV Rain; Olga Irisova, Editor-in-chief of Riddle Russia; Dr Ian Garner, Russian propaganda expert; Julia Davis, Columnist at The Daily Beast.
Producer: Hannah Sander
Studio engineer: Tim Heffer
Presenter: Ros Atkins
WED 17:00 PM (m00154dd)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m00154dg)
Ukraine says children have been buried under the rubble of the destroyed hospital.
WED 18:30 Conversations from a Long Marriage (m00154dj)
Series 3
Heroes and Villains
Joanna Lumley & Roger Allam star in Jan Etherington’s award-winning comedy, as a couple who are passionate about life and each other. This week: Roger is obsessed with his new power hose and is cleaning up the neighbourhood. But their peace is shattered when noisy new neighbours move in.
Conversations from a Long Marriage won the Voice of the Listener & Viewer Award for Best Radio Comedy in 2020.
‘Joanna Lumley and Roger Allam have had illustrious acting careers but can they ever have done anything better than Jan Etherington’s two hander? This is a work of supreme craftsmanship.’ RADIO TIMES
‘Peppered with nostalgic 60s hits and especially written for the pair, it’s an endearing portrait of exasperation, laced with hard won tolerance – and something like love.’ THE GUARDIAN
‘The delicious fruit of the writer, Jan Etherington’s experience of writing lots of TV and radio, blessed by being acted by Joanna Lumley and Roger Allam. Treasure this one, produced by Claire Jones. Unlike many a current Radio 4 ‘comedy’, this series makes people laugh’ GILLIAN REYNOLDS. SUNDAY TIMES
‘You’ve been listening at my window, Jan’. JOANNA LUMLEY
‘The writing is spot on and Joanna Lumley and Roger Allam exquisite. So real, so entertaining. Please never stop making such terrific radio’. BBC DUTY LOG
‘Absolutely brilliant!! May it never end!’ BBC DUTY LOG
Conversations from a Long Marriage is written by Jan Etherington and produced by Claire Jones. It is a BBC Studios Production.
WED 19:00 The Archers (m00154dl)
Chris comes to the village hall to collect Martha from her birthday party. Alice comments that Amy’s departure was sudden, but as ever with Amy she’s helping a friend in need. As Chris tries to divert the subject he’s saved by Martha, who appears covered in chocolate. Amused Alice wants to get a photo, but Chris isn’t happy. He expects Alice to be as careful with Martha’s consumption of sweet stuff as he is. Now he’s landed with a hyperactive, grizzly child. Alice is sorry. Later she calls him, and finds out Martha’s having a good time and not bouncing off the walls. Chris explains he was stressed earlier, but Alice asserts she’s not a bad parent, and her way is ok too. Chris acknowledges this.
Kate and Kirsty are thrown together at Willow Farm while Kate waits for Phoebe. Kate takes the opportunity to question whether Kirsty’s really up to pitching for the rewilding job. Kirsty isn’t fazed. As they agree that the best woman will win, they realise they have identical time slots for their interviews. Later Rex explains he and Peggy want the joint interview to be more like a conversation, in which both can hear each other’s pitches. As each candidate comments on the very different ideas of the other, it becomes clear that Kirsty has a fuller pitch. Rex and Peggy are about to dismiss them to deliberate when Kate announces she’s withdrawing. She’s there to honour Phoebe, but it’s Kirsty who has the genuine passion. Peggy’s proud of Kate, and Kirsty’s delighted when she’s offered the job.
WED 19:15 Front Row (m00154dn)
Larry Achiampong, Zinnie Harris, Thomas Sanderling
Front Row goes to the seaside and sends a sonic cultural postcard. The first major solo exhibition by British-Ghanaian artist Larry Achiampong opens at the Turner Contemporary Gallery in Margate on Saturday. The artist shows Samira Ahmed around, but Achiampong’s isn’t the only show in town. Margate has become a destination for artists and art lovers, and Tracey Emin is opening a new space for artists to work in. Samira finds out from curator Rob Diament what else is happening in this happening place, and hears from members of the People Dem Collective, artists and activists of colour who live and work in Margate.
Thomas Sanderling has stepped down from his position at the helm of the Novosibirsk Philharmonic Orchestra in protest of the ongoing Russian conflict in Ukraine. He talks to Samira about the Russian dilemma facing the arts world.
Zinnie Harris joins Samira to discuss her play The Scent of Roses. Playing at the Royal Lyceum in Edinburgh it's a study of how secrets and lies can corrode relationships.
Presenter: Samira Ahmed
Producer: Jodie Keane
WED 20:00 Moral Maze (m00154dq)
Sanctions, enablers and collective punishment
We can’t help Ukraine with troops and planes, most politicians insist, but we can hit back at Putin by punishing his friends and choking the Russian economy. This week the long-promised Economic Crime Bill zipped through the Commons and could be law within a month. The Home Secretary said the legislation proves she’s determined to “hobble Putin and his cronies”. But it will do nothing to hurt their ‘enablers’ – the London-based accountants, lawyers and fixers who’ve helped the oligarchs to hide their money and muzzle their critics. Should we try to punish those people too, or does that cross a moral red line?
We don’t need to wait for a new law before we start hurting ordinary Russians with economic sanctions. We’re already punishing extraordinary Russians, from Paralympians to opera singers, with bans and boycotts. Have they all deserved this for the crime of being Russian? Soon visa restrictions will start to trap Russian dissenters in a country that isn't safe for them. Is such "collective punishment" morally justified? What about our own economy, our businesses and their workers? Are we sure we will tolerate squeezing Russia when we have massive rises in the costs of energy and food?
Some global companies are shutting down their Russian operations - at least temporarily. Others have not, though the pressure on them is growing. But is that a commercial decision or a moral one? Do we even want businesses to advertise their virtue, if (as the Nobel-winning economist Milton Friedman put it) the social responsibility of business is solely to increase profits? With broadcaster Isabel Hilton; journalist Niko Vorobyov; City University Professor of Finance and Accounting Atul K Shah and Economist Julian Jessop.
Produced by Olive Clancy
WED 20:45 Lent Talks (m00154ds)
"I was hungry and you gave me food"
Lent Talks is a series of personal reflections inspired by an aspect of the story leading up to Easter. This year’s theme is the power of hospitality, based on Jesus’ encouragement in Matthew’s gospel to feed the hungry, welcome the stranger and look after the sick.
In the first episode of the series, Pastor Mick Fleming describes a traumatic upbringing and troubling past as he considers the words, “I was hungry and you gave me food”.
Producer: Dan Tierney.
--
If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in the programme, details of organisations that can provide help and support are available here:
Addiction
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1kS7QTDB16PWkywhsXJLzxz/information-and-support-addiction-alcohol-drugs-and-gambling
Child sexual abuse
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/22VVM5LPrf3pjYdKqctmMXn/information-and-support-sexual-abuse-and-violence
Suicide/Emotional distress
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4WLs5NlwrySXJR2n8Snszdg/information-and-support-suicide-emotional-distress
Victims of crime
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/2MfW34HqH7tTCtnmx7LVfzp/victims-of-crime
WED 21:00 Costing the Earth (m00154b2)
[Repeat of broadcast at
15:30 on Tuesday]
WED 21:30 The Media Show (m00154db)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 today]
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (m00154dv)
In-depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
WED 22:45 Sea Change by Alix Nathan (m001567x)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 today]
WED 23:00 The Damien Slash Mixtape (m00154dx)
Series 4
Episode 1
Multi-character YouTube star Damien Slash is back for a fourth round of zeitgeisty sketches in this new fast-paced, one-man sketch comedy show.
Surreal and satirical, this series sees the mafia update their diversity policy, Rick Stein’s tours of the Motorways of Great Britain, and Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer face off in ‘Fire in the Booth’.
Written by and starring Damien Slash (aka Daniel Barker)
Additional material by Tom Savage
Guest starring Natasia Demetriou.
Production Coordintator: Sarah Sharpe
Sound Editor: Rich Evans
Produced by Gwyn Rhys Davies. A BBC Studios production
WED 23:15 Chris Neill: Raging Enigma (m00154f0)
The Perils of Sinatra's Hat
A youthful fashion indiscretion leads to a hair raising encounter on Kingston High St, when Chris Neill is joined by Isy Suttie and Martin Hyder, hacking back the undergrowth of his life for the comedy stories buried within.
“A rapid-fire English David Sedaris. Every word is perfectly chosen and perfectly used.” - Miranda Sawyer, The Observer
After ten episodes of Woof, in Raging Enigma Chris Neill continues to reveal the unvarnished realities of being a really quite mediocre man. Memoir continues to underpin these illustrated stand-up shows, and the subject matter will be as varied as before…. But this time without the studio audience.
“Chris Neill’s show is a consummate masterpiece” - Susan Nickson
“Blissfully well written. Neill may be first and foremost a comedian, but his observations are as acute as any novelist’s. Sweet, sharp and very funny.” - The Times
A Giddy Goat production for BBC Radio 4
WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (m00154f2)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament
THURSDAY 10 MARCH 2022
THU 00:00 Midnight News (m00154f4)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
THU 00:30 Death by Conspiracy? (m00154cr)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m00154f6)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m00154f8)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.
THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m00154fb)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
THU 05:30 News Briefing (m00154fd)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m00154fg)
A spirtitual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Rev. Dr Emma Whittick, the University of Wales Trinity Saint David's Chaplain at Lampeter and Carmarthen.
THU 05:45 Farming Today (m00154fj)
10/03/22 - Record wheat prices, NI Climate Bill, freight crossing the Irish Sea
This time last year a tonne of UK wheat for milling would have cost around £220 - now farmers tell us they’re getting £300. It’s a knock on effect of the misery in Ukraine which - along with Russia - produces a third of the world’s wheat exports. In the UK we don't import significant amounts from the region but across the world prices are rising in response to the war, and farmers here we are no exception. We hear what that means for farmers and food prices.
Northern Ireland will soon have its first laws to tackle climate change after MLAs at Stormont passed a Climate Bill. Northern Ireland is currently the only part of the UK without climate legislation.
And we head down to Belfast port, to the depot of one of the biggest local transport companies, to discuss the impact on the ground of the NI Protocol.
Presented by Charlotte Smith
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Heather Simons
THU 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03z9k44)
Woodcock
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Kate Humble presents the woodcock. Woodcocks are waders, thickset, long-billed, and superbly camouflaged. On the woodland floor, where they hide by day, their rust, fawn and black plumage conceals them among the dead leaves of winter. Often the first sign that they're about is a blur of russet and a whirr of wings as a woodcock rises from almost under your feet and twists away between the tree-trunks.
THU 06:00 Today (m00154gf)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
THU 09:00 In Our Time (m00154gh)
Seismology
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the study of earthquakes. A massive earthquake in 1755 devastated Lisbon, and this disaster helped inspire a new science of seismology which intensified after San Francisco in 1906 and advanced even further with the need to monitor nuclear tests around the world from 1945 onwards. While we now know so much more about what lies beneath the surface of the Earth, and how rocks move and crack, it remains impossible to predict when earthquakes will happen. Thanks to seismology, though, we have a clearer idea of where earthquakes will happen and how to make some of them less hazardous to lives and homes.
With
Rebecca Bell
Lecturer in Geology and Geophysics at Imperial College London
Zoe Mildon
Lecturer in Earth Sciences and Future Leaders Fellow at the University of Plymouth
And
James Hammond
Reader in Geophysics at Birkbeck, University of London
Producer: Simon Tillotson
THU 09:45 Death by Conspiracy? (m00154gk)
9. The Conspiracist Mindset
Marianna asks what we get wrong about people who are drawn to conspiracy theories – and finds out who's really at risk of falling down the rabbit hole.
Gary Matthews was a talented artist and photographer, sociable and well-liked - a familiar face in his hometown of Shrewsbury. A few years ago, his friends noticed that he was getting into conspiracy theories. Like millions of others, he fell for Covid pseudoscience when the pandemic hit. In January 2021, at the age of 46, Gary caught the virus, and died.
Marianna Spring, the BBC’s specialist disinformation reporter, travels to the serene medieval Shropshire town that Gary Matthews called home to investigate what happened to him - and why. While delving into the conspiracy underbelly of this picturesque town, she finds out more about Gary's life - and discovers a story that's been repeated across the country, and around the world.
Producer: Ant Adeane
Editor: Mike Wendling
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (m00154gm)
Figs in Wigs & 'Little Wimmin', Former Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill, Rachael Denhollander & USA Gymnastics
Northern Ireland politics are once again in flux and the government can't really function. At the beginning of February, Sinn Fein Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill lost her role in Stormont after First Minister Paul Givan, a member of the DUP, resigned. In her role as Deputy over the years, she worked closely with former DUP leader and First Minister Arlene Foster. Now she could be on track to become the first Nationalist First Minister of Northern Ireland. In her first interview with Woman's Hour, she joins Emma.
When you think of Little Women, you might not think of climate change, astrology or contemporary feminism. However, all-female performance collective Figs in Wigs have updated the classic for a new generation in Little Wimmin, a surrealist theatre show. What starts as a faithful adaptation of the book gradually becomes an absurdist and hilarious commentary on the issues facing women today. We discuss with cast members Sarah Moore and Alice Roots.
In 2016 Rachael Denhollander became the first woman to publicly accuse the USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar of sexual assault. Her stand led to hundreds of other women coming forward to tell their stories of how Nassar had also abused them under the guise of medical treatment. Their testimony, as well as the discovery of tens of thousands of child sexual abuse images on his computer, eventually led to his imprisonment. Rachael talks about her fight for justice and the impact on elite gymnastics culture.
Presenter: Emma Barnett
Producer: Kirsty Starkey
Interviewed Guest: Michelle O'Neill
Interviewed Guest: Sarah Moore
Interviewed Guest: Alice Roots
Interviewed Guest: Rachael Denhollander
Photographer: Rosie Collins
THU 11:00 From Our Own Correspondent (m00154gp)
Peace talks in Antalya
As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine enters a third week, hopes are wearing thin of a ceasefire after several rounds of unsuccessful talks. But a potential mediator tried to enter the fray this week: Israel, as Tom Bateman reports from Jerusalem.
Russia’s foreign minister is due to meet with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba on Thursday in the southern Turkish resort of Antalya. It’s a city that’s in other times popular with both Russians and Ukrainian tourists. Mahjooba Nowrouzi visited the coastal town and found opposing narratives about the conflict surfaced in the chatter of the bazaars
Russian warships have been circling menacingly in the waters near the Black Sea port city of Odessa in southern Ukraine. The city's residents are braced for a possible assault and many are leaving their homes. For Damien McGuinness, who lived and worked in eastern Europe, their experiences are horribly reminiscent of the traumas suffered a generation ago in Georgia.
In 2015, Jamaica passed a law that decriminalised the possession of small amounts of cannabis and authorised a regulated medical cannabis industry. Initially seen as a boon for cannabis farmers, some traditional growers say they can’t afford to meet the strict legal requirements for growing the plant. Rachel Wright visited a farm.
The medieval village of Lagrasse in south-west France is home to an eight century Abbey which is divided in two parts – one side is occupied by a group of left-leaning intellectuals, the other by a traditional catholic religious order. This arrangement ran relatively smoothly at first until a contretemps over a festival some fifteen years ago. Since then relations have deteriorated. Chris Bockman went to find out more.
Presenter: Kate Adie
Producer: Serena Tarling
Editor: Emma Close
THU 11:30 Banding: Love, Spit and Valve Oil (m00154gr)
What’s the allure of brass?
Martin Green examines the complex associations we have with brass banding. Is it a reassuring picture of Britishness, solid and safe? A symbol of the grandeur, as seen in the hands of angels? Or a soundtrack to political uprising?
Continuing his quest to write a piece of music for brass band, Martin dedicates his piece to ex-coal miner Brendan who was recently pardoned by the Scottish government for his conviction during the mid-80s miners strikes. Living in the mining area of Southern Scotland, Martin discovers how the geology is to thank for the amazing band leaders and teachers in his area. People who work tirelessly to provide opportunities for young people to play and get good, because the message is strong within banding that education is a path to liberation. And when that path is threatened to be taken away, the community responds.
Produced by Rebecca Gaskell and Martin Green
A Sparklab and Lepus co-production for BBC Radio 4
THU 12:00 News Summary (m00154gt)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
THU 12:04 Sea Change by Alix Nathan (m001567z)
Episode 4
England is beset by social unrest and the threat of Napoleonic invasion. Parted following a freakish accident, Sarah Battle and her daughter Eve try to rediscover each other.
With her mother widely-believed to be dead, Eve is raised by Sarah’s erratic artist friend, Joseph in London. Sarah - traumatised in mind and body - must rebuild herself in a Norfolk fishing village at the parsonage of the strangely-motivated Reverend Snead.
Episode Four
In London, Eve and Joseph celebrate the end of slavery. But in Sowerthorpe, Snead’s attentions to Sarah take a deeper and darker turn.
Alix Nathan is the author of His Last Fire, a collection of short stories, and the novels The Flight Of Sarah Battle and The Warlow Experiment.
Writer: Alix Nathan
Reader: Samantha Spiro
Abridger: Jeremy Osborne
Producer: Jeremy Osborne
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4
THU 12:18 You and Yours (m00154gw)
Giving to Ukraine, Old Not Dumb and Boots Mental Health Service
A giving trend has gone viral after an Airbnb super-host told how she booked accommodation in Ukraine as a way of giving direct to citizens is distress and need.. but is this the right way to help out?
I'm Old Not An Idiot is the campaign slogan of a group of Spanish pensioners who have been leading a fight back against banking apps. They aren't against technology they just want banks not to go overboard with technology and recognise that their customers have different needs.
New laws are being introduced to clamp down on puppy smuggling. There's to be an age threshold on how old a dog must before it is allowed into the UK but, ,say campaigners, there are few resources or powers granted to enforce the rules.
Boots the Chemist is launching a mental health service aimed at the millions of adults who say they suffer with anxiety, depression and other mental health ailments. They say the mostly online service is in response to long waiting lists on the NHS and the often prohibitive cost of 'going private'.
As fuel prices soar what impact is this having on car sales and how we use our cars?
PRESENTER: NICOLA BECKFORD
PRODUCER: KEVIN MOUSLEY
THU 12:57 Weather (m00154gy)
The latest weather forecast
THU 13:00 World at One (m00154h0)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Sarah Montague.
THU 13:45 The Museums That Make Us (m00154h2)
PK Porthcurno - Museum of Global Communications
Neil MacGregor presents a new series for BBC Radio Four celebrating the museums to be found in all corners of Britain. The ambition is to explore local, regional and city museums across the length and breadth of the country, and in the process to answer the question ‘What are Museums For in 2022’.
Today he travels to the western tip of Cornwall to discover why the Museum of Global communications in Porthcurno is far more than just a local curiosity telling the story of a colourful past. He learns about deep sea cabling and a hidden network that helped forge the modern world of mass communication, and which is best understood in the form of a cable hut where cables from across the British Empire once came ashore.
Museums have always been telescopes trained on the past to help locate a sense of place in the present. Neil believes that role is an active one, responding to changes in the people museums serve and the shifting social and cultural landscape they inhabit. After spending much of his life at the centre of our national Museum life in London, Neil is taking to the road to discover more about the extraordinary work being done in Museums outside the capital, from Stornoway to Stowmarket, and Belfast to Birmingham.
In each episode he visits a single museum, inviting them to choose an object from their collections which they feel best illustrates their civic role, and the way they relate and want to relate to their local audience. Very rarely have they chosen a crown jewel from their often priceless collections. More often it's an object with a particular local resonance, or which helps tackle episodes from the past which are being viewed very differently by citizens in the 21st century.
He’ll be visiting the great national museums of Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland, as well as major city institutions in Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool and elsewhere. And in spite of the challenges of the last two years, everywhere he meets passionate teams who are dedicated to providing a unique experience for both local audiences and visitors from further afield.
Neil writes: “What’s going on in our museums is at once challenging and exciting and it can only really be understood by visiting as many as possible and finding out how they have approached what is a vital role in providing a sense of local, regional and national identity.”
Producer - Tom Alban
Original music composed by Phil Channell
THU 14:00 The Archers (m00154dl)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 Faith, Hope and Glory (m00154h4)
Series 3
Faith and Trevor
By Carol Russell
An unexpected pregnancy shakes Faith’s life to its foundations as she realises that she must tell Jim a terrible truth and find the best friend she has betrayed.
Faith ..... Shiloh Coke
Trevor ..... Gary Beadle
Hope ..... Danielle Vitalis
Bootsy ..... Ricky Fearon
Merlene ..... Sharon Duncan-Brewster
Doctor/Rev Vincent ..... Neil McCaul
Receptionist ..... Saffron Coomber
News reporter ..... Matthew Durkan
Woman on bus ..... Rebecca Crankshaw
Man 2 ..... Tayla Kovacevic-Ebong
Man 1 ..... Michael Begley
Nurse Brown ..... Jasmine Hyde
Directed by Pat Cumper
THU 15:00 Ramblings (m00154h6)
95 Ethels in the Peak District
From the Redmires Reservoirs near Sheffield, Clare walks up to Stanage Edge ('stone edge') a gritstone escarpment in the Peak District. Angela Lawrence and Anna Jorgensen are Clare's guests and are retired fell-runners (an accident with a vacuum cleaner ended Angela's running career) but their passion for the hills of the Peak District, which they have run across many times, remains undimmed. They have simply slowed down a little, and are now committed walkers. They wrote to Ramblings to suggest that Clare hike with them up to Stanage Pole. Along the way, on a beautiful, clear-skied day, they take in stunning views, a sociable lunch in a stone bothy, and tell Clare about another of their passions: Argentine Tango.
During the walk they also talk about the "Ethels". In honour of the pioneering environmentalist, Ethel Haythornthwaite, 95 hilltops have been classified by the countryside charity, CPRE, as 'Ethels'. Clare, Angela and Anna delve into Ethel's fascinating life-story as they immerse themselves in the scenery that inspired her. The Ethels were recently created following an idea from Doug Colton.
The Grid Reference for Redmires Reservoirs is SK265858.
Presenter: Clare Balding
Producer: Karen Gregor
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (m00153xl)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 Bookclub (m00153yf)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Sunday]
THU 16:00 The Curious Cases of Rutherford & Fry (m00154h8)
Series 19
The Shocking White Hair
Why does human hair go grey and is it ever possible for it to go white overnight from shock? Hannah and Adam explore why hair goes grey, how much stressful life events and a lack of sleep can speed up the process. They hear from the pilot whose hair turned white after a flight where all 4 of his engines failed after flying through a volcanic ash cloud - was the shock responsible? They also uncover new research which has shown it's possible for greying hair to return to its natural colour and ask if this finding could be exploited to uncover a cosmetic way to reverse hair greying?
THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (m00154hb)
High Seas treaty talks and discoveries from the deep
The High Seas make up most of our oceans but belong to no-one and are largely unregulated, leaving them at risk of plunder. UN talks start afresh this week with the aim of protecting the marine biodiversity of these vast swathes of living ocean.
Covid-19 can shrink our brains and lead to cognitive decline, even in mild cases, according to a new study out this week. Professor Gwenaëlle Douaud, who led the research, explains how they used hundreds of brain scans to discover the effects of Covid infection.
A completely different discovery this week was made at the bottom of the sea; we hear how, after 107 years, scientists have finally found The Endurance, the lost shipwreck of Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton.
How might the Russian invasion of Ukraine affect international space exploration? After a Twitter spat between a former NASA astronaut and the Russian space chief, we’re joined by BBC science correspondent Jonathan Amos and BBC Russian’s Nikolay Voronin to discuss how science in Russia and the rest of the world may be impacted by the current conflict.
And finally, the stunning discovery of a 330 million-year-old vampyropod fossil, the earliest known relative of modern-day octopuses and vampire squids, gives us an opportunity to imagine the world it inhabited, a third of a billion years ago.
THU 17:00 PM (m00154hd)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m00154hg)
Meeting between Russian and Ukrainian ministers ends without progress. Situation in besieged port of Mariupol is worsening; with food and water supplies dangerously low.
THU 18:30 Big Problems with Helen Keen (b098nlcz)
Series 2
Food
This week's Big Problem with Helen Keen is; Food
Natural resources are dwindling so how can we make sure everyone is fed? How has our food shopping and food production changed? Can science help? Will the future be meals in a pill? But, most importantly, what will Helen have for her tea?
As humanity faces a very big raft of very varied problems, many of them of its own making, here is a series of optimistic, scientifically literate yet comically nimble shows that offer a sweeping overview of the biggest challenges we face and the science behind them. We look at the often surprising solutions of past generations and the likely and unlikely solutions of the future and present a scrupulously researched comedy celebrating human ingenuity.
Written by Helen Keen, Jenny Laville, Lloyd Langford and Carrie Quinlan and special thanks to Laura-Alexandra Smith.
Cast: Helen Keen, Jon Culshaw and Susy Kane.
Producer was Katie Tyrrell and it was a BBC Studios Production.
THU 19:00 The Archers (m00154hj)
Tracy’s appliance misfortunes continue when her washing machine breaks down. Susan bails her out, and stressed Tracy shares her money worries over a cup of tea. She also mentions she nearly lost her job, without divulging the detail. She admits that without Jazzer’s financial help she’d be struggling. Susan’s dubious about Tracy relying on him so much, but manages not to say why. Instead she suggests Tracy comes to her if she’s strapped for cash, rather than her boyfriend.
As Phoebe prepares to leave Ambridge, she takes the opportunity to tell Kate how impressed she is with her for allowing Kirsty to take the rewilding post unopposed. She also informs her that Kirsty wants to incorporate some of her ideas into the scheme; that way the rewilding will still have Kate’s stamp on it. Kate thinks it’s sweet and doesn’t mind at all. Later Roy and Kate reassure one another that Phoebe will be alright, and agree they haven’t done a bad job with her. Phoebe declares she wouldn’t be where she is without their encouragement; they’re amazing parents. When she’s gone Kate and Roy find she’s left them each a gift of a goldfish. The fish are named for them, and each has to look after the other’s namesake. Roy hates fish but can see Phoebe was being thoughtful. Kate reckons they’re stuck with them. They challenge one another as to who can keep their fish alive the longest.
THU 19:15 Front Row (m00154hl)
Colin Barrett, reviews of Servant of the People, Run Rose Run and Warsan Shire's new poetry collection
Irish writer Colin Barrett discusses his much anticipated second collection of short stories, Homesickeness, the follow up to his hugely successful 2014 Young Skins.
Long before he became the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky played the President of Ukraine. In Servant of the People he was an everyman swept into office to fight corruption. Now, as he fights the Russian advance Zelensky’s comedy is being shown on Channel 4 and All 4. The Sunday Times Europe Editor Peter Conradi joins academic and writer Rommi Smith and Sameer Rahim the Arts and Books Editor at Prospect Magazine.
Sameer and Rommi stay with presenter Tom Sutcliffe to discuss the first full-length book of poems from Beyonce favourite, Warsan Shire. In Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head, the Somali-born British poet explores themes of themes of migration, womanhood, Black identity and resilience.
Also up for review is Run Rose Run, Dolly Parton’s foray into fiction. Co-written with best-selling author James Patterson, the novel is a thriller about a singer-songwriter on the rise and on the run. The songs written about in the book correspond to an accompanying music album. We know the country music star can write stories in songs but can she write stories in books?
THU 20:00 The Briefing Room (m0015f1k)
Russia's invasion: what level of support does Putin have at home?
What's the impact in Russia of painful sanctions and a war that's not going to plan? How is Putin controlling information and what's required for that to change?
David Aaronovitch is joined by:
Michael Clarke, Visiting Professor of War Studies at Exeter University and former director, Royal United Services Institute
Sergei Guriev, Professor of Economics at Sciences Po in Paris and former Chief Economist at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
Dr. Katerina Tertytchnaya, Assistant Professor in Comparative Politics, University College London
Izabella Tabarovsky, Senior Program Associate at the Kennan Institute, Wilson Center (US)
Dr Maxim Alyukov, fellow Kings College London
Producers: Rosamund Jones, Kirsteen Knight and Ben Henderson
Production Co-ordinators: Sophie Hill and Siobhan Reed
Studio Manager: Neil Churchill
Editor: Richard Vadon
THU 20:30 The Bottom Line (m00154hn)
Changing China
How will shifts in China's economic policies affect global commerce? The nation is the world's second-biggest economy and it's been the centre of globalised manufacturing for over three decades. But after a global pandemic, an energy crisis and now war in Ukraine, is this going to change? Already, President Xi Jinping has plans to move away from the reliance on global trade towards expanding domestic consumption, alongside targets for encouraging innovation in technology and artificial intelligence. Will recent economic sanctions on Russia due to geopolitics make China retreat more from global trade? What will this mean for us and for the rest of the world? Evan Davis and guests discuss
Guests:
Hong Bo, professor of financial economics, School of Finance & Management, SOAS University of London
Mike Collier, director, China UKTC consultancy
Xiaolan Fu, professor of technology and international development: and director, Technology and Management Centre for Development (TMCD), Oxford University
Producer: Julie Ball
Production Coordinators: Sophie Hill and Siobhan Reed
Sound: Nigel Appleton
Editor: Hugh Levinson
This programme was produced in partnership with the Open University
THU 21:00 BBC Inside Science (m00154hb)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 today]
THU 21:30 In Our Time (m00154gh)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (m00154hr)
In-depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
THU 22:45 Sea Change by Alix Nathan (m001567z)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 today]
THU 23:00 Gaby's Talking Pictures (b0b7d7b7)
Series 1
Episode 3
Gaby Roslin hosts the funny, entertaining film quiz with impressions by Alistair McGowan and Ronni Ancona. This week, team captains John Thomson and Ellie Taylor are joined by special guests Emma Kennedy and Richard Herring.
Presented by Gaby Roslin
Team Captains: John Thomson and Ellie Taylor
Impressionists: Alistair McGowan and Ronni Ancona
Created by Gaby Roslin
Written by Carrie Quinlan and Barney Newman
Produced by Gordon Kennedy, Gaby Roslin and Barney Newman
An Absolutely production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 23:30 Today in Parliament (m00154ht)
News from Westminster with Sean Curran.
FRIDAY 11 MARCH 2022
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (m00154hw)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 00:30 Death by Conspiracy? (m00154gk)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Thursday]
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m00154hy)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m00154j0)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.
FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m00154j2)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
FRI 05:30 News Briefing (m00154j4)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m00154j6)
A spirtitual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Rev Dr Emma Whittick, the University of Wales Trinity Saint David's Chaplain at Lampeter and Carmarthen.
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (m00154j8)
11/03/22 Food prices and food security, NI eels, fertiliser prices soaring
"Shameless opportunism", that’s one description of warnings about food security here as a knock on effect of the war in Ukraine. Thomas Lancaster, Head of Land, Seas and Climate Policy at the RSPB, says calls for governments to prioritise growing food and step back from the drive to give more space for nature are unnecessary and wrong.
We have more on the ever rising price of fertiliser, partly caused by the war in Ukraine. Both Russia and Ukraine produce fertiliser and Russia also provides raw ingredients, like potash. But fertiliser has been going up in price for a while: producing it needs a lot of energy and high gas prices have shut some plants both here and across Europe.
All this week we’ve been looking at the Northern Ireland Protocol and what it means for food and farming. Last year we talked about the challenges facing fishermen on Lough Neagh who were struggling to find an outlet for a fifth of their catch of eels, and having problems restocking the lough. Why ask how the last year has been.
Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Beatrice Fenton.
FRI 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b0378srp)
House Sparrow
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Michaela Strachan presents the house sparrow. These birds are more commonly found living alongside us than any other British bird. Perhaps the most enterprising birds were the House Sparrows which bred below ground in a working mine at Frickley Colliery in Yorkshire.
FRI 06:00 Today (m00154pd)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (m00153xz)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:00 on Sunday]
FRI 09:45 Death by Conspiracy? (m00154pg)
10. Light and Dark
As Gary is remembered by those he left behind, what does his story tell us about the world we live in – online and off – right now?
Gary Matthews was a talented artist and photographer, sociable and well-liked - a familiar face in his hometown of Shrewsbury. A few years ago, his friends noticed that he was getting into conspiracy theories. Like millions of others, he fell for Covid pseudoscience when the pandemic hit. In January 2021, at the age of 46, Gary caught the virus, and died.
Marianna Spring, the BBC’s specialist disinformation reporter, travels to the serene medieval Shropshire town that Gary Matthews called home to investigate what happened to him - and why. While delving into the conspiracy underbelly of this picturesque town, she finds out more about Gary's life - and discovers a story that's been repeated across the country, and around the world.
Producer: Ant Adeane
Editor: Mike Wendling
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (m00154pj)
Betty Boo, Rana Ayuub, Baroness Helena Kennedy QC
She’s been credited with inspiring the likes of the Spice Girls and Madonna – singer and songwriter Betty Boo is back. The platinum success artist made a name for herself in the 1990’s for her unapologetic attitude, and combination of Pop and Hip Hop music. Betty Boo has now released her first solo single in almost three decades. She joins Anita Rani to reflect on her career and music
There have been elections in India this week and one journalist who’s been covering them is Rana Ayyub who joins us live. She’s an Indian, Muslim journalist who writes for the Washington Post but she’s based in Mumbai. At the moment she’s under extreme pressure because of her work. She's experiencing serious online abuse, so much so that international monitoring groups worry that her life is in danger. She’s also had police charges filed against her. She says it’s because she’s an outspoken critic of the Indian Government and the Indian Prime Minister, Narenda Modi, and they don’t like her shining a light on how the BJP, which is the Hindu ruling party, treats Muslims in the country.
This week a misogyny act for Scotland created exclusively for women has been recommended to the Scottish government by Baroness Helena Kennedy QC following a year of Chairing the Misogyny and Criminal Justice in Scotland Working Group. She’s been credited with inspiring the likes of Spice Girls and Madonna – singer and songwriter Betty Boo is back. The platinum success artist made a name for herself in the 1990’s for her unapologetic attitude, and combination of Pop and Hip Hop music. Betty Boo has now released her first solo single in almost three decades. She joins Anita to reflect on her career and music.
Presenter: Anita Rani
Producer: Lisa Jenkinson
Studio Manager: Gayl Gordon
FRI 11:00 The Smugglers' Trail (m00154pl)
In the Hands of a Trafficker
This series charts the rise of the smuggling networks and how they operate across the globe. BBC presenter Sue Mitchell and aid worker and former British soldier Rob Lawrie uncover the money that changes hands as migrants cross borders and expose some of those profiting from their desperation.
In programme one Rob Lawrie uses his network of contacts on the French camps to track down a gang leader who admits that he can make up to £100,000 a night from the Channel crossings. The smugger cautiously explains to Rob how things work, from the way that money changes hands and is laundered, through to the scenes that migrants face as they gather on the beaches waiting to make that journey from France to the UK.
This startling interview is given added tension because it takes place in a forest clearing as night sets in. Rob himself is searched before he is given access to the smuggler, who is guarded throughout by five armed men. Producer Sue Mitchell joins them by phone and both she and Rob tackle the smuggler over his role in the deaths of a family of five, who drowned when their boat sank just a few miles out from the French coast.
Produced by Sue Mitchell
FRI 11:30 Ankle Tag (b092fwx8)
Series 1
The Date
Bob decides it's time to get back on the horse, dating wise, and strikes up a friendship with a woman he meets in a local museum.
Meanwhile Gruff is delighted when his editor commissions an article about smoothies, and Alice joins the local neighbourhood watch.
Elis James and Katy Wix star as new parents Gruff and Alice, whose lives are disrupted when career fraudster Bob moves in.
Written by Gareth Gwynn and Benjamin Partridge.
Gruff ...... Elis James
Alice ...... Katy Wix
Bob ...... Steve Speirs
Ruth ...... Shola Adewusi
Margaret ...... Morwenna Banks
Keith ...... Mike Wozniak
Producer: Victoria Lloyd
A BBC Studios production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in August 2017.
FRI 12:00 News Summary (m00154pp)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
FRI 12:04 Sea Change by Alix Nathan (m0015681)
Episode 5
England is beset by social unrest and the threat of Napoleonic invasion. Parted following a freakish accident, Sarah Battle and her daughter Eve try to rediscover each other.
With her mother widely-believed to be dead, Eve is raised by Sarah’s erratic artist friend, Joseph in London. Sarah - traumatised in mind and body - must rebuild herself in a Norfolk fishing village at the parsonage of the strangely-motivated Reverend Snead.
Episode Five
In London, Mr Pike, an old friend of Tom Cranch, visits Eve. In Sowerthorpe, things are getting stranger by the day.
Alix Nathan is the author of His Last Fire, a collection of short stories, and the novels The Flight Of Sarah Battle and The Warlow Experiment.
Writer: Alix Nathan
Reader: Samantha Spiro
Abridger: Jeremy Osborne
Producer: Jeremy Osborne
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 12:18 You and Yours (m00154pr)
Care isolation, Match day hospitality, Blocked broadband
Every vulnerable person in care should have a legal right to a "care supporter" such as relative or a friend who's allowed to visit them without any restrictions.
That's what a group of cross party MPs, peers, campaigners and families want the Government to enshrine in law because of fears that loneliness, isolation and neglect are a bigger risk now than Covid. Since March last year one visitor can be designated as an Essential Care Giver for a family member or friend in a home. We hear from a man who visits his wife in a care home. We also speak to Helen Wildbore, director of the Relatives and Residents Association, and Nadra Ahmed, Executive Chair of the National Care Association, which represents small and medium size care providers.
We report on how every day fans are now getting a look-in when it comes to getting access to executive lounges on football match days. Access can still come at a big price but clubs of all sizes now trying to entice fans into paying for VIP treatment on match day. Aston Villa has unveiled plans for a major expansion of hospitality facilities at its Villa Park stadium, while Accrington Stanley has just opened a £2.5 million hospitality venue. We speak to Dr Dan Plumley, a senior lecturer in sport finance at Sheffield Hallam University, and Kyle Mattison who runs The Padded Seat TikTok account.
There can be lots of barriers to getting decent broadband in rural areas but people living in the village of Northleigh in Devon have an unusual problem. They say
an organisation set up to deliver better internet connections is getting in the way - by stopping them from getting their own broadband put in. Our reporter, Jon Douglas, has more on the story.
Presenter: Peter White
Producer: Tara Holmes
FRI 12:57 Weather (m00154pt)
The latest weather forecast
FRI 13:00 World at One (m00154pw)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Jonny Dymond.
FRI 13:45 The Museums That Make Us (m00154py)
Museum & Tasglann nan Eilean, Stornoway
Neil MacGregor presents a new series for BBC Radio Four celebrating the museums to be found in all corners of Britain. The ambition is to explore local, regional and city museums across the length and breadth of the country, and in the process to answer the question ‘What are Museums For in 2022’.
Today he's on the Isle of Lewis, at the Museum Tasglann nan Eilean in Stornoway. Although the museum has some of the strange and beguiling Lewis Chessmen on display, the story that matters most to them, and to the Scottish Island communities, is that of land ownership, clearances and riots, and the way that story is and has been told.
Museums have always been telescopes trained on the past to help locate a sense of place in the present. Neil believes that role is an active one, responding to changes in the people museums serve and the shifting social and cultural landscape they inhabit. After spending much of his life at the centre of our national Museum life in London, Neil is taking to the road to discover more about the extraordinary work being done in Museums outside the capital, from Stornoway to Stowmarket, and Belfast to Birmingham.
In each episode he visits a single museum, inviting them to choose an object from their collections which they feel best illustrates their civic role, and the way they relate and want to relate to their local audience. Very rarely have they chosen a crown jewel from their often priceless collections. More often it's an object with a particular local resonance, or which helps tackle episodes from the past which are being viewed very differently by citizens in the 21st century.
He’ll be visiting the great national museums of Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland, as well as major city institutions in Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool and elsewhere. And in spite of the challenges of the last two years, everywhere he meets passionate teams who are dedicated to providing a unique experience for both local audiences and visitors from further afield.
Neil writes: “What’s going on in our museums is at once challenging and exciting and it can only really be understood by visiting as many as possible and finding out how they have approached what is a vital role in providing a sense of local, regional and national identity.”
Producer - Tom Alban
Original music composed by Phil Channell
FRI 14:00 The Archers (m00154hj)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Limelight (m00154q0)
Who Is Aldrich Kemp?
Who is Aldrich Kemp? - Chapter Four: The Spirit of the Age
As Clara and her mission are in ever-increasing peril, questions are asked - with varying degrees of politeness - across London and Europe.
Cast:
Clara Page .................................................Phoebe Fox
Mister Bartholomew .............................Tim McInnerny
Aldrich Kemp ...........................................Ferdinand Kingsley
Mrs Boone..................................................Nicola Walker
Sebastian Harcourt ................................Kyle Soller
Nakesha Kemp ........................................Karla Crome
Aunt Lily .....................................................Susan Jameson
Underwood Sisters ................................Jana Carpenter
Conrad Spijker ........................................Steven Mackintosh
Margot .......................................................Louise Brealey
Uncle Dave............. ..................................Ben Crowe
McGarry........... .........................................James Joyce
Created and written by Julian Simpson
Recorded on location in Hove, London and at The Royal Pavilion in Brighton
Music composed by Tim Elsenburg
Sound Design: David Thomas
Director: Julian Simpson
Producer: Sarah Tombling
Executive Producer: Karen Rose
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 14:45 Helen Lewis: Great Wives (m000z0cs)
Series 1
Ghosts
For two decades, Great Lives on Radio 4 has explored what it takes to change the world. But Helen Lewis wants to ask a different question: what does it take to live with someone who changes the world?
Behind the history of genius lies a second, hidden history: the stories of people who give geniuses the time they need to flourish. This series explores the many "supporting roles" needed to sustain an apparently "singular" genius.
In this first episode we meet Einstein's wife Mileva, the Curie power couple and a man who falsely claimed to be the genius behind some terrible paintings.
Written by Helen Lewis with additional voices from Joshua Higgott
Producer: Richard Morris
Production Coordinator: Sarah Nicholls
Sound Design: Chris Maclean
A BBC Studios Production
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m00154q2)
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew: Postbag Edition
Kathy Clugston is at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew with panellists Ashley Edwards, Matt Biggs and Anne Swithinbank.
In a wistful turn about the gardens, some of the panellists remember the time they spent training at Kew, all the while sharing their advice on keeping plants alive when you go away on holiday, pruning plum and hawthorn trees, and planting for fragrant raised beds.
Between the questions, the team visits Kew Gardens' Temperate House, learning all about the fascinating history of some of its rarest plants, the Treetop Walkway, and the Rock and Alpine collections, where they meet Head Gardener, Faye Adams.
Producer - Jemima Rathbone
Assistant Producer - Bethany Hocken
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 15:45 After Wonderland (b03xzvn0)
Alice After Wonderland
The first of three dramatic monologues by Sheila Yeger imagining the adult lives of characters from children's literature.
Decades after her adventures with the Red Queen and the White Rabbit Alice lives alone with her cat and her memories.
Alice is played by Marlene Sidaway; the producer is James Cook.
FRI 16:00 Last Word (m00154q4)
Shirley Hughes (pictured), Roger Graef, Shane Warne
Matthew Bannister on
Shirley Hughes, the children’s author and illustrator whose books created a welcoming and recognisable picture of family life.
Roger Graef, the documentary filmmaker who revealed the inner workings of the criminal justice system, the planning authorities and the treatment of children in care.
Shane Warne, the Australian spin bowler hailed as one of the greatest cricketers of all time, but also known for his off the pitch party lifestyle.
Producer: Neil George
Interviewed guest: Tom Vulliamy
Interviewed guest: Julia Eccleshare
Interviewed guest: Michael Palin
Interviewed guest: Katie Derham
Interviewed guest: Simon Wilde
Archive clips used: Random House Children's Publishers UK, Shirley Hughes reading 'Dogger' 18/09/2013; BBC Radio 4, Desert Island Discs - Shirley Hughes 25/03/2001; BBC Radio 4, Woman's Hour - Shirley Hughes on 30 Years of Alfie 06/06/2011; Amnesty International, A Pleasure at Her Majesty's - documentary 1976; BAFTA, Tribute to Roger Graef 02/05/2014; Derrick Knight and Partners/ BFI, One of Them is Brett - documentary 1965; BBC Radio 4, Desert Island Discs - Robert Graef 26/10/2014; BBC One, Police - A Complaint of Rape 18/01/1982; BBC Radio 5Live, Remembering Shane Warne 04/03/2022; YouTube, 5 Magical Wickets of Shane Warne 05/08/2018; 60 Minutes Australia/ YouTube Channel, Shane Warne Interview 04/03/2022; Cricket.com.au/ YouTube Channel, From the Vault - Warne's Four Turns Adelaide on its Head 19/04/2020; BBC Radio 4, News - Shane Warne Sent Home from World Cup 11/02/2003; BBC Radio 4, Today - Tribute to Shane Warne 05/04/2022.
FRI 16:30 Feedback (m00154q6)
Should BBC News remain impartial in its coverage of the appalling suffering in Ukraine?
And is it right to interview Russian spokespeople, who dare not deviate from Putin approved propaganda? Richard Burgess, Senior Controller News Content, at BBC News answers listeners’ questions about reporting of the war in Ukraine.
Also in the programme, two people who do not listen to BBC Radio try it for the first time as they assess the interviewing skills of the Archbishop of Canterbury, displayed in his new Radio 4 series.
And listeners and non-listeners talk about what comedy they listen to, and their likes and dislikes, during an interval at the Bristol Improv Theatre.
Presenter: Roger Bolton
Producer: Kate Dixon
Executive Producer: Samir Shah
A Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 17:00 PM (m00154q8)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m00154qb)
Russian forces have launched attacks on several new fronts in Ukraine. The invaders have made significant gains in the south of the country.
FRI 18:30 The Now Show (m00154qd)
Series 60
Episode 1
Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis present the week via topical stand-up and sketches.
FRI 19:00 Letter from Ukraine (m0015hxc)
A country in search of safety
Ukrainian writer Andrey Kurkov gives a personal account of daily life in war-torn Ukraine. This week he reflects on the experience of being a refugee in his own country.
Written and read by Andrey Kurkov
Translated by Elizabeth Sharp
Produced by Emma Harding
Production co-ordinator Eleri McAuliffe
Technical producer Nigel Lewis
A BBC Cymru Wales production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 19:15 Add to Playlist (m00154qh)
Dinara Klinton and Neil Brand continue the journey
Pianist Dinara Klinton and composer and writer Neil Brand join Cerys Matthews and Jeffrey Boakye to select the next five tracks on the playlist, each track chosen for its musical connections with the previous one.
From grief to joy, they unpick the familiar and the not-so-familiar musical tracks, and demonstrate how the compositions work.
Presenters Cerys Matthews and Jeffrey Boakye
Producer Jerome Weatherald
The five tracks in this week's playlist:
I Can See for Miles by The Who
Piano Sonata No. 6 in A Major, Op 82 by Sergei Prokofiev (First movement)
Adagio for Strings by Samuel Barber
Introvert by Little Simz
Blue Pepper (Far East of the Blues) by Duke Ellington
Other music in this episode:
Solfeggietto in C Minor by CPE Bach
You're the Voice by John Farnham
Don't Cry for me, Argentina by Andrew Lloyd Webber, sung by Julie Covington
Che Gelida Manina from La Bohème by Puccini, sung by Luciano Pavarotti
Samba de Uma Nota Só (One Note Samba) by Antonio Carlos Jobim
Zdravitsa (Cantata) by Prokofiev
Barber's Adagio for Strings by William Orbit (Ferry Corsten remix)
Adagio for Strings by Tiësto
Free Years Later by Kano
Fine Wine by Ghetts
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (m00154qk)
Lord Adonis, Caroline Lucas MP, Lord Moore, Jeremy Quin MP
Chris Mason presents political debate and discussion from Ashley Village Hall in Northamptonshire with the Labour peer and former Cabinet Minister Lord Adonis, the Green Party MP and former party leader Caroline Lucas, the author, columnist and non-affiliated peer Lord Moore and the Conservative MP and Minister of State for Defence Procurement Jeremy Quin.
Producer: Camellia Sinclair
Lead broadcast engineer: John Cole
FRI 20:50 A Point of View (m00154qm)
There Are No Words
For the past five years, Rebecca Stott and a Russian friend have spent time together... digging heavy soil, planting hawthorn trees and pruning wild roses.
Veronika is a translator and a university lecturer, with a talent for gardening. She's helped Rebecca in her garden; Rebecca has discussed translations with Veronika.
Now, in the light of events in Ukraine, Rebecca talks about their friendship.
Producer: Adele Armstrong
Production Coordinator: Gemma Ashman
Sound: Peter Bosher
Editor: Penny Murphy
FRI 21:00 The Museums That Make Us (m00154qp)
Week One
Neil MacGregor presents a new series for BBC Radio Four celebrating the museums to be found in all corners of Britain. The ambition is to explore local, regional and city museums across the length and breadth of the country, and in the process to answer the question ‘What are Museums For in 2022’.
In the first week of programmes he sees change, challenge and gets a sense of the sheer range of Britain's museum culture, from Derry/Londonderry in the West, Porthcurno in the Cornish South up to Stornoway in the north.
Museums have always been telescopes trained on the past to help locate a sense of place in the present. Neil believes that role is an active one, responding to changes in the people museums serve and the shifting social and cultural landscape they inhabit. After spending much of his life at the centre of our national Museum life in London, Neil is taking to the road to discover more about the extraordinary work being done in Museums outside the capital, from Stornoway to Stowmarket, and Belfast to Birmingham.
In each episode he visits a single museum, invitation them to choose an object from their collections which they feel best illustrates their civic role, and the way they relate and want to relate to their local audience. Very rarely have they chosen a crown jewel from their often priceless collections. More often it's an object with a particular local resonance, or which helps tackle episodes from the past which are being viewed very differently by citizens in the 21st century.
He’ll be visiting the great national museums of Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland, as well as major city institutions in Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool and elsewhere. And in spite of the challenges of the last two years, everywhere he meets passionate teams who are dedicated to providing a unique experience for both local audiences and visitors from further afield.
Neil writes: “What’s going on in our museums is at once challenging and exciting and it can only really be understood by visiting as many as possible and finding out how they have approached what is a vital role in providing a sense of local, regional and national identity.”
Producer - Tom Alban
Original music composed by Phil Channell
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (m00154qr)
In-depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
FRI 22:45 Sea Change by Alix Nathan (m0015681)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 today]
FRI 23:00 A Good Read (m00154b6)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 on Tuesday]
FRI 23:30 Today in Parliament (m00154qt)
Mark D'Arcy reports as a former UK national security adviser tells the House of Lords there needs to be closer UK-EU co-operation on policing and security.
LIST OF THIS WEEK'S PROGRAMMES
(Note: the times link back to the details; the pids link to the BBC page, including iPlayer)
39 Ways to Save the Planet
14:45 SAT (m000r368)
A Good Read
16:30 TUE (m00154b6)
A Good Read
23:00 FRI (m00154b6)
A Point of View
08:48 SUN (m0014xyd)
A Point of View
20:50 FRI (m00154qm)
Add to Playlist
19:15 FRI (m00154qh)
After Wonderland
15:45 FRI (b03xzvn0)
Analysis
21:30 SUN (m0014x7v)
Analysis
20:30 MON (m001547v)
Angstrom
11:30 WED (b09pmbdh)
Ankle Tag
11:30 FRI (b092fwx8)
Any Answers?
14:00 SAT (m001540f)
Any Questions?
13:10 SAT (m0014xyb)
Any Questions?
20:00 FRI (m00154qk)
Archive on 4
20:00 SAT (m0015411)
BBC Inside Science
16:30 THU (m00154hb)
BBC Inside Science
21:00 THU (m00154hb)
Banding: Love, Spit and Valve Oil
16:00 MON (m0014xtb)
Banding: Love, Spit and Valve Oil
11:30 THU (m00154gr)
Bells on Sunday
05:43 SUN (m00153z6)
Bells on Sunday
00:45 MON (m00153z6)
Big Problems with Helen Keen
18:30 THU (b098nlcz)
Bookclub
16:00 SUN (m00153yf)
Bookclub
15:30 THU (m00153yf)
Bright Lights, Dead City
19:45 SUN (m00153yy)
Broadcasting House
09:00 SUN (m00153xv)
Broken Colours
14:15 TUE (m001549y)
Chris Neill: Raging Enigma
23:15 WED (m00154f0)
Conversations from a Long Marriage
18:30 WED (m00154dj)
Costing the Earth
15:30 TUE (m00154b2)
Costing the Earth
21:00 WED (m00154b2)
Counterpoint
23:00 SAT (m0014x7c)
Counterpoint
15:00 MON (m0015478)
Death by Conspiracy?
00:30 SAT (m0014yx3)
Death by Conspiracy?
09:45 MON (m001546m)
Death by Conspiracy?
00:30 TUE (m001546m)
Death by Conspiracy?
09:45 TUE (m00154c4)
Death by Conspiracy?
00:30 WED (m00154c4)
Death by Conspiracy?
09:45 WED (m00154cr)
Death by Conspiracy?
00:30 THU (m00154cr)
Death by Conspiracy?
09:45 THU (m00154gk)
Death by Conspiracy?
00:30 FRI (m00154gk)
Death by Conspiracy?
09:45 FRI (m00154pg)
Desert Island Discs
11:00 SUN (m00153xz)
Desert Island Discs
09:00 FRI (m00153xz)
Drama
15:00 SAT (m001540h)
Drama
15:00 SUN (m00153yc)
Drama
14:15 MON (m0015476)
Egypt's New Capital
16:30 SUN (m000nl7d)
Eider Island
11:00 TUE (m001549h)
Enchanted Isle
21:45 SAT (m000vp1f)
Faith, Hope and Glory
14:15 THU (m00154h4)
Farming Today
06:30 SAT (m00153zs)
Farming Today
05:45 MON (m00153zl)
Farming Today
05:45 TUE (m001548d)
Farming Today
05:45 WED (m00154cj)
Farming Today
05:45 THU (m00154fj)
Farming Today
05:45 FRI (m00154j8)
Feedback
16:30 FRI (m00154q6)
File on 4
17:00 SUN (m0014wvf)
File on 4
20:00 TUE (m00154bp)
Fortunately... with Fi and Jane
23:00 TUE (m00154by)
From Fact to Fiction
14:15 WED (m000fx2b)
From Our Own Correspondent
11:30 SAT (m0015405)
From Our Own Correspondent
11:00 THU (m00154gp)
Front Row
19:15 MON (m001547p)
Front Row
19:15 TUE (m00154bm)
Front Row
19:15 WED (m00154dn)
Front Row
19:15 THU (m00154hl)
Gaby's Talking Pictures
23:00 THU (b0b7d7b7)
Gardeners' Question Time
14:00 SUN (m0014xxw)
Gardeners' Question Time
15:00 FRI (m00154q2)
Helen Lewis: Great Wives
14:45 FRI (m000z0cs)
In Our Time
09:00 THU (m00154gh)
In Our Time
21:30 THU (m00154gh)
In Touch
20:40 TUE (m00154br)
Inside Health
21:00 TUE (m00154bt)
Inside Health
15:30 WED (m00154bt)
Just a Minute
12:04 SUN (m0014x7n)
Just a Minute
18:30 MON (m001547k)
Last Word
20:30 SUN (m0014xy0)
Last Word
16:00 FRI (m00154q4)
Law in Action
16:00 TUE (m00154b4)
Lent Talks
20:45 WED (m00154ds)
Letter from Ukraine
11:45 SUN (m0015h6b)
Letter from Ukraine
19:00 FRI (m0015hxc)
Limelight
14:15 FRI (m00154q0)
Loose Ends
18:15 SAT (m001540x)
Loose Ends
11:30 MON (m001540x)
Midnight News
00:00 SAT (m0014xyl)
Midnight News
00:00 SUN (m0015415)
Midnight News
00:00 MON (m00153z4)
Midnight News
00:00 TUE (m0015482)
Midnight News
00:00 WED (m00154c2)
Midnight News
00:00 THU (m00154f4)
Midnight News
00:00 FRI (m00154hw)
Money Box
12:04 SAT (m00153z0)
Money Box
21:00 SUN (m00153z0)
Money Box
15:00 WED (m00154d8)
Moral Maze
22:15 SAT (m0014x1m)
Moral Maze
20:00 WED (m00154dq)
More or Less
20:00 SUN (m0014x0f)
My Name Is...
11:00 MON (m001546r)
Natural Histories
06:35 SUN (b07zz5y6)
News Briefing
05:30 SAT (m0014xyv)
News Briefing
05:30 SUN (m001541f)
News Briefing
05:30 MON (m00153zg)
News Briefing
05:30 TUE (m001548b)
News Briefing
05:30 WED (m00154cd)
News Briefing
05:30 THU (m00154fd)
News Briefing
05:30 FRI (m00154j4)
News Summary
12:00 SAT (m001541l)
News Summary
06:00 SUN (m00153x8)
News Summary
12:00 SUN (m00153y1)
News Summary
12:00 MON (m001546v)
News Summary
12:00 TUE (m00154r8)
News Summary
12:00 WED (m00154cy)
News Summary
12:00 THU (m00154gt)
News Summary
12:00 FRI (m00154pp)
News and Papers
06:00 SAT (m00153zq)
News and Papers
07:00 SUN (m00153xg)
News and Papers
08:00 SUN (m00153xq)
News and Weather
13:00 SAT (m001540c)
News
22:00 SAT (m0015413)
Now You're Asking with Marian Keyes and Tara Flynn
19:15 SUN (m00153yw)
PM
17:00 SAT (m001540m)
PM
17:00 MON (m001547f)
PM
17:00 TUE (m00154b8)
PM
17:00 WED (m00154dd)
PM
17:00 THU (m00154hd)
PM
17:00 FRI (m00154q8)
Pay Freezes
20:00 MON (m001547r)
Pick of the Week
18:15 SUN (m00153yr)
Pony Tales
23:30 SAT (b07wgkz8)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 SAT (m0014xyx)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 MON (m00153zj)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 TUE (m001567s)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 WED (m00154cg)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 THU (m00154fg)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 FRI (m00154j6)
Profile
19:00 SAT (m00153yh)
Profile
05:45 SUN (m00153yh)
Profile
17:40 SUN (m00153yh)
Radio 4 Appeal
07:54 SUN (m00153xl)
Radio 4 Appeal
21:25 SUN (m00153xl)
Radio 4 Appeal
15:27 THU (m00153xl)
Ramblings
06:07 SAT (m0014xtw)
Ramblings
15:00 THU (m00154h6)
Rap Gets Real
11:30 TUE (m001549k)
Rewinder
10:30 SAT (m0015401)
Rewinder
16:00 WED (m0014fr2)
Riot Girls
21:00 SAT (b07142ln)
Saturday Live
09:00 SAT (m00153zz)
Sea Change by Alix Nathan
12:04 MON (m001567p)
Sea Change by Alix Nathan
22:45 MON (m001567p)
Sea Change by Alix Nathan
12:04 TUE (m001567v)
Sea Change by Alix Nathan
22:45 TUE (m001567v)
Sea Change by Alix Nathan
12:04 WED (m001567x)
Sea Change by Alix Nathan
22:45 WED (m001567x)
Sea Change by Alix Nathan
12:04 THU (m001567z)
Sea Change by Alix Nathan
22:45 THU (m001567z)
Sea Change by Alix Nathan
12:04 FRI (m0015681)
Sea Change by Alix Nathan
22:45 FRI (m0015681)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 SAT (m0014xyq)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 SUN (m0015419)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 MON (m00153zb)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 TUE (m0015486)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 WED (m00154c8)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 THU (m00154f8)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 FRI (m00154j0)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 SAT (m0014xyn)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 SAT (m0014xys)
Shipping Forecast
17:54 SAT (m001540q)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 SUN (m0015417)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 SUN (m001541c)
Shipping Forecast
17:54 SUN (m00153yk)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 MON (m00153z8)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 MON (m00153zd)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 TUE (m0015484)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 TUE (m0015488)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 WED (m00154c6)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 WED (m00154cb)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 THU (m00154f6)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 THU (m00154fb)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 FRI (m00154hy)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 FRI (m00154j2)
Short Cuts
15:00 TUE (m00154b0)
Short Works
00:30 SUN (m0014xxy)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 SAT (m001540v)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 SUN (m00153yp)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 MON (m001547h)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 TUE (m00154bd)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 WED (m00154dg)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 THU (m00154hg)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 FRI (m00154qb)
Soccer Mums
21:00 MON (m0014wt4)
Something Understood
06:05 SUN (b00t60pf)
Something Understood
23:30 SUN (b00t60pf)
Start the Week
09:00 MON (m001546k)
Start the Week
21:30 MON (m001546k)
Sunday Worship
08:10 SUN (m00153xs)
Sunday
07:10 SUN (m00153xj)
The Anatomy of Kindness
09:00 WED (m00154cn)
The Archbishop Interviews
13:30 SUN (m00153y9)
The Archers Omnibus
10:00 SUN (m00153xx)
The Archers
19:00 SUN (m00153yt)
The Archers
14:00 MON (m00153yt)
The Archers
19:00 MON (m001547m)
The Archers
14:00 TUE (m001547m)
The Archers
19:00 TUE (m00154bk)
The Archers
14:00 WED (m00154bk)
The Archers
19:00 WED (m00154dl)
The Archers
14:00 THU (m00154dl)
The Archers
19:00 THU (m00154hj)
The Archers
14:00 FRI (m00154hj)
The Bottom Line
17:30 SAT (m0014xvb)
The Bottom Line
20:30 THU (m00154hn)
The Briefing Room
20:00 THU (m0015f1k)
The Case of the Brillante Virtuoso
11:00 WED (m00154cw)
The Curious Cases of Rutherford & Fry
23:00 SUN (m0014xty)
The Curious Cases of Rutherford & Fry
16:00 THU (m00154h8)
The Damien Slash Mixtape
23:00 WED (m00154dx)
The Digital Human
16:30 MON (m001547c)
The Food Programme
12:32 SUN (m00153y3)
The Food Programme
15:30 MON (m00153y3)
The Life Scientific
09:00 TUE (m0014wt0)
The Life Scientific
21:30 TUE (m0014wt0)
The Media Show
16:30 WED (m00154db)
The Media Show
21:30 WED (m00154db)
The Museums That Make Us
13:45 MON (m0015473)
The Museums That Make Us
13:45 TUE (m001549w)
The Museums That Make Us
13:45 WED (m00154d6)
The Museums That Make Us
13:45 THU (m00154h2)
The Museums That Make Us
13:45 FRI (m00154py)
The Museums That Make Us
21:00 FRI (m00154qp)
The News Quiz
12:30 SAT (m0014xy6)
The Now Show
18:30 FRI (m00154qd)
The Political Butterfly Effect
09:30 TUE (m000846b)
The Seventh Test by Vikas Swarup
14:45 SUN (b044j7pn)
The Smugglers' Trail
11:00 FRI (m00154pl)
The Week in Westminster
11:00 SAT (m0015403)
The World This Weekend
13:00 SUN (m00153y7)
The World Tonight
22:00 MON (m001547y)
The World Tonight
22:00 TUE (m00154bw)
The World Tonight
22:00 WED (m00154dv)
The World Tonight
22:00 THU (m00154hr)
The World Tonight
22:00 FRI (m00154qr)
The World of Simon Rich
18:30 TUE (m00154bg)
This Cultural Life
19:15 SAT (m001540z)
Today in Parliament
23:30 MON (m0015480)
Today in Parliament
23:30 TUE (m00154c0)
Today in Parliament
23:30 WED (m00154f2)
Today in Parliament
23:30 THU (m00154ht)
Today in Parliament
23:30 FRI (m00154qt)
Today
07:00 SAT (m00153zx)
Today
06:00 MON (m001546h)
Today
06:00 TUE (m0015495)
Today
06:00 WED (m00154cl)
Today
06:00 THU (m00154gf)
Today
06:00 FRI (m00154pd)
Tom Mayhew Is Benefit Scum
00:15 SUN (m000sr6m)
Tweet of the Day
08:58 SUN (b03mzty6)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 MON (b02twnw4)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 TUE (b03zrcgb)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 WED (b03x458y)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 THU (b03z9k44)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 FRI (b0378srp)
Weather
06:57 SAT (m00153zv)
Weather
12:57 SAT (m0015409)
Weather
17:57 SAT (m001540s)
Weather
06:57 SUN (m00153xd)
Weather
07:57 SUN (m00153xn)
Weather
12:57 SUN (m00153y5)
Weather
17:57 SUN (m00153ym)
Weather
05:56 MON (m00153zn)
Weather
12:57 MON (m001546z)
Weather
12:57 TUE (m001549r)
Weather
12:57 WED (m00154d2)
Weather
12:57 THU (m00154gy)
Weather
12:57 FRI (m00154pt)
Westminster Hour
22:00 SUN (m00153z2)
Wireless Nights
00:15 MON (m0011rv1)
Witness
05:45 SAT (b01qldlt)
Woman's Hour
16:00 SAT (m001540k)
Woman's Hour
10:00 MON (m001546p)
Woman's Hour
10:00 TUE (m001549f)
Woman's Hour
10:00 WED (m00154ct)
Woman's Hour
10:00 THU (m00154gm)
Woman's Hour
10:00 FRI (m00154pj)
World at One
13:00 MON (m0015471)
World at One
13:00 TUE (m001549t)
World at One
13:00 WED (m00154d4)
World at One
13:00 THU (m00154h0)
World at One
13:00 FRI (m00154pw)
You and Yours
12:18 MON (m001546x)
You and Yours
12:18 TUE (m001549p)
You and Yours
12:18 WED (m00154d0)
You and Yours
12:18 THU (m00154gw)
You and Yours
12:18 FRI (m00154pr)
You're Dead To Me
23:00 MON (p07qrwq7)