RADIO-LISTS: BBC RADIO 4
Unofficial Weekly Listings for BBC Radio 4 — supported by bbc.co.uk/programmes/
SATURDAY 28 JANUARY 2023
SAT 00:00 Midnight News (m001hg18)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
SAT 00:30 Wise Gals by Nathalia Holt (m001hh2n)
Episode 5
In the wake of World War II, four agents were critical in helping build a new organization that we now know as the CIA.
Adelaide Hawkins, Mary Hutchison, Eloise Page, and Elizabeth Sudmeier, called the “wise gals” by their male colleagues because of their sharp sense of humour and even quicker intelligence, were not the stereotypical femme fatale of spy novels. They were smart, courageous, and ground-breaking agents at the top of their class, instrumental in both developing innovative tools for intelligence gathering - and insisting (in their own unique ways) that they receive the credit and pay their expertise deserved.
Through their friendship and shared sense of purpose, they rose to positions of power and were able to make real change in a traditionally “male, pale, and Yale” organisation.
Wise Gals sheds a light on the untold history of the women whose daring foreign intrigues, domestic persistence, and fighting spirit have been and continue to be instrumental to US security.
Read by Nicola Stuart-Hill
Written by Nathalia Holt
Abridged by Polly Coles
Produced by Clive Brill
A Brill production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m001hg1c)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m001hg1h)
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 (m001hg1n)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SAT 05:30 News Briefing (m001hg1w)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m001hg21)
Spiritual reflection to start the day with Fr Dermot Morrin OP of St Albert's Catholic Chaplaincy, Edinburgh
SAT 05:45 Four Thought (m001hff5)
Stand Up for Irish Travellers
Martin Warde is the first Irish Traveller to become a professional comedian. In this talk he recounts his early years travelling before his family settled down and he and his brothers attended school in Galway. His school days weren't easy, he and other traveller boys were treated differently. One teacher however inspired him to pursue his dream of being a performer. Now as a writer and comedian focussing on Traveller life Martin examines the surprising ways people in which respond to his material - both travellers and the settled community. Martin argues it's important to engage in comedy that can make you feel uncomfortable.
SAT 06:00 News and Papers (m001hnv5)
The latest news headlines. Including the weather and a look at the papers.
SAT 06:07 Open Country (m001hfr7)
Seahenge
Seahenge is an extraordinary early Bronze Age timber monument which was found on a beach in North Norfolk. Formed of a giant up-turned tree trunk surrounded by wooden posts, it's believed to have been a place where the dead were laid out. It was originally built on land on the edge of saltmarsh, but shifting sea levels meant that it became swamped by the marsh and was then preserved in a layer of peat. Four thousand years later, with further changes to the coastline around The Wash, it emerged once more - as the waves eroded the peat away, revealing the ancient timbers beneath.
In this programme, Rose Ferraby traces the story of the monument. She meets the man who originally alerted archaeologists to its presence in the sand at Holme-next-the-Sea, and talks to some of the team who worked on the project to excavate it almost a quarter of a century ago. She goes to see the preserved timbers in the museum at King's Lynn, and reflects on what Seahenge reveals about people's relationships with their landscape in prehistory, and how they have adapted to life on this ever-changing coast.
Produced by Emma Campbell
SAT 06:30 Farming Today (m001hnv7)
28/01/23 FTTW: Land use, Defra secretary, fishing week
Farming and the environment with the Defra Secretary, Therese Coffey.
How should we use our land? With competing priorities of housing, solar farms, food production and woodland to name but a few, who decides? We hear from Sir Charles Godfray, director of the Oxford Martin School at Oxford University.
And research on abuse of migrant labour within the fishing industry.
Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Beatrice Fenton.
SAT 06:57 Weather (m001hnv9)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SAT 07:00 Today (m001hnvc)
Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (m001hnvf)
Haydn Gwynne
Haydn Gwynne joins Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles. The actor talks about her latest role in The Great British Bake Off Musical. Since deciding to pursue acting in her mid-twenties, Gwynne has had a varied career on stage and screen, including playing Camilla in The Windsors.
Award winning composer Peter Raeburn’s work has ranged from films such as Sexy Beast to adverts including Guinness Surfer. Peter’s forthcoming album Recovery is based on his personal experiences after having life-saving brain-surgery.
Caro Giles lives in rural Northumberland. Her memoir Twelve Moons reflects on the joys and difficulties of immersing herself in the environment that now surrounds her.
Tom Allen shares his Inheritance Tracks: Saving All My Love for You by Whitney Houston and Chicago by Sufjan Stevens. Tom is on tour from1st February and his book Too Much is out now.
Adam Henson is a farmer and presenter. He runs Cotswold Farm Park in Gloucestershire, which pioneers rare breed conservation and was opened by his father Joe in 1971. Television credits include Countryfile, Lambing Live, Coast and Inside Out. His latest book ‘Two For Joy’ looks at countryside superstitions and folklore.
Producer: Claire Bartleet
SAT 10:30 The Kitchen Cabinet (m001hnvh)
Series 39
Tring
Jay Rayner is back for a new series. This week he's joined by culinary experts Andi Oliver, Tim Hayward, Fliss Freeborn and food historian Dr Annie Gray.
Jay and the panel are in Tring, Hertfordshire, an area famous for flour production. Archeobotanist and organic farmer John Letts explains what he thinks makes medieval heritage grains superior to ‘commodity’ grains, while the panel offer advice on how to use flour to its full potential.
Tring is also famous for the Natural History Museum and its collection of stuffed mammals, birds and insects, allowing the panel to ponder the most exotic thing they have ever stuffed to eat. The debate reveals some surprising answers - not for the faint hearted!
Producer: Daniel Cocker
Assistant Producer: Rahnee Prescod
Executive Producer: Louisa Field
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 11:00 The Week in Westminster (m001hnvl)
Top commentators review the political week
SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m001hnvn)
A Bitter Winter in Afghanistan
Kate Adie presents stories from Afghanistan, Peru, Russia, the US and Spain
As Afghanistan experiences its harshest winter in a decade, Lyse Doucet travels to Salang, the world's highest road tunnel. After roadside service comes to her team's rescue, she visits a struggling family who are cut off from aid and battling to keep warm.
Peru is seeing some of its worst clashes since the return of democracy, with protesters demanding that interim president, Dina Boluarte, resign and make way for a general election and a new constitution. Many of the biggest protests were in southern Peru but Mitra Taj spoke to those who took their grievances to the capital, Lima.
We meet a drag queen in Saint Petersburg who says Russia's new anti-LGBT law is crushing gay nightlife in the city. Our correspondent Will Vernon discovers this increased censorship also extends to bookshops, streaming services and high street shops -all part of Vladimir Putin's battle against Western values.
Barbara Plett Usher was in Washington for the anti-abortion activists' annual March for Life, which has been held every year since the Roe v Wade Supreme Court decision in 1973. She meets protesters on both sides of the debate, and finds America's battle over abortion is far from over.
In Spain, Guy Hedgecoe visits San Fernando, the hometown of the much revered flamenco singer, Camarón de la Isla, where, three decades after the singer's death, his memory is as cherished as the legacy of his music.
Producers: Serena Tarling and Louise Hidalgo
Production Coordinator: Iona Hammond
SAT 12:00 News Summary (m001hnvq)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SAT 12:04 Money Box (m001hnvs)
Bereavement Support and Energy Vouchers
For the first time unmarried parents will be entitled to bereavement benefits after a change in law was passed this week. Until now these benefits have only been given to a bereaved spouse or civil partner. It comes more than four years since the Supreme Court ruled that denying them benefits was unlawful under the European Convention on Human Rights. The change will be backdated to the the day of that judgement 30 August 2018. We'll explain how it works and who can claim.
Nearly a third of the vouchers issued to people on prepayment energy meters so they can access the government's Energy Bills Support Scheme have not been claimed according to figures released this week. It means more than a million households on the lowest incomes struggling to pay their energy bills are missing out on £400 of financial support offered this winter by the government. We'll investigate why that's happening, and what you should do if you haven't claimed yours.
New figures from His Majesty's Revenue and Customs reveal that £5.3 billion was generated from inheritance tax, from April to December last year. That’s £700 million more than in the same period a year earlier. We'll explain how it works and who it applies to.
Plus a reminder that the deadline to fill out you Self Assessment tax return is in just a few days time. (31st January 2023)
Presenter: Paul Lewis
Reporter: Dan Whitworth
Researchers: Sandra Hardial and Jo Krasner
Editor: Jess Quayle
(First broadcast
12pm, Saturday 28th January, 2023)
SAT 12:30 The News Quiz (m001hg0p)
Series 110
Episode 5
Andy Zaltzman is joined by Geoff Norcott, Chris McCausland, Isabel Hardman and Maisie Adam. This week they discuss a taxing week for Nadhim Zahawi, a downer week for levelling up, and the small matter of the end of the world.
Hosted and written by Andy Zaltzman with additional material from Alice Fraser, Davina Bentley, Simon Alcock, and Cameron Loxdale.
Producer: Sam Holmes
Executive Producer: Pete Strauss
Production Co-ordinator: Becky Carewe-Jeffries
Sound Editor: Marc Willcox
A BBC Studios Production
SAT 12:57 Weather (m001hnvv)
The latest weather forecast
SAT 13:00 News and Weather (m001hnvz)
The latest national and international news and weather reports from BBC Radio 4
SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (m001hg0w)
Daisy Cooper MP, Anneliese Dodds MP, Kevin Hollinrake MP, Matthew Parris
Alex Forsyth presents political debate from Darley Abbey Scouts Hall in Derby. On the panel: Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Daisy Cooper MP; Chair of the Labour Party, Anneliese Dodds MP; Business Minister, Kevin Hollinrake MP; Columnist and broadcaster Matthew Parris.
Producer: Emma Campbell
Lead broadcast engineer: Chris Hardman
SAT 14:00 Any Answers? (m001hnw3)
Have your say on the issues discussed on Any Questions?
SAT 14:45 39 Ways to Save the Planet (m0010xpd)
Hydrogen Revolution
It could be the clean fuel of the near future- for homes and for heavy machinery. Lord Bamford, head of JCB, is betting that it will power the next generation of emission-free tractors, diggers and loaders. Tom Heap meets the JCB team and discusses the pros and cons of hydrogen with climate scientist, Tamsin Edwards of King's College, London.
Producer: Alasdair Cross
Researcher: Sarah Goodman
Produced in association with the Royal Geographical Society. Special thanks for this episode to Mickella Dawkins at Loughborough University and from the University of Edinburgh, Dr Katriona Edlmann, Dr Romain Viguier and Dr Ali Hassanpouryouzband.
SAT 15:00 The Jungle Book (m000t4v3)
Episode 2
Ayeesha Menon takes Rudyard Kipling’s family classic and gives it a darker twist, re-imagining it in the concrete jungle of present-day India. A gangland coming-of-age fable.
Mowgli, the orphan boy at the centre of the story, is being brought up by the Wolves, a gang of petty criminals in a tenement block in Mumbai, and quickly learns how to survive in that world. But when the villainous politician, Tiger Khan, threatens Mowgli's life, two residents of the tenement block, "black panther" Bagheera and the "bear" Baloo, offer to help him escape and he embarks on a journey of self-discovery through the city, meeting "creatures" along the way who don't always have his best interests at heart.
Recorded in India.
CAST:
Mo - Namit Das
Tiger Khan - Rajit Kapur
Mrs Gupta - Shernaz Patel
Mr Gupta- Zafar Karachiwala
Bugs - Sukant Goel
Yuva- Abir Abrar
Kala- Shikha Talsania
Rikita- Devika Shahani
Father Carvalho - Sohrab Ardeshir
Young Kala/Rani- Preetika Chawla
Young Mo - Omkar Kulkarni
Dimple - Trisha Kale
Bobby - Alka Sharma
Varun/Boy - Ajitesh Gupta
Amma - Prerna Chawla
Raksha- Shivani Tanksale
Rafiq & Naag- Tavish Bhattacharyya
Baldeo/Tabaqui/Purun Bhagat- Vivek Madan
Akhil - Nadir Khan
Music by Sacha Puttnam
Songs written and performed by Satchit Puranik
Written and directed by Ayeesha Menon
Producer: Nadir Khan
Executive Producer: John Scott Dryden
A Goldhawk production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 16:00 Woman's Hour (m001hnw9)
Triathlete and screenwriter Lesley Paterson; Zara Aleena's murder & probation service failings; the Woman's Hour Power List 2023
Lesley Paterson is a five times world champion triathlete. She’s also a successful screenwriter, who has just been nominated for an Oscar and a BAFTA for Best Adapted Screenplay for the film All Quiet on the Western Front. It’s taken her sixteen years to get the film made. A woman no stranger to endurance, she explains how she used her prize money from her sporting career to help fund the film.
An independent review into Zara Aleena's murder found a catalogue of errors by the probation service. We speak to HM Chief Inspector of Probation Justin Russell who conducted the review, along with Zara Aleena's aunt Farah Naz.
The Woman's Hour Power List for 2023 is here! Last year was a game-changer for the visibility and perception of women in sport in this country and we want to showcase inspirational women – both on and off the field – who are spearheading and building on this momentum. The chair of judges Jessica Creighton launches the Power List and explains how you can make your suggestion.
What is the role of a best friend at a deathbed? We All Want Impossible Things is a new novel by Catherine Newman exploring the topic. She reveals how her personal experience inspired the book.
During World War Two, a house in Tynemouth was used as a sanctuary for more than 20 Jewish girls fleeing Nazi persecution. They had come to the UK on the Kindertransport. After a BBC investigation, a blue plaque was unveiled there yesterday, Holocaust Memorial Day, celebrating the house's forgotten past and those that found sanctuary there. Two of the girls who lived in the house were Ruth David and Elfi Jonas. We speak to their daughters, Margaret Finch and Helen Strange, about their mothers and their visit to the house.
SAT 17:00 PM (m001hnwf)
Full coverage of the day's news
SAT 17:30 Political Thinking with Nick Robinson (m001hnwk)
The Tony Danker One
Nick Robinson talks to the director general of the Confederation of British Industry, Tony Danker. They discuss what it was like to grow up in a Jewish family in Belfast during 'The Troubles', why he chose to join the Treasury three weeks after Lehman Brothers collapsed in 2008 and how his calls for post-Brexit Britain's economy to grow more led to ministers accusing him of talking the country down.
SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m001hnwp)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SAT 17:57 Weather (m001hnwt)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SAT 18:00 Six O' Clock News (m001hnwy)
Israeli police have detained a thirteen year old boy who shot and wounded two people in the second attack in occupied East Jerusalem in as many days.
SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (m001hnx2)
Layton Williams, Catherine Cohen, Steve Bugeja, Damian Dibben, Nickel Creek, Sacha T, Arthur Smith, Clive Anderson
Clive Anderson and Arthur Smith are joined by Layton Williams, Catherine Cohen, Steve Bugeja and Damian Dibben for an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy. With music from Nickel Creek and Sacha T.
SAT 19:00 Profile (m001hnx6)
Nan Goldin
Nan Goldin has been documenting her life through photography since her teens, revealing and intimate portraits exploring issues from sex and drug addition to domestic violence and parenthood. Laura Poitras's film celebrating Nan's work, 'All the Beauty and the Bloodshed' has been nominated for an Oscar.
Mark Coles looks at the life of the acclaimed artist, whose addiction to prescription opioids made her determined to hold Purdue Pharma and their owners the Sackler family accountable for the US Opioid addiction crisis. The campaign resulted in galleries and museums around the world cutting financial ties with the Sacklers, because of their link to the prescription opioid OxyContin.
Presenter: Mark Coles
Producers: Viv Jones, Tural Ahmedzade and Ben Cooper
Editor: Richard Vadon
SAT 19:15 This Cultural Life (m001hnxb)
Eliza Carthy
Musician Eliza Carthy was born into an English folk dynasty. The daughter of acclaimed folk singers Martin Carthy and Norma Waterson, she joined the family business at a young age as a singer and violinist, playing with her parents as Waterson Carthy and with her mother, her aunt Lal and her cousin Marry as The Waterdaughters. As a solo artist and bandleader, Eliza has explored the roots of folk and expanded the repertoire. Awarded an MBE in 2014, she was twice nominated for the Mercury Prize for album of the year, and in 2021 became the president of the English Folk Dance and Music Society.
She tells John Wilson about the first time she attended the Vancouver Folk Music Festival in 1989, aged 13. Standing on the main stage at sunset overlooking the mountains and sea was a defining moment at the start of her career. She also discusses the influence that singer Billy Bragg and Scottish folk rock band Shooglenifty had on her music. Eliza also talks about the impact of the pandemic on the folk music community and the personal loss of her mother.
Producer: Edwina Pitman
SAT 20:00 Archive on 4 (m000djx2)
Call Jane at 643-3844
"Pregnant? Don't want to be? Call Jane at 643-3844"
Between 1969 and 1973, in the years before the Roe v Wade ruling first opened up access to abortion across the country, a group of women in Chicago built an underground service.
The University of Chicago student Heather Booth had been asked for help in 1965, when a friend's sister with an unwanted pregnancy was distraught and nearly suicidal. Her friend wanted to know if there was anywhere to turn in a state where abortion was illegal and where there was little guarantee for a woman's health or safety if she did manage to secure one.
In response, Booth found a connection to the civil rights leader and surgeon TRM. Howard, who performed the procedure. Word spread quickly that she was someone who could help women access safe abortions.
As the years went on and the number of calls increased, she looked for others to help carry on her work - and Jane: The Abortion Counseling Service of Women's Liberation began in earnest.
At first, the women sought out doctors for the procedure but, eventually, they found someone who trained them to carry out the abortions themselves. It's estimated that the women performed over 11,000 abortions during this time.
In this documentary, we hear archive from the time, exploring the climate in the years running up to the 1973 Roe v Wade ruling, alongside an interview with a detective tasked with investigating Jane (originally recorded for the Radio Diaries podcast The Story of Jane), voices from the city and new interviews with Jane members.
This documentary was updated in January 2023, after first airing on 18th January 2020.
Presented by Laura Barton
Produced by Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 21:00 Stone (b09l1yh2)
Series 7
Episode 4
Stone Episode 4 by Richard Monks.
DCI Stone's investigation into a murder victim's final movements shines a spotlight on several new suspects but will Stone and his team manage to track them down?
Writer Richard Monks
Created by Danny Brocklehurst
Script Editor Caitlin Crawford
Director Nadia Molinari
Producers: Gary Brown and Nadia Molinari
Series:
DCI John Stone investigates the suspicious death of a man in a fire at a homeless hostel. Stone's enquiries lead him to re-examine a murder he worked on twenty years before in order to solve the case. In doing so he uncovers a web of lies and deceit that make him face past mistakes and lead to personal trauma.
SAT 21:45 Rabbit Remembered (m0009km5)
Episode 4
Written ten years after his Pulitzer Prize winning tetralogy about Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom, John Updike revisits the family a decade on from Harry's death to contemplate how the family has got on without him.
Rabbit's son Nelson has recovered from his drug habit but separated from his wife. Janice, his widow has remarried. But into their lives steps Annabelle, Harry's illegitimate daughter. And echoes of the past begin to cascade into the present.
Read by Toby Jones
Abridged by Robin Brooks
Produced by Clive Brill
A Brill production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 22:00 News (m001hnxg)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4
SAT 22:15 Moral Maze (m001hff1)
Human Maturity
Nicola Sturgeon has argued for a wider debate on teenagers' rights, as she defended plans to allow 16-year-olds to change their legal gender in Scotland. Each society settles on its own thresholds to determine when a person is old enough to make informed decisions about matters including voting, having sex or drinking alcohol. This is a collective agreement about the legal point at which human beings reach maturity. But what is human maturity in moral terms?
Aristotle warned against trusting the judgments of the young, saying, “they have exalted notions, because they have not been humbled by life or learned its necessary limitations”. Meanwhile, psychological studies suggest that the period of adolescence among Gen Z has extended – ‘25 is the new 18’ – which means that ‘adult’ roles and responsibilities now occur later than in they once did. All this is evidence, according to some, that teenagers’ judgments are less likely to be sound than their elders, and rather than expecting them to be political beings, we should allow them to be kids. Conversely, there are those who argue that younger generations have been failed by a system that is rigged to favour the interests of older people; that they should play more of an active role in our democracy because their concerns are the concerns of the future; and that they are more likely to make better judgements about society because they are far more connected to the world and aware of their own values than previous generations.
Should we trust children and teenagers to make good judgments about the future? Or, if active citizenship is the preserve of adulthood, what is an adult?
Producer: Dan Tierney.
SAT 23:00 Counterpoint (m001hf22)
Series 36
Heat 3, 2023
(3/13)
Three more music lovers join Paul Gambaccini for another contest of musical knowledge, spanning music of all ages and genres. The competitors today will have to demonstrate their knowledge of everything from Schubert and Purcell to Prince and Massive Attack, with plenty of extracts to identify and some long-buried musical memories.
As well as being asked general knowledge music questions, the three competitors will each have to choose a special musical topic for their own individual round - with no warning of the subject choices and no chance to prepare.
Taking part are:
Shanine Salmon from Croydon
Ian Sanders from Gloucestershire
George Spann from Solihull.
Assistant Producer: Stephen Garner
Producer: Paul Bajoria
SAT 23:30 Poetry Please (m001hdpq)
Lavinia Greenlaw
Lavinia Greenlaw is the author of The Importance of Music To Girls as well as most recently Some Answers Without Questions. Her latest poetry collection The Built Moment was published in 2019.
She sifts through the poetry requests and chooses amongst others work by William Blake, Raymond Antrobus and Denise Levertov.
SUNDAY 29 JANUARY 2023
SUN 00:00 Midnight News (m001hnxl)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 00:15 Torn (m001bl0m)
The stories behind the clothes we wear
Miniskirt
It's 1965 and London is about to become the capital of cool.
Designer Mary Quant is watching the fashionable girls of Chelsea go by from the window of her shop, Bazaar. Their hemlines seem to be getting shorter and shorter. Inspired, Mary gets to work and what she comes up with many will find deeply shocking. It’s the miniskirt.
In episode eight of Torn, Gus Casely-Hayford finds that media, society and feminists can never agree on whether the miniskirt is a good thing. Fashion historian Valerie Steele draws parallels with the 1920s when feminist disagreed over whether the knee-length flapper skirt was frivolous, or favourable to feminism.
Gus discovers that when Mary Quant popularised the miniskirt in the 1960s, no matter what the papers or parents had to say about them, girls and young women were desperate to get their hands on one. Eve Shrewsbury was one of them, and she shocked the older generation in her village in rural Northamptonshire by wearing a miniskirt. Fast forward to 2019 when Clara Mitchell decides to wear a miniskirt to high school in Little Rock, Arkansas and the controversy surrounding her decision goes viral.
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 (m001hg0f)
The Private Room
In 1941, a military hospital in Ayrshire braces to receive an influx of patients.
Andrew O'Hagan's story of lost love and enduring hope takes in the Clydebank Blitz, inconstant lovers and the poems of Robert Burns.
Read by Barbara Rafferty
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie
Andrew O'Hagan is a Booker-nominated writer of novels and non-fiction and editor-at-large for the LRB. An adaptation of O’Hagan’s most recent novel, 'Mayflies', was broadcast on BBC1 over Christmas and is available on iPlayer.
SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m001hnxq)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m001hnxv)
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 (m001hnxz)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SUN 05:30 News Briefing (m001hny5)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (m001hnyc)
The Minster Church of St Peter, Leeds in West Yorkshire.
Bells on Sunday comes from the Minster Church of St Peter, Leeds in West Yorkshire. In 1842 on completion of the present building the tower housed a ring of twelve bells cast by Mears and Stainbank of Whitechapel, London. It is reputed these were the first ever bells to travel by rail. These bells were recast by John Taylor of Loughborough in 1932 with a new Tenor weighing forty hundredweight and tuned to the note of C. We hear the bells ringing Pudsey Surprise Maximus.
SUN 05:45 Profile (m001hnx6)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 06:00 News Summary (m001hnvy)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b03cd94h)
Peeling the Dragon Skin
Eustace Clarence Scrubb is a thoroughly unlikeable boy. He learns his lesson, in CS Lewis's book The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, when he is transformed into a dragon.
Inspired by Eustace's story, John McCarthy explores our relationship to our skins and how what's inside us is affected and shaped by what is outside us.
John considers how a tough hide can make us feel safe but can also get in the way, inhibiting our attempts to build meaningful relationships. He questions our assumptions about how physical ugliness might be linked to emotional or mental worth, and meets John Furse, film and television director and writer, who has suffered from a condition called Body Dysmorphic Disorder since youth. This debilitating mental illness causes sufferers to focus obsessively on what they see as horrific defects in their appearance.
As Eustace-the-dragon hankers for transformation, John considers why real change is so hard and frightening for many of us, and how every new beginning is intrinsically bound up with something ending. And as he explores what Lewis's rich and strange tale reveals about human nature. John also finally reveals what happens to Eustace.
The programme includes readings from CS Lewis, Dorothy L Sayers, Janet Malcolm, Roald Dahl and TS Eliot, with music by Benjamin Britten, Simon and Garfunkel and Igor Stravinsky.
Presenter: John McCarthy
Producer: Kate Taylor
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (m001hnw2)
Wool, women and winter
Ruth Sanderson visits Kilburns farm in north east Fife to meet Rachel Crawford, who has taken over her family farm. The land was tenanted out for many years for arable farming, but Rachel has brought it back into livestock production. Looking for added value in the marketplace, she has invested in a flock of merino sheep, her ambition being to create sustainable wool products and improve the environmental footprint of her farm - all while juggling care for her three young children. She shows Ruth round her farm, on a bitterly cold day.
Produced and presented by Ruth Sanderson
SUN 06:57 Weather (m001hnw6)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SUN 07:00 News and Papers (m001hnwb)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 07:10 Sunday (m001hnwg)
Spiritual Bear; Better Sermons
A teddy bear that was found washed up on a beach has been given a new lease of life and is now providing support to children and people living in care homes. The bear was restored by the Reverend Canon Eleanor Rance and its journey from discarded toy to "therapy bear" generated a global response on social media. The bear, named Sinbad, is used to help people to reflect on issues like brokenness and second chances. Reverend Rance tells us that people have found resonance in how he was washed up on a beach and then given a new start.
What's the trick to writing a really inspiring sermon? How can clergy keep their congregation listening? Pope Francis has suggested that Catholic homilies are often a disaster and recently repeated his call for them to be no longer than eight to ten minutes long. Quality is another consideration. Edward Stourton explores the issue with Quentin Letts, parliamentary sketch writer for the Times and drama critic of the Sunday Times and Revd Dr Alycia Timmis, Priest in Charge of the Northleach Benefice in the Anglican Diocese of Gloucester.
Producers: Jonathan Hallewell and Bara'atu Ibrahim
Presenter: Edward Stourton
SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (m001hnmj)
Justice and Care
Presenter Simon Thomas makes the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of the charity Justice and Care.
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 ‘Justice and Care'.
- Cheques should be made payable to ‘Justice and Care’.
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: 1133829
SUN 07:57 Weather (m001hnwl)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SUN 08:00 News and Papers (m001hnwq)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (m001hnwv)
Lest we forget...
Friday was Holocaust Memorial Day, the day for everyone to remember the millions of people murdered in the Holocaust under Nazi Persecution, and in the genocides which followed. This meditation, live from the West London Synagogue, as well as bringing to memory the atrocities of the Nazis, also marks the genocides of Armenia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and the present day persecution of the Uyghurs, China having been accused of committing crimes against humanity possibly amounting to genocide. Candles will be lit for all these by prominent members of the Jewish community and honoured guests, the last candle being for LGBT+ victims of the Holocaust. The meditation will be led by Rabbi David Mitchell, with an address by The Reverend Canon James Hawkey, Canon Theologian of Westminster Abbey. The Choir of West London Synagogue will present music from the much celebrated 19th century Cantorial Tradition, and the meditation will also include a Uyghur folksong.
Director of Music: Richard Hills; Producer: Philip Billson.
Website image: The Night. Permission for use given by the artist Guy Jones.
SUN 08:48 A Point of View (m001hg0y)
On Communal Living
Rebecca Stott ponders if a move to more communal living could be key in solving some of our most pressing problems.
'I've begun to wonder whether our current crises of social care, childcare, energy, climate, housing could be the catalyst that makes some of us rethink the solitary ways we live,' she writes, 'to search for more practical, affordable and sustainable alternatives to the nuclear single-family household?'
Producer: Adele Armstrong
Sound: Peter Bosher
Production coordinator: Iona Hammond
Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith
SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (b09h2rbp)
Greta Scacchi on the Goldfinch
Actress Greta Scacchi compares the birds she once knew in Australia with those who now visit her London home, especially the goldfinch which makes her very happy.
Producer: Andrew Dawes
Photograph: Gareth Hardwick.
SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (m001hnwz)
The Sunday morning news magazine programme. Presented by Paddy O'Connell
SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (m001hnx3)
Writer, Tim Stimpson
Director, Jeremy Howe
Editor, Jeremy Howe
Brian Aldridge ….. Charles Collingwood
David Archer ….. Timothy Bentinck
Jolene Archer ….. Buffy Davis
Pat Archer ….. Patricia Gallimore
Ruth Archer ….. Felicity Finch
Tony Archer ….. David Troughton
Lilian Bellamy ….. Sunny Ormonde
Alice Carter ….. Hollie Chapman
Chris Carter ….. Wilf Scolding
Neil Carter ….. Brian Hewlett
Ruairi Donovan ….. Arthur Hughes
Justin Elliott ….. Simon Williams
Jakob Hakansson ….. Paul Venables
Adam Macy ….. Andrew Wincott
Kate Madikane ….. Perdita Avery
Stella Pryor …. Lucy Speed
Julianne Wright ….. Lisa Bowerman
SUN 11:15 Desert Island Discs (m001hnx7)
Professor Corinne Le Quéré, climate scientist
Corinne Le Quéré is the Royal Society Research Professor of Climate Change Science at the University of East Anglia where she studies the way marine ecosystems respond to climate change. She uses computer simulators of the ocean to assess how the carbon cycle functions and her climate models have resulted in significant findings about how warmer temperatures have affected the ocean’s ability to absorb carbon.
Corinne was born in Quebec and as a child spent camping holidays in the national parks of Eastern Canada which fostered her interest in the natural world. She studied physics at the University of Montréal and then took a Masters in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences. Her love of oceanography began with a desire to uncover the mysteries that lie beneath the waves.
In 2007, while she was working with UEA and the British Antarctic Survey, she published her landmark paper which demonstrated that human activity reduced the Southern Ocean’s capacity to absorb atmospheric carbon dioxide.
Corinne advises the UK Committee on Climate Change and served on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) when it won the Nobel Prize in 2007. She was appointed a CBE in 2019.
Corinne lives with her husband in Norfolk where she hopes one day to buy a piece of land and plant a forest which will play a central part in her personal plan to achieve carbon neutrality.
DISC ONE: La Vida Es Un Carnaval by Celia Cruz
DISC TWO: Les copains d’abord by Georges Brassens
DISC THREE: We are the Champions by Queen
DISC FOUR: Harmonie du soir à Chateauguay by Beau Dommage
DISC FIVE: Proud Mary (Live) by Tina Turner
DISC SIX: Die Zauberflöte, K. 620, Act 2: "Der Hölle Rache (Konigin der Nacht)" (Queen of Night) composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, performed by Bernard Haitink, Edita Gruberová, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks
DISC SEVEN: LDN by Lily Allen
DISC EIGHT: Three-Part Inventions: Sinfonia 15 BWV 801, composed by Johann Sebastian Bach, performed by Martin Stadtfeld
BOOK CHOICE: World Atlas of the Oceans by Dave Monahan
LUXURY ITEM: A mask and snorkel
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: La Vida Es Un Carnaval by Celia Cruz
Presenter Lauren Laverne
Producer Paula McGinley
SUN 12:00 News Summary (m001hny3)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 12:04 Just a Minute (m001hf32)
Series 90
Wordle, Swing Dancing and Broken Resolutions
Sue Perkins challenges Gyles Brandreth, Lucy Porter, Ria Lina and Rhys James to speak for 60 seconds without repetition, deviation or hesitation.
The long-running Radio 4 national treasure of a parlour game returns with subjects ranging from Swing Dancing to Wordle.
Production co-ordinator: Caroline Barlow
Sound editor: Marc Willcox
Producer: Rajiv Karia
A BBC Studios Production.
SUN 12:32 The Food Programme (m001hnxh)
Brexit and Food: How is it working out?
Three years after the UK left the EU, and two years after the end of the transition period, Jaega Wise speaks to some UK food producers about if and how Brexit is still affecting their businesses. The Trade and Cooperation Agreement signed with the EU allows UK businesses tariff-free trade with the EU, but as some quickly discovered at the end of January 2021, "third country" trading rules must be followed. For most in the food sector that has meant more paperwork, having food checked by vets, and longer waits at ports.
Jaega Wise speaks to small, medium and large business owners to find out about the ongoing impact, she hears how cocoa beans and cardboard boxes are being stockpiled in a railway arch, how growers in the Lea Valley are fighting for staff, and how a single test for water quality could shut down exports for weeks.
The programme also hears from Professor of Economics at Bristol University Richard Davies, who explains how he has calculated the additional cost Brexit has added to all our food bills, and why he does not think the added costs are likely to come down. Plus we hear how Northern Irish producers are still being affected by the Protocol.
Despite all this, the Food and Drink Federation says trade is almost back to where it was before Brexit, but there are still many challenges that are impacting confidence in the industry.
Presented by Jaega Wise
Produced in Bristol by Natalie Donovan
SUN 12:57 Weather (m001hnxm)
The latest weather forecast
SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (m001hnxr)
Radio 4's look at the week's big stories from both home and around the world
SUN 13:30 Why Coups Fail (m001hnxw)
Recently, in both Europe and the United States, there have been serious attempts to overthrow elected governments by force.
History is full of examples of coups d'etat succeeding, going all the way back to Ancient Rome. But these latest coup attempts failed. And they left a strange impression: of events that were part-horrific, part-absurd.
In this programme, the novelist and classicist Natalie Haynes takes three examples of power grabs from Ancient Rome - one by the military, one by senators, and one conducted by stealth - and uses them to try to make sense of recent events in France, Germany and America.
With the help of leading scholars of the dark art of the coup, she probes why these assaults on power flopped, and what all this tells us about where power now lies. And she asks where the subtler threats to democracy are lurking, against which we now need to be on guard.
Contributors include: Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Alexander Clarkson, Rory Cormac.
Producer: Phil Tinline
SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m001hg0c)
From the Archives: Pests and Diseases
Kathy Clugston dives into the GQT archives for advice on how to deal with pests and diseases.
Past panels share their knowledge on everything from how to get rid of slugs, snails and sciarid flies to whether you should keep your dog from cocking its leg on a privet hedge. In classic GQT style, there's plenty of disagreement about what a pest is or isn’t.
And almost 40 years ago, John Humphrys asked if the panel could imagine a move away from using chemicals in gardening. The prophecy that organic gardening would become favourable was, in fact, very accurate.
Also on the programme, in honour of National Plant Health week in May 2022, Pippa Greenwood visited the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew to see their 'Quarantine Unit'.
Producer: Dominic Tyerman
Assistant Producer: Rahnee Prescod
Executive Producer: Louisa Field
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 14:45 Opening Lines (m001hny1)
Lady Chatterley's Lover (Episode 1)
John Yorke looks into Lady Chatterley’s Lover by DH Lawrence. In this first of two episodes about the book, he outlines the simple story at the heart of this most controversial of novels.
Although it’s chiefly known for its graphic descriptions of sex and its liberal use of four letter words, John asks if the book is actually much more than a titillating tale about a passion that crosses the class divide. He looks at how the horrors of the Great War affected Lawrence and drove him to write what was for him a manifesto that would allow a traumatised nation to heal.
John Yorke has worked in television and radio for nearly 30 years, and he shares his experience with Radio 4 listeners as he unpacks the themes and impact of the books, plays and stories that are being dramatised in BBC Radio 4’s Sunday Drama series.
From EastEnders to the Archers, Life on Mars to Shameless, he has been obsessed with telling big popular stories. He has spent years analysing not just how stories work but why they resonate with audiences around the globe and has brought together his experience in his bestselling book Into the Woods. As former Head of Channel Four Drama, Controller of BBC Drama Production and MD of Company Pictures, John has tested his theories during an extensive production career working on some of the world’s most lucrative, widely viewed and critically acclaimed TV drama. As founder of the hugely successful BBC Writers Academy John has trained a generation of screenwriters (his students have had 17 green-lights in the last two years alone).
Contributors:
Alison MacLeod, author of Tenderness
Geoff Dyer author of Out of Sheer Rage: In the Shadow of DH Lawrence.
Reading by Ian Hogg
Credits:
Lady Chatterley's Lover by D H Lawrence, BBC Radio 4 January 1990
Abridged for radio by Alan England
Read by Ian Hogg
Producer Philip Martin, BBC Pebble Mill.
Sons and Lovers, BBC Radio on the Third Programme 1955
Produced by Christopher Sykes
Produced by Alison Vernon-Smith
Executive Producer: Caroline Raphael
Sound by Sean Kerwin
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 15:00 Drama (m001hnyb)
The Chatterleys (Part 1)
The Chatterleys is a vibrant new version of a well-known scandalous novel, a reinterpretation that gets back to the essence of DH Lawrence’s original - a marriage adapting to one person becoming disabled and the quest to become parents.
It's the latest collaboration between award winning audio indie, Naked Productions and Graeae, placing Deaf and disabled actors centre stage to challenge preconceptions and change attitudes towards deaf, disabled and neurodivergent artists.
This cutting edge interpretation of Lawrence’s infamous novel of love, sex and class, is reframed as a 21st century drama about the impact of war, austerity and modern relationships. The drama was developed by working closely with members of BLESMA (British Limbless E Service Men Association), to inform the story and perform in the production.
The Chatterleys is set in contemporary Redcar, North East England, an area with strong military links, tough economic conditions and spectacular coastal landscape. It offers a dynamic insight into modern life, in particular the challenges of becoming disabled and learning to create a ‘new normal’. It is also, at heart, a love story.
The writer, Mike Kenny, is one of the UK's leading playwrights. He was included in the Independent on Sunday’s list of Top Ten Living UK Playwrights and his plays are performed regularly throughout the UK and all over the world. His adaptation of The Railway Children won an Olivier Award.
A transcript of the drama will be available for deaf and hard of hearing people on the BBC Radio 4 website on broadcast.
Episode 1
When Cliff comes back from a tour of Afghanistan, now disabled and in a wheelchair, he and his wife Connie move to Redcar to run his family business. As they struggle to adapt to their new life, a chance meeting with Oliver Mellors at the beach, impacts on them both individually and as a couple.
Cast:
Cliff ..... David Proud
Connie ..... Ashleigh Wilder
Oliver ..... Mark Holgate
Ivy ..... Melody Brown
Hilly ..... Claire Morley
The Book ..... Jonathan Keeble
Directors: Jenny Sealey and Polly Thomas
Sound recordist: Louis Blatherwick
Sound design: Eloise Whitmore
Original music: Megan Steinberg, with additional mastering by Alex Armstrong-Holding
Title track by ANBR
Photograph: Sonya McGhee
With thanks to Christine Landess and the team at BLESMA
Script consultant: Luke Delahunty
Sign language interpreters: Faye Alvi and Caroline Ryan
Production manager: Darren Spruce
Executive producer: Eloise Whitmore
A Naked Productions/Graeae Theatre collaboration for BBC Radio 4
SUN 16:00 Open Book (m001hnml)
Dark Academia with Katy Hays, RF Kuang and Kate Weinberg. Plus Saba Sams' Book I'd Never Lend
Chris Power talks to Katy Hays about her debut novel The Cloisters, a museum-set thriller about youthful infatuation, deadly rivalries and tarot.
RF Kuang is the author Babel, a recent BookTok sensation which reimagines Oxford's colonial history and offers a subversive take on "dark academia". Kate Weinberg, journalist and novelist behind campus murder mystery The Truants, joins her to discuss the trend driven in part by Donna Tarrt The Secret History 30 years after publication.
And with the 2023 prize now open for entries, last year's BBC National Short Story Award winner Saba Sams choses the book she would never part with.
SUN 16:30 Poetry Please (m001hnyf)
Bhanu Kapil
Bhanu Kapil won the TS Eliot Prize for her collection How To Wash A Heart. She chats to Roger about poetry and about the poems she loves. Her selection includes work by Sir John Betjeman, Raymond Antrobus, Alycia Pirmohamed and William Blake.
Producer: Maggie Ayre
SUN 17:00 File on 4 (m001hfd3)
Learning to survive: The School Fighting the Cost of Living Crisis
This episode tells the story of a primary school on the frontline of the cost of living crisis, a school doing more than most to make sure children are fed, warm and have somewhere safe to go home to at night.
File on 4 spent several months recording at Ingol Community Primary in Preston. It’s in one of the most deprived areas in England; more than half of their pupils are on pupil premium - additional state funding aimed at closing the attainment gap between poorer pupils and their peers - but that’s not their only challenge.
This school is going to exceptional lengths to make sure families survive the cost of living crisis this winter, all while battling unprecedented pressure on the school’s own finances. Will they be able to make ends meet and still provide all this extra help for families?
Reporter: Alys Harte
Producer: Ben Robinson
Journalism Assistant: Tim Fernley
Technical Producer: Richard Hannaford
Editor: Carl Johnston
SUN 17:40 Profile (m001hnx6)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m001hnyh)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SUN 17:57 Weather (m001hnyk)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SUN 18:00 Six O' Clock News (m001hnym)
Nadhim Zahawi has been sacked as Conservative Party chairman, after weeks of controversy about his tax affairs.
SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (m001hnyp)
Katie Thistleton
A selection of highlights from the past week on BBC radio
SUN 19:00 The Archers (m001hnyr)
Alice thinks Ruairi will benefit from reading Jennifer’s journal but he doesn’t want to know. However later she happens on him reading it. When Alice tries to connect with Ruairi over it, he rushes off. Alice reads the page Ruairi was looking at to Adam. It’s about Ruairi joining the family. Later she comforts Ruairi who softens towards her only to push her away again when she suggests inviting Julianne to Ambridge.
Adam’s pleased to be keeping busy with work at Bridge Farm. He tells Tony and Pat the logistics for Jennifer’s funeral are complicated. Lilian is sorry to see him head off as she arrives with things still awkward between her and Tony and Pat.
Pat implores Tony to clear the air with Lilian but Tony isn’t sure what else to say. Tony and Pat try to explain why he didn’t tell Lilian about Jennifer’s heart condition but they only rile Lilian who reminds them that she was with Jennifer when she collapsed. Tony points out that he is grieving too but Lilian only sees how unfair it was that he knew about Jennifer’s situation for months whereas her last memory is clutching Jennifer’s hand in an ambulance.
Lilian seeks out Adam keen to talk to someone who feels the same as her about not knowing about Jennifer’s heart condition. Adam surprises her when he says he’s now come to see that it was Jennifer’s decision, and it shows her bravery. Lilian sees she’s the only one who won’t accept this and states she’ll be fine on her own.
SUN 19:15 Believe It! (m000mytw)
Series 5
Autobiography
Richard Wilson returns with another series of not quite true revelations about his life. Jon Canter’s comedic writing is as sharp as ever as he delves into themes such as celebrity, brand awareness and death.
As usual Richard has many friends from whom he seeks advice. Starring Ian McKellen as Head of Gay, Peter Capaldi and David Tennant as the Two Doctors, and Antony Sher as The Man Addicted To Waitrose along with an excellent supporting cast.
It’s a mockumentary and spoof autobiography rolled into one.
CAST:
Richard Wilson
Sir Ian McKellen
John Hollingworth - Kenneth
Rebekah Staton - Camille
David Tennant
Peter Capaldi
Written by Jon Canter
Produced and directed by Clive Brill
A Brill production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 19:45 The Circus (m001hnyt)
Episode 4 - The Impressionist
A former working men’s club in North Belfast called ‘The Circus’ has been refurbished and relaunched with an inaugural talent show – and a massive cash prize for the winner! – inspiring the locals to brush up on some old skills. The new owner, a successful London property developer, has promised to bring a bit of the West End to North Belfast. But can the area really change? Can the people?
Cliftonville Circus is where five roads meet in North Belfast. It is situated in the most deprived part of the city; it is also the most divided. Each road leads to a different area – a different class – a different religion. ‘The Circus’ explores where old Belfast clashes with the new around acceptance, change, class and diversity.
The Author
Born in Belfast, Paul McVeigh has written comedy, essays, flash fiction, a novel, plays and short stories. His work has been performed on radio, stage and television, and published in seven languages. Paul co-founded the London Short Story Festival and is an associate director at Word Factory. His debut novel 'The Good Son' won The Polari First Novel Prize and The McCrea Literary Award. He is also the editor of ‘The 32: Irish Working Class Voices’, ‘Queer Love: An Anthology of Irish Fiction’ and ‘Belfast Stories’.
Writer: Paul McVeigh
Reader: Chris Robinson
Producer: Michael Shannon
Executive Editor: Andy Martin
A BBC Northern Ireland production.
SUN 20:00 More or Less (m001hf95)
Coffee with the chancellor, inflation measures, GP numbers and toilet paper
Jeremy Hunt has pledged in a new social media video to halve the UK’s high rate of inflation. Tim Harford and the team fact check the Chancellor’s claims. Also – CPI, CPIH, RPI – which measure of inflation is best for assessing the impact of the rising cost of living? Plus has the number of GPs in England gone up or down since the start of the pandemic. And does toilet paper cause 15% of global deforestation?
Presenter: Tim Harford
Series Producer: Jon Bithrey
Reporters: Josephine Casserly, Nathan Gower, Louise Hidalgo, Charlotte McDonald
Sound Engineer: James Beard
Production Co-ordinator: Helena Warwick-Cross
Editor: Richard Vadon
SUN 20:30 Last Word (m001hg0h)
Howard Baderman, David Crosby, Milly Thompson, Brenda Heywood
Matthew Bannister on
Howard Baderman, the hospital consultant who transformed the discipline of emergency medicine and treated casualties from high profile events like the Kings Cross Tube Fire and the sinking of the Thames river boat The Marchioness.
David Crosby (pictured), the singer and songwriter with the Byrds and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young whose life went through periods of chaos through drug addiction.
Milly Thompson, the artist who, as a member of the BANK collective, satirised the pretentiousness of the art world.
Brenda Heywood, the archaeologist who was fascinated by the stories behind the building of Hadrian’s Wall.
Producer: Neil George
Interviewed guest: James Baderman
Interviewed guest: Simon Bedwell
Interviewed guest: Sacha Craddock
Interviewed guest: Suzanne Heywood
Archive clips used: BBC Radio 4, The World Tonight – King’s Cross fire 18/11/1987; BBC One, Breakfast Time – King’s Cross fire 19/11/1987; BBC One, The Nine O’Clock News 20/08/1989; BBC One, BBC Breakfast News 03/06/1991; WNYC, Here’s The Thing – David Crosby 24/04/2018; BBC Radio 4, Mastertapes – David Crosby (The B-Side) 19/11/2013; BBC Radio 4, Mastertapes – David Crosby (The A-Side) 18/11/2013; Channel 5 News (US) – Today 12/12/1985; AXS TV, The Big Interview with Dan Rather – Crosby, Stills & Nash 07/02/2020.
SUN 21:00 Money Box (m001hnvs)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 on Saturday]
SUN 21:25 Radio 4 Appeal (m001hnmj)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 today]
SUN 21:30 Icon (m001cx1q)
Episode 5: Fabulous!
As opportunities to star in films began to wane, Elizabeth Taylor found a new outlet for her unique brand - perfumery.
She wasn't the first celebrity to launch her own fragrance (Sophia Loren had beaten her to it), but she was the first to be so involved in the creation, design and marketing, setting a template for future celebrities.
With fashion writer Sali Hughes, psychologist Dr Linda Papadopoulos, Dr Milly Williamson of Goldsmiths College, University of London, and Elizabeth Taylor impersonator Louise Gallagher. (Including archive from Barbara Walters 2002 interview with Elizabeth Taylor on ABC.)
Produced by Alan Hall with music by Jeremy Warmsley.
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (m001hnyw)
Carolyn Quinn's guests are the Conservative backbencher Bim Afolami; Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Kyle; and the Lib Dems' foreign affairs spokesperson, Layla Moran. They discuss the sacking of Tory chairman Nadhim Zahawi, following the ethics investigation into his handling of his tax affairs. Jessica Elgot, deputy political editor of The Guardian, brings additional insight and analysis. The panellists also cover the debate of trans-gender rights, and the approaching third anniversary of Brexit.
SUN 23:00 Loose Ends (m001hnx2)
[Repeat of broadcast at
18:15 on Saturday]
SUN 23:30 Something Understood (b03cd94h)
[Repeat of broadcast at
06:05 today]
MONDAY 30 JANUARY 2023
MON 00:00 Midnight News (m001hnyz)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
MON 00:15 Thinking Allowed (m001hfd4)
Religion of Work and Welfare
The religion of work and welfare: Laurie Taylor explores the way in which our understanding of jobs and joblessness has become entangled with religious ideologies. He's joined by Tom Boland, Senior Lecturer in Sociology at University College, Cork, who argues that Western culture has ‘faith’ in the labour market as a test of the worth of each individual. For those who are out of work, welfare is now less a means of support than a means of purification and redemption where job seeking becomes a form of pilgrimage.
Also, Carolyn Chen, Professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, explores how the restructuring of work is transforming religious and spiritual experience in late capitalism. She spent five years conducting an ethnographic study in Silicon Valley and found that tech companies have brought religion into the workplace, in ways that replace churches, temples, and synagogues in workers’ lives and satisfy needs for belonging, identity, purpose, and transcendence. What happens when work replaces religion and are there wider lessons for workers beyond the niche world of high tech?
Producer: Jayne Egerton
MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (m001hnyc)
[Repeat of broadcast at
05:43 on Sunday]
MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m001hnz1)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m001hnz3)
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 (m001hnz5)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
MON 05:30 News Briefing (m001hnz7)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m001hnz9)
Spiritual reflection to start the day with Fr Dermot Morrin of St Albert's Catholic Chaplaincy, Edinburgh
MON 05:45 Farming Today (m001hnzc)
30/01/23 Welsh Agriculture Bill; Rural poverty; Giant Hedge.
The Welsh Government should add more clarity to the bill bringing in the ‘made for Wales’ agriculture policy. That's according to the Senedd’s Economy, Trade and Rural Affairs Committee which has scrutinised the bill, making 50 recommendations. It paves the way for a new Sustainable Farming Scheme - SFS - which is expected to come in 2025. It will pay farmers for efforts to protect and enhance Wales' scenery, environment and wildlife as well as good farming practice. We speak to the committee chair MS Paul Davies who say's it's a vital piece of legislation.
Wandering through the average rural village, poverty is probably not what you see, we’re more likely to notice the picturesque pub or the well-appointed village green, but this week we’re going to be looking at rural poverty, often a hidden aspect of life in the countryside. The Rural Services Network says : If England’s rural communities were treated as a distinct region, their need for levelling up would be greater than any other." Janet Dwyer, Professor of Rural Policy at the University of Gloucestershire explains how the way we measure an areas affluence is part of the problem:
An environmental group in Dorset is drawing up plans to plant a hedge that they say will cover nearly 100 miles. The volunteers behind the scheme hope the giant hedge will become a wildlife corridor and boost biodiversity.
Presenter = Charlotte Smith
Producer = Rebecca Rooney
MON 05:56 Weather (m001hnzg)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.
MON 05:58 Tweet of the Day (m0003sym)
Satish Kumar and the Peacock
Satush Kumar was born in Rajasthan, India, where the Peacock, the Mayura, is a sacred bird and also associated with the monsoon. In India, it is believed that after the long, hot summer peacocks come out and display their bright and vibrant feathers in an extravagant dance to please Indra, the god of rain, before calling to let the rains begin, bringing relief to plants, animals, soils and humans.
Producer : Andrew Dawes
Image : Copyright Resurgence Magazine
MON 06:00 Today (m001hnzr)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
MON 09:00 Start the Week (m001hnzt)
The Victims of War
Tom Sutcliffe talks to three historians about the crimes of WWII and the shifting geopolitics, and the lasting reverberations today with the war in Ukraine.
Dan Stone’s new book, The Holocaust - An Unfinished History moves beyond the concentration camps to reveal the true extent of the killing in towns and villages, and the depth of collaboration across the continent – from Norway to Romania.
On BBC World Service and BBC Sounds Catherine Merridale uncovers the complex story of loss and silence about the murder of Soviet Jews during the Nazi invasion in 1941, and the extraordinary testimony of what was happening, detailed in The Black Book.
Bernard Wasserstein’s family originally came from Krakowiec and in A Small Town in Ukraine he traces the arc of history across centuries of religious and political conflict through the fortunes of its inhabitants – from the earlier invasions of Cossaks, Turks and Swedes to the horrors of WWII and today’s war with Russia.
Producer: Katy Hickman
Image: Three Jewish women gather their belongings on Haifa dock, Palestine, after leaving the illegal immigrant ship Exodus. (Getty Images)
MON 09:45 The Meat Paradox by Rob Percival (m001hf24)
Episode 1
Rob Percival is the head of Food Policy at The Soil Association.
He thinks our future diet will be shaped by diverse forces. By novel technologies and the logic of globalisation, by geopolitical tensions and the evolution of cultural preferences, by shocks to the status quo - pandemics and economic strife, the escalation of the climate emergency - and by how we choose to respond. It will also be shaped by our emotions. In short - by the Meat Paradox.
'Should we eat animals?' was, until recently, a question reserved for moral philosophers and an ethically minded minority, but it is now posed on restaurant menus and supermarket shelves, on social media and morning television. The recent surge in popularity for veganism in the Western world has created a debate over our long held relationship with meat.
We must all find a way of balancing competing and contradictory imperatives while understanding the psychology of our dietary choices.
Written by Rob Percival
Read by Alec Newman
Abridged by Polly Coles
Produced by Clive Brill
A Brill production for BBC Radio 4
MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (m001hnzy)
Hilary Grime on her daugher Phoebe, Catherine Lee on Section 28, Tidying up v mess
Hilary Grime’s daughter Phoebe, a student at Newcastle university, took her own life in June 2021. Hilary has since come together with other bereaved families to form the Learn Network with the aim of preventing future deaths of students by suicide. One of their first targets is to ask the government to legislate for a statutory duty of care for students in Higher Education. Hilary joins Nuala to talk about her daughter Phoebe and why she thinks it's so essential to get a statutory duty of care.
Japan's decluttering and tidying expert Marie Kondo has admitted to 'kind of giving up' on tidying up after having her third child. Joining Nuala to discuss whether to ignore the mess or try to keep on top of it, comedian Helen Thorn, one half of the Scummy Mummies podcast.
In her latest book, Crazy Old Ladies - The Story Of Hag Horror, Caroline Young explores the subgenre of horror movies in the 1950s and 1960s that cast iconic movie stars in often grotesque roles. She joins Nuala McGovern to explain hag horror or 'hagsploitation' and to discuss how actresses were treated in Hollywood as they got older.
It’s 20 years in England since the repeal of section 28 – a law that came in from 1988 to 2003 to ban the ‘promotion of homosexuality’ in UK schools. Professor Catherine Lee of Anglia Ruskin University is a lesbian and taught in schools for every year of section 28. During that time she was a PE teacher in inner-city Liverpool before moving into special educational needs and pastoral leadership in rural Suffolk. So how did this law affect her other gay or lesbian teachers and her students who identified as lesbian or gay? Catherine has written a book Pretended: Schools and Section 28: Historical, Cultural and Personal.
MON 11:00 The Invention of... (m001hp00)
Russia
The sacred song of war
Misha Glenny's final programme on Russia looks at the country's attitude to war, and in particular the great patriotic wars against Adolf Hitler and Napoleon Bonaparte. With contributions from Antony Beevor, author of Stalingrad; Robert Service, author of the Last Tsar, Kateryna Khinkulova of BBC WS; former ambassador to Moscow Rhodric Braithwaite; and Dominic Lieven, author of Napoleon against Russia.
The producer in Bristol is Miles Warde
MON 11:30 The Bottom Line (m001hfrr)
Too much choice?
If you've ever felt bamboozled by the sheer range of biscuits at your local supermarket or in a quandary over which pair of headphones to buy from the plethora on offer, then you're not alone.
Studies suggest that consumers can struggle to make decisions when there is too much choice. So how much choice should businesses offer their customers? And how can retailers help us navigate the dizzying array of products out there?
Evan Davis brings together a perfectly chosen group of experts to discuss.
GUESTS
Dr. Paul Marsden, Consumer Pscyhologist, Business School, London College of Fashion , University of Arts London
Laurence Mitchell, Buying Director, Electricals and Home Technology, John Lewis Partnership
Donna Smith, Managing Director, Thursday Cottage Ltd.
and
Paul Stainton, Retail Consultant, IPLC
PRODUCTION TEAM
Producer: Julie Ball
Researcher: Marianna Brain
Editor: China Collins
Sound: Rod Farquhar and Neil Churchill
Production Co-ordinators: Sophie Hill and Siobhan Reed
MON 12:00 News Summary (m001hp0c)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 12:04 You and Yours (m001hp04)
'Counterfeit Street'; Mortgages; Happy Valley Tourism
The counterfeit goods market is thought to be worth £8.6 billion in the UK and half of that is said to be linked back to a half mile stretch of road in Manchester. Now the police and local authority are clamping down and raiding shops. We take a walk down the notorious "Counterfeit Street" and talk to people around the area about their thoughts on shopping for fakes. And Winifred Robinson talks to Lisa Seamark from Manchester Trading Standards and Detective Superintendent Neil Blackwood about how they're working together to tackle the issue.
Nearly one and half million households are due to renew their fixed rate mortgages in 2023 facing the prospect of significantly increased mortgage repayments. Winifred Robinson speaks to two people about how this is affecting them and finance expert Rachel Springall from Moneyfacts joins the programme with expert advice.
And with under a week to go before a sure to be dramatic climax to the hugely popular Happy Valley, we're in the Calder Valley in West Yorkshire where the series is shot, to hear how it's just one in a line of recent shows, including Last Tango in Halifax and Gentleman Jack, that are helping to attract more visitors to this beautiful part of the UK.
PRESENTER: WINIFRED ROBINSON
PRODUCER: CATHERINE EARLAM
MON 12:57 Weather (m001hp06)
The latest weather forecast
MON 13:00 World at One (m001hp08)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Sarah Montague.
MON 13:45 Buried (m001hp0d)
6. FOFO (Fear of Finding Out)
When a man used satellites to find illegal dumps, he learned they’re everywhere. But the criminals are watching him. Could a mafia be growing rich on our waste?
"All you have to do... is dig it up."
A trucker’s deathbed tape plays out. It’s urgent, desperate.
In this BBC Radio 4 podcast series, investigative journalists Dan Ashby and Lucy Taylor deep-dive into one of the worst environment crimes in UK history - the secret dumping of a million tonnes of waste near a city. But when they uncover missing documents, fears of toxicity and allegations of organised crime, they realise they’ve stumbled into something much bigger. As they pick at the threads of one crime, they begin to see others. Could Britain be the home of a new mafia, getting rich on our waste?
In a thrilling ten-part investigation, the husband-and-wife duo dive into a criminal underworld, all the time following clues left in a deathbed tape. They’re driven by one question - what did the man in the tape know?
Presenters and Producers: Dan Ashby and Lucy Taylor
Assistant Producer: Tess Davidson
Original Music and Sound Design: Phil Channell
Sound Design and Series Mixing: Jarek Zaba
Executive Producers: Phil Abrams and Anita Elash
Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke
A Smoke Trail production for BBC Radio 4
MON 14:00 The Archers (m001hnyr)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Sunday]
MON 14:15 This Cultural Life (m001hnxb)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:15 on Saturday]
MON 15:00 Counterpoint (m001hp0h)
Series 36
Heat 4, 2023
(4/13)
Three more contenders join Paul Gambaccini at London's Radio Theatre, for the quiz that tests knowledge of the full spectrum of musical styles and genres. How much will today's competitors know about Louis Armstrong and Rimsky-Korsakov, Fleetwood Mac and Bruckner? Part of their challenge will be to tackle questions on a specialist musical topic of which they've had no prior warning, and no chance to prepare.
There are buried musical treasures and plenty of extracts to identify whatever your musical tastes.
Appearing in the quiz today are
Josh Cleary from London
Naadim Shamji from Sunbury-on-Thames
Dave Workman from London.
Assistant Producer: Stephen Garner
Producer: Paul Bajoria
MON 15:30 The Food Programme (m001hnxh)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:32 on Sunday]
MON 16:00 Why Coups Fail (m001hnxw)
[Repeat of broadcast at
13:30 on Sunday]
MON 16:30 Beyond Belief (m001hp0l)
Finding Faith in Doubt
"I couldn't pretend anymore that I felt the same way. I did doubt. It was as good as saying I'd lost my faith."
Aleem Maqbool meets Kat Wordsworth, who tells her story about doubt in her Christian beliefs and how it's affected her life and health. She now shares her experiences and thoughts on doubt on a social media account, with followers also contributing their experiences and she's about to publish a book called 'Let's Talk About Doubt'. Kat wants to hear doubt discussed more widely 'at the front of church'.
Alongside a panel who have asked their own questions about faith and belief Aleem asks 'are religions afraid of doubt?'. Professor Alister McGrath is a leading theologian, academic and historian who has written widely about doubt, American historian and poet Jennifer Michael Hecht is the author of 'Doubt: A History' and Dr Nafeez Ahmed, is an investigative journalist and academic who shares his personal journey with his Muslim faith.
Producer: Rebecca Maxted
Assistant Producer: Josie Le Vay
Editor: Tim Pemberton
Picture Credit: Tom Holmes
MON 17:00 PM (m001hp0n)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
MON 18:00 Six O' Clock News (m001hp0s)
Firefighters have voted overwhelmingly for strike action, last ditch talks to avert Wednesday's teacher strike in England and Wales have failed.
MON 18:30 Just a Minute (m001hp0v)
Series 90
Fool's Gold, Tectonic Plates and Jane MacDonald
Sue Perkins challenges Paul Merton, Holly Walsh, Zoe Lyons and Alan Davies to speak for 60 seconds without repetition, deviation or hesitation.
The long-running Radio 4 national treasure of a parlour game returns this week with subjects ranging from Tectonic Plates to Jane MacDonald.
Production co-ordinator: Caroline Barlow
Sound editor: Marc Willcox
Producer: Rajiv Karia
A BBC Studios Production
MON 19:00 The Archers (m001hp0x)
Susan gently plies Lee with questions about the circumstances around Jennifer’s death. When Justin joins her, he ignores her mention of Jennifer and focuses on the shop’s stock layout. Susan isn’t sure about the changes but Justin convinces her to give it a go, promising to put it all back to how it was if there’s an uproar. Justin admits he’s trying to lift Lilian’s spirits but is struggling with knowing what to do for the best. When Susan says it’s your nearest and dearest that pull you through, Justin has an idea.
Pat agrees to babysit Henry and Jack on Valentine’s night and asks Lee about his daughters. The move to America is still planned unless Mabel and Evie have other ideas. Lee sees their half term visit as a trial run of what it would be like if they moved in. Lee reassures a nervous Pat that if they were to live with him it would have to work for Helen, Henry and Jack too. He wouldn’t be able to do it without Helen by his side.
Lynda calls on Lilian to approve her tribute to Jennifer for the village website. Lynda’s words reduce Lilian to tears. When Lilian wonders why Jennifer didn’t tell her about her heart condition, Lynda points out it can be hard to be honest with those we’re closest to. Justin returns home and announces that James, Leonie and Mungo are visiting this weekend. Lilian is appalled, she’s in no fit state to host. Justin is at a loss – he’s invited them and can’t tell them not to come.
MON 19:15 Front Row (m001hp0z)
Film director Sarah Polley, novelist Ann-Helen Laestadius and deep fakes on TV
Director Sarah Polley discusses her latest film, Women Talking, nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. Based on the true story of the women in a remote Mennonite colony who discovered men had been attacking the women in their community, the film focuses on their debate about what to do next.
Deep Fake Neighbour Wars, the new ITVX comedy which uses digital technology to place international celebrities in suburban Britain, arrives at a time when the technology is under increasing scrutiny. Zoe Kleinman, the BBC’s Technology Editor, and television critic Scott Bryan review and discuss the issues raised by the new series.
Swedish and Sami novelist Ann-Helen Laestadius talks about her bestselling novel, Stolen – a portrait of the plight of the reindeer-herding Indigenous Sámi people.
Presenter: Samira Ahmed
Producer: Olivia Skinner
MON 20:00 Learning From the Great Tide (m001hp11)
On the night of 31st January 1953, the combination of a high spring tide and a storm over the North Sea caused a devastating surge of water to sweep across the East Coast and up the Thames Estuary.
It was one of Britain's worst natural disasters in the 20th century - 307 people lost their lives in England and over 1,800 in the Netherlands - and yet it has largely been forgotten in the UK.
It also inspired one of the great works of English social history, The Great Tide by Hilda Grieve, which tells the story of the flood in Essex, and the extraordinary response of its local communities and emergency services.
To commemorate the 70th anniversary of the flood, BBC Climate Editor Justin Rowlatt asks what lessons were learned. We’re better protected now as a result of the disaster but, as our coastal defences begin to age and sea levels continue to rise due to climate change, are we prepared for the next tide?
Features archive from "Essex Floods" from Essex Sound and Video Archive.
Producer: Patrick Bernard
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 20:30 Crossing Continents (m001hfq6)
Iran Protests: Tales from the front line
Why did people take to the streets, risking arrest and a barrage of bullets?
After protests turned violent and hundreds of people were killed, four Iranians tell the story of why they risked their lives. What has been happening in Iran to drive them out onto the streets to face bullets?
‘Agrin’ tells Phoebe Keane she’s tired of being objectified as a woman, and having no faith that the authorities will take sexual assault seriously when the police themselves are accused of raping prisoners.
Mahsoud tells how he was shot during a protest but feared going to the hospital in case the authorities put him in jail. When plain clothed police loitered outside his family home, he decided to leave Iran. Still bleeding and with a metal pellet lodged in his ear impairing his hearing, he finally made it across the border to Iraq.
‘Nazy’ tells of being arrested by the morality police while walking to work and being shoved in a van as the heels on her shoes were too high. She started to protest every day and now walks through the streets with her hair blowing in the wind, an act of defiance.
‘Farah’ remembers a time in Iran when women could dance and sing in public and protests because she wants her daughter to live a life without fear.
Presenter: Phoebe Keane
Producers: Ed Butler, Ali Hamedani, Khosro Isfahani and Taraneh Stone
Series editor: Penny Murphy
MON 21:00 Is Psychiatry Working? (m001hfzw)
Detention
Although psychiatry helped writer Horatio Clare when he was in crisis, some people in difficulty, their families, clinicians, psychologists and psychiatrists themselves will tell you there are serious questions about the ways psychiatry understands and treats some people in trouble. And so this series asks a simple question: is psychiatry working? In the following series, accompanied by the psychiatrist Femi Oyebode, Horatio traces a journey through crisis, detention, diagnosis, therapy, and recovery. In this episode, they consider detention under the mental health act, travelling to locked wards in Liverpool, hearing from former patients and clinicians, and asking if detention can ever be avoided.
If you need support with mental health or feelings of despair, a list of organisations that can help is available at BBC Action Line support:
Mental health & self-harm: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1NGvFrTqWChr03LrYlw2Hkk/information-and-support-mental-health-self-harm
Suicide/Emotional distress: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4WLs5NlwrySXJR2n8Snszdg/information-and-support-suicide-emotional-distress
or you can call for free to hear recorded information on 0800 066 066.
Presenters: Horatio Clare and Femi Oyebode
Producer: Emma Close and Lucinda Borrell
Editor: Clare Fordham
Sound Mix: James Beard
MON 21:30 Start the Week (m001hnzt)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
MON 22:00 The World Tonight (m001hp14)
US Secretary of State in Israel
Also:
At least 59 dead in Peshawar mosque blast.
Attacks on the LGBT community in Egypt.
And the story of the King’s Bed.
MON 22:45 My Father's House by Joseph O'Connor (m001hp16)
Episode 1
September 1943, German forces occupy Rome. Gestapo boss Obersturmbannführer Paul Hauptmann rules with terror. Hunger is widespread. Rumours fester. The war’s outcome is far from certain.
Diplomats, refugees and escaped Allied prisoners risk their lives fleeing for protection into Vatican City, the world's smallest state at one fifth of a square mile and a neutral, independent country within Rome.
A small band of unlikely friends led by a courageous priest is drawn into deadly danger. By Christmastime, it’s too late to turn back.
Based on the extraordinary true story of the Rome Escape Line and Father Hugh O’Flaherty who, in the 1930s and 40s, was a long-time resident of the Vatican, a seminary teacher, and an amateur historian of Rome. Records show that he was forbidden by the Pope to assist escaping prisoners of war and also that his own government and the Irish Church were adamant that the neutrality of the young nation of Ireland should not be compromised in any way by actions which appeared to support the Allies against the Nazis.
Only in recent years have some of these documents been released and historians are still poring over the archive. The author Joseph O’Connor admits that he has made free with much of the characterisation and detail but he has also used some of the writings of Hugh O’Flaherty and his records which were shared with him by the Monsignor’s niece and nephew. Including an audio recording of the 1963 edition of This is Your Life which featured another real life character, Major Sam Derry.
Cast:
Jot Davies (Narrator)
Fenella Woolgar (Delia Kiernan)
Abridged by Jill Waters and Isobel Creed
Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4
MON 23:00 Word of Mouth (m001hfcc)
Grammar Table
Ellen Jovin is a grammar and language fan. Her book Rebel With A Clause: Tales and Tips From A Roving Grammarian details her travels with her Grammar Table. Keen to engage with people face to face rather than online Ellen purchased a fold up table and set off on a road trip around the United States setting up on street corners and waiting for people to talk to her. The idea was that people could come and ask her about language and grammar without being made to feel stupid. Common questions included when to use commas and semi-colons and the right way to say 'nuclear' (think George Bush). Although she had lots of fun on her trip and met many interesting people along the way, Ellen's main intention is to help people with written and spoken English presentation in their public and working lives without the need for grammar books.
Producer: Maggie Ayre
MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (m001hp1b)
Sean Curran reports as MPs question the Health Secretary about the government's new emergency health plan.
TUESDAY 31 JANUARY 2023
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (m001hp1h)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 00:30 The Meat Paradox by Rob Percival (m001hf24)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m001hp1q)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m001hp1w)
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 (m001hp20)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
TUE 05:30 News Briefing (m001hp23)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m001hp27)
Spiritual reflection to start the day with Fr Dermot Morrin of St Albert's Catholic Chaplaincy, Edinburgh
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (m001hp2d)
31/01/23 - Environment targets; Rural Poverty.
The government has published its Environmental Improvement Plan. This outlines a raft of goals which it says lay the foundation stones to halt the decline of nature by 2030, and then reverse it. It includes targets to improve wildlife habitats; air and water quality; species protection; and an investment in creating 70 thousand jobs connected to the countryside and the environment.
All week we're looking at rural poverty. Homelessness in rural areas is something that often remains hidden. We speak to an academic who's been researching the issue and a woman who was once homeless and now helps others.
Presenter: Anna Hill
Producer: Rebecca Rooney
TUE 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b020xv0f)
Savi's Warbler
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Savi's Warbler. Count yourself very lucky if you hear the buzzing song of a Savi's Warbler, these are very rare birds indeed, especially breeding pairs and the nests are almost impossible to find, so their song is the best clue that they're about.
TUE 06:00 Today (m001hp2f)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
TUE 09:00 The Life Scientific (m001hp2p)
Clifford Johnson on making sense of black holes and movie plots
Clifford Johnson's career to date has spanned some seemingly very different industries - from exploring quantum mechanics around string theory and black holes, to consulting on some of Hollywood's biggest movies; but it makes sense once you understand his ambition of making science accessible to all.
A Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, Clifford's worked in the United States for decades – but was born in the UK, then spent his formative years on the Caribbean island of Montserrat, before moving back to England to study.
Here, he fell in love with quantum mechanics - before moving to the US, where he's broken new ground in finding ways to talk about quantum gravity and black holes.
Clifford's other big passion is getting as many people as possible engaged with science, making it more exciting, entertaining and most importantly diverse - and it's this attitude that's led to regular work as a science consultant on various TV shows and films; and even a recent cameo in a major movie...
Produced by Lucy Taylor.
TUE 09:30 One to One (m001hp2t)
Critics and the Criticised: Luke Jones meets Sarah Crompton
What's it really like wielding the little notebook of doom or glory? Sarah Crompton, theatre critic for What's On Stage and dance critic for The Observer, tells all to broadcaster Luke Jones, who once dipped his toe into that world himself. They talk warm white wine, the imagined audience, vomiting and the most unforgiveable critical gaffe of all.
Producer: Beth Sagar-Fenton
TUE 09:45 The Meat Paradox by Rob Percival (m001hf7n)
Episode 2
Rob Percival is the head of Food Policy at The Soil Association.
He thinks our future diet will be shaped by diverse forces. By novel technologies and the logic of globalisation, by geopolitical tensions and the evolution of cultural preferences, by shocks to the status quo - pandemics and economic strife, the escalation of the climate emergency - and by how we choose to respond. It will also be shaped by our emotions. In short - by the Meat Paradox.
'Should we eat animals?' was, until recently, a question reserved for moral philosophers and an ethically minded minority, but it is now posed on restaurant menus and supermarket shelves, on social media and morning television. The recent surge in popularity for veganism in the Western world has created a debate over our long held relationship with meat.
We must all find a way of balancing competing and contradictory imperatives while understanding the psychology of our dietary choices.
Written by Rob Percival
Read by Alec Newman
Abridged by Polly Coles
Produced by Clive Brill
A Brill production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (m001hp2z)
Emily Atack, Baroness Catherine Ashton, Sophie Duker
Actor and comedian, Emily Atack has decided to stand up against the men who cyber-flash her daily. Having received unsolicited, unwanted, abusive messages, dick pics and crude images for years she has made a documentary “Emily Atack: Asking for it?” for BBC 2. Emily joins Nuala to discuss why men do this and why she's chosen to speak about it publicly and call for change.
Baroness Catherine Ashton is a Labour peer who served as Europe’s most powerful diplomat between 2009-2014, a turbulent period by anyone’s standards. It was her job to co-ordinate and lead on the EU's response to international crises, including the Arab Spring, Somali pirate attacks, the Iran nuclear deal and the Ukraine uprising followed by Russia’s annexation of the Crimea. Behind the scenes and in front of the cameras she criss-crossed the globe trying to get lasting deals done. Catherine has documented all of this in a new book called And Then What? Inside Stories of 21st Century Diplomacy, and joins Nuala.
What comes to your mind when you think of the word 'hag'? The comedian and recent Taskmaster champion Sophie Duker is on a mission to reclaim the term in her new UK stand-up tour of the same name. She tells Nuala about growing up with ‘the princess myth’, embracing ageing and why it’s so important to be open about sex and sexuality.
Presenter: Nuala McGovern
Producer: Emma Pearce
Credit: BBC/Little Gem Productions/Richard Ansett
TUE 11:00 The Curious Cases of Rutherford & Fry (m001hnmn)
Series 21
The Resurrection Quest
‘Can we bring back extinct species?’ wonders listener Mikko Campbell. Well, Professor Fry is pretty excited by the prospect of woolly mammoths roaming the Siberian tundra once more. And everyone is impressed with the science that might make it happen. But Dr Rutherford comes out STRONGLY against the whole thing. Can our expert guests win him over?
Dr Helen Pilcher shares the tale of Celia the lonely mountain goat, and makes the case for cloning to help protect species at risk of extinction. Professor Beth Shapiro sets out how biotech company ‘Colossal’ plans to engineer Asian elephants’ DNA to make a new group of mammoth-like creatures. And we hear how genetic technologies are being used in conservation efforts around the world.
BUT WHAT ABOUT T-REXES? Not gonna happen. Sorry.
Contributors: Dr Helen Pilcher, author of ‘Bring Back the King: The New Science of De-Extinction’, Professor Beth Shapiro from the University of California Santa Cruz, Dr Ben Novak of Revive and Restore and Tullis Matson from Nature’s SAFE.
Presenters: Hannah Fry and Adam Rutherford
Producer: Ilan Goodman
TUE 11:30 In Time to the Music (m001hp31)
Plaisir d'amour
In Time to the Music is the story of a piece of music, song, an air or melody travelling through time as a folk tune, a theatre melody, a hymn, a composition, a symphony - reinterpreted across years, centuries or millennia through revival, musical revolution, social fashions or archaeological discovery.
We examine why certain tunes have managed to reach out over time, across genres, class, race and continents, how some are reimagined by oppressors even though they were written by its oppressed, how melodies from earlier periods are borrowed by subsequent composers, and how these illusive musical engravings change genre - from hymn to reggae, from court song to rock and roll - all with the passage of time.
The second episode explores the journey of Plaisir d'amour, starting out as a love song for Marie Antoinette to sing, through various revivals to its reworking as a 1961 hit for Elvis Presley. The programme also examines other music that has travelled through time.
Featuring musicologists Laura Tunbridge, Professor Richard Dumbrill, Julia Doe, jazz pianist and educator Gareth Williams and singer Ian Shaw.
Written and Presented by Andrew McGibbon
Assistant Producer: Saul Sarne
Producer: Nick Romero
A Curtains For Radio production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 12:00 News Summary (m001hp3s)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 12:04 You and Yours (m001hp35)
Call You and Yours - What's the world of work like for the over 50s?
Today we're asking:
"What's the world of work like for the over 50's"?
The Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has pleaded with early retirees to 'come back to work' just days after reports emerged that the government could be planning to raise the retirement age in the UK.
But new research from the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) suggests firms are much less open to hiring older workers than they are to bringing in younger people.
So how is the situation affecting you?
Call us on 03700 100 444. Lines open at 11 am on Tuesday December 13th. You can also email us now at youandyours@bbc.co.uk. Don't forget to leave a phone number so we can call you back.
Presenter: Winifred Robinson
Producer: Linda Walker
TUE 12:57 Weather (m001hp37)
The latest weather forecast
TUE 13:00 World at One (m001hp39)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Sarah Montague.
TUE 13:45 Buried (m001hp3f)
7. How to Make a Mafia
In the Comorrah’s neighbourhood in Naples, Dan and Lucy learn how waste can fuel a mafia. They’re warned that the UK is playing a dangerous game.
"All you have to do... is dig it up."
A trucker’s deathbed tape plays out. It’s urgent, desperate.
In this BBC Radio 4 podcast series, investigative journalists Dan Ashby and Lucy Taylor deep-dive into one of the worst environment crimes in UK history - the secret dumping of a million tonnes of waste near a city. But when they uncover missing documents, fears of toxicity and allegations of organised crime, they realise they’ve stumbled into something much bigger. As they pick at the threads of one crime, they begin to see others. Could Britain be the home of a new mafia, getting rich on our waste?
In a thrilling ten-part investigation, the husband-and-wife duo dive into a criminal underworld, all the time following clues left in a deathbed tape. They’re driven by one question - what did the man in the tape know?
Presenters and Producers: Dan Ashby and Lucy Taylor
Assistant Producer: Tess Davidson
Original Music and Sound Design: Phil Channell
Sound Design and Series Mixing: Jarek Zaba
Executive Producers: Phil Abrams and Anita Elash
Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke
A Smoke Trail production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 14:00 The Archers (m001hp0x)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 Drama (m000xzf7)
The Half Widow. Part 1
It's August 2019. The Indian government has revoked Kashmir's special status and the region is now under curfew and communications blackout. Zameera (Mita Rahman) is a half-widow, the Kashmiri term for a woman whose husband is one of 'the disappeared'. She just wants a normal life, but she and her son are soon pulled in different directions. By Avin Shah.
Zameera....Mita Rahman
Yusuf.....Narinder Samra
Javed.....Gavi Singh Chera
Aaliyah.....Aysha Kala
Sergeant Patel.....Emilio Doorgasingh
Gashe.....Avin Shah
Journalist.....Ronny Jhutti
Directed by Emma Harding
Sound design by Alison Craig
Production co-ordination by Maggie Olgiati
TUE 15:00 The Kitchen Cabinet (m001hnvh)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:30 on Saturday]
TUE 15:30 The Case of the Brillante Virtuoso (m0013r0s)
Episode 1 - Distress Call
When the Brillante Virtuoso, a massive, decrepit oil tanker, was attacked and badly damaged off the coast of Yemen in 2011, it seemed at first like just the latest in a spate of daring raids launched by Somali pirates in an increasingly lawless region. On the surface it was a shocking but straightforward crime. In reality, it was anything but.
Over the next decade, the scandal swirling around the ship would come to involve lies on an industrial scale, corruption, violent threats, Greek Shipowners, Yemeni power brokers, British lawyers, Filipino sailors, the murder of a British man that remains tragically unsolved, and his family's fight to unravel a web of organised crime.
Journalist Nick Wallis follows a story that goes all the way from from the bleeding edge of the Arab Spring to the heart of the City of London.
Presenter: Nick Wallis
Producer: Robert Nicholson
Executive Producer: Will Yates
Sound Design: Leonie Thomas
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 16:00 Word of Mouth (m001hp3l)
Snap Crackle and Every Little Helps - the language of food advertising
Giles Poyner has worked in marketing and advertising for over twenty years and has worked on some of the biggest global brands. He explains how when it comes to marketing food and drink words really do matter. From taking every day slogans that we then associate with a brand to employing iambic pentameter to create taglines that stick in the customer's head. Although companies are using ever more sophisticated means to sell their products, clever slogans have been around for longer than we think. Almost 100 years in fact.
Producer: Maggie Ayre
TUE 16:30 A Good Read (m001hp3t)
Agnes Poirier & Nikki May
Agnes Poirier the French writer and broadcaster and British-Nigerian novelist Nikki May introduce us to their favourite books. Nikki chooses a haunting novel about life after the breakdown of society following a flu pandemic. Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel was written well before Covid and was published in 2014. Although it depicts the collapse of civilisation it is not a grimly depressing post apocalyptic read. Centred around a group of travelling actors and musicians the story flips back and forth to their lives before and after the virus making each character much rounder than had they merely been shown as a straggling bunch fighting off feral gangs and surviving against the odds. As a result the book is not only a thrilling adventure it's also moving and ultimately optimistic about the survival of beauty and the human spirit.
Agnes Poirier's choice is a collection of short stories by the Austrian writer Stefan Zweig. Agnes wants to make the case for the unsung heroes of the literary world - translators. She has loved Zweig's work since she was a teenager and was surprised to find he was little known in the UK but quickly discovered that the limited translations of his work were old fashioned and not very good. But thanks to more recent English translations she is happy to see him being more widely recognised in the Anglophone world. Letter From An Unknown Woman is the title story and its account of a lifelong one-sided love affair sees the unknown woman devote her life to a handsome and rather caddish writer who barely notices her. For Agnes it's a universal story of unfulfilled longing that many young girls experience.
The Trees is Harriett's choice of a a good read and it's a novel that hits right between the eyes. Percival Everett sets it in Money Mississippi the town infamous for the brutal torture and murder of the young African American Emmett Till in 1955. The story centres around the modern day lynching and murder of some of the white KKK descendants of Emmett Till's killers. Enter two African American detectives sent to Money to investigate the spate of ghastly killings. What is so unexpected about The Trees is the laugh out loud humour that cuts through despite its horrific subject matter. Ed and Jim the two cops are hilariously funny as is Everett's depiction of Southern redneck small town life.
Producer: Maggie Ayre
TUE 17:00 PM (m001hp41)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
TUE 18:00 Six O' Clock News (m001hp4d)
Police forces in England and Wales have apologised for failing the relatives of people killed in the Hillsborough disaster and announced widespread changes in response.
TUE 18:30 Phil Ellis Is Trying (m0007wwr)
Series 2
Parbold's Got Talent
When Phil's dad Goodison is discovered not dead but living in Phil's loft, Goodison tries to make amends by taking his son for a much needed holiday to popular holiday camp Mutlins. But are Goodison's motives as honest as they seem? Before long, Johnny and Polly are following Phil and Goodson to Mutlins in a bid to figure out what's really going on.
Written by Phil Ellis and Fraser Steele.
Starring:
Phil Ellis as Phil
Johnny Vegas as Johnny
Amy Gledhill as Polly
Terry Mynott as Bingo caller Derek Levoux
Katia Kvinge as Ellie
with special guest stars Alexei Sayle as Goodison
and Lee Mack as Bobby Dazzler
Produced by Sam Michell
A BBC Studios production
TUE 19:00 The Archers (m001hp4j)
Alice interrupts Ruairi on the phone. He’s returning to London tomorrow. Alice tries to get him to stay until the weekend but he’s insistent he gets on with his life and will be back for the funeral. Over lunch Alice is desperate to engage Brian and Ruairi in an activity and suggests a boardgame. To Ruairi’s surprise, Brian opts for Cluedo.
As Ruairi sets up the game, Brian talks to Ruairi about Jennifer raising him. Ruairi stops in his tracks when Brian mentions gratitude. Ruairi won’t buy Brian’s view that Jennifer loved bringing him up and angrily tells Brian that neither of them deserved Jennifer. For him they should both be ashamed rather than grateful. Ruairi storms off.
Alice finds Ruairi about to leave Willow Cottage. Brian apologises but it’s not enough to make Ruairi stay. He feels like he’s always been the family’s dirty secret and in London he doesn’t have to pretend to be something he’s not.
Freddie tries to help out at The Orangery but only gets in Chelsea’s way and crockery ends up smashed. Freddie admits to feeling like a spare part. He feels he’s learned everything he can at The Orangery. Chelsea tells him to do something else, he’s a Pargetter – what’s stopping him? Freddie thinks his mum won’t trust him but Chelsea eggs him on. One day he’ll be running Lower Loxley and he’s done more than enough to prove himself. Freddie remains unsure but Chelsea tells him to go for it.
TUE 19:15 Front Row (m001hp4p)
Beethoven's Für Elise, playwright Garry Lyons, film director Rajkumar Santoshi
Beethoven’s love life has long fascinated music scholars primarily because so little is known about it despite some tantalising clues. In his new book, Why Beethoven, music critic Norman Lebrecht, identifies the dedicatee of Beethoven’s well-loved melody Für Elise, while Jessica Duchen has written a novel, Immortal, which provides one answer to the question, who was Beethoven’s “Immortal Beloved”? Both join Front Row to discuss why their explorations bring us closer to the composer.
Garry Lyons on his new play Blow Down at Leeds Playhouse, written to mark the demolition of the iconic cooling towers at Ferrybridge Power Station. It’s based on stories collected from people in Knottingley and Ferrybridge in Yorkshire. Blow Down will go on tour with performances in theatres and community centres across Yorkshire and the North East.
A new film about Mahatma Gandhi and his assassin Nathuram Godse has caused some controversy in India. Gandhi Godse Ek Yudh (War of Ideologies) imagines a world in which Gandhi survived and went on to debate with Godse, a premise that some have found offensive. Director Rajkumar Santoshi discusses the reaction to his film and BBC journalist Vandana Vijay explains why there’s increased sensitivity around some movies in India at the moment.
Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe
Producer: Emma Wallace
TUE 20:00 Today (m001hp4w)
The Today Debate: Brexit three years on. How's it going?
The Today Debate is about taking a subject and pulling it apart with more time than we could ever have during the programme in the morning.
Precisely three years since the UK left the European Union, Today presenter Mishal Husain was joined by a panel of guests to get their take on how it's going.
Joining Mishal in front of an audience in the BBC's Radio Theatre were the former Conservative cabinet minister Jacob Rees-Mogg MP and Alastair Campbell, former Labour spin doctor.
TUE 20:40 In Touch (m001hp50)
Access to Work Backlog, Artist Clarke Reynolds
The Access to Work scheme is essential for helping disabled people get into and stay in work. It can provide help with equipment and travel and human assistance, in the form of support workers. But the RNIB has found that there has been a huge increase in the backlog and long waiting times to receive support. This can result in jobs being put at risk, as some employers simply cannot wait to have the position filled. We assess the impact of these delays with Melinda Hanvey and Samantha Leftwich, who have both experienced delays in their support packages. We also speak to David Newbold, who is the Director of Sight Loss Advice at the RNIB, about what the organisation is doing to help tackle the problem.
Clarke Reynolds is a visually impaired artist who works with braille and he currently has a solo exhibition at the Quantus Gallery in London. Clarke explains what people can experience at his first solo show and gives insight into his interesting life story.
Presenter: Peter White
Producer: Beth Hemmings
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 (m001hp54)
Women and heart attacks
Dawn had a heart attack but 'powered through' making the Christmas dinner before seeking help - because she put her symptoms down to anxiety and backache.
Her interventional cardiologist in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Professor Vijay Kunadian, sees many women like her who aren't seen quickly enough or given the right medication to improve their chances of survival. We hear about research which reveals that women are much more likely to die of a heart attack than men because of delays and lack of treatment.
Learning the piano can help to improve the way our brains process audible and visual information - a task we carry out effortlessly when looking and listening as we do things like cross the road safely or chat with friends. Dr Karin Petroni explains how even just a few microseconds in processing speed can make a difference - so she's going to carry on playing drums.
James Gallagher's piano version of Giuseppe Verdi's La donna è mobile/When the saints go marching in (trad) arranged by Nancy Litten/Kenneth Bartels (ABRSM)
TUE 21:30 The Life Scientific (m001hp2p)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (m001hp5b)
Teachers to go on strike tomorrow
Also:
Turin hands Eurovision baton to Liverpool.
Number of Saudi executions doubles.
TUE 22:45 My Father's House by Joseph O'Connor (m001hp5k)
Episode 2
September 1943, German forces occupy Rome. Gestapo boss Obersturmbannführer Paul Hauptmann rules with terror. Hunger is widespread. Rumours fester. The war’s outcome is far from certain.
Diplomats, refugees and escaped Allied prisoners risk their lives fleeing for protection into Vatican City, the world's smallest state at one fifth of a square mile and a neutral, independent country within Rome.
A small band of unlikely friends led by a courageous priest is drawn into deadly danger. By Christmastime, it’s too late to turn back.
Based on the extraordinary true story of the Rome Escape Line and Father Hugh O’Flaherty who, in the 1930s and 40s, was a long-time resident of the Vatican, a seminary teacher, and an amateur historian of Rome. Records show that he was forbidden by the Pope to assist escaping prisoners of war and also that his own government and the Irish Church were adamant that the neutrality of the young nation of Ireland should not be compromised in any way by actions which appeared to support the Allies against the Nazis.
Only in recent years have some of these documents been released and historians are still poring over the archive. The author Joseph O’Connor admits that he has made free with much of the characterisation and detail but he has also used some of the writings of Hugh O’Flaherty and his records which were shared with him by the Monsignor’s niece and nephew. Including an audio recording of the 1963 edition of This is Your Life which featured another real life character, Major Sam Derry.
Cast:
Jot Davies (Narrator)
Aidan Kelly (Father Hugh O'Flaherty)
Abridged by Jill Waters and Isobel Creed
Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 23:00 Tudur Owen: Zoo (m000k3gj)
Episode 1
Last year Tudur Owen brought us 'Where on Earth is Anglesey?', a Radio 4 series that introduced us to his homeland, Ynys Môn and hinted at the rather unconventional goings-on there. One such eccentric event is the incredible but true story of how he and his family somewhat unwittingly became the owners of what the News of the World would go on to describe as “The Worst Zoo in Britain”.
Join Tudur for an engrossing caper about a corrupt animal wrangler, a family on the brink and a climactic wallaby chase across the Menai Strait.
All the events in this story are almost true.
Written and performed by Tudur Owen
Script Editor: Gareth Gwynn
Additional voices: Lisa-Jên Brown and Fergus Craig
Sound Engineering and Design by David Thomas
Producer: Richard Morris
A BBC Studios Production
TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (m001hp5r)
All the news from today's sitting at Westminster.
WEDNESDAY 01 FEBRUARY 2023
WED 00:00 Midnight News (m001hp5x)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
WED 00:30 The Meat Paradox by Rob Percival (m001hf7n)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m001hp63)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m001hp6c)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.
WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m001hp6q)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
WED 05:30 News Briefing (m001hp73)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m001hp7g)
Spiritual reflection to start the day with Fr Dermot Morrin of St Albert's Catholic Chaplaincy, Edinburgh
WED 05:45 Farming Today (m001hp7w)
A major report into land use by the Royal Society warns the government not to 'over promise' what the countryside can deliver. It says government ambitions to use our land to boost food production, protect nature and fight climate change may not be achieved because of disjointed policy-making and a lack of robust data. We speak to Sir Ian Boyd, professor of Biology at the University of St Andrews who contributed to the report.
Some potato growers have stopped growing spuds because of soaring costs and difficult weather. Oven chip manufacturer McCain has increased its payments to potato growers to ensure future supplies. The processor is the largest buyer of British potatoes and works with more than 250 growers, buying up to 15 per cent of the UK's annual crop. It's investing £35 million in its farmers this year and paying a supplement to those who’ve had to renew electricity contracts or are paying variable rates, totalling £50 million in two years.
All this week we're looking at the cost of living and rural poverty. In rural areas, many homes aren't connected to the gas network, so depend on oil for heating - according to the Countryside Alliance more than half of rural homes are not on the gas grid, compared to just one in ten urban properties. We hear from a charity which helps households who are struggling to pay their fuel bills.
Presenter: Anna Hill
Producer: Rebecca Rooney
WED 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b0378x0n)
Rock Pipit
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Michaela Strachan presents the rock pipit. The sight of a greyish bird no bigger than a sparrow, at home on the highest cliffs and feeding within reach of breaking waves can come as a surprise. In spring and early summer, the male Pipits become wonderful extroverts and perform to attract a female, during which they sing loudly to compete with the sea-wash.
WED 06:00 Today (m001hp69)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
WED 09:00 More or Less (m001hp5w)
Brexit and trade; pensioner millionaires; and Hannah Fry on loyalty cards and cancer
Has trade with the EU increased since Britain left the European Union? Tim Harford and the team look at a claim suggesting just that. There’s a row over the renaming of a street in North London previously called Black Boy Lane – but how much has it really all cost? Also are there more pensioners in 'millionaire households' than pensioners in poverty. And mathematician Hannah Fry talks about a new study suggesting cases of ovarian cancer can be detected by looking at spending on loyalty cards.
Presenter: Tim Harford
Series Producer: Jon Bithrey
Reporters: Josephine Casserly, Nathan Gower, Charlotte McDonald, Perisha Kudhail
Sound Engineer: Neil Churchill
Editor: Richard Vadon
WED 09:30 Just One Thing - with Michael Mosley (m001hp70)
Choose Red Wine
All alcohol is bad for you but if you’re already a drinker, switching out your usual drink for a small glass of red wine could bring surprising benefits to your health - improving blood sugar and fat levels and reducing the risk of diabetes. In this episode, Michael Mosley speaks to Dr Tim Spector, Professor of Epidemiology at King’s College London to find out about the secret ingredient in red wine. He reveals why red wine is rich in chemicals called polyphenols. They raise a (metaphorical) glass to celebrate the effects of red wine on the diversity of our gut bacteria!
WED 09:45 The Meat Paradox by Rob Percival (m001hf9t)
Episode 3
Rob Percival is the head of Food Policy at The Soil Association.
He thinks our future diet will be shaped by diverse forces. By novel technologies and the logic of globalisation, by geopolitical tensions and the evolution of cultural preferences, by shocks to the status quo - pandemics and economic strife, the escalation of the climate emergency - and by how we choose to respond. It will also be shaped by our emotions. In short - by the Meat Paradox.
'Should we eat animals?' was, until recently, a question reserved for moral philosophers and an ethically minded minority, but it is now posed on restaurant menus and supermarket shelves, on social media and morning television. The recent surge in popularity for veganism in the Western world has created a debate over our long held relationship with meat.
We must all find a way of balancing competing and contradictory imperatives while understanding the psychology of our dietary choices.
Written by Rob Percival
Read by Alec Newman
Abridged by Polly Coles
Produced by Clive Brill
A Brill production for BBC Radio 4
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (m001hp7s)
Helena Bonham Carter, Power List judges Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson and Ebony Rainford-Brent, Update on Ian Paterson
Helena Bonham Carter is one of our best known actors – she’s played everyone from Princess Margaret in The Crown and Elizabeth the Queen Mother in The King's Speech, to Bellatrix Lestrange in the Harry Potter films, and more recently Enola Holmes’ formidable mother in the Netflix films with Milly Bobby Brown. Helena is now taking on a very different role, that of the Queen of the Midlands Noele Gordon, or Nolly as she was known to her friends; the actress who starred in the hugely popular TV soap Crossroads for 18 years until she was sacked very suddenly in 1981. Russell T Davies has written the three part drama which is released on ITV X on Thursday 2 February. Helena joins Nuala in the studio.
Researchers in Canada estimate that approximately one in eight women are likely to be suffering from an unrecognised brain injury related to domestic violence. Millions of dollars are spent each year in Canada studying the impacts of traumatic brain injuries on professional male athlete’s brains, such as hockey players, whilst very little is known about the injuries suffered by female victims of intimate partner violence. Nuala speaks to Karen Mason, co-founder of the Supporting Survivors of Abuse and Brain Injury Through Research project, and a former executive director of the Kelona Women’s Shelter in Canada, and Dr Paul van Donkelaar, a clinical neuroscientist at the University of British Columbia who specialises in concussion research.
There's just one more week to get your submissions in for the Woman's Hour Power List, this year focussing on women in sport. It's not just football where the women's game has seen big success - Great Britain’s women’s curling team won a gold medal in Beijing, the 2022 Tour de France Femmes broke records, England and Wales have been confirmed as hosts of Women’s T20 World Cup in 2026 and the list goes on. Nuala is joined by two of our Power List judges Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, one of Britain’s most celebrated British Paralympians of all time, winning 16 medals across five Games, now a cross bench peer in the House of Lords, and Ebony Rainford-Brent, the World Cup winning cricketer and broadcaster.
1500 people who received treatment from jailed breast surgeon Ian Paterson are being recalled by Spire Healthcare, a private hospital company, after their details were recovered from an old computer database. Described as 'one of the biggest medical scandals ever to have hit this country' the man at the centre of it became known as 'the butchering breast surgeon'. Joining Nuala is Jane Kirby, PA Media Health Editor.
WED 11:00 I'm Not a Monster (p0dn6w8t)
The Shamima Begum Story
Series 2: 4. When You’re In Love
Friendship, propaganda and the promise of paradise - why Shamima Begum left London at 15 for the Islamic State group in war torn Syria. But how did she ignore the group’s brutal violence? And who convinced her to go?
The feature length documentary, "The Shamima Begum Story", will be on BBC2 at
9pm on February 7th.
Reporter: Josh Baker
Written by: Josh Baker and Joe Kent
Producers: Josh Baker, Sara Obeidat and Joe Kent
Composer: Firas Abou Fakher
Theme music: Sam Slater and Gunni Tynes
Mix and sound design: Tom Brignell
Production coordinator: Janet Staples
Series Editor: Jonathan Aspinwall
Head of Long Form Audio: Emma Rippon
Commissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins
Guidance: This episode contains descriptions of extreme violence
WED 11:30 Gloomsbury (b08ky5kn)
Series 4
Digging the Dirt
When Henry announces to Vera that he has invited Llewd George down to Sizzlinghurst to advise him on the best way to become a Labour MP, Vera flies off the handle. Can she get no privacy in her own garden? All she wants is to be left alone.
Not only does Llewd George live up to his reputation as a randy old goat (as Vera suspected), but Mrs Gosling takes affront at his politics and, after a row with Mr Gosling, goes on strike and storms off to live with her sister.
Meanwhile Vera has resorted to digging in the corner of her garden to escape Llewd George's clutches, only to be interrupted by Ginny Fox and a BBC producer, Miss Hilda Matthewson. There is a fascination between Vera and Hilda, much to Ginny's chagrin, and plans are immediately set in motion for Hilda to arrange a BBC tour for Vera talking about her books and her garden so that the two women can be together.
But telling Henry that she is going on tour raises Henry's suspicions. After all, it was only this morning that Vera craved solitude and swore she would never leave her precious castle again.
A Little Brother production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 12:00 News Summary (m001hp9h)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 12:04 You and Yours (m001hp8c)
Fairtrade; Streaming Subscriptions; Heating Oil; Responsible Holidays
The fairtrade pioneer, Traidcraft, has gone into administration. The company's chief executive tells us what went wrong and outlines his hopes for the brand's rescue.
We examine the new technology which is promising to put an end to age-checks by staff when you're buying alcohol at supermarket self-checkouts.
And can a holiday abroad ever really be green? We discuss sustainable travel options.
Presenter: Winifred Robinson
Producer: Jon Douglas
WED 12:57 Weather (m001hp8k)
The latest weather forecast
WED 13:00 World at One (m001hp8r)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Sarah Montague.
WED 13:45 Buried (m001hp90)
8. The Screams of the Dead
Crowds gather as a woman speaks. Her child is dead from cancer. And there are countless more. Are the dumps to blame? Under armed guard, one priest decides to speak out at risk of his life.
"All you have to do... is dig it up."
A trucker’s deathbed tape plays out. It’s urgent, desperate.
In this BBC Radio 4 podcast series, investigative journalists Dan Ashby and Lucy Taylor deep-dive into one of the worst environment crimes in UK history - the secret dumping of a million tonnes of waste near a city. But when they uncover missing documents, fears of toxicity and allegations of organised crime, they realise they’ve stumbled into something much bigger. As they pick at the threads of one crime, they begin to see others. Could Britain be the home of a new mafia, getting rich on our waste?
In a thrilling ten-part investigation, the husband-and-wife duo dive into a criminal underworld, all the time following clues left in a deathbed tape. They’re driven by one question - what did the man in the tape know?
Presenters and Producers: Dan Ashby and Lucy Taylor
Assistant Producer: Tess Davidson
Original Music and Sound Design: Phil Channell
Sound Design and Series Mixing: Jarek Zaba
Executive Producers: Phil Abrams and Anita Elash
Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke
A Smoke Trail production for BBC Radio 4
WED 14:00 The Archers (m001hp4j)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 Drama (m000y0k7)
The Half Widow. Part 2
It's August 2019. The Indian government has revoked Kashmir's special status and the region is now under curfew and communications blackout. Zameera just wants a normal life, and for her son to go to medical school in Mumbai, but they are both caught up in events beyond their control. And Zameera is given a terrible choice. By Avin Shah.
Zameera....Mita Rahman
Yusuf.....Narinder Samra
Javed.....Gavi Singh Chera
Aaliyah.....Aysha Kala
Sergeant Patel.....Emilio Doorgasingh
Gashe.....Avin Shah
Gravedigger.....Ronny Jhutti
Directed by Emma Harding
Sound design by Alison Craig
Production co-ordination by Maggie Olgiati
WED 15:00 Money Box (m001hp98)
Money Box Live: Dementia and Money
It’s estimated that more than 900,000 people in the UK have dementia but that’s a number that's on the rise.
It’s a diagnosis that raises a lot of questions, from the care that might be needed to the impact on family members, and of course there are worries about how best to manage finances as the illness progresses.
This podcast is for everyone, but especially anyone who has concerns about how to protect their financial future if they lose the ability to manage their own affairs. It’s also for anyone who wants to know how they can best provide support for the people they love.
To answer your questions, the experts in this podcast are, Victoria Lyons from the charity Dementia UK and Gary Rycroft a solicitor in private practice.
Presenter: Felicity Hannah
Producer: Amber Mehmood
Editor: Clare Worden
WED 15:30 Inside Health (m001hp54)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Tuesday]
WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (m001hp9j)
Museums
Museums - Laurie Taylor talks to Adam Kuper, most recently Centennial Professor of Anthropology at the London School of Economic, about their history and future. Originally created as colonial enterprises, what is the purpose of these places now? How do we regard the ways in which foreign and prehistoric peoples were represented in museums of anthropology? What should be done with the artefacts and human remains in their custodianship and how can they help us to understand and appreciate other cultures?
Kerry Wilson, Reader in Cultural Policy at Liverpool John Moores University, discusses House of Memories, a multiple award-winning dementia awareness programme, led by National Museums Liverpool. The programme promotes the use of social history collections and museum objects to inspire communication and connection between carers and people with dementia, via dedicated museum-based events. Is this an example of how museums can offer social value to local communities today?
Producer: Jayne Egerton
WED 16:30 The Media Show (m001hp9q)
BBC's Modi documentary controversy
In India, a BBC documentary about India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi is causing controversy. The documentary explores tensions between Narendra Modi and India's Muslim minority. The Indian government says it has ordered Twitter and YouTube to take down video clips from the documentary, but what are the implications for press freedom in India? Also in the programme, how Spotify's podcast strategy is changing and what it means for how we listen to radio and podcasts in the future.
Guests: Rishi Iyengar, staff writer at Foreign Policy magazine; Supriya Sharma, Executive Editor of the news website Scroll; Raman Jit Singh Chima, Asia policy director at Access Now; Nick Hilton, podcast industry analyst and founder of Podot; Arielle Nissenblatt, founder of the EarBuds Podcast Collective newsletter.
Producer: Dan Hardoon
Presenter: Ros Atkins
WED 17:00 PM (m001hp9v)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
WED 18:00 Six O' Clock News (m001hpb6)
The biggest day of industrial action for a decade has seen walkouts by up to half a million train drivers, university lecturers, civil servants and teachers.
WED 18:30 Conversations from a Long Marriage (m000rlpv)
Series 2
Should I Stay or Should I Go?
Conversations from a Long Marriage is a two-hander, starring Joanna Lumley and Roger Allam, as a long-married couple who met in the Summer of Love and are still passionate about life, music and each other. We listen to – and empathise with - their dangling ‘conversations’ covering everything from health scares, jealousy and confessions, to TV incompatibility and sourdough bread.
In Episode 5, ‘Should I stay or should I go?’ – Roger is late home from a pub lunch and Joanna finds out he had a ‘chance encounter’ on the train home with a former student and didn’t tell her.
In spite of his protests that it was innocent, Joanna warns the woman off – but then confesses she has been strongly attracted to another man.
Written by Jan Etherington. Produced and directed by Claire Jones. Production co-ordinator Beverly Tagg. A BBC Studios Production.
WED 19:00 The Archers (m001hnmb)
Tom asks Tony if he and Pat will babysit on Valentine’s Day. Tony quickly agrees while distracted by a phone call Adam is taking. Adam explains Brian has been reported to the police, but the details aren’t clear and heads off to see what’s going on.
In Adam’s absence, Tom makes a silly error in planting the new edible forest garden beds. Tony and Tom laugh at the error which can be easily fixed. Natasha joins them and out of earshot of Tony shows Tom the approach from a modelling agency. Natasha is cautious but Tom persuades her to at least find out more from the agency. She stops Tom from telling Tony about the prospect.
At the Home Farm house Harrison explains to Adam that Brian is sitting in the front garden staring at the house. Adam gently talks to Brian who isn’t pleased about being talked down to. Adam reminds him it's no longer his property, but Brian is adamant he will stay until he is ready to leave. With Adam by his side, Brian reminisces about significant moments at the Home Farm house. This leads him to his argument with Ruairi. Adam mollifies Brian. He says Ruairi is grieving and lashing out and he thanks Brian for the generosity he’s shown him as a stepfather. They move on to happy summertime memories and Harrison approaches. Now he’s explained the situation to the Gills they don’t mind Brian taking his time. But Brian says it’s time to go – it’s all just memories and Jenny’s not here.
WED 19:15 Front Row (m001hpbc)
Sonia Boyce, The Quiet Girl, Theatre Freelance Pay, Oldham Coliseum
Sonia Boyce’s exhibition, Feeling Her Way, won the top prize at the Venice Biennale international art fair. As the sound, video and wallpaper installation arrives at the Turner Contemporary gallery in Margate, Sonia tells Samira why she wanted to form her own girl band and help them to achieve imperfection through improvisation.
Director Colm Bairéad on his film The Quiet Girl – a small scale Irish-language drama, but the highest grossing Irish-language film in history, and the first to be nominated for Best International Feature Film at the Oscars, and BAFTA nominated for Best Film Not In The English Language and Best Adapted Screenplay.
Equity general secretary Paul Fleming and freelance theatre director Kate Wasserberg discuss the ongoing problem of low pay and poor conditions in the UK theatre sector.
Artistic director and chief executive of Oldham Coliseum, Chris Lawson, discusses the decision to cancel its programme of shows after losing its Arts Council England funding.
Presenter: Samira Ahmed
Producer: Eliane Glaser
Main Image - Sonia Boyce courtesy of the artist and Simon Lee Gallery. Photographer: Parisa Taghizadeh
WED 20:00 Moral Maze (m001hpbf)
What is Evil?
Boris Johnson has described a chilling phone call in which Vladimir Putin threatened him with a missile strike in the run-up to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Almost a year on from the start of the war, it’s tempting to see it as a clear-cut conflict between good and evil; Putin the malign aggressor bent on destruction and conquest, Zelensky the courageous defender of liberty and his country. It may be true, or at least substantially so, but is it helpful?
Seeing events through the prism of good and evil enables us to make moral judgements and define what we value. But it can also brush aside the ambiguities of complex situations and de-humanise both those we deem evil, and those we regard as good. Plato and St Augustine thought they were not opposites; that evil was the absence of good, a lack of moral imagination. Psychologists might prefer to dispense with the term ‘evil’ altogether, seeing it as human behaviour to be explained and understood.
Does evil exist? If so, what is it? And how should we deal with it?
With Ed Condon, Professor Scott Atran, Professor Lars Svendsen and Professor Tony Maden
Producer Dan Tierney
WED 20:45 Four Thought (m001hpbb)
Turning to Art
Ted Harrison argues that only art can truly capture the essence of spirituality.
Ted is a former journalist who, close to turning sixty, decided to turn away from using words and instead chose art. It was, he says, because he realised the limitations imposed by words, and the way in which art can capture the ineffable, the spiritual.
Producer: Giles Edwards
WED 21:00 Pay Freezes (m001547r)
From the Big Freeze to the Winter of Discontent
Labour shortages and the cost of living are back as big issues for the first time in years.
There are predictions that the biggest pay squeeze in decades is imminent.
So in this new three-part series for BBC Radio 4, documentary-maker Phil Tinline traces the ups and downs of the politics of pay in Britain since 1945. How did we get here? And what can our history tell us about where we might now be heading?
Our way into this story is through British winters. When workers are powerless, winter puts them under greater pressure. When they have power, winter gives them greater bargaining leverage.
In this first episode, we head back to the big freeze of 1947, when energy and labour shortages were urgent issues. We discover how, as the government grappled with all this, and with inflation, post-war British politics began to be steered by a strange, half-forgotten notion: 'incomes policy'. Why did the state intervene to encourage unions to hold down pay demands, and businesses to hold down profits? And why did anyone co-operate?
Phil traces how this approach shaped the politics of pay for decades - and how it began to break down in the 1960s, even before the winter coal strikes of 1972 and 1974, and the advent of the 'Winter of Discontent'.
Alongside this, he draws on the BBC's archive to reconstruct the long struggle to equalise men and women's pay, from satirical protests outside Parliament in the 1950s, to the impact of the ground-breaking strike by sewing machinists at Ford's Dagenham plant in 1968.
Series contributors include: Kate Bell, Margaret Beckett, Neil Carberry, John Edmonds, Stuart Hill, Linda Hoffman, Gavin Kelly, Tara Martin Lopez, Lucy Neville-Rolfe, Rain Newton-Smith, Michael Portillo, Dominic Sandbrook, Stefan Stern, Selina Todd, Norman Tebbit, Nick Timothy
Producer/ Presenter: Phil Tinline
WED 21:30 The Media Show (m001hp9q)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 today]
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (m001hpbh)
The biggest public sector strikes in a decade
Also tonight:
Actor Christopher Biggins on the Oldham Coliseum Theatre cancelling all its shows this year
And the scientists hoping to bring the dodo back from the dead
Photo by NEIL HALL/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock
WED 22:45 My Father's House by Joseph O'Connor (m001hpbk)
Episode 3
September 1943, German forces occupy Rome. Gestapo boss Obersturmbannführer Paul Hauptmann rules with terror. Hunger is widespread. Rumours fester. The war’s outcome is far from certain.
Diplomats, refugees and escaped Allied prisoners risk their lives fleeing for protection into Vatican City, the world's smallest state at one fifth of a square mile and a neutral, independent country within Rome.
A small band of unlikely friends led by a courageous priest is drawn into deadly danger. By Christmastime, it’s too late to turn back.
Based on the extraordinary true story of the Rome Escape Line and Father Hugh O’Flaherty who, in the 1930s and 40s, was a long-time resident of the Vatican, a seminary teacher, and an amateur historian of Rome. Records show that he was forbidden by the Pope to assist escaping prisoners of war and also that his own government and the Irish Church were adamant that the neutrality of the young nation of Ireland should not be compromised in any way by actions which appeared to support the Allies against the Nazis.
Only in recent years have some of these documents been released and historians are still poring over the archive. The author Joseph O’Connor admits that he has made free with much of the characterisation and detail but he has also used some of the writings of Hugh O’Flaherty and his records which were shared with him by the Monsignor’s niece and nephew. Including an audio recording of the 1963 edition of This is Your Life which featured another real life character, Major Sam Derry.
Cast:
Joseph Balderamma (Enzo)
Jot Davies (Narrator)
David Holt (Sir D'Arcy)
Abridged by Jill Waters and Isobel Creed
Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4
WED 23:00 Stand-Up Specials (m00186qm)
Janey Godley: Still Got It
Revelations, reflections and laughs abound in this touching performance from the legendary comedian, who is undergoing cancer treatment and reeling from recent controversy.
Janey Godley is a force of nature across the country, particularly in her hometown of Glasgow.
This performance, her first live appearance in over six months, is a landmark moment in her life and her career. Time in recovery and isolation has given her a new perspective on how she lives her life, how fragile people can be, and that maybe she does care about what others think of her.
Recorded live in Glasgow at Websters Theatre.
Written by Janey Godley
Produced by Richard Melvin
A Dabster production for BBC Radio 4
WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (m001hpbm)
All the news from Westminster with Sean Curran including the highlights from Prime Minister's Questions.
THURSDAY 02 FEBRUARY 2023
THU 00:00 Midnight News (m001hpbp)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
THU 00:30 The Meat Paradox by Rob Percival (m001hf9t)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m001hpbr)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m001hpbv)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.
THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m001hpbx)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
THU 05:30 News Briefing (m001hpbz)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m001hpc1)
Spiritual reflection to start the day with Fr Dermot Morrin of St Albert's Catholic Chaplaincy, Edinburgh
THU 05:45 Farming Today (m001hpc3)
Apple and pear growing in the UK is on a knife-edge, according to a survey of apple and pear growers by the British Growers Association. More than a third of orders for new trees have been scrapped by farmers who say the sums just don’t add up. They say costs have risen by around 23% compared to an increase in the price they’re paid by supermarkets of just 0.8% We speak to a grower in Kent who's just cancelled an order for 36,000 new trees.
All this week we’re focusing on rural poverty and the impact it’s having. We speak to an agricultural worker in Devon who’s struggling financially because of the impact of bird flu. He's lost his business, and he may also lose his home. The rural charity - The Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution or RABI - is helping him and others who are struggling.
The world records for top wheat and winter barley yields have been broken by a British farmer. Tim Lamyman grows cereals over 720 hectares on the Lincolnshire Wolds. He’s held the record for wheat yields before which makes him a ‘serial’ world record breaker for ‘cereal’ yields - he tells us how he did it.
Presenter = Caz Graham
Producer = Rebecca Rooney
THU 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b038qk0c)
Green Sandpiper
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Brett Westwood presents the Green Sandpiper; a bird with a wonderful yodelling call and the heart-stopping suddenness with which it leaps up from its feeding place and dashes off. The birds that visit the UK are often from Scandinavia, where they nest high up in a fir-tree. When the chicks hatch they tumble unharmed from the nest and are escorted to safe feeding places by their parents.
THU 06:00 Today (m001hnl9)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
THU 09:00 In Our Time (m001hnlf)
Tycho Brahe
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the pioneering Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe (1546 – 1601) whose charts offered an unprecedented level of accuracy.
In 1572 Brahe's observations of a new star challenged the idea, inherited from Aristotle, that the heavens were unchanging. He went on to create his own observatory complex on the Danish island of Hven, and there, working before the invention of the telescope, he developed innovative instruments and gathered a team of assistants, taking a highly systematic approach to observation. A second, smaller source of renown was his metal prosthetic nose, which he needed after a serious injury sustained in a duel.
The image above shows Brahe aged 40, from the Atlas Major by Johann Blaeu.
With
Ole Grell
Emeritus Professor in Early Modern History at the Open University
Adam Mosley
Associate Professor of History at Swansea University
and
Emma Perkins
Affiliate Scholar in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge.
THU 09:45 The Meat Paradox by Rob Percival (m001hfpp)
Episode 4
Rob Percival is the head of Food Policy at The Soil Association.
He thinks our future diet will be shaped by diverse forces. By novel technologies and the logic of globalisation, by geopolitical tensions and the evolution of cultural preferences, by shocks to the status quo - pandemics and economic strife, the escalation of the climate emergency - and by how we choose to respond. It will also be shaped by our emotions. In short - by the Meat Paradox.
'Should we eat animals?' was, until recently, a question reserved for moral philosophers and an ethically minded minority, but it is now posed on restaurant menus and supermarket shelves, on social media and morning television. The recent surge in popularity for veganism in the Western world has created a debate over our long held relationship with meat.
We must all find a way of balancing competing and contradictory imperatives while understanding the psychology of our dietary choices.
Written by Rob Percival
Read by Alec Newman
Abridged by Polly Coles
Produced by Clive Brill
A Brill production for BBC Radio 4
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (m001hnlk)
Alex Kingston plays Prospero at the RSC; Captain Preet Chandi; Alcohol, sexual assault & recall; Folic acid; All good friends?
Women are able to recall details of sexual assault and rape with accuracy, even if they have drunk – moderate amounts of alcohol .A study conducted at the University of Birmingham demonstrated that women who had drunk alcohol up to the legal limit for driving were able to recall details of an assault in a hypothetical scenario, including details of activities to which they had, and had not, consented. Heather Flowe, Professor of Psychology led the study.
A year ago, British Army officer and physiotherapist Captain Preet Chandi (AKA Polar Preet) made history as the first woman of colour to complete a solo expedition in Antarctica. Now she’s just broken another world record: the longest ever solo and unsupported Polar ski expedition. The 33-year-old travelled 922 miles across Antarctica, beating the previous record of 907 miles set by Henry Worsley, a retired Lieutenant Colonel, in 2015. Having spent over 70 days on her own, trekking in temperatures as cold as -50C, she speaks to Anita Rani about how she endured such a physical and mental challenge.
Is your partner’s ex a significant person in your life? Are they someone you tolerate - or are they someone whose company you genuinely enjoy? Would you even go so far as to call them a friend? Or even a best friend? The friendship between popstar Katy Perry and the model Miranda Kerr attracted attention this week. Why…because Katy Perry is engaged to Orlando Bloom - who Miranda used to be married to. Katy Perry posted about her friend on Instagram calling her her “sister from another mister” and stating “I love our modern family”. So how realistic or welcome is it to be friends with your partner’s ex? We hear from the journalist Esther Walker.
Adding higher levels of folic acid (otherwise known as vitamin B9) to all flour and rice would stop hundreds more UK babies being born with lifelong disabilities. That's what a group of leading scientists are saying. Women in the UK are advised to take a daily folic supplement before becoming pregnant, to reduce the risk of giving birth to babies with severe abnormalities called neural tube defects, such as spina bifida. But many don't. Anita Rani is joined by Neena Modi, Professor of Neonatal Medicine at Imperial College London.
Best known more recently for her portrayal of River Song, the wife and occasional companion of Dr Who, actor Alex Kingston is currently on stage in Stratford-upon-Avon as part of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of The Tempest. Women playing what are regarded as traditionally male roles on stage is not unusual these days but Alex explains to Anita why making Prospero a woman and mother surviving exile on a small island makes that role much more powerful.
Presenter: Anita Rani
Producer: Kirsty Starkey
Interviewed Guest: Professor Heather Flowe
Interviewed Guest: Preet Chandi
Interviewed Guest: Esther Walker
Interviewed Guest: Professor Neena Modi
Interviewed Guest: Alex Kingston
Photographer: Ikin Yum
THU 11:00 From Our Own Correspondent (m001hnlp)
A Mosque Attack in Peshawar
Kate Adie presents stories from Pakistan Ukraine, Gibraltar, Uzbekistan and Namibia
More than 100 people were killed in an attack targeting police in a high security mosque in the northern city of Peshawar in Pakistan earlier this week. An investigation is now underway as to how the bomber managed to enter the high-security zone. Caroline Davies went to the city and met some of the survivors.
Ukraine's President, Volodymyr Zelensky has launched a anti-corruption drive, which led to the resignation of several government and regional ministers. James Waterhouse was in Kyiv and said the upheaval marked a shift in the government’s narrative, with a new focus on accountability.
Gibraltar, the British territory which borders Spain, remains deeply patriotic despite its geographical location. Joe Inwood met the chief minister there and discovered how a simple mispronunciation opened up deeper cultural differences.
We visit Samarkand in Uzbekistan, for centuries a major trading hub on the Silk Road. But under the former President Islam Karimov, the country experienced economic stagnation and isolation. His successor is trying to revive the economy by boosting tourism. Heidi Fuller-Love went to visit a shiny new complex near Samarkand - a different world from the heritage sites of the old city.
And Stephen Moss explores the sand dunes of the Namib desert - one of the most arid places on earth. He finds that, although Chinese investment in nearby Walvis Bay is reaping returns, the wider ecosystem is under threat.
Producers: Serena Tarling, Louise Hidalgo and Arlene Gregorius
Editor: China Collins
Production Coordinator: Helena Warwick-Cross
THU 11:30 A Kiss (m001hnlt)
"The memory of a kiss is so wonderfully unstable..."
In conversation with Caroline Bird, Richard Scott and Fleur Adcock, the poet Rachel Long explores the craft of writing a kiss.
How might we hold the wordless intimacy of the act - its blurring of selves and disrupted time?
In this documentary we weave between fragmentary memories - sensual, funny, erotic... the kisses we describe over and over, the kisses we keep a secret.
Also featuring glimpses of kisses from Nadia Molinari, Ian Rawlinson, Sayre Quevedo and Laura Barton amongst others.
Photo credit: Amaal Said
Presented by Rachel Long
Produced by Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
THU 12:00 News Summary (m001hnly)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 12:04 You and Yours (m001hnm0)
Gap Finders: Spice Kitchen founders Sanjay and Shashi Aggarwal
This week's Gap Finders interview is with Sanjay and Shashi Aggarwal, the founders of Spice Kitchen, a business that sells gift-wrapped tins of spices. Shashi is Sanjay's mum, and 10 years ago they tried selling an Indian spice tin - that she had put together - on eBay. It sold, and Spice Kitchen was born. They now produce spice blends from different parts of the world with a team of 15 based in Liverpool, and 500 stockists around the country.
Sanjay and Shashi talk about the highs and lows of starting out in business, including designing the packaging, recruiting a workforce and trying to grow the company - and what it's like working with your immediate family.
PRESENTER: WINIFRED ROBINSON
PRODUCER: TOM MOSELEY
THU 12:32 Sliced Bread (m001hnm2)
Eco Laundry Products
In this episode presenter Greg Foot investigates three products that promise to make washing your laundry better for the planet.
Listener Clare wants to know if the Ecoegg she’s using really is a greener alternative to liquid detergent and whether the cleaning pellets inside are harmful to the environment.
Another listener, Jane, got in touch about laundry sheets – strips of concentrated detergent that go inside the washing machine’s drum. Is the slightly higher cost worth it to cut down on waste?
And finally Mary wanted to know about filters that capture harmful microfibres which are shed from our clothes in the washing process and get into the environment, causing huge problems for marine life.
This series, we’re testing and investigating your suggested wonder-products. If you’ve seen an ad, trend or fad and wonder if there’s any evidence to back up a claim, drop us an email to sliced.bread@bbc.co.uk or you can send us a voice note to our new WhatsApp number: 07543 306807.
PRESENTER: Greg Foot
PRODUCER: Simon Hoban
THU 12:57 Weather (m001hnm4)
The latest weather forecast
THU 13:00 World at One (m001hnm6)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Sarah Montague.
THU 13:45 Buried (m001hnm8)
9. Fear of the Unknown
In his last days, Joe thought the pollution was putting lives at risk. His friends were willing to break the law to find out. Years on, are deadly cancers rising?
"All you have to do... is dig it up."
A trucker’s deathbed tape plays out. It’s urgent, desperate.
In this BBC Radio 4 podcast series, investigative journalists Dan Ashby and Lucy Taylor deep-dive into one of the worst environment crimes in UK history - the secret dumping of a million tonnes of waste near a city. But when they uncover missing documents, fears of toxicity and allegations of organised crime, they realise they’ve stumbled into something much bigger. As they pick at the threads of one crime, they begin to see others. Could Britain be the home of a new mafia, getting rich on our waste?
In a thrilling ten-part investigation, the husband-and-wife duo dive into a criminal underworld, all the time following clues left in a deathbed tape. They’re driven by one question - what did the man in the tape know?
Presenters and Producers: Dan Ashby and Lucy Taylor
Assistant Producer: Tess Davidson
Original Music and Sound Design: Phil Channell
Sound Design and Series Mixing: Jarek Zaba
Executive Producers: Phil Abrams and Anita Elash
Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke
A Smoke Trail production for BBC Radio 4
THU 14:00 The Archers (m001hnmb)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 Nazis: The Road to Power (m001hnmd)
4. The Big Lie
Far away in the Rhineland, 26-year-old Joseph Goebbels has a PhD, an unpublished novel and a half-Jewish girlfriend, Else Janke. But he finds himself drawn to the Nazi Party and Hitler’s rhetoric. Every day in his diary (concealed until this century) he records his excitement as he reads about Hitler defending himself – the latter is now on trial in Munich for his totally unsuccessful coup.
Released from prison just six months later, Hitler must now renounce violence and vow that the Nazi Party will seek power through the ballot box. Goebbels is drawn deeper into the party faction who advocate the Socialism in ‘National Socialism’ but how will he react when Hitler writes to him personally, seeking to bring him closer to his own standpoint? And will it mean the end of his relationship with Else?
Starring Alexander Vlahos as Joseph Goebbels, Tom Mothersdale as Adolf Hitler and featuring Sorcha Kennedy as Else Janke and Joseph Alessi as Gregor Strasser.
Cast:
Joseph Goebbels - ALEXANDER VLAHOS
Adolf Hitler - TOM MOTHERSDALE
Gregor Strasser - JOSEPH ALESSI
Emil Maurice & Rudolf Diels - OSCAR BATTERHAM
Helene Bechstein - NANCY CARROLL
Otto von Lossow - NICHOLAS FARRELL
Leni Hanfstaengl - MELODY GROVE
Putzi Hanfastaengl - COREY JOHNSON
Herman Göring - SCOTT KARIM
Rudolf Hess - GEORGE KEMP
Else Janke - SORCHA KENNEDY
Hermine Hoffman - LYNNE MILLER
General Ludendorff - ANDREW WOODALL
Other parts were played by: EDWARD BENNETT, WILLIAM CHUBB, JACK LASKEY,
FORBES MASSON and MICHAEL MALONEY
The Narrator is JULIET STEVENSON
Sound Designer – ADAM WOODHAMS
Studio Manager – MARK SMITH
Casting Director – GINNY SCHILLER
Original Score – METAPHOR MUSIC
Producer – NICHOLAS NEWTON
Writer and Director – JONATHAN MYERSON
A Promenade production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds
THU 15:00 Ramblings (m001hnmg)
The Hills are Alive! Commoners Choir in Calderdale
Boff Whalley is best known for Tubthumping with the band Chumbawamba but now he’s a core member of the Leeds based Commoners Choir which he founded. They sing about the world around them, about inequality and injustice, and they also love to walk. Cath Long, a fellow member, wrote to Ramblings to ask Clare to join them on a hike in the South Pennines near Todmorden in Calderdale, West Yorkshire. So, on a chilly, wet and blustery Saturday in early January, they met by the Shepherd’s Rest pub and headed into the hills to ramble and sing. Boff created a choir manifesto, and one aim was to 'rehearse until we're brilliant' and they really are. Their Skelmanthorpe Flag Song, which they performed at the historic Basin Stone, was heard by fellow walkers at least two miles down in the valley. On a circular hike, which began and ended at the pub, they stopped off at Gaddings Dam, often described as the highest beach in the UK, where some choir members took the plunge and sang out from the wind-blown waves of the reservoir.
Grid Ref for start of walk: SD 945 231
Presenter: Clare Balding
Producer: Karen Gregor
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (m001hnmj)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 Open Book (m001hnml)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Sunday]
THU 16:00 The Curious Cases of Rutherford & Fry (m001hnmn)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:00 on Tuesday]
THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (m001hnmq)
Exploring the New Environmental Improvement Plan
Defra, the department for Environment, food and Rural affairs, released its latest Environmental Improvement plan this week. Many environmental groups have criticised the plan for having vague commitments, and landowners are asking where the money is going to come from if say farmers are going to move land out of production and into conservation. For a view away from these vested interests we’ve turned to the Office of Environmental protection – the body set up after Britain left the EU to scrutinise government environmental policy. Chief Executive Dame Glenys Stacey, and Chief Insights Officer, Professor Robbie McDonald.
Last week the UK passed an emergency exemption allowing sugar beet farmers to use a controversial neonicotinoid pesticide called Thiamethoxam. This is the third year in a row that the exemption has been in place and the decision came just days after the EU banned such exemptions across Europe. A discussion in parliament yesterday saw MPs criticise the move due to the impacts of neonicotinoids on already crashing Bees populations. We spoke to Dr Richard Gill at Imperial College London about exactly how these insecticides impact bees.
There are volcanic islands dotted across the globe but exactly what caused their formation and how might they change in the future? Professor Ana Ferreira at University College London is a seismologist leading an ambitious study to measure deep vibrations and disturbances around volcanic islands in the Atlantic Ocean. She told us about the challenges of recording from the ocean floor and the other unexpected disturbances they detected.
As humans our eyes are one of our most valuable and expressive social tools. The whites of our eyes or sclera enable us to follow each others gaze and look our for minute changes in mood, a feature that until recently was thought to be unique to humans setting us apart from animals in our ability to communicate. But Anthropologist Aaron Sandel at The University of Texas in Austin has noticed that white sclera is in fact present in one of our closest relatives; the chimpanzee.
Presenter: Gaia Vince
Producers: Julian Siddle and Emily Bird
Inside Science is produced in Collaboration with the Open University
THU 17:00 PM (m001hnms)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
THU 18:00 Six O' Clock News (m001hnmv)
The Bank of England has raised interest rates again but has hinted that the recession might not be as bad as forecast.
THU 18:30 Prepper (m0002b8v)
Series 1
Hell Is Other People
Comedy with Sue Johnston and Pearl Mackie.
Trump. ISIS. The Courgette Crisis. Signs of civilisation’s fragility are all around. No wonder the Doomsday Clock just nudged closer to midnight. In this fearscape, more and more ordinary people are wondering how they’d cope if everything we take for granted (law and order, access to healthcare, iceberg lettuces in Sainsburys) was taken away.
Preppers - a large and rapidly growing global community - have taken this thought one step further. They’re actively skilling-up, laying down supplies and readying themselves for the end of the world, in whatever form it comes. Indeed, a prepping shop just opened in Newquay. And if people in Cornwall are prepping, it’s time to worry.
Imagine if Woman’s Hour made a podcast about preparing for the end times. Prepper follows neurotic, debt-ridden Rachel and hard-as-nails ‘Churchill in Spanx’ Sylvia, working class Mancunians who prep and podcast, sharing knowledge with their community, and showing off just how Armageddon-ready they are.
Told through their podcasts from Sylvia’s garage and featuring ‘apoco-tips’, ‘end of days drills’ and interviews with preppers from around the world, Prepper comically explores how two mismatched women live with the possibility of the end of days, and how they bond over their determination to survive. And fend off zombies.
This week - road testing survival courses.
Cast:
Sylvia ..... Sue Johnston
Rachel ..... Pearl Mackie
Gary ..... Simon Holland Roberts
Written by Caroline Moran and James J. Moran
Producer: Steve Doherty
A Giddy Goat production for BBC Radio 4
THU 19:00 The Archers (m001hnmx)
Tom and Natasha mull over how hard Jennifer’s death must be for Brian. Meanwhile, Natasha’s been doing more research into child modelling. She shares what she’s learned with Tom who comments she’s looked into it a lot for someone who isn’t keen on the idea. Natasha tentatively suggests they pay for the portfolio shots on a credit card. Tom’s cautious, there’s no guarantee their daughters will make the money back with bookings. They’re unable to reach a decision before Pat joins them. She’s sent them an adorable photo she’s taken of Nova and Seren much to Natasha’s delight. Now on the same page, Natasha and Tom tell Pat that Nova and Seren have been head hunted by a modelling agency. Pat tries to sound a note of warning, but Natasha and Tom are too enthralled by the money Nova and Seren could earn for their futures to listen.
Lilian lets off steam to Lynda about Justin trying to make her feel better and the imminent arrival of James, Leonie and Mungo. She then realises she’s walked in on Lynda’s hair appointment with Chelsea. Pleased, as ever, with Chelsea’s cut, Lynda suggests Lilian also has her hair done. Lilian reluctantly agrees and ends up recounting a funny moment with Jennifer at Fabrice’s salon. Her laughter turns to tears. She apologises but both Chelsea and Lynda understand. Lynda reminds Lilian of how supportive she was when Lynda was recovering from her injuries. With news that James and Leonie will arrive earlier than expected, Lynda reassures Lilian that everything will be fine.
THU 19:15 Front Row (m001hnmz)
TV drama Nolly and film The Whale reviewed, director M Night Shyamalan
Noele Gordon was the star of Crossroads, the soap that ran on ITV from 1964 to 1988, attracting audiences of 15 million in its heyday. She was sacked from the show in 1981, returning briefly a few years later. What happened? And what was the role of TV soap at that time, with women at the heart of its casts and audience? Russell T Davies' new drama, Nolly, starring Helena Bonham Carter, tells the story. Our critics David Benedict and Anna Smith review that and new film The Whale. Brendan Fraser is Oscar-nominated for his performance as a man whose size means he can no longer leave his apartment and who tries to re-build his damaged relationship with his daughter.
And director M. Night Shyamalan on his new film Knock At The Cabin – a home invasion thriller where a family must make a terrible choice in order to avert the apocalypse.
Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe
Producer: Sarah Johnson
THU 20:00 The Briefing Room (m001hnn1)
How do we get over-50s back into work?
The government wants hundreds of thousands of over 50s to return the workforce as Britain mounts an economic recovery. More than half million people in that age bracket have left work since 2019. Will the promise of a 'midlife MOT' encourage people to come back to work? And do employers want them?
Joining David Aaronovitch in The Briefing Room are:
Torsten Bell, Chief Executive of the Resolution Foundation
Mike Crowhurst, Director at Public First
Tony Wilson, Director Institute for Employment Studies
Bee Boileau, a research economist in the retirement, saving and ageing sector at the Institute for Fiscal Studies,
James Kirkup, Director of the Social Market Foundation
Producers: Kirsteen Knight, Daniel Gordon and Ben Carter
Production Coordinators: Siobhan Reed and Sophie Hill
Sound mix: Neil Churchill
Editor: Richard Vadon
THU 20:30 The Bottom Line (m001hnn3)
The French correction?
The French work fewer hours, take longer holidays and retire earlier than UK employees, but they are also more productive and their economy is therefore roughly the same size as ours. How do they do it?
As the UK looks for a way out of its sluggish economic growth, Evan Davis asks what we can learn from our neighbours. Why is it that for each hour worked a French employee produces almost 20 per cent more than a British one?
GUESTS
Olivier Morel, board member of the French Chamber of
Great Britain and partner at Cripps.
Rebecca Riley, professor of practice in economics at
King’s Business School, London, and member of The Productivity Institute.
and
Neil Coales, managing director of Agilité Solutions, Paris.
PRODUCTION TEAM
Producers: Simon Tulett and Julie Ball
Researcher: Marianna Brain
Editor: China Collins
Sound: Rod Farquhar and Graham Puddifoot
Production Co-ordinators: Sophie Hill and Siobhan Reed
THU 21:00 BBC Inside Science (m001hnmq)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 today]
THU 21:30 In Our Time (m001hnlf)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (m001hnn6)
Israeli Economy Minister, Nir Barkat
In-depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
THU 22:45 My Father's House by Joseph O'Connor (m001hnn8)
Episode 4
September 1943, German forces occupy Rome. Gestapo boss Obersturmbannführer Paul Hauptmann rules with terror. Hunger is widespread. Rumours fester. The war’s outcome is far from certain.
Diplomats, refugees and escaped Allied prisoners risk their lives fleeing for protection into Vatican City, the world's smallest state at one fifth of a square mile and a neutral, independent country within Rome.
A small band of unlikely friends led by a courageous priest is drawn into deadly danger. By Christmastime, it’s too late to turn back.
Based on the extraordinary true story of the Rome Escape Line and Father Hugh O’Flaherty who, in the 1930s and 40s, was a long-time resident of the Vatican, a seminary teacher, and an amateur historian of Rome. Records show that he was forbidden by the Pope to assist escaping prisoners of war and also that his own government and the Irish Church were adamant that the neutrality of the young nation of Ireland should not be compromised in any way by actions which appeared to support the Allies against the Nazis.
Only in recent years have some of these documents been released and historians are still poring over the archive. The author Joseph O’Connor admits that he has made free with much of the characterisation and detail but he has also used some of the writings of Hugh O’Flaherty and his records which were shared with him by the Monsignor’s niece and nephew. Including an audio recording of the 1963 edition of This is Your Life which featured another real life character, Major Sam Derry.
Cast:
Ben Onwukwe (John May)
Jot Davies (Narrator)
Abridged by Jill Waters and Isobel Creed
Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4
THU 23:00 Unsafe Space (m001hnnc)
Series 1
Episode 4
Stylistically fresh-sounding, provocative, unorthodox comedy and debate for the open-minded that firmly ticks the box marked ‘thinking outside of other boxes'.
Unsafe Space embraces diversity – especially diversity of opinion across the socio-economic divide. It's a brand new format where comedy meets thought-provoking debate and discussion.
This week, Andrew Doyle talks to Graham Linehan about the backlash against him for his activism, plus comedy from Preet Singh, Rosie Holt, Jonny Abrams, Larry and Paul, and Dominic Frisby. Meanwhile Simon Evans tackles the differences in race awareness in the UK and America with rapper Zuby.
With thanks to Andy Shaw and Comedy Unleashed.
Production Team:
Laura Grimshaw
Tony Churnside
Bill Dare
Produced and Directed by Jon Holmes
An unusual production for BBC Radio 4
THU 23:30 Today in Parliament (m001hnnf)
All the news from today's sitting at Westminster.
FRIDAY 03 FEBRUARY 2023
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (m001hnnh)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 00:30 The Meat Paradox by Rob Percival (m001hfpp)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Thursday]
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m001hnnk)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m001hnnm)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.
FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m001hnnp)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
FRI 05:30 News Briefing (m001hnnr)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m001hnnt)
Spiritual reflection to start the day with Fr Dermot Morrin of St Albert's Catholic Chaplaincy, Edinburgh
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (m001hnnw)
03/02/22 Dental deserts, forestry training, PCN resistant potatoes.
The dental deserts in the UK's rural and coastal towns. Recent research showed that 90% of NHS dental practices in England were not accepting new adult patients. The All Party Parliamentary Health and Social Care committee is now investigating this struggle people are having finding a dentist.
The Government is to spend £700,000 training people in forestry in England , so (ministers say) 'we have enough people with the right skills to plan, plant and manage new woodlands.'
Scientists have discovered types of potato which can fight off an attack from worm-like pests called potato cyst nematodes. As PCNs can reduce yields or even destroy a whole crop, that's a big deal.
Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Beatrice Fenton.
FRI 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b09r3yy4)
Penny Anderson on the Red Grouse
Ecologist Penny Anderson has always liked Red Grouse and they never fail to make her laugh as she reveals in this recollection about her encounters with this dumpy red bird.
Producer: Sarah Blunt
Photograph: Fox Pix.
FRI 06:00 Today (m001hp3w)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (m001hnx7)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:15 on Sunday]
FRI 09:45 The Meat Paradox by Rob Percival (m001hfzr)
Episode 5
Rob Percival is the head of Food Policy at The Soil Association.
He thinks our future diet will be shaped by diverse forces. By novel technologies and the logic of globalisation, by geopolitical tensions and the evolution of cultural preferences, by shocks to the status quo - pandemics and economic strife, the escalation of the climate emergency - and by how we choose to respond. It will also be shaped by our emotions. In short - by the Meat Paradox.
'Should we eat animals?' was, until recently, a question reserved for moral philosophers and an ethically minded minority, but it is now posed on restaurant menus and supermarket shelves, on social media and morning television. The recent surge in popularity for veganism in the Western world has created a debate over our long held relationship with meat.
We must all find a way of balancing competing and contradictory imperatives while understanding the psychology of our dietary choices.
Written by Rob Percival
Read by Alec Newman
Abridged by Polly Coles
Produced by Clive Brill
A Brill production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (m001hp42)
Happy Valley & kinship care; Conditions at Eastwood Park women's prison, Declining birthrates in China & Japan, Beyonce
A new report by HM Inspectorate of Prisons on conditions at Eastwood Park women’s prison has been released today. We speak to Sandra Fieldhouse, lead for women’s prisons at HMI Prisons about the findings.
The TV drama Happy Valley has captured the public’s imagination with the final episode of the final series airing this Sunday. Catherine Cawood played by Sarah Lancashire is the policewoman who we see bringing up her grandson Ryan after her daughter took her own life. We hear from one listener who contacted Woman’s Hour about how as a kinship carer she has felt “heard” by the drama and Anita also speaks to Dr Lucy Peake the chief executive of Kinship – the UK’s largest charity for kinship carers.
The Grammy's will be held on Sunday in Los Angeles and Beyoncé leads the pack with nine overall nominations. She has also announced her first tour in seven years, which led to the ticket website crashing. The UK concerts are part of a 43-date world tour in support of her Grammy-nominated Renaissance album. Anita discusses her success with Jacqueline Springer, curator Africa and Diaspora: Performance at the Victoria and Albert Museum and music journalist.
China and Japan are seeing a marked reduction in their birth rates which will have a major impact on how their societies function in the next decades. With ageing populations and a birth rate well below the 2.1 replacement level observers are predicting significant problems ahead. By the end of the century China is predicted to drop from more than a billion to around 800 million and Japan’s population will drop from 123 million today to around 75 million. Anita Rani discusses the reasons and implications with Dr Yu Jie, Senior Research Fellow on China Asia Pacific Programme at Chatham House; and Yoko Ishikura an independent business consultant, professor emeritus at Hitotsubashi University who is working with the Japanese Government’s Digital Agency.
Presented by Anita Rani
Producer: Louise Corley
Editor: Karen Dalziel
FRI 11:00 Is Psychiatry Working? (m001hp48)
Diagnosis
Although psychiatry helped writer Horatio Clare when he was in crisis, some people in difficulty, their families, clinicians, psychologists and psychiatrists themselves will tell you there are serious questions about the ways psychiatry understands and treats some people in trouble. And so this series asks a simple question: is psychiatry working? In the following series, accompanied by the psychiatrist Femi Oyebode, Horatio traces a journey through crisis, detention, diagnosis, therapy, and recovery. In this episode, they consider the role and place of diagnosis in psychiatry.
If you need support with mental health or feelings of despair, a list of organisations that can help is available at BBC Action Line support:
Mental health & self-harm: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1NGvFrTqWChr03LrYlw2Hkk/information-and-support-mental-health-self-harm
Suicide/Emotional distress: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4WLs5NlwrySXJR2n8Snszdg/information-and-support-suicide-emotional-distress
or you can call for free to hear recorded information on 0800 066 066.
Presenters: Horatio Clare and Femi Oyebode
Producer: Emma Close
Editor: Clare Fordham
Sound Mix: James Beard
FRI 11:30 Thanks a Lot, Milton Jones! (b0b430zf)
Series 3
The Decluttererer
Why not sort out your life and sign on with the patent Milton Declutterering Method! (Including getting rid of that extra "er" in Declutterering.)
Mention Milton Jones to most people and the first thing they think is "Help!". Each week, Milton and his trusty assistant Anton set out to help people and soon find they're embroiled in a new adventure. Because when you're close to the edge, then Milton can give you a push.
"Milton Jones is one of Britain's best gagsmiths with a flair for creating daft yet perfect one-liners" - The Guardian.
"King of the surreal one-liners" - The Times
"If you haven't caught up with Jones yet - do so!" - The Daily Mail
Written by Milton with James Cary (Bluestone 42, Miranda), and Dan Evans (who co-wrote Milton's Channel 4 show House Of Rooms), the man they call "Britain's funniest Milton," returns to the radio with a fully-working cast and a shipload of new jokes.
The cast includes regulars Tom Goodman-Hill (Spamalot, Mr. Selfridge) as the ever-faithful Anton, Josie Lawrence and Ben Willbond (The Thick Of It).
With music by Guy Jackson
Produced and directed by David Tyler
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 12:00 News Summary (m001hp4f)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 12:04 AntiSocial (m001hp4k)
Trans women and prisons
The Scottish Prison Service is under fire for sending a trans woman who raped two women to a female prison.
That has brought the ongoing battle about whether trans women should be in women's prisons to the top of the social media agenda. Some argue that men's prisons are not safe for trans women. But others say that biological males should never be in women's prisons.
Presenter: Adam Fleming
Producers: Lucy Proctor, Phoebe Keane and Ellie House
Editor: Emma Rippon
FRI 12:57 Weather (m001hp4q)
The latest weather forecast
FRI 13:00 World at One (m001hp4v)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Sarah Montague.
FRI 13:45 Buried (m001hp4z)
10. What Joe Knew
Justice at last over Mobuoy - and a legal first by the river. Then, in a finale of twists and answers, we uncover the secret that disturbed Joe until the end.
"All you have to do... is dig it up."
A trucker’s deathbed tape plays out. It’s urgent, desperate.
In this BBC Radio 4 podcast series, investigative journalists Dan Ashby and Lucy Taylor deep-dive into one of the worst environment crimes in UK history - the secret dumping of a million tonnes of waste near a city. But when they uncover missing documents, fears of toxicity and allegations of organised crime, they realise they’ve stumbled into something much bigger. As they pick at the threads of one crime, they begin to see others. Could Britain be the home of a new mafia, getting rich on our waste?
In a thrilling ten-part investigation, the husband-and-wife duo dive into a criminal underworld, all the time following clues left in a deathbed tape. They’re driven by one question - what did the man in the tape know?
Presenters and Producers: Dan Ashby and Lucy Taylor
Assistant Producer: Tess Davidson
Original Music and Sound Design: Phil Channell
Sound Design and Series Mixing: Jarek Zaba
Executive Producers: Phil Abrams and Anita Elash
Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke
A Smoke Trail production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 14:00 The Archers (m001hnmx)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Limelight (m001hp53)
The Incident at Ong's Hat
The Incident at Ong’s Hat - Episode 2: The Traveller
Sarah and Charlie meet a mysterious stranger at Ong’s Hat who claims to be an interdimensional traveller… and who knows a lot about Sarah.
Can he be trusted, or has a dangerous online stalker just made his IRL entrance…
Cast:
Charlie - Corey Brill
Sarah - Avital Ash
Rodney Ascher - Himself
Det. Stecco - James Bacon
Casey - Hayley Taylor
Ringo - Benjamin Williams
Kit - Randall Keller
Denny Unger - Himself
Joseph Matheny - Himself
Newscasters: Elizabeth Saydah, Dean Wendt
Created and Produced by Jon Frechette and Todd Luoto
Inspired by Ong’s Hat: The Beginning by Joseph Matheny
Music by Blue Dot Sessions, Jon Frechette, Chris Zabriskie, Anthéne, Macrogramma (under Creative Commons)
Editing and Sound Design - Jon Frechette
Additional Editing - Brandon Kotfila and Greg Myers
Special Thanks - Ben Fineman
Written and Directed by Jon Frechette
Executive Producer - John Scott Dryden
“Ong’s Hat Survivors Interview” courtesy of Joseph Matheny
Visit thegardenofforkedpaths.com and josephmatheny.com
A Goldhawk production for Radio 4 and BBC Sounds
FRI 14:45 Understand: The Economy (m001dxpj)
Series 1
The Economy: 5. Banks
What are banks and what do they do with our money? Tim Harford explains where your money goes when you put it in a bank account and reveals that your bank might actually be a shadow bank. Economic historian Victoria Bateman tells the story of Priscilla Wakefield, one of Britain's forgotten female economists, who created the first saving bank for working-class women in a Tottenham grammar school.
Everything you need to know about the economy and what it means for you. This podcast will cut through the jargon to bring you clarity and ensure you finally understand all those complicated terms and phrases you hear on the news. Inflation, GDP, Interest rates, and bonds, Tim Harford and friends explain them all. We’ll ensure you understand what’s going on today, why your shopping is getting more expensive or why your pay doesn’t cover your bills. We’ll also bring you surprising histories, from the war-hungry kings who have shaped how things are counted today to the greedy merchants flooding Spain with silver coins. So if your eyes usually glaze over when someone says ‘cutting taxes stimulates growth’, fear no more, we’ve got you covered.
Guest: Professor Wendy Carlin, University College London and Director of CORE Econ (Curriculum Open-access Resources in Economics)
Producer: Phoebe Keane
Researchers: Drew Hyndman and Marianna Brain
Editor: Clare Fordham
Theme music: Don’t Fret, Beats Fresh Music
A BBC Long Form Audio Production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m001hp58)
Tring
How do I get my cypress tree to be pencil thin? I grow vegetables in pots – how can I stop cats ‘going’ in them? Have I killed my husband’s beloved banana trees? When should I cut back my salvias to get a good display in the spring and summer?
Returning to Tring to answer these questions and more in front of a live audience are Peter Gibbs and this week’s panel: Pippa Greenwood, expert in pests and diseases, plantsman Matt Biggs, and garden designer Juliet Sargeant.
And Dr Chris Thorogood, GQT’s intrepid plant-hunter, went to Sumatra to hunt down the Titan Arum – Amorphophallus titanum – in its natural habitat.
Producer: Daniel Cocker
Assistant Producer: Rahnee Prescod
Executive Producer: Louisa Field
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 15:45 Short Works (m001hp5h)
In Loco Parentis by Jan Carson
An original short story commissioned by BBC Radio 4 written by Jan Carson and read by Lisa Dwyer Hogg.
Jan Carson is a writer and community arts facilitator based in Belfast. Her first novel, Malcolm Orange Disappears, was published in 2014 to critical acclaim, followed by a short-story collection, Children's Children (2016), and two flash fiction anthologies, Postcard Stories (2017) and Postcard Stories 2 (2020). Her second novel, The Fire Starters (2019), won the EU Prize for Literature and was shortlisted for the Dalkey Novel of the Year Award. Her work has appeared in numerous journals and on BBC Radio 3 and 4. She has won the Harper's Bazaar short-story competition and has been shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award and the Seán Ó Faoláin Short Story Prize. Her third novel, The Raptures, was published in 2022.
Writer: Jan Carson
Reader: Lisa Dwyer Hogg
Producer: Michael Shannon
Executive Editor: Andy Martin
A BBC Northern Ireland production.
FRI 16:00 Last Word (m001hp5q)
Ralph Ehrmann, Sylvia Syms, Rabbi Dr Abraham Levy, Jo Sandilands
Matthew Bannister on
Ralph Ehrmann, the German-born businessman behind the success of the Airfix model kits that delighted a generation of young boys in the 1960s and 70s.
Sylvia Syms (pictured), the actor whose roles ranged from beautiful heroines in the 1950s and 60s to Margaret Thatcher and The Queen Mother later in life.
Rabbi Dr Abraham Levy, the leader of the UK’s oldest Jewish community who was awarded the OBE for services to interfaith relations.
Jo Sandilands, who edited the magazines Honey and Woman and became Programme Controller of Capital Radio in London.
Producer: Neil George
Interviewed guest: Melanie Williams
Interviewed guest: Jenny Agutter
Interviewed guest: Jonathan Sacerdoti
Interviewed guest: Alexandra Ehrmann
Interviewed guest: Jeremy Brook
Interviewed guest: Gay Search
Archive clips used:
East of Sudan (clip), YouTube: MorningsideMovies channel, uploaded 28/11/2021; In Town Today, BBC Radio TX 21/08/1965; My Teenage Daughter (clip), YouTube: Network Distributing channel, uploaded 01/09/2014; Ice Cold in Alex (clip), YouTube: Coolmacatrain channel, uploaded 09/02/2019; Clip from ITV news item about Intermission Youth Theatre School, YouTube: Ricardo P Lloyd channel, uploaded 04/11/2019;Excerpt of Les Barker reading his poem ‘Déjà Vu’, YouTube: Les Barker channel, uploaded 03/03/2020; Relighting the Candle, BBC 1 TX 14/10/1993; Mazeltov Israel, BBC 1 TX 30/04/1998; Woman Magazine advertisement, YouTube: Nina Perez channel, uploaded 18/01/2015; Chris Tarrant jingle, YouTube: MayDay51 channel, uploaded 22/12/2017; Airfix advertisement, YouTube: British Nostalgia channel, uploaded 06/03/2015
FRI 16:30 More or Less (m001hp5w)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 on Wednesday]
FRI 17:00 PM (m001hp62)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
FRI 18:00 Six O' Clock News (m001hp6b)
Jaswant Singh Chail was caught with a loaded crossbow in the grounds of Windsor Castle, metres away from Queen Elizabeth's private apartments.
FRI 18:30 The News Quiz (m001hp6n)
Series 110
Episode 6
For this week's News Quiz we're in Glasgow! Andy is joined by Frankie Boyle, Susie McCabe, Ashley Storrie and journalist Alex Massie. Up for discussion is the latest on strike action, the economy and the possibility of bringing a Dodo back to life.
Hosted and written by Andy Zaltzman with additional material from Alice Fraser, Max Davis, Carl Carzana and Jade Gebbie.
Producer: Georgia Keating
Executive Producer: James Robinson
Production Co-ordinator: Becky Carewe-Jeffries
Sound Editor: Marc Willcox
A BBC Studios Production
FRI 19:00 The Archers (m001hp71)
Writer, Tim Stimpson
Director, Peter Leslie Wild
Editor, Jeremy Howe
Brian Aldridge ….. Charles Collingwood
Pat Archer ….. Patricia Gallimore
Tony Archer ….. David Troughton
Natasha Archer ….. Mali Harries
Tom Archer ….. William Troughton
Lilian Bellamy ….. Sunny Ormonde
Lee Bryce ….. Ryan Early
Harrison Burns ….. James Cartwright
Alice Carter ….. Hollie Chapman
Susan Carter ….. Charlotte Martin
Ruairi Donovan ….. Arthur Hughes
Justin Elliott ….. Simon Williams
Chelsea Horrobin ….. Madeleine Leslay
Adam Macy ….. Andrew Wincott
Freddie Pargetter ….. Toby Laurence
Lynda Snell ….. Carole Boyd
Julianne Wright ….. Lisa Bowerman
FRI 19:15 Screenshot (m001hp7f)
The Art of the Trailer
Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode explore the dark arts of the film trailer, 110 years on from the first ever trailer, for Broadway musical The Pleasure Seekers.
Ellen talks to writer and trailer aficionado Matt Schimkowitz about the origins of the trailer, its development since the early days of cinema, and the Christopher Nolan film that totally changed the landscape.
And Mark speaks to director Edgar Wright about the film trailers that left the biggest impression on him growing up, as well as about his experience making a parody trailer - Don’t - for Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez’s Grindhouse project.
Mark also speaks to actor-turned-director Elizabeth Banks about the trailer for her forthcoming film Cocaine Bear, which has proved a huge viral hit.
This week's Viewing Note is from Oscar-winning director Guillermo Del Toro.
Producer: Jane Long
A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (m001hp7t)
Chris Hazzard MP, Simon Hoare MP, Emma Little-Pengelly MLA, Allison Morris
Alex Forsyth presents political debate from Bangor Court House, County Down with the Sinn Féin MP Chris Hazzard, the Conservative MP and Chair of the Northern Ireland Select Committee Simon Hoare, DUP MLA and spokesperson for Executive Office, Legacy and Human Rights at Stormont Emma Little-Pengelly and the Crime Correspondent at the Belfast Telegraph Allison Morris.
Producer: Camellia Sinclair
Lead broadcast engineer: John Benson
FRI 20:50 A Point of View (m001hp83)
AI Agonistes
Adam Gopnik challenges the idea that the artistic and literary creations of artificial intelligence can match human endeavour. Although impressive in their ability to produce pastiche, he thinks AI programmes fail to produce anything 'newly memorable'.
'They are not smart at all in the sense that we usually mean it, capable of constructing creative ideas from scratch,' he writes.
'But rather they're sorts of cognitive scavengers with immense capacity - like whales scooping up all the shrimp and algae from the sea bed, and then churning on it, cud like, until asked to spit up one particular bit.'
Producer: Sheila Cook
Sound Engineer: Peter Bosher
Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith
Production Co-ordinator: Helena Warwick-Cross
FRI 21:00 Buried (m001hp89)
Omnibus (Part 1)
A trucker leaves a deathbed tape about an appalling crime. It leads two journalists into a criminal underworld. But what did the man in the tape know? His plea - dig it up.
In this BBC Radio 4 podcast series, investigative journalists Dan Ashby and Lucy Taylor deep-dive into one of the worst environment crimes in UK history - the secret dumping of a million tonnes of waste near a city. They uncover missing documents, fears of toxicity and allegations of organised crime, and realise they've stumbled into something much bigger. As they pick at the threads of one crime, they begin to see others. Could Britain be the home of a new mafia, getting rich on our waste?
Presenters and Producers: Dan Ashby and Lucy Taylor
Assistant Producer: Tess Davidson
Original Music and Sound Design: Phil Channell
Sound Design and Series Mixing: Jarek Zaba
Executive Producers: Phil Abrams and Anita Elash
Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke
A Smoke Trail production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (m001hp8h)
In-depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
FRI 22:45 My Father's House by Joseph O'Connor (m001hvh4)
Episode 5
September 1943, German forces occupy Rome. Gestapo boss Obersturmbannführer Paul Hauptmann rules with terror. Hunger is widespread. Rumours fester. The war’s outcome is far from certain.
Diplomats, refugees and escaped Allied prisoners risk their lives fleeing for protection into Vatican City, the world's smallest state at one fifth of a square mile and a neutral, independent country within Rome.
A small band of unlikely friends led by a courageous priest is drawn into deadly danger. By Christmastime, it’s too late to turn back.
Based on the extraordinary true story of the Rome Escape Line and Father Hugh O’Flaherty who, in the 1930s and 40s, was a long-time resident of the Vatican, a seminary teacher, and an amateur historian of Rome. Records show that he was forbidden by the Pope to assist escaping prisoners of war and also that his own government and the Irish Church were adamant that the neutrality of the young nation of Ireland should not be compromised in any way by actions which appeared to support the Allies against the Nazis.
Only in recent years have some of these documents been released and historians are still poring over the archive. The author Joseph O’Connor admits that he has made free with much of the characterisation and detail but he has also used some of the writings of Hugh O’Flaherty and his records which were shared with him by the Monsignor’s niece and nephew. Including an audio recording of the 1963 edition of This is Your Life which featured another real life character, Major Sam Derry.
Cast:
Jot Davies (Narrator)
Fenella Woolgar (Marianna de Vries)
David Holt (German official)
Abridged by Jill Waters and Isobel Creed
Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 23:00 Americast (m001hp8p)
The Killing of Tyre Nichols
After shocking video footage was released of the 29-year-old African-American being beaten to death by five black police officers in Memphis, we ask what might stop police brutality in the US.
Sarah and her BBC colleague Chelsea Bailey share insights from their reporting trips to Memphis. And we also ask retired African-American LAPD Sergeant Cheryl Dorsey what should be done differently.
With Donald Trump revving up his presidential campaign in South Carolina, the Americast team discusses the two other Republicans who are set to challenge him: Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley.
Americast is presented by North America editor Sarah Smith, Today host Justin Webb, the BBC's social media and disinformation correspondent Marianna Spring, and North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher.
Email Americast@bbc.co.uk with your questions and comments and send us a message or voice note via WhatsApp, to 03301239480.
Find out more about our "undercover voters" here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-63530374.
This episode was made by Phil Marzouk and Rufus Gray. The studio director was Mike Regaard. The assistant editor was Simon Watts. The senior news editor was Sam Bonham.
FRI 23:30 Today in Parliament (m001hp8x)
All the news from today's sitting at Westminster.
LIST OF THIS WEEK'S PROGRAMMES
(Note: the times link back to the details; the pids link to the BBC page, including iPlayer)
39 Ways to Save the Planet
14:45 SAT (m0010xpd)
A Good Read
16:30 TUE (m001hp3t)
A Kiss
11:30 THU (m001hnlt)
A Point of View
08:48 SUN (m001hg0y)
A Point of View
20:50 FRI (m001hp83)
Americast
23:00 FRI (m001hp8p)
AntiSocial
12:04 FRI (m001hp4k)
Any Answers?
14:00 SAT (m001hnw3)
Any Questions?
13:10 SAT (m001hg0w)
Any Questions?
20:00 FRI (m001hp7t)
Archive on 4
20:00 SAT (m000djx2)
BBC Inside Science
16:30 THU (m001hnmq)
BBC Inside Science
21:00 THU (m001hnmq)
Believe It!
19:15 SUN (m000mytw)
Bells on Sunday
05:43 SUN (m001hnyc)
Bells on Sunday
00:45 MON (m001hnyc)
Beyond Belief
16:30 MON (m001hp0l)
Broadcasting House
09:00 SUN (m001hnwz)
Buried
13:45 MON (m001hp0d)
Buried
13:45 TUE (m001hp3f)
Buried
13:45 WED (m001hp90)
Buried
13:45 THU (m001hnm8)
Buried
13:45 FRI (m001hp4z)
Buried
21:00 FRI (m001hp89)
Conversations from a Long Marriage
18:30 WED (m000rlpv)
Counterpoint
23:00 SAT (m001hf22)
Counterpoint
15:00 MON (m001hp0h)
Crossing Continents
20:30 MON (m001hfq6)
Desert Island Discs
11:15 SUN (m001hnx7)
Desert Island Discs
09:00 FRI (m001hnx7)
Drama
15:00 SUN (m001hnyb)
Drama
14:15 TUE (m000xzf7)
Drama
14:15 WED (m000y0k7)
Farming Today
06:30 SAT (m001hnv7)
Farming Today
05:45 MON (m001hnzc)
Farming Today
05:45 TUE (m001hp2d)
Farming Today
05:45 WED (m001hp7w)
Farming Today
05:45 THU (m001hpc3)
Farming Today
05:45 FRI (m001hnnw)
File on 4
17:00 SUN (m001hfd3)
Four Thought
05:45 SAT (m001hff5)
Four Thought
20:45 WED (m001hpbb)
From Our Own Correspondent
11:30 SAT (m001hnvn)
From Our Own Correspondent
11:00 THU (m001hnlp)
Front Row
19:15 MON (m001hp0z)
Front Row
19:15 TUE (m001hp4p)
Front Row
19:15 WED (m001hpbc)
Front Row
19:15 THU (m001hnmz)
Gardeners' Question Time
14:00 SUN (m001hg0c)
Gardeners' Question Time
15:00 FRI (m001hp58)
Gloomsbury
11:30 WED (b08ky5kn)
I'm Not a Monster
11:00 WED (p0dn6w8t)
Icon
21:30 SUN (m001cx1q)
In Our Time
09:00 THU (m001hnlf)
In Our Time
21:30 THU (m001hnlf)
In Time to the Music
11:30 TUE (m001hp31)
In Touch
20:40 TUE (m001hp50)
Inside Health
21:00 TUE (m001hp54)
Inside Health
15:30 WED (m001hp54)
Is Psychiatry Working?
21:00 MON (m001hfzw)
Is Psychiatry Working?
11:00 FRI (m001hp48)
Just One Thing - with Michael Mosley
09:30 WED (m001hp70)
Just a Minute
12:04 SUN (m001hf32)
Just a Minute
18:30 MON (m001hp0v)
Last Word
20:30 SUN (m001hg0h)
Last Word
16:00 FRI (m001hp5q)
Learning From the Great Tide
20:00 MON (m001hp11)
Limelight
14:15 FRI (m001hp53)
Loose Ends
18:15 SAT (m001hnx2)
Loose Ends
23:00 SUN (m001hnx2)
Midnight News
00:00 SAT (m001hg18)
Midnight News
00:00 SUN (m001hnxl)
Midnight News
00:00 MON (m001hnyz)
Midnight News
00:00 TUE (m001hp1h)
Midnight News
00:00 WED (m001hp5x)
Midnight News
00:00 THU (m001hpbp)
Midnight News
00:00 FRI (m001hnnh)
Money Box
12:04 SAT (m001hnvs)
Money Box
21:00 SUN (m001hnvs)
Money Box
15:00 WED (m001hp98)
Moral Maze
22:15 SAT (m001hff1)
Moral Maze
20:00 WED (m001hpbf)
More or Less
20:00 SUN (m001hf95)
More or Less
09:00 WED (m001hp5w)
More or Less
16:30 FRI (m001hp5w)
My Father's House by Joseph O'Connor
22:45 MON (m001hp16)
My Father's House by Joseph O'Connor
22:45 TUE (m001hp5k)
My Father's House by Joseph O'Connor
22:45 WED (m001hpbk)
My Father's House by Joseph O'Connor
22:45 THU (m001hnn8)
My Father's House by Joseph O'Connor
22:45 FRI (m001hvh4)
Nazis: The Road to Power
14:15 THU (m001hnmd)
News Briefing
05:30 SAT (m001hg1w)
News Briefing
05:30 SUN (m001hny5)
News Briefing
05:30 MON (m001hnz7)
News Briefing
05:30 TUE (m001hp23)
News Briefing
05:30 WED (m001hp73)
News Briefing
05:30 THU (m001hpbz)
News Briefing
05:30 FRI (m001hnnr)
News Summary
12:00 SAT (m001hnvq)
News Summary
06:00 SUN (m001hnvy)
News Summary
12:00 SUN (m001hny3)
News Summary
12:00 MON (m001hp0c)
News Summary
12:00 TUE (m001hp3s)
News Summary
12:00 WED (m001hp9h)
News Summary
12:00 THU (m001hnly)
News Summary
12:00 FRI (m001hp4f)
News and Papers
06:00 SAT (m001hnv5)
News and Papers
07:00 SUN (m001hnwb)
News and Papers
08:00 SUN (m001hnwq)
News and Weather
13:00 SAT (m001hnvz)
News
22:00 SAT (m001hnxg)
On Your Farm
06:35 SUN (m001hnw2)
One to One
09:30 TUE (m001hp2t)
Open Book
16:00 SUN (m001hnml)
Open Book
15:30 THU (m001hnml)
Open Country
06:07 SAT (m001hfr7)
Opening Lines
14:45 SUN (m001hny1)
PM
17:00 SAT (m001hnwf)
PM
17:00 MON (m001hp0n)
PM
17:00 TUE (m001hp41)
PM
17:00 WED (m001hp9v)
PM
17:00 THU (m001hnms)
PM
17:00 FRI (m001hp62)
Pay Freezes
21:00 WED (m001547r)
Phil Ellis Is Trying
18:30 TUE (m0007wwr)
Pick of the Week
18:15 SUN (m001hnyp)
Poetry Please
23:30 SAT (m001hdpq)
Poetry Please
16:30 SUN (m001hnyf)
Political Thinking with Nick Robinson
17:30 SAT (m001hnwk)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 SAT (m001hg21)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 MON (m001hnz9)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 TUE (m001hp27)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 WED (m001hp7g)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 THU (m001hpc1)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 FRI (m001hnnt)
Prepper
18:30 THU (m0002b8v)
Profile
19:00 SAT (m001hnx6)
Profile
05:45 SUN (m001hnx6)
Profile
17:40 SUN (m001hnx6)
Rabbit Remembered
21:45 SAT (m0009km5)
Radio 4 Appeal
07:54 SUN (m001hnmj)
Radio 4 Appeal
21:25 SUN (m001hnmj)
Radio 4 Appeal
15:27 THU (m001hnmj)
Ramblings
15:00 THU (m001hnmg)
Saturday Live
09:00 SAT (m001hnvf)
Screenshot
19:15 FRI (m001hp7f)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 SAT (m001hg1h)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 SUN (m001hnxv)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 MON (m001hnz3)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 TUE (m001hp1w)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 WED (m001hp6c)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 THU (m001hpbv)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 FRI (m001hnnm)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 SAT (m001hg1c)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 SAT (m001hg1n)
Shipping Forecast
17:54 SAT (m001hnwp)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 SUN (m001hnxq)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 SUN (m001hnxz)
Shipping Forecast
17:54 SUN (m001hnyh)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 MON (m001hnz1)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 MON (m001hnz5)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 TUE (m001hp1q)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 TUE (m001hp20)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 WED (m001hp63)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 WED (m001hp6q)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 THU (m001hpbr)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 THU (m001hpbx)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 FRI (m001hnnk)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 FRI (m001hnnp)
Short Works
00:30 SUN (m001hg0f)
Short Works
15:45 FRI (m001hp5h)
Six O' Clock News
18:00 SAT (m001hnwy)
Six O' Clock News
18:00 SUN (m001hnym)
Six O' Clock News
18:00 MON (m001hp0s)
Six O' Clock News
18:00 TUE (m001hp4d)
Six O' Clock News
18:00 WED (m001hpb6)
Six O' Clock News
18:00 THU (m001hnmv)
Six O' Clock News
18:00 FRI (m001hp6b)
Sliced Bread
12:32 THU (m001hnm2)
Something Understood
06:05 SUN (b03cd94h)
Something Understood
23:30 SUN (b03cd94h)
Stand-Up Specials
23:00 WED (m00186qm)
Start the Week
09:00 MON (m001hnzt)
Start the Week
21:30 MON (m001hnzt)
Stone
21:00 SAT (b09l1yh2)
Sunday Worship
08:10 SUN (m001hnwv)
Sunday
07:10 SUN (m001hnwg)
Thanks a Lot, Milton Jones!
11:30 FRI (b0b430zf)
The Archers Omnibus
10:00 SUN (m001hnx3)
The Archers
19:00 SUN (m001hnyr)
The Archers
14:00 MON (m001hnyr)
The Archers
19:00 MON (m001hp0x)
The Archers
14:00 TUE (m001hp0x)
The Archers
19:00 TUE (m001hp4j)
The Archers
14:00 WED (m001hp4j)
The Archers
19:00 WED (m001hnmb)
The Archers
14:00 THU (m001hnmb)
The Archers
19:00 THU (m001hnmx)
The Archers
14:00 FRI (m001hnmx)
The Archers
19:00 FRI (m001hp71)
The Bottom Line
11:30 MON (m001hfrr)
The Bottom Line
20:30 THU (m001hnn3)
The Briefing Room
20:00 THU (m001hnn1)
The Case of the Brillante Virtuoso
15:30 TUE (m0013r0s)
The Circus
19:45 SUN (m001hnyt)
The Curious Cases of Rutherford & Fry
11:00 TUE (m001hnmn)
The Curious Cases of Rutherford & Fry
16:00 THU (m001hnmn)
The Food Programme
12:32 SUN (m001hnxh)
The Food Programme
15:30 MON (m001hnxh)
The Invention of...
11:00 MON (m001hp00)
The Jungle Book
15:00 SAT (m000t4v3)
The Kitchen Cabinet
10:30 SAT (m001hnvh)
The Kitchen Cabinet
15:00 TUE (m001hnvh)
The Life Scientific
09:00 TUE (m001hp2p)
The Life Scientific
21:30 TUE (m001hp2p)
The Meat Paradox by Rob Percival
09:45 MON (m001hf24)
The Meat Paradox by Rob Percival
00:30 TUE (m001hf24)
The Meat Paradox by Rob Percival
09:45 TUE (m001hf7n)
The Meat Paradox by Rob Percival
00:30 WED (m001hf7n)
The Meat Paradox by Rob Percival
09:45 WED (m001hf9t)
The Meat Paradox by Rob Percival
00:30 THU (m001hf9t)
The Meat Paradox by Rob Percival
09:45 THU (m001hfpp)
The Meat Paradox by Rob Percival
00:30 FRI (m001hfpp)
The Meat Paradox by Rob Percival
09:45 FRI (m001hfzr)
The Media Show
16:30 WED (m001hp9q)
The Media Show
21:30 WED (m001hp9q)
The News Quiz
12:30 SAT (m001hg0p)
The News Quiz
18:30 FRI (m001hp6n)
The Week in Westminster
11:00 SAT (m001hnvl)
The World This Weekend
13:00 SUN (m001hnxr)
The World Tonight
22:00 MON (m001hp14)
The World Tonight
22:00 TUE (m001hp5b)
The World Tonight
22:00 WED (m001hpbh)
The World Tonight
22:00 THU (m001hnn6)
The World Tonight
22:00 FRI (m001hp8h)
Thinking Allowed
00:15 MON (m001hfd4)
Thinking Allowed
16:00 WED (m001hp9j)
This Cultural Life
19:15 SAT (m001hnxb)
This Cultural Life
14:15 MON (m001hnxb)
Today in Parliament
23:30 MON (m001hp1b)
Today in Parliament
23:30 TUE (m001hp5r)
Today in Parliament
23:30 WED (m001hpbm)
Today in Parliament
23:30 THU (m001hnnf)
Today in Parliament
23:30 FRI (m001hp8x)
Today
07:00 SAT (m001hnvc)
Today
06:00 MON (m001hnzr)
Today
06:00 TUE (m001hp2f)
Today
20:00 TUE (m001hp4w)
Today
06:00 WED (m001hp69)
Today
06:00 THU (m001hnl9)
Today
06:00 FRI (m001hp3w)
Torn
00:15 SUN (m001bl0m)
Tudur Owen: Zoo
23:00 TUE (m000k3gj)
Tweet of the Day
08:58 SUN (b09h2rbp)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 MON (m0003sym)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 TUE (b020xv0f)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 WED (b0378x0n)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 THU (b038qk0c)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 FRI (b09r3yy4)
Understand: The Economy
14:45 FRI (m001dxpj)
Unsafe Space
23:00 THU (m001hnnc)
Weather
06:57 SAT (m001hnv9)
Weather
12:57 SAT (m001hnvv)
Weather
17:57 SAT (m001hnwt)
Weather
06:57 SUN (m001hnw6)
Weather
07:57 SUN (m001hnwl)
Weather
12:57 SUN (m001hnxm)
Weather
17:57 SUN (m001hnyk)
Weather
05:56 MON (m001hnzg)
Weather
12:57 MON (m001hp06)
Weather
12:57 TUE (m001hp37)
Weather
12:57 WED (m001hp8k)
Weather
12:57 THU (m001hnm4)
Weather
12:57 FRI (m001hp4q)
Westminster Hour
22:00 SUN (m001hnyw)
Why Coups Fail
13:30 SUN (m001hnxw)
Why Coups Fail
16:00 MON (m001hnxw)
Wise Gals by Nathalia Holt
00:30 SAT (m001hh2n)
Woman's Hour
16:00 SAT (m001hnw9)
Woman's Hour
10:00 MON (m001hnzy)
Woman's Hour
10:00 TUE (m001hp2z)
Woman's Hour
10:00 WED (m001hp7s)
Woman's Hour
10:00 THU (m001hnlk)
Woman's Hour
10:00 FRI (m001hp42)
Word of Mouth
23:00 MON (m001hfcc)
Word of Mouth
16:00 TUE (m001hp3l)
World at One
13:00 MON (m001hp08)
World at One
13:00 TUE (m001hp39)
World at One
13:00 WED (m001hp8r)
World at One
13:00 THU (m001hnm6)
World at One
13:00 FRI (m001hp4v)
You and Yours
12:04 MON (m001hp04)
You and Yours
12:04 TUE (m001hp35)
You and Yours
12:04 WED (m001hp8c)
You and Yours
12:04 THU (m001hnm0)