As the century turns 21, five essayists offer their appraisals and advice. Dina Rezk gives a personal British and Egyptian perspective on the defining moments in the twenty-first century of 9/11 and the Arab Spring. Dr Rezk is Associate Professor in Middle Eastern History and Politics at the University of Reading. She is also a New Generation Thinker on the scheme run by BBC Radio 3 and the Arts and Humanities Research Council.
A reflection and prayer to start the day with The Rt Revd Dr David Bruce, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland
The annual migration of millions of wildebeest across the plains of Africa is one of Nature's most spectacular events. What drives this migration is rain and the search for food. Every year, wildebeest, zebra and antelope migrate clockwise around the Serengeti / Masai Mara ecosystem. In January the herds can be found in Tanzania's Serengeti heading south into southern Serengeti where they calve. By July the herds have reached western Serengeti and the Grumeti and Mara rivers. The river crossings are their biggest challenge. Nile crocodiles which can be as much as 5 metres in length long crocodiles lie in wait. On the river banks, the wildebeest jostle against one another. Animals at the front slither about on the mud before plunging into the river and a stampede follows. The crocodiles seize their chance, lunging out of the water at the terrified baying herd. Hours become days and the river becomes a blood bath. Eventually the crocodiles are satiated. Vultures arrive to pick over the dead and dying. It's a scene of carnage. The sounds are chilling. In time the crocodiles drift away, the waters become restful, and tranquillity is restored. Hippos bathe and the wildebeest continue their long migration into the Masai Mara reserve. Producer Sarah Blunt.
The latest news headlines. Including the weather and a look at the papers.
Brett Westwood and Rosemary Winnall take a walk through Wyre Forest in Worcestershire in search of wild service trees, lemon slugs and land caddis.
Richard Coles and Nikki Bedi are joined by Poet Laureate Simon Armitage. Writing for three decades, his first published poem was in 1987 whilst he was working in his day job as a probation officer, a job he followed his father into. A geography graduate who is still based in his home county of Yorkshire, how did he end up a member of the Royal household?
Vick Hope is a TV and radio presenter known for her work on the Capital Breakfast Show, I’m a Celebrity Daily Drop and as one of the new presenters on Radio 1’s Life Hacks. She joins us.
We are also joined by journalist Catherine Mayer, whose musician husband, Andy Gill from the band Gang of Four, suddenly took ill and died in February 2020. Just 41 days before, her mother Anne had lost her beloved husband John. United in their grief, the two women navigated grief and love together.
In June 1987, listener Philip Price and two friends were trapped at the summit of Mont Blanc for nine days with barely any water, food or heating. He recounts his experience and their eventual rescue by the Chamonix Mountain rescue team.
Skin from Skunk Anansie chooses her Inheritance Tracks: Stevie Wonder’s Pastime Paradise and Nina Simone singing Strange Fruit. And we have your thank yous.
Life on Mars was released on David Bowie's Hunky Dory album in 1971. Two years later it came out as a single in its own right. Famous for its exploration of disillusionment and alienation, there is no one single definitive story behind it. But that is perhaps the song's beauty and the secret behind its appeal - that its cryptic lyrics are open to interpretation, and can mean different things to different people.
Musicians and fans talk about what Life on Mars? means to them, and its lasting emotional impact, in this special programme remembering Bowie's birthday on January 8th 1947 and commemorating his death on January 10th 2016.
In Washington, he storming of Capitol Hill this week by President Trump’s supporters has dominated headlines, but many political pundits said that this should not have taken people by surprise. Anthony Zurcher has covered the White House throughout Donald Trump’s term in office – he charts the clear path that led to this moment, from President Trump’s 2016 campaign.
On Thursday, Uganda will go to the polls pitting two very different presidential candidates against each other. Yoweri Museveni has served five consecutive terms and his main challenger, the charismatic Bobi Wine has galvanised support among the youth. But can it guarantee Bobi Wine victory? Our Africa correspondent, Catherine Byaruhanga has been finding out.
One day in April , 2015 an old fishing boat overloaded with refugees and migrants sank en route to Italy from Libya – drowning more than a thousand people. Then Italian Prime Minister declared the Italians would salvage the shipwreck and recover the corpses. The boat was raised from the seabed and transported to Sicily. Linda Pressly met the man in charge.
Deep among the frosty pines in Baden-Württemberg, a factory is manufacturing the industrial freezers that are needed to keep the supplies of Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine at extreme cold temperatures. Germany's Covid infection and death rates are rising steeply. It’s a race against time as the vaccine is rolled out. Jenny Hill visited the factory dealing with a huge influx of new orders.
And we visit Venezuela which has been suffering a deep socio-economic crisis for years. But our correspondent Katy Watson found out on a recent trip to the Hotel Humboldt, which overlooks Caracas, there are those who have benefitted.
This week as 2021 stumbles, blinking into the daylight, Andy is joined by Zoe Lyons, Catherine Bohart, Geoff Norcott and Alun Cochrane. On the agenda, the concept of democracy, lockdowns, schools, and the Oxford comma.
Written by Andy Zaltzman with additional material from Alice Fraser, Mike Shephard, Charlie Dinkin and Celya AB
Chris Mason presents political debate and discussion from Broadcasting House in London with the SNP's Leader at Westminster Ian Blackford MP, the Children's Commissioner for England Anne Longfield, the Paymaster General and Cabinet Office Minister Penny Mordaunt MP and the Shadow Communities and Local Government Secretary Steve Reed MP.
Dramatisation by Robert Forrest of John le Carré's first novel. London, the late 1950s, and a disenchanted George Smiley is engaged in the routine job of security vetting. When a Foreign Office civil servant commits suicide not long after being cleared of Communist sympathies, Smiley investigates and uncovers a deadly conspiracy with its roots in his own wartime past.
George Smiley ...... Simon Russell Beale
Inspector Mendel ...... Kenneth Cranham
Elsa Fennan ...... Eleanor Bron
Ann Smiley ...... Anna Chancellor
Peter Guillam ...... Richard Dillane
Maston ...... James Laurenson
Dieter Frey ...... Henry Goodman
Adam Starr/Mundt ...... Sam Dale
Ludo Oriel ...... Janice Acquah
Nursing Sister ...... Caroline Guthrie
Weekend Woman's Hour - Holly Humberstone, #metoo & Imelda Staunton as the Queen
We have music and chat from singer-songwriter Holly Humberstone who has been named as runner up of the BBC Sound of 2021.
Helen Lewis, staff writer at the Atlantic and Melissa Melewski lecturer in American politics at The University of Sussex discuss the role women played in this week’s violent protest when the Capital building in Washington was stormed by Trump Supporters.
We discuss the unintended consequences both positive and negative of the #metoo movement with Gudrun Young, a defence barrister and Sarah Green, Director of End Violence Against Women.
And we have a special message from Her Majesty the Queen and the actor Imelda Staunton tells us about her latest role playing the Queen on television.
Nick Robinson talks the former head of the Vacinne Task Force, Kate Bingham, in a personal and political interview.
Lord Peter Hain, Mari Hannah, Ralf Little, Adil Ray, Calexico, Frànçois & The Atlas Mountains, Emma Freud, Clive Anderson
Clive Anderson is joined by Lord Peter Hain, Ralf Little, Adil Ray and Mari Hannah for an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy. With music from Calexico and Frànçois & The Atlas Mountains.
The legendary make-up artist has just become the first in her industry to be made a Dame. Growing up in Northampton without industry contacts or formal training, Pat McGrath taught herself the techniques that have made her one of the most in-demand names in fashion. If you can name a designer label, she's probably worked for them, and now runs her own billion-dollar business. Supermodels, colleagues and friends tell Becky Milligan why she's had such a huge impact.
Pippa Evans reads from her diaries, which tell of crushes, Christian camp, and her days as a Michael Palin superfan.
A look at the world of contemporary fiction. In the company of leading contemporary writers, she considers a story and story writing from a different angle.
Marina speaks with writers as diverse as Julian Barnes, Michelle Roberts, Fanny Howe, Marlene van Niekerk, Alain Mabanckou, Lydia Davis, Edwin Frank, Elleke Boehmer, Wen-Chin Ouyang, Daniel Medin, Nadeem Aslam and Laszlo Krasznahorkai.
There are questions around the boundaries between fact and fiction which Marina believes are central to any consideration of storytelling, since readers' pleasure depends so much on trust built up between the storyteller or writer and the audience.
With discussions on the reasons for writing, writers as witnesses and political interaction.
Marina was Chair of the Man Booker International Prize 2015 and the series draws on the expertise of the International Booker judging panel, the views of the shortlisted writers, as well as other key literary talent.
With previously unheard interviews, studio out-takes and a collection of musings from throughout the years, the story of David Bowie's extraordinary life and career told in his own words.
By his own count, David Bowie inhabited seven different personas throughout his career and, while each one of those creations channelled wildly different musical influences that were often difficult to identify, Bowie was always able to articulate with great conviction which musical universe he was inhabiting at each turn – even if he often contradicted himself.
“I usually don’t agree with what I say very much. I’m an awful liar”, he claimed in 2002, while summarising his many changes in style.
In search of silver and gold, Pilgrim comes to St Lewin where the malevolence of a powerful old enemy is causing havoc in the lives of ordinary people .
Pilgrim ..... Paul Hilton
Mister Truffles ..... Zubin Varla
Binnie ..... Helen Longworth
Mirabella ..... Janice Acquah
Jerry ..... Ian Conningham
Francis ..... Paul Heath
Jose ..... Shaun Mason
Maurice ..... David Acton
Little Truffles ..... Bettrys Jones
The Girl ..... Agnes Bateman
Robots are in our homes, our factories, on battlefields and in hospitals. Some are smarter than us, some are faster. Some are here to help us, others not. Science fiction is filled with malign machines that rise against humanity. Mike Williams asks if we have reason to fear the machines we are creating.
15. Frankie Boyle
Covid-19 hasn’t gone away and, due to travel restrictions, neither has Louis Theroux.
In the second outing of his podcast series, Louis tracks down more high-profile guests he’s been longing to talk to - a fascinating mix of the celebrated, the controversial and the mysterious.
In the latest episode, comedian and writer Frankie Boyle chats with Louis about growing up in Glasgow and discovering alcohol as a teenager. They also discuss whether cancel culture exists and the role that tabloid newspapers play in public outrage.
There are musical extracts by Strauss, Ravel, Prince and Heaven 17 in store for the contestants in the fifth heat of the series, recorded without an audience. There's no 'buzzer round' this year because of the need to accommodate contestants taking part on broadband links - but the competition promises to be as keen as ever. Today's contestants are
Bryan McAlley, a former prison governor who now runs a repair cafe in East Sussex
Mona Arshi was awarded the Forward Prize in 2015 for her debut poetry collection Small Hands. She's a former human rights lawyer and soon to be novelist. Her poetry selection includes work by Adrienne Rich, Caleb Femi and Gerard Manley Hopkins whose poem God's Grandeur she assesses from a 21st century perspective.
SUNDAY 10 JANUARY 2021
SUN 00:00 Midnight News (m000r34d)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 00:15 Disability: A New History (b01smkq3)
Freaks and Entrepreneurs
Peter White draws on the latest research to reveal the lives of physically disabled people in the 18th and 19th centuries. In this third episode, he challenges our modern ideas of freaks and freak shows.
Many disabled people who exhibited themselves in the 18th century were in fact wealthy entrepreneurs. Historians now argue that they were in charge of their own careers, and they challenged society's expectations of what disabled people could achieve.
Case studies include the artist Matthew Buchinger, who was born without arms or legs but became a performer to Royalty and a symbol of virility in the 18th century. Peter also discovers that 18th century dwarves could be delivered to your door in a box - if you were wealthy enough to pay for a private view.
With historians David Turner, Judith Hawley and Naomi Baker and voices from the past brought to life by actors Gerard McDermott, Ewan Bailey and Emily Bevan.
Producer: Elizabeth Burke
Academic adviser: David Turner of Swansea University
A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 00:30 Short Works (m000qyww)
This Sunday
Sundays at our house are always loud. There’s all this noise, but somehow it feels quiet today. Lonely.
An original short story for radio, written and performed by Jade Anouka. With thanks to Delawhere for the theme music. Produced by Becky Ripley.
SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000r34g)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000r34j)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000r34l)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SUN 05:30 News Briefing (m000r34n)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (m000r32b)
Guildford Cathedral
Bells on Sunday comes from Guildford Cathedral in Surrey. When the diocese of Guildford was created in 1927, the nearby Holy Trinity Church was initially used as the cathedral. In 1936, the building of a new and larger cathedral church overlooking Guildford was commissioned. However, construction took some thirty years to complete. The cathedral’s bells were cast at the Whitechapel Foundry, originally a ring of ten in 1965 and then augmented to twelve bells in 1976. The tenor weighs thirty hundredweight and is tuned to the note D. We hear them ringing Stedman Cinques.
SUN 05:45 Profile (m000r31l)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 06:00 News (m000r30c)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b03lkndb)
Made by Hand
Look at the current interest in baking, growing your own and hand crafts. Increasingly it seems, people are finding that making something for themselves, can be more enriching than just going to the shops. It's in step with our 'make do and mend times', but perhaps it's more profound than that.
Samira Ahmed reflects on how the impulse to make things with our hands is human instinct. The act of making demands concentration and can give time to reflect. Creating something handmade can bring deep satisfaction and a sense of achievement.
She considers the spiritual value of making by hand in Shaker communities and in monastic life.
And she hears stories of people for whom creating with their hands has particular significance, like the British World War II prisoner of war, who stitched subversive messages into his needlework samplers, right under the noses of his captors. Samira also visits the workshop of Eleanor Lakelin, who handcrafts bowls and objects from wood, and asks her about the meditative aspects of creating something by hand.
Featuring music by J S Bach, Alison Krauss and Billy Bragg and with the thoughts of writers including
Pablo Neruda, Carl Honore and Alice Moore Dunbar-Nelson.
Producer: Caroline Hughes
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (m000r30f)
Four and a half acres and growing
Charlotte Smith meets Sinead Fenton and Adam Smith to hear how they gave up life in London to fulfill their dream of growing veg and edible flowers for a living. With the help of the Ecological Land Cooperative they secured four and a half acres of land near Polegate in Sussex but like all dreams this one came with its own challenges. They moved in a few days before the first lockdown in March 2020. A very wet winter gave way to a very hot spring making growing conditions challenging. The site has no water supply, and they got to work on the land all whilst living in a static caravan that had very little insulation and no electricity. But these two are not easily knocked off course, dealing with whatever life throws at them with a mixture of determination, naive optimism and sheer hard work. Charlotte joins them as they and some community volunteers plant hedgerows in a bid to improve the soil structure and create a natural wildlife corridor that will complement their ethos on land-management and help them grow into the future.
Producer: Toby Field
SUN 06:57 Weather (m000r30h)
The latest weather forecast
SUN 07:00 News and Papers (m000r30k)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 07:10 Sunday (m000r30m)
A look at the ethical and religious issues of the week
SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (m000r30p)
Ubuntu Pathways
Nozibele Qamngana-Mayaba makes the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of Ubuntu Pathways.
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 ‘Ubuntu Pathways’.
- Cheques should be made payable to ‘Ubuntu Pathways’.
- You can donate online at bbc.co.uk/appeal/radio4
Registered Charity Number: 1103749
SUN 07:57 Weather (m000r30r)
The latest weather forecast
SUN 08:00 News and Papers (m000r30t)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (m000r30w)
Our Common Home
"If you believe in God…then you should feel a responsibility to care for His Creation" (the Duke of Edinburgh). This insight led Prince Philip as International President of the World Wide Fund for Nature to invite today's service leader Martin Palmer, to help him bring together in Assisi, Italy, the birth place of St Francis, for the first time in 1986, five of the world’s major faiths and key environmental organisations to explore how the faiths could become partners with the conservation movements in protecting what Pope Francis calls “our Common Home”. Now a member of the Pope's Covid Commission and CEO of FaithInvest, a new organisation that helps faiths invest in a values-based environment, in this morning's service Martin puts the horrifying statistic of the death of 160 species across the last ten years into a spiritual perspective. He's joined in the 4th century church of St Martin's North Stoke, Somerset, by Indian writer, poet, and opera writer Sangita Lakhanpaul. The preacher is Lorna Gold, Chair of the Global Catholic Climate Movement (GCCM) and also a member of the Pope’s Covid Commission. The programme draws on insights from major world faiths, but is grounded in the Christian hope of renewal and regeneration with readings from Exodus 3, Psalm148, and Colossians chapter 1. Producer: Andrew Earis.
SUN 08:48 A Point of View (m000qyxn)
Weekly reflections on topical issues from a range of contributors.
SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (b04t0pjx)
Snow Petrel
Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.
Liz Bonnin presents an Antarctic specialist, the delicate looking snow petrel. On a wind blasted Antarctic iceberg, small white hummocks sprout beaks to bicker and flirt with each other. These are snow petrels, one of the hardiest bird species in the world. Few bird species breed in the Antarctic and fewer still are so intimately bound to the landscape of snow and ice. But the near pure white snow petrel makes its home in places where temperatures can plummet to -40 Celsius and below. Returning to their breeding areas from October, the nest is a skimpy affair nothing more than a pebble-lined scrape in a hollow or rocky crevice where the parents rear their single chick on a diet of waxy stomach oil and carrion. But for a bird of such purity the snow petrel has a ghoulish diet, foraging at whale and seal carcasses along the shore. Although it breeds on islands such as South Georgia which are north of the summer pack ice, the snow petrel's true home is among snow and ice of its Antarctic home.
SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (m000r30y)
The Sunday morning news magazine programme. Presented by Paddy O'Connell
SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (m000r310)
Writers, Sarah Hehir & Caroline Harrington
Director, Kim Greengrass
Editor, Jeremy Howe
David Archer ….. Timothy Bentinck
Ruth Archer ….. Felicity Finch
Helen Archer ….. Louiza Patikas
Lilian Bellamy ….. Sunny Ormonde
Neil Carter ….. Brian Hewlett
Justin Elliott ….. Simon Williams
Alan Franks ….. John Telfer
Clarrie Grundy ….. Heather Bell
Emma Grundy ….. Emerald O’Hanrahan
Shula Hebden-Lloyd ….. Judy Bennett
Kirsty Miller ….. Annabelle Dowler
Lynda Snell ….. Carole Boyd
Robert Snell ….. Graham Blockey
Roy Tucker ….. Ian Pepperell
Martyn Gibson ….. Jon Glover
Tanners ..... Jane Slavin
SUN 10:54 Tweet of the Day (m000r312)
Tweet Take 5 : Crows
For decades the the carrion crow and its near relative the hooded crow were thought one and the same species. These highly intelligent and adaptable birds are both loved and for some despised as their presence can be seen as a potent of doom. Today they can be seen as a visible marker of climate change where their range overlaps. An extended edition of Tweet of the Day with sound recordist Chris Watson, photographer John McPherson and writer Amy Liptrot.
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Andrew Dawes
SUN 11:00 Desert Island Discs (m000r314)
David Olusoga, historian and broadcaster
David Olusoga is a historian, writer and broadcaster who has presented a range of programmes including the BBC’s A House Through Time and Civilisations. He is currently professor of public history at Manchester University.
Born in Lagos, the second child to a Nigerian father and a British mother, David was brought up by his mother in Gateshead after his parents’ marriage broke down. As a child he and his siblings experienced sustained racism and he remembers school as a place of violence and cruelty.
He credits his mother’s tenacity and her determination to educate her children for his later success in getting to university and establishing a career in television. His love of history developed from a young age, thanks to one of his teachers who taught him why an understanding of history matters. Watching television documentaries also opened up a world of possibility and David fondly recalls programmes from the 1980s presented by the historian Michael Wood, who made history seem cool in the eyes of the young schoolboy glued to the TV in his Gateshead council house.
Last year David delivered the MacTaggart Lecture at the Edinburgh Television Festival in which he talked candidly about his loneliness at being the only black person on a production team and the difficulties he had trying to explain the racial implications of how, for example, people in Africa were often portrayed on screen.
Presenter Lauren Laverne
Producer Paula McGinley
SUN 11:45 Charisma: Pinning Down the Butterfly (b0680lxz)
The Nelson Effect
Francine Stock attempts to pin down the alluring yet elusive quality of charisma
9.The Nelson Effect
The charisma of humility and service in Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama
Throughout the series, Francine Stock has been fascinated to learn that charisma is an amoral quality - value-free, neither positive nor negative in itself, with the potential to do good or harm depending on those who harness it. In the previous episode, she considered the appalling impact of Hitler's "dark charisma".
She now turns to two 21st century individuals who have used their charisma to serve their people: Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama.
Francine talks with Moeletsi Mbeki, Deputy Chairman of the South African Institute of International Affairs, who knew Nelson Mandela well and who anatomises his particularly powerful type of charisma. And she hears from Jas Elsner, who has worked closely with the Dalai Lama, and who explains how his religious upbringing and belief underpin his charisma.
In an era in which the casual use of the term charisma has proliferated, Professor John Potts - who recently came across an advertisement for a "charismatic sandwich" (one in which the lettuce was particularly crisp) - discusses the importance of authenticity in the truly charismatic.
Producer: Beaty Rubens.
SUN 12:00 News Summary (m000r410)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 12:04 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (m000qwvz)
Series 73
Lockdown Recording 2
A final lockdown recording of the nation's favourite wireless entertainment sees Tony Hawks, Pippa Evans and Harry Hill take on Sandi Toksvig, Barry Cryer and Graeme Garden with Jack Dee in the chair and Colin Sell providing piano accompaniment.
Producer - Jon Naismith. It is a BBC Studios production.
SUN 12:32 The Food Programme (m000r318)
BrewDog: Punks grown up?
BrewDog to a lot of people are almost synonymous with 'craft beer.' They are everywhere from supermarkets to off licences and have their own chain of bars across the country and abroad. They also have tens of thousands of loyal fans who have invested in the company through their 'equity of punks' scheme.
They have generated a fair amount of controversy and infuriated some in the beer world. But no one can deny the huge impact they have made on the way we drink in this country.
In this programme, brewer Jaega Wise investigates the phenomenon of BrewDog, how from humble beginnings they have helped craft beer become a British staple through brash and controversial marketing and taking huge risks in business and beer.
She talks to some if the investors in the 'equity of punks' scheme (EFPs) about why the company has become an important part of their lives, to the beer writer Pete Brown about his new book Craft: an Argument about what craft beer means today and to Martin Dickie and James Watt, the founders of Brewdog.
Presented by Jaega Wise
Produced in Bristol by Sam Grist
SUN 12:57 Weather (m000r31b)
The latest weather forecast
SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (m000r31d)
Global news and analysis, presented by Mark Mardell.
SUN 13:30 Transcendence: How Can I Feel Art Again? (m000qxzx)
When Gaylene Gould was younger she would find herself speechless and breathless in the presence of great sculpture and fine painting. Now, after 25 years of professional arts curating, she has seen it all and finds herself largely unmoved.
Gaylene wants to recover the spark which left her rooted to the spot in a gallery, unable to move or speak. It’s a feeling she thinks of as “transcendence”, and she wants to experience it again.
At the extreme end of this spectrum is Stendhal syndrome, or Florence syndrome, which occurs when individuals are exposed to objects or phenomena of great beauty and experience symptoms including rapid heartbeat, dizziness, fainting, confusion and even hallucinations.
She tests her capacity for interoception, the sensing of your internal bodily changes, with the help of the neuroscientist Sarah Garfinkel, and meets the Turner Prize-winning visual artist Mark Leckey, whose works are concerned with art’s magic and ritual qualities. Art historian Chloe Ward recalls the rise of activist art in the 1840s, when painters actively sought to provoke emotions with images of social deprivation to compel people into taking action. Zoe Whitley, director of the Chisenhale Gallery, encourages a wider view of the cultural experience outside of institutions.
Can Gaylene reawaken her sensitivity to art?
Produced by Sasha Edye-Lindner and Joby Waldman
Presented by Gaylene Gould
A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m000qywt)
GQT at Home: Growing Greens and Buzzing Bees
Horticultural programme featuring a group of gardening experts. Peter Gibbs is joined by Pippa Greenwood, Bunny Guinness and Matthew Wilson to answer questions sent in by green-fingered listeners.
This week the panellists advise on tackling an overgrown garden, flowers to encourage bees and unusual plant hacks. They also help a listener with a berry-less Buckthorn, and discuss their favourite January jobs in the garden.
Away from the questions, Anne Swithinbank chats to Gynelle Leon from Prick, London's first ever cactus boutique, and Ashley Edwards from Horatio's Garden London and South East gives some tips for growing greens in January.
Producer - Rosie Merotra
Assistant Producer - Jemima Rathbone
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 14:45 Disability: A New History (b01snjq4)
Beauty and Deformity
Peter White draws on the latest research to reveal the lives of physically disabled people in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Today, he explores ideas of beauty and deformity which had a real impact on the lives of people with disabilities.
In the 18th century, you could be transformed from beautiful to 'deformed' overnight. We hear the first-hand account of one woman who suffered this transformation - the writer Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, a society beauty who caught smallpox when she was 26: 'How am I changed! Where's my complexion, where the bloom that promised happiness for years to come?'
Mourning loss of beauty was not just natural human vanity, because beauty was thought of as a moral quality, not just skin-deep - and ugliness was deeply shameful. The belief was that outward deformity revealed inner wickedness.
Peter explores how this idea changed under the impact of a greater scientific understanding of the world. But surprisingly, science did not encourage more tolerance - in fact, it led to a much narrower definition of what was "normal". He also discovers that disability was thought to be contagious in the 18th century, and that all women were believed to be deformed because the ideal body was male.
With historians Naomi Baker and Judith Hawley, and historical sources including manuals for parents to correct the appearance of their children as well as 18th century doctors' advertisements. Voices from the past are brought vividly to life, with actors Emily Bevan, Ewan Bailey and Gerard McDermott.
Producer: Elizabeth Burke
Academic adviser: David Turner of Swansea University
A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 15:00 Drama (b0b90l1c)
Low
Inspired by the chaotic life of David Bowie during the making of the Low album released in 1977, this quirky, darkly comic drama by Sean Grundy takes a look into the mind of David Bowie during his years in Berlin.
After leaving LA, which he later said had brought him to the edge of sanity, Berlin influenced his recovery and inspired him to create one of the 20th Century's most iconic albums.
Writer: Sean Grundy
Director: Dirk Maggs
Producer: David Morley
A Perfectly Normal production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 16:00 Open Book (m000r31g)
Bryan Washington, Natalie Haynes, Trauma in fiction with Rebecca Watson and Peter Ho Davies
Chris Power talks to Bryan Washington about his highly anticipated novel, Memorial, already set to be one of the debuts of 2021. Having already garnered praise for his short story collection Lot, including from Barack Obama, here Washington talks about writing two men's growing relationship in modern day Houston.
Broadcaster, classicist and most recently writer of Pandora's Jar, Natalie Haynes chooses a Book I'd Never Lend.
Plus A Lie Someone Told You About Yourself by Peter Ho Davies and Little Scratch by Rebecca Watson are two new books which explore different traumas using different forms. They discuss why using experimental narratives, fractured texts and blurred definitions of genre are often the best ways to tackle difficult topics.
SUN 16:30 Poetry Please (m000r31j)
Kenneth Steven
Kenneth Steven makes his selection of poetry from listener requests. His choices reflect his love of the natural world and what he calls 'wildscape' - something he writes about in his own poetry. He was born in Perthshire and now lives on the west coast of Scotland.
Producer: Maggie Ayre
SUN 17:00 Beyond Brexit (m000qy4n)
At this pivotal moment in the history of the United Kingdom, four key protagonists in the event that became known as Brexit reflect on the long-term consequences of our momentous decision to leave the European Union. After four years of fraught debate, and with the transition period over, what are their hopes now for Britain beyond the EU?
Producer: Eliane Glaser
SUN 17:40 Profile (m000r31l)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m000r31n)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SUN 17:57 Weather (m000r31q)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000r31s)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (m000r31v)
Salma El-Wardany
We’ve made it through the first week of January, a week that is usually slow and uneventful, however, judging by our radios, it’s been anything but. There’s panic in America as everyone tries to make sense of the mob who stormed the Capitol, difficult questions have been asked about who’s really responsible for climate change and there’s a re-imagining of what the world could really look like if women were in charge.
Presenter: Salma El-Wardany
Producer: Elizabeth Foster
Production support: Helen Surtees
Studio Manager: Sue Stonestreet
Contact potw@bbc.co.uk
The full programmes of all of the selections featured can be accessed in the Related Links section on the Pick of the week homepage.
SUN 18:55 Radio 4 Appeal (m000r30p)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 today]
SUN 19:00 Stillicide (m0007pyd)
Episode 2: Paper Flowers
Cynan Jones' electrifying new series set in the very near future.
Water is commodified and the Water Train that feeds the city is increasingly at risk of sabotage. And now ice bergs are set to be towed to a huge ice dock outside the capital city - a huge megalopolis that is draining the country of its resources.
Today: an immigrant worker can't help but be awed by the extraordinary ice dock.
Reader: Philip Arditti
Writer: Cynan Jones
Producer: Justine Willett
Music: Original music by Kirsten Morrison
SUN 19:15 Stand-Up Specials (m000r31x)
Kiri Pritchard-McLean: Egg-sistential Crisis
Stand-up Kiri Pritchard-Mclean brings a special show to BBC Radio 4 all about millennials and why they have stopped procreating.
Producer: Suzy Grant
BBC Studios Production
SUN 19:45 The Last Resort (m000r31z)
Lois
A caravan-park on the Northern Irish coast is beset by a series of impossible thefts, forcing its disparate group of residents to come together to find their missing belongings. However, in this uncanny place where static caravans teeter on an eroding a cliff-edge overlooking the ocean, each holidaymaker soon finds themselves similarly wavering between certainty and doubt; one world and the next; the past and the present; and even reality and fantasy.
Author
Jan Carson is a writer and community arts facilitator based in Belfast. Her most recent novel ‘The Fire Starters’ was awarded the EU Prize for Literature 2019 and the author was acclaimed as “one of the most exciting and original Northern Irish writers of her generation” by the Sunday Times. She has also written ‘Wings’ for BBC Three, ‘UnRaveling’ for BBC Radio 3, several short stories for BBC Radio 4’s ‘Short Works’ series and was shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award 2020.
Reader: Roísín Gallagher
Writer: Jan Carson
Producer: Michael Shannon
A BBC Northern Ireland production.
SUN 20:00 Bowie Five Years On (m000r4cj)
Bowie: Dancing Out In Space
David Bowie; a thinker, seer and prophet. Throughout his life, Bowie predicted the future. He was a visionary artist whose natural fluidity, curious imagination and disregard for the rigidity of categories enabled him to foretell cultural change. On the fifth anniversary of David Bowie’s death, Stuart Maconie hosts a special show in honour of the future-facing artist to be broadcast simultaneously on BBC Radio 4 and 6 Music. Leading figures from music, literature, philosophy, technology and comedy talk about the impact of Bowie on their lives and how he always managed to be ahead of the curve. In order of appearance they are: Charli XCX, Maggie Aderin-Pocock, Chris Hadfield, Hanif Kureishi, Harris Reed, Christine and the Queens, Grayson Perry, Tony Visconti, Simon Critchley, Deborah Levy, Beth Greenacre, Ron Roy, David Baddiel and Ricky Gervais.
SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (m000r326)
Radio 4's Sunday night political discussion programme.
SUN 23:00 The Film Programme (m000qy0f)
Ellen Burstyn
With Antonia Quirke.
Legendary actress Ellen Burstyn talks about Pieces Of A Woman, the film that might make her the oldest person to be nominated for an Academy Award in the history of the Oscars.
Deepa Mehta, the director of the Earth, Fire and Water trilogy discusses her new drama Funny Boy, set around the time of Black July, the outburst of sectarian violence that led to civil war in Sri Lanka.
SUN 23:30 Something Understood (b03lkndb)
[Repeat of broadcast at
06:05 today]
MONDAY 11 JANUARY 2021
MON 00:00 Midnight News (m000r328)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
MON 00:15 Word of Mouth (m000qy49)
Talking Disability
Michael Rosen is back. In the first in a new series, he meets actress and campaigner Samantha Renke and asks her how we talk about disability.
Producer Sally Heaven.
MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (m000r32b)
[Repeat of broadcast at
05:43 on Sunday]
MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000r32d)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000r32g)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000r32j)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
MON 05:30 News Briefing (m000r32l)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000r32n)
A reflection and prayer to start the day with The Rt Revd Dr David Bruce, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland
MON 05:45 Farming Today (m000r32q)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
MON 05:56 Weather (m000r32s)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.
MON 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03mzv59)
Lesser White-fronted Goose
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Chris Packham presents the story of the Lesser White-Fronted Goose. The lesser white-fronted goose is now a very rare bird in the UK, but the siting in Bristol of the BBC's Natural History Unit, owes much to this bird.
MON 06:00 Today (m000r35k)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
MON 09:00 Start the Week (m000r35m)
Scotland and the Union
The Acts of Union 1707 brought together England and Scotland, ‘United into One Kingdom by the Name of Great Britain’. But the historian Karin Bowie tells Andrew Marr that in the years preceding a growing number of pamphlets and demonstrations showed that many people were divided on the issue. In ‘Public Opinion in Early Modern Scotland c.1560–1707’ Bowie charts the growing debate across society. The failure of Scotland’s trading ambitions in the Darien Scheme also hit the country hard, both financially and emotionally.
However the idea of an independent Scotland emerged surprisingly recently into public debate, according to academic Ben Jackson. In his book The Case for Scottish Independence he argues that an influential Scottish nationalism only began to take shape from the 1970s onwards. It was at heart a political project, born out of opposition to the Thatcher government.
Ruth Wishart is a pro-independence journalist who has written about Scottish affairs for many decades. As s columnist for The National she is following every twist and turn as Scottish nationalists agitate for a second independence referendum to follow the Scottish Parliament election in May.
The political scientist Ailsa Henderson will be watching the coming elections closely too as she’s an expert on voting behaviour and attitudes to both Scottish and English nationalism. A number of Scots felt a deep sense of grievance against their neighbours at the formation of the Union. Now more than three hundred years later Henderson shows, in her forthcoming book Englishness – co-written with Richard Wyn Jones – that English nationalism contains a strain of grievance about England’s place within the United Kingdom.
Producer: Katy Hickman
MON 09:45 If Then by Jill Lepore (m000r35p)
Episode 1
Jill Lepore uncovers the history of Simulmatics, the forgotten US data company that paved the way for Facebook, Amazon and Cambridge Analytica.
Jill Lepore is Professor of American History at Harvard University. A staff writer at The New Yorker and host of podcast The Last Archive, she is an award-winning writer of books on diverse topics, from American democracy to Wonder Woman.
Abridged by Eileen Horne
Read by Laurel Lefkow
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie
MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000r35s)
Bullied by my kids; Alexandra Heminsley
Listeners and practitioners offer advice and support to parents living with violent children. Pat Craven from the Freedom Programme, and Karina Kelly who advocates Non-violent Resistance join Emma.
Author of Running Like a Girl, Alexandra Heminsley has written a new memoir about having a baby after much difficulty and finding out not long after that her husband is set on transitioning. She talks to Emma about this tumultuous time of her life.
MON 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b08hlk9v)
Going Straight by Melissa Murray
Episode 1
by Melissa Murray
When lesbian Emma begins an affair with a man she finds that she has inadvertently betrayed the trust of the people she holds most dear A comedy drama about sex, work and family.
Directed by Marc Beeby.
MON 11:00 The Power of... (m000r35v)
The Power of One
We humans are a supremely social species, but the coronavirus pandemic has forced many of us into solitary confinement.
It feels like an unnatural, regressive move, that goes against our collective nature. So why do some species embrace the power of one? And how do they make a success of a solo existence?
Lucy Cooke meets some of the animal kingdom’s biggest loners - from the Komodo Dragon, to the Okapi and the Black Rhino - to explore the lure of solitude.
Producer: Beth Eastwood
MON 11:30 How to Vaccinate the World (m000r605)
Episode 9
Tim Harford reports on the global race to create a vaccine to end the Covid-19 pandemic.
MON 12:00 News Summary (m000r35x)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 12:04 The Snow And The Works On The Northern Line by Ruth Thomas (m000r35z)
Episode 1
Twenty-six year-old Sybil is happy enough with her job cataloguing fossils and archaeological finds in an institute of prehistoric studies, and contentedly in love with her boyfriend Simon, whose artisanal spelt pasta makes up for his inexplicable love of camping and the outdoors. But her world is turned upside down when she has an accident and an unwelcome encounter with her glamorous, assertive former university tutor at Streatham Ice Rink. Things become much worse when she learns that Helen is now Chair of the Trustees at the Institute; before long Sybil can’t ignore the growing evidence of just how far Helen is prepared to go to fulfil her career ambitions. As Sybil tries to find solace for her broken heart, revenge becomes the main thing on her mind.
1/10: A skating accident and a chance encounter with an old adversary turn Sybil’s world upside down
The Snow and the Works on the Northern Line is Ruth Thomas’s third novel. She’s published three short story collections and her prizes include the John Llewellyn Rhys Award, the Saltire First Book Award and the VS Pritchett Prize.
Ell Potter is an actor, writer, comedian and and award-winning narrator who was named an Audible ‘breakout star’ whilst still at Drama School. She co-created the hit stage shows ‘Hotter’ and ‘Fitter’, and this year co-wrote and starred in the podcast drama ‘Lem N Ginge’.
Reader: Ell Potter
Abridged and produced by Sara Davies
MON 12:18 You and Yours (m000r362)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
MON 12:57 Weather (m000r364)
The latest weather forecast
MON 13:00 World at One (m000r366)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Sarah Montague.
MON 13:45 39 Ways to Save the Planet (m000r368)
Chilling Food
Chilled lorries are the backbone of our food distribution system, keeping our pork pies and hummus safe and fresh on route to the supermarket. The problem for our air quality and carbon emissions is that many of the refrigeration units are powered by diesel engines.
Tom Heap meets a team converting these Transport Refrigeration Units from diesel to liquid nitrogen. If successful they could take a bite out of greenhouse gases in the west and, more importantly, offer a clean chilling option for farmers and food companies in the developing world. Food that spoils on the way to the consumer hurts farmers, causes hunger and increases carbon emissions. If meat, dairy, fruit and vegetables can be kept fresh for longer then everyone wins.
Dr Tamsin Edwards of King's College, London helps Tom calculate just how much carbon dioxide could be removed from the environment if we use techniques like this to slash food waste.
Producer:: Anne-Marie Bullock
Series made in partnership with the Royal Geographical Society
MON 14:00 Drama (m000r36b)
Sparks
What do you do if you’re female and in your twenties and very definitely a feminist, but you also really want to fall madly in love with someone. And maybe have a kid... And then you meet that someone. And it’s perfect. And then it’s not. And the person you’d really like to talk to about all of this is your Mum. But she died. And you’re not really talking about that.
A musical drama by Jessica Butcher, with original music by Anoushka Lucas, about the messiness of dating, love and loss – and the brain’s response to grief.
Performed by Jessica Butcher and Anoushka Lucas
Originally directed for stage by Jessica Edwards
Produced for radio by Emma Harding
MON 14:45 The Why Factor (b07jyrd4)
Series 3
Groupthink
The Why Factor investigates the concept of "Groupthink". How the perceived wisdom of our allies and colleagues can influence our choices and persuade us to make disastrous military decisions, join cults or simply deny the evidence before our very eyes.
Presenter: Mike Williams
Producer: Sandra Kanthal
Editor: Andrew Smith
First broadcast on the BBC World Service.
MON 15:00 Counterpoint (m000r36d)
Series 34
Heat 6
(6/13)
Joining Paul Gambaccini for the wide-ranging music quiz are competitors from around the UK, hoping their knowledge across all genres of music will carry them through to the series semi-finals coming up next month. The musical extracts that await them include Mozart, Marvin Gaye, Elvis Presley and Wagner. And will anyone choose the specialist round on 80s Power Ballads?
The competitors today are
Eugene Gallagher, an IT analyst from Cheshire
Helen Shrimpton, a pensions administrator from the Wirral
Donna Whitehouse, an account business manager from Gloucestershire.
Producer: Paul Bajoria
MON 15:30 The Food Programme (m000r318)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:32 on Sunday]
MON 16:00 Dante 2021 (m000r36h)
Inferno
Dante's 14th-century masterpiece reveals its 21st-century meanings to Katya Adler as she travels through the first region of the afterlife with Dr Margaret Keane.
Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy is commonly considered the greatest single work of all European literature, but this three-part epic poem isn't only for those with a taste for medieval Italy.
Seven hundred years after Dante's death in 1321, Katya Adler, the BBC's Europe Editor and lover of all things Italian, sets out to discover why the Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso are such key works for the 21st Century.
With Michael Sheen as Dante.
Three guides conduct Katya through their region of the afterlife - just as Virgil, and Dante’s great lost love Beatrice, do in the original - taking her to Hell and back again.
Each guide proposes seven reasons why Dante (a great lover of numerology as well as a great poet) is such a powerful contemporary read - adding up to 21 reasons in the 21st year of the 21st century.
Just as Dante himself starts his iconic journey "nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita / mi ritrovai per una selva oscura....", so Katya learns how, in the middle of the journey of our life, Dante might help us out of the current dark woods of Covid, the American election and post-Brexit polarisation, the environmental crisis and other troubles.... leading her to conclude that each of us contains a spark of Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso.
Specially commissioned music by Emily Levy, sung by Michael Solomon Williams, Jon Stainsby, Emily Levy.
Katya's guides are Dr Margaret Kean from St Hilda's College, Oxford; Professor Matthew Treherne from the Centre for Dante Studies, University of Leeds; Vittorio Montemaggi, senior lecturer in Religion and Art, Kings College London and Acting Director of the Von Hugel Institute in Cambridge.
Further contributions from Ken Hollings, Joseph Luzzi, Fatemeh Keshavarz, Alessio Baldini
Producer: Beaty Rubens
MON 16:30 The Infinite Monkey Cage (m000r36l)
In Praise of Flies
In Praise of Flies
Brian Cox and Robin Ince kick off a new series of Infinite Monkey Cage with a look at probably the least revered or liked group of insects, the flies. They are joined by fly sceptic David Baddiel , fly enthusiast and champion Dr Erica McAlister and maggot expert Matthew Cobb to discover why a life without flies would be no life at all. Can Erica and Matthew persuade David to put his fly gun down and learn to love those pesky pests, or is their reputation for being disgusting and annoying justified? What would a planet without flies look like?
Producer: Alexandra Feachem
MON 17:00 PM (m000r36n)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000r36q)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 18:30 The Unbelievable Truth (m000r36s)
Series 25
Episode 1
David Mitchell hosts the panel game in which four comedians are encouraged to tell lies and compete against one another to see how many items of truth they're able to smuggle past their opponents.
Frankie Boyle, Sara Pascoe, Miles Jupp, and Holly Walsh are the panellists obliged to talk with deliberate inaccuracy on subjects as varied as London, divorce, names and bats.
Produced by Jon Naismith
A Random Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4
MON 19:00 The Archers (m000r36w)
Kirsty is feeling guilty, and Harrison’s getting tough.
MON 19:15 Front Row (m000r36y)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
MON 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b04jjjx9)
The Pillow Book
Episode 1
Lady Shonagon and Lieutenant Yukinari return for a seventh series of the popular mystery series the Pillow Book, set in 10th Century Japan.
Yukinari has taken the Emperor to see a natural wonder - an underground cave sparkling with a thousand diamonds. But these are not diamonds, they crumble at the touch, and these caves are patrolled by a pack of wolves. A pack of wolves and their strange, un-wolf-like leader.
Inspired by the writings of Sei Shonagon, a poet and lady-in-waiting to the Empress of the 10th Century Japanese court.
Written by Robert Forrest.
Shonagon...Ruth Gemmell
Yukinari...Cal Macaninch
Empress...Laura Rees
Emperor...Paul Ready
Uzume...Jessica Hardwick
Directed by Lu Kemp.
A BBC Scotland Production for Radio 4.
MON 20:00 How The Irish Shaped Britain (m000r370)
Kingdoms of the Broad Sea
In this series Fergal Keane explores the profound influence the Irish have had on Britain over many centuries, from the vanished tribes of the ancient Celtic world to the Ryanair generation of today.
The telling of the story of Britain and Ireland has been dominated by narratives of conquest and rebellion in which a powerful empire attempts to subdue an indomitable native spirit – two different identities colliding throughout history. Fergal presents a more complex narrative. He begins with the old kingdoms of the Irish Sea, and travels through the time of the Vikings to the 19th and 20th century migrations, all the way to present day. Throughout the Irish have shaped literature, culture, politics and the physical landscape.
Whether it is 19th century theatre or verse, or today’s pop culture, Irish migrants and their descendants have deeply influenced and steered the UK’s literature and arts. Think of Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw or, more recently, the Beatles, the Sex Pistols, Oasis, or Terry Wogan, Paul Merton, Claire Foy, the Irish and their descendants have had a profound influence on Britishness. The Irish have also been highly influential in the world of business, politics and sport.
As migration, integration and assimilation dominate public debate in Britain, Fergal examines the impact of the longest and biggest immigrant story in the history of the United Kingdom.
Producers: John Murphy & Adele Armstrong
MON 20:30 Crossing Continents (m000qxzv)
Libya's Brothers from Hell
Amid the anarchy of post-Revolution Libya, seven ruthless brothers from an obscure background gradually took over their home town near Tripoli. They're accused of murdering entire families to instill fear and to build power and wealth. They created their own militia which threw in its lot, at different times, with various forces in Libya's ongoing conflict. And they grew rich by levying taxes on the human and fuel traffickers crossing their territory. Now, the full horror of their reign of terror is being exposed: since they were driven out in June, more and more mass graves are being discovered. The Libyan authorities - and the International Criminal Court - are investigating what happened. But the four surviving Kani brothers have fled. Will they ever face justice? And what does their story tell us about why the 2011 overthrow of Colonel Gaddafi brought not democracy, but chaos, to Libya? Tim Whewell reports.
Editor: Bridget Harney
MON 21:00 The Power of Three (m000q26r)
Episode 1
Cole Moreton presents a deeply personal account of what it’s like to have and to be triplets, as his children Ruby, Josh and Grace turn 18 and prepare to leave home.
Cole and their mother Rachel brace themselves for the future by telling the story of the early years, when there was much joy, but the struggle to keep a family together often felt extreme and overwhelming.
The series explores how triplets can often think and feel differently to other children, facing challenges as they grow. In this episode, in an extraordinary encounter, the kids meet the IVF doctor who says he saw them first as cells pulsing in a set of petri dishes.
Having been together since the womb, how will our three cope with living apart for the first time in their lives?
A TBI Media production for BBC Radio 4
MON 21:30 Start the Week (m000r35m)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
MON 22:00 The World Tonight (m000r373)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
MON 22:45 The Snow And The Works On The Northern Line by Ruth Thomas (m000r35z)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 today]
MON 23:00 Loose Ends (m000r348)
[Repeat of broadcast at
18:15 on Saturday]
MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (m000r376)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament
TUESDAY 12 JANUARY 2021
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (m000r378)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 00:30 If Then by Jill Lepore (m000r35p)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000r37b)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000r37d)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000r37g)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
TUE 05:30 News Briefing (m000r37j)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000r37l)
A reflection and prayer to start the day with The Rt Revd Dr David Bruce, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (m000r37n)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
TUE 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b09rxr3r)
David Rothenberg on the Blackbird
For professor of philosophy and music at the New Jersey Institute of Technology David Rothenberg, the blackbird is a beautiful melodic songster which helps explains the difference between bird song and bird call in this Tweet of the Day.
Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. In this latest series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world.
Producer: Tim Dee
Photograph: Tim Gardner.
TUE 06:00 Today (m000r3mw)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
TUE 09:00 The Life Scientific (m000r3n0)
Chris Jackson on sustainable geology
Chris Jackson is the kind of scientist who just loves to get out into the landscape he loves. He’s often introduced as ‘geologist and adventurer’. For the past five years he’s been Professor of Basin Analysis in the Department of Earth Sciences and Engineering at Imperial College London and he’s now about to move back to the University of Manchester, where he studied as a student, to become Professor of Sustainable Geoscience.
As a child growing up in Derby, Chris learned to love the outdoors on family trips to the Peak District. Recently, you may have seen him abseiling into a crater of an active volcano in the Democratic Republic of Congo for a BBC TV series. He’s also been telling us about the link between our planet’s geology and climate change as part of the recent Royal Institution Christmas lectures.
Chris talks to Jim al-Khalili about working in the oil and gas exploration industry at the start of his career, searching for massive deposits of salt deep inside the earth and his experience of being a black geologist.
TUE 09:30 One to One (m000r3n2)
The Dream of Success: Rosie Millard meets author Debbie Bayne
Rosie Millard has reported on people following their dreams and striving for success in the unpredictable world of the creative arts throughout her 30 years as an arts journalist and broadcaster. In the background, there lurks the same narrative arc: that luck and persistence will win the day. All you need to do is follow your dream, and success will be yours! But nothing's ever simple. Many people don't ever achieve the success they wanted or expected, for others it’s just a long hard slog, and then there are many whose ambitions are reframed as they go through life.
Rosie explores what constitutes success and failure, particularly in the creative industries. And who gets to make that judgement anyway? In this programme, she asks author Debbie Bayne, who is in her early sixties and still unpublished, how and why she keeps on writing.
Produced by Jo Dwyer for BBC Audio in Bristol
TUE 09:45 If Then by Jill Lepore (m000r3pv)
Episode 2
Jill Lepore uncovers the history of Simulmatics, the forgotten US data company that paved the way for Facebook, Amazon and Cambridge Analytica. In the run up to the 1960 Presidential Elections, Ed Greenfield is assembling a team with one aim – to get a Democrat into the White House.
Jill Lepore is Professor of American History at Harvard University. A staff writer at The New Yorker and host of podcast The Last Archive, she is an award-winning writer of books on diverse topics from American democracy to Wonder Woman.
Abridged by Eileen Horne
Read by Laurel Lefkow
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000r3n6)
The programme that offers a female perspective on the world
TUE 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b08hnj2s)
Going Straight by Melissa Murray
Episode 2
by Melissa Murray
Pressure mounts on lesbian Emma to tell her best friend Kirsty about her affair with a man - news that could ruin both their relationship and Kirsty's business.
Directed by Marc Beeby.
TUE 11:00 Sea of Faith (m00036kp)
Giles Fraser on the storm provoked by Don Cupitt's 1980s TV series. Are the questions raised by "The Sea of Faith" still relevant and what became of the man who asked them? Giles Fraser watched the programmes as a philosophy student. They led him to reject his militant atheism and eventually become a priest. Others felt that the series undermined Christian faith. Giles digs into the archives to find out why it touched such a nerve and hears from Cupitt himself on where his thought has taken him. Produced by Rosie Dawson.
TUE 11:30 Sonnets for Albert (m000qx12)
The poet Anthony Joseph has been writing a new collection that addresses a key relationship in his life.
His father, Albert was many things - a sharp dresser, an orator, a builder but he was only an intermittent figure in Anthony's childhood. And it is this absence which made him powerfully present in Joseph's imagination.
Anthony reveals some of his writing process and his form of 'calypso sonnet', a politically invested line length that, he says, "enforces a melodic rhythm which reminds me of my father" and favours a decidedly Afro-Caribbean approach.
In this programme, Anthony explores ideas around fatherhood, masculinity, absence and loss, as he talks to other artists whose art has become a space for interrogating the memory of their father.
We hear from fellow poet Raymond Antrobus, the singer Gregory Porter and the Trinidadian film-maker Mariel Brown.
(Including audio material from 'Unfinished Sentences', 2019 - courtesy of Mariel Brown.)
Produced by Hannah Dean with additional production from Zakia Sewell
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 12:00 News Summary (m000r5g6)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 12:04 The Snow And The Works On The Northern Line by Ruth Thomas (m000r3nd)
Episode 2
Twenty-six year-old Sybil is happy enough with her job cataloguing fossils and archaeological finds in an institute of prehistoric studies, and contentedly in love with her boyfriend Simon, whose artisanal spelt pasta makes up for his inexplicable love of camping and the outdoors. But her world is turned upside down when she has an accident and an unwelcome encounter with her glamorous, assertive former university tutor at Streatham Ice Rink. Things become much worse when she learns that Helen is now Chair of the Trustees at the Institute; before long Sybil can’t ignore the growing evidence of just how far Helen is prepared to go to fulfil her career ambitions. As Sybil tries to find solace for her broken heart, revenge becomes the main thing on her mind.
2/10:
Helen drops a bombshell, and Sybil’s ready to try anything to heal her broken heart.
The Snow and the Works on the Northern Line is Ruth Thomas’s third novel. She’s published three short story collections and her prizes include the John Llewellyn Rhys Award, the Saltire First Book Award and the VS Pritchett Prize.
Ell Potter is an actor, writer, comedian and and award-winning narrator who was named an Audible ‘breakout star’ whilst still at Drama School. She co-created the hit stage shows ‘Hotter’ and ‘Fitter’, and this year co-wrote and starred in the podcast drama ‘Lem N Ginge’.
Reader: Ell Potter
Abridged and produced by Sara Davies
TUE 12:18 You and Yours (m000r3ng)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
TUE 12:57 Weather (m000r3nj)
The latest weather forecast
TUE 13:00 World at One (m000r3nl)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Sarah Montague.
TUE 13:45 39 Ways to Save the Planet (m000r3nn)
More Power from the Sun
Electricity from the sun is cheap and clean but the solar cells we see on our rooftops could be much more efficient. Henry Snaith of Oxford PV has developed a new material which helps solar roof panels extract more energy from the solar spectrum. Tom Heap visits Henry's lab and joins Dr Tamsin Edwards to consider the carbon-cutting potential of a new generation of solar energy.
Producer: Alasdair Cross
Series made in partnership with the Royal Geographical Society
TUE 14:00 The Archers (m000r36w)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 Drama (m000r3nq)
Lives in Transit
Based on a true story.
Having suffered rape and violence in her native Somalia at the hands of the terrorist cult Al-Shabaab, Asha hands over her few remaining dollars to a trafficker in the hope of finding a life for herself and her daughter in Ireland. But after years of failed asylum applications Asha’s troubles seem no closer to a resolution. Threatened with deportation by the Irish government, Asha flees northwards to the UK, in a desperate attempt to avoid being returned to almost certain death. There begins an endless cycle of to-ing and fro-ing between Britain and Ireland, as neither country seems prepared to accept her claim for asylum. Again and again she is returned to Dublin, (ironically under the Dublin agreement) and again and again she flees north to Belfast to begin her application all over again.
Cast:
Asha Suleman ... Raquel McKee
Thomas ... Jonathan Harden
Interpreter ... Farshid Rokey
Civil Servant ... Ainé McCartney
The Landlord ... Tony Flynn
Yasmin ... Nimmy March
Writer ... Rosemary Jenkinson
Producer ... Eoin O'Callaghan
BBC NI Radio Drama Production
TUE 15:00 The Kitchen Cabinet (m000r3ns)
Series 30
Home Economics: Episode 22
Jay Rayner hosts the culinary panel show from home. Dr Zoe Laughlin, Tim Hayward, Shelina Permalloo and Jeremy Pang answer questions from a virtual audience.
This week the panellists discuss eating foods upside down, how to properly fry an egg, and the right way to eat mussels. Drinks experts Alice Lascelles joins the team to give some Dry January suggestions.
Producer: Laurence Bassett
Assistant Producer: Rosie Merotra
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 15:30 The Curious Cases of Rutherford & Fry (m000r3nv)
Series 17
The Scientific Exploration of Astrology
Astrology – could there be something to it? asks Dan from Australia. Rutherford and Fry investigate the science that has investigated astrology.
Professor Richard Wiseman, (sceptical of all things paranormal and a Virgo) and Professor in the Public Understanding of Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire, explains the long history of the scientific investigation of astrology. He has also run his own experiments to test whether astrology can help you play the stock market and to investigate if people born in the summer are luckier than those born in the winter – the results may surprise you.
Journalist and author, Jo Marchant (Leo and fascinated non-believer) has written all about the history of astrology in her new book – 'The Human Cosmos – A Secret History to the Stars'. In the beginning astrology and astronomy were one and the same. She explains how astrology flourished with the elite and ruling classes of ancient Babylon, Egypt and Greece.
Data scientist, Alex Boxer (Taurus and cautious astrology tourist) explains that astrology may have been humanity's first attempt to predict the future with algorithms, something we’re doing more and more of now. In his book, ‘A scheme of heaven, astrology and the birth of science’, he describes how astrological and scientific algorithms are all just big data science looking for patterns. The issue lies in what that data is.
Presenters: Hannah Fry (Pisces) & Adam Rutherford (Capricorn)
Producer: Fiona Roberts (Libra)
TUE 16:00 Word of Mouth (m000r3nx)
How to Disagree
Michael Rosen and philosopher Darren Chetty explore ways of disagreeing that could help to unite us, and provide a more productive way of communicating in an increasingly divided society.
Producer Beth O'Dea
TUE 16:30 Great Lives (m000r3nz)
David Jonsson on Jean Michel Basquiat
Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat rose to fame in the 1980's Lower East Side New York arts scene.
Andy Warhol was his friend and collaborator, Madonna a one time girlfriend and David Bowie a huge admirer. But beyond this club scene personality raged a prolific artist, writer and musician. During his short career Basquiat created no less than 1000 drawings, 700 paintings and many sculpture and mixed media works. In 2017 he became one of a handful of artists whose work broke the $100 million mark. His life challenged the boundaries of ‘blackness’ but also the boundaries of American art.
He is championed by actor David Jonsson best known for his work on 'Deep State' and 'Industry'. He has described Basquiat's life as both an inspiration and a cautionary tale. He is joined by Jordana Moore Saggese, Associate Professor of American Art at the University of Maryland College Park and author of two scholarly books on Jean-Michel Basquiat. These include The Jean-Michel Basquiat Reader: Writings, Interviews and Critical Responses.
Presented by Matthew Parris
Produced by Nicola Humphries for BBC Bristol
Featuring excerpts from Radio 4's 'I Was...Basquiat's Partner in Noise' presented by Andrew McGibbon and available on BBC Sounds.
TUE 17:00 PM (m000r3p1)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000r3p5)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 18:30 Beta Female (m000r3p7)
Series 1
Episode 1
Beta Female is a semi-autobiographical sitcom by Amna Saleem, starring Kiran Sonia Sawar (Black Mirror, Pure) as Amna, a young woman trying to find her place in the world - in her work, in her relationships, and in her family.
The Accent: When a colleague misidentifies Amna's accent, she takes the opportunity for a change of identity.
Amna ... Kiran Sonia Sawar
Sunnha ... Hiftu Quasem
Issa ... Atta Yaqub
Nora ... Evelyn Lockley
Sam ... Darren Kuppan
Theo ... Tom Stourton
Written by Amna Saleem
Produced & directed by Ed Morrish
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 19:00 The Archers (m000r3pb)
Rex is out for himself, and Tracy’s keen to make something clear.
TUE 19:15 Front Row (m000r3pd)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
TUE 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b04jk366)
The Pillow Book
Episode 2
Lady Shonagon and Lieutenant Yukinari return!
The Emperor has become fascinated with a young woman he and Yukinari discovered living among wolves. The girl has been bought back to the palace for cleansing and examination. But what the Emperor sees in this strange, wild girl is a mystery to those who love and serve him.
Inspired by the writings of Sei Shonagon, a poet and lady-in-waiting to the Empress of the 10th Century Japanese court.
Written by Robert Forrest.
Shonagon...Ruth Gemmell
Yukinari...Cal Macaninch
Empress...Laura Rees
Emperor...Paul Ready
Uzume...Jessica Hardwick
Directed by Lu Kemp.
A BBC Scotland Production for Radio 4.
TUE 20:00 File on 4 (m000r3pg)
Undue Influence
In the age of social media and the selfie, the perfect look is everything.
That's what influencers tell their followers. Some are also happy to provide a 'how-to guide' to obtaining the perfect body. What they don't mention though, is that they are cashing in, being paid by clinics to promote procedures, some of which are risky and dangerous.
It’s a story that begins on social media. Young women posting online about their experiences of plastic surgery. The online videos, posted to their followers, show their surgeon smile and wave for the camera.
But a big part of their stories is missing. They’re not normal patients. Because these influencers have access to a market of thousands of other young women, they get their surgery for free in exchange for the promotions. Offline the situation is less than picture perfect. File on 4 hears from the women whose lives were changed by the pursuit of the perfect body.
Producer: Kate West
Reporter: Joice Etutu
Editor: Gail Champion
TUE 20:40 In Touch (m000r3pj)
News, views and information for people who are blind or partially sighted
TUE 21:00 Inside Health (m000r3pl)
A weekly quest to demystify health issues, bringing clarity to conflicting advice.
TUE 21:30 The Life Scientific (m000r3n0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (m000r3pn)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
TUE 22:45 The Snow And The Works On The Northern Line by Ruth Thomas (m000r3nd)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 today]
TUE 23:00 Fortunately... with Fi and Jane (m000r88q)
Fi and Jane are back with their first show of 2021. They’re joined by Fiona Bruce; journalist, newsreader and presenter of Question Time and Antiques Roadshow. They talk news desk rivalries. roadshow etiquette and Evan Davis in a hairnet.
Plus more listener emails, and Jane puts her new mantra to the test.
Get in touch: fortunately.podcast@bbc.co.uk
TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (m000r3pq)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament
WEDNESDAY 13 JANUARY 2021
WED 00:00 Midnight News (m000r3ps)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
WED 00:30 If Then by Jill Lepore (m000r3pv)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000r3px)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000r3pz)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000r3q1)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
WED 05:30 News Briefing (m000r3q3)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000r3q5)
A reflection and prayer to start the day with The Rt Revd Dr David Bruce, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland
WED 05:45 Farming Today (m000r3q7)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
WED 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03mzv4q)
Glossy Ibis
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
David Attenborough presents the story of the Glossy Ibis. If, from a distance, you see what appears to be a stout-looking curlew with bronze-coloured highlights, it's probably a glossy ibis. Glossy ibis have always been rare visitors to the UK but in recent years, they've flown here much more regularly.
WED 06:00 Today (m000r4t5)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
WED 09:00 More or Less (m000r4t9)
Tim Harford explains - and sometimes debunks - the numbers and statistics used in political debate, the news and everyday life.
WED 09:30 Steelmanning (m000rdzr)
Episode 1
In a new series, Timandra Harkness tries to test her views by steelplating the arguments of her opponents on a range of controversial topics. Each week, she will debate a subject with a different sparring partner, who will receive coaching to fortify their case. In this first episode, Timandra talks to Lord Falconer, who has long campaigned to legalise assisted dying. Other contributors include the academic and writer Dr Kevin Yuill and former Supreme Court judge Lord Sumption.
Producer: Peter Snowdon
WED 09:45 If Then by Jill Lepore (m000r4tf)
Episode 3
Jill Lepore uncovers the history of Simulmatics, the forgotten US data company that paved the way for Facebook, Amazon and Cambridge Analytica.
With JFK installed in the White House, Simulmatics are pitching hard for contracts from government and big business.
Jill Lepore is Professor of American History at Harvard University. A staff writer at The New Yorker and host of podcast The Last Archive, she is an award-winning writer of books on diverse topics, from American democracy to Wonder Woman.
Abridged by Eileen Horne
Read by Laurel Lefkow
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000r4th)
The programme that offers a female perspective on the world
WED 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b08hnr6d)
Going Straight by Melissa Murray
Episode 3
by Melissa Murray
Emma tells Kirsty that she has been having an affair - with disastrous consequences.
Directed by Marc Beeby.
WED 11:00 How The Irish Shaped Britain (m000r370)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 on Monday]
WED 11:30 Rob Newman (b08mb1g6)
Rob Newman's Neuropolis
Love on the Brain
One of Britain's finest comedians, Rob Newman, is our guide on a unique audio odyssey of the brain, taking in everything from love and guilt to robot co-workers and the unlikely importance of prehistoric trousers.
It's a witty, fact-packed series mixing stand-up and sketches, challenging notions of neuroscience with a new theory that's equal parts enlightening and hilarious.
Rob offers an alternative to some of the more bizarre claims in modern popular science, as well as rejigging theories of our brains in light of what we know about nature, artificial intelligence and Belinda Carlisle.
Created by the award-winning team behind Robert Newman's Entirely Accurate Encyclopaedia of Evolution.
Written by and starring Rob Newman
Co-starring Claire Price and Richard McCabe
Producer: Jon Harvey
Executive Producer: Richard Wilson
A Hat Trick production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 12:00 News Summary (m000r4tk)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 12:04 The Snow And The Works On The Northern Line by Ruth Thomas (m000r4tr)
Episode 3
Twenty-six year-old Sybil is happy enough with her job cataloguing fossils and archaeological finds in an institute of prehistoric studies, and contentedly in love with her boyfriend Simon, whose artisanal spelt pasta makes up for his inexplicable love of camping and the outdoors. But her world is turned upside down when she has an accident and an unwelcome encounter with her glamorous, assertive former university tutor at Streatham Ice Rink. Things become much worse when she learns that Helen is now Chair of the Trustees at the Institute; before long Sybil can’t ignore the growing evidence of just how far Helen is prepared to go to fulfil her career ambitions. As Sybil tries to find solace for her broken heart, revenge becomes the main thing on her mind.
3/10:
Sybil hopes for consolation from poetry, but her confidence takes a blow when she realises Helen has betrayed her twice over.
The Snow and the Works on the Northern Line is Ruth Thomas’s third novel. She’s published three short story collections and her prizes include the John Llewellyn Rhys Award, the Saltire First Book Award and the VS Pritchett Prize.
Ell Potter is an actor, writer, comedian and and award-winning narrator who was named an Audible ‘breakout star’ whilst still at Drama School. She co-created the hit stage shows ‘Hotter’ and ‘Fitter’, and this year co-wrote and starred in the podcast drama ‘Lem N Ginge’.
Reader: Ell Potter
Abridged and produced by Sara Davies
WED 12:18 You and Yours (m000r4ty)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
WED 12:57 Weather (m000r4v2)
The latest weather forecast
WED 13:00 World at One (m000r4v6)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Sarah Montague.
WED 13:45 39 Ways to Save the Planet (m000r4vb)
Siberian Rewilding
Trees are often thought to be the good guys when it comes to climate change. In Siberia, however, it's not always the case. The landscape was changed when humans arrived and the forest that took over from grasslands is causing problems. In Pleistocene Park, Russian scientists are carrying out a radical rewilding - removing trees and reintroducing species of grazing animals to help protect the permafrost - the deep frozen ground - from thawing and releasing methane into the atmosphere. Tom Heap and Dr Tamsin Edwards consider how this ambitious idea could help in the fight against climate change.
Producer : Anne-Marie Bullock
Series made in partnership with the Royal Geographical Society
WED 14:00 The Archers (m000r3pb)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 The Republicans (m00099q8)
Ronald Reagan: Hanging By Our Thumbs
Entertaining new dramas following the political swings of the Republican Party, through the personal stories of its Presidents.
Closely based on the accounts of those who were there, we imagine the triumphs and disasters which have driven the party's electoral fortunes.
1987. Hold on tight for a knockabout journey through the crazy stories of the notorious Iran-Contra affair.
Ronald Reagan’s landslide second term is on the ropes. Congress is investigating evidence that the US has illegally been selling arms to Iran, and secretly diverting the proceeds to fund Contra guerrilla fighters in Nicaragua – all with the President’s knowledge.
But when NATO Ambassador David Abshire is recalled to try to get the facts straight, he discovers it all depends on what you believe…..
Written by Jonathan Myerson
Produced and directed by Jonquil Panting.
Ronald Reagan . . . . . Kerry Shale
Staffer . . . . . Rupert Simonian
Bud McFarlane . . . . . Mark Heenehan
Fawn Hall . . . . . Janine Harouni
Oliver North . . . . . Paul Hickey
Admiral Poindexter . . . . . Peter Polycarpou
Nancy Reagan . . . . . Madeleine Potter
Abshire . . . . . Chris Pavlo
Don Regan . . . . . David Hounslow
Shultz . . . . . Sean Baker
Ed . . . . . Jonny Holden
WED 15:00 Money Box (m000r4vh)
Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin values again capture the headlines, some central banks are developing their own digital currencies and PayPal and Facebook are entering the market.
Digital currencies are evolving rapidly but what do you need to know before you consider buying, storing or selling cryptocurrencies?
On Wednesday’s Money Box Live, Louise Cooper and guests discuss the development and the risks of digital currencies and we'd love to hear your stories too. e-mail moneybox@bbc.co.uk now with your questions and experiences.
On the panel:
Marcus Hughes, Coinbase UK and Europe General Manager
Olinga Taeed, Visiting Professor in Blockchain, Birmingham City Business School
Presenter: Louise Cooper
Producer: Diane Richardson
Editor: Emma Rippon
WED 15:30 Inside Health (m000r3pl)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Tuesday]
WED 16:00 Tales from the Stave (m000k6ph)
Mozart's Haffner Symphony
In a programme recorded before Covid 19 caused the closure of libraries and museums across the world, Clemency Burton Hill is joined by conductor David Robertson and scholar Richard Kramer at The Morgan Library in New York to explore the manuscript of Mozart's Symphony No.35 The Haffner.
Written at the behest of his father for an old friend it was completed at breakneck speed. So fast, in fact, that when Mozart asked his father to send the music back to him a few months later for a concert he was putting on in Vienna, he scarcely remembered it.
The manuscript is one of the treasures of The Morgan collection, demonstrating, as it does the work of a man at the height of his powers and able to deliver musical thoughts directly onto paper with rare moments of indecision or lapses in concentration.
However the manuscript has a story beyond the compositional process. It comes complete with a lavish case specially made for it when it was presented to King Ludwig of Bavaria. As well as exploring the brilliance of the musical creation, Clemency's guests, including the Morgan's then music curator Fran Barulich, tell the story of its journey from being one of the many manuscripts left to Mozart's wife Constanza on his untimely death, to its appearance on the market in the United States two hundred years later.
Producer: Tom Alban
WED 16:30 The Media Show (m000r4vm)
Topical programme about the fast-changing media world
WED 17:00 PM (m000r4vr)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000r4vw)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 18:30 Conversations from a Long Marriage (m000r4w0)
Series 2
Heartbreak Hotel
Conversations from a Long Marriage is a two-hander, starring Joanna Lumley and Roger Allam, as a long-married couple who met in the Summer of Love and are still passionate about life, music and each other. We listen to – and empathise with - their dangling ‘conversations’ covering everything from health scares, jealousy and confessions, to TV incompatibility and sourdough bread.
In Episode three, Roger is best man at their friend’s second marriage, in a country hotel, and Joanna makes excessive demands of room service.
Written by Jan Etherington. Produced and directed by Claire Jones. Production co-ordinator Beverly Tagg. A BBC Studios Production.
Series 1 received excellent reviews including:
‘Sublimely funny, touching series. Joanna Lumley and Roger Allam have had illustrious acting careers but can they ever have done anything better than Jan Etherington’s two hander? This is a work of supreme craftsmanship.’ Simon O’Hagan. RADIO TIMES
Conversations…. Is the delicious fruit of Jan Etherington’s experience of writing lots of TV and radio comedy (previously with husband Gavin Petrie), blessed by being acted by Joanna Lumley and Roger Allam. They are lifelike and likeable. Comedies about likeable people are not common. Treasure this one, produced by Claire Jones.’ Gillian Reynolds. SUNDAY TIMES
WED 19:00 The Archers (m000r4vx)
Neil can’t stop fretting, and Jazzer has a challenge over breakfast.
WED 19:15 Front Row (m000r4w4)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
WED 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b04jlnts)
The Pillow Book
Episode 3
Lady Shonagon and Lieutenant Yukinari return!
The feral girl is sheltered and housed within the Palace walls, given Lady Shonagon as her tutor, and allowed to frequent the company of the Emperor and Empress. The Emperor insists that the girl has something to teach them, and that he for one intends to listen.
Meanwhile, there is trouble abroad beyond the palace walls – forest fires, earthquakes and wolves coming out of the hills and down into the towns. The people of the palace are beginning to wonder whether the girl wields an uncanny power over it all.
Inspired by the writings of Sei Shonagon, a poet and lady-in-waiting to the Empress of the 10th Century Japanese court.
Written by Robert Forrest.
Shonagon...Ruth Gemmell
Yukinari...Cal Macaninch
Empress...Laura Rees
Emperor...Paul Ready
Uzume...Jessica Hardwick
Directed by Lu Kemp.
A BBC Scotland Production for Radio 4.
WED 20:00 The Spark (m000r4w8)
Paul Vallely and Philanthropy
Helen Lewis returns with a new series of interviews with people offering radical solutions to the big problems we face, and explores how their personal experiences drive their work and thinking.
In his book Philanthropy from Aristotle to Zuckerberg, journalist Paul Vallely draws on centuries of history, as well as his own experience as a reporter on the Ethiopian famine in the 1980s and later working with Bob Geldof, to argue for a radical rethink of philanthropy.
Today's super-donors, Vallely says, are often focused on data-driven 'effective altruism'. Helen asks him why he calls for them to combine that with a rediscovery of philanthropy's traditions of reciprocity and mutual respect.
Producer: Phil Tinline
WED 20:45 The Wood Pushers (b04h8792)
A close encounter with the street chess players of Greenwich Village in New York, who play for money on the stone tables in Washington Square park.
For these players, chess is like life - a game of survival, of war, of tricks and traps - with many paying their bills and living costs from the money they win at the tables.
These are highly skilled chess players who take on the general public for money. Some are homeless - and a world away from the official tournament scene and stuffy formalism usually associated with the game. Chess is returned to its roots as a street-level pastime - fast, aggressive, winner takes all.
Watching some of them play, it's somewhere between street magic, confidence trick and the most serious tournament - snappy patter disguises the sharpest moves in quick time. These players don't lose often. The nearby Village chess shop is a hub where players can take a break on long winter afternoons, or after the parks are cleared at night. It's been a fixture of the Village for many years.
This programme – filled with the sounds of Washington Square and its nearby chess rooms - features a mix of characters who've been playing there for many years, and for whom chess is a spiritual anchor as well as an economic lifeline.
Producer: Simon Hollis
A Brook Lapping production for BBC Radio 4
WED 21:00 The Senses (m000r69z)
Synaesthesia: when senses merge
Neurologist. Dr Guy Leschziner, explores the extraordinary sensory experiences of individuals with synaesthesia - a mash-up of senses where one sense automatically triggers another. Some synaesthetes hear colours, others feel sound.
We meet James who perceives the world differently from most people, due to his brain’s unusual wiring. Whenever he hears a word he immediately gets a taste and texture in his mouth. As a child, he’d go by train to school with his mum, reading out loud the stations they passed through. His favourite was Tottenham Court Road because the word sounds taste of sausage, crispy fried egg and toast.
Whilst James tastes words, 23 year-old synaesthete Valeria sees colours and feels textures when she hears music. She assumes everyone has that sensory experience until, at aged 14, she sees her dad’s astonished reaction! For Valeria, some music is so utterly exquisite it causes her intense, physical pain.
Such variations in perception can also affect our internal world as Sheri, a painter from Canada, illustrates. After a stroke in her twenties she can no longer picture images in her mind. The condition, aphantasia (meaning ‘without a mind’s eye’) is so devastating Sheri calls it “internal blindness”.
Our understanding of reality comes from how we perceive the world around us. But as we discover in this programme and throughout this series, each of us experiences a unique reality constructed by our brain and our sensory system. Leading us to question what is real and what is an illusion.
Presenter: Dr Guy Leschziner
Producer: Sally Abrahams
WED 21:30 The Media Show (m000r4vm)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 today]
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (m000r4wf)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
WED 22:45 The Snow And The Works On The Northern Line by Ruth Thomas (m000r4tr)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 today]
WED 23:00 Bunk Bed (m000r4wk)
Series 7
Episode Two
Recorded in beds and in the dark, Peter Curran and Patrick Marber drift off from the emotional hurly-burly of the day with thoughts that float into the night without reason. Now in its 8th series, Bunk Bed is the critically-acclaimed place for confessional laughs and poignant thoughts.
Tonight, Peter and Patrick discuss the weird and not very good early work of David Bowie and his amazing run that followed the mediocrity.
A Foghorn Company production for BBC Radio 4
WED 23:15 The Skewer (m000r4wp)
Series 3
Episode 1
Jon Holmes's multi-award winning, 'dizzying, dazzling, haunting and moving' satirical river of sound returns to twist itself into these turbulent times.
With contributions from brand new and diverse audio talent, The Skewer is the sound the abyss makes as it stares back at you through your ears.
'A kind of concept album made of music news. There's simply nothing else like it.'
AWARDS
New York Festival 2020
Audio Production Awards 2020
British Podcast Awards 2020
Audio Production Awards 2019
(Sound Design) Audio Production Awards 2020
Nominations (winners yet to be announced)
BBC Audio and Drama Awards 2020
BBC Radio and Music Awards 2020
An Unusual production for BBC Radio 4
WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (m000r4ww)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament
THURSDAY 14 JANUARY 2021
THU 00:00 Midnight News (m000r4x0)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
THU 00:30 If Then by Jill Lepore (m000r4tf)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000r4x4)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000r4x8)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000r4xd)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
THU 05:30 News Briefing (m000r4xj)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000r4xn)
A reflection and prayer to start the day with The Rt Revd Dr David Bruce, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland
THU 05:45 Farming Today (m000r4xs)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
THU 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b08yqdzd)
Paul Brook on the Redwing
Paul Brook recalls that at the age of eight the redwing ignited his love of birds and birdwatching for Tweet of the Day.
Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world.
Producer Maggie Ayre.
THU 06:00 Today (m000r4tn)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
THU 09:00 In Our Time (m000r4tq)
The Great Gatsby
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss F Scott Fitzgerald’s finest novel, published in 1925, one of the great American novels of the twentieth century. It is told by Nick Carraway, neighbour and friend of the mysteriously wealthy Jay Gatsby. In the age of jazz and prohibition, Gatsby hosts lavish parties at his opulent home across the bay from Daisy Buchanan, in the hope she’ll attend one of them and they can be reunited. They were lovers as teenagers but she had given him up for a richer man who she soon married, and Gatsby is obsessed with winning her back.
The image above is of Robert Redford as Gatsby in a scene from the film 'The Great Gatsby', 1974.
With
Sarah Churchwell
Professor of American Literature and Public Understanding of the Humanities at the University of London
Philip McGowan
Professor of American Literature at Queen’s University, Belfast
And
William Blazek
Associate Professor and Reader in American Literature at Liverpool Hope University
Produced by Simon Tillotson and Julia Johnson
THU 09:45 If Then by Jill Lepore (m000r4tt)
Episode 4
Jill Lepore uncovers the history of Simulmatics, the forgotten US data company that paved the way for Facebook, Amazon and Cambridge Analytica.
In 1966 Simulmatics goes to war – taking their particular brand of ‘people prediction’ to Vietnam.
Jill Lepore is Professor of American History at Harvard University. A staff writer at The New Yorker and host of podcast The Last Archive, she is an award-winning writer of books on diverse topics, from American democracy to Wonder Woman.
Abridged by Eileen Horne
Read by Laurel Lefkow
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000r4tx)
The programme that offers a female perspective on the world
THU 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b08hpwbb)
Going Straight by Melissa Murray
Episode 4
by Melissa Murray
Emma has been sacked by her best friend Kirsty and boyfriend Isaac makes a bid to save her job. But Kirsty is determined to do the right thing.
Directed by Marc Beeby.
THU 11:00 Crossing Continents (m000r4v1)
Shipwreck
The migrant shipwreck that rose again… In April, 2015 more than a thousand refugees and migrants drowned when the old fishing boat they were travelling on sank. It was the worst shipwreck in the Mediterranean since World War Two.
But the people who died are not forgotten. Not by their families and friends - and not by a professor of forensic pathology at the University of Milan.
“There’s a body that needs to be identified, you identify it. This is the first commandment of forensic medicine,” says Dr Cristina Cattaneo.
Crossing Continents tells the story of the raising of the fishing boat from the Mediterranean's seabed, and Dr Cattaneo's efforts to begin to identify the people who lost their lives on that moonless night on the edge of Europe.
Producer and presenter: Linda Pressly
Editor: Bridget Harney
THU 11:30 Art of Now (m000g3hz)
Good Vibrations
With an imminent book deadline, a tax return to complete and a hectic family life revolving around two young children, comedian and actor Isy Suttie is feeling stressed. Neither meditation nor massage has helped her relax, so she decides to explore sound therapy. Practitioners believe sound and music can be used to improve our physical and emotional health and wellbeing.
Isy meets Lyz Cooper, principal of the British Academy Of Sound Therapy and experiences treatments involving gongs and Himalayan singing bowls. She also attempts to chill out by listening to“the most relaxing piece of music in the world”. It’s a track called Weightless by Manchester band Marconi Union, one of whose members, Richard Talbot, explains why it’s so soothing.
Next Isy tries on some wearable tech that pumps vibrations directly into the body. It’s called vibroacoustic therapy and she likens it to “having a friendly, vibrating creature on my back.”
But the real mood-lifter is when she sits in as 85-year-old Gina, who has dementia, enjoys some music therapy. What might seem, on the face of it, to be a simple singalong to some old favourites has a remarkable effect on Gina - and on Isy too.
A TBI Media production for BBC Radio 4
THU 12:00 News Summary (m000r4v5)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 12:04 The Snow And The Works On The Northern Line by Ruth Thomas (m000r4v9)
Episode 4
Twenty-six year-old Sybil is happy enough with her job cataloguing fossils and archaeological finds in an institute of prehistoric studies, and contentedly in love with her boyfriend Simon, whose artisanal spelt pasta makes up for his inexplicable love of camping and the outdoors. But her world is turned upside down when she has an accident and an unwelcome encounter with her glamorous, assertive former university tutor at Streatham Ice Rink. Things become much worse when she learns that Helen is now Chair of the Trustees at the Institute; before long Sybil can’t ignore the growing evidence of just how far Helen is prepared to go to fulfil her career ambitions. As Sybil tries to find solace for her broken heart, revenge becomes the main thing on her mind.
4/10:
Late one night, Sybil finally finds something to inspire her homework for the poetry class.
The Snow and the Works on the Northern Line is Ruth Thomas’s third novel. She’s published three short story collections and her prizes include the John Llewellyn Rhys Award, the Saltire First Book Award and the VS Pritchett Prize.
Ell Potter is an actor, writer, comedian and and award-winning narrator who was named an Audible ‘breakout star’ whilst still at Drama School. She co-created the hit stage shows ‘Hotter’ and ‘Fitter’, and this year co-wrote and starred in the podcast drama ‘Lem N Ginge’.
Reader: Ell Potter
Abridged and produced by Sara Davies
THU 12:18 You and Yours (m000r4vf)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
THU 12:57 Weather (m000r4vj)
The latest weather forecast
THU 13:00 World at One (m000r4vn)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Sarah Montague.
THU 13:45 39 Ways to Save the Planet (m000r4vs)
The Legal Fight
Campaign and protest have been the traditional tools of environmental action in the UK. American lawyer, James Thornton, set up Client Earth to defend the planet in a different way- by using the courts. Using local laws to challenge governments and businesses they've had success across Europe and beyond, preventing the construction of coal-fired power stations and challenging the curse of air pollution. As well as enforcing environmental laws they're helping get new laws written.
Tom Heap meets James and discusses the carbon implications of his ideas with climate scientist, Dr Tamsin Edwards.
Producer: Anne-Marie Bullock
Series made in partnership with the Royal Geographical Society
THU 14:00 The Archers (m000r4vx)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 The Republicans (m0009jc4)
George W Bush: A Higher Father
Entertaining new dramas following the political swings of the Republican Party, through the personal stories of its Presidents.
Closely based on the accounts of those who were there, we imagine the triumphs and disasters which have driven the party's electoral fortunes.
2000. As George W Bush scrapes into the White House, his surprise journey to the Presidency doesn't just follow in his father's footsteps.
According to US Marine Gunnery Sergeant Louella Harkrader - a storyteller with her own peculiar angle - Dubya's political steps have been guided all along by a Higher Father, now exerting His influence on US politics.
Written by Jonathan Myerson
Produced and directed by Jonquil Panting.
George W Bush . . . . . Joseph Balderrama
Sgt. Louella Harkrader. . . . . Melody Grove
Barbara Bush . . . . . Amanda Boxer
Laura Bush . . . . . Debbie Korley
Lee Atwater . . . . . Demetri Goritsas
Dick Cheney . . . . . Kerry Shale
Karl Rove . . . . . Chris Pavlo
Jeb Bush . . . . . Jonny Holden
THU 15:00 Open Country (m000r4w1)
Snowdrop Country
Over the past decade there’s been an explosion in “Snowdrop Mania” – galanthophiles, or snowdrop fans, desperate to get their hands on the newest species of snowdrops, paying hundreds, or even upwards of a £1000 at auction for a single bulb.
Two years ago, Radio 4 producer Polly Weston heard of a man in Somerset who had discovered and named many of the most sought after varieties – Alan Street. Polly pictured following him around the countryside in search of the snowdrop which might make him his fortune. The truth turned out to be very different. Alan works for a family-owned nursery, where new varieties of snowdrop seed themselves around a little woodland – thanks in part to the huge number of species they already grow, working in collaboration with the family’s bees. Alan’s lost count of the number he’s discovered and named – “50, 70, 100 or more perhaps… I’ve more than enough.” Yet he still keeps looking. He isn’t interested in money – the auctioning of snowdrops to the highest bidder makes him uneasy – and has spawned the unfortunate side effect of snowdrop crime – people stealing snowdrops. As we record, 13,000 are dug up one night from an abbey in Norfolk. Alan is ever vigilant. Once upon a time, snowdrop bulbs were only ever swapped by galanthophiles, just for the love of it.
Through the seasons, Alan tends and protects this small landscape, and cultivates each of his newly discovered, and rare varieties. We begin to realise the meaning behind each one – many are named after people, many of whom Alan knew and have now gone. It takes years for new varieties to become established and ready to be shared. But as we follow the progress of Alan’s snowdrop landscape through 2020, we approach a snowdrop season which has never been so meaningful or welcome.
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (m000r30p)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 Open Book (m000r31g)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Sunday]
THU 16:00 The Film Programme (m000r4w5)
Film programme looking at the latest cinema releases, DVDs and films on TV
THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (m000r4w9)
Dr Adam Rutherford and guests illuminate the mysteries and challenge the controversies behind the science that's changing our world
THU 17:00 PM (m000r4wd)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000r4wj)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 18:30 Elephant in the Room (m000r4wn)
Series 2
Episode 2
Sarah Millican's hit panel show returns, using surveys to discover who is the most Average Jolene and who is the most Maverick Matilda. This week's sparkling panel features Jo Brand, Ruth Bragg, Sara Cox and Daliso Chaponda.
Surveys on subjects including childhood, daily rituals and favourite cheese are the basis for Sarah's questions to the panellists, discovering who is the closest to, and furthest from, the average. Surprising quirks, hilarious insights and unexpected anecdotes are revealed along the way.
The winner will be the most average. But joint winner will be the most different - the furthest from the norm.
A little bit like a dinner party, but one where you know all of the spoons.
Written by Sarah Millican, Gabby Hutchinson Crouch, Jess Fostekew, Juliet Meyers and Sian Harries.
Produced by Lianne Coop.
A Chopsy production for BBC Radio 4
THU 19:00 The Archers (m000r4ws)
Writers, Adrian Flynn and Katie Hims
Director, Gwenda Hughes
Editor, Jeremy Howe
Helen Archer ….. Louiza Patikas
Josh Archer ….. Angus Imrie
Brian Aldridge ….. Charles Collingwood
Harrison Burns ….. James Cartwright
Neil Carter ….. Brian Hewlett
Rex Fairbrother ….. Nick Barber
Toby Fairbrother ….. Rhys Bevan
Tracy Horrobin ….. Susie Riddell
Alistair Lloyd ….. Michael Lumsden
Jim Lloyd ….. John Rowe
Jazzer McCreary ….. Ryan Kelly
Kirsty Miller ….. Annabelle Dowler
Philip Moss ….. Andy Hockley
Fallon Rogers ….. Joanna Van Kampen
THU 19:15 Front Row (m000r4wx)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
THU 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b04jlyh2)
The Pillow Book
Episode 4
Lady Shonagon and Lieutenant Yukinari return to solve a new mystery in 10th Century Japan.
The Emperor is sickening, a disturbance of his mind has become a fever and the feral girl is appearing to him in dreams. The Empress attends to him, for once without her ladies. She is determined to return her husband to health herself, regardless of palace etiquette. And she will go to any lengths necessary to do so.
Inspired by the writings of Sei Shonagon, a poet and lady-in-waiting to the Empress of the 10th Century Japanese court.
Written by Robert Forrest.
Shonagon...Ruth Gemmell
Yukinari...Cal Macaninch
Empress...Laura Rees
Emperor...Paul Ready
Uzume...Jessica Hardwick
Directed by Lu Kemp.
A BBC Scotland Production for Radio 4.
THU 20:00 The Briefing Room (m000r4x1)
David Aaronovitch and a panel of experts and insiders explore major news stories.
THU 20:30 The Untold (m000bvwf)
Help for the Helpline
In Autumn last year AMIS, an organisation and helpline for Abused Men in Scotland based in Edinburgh, faced the prospect of closure. In spite of being busier than it had ever been in almost a decade of operation, a crucial element of their funding had been cut. It left them unable to pay for the office, phones and staff required to keep even the most basic Helpline service available.
In the run up to Christmas Producer Joel Cox follows Iris, Alison and Elizabeth as they face the crisis while knowing that the service they provide is vital and not being covered by any other organisation in Scotland. Will crowd funding, grant applications and a raffle be enough to keep the lines open, and what does it mean to the women who strive to keep this unfashionable branch of victim abuse support running.
Producers: Joel Cox and Tom Alban
THU 21:00 BBC Inside Science (m000r4w9)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 today]
THU 21:30 In Our Time (m000r4tq)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (m000r4x7)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
THU 22:45 The Snow And The Works On The Northern Line by Ruth Thomas (m000r4v9)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 today]
THU 23:00 Fred at The Stand (m000r4xc)
Series 3
Jo Caulfield, Al Murray, Louise Young and Kevin Bridges
Fred MacAulay introduces some of the funniest comedians in the UK doing what they do best – pure stand-up comedy. And since we can’t all get together in The Stand Comedy Club this year, everyone is gathering virtually for a live recording like never before.
Featuring everyone’s favourite pub landlord Al Murray, razor sharp jokes from Geordie up-and-comer Louise Young, and fresh from stealing the show at the Royal Variety Performance, the deliciously cutting Jo Caulfield.
And just in case that wasn’t enough, Fred also chats exclusively with the most successful comedian of a generation, Kevin Bridges.
A Dabster production for BBC Radio 4
THU 23:30 Today in Parliament (m000r4xh)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament
FRIDAY 15 JANUARY 2021
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (m000r4xm)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 00:30 If Then by Jill Lepore (m000r4tt)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Thursday]
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000r4xr)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000r4xv)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000r4xx)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
FRI 05:30 News Briefing (m000r4xz)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000r4y1)
A reflection and prayer to start the day with The Rt Revd Dr David Bruce, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (m000r4y3)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
FRI 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b038qj9c)
Red Grouse
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Brett Westwood presents the Red Grouse. These birds like to eat the shoots of young heather and nest in the shelter of older clumps. For many years Red Grouse were thought to be the only species of bird found in the British Isles and nowhere else, but scientists now believe the Red Grouse is a relative, a subspecies of the Willow Grouse, which is a widespread bird of northern Europe.
FRI 06:00 Today (m000r5nb)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (m000r314)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:00 on Sunday]
FRI 09:45 If Then by Jill Lepore (m000r5nd)
Episode 5
Jill Lepore uncovers the history of Simulmatics, the forgotten US data company that paved the way for Facebook, Amazon and Cambridge Analytica.
After a disastrous campaign in Saigon, the writing is on the wall for Simulmatics. But the theories and practices that the company were built on will transform commerce, politics and communication.
Jill Lepore is Professor of American History at Harvard University. A staff writer at The New Yorker and host of podcast The Last Archive, she is an award-winning writer of books on diverse topics, from American democracy to Wonder Woman.
Abridged by Eileen Horne
Read by Laurel Lefkow
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000r5ng)
The programme that offers a female perspective on the world
FRI 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b08hqf5r)
Going Straight by Melissa Murray
Episode 5
by Melissa Murray
With Kirsty's business in ruins, her new boyfriend Isaac uncontactable, and her former lover, Mary, working in Croatia, Emma needs allies to get her life back on track.
Directed by Marc Beeby.
FRI 11:00 Three Pounds in My Pocket (m000r5nj)
Series 4
Episode 2
Kavita Puri follows the stories of the 'three pound generation' into the 1990s
FRI 11:30 Skeletons in the Cupboard (m000r5nl)
A Midsummer Night's Scream
Life is sweet in rural France for sisters Maureen and Lesley. After escaping the clutches of creepy David they have set up home in Tarn where Lesley has found love with local handyman, Pierre.
But their happiness is curtailed by guilt until, eventually, the stress becomes too much to bear. Maureen insists that they return to England to deal with their mother's empty house and dispose of David's body.
A Little Brother production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 12:00 News Summary (m000r5nn)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 12:04 The Snow And The Works On The Northern Line by Ruth Thomas (m000r5nq)
Episode 5
Twenty-six year-old Sybil is happy enough with her job cataloguing fossils and archaeological finds in an institute of prehistoric studies, and contentedly in love with her boyfriend Simon, whose artisanal spelt pasta makes up for his inexplicable love of camping and the outdoors. But her world is turned upside down when she has an accident and an unwelcome encounter with her glamorous, assertive former university tutor at Streatham Ice Rink. Things become much worse when she learns that Helen is now Chair of the Trustees at the Institute; before long Sybil can’t ignore the growing evidence of just how far Helen is prepared to go to fulfil her career ambitions. As Sybil tries to find solace for her broken heart, revenge becomes the main thing on her mind.
5/10:
As Sybil nurses her broken heart, she is no nearer meeting her looming deadline at work.
The Snow and the Works on the Northern Line is Ruth Thomas’s third novel. She’s published three short story collections and her prizes include the John Llewellyn Rhys Award, the Saltire First Book Award and the VS Pritchett Prize.
Ell Potter is an actor, writer, comedian and and award-winning narrator who was named an Audible ‘breakout star’ whilst still at Drama School. She co-created the hit stage shows ‘Hotter’ and ‘Fitter’, and this year co-wrote and starred in the podcast drama ‘Lem N Ginge’.
Reader: Ell Potter
Abridged and produced by Sara Davies
FRI 12:18 You and Yours (m000r5ns)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
FRI 12:57 Weather (m000r5nv)
The latest weather forecast
FRI 13:00 World at One (m000r5nx)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Sarah Montague.
FRI 13:45 39 Ways to Save the Planet (m000r5nz)
Phenomenal Photosynthesis
Some food crops convert just one percent of the sun's energy into edible food. If we can improve the process of photosynthesis we can grow more food on less land. Tom Heap visits a Yorkshire greenhouse to meet the team from Glaia with a cunning idea to do just that. Back in the studio, Dr Tamsin Edwards, climate scientist and fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, considers the potential impact on our global carbon emissions.
Producer: Alasdair Cross
Series made in partnership with the Royal Geographical Society
FRI 14:00 The Archers (m000r4ws)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 The Republicans (m0009qn6)
Donald Trump: This Isn’t Happening
Entertaining new dramas following the political swings of the Republican Party, through the personal stories of its Presidents.
Closely based on the accounts of those who were there, we imagine the triumphs and disasters which have driven the party's electoral fortunes.
2016. At a campaign rally, Donald Trump declares: “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters.”
But when President Trump loses his temper on his Scottish golf course one day, things work out very differently....
Donald Trump ..... Lewis MacLeod
Young Donald ..... Josh Berry
Ivanka Trump ..... Christy Meyer
Abraham Lincoln ..... William Hope
Richard Nixon ..... Ian Conningham
Roy Cohn ..... Corey Johnson
Fred Trump ..... Neil McCaul
Melania Trump ..... Jessica Turner
TV Producer ..... Clive Hayward
Till Girl ..... Sinead MacInnes
Written by Jonathan Myerson
Produced and directed by Jonquil Panting
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m000r5p1)
GQT at Home: Episode Thirty-Nine
Kathy Clugston hosts the horticultural programme featuring a group of gardening experts. Anne Swithinbank, Bob Flowerdew and James Wong answer questions sent in by green-fingered listeners.
Producer - Hannah Newton
Assistant Producer - Rosie Merotra
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 15:45 Short Works (m000r5p3)
Covert
An original short work for BBC Radio 4 by the Irish author Louise Nealon. Read by Julia Dearden.
Louise Nealon studied English literature in Trinity College Dublin, and then completed a masters in creative writing at Queen's University Belfast in 2016. She is the winner of the Seán Ó Faoláin International Short Story Competition 2017 and her debut novel 'Sowflake' will be published in May 2021. She lives on her family farm in County Kildare, where she divides her time between reading, writing and milking cows.
Reader ..... Julia Dearden
Writer ..... Louise Nealon
Producer ..... Michael Shannon
A BBC Northern Ireland production.
FRI 16:00 Last Word (m000r5p5)
Matthew Bannister tells the life stories of people who have recently died, from the rich and famous to unsung but significant.
FRI 16:30 More or Less (m000r4t9)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 on Wednesday]
FRI 17:00 PM (m000r5p7)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000r5pb)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 18:30 The News Quiz (m000r5pf)
Series 104
Episode 3
This week Andy's guests are Nish Kumar, Felicity Ward, Lucy Porter and Gavin Webster.
Producer: Richard Morris
A BBC Studios Production
FRI 19:00 Front Row (m000r5ph)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
FRI 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b04jm9n1)
The Pillow Book
Episode 5
Lady Shonagon and Lieutenant Yukinari return to solve a new mystery in 10th Century Japan.
Trouble abroad. Wolves in the town, forest fires, storms and earthquakes. The Emperor is sick, and his fever grows worse. A feral girl, sometimes woman sometimes wolf, roams the palace. But the Empress has taken matters into her own hands, and like a Kambai warrior will restore the Palace and her Emperor to health.
Inspired by the writings of Sei Shonagon, a poet and lady-in-waiting to the Empress of the 10th Century Japanese court.
Written by Robert Forrest.
Shonagon...Ruth Gemmell
Yukinari...Cal Macaninch
Empress...Laura Rees
Emperor...Paul Ready
Uzume...Jessica Hardwick
Directed by Lu Kemp.
A BBC Scotland Production for Radio 4.
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (m000r5pk)
Saleyha Ahsan, Jamie Njoku-Goodwin
Chris Mason presents political debate and discussion from Broadcasting House in London with a panel which includes the doctor and broadcaster Saleyha Ahsan and the Chief Executive of UK Music Jamie Njoku-Goodwin.
Producer: Camellia Sinclair
Studio direction: Maire Devine
FRI 20:50 A Point of View (m000r5pm)
Weekly reflections on topical issues from a range of contributors.
FRI 21:00 39 Ways to Save the Planet (m000r5pp)
The Big Ideas 6-10
From chilling more of our food in a smarter way to taking governments to the courts, Tom Heap views the fundamental problem of our age from a fresh perspective. Small things that make a big difference. Big things that make a small difference. We’re going to need every one of them.
In the second week of programmes he meet the experts behind a selection of fascinating carbon-cutting ideas; preventing food waste with smarter chilling, squeezing more from the sun with next-gen solar panels, taking Siberia back to the Pleistocene era, fighting for the planet in the courts and the plants that can step up on photosynthesis.
Dr Tamsin Edwards, with help from the experts at the Royal Geographical Society, runs her slide-rule over the ideas to help Tom assess which are the biggest ideas with the most potential to push back on climate change.
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by : Alasdair Cross and Anne-Marie Bullock
Series made in partnership with the Royal Geographical Society
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (m000r5pr)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
FRI 22:45 The Snow And The Works On The Northern Line by Ruth Thomas (m000r5nq)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 today]
FRI 23:00 Americast (m000r5pt)
Emily Maitlis and Jon Sopel follow the the US election.
FRI 23:30 Today in Parliament (m000r5pw)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament
LIST OF THIS WEEK'S PROGRAMMES
(Note: the times link back to the details; the pids link to the BBC page, including iPlayer)
15 Minute Drama
10:45 MON (b08hlk9v)
15 Minute Drama
19:45 MON (b04jjjx9)
15 Minute Drama
10:45 TUE (b08hnj2s)
15 Minute Drama
19:45 TUE (b04jk366)
15 Minute Drama
10:45 WED (b08hnr6d)
15 Minute Drama
19:45 WED (b04jlnts)
15 Minute Drama
10:45 THU (b08hpwbb)
15 Minute Drama
19:45 THU (b04jlyh2)
15 Minute Drama
10:45 FRI (b08hqf5r)
15 Minute Drama
19:45 FRI (b04jm9n1)
39 Ways to Save the Planet
13:45 MON (m000r368)
39 Ways to Save the Planet
13:45 TUE (m000r3nn)
39 Ways to Save the Planet
13:45 WED (m000r4vb)
39 Ways to Save the Planet
13:45 THU (m000r4vs)
39 Ways to Save the Planet
13:45 FRI (m000r5nz)
39 Ways to Save the Planet
21:00 FRI (m000r5pp)
A Point of View
08:48 SUN (m000qyxn)
A Point of View
20:50 FRI (m000r5pm)
Americast
23:00 FRI (m000r5pt)
Any Answers?
14:00 SAT (m000r33r)
Any Questions?
13:10 SAT (m000qyxk)
Any Questions?
20:00 FRI (m000r5pk)
Archive on 4
20:00 SAT (b06z5pts)
Art of Now
11:30 THU (m000g3hz)
BBC Inside Science
16:30 THU (m000r4w9)
BBC Inside Science
21:00 THU (m000r4w9)
Bells on Sunday
05:43 SUN (m000r32b)
Bells on Sunday
00:45 MON (m000r32b)
Beta Female
18:30 TUE (m000r3p7)
Beyond Brexit
17:00 SUN (m000qy4n)
Bowie Five Years On
20:00 SUN (m000r4cj)
Broadcasting House
09:00 SUN (m000r30y)
Bunk Bed
23:00 WED (m000r4wk)
Charisma: Pinning Down the Butterfly
11:45 SUN (b0680lxz)
Coming of Age: Letters to 2021
00:30 SAT (m000qyy3)
Conversations from a Long Marriage
18:30 WED (m000r4w0)
Counterpoint
23:00 SAT (m000qwth)
Counterpoint
15:00 MON (m000r36d)
Crossing Continents
20:30 MON (m000qxzv)
Crossing Continents
11:00 THU (m000r4v1)
Dante 2021
16:00 MON (m000r36h)
Desert Island Discs
11:00 SUN (m000r314)
Desert Island Discs
09:00 FRI (m000r314)
Disability: A New History
00:15 SUN (b01smkq3)
Disability: A New History
14:45 SUN (b01snjq4)
Drama
14:45 SAT (b00kgfch)
Drama
15:00 SUN (b0b90l1c)
Drama
14:00 MON (m000r36b)
Drama
14:15 TUE (m000r3nq)
Elephant in the Room
18:30 THU (m000r4wn)
Farming Today
06:30 SAT (m000r331)
Farming Today
05:45 MON (m000r32q)
Farming Today
05:45 TUE (m000r37n)
Farming Today
05:45 WED (m000r3q7)
Farming Today
05:45 THU (m000r4xs)
Farming Today
05:45 FRI (m000r4y3)
File on 4
20:00 TUE (m000r3pg)
Fortunately... with Fi and Jane
23:00 TUE (m000r88q)
Fred at The Stand
23:00 THU (m000r4xc)
From Our Own Correspondent
11:30 SAT (m000r33f)
Front Row
19:15 MON (m000r36y)
Front Row
19:15 TUE (m000r3pd)
Front Row
19:15 WED (m000r4w4)
Front Row
19:15 THU (m000r4wx)
Front Row
19:00 FRI (m000r5ph)
Gardeners' Question Time
14:00 SUN (m000qywt)
Gardeners' Question Time
15:00 FRI (m000r5p1)
Great Lives
16:30 TUE (m000r3nz)
Grounded with Louis Theroux
22:15 SAT (p08ybt8d)
How The Irish Shaped Britain
20:00 MON (m000r370)
How The Irish Shaped Britain
11:00 WED (m000r370)
How to Vaccinate the World
11:30 MON (m000r605)
I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue
12:04 SUN (m000qwvz)
If Then by Jill Lepore
09:45 MON (m000r35p)
If Then by Jill Lepore
00:30 TUE (m000r35p)
If Then by Jill Lepore
09:45 TUE (m000r3pv)
If Then by Jill Lepore
00:30 WED (m000r3pv)
If Then by Jill Lepore
09:45 WED (m000r4tf)
If Then by Jill Lepore
00:30 THU (m000r4tf)
If Then by Jill Lepore
09:45 THU (m000r4tt)
If Then by Jill Lepore
00:30 FRI (m000r4tt)
If Then by Jill Lepore
09:45 FRI (m000r5nd)
In Our Time
09:00 THU (m000r4tq)
In Our Time
21:30 THU (m000r4tq)
In Touch
20:40 TUE (m000r3pj)
Inside Health
21:00 TUE (m000r3pl)
Inside Health
15:30 WED (m000r3pl)
Last Word
16:00 FRI (m000r5p5)
Loose Ends
18:15 SAT (m000r348)
Loose Ends
23:00 MON (m000r348)
Midnight News
00:00 SAT (m000qyy1)
Midnight News
00:00 SUN (m000r34d)
Midnight News
00:00 MON (m000r328)
Midnight News
00:00 TUE (m000r378)
Midnight News
00:00 WED (m000r3ps)
Midnight News
00:00 THU (m000r4x0)
Midnight News
00:00 FRI (m000r4xm)
Money Box
12:04 SAT (m000r33k)
Money Box
15:00 WED (m000r4vh)
More or Less
09:00 WED (m000r4t9)
More or Less
16:30 FRI (m000r4t9)
My Teenage Diary
19:15 SAT (b0b88pl5)
News Briefing
05:30 SAT (m000qyyc)
News Briefing
05:30 SUN (m000r34n)
News Briefing
05:30 MON (m000r32l)
News Briefing
05:30 TUE (m000r37j)
News Briefing
05:30 WED (m000r3q3)
News Briefing
05:30 THU (m000r4xj)
News Briefing
05:30 FRI (m000r4xz)
News Summary
12:00 SAT (m000r3d2)
News Summary
12:00 SUN (m000r410)
News Summary
12:00 MON (m000r35x)
News Summary
12:00 TUE (m000r5g6)
News Summary
12:00 WED (m000r4tk)
News Summary
12:00 THU (m000r4v5)
News Summary
12:00 FRI (m000r5nn)
News and Papers
06:00 SAT (m000r32z)
News and Papers
07:00 SUN (m000r30k)
News and Papers
08:00 SUN (m000r30t)
News
13:00 SAT (m000r33p)
News
22:00 SAT (m000r34b)
News
06:00 SUN (m000r30c)
On Your Farm
06:35 SUN (m000r30f)
One to One
09:30 TUE (m000r3n2)
Open Book
16:00 SUN (m000r31g)
Open Book
15:30 THU (m000r31g)
Open Country
06:07 SAT (m000qy0c)
Open Country
15:00 THU (m000r4w1)
PM
17:00 SAT (m000r33y)
PM
17:00 MON (m000r36n)
PM
17:00 TUE (m000r3p1)
PM
17:00 WED (m000r4vr)
PM
17:00 THU (m000r4wd)
PM
17:00 FRI (m000r5p7)
Pick of the Week
18:15 SUN (m000r31v)
Pilgrim by Sebastian Baczkiewicz
21:00 SAT (b04vk72d)
Poetry Please
23:30 SAT (m000qxm6)
Poetry Please
16:30 SUN (m000r31j)
Political Thinking with Nick Robinson
17:30 SAT (m000r340)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 SAT (m000qyyf)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 MON (m000r32n)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 TUE (m000r37l)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 WED (m000r3q5)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 THU (m000r4xn)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 FRI (m000r4y1)
Profile
19:00 SAT (m000r31l)
Profile
05:45 SUN (m000r31l)
Profile
17:40 SUN (m000r31l)
Radio 4 Appeal
07:54 SUN (m000r30p)
Radio 4 Appeal
18:55 SUN (m000r30p)
Radio 4 Appeal
15:27 THU (m000r30p)
Rob Newman
11:30 WED (b08mb1g6)
Saturday Live
09:00 SAT (m000r339)
Sea of Faith
11:00 TUE (m00036kp)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 SAT (m000qyy7)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 SUN (m000r34j)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 MON (m000r32g)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 TUE (m000r37d)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 WED (m000r3pz)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 THU (m000r4x8)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 FRI (m000r4xv)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 SAT (m000qyy5)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 SAT (m000qyy9)
Shipping Forecast
17:54 SAT (m000r342)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 SUN (m000r34g)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 SUN (m000r34l)
Shipping Forecast
17:54 SUN (m000r31n)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 MON (m000r32d)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 MON (m000r32j)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 TUE (m000r37b)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 TUE (m000r37g)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 WED (m000r3px)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 WED (m000r3q1)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 THU (m000r4x4)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 THU (m000r4xd)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 FRI (m000r4xr)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 FRI (m000r4xx)
Short Works
00:30 SUN (m000qyww)
Short Works
15:45 FRI (m000r5p3)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 SAT (m000r346)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 SUN (m000r31s)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 MON (m000r36q)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 TUE (m000r3p5)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 WED (m000r4vw)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 THU (m000r4wj)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 FRI (m000r5pb)
Skeletons in the Cupboard
11:30 FRI (m000r5nl)
Something Understood
06:05 SUN (b03lkndb)
Something Understood
23:30 SUN (b03lkndb)
Sonnets for Albert
11:30 TUE (m000qx12)
Soul Music
10:30 SAT (m000r33c)
Soundstage
05:45 SAT (b07ctvfr)
Stand-Up Specials
19:15 SUN (m000r31x)
Start the Week
09:00 MON (m000r35m)
Start the Week
21:30 MON (m000r35m)
Steelmanning
09:30 WED (m000rdzr)
Stillicide
19:00 SUN (m0007pyd)
Sunday Worship
08:10 SUN (m000r30w)
Sunday
07:10 SUN (m000r30m)
Tales from the Stave
16:00 WED (m000k6ph)
The Archers Omnibus
10:00 SUN (m000r310)
The Archers
19:00 MON (m000r36w)
The Archers
14:00 TUE (m000r36w)
The Archers
19:00 TUE (m000r3pb)
The Archers
14:00 WED (m000r3pb)
The Archers
19:00 WED (m000r4vx)
The Archers
14:00 THU (m000r4vx)
The Archers
19:00 THU (m000r4ws)
The Archers
14:00 FRI (m000r4ws)
The Briefing Room
20:00 THU (m000r4x1)
The Curious Cases of Rutherford & Fry
15:30 TUE (m000r3nv)
The Film Programme
23:00 SUN (m000qy0f)
The Film Programme
16:00 THU (m000r4w5)
The Food Programme
12:32 SUN (m000r318)
The Food Programme
15:30 MON (m000r318)
The Infinite Monkey Cage
16:30 MON (m000r36l)
The Kitchen Cabinet
15:00 TUE (m000r3ns)
The Last Resort
19:45 SUN (m000r31z)
The Life Scientific
09:00 TUE (m000r3n0)
The Life Scientific
21:30 TUE (m000r3n0)
The Media Show
16:30 WED (m000r4vm)
The Media Show
21:30 WED (m000r4vm)
The News Quiz
12:30 SAT (m000qyx9)
The News Quiz
18:30 FRI (m000r5pf)
The Power of Three
21:00 MON (m000q26r)
The Power of...
11:00 MON (m000r35v)
The Republicans
14:15 WED (m00099q8)
The Republicans
14:15 THU (m0009jc4)
The Republicans
14:15 FRI (m0009qn6)
The Senses
21:00 WED (m000r69z)
The Skewer
23:15 WED (m000r4wp)
The Snow And The Works On The Northern Line by Ruth Thomas
12:04 MON (m000r35z)
The Snow And The Works On The Northern Line by Ruth Thomas
22:45 MON (m000r35z)
The Snow And The Works On The Northern Line by Ruth Thomas
12:04 TUE (m000r3nd)
The Snow And The Works On The Northern Line by Ruth Thomas
22:45 TUE (m000r3nd)
The Snow And The Works On The Northern Line by Ruth Thomas
12:04 WED (m000r4tr)
The Snow And The Works On The Northern Line by Ruth Thomas
22:45 WED (m000r4tr)
The Snow And The Works On The Northern Line by Ruth Thomas
12:04 THU (m000r4v9)
The Snow And The Works On The Northern Line by Ruth Thomas
22:45 THU (m000r4v9)
The Snow And The Works On The Northern Line by Ruth Thomas
12:04 FRI (m000r5nq)
The Snow And The Works On The Northern Line by Ruth Thomas
22:45 FRI (m000r5nq)
The Spark
20:00 WED (m000r4w8)
The Unbelievable Truth
18:30 MON (m000r36s)
The Untold
20:30 THU (m000bvwf)
The Week in Westminster
11:00 SAT (m000p0fq)
The Why Factor
21:45 SAT (b07jyw86)
The Why Factor
14:45 MON (b07jyrd4)
The Wood Pushers
20:45 WED (b04h8792)
The World This Weekend
13:00 SUN (m000r31d)
The World Tonight
22:00 MON (m000r373)
The World Tonight
22:00 TUE (m000r3pn)
The World Tonight
22:00 WED (m000r4wf)
The World Tonight
22:00 THU (m000r4x7)
The World Tonight
22:00 FRI (m000r5pr)
Three Pounds in My Pocket
11:00 FRI (m000r5nj)
Today in Parliament
23:30 MON (m000r376)
Today in Parliament
23:30 TUE (m000r3pq)
Today in Parliament
23:30 WED (m000r4ww)
Today in Parliament
23:30 THU (m000r4xh)
Today in Parliament
23:30 FRI (m000r5pw)
Today
07:00 SAT (m000r335)
Today
06:00 MON (m000r35k)
Today
06:00 TUE (m000r3mw)
Today
06:00 WED (m000r4t5)
Today
06:00 THU (m000r4tn)
Today
06:00 FRI (m000r5nb)
Transcendence: How Can I Feel Art Again?
13:30 SUN (m000qxzx)
Tweet of the Day
08:58 SUN (b04t0pjx)
Tweet of the Day
10:54 SUN (m000r312)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 MON (b03mzv59)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 TUE (b09rxr3r)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 WED (b03mzv4q)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 THU (b08yqdzd)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 FRI (b038qj9c)
Weather
06:57 SAT (m000r333)
Weather
12:57 SAT (m000r33m)
Weather
17:57 SAT (m000r344)
Weather
06:57 SUN (m000r30h)
Weather
07:57 SUN (m000r30r)
Weather
12:57 SUN (m000r31b)
Weather
17:57 SUN (m000r31q)
Weather
05:56 MON (m000r32s)
Weather
12:57 MON (m000r364)
Weather
12:57 TUE (m000r3nj)
Weather
12:57 WED (m000r4v2)
Weather
12:57 THU (m000r4vj)
Weather
12:57 FRI (m000r5nv)
Westminster Hour
22:00 SUN (m000r326)
What Is a Story?
19:45 SAT (b061r0yx)
Woman's Hour
16:15 SAT (m000r33w)
Woman's Hour
10:00 MON (m000r35s)
Woman's Hour
10:00 TUE (m000r3n6)
Woman's Hour
10:00 WED (m000r4th)
Woman's Hour
10:00 THU (m000r4tx)
Woman's Hour
10:00 FRI (m000r5ng)
Word of Mouth
00:15 MON (m000qy49)
Word of Mouth
16:00 TUE (m000r3nx)
World at One
13:00 MON (m000r366)
World at One
13:00 TUE (m000r3nl)
World at One
13:00 WED (m000r4v6)
World at One
13:00 THU (m000r4vn)
World at One
13:00 FRI (m000r5nx)
You and Yours
12:18 MON (m000r362)
You and Yours
12:18 TUE (m000r3ng)
You and Yours
12:18 WED (m000r4ty)
You and Yours
12:18 THU (m000r4vf)
You and Yours
12:18 FRI (m000r5ns)