SATURDAY 18 FEBRUARY 2017

SAT 00:00 Midnight News (b08dmkrv)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.

SAT 00:30 Book of the Week (b08flq4l)
Age of Anger, Episode 5

In a ground-breaking new analysis, Pankaj Mishra traces the tangled roots of hatreds and nationalisms across the world.

Inspired by Hindu nationalists in his own country, the rise of the so-called Islamic State, the emergence of Donald Trump as a candidate for President, as well as Brexit, the author attempts to re-examine the divided modern world.

Mishra looks at historical events from the industrial revolution to the French revolution, from the writings of philosophers to the end of the Cold War. Indeed, at the end of the Cold War, there was a belief that the global capitalist economy would alleviate ethnic and religious differences to usher in prosperity and peace. This belief, he states, now lies in tatters, with no alternative in sight, and with economic power shifting from the West. Meanwhile, the IMF suggests that emerging economies will take much longer to catch up economically with the West than was previously believed.

Further, Mishra looks at nationalism, alienation, xenophobia, the 'lone wolf' and the pack behind him, domestic terrorism and the frustration and resentment both aimed at the West and from those in the West who are alienated.

He introduces us to the people at the heart of much of the action as we discover the causes and consequences of their beliefs and their actions.

Read by Pankaj Mishra
Produced by David Roper
A Heavy Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4.

SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b08dmkrx)
The latest shipping forecast.

SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b08dmkrz)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. BBC Radio 4 resumes at 5.20am.

SAT 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b08dmks1)
The latest shipping forecast.

SAT 05:30 News Briefing (b08dmks3)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.

SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b08dnlwd)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Alison Murdoch.

SAT 05:45 iPM (b08drl2p)
iPM is the news programme that starts with its listeners. Email ipm@bbc.co.uk. Twitter: @BBCiPM. Presented by Luke Jones and Eddie Mair.

SAT 06:00 News and Papers (b08dmks5)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.

SAT 06:04 Weather (b08dmks7)
The latest weather forecast.

SAT 06:07 Ramblings (b08dr5rj)
Series 35, The Doolough Famine Walk, County Mayo

Clare Balding travels to Ireland, County Mayo, to retrace the steps of those who walked from Louisburg to Delphi, in 1849 at the height of the potato famine, in the hope of receiving aid. Now known as The Doolough Tragedy Famine Walk, hundreds of people come from all over the world to walk the twelve miles each year in memory of those who died of starvation along the route. Clare talks to Joe Murray from Afri (Action from Ireland) on whose behalf he organises the annual pilgrimage, which not only remembers those who died of hunger but also those, across the world, who now live in hunger and struggle with a shortage of food.
They're joined by Mary O'Malley whose forebears suffered during the Great Hunger, or An Gorta Mor, and by Prof John Maguire who puts the famine into historical context.

Producer: Lucy Lunt.

SAT 06:30 Farming Today (b08dmks9)
Care in the countryside

The latest news about food, farming and the countryside. Presented by Sybil Ruscoe and produced by Sally Challoner.

SAT 06:57 Weather (b08dmksc)
The latest weather forecast.

SAT 07:00 Today (b08f4rlh)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.

SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (b08dmksf)
Marti Pellow

Marti Pellow first hit the charts with Wet Wet Wet's Wishing I was Lucky in 1987. He's gone on to have a successful musical theatre career. With the forthcoming release of his solo album Mysterious, Marti joins Rev Richard Coles and Aasmah Mir and explains why soul and jazz have always inspired him.

When Kerri Cameron lost her job working with horses- she unexpectedly found a new career as a motorcycle stuntwoman. She talks about her unexpected career change.

Anna Bailey speaks to Saturday Live listener Annabel Dunstan, who got in contact, via the Royal Academy of Dance, to talk about how ballet has bought her closer to her mother who has dementia.

Max Décharné talks about why he's fascinated by slang, and how many contemporary words are a lot older than you'd expect.

Hypnotist and author Paul McKenna shares his Inheritance Tracks. Paul has chosen Dancing Queen by Abba and Us and Them by Pink Floyd.

Comedian, actor and lover of magic Nick Mohammed explains how he's learnt to pick locks like an escapologist for his latest show Mr Swallow - Houdini.

Marti Pellow's single Sound of My Breaking Heart is out now and his album Mysterious is released on the 10th March.
Max Décharné's Vulgar Tongues: An Alternative History of English Slang is out now.
Paul McKenna's latest book Get Control of Sugar is out now.
The run of Mr Swallow - Houdini staring Nick Mohammed ends at the Soho Theatre in London on the 18th February. His children's book The Young Magicians is out now.

Producer: Claire Bartleet
Editor: Anne Peacock.

SAT 10:30 And The Academy Award Goes To ... (b08f4slp)
Series 7, All About Eve

Fasten your seat belts folks!
With 90 years of the Academy Awards to choose from, Paul Gambaccini is back with a swashbuckling, all singing, all dancing, behind the scenes new series of AND THE ACADEMY AWARD GOES TO... digging up the stories behind the greatest Best Picture Oscar winners - reflecting the world in which they were made.

With "La La Land" a hot favourite at this year's awards, with 14 nominations, Gambaccini takes as his first subject a similarly feted film from 1950.

"All About Eve" was Bette Davis's come back picture, as she took on the role of Margo Channing, a Broadway star on the wrong side of 40. Davis had been Hollywood divinity, but the previous year she had won Worst Actress of the Year from the San Francisco Critics Circle.

Even back then navel gazing was a favourite Hollywood obsession, and the Academy had to weigh up the merits of two films about show business - "All About Eve" and "Sunset Boulevard".

With 14 nominations and 6 wins, "All About Eve" carried the day - but the night was a keen disappointment for Davis, who was hoping for a third Oscar, as her co-star, Anne Baxter, would cancel out her chances of winning Best Actress.

Michael Merrill, Davis's son, recalls her bitter disappointment, but it's still his favourite film - "Because it was how my mother and father met each other".
Gary Merrill, Davis's on screen love interest, would become her 3rd husband.

The following week, Gambaccini investigates the success story behind the 2013 winner, "12 years A Slave" - a film made by Steve McQueen, the first ever black director to win a Best Picture Oscar. An unflinchingly brutal film which takes us to the heart of American slavery, hailed as "brilliant-and quite possibly essential-cinema."

"Schindler's List" completes the trio of programmes to celebrate the Oscars, with a look back, 25 years later, to one of the most complex productions, created by a crew and cast committed to retelling one of the most astonishing and horrifying stories of the Holocaust. Gambaccini talks to one of the survivors saved by Schindler, Rena Finder, who recalls the evils of concentration camp sadist Amon Goeth first hand, and remarks that Ralph Fiennes's portrayal, although good, could never truly encompass a man who was so wholly evil.

Producer: Sara Jane Hall.

SAT 11:00 The Forum (b08349jl)
Fire: How Climate Change Is Altering Our Attitudes to Wildfires

As fire risks evolve due to climate change, how should we deal with fire to protect human health and property without compromising the integrity of our environment? Bridget Kendall asks the geologist Andrew Scott, the fire ecologist Jennifer Balch and the biologist David Bowman.

(Photo: A fire tornado in California, USA. Credit: Getty Images).

SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (b08dmksh)
Reports from writers and journalists around the world. Presented by Kate Adie.

SAT 12:00 News Summary (b08dmksk)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

SAT 12:04 Money Box (b08f4tb2)
HSBC closes church account

More information on the stories featured in this week's edition of Money Box can be found in the Related links section below.

Nearly four years ago a rescue deal saved the Co-operative Bank from collapse. As a result only 20% is now owned by its former parent the Co-operative Group. The remainder is held by institutional investors, including US hedge funds, who wrote off the bank's debts in return for shares. This week it was announced that Co-operative Bank is up for sale. Its ethical banking policy is a draw for many of its customers - will it make it more or less attractive to potential buyers? How does ethical banking work more generally? Frances Coppola, independent banking commentator and Stephen Hines, Director of the ethical investment research firm Vigeo Eiris discuss.

A decision by the global bank HSBC to close the bank account of St Nicholas Church in the Parish of Harpenden in Hertfordshire has left its clergy confused. Parishioners are wondering what will happen to their regular standing order donations. Money Box investigates the reasons behind this holy mess.

Last week's Money Box investigation into how a Luton couple lost nearly £200,000 to criminals, drew a strong reaction from listeners. Some thought the blame for the fraud lay with the Shah family and not their bank. Their nephew Niraj Shah gives his response to the critics and we also hear from Professor Mark Button, Director and founder of the Centre for Counter Fraud Studies at the Institute of Criminal Justice Studies at the University of Portsmouth.

Presenter: Paul Lewis
Reporter: Tony Bonsignore
Producer: Charmaine Cozier
Editor: Andrew Smith.

SAT 12:30 The News Quiz (b08drk52)
Series 92, Episode 7

This week Miles presides over a panel of news hounds in the form of Jeremy Hardy, Romesh Ranganathan, Simon Evans and Gina Yashere.

Producer: Richard Morris
A BBC Studios Production.

SAT 12:57 Weather (b08dmksm)
The latest weather forecast.

SAT 13:00 News (b08dmksp)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.

SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (b08drkjd)
Douglas Carswell MP, Thérèse Coffey MP, Lord Dubs, Christine Tacon

Jonathan Dimbleby presents political debate from Louth Town Hall in Lincolnshire with a panel including the UKIP MP Douglas Carswell, the Environment Minister Thérèse Coffey MP, the Labour peer Alf Dubs and the Groceries Code Ajudicator Christine Tacon.

SAT 14:00 Any Answers? (b08dmksr)
Any Answers after the Saturday broadcast of Any Questions? Lines open at 1230
Call 03700 100 444. Email any.answers@bbc.co.uk. Tweet,#BBCAQ. Follow us @bbcanyquestions.

Presented by Anita Anand
Producer Beverley Purcell
Editor Anne Peacock.

SAT 14:30 Drama (b065rn7t)
Jeffrey Bernard Is Unwell

Starring John Hurt. A dying Soho, seen through the eyes of the notorious columnist of The Spectator - plain-speaking drinker, gambler, wit and raconteur. With frequent, very strong language.

Keith Waterhouse's biographical play of Jeffrey Bernard is a recreation of a time in London when poets, painters, artists and writers (Dylan Thomas, Francis Bacon, Lucien Freud, and Elizabeth Smart) lived alongside the local Low Life of No Knickers Joyce and Sid the Swimmer, inhabiting the clubs and pubs of Dean Street. Jeffrey knew and wrote about all of them.

The play is set very early in the morning at the Coach and Horses pub in Soho, where Jeffrey spent most of his days, when not 'at the Races'. The Coach and Horses was his 'office'. Jeffrey has passed out in the Gents, missed closing time and wakes up to find himself alone in the pub with the door locked. He spends the night re-visiting incidents in Soho past and present, his childhood, gambling, women, racing and drink - fuelled by vodka.

Alongside John Hurt in the lead role, the cast includes Nichola McAuliffe, Jeff Rawle, Amelia Bullmore and Miles Jupp.

Recorded on location in Gerry's Club in Dean Street Soho.

A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.

SAT 16:00 Woman's Hour (b08dmkst)
Why romantic love is doomed to fail. Is parental alienation abuse? And how have female desires evolved over the centuries?

We discuss why romantic love is doomed to fail with the author Alain de Botton and comedian Luisa Omielan.

Divorced parents who pit children against former partners are guilty of 'abuse' according to the chief Executive of Cafcass Anthony Douglas, So should it be seen as a crime? We discuss the issue with Sarah Parsons, Principal Social Worker at Cafcass and Joanna Abrahams a solicitor who specialises in cases of parental alienation.

Why are so many women in denial about needing a hearing aid? We hear from Audiologist Gemma Twitchen and from Kathleen Hill who uses a hearing aid.

Kimberley Taylor a 27 year old from Blackburn has gone to Syria to fight IS with the YPJ. Dilar Dirlik, is Kurdish and has spent time with the YPJ, as part of her PHD studies. She talks about her experience talking to members of the group and why she thinks Kimberley Taylor has made the move to join them.

We hear about the work of the Family Drug and Alcohol Court with Rosie a mother who has been through both the traditional court and the FDAC and from Sophie Kershaw the Co-director of the Family Drug and Alcohol National unit.

Theresa Mackay, winner of the Woman's History Scotland Essay Prize tells us about 18th and 19th century female innkeepers in the Scottish Highlands .

How has our idea of heartthrobs changed over the centuries? Carol Dyhouse, Professor Emeritus of History at University of Sussex and author of Heartthrobs: a history of female desire explains how female desires have evolved?

Presented by Jane Garvey
Producer: Rabeka Nurmahomed
Editor:Jane Thurlow.

SAT 17:00 PM (b08dmksw)
Saturday PM

Full coverage of the day's news.

SAT 17:30 The Bottom Line (b08dr940)
Managing Workplace Relationships

We spend a third of our life at work so it's inevitable that relationships blossom, whether it's a one night stand at the Christmas party or one that becomes a long term partnership. How do companies handle the issues that can arise from office romance? Evan Davis and his guests discuss the solutions.

GUESTS

Neil Morrison, Director, Strategy, Culture and Innovation. Penguin Random House

Helen Farr, Partner, Employment Law Group, Fox Williams

Danielle Harmer, Chief People Officer, Metro Bank.

SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b08dmkt0)
The latest shipping forecast.

SAT 17:57 Weather (b08dmkt2)
The latest weather forecast.

SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b08dmkt4)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (b08dmkt6)
Jatinder Verma, Owen Sheers, Eline Van Der Velden, James Brown, Omar, John Shuttleworth, Clive Anderson

Clive Anderson and Sara Cox are joined by Owen Sheers, Jatinder Verma, James Brown and Eline Van Der Velden for an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy. With music from Omar and John Shuttleworth.

Producer: Sukey Firth.

SAT 19:00 Profile (b08f4vyf)
Liz Truss

Liz Truss became the Lord Chancellor & Secretary of State for Justice last year, the first woman to hold either post. Her appointment was controversial, partly because she'd never worked in the legal profession.
Becky Milligan talks to Liz Truss's brother, former boss and political supporters and opponents - and hears about her toughness, determination and love of karaoke.

Presenter: Becky Milligan
Producers: Smita Patel and Beth Sagar-Fenton.

SAT 19:15 Saturday Review (b08dmkt8)
Revolution at the RA, Everybody's Talking About Jamie, Moonlight, Idaho by Emily Ruskovich, SS-GB

Revolution: Russian Art 1917-32 is an exhibition at the Royal Academy where the title tells you what to expect but what surprises and delights lie in wait for visitors? Dan Gillespie Sells - lead songwriter with pop group The Feeling - has written a musical: Everybody's Talking About Jamie. Opening at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre, it's about a northern working class lad who decides to escape his humdrum life by adopting a drag persona. A bit like Billy Elliott in a dress?
Moonlight is the Oscar-touted film looking at the experience of a gay African American boy growing up to become a man and his struggle with identity fulfilment and happiness
Emily Ruskovich's novel Idaho tells the story of how violence within a family wrenches it apart, through multiple perspectives and timeshifts.
BBC TV has adapted Len Deighton's novel SS-GB; what would the UK have been like, if we'd lost The Battle Of Britain and Nazis had taken over in 1941?

Tom Sutcliffe's guests are Helen Lewis, Ellen Jones and Cahal Dallat. The producer is Oliver Jones.

SAT 20:00 Archive on 4 (b08f4vym)
A Brief History of Lust

Does what makes the heart beat faster really make the world go round? Oh yes. Welcome to a new history of lust presented by the American satirist Joe Queenan. From Helen and Paris of Troy to Bill and Monica via Rasputin, Edwina Currie and John Major, this is a tale of life as a bunga bunga bacchanal.
With contributions from historian Suzannah Lipscomb, classicist Edith Hall, plus Agnes Poirier, Joan Bakewell (of course), Caitlin Moran and Richard Herring on Rasputin; a specially composed new poem on lust from Elvis McGonagall; and music from Prince, T Rex, Bessie Smith and Cole Porter.
The producer in Bristol is Miles Warde.

SAT 21:00 Drama (b08dmrzv)
A Little Princess, Episode 2

Archie Panjabi (The Good Wife, The Fall) and Rebecca Front (War and Peace, Dr Thorne) star with Clare Perkins in this much-loved gothic treat.

'It's only an accident that I'm not you, and you're not me.'

A Little Princess starts with a schoolgirl. But it's not a school story. Frances Hodgson Burnett's tough tale shows us a London full of foreign wealth and child poverty. That's why for over a century, its shocking story and unforgettable young characters have influenced everything from Angela Carter to anime.

And Kate Clanchy's radical new dramatisation discovers the Indian heart of Sara Crewe. When Sara is rich, she is treated just the same as other girls. But when she is not rich - exactly who is she? And why has she been brought to England?

Produced and directed by Jonquil Panting.

SAT 22:00 News and Weather (b08dmktb)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by weather.

SAT 22:15 Moral Maze (b08dnwrw)
The Morality of Empathy

The government's decision to end the scheme that let unaccompanied migrant children into the UK has provoked an outcry. Many had hoped that we could offer a home to thousands of child refugees and the closure of the scheme has been branded "shameful". It's hard not to empathise with the bewildered and vulnerable child refugees now stranded in Europe and it's a very natural human reaction to want to do something to help. But what if, in the very act of helping, we make matters worse? The resettlement scheme has been halted because it's feared that it will just encourage child trafficking. In this case, our empathy could be leading to greater harm and suffering. Morally, how useful is the emotion of empathy? It might encourage us to feel compassion - and experiencing that emption may make us feel better about ourselves - but, as Aristotle warned, "we are easily deceived concerning our perceptions when we're in the grip of our emotions." In a difficult world where there are no easy answers, does empathy cloud our judgment? It is morally better to use reason and evidence to decide on the most effective, altruistic course of action? The morality of empathy. Witnesses are Oliver Moody, George Gabriel, Harry Phibbs and Prof Paul Gilbert.

SAT 23:00 Brain of Britain (b08dnkgt)
Heat 4, 2017

(4/17)
Which New York building was once described as the 'Mozart of skyscrapers'? And which type of meat takes its name from the Latin for 'to hunt'?

These and many other questions await the contenders in today's heat of the 2017 tournament, to decide who takes the fourth of the automatic places in this year's semi-finals later in the spring.

There's also a chance, as always, for a listener to win a prize by suggesting ingenious questions which will 'Beat the Brains'.

Producer: Paul Bajoria.

SAT 23:30 Poetry Please (b08dmrzz)
Philip Larkin

Hull is 2017's European Capital of Culture and, Roger McGough is joined by poets Sean O'Brien, Douglas Dunn and Paul Farley to celebrate the city's most famous librarian, Philip Larkin. Producer Sally Heaven.

SUNDAY 19 FEBRUARY 2017

SUN 00:00 Midnight News (b08fd9pc)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.

SUN 00:30 The Revenge of the First King of Mars (b00tt5hz)
Fear and Dread

Dave Lamb reads the story of the first manned space mission to the red planet.

Unfortunately, the extreme isolation of space has a negative affect on the sanity of the commander, the King of Mars, who has discovered that monkeys have already colonised Mars underground, creating a well-ordered and tranquil society.

Our hero now takes on the monkey kingdom and their ruler, the rather aggressive Roger.

Read by Dave Lamb
Written by Nick Walker

Producer: Karen Rose
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.

SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b08fd9pg)
The latest shipping forecast.

SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b08fd9pl)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. BBC Radio 4 resumes at 5.20am.

SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b08fd9pp)
The latest shipping forecast.

SUN 05:30 News Briefing (b08fd9pr)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.

SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (b08fdfm6)
Howden Minster, East Yorkshire

This week's Bells on Sunday comes from Howden Minster in East Yorkshire. The 135 foot high central tower was completed around 1400, but a fire in 1929 resulted in the complete loss of the old ring of eight bells. A new peal of eight was cast at the Loughborough foundry in 1931 and they're regarded as one of the finest in the country. The tenor weighs 22 and a quarter hundredweight and is tuned to E flat. We hear them now ringing 'Stedman Triples'.

SUN 05:45 Profile (b08f4vyf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]

SUN 06:00 News Headlines (b08fd9pz)
The latest national and international news.

SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b08fd9q1)
Divine Noise

Noise permeates our lives and is often depicted as a fundamentally negative by-product of the hectic pace of modern life. Noise is often used as a pejorative term, it's unwelcome, intrusive and unpleasant. But this isn't the whole story.

Academic Dr Sarah Goldingay argues that noise can be joyful and that joyful noise affects us deeply. She explains that noise and unexpected sounds can trigger moments of profound spirituality.

Sarah leads us on a journey into sound, from the gong baths through which people seek healing by immersing themselves in waves of vibrational energy, to the zen art of Suizen in which practitioners play a traditional flute as a means of progressing towards enlightenment. We hear from the poet William Cowper, who describes how church bells heard at noon on a winter's walk affect him on a cellular level, and we visit a Mississippi church where the congregation pounds out a spiritual pulse on the wooden floorboards.

Through these examples and more, Sarah argues that it's possible to listen out for the divine noise in and amongst the din.

Presenter: Sarah Goldingay
Producer: Max O'Brien
A TBI Media production for BBC Radio 4.

SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (b08fdfmc)
The Red Shepherdess

Caz Graham meets Hannah Jackson, a young shepherd shaking up the world of sheep. On a family holiday in the Lake District Hannah saw a lamb being born on a hillside. She was inspired to give up her studies in marine biology and dedicate herself to the world of shepherding. With help and advice from a champion sheepdog trainer she learnt how to herd sheep and set about transforming herself into a sheep farmer.

Hannah tells Caz about her struggles with the sexism of the farming industry and her hugely successful efforts to create a personal brand as The Red Shepherdess.

SUN 06:57 Weather (b08fd9q7)
The latest weather forecast.

SUN 07:00 News and Papers (b08fd9qb)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.

SUN 07:10 Sunday (b08fd9qg)
Homelessness in Manchester; General Synod and Bats in churches.

Sunday morning religious news and current affairs programme.

SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (b08fdhj1)
Willow Foundation

Former Scotland International and Arsenal goalie and football broadcaster Bob Wilson makes the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of Willow Foundation.
Registered Charity Number 1106746
To Give:
- Freephone 0800 404 8144
- Freepost BBC Radio 4 Appeal. (That's the whole address. Please do not write anything else on the front of the envelope). Mark the back of the envelope 'Willow Foundation'.
- Cheques should be made payable to 'Willow Foundation'.

SUN 07:57 Weather (b08fd9qj)
The latest weather forecast.

SUN 08:00 News and Papers (b08fd9qm)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.

SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (b08fdhjq)
God's Stage?

On the 300th anniversary of the birth of David Garrick, Sunday Worship reflects on the long, interwoven history of Christianity and the theatre and is led by Ben Quash, Professor of Christianity and the Arts at King's College London.

Some say the birth of English drama was in the Anglo-Saxon Easter morning liturgy; early Protestants wrote plays to propagate their theological ideas, claiming that 'Preachers, Printers and Playwrights' were 'a triple bulwark against the triple crown of the Pope', only for Cromwell to shut the theatres down and make acting an imprisonable offence. Calvin talked of the world as a 'theatre', in which all of us are actors in God's great plot. What does drama tell us about ourselves, our place in the world, and our ultimate destiny? And what has made theatre such a rich source of metaphors for Christianity, and Christianity such a treasure trove of themes and stories for dramatists?

Producer Andrew Earis.

SUN 08:48 A Point of View (b08drkjh)
The Follies of Experts

John Gray assesses why experts failed to predict recent seismic events.

He says they operated under the long-held but mistaken belief that history unfolds according to predictable patterns.

"Human events have no overall direction", he writes, "and history obeys no laws".

He discusses how we can prepare ourselves for the "unknowable future".

Producer: Adele Armstrong.

SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (b03szrzm)
Mallard

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.

Chris Packham presents the mallard. Mallards are our commonest ducks. In winter, mallards from Continental Europe join our resident birds. Some may have flown from as far away as Russia and many infiltrate local flocks, so the bills which snatch your bread may have been born hundreds, if not thousands of kilometres away.

SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (b08fd9qz)
Sunday morning magazine programme with news and conversation about the big stories of the week. Presented by Paddy O'Connell.

SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (b08fd9r3)
Tom struggles to accept the truth, and Anisha has a difficult day at the office.

SUN 11:15 Desert Island Discs (b08fdhjs)
Sir Antony Beevor

Kirsty Young's castaway is military historian, Sir Antony Beevor. His books about some of the key battles of the Second World War are best-sellers and have been credited with reinvigorating the whole genre. There was little indication of this future success while he was boarder at Winchester public school where he failed to pass either his History or his English A levels.

During the five years he spent in the army, including two years at Sandhurst for officer training, he studied history under the great military historian, John Keegan. On deciding he wanted to be a writer, his first three novels had limited success, and he was encouraged by his publishers to draw on his experience of army life and turn his talents to military history.

His ground-breaking work Stalingrad was based on what he discovered in the Russian military archives and won him the Samuel Johnson Prize, the Wolfson Prize for History and the Hawthornden Prize. In his book Berlin: the Downfall 1945, he wrote about the mass rapes of German women committed by the Red Army at the end of the war. He was knighted in the 2017 New Year honours list. He is married to the writer Artemis Cooper.

Producer: Cathy Drysdale.

SUN 12:00 News Summary (b08fd9r8)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

SUN 12:04 The Museum of Curiosity (b08dnkh0)
Series 10, Episode 6

John Lloyd & Jo Brand with guests Michelle Wolf, Bee Wilson and Henry Eliot. This week the Museum considers a 24-hour news channel, a 1,000 year long piece of music and the smell of fresh coffee.

Researched by Anne Miller of QI and Mike Turner.

The production coordinator was Sophie Richardson.

The producers were Richard Turner and James Harkin.

It was a BBC Studios Production.

SUN 12:32 Food Programme (b08fdhjv)
Let's Do Lunch

What did you eat for lunch today? Whatever you ate, according to our recent national survey you took less than half an hour to do it. Twenty five minutes twenty four to be precise.

We're living in an era of grab-and-go. It's a sector of the food industry already worth £16.1 billion pounds and which forecasts suggest could rise by more than a third by 2021. If we eat, we do so 'al-desko'... or maybe we don't eat at all.

Whether you opt for sausage rolls or sushi, last night's leftovers or a just a latte, Sheila Dillon hears what the modern British lunch break says about us. And what it might suggest about where our midday meal is headed. She meets the thinkers and cooks who believe that in time poor Britain, it's perfectly possible to reclaim your lunch break.

Presented by Sheila Dillon
Produced by Clare Salisbury.

SUN 12:57 Weather (b08fd9rd)
The latest weather forecast.

SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (b08fd9rj)
Global news and analysis.

SUN 13:30 Fry's English Delight (b08fdhrx)
Series 9, English Upside Down

Comedian Adam Hills - who studied linguistics at university - helps Stephen Fry uncover the history of Australian English, from its beginnings in the early 1700s to the present day. In 1911, Winston Churchill said it "represents the most brutal maltreatment which has ever been inflicted upon the language that is the mother tongue of the great English nations."

Yet the interest felt in Britain in 1770, when Doctor Johnson described a kangaroo to dinner guests for the first time, has never left us. Perhaps because Australian English has been so well documented, from the first exchanges of languages with Aboriginals, explained by Professor Jakelin Troy of Sydney University from the Ngarigu clan of New South Wales.

Stephen learns from Dr Bruce Moore, editor of the Australian Oxford Dictionary, how a convict called James Hardy Vaux helped track the language called Flash among transported criminals. The aim was to make it understandable by government officials. Vaux, a thrice-deported bigamist and petty thief was the first to notice how Australian English might have an entertainment factor. He wrote, "I trust the vocabulary will afford you some amusement from its novelty; and that from the correctness of its definitions, you may occasionally find it useful in your magisterial capacity."

Australian English does seem to have a talent to intrigue and amuse. We learn, for example, where the original Sheila comes from, and examine the school reports of one of Australia's favourite Sheilas, Dame Edna Everage.

Adam Hills agrees that Australian English is entertainingly blunt, which sometimes means words that are totally acceptable in Australia are regarded as taboo in Britain.

A Testbed production for BBC Radio 4.

SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b08drk4q)
Faversham

The panel of horticultural experts is in Faversham, Kent. Bob Flowerdew, Pippa Greenwood and Anne Swithinbank answer the questions from local gardeners.

The panellists advise on getting sweet potatoes started and how to propagate Agapanthus, and they debate whether or not one can grow tomatoes in a hallway. They also attempt to bring a Kaffir Lime back from the brink and help one listener attempt to cure Daffodil blindness.

Also, Bob Flowerdew visits the National Fruit Collection at nearby Brogdale Farm.

Produced by Dan Cocker
Assistant Producer: Laurence Bassett

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.

SUN 14:45 The Listening Project (b08fdkcz)
Omnibus - Engaging with Life

Fi Glover introduces three conversations that demonstrate ways to find new interests, through Spencer Tunick's art, the Great North Run, or escaping the social media bubble. All in the Omnibus of 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.

SUN 15:00 Drama (b08fdkd1)
Ann Veronica, Episode 1

Ann Veronica by H.G. Wells 1/2
Dramatised by Ellen Dryden
Spirited and fiercely intelligent, Ann Veronica is a 21st Century woman in an Edwardian Hobble skirt. She runs away from her stiflingly conventional home and her domineering father to make a fresh start in London. A lively and surprising story; not least because it's created by H.G. Wells.

Produced and directed by Pauline Harris

Further information
N.B. EPISODE 2 is dramatized by Lavinia Murray. The storytelling is witty and ironic and Ann Veronica caused a scandal in its time because of the feminist sensibilities of the heroine and also because of the affair Wells was having with Amber Reeves, the woman who inspired the novel's eponymous character. This is a relatively unknown and unexpected novel by Wells. The Spectator described Ann Veronica as a "poisonous book..." Although unlikely to offend modern listeners, this novel addresses many feminist versus femininity issues that are still relevant today.

Amy Hoggart who stars as Ann Veronica is a stand-up comedian and actress, best known for starring in Almost Royal, a faux-reality show on BBC America. She portrays a low-ranking heir to the British throne, Poppy Carlton. Other credits include Full Frontal with Samantha Bee (2016) and Crackanory (2013).

She is the daughter of renowned journalist Simon Hoggart, niece of Times television critic Paul Hoggart, and granddaughter of sociologist Richard Hoggart. Amy attended Cambridge University,and was a member of the Footlights, whilst reading English.

The novel deals with the early stages of what is arguably the most important social development of the 20th C. the education and financial and sexual liberation of women. And the fact is that, nearly a hundred years later, the problem of women who want to marry, have children and pursue a liberating career, is still not easy to solve. Wells makes a good case for freer sexual relationships, but Amber Reeves - and later Rebecca West - were the ones whose lives were changed - by bearing and bringing up a child by him.

Geoffrey Whitehead plays Ann's father, Mr. Stanley - most recent credits include Geoffrey in Not Going Out as Lee Mack's disapproving father-in-law, and Mr. Newbold in Still Open All Hours. His career spans decades and he has appeared in a huge range of television, film and radio roles. In the theatre, he has played at the Shakespeare Globe, St. Martin's Theatre and Bristol Old Vic.

SUN 16:00 Open Book (b08fdp3t)
Age gap relationships; Dorthe Nors

Alex Clark talks to two novelists - Karl Geary and Gwendoline Riley - who have both written about a love affair across the generations in their new books.

Acclaimed Danish writer Dorthe Nors discusses her new novel Mirror Shoulder Signal, the story of forty-something Sonja who is looking for new directions in life while longing for the wild landscapes of her childhood.

Star baker turned writer Nadiya Hussain on her love of Edward Lear's poetry in The Book I'd Never Lend.

And we explore the mystery of the Icelandic Dracula - Makt Myranna or Powers of Darkness - with the novelist Sjon.

SUN 16:30 Poetry Please (b08fdp3w)
Parenting

Sally Phillips and Matt Harvey join Roger McGough to read poems about parenting. There are different takes on the subject from Hollie McNish, William Blake and Carol Ann Duffy. Producer Sally Heaven.

SUN 17:00 The Pull of Putin (b08dnryy)
Why do populist politicians across the West want warmer relations with Russia? Are they just Kremlin agents? Or are they tapping into a growing desire to find common cause with Moscow - and end East-West tension? Tim Whewell travels from Russia to America and across Europe to unravel the many different strands of pro-Moscow thinking, and offer a provocative analysis which challenges conventional thinking about the relationship between Russia and the West.

Donald Trump is just one of a new breed of Western politicians who want warmer relations with Vladimir Putin. Most Western experts say that's dangerous: an aggressive Russia is plotting to divide and weaken the West. But Trump and others seem to have tapped into a popular desire to reduce tension and discover what Moscow and the West have in common. Could Moscow now lead a "Conservative International", promoting traditional social values and national sovereignty around the world? On the right, some see Russia as a spiritual beacon. Others, both on the right and left, simply think the threat from the East is much exaggerated - and are warming to Russia as a protest against the Western establishment. Maybe it's time for a new way of understanding relations between the old superpowers.

SUN 17:40 Profile (b08f4vyf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]

SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b08fd9rr)
The latest shipping forecast.

SUN 17:57 Weather (b08fd9rv)
The latest weather forecast.

SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b08fd9ry)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (b08fd9s3)
James Walton

On Pick of the Week this week, James Walton has strong candidates for the world's worst house guest, the world's Frenchest Frenchman and the world's most outrageous comedian - although I'm not sure Dame Barbara Cartland quite saw herself that way.
There's also a naked heroine, memories of when jazz conquered Britain and a story of Mark Steel's biological parents that you might find even harder to believe than he did - although it is entirely and astonishingly true.

Presenter: James Walton
Producer: David James
Production support from Kay Bishton.

SUN 19:00 The Archers (b08fdp3y)
Jennifer wants to strike the right note, and Ruth enlists Carol's help.

SUN 19:15 Guilt Trip (b07mxt9d)
Episode 3

Comedy drama in which Felicity Montagu (Lynn in Alan Partridge and Mrs Mainwaring in the new Dad's Army film ) and her daughter (Olivia Nixon) play a mother and daughter doing a two week sponsored walk along The Thames Path to raise money for the dead father's charity. But the mother and father had been divorced for nine years and he had re-married, so relationships between them all have been strained. Things come to a head at any mention of the French Oak gable table Ros and her now dead ex bought together in Camden. This has somehow ended up in the step-mother's house, much to Ros's annoyance: "I mean she sits at it! It's my table and she sits at it." The series is co-written by Katherine Jakeways who also plays the step-mother.

It's day 10 of the walk and in this episode they spot a narrow boat that reminds Laura (Ros's daughter) of the Rosie and Jim boat she remembers from the children's TV show. But when the owner (Juliet Cowan) invites them aboard, it does not all go quite as they might have expected.

The producer was Jane Berthoud, it was a BBC Radio Comedy production.

SUN 19:45 The Poet and the Echo (b08fdphx)
Series 1, Tao Te Ching

5 writers choose 5 poems as inspiration for new stories.

Episode 5/5

The Between

Parted from her translator, a deaf student tries to find her way in a new country.

A reflective story inspired by Laozi's 'Tao Te Ching' by author and artist Louise Stern.

Credits

Writer ..... Louise Stern
Reader ..... Karen Bartke
Producer ..... Eilidh McCreadie

A BBC Scotland Production for BBC Radio 4.

SUN 20:00 Feedback (b08drk4x)
Time to re-think Russia?

Roger Bolton asks if journalists are stuck in cold war thinking about Russia, and discovers if Radio 4's interactive drama Hashtag Love was truly interactive.

Following National Security Advisor Michael Flynn's resignation this week and stories of alleged Russian involvement in the US elections, some listeners have suggested that reporting about Russia follows only one narrative line - presenting the country as enemy of the West. So are journalists sticking to a one-sided portrayal that sounds like cold war fear? Radio 4's documentary "The Pull of Putin aimed to present a broader range of perspectives from pro-Moscow voices, and many listeners found it to be expertly balanced and a refreshing insight. Presenter and producer Tim Whewell discusses whether western media needs to re-frame the relationship with Russia.

Meanwhile, some listeners say that one candidate in the French Presidential elections is dominating coverage - Marine Le Pen of France's National Front party. Is the BBC being influenced by controversial statements from populist parties? BBC Radio Newsroom editor Richard Clark responds.

And how often have you listened to radio drama and wanted to influence the characters' decisions? Radio 4 attempted to give listeners that opportunity with Hashtag Love. The interactive drama was staged live, incorporating reactions from social media and allowing the audience to influence the ending. Writer Peter Souter explains how he conducted the twists and turns of this live drama.

Presenter: Roger Bolton
Producer: Katherine Godfrey
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

SUN 20:30 Last Word (b08drk4v)
Al Jarreau, Betty Tebbs, Sir Peter Mansfield, Dame Jennifer Jenkins, Hans Rosling

Matthew Bannister on

Betty Tebbs who devoted her life to fighting for women's rights and nuclear disarmament.

Sir Peter Mansfield, the Nobel Prize winning physicist who led the development of MRI scanning.

Dame Jennifer Jenkins, chairwoman of the Consumers Association and the National Trust.

Hans Rosling the statistician known for his skill as a communicator who worked to end poverty.

Al Jarreau the versatile singer who won Grammy awards for jazz, pop and R&B.

SUN 21:00 Money Box (b08f4tb2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:04 on Saturday]

SUN 21:26 Radio 4 Appeal (b08fdhj1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:54 today]

SUN 21:30 Analysis (b08dnkh8)
Is Talent a Thing?

When hiring people, is the concept of talent so ill-defined as to be useless? Entrepreneur and author Margaret Heffernan thinks so and explores what characteristics recruiters might want to look for instead. She argues that we need something new, as good grades and top degrees have proved no guarantee of high performance in the workplace. She talks to the recent head of HR (or "people operations") at Google, the pioneer of the concept of a "growth mindset", and the academic who found people's intelligence increased over the course of the 20th century. She also hears about other measures like "grit", "cultural fit" and how to interview people to find the candidate who is best for the job and the company, rather than the one you like.
Producer: Arlene Gregorius.

SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (b08fd9sf)
Weekly political discussion and analysis with MPs, experts and commentators.

SUN 23:00 The Film Programme (b08dr93v)
John Waters

With Antonia Quirke.

Director and agent provocateur John Waters reveals why his straight-laced parents paid for one of the most outrageous movies in American film history, Multiple Maniacs.

First there was crowd funding and now there's crowd building. Antonia visits Newcastle's The Star And Shadow, which is being built by volunteers from the local community, who make up for in enthusiasm what they lack in experience.

Could you watch a whole movie where feet are the stars ? Andy Robinson has just made a film with no faces or voices or anything above the ankle. He discusses the challenges of keeping his camera and his feet on the ground.

SUN 23:30 Something Understood (b08fd9q1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:05 today]

MONDAY 20 FEBRUARY 2017

MON 00:00 Midnight News (b08fd9wf)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.

MON 00:15 Thinking Allowed (b08dnwrp)
Terrorism: does it work? - The 'Hotline'

Terrorism: does it ever work? Laurie Taylor talks to Richard English, Professor of Politics at Queen's University, Belfast and author of a historical study exploring the efficacy of political violence from the Provisional IRA to Hamas. They're joined by John Bew, Professor in History and Foreign Policy at Kings College, London.
Also, the origins and development of the 'hotline' . Claudia Aradou, Reader in International Politics at Kings College, London charts the chequered history of a form of communication which arose in the context of the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Cold War.
Producer: Jayne Egerton.

MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (b08fdfm6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:43 on Sunday]

MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b08fd9wh)
The latest shipping forecast.

MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b08fd9wk)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.

MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b08fd9wm)
The latest shipping forecast.

MON 05:30 News Briefing (b08fd9wp)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.

MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b08gk686)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Alison Murdoch.

MON 05:45 Farming Today (b08fd9wr)
UK sugar beet industry and farm animal welfare

The latest news about food, farming and the countryside. Presented by Sybil Ruscoe and produced by Alun Beach.

MON 05:56 Weather (b08fd9wt)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.

MON 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b02twnw4)
Herring Gull

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Steve Backshall presents the herring gull.

Herring gulls now regularly breed inland and that's because of the way we deal with our refuse. Since the Clean Air Acts of 1956 banned the burning of refuse at rubbish tips, the birds have been able to cash in on the food that we reject: And our throwaway society has provided them a varied menu. We've also built reservoirs around our towns on which they roost, and we've provided them with flat roofs which make perfect nest sites.

MON 06:00 Today (b08fd9ww)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.

MON 09:00 Start the Week (b08fd9wy)
Sidney Nolan: Life and Work

On Start the Week Andrew Marr talks to the poet Elaine Feinstein about her work from over half a century of writing, from her early poems of feminist rebellion to reflections on middle age and marriage, to wry amusement on the fallibility of memory. The curator Rebecca Daniels looks back at the life and work of one of Australia's most celebrated modern painters, Sidney Nolan, and challenges the audience to look beyond his early depictions of the outback and the outlaw Ned Kelly, to see a world artist. The theatre director Trevor Nunn finds the comedy in pitting idealistic Hamlet-esque youth against a wealthy businessman in his production of Rattigan's Love in Idleness. The composer Ryan Wigglesworth has produced a new operatic interpretation of The Winter's Tale, Shakespeare's study of love, loss and reconciliation.

Producer: Katy Hickman

IMAGE: A section of 'Myself' by Sidney Nolan, 1988.

MON 09:45 Book of the Week (b08dn2gj)
Deaths of the Poets, A Portable Shrine

What is the cost of poetry? Must poets be melancholic, doomed and self-destructive? Or is this just a myth? In our new Book of the Week, Michael Symmons Roberts and Paul Farley - both award winning poets themselves - explore that very question through a series of journeys across Britain, America and Europe.

From Sylvia Plath's desperate suicide in the gas oven of her Primrose Hill kitchen to John Berryman's leap from a bridge onto the frozen Mississippi, the deaths of poets have often cast a backward shadow on their work.

The post-Romantic myth of the dissolute drunken poet has fatally skewed the image of poets in our culture. Novelists can be stable, savvy, politically adept and in control, but poets should be melancholic, doomed and self-destructive. Is this just a myth, or is there some essential truth behind it: that great poems only come when a poet's life is pushed right to an emotional knife-edge of acceptability, safety, security?

Today the poets explore the lives - and tragic deaths - of Thomas Chatterton and Dylan Thomas.

Written and read by the authors
Abridged for radio by Lauris Morgan Griffiths
Produced by Simon Richardson.

MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (b08fd9x0)
Fearne Cotton

Fearne Cotton landed her first job presenting live TV at 15 years-old. Twenty years on, she has presented dozens of television programmes, presented the mid-morning show at Radio 1 for over five years and has had two children. Despite her achievements, Fearne's happiness has been precarious and in her book Happy, she explains why her "fast-paced, incautious" way of living has made her vulnerable to depression. She joins Jane to discuss her career and what inspired her practical guide to finding happiness.

Since January 2015 adult rape trials at Newcastle Crown Court have been observed by volunteer panellists trained to look at how complainants and witnesses are supported during the trials. Vera Baird QC, the Police and Crime Commissioner for Northumbria, set up the initiative and today releases "Seeing is believing" a report on 30 rape trials. She joins Jane to discuss the key findings and recommendations.

An interview from the Woman's Hour Archive - A day in the life of local female Police Officer, Carol Price, in Shurdington, a village in Gloucestershire in May, 1985. The first feature in a week long series on women in the Police Force.

Tanita Tikaram was once called 'the bard of Basingstoke' - indeed you might remember her 1988 hit 'Twist in My Sobriety' with its deep and dark vocals. She released her debut album at the tender age of 19 and now, almost thirty years later, is back with her 9th studio album 'Closer to the People.' She talks about her varied career and performs live in the studio.

Presenter: Jane Garvey
Producer: Kirsty Starkey.

MON 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b08fdwfh)
44 Scotland Street, Episode 1

44 Scotland Street: Series 4
written & dramatized by Alexander McCall Smith

Edinburgh's Georgian New Town is the setting for the quirky tales and 'goings on' of Alexander McCall Smith's much loved characters that feature in his bestselling series of books, 44 Scotland Street.

Bertie Pollok, Edinburgh's most hot housed seven year-old receives a rare respite from his weekly Italian, yoga and psychotherapy sessions. Could it be that his ambitious mother Irene is otherwise engaged? There's also constitutional trouble brewing at the Association of Scottish Nudists, and café owner, Big Lou's romantic life is in danger of hitting a discordant note.

Episode One
Someone is looking for a thorn free zone, meanwhile Irene Pollok's creativity reaps rewards.

Producer/director: David Ian Neville.

MON 11:00 The English Fix (b08fdwfq)
Series 1, The Common Market in the Garden of England

Writer on Englishness Patrick Wright explores how our sense of England responds when people feel threatened by outside forces.

In this episode, he visits Kent, the 'Garden of England'.

Patrick lived in Kent in the 1970s, when two new' threats' encroached on people's lives. In this programme he explores how people interpreted these new developments, how they responded - and what all that tells us about how we think of 'England'.

The first 1970s intruder was the juggernaut - huge lorries hammering through tiny villages on their way to the ports and the Continent. Patrick meets campaigners whose lives in the quiet village of Bridge were blighted by the juggernauts, and finds out how they blocked the A2 in a bid to have a bypass built. And he talks to a playwright and actor about the play they staged about all this.

The campaign for a bypass was successful. But how much did all this really have to do with Europe?

Patrick also explores how the UK's admission to the Common Market affected the Kent orchards, visiting a farmer who remembers the impact on his father's apple-growing business, and the National Fruit Collection in Brogdale.

And he talks to local people, including the editor and senior reporter of a local newspaper in Sheerness, about how the sense of Englishness that emerged in the 1970s in response to our EEC membership may ultimately have shaped the vote for Brexit.

Finally, he talks to the National Trust, who responded with striking speed to Brexit by heralding an opportunity to recapture long-marginalised aspects of England's distinctive landscape.

So, Patrick asks, does Brexit offer a liberation for Englishness, or the loss of a way to define itself - at least until another apparent threat encroaches?

Producer: Phil Tinline.

MON 11:30 Chain Reaction (b08fdwfs)
Series 12, Joe Lycett Interviews Katherine Ryan

After being interrogated last week by Sara Cox, Joe Lycett turns interviewer and invites his chosen guest Katherine Ryan into the Chain Reaction hotseat.

Chain Reaction is the talk show with a twist where one week's interviewee becomes the next week's interviewer. John Cleese was first in the hot seat back in 1991 and since then, a procession of big names from the world of comedy and entertainment including Jennifer Saunders, Jarvis Cocker and Eddie Izzard have helped continue the chain.

Joe Lycett is a stand-up comedian who some know as "the parking fine man" from 8 out of 10 Cats Does Countdown while others celebrate him for any number of acclaimed live tours and festival shows that have delighted the British comedy viewing public in recent years.

Joe's chosen guest is Katherine Ryan, the Canadian stand-up star and presenter who is perhaps best known for her live stand-up work - 'Glam Role Model' and 'Kathbum' - as well as appearances on BBC2's Episodes and Taskmaster on Dave. Katherine fields questions on subjects as varied as being compared to Joan Rivers and the secret of happiness, all via a mini-detour to address her hatred of bread.

Producer: Richard Morris
A BBC Studios Production.

MON 12:00 News Summary (b08fd9x2)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

MON 12:04 Witness (b08fww30)
Tilikum the Orca

On February 20th 1991 a performing killer whale at a water park in Canada drowned one of its trainers. Rebecca Kesby has been speaking to two people close to the story of Tilikum the orca.

MON 12:15 You and Yours (b08fd9x4)
DIY weddings, Social care, Arriva Trains fines

Consumer affairs programme.

MON 12:57 Weather (b08fd9x6)
The latest weather forecast.

MON 13:00 World at One (b08fd9x8)
Analysis of news and current affairs.

MON 13:45 The Untold (b08fr634)
Missing: Episode 1

At the beginning of November, an advert appeared on the lost and found section of a well-known website. Amongst the pictures of misplaced iPads, recovered wedding rings and lost drones, was a photo of a smiling young man, holding a new-born baby. 'Father and partner missing', it said.

Zack's in his late 20s. He has bipolar disorder. On medication, he has it mostly under control. He and his girlfriend Kirsty had just moved into a new flat and become proud parents of their first child together. Life, they thought, was good.

But one day in early November, on their five year anniversary and when the baby was just 5 weeks old, Zack left for work and never came home.

His decision to go appeared meticulously planned. He had disappeared without trace.

In a special, serialised version of The Untold, Grace Dent presents the story of a girlfriend turned sleuth, and her hunt for the truth. It's a search which takes her across the country. The police tell Kirsty that he's safe and well. She doesn't believe them. Her family try to warn her off the search. She ignores them. She hears news that he's working and has started a new life. She finds he has been gambling. She receives texts from him claiming he's lost his memory. Is he playing her, or does he need her help?

Over the past three months The Untold has recorded with Kirsty and her family as they make unsettling discoveries about his disappearance, and find out the truth as to why he went. It's something that will test her love for him and her understanding of his mental illness.

Producer: Georgia Catt.

MON 14:00 The Archers (b08fdp3y)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Sunday]

MON 14:15 Drama (b08fdwy0)
What Will Survive

Kate and Ash are grieving the loss of their mothers. Ash lost his mum six months ago and is struggling to come to terms with her death. When Kate's mum Ruth is rushed to hospital and abruptly snatched away from them the family are thrown into the turmoil of grief all over again. As both Ash and Kate deal with the personal and emotional repercussions of each loss and the tortuous and unfamiliar logistics of hospitals, inquests and funeral arrangements alongside maintaining a job, a family life and looking after their children Jack and Alfie, the stress begins to take its toll on their relationship. What at first seems to bond them - the shared experience of losing their mothers - begins to drive a wedge between them, and ultimately, threatens to tear them apart.

A powerful new drama from Morwenna Banks starring Rebecca Front as Kate and Ramon Tikaram as Ash. Morwenna won the Tinniswood award in 2015 for her debut radio drama 'Goodbye', the story of two friends, one of whom is diagnosed with breast cancer, which also inspired her film 'Miss You Already' starring Toni Colette and Drew Barrymore. Well-known for co-writing and appearing in Channel 4's cult comedy sketch show 'Absolutely,' Morwenna has appeared in numerous television comedies, dramas and films and recently co-wrote the series 'Damned' with Jo Brand.

MON 15:00 Brain of Britain (b08fdwy2)
Heat 5, 2017

(5/17)
What's the current name of the country formerly known as South West Africa? Which famous theatrical partnership wrote the musical 'Allegro'? Who is the shortest-serving British Prime Minister of the last 100 years?

If the competitors in today's fifth heat of Brain of Britain can answer these questions they may stand a fighting chance of a semi-final place in this year's tournament. Russell Davies is in the chair with the unpredictable and challenging general knowledge questions for which the quiz is renowned. Even the most seasoned of quiz contestants can slip up...

There'll also be a chance, as always, for a listener to stump the contestants with questions of his or her own devising, and win a prize for doing so.

Producer Paul Bajoria.

MON 15:30 Food Programme (b08fdhjv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:32 on Sunday]

MON 16:00 Writing a New Caribbean (b08fdx02)
Under the Surface

A picture of the Caribbean, as seen by a new generation of writers and poets.

In programme 1, Elisha Efua Bartels talks to Trinidadian writers Sharon Millar, Elizabeth Walcott-Hackshaw, and Andre Bagoo about the sense of place in their work.

For Sharon Millar, author of the short story collection 'The Whale House', the landscape and colour of Trinidad is always the anchor, and she often explores the cultural interaction and foot traffic between the island and Venezuela, only 7 miles away. Elizabeth Walcott-Hackshaw delves under the surface of Trinidadian society in her novel 'Mrs B', set during the 1990 coup in Port of Spain and inspired by Flaubert's 'Madame Bovary'. In Andre Bagoo's poetry, locations in the city become symbolic of the state of the nation, both in their beauty and disgrace.

Elisha looks at the ways in which these writers capture Trinidadian landscapes and cityscapes in their work, and how they address what lies beneath.

Featuring readings from:
Elizabeth Walcott-Hackshaw - 'Mrs B', Peepal Tree Press
Sharon Millar - 'The Whale House', Peepal Tree Press
Andre Bagoo - 'Burn', Shearsman Books
Elisha Efua Bartels - 'Woman is Boss' from 'Trinidad Noir' - Akashic Books
Sonia Farmer - 'The Best Estimation in the World'.

MON 16:30 The Infinite Monkey Cage (b08ff17c)
Series 15, Making the Invisible Visible

Making the Invisible, Visible
Brian Cox and Robin Ince are joined by comedian Katy Brand, Cosmologist Prof Carlos Frenk, and biologist Prof Matthew Cobb to discover how to make the seemingly invisible, visible. They look at how the history and development of the telescope and the microscope have allowed us to look at the impossibly big to the seemingly impossibly small, to gain insight into the history of our universe and the inner workings of the human body. They look at how radio and space telescopes have allowed us to look back in time and "see" the big bang, and understand the age and content of the early universe, and how space telescopes have thrown light on the mysterious substance known as dark matter. They also look at the way microscopes and new biological techniques have allowed us to understand the seemingly invisible processes going on inside our cells. They also ask what, if anything, will always remain invisible to us - are there some processes or concepts that are impossible for us to "see".

Producer: Alexandra Feachem.

MON 17:00 PM (b08fd9xc)
Coverage and analysis of the day's news.

MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b08fd9xf)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

MON 18:30 Just a Minute (b08ff17k)
Series 77, Episode 1

Just A Minute is 50 years old this year! Nicholas Parsons has been hosting since day one, and kicks off the first episode of the new series with a cracking line-up: Paul Merton, Josie Lawrence, Zoe Lyons and Graham Norton.

The panel have to talk on a given subject for sixty seconds without repetition, hesitation or deviation. How much does Zoe know about Anne Boleyn? Has Graham ever used the phrase "Don't you know who I am?"? What can Josie tell us about dust sheets, and what does Paul consider the 8th Wonder of the World? Plus - spoiler alert - someone speaks for a full minute without interruption - but who?? Tune in to find out!

Hayley Sterling blows the whistle and it was produced by Matt Stronge.

Just A Minute is a BBC Studios production.

MON 19:00 The Archers (b08ff17w)
Eddie goes a step too far, and Harrison tries to drum up support.

MON 19:15 Front Row (b08fd9xh)
Arts news, interviews and reviews.

MON 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b08fdwfh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]

MON 20:00 The Philosopher's Arms (b08ff180)
Series 6, Cake or Biscuit?

Is a Jaffa Cake a cake or a biscuit? A tough question for Matthew Sweet and the drinkers at The Philosopher's Arms, a pub offering both beer and philosophy. Among those helping him resolve this important conundrum are a Cambridge professor of philosophy and a former winner of the Great British Bake Off, who will be turning up in the pub with a very large, and possibly quite tasty, Jaffa Cake.
Producer: David Edmonds.

MON 20:30 Analysis (b08ff18d)
How Voters Decide: Part One

What does the story of the Downing Street cat reveal about the way voters decide? We are not taught how to vote. We rely on intuition, snap judgments and class prejudice. We vote for policies that clash wildly with our own views. We keep picking the same party rather than admit we were wrong in the past.

Rosie Campbell, Professor of Politics at Birkbeck University, sets out to become a rational voter. Class and religion have a huge impact. But our political views have become less polarised even as the parties have moved further apart. Rosie asks whether discussions of "left" and "right" have become irrelevant. In a neuropolitics lab Rosie undergoes tests to uncover her implicit biases. She learns that hope and anger blind her to the truth - but that anxiety makes her decisions more rational.

Producer: Hannah Sander.

MON 21:00 The Rise of the Robots (b08dnr3r)
Series 1, More human than human

Robots are becoming present in our lives, as companions, carers and as workers. Adam Rutherford explores our relationship with these machines. Have we made them to be merely more dextrous versions of us? Why do we want to make replicas of ourselves? Should we be worried that they could replace us at work? Is it a good idea that robots are becoming carers for the elderly?

Adam Rutherford meets some of the latest robots and their researchers and explores how the current reality has been influenced by fictional robots from films. He discusses the need for robots to be human like with Dr Ben Russell, curator of the current exhibition of robots at the Science Museum in London. In the Bristol Robotics Laboratory Adam meets Pepper, a robot that is being programmed to look after the elderly by Professor Praminda Caleb-Solly. He also interacts with Kaspar, a robot that Professor Kerstin Dautenhahn at the University of Hertfordshire has developed to help children with autism learn how to communicate better.

Cultural commentator Matthew Sweet considers the role of robots in films from Robbie in Forbidden Planet to the replicants in Blade Runner. Dr Kate Devlin of Goldsmiths, University of London, talks about sex robots, in the past and now. And Alan Winfield, Professor of Robot Ethics at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory, looks ahead to a future when robots may be taking jobs from us.

MON 21:30 Start the Week (b08fd9wy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]

MON 21:58 Weather (b08fd9xk)
The latest weather forecast.

MON 22:00 The World Tonight (b08fd9xm)
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.

MON 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b08ff18j)
The Underground Railroad, Episode 1

Clarke Peters (The Wire, Treme) reads The Underground Railroad, the new novel by Colson Whitehead. This brilliant and at times brutal novel about the history of slavery and racism in America won the US National Book Award for Fiction in 2016.

"What if the underground railroad was a literal railroad? And what if each state, as a runaway slave was going north, was a different state of American possibility, an alternative America?"

Whitehead's inventive novel follows Cora and Caesar as they escape from a Georgia slave plantation and run north in pursuit of freedom, aided by the stationmasters and conductors of the Underground Railroad.

Produced by Mair Bosworth
Abridged by Sara Davies
Read by Clarke Peters.

MON 23:00 Word of Mouth (b08dnrqd)
Intonation: The Music of Speaking

Michael Rosen and Laura Wright explore the tunes we sing when we are speaking - without even realising it. Sound artist John Wynne extracts the melodies to play in the studio and Sam Hellmuth explains what we use intonation for.
Producer Beth O'Dea.

MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (b08ff18q)
Susan Hulme reports from Westminster.

TUESDAY 21 FEBRUARY 2017

TUE 00:00 Midnight News (b08fd9z9)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.

TUE 00:30 Book of the Week (b08dn2gj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Monday]

TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b08fd9zc)
The latest shipping forecast.

TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b08fd9zf)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.

TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b08fd9zh)
The latest shipping forecast.

TUE 05:30 News Briefing (b08fd9zk)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.

TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b08gcp1w)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Alison Murdoch.

TUE 05:45 Farming Today (b08fd9zm)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside. Presented by Anna Hill and produced by Sally Challoner.

TUE 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b02ty530)
Lesser Black-backed Gull

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Steve Backshall presents the lesser black-backed gull.

These smart gulls are charcoal grey on top and white beneath. Like herring gulls, their close relatives LBBs have moved into urban areas and now breed on flat roofs in the centre of cities. It seems almost any flat surface will do. In just three hours, one bird in Gloucester built a nest on a car roof and laid an egg in.

TUE 06:00 Today (b08g4d72)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Yesterday in Parliament, Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.

TUE 09:00 The Life Scientific (b08ffv2l)
Alan Winfield on robots

Should we build robots with morality? Could a robot learn how to lie to us? Alan Winfield, professor of Robot Ethics in Bristol, discusses these thorny issues with Jim Al-Khalili.

TUE 09:30 One to One (b08ffv2n)
Lucy Mangan on Responsibility

Lucy Mangan feels she avoids responsibility whenever possible. She has cats instead of dogs because she can't face a needy pet; she only has one child which is 'more than enough'. But she's always been fascinated by those who run towards responsibility rather than away from it. She talks to Bea Harvie, a post-graduate student, whose father got ill when she was thirteen. Bea chose to take on a lot of caring duties towards her younger siblings while her Mother was busy caring for her Father. She describes the experience as something she just got on with, and reveals that it also was a useful distraction from dealing with her own feelings about her Dad's illness. Until one day when she was sixteen and it all caught up with her. She says its like shaking up a bottle of fizzy pop: ' it's got to come out some way.'.

TUE 09:45 Book of the Week (b08dnr3l)
Deaths of the Poets, The Names of the Bridges

What is the cost of poetry? Must poets be melancholic, doomed and self-destructive? Or is this just a myth? In our new Book of the Week, Michael Symmons Roberts and Paul Farley - both award winning poets themselves - explore that very question through a series of journeys across Britain, America and Europe.

From Thomas Chatterton's Pre-Raphaelite demise to Dylan Thomas's eighteen straight whiskies, the deaths of poets have often cast a backward shadow on their work.

The post-Romantic myth of the dissolute drunken poet - exemplified by Thomas and made iconic by his death in New York - has fatally skewed the image of poets in our culture. Novelists can be stable, savvy, politically adept and in control, but poets should be melancholic, doomed and self-destructive. Is this just a myth, or is there some essential truth behind it: that great poems only come when a poet's life is pushed right to an emotional knife-edge of acceptability, safety, security?

Today the poets explore the lives - and suicides - of John Berryman and Sylvia Plath.

Written and read by the authors
Abridged for radio by Lauris Morgan Griffiths
Produced by Simon Richardson.

TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (b08fd9zp)
Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.

TUE 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b08ffv2s)
44 Scotland Street, Episode 2

44 SCOTLAND STREET:
Written and dramatised by Alexander McCall Smith

Edinburgh's Georgian New Town is the setting for the quirky tales and 'goings on' of Alexander McCall Smith's much loved characters that feature in his bestselling series of books, 44 Scotland Street.
Bertie Pollok, Edinburgh's most hot housed seven year-old receives a rare respite from his weekly Italian, yoga and psychotherapy sessions. Could it be that his ambitious mother Irene is otherwise engaged? There's also constitutional trouble brewing at the Scottish Association of Nudists, and café owner, Big Lou's romantic life is in danger of hitting a discordant note.

Episode Two
Young Bertie decides on drastic imaginative action to keep his psychotherapist happy.

Producer/director: David Ian Neville.

TUE 11:00 The Rise of the Robots (b08ffv2v)
Series 1, Where is my mind?

From HAL in the spaceship in 2001, to The Matrix and the disembodied voice in Her, artificial intelligences pervade our cinematic experiences. But AI s are already in the real world, answering our questions on our phones and making diagnoses about our health. Adam Rutherford asks if we are ready for AI, when fiction becomes reality, and we create thinking machines.

TUE 11:30 Jazzed Up: How Jazz Changed Britain (b08ffv2x)
A century after the first jazz recordings, how has jazz has been received in the UK?

Episode 2: Kevin Le Gendre continues his exploration and looks at the influence of the visits of Duke Ellington before and after World War Two.

Producer Harry Parker.

TUE 12:00 News Summary (b08fd9zr)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

TUE 12:04 Witness (b08fww9v)
Sexual Harassment in India

It's nearly thirty years since the first time a case of sexual harassment was brought to court in India. It became headline news and divided the country because the accused was a senior policeman, celebrated for fighting militants. Claire Bowes has been speaking to the plaintiff, Rupan Deol Bajaj, about the incident she just couldn't ignore.

TUE 12:15 You and Yours (b08fd9zt)
Call You and Yours

Consumer phone-in.

TUE 12:57 Weather (b08fd9zw)
The latest weather forecast.

TUE 13:00 World at One (b08fd9zy)
Analysis of news and current affairs.

TUE 13:45 The Untold (b08fy5vz)
Missing: Episode 2

At the beginning of November, an advert appeared on the lost and found section of a well-known website. Amongst the pictures of misplaced iPads, recovered wedding rings and lost drones, was a photo of a smiling young man, holding a new-born baby. 'Father and partner missing', it said.

Zack's in his late 20s. He has bipolar disorder. On medication, he has it mostly under control. He and his girlfriend Kirsty had just moved into a new flat and become proud parents of their first child together. Life, they thought, was good.

But one day in early November, on their five year anniversary and when the baby was just 5 weeks old, Zack left for work and never came home.

His decision to go appeared meticulously planned. He had disappeared without trace.

In a special, serialised version of The Untold, Grace Dent presents the story of a girlfriend turned sleuth, and her hunt for the truth. It's a search which takes her across the country. The police tell Kirsty that he's safe and well. She doesn't believe them. Her family try to warn her off the search. She ignores them. She hears news that he's working and has started a new life. She finds he has been gambling. She receives texts from him claiming he's lost his memory. Is he playing her, or does he need her help?

Over the past three months The Untold has recorded with Kirsty and her family as they make unsettling discoveries about his disappearance, and find out the truth as to why he went. It's something that will test her love for him and her understanding of his mental illness.

Producer: Georgia Catt.

TUE 14:00 The Archers (b08ff17w)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Monday]

TUE 14:15 Drama (b0608dvt)
A World Elsewhere

A WORLD ELSEWHERE
by Clara Glynn

Rida is a Glasgow teenager. Like a lot of teenagers she argues with her mum, stresses about exams and spends too long on her computer. But as a young Muslim the pressures that she faces in her life, and the escape that she dreams of online, may contain dangers she has yet to imagine.

This innovative radio drama all takes place in Rida's online world - the place where she feels she can most be herself. We listen to the YouTube clips she finds, her instant messaging with friends and the bloggers she reads.

A WORLD ELSEWHERE is a sensitive portrayal of one girl's path to radicalisation.

All other parts played by members of the cast.

Producer/director: David Ian Neville.

TUE 15:00 Short Cuts (b08ffv86)
Series 11, Hope Dies Last

Josie Long hears stories of hope found amidst the darkness - tales of love letters, hope on the water and the man who has steered 28,000 people safely to shore across treacherous waters from the end of a phone line.

"I must admit I'm deeply impressed by people who step out and do something and say something... whatever dreaming they would do it. A Mexican farm worker Jessie De La Cruz said, 'we have a saying in Spanish, when things look bleak, esperanzas mueren al ultimo. Hope dies last.'" - Studs Terkel

The features in this programme are:

Dear John
Featuring Pam and John Redman
Produced by Andrea Rangecroft

Bird in the Breath and Other Hopeful Cargo
Produced by Stephanie Rowden and Jennifer Metsker

Send Me Your Location
Featuring Dr Ahmad Terkawi
Produced by Andrea Rangecroft

Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4.

TUE 15:30 Costing the Earth (b08ffv88)
Black Gold in Paradise

Yasuni National Park in Ecuador is widely recognised as the most biodiverse place on earth. Around 10% of all known life forms can be found within a few hundred acres of this part of the Amazon rainforest. Yet the forest sits on top of thousands of barrels of crude oil and the Ecuadorian government has now given the go-ahead for drilling. Tom Heap finds out what is at stake and asks why the Ecuadorian government which has one of the greenest constitutions in the world has decided to exploit the reserves.

Producer: Helen Lennard.

TUE 16:00 Word of Mouth (b08ffvp6)
Emoji: The Future of Language?

Is emoji really the world's fastest growing language? (And can it really be said to be a language at all?) Who gets to decide which pictograms get added to the official set of emoji? Do they clarify the meaning of written language or are they dangerously open to misinterpretation? And why did the aubergine emoji get banned from some social media platforms?

Michael Rosen and Dr Laura Wright are joined by Professor Vyv Evans to talk all things emoji.

Producer: Mair Bosworth.

TUE 16:30 A Good Read (b08ffvp8)
Murray Lachlan Young and Deborah Frances-White

Harriett Gilbert talks to poet Murray Lachlan Young & 'Guilty Feminist' podcaster Deborah Frances-White about good reads. Under discussion are Goodbye to All That by Robert Graves, A Petrol Scented Spring by Ajay Close, and Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison. The books spark some fiery discussion about gender and race. Producer Sally Heaven.

TUE 17:00 PM (b08fdb00)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.

TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b08fdb02)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

TUE 18:30 Mark Watson Talks a Bit About Life (b04lq2lx)
Series 1, Health and Beauty

A new series from multi-award winning comic Mark Watson where he attempts to answer the big questions and make sense of life, nimbly assisted by Tim Key and Tom Basden.

Mark and his two henchmen tackle academic and abstract topics. Themes will be examined from every angle, torn apart, laughed at and put back together again in an effort to understand ourselves and the world around us, and make it a slightly better place using stand-up, poetry, songs and dippy interactions.

This week Mark looks at "Health & Beauty". Our world is full of people telling us how to be healthier and more attractive. But how can we tell if we are well, both mentally and physically? Does living more healthily lead to better mental health, or not so much because you have to eat stuff like cabbage and you wish you were dead? At the same time many people claim to be beautiful, but does beauty really matter or is it, as the popular saying goes, in the eye of the beholder?

Why is it so hard to get to the bottom of what will make us look and feel good, and will this eternal quest ever end?

Mark Watson is a multi-award winning comedian - his awards include the inaugural If.Comedy Panel Prize 2006. He is assisted by Tim Key, winner of an Edinburgh Comedy Award in 2009, and Tom Basden who won the the If.Comedy Award for Best Newcomer in 2007.

Written and performed by Mark Watson, Tim Key and Tom Basden

Produced by Lianne Coop
An Impatient production for BBC Radio 4.

TUE 19:00 The Archers (b08fggx1)
Roy is taken by surprise, and Lilian uses her contacts.

TUE 19:15 Front Row (b08fdb04)
Arts news, interviews and reviews.

TUE 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b08ffv2s)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]

TUE 20:00 File on 4 (b08bzpb7)
Outclassed: The Kids Excluded from School

Over 300,000 children were excluded from school in England and Wales last year - almost 6 thousand of them permanently.

Many of these children will end up in "alternative provision", sometimes known as pupil referral units (PRUs) - schools for kids that the mainstream can't handle.

But five years on from the Taylor Review, a report that found 'a flawed system' that failed to provide good education and accountability for 'some of the most vulnerable children in the country' - has anything really changed?

File on 4 hears allegations of a system under pressure; of illegal exclusions, 'missing kids' and how some schools are controversially manipulating league tables through 'managed moves'.

We also hear from whistle-blowers from one school who claim an overburdened system and a rise of referrals of kids with extreme and complex needs have led to an increase in the use of physical restraint to manage escalating violent behaviour in classrooms."

Reporter: Adrian Goldberg
Producer: Alys Harte.

TUE 20:40 In Touch (b08fdb06)
News, views and information for people who are blind or partially sighted.

TUE 21:00 Inside Health (b08ffvxp)
Dr Mark Porter presents a series that aims to demystify perplexing health issues.

TUE 21:30 The Life Scientific (b08ffv2l)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]

TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (b08fdb08)
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.

TUE 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b08ffvxr)
The Underground Railroad, Episode 2

Clarke Peters (The Wire, Treme) reads The Underground Railroad, the new novel by Colson Whitehead. This brilliant and at times brutal novel about the history of slavery and racism in America won the US National Book Award for Fiction in 2016.

"What if the underground railroad was a literal railroad? And what if each state, as a runaway slave was going north, was a different state of American possibility, an alternative America?"

Whitehead's inventive novel follows Cora and Caesar as they escape from a Georgia slave plantation and run north in pursuit of freedom, aided by the stationmasters and conductors of the Underground Railroad.

Produced by Mair Bosworth
Abridged by Sara Davies
Read by Clarke Peters.

TUE 23:00 The Infinite Monkey Cage (b08ff17c)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:30 on Monday]

TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (b08gcpdc)
Sean Curran reports from Westminster.

WEDNESDAY 22 FEBRUARY 2017

WED 00:00 Midnight News (b08fdb2g)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.

WED 00:30 Book of the Week (b08dnr3l)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Tuesday]

WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b08fdb2j)
The latest shipping forecast.

WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b08fdb2l)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.

WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b08fdb2n)
The latest shipping forecast.

WED 05:30 News Briefing (b08fdb2q)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.

WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b08gyfb4)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Alison Murdoch.

WED 05:45 Farming Today (b08fdb2s)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside. Presented by Anna Hill and produced by Sally Challoner.

WED 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b0378t4y)
Great Black-backed Gull

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs.

Michaela Strachan presents the great black-backed gull. These gulls are the largest in the world. They are quite common around our coasts and you can see them in summer perched on a crag watching for any signs of danger or potential prey. Although they are scavengers Great Black-Backs will attack and kill other birds.

WED 06:00 Today (b08fgd4b)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Yesterday in Parliament, Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.

WED 09:00 Midweek (b08fdb2v)
Lively and diverse conversation with Libby Purves and guests.

WED 09:45 Book of the Week (b08dnsn6)
Deaths of the Poets, Poet Interrupted

What is the cost of poetry? Must poets be melancholic, doomed and self-destructive? Or is this just a myth? In our new Book of the Week, Michael Symmons Roberts and Paul Farley - both award winning poets themselves - explore that very question through a series of journeys across Britain, America and Europe.

From Chatterton's Pre-Raphaelite demise to Dylan Thomas's eighteen straight whiskies and Sylvia Plath's desperate suicide in the gas oven of her Primrose Hill kitchen or John Berryman's leap from a bridge onto the frozen Mississippi, the deaths of poets have often cast a backward shadow on their work.

The post-Romantic myth of the dissolute drunken poet - exemplified by Thomas and made iconic by his death in New York - has fatally skewed the image of poets in our culture. Novelists can be stable, savvy, politically adept and in control, but poets should be melancholic, doomed and self-destructive. Is this just a myth, or is there some essential truth behind it: that great poems only come when a poet's life is pushed right to an emotional knife-edge of acceptability, safety, security?

Today the poets explore the lives - and deaths - of Stevie Smith and Louis MacNeice.

Written and read by the authors
Abridged for radio by Lauris Morgan Griffiths
Produced by Simon Richardson.

WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (b08fdb2x)
Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.

WED 10:41 15 Minute Drama (b08fgdqg)
44 Scotland Street, Episode 3

44 SCOTLAND STREET:
Written and dramatised by Alexander MacCall Smith

Edinburgh's Georgian New Town is the setting for the quirky tales and 'goings on' of Alexander McCall Smith's much loved characters that feature in his bestselling series of books, 44 Scotland Street.

Bertie Pollok, Edinburgh's most hot housed seven year-old receives a rare respite from his weekly Italian, yoga and psychotherapy sessions. Could it be that his ambitious mother Irene is otherwise engaged? There's also constitutional trouble brewing at the Scottish Association of Nudists, and café owner, Big Lou's romantic life is in danger of hitting a discordant note.

Episode Three
Unexpected travel and adventures are in store for Irene Pollok, while husband Stuart let's Bertie have a few treats.

Producer/director: David Ian Neville.

WED 10:55 The Listening Project (b08fgdqj)
Michael and Shrivatsa - 50 Years of Yearning (in 5 Minutes)

Fi Glover introduces a conversations between members of a film-making club who bring WB Yeats and more to their holiday videos. 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 The Philosopher's Arms (b08ff180)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Monday]

WED 11:30 Simon Evans Goes to Market (b044j94d)
Series 1, Gold

How do you make economics funny? How do you put the comedy in commodity? Simon Evans has the answer in this new series which asks us to get involved in investment.

Rather than being cowed by an apparently complicated and overwhelming system, Simon jumps right in. He takes as his focus four commodities which are so intrinsic to our lives they have an almost elemental significance - land, gold, oil and grain. Yet, despite the fact we encounter them everywhere we look, very few people have been able to build a fortune on them.

All that's about to change as, Simon enlists help from the experts. Each week he will be joined by Tim Harford, Merryn Somerset Webb and a guest specialist as they examine the chequered social and economic histories of these commodities. By looking at four such fundamental products, Simon brings us to a closer understanding of how global economic forces have a far-reaching and often surprising impact on our lives.

In this episode, Simon looks at why we buy and sell gold all around the world. When did that begin? Why do we continue now we have paper money?

Performed by ..... Simon Evans, with regular guests Tim Harford and Merryn Somerset-Webb, and to talk about the trade in gold, Dominic frisby.

Written by ..... Simon Evans with Benjamin Partridge, Guy Venables and Andy Wolton

Producer ..... Tilusha Ghelani.

WED 12:00 News Summary (b08fdb2z)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

WED 12:04 Witness (b08fwwty)
The End of Apartheid

Series looking at key events in history, featuring archive accounts from the people who were there.

WED 12:15 You and Yours (b08fdb31)
Consumer affairs programme.

WED 12:57 Weather (b08fdb33)
The latest weather forecast.

WED 13:00 World at One (b08fdb35)
Analysis of news and current affairs.

WED 13:45 The Untold (b08fy5ym)
Missing: Episode 3

At the beginning of November, an advert appeared on the lost and found section of a well-known website. Amongst the pictures of misplaced iPads, recovered wedding rings and lost drones, was a photo of a smiling young man, holding a new-born baby. 'Father and partner missing', it said.

Zack's in his late 20s. He has bipolar disorder. On medication, he has it mostly under control. He and his girlfriend Kirsty had just moved into a new flat and become proud parents of their first child together. Life, they thought, was good.

But one day in early November, on their five year anniversary and when the baby was just 5 weeks old, Zack left for work and never came home.

His decision to go appeared meticulously planned. He had disappeared without trace.

This is the story of a girlfriend turned sleuth, and her hunt for the truth. It's a search which takes her across the country. The police tell Kirsty that he's safe and well. She doesn't believe them. Her family try to warn her off the search. She ignores them. She hears news that he's working and has started a new life. She finds he has been gambling. She receives texts from him claiming he's lost his memory. Is he playing her, or does he need her help?

Over the past three months The Untold has recorded with Kirsty and her family as they make unsettling discoveries about his disappearance, and find out the truth as to why he went. It's something that will test her love for him and her understanding of his mental illness.

Producer: Georgia Catt.

WED 14:00 The Archers (b08fggx1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Tuesday]

WED 14:15 Drama (b08fgh8r)
A World Elsewhere: The Return

A World Elsewhere: The Return
By Clara Glynn

Rida, a Glasgow Asian teenager, was radicalised on the internet and travelled to Syria. Now eighteen months later she has returned and been arrested at Glasgow Airport. This drama explores what happens to Rida next. Will she be charged? Will she receive a custodial sentence? Whatever happens how will she deal with the past and what kind of future can she expect?

Producer/director: David Ian Neville.

WED 15:00 Money Box (b08fgvll)
Money Box Live: Self-employment and disability

Financial phone-in.

WED 15:30 Inside Health (b08ffvxp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Tuesday]

WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (b08fgvln)
Sociological discussion programme, presented by Laurie Taylor.

WED 16:30 The Media Show (b08fdb37)
Topical programme about the fast-changing media world.

WED 17:00 PM (b08fdb39)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.

WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b08fdb3c)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

WED 18:30 It's Jocelyn (b08fgw6f)
Series 2, Dumped

It's Jocelyn returns for a second series of sketches and stand-up from the wonderful mind of Jocelyn Jee Esien.

In episode one, Jocelyn talks about a break-up, a flirty dentist crosses the line and a street magician shows off his skills to the public.
This series Jocelyn is joined by Paul Whitehouse as a cockney funeral director, as well as the vocal talents of Ninia Benjamin, Curtis Walker, Dee Kaate, Gavi Chera and Karen Bartke.

The producer is Suzy Grant and It's Jocelyn is a BBC Studios production.

WED 19:00 The Archers (b08fgw6k)
Kenton enacts his scheme, and Harrison has his work cut out.

WED 19:15 Front Row (b08fdb3h)
Arts news, interviews and reviews.

WED 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b08fgdqg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:41 today]

WED 20:00 Moral Maze (b08fgw6p)
Combative, provocative and engaging debate chaired by Michael Buerk. With Melanie Phillips, Michael Portillo, Matthew Taylor and Claire Fox.

WED 20:45 Four Thought (b08fgwyn)
Capturing Moonlight

Astrid Alben explains how only art and science together can help us appreciate complicated phenomena like moonlight.

Astrid is a poet and founder of the arts and science organisation, the PARS Foundation. In this meditative talk, she explains how bridging the artificial divide between science and the arts leads to a greater understanding of concepts as varied as moonlight, laughter and elasticity.

Producer: Giles Edwards.

WED 21:00 Costing the Earth (b08ffv88)
[Repeat of broadcast at 15:30 on Tuesday]

WED 21:30 Midweek (b08fdb2v)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]

WED 21:58 Weather (b08fdb3k)
The latest weather forecast.

WED 22:00 The World Tonight (b08fdb3m)
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.

WED 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b08fgwyq)
The Underground Railroad, Episode 3

Clarke Peters (The Wire, Treme) reads The Underground Railroad, the new novel by Colson Whitehead. This brilliant and at times brutal novel about the history of slavery and racism in America won the US National Book Award for Fiction in 2016.

"What if the underground railroad was a literal railroad? And what if each state, as a runaway slave was going north, was a different state of American possibility, an alternative America?"

Whitehead's inventive novel follows Cora and Caesar as they escape from a Georgia slave plantation and run north in pursuit of freedom, aided by the stationmasters and conductors of the Underground Railroad.

Produced by Mair Bosworth
Abridged by Sara Davies
Read by Clarke Peters.

WED 23:00 Tim Key's Late Night Poetry Programme (b055gcds)
Series 3, Sleep

The concept of sleep is the focus of this week's episode, and Tim is broadcasting from the bedroom of his long-suffering guitarist, Tom Basden. Tim hopes Tom's wife Megan will wake up, so he can interview her about her dreams.

Written and presented by Tim Key
With Tom Basden and Katy Wix

Produced by James Robinson
A BBC Cymru Wales Production.

WED 23:15 Helen Keen's It Is Rocket Science (b040lj88)
Series 3, Episode 3

The only factually accurate comedy about the history of space exploration looks at the forgotten and unacknowedged greats of astronomy, the men and (mainly) women who advanced our undestanding of the stars but never quite received the fame they deserved. People such as 18th Century disabled genius Caroline Herschel who polished lenses with dung and discovered new stars; and human computer Henrietta Swann Leavitt who taught Hubble a method for working out the distances between the stars and narrowly missed out on a Nobel prize when it turned out she had died some years earlier.

Starring Helen Keen, Peter Serafinowicz and Susy Kane.
Written by Helen Keen and Miriam Underhill
Produced by Gareth Edwards.

WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (b08fgwys)
Susan Hulme reports from Westminster.