SATURDAY 14 SEPTEMBER 2024

SAT 00:00 Midnight News (m0022slc)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 00:30 The Story of a Heart by Dr Rachel Clarke (m0022sjr)
Max

When nine-year old Keira suffers catastrophic injuries in a car accident, her devastated family agree that she would have wanted to be an organ donor. Meanwhile in another part of the country Max has been hospitalised for almost a year with a virus that is causing his young heart to fail. When Max's parents receive the call they've been longing for, they know it comes at unimaginable cost to another family.

Dr Rachel Clarke follows the journey of the heart from Keira to Max with compassion and clarity in a book long-listed for the Baillie Gifford Prize. Exploring the history of the medical innovations in transplantation that led us here, she meets some of the physicians, nurses, scientists and surgeons whose knowledge and dedication make this remarkable procedure possible.

The NHS team are about to begin the complex operation which will change Max’s life – but first, they take a moment to remember Keira and give thanks for the selfless decision her family have made.

Written and read by Rachel Clarke
Abridged by Clara Glynn
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie


SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m0022slf)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m0022slh)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


SAT 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m0022slk)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SAT 05:30 News Briefing (m0022slm)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m0022slp)
Happy to Help?

A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with Right Revd Mary Stallard, Bishop of Llandaff.

Good morning, with the busyness of my life, I often find myself rushing to complete mundane tasks like food-shopping: my haste doesn’t always make me easy to encounter. People talk about road-rage - well, I’ve discovered in myself a capacity for supermarket rage!
When the automated check-out isn’t working properly, or I’ve needed assistance, I’ve sometimes felt exasperated that staff wearing badges saying “happy to help”, have been too busy with other tasks or appeared to be engrossed in conversations with their colleagues. When this happens, I find myself feeling impatient.
In calmer moments I have to admit that there’ve been plenty of occasions when shop staff have gone out of their way to help me, to find things or to reach stuff from the highest shelves.
I find it interesting that the urge to complain seems much more powerful than the desire to affirm kindness. I’d readily go online to report poor service, but I rarely get around to acknowledging and recognising those who go “above and beyond” to help.
As a Christian leader I also wear badges announcing that I should be happy to help others: My clergy collar indicates that I’m supposed to be kind, gentle and willing to help others. Similarly the cross, traced in holy-water on every baptised person’s forehead says the same thing.
Perhaps key to living in this way, is seeking to slow down, and instead of being consumed by doing many tasks to seek to do fewer things well.
God of grace, thank you that you are endlessly patient. Help us to notice even the small ways in which we might bring help to others, that we may live more carefully as part of your work of bringing hope and reconciliation for all creation. Amen.


SAT 05:45 Frontlines of Journalism (m001lyzj)
10. The Big Lie

When BBC International Editor Jeremy Bowen questioned President Bashar al-Assad about the well-documented Syrian practice of dropping barrels full of explosives on areas held by rebels, he was confronted by a repeated lie.

The question for journalists is how they deal with that. And what happens when the lie machine is turned on the journalists themselves.

Revisiting some of the most difficult stories he and other journalists have had to report, BBC International Editor Jeremy Bowen looks at some of the obstacles that stand between journalists and what Watergate reporter Carl Bernstein called the ‘best obtainable version of the truth’.

Jeremy speaks with: journalist Rana Rahimpour who was born in Iran but left when she was 25 to work for the BBC, Dean Baquet - until 2022 the executive editor of the New York Times, and Eliot Higgins - founder of Bellingcat.

Presenter: Jeremy Bowen
Producer: Georgia Catt
Assistant Producer: Sam Peach
Additional research: Rob Byrne
Series mixing: Jackie Margerum
Series Editor: Philip Sellars


SAT 06:00 News and Papers (m00230r1)
The latest news headlines. Including the weather and a look at the papers.


SAT 06:07 Open Country (m0022swv)
Aberaeron's Mackerel Festival

Jon Gower is in Aberaeron, Ceredigion, to explore how mackerel (and other fish) have shaped the people and landscape.

Jon joins the pretty harbour town’s annual mackerel festival, where the humble mackerel is given thanks at the end of its season with a funeral procession, complete with wailing widows, a blessing from the local reverend Dilwyn Jones and, most years, a sunset cremation on the beach. Here, Jon meets local townsfolk to hear how fishing connects the generations far back in their families and how livelihoods, mackerel populations and the landscape of this town are changing with the climate crisis.

Jon also speaks to Elinor Gwilym from the Cymdeithas Aberaeron Society, who talk about how the charming aesthetic of the town is influenced by its connection to fishing, with the colourful harbour houses originally built for sea captains.

Producer: Eliza Lomas for BBC Audio, Bristol


SAT 06:30 Farming Today (m00230r3)
14/09/24 - Farming Today This Week: Farming underspend, Westmorland Show, fishing

DEFRA has confirmed there has been a £358 million underspend of the agricultural budget over the last three years. It follows unconfirmed reports in the press that the new Government plans to cut the future budget by £100m a year. So what would that mean for farming businesses and the environment?

We visit the 225th Westmorland County Show to see the livestock on show, talk politics with young farmers and enjoy tasters in the Food Hall.

The UK fishing industry is renewing its calls for the Government to develop a Fishing Strategy. The National Federation of Fishermen's Organisations says with plans in place on off shore energy and marine conservation, fishing is falling through the cracks. Meanwhile conservationists say the quota system is allowing overfishing of some UK stocks, and fishing gear needs to change to prevent unwanted bycatch.

And we meet the new Chair of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee - the group of MPs who scrutinise the Government's decisions around food, farming and environmental policy.

Presented by Caz Graham
Produced by Heather Simons


SAT 06:57 Weather (m00230r5)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SAT 07:00 Today (m00230r7)
14/09/24 - Nick Robinson and Simon Jack

News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (m00230r9)
Yotam Ottolenghi, David and Yinka Olusoga, Livi Deane, Leigh Francis

Culinary maestro Yotam Ottolenghi, the man who’s transformed the way we think about Middle Eastern flavours, vegetables, and the art of home cooking joins us to chat 'Comfort' food.

We welcome Livi Deane, a model and beautician, who’s written a book about living with lifechanging impaired vision and a prosthetic eye, as a result of a rare form of eye cancer.

And historian siblings David and Yinka Olusoga join us to discuss their new book 'Black History for Every Day of the Year' and will be share some of their own life story with us

All that, plus we have the Inheritance Tracks of comedian, presenter, actor and creator of Keith Lemon, Leigh Francis.

Presenters: Nikki Bedi and Huw Stephens
Producer: Ben Mitchell


SAT 10:00 You're Dead to Me (m00230rc)
History of Broadway

Greg Jenner is joined in 20th-Century New York by Dr Hannah Thuraisingam Robbins and comedian Desiree Burch to learn about the history of Broadway. Most of us are familiar with at least one Broadway musical, from classics like My Fair Lady and the Sound of Music to new favourites Hamilton and Wicked. In the last couple of decades, high-profile film adaptations of shows like Chicago, Cats and Les Misérables have brought musical theatre to a bigger audience than ever before. But whether or not you know your Rodgers & Hammerstein from your Lloyd Webber, the history of Broadway is perhaps more of a mystery. This episode explores all aspects of musical theatre, from its origins in the early years of the 20th Century, to the ‘Golden Age’ in the 50s and the rise of the megamusical in the 80s. Along the way, Greg and his guests learn about the racial and class dynamics of Broadway, uncover musical flops and triumphs, and find out exactly what ‘cheating out’ is.

You’re Dead To Me is the comedy podcast that takes history seriously. Every episode, Greg Jenner brings together the best names in history and comedy to learn and laugh about the past.

Hosted by: Greg Jenner
Research by: Hannah Campbell Hewson, Annabel Storr and Anna McCully Stewart
Written by: Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow, Emma Nagouse, and Greg Jenner
Produced by: Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow and Greg Jenner
Audio Producer: Steve Hankey
Production Coordinator: Ben Hollands
Senior Producer: Emma Nagouse
Executive Editor: James Cook


SAT 10:30 The Kitchen Cabinet (m0022z3m)
Series 45

Leeds

Jay Rayner and his panel of food experts are in Leeds sharing their top tips and recipes. They deliberate over the perfect roast dinner, offer ideas for a self-catered wedding and discuss the most pressing of tableside debates: can you ever have too much gravy? The panel share their secrets for making the crispiest roast potatoes, exciting recipes involving beans, and discuss whether it’s valid to love raisins, and hate sultanas.

On the panel this week are food historian Dr Annie Gray, chef Rob Owen Brown and writer and restaurateur Tim Hayward. They are aided in their pursuit of roast dinner excellence by executive chef Nick Robertson from one of the city’s oldest pubs.

Assistant producer: Dulcie Whadcock
Senior producer: Dom Tyerman
Executive producer: Carly Maile
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 11:00 The Week in Westminster (m00230rf)
George Parker of the Financial Times analyses the week's political developments at Westminster.

Following the Prime Minister's visit to Washington, the former UK Ambassador to the US, Lord Darroch, and Sir Keir Starmer's former director of strategy, Deborah Mattinson, assess the global security situation and what impact the US election will have on Western foreign policy.

To discuss the state of the NHS following a damning report from former minister Lord Darzi, George is joined by former Labour Health Secretary, Patricia Hewitt, and former Conservative Chair of the Health Select Committee Steve Brine.

Professor Richard Davies of the LSE, presenter of a new radio documentary about the Port Talbot steel works, explains what this week's government announcement about the plant means for the future of steel-making in Britain.

And, as the Spending Review gets underway, George brings together two former Treasury ministers, Danny Alexander and David Gauke, to lift the lid on how departments can wring money out of the exchequer.


SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m0022zxp)
The US debate and the battle for Pennsylvania

Kate Adie presents dispatches from the US, the DRC, Italy, Romania and Egypt

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump faced off against each other in a debate on Tuesday night at a pivotal moment in the race. In the lead up to the debate, both candidates had been neck and neck in the polls. Tom Bateman gauged what the locals made of their performance.

An outbreak of the viral disease, mpox across central and west Africa has infected more than 21,000 people and killed more than 600 – and the Democratic Republic of Congo is at the epicentre. Simi Jolaoso has been to South Kivu, where medical staff are racing to deliver treatment and await vaccinations.

The Italian town of Monfalcone has a population of over more than 30,000 people, more than 6,000 of whom are from Bangladesh: largely skilled workers who came to work at a major shipyard there. This has changed the makeup of the city, which is being met with resistance from certain corners. Especially the far-right mayor, as Sofia Bettiza discovered.

Nicolae Ceaușescu bulldozed one fifth of the city to construct his People’s Palace in Romania’s capital Bucharest. It still towers over its population today. It’s now the location of Romania's parliament and, while efforts have been made to remove the communist era symbols, it was deemed too expensive to demolish. Rob Crossan has been to visit.

George Orwell’s short satirical novel Animal Farm allegorised the rise to power of Stalin and exposed the abuses of his regime in Russia. When Magdi Abdelhadi recently tried to get a new edition of the book printed in Egypt, he found it… a rather Orwellian experience.

Producers: Serena Tarling and Farhana Haider
Editor: Tom Bigwood
Production coordinators: Sophie Hill & Katie Morrison


SAT 12:00 News Summary (m00230rh)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 12:04 Money Box (m0022zxm)
Winter Fuel Payment and Inheritance Tax

Hundreds of thousands of disabled pensioners will be unfairly impacted by the cut in Winter Fuel Payment, according to two leading charities who've spoken exclusively to Money Box. Disability Rights UK and Age UK have both told us that disabled pensioners often have higher energy bills because of medical needs and sharp cuts to the number of people receiving the payment will disproportionally affect them more than others. The government says it's committed to giving pensioners the dignity and security they deserve in retirement but says given the state of the public finances its inherited it’s right that it targets support to those who need it most. It says its protecting disabled pensioners through extra disability benefits such as Attendance Allowance, Disability Living Allowance and Personal Independence Payments. And that over a million pensioners will also continue to receive the Winter Fuel Payment and those on the full new State Pension will receive over £400 boost through the triple lock.

How might the Chancellor target Inheritance Tax in the upcoming Budget? Latest figures show that the government received a record £7.7 billion from IHT in the 12 months to July, up over 5% on a year before.

And, what can be done to encourage self-employed people to pay into a pension?

Presenter: Paul Lewis
Reporter: Dan Whitworth
Researchers: Catherine Lund and Jo Krasner
Editor: Jess Quayle

(First broadcast 12pm Saturday 14th September 2024)


SAT 12:30 The News Quiz (m0022skq)
Series 115

Prisoners and Pensioners

Simon Evans, Ria Lina, Glenn Moore, and Coco Khan join Andy Zaltzman to quiz the news

This week on The News Quiz the panel look towards a cold winter for pensioners, an early fall for prisoners, and try to figure out exactly what was being said during the US Presidential debate.

Written by Andy Zaltzman

With additional material by: Mike Shephard, Christiana Riggs, Rebecca Bain, Sam Lyden and Teresa Burns
Producer: Sam Holmes
Executive Producer: James Robinson
Production Coordinator: Jodie Charman
Sound Editor: Giles Aspen

A BBC Studios Audio Production for Radio 4
An Eco-Audio certified Production


SAT 12:57 Weather (m00230rk)
The latest weather forecast


SAT 13:00 News and Weather (m00230rm)
The latest national and international news and weather reports from BBC Radio 4


SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (m0022skx)
Baroness Goldie, Ivan McKee MSP, Alex Salmond, Michael Shanks MP

Alex Forsyth presents political debate from the Skypark in Glasgow with the former Defence Minister Baroness Goldie, the Minister for Public Finance in Scotland Ivan McKee MSP, the Leader of the Alba Party Alex Salmond and the Energy Minister Michael Shanks MP.

Producer: Robin Markwell
Lead Broadcast Engineer: Ken Garden


SAT 14:00 Any Answers? (m00230rq)
Call Any Answers? to have your say on the big issues in the news this week.


SAT 14:45 The Archers (m0022sks)
At the Bull, Will apologises to Chris and tells him George is desperate to tell Alice how sorry he is, but he isn’t allowed to speak to her. Chris is furious when he realises Will, like Emma, knew about George’s crime.

Brian and Alice are in London for Ruairi’s graduation ceremony, but Brian’s flustered as they realise they had the wrong time and need to hurry. However, they make it in time and enjoy the ceremony, before Ruairi apologises for mixing up the times – he’s been to too many parties and job interviews recently. Brian’s delighted Ruairi has a place on a City graduate scheme and agrees to a group hug, against his natural instincts. He’s proud as punch of his son!

Over a pint, Chris and Harrison share their feelings. Chris cares about George but he’s so frustrated, while Harrison regrets his recent actions, plus, of course, his hatred for Alice. Harrison is shocked to learn that Ema and Will concealed the truth about George – when did they find out what he’d done?

Will goes to see Emma, saying George is less hostile now, but still hiding away. Will then mentions Chris being off with him and Emma admits Ed is avoiding her. She can’t face anyone in the village. Emma despairs that George won’t speak to her, just when he needs his Mum most. Will goes with her to speak to Fallon, but it’s Harrison who opens the door. They try saying how sorry they are, but Harrison informs them coldly, a police colleague will be speaking to them about their role in assisting an offender.


SAT 15:00 Drama on 4 (m00230rv)
The Goat Doctor

Doctor John Romulus Brinkley (1885-1941) was a poor boy from the Appalachian Mountains who became a quack doctor and one of the richest men in America. His practice took off after he apparently successfully grafted the testicles of a goat onto a farmer to revive his flagging vigour.

Brinkley's fame spread, and to advertise his services he set up a Radio station. At its height XER, broadcasting from Mexico to reach the Canadian Border, was the most powerful and popular station in the world. His personal broadcasts, in which he advocated his cures in reply to correspondents, were interspersed with music, preachers, astrology, and other items.

Brinkley became a multi-millionaire, with private yachts and planes. He was nearly elected Governor of Kansas, and was talked of as a possible right wing Presidential candidate. Among those who broadcast on his station was Fritz Kuhn, the American Nazi leader.

Constantly harried by the American Medical Association and the US Government, who tried to prosecute him on the grounds of his dubious qualifications and medical and broadcasting practices, Brinkley ended up in a 'Quack War' with fellow charlatan Dr James Middlebrook.

Finally, sued for back taxes, discredited by the AMA and suffering from the tightening of broadcasting legislation, Brinkley was declared bankrupt and indicted by the Post Office for fraudulent use of their services. He died aged 56 before standing trial, having neglected to avail himself of his own goat gland therapy.

Writer Graeme Garden OBE, rose to fame as one of BBC TV's The Goodies, with Tim Brooke-Taylor and Bill Oddie. He co-devised the Radio 4 panel show The Unbelievable Truth and is a regular panellist on I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue. Graeme studied medicine at Cambridge University, but never practiced.

Cast
Dr John Romulus Brinkley - Ray Porter
Narrator - Kerry Shale
Minnie Brinkley - Laurence Bouvard

with:
Tom Alexander
Jennifer Armour
Karen Bartke
Graeme Garden
James Morley
Michael Roberts
William Roberts
Martin T Sherman

Director: Dirk Maggs
Producer: David Morley
A Perfectly Normal production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 16:00 Woman's Hour (m00230rz)
Weekend Woman's Hour: Tracy-Ann Oberman, the SEND system, Sarah Owen MP

Tracy-Ann Oberman has reprised her role as Eastenders’ Chrissie Watts. She talks to Nuala about stepping back into this character after almost two decades, and her recent adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. In it, Tracy-Ann plays a female version of the Jewish character, Shylock, and sets the action in 1930s London during the rise of Oswald Mosley, the antisemitic founder of the British Union of Fascists.

We look back at Tuesday's special programme, live from the Radio Theatre in Broadcasting House in London, looking at the support for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities – or SEND as it’s often known in England. Nuala heard from guest panellists including Kellie Bright, an actress in EastEnders but also a mum to a child with SEND, Katie, who is 17 and says she was completely failed by the SEND system, Marsha Martin, the founder and CEO of the charity Black SEN Mamas and the Minister for School Standards, Catherine McKinnell.

Visual artist Bharti Kher’s new exhibition, Target Queen at the Southbank Centre, features supersized bindis reimagined from their microscopic form to the macro size worn by the goddess, transforming the brutalist building into a powerful feminine force. Bharti joins Anita to discuss the exhibition.

The newly elected Chair of the Women and Equalities Select Committee, Labour MP Sarah Owen, joins Anita Rani on the programme to discuss the remit of her new role and what she hopes to achieve.

A new play, The Lightest Element, which has opened at Hampstead Theatre, explores the life and career of astronomer Cecila Payne-Gaposchkin, the first person to work out what stars are made of. Anita is joined by actor Maureen Beatie, who plays Cecilia, and the playwright Stella Feehilly.


SAT 17:00 PM (m00230s2)
Full coverage of the day's news.


SAT 17:30 Political Thinking with Nick Robinson (m00230s4)
The James Cleverly for Leader One

Why does the former Home Secretary believe he has 'outperformed everyone else on this leadership ticket by a country mile'? How did growing up as a mixed-race boy in London at the height of the National Front shape his politics? And what does the government need to do to improve integration in the UK?


SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m00230s6)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SAT 17:57 Weather (m00230s8)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m00230sb)
The government is facing fresh calls to rethink cuts to winter fuel payment


SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (m0022zb6)
Richard Armitage, Rianne Downey, Chris Brookmyre, Dr Marisa Haetzman, Suzy Aspley, Chloe Matharu

From Bloody Scotland Crime Writing Festival in Stirling.

Richard Armitage’s CV is already packed with roles, including a string of stellar acting credits in the likes of The Hobbit, North and South, Robin Hood, and Spooks. Now he’s added author to the list with his debut novel Geneva.

Ambrose Parry is not one writer but two – it's the penname of internationally bestselling and multi-award-winning Chris Brookmyre and consultant anaesthetist of twenty years’ experience, Dr Marisa Haetzman. The married couple write books inspired by the gory details Marisa uncovered during her History of Medicine degree.

One of the writers on this year’s Bloody Scotland Scottish Crime Debut of the Year shortlist is Suzy Aspley. She started her writing career at the festival when she won its Pitch Perfect competition, and released her spooky novel Crow Moon earlier this year.

With music from Scottish singer-songwriter Rianne Downey, and Chloe Matharu who is both a Merchant Navy Navigational Officer and singer-songwriter and harpist.


SAT 19:00 Profile (m0022zww)
Eluned Morgan

This week we delve into the life of the First Minister of Wales Eluned Morgan, the first woman to hold the position. Morgan was introduced to politics at a very young age by her parents, who were both councillors.

Her early career was spent working in broadcasting before her political career began at the age of 27, elected as the youngest Member of the European Parliament in 1994. She went on to take up a seat in the House of Lords and was Welsh Health Secretary during the Covid pandemic.

Stephen Smith talks to friends and political figures, hearing how a girl from a deprived part of Cardiff, became the most powerful person in Wales.

Contributors:
Lord Neil Kinnock - Former Labour Leader
Gloria Yates - Neighbour
Ruth Mosalski - Political Editor of Wales Online
Ceri Innes Parry- Childhood Friend
Claudia Velez – School Friend

Production Team:
Presenter: Stephen Smith
Producers: Diane Richardson, Julie Ball and Ben Morris
Editors: Ben Mundy and Alex Lewis
Sound: James Beard
Production Co-ordinator: Maria Ogundele and Sabine Schereck


SAT 19:15 This Cultural Life (m0022sw8)
Marlon James

Marlon James made his name in 2014 with A Brief History Of Seven Killings, a novel which interweaves various narratives over several decades, starting with the attempted assassination of reggae superstar Bob Marley in 1976. Having won the Booker and the American Book Award, and becoming an international bestselling author, he moved into the fantasy genre with his next two novels Black Leopard, Red Wolf and Moon Witch, Spider King. A professor of English, Marlon James teaches creative writing at a university in Minnesota, USA, where he lives.

Marlon tells John Wilson about hearing Jamaican dub poet Jean Binta-Breeze's work Riddym-Ravings on the radio when he was a teenager. The use of patois and rhyme to tell a serious story changed the lexicon he felt he could write in. The music of rock band Nirvana and its lead singer Kurt Cobain was also a huge influence on the
young Marlon James who was at the time confused about his sexuality and living with undiagnosed depression. James also chooses the novel Sula by Toni Morrison, which contains a scene that changed the way he approached life and made him realise he only had to be in service to himself.

Producer: Edwina Pitman


SAT 20:00 Archive on 4 (m00230sd)
Bowie in Berlin

How David Bowie saved his life and career in 1970s Berlin. Bowie had become a superstar by creating musical characters. Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane and the Thin White Duke were alter egos through which he could tell stories. They helped him achieve global fame and wealth, and yet by 1976 his notorious excess had become the cause of his deep depression. Living in Los Angeles, addicted to cocaine and financially broke, he was feeling artistically washed-up and suicidal. David Bowie stood at a crossroads: become yet another rock ‘n roll casualty or face his demons.

“I started getting very very worried for my life and just had to get myself out of that situation….so I ended up in Berlin”

In 1976, moving to the epicentre of the Cold War more than saved his life and career. It allowed him to rediscover his youthful creative passions for art and literature, and - as one of the most famous people on the planet - to hide in plain sight. Dressed in simple check shirt and jeans, Bowie enjoyed relative anonymity on the streets of Berlin. With Iggy Pop as his flatmate, he lived in a cheap apartment in a working-class district of the city. And in Hansa Studios, alongside musical collaborator Brian Eno and producer Tony Visconti, he began one the most artistically ambitious periods of entire career, honing a completely new sound with the albums Low and Heroes.

For many years his time in Berlin between 1976 and 1978 has been mythologised and romanticised by writers, filmmakers, critics and by Bowie himself. There’s no footage of Bowie in Berlin and very few photographs. But now documentary filmmaker Francis Whately reveals what really happened thanks to the testimonies of three women who knew Bowie intimately, all talking publicly about their relationships with him for the first time. Artist and former RSC actor Clare Shenstone, performer and legendary nightclub owner Romy Haag, and former journalist Sarah-Rena Hine all shared time with him in Berlin. Exclusive interviews with these remarkable muses, alongside other first-hand witnesses and a cache of previously unheard archive interviews, help tell a completely new story. Bowie In Berlin reveals how he drew upon the history, culture and anonymity of the German city to recuperate and regenerate.

Over those Cold War months of rain and beer, cycle-rides and cigarettes, Bowie wrenched himself from his past and thrust himself towards the future. For the first time we can hear how, in Berlin, David Bowie reinvented himself…as himself.

Writer and presenter: Francis Whately
Producer: John Wilson
A Blackstar production for BBC Radio 4
Interviewees: Clare Shenstone, Romy Haag, Sarah-Rena Hine, Esther Freidman, Michael Rother, Tony Visconti, Earl Slick, Carlos Alomar.
Archive: David Bowie, Iggy Pop


SAT 21:00 Uncharted with Hannah Fry (m00230sg)
Omnibus

In this omnibus episode, catch up on four thrilling tales of data and discovery.

Love Bytes - At thirty-one, mathematician Chris McKinlay is looking for love. But if it’s all a numbers game, his are not adding up. Could he be the problem? Or is something else getting in the way?

Scandal In the Air - At a niche engineering conference, a young researcher shares some data that looks like an embarrassing mistake. Little does he know, his simple bar chart is the first pebble in an avalanche exposing an epic scandal.

Grain of Truth - Amid the desperation of war-starved Netherlands a doctor finds a way of curing a group of gravely ill children. His finding challenges accepted medical wisdom, and provokes opposition from Catholics. But why had the rest of the world missed this miracle treatment?

Whispers from the Cosmos - A young researcher spots a bizarre, pulsing signal: a cosmic whisper picked up by a huge radio receiver she built. Is it just mundane interference - or could it be alien life?

Produced by Lauren Armstrong Carter and Ilan Goodman
Sound Designer: Jon Nicholls
Story Editor: John Yorke


SAT 22:00 News (m00230sj)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 22:15 The Food Programme (m0022sjp)
The Sourdough Library

Dan Saladino visits a unique collection of sourdough bread starters from around the world and explores a hidden world of grains, yeasts, bacteria and their influence on our health.

Produced and presented by Dan Saladino


SAT 23:00 The Many Wrongs of Lord Christian Brighty (m0022zj4)
4. The Lord I Shot

Brighty’s decision to right a wrong – killing a man in a duel – leads to a bust-up with Babs. Whilst she goes full tilt for revolution, Brighty and Churley are left mentoring a young proto-rake. Will the schism in the gang ever be repaired?

Lord Christian Brighty is the talk of the Regency 'Ton' - a celebrated libertine, a heartthrob and a hero to many. But close-up, he is a spoilt, impetuous, life-ruining bastard… Or at least he was. Because his carefree life of infinite privilege has been upended by an encounter with his new chambermaid - the uneducated but forthright Babigail - who became the first person to tell him the unvarnished truth about his selfish behaviour. Overnight, his lifelong trust that everyone loved him had been replaced with a gnawing fear that Babs was right.

So now, with his narcissism collapsing and a need to prove to Babs he is actually a good person, Lord Brighty is determined to fix all his past wrongs. And by extension all the ills of Regency society. Accompanying him in his quest are Babs (elevated beyond her station to a chambermaid-cum-adviser role), and his butler, Mr Churlington. Although Churley would prefer everything to stay exactly as it used to be (as would all Brighty’s friends, family and the entirety of high society).

Written by Christian Brighty & Amy Greaves

Cast:
Lord Christian Brighty ….. Christian Brighty
Babs ….. Jessica Knappett
Churlington ….. Colin McFarlane
Dowager / Fleetsbee ….. Nimisha Odedra
Monty ….. Joz Norris
Manon ….. Chiara Goldsmith
John ….. David Reed

Script Editor ….. David Reed
Sound & Recording ….. David Thomas
Photographer ….. Will Hearle
Production Assistant ….. Katie Sayer
Producer ….. Ben Walker

A DLT Entertainment Production for BBC Radio 4

Christian Brighty and Amy Greaves are award-winning comedians. Their viral sketches based on Bridgerton, Poldark and Jane Austen have catapulted them to viral stardom, securing Christian’s place as the internet’s answer to Mr Darcy and amassing 150 million views across TikTok and Instagram (@brightybuoy). Amy and Christian both have a deep love of the work Jane Austen, traditional regency romance (not smut), and historical romance set in the regency (smut).


SAT 23:30 Brain of Britain (m0022sg5)
Heat 2, 2024

(2/17)
Four contenders for the title Brain of Britain 2024 join Russell Davies at the Radio Theatre in London. At least one of them will win through to the semi-finals and take another step towards becoming the 71st name on the roll of champions. The questions cover all aspects of general knowledge, from literature, film and music to geography and the natural world.

Appearing in Heat Two are:
Andrew Fanko from Market Harborough in Leicestershire
Anthony Fish from Pontypool in South Wales
Caroline Latham from Romford in East London
Dr Sarah Merry from Banbury in Oxfordshire

The competitors will also face a pair of tricky questions supplied by a Brain of Britain listener aiming to Beat the Brains.

Assistant Producer Stephen Garner
Producer Paul Bajoria

SUNDAY 15 SEPTEMBER 2024

SUN 00:00 Midnight News (m00230sl)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


SUN 00:15 Open Book (m0022sg3)
Graham Norton

Graham Norton speaks to Johny Pitts about his fifth novel, Frankie.

Plus Bookloop - the online initiative buying old books in exchange for credits to buy new ones. To discuss its impact for readers, independent bookshops and the environment, we're joined by Bookshop.org Managing Director, Nicole Vanderbilt, and by Fleur Sinclair, owner of book shop Sevenoaks Books and President of the Booksellers Association.

And confessions of a writer publishing a new book - from author, journalist and book critic, Nick Duerden.

Presenter: Johny Pitts
Producer: Emma Wallace

Book List – Sunday 8 September

Holding by Graham Norton
Frankie by Graham Norton
People Who Like Dogs Like People Who Like Dogs by Nick Duerden


SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m00230sn)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m00230sq)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m00230ss)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SUN 05:30 News Briefing (m00230sv)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (m0022zxy)
St Andrews church in the village of Oakington, Cambridgeshire

Bells on Sunday comes from St Andrews church in the village of Oakington, Cambridgeshire. Much of the building dates from the 13th century and although substantially restored in the 19th century many original features can still be seen. The late 13th century west tower houses a ring of six bells with a tenor bell weighing five and a half hundredweight and tuned to the note of A. We hear them ringing Plain Doubles.


SUN 05:45 In Touch (m0022st8)
Judging the Distance of Sounds; A Fond Farewell to the Paralympics

New research done at Anglia Ruskin University's vision and eye research unit, suggests that people who lose their sight in early life, or indeed are born without sight, have more difficulty in judging the distance of a sound source, than those who lose their sight later in life. This seemingly counterintuitive idea piqued our interest and so Professor Shahina Pardhan, the director of the unit and lead author of the study, explains their findings, why they matter and what they plan to do with them.

The Paralympic Games are over, and so we thought we'd check-in with swimming twins Scarlett and Eliza Humphrey once more, following their Games debut. They tell us about their impressions of their first games and about their aspirations for reaching the Los Angeles 2028.

Presenter: Peter White
Producer: Beth Hemmings
Production Coordinator: David Baguley
Website image description: Peter White sits smiling in the centre of the image and he is wearing a dark green jumper. Above Peter's head is the BBC logo (three separate 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 is a darker blue and the other is a lighter blue.


SUN 06:00 News Summary (m0022zw3)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 06:05 Thinking Allowed (m0022sst)
Coffee Culture

Urban baristas in a US city and Chinese managed coffee bars in Italy.

Laurie Taylor talks to Geoffrey Moss, Professor of Instruction in the Department of Sociology, Temple University, about the subcultural lives of hipsters who are employed in Philadelphia. Such young people have taken low-wage service sector jobs, despite their middle-class origins and educational background, because they enjoy the city's hipster subculture. Working within cool, noncorporate coffee shops with like minded colleagues blurs lines between work and leisure. For those that are artistic, barista life has provided a flexible work schedule which allows time for creative pursuits. But this new research suggests that these subcultural lives are now greatly diminished by class, race and gentrification.

Also, Grazia Ting Deng, Lecturer at Brandeis University's Department of Anthropology, explores the paradox of “Chinese espresso". The coffee bar is a cornerstone of Italian urban life, with city residents sipping espresso at more than 100,000 of these local businesses throughout the country. So why is espresso in Italy increasingly prepared by Chinese baristas in Chinese-managed coffee bars? Deng investigates the rapid spread of Chinese-owned coffee bars since the Great Recession of 2008 and draws on her extensive ethnographic research in Bologna. She finds that longtime residents have come, sometimes resentfully, to regard Chinese expresso as a new normal and immigrants have assumed traditional roles, even as they are regarded as racial others.

Producer: Jayne Egerton


SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (m0022zw5)
Hot Headed Farming

The beautiful Somerset village of Upton Cheney and the traditional stone Manor Farm may seem an unlikely setting for a chilli farm. But it's where Louise Duck successfully grows different varieties of chillis. Chillis are a multi million pound industry in the UK as so many dishes we like to eat these days from pizza to fajitas and curries include them.
She takes Sybil Ruscoe on a tour of the four large polytunnels where she grows a cornucopia of chillis that vary in size, colour and hotness. She makes relishes and sauces which she sells at markets and local shops as well as supplying some for crisp production.

Producer: Maggie Ayre


SUN 06:57 Weather (m0022zw7)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SUN 07:00 News and Papers (m0022zw9)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.


SUN 07:10 Sunday (m0022zwc)
Abbé Pierre; Charedi education; Quakers at 400

The French Catholic Church has said it will open its files on Abbé Pierre, the priest regarded as something like a modern saint until allegations of sexual harrassment and assault were made against him. The Abbé, who died in 2007, was revered for his pioneering work in setting up Emmaus International which cared for homeless and poor people. Edward speaks to the Paris-based writer Andrew Hussey about reaction to the story in France, and Pat Jones, author of a recent report on the Catholic Church culture and clerical abuse.

The Jewish campaign group Nahamu has produced a damning paper on the quality of education in some schools run by the ultra-orthodox Charedi community. Edward talks to its founder Yehudis Fletcher.

The Quakers are celebrating 400 years since the birth of their co-founder George Fox. Edward visits his modest memorial in Bunhill Fields in East London and finds out about the other famous non-conformists buried in this part of the city.

PRESENTER : Edward Stourton
PRODUCERS: Dan Tierney and Catherine Murray
STUDIO MANAGERS: Jack Morris and Kelly Young
EDITOR: Chloe Walker


SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (m0022z9m)
Solving Kids' Cancer UK

Actress Natalie Cassidy makes the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of Solving Kids' Cancer UK. The charity funds research and clinical trials into treatments for children with neuroblastoma and offers support and advice to families.

To Give:
- Freephone 0800 404 8144
- Freepost BBC Radio 4 Appeal. (That’s the whole address. Please do not write anything else on the front of the envelope). Mark the back of the envelope ‘Solving Kids' Cancer UK’.
- Cheques should be made payable to ‘Solving Kids' Cancer UK’.
- You can donate online at bbc.co.uk/appeal/radio4

Registered Charity Number: 1135601


SUN 07:57 Weather (m0022zwf)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SUN 08:00 News and Papers (m0022zwh)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the Sunday papers


SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (m0022zwk)
Harvest and Thankfulness

Marking the season of Harvest in the UK and abroad. One Church Brighton describe how food education and growth is being used to support to their community. From Kenya, a local man speaks of his thankfulness in spite of floodwaters destroying crops earlier this year. With music from The Song of Harvest composed by Bob Chilcott and sung by the BBC Singers. Preacher: Dave Steell; Conductor: Bob Chilcott; Organist: Richard Pearce; Producer: James Mountford.

Music is performed by the BBC Singers, with the audience of the Celebrate Voice Festival, Salisbury at St Mary and St Nicholas Church, Wilton, Salisbury. Music recorded 19 October 2023.

John Njoroge features with thanks to Barnabas Aid.


SUN 08:48 A Point of View (m0022skz)
Babies Making Babies

Three of Megan Nolan's close friends have given birth in the past year. Another two are doing IVF. And anyone who can afford to, Megan says, is freezing their eggs.

Megan reflects on how attitudes to having children have changed profoundly in Ireland in the space of a generation.

Producer: Adele Armstrong
Sound: Peter Bosher
Production coordinator: Gemma Ashman
Editor: Tom Bigwood


SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (m0022zwm)
Megan McCubbin on the Barn Owl

A new series of Tweet of the Day for Sunday morning revealing personal and fascinating stories from some fresh voices who have been inspired by birds, their calls and encounters.

Barn owls are, in zoologist and TV presenter Megan McCubbins opinion, the best of birds, and a bird of great beauty. As they silently fly around our countryside at night, folklore and superstition once followed them. But these days these owls are well loved across the globe, even if their call leaves a little to be desired.

Producer : Andrew Dawes for BBC Audio on Bristol
Studio engineer : Caitlin Gazeley.


SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (m0022zwp)
England 'could face Euros ban' over regulator plan

UEFA warns that a new regulator for English football could lead to England being banned by from their own Euros. Also: Ken Bruce on creating Popmaster and do you know your fish?


SUN 10:00 The Reunion (m0022zwr)
Castaway TV Series

Kirsty Wark reunites the cast of the pioneering reality TV programme Castaway. The experimental series took 36 people to the remote Scottish island of Taransay to create a self-sufficient community for the new millennium.

She hears from the show’s creator, Jeremy Mills, and its breakout star, Ben Fogle, whose broadcasting career was launched by the series.

Pre-dating Big Brother, the ground breaking social experiment was unlike anything seen before on TV. The castaways grew their own vegetables, killed their own animals, generated their own electricity and built a community for a year on an Outer Hebridean island. The first run of four episodes were a ratings hit, attracting audiences of 7–8 million viewers.

Presenter: Kirsty Wark
Producer: Robbie Armstrong
Series Editor: David Prest
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 11:00 The Archers Omnibus (m0022zwt)
Writer: Liz John
Director: Kim Greengrass
Editor: Jeremy Howe

David Archer…. Timothy Bentinck
Tony Archer…. David Troughton
Brian Aldridge…. Charles Collingwood
Harrison Burns…. James Cartwright
Alice Carter…. Hollie Chapman
Chris Carter…. Wilf Scolding
Neil Carter…. Brian Hewlett
Susan Carter…. Charlotte Martin
Ruairi Donovan…. Arthur Hughes
Emma Grundy…. Emerald O’Hanrahan
George Grundy…. Angus Stobie
Will Grundy…. Philip Molloy
Brad Horrobin…. Taylor Uttley
Joy Horville…. Jackie Lye
Alistair Lloyd…. Michael Lumsden
Jazzer McCreary…. Ryan Kelly
Fallon Rogers…. Joanna Van Kampen
Robert Snell…. Michael Bertenshaw


SUN 12:15 Profile (m0022zww)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


SUN 12:30 The Unbelievable Truth (m0022t7p)
Series 30

Episode 6

David Mitchell hosts the panel game in which four comedians are encouraged to tell lies and compete against one another to see how many items of truth they’re able to smuggle past their opponents.

Miles Jupp, Holly Walsh, Lou Sanders and Marcus Brigstocke are the panellists obliged to talk with deliberate inaccuracy on subjects as varied as fungi, the Beckhams, cushions and puddings.

The show is devised by Graeme Garden and Jon Naismith.

Producer: Jon Naismith

A Random Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 12:57 Weather (m0022zwy)
The latest weather forecast


SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (m0022zx0)
New border checks in Germany to limit migration

Germany is due to reinstall some controls on its borders: what does it mean for Schengen? We speak to representatives from its neighbours and to the German ambassador to the UK.


SUN 13:30 Steel Dragons (m0022zx2)
The Port Talbot steel works is closing its last remaining blast furnace, delivering a shattering blow to the economy and society of a South Wales town where employment and wages were once so strong it became known as Treasure Island. Britain will become the first industrialised nation not to be able to make ‘virgin’ steel, with huge implications for the ability to make everything from cars to food packaging. And it will be another win for China, as its 20-year push to dominate world steel markets intensifies.

In this documentary Professor Richard Davies, a world-renowned economist who lives down the coast in Swansea, examines the interwoven strands that led Port Talbot to its current crisis. He argues that this closure, heralding the demise of primary British steelmaking, poses an existential threat to the UK economy—and one that goes far beyond steel.

He speaks to steel workers and those in the wider community whose jobs and livelihoods are threatened as the impact ripples through- the supply chain of contractors, the football team, the high street, the cafes, pubs and shops. He discusses the decline in UK manufacturing and exponential rise of China with fellow economists and trade experts, asking whether the UK could and should have done more to protect its vital industries. And he holds the decision makers to account as workers face an uncertain future - the bosses at Tata Steel and senior politicians from across the spectrum.

Thanks to Port Talbot Cymric Choir https://porttalbotcymricchoir.co.uk/

Producer: Leala Padmanabhan


SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m0022skb)
Groundwork: Soil, Compost, Mulch and more!

Kathy Clugston digs through the Gardeners' Question Time archive to root out some information on Soil, Compost, Mulch and more.

Our various GQT panellists over the last 77 years have been no stranger to soil and compost related questions, from queries on how to create a workable soil in the garden to questions on the difference between compost and soil conditioner. For the first autumnal archive programme of 2024 we’ve raked through the extensive GQT archive and pulled out some of the best advice on these topics.

We also hear from garden designer and lecturer Humaira Ikram, who explains the importance of understanding the PH level of your soil.

Producer: Bethany Hocken

Assistant Producer: Rahnee Prescod

Executive Producer: Carly Maile

A Somethin’ Else production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 14:45 One Night in Paradise (m000tmb2)
Golden Years

They spent their first honeymoon night in this hotel, and they've come back for their anniversary every year since. Fifty years on nothing is quite the same. By Bethan Roberts. Read by Annette Badland.
A Pier Production for BBC Radio 4, produced and directed by Kate McAll.


SUN 15:00 Mahabharata Now (m0022zx4)
Episode 7: Dance of Deceit

The Gods, the law, capitalism and politics jostle for power in this bold adaptation of the ancient Indian poem Mahabharata. Dramatised as a gripping family epic set in 21st century Mumbai, this series is powered by the tensions and rivalries of a turbulent business empire.

A dynasty divided against itself... the battle to control Hasta Enterprises escalates.

The unrest caused by Dhruv and Shaks' layoffs spills out into the streets of Mumbai with tragic consequences. Yash's move to right the wrong with the employees succeeds, but later in the Hasta bar, Nyra receives wisdom from Gopi that seems utterly contrary to everything she and her father are trying to achieve.

Nyra makes a decision, but it's a decision that devastates Yash and drives her mother Padma further towards an act of desperation.

Meanwhile, another of Gopi's alter egos is issuing financial advice - and Vidya's podcast is reaping the rewards.

But as always, Gopi is holding all the cards.

Episode 7 "Dance of Deceit"

Written by Richard Kurti and Bev Doyle

Dhruv …………….......…. Neil Bhoopalam
Yash ……………….......... Tavish Bhattacharyya
Padma …………….......... Ira Dubey
Gita ………………........…. Shernaz Patel
Shaks ………................. Vivek Madan
Karthik ………….......…... Sukant Goel
Nyra……………........……. Abir Abrar
Vidya…………........……… Irawati Karnik
Olivia………….......……… Malaika Choudhury
Lawyer…….......…………. Devika Shahani Punjabi
Mr. Desai…......…………. Aseem Hattangady
Priest…….......…………… Mukul Chadda
Johar……........…………… Akash Khurana
Landlord…………......….. Zeus Paranjape
Account Manager…...… Garima Yajnik
gAbbI………….......……… Helen Quigley
GP200………......……….. Bhavnisha Parmar
GOPI…………........……… Prerna Chawla

Other roles were played by Abir Abrar; Devika Shahani Punjabi, Mukul Chadda, Akash Khurana and members of the cast.

Sound Supervisor (Mumbai) …....……... Ayush Ahuja
Sound Engineer (Mumbai) …….....….…. Ashyar Bulsara
Sound Design and Post Production …. Peregrine Andrews
Original Music ………………….........……... Imran Ahmad

Producer .……………………………..........… Helen Quigley and Andrew Mark Sewell
Producer (Mumbai) ……………..…....…… Nadir Khan
Executive Producer ……………......…….. Andrew Mark Sewell
Director ………………………………............ Jatinder Verma

A B7 Media production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 16:00 Open Book (m0022zx6)
Matt Haig

Matt Haig speaks to Johny Pitts about his new book, The Life Impossible, set in Ibiza.

Plus The Lord Of The Flies at 70 - with Judy Golding, Jack Thorne, and Aimee De Jongh. The 70th anniversary of the classic novel sees two firsts: a graphic novel of Lord of The Flies, adapted and illustrated by Aimee De Jongh, and the first TV adaption - written by Jack Thorne, and set to reach BBC screens next year.

Presenter: Johny Pitts
Producer: Emma Wallace


SUN 16:30 Brain of Britain (m0022zx8)
Heat 3, 2024

(3/17)
Which is the only nation spread across all four hemispheres? Which fashion designer's signature is red-soled shoes? And which Chinese dynasty was founded by Kublai Khan?

Four contenders join Russell Davies for the latest heat in the 2024 quiz tournament, to face questions from all fields of general knowledge. A semi-final place awaits the winner, with a safety net for the top-runners up of the series too, if their scores are high enough.

Appearing today are
'Dennis', from Whitstable in Kent
Helen Lippell from East London
Mark Robotham who lives near Banbury in Oxfordshire
Shanine Salmon from Croydon.

Assistant Producer: Stephen Garner
Producer: Paul Bajoria

A BBC Studios Audio production for Radio 4.


SUN 17:00 Witness History (w3ct5yjs)
The Bluetooth story

In the 1990s, Bluetooth was invented in a lab in Lund, Sweden.

The technology is used today to wirelessly connect accessories such as mice, keyboards, speakers and headphones to desktops, laptops and mobile phones.

It’s named after Harald Bluetooth, a Viking king who was said to have blue teeth.

Sven Mattisson, one of the brains behind the technology, tells Gill Kearsley how the name Bluetooth came about following some drinks after a conference.

(Photo: A mobile phone with the Bluetooth logo. Credit: Westend61 via Getty images)


SUN 17:10 Policing Protest (m0021qbf)
Political Space

The story of policing is bound up with the history of protest. Far more than dealing with demonstrations on the street, policing owes its very existence to fears of political unrest and to help protect the state from public disorder. In this wide-ranging three-part series, BBC Home Affairs Editor Mark Easton, with the help of former Police Assistant Commissioner Rob Beckley, tells the story of policing protest in the UK from Peterloo to the present - and beyond.

Episode 3: Political Space

Protest needs public space. In this episode Mark looks at the issue of demonstration and the quiet erosion of such space, as our shared urban areas fall increasingly under private and corporate control: is the reality of the public square, the space of protest, in danger? But protest and the police response doesn’t just happen in the physical space – increasingly it happens in the virtual too. With powerful new technology at their disposal the police conduct surveillance and intelligence operations on protest groups of all types. But in the wake of the ‘spy cops’ scandal what are the limits of this kind of activity? And as protest tactics by groups like Just Stop Oil and the new climate activists Shut the System become more disruptive, more radical, who decides which groups are considered ‘extremist’ and proscribed as such?

Modern policing in Britain has its origins in protest. The Metropolitan Police was founded by Robert Peel in 1829 in the shadow of the Peterloo massacre ten years earlier where, under instruction from the government, local militia fired directly into the crowd gathered in Manchester in support of voting rights for working men. Peel devised the notion of ‘policing by consent’ as a way of securing support for police within communities, as opposed to using coercive force from without. So simultaneously a police force, an arm of the state tasked with controlling public order and crowd control, that would also be a community service - sensitive and responsive to citizens. This tension lies at the heart of policing even today and is part of a deeper story of how society contains and manages dissent.

Today, policing protest and the control of public order remain at the heart of modern policing. Every week in the capital and cities around the UK the sheer scale, diversity and number of protests is increasing - from domestic issues to climate change and international affairs, with large protests on events in the Middle East. There are huge variations in tactics and the use of social media by different groups – from marching and procession to occupation and ‘static’ protest, direct action and disinformation. And all of this requires policing.

In an era of what police are calling ‘chronic’ protest, resources are being stretched to breaking point. Live social media means the police are under more scrutiny and pressure than ever. Organisations like Extinction Rebellion have brought the capital to a standstill while other groups, like Black Lives Matter, have targeted policing itself as an object of protest.

Hearing from police officers of all ranks, activists and agitators from across the protest spectrum, historians, political thinkers, lawyers and journalists – and rich with archive - this series goes deep into the philosophical foundations and real tactics of public order policing. It explores the future of AI in policing protest and new technologies deployed by protestors, the police’s use of crowd psychology, the testing of ‘operational independence’ in the face of political pressure and the regulation of what spaces may or may not be used for public dissent today – the erosion of the protest space, reclaiming our political commons.

Where does the future of protest lie - and with new powers at their disposal, how will it be policed?

Contributors include Lyse Ducet, BBC Chief International Correspondent; Police Sergeant Harriet Blenman; Chief Constable Chris Noble; public order Bronze Commander Jack May-Robinson; historian Katrina Navikas; Graham Smith, CEO of Republic; author Anna Minton; journalist Danny Penman; Rick Muir, director of the Police Foundation; author and police strategy advisor Tom Gash; XR liaison and former police officer Paul Stephens; climate activist Dan Hooper, aka ‘Swampy’; Miriam, activist with Shut the System; author Dan Hancox; human rights barrister Michael Mansfield KC; government advisor on ‘Political Violence and Disruption’ John Woodcock aka Lord Walney; David Mead, professor of human rights and public order law at UEA and former Labour Home Secretary, Lord David Blunkett.

Presented by Mark Easton, with reporting by Rob Beckley

Reading by Zachary Nachbar Seckel

Produced by Simon Hollis
A Brook Lapping production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m0022zxc)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SUN 17:57 Weather (m0022zxf)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m0022zxh)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (m0022zxk)
Steven Rainey

This week, we're harking back to the little-known history of Bowie crossing Checkpoint Charlie in a divided Berlin back in the 1970s. Plus, we hear how dogs are learning new tricks like catching some tubular action on the waves. And while reading this, you're probably hearing it being narrated by a little voice in your head. You are, aren't you? CrowdScience's Caroline Steel gets to the bottom of this phenomenon, as she goes head-to-head with a robot... that talks to itself.

Presenter: Steven Rainey
Producer: Anthony McKee
Production Co-ordinator: Jack Ferrie

A BBC Audio Northern Ireland production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 19:00 The Archers (m0022z3b)
Angry at George, Kenton throws his hero glass in the bin. They worry about Fallon, who’s stepped back from the Flower and Produce show this year and is still worried about Harrison. Fallon’s mentioned entries for the show are down this year, so between them they come up with the idea of entering an Apple Pie with a twist, using apples from Brookfield and cheese from Bridge Farm. And if they both enter it’ll double their chances of winning. But in the meantime, they really need to come up with a name for their new pub kitten.

Emma and Will discuss their harrowing police interviews, before Ed arrives, having walked Keira to The Stables. He’ll pick her up too, as he doesn’t want anyone approaching her about George. Ed then points out that they have to tell Poppy and Keira what’s going on, with George appearing at the Magistrates’ Court tomorrow. The girls need to understand there’s a chance of Emma and Will going to prison.

Later it transpires Keira knew all about it already, after Will told Clarrie outside Keira’s window. Emma remembers how scared she was when Susan went to prison and now she’s doing it to her own daughter. Ed reassures her that the family will be there to support Keira. Upset Emma points out Chris still won’t have anything to do with her.

Will reports that Poppy didn’t take the news well. But she’s not angry with George, unlike Keira, so they’ve agreed not to talk about him. Will’s biggest fear though is losing Poppy if he goes to prison.


SUN 19:15 Heart and Soul (w3ct5tf2)
Hervé's Way: the story of a one-legged pilgrim

Hervé lost a leg in a motorbike accident. On the eve of the operation, he made a deal with God: “If I walk again, I'll go to Santiago.” He did walk again, but not on pilgrimage. Instead, he got caught up in his business affairs, suffered burn out, tried to kill himself and spent several months in a psychiatric hospital before he decided to keep his side of the bargain. He set out, with crutches and a prosthetic leg, for Santiago de Compostela, a journey of 1,920 kilometres from his home in Brittany in north west France to the cathedral that contains the relics of Saint James at the tip of north west Spain. The experience utterly changed him. It was, he says, a resurrection. He is now embarking on a second pilgrimage which will cover almost twice the distance; from Rome to Santiago de Compostela. John Laurenson walks with him for a couple of days to hear his story and talk about life, God, pilgrimage, about Luther's criticism – that they are a waste of time - and the sacrifice they can represent for his family of a wife and four children. John also talks to him about how, in a part of the world where religious observance has become the affair of a small minority, going on pilgrimages in Europe has never been more popular, with new routes opening all the time.

Producer / Presenter: John Laurenson
Executive Producer: Rajeev Gupta


SUN 19:45 Buried (m001hg06)
Series 1

Series 1 - 5. The Missing Memo

A memo goes missing - until now. It rallies a community to keep calling for the truth.

"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


SUN 20:00 Word of Mouth (m0022swx)
Fine Distinctions

Eli Burnstein talks about fine distinctions between words, including Michael's personal bugbear of forewords, prefaces and introductions, some clarity on clementines, satsumas, tangerines and mandarins, and of course the lunch, dinner and tea debate.

Produced for BBC Audio Bristol by Sally Heaven.
Subscribe to the Word of Mouth podcast and never miss an episode: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/b006qtnz


SUN 20:30 Last Word (m0022skg)
James Earl Jones, Dr Helen Fisher, Sergio Mendes, Maureen Nicol

Matthew Bannister on

James Earl Jones, the versatile actor whose roles ranged from the voice of Darth Vader to Tennessee Williams and Shakespeare. Adrian Lester pays tribute.

Dr. Helen Fisher, the biological anthropologist who researched the science behind romantic love.

Sergio Mendes, who introduced the world to his unique style of Brazilian music. His friend Herb Alpert shares memories of creating classic albums together.

Maureen Nicol who founded the National Housewives’ Register to bring together homemaking women for stimulating conversation.

Interviewee:- Adrian Lester
Interviewee:- Dr Justin Garcia
Interviewee:- Herb Alpert
Interviewee:-Simon Nicols
Interviewee:- Gill Wignall


Producer: Ed Prendeville

Archive used:

Hardtalk 06/12/11; The Lion King, 1994, Directors Roger Allers & Rob Minkoff, Walt Disney Feature Animation; Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, 1980, Director Irvin Kirshner, LucasFilm Ltd; BBC Woman’s Hour, BBC Radio 4, 18/03/2009; Episode 118: Helen Fisher - Understanding Why We Love, Keep Talking Podcast, YouTube upload 30/08/2024; The brain in Love – Helen Fisher, Ted Talk, YouTube Upload, 15/07/2008 ; The Jazz Show with Jamie Cullum , BBC Radio 2, 27/07/2010; BBC, SERGIO MENDES AND BRASIL '77 12/03/1974; J to Z , BBCRadio 3, 16/07/2022; Maureen Nicol 60th Anniversary, NWR, 21/02/2020; Woman’s Hour, 19/08/1985


SUN 21:00 Money Box (m0022zxm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:04 on Saturday]


SUN 21:25 Radio 4 Appeal (m0022z9m)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:54 today]


SUN 21:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m0022zxp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:30 on Saturday]


SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (m0022zxr)
Ben Wright's guests are the newly-elected Labour MP Helena Dollimore; Conservative backbencher and former Defence Minister, Sir Alex Shelbrooke; and the Liberal Democrat Education spokeswoman, Munira Wilson. They discuss the Prime Minister's trip to Italy and moves to tackle irregular migration, and whether the UK should allow Ukraine to use long-range missiles to strike targets in Russia. Journalist Lara Spirit - editor of The Times Red Box - brings additional insight and analysis. And to coincide with the Lib Dem conference in Brighton, Jack Fenwick reports from Dorking - which returned one of the party's 72 MPs at the general election - to find out what motivated voters there.


SUN 23:00 The Human Subject (m0022zxt)
The Trauma Victims and their Blood

Humanity’s journey to understanding the body has been a gory one - littered with unethical experiments, unintended consequences and unimaginable endurance.

In The Human Subject, Dr Adam Rutherford and Dr Julia Shaw investigate the threads connecting modern day medicine to its often brutal origins.

This is the story of Martha Milete, whose life changes forever one night in 2006 when two masked men break into her house where she lives with her fiancé and two children. She unfortunately gets shot, but that is only the beginning of her ordeal.

The moment she is wheeled into the ambulance she is automatically enrolled in an experiment involving her blood. One she would only find out about years later when speaking with Dr Harriet Washington, a medical ethicist and author of several books, including Carte Blanche: The Erosion of Medical Consent.

Julia and Adam hear from Dr Washington who has followed Martha’s story closely.

Presenters: Dr Adam Rutherford and Dr Julia Shaw
Producers: Rufaro Faith Mazarura and Simona Rata
Assistant Producer: Mansi Vithlani
Executive Producer: Jo Meek
Sound Design: Craig Edmondson
Commissioner: Dan Clarke

An Audio Always production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 23:30 Frontlines of Journalism (m001lyzj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:45 on Saturday]


SUN 23:45 Short Works (m0022skd)
Statue by Emma Smith-Barton

A new short story by Emma Smith-Barton, read by Mia Khan.

Just after giving birth, Sadia turns into a statue. At least, that’s how she feels. One moment she’s reaching out to pull the curtains shut, and the next she’s frozen to the spot. All she can do is look out of the window – and try to understand what’s happening to her.

Emma Smith-Barton’s short stories have appeared in Mslexia and the Bristol Short Story Prize anthology. Her first novel, The Million Pieces of Neena Gill, was shortlisted for the Waterstone’s Children’s Book Prize, the Branford Boase Award, and the Romantic Novelists' Association Debut Romantic Novel Award.

Reader: Mia Khan
Sound: Catherine Robinson
Producer: Fay Lomas
A BBC Audio Drama Wales Production

MONDAY 16 SEPTEMBER 2024

MON 00:00 Midnight News (m0022zxw)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


MON 00:15 Crossing Continents (m0022stb)
Ivory Coast's cocoa crisis

The journey from cocoa to chocolate in Ivory Coast. The price of cocoa - the essential ingredient in chocolate - has more than quadrupled on the international market in the last two years. Yet many of those growing it have not benefitted. In fact, drought, disease and a lack of investment have led to catastrophic harvests and, therefore, a drop in income for many small producers of cocoa, especially in Ivory Coast. This West African country is the world’s largest producer of cocoa - up to 45% of the world’s total. Most of the growers are small-scale, poor farmers. There are now calls for these growers to get a bigger chunk of the chocolate bar and, in so doing, to help ensure future production. John Murphy travels to Ivory Coast to delve into the world of chocolate production.

Presented and produced by John Murphy
With additional production in Ivory Coast from Ebrin Brou
Mixed by Andy Fell
Production coordinator Gemma Ashman
Series editor Penny Murphy


MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (m0022zxy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:43 on Sunday]


MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m0022zy0)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m0022zy2)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m0022zy4)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


MON 05:30 News Briefing (m0022zy6)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4


MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m0022zy8)
Stowaway

A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with the Right Rev Mary Stallard, Bishop of Llandaff.

Good morning. The most surprising thing I unpacked from my bag when we arrived on holiday this year was a tiny figure of the infant Jesus from our nativity set.

A few weeks before our summer break I’d been filming a video for advent with some children. I’d taken some props with me to make it look as if we were preparing for Christmas. I’d put the Christ-figure in an inside pocket of my rucksack and forgotten it was there!

When I discovered that he was with us on holidays I placed him on our meal table - His presence offered both a familiar comfort in a strange place as well as a reminder of a God who comes to us in the most unexpected ways.

It reminded me of a prayerful custom called “Posada” originating in Mexico and practised by Christian across the world, where families welcome nativity figures in their homes in the days before Christmas. By making space to host symbols of the holy family there’s an opportunity to reflect upon how we remember, pray for, and welcome those in the world today who need shelter and a safe place to live.

In the same way, having figure of a tiny child with us on holiday offered me a daily reminder of the most vulnerable children in the world who need us all to be mindful of their needs. I’m used to thinking about Jesus as a baby at Christmas, but encountering a reminder of this every morning on holiday helped me to think more deeply about what it might mean to see God in everyone we encounter each day of our lives.

Loving God, thank you that you are always with us. Help us to notice your presence even in surprising places. Touch our hearts that we may always find ways to offer welcome and kindness to others. Amen


MON 05:45 Farming Today (m0022zyb)
16/09/24 More farmland conservation needed for wild birds, legal challenge halts forest, flood repairs outstanding

Britain’s declining wild bird populations will only recover if more farmland is set aside for conservation, says the RSPB.

A legal challenge to a new forest on a vast moorland in the Scottish Borders has forced its owners to stop planting.

As the Met Office predicts another autumn and winter of destructive floods, a number of flood defences in England damaged during last winter's storms are yet to be fixed.

Presented by Caz Graham and produced by Beatrice Fenton.


MON 05:57 Weather (m0022zyd)
Weather reports and forecasts for farmers


MON 06:00 Today (m0022z2l)
A man has been arrested after a second assassination attempt on Donald Trump's life - this time while he was playing golf in Florida. We hear from a former member of the US secret service, Robert McDonald, and Donald Trump's close friend and supporter, Newsmax Media's Chris Ruddy. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper on what we can learn from the Italians' success at cutting the number of migrant boats attempting to make it across the Mediterranean. Listeners-turned-programme-makers Vanessa and Toby report on 'The Ballad of the Disappearing Children' as primary school rolls fall in London. We talk to the director Jonathan Van Tulleken as Shogun sweeps the board at the Emmys. And the author Hanif Kureishi on the accident that changed his life ahead of the publication of his memoir, Shattered.


MON 09:00 Start the Week (m0022z2n)
On Freedom

The historian Timothy Snyder is famous for his work on the horrors of the 20th century and his call to arms to fight against tyranny in the 21st. Now, in ‘On Freedom’ he explores what liberty really means. He challenges the idea that this is freedom ‘from’ state or other obligations, and explores how across the US, Russia and Ukraine, true liberty is the freedom ‘to’ thrive and take risks.

The Ukrainian poet, Oskana Maksymchuk also considers the question of freedom in her collection, Still City, a book that started as a poetic journal on the eve of the Russian invasion in 2021. The fragmentary poems detail the everyday moments amid the violence and fear and precarity of a country at war.

The Russian Orthodox Church has managed to survive the turbulent history of the country, from tsarist demagoguery to Soviet atheism, and is now free to flourish under Vladimir Putin. But in her new book, The Baton and the Cross, the journalist Lucy Ash reveals how the religion has formed an unholy alliance with politics, state security and big money.

Producer: Katy Hickman


MON 09:45 Café Hope (m0022z2q)
Confidence through coffee

Rachel Burden speaks to Bianca Tavella, the founder of Fair Shot, a social enterprise cafe that helps young adults with learning disabilities get work and on the job experience.

Café Hope is our virtual Radio 4 coffee shop, where guests pop in for a brew and a chat to tell us what they’re doing to make things better in big and small ways. Think of us as sitting in your local café and celebrating the people making the world a better place.

We’re all about trying to make change. It might be a transformational project that helps an entire community, or it might be about trying to make one life a little bit easier. And the key here is in the trying. This is real life. Not everything works, and there are struggles along the way. But it’s always worth a go.

You can contact Cafe Hope at cafehope@bbc.co.uk

Presenter: Rachel Burden
Producer: Uma Doraiswamy
Sound Design: Nicky Edwards
Editor: Clare Fordham


MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (m0022z2s)
Sandi Toksvig, Breast cancer study, Carrie Hope Fletcher

Writer, comic, theatrical impresario, TV host and weekend chainsaw wielder Sandi Toksvig joins Clare McDonnell to talk about Friends of Dorothy, her first adult novel in 12 years. When Stevie and Amber move into their new home, they are surprised to find that the old woman they bought it from, a cantankerous and outrageous 79-year-old called Dorothy, is still living there.

Today marks two years since the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in Iran. She’d been arrested by the country’s morality police for allegedly not wearing her hijab properly and died in police custody. Her death sparked nationwide protests and the birth of the Women, Life, Freedom movement. BBC Verify journalist Reha Kansara talks to Clare about her new reporting on the women who continue to speak out and the horrific consequences they are still suffering.

The Breast Cancer Now Generations Study was set up in 2004 to help understand the causes of breast cancer. This 40-year landmark study – which this month reaches its halfway point – is following over 110,000 women to understand why breast cancer develops. Woman’s Hour has been following the project from the start, checking in every decade. Clare is joined by co-leader of the study Professor Amy Berrington and participant Amanda Jones.

The trailblazing ballerina, Michaela Mabinty DePrince, has died at the age of 29. A war orphan from Sierra Leone, she was brought to the US by her adopted family and made her way to the Dance Theatre of Harlem, the Dutch National Ballet, and even performed alongside Beyoncé. We hear an archive interview with Michaela when she spoke to Woman’s Hour about her life and career in 2015.

Carrie Hope Fletcher is an author, singer, West End star – and now a new mum. She’s about to start a brand new tour around the UK, called Love Letters, which will feature musical theatre favourites and love letters from the audience. She joins Clare to talk about the tour, what it’s like being a musical theatre mum, and why she's chosen not to put photos of her child online.

Presenter: Clare McDonnell
Producer: Maryam Maruf
Editor: Olivia Bolton
Studio Manager: Duncan Hannant


MON 11:00 Complex (m0022z2v)
Episode 3: Hospice

It's said that it takes a village to raise a child, and never is that more true than for families raising children with complex disabilities. They rely on health, social care and other professionals to help keep their children healthy, happy, and living at home. But this tangled network of support has been worn thin by growing demand and dwindling resources.

Seven year-old Nora has a rare genetic disorder and complex care needs. This three-part series guides us through the concentric circles of Nora’s life. In this third episode, Nora spends time at her local children's hospice. Chestnut Tree House is a place of respite and joy as well as grief, and it is a crucial lifeline for Nora, her parents, and her brother.

Hospices rely on public donations for almost two thirds of their income. Is it right that a service that is absolutely essential for families like Nora's is dependent on bake sales and fun runs to deliver its services?

Presented by Dave and Tors
Produced by Redzi Bernard
Music by Lily Sloane
"Who Cares" was written and performed by Chichester Festival Theatre Young Carers Song Project
Executive Producer: Rachel Hooper/Alan Hall

A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4


MON 11:45 The Siege by Ben Macintyre (m0022z2x)
Book of the Week: Episode 1 - Shots Are Fired

Ben Macintyre sets the pulse racing in his new book when he returns us to the spring of 1980. On 30th April, six heavily armed gunmen burst into the Iranian Embassy on Princes Gate in London, taking 26 people hostage, what followed was an intense set of events involving police negotiators, decisions makers at the highest levels, and the SAS. Jamie Parker reads.

In The Siege Ben Macintyre takes us on a journey through the crisis, painting a minute-by-minute picture of six days filled with terror and uncertainty for the hostages, the gunmen and the authorities.

When all avenues to resolve the crisis bloodlessly were exhausted, the SAS were deployed, and millions gathered around their televisions to watch the unprecedented events unfold.

Ben Macintyre’s previous titles include, Colditz, Agent Sonya, and The Spy and The Traitor. Several have been adapted for film and television – Operation Mincemeat, A Spy Among Friends and SAS Rogue Heroes.

Jamie Parker is known for his work on radio – Hamlet, Going Infinite, The Gold Finch; the stage – The History Boys, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Next to Normal, and screen - Becoming Elizabeth, The Crown and Des.

Abridged by Richard Hamilton
Produced by Elizabeth Allard


MON 12:00 News Summary (m0022z30)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


MON 12:04 You and Yours (m0022z32)
Winter fuel charity donations, private schools and supermarket own brands

People are being urged to check whether they're entitled to receive the Winter Fuel Payment under the new, tighter rules that come in today. In the past, some people have chosen to donate this annual payment to charity - we'll hear from two organisations about what this will mean for the work they do. Also - in his first interview in the job, the new payments system regulator tells You and Yours about new rules to compensate fraud victims - and why he wants to cut the maximum amount of compensation that will be paid. What will VAT on private school fees mean for parents who pay for their kids' education? We also look at supermarket own brands - sales of these ranges are booming - and Boots has a new boss, so we look at how this high street institution is doing.

PRESENTER: SHARI VAHL
PRODUCER: TOM MOSELEY


MON 12:57 Weather (m0022z34)
The latest weather forecast


MON 13:00 World at One (m0022z36)
Huw Edwards avoids jail for child abuse images

Former BBC presenter Huw Edwards is sentenced to six months in jail suspended for two years for possessing images of children being sexually abused. Plus, what a second attempt on Donald Trump's life says about political violence in America, and why thousands of affordable homes are sitting empty.


MON 13:45 Uncharted with Hannah Fry (m0022z38)
16. A Drop in the Ocean

A fisherman is stranded in the ocean late at night. Completely alone, the clock is ticking. How do you find one man lost in the open ocean? Can he be rescued in time?

Producer: Lauren Armstrong Carter
Sound Designer: Jon Nicholls
Story Editor: John Yorke


MON 14:00 The Archers (m0022z3b)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Sunday]


MON 14:15 Plum House (m000h7x8)
Series 3

3. A Knight to Remember

Plum House has once again been invited to the Museum of the Year awards in London. Manager Tom is determined that he and Peter attend as the house has been nominated, despite the rest of the team thinking it's a waste of time.

While Tom and Peter are away, Julian is left in charge and much to Alan and Maureen's consternation decides that now's the time for him to raise his social media game by posing in a suit of armour. Meanwhile Tom's chance meeting with old colleague Emma at the awards stirs up old feelings...

Plum House features Simon Callow, Jane Horrocks, Miles Jupp, Pearce Quigley, Tom Bell and Louise Ford.
Guest starring this week: Alex Lowe
Written by Ben Cottam and Paul McKenna
Directed by Paul Schlesinger
Produced by Claire Broughton

It is a BBC Studios Production for Radio 4


MON 14:45 Wolverine Blues (m000yl9z)
Episode 4

Wolverine Blues, or a Case of Defiance Neurosis

Fiction from Graeme Macrae Burnet, inspired by the case study "Defiance Neurosis of a Seventeen-Year-Old High School Student" by Alphonse Maeder.

Dr Maeder and Herr Schaller have found common ground as they act to bring Max back from the brink of delinquency.

Read by Alasdair Hankinson and Robin Laing.
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie

Graeme Macrae Burnet lives in Glasgow and is the author of novels including the Man Booker shortlisted 'His Bloody Project' and longlisted 'Case Study'. His new novel, 'A Case for Matricide', is published in October and concludes the Georges Gorski trilogy.


MON 15:00 Great Lives (m0022z3d)
Anneka Rice picks the largely forgotten Jane Morris, muse to Rossetti and wife of William Morris

The biography show where famous guests picks someone they admire or love. Jane Morris was the wife of William Morris and muse of Gabriel Dante Rossetti. Anneka Rice believes her contribution to 19th-Century art and culture has been largely overlooked.

"I'm not a big fan of needle point," she says, "but we cannot ignore what she brings to art history". Plus she comes from absolutely NOWHERE to marry Morris and have an affair with Rossetti. Joining Anneka in the discussion is Suzanne Fagence Cooper, the author of How We Might Live: At Home with Jane and William Morris. The presenter is Matthew Parris.


MON 15:30 BBC National Short Story Award (m0022z3g)
BBC National Short Story Award 2024

Hamlet, a love story by Lucy Caldwell

Lisa Dwyer Hogg reads Hamlet, a love story by Lucy Caldwell. The first of the five shortlisted stories for the BBC National Short Story Award 2024.

Lucy Caldwell is the author of four novels, three collections of short stories, and several stage plays and radio dramas. Her latest novel, These Days, won the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction and her latest collection of short stories, Openings, was published by Faber in 2024. She won the BBC National Short Story Award in 2021.

The BBC National Short Story Award is one of the most prestigious for a single short story, with the winning author receiving £15,000, and four further shortlisted authors £600 each. The 2023 winner of the BBC National Short Story Award was Naomi Wood who won for ‘Comorbidities’, a story examining the difficulty of maintaining love and intimacy in a marriage, from her debut collection, This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things (Orion). The 2024 winner will be announced live on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row on Tuesday 1 October 2024.

All of the stories are available on BBC Sounds where you can also download the BBC National Short Story Award podcast which includes a Front Row interview with each of the five shortlisted writers.

Abridged by Katrin Williams
Produced by Justine Willett


MON 16:00 Extreme: Muscle Men (m0022z3k)
Muscle Men

8: The Genie Is Out

In the wake of the steroid ring’s downfall, the headline-grabbing prosecutions combine with sports scandals and anxieties about steroids making it into high school locker rooms. Lawmakers decide to take action. The Steroid Control Act of 1990, spearheaded by none other than then-Senator Joe Biden, promises to deal with steroids once and for all.

But the USA already had a taste of what it felt like to get ripped - really ripped. And it’s hard to stuff the genie back in the bottle once it weighs 240 pounds of pure muscle.

Today, as millions of Americans take steroids with the aim of bulking up, host Natalia Mehlman Petrzela reckons with the enduring legacy of the steroid ring, and an era which transformed our ideas about fitness and beauty.

Featuring former bodybuilders William Dillon, Shawn Ray and Sandra Blackie; Mike Zumpano, co-author of The Underground Steroid Handbook; Professor of Sports Studies at Stirling College-Chengdu University, Daniel Rosenke; Dr Harrison Pope, Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School; and Daniel Supnick, a former special agent with the US Customs Service.

Presenter and Executive Producer: Natalia Mehlman Petrzela
Producer: Caroline Thornham
Assistant Producer: Mohamed Ahmed
Editor: Katherine Godfrey
Production Manager: Cheree Houston
Sound Design and Mix by Daniel Kempson
Original Music by SilverHawk, aka Cyrille Poirier
Executive Producer: Max O’Brien
Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke

A Novel production for BBC Radio 4

Featuring clips from:
Nightline, ABC Special for Monday, Nov 20, 1989 - ABC
Olympic Games History, Seoul 1988 - BBC
Senator Joe Biden remarks on Democratic Anti-Drug Legislation, July 31 1989 - C-Span
House Session, September 22, 1988 - C-Span
Interview with Philip Halpern - Professor Daniel Rosenke

Episodes are released weekly on Mondays. If you’re in the UK, you can listen to the latest episode, a week early, first on BBC Sounds https://bbc.in/3ybDcHO


MON 16:30 The Kitchen Cabinet (m0022z3m)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:30 on Saturday]


MON 17:00 PM (m0022z3p)
Huw Edwards sentenced for making of child abuse images.

Ex-BBC presenter Huw Edwards receives a 6 month suspended prison sentence for making child abuse images. Also, we hear from the floods across Europe as the death toll rises.


MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m0022z3r)
He had admitted to having indecent images of children as young as seven


MON 18:30 Just a Minute (m0022z3t)
Series 93

1. I’ve written down ‘Fleshy’, ‘England’ and ‘Chin’.

Sue Perkins challenges Stephen Fry, Jan Ravens, Tony Hawks and Katherine Parkinson to speak for 60 seconds without repetition, deviation or hesitation. Subjects include the invention of radio, doppelgängers and a bad-hair day.

Production Coordinator: Sarah Nicholls
Sound Manager: Jerry Peal
Sound Editor: Marc Willcox
Producer: Rajiv Karia
An EcoAudio certified production.

A BBC Studios Production for Radio 4.


MON 19:00 The Archers (m0022z3x)
Adam’s outraged to learn about Will and Emma covering for George. He’s glad they were arrested, but can’t trust himself to be around Will, so Pat will have to work something out at Bridge Farm.
Susan warns Will that Adam’s not happy and doesn’t want to work with either of them. But Susan’s glad Will’s told Poppy and Keira everything. Susan suggests a family day at the Flower and Produce show, but Will can’t face it. And when he starts worrying about how George would cope in prison, Susan does her best to reassure him.
There’s a staffing crisis at Bridge Farm, with Tom concerned by Emma calling in sick again at the Tearoom. Having seen Emma out working yesterday he wonders just how ill she can be. And now Clarrie’s been called away as well, to look after her sister Rosie in Great Yarmouth. Pat’s grateful to Susan for stepping up and cuts through the small talk to try and see how Susan’s really doing. Pat’s heard about Emma and Will via Lilian. Susan is apologetic, but just wants to focus on work to distract her from thinking about George and how everything has gone so badly wrong.
Tom goes to see Emma and talks about Fallon. Emma says she can’t face Fallon, plus there’s the stress of worrying about George and what will happen to the kids if she gets sent to prison. Tom understands her concern, then encourages her to meet up with him and Fallon – he has an idea. If Fallon’s willing to meet, says Emma, then so is she.


MON 19:15 Front Row (m0022z3z)
Edward Enninful, Lady Blackbird performs, Booker prize shortlist

Edward Enninful, Vogue Global Creative and Cultural advisor has just made a documentary series, In Vogue: The 90s. He discusses the decade that changed fashion forever. Sue Prideaux has just written the first biography of French post impressionist artist, Gauguin, in over thirty years. She argues it is time to reappraise the way we look at the man and his work. American singer Lady Blackbird has been called 'the Grace Jones of jazz' and she discusses her recent rise to fame and plays a song from her new album Slang Spirituals. And, Will Boast is one of five a finalists for this year's BBC National Short Story Award with Cambridge University and joins Samira to discuss his entry.

Presenter: Samira Ahmed
Producer: Ruth Watts


MON 20:00 The Briefing Room (m0022swz)
Is Germany in trouble?

David Aaronovitch and guests discuss the challenges facing Germany. Worries over the economy and immigration have seen the far right AfD party gain support in the former east Germany.

Guests:

Guy Chazan, Berlin bureau chief at the Financial Times
Dr Constanze Stelzenmuller, Director of the Center on the United States and Europe at Brookings Institution
Marcel Fratzscher, President DIW Berlin - German Institute for Economic Research and Professor at Humboldt University Berlin
Thiemo Fetzer, Professor of Economics at Warwick and Bonn Universities

Presenter: David Aaronovitch
Producers: Caroline Bayley, Kirsteen Knight and Ben Carter
Sound engineer: James Beard
Editor: Richard Vadon
Production Co-ordinator: Gemma Ashman


MON 20:30 BBC Inside Science (m0022sx1)
The first civilian spacewalk

Today incredible images were beamed around the world of civilians walking in space – for the very first time.

All eyes were on businessman Jared Isaacman and engineer Sarah Gillis as they ventured outside a Space X capsule.

But is this an historic space exploration milestone - or just a very exciting holiday for a billionaire? We'll find out more from the BBC’s own expert space-watcher Jonathan Amos.

Also this week, we visit Sellafield which processes and stores more radioactive material per square metre than any other site in Europe. But it is getting full.

So where is our nuclear waste going to go in future? As the UK searches for a new potential site, we look at the science of what we do with nuclear waste and why.

We’ll also delve into the fascinating world of nuclear semiotics. How can we communicate the dangers of nuclear waste to people living 100,000 years from now?

Presenter: Vic Gill
Producers: Sophie Ormiston & Gerry Holt
Editor: Martin Smith
Studio manager: Cath McGhee
Production Co-ordinator: Andrew Rhys Lewis


MON 21:00 Start the Week (m0022z2n)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


MON 21:45 Café Hope (m0022z2q)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 today]


MON 22:00 The World Tonight (m0022z41)
US Republicans demand more secret service protection from Donald Trump

US Republicans are asking more questions of the Secret Service after another apparent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. Trump was golfing in Florida when one of his Secret Service agents noticed a rifle muzzle in a bush and opened fire towards it. The suspected gunman was later apprehended, 58-year-old Ryan Routh has been charged with firearm offences.

Junior doctors in England have accepted the government’s offer of a 22% pay rise over two years, bringing to an end an 18-month dispute that saw them take part in 11 separate strikes.

And as psychiatrists warn of an uptick in ketamine addiction among young people, one mother recounts losing her son to the drug.


MON 22:45 Still Lives by Jon McGregor (m0022z43)
1: Still Life with Fruit

Close to death, an elderly woman contemplates fruit slowly decaying in a wooden bowl, and recalls the man who made it, many years before...

Penelope Wilton begins of a series of short stories from the acclaimed author of Reservoir 13, exploring stillness and still lifes. Each story celebrates a classical still life image: a bowl of fruit, a plate of cheese, an opened door, a coffee pot. These are stories in which, seemingly, nothing is happening. And yet, through these scenes, powerful and heart-rending stories emerge.

Reader: Penelope Wilton
Author: Jon McGregor is the multi-award-winning novelist and short story writer. He has been nominated for the Booker Prize for three of his novels, including his 2002 debut If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things, which also went on to win the Betty Trask Prize and the Somerset Maugham Award, and has won the BBC National Short Story Award. His third novel, Even the Dogs (2010), earned McGregor the International Dublin Literary Award in 2012, whilst his 2017 work Reservoir 13 scooped up the Costa Book Award.
Producer: Di Speirs


MON 23:00 Limelight (m001qtns)
The System - Series 3

The System - Method 3: Find a God and Pray

Five Methods for Overcoming Mortality.

Season 3 of Ben Lewis’ award-winning thriller.

Pulled from her safe house by an unusual woman, Maya finds herself on an unexpected journey of self-discovery.
Meanwhile Jake attempts to get to the bottom of where she’s disappeared to by challenging Robin – the enigmatic man with the red mullet.

Cast:
Maya… Siena Kelly
Jake … Jack Rowan
Coyote…Divian Ladwa
Wendy … Amelia Bullmore
Robin…Ryan Sampson
Matt Finch and Control…Rhashan Stone

Original music and sound design by Danny Krass
A BBC Scotland Production directed by Kirsty Williams


MON 23:30 A Good Read (m0020hn2)
Doon Mackichan and Bruce Robinson

Recorded at the Hay Festival

SHUGGIE BAIN by Douglas Stuart
ON THE BLACK HILL by Bruce Chatwin
AGAINST NATURE by Joris-Karl Huysmans

Harriett Gilbert takes to the stage in the BBC Marquee at the Hay Festival for a special edition of the programme recorded in front of an audience.
Actor and writer Doon Mackichan known for her outrageous character Cathy in the sitcom Two Doors Down chooses Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart as her good read. It's a touching but heartbreaking tale of a young Glaswegian boy's desperate efforts to save his mother Agnes from the alcoholism that ruins and degrades her. It won the Booker Prize in 2020.
As we're in Wales Harriett's fitting choice is Bruce Chatwin's On The Black Hill an account of rural Welsh life in the mid 20th century. It's the story of two brothers' lives over 80 years and their connection to land and community.
Bruce Robinson actor, director and writer of the hit film Withnail and I which has been adapted for stage chooses a book that features in the final scene of the film. The I character places two books in a suitcase at the end of the film, one of which is A Rebours - Against Nature by Joris-Karl Huysmans. Bruce confesses that he's not the book's biggest fan but the ensuing discussion provides an entertaining insight into books we might read when we're younger and how differently we feel about them in later life. It's the story of an eccentric recluse Jean des Esseintes in 19th century France who loathes people and creates a fantasy world for himself but ultimately suffers from his self-inflicted pretentious ennui.
"I wish I hadn't chosen this book" proclaims Bruce Robinson as he introduces it. "I wish you hadn't chosen it" agrees Doon Mackichan. They then elicit a lot of audience laughter from their deconstruction of this seminal French novel that all three find pretentious.

A longer version of the programme is available as a podcast

Producer: Maggie Ayre

TUESDAY 17 SEPTEMBER 2024

TUE 00:00 Midnight News (m0022z46)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


TUE 00:30 The Siege by Ben Macintyre (m0022z2x)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:45 on Monday]


TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m0022z48)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m0022z4b)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m0022z4d)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


TUE 05:30 News Briefing (m0022z4g)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4


TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m0022z4j)
New Discoveries

A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with the Right Rev Mary Stallard, bishop of Llandaff.

Good morning. For several years our family have holidayed in the same village on the Greek island of Kefalonia. We love walking there and I thought we’d come to know it quite well. This year we had a surprise; we walked barely a mile further along the coast than we’d previously ventured and discovered an amazing, horse-shoe shaped cove that’s far prettier and more dramatic than any we’d found before. We were amazed: it’s made us aware of how much we’ve still got to learn about the area.

Similar learning happened for me recently when I attended a study day on Christian attitudes to protest. We were looking at the story of Jesus overturning the tables of the moneychangers in the Temple in Mark’s Gospel. It’s a story I thought I knew well; but I was amazed to hear, as though for the first time, the verse which says that Jesus stopped people from using the Temple as a short-cut, preventing them from carrying things through the holy space. I was so surprised that I’d never noticed this verse before. Like finding the beach on holiday, it felt as though something new suddenly opened up.

Each experience has reminded me there’s always so much I’ve still got to learn. They underline for me the variety and beauty of creation, and the depth and scope of scripture, which constantly offers believers new and fresh perspectives.

God our maker, thank you for all the gifts you give us, for opportunities to grow each day. Bless us with humility, that we may be open to discover fresh meaning and purpose and become signposts of your joy for others. Amen.


TUE 05:45 Farming Today (m0022z4l)
17/09/24 Lib Dem party conference; Farmland birds; Peat

It's party conference season and Farming Today will be covering the three main conferences. This week, the Liberal Democrats meet in Brighton. Their relative success in the recent General Election has given them a boost, and many of their new constituencies gained this summer are in rural areas. The big question is budget. Before the election the Liberal Democrats promised £1 billion a year more, for the Environmental Land Management Scheme which replaces old EU payments in England. Different changes are being made in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Since the election, it's emerged the Conservative government underspent its DEFRA budget by £358m in the previous parliament. We speak to the environment food and rural affairs spokesperson for the Lib Dems, Tim Farron.

All week we're taking stock of birdlife on farms. The RSPB says farmland bird numbers are still declining for some species, and more needs to be done to improve numbers through habitat creation, and changing farming methods. On the Lowther Estate, near Penrith, in Cumbria, recent changes in grazing, tree planting, even the introduction of beavers to help with wetland creation, are already having positive repercussions on both the range and number of birds choosing to nest and breed there.

The UK has an estimated three million hectares of peatland, both upland and lowland, but it's believed about 80 percent of that is in poor condition. A new report from the International Union for the Convention of Nature shows progress has been made on restoring UK peatlands over the last thirty years but its Peatland Programme also reports that it's unlikely to meet the target to restore two million hectares by 2040.

Presenter = Anna Hill
Producer = Rebecca Rooney


TUE 06:00 Today (m00230vx)
The head of Universities UK, Dame Sally Mapstone, claims tuition fees must rise to prevent a 'slide into decline' but, as part of the Today programme listeners series, Anna, Chloe and Pearl asked us to explore if a degree is still worth the parchment its written on: former education secretary Alan Johnson gives his reaction. The number of people off work is now so high Britain really can be branded the 'sick man of Europe' according to the Institute for Public Policy Research, but there are solutions according to former chief medical officer Dame Sally Davies. The director general of the World Health Organisation Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus tells us 'peace is the best medicine' and the head of Energy UK Emma Pinchbeck says the green energy revolution will inevitably mean building more infrastructure in the countryside.


TUE 09:00 The Life Scientific (m002305z)
Rosalie David on the science of Egyptian mummies

Rosalie David is a pioneer in the study of ancient Egypt. In the early 1970s, she launched a unique project to study Egyptian mummified bodies using the techniques of modern medicine. Back then, the vast majority of Egyptologists regarded mummies as unimportant sources of information about life in ancient Egypt. Instead they focussed on interpreting hieroglyphic inscriptions, the written record in papyrus documents and archaeological remains and artefacts. Rosalie David proved that the traditionalists were quite wrong.

Professor David’s mummy research started at the Manchester Museum when she began to collaborate with radiologists at the nearby Manchester Royal Infirmary, taking the museum’s mummies for x-rays at the hospital. Her multi-disciplinary team later moved to a dedicated institute at the University of Manchester, the KNH Centre for Biomedical Egyptology. Over the decades, the team there has made remarkable discoveries about disease and medicine in ancient Egyptian society, providing a new perspective on the history of medicine and giving extraordinary insights into the lives of individuals all those years ago.

Rosalie tells Jim Al-Khalili about her journey from classics and ancient history to biomedicine, including some of her adventures in Egypt in the 1960s. She talks about some of her most significant research projects, and the 21st Century forensic detective work on the mummy of a young woman which revealed a gruesome murder 3,000 years ago...

Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Produced by Andrew Luck-Baker


TUE 09:30 All in the Mind (m0023061)
Surfing and mental health, grief for dead celebrities, and being unique

Claudia Hammond has her surfboard and wetsuit at the ready to investigate whether surfing could improve her mental health. And she speaks to Ariane Gerami from the University of Bristol to find out whether the enthusiam for surfing to help your mental health is coming ahead of the evidence.

Claudia is joined in the studio by psychologist Dr Peter Olusoga at Sheffield Hallam University. They talk about a study that's found the need for uniqueness has dwindled over the last 20 years.

And one of our listeners got in touch to ask why she felt so much grief for someone she had never met, following the death of Michael Mosley . Claudia speaks to sociologist Dr Ruth Penfold-Mounce from the University of York, and psychologist Dr Dara Greenwood from Vassar College in New York, to discuss why we can feel such an intense loss for someone we've never met.

And the All in the Mind Awards are open for entries. We hear from Ben May from bereavement charity The New Normal, who won the project category in 2023. Full details about the awards are in the programme, or at bbc.co.uk/radio4/allinthemind where you’ll find full terms and conditions too. Entries close at 1pm on 8th January 2025.

Presenter: Claudia Hammond
Producer: Alice Lipscombe-Southwell
Editor: Holly Squire
Production coordinator: Siobhan Maguire

Photo credit: The Wave


TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (m00230vz)
Kim Cattrall, Sex offender treatment, At-home cervical screening, Author Sarah Pearse

The actress Kim Cattrall has starred in films and on stage, but is probably best known for TV series Sex And The City. She is now in a new audio drama, Central Intelligence, which tells the story of the CIA from the perspective of Eloise Page. Eloise joined on the agency’s first day in 1947 and became the highest ranking female officer. Kim joins Clare McDonnell to discuss Eloise, her passion for radio, and the enduring appeal of Samantha Jones.

In sentencing Huw Edwards, the former BBC News presenter, for accessing child sexual abuse images, the magistrate said that he did not pose a risk to the public or children, and that an immediate custodial sentence was not necessary because the evidence showed he could be rehabilitated. Edwards must now attend 25 sex offender treatment sessions. We look at how these treatment programmes work and how effective they are proven to be, with Deborah Denis, CEO of the Lucy Faithfull Foundation and Professor Belinda Winder, Research Director of the Centre for Crime, Offending, Prevention and Engagement at Nottingham Trent University.

The number of women taking up NHS cervical screening test invitations has been declining for the last 20 years. Healthwatch England did research with women who were reluctant to accept NHS invitations for screening and found that 73% would do an at-home test instead. A trial done by King’s College London earlier this year found that if self-sample kits were available on the NHS, 400,000 more women would be screened per year. Chief Executive of Healthwatch England Louise Ansari and Dr Anita Lim, lead investigator of the King’s College London trial, join Clare to tell us more.

Sarah Pearse is the best-selling author of the Detective Elin Warner trilogy. She recently released the last novel in the series, The Wilds which includes themes of coercive control and was written with advice from the charity Refuge. She talks to Clare about the role fiction can play in highlighting issues of domestic violence and coercive control.


TUE 11:00 Add to Playlist (m0022skv)
Emma Rawicz and Julian Joseph, with special guest Rhiannon Giddens

Saxophone player and composer Emma Rawicz and jazz pianist and bandleader Julian Joseph join Anna Phoebe and Jeffrey Boakye as they take us from a 1973 Elton John hit to music with historical links to the Deep South.

Special guest Rhiannon Giddens, the American folk musician, fiddler and banjo player, reveals the history of the bluegrass banjo, taking us from West Africa to the Americas, and the role of the transatlantic slave trade.

The five tracks in this week's playlist:

Bennie and the Jets by Elton John
SilkyM by Sean Mason
They Say I’m Different by Betty Davis
Walkin’ Boss by Sam Amidon
Bapaalaay by Esukolaal

Other music in this episode:

Carnaval de Paris by Dario G
Slave to the Rhythm by Grace Jones
Dreams by Kelsey Lu
He Used to be Your Man by Lena Wilson
Freight Train by Elizabeth Cotten
Texas Hold 'Em by Beyoncé


TUE 11:45 The Siege by Ben Macintyre (m00230w1)
Book of the Week: Episode 2 - Demands Are Made

In Ben Macintyre’s latest book it’s April 1980 and 6 gunmen have taken the Iranian Embassy and 26 hostages. With the SAS en route from their HQ, the gunmen are about to set out their demands. Jamie Parker reads.

Ben Macintyre sets the pulse racing in his new book when he returns us to the spring of 1980. On 30th April, six heavily armed gunmen burst into the Iranian Embassy on Princes Gate in London, taking 26 people hostage, what followed was an intense set of events involving police negotiators, decisions makers at the highest levels, and the SAS. Jamie Parker reads.

In The Siege Ben Macintyre takes us on a journey through the crisis, painting a minute-by-minute picture of six days filled with terror and uncertainty for the hostages, the gunmen and the authorities.

When all avenues to resolve the crisis bloodlessly were exhausted, the SAS were deployed, and millions gathered around their televisions to watch the unprecedented events unfold.

Ben Macintyre’s previous titles include, Colditz, Agent Sonya, and The Spy and The Traitor. Several have been adapted for film and television – Operation Mincemeat, A Spy Among Friends and SAS Rogue Heroes.

Jamie Parker is known for his work on radio – Hamlet, Going Infinite, The Gold Finch; the stage – The History Boys, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Next to Normal, and screen - Becoming Elizabeth, The Crown and Des.

Abridged by Richard Hamilton
Produced by Elizabeth Allard


TUE 12:00 News Summary (m00230w3)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


TUE 12:04 You and Yours (m00230w5)
Call You & Yours : How should the BBC be funded in future?

As the government debates how the BBC will be funded and might look in future, how do you think you should pay for the services you get ?


TUE 12:57 Weather (m00230w7)
The latest weather forecast


TUE 13:00 World at One (m00230w9)
Live from the Liberal Democrats Party Conference

Live from the Liberal Democrats Party Conference in Brighton. Also, we hear from Molly Russell's father Ian Russell on new Instagram safety features announced today.


TUE 13:45 Uncharted with Hannah Fry (m00230wc)
17. The Golden Spike

At a conference in Mexico, one scientist’s outburst launches a global quest.

Hannah Fry follows a group of researchers on the hunt for a ‘golden spike’: the boundary, marking a shift into a dramatic new geological period dominated, not by volcanoes and asteroids, but the influence of humans.

From plastics and concrete to nuclear fallout, the data they uncover reveals a planet profoundly changed. But can these scientists persuade their colleagues - and the world?

Producer: Ilan Goodman
Sound Designer: Jon Nicholls
Story Editor: John Yorke


TUE 14:00 The Archers (m0022z3x)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Monday]


TUE 14:15 Drama on 4 (m00230wf)
Half Lives

Sara is trying to reach a society 10,000 years in the future.

Hannah is just trying to get through the week.

Hannah works as operations manager at a nuclear processing plant that’s about to be decommissioned. Its nuclear waste will be packed into canisters and buried deep underground.

But the waste will remain deadly for thousands of years.

Sara is a linguist, sent to shadow Hannah, to develop a way of warning future generations about the dangers of the waste that lies buried.

The challenge: today’s languages are unlikely to survive the vast timeframes needed.

As Hannah and Sara bring their very different perspectives to a tense working environment, tempers flare and connections are made.

Natasha Kaeda’s drama asks, how do we care for future generations?

Cast
Hannah…. Lois Meleri Jones
Sara… Indra Ové
The Myth… Kezrena James
Tegwyn… Wyn Bowen Harries
Eric…. Dion Lloyd
John…. Rhys Ap William

Production co-ordinators… Eleri McAuliffe and Lindsay Rees
Sound designer… Catherine Robinson
Director and Producer… Fay Lomas
BBC Audio Drama Wales


TUE 15:00 Short Cuts (m00230wh)
A Word

Wishes, wonders, and wisdom. Josie Long presents short documentaries and audio adventures uncovering the power of words.

mother-house by produced by Catherine Boulle.
Inspired by the guided visualisations accompanying the book 'Motherhood: Is it for me?' by Denise L. Carlini & Ann Davidman.

Weird World Whimsy produced and composed by Suzie McCarthy.
Featuring actor, teacher and director, Mary Lou Rosato.
Interview recording by audio producer Donelle Wederburn in New York City.
The piece featured a canoe trip on the Tapiskwan Sipi, which runs through Atikamekw Nehirowisiwok territory in the unceded province of Quebec.
Special thanks to Nina Garthwaite, Tom Todoroff, Emily Moulton, Katherina Lindekens and Emma Lehman from Noise Club.

Buranbur: a comfort in words by audio maker and producer Suhaar Ali.
Featuring the first Somali woman elected to the cabinet, Fadumo Aalin, who talks about her mother and poet Hawo Jibril.

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


TUE 15:30 BBC National Short Story Award (m00230wk)
BBC National Short Story Award 2024

The Barber of Erice by Will Boast

Acclaimed actor Mark Strong reads Will Boast’s shortlisted entry for this year’s BBC National Short Story. Here courage and friendship emerge from a clash of cultures in a Sicilian village.

Will Boast is the author of a story collection, Power a memoir, Epilogue (Liveright/Norton and Granta Books, 2015), and a novel, Daphne. His short fiction, reporting, and essays have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Guardian, and The American Scholar, among other publications. He's held fellowships from Stanford University, the University of Virginia, the American Academy in Rome, and the University of East Anglia, and he's taught at the University of Chicago, the Joel Nafuma Refugee Center in Rome, and Royal Holloway, University of London.

Mark Strong, a household name for film and theatre goers and the small screen. Recent film credits include The Critic, Kingsman 2 and for stage A View From the Bridge, and forthcoming, Oedipus.

The BBC National Short Story Award is one of the most prestigious for a single short story, with the winning author receiving £15,000, and four further shortlisted authors £600 each. The 2023 winner of the BBC National Short Story Award was Naomi Wood who won for ‘Comorbidities’, a story examining the difficulty of maintaining love and intimacy in a marriage, from her debut collection, This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things (Orion). The 2024 winner will be announced live on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row on Tuesday 1 October 2024.

All of the stories are available on BBC Sounds where you can also download the BBC National Short Story Award podcast which includes a Front Row interview with each of the five shortlisted writers.

Abridged by Rowan Routh
Produced by Elizabeth Allard


TUE 16:00 Thinking Allowed (m00230wm)
Medical Icons

The Stethoscope and the X-ray: Laurie Taylor explores two medical innovations which have achieved iconic status. Nicole Lobdell, Assistant Professor of English at DePauw University, charts the when, where, and how of our use of X-rays, what meanings we give them and what metaphors we make out of them. Is there a paradox to living in an age where we rely on X-rays to expose hidden threats to our health and security but also fear the way they may expose us?
Also, Tom Rice, Associate Professor in Anthropology at the University of Exeter investigates a scientific instrument which has become the symbol of medicine itself. What makes the stethoscope such a familiar yet charismatic object?
Producer: Jayne Egerton


TUE 16:30 When It Hits the Fan (m00230wp)
BBC in crisis, laughing at Trump and the elephant in the room

David and Simon discuss Huw Edwards, Strictly Come Dancing and the BBC in crisis. How is the corporation dealing with being in the news for all the wrong reasons?

Plus, “They’re eating the dogs, they're eating the cats” - is the global mockery following Donald Trump’s pet-eating accusations in his TV debate with Kamala Harris a PR disaster for the former president?

And what is the elephant in the room? Let’s talk about why the unmentionable is often at the heart of PR.

Producer: Eve Streeter
Editor: Sarah Teasdale
Executive Producer: William Miller
Music by Eclectic Sounds
A Raconteur production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 17:00 PM (m00230wr)
Hezbollah struck by exploding pagers

Across Lebanon, hundreds of members of the armed group Hezbollah have been injured after their electronic pagers exploded in their pockets. We hear the latest on the ground, and ask how and why an attack like this could happen. Also: as Sir Ed Davey strikes an optimistic tone at the Liberal Democrat conference, we speak to an MP about the party's direction. And the Commonwealth Games will return to Glasgow after Australia backed out.


TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m00230wt)
The Lebanese armed group immediately blamed Israel amid a recent escalation in tensions


TUE 18:30 Heresy (m001818c)
Series 12

Episode 3

Victoria Coren Mitchell presents another edition of the show which dares to commit heresy.

Joining Victoria Coren Mitchell to commit heresy this week are comedians Richard Herring and Phil Wang and the journalist Matthew Norman.

Written, presented, and produced by Victoria Coren Mitchell
with additional material from Dan Gaster and Charlie Skelton
Series created by David Baddiel

An Avalon production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 19:00 The Archers (m002305k)
Eddie complains to Will about getting dirty looks at the market. Will speculates about going to prison and asks Eddie to make sure Poppy will be looked after. Eddie’s disparaging about Neil and Susan’s role in calling the police on George.
Later, Susan suggests to Eddie they should make plans in case Will and Emma are prosecuted, prompting Eddie to have a go at her. Susan stands firm – she and Neil did the right thing. Angry Eddie defends William, who wasn’t involved in the decision to call the police. Ed intervenes to calm Eddie down, but he refuses to have anything to do with Neil and a shaken Susan.
Ed’s sceptical as Emma prepares for her meeting with Tom and Fallon. He’s still hurt by Emma’s role in covering for George, and wonders whether starting the tree surgery business was a good idea. Emma tries to defend it, positing how well they work together, but Ed stays quiet.
At the meeting Tom tries keeping things positive between Fallon and Emma. Fallon talks about her anger and how George’s actions have affected people. Tom wonders how to move things forward at the Tearoom, but Fallon knows Emma would act the same way again, if it came to it. And when Emma doesn’t deny it they are no closer to finding a solution.
Fallon and Emma talk about the strain on both their marriages. Fallon then presses Emma on George’s behaviour. When Tom again steers the conversation back to the Tearoom Emma offers a solution: she’s quitting. Fallon says thank you, as Emma leaves.


TUE 19:15 Front Row (m00230ww)
David Peace, new plays crisis, Booker Prize 2024 shortlist

David Peace on his new novel, Munichs, about the plane crash that transformed Manchester United.
Katie Posner, Co-Artistic Director of Paines Plough theatre company and Daniel Evans, Co-Artistic Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company discuss the new plays crisis in theatre.
Matt Hemley, Deputy Editor of The Stage, reports on the cancellation of a new production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester.
Artist and author Edmund De Waal, chair of judges for the Booker Prize 2024, reflects on this year's shortlist.
Manish Chauhan on his shortlisted story, Pieces, for this year's National Short Story Award.

Presenter: Nick Ahad
Producer: Ekene Akalawu


TUE 20:00 File on 4 (m001xvfh)
Degraded by Deepfakes

Jodie had everything - a good job, great friends and a busy social life. But her world was turned upside down when she was targeted by an online abuser who posted pornographic deepfakes of her online. Initially turned away by the police, she turned detective herself - but nothing could prepare her for what she eventually discovers. She now struggles to trust anyone. And what happened to Jodie could happen to any of us. Here she tells her story for the very first time.

Reporter: Kate West
Producer: Rhoda Buchanan
Technical Producer: Nicky Edwards
Digital Producer: Melanie Stewart-Smith
Production Co-ordinator: Tim Fernley
Editor: Carl Johnston

If you’ve been a victim of harassment, stalking or revenge porn, details of organisations offering information and support are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline.


TUE 20:40 In Touch (m00230wy)
Melanie Barratt's Channel Swim; Your Questions, Please

Melanie Barratt is a decorated Paralympic swimmer, having won two Golds, two Silvers and a Bronze at the Atlanta and Sydney games. She has had a long career, but her most recent feat took her away from the swimming pool and into the English Channel. Melanie recently completed the 33km swim and made history while doing it, as she is thought to be the first blind woman to have finished. Melanie tells In Touch about how she prepared for the challenge (which involved regularly dipping into a barrel of freezing cold water), about the methods of how she did it as a blind person and about the health benefits that she believes cold water swimming provides.

Presenter: Peter White
Producer: Beth Hemmings
Production Coordinator: David Baguley
Website image description: Peter White sits smiling in the centre of the image and he is wearing a dark green jumper. Above Peter's head is the BBC logo (three separate 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 is a darker blue and the other is a lighter blue.


TUE 21:00 Three Million (m0022clj)
7. Road to the Past

Kavita Puri goes to India to meet some of the last survivors of the 1943 Bengal famine. She looks for traces of how war and famine impacted Kolkata and then travels from the city along the road to where the story of famine begins.

Kavita goes deep into the countryside and the jungle in West Bengal to find people who lived through that devastating time more than 80 years ago. These are voices that are almost never recorded and have never been broadcast before. For the past year and a half Kavita has been asking why there is no memorial to the three million people who died. But then in the Bengal jungle she finally finds it – it’s not what she expected.

Presenter : Kavita Puri
Series Producer: Ant Adeane
Editor: Emma Rippon
Sound design and mix: Eloise Whitmore
Production Coordinator: Brenda Brown

With thanks to Manoshi Barua for her translation work and to her, Bhasker Patel, Moazzem Hossain and Jesmin Ahmed for voicing up the Bengali-language interviews.


TUE 21:30 Great Lives (m0022z3d)
[Repeat of broadcast at 15:00 on Monday]


TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (m00230x0)
Deaths and thousands of injuries in Lebanon, as pagers used by Hezbollah simultaneously explode

Deaths and thousands of injuries in Lebanon after pagers used by the militant group Hezbollah explode. We speak to the Lebanese health minister and ask what's next for the region. Also in the programme: rapper Sean Diddy Combs pleads not guilty to sex trafficking charges; US economy; throat cancer; the future of Oxford Street.


TUE 22:45 Still Lives by Jon McGregor (m00230x2)
2: Still Life with Coffee Pot

During her daughter's brief nap in a busy cafe, an exhausted new mother tries to rekindle her art.

The next in a series of short stories from the acclaimed author of Reservoir 13, exploring stillness and still lives. Each story celebrates a classical still life image: a bowl of fruit, a plate of cheese, an opened door, a coffee pot. These are stories in which, seemingly, nothing is happening. And yet, through these scenes, powerful and heart-rending stories emerge.

Reader: Hattie Morahan
Author: Jon McGregor is the multi award-winning novelist and short story writer. He has been nominated for the Booker Prize for three of his novels, including his 2002 debut If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things, which also went on to win the Betty Trask Prize and the Somerset Maugham Award, and has won the BBC National Short Story Award. His third novel, Even the Dogs (2010), earned McGregor the International Dublin Literary Award in 2012, whilst his 2017 work Reservoir 13 scooped up the Costa Book Award.
Producer: Justine Willett


TUE 23:00 Poetry Please (m00208d6)
Hanan Issa

Roger McGough is joined by the National Poet of Wales, Hanan Issa, to make a selection of listeners' poetry requests. Her choices include poems by Menna Elfyn, Imtiaz Dharker, Zeina Hashem Beck, Philip Larkin, Robert Hayden and Jack Gilbert.

Hanan is a Welsh-Iraqi poet, filmmaker and artist from Cardiff. Her recent works include her poetry collection My Body Can House Two Hearts (Burning Eye Books, 2019) and her contributions to Welsh (Plural): Essays on the Future of Wales (Repeater Books, 2022) and The Mab (Unbound, 2022), a retelling of the Mabinogi stories for children. She has recently edited an anthology of dragon poems for children, 'And I Hear Dragons'. Her winning monologue ‘With Her Back Straight’ was performed at the Bush Theatre as part of the Hijabi Monologues. She was also part of the writers room for Channel 4’s We Are Lady Parts alongside its creator, Nida Manzoor.

Produced by Mair Bosworth for BBC Audio


TUE 23:30 A Good Read (m0020q9j)
Sebastian Faulks and Tessa Hadley

VOICES IN THE EVENING by Natalia Ginzburg (trans. DM Low), chosen by Tessa Hadley
THE ZONE OF INTEREST by Martin Amis (trans. Jessica Moore), chosen by Sebastian Faulks
EASTBOUND by Maylis de Kerangal, chosen by Harriett Gilbert

Two authors pick books they love with Harriett Gilbert.

Tessa Hadley (Late In The Day, Free Love, After The Funeral) takes us to post-war Italy with Voices In The Evening by Natalia Ginzburg. The drama, suffering and fascism are in the past, but traumas surface in the day-to-day, with first loves and lost chances.

Sebastian Faulks (Birdsong, Human Traces, The Seventh Son) chooses The Zone of Interest by Martin Amis, after watching the hit film by Jonathan Glazer and wanting to read the book it was inspired by. The haunting novel follows a Nazi officer who has become enamoured with the Auschwitz camp commandant's wife, and goes inside the minds of the commandant, who lives with his family right next to the concentration camp.

Harriett Gilbert brings Eastbound by Maylis de Kerangal, a gripping novella set on the Trans-Siberian Railway, with a chance encounter between a desperate Russian conscript and a French woman.

Produced by Eliza Lomas for BBC Audio Bristol
Join the conversation on Instagram @bbcagoodread