SATURDAY 31 DECEMBER 2022

SAT 00:00 Midnight News (m001gjsp)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 00:15 Wild Bond (m001d5pn)
The Gadgets

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, bring your razor-rimmed bowler-hat, your cigarette-torpedo, and all the explosives you can fit in a specially designed pen-lid, as we discuss the gadgets in the world of Bond. The Quartermaster, better known as 'Q', is the genius behind the gadgetry which seems to get 007 out of even the tightest of scrapes. He has a top secret M15 bunker to work in, testing beds, lab-coated staff, and a seemingly infinite budget. What has nature got that can compete with that? Well, only around 3.7 billion years of evolution. Animals have been waging war on one another from the moment the first proto-microbe decided to consume the second, and the weaponry has become increasingly sophisticated.

With Bond expert Ian Kinane from the University of Roehampton, and Marc-Olivier Coppens from UCL.

Presented and Produced in Bristol by Emily Knight


SAT 00:30 Giving Up the Ghost by Hilary Mantel (m001gjsr)
Episode 5

In her frank and unflinching portrait of her early years in Derbyshire, and later her adolescence and early 20s, Hilary Mantel moved from writing fiction to seize the copyright in her own narrative.

Charting a fractured and sometimes tense family life, the account moves on to her university years and the chronic and devastating pain of an undiagnosed illness.

Giving Up The Ghost is the much-loved and admired novelist's memoir, first published in 2003 and repeated here as a tribute to the author who died in September 2022.

'She is by turns facetious, matter-of-fact, visionary and comical but always totally riveting.' Daily Telegraph
'Simply astonishing - clear and true.' Guardian
‘What a remarkable writer she is. She is piercingly, even laceratingly observant … a very startling and daring memoir; the more I read it the more unsettling it becomes.’ Helen Dunmore

Read by Patience Tomlinson
Abridged and produced by Jill Waters

A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m001gjsy)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m001gjt9)
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 (m001gjtp)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SAT 05:30 News Briefing (m001gjv0)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m001gjvd)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Rev Lucy Winkett

Good morning.

Whether you’re partying tonight, or going to bed before the bells ring, the turn of the year is a time for reflection and taking stock. Three years ago, at the turn of 2020, only a few knew for sure the sort of disruption and suffering that a global pandemic would bring that year. And every year since then has held both provocation and challenge as the multiple consequences of an air borne virus and the measures taken to combat it have wreaked havoc in our institutions and patterns of living. What is ahead this year is still unclear. The turning of a new year is in some ways of course the same as any other moment: calendars are just ways of organising time. But the rhythm of the earth’s rotation and our planet’s rotation around the sun mean that we move from Old to New Year tonight, with all the attendant reflection that this means. The 18th century preacher and founder of Methodism John Wesley wrote a particular prayer for use at this time of year. It’s incredibly moving, the Covenant Prayer, used in Methodist chapels and churches across the world.

I am no longer my own but yours.
Put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will,
Put me to doing, put me to suffering;
Let me be employed for you
or laid aside for you,
exalted for you, or brought low for you;
Let me be full, let me be empty,
let me have all things, let me have nothing;
I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things to your pleasure and disposal,
and now glorious and blessed God, you are mine and I am yours.
So be it.

And the covenant now made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven.

Amen.


SAT 05:45 One to One (m001brm9)
Gospel music in Cornwall: Gillian Burke and Ley Adewole

In 2014 the biologist and presenter Gillian Burke joined a community choir in Falmouth in a bid to strengthen her voice. Singing is Gillian's passion and it's her way of switching off from work and the pressures of life. Ley Adewole is the Director of the Falmouth Community Gospel Choir. Ley began singing in a Pentecostal church in Coventry; she joined various singing groups, got spotted and went on to do session work. She relocated to Falmouth and set-up a gospel music workshop to fill-in the winter months. The choir was born, welcoming in people of all faiths, and even those who can and can't sing.

Gillian quizzes Ley on singing with conviction and how the science of singing melds with the emotions of the music. They talk about the gospel music scene in Cornwall and how the Cornish accent influences how the choir sounds. They speak about an early choir performance when Ley was standing on fishing crates in her heels so she could be seen by the choir, and how the music transformed a sceptical audience into one full of men crying into their beer.

Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Toby Field


SAT 06:00 News and Papers (m001gjr6)
The latest news headlines. Including the weather and a look at the papers.


SAT 06:07 Open Country (m001gjdk)
Ulster Canal: the missing link?

The Ulster canal was built in in the mid 19th century across the north of Ireland, linking Lough Neagh in the east with Lough Erne in the west. Like most canals, it fell into decline with the arrival of the railways. Partition in 1922 was the final nail in its coffin, and all 46 miles closed completely in the 1930s. Now there are plans to re-open a cross-border section of the canal between County Armagh and County Monaghan - an idea which was mentioned specifically in the Good Friday Agreement.

In this programme Helen Mark retraces the ghost of the route of the old canal - easy to see in some places, hidden beneath decades of ivy and tangled undergrowth in others. In the village of Benburb, she meets author and enthusiast Brian Cassells, who tells her about the history of the canal and paints a picture of what restoring it could mean. On the other side of the border, she visits the Ulster Canal Stores at Clones, where canal restoration work has already started. Stores manager Hugh Tunney describes re-opening the canal as a "game changer". He's hoping it will bring much-needed infrastructure for boaters and paddleboarders, attracting tourists and generating more income for the area.

At Lough Neagh, Helen meets up with a group of canoeists, who tell her that reviving the Ulster canal would open up whole new possibilities of routes for them to use - linking this area of the island with other existing waterways. At the other end of the canal, she tries her hand at rowing a traditional Irish currach on Lough Erne, under the guidance of skipper Olivia Cosgrove. Could the Ulster canal be the missing link in the extensive network of waterways which criss-cross the island of Ireland?

Presented by Helen Mark and produced by Emma Campbell


SAT 06:30 Farming Today (m001gjrh)
31/12/22 - 100 Years of Farm Broadcasting

‘Farming Today’ and ‘On Your Farm’ are a long-established, well-loved part of the Radio 4 schedule. But how did agriculture on the air begin? A century ago radio was the wonder of the age with the newly-formed BBC offering an astounded public a nightly menu of news bulletins, chamber music and children’s stories. Farming broadcasts soon followed and were keeping listeners in touch with rural life long before the first radio drama, sports commentary or record programme had crackled in to the ether. In the century since, the strictly-scripted agricultural studio talk of the 1920s and ‘30s has evolved beyond recognition, and along the way brought fame and fan mail to the most unlikely of ‘stars’; a university farm manager, a Times newspaper correspondent and a Surrey horticulturalist. We look back at a hundred years of rural broadcasting, and the programmes that have been made for – and about – farmers. As we delve in to the archives, we’ll find out what’s changed over the last ten decades; what in the past is surprisingly familiar to us now; and discover how we’ve arrived where we are today.

Presented by Charlotte Smith
Produced by Vernon Harwood

Picture: The BBC's head of agricultural programmes, John Green, at home on his Cotswold farm on 17th March 1945.

Interviewed guest: Jeannie Hamilton
Interviewed guest: Jim Heffer
Interviewed guest: Tom Hercock
Interviewed guest: Robin Hicks
Interviewed guest: Anna Hill
Interviewed guest: Felicity Peake
Interviewed guest: Rebecca Pow MP
Interviewed guest: Robert Seatter
Interviewed guest: Richard Willmott
Interviewed guest: Robert Young

Reader: David Wethey

Archive material used in this programme:
The End of Savoy Hill; National Programme, 14/05/1932
6BM Calling; BBC Radio 3, 31/03/2004
Today in the South & West; West of England Home Service, 18/11/1964
Auntie, Uncle and Mr Mike; BBC Radio 4, 01/01/1974
The Farming Week – 60th Anniversary Special; BBC Radio 4, 25/03/1989
Farming Today – Robin Hicks; BBC Radio 4, 25/05/1972
Dig for Victory – R.S. Hudson; BBC Home Service, 10/09/1940
In Your Garden – C.H. Middleton; BBC Home Service, 03/12/1944
Radio Allotment; BBC Home Service, 18/04/1942
Post War Careers – Irene Hilton; BBC Home Service, 07/06/1945
Farming Today – Hill flocks; BBC Home Service, 10/02/1944
Farming Today – Cattle at the Crossroads; BBC Home Service 11/11/1943
Farming Today – Pig farming; BBC Home Service, 09/03/1944
On Your Farm; BBC Radio 4, 29/01/1983
The Oral History of the BBC; John Green video interview, 19/11/1992
The Oral History of the BBC; John Green audio interview, 01/09/1989
The Farming Week – CLA Game Fair; BBC Radio 4, 01/08/1987
Pick of the Year; BBC Radio 4, 29/12/1989
Royal Welsh Show; BBC Wales, 21/07/1987
Plague ’67; BBC Radio 4, 06/12/1967
Six o’clock News; BBC Radio 4, 19/02/2001
Farming Today – EU referendum result; BBC Radio 4, 24/06/2016
Asian Club – Richard Dimbleby; BBC General Overseas Service, 27/04/1964


SAT 06:57 Weather (m001gjrr)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SAT 07:00 Today (m001gjs0)
Our guest editor today is Anne-Marie Imafidon, technologist, CEO and author.

Anne-Marie first appeared on Today aged 11, when she spoke to the then reporter Edward Stourton, about taking her GCSEs early. The theme of her programme is opportunity. Opportunity to engage, explore and try. From funding a business, to exploring politics in a modern form to what you eat.

Her programme also includes an interview with Dr Gladys West. Dr West is one of the people whose work was instrumental in developing the mathematics behind GPS.


SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (m001gjs7)
Julia Donaldson

Nikki Bedi and Adil Ray are joined by Julia Donaldson CBE, the children's writer who has written over 200 books, not least The Gruffulo, Stick Man, The Highway Rat and Room on the Broom to name a few. She is also a composer and ex children’s laureate and her repertoire includes books for school use to help children learning to read.

From running an Argos store and working as a stand up comedian, to being a parish priest in Burnley, Fr Alex Frost has become a campaigner against poverty and deprivation. He joins us.

Cat Turnbull is a search and rescue paramedic based in Portsmouth who was part of the all female final for SAS Who dares wins, the programme that puts contestants through a military training regime.

and Vikki Stone is an award-winning writer, composer, comedian and musician who has co-adapted children’s TV favourite Hey Duggee for a major live theatre tour.

Actor David Harewood chooses his inheritance tracks: Everything I Own by Ken Boothe and Stevie Wonder Living for the City and we have your Thank you.

Producer: Corinna Jones


SAT 10:30 You're Dead To Me (p09drjv7)
Prohibition in the USA

Greg Jenner is joined by historian Prof Sarah Churchwell and comedian Kemah Bob in 1920s USA to follow the implementation and after effects of Prohibition.

From Bootleggers, Wet’s and Dry’s, Speakeasy’s and Rum Rows, take a look at the origins of the Prohibition Laws and how a movement designed to encourage temperance backfired on the nation entirely.

Produced by Cornelius Mendez
Script by Greg Jenner and Emma Nagouse
Research by Tim Galsworthy

The Athletic production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 11:00 Mothers and Sons of Ukraine (m001g8sv)
Lyse Doucet, BBC Chief International Correspondent, introduces three Ukrainian mothers who found refuge in the UK as they make precious calls with their sons back home in Ukraine.

Recorded over two months at the end of 2022, the mums and sons let us in on conversations about their new realities.

Sons confide about the cold, the darkness, curfews, the grandparents they’re helping to look after – too old and frail to leave - and their determination that all will be well. Snow has already fallen and power outages are frequent.

The mums talk about their hosts’ kindness, the generosity of strangers, their worries for loved ones back home, their longing for the war to be over.

Across these divides and separation, the approaching winter and future uncertainty, their love crackles undimmed down the line.

Producers: Ruth Abrahams and Nina Bielova
Translator: Olga Gorval
Readers: Tania Kharchenko, Andriy Kravets, Nataliya Skofenko, Irena Taranyuk, Dzhafer Umerov, Gregory Zhygalov

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m001gjsf)
A Year in Ukraine

Kate Adie presents a selection of stories from correspondents who have covered the war, from the invasion of Kyiv to the present day.

Fergal Keane remembers the beekeepers of the Donbas who he met in 2014, following Russia's annexation of Crimea. As he witnessed the throngs of Ukrainians fleeing war in February of this year, he wonders if he will meet his friends again.

Quentin Sommerville reported close to Russian lines in Kharkiv as it came under attack. He reflects on the realities of war and the decision to show dead bodies in his television reporting - to not show them would be a lie, he says.

Yogita Limaye writes on the atrocities which emerged in Bucha after Russian forces withdrew, and her encounter with Irina - a woman trying to rebuild her life after she lost her home, and her husband.

In July, Orla Guerin reported on the effects of Russia's propaganda machine, and its influence within Russian-speaking communities in Ukraine. Suspicion and mistrust left some locals wondering on whose side their neighbours were on.

And acclaimed Ukrainian writer, Andrey Kurkov reflects on his return to Ukraine to celebrate Christmas after several months in Europe and the somewhat muted festivities as the unpredictability of the war continues.

Series Producer: Serena Tarling
Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith
Production Coordinator: Iona Hammond


SAT 12:00 News Summary (m001gjtb)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 12:04 Money Box (m001gjsx)
Heating the homes of the future

Money Box takes a look at three innovative energy projects changing the way people heat their homes to try to improve efficiency and reduce bills.

First up is the village of Swaffham Prior in Cambridgeshire where residents and the local council have backed a scheme using air source and ground source heat pumps to warm people's homes. A new, multi-million pound energy centre of the edge of the village provides the energy through a newly installed heat network for any residents of the village's 300 homes that want to join.

Secondly, Dan Whitworth visits the University of Salford and the researchers behind its 'Energy House 2' project - a scheme which has seen two, modern, full-size, detached homes built by developers Barrett and Bellway inside a science laboratory. This allows scientists to create climate conditions to put the homes to the limit to test how effective they are at being energy efficient.

Finally a visit to Gateshead examines a mine water scheme being run by the council which uses the warmed water of disused, flooded coal mines to help heat council buildings and homes. More than a dozen buildings run by the council, including the local college and Sage Gateshead are signed up to the scheme as well as hundreds of homes. We'll examine how practical is it and what kind of a difference the scheme makes to people's bills.

Talking us through each of these schemes are Dr Tina Fawcett from the Environmental Change Institute at Oxford University and Ben Whittle from the Energy Saving Trust.

Presenter/Reporter/Producer: Dan Whitworth
Researchers: Sandra Hardial & Star McFarlane
Editor: Jess Quayle

(First broadcast 3pm, Wednesday 28th December, 2022)


SAT 12:30 Stand-Up Specials (m001cx2s)
Geoff Norcott: Geofferendum

As a believer in democracy – and as someone who was on the winning side of the Brexit referendum – Geoff Norcott generally believes that if we, the people, vote for something, that thing should happen. But are there limits to Geoff’s belief in populism, as this is now sometimes called?

For example, opinion polls suggest that if there were to be a referendum on the death penalty, it would be brought back, despite disputes over its effectiveness. In America the individual right to an abortion has been taken away from women “democratically” in some states, something Geoff views as abhorrent (not to mention unconservative). And there’s little doubt that if every new building had to be democratically approved, the United Kingdom may never build another house.

Geoff will see where his audience land on these issues, and work out if they – and he – actually have democratic principles at heart, or if they just want the world to be arranged the way they like it, no matter how inconsistent that might be.

Written and performed by Geoff Norcott
Produced by Ed Morrish
Executive Producer: Caroline Raphael
Sound Engineer: David Thomas
Broadcast Assistant: Jacob Tombling

A Pier production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 12:57 Weather (m001gjt7)
The latest weather forecast


SAT 13:00 News and Weather (m001gjtm)
The latest national and international news and weather reports from BBC Radio 4


SAT 13:10 Correspondents' Look Ahead (m001gjtz)
Looking Ahead to 2023

Jonny Dymond asks some of the BBC's top journalists to gaze into their crystal balls and predict what 2023 might have in store. This time last year Russian troops were massing on the Ukrainian border but little did we know how quickly war would begin and how bravely the people of Ukraine would defend their country.

But how will the war play out in 2023? Can either side allow it to endlessly drag on?

Will 2023 be a more settled year in UK politics? With the ongoing cost of living crisis and little sign of a resolution to strike action, how will the government deal with those challenges next year? We'll also explore the political challenges facing leaders in China, Iran and Afghanistan.

So many big questions, but luckily we have some of the BBC's best minds on hand to provide plenty of answers.

Presenter: Jonny Dymond.
Panel: Alex Forsyth, Lyse Doucet, Simon Jack and Steve Rosenberg.
Producer: Ben Carter
Production Co-ordinator: Janet Staples
Editor: Lizzi Watson


SAT 14:00 The News Quiz (m001gjj7)
Series 110

Best of 2022

A look back on some of the best bits of News Quizzing from 2022.

In this compilation episode Andy Zaltzman casts his satirical eye over the highs and lows of the year, in which the UK has had two monarchs, three Prime Ministers and countless debates over whether a party can technically be called a party.

Hosted and written by Andy Zaltzman.

Producer: Georgia Keating
Executive Producer: James Robinson
Production Co-ordinator: Ryan Walker-Edwards
Sound Editor: Jerry Peal

A BBC Studios Production


SAT 14:45 39 Ways to Save the Planet (m0010wyn)
Windcatchers

Wind energy is vital in the battle against climate change, but can we make improvements to harness more from them?
Tom Heap visits Kelburn windfarm in North Ayrshire to discuss whether 'wakesteering' - reorientating the turbines could see them harness more power collectively. Meanwhile some potential sites are refused or restricted due to the damage caused to wildlife. Hubert Lagrange talks about his childhood obsession with bats which are often killed by the pressure around turbine blades.
He's worked to develop a system to sense bat and bird activity and allow the turbines to operate longer through a refined system.
Dr Tamsin Edwards discusses how much more potential there is and how much carbon this could save.

Producer: Anne-Marie Bullock
Researcher Sarah Goodman

Produced in association with the Royal Geographical Society. Special thanks for this episode to Asst Professor Michael Howland from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Professor Nick Jenkins from Cardiff University.


SAT 15:00 Drama (m001gjvc)
Bedroom Farce (Part 1)

Alan Ayckbourn’s award-winning comedy classic, with a glittering cast directed by Martin Jarvis. Written and set in 1975. Before mobile phones. Devastatingly funny - marriage, partnerships, differences.

Elderly Ernest and Delia in their bedroom. Worrying over son Trevor’s relationship with ‘complex’ wife Susannah. Fish on toast in bed is a comfort.
Nick and Jan’s bedroom. Jan was once ‘destroyer’ Trevor’s girlfriend.
Malcolm and Kate’s bedroom. Tonight it’s a cloakroom for their housewarming party. Trevor arrives. Then wife Susannah. Blazing row. Jan appears. Complications.
Nick and Jan’s. Back at home Jan tells jealous Nick she and Trevor had a mutual snog.

Ernest and Delia’s. Doorbell. It’s crazy daughter-in-law Susannah.
Nick and Jan’s. Trevor’s ringing their bell.
Kate and Malcolm’s. Awaiting Trevor’s return, to sleep over.

Anything but a typical bedroom farce - though we hear about a range of sexual troubles. Is marriage sustained more by habit than mutual excitement? Or is there a certain blessedness? Ayckbourn's play is moving, observant - and hugely funny.

Cast
Trevor ….. Stephen Mangan
Susannah ..… Susannah Fielding
Malcolm ..… George Blagden
Kate ..… Laura Pitt-Pulford
Jan ..… Lisa Dillon
Nick ..… Edward Bennett
Ernest ..… Martin Jarvis
Delia ..… Rosalind Ayres

Specially composed music: A-Mnemonic
Engineers: Charles Carroll, Marc McCouig, Tom Bullen

Directed by Martin Jarvis
A Jarvis & Ayres production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 16:00 Woman's Hour (m001gjvn)
Sally Wainwright, drink spiking, Gurinder Chadha and Debbie Wiseman

Deputy Chief Constable Maggie Blyth joins Krupa Padhy to talk about the new figures released by the National Police Chiefs Council which say there were nearly five thousand cases of needle and drink spiking recorded by forces across England and Wales between September last year and August this year.

Do you remember the first time you really felt ‘seen’? For a special bank holiday programme, all about representation, hear a conversation between Bridgerton actress Charithra Chandran and her hero Gurinder Chadha, who directed the iconic film Bend It Like Beckham.

As part of a new series called Finding My Voice, Jessica Creighton speaks to the author Milly Johnson about the moment she realised her success lay in embracing and enhancing her Yorkshire voice, instead of trying to supress it.

The scientist Dr Jess Wade joins Jessica Creighton to talk about the representation of women in science, and how she’s trying to improve that by joining the Wikipedia community of volunteers and creating pages for women in science and all their achievements.

The writer and director Sally Wainwright joins Krupa Padhy ahead of the final series of Happy Valley to discuss how she created the iconic character of Catherine Cawood, and why Sarah Lancashire was perfect for the part – and her mum was her best script editor.

What’s the best way for you to feel rested? Does music come into it? Jessica Creighton speaks to the award-winning composer and conductor Debbie Wiseman OBE about the relaxing and restful impact the right music can have, not just on our mind, but on our body and our heartbeat too.

Presenter: Krupa Padhy
Producer: Lottie Garton


SAT 17:00 PM (m001gjvz)
Full coverage of the day's news


SAT 17:30 One Dish (m001gjwb)
Yotam Ottolenghi's Roasted Aubergine with Saffron Yoghurt

In the One Dish Christmas special, chef and author Yotam Ottolenghi cooks Andi Oliver one of his favourite festive feasting dishes - a stunning platter of roasted aubergine drizzled with sunshine yellow saffron-infused yoghurt and jewel-like pomegranate seeds. It’s technically a side dish, yes. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be a stand-alone thing of beauty.

How does it fit in alongside the traditional Christmas bird with all the trimmings that his husband and kids adore, or a more vegetable-focused New Year’s Eve spread for friends and family? Yotam reveals all.

Andi and Yotam discuss how they approach catering their family Christmases and what the spice trade has to do with the Essex town of Saffron Walden, and Yotam reveals a game-changing tip for getting that perfect, melt-in-the-mouth texture and those caramelised edges when roasting aubergine.

Also, Kimberley Wilson explores the unexpected benefits of a Yuletide banquet - find out why attending the office Christmas lunch might actually be good for society as a whole.

Food Scientist: Kimberley Wilson
Food Historian: Neil Buttery
Producer: Lucy Dearlove
ExecutiveProducer: Hannah Marshall
Sound Design: Charlie Brandon-King
Assistant Producer: Bukky Fadipe
Commissioning Producer: Lynda Davies

A Storyglass production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m001gjwp)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SAT 17:57 Weather (m001gjx1)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m001gjxf)
Pope Francis has praised the legacy of his predecessor - Benedict XVI - after his death at the age of 95, describing him as a "gift to the Church and the World".


SAT 18:15 Pick of the Year (m001gjn0)
Pick of the Year 2022

The director Richard Curtis and the radio presenter Emma Freud pick out their favourite moments of BBC audio from 2022. From comedy to insightful documentaries, politics to poetry, the moving and fascinating clips they've chosen document the past twelve months. Programmes featured include Life Changing, Ukrainecast, Desert Islands Discs, Today and The Skewer.

Producer: Elizabeth Foster


SAT 19:00 Profile (m001gjy1)
Sarah Lancashire

It's hard to remember that the actor who plays straight-talking cop Catherine Cawood in crime drama Happy Valley, set to return on New Year's Day, was once ditzy barmaid Raquel in Coronation Street.

From musicals to soaps to hit drama series, Sarah Lancashire has had a long and varied career on her way to becoming one of the Britain's best loved actors.

Presenter: Mark Coles
Producers: Lucy Proctor and Matt Toulson
Editor: Simon Watts
Production Co-ordinators: Maria Ogundele and Helena Warwick-Cross
Sound Engineer: Rod Farquhar


SAT 19:15 This Cultural Life (m001gjyd)
Sam Mendes

Theatre and film director Sam Mendes first made his mark when he launched London’s Donmar Warehouse theatre in the early 90s. He has won Olivier and Tony Awards for numerous productions including Cabaret, The Ferryman and most recently, The Lehman Trilogy. He made his cinematic debut directing American Beauty in 1999, and won the first of two Oscars - the second was for the war film 1917. He also directed the two James Bond movies Skyfall and Spectre, and was knighted in 2020.

Sam tells John Wilson about his earliest memories of feeling the thrill of live performance, at the London production of Godspell in 1971. Later, how the work of Shakespeare came alive for him while watching productions at the RSC, and in particular, a memorable performance of Antony and Cleopatra starring Michael Gambon and Helen Mirren. He reveals how his directorship of the Donmar Warehouse, which established his reputation as a ground-breaking theatre director, all began with a chance late night stroll around Covent Garden.

Seeing Wim Wenders' 1984 film Paris, Texas was to be a formative influence on Sam when he eventually came to direct his debut feature American Beauty and later films including Jarhead and Revolutionary Road. Casting the actor Daniel Craig in his second film Road to Perdition, despite a poor audition was to have a significant impact on both their careers. Sam also talks about moving into writing and making more personal films including 1917 based on the war stories of his grandfather, and Empire of Light, partly inspired by his childhood experiences of witnessing his own mother's struggles with her mental health.

Producer: Edwina Pitman


SAT 20:00 Archive on 4 (m001gjyp)
#TheQueue

If there was ever a written constitution of Britishness then ‘queueing’ would have its own chapter titled #TheQueue with an image of humble mourners lining the streets of London to see Queen Elizabeth II lying-in-state. As Mark Thomas reveals through the archive though, the ‘humble queue’ may in fact be nothing of the sort. Instead, it’s a microcosmic minidrama - a place of shifting alliances, shame, anger and sometimes love and reconciliation - that speaks volumes about who we are and who we think we are.

Mark talks to Angie Hobbs, Professor of The Public Understanding of Philosophy at Sheffield University, who suggests that the queue for the Queen was the queue Britain had been training for all its life. Our queuing prowess is all part of our self-mythology, she suggests. We really aren’t the only nation who can queue.

Archive reveals queuing to be a bit like a classroom for grown-ups. Adults take on improvised roles: the queue joker, the queue grumbler, the passive-aggressive queuer. Mark finds that in truth the Brits are the most grumbling of all the nation’s queuers because they expect things to be done more efficiently than they are. He recalls the ‘passive competitiveness’ in his favourite Eddie Izzard sketch - ‘The Supermarket Queue’.

Mark talks to Stephen Reicher, Professor of Psychology at St Andrews University, who describes a rehashing of tropes from the war-years and how queueing became a shortcut to “Britishness”. He points to the way in which patience in queuing can be seen to be a bit like the Blitz spirit, fair play, stoicism - employed when a country needs to affirm a sense of national identity during national crisis.

Mark joins David Lammy MP during his constituency surgery to discuss how he observes the queues in his constituency in Tottenham North London. What’s poignant is the reality that queueing often means things aren’t working properly.

The real question Mark asks is not why we queue, but why we think we’re so good at it?

Produced by Sarah Cuddon
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio Four.


SAT 21:00 Nature Table (m001ghys)
Series 3

Episode 5

Join comedian, broadcaster and writer Sue Perkins as she hosts Nature Table: a comedy ‘Show & Tell’ series celebrating the natural world and all its funny eccentricities.

Nature Table has a simple clear brief: to positively celebrate and promote the importance of all our planet’s wonderfully wild flora and fauna in a fun and easily grasped way... whilst at the same time having a giggle.

Recorded at The Eden Project, this week Sue Perkins is joined by special guests: Jaclyn Pearson (Wildlife Conservationist), Marcus Rhodes (Lepidopterist) and comedian Edward Rowe.

Written by: Catherine Brinkworth, Jon Hunter, Jenny Laville and Nicky Roberts

Executive Producer: Richard Morris
Producer: Simon Nicholls
Production Coordinator: Sarah Nicholls
Researcher: Catherine Beazley

Sound Recordist & Editor: Jerry Peal
Music by: Ben Mirin

A BBC Studios Production


SAT 21:30 Poetry Please (m001ghwy)
Christmas with Roger Robinson and Liz Lochhead

Roger Robinson and Liz Lochhead join Roger to share favourite seasonal poems, including wintry offerings from Emily Dickinson, Paul Laurence Dunbar and Jacob Polley.

Producer Sally Heaven


SAT 22:00 News (m001gjyy)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 22:15 First Contact (m001gjkj)
For thousands of years we have gazed up at the stars and wondered: is anybody out there? The idea of meeting aliens has been the inspiration for countless books and films; for art and music. But today, thinking about meeting life on, or from, other planets is no longer dismissed as pure make-believe – it’s the focus of political consideration and cutting-edge space science. Farrah Jarral presents the story of the fantasy and the reality of preparing for first contact with extra-terrestrials.


SAT 23:00 Loose Ends (m001gjz5)
Elaine C. Smith, Janey Godley, Ricky Ross, Courtney Stoddart, Larry Dean, Brooke Combe, Michelle McManus, Clive Anderson

Clive Anderson and Michelle McManus are joined by Elaine C. Smith, Janey Godley, Ricky Ross, Courtney Stoddart and Larry Dean for an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy. With music from Brooke Combe, Ricky Ross and Michelle McManus.

SUNDAY 01 JANUARY 2023

SUN 00:00 Midnight News (m001gjzd)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


SUN 00:15 Torn (m001bbx2)
The stories behind the clothes we wear

Mauve Mania

It’s 1856 in London, and 18-year-old William Perkin is in the search for a cure to malaria when he stumbles upon something else. At the bottom of his test tube he sees a reddish lump. He dips cloth into it and discovers a purple dye. He becomes the first person to successfully market synthetic dyes.

Gus Casely-Hayford tells the story of the craze that follows, nicknamed “mauve mania”. It starts with a purple dress worn by Queen Victoria and filters down to the masses who, until this point, did not have access to rich coloured dyes. Before Perkin’s discovery led to an explosion of synthetic dyes, clothes were coloured with berries, with tree bark, ground up insects and other natural ingredients. These colours didn't bind well to the cloth and would often fade quickly.


The legacy of the synthetic dyes is that textile dyeing and finishing mills use about 200 tonnes of water for every one tonne of textiles produced. These dyes and their mix of pollutants are difficult to remove from the wastewater and they often enter sewers and rivers. A new generation of entrepreneurs are working to produce bacterial dyes that they hope will have less of a negative effect on the environment.

With author Kassia St Clair, entrepreneur Natsai Chieza and a historical letter sent to the inventor William Perkin.

Presenter: Gus Casely-Hayford
Executive Producer: Rosie Collyer
Producer - Tiffany Cassidy
Assistant Producer: Nadia Mehdi
Production Coordinator: Francesca Taylor
Sound Design: Rob Speight

A Novel production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 00:30 Short Works (m001gjph)
Lost and Found

Hogmanay, 1983, Aberdeen. After a difficult year, Davie is stewarding the fireworks and wondering where his dreams went when he encounters a lost child.

Read by Martin Donaghy
Written by Gillian Shearer
Produced by Naomi Walmsley

A BBC Scotland Production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m001gjzl)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m001gjzt)
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 (m001gk00)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SUN 05:30 News Briefing (m001gk06)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (m001gk0g)
Holy Trinity Church in Long Melford, Suffolk

Bells on Sunday, comes from Holy Trinity Church in Long Melford, Suffolk. The church was constructed in the late 15th century and is a noted example of a Suffolk medieval Wool Church, founded and financed by wealthy local wool merchants. There are eight bells representing 5 different bell founders from London and Loughborough. The Tenor weighs fifteen hundredweight and is tuned to the note of F. We hear the bells ringing Grandsire Triples. This is being rung by a band representing the Suffolk Guild of Ringers which this year celebrates the 100th anniversary of its foundation.


SUN 05:45 Profile (m001gjy1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


SUN 06:00 News Summary (m001gk0v)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b01rqgyn)
John McCarthy explores the significance of the Pietà in art and life. With Antony Gormley

John McCarthy discusses the significance of the Pietà in art and in life with sculptor Antony Gormley, and the act of carrying others in times of adversity.

Gormley's love of Pietàs begins with Michelangelo's work of the same name which can be seen in St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City. But his real affection is for Michelangelo's last sculpture: The Rondanini Pieta, where the relationship between the figures of Mary and Christ is much more ambiguous.

Also in the programme, Paul and Ruth describe the way in which they've carried their daughter Maddie for many years due to her multiple disabilities. She's now a teenager and they regard the carrying of her as an on going act of their love for her.

The programme includes music by Vivaldi, Prophets of the Fall, Sarah McLachlan, The Hollies and Morten Lauridsen. And writing by Elizabeth Jennings, Tess Gallagher and Sebastian Faulks.

Produced by Rosie Boulton
Presented by John McCarthy
A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 06:35 Natural Histories (b07x2zd0)
Chameleon

Brett Westwood spots a chameleon and investigates how this master of disguise has led us to ask big questions about how we adapt to the environments we find ourselves in. John Keats coined the term "the camelion poet" to describe a curiosity to explore situations and settings outside of usual experience, which may be at odds with expected morals and personality. He argued that to be chameleon was to take on poetic guises separate from the self. Meanwhile Shakespeare was said to embody his characters to the extent that it was hard to know his own personality. David Bowie was described as a "musical chameleon" but was frustrated at the description, while the poet Jack Mapanje embraced the chameleon's ability to camouflage itself and used it as a way of voicing his political views under a cloak of ambiguity in his collection 'Of Chameleons and Gods'. Brett talks to reptile expert Rob Pilley, poet Jack Mapanje, English lecturer Stacey McDowell, sociologist Eoin Devereux and folklore expert Marty Crump.

First broadcast in a longer form : 11th October 2016
Original Producer: Tom Bonnett
Archive Producer : Andrew Dawes for BBC Audio in Bristol


SUN 06:57 Weather (m001gk15)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SUN 07:00 News and Papers (m001gk1c)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.


SUN 07:10 Sunday (m001gk1k)
Remembering Pope Benedict XVI

In a special programme to mark the death of Pope Benedict XVI, Edward Stourton and guests discuss the life and legacy of the gentle German academic who became the spiritual leader of 1.3 billion Catholics all over the world.

The 95-year-old Pope Emeritus, who stood down almost a decade ago due to his poor health, died at the Mater Ecclesiae monastery within the walls of the Vatican, where he had lived during his final years.

He led the Catholic Church for fewer than eight years but is considered by many to be one of the most influential religious leaders of modern times. He defended Catholic teaching fearlessly, speaking out against what he called "the dictatorship of relativism", and produced deeply moving spiritual writings.

In a special programme, Edward Stourton looks back at his life and pontificate and assesses the impact of his resignation in 2013 - the first by a Pope since Gregory XII in 1415 - and looks ahead to the impact his death will have on his successor Pope Francis.

Edward remembers Pope Benedict's UK visit with the screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce, who helped organise it, and one of the young Catholics who met the Pope when he came to Birmingham. And he assesses Benedict's lasting impact on the Catholic Church and the wider world with an expert panel of British Catholics and the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams.

Presented by Edward Stourton.
Produced by Julia Paul and Katy Booth.
Editor: Helen Grady.


SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (m001gk1r)
Theirworld

Actor David Tennant makes the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of the education charity Theirworld.

To Give:
- UK Freephone 0800 404 8144
-You can donate online at bbc.co.uk/appeal/radio4
- Freepost BBC Radio 4 Appeal. (That’s the whole address. Please do not write anything else on the front of the envelope). Mark the back of the envelope ‘Theirworld’.
- Cheques should be made payable to ‘Theirworld’.
Please note that Freephone and online donations for this charity close at 23.59 on the Saturday after the Appeal is first broadcast. However the Freepost option can be used at any time.

Registered charity number: 1092312


SUN 07:57 Weather (m001gk1y)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SUN 08:00 News and Papers (m001gk23)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.


SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (m001gk27)
Amazing Grace

The Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, preaches on the transforming power of grace and its abiding power in our world today, on the two-hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the first public appearance of John Newton’s hymn Amazing Grace.

The service is led by Canon Rachel Mann who explores John Newton’s encounter with God’s grace and his transition from slave trader to abolitionist that followed.

Featuring a broad variety of arrangements of the famous hymn and reflections from those who’ve performed or adapted it, including Bob Chilcott, Karen Gibson, John Rutter and Will Todd.

The Readings are: 2 Peter 1: 3– 11 and John 1. 9-18

Producer: Alexa Good


SUN 08:48 A Point of View (m001gjrs)
Nature's Pantomime

Howard Jacobson reflects on why we look to comedy to see one year out and a new year in.

Reflecting on the misbehaviour of a mischievous Australian cockatoo and a 'great mocking Rigoletto chorus' of shearwaters in the Canary Islands, he considers whether he may himself have been a bird in an earlier life, as he celebrates the way animals rescue us from self-importance - and help us imagine a funnier, fairer world.

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


SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (b04t0v50)
Scarlet Macaw

Michael Palin presents the scarlet macaw from Costa Rica. The Scarlet Macaw is a carnival of a bird, eye-catching, noisy and vibrant, with a colour-scheme verging on bad taste. Its brilliant red feathers clash magnificently with the bright yellow patches on its wings, and contrast with its brilliant blue back and very long red tail. It has a white face and a massive hooked bill and it produces ear-splitting squawks. Subtlety is not in its vocabulary.

Scarlet macaws breed in forests from Mexico south through Central America to Bolivia, Peru and Brazil. They use their formidable beaks not only to break into nuts and fruit, but also as pick-axes.

Colourful and charismatic birds usually attract attention and in some areas where the Scarlet Macaws have been collected for the bird trade, numbers have declined. In south-east Mexico where they are very rare, a reintroduction programme is underway to restore these gaudy giants to their ancestral forests.

Producer Andrew Dawes.


SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (m001gk2d)
The Sunday morning news magazine programme. Presented by Paddy O'Connell


SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (m001gk2k)
Writer, Keri Davies
Director, Jess Bunch
Editor, Jeremy Howe

Jill Archer ….. Patricia Greene
David Archer ….. Timothy Bentinck
Ruth Archer ….. Felicity Finch
Pip Archer ….. Daisy Badger
Ben Archer ….. Ben Norris
Kenton Archer ….. Richard Attlee
Pat Archer ….. Patricia Gallimore
Tony Archer ….. David Troughton
Lilian Bellamy ….. Sunny Ormonde
Leonard Berry ….. Paul Copley
Ed Grundy ….. Barry Farrimond
George Grundy ….. Angus Stobie
Will Grundy ….. Philip Molloy
Brad Horrobin ….. Taylor Uttley
Chelsea Horrobin ….. Madeleine Leslay
Tracy Horrobin ….. Susie Riddell
Jazzer McCreary ….. Ryan Kelly
Fallon Rogers ….. Joanna Van Kampen
Lynda Snell ….. Carole Boyd


SUN 11:15 Desert Island Discs (m001f5dv)
Professor Jean Golding, epidemiologist

Professor Jean Golding is an epidemiologist who is best known for founding the Children of the Nineties study - more formally known as the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. The most detailed project of its kind anywhere in the world, it has followed the lives of children who were born in Avon during 1991 and 1992 and helped scientists make important discoveries about everything from peanut allergy to the effects of long Covid.

Jean was born in Cornwall in 1939. As a toddler she suffered two bouts of tuberculosis and spent several weeks in hospital. Then at 13 she contracted polio, leading to a three-month hospital stay. After graduating in mathematics from Oxford University, her first job involved completing calculations for the 1958 perinatal mortality survey, set up to collect information about the social and obstetric factors associated with stillbirth and death in early infancy.

By the time she started designing the Children of the Nineties study, Jean was well used to working with large data-sets, but the new project was bigger than ever. It collected more than 1.5m biological samples including blood, placenta, hair, nails and teeth along with thousands of questionnaires. As well as expanding medical knowledge, the study has influenced government policy.

Jean retired from the study in 2005. She was awarded an OBE for services to medical science in 2012 and today is Emeritus Professor of Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology at the University of Bristol.

DISC ONE: The ‘Trelawny’ National Anthem by The Fisherman’s Friends
DISC TWO: Under Milk Wood (Part 1) read by Richard Burton
DISC THREE: Bad Penny Blues by Humphrey Lyttelton
DISC FOUR: Dawn Chorus by BBC Sound Effects
DISC FIVE: The Hippopotamus Song by Flanders & Swann
DISC SIX: A Hymn to Him by Rex Harrison
DISC SEVEN: Piano Quintet in A Major, Op. Posth. 114, D. 667 "The Trout": I. Allegro vivace by Melos Ensemble
DISC EIGHT: Bring Me Sunshine by Morecambe and Wise

BOOK CHOICE: The Oxford Book of Twentieth-century English Verse
LUXURY ITEM: A mobility power chair
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Dawn Chorus by BBC Sound Effects

Presenter Lauren Laverne
Producer Paula McGinley


SUN 12:00 News Summary (m001gk38)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SUN 12:04 Just a Minute (m001ghzn)
Series 90

Boxing Day Sales, Snakes and Ladders, and Turkey Sandwiches

Sue Perkins challenges Paul Merton, Jennifer Saunders, Julian Clary and Anna Maxwell Martin to speak for 60 seconds without repetition, deviation or hesitation.

The long-running Radio 4 national treasure of a parlour game is back for a new series with subjects this week ranging from Snakes and Ladders to Turkey Sandwiches.

Production co-ordinator: Caroline Barlow
Sound editor: Marc Willcox
Producer: Rajiv Karia

A BBC Studios Production


SUN 12:32 The Food Programme (m001gk2y)
Hangovers: a guide to the morning after

For many, drinking is part of our national identity but the immediate after effects of alcohol, it turns out, are an under investigated part of the experience. This week Jaega Wise looks hangovers from all angles. from science, history and culture.

She talks to Dr Sally Adams Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Birmingham about what a hangover does to our bodies and minds. Shaughnessy Bishop-Stall is a writer who for his book Hungover: A History of the Morning After and One Man's Quest for a Cure subjected himself to serious self-experiment in search of a cure. Jaega talks to him about his decade of drinking and investigation into the history of the hangover. She also meets Prof David Nutt for a drink. Previously the Government’s chief drug advisor, he is now trying to create a replacement to alcohol that will create a pleasant effect without issues the next day.

There are also suggestions for hangover cures from:
Sam Evans, Wynne Evans, Noddy Holder, Ash Sarkar, Fred Sirieix, Michel Roux Jr., Russell Kane, Maisie Adam, Ania Magliano, Marlon Davis, Adam Flemming


SUN 12:57 Weather (m001gk34)
The latest weather forecast


SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (m001gk3g)
Radio 4's look at the week's big stories from both home and around the world


SUN 13:30 The Exploding Library (m001fcjy)
The Unconsoled, by Kazuo Ishiguro

Comedy writer and performer Natasha Hodgson gets entangled in the slippery world of Ishiguro's The Unconsoled - a novel about human connection, the purpose of art, memory and dreams. So what's she meant to be doing again?

Warped literature series The Exploding Library returns for a new run, as another trio of comedians explode and unravel their most cherished cult books, paying homage to the tone and style of the original text - and blurring and warping the lines between fact and fiction.

As our hosts shine the spotlight on strange, funny and sometimes disturbing novels by Kazuo Ishiguro, Rosemary Tonks and David Foster Wallace, listeners are invited to inhabit their eccentric worlds - gaining a deeper understanding of their workings and the unique literary minds that created them.

Featuring the comedic voices of Natasha Hodgson, Athena Kugblenu and John-Luke Roberts, and created by award-winning producers Steven Rajam (Tim Key and Gogol’s Overcoat) and Benjamin Partridge (Beef and Dairy Network), this is an arts documentary series like no other.

Presenter: Natasha Hodgson
Readings: David Elms
Doctor/Hotel Staff/Swimming Pool Attendant/Mr Hilton: Mike Wozniak
Producer: Benjamin Partridge
Series Producer: Steven Rajam

An Overcoat Media production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m001gjp9)
Upwell

Is it a bad idea to sow flower bulbs in the dead of winter? Can you move a peony without harming it? And what is the secret to growing great courgettes?

Kathy Clugston and a panel of horticultural experts, Christine Walkden, Bunny Guinness and Matt Biggs, welcome in the new year and answer your questions in Upwell, Norfolk.

Also on the programme, GQT producer Dan Cocker heads to The Royal Botanic Garden, Kew, to speak to horticulturalist Joe Richomme about how to safely move peonies.

Producer: Dan Cocker
Assistant Producer: Bethany Hocken
Executive Producer: Louisa Field

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 14:45 Property of the BBC (m001f4v3)
Three Microphones

In a week of programmes for the BBC centenary, historian Robert Seatter selects three objects from the BBC’s archive store and tells the stories behind their creation - what they tell us about the changing history of the organisation, about expansion of the media and the nation at large. Robert’s choices are unexpected, revelatory and sometimes, with the cruel benefit of hindsight, funny. In today's episode, Robert focuses on three early microphones developed by BBC engineers.

i) The Meatsafe Microphone - first used at the BBC’s Savoy Hill studios in 1923, it had a microphone stand which resembled a domestic meat storage container, hence the nickname.

ii) The Edward VIII abdication microphone - a special microphone, used only once on that momentous occasion.

iii) And the Lip Mic - a clever piece of kit that solved a very real technical problem- how to deliver commentary in a noisy environment.

Robert explores themes of innovation, intimacy of the medium, the BBC voice and the nation, With special guest sound artist Nick Ryan.

Producer: Mohini Patel


SUN 15:00 Drama (m001gk3p)
Bedroom Farce (Part 2)

Alan Ayckbourn’s award-winning comedy classic, continues with a stellar cast directed by Martin Jarvis. Written and set in 1975. Before mobile phones. Devastatingly funny - marriage, partnerships, differences.

In Ernest and Delia’s bedroom, ‘neurotic’ Susannah seeks late-night advice.
In Nick and Jan’s bedroom, Trevor confesses all to Nick, who’s immobile from a bad back.
Desperate phone calls. Next morning Susannah locates Trevor. At Jan's. Oh dear.

Malcolm and Kate’s bedroom. Trevor returns to them to apologise. Is he in danger of destroying Malcolm’s surprise gift to Kate? Could the entire thing drop to pieces? Can things be rebuilt? In bedrooms? Or beyond?

Cast
Trevor ….. Stephen Mangan
Susannah ..… Susannah Fielding
Malcolm ..… George Blagden
Kate ..… Laura Pitt-Pulford
Jan ..… Lisa Dillon
Nick ..… Edward Bennett
Ernest ..… Martin Jarvis
Delia ..… Rosalind Ayres

Specially composed music: A-Mnemonic
Engineers: Charles Carroll, Marc McCouig, Tom Bullen

Directed by Martin Jarvis
A Jarvis & Ayres production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 16:00 Bookclub (m001gk3w)
Ross King: Brunelleschi's Dome

Historian Ross King answers listener questions about his book Brunelleschi's Dome. An incredible story of one man's determination to build an apparently impossible structure, it's a tale of ingenuity, artistic rivalries, and single-minded obsession. Although building had started on Florence's Santa Maria del Fiore in the late thirteenth century, it wasn't until 1418 that local goldsmith Filippo Brunelleschi came up with an audacious way of constructing the magnificent dome, which still dominates the Florence skyline today. But as Brunelleschi's Dome reveals, the architect faced huge obstacles and opposition along the way.

Our next Bookclub recordings:

18/01/23: Cal Flyn will be talking about her book, Islands of Abandonment. 1300 at BBC Broadcasting House, London.

16/02/23: Nadifa Mohamed on The Fortune Men. 1830 at BBC Broadcasting House, London

Email bookclub@bbc.co.uk to send in a question, or come along.


SUN 16:30 Poetry Please (m001gk44)
Nikita Gill

Nikita Gill chooses poems of renewal from the listener requests. Including work by Ada Limon and Patience Agbabi.

Producer Sally Heaven


SUN 17:00 File on 4 (m001g8tz)
Cost of Living Forcing Children into Care

The cost of living crisis is placing huge pressure on families across the country, many of whom were already living in poverty and struggling to make ends meet.
Now social services say the pressure on parents is causing a significant increase in family breakdowns and the number of children being taken into care.
Reporter Paul Connolly speaks to parents who fear the cost of living crisis could see them lose their children and investigates whether enough is being done to prevent families breaking down.
File on 4 hears from social workers on the frontline who say more and more children are falling into extreme poverty and face a daily battle to help their parents keep them safe.
The programme uncovers new data which reveals the increasing pressure the cost of living crisis is placing on children's social care and asks what the future holds for a service already struggling to meet demand.

Reporter: Paul Connolly
Producer: Ben Robinson
Technical Producer: Richard Hannaford
Editor: Carl Johnston


SUN 17:40 Profile (m001gjy1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m001gk4d)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SUN 17:57 Weather (m001gk4l)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m001gk4s)
Russia starts New Year with more drone attacks on Ukranian cities. Brazil swears in President Lula


SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (m001gk4x)
Pick of the Podcasts 2022 with Danny Robins

Writer and podcast host Danny Robins presents his pick of the brilliant and fascinating shows that have come out in 2022.


SUN 19:00 The Archers (m001gk52)
Tracy and Jazzer share a moment as a heaving Bull crowd cheers in the new year. Jazzer’s looking forward to a cracker of a year, while Tracy would be happy if it was calm and uneventful. Elizabeth’s impressed that Chelsea and Brad have come out with Tracy and Jazzer; her two have gone to Felpersham.
Elizabeth explains to Kenton why she hasn’t split from Vince. His Christmas present to her reminded her how sweet and thoughtful he can be. She knows her association with him is making things frosty between her and David and Ruth. Kenton advises that Vince needs to extend any olive branch he’s offered Elizabeth to David and Ruth. Kenton asks what Lily and Freddie make of Vince, before the conversation turns to the anniversary of Nigel’s death – 12 years this year.
Despite other offers, Chelsea’s chosen to spend New Year’s Eve in Ambridge with her family who got her through the last year. After teasing her, Brad says that means a lot. As they watch the fireworks, Chelsea feels bad that they’ve ruined the prospect of a proposal between Tracy and Jazzer. She can see how much they love one another and wonders what she can do to get things back on track.
Chelsea commandeers the microphone, and with Brad’s help asks Jazzer if he will marry Tracy. Everyone turns to look at Tracy and Jazzer. Tracy’s stunned and thinks Jazzer set it all up. They express their love for one another and announce they’re getting married, sealing their declaration with a kiss.


SUN 19:15 The Confessional (m001gjj4)
Series 3

The Confession of Maisie Adam

Each week Stephen Mangan invites another distinguished guest into his virtual confessional box to make three ‘confessions’ to him. An antidote to conventional talk shows, their stories do not reflect their proudest moments. Stephen could not be less interested in those. He wants them to open up about their darker side. Settle back for stimulating journeys through shame, regret and toe-curling embarrassment.

This time the penitent taking the hot seat is comedian Maisie Adam. The 'So You Think You're Funny?' winner discusses a new-found tendency to lie, nefarious uses for soggy paper and whether she has the makings of a psychopath.

Presenter: Stephen Mangan
Additional material: Nick Doody
Producer: Frank Stirling

a 7digital production


SUN 19:45 Voices in the Valley (p0d8kn2p)
10: The God Stone

Ten chilling strange tales from the British folk-horror author Andrew Michael Hurley.

The village of Barrowbeck, in the north of England, has a reputation for strangeness. It is a place that brings out the sin in people. But despite the dark, the cold, the isolation, people have managed to live there for centuries - until the river finally got the better of them. And now the past voices of Barrowbeck want to tell their tales...

In today's story, it is 2031, and two newcomers to the village of Barrowbeck struggle to make sense of its strange rituals...

Writer: Andrew Michael Hurley
Reader: Jessica Raine
Producer: Justine Willett


SUN 20:00 Lights Out (m001gk5g)
Series 5

The Night Sky

Having devoted decades of their lives to fighting for a better world, three activists in their 70s reflect on keeping going, hope and despair as the year turns - while a retired clergyman and his wife explore what’s drawn them to activism in their 60s.

Featuring Leila Hassan Howe, Angie Zelter, Linda Clair and Bill and Rosemary White, alongside radio clips from BBC news programmes, Outlook and Mattie's Broadcast (produced by Veronica Simmonds).

With music by Lucinda Chua

Featuring the tracks Semitones (written and engineered by Lucinda Chua, produced by Lucinda Chua and Adam Wiltzie, mixed by Adam Wiltzie and Francesco Donadello and mastered by Nathan Boddy) and An Avalanche (written, engineered and produced by Lucinda Chua, mixed by Adam Wiltzie and Francesco Donadello and mastered by Nathan Boddy)

Development producer: Michael Segalov
Additional recording: Andrea Rangecroft

Produced by Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 20:30 Last Word (m001gjpq)
Terry Hall, Dame Beryl Grey, Heather Iandolo, Eric Allison

Matthew Bannister on

Terry Hall (pictured), the singer who captured the disillusionment of a generation with The Specials’ biggest hit “Ghost Town”.

Heather Iandolo, the daughter of the notorious Nazi propaganda broadcaster known as Lord Haw Haw.

Eric Allison, who turned his back on a life of crime to become the Guardian’s prisons correspondent.

Dame Beryl Grey, the acclaimed ballerina who went on to run the London Festival Ballet.

Producer: Tim Bano

Interviewed Guests: Professor Colin Holmes, Simon Hattenstone and Alastair Macaulay


SUN 21:00 Money Box (m001gjsx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:04 on Saturday]


SUN 21:25 Radio 4 Appeal (m001gk1r)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:54 today]


SUN 21:30 Icon (m001byyp)
Episode 1: Image, Reflection, Shadow

In the summer of 1962, during a break in filming Cleopatra, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton were caught in a series of candid photographs on a yacht in a compromising embrace. This image, it’s argued, marks the birth of modern celebrity – a new contract between those in the spotlight and those who are consumers of celebrity.

This series seeks a closer understanding of our relationship with fame through facets of one iconic screen goddess’s life - that of Elizabeth Taylor. With photojournalist Danny Hayward, sociologist Ellis Cashmore (author of Elizabeth Taylor: A Private Life for Public Consumption) and philosopher Professor Angie Hobbs.

With Louise Gallagher. And including sound from klankbeeld
Additional research by Hannah Dean.

Produced by Alan Hall with music by Jeremy Warmsley

A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 22:00 News Review of the Year (m001gc24)
2022

It's been a momentous year, with news that we had hoped to never hear again: war in Europe, double-digit inflation, a crash of the pound. There's been unprecedented political turmoil with three Prime Ministers: Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak.
And an era has come to an end: after celebrating a unique 70 years on the throne, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II died at the age of 96, and was succeeded by her son, King Charles III.
There's been joy, too. England's Lionesses won the European football championships, putting an end to decades of wait and heartache. And while the men didn't "bring it home", both the England and Wales teams delighted their fans during the World Cup in Qatar.

Adam Fleming is joined by four senior BBC journalists to look back over an extraordinary year of news: Political Editor Chris Mason, Chief International Correspondent Lyse Doucet, Technology Editor Zoe Kleinman and Newsnight's Economics Editor Ben Chu.

Presenter: Adam Fleming
Producer: Arlene Gregorius
Researcher: Matt Toulson
Production Coordinator: Janet Staples
Sound: Mike Regaard (recording) and Neil Churchill (mix)
Editor: Lizzi Watson


SUN 23:00 Loose Ends (m001gk5q)
Amythyst Kiah, The Divine Comedy, Joss Stone, Vieux Farka Touré, Judi Jackson and more..

Clive Anderson with the final programme showcasing some of the best music performances on Loose Ends this year, including Joss Stone, The Divine Comedy, Judi Jackson, Vieux Farka Touré, Amythyst Kiah and The Dead South.

MONDAY 02 JANUARY 2023

MON 00:00 Midnight News (m001gk60)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


MON 00:15 Thinking Allowed (m001gjk6)
The football pools - mass investment

Betting and Investment: Laurie Taylor explores the connections and the differences between two apparently very different phenomena - the football pools and the stock market.

He's joined by Keith Laybourn, Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Huddersfield, who charts the rise and fall of the football pools over the 20th century. In its heyday, millions of working class people hoped for a life-changing jackpot cheque presented by a sporting personality and stories of big wins punctuated the news. So what led to a flutter on the pools falling out of favour?

And Amy Edwards, lecturer of Modern British History at the University of Bristol, asks ‘are we rich yet?’ in a study which considers the way in which a growing number of British people engaged in stock market investment as financial markets became part of daily life from the 1980s following the privatisation of British Telecom. Did this development take investment away from the oak-panelled world of the City and give the wider public a genuine stake in popular capitalism?

Producer: Jayne Egerton


MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (m001gk0g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:43 on Sunday]


MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m001gk69)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m001gk6l)
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 (m001gk6w)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


MON 05:30 News Briefing (m001gk74)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4


MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m001gk7f)
A spiritual comment and prayer marking the death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, with the Bishop of Salford, John Arnold.

Good morning. The sad news of the death of Pope Benedict XVI is cause for Catholics, and indeed Christians worldwide, to reflect on the enormity of his role as leader and guide of the Catholic Church.

Christians believe that life is a journey, where each one of us is learning about the person and ministry of Jesus who is for us, the Way, the Truth and the Life. All followers of Christ learn to be his ambassadors in the way we live our daily lives. In a global Church of an estimated 1.3 billion Catholics, that journey will have many different paths and turns for people living in such different contexts around the world. How different our lives: for people living in the prosperity of a secular world, others in developing countries in the global south, many living under political oppression and persecution or in poverty. For eight years, Pope Benedict led the global Church in its journey, helping and encouraging all its members to remain focussed on Christ, whoever and wherever we may be. His life was dedicated to encouraging us with his scholarship, holiness and prayer.

Loving Father, we ask you to welcome Pope Benedict into eternal life, rewarding him for his selfless devotion and service of your Church. May his example live on in our Church as we seek to be ambassadors in our daily living. As the family of the Church, we pray in communion that you will forgive any human frailty or transgression and bring him into the light of your presence where, one day, we may celebrate your infinite love and mercy together. May he rest in peace. Amen.


MON 05:45 Farming Today (m001gk7r)
02/01/23 - Landscape Recovery Pilot

Environmental Land Management schemes (ELMs) are being introduced in England to replace the subsidies paid under the EU's Common Agricultural Policy. In this programme, we visit one of 22 pilot projects for the "Landscape Recovery" scheme. A group of 50 farmers and landowners in the north east Cotswolds are being paid to make changes across over 3,000 hectares along a river catchment with the aim of improving water quality, increasing biodiversity and contributing to the prevention of urban flooding downstream. Although the pilot is worth £500,000, the group are confident they will attract much more funding from private finance.

Presented and produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Heather Simons


MON 05:56 Weather (m001gk84)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.


MON 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b04t0pjx)
Snow Petrel

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Liz Bonnin presents an Antarctic specialist, the delicate looking snow petrel. On a wind blasted Antarctic iceberg, small white hummocks sprout beaks to bicker and flirt with each other. These are snow petrels, one of the hardiest bird species in the world. Few bird species breed in the Antarctic and fewer still are so intimately bound to the landscape of snow and ice. But the near pure white snow petrel makes its home in places where temperatures can plummet to -40 Celsius and below. Returning to their breeding areas from October, the nest is a skimpy affair nothing more than a pebble-lined scrape in a hollow or rocky crevice where the parents rear their single chick on a diet of waxy stomach oil and carrion. But for a bird of such purity the snow petrel has a ghoulish diet, foraging at whale and seal carcasses along the shore. Although it breeds on islands such as South Georgia which are north of the summer pack ice, the snow petrel's true home is among snow and ice of its Antarctic home.

Producer Andrew Dawes


MON 06:00 Today (m001gk54)
Our guest editor today is Dame Sharon White, chairman of John Lewis. For her guest edit she wants to explore how we can support young people leaving the care system into employment.

Her programme also features interviews with Matthew Bourne and Maro Itoje.


MON 09:00 Rethink (m001gk5d)
Rethink Climate

Pledges and progress

In the first programme in this series Amol Rajan and guests examine the pledges that have been made on climate change and how far we have gone towards meeting them. What has worked to reduce greenhouse gasses and what’s not working, including the role of COP. Is the commitment to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees the right one?

Graihagh Jackson, presenter of the BBC podcast ‘The Climate Question’ is with Amol, alongside guests Professor Saleemul Huq, Mikaela Loach, Emeritus Professor Bill McGuire and Sarah Bell

Producers Nick Holland & Marianna Brain
Sound design Graham Puddifoot
Editor Lizzi Watson
Production Coordinators Siobhan Reed, Helena Warwick-Cross and Sophie Hill


MON 09:45 The Light We Carry by Michelle Obama (m001gkdy)
Episode 1 - The Power of Small

Michelle Obama shares her insights and strategies for living boldly in an uncertain world by drawing on her experiences as a mother, daughter, spouse, friend, and First Lady offering inspiration to us all.

The Light We Carry follows on from her critically acclaimed and global best-selling memoir, Becoming. Here she draws on her life experiences to illustrate how she has overcome obstacles in her personal and professional life. She looks at how she has embraced fear of the unknown to fuel accomplishment and success; how friendship and family continue to be bedrocks in remaining grounded and overcoming adversity, and the power she has found in small acts in the face of doubt. She is frank when she explores issues linked to race, gender and visibility. She also lays out the meaning behind 'going high'.

Michelle Obama served as First Lady of the United States from 2009-2017. A graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School, Mrs Obama started her career as an attorney at a Chicago law firm where she met her husband, Barack Obama. She founded the Chicago chapter of Public Allies, an organisation that prepares young people for careers in public service. She is an advocate for voting rights, girls' education, and children's health. She has two daughters and lives with her husband in Washington, D.C.

Abridged by Katrin Williams
Produced by Elizabeth Allard


MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (m001gk5w)
Turning your passion into a business with Deborah Meaden and Lynne Franks

Are you harbouring a dream of turning your passion into a business? Today we hear from women already doing it and find out what support's out there for women taking up the challenge. Deborah Meaden, Dragons Den investor, entrepreneur and host of the Big Green Money Show joins Krupa Padhy to discuss #Passionintobusiness

Sam Jackman is the creator and founder of a post-mastectomy breast form. She developed it after her mum complained about her discomfort with the traditional silicone gel prosthesis she was using following breast cancer treatment. Sharon McBean from Birmingham wanted a music box with a young Black ballerina twirling around for her daughter (so it looked like her). She couldn't find one anywhere so started to manufacture and sell her own. And Joan D’Arcy in North West Scotland tells us about her non-profit business looking for local solutions to stop plastic pollution generated at sea.

We also hear from social entrepreneur and founder of the SEED Women’s Enterprise Network, Lynne Franks. She started her own PR consultancy back in 1975 and now supports and mentors women running or hoping to run their own business. Plus Sarah Ronan, board member of Parental Pay Equality and part of the Women’s Budget Group unpicks the latest statistics around self-employment and women in the UK and Yvonne Sampson, Head of enterprise at GC Business Growth Hub in Manchester, explains what support they offer to women with their business ideas.

Presenter: Krupa Padhy
Producer: Kirsty Starkey

Interviewed Guest: Deborah Meaden
Interviewed Guest: Sam Jackman
Interviewed Guest: Sarah Ronan
Interviewed Guest: Yvonne Sampson
Interviewed Guest: Lynne Franks
Interviewed Guest: Sharon McBean
Interviewed Guest: Joan D'Arcy


MON 11:00 Song for Belper (m001gk63)
Britain has a revered canon of Great Music inspired by particular places and composed by Ralph Vaughan Williams, William Walton, Arnold Bax and others. Music performed live across the centuries and evoking parts of the British Isles in the imagination of millions around the world through recordings.

Then there’s the pop records released in the 1970s and 80s that were commissioned by town councils around Britain to promote the joys of the place and its people.

These are the small songs about places that were not created by great artists in the bliss of inspiration - but by the offer of hard cash, as an answer to critics, or as social engineering by a local council.

Bafta-winning writer and musician Jason Hazeley (Ladybird Books, Portishead) and producer Peter Curran enlist the help of legendary DJ Tony Blackburn, Emmy-winning James Bond and Sherlock composer David Arnold and contemporary architecture and social historian, John Grindrod. They are joined by town planner John Frankland and songwriters Tracey Wilkinson from the Rough Truffles Community Choir and The Rt Hon Sir Gregory Knight MP, composer of It’s a Leicester Fiesta.

A Foghorn Company production for BBC Radio 4


MON 11:30 Made of Stronger Stuff (p0blh5cr)
Fat

Psychologist Kimberley Wilson and Dr Xand van Tulleken take a journey around the human body, to find out what it can tell us about our innate capacity for change. In this episode, Kimberley and Xand head up the rebranding of an organ with terrible PR - fat.

They hear why fat is intrinsically linked with being human, how it's doing a lot more for us than just sitting there, and why having a bit more fat can help us take the plunge.

Producer: Georgia Mills
Researcher: Leonie Thomas
Executive Producer: Robert Nicholson
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4


MON 12:00 News Summary (m001gkm0)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


MON 12:04 You and Yours (m001gk6p)
Student Editors Special

To start off 2023 we've asked the new generation of consumers to tell us what concerns them when it comes to their money - and their parents' spending.

Our special panel picked their topics and asked for personal spending advice from the government, looked at fast-fashion by asking both BooHoo and Shein what they were doing to keep prices low but products sustainable - and then looked at how electric cars are evolving to meet their transport demands.

PRESENTER: SHARI VAHL

PRODUCER: LINDA WALKER


MON 12:57 Weather (m001gk6y)
The latest weather forecast


MON 13:00 World at One (m001gk77)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Sarah Montague.


MON 13:45 The Crowning of Everest (m001gk7h)
A Nation Waits

In 1953 Queen Elizabeth II is crowned. It's also the year that the British expedition makes an attempt to climb to the summit of the highest mountain in the world.

The story of Mount Everest spans the life of the new Queen and beyond, from the height of the British Empire to the rebirth of Britain as a nation.

In this episode, Wade Davis, explorer and anthropologist, looks at events taking place in Britain in 1953 and how the nation was poised for news of an Everest success as it planned for the coronation of a new monarch.

Presenter: Wade Davis
Series producer: Louise Clarke-Rowbotham
Sound design: Richard Hannaford
Editor: Tara McDermott
Production co-ordinators: Siobhan Reed and Helena Warwick-Cross


MON 14:00 The Archers (m001gk52)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Sunday]


MON 14:15 This Cultural Life (m001gjyd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:15 on Saturday]


MON 15:00 Nature Table (m001gk81)
Series 3

Episode 6

Join comedian, broadcaster and writer Sue Perkins as she hosts Nature Table: a comedy ‘Show & Tell’ series celebrating the natural world and all its funny eccentricities.

Nature Table has a simple clear brief: to positively celebrate and promote the importance of all our planet’s wonderfully wild flora and fauna in a fun and easily grasped way... whilst at the same time having a giggle.

Recorded at ZSL London Zoo, this week Sue Perkins is joined by special guests: Jessica Jones (Lead Keeper at ZSL London Zoo), Lee Davies (Fungarium Curator at Kew Gardens) and comedian Shaparak Khorsandi.

Written by: Catherine Brinkworth, Jon Hunter, Jenny Laville and Nicky Roberts
Additional material by: Kat Sadler

Executive Producer: Richard Morris
Producer: Simon Nicholls
Production Coordinator: Sarah Nicholls
Researcher: Catherine Beazley

Sound Recordist & Editor: Jerry Peal
Music by: Ben Mirin

A BBC Studios Production


MON 15:30 The Food Programme (m001gk2y)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:32 on Sunday]


MON 16:00 Soul Music (m000y6n2)
The Parting Glass

"So fill to me the parting glass...
Goodnight and joy be to you all."

A popular toast at the end of an evening or a heartfelt farewell to a departed or deceased person? The Parting Glass has become synonymous with leaving. It was written in Scotland and has criss crossed the Irish Sea becoming a popular song among Celtic peoples around the world.
Folk singer Karine Polwart talks of its fragile beauty as a song that can be a rousing drinking song at the end of the night but equally a poignant farewell at a funeral.
For Alaskan Fire Chief Benjamin Fleagle there was no more fitting song to honour his mentor and colleague at his Fire Department when he passed away over a decade ago. The song still brings out raw emotion in him.
Alissa McCulloch 'clung' to the song when she heard the Irish singer Hozier sing a version of it at the start of the pandemic in March 2020. At the time Alissa was seriously mentally unwell at home in Australia and was admitted to hospital where she listened to the song over and over finding comfort in its timeless beauty.
After Canada's worst mass shooting in its history Pete MacDonald and his sisters recorded an acapella version of the song as a musical tribute to those who lost their lives. It's a tradition in Novia Scotia to sing in the kitchen at parties, wakes and celebrations and they wanted to pay their respects to the dead.
The Irish singer Finbar Furey has performed the song with his band the Fureys and talks about its appeal not only in Scotland and Ireland but throughout the Scots-Irish diaspora.

"But since it falls unto my lot
That I should rise
And you should not
I'll gently rise and softly call
Goodnight and joy be to you all"

Producer for BBC Audio in Bristol: Maggie Ayre

Song versions:
Karine Polwart
Hozier
Finbar Furey
The High Kings
The MacDonalds


MON 16:30 Beyond Belief (m001gk8n)
Out of the Habit?

"I put my pants and toothbrush in a bag, and I never went back."

On a wet and windy November night a Carmelite nun, Lisa, leaves the convent, her home for 24 years, after a monk asks her to marry him.

With so few people now living in religious communities, what's the future for Britain's monks, nuns, friars and sisters?

Aleem Maqbool brings together three people who have experienced life in a religious order to hear Lisa's story and discuss this question. Father Luigi Gioia is a former Benedictine monk, turned Anglican Priest and scholar. Sister Gabriel Davison is a nun with the Poor Clares in Arundel, West Sussex, a centuries-old Catholic order which had a recent surprise hit in the classical charts with an album of their singing. And Berwyn Watson is the new Abbott at the Throssel Hole Buddhist Abbey in Northumberland.

The panel discuss what first attracted them to religious life and the benefits and challenges to life as a monk or nun. What is the purpose of monastic life, both for individuals, but also for the wider religious community and society? And what's the place of these centuries-old institutions in modern Britain?

Plus, what happened next for Lisa, and the monk, Robert?

Producer: Rebecca Maxted
Assistant Producer: Josie Le Vay
Editor: Tim Pemberton


MON 17:00 PM (m001gk8x)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines


MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m001gk9n)
Russia has said 63 soldiers were killed in a Ukrainian rocket attack on New Year's Eve.


MON 18:15 New Storytellers (m0019yzr)
The Sound Collector

Sara Parker introduces the Gold Winner of the Charles Parker Prize for the Best Student Audio Feature 2023.

Rummaging around in a lifetime's possessions, two sisters discover an exercise book. As they open it up and sift through the pages, a poem unearths buried memories.

Producer Talia Augustidis, a recent graduate of University College London, discovers the moving writings of her older sister Thea, along with a poem, The Sound Collector. It brings them back to a moment in their childhood, when familiar sounds and voices suddenly disappeared overnight.

New Storytellers presents the work of new radio and audio producers, and Talia’s feature won the top Gold Award of the Charles Parker Prize for the Best Student Radio Feature in 2022. The award is presented every year in memory of the pioneering radio producer Charles Parker who produced the ground-breaking Radio Ballads featuring voices of communities unheard at the time, with musical narratives by Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger.

The judges of the prize, made up of producers, critics and commissioners, praised Talia's Gold Prize winning work as "such a layered piece; intelligent, probing, sensitive. A piece to make us think and feel."

Poet: Roger McGough

Producer: Talia Augustidis
A Soundscape production for BBC Radio 4


MON 18:30 Just a Minute (m001gkb4)
Series 90

Peanut Butter, Westminster Abbey and Alan Shearer

Sue Perkins challenges Paul Merton, Desiree Burch, Tony Hawks and Jan Ravens to speak for 60 seconds without repetition, deviation or hesitation.

The long-running Radio 4 national treasure of a parlour game is back for a new series with subjects this week ranging from Alan Shearer to Westminster Abbey.

Production co-ordinator: Caroline Barlow
Sound editor: Marc Willcox
Producer: Rajiv Karia

A BBC Studios Production


MON 19:00 The Archers (m001gkbk)
Stella’s keen for Brian to look over the report she’s preparing for a BL Board meeting later this week. She mentions she’s going to a farm technology show next week, this ruffles Brian and stunned Stella reminds him as farm manager these decisions are hers to make. Brian puts his foot down saying he’d prefer to be consulted on plans such as these. Later, Stella seeks advice from Ruth about Brian’s unreasonable behaviour. Ruth has little in the way of comfort for Stella. Later, when Brian asks for things like this to be run past him first, Stella refuses. Their conversation is interrupted when Brian takes a call from Jennifer and has to leave.
In the shop, Ruth realises she’s put her foot in it when she shares the news of Tracy and Jazzer’s engagement with Susan. Tracy bounds in and describes how the proposal happened and shows some photos from the night. The only comment Susan can make is that it would have been in very poor taste if Will had been there, as New Year’s Day is his and Nic’s wedding anniversary.
Tracy seeks out Susan to ask why she hasn’t shown happiness at the news of her engagement. At first Susan says that Tracy and Jazzer need to be sure this is the right thing for them, and then reveals that she didn’t like not being the first to know. Tracy apologises for Susan missing the moment and tries to persuade her to toast the news with her. When Susan refuses, Tracy gets cross and departs.


MON 19:15 Front Row (m001gkc0)
Leeds 2023 Year of Culture

Front Row visits Leeds as the city prepares to celebrate culture throughout 2023.

Following Brexit, Leeds’ bid for European Capital of Culture was ruled ineligible. Sharon Watson, Principal of the Northern School of Contemporary Dance, reflects on the initial disappointment and the decision to press ahead anyway, and creating a new dance work for The Awakening - the opening event of Leeds 2023 Year of Culture.

The Poet Laureate, Simon Armitage joins his LYR bandmates, singer-songwriter Richard Walters and instrumentalist Patrick Pearson, to perform two songs ahead of headlining at The Awakening.

Kully Thiarai, Creative Director of Leeds 2023, explains why she thinks the city’s decision to press ahead with a year-long celebration of culture even after Brussels said no, has been transformative.

Theatre maker Alan Lyddiard is gathering 1001 stories from those aged 60 and over for a takeover event at Leeds Playhouse this spring. He reveals why he feels Leeds was the perfect city for this project.

The poet Khadijah Ibrahiim will be performing at The Awakening but for her 2023 is not just about Leeds’ cultural celebrations, it also marks the 20th anniversary of the creative writing organisation for teenagers, Leeds Young Authors, that she founded in 2003. She concludes tonight’s programme, with her poem, Roots Runnin II.

Presenter: Nick Ahad
Producer: Ekene Akalawu

Image credit (c) Lorne Campbell, Guzelian for LEEDS 2023


MON 20:00 The Untold (m0018nnz)
Unlikely Strippers

Rob Lawrie follows the unlikely strippers as they prepare to do a full Monty in front of a huge live audience. They are nervous, but not half as nervous as their wives, who’ve had to live with the preparations for weeks now. The event is being staged to raise money for a local disabled boy who has a better chance of life if his family can relocate to a warmer climate.

Hudson Binks is four years old and has brittle bone disease. His parents, Claire and Ben, fear that their new six-month-old baby, Benny-Ivar, might also have the same condition. Their doctor has told them that a warmed climate might help as Hudson prepares for school and they want the money to help them move from Wakefield. Their friends have rallied round in a fund raising effort and that's how the idea of performing a strip show was born.

Preparations for the full Monty have been going on for weeks, coordinated by Phil Hoban, who also heads a Leeds based online predator hunter group. Rob Lawrie met him a couple of years ago when he recorded an Untold on the group’s activities. With the strip act in go mode, Rob joins ‘Big Phil’ and the others taking to the stage, ‘Little Phil,’ ‘Karl,’ ‘Barman Matty, and Hudson’s Dad, Ben.

Their act is being choregraphed by 53 year old Portia, who says the men are going to need a lot more practise if they’ve any hope of succeeding: “They look like a bunch of street alley cats fighting when we first started and controlling their egos has been the hardest part of my job so far!”

Presented by Rob Lawrie
Produced by Sue Mitchell


MON 20:30 Crossing Continents (m001gjcr)
Fighting 'fat-phobia' in Brazil

As in many countries, obesity in Brazil is a major issue with one in four Brazilians now classified as obese and more than half the population overweight. But rather than focusing just on trying to lower this rate by promoting exercise and healthier ways of eating, campaigners and some city councils are successfully implementing changes which accept that high rates of obesity are probably here to stay and society should adapt to this.

In a country famed for pressure to have the perfect beach body, these changes include schools buying bigger chairs and desks, hospitals buying bigger beds and MRI machines and theatres offering wider seats. Brazilian lawyers are starting to make legal challenges, particularly against discrimination in the workplace. Women are holding plus sized beauty contests to celebrate their larger bodies. Schools are hosting discussion clubs where they talk about how body shapes are perceived by their peers and wider society.

Even so, campaigners say there’s a long way to go for bigger bodies to be culturally accepted in Brazil and overcoming what is known as “gordofobia” – belittling or discriminating against people who are larger than average. Camilla Mota travels to the south eastern coastal city of Vitoria to meet a plus size influencer and a lawyer campaigning to stop discrimination and trying to make the city more tolerant. She then flies 1500 kilometres north to another port city, Recife, where some changes have now taken place. Is this transformation away from the stereo-typical “body beautiful” only skin deep or the shape of things to come across the western world?

Presenter: Camilla Mota
Produced by Bob Howard
Studio mix by James Beard
Production coordinator Iona Hammond
Series editor Penny Murphy


MON 21:00 Phantoms in the Brain (m001gj46)
‘Is back pain a transmissible disease?' - Dan’s story

In this episode we explore the powerful interaction between our mind and our body.

Dan has always been very healthy and very active – enjoying running, basketball, ski-ing, golf. But one day, in his mid-twenties, he wakes up with agonising back pain, that lasts for nearly 20 years. He sees various doctors, tries all kinds of therapy, but nothing helps. An MRI scan reveals no physical damage. Dan’s resigned to a life of pain, until he spots an advert seeking recruits for a study to help chronic back pain. Dan feels he has nothing to lose. What happens next astonishes him – he undergoes a psychological treatment, called pain reprocessing therapy – where the brain is trained to unlearn the pain. The very real pain that Dan has experienced for so many years vanishes and his life is changed forever.

And we meet Dianne who has crippling stomach pains and inconsistent bowel movements from the age of seven. The constipation and diarrhoea get so bad, she limits her food intake and develops an eating disorder. At university, she sees a doctor for the first time and is diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Dianne takes part in a clinical trial, involving a behavioural therapy programme. She learns about the connection between the mind and the digestive system; and the role that stress plays in driving her symptoms. The psychological programme helps Dianne to rethink her mindset, replacing negative thoughts with positive ones. And it significantly reduces her IBS attacks.

These stories illustrate the close connection between our physical and mental health. And how treating the body and mind in isolation makes no sense if we want to give patients the best outcomes.

Presenter: Professor Guy Leschziner
Producer: Sally Abrahams
Sound: Graham Puddifoot

Production co-ordinators: Maria Ogundele and Helena Warwick-Cross
Editor: Clare Fordham

Image: Amy Hiley amyhileyart.com


MON 21:30 Rethink (m001gk5d)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


MON 22:00 The World Tonight (m001gkcd)
Dozens of Russian soldiers killed in missile attack

Also tonight:

People file past Pele’s coffin ahead of funeral.

And

What can we expect from 2023 ?


MON 22:45 Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus (m001gkcs)
1: 'Didn't you see the signs?'

Bonnie Garmus' comic bestseller featuring the gloriously idiosyncratic feminist icon, Elizabeth Zott.

It's the early 1960s and Zott's all-male team at Hastings Research Institute take a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans, the lonely, brilliant, Nobel-prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with - of all things - her mind. True chemistry results.

Like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later, Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America's most beloved cooking show, Supper at Six. Elizabeth's unusual approach to cooking proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn't just teaching women to cook, she's daring them to change the status quo.

Today: Elizabeth Zott meets Calvin Evans, and there are sparks...

Writer: Bonnie Garmus - this is Garmus' debut novel.
Reader: Julianna Jennings
Abridger: Katrin Williams
Producer: Justine Willett


MON 23:00 Lights Out (m001gkdb)
Series 5

County Lines

Four people recount their involvement with “county lines” - gangs that exploit children and vulnerable adults to sell drugs around the UK.

Underneath their stories lies a series of unspoken, unanswered questions. Who gets to decide the boundary between criminal and victim? Why do we view 'county lines' through the lens of crime and punishment? And how well does the system support individuals and families devastated by the impact of 'county lines'?

With thanks to St Giles Trust SOS Project, Not In Our Community, Escape Line and Eski Media

Produced by Phoebe McIndoe and Redzi Bernard
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio Four


MON 23:30 Are You Alright in There? (b09jgzh1)
Jason 'Ladybird' Hazeley and Joel 'Ladybird' Morris present a history of the Xmas loo book. With contributions from Ben 'Miscellany' Schott, John 'Not The Nine O’Clock News' Lloyd, Andy 'Bunny Suicides' Riley and him off The Viz, Simon Donald - as well as a sprinkling of QI Elves. Extracts are lovingly read by Eleanor Bron.

Toilet books. No, not books about toilets. The funny or fascinating books that have pride of place on any home’s most exclusive shelf - the safe space, the lock-in.

The ones you buy at Christmas - 101 Uses For A Dead Cat, The Meaning Of Liff, Schott’s Miscellanies, The Far Side compilations, the Viz annual, Bunny Suicides, countless TV tie-ins from Monty Python to Mrs Brown – maybe even The Ladybird Books For Grown-Ups. These are the books that everyone giggles at and passes round when the family gets together at Christmas - the sociable books that bind a nation together once a year over the pickled walnuts.

Written and presented by Joel Morris and Jason Hazeley, two of Britain’s busiest comedy writers. They created legendary news spoof The Framley Examiner and have produced countless newspaper and ad parodies for Viz magazine. They are regular collaborators with Charlie Brooker, worked on the screenplay for Paddington with Paul King, and have just joined the writing team for Have I Got News For You.

In addition to two book adaptations of The Framley Examiner for Penguin Books, they co-authored a pair of guides to Britain's more peculiar tourist attractions, Bollocks to Alton Towers (Sunday Times number 1 best-selling travel book of the year) and Far from the Sodding Crowd ('one of the best guide books ever written’ -The Guardian).

They divide their time between London and the pub.

Produced by David Tyler
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4

TUESDAY 03 JANUARY 2023

TUE 00:00 Midnight News (m001gkdn)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


TUE 00:15 Profile (m001gjy1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


TUE 00:30 The Light We Carry by Michelle Obama (m001gkdy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Monday]


TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m001gkfb)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m001gkfl)
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 (m001gkfv)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


TUE 05:30 News Briefing (m001gkg4)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4


TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m001gkg9)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Rev Lucy Winkett

Good morning.

When the song of the angels is stilled, when the star in the sky is gone, when the kings and princes are home, when the shepherds are back with their flocks, the work of Christmas begins: to find all those who are lost, to heal the ones who are broken, to feed those who are hungry, to release the prisoners, to rebuild the nations to bring peace among the people, to make music in the heart.

For most people in the UK today, Christmas begins sometime in October and ends on 25th December. There’s a slow crescendo happening all through December, party venues and concert venues are booked up every night ages in advance. Now, we’re contemplating dry January, new fitness regimes, new low carb low fat diets and a renewed resolution to count our steps.

But in church, exactly the opposite has been happening. Christians have been fasting all December, wearing purple, listening to the prophets who expose and criticise the inequalities and injustices of society.

And now, in these days, the season of Christmas means the church is in full party mode – we have our celebration clothes on – our language and songs at church are full of praise - and we are about to embark on the season of Epiphany – the season of miracles and wonderment at the astonishing gift of life itself. For Christians, January is anything but dry.

God of new truth and insight. As this New Year gets under way, we thank you for the astonishing gift of life itself. Give us energy and grace to take these days as they come, and to know that we are loved, forgiven and free.

Amen.


TUE 05:45 Farming Today (m001gkgh)
03/01/23 A new Common Agricultural Policy, farmers' discussion group, Lord Plumb on Great Lives.

A new Common Agricultural Policy for the EU and farmers talking farming.

Minette Batters choses former president of the National Farmers' Union, Lord Henry Plumb, for Great Lives with Matthew Parris.

Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Beatrice Fenton.


TUE 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b04t0mqf)
White Tern

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Sir David Attenborough presents the widespread marine species, the white tern. Also known as fairy terns or angel terns, these are very slender, long-winged birds, brilliant white except for a black, slightly-upturned bill, dark eyes and very short blue-grey legs. In flight, their wings appear almost translucent. For such a delicate-looking bird, they have rather harsh calls. Unusually they lay their eggs on a bare branch. The female tern selects a small groove in the bark or on the leaf-stalks of palms where her single egg will be most secure. Here, on its tropical tightrope, the egg is safer from ground predators like rats and because there's no nesting material, there's less chance of parasites.

Producer : Andrew Dawes


TUE 06:00 Today (m001gkq3)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


TUE 09:00 Rethink (m001gkq8)
Rethink Climate

Behaviour and communication

What personal lifestyle habits are we prepared to give up to stop global warming and who bears responsibility for changing our behaviour? Is it the state or the individual? Amol Rajan discusses why we continue to live the way we do, despite knowing the planet is heating up. Is it ignorance or denial? Perhaps the problems is with the way we talk about climate change. If so, then how does the discourse need to change?

Graihagh Jackson, presenter of the BBC podcast ‘The Climate Question’ is with Amol Rajan alongside guests Tom Bailey, Meghan Kennedy-Woodard and George Marshall.

Producers Nick Holland and Marianna Brain
Sound design Graham Puddifoot
Editor Lizzi Watson
Production Coordinators Siobhan Reed, Sophie Hill, Helena Warwick-Cross


TUE 09:45 The Light We Carry by Michelle Obama (m001gktb)
Episode 2 - Decoding Fear

Michelle Obama shares her insights and experiences of overcoming fear and using it to fuel success when life's challenges feel insurmountable and overwhelming.

The Light We Carry follows on from her critically acclaimed and global best-selling memoir, Becoming. Here she draws on her life experiences to illustrate how she has overcome obstacles in her personal and professional life. She looks at how she has embraced fear of the unknown to fuel accomplishment and success; how friendship and family continue to be bedrocks in remaining grounded and overcoming adversity, and the power she has found in small acts in the face of doubt. She is frank when she explores issues linked to race, gender, and visibility. She also lays out the meaning behind 'going high'.

Michelle Obama served as First Lady of the United States from 2009-2017. A graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School, Mrs Obama started her career as an attorney at a Chicago law firm where she met her husband, Barack Obama. She founded the Chicago chapter of Public Allies, an organisation that prepares young people for careers in public service. She is an advocate for voting rights, girls' education, and children's health. She has two daughters and lives with her husband in Washington, D.C.

Abridged by Katrin Williams
Produced by Elizabeth Allard


TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (m001gkqw)
Harriet Walker, Elika Ashoori, Dr Henrietta Hughes, Sarah Graham, Neil Leitch, Adam Hawksbee

There’s a growing trend in women not wearing bras. To talk about this Nuala McGovern is joined by the Fashion Editor of The Times, Harriet Walker. She’ll talk about bra trends up to now, and why this might not be the best of them.

According to reports in the Telegraph, Rishi Sunak has shelved plans to reform childcare services put forward by his predecessor, Liz Truss. The plans were looking at increasing free childcare support and changing the staff-child ratio. Nuala McGovern will be looking at what the postponing of these reforms means for parents who need childcare, as well as those working in the industry, speaking to the CEO of the Early Years Alliance Neil Leitch and the Deputy Director of UK Onward, Adam Hawksbee.

In our series Finding My Voice we’re talking to women about the moment they realised they had something to say or stand up for. Elika Ashoori was an actor and baker who rarely kept up with politics. That is, until 2017 when her father, Anoosheh, was detained by the Iranian authorities while visiting his mother. Over the next 5 years, she and her family fought for his release and she was forced to go through what she calls a ‘crash course’ in human rights campaigning.

We look at the "gender health gap" with the Patient Safety Commissioner for England - Dr Henrietta Hughes. . A GP by training and previously a medical director at NHS England she was appointed in July and took up the post in September. She'll be joined by the health journalist Sarah Graham who has a new book out, Rebel Bodies: A guide to the gender health gap revolution

Presenter: Nuala McGovern
Producer: Lisa Jenkinson
Studio Manager: Bob Nettles.


TUE 11:00 Science Stories (m0007wf5)
Series 9

Ignaz Semmelweiss: The Hand Washer

Lindsey Fitzharris tells the story of Ignaz Semmelweiss, the hand washer. In a world that had no understanding of germs, he tried to apply science to halt the spread of infection. Ignaz Semmelweis observed that many young medical students at his hospital in Vienna went directly from an autopsy, still covered in contaminated dead flesh, to attend pregnant women. Could this be the reason for such high maternal mortality rates from conditions like puerperal fever? Believing that the disease was caused by “infective material” from a dead body, Semmelweiss set up a basin filled with chlorinated lime solution in his hospital and began saving women’s lives with three simple words: ‘wash your hands’. He was demonised by his colleagues for his efforts, but today, he is known as the “Saviour of Mothers.”

Lindsey Fitzharris discusses some of the common myths surrounding the story of Semmelweiss with Dr Barron H. Lerner of New York University Langone School of Medicine. And she talks to Professor Val Curtis, Director of the Environmental Health Group at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who has studied the amount of hand washing by medical staff in hospitals today.

Main Image: Lindsey Fitzharris Credit: T. K. Smith


TUE 11:30 Out of the Ordinary (m000tcqv)
Series 8

Holy relics

Ever since the middle ages, pieces of the True Cross, and other relics such as saints' bones, have been sold to the gullible. But now the trade in bogus relics has moved online, to the fury of traditional Catholics. They are even more alarmed at the sale of "genuine" relics, which is also picking up pace as monasteries and convents close and their treasures come on the market. In theory selling a relic is an offence under Church law, warranting immediate excommunication. But what is a genuine relic, and how its provenance proved? Jolyon Jenkins goes on a deep dive into a world where faith, science and archaeology collide.

Producer/Presenter: Jolyon Jenkins, BBC Audio in Bristol


TUE 12:00 News Summary (m001gkts)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


TUE 12:04 You and Yours (m001gkrv)
Call You and Yours: Are you going to try to cut down on alcohol this year?

On today's Call You and Yours we're asking - are you going to try to cut down on alcohol this year?

A third of adults say they feel pressure to drink alcohol while socialising and that's stopping them from cutting down. If you're planning to drink less, we'd like to hear how you're going to do it and why. Research from the charity Drinkaware and market research companies like Mintel show we’re drinking less and the proportion of people who don’t drink at all has risen. The figures show that fifteen percent don’t drink alcohol now and that’s gone up from five years ago when thirteen percent of people weren't drinking.

Call us on 03700 100 444. Lines open at 11 am on Tuesday January 3rd. You can also email us now at youandyours@bbc.co.uk
Don't forget to include your number so we can call you back.


Presenter: Winifred Robinson
Producer: Tara Holmes


TUE 12:57 Weather (m001gks6)
The latest weather forecast


TUE 13:00 World at One (m001gksg)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Sarah Montague.


TUE 13:45 The Crowning of Everest (m001gksr)
The Allure of Everest

Britain has tried and failed to reach the top of Everest for decades.

George Mallory and Sandy Irvine disappeared on the mountain in 1924.

There were various British expeditions during the 1930s - all unmitigated failures.

The Second World War interrupted the race to conquer Everest. But by 1951, with Tibet closed by communist China, a new unexplored route through Nepal was available.

The Swiss expedition had nearly succeeded in 1952. The French are scheduled to climb in 1954. For John Hunt's British team in 1953 the pressure is on. It is now or never.

Meanwhile, back in London, a different race begins. If the British get to the top it's the scoop of the century for whichever newspaper can report the story first. The Times pays £10,000 to have its reporter James Morris, later Jan Morris, embedded with the expedition.

Presenter: Wade Davis
Series producer: Louise Clarke-Rowbotham
Sound design: Richard Hannaford
Editor: Tara McDermott
Production co-ordinators: Siobhan Reed and Helena Warwick-Cross


TUE 14:00 The Archers (m001gkbk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Monday]


TUE 14:15 Drama (m000qy45)
Release

By Matt Hartley.

Aimee's dad has been in prison since she was 8. For murder. Now she is 17. He's been released.
She has grown up with her aunt, believing that her father is a monster who killed her mother. Slowly, she discovers her dad was innocent, of the murder at least. Can they rescue something from the devastation?

Aimee - Saran Morgan
Olly - Richard Harrington
Sian - Siwan Morris
Kyle - Kyle Lima

Directed by John Norton
A BBC Cymru Wales Production


TUE 15:00 Short Cuts (m001gkt4)
Series 33

The River

Josie Long presents short documentaries and audio adventures on the flow of water. A stream of voices from around the world speak of the myths and legends born from water. The author Damian Le Bas follows the ripples left by a tragedy on the River Medway in the 1850s. And at the confluence of two rivers, the writer Laura Barton looks to the poet Raymond Carver for guidance on her last decade.

Other Water
Written and read by Laura Barton

In Fresh Water
Featuring Ed Granston, Stephen Mallett and Damian Le Bas
Produced by Damian Le Bas and Andrea Rangecroft

A River of Voices
Featuring Devi Lockwood, Jo Darrington, Zella Downing, Iain Wilson, Mark Binder, Ole Øvretveit, Lupita Pocket, Leszek Daworski, Ateli Nasoru, Steve Maina, Ryan Burns and 3 anonymous women in Mississippi.
Produced by Samia Bouzid and Devi Lockwood

Curated by Axel Kacoutié, Eleanor McDowall and Andrea Rangecroft
Produced by Andrea Rangecroft
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 15:30 A Thorough Examination with Drs Chris and Xand (m001gkf7)
Series 2: Can I Change?

5. Learning to listen

Most of us would like something about ourselves or our lives to be different, but how easy is it to actually change?

Drs Chris and Xand van Tulleken are looking at whether people can change and how they do it. Exactly how much of any aspect of personality is genetic destiny and how much are we shaped by the world around us?

Chris wants to be a better doctor, friend, husband and father. But most urgently he wants to be a better brother, and is determined to improve his relationship with Xand. They’re best friends and talk to each other every day, but they are also business partners who find it very hard to work together without having a visceral row.

Chris wants to change how he relates to his brother and believes it is possible, but Xand is less convinced that we can or that he needs to change. In this series, Chris confronts that pessimism.

In episode 5 - Learning To Listen - Chris considers the triggers for his many arguments with Xand and wonders if it might be because he’s not being a good listener. The psychotherapist Erene Hadjiioannou offers Chris some advice on how to react in the heat of an argument. Xand meanwhile is cocooned in his pottery shed contemplating Chris’ complete disinterest in his hobby. He wonders why everyone else in the family shows some enthusiasm, except his twin.

Presented by Drs Chris and Xand van Tulleken
Produced by Hester Cant and Alexandra Quinn
Series Editor: Jo Rowntree
A Loftus Media and van Tulleken Brothers Ltd production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 16:00 In the Name Of (m001gktn)
Sarah, Della, Nikita, Helen, Harper, Seni. These names, and many others, are linked - united in quests to find a meaningful legacy for their loved ones' lives, Gail Hadfield Grainger meets those campaigning to change the law

Justice campaigner Gail meets two women, Aji Lewis and Della Wright at various stages in their campaigns, discovering their stories and what motivates them to keep fighting. How do they maintain their fight, what drives them on when there are so many obstacles in their paths?

These aren't new laws, they just strengthen existing legislation that hasn't been properly enforced, but Gail ask whether good laws can come out of emotional reactions to these horrendous events?


TUE 16:30 Great Lives (m001gkv2)
Minette Batters on Henry Plumb

"I was born an Englishman but I'll die a European." Those are the words of Henry Plumb, Lord Plumb, a farmer who was President of the National Farmers Union in the 1970s and who became the first British person to be elected President of the European Parliament.

Championing his life is the farmer and current President of the National Farmers Union, Minette Batters. She says that Henry supported her from the outset and that he would offer advice and support wherever it was needed. Minette is joined by Richard Inglewood, Lord Inglewood, who knew Lord Plumb well. They explore Lord Plumb's early life as a farmer in Coleshill, his views on membership of the European Union, and his electoral success as a Member and then President of the European Parliament, which included such perks as involvement in the European Song Contest. Matthew Parris asks Minette about the challenges of balancing her work with the day-to-day demands of farming, and what impact Lord Plumb made on British life.

Produced in Bristol by Toby Field.

Image credit: John Cottle/NFU


TUE 17:00 PM (m001gkvc)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines


TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m001gkvx)
Tens of thousands of members of the RMT union have walked out for 48 hours, as part a long-running dispute about pay and working conditions.


TUE 18:30 The Cold Swedish Winter (m000qlzr)
Series 5

Crayfish Require These Drinks

Danny Robins’ romantic Swedish comedy, partly recorded on location with a mainly Swedish cast, prepares for summer as the pandemic recedes.

The little town of Yxsjö turns its mind to partying with the traditional celebrations for crayfish season. Despite now being a fully paid up Swede, Geoff (Adam Riches) has still to be inaugurated into the mysteries of fishing for crayfish. Meanwhile, his brother-in-law Anders (Fredrik Andersson) claims to have a girlfriend, though there are rumours that she doesn’t exist. Will she make it to the party?

Cast
Geoff: Adam Riches
Linda: Sissela Benn
Sten: Thomas Oredsson
Gunilla: Anna-Lena Bergelin
Anders: Fredrik Andersson
Maria: Johanna Wagrell
John: Harry Nicolaou

Written by Danny Robins
Produced and directed by Frank Stirling
A 7digital production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 19:00 The Archers (m001gk8w)
Lottie and Pip share New Year’s resolutions over burgers and craft beers. Lottie clocks that Pip hasn’t got any goals that are solely for herself. Pip imagines Lottie’s work life is more glamorous than hers but Lottie assures her that farming is a lot more exciting than being an insurance broker. Lottie and Pip agree to fit more fun into their lives. Pip mentions they’re starting up a B&B at Brookfield and suggests Lottie tests it out.
Back home, Pip reports to Ben that she feels like she’s been on holiday after her lunch out. Ben has also had a good time doing the milking. In more good news, Rosie’s had praise for the school project that Ben helped to create. Ben brings up the family’s conversation with Elena tomorrow. It’s been set up after Ben told Elena his parents were finding it hard. They share a laugh when Ben says he’s enjoyed doing normal, useful stuff again while Pip’s been told to do less of that and have more fun.
Susan opens up to Neil about not feeling happy at the news of Tracy and Jazzer’s engagement. As the big sister she can’t help worrying – she’s the one who’s looked out for Tracy ever since their mother died. Neil reassures Susan that Tracy and Jazzer are a good match, and takes her to the Bull so she can apologise to Tracy. Tracy rejects Susan’s attempts to make amends. Susan persists but even with assistance from Neil, Tracy won’t listen to Susan’s explanations.


TUE 19:15 Front Row (m001gkw4)
Tom Hanks On A Man Called Otto, Author Deepti Kapoor, The London Ticket Bank

Tom Hanks talks about playing a curmudgeonly older man whose life changes when a young family moves in next door in his latest film, A Man Called Otto.

Author Deepti Kapoor on her new novel, Age of Vice, which explores crime and corruption in the world of New Delhi’s elites.

The London Ticket Bank – promising tens of thousands of theatre and music tickets across the capital to those most impacted by the cost-of-living crisis. Samira is joined by Co-Founder Chris Sonnex to explain the new initiative from the Cultural Philanthropy Foundation and Cardboard Citizens, in partnership with The Barbican, Roundhouse, and The National, Almeida, Bush, Gate, and Tara Theatres.

Presenter: Samira Ahmed
Producer: Tim Prosser


TUE 20:00 File on 4 (m001gkwd)
How did my child die? The crisis in paediatric pathology

The death of a child causes parents’ unimaginable grief, but this is being exacerbated by long delays to post mortem reports due to a shortage of pathologists in the UK.
The number of paediatric pathologists means that children and babies are having to be moved around to other parts of the country in order for post mortems to be undertaken, causing even further distress for families.
When a child dies suddenly, sometimes post-mortems may need the input of specialist pathologists. But these even fewer in number meaning bereaved parents are waiting months, sometimes years to discover why their child died.
But these shortages can have even more devastating consequences.
File on 4 has uncovered cases where parents suspected of harming their child have waited months for post-mortem reports to be completed, only to be exonerated of any wrongdoing once the findings are back. During which they’ve had other children taken into care and faced months under wrongful suspicion.
The head of the family courts in England and Wales says long waits for post-mortem reports in suspected child homicides cases is “unacceptable”. But it’s not just the courts raising concerns. Senior police chiefs say a shortage of specialists is also causing delays to police investigations and the criminal process.
Adrian Goldberg investigates the crisis which has been years in the making, with The Royal College of Pathologists warning that the situation is “critical”.

Reporter: Adrian Goldberg
Producer: Emma Forde
Technical Producer: Mitch Goodall
Editor: Carl Johnston
Production Coordinator: Tim Fernley
Production Manager: Sarah Payton


TUE 20:40 In Touch (m001gkwn)
20 Year Reunion

Over the years, In Touch has been keeping up with five visually impaired people. They all first appeared on the program as children in the 1990's, then as young adults in 2003 and now, twenty years on, we've invited them back for a reunion and to hear how their lives panned out.

Presenter: Peter White
Producer: Beth Hemmings
Idea Concept: Hetal Bapodra
Production Coordinator: Liz Poole
Website image description: Peter White sits smiling in the centre of the image, wearing a dark green jumper. Above Peter's head is the BBC logo (three individual white squares house each of the three letters). Bottom centre and overlaying the image are the words "In Touch" and the Radio 4 logo (the word Radio in a bold white font, with the number 4 inside a white circle). The background is a bright mid-blue with two rectangles angled diagonally to the right. Both are behind Peter, one of a darker blue and the other is a lighter blue.


TUE 21:00 Inside Health (m001gk9l)
Lazy Guide to Exercise

It’s January. Christmas is a distant memory and nobody feels much like getting off the sofa, but luckily this episode can help. James Gallagher is on a mission to find out what is the least amount of exercise you can do to still stay healthy. James goes on a Ramblers wellbeing walk, uses a treadmill for the first time and takes a hot bath all to find out how lazy he can be. His guide Dr Zoe Saynor at University of Portsmouth explains this is the question everyone asks and offers simple tips about how little you can do.

Presenter: James Gallagher
Producers: Gerry Holt and Erika Wright


TUE 21:30 Rethink (m001gkq8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (m001gkx1)
Republicans fail to elect new Speaker

Also:

Far-right Israeli minister makes controversial visit to contested site.

And Ronaldo lands in Riyadh


TUE 22:45 Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus (m001gkxb)
2: 'I want to be Elizabeth Zott.'

Bonnie Garmus' comic bestseller featuring the gloriously idiosyncratic feminist icon, Elizabeth Zott.

It's the early 1960s and Zott's all-male team at Hastings Research Institute take a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans, the lonely, brilliant, Nobel-prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with - of all things - her mind. True chemistry results.

Like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later, Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America's most beloved cooking show, Supper at Six. Elizabeth's unusual approach to cooking proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn't just teaching women to cook, she's daring them to change the status quo.

Today: Although their perfect relationship, based on a meeting of brilliant minds, is making their colleagues sick, Elizabeth and Calvin share everything -except their difficult pasts....

Writer: Bonnie Garmus
Reader: Julianna Jennings
Abridger: Katrin Williams
Producer: Justine Willett


TUE 23:00 Small Scenes (m0002gr9)
Series 4

Episode 1

Award-winning sketch series starring Daniel Rigby, Mike Wozniak, Cariad Lloyd, Henry Paker and Freya Parker. Featuring more overblown, melodramatic scenes from modern life, including a visit to the first ever Crufts for Cats and a terrifying reminder as to why you should never try and cancel your membership of The National Trust.

Producer...Simon Mayhew-Archer
A BBC Studios production


TUE 23:30 Tim Key's Late Night Poetry Programme (b09rycmw)
Series 4

Continuity

By Tim Key

In the first of a new series, misunderstandings, Siberian waitresses and a surprising new love interest come thick and fast as Tim Key takes a comic look at the concept of the unobtainable. With musical support from Tom Basden.

Directed by James Robinson
A BBC Cymru Wales Production

The Edinburgh Comedy Award-winning comedian returns for a fourth series of his Late Night Poetry Programme. Currently performing his latest critically acclaimed solo show 'Megadate', Tim Key is never far from stage and screen - from Peep Show to Alpha Papa. But now he's back on late night Radio 4 doing what he does best - attempting to recite poetry whilst tormenting his friend and musician, the equally brilliant Tom Basden.

Praise for Tim Key

"...You never know when Key will suddenly toss you a fantastic joke or startlingly well-constructed line." Radio Times

"The show... has a kind of artistry and strange beauty that makes it unlike any other hour of stand-up you are likely to see." The Observer

"In any other sphere apart from comedy, we'd probably class this way of looking at the world as certifiable. Here it feels like genius." The Telegraph.