Ysenda Maxtone Graham interviews people from all walks of life to discover how they were shaped by the long months of summer in this entertaining and touching chronicle of British school holidays.
From driving and camping on the continent to the heady pleasures of an all-inclusive package, the summer holiday as generations of Britons know it is about to change for ever.
Space for spiritual reflection to start the day with Rev Neil Gardner of Canongate Kirk, Edinburgh
Lois Pryce argues that bicycles need to be reclaimed as simply a mundane means of transport - and cycling needs to be uncool again.
As a passionate advocate of two-wheeled transport, whether it's powered by an engine or her own legs, Lois is tired of disapproving looks. And she thinks that in the case of bicycles, it's partly because cycling has turned into an identity. She wants to revert to the time it was just a way of getting around.
The latest news headlines. Including the weather and a look at the papers.
A Great Spotted Woodpecker and a trail of clues reveals the connection between a garden feeder and the local woodland. Hiding in his garden shed with some very large spiders for company, wildlife cameraman James Aldred spends many happy hours in May watching Great Spotted Woodpeckers gorging themselves on the peanut feeders in his garden on the edge of Bristol. Both male and female birds regularly visit the garden and appear to fly back and forth from the direction of a woodland. Are the birds that feed in his garden actually stocking up on protein to feed young in a nest in the woodland and will those young birds return to feed in his garden when they fledge? There’s only one way to find out. It proves to be a fascinating and tantalising quest as James solves the puzzle, discovers a line of connection and unravels the truth about his garden visitors! Producer Sarah Blunt
Pack up the tent and join Caz Graham as she heads to a farm in Cumbria which has opened its doors to campers for the first time this year. This family farm has taken a field and created a space for tents, caravans and even a glamping 'pod', and as lockdown has eased they've been thrilled with the number of people who have come to explore this spot on the edge of the Lake District.
Richard Coles and Michelle Ackerley are joined by Bob Harris. He has been whispering on our airwaves for 50 years: starting at Radio 1 and going to TV’s Whistle Test, Radio Luxembourg, Radio 2, BBC 6 Music, numerous local radio stations, back to Radios 1, 2 and 6 Music… all the time touring with musicians, interviewing them and listening to them – his passion for introducing music to the masses earning him numerous awards, and an OBE.
We'll also speak to Alice Dearing. She is one of the most successful young British swimmers in Britain, usually found competing in open water marathon events around Europe, but for much of lockdown she has not been able to swim. This meant she had time to focus on her activism, promoting access to swimming for black people and busting myths about swimming.
When she was a child, SL listener Janet Haite’s grandmother would unroll her stockings to show off her tattoos which covered most of her body. Janet’s grandparents were pioneers in the tattooing world and her grandfather, George Burchett, not only inked soldiers going off to fight in the First and Second World Wars but also European royalty. She'll share her memories.
And we'll have Mark Lane in the studio. Mark had a serious car accident which left him in considerable pain and unable to continue in his PR career. Getting out into the garden led him to pursue horticulture qualifications and to a successful and rewarding second career as a garden designer and the first presenter on Gardener’s World in a wheelchair.
Fay Ripley chooses her Inheritance Tracks: Streisand/ Garland, Happy days are here again/ Get Happy and Nicky Mulvey, Fever to the Form.
Greg Jenner is joined by historical expert Dr Michell Chresfield and comedian Desiree Burch to travel to 1920s Paris and meet the phenomenal Josephine Baker.
Josephine Baker was a renowned performer and entertainer, a civil rights activist and even a spy during the German occupation of France. But just how did the daughter of a laundress in St Louis find herself at the centre of some of the most pivotal moments in history?
This week children start to return to school in Scotland, with the rest of the UK due to reopen schools in September.
For most students this is the first time they'll be setting foot inside a school since March - the longest interruption to schooling in living memory.
But with the number of coronavirus cases back on the rise, how should we balance the risks of reopening schools, against the risks of keeping them shut?
Bobby Duffy is professor of public policy and director of the Policy Institute at King’s College London. He has been tracking public opinion throughout the pandemic
Jonas Ludviggson is a paediatrician, and professor in the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
Russell Viner is president of the Royal College of Paediatrics & Child Health and is a scientific adviser to the government as a member of SAGE
Anna Vignoles is a professor of education at the University of Cambridge and lead author on the Royal Society's report "Balancing the Risks of Pupils Returning to Schools"
Inès Hassan is also a lead author on that report, and is a researcher at the Global Health Governance Programme at the University of Edinburgh
Insight, wit and analysis from BBC correspondents, journalists and writers from around the world
Eavesdrop as a couple open up to a relationship counsellor about their personal finances and feelings.
In this episode, cafe owners Poppy and Cliff return to the Money Clinic to talk to Dee Holmes, a counsellor with the relationship charity, Relate. Last summer, the Liverpool cafe owners spoke to Dee about how they could find a middle ground - Cliff’s ‘maverick’ attitude towards money was clashing with Poppy’s intense frugality. Since then, they’ve been forced to close their cafe due to Covid-19 and they want help managing the resulting financial and emotional fallout. Will they be able to get back on an even keel?
Bristol stand-up comedian Jayde Adams curates her dream summer festival, welcoming some of her favourite people to her fantasy festival site. Sarah Millican is in charge of the VIP tent, Australian stand-up Rhys Nicholson is Jayde's designated driver, Glyn Fussell is the celebrity booker and Kathy Burke watches from her sofa. Showstopping headline music is provided by Le Gateau Chocolat.
Chris Mason presents political debate from Broadcasting House in London with Schools Minister Nick Gibb MP, the Director of the Institute for Government Bronwen Maddox , Shadow Security Minister Conor McGinn MP and the Scottish National Party MP Alison Thewliss.
Beck reluctantly takes charge of a security operation protecting a controversial American Senator whilst he is in Sweden on an official visit. Meanwhile, a young woman is accused of bank robbery.
Narrator 1 ..... Lesley Sharp
Narrator 2 ..... Nicholas Gleaves
Martin Beck ..... Steven Mackintosh
Kollberg ..... Neil Pearson
Larsson ..... Ralph Ineson
Einar Rönn ..... Wayne Foskett
Frederik Melander ..... Adrian Scarborough
Skacke ..... Sam Alexander
Rhea ..... Nadine Marshall
Crasher ..... Robert Blythe
Bulldozer Olsson ..... Michael Maloney
Rebecka Lind ..... Hannah Wood
Malm ..... Nick Murchie
Mr. Bondesson/Eric Möller/ American Senator ..... Ben Crowe
National Police Commissioner/Taxi Driver ..... Rick Warden
Kristiansson ..... Don Gilet
Court Official/ Policeman ..... Matthew Watson
Heydt ..... Alex Lanipekun
Airforce Commander ..... Paul Stonehouse
Judge/Prime Minister ..... John Rowe
Kirsten/ Mrs. Cosgrove/ neighbour ..... Joanna Brooks
Levallois/ Kvastmo ..... David Seddon
Gun Kollberg ..... Sally Orrock
The codebreaking sisters. Women in elite sport. How female DJs are adapting during lockdown
On VJ Day we hear from Patricia and Jean Owtram who both served their country while their father was a prisoner of war in the Far East.
We discuss the findings of the BBC Sport Elite British Sportswomen's survey 2020 published this week.
Karen Maine tells us about her new film Yes God, Yes about 16 year old Alice growing up a Catholic and attending Catholic school in the early noughties in the American mid-west.
Plus as President Alexander Lukashenko is re-elected in Belarus, we talk about the woman who challenged him.
And with nightlife on pause during lockdown how have female DJs been adapting?
US lawmakers are deciding whether to act against the country’s powerful tech giants. Some believe the likes of Facebook, Amazon, Google and Apple are stifling competition. The companies have made huge profits during the Covid crisis and critics believe they will use this cash to buy competitors.
Alan Cumming, Karen Koren, Gbemisola Ikumelo, Fern Brady, Camille O' Sullivan, Callum Easter, Arthur Smith, Clive Anderson
Clive Anderson and Arthur Smith are joined, by Alan Cumming, Karen Koren, Gbemisola Ikumelo and Fern Brady for an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy. With music from Camille O' Sullivan and Callum Easter.
Jonathan Freedland returns with a special series of The Long View for the Radio 4 Rethink season. As the country looks for the best ways to recover from the pandemic and examine how it might change society for the better in its aftermath, Jonathan and his guests consider national crises in our past and ask how those in power at the time sought to rethink their future.
Episode Four - Scientist and author Laura Spinney explores the hidden role the impact of the Spanish Flu had on the inter-war years.
Hilary Mantel on how fiction changes when adapted for stage or screen. Each medium, she says, draws a different potential from the original. She argues that fiction, if written well, doesn't betray history, but enhances it. When fiction is turned into theatre, or into a film or TV, the same applies - as long as we understand that adaptation is not a secondary process or a set of grudging compromises, but an act of creation in itself. And this matters. "Without art, what have you to inform you about the past?" she asks. "What lies beyond is the unedited flicker of closed-circuit TV."
The programme is recorded in Stratford-Upon-Avon in front of an audience, with a question and answer session, chaired by Sue Lawley. The producer is Jim Frank.
The journey of coming out has long been a rite of passage for LGBTQ+ people. For some, it’s an empowering opportunity to be true to oneself, friends and family. It also has a social purpose. With increased visibility of LGBTQ+ people, the argument goes, comes greater social acceptance. Coming out stories also help bind the community together.
But some LGBTQ+ people are choosing alternatives to the public coming out announcement. They argue that a romanticisation of coming out within the LGBTQ+ community puts pressure on those for whom coming out remains difficult or even dangerous. Others question whether coming out publicly as LGBTQ+ is even necessary anymore.
Dustin Lance Black, the screenwriter of Milk, charts the history of coming out as LGBTQ+, from the early gay demonstrations of the 60s and 70s to the watershed coming out moments of celebrities including Sir Ian McKellen, Ellen DeGeneres, and Caitlyn Jenner. Dustin also hears from a younger generation of LGBTQ+ people, to find out how social media has altered what it means to come out about their sexual orientation or gender identity. And he asks whether there will ever come a time when LGBTQ+ people no longer need to come out.
With contributions from Travis Alabanza, Tom Daley, Shappi Khorsandi, Bisi Alimi, Lord Chris Smith, Christine Burns MBE, Maureen Duffy, Maxine Heron, Professor Rusi Jaspal, Anne Kronenberg, Professor Larry Gross, David Johns, and Sophia.
The return of the conspiracy thriller by Matthew Broughton. Starring Hattie Morahan and Jonathan Forbes.
Dr Helen Ash discovers she’s pregnant, but she hasn’t had sex since her husband died 18 months ago. And things are about to get stranger…
A gripping thriller, chart-topping podcast and winner of Best Sound (BBC Audio Drama Awards) and Best Fiction (British Podcast Awards), now Tracks is back with another 9 part headphone-filling thrill-ride.
Helen…. Hattie Morahan
Freddy….. Jonathan Forbes
Megan….. Zahra Ahmadi
Dr Grace…. Clare Cage
Mr D…. Marc Danbury
The first of three specially-commissioned tales by Julie Mayhew - her first stories for radio - taking their inspiration not only from the Rapunzel story made familiar by the Brothers Grimm, but also from some of the traditional European tales that influenced them.
In modern settings, each story features a girl with a tall tower of her own and the possibilities of an open window…
Poised to begin an adventure of her own, a young woman considers the story of her mother who - aged seven -began speaking spontaneously in a foreign language.
Julie Mayhew has written three plays for radio, including A Shoebox Of Snow which was nominated for Best Drama at the BBC Audio Drama Awards in 2012. Her first novel, Red Ink (2013), was nominated for the 2014 CILIP Carnegie Medal. Her second, The Big Lie, will be published in the summer of 2015. Julie is a founder and host of the short story cabaret, The Berko Speakeasy.
6. KSI
In Grounded with Louis Theroux, Louis is using the lockdown to track down some high-profile people he’s been longing to talk to – a fascinating mix of the celebrated, the controversial and the mysterious.
In this episode, Louis speaks to YouTube star, rapper and boxer, KSI. They discuss being an outsider at school, his fear of losing and internet beef.
Following a break during the coronavirus lockdown, the nationwide general knowledge quiz resumes with four competitors from the North of England joining Russell Davies. Although no audience can be present, the contestants face all the normal tension and challenge of the toughest quiz on radio, with today's winner going through to the semi-finals later in the series.
The Beat the Brains interlude also gives a chance for a listener to win a prize by stumping the brains with questions he or she has devised.
Poet Aviva Dautch revisits her childhood as the daughter of a chronic hoarder. From sleeping in the bath, to the ever-present danger of fire, to clearing the house after her mother’s death, Aviva shares what it means to be the child of a hoarder and how her lyrical, precise images seek to make order from the chaos in which she grew up.
Questions about how she or, indeed, others could cope with such conditions under the restrictions of lockdown inform how Aviva tells her story, weaving together her poems and conversations with friends - author and her former schoolteacher Sherry Ashworth, professional declutterer Miriam Osner and actor Juliet Stevenson.
Juliet reads from the poems of Emily Dickinson, who spent much of her life isolated in her parents’ home but wrote expansively about the world. Aviva and Juliet explore why her poems reverberate for them in the current moment and discuss the positive aspects of isolation, the necessity of the arts for helping us feel less alone and how creativity can be a response to adversity.
The programme features poems from Aviva’s Primers Three sequence (Nine Arches Press, 2018) and her work-in-progress debut collection We Sigh For Houses, which has received an Authors’ Foundation Award from the Society of Authors.
SUNDAY 16 AUGUST 2020
SUN 00:00 Midnight News (m000lsgw)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 00:15 The Way I See It (m000bvkv)
Fiona Shaw on Georgia O'Keeffe's Lake George, Coat and Red
Art critic Alastair Sooke, in the company of some of the leading creatives of our age, takes us on a deep dive into the stunning works in the Museum of Modern Art's collection, whilst exploring what it really means “to see” art.
Leading cultural figures in the series include Grammy- and Emmy award-winning Hollywood actor and comedian Steve Martin, one of the founders of minimalism – composer Steve Reich and stand-up comedian Margaret Cho. Each episode introduces us to an important art work in the collection, but asks how our own perspective affects our appreciation of the piece.
So, how does a jazz pianist see Mondrian’s Broadway Boogie Woogie? How does one of the first black women to write for Marvel comics see the difficult truths in Kara Walker’s sweeping image of African-American history? What does a top fashion designer decode from the clothes painted by an artist in Harlem in the 1930s?
We begin this second part of the series with the gaze of Emmy award-winning Irish actor Fiona Shaw, currently playing the sinister secret agent Carolyn Martens in the hit TV series "Killing Eve". She has chosen a work by an artist who has been described as the "Mother of American modernism" - Georgia O'Keefe. Best known for her paintings of enlarged flowers, New York skyscrapers, and New Mexico landscapes, Fiona has chosen an excellent example of her style; "Lake George, Coat and Red". But why has she chosen it - and why does she declare that she wouldn't like to own it?
Producer: Tom Alban
Main Image: Georgia O’Keeffe, Lake George, Coat and Red, 1919. Oil on canvas, 27 3/8 x 23 1/4" (69.6 x 59 cm). Gift of The Georgia O'Keeffe Foundation. Museum of Modern Art, NY,
65.1995. © 2019 The Museum of Modern Art / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
SUN 00:30 The Poet and the Echo (m000lnm9)
On Being Brought from Africa to America
Writers choose poems as inspiration for new stories.
'On Being Brought from Africa to America'
As a child, Phillis Wheatley was sold into slavery and taken from West Africa to America. Within 15 years, she had become the first African-American to have a collection of poems published.
Fred D’Aguiar creates a powerful and moving story inspired by her poem about faith and enslavement.
Credits
Writer ….. Fred D’Aguiar
Reader ….. Noma Dumezweni
Producer ….. Kirsty Williams
A BBC Scotland Production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000lsgy)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000lsh0)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000lsh2)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SUN 05:30 News Briefing (m000lsh4)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (m000lsh6)
St. Mary Redcliffe in Bristol
Bells on Sunday comes from the city centre church of St. Mary Redcliffe in Bristol. The majority of the ring of twelve was cast in 1903 but one bell dates back to 1622. We hear them ringing Avon Delight Maximus.
SUN 05:45 The Long View (m000k8f9)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 06:00 News (m000lsl8)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b00pn3zx)
Wild Swimming
The writer Sarah Cuddon reflects upon what draws people into the open sea and the wild water of rivers.
She talks to Kate Rew, founder of the Outdoor Swimming Society, about the real experience and metaphorical significance of wild swimming, with reference to Retta Bowen, Charles Sprawson, Iris Murdoch and other writers 'hungry for water'. With music by Benjamin Britten, Portico Quartet and Kathryn Williams.
Readers: Emma Fielding and Jonathan Keeble
Produced by Alan Hall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (m000lslc)
The Good Life
In the 1970s, Pam Bowers had a dream of leaving her Hertfordshire housing estate and setting up a self-sufficient life. She moved with her family to a cottage in Lincolnshire with an acre of land to make the dream a reality.
After years of selling the vegetables they grew to help pay the bills, it slowly evolved into a business, and the family now grow veg across 53 acres. They've stayed organic throughout the process, and have learnt all sorts of 'hacks' for making it work.
Presented and produced by Heather Simons
SUN 06:57 Weather (m000lslf)
The latest weather forecast
SUN 07:00 News and Papers (m000lslh)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 07:10 Sunday (m000lslk)
A look at the ethical and religious issues of the week
SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (m000lslm)
Multiple System Atrophy Trust
Gill Wheeler, whose husband Paul has MSA, makes the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of Multiple System Atrophy Trust.
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 ‘Multiple System Atrophy Trust’.
- Cheques should be made payable to ‘Multiple System Atrophy Trust’.
- You can donate online at bbc.co.uk/appeal/radio4
Registered Charity Number: 1137652/SC044535
SUN 07:57 Weather (m000lslp)
The latest weather forecast
SUN 08:00 News and Papers (m000lslr)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (m000lslt)
When our plans change...
A service led by Rev Dr Stephen Wigley, chair of the Wales synod of the Methodist church, reflecting on what happens when our plans change, and marking the 75th anniversary of VJ Day.
Readings are from Psalm 67, Isaiah 56 and Matthew 15.
The music used in the service was recorded prior to lockdown or is commercially available and is as follows:
New Every Morning Is The Love (Welsh Chamber Singers, BBC recording)
We Rest On Thee (Welsh Chamber Singers, BBC recording)
Make Me A Channel Of Your Peace arr. Paul Mealor (BBC National Chorus of Wales, BBC recording)
There's A Wideness In God's Mercy (Cambrensis, BBC recording)
Far Celestial Shore (Mavis Staples: 'One True Vine' TR 5)
For The Healing Of The Nations (St. Woolos Cathedral, BBC recording)
Whitock: Fanfare (St. Mary's Swansea, BBC recording)
SUN 08:48 A Point of View (m000lnmw)
The End of Progress?
The writer, Katherine Mansfield, was diagnosed with TB in 1917. She travelled across Europe - trying all sorts of therapies - until her death. But it would be another twenty years before a cure was actually discovered.
Will Self questions whether - if it takes years to find an effective vaccine or treatment for COVID 19 - we will still manage to maintain our faith in human progress.
Producer: Adele Armstrong
SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (b04mlphq)
Southern Cassowary
Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.
Chris Packham presents the roaring southern cassowary of Australia's Queensland. The territorial roaring calls of the world's second heaviest bird, the cassowary are odd enough, but it still won't prepare you for your first sighting of these extraordinary birds. Reaching a height of over 1.5 metres, they have thick legs armed with ferocious claws, blue – skinned faces and scarlet dangling neck- wattles. These are striking enough but it is the large horn, or casque, looking like a blunt shark's fin on the bird's head that really stands out. It's earned this giant its common name - cassowary comes from the Papuan for "horned head". Such a primitive looking creature seems out of place in the modern world and although the southern cassowary occurs widely in New Guinea, it's still hunted for food there. Cassowaries can kill dogs and injure people with their stout claws, but the bird usually comes off worst in confrontations.
SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (m000lslw)
The Sunday morning news magazine programme. Presented by Paddy O'Connell
SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (m000lsly)
Lynda finds herself in trouble and the pressure mounts for Alice
Writers, Tim Stimpson & Sarah Hehir
Director, Kim Greengrass
Editor, Jeremy Howe
Alice Carter ….. Hollie Chapman
Chris Carter ….. Wilf Scolding
Lynda Snell ….. Carole Boyd
Robert Snell ….. Graham Blockey
Ed Grundy ….. Barry Farrimond
Adam Macy ….. Andrew Wincott
SUN 10:55 Tweet of the Day (m000lstg)
Tweet Take 5 : Skylark
Soaring high above cornfields, the song of the skylark has inspired poets, writers and musicians for centuries. From first alighting from the ground, this most coloratura of calls, simply to to attract a mate, hangs in the air well after the bird itself is more often lost to view by the observer. In this extended version of Tweet of the Day we hear from three lovers of the soaring skylark, wildlife cameraman John Aitcheson, bird therapist Joe Harkness and wildlife sound recordist Gary Moore.
Producer : Andrew Dawes
SUN 11:00 The Reunion (m000lstj)
Black Wednesday
Kirsty Wark brings together bankers, traders and politicians to recall the events of Black Wednesday in 1992, when the collapse of sterling forced Britain’s exit from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism.
In 1990, the ERM was a central part of the then Chancellor John Major’s anti-inflationary policy, to “place Britain at the heart of Europe”. But as Prime Minister in 1992, he had to make the painful decision to pull out after a frenetic day in the City. Sterling was pegged to the deutsche mark and the idea was to use intervention on the exchanges to hold it within set bands on either side of a central rate. But a wave of short selling, led by the American hedge-fund manager George Soros, overwhelmed the ability of the Bank of England to support the pound.
Chancellor Norman Lamont raised interest rates from 10% to 12%, then to 15%, and authorised the spending of billions of pounds to buy up the sterling being frantically sold on the currency markets. But the measures failed to prevent the pound falling lower than its minimum level in the ERM.
Home Secretary Kenneth Clarke spent the day in crisis talks with the PM.
Sir Alex Allan was John Major’s principle private secretary.
Mark Clarke was the foreign exchange dealer at the Bank of America who sold half a billion pounds, making £10 million for his employers in eight hours of trading.
Jim Trott was the Bank of England’s chief currency dealer who bought more sterling in a day than anyone before or since.
Jeff Randall was the Sunday Times City Editor who watched the drama unfold.
Presenter: Kirsty Wark
Producer: Emily Williams
Series Producer: David Prest
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 11:45 The Alien Birds Have Landed (b01m16q0)
The Little Owl and Eagle Owl
Alison Steadman tells how the Little Owl became British and how the Eagle Owl might too. How should it be decided what makes a British bird?
Producer: Tim Dee
SUN 12:00 News Summary (m000lstm)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 12:04 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (b03lpc02)
Series 60
Episode 6
Back for a second week at the Milton Keynes Theatre, regulars Barry Cryer, Graeme Garden and Tim Brooke-Taylor are joined on the panel by David Mitchell, with Jack Dee in the chair. Piano accompaniment is provided by Colin Sell.
Producer - Jon Naismith.
SUN 12:32 The Food Programme (m000lstp)
Food and the legacy of slavery
Jaega Wise and Dan Saladino investigate the hidden story of slavery in our food. Between the 17th century and into the 19th, twelve million enslaved Africans were transported to the Caribbean and into the rest of the Americas. Their work transformed industries, including tobacco and cotton, but it was their agricultural labour that made the biggest impact on the world. The modern food system as we know it would not exist without the centuries of the brutal slavery put in place by European powers. The food we eat today, our palates and even the shapes of our bodies, are all a part of the legacy of slavery. And the biggest commodity of all was sugar.
Jaega and Dan tell this story with the help of James Walvin, a writer and academic who has spent fifty years researching the role of slavery in making the modern world. Walvin argues that we still haven't acknowledged this fact, and to move forward we will need to come to terms with this history. The most tangible part of lives is in what we eat and drink; tea, coffee, chocolate, all were ingredients made possible with slavery and all were bitter products made palatable with the sugar of slavery.
Dan also speaks to Michael Twitty, author of the Cooking Gene, and as an African-American cook, someone who has recreated the lives of enslaved people working in kitchens on plantations.
Produced by Dan Saladino.
Photo by Johnathan M. Lewis
SUN 12:57 Weather (m000lstr)
The latest weather forecast
SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (m000lstt)
Global news and analysis, presented by Mark Mardell.
SUN 13:30 The Listening Project (m000lstw)
Fi Glover presents the extended weekly edition of the programme on the shared experience of being in lockdown and beyond. In this edition a couple discuss their anxieties and expectations of a lockdown wedding just days before the event; two dads who have never met exchange stories of what life was like for them when their new-born babies were in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Gloucester Royal Hospital during the pandemic; two women talk about the challenges of running a business during the pandemic; and two teenagers studying the same GCSE subjects talk through their anxieties as they await results coming out this week.
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. The
conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moments 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 this decade of the millennium. You can learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject
Producer: Mohini Patel
SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m000lnm7)
GQT At Home: Episode Twenty
Peter Gibbs chairs the horticultural programme with Christine Walkden, Matthew Pottage and Anne Swithinbank on the panel, ready and waiting for questions sent in by listeners via email and social media.
The panellists discuss ways to support mammals in our gardens following news that a quarter of native mammals are now at risk of extinction in the UK. They also attempt to identify a mysterious 'sausage growing plant', suggest ways to incorporate gardening into primary school learning, and recommend the best tropical palms to add a touch of Brazilian rainforest to a new home.
Aside from the questions, Peter Gibbs interviews the new President of the RHS, Keith Weed, and Pippa Greenwood speaks to Professor Nicola Spence, Chief Plant Health Officer at DEFRA, about biosecurity and suspect seeds.
Producer - Darby Dorras
Assistant Producer - Jemima Rathbone
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 14:45 The Way I See It (m000bx00)
Bryan Stevenson on Jacob Lawrence’s Migration Series
Art critic Alastair Sooke, in the company of some of the leading creatives of our age, continues his deep dive into the stunning works in the Museum of Modern Art's collection, whilst exploring what it really means “to see” art.
Today's edition features the choice of American lawyer and social justice activist Bryan Stevenson. He has chosen The Migration Series, a set of paintings by African-American painter Jacob Lawrence. Depicting the migration of African Americans to the northern United States from the South that began in the 1910s, this a moving piece for Bryan Stevenson - but what does a civil rights lawyer see in the work that others might not?
Producer: Tom Alban.
Main Image: Jacob Lawrence, And the migrants kept coming, 1940-41. Casein tempera on hardboard, 12 x 18" (30.5 x 45.7 cm). Gift of Mrs. David M. Levy. Museum of Modern Art, NY,
28.1942.30. © 2019 Jacob Lawrence / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
SUN 15:00 Drama (m000lsty)
And Other Stories: Katherine Mansfield. Part 2
Katherine Mansfield’s best-loved short stories fully dramatised in two box-sets. This second instalment contains four stories of age and experience.
Daughters of the Late Colonel, where Jug and Con's fear of their father’s disapproval continues even after he has died.
The Garden Party, where Laura learns, briefly, the awful gap between her class and that of a dead neighbour on the day of her mother’s garden party.
Life of Ma Parker, where the cleaner for a Literary Gentleman discovers she has absolutely nowhere to grieve when her grandson dies.
Her First Ball, where Leila learns that the joy of a ball, and of being young and free, is short-lived and destined to end.
Cast
Daughters of the Late Colonel:
Hattie Morahan ..... Katherine Mansfield
Rosie Cavaliero ..... Josephine
Clare Corbett ..... Constantia
Michael Bertenshaw ..... The Late Colonel
Cecilia Appiah ..... Kate
Carl Prekopp ..... Mr Farolles
Charlotte East ..... Nurse Andrews
Luke Nunn ..... Cyril
The Garden Party:
Hattie Morahan ..... Katherine Mansfield
Cecilia Appiah ..... Laura
Rosie Cavaliero ..... Mrs Sheridan
Michael Bertenshaw ..... Mr Sheridan
Luke Nunn ..... Laurie
Rose Basista ..... Cook
Clare Corbett ..... Sadie
Carl Prekopp ..... Man
Charlotte East ..... Josie
Life of Ma Parker:
Hattie Morahan ..... Katherine Mansfield
Rosie Cavaliero ..... Ma Parker
Michael Bertenshaw ..... Literary Gentleman
Carl Prekopp ..... Doctor
Orla Pearce ..... Lennie
Her First Ball:
Hattie Morahan ..... Katherine Mansfield
Rose Basista ..... Leila
Cecilia Appiah ..... Laura
Carl Prekopp ..... Man 1 & 3
Charlotte East ..... Josie
Luke Nunn ..... Man 2
Michael Bertenshaw ..... Old Man
Dramatised by Katie Hims
Sound by Peter Ringrose
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole
SUN 16:00 Open Book (m000lsv0)
The novels of PD James; Akwaeke Emezi
On the centenary of her birth, Johny Pitts celebrates the work of crime writer PD James with writers Harriet Tyce and Dreda Say Mitchell. James's most famous creation is Adam Dalgliesh - an urbane, highly intelligent policeman who also writes poetry, and brings a cool authority to solving murder. Johny and his guests discuss the qualities of P D James's writing, the strength of her plotting and her lasting influence on the crime fiction genre.
Also on the programme, Akwaeke Emezi talks about The Death of Vivek Oji. Set in Nigeria, it's a novel about sexuality, spirituality and change. Akwaeke discusses the challenges of writing a story in which the central character's death is revealed on the very first page.
And writer and journalist Sathnam Sanghera chooses the Book He'd Never Lend.
SUN 16:30 Tongue and Talk: The Dialect Poets (m000lsv2)
A Festival of Dialect
In this first programme of the series, actor and writer Catherine Harvey heads to Blackpool for the annual Dialect Festival, which took place before lockdown.
The festival is a celebration of dialect speaking and writing - with participants from as far afield as Cornwall and Northumberland, Kent and Cumbria, gathering for a weekend of poetry, storytelling and song.
Catherine catches up with festival founder Sid Calderbank at a hotel on the seafront to discuss this unique meeting of dialect enthusiasts, and enjoys dialect performances from all over England. She talks to Rod Dimbleby, Chair of the Yorkshire Dialect Society, about Joseph Wright and the first Dialect Dictionary, and to writer and historian Paul Salveson about the future of dialect in our modern world, before the Festival draws to a close at nearby Little Marton windmill - now a museum to local dialect writer Allen Clarke (aka Teddy Ashton) whose work once inspired Tolstoy.
Other episodes in this series look at dialect poetry in East Lincolnshire, The Black Country and The Forest of Dean.
A Made in Manchester production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 17:00 Led by the science (m000lmg6)
Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic the UK government has stated that its decisions have been “led by the science”. This pithy phrase implies there is a fixed body of knowledge from a consensus of scientists that provides a road map of what to do to stop the pandemic. But there isn’t.
And if decisions made by politicians turn out not to work, then who gets the blame? Is it the science?
While some scientists have willingly appeared in support of the actions announced, many researchers are furious with the way that the government has used science. They point out that scientists from different disciplines have different expertise to bring to the discussions about what to do in a pandemic caused by a novel virus. Public health doctors say that their experience of local communities has been ignored in favour of mathematical models. Virologists feel their knowledge of how infection works has been sidelined. And psychologists believe the government has taken the idea of nudge as the only way to understand the behaviour of the population. Scientific knowledge changes through debate and discussion, in particular when we are confronted by a novel situation.
Philip Ball explores the relationship between science and political decision making in the pandemic.
Producer: Alex Mansfield for BBC Radio 4
SUN 17:40 The Long View (m000k8f9)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m000lsv4)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SUN 17:57 Weather (m000lsv6)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000lsv8)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (m000lsvb)
The best of BBC Radio this week.
SUN 19:00 The Whisperer In Darkness (m000lsm2)
Episode 3
An unexpected phone call turns Matthew Heawood’s attention to a mystery in the gloom of Rendlesham Forest. Folklore, paranormal, otherworldly? Up for debate, but fertile ground for a new investigative podcast, that’s for sure. One question still lingers, will our host be re-joined by his roaming researcher, Kennedy Fisher?
The duo’s last venture patched together frantic updates from Baghdad, as they pursued suspected occultists in The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. Very little hope lingered of solving the mystery, and maybe even less that Kennedy would return home safe. But for now, a new investigation calls.
Following the success of The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, (Silver, British Podcast Awards) Radio 4 commissions a return to this HP Lovecraft-inspired universe. Once again, the podcast embraces Lovecraft’s crypt of horror, braving the Sci-Fi stylings of The Whisperer in Darkness.
Episode Three
Heawood and Kennedy’s investigation into the disappearance of Henry Akeley leads them to Rendlesham Forest and an event which took place in December 1980.
Cast:
Kennedy Fisher.........................JANA CARPENTER
Matthew Heawood....................BARNABY KAY
Henry Akeley.............................DAVID CALDER
Albert Wilmarth.........................MARK BAZELEY
Perry..........................................ROBERT GLENISTER
Peniston....................................BEN CROWE
Child's voice..............................EDIE SIMPSON
Producer: Karen Rose
Director/Writer: Julian Simpson
Sound Recordist and Designer: David Thomas
Production Coordinators: Sarah Tombling and Holly Slater
Music by Tim Elsenburg
Executive Producer: Caroline Raphael
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds
SUN 19:15 Tom Wrigglesworth's Hang-Ups (b07pjb9t)
Series 4
Strangers on a Train
Episode 1 - Strangers on a Train. Tom enlists the help of his Dad to take delivery of an important package while Mum bites the bullet and learns to drive.
Series 4 of Tom Wrigglesworth's Hang-Ups presents another hilarious helping of down-the-line adventures from Edinburgh Comedy Award nominated Tom. Listen in on Tom's weekly phone calls home to his Mum, Dad and Gran in Sheffield and get a glimpse into the triumphs and tribulations of the Wrigglesworth clan in all its dysfunctional glory.
Starring Tom Wrigglesworth, Paul Copley, Kate Anthony and Elizabeth Bennett.
Written by Tom Wrigglesworth and James Kettle with additional material by Miles Jupp.
Producer: Richard Morris
A BBC Studios Production.
SUN 19:45 The New Adventures of Baron Munchausen (m000lsm4)
Episode 1
A specially commissioned series from James Robertson celebrating travel, adventure and the importance of storytelling. Read by William Gaminara.
Our hero is a descendant of the original 18th century Baron Munchausen, whose tall tales inspired a book that would forever link the family name with fibs and exaggeration. Eager to redress the balance, the current Baron dedicates himself to setting down the unvarnished truth about his own exploits.
James writes, “The present-day Baron’s adventures are no less incredible, but in his case every detail has a rational explanation and not one word is an exaggeration or a lie. He flies with swans, sails, sledges and balloons his way round the world, is swallowed by a whale, encounters wolves and alligators, fights bush fires in Australia, orbits the moon and plays golf with the President of the USA. He does the kind of things, in other words, that have been denied to the rest of us for the last five months. Realism, escapism or a mixture of the two? Judge for yourselves.”
James Robertson is an award-winning poet, novelist and short story writer whose books include ‘Joseph Knight’, ‘And The Land Lay Still’ and ‘To Be Continued...’.
Produced by Eilidh McCreadie
SUN 20:00 Feedback (m000lnmf)
The BBC’s head of statistics discusses the reliability of figures broadcast for coronavirus infections and deaths.
Was the Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini a suitable subject for Radio 4’s Great Lives series? The programme’s presenter Matthew Parris defends the decision.
And two amateur reviewers give their verdict on an episode of Woman’s Hour.
Presenter: Roger Bolton
Producer: Kate Dixon
Executive Producer: Samir Shah
A Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 20:30 Last Word (m000lnmc)
Hawa Abdi, Clive Ponting, President Lee Teng-hui, Richard Brooke
Matthew Bannister on
Hawa Abdi, the Somali doctor who set up a clinic for pregnant women at her home that eventually became a sanctuary for thousands during violence in the country.
Clive Ponting, the civil servant who leaked details of the sinking of the Argentine cruiser the General Belgrano during the Falklands War, but was acquitted of breaching the Official Secrets Act.
Lee Teng-hui, the first democratically elected President of Taiwan.
Richard Brooke, the mountaineer who played a leading role in the Commonwealth Trans Antarctic Expedition of 1957.
Interviewed guest: Cindy Sui
Interviewed guest: David Brooke
Interviewed guest: Sarah J. Robins
Interviewed guest: David Leigh
Producer: Neil George
Archive clips from:
SUN 21:00 The Money Clinic (m000ls9k)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 on Saturday]
SUN 21:25 Radio 4 Appeal (m000lslm)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 today]
SUN 21:30 In Business (m000ln09)
Keep up at the Back!
The UK fitness industry employs twenty thousand people and is worth an estimated £5 billion to the economy. But - like most other industries - it shut down overnight in March. Some teachers and trainers made swift decisions to move online. Some businesses closed permanently. Will people want to return to busy gyms, even with the new protocols?
Tanya Beckett dons her leotard to discover what shape the exercise industry is in, with the help of:
Kelly Ravenscroft, fitness instructor
Paul Connolly, personal trainer and head of Essex Training
Nick Baklanov, marketing specialist at Hype Auditor
Lizzie Broughton, Senior Insight Manager at UK Active
Sophie Lawler, CEO of Total Fitness
Producer: Beth Sagar-Fenton
Editor: Penny Murphy
SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (m000lsm7)
Radio 4's Sunday night political discussion programme.
SUN 23:00 The Film Programme (m000lmzs)
Cruel Summer
With Ben Bailey Smith
With no blockbusters and several heatwaves, it's been a cruel summer for our cinemas. The Uckfield Picture House in Sussex is feeling the heat. With only dozens of customers each day, owner Kevin Markwick was relying on two films to bring audiences back to his family business. One of them, Mulan, is now being released for streaming only. Kevin tells us his plans for survival with temperatures in the 30s and only one blockbuster being released at the end of August.
As an actor, Ben Bailey Smith has worked on dozens of sets and is always surprised that there aren't more disasters, given the potential for something to go wrong. He enlists the help of historian Pamela Hutchinson to tell him about some of the biggest behind-the-scenes catastrophes in movie history.
Writer/director Mark Jenkin was due to follow up his award-winning movie Bait this summer, until the pandemic intervened. He now has to wait a year to start shooting. Unbowed, Mark has started to write a new film, and is documenting its progress in a series of audio diaries. This week, Mark faces the nightmare of the blank page.
Neil Brand continues his series of rejected scores and reveals how one piece of music by Ennio Morricone was used in two films and one TV series, and was even released as a single, ultimately reaching no.2 in the UK charts.
SUN 23:30 Something Understood (b00pn3zx)
[Repeat of broadcast at
06:05 today]
MONDAY 17 AUGUST 2020
MON 00:00 Midnight News (m000lsm9)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
MON 00:15 Thinking Allowed (m0001l85)
Metrics
Laurie Taylor explores the increasing use of metrics across diverse aspects of our lives.
From education to healthcare, charities to policing, we are are target-driven society which places a heavy emphasis on measuring, arguably at times at the expense of individual professional expertise.
Laurie is joined by Jerry Muller, Professor of History at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., who asserts in his book, The Tyranny of Metrics, that we are fixated by metrics, to the extent to which we risk compromising the quality of our lives and most important institutions. He is also joined by Btihaj Ajana, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Digital Humanities at King's College London, who, in the introduction to the book, Metric Culture - Ontologies of Self-Tracking Practices, explains the concept of the 'Quantified Self Movement' - whose philosophy is 'self-knowledge through numbers'.
With such a plethora of personal information about ourselves being generated daily are we complicit in creating a culture of surveillance with the blurring of boundaries between the private and public? Stefan Collini, Professor of Intellectual History and English Literature at the University of Cambridge, joins the discussion. Revised repeat.
Producer Natalia Fernandez
MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (m000lsh6)
[Repeat of broadcast at
05:43 on Sunday]
MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000lsmc)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000lsmf)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000lsmj)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
MON 05:30 News Briefing (m000lsmn)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000lsms)
Space for spiritual reflection to start the day with Rev Neil Gardner of Canongate Kirk, Edinburgh
MON 05:45 Farming Today (m000lsmx)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
MON 05:56 Weather (m000lsn1)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.
MON 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b04mj64k)
Red-breasted Goose
Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.
Chris Packham presents the red-breasted goose in Siberia. Red-breasted geese are colourful birds with art-deco markings of brick-red, black and white. Despite their dainty and somewhat exotic appearance, these are hardy birds which breed in the remotest areas of arctic Siberia. They often set up home near the eyries of birds of prey, especially peregrine falcons. But there's method in the madness; These wildfowl nest on the ground where their eggs and chicks are vulnerable to predators such as Arctic foxes. But the ever vigilant peregrine falcons detecting a predator, will defend their eyries by calling and dive-bombing any intruders, and this also doubles as a warning system for the geese. In winter red-breasted geese migrate south where most of them graze on seeds and grasses at a few traditional sites in eastern Europe around the Black Sea.
MON 06:00 Today (m000ltkd)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
MON 09:00 The Patch (m000ltkg)
Milton Keynes
The random postcode generator takes us to an industrial estate in Milton Keynes. As lockdown starts to ease, one of the few places open is the Reuse Centre, a "community resource" offering cheap second hand and ex-display goods and furniture. It's run by John Mann, a self-confessed "Arthur Daley" who is friends with some of Britain's top criminals. But producer Jolyon Jenkins also bumps into one of the centre's clients, 75 year old Neville Chesters, an ex roadie who worked for some of the top rock bands of the sixties and seventies. Neville, it turns out, also had a second career as a pornographic film director - and has spent much of his life in shady enterprises, twice moving continent to stay one step ahead of the law and his creditors.
Neville is a minor celebrity in the rock world, but he's also keeping a low profile. "I've got to die soon, before certain people put the dots together," he says. He wants to tell his life story. but will he ever get round to doing it?
Producer/presenter: Jolyon Jenkins
MON 09:30 Laws That Aren't Laws (m000ltkj)
Murphy's Law
Comedian Robin Ince explores the laws that govern our lives that really aren’t, but still somehow are true. We all know how we live in a deterministic universe governed by carefully described quantifiable scientific laws and principles but, then in a practical sense, we really don’t. These laws are the hidden truths which really preside over our lives – quirky, useful or entertaining rules, which, if they are well known, crop up without explanation or, if confined to specialist circles, deserve to be more widely understood and appreciated.
From Murphy’s Law (anything that might go wrong does so), to Betteridge’s Law ( any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word “no”) via Parkinson’s fundamental law of bureaucracy ( work expands to fill the time available) and the Peter Principle (employees rise to their own level of incompetence) Robin Ince examines five laws that aren’t laws in the legal sense, or in the physical sense but asks how did these so called “laws” evolve, why do we like them and what scientific evidence is there that they really work?
Episode 1 Murphy’s Law:
“If anything can go wrong, it will go wrong.” Murphy’s Law is now a part of our culture, used to describe wrong outcomes of every sort, from how buttered toast falls to the way catastrophes strike.
People have uttered similar laments since time immemorial. But the modern origin of the phrase traces back to two men on one fateful day in 1949 at Edwards Air Force Base in California: Colonel John Stapp whose work would later save countless lives in safer cars and airplanes and Captain Ed Murphy whose contributions would lead to safer cockpit controls and foretell the development of better computers and software.
Robin Ince uncovers their tangled tale which sprang from a series of mishaps when what could go wrong did go wrong, risking life and limb for the rider, and how, ironically, the origin of Murphy’s Law went unnoticed by Murphy himself.
But does this law simply tap into our tendency to dwell on the negative and overlook the positive? Or are the rules of probability - the mathematical likeliness that something will occur - sufficient to support it? We hear how the mathematician whose car’s clutch ceased to function 100km from home, at night in the middle of a rainstorm with no phone and a flooded tool kit, came up with the definitive equation to predict how often things really do go wrong for no good reason.
Producer: Adrian Washbourne
MON 09:45 Book of the Week (b09526h6)
Following Pappano
Episode 1
All major opera houses rely on well established productions of repertoire classics. Puccini's La bohème is a permanent fixture in the list of the world's top five Operas as measured by performance numbers and John Copley's 1974 staging at Covent Garden was a familiar and much loved favourite. However the time has come to replace it with a new production and the challenge to do that with a fresh staging falls to the team of Music Director Sir Antonio Pappano and stage director Richard Jones.
In five programmes across the week Radio Four follows Maestro Pappano as the new production takes shape. We hear him working with singers, discussing the particular challenges of operating at the very highest level of Operatic performance and expectation and giving candid insights into the often perilous journey to an opening night.
We also hear from the team both on and off stage who work alongside Pappano, including the young cast who are acutely aware that the production they are replacing opened with singers like Placido Domingo and Sir Thomas Allen. There are also stage directors, set-builders, movement directors and Maestro Pappano's trusted repetiteur. But at the heart of it, in the weeks leading up to opening night and as the curtain rises, is the Music director himself, combining the orchestral brilliance of Puccini's score and the dazzling qualities of the singers on stage to produce what they all hope will be a worthy addition to the Royal Opera House's Puccini tradition. "He is" as one orchestra member says, "more of a storyteller than a conductor. Everything he tells us is about the drama and the dramatic purpose of what's happening on stage."
Producer: Tom Alban.
MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000ltkp)
The programme that offers a female perspective on the world
MON 10:45 Lucy Loves Desi: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Sitcom (m000ltky)
Episode 1
Martin Jarvis directs a stellar cast in Gregg Oppenheimer's inside look at his writer- producer father's famous TV series, I Love Lucy.
Anne Heche channels Lucille Ball in an outstanding performance. With Wilmer Valderrama, Jared Harris, Alfred Molina, Stacy Keach, Mike McShane. The onscreen pairing of Lucille and Desi is brilliant, but the American Network is doubtful.
"Who’d believe she was married to him?"
Lucille: ‘But I am married to him!’
The serial dramatises more than just the creation of an iconic TV series - it charts the need to challenge existing ideas that balked at diversity, the comic dynamic of the Arnaz’s partnership, and their commitment and integrity shared by writer Jess Oppenheimer - resisting network and sponsor demands and outdated censorship rules, bringing creative bonuses to US audiences and worldwide.
This roller-coasting five-part serial shows how television, at a crucial time, learned from the established craft of radio. Cuban bandleader Desi's inventive genius engendered studio techniques now taken for granted. Lucille and Desi's uplifting relationship flouted conventional thinking and defied accepted entertainment practice in one of the most influential sitcoms in TV history.
Cast:
Lucille Ball…Anne Heche
Desi Arnaz…Wilmer Valderrama
Jess…Jared Harris
Harry…Alfred Molina
Hubbell…Mike McShane
Don…Matthew Floyd Miller
Betty…Janine Barris
Richard…Mark Sullivan
Mr Paley…André Sogliuzzo
Frawley…Stacy Keach
Marc…Matthew Wolf
Vivian Vance…Anna Mathias
Other parts: Anna Lyse Erikson, Allegra Riggio
Written by Gregg Oppenheimer
Director: Martin Jarvis
Producer: Rosalind Ayres
A Jarvis & Ayres production for BBC Radio 4
MON 11:00 My Name Is... (m000lv6l)
Lucy: Should I stay on dating apps?
Lucy is single, 41 and looking for a long-term relationship. Through apps like Tinder, Bumble and Hinge, she’s now been on over 500 dates.
After five years of swiping through potential dates like it’s a never-ending card game, Lucy wants to work out whether she’s wasting her time using apps which don’t seem to be invested in helping her find love. Is she right about this? Should she rid of them and concentrate on living her best single life instead?
To work this out, Lucy discovers how the algorithms work and whether they are actually failing her; why people behave badly on the apps and how to remain optimistic.
Lucy talks to: Nichi Hodgson, author of The Curious History of Dating, from Jane Austen to Tinder; Luke Sark, Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Information & Media Studies at the University of Western Ontario; Sacha McElligott, President of Replay app and Dr Helen Fisher, biological anthropologist and author of Anatomy of Love: A Natural History of Marriage, Mating and Why We Stray.
Producer: Eliza Lomas
MON 11:30 Loose Ends (m000lsgp)
[Repeat of broadcast at
18:15 on Saturday]
MON 12:00 News Summary (m000lv6p)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 12:04 The Miller's Dance by Winston Graham (m000ltl2)
Episode 1
Winston Graham’s series of novels set in Cornwall follows the lives of the Poldark family and their friends, neighbours, rivals and enemies. Life in Cornwall is governed by the sea and by the fortunes of the tin and copper mines that provide work for the local community.
The Miller’s Dance finds Ross Poldark now 52 years old and still happily married to Demelza, who is ten years younger than him. Their eldest son Jeremy is approaching 21 and their eldest daughter Clowance is 17, both of them navigating the changeable weather of first love. The Poldark family is completed by young Isabella-Rose although neither Ross nor Demelza will ever forget the grief of losing their first born, Julia, before her third birthday.
A series of courtships begins their complicated dance, some fuelled by lust and others by love, money or ambition. All this takes place against a backdrop of England’s continuing military campaign against Napoleon’s army in Spain and Portugal. The damage that war has done to the nation’s commerce and those who rely on it gives rise to political tensions which are played out in complex schemes of power and influence amongst the governing classes in London. A world which seems so far away from the pressing concerns of Cornish life and which nevertheless beckons Ross to attend to his duties in parliament as an MP.
The story told here (Book 9 in the famous series of novels) rejoins the characters in 1812 – about ten years after the point where BBC television’s hugely popular series concluded. This is a chance to return to Cornwall and the passions of the Poldarks and at the same time to reflect on what marriage and courtship are really about and whether love can ever hope to conquer all.
Author : Winston Graham
Read by Richard Goulding
Abridged by Jill Waters and Isobel Creed
Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4
MON 12:18 You and Yours (m000lv6r)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
MON 12:57 Weather (m000lv6t)
The latest weather forecast
MON 13:00 World at One (m000lv6w)
Mon-Thurs: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Sarah Montague. Fri: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Mark Mardell.
MON 13:45 A History of the World in 100 Objects (b00qmb8h)
Old World, New Powers (1100 - 300 BC)
Lachish Reliefs
Neil MacGregor's history of the world told through objects from the British Museum in London arrives at the Palace of Sennacherib in Northern Iraq.
Throughout this week, Neil MacGregor explains the key power struggles taking place across the globe around 3000 years ago, as ambitious new forces were building sophisticated new societies. It seems that war has been one of the constant themes of our shared human history and, in this programme, Neil MacGregor tells the story of the Assyrian king Sennacherib and his bloody siege of Lachish in Judah in 701 BC. The siege is described unsparingly in giant stone carvings that were placed around the king's palace and that show, perhaps for the first time, the terrible consequences of war on civilian populations. The Assyrian war machine was to create the largest empire that the world had ever seen and used the terror tactic of mass deportations. Statesman Paddy Ashdown and the historian Anthony Beevor both reflect on these powerful images of war.
MON 14:00 Drama (m000lv6z)
Luxembourg Gardens
For the last five years of her short life, Katherine Mansfield struggled to find a cure for her pulmonary tuberculosis. Very ill, and sometimes hallucinatory, she spends her last day in Paris before resolving to stop writing while she finds a cure. A Mansfieldesque play about Katherine Mansfield.
Cast
Hattie Morahan ..... Katherine Mansfield
Clare Corbett ..... Ida
Olivia Ross ..... Waitress
Charlotte East ..... Laura
Luke Nunn ..... Bill
Carl Prekopp ..... Lawrence
Ian Dunnett Jr ..... Gardener
Sue Rivers ..... Grandmother
Eliza Pearce ..... Girl
Orla Pearce ..... Boy
written by Katie Hims
Sound by Peter Ringrose
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole
MON 14:45 Museum of Lost Objects (b072jfct)
Al-Ma’arri the Poet
The Museum of Lost Objects traces the histories of 10 antiquities or cultural sites that have been destroyed or looted in Iraq and Syria.
In 2013, Islamic militants decapitated the statue of an 11th Century Arabic poet that stood in his hometown of Maarat al-Nu’man, a city that’s seen heavy fighting during the Syrian conflict. The poet al-Ma’arri was one of the most revered in Syria, and poetry enthusiasts tell his story – he was blind, vegetarian, atheist, and some even claim that his work inspired Dante’s Divine Comedy.
This episode was first broadcast on 8 March, 2016.
Presenter: Kanishk Tharoor
Producer: Maryam Maruf
Contributors: Nasser Rabbat, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Mahmoud al-Sheikh, BBC Arabic; the reading is by Susan Jameson
Picture: Statue of al-Ma'arri with the sculptor Fathi Mohammed in the 1940s, and the statue after its decapitation in 2013
MON 15:00 Brain of Britain (m000lv71)
Heat 8, 2020
(8/17)
Russell Davies chairs the latest heat of the general knowledge quiz from the studios of Media City UK in Salford. Once again this week's competitors answer Russell's questions without an audience present - but there's no less at stake, as the winner goes through to the series semi-finals and, come the autumn, could even find themselves taking home the silver trophy as the official 2020 BBC Brain of Britain.
The Beat the Brains interlude also provides a chance for a listener to win a prize by outwitting the panel with questions of his or her own devising.
Today's competitors are
Graham Barker, a former dental surgeon from Merseyside
Rev Wayne Clarke, a Baptist minister from Manchester
James MacKenzie, a client director from Bradford
Steve Peek, from Wilmslow in Cheshire, who's retired.
Producer: Paul Bajoria
MON 15:30 The Food Programme (m000lstp)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:32 on Sunday]
MON 16:00 Sketches: Stories of Art and People (m000lv74)
Lost and Found
The writer Anna Freeman presents a showcase of true stories about lives changed by art. This week, stories of art lost and found.
We hear stories of a mixtape washed up on a beach, reunited with the woman who made it in the most unlikely way; of a mural at risk of being lost forever; and of a Liverpool FC fan's decorated coat, presumed gone after he left it as a tribute to those who lost their lives in the Hillsborough disaster.
Produced by Mair Bosworth and Maggie Ayre
MON 16:30 Beyond Belief (m000lv76)
Animal Farm
George Orwell’s allegorical novel ‘Animal Farm’ was first published on 17th August 1945 and has never been out of print. It tells the story of a group of exploited animals who take over their farm and attempt to create an ideal society. On the face of it, ‘Animal Farm’ is not a religious book – it is a criticism of Stalin and his totalitarian regime - and Orwell is often described as an atheist. However in this edition of Beyond Belief, Ernie Rea discusses the influence of religion on Orwell and his writing. He is joined by Jean Seaton (Director of the Orwell Foundation and Professor of Media History at the University of Westminster), Michael Brennan (author of the book ‘George Orwell and Religion’ and Professor of Renaissance Studies at the University of Leeds) and the priest and author the Rev Marie-Elsa Bragg.
Producer: Helen Lee
MON 17:00 PM (m000lv78)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000lv7b)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 18:30 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (b07jyrdj)
Series 65
Episode 3
The nation's favourite wireless entertainment pays a visit to Glasgow's Pavilion Theatre. Old-timers Barry Cryer and Tony Hawks are joined on the panel by locals Susan Calman and Fred Macaulay with Jack Dee in the chair. Colin Sell provides piano accompaniment.
Producer - Jon Naismith.
It is a BBC Studios production.
MON 19:00 The Archers (m000ltkt)
Writers, Daniel Thurman & Sarah McDonald Hughes
Director, Kim Greengrass
Editor, Jeremy Howe
Natasha Archer ….. Mali Harries
Emma Grundy ….. Emerald O’Hanrahan
Fallon Rogers ….. Joanna Van Kampen
Lynda Snell ….. Carole Boyd
Robert Snell ….. Graham Blockey
MON 19:15 Front Row (m000ltkw)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
MON 19:45 Lucy Loves Desi: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Sitcom (m000ltky)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
MON 20:00 Faith on the Move (m000gc4j)
A railway chaplain may sound quaint - romantic even - harking back to the days of steam travel when the Railway Mission was first established in the 1880s. Back then, train travel was new and men of the cloth respected. But these days the chaplain’s role is a stressful 24/7 job on the front line of society.
Faith on the Move looks at the work of the chaplains who support railway staff on the near-10,000 miles of Britain’s railway. Dylis George, a Pastor in South London, is our travelling companion and guide. Since becoming a railway chaplain five years ago, Dylis has supported staff on London Underground as well as the British Transport Police. Last year, she took over as chaplain on South Eastern Railway, to the Kent and Sussex coast.
Every day is different and demanding as Dylis offers friendship and a listening ear to those facing life and work issues - including increasingly abusive and sometimes violent passengers. She has also been there to offer support through the very worst of times, from attacks by extremists to deaths on the track.
A mother of two, Dylis finds her faith is often tested, but she also finds solace in her family and cooking dishes which bring back happy childhood memories of Sierra Leone.
Along with the stories of railway workers and passengers, the programme features Andrew Buchanan who was once a train driver, but is about to start as a chaplain on the West Country network. He has his own experience of a track suicide. Other voices include Dylis’s predecessor John Robinson who has taken time out from chaplaincy to look after his family, and CEO of the Railway Mission Liam Johnston.
Narrator: Eleanor Rushton
Producer: Sara Parker
A TBI Media production for BBC Radio 4
MON 20:30 Crossing Continents (m000lmz4)
The Missing Bodies of Guayaquil
In March and April, Guayaquil in Ecuador was the epicentre of the Covid pandemic in Latin America. The city’s health services began to collapse fast, so that the bodies of the dead were not collected from homes. Being at a loss to know what to do, desperate families deposited the remains of their loved ones in the streets. Eventually they were picked up, but in the chaos, some of the remains of those who died went missing.
For Crossing Continents, Mike Lanchin follows the story of Rita Baque as she searches for the body of her late husband.
Producer in Ecuador: Blanca Moncada.
Editor: Bridget Harney
MON 21:00 Writing's on the Wall (m000kp5t)
From tattered lucky socks and perplexing pre-match rituals to Nadal’s perfectly placed water bottles, superstition truly pervades in the world of professional sport.
Martin Perry has spent years coaching sportsmen and women to build confidence and handle the psychological demands of their game. Here, he delves into the popular, very personal and often secretive sporting superstitions - regularly noted, but rarely discussed.
Along the way, Martin discovers superstitions can reveal as much about the mindset of the player, as about what it takes to emerge victorious when the competition is fierce and the stakes are high.
At the Muller Indoor Grand Prix in Glasgow, athletics stars from around the world reveal their own good luck charms. England’s Rugby World Cup finalist Lewis Ludlam runs through an extensive warm-up routine that includes a stuffed toy. And why did Argentinian football legend Diego Maradona once try to get his hands (or feet) on former Spurs striker Clive Allen’s lucky boots?
Martin takes a moment to explore those numerous and long-held rituals of tennis’ King of Clay, Rafael Nadal, which both baffle and entertain millions of tennis fans every year.
Surely sport would be slightly less compelling without the relentless, often hilarious, sometimes bonkers, always serious subplot of superstition?
Producer: Neil Kanwal
A BlokMedia production for BBC Radio 4
MON 21:30 The Patch (m000ltkg)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
MON 22:00 The World Tonight (m000ltl0)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
MON 22:45 The Miller's Dance by Winston Graham (m000ltl2)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 today]
MON 23:00 Word of Mouth (m000lmft)
Talking to Strangers
Do you enjoy having a random chat to a stranger?
Professor Tanya Byron sitting in for Michael Rosen explores the benefits and barriers to talking to strangers.
The "liking gap" the "parasite threat" and "lesser minds": some of the terms used to describe the obstacles some of us face when it comes to talking to people we don't know. Fear of being rejected and straight up fear of other people can prevent us from engaging a complete stranger in conversation. But it's something psychologist Gillian Sandstrom and author Joe Keohane argue is vital for our wellbeing and on a wider scale reduces conflict and misunderstanding in increasingly fractious times. Joe and Gillian join Tanya Byron to talk about how to talk to strangers and how to overcome some of the fears and prejudices we may have about people we don't know. As for 'stranger danger' - is it time to kick that term to the kerb?
Produced by Maggie Ayre
Gillian Sandstrom is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Pyschology at the University of Essex
Joe Keohane is a New York based journalist and author of the forthcoming book The Power of Strangers
MON 23:30 Lights Out (m00013pj)
Big Tex
Documentary adventures that encourage you to take a closer listen.
Dallas is a city built on creeks and streams and, in the 1970s, the children of Dallas often roamed a secret landscape of culverts, waterways and tunnels. Meanwhile, above ground, adults in the city were reckoning with a local court order to desegregate the city's schools. Almost twenty years after Brown v Board of Education ruled that racial segregation violated the US Constitution, Dallas began bussing minority students into majority-white schools.
The change brought conflict and strife, but also opened up new worlds for children in a city isolated by race. In classrooms and playgrounds, an osmosis of experience, perspective and rumours took place. Julia Barton, who is white, heard a murky legend of a tunnel to Fair Park, home of the bombastic and beloved State Fair of Texas. Much later (and buttressed by a local basketball star's biography), Julia's black classmate Sam Franklin helps her track the legend down.
But the children of Dallas have a new legend now. The story of desegregation itself has become a distant myth as white families fled the city's schools, leaving new patterns of isolation in their wake. Only the Fair's iconic Big Tex - a 55-foot tall, talking statue of a cowboy - seems to stay the same in Dallas from year to year. But even he may be more changeable than locals want to admit.
With Julia's classmate Nikki Benson, former teenage tunneller Melvin Qualls, local historian Donald Payton, retired teacher Leonard Davis and Sixth Graders from Alex Sanger Elementary School.
Presented by Julia Barton
Additional research by Paula Bosse
Produced by Hannah Dean and Alan Hall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
TUESDAY 18 AUGUST 2020
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (m000ltl4)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 00:30 Book of the Week (b09526h6)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000ltl7)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000ltl9)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000ltlc)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
TUE 05:30 News Briefing (m000ltlf)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000ltlh)
Space for spiritual reflection to start the day with Rev Neil Gardner of Canongate Kirk, Edinburgh
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (m000ltlk)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
TUE 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b04ml9bd)
North Island Kokako
Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.
Chris Packham presents the North Island kokako from New Zealand. Kokakos are bluish-grey, crow-sized birds with black masks. Those from the North Island sport bright blue fleshy lobes called wattles; one on each side of the bill. And they are famous in New Zealand for their beautiful haunting song which males and females sing, often in a long duet in the early morning.Known by some people as the squirrel of the woods because of their large tails and habit of running along branches, kakako used to be widespread, today fewer than 1000 pairs remain. The kakapos' slow and deliberate, almost thoughtful, flute-like song evokes the islands' forests and in the film, The Piano, it features as part of the chorus of woodland birds in some of the most atmospheric scenes.
TUE 06:00 Today (m000lv3v)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
TUE 09:00 The Life Scientific (m000lv3x)
Dale Sanders on feeding the world
Professor Dale Sanders has spent much of his life studying plants, seeking to understand why some thrive in a particular environment while others struggle. His ground breaking research on their molecular machinery showed how plants extract nutrients from the soil and store essential elements. Since plants can’t move, their survival depends on these responses. In 2020, after 27 years at the University of York, he became the Director of the John Innes Centre in Norwich, one of the premier plant research institutions in the world. Meeting the food needs of a growing global population as the climate changes is a major challenge. And, Dale says, it’s not only about maximising yields. We need crops that are more resilient and more nutritious. Drought resistant crop varieties, for example. And zinc-rich white rice. Dale talks to Jim about how plant science is helping to feed the world in a sustainable way and why plant scientists don’t always get the recognition they deserve.
Producer: Anna Buckley
TUE 09:30 One to One (m000lv3z)
Introverts & Extroverts: Russell Kane talks to Jessica Pan
What are you: an introvert or an extrovert? Russell Kane is a comedian, so he has always assumed he's a textbook loud-mouthed extrovert. But now he's not so sure.
Across this series of interviews, Russell explores exactly what we mean by the terms "introvert" and "extrovert". He questions whether it is useful to define people in this way and whether we have a cultural bias towards one personality type over the other.
In this second of three parts, Russell talks to author Jessica Pan about her year of "living dangerously" as an introvert pretending to be an extrovert in order to open up her world. What did she learn? How did it change her? And what advice does she have for other naturally introverted people?
Producer: Becky Ripley
TUE 09:45 Book of the Week (b0952ph2)
Following Pappano
Episode 2
The second in the series of programmes following Sir Antonio Pappano and his team as they prepare for a new production of Puccini's La Boheme.
All major opera houses rely on well established productions of repertoire classics. Puccini's La bohème is a permanent fixture in the world's top five Operas as measured by performance numbers and John Copley's 1974 staging at Covent Garden was a familiar and much loved favourite. However the time has come to replace it with a new production and the challenge to do that with a fresh staging falls to the team of Music Director Sir Antonio Pappano and stage director Richard Jones.
In five programmes across the week Radio Four follows Maestro Pappano as the new production takes shape. He works with singers, discusses the particular challenges of operating at the very highest level of Operatic performance and expectation and gives candid insights into the often perilous journey to an opening night.
We also hear from the team both on and off stage who work alongside Pappano, including the young cast who are acutely aware that the production they are replacing opened with singers like Placido Domingo and Sir Thomas Allen. There are also stage directors, set-builders, movement directors and Maestro Pappano's trusted repetiteur. But at the heart of it, in the weeks leading up to opening night and as the curtain rises, is the Music director himself, combining the orchestral brilliance of Puccini's score and the dazzling qualities of the singers on stage to produce what they all hope will be a worthy addition to the Royal Opera House's Puccini tradition.
Producer: Tom Alban.
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000lv42)
The programme that offers a female perspective on the world
TUE 10:45 Lucy Loves Desi: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Sitcom (m000lv44)
Episode 2
Martin Jarvis directs a stellar cast in Gregg Oppenheimer's inside look at his writer- producer father's famous TV series, I Love Lucy.
Anne Heche channels Lucille Ball in an outstanding performance. With Wilmer Valderrama, Jared Harris, Alfred Molina, Stacy Keach, Mike McShane. The onscreen pairing of Lucille and Desi is brilliant, but the American Network is doubtful.
"Who’d believe she was married to him?"
Lucille: ‘But I am married to him!’
The serial dramatises more than just the creation of an iconic TV series - it charts the need to challenge existing ideas that balked at diversity, the comic dynamic of the Arnaz’s partnership, and their commitment and integrity shared by writer Jess Oppenheimer - resisting network and sponsor demands and outdated censorship rules, bringing creative bonuses to US audiences and worldwide.
This roller-coasting five-part serial shows how television, at a crucial time, learned from the established craft of radio. Cuban bandleader Desi's inventive genius engendered studio techniques now taken for granted. Lucille and Desi's uplifting relationship flouted conventional thinking and defied accepted entertainment practice in one of the most influential sitcoms in TV history.
Cast:
Lucille Ball…Anne Heche
Desi Arnaz…Wilmer Valderrama
Jess…Jared Harris
Harry…Alfred Molina
Hubbell…Mike McShane
Don…Matthew Floyd Miller
Betty…Janine Barris
Richard…Mark Sullivan
Mr Paley…André Sogliuzzo
Frawley…Stacy Keach
Marc…Matthew Wolf
Vivian Vance…Anna Mathias
Other parts: Anna Lyse Erikson, Allegra Riggio
Written by Gregg Oppenheimer
Director: Martin Jarvis
Producer: Rosalind Ayres
A Jarvis & Ayres production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 11:00 Sharing the Baby (m000gtnf)
Just 3% of new parents took any shared parental leave entitlement last year. In many other countries where shared leave is offered, uptake has soared. Fi Glover examines what the policy actually offers, what the experience is like on the ground for couples and why the take-up has been so low.
Fi also discovers how financial and cultural barriers and fear of workplace discrimination are impacting on the experience of taking the leave. One dad who works as an employment lawyer for a large company explains how anxious he felt even asking to take shared leave.
Another recent study found that the majority of those benefiting from SPL are white middle-class parents who own their own homes. Has SPL in fact deepened the divide between people or can we look to a future where parental leave really is a choice?
Produced by Sarah Cuddon
A Somethin' Else production for Radio 4
TUE 11:30 With Great Pleasure (b0b42w9j)
Frank Cottrell-Boyce
Children's author and screenwriter Frank Cottrell-Boyce shares a selection of his favourite pieces of writing, including Tove Jansson, Jackanory, E. Nesbit and Dylan Thomas.
Frank Cottrell-Boyce's screenwriting credits include Welcome to Sarajevo, Hilary and Jackie and 24 Hour Party People. Millions, his debut children's novel, won the 2004 Carnegie Medal and was shortlisted for the Guardian Childrens Fiction Award. His second novel, Framed, was shortlisted for the 2005 Whitbread Children's Fiction Award and has also been shortlisted for the 2005 Carnegie Medal. His third novel, Cosmic, was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal, the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize and the Roald Dahl Funny Prize. He has collaborated closely with the filmmaker Danny Boyle, including scripting the 2012 Olympics opening ceremony
Producer: Mair Bosworth
Readers: Samuel West and Indira Varma.
TUE 12:00 News Summary (m000lv46)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 12:04 The Miller's Dance by Winston Graham (m000lv48)
Episode 2
Winston Graham’s series of novels set in Cornwall follow the lives of the Poldark family and their friends, neighbours, rivals and enemies. Life in Cornwall is governed by the sea and by the fortunes of the tin and copper mines that provide work for the local community.
The Miller’s Dance finds Ross Poldark now 52 yrs old and still happily married to Demelza, who is ten years younger than him. Their eldest son Jeremy is approaching 21 and their eldest daughter Clowance is 17, both of them navigating the changeable weather of first love. The Poldark family is completed by young Isabella-Rose although neither Ross nor Demelza will ever forget the grief of losing their first born, Julia, before her third birthday.
A series of courtships begin their complicated dance, some fuelled by lust and others by love, money or ambition. All this takes place against a backdrop of England’s continuing military campaign against Napoleon’s army in Spain and Portugal. The damage that war has done to the nation’s commerce and those who rely on it gives rise to political tensions which are played out in complex schemes of power and influence amongst the governing classes in London. A world which seems so far away from the pressing concerns of Cornish life and which nevertheless beckons Ross to attend to his duties in parliament as an MP.
The story told here (Book 9 in the famous series of novels) rejoins the characters in 1812 – about ten years after the point where BBC television’s hugely popular series concluded. This is a chance to return to Cornwall and the passions of the Poldarks and at the same time to reflect on what marriage and courtship are really about and whether love can ever hope to conquer all.
Author : Winston Graham
Read by Richard Goulding
Abridged by Jill Waters and Isobel Creed
Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 12:18 You and Yours (m000lv4b)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
TUE 12:57 Weather (m000lv4d)
The latest weather forecast
TUE 13:00 World at One (m000lv4g)
Mon-Thurs: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Sarah Montague. Fri: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Mark Mardell.
TUE 13:45 A History of the World in 100 Objects (b00qm8z8)
Old World, New Powers (1100 - 300 BC)
Sphinx of Taharqo
Throughout this week, Neil MacGregor is describing power struggles across the globe around 3000 years ago, as ambitious new forces set about building sophisticated new societies - from the Middle East to South America.
Today he describes what was happening along the River Nile and how a powerful new king conquered Egypt from Sudan. His name was Taharqo and he ruled from a vibrant new civilisation (in modern day Sudan) called Kush. These days few people even know that the mighty land of the Pharaohs was once ruled over by its southern neighbour. The evidence is summed up by a sculpture at the British Museum that shows the ruler from Kush as an Egyptian sphinx.
TUE 14:00 The Archers (m000ltkt)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 Drama (m0001g9d)
Holding Back the Tide
Selling The Capstan
by Nick Warburton
John ..... Ronald Pickup
Richard ..... Paul Ritter
Clare ..... Kate Duchêne
Lux ..... Michelle Asante
Robust Betty ..... Emma Handy
Brandi ..... Saffron Coomber
Librarian ..... Liam Lau Fernandez
A Heavy ..... Don Gilet
Wayne ..... Lewis Bray
Directed by Sally Avens
When the local tearoom is threatened with takeover by a major coffee chain The Breck Howe Preservation Society decide to take direct action to save it; John Hector has big ideas but unsurprisingly things don't go to plan.
TUE 15:00 Short Cuts (m000lv4k)
Moments of Being
Josie Long presents short documentaries and adventures in sound inspired by Virginia Woolf's idea of Moments of Being.
"The past only comes back when the present runs so smoothly that it is like the sliding surface of a deep river. Then one sees through the surface to the depths. In those moments I find one of my greatest satisfactions, not that I am thinking of the past; but that it is then that I am living most fully in the present. For the present when backed by the past is a thousand times deeper..."
Production team: Andrea Rangecroft and Alia Cassam
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 15:30 The Last Songs of Gaia (m000kgsn)
2: Waterlife
In the last year, the scale of the climate and wildlife crises has been laid bare by scientists around the globe. A frightening number of species are falling silent as a result. How are the world’s musicians, sound artists and poets responding?
In the second episode, Verity Sharp journeys underwater into a soundworld that even the most dedicated experts know relatively little about. 90% of the oceans’ species are still unclassified, let alone recorded.
If we were more familiar with the sounds of waterlife, might we care for it more? Verity listens to shrimp crackling and fish grunting. On Easter Island, where the Pacific stretches for thousands of miles in every direction, the ocean means everything to the local community, including its musicians. And Verity goes for a walk in rural Hampshire to commune with an unassuming waterway that has had far-reaching implications for the British way of life, but where key species are facing ever-greater threats.
With contributions from Jana Winderen, Yoyo Tuki, Sam Lee and Philip Gross.
Produced by Chris Elcombe
A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 4.
Additional material:
Musicians of Torba Province, Vanuatu - ‘Dolap Warer music’ (Wantok Musik)
Photo: © José Alejandro Álvarez / IG: josealejandroalvarez_photos
TUE 16:00 Word of Mouth (m000lv4m)
Black masculinity and language
Teacher and writer Jeffrey Boakye, sitting in for Michael Rosen, and poet and writer JJ Bola, look at the construction of black masculinity in contemporary society and the impact of colonialism. They explore how language is used to define or constrain male identity and ask how modern society might transcend these inherited ideas. If you're not a roadman or a baller, who are you?
Producer Beth O'Dea. Photo copyright: Antonio Olmos
More about Jeffrey Boakye and JJ Bola:
Jeffrey Boakye is an author, commentator, writer and English teacher. He has a particular interest in issues surrounding education, race and popular culture.
Jeffrey, originally from Brixton in London, has taught English to 11- to 18-year-olds since 2007. He began teaching in West London, moved to East London where he was Head of English, and then moved on to Yorkshire where he now lives with his wife and two sons.
Jeffrey started writing his first book, Hold Tight, in 2015 when cradling his first born son in the early hours. Hold Tight was published in 2017 and is recognised as one of the first seminal books on grime music. He started writing his second book, Black, Listed, when cradling his second born son in the early hours. Published in 2019, Black, Listed was praised by David Lammy MP as ‘a book that gives a voice to those whose experience is persistently defined, refined and denied by others’. Jeffrey’s third book, What is Masculinity?, a book for children on masculinity, broke with tradition and was not written when cradling a newborn son.
JJ Bola's website is jjbola.com, twitter: https://twitter.com/JJ_Bola, instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jj_bola and facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jjbola
You can listen to Jeffrey Boakye's conversation with Michael Rosen on Word of Mouth here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0004l93
TUE 16:30 Great Lives (m000ltfm)
Peter Frankopan on Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
Bearded, profoundly deaf and somewhat eccentric, Tsiolkovsky's theoretical work means he is, for many, the "father of space travel". He died in 1935, and so never saw his research come to fruition.
To discuss Tsiolkovsky's life and achievements, Matthew Parris is joined by Peter Frankopan, Professor of Global History at Oxford and author of the international best-seller, The Silk Roads: A New History of the World. Matthew's other guest is Doug Millard, Curator of Space Technology at the Science Museum.
Producer: Chris Ledgard
TUE 17:00 PM (m000lv4p)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000lv4r)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 18:30 Meet David Sedaris (b0901fqt)
Series 6
The Perfect Fit; Audience Q&A
The globetrotting, trash-picking, aisle-rolling storyteller is back with more words of wit and wisdom. The series ends with an essay about the wilder end of his fashion sense, The Perfect Fit, and a lively audience question and answer session.
With sardonic wit and incisive social critiques, David Sedaris has become one of America's pre-eminent humour writers. The great skill with which he slices through cultural euphemisms and political correctness proves that he is a master of satire and one of the most observant writers addressing the human condition today.
David Sedaris's first book, Barrel Fever (1994), which included The SantaLand Diaries. was a critical and commercial success, as were his follow-up efforts, Naked (1997), Holidays on Ice (1997) and Me Talk Pretty One Day (2000). He became known for his bitingly funny recollections of his youth, family life and travels, making semi-celebrities out of his parents and siblings.
David Sedaris has been nominated for three Grammy Awards for Best Spoken Word and Best Comedy Album. A feature film adaptation of his story C.O.G. was released after a premier at the Sundance Film Festival (2013). He has been a contributor to BBC Radio 4 since 1996.
Producer: Steve Doherty
A Giddy Goat production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 19:00 The Archers (m000ls9f)
Lynda plans a special evening and Emma realises what is important
TUE 19:15 Front Row (m000lv4t)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
TUE 19:45 Lucy Loves Desi: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Sitcom (m000lv44)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
TUE 20:00 Scotland’s Uncivil War (m000lv4w)
On 23rd March 2020 Scotland's former First Minister Alex Salmond stood outside Edinburgh's High Court. He'd just been acquitted of thirteen counts of sexual assault against nine women.
"There is certain evidence I would like to have seen led," he told the media huddle. Everyone knows what he means. He's saying it's not over.
Salmond believes there is a conspiracy against him; that the civil service in Holyrood, along with certain political figures within the SNP, encouraged a group of women to come forward with allegations of sexual misconduct against him in order to stop return to front line politics. Commentators say he wants revenge.
Nicola Sturgeon insists there was no plot, but has been implicated and asked to provide evidence for what she knew when. The Parliamentary Inquiry is set to begin in mid-August.
Once close political allies, Salmond and Sturgeon are no longer in contact, with Sturgeon comparing the breakdown of her relationship with Salmond to a "grieving process".
An uncivil war has broken out within the SNP, but it’s been a long time coming.
Acclaimed journalist Dani Garavelli covered every day of the trial, and discovered how deep the schism runs, as she herself was targeted by those who believe dark forces are afoot.
Here, she explores the flash points running through Scotland's governing party. How might these divisions affect Scotland's future and even its place within the UK?
Producer: Caitlin Smith
TUE 20:40 In Touch (m000lv4y)
News, views and information for people who are blind or partially sighted
TUE 21:00 Science Stories (b0608nvg)
Series 1
How Perkin brought purple to the people
In 1856, a teenager experimenting at home accidentally made a colour that was more gaudy and garish than anything that had gone before. William Perkin was messing about at home, trying to make the anti-malarial, quinine; but his experiment went wrong. Instead he made a purple dye that took Victorian London by storm . Philip Ball tells the story of this famous stroke of serendipity. Laurence Llewelyn- Bowen describes the fashion sensation that ensued and chemist, Andrea Sella tells how Perkin's purple prompted the creation of much more than colourful crinolines.
Producer: Anna Buckley
TUE 21:30 The Life Scientific (m000lv3x)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (m000lv50)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
TUE 22:45 The Miller's Dance by Winston Graham (m000lv48)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 today]
TUE 23:00 Fresh From the Fringe (b01ng4hc)
Fresh from the Fringe: 2012
Jason Cook hosts a showcase of the best new acts from the 2012 Edinburgh Fringe. Featuring stand-up from Nish Kumar, Celia Pacquola and Dan Schreiber, character comedy from Kieran Hodgson and music from Jonny & the Baptists and Mae Martin.
An extended version of the show, also featuring interviews and outtakes, is available on the BBC Red Button service.
Produced by Lyndsay Fenner.
TUE 23:30 Lights Out (m00017rk)
Deep Time and the Sparrowhawk
After a decade photographing The Oldest Living Things In The World, New York photographer Rachel Sussman said she began thinking of deep time as deep water. “The more time I spent in the depths, the more I could stay in that space longer.”
What can we glean from spending time in the company of those who fix their gaze on longer timeframes, whose work entails inhabiting expanded notions of time, who seek both to ask and answer questions about our bounded place in that which is boundless?
This is a sonic deep-dive into deep time and "the long now" - a series of close encounters via philosophy and science, literature and nature, art and the lived life, which delves into how we can think long-term and hold something of deep time as we move through our days. With musings and moments that connect the speaker to the infinite at one time or another - to the deep past, the long future, or the bigger present.
Perhaps, if we can better inhabit an expanded view of time, we might also expand how we can live its mysteries and exigencies.
Featuring interviews with philosopher and author David Wood, NASA astrophysicist and research astronomer Natalie Batalha, Brooklyn-based photographer Rachel Sussman, Australian writer and philosopher Christina McLeish, and Danny Hillis, an American inventor, scientist and designer of The Long Now’s 10, 000 Year Clock.
With thanks to NASA’s sound archive and the University of Iowa’s Space Sounds.
Including extracts from poems by Alice Oswald and Edna St Vincent Millay.
Produced by Jaye Kranz
A Falling Tree productions for BBC Radio 4
WEDNESDAY 19 AUGUST 2020
WED 00:00 Midnight News (m000lv52)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
WED 00:30 Book of the Week (b0952ph2)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000lv54)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000lv56)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000lv58)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
WED 05:30 News Briefing (m000lv5b)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000lv5d)
Space for spiritual reflection to start the day with Rev Neil Gardner of Canongate Kirk, Edinburgh
WED 05:45 Farming Today (m000lv5g)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
WED 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b04dvtjk)
Wrybill
Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.
Sir David Attenborough presents the New Zealand wrybill. The wrybill is an inconspicuous wader yet it is unique. It is the only bird in the world whose bill is bent sideways , and as it happens, always to the right. In the shingly, gravelly world it inhabits alongside fast flowing rivers, the wrybill's beak is the perfect shape for finding food. With neat, rapid movements, it sweeps aside small stones to reveal insects beneath. Endemic to New Zealand in winter dense flocks gather and display, their highly co-ordinated aerial movements having been described as a flung scarfe across the sky.
WED 06:00 Today (m000ls8h)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
WED 09:00 More or Less (m000ls8k)
Tim Harford explains - and sometimes debunks - the numbers and statistics used in political debate, the news and everyday life.
WED 09:30 Four Thought (m000ls8m)
The Craft of Surgery
Sam Gallivan examines the similarities between surgery and sculpture.
Sam is an orthopaedic surgeon, and in this talk takes us into the operating theatre to experience how it sounds, and how it feels. And it's the sense of feeling - of drilling into a bone or cutting through a ligament - where she finds unexpected similarities between surgery and sculpture. What, she asks, can each learn from the other? And how might this sense of surgery as a craft challenge the dominant way of seeing the medical world? After all, she reasons, 'to accept surgery as a craft is to accept that there are unexpected ways of knowing in medicine that we might not be able to pin down in numbers or statistics.'
Producers: Giles Edwards and Peter Snowdon.
WED 09:45 Book of the Week (b0952stt)
Following Pappano
Episode 3
The Third programme in the series following Sir Antonio Pappano as he and his collaborator Richard Jones prepare for the Royal Opera House Covent Garden's first new production of Puccini's La Boheme in over forty years.
All major opera houses rely on well established productions of repertoire classics. Puccini's La bohème is a permanent fixture in the world's top five Operas as measured by performance numbers and John Copley's 1974 staging at Covent Garden was a familiar and much loved favourite. However the time has come to replace it with a new production and the challenge to do that with a fresh staging falls to the team of Music Director Sir Antonio Pappano and stage director Richard Jones.
In five programmes across the week Radio Four follows Maestro Pappano as the new production takes shape. He works with singers, discusses the particular challenges of operating at the very highest level of Operatic performance and expectation and gives candid insights into the often perilous journey to an opening night.
We also hear from the team both on and off stage who work alongside Pappano, including the young cast who are acutely aware that the production they are replacing opened with singers like Placido Domingo and Sir Thomas Allen. There are also stage directors, set-builders, movement directors and Maestro Pappano's trusted repetiteur. But at the heart of it, in the weeks leading up to opening night and as the curtain rises, is the Music director himself, combining the orchestral brilliance of Puccini's score and the dazzling qualities of the singers on stage to produce what they all hope will be a worthy addition to the Royal Opera House's Puccini tradition.
Producer: Tom Alban.
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000ls8r)
The programme that offers a female perspective on the world
WED 10:45 Lucy Loves Desi: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Sitcom (m000ls8t)
Episode 3
Martin Jarvis directs a stellar cast in Gregg Oppenheimer's inside look at his writer- producer father's famous TV series, I Love Lucy.
Anne Heche channels Lucille Ball in an outstanding performance. With Wilmer Valderrama, Jared Harris, Alfred Molina, Stacy Keach, Mike McShane. The onscreen pairing of Lucille and Desi is brilliant, but the American Network is doubtful.
"Who’d believe she was married to him?"
Lucille: ‘But I am married to him!’
The serial dramatises more than just the creation of an iconic TV series - it charts the need to challenge existing ideas that balked at diversity, the comic dynamic of the Arnaz’s partnership, and their commitment and integrity shared by writer Jess Oppenheimer - resisting network and sponsor demands and outdated censorship rules, bringing creative bonuses to US audiences and worldwide.
This roller-coasting five-part serial shows how television, at a crucial time, learned from the established craft of radio. Cuban bandleader Desi's inventive genius engendered studio techniques now taken for granted. Lucille and Desi's uplifting relationship flouted conventional thinking and defied accepted entertainment practice in one of the most influential sitcoms in TV history.
Cast:
Lucille Ball…Anne Heche
Desi Arnaz…Wilmer Valderrama
Jess…Jared Harris
Harry…Alfred Molina
Hubbell…Mike McShane
Don…Matthew Floyd Miller
Betty…Janine Barris
Richard…Mark Sullivan
Mr Paley…André Sogliuzzo
Frawley…Stacy Keach
Marc…Matthew Wolf
Vivian Vance…Anna Mathias
Other parts: Anna Lyse Erikson, Allegra Riggio
Written by Gregg Oppenheimer
Director: Martin Jarvis
Producer: Rosalind Ayres
A Jarvis & Ayres production for BBC Radio 4
WED 11:00 My Final Wish (m000h0g8)
For Hindus across the world, the River Ganges is sacred. For the majority, it’s their final wish that their ashes should be scattered in it. The practice is central to the Hindu belief in reincarnation, with the soul being released once the ashes of the deceased have been immersed in the Ganges.
For British Hindus, the pilgrimage to the holy river can be very expensive. Nevertheless, for the majority the experience is spiritually rewarding and entirely positive - but for some, it isn’t.
Sushma Puri travels to the town of Haridwar on the Ganges to see the final rites taking place and visits, for the first time, the resting place for generations of her own family, including her parents.
Back in Britain, she talks to priests who explain the significance of scattering ashes in the Ganges and meets funeral directors who are linking up with companies in India to try and make the experience easier for busy, Indian professionals who have little time to make this important pilgrimage. Sushma also meets the people who set up a facility for Hindus to have their loved ones’ ashes scattered in the flowing river at Barrow upon Soar in Leicestershire.
In Leicester, she speaks to elderly British Indians who, despite having lived in England for decades, went to India to scatter family ashes in the Ganges and others who wouldn’t dream of doing so. Some believe Mother Ganga has a powerful, spiritual potency because it’s descended from the heavens and has washed the body of Lord Shiva - while others claim the river is badly polluted and priests’ prey on the vulnerable.
Finally, Sushma asks if this tradition of taking ashes to the Ganges is likely to continue or if it will die out with the next generation of British Hindus who might prefer to scatter them nearer to home.
A Tigereye production for BBC Radio 4
WED 11:30 For the Love of Leo (m000ls8z)
The Long-Lost Friend
By Michael Chaplin. Edinburgh widower Leo still talks to his beloved wife Tamsin when he’s alone; even though daughter Laura and housekeeper Sadie fill the house and his life. We hear the truth of Tamsin’s visit to Paisley that fateful day and meet three people from her past.
Mark Bonnar (star of Shetland, Guilt and Line of Duty) stars as Leo Fabiani, renowned painter who lost his wife recently in mysterious circumstances and seems, ever since, to have become a magnet to all kinds of attractive women. We meet four of them in this new series.
Cast:
Leo Fabiani ..... Mark Bonnar
Tamsin Fabiani ..... Beth Marshall
Laura Fabiani ..... Samara Maclaren
Sadie ..... Tracy Wiles
Archie ..... Aly Macrae
Fiona ..... Phyllis Logan
Peter ..... Simon Donaldson
Directed by Marilyn Imrie and Michael Chaplin
A Catherine Bailey production for BBC Radio 4
WED 12:00 News Summary (m000lvv7)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 12:04 The Miller's Dance by Winston Graham (m000ls93)
Episode 3
Winston Graham’s series of novels set in Cornwall follow the lives of the Poldark family and their friends, neighbours, rivals and enemies. Life in Cornwall is governed by the sea and by the fortunes of the tin and copper mines that provide work for the local community.
The Miller’s Dance finds Ross Poldark now 52 yrs old and still happily married to Demelza, who is ten years younger than him. Their eldest son Jeremy is approaching 21 and their eldest daughter Clowance is 17, both of them navigating the changeable weather of first love. The Poldark family is completed by young Isabella-Rose although neither Ross nor Demelza will ever forget the grief of losing their first born, Julia, before her third birthday.
A series of courtships begin their complicated dance, some fuelled by lust and others by love, money or ambition. All this takes place against a backdrop of England’s continuing military campaign against Napoleon’s army in Spain and Portugal. The damage that war has done to the nation’s commerce and those who rely on it gives rise to political tensions which are played out in complex schemes of power and influence amongst the governing classes in London. A world which seems so far away from the pressing concerns of Cornish life and which nevertheless beckons Ross to attend to his duties in parliament as an MP.
The story told here (Book 9 in the famous series of novels) rejoins the characters in 1812 – about ten years after the point where BBC television’s hugely popular series concluded. This is a chance to return to Cornwall and the passions of the Poldarks and at the same time to reflect on what marriage and courtship are really about and whether love can ever hope to conquer all.
Author : Winston Graham
Read by Richard Goulding
Abridged by Jill Waters and Isobel Creed
Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4
WED 12:18 You and Yours (m000ls96)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
WED 12:57 Weather (m000ls98)
The latest weather forecast
WED 13:00 World at One (m000ls9b)
Mon-Thurs: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Sarah Montague. Fri: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Mark Mardell.
WED 13:45 A History of the World in 100 Objects (b00qm8zb)
Old World, New Powers (1100 - 300 BC)
Chinese Zhou Ritual Vessel
Neil MacGregor's history of humanity told through one hundred objects from the British Museum. Three thousand years ago, the world was in huge flux, with new powers creating sophisticated new societies - from the Middle East to South America - as older ones collapsed. In today's programme, Neil MacGregor finds out what was happening in China of that period and describes how a group of outsiders, the Zhou, overthrew the long established Shang dynasty. The story is told through a bronze bowl that was used for feasting. What does this beautiful bronze bowl tell us about the Zhou and life in China at this time? Dame Jessica Rawson and the Chinese scholar Wang Tao help paint the picture
WED 14:00 The Archers (m000ls9f)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 Drama (m000ls9h)
The Infinity Pool
By Nalini Chetty. Treat your loved ones to the perfect spa retreat. Afternoon tea, fizz, a treatment of your choice, and full use of the facilities. Optional extras include - sibling rivalry, unspoken grief, and the sort of fierce love that can only accompany the impending death of a loved one.
Maggie…………………………… ...........Anne Kidd
Greer............................................ ..........Jessica Hardwick
Isla............................................................ Samara MacLaren
Waitress/Manager/ Therapist……. LouiseMccarthy
Producer/director: Bruce Young
BBC Scotland
WED 15:00 The Money Clinic (m000ls9k)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 on Saturday]
WED 15:30 Science Stories (b0608nvg)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Tuesday]
WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (m0002r0w)
Skateboarding - Parkour
Skateboarding and parkour: Laurie Taylor explores lifestyle sports in the hyper regulated city. Iain Borden, Professor of Architecture and Urban Culture at UCL, considers the origins, history and thrill of skateboarding. They're joined by Thomas Raymen, Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Plymouth, who followed a group of Newcastle free running enthusiasts, from wall to rooftop, and probed the contradictions between transgression and conformity to the values of consumer capitalism. Revised repeat.
Producer: Jayne Egerton
WED 16:30 The Media Show (m000ls9n)
Topical programme about the fast-changing media world
WED 17:00 PM (m000ls9q)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000ls9v)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 18:30 Paul Sinha's General Knowledge (m000ls9x)
Series 2
Episode 2
Paul Sinha is an award-winning comedian, the reigning British Quiz Champion and also, according to the Radio Times, the UK's "funniest fund of forgotten facts". He returns to Radio 4 with a second series of his General Knowledge, recounting the amazing true stories that lie behind fascinating nuggets of information.
This episode is focused on the world outside the UK, from relatively close countries such as France, to further afield - like Mercury! He tells the story of the most popular Brazilian who ever lived (and why he relied on those not living for his popularity), and the world's greatest Belgian. He also manages to sneak a reference to his favourite football team in to the show - see if you can spot it.
The programme was recorded virtually, with an audience of 200 people watching him from the comfort of their own home.
Written and performed by Paul Sinha
Recording engineered by Lee Chaundy & Marc Willcox
Produced by Ed Morrish
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
WED 19:00 The Archers (m000ls9z)
Robert struggles to find the right words and Emma tries to prove a point
WED 19:15 Front Row (m000lsb1)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
WED 19:45 Lucy Loves Desi: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Sitcom (m000ls8t)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
WED 20:00 Grounded with Louis Theroux (p08g4wm2)
7. Miriam Margolyes
In Grounded with Louis Theroux, Louis’s using the lockdown to track down some high-profile people he’s been longing to talk to – a fascinating mix of the celebrated, the controversial and the mysterious.
in this episode, Louis speaks to actor and documentary-maker, Miriam Margolyes. In a wide-ranging and provocative conversation, they discuss sexuality, anti-Semitism in the UK and her hatred of housework.
Produced by Paul Kobrak
A Mindhouse production for BBC Radio 4
WED 20:45 Four Thought (m000ls8m)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:30 today]
WED 21:00 More or Less (m000ls8k)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
WED 21:30 The Media Show (m000ls9n)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 today]
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (m000lsb4)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
WED 22:45 The Miller's Dance by Winston Graham (m000ls93)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 today]
WED 23:00 Woof (m000lsb6)
Honest Mistakes at Home and Abroad
What Will You Be When You Grow Up?
In this third series, Chris Neill continues his comedic exploration of affairs of the heart, the unexpected humiliations of ageing, and what bloody good luck it is that he has met his boyfriend, Rory.
In earlier series, episodes revolved around the terrible blind date Chris was set up on, his fantasy French boyfriend inspired by a school textbook, making a fish pie for his dying neighbour, and his failure to write a novel. As ever, Chris remains entirely willing to expose himself to a late-night, possibly bed-bound, audience and this third series of Woof finds him recounting more autobiographical stories of his life in love, lust and mediocrity.
In the first episode, we examine the trials of ageing. After a telephone conversation with his doctor, taken while admiring the sheer capacity of the Haribo aisle in a Hamburg supermarket, we join Chris walking away from diabetes.
Written by Chris Neill
Starring: Chris Neill, Isy Suttie and Martin Hyder
Producer: Steve Doherty
A Giddy Goat production for BBC Radio 4
Music used:
Dance Away - The Bryan Ferry Orchestra
This Guy's In Love With You - Sachal Studios Orchestra
Don't Think Twice It's Alright - Chris Thile & Brad Mehldau
Introduction And Allegro For Harp, Flute, Clarinet And String Quartet (Ravel) - (Performance uncredited)
Limbo Jazz - Duke Ellington and Coleman Hawkins
Gotta Get Up - Harry Nilsson
Our Day Will Come - Amy Winehouse
WED 23:15 Bunk Bed (b0bbrdx9)
Series 5
Bunk Bed with sleepover guest Jane Horrocks
Everyone craves a place where their mind and body are not applied to a particular task. The nearest faraway place. Somewhere for drifting and lighting upon strange thoughts which don't have to be shooed into context, but which can be followed like balloons escaping onto the air. Late at night, in the dark and in a bunk bed, your tired mind can wander.
The acclaimed Bunk Bed, written by and featuring Patrick Marber and Peter Curran, returns for with a dozy vengeance. Recorded in the dark and in real beds, tonight BAFTA-winning actor Jane Horrocks sleeps over on the pull out bed and discusses the curse of a happy childhood and David Bowie - and also does her impression of a neighing horse that once brought unwanted attention from a stallion.
"A welcome comfort against the gathering storm clouds" - The Spectator
"Funny, strange, enchanting, and beautifully put together" - The Observer
"You'll with love it or hate it...but stick with it; it's gold" - Sunday Telegraph
"Bunk Bed on Radio 4 is beloved by broadsheet critics, but don't let that put you off" - Metro
Producer: Peter Curran
A Foghorn production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 23:30 Lights Out (m00019nh)
A Sense of Quietness
Documentary adventures that encourage you to take a closer listen. This episode follows a line of connection through four women across two referendums to explore the unexpected consequences of talking about abortion.
Starting on live television at a beauty pageant, we hear from a journalist, a radio producer, the founder of a woman's clinic and a woman travelling from Ireland to the UK - and discover the quiet power and hidden dangers of speech itself.
Featuring the voices of Brianna Parkins, Siobhan McHugh and Anne Connolly. With additional recordings courtesy of Zoë Comyns and Regan Hutchins
Produced by Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
THURSDAY 20 AUGUST 2020
THU 00:00 Midnight News (m000lsb9)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
THU 00:30 Book of the Week (b0952stt)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000lsbc)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000lsbf)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000lsbh)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
THU 05:30 News Briefing (m000lsbk)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000lsbm)
Space for spiritual reflection to start the day with Rev Neil Gardner of Canongate Kirk, Edinburgh
THU 05:45 Farming Today (m000lsbp)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
THU 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b04dvz9y)
Guira Cuckoo
Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.
Sir David Attenborough presents the guira cuckoo of central South America. Guira cuckoos break all the usual rules of their family. They are very sociable and travel in noisy gangs, feeding and roosting together. But what makes the behaviour of guira cuckoos so different is that several females often lay their eggs in a single nest, sometimes as many as 20 eggs which are tended by the respective mothers . This is known as co-operative breeding. Whether a female recognises her own eggs isn't certain, but it's possible that they can distinguish them by variable markings on the eggshells and single them out for special care.
THU 06:00 Today (m000lvbv)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
THU 09:00 The Infinite Monkey Cage (m000lvbx)
Series 22
Does Time Exist
Brian Cox and Robin Ince are joined by actor and writer Mark Gatiss, theoretical physicists Carlo Rovelli and Fay Dowker to ask timely questions about time. Is time real, does it exist in the fundamental laws of physics, and if it doesn't, why do we experience the sensation of time passing? They look at the idea of the block universe, where our future is as real as our past, which worryingly leads to Robin's favourite question about free will...is that an illusion too?
A timely look at the question of time and hopefully just in time...
Producer: Alexandra Feachem
THU 09:30 Laws That Aren't Laws (m000lvbz)
Parkinson's Law
Comedian Robin Ince explores laws that govern our lives that really aren't, but should be.
THU 09:45 Book of the Week (b0952zl5)
Following Pappano
Episode 4
The fourth programme in the series following Sir Antonio Pappano and his collaborator Richard Jones prepare for the Royal Opera House Covent Garden's new production of Puccini's La Boheme.
All major opera houses rely on well established productions of repertoire classics. Puccini's La bohème is a permanent fixture in the world's top five Operas as measured by performance numbers and John Copley's 1974 staging at Covent Garden was a familiar and much loved favourite. However the time has come to replace it with a new production and the challenge to do that with a fresh staging falls to the team of Music Director Sir Antonio Pappano and stage director Richard Jones.
In five programmes across the week Radio Four follows Maestro Pappano as the new production takes shape. He works with singers, discusses the particular challenges of operating at the very highest level of Operatic performance and expectation and gives candid insights into the often perilous journey to an opening night.
We also hear from the team both on and off stage who work alongside Pappano, including the young cast who are acutely aware that the production they are replacing opened with singers like Placido Domingo and Sir Thomas Allen. There are also stage directors, set-builders, movement directors and Maestro Pappano's trusted repetiteur. But at the heart of it, in the weeks leading up to opening night and as the curtain rises, is the Music director himself, combining the orchestral brilliance of Puccini's score and the dazzling qualities of the singers on stage to produce what they all hope will be a worthy addition to the Royal Opera House's Puccini tradition.
Producer: Tom Alban.
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000lvc2)
The programme that offers a female perspective on the world
THU 10:45 Lucy Loves Desi: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Sitcom (m000lvc4)
Episode 4
Martin Jarvis directs a stellar cast in Gregg Oppenheimer's inside look at his writer- producer father's famous TV series, I Love Lucy.
Anne Heche channels Lucille Ball in an outstanding performance. With Wilmer Valderrama, Jared Harris, Alfred Molina, Stacy Keach, Mike McShane. The onscreen pairing of Lucille and Desi is brilliant, but the American Network is doubtful.
"Who’d believe she was married to him?"
Lucille: ‘But I am married to him!’
The serial dramatises more than just the creation of an iconic TV series - it charts the need to challenge existing ideas that balked at diversity, the comic dynamic of the Arnaz’s partnership, and their commitment and integrity shared by writer Jess Oppenheimer - resisting network and sponsor demands and outdated censorship rules, bringing creative bonuses to US audiences and worldwide.
This roller-coasting five-part serial shows how television, at a crucial time, learned from the established craft of radio. Cuban bandleader Desi's inventive genius engendered studio techniques now taken for granted. Lucille and Desi's uplifting relationship flouted conventional thinking and defied accepted entertainment practice in one of the most influential sitcoms in TV history.
Cast:
Lucille Ball…Anne Heche
Desi Arnaz…Wilmer Valderrama
Jess…Jared Harris
Harry…Alfred Molina
Hubbell…Mike McShane
Don…Matthew Floyd Miller
Betty…Janine Barris
Richard…Mark Sullivan
Mr Paley…André Sogliuzzo
Frawley…Stacy Keach
Marc…Matthew Wolf
Vivian Vance…Anna Mathias
Other parts: Anna Lyse Erikson, Allegra Riggio
Written by Gregg Oppenheimer
Director: Martin Jarvis
Producer: Rosalind Ayres
A Jarvis & Ayres production for BBC Radio 4
THU 11:00 Crossing Continents (m000lvc6)
Spain: the elephant in the palace
Spain’s King Juan Carlos – a story of entitlement and dynasty… The king emeritus, Juan Carlos, has left Spain. But the man who propelled his nation from dictatorship to democracy is under intense public scrutiny. At the heart of allegations against the former king is a $100 million gift from the Saudi Royals. Spain’s Supreme Court is now investigating whether Juan Carlos can be accused of any crimes related to this cash. Spain’s often unquestioning acceptance of its monarchy began to unravel in 2012 when King Juan Carlos fractured a hip during an elephant-hunting trip to Botswana with a former lover. In 2014 he abdicated in favour of his son Felipe. But the gob-smacking amounts of money sighted in court cases at home and abroad have left a bad taste. For many Spanish people struggling economically - and with the return of the virus that’s already killed thousands - the headlines have bolstered republican sentiment. For Crossing Continents, Linda Pressly teams up with the BBC’s Spanish producer, Esperanza Escribano, to explore this complex story.
Presenter / producer: Linda Pressly
Producer in Spain: Esperanza Escribano
THU 11:30 Tales from the Stave (m000lvc8)
Bartok's Concerto For Orchestra
Although a composer whose life and work is steeped in the folk traditions of his native Hungary, Bela Bartok's last great orchestral work was composed in the United States. The Concerto for Orchestra was commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra conductor Serge Koussevitzky. He got wind of the fact that Bartok, who came to the States at the start of the war, was struggling, both for income and health. They didn't know it at the time but he was later diagnosed with leukaemia. Koussevitzky visited him in hospital and asked for a piece for orchestra, $500 dollars now and $500 on completion. Bartok wasn't sure if he'd ever get it finished but the project sparked a new surge of energy and the new work was given its Boston debut in December 1944 with the composer in attendance.
Loras Schissel is the host at the Library of Congress as he and three players from Washington's National Symphony Orchestra explore a manuscript which is a favourite of professional American orchestras, combining as it does the wealth of European tradition with the energy Bartok managed to engender from his new US home. Laurel Bennert Ohlson is Associate Principal Horn, David Murray is a trombonist and Susan Stokdyk is the NSO librarian and former bassoon player.
As well as the neat and fiendishly difficult manuscript there's also Koussevitzky's conducting score with rehearsal directions given by the composer and letters describing the origins of the piece and the part played by Bartok's wife Ditta and his Hungarian friend, the violinist Josef Szegeti. But it's the music that takes centre stage with its wit, melancholy and famous Bronx Cheers! (Trombone glissandos which musicologists believe are a side-swipe at the popularity of Shostakovich at the time.)
The programme was recorded in February with the National Symphony Orchestra's plans for a Southeast Asian tour being cancelled for what appeared to be a limited outbreak of a new form of flu!
Producer: Tom Alban
THU 12:00 News Summary (m000lvcb)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 12:04 The Miller's Dance by Winston Graham (m000lvcd)
Episode 4
Winston Graham’s series of novels set in Cornwall follow the lives of the Poldark family and their friends, neighbours, rivals and enemies. Life in Cornwall is governed by the sea and by the fortunes of the tin and copper mines that provide work for the local community.
The Miller’s Dance finds Ross Poldark now 52 yrs old and still happily married to Demelza, who is ten years younger than him. Their eldest son Jeremy is approaching 21 and their eldest daughter Clowance is 17, both of them navigating the changeable weather of first love. The Poldark family is completed by young Isabella-Rose although neither Ross nor Demelza will ever forget the grief of losing their first born, Julia, before her third birthday.
A series of courtships begin their complicated dance, some fuelled by lust and others by love, money or ambition. All this takes place against a backdrop of England’s continuing military campaign against Napoleon’s army in Spain and Portugal. The damage that war has done to the nation’s commerce and those who rely on it gives rise to political tensions which are played out in complex schemes of power and influence amongst the governing classes in London. A world which seems so far away from the pressing concerns of Cornish life and which nevertheless beckons Ross to attend to his duties in parliament as an MP.
The story told here (Book 9 in the famous series of novels) rejoins the characters in 1812 – about ten years after the point where BBC television’s hugely popular series concluded. This is a chance to return to Cornwall and the passions of the Poldarks and at the same time to reflect on what marriage and courtship are really about and whether love can ever hope to conquer all.
Author : Winston Graham
Read by Richard Goulding
Abridged by Jill Waters and Isobel Creed
Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4
THU 12:18 You and Yours (m000lvcg)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
THU 12:57 Weather (m000lvcj)
The latest weather forecast
THU 13:00 World at One (m000lvcl)
Mon-Thurs: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Sarah Montague. Fri: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Mark Mardell.
THU 13:45 A History of the World in 100 Objects (b00qm8zd)
Old World, New Powers (1100 - 300 BC)
Paracas Textile Fragment
A history of the world described through individual objects at the British Museum. This week Neil MacGregor, the Museum's Director, is looking at what was happening around the world between 2000-3000 years ago.
The theme so far has been one of empires collapsing, new regimes and warfare. In South America there were no new empires and we still don't entirely understand the cultures that were thriving there. In this programme, Neil MacGregor shows off some of the remarkably preserved textiles discovered in the Paracas peninsula on the southern coast of Peru and tries to piece together what life might have been like for these people living in around 500 BC. The early Peruvians went to astonishing lengths to make and decorate their textiles whose colours remain striking to this day. What were they for and what do they tell us about beliefs of this time?
THU 14:00 The Archers (m000ls9z)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 Drama (m00055n6)
Keeping the Wolf Out
Gellert Hill
Special Investigator Bertalan Lázár returns in Philip Palmer's crime drama set in communist Hungary in 1964. A child's body has been discovered by a hiker. It seems that Bertalan must first fight a turf war if he is going bring the perpetrator to justice.
Bertalan Lázár .... Leo Bill
Franciska Lázár .... Clare Corbett
József Szabados .... Joseph Ayre
Dmitri Dragunov .... Simon Scardifield
Márk Mészáros .... Michael Bertenshaw
András Vásáry .... David Hounslow
Priest .... Christopher Harper
Gyuri Varga .... Kenny Blyth,
Dorina Varga .... Helen Clapp
Ministry official .... Chris Pavlo
Directed by Toby Swift
THU 15:00 Open Country (m000lvcp)
Pete Waterman at Braunston Marina
Pete Waterman, is best known as part of the hugely successful music production and song-writing partnership, Stock Aitken Waterman, creating hits for artists like Kylie Minogue and Rick Astley. But he grew up in Coventry close to the canal, and years of fishing with his father while on holiday at Braunston Marina gave him an interest in the canals and their history.
Braunston Marina is situated at the junction of the Grand Union and Oxford canals, not far from Daventry. In this programme, Pete revisits his childhood holidays at the Marina and learns more about the important role it has played as the heart of the canal network.
2020 marks 50 years since the last regular commercial canal contract came to an end. It was called the Jam 'Ole Run and involved boats taking coal from around Coventry to a jam factory in London, going via Braunston. Pete finds out more about it, and gets to see one of the boats that was present on the last ever run.
Produced by Heather Simons
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (m000lslm)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 Open Book (m000lsv0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Sunday]
THU 16:00 The Film Programme (m000lvcr)
Earl Cameron
With Francine Stock
Earl Cameron, who died earlier this year aged 102, was one of the pioneers of British cinema, one of the first black actors to get a starring role in British movies. Francine spoke to Earl in 2009, just after he'd been awarded the CBE, and he revealed how he entered show business almost by accident, about the racism he encountered during the war and why he didn't think BAME actors received the recognition they deserved in the British film industry.
Earl's debut was the thriller The Pool Of London, and Francine also hears archive of his co-star Leslie Phillips, and from James Dearden and Simon Relph, the sons of the producing and directing team Basil Dearden and Michael Relph.
THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (m000lvct)
Dr Adam Rutherford and guests illuminate the mysteries and challenge the controversies behind the science that's changing our world
THU 17:00 PM (m000lvcw)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000lvcy)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 18:30 Between Ourselves with Marian Keyes (m00088jp)
Ireland and the Irish
Marian Keyes is a publishing sensation - her works of fiction (Rachel's Holiday, The Break and others) have sold in their millions, across the globe. In this new series, Marian reads selections from her non-fiction writing, in conversation with her friend and actor Tara Flynn.
This week's theme is Ireland and the Irish. Alongside the craic, Marian reads Passport Out Of Here and Do You Know The Bus Stop In Kilkenny? from her collection Under The Duvet.
Presenters: Tara Flynn and Marian Keyes
Producer: Steve Doherty
A Giddy Goat production for BBC Radio 4
THU 19:00 The Archers (m000lts4)
Fallon finds herself bombarded and Natasha questions her own judgement
Writers, Daniel Thurman & Sarah McDonald-Hughes
Director, Kim Greengrass
Editor, Jeremy Howe
Natasha Archer ….. Mali Harries
Emma Grundy ….. Emerald O’Hanrahan
Fallon Rogers ….. Joanna Van Kampen
Lynda Snell ….. Carole Boyd
Robert Snell ….. Graham Blockey
THU 19:15 Front Row (m000lvd0)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
THU 19:45 Lucy Loves Desi: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Sitcom (m000lvc4)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
THU 20:00 The Briefing Room (m000lvd2)
David Aaronovitch and guests explore big stories in the news.
THU 20:30 In Business (m000lvd4)
Black Business Matters
Sparked by the Black Lives Matter protests around the world that followed the death of George Floyd, companies are wading into the conversation on racial inequality. With a focus on diversity in business, there was also interest and investment in a lot of companies run by black people in the UK.
Tobi Oredein, founder of media company Black Ballad, asks businesses including a home-ware maker, an interior design firm and a global bank if this is all a trend or if there will be substantial and long-term change.
Producer: Darin Graham
Presenter: Tobi Oredein
THU 21:00 BBC Inside Science (m000lvct)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 today]
THU 21:30 The Infinite Monkey Cage (m000lvbx)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (m000lvd6)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
THU 22:45 The Miller's Dance by Winston Graham (m000lvcd)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 today]
THU 23:00 Jack & Millie (b0bch6d1)
Series 1
Deliver Us From eBay
Jack and Millie discover the Eleventh Commandment - Thou shalt not try and please a son's scary ex-girlfriend. And what's really in the mysterious neighbour's packages?
A chance encounter and a classy fish restaurant combine to create a tale of Middle Eastern diplomacy, tight shorts, strictly no ospreys and a married lifetime's-worth of verbal sparring.
So Millie's son Melvin has given her a new tablet with a voice recorder?
So suddenly Jack and Millie have decided to record everything that happens to them? And for this, we should be grateful?
Well Yes! Because this is a new comedy show written by Jeremy Front (writer of the Charles Paris mysteries for Radio 4) and starring Jeremy Front and Rebecca Front as Jack and Millie Lemman, an older couple who are fully engaged with contemporary life while being at war with the absurdities of the modern world.
Written by Jeremy Front
Produced by David Tyler
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 23:30 Lights Out (m000gcx5)
Series 2
The Space Between Stories
Documentary adventures that encourage you to take a closer listen.
Inhabiting the ideas of author and speaker Charles Eisenstein, this edition of Lights Out explores our current historical moment in the West as a "space between stories", embracing the state of not-knowing and the ways in which certain kinds of questions can lead us towards the creation of a more beautiful world.
For thousands of years, for many people on earth, The Story of Separation has dominated our way of being. According to this story, we are separate individuals whose purpose is to maximise rational self-interest and conquer nature and death in a universe of atoms and void. At a time of social polarisation, ecological collapse and political crisis, this story is unravelling, and with it our sense of who we are in the world.
Propelled out of the old story, we enter the unknown, a space of bewilderment into which a new story, a new reality, can come.
Produced by Phil Smith
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
FRIDAY 21 AUGUST 2020
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (m000lvd8)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 00:30 Book of the Week (b0952zl5)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Thursday]
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000lvdb)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000lvdd)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000lvdg)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
FRI 05:30 News Briefing (m000lvdj)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000lvdl)
Space for spiritual reflection to start the day with Rev Neil Gardner of Canongate Kirk, Edinburgh
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (m000lvdn)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
FRI 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b04dvtbk)
Florida Scrub Jay
Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.
Sir David Attenborough presents the Florida scrub jay. Less than 6,000 Florida scrub jays exist in the wild, yet these are some of the most intelligent creatures in the world. Long term research has revealed an extraordinary intelligence. If other jays are around, a bird will only hide its food when the other bird is out of sight. It will even choose a quieter medium, and rather than pebbles for example, to further avoid revealing its hidden larder to sharp-eared competitors.
FRI 06:00 Today (m000ltdy)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
FRI 09:00 The Reunion (m000lstj)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:00 on Sunday]
FRI 09:45 Book of the Week (b09534g7)
Following Pappano
Episode 5
The final episode in the series following the Music Director of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Sir Antonio Pappano, as he and his team prepare for a brand new staging of Puccini's Opera La Boheme.
All major opera houses rely on well established productions of repertoire classics. Puccini's La bohème is a permanent fixture in the world's top five Operas as measured by performance numbers and John Copley's 1974 staging at Covent Garden was a familiar and much loved favourite. However the time has come to replace it with a new production and the challenge to do that with a fresh staging falls to the team of Music Director Sir Antonio Pappano and stage director Richard Jones.
In five programmes across the week Radio Four follows Maestro Pappano as the new production takes shape. He works with singers, discusses the particular challenges of operating at the very highest level of Operatic performance and expectation and gives candid insights into the often perilous journey to an opening night.
We also hear from the team both on and off stage who work alongside Pappano, including the young cast who are acutely aware that the production they are replacing opened with singers like Placido Domingo and Sir Thomas Allen. There are also stage directors, set-builders, movement directors and Maestro Pappano's trusted repetiteur. But at the heart of it, in the weeks leading up to opening night and as the curtain rises, is the Music director himself, combining the orchestral brilliance of Puccini's score and the dazzling qualities of the singers on stage to produce what they all hope will be a worthy addition to the Royal Opera House's Puccini tradition.
Producer: Tom Alban.
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000ltf2)
The programme that offers a female perspective on the world
FRI 10:45 Lucy Loves Desi: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Sitcom (m000ltf8)
Episode 5
Martin Jarvis directs a stellar cast in Gregg Oppenheimer's inside look at his writer- producer father's famous TV series, I Love Lucy.
Anne Heche channels Lucille Ball in an outstanding performance. With Wilmer Valderrama, Jared Harris, Alfred Molina, Stacy Keach, Mike McShane. The onscreen pairing of Lucille and Desi is brilliant, but the American Network is doubtful.
"Who’d believe she was married to him?"
Lucille: ‘But I am married to him!’
The serial dramatises more than just the creation of an iconic TV series - it charts the need to challenge existing ideas that balked at diversity, the comic dynamic of the Arnaz’s partnership, and their commitment and integrity shared by writer Jess Oppenheimer - resisting network and sponsor demands and outdated censorship rules, bringing creative bonuses to US audiences and worldwide.
This roller-coasting five-part serial shows how television, at a crucial time, learned from the established craft of radio. Cuban bandleader Desi's inventive genius engendered studio techniques now taken for granted. Lucille and Desi's uplifting relationship flouted conventional thinking and defied accepted entertainment practice in one of the most influential sitcoms in TV history.
Cast:
Lucille Ball…Anne Heche
Desi Arnaz…Wilmer Valderrama
Jess…Jared Harris
Harry…Alfred Molina
Hubbell…Mike McShane
Don…Matthew Floyd Miller
Betty…Janine Barris
Richard…Mark Sullivan
Mr Paley…André Sogliuzzo
Frawley…Stacy Keach
Marc…Matthew Wolf
Vivian Vance…Anna Mathias
Other parts: Anna Lyse Erikson, Allegra Riggio
Written by Gregg Oppenheimer
Director: Martin Jarvis
Producer: Rosalind Ayres
A Jarvis & Ayres production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 11:00 The Hidden History of the Mantelpiece (m000gl97)
Run your eye along the mantelpiece with Dr Rachel Hurdley as she explores the story of this most revealing space in our homes.
As a sociologist, Rachel has long been fascinated by how we curate the objects on our mantelpieces to reflect how we see ourselves and how we would like to be perceived by others.
Even if you don’t have an actual mantelpiece, it’s likely you’ll use a shelf or a windowsill to display favoured ornaments, photos and other mementoes.
Rachel explores the history of the mantelpiece from the grandeur of 16th-century overmantels to the confidence of the Victorian mantelpiece and Mass Observation’s detailed descriptions of what 1930s homes kept on their mantelpieces.
Along the way, Rachel finds out why symmetry matters on a mantelpiece, why our ancestors might have felt they needed to guard against something fearful coming through their fireplace, how to spot the signs of a "posh" mantelpiece and the crucial role of the mantelpiece in creating identity and memory.
Interviewees:
Jonathan Glancey, Architectural Writer and Historian.
Sonia Solicari, Director of The Museum of the Home
Patricia Ferguson, Writer and Historian, interviewed at Ham House
Mared McAleavey, St Fagans National Museum of History, Wales
Jessica Scantlebury, Mass Observation Archive
Peter York, Writer and Co-Author of The Sloane Ranger Handbook
Caroline Schofield, National Trust Curator at Tatton Old Hall and Little Moreton Hall
Presenter: Rachel Hurdley
Producer: Louise Adamson
Executive Producer: Samir Shah
A Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 11:30 Relativity (m000ltrs)
Series 3
Episode 6
The third series of Richard Herring’s comedy drama, Relativity, builds on the warm, lively characters and sharply observed family dynamics of previous series.
His affectionate observation of inter-generational misunderstanding, sibling sparring and the ties that bind will resonate with anyone who has ever tried to get their grandparents to sign up to the climate emergency at a major family dinner. Amid the comedy, Richard broaches some more serious highs and lows of family life. In this series, he focuses on the roller coaster ride of first time parenting, how to maintain a long standing marriage and brass rubbing.
Richard Herring is a comedian, writer, blogger and podcaster and the world's premier semi-professional self-playing snooker player.
Episode 6
Holly and Jane are both back at home, as Pete and Jane try to work things out. Ian and Chloe have made it up, Ken and Margaret are relieved to have their house back. So celebrations for Holly’s 18th birthday look set to go swimmingly- until the vegan cake debacle. Even a brief appearance by Richard Osman can’t lighten the mood.
Cast:
Margaret…………….Alison Steadman
Ken……………..Phil Davis
Jane…………….Fenella Woolgar
Ian……………….Richard Herring
Chloe…………..Emily Berrington
Pete………………..Gordon Kennedy
Holly………………...Tia Bannon
Mark………………Fred Haig
Nick………………..Harrison Knights
George……………..Danny Kirrane
Richard Osman…….Richard Osman
Written by Richard Herring
Sound design by Eloise Whitmore
Producer: Polly Thomas
Executive Producers: Jon Thoday and Richard Allen Turner
An Avalon Television production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 12:00 News Summary (m000ltrv)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 12:04 The Miller's Dance by Winston Graham (m000ltfk)
Episode 5
Winston Graham’s series of novels set in Cornwall follow the lives of the Poldark family and their friends, neighbours, rivals and enemies. Life in Cornwall is governed by the sea and by the fortunes of the tin and copper mines that provide work for the local community.
The Miller’s Dance finds Ross Poldark now 52 yrs old and still happily married to Demelza, who is ten years younger than him. Their eldest son Jeremy is approaching 21 and their eldest daughter Clowance is 17, both of them navigating the changeable weather of first love. The Poldark family is completed by young Isabella-Rose although neither Ross nor Demelza will ever forget the grief of losing their first born, Julia, before her third birthday.
A series of courtships begin their complicated dance, some fuelled by lust and others by love, money or ambition. All this takes place against a backdrop of England’s continuing military campaign against Napoleon’s army in Spain and Portugal. The damage that war has done to the nation’s commerce and those who rely on it gives rise to political tensions which are played out in complex schemes of power and influence amongst the governing classes in London. A world which seems so far away from the pressing concerns of Cornish life and which nevertheless beckons Ross to attend to his duties in parliament as an MP.
The story told here (Book 9 in the famous series of novels) rejoins the characters in 1812 – about ten years after the point where BBC television’s hugely popular series concluded. This is a chance to return to Cornwall and the passions of the Poldarks and at the same time to reflect on what marriage and courtship are really about and whether love can ever hope to conquer all.
Author : Winston Graham
Read by Richard Goulding
Abridged by Jill Waters and Isobel Creed
Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 12:18 You and Yours (m000ltrx)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
FRI 12:57 Weather (m000ltrz)
The latest weather forecast
FRI 13:00 World at One (m000lts1)
Mon-Thurs: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Sarah Montague. Fri: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Mark Mardell.
FRI 13:45 A History of the World in 100 Objects (b00qm8zg)
Old World, New Powers (1100 - 300 BC)
Gold Coin of Croesus
The history of the world as told through one hundred objects from the British Museum. This week Neil MacGregor, the Museum's Director, has been looking at the collapse of old regimes and the emergence of new powers from the Middle East to China. In today's programme, he describes how a powerful new state finds a dramatic way to help run its increasingly complex economy and trading networks - using coins.
Croesus was a king in what is now Western Turkey and his kingdom was called Lydia. It's remarkable that over two thousand years later we still have an expression that celebrates his wealth. Neil MacGregor considers how money, in the form of coins, first came about and describes the (hugely complex) methods of creating them. And whatever happened to Croesus?
FRI 14:00 The Archers (m000lts4)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Drama (m000lts6)
Fledgling
Lockdown explored from an unexpected angle in this coming of age drama by Sami Ibrahim. A figure stands on a deserted beach in a deserted seaside town waiting for her father to return. Who now rules the roost in this strange new world?
Fledgling ….. Ruby Bentall
Thick-head ….. John Lightbody
Twitcher ….. Carl Prekopp
Pigeon ….. Clare Corbett
Directed by Gemma Jenkins
This is Sami Ibrahim’s debut radio drama. His play "two Palestinians go dogging" won Theatre Uncut’s 2019 Political Playwriting Award and will be featured in the Royal Court’s upcoming season. His most recent piece "The European Hare" was shortlisted for the Bruntwood Prize 2019, and he is currently under commission at The Yard and the Almeida (as part of the Genesis Writers Program). He is also a writer-in-residence at Shakespeare’s Globe - where he is working on an adaptation of Ovid’s "Metamorphoses" - and has been on attachment at the National Theatre Studio and Theatr Clwyd.
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m000lts8)
GQT At Home: Episode Twenty-one
Kathy Clugston chairs this week's horticultural panel show, with Bunny Guinness, Matthew Wilson and James Wong answering questions from green-fingered listeners.
Producer - Hannah Newton
Assistant Producer - Rosie Merotra
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 15:45 The Poet and the Echo (m000ltsb)
A Nocturnal Reverie
Writers choose poems as inspiration for new stories.
A Nocturnal Reverie
Poet and courtier Anne Finch was writing in the late 17th and early 18th centuries; one of the earliest published female poets, her work was praised by Wordsworth.
Jenni Fagan takes inspiration from Finch's poem in praise of the night to create a dreamlike meditation on power and rebellion.
Credits
Writer .... Jenni Fagan
Reader ... Eileen Walsh
Producer ... Eilidh McCreadie
A BBC Scotland Production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 16:00 Last Word (m000ltsd)
Matthew Bannister tells the life stories of people who have recently died, from the rich and famous to unsung but significant.
FRI 16:30 Feedback (m000ltsg)
The programme that holds the BBC to account on behalf of the radio audience
FRI 17:00 PM (m000ltsj)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000ltsl)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 18:30 Summer Comedy Festival (m000ltsn)
Episode 5
Comedians curate their dream festivals, hosting a line-up of their favourite performers.
FRI 19:00 Front Row (m000ltf6)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
FRI 19:45 Lucy Loves Desi: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Sitcom (m000ltf8)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (m000ltfb)
Anita Anand presents political debate from Broadcasting House London.
FRI 20:50 A Point of View (m000ltfd)
Weekly reflections on topical issues from a range of contributors.
FRI 21:00 Drama (m000k257)
Lockdown Theatre Festival: Shoe Lady
By E.V. Crowe. The Royal Court production had yet to complete its run when the theatres were closed in March 2020. Lockdown Theatre Festival gives it a new lease of life on radio, using technological solutions to record the actors at home.
Shoe Lady is an examination of the social and domestic pressures placed on women to perform multiple and often contradictory roles in our society. Viv has lost a shoe. They’re her work shoes, her weekend shoes, her only pair of shoes, and she doesn’t know what to do. The curtains are falling, her foot is bleeding, and she’s starting to feel a little overwhelmed. But all will be well in the world once she finds that missing shoe.
Cast:
Viv…Katherine Parkinson
Kenny/ Curtains…Tom Kanji
Elaine/ Curtains…Kayla Meikle
Tree…Archer Brandon
Music by Matthew Herbert
Theatre sound design by Tony Gayle
Directed by Vicky Featherstone
Produced by Jeremy Mortimer and Jack Howson
Sound Editing by Steve Bond and Adam Woodhams
Production Coordinator: Gabriel Francis
Production Manager: Sarah Kenny
Executive Producers: Bertie Carvel and Joby Waldman
A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 4
E.V. Crowe won an Imison Award for Best Radio Drama Script (How to Say Goodbye Properly). Other theatre includes: Brenda (HighTide/Yard); I Can Hear You (RSC); Virgin (Nabokov/Watford Palace); Liar Liar (Unicorn); Young Pretender (nabokov/Edinburgh Festival Fringe); Doris Day, A Just Act (Clean Break/Soho). Dance includes: Live Feed/I’m Going to Show You (Siobhan Davies Dance).
Lockdown Theatre Festival was set up by Bertie Carvel as a positive, creative response to the coronavirus crisis, which has forced theatres all over the world to close, with no knowing when -- or in some cases if -- they will reopen. It captures in audio form some of the stage productions which had their performances unexpectedly cut short. Using innovative techniques, actors record “down the line” from isolation, linked with each other and with the director via video conferencing.
FRI 21:55 Tweet of the Day (m000lstg)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:55 on Sunday]
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (m000ltfh)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
FRI 22:45 The Miller's Dance by Winston Graham (m000ltfk)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 today]
FRI 23:00 Great Lives (m000ltfm)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 on Tuesday]
FRI 23:30 Lights Out (m000gkwl)
Series 2
The Saigon Tapes
A meditation on the events of one night in Saigon over 50 years ago and the aftershocks that are felt still - most strongly in the hearts of a 17 year old schoolboy in London and his American-born mother.
During the evening of March 31st, 1966, an Army Captain billeted in the Victoria Hotel, Saigon recorded a tape to send back to his wife Susie and his three young children in Seattle. David Davies had been in-country for seven months and was counting down each day until he could return home. While he recorded, the Overture to West Side Story started to play on the radio, with Davies singing along to Somewhere (There's a Place For Us).
In London, early in 2020, a London schoolboy is working on an essay project about the factors that shaped US policy in Vietnam. Aged 17, Charlie has inherited a family connection to the war - his grandfather's medals, including his Purple Heart. David Davies was killed in a bomb explosion shortly after finishing his tape-letter and retiring to bed - but ripples from that explosion play out over the decades through Captain Davies' daughter, Tricia, and her young son Charlie, who embark on a pilgrimage to the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial in Washington DC.
Produced by Alan Hall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
LIST OF THIS WEEK'S PROGRAMMES
(Note: the times link back to the details; the pids link to the BBC page, including iPlayer)
A History of the World in 100 Objects
13:45 MON (b00qmb8h)
A History of the World in 100 Objects
13:45 TUE (b00qm8z8)
A History of the World in 100 Objects
13:45 WED (b00qm8zb)
A History of the World in 100 Objects
13:45 THU (b00qm8zd)
A History of the World in 100 Objects
13:45 FRI (b00qm8zg)
A Point of View
08:48 SUN (m000lnmw)
A Point of View
20:50 FRI (m000ltfd)
Any Answers?
14:00 SAT (m000lsg5)
Any Questions?
13:10 SAT (m000lnmt)
Any Questions?
20:00 FRI (m000ltfb)
Archive on 4
20:00 SAT (m000lsgr)
BBC Inside Science
16:30 THU (m000lvct)
BBC Inside Science
21:00 THU (m000lvct)
Bells on Sunday
05:43 SUN (m000lsh6)
Bells on Sunday
00:45 MON (m000lsh6)
Between Ourselves with Marian Keyes
18:30 THU (m00088jp)
Beyond Belief
16:30 MON (m000lv76)
Book of the Week
09:45 MON (b09526h6)
Book of the Week
00:30 TUE (b09526h6)
Book of the Week
09:45 TUE (b0952ph2)
Book of the Week
00:30 WED (b0952ph2)
Book of the Week
09:45 WED (b0952stt)
Book of the Week
00:30 THU (b0952stt)
Book of the Week
09:45 THU (b0952zl5)
Book of the Week
00:30 FRI (b0952zl5)
Book of the Week
09:45 FRI (b09534g7)
Brain of Britain
23:00 SAT (m000lmt0)
Brain of Britain
15:00 MON (m000lv71)
British Summer Time Begins by Ysenda Maxtone-Graham
00:30 SAT (m000lnn2)
Broadcasting House
09:00 SUN (m000lslw)
Bunk Bed
23:15 WED (b0bbrdx9)
Crossing Continents
20:30 MON (m000lmz4)
Crossing Continents
11:00 THU (m000lvc6)
Drama
15:00 SUN (m000lsty)
Drama
14:00 MON (m000lv6z)
Drama
14:15 TUE (m0001g9d)
Drama
14:15 WED (m000ls9h)
Drama
14:15 THU (m00055n6)
Drama
14:15 FRI (m000lts6)
Drama
21:00 FRI (m000k257)
Faith on the Move
20:00 MON (m000gc4j)
Farming Today
06:30 SAT (m000lsfl)
Farming Today
05:45 MON (m000lsmx)
Farming Today
05:45 TUE (m000ltlk)
Farming Today
05:45 WED (m000lv5g)
Farming Today
05:45 THU (m000lsbp)
Farming Today
05:45 FRI (m000lvdn)
Feedback
20:00 SUN (m000lnmf)
Feedback
16:30 FRI (m000ltsg)
For the Love of Leo
11:30 WED (m000ls8z)
Four Thought
05:45 SAT (m000llw4)
Four Thought
09:30 WED (m000ls8m)
Four Thought
20:45 WED (m000ls8m)
Fresh From the Fringe
23:00 TUE (b01ng4hc)
From Our Own Correspondent
11:32 SAT (m000lsfw)
Front Row
19:15 MON (m000ltkw)
Front Row
19:15 TUE (m000lv4t)
Front Row
19:15 WED (m000lsb1)
Front Row
19:15 THU (m000lvd0)
Front Row
19:00 FRI (m000ltf6)
Gardeners' Question Time
14:00 SUN (m000lnm7)
Gardeners' Question Time
15:00 FRI (m000lts8)
Great Lives
16:30 TUE (m000ltfm)
Great Lives
23:00 FRI (m000ltfm)
Grounded with Louis Theroux
22:15 SAT (p08fffrp)
Grounded with Louis Theroux
20:00 WED (p08g4wm2)
I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue
12:04 SUN (b03lpc02)
I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue
18:30 MON (b07jyrdj)
In Business
21:30 SUN (m000ln09)
In Business
20:30 THU (m000lvd4)
In Touch
20:40 TUE (m000lv4y)
Jack & Millie
23:00 THU (b0bch6d1)
Last Word
20:30 SUN (m000lnmc)
Last Word
16:00 FRI (m000ltsd)
Laws That Aren't Laws
09:30 MON (m000ltkj)
Laws That Aren't Laws
09:30 THU (m000lvbz)
Led by the science
17:00 SUN (m000lmg6)
Lights Out
23:30 MON (m00013pj)
Lights Out
23:30 TUE (m00017rk)
Lights Out
23:30 WED (m00019nh)
Lights Out
23:30 THU (m000gcx5)
Lights Out
23:30 FRI (m000gkwl)
Loose Ends
18:15 SAT (m000lsgp)
Loose Ends
11:30 MON (m000lsgp)
Lucy Loves Desi: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Sitcom
10:45 MON (m000ltky)
Lucy Loves Desi: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Sitcom
19:45 MON (m000ltky)
Lucy Loves Desi: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Sitcom
10:45 TUE (m000lv44)
Lucy Loves Desi: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Sitcom
19:45 TUE (m000lv44)
Lucy Loves Desi: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Sitcom
10:45 WED (m000ls8t)
Lucy Loves Desi: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Sitcom
19:45 WED (m000ls8t)
Lucy Loves Desi: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Sitcom
10:45 THU (m000lvc4)
Lucy Loves Desi: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Sitcom
19:45 THU (m000lvc4)
Lucy Loves Desi: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Sitcom
10:45 FRI (m000ltf8)
Lucy Loves Desi: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Sitcom
19:45 FRI (m000ltf8)
Meet David Sedaris
18:30 TUE (b0901fqt)
Midnight News
00:00 SAT (m000lnn0)
Midnight News
00:00 SUN (m000lsgw)
Midnight News
00:00 MON (m000lsm9)
Midnight News
00:00 TUE (m000ltl4)
Midnight News
00:00 WED (m000lv52)
Midnight News
00:00 THU (m000lsb9)
Midnight News
00:00 FRI (m000lvd8)
More or Less
09:00 WED (m000ls8k)
More or Less
21:00 WED (m000ls8k)
Museum of Lost Objects
14:45 MON (b072jfct)
My Final Wish
11:00 WED (m000h0g8)
My Name Is...
11:00 MON (m000lv6l)
News Briefing
05:30 SAT (m000lnnb)
News Briefing
05:30 SUN (m000lsh4)
News Briefing
05:30 MON (m000lsmn)
News Briefing
05:30 TUE (m000ltlf)
News Briefing
05:30 WED (m000lv5b)
News Briefing
05:30 THU (m000lsbk)
News Briefing
05:30 FRI (m000lvdj)
News Summary
12:00 SAT (m000lsfy)
News Summary
12:00 SUN (m000lstm)
News Summary
12:00 MON (m000lv6p)
News Summary
12:00 TUE (m000lv46)
News Summary
12:00 WED (m000lvv7)
News Summary
12:00 THU (m000lvcb)
News Summary
12:00 FRI (m000ltrv)
News and Papers
06:00 SAT (m000lsfj)
News and Papers
07:00 SUN (m000lslh)
News and Papers
08:00 SUN (m000lslr)
News
13:00 SAT (m000lsg3)
News
22:00 SAT (m000lsgt)
News
06:00 SUN (m000lsl8)
On Your Farm
06:35 SUN (m000lslc)
One to One
09:30 TUE (m000lv3z)
Open Book
16:00 SUN (m000lsv0)
Open Book
15:30 THU (m000lsv0)
Open Country
06:07 SAT (m000lmzq)
Open Country
15:00 THU (m000lvcp)
PM
17:00 SAT (m000lsgb)
PM
17:00 MON (m000lv78)
PM
17:00 TUE (m000lv4p)
PM
17:00 WED (m000ls9q)
PM
17:00 THU (m000lvcw)
PM
17:00 FRI (m000ltsj)
Paul Sinha's General Knowledge
18:30 WED (m000ls9x)
Pick of the Week
18:15 SUN (m000lsvb)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 SAT (m000lnnd)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 MON (m000lsms)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 TUE (m000ltlh)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 WED (m000lv5d)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 THU (m000lsbm)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 FRI (m000lvdl)
Radio 4 Appeal
07:54 SUN (m000lslm)
Radio 4 Appeal
21:25 SUN (m000lslm)
Radio 4 Appeal
15:27 THU (m000lslm)
Rapunzel
21:45 SAT (b05zlh4c)
Relativity
11:30 FRI (m000ltrs)
Saturday Drama
14:45 SAT (b01mny1z)
Saturday Live
09:00 SAT (m000lsfs)
Science Stories
21:00 TUE (b0608nvg)
Science Stories
15:30 WED (b0608nvg)
Scotland’s Uncivil War
20:00 TUE (m000lv4w)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 SAT (m000lnn6)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 SUN (m000lsh0)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 MON (m000lsmf)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 TUE (m000ltl9)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 WED (m000lv56)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 THU (m000lsbf)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 FRI (m000lvdd)
Sharing the Baby
11:00 TUE (m000gtnf)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 SAT (m000lnn4)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 SAT (m000lnn8)
Shipping Forecast
17:54 SAT (m000lsgh)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 SUN (m000lsgy)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 SUN (m000lsh2)
Shipping Forecast
17:54 SUN (m000lsv4)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 MON (m000lsmc)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 MON (m000lsmj)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 TUE (m000ltl7)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 TUE (m000ltlc)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 WED (m000lv54)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 WED (m000lv58)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 THU (m000lsbc)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 THU (m000lsbh)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 FRI (m000lvdb)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 FRI (m000lvdg)
Short Cuts
15:00 TUE (m000lv4k)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 SAT (m000lsgm)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 SUN (m000lsv8)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 MON (m000lv7b)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 TUE (m000lv4r)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 WED (m000ls9v)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 THU (m000lvcy)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 FRI (m000ltsl)
Sketches: Stories of Art and People
16:00 MON (m000lv74)
Something Understood
06:05 SUN (b00pn3zx)
Something Understood
23:30 SUN (b00pn3zx)
Summer Comedy Festival
12:30 SAT (m000lnmp)
Summer Comedy Festival
18:30 FRI (m000ltsn)
Sunday Worship
08:10 SUN (m000lslt)
Sunday
07:10 SUN (m000lslk)
Tales from the Stave
11:30 THU (m000lvc8)
The Alien Birds Have Landed
11:45 SUN (b01m16q0)
The Archers Omnibus
10:00 SUN (m000lsly)
The Archers
19:00 MON (m000ltkt)
The Archers
14:00 TUE (m000ltkt)
The Archers
19:00 TUE (m000ls9f)
The Archers
14:00 WED (m000ls9f)
The Archers
19:00 WED (m000ls9z)
The Archers
14:00 THU (m000ls9z)
The Archers
19:00 THU (m000lts4)
The Archers
14:00 FRI (m000lts4)
The Briefing Room
11:02 SAT (m000ln07)
The Briefing Room
20:00 THU (m000lvd2)
The Film Programme
23:00 SUN (m000lmzs)
The Film Programme
16:00 THU (m000lvcr)
The Food Programme
12:32 SUN (m000lstp)
The Food Programme
15:30 MON (m000lstp)
The Hidden History of the Mantelpiece
11:00 FRI (m000gl97)
The Infinite Monkey Cage
09:00 THU (m000lvbx)
The Infinite Monkey Cage
21:30 THU (m000lvbx)
The Inquiry
17:30 SAT (m000lsgf)
The Last Songs of Gaia
15:30 TUE (m000kgsn)
The Life Scientific
09:00 TUE (m000lv3x)
The Life Scientific
21:30 TUE (m000lv3x)
The Listening Project
13:30 SUN (m000lstw)
The Long View
19:00 SAT (m000k8f9)
The Long View
05:45 SUN (m000k8f9)
The Long View
17:40 SUN (m000k8f9)
The Media Show
16:30 WED (m000ls9n)
The Media Show
21:30 WED (m000ls9n)
The Miller's Dance by Winston Graham
12:04 MON (m000ltl2)
The Miller's Dance by Winston Graham
22:45 MON (m000ltl2)
The Miller's Dance by Winston Graham
12:04 TUE (m000lv48)
The Miller's Dance by Winston Graham
22:45 TUE (m000lv48)
The Miller's Dance by Winston Graham
12:04 WED (m000ls93)
The Miller's Dance by Winston Graham
22:45 WED (m000ls93)
The Miller's Dance by Winston Graham
12:04 THU (m000lvcd)
The Miller's Dance by Winston Graham
22:45 THU (m000lvcd)
The Miller's Dance by Winston Graham
12:04 FRI (m000ltfk)
The Miller's Dance by Winston Graham
22:45 FRI (m000ltfk)
The Money Clinic
12:04 SAT (m000ls9k)
The Money Clinic
21:00 SUN (m000ls9k)
The Money Clinic
15:00 WED (m000ls9k)
The New Adventures of Baron Munchausen
19:45 SUN (m000lsm4)
The Patch
09:00 MON (m000ltkg)
The Patch
21:30 MON (m000ltkg)
The Poet and the Echo
00:30 SUN (m000lnm9)
The Poet and the Echo
15:45 FRI (m000ltsb)
The Reith Lectures
19:15 SAT (b08x9947)
The Reunion
11:00 SUN (m000lstj)
The Reunion
09:00 FRI (m000lstj)
The Way I See It
00:15 SUN (m000bvkv)
The Way I See It
14:45 SUN (m000bx00)
The Whisperer In Darkness
19:00 SUN (m000lsm2)
The World This Weekend
13:00 SUN (m000lstt)
The World Tonight
22:00 MON (m000ltl0)
The World Tonight
22:00 TUE (m000lv50)
The World Tonight
22:00 WED (m000lsb4)
The World Tonight
22:00 THU (m000lvd6)
The World Tonight
22:00 FRI (m000ltfh)
Thinking Allowed
00:15 MON (m0001l85)
Thinking Allowed
16:00 WED (m0002r0w)
Today
07:00 SAT (m000lsfq)
Today
06:00 MON (m000ltkd)
Today
06:00 TUE (m000lv3v)
Today
06:00 WED (m000ls8h)
Today
06:00 THU (m000lvbv)
Today
06:00 FRI (m000ltdy)
Tom Wrigglesworth's Hang-Ups
19:15 SUN (b07pjb9t)
Tongue and Talk: The Dialect Poets
16:30 SUN (m000lsv2)
Tracks
21:00 SAT (m0000xr8)
Tweet of the Day
08:58 SUN (b04mlphq)
Tweet of the Day
10:55 SUN (m000lstg)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 MON (b04mj64k)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 TUE (b04ml9bd)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 WED (b04dvtjk)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 THU (b04dvz9y)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 FRI (b04dvtbk)
Tweet of the Day
21:55 FRI (m000lstg)
VJ Day Silence
10:59 SAT (m000lxj8)
We Sigh for Houses
23:30 SAT (m000lmkt)
Weather
06:57 SAT (m000lsfn)
Weather
12:57 SAT (m000lsg1)
Weather
17:57 SAT (m000lsgk)
Weather
06:57 SUN (m000lslf)
Weather
07:57 SUN (m000lslp)
Weather
12:57 SUN (m000lstr)
Weather
17:57 SUN (m000lsv6)
Weather
05:56 MON (m000lsn1)
Weather
12:57 MON (m000lv6t)
Weather
12:57 TUE (m000lv4d)
Weather
12:57 WED (m000ls98)
Weather
12:57 THU (m000lvcj)
Weather
12:57 FRI (m000ltrz)
Westminster Hour
22:00 SUN (m000lsm7)
With Great Pleasure
11:30 TUE (b0b42w9j)
Woman's Hour
16:15 SAT (m000lsg7)
Woman's Hour
10:00 MON (m000ltkp)
Woman's Hour
10:00 TUE (m000lv42)
Woman's Hour
10:00 WED (m000ls8r)
Woman's Hour
10:00 THU (m000lvc2)
Woman's Hour
10:00 FRI (m000ltf2)
Woof
23:00 WED (m000lsb6)
Word of Mouth
23:00 MON (m000lmft)
Word of Mouth
16:00 TUE (m000lv4m)
World at One
13:00 MON (m000lv6w)
World at One
13:00 TUE (m000lv4g)
World at One
13:00 WED (m000ls9b)
World at One
13:00 THU (m000lvcl)
World at One
13:00 FRI (m000lts1)
Writing's on the Wall
21:00 MON (m000kp5t)
You and Yours
12:18 MON (m000lv6r)
You and Yours
12:18 TUE (m000lv4b)
You and Yours
12:18 WED (m000ls96)
You and Yours
12:18 THU (m000lvcg)
You and Yours
12:18 FRI (m000ltrx)
You're Dead To Me
10:30 SAT (p086dx47)