SATURDAY 21 FEBRUARY 2009

SAT 00:00 Midnight News (b00hlxwz)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


SAT 00:30 Book of the Week (b00hn6s2)
Hackney, That Rose-Red Empire

Hackney Brook

Neil Pearson reads Iain Sinclair's account of the chequered history and inhabitants of Hackney in East London and his own life there.

Iain attempts to locate the lost river of Hackney and in so doing finds himself on the set of EastEnders, by way of the Olympic construction site.


SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b00hm576)
The latest shipping forecast.


SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b00hm578)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. BBC Radio 4 resumes at 5.20am.


SAT 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b00hm57b)
The latest shipping forecast.


SAT 05:30 News Briefing (b00hm57d)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b00hm57g)
Daily prayer and reflection with Mark Coffey.


SAT 05:45 iPM (b00hm57j)
The weekly interactive current affairs magazine featuring online conversation and debate.


SAT 06:00 News and Papers (b00hm57l)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.


SAT 06:04 Weather (b00hmbvq)
The latest weather forecast.


SAT 06:07 Open Country (b00hmbvs)
Helen Mark finds out how whisky production has shaped Speyside in Scotland, with the opening of a new 'green' distillery in Roseisle.


SAT 06:30 Farming Today This Week (b00hmbxd)
News and issues in rural Britain with Charlotte Smith.


SAT 06:57 Weather (b00hmbxg)
The latest weather forecast.


SAT 07:00 Today (b00hmbxj)
Presented by Evan Davis and James Naughtie.

Correspondent Quentin Sommerville examines US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's first overseas tour.

Correspondent Kevin Connelly discusses if human rights campaigners will be disappointed with Barack Obama's decision that detainees held by the US in Afghanistan have no constitutional rights.

Vice-chairman of Progress Chris Leslie discusses if consumers could help the UK out of the economic slump.

Correspondent Ian Pannell reports on the US strategy to provide weapons to villagers in Afghanistan.

Prof Iain Begg of the London School of Economics discusses why thousands of people will attend a march to protest about pay and pensions.

Reporter Jack Izzard explains The National Fund, founded more than 80 years ago, which amassed 280 million pounds but has now been dormant for decades.

Hillary Clinton has marked her first overseas visit as US Secretary of State by calling for a deeper partnership with China. Authors James Kynge and George Walden discuss the problems facing the Chinese government.

Former Guantanamo detainee Moazzam Begg and terror legislation expert Lord Carlile discuss if Guantanamo detainee Binyam Mohamed poses any risk to the UK.

Editor Martha Dow Fehsenfeld and critic Philip Hensher discuss the publication of the first volume of Irish writer Samuel Beckett's letters.

Former Downing Street adviser Paul Sinclair and Matthew Taylor, former head of the Number 10 policy unit, discuss if Harriet Harman could run for leader of the Labour Party.

Arts correspondent Rebecca Jones looks at some of the best examples of adapted film works, from Gone With The Wind to Ben-Hur.

Chief economics correspondent Hugh Pym dissects another extraordinary week for the economy.

The National Gallery is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the first ever television documentary to be broadcast in colour in the UK. Historian Dr Jonathan Conlin and documentary maker Laurence Rees discuss the 1969 BBC Two series Civilisation.


SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (b00hmby5)
Clare Balding is joined by Radio 2's 'Whispering' Bob Harris. Bob is the patron of Cancer Research UK's music heritage event Sound and Vision.

Saturday Live listener Martin Hart heard the shot fired by Ruth Ellis that led to her being the last woman to be hanged in this country.

David Morrison was 14 years old when his girlfriend got pregnant. He tells Clare how the experience transformed his life.

Pat Gresham recalls how she spent her working life never knowing whether she was going to be legless in Southend or headless in Margate.

Founder member of The Zombies Rod Argent chooses his Inheritance Tracks.


SAT 10:00 Excess Baggage (b00hmc50)
Filming Wildlife

FILMING WILDLIFE
John McCarthy is joined by two wildlife filmmakers. Karen Bass has travelled from the Okavango Delta in Southern Africa to the Arctic for her latest series Nature’s Great Events, while Harry Marshall has often returned to the country of his birth, India, to film everything from irate elephants to snow leopards.


SAT 10:30 And the Academy Award Goes To... (b00hmc52)
Series 2

West Side Story

Another chance to hear "And The Academy Awards Goes to.... West Side Story". Continuing his series on Oscar-winning films, Paul Gambaccini turns his attention to one that tackled tough issues through the medium of the musical. With a young fresh cast - Natalie Wood in her first adult role, Rita Moreno sweeping everyone else off the dancefloor, and a relatively inexperienced but dazzling array of support actors - the movie sizzles with colour, drama, the outstanding choreography of Jerome Robbins, the music of Leonard Bernstein and the lyrics of a young Stephen Sondheim. Who could tell that behind the scenes there were arguments, voice dubbings and overruns, plus issues over racial casting and 'blacking up'? What emerged from a tumultuous production was a triumph.

Producer: Sara Jane Hall.


SAT 11:00 Beyond Westminster (b00hmc54)
Series looking at politics beyond and outside the Westminster parliament. Andrew Rawnsley discovers how political parties are appealing to more mature voters and asks if the Tories' apparent advantage with that section of the electorate will persist. Among Britain's population, older people are more likely to vote than younger ones and are more inclined to favour the Conservatives. But will the 1960s generation change this?


SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (b00hmc87)
BBC foreign correspondents with the stories behind the world's headlines. Introduced by Kate Adie.


SAT 12:00 Money Box (b00hmcw7)
Repossession Rises

Paul Lewis with the latest news from the world of personal finance. As the number of homes in the UK repossessed by lenders rose last year by 54 percent, why aren't lenders doing more to help struggling homeowners? Are you covered by your credit card provider if you buy something online that turns out to be faulty? And what should you do if you have some savings but do not want to see them withering away?


SAT 12:30 The News Quiz (b00hlspn)
Series 67

Episode 7

Sandi Toksvig chairs the topical comedy quiz, with panellists Jeremy Hardy, Fred MacAulay, Shappi Khorsandi and Mark Steel.


SAT 12:57 Weather (b00hmcw9)
The latest weather forecast.


SAT 13:00 News (b00hmcwc)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (b00hlspq)
Jonathan Dimbleby chairs the topical debate in Manchester. The panellists are secretary of state for culture, media and sport Andy Burnham, Conservative Party chairman Francis Maude, Sunday Times columnist Minette Marrin and author and screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce.


SAT 14:00 Any Answers? (b00hmcwf)
Jonathan Dimbleby takes listeners' calls and emails in response to this week's edition of Any Questions?


SAT 14:30 Saturday Drama (b00hmlhk)
The Lady in the Van

The Lady in the Van
by Alan Bennett

Cast
Miss Shepherd ..... Maggie Smith
Alan Bennett ..... Adrian Scarborough
Alan Bennett 2 ..... Alan Bennett
Mam ..... Marcia Warren
Rufus ..... Matt Addis
Pauline ..... Janice Acquah
Underwood ..... Stephen Critchlow
Social Worker ..... Caroline Guthrie
Fairchild ..... Philip Fox
Doctors ..... Jonathan Tafler and Malcolm Tierney

Music composed by Simon Morecroft
Adapted and Directed by Gordon House

The Lady in the Van is the first radio production of Alan Bennett's autobiographical stage play, starring Alan Bennett himself as one of the two "Alan Bennetts" featured in the drama, and reprising the brilliant stage performance of Dame Maggie Smith as Miss Mary Shepherd, the lady who takes refuge in his Camden garden for three months, and ends up staying fifteen years.

When Alan Bennett adapted his short autobiographical memoir The Lady in the Van, into a full length stage play, it received some excellent critical reviews. "One of the saddest, funniest and most distinguished offerings for years" wrote John Peter in the Sunday Times, while Charles Spencer, in the Daily Telegraph, thought it was "without doubt, the best new play of the year. Now Radio 4 brings this wonderfully bitter-sweet comic diary to the airwaves, with Maggie Smith once more playing the eccentric and cantankerous Miss Shepherd, and Alan Bennett and Adrian Scarborough playing the two Alan Bennetts - one in the role of the omniscient narrator, and one experiencing events as they occur.

Miss Shepherd was the genteel vagrant who parked her Bedford van near Mr. Bennett's Camden house in 1971 and eventually browbeat him into pushing it into the mini-driveway leading to his front door. And there she steadfastly remained until her death in 1989, emerging, every so often, to make a complaint, share a loony observation or simply fill Mr. Bennett's tiny garden with "a right Suzie Wong" - stench and filth that he compared to ''the inside of someone's ear."

But the play is as much about the author himself, as Miss Shepherd. What are Alan Bennett's motives in becoming landlord to such a lethally dotty tenant? Is he too feeble to reject her? Is he guiltily compensating for not spending enough time with his own mother (played here by Marcia Warren) Or is he, as his neighbours suggest, a modern-day saint? Was there (he suggests it himself) always part of him that wanted to exploit Miss Shepherd for literary profit? They play invites us both to ponder these questions, and asks what responsibility we ourselves have for the vagabonds who walk our streets and sometimes land up on our doorsteps.

But above all 'The Lady in the Van' is simply hugely enjoyable entertainment, now brought vividly to radio. Simon Morecoft composes original music in a production adapted and directed by the former Head of Radio Drama, Gordon House.


SAT 16:00 Weekend Woman's Hour (b00hmll4)
With Sheila McClennon.

Including:

Lindsay Duncan talks about the challenge of playing former prime minister Margaret Thatcher in a new BBC production that dramatises the demise of Britain's first female prime minister.

Breast Cancer Screening: According to a recent letter in The Times, many healthy women in this country are receiving unnecessary surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The 23 signatories say the government is not providing women with all the facts when they go for breast screening and cite research by Peter Gotzsche of the Nordic Cochrane Centre in Copenhagen in support of their claims. Jenni speak to Prof Stephen Duffy and Dr Paul Paroah about the issue.

As Nick Clegg approaches fatherhood for the third time, he argues that the recession could provide us with an opportunity to rethink old assumptions about who cares for children.

Paraplegic adventurer Karen Darke talks about her recent expedition where she sea-kayaked to the San Rafael glacier in Patagonia and about a new lecture tour she is to begin.

We examine a new report from the International Research Unit at the Warwick Business School that has found male actors have longer careers than their female counterparts and ask why so few of the opinion writers in the national newspapers are women.


SAT 17:00 PM (b00hmll6)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Ritula Shah, plus the sports headlines.


SAT 17:30 The Bottom Line (b00hmn81)
Evan Davis hears some negotiating tips from three top businesspeople, including the chief executive of Asda. What are the keys for success when negotiating with suppliers or buyers? Plus a discussion about the commercial property market. The current global economic troubles had their roots in the housing market, but the business property market is suffering as well. The panel discusses what to look for in a property, how to buy and when to sell.


SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b00hmn83)
The latest shipping forecast.


SAT 17:57 Weather (b00hmn85)
The latest weather forecast.


SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b00hmn87)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by Weather.


SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (b00hmn89)
Clive Anderson presents an eclectic mix of conversation, comedy and music. He is joined by Nigel Planer, Simon Yates and Adam Nicolson, and Jo Bunting finds out about Karl Pilkington's unique take on the world. With music from Woodpigeon and Soap and Skin and comedy from Keith Farnan.


SAT 19:00 Profile (b00hmn8c)
MIA

Stephen Sackur profiles MIA, the British-born Tamil singer and artist who has become known for her fiery and politicised style of songwriting and has been nominated for an Oscar for the song she contributed to the soundtrack of Slumdog Millionaire. Stephen hears about MIA from friends, family and fellow musicians and asks if, amid the success and the hype, she is the real deal or whether she may be just another world music flash in the pan.


SAT 19:15 Saturday Review (b00hmn8f)
Gran Torino, Lenny Henry plays Othello, and Their Finest Hour-and-a-Half by Lissa Evans

Guests:
Novelist Dreda Say Mitchell
Journalist Anne McElvoy
Historian Tristram Hunt

Gran Torino
In what is reported to be his last onscreen performance, Clint Eastwood directs himself as a cantankerous old racist whose Dirty Harry-like approach to local hoodlums draws him into an unexpected friendship with his Vietnamese neighbours. So is this twist on Eastwood’s old persona a fitting climax to one of the great Hollywood careers?

Gran Torino is on general release now, certificate 15.

Lenny Henry plays Othello
In 2006, Lenny Henry made a pair of documentaries for Radio 4 in which he tackled his Bard-phobia. The process was so successful that, by the end of the second programme, he was seriously contemplating a Shakespearean debut. The panel went to Leeds to see how he fared as Othello – one of the toughest roles in British theatre.

Northern Broadsides' production of Othello continues at the West Yorkshire Playhouse until 14 March, and then visits Scarborough, Coventry, Bath, Kingston-upon-Thames, Newcastle and Halifax.

Van Dyck and Britain
The panel visit Tate Britain to see some spectacular propaganda for the absolute monarchy of Charles I - the Flemish painter Van Dyck’s portraits of the King and the members of his court. As portraits, these may be magnificent, but as propaganda they arguably contributed to the rebellion against the monarchy that was to sweep the King from power soon afterwards.

Van Dyck and Britain is at Tate Britain in London until the seventeenth of May.

I Am the West
The British Muslim Forum and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office have backed a series of nine adverts, aimed at young Pakistanis, as part of a campaign to deter those who are potentially vulnerable to radicalisation. The ads feature a range of British Muslims talking about their lives, and declaring themselves both British and Muslim. But how persuasively made are these 30-second films?

The I Am the West adverts start screening in Pakistan in Urdu and Pashtu from 23 February. English language versions will be available to watch at IMIB.

Their Finest Hour-and-a-Half
Lissa Evans, one-time producer of Father Ted and The Kumars at Number 42, sets her new novel amid the Blitz in 1940. An ill-assorted group of thespians and media types attempt the down-at-heel task of making an uplifting movie about Dunkirk…

Their Finest Hour-and-a-Half by Lissa Evans is published by Doubleday.


SAT 20:00 Archive on 4 (b00hmn8h)
Agony

Jenni Murray presents a history of personal advice, from the mythical, kindly agony aunts of women's magazines to the public confessional of the radio phone-in.

The advice column began life in the women's magazines. It was the role of the kindly, but mythical aunt to re-enforce the social codes of the day, dispensing jaunty, practical, nearly always morally serious advice to their readers.

Radio brought a new outlet for those doling out advice. It started in the buttoned-up 1940s with paternalistic lectures from Charles Hill, the Radio Doctor (and later chairman of BBC) on subjects such as tummy trouble and melancholia and bloomed into the frank and sometimes shocking phone-ins.

Today, the 'advice industry' has expanded from radio to TV, the internet and advice columns in the newspapers, where readers can offer their own comments. Throughout the history of agony we have moved from social etiquette to sexual etiquette in terms of the questions that are being asked, and agony aunts have both reflected and influenced trends.

The increasing candour of the programmes reflects a parallel shift in British emotional engagement and the rise of therapy culture, which, some would argue, is not necessarily something to be celebrated.

The programme tracks these developments, exploring the phenomenon of the agony aunt and examining how the way advice is delivered has changed to suit the times.


SAT 21:00 Classic Serial (b00hhflv)
Scoop

Episode 1

Dramatisation by Jeremy Front of Evelyn Waugh's satirical 1938 novel.

Hapless journalist William Boot is mistakenly sent to report on a war in Africa.

William Boot ...... Rory Kinnear
Lord Copper ...... David Warner
Salter ...... Nicholas Woodeson
Corker ...... Stephen Critchlow
Pigge ...... Chris Pavlo
Erik Olafsen ...... Dan Starkey
Jakes ...... Paul Rider
Benito ...... Cyril Nri
Paleologue ...... Nyasha Hatendi
Moke ...... Inam Mirza
Mr Baldwin ...... Jonathan Taffler
Julia ...... Fenella Woolgar
John Boot ...... Nicholas Boulton
Josephine ...... Imogen Front
Miss Holloway ...... Janice Acquah
Secretary ...... Manjeet Mann
Uncle Theodore ...... Malcolm Tierney
Evelyn Waugh ...... Tim McInnerny

Directed by Sally Avens.


SAT 22:00 Weather (b00hmn9b)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by Weather.


SAT 22:15 Moral Maze (b00hkprf)
Michael Buerk celebrates the 500th edition of the programme with a debate held at the Royal Society of Medicine in London. Melanie Philips, Michael Portillo, Claire Fox and Clifford Longley cross-examine witnesses Tom Butler, Bishop of Southwark, Professor Alistair McGrath, Head of the Centre for Theology, Religion and Culture at King's College and author of The Dawkins Delusion, Peter Cave, chair of the British Humanist Philosophers group and author of Humanism: a Beginner's Guide, and Liberal Democrat MP Dr Evan Harris.

Michael and the panel consider the question. if you do not believe in a set of divinely inspired moral rules, how do you decide right from wrong in a world with complex and competing interests? We live in an age where there is no longer general agreement on religion and the time when our society was united by a common set of values based on a belief in God is long gone. Is it hopelessly optimistic to believe that Man can create an ethical framework based on a belief in individual responsibility and mutual respect, or are those secular values a much a better guide than any sectarian dogma or religious text? Can a post-religious society be a moral society, and if so, whose morals will we live by?


SAT 23:00 Quote... Unquote (b00hhths)
Nigel Rees chairs the popular quiz involving the exchange of quotations and anecdotes. With guests Bonnie Greer, Ken Follett, John Simpson and Sir Richard Eyre.


SAT 23:30 Poetry Please (b00hhft7)
Roger McGough introduces a selection of poems by the late Adrian Mitchell, chosen and read by some of his friends and fellow poets.

Music : Lover Man performed by Charlie Parker

All the poems in this week's programme are by Adrian Mitchell and the books are published by Bloodaxe

Back in the Playground Blues
From: Blue Coffee

To Whom It May Concern
From: Tell Me Lies - Poems 2005-2008

A Puppy Called Puberty
From: Blue Coffee

Ten Ways to Avoid Lending Your Wheelbarrow to Anybody
From: Tell Me Lies - Poems 2005-2008

Every Day is Mothering Sunday to Me
From: The Shadow Knows

The Doorbell
From: Tell Me Lies - Poems 2005-2008

Sorry Bout That
From: Tell Me Lies - Poems 2005-2008

Disguise
From: The Shadow Knows

William Blake Says Everything That Lives is Holy
From: The Shadow Knows

Death is Smaller Than I Thought
From: In Person, 30 Poets

A Spell to Make a Bad Hour Pass
From: Heart on the Left:– Poems 1953 - 1984

Music: Poetry Glues Your Soul Together
Words by Adrian Mitchell
Music by Mike Westbrook
From “Tyger” by Adrian Mitchell performed at the National Theatre