5. Iconoclasm and the Aftermath
The evocative account of 16th-century Antwerp concludes. After decades of religious tolerance, trouble in the cathedral leads to a new order, rebellion and exodus from the city. Michael Begley reads.
Michael Pye's history of Antwerp is a fascinating account of the city during its golden age. Told through character studies, novels, paintings, songs, inventories and city ordinances, an evocative portrait emerges. Transformed into a trading powerhouse, nationals from all over Europe converged in Antwerp, making deals and enjoying the free and easy manners in a place where scandal and heresy was tolerated, and fortunes could be made almost over night. It's not long before religious divisions, and bellicose heads of state bring about an end to the city's tolerance, and its financial prowess.
Michael Pye is the author of twelve previous books which have been translated into fifteen languages. He has worked as a journalist, broadcaster and columnist in London and New York.
Image: Salve Felix Antverpia, anonymous woodcut. KU Leuven. Special Collections
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.
Janina Dawidowicz was a nine-year old girl when World War Two engulfed Poland. As Jews, she and her family were soon driven into the Warsaw Ghetto. Seventy years ago, during the summer of 1942, the Nazis began to send the inhabitants of the Ghetto to their deaths in gas chambers. Janina escaped but her family and friends were killed. Hear her memories of the Ghetto - the sights, the characters, the coping mechanisms that people used to survive.
The latest news headlines. Including the weather and a look at the papers.
Long winter nights are a time for hot drinks, closed curtains and snoozing by the fire. Well, not for everyone. In the Brecon Beacons National Park in South Wales, people are up and about all through the night. Emily Knight finds out what they're up to.
The Brecon Beacons are recognised as an International Dark Sky Reserve - one of two in Wales and only seventeen in the world. With minimal light pollution, it's possible to see nature as it once was - before the background glow of electric lights got in the way. Head out into the rolling hills at night and you'll see something you'll never be able to see from a city, even on the clearest of nights - the sparkling streak of the Milky Way, cutting the night in two.
There's plenty more to be found by the light of the stars. From moth-trappers to starling-spotters to astro-photographers, well-armed with scarves and flasks and head-torches, the dark quiet landscape is alive with activity - if you know where to look.
Radio 4's Saturday morning show brings you extraordinary stories and remarkable people.
"Long afloat in shipless oceans": So begins Song To The Siren whose lyrics were inspired by Homer's Odyssey and the story of the Sirens who lured unwitting sailors to their deaths on the rocks. There is something so ancient and enchanting about the Siren that appeals to us. For the wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson listening to the song reinforced his belief that the eerie calls of seals at night were in fact the original siren voices whose sound and shape convinced sailors that they were being called by strange mer-creatures. His collaboration with poet Alec Finlay led to Chris recording two singers singing to each other across a bay in the North East of England "Here I am waiting to enfold you". Song To The Siren fills him with melancholy.
The image of lives lost at sea is one that Meg Bignell strongly associates with the song and when a family friend drowned in the ocean surrounding her native Tasmania she was comforted by the version by This Mortal Coil and Elizabeth Fraser's haunting vocals.
Larry Beckett regrets the song's association with death as he intended the lyrics to tell a more hopeful story about love. However Tim Buckley's death at 28 and the tragedy of his son Jeff's drowning in 1997 weigh Song To The Siren with a heavy sorrow that comforts those who have lost a loved one. Former Olympic runner Anthony Famiglietti lost his childhood friend Rob in an accident when they were both 21. Rob introduced Anthony to the music of John Frusciante whose version of Song To The Siren astounded him when he first heard it. It has a profound effect on him and it speaks to him of fathers and sons communicating across time and space, when one has passed on as in the case of Tim and Jeff Buckley, and Anthony's friend Rob and his father, the man who inspired Anthony's career as a runner.
When director Zack Snyder lost his daughter he stopped working on his Justice League film but when he completed it four years on he wanted to include Song To The Siren. Singer Rose Betts who recorded it for him explains how she immersed herself in the song to express the love, longing, grief and loss that it evokes. Musician and singer Dominic Stichbury sets out the musical elements that make this such a simple yet devastatingly powerful song.
Insight, wit and analysis from BBC correspondents, journalists and writers from around the world
A 26-year-old believes his drink was spiked on a night out and his finger print used to unlock his smart phone allowing thieves to steal £18,000 from his bank accounts. A leading anti-fraud campaigner warns that criminals appear to be adopting the "sinister" tactic of spiking drinks to get money.
The Government is asking Parliament to pass a retrospective law which would make it easier to collect tax from higher income people who claim child benefit. The Finance Bill measures stand to override a legal ruling which allowed some households, where someone has income over £50,000, to keep the High Income Child Benefit Charge which they should have paid. Courts had decided that HMRC should not have used discovery assessments, which allow it to reopen closed tax periods and issue bills for previous years, to recover it.
Some people on low incomes may find it harder to receive tax credits and other benefits after the way the money is paid changes next year. It's part of a wider government push to get all entitlements paid into bank accounts but debt experts warn that some vulnerable people may not meet the criteria for a bank account.
This week Zog Energy became the 25th supplier to collapse. If yours has ceased trading with your account in credit how do you get a refund?
Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis present the week via topical stand-up and sketches in front of a remote audience - and all from their own home!
Joining them for the final episode of the series and all from a safe distance is Janine Harouni, Jamie MacDonald with music supplied by Tim Sutton and Sooz Kempner.
Chris Mason presents political debate and discussion from St Andrew's Church, Presteigne with the Secretary of State for Wales Simon Hart MP, the parliamentary sketchwriter for The Times Quentin Letts, the Shadow Culture Minister Alison McGovern MP and the leader of Plaid Cymru Adam Price MS.
A daughter describes her experience of watching her 95-year-old father trying to cope with his increasing frailties – after a lifetime of farming the land in his native Lancashire. Written and read by Catherine Simpson.
Skye's been trying to get hold of her little brother Dex for ages and all she gets is his voice on Ed's answerphone message. Her mum Jak is ghosting her as well.
Two weeks is a long time when you're nine.
Skye's just turned eighteen and she's busy working twelve hour shifts in her job as a carer, saving up so she and Dex can have the best Christmas ever. Won't be hard. Bar's not set very high. She's always been the one to look out for Dexter, all his life. So where is he?
In the final chapter in this extraordinary story of ordinary life, things are changing for the King family. They still live in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, but Skye has moved out and got herself a job. Jak says she's not drinking but she's definitely up to something. Ed's impossible to get hold of. And Dexter is nowhere to be found.
A heart-breakingly brave, funny and beautiful story, the concluding episode of a series that was originally part of programming for the BBC Children in Need Appeal on Radio 4.
'D for Dexter' won Best Serial in the BBC Audio Drama Awards in 2016 and was runner-up in 2020. Sydney Wade received a Special Commendation for her performance as Skye in 2019. The same core cast has grown up with the story which has been recorded on location in Lincolnshire for the past eight years.
Brene Brown on emotions, Stepmums, Women in the Army, Poet Kim Moore, Morning after pill costs, Chef Ravinder Bhogal
Brené Brown's Tedx talk 'The Power of Vulnerablity' is one of the most viewed talks in the world with more than 50 million views. her new book 'The Atlas of the Heart' takes on a journey through 87 of the emotions and experiences that define what it means to be human. Photo credit: Randal Ford.
Calls for Boots, the chemist to permanently reduce the price of the morning after pill. With campaigner Rosie Stokes, and the Labour MP Diana Johnson.
More than 4,000 women gave evidence to the Defence Sub-Committee on Women in the Armed Forces for its landmark inquiry, which was published earlier this year. This week the Ministry of Defence responded to the recommendations from that inquiry. We heard from Sarah Atherton, Conservative MP and Chair of the Defence Sub Committee.
Raising awareness of the complexities and realities of being a stepmum today, with Katie Harrison, host of a a new podcast 'You're Not My Mum: The Stepmum's Side' and Suzie Hayman, a counsellor and spokesperson for the parenting charity Family Lives and author of 'Be A Great Step-Parent.'
Alternative Christmas food ideas with the chef and restauranter Ravinder Bhogal. She shares her houghts on creating some rich adaptations of everything from brussel sprouts and ham to samosas and mathi.
Nick Robinson talks to the Chair of the House of Commons Standards and Privileges Committee about upholding the rules, his political journey from Conservative activist to Labour MP and why he could never have been 007.
Tom Jones, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Cariad Lloyd, Sarah Jane Morris, Scrimshire, Arthur Smith, Clive Anderson
Clive Anderson and Arthur Smith are joined by Tom Jones, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Cariad Lloyd for an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy. With music from Sarah Jane Morris and Scrimshire.
An insight into the character of an influential person making the news headlines
Kwame Kwei-Armah shares some of the influences that have had a significant impact on his career in the theatre. He became a household name playing paramedic Finlay Newton in BBC One's Casualty, while at the same time pursuing a career in writing. His award-winning plays including Elmina's Kitchen and Statement of Regret have been staged at the National Theatre.
He tells John Wilson about his early years at stage school, how seeing a production of Joe Turner's Come and Gone by August Wilson changed the way he saw what theatre could do, and how Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave put him on a different path.
Acclaimed novelist Kate Weinberg discovers why endings matter so much to us and how their function and purpose has changed over time.
Speaking to directors, writers, psychologists and anthropologists, Kate explores why people are drawn to particular endings, and how an unspoken contract between artist and audience depends on the nature and quality of how a work ends.
It feels as if we’re living through a period when thoughts of a catastrophic end to our world are all around us. Kate interrogates a rich archive of writers, thinkers, comedians, film-makers and critics to find out if our current fears are different from those in previous times, and why our understanding of time itself may now need to change. She explores how all stories rely on our notions of time, and what happens to endings when our concept of time shifts – as could be happening today.
Brief Lives by Lizi Patch. Ep 4 of 6
Another case for the team of Manchester paralegals. A teenager is pulled in for texting an indecent photo of his girlfriend which has gone viral. Is it just a case of an official warning by the police? But then matters take an even more serious turn.
An artist arrives in a market town to create an installation and becomes entranced by a sinister fruit-seller.
An evocative story inspired by Christina Rossetti's poem about goblins who sell enchanted fruit. By Louise Welsh.
Writer ..... Louise Welsh
Reader ..... Lesley Hart
Producer ..... Kirsty Williams
Philosophers and artists, from Epicurus to Ken Dodd, have grappled with the secret to happiness. Now, neuroscientists at University College London suggest the answer could lie in the equation: (t)=w0 +w1∑j=1tγt −jCRj +w2∑j=1tγt −jEVj +w3∑j=1tγt −jRPEj. While hardly rolling off the tongue, the formula roughly translates to mean that we should lower our expectations to be happy – but not so low, and for so long, that it makes us unhappy. This appears to fly in the face of a celebrity culture that chases fame, status and success as ends in themselves. Self-help books and "positive psychology" promise to train us into a happy mood. While the wellness industry is booming, so is the prescription of antidepressants, increasingly for teenagers – according to The National Institute for Health Research. What does this reveal about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? What is wrong with personal happiness as a life goal? Some think that there is too much stuffiness about happiness, that there is nothing selfish about self-care, and that people should be free to set the bar as high as they wish and explore personal fulfilment however they chose. Others believe that life should be about more than seeking pleasure and avoiding pain, that the conscious pursuit of happiness can make us more miserable, and that happiness – rather than being an expectation – should be a by-product of a life well-lived. How useful or desirable is it to measure happiness, particularly when it comes to the wellbeing of a nation? As some economists have observed, beyond a certain point, GDP no longer captures the nuances of citizens’ happiness. Is it time to consider Gross Domestic Happiness? Or is there something dystopian about a government defining what happiness means, since our moods are fleeting and we all have own definition of a happy life? With Dr Andy Cope, Dr William Davies, Dr Ashley Frawley and Sir Anthony Seldon.
The celebrity panel game about quotations, hosted by Nigel Rees, returns with a series celebrating its 500th programme.
- Daliso Chaponda, critically acclaimed stand-up comedian and multi-disciplinary author
- Lissa Evans, former producer of Quote...Unquote who went on to produce Father Ted and become a highly successful novelist
Danny Robins talks to Tom, an NHS mental health nurse working with troubled young people. Tom starts to work with Yousuf, a teenage boy from a devoutly Muslim background. His family believe he is possessed by a djinn – an evil spirit, but Tom believes Yousuf is having a crisis of faith which has led him to the brink of suicide.
When Yousuf does tries to take his own life, he is rescued in seemingly impossible circumstances. Ardent atheist and sceptic Tom is forced to explore the possibility that he has witnessed something he cannot explain. But is it really divine intervention?
SUNDAY 05 DECEMBER 2021
SUN 00:00 Midnight News (m00127db)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 00:15 The Poetry Detective (m0011bxr)
Episode Two
A new series about the poems we carry with us through life. Poems that speak to us so strongly that we return to them in times of confusion or fear… loneliness or joy… love or doubt. Some of us might scribble these words on Post Its and stick them next to the mirror or on the fridge door. Some of us send them to friends or read them at funerals. Some of us mutter them under our breath like a mantra in moments of stress. Some of us ink them permanently into our skin. How much do we know about these words that move us so deeply? What are the stories behind the poems that we carry and that carry us in turn?
The poet Vanessa Kisuule speaks to people about the poems - and bits of poems - that mean the most to them. She finds out why the poems matter, and then unfolds the backstory of the poem itself - who wrote it, what was the context it came out of and how does it work on us?
This week, stories of people reading poems out loud and finding their voice.
Agnes Frimston was in a public bathroom in London when she heard a woman sobbing in the next stall. She asked if the woman was OK and if she'd like to hear a poem. We hear the backstory of the poem she read, talk to its author - the American poet Kim Addonizio - and hear how it went viral, offering comfort to people around the world.
Marvin Tate grew up in Chicago in the 1960s. He was witness to a lot of violence in his youth and developed a stammer. One day, his sister gave him a poem and encouraged him to learn it by heart. A poem that would prove to be lifechanging for him, as it has been for many others. A poem that - we learn from poet and teacher Peter Kahn - inspired a whole new poetic form.
Produced in Bristol by Mair Bosworth for BBC Audio
SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m00127dd)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m00127dg)
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 (m00127dj)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SUN 05:30 News Briefing (m00127dl)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (m00127dn)
The Cathedral Church of All Saints Wakefield in West Yorkshire.
Bells on Sunday comes from the Cathedral Church of All Saints Wakefield in West Yorkshire. Originally the site of a Saxon Church and replaced by a Norman structure Its current late medieval appearance is the result of a Victorian restoration by Sir George Gilbert Scott. The Cathedral has a ring of twelve bells cast by John Taylor of Loughborough. The heaviest, the tenor, weighs 35 and a quarter Hundredweight and is tuned to the note of C. We hear them ringing Cambridge Surprise Maximus.
SUN 05:45 Profile (m00127d0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 06:00 News Summary (m00127h6)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b04v2lts)
Weltschmerz
Is there too much bad news? As a journalist, Mark Tully worries that his profession sometimes exacerbates a growing sense of world weariness.
At times, the sheer volume of awful stories in the news can be utterly overwhelming – that there's a temptation to despair completely, is hardly surprising. How should we overcome world weariness, improve our lot and maintain a zest for life?
In many faiths despair is a sin, and it is commonly seen as a social ill. Yet in the nineteenth century, the Romantic movement coined the word 'Weltschmerz', which was seen as a spur to achievement and the natural ally of idealism. So is weariness with the world something we can harness and use to improve life?
Mark talks to the journalist and writer on ethics and international development, Paul Vallely, and presents readings by the poet Paul Birtill and the Vietnamese Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh.
There is music from Mahalia Jackson, Tracy Chapman and John Corrigliano.
The readers are David Holt and Francis Cadder
Produced by Frank Stirling
A Unique production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 06:35 Natural Histories (b07m5gwr)
Leech
Brett Westwood is sucked into the weird and wonderful world of the leech. It's been portrayed both as monstrous and as a medical marvel, but which is nearer the truth? Christopher Frayling doesn't think we can ever get over the fact that it's a reviled bloodsucker, just like the most famous bloodsucker of them all, Dracula - and he reveals a hidden link between the two. Bethany Sawyer and her company provide leeches for the NHS to help in reconstructive surgery, and Brett visits their leech farm for an uncomfortably close encounter. Emma Sherlock is an enthusiast for all things wormy and for the amazing abilities of the humble leech, but hearing how they used to be gathered and used could surely send a shudder down any spine..
Taking part:
Bethany Sawyer, General Manager of Biopharm
Sir Christopher Frayling, Professor Emeritus of Cultural History, Royal College of Art
Emma Sherlock, Curator of Free Living Worms at the Natural History Museum
Dr Robert Kirk, Lecturer in Medical History and Humanities at the University of Manchester
Original producer : Beth O'Dea
Reversion producer : Andrew Dawes
First broadcast in a longer form 2nd August 2016
SUN 06:57 Weather (m00127h9)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SUN 07:00 News and Papers (m00127hc)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 07:10 Sunday (m00127hf)
Columba - a post-Brexit saint; The Pope in Greece; Religious Chart Toppers
We're celebrating St Columba, or St Columcille as he's known in Ireland, who was born in County Donegal 1500 years ago this week. He is revered for his miracles and missionary zeal but as a Nobleman with considerable power, he also had a reputation as a warrior and a troublemaker. We'll seperate the fact from the folklore and hear how this Saint who is loved on both sides of the Irish border as well as in Scotland and the North of England now represents a shared heritage and future in a post-Brexit world.
Pope Francis is in Cyprus this week where he said that "walls of fear" and nationalism were slowing down Europe's progress. As he moves onto Greece, another country on the frontline of the migrant crisis, we'll hear how this visit is being greeted on the ground. In the aftermath of the crisis of 2015, when thousands of asylum seekers arrived in Greece, the government there toughened its stance on migrants. How do Catholics in Greece, itself not long in recovery after a deep economic recession, view the Pope and his plea to open borders and offer safe haven to migrants?
And as the Church of England releases its first ever single in a bid to be the Christmas number one, we'll be asking what it takes for a religious themed song to make it to the top of the charts
SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Christmas Appeal (m00127hh)
The Radio 4 Christmas Appeal with St Martin-in-the-Fields 2021
The Rev Dr Sam Wells, Vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields, makes the Radio 4 Christmas Appeal on behalf of the work of St Martin-in-the-Fields with homeless people.
To Give:
- Freephone 0800 082 82 84.
- Send a cheque to FREEPOST St Martin's Christmas Appeal. (That’s the whole address. Please do not write anything else on the front of the envelope.) Cheques should be made payable to St Martin-in-the-Fields Christmas Appeal.
- Or donate online via the Radio 4 Christmas Appeal website. Registered Charity Number: 1156305
Registered Charity Number: 1156305
SUN 07:57 Weather (m00127hk)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SUN 08:00 News and Papers (m00127hm)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (m00127hp)
'The Dawn from on High'
The Benedictus, the song of Zechariah in Luke chapter 1, eagerly anticipates 'the dawn from on high', the coming of God in Jesus Christ.
Reflecting the traditional exploration of light in Advent, the Rev'd Dr Tim Boniface will examine in his sermon various ways in which this metaphor of dawn applies to the season - offering hope and challenge, and always lighting a path to those in need.
The service, recorded in Girton College Chapel, Cambridge, will be led by Dr Hilary Marlow (Vice Mistress and Director of Studies in Theology). Hymns:
Come Thou Long Expected Jesus (Cross of Jesus); O Come, O Come, Emmanuel (Veni Emmanuel); Lo, He Comes With Clouds Descending (Helmsley). The choir of Girton College, directed by Gareth Wilson, sings
'Whence Is That Goodly Fragrance Flowing', (trad, arr. George Taylor);
'Let Justice and Judgement', (Handel); and 'Lost Son' (Milly Atkinson).
Old Testament reading: Isaiah 29: 15-24. New Testament Reading: Luke
1:67-79
Organ Scholars: Emily Nott & Felix Elliott
Producer: Philip Billson
SUN 08:48 A Point of View (m00121c3)
But Does it Matterhorn?
"Landscape made us', writes Sara Wheeler, 'and now, in the dying phase of our divorce from our environment, we are unmaking the landscape'.
Sara discusses the importance of place names in linking us to the land.
Producer: Adele Armstrong
SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (b03k5bk0)
Water Rail
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Chris Packham presents the water rail. Water rails are very secretive and live in thick vegetation in marshes and fens where the birds breed. The adult birds look rather like small moorhens but with chestnut on top, a blue-grey face and a zebra-stripe patch on their sides. They have long blood-red bills used for probing for insects.
SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (m00127hs)
The Sunday morning news magazine programme. Presented by Paddy O'Connell
SUN 09:45 Radio 4 Christmas Appeal (m00127hx)
Making a Difference
Hugh Dennis reports on how your donations from last year's Radio 4 Christmas Appeal with St Martin in-the-Fields have been spent on changing the lives of homeless people through the work of The Connection at St Martin's in London, and how timely grants from the Vicar's Relief Fund have helped secure housing or have kept vulnerable people in accommodation all around the UK. The appeal is now in its 95th year.
To Give:
- Freephone 0800 082 82 84.
- Send a cheque to FREEPOST St Martin's Christmas Appeal. Cheques should be made payable to St Martin-in-the-Fields Christmas Appeal.
- Or donate online via the Radio 4 Christmas Appeal website.
Registered Charity Number: 1156305
SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (m00127j1)
Writer, Tim Stimpson
Director, Marina Caldarone
Editor, Jeremy Howe
Lilian Bellamy ..... Sunny Ormonde
Harrison Burns ..... James Cartwright
Rex Fairbrother ..... Nick Barber
Toby Fairbrother ..... Rhys Bevan
Eddie Grundy ..... Trevor Harrison
Mia Grundy ..... Molly Pipe
Will Grundy ..... Philip Molloy
Chelsea Horrobin ..... Madeleine Leslay
Kate Madikane ..... Perdita Avery
Lynda Snell ..... Carole Boyd
Robert Snell ..... Graham Blockey
Hazel Woolley ..... Annette Badland
Peggy Woolley ..... June Spencer
Blake ..... Luke MacGregor
Yvonne ..... Grace Cooper Milton
SUN 11:00 Desert Island Discs (m00127j5)
Helen Macdonald, writer and naturalist
Helen Macdonald is a writer and naturalist who is best known as the author of H is for Hawk which won the 2014 Samuel Johnson Prize and the Costa Book Award, and topped the sales charts. The book chronicles her experiences training a goshawk called Mabel while grieving for her late father.
Helen’s father was a staff photographer at the Daily Mirror and her mother was a journalist on local newspapers. In 1975, when Helen was five, her parents bought a house in Terkel’s Park, an estate owned by the Theosophical Society. It was here that Helen became a keen bird watcher and developed a love of the natural world, spending her days in fields and meadows where she collected specimens which she brought home to study.
When she was 12 she helped out at a local falconry centre and trained her first hawk, a kestrel called Amy. After graduating from Cambridge she worked for the National Avian Research Centre in Wales before returning to academia.
The death of her father in 2007 prompted Helen to buy Mabel and bring her home to live with her. Training Mabel was Helen’s way of dealing with her grief during what she describes as a very dark period of her life. The relationship between her and Mabel became so intense that she says she became more hawk than human.
Helen continues to write books and essays and present programmes about the natural world. She lives in Suffolk with two parrots she calls the Bugs.
Presenter Lauren Laverne
Producer Paula McGinley
SUN 11:45 Witness (b01l5pm3)
The GI who chose China
The Korean War ended on July 27th 1953. After the ceasefire, prisoners on both sides were told they could choose where they wanted to go next. Thousands of North Korean and Chinese prisoners headed for a new life in the USA. David Hawkins was one of the 21 Americans who had been held prisoner in North Korea, who chose to go to communist China. He explains his decision, made at the height of the Cold War, and recalls the treatment he recieved as a prisoner, and then as a celebrated guest in Beijing.
SUN 12:00 News Summary (m00127jc)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 12:04 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (m00120sq)
Series 76
Episode 1
The 76th Series of Radio 4's multi award-winning ‘antidote to panel games’ promises yet more quality, desk-based entertainment for all the family. The series starts its run at the Hexagon Theatre in Reading where Jan Ravens and Omid Djalili are pitched against Tony Hawks and Barry Cryer, with Jack Dee as the programme's reluctant chairman. Regular listeners will know to expect inspired nonsense, pointless revelry and Colin Sell at the piano. Producer - Jon Naismith. It is a BBC Studios production.
SUN 12:32 Food and Farming Awards (m0012hpp)
Food and Farming Awards 2021
Second Course
Sheila Dillon presents more stories of the winners of the BBC Food and Farming Awards 2021, which celebrates the people across the UK who've changed lives for the better, through food and drink. We meet Countryfile's Young Countryside Champion and The One Show’s Community Food Champion, as well as the winners of the Best Streetfood or Takeway and Farming for the Future categories. Finally Dan Saladino goes to meet the special recipient of this year’s Derek Cooper Outstanding Achievement Award.
SUN 12:57 Weather (m00127jh)
The latest weather forecast
SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (m00127jm)
Jonny Dymond looks at the week’s big stories from both home and around the world.
SUN 13:30 The Listening Project (m00127jr)
Hard-won Battles
Fi Glover presents four conversations between strangers about homelessness, obesity, career changes and toy shops.
This week: Lorraine and Louise share their stories about homelessness - to coincide with the launch of the Radio 4 Christmas Appeal today; airline industry workers Magdalena and Philip discuss the lasting effect of lockdown on their working lives; India and Rhys exchange experiences of obesity and dramatic weight loss; and Matt and Maggie share their passion for running toy shops.
The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation lasts up to an hour and is then edited to extract the key moments of connection between the participants. Most of the unedited conversations are being archived by the British Library and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in this decade of the millennium. You can learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject
Producer: Mohini Patel
SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m00121b6)
GQT at Home: Festive Floral Ideas and Overwintering Wisterias
Kathy Clugston hosts this week's gardening panel show. Horticultural experts Christine Walkden, Anne Swithinbank and Chris Beardshaw answer questions sent in by listeners from across the country.
This week, the panellists divulge their best tips for encouraging your plants to fruit and flower, and also look into a listener's query about the mysterious plant growing from a tree trunk in her garden - could it be an orchid?
Need some tips for your festive floral designs? Florist Hazel Gardiner shares her ideas for the most eye-catching arrangements. And GQT's vegetable virtuoso Bob Flowerdew has some seasonal suggestions for a productive winter plot.
Producer - Daniel Cocker
Assistant Producer - Bethany Hocken
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 14:45 A Home of Our Own (m0010gfz)
Crawley
Lynsey Hanley looks at overcrowding in UK homes, telling the story of 30-year-old Dorine and her family in Crawley, West Sussex.
Every one of Britain's 27 million homes has a story to tell about Britain's housing crisis and how it might be fixed. Over ten episodes, Lynsey explores houses of every shape and size, new and old, right across the UK.
Today, the story of Dorine who lives in a two-bed flat in Crawley with her husband, three children and two sisters. She and her husband both worked at nearby Gatwick airport - until the pandemic severely affected the air travel industry.
Crawley New Town was a utopian solution to Britain's housing crisis just after the Second World War - but as Lynsey discovers, it's now just another manifestation of our current shortage of homes.
House historian Melanie Backe-Hansen explores the history of Crawley and Professor Paul Cheshire of the London School of Economics puts Dorine's situation in context. Professor Cheshire is a member of the Centre for Economic Performance at LSE.
Producer: Laurence Grissell
SUN 15:00 Electric Decade (m000jfp7)
Leave it to Psmith
2. Impostors at Blandings
Impoverished Psmith (Edward Bennett), a guest at Blandings Castle, is smitten by library cataloguist Eve Halliday (Susannah Fielding).
She believes him to be renowned poet Ralston McTodd. But Psmith has been secretly hired by Lord Emsworth’s son Freddie to steal his Aunt’s valuable necklace. Freddie plans to sell the jewels so he can finance himself as a bookie.
But further impostors become involved - Miss Peavey and Eddie Cootes. Lord Emsworth (Martin Jarvis) and butler Beach (Lloyd Owen) get drawn in. Who finally will purloin the necklace?
Cast:
Psmith ..… Edward Bennett
Eve Halliday ..… Susannah Fielding
Freddie ..… George Blagden
Constance ..… Patricia Hodge
Miss Peavey/Liz ..… Lisa Dillon
Baxter ..… Joe Bannister
Lord Emsworth ..… Martin Jarvis
Joe Keeble ..… Nigel Anthony
Beach ..… Lloyd Owen
Detective Simmons ..… Lucy Phelps
Eddie ..… Kieran Hodgson
Other parts: Daisy Hydon, Matthew Wolf, Darren Richardson
Dramatised by Archie Scottney
Directed by Rosalind Ayres and Martin Jarvis
A Jarvis & Ayres production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 16:00 Bookclub (m00127jv)
Rachel Joyce: The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
James Naughtie is joined by bestselling writer Rachel Joyce who is answering listener questions about The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry.
This moving, heartwarming story follows Harold as one day he impulsively sets off on a walk from Devon to Northumberland to visit his long lost friend Queenie; despite having no map, no plan, and no decent walking boots.
While he tramps across England, Harold reflects on his life, especially his troubled relationship with his wife and son.
Our next Bookclub guest is Abir Mukherjee who will be answering questions about A Rising Man - the first in his award winning Wyndham and Banerjee series, set in India during the Raj. Contact us via the Bookclub website to join the recording in December.
SUN 16:30 The Language Exchange (m00127k0)
Anthony Anaxagorou & Maggie Aderin-Pocock
The Language Exchange is a place where poets and scientists meet to share language & ideas and create new work. This week Anthony Anaxagorou meets Maggie Aderin-Pocock.
For Anthony Anaxagorou, a good poem is one that orbits you. To help him write a new poem with gravitational pull he is going to sit down with space scientist, science communicator and presenter of the BBC’s The Sky at Night, Maggie Aderin-Pocock. Together they will look to the stars as Maggie tells Anthony about the technology that has helped us see what's out there.
Anthony Anaxagorou is a British-born Cypriot poet, fiction writer, essayist, publisher and poetry educator. His second collection After the Formalities published with Penned in the Margins is a Poetry Book Society Recommendation and was shortlisted for the 2019 T.S Eliot Prize.
Producer: Jessica Treen
SUN 17:00 The River Man (m00120wz)
100 years ago the Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed, bringing to a formal end the Irish War of Independence and ending centuries of British colonial control. During the war members of the IRA were pitted against the Royal Irish Constabulary, the British Army and the notorious Black and Tans and Auxiliaries.
It's a story of divided loyalties and the unresolved traumas of war, with resonance today as Britain and Ireland struggle to address the legacy of the more recent violence of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
In an investigation into the fate of one man, James Kane, the River Man, executed by the IRA a century ago, by men he knew and who liked him, Fergal Keane explores some of these issues. Why did they kill him and what were the consequences for his family and his executioners?
Producer: John Murphy
SUN 17:40 Radio 4 Christmas Appeal (m00127hx)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 today]
SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m00127k4)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SUN 17:57 Weather (m00127k7)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m00127kc)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (m00127kh)
William Crawley
The best of BBC Radio this week.
SUN 19:00 The Archers (m00127fv)
Natasha’s on the move and Lynda has a surprise visitor.
SUN 19:15 It's Not What You Know (b09w10bc)
Series 5
Episode 3
Joe Lycett tests Melanie Chisholm, Kerry Godliman and Jack Carroll on how well they know their nearest and dearest.
What's Mel C's favourite Spice Girls song, where is Kerry's dream holiday destination and who would play Jack in the film of his life?
All these questions, and more, will be answered in the show hosted by Joe Lycett where panellists' relationships are put to the test...
Produced by Adnan Ahmed.
It was a BBC Studios Production.
SUN 19:45 Gambits (m00127km)
6: The Bishop
Anton Lesser continues Eley WIlliams' dazzling short story series, set in Little Purlington - a seemingly ordinary English village, but which is anything but.
Today, in 'The Bishop', as the village continues to be gripped by chess, the local curate reveals some startling truths about who might be behind the strange acts of misrule in the village...
Reader: Anton Lesser is an acclaimed stage and screen actor, known most recently for his roles as Thomas More in Wolf Hall and Harold Macmillan in The Crown.
Writer: Eley Williams is the author of Attrib. and Other Stories, and a debut novel, The Liar's Dictionary.
Producer: Justine Willett
SUN 20:00 Feedback (m00121bd)
Is BBC Radio 2 so concerned about recruiting younger listeners that it is neglecting its loyal, older audience?
In Feedback this week, Roger Bolton puts this and other concerns from listeners to the Head of Station, Helen Thomas, and asks whether Radio 2’s remit has changed.
And Martha Kearney, Presenter of Radio 4’s Today programme, gives the behind-the-scenes story on being interrupted live on air by a fire alarm and obliged to flee the studio.
Presenter: Roger Bolton
Producer: Kate Dixon
Executive Producer: Samir Shah
A Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 20:30 Last Word (m00121bb)
Stephen Sondheim (pictured), Sir Frank Williams, Jo-Carroll Dennison
Matthew Bannister on
Stephen Sondheim, the acclaimed composer and lyricist who revolutionised the stage musical. We have a tribute from Imelda Staunton who gave award-winning performances in some of his finest roles.
Sir Frank Williams, the Formula One motor racing team owner who continued to enjoy great success after breaking his neck in a car crash that left him quadriplegic. His close friend and colleague Sir Patrick Head recalls their long working relationship.
Jo-Carroll Dennison, the oldest surviving winner of the Miss America beauty contest and one of the first to object to the swim suit round.
Producer: Neil George
Interviewed guest: David Benedict and to actor
Interviewed guest: Imelda Staunton
Interviewed guest: Simon Taylor.
Interviewed guest: Jenny Kirchner
Interviewed guest: Evan Mills
Archive clips used: BBC TV, The Late Show: Face to Face - Stephen Sondheim 09/10/1995; BBC Radio 4, Desert Island Discs - Stephen Sondheim 31/12/2000; BBC Sound Archive, Frank Williams Interview 12/07/1980; BBC One, News 29/11/2021; BBC Radio 1Xtra, Newsbeat 29/11/2021; Watershed Pictures/Formula One Constructors Association, Mansell & Williams 1992; BBC 5Live, News 29/11/2021; BBC Radio 4, Sport On Four 20/09/1986; YouTube, Crash Aftermath - F1 1994 San Marino; BBC One, Six o' Clock News 29/10/1997; BBC Radio 4, Today programme 29/11/2021; Justin Johnson/YouTube Channel, Delta Blues on the Weissenborn Lap Slide Guitar 20/08/2021; British Pathé, Miss America 1940; Miss America Organization/Evan Mills, Jo-Carroll Dennison 100th Anniversary Gala Speech 07/09/2021; Kenco Productions/CBS Television Network, The Phil Silvers Show 1955; Columbia Pictures, Trailer for the Jolson Story 1946; Alliance Productions, Trailer for Prehistoric Women 1950; Television Corporation of America, Abbott and Costello Show S1 E24 The Actors' Home 1953.
SUN 21:00 Money Box (m00127c7)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 on Saturday]
SUN 21:25 Radio 4 Christmas Appeal (m00127hh)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 today]
SUN 21:30 Rutherford and Fry on Living with AI (m00128xd)
Episode 1
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is already ubiquitous in our lives. It curates our nightly TV entertainment, connects us to our friends online and navigates us, mostly successfully, to our destinations. However these uses are just the beginning, and it will likely bring societal changes we can’t yet imagine.
In this year’s BBC Reith lectures, AI expert Professor Stuart Russell will be exploring how AI has been represented in popular fiction, envisaging how this technology might shape our futures and how we best prepare for it. So who better to unwrap his ideas than science sleuths Adam Rutherford and Hannah Fry, with their customary curiosity and irreverent insights?
In this, the first of four episodes, Rutherford and Fry – together with guests author and podcaster Azeem Azhar and AI scholar Kate Crawford - will be unravelling what we actually mean by AI, exploring how far machine learning already underpins our lives, imagining the functions it might provide in the future and asking what challenges and risks might lie ahead. Can AI transform society as profoundly as electricity once did leading to a golden age for humanity, or have we all watched too many sci-fi movies?
SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (m00127kr)
Radio 4's Sunday night political discussion programme.
SUN 23:00 Think with Pinker (m001214x)
In touch with reality
Why do so many of us believe in quackery and conspiracy? In his guide to thinking better, Professor Steven Pinker tries to make sense of the senseless.
Steven is joined by Jonathan Rauch, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, and the author, most recently, of ‘The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of the Truth’ and by Ellen Cushing, Senior and Special Projects Editor at The Atlantic. What was it that finally convinced her that there isn’t really a global organisation communicating in cryptic symbols and masterminding world events by planting agents in governments and corporations.
Producers: Imogen Walford and Joe Kent
Editor: Emma Rippon
Think with Pinker is produced in partnership with The Open University.
SUN 23:30 Something Understood (b04v2lts)
[Repeat of broadcast at
06:05 today]
MONDAY 06 DECEMBER 2021
MON 00:00 Midnight News (m00127kx)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
MON 00:15 Sideways (m000ylb8)
21. The Woman Who Brought Down the Mob
On a January night in Manhattan, a team of lawyers is working to crack open an organised crime case. And at the centre of it all, is Eunice Carter - the first black woman to graduate from Fordham Law and the first African-American woman to pass the New York state bar.
Matthew Syed tells the story of how Carter’s brilliance and meticulous attention to detail blew open a case that would bring down the most notorious mobster - Lucky Luciano - and he explores the experience, the pressure and the role of being "a first".
With Yun Li and Marilyn Greenwald, authors of the biography Eunice Hunton Carter: A Lifelong Fight for Social Justice;
Dr. Tsedale M Melaku, sociologist and author of You Don't Look Like a Lawyer: Black Women and Systemic Gendered Racism;
and Claude M Steele Professor of Psychology at Stanford University.
Presenter: Matthew Syed
Producer: Sandra Labady
Series Editor: Katherine Godfrey
Researcher: Nadia Mehdi
Music, sound design and mix: Rob Speight
Additional mixing: Alex Portfelix
A Novel production for BBC Radio 4
MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (m00127dn)
[Repeat of broadcast at
05:43 on Sunday]
MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m00127l1)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m00127l5)
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 (m00127l9)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
MON 05:30 News Briefing (m00127lf)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m00127lj)
A reflection and prayer to start the day with the Rev Dr Bert Tosh.
MON 05:45 Farming Today (m00127lp)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
MON 05:56 Weather (m00127lt)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.
MON 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b08y0smr)
Liane Holdsworth on the Kestrel
RSPB Yorkshire staff are reflecting on birds all this week for Tweet of the Day. Today Visitor Experience Manager Liane Holdsworth recalls the thrill of watching a kestrel.
Producer Tom Bonnett.
MON 06:00 Today (m00127f1)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
MON 09:00 Start the Week (m00127f3)
Witches
The acclaimed actor Kathryn Hunter plays all three witches in the forthcoming Hollywood adaptation of The Tragedy of Macbeth. The film is directed by Joel Coen and starring Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand as the central couple. Hunter tells Andrew Marr that she studied the witch hunts of the 17th century and was inspired by the ‘outcast women’ who survived and suffered. Her performance is rooted in something real, but also hints at something created in the mind of Macbeth.
Claire Askew’s latest collection of poems, How To Burn A Woman, is a cauldron full of spells, power and love. It’s peopled with witches, outsiders, and women who stand out. It too traces historic atrocities and celebrates the lives of those accused of witchcraft. But it also looks at contemporary relationships, of love bordering on infatuation, and the feelings of loss, bitterness and isolation at the end of an affair.
When peculiar things begin to happen in the frontier town of Springfield, Massachusetts in 1651, tensions rise and rumours spread of witches and heretics. What follows is a web of spite, paranoia and denunciation – a far cry from the English settlers’ dreams of love and liberty at the dawn of the New World. The historian Malcolm Gaskill retells this dark, real-life folktale of witch-hunting in The Ruin Of All Witches.
Producer: Katy Hickman
(Image: Kathryn Hunter as one of the witches in The Tragedy of Macbeth, courtesy of Apple TV+)
MON 09:45 Wintering by Katherine May (m00127f5)
Episode 1
‘Some winters happen in the sun,’ writes Katherine May. ‘This particular one began on a blazing day in early September, a week before my fortieth birthday.’ When her husband becomes dangerously ill, it coincides with a moment in May’s life when she is facing professional and personal stress and an uncertain future, and it ushers in a period of what she calls ‘wintering’. ‘Everybody winters at one time or another; some winter over and over again,’ she explains. ‘Winter is a season in the cold, a fallow period in life when you’re cut off from the world, feeling rejected, sidelined, blocked from progress.’
Described by The Observer’s reviewer as ‘a reading cure’ and ‘a tale of hard-won celebration’, May's book is an honest, reflective, sometimes humorous account of her struggle to deal with her own bad times. She considers the healing power of rest and retreat and the consolations of nature, exploring the many ways in which we experience winter, both seasonal and personal, and offering some strategies for weathering the dark times in the year and our own lives.
Katherine May’s other books include The Electricity of Every Living Thing, her memoir of being autistic, and two novels, The Whitstable High Tide Swimming Club and Burning Out. She is the editor of The Best, Most Awful Job, an anthology of essays about motherhood, and her essays and journalism have been widely published in the UK and America. She lives by the sea in Whitstable.
Reader: Melody Grove
Abridged and produced by Sara Davies
MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (m00127f8)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.
MON 11:00 The Untold (m00127fb)
A horse called Hope
In 2005 Zoe McQuade and Pat Evans set-up the Little Bramley Farm Sanctuary in Polegate, Sussex, caring for sick, abused and unwanted horses. In 2020 they were told that the owners of their two sites had both sold the land and they would have to move on. Zoe and Pat have dealt with numerous challenges in the past, but for the first time they face the prospect of having to close the sanctuary down.
Grace Dent and producer Toby Field follow Zoe and Pat as they weigh up their options and consider what future they can provide for their horses, like Chandler who was brought in and given less than five days to live, or Hope, a Shire with a cleft palate and a neurological condition that makes it difficult for her to walk. Toby meets volunteers who help at the stables: Tim, an operations manager who after bringing his daughter to the Little Bramley quickly found it helped him cope with the stresses of work and dealing with his ADHD; and Claire, a nurse who found her own sanctuary, away from the pressures of dealing with Covid patients and the effects of lockdown.
Will Zoe and Pat find a new home for the sanctuary?
Presented by Grace Dent and produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Toby Field
MON 11:30 Loose Ends (m00127cy)
[Repeat of broadcast at
18:15 on Saturday]
MON 12:00 News Summary (m00127ff)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
MON 12:04 Faith, Hope and Glory (m00127fh)
Series 2
Hope
by Winsome Pinnock
Hope ..... Danielle Vitalis
Jim ..... Martins Imhangbe
Ishbel ..... Ayesha Antoine
Extra ..... Justice Ritchie
Directed by Sally Avens
The history of post-war Britain is told through the lives of Hope Kiffin, Eunice Lamming and Gloria de Soto, bound forever by one moment in 1946.
Seven years later Hope is still struggling with the loss of her baby and her best friend. A loss that is putting pressure on both her faith and her marriage.
NOTES
Radio 4 has commissioned Faith Hope and Glory an ambitious new series telling brilliant intimate domestic stories that together illuminate the emergence of modern Britain.
Series 2 is set in 1953 the year of the Coronation, the publication of the Kinsey Report on female sexual behaviour and the sinking of the Princess Victoria passenger ferry with the loss of 133 lives.
In Series 1 we met Hope and Eunice friends from Antigua who came over to London, following Hope's husband Jim.
In 1946, Hope and Jim had a baby that they named after Eunice, but when Jim was unable to hold down a job, and Hope had to work full time, they asked Eunice who was not enjoying life in Britain, to take the baby back to Antigua to Hope's family.
At Tilbury Docks Eunice was tempted into a bar when she heard music and left the pram outside, when she returned the baby was gone. After a futile search for the baby, and too ashamed to admit what she had done, Eunice fled to Cardiff where she changed her name to Faith and started a new life with Trevor a dockworker and musician.
Hope and Jim believe both the baby and Eunice to be dead as the boat they were to sail on was lost at sea.
In fact the baby was found by Gloria and Clement, a childless celibate couple, who decided to bypass any adoption procedures, raise her as their own and call her Joy.
Joy’s life spans the entire series, up to the present day.
Winsome Pinnock has written the series of five 15’ plays to kick off, which is shortly followed by three 45’ plays – Hope and Jim by Roy Williams, Gloria and Clement by Rex Obano and Faith and Trevor by Winsome Pinnock.
The cast includes Shiloh Coke as Faith, Danielle Vitalis as Hope, and Pippa Bennett Warner as Gloria, together with Gary Beadle as Trevor, Martins Imhangbe as Jim and Stefan Adegbola as Clement.
MON 12:18 You and Yours (m00127fl)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
MON 12:57 Weather (m00127fn)
The latest weather forecast
MON 13:00 World at One (m00127fq)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Sarah Montague.
MON 13:45 Male Order (m00127fs)
6. The Donors
‘James’, ‘Kyle’, Adam and Tyree are sperm donors who advertise themselves on unregulated online donor exchanges. They are some of the more prolific donors on the scene - they have at least one hundred between them, but some of them likely have many more.
They say they are driven to help women create babies through a sense of altruism - giving the gift of life. But after their first few donor-babies were born, these men began to optimise their bodies and their methods of donation to be a product that gives results every time they are asked to help. It’s a hobby that can take over a man’s life.
But why, when they are supposed to be “known”, are prolific donors less likely to meet their donor offspring? At what point do the children that prolific donors help create become a photo that can be used to advertise for the next recipient who comes along? When do these kids become another line in a spreadsheet in a game of numbers donors play one another?
In this episode, Dr Aleks Krotoski speaks with these men to understand the motivations of prolific donors, and to try to get to the bottom of where they think other donors’ bad behaviour comes from.
MON 14:00 The Archers (m00127fv)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Sunday]
MON 14:15 No Place But the Water (m00127fx)
Ghosts of the Future: Part 1
Second series of Linda Marshall Griffiths' climate emergency drama set in a flooded future world.
The story of a family in a hotel at the end of the world that is starting to disappear.
It has been raining for 37 days and the rising water level threatens the growing crops. While Laurie and Gil try to keep the family afloat, the outside world calls to Jess and Cal and something draws Birdie further into the hotel.
BIRDIE.....Poppy O’Brien
LAURIE.....Jenny Platt
GIL.....Rupert Hill
JESSIE.....Sade Malone
CAL.....Cel Spellman
MAURICE.....Pearce Quigley
ANGEL.....Vinette Robinson
Written by Linda Marshall Griffiths
Directed by Nadia Molinari
Sound Design by Steve Brooke
Programme Consultant: Dr James Lea - University of Liverpool
BBC AUDIO DRAMA NORTH
MON 15:00 Quote... Unquote (m00127fz)
Frank Gardner, Sathnam Sanghera, John Lloyd
The celebrity panel game about quotations, hosted by Nigel Rees, returns with a series celebrating its 500th programme.
This episode features:
- Frank Gardner, BBC Security Correspondent, bestselling author and thriller writer.
- Sathnam Sanghera, writer for The Times, presenter for Channel 4, and author of 'EmpireLand'
- John Lloyd, Quote...Unquote's co-creator and original producer, who went on to create such delights as QI, The News Quiz and Blackadder.
Reader of the Quotations: Charlotte Green
Production Co-Ordinator: Sarah Nicholls
Producer: Ella Watts
Executive Producer: James Robinson
This programme is a BBC Studios Audio production.
MON 15:30 Food and Farming Awards (m0012hpp)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:32 on Sunday]
MON 16:00 The Exploding Library (m0012149)
Good Morning, Midnight by Jean Rhys
In this new literature series, a trio of comedians explode and unravel their most cherished cult books, paying homage to the tone and style of the original text - and blurring and warping the lines between fact and fiction.
As our hosts shine the spotlight on strange, funny and sometimes disturbing novels by Flann O’Brien, Jean Rhys and Kurt Vonnegut, listeners are invited to inhabit their eccentric worlds - gaining a deeper understanding of their workings and the unique literary minds that created them.
Featuring the comedic voices of Mark Watson, Josie Long and Daliso Chaponda, and created by award-winning producers Steven Rajam (Tim Key and Gogol’s Overcoat) and Benjamin Partridge (Beef and Dairy Network), this is an arts documentary series like no other.
In the second programme, comedian Josie Long is haunted by feelings of the outsider - the ghosts of the past, Paris (and Pernod) - as she unlocks the secrets of Jean Rhys’s novel Good Morning, Midnight. When it was released in 1939, no one was interested and Rhys disappeared into obscurity and, even worse than that, Beckenham. But it also held the key to her later success.
Ever since she first read the novel, Josie has identified with Jean Rhys and Good Morning, Midnight’s protagonist Sacha. Maybe a bit too much.
With contributions from writers Lauren Elkin, Lilian Pizzichini, A L Kennedy and Shivanee Ramlochan, professor of English Patricia Moran and French restaurant manager Kostas, Josie checks in and descends into Good Morning, Midnight.
The readings are by Catrin Stewart and the hotel receptionist is played by Mike Wozniak.
Presenter: Josie Long
Producer: Benjamin Partridge
Series Producer: Steven Rajam
An Overcoat Media production for BBC Radio 4
MON 16:30 Beyond Belief (m00127g1)
Young Voices in Northern Ireland
For this special edition of Beyond Belief, Ernie Rea has been to Northern Ireland to talk to a panel of young adults in their 20s about their views on religion and how their society has changed in the 23 years since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.
Ernie was born in Belfast and worked in a youth club on the Shankill Road during some of the worst years of the Troubles. He experienced the visceral hatred felt by some Protestants and Catholics towards each other and although religion was not the cause of the Troubles, it played its part; it largely determined how people voted and where they sent their children to school. Ernie acknowledges that things have changed since the Troubles but he wants to know how much? Does religious affiliation still determine attitudes towards social and moral issues in Northern Ireland?
Panel:
Andrew Matthews
Aoibhin McNeill
Chris Clague
Shannon Campbell
Producer:
Helen Lee
Editor:
Helen Grady
MON 17:00 PM (m00127g3)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.
MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m00127g5)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 18:30 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (m00127g7)
Series 76
Episode 2
The 76th series of Radio 4's multi award-winning ‘antidote to panel games’ promises more homespun wireless entertainment for the young at heart. This week the programme pays a return visit to the Hexagon Theatre in Reading where Jan Ravens and Omid Djalili are pitched against Tony Hawks and Barry Cryer, with Jack Dee in the chair. At the piano - Colin Sell. Producer - Jon Naismith. It is a BBC Studios production.
MON 19:00 The Archers (m00127g9)
Johnny’s getting snappy while Hazel has it all worked out.
MON 19:15 Front Row (m00127gc)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
MON 20:00 The Wedding Detectives (m00127gf)
Verona and Thomas
Wedding albums capture the happiest day of a couple’s life. But what happens when those pictures are lost? Wedding album collector Charlotte Sibtain and journalist Cole Moreton uncover the stories behind the photographs and try to reunite them with the family.
This time, the story of two photos and their owner, a writer named Paul. He asks the Detectives to track down more photographs from his Jamaican parents, Verona and Thomas’s East End wedding in 1956.
Verona burned her wedding album leaving Paul with just the two snaps. Using those pictures as clues, Charlotte and Cole try and track down the photographer and any relatives unknown to Paul who might still have their own albums.
When the best man is identified as a pioneering West Indian club owner with links to the Krays, the story takes a different turn.
A TBI Media production for BBC Radio 4
MON 20:30 Crossing Continents (m0012147)
Sleepless in Seoul
Korea is one of the most stressed and tired nations on earth, a place where people work and study longer hours than anywhere else. And statistics show they are finding it increasingly difficult to switch off and relax; they sleep fewer hours and have higher rates of depression and suicide than almost anywhere else.
And as a result sleeplessness and stress has become big business in Korea; from sleep clinics where doctors assess people overnight, to ‘sleep cafes’ offering naps in the middle of the working day, to relaxation drinks. Even Buddhism is moving in on the action with temple retreats and monk-led apps to help stressed out Koreans to relax. There is a lot of money to be made but some Koreans have become worried that in trying to sell religion to the next generation, some faith leaders might be losing touch with Buddhist principles themselves. For Crossing Continents Se-Woong Koo reports from Seoul on a nation that’s wired on staying awake. Producer, Chloe Hadjimatheou.
MON 21:00 Afterlives (m00120vw)
Martin and Zeena
In this episode of Afterlives: Martin and Zeena, two people brought up by single dads, examine the legacy of being abandoned by their mothers.
Martin Andrews was one when his mother left after an extra-marital affair and he was brought up by his father and three sisters. He doesn’t blame his mother, who never wanted a fourth child and went on to have the career she hoped for. However, visiting at weekends was toxic and he hasn’t now seen his mother for the last 25 years: half his life.
Zeena Moolla was eight when her alcoholic mother left her father, an Indian Muslim from South Africa, to look after the three children. She says her childhood started at that moment, although the painful memories don’t go away.
At one level they both celebrate their non-conventional ‘family,’ and both of them express deep love and gratitude for their dads who were there for them. Both also speak of the need to forgive and to move on: demonstrating to the modern world that all sorts of families are healthy if they are loving.
They see their fathers as pioneers, battling in the '70s against social norms (which still persist to some degree) and identify their role to talk about the particular challenges - and surprising gifts - of being abandoned by a mother.
They discuss the disservice it does to women when they are seen as the primary nurturers, and argue strongly for equal responsibility between male and female carers.
This is a disarmingly honest and frank conversation between two people who in the end agree, that - compared to their mothers - they had ‘the good deal’: the happy memories with their dads, and a bank of experiences to help them parent their own children and negotiate their own family relationships.
Overtone Production
Produced by Anna Scott-Brown
MON 21:30 Start the Week (m00127f3)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
MON 22:00 The World Tonight (m00127gj)
In-depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
MON 22:45 The Omen (b0978qtp)
Episode 1
Culminating on Friday 13th, Owen Teale (Game Of Thrones) reads David Seltzer's novelisation of his academy award-winning horror. Released in June 1976 by 20th Century Fox, and starring Gregory Peck and Lee Remick, the movie had a vast and lasting impact - reviving Peck's career, spawning several sequels and remakes, and launching a wave of Antichrist-themed movies.
Episode 1:
Kathy, wife of American diplomat Robert Thorn gives birth to a boy. They name him Damien.
Writer: David Seltzer
Abridger: Jeremy Osborne
Reader: Owen Teale
Producer: Karen Rose
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 23:00 Wireless Nights (m00127gl)
Series 7
Full Moon
In this edition of Wireless Nights, Jarvis Cocker discovers what happens here on earth on the night of the full moon. He'll be meeting the planet's inhabitants, both man and beast, as they divulge what light of the full moon does to them.
Jarvis heads to the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London to search for the full moon. His guide and telescope operator is astronomer Dr Emily Drabek-Maunder. Jarvis also discovers what others are getting up to on this full moon night.
On a beach in Merseyside he encounters Moon Goddess Gatherings, a mass ritual where hundreds of women watch the full moon rise and embrace the energy of the lunar cycle.
The writer Lewis Coleman reflects on his own relationship with the full moon as is teases him with lunacy and lycanthropy.
And ecologist Rachel Grant reveals how a moonlit Italian jeep ride led her to discover that it’s not just wolves driven wild by the full moon, but amphibians too.
Lewis Coleman is the author of Drinking The Moon and other works.
Rachel Grant specialises in behavioural and evolutionary ecology at London South Bank University.
Dr Emily Drabek-Maunder is an astrophysicist and Senior Manager of Public Astronomy at the Royal Observatory Greenwich.
Karlee Matthews is Lead Pathfinder for Moon Goddess Gatherings.
Produced by Sam Peach
MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (m00127gp)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament
TUESDAY 07 DECEMBER 2021
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (m00127gr)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 00:30 Wintering by Katherine May (m00127f5)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m00127gt)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m00127gw)
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 (m00127gy)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
TUE 05:30 News Briefing (m00127h0)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m00127h2)
A reflection and prayer to start the day with the Rev Dr Bert Tosh.
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (m00127h4)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
TUE 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b08wr9fm)
Josh Myers on the Short-Eared Owl
Teenager Josh Myers describes how photographing wildlife in the Peak District around Sheffield helps him to control the symptoms of Tourette's syndrome. He tells the story of spotting short-eared owls from the window of his car and spending the afternoon tracking them with his lens.
Producer: Tom Bonnett.
TUE 06:00 Today (m00127xq)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
TUE 09:00 Things Fell Apart (m00127xv)
5. A Scottish Jewish joke
This is the story of the very first person to be publicly shamed because of something they did online. It’s 1988, the internet exists only in its most nascent form, and a software designer, Brad Templeton, uploads onto a message board a joke in poor taste. How the architects of the emerging internet respond to the joke will create a set of rules that the rest of us have lived under ever since…
Written and presented by Jon Ronson
Produced by Sarah Shebbeare
Assistant Producer Sam Peach
Original music by Phil Channell
TUE 09:30 Four Thought (m00127xx)
Prison Sentence
Philippa Greer discusses the imprisonment of people convicted of genocide.
Philippa is a human rights lawyer who has worked around the world. In this powerful talk she tells the story of a visit to West Africa to prepare for the funeral of a man who had recently died in prison. This man had been convicted of genocide, but Philippa reveals that many such prisoners will eventually be released, and what that suggests to her about the use of prison as a response to the most serious crimes against humanity.
Producer: Patrick Cowling.
TUE 09:45 Wintering by Katherine May (m001280n)
Episode 2
‘Some winters happen in the sun,’ writes Katherine May. ‘This particular one began on a blazing day in early September, a week before my fortieth birthday.’ When her husband becomes dangerously ill, it coincides with a moment in May’s life when she is facing professional and personal stress and an uncertain future, and it ushers in a period of what she calls ‘wintering’. ‘Everybody winters at one time or another; some winter over and over again,’ she explains. ‘Winter is a season in the cold, a fallow period in life when you’re cut off from the world, feeling rejected, sidelined, blocked from progress.’
Described by The Observer’s reviewer as ‘a reading cure’ and ‘a tale of hard-won celebration’, May's book is an honest, reflective, sometimes humorous account of her struggle to deal with her own bad times. She considers the healing power of rest and retreat and the consolations of nature, exploring the many ways in which we experience winter, both seasonal and personal, and offering some strategies for weathering the dark times in the year and our own lives.
Katherine May’s other books include The Electricity of Every Living Thing, her memoir of being autistic, and two novels, The Whitstable High Tide Swimming Club and Burning Out. She is the editor of The Best, Most Awful Job, an anthology of essays about motherhood, and her essays and journalism have been widely published in the UK and America. She lives by the sea in Whitstable.
Reader: Melody Grove
Abridged and produced by Sara Davies
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (m00127y1)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.
TUE 11:00 Wild Inside (m00127y3)
Jungle royalty - the Jaguar
Wild Inside embarks on something we hardly ever witness – a look inside some of nature’s most wondrous animals. Its a rare chance to delve deep into some enigmatic and very different wild animals – from a reptile, to a mammal to a fish – unravelling the intricate internal complexity inside three of the most amazing animals ever to evolve. What makes the ultimate predator? What are the keys to successful survival in an ever-changing environment? Whilst we’ve gained a lot by observing their behaviour from the outside, to truly understand these animals, we need to look at what’s on the inside too.
Ben Garrod, Professor of Evolutionary Biology and Science Engagement at the University of East Anglia, together with friend and expert veterinary surgeon Dr Jess French, open up and investigate what makes each of these animals unique. During each animal post mortem, they’re joined by experts in comparative anatomy, evolution and behaviour as they put these enigmatic animals under the knife. Along the way they reveal some unique adaptations which give each species a leg (or claw) up in surviving in the big wild world.
The series begins with one of the truly exotic loaners of the cat family – which at just over two metres long, covered with beautiful gold and black rosette markings, is pure jungle royalty - the greatest of the South American big cats - the Jaguar
Part 2: One of the largest predatory reptiles - the Burmese Python whose extraordinary singular body plan has enabled nearly 4000 species of snakes to succeed in inhabiting nearly every part of the planet,
Part 3 : The largest bony fish you might never have heard of – the bizarre looking Oceanic Sunfish which is being spotted increasingly in UK waters
Presenters: Prof Ben Garrod, Dr Jess French
Producer: Adrian Washbourne
TUE 11:30 Moving Pictures (m00127y6)
The Feast of Herod by Peter Paul Rubens
Cathy FitzGerald invites you to discover new details in old masterpieces, using your phone, tablet or computer.
Each 30 minute episode of Moving Pictures is devoted to a single artwork - and you're invited to look as well as listen, by following a link to a high-resolution image made by Google Arts & Culture. Zoom in and you can see the pores of the canvas, the sweep of individual brushstrokes, the shimmer of pointillist dots.
We start this series with a masterpiece by Peter Paul Rubens, from the collection of the National Galleries of Scotland. Two metres high by nearly three metres wide, The Feast of Herod is painting on a grand-scale - its figures are almost life-size. The picture depicts an opulent banquet to mark the birthday of the ruler, Herod. His guests are adorned in sumptuous clothes and jewels; servants carry in elaborate dishes.
But beneath the surface of this fancy family dinner, something has gone terrifyingly wrong.
To see the high-resolution image, visit www.bbc.co.uk/movingpictures and follow the link to explore The Feast of Herod.
Interviewees: Tico Seifert, Ben Quash, Leah Kharibian, Betsy Wieseman and Michael Ohajuru.
Producer and presenter: Cathy FitzGerald
Art history consultant: Leah Kharibian
Executive producer: Sarah Cuddon
Engineer: Mike Woolley
A White Stiletto production for BBC Radio 4.
Picture credit: Sir Peter Paul Rubens; The Feast of Herod; (c) National Galleries of Scotland
TUE 12:00 News Summary (m0012813)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
TUE 12:04 Faith, Hope and Glory (m00127yc)
Series 2
Jim
By Winsome Pinnock
Jim ..... Martins Imhangbe
Hope ..... Danielle Vitalis
Ed ..... Joseph Ayre
Cicely ..... Jasmine Hyde
Earl Cameron ..... Chris Jack
Directed by Sally Avens
Jim has found work as a film extra. When he is mistaken for the actor Earl Cameron he thinks he may as well play along but he finds the small deception comes at a larger cost.
TUE 12:18 You and Yours (m00127yh)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
TUE 12:57 Weather (m00127yn)
The latest weather forecast
TUE 13:00 World at One (m00127ys)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Sarah Montague.
TUE 13:45 Male Order (m00127yz)
7. Donor Unknown
In the UK, any man who donates sperm through a licensed fertility clinic in the UK must waive his right to anonymity. Any children his donations produce can find out his identity when they turn 18.
When this law passed in 2005, donor numbers dropped by almost 90%. Men, it seemed, didn’t want to be known. They flocked instead to the online sperm donor market, where another kind of donor was looking for the opposite. They wanted to be known from the time a child was conceived, but the new law didn’t let them.
In this episode, Dr Aleks Krotoski meets Louise McLoughlin, a donor-conceived child whose biological father had been told by the clinics where he donated in the early 1990s that he would always be anonymous. She campaigns for the rights of donor-conceived children to know the identity of their genetic parent from birth.
Louise has a conversation with donor Alex, who’s looking for a recipient on Facebook to help him achieve his family dreams.
TUE 14:00 The Archers (m00127g9)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 No Place But the Water (m00127z3)
Ghosts of the Future: Part 2
Second series of Linda Marshall Griffiths' climate emergency drama set in a flooded future world.
The story of a family in a hotel at the end of the world that is starting to disappear.
Birdie has discovered something scrawled on the wooden floor in one of the abandoned rooms in the Hotel turret and is convinced there is something behind the wall. The rain has stopped and for a moment the family are full of hope. But Cal is restless, he has to find his dad.
JESSIE.....Sade Malone
CAL.....Cel Spellman
MAURICE.....Pearce Quigley
GIL.....Rupert Hill
LAURIE/SELENE.....Jenny Platt
BIRDIE.....Poppy O’Brien
GABE.....Gabriella Tuicicia
Written by Linda Marshall Griffiths
Directed by Nadia Molinari
Sound Design by Sharon Hughes
Programme Consultant: Dr James Lea - University of Liverpool
BBC AUDIO DRAMA NORTH
TUE 15:00 Short Cuts (m00127z7)
Inside Out
Josie Long presents short documentaries and audio adventures about how our sense of self collides with the world outside.
Two Russian journalists find their lives turned inside out when they are classified as foreign agents, Keanu Reeves offers inspiration for one writer navigating his mixed-race identity, and a virtual world offers freedom and new possibilities for a man with Parkinson’s disease.
Keanu Reeves
Featuring Will Harris
Produced by Alia Cassam
Hello, You're a Foreign Agent
Featuring Sonya Groysman and Olya Churakova
Produced by Mika Golubovsky and Charles Maynes
A Second Life
Produced by Ellie Lightfoot and Gaby Caplan
Sound designed by Ellie Lightfoot
Curatorial team: Andrea Rangecroft and Eleanor McDowall
Producer: Alia Cassam
Executive Producer: Axel Kacoutié
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 15:30 Could I Regenerate My Farm to Save the Planet? (m0011rxf)
Regenerative Farming is gaining traction around the world as a means of increasing biodiversity, improving soil quality, sequestering carbon, restoring watersheds and enhancing the ecosystems of farms. The shepherd James Rebanks, author of English Pastoral, is on a quest to find out if it is possible to adopt these methods on his farm in the Lake District. He meets leading proponents of these methods in the UK, US and Europe and discovers how mimicking natural herd movements, stopping ploughing and adding costly chemicals could make his farm economically sustainable.
This is becoming an urgent question as not only is the global population projected to rise to nearly 10 billion by 2050 but according to the UN's Food and Agriculture organisation within 60 years we may literally no longer have enough arable topsoil to feed ourselves. Meanwhile our reliance on meat products is being blamed for increasing CO2 and climate change.
But can James,and indeed other farmers, make the switch to these techniques when industrial farming has been the paradigm for so long? When so many people believe turning vegan and shifting to plant-based ecological farming is the way forward, should he continue breeding sheep and cows? And as companies like Nestle, Walmart, Unilever, McCain and Pepsi all pledge to invest in regenerative farming to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, do the claims about carbon sequestration stand up? How can he use his farm to save the planet?
TUE 16:00 Under the Influence (m00127zc)
Philosopher James Garvey examines the rise of behavioural science at the heart of our politics and its key role during pandemic.
There was a large amount of attention paid to the government's slogan during the Covid crisis that politics would 'follow the science'. But not just branches of the natural sciences, like epidemiology, medicine and virology. Our national politics is also being informed to an unprecedented degree by behavioural science – taking advice from experts with a remarkable understanding of human motivation, decision-making and action; how to steer whole populations from one mode of behaviour to another in a crisis, not only for medical purposes but also as a tool for government and social order.
James Garvey, who has written on the history of persuasion, explores the deep and ever-more powerful relationship between politics, government and behavioural science, beyond the pandemic. What are the key ideas here and where did this alliance come from – what have been its strengths and weaknesses? James asks whether behavioural science techniques are being used to circumvent more traditional routes of democracy, such as manifestos and public debate and – perhaps – our political consent. But also how behavioural insight is illuminating problems governments have found difficult or even intractable in the past, upturning older models of the public, benefiting the whole. He explores how online and digital technology might be used to amplify these techniques.
Is this a pivotal moment in our politics?
Presenter: James Garvey
Producer: Simon Hollis
A Brook Lapping Production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 16:30 Great Lives (m00127zh)
JRR Tolkien, creator of the Hobbit
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein in 1892. Orphaned before he was a teenager, he fought at the Somme in World War One before going on to become one of the best-selling authors of all time. Bilbo, Gandalf, Gollum, Frodo, Sauron - these are just a few of the famous characters he created for The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
Nominating Tolkien - an Oxford University professor - is the popular historian, Niall Ferguson. He aims to rescue Tolkien from the hippies, who, he says, claimed Tolkien as their own. "The fascinating thing to me about Tolkien is that his sensibility is so profoundly conservative - with a small 'c'. ...when you look at the man's politics, he was such a reactionary!" Presenter Matthew Parris, who doesn't believe in elves or dwarves, is not so sure that the fantasy author deserves to be rescued. With additional help and guidance from Malcolm Guite.
Niall Ferguson is senior fellow of the Hoover Institution and author of Empire: How Britain made the Modern World.
The producer for BBC Audio in Bristol is Ellie Richold.
Future episodes in this series include Rory Sutherland on Johnny Ramone; Nina Sosanya on Jeanne Baret, the first woman to circumnavigate the globe; and the boss of Iceland, Richard Walker, on William Lever, one of the founders of Unilever plc
TUE 17:00 PM (m00127zm)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.
TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m00127zw)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 18:30 The Casebook of Max and Ivan (b098h0f8)
Series 2
Case #73 - Cirque Du Solihull
Ineffective detectives Max and Ivan are called to help the penniless ringmaster of the crumbling Cirque Du Solihull (guest star Bridget Christie). After a series of mysterious accidents the circus faces closure after the human cannonball cannon is stolen.
Meanwhile, in an effort to fend off increasingly erratic landlord Malcolm, Max has come up with an ingenious way to delay paying him their rent.
Cast:
Max..............................................Max Olesker
Ivan...............................................Ivan Gonzalez
Brenda Zamponi...........................Bridget Christie
Narrator /
Malcolm McMichaelmas...............Lewis MacLeod
Belle (& others)............................Lolly Adefope
Joe (& others)..............................David Reed
Written by Max Olesker and Ivan Gonzalez
Developed by John Stanley Productions
Produced by Ben Walker
A Retort production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 19:00 The Archers (m00127tw)
Fallon puts her foot in it and Susan doesn’t like what she sees.
TUE 19:15 Front Row (m0012800)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
TUE 20:00 A Line in the Water (m0012803)
At the start of 2021 and the implementation of Brexit, a trade border was created between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Where it lies exactly nobody is sure. Neil McCarthy travels the Belfast-Birkenhead ferry in search of the border down the Irish Sea.
One of the most intractable problems arising from Brexit was the status of Northern Ireland. The EU insisted on a customs border to protect its single market. The consensus was that it mustn't be a hard border on the island of Ireland as that would violate the Good Friday Agreement and destabilise peace in Northern Ireland. But a border had to go somewhere. When it was suggested it should be an Irish Sea border in 2017, PM Theresa May flatly rejected the idea and said no British Prime Minister could ever agree to it. However, PM Boris Johnson did sign up to it and from January 2021, trade passing from Britain to Northern Ireland has been subject to customs and regulatory checks.
What does this mean for ordinary people who cross the Irish Sea? And where exactly is this border anyway? Producer Neil McCarthy boards Stena Line's Embla ferry which plies a daily and nightly course between Birkenhead and Belfast. He talks to passengers, and crew, lorry drivers and historians, criss-crossing the body of water that both separates and binds the two islands in a search for a line in the water.
TUE 20:40 In Touch (m0012807)
News, views and information for people who are blind or partially sighted
TUE 21:00 All in the Mind (m00127v2)
Programme exploring the limits and potential of the human mind. Producer: Deborah Cohen.
TUE 21:30 Things Fell Apart (m00127xv)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (m001280c)
In-depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
TUE 22:45 The Omen (b09794sj)
Episode 2
Culminating on Friday 13th, Owen Teale (Game Of Thrones) reads David Seltzer's novelisation of his academy award-winning horror. Released in June 1976 by 20th Century Fox, and starring Gregory Peck and Lee Remick, the movie had a vast and lasting impact - reviving Peck's career, spawning several sequels and remakes, and launching a wave of Antichrist-themed movies.
Episode 2:
Tragedy strikes at Damien's birthday party.
Writer: David Seltzer
Abridger: Jeremy Osborne
Reader: Owen Teale
Producer: Karen Rose
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 23:00 Fortunately... with Fi and Jane (m001280g)
214. A Long Train to the Library, with Jon Ronson
In a Fortunately first, the writer Jon Ronson joins Fi and Jane for his second appearance on the podcast. The author of So You've Been Publicly Shamed and host of The Last Days of August tells them about his new podcast Things Fell Apart, exploring tales form the culture wars. Before Jon zooms in, Jane has crane fantasies and there's a shout out to listeners currently having the snip.
Things Fell Apart is available on BBC Sounds, where you can also hear an audiobook version of So You've Been Publicly Shamed. Get in touch: fortunately.podcast@bbc.co.uk
TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (m001280j)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament.
WEDNESDAY 08 DECEMBER 2021
WED 00:00 Midnight News (m001280l)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
WED 00:30 Wintering by Katherine May (m001280n)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m001280q)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m001280s)
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 (m001280v)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
WED 05:30 News Briefing (m001280x)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m001280z)
A reflection and prayer to start the day with the Rev Dr Bert Tosh.
WED 05:45 Farming Today (m0012811)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
WED 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b09l1tfm)
Andy Radford on the Pied Babbler
Professor Andy Radford, a Behavioural Biologist at the University of Bristol describes how the Pied Babbler uses the Watchman's song in its role as a sentry whilst the rest of the flock forage for food on the ground.
Producer: Sarah Blunt
Photograph: Petrus van Zyl.
WED 06:00 Today (m00127t5)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
WED 09:00 The Reith Lectures (m00127t9)
Stuart Russell - Living With Artificial Intelligence
AI in warfare
Stuart Russell warns of the dangers of developing autonomous weapon systems - arguing for a system of global control. Weapons that locate, select, and engage human targets without human supervision are already available for use in warfare,. Some argue that AI will reduce collateral damage and civilian casualties. Others believe it could kill on a scale not seen since Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Will future wars be fought entirely by machines, or will one side surrender only when its real losses, military or civilian, become unacceptable? Professor Russell will examine the motivation of major powers developing these types of weapons, the morality of creating algorithms that decide to kill humans, and possible ways forward for the international community as it struggles with these questions.
Stuart Russell is Professor of Computer Science and founder of the Center for Human-Compatible Artificial Intelligence at the University of California, Berkeley.
The lecture and question-and-answer session was recorded at Manchester University.
Presenter: Anita Anand
Producer: Jim Frank
Editor: Hugh Levinson
Production Coordinator: Brenda Brown
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (m00127tf)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.
WED 11:00 Rutherford and Fry on Living with AI (m0012g12)
Episode 2
What if a despotic leader could programme a swarm of drones to kill a set of identified targets with just the push of a button? Due to ever expanding AI capabilities this extreme dystopian vision may not be technically unfeasible. In this second of a four part series responding to this year's BBC Reith lectures from Stuart Russell, Adam Rutherford and Hannah Fry unpick the role of AI in warfare.
Joining them to help them navigate the battlefield of information are guests former US navy fighter pilot - now AI Professor - Mary 'Missy' Cummings and Ulrike Frank, a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations who specialises in the future of warfare.
Together they will be investigating 'lethal autonomous weapons' - these are weapons that can find, chose and kill human targets without human supervision. We will be discussing how advanced this technology actually is - some think the world may have already experienced the first ever autonomous strike in Libya. What are the repercussions of this technology for safety on the battlefield , and what are the wider geo-political ramifications?
Stuart Russell has deep concerns over the development of these types of weapons and Rutherford and Fry pick apart some of the ethical debates this technology raises. Who would be responsible if a system malfunctioned and killed a civilian? What's to stop it getting into the wrong hands? Should we even be creating these weapons in the first place - do we instead need a convention banning them? And is that even possible?
WED 11:30 John Finnemore's Double Acts (b08xbjhy)
Series 2
The Wroxton Box
Alec is late as usual. But Percy is wearing different socks. Something big is brewing.
Michael Palin joins Cabin Pressure actor and writer John Finnemore in the last of this series of two-handers.
Written by John Finnemore
Produced by David Tyler
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 12:00 News Summary (m00127wh)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
WED 12:04 Faith, Hope and Glory (m00127tk)
Series 2
Faith
By Winsome Pinnock
Faith ..... Shiloh Coke
Millie ..... Jane Wittenshaw
Audience member ..... Neil McCaul
Directed by Pat Cumper
Faith has never got over losing Hope's child at the docks in Tilbury. Seven years later she is still haunted by the tragedy,but her friend Millie suggests a way to put an end to the bad memories.
WED 12:18 You and Yours (m00127tm)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
WED 12:57 Weather (m00127tp)
The latest weather forecast
WED 13:00 World at One (m00127tr)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Sarah Montague.
WED 13:45 Male Order (m00127tt)
8. The Tools We Use
Beth Gardiner knew what the problem was with the online sperm donor marketplace - there was no community. People looking for sperm connected with people offering it on personals ads or email groups. There was no information - about fertility, about cycles, about problematic donors.
And so, when she started the Known Donor Registry in 2010 as a hub of information for people who wanted a known donor, she included two technological features of great online communities - a forum and a real-time chat. And for a while, it worked wonderfully.
But Beth’s online passion project was interrupted by a technological glitch. And at the same time, a Goliath of the social networking world was tempting everyone away.
Presenter: Aleks Krotoski
WED 14:00 The Archers (m00127tw)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 No Place But the Water (m00127ty)
Ghosts of the Future: Part 3
Second series of Linda Marshall Griffiths' climate emergency drama set in a flooded future world.
The story of a family in a hotel at the end of the world that is starting to disappear.
Jess has seen a ship approaching the island but worse than that, they saw her. Time is running out for the family and what is about to come is more dangerous than what came before.
BIRDIE....Poppy O’Brien
GABE....Gabriella Tuicicia
CAL.....Ceallach Spellman
JESSIE.....Sade Malone
MAURICE.....Pearce Quigley
GIL......Rupert Hill
LAURIE/SELENE.....Jenny Platt
LEO.....Nico Mirallegro
Written by Linda Marshall Griffiths
Directed by Nadia Molinari
Sound Design by Steve Brooke
Programme Consultant: Dr James Lea - University of Liverpool
BBC AUDIO DRAMA NORTH
WED 15:00 Money Box (m00127v0)
The Cost of DIY and Home Improvements
Adam Shaw, experts and callers discuss the cost of DIY & home improvements
WED 15:30 All in the Mind (m00127v2)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Tuesday]
WED 16:00 Sideways (m00127v4)
Matthew Syed explores ideas that shape our lives, making us see the world differently.
WED 16:30 The Media Show (m00127v6)
Social media, anti-social media, breaking news, faking news: this is the programme about a revolution in media.
WED 17:00 PM (m00127v8)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m00127vd)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 18:30 Mark Steel's in Town (m00127vg)
Series 11
Walthamstow, London
Walthamstow has got plenty going for it "it has the requisite villagey middle-class bit, but with a proper gor-blimey guv'nor East End heart" says one newspaper article and Mark finds a town mid-gentrification. The dog track has gone, the famously long market remains but there is also a Viking Shop and an extraordinary showroom and workshop with a vast range of neon light fittings called God's Own Junkyard. There is a museum dedicated to the designer William Morris who used to live there and there's a kebab van which those in the know queue for willingly, Mark included. But there's evidence of a recent war too in the form of the cycling scheme known as "mini-Holland." Hopefully Mark will tread carefully.
The full box set of all episodes (with well over 50 towns visited) is available now wherever you get your podcasts.
Written by and starring...Mark Steel
With additional material from Pete Sinclair
Production Coordinator...Beverly Tagg
Producer...Julia McKenzie
A BBC Studios Production.
WED 19:00 The Archers (m00127vj)
Eddie gets his own back and Natasha has the wrong end of the stick.
WED 19:15 Front Row (m00127vl)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
WED 20:00 Moral Maze (m00127vn)
Live debate examining the moral issues behind one of the week's news stories. #moralmaze
WED 20:45 Wintering by Katherine May (m00127vq)
Episode 3
‘Some winters happen in the sun,’ writes Katherine May. ‘This particular one began on a blazing day in early September, a week before my fortieth birthday.’ When her husband becomes dangerously ill, it coincides with a moment in May’s life when she is facing professional and personal stress and an uncertain future, and it ushers in a period of what she calls ‘wintering’. ‘Everybody winters at one time or another; some winter over and over again,’ she explains. ‘Winter is a season in the cold, a fallow period in life when you’re cut off from the world, feeling rejected, sidelined, blocked from progress.’
Described by The Observer’s reviewer as ‘a reading cure’ and ‘a tale of hard-won celebration’, May's book is an honest, reflective, sometimes humorous account of her struggle to deal with her own bad times. She considers the healing power of rest and retreat and the consolations of nature, exploring the many ways in which we experience winter, both seasonal and personal, and offering some strategies for weathering the dark times in the year and our own lives.
Katherine May’s other books include The Electricity of Every Living Thing, her memoir of being autistic, and two novels, The Whitstable High Tide Swimming Club and Burning Out. She is the editor of The Best, Most Awful Job, an anthology of essays about motherhood, and her essays and journalism have been widely published in the UK and America. She lives by the sea in Whitstable.
WED 21:00 The Young Farmers (m00106k3)
Lambing
A series of three programmes giving voice to the trials and triumphs of young farmers.
From springtime to harvest we follow three different groups of young people at the beginning of their farming lives.
It feels like a challenging time to be starting out as a farmer. Added to the usual demands are a mixture of concerns over meat-free diets, mental health awareness, industrial and automated farming methods, changing subsidies and the multifaceted problems of climate change and biodiversity loss. To say nothing of the ambiguities of international trade deals.
In the first programme, presented by Hannah Jackson - the Red Shepherdess - we accompany three young sheep farmers during their busiest period of the year: lambing.
Featuring Lucy Dickinson, Matthew Fearon and Ernie Richards
Producer: Martin Williams
WED 21:30 The Media Show (m00127v6)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 today]
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (m00127vs)
In-depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
WED 22:45 The Omen (b097c1yf)
Episode 3
Culminating on Friday 13th, Owen Teale (Game Of Thrones) reads David Seltzer's novelisation of his academy award-winning horror. Released in June 1976 by 20th Century Fox, and starring Gregory Peck and Lee Remick, the movie had a vast and lasting impact - reviving Peck's career, spawning several sequels and remakes, and launching a wave of Antichrist-themed movies.
Episode 3:
Father Tassone has a warning.
Writer: David Seltzer
Abridger: Jeremy Osborne
Reader: Owen Teale
Producer: Karen Rose
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 23:00 Rosie Jones: Box Ticker Too (m00127vv)
Northern, with Louise Young
Stand-up comedy and chat from triple-threat Rosie Jones. She’s disabled, gay and northern. But she’s not a great example of any of these communities and she’s tired of being asked to speak on their behalf.
This week, Rosie looks at being Northern. She grew up in a coastal town in Yorkshire, but seems to be ashamed that she moved to London for work. Louise Young joins Rosie on stage to examine what it means to be from the North, and if their identities and attitudes are really tied to where they are from.
Recorded in a live comedy club, prepare to be shocked and disappointed by Rosie’s lack of respect for your expectations.
Produced by Richard Melvin
A Dabster production for BBC Radio 4
WED 23:15 The Skewer (m00127vx)
Series 5
Episode 6
Your new news fix. Jon Holmes's The Skewer returns to twist itself into current affairs.
WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (m00127vz)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament
THURSDAY 09 DECEMBER 2021
THU 00:00 Midnight News (m00127w1)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
THU 00:30 Wintering by Katherine May (m00127vq)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m00127w3)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m00127w5)
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 (m00127w7)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
THU 05:30 News Briefing (m00127w9)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m00127wc)
A reflection and prayer to start the day with the Rev Dr Bert Tosh.
THU 05:45 Farming Today (m00127wf)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
THU 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b08wn2jh)
John McPherson on the Hooded Crow
Wildlife photographer John McPherson recalls, for Tweet of the Day, watching hooded crows working intelligently to obtain food caught by an otter on the Isle of Mull.
Producer Maggie Ayre.
THU 06:00 Today (m0012827)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
THU 09:00 In Our Time (m001282c)
The May Fourth Movement
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the violent protests in China on 4th May 1919 over the nation's humiliation in the Versailles Treaty after World War One. China had supported the Allies, sending workers to dig trenches, and expected to regain the German colonies on its territory, but the Allies and China's leaders chose to give that land to Japan instead. To protestors, this was a travesty and reflected much that was wrong with China, with its corrupt leaders, division by warlords, weakness before Imperial Europe and outdated ideas and values. The movement around 4th May has since been seen as a watershed in China’s development in the 20th century, not least as some of those connected with the movement went on to found the Communist Party of China a few years later.
The image above is of students from Peking University marching with banners during the May Fourth demonstrations in 1919.
With
Rana Mitter
Professor of the History and Politics of Modern China and Fellow of St Cross College, University of Oxford
Elisabeth Forster
Lecturer in Chinese History at the University of Southampton
And
Song-Chuan Chen
Associate Professor in History at the University of Warwick
Producer: Simon Tillotson
THU 09:45 Wintering by Katherine May (m001284w)
Episode 4
‘Some winters happen in the sun,’ writes Katherine May. ‘This particular one began on a blazing day in early September, a week before my fortieth birthday.’ When her husband becomes dangerously ill, it coincides with a moment in May’s life when she is facing professional and personal stress and an uncertain future, and it ushers in a period of what she calls ‘wintering’. ‘Everybody winters at one time or another; some winter over and over again,’ she explains. ‘Winter is a season in the cold, a fallow period in life when you’re cut off from the world, feeling rejected, sidelined, blocked from progress.’
Described by The Observer’s reviewer as ‘a reading cure’ and ‘a tale of hard-won celebration’, May's book is an honest, reflective, sometimes humorous account of her struggle to deal with her own bad times. She considers the healing power of rest and retreat and the consolations of nature, exploring the many ways in which we experience winter, both seasonal and personal, and offering some strategies for weathering the dark times in the year and our own lives.
Katherine May’s other books include The Electricity of Every Living Thing, her memoir of being autistic, and two novels, The Whitstable High Tide Swimming Club and Burning Out. She is the editor of The Best, Most Awful Job, an anthology of essays about motherhood, and her essays and journalism have been widely published in the UK and America. She lives by the sea in Whitstable.
Reader: Melody Grove
Abridged and produced by Sara Davies
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (m001282h)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.
THU 11:00 Crossing Continents (m001282k)
Poland’s Fractured Borderlands
Thousands of people – mostly migrants from the Middle East - are camped in freezing weather at the Poland-Belarus border. Many have spent thousands of dollars to fly into Belarus on tourist visas, with the hope of an easy crossing into the EU. They’re pawns, trapped in a battle of wills between Belarus’ autocratic president, Aleksandr Lukashenko, and Poland and the European Union. The Polish government is taking a tough line, imposing an exclusion zone along the border and sealing off the area to journalists and aid workers. Migrants caught in the forest are arrested and sent back to Belarus. Several, including two children, have died from the cold and more deaths are expected as winter sets in. Meanwhile local residents are divided about how to deal with the humanitarian disaster unfolding on their doorstep. For Crossing Continents, Lucy Ash visits towns and villages in the area to see what impact the crisis is having on people’s lives.
Produced and presented by Lucy Ash.
Editor, Bridget Harney
THU 11:30 The Exploding Library (m001282m)
Mother Night, by Kurt Vonnegut
In this new literature series, a trio of comedians explode and unravel their most cherished cult books, paying homage to the tone and style of the original text - and blurring and warping the lines between fact and fiction.
“We are what we pretend to be. So we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”
So reads the warning at the beginning of the novel Mother Night, in an author’s introduction written by Kurt Vonnegut himself. Yet in this world of unreliable narrators, editor’s “corrections” and weirdly omniscient first-person testimony, nothing is really what it seems.
Purportedly the “confessions of Howard J. Campbell Jr”, an American expat-turned Nazi propagandist-turned Allied spy (allegedly), Vonnegut’s warped collection of bizarre characters and slippery narratives invite us to cast aside our black and white notions of morals and guilt and survey the gazillions of greys in between.
Comedian Daliso Chaponda considers the strange world of people playing versions of themselves in public - comedians, spies, politicians and, to an extent, all of us. How do you deal with people perceiving you differently to your "real" self? And, for that matter, how do you know who you "really" are?
Presenter: Daliso Chaponda
Producer: Steven Rajam
An Overcoat Media production for BBC Radio 4
THU 12:00 News Summary (m00128cf)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
THU 12:04 Faith, Hope and Glory (m001282r)
Series 2
Trevor
By Winsome Pinnock
Trevor ..... Gary Beadle
Faith ..... Shiloh Coke
Zeke ..... Moe Idris
Shopkeeper ..... Jasmine Hyde
Directed by Pat Cumper
When Trevor is asked to be the spokesperson for the black dockworkers who are facing a colour bar operated by their own union he is afraid he will not be able to meet the challenge. A lesson in history from his Uncle Zeke provides him with inspiration.
THU 12:18 You and Yours (m001282v)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
THU 12:57 Weather (m001282z)
The latest weather forecast
THU 13:00 World at One (m0012833)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Sarah Montague.
THU 13:45 Male Order (m0012837)
9. Who Guards the Guards?
The online sperm donor marketplace operates across websites and social media, but most of the matches are made on Facebook Groups. Adam, ‘Kyle’ and Christina are three of the people in charge of the world’s biggest donor groups who spend their free time trying to keep the peace.
But numbers have grown exponentially over the last two years of lockdown, and they are swimming up a current of consequential decisions. Does the technology give them enough to keep out the bad apples?
Presenter: Aleks Krotoski
THU 14:00 The Archers (m00127vj)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 This Thing of Darkness (p0b22s80)
Series 2
Part 5
The winner of the British Podcast Award for Best Fiction 2021 returns with a gripping drama about trauma, obsession and why we harm the things we love.
Part 5 of 7
Written by Anita Vettesse with monologues by Eileen Horne.
Dr Alex Bridges is an expert forensic psychiatrist and psychotherapist, assessing and treating perpetrators of violent crime. She also runs a trauma therapy group.
When her professional worlds come dangerously close, Alex is faced with a dilemma: what if the only way to protect someone from harm is to betray their trust?
Dark secrets are revealed as Sarah and Paul’s lives collide. And the lies we tell our loved ones to get their attention are exposed as the Lotus Group continue to work through their various traumas.
Alex … Lolita Chakrabarti
Ros ….. Lois Chimimba
Sarah ….. Melody Grove
Paul ….. Robert Jack
Dawn ….. Neshla Caplan
Kelly ….. Veronica Leer
Malcolm ….. Michael Nardone
Rowena ….. Wendy Seager
Series created by Lucia Haynes, Eileen Horne, Gaynor Macfarlane, Anita Vettesse and Kirsty Williams.
Series consultant: Dr Gwen Adshead
Produced by Kirsty Williams and Gaynor Macfarlane
A BBC Scotland Production directed by Kirsty Williams
THU 15:00 Open Country (m001283g)
Wizards and steam trains on the West Highland Line
In 'Wizards and Steam Trains on the West Highland Line', folk musician Ingrid Henderson explores the communities and landscapes which influence her life and work. She lives in Glenfinnan, on the shores of Loch Shiel, where Bonnie Prince Charlie raised his standard before setting off on his much-romanticised, doomed mission to reclaim the English crown for the Stuarts. But in recent years Charlie has been almost supplanted by a fictional rival - Harry Potter. Thousands of tourists are drawn to the area, eager to see the Jacobite steam train, aka Hogwarts Express, crossing the magnificent Glenfinnan viaduct - an iconic scene in the Potter films.
Ingrid talks to Jacobite historian, Charlie MacFarlane, about this clash of cultures and - up at the viaduct - chats with Harry Potter fans who have travelled from as far afield as China, Brazil and the USA to see the Hogwarts Express. She finds out about the history of the West Highland Railway Line with museum curator, Hege Harnaes, as it celebrates its 120th anniversary and takes the train to the fishing port of Mallaig, at the end of the line. It's her home town, where her musical career started.
Former schoolteacher, Denis Rixson, recalls the heyday of the town's fishing industry and Ingrid describes how the coast and waters of this part of Scotland have inspired some of her work.
Produced by Kathleen Carragher
Photo: Alan Wilson, Friends of Glenfinnan station
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Christmas Appeal (m00127hh)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 Bookclub (m00127jv)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Sunday]
THU 16:00 Think with Pinker (m001283l)
Don’t Expect A Zebra
Why medical students are advised - if you hear hoofbeats behind you, don't expect to see a zebra. In his guide to thinking better, Professor Steven Pinker explores Bayesian reasoning.
Steven is joined by Talithia Williams, professor of mathematics at Harvey Mudd College and author of ‘Power in Numbers The Rebel Women of Mathematics’, and by Siddartha Mukherjee, professor of medicine at Columbia University and the author of the Pulitzer Prise winning ‘The Emperor of All Maladies A Biography of Cancer’
Together they’ll help you evaluate ideas, recalibrate your credences and maybe even think a little better.
Producers: Imogen Walford and Joe Kent
Editor: Emma Rippon
Think with Pinker is produced in partnership with The Open University.
THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (m001283q)
A weekly programme that illuminates the mysteries and challenges the controversies behind the science that's changing our world.
THU 17:00 PM (m001283v)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m0012843)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 18:30 Relativity (m000lnlq)
Series 3
Episode 5
The third series of Richard Herring’s comedy drama builds on the warm, lively characters and sharply observed family dynamics of previous series.
It is an honest, affectionate observation of inter-generational misunderstanding, sibling sparring and the ties that bind. Amid the comedy, Richard broaches some more serious highs and lows of family life. In this series, he focuses on the roller coaster ride of first time parenting, how to maintain a long standing marriage and brass rubbing.
Richard Herring is a comedian, writer, blogger and podcaster and the world's premier semi-professional self-playing snooker player.
Episode 5
Ian has now taken refuge at Ken and Margaret’s, as well as sister Jane. Unexpectedly reunited, without partners or offspring, the family of four go down memory lane – good and bad. Then Pete appears on the doorstep with urgent news about Holly.
Cast:
Margaret…………….Alison Steadman
Ken……………..Phil Davis
Jane…………….Fenella Woolgar
Ian……………….Richard Herring
Pete………………..Gordon Kennedy
Written by Richard Herring
Sound design by Eloise Whitmore
Producer: Polly Thomas
Executive Producers: Jon Thoday and Richard Allen Turner
An Avalon Television production for BBC Radio 4
THU 19:00 The Archers (m0012847)
Writer, Caroline Harrington
Director, Jeremy Howe
Editor, Jeremy Howe
Pat Archer ..... Patricia Gallimore
Tony Archer ..... David Troughton
Tom Archer ..... William Troughton
Natasha Archer ..... Mali Harries
Susan Carter ..... Charlotte Martin
Eddie Grundy ..... Trevor Harrison
Ed Grundy ..... Barry Farrimond
Kirsty Miller ..... Annabelle Dowler
Johnny Phillips ..... Tom Gibbons
Fallon Rogers ..... Joanna Van Kampen
Lynda Snell ..... Carole Boyd
Hazel Woolley ..... Annette Badland
THU 19:15 Front Row (m001284c)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
THU 20:00 The Briefing Room (m001284f)
David Aaronovitch presents in-depth explainers on big issues in the news.
THU 20:30 The Spark (m001219p)
Julia Galef on motivated cognition
Julia Galef, author of The Scout Mindset, tells Helen Lewis how ‘motivated cognition’ blocks clear thinking, why that matters for our politics and personal lives alike - and what can be done to escape it.
Producer: Phil Tinline
THU 21:00 BBC Inside Science (m001283q)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 today]
THU 21:30 In Our Time (m001282c)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (m001284j)
In-depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
THU 22:45 The Omen (b097c99t)
Episode 4
Culminating on Friday 13th, Owen Teale (Game Of Thrones) reads David Seltzer's novelisation of his academy award-winning horror. Released in June 1976 by 20th Century Fox, and starring Gregory Peck and Lee Remick, the movie had a vast and lasting impact - reviving Peck's career, spawning several sequels and remakes, and launching a wave of Antichrist-themed movies.
Episode 4:
Kathy is in danger.
Writer: David Seltzer
Abridger: Jeremy Osborne
Reader: Owen Teale
Producer: Karen Rose
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 23:00 Fred at The Stand (m001284l)
Series 3
Lost Voice Guy, Lauren Pattison, Michael Akadiri and Esther Manito
Fred MacAulay is back at The Stand Comedy Club in Newcastle, doing what he does best - making people laugh.
A fantastic selection of some of the best of stand-up comedians working in the UK right now. Some you’ll know and some you won’t - yet.
In this episode, Fred explains how he conformed to government guidelines during lockdown, and introduces Junior Doctor Michael Akadiri on to the stage to tell stories from his fertility clinic. Lauren Pattison shares her stories of glorious misfortune as she returned to working in retail over the last two years, while 'Arab Woman of the Year' nominee Esther Manito compares her life with and without children.
The headliner is the unmistakably Lee Ridley, aka Lost Voice Guy, who explains why he could never be an astronaut, even if he wanted to be.
Fred At The Stand is the closest thing your ears are going to get to an actual night in a comedy club.
Produced by Richard Melvin
A Dabster production for BBC Radio 4
THU 23:30 Today in Parliament (m001284n)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament.
FRIDAY 10 DECEMBER 2021
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (m001284r)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 00:30 Wintering by Katherine May (m001284w)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Thursday]
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m0012850)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m0012854)
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 (m0012858)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
FRI 05:30 News Briefing (m001285c)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m001285f)
A reflection and prayer to start the day with the Rev Dr Bert Tosh.
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (m001285h)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
FRI 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b08yp88c)
Craig Hartley on the Green Woodpecker
Craig Hartley revels in a near miss encounter with a green woodpecker while cycling along a lane for Tweet of the Day.
Producer Tom Bonnett.
FRI 06:00 Today (m001286n)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (m00127j5)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:00 on Sunday]
FRI 09:45 Wintering by Katherine May (m001288f)
Episode 5
‘Some winters happen in the sun,’ writes Katherine May. ‘This particular one began on a blazing day in early September, a week before my fortieth birthday.’ When her husband becomes dangerously ill, it coincides with a moment in May’s life when she is facing professional and personal stress and an uncertain future, and it ushers in a period of what she calls ‘wintering’. ‘Everybody winters at one time or another; some winter over and over again,’ she explains. ‘Winter is a season in the cold, a fallow period in life when you’re cut off from the world, feeling rejected, sidelined, blocked from progress.’
Described by The Observer’s reviewer as ‘a reading cure’ and ‘a tale of hard-won celebration’, May's book is an honest, reflective, sometimes humorous account of her struggle to deal with her own bad times. She considers the healing power of rest and retreat and the consolations of nature, exploring the many ways in which we experience winter, both seasonal and personal, and offering some strategies for weathering the dark times in the year and our own lives.
Katherine May’s other books include The Electricity of Every Living Thing, her memoir of being autistic, and two novels, The Whitstable High Tide Swimming Club and Burning Out. She is the editor of The Best, Most Awful Job, an anthology of essays about motherhood, and her essays and journalism have been widely published in the UK and America. She lives by the sea in Whitstable.
Reader: Melody Grove
Abridged and produced by Sara Davies
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (m001286v)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.
FRI 11:00 The Spark (m001286x)
Mark Williams on the future of trade
Shipping strategist Mark Williams tells Helen Lewis how examining the challenge of decarbonising shipping reveals a future which looks radically different to today, in a world where population, oil extraction and economic growth have all peaked, and trade is transformed.
Producer: Phil Tinline
FRI 11:30 Kevin Eldon Will See You Now (b08pf09q)
Series 3
Where's David?
Comedy's best kept secret ingredient returns with another series of his own sketch show. In this episode, Kevin Eldon and his all-important cast return with sketches about the Napoleonic Wars, boiler parts and a nice rollercoaster.
Kevin Eldon is a comedy phenomenon. He's been in virtually every major comedy show in the last fifteen years, but not content with working with the likes of Chris Morris, Steve Coogan, Armando Iannucci, Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse, Stewart Lee, Julia Davis and Graham Linehan, he's also created his own comedy series for BBC Radio 4.
After all the waiting - Kevin Eldon Will See You Now.
Also starring Amelia Bullmore (I'm Alan Partridge, Scott & Bailey), Julia Davis (Nighty Night), Paul Putner (Little Britain), Justin Edwards (The Thick Of It), David Reed (The Penny Dreadfuls) and Rosie Cavaliero (Alan Partridge, Harry and Paul).
Written by Kevin Eldon with additional material by Jason Hazeley and Joel Morris (A Touch Of Cloth and, yes, those modern Ladybird books)
Original music by Martin Bird
Produced and directed by David Tyler
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 12:00 News Summary (m00128ch)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
FRI 12:04 Faith, Hope and Glory (m0012871)
Series 2
Gloria
by Winsome Pinnock
Gloria ..... Pippa Bennett Warner
Hope ..... Danielle Vitalis
Mabel ..... Dorothea Myer-Bennett
Directed by Pat Cumper
It is 1953 and Gloria is now working as the only black teacher in a local secondary school. When Mabel arrives to teach at the school Gloria finds herself with a friend for the first time. A friendship that both delights and enrages her when she realises that Mabel doesn't see the two of them as equals.
FRI 12:18 You and Yours (m0012873)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
FRI 12:57 Weather (m0012875)
The latest weather forecast
FRI 13:00 World at One (m0012877)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Jonny Dymond.
FRI 13:45 Male Order (m0012879)
10. A Better Way?
In the final episode of her ten-part investigation of the online sperm donor marketplace, Dr Aleks Krotoski looks for a way to make this network safe for the recipients, the donors, and ultimately, the donor-conceived children.
The internet has opened up the door to these informal connections, and so who is responsible what happens there? Is it Facebook, where the majority of the exchanges take place? Is it for the regulator to crack down on illegal trades? Or is it up to the criminal justice system to draw boundaries around this activity?
Aleks discovers that, as with so many aspects of our lives, the digital revolution has pushed us right up to the boundaries of what we can and cannot do - and how quickly good intentions combined with tools to rule the world can get lost in selfish goals.
FRI 14:00 The Archers (m0012847)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 From Fact to Fiction (m001287c)
Christmas Every Day
The one thing that really cheers up the aging Carys (Barbara Flynn) and makes her feel like her “old self” is watching Christmas movies, and it certainly makes life easier for her daughter Meg (Melody Grove). But by the time you have watched Elf four times in a month you start to question your sanity.
Indeed the whole Christmas business makes Carys’ other daughter Sarah (Jane Slavin) despair, and only serves to underline her belief that Carys would be better served by professional care in a home.
But how are they going to pay for it without cashing in the one asset Sarah and Meg had been relying on to dig them out of their deepening debt crises.
As part of Radio 4’s ongoing From fact to Fiction series, in which writers create a fictional response to topical events, Viv Groskop draws inspiration from the recent Social Care Bill and imagines its effects on a typical British family.
Cast:
Carys Barbara Flynn
Meg Melody Grove
Sarah Jane Slavin
Kasia Viv Groskop
Hilary Pamela Miles
Written by Viv Groskop
Director: Eoin O’Callaghan
A Big Fish Radio production for Radio 4
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m001287f)
GQT at Home
Kathy Clugston hosts the horticultural programme featuring a group of gardening experts. Anne Swithinbank, Chris Beardshaw, and James Wong are on hand to answer the gardening queries.
Producer - Daniel Cocker
Assistant Producer - Bethany Hocken
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 15:45 Radio 4 Christmas Appeal (m00127hx)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Sunday]
FRI 16:00 Last Word (m001287h)
Matthew Bannister tells the life stories of people who have recently died, from the rich and famous to unsung but significant.
FRI 16:30 Feedback (m001287k)
Radio 4's forum for comments, queries, criticisms and congratulations
FRI 17:00 PM (m001287m)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m001287r)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 18:30 Dead Ringers (m001287t)
Christmas Specials 2021
Episode 1
Topical satire as we run up to Christmas. With climate change catastrophe, sleaze in parliament, a continuing pandemic, there will be no shortage of laughs.
With Jon Culshaw, Lewis Macleod, Jan Ravens, Debra Stephenson and Duncan Wisbey.
Written by: Tom Jamieson and Nev Fountain, Ed Amsden and Tom Coles, Sophie Dixon, Laurence Howarth, ...
Producer: Bill Dare
Production Coordinator: Caroline Barlow
A BBC Studios Production for Radio 4.
FRI 19:00 Lemn Sissay's Poetry Rebels (m001287x)
The Political Poets
When poets started to perform their work live, they made space for voices outside the mainstream to make themselves heard. But when the unheard becomes heard, that’s a political act.
Lemn Sissay explores how poets in the 1970s performed alongside reggae groups and punk bands, telling the stories of the streets in language the streets understood.
Attila the Stockbroker remembers skirmishing with skinheads, while Benjamin Zephaniah explains why writing about racism was a matter of life and death.
Written and presented by Lemn Sissay
Sound design by Charlie Brandon-King
Produced by Richard Lea and Joe Hallam
A Bafflegab production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 19:15 Screenshot (m001287z)
Titane
France’s entry for this year's Oscars is the extraordinary Titane. Beginning as a Cronenbergian body horror movie, Titane constantly plays with genre, while simultaneously dealing with themes of grief, gender identity, and queerness. The film also features scenes depicting mechanophilia - a sexual attraction to machines.
Mark Kermode and Ellen E Jones explore the multiple cinematic connections and influences that make up Titane’s DNA.
Mark speaks to the film’s director Julia Ducournau, whose previous feature was 2016’s Raw - the story of a young vegetarian who develops a taste for human flesh.
And Ellen investigates the phenomenon of mechanophilia on screen, with the help of film academic Christine Cornea. Psychotherapist Professor Brett Kahr tells her about the condition and why relationships with machines or objects may develop. And she also hears from director Zoe Wittock, whose recent film Jumbo explored mechanophilia in its depiction of a female protagonist falling in love with Jumbo, a fairground ride.
Screenshot is Radio 4’s guide through the ever-expanding universe of the moving image. Every episode, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode journey through the main streets and back roads connecting film, television and streaming over the last hundred years.
Producer: Tom Whalley
A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (m0012881)
Carla Denyer, Ben Goldsmith, Lord Willetts
Chris Mason presents political debate and discussion from the Ceres Hall, Devizes, with a panel which includes the co-leader of the Green Party of England and Wales Carla Denyer, the financier and environmentalist Ben Goldsmith and the Chair of the Resolution Foundation and Conservative peer Lord Willetts.
Producer: Camellia Sinclair
Lead broadcast engineer: Tim Allen
FRI 20:50 A Point of View (m0012883)
Weekly reflections on topical issues from a range of contributors.
FRI 21:00 Male Order (m0012885)
In this second omnibus edition of her Male Order series, Dr Aleks Krotoski goes in search of the people or organisations who have it in their power to make the unlicensed, unregulated online sperm donor marketplace safe for all.
She speaks with the donors who have the power to change the culture - if they choose to. She looks to the technology to see whether simple design tweaks could make it a more powerful tool. And she asks the moderators and admins of the Facebook Groups how they try to keep the bad apples out.
But is this network too much of a wild west to reign it in? With the safety and wellbeing of everyone involved in mind, Aleks presses the companies and the regulators on how best to adapt the system for the benefit of all.
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (m0012887)
In-depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
FRI 22:45 The Omen (b097ck0d)
Episode 5
Culminating on Friday 13th, Owen Teale (Game Of Thrones) reads David Seltzer's novelisation of his academy award-winning horror. Released in June 1976 by 20th Century Fox, and starring Gregory Peck and Lee Remick, the movie had a vast and lasting impact - reviving Peck's career, spawning several sequels and remakes, and launching a wave of Antichrist-themed movies.
Episode 5:
Thorn has confirmed the shocking truth about Damien.
Writer: David Seltzer
Abridger: Jeremy Osborne
Reader: Owen Teale
Producer: Karen Rose
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 23:00 Great Lives (m00127zh)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 on Tuesday]
FRI 23:30 Today in Parliament (m0012889)
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)
A Home of Our Own
14:45 SUN (m0010gfz)
A Line in the Water
20:00 TUE (m0012803)
A Point of View
08:48 SUN (m00121c3)
A Point of View
20:50 FRI (m0012883)
Afterlives
21:00 MON (m00120vw)
All in the Mind
21:00 TUE (m00127v2)
All in the Mind
15:30 WED (m00127v2)
Antwerp: the Glory Years by Michael Pye
00:30 SAT (m001219k)
Any Answers?
14:00 SAT (m00127cf)
Any Questions?
13:10 SAT (m00121bz)
Any Questions?
20:00 FRI (m0012881)
Archive on 4
20:00 SAT (m00127d4)
BBC Inside Science
16:30 THU (m001283q)
BBC Inside Science
21:00 THU (m001283q)
Bells on Sunday
05:43 SUN (m00127dn)
Bells on Sunday
00:45 MON (m00127dn)
Beyond Belief
16:30 MON (m00127g1)
Bookclub
16:00 SUN (m00127jv)
Bookclub
15:30 THU (m00127jv)
Brief Lives
21:00 SAT (b04g1bsh)
Broadcasting House
09:00 SUN (m00127hs)
Could I Regenerate My Farm to Save the Planet?
15:30 TUE (m0011rxf)
Crossing Continents
20:30 MON (m0012147)
Crossing Continents
11:00 THU (m001282k)
Dead Ringers
18:30 FRI (m001287t)
Desert Island Discs
11:00 SUN (m00127j5)
Desert Island Discs
09:00 FRI (m00127j5)
Drama
15:00 SAT (m00127ch)
Electric Decade
15:00 SUN (m000jfp7)
Faith, Hope and Glory
12:04 MON (m00127fh)
Faith, Hope and Glory
12:04 TUE (m00127yc)
Faith, Hope and Glory
12:04 WED (m00127tk)
Faith, Hope and Glory
12:04 THU (m001282r)
Faith, Hope and Glory
12:04 FRI (m0012871)
Farming Today
06:30 SAT (m00127bq)
Farming Today
05:45 MON (m00127lp)
Farming Today
05:45 TUE (m00127h4)
Farming Today
05:45 WED (m0012811)
Farming Today
05:45 THU (m00127wf)
Farming Today
05:45 FRI (m001285h)
Feedback
20:00 SUN (m00121bd)
Feedback
16:30 FRI (m001287k)
Food and Farming Awards
12:32 SUN (m0012hpp)
Food and Farming Awards
15:30 MON (m0012hpp)
Fortunately... with Fi and Jane
23:00 TUE (m001280g)
Four Thought
09:30 TUE (m00127xx)
Fred at The Stand
23:00 THU (m001284l)
From Fact to Fiction
14:45 SAT (m00121b8)
From Fact to Fiction
14:15 FRI (m001287c)
From Our Own Correspondent
11:30 SAT (m00127c3)
Front Row
19:15 MON (m00127gc)
Front Row
19:15 TUE (m0012800)
Front Row
19:15 WED (m00127vl)
Front Row
19:15 THU (m001284c)
Gambits
19:45 SUN (m00127km)
Gardeners' Question Time
14:00 SUN (m00121b6)
Gardeners' Question Time
15:00 FRI (m001287f)
Great Lives
16:30 TUE (m00127zh)
Great Lives
23:00 FRI (m00127zh)
I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue
12:04 SUN (m00120sq)
I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue
18:30 MON (m00127g7)
In Our Time
09:00 THU (m001282c)
In Our Time
21:30 THU (m001282c)
In Touch
20:40 TUE (m0012807)
It's Not What You Know
19:15 SUN (b09w10bc)
John Finnemore's Double Acts
11:30 WED (b08xbjhy)
Kevin Eldon Will See You Now
11:30 FRI (b08pf09q)
Last Word
20:30 SUN (m00121bb)
Last Word
16:00 FRI (m001287h)
Lemn Sissay's Poetry Rebels
19:00 FRI (m001287x)
Loose Ends
18:15 SAT (m00127cy)
Loose Ends
11:30 MON (m00127cy)
Male Order
13:45 MON (m00127fs)
Male Order
13:45 TUE (m00127yz)
Male Order
13:45 WED (m00127tt)
Male Order
13:45 THU (m0012837)
Male Order
13:45 FRI (m0012879)
Male Order
21:00 FRI (m0012885)
Mark Steel's in Town
18:30 WED (m00127vg)
Midnight News
00:00 SAT (m00121ck)
Midnight News
00:00 SUN (m00127db)
Midnight News
00:00 MON (m00127kx)
Midnight News
00:00 TUE (m00127gr)
Midnight News
00:00 WED (m001280l)
Midnight News
00:00 THU (m00127w1)
Midnight News
00:00 FRI (m001284r)
Money Box
12:04 SAT (m00127c7)
Money Box
21:00 SUN (m00127c7)
Money Box
15:00 WED (m00127v0)
Moral Maze
22:15 SAT (m000wjly)
Moral Maze
20:00 WED (m00127vn)
Moving Pictures
11:30 TUE (m00127y6)
Natural Histories
06:35 SUN (b07m5gwr)
News Briefing
05:30 SAT (m00121d2)
News Briefing
05:30 SUN (m00127dl)
News Briefing
05:30 MON (m00127lf)
News Briefing
05:30 TUE (m00127h0)
News Briefing
05:30 WED (m001280x)
News Briefing
05:30 THU (m00127w9)
News Briefing
05:30 FRI (m001285c)
News Summary
12:00 SAT (m00127c5)
News Summary
06:00 SUN (m00127h6)
News Summary
12:00 SUN (m00127jc)
News Summary
12:00 MON (m00127ff)
News Summary
12:00 TUE (m0012813)
News Summary
12:00 WED (m00127wh)
News Summary
12:00 THU (m00128cf)
News Summary
12:00 FRI (m00128ch)
News and Papers
06:00 SAT (m00127bn)
News and Papers
07:00 SUN (m00127hc)
News and Papers
08:00 SUN (m00127hm)
News and Weather
13:00 SAT (m00127cc)
News
22:00 SAT (m00127d6)
No Place But the Water
14:15 MON (m00127fx)
No Place But the Water
14:15 TUE (m00127z3)
No Place But the Water
14:15 WED (m00127ty)
Open Country
06:07 SAT (m001214v)
Open Country
15:00 THU (m001283g)
PM
17:00 SAT (m00127cm)
PM
17:00 MON (m00127g3)
PM
17:00 TUE (m00127zm)
PM
17:00 WED (m00127v8)
PM
17:00 THU (m001283v)
PM
17:00 FRI (m001287m)
Pick of the Week
18:15 SUN (m00127kh)
Political Thinking with Nick Robinson
17:30 SAT (m00127cp)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 SAT (m00121d7)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 MON (m00127lj)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 TUE (m00127h2)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 WED (m001280z)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 THU (m00127wc)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 FRI (m001285f)
Profile
19:00 SAT (m00127d0)
Profile
05:45 SUN (m00127d0)
Quote... Unquote
23:00 SAT (m00120sd)
Quote... Unquote
15:00 MON (m00127fz)
Radio 4 Christmas Appeal
07:54 SUN (m00127hh)
Radio 4 Christmas Appeal
09:45 SUN (m00127hx)
Radio 4 Christmas Appeal
17:40 SUN (m00127hx)
Radio 4 Christmas Appeal
21:25 SUN (m00127hh)
Radio 4 Christmas Appeal
15:27 THU (m00127hh)
Radio 4 Christmas Appeal
15:45 FRI (m00127hx)
Relativity
18:30 THU (m000lnlq)
Rosie Jones: Box Ticker Too
23:00 WED (m00127vv)
Rutherford and Fry on Living with AI
21:30 SUN (m00128xd)
Rutherford and Fry on Living with AI
11:00 WED (m0012g12)
Saturday Live
09:00 SAT (m00127bx)
Screenshot
19:15 FRI (m001287z)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 SAT (m00121ct)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 SUN (m00127dg)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 MON (m00127l5)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 TUE (m00127gw)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 WED (m001280s)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 THU (m00127w5)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 FRI (m0012854)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 SAT (m00121cp)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 SAT (m00121cy)
Shipping Forecast
17:54 SAT (m00127cr)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 SUN (m00127dd)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 SUN (m00127dj)
Shipping Forecast
17:54 SUN (m00127k4)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 MON (m00127l1)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 MON (m00127l9)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 TUE (m00127gt)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 TUE (m00127gy)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 WED (m001280q)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 WED (m001280v)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 THU (m00127w3)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 THU (m00127w7)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 FRI (m0012850)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 FRI (m0012858)
Short Cuts
15:00 TUE (m00127z7)
Sideways
00:15 MON (m000ylb8)
Sideways
16:00 WED (m00127v4)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 SAT (m00127cw)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 SUN (m00127kc)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 MON (m00127g5)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 TUE (m00127zw)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 WED (m00127vd)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 THU (m0012843)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 FRI (m001287r)
Something Understood
06:05 SUN (b04v2lts)
Something Understood
23:30 SUN (b04v2lts)
Soul Music
10:30 SAT (m00127bz)
Start the Week
09:00 MON (m00127f3)
Start the Week
21:30 MON (m00127f3)
Sunday Worship
08:10 SUN (m00127hp)
Sunday
07:10 SUN (m00127hf)
The Archers Omnibus
10:00 SUN (m00127j1)
The Archers
19:00 SUN (m00127fv)
The Archers
14:00 MON (m00127fv)
The Archers
19:00 MON (m00127g9)
The Archers
14:00 TUE (m00127g9)
The Archers
19:00 TUE (m00127tw)
The Archers
14:00 WED (m00127tw)
The Archers
19:00 WED (m00127vj)
The Archers
14:00 THU (m00127vj)
The Archers
19:00 THU (m0012847)
The Archers
14:00 FRI (m0012847)
The Briefing Room
20:00 THU (m001284f)
The Casebook of Max and Ivan
18:30 TUE (b098h0f8)
The Exploding Library
16:00 MON (m0012149)
The Exploding Library
11:30 THU (m001282m)
The Language Exchange
16:30 SUN (m00127k0)
The Listening Project
13:30 SUN (m00127jr)
The Media Show
16:30 WED (m00127v6)
The Media Show
21:30 WED (m00127v6)
The Now Show
12:30 SAT (m00121bl)
The Omen
22:45 MON (b0978qtp)
The Omen
22:45 TUE (b09794sj)
The Omen
22:45 WED (b097c1yf)
The Omen
22:45 THU (b097c99t)
The Omen
22:45 FRI (b097ck0d)
The Poet and the Echo
21:45 SAT (b09qc8f7)
The Poetry Detective
00:15 SUN (m0011bxr)
The Reith Lectures
09:00 WED (m00127t9)
The River Man
17:00 SUN (m00120wz)
The Skewer
23:15 WED (m00127vx)
The Spark
20:30 THU (m001219p)
The Spark
11:00 FRI (m001286x)
The Untold
11:00 MON (m00127fb)
The Wedding Detectives
20:00 MON (m00127gf)
The Week in Westminster
11:00 SAT (m00127c1)
The World This Weekend
13:00 SUN (m00127jm)
The World Tonight
22:00 MON (m00127gj)
The World Tonight
22:00 TUE (m001280c)
The World Tonight
22:00 WED (m00127vs)
The World Tonight
22:00 THU (m001284j)
The World Tonight
22:00 FRI (m0012887)
The Young Farmers
21:00 WED (m00106k3)
Things Fell Apart
09:00 TUE (m00127xv)
Things Fell Apart
21:30 TUE (m00127xv)
Think with Pinker
23:00 SUN (m001214x)
Think with Pinker
16:00 THU (m001283l)
This Cultural Life
19:15 SAT (m00127d2)
This Thing of Darkness
14:15 THU (p0b22s80)
Today in Parliament
23:30 MON (m00127gp)
Today in Parliament
23:30 TUE (m001280j)
Today in Parliament
23:30 WED (m00127vz)
Today in Parliament
23:30 THU (m001284n)
Today in Parliament
23:30 FRI (m0012889)
Today
07:00 SAT (m00127bv)
Today
06:00 MON (m00127f1)
Today
06:00 TUE (m00127xq)
Today
06:00 WED (m00127t5)
Today
06:00 THU (m0012827)
Today
06:00 FRI (m001286n)
Tweet of the Day
08:58 SUN (b03k5bk0)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 MON (b08y0smr)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 TUE (b08wr9fm)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 WED (b09l1tfm)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 THU (b08wn2jh)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 FRI (b08yp88c)
Uncanny
23:30 SAT (m00127d8)
Under the Influence
16:00 TUE (m00127zc)
Weather
06:57 SAT (m00127bs)
Weather
12:57 SAT (m00127c9)
Weather
17:57 SAT (m00127ct)
Weather
06:57 SUN (m00127h9)
Weather
07:57 SUN (m00127hk)
Weather
12:57 SUN (m00127jh)
Weather
17:57 SUN (m00127k7)
Weather
05:56 MON (m00127lt)
Weather
12:57 MON (m00127fn)
Weather
12:57 TUE (m00127yn)
Weather
12:57 WED (m00127tp)
Weather
12:57 THU (m001282z)
Weather
12:57 FRI (m0012875)
Westminster Hour
22:00 SUN (m00127kr)
Wild Inside
11:00 TUE (m00127y3)
Wintering by Katherine May
09:45 MON (m00127f5)
Wintering by Katherine May
00:30 TUE (m00127f5)
Wintering by Katherine May
09:45 TUE (m001280n)
Wintering by Katherine May
00:30 WED (m001280n)
Wintering by Katherine May
20:45 WED (m00127vq)
Wintering by Katherine May
00:30 THU (m00127vq)
Wintering by Katherine May
09:45 THU (m001284w)
Wintering by Katherine May
00:30 FRI (m001284w)
Wintering by Katherine May
09:45 FRI (m001288f)
Wireless Nights
23:00 MON (m00127gl)
Witness
05:45 SAT (b01ky5h3)
Witness
11:45 SUN (b01l5pm3)
Woman's Hour
16:00 SAT (m00127ck)
Woman's Hour
10:00 MON (m00127f8)
Woman's Hour
10:00 TUE (m00127y1)
Woman's Hour
10:00 WED (m00127tf)
Woman's Hour
10:00 THU (m001282h)
Woman's Hour
10:00 FRI (m001286v)
World at One
13:00 MON (m00127fq)
World at One
13:00 TUE (m00127ys)
World at One
13:00 WED (m00127tr)
World at One
13:00 THU (m0012833)
World at One
13:00 FRI (m0012877)
You and Yours
12:18 MON (m00127fl)
You and Yours
12:18 TUE (m00127yh)
You and Yours
12:18 WED (m00127tm)
You and Yours
12:18 THU (m001282v)
You and Yours
12:18 FRI (m0012873)