The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Rev Dr Stephen Wigley, Chair of the Wales Synod of the Methodist Church.
Starting today and all this week an in depth look into pest control in the UK. The latest government figures show a drastic fall in the income from farming. How drones are being used on the farm. And bison are roaming the English countryside.
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Reed Warbler. Reed warblers are summer visitors from Africa, one of the few long-distance migrants that are faring well in northern Europe - possibly because we're creating more gravel pits and conservation reedbeds.
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
In the first programme of a new series, Mishal Husain introduces dispatches from journalists and writers around the United Kingdom that reflect the range of contemporary life in the country. From politics to pastimes, from hallowed traditions to emerging trends, from the curious to the ridiculous, the programme presents a tableau of Britain today.
Bettany Hughes investigates charisma at The Acropolis, in a recording session with Live Aid founder Bob Geldof and on the pages of a best-selling novel with author Ben Okri.
The surprising and invigorating history of the most influential ideas in the story of civilisation, described as 'a double espresso shot of philosophy, history, science and the arts'. Award--winning historian and broadcaster Bettany Hughes begins each programme with the first, extant evidence of a single word-idea in Ancient Greek culture and travels both forwards and backwards in time, investigating how these ideas have been moulded by history, and how they've shaped us.
In this programme Bettany investigates charisma with classicist Professor Paul Cartledge, Byzantinist Dr Dionysios Stathakopoulos, Live Aid founder Bob Geldof, sociologist Professor Linda Woodhead and writer Ben Okri.
Bettany travels to Athens to see where these ideas were born and then explores the street markets, churches, offices and homes where they continue to morph and influence our daily lives.
Ideas examined in the first series, in September 2013, were idea, desire, agony, fame and justice. The second series, in January 2014, considered wisdom, comedy, liberty, peace and hospitality. Other ideas in this series are psyche, irony, nemesis and virtue.
A close up and intimate natural history by John Lewis-Stempel. By taking an abandoned field close to his farm, he observes in minute detail the behaviour of plants, birds and animals that are being displaced by agribusiness. In telling the story of one field, he tells the story of our countryside, our language, our religion and our food. But in transforming one field, he creates a haven for one particular animal close to his heart - the brown hare.
In this second part, it is spring - the time for catching a glimpse of those mad March hares.
Stand-up comedian Sara Pascoe began to investigate scientific and social beliefs about female sexuality for a tour, but then realised that she would never be able to fit everything she had learned into a gig, and so wrote the book Animal. She talks to Jane about why she became so fascinated by what makes us women.
Only 10.8% of the total number of nurses on the Nursing & Midwifery Council register are men. This figure has remained static for the past four years. Although there has been a rise in men entering the profession in the last few decades, it has been a small, slow one. Why is nursing still so female dominated? Is it a career that's ever discussed or talked about with boys and young men? Jane speaks to Kieran Uttley, a male nursing student at Keele University, and Jason Warriner, Clinical Services Director at the Sussex Beacon Centre, about their experiences.
Leicester City have won the Premier League. Last night Claudio Ranieri's team clinched the top-flight title for the first time in the Foxes' 132-year history. It is the stuff of football fantasy - last season they were struggling to stay in the league. Jane speaks to two lifelong Leicester City football supporters, Kate Langan Vines and Charlotte Nicol, about what the win means to them.
There are an increasing number of female chefs who are creating careers in food to suit them. They are refusing to work unsociable hours or conform to the stereotypical male-dominated atmosphere of a kitchen; but instead are creating blogs, pop-up restaurants and events that give them the opportunity to cook in a more independent way. Jane discusses these new ways of working with Elly Curshen, owner of The Pear Café in Bristol and a Food Columnist for InStyle Magazine, and Aine Morris, Festival Director at Bristol Food Connections.
Lisa Owens talks to Jane about her novel Not Working, about a young woman who gives up her job to find what makes her happy and realises that it is more complicated than just finding the right career.
Katie Hims' drama, inspired by Alexandra Harris' book 'Weatherland', imagines Zoe as a woman growing up weathered - for whom every turn of her life is marked by the weather: rain, snow, a summer heatwave, a thunderstorm, the threat of a flood. All our lives are weather-bound but for Zoe the weather is more than just what goes on behind the scenes.
Young Zoe and Alice: Sydney Wade; Young Shaun: Rhys Gannon; Older Zoe: Patsy Ferran; Older Shaun: David Reed; Juliet: Laura Elphinstone; Jim: Sam Troughton; Zoe's mum: Katy Carmichael; Zoe's dad: Tristan Sturrock. Music by Jon Nicholls. Producer: Tim Dee
Startling new research shows how false memories can be artificially generated and used to change behaviour - with implications for advertising, military intelligence and the treatment of addictions.
Memory is more of a creative than a mechanical process. Like a Wikipedia entry, we can make changes to our autobiographical history - but so can other people.
Martin Plimmer meets experts and observes experiments demonstrating the fragility of memory and the ease with which false memories can be implanted.
At Warwick University, Prof Kimberley Wade has implanted false memories of childhood experiences such as taking a hot air balloon ride. Martin follows an experiment in which participants form vivid memories of activities they have not actually experienced.
At Hull University, Prof Giuliana Mazzoni reveals how implanted false memories can change people's behaviour. Working with unsuspecting volunteers, she explores whether she can alter their food preferences by creating false memory of an adverse reaction to eating turkey sandwiches.
Martin discusses the implications of this research with US psychologist Prof Elizabeth Loftus who believes it could be used to treat obesity and addictions by introducing false memories of disliking fatty foods, alcohol or drugs.
Professor Loftus has also worked with the US military on ways of implanting false memories of their interrogator in enemy prisoners - raising admitted ethical issues and concerns about the abuse of these techniques.
And Martin Plimmer learns how our memories are all being subtly altered by advertising - as certain types of adverts can create false memories of experiencing and liking a product.
'Feed The Birds' was written by Richard and Robert Sherman for the 1964 film Mary Poppins. Composer Richard Sherman recalls how the song was a Walt Disney favourite and long after the film was over, Walt would call him down into his office in the late afternoon, gaze out of the window and say 'Play it.' Karen Dotrice, who played Jane Banks in the original film, describes the experience of hearing the song sung by Julie Andrews. Lawyer Eli McCann describes how re-watching Mary Poppins a few years ago, one snowy afternoon in Salt Lake City, was a turning point in his life, and teacher Marie Barteld remembers her love of 'Feed The Birds' as a child, and how she took the words of the song literally - much to her mother's consternation.
On this day in 1916, cheers met the announcement in Parliament that three Irish rebel leaders had been executed, and in Ashburton Emily Colville is on course for collision with her fiancé.
Call You & Yours asks do you or someone you know have debt and mental health problems?
We're talking about debt and mental health problems because half of the people who go to charities for help with debt also have a mental health problem. Counsellors report that the two problems - debt and mental illness - can feed off each other.
The founder of MoneySavingExpert.com has set up a new Money and Mental Health Policy Institute to come up with practical ways to stop people getting into debt when they are mentally ill.
It's as figures from the Bank of England show we are borrowing at the fastest rate since 2005.
Call the programme on 03700 100 444, or email youandyours@bbc.co.uk to tell us if you or someone you know has debt and mental health problems.
Some parents are keeping their children off school in protest against new tests for six and seven year olds. Martha Kearney speaks to England's schools minister, Nick Gibb.
Concerns that the government scheme to protect NHS whistle blowers is floundering. We hear from campaigners and Sir Robert Francis of the Care Quality Commission.
The head of England's Premier League, Richard Scudamore, on Leicester's triumph.
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown focuses on the brutal revenge tragedy Titus Andronicus, and the relationship between Tamora the Goth Queen and Aaron the Moor.
In this series, Yasmin explores five Shakespeare plays which cross the racial divide. No one has ever captured the joy and lunacy and power of love better than William Shakespeare. And his transgressive depictions of love in particular, remain unsurpassed. Othello, Titus Andronicus, The Merchant of Venice, Antony and Cleopatra and A Midsummer Night's Dream - in these five plays there's so much more to love than love.
These are not tidy tragedies. Shakespeare apparently never left England except through his plays yet he embraced interracial relationships and supernatural relationships and turned them into thrilling, dangerous drama. We bring together scholars, directors and actors to explore how the compulsions and fears, joys and sorrows, very much part of everyday life for many in Britain today, were so brilliantly showcased by Shakespeare more than four hundred years ago.
A new production in three parts of Shakespeare's great political drama. Cassius persuades Brutus that Caesar's ambition is a threat to the republic and a conspiracy is formed.
How should we eat to reduce our carbon footprint and save the planet? Should we all give up meat? Or eat only meat that's reared on grassland which couldn't be used for anything else? Or maybe eat intensively-reared meat that grows so fast that it has no time to emit a lot of methane before it's slaughtered?
Aside from meat, how important are food miles? Some argue that food grown in hot countries and transported here by boat has a lower overall carbon footprint than
Tom Heap chairs a debate from the Bristol Food Connections festival with four experts who have very different views, and present their own menus for low-carbon eating: Jasmijn de Boo, Chief Executive of the Vegan Society, Simon Fairlie, author of "Meat - A Benign Extravagance", Mark Lynas, environmental author, and Sean Rickard, agricultural economist.
Michael Rosen on a new Roald Dahl dictionary collecting the amazing words he invented - like squackling, and wondercrump! With Dr Laura Wright and dictionary editor Dr Susan Rennie.
Lt-Gen Sir Graeme Lamb, former head of British special forces, champions the life of wartime spy Christine Granville, assisted by her biographer Clare Mulley.
Christine, born Kristina Skarbek, was a glamorous swashbuckling heroine who skied into occupied Poland to distribute Allied propaganda, and parachuted into southern France to work with the Resistance after D Day. Murdered after the war by a jilted lover, she is little known today - thanks partly to the efforts of a group of men she had been close to, who formed a committee to "protect her reputation" from suggestions of sexual impropriety.
Isy Suttie returns to her Derbyshire home town of Matlock and observes the unfolding romance between dinner lady, Eleanor, and teacher, Mr Woodfield.
Isy's Sony Award winning show, recounts a series of love stories affecting people she's known throughout her life, told partly through song.
Sometimes Isy has merely observed other people's love lives; quite often she's intervened, changing the action dramatically - for better or worse. Intertwined within these stories are related real life anecdotes from Isy's own, often disastrous, love life.
With her multi-character and vocal skills, and accompanied by her guitar, Isy creates a hilarious and deeply moving world, sharing with us her lessons in life and love.
Pat gets an email saying she and Tony can visit Helen tomorrow. She's also had a call from DS Madeley who wants Pat to go to the station for an interview. Pat is hopeful she can put Helen's side of things across and arranges to go that afternoon.
At the Dower House Justin tells Lilian to stop worrying about the last touches. Miranda arrives and when Lilian mentions there is coffee on Miranda orders: white no sugar. Lilian is initially taken aback but Miranda isn't troubled, surely it's part of Lilian's job as Justin's social secretary. Miranda likes the Dower House except for "one or two quite bizarre aberrations". Miranda asks Lilian to make note of her requests for the Borchester Food and Drink Awards ceremony.
Pat is unsure about how her police interview went. She was asked about when Helen said she'd kill Rob in front of her and Ursula on Maundy Thursday. Pat calls Anna and discovers she's now a prosecution witness, which means she can no longer talk to Anna or to Helen. Pat feels tricked. Kirsty comes to Bridge Farm and is shocked at Pat's news. Kirsty suggests Tom and Tony can visit Helen tomorrow and she tells Pat just because she can't see Helen doesn't mean she can give up.
The artist Mona Hatoum has a major survey of her work at Tate Modern in London. It includes her early performance works, such as when she walked through Brixton after the race riots barefoot, but with heavy boots tied to her ankles. And her later large installations such as a floor of marbles; beautiful but dangerous to walk on. She describes how the political and personal has always influenced her work.
Alexander Masters' first book Stuart: A Life Backwards, a biography of a homeless man, won prizes before being adapted for television and the stage. As his latest book is published, A Life Discarded - inspired by the discovery in a skip of a 148 volumes of a personal diary - the author discusses the appeal of the overlooked.
Starring Harry Enfield as Prince Charles, The Windsors is a new six-part comedy soap opera that takes a weekly peek behind the curtains of Britain's most famous family. Its creators Bert Tyler-Moore and George Jeffrie discuss the challenges they set themselves.
Charles Dance is the latest Shakespearean to nominate his favourite dramatic character - Coriolanus.
Part of Radio 4’s collaboration with Artangel to commission new works from British contemporary artists.
Ben Rivers is one of two artists who were selected in the Open call for proposals in 2013. The result has been Rivers’ most ambitious and multi-faceted work to date: a feature film (The Sky Trembles And The Earth Is Afraid And The Two Eyes Are Not Brothers), a multimedia installation at BBC Television Centre, a book, and this series of five audio pieces for broadcast on Radio 4.
The work revolves around the stories of the American novelist Paul Bowles and his muse, the renowned Moroccan writer and artist Mohammed Mrabet. Combining documentary and fiction approaches, the strange, poetic and sometimes brutal narratives often centre around the traditional Moroccan culture of smoking Hashish.
Mrabet’s stories were gathered transcribed and translated by Paul Bowles, eventually published in a series of anthologies. Selecting from the collections entitled M’Hashish and Harmless Poisons Blameless Sins, Rivers and sound designer Philippe Ciompi embed the tales in a mosaic of sounds from the dramatic Moroccan landscape.
Doctors, social workers, police officers, midwives, teachers and many others are scrutinised more than ever before. They risk being exposed for making poor decisions, and punished.
But does our widespread intolerance of failure do more harm than good? Are we failing to understand the distinction between systemic failure and individual failure - and drawing the wrong conclusions as a result?
Eliza Manningham-Buller - Director General of MI5 from 2002 to 2007 - talks to an intelligence officer in Britain's Security Service, the former Cabinet Secretary Gus O'Donnell and Sharon Shoesmith who won a claim for unfair dismissal over the Baby P case. She also hears from a frontline social worker, a midwife and the football coach Steve Coppell about working in environments where it seems that someone must always be to blame.
Hers is not an argument against holding people to account - criminal negligence and serious culpability must be exposed, scrutinised and punished - but an attempt to understand how to hold people responsible while avoiding fruitless witch hunts. In other words: how do we learn valuable lessons, without demonising individuals for honest mistakes?
We hear from Linn Berwick in Suffolk about her concerns to do with the rise in the National Living Wage. She's blind and also has cerebral palsy. Although she supports the Living Wage, it means that she has to increase the hourly wage of the people who look after her. She fears it will put her care at risk because she won't be able to afford it. And Peter White gets into a fight with the UK's only blind taekwondo Master. But don't worry: no one was hurt in the making of this programme!
All in the Mind Awards, Elegy, Directors in theatre and film turn to psychologists
We hear the second nomination in this year's All in the Mind Awards - where we asked you to nominate the person or group who has made a difference to your mental health. Last week we heard from the first of the finalists in the groups category. This week we have the first of our individuals.
Neuroscience may be a young science, but discoveries are coming through fast. Will we see a day where everything is known about the brain and where parts of it that have gone wrong can even be replaced with computer chips? This is the premise of a new play called Elegy at the Donmar Warehouse in London. Cognitive neuroscientist Catherine Loveday reviews the play.
Why are theatre and film directors, who have long turned to historians and scientists for help, increasingly embracing psychology? Claudia Hammond talks to University of Berkeley Psychology Professor Dacher Keltner who was invited to advise on the Pixar animation Inside Out and to director Simon McBurney who sought advice about the psychology of time perception in advance of his production Encounter.
We talk to a German MEP who doesn't approve of the deal and to a Turkish expert who's worried about the EU ignoring Turkey's human rights record. We report from the US state of Indiana where a crucial presidential primary is happening tonight. And we talk to a Finnish philosopher about boredom at work.
Claire's job hunt falters as she becomes distracted by family responsibilities and a growing concern about her relationship with Luke.
Lisa Owens' comic novel depicts a life unravelling in minute and spectacular ways - and voicing the questions we've all asked ourselves but never dared to say out loud.
Family arguments in the first in a series of Stephen K Amos' sitcom about his own teenage years, growing up black, gay and funny in 1980s South London.
Sean Curran reports from Westminster as MPs defy the Lords over changes to the Government's housing plans and express concern at the recent upsurge in fighting in the Syrian city of Aleppo.
A Health Minister admits a report on Southern Health NHS Trust made for "disturbing reading" and says the Government has not ruled out the possibility of an inquiry. And peers accept Government concessions and changes to its Trades Union Bill.
WEDNESDAY 04 MAY 2016
WED 00:00 Midnight News (b078w8r7)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
WED 00:30 The Running Hare by John Lewis-Stempel (b079rqqj)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b078w8r9)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b078w8rc)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b078w8rf)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 05:30 News Briefing (b078w8rh)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b07bbv8s)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Rev Dr Stephen Wigley, Chair of the Wales Synod of the Methodist Church.
WED 05:45 Farming Today (b078z5mx)
Slug Invasion, CAP Deadline Extension, Autism Farm School, Pests
Farmers are expecting a slug invasion - but there are questions whether they have enough armoury to fight back, and save their crops.
EU member states will be allowed to extend the deadline for farmers to claim their 2016 CAP subsidy payments from mid-May to mid-June.
A Norwegian farmer has designed a solution which apparently repels the flies that destroys brassica crops without killing them or using chemicals.
Woodside Farm in Leicestershire caters exclusively for children with Autism or who have conditions on the Autistic spectrum.
Presented by Anna Hill and produced by Beatrice Fenton.
WED 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b02twpwl)
Kingfisher
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Steve Backshall presents the kingfisher.
The Ancient Greeks knew the kingfisher as Halcyon and believed that the female built her nest on the waves, calming the seas while she brooded her eggs: hence the expression Halcyon days, which we use now for periods of tranquillity.
Kingfishers can bring in over 100 fish a day to their large broods and the resulting collection of bones and offal produces a stench that doesn't match the bird's attractive appearance.
WED 06:00 Today (b078z5vs)
Morning news and current affairs. Includes Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather and Thought for the Day.
WED 09:00 Midweek (b078z5vv)
Ian Ogilvy, Ella Al-Shamahi, Chris Packham, Ralph McTell
The poet Lemn Sissay meets naturalist and broadcaster Chris Packham; singer and songwriter Ralph McTell; actor and director Ian Ogilvy and paleoanthropologist and stand-up comedian Ella Al-Shamahi.
Ian Ogilvy is an actor who is best known for playing Simon Templar in the 1970s TV series The Return of the Saint. He has also appeared in Upstairs Downstairs, I Claudius and films including No Sex Please, We're British. He has written a series of children's books about his hero, Measle Stubbs, which has been translated into over 20 languages. His autobiography, Once a Saint - An Actor's Memoir, is published by Constable.
Ella Al-Shamahi is a geneticist turned paleoanthropologist who also performs stand-up comedy. She is a Neanderthal expert who specialises in cave digs in hostile environments including the Yemen and Iraq. Her latest project is to set up her own cave excavation in the Yemen to test the theory that early humans left Africa not only via Egypt and then Israel but also via islands or land bridges in the Red Sea. She is a National Geographic 2015 Emerging Explorer.
Chris Packham is a naturalist, filmmaker, writer and photographer, best known as presenter of the children's nature series, The Really Wild Show during the 1980s. He has presented the BBC's Springwatch programme since 2009. His memoir, Fingers In The Sparkle Jar, reflects on being an awkward and unusual child with an intense fascination for wildlife who found solace in the natural world. Fingers In The Sparkle Jar is published by Ebury Press.
Ralph McTell is a singer and songwriter who made his debut in 1968 with the album Eight Frames a Second. In 1974 the release of 'Streets of London' earned him an Ivor Novello Award. He is celebrating 50 years on the road with a special performance at the Royal Albert Hall in which all the songs will be chosen by his fans. Ralph McTell's Loyal Command Performance is at the Royal Albert Hall, London.
Producer: Paula McGinley.
WED 09:45 The Running Hare by John Lewis-Stempel (b079rqtf)
Episode 3
A close up and intimate natural history by John Lewis-Stempel. By taking an abandoned field close to his farm, he observes in minute detail the behaviour of plants, birds and animals that are being displaced by agribusiness. In telling the story of one field, he tells the story of our countryside, our language, our religion and our food. But in transforming one field, he creates a haven for one particular animal close to his heart - the brown hare.
In part three, it is mid-summer. The wheat is golden, but there is the matter of the aggressive bull to manage.
Writer: John Lewis-Stempel
Abridger Barry Johnston
Reader: Bernard Hill
Producer: David Roper
A Heavy Entertainment Production
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2016.
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (b078w8rk)
Celebrating overseas nurses, Radicalised children
Geraldine last saw her 18 year old son in February 2014. A year later she received a text to tell her he was dead. Despite her attempts to stop him, the young Muslim man from Molenbeek in Brussels had gone to Syria. Geraldine speaks to Jenni about coming to terms with losing a son and her work to raise awareness with other parents, and in schools, about radicalisation.
All this week we are highlighting the centenary of the Royal College of Nursing, looking at the role of nurses within the NHS and how it's changed. Today we want to celebrate the role played by nurses from overseas. We hear from Gwen Gutzmore, who came over from the Caribbean in the 1960's to train in the UK, clinical stroke specialist, Ismalia De Sousa, who joined the health service in 2009, and former nurse and Professor of Nursing Policy at Kings College, Anne Marie Rafferty.
Rebecca Asher and Jack Urwin have both written books called 'Man Up' about modern masculinity. They explain why they believe fundamental change would benefit everyone.
WED 10:41 15 Minute Drama (b079yz8d)
Clouds in Trousers
Rain
Katie Hims' drama, inspired by Alexandra Harris' book 'Weatherland', imagines Zoe as a woman growing up weathered - for whom every turn of her life is marked by the weather: rain, snow, a summer heatwave, a thunderstorm, the threat of a flood. All our lives are weather-bound but for Zoe the weather is more than just what goes on behind the scenes.
Young Zoe and Alice: Sydney Wade; Young Shaun: Rhys Gannon; Older Zoe: Patsy Ferran; Older Shaun: David Reed; Juliet: Laura Elphinstone; Jim: Sam Troughton; Zoe's mum: Katy Carmichael; Zoe's dad: Tristan Sturrock. Music by Jon Nicholls. Producer: Tim Dee
WED 10:55 The Listening Project (b078z6f9)
Tracey and Joanne - The Cavalry's Coming
Fi Glover hears about the frightening experience of a psychotic episode, from a woman who suffered from post-partum psychosis and the friend who supported her through it. Another in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.
The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. Most of the unedited conversations are being archived by the British Library and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the millennium. You can learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject
Producer: Marya Burgess.
WED 11:00 For Better or Worse (b078xpfn)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 on Monday]
WED 11:30 Polyoaks (b078z6sd)
Series 4
Losing Patients
Nigel Planer returns in the Health Service satire by Dr Phil Hammond and David Spicer. The Polyoaks surgery is plagued by strikes, endless new management initiatives, staff shortages, militant patients, eight day weeks, privatisation – and all these things are entirely their fault, apparently.
The dysfunctional Bristol surgery run by warring doctors, brothers Roy and Hugh Thornton alternates between embracing and collapsing under reforms. They’re a nurse down, they’ve got to slash their budget and there’s a new Head of the local Clinical Commissioning Group who eats GPs for breakfast.
The practice’s calamitous ‘celebrity’ Dr Jeremy who doesn’t know what a Clinical Commissioning Group is, continues to dodge alimony payments, malpractice suits and the new practice Nurse Monica. Nurse Monica is on exchange from NHS Scotland and is fuelled by a borderline psychotic contempt for patients and colleagues alike.
In this opening episode, the staff of Polyoaks are roped into spearheading a new anti-obesity campaign to save lives, self respect and money.
Roy............................Nigel Planer
Hugh..........................Simon Greenall
Jeremy.......................David Westhead
Monica.......................Polly Frame
Stephanie Simons.......Margaret Cabourn-Smith
Patients.....................Kate O'Sullivan and Duncan Wisbey
Written by Dr Phil Hammond and Mr David Spicer
Director: Frank Stirling
A Unique production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in May 2016.
WED 12:00 News Summary (b078w8rm)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 12:04 Home Front (b076c9v7)
4 May 1916 - Alexander Gidley
On this day in 1916, the papers reported the extension of conscription to include all men between the ages of 18 and 41, and Alexander Gidley continues to face resistance at the quarry.
Written by Shaun McKenna
Directed by Allegra McIlroy
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
Editor: Jessica Dromgoole.
SECRET SHAKESPEARE
A Shakespeare quote is hidden in each Home Front episode that is set in 1916. These were first broadcast in 2016, the 400th anniversary year of the playwright's death. Can you spot them all?
WED 12:15 You and Yours (b078w8rp)
Care in crisis, Late night levy, Mortgages
More than a quarter of care homes in the UK are in danger of going bust within three years. Research commissioned by You & Yours shows that more than 5,000 care homes are at risk of closure because they carry too much debt and don't make enough profit to cover loan repayments. Samantha Fenwick investigates the consequences of such debt on the people who live in these homes and those who care for them.
Late-night levies are now in place around the country - it's a charge to shops, pubs and restaurants that stay open late and is supposed to meet the costs of such opening. A portion goes to policing and some to councils to support street cleaning and the like. But new figures suggest the scheme in Nottingham hasn't been nearly as successful as planned. And businesses argue that it is unfair to make them pay for the actions of customers. Who is right?
Today Barclays is offering a new mortgage without the need for a deposit. It's being hailed as the return of the zero deposit mortgage but it's a lot more complicated than that, though it is the first high street bank to offer a 100% mortgage since the crash. Buyers must have someone willing to put 10% of the price of what they buy into an account with Barclays for three years. Barclays will pay interest on that money. Who is it likely to help?
WED 12:57 Weather (b078w8rr)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 13:00 World at One (b078z6sg)
David Cameron has suggested that Britain could accept more unaccompanied children who've fled the fighting in Syria. But will local councils be willing to accept them?
Can Donald Trump unite the US Republican party?
Should Google be given access to more than one and a half million NHS patient records?
WED 13:45 Shakespeare: Love Across the Racial Divide (b07bgs4z)
The Merchant of Venice
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown explores five Shakespeare plays which cross the racial divide.
In this edition, she focuses on The Merchant of Venice and how Shylock, arguably one of the most renowned outsiders in British theatre, navigates being a Jew in a Christian world, especially when his daughter Jessica elopes with the Christian Lorenzo and converts.
No one has ever captured the joy and lunacy and power of love better than William Shakespeare. And his transgressive depictions of love in particular, remain unsurpassed. Othello, Titus Andronicus, The Merchant of Venice, Antony and Cleopatra and A Midsummer Night's Dream - in these five plays there's so much more to love than love. These are not tidy tragedies.
Shakespeare apparently never left England except through his plays yet he embraced interracial relationships and supernatural relationships and turned them into thrilling, dangerous drama. We bring together scholars, directors and actors to explore how the compulsions and fears, joys and sorrows, very much part of everyday life for many in Britain today, were so brilliantly showcased by Shakespeare more than four hundred years ago.
Producer Mohini Patel.
WED 14:00 The Archers (b078z4hm)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 Drama (b078z9c5)
Julius Caesar
Episode 2
by William Shakespeare
Part Two
The plot against Caesar reaches crisis point as the conspirators gather at the Capitol in Rome.
Directed by Marc Beeby.
WED 15:00 Money Box (b078z9tf)
Money Box Live: Funding Social Care
How can the growing cost of social care be met? Lesley Curwen and guests look at the challenges facing care providers and the repercussions for those who need it. Do we need to redesign the system or should we change our expectations? What do you think? Let us know your views and experiences of arranging or paying for care.
Call 03700 100 444 from
1pm to
3.30pm on Wednesday or e-mail moneybox@bbc.co.uk now. Standard geographic charges from landlines and mobiles will apply.
Presenter: Lesley Curwen
Producer: Diane Richardson + Alex Lewis
Editor: Andrew Smith.
WED 15:30 All in the Mind (b078z5mb)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Tuesday]
WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (b078z9th)
Migrant women, Wedding paradoxes
Migrant women in Britain: Laurie Taylor talks to Linda McDowell, Professor of Human Geography at the University of Oxford and author of a sweeping study of generations of immigrant working women in Britain. From textile mill workers in the 1940s to shopkeepers in the 50s, nannies of the 90s and software developers of today, these first and second generation migrants have been in the vanguard of a social revolution in women's contribution to the economy in the second half of the 20th century. In factories and hospitals, care homes and universities they've played a lasting role in British society, in spite of recurrent discrimination. But what do they have to say about their work and experience?
Also, Julia Carter, Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the Canterbury Christ Church University, considers the reasons why, in an era when weddings have never been more liberated from cultural norms and official control, couples still choose to follow the same assumed traditions.
Producer: Jayne Egerton.
WED 16:30 The Media Show (b078w8rt)
Lord Patten, BBC diversity, Robert Peston
The former Chairman of the BBC Trust, Lord Patten, says that the independence of the BBC is at risk from parts of the government. Lord Patten, also the former Chairman of the Conservative Party, tells The Media Show that the Culture Secretary John Whittingdale is part of a "juvenile ideological fringe who, if given half a chance, will do the BBC real damage." We hear Lord Patten's own proposals for reforming BBC governance while safeguarding its freedom from political interference.
When Robert Peston moved from the BBC to ITV amidst much fanfare, he said it was the chance to front his own politics programme that swung the deal. That programme finally gets under way this Sunday morning. We hear from "Pesto" what to expect and how he's been coping out of the limelight so far.
The BBC has announced new diversity targets for ethnic minorities, women and LGBT people. But why, despite repeated campaigns, has it been so difficult for the BBC to live up to its diversity aspirations? And is the current picture on diversity quite as rosy as the BBC suggests? The BBC's Head of Diversity, Inclusion and Succession, Tunde Ogungbesan has been in the job almost a year. We hear from him and from critic of BBC diversity efforts David Lammy MP.
Presenter: Steve Hewlett.
Producer: Paul Waters.
WED 17:00 PM (b078w8rw)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b078w8ry)
David Cameron says the UK will take in more unaccompanied Syrian refugee children.
WED 18:30 Welcome to Our Village, Please Invade Carefully (b04nv6m8)
Series 2
Testing Times
It's the day after Lucy's 18th birthday, and her parents aren't happy, and not only because she took that bottle of rum from their drinks cabinet. They think she is wasting her life being part of the resistance, so unless she can pass her A Levels they're going to stop her coming to the meetings.
Does it really take a village to raise a child? Or will they make things worse?
Series two of Eddie Robson's sitcom about an alien race that have noticed that those all-at-once invasions of Earth never work out that well. So they've locked the small Buckinghamshire village of Cresdon Green behind an impenetrable force field in order to study human behaviour and decide if Earth is worth invading.
The only inhabitant who seems to be bothered by their new alien overlord is Katrina Lyons, who was only home for the weekend to borrow the money for a deposit for a flat when the force field went up.
So along with Lucy Alexander (the only teenager in the village, willing to rebel against whatever you've got) she forms The Resistance - slightly to the annoyance of her parents Margaret and Richard who wish she wouldn't make so much of a fuss, and much to the annoyance of Field Commander Uljabaan who, alongside his unintelligible minions and The Computer (his hyperintelligent supercomputer), is trying to actually run the invasion.
Katrina Lyons ...... Hattie Morahan
Richard Lyons ...... Peter Davison
Margaret Lyons ...... Jan Francis
Lucy Alexander ...... Hannah Murray
Field Commander Uljabaan ...... Julian Rhind-Tutt
Computer ...... John-Luke Roberts
Carl ...... Don Gilet
Colin ...... Don Gilet
Script-edited by Arthur Mathews
Producer: Ed Morrish.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2014.
WED 19:00 The Archers (b078z9tk)
Anna wants to know how Helen is going to plead. Helen thinks it's best to plead guilty to reduce the length of her maximum possible sentence. She can't bear the idea of being away from Henry for years and years. Anna insists if Helen acted in self-defence she must not plead guilty. Later, Anna explains to Tony that she thinks Rob has affected the way Helen thinks.
David alerts Tom and Johnny to a problem with the pigs: they've all got in together. The long grass must have shorted out the electric fence, says Tom. He has been meaning to strim the grass but he forgot all about it. After the three of them have sorted the pigs, David asks Tom about Open Farm Sunday. Could Tom contribute a cow and calf? David says Brookfield will do all the work and there's no catch. Tom is reluctant at first but then says it sounds great. David goes on to offer to cut Bridge Farm's silage. Tom is grateful and says he in return he'll send over Johnny to help with Brookfield's silaging. David accepts and then finishes off planting cabbages with Johnny so Tom can get lunch before visiting Helen.
Helen can't understand why Pat isn't visiting her. Tom and Tony say Pat's devastated not to be there but hold off telling her Pat is now a witness for the prosecution. Tom and Tony press Helen about how she will plea. Tom impresses that he knows she didn't stab Rob deliberately and she has to plead not-guilty.
WED 19:15 Front Row (b078w8s0)
Howard Brenton, Knight of Cups, Olafur Eliasson, Dorothy Bohm
Howard Brenton discusses his new play Lawrence After Arabia, which examines a little known period of TE Lawrence's life. Back in England, Lawrence wearied by his romanticised public image and disgusted with his country and himself, seeks solace and a place to hide in the home of the Bernard Shaws.
Christian Bale stars as a disillusioned Hollywood writer in the new film Knight Of Cups from director Terence Malick. Film critic Kate Muir reviews.
91-year-old photographer Dorothy Bohm looks back over her 75-year career at her latest exhibition Sixties London. Born in East Prussia before being sent by her father to England to escape the threat of Nazism, she then became co-founder of The Photographer's Gallery and worked alongside some of the greats, from Henri Cartier-Bresson to Bill Brandt and Don McCullin.
Danish artist Olafur Eliasson is most famous for erecting a giant sun in the Tate Modern for his work The Weather Project. He talks about his new book Unspoken Spaces which has collected all his architectural works in public spaces over the past two decades.
Presenter: John Wilson
Producer: Jack Soper.
WED 19:45 Open Art (b079cw8r)
Harmless Poisons, Blameless Sins
Episode 3
Part of Radio 4’s collaboration with Artangel to commission new works from British contemporary artists.
Ben Rivers is one of two artists who were selected in the open call for proposals in 2013. The result has been Rivers’ most ambitious and multi-faceted work to date: a feature film (The Sky Trembles And The Earth Is Afraid And The Two Eyes Are Not Brothers), a multimedia installation at BBC Television Centre, a book, and this series of five audio pieces for broadcast on Radio 4.
The work revolves around the stories of the American novelist Paul Bowles and his muse, the renowned Moroccan writer and artist Mohammed Mrabet. Combining documentary and fiction approaches, the strange, poetic and sometimes brutal narratives often centre around the traditional Moroccan culture of smoking Hashish.
Mrabet’s stories were gathered transcribed and translated by Paul Bowles, eventually published in a series of anthologies. Selecting from the collections entitled M’Hashish and Harmless Poisons Blameless Sins, Rivers and sound designer Philippe Ciompi embed the tales in a mosaic of sounds from the dramatic Moroccan landscape.
Director: Ben Rivers
Sound Designer: Philippe Ciompi
Reader : Youssef Kerkour
Producer: Russell Finch
A Somethin’ Else production for Radio 4
WED 20:00 FutureProofing (b078zcc2)
Crime
Who will be on top in the world of future crime - the cops or the criminals? How will crime change and what can be done to prevent it in future? Presenters Timandra Harkness and Leo Johnson explore how crime and punishment will change in the 21st century.
They discover how crime and technology combine to create a toxic mix of threats and vulnerabilities in the next few decades. As criminals swiftly adopt and adapt emerging technologies to enable them to stay one step ahead of anyone trying to combat crime, the programme examines what kind of crimes this might lead to, and how it might be possible to stop offenders in future. New technology also holds out the prospect of radically different kinds of punishment, as well as significant developments in the understanding of how and why crime happens.
Producer: Jonathan Brunert.
WED 20:45 Why I Changed My Mind (b0787dz1)
Series 2
Prof Edzard Ernst
Dominic Lawson talks to Edzard Ernst, who was once the world's first professor of complementary medicine, about why he abandoned his belief in homeopathy, the reaction his change of mind provoked, and how it led to a dispute with the office of the Prince of Wales.
"Why I Changed My Mind" is a series in which Dominic explores how and why prominent individuals have modified their views on controversial topics.
Producer: Martin Rosenbaum.
WED 21:00 Costing the Earth (b078y4tk)
[Repeat of broadcast at
15:30 on Tuesday]
WED 21:30 Midweek (b078z5vv)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
WED 21:58 Weather (b079rc90)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (b078w8s2)
Trump is the 'last man standing'
The last man standing: Donald Trump will be the Republican party's candidate for the US presidency after his last opponent, John Kasich, pulls out of the race. Two Republicans debate who they should vote for. Also on the programme a Czech minister tells us why his government opposes EU plans to re-distribute asylum seekers around Europe.
(Photo: Donald Trump, Ted Cruz & John Kasich. Credit: AP).
WED 22:45 Not Working by Lisa Owens (b0790q5c)
Episode 3
Claire is at a loss as to how to put things right with her mother, who is refusing to take her calls.
Lisa Owens' comic debut, depicting a life unravelling in minute and spectacular ways.
Read by Emily Bruni.
Abridged by Robin Brooks.
Producer: Kirsteen Cameron.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2016.
WED 23:00 Nurse (b078zcc4)
Series 2
Episode 5
A bittersweet comedy drama about a community mental health nurse created by Paul Whitehouse and David Cummings.
Liz (played by Esther Coles), the community psychiatric nurse of the title makes her rounds to visit "service users" in their homes. Most of those patients are played by comedy chameleon Paul Whitehouse himself – with supporting roles for Rosie Cavaliero, Vilma Hollingbery and Cecilia Noble.
Whitehouse brings us an obese bed-bound mummy's boy, an agoraphobic ex-con, a manic ex-glam rock star, ageing rake Herbert who hoards his house with possessions and memories, a Jewish chatterbox in unrequited love with his Jamaican neighbour, and a long-suffering carer and his Alzheimer's-afflicted mother.
There are new characters too in the guise of a self-proclaimed DJ and a Geordie struggling with his wife's job in the world's oldest profession.
We follow their humorous, sometimes sad and occasionally moving interactions with Liz, whose job is to assess their progress, dispense medication and offer support.
Nurse gives a sympathetic insight into the world of some of society's more marginalised people in a heartfelt and considered way.
Paul Whitehouse
Esther Coles
Margaret Cabourn-Smith
Rosie Cavaliero
Sue Elliott-Nichols
Charlie Higson
Vilma Hollingbery
Jason Maza
Cecilia Noble
Written by David Cummings and Paul Whitehouse, with additional material by Esther Coles.
A Down The Line production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in May 2016.
WED 23:15 Tim Key's Late Night Poetry Programme (b03tt58f)
Series 2
Stag
It's the night before the wedding of Tim Key's guitarist - Tom Basden.
So Tim is presenting the show from an outside broadcast van in Cheam. He's determined to give 'Lord' a stag night he'll never forget. But Lord is not so sure.
Written and presented by Tim Key.
With Tom Basden and Michael Bertenshaw
Producer: James Robinson
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2014.
WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (b078zcc6)
Rachel Byrne reports on a busy day in Parliament for David Cameron, who had bruising exchanges at PMQs, tough questions about the EU and a change of heart on child refugees.
THURSDAY 05 MAY 2016
THU 00:00 Midnight News (b078w8x4)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
THU 00:30 The Running Hare by John Lewis-Stempel (b079rqtf)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b078w8x9)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b078w8xg)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b078w8xm)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 05:30 News Briefing (b078w8xt)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b07bgwk7)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Rev Dr Stephen Wigley, Chair of the Wales Synod of the Methodist Church.
THU 05:45 Farming Today (b078zclg)
Glyphosate on farms, pig antibiotics and Northern Ireland's vegetable growers
As concerns are raised over the safety of the weed-killer glyphosate, we look at its use on UK farms and what alternatives are available. The British pig industry is launching a scheme to monitor and reduce the use of antibiotics in herds. The National Pig Association, which represents farmers, says it wants to look at more vaccination and better bio-security on farms to fight animal viruses and disease. Commercial vegetable growers in Northern Ireland want to band together and form a producers' cooperative. They claim it will give them a stronger voice in their dealings with the big supermarkets. Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Vernon Harwood.
THU 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b0378wz1)
Bullfinch
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Michaela Strachan presents the Bullfinch. The males have rose-pink breasts and black caps and are eye-catching whilst the females are a duller pinkish-grey but share the black cap. Exactly why they're called Bullfinches isn't clear - perhaps it's to do with their rather thickset appearance. 'Budfinch' would be a more accurate name as they are very fond of the buds of trees, especially fruit trees.
THU 06:00 Today (b078zcrp)
Morning news and current affairs. Includes Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather and Thought for the Day.
THU 09:00 In Our Time (b078zcrr)
Tess of the d'Urbervilles
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy, originally serialised in The Graphic in 1891 and, with some significant changes, published as a complete novel in 1892. The book was controversial even before serialisation, rejected by one publisher as too overtly sexual, to which a second added it did not publish 'stories where the plot involves frequent and detailed reference to immoral situations.' Hardy's description of Tess as 'A Pure Woman' in 1892 incensed some Victorian readers. He resented having to censor some of his scenes in the early versions, including references to Tess's baby following her rape by Alec d'Urberville, and even to a scene where Angel Clare lifted four milkmaids over a flooded lane (substituting transportation by wheelbarrow).
The image above, from the 1891 edition, is captioned 'It Was Not Till About Three O'clock That Tess Raised Her Eyes And Gave A Momentary Glance Round. She Felt But Little Surprise At Seeing That Alec D'urberville Had Come Back, And Was Standing Under The Hedge By The Gate'.
With
Dinah Birch
Professor of English Literature and Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Impact at the University of Liverpool
Francis O'Gorman
Professor of Victorian Literature at the University of Leeds
And
Jane Thomas
Reader in Victorian and early Twentieth Century literature at the University of Hull
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
THU 09:45 The Running Hare by John Lewis-Stempel (b079rr28)
Episode 4
A close up and intimate natural history by John Lewis-Stempel. By taking an abandoned field close to his farm, he observes in minute detail the behaviour of plants, birds and animals that are being displaced by agribusiness. In telling the story of one field, he tells the story of our countryside, our language, our religion and our food. But in transforming one field, he creates a haven for one particular animal close to his heart - the brown hare.
Part four brings us to harvest time, but no traditional farmer would dream of using a combine harvester.
Writer: John Lewis-Stempel
Abridger Barry Johnston
Reader: Bernard Hill
Producer: David Roper
A Heavy Entertainment Production
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2016.
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (b078w8y5)
Susan Calman, Dealing with insomnia, Diary of a Hounslow Girl
Comedian Susan Calman discusses her first book 'Cheer Up Love' about how she deals with depression - or in her words, the Crab of Hate.
Kim Cattrall's revelations about insomnia on Woman's Hour led to a big response from listeners. Professor Franco Cappuccio, Head of the Sleep Health & Society Programme at the University of Warwick, discusses dealing with sleeplessness and addresses some of the problems people got in touch about.
Actress and writer Ambreen Razia is a fresh face on London's theatre scene. Having previously starred in BBC Three's 'Murder by my Father,' she's currently starring in her debut play, Diary of a Hounslow Girl, on the challenges of being a Muslim girl living in modern-day Britain.
Continuing our series on nursing to mark the Centenary of the Royal College of Nursing, we ask what happens when nurses need support for physical and emotional problems? Amanda Cheesley, RCN Professional Lead for long term conditions, joins us.
Presenter: Jenni Murray
Producer: Anne Peacock.
THU 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b079z08k)
Clouds in Trousers
Shelter
Katie Hims' drama, inspired by Alexandra Harris' book 'Weatherland', imagines Zoe as a woman growing up weathered - for whom every turn of her life is marked by the weather: rain, snow, a summer heatwave, a thunderstorm, the threat of a flood. All our lives are weather-bound but for Zoe the weather is more than just what goes on behind the scenes.
Young Zoe and Alice: Sydney Wade; Young Shaun: Rhys Gannon; Older Zoe: Patsy Ferran; Older Shaun: David Reed; Juliet: Laura Elphinstone; Jim: Sam Troughton; Zoe's mum: Katy Carmichael; Zoe's dad: Tristan Sturrock. Music by Jon Nicholls. Producer: Tim Dee
THU 11:00 Crossing Continents (b078zcrt)
China's Family Planning Army
Now that China has ended its One Child policy, one group of state employees may soon be out of a job - the country's hated population police. Hundreds of thousands of officers used to hunt down families suspected of violating the country's draconian rules on child bearing, handing out crippling fines, confiscating property and sometimes forcing women to have abortions. But with an eye on improving child welfare in the countryside, there is a plan to redeploy many of these officers as child development specialists. Lucy Ash visits a pilot project in Shaanxi Province training former enforcers to offer advice and support to rural grandparents who are left rearing children while the parents migrate to jobs in the big cities. If successful, the scheme could be rolled out nationwide to redeploy an army of family planning workers and transform the life prospects of millions of rural children.
THU 11:30 Shakespeare In... (b078zd50)
India
Nikki Bedi goes in search of Shakespeare in modern India and finds him remarkably relevant in the world's largest democracy. She finds his work translates everywhere from Bollywood to the slums of Mumbai, where young Indian practitioners are taking the plays and making them relevant and fresh for 21st century Indian society
Producer: Maggie Ayre.
THU 12:00 News Summary (b078w8yb)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 12:04 Home Front (b076c9v9)
5 May 1916 - Cora Gidley
On this day in 1916, the Western Times reported the French were gaining ground at Verdun, while Cora Gidley is on the defensive.
Written by Shaun McKenna
Directed by Allegra McIlroy
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
Editor: Jessica Dromgoole.
SECRET SHAKESPEARE
A Shakespeare quote is hidden in each Home Front episode that is set in 1916. These were first broadcast in 2016, the 400th anniversary year of the playwright's death. Can you spot them all?
THU 12:15 You and Yours (b078w8yh)
The fundraising regulator, Edreams and Opodo
A court action has seen Ryanair accuse Google of profiting from promoted links to the travel providers Edreams and Opodo. The Advertising Standards Authority has found against Edreams in the past for misleading adverts, and Ryanair claims travelers pay unnecessary booking fees in the mistaken belief they're on their official site. Edreams and Google say the adverts have changed - but Kenny Jacobs of Ryanair tells us that customers are still suffering.
And it's one year since the death of 92-year-old Olive Cooke. She had been depressed, and friends said intensive contact from charities had left her upset. The subsequent outcry surrounding her death prompted a major review about how fundraisers are allowed to contact us - and the creation of a whole new regulator. We'll be talking to Bobby Duffy from Ipsos Mori and David Ainsworth from the website Civil Society about a revolution in the charity sector and what lies ahead.
Also we've an update on the massive repair task facing Whirlpool after the discovery of a fault which has caused fires in some tumble dryers. One listener tells us her father has been told he will wait an extra ten months.
And new figures from Esure suggest more people are opting to get a cleaner in - and it's particularly popular among the under 35s. If you're unashamed about your help around the house let us know... youandyours@bbc.co.uk.
THU 12:57 Weather (b078w8yp)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 13:00 World at One (b078zd52)
Analysis of news and current affairs.
THU 13:45 Shakespeare: Love Across the Racial Divide (b07bgwst)
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown explores five Shakespeare plays which cross the racial divide. In this edition, she focuses on love in the human and fairy worlds in A Midsummer Night's Dream.
No one has ever captured the joy and lunacy and power of love better than William Shakespeare. And his transgressive depictions of love in particular remain unsurpassed. Othello, Titus Andronicus, The Merchant of Venice, Anthony and Cleopatra and A Midsummer Night's Dream - in these five plays there's so much more to love than love. These are not tidy tragedies. Shakespeare apparently never left England except through his plays yet he embraced interracial relationships and relationships supernatural relationships into thrilling, dangerous drama.
We bring together scholars, directors and actors to explore how the compulsions and fears, joys and sorrows, very much part of everyday life for many in Britain today, were so consummately showcased by Shakespeare more than four hundred years ago.
Producer Mohini Patel.
THU 14:00 The Archers (b078z9tk)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 Drama (b078zdcp)
Julius Caesar
Episode 3
by William Shakespeare
Part Three
Following the assassination of Caesar, Brutus and Cassius are forced to leave Rome. But the combined forces of Mark Antony and Octavius are hot on their heels.
Directed by Marc Beeby.
THU 15:00 Open Country (b078zdcr)
Tennyson's Lincolnshire
Helen Mark explores the Lincolnshire Wolds through the poetry of Victorian Laureate, Alfred, Lord Tennyson.
The Lincolnshire Wolds are a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, remote and in some ways little-changed since Tennyson was born here, in the village of Somersby, in 1809.
Helen meets dialect speakers, like Tennyson, whose 'first language was Lincolnshire'. She'll find out how he might have described the landscape and how it appears in some of his dialect poems. She meets some rare farm animals that would have been familiar to him and visits a rookery he describes in his famous poem 'Maud'. We'll hear direct descendants of those very rooks!
Producer: Mary Ward-Lowery.
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (b078wl26)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 Bookclub (b078wqz0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Sunday]
THU 16:00 The Film Programme (b078w8z5)
Stephen Frears, Women in westerns, Angela Pleasence
With Francine Stock
Director Stephen Frears and writer Nicholas Martin discuss Florence Foster Jenkins, their bio-pic of the New York socialite and would-be singer whose voice made grown men weep, mostly with laughter.
Actor Angela Pleasence talks about the making of Symptoms, her psychological thriller that was nominated for the Palme D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1974 and disappeared from view a year later, only to re-emerge in 2014.
From Johnny Guitar to Jane Got A Gun, The Film Programme presents a short history of women in westerns, with our guides Rosalynn Try-Hane and Larushka Ivan-Zadeh.
THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (b078w8z7)
Human embryos, Transit of Mercury, Fishackathon, Fat labradors
In a major advance in the field of embryology, scientists this week have kept human embryos alive in petri dishes for record amounts of time. The legal limit for keeping fertilised human embryos in the lab is 14 days, a cut-off point set in 1979. Back then, scientists were able to keep embryos alive for only a few days, meaning the limit was only a theoretical one.
Advances mean that this week, in 2 papers, researchers have reached that limit.
Professor Ali Brivanlou, Robert and Harriet Heilbrunn Professor of Stem Cell biology and molecular embryology at Rockefeller University is lead author on one of the papers, and Professor Bobbie Farsides is a clinical and biomedical ethicist at Brighton and Sussex Medical School. They join Adam to discuss the next steps for embryology. Should this limit curtail research?
Next Monday is the transit of Mercury. 13 times a century, Mercury passes directly between us and the Sun, and creates a pinprick shadow, a pixel of black for about 8 hours. This strange planet has no atmosphere, but a lot explosive volcanic activity. It has an eccentric orbit - meaning its distance from the sun fluctuates wildly. A Mercury year is 88 Earth days, but a Mercury day lasts almost two mercury years.
David Rothery is a professor of Planetary Sciences at the Open University. He reveals how scientists study this planet and explains how, and how not to view the transit of Mercury.
Overfishing is one of the biggest threats to the health of our oceans. According to the UN, up to a third of the world's fisheries are overexploited or depleted. It is a huge complex problem with many inputs and outputs to compute. So who better to tackle it than a team of hackers? Recently, coders around the globe gathered to take on the challenge, in a 48-hour Fishackathon. Reporter Anand Jagatia went along and reports back to Adam
Most dog lovers will know that Labradors are particularly keen to eat anything, all the time, at any time. As a result, some are a bit corpulent, even obese. The cause is likely to be in their genes. A new study in the current issue of Cell Metabolism has identified that genetic basis for the perpetual hunger. Eleanor Raffan from Cambridge University, geneticist and vet, led the study. She explains to Adam how she gathered a cohort of dogs.
THU 17:00 PM (b078w8z9)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b078w8zc)
Fresh talks to resolve the dispute have been plannned after the Government agreed to a brief delay in plans to impose new contracts.
THU 18:30 Don't Start (b06vnmy9)
Series 3
Medical
What do long term partners really argue about? The third series of Frank Skinner's sharp comedy. Starring Frank Skinner and Katherine Parkinson.
In this episode, Kim is not happy when a theoretical debate about her demise reveals Neil's yearning for an accordion.
The first and second series of Don't Start met with instant critical and audience acclaim:
"That he can deliver such a heavy premise for a series with such a lightness of touch is testament to his skills as a writer and, given that the protagonists are both bookworms, he's also permitted to use a flourish of fine words that would be lost in his stand-up routines." Jane Anderson, Radio Times
"Frank Skinner gives full rein to his sharp but splenetic comedy. He and his co-star Katherine Parkinson play a bickering couple exchanging acerbic ripostes in a cruelly precise dissection of a relationship." Daily Mail
"...a lesson in relationship ping-pong..." Miranda Sawyer, The Observer
Don't Start is a scripted comedy with a deceptively simple premise - an argument. Each week, our couple fall out over another apparently trivial flashpoint. Each week, the stakes mount as Neil and Kim battle with words. But these are no ordinary arguments. The two outdo each other with increasingly absurd images, unexpected literary references and razor sharp analysis of their beloved's weaknesses. Underneath the cutting wit, however, there is an unmistakable tenderness.
An Avalon production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 18:45 The Pin (b06kgbgd)
Series 1
Episode 2
Join Alex and Ben in their weird twist on the double-act sketch show.
Strap in for a 15 minute delve in to a world of oddness performed in front of a live studio audience.
The Pin are an award-winning comedy duo, and legends of Edinburgh festival. They deconstruct the sketch form, in a show that exists somewhere between razor-sharp smartness and utterly joyous silliness.
After a sold-out run in Edinburgh, and a string of hilarious performances across BBC Radio 4 Extra, BBC 3, Channel 4, and Comedy Central, this is The Pin's debut solo show. Join them as they celebrate, make, collapse and rebuild their jokes, each other, and probably the radio too.
For fans of Adam and Joe, Vic and Bob, and Fist of Fun - a show of absurd offerings from two loveable idiots.
Producer: Sam Bryant.
First broadcast in Radio 4 in October 2015.
THU 19:00 The Archers (b078zdl2)
It's the day of Helen's pre-trial plea hearing at Felpersham Crown Court. Tom, Pat and Tony wait nervously for proceedings to start. Anna arrives and Pat has to leave for her to talk to Tom and Tony. She tells them the Judge is Sheila Ross. Anna goes to find Helen to find out how she's going to plea. Anna has prepared two statements and asks Helen to choose which one to go with.
Pat, Tony and Tom and surprised to see how busy the court room is. They see Helen come into the dock, she looks fragile and bewildered. Helen confirms her identity and then she's asked what is her plea to attempted murder, she answers not guilty. Next, is Helen's plea to wounding with intent: not guilty. Helen's family are relieved. The dates of the trial are set. Helen is denied bail. Pat and Helen call to one another as Helen is taken down.
Pat is distraught at the bail refusal. Anna apologises to Tom about bail decision which can't be appealed. Their conversation is interrupted by Anna's phone ringing. Anna answers it and relays to Tom that a doctor has been called for Helen.
THU 19:15 Front Row (b078w8zh)
Ewan McGregor, Upstart Crow, Katie Paterson, Frankenstein ballet
Ewan McGregor stars in Our Kind of Traitor, based on a John Le Carré novel. The plot follows a couple on holiday in Marrakech who strike up a friendship with a Russian man who turns out to be a mafia kingpin. Ewan McGregor describes how the author visited the set and gave his blessing to play his character as a Scot.
Upstart Crow sees the comedic quill of Blackadder writer Ben Elton return to the Elizabethan era. Starring David Mitchell this new BBC comedy follows William Shakespeare as he tries in vain to write some of his most famous works. Natalie Haynes reviews.
Artist Katie Paterson is busy right now with work showing at The Lowry and Somerset House, and a new public artwork called Hollow, made from 10,000 tree samples from across the world, about to be unveiled at the University of Bristol. She discusses her fascination with capturing time, distance, and space.
Liam Scarlett is Artist in Residence at The Royal Ballet, and his latest work is a brand new ballet based on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. He discusses what drew him to the gothic novel, and reveals how he choreographed such a complex emotional story to a brand new score by Lowell Liebermann.
Presenter: Kirsty Lang
Producer: Angie Nehring.
THU 19:45 Open Art (b079cw8t)
Harmless Poisons, Blameless Sins
Episode 4
Part of Radio 4’s collaboration with Artangel to commission new works from British contemporary artists.
Ben Rivers is one of two artists who were selected in the Open call for proposals in 2013. The result has been Rivers’ most ambitious and multi-faceted work to date: a feature film (The Sky Trembles And The Earth Is Afraid And The Two Eyes Are Not Brothers), a multimedia installation at BBC Television Centre, a book, and this series of five audio pieces for broadcast on Radio 4.
The work revolves around the stories of the American novelist Paul Bowles and his muse, the renowned Moroccan writer and artist Mohammed Mrabet. Combining documentary and fiction approaches, the strange, poetic and sometimes brutal narratives often centre around the traditional Moroccan culture of smoking Hashish.
Mrabet’s stories were gathered transcribed and translated by Paul Bowles, eventually published in a series of anthologies. Selecting from the collections entitled M’Hashish and Harmless Poisons Blameless Sins, Rivers and sound designer Philippe Ciompi embed the tales in a mosaic of sounds from the dramatic Moroccan landscape.
Director: Ben Rivers
Sound Designer: Philippe Ciompi
Reader : Youssef Kerkour
Producer: Russell Finch
A Somethin’ Else production for Radio 4
THU 20:00 A Celebration for Ascension Day (b078zdls)
"Since I am coming to that Holy roome, Where, with thy Quire of Saints for evermore, I shall be made thy Musique" (John Donne).
To mark the day on which Christians celebrate Jesus' Ascension into Heaven the Reverend Dr. Sam Wells leads a Eucharist live from St Martin-in-the-Fields in London. Preacher, the Right Reverend James Jones, reflects on times when Heaven and Earth meet. Whether in the celebration of Holy Communion or in the creativity of music such as tonight's broadcast premier of Will Todd's brand new Jazz Missa Brevis, Christians believe our human existence is touched by the Divine in a multitude of ways. Favourite Ascension-tide hymns alongside music by Will Todd and John Rutter are performed by the Daily Service Singers and St. Martin's Voices, with the Will Todd Ensemble directed by Andrew Earis. Producer: Katharine Longworth.
THU 21:02 BBC Inside Science (b078w8z7)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 today]
THU 21:30 In Our Time (b078zcrr)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
THU 21:58 Weather (b07cbx7j)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (b078w8zx)
Economic and Political Crisis in Venezuela
Paul Moss reports live from Caracas
International anger over Russian concert in the historical Syrian city of Palmyra
Will Zimbabwe's currency collapse hasten the end of Mugabe's reign ?
And Jamie Coomarasamy talks to punk legend Linda Ramone.
THU 22:45 Not Working by Lisa Owens (b0790qc5)
Episode 4
Claire's mother is still not speaking to her, despite her father's best efforts to bring the two together.
Lisa Owens' comic debut, depicting thirtysomething Claire Flannery's life as it unravels in minute and spectacular ways.
Read by Emily Bruni.
Abridged by Robin Brooks.
Producer: Kirsteen Cameron.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2016.
THU 23:00 52 First Impressions with David Quantick (b078zdq7)
Series 2
Episode 1
Journalist and comedy writer David Quantick has met and interviewed hundreds of people – what were his first impressions, how have they changed and does it all matter?
This week, stories about Mark E Smith, The Velvet Underground and being the back end of a pantomime horse - amongst others.
Written and Presented by David Quantick
Producer: Steve Doherty
A Giddy Goat production for BBC Radio 4
THU 23:30 Today in Parliament (b078zdnz)
Sean Curran reports from Westminster as plans for a new contract for junior doctors in England are put on hold for five days, after the Government agrees to fresh talks about ending the dispute. Also in the programme: the treatment of interpreters who worked with the British Army in Afghanistan has been described as "shameful" by Peers who raised reports that a former interpreter killed himself while facing deportation from the UK. And MPs discuss the advantages and disadvantages of EU membership for British farmers. Editor: Rachel Byrne.
FRIDAY 06 MAY 2016
FRI 00:00 Election 2016 (b079cpqz)
Comprehensive coverage of the various elections taking place across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b07bm22s)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Rev Dr Stephen Wigley, Chair of the Wales Synod of the Methodist Church.
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (b0790j7v)
Milk prices, Dairy conference, Genetically modified insects, Virtual reality farming
The price farmers receive for milk has fallen once again, Farming Today attends an international dairy conference. The use of genetically modified insects in controlling plant pests. And how to visit a farm using the latest virtual reality technology.
Presented by Charlotte Smith
Produced by Alun Beach.
FRI 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b01sby0q)
Garden Warbler
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. David Attenborough presents the Garden Warbler. Garden warblers aren't very well named .these are birds which like overgrown thickets of shrubs and small trees and so you're more likely to find them in woodland clearings especially in newly- coppiced areas.
FRI 06:00 Today (b07907r2)
Morning news and current affairs. Includes Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather and Thought for the Day.
FRI 09:00 The Reunion (b078wm2m)
Pinochet
Sue MacGregor reunites five people involved in the campaign to bring Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet to trial for human rights abuses.
For nearly two decades, General Augusto Pinochet repressed and reshaped Chile. He seized power on September 11th 1973, in a bloody military coup that toppled the Marxist government of President Salvador. He then led the county into an era of robust economic growth, transforming a bankrupt economy into the most prosperous in Latin America. During his rule, however, more than 3,200 people were executed or disappeared, and thousands more were detained, tortured or exiled. Pinochet's name became synonymous with human rights abuses and corruption.
He gave up the presidency in 1990 but held onto the post of commander in chief. Then, in October 1998, in an extraordinary turn of events he was detained in London on a warrant from Spain requesting his extradition on murder charges. It was the first time a former head of state had been arrested based on the principle of universal jurisdiction. The then-British Home Secretary Jack Straw ordered his release on health grounds in 2000, after a controversial medical test stated that Pinochet was not fit to appear before a court, and he returned to Chile a free man that same year.
Joining Sue around the table to look back on Pinochet's arrest and the landmark case that followed are Juan Garces, a former aide to Salvador Allende; the former Home Secretary Jack Straw; and Chilean Judge Juan Guzman, who was personally transformed by the experience of descending into what he called the "abyss" of investigating crimes committed by Pinochet.
Producer: Emily Williams
Series Producer: David Prest
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 09:45 The Running Hare by John Lewis-Stempel (b079rrbb)
Episode 5
A close up and intimate natural history by John Lewis-Stempel. By taking an abandoned field close to his farm, he observes in minute detail the behaviour of plants, birds and animals that are being displaced by agribusiness. In telling the story of one field, he tells the story of our countryside, our language, our religion and our food. But in transforming one field, he creates a haven for one particular animal close to his heart - the brown hare.
The final episode brings mixed emotions - the field awaits a new use and a new owner.
Writer: John Lewis-Stempel
Abridger Barry Johnston
Reader: Bernard Hill
Producer: David Roper
A Heavy Entertainment Production
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2016.
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (b078w92x)
Elegy, Surrogacy law, Super Thursday, Nursing
Elegy, a new play at the Donmar Warehouse questions scientific progress and the nature of love. Two women meet and marry later in life. One is gradually undone by a degenerative neurological condition. Actors Zoe Wanamaker, Barbara Flynn and Nina Sosanya talk to Jenni.
Three generations of nurses in one family - Ivy Cooper-Barlow, 92, retired. Sarah Wheatland, 52, Divisional Nurse for the Emergency and Integrated Care department of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, London. Annabel Wheatland, 29, Paediatric Site Practitioner at the Portland Hospital - discuss changes in nursing since the war.
How does surrogacy happen in the UK today, and does the law need to change? Surrogates and parents share their experiences. Baroness Warnock, whose 1982 enquiry formed the basis for today's laws, tells us how her view has changed.
The newly formed Women's Equality Party has faced its first test at the ballot box. Party leader Sophie Walker discusses its impact and the wider picture of May 5 election results with Heather Stewart, joint political editor of The Guardian.
FRI 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b079z11v)
Clouds in Trousers
Flood
Katie Hims' drama, inspired by Alexandra Harris' book 'Weatherland', imagines Zoe as a woman growing up weathered - for whom every turn of her life is marked by the weather: rain, snow, a summer heatwave, a thunderstorm, the threat of a flood. All our lives are weather-bound but for Zoe the weather is more than just what goes on behind the scenes.
Young Zoe and Alice: Sydney Wade; Young Shaun: Rhys Gannon; Older Zoe: Patsy Ferran; Older Shaun: David Reed; Juliet: Laura Elphinstone; Jim: Sam Troughton; Zoe's mum: Katy Carmichael; Zoe's dad: Tristan Sturrock. Music by Jon Nicholls. Producer: Tim Dee
FRI 11:00 The Anglo-Irish Century (b0790867)
The Irish Exodus
Although the ambitions and progress of politicians and diplomats has been vital to the developing story of Anglo-Irish relations over the last century, in his third programme in the series covering the last hundred years, Diarmaid Ferriter turns his focus to the ordinary Irishmen and women who forged often unbreakable links with Britain by the simple expedient of moving there. The scale of Irish immigration, the lives those immigrants lead and the wealth they sent back to the now independent Republic are central to the post war period.
It was also an era that saw a changing of the guard in Ireland as de Valera gave way to the very different leadership of the Taoiseach Sean Lemass. Lemass also changed the language of his Republican colleagues, referring to Northern Ireland for the first time and, in the 1960s forging links with the Northern Ireland Prime Minister Terence O'Neill.
The impact of that shift, the restlessness of the Catholic population in the north over civil rights and of the Loyalists over what they perceived as a threat to the status quo saw the situation deteriorate rapidly.
Diarmaid debates the impact of the 50th anniversary celebrations of the Easter Rising on all sides in what was to become a violent sectarian conflict.
Roy Hattersley, the man who called the troops in to keep the peace in 1969, Martin McGuinness and Lord Trimble describe the inexorable slide into conflict and the breakdown of trust between Dublin and Westminster which reached a peak with the events of Bloody Sunday and the fallout thereafter as the then Taoiseach Jack Lynch and Prime Minister Edward Heath argued on the phone and the British Embassy in Dublin was set aflame.
Producer: Tom Alban.
FRI 11:30 Barry's Lunch Club (b07908hv)
Dating for the over 60s
82 year old Barry offers advice about dating for the older generation. To his amazement, Hilary is happy to discuss her recent experience in the field.
Barry invites an audience to his weekly lunch club where he scrutinises themes close to his heart. With club secretary Hilary to rein him in, and club treasurer Peter providing support on the civic hall piano, this is the ultimate life-style guide for an ageing nation.
Barry is a cockney moved to the suburbs during the war. He is not given to looking at the old days through rose coloured spectacles, and is well up to speed with current trends. A seemingly harmless old boy, he lures people into a false sense of security, delivering hilariously stinging rebukes or erudite assessments of how the world is treating the over 60s.
Stand-up comedy crossed with sitcom, the show plays out in real time as if we are eavesdropping on a civic hall meeting group.
Written by Alex Lowe and Alex Walsh-Taylor.
Barry ...... Alex Lowe
Hilary ...... Stephanie Cole
Peter ...... Philip Pope
Producer: Alex Walsh-Taylor
Executive Producer: Kevin Dawson
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in May 2016.
FRI 12:00 News Summary (b078w92z)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 12:04 Home Front (b076c9vc)
6 May 1916 - Johnnie Marshall
On this day in 1916, two conscientious objectors were arrested in Newton Abbot, and Johnnie Marshall is in pursuit of information.
Written by Shaun McKenna
Directed by Allegra McIlroy
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
Editor: Jessica Dromgoole.
SECRET SHAKESPEARE
A Shakespeare quote is hidden in each Home Front episode that is set in 1916. These were first broadcast in 2016, the 400th anniversary year of the playwright's death. Can you spot them all?
FRI 12:15 You and Yours (b078w931)
Ikea Sell Solar Panels
A debate in the House of Lords this week has resulted in a call for the Government to resume talking to charities about the fairness of changes to PIPs - the personal independence payment. Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Thomas of Winchester who initiated the debate joins us on the programme.
Door-to-Door Fundraising is suffering after a year of bad publicity for charities.
Donors recruited by door knocking have fallen 15% on last year, according to the Public Fundraising Association. That's the membership body for charities and agencies who approach people on the street. Peter Hills-Jones is the Chief Executive of the Public Fundraising Association.
Are you off to the USA anytime soon? Well check your passport. Just because it is still valid, it may NOT be good enough for the US immigration people and you may get stuck at the UK airport you are flying from. We hear from someone whose family holiday to America was ruined due to new rules and Frank Barratt, Travel Editor for the Daily Mail.
IKEA is selling solar panels again at its British stores. They'll join tea lights and spider plants, despite huge government cuts to solar subsidies for homeowners. Ikea's new foray with energy company Solar Century marks its second attempt to sell solar panels. Who will buy them this time?
And, a shortage of curry chefs. Melanie Abbott hears from the winners and losers.
Presenter: Peter White
Producer: Helen Roberts.
FRI 12:57 Weather (b078w933)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 13:00 World at One (b0790c3y)
Analysis of news and current affairs.
FRI 13:45 Shakespeare: Love Across the Racial Divide (b07bkcxm)
Antony and Cleopatra
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown explores five Shakespeare plays which cross the racial divide. In this edition, she focuses on the relationship between Antony and Cleopatra. Power is one of Cleopatra's most dominant character traits and the main theme of the play. She represents the lure of the East. In the Queen of Egypt, who oscillates between being a astute political leader and a manipulative seductress, Shakespeare has penned perhaps his most complex and most dazzling of female characters.
No one has ever captured the joy and lunacy and power of love better than William Shakespeare. And his transgressive depictions of love in particular, remain unsurpassed. Othello, Titus Andronicus, The Merchant of Venice, Antony and Cleopatra and A Midsummer Night's Dream - in these five plays there's so much more to love than love. These are not tidy tragedies. Shakespeare apparently never left England except through his plays yet he embraced interracial relationships and relationships supernatural relationships into thrilling, dangerous drama. We bring together scholars, directors and actors to explore how the compulsions and fears, joys and sorrows, very much part of everyday life for many in Britain today, were so consummately showcased by Shakespeare more than four hundred years ago.
Producer Mohini Patel.
FRI 14:00 The Archers (b078zdl2)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Drama (b0790c4q)
The Rage
Clare Lizzimore's stylish rapid-fire drama takes us inside the head of Anthony: a boy full of rage.
But Anthony's rage is ruining his life. Now he's running from his past, starting again in a new place. But he's losing it at school. He's frightening his girlfriend.
Anger is what happens to us when we lose control of our lives. But is the anger inside him really Anthony's fault? Will it overtake him again? Will he do something even worse?
Or is today the day, when Anthony outruns what's inside him?
Clare Lizzimore is a writer and an Olivier Award winning director, whose production of 'Bull' by Mike Bartlett won 'Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre' at the Olivier Awards 2015. Clare has been resident director at the Citizens Theatre, Glasgow; staff director at the Royal National Theatre, and she is currently an Associate Director at Hampstead Theatre. As a director, her credits include 'One Day When We Were Young' by Nick Payne as part of the Paines Plough Roundabout Season, and 'Lay Down Your Cross' by Nick Payne at Hampstead Theatre. At the Royal Court, she directed 'Faces in the Crowd' by Leo Butler in 2008, and has worked extensively with the International department.
Clare's own plays include 'Mint' at the Royal Court, 'My Big Fat Fishy F***ing Epiphany' for the National Theatre Studio, and 'Missing In Action' for Radio 4.
Produced and directed by Jonquil Panting.
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b0790c4s)
East Cornwall
Eric Robson hosts the horticultural panel programme from East Cornwall. James Wong, Anne Swithinbank and Matt Biggs provide answers to questions on creating mini Japanese gardens, early-blooming Azaleas, and how to construct a child-friendly maze in your garden.
They also advise on how to beat blight and the best ways to deter pigeons from interfering with your crops.
Produced by Darby Dorras
Assistant producer: Laurence Bassett
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 15:45 Keeping Watch by David Park (b0790c4v)
Surveillance work is always difficult but for one dutiful cop it is too important an operation to put anything at risk.
Read by Ciarán McMenamin.
Writer David Park's previous books include The Big Snow, Swallowing the Sun, The Truth Commissioner, The Light of Amsterdam, The Poets' Wives and Gods and Angels.
He's won the Authors' Club First Novel Award, the Bass Ireland Arts Award for Literature, the Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize, the American Ireland Fund Literary Award and the University of Ulster's McCrea Literary Award, three times. The Truth Commissioner was made into a feature film starring Roger Allam.
Producer: Gemma McMullan
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2016.
FRI 16:00 Last Word (b078w935)
Reverend Daniel Berrigan, Lord Walton of Detchant, Jenny Diski, Guy Woolfenden
Matthew Bannister on
The Reverend Daniel Berrigan, the American Catholic priest who devoted his life to campaigning for peace. He was arrested many times for protests against the Vietnam War and nuclear weapons.
Jenny Diski who wrote celebrated novels, essays including her travelogue Skating to Antarctica and her latest memoir In Gratitude.
Lord Walton, the eminent neurologist who wrote an influential paper on muscle diseases.
And Guy Woolfenden, long serving musical director at the Royal Shakespeare Company. Sir Trevor Nunn pays tribute.
FRI 16:30 More or Less (b0790cgp)
The Most Profitable Product in History
What is the world's most profitable product?
Recently one of our listeners contacted us to say he heard a BBC correspondent describe the iPhone as the most profitable product in history. It was just an off-the-cuff comment but it got us thinking - could it be true? We asked listeners to get in touch with their suggestions. We take a look at a handful of them, from Viagra to popcorn in our quest for an answer. Could it be something more historical?
EU and trade
We take a look at the numbers on trade and at the UK's relationship with the EU. Tim Harford interviews Chad P. Bown, a Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
Leicester City's Premier League success
At the beginning of the football season we explored the fallibility of predictions from experts and fans. As the season is ending, that is the only prediction we made correctly - that they are usually very wrong. Leicester City has had an astonishing success in winning the English Premier League. We take a look at the numbers behind the team's performance.
Sexist Data Crisis
Are countries around the world failing to collect adequate details about their female citizens? Campaigners have argued we are missing data in areas that would help us understand women's lives better, for example land and inheritance rights. We also explore how women's work can be overlooked from labour surveys.
FRI 16:55 The Listening Project (b0790dm6)
Tracey and Joanne - Just a Numbness
Fi Glover introduces a conversation between friends, one of whom supported the other through a psychotic episode, about the devastating depression that followed her treatment. Another conversation in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.
The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. Most of the unedited conversations are being archived by the British Library and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the millennium. You can learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject
Producer: Marya Burgess.
FRI 17:00 PM (b078w937)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b078w939)
Shadow cabinet member says voters don't see Labour as credible under Corbyn's leadership
FRI 18:30 The News Quiz (b0790dm8)
Series 90
Episode 4
Jeremy Hardy, Holly Walsh, Sarah Kendall and Michael Deacon join Miles Jupp for another episode of the long-running satirical quiz of the week's news.
Producer: Richard Morris
A BBC Radio Comedy Production.
FRI 19:00 The Archers (b0790f4v)
Eddie fixes a variable cowl to Lynda's shepherd's hut. He recounts how upset the Bridge Farm Archers were when they returned from court and that Helen was called a doctor because she looked like she was going to pass out. Lynda recognises her chimney trouble is trivial in comparison. Eddie asks Lynda if she has any more jobs that need doing as things are a bit tight for him at the moment. Lynda says she does need some paving near the hut and a path to the Resurgam stone. When Eddie asks for money for materials, Lynda says they'll go to the builder's yard together and she'll pay directly.
Justin apologies to Lilian for Miranda giving her orders earlier in the week. He says Miranda has more patience with horses than people. Over lunch Justin tells Lilian about Eddie's attempt to sell him and Miranda items from the Horrobin box Lilian had offloaded on him. Lilian asks if Miranda will be in Ambridge more now she has seen the Dower House. Justin says she has her own horses stabled in London where she also has a very busy social life so, it looks like he'll be in Ambridge on his own most of the time.
Kirsty finds an exhausted Tom trying to fix a water trough. She insists he takes a break, he needs to pace himself. Kirsty tells him Helen's bail refusal is in the past and what matters now is to stay strong for Helen to help her get her future back.
FRI 19:15 Front Row (b078w93c)
Tom Hiddleston, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Andrey Kurkov
Tom Hiddleston talks to Kirsty Lang about his new role as country singer Hank Williams in the biopic I Saw The Light.
Susannah Clapp reviews A Midsummer Night's Dream, Emma Rice's first production as Artistic Director of Shakespeare's Globe.
Ukrainian writer Andrey Kurkov, best known for his cult novel Death and the Penguin, talks about his new book The Bickford Fuse.
And English Heritage celebrates the 150th anniversary of Blue Plaques.
FRI 19:45 Open Art (b079cw8w)
Harmless Poisons, Blameless Sins
Episode 5
Part of Radio 4’s collaboration with Artangel to commission new works from British contemporary artists.
Ben Rivers is one of two artists who were selected in the Open call for proposals in 2013. The result has been Rivers’ most ambitious and multi-faceted work to date: a feature film (The Sky Trembles And The Earth Is Afraid And The Two Eyes Are Not Brothers), a multimedia installation at BBC Television Centre, a book, and this series of five audio pieces for broadcast on Radio 4.
The work revolves around the stories of the American novelist Paul Bowles and his muse, the renowned Moroccan writer and artist Mohammed Mrabet. Combining documentary and fiction approaches, the strange, poetic and sometimes brutal narratives often centre around the traditional Moroccan culture of smoking Hashish.
Mrabet’s stories were gathered transcribed and translated by Paul Bowles, eventually published in a series of anthologies. Selecting from the collections entitled M’Hashish and Harmless Poisons Blameless Sins, Rivers and sound designer Philippe Ciompi embed the tales in a mosaic of sounds from the dramatic Moroccan landscape.
Director: Ben Rivers
Sound Designer: Philippe Ciompi
Reader : Youssef Kerkour
Producer: Russell Finch
A Somethin’ Else production for Radio 4
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (b0790frw)
Diane Abbott MP, Ken Clarke MP, Tom Harris, Gerard Lyons
Ritula Shah presents political debate the Radio Theatre at Broadcasting House in London with the Shadow Secretary of State for International Development, Diane Abbott MP, former Chancellor Ken Clarke MP, the director of Scottish Leave and Daily Telegraph Columnist Tom Harris and the economist Gerard Lyons. Topics include election results, anti semitism/islamaphobia in politics? U turn on academisation programme, EU Referendum and Donald Trump.
FRI 20:50 A Point of View (b0790fry)
Florence Under Water
50 years after one of the worst floods in Florence's history, Sarah Dunant reflects on the events of 1966 and the work still going on to save some of the greatest art in the world.
She talks to some of those who were there about their memories of the human and cultural catastrophe.
Producer: Adele Armstrong.
FRI 21:00 Home Front - Omnibus (b076cb26)
2-6 May 1916
In the week, in 1916, when cheers met the announcement in Parliament that three Irish rebel leaders had been executed, it's a week of collisions in Ashburton.
Written by Shaun McKenna
Directed by Allegra McIlroy
Editor: Jessica Dromgoole
Story-led by Richard Monks
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
Composer: Matthew Strachan
Consultant Historian: Maggie Andrews.
FRI 21:58 Weather (b078w93f)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (b078w93h)
Sadiq Khan elected Mayor of London
As Labour claims the London mayoral race for Sadiq Khan senior Conservative figures have questioned Zac Goldsmith's tactics. Also why has the Turkish President refused to change anti-terror laws as agreed with the EU? And Paul Henley goes in search of perhaps the world's most enigmatic writer Elena Ferrante.
Picture: Sadiq Khan. Credit: AFP/Getty Images.
FRI 22:45 Not Working by Lisa Owens (b0790qlv)
Episode 5
No closer to finding her true vocation, Claire spends a weekend with Luke and his parents. What could go wrong?
Lisa Owens' comic debut, depicting thirtysomething Claire Flannery's life as it unravels in minute and spectacular ways.
Read by Emily Bruni.
Abridged by Robin Brooks.
Producer: Kirsteen Cameron.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2016
FRI 23:00 Great Lives (b078y4tv)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 on Tuesday]
FRI 23:30 Today in Parliament (b0790m2s)
Mark D'Arcy reports from Westminster.
FRI 23:55 The Listening Project (b0790m2v)
Tracey and Joanne - There But for the Grace of God
Fi Glover with friends who feel that post-partum psychosis has made one a better doctor, while both now realize it's essential to talk openly about the experience of mental illness. Another conversation in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.
The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. Most of the unedited conversations are being archived by the British Library and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the millennium. You can learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject
Producer: Marya Burgess.
LIST OF THIS WEEK'S PROGRAMMES
(Note: the times link back to the details; the pids link to the BBC page, including iPlayer)
15 Minute Drama
10:45 MON (b078xf16)
15 Minute Drama
10:45 TUE (b079yysq)
15 Minute Drama
10:41 WED (b079yz8d)
15 Minute Drama
10:45 THU (b079z08k)
15 Minute Drama
10:45 FRI (b079z11v)
52 First Impressions with David Quantick
23:00 THU (b078zdq7)
A Celebration for Ascension Day
20:00 THU (b078zdls)
A Point of View
08:48 SUN (b0788bcn)
A Point of View
23:50 SUN (b0788bcn)
A Point of View
20:50 FRI (b0790fry)
All in the Mind
21:00 TUE (b078z5mb)
All in the Mind
15:30 WED (b078z5mb)
Any Answers?
14:00 SAT (b0783ltt)
Any Questions?
13:10 SAT (b0788bcl)
Any Questions?
20:00 FRI (b0790frw)
Archive on 4
20:00 SAT (b078mvwj)
BBC Inside Science
16:30 THU (b078w8z7)
BBC Inside Science
21:02 THU (b078w8z7)
Barry's Lunch Club
11:30 FRI (b07908hv)
Bells on Sunday
05:43 SUN (b078wl20)
Bells on Sunday
00:45 MON (b078wl20)
Book of the Week
00:30 SAT (b07889g4)
Bookclub
16:00 SUN (b078wqz0)
Bookclub
15:30 THU (b078wqz0)
Border Crossing
19:45 SUN (b078wsdp)
Brain of Britain
23:00 SAT (b0785r0s)
Brain of Britain
15:00 MON (b078xpf6)
Broadcasting House
09:00 SUN (b078w8c0)
Costing the Earth
15:30 TUE (b078y4tk)
Costing the Earth
21:00 WED (b078y4tk)
Crossing Continents
20:30 MON (b07881kx)
Crossing Continents
11:00 THU (b078zcrt)
Don't Make Me Laugh
23:00 MON (b07882z6)
Don't Start
18:30 THU (b06vnmy9)
Drama
14:30 SAT (b078mc9p)
Drama
21:00 SAT (b07856ls)
Drama
15:00 SUN (b078wqyy)
Drama
14:15 MON (b078xpf4)
Drama
14:15 TUE (b078y4td)
Drama
14:15 WED (b078z9c5)
Drama
14:15 THU (b078zdcp)
Drama
14:15 FRI (b0790c4q)
Election 2016
00:00 FRI (b079cpqz)
Fags, Mags and Bags
11:30 MON (b078xf1b)
Farming Today
06:30 SAT (b078mbf5)
Farming Today
05:45 MON (b078wxfl)
Farming Today
05:45 TUE (b078y09x)
Farming Today
05:45 WED (b078z5mx)
Farming Today
05:45 THU (b078zclg)
Farming Today
05:45 FRI (b0790j7v)
Food and Farming Awards
12:32 SUN (b078wm2p)
Food and Farming Awards
13:30 SUN (b078wmtg)
For Better or Worse
20:00 MON (b078xpfn)
For Better or Worse
11:00 WED (b078xpfn)
From Our Home Correspondent
09:00 TUE (b078y1q0)
From Our Home Correspondent
21:30 TUE (b078y1q0)
From Our Own Correspondent
11:30 SAT (b0783lth)
Front Row
19:15 MON (b078w8gr)
Front Row
19:15 TUE (b078w8pg)
Front Row
19:15 WED (b078w8s0)
Front Row
19:15 THU (b078w8zh)
Front Row
19:15 FRI (b078w93c)
FutureProofing
22:15 SAT (b0787dyz)
FutureProofing
20:00 WED (b078zcc2)
Gardeners' Question Time
14:00 SUN (b0788bc6)
Gardeners' Question Time
15:00 FRI (b0790c4s)
Great Lives
16:30 TUE (b078y4tv)
Great Lives
23:00 FRI (b078y4tv)
Home Front - Omnibus
21:00 FRI (b076cb26)
Home Front
12:04 MON (b076c9h5)
Home Front
12:04 TUE (b078y1q6)
Home Front
12:04 WED (b076c9v7)
Home Front
12:04 THU (b076c9v9)
Home Front
12:04 FRI (b076c9vc)
In Business
21:30 SUN (b0788889)
In Our Time
09:00 THU (b078zcrr)
In Our Time
21:30 THU (b078zcrr)
In Touch
20:40 TUE (b078w8pj)
Isy Suttie's Love Letters
18:30 TUE (b041y1n3)
Keeping Watch by David Park
15:45 FRI (b0790c4v)
Last Word
20:30 SUN (b0783lqk)
Last Word
16:00 FRI (b078w935)
Loose Ends
18:15 SAT (b078mtvd)
Midnight News
00:00 SAT (b0783lsz)
Midnight News
00:00 SUN (b078w86l)
Midnight News
00:00 MON (b078w8f7)
Midnight News
00:00 TUE (b078w8nr)
Midnight News
00:00 WED (b078w8r7)
Midnight News
00:00 THU (b078w8x4)
Midweek
09:00 WED (b078z5vv)
Midweek
21:30 WED (b078z5vv)
Money Box
12:04 SAT (b0783ltm)
Money Box
21:00 SUN (b0783ltm)
Money Box
15:00 WED (b078z9tf)
More or Less
20:00 SUN (b0788bcb)
More or Less
16:30 FRI (b0790cgp)
My Mother's Sari
23:30 MON (b05s3gz4)
Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics
16:00 MON (b078xpfb)
News Briefing
05:30 SAT (b0783lt7)
News Briefing
05:30 SUN (b078w883)
News Briefing
05:30 MON (b078w8fk)
News Briefing
05:30 TUE (b078w8p0)
News Briefing
05:30 WED (b078w8rh)
News Briefing
05:30 THU (b078w8xt)
News Headlines
06:00 SUN (b078w88w)
News Summary
12:00 SAT (b0783ltk)
News Summary
12:00 SUN (b078w8c2)
News Summary
12:00 MON (b078w8g3)
News Summary
12:00 TUE (b078w8p4)
News Summary
12:00 WED (b078w8rm)
News Summary
12:00 THU (b078w8yb)
News Summary
12:00 FRI (b078w92z)
News and Papers
06:00 SAT (b0783lt9)
News and Papers
07:00 SUN (b078w89t)
News and Papers
08:00 SUN (b078w8by)
News and Weather
22:00 SAT (b0783lv8)
News
13:00 SAT (b0783ltr)
Not Working by Lisa Owens
22:45 MON (b078xpfq)
Not Working by Lisa Owens
22:45 TUE (b0790pyv)
Not Working by Lisa Owens
22:45 WED (b0790q5c)
Not Working by Lisa Owens
22:45 THU (b0790qc5)
Not Working by Lisa Owens
22:45 FRI (b0790qlv)
Nurse
23:00 WED (b078zcc4)
On Your Farm
06:35 SUN (b078wl24)
Open Art
19:45 MON (b078xpfl)
Open Art
19:45 TUE (b079ctz1)
Open Art
19:45 WED (b079cw8r)
Open Art
19:45 THU (b079cw8t)
Open Art
19:45 FRI (b079cw8w)
Open Country
06:07 SAT (b07882k9)
Open Country
15:00 THU (b078zdcr)
PM
17:00 SAT (b0783lty)
PM
17:00 MON (b078w8gm)
PM
17:00 TUE (b078w8pb)
PM
17:00 WED (b078w8rw)
PM
17:00 THU (b078w8z9)
PM
17:00 FRI (b078w937)
Past Imperfect
11:00 TUE (b062kx4x)
Pick of the Week
18:15 SUN (b078wsdf)
Poetry Please
23:30 SAT (b07856lx)
Poetry Please
16:30 SUN (b078wqz2)
Polyoaks
11:30 WED (b078z6sd)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 SAT (b0788bj8)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 MON (b079yx5n)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 TUE (b07bbdg9)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 WED (b07bbv8s)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 THU (b07bgwk7)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 FRI (b07bm22s)
Profile
19:00 SAT (b078mtvg)
Profile
05:45 SUN (b078mtvg)
Profile
17:40 SUN (b078mtvg)
Radio 4 Appeal
07:54 SUN (b078wl26)
Radio 4 Appeal
21:26 SUN (b078wl26)
Radio 4 Appeal
15:27 THU (b078wl26)
Saturday Live
09:00 SAT (b078mbf9)
Saturday Review
19:15 SAT (b0783lv6)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 SAT (b0783lt3)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 SUN (b078w87y)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 MON (b078w8fc)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 TUE (b078w8nw)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 WED (b078w8rc)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 THU (b078w8xg)
Shakespeare In...
11:30 THU (b078zd50)
Shakespeare: Love Across the Racial Divide
13:45 MON (b078xpf2)
Shakespeare: Love Across the Racial Divide
13:45 TUE (b07bc1tt)
Shakespeare: Love Across the Racial Divide
13:45 WED (b07bgs4z)
Shakespeare: Love Across the Racial Divide
13:45 THU (b07bgwst)
Shakespeare: Love Across the Racial Divide
13:45 FRI (b07bkcxm)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 SAT (b0783lt1)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 SAT (b0783lt5)
Shipping Forecast
17:54 SAT (b0783lv0)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 SUN (b078w87c)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 SUN (b078w880)
Shipping Forecast
17:54 SUN (b078w8c8)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 MON (b078w8f9)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 MON (b078w8fg)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 TUE (b078w8nt)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 TUE (b078w8ny)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 WED (b078w8r9)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 WED (b078w8rf)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 THU (b078w8x9)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 THU (b078w8xm)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 SAT (b0783lv4)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 SUN (b078w8cd)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 MON (b078w8gp)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 TUE (b078w8pd)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 WED (b078w8ry)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 THU (b078w8zc)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 FRI (b078w939)
Something Understood
06:05 SUN (b078wl22)
Soul Music
11:30 TUE (b078y1q4)
Start the Week
09:00 MON (b078xf12)
Start the Week
21:30 MON (b078xf12)
Sunday Worship
08:10 SUN (b078wl28)
Sunday
07:10 SUN (b078w8bb)
The Anglo-Irish Century
11:00 FRI (b0790867)
The Archers Omnibus
10:00 SUN (b078wm2k)
The Archers
19:00 SUN (b078wsdj)
The Archers
14:00 MON (b078wsdj)
The Archers
19:00 MON (b078xpfj)
The Archers
14:00 TUE (b078xpfj)
The Archers
19:00 TUE (b078z4hm)
The Archers
14:00 WED (b078z4hm)
The Archers
19:00 WED (b078z9tk)
The Archers
14:00 THU (b078z9tk)
The Archers
19:00 THU (b078zdl2)
The Archers
14:00 FRI (b078zdl2)
The Archers
19:00 FRI (b0790f4v)
The Blame Game
20:00 TUE (b078z5m8)
The Digital Human
16:30 MON (b078xpfd)
The Film Programme
16:00 THU (b078w8z5)
The Food Programme
15:30 MON (b078xpf8)
The Force of Google
17:00 SUN (b07875zc)
The Ideas That Make Us
09:30 TUE (b04v382b)
The Impostors' Survival Guide
21:00 MON (b07865h3)
The Kitchen Cabinet
10:30 SAT (b078mbfc)
The Kitchen Cabinet
15:00 TUE (b078mbfc)
The Listening Project
14:45 SUN (b078wmtj)
The Listening Project
10:55 WED (b078z6f9)
The Listening Project
16:55 FRI (b0790dm6)
The Listening Project
23:55 FRI (b0790m2v)
The Media Show
16:30 WED (b078w8rt)
The Moth Radio Hour
23:00 SUN (b0788pnc)
The News Quiz
12:30 SAT (b0788bcg)
The News Quiz
18:30 FRI (b0790dm8)
The Pin
18:45 THU (b06kgbgd)
The Rest is History
19:15 SUN (b078wsdl)
The Reunion
11:15 SUN (b00jlxjp)
The Reunion
09:00 FRI (b078wm2m)
The Running Hare by John Lewis-Stempel
09:45 MON (b078xf14)
The Running Hare by John Lewis-Stempel
00:30 TUE (b078xf14)
The Running Hare by John Lewis-Stempel
09:45 TUE (b079rqqj)
The Running Hare by John Lewis-Stempel
00:30 WED (b079rqqj)
The Running Hare by John Lewis-Stempel
09:45 WED (b079rqtf)
The Running Hare by John Lewis-Stempel
00:30 THU (b079rqtf)
The Running Hare by John Lewis-Stempel
09:45 THU (b079rr28)
The Running Hare by John Lewis-Stempel
09:45 FRI (b079rrbb)
The Unbelievable Truth
12:04 SUN (b078xpfg)
The Unbelievable Truth
18:30 MON (b0785rmw)
The Untold
11:00 MON (b078xf18)
The Week in Westminster
11:00 SAT (b078d5d7)
The World This Weekend
13:00 SUN (b078w8c6)
The World Tonight
22:00 MON (b078w8hb)
The World Tonight
22:00 TUE (b078w8pn)
The World Tonight
22:00 WED (b078w8s2)
The World Tonight
22:00 THU (b078w8zx)
The World Tonight
22:00 FRI (b078w93h)
Thinking Allowed
00:15 MON (b0787dmb)
Thinking Allowed
16:00 WED (b078z9th)
Tim Key's Late Night Poetry Programme
23:15 WED (b03tt58f)
Time
00:30 SUN (b03yn0ds)
Today in Parliament
23:30 TUE (b078z5md)
Today in Parliament
23:30 WED (b078zcc6)
Today in Parliament
23:30 THU (b078zdnz)
Today in Parliament
23:30 FRI (b0790m2s)
Today
07:00 SAT (b078mbf7)
Today
06:00 MON (b078wxzb)
Today
06:00 TUE (b078y1py)
Today
06:00 WED (b078z5vs)
Today
06:00 THU (b078zcrp)
Today
06:00 FRI (b07907r2)
Tweet of the Day
08:58 SUN (b020tp38)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 MON (b01s8mng)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 TUE (b020xvgf)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 WED (b02twpwl)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 THU (b0378wz1)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 FRI (b01sby0q)
Weather
06:04 SAT (b0783ltc)
Weather
06:57 SAT (b0783ltf)
Weather
12:57 SAT (b0783ltp)
Weather
17:57 SAT (b0783lv2)
Weather
06:57 SUN (b078w89f)
Weather
07:57 SUN (b078w8bw)
Weather
12:57 SUN (b078w8c4)
Weather
17:57 SUN (b078w8cb)
Weather
05:56 MON (b078w8fp)
Weather
12:57 MON (b078w8gf)
Weather
21:58 MON (b078w8h4)
Weather
12:57 TUE (b078w8p8)
Weather
21:58 TUE (b078w8pl)
Weather
12:57 WED (b078w8rr)
Weather
21:58 WED (b079rc90)
Weather
12:57 THU (b078w8yp)
Weather
21:58 THU (b07cbx7j)
Weather
12:57 FRI (b078w933)
Weather
21:58 FRI (b078w93f)
Welcome to Our Village, Please Invade Carefully
18:30 WED (b04nv6m8)
Westminster Hour
22:00 SUN (b078w8cl)
What Does the K Stand For?
23:00 TUE (b04vr5j8)
Why I Changed My Mind
20:45 WED (b0787dz1)
Woman's Hour
16:00 SAT (b0783ltw)
Woman's Hour
10:00 MON (b078w8fy)
Woman's Hour
10:00 TUE (b078w8p2)
Woman's Hour
10:00 WED (b078w8rk)
Woman's Hour
10:00 THU (b078w8y5)
Woman's Hour
10:00 FRI (b078w92x)
Word of Mouth
16:00 TUE (b078y4ts)
World at One
13:00 MON (b078xf1d)
World at One
13:00 TUE (b078y2fy)
World at One
13:00 WED (b078z6sg)
World at One
13:00 THU (b078zd52)
World at One
13:00 FRI (b0790c3y)
You and Yours
12:15 MON (b078w8g7)
You and Yours
12:15 TUE (b078w8p6)
You and Yours
12:15 WED (b078w8rp)
You and Yours
12:15 THU (b078w8yh)
You and Yours
12:15 FRI (b078w931)
iPM
05:45 SAT (b078mmh0)
iPM
17:30 SAT (b078mmh0)