SATURDAY 28 SEPTEMBER 2024

SAT 00:00 Midnight News (m00237ns)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 00:30 The Siege by Ben Macintyre (m00237m9)
Book of the Week: Episode 10 - Inside the Iranian Embassy Sounds of Battle Reverberate

Ben Macintyre’s latest book about the 1980 siege at the Iranian Embassy concludes. The SAS operation to bring the siege at the Iranian Embassy to an end is underway, but one minute in, it does not appear to be going well. Jamie Parker reads

Ben Macintyre sets the pulse racing in his new book when he looks back to the spring of 1980. On 30th April, six heavily armed gunmen burst into the Iranian Embassy on Princes Gate in London, taking 26 people hostage. What followed was an intense set of events involving police negotiators, decisions makers at the highest levels, and the SAS. Jamie Parker reads.

In The Siege Ben Macintyre takes us inside the minds of all of those who were part of the crisis, painting a minute by minute picture of six days filled with terror and uncertainty for the hostages, the gunmen and the authorities.

Throughout efforts were made to resolve the crisis bloodlessly, while the SAS laid daring plans for a daring rescue. Millions gathered around their televisions to watch the unprecedented events unfold.

Ben Macintyre’s previous titles include, Colditz, Agent Sonya, and The Spy and The Traitor. Several have been adapted for film and television – Operation Mincemeat, A Spy Among Friends and SAS Rogue Heroes.

Jamie Parker is known for his work on radio – Hamlet, Going Infinite, The Goldfinch; on stage – The History Boys, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Next to Normal, and on screen - Becoming Elizabeth, The Crown and Des.

Abridged by Richard Hamilton
Produced by Elizabeth Allard


SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m00237nv)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m00237nx)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


SAT 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m00237nz)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SAT 05:30 News Briefing (m00237p1)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m00237p3)
New beginnings

Good morning.

September, for some, can be a time of new beginnings. Having spent a rather long time in education, first as a student and then as a teacher, this month meant preparing new timetables, new registers, and making sure that I had all the necessary equipment and materials for the academic year ahead.

The uncertainty of a new season can be both exciting and daunting. Think of a child that has started at a new school, or a young person leaving home for the first time. For me, leaving London to head to university in Scotland was immense. I remember being rather tearful with my roommate on the first evening, after our families had helped us unpack and then left. There we were, the two of us, surrounded by boxes, crying, and realising that this was the start of a new stage of our lives. Yet, I had no idea that this new beginning would bring lifetime friendships, adventure, and useful life lessons. It was a special time. I learnt so much about who I was, and wasn’t, and what I felt I could contribute to the world.

And isn’t that what new beginnings are all about? Holding what you already know and making room for new learning, new ways of thinking and being. As a Christian, my faith has helped me navigate so many new seasons. It’s not that I always felt that everything would be ok. I couldn’t claim that. Rather, my faith always pointed me to the fact that I wasn’t alone.

So today, I pray for courage, clarity and openheartedness in the face of new beginnings and to be reminded that there are people there to walk alongside me. Amen.


SAT 05:45 Glued Up: The Sticky Story of Humanity (m001y8cm)
How rubber changed the world

In this series, materials scientist Mark Miodownik charts the journey of human progress through the sticky substances that have shaped us.

In episode two he explores how latex, the sticky sap of the rubber tree, transformed the world we live in.

He learns how rubber is an ancient Mesoamerican innovation dating back at least 3,600 years, used by the Olmec people for its incredible stretchiness and bounciness.

And he hears how scientists of the industrial revolution were captivated by rubber, but struggled to harness its miraculous properties. Eventually, one man would solve this sticky problem – but the quest nearly killed him, and cost him everything he had.

Contributors:
Charles Slack, Author and historian
Mike Tarkanian, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Sound effects: DeLorean DMC-12 (V6 PRV engine) by SkyernAklea, from Freesound

Producer: Anand Jagatia
Presenter: Mark Miodownik
Executive Producer: Sasha Feachem
BBC Studios Audio Production


SAT 06:00 News and Papers (m0023fng)
The latest news headlines. Including the weather and a look at the papers.


SAT 06:07 Open Country (m00237zj)
The 100 Mile Wildlife Corridor

Martha Kearney follows the River Ouse, from the High Weald to the Sussex coast and - finally - into the sea itself. Along the way, she discovers how one of the UK's largest nature recovery projects is taking root.

The project is called 'Weald to Waves' - it's a wildlife corridor that has been mapped out over more than 100 miles of Sussex landscape and coastline, to encourage biodiversity on a huge scale, connecting food, farming, nature and people. Encompassing more than 20,000 hectares of contiguous habitat, it is a huge coming-together of farmers, land managers, councils, utility companies, wildlife charities, schools, gardeners and community groups. Martha meets some of the people who have pledged to be a part of this huge collaborative effort.

Producer: Becky Ripley


SAT 06:30 Farming Today (m0023fnj)
28/09/24 Farming Today This Week: Henry Dimbleby, Environmental Land Management Schemes, Planning, Cider Apples

We’ve been reporting over the last couple of weeks about a £358m underspend over the last three years from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs' £2.4 billion agriculture annual budget for England. Now, former DEFRA director and author of the National Food Strategy, Henry Dimbleby says it’s critical that this money isn’t lost from the farming budget.

He also tells us what he wants to see in the government's new Environmental Land Management schemes, especially for upland farmers. Some upland farmers who’ve spent years in what are called Higher Level Stewardship agreements, which pay for farming in a way that benefits the environment and wildlife, say there is nothing they can apply for under ELMs at the moment. We hear from one farmer in the Lake District about his frustrations with the new schemes.

Increases in offshore wind means in turn that the electricity generated has to brought inland, often requiring new infrastructure. Miles of underground cabling is being channelled through the countryside, with some farmers having little choice about whether it goes across their land.

The weather over the last year has had a huge impact on food producers across the UK. With the apple harvest underway, we speak to a cider apple producer who says he's lost trees because of waterlogged orchards.

Presented by Caz Graham and produced by Jo Peacey.


SAT 06:57 Weather (m0023fnl)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SAT 07:00 Today (m0023fnn)
28/09/24 - Justin Webb and Simon Jack

News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (m0023fnq)
Lindsey Hilsum, Robert Harris, Jon Watts, Celia Imrie

Radio 4's Saturday morning show brings you extraordinary stories and remarkable people.


SAT 10:00 You're Dead to Me (p0f7sjkw)
Frederick Douglass

Greg Jenner is joined by special guests Prof Emily Bernard and comedian Toussaint Douglass in 19th-century America to meet Frederick Douglass. Born into an enslaved family, Frederick fought against all odds to secure his freedom and went on to become a famed abolitionist, orator, writer and statesman.

You’re Dead To Me is a production by The Athletic for BBC Radio 4
Research by Anna-Nadine Pike and Jess White
Written by Emma Nagouse, Anna-Nadine Pike and Greg Jenner
Produced by Emma Nagouse and Greg Jenner
Assistant Producer: Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow
Project Management: Isla Matthews
Audio Producer: Steve Hankey


SAT 10:30 The Kitchen Cabinet (m0023fnv)
Series 45

Harpenden

Jay Rayner and his panel of food experts are answering questions from an audience of keen home cooks in Harpenden. Joining Jay for the first time is cook, writer and former Great British Bake Off winner Nadiya Hussain, alongside chefs Jocky Petrie and Tim Anderson, and food historian, Dr Annie Gray.

The panellists offer their star recipes to win a baking competition, discuss how they’d use up a glut of cooking apples, and decide whether cinnamon should be banned.

And if you’re thinking of throwing away your banana peels, orange skins, or eye-filled potatoes, think again, and find out how to make use of all of these items instead.

Producer: Dominic Tyerman
Assistant Producer: Dulcie Whadcock

A Somethin’ Else production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 11:00 Americast (m00237nq)
Arizona… and the battle for the Latino vote

Latinos are the second-largest group of eligible voters in the US, making their influence in the presidential election potentially pivotal.

Sarah is investigating their sway in Arizona - a state that could help decide the outcome of the race. Which party benefits the most from winning The Grand Canyon State? And is Donald Trump or Kamala Harris making more in-roads with Latino voters?

Americast brings in Mike Madrid, a veteran Latino pollster and strategist. What are demographic trends telling us about how Latinos will vote, and do Democrats need to shift their messaging to connect with this key voting bloc?

HOSTS:
• Justin Webb, Radio 4 presenter
• Sarah Smith, North America Editor
• Anthony Zurcher, North America Correspondent

GUEST:
• Mike Madrid, Latino Republican pollster & author of ‘The Latino Century’

GET IN TOUCH:
• Join our online community: https://discord.gg/qSrxqNcmRB
• Send us a message or voice note via WhatsApp to +44 330 123 9480
• Email Americast@bbc.co.uk
• Or use #Americast

This episode was made by Purvee Pattni and George Dabby with Rufus Gray, Catherine Fusillo and Claire Betzer. The technical producer was Philip Bull. The series producer is Purvee Pattni. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.

If you want to be notified every time we publish a new episode, please subscribe to us on BBC Sounds by hitting the subscribe button on the app.

You can now listen to Americast on a smart speaker. If you want to listen, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Americast”. It works on most smart speakers.

US Election Unspun: Sign up for Anthony’s BBC newsletter: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-68093155

Americast is part of the BBC News Podcasts family of podcasts. The team that makes Americast also makes lots of other podcasts, including The Global Story, The Today Podcast, and of course Newscast and Ukrainecast. If you enjoy Americast (and if you're reading this then you hopefully do), then we think that you will enjoy some of our other pods too. See links below.

The Global Story: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/w13xtvsd
The Today Podcast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p0gg4k6r
Newscast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/series/p05299nl
Ukrainecast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p0bqztzm


SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m0023fnx)
War Looms in Lebanon

Kate Adie presents stories from Lebanon, Sri Lanka, Ukraine, Cuba and Somalia.

Israel says it has killed the Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, as it continued its air offensive in Lebanon. It says this week’s airstrikes are in response to rocket attacks across the northern border into Israel by Hezbollah. More than 90,000 Lebanese have been displaced over the past week. Hugo Bachega spoke to those who fled their homes.

Sri Lanka has elected left-wing President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who's seen something of a meteoric rise. His election heralds a paradigm shift in the country, which has had a history of right-wing administrations - but his rise is perhaps best understood through the prism of the country's dire economic crisis says Samira Hussain in Colombo.

Vlodymyr Zelensky travelled to the US this week as he continues to seek approval for the use of long-range Western missiles, and to set out his 'victory plan' to President Biden. Back in Ukraine, the threat of Russian forces is ever-present, as Abdujalil Abdurasulov found on a recent trip to the eastern front.

Cuba has become known among tourists for its low crime rate - though reputation has been tarnished in the eyes of many Cubans, who say they now are genuinely worried about rising crime, especially with the emergence of a cheap new drug on the island, reports Will Grant.

Somalia has been torn apart by more than 30 years of overlapping conflicts and now faces a further threat: climate change. But even as a warming world is turbo-charging Somalia’s problems, Justin Rowlatt discovered that it's also inspiring entrepreneurs to find solutions that could prove transformative.

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


SAT 12:00 News Summary (m0023fnz)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 12:04 Money Box (m0023fp1)
Working on Benefits and Banking Hubs

A new report given exclusively to Money Box is calling for more help for working families on Universal Credit. The University of Bath’s Institute for Policy Research wants the government to raise earning thresholds for extra help like free school meals, NHS prescriptions, council tax support and NHS dental help. The government says it's committed to supporting low-income families by extending the Household Support Fund by £421 million. It also told us its commitment to reviewing Universal Credit so people receive the support they need, saying it is taking "bold action" to help people into work so they can gain financial independence and break down the barriers to opportunity.

Banking Hubs should start offering more help for customers with advice on scams, getting online and creating Power of Attorneys according to the former chair of the watchdog, the Financial Conduct Authority. Charles Randell, who’s now a member of the Financial Inclusion Committee, says banks need to invest more in the hubs as bank branch closures continue to hit communities with more than 6,000 having closed since 2015. UK Finance, which represents banks, says significant ongoing investment is being made to support customers with access to cash and day to day banking needs.

What changes could the Chancellor make to ISAs and Dividends in her October Budget?

And energy prices go up next week - what does it mean for you and how does it work?

Presenter: Paul Lewis
Reporters: Dan Whitworth and Catherine Lund
Researchers: Emma Smith and Jo Krasner
Editor: Jess Quayle

(First broadcast 12pm Saturday 28th September 2024)


SAT 12:30 The News Quiz (m00237n6)
Series 115

Conference & Confidence

Robin Morgan, Ian Smith, Alice Fraser, and Ash Sarkar join Andy Zaltzman to quiz the news

This week on The News Quiz the panel plough through Keir Starmer's first Labour conference as PM, analyse the effectiveness of the UN, and celebrate the coming of Earth's new moon... All hail Moon 2!

Written by Andy Zaltzman

With additional material by: Jade Gebbie, Mark Granger, Sharon Wanjohi, and Christina Riggs
Producer: Sam Holmes
Executive Producer: James Robinson
Production Coordinator: Jodie Charman
Sound Editor: Marc Willcox

A BBC Studios Audio Production for Radio 4
An Eco-Audio certified Production


SAT 12:57 Weather (m0023fp3)
The latest weather forecast


SAT 13:00 News and Weather (m0023fp5)
The latest national and international news and weather reports from BBC Radio 4


SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (m00237nd)
Lord Hammond, Fran Heathcote, Sarah Jones MP, Iain Martin

Alex Forsyth presents political debate from Salfords Village Hall in Surrey with former chancellor and foreign secretary Lord Hammond; PCS Union general secretary Fran Heathcote; industry and decarbonisation minister Sarah Jones MP; and Times columnist Iain Martin.

Producer: Paul Martin
Lead broadcast engineer: Kevan Long


SAT 14:00 Any Answers? (m0023fp7)
Call Any Answers? to have your say on the big issues in the news this week.


SAT 14:45 The Archers (m00237n8)
At the Cricket Club’s Division Five end-of-season dinner, Kenton senses there’s some new information about the Flower and Produce investigation that Lynda’s not divulging. Kenton also presses a coy Harrison on whether he’s told Fallon he’s considering quitting the Police. Harrison admits instead that he’s considering going back full-time.
After Lynda’s speech as Cricket Club Chair Kenton approaches her, having learned the truth about the collapsed table from Jim. At Kenton’s prompting, in front of Harrison, Lynda makes to go back onstage and confess she caused the accident by not fastening the legs correctly. But Kenton stops her and tells Lynda he’s not serious before whisking her off for a dance.
Ed tries getting reluctant George to talk about his court hearing, before joining him in a video game, which breaks the ice. They work together to complete a difficult level, before Ed opens up on how he loves George just as much as if he was his biological son. George admits he’s scared at the prospect of going to prison and saying goodbye to everything he knows. Ed tells him to just focus on getting through it. George feels bad for not getting Ed a birthday present, but Ed knows exactly what he’d like. The two of them surprise Emma, who’s shocked but delighted to see her son come to make up with her. George then goes to see Keira and Emma tells Ed she thought George would never forgive her. But now he’s got his whole family around him and they can face whatever comes next together.


SAT 15:00 Drama on 4 (m000pdrc)
Clash. Part 2

Ellen Wilkinson's political romance, set during the General Strike, looking at the clash between North and South, work and life, tradition and emerging roles. Joan Craig bridges all these divides with energy and talent, but ultimately has to choose whose side she's on.

Cast
Kate O’Flynn ..... Joan Craig
Paul Ready ..... Tony Dacre
Luke Nunn ..... Gerry Blain
Jane Whittenshaw ..... Mary Maud Meadowes
Roger Ringrose ..... William Royd
Emma Handy ..... Bunny Royd
Stefan Adegbola ..... Ben Lewis
Charlotte East ..... Dolly
Ian Dunnett Jnr ..... Alaric
Cecilia Appiah ..... Sally

Adaptation - Sharon Oakes
Sound - Peter Ringrose
Directors - Ciaran Bermingham and Jessica Dromgoole

Notes
Ellen Wilkinson is an all too rare working class, female voice from early 20th century literature. As one of the first ever women MPs and cabinet members, she is better known as a political pioneer. Joan's story echoes Wilkinson's own life. A woman with major personal and political dilemmas: Joan is born into a working class family, fights for social equality but is enchanted by world of ease and luxury represented by Mary Maud Meadowes and Tony Dacre.


SAT 16:00 Woman's Hour (m0023fp9)
Weekend Woman’s Hour: Demi Moore, Sexual assault allegations at Harrods, Pregnancy loss language

Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated actor Demi Moore is a name recognised by many, from her standout role as Molly Jensen in the film Ghost, to Lieutenant Commander Joanne Galloway in A Few Good Men. But it’s her role as Elisabeth Sparkle in new movie, The Substance, which has got a lot of people talking. Many see it as a commentary on Hollywood’s beauty standards and fear of ageing. Demi joined Kylie Pentelow live to discuss it.

The BBC recently broadcast Al Fayed: Predator at Harrods, a documentary and podcast which alleged that former Harrods chairman Mohamed Al Fayed sexually assaulted women who worked at the store. Kylie spoke to the woman who was the catalyst for the documentary - Sophia Stone and to her husband Keaton Stone. Sophia alleges that she was groomed and then sexually assaulted by Al Fayed. Keaton was determined to help her and approached other women who had worked at Harrods. The BBC has heard testimony from more than 20 female ex-employees who say Al Fayed, who died last year, sexually assaulted or raped them. The current owners say they are "utterly appalled" by the allegations and are seeking to settle claims "in the quickest way possible”.

The language used by healthcare professionals to describe pregnancy loss exacerbates the grief and trauma experienced by some individuals. Words such as incompetent cervix, products of conception, and empty sac to name but a few. That’s according to a study published this month by University College London. We hear from Dr Beth Malory, Lecturer in English Linguistics at UCL who led the study.

It's officially the start of cuffing season, apparently that time of the year where you want to stay home, under a blanket, with a takeaway and someone you love. But how are people looking for partners nowadays? Are we over dating apps and looking to return to meeting people in real life? Anita was joined by Olivia Petter, author or Millenial Love, and Oenone Fobart, co-host of the Everything is Content podcast.

What would happen if a mysterious woman on a flight began predicting the deaths of her fellow passengers? This is the premise of Australian writer Liane Moriarty’s latest book, Here One Moment. Liane joined Krupa to discuss her novels, which include the Emmy and Golden Globe-winning Big Little Lies.

Presenter: Krupa Padhy
Producer: Annette Wells
Editor: Deiniol Buxton


SAT 17:00 PM (m0023fpc)
Hezbhollah's leader killed in air strike

After 32 years as one of the most powerful figures in the Middle East, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has been confirmed dead in an Israeli air strike. We hear from the Israel Defence Force, as well as a former advisor to the Iranian government. We also reflect with our international editor about a dangerous moment for the world.


SAT 17:30 Political Thinking with Nick Robinson (m0023fpf)
The Wes Streeting Health Secretary One

The Health Secretary sits down with Nick Robinson at the end of the Labour conference in Liverpool.

Wes Streeting reflects on how his family role-models led him to become a political fighter, rebukes those who criticise him for being too gloomy about the NHS, and reveals why an Oasis classic was his kareoke song of choice at the previous night's party.

Producer: Daniel Kraemer


SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m0023fph)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SAT 17:57 Weather (m0023fpk)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m0023fpm)
Hezbollah leader killed in Beirut

Hezbollah confirms that its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed by an Israeli airstrike.


SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (m0023fpp)
Nihal Arthanayke, Henry Normal, Donna Ashworth, Lisa Goodwin-Allen, Mike Harding, The Lovely Eggs

Nihal Arthanayake presents Loose Ends from the third annual Morecambe Poetry Festival. He's joined by Henry Normal. Henry is a writer, poet, TV and film producer who has been involved with many of our most loved comedies, such as The Mrs Merton Show, The Royal Family, Gavin and Stacey and Alan Partridge. He's a prolific poet, and his latest collection is 'A Moonless Night'. He also presents the occasional 'A Normal...; series for Radio 4 combining stand-up, poetry and stories about his life and family. Henry explains how, prematurely old at 23 he turned his back on a traditional career path and entered the worlrd of comedy and performance.

Donna Ashworth's lockdown poetry went viral in 2020 and her popularity has been credited with 2023 being the best year for poetry sales in Britain since records began. Her new collection is 'Growing Brave'. She tells us about her days as a Butlin's red coat, celebrating overlooked kinds of bravery, and her dogs Dave and Brian.

Mike Harding is a stand-up comic, musician and poet. He's been performing since the 1970's, and has released over a hundred books and recordings. He presented the Folk show on Radio 2 for 15 years. He's performing alongside Henry Normal at the Morecambe Poetry Festival. His latest poetry collection is 'The Lonely Zoroastrian', and he also tells us about the luck involved in his hit single, 'The Rochdale Cowboy'.

Lisa Goodwin-Allen is Morecambe born and bred. She's the executive chef at the nearby Northcote and appears frequently on TV including on The Great British Menu and James Martin's Saturday Kitchen. Lisa's ingredients for success in the kitchen include imagination, being an adreneline junkie and a passion for seasonal and local produce.

And we have music from the Lancaster based musical duo The Lovely Eggs, from their seventh album. 'Eggsistentialism'. The album is personal, inspired by their lives, particulary their struggle to save the Lancaster Music Co-op.

The Lovely Eggs are Holly Ross and David Blackwell and the show is dedicated to David's mum, Anne Blackwell, who died shortly before this programme was broadcast. A former acress and headteacher, Anne was a was known Morecambe character. A keen member of Morecambe Speaker's Club, she lived and breathed theatre and performing and was much loved within the community.

Presenter: Nihal Arthanayake
Producer: Jessica Treen


SAT 19:00 Profile (m0023dtd)
Eben Upton

It’s a tiny computer with a catchy name: Raspberry Pi. But what's the story behind the man who thought up this affordable device?

His name is Eben Upton. He has gone from being a child desperate to make computer games, to the head of a company described as a ‘city darling’.

The firm reported higher than expected profits in its first report, after being listed on the London Stock Exchange.

Stephen Smith has been speaking to Eben Upton’s childhood friends, former colleagues and some big hitters in tech and business.

Contributors
Holly Williams - Business Editor, Press Association news agency
Hermann Hauser - Entrepreneur, venture capitalist and co-founder of Amadeus Capital Partners
Harriet Green - Investor, philanthropist. Former chair and CEO of IBM Asia Pacific
Pete Thornhill - School friend
Victoria Drew - School friend
David Cleevely - Entrepreneur and former Raspberry Pi chairman

Production team
Producers: Julie Ball, Farhana Haider, Ben Morris, Michaela Graichen
Editor: Tom Bigwood
Sound: Gareth Jones
Production Co-ordinator: Maria Ogundele

Archive
Centre for Computing History, Cambridge
Kerbal Space Program: Take-Two Interactive, publisher Private Division, developer Squad
Sensible Soccer: developer Sensible Software


SAT 19:15 This Cultural Life (m00237yy)
Marina Abramović

For over more than five decades the Serbian conceptual and performance artist Marina Abramović has used her own body as her artistic medium, exploring the human condition in works that are often feats of endurance, exhaustion and pain. From her earliest works such as Rhythm 0, in which Abramović invited audiences to freely interact with her however they chose, to her long-durational work The Artist is Present, she has put herself in danger at the mercy of audiences all in the name of art.

Abramović talks to John Wilson about her unhappy childhood in the former Yugoslavia with strict parents who had both been war heroes. She recalls how at age 14, a dangerous game of Russian roulette led her to Dostoevsky's novel The Idiot and how the book and its author's life sparked her creative imagination. She also reveals how two films, Alain Resnais' enigmatic 1961 French New Wave classic Last Year at Marienbad, and Pier Paolo Pasolini's 1968 movie Teorema, starring Terence Stamp, have inspired aspects of her work.

Producer: Edwina Pitman


SAT 20:00 Archive on 4 (m0008pfw)
Panorama Broke My School

The personal story of how a single TV documentary affected a London secondary, and had a role in creating today's school system.

1977 was the year of the Yorkshire Ripper, Star Wars, the Silver Jubilee and Roots. It was also the year the BBC came to Faraday High School, a large comprehensive in East Acton, to make a remarkable fly-on-the-wall documentary for Panorama, called ‘The Best Days?’ It was a vision – or a nightmare – of everything critics thought was wrong with progressive, comprehensive multicultural education at its height. Viewers saw chaotic classrooms where teachers with few resources were out of their depth, working amidst an almost total lack of discipline. They also saw caring, sympathetic teaching - but this was largely forgotten.

The school found its name in the national newspapers every day, as part of a rising concerns about what was going on in classrooms. This was only two years before Mrs Thatcher – a former education secretary – swept to power, promising a radical shakeup in British schooling. Her policies - a national curriculum, more testing, strengthened school inspections and league tables - were largely continued by subsequent Labour governments, especially in England and Wales.

Shabnam Grewal was a Faraday student when the Panorama team filmed in her school and her very class. She later became a BBC journalist and herself produced episodes of Panorama. For Archive on 4, she tracks down and speaks to the film's director, teachers who featured in it, academics researching the changing nature of secondary education, experts in education policy and her fellow former pupils.

Researcher: Eleanor Biggs


SAT 21:00 Living on the Edge (m001ptnw)
Omnibus 1

Ten coastal encounters, presented by writer Richard King.

Not simply town or countryside, the coastline is a place apart – attracting lives and stories often overlooked.

In these ten programmes, Richard King travels around the UK coast to meet people who live and work there – a sequence of portraits rooted in distinct places, which piece together into an alternative portrait of the UK: an oblique image of the nation drawn from its coastal edge.


SAT 22:00 News (m0023fpr)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 22:15 The Food Programme (m00237m7)
The Brain Gut Connection

Why does food do our heads in?

This episode is a panel recording from 2024 Abergavenny Food Festival with a live audience.

Sheila Dillon is joined by Chef Heston Blumenthal, who recently went public about his diagnosis of bi-polar, and having ADHD (Attention Deficit hyperactivity disorder); chartered psychologist Kimberley Wilson, the author of "Unprocessed: How the Food We Eat is Fuelling Our Mental Health Crisis"; Natalie Hackett the Headteacher of New Lubbesthorpe Primary School in Leicestershire who was crowned School Leader Food Hero of 2024, at the Jamie Oliver School Food Awards; and Dr Ally Jaffee, co-founder of Nutritank, an organisation set up to make sure that future doctors learned that food, along with exercise, is central to health. Dr Jaffee is now a resident doctor specialising in psychiatry.

The discussion focussed on the known connections between food and mental health, from childhood through to old age.

Presented by Sheila Dillon
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Natalie Donovan


SAT 23:00 Randy Feltface's Destruction Manual (m0023fpt)
2. Fire

Randy Feltface is burning to tell you just how much we’re burning ourselves into oblivion. Coming from a hemisphere where deadly fires are an ever-present threat, it’s just so great to see us in the north take a leaf out of that book, roll it up and smoke it. Plus we hear from a Siberian Brown Bear discussing the effect of wildfires on habitat destruction & smoke particles on the Earth’s albedo through the medium of statistics, charts and growling.

This head-on charge into possibly the most important subject facing humanity comes to you via a show where you’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll learn, you’ll laugh again between the learny bits and most of all, you’ll be able to say “I was there when Radio 4 decided to have a show hosted by a puppet”.

Randy Feltface has been seen on Netflix, ABC, NBC, and has a huge & devoted following across the globe (1m+ social media followers, 1.6m TikTok followers, 833k subscribers, 79m YouTube views). His hour-long specials are YouTube cult classics, his world tours are sold-out sensations, and he's the only Radio 4 presenter to be entirely made of felt.

With Margaret Cabourn-Smith & William Hartley

Produced & directed by David Tyler

A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 23:30 Brain of Britain (m00236ry)
Heat 4, 2024

(4/17)
What name is shared by both a wind-powered sculpture in the Pennines and an East German children's film of the 1960s? Which city in Southern Britain was Alfred the Great's capital? In classic DC Comics, which team originally included the Green Lantern, the Spectre and Doctor Fate?

These and many other general knowledge questions await the contenders in the latest heat, chaired by Russell Davies at London's Radio Theatre. Another of the semi-final places will be decided today.

The contenders are:
Paula Dempsey from south-east London
Annabel Lloyd from Wantage in Oxfordshire
Simon Mason from Hampshire
Jim Murdock from Bangor in County Down

There will also be the chance for a listener to win a prize by Beating the Brains with questions he or she has devised.

Assistant Producer: Stephen Garner
Producer: Paul Bajoria

A BBC Studios Audio production for Radio 4.

SUNDAY 29 SEPTEMBER 2024

SUN 00:00 Midnight News (m0023fpw)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


SUN 00:15 Open Book (m00236rw)
Rachel Kushner

Octavia Bright talks to Rachel Kushner, author The Flamethrowers and The Mars Room about her new novel Creation Lake.
The novel tells the story of spy-for-hire Sadie Smith who infiltrates an eco activists group in South West France, their leader is the mysterious Bruno Lacombe who is never present but communicates his radical missives by email.

Sarah Moss, best known for her novels The Fell, Summerwater, and Ghost Wall, talks about her new creative memoir, My Good Bright Wolf, her story of crisis in midlife and on what led her there.

And in the last ever, Book I'd Never Lend, the novelist Adam Thirlwell talks about his treasured teenage copy of Picasso by Gertrude Stein and gets to the heart of why some books can't ever be replaced.

Book List – Sunday 22 September

Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner
The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner
The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner
Picasso by Gertrude Stein
The Future Future by Adam Thirwell
Summer Water by Sarah Moss
Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss
The Fell by Sarah Moss
My Good Bright Wolf by Sarah Moss
Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome
Little House on the Prairie Laura Ingalls Wilder


SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m0023fpy)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m0023fq0)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m0023fq2)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SUN 05:30 News Briefing (m0023fq4)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (m0023fq6)
Blessed Virgin Mary in Woolpit, Suffolk

Bells on Sunday, comes from the church of Blessed Virgin Mary in Woolpit, Suffolk. Much of the church was built in the 15th century and features a fine double hammer-beam roof. There was also a popular shrine to Our Lady of Woolpit, an object of pilgrimage that was visited twice by King Henry the Sixth, however this was removed during the reformation. There are six bells with the tenor bell weighing just over eight hundredweight and tuned to the note of A flat. We hear them ringing Plain Bob Minor.


SUN 05:45 In Touch (m00237r0)
Access to the Beautiful Game, Open Water Swimming

For many years, we've been used to in-stadium commentaries on football matches for people with no or only a little sight, but Crystal Palace have become the first Premier League club to offer another permanent high-tech accessibility feature to their partially sighted fans. It is called the GiveVision device. It provides people who have some remaining vision with an enhanced view of the game, up close to their eye. Fans Susan Vernon and Phil Green tell us of their experiences using the headset device at Selhurst Park stadium and Joanna Liddington from GiveVision describes the kind of interest they have received from other clubs.

Couple Emma Tracey and Robin Spinks allow us to tag along as they attend their regular cold water swimming spot. They describe the benefits they experience from cold water submersion, along with some of the more specific benefits of this activity for visually impaired people.

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


SUN 06:00 News Summary (m0023fsg)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 06:05 Thinking Allowed (m00237q4)
Sight and Power

Laurie Taylor talks to Becca Voelcker, Lecturer in the Art Department at Goldsmiths, University of London, about her research into the relationship between sight and power. Everyday life is full of moments where we are seen, often without our knowledge, even in the virtual world, where cookie trails and analytics make us visible to profit making companies. Going back in time, Jeremy Bentham's panopticon depended on seeing its occupants to control them. If we cannot control who sees us today are we also being controlled? How does that square with the many moments when being seen is also a means of social recognition?

Also, David Lyon, Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Law at Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario explores the surveillance which permeates all aspects of our lives today. Every click on the keyboard, every contact with a doctor or the police, each time we walk under a video camera or pass through a security check we are identified, traced, and tracked. So how does surveillance make people visible, how did it grow to its present size and prevalence, and what are the social and personal costs?

Producer: Jayne Egerton


SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (m0023fsj)
Off-Grid Crofters

The last of the old indigenous inhabitants left Scoraig in the 1960s, too old for its hard, off-grid life. They were replaced by would-be crofters wanting a simpler way of life, who created a new community on the isolated headland near Ullapool in the north-west Highlands, raising crops and livestock and running businesses to support themselves. Still dependent on renewable energy, and with no road in, there are now 70 inhabitants. Richard Baynes meets crofter Cathy Dagg and her neighbours in Scoraig and finds history could be about to repeat itself.

Produced and presented by Richard Baynes.


SUN 06:57 Weather (m0023fsl)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SUN 07:00 News and Papers (m0023fsn)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.


SUN 07:10 Sunday (m0023fsq)
Theology of Hezbollah; Abortion buffer zones; Sacred Sikh music

As Hezbollah confirms the death of its leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah in an airstrike on Beirut, hear about the religion and politics behind Hezbollah from Fawaz Gerges - Professor of International Relations and Contemporary Middle Eastern Studies at the LSE. And William talks to Myriam Shwayri from the Al-Khafat Foundation about efforts to evacuate disabled adults and children from areas affected by explosions in the city.

Abortion clinic 'buffer zones' have come into force in Scotland with similar areas on the way for England and Wales by the end of October. William talks to two women on either side of the debate.

'He was ebullient, generous-hearted, kind to many, and an inspirational figure. But alongside that, hiding in plain sight, was someone who manipulated and controlled others, bullied and sought to abuse his power.' That is how Mike Pilavachi, the disgraced Anglican priest and former leader of the Soul Survivor church and festivals, is described in the latest report into the scandal. We hear from Richard Scorer, head of abuse law at Slater and Gordon solicitors, about the ‘Independent Review into Soul Survivor’ led by Fiona Scolding KC.

Sikh sacred music, also known as Kirtan, has officially become part of the musical examination system in the UK. This has all been pioneered by Harjinder Singh, a music teacher from Birmingham who set up an academy to teach young people how to play traditional stringed Indian instruments.

PRESENTER: WILLIAM CRAWLEY
PRODUCERS: CATHERINE MURRAY & KATY DAVIS
STUDIO MANAGERS: KELLY YOUNG & SIMON HIGHFIELD
EDITOR: CHLOE WALKER


SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (m0023fss)
BRAC UK

Journalist Reshmin Chowdhury makes the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of BRAC UK. The charity helps women in Asia and Africa develop small businesses to help lift them out of poverty.

To Give:
- Freephone 0800 404 8144
- Freepost BBC Radio 4 Appeal. (That’s the whole address. Please do not write anything else on the front of the envelope). Mark the back of the envelope ‘BRAC UK’.
- Cheques should be made payable to ‘BRAC UK’.
- You can donate online at bbc.co.uk/appeal/radio4

Registered Charity Number: 1115482. If you’d like to find out more about the charity’s work visit *https://www.bracuk.net
*The BBC is not responsible for content on external websites

Producer: Katy Takatsuki


SUN 07:57 Weather (m0023fsv)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SUN 08:00 News and Papers (m0023fsx)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the Sunday papers


SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (m0023fsz)
God's Love Across the Generations

Sunday Worship from Middlefields House, Chippenham. Join the residents, family, volunteers and staff of one of the households at Middlefields House residential care home in their daily gathering of worship, fellowship as they celebrate the International Day of Older People (1st of October).

Producer: Carmel Lonergan
Audio Engineer: Michael Smith
Editor: Tim Pemberton


SUN 08:48 A Point of View (m00237ng)
Kamala

From Kamala Harris' 'word salads' to her views about wealth redistribution, Zoe Strimpel finds little to like in a Harris presidency.

But it's her views on Israel that Zoe finds particularly hard to stomach.

'In those halcyon days of my youth,' says Zoe, 'our family's concerns that the leader of the free world protect Israel was normal, uncontroversial and, with Clinton and Bush at the helm, not a particular worry... But Kamala's hazy demands for instant deals and ceasefires,' she writes, 'are like nails on a chalkboard to me.'

Producer: Adele Armstrong
Sound: Peter Bosher
Production coordinator Gemma Ashman
Editor: Tom Bigwood


SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (m0023ft1)
Anneka Rice on the White-Tailed Eagle

A new series of Tweet of the Day for Sunday morning revealing personal and fascinating stories from some fresh voices who have been inspired by birds, their calls and encounters.

With the largest wingspan of any British bird the White-tailed eagle is a welcome sight flying over the Solent near broadcaster Anneka Rice's home. Yet despite its size, this bird has a surprisingly weak call. Since they were re-introduced to the area these magnificent birds have become a bit of a tourist attraction for those on the ferry crossing over to the Isle of Wight.

Producer : Andrew Dawes for BBC Audio on Bristol
Studio engineer : Caitlin Gazeley.


SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (m0023ft3)
Lebanon: a return to war?

Will the killing of of Hezbollah's Hassan Nasrallah create a return to war? Lebanon veteran Jim Muir gives his assessment. Also Rory Bremner on Keir Starmer and Donald Trump.


SUN 10:00 Desert Island Discs (m0023qbc)
Adrian Edmondson - Extended Edit

This is an extended version of a programme first broadcast on Sunday 17 September 2023.

Adrian Edmondson first shot to national fame in 1982, playing the studded punk Vyvyan in the TV sitcom The Young Ones, set in a seedy student flat. The cast largely came from the developing alternative comedy scene, and included Rik Mayall and Alexei Sayle.

Adrian was born in Bradford in 1957. He spent time as a child in Cyprus, Bahrain and Uganda, following his father who worked as a teacher for the armed forces. He attended a boarding school in Yorkshire from the age of 11, where he often rebelled against its rules and restrictions, but enjoyed performing in school plays.

He headed to Manchester University to study drama, where he soon met Rik Mayall. They bonded over their shared interests in comedy, double acts, violent slapstick and the plays of Samuel Beckett. It was the start of a long performing partnership and friendship, which included the anarchic TV comedy and long-running touring show Bottom and a production of Beckett’s Waiting for Godot on the West End stage.

Adrian has also worked widely as an actor and musician, including an acclaimed appearance as Scrooge for the RSC, and performances with the reunited Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band.

Adrian married Jennifer Saunders in 1985, and they have three daughters.

DISC ONE: Downtown - Petula Clark
DISC TWO: A Song of the Weather - Flanders & Swann
DISC THREE: Sugar, Sugar - The Archies
DISC FOUR: On My Radio - The Selecter
DISC FIVE: Jole Blon - Vin Bruce
DISC SIX: Saturday Gigs - Mott the Hoople
DISC SEVEN: I’m Bored - Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band
DISC EIGHT: Wide Open Spaces - The Chicks (formerly The Dixie Chicks)

BOOK CHOICE: Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett
LUXURY ITEM: A tab of acid
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Wide Open Spaces - The Chicks

Presenter Lauren Laverne
Producer Sarah Taylor


SUN 11:00 The Archers Omnibus (m0023ft6)
Writer: Tim Stimpson
Director: Pip Swallow
Editor: Jeremy Howe

David Archer…. Timothy Bentinck
Jolene Archer…. Buffy Davies
Kenton Archer…. Richard Attlee
Pat Archer…. Patricia Gallimore
Tony Archer…. David Troughton
Harrison Burns…. James Cartwright
Usha Franks…. Souad Faress
Ed Grundy…. Barry Farrimond
Eddie Grundy…. Trevor Harrison
Emma Grundy…. Emerald O‘Hanrahan
George Grundy…. Angus Stobie
Tracy Horrobin…. Susie Riddell
Alistair Lloyd…. Michael Lumsden
Jim Lloyd…. John Rowe
Jazzer McCreary…. Ryan Kelly
Lynda Snell…. Carole Boyd
Oliver Stirling…. Michael Cochrane


SUN 12:15 Profile (m0023dtd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


SUN 12:30 Just a Minute (m00237hn)
Series 93

2. A Punk Band Called The Sticky Carpets

Sue Perkins challenges Lucy Porter, Gyles Brandreth, Desiree Burch and Glenn Moore to speak for 60 seconds without repetition, deviation or hesitation. Subjects include doomsday bunkers, coriander, and polite conversation between enemies.

Production Coordinator: Sarah Nicholls
Sound Editor: Marc Willcox
Producer: Rajiv Karia
An EcoAudio certified production.

A BBC Studios Production for Radio 4.


SUN 12:57 Weather (m0023ft8)
The latest weather forecast


SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (m0023ftb)
One million people displaced in Lebanon

The Lebanese economic minister calls for foreign aid to help the country cope. Also on the programme: how can Labour tackle the problem of economic inactivity?


SUN 13:30 American Paradox (m0023ftd)
Abortion

James Naughtie travels to Arizona to examine the deep roots of the current political moment in the United States.

In this second episode of two, he considers the political debate over abortion. Since the national right to an abortion was overturned in 2022, Arizona's politics has been consumed by the debate about how far to limit that right, with conservative Republicans often prevailing. But as James hears, this November voters will be given their say, and many expect a liberal measure to pass, perhaps spurring turnout which will benefit Democrats - a pattern which may be repeated across the United States.

However, as Kamala Harris's presidential campaign emphasises her liberal abortion stance in an effort to win over women voters, has she done enough to appeal to men, particularly Black and Latino who have been targeted by Donald Trump's campaign? In this most marginal of swing states, the outcome may hinge on them.

Producer: Giles Edwards
Assistant producer: Patrick Cowling.


SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m00237mt)
Uxbridge: Floating Gardens, mealybugs and garden envy

Any tips on setting up and maintaining a floating garden that produces tasty produce? Do the panel suffer from garden envy? How do I get rid of the mealybug infesting my cacti?

Kathy Clugston and her team of horticultural champions are in Uxbridge, to solve the gardening grievances of the audience. On the panel this week are house plants expert Anne Swithinbank, proud plantsman Matthew Biggs, and ethnobotanist James Wong.

Later, Matthew Biggs re-visits Mount Vernon Cancer Centre, where he meets Ginny Abu Bakr and Billy Styles to discuss how they’ve introduced gardening to patients receiving chemotherapy.

Producer: Bethany Hocken
Assistant Producer: Rahnee Prescod
Executive Producer: Carly Maile

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 14:45 Opening Lines (m0023ftg)
Hard Times - Episode 1

Charles Dickens’ novel Hard Times is set in a northern factory town at the height of the industrial revolution, far away from the writer’s normal stamping ground of London - but it certainly doesn’t lack the overlapping plots, the wide array of characters and the incorporation of melodrama, humour and tragedy that we associate so closely with the author.

Dickens had travelled north himself as a journalist to cover a cotton strike in Preston and seen first hand the various ways in which the factory system was oppressing the people living and working within it.

In the first of two episodes looking at the book, John Yorke considers how Dickens transformed that eye-witness experience into the fictional world of Coketown, with its soot-blackened bricks and serpents of smoke.

John Yorke has worked in television and radio for 30 years, and he shares his experience with Radio 4 listeners as he unpacks the themes and impact of the books, plays and stories that are being dramatised in BBC Radio 4’s Sunday Drama series. From EastEnders to The Archers, Life on Mars to Shameless, he has been obsessed with telling big popular stories. He has spent years analysing not just how stories work but why they resonate with audiences around the globe, and has brought together his experience in his bestselling book Into the Woods. As former Head of Channel Four Drama, Controller of BBC Drama Production and MD of Company Pictures, John has tested his theories during an extensive production career working on some of the world’s most lucrative, widely viewed and critically acclaimed TV drama. As founder of the hugely successful BBC Writers Academy, John has trained a generation of screenwriters.

Contributors:
Frank Cottrell-Boyce, screenwriter and current Children’s Laureate
Dr Emily Bell, University of Leeds
Deborah McAndrew, writer, director and actor

Researcher/Broadcast Assistant: Nina Semple
Sound: Sean Kerwin
Producer: Geoff Bird
Executive Producer: Sara Davies
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 15:00 Dickensian (m0023ftj)
Hard Times: Episode 1

"Now, what I want is Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life."

Charles Dickens' novel - subtitled 'For These Times' - is a vivid story for our own age - a short, sharp satire of target-driven education, business, and the denial of the imagination. Headmaster Thomas Gradgrind has developed a rigid, facts-driven curriculum for his school. And at home, he raises his two children, Tom and Louisa, within a similar system of utilitarian metrics. But the human spirit has an inherent thirst for wonder and Louisa struggles inside the constraints of her education.

Dramatised by Graham White

Thomas Gradgrind…..David Morrissey
Louisa Gradgrind…..Rachel Harper
Tom Gradgrind…..Ike Bennett
Josiah Bounderby…..Shaun Dooley
Sissy Jupe…..Janey Orchard
Mrs Sparsit…..Jan Ravens
James Harthouse…..Will Close
Stephen Blackpool…..Arthur Hughes
Rachael…..Claire Cage
Mrs Gradgrind/Margaret/Josephine…..Julie Barclay
Mr M’Choakumchild/Slackbridge/Collins…..Richard Elfyn
Bitzer…..Aaron Anthony
Sleary…..Patrick Robinson

Production co-ordinators Lindsay Rees and Eleri Sydney McAuliffe
Sound by Rhys Morris, Nigel Lewis and Catherine Robinson
Directed by Emma Harding, BBC Audio Wales


SUN 16:00 Open Book (m0023ftm)
Alan Hollinghurst

Chris Power talks to Alan Hollinghurst. His novels from The Swimming-Pool Library to The Sparsholt Affair, and the Booker-winning The Line of Beauty, have over the last 30 years mapped a unique landscape of queer desire, art, politics, class and sense of Englishness.
In his latest book, Our Evenings, we follow the life of Dave Win, a mixed race child who lives with his mother in a provincial English town from his bursary funded 1960s public school, to Oxford University, through his radical acting career of early adulthood and on to older age and the pandemic of 2020. Dave Win's intimate memories of maternal bond, friends and lovers illuminate larger cultural and political shifts in the landscape.

The American writer Rumaan Alam talks about Entitlement the follow up novel to the highly successful Leave the World Behind. He explores why he wanted to write about money, and it's corrupting effect on a young woman who realises that doing the right thing may not always bring you the rewards you've earned.

And with long nights ahead, we have a recommended read of ghost stories from Drummond Moir of Atlantic Books.

Book List - Sunday 29 September
The Swimming-Pool Library by Alan Hollinghurst
The Sparsholt Affair by Alan Hollinghurst
The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst
Our Evenings by Alan Hollinghurst
Haunted Tales by Adam Macqueen
Entitlement by Rumaan Alam
Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam


SUN 16:30 Brain of Britain (m0023ftp)
Heat 5, 2024

(5/17)
Four more quizzers from around the UK join Russell Davies for the UK's longest-established general knowledge quiz. Today's winner will take another of the semi-final places and increase their chances of being named BBC Brain of Britain 2024.

The competitors today are
Andrew Bingham from Woolwich in London
Eithne Cullen from East London
Sean Lea from Lewisham in London
Hannah Reilly from Clarkston near Glasgow.

A Brain of Britain listener will also have a chance to win a prize if the competitors fail to answer questions he or she has submitted.

Assistant Producer: Stephen Garner
Producer: Paul Bajoria

A BBC Studios Audio production for Radio 4.


SUN 17:00 Witness History (w3ct5ykb)
The 1965 Freedom Riders of Australia

A warning for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander listeners - this programme contains the names of people who have died.

Nearly 60 years ago, a group of university students set out on a bus to challenge the discrimination of Australia’s indigenous people.

Led by Sydney University’s first indigenous undergraduate, Charles Perkins, they toured north-western New South Wales highlighting the public pools, cinemas, theatres and pubs in country towns where Aboriginal people were excluded or segregated from white people.

Darce Cassidy was recording the journey for a radio programme. We hear 19-year-old Brian Aarons demonstrating at a swimming pool in Moree where Aboriginal children were not normally allowed to swim.

He and Gary Williams, an indigenous student, recall the Freedom Ride to Josephine McDermott, including the moment when they made the national news by ordering a beer together in a Bowraville pub.

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

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

(Photo: The 1965 Freedom Riders. Brian Aarons and Gary Williams sit fifth and fourth from the right, one row from the back. Credit: Reproduced with permission of Wendy Watson-Ekstein and Ann Curthoys)


SUN 17:10 The Verb (m0023ftr)
Gardens, balloons, parties and whales feature in this week's cabaret of the word. Ian's guests include Toby Litt, Roger Robinson, Hannah Silva and Caleb Femi.

Novelist, poet and librettist Toby Litt has wrestled Ian, written stories backwards, and been limited to a single verb, in previous Verb commissions. This week he has to write something surreal for us, and then write something even more surreal by the end of the show - whilst blowing up two balloons. Toby is also mine of writing advice and genre-challenging playfulness in his novels, in his book 'A Writer's Diary' and in his substack.

Roger Robinson's 'A Portable Paradise' won the T.S.Eliot Prize and there's no one better placed to unpick a poem and explain its most extraordinary lines for The Verb. He shows us how language really works on this week's show, as he does in his books 'On Poetry' and 'On Creativity'.

Caleb Femi is an award-winning poet and film-maker. He has said he wants to be a merchant of joy, and there's lots of joy in his celebration of the true meaning of parties in his new collection 'The Wickedest'. Caleb shares new poems with Ian.

Hannah Silva is a poet who truly understands how sound can let us into meaning. She performs a brand new commission for The Verb on the balloon - and asks Ian and his guests to play keepy-uppy during the show. Her latest book is 'My Child, the Algorithm' .


SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m0023ftt)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SUN 17:57 Weather (m0023ftw)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m0023fty)
Israel has also launched attacks on Houthi targets in Yemen


SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (m0023fv0)
Fiona Stalker

This week, we hear in depth poetic criticism of the feline sort, with one long-titled poem in particular becoming the subject of Brian Bilston's critical review; they shouldn't take his harsh review too close to heart, as it was written by his pet cat. Plus, did you know they colour code queen bees? We’re given a handy mnemonic to remember by an eight-year-old beekeeper from Tarland in Aberdeenshire. And Just a Minute stalwart Gyles Brandreth adds another “little victory” to his long tally of small sixty-second wins.

Presenter: Fiona Stalker
Producer: Anthony McKee
Production Co-ordinator: Jack Ferrie

A BBC Audio Northern Ireland production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 19:00 The Archers (m0023fv2)
Alice picks Martha up from Chris’s for a fun day out. When Chris mentions it was George’s plea hearing on Friday, Alice says she doesn’t want to talk about that, she just wants some mother and daughter bonding time. But the day doesn’t go well with Martha screaming for Chris. Gutted Alice abandons the day out and takes Martha back to Chris’s.

Ben’s walking Bess on a country lane when Zainab on her motor scooter narrowly misses Bess. They blame each other and part with Zainab telling Ben to keep his dog away from her. But as Zainab tries to head off her scooter won’t start.

At the Events Barn David sorts through cricket memorabilia which was on display at the Cricket Dinner on Friday. He returns Chris’s bat, signed by Mike Gatting, which David reckons should be put in pride of place next to Chris’s Bowler of the Year trophy. They chat about Jill’s upcoming birthday; she just wants a family tea, but is insisting on making the cake herself. Ben appears, saying he thinks he’s spotted an Asian Hornet in the orchard. As he goes to grab his phone, he bumps into Zainab, who’s peering through the open kitchen door. Ben asks what she’s doing. Zainab explains her scooter’s broken down and Ben mentions the hornet. They join David as he photographs the hornet for an identification App. David worries there may be a nest nearby. Zainab suddenly gets stung in the face and when Ben offers to give Zainab a lift home he discovers she’s Azra’s daughter


SUN 19:15 Illuminated (m0023fv4)
Lasting Lessons

Alongside their A-levels, five 17 year-olds volunteer for six months at a hospice in Surrey. These are young people who hope to work in healthcare one day and, for one reason or another, feel drawn to helping others.

Their hopes and fears are similar to most people who've never been to a hospice, which includes their parents, and they have have no idea what they'll encounter. Above all, there are worries that it will be very sad, and too much for people of their age to handle.

Pretty quickly, they get to know the nurses at the hospice, who have a great sense of humour and are not in the least bit despairing. The volunteers feel awkward at first, and scared of getting things wrong, but with the nurses' encouragement, they begin talking with patients, feeding them, moving them, brushing their teeth, and helping them to the toilet.

Little by little, they get to know patients, gain confidence and maturity and start to form a new understanding of dying and death.

With many thanks to the staff of the Princess Alice Hospice and to Lizzie Leigh in particular.

Presented by Farida Abdelhamid
Produced by Tim Moorhouse
A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 19:45 Buried (m001hp3f)
Series 1

Series 1 - 7. How to Make a Mafia

In the Comorrah’s neighbourhood in Naples, Dan and Lucy learn how waste can fuel a mafia. They’re warned that the UK is playing a dangerous game.

"All you have to do... is dig it up."

A trucker’s deathbed tape plays out. It’s urgent, desperate.

In this BBC Radio 4 podcast series, investigative journalists Dan Ashby and Lucy Taylor deep-dive into one of the worst environment crimes in UK history - the secret dumping of a million tonnes of waste near a city. But when they uncover missing documents, fears of toxicity and allegations of organised crime, they realise they’ve stumbled into something much bigger. As they pick at the threads of one crime, they begin to see others. Could Britain be the home of a new mafia, getting rich on our waste?

In a thrilling ten-part investigation, the husband-and-wife duo dive into a criminal underworld, all the time following clues left in a deathbed tape. They’re driven by one question - what did the man in the tape know?

Presenters and Producers: Dan Ashby and Lucy Taylor
Assistant Producer: Tess Davidson
Original Music and Sound Design: Phil Channell
Sound Design and Series Mixing: Jarek Zaba
Executive Producers: Phil Abrams and Anita Elash
Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke

A Smoke Trail production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 20:00 Word of Mouth (m00237zl)
How Animals Talk

Michael hears from zoologist Arik Kershenbaum about the latest research on how and why different types of animals communicate, from wolves howling to dolphins whistling: a world of soundscapes. He also explains how animal communication can help to shed light on the human variety.

Dr. Arik Kershenbaum is a zoologist and the author of: Why Animals Talk: The New Science of Animal Communication.

Produced for BBC Audio Bristol by Beth O'Dea.
Subscribe to the Word of Mouth podcast and never miss an episode: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/b006qtnz


SUN 20:30 Last Word (m00237my)
Peter Jay, Ed Johnson, Dame Elizabeth Esteve-Coll, Deborah Roberts

Matthew Bannister on

Peter Jay, who was economics editor at the Times and the BBC and also Britain’s Ambassador to the United States.

Ed Johnson, the CIA agent who played a key role in the Argo operation to smuggle US diplomats out of Iran – but kept his involvement secret until his death. His wife tells us she had no idea what his work involved.

Dame Elizabeth Esteve-Coll, who made controversial changes aimed at bringing more visitors to the Victoria and Albert Museum

Deborah Roberts, the acclaimed soprano who co-founded the Brighton Early Music Festival.

Producer: Ed Prendeville

Archive
Norman Acgroyd, BBC, Artists in Print, 09/03/1981; Argo, Declassified Trailer, Warner Bros Entertainment, YouTube Upload 09/02/2013; BBC News, 09/1/1979; BBC News, 04/11/1979; BBC Desert Island Discs 20/10/1991; BBC Newsnight, 13/12/94; TV-am First Broadcast – Good Morning Britain (1983), Uploaded to Youtube “Things”, 9/02/19; That’s Life, BBC 1, 25/01/1981


SUN 21:00 Money Box (m0023fp1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:04 on Saturday]


SUN 21:25 Radio 4 Appeal (m0023fss)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:54 today]


SUN 21:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m0023fnx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:30 on Saturday]


SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (m0023fv6)
Radio 4's Sunday night political discussion programme.


SUN 23:00 In Our Time (m00237yt)
Wormholes

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the tantalising idea that there are shortcuts between distant galaxies, somewhere out there in the universe. The idea emerged in the context of Einstein's theories and the challenge has been not so much to prove their unlikely existence as to show why they ought to be impossible. The universe would have to folded back on itself in places, and there would have to be something to make the wormholes and then to keep them open. But is there anywhere in the vast universe like that? Could there be holes that we or more advanced civilisations might travel through, from one galaxy to another and, if not, why not?

With

Toby Wiseman
Professor of Theoretical Physics at Imperial College London

Katy Clough
Senior Lecturer in Mathematics at Queen Mary, University of London

And

Andrew Pontzen
Professor of Cosmology at Durham University

Producer: Simon Tillotson


Reading list:

Jim Al-Khalili, Black Holes, Wormholes and Time Machines (Taylor & Francis, 1999)

Andrew Pontzen, The Universe in a Box: Simulations and the Quest to Code the Cosmos (Riverhead Books, 2023)

Claudia de Rham, The Beauty of Falling: A Life in Pursuit of Gravity (Princeton University Press, 2024)

Carl Sagan, Contact (Simon and Schuster, 1985)

Kip Thorne, Black Holes & Time Warps: Einstein's Outrageous Legacy (W. W. Norton & Company, 1994)

Kip Thorne, Science of Interstellar (W. W. Norton & Company, 2014)

Matt Visser, Lorentzian Wormholes: From Einstein to Hawking (American Institute of Physics Melville, NY, 1996)



In Our Time is a BBC Studios Audio Production


SUN 23:45 Short Works (m00237mw)
Rainbow Day by Soula Emmanuel

An original short story commissioned by BBC Radio 4 from the author Soula Emmanuel. Read by Holly Hannaway.

Soula Emmanuel was born in Dublin to an Irish mother and a Greek father. She currently lives on Ireland’s east coast. She has written for IMAGE magazine, Rogue Collective and the Project Arts Centre, and has had fiction published by The Liminal Review. She was longlisted for Penguin’s WriteNow programme in 2020, took part in the Stinging Fly fiction summer school in 2021 and was a participant in the Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency’s mentorship programme for 2021-22. In 2024 her debut novel Wild Geese won the Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Fiction, and the Gordon Bowker Volcano Prize at the UK Society of Authors Awards.

Writer: Soula Emmanuel
Reader: Holly Hanaway
Producer: Michael Shannon

A BBC Audio Northern Ireland Production for BBC Radio 4.

MONDAY 30 SEPTEMBER 2024

MON 00:00 Midnight News (m0023fv8)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


MON 00:15 World Of Secrets (w3ct793k)
Al Fayed, Predator at Harrods

Al Fayed, Predator at Harrods: 1. Golden opportunity

A dream job offer arrives from Harrods, to the surprise of debutante teenager, Cheska. Why is one of the world’s most famous luxury shops interested in her? How do they know where she lives - where to send the letter? It’s the 1990s in London. Cheska and other rich girls are being introduced to high society, as part of an centuries old tradition. What should she do next? Soon after she gets the job offer, Cheska is working in owner Mohamed Al Fayed’s personal office in London’s exclusive Park Lane. Can Al Fayed help her with her ambition to act?

This season of World of Secrets is about sexual abuse, and includes descriptions which some listeners might find distressing. For a list of organisations in the UK that can provide support for survivors of sexual abuse, go to bbc.co.uk/actionline.


MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (m0023fq6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:43 on Sunday]


MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m0023fvb)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m0023fvd)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m0023fvg)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


MON 05:30 News Briefing (m0023fvj)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4


MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m0023fvl)
Holding on and letting go

Good morning.

Clearing out old things can be quite the task. I have old boxes to go through that have been on my to do list for quite some time. Boxes that are taking up space and filled with stuff that I have kept as a history and record of my life. Yet, I know that some things must go, to make room for the new, though it’s hard to know what to let go of and what to keep.

Recently, an old friend wrote to me. She was having a clear out after moving house and found her journal that was almost 25 years old. In one of the entries, she had written about coming to my house and the day we had spent together. We had actually prayed together, too, sharing some of our fears about that stage of our life, as we moved out of our teenage years into young adulthood. I had completely forgotten about that day, but it all came back to me as I read her words.

I am so glad that my friend had kept that journal and then found it decades later. And how good of her to remind me of my own faith journey and the roads we had travelled together.

Memory can weave its own tapestry, with some threads fading over time. Sometimes we can carry physical stuff around with us, and other things in our minds, long after we have any use for them.

So today, at the start of a new week, may I be granted the wisdom to know what to hold to, and what to set aside, so that I can see more of the truth of who I am. Amen.


MON 05:45 Farming Today (m0023fvn)
30/09/24 - Council farms sell-off, health checks at livestock markets, the problem with deer

As cash-strapped local authorities put more of their council farms up for sale, there are concerns about the loss of a valuable entry route into agriculture for those who can’t afford to buy land. Following a government review into its finances, Peterborough council was advised to sell off its farms to solve its financial difficulties.
The farms make up more than 1,200 hectares with more than 20 tenants. Council farms often offer fixed term tenancies on small pieces of land, which can be more accessible to people wanting to start out in farming. But as councils need to balance the books, selling off the land can provide a source of quick cash. George Dunn from the Tenant Farmers Association told me this is a familiar and worrying story.

Last week the Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, promised more personalised care and preventative treatment in his speech about the NHS. But for that to happen we have to engage with medical professionals in the first place, and for many farmers, especially at busy times in the farming year, it’s hard to find time to visit their GP.
Rural health hubs at livestock markets are trying to address this. Farmers can turn up without an appointment and see a nurse, a chiropodist or even a psychologist.

We’re going to be discussing deer all this week, both wild and those farmed for venison. They look magical when you catch a glimpse of one in the countryside, but can be a real headache for farmers and land managers. The Government ran a consultation into how best to control deer numbers back in 2022 with a view to publishing a Deer Management Strategy, but it’s never materialised. Charles Smith-Jones from the British Deer Society says there needs to be a plan.

Presented by Caz Graham and produced by Beatrice Fenton.


MON 05:57 Weather (m0023fvq)
Weather reports and forecasts for farmers


MON 06:00 Today (m0023g5s)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


MON 09:00 Start the Week (m0023g5v)
Ancient India and China: from golden to silk roads

The best-selling historian William Dalrymple presents India as the great superpower of ancient times in The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World. He argues that for more than a millennium India art, religions, technology, astronomy, music and mathematics spread far and wide from the Red Sea to the Pacific, and its influence was unprecedented, but now largely forgotten.

China’s significance has long been celebrated and understood, with reference to the ancient trading routes linking the east and west. The historian Susan Whitfield is an expert on the Silk Roads. She talks to Adam Rutherford about the extraordinary discovery of manuscripts in a cave in Dunhuang, in Northern China, which provide a detailed picture of the vibrant religious and cultural life of the town. An exhibition of the manuscripts, A Silk Road Oasis: Life in Ancient Dunhuang, runs at the British Library until 23rd February 2025.

But what of India’s cultural and artistic influence and expression in modern times? Shanay Jhaveri is the new Head of Visual Arts at the Barbican and curator of their new exhibition, The Imaginary Institution of India: Art 1975-1998 (October 2024 until January 2025). This landmark group show explores the way artists have responded to a period of significant political and social change in India in the 20th century.

Producer: Katy Hickman


MON 09:45 Café Hope (m0023g5x)
Run to recovery

Rachel Burden hears from Connor Shannon who set up Addicts to Athletes after he found that running helped with his recovery from addiction.

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

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

You can contact us on cafehope@bbc.co.uk or Whatsapp us on 0330 678 47 27

Details of organisations offering information and support with addiction are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline


MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (m0023g60)
The Tuam babies scandal: A Woman's Hour special

For this special edition of Woman's Hour, Nuala McGovern travels to Tuam, County Galway in Ireland to visit the site of a former mother and baby home which came to the world’s attention in 2014. It was revealed that up to 796 babies and young children who died in the care of the nuns who ran the home, had been disposed of in a disused sewage tank. Now, more than a decade since the scandal broke, work is starting on a full excavation.

Nuala has an exclusive interview with Daniel MacSweeney, who is in charge of the excavation, and hopes to provide answers for families who want to give their children a decent burial. She also speaks to the women who uncovered the scandal - Catherine Corless and Anna Corrigan, as well as journalist Alison O'Reilly who broke the story, and to Paul Forde, a survivor of the Tuam home, whose baby sister's remains may be in the mass grave.

If you believe you are related to a child buried in Tuam, please contact Daniel MacSweeney's team. The confidential phone line is 00 353 1 5391777 or email info@dait.ie

The postal address is: Office of the Director of Authorised Intervention, Tuam (ODAIT), Custom House, Flood Street, Galway, H91 XV2C, Ireland.

And we're inviting you to also share your story with us, you can email Woman's Hour via the 'Contact Us' tab above.

Contributors:
Catherine Corless, campaigner and Tuam resident
Paul Forde, Tuam mother and baby home survivor
Daniel MacSweeney, Director of Authorised
Intervention at Tuam
Anna Corrigan, Tuam Babies Family Group
Alison O'Reilly, journalist at the Irish Examiner

Presenter: Nuala McGovern
Producer: Sarah Crawley
AP/Digital: Claire Fox


MON 11:00 On the Run (m0023g63)
At Their Feet

Writer, Poet and Runner Helen Mort tracks a history of running, from prehistoric times to present day to chart the development of humanity's relationship with running.

In this episode, Helen examines the role running played in societies from Europe's Dark Ages to the early 20th century. She'll be finding out who the runners were, what inspired them to ran, and the impact it made on their social status.

Helen will discover the surprising religious origins of Britain's modern-day position in global athletics. She'll chart the ups and downs of the participation and perception of women runners. And she'll learn how 17th century foot messengers became a powerful tool in the struggle between indigenous North Americans and European colonisers.

Interviewees:
Neil Baxter - Sociologist and running historian
Sam Edwards - Historian, Loughborough University
Bill Hillmann - Bull runner and writer
Katie Holmes - Women's running historian
Dustin Martin - Executive Director of Wings of America
Peter Radford - Olympian and sports historian
Roger Robinson - Runner and author of 'Running in Literature'

Thanks to Thor Gotaas, author of 'Running: A Global History'

Producer: Becca Bryers


MON 11:45 The Kindness of Strangers by Kerry Hudson (m0023g66)
Belief

In these five specially commissioned essays, Kerry Hudson explores the kindness of strangers - how tiny encounters (and larger actions) have turned the tide repeatedly in desperate circumstances.

They encompass topics such as the psychology of kindness in childhood, the vulnerability of travelling alone in places with troubled histories, how Kerry had to learn to rely on the strangers working in an underfunded health service in a foreign country while suffering from a life-threatening illness, the perils of life on the water and the generosities of the boating community experienced whilst living on a canal boat, and how kindness can sometimes come with unexpected caveats and conditions depending on what you look like and where you are from.

Born in Aberdeen, Kerry Hudson grew up in poverty and fear, in a succession of council estates, B&Bs and caravan parks with a single parent mother who suffered from challenging mental ill-health, compounded by addiction.

Kerry's first novel, Tony Hogan Bought Me An Ice-Cream Float Before He Stole My Ma, was published in July 2012 and was shortlisted for eight literary prizes, including the Guardian First Book Award and Green Carnation Prize, and won Scottish First Book of the Year. Kerry's second novel, Thirst, was developed with support from the National Lottery through an Arts Council England grant, and published in July 2014 before being shortlisted for the Green Carnation Prize. Her first work of non-fiction, Lowborn (2019) became a Times bestseller and was hailed as ‘One of the most important books of the year’ by The Guardian. A follow-up to Lowborn, titled Newborn, was published in February 2024.

Written and Read by Kerry Hudson
Commissioned and Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4


MON 12:00 News Summary (m0023g69)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


MON 12:04 You and Yours (m0023g6c)
Energy Bills, Alcohol-Free Bars, iPhone Access

Tomorrow, the new energy price cap comes into play that will increase an average household’s bills by around £150. We discuss what consumers can do to minimise their costs and what the future looks like for our utility bills.

Can you gain access to a loved one’s phone in the event of their death? We’ve had many responses following our story last week on people in this situation that have been unable to recover photos and videos from phones after bereavement. However, it is possible. We hear how one person took the matter to court and won.

Would you eat dinner at a restaurant at 5:30pm if it meant receiving 50% off the bill? We explore whether a new app is making dynamic pricing work for restaurants and customers alike.

Have you ever been to an alcohol-free bar? Despite sales of low and no alcohol drinks booming, a number of alcohol-free bars across the country are closing their doors. A former bar owner explains the challenges of running one of these spaces.

PRODUCER: CHARLIE FILMER-COURT

PRESENTER: WINIFRED ROBINSON


MON 12:57 Weather (m0023g6f)
The latest weather forecast


MON 13:00 World at One (m0023g6h)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment.


MON 13:45 Continental Divides (m0023g6k)
Episode 1 - Winners and Losers

Misha Glenny explores a number of political divides facing Europe and asks whether the continent is undergoing the same crises it went through in the 1930s.

In this first episode, he investigates two countries that have elected ultra-conservative leaders over the last 15 years – Viktor Orban in Hungary in 2010 and Giorgia Meloni in Italy in 2022. Speaking to a range of voices from former politicians to academics, journalists and economists, Misha unpacks the importance of economic and social crises in their electoral success, whether it was the 2008 financial crash in Hungary or the Covid pandemic in Italy.

Producer: Artemis Irvine
Executive Producer: Robert Nicholson

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4


MON 14:00 The Archers (m0023fv2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Sunday]


MON 14:15 Plum House (m000hn51)
Series 3

5. All in Good Faith

The third series of Plum House returns and the team welcome a new vicar to their parish (played by Robert Bathurst). Peter is his biggest fan, but the others have varying levels of interest. Maureen and Alan try in their own way to help with church repairs and maintenance, to disastrous effect, and Julian is mainly miffed that Peter's found a new best friend. Tom meanwhile is still trying to patch things up with Emma...

Plum House features Simon Callow, Jane Horrocks, Miles Jupp, Pearce Quigley, Tom Bell and Louise Ford.
Guest starring Robert Bathurst and Alex Lowe

Written by Ben Cottam and Paul McKenna
Directed by Paul Schlesinger
Produced by Claire Broughton

It is a BBC Studios Production for Radio 4


MON 14:45 Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding (m0016x9w)
Episode One

Helen Fielding's iconic 1996 novel of life as a single thirty-something woman in London.

"Ugh. First day of New Year has been day of horror. Cannot quite believe I am once again starting the year in a single bed in my parents’ house."

Bridget Jones begins the new year full of resolutions. She pledges in her diary to drink less, smoke less, lose weight, find a new job, stay away from unsuitable men and learn to programme the VCR. But her resolve is tested by the horrors of attending dinner parties with the "smug marrieds", the confusing behaviour of her charming rogue of a boss Daniel Cleaver, and her increasingly embarrassing encounters with human rights lawyer Mark Darcy.

Bridget Jones's Diary started life as a weekly column in the pages of The Independent in 1995, when Fielding worked on the news desk. Helen’s column chronicled the life and antics of fictional Bridget Jones as a thirty-something single woman in London trying to make sense of life and love. It was first published as a novel in 1996 and has gone on to sell more than 15 million copies worldwide and has been adapted into a series of films.

Read by Sally Phillips
Abridged by Sara Davies
Produced by Mair Bosworth and Mary Ward-Lowery


MON 15:00 The Kitchen Cabinet (m0023fnv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:30 on Saturday]


MON 15:30 Lady Killers with Lucy Worsley (m0023jkp)
Lady Swindlers with Lucy Worsley

31. Alice Diamond - Queen of 40 Thieves

In this brand new series Lucy Worsley switches her attention from Lady Killers to Lady Swindlers - conwomen, thieves and hustlers.

This is where true crime meets history - with a twist. Lucy and her team of all female detectives travel back more than 100 years to revisit the audacious and surprising crimes of women trying to make it in a world made for men.

In this first episode Lucy is investigating the career of Alice Diamond, the queen of the UK’s most famous all female crime syndicate in the early 20th century. By the age of 18 Alice is leading a gang of incredibly successful professional shoplifters from South East London, known as the Forty Thieves, whose audacious and carefully planned raids on London’s new department stores make them notorious.

With Lucy to explore Alice Diamond’s story is Professor Lorraine Gamman, the founder of the Design Against Crime Research Initiative at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts, London, which works to reduce shoplifting. Lorraine also has a fascinating personal connection to Alice Diamond through Alice’s apprentice, Shirley Pitts, and she helped Shirley write her memoir ‘Gone Shopping’.

Lucy is also joined by historian Rosalind Crone to visit Southwark in South East London where Alice spends her childhood moving from one set of dismal lodgings to another to avoid the rent man. And they visit another of Alice’s haunts: Marlborough Street Magistrates’ Court, where she faces dozens of charges of shoplifting.

Lucy wants to know: is Alice Diamond a beacon of female liberation or is she just a serial criminal? How were opportunities for women changing in the early 20th century? What does Alice’s story tell us about the lives of women born into poverty then, and asks how much has changed for women today?

Producer: Jane Greenwood
Readers: Clare Corbett and Jonathan Keeble
Sound Design: Chris Maclean
Executive Producer: Kirsty Hunter

A StoryHunter production for BBC Radio 4.

If you're in the UK, listen to the newest episodes of Lady Killers first on BBC Sounds: https://bbc.in/3M2pT0K


MON 16:00 American Paradox (m0023ftd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 13:30 on Sunday]


MON 16:30 Marianna in Conspiracyland (m0023drb)
Why Do You Hate Me? USA

2. Counting The Threats: 'I just work in IT – why am I getting threats from election deniers?'

What are the real-world consequences of the belief that almost anything and everything can be staged or rigged – from assassination attempts to elections?

In Why Do You Hate Me? USA, BBC disinformation and social media correspondent Marianna Spring is investigating how what’s happening online can shape the 2024 presidential election.

In this episode, Marianna continues her journey through Colorado to hear about what happens when some people no longer trust systems and institutions – and then send hate to the people they see complicit in unproven plots and conspiracies.

She meets the election workers who feared for their safety after Donald Trump and some of his supporters falsely claimed the 2020 election was stolen and public officials were overwhelmed with abuse and threats online. Could it possibly get worse this time around?

Host: Marianna Spring
Producers: Daniel Wittenberg & Emma Close
Story Editor: Matt Willis
Editor: Sam Bonham
Commissioning Editor: Rhian Roberts
Sound Designer: Tony Churnside
Production Co-ordinator: Rosie Strawbridge


MON 17:00 PM (m0023g6m)
Netanyahu sends dramatic warning to Iran

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned Iranians their regime is bringing them 'closer to the abyss', saying 'there is nowhere in the Middle East Israel cannot reach'


MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m0023g6p)
Reports from the US suggest a limited ground offensive is imminent


MON 18:30 Just a Minute (m0023g6r)
Series 93

3. Rhymes with Touché and Suché and John Belushé

Julian Clary, Jenny Eclair, Kiell Smith-Bynoe and Josie Lawrence join host Sue Perkins for the long-running quick-thinking panel game, aiming to speak for 60 seconds without repetition, deviation or hesitation. Subjects include John O'Groats, The Perfect Outfit, and Adding Insult To Injury.

Production Coordinator: Sarah Nicholls
Sound Manager: Jerry Peal
Sound Editor: Marc Willcox
Producer: Rajiv Karia
An EcoAudio certified production.

A BBC Studios Production for Radio 4.


MON 19:00 The Archers (m0023dqd)
Ben goes round to Azra’s to check how Zainab’s doing after her Asian Hornet sting. Azra explains that Zainab’s mortified and has taken to her room. Ben confirms that it was an Asian hornet and that the investigating team have mobilised the National Bee Unit. They’re coming tomorrow to destroy the suspected nest. When Azra thanks Ben for looking after Zainab, he explains that he’s training to be a nurse. They chat about Azra’s work as a GP, and she suggests that Ben thinks about doing community nursing.

Pat visits Alice to explain why she’s written a character reference for George. Whilst she thinks George should face serious consequences, she’s not sure whether locking him up would do any good. As Alice talks about the impact of it all they’re interrupted by Lilian at the door. She wonders what Pat’s doing there, considering she’s chosen to take George’s side against Alice. When Pat defends her actions, Lilian calls her a hypocrite, reminding Pat about her treatment of Alan over Rob’s baptism. And yet Pat’s writing references for a boy who nearly destroyed Alice’s life. Later Pat tells Tony that Alice’s reaction was controlled but Lilian was really horrible and vindictive about George. George will be sentenced next week, and Pat wanted the court to have as full a picture as possible. Tony admires Pat’s ability to look at all sides, but she can’t expect the family to see it that way. When Tony visits Lilian later, it’s clear she won’t change her mind about Pat. Lilian just hopes that Peggy doesn’t get to hear about what Pat’s done.


MON 19:15 Front Row (m0023g6t)
David Oyelowo, Regulating the entertainment industry, Ralph Steadman

David Oyelowo talks about playing Coriolanus in the National Theatre's new production. He explains why it's the role he's always wanted to take on - encompassing tragedy, politics and the challenge of stage combat. Dame Eileen Atkins talks about her late friend, the great actress Dame Maggie Smith. We visit the studio of cartoonist Ralph Steadman and get an insight into the range of his work from children's book illustrations to eco-activism. And, what progress has been made to tackle harassment and exploitation in the entertainment industry? Heather Rabbatts has spent three years setting up the Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority and Jenny Tingle is from the trade union BECTU and they join Samira to discuss what's happening.

Presenter: Samira Ahmed
Producer: Ruth Watts


MON 20:00 Rethink (m00237zn)
Rethink... voting

One person, one vote - we're all equal in the voting booth, right?

But it hasn't always been this way, and just who can vote has changed many times since the Second World War.

Until 1951, business owners and some university graduates were allowed multiple votes. 18 year olds could vote for the first time in the 1970 general election, and In 2024 British expats who had lived outside the UK for longer than 15 years were given the vote.

There are anomalies too. Irish and Commonwealth citizens who have just arrived in the UK can vote as long as they're registered, but an EU citizen who's lived here for 20 years cannot, unless they become a British citizen.

And when it comes to the results, smaller parties say the First Past the Post system leaves them with few seats that don't reflect their level of support.

So is there a better way? Quadratic voting, which allows people to vote multiple times could be the answer. Ben Ansell speaks to one of its inventors, and asks, "is it time to rethink voting?"

Presenter: Ben Ansell
Producer: Ravi Naik
Editor: Clare Fordham

Contributors
Glen Weyl, Microsoft Research
Rosie Campbell Professor of Politics at King's College London
Dr Hannah White the CEO of the Institute for Government
Rob Ford Professor of Political Science at the University of Manchester


MON 20:30 BBC Inside Science (m00237zq)
How green is space travel?

The images beamed back to Earth of the first civilian spacewalk have prompted a very pertinent question from one Inside Science listener:

What effect is space travel having on our climate?

We're used to delving into the carbon footprint of Earth-bound travel – so this week we’re going to explore the impact of the rapidly growing space industry on our climate.

How does a rocket launch compare to a flight taking off? Do we even know the true cost yet – and if it’s significant, what might the solution be?

Also on the programme, a personal perspective from a remote island on worrying seabird declines, the results of a project to refreeze Arctic sea ice, and why new evidence unearthed about the Falkland Islands suggests it may once have looked very different...

Presenter: Vic Gill
Producers: Ella Hubber & Gerry Holt
Editor: Martin Smith
Production Co-ordinator: Andrew Rhys Lewis
Studio Manager: Rhys Morris

BBC Inside Science is produced in partnership with the Open University.

If you want to test your climate change knowledge, head to bbc.co.uk - search for BBC Inside Science and follow the links to the Open University.


MON 21:00 Start the Week (m0023g5v)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


MON 21:45 Café Hope (m0023g5x)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 today]


MON 22:00 The World Tonight (m0023g6w)
Israeli ground forces poised for ground incursion into Lebanon

A BBC reporter in Beirut has heard explosions in the south of the city after Israel's army ordered an evacuation of three areas. Israel is reportedly poised to mount a ground incursion into Lebanon. Hezbollah's deputy leader Naim Qassem says the group is ready for an Israeli ground offensive and says the battle "may be long".

The Conservative mayor of Tees Valley, Lord Houchen, has told the BBC that all four candidates for the party leadership need to be "more honest" on how they plan to deliver the policies they're advocating.

And we speak to the cruise ship passengers who met while stranded in Belfast and became engaged, as they finally prepare to set off on their delayed voyage.


MON 22:45 Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin (m002130w)
Episode 1

This is the story of Sam and Sadie. It's not a romance, but it is about love.

When Sam catches sight of Sadie at a crowded train station one morning he is catapulted straight back to childhood, and the hours they spent immersed in playing games.

Their spark is instantly reignited and sets off a creative collaboration that will make them superstars. It is the 90s, and anything is possible.

What comes next is a decades-long tale of friendship and rivalry, fame and art, betrayal and tragedy, perfect worlds and imperfect ones. And, above all, our need to connect: to be loved and to love.

Written by Gabrielle Zevin

Abridged by Joseph Bedell

Read by Zoe Maltby

Produced by Clive Brill

A Brill production for BBC Radio 4


MON 23:00 Limelight (m001r7tn)
The System - Series 3

The System - Method 5: Die

Five Methods for Overcoming Mortality.

Season finale of Ben Lewis’ propulsive thriller.

When the Children of the Green Man open the castle gates to a mob of gamers, it becomes clear that a storm is coming.

The fate of everyone is now in the hands of the few. But whose version of reality will win out?

Cast:

Maya… Siena Kelly
Jake … Jack Rowan
Coyote…Divian Ladwa
Robin…Ryan Sampson
Matt Finch…Rhashan Stone

Original music and sound design by Danny Krass
A BBC Scotland Production directed by Kirsty Williams


MON 23:30 American Paradox (m0023ftd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 13:30 on Sunday]

TUESDAY 01 OCTOBER 2024

TUE 00:00 Midnight News (m0023g6y)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


TUE 00:30 The Kindness of Strangers by Kerry Hudson (m0023g66)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:45 on Monday]


TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m0023g70)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m0023g72)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m0023g74)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


TUE 05:30 News Briefing (m0023g76)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4


TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m0023g78)
Common Ground

Good morning.

Happy Nigerian Independence Day! As a British Nigerian woman, today holds memories of the smell of mum’s cooking: jollof rice, a variety of vegetables, fish and meat, all prepared to celebrate Nigeria establishing a coalition parliament in 1960 and gaining freedom from colonial rule.

Celebrations like this can be stirring, or simply an excuse to gather with family and friends, with the politics and history relegated to second and third place. Today makes me think of how we cope with the big stuff, the history and history making that is happening around us, and even before we were born. What is our place in all of this? How do we make sense of our life in the grand stories of time? I remember thinking when the family moved back to London, following a spell in Lagos, that it was like a bit of an earthquake, at least for the little girl that I was then.

And so it can be, too, for anyone who has to move home, towns, cities or countries even. A new chapter begins in our story in unfamiliar surroundings. We may have some control, but we may also feel utterly overwhelmed. Perhaps all we can do is seek to connect with what is around us, with those who share the same story and those who do not, so that we can deepen our understanding, and theirs, of what has been.

So, today, I pray that I may listen more deeply, and also with my heart, to the stories of others, and see the common ground we share.

Amen.


TUE 05:45 Farming Today (m0023g7b)
01/10/24 New kept-bird register, US certification scheme for regen ag, deer cull.

From 1 October, all owners of poultry in England and Wales, must be registered with the Animal and Plant Health Agency, even if it's just one hen in the back garden. This can be done online, through the DEFRA website. The aim is to be able to track all kept birds, in the event of more bird flu outbreaks. The new rule also applies to pet birds such as budgies, cockatiels, parrots and finches, if they are given access to the open air. All birds either kept outdoors, or taken outdoors, must be registered. Failure to do so could result in a fine of £2,500. However some owners say it’s unfair that they have to comply in the same way as poultry farms which house almost a million birds.

Waitrose says the orchard and vineyard on its Leckford farming estate in Hampshire is now certified as regenerative, as defined by an American certification scheme called 'Regenified'. Currently around 1.8 million acres are signed up to the scheme, most of it in the USA but 32 UK farms are signed up with the company. We speak to the American founders of the company and find out why Waitrose has signed up to it.

All week we're taking stock of deer. They may look wonderful in the wild, but in large numbers they can damage woodland and crops. In England and Wales there is no national strategy for managing herds, but the Scottish Government is encouraging land managers to shoot deer in a controlled way, to keep numbers down. So far it’s just a pilot scheme, run in three areas. If it’s a success it could be rolled out across Scotland, but there are already questions over whether the extra venison can be handled.

Presenter = Anna Hill
Producer = Rebecca Rooney

This programme has been edited since broadcast.


TUE 06:00 Today (m0023dpp)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


TUE 09:00 The Long View (m0023dpr)
Small Boats, Refugees and Migrants

The late 1500s saw waves of migration into England as Protestants from France and what are now Belgium and the Netherlands sought refuge from wars and persecution. Historian John Gallagher joins Jonathan Freedland to draw out the evidence for people smuggling routes across the English Channel, and discusses how 'strangers' (as migrants were called in the 16th century) were received once they'd made the crossing. With BBC News Correspondent Tim Symonds, and Madeleine Sumption, Director of the Migration Observatory.
Reader: Ruth Everett

Producer: Luke Mulhall


TUE 09:30 All in the Mind (m0023dpt)
Mental health of military drone operators, conspiracy theories, the All in the Mind Awards

Members of the UK military piloting unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly known as drones, operate from Lincolnshire - a long way from frontline battlefields in the Middle East. Via their drones' cameras, they can watch their enemy targets for days or even weeks at a time. But while they might be physically safe, their close-up views of traumatic events can cause mental harm.

In this episode, Claudia Hammond speaks to a former pilot of military drones. They are joined by Professor Dominic Murphy, who is head of research at the Combat Stress Centre for Applied Military Health Research, and Professor Peter Lee, an ethicist from the University of Portsmouth. Together, they discuss the issues faced by military drone pilots.

In the studio, Claudia is accompanied by Professor Catherine Loveday, a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Westminster. They discuss the news that a new type of drug for schizophrenia has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration in the USA, and what this could mean for those with the condition. They also pore over a recent piece of research that revealed AI chatbots might be able to pull people out of the rabbithole of conspiracy theories.

And the All in the Mind Awards 2025 are open for nominations! You can nominate the individual, group or professional who really helped with your mental health. In this episode, we hear from Josephine Barclay, who won the individual category in 2023, along with her daughter Maudie, who nominated her. If you'd like to nominate someone, you’ll find everything you need to know by going online to bbc.co.uk/radio4/allinthemind. Full terms and conditions are available there too. You have until 1pm on Wednesday the 8th of January 2025 to get your nominations in.

If you are affected by anything in this programme, details of organisations offering support with mental health and self-harm, or feelings of despair, are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline

Presenter: Claudia Hammond
Producer: Alice Lipscombe-Southwell
Editor: Holly Squire
Production Coordinator: Siobhan Maguire


TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (m0023dpw)
Menopause, Female Victorian detectives, Hair thinning

Menopause campaigner and Labour MP Carolyn Harris, and Dr Paula Briggs from Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust join Nuala McGovern to discuss the findings of the BBC’s latest Panorama: The Menopause Industry Uncovered.

Who was the first detective? You might be thinking of Sherlock Holmes. In a new book by Sara Lodge, she reveals that the first detectives were actually women, 40 years earlier than Sherlock. Sara joins us to tell us more.

Hair loss comes in many forms, from thinning to complete loss. In his new YouTube series, Hair Stories, hairstylist Michael Douglas, with over 37 years of experience working with women’s hair, explores women’s unique stories and the personal connection they have with their hair. Joining Michael is Katie O'Callaghan, who experienced hair loss and ultimately chose to undergo a hair transplant.

Conservative MP Mims Davies has said that the number of women wanting to work for and with the Conservative Party is "diminishing". To discuss this and the ongoing Tory leadership contest, Nuala is joined by Lara Spirit, Redbox Editor for The Times, and Ailbhe Rea, Associate Editor, Bloomberg UK.

Presenter: Nuala McGovern
Producer: Emma Pearce


TUE 11:00 Add to Playlist (m00237nb)
Errollyn Wallen and Neil Brand round off the series

Belize-born British composer Errollyn Wallen, recently announced as Master of the King's Music, and composer and silent film music specialist Neil Brand, join Anna Phoebe and Jeffrey Boakye to round off the current series.

From the first winner of the Eurovision Song contest to a Marvin Gaye masterpiece, via warring brothers, Add to Playlist wraps up before returning for a new series in November.

Producer: Jerome Weatherald
Presented with musical direction by Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe

The five tracks in this week's playlist:

Refrain by Lys Assia
The Honeysuckle and the Bee by Stanley Holloway
Champagne Supernova by Oasis
Sunny Afternoon by The Kinks
Ain’t No Mountain High Enough by Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell

Other music in this episode:

1st Movement of Concerto Grosso by Errollyn Wallen
Trenulețul (Eurovision 2022) by Zdob și Zdub
All in Your Head by New Jack & Lys Assia
Flight of the Bumblebee by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Disco Inferno by The Trammps


TUE 11:45 The Kindness of Strangers by Kerry Hudson (m0023dpy)
In other Countries

In these five specially commissioned essays, Kerry Hudson explores the kindness of strangers - how tiny encounters (and larger actions) have turned the tide repeatedly in desperate circumstances.

They encompass topics such as the psychology of kindness in childhood, the vulnerability of travelling alone in places with troubled histories, how Kerry had to learn to rely on the strangers working in an underfunded health service in a foreign country while suffering from a life-threatening illness, the perils of life on the water and the generosities of the boating community experienced whilst living on a canal boat, and how kindness can sometimes come with unexpected caveats and conditions depending on what you look like and where you are from.

Born in Aberdeen, Kerry Hudson grew up in poverty and fear, in a succession of council estates, B&Bs and caravan parks with a single parent mother who suffered from challenging mental ill-health, compounded by addiction.

Kerry's first novel, Tony Hogan Bought Me An Ice-Cream Float Before He Stole My Ma, was published in July 2012 and was shortlisted for eight literary prizes, including the Guardian First Book Award and Green Carnation Prize, and won Scottish First Book of the Year. Kerry's second novel, Thirst, was developed with support from the National Lottery through an Arts Council England grant, and published in July 2014 before being shortlisted for the Green Carnation Prize. Her first work of non-fiction, Lowborn (2019) became a Times bestseller and was hailed as ‘One of the most important books of the year’ by The Guardian. A follow-up to Lowborn, titled Newborn, was published in February 2024.

Written and Read by Kerry Hudson
Commissioned and Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 12:00 News Summary (m0023dq1)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


TUE 12:04 You and Yours (m0023dq3)
Call You and Yours: Have you switched your heating on yet?

It's getting colder - and our energy is getting more expensive. That's because the energy price cap - which covers 28 million households in England, Wales and Scotland - is kicking in, with gas and electricity prices going up by 10%. So for Call You and Yours, we want to know how you feel about this. Is your heating on yet, and how are you feeling about your bills going into the colder months? Prices rocketed two years ago - has that changed your heating habits? Have you adapted your home so it's more insulated? Are you one of the 10 million people who will be losing the Winter Fuel Payment?

Call us from 11am on Tuesday on 03700 100 444 or email us, youandyours@bbc.co.uk and please add your phone number so we can call you back.

PRESENTER: WINIFRED ROBINSON

PRODUCER: TOM MOSELEY


TUE 12:57 Weather (m0023dq5)
The latest weather forecast


TUE 13:00 World at One (m0023dq7)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment.


TUE 13:45 Continental Divides (m0023dq9)
Episode 2 - Cities, Suburbs, Towns and Villages

Misha Glenny explores a number of political divides facing Europe and asks whether the continent is undergoing the same crises it went through in the 1930s.

In this second episode, he investigates three countries where rural decline and urban growth have fuelled political change,

First, Bulgaria, where the exodus from villages is driving a near existential problem in terms of national population. In Poland, he hears from the Mayor of Warsaw, who is hoping to ride Poland's growing young, urban and liberal voter base to the Presidency of the whole country. And in France, Misha digs into how both a historic vision of the countryside and the reality of France's declining "in between" places are playing into a new, far right vision for French politics.

Producer: Artemis Irvine
Executive Producer: Robert Nicholson

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 14:00 The Archers (m0023dqd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Monday]


TUE 14:15 Drama on 4 (m0023dqg)
Daniel is Free by Hugh Costello

New drama, inspired by the recent early-release of prisoners.

Given his freedom sooner than expected thanks to a government early-release scheme, 26-year-old Daniel returns to his parents’ home – and faces a choice between atoning for his sins or profiting a second time from his crime.

Daniel was sentenced to 10 years for helping to create a fake crypto-currency that scammed ordinary people out of substantial sums of money. Like most prisoners, he expected to serve 50% of the sentence. But the government, determined to reduce the prison population, introduces a new pilot-scheme where prisoners like Daniel, whose crimes were non-violent and who have shown a strong commitment to reforming their ways, are released after serving 40% of their term.

Daniel’s release does not go unnoticed. Questions are asked in the media. Should a man who cynically swindled members of the public be returned to society before paying his dues? How can it be guaranteed that he won't ruin more lives?

Daniel’s parents, Alice and Frank don’t see eye to eye about the release and there are complications.

His parole officer Sheena spells out how careful Daniel has to be to avoid re-incarceration. , but his only friend on the outside is his former cellmate, Mark.

DANIEL Shaun Chambers
ALICE Jane Slavin
FRANK Ian Conningham
CATHERINE Lizzy McInnerny
SHEENA Alex Constantinidi
MARK Matthew Aubrey

Written by Hugh Costello

Director Eoin O’Callaghan
A Big Fish Radio production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 15:00 Punt & Dennis: Route Masters (m0023dqj)
Series 1: From Beer to Eternity

1 - From Beer to Jurassic Park

Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis are on a mission from Beer to Eternity, in this warm and witty new podcast that celebrates new and half-remembered trivia as they try to find entertaining links between random places, people and things.

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

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

A Listen Production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 15:30 Thinking Allowed (m0023dqn)
Architecture and Hope

Yvonne Jewkes, Professor of Criminology at the University of Bath, talks to Laurie Taylor about the design of prisons and the importance of an architecture of hope which nurtures the possibility of rehabilitation, from Limerick to Norway. They’re joined by Lynne McMordie, Research Associate at the Institute for Social Policy, Housing and Equalities Research at Heriot-Watt University, whose research suggests that the congregate nature of hostels and shelters for homeless people often compound the problems of residents, rather than providing a safe space or route to secure housing.

Producer: Jayne Egerton


TUE 16:00 Surrealism Remixed (m0023dqq)
Under the Surface

For Russell Tovey, the modern world is getting more surreal at a time when the original art movement is 100 years old. Surrealism was pioneered by a group of young disrupters in Paris, and it was as meaningful and resonant then, as it is now, but for different reasons.

Today, Russell explores the roots of the movement. The first 'Surrealist Manifesto' was published in Paris in October 1924 by Andre Breton, who presented Surrealism as nothing short of a revolution to liberate mankind, proposing that the world could be re-made by unlocking the power of dreams.

Surrealism emerged when Europe was disfigured by war and Breton and his fellow Surrealists were disillusioned by the strict rationality that had led to mechanised mass destruction. Many of the Surrealists were committed Marxists and, for them, exploring their unconscious minds was a political act, designed to have a revolutionary impact. The Surrealist’s desire to remake their world by plumbing the depths of the unconscious mind was also inspired by Sigmund Freud.

While Breton's manifesto was mainly concerned with writing, the ideas of Surrealism were also nurtured by visual artists, including Rene Magritte, Marcel Duchamp, Max Ernst and, most famously, Salvador Dalí. Surrealism rippled out from Paris via the ground-breaking International Surrealist Exhibition in London, during the Summer of 1936. This seemed to open a ‘portal into another way of seeing the world’ for many people who were interested in what this would mean for the future.

With Dawn Ades, Louisa Buck, Kate Conley, Martin Creed, Felicity Gee, Darian Leader, Lisa Mullen, Mark Polizzotti, Vic Reeves, David Shrigley, Abigail Susik and Gavin Turk.

Producers: Melissa FitzGerald and Eliane Glaser
Sound Design: Tony Churnside
A Zinc Audio production for BBC Radio 4

Cover Photo: Martin Creed and Russell Tovey


TUE 16:30 When It Hits the Fan (m0023dqt)
Ozempic, Philip Schofield and PR on screen

Is there such a thing as too much good PR? It seems everyone is talking about the weight-loss drug Ozempic - David Yelland and Simon Lewis look at why might this be causing jitters in the company boardroom.

Also, Phillip Schofield’s desert island TV return - will the "last roll of the dice” PR strategy work for him, or is Hillary Clinton's 1992 interview alongside her under-fire husband a cautionary tale?

And with the release of the drama series A Very Royal Scandal, David and Simon look at how PR people are portrayed on film and TV. Useless, posh, drunk or sinister - is it myth, or is it reality?

Producer: Eve Streeter
Editor: Sarah Teasdale
Executive Producer: William Miller
Music by Eclectic Sounds
A Raconteur Studios production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 17:00 PM (m0023dqw)
Iran missile attack on Israel imminent, US says

The US says Iran is preparing to 'imminently' launch a missile attack on Israel, as Israeli troops invade Lebanon in a 'limited, localised and targeted' operation against Hezbollah


TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m0023dqy)
Last night Israel sent ground troops into southern Lebanon to attack Hezbollah positions


TUE 18:30 Janey Godley: The C Bomb (m001n1rf)
1: Shall We Start at the Beginning?

This show was first broadcast in June 2023, as Janey faced a terminal cancer diagnosis.

Last week, Janey revealed she is now receiving end-of-life care.

This is another chance to hear Janey's powerful personal story of strength and survival, all told in her brutally honest, brutally funny signature style.

In this episode, Janey does what she’s always done: turning her own dark and difficult experiences into laugher, as she paints a vivid picture of life in the East End of Glasgow in the 60s, and recounts a childhood steeped in poverty and abuse. As she faces her own mortality, she and daughter Ashley Storrie talk, laugh and cry as they unpick some of the experiences she shares onstage.

Relentlessly authentic, she's also had to face up to her own mistakes - taking responsibility and apologising both publicly and onstage, as well as sharing the shame of being ‘cancelled’ and the very dark place that took her to.

Then, just months later…. the hand grenade of a cancer diagnosis forced her to start fighting for her life.

Now, after finally admitting that after everything she’s been through in life, maybe she‘s not “fine”, and with a terminal diagnosis, she’s submitted to the ultimate ‘C bomb' for many men and women of her generation - counselling.

And as a result of this insight, she’s more hilarious and compelling onstage than ever.

Janey’s experienced a life of extremes but has come out the other side with rare insight, still able to make light of all its trials and tribulations in her signature dark and uncompromising style.

Recorded live in front of an audience in her hometown, Glasgow.

A Dabster production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 19:00 The Archers (m0023dr0)
Tracy chats to Brad about how he’s getting on at Felpersham University. When she wonders if he’s made any friends, Brad explains that although it’s not been easy he thinks he’s found his ‘tribe’. Brad’s been in touch ‘as friends’ with Mia and she’s loving it at her university. George turns up to see how Brad’s getting on, but Tracy isn’t happy to see him. Brad steps in explaining that although he doesn’t condone George’s behaviour he can see what a state George is in. But Tracy asks George to leave, so Brad suggests a walk instead. George admits he’s scared about the sentencing next Thursday and thinks he’ll be sent down. He would do anything to go back to that car and make a different decision. When Brad wishes he could help, George asks if he’ll keep his online video business going while he’s inside. Brad reluctantly agrees.

Emma’s working in the dairy with Susan while Helen’s visiting a customer up north. Pat tells them that some of Friday’s yoghurt’s have been mislabelled. Emma thinks it’s her fault and suggests deducting the cost from her wages. But Pat’s fine and offers some of the mislabelled yoghurts to take home, but Emma refuses. Later Susan realises it was her mistake and they laugh when Emma says she’ll take some yoghurt’s home after all! But they’re stopped in their tracks when an egg’s thrown at the viewing window. Upset Emma thinks it was aimed at her because of George. Pat sends Emma home and then suggests checking the CCTV. But Susan saw Poppy and wonders if she should tell anyone else.


TUE 19:15 Front Row (m0023dr2)
The BBC National Short Story Award 2024 with Cambridge University

Tom presents live from The Radio Theatre in Broadcasting House the BBC National Short Story Award and the Young Writers' Award, now in it's tenth year.

Chair of NSSA judges and presenter of Broadcasting House Paddy O'Connell, and chair of the YWA, Radio 1's Katie Thistleton tell us about this year's entries and announce the winners.
We discuss the art of the short story with writers and judges Michael Donkor and Katherine Webber and hear from the first winner of the Young Writers' Award, Brennig Davies.

The NSSA finalists:
Will Boast with The Barber of Erice
Lucy Cauldwell with Hamlet, a love story
Manish Chauhan with Pieces
Ross Raisin with Ghost Kitchen
Vee Walker with Nice Dog

The Young Writers Award finalists:
Basmala Alkhalaf with A Human, a Robot and a Gosling Walk into a Post-Apocalyptic Bar
Amaan Foyez with The Quiet
Vivienne Hall with Confession
Lulu Frisson with Special
Aidan Vogelzang with Nathalie’s Flatmate

Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe
Producers: Corinna Jones and Claire Bartleet


TUE 20:00 File on 4 (m0023vnp)
Lucy Letby: The Killer Questions

File on 4 examines some of the most contentious statistical, scientific and medical evidence in the Lucy Letby trial. The programme reveals new concerns involving medical evidence presented in court where Letby was convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven others.

Reporter: Stephanie Hegarty
Producers: Fay Nurse, Ben Robinson and Hayley Mortimer
Technical Producers: Richard Hannaford and Nicky Edwards
Production Coordinator: Tim Fernley
Editor: Carl Johnston


TUE 20:40 In Touch (m0023dr6)
Peer Support

When you need help or information, where is best to turn? Perhaps reaching out to peers via online methods, or perhaps finding a group that you can meet up with in-person.

Has the prevalence of social media and online meetings discouraged in-person get togethers and has it meant that the quality of our interactions has been diminished? Or does it make accessing information and help from peers and organisations much easier and more efficient. The answers will naturally differ from person to person, depending on preference and whether you are able access to online methods. This episode is dedicated to peer support; where you get it from, who you get it from, and in what form you prefer it.

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


TUE 21:00 World Of Secrets (w3ct793l)
Al Fayed, Predator at Harrods

Al Fayed, Predator at Harrods: 2. Executive suite

Sophia is working in Harrods and is spotted by Mohamed Al Fayed. She’s handed an incredible career opportunity. Soon she moves to work with her billionaire boss in his executive suite. Not everything is as it seems.

On the shop floor, Mohamed Al Fayed is known for the way he makes a dramatic entrance, flanked by security guards. “He’s coming, he’s coming”, staff call out, as they spring to attention. Celebrity customers in the 1990s, like pop superstar Michael Jackson, are shopping in the store.

This season of World of Secrets is about sexual abuse, and includes descriptions which some listeners might find distressing. For a list of organisations in the UK that can provide support for survivors of sexual abuse, go to bbc.co.uk/actionline.

Presented by Cassie Cornish-Trestrail and Shaimaa Khalil, and produced by Neal Razzell and Sally Abrahams. The editor is Matt Willis. It’s a Long Form Audio production for the BBC World Service.


TUE 21:30 The Bottom Line (m00237z4)
How Smart Is the Smart Energy System?

The UK's power grid is undergoing a huge shift towards renewable energy, but running homes and businesses solely on this new form of electricity will be a delicate balancing act and will pose new choices for consumers.

Evan Davis and guests discuss the challenge of matching supply - from wind and solar - with an increased demand from electric vehicles and homes using heat pumps rather than gas boilers.

Part of the solution could be consumers themselves - homes with EVs, solar panels or battery storage could act like mini power plants, sending energy back to the grid, as well as taking from it, and getting paid in the process. But that two-way exchange could bring harder decisions - would you let your energy company switch off your fridge for an hour to ease pressure on the grid?

Evan is joined by:
Cordi O’Hara, president of UK electricity distribution, National Grid;
Hamish Phillips, net zero business development director, Centrica;
Jordan Brompton, co-founder and chief marketing officer, Myenergi.

Production team:
Producer: Simon Tulett
Researcher: Drew Hyndman
Editor: Matt Willis
Sound: Jonny Baker and Tim Heffer
Production co-ordinator: Rosie Strawbridge


TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (m0023dr8)
Israel vows "powerful response" to Iran's attack

Israel has vowed a 'powerful response' to a wave of missile strikes by Iran. Tehran says it was in response to Israeli attacks on its allies, Hezbollah and Hamas.

The UK and US have condemned the Iranian attack and reiterated that Israel has the right to defend itself. The strikes came after Israel launched its cross-border ground operation against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group in Lebanon.


TUE 22:45 Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin (m00213hx)
Episode 2

This is the story of Sam and Sadie. It's not a romance, but it is about love.

When Sam catches sight of Sadie at a crowded train station one morning he is catapulted straight back to childhood, and the hours they spent immersed in playing games.

Their spark is instantly reignited and sets off a creative collaboration that will make them superstars. It is the 90s, and anything is possible.

What comes next is a decades-long tale of friendship and rivalry, fame and art, betrayal and tragedy, perfect worlds and imperfect ones. And, above all, our need to connect: to be loved and to love.

Written by Gabrielle Zevin

Abridged by Joseph Bedell

Read by Zoe Maltby

Produced by Clive Brill

A Brill production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 23:00 Marianna in Conspiracyland (m0023drb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:30 on Monday]


TUE 23:30 The Gift (m001r30k)
4. Race

The anxieties of navigating a newfound racial identity.

It's the go-to Christmas present for the person who already has everything. A gift that promises to tell you who you really are and how you're connected to the world.
Millions of us have spat into a tube and sent a vial of our DNA to a company like Ancestry and 23andMe. Their tests promise to unlock the truth of our heritage - perhaps even a future foretold in our genes.

Across six episodes, Jenny Kleeman meets the men and women whose lives changed forever after they opened a box that contained a DNA test. Exposing scandals, upending identities, solving mysteries and delivering life-changing news - Jenny investigates what happens when genealogy, technology and identity collide.

Presenter: Jenny Kleeman
Producer: Conor Garrett
Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke
Executive Producer: Philip Sellars
Production Co-ordinator: Gill Huggett