In 2014, north eastern Syria might have been the last place you would expect to find a revolution centred on women's rights. But that year, an all-female militia faced off against ISIS in a little town few had ever heard of - Kobani.
By then, the Islamic State had swept across vast swathes of the country, taking town after town and spreading terror as the civil war burned all around it.
From that unlikely showdown in Kobani emerged a fighting force that would wage war against ISIS across northern Syria alongside the United States. In the process, these women would spread their own political vision, determined to make women's equality a reality by fighting - house by house, street by street, city by city - the men who bought and sold women.
Based on years of on-the-ground reporting, The Daughters of Kobani is the unforgettable story of the women of the Kurdish militia that improbably became part of the world's best hope for stopping ISIS in Syria. Drawing from hundreds of hours of interviews, author Gayle Tzemach Lemmon introduces us to the women fighting on the front lines, determined to not only extinguish the terror of ISIS but also prove that women could lead in war and must enjoy equal rights come the peace.
'An extraordinary account of brave, defiant women fighting for justice and equality' - Hillary Clinton
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg.
The eleventh of September is an unforgettable date. Those of us alive at the time remember vividly where we were when we heard the news of the appalling terror attack on the twin towers that Tuesday twenty years ago. The sorrow continues. My heart goes out to everyone who lost a child, partner, or parent; the gap does not fully close over time, as I know from losing my own mother young. The consequences remain with us too, as those struggling to escape Afghanistan understand only too well.
Today is also significant in the Jewish calendar: it’s Shabbat Shuvah, the Sabbath which precedes the Day of Atonement. Though often translated as ‘repentance’, teshuvah means ‘return’. It’s a spur to rethinking our life’s purpose, a challenge to reconsider what we’re doing here on earth.
At the prayers after my father died, one of my teachers from rabbinical school said to me very quietly, almost tenderly: This is about teshuvah. I was puzzled. Was he instructing me to repent? If so, he was probably right, but his timing could scarcely be called sensitive.
Then I realised: he was telling me that mourning would make me revisit the big questions: What is life? What’s it for?
The shock of 9/11 reverberates still. It tore the deep issues open: What does it mean to know we’re so vulnerable? How should we use our time on earth? What good can we do, what pain can we alleviate?
God, may our teshuvah, teach us use to work for understanding and loving kindness in the world.
Mum... again
Years ago, Angela's sons were taken into care and adopted, and in this powerful talk she describes her heartbreak as they gradually lost contact and she lost faith in the future. But as she explains, with support from some very unexpected places, Angela is now in a position to help other women and families going through similar experiences.
The latest news headlines. Including the weather and a look at the papers.
Clare is in Fife hiking with John Fletcher who, in 2009, was the first man in Scotland to donate a kidney to a stranger. In another pioneering first, he launched Britain's first commercial deer farm back in 1973.
Their route begins on John's farm in Auchtermuchty, surrounded by rare white stags. Walking brings John great joy and he - along with a fellow kidney donor, and a renal nurse – takes Clare on one of his favourite rambles.
See the 'related links' section at the bottom of the Ramblings webpage for a list of organisations, including the NHS blood and transplant website.
11/09/21 - Farming Today This Week: fisheries funding, livestock breeding, alternative fuels
The Government is announcing £24 million will be spent on research to improve the productivity and sustainability of the fishing industry. It's part of the £100 million UK Seafood Fund which was announced at the start of the year to support the fishing industry post Brexit. Caz Graham speaks to one of the scientists who will get part of the money about what the future of fishing holds - from more sustainable gear to robotic fish processing units.
After the cancellation of so many agricultural shows over the last 18 months, Caz Graham visits Westmorland County Show to talk about the latest trends in livestock breeding.
And as E10 petrol is introduced to filling stations across Great Britain, we hear why it could be good news for farmers but is not without its pitfalls.
Annie Nightingale joins Nikki Bedi and Suzy Klein to talk about her 50 years in broadcasting, including being the first female DJ on Radio 1 and how her love of new music has led to her being the station's longest-serving broadcaster. Annie also explains why she owes a debt to The Beatles.
Ranger Jonathan Ford explains how his love of birds took him to live in Papa Westray, one of the smallest islands in Orkney.
Chef Poppy O’Toole lost her job and was inspired by her siblings to make PoppyCooks TikTok videos. She swiftly got 1.8 million followers and will talk about her new career path.
Neil Oliver shares his Inheritance Tracks: La Mer by Charles Trenet and Martha by Tom Waits.
Adam Andrusier was once an obsessive collector of autographs and his drive to collect signatures inspired Zadie Smith to write a story based loosely on his life. Adam’s obsession eventually turned into a profession, with roots going back to his father’s collecting habits.
Hey Hi Hello: Five Decades of Pop Culture from Britain's broadcasting DJ pioneer Annie Nightingale is out now in paperback.
Poppy Cooks: The Food You Need by Poppy O'Toole is out on the 16th September.
The Story of the World in 100 Moments by Neil Oliver is published on the 16th of September.
You might have learned about Richard the Lionheart in school (or from Disney’s Robin Hood), but how much do you know about his opponent, the legendary Saladin?
Why does Saladin have such an enduring reputation as a good guy? Host Greg Jenner is joined by comedian Maria Shehata and historian Professor Jonathan Phillips. It’s history for people who don’t like history!
Insight, wit and analysis from BBC correspondents, journalists and writers from around the world
Thieves are going after the millions of pounds being handed over to people reaching the age of 18 from their Government-sponsored Child Trust Funds. Why are there not more effective, targeted fraud warnings?
The unemployment rate among young black people during the pandemic was more than three times higher than the rate for white people of the same age. This week the Government was grilled over what's been described as a 'shocking inequality'.
And mortgage interest rates hit record lows with more than 120 offers below 1% but only those with equity or savings already can get them.
Andy Zaltzman is joined by comedians Athena Kugblenu, Olga Koch, Mark Steel, and Scott Bennett to discuss the week's news, including the National Insurance tax hike, the new Texan abortion laws, the Taliban's all male cabinet, Gavin Williamson and Jeff Bezos's investment in a life-extension company.
Hosted and written by Andy Zaltzman with additional material by Alice Fraser, Simon Alcock, Tasha Dhanraj and Jo Coffey.
Chris Mason presents political debate and discussion from the University of York with the leader of the Liberal Democrats Sir Ed Davey MP, Conservative MP Andrea Jenkyns, Labour MP and Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury Bridget Phillipson, and journalist and author Peter Hitchens.
Could eating two squares of dark chocolate a day really help you reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease - and enhance blood flow to your brain? In this episode, Michael Mosley champions the wonders of chocolate. With the help of Professor Aedín Cassidy at Queen's University Belfast, he reveals the secret ingredients behind the benefits and why we should start to embrace the bitter taste of high cocoa chocolate.
Based on The Palliser novels by Anthony Trollope. Dramatised by Mike Harris.
A pacy, radical reworking of the Palliser novels about high life and low politics in Victorian England. Vivacious 19-year-old Lady Glencora Palliser is married to the older, conscientious politician Plantagenet Palliser. Life should be good, but she is in love with someone else - the wastrel Burgo Fitzgerald. Starring Jessica Raine as Lady Glencora Palliser.
Cora .... Jessica Raine
Plantagenet ..... Tim McMullan
Phineas Finn ..... Edward MacLiam
Burgo ..... Blake Ritson
Violet ..... Scarlett Courtney
Marie Goesler ..... Melody Grove
Kennedy/Slide ..... Neil McCaul
Bonce/Grimes ..... Greg Jones
Commons Speaker ..... Hamilton Berstock
We hear from the Screenwriter, director, producer and actor Michaela Coel about her first book ‘Misfits: A Personal Manifesto’. The book draws on topics covered in her MacTaggart lecture in which she spoke about dealing with trauma and the ways in which young creatives are exploited by the television industry.
Sarah Gilbert the scientist who led the team that developed the Oxford Vaccine tells us why she doesn’t think we all need booster covid jabs this winter and tells us about being named the 49th winner of the “Bold Woman” award which honours inspirational women with a track record of success.
The Pakistani author Rafia Zakaria discusses her new book, Against White Feminism. She explains why she sees the issue of race as the biggest obstacle to true solidarity among women.
We discuss Japan’s Womenomics. A concept designed to get more women working and in positions of power. Women in Japan are less likely to be hired as full-time employees and on average earn almost 44 percent less than men. We hear from Cynthia Usui who coaches unemployed housewives in Japan and helps place them within the hospitality industry and Kathy Matsui who coined the term Womenomics in 1999 while working at investment bank Goldman Sachs.
And the comedian Sophie Willan who won a BAFTA for best comedy writing, for the pilot episode of her BBC 2 comedy Alma’s Not Normal. She's now got a 6 part series starting on Monday night. Drawn from her own experiences, she plays the central character Alma who grew up in an out of the care system in Bolton.
Nick Robinson talks to DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson in a personal and political interview.
Hayley Mills, Bridget Christie, Helen Lewis, Kazvare, John Grant, Pokey LaFarge, JP Devlin, Sara Cox
Sara Cox and JP Devlin are joined by Hayley Mills, Bridget Christie, Helen Lewis and Kazvare for an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy. With music from John Grant and Pokey LaFarge.
An insight into the character of an influential person making the news headlines
Brian Cox and Robin Ince are joined by comedian and writer Sara Pascoe, biological anthropologist Alice Roberts and space archaeologist Sarah Parcak. They look at how archaeology today looks far more Star Wars than Indiana Jones, as an archaeologist's list of kit can now include satellites and lasers. They discover how searching for clues from space has led to the discovery of several ancient lost Egyptian cities and how the study of ancient DNA and artefacts reveals our similarities, not differences, with our ancient forebears.
In the week before the Nobel Prize-winner's birthday, Sean Latham, Director of the Institute for Bob Dylan Studies at the University of Tulsa editor of 'The World of Bob Dylan', continues his series exploring the life, work and influence of one of the most important and elusive artists of modern times.
The second programme focuses on Dylan's explosive rise to fame, then his combative relationship with his stardom. This leads to the 'cool' persona of the mid-sixties, with Dylan rejuvenating rock by transforming the joyfulness of the Fab Four into the anger and alienation that still grounds the genre. Latham considers the infamous decision to 'go electric' at the Newport Folk Festival. Drawing on archives and bootlegs he reveals how Dylan built 'Like A Rolling Stone' on the page and in the studio, looking at the song’s musical structure, its poetic ambiguities and, especially, the line "how does it feel?” In this refrain Dylan realises stardom is a straitjacket; he yearns for a new kind of freedom. In the Dylan Archive there are thousands of fan letters from 1966 - still unopened.
The building anger, irony, and rejection of the kind of political storytelling that propelled his earlier songs are illustrated by the apocalyptic 'Highway 61 Revisited', his furious rewriting of 'A Hard Rain' into the agonised 'It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)'. Excerpts from combative press interviews and his 1966 masterpiece, 'Visions of Johanna' reveal a shattered interior world. There's the chaos, booing, and amphetamine-driven fury of the 1966 tour with Dylan and his band locked in a battle with their audience - then rumours of Bob Dylan’s death following his motorcycle accident in the Catskill mountains.
In 2003 Stephen Evans, the BBC’s former North American correspondent and a survivor of the Twin Tower attack presented a documentary for BBC Radio 4 about radio ham operators who assisted with communication after the collapse of the Twin Towers. Whilst making this programme Stephen interviewed a ham radio operator called Herman Belderok. During the interview Belderok recounted the dramatic, emotional and detailed account of his escape from the 71st floor of Tower One, including the first plane hitting above him, the second plane hitting, then both towers falling.
Herman's experience of the 9/11 attacks shaped the man he is today and he now he wants to share what happened to him with his eldest daughter, Mary. Mary has never spoken to her dad about what he experienced during and after 9/11. For this Archive on Four, Herman has agreed to let us share his interview with Mary for the first time.
From the moment the first plane hit Herman, bolted to the emergency exit and started the long journey down from the 71st floor. On his journey down he had to use his survival instincts to guide himself out the building to safety.
Stephen interviewed several other ham radio operators for ‘Unsung Heroes’. As well as featuring Herman’s legacy since 9/11 we also re interview paramedic Scott Buell, who worked at Ground Zero and who lost his best friend when the towers collapsed and ham radio operator Mike Bartmon who worked with the Red Cross at Ground Zero.
A new long-running drama series from GF Newman, based on the characters from the multi-award winning writer's best-selling crime novel. Spanning six decades, it plots the course of one family against the backdrop of a revolution in crime as the underworld extends its influence to the very heart of the establishment, in an uncomfortable relationship of shared values.
Joey Oldman is a Russian Jew, who arrived in Britain before the war with only two words of English and married Cathy Braden. They had a son, Brian, and a daughter, Rose. Cathy's widowed mother, Gracie, takes up with a famous and glamorous gangster, Billy Hill, while her brother Jack wants to become World Light Heavyweight Boxing Champion. Both the army and the Kray twins interfere with this ambition. Jack is left feeling bitter and angry and plunges headlong into crime, running protection rackets and claiming a piece of other criminals' sometimes infamous pies. His actions become ever more savage and bizarre, and harder to reconcile.
Haunted by the murder of his grandfather which he witnessed when he was six, Brian Oldman holds a terrible secret that he must keep for fear of his life as he falls deeper under his mother's spell. But there is a more disturbing secret he has yet to discover - one that will threaten his very existence. All the while, he becomes a willing participant in the criminal underworld in the 1950s, where gangs such as the Krays and the Richardson are emerging to challenge the old guard in savage battles for territory.
The finale in Daisy Johnson's deliciously dark series of contemporary ghost stories, read by Sara Kestelman.
Today: gripped by rumours and myths about The Hotel, a group of students go to film whatever lurks within its walls.....
It was Barack Obama, borrowing a phrase from Martin Luther King, who talked often about an “arc of history” that could be “bent towards the hope of a better day”. And he illuminated what he meant when he described the United States being “on the right side of history”. Behind that rhetoric lies the idea that history is driven by values; that it is not just economic and military power that makes some nations winners in history’s game but what they believe in and stand for. After recent events in Afghanistan - 20 years after 9/11 - that arc may be bent out of shape. That’s the framework for this discussion chaired by Edward Stourton with contributions from: the historian Margaret Macmillan; Mark Malloch-Brown, formerly of the UN; Richard Haas, president of America’s Council of Foreign Relations; and David Richards, who commanded NATO forces in Afghanistan.
In the 1570s who was the most famous member of the Spanish Marines? Which campaigning organisation was founded by Peter Benenson? And who was the singer in the punk band the Modern Lovers? Russell Davies puts these questions, and many more, to the contenders in today's heat of the general knowledge tournament.
Today's winner will take another of the places in the semi-finals coming up in a month or so's time. The contenders today are:
There's also a chance for a Brain of Britain listener to win a prize by defeating the assembled Brains with quiz questions of his or her own.
Actor and writer Catherine Harvey explores the poetry and language of Northern Ireland, asking how the way people speak and write is connected to the place itself.
Catherine's journey begins in Belfast, where poet Ciaran Carson’s linguistic roots lie deep beneath the foundations of the city. For many years, he was director of the Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry at Queen’s University, with its longstanding connection to many of the province’s wonderful writers – including, of course, Seamus Heaney himself.
Among others, Catherine talks to poets Scott McKendry and Maria McManus, dialect expert Antoin Rodgers and literary academic Frank Ferguson. With readings by Victoria Gleason and Michael Hughes – from the Weaver Poets, who once worked in Ulster’s prosperous linen industry, to the poetry of the streets today and a Greek myth for modern times.
Other episodes in this fourth series look at dialect poetry in Wales and Scotland.
SUNDAY 12 SEPTEMBER 2021
SUN 00:00 Midnight News (m000zkn4)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 00:15 Green Originals (m000d8sk)
Sunderlal Bahuguna
In the early 1970s, village women in the foothills of the Indian Himalayas resisted deforestation by literally hugging the trees that loggers came to chop down. These original tree-huggers became known as the Chipko movement, from the Hindi word meaning “to embrace”.
At the heart of the movement was the Gandhi-inspired activist Sunderlal Bahuguna, who spread Chipko’s message of forest conservation by undertaking an almost 5,000km foot march across the Himalayas. In 1981, Bahuguna successfully persuaded India’s Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to ban the felling of all trees in the region above an altitude of 1,000 metres.
The Chipko movement inspired similar tree-hugging movements around the world, from Switzerland to the USA. In the 1990s, Bahuguna campaigned against the construction of India’s tallest dam in the state of Uttarakhand – this time without success.
The environmental activist Vandana Shiva, herself an early volunteer with the Chipko movement, assesses Bahuguna’s legacy. She considers what his campaign against Tehri Dam teaches about what happens when environmental activism fails.
“Bahuguna was a natural politician,” she says. “He pioneered the use of non-violent tactics – including marches, fasts and roadblocks – to draw attention to environmental issues.”
Producer: Dan Hardoon
Series Editor: David Prest
A Whistledown production in association with The Open University.
SUN 00:30 Short Works (m000zffn)
Every Second Saturday
A new story from prize-winning author Rachael Fulton, read by Andy Clark.
In this hard-hitting piece from the Scottish author and journalist, a man rails against the custody settlement which limits time with his son. Brought up short by a shocking crisis on the way to the football, he is forced to examine his past behaviour.
Rachael Fulton’s fiction has been published by the Bridport Prize and The Common Breath, and broadcast on Audible. She was shortlisted for the Sunday Times Short Story Award 2021, Highly Commended in the Bridport Prize 2020 and won Elle Magazine’s New Talent Award. She is currently working on a short story collection and her debut novel from her home in Scotland.
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie
SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000zkn6)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000zkn8)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.
SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000zknb)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SUN 05:30 News Briefing (m000zknd)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (m000zkng)
St Mary Magdalene, Chewton Mendip in Somerset
Bells on Sunday comes from St Mary Magdalene, Chewton Mendip in Somerset. The one hundred and twenty-six foot tower originally held a ring of five bells but they were all replaced in 1913 and augmented to eight. We now hear them ringing Bristol Surprise Major.
SUN 05:45 Profile (m000zkmy)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 06:00 News Summary (m000zlhz)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 06:05 Something Understood (m000362j)
Warrior Women
Warriorhood has long been associated with masculinity, but Remona Aly explores the female warriors throughout history who show that greatness, courage and valour also belong to the domain of women.
She rediscovers the stories of the Celtic warrior queen Boudicca, Umm ‘Amara who fought to protect Prophet Muhammed until she was 60, Mai Bhago who became bodyguard to the 10th Guru of the Sikhs, and Noor Inayat Khan - the first female Muslim to serve as a secret agent in the Second World War.
Remona also interviews Sergeant Wazeeha Laher, an intelligence analyst for the RAF, learning how the role of warrior continues to be redefined to incorporate women. And she explores depictions of warrior women in fiction and popular culture, looking at the battle cries of Beyonce, Dr Who’s first female regeneration, the children’s cartoon Burqa Avenger and the all-female Dora Milaje tribe from the box office hit Black Panther.
Throughout, Remona works to redefine warriorhood, showing this fighting spirit is not only found in men in the midst of warfare, but in the resilience of a mother in labour, in the fight of a shero against misogyny, and in the very essence of womanhood.
Presenter: Remona Aly
Producer: Sera Baker
A TBI production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (m000zlj1)
Food and Farming Awards finalist: Hollis Mead Organic Dairy
"I’ve been working in business for a long time - not that that prepared me for early morning milking!"
Oliver Hemsley worked in the City for many years, but dreamed of becoming a farmer. When he retired in 2017 he bought some land in Dorset and started life as a dairy farmer, with his wife Charlotte. Their mission was to improve habitats for birds and insects and farm in a way that would "create an environment where nature can do its best rather than get destroyed". Their dairy cows are pasture-fed and are only milked once a day - which is very unusual. To make it pay, they have cut out the middle man and pasteurise their own milk, selling that and other dairy products direct to consumers.
When the pandemic struck in spring 2020, they installed their first dairy vending machine and now have sixteen of them across Dorset, Somerset and Devon. They've expanded their product range to include, milk, butter, cream, yoghurt and kefir, with Oliver setting his sights next on making cheese.
So what will Charlotte Smith make of the farm? She's there as part of the BBC Food and Farming Awards, to judge Hollis Mead Organic Dairy after she picked them as one of three finalists in the "Farming for the Future" category.
Presented by Charlotte Smith
Produced by Heather Simons
SUN 06:57 Weather (m000zlj3)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SUN 07:00 News and Papers (m000zlj5)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 07:10 Sunday (m000zlj7)
Turban Confusion; Jewish Heritage; Hong Kong Christian Activists
The first hate crime recorded after the 9/11 attacks in the US was against an observant American Sikh man Balbir Singh Johal. He was murdered by a man who thought his turban meant he supported the Taliban. Now Sikhs in the US and UK are concerned that the rising profile of the Taliban in Afghanistan is once again leading to abuse. We hear from the community and ask what might be done to remedy what they call "religious illiteracy".
This year the UK opened its borders to people from Hong Kong in what is said to be the biggest migration here since Windrush. It's expected that between 130,000 and 300,000 will come over time. These are people who are unhappy with the path Hong Kong has taken since it was handed over to China in 1997. But key players on both sides of the argument over Democracy in Hong Kong had their roots in Christianity. William Crawley discusses this with former foreign correspondent and author of The Gate to China, Michael Sheridan.
And we report on the UK's oldest synagogue, Bevis Marks and a fight against a proposal to build two tower blocks next to it. The synagogue's trustees say the proposed buildings will block almost all sunlight and change the atmosphere completely. We'll ask if we're paying enough attention to our Jewish Heritage with Professor Abigail Green, who's helping Heritage England to enrich their records with surprising Jewish connections to much-loved country houses like Strawberry Hill and Waddeson Manor. They're now inviting the public to "enrich the list" by bringing them their memories of Jewish life in important buildings: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/enrich-the-list/
SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (m000zlj9)
The British Paralympic Association
Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson makes the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of the British Paralympic Association.
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 ‘British Paralympic Association’.
- Cheques should be made payable to ‘British Paralympic Association’.
- You can donate online at bbc.co.uk/appeal/radio4
Registered Charity Number: 802385
SUN 07:57 Weather (m000zljc)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SUN 08:00 News and Papers (m000zljf)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (m000zljh)
Finding a voice – the National Youth Choir of Wales
Beverley Humphreys reflects on the theme of ‘finding a voice’ in the context of the new academic year. Based around the story of the young prophet Samuel, who discovers the potential of his own voice by hearing and responding to the call of God, the service includes contributions from members of the National Youth Choir of Wales about to embark on new beginnings of their own.
Established in 1984, the National Youth Choir of Wales has supported the long-standing choral traditions of Wales ever since, with many alumni still singing or conducting choirs throughout Wales and further afield. The Choirs members are aged between 16 and 22 years and are drawn from all parts of Wales.
Due to the pandemic, the choir have been meeting digitally this year. However, 50 choristers were recently able to reunite for a COIVD-safe ‘live’ rehearsal in Newport, to raise their voices in song together again. The service includes archive recordings of the choir.
SUN 08:48 A Point of View (m000zfg3)
The Limits of Reason
John Gray on how former British Prime Minister, Arthur Balfour, identified a weakness in the idea that science and faith are opposites.
"Beyond our narrow corner of things, there may be limitless possibilities, or else primordial chaos," he writes. "Our belief in the uniformity of nature is not a result but a presupposition of science - in other words, an act of faith."
Producer: Adele Armstrong
SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (b08rt9rh)
Joe Harkness on the Skylark
Joe Harkness indulges in some bird therapy, rejoicing in the sight and song of the skylark. Joe writes about the benefits of birdwatching towards wellbeing through connecting people with nature.
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
SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (m000zljk)
The Sunday morning news magazine programme. Presented by Anita Anand.
SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (m000zljm)
Writer, Liz John
Director, Rosemary Watts
Editor, Jeremy Howe
Brian Aldridge ….. Charles Collingwood
Jennifer Aldridge ….. Angela Piper
Ben Archer ….. Ben Norris
Chris Carter ….. Wilf Scolding
Neil Carter … Brian Hewlett
Susan Carter… Charlotte Martin
Beth Casey … Rebecca Fuller
Amy Franks ….. Jennifer Daley
Eddie Grundy ….. Trevor Harrison
Shula Hebden Lloyd ….. Judy Bennett
Joy Horville ….. Jackie Lye
Oliver Sterling … Michael Cochrane
SUN 11:00 Desert Island Discs (m000zkyf)
Michael Holding, cricketer
Michael Holding is a cricket commentator and former West Indies bowler. He’s widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers in the history of international cricket. In July 2020 when rain stopped play during the television coverage of a Test Match, he gave an unscripted four minute monologue on institutional racism in sport and society in the wake of the death of George Floyd. His spontaneous eloquence won him widespread acclaim, including a Royal Television Society award.
Michael was born in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1954 and grew up playing Catchy Shubby, an informal and fast-moving form of cricket, in scrubland behind his parents' home. He made his debut for Jamaica aged 18. Two years later he played in his first Test match for the West Indies and went on to become part of a team that would make sporting history – not losing a single series for 15 years. Michael earned the nickname ‘Whispering Death’ for his long quiet run-up and extremely fast deliveries, and many cricket experts believe he bowled the greatest over in Test history – to the English batsman Geoffrey Boycott in 1981 in Barbados.
He retired from international cricket in 1987 and became a well-respected and straight-talking commentator on the game: he has said this is his last year in the commentary box and he plans to return to his home in the Cayman Islands.
Presenter Lauren Laverne
Producer Katy Hickman
Photo BBC / Amanda Benson
SUN 11:45 Just One Thing - with Michael Mosley (m000zljp)
Exercise Less, More Often
It can be hard to fit a full workout into every day - but it turns out you really don’t need to! In this episode, Michael enlists the help of Marie Murphy, Professor of Exercise and Health at Ulster University, to explore why doing short bursts of exercise can actually be more beneficial than a hard gym session. A brisk 10-minute walk here, taking the stairs there, and it really does add up.
SUN 12:00 News Summary (m000zljr)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 12:04 Just a Minute (m000zcff)
Series 87
Episode 1
Sue Perkins hosts the return of Radio 4’s longest-running panel show, Just a Minute. In her first episode as chairperson, Sue challenges guests Paul Merton, Sheila Hancock, Daliso Chaponda and Jan Ravens to talk without hesitation, deviation, or repetition. This episode was produced using remote recording technology, with the audience joining from their homes all over the world.
Devised by Ian Messiter
Whistle blown by Caroline Barlow
Produced by Hayley Sterling
A BBC Studios Production
SUN 12:32 The Food Programme (m000zkph)
Buckfast: the Transformation of Scotland’s Most Controversial Drink
Shedding its associations with street crime and violence, Buckfast is now drunk in upmarket cocktail bars, trendy restaurants and hipster haunts. Jaega Wise visits Glasgow to hear about this transformation, and finds out what a wine produced by monks in Devon can tell us about modern Scotland.
Jaega speaks to a comedian about his complicated history with the drink, enlists help from a criminologist to understand Buckfast’s rebirth, and finds out what the fortified wine tastes like as a pizza and cocktail ingredient with a sceptical chef.
A former police chief inspector explores the legacies of problem drinking, and she hears from the chief executive of an alcohol awareness charity about the dangers of scapegoating a single brand.
She visits a drinks lab experimenting with Buckfast in north London, tracks its evolution, and asks if terms like class appropriation and gentrification apply to this much-maligned bottle of tonic wine.
Presented by Jaega Wise.
Produced by Robbie Armstrong.
SUN 12:57 Weather (m000zljv)
The latest weather forecast
SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (m000zljx)
Edward Stourton looks at the week’s big stories from both home and around the world.
SUN 13:30 The Listening Project (m000zljz)
Stepping into the Unknown
Fi Glover presents four conversations between strangers.
This week: Geoff and Kea discuss breaking through barriers in education and beyond; naturist Sue and fashion designer Arianne debate the significance of wearing clothes; Peter and Keith reflect on careers in the fossil fuels industry; and Sheila and Gil talk about life after losing a child.
The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation lasts up to an hour and is then edited to extract the key moments of connection between the participants. Most of the unedited conversations are being archived by the British Library and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in this decade of the millennium. You can learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject
Producer: Nathan Moore
SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m000zffl)
GQT at Home: Drying Flowers and Acer Bowers
Horticultural programme featuring a group of gardening experts, hosted by Peter Gibbs. Joining him this week are Anne Swithinbank, Matthew Wilson, Christine Walkden and a virtual audience from across the country.
Romance is in the air as the panel discusses wedding bouquet flowers, and one listener's life long love affair with lavender. There may be a few confessions along the way, as the panellists reveal the new plant temptations in their life.
Away from the questions, Hazel Gardiner leads us through her sumptuous September floristry highlights, and Bunny effuses about her favourite tree, the Cork Oak, for our Great Trees of GQT series.
Producer - Hannah Newton
Assistant Producer - Bethany Hocken
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 14:45 Green Originals (m000d8sk)
[Repeat of broadcast at
00:15 today]
SUN 15:00 Drama (m00051jk)
Rage - Part 1: Daughters and Lovers
The third in the popular Zygmunt Miloszewski novel series about Prosecutor Teodor Szacki - an engaging protagonist with quickfire sarcastic wit and a relentless dedication to uncovering the truth.
When fresh bones mysteriously stripped of all flesh are discovered on a historic site, Szacki is forced to confront the issue of domestic violence within Poland's traditionalist culture. The action builds to a nightmarish crisis that tests his resolve - and feeds his rage.
Published in 2016, Rage deals with a major issue in modern Poland – domestic violence. It continues to show the consequences of the rise to political power of the authoritarian and anti-EU Law and Justice Party at a time when Donald Tusk was still the country’s Prime Minister.
Mark Lawson adapts the novel from Antonia Lloyd Jones' translation with sharp observation and wit. The cast is again lead by Bryan Dick as Teodor Szacki.
Part One: Daughters and Lovers
State Prosecutor Teodor Szacki is called to the discovery of a skeleton. To his dismay, he meets his new boss - his old Warsaw adversary, Olga Kuczniecow. Initially thought to be historical remains, the skeleton turns out to be recent, chemically stripped of flesh and containing bones from several humans. The investigation becomes increasingly complex and personally critical as Szacki’s nearest and dearest become embroiled.
Zygmunt Milosewski is a leading Polish writer. The Teodor Szacki series is hugely popular in Poland and the book series is currently being filmed.
The translator Antonia Lloyd Jones is a full time translator of Polish literature. She won the Found in Translation Award 2008 for the English version of The Last Supper by Pawel Huelle, and is a committee member of the UK Translators Association.
The dramatist Mark Lawson is a well-known writer, critic and journalist
Cast:
Teodor Szacki – Bryan Dick
Olga Kuzniecow – Alexandra Mathie
Klara Dybus - Rachel Austin
Sister Kristina/Maria K - Claire Benedict
Leon Rudzki – Jonathan Keeble
Hela Szacki – Caitlin Ward
Joanna Parulska/Newsreader – Mina Anwar
Agnieszka Sendrowska/Teresa Najman – Olwen May
Schoolgirl 1 – Isabel Thompson
Schoolgirl 2 – Georgia Devain
Schoolgirl 3 – Tamsin Wickremeratne
School girl 4 – Ryley Nixon
Viktoria Sendrowska – Beatrice Webb
Polish backgrounds – Zofia Morus
Polish language advisor – Antonia Lloyd Jones
Producer / Director…………….Polly Thomas
Sound Design /Producer……………….. Eloise Whitmore
Executive Producer……………John Dryden
A Naked production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 16:00 Open Book (m000zlk1)
Colson Whitehead
Elizabeth Day talks to Colson Whitehead in a special feature length interview. Twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for his novels The Underground Railway and The Nickel Boys, the writer has changed direction with his latest, Harlem Shuffle.
Part heist novel, part richly woven tapestry of New York social history, the novel begins in 1959 and runs to the Harlem riots of 1964. Recurring themes emerge racial injustice, corruption of power but this time his protagonist is an active agent. It follows the travails of Ray Carney, a furniture salesman with one foot in respectability and one in the city's underworld, as Whitehead writes "Carney was only slightly bent when it came to being crooked".
In the interview Colson Whitehead talks about his creative writing process, his reluctance to be a spokesman for black America and why he's stashed an unpublished novel in his bottom drawer for his children's inheritance.
Presenter: Elizabeth Day
Producer: Kirsten Locke
Image copyright: Michael Lionstar
Book List
Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead
The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead
Sag Harbour by Colson Whitehead
Ulysses by James Joyce
SUN 16:30 Tongue and Talk: The Dialect Poets (m000zlk3)
North East Scotland
Through discussions with passionate dialect poets and advocates, writer and performer Shane Strachan uncovers the breadth of exciting initiatives promoting the North East Scots dialect, Doric, to new audiences. He finds that Doric is not only surviving; it's thriving.
In his home city of Aberdeen, Shane performs his own contemporary work in the dialect before delving into its complex linguistic history with Scots language expert Robert McColl Millar. The region’s most prolific poet, Sheena Blackall, shares her experiences of speaking in Doric during her school years and her time promoting the dialect in schools since, while teacher Jamie Fairburn discusses the positive impacts his burgeoning Scots language course has had on his pupils in Aberdeenshire.
Shane also meets spoken-word artists Jo Gilbert and Mae Diansangu, who have been engaging with the dialect in new and inclusive ways, such as Jo’s Doric Poetry Slam, open to all, and Mae’s queer nature poetry with a Doric twist.
Other episodes in this fourth series of Tongue and Talk look at the dialect poetry of Northern Ireland and Wales.
A Made in Manchester production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 17:00 File on 4 (m000zdr9)
Tackling Online Abuse in Football
When three black England footballers missed penalties in the Euro 2020 football final, they were bombarded with online racist abuse. The Football Association condemned the ‘offensive and racist’ messages saying it was ‘appalled’ and would do everything it could to assist Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka. File on 4 examines what many describe as institutional racism within the game and amongst supporters and asks what, if anything, is being done to stop it from happening? With access to new analysis charting the peaks and flows of online abuse, the programme explores who is really behind some of the most egregious comments.
Arrests have been made in the wake of the Euro 2020 game, but what long-term measures are in place to eradicate this poisonous behaviour, which has spread from the terraces to online platforms with little in place to stop it.
Reporter: Athar Ahmad
Producer: Mick Tucker
Editor: Carl Johnston
SUN 17:40 Profile (m000zkmy)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m000zlk5)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SUN 17:57 Weather (m000zlk7)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000zlk9)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (m000zlkc)
Simon Mayo
It’s been a week of reflection and remembrance for the victims of the 9/11 attacks in America twenty years on and we'll be featuring The 9/11 Letters, reliving the stories of those who were there and how they’ve changed. Also this week, Michael Moseley on why we should eat chocolate, Icelandic superstar Víkingur Ólafsson plays Mozart, and Jim Al-Khalili and Hannah Fry try to convince us that there is joy and beauty to be found in mathematics.
Presenter: Simon Mayo
Producer: Elizabeth Foster
Production support: Emmie Hume
Studio Manager: Phillip Halliwell
SUN 19:00 The Archers (m000zkp9)
Peggy offers more than money can buy, and Oliver’s plan backfires.
SUN 19:15 Henry Normal: A Normal... (m00035w0)
Nature
Henry Normal: A Normal... Nature
"Shove up National Treasures. We need to make room for Henry Normal"
Simon O'Hagan - Radio Times
The fifth instalment in this acclaimed, occasional series in which acclaimed, occasional writer Henry Normal uses poetry, stories and comedy to tackle those subjects so big only radio can possibly contain them.
In this new episode, Henry looks our relationship with nature in an exploration of unsung nature from the point of view of a busy urban human.
Henry Normal is a multi-award winning writer, producer and poet. Co-writer of award winning TV programmes such as The Royle Family, The Mrs Merton Show, Coogan’s Run and Paul Calf, and producer of, amongst many others, Oscar-Nominated Philomena, Gavin and Stacey and Alan Partridge.
He has published several volumes of poetry, including Travelling Second Class Through Hope, Staring Directly at the Eclipse, Raining Upwards and his new volume This Phantom Breath. And his memoir, A Normal Family: Everyday adventures with our autistic son.
Praise for previous episodes in this series:
"It's a rare and lovely thing: half an hour of radio that stops you short, gently demands your attention and then wipes your tears away while you have to have a little sit down"
"It's a real treat to hear a seasoned professional like Henry taking command of this evening comedy spot to deliver a show that's idiosyncratic and effortlessly funny"
"Not heard anything that jumps from hilarious to moving in such an intelligent, subtle way as Henry Normal's show"
Written and performed by Henry Normal
Production Coordinator - Beverly Tagg
Produced by Carl Cooper
This was a BBC Studios production.
SUN 19:45 Making Amends (m000zlkf)
Alyssa
Five wry stories on the nature of and need for apology, by Nick Walker, the writer of Annika Stranded.
Making Amends is a therapeutic process that encourages people to recognise behaviour in their past which, because of addiction problems, goes against their values and standards. But the need to make amends and apologise for lapses of behaviour is not just confined to the addicted.
4/5. Alyssa
Alyssa combines a trip to Athens with making her peace with her ex-partner, Bruce.
Nick Walker is the writer of Annika Stranded, which ran for six seasons on BBC Radio 4 between 2013 and 2020. Annika - a TV version - will be broadcast in 2021. He has also written two critically-acclaimed novels , Blackbox and Helloland. His plays and other short stories for radio include The First King of Mars, Life Coach and Stormchasers.
Writer: Nick Walker
Reader: Rosie Cavaliero
Sound Design: Jon Calver
Producer: Jeremy Osborne
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 20:00 More or Less (m000zdtc)
Vaccine waning, hot dogs and Afghanistan
Should we be worried that the protection against Covid-19 provided by the vaccines is going down? This worrying idea has been in the news recently, partly because of reports out of Israel. Last winter, Israel was one of the first to embark on a large scale vaccination programme of its citizens. But several months on, it’s now seen a sharp rise in the numbers of cases and hospitalisations. Which does raise a worrying thought: is the vaccine’s effect fading?
Could it really be the case that eating a hot dog takes 36 minutes from your life? That’s a claim that’s made headlines across the world.
The Bank of England holds 35% of Government debt. Who owns the other 65%? We failed to tell listeners last week. We put that right.
Has the UK spent more on Test and Trace than on its operations in Afghanistan? We look into this claim and answer other questions from our listeners about the numbers in the news about Afghanistan.
SUN 20:30 Last Word (m000zffq)
Sergei Kovalev (pictured), Lee 'Scratch' Perry, Abebech Gobena, Ed Asner
Matthew Bannister on
Sergei Kovalev, the scientist and leading dissident, who spoke out against human rights abuses under the Soviet Union and the Yeltsin and Putin regimes. He was sent to a labour camp and suffered internal exile.
Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, the reggae pioneer who helped Bob Marley to develop his sound.
Abebech Gobena, the Ethiopian humanitarian who devoted her life to helping thousands of disadvantaged children, with some calling her ‘Africa’s Mother Theresa’.
Ed Asner, the American actor best known for playing the irascible but principled news editor in the TV series Lou Grant.
Producer: Neil George
Interviewed guest: Jonathan Dimbleby
Interviewed guest: Victor Davidoff
Interviewed guest: Neil ‘Mad Professor’ Fraser
Interviewed guest: David Katz
Interviewed guest: Elias Mulugeta Hordofa
Interviewed guest: David Gritten
Interviewed guest: Angie Errigo
Archive clips used: BBC, Russia: A Journey with Jonathan Dimbleby 25/05/2008; ITN, Chechnya war report 1995; YouTube - Human Rights Watch, Sergei Kovalev interview 28/12/2011; BBC, Lee 'Scratch' Perry in His Own Words 13/06/2011; YouTube - Choir at Emmanuel Orphanage in Woliso 2010; BBC, News Report 1Ethiopia Famine 7/07/1984; BBC, Everywoman 27/02/2004; Addis Post, Abebech Gobena funeral 06/07/2021; My Generation, Bill Newcott interview with Ed Asner 2021; Pixar/Disney, Up movie 2009; MTM Productions, Lou Grant S01 E01 1977; EMMYTVLEGENDS.ORG, Ed Asner interview 2011; New Line Cinema/Guy Walks into a Bar Productions/Gold/Miller Productions, Elf movie 2003.
SUN 21:00 Money Box (m000zlkh)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 on Saturday]
SUN 21:25 Radio 4 Appeal (m000zlj9)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 today]
SUN 21:30 The Untold (m000wl3b)
Niyi - One Year On
Last year, Producer Sam Peach followed the story of Niyi, a postgrad student whose eating disorder has stopped him coming home for Christmas. After nearly losing his Mum to a brain tumour, he wanted to change things.
Niyi is a young, successful Cambridge student with a bright future ahead of him, but for the past few years, he has struggled with an eating disorder. It has made him very conscious of eating with others and the pressure of being around the family dinner table at Christmas has been too much. So he stayed away. Sam recorded with Niyi as he started a new course of therapy to help him work through his eating issues, in the hope that it would give him the help he needed.
Now, one year on, in spring 2021, Sam catches up with Niyi. It's been a momentous year. Not only has he had to contend with the pandemic as a vulnerable person, but there's also some news that changed Niyi's life and idea of himself.
Produced by Sam Peach and Mark Burman
SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (m000zlkk)
Radio 4's Sunday night political discussion programme.
SUN 23:00 The Film Programme (m000zcbt)
Mark Gatiss: Anthony Hopkins superfan
Mark Gatiss tells Antonia Quirke what it was like to work with his hero Anthony Hopkins on The Father, and how he persuaded him to reprise a famous scene from one of his classic films as a birthday present for fellow League Of Gentleman member Reece Shearsmith.
Sean Barton reveals some secrets from the editing suite and how he made the audience gasp in a famous scene from Jagged Edge.
Annette director Leos Carax explains why the star of his film about a two year old singing sensation is played by a puppet.
SUN 23:30 Something Understood (m000362j)
[Repeat of broadcast at
06:05 today]
MONDAY 13 SEPTEMBER 2021
MON 00:00 Midnight News (m000zlkm)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
MON 00:15 Thinking Allowed (m000zdv1)
Culture & privilege
Culture & privilege: Governments and arts organisations claim that culture brings joy to many lives and unites communities. But a new study signals a note of scepticism. Orian Brook, AHRC Creative and Digital Economy Innovation Leadership Fellow at the University of Edinburgh, talks to Laurie Taylor about the mechanism of exclusion in cultural occupations which ensures that women, people of colour, and those from working class backgrounds experience systematic disadvantage in terms of gaining such jobs, in the first place, or progressing within these industries. In addition, only a very small percentage of people in England & Wales ever go to an art gallery, the theatre or opera. Only 60% go to cinemas, even though this is seen as accessible to all. So why do so few people participate in or produce 'culture'?
They’re joined by Dave O’Brien, Chancellor's Fellow in Cultural and Creative Industries at the University of Edinburgh, who asks why people from privileged class backgrounds often misidentify their origins as working class. Drawing on175 interviews with those working in professional and managerial occupations, he finds that such misidentification allows them to tell an upward story of career success ‘against the odds’ that casts their progression as well deserved while erasing the structural privileges that have shaped key moments in their lives.
Producer: Jayne Egerton
MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (m000zkng)
[Repeat of broadcast at
05:43 on Sunday]
MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000zlkp)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000zlkr)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.
MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000zlkt)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
MON 05:30 News Briefing (m000zlkw)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000zlky)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg.
Good Morning,
On this day, 13 September 1993, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin shook hands with Yassar Arafat on the White House lawn. Despite all the bloodshed and pain, a degree of trust had developed between these leaders.
Weeks later Rabin was dead, murdered at a peace rally in Tel Aviv. Since then, great hopes have been struggling against lingering decline.
In the Jewish calendar, we’re in a period of reconciliation. Before we turn to God on the Day of Atonement, we try to mend our relationships with each other. The rabbis weren’t thinking about war, but of family, friends, and fellow citizens when they said: ‘Even if you only hurt them with words, apologise.’
What then about a prolonged conflict, with all the grief, pain and distrust which accompanies it? The injuries fester deep in the psyche, on both sides. It’s hard even to speak about it.
Therefore, I admire those who build bridges and open hearts. Despite all the bad news, there are many of them. There are the Israeli and Palestinian head teachers in Haifa who declared during the recent fighting that they remained jointly committed to their joint task of raising a young generation for an open society, free of prejudice. There are those who find one another because of their pain, like the parents in The Bereaved Families Forum who comfort each other because they know the pain of losing a child, and stand together in remembrance.
There are those who turn toward reconciliation precisely because they’ve seen the front line of the conflict and are desperate for it to end.
God give them strength, because they keep our hopes alive.
MON 05:45 Farming Today (m000zll0)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
MON 05:56 Weather (m000zll2)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.
MON 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b08q3sz6)
Cyrus Todiwala on the House Sparrow
In this programme, London based chef and restaurant owner Cyrus Todiwala talks about his love of the city's house sparrow, bringing a bit of joy to the bustling streets.
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.
MON 06:00 Today (m000zknj)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
MON 09:00 Start the Week (m000zknl)
Life in the first person
The neuroscientist Anil Seth is a leading researcher into consciousness. In his book, Being You, he explores why we experience life in the first person. He tells Tom Sutcliffe how our perceptual experiences are less a reflection of an objective external reality, and more a kind of controlled hallucination. He argues that perception is a brain-based ‘best guess’ – including our core sense of self – designed by evolution to keep the body alive.
Tiffany Watt Smith is interested in how the individual self can feel swept up and subsumed in crowds, and the tension between ‘feeling yourself’ and ‘losing yourself’. This has taken on added significance during a pandemic when collective experience has become tinged with anxiety. As Director of the Centre of the History of Emotions at Queen Mary University of London, she has also looked at how far being able to name an emotion makes it more real.
Emotional turmoil, from revenge to love, are writ large in Rigoletto – the season opener at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. It’s the first production by the company’s Director, Oliver Mears, and the first new show since the opera house closed because of Covid-19. Mears sees Verdi’s masterpiece as a modern morality play that pits power against innocence, in a pitiless world of decadence, corruption and decay.
Producer: Katy Hickman
(Photo: Gilda) Lisette Oropesa (c) ROH 2021. Rigoletto Studio Rehearsal. Photograph by Ellie Kurttz.)
MON 09:45 God: An Anatomy, by Francesca Stavrakopoulou (m000zknn)
In the Beginning
Hebrew scholar Professor Francesca Stavrakopoulou examines the Bible’s portrayal of God’s body, from his head to his feet, showing how the western idea of God developed from the ancient religions and societies of the biblical world.
In this first episode, Francesca challenges the idea that the God of the Bible has no body, and is a “formless, invisible deity”.
She says, “As I looked closely at the books comprising the Bible, I couldn’t find this bodiless God. Instead, these ancient texts conjured a startlingly corporeal image of God as a human-shaped deity, who walked and talked and wept and laughed. A God who was distinctly male. I want to tell the story of the real God of the Bible, as his ancient worshippers saw him: a supersized, muscle-bound, good-looking God, with supra-human powers and earthly passions. By exploring the body of this ancient deity as his worshippers imagined him, we can access their world. We can meet the real God of the Bible.”
Professor Francesca Stavrakopoulou studied theology at Oxford and is currently Professor of Hebrew Bible and Ancient Religion at the University of Exeter. The author of a number of academic works, she also presented the BBC2 documentary series The Bible’s Buried Secrets. She regularly appears on BBC1’s The Big Questions and Sunday Morning Live, and writes for the Guardian, the Mail on Sunday and the Times Literary Supplement.
Abridged and produced by Elizabeth Burke.
A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4
MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000zknr)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.
MON 11:00 My Name Is... (m000zknt)
My Name Is Emma
Emma has lived in North Devon her whole life, but now she’s not sure she’ll be able to stay. A few months ago, she was given notice to leave by her landlord but, with rental properties scarce and prices soaring, finding a new place to live is proving difficult.
Emma wants to understand the forces making North Devon, along with many rural spots across the country, unaffordable for locals, and how she can reset the balance. She also examines the toll the rise in staycations and the boom in rural living have had on her tight-knit community.
Even as she fights to stay in the village where she grew up, Emma recognises it is becoming less and less like the place she loves. But in leading a campaign to help local renters, Emma feels the passion and power of her community once again.
Producer: Pippa Smith
Executive Producer: Katherine Godfrey
Sound Engineer: Nigel Appleton
A Novel production for BBC Radio 4
MON 11:30 Loose Ends (m000zknw)
[Repeat of broadcast at
18:15 on Saturday]
MON 12:00 News Summary (m000zkny)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
MON 12:04 The Fortnight in September, by RC Sherriff (m000zkp0)
Episode 6
‘The man on his holidays becomes the man he might have been, the man he could have been, had things worked out a little differently. All men are equal on their holidays’.
In his autobiography, RC Sherriff describes how he had the idea for The Fortnight in September during his own holiday in Bognor Regis, when he started to wonder about the lives of the ordinary people he saw coming and going there.
He found himself itching to write about an imaginary family – Mr and Mrs Stevens and their three children, one still at school and two on the verge of adulthood – leaving their house in Dulwich and travelling by train to stay in a boarding house by the sea for two weeks. Deceptive in its simplicity and brimming with poignant observation, Sherriff describes how the family while away the days with beach cricket and swimming in the sea, and the warm evenings strolling along the promenade and listening to the band playing on the bandstand. He explores the importance of a break from work and humdrum routines, giving people an opportunity to reconnect with family, some time to reflect and make resolutions, and perhaps a chance for some romance or an adventure.
Sherriff’s understated novel, published in 1931, celebrates an era when going abroad was still the privilege of the few, and returning to the simple pleasures and familiar rituals of an English seaside holiday was the much-anticipated yearly treat for the majority.
Written by RC Sherriff
Reader: Adrian Scarborough
Abridger: Sara Davies
Producer: Alexa Moore
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4
MON 12:18 You and Yours (m000zkp2)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
MON 12:57 Weather (m000zkp4)
The latest weather forecast
MON 13:00 World at One (m000zkp6)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Sarah Montague.
MON 13:45 A History of the World in 100 Objects (b00v1mvt)
Exploration, Exploitation and Enlightenment (AD 1680-1820)
Akan Drum
Neil MacGregor's history of the world as told through things that time has left behind. Throughout this week, he is examining the often troubled relationship between Europe and the rest of the world during the 18th century.
Today he tells the extraordinary story of a now fragile African drum. It was taken to America during the years of the slave trade and where it came into contact with Native Americans. The drum was brought to England by Sir Hans Sloane, whose collection became the British Museum in 1753. This drum, the earliest African-American object in the Museum, is a rare surviving example of an instrument whose music was to profoundly influence American culture - bought to America on a slave ship and transported to Britain by a slave owner. The historian Anthony Appiah and the writer Bonnie Greer consider the impact of this drum.
Producer: Anthony Denselow
Music research specifically for the Akan drum: Michael Doran
MON 14:00 The Archers (m000zkp9)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Sunday]
MON 14:15 United Kingdoms (m000zkpc)
Hoping
A ground breaking five part series from exciting new writers celebrating and revealing life across the United Kingdoms in short, sharp drama, comedy, news reports, song and poetic monologue. Stories, lives and voices making a kaleidoscope of now.
Each episode features five short dramas by different writers - a total of 50 writers and 100 actors have been brought together, showcasing new writing and performing talent from every corner of the United Kingdom.
Episode 3: Hoping – an optimistic, sometimes unexpected look at 21st century United Kingdoms
• CORYTON - That moment when you just want to speak to someone.
• KEIGHLEY - Jyoti, a successful West Yorkshire businesswoman, resists when Tara, her daughter, pushes for a more environmentally friendly business. South Asian tappay, call and response rhyming couplets accompanied by the Dholki drum, help them to resolve their differences.
• LISBURN - Fat Frida is in an Abba tribute band and being Frida is her passion in life - nothing feels like being Frida. It feels like being her best self.
• BARGEDDIE - A disabled parent’s imaginary conversation with his toddler twins in which they think about their abilities and his.
• COLCHESTER - Victim and Perpetrator, two sides of a stabbing, based on a true story.
Credits
Coryton written by Leila Navabi
Performed by Saran Morgan and Esyllt Sears
Keighley written by Anjum Malik
Performed by Balvinder Sopal and Sameena Hussain
The Dholki performed by Sunny Tabladon Singh
Lisburn written by Shirley-Anne Mcmillan
Performed by Bronagh Taggart
Bargeddie written by Robert Softley Gayle
Performed by Colin Young and Reuben Joseph
Colchester written and performed by Dan Whitlam
Original music composed by Niroshini Thambar
Illustration by Eleanor Hibbert
Curated by Polly Thomas and Dermot Daly for Naked Productions, BBC Scotland, BBC Northern Ireland, Pier Productions, and BBC Cymru-Wales for BBC Radio 4
MON 15:00 Brain of Britain (m000zkpf)
Heat 9, 2021
(9/17)
Competitors from Belfast, Edinburgh, County Durham and Merseyside join Russell Davies for the general knowledge contest.
Which metal is extracted from its ore using the Kroll process? Spook, The Brain and Fancy-Fancy were companions of which cartoon character? And which play was Abraham Lincoln watching when he was shot? These and many other answers will be required, in order to stand a chance of getting through to the semi-finals. There's also a chance for a listener to win a prize by stumping the Brains with his or her own questions.
Today's competitors are
Innis Carson, a researcher living in Belfast
Dorothy Clarkson, a retired superintendent registrar from Weardale in County Durham
Dave McBryan, a writer from Edinburgh
John O'Malley, a retired doctor from Liverpool.
The programme was recorded in Salford under socially distanced conditions.
Assistant Producer: Stephen Garner
Producer: Paul Bajoria
MON 15:30 The Food Programme (m000zkph)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:32 on Sunday]
MON 16:00 Safe Space (m000zcb3)
The idea of ‘safe space’ has migrated into the arts - in all aspects of performance, in arts education and practice, from theatre, public galleries and museums to spoken word, music and dance. It has become a fundamental idea to community and identity-based art collectives and groups.
Defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as ‘…an environment in which people, especially those belonging to a marginalised group, can feel confident that they will not be exposed to discrimination, criticism, harassment or emotional harm…’, safe spaces are not just physical art spaces like galleries and rehearsal rooms. They are metaphorical, therapeutic: spaces free from judgemental speech and unwelcome criticism where identity, at both an individual and group level, is affirmed, nurtured and supported.
The term 'safe space' connects with the idea of art as therapy, but it also joins up with anxiety around identity politics. For many young artists from diverse backgrounds, safe spaces are vital in a hostile world, offering protection from prejudice against women and people of colour, against the LGBTQ and trans communities, from Islamophobia. The term has become a key idea in arts education too, now embraced by institutions and students alike.
But should the arts really be a ‘safe space’? Isn’t the purpose of art to challenge, interrogate identity and our ideas of who we are? The struggle is between protecting artistic self-expression in a controlled environment, encouraging previously excluded voices on the one hand - and then, on the other, the easy slide into a silencing of troubling ideas, excluding ideas or projects that might make people feel vulnerable, offended or uncomfortable but that have artistic worth nonetheless.
Critics of the safe space movement are arguing that art is valuable because it must be, in the best sense, an ‘unsafe’ space. Whereas art once produced manifestos and disrupted safe spaces, it now creates them, looking inward rather than engaging outward.
Hearing from artists across a range of backgrounds and disciplines this feature explores the history and politics of ‘safe space’ and its growing hold on the arts today.
Contributors include the theatre director Ola Ince, former artistic director of English National Opera Daniel Kramer, psychotherapist Adam Phillips, author and former editor of Frieze Magazine Jennifer Higgie, sound artist and sculptor Abbas Zahedi, director of queer theatre Charlie Caine, poet and compere Rakaya Fetuga, safe space facilitator Katy Jon Went, comedian Tom Walker (aka Jonathan Pie), sociologist Frank Furedi and FUBUNATION dance collective featuring Rhys Dennis and Waddah Sinadah.
Produced by Simon Hollis
A Brook Lapping production for BBC Radio 4
FUBUNATION photographed by Donnie Sunshine
MON 16:30 Beyond Belief (m000zkpk)
What do the Taliban believe?
It’s a month since Afghanistan entered a new era under the 'Taliban 2.0'. Foreign forces have gone and the eyes of the world are fixed on how they will govern their ‘Islamic Emirate’.
Many of those who remember life under the Taliban the first time around in the 1990s are not hopeful. They describe an oppressive regime, justified Islamically through an extremely narrow interpretation of sharia law. Women couldn’t work, girls couldn’t go to school; there was a strict dress code for men and women; music, TV and cinema were banned. There were brutal punishments for those who stepped out of line. Ethnic and religious minorities were targeted and killed.
Mobeen Azhar and guests explore what the Taliban believe, how they have justified their actions theologically and whether any of those core beliefs are likely change.
Contributors:
Dr Sayed Hassan Akhlaq - Afghan-Iranian philosopher at Coppin State University in Baltimore, who has specialised in Islamic theology;
Dr Haroun Rahimi - Assistant Professor of Law at the American University of Afghanistan;
John Mohammed Butt - Islamic scholar and graduate of Darul Uloom Deoband in India;
Dr Weeda Mehran - lecturer at the Department of Politics at the University of Exeter, who grew up in the Afghanistan in the 1990s.
Producer: Dan Tierney
Editor: Helen Grady.
MON 17:00 PM (m000zkpm)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.
MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000zkpp)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 18:30 Just a Minute (m000zkpr)
Series 87
Episode 2
Sue Perkins hosts the return of Radio 4’s longest running panel show, Just a Minute. This episode was produced using remote recording technology, with the audience joining from their homes all over the world. Caroline Barlow blows the whistle.
Devised by Ian Messiter
Produced by Hayley Sterling
A BBC Studios Production
MON 19:00 The Archers (m000zkpt)
It’s an emotional day for Alice, while Chris attempts to find the right words.
MON 19:15 Front Row (m000zkpw)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
MON 19:45 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
MON 20:00 This Union: Two Kingdoms (m000zkpy)
Creation of the Union
Allan Little presents This Union: Two Kingdoms, for BBC Radio 4. The epic story of how and why Scotland entered into union with England, of why that Union endured for so long, and of the historic changes that have brought Scotland closer to independence than it’s been since 1707.
Having witnessed the emergence of new independent states from the Balkans to the Soviet Union and across Africa, Allan Little explores his homeland, Scotland, tracing the powerful and deep-rooted forces which are now changing - and might yet end - Scotland’s place in the UK.
In a sweeping history of national pride, ingenious character, passionately held values and political plots, Allan uncovers the people who drove the creation, development and now the unravelling of the Union.
From the catastrophe that cost Scotland half its national wealth, the sticks and carrots that the Crown used to draw Scotland into England’s embrace, to the building of a new British national identity and mythology – this is a story about the emergence of a powerful partnership forged in Empire, industry and war that some now feel is falling apart. Allan reveals the shared national enterprises that shaped the United Kingdom, and the tensions and conflicting values that might now end it.
Allan finds the hidden qualities and shared values that once bound Scotland powerfully to its British destiny, and what happens when those values diverge and then clash. with profound consequences for millions of people on both sides of the border.
Presenter: Allan Little
Producers: Jonathan Brunert and Caitlin Smith
MON 20:30 Crossing Continents (m000zcb1)
The Mystery of Havana Syndrome
Gordon Corera investigates the mysterious illness that has struck American diplomats and spies. It began after some reported hearing strange sounds in Havana 2016, but reports have since spread around the world. Doctors, scientists, intelligence agents and government officials have all been trying to find out what exactly causes these sounds and the lingering health effects. Some call it an act of war, others wonder if it is some new and secret form of surveillance while others believe it could even be in the mind. So who or what is responsible?
Producer, Emma Wells.
Editor, Bridget Harney.
MON 21:00 The Nuclear Priesthood (m000zdq9)
How do we send a warning a hundred millennia into the future?
Poet Paul Farley considers how we might warn people three thousand generations from now about the radioactive waste we’ve left in geological disposal facilities deep underground. As he does so he explores the essence of communication and storytelling and the elements of our language, art and culture which are truly universal.
In countries across the world, including the UK, USA, France and Finland, the hunt is on for underground sites which will survive shifting tectonic plates or passing ice ages and remain secure for tens of millennia - maybe a hundred thousand years - until the radioactive waste they contain is no longer a danger. And once it’s buried, how do we leave a clear, unambiguous warning message - that this site is dangerous and should not be disturbed - for a society which may be utterly different from our own?
Can we still use written language? Would pictures and symbols be more easily understood? Or could we construct a landscape of vast monuments to instil fear in anybody who saw them. Paul talks to writer Helen Gordon about her experience of visiting the Onkalo nuclear repository in Finland and the challenges of warning the future about what it contains.
He hears from Jean-Noël Dumont, Manager of the Memory for Future Generations programme for the French nuclear agency Andra. For several years Andra has asked artists to devise a warning of the existence of a nuclear repository. Stéfane Perraud and Aram Kebabdjian responded with the idea of a Zone Bleue – a forest of genetically-modified blue trees which act as a memorial rather than a warning.
In 1981 linguist Thomas Sebeok proposed the idea of a ‘nuclear priesthood’. The idea takes its inspiration from world faiths which have passed on their message for thousands of years. At an ancient Christian site in the shadow of Heysham nuclear power station Paul meets Robert Williams, Professor of Fine Art at the University of Cumbria who, with American artist Bryan McGovern Wilson, has brought to life the idea of a Nuclear Priest, imagining their vestments, their rituals and role.
There’s compelling evidence that oral traditions can carry memories of events not just for centuries but for thousands of years. Professor Patrick Nunn has been researching Indigenous Australian stories which appear to carry the folk memory of a time after the last ice age when sea levels were much lower – around ten thousand years.
So could a story, a poem or a song be the answer? As the programme unfolds, Paul devises a poem to carry a warning to distant generations.
Producer: Jeremy Grange
Programme image courtesy of Robert Williams and Bryan McGovern Wilson with Michael Coombs. It was taken during the Alchemical Tour of Archaeological Sites in Cumbria and North Lancashire, as part of the Cumbrian Alchemy Project.
MON 21:30 Start the Week (m000zknl)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
MON 22:00 The World Tonight (m000zkq2)
In-depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
MON 22:45 The Fortnight in September, by RC Sherriff (m000zkp0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 today]
MON 23:00 Lights Out (m000zkq4)
Series 4
The Last Taboo
Documentary adventures that encourage you to take a closer listen.
We rarely speak about familial childhood sexual abuse. We should.
Through one woman's story, we hear how the silence surrounding childhood sexual abuse compounds trauma in ways that ripple through survivors' lives, touching and tainting relationships and experiences of parenthood, and leading to problems with mental health and addiction.
If we could talk about familial abuse more openly, could we help survivors, and make it more difficult for perpetrators to hide behind secrecy?
Too often, our mental health systems treat the symptoms of abuse and trauma rather than unlocking the cause. But if we continue to create worlds which permit and encourage silence, are we perpetrators too? Perhaps it's time to speak up.
Featuring extracts from The Flying Child by Sophie Olson, founder of The Flying Child Project, and work by John Slater, co-founder of moMENtum.
Produced by Redzi Bernard and Phoebe McIndoe
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (m000zkq6)
Today in Parliament
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament
TUESDAY 14 SEPTEMBER 2021
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (m000zkq8)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 00:30 God: An Anatomy, by Francesca Stavrakopoulou (m000zknn)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000zkqb)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000zkqd)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.
TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000zkqg)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
TUE 05:30 News Briefing (m000zkqj)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000zkql)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg.
Good Morning,
A place I love is the New Forest, a world apart, where ponies dictate the pace and deer graze in the fields among the forests of oak and beech trees.
I’d no idea that nearby was the site of a major celebration seventy years ago, when Prime Minister Clement Attlee opened Europe’s largest oil refinery at Fawley on Southampton Water.
Footage from the New Forest Film Archive depicts this achievement, with ‘rippers loosening soil untouched for centuries’ across almost a thousand acres, so that oil could ‘yield its abundance’ to fuel Britain’s post-war affluence.
Refined oil was badly needed.
Yet it’s striking how differently we think seventy years later. The need for energy is no less. But we know now that we must source it in greener ways, with a minimum of carbon emissions. Net zero is among humanity’s most urgent goals.
It’s the Jewish season of Teshuvah, rethinking priorities and habits. There’s personal Teshuvah, inner renewal; and collective Teshuvah, rededicating ourselves to establishing a just and compassionate society. But most important today is environmental Teshuvah, re-working our relationship with nature with greater humility.
The Hebrew Bible often gets the blame for our mistreatment of the earth, because God gives humans dominion over all creatures. But dominion really means responsibility. This is made clear in the covenant God makes after Noah’s flood with all living creatures. It’s emphasised in Isaiah’s vision of a world in which ‘They neither hurt nor destroy in all [God’s] holy mountain.’
It's a mountain we urgently need to climb. God, give us the strength and determination to do so together.
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (m000zkqn)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
TUE 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b08r1sk7)
Kane Brides on the Coot
Kane Brides of the Slimbridge Wetland Centre on why the humble coot means so much to him.
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 Miles Warde.
TUE 06:00 Today (m000zlq7)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
TUE 09:00 The Life Scientific (m000zlqc)
David Eagleman on why reality is an illusion
Literature student turned neuroscientist, Prof David Eagleman, tells Jim Al-Khalili about his research on human perception and the wristband he created that enables deaf people to hear through their skin. Everything we see, taste, smell, touch and hear is created by a set of electro-chemical impulses in the dark recesses of our brain. Our brains look for patterns in these signals and attach meaning to them. So in future perhaps we could learn to ‘feel’ fluctuations in the stock market, see in infra-red or echo-locate like bats? Each brain creates its own unique truth and David believes, there are no real limits to what we humans can perceive.
Producer: Anna Buckley
TUE 09:30 One to One (m000zlqf)
Escapes: Anna Freeman talks to Sheyi Thomas
The writer Anna Freeman speaks to Sheyi Thomas, who runs an escape room in Dalston.
Anna delves into the world of escape rooms and explores how creating the experience of escape for people in a safe and cathartic way can be useful when facing our own fears.
Producer for BBC Audio in Bristol: Caitlin Hobbs
TUE 09:45 God: An Anatomy, by Francesca Stavrakopoulou (m000zlr8)
In the Footsteps of Gods
Professor Francesca Stavrakopolou examines how the western idea of God developed, exploring the ancient religions and societies of the biblical world.
This second episode begins in the ancient temple of Ain Dara, in Northern Syria. Professor Stavrakopoulou visited Ain Dara before the war in Syria began, and the temple was devastated in an air strike. Its historical significance lies in the fact that its structure maps precisely the biblical description of Solomon’s temple, and what’s striking is that pressed into the rock, across the limestone threshold, are a set of giant footprints going into the temple - the bare footprints of a God.
This is the starting point for a fascinating exploration of the imprint of the feet of ancient Gods, and of the God of the Bible.
“Such is the power of divine or holy footprints that they often become sites of competing religious claims. Most famous is the depression in rock akin to an enormous footprint on Sri Pada, a high peak in Sri Lanka. For Tamil Hindus, it is the print of Shiva, left as he danced creation into existence; for Buddhists the footprint belongs to Gautama Buddha, who pressed his foot into a sapphire beneath the rock; for Muslims, it is the print left by Adam as he trod on the mountain following his expulsion from Eden; for Christians, it is the footprint of Saint Thomas, who, it is claimed, brought Christianity to the region.”
Professor Francesca Stavrakopoulou studied theology at Oxford and is currently Professor of Hebrew Bible and Ancient Religion at the University of Exeter. The author of a number of academic works, she also presented the BBC2 documentary series The Bible’s Buried Secrets. She regularly appears on BBC1’s The Big Questions and Sunday Morning Live, and writes for the Guardian, the Mail on Sunday and the Times Literary Supplement.
Abridged and produced by Elizabeth Burke.
A Loftus Media Ltd production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000zlqk)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.
TUE 11:00 Electric Ride UK (m000zmc8)
Episode 1
Peter Curran is getting back on the road, in an electric vehicle. When Peter set out on his first adventure in an electric vehicle for Radio 4, ten years ago, owning one was more of a niche interest than a regular part of life.
But things have changed. And with a deadline of 2030 on the last sale of combustion engine cars in Britain, manufacturers and researchers have had to kick their work up a gear.
In this new series, Peter travels from Land’s End to John O’Groats and asks whether the country is ready for the new era of electric cars.
Along the way, he’ll explore what makes an electric car, from mining of lithium and the latest in battery technology, to how manufacturers like Nissan plan to keep up with soaring demand. And he’ll also speak to people pushing electric vehicles to their very limits, whether it be in racing, like McLaren and Extreme-E, to Chris Ramsey, a maverick planning to drive an electric vehicle from pole to pole.
Presenter: Peter Curran
Producer: Ellie Clifford
Executive Producer: David Prest
TUE 11:30 Dante 2021 (m000rd19)
Episode 2
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.
2. Professor Matthew Treherne from the Centre for Dante Studies at the University of Leeds is Katya's guide through the second region of the afterlife - Purgatory. The author of a forthcoming book on "Dante for the Twenty-First Century : Ecology, Finance and Time", Matthew explains to Katya why the roots of the 2008 financial crisis go right back to Dante's Florence, and he draws her attention to lessons we might learn in the era of Covid and political polarisation from Dante's depiction of the souls in Purgatory as they struggle to listen, change and make themselves anew.
Specially commissioned music by Emily Levy, sung by Michael Solomon Williams, Jon Stainsby and Emily Levy.
Further contributions from Joseph Luzzi, Professor of Comparative Literature and Faculty Member in Italian Studies at Bard College, USA, and author of five books including My Two Italies, and the deeply moving In a Dark Wood: What Dante Taught Me About Grief, Healing, and the Mysteries of Love
Italian readings by Alessio Baldini
Producer: Beaty Rubens
TUE 12:00 News Summary (m000zmcc)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
TUE 12:04 The Fortnight in September, by RC Sherriff (m000zlr0)
Episode 7
‘The man on his holidays becomes the man he might have been, the man he could have been, had things worked out a little differently. All men are equal on their holidays’.
In his autobiography, RC Sherriff describes how he had the idea for The Fortnight in September during his own holiday in Bognor Regis, when he started to wonder about the lives of the ordinary people he saw coming and going there.
He found himself itching to write about an imaginary family – Mr and Mrs Stevens and their three children, one still at school and two on the verge of adulthood – leaving their house in Dulwich and travelling by train to stay in a boarding house by the sea for two weeks. Deceptive in its simplicity and brimming with poignant observation, Sherriff describes how the family while away the days with beach cricket and swimming in the sea, and the warm evenings strolling along the promenade and listening to the band playing on the bandstand. He explores the importance of a break from work and humdrum routines, giving people an opportunity to reconnect with family, some time to reflect and make resolutions, and perhaps a chance for some romance or an adventure.
Sherriff’s understated novel, published in 1931, celebrates an era when going abroad was still the privilege of the few, and returning to the simple pleasures and familiar rituals of an English seaside holiday was the much-anticipated yearly treat for the majority.
Written by RC Sherriff
Reader: Adrian Scarborough
Abridger: Sara Davies
Producer: Alexa Moore
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 12:18 You and Yours (m000zmcf)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
TUE 12:57 Weather (m000zmch)
The latest weather forecast
TUE 13:00 World at One (m000zmck)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Sarah Montague.
TUE 13:45 A History of the World in 100 Objects (m000zmcm)
Exploration, Exploitation and Enlightenment (AD 1680-1820)
Hawaiian feather helmet
This week Neil MacGregor's history of the world is telling the story of European encounters across the globe during the 18th century.
Today he finds out what happened to Captain Cook as he was mapping and collecting in the Pacific. Neil tells the story through a chieftain's helmet made from a myriad of colourful bird feathers that was given to Cook when he landed in Hawaii in 1778. This is not a story with a happy ending. The anthropologist Nicholas Thomas and the Hawaiian academics Marques Hanalei Marzan, Kyle Nakanelua and Kaholokula help describe Cook's impact in the Pacific and the meaning of the feathered helmet.
Producer: Anthony Denselow
TUE 14:00 The Archers (m000zkpt)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 Brief Lives (m00094jb)
Series 11
Episode 4
Brief Lives by Tom Fry and Sharon Kelly
Frank and Sarah's friend enlist their help on a case in Morecambe.
FRANK David Schofield
SARAH Kathryn Hunt
ISABEL Danielle Henry
REECE David Judge
DC EVANS David Corden
JASMINE Sade Malone
CAITLIN Anna Jobarteh
Director/Producer Gary Brown
TUE 15:00 Short Cuts (m000zmcp)
The Hidden Part
Josie Long presents short documentaries and audio adventures about what remains hidden from view. A writer learns more than she would like about her lover's past conquests and a man wrestles with hyper-visibility as he walks home.
Everything, Nothing
Featuring Laura Barton
Surveillance
Produced by Derick Armah and Ivan d'Avoine
Into Shadow
Featuring John Colverson
Produced by Phil Smith
Curatorial team: Alia Cassam and Andrea Rangecroft
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
Executive Producer: Axel Kacoutié
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 15:30 Costing the Earth (m000zmcr)
Britain's Changing Flowers
Naturalist and broadcaster Mike Dilger takes to the road to map the impact that global warming is having on Britain's plants and flowers. From the highest peaks of the Highlands to the lowest points of the East Anglian Brecklands our flowers are adapting to the changing seasons, but how many will survive and thrive into the future?
Producer: Alasdair Cross
TUE 16:00 The Ballad of the Bet (m000zmct)
In the small hours of the night, we are up in our thousands watching a wheel spin on our phones - a roulette wheel. It may be virtual, yet for many of us it has a power beyond the real. Gambling has been spun inside down and inside out by the internet age, never more so than under lockdown. With the Gambling Act currently under review, Amy Acre brings the experience of betting alive through poetry, music and oral histories, tracing the social history of gambling over three generations.
Image of Amy Acre by Jamie Cameron
Sound design and original music by Jon Nicholls
Vocals by Steph MacGaraidh
Producer Monica Whitlock
Production Coordinator Janet Staples
Editor Hugh Levinson
TUE 16:30 Great Lives (m000zl0b)
Dorothy Byrne on Catherine of Siena
The president of Murray Edwards College, Cambridge and former Channel 4 editor champions the life of a 14th-century mystic. Like Dorothy Byrne, famous for her scathing attacks on broadcasting executives in the 2019 MacTaggart Lecture, Catherine of Siena stood up to powerful men. She lobbied Popes, attacked corruption in the Catholic church, and played an active role in the troubled Italian politics of the late 14th century. Alongside Francis of Assisi, she is one of two patron saints of Italy.
Carolyn Muessig, Chair of Christian Thought at the University of Calgary, provides the expert analysis.
Presented by Matthew Parris and produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Chris Ledgard
TUE 17:00 PM (m000zmcw)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.
TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000zmcy)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 18:30 The Birthday Cake Game (m000zmd0)
Series 1
Episode 3
A brand new comedic quiz hosted by Richard Osman that poses one simple question - do you know how old people are? Part quiz show, part panel show, and sometimes part chat show - The Birthday Cake Game is always play-along and full of entertaining guesses, with some surprising take home facts.
The trio joining Richard this week, battling to prove they're the best at working out ages and to take home the coveted birthday cake, are Jayne Sharp, Stuart Maconie and Rebecca Taylor. Tune in to find out who comes out on top and see if you can beat the players and score higher at home.
Production Manager: Ellie Threlfall
Production Executive: Gemma Whitford
Producer: Tamara Gilder
A Remarkable production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 19:00 The Archers (m000zlqp)
There’s a near miss for Adam, and Fallon makes a sacrifice.
TUE 19:15 Front Row (m000zlqr)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
TUE 19:45 Steelmanning (m000rdzx)
Episode 2
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 episode, Timandra talks to the General Secretary of CND Kate Hudson to tackle the issue of nuclear power. Other contributors include the journalist and environmental activist Mark Lynas and former Supreme Court judge Lord Sumption.
Producer: Peter Snowdon
TUE 20:00 File on 4 (m000zlqt)
Bad Influencer
File on 4 reveals the inside story of Ramon Abbas, one of a new breed of prolific global cyber-fraudsters. As Abbas awaits sentencing in the US for money-laundering, File on 4 asks is enough being done to protect us from online criminals operating across international borders.
Snared by the FBI in 2020, Abbas is better known as Instagram influencer Hushpuppi, who flaunted a life of designer clothes, private jets and penthouse apartments to millions of followers. Little did they know that his lavish lifestyle was funded through a complex web of cyber-heists. He even had a hand in an audacious attempt to steal £100 million from a Premier League football club.
Most cyber-criminals remain nameless, faceless, anonymous and all but untraceable. Now, File on 4 unmasks Ramon Abbas, revealing a complicated, sometimes ruthless character driven by a thirst for wealth and celebrity status.
In addition, we expose the inner workings of a clandestine operation that earned him a reputation as the world’s most high-profile money-launderer.
Reporters: Paul Connolly and Princess Abumere
Producer: Helen Clifton
Editor: Maggie Latham
TUE 20:40 In Touch (m000zlqw)
News, views and information for people who are blind or partially sighted
TUE 21:00 Three Pounds in My Pocket (m000c4rr)
Series 3
Episode 2
Kavita Puri hears stories of the pioneering migrants from the Indian subcontinent and their children. She hears how the politics of 1980s Britain was shaping not only the ‘three pound’ generation of early migrants but also their children.
It was a period during which there was the largest intake yet of MPs – all Labour - from ethnic minority backgrounds. Under Margaret Thatcher’s premiership, the Conservatives began to court the South Asian vote. We meet the first female British South Asian to be chosen as a parliamentary candidate for the Tories.
By the mid-1980s, many of the 'three pound generation' had been in Britain for longer than they had lived on the Indian subcontinent. They and their children were becoming ever more ingrained into British life, part of its fabric. And as the decade drew to an end, we see how dramatic events would lead to the South Asian community fragmenting.
Presenter: Kavita Puri
Producer: Ant Adeane
Editor: Hugh Levinson
Historical consultants:
Dr Florian Stadtler, Exeter University
Dr Edward Anderson, Cambridge University
TUE 21:30 The Life Scientific (m000zlqc)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (m000zlqy)
In-depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
TUE 22:45 The Fortnight in September, by RC Sherriff (m000zlr0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 today]
TUE 23:00 Fortunately... with Fi and Jane (m000zlr2)
202. Cold Showers and Bicycle Blunders, with Michael Mosley
In this edition of the Fortunately podcast, Fi and Jane have an appointment with broadcaster and former doctor Michael Mosley. Michael tells Garvey and Glover about his podcast Just One Thing, which is back for another series to give us some handy health tips. He also takes questions on late night cheese, one legged tooth brushing and fictional physicians. Before Michael arrives, Jane has a new Two Ronnies inspired format for the podcast and Fi battles the Indian summer.
Get in touch: fortunately.podcast@bbc.co.uk
TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (m000zlr4)
Today in Parliament
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament
WEDNESDAY 15 SEPTEMBER 2021
WED 00:00 Midnight News (m000zlr6)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
WED 00:30 God: An Anatomy, by Francesca Stavrakopoulou (m000zlr8)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000zlrb)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000zlrd)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.
WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000zlrg)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
WED 05:30 News Briefing (m000zlrj)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000zlrl)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg.
Good Morning
This evening Jewish communities will gather in synagogues across the world to begin Yom Kippur, the twenty-five hour fast of the Day of Atonement.
Tonight’s service is named after its opening prayer: Kol Nidrei, ‘All Vows’. But it’s the music, more than the words, for which people love it. The text is a declaration before the community that any vows we make to God from now until this time next year should not be held against us. It’s a puzzling prayer. It’s open to misuse by anti-Semites to suggest Jews can’t be trusted. But it doesn’t apply to promises and commitments we make to other people, only to God. It’s had its Jewish opponents too. It has no legal sense: one can’t unmake a vow one hasn’t yet made.
Yet Kol Nidrei has maintained its place in the liturgy, and its hold on the soul.
That’s because of the music; without it Kol Nidrei isn’t Kol Nidrei. It was composed by Bruch, for cello and orchestra, for Liverpool’s Jewish community when he took up his post as Principal Conductor of the city’s Philharmonic Orchestra. Bruch wasn’t himself Jewish, but Protestant. He was inspired by friendships with Jewish musicians.
It's impossible to describe the wonder of the music; it needs to be heard. It fathoms the soul; it rises to the horizon of human aspiration. It takes the words of the meditation and carries them on its wings.
Together they say: God, we will vow and strive. We will fall short and fail. We know it. But don’t hold that against us. For we will not cease from aspiration. We shall put our whole heart into our lives.
WED 05:45 Farming Today (m000zlrn)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
WED 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03bkfhy)
Common Pheasant
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Common Pheasant. The crowing of pheasants is a sound inseparable from most of the UK countryside, yet these flamboyant birds were introduced into the UK. The pheasant's coppery plumage and red face-wattles, coupled with a tail that's as long again as its body, make the cock pheasant a strikingly beautiful bird.
WED 06:00 Today (m000zmkg)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
WED 09:00 More or Less (m000zkzq)
Tim Harford explains the numbers and statistics used in everyday life.
WED 09:30 Four Thought (m000zl0x)
Thought-provoking talks in which speakers explore original ideas about culture and society
WED 09:45 God: An Anatomy, by Francesca Stavrakopoulou (m000zmm0)
Back and Beyond
Professor Francesca Stavrakopolou examines how the Western idea of God developed, exploring the ancient religions and societies of the biblical world.
In this third episode, she begins at the summit of Jebel Musa, the most sacred mountain in southern Sinai. These are the rocks, tradition has it, from which were hewn the tablets of the Ten Commandments. And here is the very spot where Moses asked to see God’s body in its most fulsome glory.
“It is one of the more carefully choreographed exhibitions of God’s anatomy in the Bible. Like a celebrity stretching out a hand to block the paparazzi, God only permits Moses to see him from behind as he moves away. In the story, this is supposed to be a sign of divine favour. And yet culturally, the back of a god was more usually a devastating sight: it not only signalled divine displeasure but presaged disaster…”
Professor Francesca Stavrakopoulou studied theology at Oxford and is currently Professor of Hebrew Bible and Ancient Religion at the University of Exeter. The author of a number of academic works, she also presented the BBC2 documentary series The Bible’s Buried Secrets. She regularly appears on BBC1’s The Big Questions and Sunday Morning Live, and writes for the Guardian, the Mail on Sunday and the Times Literary Supplement.
Abridged and produced by Elizabeth Burke.
A Loftus Media Ltd production for BBC Radio 4
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000zmkn)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.
WED 11:00 This Union: Two Kingdoms (m000zkpy)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 on Monday]
WED 11:30 Geoff Norcott: It's OK to Change Your Mind (m000vhln)
Don't worry, Geoff hasn't suddenly become a raging socialist.
But one consequence of Covid is that the right-wing comedian, like many people, has had his most solid convictions challenged repeatedly by events.
A lot of Geoff's long-held beliefs have been challenged by a politically and culturally turbulent twelve months; it can be confusing to have a supposedly right-wing government locking us at home and getting cheered on by large parts of the left, and it's a lot harder for Geoff to explain why he believes in a small state when the government is in the process of successfully rolling out a vaccine.
People ask Geoff if he regrets voting for a Conservative government but, looking at the casual attitude to debt, he says he now regrets not getting one!
It’s not just politics. Has the police's main role become to question why people are sitting down on benches while standing back from actual riots? As beliefs get challenged, statues fall and breakfast TV presenters get cancelled, Geoff pauses to take it all in.
This show is his attempt to get to grips with what happens to convictions and ideology when a pandemic comes along and turns everything on its head.
Producer: Alison Vernon-Smith
Sound Engineer: David Thomas
Production Co-ordinators: Sarah Tombling, Sarah Wright, Jacob Tombling
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4
WED 12:00 News Summary (m000zmnp)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
WED 12:04 The Fortnight in September, by RC Sherriff (m000zmks)
Episode 8
‘The man on his holidays becomes the man he might have been, the man he could have been, had things worked out a little differently. All men are equal on their holidays’.
In his autobiography, RC Sherriff describes how he had the idea for The Fortnight in September during his own holiday in Bognor Regis, when he started to wonder about the lives of the ordinary people he saw coming and going there.
He found himself itching to write about an imaginary family – Mr and Mrs Stevens and their three children, one still at school and two on the verge of adulthood – leaving their house in Dulwich and travelling by train to stay in a boarding house by the sea for two weeks. Deceptive in its simplicity and brimming with poignant observation, Sherriff describes how the family while away the days with beach cricket and swimming in the sea, and the warm evenings strolling along the promenade and listening to the band playing on the bandstand. He explores the importance of a break from work and humdrum routines, giving people an opportunity to reconnect with family, some time to reflect and make resolutions, and perhaps a chance for some romance or an adventure.
Sherriff’s understated novel, published in 1931, celebrates an era when going abroad was still the privilege of the few, and returning to the simple pleasures and familiar rituals of an English seaside holiday was the much-anticipated yearly treat for the majority.
Written by RC Sherriff
Reader: Adrian Scarborough
Abridger: Sara Davies
Producer: Alexa Moore
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4
WED 12:18 You and Yours (m000zmkv)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
WED 12:57 Weather (m000zmkx)
The latest weather forecast
WED 13:00 World at One (m000zmkz)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Sarah Montague.
WED 13:45 A History of the World in 100 Objects (b00v3kg5)
Exploration, Exploitation and Enlightenment (AD 1680-1820)
North American Buckskin Map
The history of humanity - as told through one hundred objects from the British Museum in London - is once again in North America. This week, Neil MacGregor, the museum's director, is looking at Europe's engagement with the rest of the world in the 18th century.
Today he tells the story of a map, roughly drawn on deerskin that was used as the colonists negotiated for land in the area between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi. It was probably drawn up by a Native American around 1774. Neil looks at how the French and the British were in conflict in the region, and examines the different attitudes to land and living between Europeans and Native Americans. Martin Lewis, an expert on maps from this region, and the historian David Edmunds describe the map and the clash of cultures that was played out within its boundaries.
Producer: Anthony Denselow
WED 14:00 The Archers (m000zlqp)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 Life Lines (m000zml2)
Series 5
Part One
By Al Smith
Carrie ..... Sarah Ridgeway
Will ..... Rick Warden
Ian ..... Michael Jibson
Abbas ..... Sharif Dorani
Joyce ..... Helen Norton
Angelica ..... Saffron Coomber
Devin ..... Justice Ritchie
Tom ..... Sam Dale
Jo ..... Grace Cooper Milton
Paul ..... Luke Nunn
Andy ..... Shaun Mason
Chris ..... Joseph Ayre
Gwen ..... Christine Kavanagh
Director ..... Sally Avens
The award-winning drama series set in an ambulance control centre returns. Carrie faces a series of heart-stopping emergencies at work. But when her judgement is called into question over a patient who later died, she finds her work and personal life colliding dangerously.
WED 15:00 Money Box (m000zml4)
Paul Lewis and a panel of guests answer calls on personal finance.
Producer: Emma Rippon
WED 15:30 Prison Break (m000w5vh)
Episode 5: If not this, then what?
Former 'prison wife' Josie Bevan confronts the failings of the prison system.
In this concluding episode, Josie returns to the attack at Fishmongers' Hall in November 2019, in which John Crilly, who previously served 13 years for manslaughter, was briefly hailed as a hero for tackling the terrorist with a fire extinguisher, while Dave Merritt shares more about what motivated his dead son Jack's work with prisoners.
Josie also talks with Alex Chalk MP - Minister for Prisons, Probation and Youth Justice - about the balance of harm and healing on the scales of justice, historian Dr David Scott and Maureen Mansfield of Abolitionist Futures.
Josie's previous podcast series Prison Bag - one family's unflinching confrontation with the prison system - is available on BBC Sounds.
Produced by Rebecca Lloyd-Evans and Alan Hall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (m000zml6)
Laurie Taylor explores the latest research into how society works.
WED 16:30 The Media Show (m000zml8)
Social media, anti-social media, breaking news, faking news: this is the programme about a revolution in media.
WED 17:00 PM (m000zmlb)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000zmlg)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 18:30 My Teenage Diary (m000zmlj)
Series 10
Sofie Hagen
Rufus Hound's guest is comedian, writer and campaigner Sofie Hagen, whose teenage diaries are full of Westlife, dodgy poetry and finding out about boys.
A Talkback production for BBC Radio 4
WED 19:00 The Archers (m000zmj1)
Alice drops a bombshell, and Ian has a drastic solution.
WED 19:15 Front Row (m000zmll)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
WED 19:45 Steelmanning (m000rln9)
Episode 3
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 episode, Timandra meets Professor Kay Peggs from Kingston University, to debate the merits of veganism. Other contributors include the journalist and author Louise Gray.
Producer: Peter Snowdon
WED 20:00 Bringing Up Britain (m000zmln)
Series 14
Do stereotypes matter?
The relationship between the sexes is high on the agenda thanks to the revelations of school harassment on Everyone's Invited, children's increasing exposure to porn and hashtags like #NotAllMen. But how are parents navigating this complex area? In this four part series of Bringing Up Britain, Anjula Mutanda sets out to find answers. She explores whether stereotypes matter, how to prepare boys for adolescence, the pros and cons of single sex education and how to parent children through the complexities of online harassment and abuse.
In this first episode, Anjula speaks to Sophie, a mother who was adamant she would protect her children from society's expectations of them, but finds herself with a toddler son who loves tractors and trains and a three-year-old daughter who loves pink and princesses. Sophie wants to know how these stereotypical interests get ingrained so young and whether it matters for her children's future lives and relationships. Anjula brings together a series of experts from neuroscientists, to sociologists and psychologists to explore the gender norms children learn from the moment they are born and provide some answers for Sophie.
Producer: Ellie Bury
WED 20:45 Four Thought (m000zl0x)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:30 today]
WED 21:00 Costing the Earth (m000zmcr)
[Repeat of broadcast at
15:30 on Tuesday]
WED 21:30 The Media Show (m000zml8)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 today]
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (m000zmlr)
In-depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
WED 22:45 The Fortnight in September, by RC Sherriff (m000zmks)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 today]
WED 23:00 Helen Lewis: Great Wives (m000zmlt)
Series 1
Out of the Shadows
For two decades, Great Lives on Radio 4 has explored what it takes to change the world. But Helen Lewis wants to ask a different question: what does it take to live with someone who changes the world?
Behind the history of genius lies a second, hidden history: the stories of people who give geniuses the time they need to flourish. This series explores the many "supporting roles" needed to sustain an apparently "singular" genius.
In the final episode of the series, Helen explores the myth of the solitary genius as we meet Alma Mahler, discover Charles Darwin's "pros and cons" list on the subject of taking a wife and unpick the influential work of the psychologist Hans Eysenck.
Written by Helen Lewis with additional voices from Joshua Higgott
Producer: Richard Morris
Production Coordinator: Sarah Nicholls
Sound Design: Chris Maclean
A BBC Studios Production
WED 23:15 Rhys James (b09nxv00)
Series 1
Rhys James Is... 'Irresistible'
Comedian Rhys James explores different aspects of himself through live stand up, spoken word poetry and interview clips. In this episode, Rhys examines his relationships and reluctantly speaks to Carmen, who is a girl he had a crush on in school.
Written and performed by... Rhys James
Carmen... Carmen
Music by... Steve Dunne
Sound by... David Thomas
Produced by... Carl Cooper
A BBC Studios production
WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (m000zmlw)
Today in Parliament
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament
THURSDAY 16 SEPTEMBER 2021
THU 00:00 Midnight News (m000zmly)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
THU 00:30 God: An Anatomy, by Francesca Stavrakopoulou (m000zmm0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000zmm2)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000zmm4)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.
THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000zmm6)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
THU 05:30 News Briefing (m000zmm8)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000zmmb)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg.
Good Morning
Today is Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. It’s the holiest date in the Jewish year, a fast from dusk yesterday until dark tonight. It takes us from our daily round, into a deeper world where we bring our soul and conscience before God.
We ask difficult questions:
What are we? What is our life? What are we doing with it?
We admit the light of truth into chambers of our conscience we’re reluctant to open: Did I really say that? Did I cause that hurt? How can I make good?
The centre of the service is a litany of confession. Like many Hebrew prayers, it’s an acrostic, each phrase beginning with the next letter of the alphabet. This brings structure and rigour into our self-examination.
It’s the ‘b’ word which catches my conscience: ‘bagadnu – we’ve betrayed.’ It encapsulates my feeling when memories of selfish things emerge from the recesses where I’ve suppressed them and fill me with shame.
It’s what I feel when I see how we humans treat nature.
The same Hebrew word, beged, also means clothing. There’s a rabbinic legend about Nimrod, the Bible’s ‘mighty hunter’. Nimrod steals the clothes God wove for Adam and Eve to encourage the animals to trust them, even after Eden. He puts them on; the animals approach him, and he clubs them to death.
I fear that’s how we’ve treated nature, and I’m filled with remorse.
But regret and shame are met by a counter-force on Yom Kippur, an overflowing inner well of love: I love life, love people, animals, trees. So what role can I play in how we treat nature and what can I put right?
God, give us the love to mend and heal this hurting world.
THU 05:45 Farming Today (m000zmmd)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
THU 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b038qkb3)
Aquatic Warbler
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Brett Westwood presents the aquatic warbler. The stripy aquatic warbler is streaked like the sedges it lives in and is the only globally threatened European perching bird. They sing in the marshes of central and eastern Europe where the small European population has its stronghold. Unfortunately, this specialized habitat is disappearing because of drainage, disturbance and peat extraction. They are migrants so it's vital to protect their wintering areas as well as their breeding sites. It's known that up to 10,000 birds winter in the swamps of North-west Senegal.
THU 06:00 Today (m000zmh9)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
THU 09:00 In Our Time (m000zmhf)
The Evolution of Crocodiles
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the remarkable diversity of the animals that dominated life on land in the Triassic, before the rise of the dinosaurs in the Jurassic, and whose descendants are often described wrongly as 'living fossils'. For tens of millions of years, the ancestors of alligators and Nile crocodiles included some as large as a bus, some running on two legs like a T Rex and some that lived like whales. They survived and rebounded from a series of extinction events but, while the range of habitats of the dinosaur descendants such as birds covers much of the globe, those of the crocodiles have contracted, even if the animals themselves continue to evolve today as quickly as they ever have.
With
Anjali Goswami
Research Leader in Life Sciences and Dean of Postgraduate Education at the Natural History Museum
Philip Mannion
Lecturer in the Department of Earth Sciences at University College London
And
Steve Brusatte
Professor of Palaeontology and Evolution at the University of Edinburgh
Producer Simon Tillotson
THU 09:45 God: An Anatomy, by Francesca Stavrakopoulou (m000zmk0)
Cover Up
Professor Francesca Stavrakopolou reads God: An Anatomy, her surprising and often controversial examination of God, in all his bodily, uncensored, scandalous forms.
In this fourth episode, she explores how Christian tradition has covered up the genitals, literally fixing bronze loincloths to Michelangelo’s nude statues of Christ.
“No matter that Michelangelo, like many of his predecessors and peers, used the nude theologically to celebrate the humanity and masculinity of the divine Christ. For too many, the genitals were both spiritually and morally dangerous, and had to be hidden from view. Essentially, genitals were to be considered an aspect of the human condition, not the divine. And yet the body of the God of the Bible suggests otherwise…”
Professor Francesca Stavrakopoulou studied theology at Oxford and is currently Professor of Hebrew Bible and Ancient Religion at the University of Exeter. The author of a number of academic works, she also presented the BBC2 documentary series The Bible’s Buried Secrets. She regularly appears on BBC1’s The Big Questions and Sunday Morning Live, and writes for the Guardian, the Mail on Sunday and the Times Literary Supplement.
Abridged and produced by Elizabeth Burke.
A Loftus Media Ltd production for BBC Radio 4
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000zmhk)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.
THU 11:00 Crossing Continents (m000zmhm)
Libya's Unfinished Revolution
It’s ten years since Libya’s dictator Col Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown. But the country’s still not a a democracy – or even a unified functioning state. The militias that brought down the dictatorship in 2011 never disbanded. They turned the country into a battleground, abducting and murdering countless citizens. Since last year, there’s been a ceasefire in the long civil war. Elections are planned. But how powerful are the militias – even now? And how hopeful are Libyans about their future? Reporter Tim Whewell, who covered the uprising in 2011, returns to find out what happened to Libya’s revolution. At spectacular horse-races in the city of Misrata, he meets Libyans who say they have more opportunities now than under Gaddafi. But many writers and activists have fled the country or gone silent, fearing they might disappear if they say anything that displeases armed groups. Some militias have officially been turned into security arms of the state. But that’s given them access to valuable state resources - and militia commanders are accused of becoming mafia bosses. Tim meets possible future leader Fathi Bashagha, who vows to tame the armed groups. But would he prosecute their commanders for past crimes? And can the eastern and western sides of Libya, effectively still under separate authorities despite a unity government, be brought together? Many think war may break out again, and some young Libyans, despairing for their country’s future, are even risking the dangerous passage across the Mediterranean, to emigrate.
Producer: Bob Howard
THU 11:30 From the Steppes to the Stage (b09l1ygv)
Series 1
Episode 1
From the nomads of the vast steppe, to the glamour and adulation of the stage. Kate Molleson unravels the story of Mongolia's remarkable rise to being an opera superpower (1/2)
Mongolia is becoming a global leader in opera singing - and completely breaking the mould. Young nomadic herders and horsemen are being plucked from the vast plains and taken to Ulaanbaatar - where they're transformed into the next generation of top-flight tenors and baritones.
It's a fascinating synergy of young men with the perfect physique, often honed in a rugged, traditional outdoorsmen culture, and a superb Soviet-era music and arts education system that - just over half a century after its State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet first opened - is delivering the next generation of global singing superstars.
Radio 4 brings you a hypnotic audio portrait, taking you from the open plains, horse lullabies and throat singing of the endless Mongolian landscape to the cultural melee of Ulaanbaatar - a place of stark contrasts where gleaming 21st century skyscrapers rise, yet where around half the population live in traditional gers (tents). A nation numbering just three million people, yet the size of Western Europe, and sandwiched between the gigantic superpowers of Russia and China - how much can Mongolia harness its cultural might to have a voice in global geopolitics?
In this first episode, journalist Kate Molleson documents the story of Ariunbaatar Ganbaatar - the 2017 winner of one of the most prestigious prizes in global opera: the BBC Cardiff Singer Of The World Song Prize, whose previous winners include Bryn Terfel and Ailish Tynan.
Ariunbaatar was born to a family of nomadic herders, who still live a traditional lifestyle in the immense Mongolian steppe. At his family's ger, hundreds of miles from the nearest settlement, Kate is treated to a performance of Mongolian longsong - the nation's traditional classical singing art - as well as joining Ariunbaatar on horseback to hear the songs he sang as a young boy, alone in the vast wilderness. Is Mongolia's unique traditional culture - perhaps even its landscape itself - the secret of its extraordinary vocal alchemy?
Producer: Steven Rajam
Presenter: Kate Molleson
A BBC Wales production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 12:00 News Summary (m000zmq1)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
THU 12:04 The Fortnight in September, by RC Sherriff (m000zmhr)
Episode 9
‘The man on his holidays becomes the man he might have been, the man he could have been, had things worked out a little differently. All men are equal on their holidays’.
In his autobiography, RC Sherriff describes how he had the idea for The Fortnight in September during his own holiday in Bognor Regis, when he started to wonder about the lives of the ordinary people he saw coming and going there.
He found himself itching to write about an imaginary family – Mr and Mrs Stevens and their three children, one still at school and two on the verge of adulthood – leaving their house in Dulwich and travelling by train to stay in a boarding house by the sea for two weeks. Deceptive in its simplicity and brimming with poignant observation, Sherriff describes how the family while away the days with beach cricket and swimming in the sea, and the warm evenings strolling along the promenade and listening to the band playing on the bandstand. He explores the importance of a break from work and humdrum routines, giving people an opportunity to reconnect with family, some time to reflect and make resolutions, and perhaps a chance for some romance or an adventure.
Sherriff’s understated novel, published in 1931, celebrates an era when going abroad was still the privilege of the few, and returning to the simple pleasures and familiar rituals of an English seaside holiday was the much-anticipated yearly treat for the majority.
Written by RC Sherriff
Reader: Adrian Scarborough
Abridger: Sara Davies
Producer: Alexa Moore
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4
THU 12:18 You and Yours (m000zmht)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
THU 12:57 Weather (m000zmhw)
The latest weather forecast
THU 13:00 World at One (m000zmhy)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Sarah Montague.
THU 13:45 A History of the World in 100 Objects (b00v3x6v)
Exploration, Exploitation and Enlightenment (AD 1680-1820)
Australian Bark Shield
The history of humanity as told through one hundred objects from the British Museum in London. This week, Neil MacGregor, the Director of the Museum, is looking at Europe's engagement with the rest of the world during the 18th century.
Today he is with an object "freighted with layers of history, legend, global politics and race relations". It is a shield from Australia, originally owned by one of the men to first set eyes on Europeans as they descended on Botany Bay nearly 250 years ago. This remarkably well-preserved object was brought to England by the explorer Captain Cook. What can this object tell us about the early encounter between two such different cultures? Phil Gordon, the aboriginal Heritage Officer at the Australian Museum in Sydney, and the historian Maria Nugent help tell the story.
Producer: Anthony Denselow
THU 14:00 The Archers (m000zmj1)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 Life Lines (m000zmj3)
Series 5
Part Two
by Al Smith
Carrie ..... Sarah Ridgeway
Will ..... Rick Warden
Ian ..... Michael Jibson
Mark ..... Tim McMullan
Craig ..... Justice Ritchie
Train Driver ..... Christine Kavanagh
Justin ..... Joseph Ayre
Paramedic ..... Shaun Mason
Director ..... Sally Avens
Award-winning drama set in an ambulance control room. Every day, Carrie must deal coolly with heart-stopping situations but what can she do when the emergency services have become the problem?
THU 15:00 Ramblings (m000zmj6)
The Turquoise Sea and White Sands of Ardnamurchan
Clare explores a remote and beautiful stretch of coastline between Portuairk and Sanna Bay on the Ardnamurchan Peninsula. Ardnamurchan's far coastline is the most westerly part of the British mainland and has some of Scotland’s most gorgeous beaches. Sanna Bay, in particular, is an expanse of white sand and turquoise seas with views that stretch across to the inner Hebridean islands of Rum, Eigg and Muck. Her guide is Dee Heddon, a Professor of Theatre at the University of Glasgow. She co-created the ‘Walking Library’, a project that brings together walking and reading; and she’s recently launched a new study to explore how creativity and walking have become more connected during the pandemic.
Scroll down on the Ramblings webpage to the 'related links' box to find out more about Dee's projects.
Presenter: Clare Balding
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Karen Gregor
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (m000zlj9)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 Open Book (m000zlk1)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Sunday]
THU 16:00 The Film Programme (m000zmj8)
Film programme looking at the latest cinema releases, DVDs and films on TV.
THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (m000zmjb)
A weekly programme that illuminates the mysteries and challenges the controversies behind the science that's changing our world.
THU 17:00 PM (m000zmjd)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000zmjj)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 18:30 Dr Phil's Bedside Manner (m000zmjl)
Series 1
Worcestershire Royal Hospital
An innovative mix of comedy performance and documentary in a series presented by Dr Phil Hammond.
As a doctor and a comedian, Phil knows that humour and laughter are vital coping mechanisms in the NHS, as he travels the UK on a mission to listen to the beating heart of a national institution.
The programmes are an adventurous, hilarious, thought provoking mix of humour and happiness, tragedy and reflection as the personal thoughts, opinions, experiences and hopes of people who work for and use the NHS are revealed.
In this programme, Phil visits the Worcestershire Royal Hospital and speaks to porters and patients, visitors and volunteers, managers and medics - and performs a free stand-up comedy show for the staff, based on the stories of the people he has met.
A Ride production for BBC Radio 4
THU 19:00 The Archers (m000zkz5)
Writer, Nick Warburton
Director, Peter Leslie Wild
Editor, Jeremy Howe
Jolene Archer …. Buffy Davis
Kenton Archer …. Richard Attlee
Pat Archer …. Patricia Gallimore
Jennifer Aldridge …. Angela Piper
Harrison Burns …. James Cartwright
Alice Carter … Hollie Chapman
Chris Carter … Wilf Scolding
Ian Craig … Stephen Kennedy
Eddie Grundy …. Trevor Harrison
Emma Grundy… Emerald O’Hanrahan
Adam Macey …. Andrew Wincott
Fallon Rogers … Joanna Van Kampen
Oliver Sterling …. Michael Cochrane
Peggy Woolley … June Spencer
Counsellor … Simon Ludders
THU 19:15 Front Row (m000zmjn)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
THU 19:45 Steelmanning (m000rvjt)
Episode 4
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 episode, Timandra meets Alun Michael, Police and Crime Commissioner of South Wales to debate the use of facial recognition technology. Other contributors include the Chair of the Oakland Privacy Campaign, Brian Hofer.
Producer: Peter Snowdon
THU 20:00 The Briefing Room (m000zmjq)
David Aaronovitch presents in-depth explainers on big issues in the news.
THU 20:30 Elon Musk: The Evening Rocket (m000xz37)
Baby X
The science fiction that Silicon Valley techno-billionaires like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Peter Thiel adore often concerns gleaming futures in which fantastically powerful and often immensely rich men colonize other planets. In this episode, Jill Lepore takes a look at the science fiction that’s usually left out of this vision. New Wave, feminist, post-colonial science fiction. Including the story of Baby X, a story from the 1970s about a child - like Musk’s youngest son - named X.
The Evening Rocket is presented by Jill Lepore, Professor of American History at Harvard University and staff writer at The New Yorker. Her latest book is If Then: How the Simulmatics Corporation Invented the Future. She is also the host of The Last Archive, a podcast from Pushkin Industries.
Producer: Viv Jones
Researcher: Oliver Riskin-Kutz
Editor: Hugh Levinson
Mixing: Graham Puddifoot
Original music by Corntuth
THU 21:00 BBC Inside Science (m000zmjb)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 today]
THU 21:30 In Our Time (m000zmhf)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (m000zmjt)
In-depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
THU 22:45 The Fortnight in September, by RC Sherriff (m000zmhr)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 today]
THU 23:00 The Absolutely Radio Show (b08xzcvk)
Series 2
Episode 4
The cast of TV's hugely popular sketch show return for their second series on BBC Radio 4. Pete Baikie, Morwenna Banks, Moray Hunter, Gordon Kennedy and John Sparkes revisit some of their much-loved sketch characters, while also introducing some newcomers to the show.
In 2013, the group that made their name on Channel Four in the 1980s and 90s got back together for Radio 4's Sketchorama: Absolutely Special - which won the BBC Audio Drama Award for Best Live Scripted Comedy. The first series of The Absolutely Radio Show picked up a Celtic Media Award nomination for Best Radio Comedy.
The final episode of the series features a fractious Stoneybridge Town Council meeting where there's controversy even when there's no agenda, the Little Girl with her take on US politics, Frank Hovis revealing how he met his wife, the Commissionaire on how best to manage a border wall between countries, Calum Gilhooley making a mountain out of buying a cup of coffee and Gwynedd shocking Denzil when she reveals her new beachwear - a beaver skin furkini. The team look at the rise of mobile phone zombies and there's a song about the pitfalls of being a self help junkie, while ageing rockers Joe and Davie try to resurrect the old magic in the recording studio.
Produced by Gordon Kennedy and Gus Beattie.
An Absolutely/Gusman production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 23:30 Today in Parliament (m000zmjw)
Today in Parliament
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament
FRIDAY 17 SEPTEMBER 2021
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (m000zmjy)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 00:30 God: An Anatomy, by Francesca Stavrakopoulou (m000zmk0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Thursday]
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000zmk2)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000zmk4)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.
FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000zmk6)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
FRI 05:30 News Briefing (m000zmk8)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000zmkb)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg.
Good Morning.
At this time of year, one Jewish holyday follows swiftly upon another. The moment the Day of Atonement ends, preparations for Succot, Tabernacles, begin. The festival starts on Monday night, but there’s a lot to get ready.
Succot is celebrated by building a small hut in memory of the booths in which the Children of Israel dwelt during their forty years in the wilderness.
It’s also a harvest festival. Succah means ‘shelter’; in Ancient Israel farmers made succahs for shade from the sun.
A Succah must therefore have a roof made of leaves and branches. It should be a place of beauty and is traditionally decorated with flowers, fruits and vegetables.
Fragile as it is a Succah is a space of sanctuary hospitality; as much as Covid allows, we welcome guests to eat there each night of the eight-day festival. The impermanent, provisional structure reminds us to offer a special welcome to refugees, since we too were homeless once.
Succot is festival of gratitude for the gifts of the soil. Living, eating, and - for the hardy - sleeping in the Succah, restores our bond with the earth. It reminds us of our dependence on the generosity of nature. It brings home to us our frailty, and, in our climate emergency, as we approach COP 26, of nature’s fragility too.
We are a vulnerable part of this wonder, this beautiful, endangered planet.
God teach us to love it, protect it and walk humbly with it.
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (m000zmkd)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
FRI 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b02tws57)
Cirl Bunting
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Steve Backshall presents the cirl bunting.
Cirl buntings are related to yellowhammers and look rather like them, but the male cirl bunting has a black throat and a greenish chest-band.
Their rattling song may evoke memories of warm dry hillsides in France or Italy. Cirl buntings are Mediterranean birds more at home in olive groves than chilly English hedgerows. Here at the north-western edge of their range, most of our cirl buntings live near the coast in south Devon where they breed in hedgerows on farmland .
FRI 06:00 Today (m000zky9)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (m000zkyf)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:00 on Sunday]
FRI 09:45 God: An Anatomy, by Francesca Stavrakopoulou (m000zl0j)
Desiring the Divine
Professor Francesca Stavrakopolou reads God: An Anatomy, her surprising and often controversial examination of God, in all his bodily, uncensored, scandalous forms.
In this final episode, she explores the staggering beauty of the God of the Bible.
“God’s aesthetic qualities are more usually veiled in translation by the mistaken assumption that no one believed God had a body to be seen. His magnetic good looks are recast instead as immaterial moral virtues, so that, in most Bibles today, God is described not as ‘good-looking’, but ‘good’; he is not ‘lovely looking’, but ‘gracious’. And yet the Hebrew terms used in these psalms – tob and na‘im – carry with them a strong sense of the aesthetic, and they are often used to describe attractive people, pretty places and wondrous sights, rather than abstract qualities. God may well have embodied praiseworthy values, but he was also staggeringly beautiful…”
Professor Francesca Stavrakopoulou studied theology at Oxford and is currently Professor of Hebrew Bible and Ancient Religion at the University of Exeter. The author of a number of academic works, she also presented the BBC2 documentary series The Bible’s Buried Secrets. She regularly appears on BBC1’s The Big Questions and Sunday Morning Live, and writes for the Guardian, the Mail on Sunday and the Times Literary Supplement.
Abridged and produced by Elizabeth Burke.
A Loftus Media Ltd production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000zkyk)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.
FRI 11:00 The Digital Human (m000bcmz)
Series 18
Messiah
Aleks Krotoski explores how Silicon Valley culture has led to a growth in the cult of personality.
This kind of worship has been hot housed in Silicon Valley ever since Steve Jobs burst out of his garage and onto the scene.
Here, we take a look at how Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk and others came to be regarded as the charismatic high priests in a new dark age. and ask what that says about us.
But, with the trial of Elizabeth Holmes and the fall of WeWork, have the bubble burst?
Producer: Caitlin Smith
FRI 11:30 A Charles Paris Mystery (m000zkym)
A Deadly Habit
Episode 3
by Jeremy Front
based on the novel by Simon Brett
Charles ..... Bill Nighy
Frances ..... Suzanne Burden
Maurice ..... Jon Glover
Kit ..... Joseph Ayre
Alice ..... Elinor Coleman
Brendan ..... Jonathan Kydd
Nina ..... Marilyn Nnadebe
Dervla ..... Jane Slavin
Directed by Sally Avens
When an actress falls down stairs in the West End theatre where Charles is appearing, his suspicions are aroused. The discovery of a sex-tape on a covert camera in her dressing room only confirms them. But who is the voyeur and potential murderer? Charles sniffs criminality. The game is afoot!
FRI 12:00 News Summary (m000zmrv)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
FRI 12:04 The Fortnight in September, by RC Sherriff (m000zkyr)
Episode 10
‘The man on his holidays becomes the man he might have been, the man he could have been, had things worked out a little differently. All men are equal on their holidays’.
In his autobiography, RC Sherriff describes how he had the idea for The Fortnight in September during his own holiday in Bognor Regis, when he started to wonder about the lives of the ordinary people he saw coming and going there.
He found himself itching to write about an imaginary family – Mr and Mrs Stevens and their three children, one still at school and two on the verge of adulthood – leaving their house in Dulwich and travelling by train to stay in a boarding house by the sea for two weeks. Deceptive in its simplicity and brimming with poignant observation, Sherriff describes how the family while away the days with beach cricket and swimming in the sea, and the warm evenings strolling along the promenade and listening to the band playing on the bandstand. He explores the importance of a break from work and humdrum routines, giving people an opportunity to reconnect with family, some time to reflect and make resolutions, and perhaps a chance for some romance or an adventure.
Sherriff’s understated novel, published in 1931, celebrates an era when going abroad was still the privilege of the few, and returning to the simple pleasures and familiar rituals of an English seaside holiday was the much-anticipated yearly treat for the majority.
Written by RC Sherriff
Reader: Adrian Scarborough
Abridger: Sara Davies
Producer: Alexa Moore
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 12:18 You and Yours (m000zkyt)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
FRI 12:57 Weather (m000zkyw)
The latest weather forecast
FRI 13:00 World at One (m000zkyy)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Edward Stourton.
FRI 13:45 A History of the World in 100 Objects (b00v4l55)
Exploration, Exploitation and Enlightenment (AD 1680-1820)
Jade bi
Neil MacGregor's world history told through the things that time has left behind. Throughout this week, Neil has been looking at Europe's discoveries around the world and its engagement with different cultures during the 18th century - the European Enlightenment project.
Today he describes what was happening in China during this period, as the country was experiencing its own Enlightenment under the Qianlong Emperor. He tells the story through a jade disc (called a Bi) that was probably made around 1500 BC and then written over by the Emperor himself. What does this prehistoric piece of jade tell us about life in 18th century China and how they explored their past? The historian Jonathan Spence and the poet Yang Lian find meaning in this intriguing object.
Producer: Anthony Denselow
FRI 14:00 The Archers (m000zkz5)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Nuremberg (m000zkzb)
The 24 Names, by Jonathan Myerson
September 1945. Everyone is gathering in Nuremberg for the trial. But the courtroom isn’t ready, the judges are still in Berlin and none of the Nazis have lawyers.
Seen through the eyes of Airey Neave, fluent German-speaker and first man to escape from Colditz, who has to serve the indictments. But the names of those to be indicted keep changing – and there are still some surprises.
Meanwhile, with less than a month until the trial is due to start, the Russians seem to be employing delaying tactics – is it because they might also be accused of war crimes? In fact, the Kremlin is having trouble providing translations of its documents – Stalin had executed most people in Russia who could speak a foreign language. And it’s Neave who now has to find the German lawyers to represent the 22 defendants.
Cast:
Major Airey Neave - FREDDIE FOX
Peggy - ROSIE SHEEHY
Robert H Jackson - JOSEPH MYDELL
Sir Geoffrey Lawrence - NICHOLAS WOODESON
Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe - FORBES MASSON
Judge Biddle - CLIVE WOOD
Iona Nikitchenko and other roles - HENRY GOODMAN
Joachim von Ribbentrop and other roles - JASPER BRITTON
Sir Norman Birkett - ANDREW WOODALL
Colonel Burton Andrus and other roles - JOSEPH ALESSI
Hermann Goering and other roles - NIGEL LINDSAY
Dan Kiley and other roles - ILAN GOODMAN
Colonel Gill and other roles - NATHAN WILEY
Henri Donnedieu de Vabres and other roles JONATHAN CULLEN
Sound Designer - ADAM WOODHAMS
Studio Manager - MARK SMITH
Casting Director - GINNY SCHILLER
Original Score - METAPHOR MUSIC
Writer and Director - JONATHAN MYERSON
Producer - NICHOLAS NEWTON
A Promenade Production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds
FRI 14:45 A History of Ghosts (m000nl7t)
So Shall You Be
Illustration by Seonaid Mackay
'There once was a man who died. He was flesh and bone when he went into the ground. And flesh and bone when he came back out of it.'
Kirsty Logan delves into tales of the revenant, a terrifying, malevolent ghost that haunted medieval England, and was anything but spectral.
She traces the origins of revenant stories to a violent entity that terrified even the fiercest of Viking warriors, discovers how the way you lived your life would determine if you would be accepted into heaven, or have the very earth would spit you out, and how the development of purgatory in Christian belief changed how people thought of ghosts forever.
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m000zkzg)
GQT at Home
Peter Gibbs hosts the horticultural programme with Pippa Greenwood, Matt Biggs and Christine Walkden.
Producer - Jemima Rathbone
Assistant Producer - Aniya Das
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 15:45 Short Works (m000zkzk)
Water Duppy
A mysterious new factory promises jobs and happiness to the people of a small town, but a new worker is wary of the changes it brings.
An original short story from Kandace Siobhan Walker, read by Faith Alabi.
Produced by Naomi Walmsley
Kandace Siobhan Walker is a writer and film-maker. Her work has most recently appeared in bath magg and LUMIN and she was the 2021 winner of The White Review Poet’s Prize. She grew up in Wales and lives in London.
FRI 16:00 Last Word (m000zkzn)
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 (m000zkzq)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 on Wednesday]
FRI 17:00 PM (m000zkzs)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000zkzx)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 18:30 The News Quiz (m000zkzz)
Series 106
Episode 3
Andy Zaltzman presents a look back at the week's headlines.
FRI 19:00 Front Row (m000zl01)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
FRI 19:45 Steelmanning (m000s2js)
Episode 5
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 episode, Timandra meets the former head of policy at Number 10, Baroness Cavendish, to debate sugar taxes. Other contributors include the journalist Madeline Grant and former Supreme Court judge Lord Sumption.
Producer: Peter Snowdon
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (m000zl03)
Chris Mason presents political debate and discussion from Newcastle Community Cinema in County Down.
Producer: Camellia Sinclair
Lead broadcast engineer: Martin McCullough
FRI 20:50 A Point of View (m000zl05)
Weekly reflections on topical issues from a range of contributors.
FRI 21:00 A History of the World in 100 Objects Omnibus (b00vy3zr)
Exploration, Exploitation and Englightenment (AD 1680-1820)
Another chance to hear Neil MacGregor, the director of the British Museum in London, continue his global history as told through objects from the Museum's collection.
In this episode, he tackles the age of enlightment when scientific learning and philosophical thought flourished. Although often associated with reason, liberty and progress, the Enlightenment was also a period of European imperial expansion when the transatlantic slave trade was at its height. Important advances in navigation allowed European sailors to explore the Pacific more thoroughly, and for the first time the indigenous cultures of Hawaii and Australia were connected with the rest of the world. Europe was not the world's only successful growing economy, China, under the Qing dynasty, was regarded by many as the greatest empire the world had ever seen.
Producer: Paul Kobrak
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (m000zl08)
In-depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
FRI 22:45 The Fortnight in September, by RC Sherriff (m000zkyr)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 today]
FRI 23:00 Great Lives (m000zl0b)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 on Tuesday]
FRI 23:30 Today in Parliament (m000zl0d)
Today in Parliament
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)
9/11: The Arc of History
22:15 SAT (m000zdvf)
A Charles Paris Mystery
11:30 FRI (m000zkym)
A History of Ghosts
14:45 FRI (m000nl7t)
A History of the World in 100 Objects Omnibus
21:00 FRI (b00vy3zr)
A History of the World in 100 Objects
13:45 MON (b00v1mvt)
A History of the World in 100 Objects
13:45 TUE (m000zmcm)
A History of the World in 100 Objects
13:45 WED (b00v3kg5)
A History of the World in 100 Objects
13:45 THU (b00v3x6v)
A History of the World in 100 Objects
13:45 FRI (b00v4l55)
A Point of View
08:48 SUN (m000zfg3)
A Point of View
20:50 FRI (m000zl05)
Any Answers?
14:00 SAT (m000zm0m)
Any Questions?
13:10 SAT (m000zfg1)
Any Questions?
20:00 FRI (m000zl03)
Archive on 4
20:00 SAT (m000zkn0)
BBC Inside Science
16:30 THU (m000zmjb)
BBC Inside Science
21:00 THU (m000zmjb)
Bells on Sunday
05:43 SUN (m000zkng)
Bells on Sunday
00:45 MON (m000zkng)
Beyond Belief
16:30 MON (m000zkpk)
Brain of Britain
23:00 SAT (m000zcf1)
Brain of Britain
15:00 MON (m000zkpf)
Brief Lives
14:15 TUE (m00094jb)
Bringing Up Britain
20:00 WED (m000zmln)
Broadcasting House
09:00 SUN (m000zljk)
Costing the Earth
15:30 TUE (m000zmcr)
Costing the Earth
21:00 WED (m000zmcr)
Crossing Continents
20:30 MON (m000zcb1)
Crossing Continents
11:00 THU (m000zmhm)
Dante 2021
11:30 TUE (m000rd19)
Desert Island Discs
11:00 SUN (m000zkyf)
Desert Island Discs
09:00 FRI (m000zkyf)
Dr Phil's Bedside Manner
18:30 THU (m000zmjl)
Drama
15:00 SUN (m00051jk)
Electric Ride UK
11:00 TUE (m000zmc8)
Elon Musk: The Evening Rocket
20:30 THU (m000xz37)
Farming Today
06:30 SAT (m000zkmj)
Farming Today
05:45 MON (m000zll0)
Farming Today
05:45 TUE (m000zkqn)
Farming Today
05:45 WED (m000zlrn)
Farming Today
05:45 THU (m000zmmd)
Farming Today
05:45 FRI (m000zmkd)
File on 4
17:00 SUN (m000zdr9)
File on 4
20:00 TUE (m000zlqt)
Fortunately... with Fi and Jane
23:00 TUE (m000zlr2)
Four Thought
05:45 SAT (m000zdtf)
Four Thought
09:30 WED (m000zl0x)
Four Thought
20:45 WED (m000zl0x)
From Our Own Correspondent
11:30 SAT (m000zm0c)
From the Steppes to the Stage
11:30 THU (b09l1ygv)
Front Row
19:15 MON (m000zkpw)
Front Row
19:15 TUE (m000zlqr)
Front Row
19:15 WED (m000zmll)
Front Row
19:15 THU (m000zmjn)
Front Row
19:00 FRI (m000zl01)
GF Newman's The Corrupted
21:00 SAT (b03dvzwx)
Gardeners' Question Time
14:00 SUN (m000zffl)
Gardeners' Question Time
15:00 FRI (m000zkzg)
Geoff Norcott: It's OK to Change Your Mind
11:30 WED (m000vhln)
God: An Anatomy, by Francesca Stavrakopoulou
09:45 MON (m000zknn)
God: An Anatomy, by Francesca Stavrakopoulou
00:30 TUE (m000zknn)
God: An Anatomy, by Francesca Stavrakopoulou
09:45 TUE (m000zlr8)
God: An Anatomy, by Francesca Stavrakopoulou
00:30 WED (m000zlr8)
God: An Anatomy, by Francesca Stavrakopoulou
09:45 WED (m000zmm0)
God: An Anatomy, by Francesca Stavrakopoulou
00:30 THU (m000zmm0)
God: An Anatomy, by Francesca Stavrakopoulou
09:45 THU (m000zmk0)
God: An Anatomy, by Francesca Stavrakopoulou
00:30 FRI (m000zmk0)
God: An Anatomy, by Francesca Stavrakopoulou
09:45 FRI (m000zl0j)
Great Lives
16:30 TUE (m000zl0b)
Great Lives
23:00 FRI (m000zl0b)
Green Originals
00:15 SUN (m000d8sk)
Green Originals
14:45 SUN (m000d8sk)
Helen Lewis: Great Wives
23:00 WED (m000zmlt)
Henry Normal: A Normal...
19:15 SUN (m00035w0)
In Our Time
09:00 THU (m000zmhf)
In Our Time
21:30 THU (m000zmhf)
In Touch
20:40 TUE (m000zlqw)
It Ain't Me You're Looking For: Bob Dylan at 80
19:45 SAT (m000w4sh)
Just One Thing - with Michael Mosley
14:45 SAT (m000zd9q)
Just One Thing - with Michael Mosley
11:45 SUN (m000zljp)
Just a Minute
12:04 SUN (m000zcff)
Just a Minute
18:30 MON (m000zkpr)
Last Word
20:30 SUN (m000zffq)
Last Word
16:00 FRI (m000zkzn)
Life Lines
14:15 WED (m000zml2)
Life Lines
14:15 THU (m000zmj3)
Lights Out
23:00 MON (m000zkq4)
Loose Ends
18:15 SAT (m000zknw)
Loose Ends
11:30 MON (m000zknw)
Making Amends
19:45 SUN (m000zlkf)
Midnight News
00:00 SAT (m000zfgb)
Midnight News
00:00 SUN (m000zkn4)
Midnight News
00:00 MON (m000zlkm)
Midnight News
00:00 TUE (m000zkq8)
Midnight News
00:00 WED (m000zlr6)
Midnight News
00:00 THU (m000zmly)
Midnight News
00:00 FRI (m000zmjy)
Money Box
12:04 SAT (m000zlkh)
Money Box
21:00 SUN (m000zlkh)
Money Box
15:00 WED (m000zml4)
More or Less
20:00 SUN (m000zdtc)
More or Less
09:00 WED (m000zkzq)
More or Less
16:30 FRI (m000zkzq)
My Name Is...
11:00 MON (m000zknt)
My Teenage Diary
18:30 WED (m000zmlj)
News Briefing
05:30 SAT (m000zfgl)
News Briefing
05:30 SUN (m000zknd)
News Briefing
05:30 MON (m000zlkw)
News Briefing
05:30 TUE (m000zkqj)
News Briefing
05:30 WED (m000zlrj)
News Briefing
05:30 THU (m000zmm8)
News Briefing
05:30 FRI (m000zmk8)
News Summary
12:00 SAT (m000zm0f)
News Summary
06:00 SUN (m000zlhz)
News Summary
12:00 SUN (m000zljr)
News Summary
12:00 MON (m000zkny)
News Summary
12:00 TUE (m000zmcc)
News Summary
12:00 WED (m000zmnp)
News Summary
12:00 THU (m000zmq1)
News Summary
12:00 FRI (m000zmrv)
News and Papers
06:00 SAT (m000zkmg)
News and Papers
07:00 SUN (m000zlj5)
News and Papers
08:00 SUN (m000zljf)
News and Weather
13:00 SAT (m000zm0k)
News
22:00 SAT (m000zkn2)
Nuremberg
14:15 FRI (m000zkzb)
On Your Farm
06:35 SUN (m000zlj1)
One to One
09:30 TUE (m000zlqf)
Open Book
16:00 SUN (m000zlk1)
Open Book
15:30 THU (m000zlk1)
PM
17:00 SAT (m000zm0r)
PM
17:00 MON (m000zkpm)
PM
17:00 TUE (m000zmcw)
PM
17:00 WED (m000zmlb)
PM
17:00 THU (m000zmjd)
PM
17:00 FRI (m000zkzs)
Pick of the Week
18:15 SUN (m000zlkc)
Political Thinking with Nick Robinson
17:30 SAT (m000zm0t)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 SAT (m000zfgn)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 MON (m000zlky)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 TUE (m000zkql)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 WED (m000zlrl)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 THU (m000zmmb)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 FRI (m000zmkb)
Prison Break
15:30 WED (m000w5vh)
Profile
19:00 SAT (m000zkmy)
Profile
05:45 SUN (m000zkmy)
Profile
17:40 SUN (m000zkmy)
Radio 4 Appeal
07:54 SUN (m000zlj9)
Radio 4 Appeal
21:25 SUN (m000zlj9)
Radio 4 Appeal
15:27 THU (m000zlj9)
Ramblings
06:07 SAT (m000zcbm)
Ramblings
15:00 THU (m000zmj6)
Rhys James
23:15 WED (b09nxv00)
Safe Space
16:00 MON (m000zcb3)
Saturday Live
09:00 SAT (m000zkms)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 SAT (m000zfgg)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 SUN (m000zkn8)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 MON (m000zlkr)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 TUE (m000zkqd)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 WED (m000zlrd)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 THU (m000zmm4)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 FRI (m000zmk4)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 SAT (m000zfgd)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 SAT (m000zfgj)
Shipping Forecast
17:54 SAT (m000zm0w)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 SUN (m000zkn6)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 SUN (m000zknb)
Shipping Forecast
17:54 SUN (m000zlk5)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 MON (m000zlkp)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 MON (m000zlkt)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 TUE (m000zkqb)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 TUE (m000zkqg)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 WED (m000zlrb)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 WED (m000zlrg)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 THU (m000zmm2)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 THU (m000zmm6)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 FRI (m000zmk2)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 FRI (m000zmk6)
Short Cuts
15:00 TUE (m000zmcp)
Short Works
00:30 SUN (m000zffn)
Short Works
15:45 FRI (m000zkzk)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 SAT (m000zm10)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 SUN (m000zlk9)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 MON (m000zkpp)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 TUE (m000zmcy)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 WED (m000zmlg)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 THU (m000zmjj)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 FRI (m000zkzx)
Something Understood
06:05 SUN (m000362j)
Something Understood
23:30 SUN (m000362j)
Start the Week
09:00 MON (m000zknl)
Start the Week
21:30 MON (m000zknl)
Steelmanning
19:45 MON (m000rdzr)
Steelmanning
19:45 TUE (m000rdzx)
Steelmanning
19:45 WED (m000rln9)
Steelmanning
19:45 THU (m000rvjt)
Steelmanning
19:45 FRI (m000s2js)
Sunday Worship
08:10 SUN (m000zljh)
Sunday
07:10 SUN (m000zlj7)
The Absolutely Radio Show
23:00 THU (b08xzcvk)
The Archers Omnibus
10:00 SUN (m000zljm)
The Archers
19:00 SUN (m000zkp9)
The Archers
14:00 MON (m000zkp9)
The Archers
19:00 MON (m000zkpt)
The Archers
14:00 TUE (m000zkpt)
The Archers
19:00 TUE (m000zlqp)
The Archers
14:00 WED (m000zlqp)
The Archers
19:00 WED (m000zmj1)
The Archers
14:00 THU (m000zmj1)
The Archers
19:00 THU (m000zkz5)
The Archers
14:00 FRI (m000zkz5)
The Ballad of the Bet
16:00 TUE (m000zmct)
The Birthday Cake Game
18:30 TUE (m000zmd0)
The Briefing Room
20:00 THU (m000zmjq)
The Daughters of Kobani, by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon
00:30 SAT (m000zfdz)
The Digital Human
11:00 FRI (m000bcmz)
The Film Programme
23:00 SUN (m000zcbt)
The Film Programme
16:00 THU (m000zmj8)
The Food Programme
12:32 SUN (m000zkph)
The Food Programme
15:30 MON (m000zkph)
The Fortnight in September, by RC Sherriff
12:04 MON (m000zkp0)
The Fortnight in September, by RC Sherriff
22:45 MON (m000zkp0)
The Fortnight in September, by RC Sherriff
12:04 TUE (m000zlr0)
The Fortnight in September, by RC Sherriff
22:45 TUE (m000zlr0)
The Fortnight in September, by RC Sherriff
12:04 WED (m000zmks)
The Fortnight in September, by RC Sherriff
22:45 WED (m000zmks)
The Fortnight in September, by RC Sherriff
12:04 THU (m000zmhr)
The Fortnight in September, by RC Sherriff
22:45 THU (m000zmhr)
The Fortnight in September, by RC Sherriff
12:04 FRI (m000zkyr)
The Fortnight in September, by RC Sherriff
22:45 FRI (m000zkyr)
The Hotel
21:45 SAT (m000qlqg)
The Infinite Monkey Cage
19:15 SAT (p08gcgky)
The Life Scientific
09:00 TUE (m000zlqc)
The Life Scientific
21:30 TUE (m000zlqc)
The Listening Project
13:30 SUN (m000zljz)
The Media Show
16:30 WED (m000zml8)
The Media Show
21:30 WED (m000zml8)
The News Quiz
12:30 SAT (m000zffx)
The News Quiz
18:30 FRI (m000zkzz)
The Nuclear Priesthood
21:00 MON (m000zdq9)
The Pallisers
15:00 SAT (m000b70g)
The Untold
21:30 SUN (m000wl3b)
The Week in Westminster
11:00 SAT (m000zm09)
The World This Weekend
13:00 SUN (m000zljx)
The World Tonight
22:00 MON (m000zkq2)
The World Tonight
22:00 TUE (m000zlqy)
The World Tonight
22:00 WED (m000zmlr)
The World Tonight
22:00 THU (m000zmjt)
The World Tonight
22:00 FRI (m000zl08)
Thinking Allowed
00:15 MON (m000zdv1)
Thinking Allowed
16:00 WED (m000zml6)
This Union: Two Kingdoms
20:00 MON (m000zkpy)
This Union: Two Kingdoms
11:00 WED (m000zkpy)
Three Pounds in My Pocket
21:00 TUE (m000c4rr)
Today in Parliament
23:30 MON (m000zkq6)
Today in Parliament
23:30 TUE (m000zlr4)
Today in Parliament
23:30 WED (m000zmlw)
Today in Parliament
23:30 THU (m000zmjw)
Today in Parliament
23:30 FRI (m000zl0d)
Today
07:00 SAT (m000zkmn)
Today
06:00 MON (m000zknj)
Today
06:00 TUE (m000zlq7)
Today
06:00 WED (m000zmkg)
Today
06:00 THU (m000zmh9)
Today
06:00 FRI (m000zky9)
Tongue and Talk: The Dialect Poets
23:30 SAT (m000zdb4)
Tongue and Talk: The Dialect Poets
16:30 SUN (m000zlk3)
Tweet of the Day
08:58 SUN (b08rt9rh)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 MON (b08q3sz6)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 TUE (b08r1sk7)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 WED (b03bkfhy)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 THU (b038qkb3)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 FRI (b02tws57)
United Kingdoms
14:15 MON (m000zkpc)
Weather
06:57 SAT (m000zkml)
Weather
12:57 SAT (m000zm0h)
Weather
17:57 SAT (m000zm0y)
Weather
06:57 SUN (m000zlj3)
Weather
07:57 SUN (m000zljc)
Weather
12:57 SUN (m000zljv)
Weather
17:57 SUN (m000zlk7)
Weather
05:56 MON (m000zll2)
Weather
12:57 MON (m000zkp4)
Weather
12:57 TUE (m000zmch)
Weather
12:57 WED (m000zmkx)
Weather
12:57 THU (m000zmhw)
Weather
12:57 FRI (m000zkyw)
Westminster Hour
22:00 SUN (m000zlkk)
Woman's Hour
16:00 SAT (m000zm0p)
Woman's Hour
10:00 MON (m000zknr)
Woman's Hour
10:00 TUE (m000zlqk)
Woman's Hour
10:00 WED (m000zmkn)
Woman's Hour
10:00 THU (m000zmhk)
Woman's Hour
10:00 FRI (m000zkyk)
World at One
13:00 MON (m000zkp6)
World at One
13:00 TUE (m000zmck)
World at One
13:00 WED (m000zmkz)
World at One
13:00 THU (m000zmhy)
World at One
13:00 FRI (m000zkyy)
You and Yours
12:18 MON (m000zkp2)
You and Yours
12:18 TUE (m000zmcf)
You and Yours
12:18 WED (m000zmkv)
You and Yours
12:18 THU (m000zmht)
You and Yours
12:18 FRI (m000zkyt)
You're Dead To Me
10:30 SAT (p07r6hjz)