SATURDAY 15 OCTOBER 2022

SAT 00:00 Midnight News (m001cxt1)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 00:30 The Premonitions Bureau by Sam Knight (m001cxt3)
The Politician

Richard Goulding reads the Sunday Times bestselling book The Premonitions Bureau by The New Yorker journalist and author Sam Knight, which accounts the true reported premonitions of disasters in 1960s Britain.

The story follows the real life establishment of a Premonitions Bureau by Dr John Barker in the 1960s to scientifically record and investigate the claims of those who believed they had the power of foresight and could predict an impending disaster. From coal mining disasters, to the largest train and plane accidents ever recorded (and also to the prediction of Barker’s own death) The Premonitions Bureau is an enthralling and eerie true story of psychology, science and the supernatural – a journey to the most powerful and unsettling reaches of the human mind.

In this final episode, the publication of the identities of the Bureau’s two most successful seers starts to cause problems, and a prediction of history repeating itself is linked to one of America’s most famous families.


Abridged by Katrin Williams
Produced by Anne Isger and Rick Woska


SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m001cxt5)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m001cxt7)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.


SAT 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m001cxtb)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SAT 05:30 News Briefing (m001cxtg)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m001cxtn)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Ruth Yimika Afolabi

Good Morning,

Marriage is a beautiful gift. The blessing to walk the journey of life with a partner, in a covenant relationship is one I don’t take for granted. However, all too often, society can position marriage as a relationship which completes us. In my opinion, no person - but God - has the power to bring us ultimate fulfillment.

We can also be wrongly told that if we’re single, our lives are on hold. I love being married but I also look back fondly on my years of being single. Those years gave me a chance to discover who I was, what I was passionate about and what I was called to do. It meant that when I did meet my husband, I came into it with a strong sense of identity which served a strong foundation for a lifelong relationship.

I know making a life decision as monumental as marriage can be daunting - and that’s where I’m so grateful for my faith. Through my relationship with God and speaking to Him in prayer, I felt a sense of peace from day one of my relationship with my husband. I had confirmation of a prayer I prayed saying ‘God I don’t want any more false starts’.

My husband was my first - and last - boyfriend, and we met when we were 26. Our first conversation was over two hours and was about purpose, identity and calling - quite deep for a first conversation! I felt a sense of peace and of being at home when we met. We realised that we were aligned in our faith, values and lens through which we saw the world. Day to day, praying together, having a conviction that God brought us together and remembering we’re on the same team and that God can help us through when facing challenges is fundamental to our marriage.

Whether you are single, in a relationship or married, I pray that you are able to find joy and purpose in every stage and circumstance.


SAT 05:45 Four Thought (m001cxd3)
From Care to Cambridge

Kasmira Kincaid opens up about the challenges of her childhood and her experiences of the care system. Despite her many personal challenges Kasmira found solace in learning and successfully graduated from Corpus Christi College. She now argues that a good education should be a basic right for everyone, no matter of age, background, or educational attainment, and that the current exam system is arbitrary.

“Like most winners I never really questioned the rules of the game I was playing. But exams are some of the most artificial activities human beings can engage in. They are, after all, a closed system: the exam board sets the marking criteria, which most schools then teach to, and their students are judged by how well they fulfilled the marking criteria the exam board set.”


SAT 06:00 News and Papers (m001d4m9)
The latest news headlines. Including the weather and a look at the papers.


SAT 06:07 Open Country (m001cxxp)
Gedling Colliery: From Pit to Park

Gedling Colliery, in the Nottinghamshire coalfield, closed in 1991 after nearly a hundred years of activity. At its peak, the pit produced more than a million tonnes of coal a year and thousands of local men worked there. It was known locally as 'The Pit of Nations’ because of its diverse workforce from the 1950s to the 1980s.

In this programme, Rose Ferraby visits the site of the old pit tip, which has been converted into a country park. She meets a local historian and a former mine worker as well as members of the Friends of Gedling Country Park.

Down in the valley Rose visits the slurry lagoon, where waste water from washing the coal was piped out. The former industrial waste site has been converted into a thriving nature reserve with the help of the Gedling Conservation Trust.

Presented by Rose Ferraby
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Heather Simons


SAT 06:30 Farming Today (m001d4mc)
15/10/22 Avian flu, Tenant Farmers, International trade

As the number of avian flu outbreaks continues to rise, new restrictions have been introduced. It's been the worst year ever for the disease, with more than 170 incidents reported. Now flocks in Norfolk, Suffolk and parts of Essex will have to be kept inside to try to protect them. Flocks in Devon, Cornwall and part of Somerset have been under restrictions since the end of August, and wild birds too are badly affected. We speak to a free-range egg producer on the Norfolk / Suffolk border to find out how it's affecting his business.

England should have a tenant farmers commissioner, the law should be changed to improve tenancies and DEFRA should change its schemes to make them more accessible to farmers renting land. Just some of the 74 recommendations from the Tenant Working Group whose report has just been published. It aims to examine the way tenancies work and how the new Envronmental Land Management Schemes, or ELMS, fit in for farmers who don't own the land, and it says 64 per cent of farmland in England is rented.

All week we've talking about international trade, from lamb and cheese, to barley and salad. We find out how global markets, spiralling costs and the war in Ukraine are affecting British producers.


SAT 06:57 Weather (m001d4mf)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SAT 07:00 Today (m001d4mh)
Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (m001d4mk)
Adrian Chiles

Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles are joined by Adrian Chiles. He has graced our TV screens presenting and reporting on various issues over the last 20 years from business to sport, to chat and back to sport again. But recently he has been talking about alcohol moderation, a subject that has become a personal passion project.

Dr Rahul Mandal is the research scientist who won Bake Off in 2018 despite not having ever made a cake until 2016. He joins us.

Listener Dr Susie West was a junior doctor on the cruise liner the SS Canberra in 1982. Then the Falklands conflict happened and the ship was requisitioned as troop ship. Susie decided to stay on and within five days they were sailing to the South Atlantic, where they became a target for Argentinian planes, saw ships sunk, took on survivors and POWs. She joins us.

British designer Amanda Wakeley OBE joins us to discuss her fashion evolution and her new podcast ‘Amanda Wakeley: Style DNA.

We have your thank you to someone you were unable to thank at the time, and the Inheritance Tracks of Billy Idol. He chooses Billy the Kid by Tex Ritter and Children of the Revolution by Marc Bolan and T-Rex.

Produced by Corinna Jones


SAT 10:30 The Kitchen Cabinet (m001d4mm)
Series 38

Aberdeen

Jay Rayner hosts this week's culinary panel show from Aberdeen, Scotland. Fielding questions from a live audience are Rob Owen Brown, Rachel McCormack, Fliss Freeborn, and Professor Barry Smith.

Coming to you from the granite city, the panel pick up the subject of an Aberdeenshire classic – the buttery or rowie, as well as sharing their strong feelings on puff pastry, air fryers, and a favourite among teenagers, the pot noodle.

Paul Allan of Murdoch Allan Bakers shares his tips for making the most delicious buttery, and Funmi Adejuwon of FHA Kitchen divulges the secret ingredients behind most-loved Nigerian dishes.

Producer: Jemima Rathbone
Assistant Producer: Aniya Das
Executive Producer: Louisa Field

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.


SAT 11:00 The Week in Westminster (m001d4mp)
Top commentators review the political week


SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m001d4mr)
Ukraine: A War of Nerves

The past week has been one of contrasting emotions in Ukraine. The country celebrated a dramatic and unexpected development: an attack on a key bridge linking Russia with Crimea was seen as a major strategic blow to Vladimir Putin. But days later, Russia launched some of the most widespread missile attacks of the war. Paul Adams, says there is a lingering unease in Ukraine about Putin’s next move.

Last month, a bold counter-offensive by Ukraine’s military in the country’s east led to a retreat by Russian forces. But as the Russians left behind cities they occupied for months, allegations of atrocities they committed began to emerge. Sofia Bettiza met some Sri Lankans held captive in the city of Kharkiv.

A shocking attack on a nursery in Thailand’s north-east stunned the country. Jonathan Head was in the village of Uthai Sawan, and reflects on the part that the hardship of life may have played in the tragedy.

After the Soviet Union collapsed, Tajikistan slid into a 5 year civil war which cost 100,000 lives and forced a million people from their homes. Among the pursuits of daily life that has suffered amid the violence is bee-keeping. But, thanks to a conservation initiative, it's seeing a revival says Antonia Bolingbroke Kent.

A dream inspires a visit to a fishing village in Romania across the Danube from Ukraine. Its name is Periprava – once the site of a Communist-prison camp, now razed to the ground. Nick Thorpe was given a tour of the secluded, small community, much transformed. But despite its charm, the sound of sirens can still be heard across the waters – and a colder reality breaks the spell.

Presenter: Kate Adie
Producers: Serena Tarling and Ellie House
Editor: Bridget Harney
Production Coordinator: Iona Hammond


SAT 12:00 News Summary (m001d4mt)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 12:04 Money Box (m001d4my)
A whirlwind week: tax, pensions, savings and mortgages

The Prime Minister has announced another U-turn in her government's tax-cut plan, in an effort to reassure financial markets. Liz Truss says she will reverse her plan to scrap an increase in corporation tax and admits the government's mini-budget had gone "faster and further" than many expected. It comes after the PM sacked her chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, and replaced him with former health and foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt. We'll ask what all this means for your income, pension, savings and mortgage.

The first £66 discounts from electricity bills are now being paid, but some suppliers are using the money to pay off old debts. Felicity Hannah investigates.

Charities call for changes to a website which they say is misleading disabled people over their eligibility for a railcard. We'll get a response from the Rail Delivery Group and the Department for Transport on that.

And the government has promised £100 to help with heating bills for households who are not on the mains gas network. We explain when and how it will be paid.

Presenter: Paul Lewis
Team: Felicity Hannah, Clare Worden and Sandra Hardial
Editor: Jess Quayle

(First broadcast 12pm Saturday 15th October, 2022)


SAT 12:30 The News Quiz (m001cxsg)
Series 109

Episode 5

Andy Zaltzman is joined by political scientist Anand Menon, along with comedians Lucy Porter, Jessica Fostekew and Simon Evans. This week they discuss the mood at the SNP conference, the continuing economic unrest and why a brain in a petri dish is playing video games.

Hosted and written by Andy Zaltzman with additional material from Alice Fraser, Cameron Loxdale, Mike Shephard and Rebecca Bain.

Producer: Sam Holmes
Executive Producers: James Robinson & Pete Strauss
Production Co-ordinator: Ryan Walker-Edwards

A BBC Studios Production


SAT 12:57 Weather (m001d4n0)
The latest weather forecast


SAT 13:00 News and Weather (m001d4n2)
The latest national and international news and weather reports from BBC Radio 4


SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (m001cxsn)
Sir Robert Buckland KC MP, Carla Denyer, Jess Phillips MP, Salma Shah

Luke Jones presents political debate from St Barnabas Church Halls in Gloucester with a panel including Secretary of State for Wales Sir Robert Buckland KC MP, co-leader of the Green Party in England and Wales Carla Denyer, the Shadow Minister for Domestic Violence Jess Phillips MP and the former special adviser and columnist for the Independent Salma Shah.
Producer: Camellia Sinclair
Lead broadcast engineer: Nick Ford


SAT 14:00 Any Answers? (m001d4n4)
Have your say on the issues discussed on Any Questions?


SAT 14:45 Drama (b09bx9fn)
Unmade Movies

Hammer Horror's The Unquenchable Thirst of Dracula

Dracula travels to 1930s India in this celebrated unproduced Hammer Horror feature film script, part of BBC Radio 4 Unmade Movies series.

It's 1932 and Penny (Anna Madeley), a young British woman, travels secretly and alone by train through the heart of India, in search of her sister who has recently disappeared. In her first class carriage she meets Prem (Nikesh Patel) and Lakshmi (Ayesha Dharker), a brother and sister performing duo who have been hired for one night by a Maharajah.

Babu (Kulvinder Ghir), who also shares the carriage, is horrified to learn that Penny is unaccompanied and insists that she stays with him and his wife near the caves she is visiting. Prem and Lakshmi are taken by chauffeur to the sinister residence of the Maharajah and his wife the Rani (Meera Syal) and asked to perform that night.

The performance is not for the Maharajah though but his new guest, Count Dracula (Lewis MacLeod).

While Lakshmi, soon separated from her brother, finds herself in great danger as she begins to dance for Dracula, Penny makes her way into the hidden cavern beneath the Maharajah's Palace where she is shocked to discover Prem, desperately searching for his sister. As they descend a hidden stone staircase inhabited by poisonous snakes, they soon find themselves looking out on a huge underground chamber full of hundreds of the Rani's acolytes, all waiting for her next human sacrifice to satisfy their blood cult.

Will it be Lakshmi? And has Penny's sister already met a similar fate?

It's a race against time to get answers before all of them fall under the spell of the hypnotic Count.

A Dancing Ledge production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 16:15 Woman's Hour (m001d4n6)
Nicole Hockley, Juliet Stevenson, Women protesting in Iran, Sue Townsend's legacy

Nicole Hockley lost her son Dylan when he was 6 years old, during the Sandy Hook school shooting in Connecticut in 2012. She talks about her son, her feelings of loss, her activism and her reaction to the trial of Alex Jones, where a jury decided he should pay nearly 1 billion dollars in damages.

Do you feel comfortable voicing your opinion? Are you afraid of the ‘cancel culture’? Actress Juliet Stevenson is in a new play that address the issue of differing opinions in the modern world – she explains why she thinks we’ve lost free speech in this country.

Women in Iran are continuing to protest in the wake of the death of Mahsa Amini. Iranian women have a strong history of protesting – author Kamin Mohammidi discusses.

This week marks 40 years of Sue Townsend’s ‘The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole’. English Professor Emma Parker and writer Cathy Rentzenbrink join us to talk about the enduring legacy of Adrian Mole.

Presenter: Anita Rani
Producer: Lottie Garton


SAT 17:00 PM (m001d4n8)
Full coverage of the day's news


SAT 17:30 Political Thinking with Nick Robinson (m001d4nb)
The Lisa Nandy Levelling Up One

Nick Robinson talks to Lisa Nandy, the shadow levelling up secretary, about preparing for government, the political lessons she's learned from football and whether she disagrees with Keir Starmer's stance on strikes.


SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m001d4nd)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SAT 17:57 Weather (m001d4ng)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m001d4nj)
Jeremy Hunt says some taxes will rise while government spending may need to be cut


SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (m001d4nl)
Craig Cash, Alex Kapranos, Miquita Oliver, Raymond Antrobus, Dan Schreiber, The Unthanks, Andrew O' Neill, Clive Anderson

Clive Anderson and Andrew O' Neill are joined by Craig Cash, Alex Kapranos, Miquita Oliver, Raymond Antrobus and Dan Schreiber for an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy. With music from The Unthanks.


SAT 19:00 Profile (m001d4nn)
Erling Haaland

Erling Haaland is a phenomenon. Since arriving in the summer, Manchester City's Norwegian star striker has lit up the Premier League after scoring 20 goals in 13 games. Born in Leeds to a footballing father and an athlete mother, he grew up in a small Norwegian town before moving to Austria and then Germany to further his career. While some foreign footballers have struggled to adapt to English football, Haaland has taken to it like a duck to water. With Mark Coles. Produced by Bob Howard.


SAT 19:15 This Cultural Life (m001d4nq)
Ken Loach

Over six decades, Ken Loach has forged a reputation as Britain’s foremost politically-engaged filmmaker, exploring issues of social justice, freedom and power. He has twice won the prestigious Palme d’Or award at the Cannes Film Festival, in 2006 for The Wind That Shakes The Barley, set amidst the Irish struggle for independence, and twenty years later for I, Daniel Blake, a contemporary British story about unemployment and poverty.

Ken Loach recalls his Midlands childhood as the son of a factory worker, and annual summer holidays in Blackpool. It was there that he saw end-of-pier variety acts and comedians, including Jewell and Warris, Nat Jackley and Frank Randle, all of whom helped ignited an early passion for storytelling and performance. He recalls how, after studying law at Oxford, he joined the BBC’s Wednesday Play production team, with the aim of creating television drama out of contemporary social issues. His television films Up the Junction and Cathy Come Home, which tackled abortion, unemployment and homlessness, were each seen by over 10 million people, and played an influential part in the public debate about the issues. Loach reveals that Czech cinema of the 1960s, including the films of Miloš Forman, were a huge inspiration on his own filmmaking career, with the use of the naturalistic performances and camera-work that captured the environment from a distance most clearly seen in his classic 1969 film Kes.

Ken Loach also chooses as a major influence, the real lives of people whose stories have inspired his films throughout his career, including veterans of the Spanish civil war and Nicaraguans who had seen schools and health centres destroyed by the Contra rebels.

Producer: Edwina Pitman


SAT 20:00 Archive on 4 (m001d4ns)
The Art of Habit

Author and journalist Lynsey Hanley tells the story of sociology In Britain, from Its beginnings in the slums of Liverpool and London to its rise in the post-war era as the brave, new ‘science of society’ – exploring the hidden patterns of our everyday lives while offering radical new visions of British society.

For the very first time all aspects of society and culture were considered worthy of study, from the ground up - and not just worthy, but essential for understanding how the built environment, civil institutions, technology, media, identity and ideas in our shared, social space really operate and shape us in turn.

Sociology flourished in the decades following the war, a gateway between the academy and the spaces of everyday life, from the study of football terraces and housing estates to youth tribes and popular culture, new patterns of labour and technology including powerful new media like television. Early studies of class, race and gender in Britain used actual field research, data gathering and new techniques such as ethnography and what was sometimes called 'participant observation'. Nothing was off limits: the discipline was incredibly wide-ranging, generating a popular factual paperback boom with imprints like Pelican publishing many hundreds of crossover titles.

As well as being the first academic subject to take the media seriously, sociology began to change the course of broadcast media itself. The discipline had a huge impact on the TV and radio documentary movement with programmes like the BBC’s ‘Panorama’ and ‘Man Alive’, and ITV's pioneering ‘World in Action’, operating somewhere between current affairs and considered, sociological analysis. Sociologists and documentary makers alike would access all areas, going inside prisons, youth cultures, the police, inner cities and new political groups. The recorded interview and everyday voice was central to both professions, with sociology sometimes referred to as a ‘listener’s art’.

At its core, sociology works on the belief that collective life always comes first and that individual behaviour can’t be understood in isolation. The discipline thrived in the 1960s and ‘70s, but the rise of a more aggressive ideology of individualism (together with the ascendency of Margaret Thatcher's Conservatism in politics in the 1980s) put the 'science of society' on the back foot. Free-market economics challenged sociology as the new intellectual paradigm of the age. The subject was dismissed as either irrelevant or pernicious.

Overwhelming challenges presented by climate change, mass urbanisation, social media and digital technologies have, in recent decades, revitalised sociology. Could it be that this great post-war social science is needed now more than ever as a critical force for truth, arbitration and intellectual vigilance in the digital and online age?

Contributors include sociologist Les Back, journalist and sociologist Gary Younge, writer and sociologist Ann Oakley, sociologist and broadcaster Laurie Taylor, writer and critic DJ Taylor, co-founder and host of the podcast ‘Surviving Society’, sociologist Chantelle Lewis, urban sociologist Paul Jones, senior curator at the BFI National Archive Patrick Russell, sociologist and British reggae pioneer William Lesley ‘Lyrics’ Henry, economist Shaun Hargreaves Heap, author Marcus Gilroy-Ware and John Scott, vice-president of the British Sociological Association.

Presented by Lynsey Hanley
Produced by Simon Hollis

With special thanks to Les Back

A Brook Lapping production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 21:00 GF Newman's The Corrupted (b088jj64)
Series 3

Episode 10

Brian faces a life sentence for a murder he says he didn't commit, while Joseph (Toby Jones) claims to be pulling every string he can to get him off.

GF Newman's The Corrupted weaves fiction with real characters from history, following the fortunes of the Oldman family - from small-time business and opportunistic petty crime, through gang rivalries, to their entanglement in the highest echelons of society. It's a tale revealing the nexus of crime, business and politics woven through the fabric of 20th century greed as even those with hitherto good intentions are sucked into a web of corruption.

Joey Oldman, an uneducated Jewish child immigrant from Russia, has a natural instinct for business and a love of money - coupled with a knack for acquiring it. His wife Cath is as ruthless in both the pursuit of money and the protection of her son, Brian. Joey built his empire with the help of a corrupt bank manager in the 1950s, starting with small greengrocer shops before moving into tertiary banking and property development, dealing with many corrupt policemen on the way - and befriending both Lord Goodman and Margaret Thatcher.

Written by G F Newman
Produced and Directed by Clive Brill
A Brill production for BBC Radio 4.


SAT 21:45 Life at Absolute Zero (b08m9flp)
Series 2

The Shortest Way Home

Lynne Truss observes the inhabitants of Meridian Cliffs, a small wind-battered town on the south coast of England. Sarah Birkett can't stand people who dither. She manages the nursing staff at the local care home for the blind, where her decisiveness is a positive asset.

But was she too quick to make her mind up about Colin?

Directed by Kate McAll
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.


SAT 22:00 News (m001d4nv)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 22:15 The Reunion (m001byv2)
The Maidan Uprising

In November 2013, a mass protest began in Kyiv’s central square that would have a profound impact on Ukraine for years to come. The target was President Viktor Yanukovych and his culture of corruption. Nine years earlier, he’d been thrown out of office after rigging an election, but after 3 years back in power, he’d built up a vast personal estate on the outskirts of the city with golf course, private zoo and a full-size replica of a Spanish galleon.

But his perceived ties with Russia were the real problem and they stood in the way of a historic economic agreement with Europe that had been 20 years in the making. Thousands filled Kyiv’s central Square – the Maidan. On social media, they called their protest the “Euro-Maidan” and it was a name that stuck.

But what started as a peaceful protest turned shockingly violent. Sticks and stones became Molotov cocktails, stun grenades and tear gas, rubber bullets were replaced by the real thing.

Kirsty Wark is joined by five people who were there. Hanna Hopko was a representative of the Maidan Public Sector. She addressed the crowds and attended to the wounded in St. Michael's Cathedral. Valentin Nalivaichenko was a former Head of the secret service. Arseniy Yatsenyuk was the leader of one of the opposition parties who became a leader of the protests (and later Ukraine’s Prime Minister). Yaroslav Hrytsak was a historian who observed the protests at first hand and was often interviewed on radio and television and Gabriel Gatehouse was a BBC Correspondent who covered the protests from the start.

Presenter: Kirsty Wark
Producer: Nina Bielova

Series Producer: David Prest
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 23:00 Brain of Britain (m001cxf0)
Heat 11, 2022

According to legend, who was the father of King Arthur? In 2014 who became the youngest person to win a Nobel Peace Prize? Which comedian and presenter is the narrator of Love Island? The contenders in today's edition of the quiz will certainly have to demonstrate the breadth of their general knowledge, as Russell Davies fires these and many other questions their way.

Awaiting the winner is a guaranteed place in the 2022 semi-finals which begin in two weeks' time.

Taking part today are:
Patrick Buckingham from London
Julia Day from Alton in Hampshire
Will Howells from London
Tom Lee from London.

There will also be the usual chance for a Brain of Britain listener to win a prize by stumping the competitors with questions of their own.

Assistant Producer: Stephen Garner
Producer: Paul Bajoria


SAT 23:30 Letters to a Young Woman Poet (m001cwtg)
'Ask yourself, in the still of your night, must I write?'

In ‘Letters to a Young Woman Poet’ - three of our most celebrated poets: Gillian Clarke, Penelope Shuttle and Grace Nichols, explore the deep pleasure of writing, the poetry of menstruation, sensuality and motherhood, and offer advice to younger writers - in a programme which includes the creative insights of the Bohemian poet Rainer Maria Rilke – who began the iconic correspondence known as ‘Letters to a Young Poet’ 120 years ago.

Quotations from 'Letters to a Young Poet' trans. M.D.Herter Norton

Produced by Faith Lawrence
Mixed by Sue Stonestreet

Poems read in full:
‘Confirmation’ - Grace Nichols
‘Ashes, Blood ‘- Penelope Shuttle
‘Sheila Na Gig at Kilpeck’ – Gillian Clarke
‘Invitation’ – Grace Nichols
‘Mother and Child’ - Penelope Shuttle
‘Times Like These’ - Gillian Clarke
‘Moon Mothers’ - Grace Nichols

SUNDAY 16 OCTOBER 2022

SUN 00:00 Midnight News (m001d4nx)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


SUN 00:15 Living with the Gods (b09gk16z)
The Search for a State

Neil MacGregor continues his series on shared beliefs with a look at the attempts of some faiths to establish a state of their own.

An over-printed coin from 2nd century Jerusalem tells of the failed attempt of Shimon bar Kokhba to lay claim to a state for the Jews, free from Roman rule - while a white cotton flag, framed in pale blue, flew over Sudan after it had been taken by Mahdist forces and before the Islamic state collapsed in the mid 1890s.

Producer Paul Kobrak

Produced in partnership with the British Museum
Photograph (c) The Trustees of the British Museum.


SUN 00:30 The Poet and the Echo (m001cxs0)
The Night Is Darkening Round Me

Writers choose poems as inspiration for new stories.

'The Night is Darkening Round Me'

Read by Caitrìona Balfe.

Linda’s on a cliff-side walk with her partner when she slips, falls and finds herself caught in a fragment of time.

Eugene O’Hare’s captivating story inspired by Emily Brontë’s poem.

Credits

Writer ….. Eugene O’Hare
Reader ….. Caitrìona Balfe
Producer ….. Kirsty Williams

A BBC Scotland Production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m001d4nz)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m001d4p1)
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 (m001d4p3)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SUN 05:30 News Briefing (m001d4p5)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (m001d4p7)
The Abbey Church, Crowland in Lincolnshire.

Bells on Sunday comes from the Abbey Church, Crowland in Lincolnshire. The Abbey has a ring of six bells made by various founders, the earliest of which is the tenor that was cast around 1486 by John Danyell of London. It weighs nine and a half hundredweight and is tuned to G. Crowland’s bells are thought to be the first to have been heard live on the BBC when they were broadcast on November 1st 1925 from Crowland to the transmitter on the roof of Selfridges store in London, via a telephone line. We hear them ringing Cambridge Surprise Minor.


SUN 05:45 Profile (m001d4nn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


SUN 06:00 News Summary (m001d4rh)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b03ddz85)
Wine

Mark Tully uncorks a bottle with the Bishop of Arundel and Brighton to consider the symbolism of wine, the dangers of wine snobbery and the debt wine-lovers owe to medieval monks.

From Bacchus and ancient Rome to modern philosophers, and from Gerard Manley Hopkins to Roald Dahl, Mark draws together thoughts on the delights, pitfalls and significance of the fermented grape. He is invited to discover the joy of the unexpected in a bottle of wine, despite being a confirmed beer drinker, and is left to ponder the opinion of the Sufi poet Hafiz that, "The mystery of time can only be found in a glass of wine".

Presenter: Mark Tully
Readers: Grainne Keenan, Joe Kloska

Producer: Frank Stirling

A Unique production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (m001d4rm)
Farms on Film

It's not every farm you visit that you'll bump into the action film star, Jason Statham. But when Charlotte Smith visits Castle Farm in Kent, that's exactly what happens!

The Alexander family have diversified into location work for films, TV and photoshoots and when Charlotte arrives a Hollywood movie is being filmed in the barn. For Lorna, who arranged the shoot, it's an exciting new string to the family business. For her brother, Crispin, it means plans to cut silage that day have had to change.

In this programme, Charlotte explores the set and finds out what hosting a film crew really means. She also meets Jo Thompson, who set up 'Farm Locations' - an agency which matches farms with industry location scouts. She's the one who helped Castle Farm get this job.

Presented by Charlotte Smith
Produced by Heather Simons


SUN 06:57 Weather (m001d4rr)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SUN 07:00 News and Papers (m001d4ry)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.


SUN 07:10 Sunday (m001d4s5)
British embassy in Israel; Diwali; Iranian hijab protests.

Although the Middle East may not currently be high on the prime minister's list of priorities, faith leaders have increasingly been speaking out about her controversial proposal to move the British Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Both Israelis and Palestinians claim Jerusalem as their capital, and it’s one of the most sensitive issues in their long running conflict. As the BBC's religion reporter Harry Farley explains, if the British Embassy was relocated, it would break with decades of UK foreign policy, which until this point has been that the divided city should host consulates, rather than embassies, until a final peace agreement is reached.

Thousands of Ukrainians who fled the war and came to live in the UK with host families for six months are now having to find somewhere new to live. For many host families, it's been a positive experience, but others have found it really difficult sharing their home with their Ukrainian guests. We hear from one refugee who now has to find a new home, and the charity that's helping.

In Iran the authorities are doing everything they can to suppress the protests that have blown up since a young woman died after being arrested for - allegedly - violating the law on hijab-wearing. But it hasn't worked. We discuss what the continuing protests mean for the Iranian regime.

And across the UK, Hindus, Sikhs and Jains are busy preparing for the festival of Diwali which is just over a week away now. Diwali means 'a row of lights' in Sanskrit and symbolises good over evil and inner light over spiritual darkness. We hear a selection of musicians who will be featured on Radio 3 as part of a special celebration of the festival.

Presented by Edward Stourton.
Produced by Julia Paul and Amanda Hancox.


SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (m001d4sf)
WONDER Foundation

Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason makes the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of WONDER Foundation.


SUN 07:57 Weather (m001d4sn)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SUN 08:00 News and Papers (m001d4sz)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.


SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (m001d4tb)
Wholeness and Hope

A Service from Lancaster Priory, exploring Luke’s gospel in the week of his feast day reflecting on themes that speak of healing and reconciliation in his time and in ours.

The service is led by the Revd Leah Vasey-Saunders, Vicar of Lancaster. The Choir of Lancaster Priory is directed by Don Gillthorpe and the organist is Ian Pattinson. Producer Andrew Earis


SUN 08:48 A Point of View (m001cxsr)
A Plea for Nuance

From cancel culture - ancient Greek style - to the binary politics of today, Sara Wheeler argues that the perils of entrenched positions have been clear for a very long time.

In ancient Greece, once a year, citizens gathered in the forum to scratch the name of the person they most wanted removed from the political arena on an ostrakon, a shard of broken pot. Too many appearances, and you got banished to a faraway province for a decade...ostracised by the ostraka. 'Once you were out of Athens in the fifth century BCE', Sara writes, 'you were cancelled good and proper'.

History, she says, ought to teach us the importance of listening to each other and the value of nuance.

Producer: Adele Armstrong
Sound: Peter Bosher
Production coordinator: Iona Hammond
Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith


SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (m0000sst)
James Henry: Yellowhammer and Beethoven

Detective Jack Frost prequel author James Henry picks the yellowhammer, whose song is believed to have influenced one of the world’s greatest composers Ludwig Van Beethoven..

Although many think the yellowhammer is a symbol of English farmland, it is in reality very much a European bird, famous for it's song. The natural world provided Ludwig Van Beethoven with a constant source of ideas and a number of his works are often attributed to the yellowhammer’s song. Many critics cite the dramatic first four bars of Beethoven's fifth symphony but for James and many others the more gentle first movement of Beethoven's fourth piano concerto is a more fitting celebration and for James it is that which he listens to during the winter months to remind him of the summer, and his favourite farmland bird.

Producer Andrew Dawes


SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (m001d4tt)
The Sunday morning news magazine programme. Presented by Paddy O'Connell


SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (m001d4v7)
Writer ….. Caroline Harrington
Director ….. Marina Caldarone
Editor ….. Jeremy Howe

Helen Archer ….. Louiza Patikas
Kenton Archer ….. Richard Attlee
Natasha Archer ….. Mali Harries
Lee Bryce ….. Ryan Early
Susan Carter ….. Charlotte Martin
Alan Franks ….. John Telfer
Usha Franks ….. Souad Faress
Clarrie Grundy ….. Heather Bell
Eddie Grundy ….. Trevor Harrison
Emma Grundy ….. Emerald O’Hanrahan
George Grundy ….. Angus Stobie
Chelsea Horrobin ….. Madeleine Leslay
Tracy Horrobin ….. Susie Riddell
Joy Horville ….. Jackie Lye
Jim Lloyd ….. John Rowe
Elizabeth Pargetter ….. Alison Dowling
Freddie Pargetter ….. Toby Laurence
Lily Pargetter ….. Katie Redford
Mick ….. Martin Barrass
Kevin Ambrose ….. Richard Derrington
Claire ….. Susan Jeffrey


SUN 11:15 Desert Island Discs (m001d4vp)
Maxine Peake, actor

Maxine Peake is an actor and writer who first came to public attention in 1998 as Twinkle in the Victoria Wood sitcom Dinnerladies. She went on to play Veronica in Paul Abbott’s series Shameless and later became known for playing real people, including the Hillsborough campaigner Anne Williams, and Sara Rowbotham, the former health worker who exposed the sexual abuse scandal in Rochdale in 2012.

Maxine was born in Bolton and after a rocky start at college – she was asked to leave her performing arts course after just two weeks but stuck it out – she won a scholarship to study at RADA. Three months before she was due to graduate she auditioned for Victoria Wood and won her first television role starring alongside Wood, Julie Walters and Anne Reid.

Victoria Wood advised her to take on a diverse range of roles in order to avoid being typecast as what Maxine calls the “fat, funny northerner”. She took the advice to heart and extended her range playing Myra Hindley, Martha Costello QC in the legal drama Silk and Hamlet in a critically acclaimed production at the Royal Exchange theatre in Manchester.

Maxine has also written plays including Beryl: A Love Story on Two Wheels about Beryl Burton, a Yorkshire woman who dominated 1960s cycling and held the record for the men’s 12-hour time trial for two years.

DISC ONE: Mersey Paradise by The Stone Roses
DISC TWO: Puff the Magic Dragon by Bonnie "Prince" Billy and Red
DISC THREE: Joe Hill by Paul Robeson
DISC FOUR: The Four Horsemen by Aphrodite’s Child
DISC FIVE: Evening of Light by Nico
DISC SIX: Promised Land by Joe Smooth
DISC SEVEN: A Whistling Woman by The Unthanks
DISC EIGHT: I Saw the Light by Todd Rundgren

BOOK CHOICE: One Moonlit Night by Caradog Prichard
LUXURY ITEM: A solar-powered epilator
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Joe Hill by Paul Robeson

Presenter: Lauren Laverne
Producer: Paula McGinley


SUN 12:00 News Summary (m001d4w2)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SUN 12:04 It's a Fair Cop (m001cxhf)
Series 7

Custody Officer

In this week's episode copper turned stand up, Alfie Moore takes us through the day of a custody officer. How to keep the timings in your head, cell etiquette, and searches.

Alfie takes us back to his time with the Humberside Police when he was briefly and unwillingly a custody officer. Alfie's deputised audience will have to figure out: when is it ok to do a strip search, are people allowed their one phone call, and how do you deal with someone who doesn't want to go in a cell.

Written and presented by Alfie Moore
Script Editor: Will Ing
Production Co-ordinator: Becky Carewe-Jeffries
Producer: Sam Holmes

A BBC Studios Production

Recorded at the Darwen Library Theatre


SUN 12:32 The Food Programme (m001d4wj)
The Food Innovators

Dan Saladino explore three big ideas that are set to influence the future of food and farming: the reinvention of wheat, supplies of wild meat into hospital kitchens and 'taste education' for children.

Each one is a contender in this year's BBC Food and Farming Awards, in the innovation category. Dan heads into a forest to see how the cull of a growing deer population is resulting in better hospital food. He visits a team of crop scientists who are taking wheat back in time and through its evolutionary history to create greater diversity and resilience. And inside a classroom he hears how the charity TasteEd is transforming the relationship children have with food and flavours.

Produced and presented by Dan Saladino.


SUN 12:57 Weather (m001d4x4)
The latest weather forecast


SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (m001d4xp)
Radio 4's look at the week's big stories from both home and around the world


SUN 13:30 The Coming Storm (p0bchrdr)
6. The Usual Suspects

QAnon and the plot to break reality...

Donald Trump’s fantasy about a vast conspiracy to steal the 2020 election merges with the fantasy of QAnon, about a looming showdown against the deep state cabal of satanic paedophiles.

After the storming of the Capitol in Washington DC, major figures from the QAnon movement gather in Dallas, Texas. Gabriel Gatehouse gets inside their conference to try to figure out who is now controlling this parallel reality. And he confronts General Flynn who is calling for his ‘digital soldiers’ to take over the country from the bottom up.

Producer: Lucy Proctor


SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m001cxry)
Riverhill Himalayan Gardens, Sevenoaks

Peter Gibbs and horticultural experts Danny Clarke, James Wong and Pippa Greenwood head to the Riverhill Himalayan Gardens in Kent and answer questions from the GQT postbag.

Led by Head Gardener Misako Kasahara, the GQT team explore Riverhill and learn the history of this once-abandoned site. They delight in the leafy ferns and woody rhododendrons found across the gardens.

Feeling inspired, they dive into the postbag and suggest container plants for year round interest on a balcony, and propose the best course of action for a pair of poorly Acers. We also discover that Pippa has an especially sensitive sense of smell around one particular plant.

Producer: Dominic Tyerman
Assistant Producer: Bethany Hocken
Executive Producers: Louisa Field and Ollie Wilson

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 14:45 What Really Happened in the Nineties? (m0016xvj)
4. Internet

Here we are in 2022 navigating cancel culture, Brexit, identity politics, war in Europe.

How did we get here? Did we miss something? Robert Carlyle, who played the wildcard Begbie in the '90s hit Trainspotting, is here to show us that we did. That the world we live in was shaped by the forgotten decade: the 1990s.

From Hong Kong to Moscow, Cool Britannia to No Frills flights, we travel back in time to key moments in the '90s that reverberate today in unexpected ways.

Episode 4: Internet

As a new bill goes through parliament that hopes to ensure online safety, Robert Carlyle takes us back to a time when the internet seemed like a force for good, an online utopia where friends could re-unite. But, as he reminds us, the 90s was also the decade that witnessed the first prosecution for cyberstalking and when the term trolling was coined. Professors Helen McCarthy and John Naughton take us back to the days of AltaVista, Ask Jeeves and the cyber-cafe. We hear from Keith Teare, one of the people behind the world's first cyber-cafe called Cyberia, who explains why they never made a profit, despite having coffee shops across the world and online dating site.


Producer: Stephen Hughes
Sound Designer/Composer: Phil Channell
Consultant: Professor Helen McCarthy


SUN 15:00 Working Titles (m001d4y6)
The Odd Women: Part 2

It's 1888. A technological and commercial revolution has created a surge in opportunities for women workers. Cablegrams flash under the Atlantic and across the Empire at speeds of up to 30 words per minute, and a new army of secretaries, stenographers and telephonists is being recruited and trained to facilitate the trade boom.

George Gissing's classic 1893 novel The Odd Women follows the fates of two principals of a London secretarial school - the idealistic Mary and her tough, progressive business partner Rhoda ('The greatest spinster in English literature,' in the opinion of critic Rachel Cooke).

Women outnumber men in Britain by half a million but these new white-collar jobs offer an alternative to the drudgery of service or marriage. So this is a hopeful time for the Odd Women.

'It's better to be a woman, in our day,' says head teacher Mary. 'With us is all the joy of advance, the glory of conquering. Men have only material progress to think about.'

Mary and Rhoda's stories are interwoven with those of their pupil Monica and her controlling husband Edmund. Rhoda's relationship with Mary's worldly cousin Everard plots a gripping Beatrice-and-Benedick course as they manipulate, misunderstand and outmanoeuvre each other towards a romantic precipice.

Gissing's novels often surprise with their modernity and The Odd Women, with its naturalistic dialogue and complex characters, bridges the gap between then and now, Today's freelance labour market echoes the challenges faced by Gissing's educated yet low-paid workers - young women and men who struggled to find a new way of living together, and for whom marriage with children was either an unaffordable luxury or tragic mishap.

This late 19th Century classic launches Radio 4’s Working Titles season and is dramatised for radio by Christopher Douglas, the co-writer and star of Ed Reardon's Week.

Cast:
Narrator……Robert Powell
Rhoda Nunn…..Emma Cunniffe
Mary Barfoot…..Geraldine Alexander
Everard Barfoot…..Tom Goodman-Hill
Monica Madden……Ayla Wheatley
Virginia Madden……Bryony Hannah
Alice Madden……Karen Archer
Edmund Widdowson……John McAndrew
Bevis……Freddy Carter

Pianist Pamela White
Dramatised by Christopher Douglas
Produced by Jane Morgan

A 7digital production for Radio 4


SUN 16:00 Open Book (m001d4yt)
William Boyd and Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities

Chris Power speaks to William Boyd about The Romantic, his inventive new novel about a 19th century globetrotter. The author of Any Human Heart and Restless talks about full life narratives, using fiction to explore fact and literary legacies.

Also, equally playful and profound, Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities is 50 years old this year. Lauren Elkin and Darran Anderson take us on a tour of the imagined cities in the novel, a majestic prose-poem in which a fictional Marco Polo recalls his own intrepid travels.

Book List – Sunday 16 October and Thursday 20 October

The Romantic by William Boyd
Sketches by Boz by Charles Dickens
Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino
The Hermit in Paris by Italo Calvino
Imaginary Cities by Darran Anderson
Flaneuse: Women Walk the City in Paris, New York, Tokyo, Venice
and London by Lauren Elkin
Floating Cities by Lauren Elkin
Venice Observed by Mary McCarthy


SUN 16:30 Xanadu (m001d4zb)
As we approach 250 years since the birth of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, poet and Chair of the Royal Society of Literature Daljit Nagra explores the worlds contained within one of Coleridge's most famous poems, Kubla Khan. It's a poem that allows its readers to travel in their imaginations to a distant, visionary land. Daljit speaks to readers and scholars around the world as he journeys through the celebrated poem, line by line.
Presenter: Daljit Nagra
Producer: Camellia Sinclair
Studio manager: Ilse Lademann


SUN 17:00 File on 4 (m001cx34)
The Brain Drain

Paul Kenyon investigates the ‘brain drain’ of doctors from developing countries to work in the UK. The large scale recruitment of foreign doctors from nations with the greatest need to retain their medical personnel is increasing on a massive scale. What’s more, thousands of doctors are being targeted despite guidance which says recruitment from developing countries should not happen. It is though - because the UK trains too few doctors and nurses and needs these staff to plug the gaps. There are also big concerns about how many of the doctors flown into the UK are expected to work extremely long hours which they say is putting patient safety at risk.

Reporter: Paul Kenyon
Producer: Anna Meisel
Research: Matthew Lynch
Journalism Assistant: Tim Fernley
Production Manager: Sarah Payton
Editor: Carl Johnston


SUN 17:40 Profile (m001d4nn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m001d4zr)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SUN 17:57 Weather (m001d508)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m001d50p)
The new Chancellor urges Conservative MPs to unite behind the Prime Minister


SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (m001d514)
Geoff Bird

A personal selection of highlights from the past week on BBC radio chosen by radio producer Geoff Bird.


SUN 19:00 The Archers (m001d51k)
Chelsea updates Ben on her clinic appointment. The atmosphere’s awkward as Ben pledges as much support as he can in the face of wired Chelsea. Tensions boil over and they bicker noisily. Brad appears, surprised to see them talking so animatedly. He quickly works out why, and in a misguided attempt to defend his sister, ends up throwing a bungled punch at Ben. He misses and hits a gate post, and as Ben gives first aid advice, Brad calms a little. Ben and Chelsea explain that despite the stressful appearance of the situation, they’re handling it and Ben’s supporting Chelsea. Later chastened Brad apologises to Chelsea, which she accepts whilst pointing out she can look after herself. She tells Brad to keep his knowledge about the baby’s father to himself, and thanks him for trying to stick up for her.
Jim points out to Alan he has an interest in the broken Jack Woolley window at the church, as Natasha approaches the vestry. She brings a proposition from Peggy, to replace the window with the proposed new one. Alan points out the lengthy process for a new design; repairing the existing one would be a lot quicker. Peggy could help fund this if she likes? Natasha’s not impressed; she’ll talk to Peggy. She later reports Peggy wants the Jack Woolley window restored, but redesigned to incorporate key ideas from their original plan. Jim’s not happy; this is just advertising for the Archer family. Alan counsels a wait and see approach. At some stage it still might get turned down.


SUN 19:15 Now You're Asking with Marian Keyes and Tara Flynn (m001d51w)
The Pockets Problem

What happens when a neighbour takes your pizza ‘by mistake’? Or you’ve accidentally ended up paying for a friend’s childcare for too long? If your brother brings home an old flame – should you say something? And what should you do if your coat doesn’t have pockets? All these subjects are given the Marian and Tara treatment in the latest instalment of their popular advice podcast.

The first series was welcomed by listeners and critics.
"Both are warm and kind enough to not only be funny but also offer genuinely thoughtful, if left-field, advice." (Miranda Sawyer, The Observer)
"Keyes and Flynn are my new favourite double-act." (Jane Anderson - Radio Times)
"I found their compassion endlessly soothing." (Rachel Cunliffe - The New Statesman)

Marian Keyes is a multi award-winning writer, with a total of over 30 million books sold to date in 33 languages. Her close friend Tara Flynn is an actress, comedian and writer. Together, these two friends have been through a lot, and now want to use their considerable life experience to help solve the biggest - and smallest - of their listeners' problems.

From dilemmas about life, love and grief, to the perils of laundry or knowing what to say at a boring dinner, we’ll find out what Marian and Tara would recommend - which might not solve the problem exactly, but will make us all feel a bit better.

Recorded in Dublin with emails received from listeners around the world, the hosts invite you to pull up a chair at their virtual kitchen table as they read and digest their inbox.

Got a problem you want Marian and Tara to solve? Email: marianandtara@bbc.co.uk.

Producer: Steve Doherty.
A Giddy Goat production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds


SUN 19:45 The Performance of My Life (m001d527)
Edith Shares a Secret

Alone in their dressing room and away from the glare of the spotlight, this is the precious time when an actor has the chance to reflect on the most momentous events of their lives on the stage.

In this series of single-voice narratives, five of our most celebrated stars of the late 19th and early 20th century theatre share memories of the performances that changed their lives forever.

The stories are, by turn, touching, hilarious, emotionally-charged, heart-warming and poignant. Each of them, in their own way, is delightfully counterintuitive – familiar characters maybe, but each with an unfamiliar story to tell.

In Edith Shares a Secret, the year is 1925 and we find ourselves in the company of the celebrated and much-loved actress Dame Edith Evans, who is in her dressing room at London’s Old Vic Theatre, getting ready for a very important date.

Writer: Roy Apps
Reader: Sophie Thompson
Director: Celia de Wolff
Executive Producer: Peter Hoare
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 20:00 Feedback (m001cxs4)
In the first programme of a new series, Andrea Catherwood discusses BBC coverage of the Queen’s funeral with Royal Correspondent Jonny Dymond and the BBC’s Director of Journalism, Jonathan Munro.

Kate Bush’s musical renaissance featured in a recent Archive on 4. We put two young listeners in our Vox Box to review Kate Bush: The Power of Strange Things.

And a panel of listeners from across the UK give us their take on the future of the BBC.

Presented by Andrea Catherwood

Produced by Gill Davies
A Whistledown Scotland production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 20:30 Last Word (m001cxs2)
Dame Angela Lansbury, Lady Keswick, Sacheen Littlefeather, Franca Fendi

Matthew Bannister on

Dame Angela Lansbury (pictured), the stage and screen actor best known in recent years for her role in the TV series Murder She Wrote.

Lady Keswick who was Director of the Conservative think tank the Centre for Policy Studies after being a special adviser to Kenneth Clarke at Education and the Treasury. He pays tribute.

Sacheen Littlefeather, who staged a high profile protest about the representation of Native Americans in Hollywood when she declined an Oscar on behalf of Marlon Brando.

Franca Fendi, one of five sisters who took an Italian leather and fur business from a small shop in Rome to a multi-million pound international fashion house.

Producer: Neil George

Interviewed guest: David Benedict
Interviewed guest: Matt Wolf
Interviewed guest: Kenneth Clarke
Interviewed guest: Tim Knox
Interviewed guest: N. Bird Runningwater
Interviewed guest: Dana Thomas

Archive clips used: Corymore Productions/ Universal Television, Murder She Wrote S05E10 10/02/1990; Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Gaslight (1941) clip; Wallis Productions, Blue Hawaii (1961) clip; Audible Audio/ W.F. Howes Ltd, The Colour Of The Sky After Rain – by Tessa Keswick 22/10/2020; BBC Radio 4, PM 17/06/2003; ABC7/ KGO-TV, Escape To Alcatraz – Documentary 13/06/2021; Firelight Media/ Native American Public Telecommunications/ WGBH, Wounded Knee 16/01/2009; Oscars – YouTube Channel, 45th Annual Academy Awards® 27/03/1973; BBC Radio 4, Short Cuts 12/07/2016; KPIX Public Affairs Presentation, I Believe – Sacheen Littlefeather interview 1976; BBC News, Academy apologises to Sacheen Littlefeather 16/08/2022.


SUN 21:00 Money Box (m001d4my)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:04 on Saturday]


SUN 21:25 Radio 4 Appeal (m001d4sf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:54 today]


SUN 21:30 Analysis (m001cxjf)
Is ethical surrogacy possible?

Does becoming a surrogate mother exploit or empower a woman? UK surrogacy law is under review, and there's a renewed debate around how it should be regulated. The war in Ukraine highlighted this, as the spotlight shone on the surrogate mothers, the babies they'd given birth to, and the overseas parents struggling to collect
the newborns. In the UK the numbers of children born through surrogacy are still relatively small but they're expected to rise, not just because of medical infertility but also as more gay male couples and single men look to have their own biological children. For some surrogacy is extremely contentious, for others it's life changing. Sonia Sodha asks whether surrogacy is the ultimate commercialisation of a woman's body or whether it's the greatest gift a woman can give.

Producer Caroline Bayley
Editor Clare Fordham
Sound Engineer: Rod Farquhar
Production Coordinators: Maria Ogundele and Helena Warwick-Cross


SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (m001d52q)
Radio 4's Sunday night political discussion programme.


SUN 23:00 Loose Ends (m001d4nl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:15 on Saturday]


SUN 23:30 Something Understood (b03ddz85)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:05 today]

MONDAY 17 OCTOBER 2022

MON 00:00 Midnight News (m001d53f)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


MON 00:15 Thinking Allowed (m001cx8w)
Gender and Alcohol

Gender and Alcohol: Laurie Taylor talks to Thomas Thurnell-Read, Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Loughborough University, about the masculine domain of craft drinks, an area of the alcohol industry associated with liberal and progressive values but where assumptions about tastes are still informed by gender stereotypes, the marketing of products may draw heavily on sexist imagery and men are seen as the gatekeepers of expertise.

They’re joined by Kath Hennell, Senior Lecturer in Childhood and Youth Studies, who explores the key ingredients of a 'proper night out' for young women and men. What are the hidden, gendered rules which inform a ritual involving extreme intoxication?

Producer: Jayne Egerton


MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (m001d4p7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:43 on Sunday]


MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m001d53z)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m001d54g)
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 (m001d54t)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


MON 05:30 News Briefing (m001d551)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4


MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m001d558)
Good Morning.

I recently became a mother and the journey to get here has been interesting. Growing up as a woman in society, motherhood was always something that I was told I should desire and be adamantly planning towards. Rather than thinking about motherhood however, I’d often been more tunnel visioned about my passions and truth be told, I never felt particularly broody. When I fell pregnant in 2021, I was filled with a mix of varying emotions from immense gratitude to anxiety.

As the weeks developed in my pregnancy, the sense of excitement over the new life my husband and I were going to bring into the world was overriding. One morning in mid-April I began having cramps and not long after, I was alone in a hospital room being told that I had lost the baby. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel angry, guilty and embarrassed because we told our friends and family. I felt like I was supposed to be this woman full of faith, but here I was struggling and fearful.

After months of healing - physically, mentally and spiritually, - I became pregnant in the summer. Even though we’d lost our first pregnancy, I felt a sense of peace during this pregnancy, as I felt surrendered to God’s plan.

This year, I gave birth to my daughter and she has been the best thing that has ever happened to me.

Even though motherhood has come with sleepless nights and moments of doubt, every day, I look at my daughter and thank God for the blessing she is.

If you desire to be on the journey of parenthood, or are in it - I pray that God will bring you joy and comfort on this journey. Whatever struggle, decision or emotion you might be facing about parenting, I pray that God surrounds you with a supportive circle and gives you the courage to share with them the lows and also the highs.

Details of help and support with pregnancy related issues, including child bereavement, are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline.


MON 05:45 Farming Today (m001d55l)
17/10/22 Avian flu in wild birds, lab grown meat, agricultural colleges

The Government should be doing more to co-ordinate the response to bird flu in wild birds - that's according to wildlife experts dealing with the outbreak in East Anglia. Marine and Wildlife rescue have been out on the Norfolk broads finding severely ill swans, but say the response has been left to local people to organise.

What impact might lab grown meat have on the farming industry? We hear how a new programme lead by The Royal Agricultural University hopes to answer that question.

All this week we'll be focusing on education, and today we discuss the future for the UK's land based colleges. These are the places offering courses in agriculture, horticulture, equine studies and forestry.

Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Beatrice Fenton.


MON 05:56 Weather (m001d55w)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.


MON 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b092ly3v)
Samuel West on the Nightingale

Actor Samuel West describes gathering with his family at dusk to listen for Nightingales. Its song may be a cultural touchstone but it is far less harmonious a sound than poets may lead us to believe.

Producer: Tom Bonnett
Picture: Ian Redman.


MON 06:00 Today (m001d4x1)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


MON 09:00 Start the Week (m001d4xl)
Black Britain and beyond

The first event marking Black History Month UK took place thirty five years ago, and the re-claiming and documenting of Black British and International History has since evolved into a national movement. But how much has changed in those three decades? The historian Miranda Kaufmann has spent years uncovering evidence of Africans in Renaissance Britain. Her first book Black Tudors: The Untold Story was published five years ago and has since become a free online course.

The British Nigerian poet Yomi Ṣode interweaves his native Yoruba with English slang in his debut collection Manorism. He explores what it means to grow up black in Britain and the pressure to be constantly adapting his behaviour and language. But he also shows the past works in mysterious ways by finding inspiration in the life of the 17th century Italian painter, Caravaggio.

The curator Christine Checinska explores how fashion has formed a key part of Africa’s cultural renaissance in a ground-breaking exhibition at the V&A. Africa Fashion starts with the years of African independence that sparked radical political and social movements. But the show also includes contemporary designers who have broken with historical ideas to look to the future.

The historian Peter Frankopan makes the case for world history – a view of the past from multiple foci – in the essay collection, What Is History, Now? He questions the role of history; whose stories are told and why. But the challenge of broadening horizons to encompass the whole world can make it oversimplistic and fractured. Frankopan believes the job of the historian is to look at the connections between societies, and explore what the past can tell about today’s world.

Image: Thomas Gainsborough's 'Portrait of Ignatius Sancho', 1768


MON 09:45 Edible Economics by Ha-Joon Chang (m001d4y4)
Garlic

In Edible Economics, Ha-Joon Chang is inspired by his passion for food to reflect on why economics matters - or, as he puts it, “a hungry economist explains the world”.

Over five episodes he zooms in on garlic, bananas, okra, rye and chocolate, using the histories behind familiar foods - where they come from, how they are cooked and consumed, what they mean to different cultures - to explore economic theories. Witty and thought-provoking, Professor Chang sets out to challenge ideas about the free-market economy which he believes have been too easily accepted for decades.

In this first episode, the focus is on garlic.

“We Koreans don’t just eat garlic. We process it. In industrial quantities. We are garlic. South Koreans go through a staggering 7.5 kg of garlic per person a year – twelve times what the Italians consume. If you have lived all your life among garlic monsters, you don’t realise how much garlic you get through. That was me in late July 1986 when, aged twenty-two, I boarded a flight to start my graduate studies in the University of Cambridge…”

Coming to the UK for the first time, “garlic monster” Ha-Joon is shocked to discover the blandness of English food. But Britain in the 80s was on the cusp of a culinary revolution, opening up to many other food cultures. In Professor Chang’s own field of economics, however, he says that the discipline has become increasingly narrow. There is too little debate, he claims, and this really matters because economics doesn’t just affect government policies and our own individual economic situation:

“It changes who we are. Economics creates ideas. It affects what people see as normal, how people view each other, and what behaviour people exhibit to fit in. So an economic theory that believes humans to be almost exclusively driven by self-interest will create a society where cooperation is more difficult.”

Professor Ha-Joon Chang teaches economics at SOAS University of London, and is one of the world's leading economists. His books include Economics: The User's Guide, Bad Samaritans and 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism.

Reader Arthur Lee is a British actor of Korean descent who made his international debut on HBO Cinemax’s Strike Back in 2015 and who recently appeared in Doctor Who. Arthur grew up mostly in London, but also spent several years in South Korea advancing his knowledge of Korean language and culture.

Abridged and produced by Elizabeth Burke
Executive Producer: Jo Rowntree
A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4


MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (m001d4z1)
Choreographer Jasmin Vardimon, Behind the Rage with Deeyah Khan, Met Police report, Motorcycling

Jasmin Vardimon is one of the UK’s leading choreographers and was awarded an MBE for services to dance in the late Queen’s final birthday honours list in June. This month Jasmin is bringing ALiCE - a new interpretation of Lewis Carroll’s classic Alice in Wonderland - to the Sadler’s Wells. She is also opening a purpose-built dance centre in Kent where the Jasmin Vardimon Company will be based. She joins Jessica to talk about her work.

Deeyah Khan is an Emmy, Bafta and Peabody winning filmmaker. Deeyah’s films have previously covered topics such as abortion in America, white supremacy, and why people become terrorists. Her latest film looks at domestic violence in the United States, hearing from voices rarely heard on the topic, the men who perpetrate violence towards their partners. Deeyah joins Jessica.

Baroness Casey's interim report into the Metropolitan Police's disciplinary procedures has found that hundreds of Met police officers have been getting away with misconduct and even breaking the law. The new Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has today called for officers to be sacked, after the report found that their internal disciplinary system is racist and misogynist, and allegations of sexual misconduct or discrimination are less likely to result in a case to answer than other claims. It also found that repeat misconduct offenders have remained in post, with just 13 out of 1,809 officers with more than one case against them being sacked since 2013. Jessica speaks to Shabnam Chaudri, formerly a Detective Superintendent with the Metropolitan Police.

Membership of the Women's International Motorcycle Association has increased by 50% in the last two years. And the world’s largest all-female biker meet took place in Leicestershire this summer, with over 1,500 women in attendance. But why is the number of female motorcyclists accelerating? Jessica talks to Karina Artun AKA Bike Like a Mum on Instagram, who started learning to ride in lockdown, and Sheonagh Ravensdale, Communications Director of the British Motorcyclists Federation.

Women are selling sex to cope with the cost of living crisis, according to the English Collective of Prostitutes who have seen call levels to their helpline rise by a third in the last few months. Many women are turning to sex work for the first time, while others are returning, having left it behind. Pregnant Then Screwed have also been contacted by women in a similar position. Jessica speaks to a sex worker called Evie and Niki Adams of the English Collective of Prostitutes, a network of sex workers and supporters campaigning for the decriminalisation of prostitution.


MON 11:00 The Untold (m001d4zl)
Lions, Lemurs and Lindsay

In 2011 Lindsay McKenna was running corporate workshops from her farm in Ross-on-Wye. An animal lover as a child, when Lindsay came across a raccoon living in squalid conditions she offered to take it. But this was just the beginning. As word spread, Lindsay discovered more and more exotic animals in trouble. Today her farm is home to almost 200 exotic animals including Lemurs, Lynx, Mountain Lions, Coatis and Servals. Lindsay gave up her corporate work to look after these animals, but with food and energy costs on the rise things may need to change.

Toby Field joins Lindsay as she prepares her feed mixes, and finds out why she refuses to let these animals become exhibits. There's a close encounter with a Mountain Lion, and some Capybara provide an unlikely backdrop to discussions about barn insulation and growing your own produce. Toby watches as Lindsay and her colleague Adrian capture Rudy the Wallaby for a trip to the vet, and Lindsay's husband Frank and daughter Caitlin talk about the origins and future of this extraordinary place.

Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Toby Field.


MON 11:30 The Bottom Line (m001cxyr)
Changing Tack

What happens when your business vision doesn't stack up or your long-standing business needs to make changes to keep up with a changing market and customer taste? Do you make a U-turn or a pivot as it's known in business. How do you know when is the right time and how do you get your employees and managers to go with you? Evan Davis and guests discuss.

GUESTS

Matthew Bannister, Broadcaster and Presenter, Folk on Foot podcast

Liz Earle, Beauty and Wellness Entrepreneur, Editor-in-Chief, Liz Earle Wellbeing magazine

and

Jessica Spungin, Adjunct Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship, London Business School

PRESENTER: EVAN DAVIS

PRODUCTION TEAM

Producers: Julie Ball and Nick Holland
Editor: Tara McDermott
Sound: Neil Churchill/Rod Farquhar
Production Co-ordinators: Siobhan Reed & Helena Warwick-Cross


MON 12:00 News Summary (m001d504)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


MON 12:04 You and Yours (m001d50m)
Energy Bills, Student Accommodation, India Travel Visas

Support with energy bills could be scaled back as the mini budget is unpicked.

The government is taking a tower block owner to court over unsafe cladding

Students struggling to find accommodation are being scammed by fake landlords.

And changes to the visa process for India could mean hundreds of British travellers are forced to postpone their trips

PRESENTER: WINIFRED ROBINSON

PRODUCER: ANNA HODGES


MON 12:57 Weather (m001d512)
The latest weather forecast


MON 13:00 World at One (m001d51h)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Sarah Montague.


MON 13:45 Wild Bond (m001d51t)
The Spy

The name's Bond. James Bond. Everyone's favourite spy has been serving up the guns, the glamour, the girls and the gadgets on the silver screen for 60 years, and we're celebrating... In a slightly unusual way. Emily Knight is taking the iconic characters from the Bond world and re-casting them, from the animal kingdom. Which of our animal cousins would make the best 007? Who do we cast as the Bond Girl? In nature, who comes equipped with the best gadgets? Who are villains, bent on world domination, and who are the henchmen, just following orders?

In this first episode, we're starting in the obvious place: James himself. His Majesty's lapdog. The fighter. The lover. The spy.

Animal espionage is all around us in nature: from experts in disguise, camouflaging themselves to avoid detection, to masters of mimicry, pretending to be something they're not. But true, deliberate deception - what biologists call 'tactical deception' - is surprisingly rare in the animal world. It requires high intelligence, social graces, and 'theory of mind' - an ability to conceive of yourself through the eyes of another. Emily learns about some sneaky birds, and some crafty capuchins, who might just have mastered it.

With Bond expert Ian Kinane from the University of Roehampton, and Evolutionary Anthropologist Brandon Wheeler from the University of Kent.

Presented and Produced in Bristol by Emily Knight


MON 14:00 The Archers (m001d51k)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Sunday]


MON 14:15 This Cultural Life (m001d4nq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:15 on Saturday]


MON 15:00 Brain of Britain (m001d52d)
Heat 12, 2022

Four contenders join Russell Davies in the twelfth heat of the series, to determine who will take the last of the places in the semi-finals which begin next week. The general knowledge questions come thick and fast: who created the fictional detective Adam Dalgliesh? Which river does the city of Munich stand on? Which was the first animated Disney film to be dubbed into Zulu? The competitors have ten seconds' thinking time, but only if they get the question right do they get another.

Appearing today are
Helen Blackburn from Midlothian
Marianne Fairthorne from London
Hadrian Jeffs from Long Stratton in Norfolk
John Webley from the New Forest

The winner will take a place in the semi-finals, but there may be a place in the semi-finals for a runner-up if they can accumulate enough points at this crucial stage in the tournament.

There will also be a chance for a listener to Beat the Brains with questions he or she has devised.

Assistant Producer: Stephen Garner
Producer: Paul Bajoria


MON 15:30 The Food Programme (m001d4wj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:32 on Sunday]


MON 16:00 Raiders of the Lost Archive (m001cxx2)
In dusty attics and cupboards across the land, old radio programmes languish on tapes and reels. Luckily, Keith Wickham and friends make it their business to find them and get them back where they belong - in the BBC archive.

Raiders of the Lost Archive tells the story of a collegiate network of audio archivists, sound engineers and hobbyists dedicated to repatriating these cultural treasures, outlining the complex work that is needed to ensure these programmes can be heard once again.

Swoon as we hear how the Radiophonic Workshop archive was saved.
Laugh as Ken Dodd tells jokes that were old even in 1957.
Thrill as the archivists locate lost episodes of Desert Island Discs, and hand them over to Lauren Laverne.

But that's not all. What is the astonishing audio holy grail that the Raiders archivists have turned up? A very special lost programme that has not been heard since 1955.

With special thanks to the Radio Circle, Richard Harrison, Roger Bickerton, Mark Ayres, Steve Arnold, Tom Hercock, Hannah Ratford and all at BBC Archives in Caversham.

Presented by Keith Wickham
Written and Edited by Keith Wickham and James Peak
Produced by James Peak

An Essential Radio production for BBC Radio 4


MON 16:30 The Digital Human (m001d534)
Series 26

Paradigm

Humans are special creatures, in part because of our relationship with out technology. Our brains are not purely biological, we actually think through our tools. Over centuries, things like the telescope have allowed us to view and understand the secrets of the universe, film and computation has allowed us to manipulate time to see hidden patterns of the world, Augmented and Virtual Reality is allowing us to shape our perception of the world, and Machine Learning could open up boundless untapped knowledge we’ve never been able to process.

But in the digital age, the rate of change is happening so quickly, we don’t notice it day to day. We’re so busy we don’t stop to examine, or appreciate, how technology might change the paradigm of the world we all live in.

In this episode, Aleks explores some of the technology that has radically changed how humans experience the universe, and learns how we can prepare to adapt to the next technologies that could forever change the world.

Producer Elizabeth Ann Duffy, Researcher Juliet Conway, Engineer, Malcolm Torrie.


MON 17:00 PM (m001d53n)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines


MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m001d546)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


MON 18:30 It's a Fair Cop (m001d54m)
Series 7

Vulnerable Adult

In this week's case Alfie and his audience of deputies have learnt of an old man in the community whose had a stroke of luck and got himself a much younger lady friend. His daughter though, is worried that this woman maybe taking advantage of her dad.

What is the right move, both legally and morally?

Written and presented by Alfie Moore
Script Editor: Will Ing
Production Co-ordinator: Becky Carewe-Jeffries
Producer: Sam Holmes

A BBC Studios Production


MON 19:00 The Archers (m001d54w)
Alan defends to Jim his ‘wait and see’ policy regarding the church window. He wants to avoid stirring up division in the community. The window might still never be made. He resolves to hold a meeting with Peggy and all the family members, to clarify things, in a spirit of mutual understanding and respect.
Helen and Lee are looking after Ena the cat for Joy in return for unlimited use of her hot tub. They’ve banned the children from using it so it’s just the two of them. However when the garden goes quiet they wonder what’s going on – until mischievous Jack appears and sabotages the tub with soap bubbles. Lee tries to clear it up but it won’t stop foaming. He judges it more as a mess than anything mechanical. He’ll ensure the tub’s left pristine.
Mia tries to persuade reluctant George to accept her help with his essay writing, as per Eddie’s request. George is having none of it; he reckons he doesn’t need academic success when he has other deals going on. Mia shrugs – okay, if George is happy with that, why should failing all his assignments matter? He soon changes his mind, but Mia’s busy with her own essay. George turns his attention to Brad, enlisting his help instead. Later Mia points out to Brad that he’s been had – George is gone and Brad’s writing his essay for him. She reckons George shouldn’t let Brad walk all over him; he’s better than that. Brad is a little embarrassed and makes a flustered exit.


MON 19:15 Start the Week (m001d4xl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


MON 20:00 The Boy in the Woods (m001cdrw)
The Boy in the Woods: The Discussion

In this one-off special documentary linked to her recent series 'The Boy in the Woods', Winifred Robinson brings together Lord Laming who led an inquiry into Rikki Neave's death with Dame Louise Casey, who oversaw the Troubled Families Programme, and Polly Curtis, whose written extensively about what is happening in the care system today.

The programme reports on current best-practice and how it can be replicated and examines what's happened in the years since Rikki’s death. What is our baseline here and what are we trying to achieve? And is there an acceptable level of risk?

There were a whole series of investigations in the aftermath of the death of six-year-old Rikki Neave and promises in Parliament that lessons would be learned. His case is in the news again because his killer has been convicted after 27 years. The many layers of sadness and disadvantage in Rikki’s life are explored in the Winifred Robinson 10-part Radio 4 series.

The case is a marker for more than a quarter of a century of lost children and good intentions. Rikki was on the register of children at risk. His mother had asked for him to be taken into care, saying she couldn’t control him, couldn’t cope. He was playing truant from school on the day he died, a vulnerable child, an easy target.

Jurors at his trial say that one of the saddest aspects is the knowledge that children like Rikki are still dying today, that social services inquiries keep coming to the same conclusions about poor information-sharing, bad management and overloaded, inexperienced staff.

Winifred's three guests have extensive experience of what has gone wrong in the past and what we could be changing to improve the life chances for the most vulnerable children in society. This is a unique opportunity for listeners to consider some of the wider aspects raised in the series, The Boy in the Woods

Lord Herbert Laming has been a social worker, a director of social services, head of the Social Services Inspectorate. He was involved in Rikki’s case. He chaired the public inquiry into the murder of Victoria Climbie. The government asked him to review child protection after the death of Baby P, Peter Connolly in 2007.

Baroness Louise Casey has been finding practical solutions to difficult social problems for years now. She led the Anti-Social Behaviour Unit at the Home Office, the Troubled Families Programme, the investigation into the Rotherham Child Sexual Exploitation scandal.

Polly Curtis is a journalist who’s just published a book, Behind Closed Doors: Why We Break Up Families and How to Mend Them. She knows what’s happening in the care system now, what’s changed, what could be better.


MON 20:30 Analysis (m001d552)
How Xi Jinping did it

Just over a decade ago, President Xi Jinping was a virtual unknown. Few would say that now. In ten years, he’s reworked the Chinese Communist party, the military and the government so that he’s firmly in control. He’s also vanquished all of his obvious rivals. And now, he’s about to extend his time in office. Some say Xi might stay in the top job indefinitely. So how did Xi Jinping do it? Celia Hatton, the BBC’s Asia Pacific Editor, speaks to fellow China watchers to find out.

Producer: Rob Walker
Editor: Clare Fordham
Researcher: Ben Cooper
Studio Manager: James Beard
Production Coordinators: Maria Ogundele and Helena Warwick-Cross

With special thanks to Kerry Allen.

(Photo: Chinese President Xi Jinping attends the art performance celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China in 2021. Credit: Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)


MON 21:00 What Really Happened in the Nineties? (m0016xvj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:45 on Sunday]


MON 21:15 Front Row (m001d559)
The Booker Prize for Fiction 2022

The live ceremony for the 2022 Booker Prize for Fiction, hosted by Samira Ahmed. The winner of the £50,000 prize will be announced by the chair of judges Neil MacGregor in the presence of Her Majesty The Queen Consort, who will award the trophy. The author Elif Shafak reflects on the recent violent attack on Sir Salman Rushdie, whose novel Midnight's Children was chosen as the Booker of Bookers. And the singer songwriter Dua Lipa gives her thoughts on the power of books.

Photographer credit: John Williams

Presenter: Samira Ahmed
Producer: Sarah Johnson


MON 22:00 The World Tonight (m001d55m)
Jeremy Hunt shreds the mini-budget

In-depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective


MON 22:45 Dance Move by Wendy Erskine (m001d55x)
Episode 1 - Mrs Dallesandro

In Dance Move, the new collection of stories from Wendy Erskine, we meet characters who are looking to wrest control of their lives, only to find themselves defined by the moment in their past that marked them. In these stories – as in real life – the funny, the tender and the devastating go hand in hand. Full of warmth, the familiar and the strange, they are about what it means to live in the world, how far you can end up from where you came from, and what it means to look back.
Shortlisted for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize 2022.

The Author
Wendy Erskine lives in Belfast. Her fiction and non-fiction have been published by Repeater, Dostoyevsky Wannabe, Faber & Faber, Tangerine Press, No Alibis Press and Rough Trade Books. Sweet Home, her first collection of stories, was shortlisted for the Edge Hill Prize and the Republic of Consciousness Prize. It was longlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize and won the 2020 Butler Literary Award.

Reader: Roísín Gallagher
Author: Wendy Erskine
Abridger: Rowan Routh
Producer: Michael Shannon
Executive Editor: Andy Martin

A BBC Northern Ireland Production.


MON 23:00 The Witch Farm (m001d6yr)
Episode 1: Heol Fanog

It’s 1989, rural Wales, a lonely old farmhouse in the shadow of the imposing Brecon Beacons mountains. Young, pregnant Liz Rich and her artist husband Bill rent an isolated farmhouse in the Welsh countryside, with Bill’s teenage son Laurence. They’re hoping for a fresh start, but the house holds dark secrets, and the family’s new life becomes a terrifying ordeal that will change them forever.

Their dream home has become a haunted nightmare - but what is real and what is in their minds?

Written and presented by Danny Robins, creator of The Battersea Poltergeist, Uncanny and West End hit 2:22 – A Ghost Story, The Witch Farm stars Joseph Fiennes (The Handmaid’s Tale) and Alexandra Roach (No Offence), with original theme music by Mercury Prize-nominated Gwenno. This 8-part series interweaves a terrifying supernatural thriller set in the wild Welsh countryside with a fascinating modern-day investigation into the real-life mystery behind what has been called Britain’s most haunted house.

Cast:
Bill Rich ..... Joseph Fiennes
Liz Rich ..... Alexandra Roach
Wyn Thomas ..... Owen Teale
Lawrence Rich ..... Jonathan Case
Electrician ..... Delme Thomas

Written and presented by Danny Robins
Experts: Ciaran O’Keeffe and Evelyn Hollow
Sound design by Charlie Brandon-King and Richard Fox
Music by Evelyn Sykes
Theme Music by Gwenno
Researcher: Nancy Bottomley
Produced by Danny Robins and Simon Barnard
Directed by Simon Barnard

Consultant was Mark Chadbourn, author of the book on the case, Testimony

A Bafflegab and Uncanny Media production for BBC Radio 4


MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (m001d569)
Susan Hulme reports on the new Chancellor Jeremy Hunt's emergency statement to parliament - undoing most of the announcements made by his predecessor last month.

TUESDAY 18 OCTOBER 2022

TUE 00:00 Midnight News (m001d56k)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


TUE 00:30 Edible Economics by Ha-Joon Chang (m001d4y4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Monday]


TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m001d56s)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m001d56x)
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 (m001d574)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


TUE 05:30 News Briefing (m001d579)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4


TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m001d57j)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Ruth Yimika Afolabi


TUE 05:45 Farming Today (m001d57s)
18/10/22 - Avian flu, Christmas turkeys and teaching kids about farming

The whole of Great Britain has been put under an Avian Flu Prevention Zone, which means heightened biosecurity. Millions of birds, wild and farmed, are dead because of bird flu. For the first time, the disease has remained at high levels in the wild bird population throughout the summer. It has now re-entered domestic and farmed birds. DEFRA believes the disease is NOT being spread from farm to farm, or even from garden flocks to farms, but from wild birds to farmed poultry.

Anna Hill speaks to the Chief Veterinary Officer, Christine Middlemiss, and hears from a poultry producer who says he's been left mentally and physically stressed by the disease.

Also, as Farming Today's week long look at education continues, we visit Romilly Primary School in Barry where they've launched a new project, teaching the children about their agricultural neighbours.

Presented by Anna Hill
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Heather Simons


TUE 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b092fszs)
Amy Liptrot on the Corncrake

Writer and Orkney native Amy Liptrot recalls her work as the RSPB's corncrake officer on the look out for this largely nocturnal bird in the wee small hours for Tweet of the Day.

Producer: Mark Ward.


TUE 06:00 Today (m001d5cg)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


TUE 09:00 The Life Scientific (m001d5cq)
A passion for fruit flies

What use to science is a pesky organism that feeds on rotting fruit? Professor Bambos Kyriacou has spent fifty years observing the behaviour of fruit flies. He keeps them in the lab and in his garden in their thousands, has recorded fruit fly courtship songs using a microphone loved by Jonny Carson (because it made his voice sound deeper) and invented equipment to keep track of their sleeping patterns. He tells Jim Al-Khalili how fruit flies sparked his interest in genetics and how experiments with insomniac fruit flies opened our eyes to the fundamental importance of body clocks.


TUE 09:30 One to One (m001d5d1)
Reece Parkinson and Lucy Chambers

BBC Radio 1Xtra's Reece Parkinson meets Dr Lucy Chambers from Diabetes UK to discuss type 1 diabetes, swap stories about travel, and talk about the future for diabetes treatment.

Producer: Melanie Pearson


TUE 09:45 Edible Economics by Ha-Joon Chang (m001d5db)
The Banana

In Edible Economics, Ha-Joon Chang is inspired by his passion for food to reflect on why economics matters - or, as he puts it, “a hungry economist explains the world”.

Over five episodes he zooms in on garlic, bananas, okra, rye and chocolate, using the histories behind familiar foods - where they come from, how they are cooked and consumed, what they mean to different cultures - to explore economic theories. Witty and thought-provoking, Professor Chang sets out to challenge ideas about the free-market economy which he believes have been too easily accepted for decades.

Today - the banana. We hear about Elvis Presley’s favourite sandwich (banana and peanut butter), and about the banana companies that came to dominate Central and South America in the 19th century.

“These days many people in the United States and other rich nations know the term “banana republic” only as a clothing brand. But it was originally invented to describe the dark reality of near-absolute domination of poor developing nations by large corporations from rich countries. The choice of clothing brand name is at best ignorant and at worst offensive…”

Ha-Joon Chang reflects on the dominance of multinational companies today, and how they can be controlled by public policies to become a force for good.

Professor Ha-Joon Chang teaches economics at SOAS University of London, and is one of the world's leading economists. His books include Economics: The User's Guide, Bad Samaritans and 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism.

Reader Arthur Lee is a British actor of Korean descent who made his international debut on HBO Cinemax’s Strike Back in 2015 and who recently appeared in Doctor Who. Arthur grew up mostly in London, but also spent several years in South Korea advancing his knowledge of Korean language and culture.

Abridged and produced by Elizabeth Burke
Executive Producer: Jo Rowntree
A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (m001d5dl)
Actor Geena Davis. Sibling age gaps. Modern slavery and working rights.

In her memoir "Dying of Politeness" the Oscar winning actor Geena_Davis talks about her roles from a housewife-turned-road warrior and an amnesiac assassin to the mother of a rodent, and the president of the United States. Plus she shares with Jessica Ceighton how she could have swapped acting for athletes and her passion for female representation.

Many of you got in touch after the journalist Merope Mills voiced her anger at her 13-year-old daughter Martha's preventable death in hospital.
Jessica Creighton speaks to consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist Dr Virginia Davies about some of the broader medical issues you raised - from feeling that doctors and other medical staff were sometimes arrogant and often weren’t listening to your concerns about patient care to whether there needs to be a change in hospital culture.

Survivors of modern slavery could be contributing to the UK economy and helping to address skills shortages, but instead are being held back by bureaucratic red tape, that’s according to a new report by Hestia the leading provider of modern slavery support in London and the Southeast.  The want for survivors to be given a temporary right to work as soon as they enter the system. We hear from a survivor "Trinny" and Alison Logier Head of Modern Slavery services about the impact this could have both for survivors and society as a whole.

What's it like to be the youngest child with large age gaps between you and your siblings? And what can parents do to help ease the difficulties that might occur?

Presenter Jessica Creighton
Producer Beverley Purcell


TUE 11:00 Wild Inside (m001d5dw)
The Alpaca

Alpacas may have been domesticated for thousands of years but their native lands are the steep hostile mountains of South America where they continue to thrive far from the modern luxuries of animal husbandry. Prof Ben Garrod and Dr Jess French delve deep inside this hardy herbivore to unravel the anatomy and physiology that’s secured the success of this extraordinary member of the camelid family of camels, llamas and vicugna

Producer Adrian Washbourne


TUE 11:30 Icon (m001d5f5)
Episode 6: Celebrating Life

“With my name, I could open doors, I was a commodity in myself – and I’m not talking as an actress... I could take the fame I resented and tried to get away from for so many years – but you can never get away from it – and use it to do some good…” And the cause Elizabeth Taylor championed, earlier and more energetically than anyone else, was AIDS awareness.

With David Furnish, Chairman of the Elton John AIDS Foundation, Marc Thompson, Co-Director of The Love Tank, and archive from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

With Louise Gallagher.
Produced by Alan Hall with music by Jeremy Warmsley.
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 12:00 News Summary (m001d5fk)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


TUE 12:04 You and Yours (m001d5fy)
Are you still delaying putting the heating on faced with rocketing energy bills?

On this week's phone-in programme 'Call You and Yours' we're asking - have you turned the central heating on yet?
As temperatures drop into single figures are you still holding back from switching the heating on because you're worried about rocketing energy bills?
It's a worry which was perhaps made even more acute by the Chancellor's statement yesterday, when he suggested the energy price cap to keep bills down could disappear in April.
We want to know what you're doing to avoid putting the heating on and your tips for keeping warm...
We're also going to consider the risks involved with keeping the heating off. Might it lead to damp in the house....and how might this affect your general health?
You can email us now at youandyours@bbc.co.uk - and do please leave your phone number on the email so we can call you back...
Are you holding back from switching on the heating - and if so...how are you keeping warm?
PRESENTER: WINIFRED ROBINSON
PRODUCER: CRAIG HENDERSON


TUE 12:57 Weather (m001d5g8)
The latest weather forecast


TUE 13:00 World at One (m001d5gl)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Sarah Montague.


TUE 13:45 Wild Bond (m001d5gx)
The Femme Fatal

The name's Bond. James Bond. Everyone's favourite spy has been serving up the guns, the glamour, the girls and the gadgets on the silver screen for 60 years, and we're celebrating... In a slightly unusual way. Emily Knight is taking the iconic characters from the Bond world and re-casting them, from the animal kingdom. Which of our animal cousins would make the best 007? Who do we cast as the Bond Girl? In nature, who comes equipped with the best gadgets? Who are villains, bent on world domination, and who are the henchmen, just following orders?

In this episode, it's the Bond Girl. And not just any Bond Girl... the Femme Fatale. In the Bond world, sex and death are almost inextricably linked, and seduction often comes at a price. So too in the natural world, where feminine wiles are often used as a precursor for violence, trickery, or death. Emily meets a female spider, a mantis, some fireflies and a katydid who are all far 'deadlier than the male'.

With Bond expert Ian Kinane from the University of Roehampton, and biologist Dr Jennifer Verdolin.

Presented and Produced in Bristol by Emily Knight.


TUE 14:00 The Archers (m001d54w)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Monday]


TUE 14:15 Drama (m000j3s4)
The Life Cycle of Ospreys

It's 400 years since ospreys have bred in the Peak District, and David takes his voluntary job of guarding the eggs very seriously. But, he's none too happy about the arrival of Louise, his clueless new volunteer, who's only there under duress…

David - Henry Goodman
Louise - Sally Messham

Written by Jane Wainwright
Produced and directed by Pauline Harris


TUE 15:00 The Kitchen Cabinet (m001d4mm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:30 on Saturday]


TUE 15:30 Costing the Earth (m001d5h6)
Saving Vietnam's Wildlife

Life can be pretty tough for the pangolin. This scaly-skinned ant-eater is the most heavily trafficked mammal in the world. Followers of some branches of Chinese medicine believe pangolin parts can cure anything from blood clots to cancer and they're willing to pay big money for poached animals.

As a boy growing up in rural Vietnam Thai Van Nguyen watched his neighbours capture and kill a mother and baby pangolin. His disgust inspired an intense urge to help the pangolin and the threatened habitats in which it lives. Founding an independent conservation organisation in Communist Vietnam isn't easy, nor is facing down heavily armed poaching gangs engaged in the trade with China. Despite the challenges Thai has set up the country's first effective anti-poaching unit, disrupting the trade and catching hundreds of smugglers red-handed.

Peter Hadfield travels to Vietnam to see Thai and his team in action and gauge the impact of his work on local communities and the country's attitudes to its native wildlife.

Producer: Alasdair Cross

Photo courtesy of Suzy Eszterhas


TUE 16:00 Imagined Worlds (m001d5hk)
The Chair of this year's Booker Prize jury, Neil MacGregor, explores what this year's crop of novels submitted for the prize tells us about the literry imagination and psyche after two extraordinary years dominated by the covid pandemic. What imagined worlds have this year's shortlisted novelists created and what do they tell us about the times we are living through? Neil and his fellow jury members academic and broadcaster Shahidba Bari, historian Helen Castor, Novelist and critic M. John Harrison and the novelist, poet and professor Alain Mabanckou, talk about the threads linking the diverse novels on the shortlist.
They discuss the power of long memory, the resonance of past events lived out in the present, religion and the world beyond conventional truth and the reality that rather than instant response to the extraordinary, it seems that novelists have been at their most compelling when dealing with themes and events that have, as one jury member put it, had time to 'cure and for rage to be suitably polished'.
Recorded before the prize winner decision is made, we hear something of the agonising process of ordering the inherently disordered.

The Shortlist includes:
Glory by NoViolet Bulawayo, the energetic and exhilarating joyride story of an uprising, told by a vivid chorus of animal voices that help us see our human world more clearly.
Small Things Like These, by Claire Keegan. A tender tale of hope and quiet heroism which is both a celebration of compassion and a stern rebuke of the sins committed in the name of religion.
Treacle Worker, by Alan Garner. The story of an introspective young mind trying to make sense of the world around him.
The Trees by Percival Everett, in which a violent history refuses to be buried, combining an unnerving murder mystery with a powerful condemnation of racism and police violence.
The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka. Shehan's rip-roaring epic is a searing, mordantly funny satire set amid the murderous mayhem of a Sri Lanka beset by civil war.
And
Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout. Bestselling author Elizabeth Strout returns to her beloved heroine Lucy Barton in a luminous novel about love, loss, and the family secrets that can erupt and bewilder us at any time.

Producer: Tom Alban


TUE 16:30 A Good Read (m001d5j2)
Damian Barr and Ben Fergusson

Writers Damian Barr and Ben Fergusson recommend books to Harriett Gilbert. Damian chooses the second volume of Janice Galloway's memoir, All Made Up. Ben talks about The Death of the Heart by Elizabeth Bowen, and Harriett has gone for Hilary Spurling's biography of Sonia Orwell, The Girl from the Fiction Department.

Producer Sally Heaven


TUE 17:00 PM (m001d5jj)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines


TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m001d5jw)
Jeremy Hunt used his Cabinet as Chancellor to say spending cuts are on the way.


TUE 18:30 Hancock's Half Hour (m001d5k5)
The Marriage Bureau

The time has come – the Lad Himself must get a job. But he needs to find a wife first…

Starring Tony Hancock.

With Bill Kerr, Moira Lister, Sidney James and Peter Sellers.

Announcer: Adrian Waller

Written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson.

Theme and incidental music composed by Wally Stott. Recorded by the BBC Revue Orchestra conducted by Harry Rabinowitz.

Producer: Dennis Main Wilson

First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in February 1955.


TUE 19:00 The Archers (m001d5h4)
Mick’s back at Beechwood and has noticed a slight problem with the hot tub. Mortified Lee explains Jack and Henry’s trick with the bubbles. He feels responsible and wants to fix it. Mick suggests they look at it together. When they do, Mick ends up doing the work, with Lee providing the bag of tools. Joy reckons it’s fine, Mick’s good at this sort of thing and enjoys it. Lee detects Joy’s a bit subdued. She confides that Mick’s told her he loves her. She doesn’t know what to do about it. It’s very quick; she’s not sure she can say it back. And what if he doesn’t mean it? She confesses she hasn’t told Rochelle about Mick for fear of being judged. Lee suggests Joy doesn’t need to reciprocate with Mick if she’s not ready. Later Joy tells Mick they should take their time; there’s no rush.
George expresses his gratitude to Brad for doing his essay for him. They spot Tilly Button, and Brad disapproves of George’s comments, feeling he’s disrespectful. George scoffs. Brad needs to get some notches on his belt. He suggests Mia’s into Brad and might be worth an approach. He continues to badger until reluctant Brad agrees. His attempt goes wrong and he ends up friend zoning himself to a bewildered Mia. Later George crows to Mia that he made Brad ask her out. Mia thinks it was a horrible, unkind thing to do. She reckons there’s something wrong with George – he needs to go home and stay out of her sight.


TUE 19:15 Front Row (m001d5kd)
New theatre @sohoplace, director Edward Berger, Jenny Beavan on fair pay for costume designers

Theatre producer Nica Burns talks about her brand new theatre building @sohoplace which is about to open in London’s West End.

Film director Edward Berger discusses his German anti-war film All Quiet on the Western Front.

Jenny Beavan has designed costumes for some of Hollywood’s most celebrated and loved films, including Mad Max: Fury Road, Gosford Park, and A Room with a View. The film that led to her winning her third Oscar, Cruella, has also led her to question the position of costume and wardrobe workers in the film industry. She joins Front Row, along with Charlotte Bence, a negotiator for Equity, the trade union for the performing arts and entertainment industries.

Presenter: Kate Molleson
Producer: Eliane Glaser

Photo Credit: Tim Soar and AHMM


TUE 20:00 File on 4 (m001d5kl)
Is the Patient Breathing?

From the harrowing 999 calls of people waiting for an ambulance to the paramedics stretched to breaking point, File on 4 goes on the frontline of the ambulance crisis.
Rachel Stonehouse speaks to the family of one man who died after waiting nearly 11 hours for an ambulance and the wife who desperately tried to keep her husband alive after an ambulance failed to turn up on time.
She goes out on shift with hard pressed paramedics and sees the steps which are being taken to try to reduce delays in handing over patients at hospital - blamed as one of the main factors behind poor response times.
In August alone, 138,000 hours were lost to handover delays in England. That equates to nearly 150 patients who could not be attended by an ambulance every hour of every day in that month.
The government says it is committed to easing pressure on the ambulance service - by discharging more patients in hospitals, increasing the number of 999 call handlers and creating more beds.

Reporter: Rachel Stonehouse
Producer: Paul Grant
Research: Scott Hesketh
Journalism Assistant: Tim Fernley
Technical Producer: Craig Boardman
Editor: Carl Johnston


TUE 20:40 In Touch (m001d5kq)
Braille Books for Education; Aira Smart Glasses

Dr Paul Jarman contacted us following our coverage of what changes had occurred since the RNIB took over the National Library for the Blind. He noted something that we had not mentioned. He believes there has been a seismic shift toward students and tutors like him, no longer being able to access as many serious books as once before. He lays out his concerns in this area and explains why he believes braille books should be regarded as heritage items.

Our reporter in Washington, Gary O'Donoghue talks us through a new partnership between access tech companies Aira and Envision. Together, they have created 'smart glasses' that enable you to be put in contact with a sighted agent, completely hands-free. Gary demonstrates how they can be used to assist with daily tasks and navigation.

Presenter: Peter White
Producer: Beth Hemmings
Production Coordinator: Paul Holloway

Website image description: Peter White sits smiling in the centre of the image. He is wearing a dark green jumper with the collar of a check shirt peeking at the top. Above Peter's head is the BBC logo, Across Peter's chest reads "In Touch" and beneath that is the Radio 4 logo. The background is a series of squares that are different shades of blue.


TUE 21:00 Inside Health (m001d5jf)
Still Shielding; Childhood Vaccinations; Antibiotic Use

Can you imagine moving out of the family home and watching your daughter grow up from a distance, all to avoid the threat of Covid? That’s the decision Shannon has taken because the drugs she takes for her lupus leave her immune system weak and vulnerable. She tells us what it’s been like shielding for 951 days (and counting) and we explore whether there are any solutions. Then we see why childhood vaccination rates have been falling for a decade and whether you should follow the health secretary’s example and share your antibiotics.

Producer: Fiona Hill and Gerry Holt


TUE 21:30 The Life Scientific (m001d5cq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (m001d5kv)
Pensioners concern that “triple lock” will go

In-depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective


TUE 22:45 Dance Move by Wendy Erskine (m001d5l1)
Episode 2 - Dance Move

In Dance Move, the new collection of stories from Wendy Erskine, we meet characters who are looking to wrest control of their lives, only to find themselves defined by the moment in their past that marked them. In these stories – as in real life – the funny, the tender and the devastating go hand in hand. Full of warmth, the familiar and the strange, they are about what it means to live in the world, how far you can end up from where you came from, and what it means to look back.
Shortlisted for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize 2022.

The Author
Wendy Erskine lives in Belfast. Her fiction and non-fiction have been published by Repeater, Dostoyevsky Wannabe, Faber & Faber, Tangerine Press, No Alibis Press and Rough Trade Books. Sweet Home, her first collection of stories, was shortlisted for the Edge Hill Prize and the Republic of Consciousness Prize. It was longlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize and won the 2020 Butler Literary Award.

Reader: Roísín Gallagher
Author: Wendy Erskine
Abridger: Rowan Routh
Producer: Michael Shannon
Executive Editor: Andy Martin

A BBC Northern Ireland Production.


TUE 23:00 Now You're Asking with Marian Keyes and Tara Flynn (m001d51w)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:15 on Sunday]


TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (m001d5l6)
Sean Curran reports as MPs question ministers about the treatment of protesters at the Chinese Consulate in Manchester and the fallout from the Tory mini-budget goes on.