SATURDAY 23 SEPTEMBER 2023

SAT 00:00 Midnight News (m001qmr3)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 00:30 Material World by Ed Conway (m001qmlh)
Lithium

In the driest place on earth the eerie salt pools of the Atacama Desert, Chile may hold the key to our future. The lithium that swirls in the prehistoric water could be capable of storing the energy we need to power our world for generations to come.

'Material World: A Substantial Story of Our Past and Our Future', written by Ed Conway, explores which materials we have relied upon to build civilisations and how we will use them to forge our future.

Abridged by Anna Magnusson
Read by John Hollingworth
Produced by Naomi Walmsley


SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m001qmrf)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m001qmrt)
World Service

BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


SAT 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m001qms4)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SAT 05:30 News Briefing (m001qmsg)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m001qmst)
Spiritual reflection to start the day with Fiona Stewart, a writer who runs a Christian arts charity.


SAT 05:45 Close Encounters (m001mlq5)
Arlo Parks and Poly Styrene

The Second in Martha Kearney's new series celebrating portraits and portraiture through the eyes of ten Great Britons.
This time it's the turn of Mercury prize-winning Singer songwriter Arlo Parks. Her choice is the late Punk figure of Marion Elliott-Said, otherwise known as Poly Styrene, the lead singer with X-Ray Spex

After three years of closure for major refurbishment and expansion the National Portrait Gallery, just off London's Trafalgar Square is set for re-opening. To mark the occasion the gallery, along with BBC Radio 4 have launched a celebration of great Briton's, with Martha Kearney hosting a Close Encounter between the likes of Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Dame Katherine Grainger and Edward Enninful and a portrait they choose to champion. For Sir Tim Berners-Lee it's the Suffragette campaigner Christabel Pankhurst, for Dame Katherine Grainger it's the first English woman to swim the channel, the largely forgotten Mercedes Gleitze.

In each episode we find out about the subject of the portrait, the moment at which their image was captured for posterity and the importance of image and identity for those who find themselves in the eye of the nation's attention today.

Producers: Tom Alban and Mohini Patel


SAT 06:00 News and Papers (m001qswf)
The latest news headlines. Including the weather and a look at the papers.


SAT 06:07 Ramblings (m001qmpf)
Sandstone Trail

Sunshine and summer downpours on a hilly Cheshire hike with great views. On the way Clare hears from two friends about how walking has helped them cope with life changing events.

Linda Ashworth only discovered walking after her children left home but it became a stress-relieving necessity when her husband suffered a serious accident. Her love of putting one foot in front of the other grew to such an extent that she went onto gain hill and moorland leadership qualifications and set up a business leading walks for ‘ladies of my age’.

Tracey was diagnosed, age 40, with acute myeloid leukaemia. The treatment, she says, 'turned my bones to sugar' and she broke her back in five places. This left her unable to walk properly for years, relying on a mobility scooter to get her into the countryside. However, as she slowly recovered, she discovered rambling was a good way to rebuild strength, balance and coordination. To mark her 50th year she went with a group of supportive friends and family on a celebratory three day hike around the Lake District. Linda led the way.

For today’s walk, Linda and Tracey take Clare along a section of the Sandstone Trail. It’s a 34 mile long route stretching from Frodsham in Cheshire to Whitchurch just over the Shropshire border. They started at grid ref SJ494526 and headed north. The map they used: OS 257 Crewe and Nantwich.

Presenter: Clare Balding
Producer: Karen Gregor


SAT 06:30 Farming Today (m001qswm)
23/09/23 - Farming Today This Week: de-banking, rural crime and muck

The Financial Conduct Authority has published its initial review into 'de-banking' this week - finding that some businesses, including shooting and the gun trade, feel 'unfairly affected' by some banks' decisions not to provide accounts for them.' Part of the evidence the FCA considered was a survey of members by the British Association for Shooting and Conservation, BASC. It showed that 41 percent of the 325 who answered, had found difficulty with their banking, and that just over half of those people had been told by the bank "off the record", that their connection with shooting and firearms was the reason why their banking had been stopped or restricted. BASC says its members have connections with shooting and firearms through legal, legitimate and viable businesses.

A working group is being put together to work out how to combat the toxic blue green algae on Northern Ireland's biggest freshwater lake, Lough Neagh. It bloomed over the summer, has been linked with the deaths of dogs and birds and has closed some businesses on the lough. Pollution from farming - along with the weather and invasive species - have been blamed for the problem.

A survey commissioned by the organic veg box group Riverford has revealed that nearly half the fruit and veg growers who took part, fear they could close within a year, with the majority citing supermarket behaviour as the main reason.

And how to tell your manure from your slurry? We as a farmer.

Presenter by Charlotte Smith
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Heather Simons


SAT 06:57 Weather (m001qsws)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SAT 07:00 Today (m001qswv)
Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (m001qswx)
Colin Jackson, Suk Pannu, Mavis Patterson, Mawaan Rizwan

Colin Jackson has spent his life hurdling one thing or another, be it breaking world records, or down barriers, the Olympian turned broadcaster continues to inspire the next generation of athletes.

He’s written for The Kumars at No. 42, and Goodness Gracious Me, now Suk Pannu reveals how his 'Asian aunties' inspired his new book 'Mrs Sidhu: Dead and Scone' and why cosy culinary crime may be the next big thing.

She's traversed the famous Lands’ End to John O' Groats route, climbed Kilimanjaro, and recently completed a 1,000 mile cycle around the coastline of Scotland - all in the memory of her three late children, who sadly all passed away in their 40s, from unrelated causes. But, what sets Mavis apart - is she’s 85 years old - and with two hip and knee replacements she has earned the nickname Bionic Grannie Mave.

All that plus the Inheritance Tracks of comedian and actor and star of new BBC comedy 'Juice'; Mawaan Rizwan.

Presenters: Nikki Bedi and Olly Mann
Producer: Ben Mitchell


SAT 10:00 You're Dead to Me (p09snh0v)
Ivan the Terrible

Was he really so terrible (hint: yes!), or is it all just a translation error (well, sort of)? Greg Jenner and his guests dive into the life, times, and crimes of Russia's first Tsar, the infamous Ivan the Terrible.

From his bumpy youth, early successes, and multiple wives, to his oppressive policy of oprichnina and notorious reputation for cruelty, the panel discusses the good, the bad, and the very, very ugly when it comes to one of history's most feared rulers.

Featuring Professor Peter Frankopan (University of Oxford) and Russian-born comedian Olga Koch, whose BBC appearances include OK Computer, Human Error, Fight, QI, and The Now Show.

The Athletic production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 10:30 My Dream Dinner Party (m001qsx0)
Suggs's Dream Dinner Party

Singer-songwriter Suggs hosts a dinner party with a twist - all his guests are from beyond the grave, long-time heroes brought back to life by the wonders of the radio archive.

Suggs is joined by poet and broadcaster Sir John Betjeman, reggae legend Bob Marley, politician Tony Benn, and singer-songwriters Amy Winehouse and Aretha Franklin.

As the mackerel sizzles on the BBQ, Suggs and his guests keep warm around the fire bowl to discuss fathers, the poetry of London, the lyrics of love - and the search for goodness.

There’s music, laughter - and a man in a fez makes a late appearance…

Written and presented by Suggs
Produced by Sarah Peters and Peregrine Andrews
Researcher: Brook Plumptre
Additional Editing: Jerome Watson
BBC Archivist: Will Mort
Executive Producer: Iain Chambers

A Tuning Fork and Open Audio production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 11:00 Reflections (m001p1rn)
Kenneth Clarke

The former Chancellor and Home Secretary Lord Clarke speaks to James Naughtie about his 50-year career at the top of British politics. They discuss his rows with Margaret Thatcher, his passion for Europe, how the country has changed during his life, and whether he ever regrets not getting the top job.

Producer: Daniel Kraemer.


SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m001qsx2)
Voices from Libya's flood-hit East

Kate Adie presents stories from Libya, Ukraine, Australia and the US

Anna Foster visits the flood-affected region of Derna, in Libya's east, where she speaks to survivors of the storm surge after two dams collapsed in the hills above the city.

In the Russian-controlled areas of Donbas in Ukraine's east, Nick Sturdee hears from residents there who have lived through nearly a decade of fighting. In an area which is hard to reach for Western journalists, he gains an insight into how the conflict is seen and understood there.

Australians are poised to vote in a referendum in October which would create a formal body for its indigenous people to give advice on laws. But the battle between the Yes and the No campaigns is reaching fever pitch - which some have described as Australia's Brexit moment. Nick Bryant has followed the story

And in the US, Maryam Ahmed talks to New Yorkers about their latest obsession: the battle against the spotted lanternfly. She learns a few techniques from locals and hears how the insects have achieved cult status.

00:37 Libya's flood survivors
09:26 Life in Russian-controlled Donbas
15:57 Australia's vote on indigenous rights
22:03 New York vs The Lanternfly

Series Producer: Serena Tarling
Editor: China Collins
Production Coordinator: Gemma Ashman


SAT 12:00 News Summary (m001qt3j)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 12:04 Money Box (m001qsx6)
Mortgages and Part-time Work for Students

The Bank of England has held interest rates at 5.25%, ending a run of 14 consecutive increases. What does that mean for mortgages? We'll also look back one year on from the mini-budget. Hear from Clare Beardmore the Director of the Mortgage Club at Legal and General and Nimesh Shah the CEO of Blick Rothenberg.

Nearly half of our universities are now encouraging students to work part time by promoting it on their websites. The Higher Education Policy Institute, which carried out the research, has described it as a major change in the attitude of universities. Dan Whitworth reports from St. Andrews.

And what does the rates freeze mean for savers - we'll speak to Anna Bowes the founder of SavingsChampion.co.uk.

Presenter: Paul Lewis
Reporters: Dan Whitworth and Sam Clack
Researchers: Luke Smithurst and Jo Krasner
Editor: Jess Quayle

Mortgages 00:00
Students and Part-time Work 10:26
Energy Report 18:35
Savings and Best Rates 19:29

(First broadcast 12pm, Saturday 23rd September, 2023)


SAT 12:30 The News Quiz (m001qmn5)
Series 112

Episode 3

Andy Zaltzman quizzes the week's news. Providing all the answers Ria Lina, Ayesha Hazarika, Chris McCausland and Alasdair Beckett-King.

In this episode Andy and the panel discuss Rishi rowing back on net zero, Wales slowing down, HS2 grinding to a halt and Starmer's European sojourn.

Written by Andy Zaltzman

With additional material by
Cody Dahler
Mike Shephard
Rhiannon Shaw
and Miranda Holms

Producer: Gwyn Rhys Davies
Executive Producer: James Robinson
Production Co-ordinator: Dan Marchini
Sound Editor: Giles Aspen

A BBC Studios Production


SAT 12:57 Weather (m001qsx8)
The latest weather forecast


SAT 13:00 News and Weather (m001qsxb)
The latest national and international news and weather reports from BBC Radio 4


SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (m001qmpg)
Baroness Anderson, Robert Colvile, Andrew Mitchell MP, Layla Moran MP

James Cook presents political debate from Beauchamp College in Oadby, Leicestershire with a panel including the Labour peer Baroness Anderson, journalist Robert Colvile, the International Development Minister Andrew Mitchell MP and the Lib Dem Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Layla Moran MP.
Producer: Ed Prendeville
Lead broadcast engineer: Kevan Long


SAT 14:00 Any Answers? (m001qsxd)
Call Any Answers? to have your say on the big issues in the news this week


SAT 14:45 Dementia: Unexpected Stories of the Mind (m001kx6y)
Susan

Neurologist Jules Montague and William Miller continue their journey through the world of rare dementias.

In this episode, they meet Susan and her husband Terry. Susan has posterior cortical atrophy (PCA), a rare neurodegenerative condition that means she can’t see what’s right in front of her, even though her eyesight is normal.

PCA affects the part of the brain responsible for visual processing. Its seemingly bizarre symptoms make this condition particularly prone to misdiagnosis.

Details of organisations offering information and support with dementia are available at the BBC Action Line here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1Y8B7y39T07GnTlMsLPJG2S/information-and-support-dementia

Producer: Eve Streeter
Original music: A Brief Encounter by Max Walter
A Raconteur production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 15:00 Drama on 4 (m001qsxg)
Kaleidoscope 3

By Tina Pepler. Set in February 2023, a new play to mark the BBC Centenary of radio drama which captures the buccaneering spirit of the early years of the wireless.

In 1928, radio pioneer and First World War pilot Lance Sieveking’s Kaleidoscope told the story of ‘the life of a man from the cradle to the grave’. Writing about the experience of using the Dramatic Control Panel/ the sound mixing panel for the first time, he said “I felt exactly as I felt on that cold bright morning when I had been told to take the aeroplane into the air alone for the first time. Exactly.”

A hundred years later, sound designer Iris finds herself following Sieveking’s path in the air, and on the air waves.

Cast:
Iris .…. Scarlett Brookes
Lance Sieveking .…. David Haig
Tom ….. David Kirkbride
David ….. Sam Troughton
Selin ….. Elif Knight
Cassie ….. Lucy Reynolds

Sound design by Alisdair McGregor and Calum Perrin
Production Assistant Annie Keates Thorpe
Directed and produced by Jeremy Mortimer
Executive Producer: Joby Waldman

A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 4.

Tina Pepler has written original plays, dramatisations, and drama-documentaries which have been broadcast on BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 3 and the BBC World Service. Her television work includes Say Hello to the Real Dr Snide, an original play for Channel 4; a two-hour historical drama-documentary, Princes in the Tower (Channel 4); and several episodes of the Victorian/Edwardian investigative drama-documentary series, A Most Mysterious Murder (BBC1), which she co-wrote with Julian Fellowes. She also co-authored an episode of his television series Downton Abbey (ITV). Her first podcast - a four-part drama - appeared on HistoryHit early in 2019. She is a Consultant Fellow of the Royal Literary Fund, and a core tutor on the Oxford University Master of Studies in Creative Writing, and she has a PhD from Bristol University Drama Department. Her thesis, Discovering the Art of Wireless, focused on the personalities who pioneered broadcasting in the 1920s, and on radio drama as the magnet for the most creative talent working in the BBC in its first decade.


SAT 16:00 Woman's Hour (m001qsxk)
Weekend Woman's Hour: Russell Brand accuser 'Alice' broadcast exclusive, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie & Doon Mackichan

Emma Barnett hears from one of the women alleging she was assaulted by Russell Brand. Speaking for the first time since accusations became public, 'Alice', who has accused Russell Brand of sexual assault when she was a teenager, says Brand's emphatic denial of the allegations of rape and sexual abuse against him is "insulting". 'Alice', who had a relationship with Brand when she was 16 and he was 30, says she wants to start a conversation about changing the age of consent.

On her first day back at the Woman's Hour helm after maternity leave, Emma gets some advice and reflection from someone who returned to work after a similar break, the global literary force that is Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Author of bestselling books including Half of a Yellow Sun and Americanah, plus essays and short stories, she has just released her first children’s book, Mama’s Sleeping Scarf.

You’ll no doubt be familiar with the book Frankenstein - but how much do you know about its author Mary Shelley? That’s a question that led director, Lucy Speed, and producer, Deborah Clair, to write, direct and produce their new play that’s about to start touring in the UK. Conception - Mary Shelley: The Making of a Monster tells the story of a journey of self-discovery, as the Frankenstein author returns, years later, to Lake Geneva where she wrote her famous novel. The play is hitting the stage around the 200th anniversary of the first publication of the novel under Mary Shelley’s name - having originally been published anonymously.

Artist and author Fleur Pierets embarked on a performance art project with her wife, Julian, in 2017, aiming to get married in all the countries where same-sex marriage was legal at the time. But their dream was cut short when Julian was diagnosed with late-stage brain cancer in early 2018 and died six weeks later. It’s a story Fleur has put down on paper in her book, Julian, which has just been translated into English and released in the UK.

Since the 1980s, the comedian and actor Doon Mackichan has been a TV regular, starring in programmes like Two Doors Down, Smack the Pony and Brass Eye. She has also played plenty of roles on stage. She dissects how today’s culture still expects women to adhere to stereotypes, some of which she refuses to act out, as described in her memoir, My Lady Parts.

Presenter: Jessica Creighton
Producer: Rabeka Nurmahomed
Editor: Sarah Crawley


SAT 17:00 PM (m001qsxp)
Full coverage of the day's news


SAT 17:30 Political Thinking with Nick Robinson (m001qsxt)
The Ed Davey Party Leader One

The Liberal Democrat leader talks to Nick Robinson about caring for his disabled son, the value of coalitions in politics and why the prime minister's net zero strategy 'hands the future to China'

Producer: Daniel Kraemer


SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m001qsxy)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SAT 17:57 Weather (m001qsy2)
The latest weather forecast


SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m001qsy8)
Rishi Sunak is being urged to reject any further move to scale back the HS2 rail project. And, Ukraine says a missile strike yesterday targeted Russia's navy commanders.


SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (m001qsyj)
Caroline Quentin, Paul Whitehouse, Tom Walker AKA Jonathan Pie, Sam Quek, Roberto Cacciapaglia, Gemma Rogers, Anneka Rice

Clive Anderson and Anneka Rice are joined by Caroline Quentin, Paul Whitehouse, Tom Walker AKA Jonathan Pie and Sam Quek for an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy. With music from Roberto Cacciapaglia and Gemma Rogers.


SAT 19:00 Profile (m001qsyw)
Miriam Margolyes

Miriam Margolyes is at the peak of her career, even though she's been acting on our screens for decades. Her career started in the 1960 but despite playing many roles on stage, TV and film she is more famous now than ever before. She's in demand not only for her acting talents and presenting documentaries, but also as a sofa guest on chat shows. Her potty mouth, refreshing honesty and shocking stories have won her many laughs and new fans. However, her language isn't for everyone and there have been times, particularly in live broadcasting, when it's got her into trouble. Is who we see and hear on screen and radio the real Miriam Margolyes? Mark Coles looks back at her life and career.

Presenter: MR MARK COLES
Producer: Nick Holland
Researcher: Ellie House and Diane Richardson
Production Coordinator: Maria Ogundele
Editor: Richard Vadon


SAT 19:15 This Cultural Life (m001qsz6)
Michael Rosen

Author, poet and performer Michael Rosen is one of Britain’s best loved and most prolific children’s writers, having published hundreds of books over nearly fifty years, including his much-loved We’re Going On Bear Hunt, the story of an exciting family outing, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury. As a broadcaster he is well known to Radio 4 listeners as the host of Word of Mouth. He was appointed as Children’s Laureate in 2007 and was awarded the PEN Pinter Prize in 2023, the citation noting his “ability to address the most serious matters of life in a spirit of joy, humour and hope”.

In conversation with John Wilson, Michael recalls the early influence of his parents, who were both active members of the British Communist Party, and the many books that lined the walls of the Rosen family home. He chooses, as a key cultural inspiration, a reproduction of a 16th century painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder called Netherlandish Proverbs. Depicting ordinary people in various comic situations which represented well-known proverbs of the day, it captured the imagination of young Michael and his friends. He reveals how he started writing his own poetry in response to works by Gerard Manley Hopkins and D H Lawrence whilst at school, and remembers how We’re Going On A Bear Hunt was inspired by various folk tales from around the world. Michael also discusses the impact on his work of the death of his son Eddie at the age of 18 in 1999, and in discovering more about the fate of Jewish family members during the Holocaust.

Producer: Edwina Pitman


SAT 20:00 Archive on 4 (m001qszl)
20 Years of Funny Women

Kerry Godliman presents a look back over 20 Years of the Funny Women Awards, ahead of the grand final of the 2023 competition, which can be heard on Radio 4 on Sunday, 1st October at 7:15pm.

Since its launch in 2003, Funny Women has given a platform to some of the brightest comedy stars. Katherine Ryan, Sarah Millican, Sara Pascoe, Rosie Jones, Bridget Christie, Andi Osho, Jayde Adams, London Hughes, Kerry Godliman and many others all performed in the finals early in their careers.

In 20 Years of Funny Women, Kerry Godliman presents archive performances and new interviews with Funny Women alumni including Diane Morgan, Zoe Lyons, Rachel Parris, Desiree Burch, Sindhu Vee, Jessica Fostekew, Charlie George, Amy Gledhill, Thanyia Moore, Gemma Whelan and all of the 2022 award winners - including the double-winning rising-star Lorna Rose Treen.

And we hear from the Funny Women founder Lynne Parker and the ‘Matron’ of Funny Women, Jo Brand.

20 Years of Funny Women is a celebration of Funny Women and funny women - and a reflection of how the comedy landscape has changed over the last 20 years.

Produced by Laura Grimshaw
A Mighty Bunny production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 21:00 Stone (m000rvkj)
Protection

Sisters

Detective series created by Danny Brocklehurst.
Series 9: Protection. Episode 3 'Sisters' written by Carol Russell.

With Layla still missing and time running out for Charlene the pressure is mounting for DCI Stone and Jax is forced to make a heartbreaking decision.

DCI JOHN STONE.....Hugo Speer
DI MIKE TANNER.....Craig Cheetham
DS SUE KELLY .....Deborah McAndrew
ALICE.....Sydney Wade
JAX BRAITHWAITE .....Doña Croll
LAYLA.....Sade Malone
NESSY / DR ABIOLA.....Danielle Henry
DENNY RASHFORD / ADAM COLLINS.....Hamish Rush
YUSEF.....Eddie Capli

Directed and produced by Nadia Molinari

BBC Audio Drama North


SAT 21:45 Short Works (m001qmll)
Goosegrass by Emma Kane

An original short story commissioned by BBC Radio 4 from Northern Irish writer Emma Kane. Read by Andrea Irvine.

Emma Kane is currently completing an MA in Creative Writing at Queen's University Belfast. Her previously published work can be found in On the Grass When I Arrive: An Anthology, The Bangor Literary Journal, The Cormorant and What Could Be Carried, part of an ekphrasis project for the Ulster Museum. Her story 'Mother’s Daughter' was broadcast on BBC Radio Ulster in 2023 as part of the Storytellers series.

Writer: Emma Kane
Reader: Andrea Irvine
Producer: Michael Shannon
Editor: Andy Martin

A BBC Northern Ireland production


SAT 22:00 News (m001qszz)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 22:15 Screenshot (m001qmnz)
Cats v Dogs

Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode look to the silver screen to finally answer a big question. Cats or dogs - which are best?

In the cat camp, Ellen enlists the help of film critic and author of the definitive book Cats On Film, Anne Billson. They discuss their favourite film felines, from Alien to Catwoman.

Ellen also speaks to director Ceyda Torun and cinematographer Charlie Wuppermann, who are the married couple behind Kedi, an acclaimed documentary looking at street cats in Istanbul from the cats' own perspective.

And in the canine corner, Mark talks to second generation animal trainer and co-ordinator Teresa Ann Miller about her career and unique upbringing surrounded by some of Hollywood's most famous animals. They discuss Teresa's work on 2014 Hungarian drama White God, which included a memorable and moving scene featuring 200 real dogs, as well as what it's like to grow up with Cujo in your backyard.

Mark also speaks to Toby Rose, who is the creator of the Palm Dog - an award given every year to the best dog performance in a film at the Cannes film festival. They discuss why dogs deserve more acclaim and what exactly makes for a Palm Dog-winning performance.

Producer: Jane Long
A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 23:00 Brain of Britain (m001qm5z)
Heat 6, 2023

(6/17)
Brain of Britain comes from Salford for the second time this series, with Russell Davies putting the contenders through their paces on all aspects of general knowledge. At least one of them will be going through to the semi-finals later in the autumn and taking a step closer to being named the 2023 champion. Will they know which presenter launched BBC Radio 5Live, or the common name for the illness pertussis? What about the title of Gustave Flaubert's last novel, or the first Russian Tsar?

Appearing today are
Tracey Lambert from Downpatrick
Brian Leddy from Glasgow
Julia Mayer from Liverpool
Gareth Williams from Moreton-in-Marsh in Gloucestershire.

There'll also be a chance for a listener to win a prize by stumping the contenders with questions he or she has devised.

Assistant Producer: Stephen Garner
Producer: Paul Bajoria


SAT 23:30 Seek the Light (m001qdgg)
Out of the Shadows

Singer, story teller and seven-times Radio 2 Folk Awards winner, Karine Polwart brings together her love of science, history and the natural world.

Karine looks up into the dark for a story of discovery, diversity and the righting of a historical wrong.

When young geologist turned planetary scientist Annie Lennox surveyed the night sky of her Aberdeenshire home, little did she realise that one day she'd be giving names to landmarks on our closest neighbours in the solar system. In 2021, while studying for her PhD, Annie discovered an enormous 50km wide crater near Mercury's southern pole. An area that had never been seen in sunlight until until the Messenger mission of 2015.

The crater's distinctive spectral colour and shape caught her eye. As the first person to see it, Annie has the honour of naming it. An accomplished singer and harpist, Annie named it 'Nairne' after the 17th-century Scottish poet and songwriter Lady Carolina Nairne.

All the craters of Mercury are named after famous artists, Burns and Pushkin are there along with Bach and Boccaccio. And it was this dominance of white men that Annie wanted to challenge. The International Atstonomical Union's naming conventions around new discoveries have proven themselves inherently sexist and exclusionary and Annie felt compelled to do waht she could to rebalance it. In her lifetime, Lady Carolina Nairne was responsible for such staples of Scottish folk singing as 'Charlie is my darlin' and 'Caller Herrin', yet she's largely unknown, publishing much of her work anonymously or under pseudonyms. Now there is a corner of the universe that will forever be a testament to her talents.

Produced by Peter McManus
Written and presented by Karine Polwart
Music by Karine Polwart and Pippa Murphy

Vocals - Karine Polwart
Piano - Dave Milligan

SUNDAY 24 SEPTEMBER 2023

SUN 00:00 Midnight News (m001qt0c)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


SUN 00:15 The Death of Pablo Neruda (m001qm0c)
Fifty years ago in September, the poet Pablo Neruda died. It was days after the coup in Chile, when General Pinochet seized power, and the poet’s funeral turned into a demonstration against the new regime. Diplomat, communist and politician, Neruda became one of the most widely read poets in the Spanish language and won the Nobel Prize in Literature. But his life was controversial, as a communist he had to go into hiding and exile. More recently, his treatment of women in his life and poetry has led to calls for his work to be cancelled. Maria Delgado talks to writers from Chile, including Isabel Allende, Ariel Dorfman and Guillermo Calderón, Neruda’s biographer Adam Feinstein and academic Lieta Vivaldi, as she considers the poet’s legacy and the still unsolved circumstances of his death.

Presenter: Maria Delgado
Producer: Jo Glanville
Editor: Emma Harding
Production Co-ordinators: Alison Crawford, Ali Serle and Asha Osborne-Grinter

Poetry readings: Santiago Cabrera

CREDITS

Poems:
Puedo escribir los versos más tristas, I can write the saddest verses, Veinte poemas de amor y una canción desesperada (1924), Pablo Neruda, translation Mark Eisner
La canción desesperada, The song of despair, Veinte poemas de amor y una canción desesperada (1924), Pablo Neruda, translation WS Merwin
Explico algunas cosa, I explain some things, Tercera residencia (1947) Pablo Neruda, translation Nathaniel Tarn
Alturas de Macchu Picchu, Alturas de Macchu Picchu, Canto general (1950), Pablo Neruda, translation Mark Eisner

With thanks to Rodrigo Dorfman, Milena Grass Kleiner, Vera Zamorano and Valentina Pérez


SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m001qt0s)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m001qt16)
World Service

BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m001qt1k)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SUN 05:30 News Briefing (m001qt1y)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (m001qt2d)
St Edward’s Church in Eggbuckland in Devon

Bells on Sunday comes from St Edward’s Church in Eggbuckland in Devon. Originally a Saxon village, Eggbuckland is now a suburb of Plymouth. St Edward’s church has six bells, all cast in 1882 by the John Taylor Foundry in Loughborough. The tenor weighs ten hundredweight and is tuned to A flat. We hear them ringing Devon style call changes.


SUN 05:45 Profile (m001qsyw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


SUN 06:00 News Summary (m001qsyv)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b00djtq0)
Harvest Festival

Mark Tully talks to Prof Michael Northcott about the broken relationship between food production and consumption. At this harvest-tide, why will so many of us feel only guilt amid the cornucopia of industrial foods in our supermarkets? How can we recover our sense of food as an elemental collaboration between humanity and the Creator?

First broadcast in 2008.

A Unique Broadcasting Company production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 06:35 Natural Histories (b09dxz1j)
Leopard

Brett Westwood stalks the leopard.. and finds him on Exmoor. With Di McRobb who may have seen a leopard while out walking, Guy Balme of Panthera, Gordon Buchanan, who filmed the urban leopards of Mumbai for Planet Earth, zoologist and author of Leopard Desmond Morris, Rick Minter, author of Big Cats - Facing Britain's Wild Predators and Danny Reynolds, Director of Exmoor Zoo.

First broadcast in a longer form on 14th November 2017
Original producer : Beth O'Dea.
Archive producer : Andrew Dawes


SUN 06:57 Weather (m001qszj)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SUN 07:00 News and Papers (m001qszy)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.


SUN 07:10 Sunday (m001qt0b)
Pope in Marseille; Khalistan; Definition of Islamophobia

This weekend Pope Francis made an historic visit to Marseille, France; the first papal visit to the port city since Clement VII in 1533. The purpose of the trip is to show solidarity with the migrants as the French government takes a stricter stance amid rising Mediterranean crossings. Edward Stourton speaks to French Christian Journalist, Sophie Lebrun.

Relations between Canada and India have become strained after the Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau linked the Indian state with the killing of a Sikh separatist leader on Canadian soil. Hardeep Singh Nijjar - a Canadian citizen - is the third prominent Sikh figure to have died unexpectedly in recent months. India strongly denies the allegations and further suspended visa processing for Canadian nationals travelling to India. BBC Monitoring's Nurussanda Garg has the latest on the story and Professor Gurharpal Singh explains the origins of the pro-Khalistan movement.

One in seven local authorities in England have adopted a definition of Islamophobia that was rejected by the Government in 2019. While it’s since been adopted by Labour, the Lib Dems and the Scottish Conservatives, free speech campaigners say it’s confusing and in danger of conflating race and religion. Linsay Taylor from Muslim Engagement and Development and Stephen Evans from the National Secular Society discuss whether the term adequately differentiates between the discrimination of Muslims and the right to be able to criticise a religion.

Presenter: Edward Stourton
Producers: Bara'atu Ibrahim & Jonathan Hallewell
Editors: Tim Pemberton & Dan Tierney.


SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (m001qt0r)
Honeypot Children's Charity

Jaiden, a beneficiary, makes the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of Honeypot Children's Charity.

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

Registered charity number: 1184132 & SC052213


SUN 07:57 Weather (m001qt15)
The latest weather forecast


SUN 08:00 News and Papers (m001qt1j)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the Sunday papers.


SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (m001qt1x)
Both Guest and Host

A service exploring the ministry and mission of the most geographically spread and varied diocese of the Church of England, the Diocese in Europe. From Morocco in the South to the Arctic Circle and from the Canary Islands in the West to Russia and Turkey in the East, the diocese encompasses an astonishing array of cultures and nationalities, united through common faith and in Anglican worship.

Today's service comes from St Edmund's Church, Oslo, and is led by the Revd Canon Joanna Udal, Senior Chaplain to the Anglican Chaplaincy in Norway. It includes reflections from across Europe, including Malaga, Helsinki, Kyiv, Bergen and Brussels.

The music includes hymns recorded especially for this service from Oslo and Helsinki, including Tell out my soul and Brother sister let me serve you.

Producer: Andrew Earis


SUN 08:48 A Point of View (m001qmpr)
The Wink of Dishonour

'Russell Brand winked at me in the street once', begins Howard Jacobson.

He reflects on that chance encounter many years ago and the dishonourable role we all play in the creation of celebrity.

'We watched too much television; we rubbed the lamp and set the extremely egregious genie free; we saw a blank slate and wrote the words ourselves.'

Producer: Adele Armstrong
Sound: Peter Bosher
Production coordinator: Gemma Ashman
Editor: China Collins


SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (b020vp98)
Common Sandpiper

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Common Sandpiper. This bird can look slightly pot-bellied as it bobs nervously on the edge of an upland lake or on a midstream boulder. Get too close though and it will be off - flickering low over the surface on bowed wings.


SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (m001qt2b)
The Sunday morning news magazine programme. Presented by Paddy O'Connell


SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (m001qt2q)
Writer, Sarah McDonald Hughes
Director, Gwenda Hughes
Editor, Jeremy Howe

David Archer ...... Timothy Bentinck
Ruth Archer ..... Felicity Finch
Josh Archer ...... Angus Imrie
Pip Archer ..... Daisy Badger
Jolene Archer ...... Buffy Davis
Natasha Archer ..... Mali Harries
Tom Archer ...... William Troughton
Harrison Burns ..... James Cartwright
Vince Casey ..... Tony Turner
Emma Grundy ..... Emerald O'Hanrahan
George Grundy ..... Angus Stobie
Elizabeth Pargetter ..... Alison Dowling
Freddie Pargetter ..... Toby Laurence
Stella Pryor ..... Lucy Speed
Fallon Rogers ..... Joanna Van Kampen


SUN 11:15 Desert Island Discs (m001qt30)
Lucinda Russell, horse trainer

Lucinda Russell is a Scottish racehorse trainer. Her stables in Kinross have sent out almost 900 winners, including two Grand National champions. She is one of only two Scottish trainers and four women to have celebrated a Grand National win since the event began in 1839, and her yard is the most successful in the history of Scottish jump racing.

Lucinda was born in Edinburgh in 1966. Although she didn’t come from a racing background – her father ran the family’s whisky business – she was obsessed with horses from a very young age. After many years of pleading, she finally got her first pony at the age of 10. A few years later the family moved from Edinburgh to Arlay Farm near Milnathort in Kinross-shire, where she still trains her horses today.

After studying psychology at the University of St Andrews, Lucinda began riding competitively, which she funded by buying and training horses before selling them on. She took out her professional trainer’s licence in 1995 and built up her stables on the family farm.

Lucinda’s first success at the Grand National was in 2017 with One for Arthur, ridden by Derek Fox. She had helped buy the horse for the owners, two self-described ‘golf widows’. She was awarded an OBE for services to horseracing in the Queen’s Birthday Honours the following year. Then in 2023 she won again with Corach Rambler.

Lucinda runs her stables with her partner the former National Hunt jockey Peter Scudamore.

DISC ONE: Some Nights - Fun.
DISC TWO: Forever Young - Alphaville
DISC THREE: Wand'rin' Star - Lee Marvin
DISC FOUR: Piano Man - Billy Joel
DISC FIVE: This Is The Day - The The
DISC SIX: To Win Just Once -The Saw Doctors
DISC SEVEN: Can't Take My Eyes Off You - Andy Williams
DISC EIGHT: Andante, Andante - ABBA

BOOK CHOICE: Equine Sports Medicine and Surgery by Andris J. Kaneps, Kenneth William Hinchcliff, and Raymond J. Geor
LUXURY ITEM: A camper van
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Can't Take My Eyes Off You - Andy Williams

Presenter Lauren Laverne
Producer Katy Hickman


SUN 12:00 News Summary (m001qt78)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SUN 12:04 Paul Sinha's Perfect Pub Quiz (m001qm7t)
Series 2

Episode 3

In each episode of Paul Sinha’s Perfect Pub Quiz, the quizzer, comedian and Rose d’Or winner Paul Sinha invites the audience to tell him their favourite quiz questions, before offering up not just different and surprising questions, but also the fascinating stories behind the answers.

It’s facts, jokes, stories and puns – just the way you like them.

This week's show has a Hampshire flavour, as Paul takes on an audience in Andover. What popular food owes its existence to the people of Southampton? What's the best bridge in Hampshire? And why did Florence Nightingale think it was all over?

Written and performed by Paul Sinha
Additional material: Oliver Levy
Additional questions: The Audience

Original music: Tim Sutton

Sound engineer: David Thomas

Producer: Ed Morrish

A Lead Mojo production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 12:32 The Food Programme (m001qt3g)
Abergavenny at 25

25 years ago two Monmouthshire farmers had a plan. BSE had hit the rural area hard, and they wanted to create a food festival to showcase the area's produce. They set about putting it together in the relatively unknown town of Abergavenny. 25 years on and the event is now one of the UK's best known food festivals that attracts a star-studded line up of chefs and producers, hosting demonstrations and discussions and much more.

Sheila Dillon has been going to the festival for many years, and in this programme finds out why Abergavenny Food Festival has had such success, how it continues to stay relevant, and what impact it has beyond the town.

Presented by Sheila Dillon
Produced in Bristol for BBC Audio by Natalie Donovan


SUN 12:57 Weather (m001qt3q)
The latest weather forecast


SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (m001qt3x)
Radio 4's look at the week's big stories from both home and around the world


SUN 13:30 Bacteria: The Tiny Giants (m001qt41)
Forests, Pharma and Phages

Tim Hayward has been in and around professional kitchens for years, and has long seen bacteria as the enemy, attempting to kill them at every opportunity and in every possible way. In this three-part series, he starts to wonder if things are quite as simple as that and, before long, discovers that these tiny organisms are unlike anything he had ever imagined.

In this second episode, Tim encounters a massive steel tank in which bacteria are manufacturing medicinal molecules, finds out how forest microbes are changing human immune systems at an urban daycare centre in Finland, and comes face-to-face with something altogether astonishing - a microscopic organism that resembles a lunar lander, a bacteriophage (phage).

Contributors:

Alexandra Adams, chemical engineer, Stanford University
Aude Bernheim, microbiologist, Pasteur Institute
Martha Clokie, microbiologist, Centre for Phage Research at the University of Leicester
Paul Turner, microbiologist, Yale University

Presenter: Tim Hayward
Producer and Sound Design: Richard Ward
Executive Producer: Rosamund Jones
A Loftus Media production for Radio 4


SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m001qmlb)
South Somerset

How can I deal with garden thugs? Can you recommend a plant that thrives on getting its leaves picked? How can I mow the edges of my lawn?

The GQT team are back to bring their botanical expertise to an audience of keen gardeners in South Somerset. Ready to offer their horticultural know-how are passionate plants woman Christine Walkden, experienced horticulturist Anne Swithinbank, and grow-your-own guru Bob Flowerdew.

For tips and tricks on extending floral displays, GQT regular Matt Biggs hits the ’flower’ on the head with his masterclass on deadheading.

Producer: Dom Tyerman

Assistant Producer: Dulcie Whadcock

Executive Producer: Hannah Newton

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 14:45 Opening Lines (m001qt45)
If on a Winter's Night a Traveller

John Yorke takes a look at If On A Winter's Night A Traveller, a novel by one of the most translated Italian writers of the 20th century, Italo Calvino. Published in 1979, this dizzying work of metafiction takes you on a journey into the very nature of reading.

The novel begins with you, the Reader, going into a bookshop to buy a copy of If on a Winter's Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino. You start reading, and you're just getting gripped by the story when there seems to be a printer's error. You take the book back to the shop for a replacement, but the replacement seems to be a totally different story.

In fact, every time you try to find the story you started reading, you end up with a completely different one, in a completely different genre - from noirish detective story, to romance, adventure, political intrigue and Gothic horror. The one thing that all these stories have in common is that they end at a cliffhanger moment. It's a literary puzzle, which challenges conventions at every turn, and constantly seeks to engage the reader's imagination.

John Yorke has worked in television and radio for nearly 30 years, and he shares his experience with Radio 4 listeners as he unpacks the themes and impact of the books, plays and stories that are being dramatised on BBC Radio 4. From EastEnders to The Archers, Life on Mars to Shameless, he has been obsessed with telling big popular stories. He has spent years analysing not just how stories work but why they resonate with audiences around the globe, and has brought together his experience in his bestselling book Into the Woods. As former Head of Channel Four Drama, Controller of BBC Drama Production and MD of Company Pictures, John has tested his theories during an extensive production career working on some of the world’s most lucrative, widely viewed and critically acclaimed TV drama. As founder of the hugely successful BBC Writers Academy, John has trained a generation of screenwriters - his students have had 17 green-lights in the last two years alone.

Contributors:
Tim Crouch, Writer and Theatre Maker
Merve Emre, Shapiro Silverberg Professor of Creative Writing and Criticism at Wesleyan University, and contributing writer at The New Yorker Magazine.

Readings: Paul Dodgson
Researcher: Nina Semple
Production Manager: Sarah Wright
Sound: Martyn Harries
Producer: Kate McAll
Executive Producer: Sara Davies
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 15:00 Drama on 4 (m001qt49)
If on a winter’s night a traveller

Relax. Concentrate. Turn that phone off. Dispel every other thought. In fact let the world around you fade. You are about to listen to a radio adaptation of Italo Calvino’s iconic masterpiece If on a winter’s night a traveller….
Enter a labyrinth of ingeniously inventive audio worlds as you, the listener, turn detective in your attempts to get to the heart of the story and so become embroiled in a trans-global conspiracy of rogue translators, lost languages and disintegrating publishing houses. You, yes you, the heroic listener are plunged into an epic caper of disappearance, double crosses and beautiful, authentic romance.

A multitude of characters are brought to life by Toby Jones, Indira Varma and Tim Crouch in BBC Audio Drama North's premiere of Italo Calvino's iconic post modern novel translated by William Weaver, dramatised for radio by Tim Crouch and Toby Jones and directed by Nadia Molinari.

If on a winter's night a traveller has been recorded in front of an audience at BBC Contains Strong Language Festival at Leeds Playhouse as part of BBC's 100 years of Radio Drama Celebrations.


SUN 16:30 Stories in the Air (m001qt4j)
Live from the Contains Strong Language festival in Leeds, today’s rich audio drama scene is celebrated against the backdrop of the 100th anniversary of BBC radio drama. The corporation broadcast a single scene from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar in February 1923, before going on to commission more radio drama than any other organisation. So what makes a great audio drama? What’s unique about it for the writers and actors taking part? And what does the future hold as audio industries and technologies evolve? Actor Matthew Gravelle (Broadchurch), producer Benbrick (Have You Head George’s Podcast?), sound designer Eloise Whitmore, and writers Katie Hims and Michael Symmons Roberts join Front Row’s Nick Ahad to discuss.

Producer: Ruth Thomson


SUN 17:00 The Great Replacement (m001n8kf)
The Great Replacement is an idea fueling far-right recruitment around the world - the idea that white communities and culture are being purposely replaced by non-white migrants.

Many far-right terrorists have referenced this theory as the driving force behind their murderous actions - but where does this idea originate from, and how seriously should we be taking its proliferation here in the UK?

Terrorism expert Raffaello Pantucci explores the roots of the Great Replacement and asks if this is just a far-right conspiracy theory as some critics claim, or is there a kernel of truth reflected in the UK's changing demography?

If so, how are communities - and the government - managing this change? Immigration is often a difficult topic of public debate, with many people concerned that any questioning of immigration policy will label them as racist.

But if we can’t talk more openly, without fear of judgement, are we at risk of handing control of the immigration narrative to extremists?

Reporter: Raffaello Pantucci, Senior Fellow at the Royal United Service Institute, Senior Fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore
Producer: Jim Frank
Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith


SUN 17:40 Profile (m001qsyw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m001qt4q)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SUN 17:57 Weather (m001qt4v)
The latest weather forecast


SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m001qt4z)
Scientists hope the samples will reveal secrets about the origins of the planet and the life on it.


SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (m001qt53)
Peter Curran

In the midst of the Contains Strong Language Festival in Leeds, Peter has managed to hunker down with headphones on your behalf, to listen and then bring you prime Nick Cave, Ingmar Bergman, football transcendence through music, Derek Jarman, the magic of Strangford Lough, Lego hunters, the extraordinary evolution story of a new language…and wouldn’t you know it, poets!

Presenter: Peter Curran
Producer: Elizabeth Foster
Production Co-ordinators: Lydia Depledge-Miller & Julie Downing


SUN 19:00 The Archers (m001qt57)
Jazzer and Neil swap grumbles on their respective partners having their noses buried in Lark Rise To Candleford. Emma tells them not to knock it until they’ve tried it. She announces proudly she’s started her English literature course, and Neil comments it’s nice to see her smiling. Emma’s keen to talk about her mum’s upcoming sixtieth. She reckons they can’t let it pass without a big bash.
Jazzer remarks that Alistair’s fed up with being the Prof’s personal taxi service. Neil suggests they lend Jim back the Riley, but Jazzer says Jim won’t hear of it.
Pip’s not looking forward to telling Toby about Stella – her parents knowing is bad enough. Stella agrees it’ll be weird for a while, but they’ll all get their heads round it. She offers to help Pip tell Toby, but Pip wants to do it herself. When she does so, Toby bombards her with questions and Pip fields them awkwardly. When the penny drops with nonplussed Toby that Stella’s actually there in the cottage, he makes a hasty exit. Stella’s overheard Toby mentioning the night he spent with Pip. Stella thinks it’s a bit weird. She explains she’s been in a similar situation before, and it didn’t work out well. Stella worries Toby will always be the safe space Pip runs to. Later Toby assures Pip he’s pleased for her, and happy her relationship with Stella won’t tread on his role as Rosie’s father. He reckons Pip’s a go getter, and she needs to get Stella. Pip insists the ball’s in Stella’s court.


SUN 19:15 Whatever Happened to Baby Jane Austen? (m0016y5b)
Series 1

Episode 5

Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders star as respected novelist Florence and movie star Selina, in a sparkling comedy series about two sisters at war, by Veep writer David Quantick.

Florence has mixed feelings when Selina tells her she’s moving out as she’s sold the movie rights to her book and is rich again. But disaster strikes as Selina trashes a national treasure on a live TV appearance. And daughter Lucy cancels her round-the-world yacht voyage to confront the sisters with a devastating question…

Cast:
Florence - Dawn French
Selina - Jennifer Saunders
Mrs Ragnarrok – Rebecca Front
Lucy - Lisa McGrillis
All the men - Alistair McGowan

Written by David Quantick
Producer: Liz Anstee

A CPL production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 19:45 Moving Mountains by Jan Carson (m001qt5g)
Episode 1 - The Lord Mayor

In rural Northern Ireland, the locals are horrified to learn that Slemish mountain – traditionally believed to be where Saint Patrick was brought to tend sheep before finding God – has been sold to a Japanese theme park. However on the day Slemish is to be removed and shipped across the world the diggers are beset by protesters, politicians and the Ballymena townsfolk caught in between.

Author
Born in Ballymena, Jan Carson is a writer and community arts facilitator. Her novel ‘The Fire Starters’ was awarded the EU Prize for Literature 2019 and the author was acclaimed as “one of the most exciting and original Northern Irish writers of her generation” by the Sunday Times. Her most recent novel ‘The Raptures’ was shortlisted for the Irish Book Awards Novel of the Year and the Kerry Group Novel of the Year. She has also written ‘Wings’ for BBC Three, ‘UnRaveling’ for BBC Radio 3, ‘The Last Resort’ for BBC Radio 4 and was shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award 2020. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2023. Her new short story collection ‘Quickly, While They Still Have Horses’ will be published in 2024.

Reader: Jo Donnelly
Writer: Jan Carson
Producer: Michael Shannon
Editor: Andy Martin
A BBC Northern Ireland production.


SUN 20:00 More or Less (m001qm89)
Social housing, NHS workforce and Liz Truss debt claims

Housing minister Rachel Maclean claimed the government has built a record number of social rent homes. Tim and the team investigate. Following Lucy Letby’s conviction, we look at how sentences for murder have changed over the past few decades. Plus, after Liz Truss’s speech this week defending her short stint as prime minister, Tim reminds us how her mini-budget raised borrowing costs and might have pushed up the national debt even more if it had been implemented. And will 1 in 11 workers in England really work for the NHS by the middle of the next decade?

Presenter: Tim Harford
Series producer: Jon Bithrey
Producers: Daniel Gordon, Natasha Fernandes, Nathan Gower, Charlotte McDonald
Editor: Richard Vadon
Production Co-ordinator: Maria Ogundele
Sound Engineer: Rod Farquhar


SUN 20:30 Last Word (m001qmlv)
Sir Horace Ové, Su Gorman, Roger Whittaker, Jean Combes

Matthew Bannister on

Sir Horace Ové, the director whose films told stories of the experiences of black people in Britain.

Su Gorman, who campaigned for justice for the victims of the contaminated blood scandal, after her own husband was infected with hepatitis C.

Roger Whittaker, the singer best known for his hits Durham Town and The Last Farewell, and his skill at whistling.

Jean Combes, the naturalist whose meticulous records of the moment when trees came into leaf in the spring cast light on the effects of climate change.

Interviewee: Zak Ové
Interviewee: Jan Smith
Interviewee: Caroline Wheeler
Interviewee: Siobhan Grogan
Interviewee: Sue Stout
Interviewee: Professor Tim Sparks

Producer: Gareth Nelson-Davies

Archive used:

Horace Ové interview Galeforce Television, YouTube uploaded 04/10/2010; Horace Ové interview, Caribbean Links, BBC Radio 4, 03/02/1984; Reggae, Review, BBC Two, 26/03/1971; Horace Ové interview, Newsnight, BBC Two, 02/02/1982; Pressure: Discussion Panel, The Derek Jarman Lab, uploaded 21/05/2021; Play for Today: A Hole in Babylon, BBC One, 29/11/1979; Contaminated Blood Inquiry, Today, Radio 4, 24/09/2018; Contaminated Blood Scandal, BBC News, 17/08/2022; Roger Whittaker interview, BBC Radio 2, 01/01/2000.


SUN 21:00 Money Box (m001qsx6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:04 on Saturday]


SUN 21:25 Radio 4 Appeal (m001qt0r)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:54 today]


SUN 21:30 Loose Ends (m001qsyj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:15 on Saturday]


SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (m001qt5s)
Nick Eardley's guests are the Conservative MP Steve Brine, Labour's Siobhain McDonagh and the Lib Dem deputy leader, Daisy Cooper. They discuss the future of HS2 and answer the question: what's the point of the party conferences? Caroline Wheeler - political editor of the Sunday Times - brings additional insight and analysis.


SUN 23:00 Moral Maze (m001qmhb)
Adults, Children and Power

Labour has confirmed that it plans to allow 16 and 17 year-olds to vote in elections, in line with Scotland and Wales. The idea, they say, is to empower younger people by engaging them in the democratic process. Some older members of the electorate might raise the question of whether people under 18 have the maturity to vote. It would be no surprise to hear that argument, we were all children once and we know that adults think they’re superior.

It’s nearly fifty years since the concept of “childism” was first coined by psychiatrists, to describe the automatic assumption of superiority of any adult over any child. Now, perhaps, childism is the last permissible prejudice. Discrimination that would seem shocking if applied to any other group is exercised against children and regarded as quite appropriate. Children’s freedom is constantly restricted and their views are generally dismissed. They’re told what to do, what to eat, what to wear, even what to say. Is this just responsible parenting or does it verge on oppression?

Children’s minds aren’t fully developed, and they’re less well equipped to make smart decisions. They also need limits and it’s surely the job of adults to impose them, but where should the line be drawn? We should keep children safe, of course, but after that… is it better to be strict or to allow them maximum autonomy? What’s the moral basis on which we make that judgement?

Attitudes have changed over the decades. We’ve moved on from the axiom that “children should be seen and not heard.” A survey out last week suggested that parents in Britain place less importance on instilling obedience in children than parents in most other countries. But maybe a little obedience would be no bad thing?

What’s the moral case for exercising power over children and young people?

Presenter: Michael Buerk
Producer: Jonathan Hallewell
Editor: Tim Pemberton

MONDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2023

MON 00:00 Midnight News (m001qt61)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


MON 00:15 Thinking Allowed (m001qmfy)
Guns

Guns: Laurie Taylor talks to Jennifer Carlson, Professor of Sociology at Arizona State University and author of an in depth study of gun sellers in the US. In 2020 they were on the front line of an unprecedented surge in gun purchasing against a backdrop of pandemic insecurities and political polarisation. Interviewing 50 sellers from four states, 84% of whom were on the right of the political spectrum, she found they were not simply selling guns, but also a conservative vision. How then did they react to a new wave of gun buyers which included women and sexual minorities, some of whom were liberal? Did this vindicate or challenge their gun centric world view? And what are the possibilities for a positive transformation in America's harmful gun culture when only one third of the population are opposed to the personal ownership of hand guns? They're joined by Andrew Nahum, historian & Keeper Emeritus at The Science Museum whose latest work considers the impact of the gun on progress, both intellectual and industrial, from the Enlightenment to the American West, the Cold War and contemporary gun culture. How did so many rifles come to be held in private hands and what does the ongoing preoccupation with the creation of ever more effective firearms tell us about human creativity?

Producer: Jayne Egerton


MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (m001qt2d)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:43 on Sunday]


MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m001qt6b)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m001qt6m)
World Service

BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m001qt70)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


MON 05:30 News Briefing (m001qt7j)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m001qt7w)
Spiritual reflection to start the day with Fiona Stewart, a writer who runs a Christian arts charity.


MON 05:45 Farming Today (m001qt87)
25/09/23 Services for young people in rural areas; Lib Dems and farming; Nature writing

Young people in rural areas are missing out on "critical" services due to a "postcode lottery", charities have warned. Many youth clubs have started up again for the year, but BBC analysis shows that £70 million in grants for youth clubs was awarded in August and most of it went to venues around big cities. Experts told us children in villages and small towns are ‘the forgotten youths’ and a lack of ‘vital’ youth work could seriously impact their chances in life.

It's party conference season and with by-election campaigns ongoing and speculation about the date of a general election we can expect the parties to outline their offer to voters. Over the next few weeks we'll hear from the rural affairs spokespeople from the main four parties, Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat and the Scottish National Party. Today as the Lib Dem conference takes place in Bournemouth, we speak to their rural affairs spokesman is Tim Farron, a former leader of the party and a Cumbrian MP.

Sales of books about nature have been steadily rising over the past few years. We're said to be living in a golden age for nature writing. Is that true and what, if any, difference does writing about nature make to our attitudes towards it? All week we'll be talking to nature writers. We begin by talking to a specialist book shop owner who's one of the judges for the Wainwright Prize which awards annual prizes for both nature and conservation writing and for nature writing for children.

Presenter = Charlotte Smith
Producer = Rebecca Rooney


MON 05:56 Weather (m001qt8p)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.


MON 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b08r2n4c)
Peter Cranswick on the Common Scoter

Peter Cranswick of the Slimbridge Wetland Centre on the amazing common scoter.

Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong.

Producer Miles Warde.


MON 06:00 Today (m001qt6h)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


MON 09:00 Start the Week (m001qt6s)
Contains Strong Language Festival in Leeds

In front of an audience at the Contains Strong Language Festival in Leeds the poets, Lemn Sissay and Lebogang Mashile, and the curator Clare O’Dowd explore the transformative power of language, and the quest to break down barriers.

Each morning the award-winning writer Lemn Sissay composes a short poem as dawn breaks, to banish his own dark thoughts and look forward to the day. The result is his new collection, Let the Light Pour In. Transformation is also at the heart of his retelling of Kafka’s Metamorphosis for the stage, in a touring production by A Frantic Assembly.

The poet, performer and activist Lebogang Mashile explains how poetry has always carried political power in her native South Africa. Exiled as a child to the US she returned to Johannesburg after the end of apartheid. Her poetry highlights her sense of being an outsider and how verse is a vehicle in the fight for change.

Divisions between the arts are broken down in the exhibition – The Weight of Words – at the Henry Moore Institute, Leeds (until 26th November). The co-curator Clare O’Dowd tells Tom Sutcliffe how the group exhibition explores what happens when poetry and sculpture intermingle and collide.

Producer: Katy Hickman


MON 09:45 Great-Uncle Harry: A Tale of War and Empire by Michael Palin (m001qth8)
Episode 1

From the time, many years ago, when Michael Palin first heard that his grandfather had a brother, Harry, who was killed in the First World War, he was determined to find out more about him.

The quest that followed involved hundreds of hours of painstaking detective work. Michael dug out every bit of family gossip and correspondence he could. He studied every relevant official document. He made use of his great-uncle Harry’s diaries, letters and postcards, and pored over photographs of First World War battle scenes to see whether Harry appeared in any of them. He walked the route Harry took on that fatal, final day of his life amid the mud of northern France. And as he did so, a life that had previously existed in the shadows was revealed to him.

A blend of biography, history, travelogue and personal memoir, Great-Uncle Harry is a compelling account of an ordinary man who led an extraordinary life.

Michael Palin has written and starred in numerous TV programmes and films, from Monty Python and Ripping Yarns to The Missionary and The Death of Stalin. His much-acclaimed travel documentaries have taken him to the North and South Poles, the Sahara Desert, the Himalayas, Eastern Europe and Brazil. His books include accounts of his journeys, novels (Hemingway’s Chair and The Truth), and several volumes of diaries. From 2009 to 2012 he was president of the Royal Geographical Society. He received a BAFTA fellowship in 2013, and a knighthood in 2019.

In today’s episode, Michael Palin explains how he first got to hear about his great-uncle, and goes on to describe his early life as the seventh child of a well-to-do Herefordshire vicar.

Abridged by Libby Spurrier
Producer: David Blount
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4


MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (m001qt7q)
Tina Sinatra, Meg Winterburn and Willow Grylls on a new TV drama about the serial killer Peter Sutcliffe, Dame Christine Lenehan

Claiming to tell unknown stories about the iconic singer, alongside songs some of his much-loved songs, this world premiere musical hopes to reflect his enduring legacy. His youngest daughter Tina, one of the producers, and the director and choreographer of the show, Kathleen Marshall join Emma Barnett.

We discuss the possible decision to cancel another part of the high speed rail link - HS2 - and the impact it could have on women with Dr Mary-Ann Stephenson, co-director of the Women's Budget Group, a Feminist Economic Think Tank and Zoe Billingham, Director of the IPPR North - based in Manchester.

Between 1975 and 1980, Peter Sutcliffe murdered 13 women and attempted to murder at least seven more across the North of England.  A new ITV drama series, The Long Shadow, portrays the women who were killed, and their families, as well as the hardworking but flawed and misogynist police investigation.  Joining Emma are Willow Grylls, executive producer of the show and Meg Winterburn, who worked on the investigation as a police sergeant.

Exclusive research shared with Woman’s Hour claims that £60m is ‘wasted’ in England every year on Tribunals for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. Local authorities ‘fight’ thousands of parents of disabled children about what support the child gets and where they go to school  – but 'lose' 96% of those cases. This comes on the day that one of the country’s leading experts delivers a valedictory lecture after a 40 year career advocating for disabled children. Dame Christine Lenehan, Director of the Council of Disabled Children, part of the National Children’s Bureau,

Presenter: Emma Barnett
Producer: Lisa Jenkinson
Studio Manager: Duncan Hannant


MON 11:00 The Gift (m001qt82)
3. Mistakes

It's the go-to Christmas present for the person who already has everything. A gift that promises to tell you who you really are and how you're connected to the world.
Millions of us have spat into a tube and sent a vial of our DNA to a company like Ancestry and 23andMe. Their tests promise to unlock the truth of our heritage - perhaps even a future foretold in our genes.

Across six episodes, Jenny Kleeman meets the men and women whose lives changed forever after they opened a box that contained a DNA test. Exposing scandals, upending identities, solving mysteries and delivering life-changing news - Jenny investigates what happens when genealogy, technology and identity collide.

Episode 3: Mistakes

The family that must turn detective to find the couple who had IVF at the same time as them.

Presenter: Jenny Kleeman
Producer: Conor Garrett
Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke
Executive Producer: Philip Sellars
Production Co-ordinator: Gill Huggett


MON 11:30 Analysis (m001p1mb)
How far should reparative justice go?

Amid mounting claims for reparations for slavery and colonialism, historian Zoe Strimpel asks how far reparative justice should go.

Should we limit reparations to the living survivors of state atrocities, such as the Holocaust, or should we re-write the rulebook to include the ancestors of victims who suffered historical injustices centuries ago?

Alongside testimony from a Holocaust survivor and interviews with lawyers, historians and reparations advocates, Zoe hears about the long shadow cast by slavery - lumbering Caribbean states and societies with a legacy that they are still struggling with today.

Are demands for slavery reparations just another front in the culture war designed to leverage white guilt? Will they inevitably validate countless other claims to rectify historical grievances? Or are they a necessary step for diverse societies to draw in the extremes of a polarised debate so we can write a common history that we can all live with?

Presenter: Zoe Strimpel
Producer: David Reid
Editor: Clare Fordham

Contributors
Mala Tribich, Holocaust survivor.
Michael Newman, Chief Executive, Association of Jewish Refugees.
Albrecht Ritschtl, Professor of Economic History, London School of Economics
Dr. Opal Palmer Adisa, former director, University of West Indies.
Kenneth Feinberg, Master of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund.
Tomiwa Owolade, journalist and author of "This is not America".
Alex Renton, journalist, author and co-founder of Heirs of Slavery.
Dr Hardeep Dhillon, historian, University of Pennsylvania.
James Koranyi, Associate Professor of modern European History at the University of Durham.


MON 12:00 News Summary (m001qtn5)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


MON 12:04 You and Yours (m001qt8y)
Probate Delays, Bus Regulation and Fresh Food Deserts

It is taking twice as long to get a grant of probate in England and Wales compared to last year. Why is that?

The cost of energy has fallen a little but other charges added to bills have gone up. On top of that the payment from the government that everyone got to cushion rising prices has gone. Help is being targetted this winter on the poorest households. We ask Ofgem what the help will look like.

The Food, Farming and Countryside Commission surveyed two thousand people about their food buying habits and spoke with dozens of families, mainly on low and middle incomes, hoping the findings will help the government plan its food policy. We'll look at what the findings really mean.

There's a big lobby against this link between gambling and sport, part of the objection is that children are among the fans. Premier League football clubs have agreed to take gambling sponsor logos off the front of matchday shirts from 2025. A new study is questioning how effective that will be.

You could probably guess that if you return a hire car late you might get charged a bit more, but how about being charged more for taking a hire car back early?

and Greater Manchester is taking back control of its buses for the first time since they were de-regulated outside London in 1986. It's not risk free, but Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham thinks it'll help power the regions economy.

PRODUCER: KEVIN MOUSLEY

PRESENTER: WINIFRED ROBINSON


MON 12:57 Weather (m001qt98)
The latest weather forecast


MON 13:00 World at One (m001qt9l)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment.


MON 13:45 Uncharted with Hannah Fry (m001qw4s)
1. The Returning Soldier

It’s 1973 and the UK is in crisis: runaway inflation, industrial strike action and political turmoil. Unnoticed at the time - in hospitals and front rooms around the country - something odd is happening with the country’s newborns. A higher proportion of boys are being born than ever before in the 20th Century. What was behind this puzzling trend?

Hannah Fry follows one researcher’s obsessive mission to unravel the mystery.

Presenter: Hannah Fry
Executive Producer: Martin Smith
Series Producer: Lauren Armstrong-Carter
Episode Producer: Ilan Goodman

A series for Radio 4 by BBC Science in Cardiff.


MON 14:00 The Archers (m001qt57)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Sunday]


MON 14:15 This Cultural Life (m001qsz6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:15 on Saturday]


MON 15:00 Brain of Britain (m001qtb1)
Heat 7, 2023

(7/17)
The general knowledge quiz comes from Salford this week with four more contenders starting their bid to become the 70th BBC Brain of Britain. Russell Davies's questions range from Tudor history to hi-hip and from football to philosophy - with a guaranteed place in the semi-finals awaiting today's winner.

Appearing in today's heat are
Julie Byres from Aberdeen
Jude Cole from Sheffield
John Robinson from Birmingham
Haydn Thompson from the Peak District.

There'll also be a chance for a Brain of Britain listener to win a prize by stumping the contenders with questions he or she has devised, in 'Beat the Brains'.

Assistant Producer: Stephen Garner
Producer: Paul Bajoria


MON 15:30 The Food Programme (m001qt3g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:32 on Sunday]


MON 16:00 History's Secret Heroes (p0fqnk5m)
6. The Mystery of Garbo

His codename was Garbo. The identity of one of World War Two’s most successful double agents, a man who diverted the German Army away from the D-Day landings, is finally revealed.

Helena Bonham Carter shines a light on extraordinary stories from World War Two. Join her for incredible tales of deception, acts of resistance and courage.

A BBC Studios Podcast production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds.

Producer: Clem Hitchcock
Executive Producer: Paul Smith
Written by Alex von Tunzelmann


MON 16:30 Beyond Belief (m001qtbw)
Witches, Druids and Pagans

The number of Pagans in the UK is on the rise. The 2021 Census saw 75,000 define themselves as Pagan, 13,000 as Wicca and there was also a huge increase in those defining as Shaman, up to 8000.

Aleem Maqbool speaks with modern day witch, Richard about his spirituality and the impact it has on his life sparking a discussion on Wicca, Paganism and Druidry the relationship between these spiritualities and other faiths.

Producer: Katharine Longworth
Editor: Tim Pemberton


MON 17:00 PM (m001qtcb)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines


MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m001qtd7)
He faces accusations of sexual assaults and rape between 2006 and 2013 which he denies


MON 18:30 Paul Sinha's Perfect Pub Quiz (m001qtds)
Series 2

Episode 4

In each episode of Paul Sinha’s Perfect Pub Quiz, the quizzer, comedian and Rose d’Or winner Paul Sinha invites the audience to tell him their favourite quiz questions, before offering up not just different and surprising questions, but also the fascinating stories behind the answers.

It’s facts, jokes, stories and puns – just the way you like them.

This week's show comes from Ipswich, so of course there's a question or two about Escape To Victory, clams, and Australian Open winners, as well as a range of Ipswich's literary heroes.

Written and performed by Paul Sinha
Additional material: Oliver Levy
Additional questions: The Audience

Original music: Tim Sutton

Sound engineer: David Thomas

Producer: Ed Morrish

A Lead Mojo production for BBC Radio 4.


MON 19:00 The Archers (m001qt9q)
Josh, Paul and Lily debate the dilemma of double-booking entertainment for the harvest supper. Josh is all for cancelling Jim and Kiki and keeping his preference of the Straw Crows. He can’t believe his dad interfered and didn’t trust him to book someone. Lily thinks it would be rude to cancel Jim, and Paul agrees. Josh rejects their suggestion of keeping both bookings – you can’t follow the brilliant Straw Crows with two retirees on a piano. Later Josh wonders whether Lily or Paul might tell Jim he’s not needed. Lily insists he should do it. Josh says he will, when he has time.
Will calls at Rickyard with some clothes for Rosie. As Pip sees him out, Stella arrives. She apologises for her reaction yesterday – it’s really none of her business. Pip feels awful that the situation reminded Stella of her ex. Stella acknowledges it’s a lot to take on a child and Toby too. Pip agrees – and she’ll only bring Rosie on board with a relationship if she knows it’s going somewhere. Stella hesitates.
Eddie spots that Clarrie’s frenetic baking for Will’s move isn’t just about providing for his family. She’s worried about him and how he’ll cope. Eddie points out it’s been four years since Will’s breakdown. As Eddie’s giving Clarrie a reassuring cuddle they’re interrupted by Will, who susses the situation. He confirms he’s grateful for all their help, but he’s ready for this move. Eddie and Clarrie agree that Will’s going to be alright.


MON 19:15 Front Row (m001qtf9)
Philip Barantini on Boiling Point, The Archers cast on Lark Rise to Ambridge

As the cast of the Archers star in a new adaptation of Flora Thompson's Lark Rise to Candleford, Samira is joined by actors Louiza Patikas, who plays Helen in the Archers, and Susie Riddell, who plays Tracy, to discuss the two-part Radio 4 drama, now called Lark Rise to Ambridge.

Actor and chef turned director Philip Barantini joins Samira to discuss making the sequel for BBC television to his BAFTA-nominated, one-take film, Boiling Point, set in the febrile atmosphere of a high-end restaurant kitchen.

An ambitious series of spaces at the National Gallery of Scotland opens this week to display Scottish art created in the last 150 years. BBC Scotland’s arts correspondent Pauline McLean visits the new galleries and explains what the building and the works tell us about Scottish identity and how Scottish artists have been representing their country and people.

The Writers Guild of America has reached a tentative deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents studios, streaming services and producers, to end the strike by writers over pay and AI. The strike has had an impact on film and television production here and Lisa Holdsworth, Chair of the Writers Guild of Great Britain, explains the significance of the settlement for the UK.

Presenter: Samira Ahmed
Producer: Olivia Skinner


MON 20:00 In the Jaws of Cerberus (m001qtd0)
This summer’s heatwave in Southern Europe was viewed from a distance in Britain with sympathy and occasional shock when wild fires
ripped through familiar holiday destinations. However, for people working on the land in Spain, Italy and Greece, the three heads of the Cerberus
heatwave, it’s been a brutal slog. Chris Stewart has been keeping sheep on his smallholding in Southern Spain for thirty years, knowing, but never quite believing that things were going to get increasingly hard according to the forecasters. After this year’s summer with the spring that supplies his home from aquifers deep in the Sierra Nevada mountains running dangerously low, the dire warnings seem very present.
Annalisa Piras is a writer, journalist and also smallholder who farms Lavender. There was a very real danger, as the heatwave took hold, that her entire crop
would either wither in the heat, or be consumed by fire. The only solution was to bring it in a month early, with all the losses and risks to quality that entailed.
And there’s a similar story for the Vineyard owner Edward Maitland-Makgill-Crighton and his wife Eileen Botsford Velissaropoulos. Eileen is a native of the Island of Syros where she met Edward whose family have had a holiday home there for forty years. They launched Ousyra wines five years ago and while their concentration on indigenous grape varieties has been a success, this year's heat forced grape harvesting forward by a month.
In this programme we hear about their summer, how it has affected the way they think about the land, their land, and what the future might hold. None of them
want to appear as pleaders for special treatment or deserving of undue sympathy. They simply want to explain what it has been like to work through a heatwave that shows every sign of becoming a regular occurrence.”

Producer Tom Alban


MON 20:30 Crossing Continents (m001qmlj)
How a war has changed a Norwegian town

Kirkenes, in the far north-east of Norway, once thrived on its close ties with neighbouring Russia. All that changed after the invasion of Ukraine. Now it’s become home to Ukrainian refugees and a safe haven for some Russian journalists escaping President Putin’s media clampdown.
For decades this area popularised the phrase “High North, Low Tension.” Close economic and cultural ties developed with brisk cross-border trade. Hundreds of Russians settled in the town. But now new cross-border restrictions have been imposed and co-operation has ended. The local economy has taken a significant hit and cross-border cultural groups no longer meet. However, despite this being a NATO member, the Norwegian government is keeping the border open. Russian fishing vessels still unload their catch in Kirkenes but are no longer allowed to undergo repairs. The Norwegians have stepped up checks on these Russian boats amid concern of a rise in Russian spying and potential sabotage.
For Crossing Continents John Murphy travels to Norway’s Arctic to see how war has changed the town and to ask what’s next for this unique community.

Producer: Alex Last
Sound mix: Graham Puddifoot
Production coordinator: Gemma Ashman
Series editor: Penny Murphy


MON 21:00 The Archbishop Interviews (m001nfzm)
Gabriel Byrne

In this series, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has conversations with public figures about their inner lives. What do they believe? How does that shape their values and actions?

This week's guest is the actor, director and screenwriter, Gabriel Byrne.

Producer: Dan Tierney.


MON 21:30 Start the Week (m001qt6s)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


MON 22:00 The World Tonight (m001qtg0)
Thousands flee Nagorno Karabakh over ethnic cleansing fears

Sweden's climate minister on cutting the country's carbon budget and reducing petrol taxes

The UK's podcast habits - who and what are we listening to?


MON 22:45 The Secret Hours by Mick Herron (m001qtgg)
Episode 6

In her testimony to the Monochrome Inquiry, Alison North recalls her first posting to the Berlin Station House in 1994. The rookie agent is under secret orders to investigate old hand Brinsley Miles.

Mick Herron’s new standalone thriller is read by Nina Sosanya.

Abridged by Eileen Horne
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie

Mick Herron is the bestselling author of the Slough House thrillers and Zoe Boehm series, and winner of the CWA Gold Dagger. His books featuring Jackson Lamb have been adapted for TV as the ‘Slow Horses’ series starring Gary Oldman and Kristin Scott Thomas.


MON 23:00 Sound Towns (m001lytv)
East Neuk of Fife

Great music is born from a collision of societal and political change. This series explores the origin stories of some of the UK's most vital musical movements.

In this episode, we visit Fife's East Neuk, for a sound rooted in tradition and landscape.

The East Neuk of Fife is the most unlikely place for a musical revolution. It's a string of picturesque fishing villages set between the sea and rolling fields. St Andrews is well known, but the other towns and villages are far quieter, particularly in winter. The big-city energy of Edinburgh feels far away.

According to acclaimed singer-songwriter James Yorkston, the East Neuk's proximity to the sea and lack of gig venues provided musicians in the early and mid-1990s with the space and motivation to create their own voice, even if only to break the peace and quiet.

And it was in this environment of empty houses and cheap rents that a small community of gifted musicians gathered. Echoing the new folk revolution of the 1960s, the place created the sound. The sound in this case included the psychedelic troubadours The Beta Band, multi-million-selling KT Tunstall, the aforementioned James Yorkston and the reigning monarch and lynchpin of the Fence Collective, King Creosote.

Producer: Victoria McArthur
Narrated by: Nicola Meighan
Researcher: Juliet Conway
Sound mix: Lee McPhail


MON 23:30 Three Faces of WH Auden (m001qdmc)
Episode 1

It starts with that face - a wedding cake left out in the rain, as he himself described it. WH Auden was undoubtedly one of the greatest and most recognisable poets of the Twentieth Century, and one of the things that made him stand out was the strength of his work across different subjects. Most poets would be thrilled to be remembered for their love poetry, their metaphysical poetry, or their political poetry - Auden was an exceptional exponent of all three.

In this new three-part series marking 50 years since Auden’s death, Michael Symmons Roberts sets out to consider those three different aspects of Auden’s massive body of work, beginning with a look at the political poet who in his early years was perhaps the leading voice of the British cultural left.

As a young man in the 1930s Auden wrote powerful works such as ‘Spain’ that served as an ideological call to arms. Going on to witness the reality of battle in both Spain and China, he distanced himself from such poems and from the very idea that verse could make any practical political difference at all - “for poetry makes nothing happen” as he wrote in his elegy to W.B. Yeats.

Michael travels to Austria, where Auden spent his summers for the last fifteen years of his life and hears how the older poet remained politically active through helping writers in the Communist bloc in spite of this aversion to directly engaged verse. He also looks at those great poems of Auden’s later career, including ‘The Fall of Rome’, that offer a more mythological reading of political events than the works of the 1930s that made him such a dominant figure in the cultural landscape.

Contributors include Alan Bennett, Katherine Bucknell, Carl Phillips, Zaffar Kunial, Timo Frühwirth, Sandra Mayer.

Producer: Geoff Bird

Poems referenced in this episode include:

As I Walked Out One Evening
Spain
September 1st 1939
The Shield Of Achilles
The Fall Of Rome
Night Mail
Funeral Blues

All published by Faber & Faber

TUESDAY 26 SEPTEMBER 2023

TUE 00:00 Midnight News (m001qtgx)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


TUE 00:30 Great-Uncle Harry: A Tale of War and Empire by Michael Palin (m001qth8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Monday]


TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m001qthl)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m001qthz)
World Service

BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m001qtjd)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


TUE 05:30 News Briefing (m001qtjr)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m001qtk3)
Spiritual reflection to start the day with Fiona Stewart, a writer who runs a Christian arts charity.


TUE 05:45 Farming Today (m001qtkh)
26/09/23 Dairy haulier in administration; Biodiversity audit of coastline; Nature writing

How have farmers and tanker drivers been affected by the collapse of a haulage company which collects fresh milk from farmers? We speak to a dairy analyst.

The north Norfolk coast and its wildlife has been the subject of one of the country's largest and most detailed biodiversity audits. The North Norfolk Coastal Group of landowners and local authorities worked with scientists at the University of East Anglia to monitor all life, from algae to eagles and produce a plan and work with farmers to protect and increase the area's special habitats.

All this week we're talking about nature writing, and author Richard Mabey could be seen as a pioneer in the genre, with books stretching back over 50 years.

Presenter = Anna Hill
Producer = Rebecca Rooney


TUE 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b04dvrcj)
Australian Magpie

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

Sir David Attenborough presents the Australian magpie. These large pibald birds with pickaxe bills reminded early settlers of the more familiar European magpie, but in fact they are not crows at all. Australian magpies have melodious voices which can range over four octaves in a chorus of squeaks, yodels and whistles. Pairs or larger groups of magpies take part in a behaviour known as carolling, a harmony of rich fluting calls which marks their territories and helps to cement relationships between the birds.

Producer : Andrew Dawes


TUE 06:00 Today (m001qt5y)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


TUE 09:00 The Long View (m001qt64)
Plutocrats Playing Politics

Elon Musk made his money leading and shaping the latest advances in society but now he’s dabbling in politics on the global stage – unelected and unaccountable but with the power to hold one-to-one meetings with world leaders as he did just last week with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who flew to California to meet the tech billionaire in person.

Two commercial figures in history also took on the roles of unofficial diplomats and international influencers - Henry Ford, a car maker like Elon Musk, and a man who used his pioneering industrial might for political ends; and Robert Clive, the C18th imperialist and privateer whose actions under the guise of the East India Company brought him influence locally and internationally on the back of the new opportunities of empire.

Historians:
Adam Smith, Professor of US Politics and Political History at University of Oxford
Chandrika Kaul, Professor of Modern History at University of St Andrews

Reader:
John Lightbody

Producer:
Mohini Patel


TUE 09:30 How to Win a Campaign (m001qt6f)
Episode 1: Building a Strategy

Former Downing Street strategist, adviser to Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings and Vote Leave insider Cleo Watson examines the building blocks and dark art of political campaigning.

We've had many electoral tests in the UK in the last decade or so – general elections in 2015, 2017 and 2019, and the 2016 EU referendum – and the results of nearly all of them have raised eyebrows. Why? Is it just the policies or the parties, or have some of these campaigns had some secret alchemy or luck that made them succeed or fail against expert opinion and the betting markets?

In this series, Cleo Watson sits down with some of the brains behind the biggest campaigns in recent history and tries to piece together where it went right – and wrong – for the teams and parties involved.

Along the way she asks key questions about the role of traditional and social media, the importance of authenticity and charisma in our politicians, and what lessons we can learn ahead of 2024.

What do polling and focus groups really tell us, and what do we mean by strategy, messaging and fieldwork? How are the ‘ground campaign’ and the ‘air campaign’ orchestrated? How are really effective slogans crafted and tested, how do you ace a TV debate, and what is campaigning’s digital future?

How are cutting-edge developments in data science changing the game, and how concerned should we be about these new methods of persuasion? Or do old-fashioned posters, leaflets, rosettes, door-knocking, manifestoes, party political broadcasts and speeches also still shift the dial?

And if you are thoroughly cynical about mainstream elections, what can you do as a citizen to persuade our elected representatives to prioritise the issues you care about the most? Cleo discovers what makes a successful campaign with those who have achieved recent notable successes in public health, gender equality and climate change.

Contributors:

Pippa Crerar, political editor of the Guardian
Dominic Cummings, director of the Vote Leave campaign and former Chief Adviser to Prime Minister Boris Johnson
Julie Etchingham, ITV election debates host
Ayesha Hazarika, former adviser to the Labour party during the 2010 and 2015 elections, and political commentator
Fiona Hill, former Chief of Staff to Prime Minister Theresa May
James Johnson, pollster and Senior Opinion Research and Strategy Adviser to Prime Minister Theresa May, and now director of research company J.L. Partners
Gina Martin who led the campaign to make upskirting illegal in 2019
Charles Ogilvie, former Director of Strategy for Cop26
Craig Oliver, news editor, producer and media executive, and former Director of Politics and Communications for Prime Minister David Cameron
Stephen Parkinson, National Organiser of the ground operation for the Vote Leave campaign
Sarah Sands, former editor of The Sunday Telegraph and The Evening Standard and BBC Radio 4’s Today
James Schneider, co-founder of Momentum and senior adviser to Jeremy Corbyn
Joe Slater, polling strategist at Stack data agency
Paul Stephenson, former Director of Communications of the Vote Leave campaign
Dolly Theis, epidemiology researcher at Cambridge University and public health campaigner
Lucy Thomas, former deputy director of the Britain Stronger in Europe (Remain) campaign
Chris Ward, former political adviser to Sir Keir Starmer

Producer: Eliane Glaser
Executive Producers: Jon Holmes and Richard Danbury
Sound Design: Tony Churnside
An unusual production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 09:45 Great-Uncle Harry: A Tale of War and Empire by Michael Palin (m001qt6q)
Episode 2

From the time, many years ago, when Michael Palin first heard that his grandfather had a brother, Harry, who was killed in the First World War, he was determined to find out more about him.

The quest that followed involved hundreds of hours of painstaking detective work. Michael dug out every bit of family gossip and correspondence he could. He studied every relevant official document. He made use of his great-uncle Harry’s diaries, letters and postcards, and pored over photographs of First World War battle scenes to see whether Harry appeared in any of them. He walked the route Harry took on that fatal, final day of his life amid the mud of northern France. And as he did so, a life that had previously existed in the shadows was revealed to him.

A blend of biography, history, travelogue and personal memoir, Great-Uncle Harry is a compelling account of an ordinary man who led an extraordinary life.

Michael Palin has written and starred in numerous TV programmes and films, from Monty Python and Ripping Yarns to The Missionary and The Death of Stalin. His much-acclaimed travel documentaries have taken him to the North and South Poles, the Sahara Desert, the Himalayas, Eastern Europe and Brazil. His books include accounts of his journeys, novels (Hemingway’s Chair and The Truth), and several volumes of diaries. From 2009 to 2012 he was president of the Royal Geographical Society. He received a BAFTA fellowship in 2013, and a knighthood in 2019.

In today’s episode, Michael Palin’s great-uncle Harry travels to India to work for the Great Indian Peninsula Railway Company, and then tries his luck on tea plantations in Assam, before returning to England.

He then emigrates to New Zealand on the assisted passage scheme and becomes a farmhand.

Abridged by Libby Spurrier
Producer: David Blount
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (m001qt7d)
Sexism in football, Mum rage, China's MeToo

The managing director of AFC Wimbledon has resigned after being secretly recorded making sexist and abusive comments about a female colleague, just two months after publicly committing to tackling sexism as part of the Her Game Too campaign. Emma Barnett gets reaction from Lewes FC Chief Executive Maggie Murphy and Yvonne Harrison, CEO of Women in Football.

Minna Dubin is the author of Mum Rage: The Everyday Crisis of Modern Motherhood. It's a book inspired by her own experiences and she then spent three years speaking to other mothers, to build up a picture that goes beyond her own domestic sphere.

In 2021, prominent Chinese journalist and #MeToo activist Sophia Huang Xueqin was arrested and jailed. Unseen for the last two years, the Chinese Government announced that her closed-door trial began on Friday. Journalist Jessie Lau joins Emma to discuss the latest in this case.

Emma talks to author Ysenda Maxtone Graham about her new book Jobs for the Girls which gives a snapshot of British women's working lives from 1950, through cardigans and pearls, via mini-skirts and bottom-pinching, to shoulder pads and the ping of the first emails in the early 1990s.


TUE 11:00 The Archbishop Interviews (m001np57)
Cressida Dick

In this series, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has conversations with public figures about their inner lives. What do they believe? How does that shape their values and actions?

This week's guest is the former Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Dame Cressida Dick.

Producer: Dan Tierney.


TUE 11:30 Three Faces of WH Auden (m001qt7s)
If nothing remained of WH Auden's work other than his love poems, they alone would be enough to secure his place as one of the greatest poets of the twentieth century. Works like 'Lullaby', 'O Tell Me Truth About Love' and in particular 'Funeral Blues' (featured as it was in the film 'Four Weddings and a Funeral'), are often the first point of contact for readers with Auden. What they find are poems filled with a deep humanity as well as a strong anxiety at the passage of time and the limits of love, something he was a all too aware of from his own experience. In this, the final episode of the series, Michael Symmons Roberts speaks with guests including Alexander McColl Smith, Hannah Sullivan, Carl Phillips, Helmut Neundelinger about the evolution of Auden's love poems, while Zaffar Kunial offers a close reading of 'Funeral Blues'. Poet and priest Rachel Mann describes how the fact that Auden was gay helps explain the anonymity and formal distancing that appears particularly in his early love poems - and Alan Bennett charts Auden's relationship with his long term partner and collaborator Chester Kallman.

Producer: Geoff Bird

Poems referred to:
Lullaby
O tell Me The Truth About Love
Since
Funeral Blues
Taller Today
The More Loving One
Glad

All published by Faber & Faber
All poetry is fair dealt under criticism and review.


TUE 12:00 News Summary (m001qt84)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


TUE 12:04 You and Yours (m001qt8m)
Call You and Yours: Have your food shopping habits changed?

The boss of Aldi in the UK says the cost of living crisis has changed our shopping habits for good. Giles Hurley says the recent shift to own label products is here to stay.

On Call You and Yours, we want to hear how you plan your food shop. Are you one of the shoppers who has switched to own label brands - and will that habit stick? Do you shop around more to save money? Are there things you won't give up?

Tell us if your food shopping habits have changed. Email us youandyours@bbc.co.uk or on Tuesday you can call us on 03700 100 444

PRESENTER: WINIFRED ROBINSON
PRODUCER: TOM MOSELEY


TUE 12:57 Weather (m001qt8z)
The latest weather forecast


TUE 13:00 World at One (m001qt99)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment.


TUE 13:45 Uncharted with Hannah Fry (m001qw93)
2. The Hockey Stick

In 1998, the climate scientist Michael Mann published a simple graph shaped like an ice hockey stick: a long straight line which curves suddenly upward at the end. It was based on decades of intrepid work by scientists around the world. But the line held a stark warning. For Michael, notoriety, abuse and a global battle over the reality of climate change followed.

Hannah Fry tells the remarkable story of the people behind the hockey stick: the scientists who scaled mountains and braved oceans in search of evidence, and the dramatic fallout when the world saw what they had found.

Presenter: Hannah Fry
Executive Producer: Martin Smith
Series Producer: Lauren Armstrong-Carter
Episode Producer: Ilan Goodman

A series for Radio 4 by BBC Science in Cardiff.


TUE 14:00 The Archers (m001qt9q)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Monday]


TUE 14:15 This Thing of Darkness (p0b24zkm)
Series 2

Part 7

The winner of the British Podcast Award for Best Fiction 2021 returns with a gripping drama about trauma, obsession and why we harm the things we love.

Part 7 of 7

Written by Lucia Haynes and Anita Vettesse with monologues by Eileen Horne.

Dr Alex Bridges is an expert forensic psychiatrist and psychotherapist, assessing and treating perpetrators of violent crime.

Desperation for answers, fear and love lead Ros, Paul and Sarah to a place where the truth will be revealed. Sometimes love is traumatic. Sometimes it’s fatal.

Alex … Lolita Chakrabarti
Sarah ….. Melody Grove
Ros ….. Lois Chimimba
Paul ….. Robert Jack
Kelly ….. Veronica Leer
Malcolm ….. Michael Nardone
Rowena ….. Wendy Seager

Series created by Lucia Haynes, Eileen Horne, Gaynor Macfarlane, Anita Vettesse and Kirsty Williams.
Series consultant: Dr Gwen Adshead
Produced by Gaynor Macfarlane and Kirsty Williams

A BBC Scotland Production directed by Gaynor Macfarlane


TUE 15:00 Short Cuts (m001qtb5)
Series 36

The Tipping Point

A small boy accidentally creates a vast new lizard population in his hometown, a sonic storm gathers and a writer takes his family on a precarious family boat trip. Josie Long presents short documentaries about situations tumbling out of control.

Eight Go To Treasure Island
Written and read by Joe Dunthorne

A Mirror
Featuring Steve Urquhart
Produced by Eleanor McDowall
With thanks to Rosalind Jana for pointing out the poetry of the Beaufort Scale

Lazarus Lizards
Narrated by Addie
Produced by Jennifer McCord and Carrie Ann Welsh

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


TUE 15:30 Bacteria: The Tiny Giants (m001qt41)
[Repeat of broadcast at 13:30 on Sunday]


TUE 16:00 Crossing the Cuillin Mountains (m001qtbq)
The Inaccessible Pinnacle Before Breakfast

In this two part series, we accompany the writer and mountaineer Robert Macfarlane on his attempt to complete the Cuillin Ridge. This expedition marks twenty years since his first book 'Mountains of the Mind' in which he tries to understand the human fascination with mountains. Along the way, he muses on the ways in which these particular mountains have been explored imaginatively and in reality. The reality for Robert is both challenging and wonderful.

The Cuillin Ridge of Skye has long been a source of fascination and wonder for climbers, geologists, writers and artists. Its 22 peaks offer the most extreme alpine climbing in the British Isles and includes the much revered Inaccessible Pinnacle, a very exposed shard of rock protruding from the ridge. To cross the Ridge ordinarily involves a two day expedition of skilled mountaineering with a bivvy overnight. However, it is no easy feat to complete and the majority of people don't make it on their first attempt.

Two modern works are weaved throughout Robert's journey. The words of the great late Gaelic poet Sorely MacLean who knew these mountains intimately and wrote of them in his long poem, 'The Cuillin'. And the more recent musical work of fiddler and composer Duncan Chisholm and his album 'Black Cuillin'. We also feature brand new music from Duncan Chisholm and Gaelic Singer Julie Fowlis. Plus a song with lyrics by Robert Macfarlane based on his experience of the Ridge.

Presented by Robert Macfarlane
Produced by Helen Needham
Mountain Guide - Richard Parker
Readings by Julie Fowlis and Sorley MacLean
Music by Duncan Chisholm, Julie Fowlis and Donald Shaw
Mixed by Ron McCaskill

A BBC Scotland Production made in Aberdeen for BBC Radio 4.


TUE 16:30 Great Lives (m001qtc5)
Ken Loach on Gerrard Winstanley

Veteran British film director Ken Loach nominates the 17th century radical pamphleteer and and leader of the Diggers, Gerrard Winstanley.

Born in Wigan in 1609, Winstanley began writing religious pamphlets after his cloth selling business in London went bankrupt and he was forced to move to the country. There his 'heart was filled with sweet thoughts ... that the earth shall be made a common treasury of livelihood to all mankind', for 'the great Creator Reason, made the Earth to be a Common Treasury... for Man had Domination given to him, over the Beasts, Birds and Fishes; but not one word was spoken in the beginning, that one branch of mankind should rule over another."

Winstanley began to dig a nearby wasteland, calling on others - rich and poor -to join him in the digging, which he believed would start a revolution and feed the poor. His ideas were radical, communal, spiritual and deeply challenging. Within a year the Diggers had been aggressively expelled from their site of occupation.

The late Tony Benn called the Diggers, 'the first true socialists', but Winstanley has also been claimed by anarchists and environmentalists.

With Emeritus Professor of Early Modern history, Ann Hughes.

Presented by Matthew Parris and produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Ellie Richold


TUE 17:00 PM (m001qtcn)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines


TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m001qtd3)
The Home Secretary was addressing an American right-wing think tank


TUE 18:30 Suggs: Love Letters to London (m0005mtb)
Camden

A side of London you’ve never heard before, seen through the eyes of a national treasure. With special guest Jazzie B.

Performed by Suggs
Written by Suggs with Owen Lewis
Featuring: Jazzie B
Directed by Owen Lewis
Musical Director: Owen Parker
Executive Producer: Richard Melvin
A Dabster production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 19:00 The Archers (m001qtdl)
Eddie buys George a drink, reminding him not to be a stranger when George moves out. When Eddie points out that Clarrie will miss having him around, George admits he’ll miss Clarrie’s dinners. George wonders if Clarrie’s worried about how his recent bad behaviour might impact on his dad when they live together. Eddie reassures him; it’s just that they don’t want Will to feel isolated. The family will be there for all of them.
Paul wants to thank Chelsea for helping out with harvest supper organisation. Chelsea asks if she can do his hair, as practice. Paul politely declines.
Josh tries to explain to Jim that he’s trying to take the harvest supper in a more modern direction. . Jim’s offended, pointing out that Josh isn’t organising Glastonbury. Is Jim to be shoved to the bottom of the bill? Josh says Jim and Kiki’s services won’t be required at all, further insulting Jim. He makes Josh call Kiki to tell her, leaving Kiki in floods of tears. Josh feels terrible and offers to buy Jim a drink, but Jim throws him out. Later Josh reports back to Paul and Chelsea. Chelsea’s indignant on Jim’s behalf, and leaves to check on him. She returns with confirmation that Jim is mortally offended. She notes he was reading Lark Rise to Candleford, like several others in the village. She wonders if they should all get together and read bits of it to each other, in the spirit of community. They’ll cheer Jim up if it’s the last thing they do.


TUE 19:15 Front Row (m001qtf4)
Front Row hosts the BBC National Short Story Award Ceremony

The announcement of the winners of the BBC National Short Story Award and the BBC Young Writers’ Award with Cambridge University, live from the Radio Theatre at Broadcasting House in London.

Joining presenter Tom Sutcliffe to celebrate and interrogate the short story form are the broadcaster and NSSA chair of judges Reeta Chakrabarti, alongside fellow judges and writers Jessie Burton, Roddy Doyle and Okechukwu Nzelu. The shortlisted stories and authors in alphabetical order are: 'The Storm' by Nick Mulgrew, 'It’s Me' by K Patrick, 'Guests' by Cherise Saywell, 'Churail' by Kamila Shamsie and 'Comorbidities' by Naomi Wood.

The BBC Young Writers Award, for writers aged between 14 and 18, will be announced by the BBC Radio One presenter Katie Thistleton, who’ll be joined on stage by fellow judge, the psychotherapist, writer and rugby player Alexis Caught. The shortlisted stories and authors in alphabetical order are: ‘Fridays’ by Evie Alam, 16, from South Shields, ‘Jessie’s God’ by Elissa Jones, 16, from Merseyside, ‘Creation’ by Daisy Kaye, 16, from Nottingham, ‘Skipper’ by Iona McNeish, 17, from Glasgow and ‘The Wordsmith’ by Atlas Weyland Eden, 18, from Devon.

All of the stories are available to listen to on BBC Sounds.

Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe
Producer: Nicki Paxman


TUE 20:00 Today (m001qtfp)
The Today Debate: Drug deaths in Scotland - is decriminalisation the answer?

The Today Debate is about taking an issue and pulling it apart with more time than we could ever have during the morning.

Join Today presenter Mishal Husain, as in front of an audience in Glasgow, a panel of guests discuss the problem of drug abuse and drug deaths in Scotland.

The panel includes people with personal experience of addiction, those who have seen loved ones derailed and people working on the frontline, including Police Scotland.

If you need help with any of the issues raised in this programme there's advice and support on the BBC Action Line website https://www.bbc.co.uk/actionline


TUE 20:40 In Touch (m001qtg3)
Inclusive Farm

Inclusive Farm in Bedfordshire is more than just a livestock farm. It is run by totally blind Mike Duxbury and his sighted partner and they open the farm up to those with disabilities to explore agriculture. In Touch pays a visit to hear about how Mike performs various farming tasks without any sight and, perhaps most importantly, to meet some of the animals.

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


TUE 21:00 Inside Health (m001qtgk)
When does sitting become bad for health?

How many hours do you spend sitting down per day? Six? Maybe eight? Or 10? Between commuting, working and relaxing, sitting can soon add up to hours and hours.

In this week’s Inside Health we’re going to delve into the science to find out exactly how much sitting is too much; when does it become worrying for our health?

James visits the lab at Leicester University where he meets Professor Charlotte Edwardson to explore what prolonged sitting does to the body and he’ll find out whether there’s anything you can do to offset the effects of sitting a lot.

We’ll hear about the origins of sitting research - and just because we like to explore every angle on a topic, we’ll hear all about why standing too much can also be a worry.

James visits a school in east London where the children are really focusing on how much time they spend sitting. They’re taking part in the Active Movement programme with the aim of bringing lots of action into the school day - and take it home too.
Sounds nice and relaxing doesn’t it?

Presenter: James Gallagher
Producer: Gerry Holt
Editor: Erika Wright
Production Co-ordinator: Jonathan Harris
Studio Producer: Matthew Chamberlain


TUE 21:30 The Long View (m001qt64)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (m001qth1)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective


TUE 22:45 The Secret Hours by Mick Herron (m001qthc)
Episode 7

With Monochrome shut down just as the inquiry was getting interesting, Shelley helps Max with the investigation into the attack on the retired spy.

Mick Herron’s new standalone thriller is read by Nina Sosanya.

Abridged by Eileen Horne
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie

Mick Herron is the bestselling author of the Slough House thrillers and Zoe Boehm series, and winner of the CWA Gold Dagger. His books featuring Jackson Lamb have been adapted for TV as the ‘Slow Horses’ series starring Gary Oldman and Kristin Scott Thomas.


TUE 23:00 Call Jonathan Pie (p0fsypw8)
Episode 6: Women

When Roger warns Pie that he must widen his demographic, Pie decides to dedicate an entire show to “women’s issues”. Pie’s combative and contrary style does not suit the topic and Pie is taught a lesson or two by the female callers. Jules also gets involved by threatening Pie with quite serious bodily harm if he doesn’t shut his “rancid instant-coffee stinking mouth”. Pie is dismayed as he never touches instant coffee.


Jonathan Pie ..... Tom Walker

Jules ..... Lucy Pearman

Sam ..... Aqib Khan

Roger ..... Nick Revell

Voiceovers ..... Bob Sinfield and Rob Curling


Callers ... Ellie Dobing, Sarah Gabriel, Thanyia Moore and Emma Thornett.


Writer ..... Tom Walker

Script Editor ..... Nick Revell

Producers ..... Alison Vernon-Smith
 and Julian Mayers
Production Coordinator ..... Ellie Dobing

Original music composed by Jason Read



Additional music Leighton James House

A Yada-Yada Audio Production.


TUE 23:30 'Whatever Next?' with Miles Jupp (m001cf0c)
Series 1

Episode 1

An Unexpected Visitor at The Grange. Miles turns his hand to a new BBC 1 game show, guests on the new podcast Jumpers of My Life with Seann Walsh and fights Julia Davis for a major role in a major new movie.

Starring Miles Jupp with Vicki Pepperdine, Julia Davis, Seann Walsh, Jocelyn Jee Essien, Philip Fox, Justin Edwards, Dominique Moore, Andy Zaltzman, Simon Mann and David Gower

Written by Miles Jupp & James Kettle
Script edited by Graeme Garden
Produced by Victoria Lloyd

A Random Entertainment Production

WEDNESDAY 27 SEPTEMBER 2023

WED 00:00 Midnight News (m001qthw)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


WED 00:30 Great-Uncle Harry: A Tale of War and Empire by Michael Palin (m001qt6q)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Tuesday]


WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m001qtjb)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m001qtjp)
World Service

BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m001qtk0)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


WED 05:30 News Briefing (m001qtkf)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m001qtkv)
Spiritual reflection to start the day with Fiona Stewart, a writer who runs a Christian arts charity.


WED 05:45 Farming Today (m001qtl6)
Three of the UK's four agri-tech centres which support farm technology and innovation are merging. They are CIEL - the Centre for Innovation Excellence in Livestock; CHAP - Crop Health and Protection; and Agri-Epi, the Agricultural Engineering Precision Innovation Centre. The fourth, Agrimetrics, which covers data will go its own way as an independent company. We speak to the science minister at the World Agri-Tech Innovation summit in London about why the government's changing them.

All week we're looking at nature writing. The Wainwright prize is awarded annually to the books which most successfully inspire readers to explore the outdoors and nurture respect for the natural world. This year's prize for conservation writing went to Guy Shrubsole for his book, The Lost Rainforests of Britain.

Presenter - Charlotte Smith
Producer - Rebecca Rooney


WED 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b0910svf)
Tim Birkhead on Guillemot Senses

Seabird zoologist Tim Birkhead recalls the moment while on Skomer which changed his view on the old thought that the guillemot was a foolish bird for Tweet of the Day.

Producer: Tom Bonnett


WED 06:00 Today (m001qt9n)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


WED 09:00 More or Less (m001qtb0)
NHS consultant pay, net zero claims and Scotland's ferry woes

NHS consultants in England are striking over a pay offer of 6%. We look at whether they are paid an average of £120,000 a year and examine how much their pay compared to inflation has fallen. Also we fact check some of the claims Rishi Sunak made in his net zero speech, ask whether Britain is really that bad at building infrastructure compared to other countries and investigate the real levels of cancellations at Scotland and the UK's largest ferry company, Calmac.

Presenter: Tim Harford
Series producer: Jon Bithrey
Reporters: Nathan Gower, Daniel Gordon, Natasha Fernandes and Calum Grewar
Production Coordinator: Maria Ogundele
Sound Engineer: James Beard
Editor: Richard Vadon


WED 09:30 Just One Thing - with Michael Mosley (m001qtbl)
Swim

Michael Mosley ventures to his local pool and the sea to explore the unique benefits of going for a swim - from improving memory and mental agility, to boosting longevity. Professor Hirofumi Tanaka, from the University of Texas at Austin, reveals why water-based exercises like swimming are especially good for improving the elasticity of your blood vessels and a new way to exercise in the pool. There really seems to be something special about being in the water that can help your heart, improve joint pain and even boost your brain. Surprisingly, water-based exercise can be more beneficial than land-based exercises!

New episodes will be released on Wednesdays, but if you’re in the UK, listen to new episodes, a week early, first on BBC Sounds: bbc.in/3zqa6BB

Producer: Nija Dalal-Small
Science Producer: Catherine Wyler
Assistant Producer: Gulnar Mimaroglu
Trainee Assistant Producer: Toni Arenyeka
Executive Producer: Zoe Heron
A BBC Studios production for BBC Sounds / BBC Radio 4.


WED 09:45 Great-Uncle Harry: A Tale of War and Empire by Michael Palin (m001qtc0)
Episode 3

From the time, many years ago, when Michael Palin first heard that his grandfather had a brother, Harry, who was killed in the First World War, he was determined to find out more about him.

The quest that followed involved hundreds of hours of painstaking detective work. Michael dug out every bit of family gossip and correspondence he could. He studied every relevant official document. He made use of his great-uncle Harry’s diaries, letters and postcards, and pored over photographs of First World War battle scenes to see whether Harry appeared in any of them. He walked the route Harry took on that fatal, final day of his life amid the mud of northern France. And as he did so, a life that had previously existed in the shadows was revealed to him.

A blend of biography, history, travelogue and personal memoir, Great-Uncle Harry is a compelling account of an ordinary man who led an extraordinary life.

Michael Palin has written and starred in numerous TV programmes and films, from Monty Python and Ripping Yarns to The Missionary and The Death of Stalin. His much-acclaimed travel documentaries have taken him to the North and South Poles, the Sahara Desert, the Himalayas, Eastern Europe and Brazil. His books include accounts of his journeys, novels (Hemingway’s Chair and The Truth), and several volumes of diaries. From 2009 to 2012 he was president of the Royal Geographical Society. He received a BAFTA fellowship in 2013, and a knighthood in 2019.

In today’s episode, it’s 1914 and Britain declares war on Germany. Harry’s in New Zealand and, together with 14,000 other volunteers, answers the call to defend the Empire. He starts to keep a diary.

Abridged by Libby Spurrier
Producer: David Blount
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4


WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (m001qtch)
Dame Joan Collins, Universities and sexual misconduct, Dr Ophira Ginsburg - a feminist approach to cancer

Dame Joan Collins has dominated the stage and screen for over seven decades, starting her career at just 17. Best known for her roles in the 1980s TV phenomenon Dynasty and Hollywood Golden Age films, she has written a new memoir Behind the Shoulder Pads: Tales I Tell My Friends. She speaks to Emma about her glittering career, sexism in Hollywood and turning 90.

Students are more likely than other groups of people to be subjected to sexual assault. A study soon to be published by researchers at Oxford University has found that one in four female students at the university had experienced some sort of sexual assault in the preceding year. Now, universities are said to be spending increasingly more of their time investigating complex sexual misconduct cases. But how equipped and effective are they in investigating such cases? And why are students putting their faith in university hearings rather than going to the police?  Emma discusses with Professor Steve West, Vice Chancellor of University of West of England, Eleanor Laws KC, leading criminal barrister and Geraldine Swanton, a lawyer working with the higher and further education sector.

A new report from a commission at the medical journal The Lancet looks at how cancer disproportionately impacts women. “Women, Power and Cancer” puts the case forward for an intersectional feminist approach to cancer - with the goal of transforming the ways women interact with the cancer health system. The commission has been headed up by Dr Ophira Ginsburg from the National Cancer Institute in the US.

Presented by Emma Barnett
Producer: Louise Corley


WED 11:00 In the Jaws of Cerberus (m001qtd0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Monday]


WED 11:30 Alexei Sayle's Strangers on a Train (m0019r7w)
Series 1

Manchester to Bournemouth

Author, actor and comedy icon, Alexei Sayle continues his travels across the country by rail.

Alexei’s mission is to break the golden rule of travelling by train and actually talk to his fellow passengers in a quest for conversations that reveal their lives, hopes, dreams and destinations. There’s humour, sadness and surprise as people talk about what is going on in their lives and, as Alexei passes through familiar towns and cities, he also tells stories and memories from his career and childhood.

Alexei has a lifelong "ticket to ride" in his DNA. His father was a railway guard and the Sayle family benefitted from free travel in the UK and across Europe. As a boy, Alexei and his family roamed far and wide from the family home in Anfield, Liverpool. At a time when most people thought an exciting trip by train was to Brighton or Blackpool, Alexei travelled thousands of miles to mysterious towns with unpronounceable names in far flung corners of the continent.

In each programme in the series, Alexei embarks on a rail journey, taking a chance on who he might meet and inviting them to have a conversation with him. In this episode, he travels from Manchester to Bournemouth and meets Moira who, as a dedicated Manchester City fan, has sky blue hair, sky blue clothes and even a sky blue house. He also talks to Jean who has been to visit a lifelong friend who worked alongside her as a psychiatric nurse, Steven and Simon who are both accountants but spend their leisure time travelling the world together to go to top music gigs, and rail enthusiast and veteran record producer Pete Waterman on one of his thousands of trips on the west coast line.

Producers Peter Lowe and Nick Symons
A Ride production for Radio 4


WED 12:00 News Summary (m001qtdg)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


WED 12:04 You and Yours (m001qtdy)
Companies House Fraud; Eco Shopping; Car Boots

Shari Vahl is on the trail of Rong Yang - a man who has set up fake companies at multiple addresses across the UK in what's been described as one of the most extreme examples of Companies House Fraud yet. Shari knocks on the doors of people affected and offers help and advice. Plus we put our findings to the Business and Trade minister Kevin Hollinrake and ask whether a change in the law will stop this from happening in the future.

Also in the programme, #carboot has had over 750 million views on TikTok as a new generation discovers Sunday mornings rummaging around a car boot. We hear from one TikToker and her mum.

Plus we'll be talking eco shopping as new figures from Kantar suggest an increase in shoppers going green.

PRESENTER - WINIFRED ROBINSON
PRODUCER - CATHERINE EARLAM


WED 12:57 Weather (m001qtfh)
The latest weather forecast


WED 13:00 World at One (m001qtfz)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment.


WED 13:45 Uncharted with Hannah Fry (m001qw98)
3. The Doctor Will See You Now

It’s a hot summer’s day in 1998. Two couples stand side by side in a small courtyard. Brought together by chance, they may never have met if not for one thing. A tatty piece of paper, the contents of which will change their lives, and the lives of thousands across the country, forever.

Hannah Fry tells the tale of this single sheet of A4 uncovered a dark pattern and a serial murderer hiding in plain sight.

A warning for sensitive listeners, that this episode contains references to murder.

Presenter: Hannah Fry
Executive Producer: Martin Smith
Series Producer: Lauren Armstrong-Carter
Episode Producer: Lauren Armstrong-Carter

A series for Radio 4 by BBC Science in Cardiff.


WED 14:00 The Archers (m001qtdl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Tuesday]


WED 14:15 Fault Lines: Money, Sex and Blood (m0013hr9)
Series 3: Blood

Entitled

Fault Lines: Blood ep1/5
Entitled by Becky Prestwich

Miles, Constance's only son has returned to the family home with a wife, Sarah, whom Constance adores. But all is not as it seems. The opening episode of the new series explores entitlement, betrayal and murder.

Constance - Glenda Jackson
Miles - Robert Glenister
Sarah - Pippa Nixon
Gabriel - Joseph Ayre
Maria - Christine Bottomley

Sound by Steve Brooke
Produced and directed by Pauline Harris


WED 15:00 Money Box (m001qtgf)
Money Box Live from Leeds: Student Finance

Felicity Hannah and the team broadcast live from Leeds University as students from England face a massive overhaul to their finances. It's the biggest change in more than a decade.

Previously, student loans were written off after 30 years, but under a new scheme called 'Plan 5' it's 40 years. Graduates will also have to start paying money back when they earn £25,000, the threshold has been lowered this year from £27,295.

So, this week we're looking at how much a really degree costs as well as taking your questions and comments.

On the programme we have money guru Martin Lewis to explain exactly what the changes mean as well as Louise Banahene, Leeds University Engagement Officer, Bethan Corner, who is the Education Officer at the Student Union, and Tom Allingham from student finance website, Save the Student.

Presenter: Felicity Hannah
Producer: Sarah Rogers
Editor: Jess Quayle

(First broadcast, 3pm, Wednesday 27th September 2023)


WED 15:30 Inside Health (m001qtgk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Tuesday]


WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (m001qth5)
Woke

Woke: Laurie Taylor talks to Susan Neiman, philosopher and director of the Einstein Forum about her analysis of the concept of ‘woke’. Contrary to popular assumption, she argues, it is not a set of attitudes which belong on the left of the political spectrum, but is rather an attack on progressive, universal values and the Enlightenment.

They're joined by Huw Davies, lecturer in digital education at the University of Edinburgh, who offers a dissection of the British ‘war on woke’, suggesting that it is an intensive ideological campaign that is mobilising reactionary tropes within mainstream British political discourse.

Producer: Jayne Egerton


WED 16:30 The Media Show (m001qthh)
Guardian editor-in-chief Katharine Viner

We look at Rumble, the online platform where Russell Brand's is now hosting a regular show, and explore the politics of free speech on the internet. Plus Guardian editor-in-chief, Katharine Viner, tells Katie Razzall about their expansion into Europe and Nick Robinson talks about his new Today Podcast, which he's hosting with Amol Rajan.

Guests: Katharine Viner, editor-in-chief, Guardian; Nick Robinson, presenter, The Today Podcast; Libby Emmons, Editor-in-chief, The Post Millennial; Sarah Grevy Gotfredsen, Research Fellow, Tow Center for Digital Journalism

Presenter: Katie Razzall
Producer: Simon Richardson


WED 17:00 PM (m001qths)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines


WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m001qtj8)
Rosebank near Shetland is estimated to contain 300 million barrels of oil


WED 18:30 Please Use Other Door (m001qtjn)
Series 2

Episode 3

Can families be merged like companies? Should ransom notes be aesthetically pleasing? Why do people think truffle hunting in Tuscany would be the ideal life?

Performed by; Jason Forbes, Will Hartley, Rosie Holt, Rebecca Shorrocks, Witney White and Toby Williams.

The series of four is written by; Ed Amsden and Tom Coles, Simon Alcock, Sarah Campbell, Robert Darke, Julian Dutton, Sophie Dickson, Paul F Tayler, Jim Campbell, Alex Nash & Sam South, Matt Harrison, Katy Swainston, Rhyan Orrick, Charlotte Patterson, Peter Tellouche, Cody Dahler, Davina Bentley, Jon Long and Bill Dare.

Production Co-ordinator Caroline Barlow
Sound Design Rich Evans
Original music by Bill Dare, produced by Iona Vallance
Produced and created by Bill Dare
BBC Studios Production for Radio 4


WED 19:00 The Archers (m001qtjz)
Mia feels sorry for George as he packs for his move to The Green. George hates that everything has to be so complicated. Mia admits her own family arrangements took some getting used to, but she quite likes having two homes now. Later when helping Will she agrees to cut George some slack. She gives Will a photo frame, for his future adventures.

Susan tries to buoy downcast Emma about Fallon taking the Tearoom management position that she’d hoped for herself. She’ll get where she wants to be eventually. They chat about the Lark Rise reading on Friday, agreeing it will cheer Jim up, who loves the book. Emma’s keen for Susan to do something to mark her sixtieth. Susan wants people not to believe she’s sixty, and maybe do some things that challenge her. Between them they come up with the idea of six things at sixty. Emma confides she feels she’s messed up with George. Her mum counsels all you can do with your children is try to keep them on track. When George moves out, he'll still be in the village, with his dad and Poppy to keep an eye on him. And George will be there for them too. Emma hopes so, for Will’s sake. Later George promises Emma he’ll look after his dad and Emma’s declares she’ll miss George. They hug.

George worries everyone’s concern over Will is down to him. Will reassures him. He shouldn’t hang on to his recent bad behaviour. Will hopes this move is good for all of them.


WED 19:15 Front Row (m001qtkd)
James Graham on Boys from the Blackstuff, and are maestros behaving badly?

Alan Bleasdale’s Boys From The Blackstuff is widely regarded as television drama at its best with a cultural footprint that led to the phrase “Gi’s a job” being heard up and down the country. Forty years on from the first broadcast, James Graham, known for plays such as This House, about the UK’s hung parliament of the 1970s, and Dear England about the England football team, has adapted Alan’s screenplays for a stage production at the Royal Court theatre in Liverpool. He discusses why now was the right time to revisit and remodel.

Chester Contemporary is a new visual arts biennial curated by artist Ryan Gander who was born and raised in Chester and has created a citywide event that features some of the visual art world’s biggest names. Front Row visited Chester on the opening weekend to talk to Turner Prize-nominated artist Fiona Banner, emerging artist William Lang, Chester native Tim Foxon whose art pops up all over the city centre, and Turner Prize-winning artist Elizabeth Price, about their creations for the cathedral city.

The renowned conductor John Eliot Gardiner has cancelled all his appearances for the rest of this year after allegedly slapping and punching a singer backstage after a performance. He is far from the only conductor linked to reportedly bad behaviour. But as society puts conductors on a cultural as well as physical podium, and addresses them as ‘maestro’, perhaps such behaviour isn’t surprising. Perhaps, too, marshalling a large orchestra requires dictatorial leadership. Igor Toronyi-Lalic, music critic of The Spectator, and the conductor Ben Gernon join Nick Ahad to discuss how conductors conduct themselves, and how they should.

Presenter: Nick Ahad
Producer: Ekene Akalawu

Lorne Campbell 1:30
James Graham 6:09
Conductors 16:33
Chester Art 29:36


WED 20:00 Moral Maze (m001qtks)
The Language of Freedom

Michael Buerk chairs a special Moral Maze debate recorded at 'HowTheLightGetsIn' festival of philosophy and music.

The language of freedom permeates our political debate. In the US, it may be a decisive battleground in the 2024 presidential election. The problem is that people mean very different things by it. Is it freedom from government regulation or freedom to have an abortion? Freedom of speech or freedom from discrimination? Freedom to own a gun or freedom for communities to ban them?

A distinction is often made between positive and negative freedom. Negative freedom is the absence of constraints (‘freedom from’) – while positive freedom is the possibility of acting in such a way as to take control of one’s life (‘freedom to’). Libertarians often see individual freedom - the private enjoyment of one’s life and goods, free from interference – as the most fundamental value that any society should pursue and protect. This view is challenged by those who believe wealth, health and educational inequalities inevitably mean some people are more free than others, and seek instead to promote the collective freedom of society as a whole.

If a society in which there is a complete absence of restraint is as dystopian as one in which our every action is controlled, how should we navigate the trade-offs between individual freedom and other goods, like security and collective wellbeing? Is the language of freedom helpful or harmful in negotiating our political differences? Deeper question: what does it mean for a human being to be free?

With guests: Konstantin Kisin, Sophie Howe and James Orr.

Producer: Dan Tierney.


WED 21:00 When It Hits the Fan (m001qtl7)
Murdoch, HS2 and British Gas

In the wake of Rupert Murdoch's retirement, David Yelland and Simon Lewis discuss a tale of two successions and how the fates of one of the world’s biggest media dynasties and the Royal Family became paradoxically intertwined.

They look at the latest fan-hitting moment for Britain’s HS2 project, which could mean the end of the line for northerners.

And “your old meter could catch fire” – why British Gas might be regretting its latest email to customers.

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


WED 21:30 The Media Show (m001qthh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:30 today]


WED 22:00 The World Tonight (m001qtlj)
One in six species at risk of extinction

A major new report reveals a sharp decline in Britain's wildlife - with almost one in six species at risk of extinction. We speak to the naturalist and campaigner Chris Packham, and ask the government's top nature adviser Tony Juniper what can be done to halt the decline.

Also on the programme:

Meta's Sir Nick Clegg on whether we should be worried about Artificial Intelligence.

And - top director Carlos Acosta on creating Black Sabbath - the Ballet.


WED 22:45 The Secret Hours by Mick Herron (m001qtlt)
Episode 8

Griselda Fleet defies First Desk by reconvening the Monochrome Inquiry to hear from Alison North. The witness is all too happy to talk about her time as a young agent in 90s Berlin.

Mick Herron’s new standalone thriller is read by Nina Sosanya.

Abridged by Eileen Horne
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie

Mick Herron is the bestselling author of the Slough House thrillers and Zoe Boehm series, and winner of the CWA Gold Dagger. His books featuring Jackson Lamb have been adapted for TV as the ‘Slow Horses’ series starring Gary Oldman and Kristin Scott Thomas.


WED 23:00 Influencers (m001qtm3)
Series 1

Episode 5

Katy Brand and Katherine Parkinson write and star in a new comedy about the world of influencing, where they play Ruth and Carla – two wannabe stars of the online business world.

They are bound together by a carefully controlled image that can lead to lucrative product placements and well-paid endorsements - but only if the PR is played just right. And that’s a problem because, behind the scenes, things are not always as harmonious as they seem.

Episode 5: Popstars
Ruth and Carla cook up a cunning plan to trick the mystery Daughters of Influencers bloggers by making a pop song on an app, and launching themselves as a new band called Motherz.

Carla – Katy Brand
Ruth – Katherine Parkinson

Written by Katy Brand and Katherine Parkinson
Producer: Liz Anstee

A CPL production for BBC Radio 4


WED 23:15 Welcome to the Neighbourhood with Jayde Adams (p0fpx7yg)
Morgan Rees

Jayde Adams and Morgan Rees dive into the world of community apps and messageboards. This week - Trelewis gets its own local podcast, a man is presumed unemployed after a sarcastic comment about a helicopter, and a vegan runner in Lydney has a polite and simple request.

Producer: Cornelius Mendez
An unusual production for BBC Radio 4


WED 23:30 'Whatever Next?' with Miles Jupp (m001cq4l)
Series 1

Episode 2

The Auctioning of the Sequestered Cattle… Miles interviews the BBC’s social mobility tsar, helps Seann Walsh launch his new podcast Who Would You Like to Have a Pint with?, and tries to persuade David Suchet to revisit a familiar role.

Starring Miles Jupp with Vicki Pepperdine, Julia Davis, Seann Walsh, Jocelyn Jee Essien, Philip Fox, Justin Edwards, Dominique Moore, and David Gower

Written by Miles Jupp & James Kettle
Script edited by Graeme Garden
Produced by Victoria Lloyd

A Random Entertainment Production

THURSDAY 28 SEPTEMBER 2023

THU 00:00 Midnight News (m001qtmj)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


THU 00:30 Great-Uncle Harry: A Tale of War and Empire by Michael Palin (m001qtc0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Wednesday]


THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m001qtmn)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m001qtmt)
World Service

BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m001qtn1)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


THU 05:30 News Briefing (m001qtn8)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m001qtng)
Spiritual reflection to start the day with Fiona Stewart, a writer who runs a Christian arts charity.


THU 05:45 Farming Today (m001qtnn)
Farming needs to change to help reverse the ongoing decline in the UK's nature - so says the State of Nature report from 50 research and conservation organisations. This is an update of the 2019 report and highlights continuing declines in things like: the populations of pollinating insects, down 18% since 1970; mammals like voles and hares down 30% in the same time frame; and plants, where 50% of species have declined. The report points out that not only do we now know the problem, but we also understand the solutions, which when it comes to farming, include more nature friendly farming.

All week we're looking at nature writing. It plays a big part in the work of Literature Wales, the national company for the development of literature. They see writing about nature as an important way to connect with the Welsh landscape and language.

Presenter = Charlotte Smith
Producer = Rebecca Rooney


THU 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03mztrw)
Greylag Goose

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.

David Attenborough presents the story of the Greylag Goose. Greylags are the biggest and bulkiest of our wild grey geese with bright orange bills and pink legs. When they fly, you can see large pale grey panels on the wings. The greylag has been fully domesticated for around three thousand years.


THU 06:00 Today (m001qtp7)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


THU 09:00 In Our Time (m001qtpf)
The Economic Consequences of the Peace

In an extended version of the programme that was broadcast, Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the influential book John Maynard Keynes wrote in 1919 after he resigned in protest from his role at the Paris Peace Conference. There the victors of World War One were deciding the fate of the defeated, especially Germany and Austria-Hungary, and Keynes wanted the world to know his view that the economic consequences would be disastrous for all. Soon Germany used his book to support their claim that the Treaty was grossly unfair, a sentiment that fed into British appeasement in the 1930s and has since prompted debate over whether Keynes had only warned of disaster or somehow contributed to it.

With

Margaret MacMillan
Emeritus Professor of International History at the University of Oxford

Michael Cox
Emeritus Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics and Founding Director of LSE IDEAS

And

Patricia Clavin
Professor of Modern History at the University of Oxford

Producer: Simon Tillotson

Reading list:

Manfred F. Boemeke, Gerald D. Feldman and Elisabeth Glaser (eds.), The Treaty of Versailles: A Reassessment after 75 Years (Cambridge University Press, 1998)

Zachary D. Carter, The Price of Peace: Money, Democracy and the Life of John Maynard Keynes (Random House, 2020)

Peter Clarke, Keynes: The Twentieth Century’s Most Influential Economist (Bloomsbury, 2009)

Patricia Clavin et al (eds.), Keynes’s Economic Consequences of the Peace after 100 Years: Polemics and Policy (Cambridge University Press, 2023)

Patricia Clavin, ‘Britain and the Making of Global Order after 1919: The Ben Pimlott Memorial Lecture’ (Twentieth Century British History, Vol. 31:3, 2020)

Richard Davenport-Hines, Universal Man; The Seven Lives of John Maynard Keynes (William Collins, 2015)

R. F. Harrod, John Maynard Keynes (first published 1951; Pelican, 1972)

Jens Holscher and Matthias Klaes (eds), Keynes’s Economic Consequences of the Peace: A Reappraisal (Pickering & Chatto, 2014)

John Maynard Keynes (with an introduction by Michael Cox), The Economic Consequences of the Peace (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019)

Margaret MacMillan, Peacemakers: Six Months that Changed the World (John Murray Publishers, 2001)

Etienne Mantoux, The Carthaginian Peace or the Economic Consequences of Mr. Keynes (Oxford University Press, 1946)

D. E. Moggridge, Maynard Keynes: An Economist’s Biography (Routledge, 1992)

Alan Sharp, Versailles 1919: A Centennial Perspective (Haus Publishing Ltd, 2018)

Robert Skidelsky, John Maynard Keynes, 1883-1946 (Pan Macmillan, 2004)

Jürgen Tampke, A Perfidious Distortion of History: The Versailles Peace Treaty and the Success of the Nazis (Scribe UK, 2017)

Adam Tooze, The Deluge: The Great War, America and the Remaking of the Global Order, 1916-1931 (Penguin Books, 2015)


THU 09:45 Great-Uncle Harry: A Tale of War and Empire by Michael Palin (m001qts8)
Episode 4

From the time, many years ago, when Michael Palin first heard that his grandfather had a brother, Harry, who was killed in the First World War, he was determined to find out more about him.

The quest that followed involved hundreds of hours of painstaking detective work. Michael dug out every bit of family gossip and correspondence he could. He studied every relevant official document. He made use of his great-uncle Harry’s diaries, letters and postcards, and pored over photographs of First World War battle scenes to see whether Harry appeared in any of them. He walked the route Harry took on that fatal, final day of his life amid the mud of northern France. And as he did so, a life that had previously existed in the shadows was revealed to him.

A blend of biography, history, travelogue and personal memoir, Great-Uncle Harry is a compelling account of an ordinary man who led an extraordinary life.

Michael Palin has written and starred in numerous TV programmes and films, from Monty Python and Ripping Yarns to The Missionary and The Death of Stalin. His much-acclaimed travel documentaries have taken him to the North and South Poles, the Sahara Desert, the Himalayas, Eastern Europe and Brazil. His books include accounts of his journeys, novels (Hemingway’s Chair and The Truth), and several volumes of diaries. From 2009 to 2012 he was president of the Royal Geographical Society. He received a BAFTA fellowship in 2013, and a knighthood in 2019.

In today’s episode, it’s 1915 and Harry finds himself back at ANZAC Cove, as the ill-fated Gallipoli campaign continues. He witnesses terrible fighting. Following the withdrawal, he travels to northern France, from where he’s granted some home leave.

Abridged by Libby Spurrier
Producer: David Blount
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4


THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (m001qtpv)
Marina Abramovic, GB News, Dehenna Davison MP, Taylor Swift Symposium

Marina Abramović, the world renowned Serbian performance artist, refers to herself as the “godmother of performance art”. Her pioneering work explores the relationship between the performer and the audience; one of her works saw her sit across from each visitor, staring into their eyes. She has repeatedly subjected herself to physical and mental extremes, including exhaustion, pain and even the possibility of death. Now at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, she presents key moments from her career and talks them through with Emma.

A comment made by the broadcaster and self-styled anti-woke campaigner, Laurence Fox, about political reporter, Ava Evans, on GB News on Tuesday has led to his suspension. Now the man he was speaking to, Dan Wootton, has also been suspended as a presenter on the channel. Ava called the comments "really nasty" and said she has since received threats online. Emma speaks to Rebecca Whittington, the committee lead on this issue for the organisation Women in Journalism and Online Safety Editor at Reach PLC.

Dehenna Davison MP was part of the ground breaking group of Conservative MPs who in 2019, won dozens of seats in former Labour areas known as the Red Wall. She was elected by voters in Bishop Auckland in the North East as their first ever Conservative MP and was the first Conservative female MP to reveal she is bi-sexual. Last year she made it into the Government as a junior minister in Michael Gove’s Levelling Up Department, but despite this promotion and being see as one of the most energetic and active of the new MPs, in November 2022 she announced she wouldn’t be standing for election again. Last week she stood down as a minister, citing chronic migraine as the cause. Emma Barnett talks to Dehenna about her health, her life in politics and her plans for the future.

A university in Melbourne is preparing to host the first ever Taylor Swift Symposium, or Swiftposium as it’s being called, with researchers gathering to discuss the singer through a variety of subjects. Dr Jennifer Beckett is one of the organisers behind the event and Emma to discuss the plans for early 2024.

Presenter: Emma Barnett
Producer: Rebecca Myatt
Studio manager: Emma Harth


THU 11:00 From Our Own Correspondent (m001qtq1)
Exodus From Nagorno-Karabakh

Kate Adie presents stories from Nagorno-Karabakh, Canada, South Africa, Peru and Germany.

Tens of thousands of ethnic Armenians have fled the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in the last week. Rayhan Demytrie spoke to some on the Armenian border who now face the loss of their homeland.

Canada's assertion that India appears to have been involved in the murder of a Canadian Sikh has sparked outrage in New Delhi. The Indian government has strongly denied the allegation. In Vancouver, Neal Razzell visits the Sikh temple where the dead man, Hardeep Singh Nijjar was leader, and found out more about what happened.

A fire in Johannesburg at the end of August threw into sharp relief the terrible conditions in some affordable housing, which is often taken over by gangs who illegally rent out the buildings. Samantha Granville spoke to residents of the site that burned down, along with others in similarly precarious accommodation.

In Peru's capital Lima, around 2 million residents living in the poorer suburbs have no access to running water and have to pay high prices for it to be delivered to them. Peter Yeung met someone who has come up with an innovative solution.

And finally, in Germany, a campaign is being launched to change a law that sees thousands of people sent to prison every year for travelling on public transport without a ticket. Tim Mansel meets one man helping to get people released because they haven't paid their fine.

Producer: Arlene Gregorius
Production Coordinator: Gemma Ashman
Editor: China Collins

01:45 Ethnic Armenians flee Nagorno-Karabakh
07:47 Canada Sikh temple murder
13:09 South Africa “hijacked building” fatal fire
17:45 Peru’s “fog-catching” water solution
22:58 Freeing imprisoned German fare-dodgers


THU 11:30 Great Lives (m001qtc5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:30 on Tuesday]


THU 12:00 News Summary (m001qtvw)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


THU 12:04 You and Yours (m001qtqf)
Gap Finders: Tom Gozney from Gozney

Visit any busy town or city centre on a weekend and its hard not to notice the sheer number of restaurants, bars and hotels now offering woodfired or stone baked pizza.

One reason for this explosion is Tom Gozney. Growing up in Dorset, he struggled at school and in his teens had a serious alcohol addiction. Coming out of rehab aged 20 in 2008 he was desperate for another way to socialise that didn't involve drinking. One night he organised a pizza party where he would make the dough and his friends brought toppings. However, when they put their creations in his conventional oven, the results were a soggy disappointment.

After an hour watching online videos of people building their own woodfired pizza ovens, he began digging a hole in his garden for the foundations of his own. Further experiments and research led him to spot a gap in the market. One that could provide a much needed income for him and his future wife, Laura.

Tom bet a £5,000 loan from his mum that if he could design a pizza oven that came as a kit that fits through a standard door and be assembled in a day, restaurants would come chomping at the bit with orders.

Over time, that's precisely what they did. Tom turned his sights to a portable, consumer model for homes and gardens that can be taken on camping trips and beach holidays.

Although he wasn't the first to design one, his firm's Roccbox sold out on launch in 2016. Tom has now sold over 200,000 of his products around the world. We go deeper into the early days, find out why a simple mistake nearly cost him everything in a critical moment. Finally, we hear how Tom and Laura dealt with the business and personal dilemmas that came with global expansion.

Presenter: Winifred Robinson
Producer: Julian Paszkiewicz


THU 12:32 Sliced Bread (m001qtqk)
Vapes

Is vaping harmful to your health and to the environment?

I'm back with a new series of Sliced Bread and I'm kicking off with a topic many of you have suggested - vapes. They've become controversial largely because of the rise in single-use, or disposable, vapes. Nearly eight million are sold in the UK each week, a figure that's doubled in the past year. And according to the organisation Material Focus, which campaigns to increase recyling rates, five million of those are thrown away. Listener John has spotted them lying around on the pavement and is worried about their effect on the environment.

I'm joined by Scott Butler from Material Focus who takes apart a disposable vape and shows me just what's inside and explains why they're harmful to the planet and what can be done to improve recycling.

I'm also investigating the reason vapes were introduced in the first place over a decade ago - as a smoking cessation aid. Listener Sam wants to know if they really do help you stop smoking or whether the convenience of disposable vapes means they just prolong or even worsen the addiction?

I speak to Professor Anne McNeill, co-author of a landmark review into the health impact of vapes and their effectiveness when it comes to helping people stop smoking compared to previous treatments like nicotine patches or gum.

Presenter: Greg Foot
Producer: Simon Hoban


THU 12:57 Weather (m001qtqr)
The latest weather forecast


THU 13:00 World at One (m001qtqy)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment.


THU 13:45 Uncharted with Hannah Fry (m001qw95)
4. This Train Has Been Delayed

Singapore, 2016. A high-tech driverless train system starts glitching in wild and unpredictable ways. The train company, the government, even the military are at a loss: no-one can figure out what is causing the problem. Until Jason Bay and his team of data scientists assemble an old-fashioned timetabling graph, first developed in 19th century France, which exposes an invisible culprit.

Behind every line on a graph, there lies an extraordinary human story. And mathematician Hannah Fry is here to tell us ten of them.

Hannah Fry tells a tale of data detectives and very naughty trains.

Presenter: Hannah Fry
Executive Producer: Martin Smith
Series Producer: Lauren Armstrong-Carter
Episode Producer: Ilan Goodman

A series for Radio 4 by BBC Science in Cardiff.


THU 14:00 The Archers (m001qtjz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Wednesday]


THU 14:15 Drama on 4 (m001qtr2)
The Egg Man

By Catherine Dyson.

A writer tries to reconstruct her grandfather's flight from Ukraine in the 1930s, and locate the bones of her missing family members. It's an impossible task. Grandad is gone, mum doesn't want to talk about it and there are almost no records. Starring Nigel Planer.

Inspired by playwright Catherine Dyson's experience of trying to trace her family, this semi-autobiographical story blends fact and fiction.

CAST

Grandad - Nigel Planer
Catherine - Scarlett Courtney
Mum - Louise Gold
Young Catherine - Halle Bradford-Hill
The Neighbour - Oliver Wood
The Fiancee- Valerie Vansovica
The Tracer - Olivia Michi Schrenzel

With thanks to The Fortunoff Archive for the use of Abe M. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-1511). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library, and to historian Mark Levene.

Sound Design by Nigel Lewis
Directed by John Norton
A BBC Audio Drama Wales production.


THU 15:00 Ramblings (m001qtr6)
Into Portpatrick on the Rhins of Galloway

Clare joins two friends on what could possibly be the slowest walk between Land's End and John O'Groats. Hiking one week at a time (with a gap of several years when the Welsh coastline wasn't fully navigable) it's taken Iain McHenry and David Rowe 18 years to reach the coast of Dumfries and Galloway. That's where Clare joins them, on a beautifully sunny day, as they approach the village of Portpatrick on the remote Rhins of Galloway.

This is the first of two episodes recorded in the area: next week Margaret Hughes and Peter Ross take Clare on a section of the Southern Upland Way, starting in Portpatrick and heading north.

Producer: Karen Gregor
Presenter: Clare Balding


THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (m001qt0r)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:54 on Sunday]


THU 15:30 Open Book (m001qtrb)
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, plus Judith Kerr's centenary with Nicolette Jones and Oliver Jeffers

Johny Pitts talks to the author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie about her new book for children. The globally famous author behind Half of a Yellow Sun, Purple Hibiscus and Americanah explains how she was inspired to write something for a young generation by both her daughter and her late parents, whom she honours with the pseudonym Nwa Grace-James.

The illustrator and writer Judith Kerr would have been 100 this year. To mark her centenary, Oliver Jeffers and Nicolette Jones discuss her indisputable contribution to the world of children's books, her subtle ability to weave the playful with the profound, and legacy amongst writers today exploring issues such as displacement and living as a refugee.

Plus Molly Crawford of Simon & Schuster chose a poetic and powerful new novel from Jesmyn Ward as her Editor's Pick.

Producer: Ciaran Bermingham

Book list
Mama’s Sleeping Scarf by Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie (as Nwa Grace-James)
We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie
Dear Ijeawele by Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie
When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit, Bombs on Aunt Dainty and A Small Person Far Away (Out of the Hitler Time trilogy) by Judith Kerr
The Tiger Who Came to Tea by Judith Kerr
Mog the Forgetful Cat by Judith Kerr
My Henry by Judith Kerr
You Don’t Know What War Is by Yeva Skalietska
In The Sea There Are Crocodiles by Fabio Geda
Here We Are by Oliver Jeffers
Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell
The Swallow’s Flight, part 2 of the Skylark’s War Series by Hilary McKay
Boy, Everywhere by AM Dassu
The Boy at the Back of the Class by Onjali Q. Rauf
Hidden by Miriam Halahmy
Welcome to Nowhere by Elizabeth Laird
The Crossing by Manjeet Mann
Illegal by Eoin Colfer and Andrew Donkin
Begin Again by Oliver Jeffers
Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward


THU 16:00 Taste (m001ng7h)
Episode 4: Institutions

Aesthetic preferences, for Zakia Sewell, have always been woven into her identity, informing the ways she’s engaged with the world, through like-minded music lovers and fashion tribes. But 'taste' is also enshrined in the institutions that dominate our cultural life.

Zakia considers the recent rehang at Tate Britain with author and cultural critic Nathalie Olah and she discusses with Gabrielle de la Puente and Zarina Muhammad of The White Pube and Professor Dave O'Brien, one of the authors of Panic! It's An Arts Emergency, how institutional taste reveals what we as a society feel it’s appropriate to value, protect and promote.

Presented by Zakia Sewell
Produced by Alan Hall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
(Image credit: Buster Grey Jung)


THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (m001qtrg)
The state of nature in the UK

In this week’s episode Victoria Gill speaks to Nida al-Fulaij, conservation research manager at the People’s Trust for Endangered Species, about the UK’s new State of Nature report. Climate change, habitat loss and intensive agricultural practices have been blamed for the decline in species. But all is not lost. Victoria pays a visit to an eco-friendly farm and finds out how innovative agricultural practices can boost wildlife in the UK’s fields.

We’re kicking off our series of programmes covering The Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize. Chair of the judges is Alain Goriely, Professor of Mathematical Modelling at the University of Oxford. He gives us a rundown of this year’s shortlisted entries.

This week, scientists at CERN in Switzerland announced they have observed how antimatter behaves in the presence of gravity. Particle physicist Jeffrey Hangst, who led the Alpha experiment, tells us why this is a big deal.

We also have the latest on OSIRIS-REx mission, the first NASA mission to return a sample of an asteroid to Earth. The capsule parachuted down into the Utah desert this week. It contained a precious cargo of rock and dust samples taken from an asteroid named Bennu. Jon Amos, the BBC’s science correspondent is in Utah and witnessed the return. He tells Victoria all about it.

BBC Inside Science is produced in collaboration with the Open University.

Presenter:  Victoria Gill
Producers: Hannah Robins, Harrison Lewis, Alice Lipscombe-Southwell
Editor: Richard Collings   
Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth


THU 17:00 PM (m001qtrl)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines


THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m001qtrs)
The guidance comes six months after Gary Lineker was suspended for social media comments


THU 18:30 My Teenage Diary (m001qtrv)
Series 11

5: Sophie Duker

My Teenage Diary with Rufus Hound features six celebrities who will read from the diaries they kept during their formative years.

In this episode, the comedian Sophie Duker shares her diaries and talks about writing raunchy Harry Potter fan fiction, having a dad who lives abroad, and homework.

Host: Rufus Hound
Guest: Sophie Duker
Sound Production and Design: Jerry Peal
Producer: Harriet Jaine
A Talkback production for BBC Radio 4


THU 19:00 The Archers (m001qtnq)
Neil and Jazzer talk about Chelsea’s upcoming visit to Berrow Farm off the back of her interest in Lark Rise to Candleford. When she arrives she’s keen to get stuck in, but Jazzer’s protective of the pigs and teaches Chelsea some livestock etiquette. Chelsea’s sad to think of the pigs all going off to the abattoir in a few months. Jazzer cheers her up with a promise of a trip to the Bull. Jazzer’s not looking forward to the book reading tomorrow but concedes to Chelsea that if it’s for the Prof, he supposes it’s ok. He’s horrified to find out that Neil’s been reading bits of the book too – even if it is only the pig-related sections. Neil declares it interesting; Jazzer should have a look. Jazzer retorts that’s not going to happen.
Pip and Stella watch the seed drill in action. It may have caused her some heartache to get it, but Stella’s having fun showing it off to Pip. They enjoy a picnic and some flirtation before Stella ventures that she wants to tell Rosie about their relationship. To her surprise Pip agrees; they’ll do it when they get home. Later in the pub Chelsea notices Pip has a glow about her. As they all chat about tomorrow’s book reading, Pip gets a message about an emergency family meeting – Josh’s band has pulled out of the harvest supper event on Saturday. They have no idea what they’re going to do.


THU 19:15 Front Row (m001qtrx)
Víkingur Ólafsson on Bach’s Goldberg Variations, Ken Loach’s The Old Oak

Front Row reviews two of this week’s cultural highlights. Tom Sutcliffe is joined by writer Hettie Judah and film critic Peter Bradshaw to discuss Happy Gas, a retrospective of work by Sarah Lucas at the Tate Britain, and The Old Oak, which director Ken Loach has said will be his final film.

Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson, was Front Row’s artist in (remote) residence during the lockdown, playing for us live in the empty Harpa Concert Hall in Reykjavik. At last Víkingur comes to the Front Row studio in person to talk to Tom Sutcliffe about his recording of the Goldberg Variations which, he says, are a musical metaphor for life itself.

And the actor Sir Michael Gambon has died at the age of 82. Best-known for his role as Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter films, his work also encompassed theatre, TV and Radio drama. Theatre writer Paul Allen and film critic Peter Bradshaw discusses his career on both stage and screen.

Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe
Producer: Corinna Jones

Michael Gambon 1:12
Happy Gas 8:41
Vikingur Olafsson 16:32
The Old Oak 33:12


THU 20:00 The Briefing Room (m001qtmm)
What a murder in Canada tells us about India's place in the world

When a Canadian Sikh was murdereed in British Colombia in June few predicted the diplomatic bust up that ensued. What does this say about India's relationship with the West?

David Aaronovitch speaks to:

Professor Gurharpal Singh, Emeritus Professor of Sikh and Punjab Studies at SOAS
Nadine Yousif, BBC Canada Correspondent, based in Toronto
Shruti Kapila, Professor of History & Politics at the University of Cambridge
James Crabtree, Executive Director of The International Institute for Strategic Studies in Singapore and author of The Billionaire Raj: A Journey Through India's New Gilded Age

Production: Ben Carter, Claire Bowes and Ellie House
Production co-ordinator: Sophie Hill and Jacqui Johnson
Sound: James Beard
Editor: Richard Vadon

(Image: Sikhs protest for the independence of Khalistan in front of the Indian Consulate in Toronto, Canada, on July 8, 2023. (Photo by Geoff Robins / AFP) (Photo by GEOFF ROBINS/AFP via Getty Images)


THU 20:30 The Bottom Line (m001qtrz)
Back to the office

Many employers say they are desperate to get staff back into the office more often, but what's the best and fairest way to wean employees off remote working?

As companies from tech to banking grapple with this issue, Evan Davis and guests discuss the productivity pros and cons, the impact on company culture and career progression, and the future of the office space itself.

With many staff reluctant to give up the flexibility of remote working, is a hybrid model the answer to keeping them happy and how many office days each week should you go for? Plus, where do employees stand legally on return to the office requests, and what happens when workers simply refuse to comply?

Evan is joined by:

Kelly Beaver, CEO of Ipsos in the UK and Ireland;
Stephen White, Chief Operating Officer of Santander UK;
Ranjit Dhindsa, head of employment at Fieldfisher;
and Nicholas Bloom, professor of economics, Stanford University.

PRODUCTION TEAM:

Producer: Simon Tulett
Editor: China Collins
Sound: Rod Farquhar
Production co-ordinator: Gemma Ashman

(Picture: A businessman staring out of the window of an empty conference room. Credit: Chris Ryan/Getty Images)


THU 21:00 BBC Inside Science (m001qtrg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:30 today]


THU 21:30 In Our Time (m001qtpf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


THU 22:00 The World Tonight (m001qts2)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective


THU 22:45 The Secret Hours by Mick Herron (m001qts4)
Episode 9

Monochrome continues to hear testimony despite the best efforts of Regent’s Park to shut it down. And the inquiry’s onto something; Alison North recalls Miles’ plan to take revenge on an ex-Stasi officer for the murder of a British double agent.

Mick Herron’s new standalone thriller is read by Nina Sosanya.

Abridged by Eileen Horne
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie

Mick Herron is the bestselling author of the Slough House thrillers and Zoe Boehm series, and winner of the CWA Gold Dagger. His books featuring Jackson Lamb have been adapted for TV as the ‘Slow Horses’ series starring Gary Oldman and Kristin Scott Thomas.


THU 23:00 Tim Key's Late Night Poetry Programme (m000h1mz)
Labour

By Tim Key

Comedy. Megan has gone into labour and Tim is valiantly ploughing on with the radio show, broadcasting her contractions for all to hear. All except Lord, that is, who looks set to miss the birth of his first child, as he’s trapped in an escape room.

Key…. Tim Key
Lord…. Tom Basden
Megan…. Katy Wix
Bogle…. Bridget Christie

Directed by James Robinson
A BBC Cymru Wales Production


THU 23:30 'Whatever Next?' with Miles Jupp (m001cxbm)
Series 1

Episode 3

The Squire’s Will… and Its Consequences. Miles has a session with a professional life coach, looks back at the working-class career of working-class theatre writer, the working-class woman Brenda Munby and helps Seann Walsh launch his new podcast What’s Your Favourite Roast Dinner?

Starring Miles Jupp with Vicki Pepperdine, Julia Davis, Seann Walsh, Jocelyn Jee Essien, Philip Fox, Justin Edwards, Dominique Moore, Gyles Brandreth and David Gower

Written by Miles Jupp & James Kettle
Script edited by Graeme Garden
Produced by Victoria Lloyd

A Random Entertainment Production

FRIDAY 29 SEPTEMBER 2023

FRI 00:00 Midnight News (m001qts6)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


FRI 00:30 Great-Uncle Harry: A Tale of War and Empire by Michael Palin (m001qts8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Thursday]


FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m001qtsb)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m001qtsd)
World Service

BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m001qtsg)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


FRI 05:30 News Briefing (m001qtsj)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m001qtsl)
Spiritual reflection to start the day with Fiona Stewart, a writer who runs a Christian arts charity.


FRI 05:45 Farming Today (m001qtsn)
29/09/23 Windsor Framework; Overfishing; Harvest poetry.

Trade between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will change on Sunday as the new Windsor Framework comes into operation.The framework is the revised post-Brexit deal for Northern Ireland.  It was agreed by the EU and UK in February.

The government is being taken to court over fishing. The Blue Marine Foundation, a conservation charity, says ministers have set fishing quotas higher than scientific advice allows. The UK negotiates with neighbouring countries, like Norway and the EU over fishing quotas and those discussions are informed by scientific advice from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (Ices), which outlines how many fish can be taken from the ocean, without their numbers falling to dangerously low levels, but campaigners claim the government is ignoring that advice.

Harvest time has featured in poetry and songs for centuries, reflecting both the beauty and difficulty of farming at this important time of year. All week we've been celebrating nature writing. Today we hear from poet Sean Borodale who's been visiting farms and collecting stories to write his own poem, reflecting what harvest looks like nowadays.

Presenter = Anna Hill
Producer = Rebecca Rooney


FRI 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b08y0smr)
Liane Holdsworth on the Kestrel

RSPB Yorkshire staff are reflecting on birds all this week for Tweet of the Day. Today Visitor Experience Manager Liane Holdsworth recalls the thrill of watching a kestrel.

Producer Tom Bonnett.


FRI 06:00 Today (m001qtm0)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (m001qt30)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 on Sunday]


FRI 09:45 Great-Uncle Harry: A Tale of War and Empire by Michael Palin (m001qtr1)
Episode 5

From the time, many years ago, when Michael Palin first heard that his grandfather had a brother, Harry, who was killed in the First World War, he was determined to find out more about him.

The quest that followed involved hundreds of hours of painstaking detective work. Michael dug out every bit of family gossip and correspondence he could. He studied every relevant official document. He made use of his great-uncle Harry’s diaries, letters and postcards, and pored over photographs of First World War battle scenes to see whether Harry appeared in any of them. He walked the route Harry took on that fatal, final day of his life amid the mud of northern France. And as he did so, a life that had previously existed in the shadows was revealed to him.

A blend of biography, history, travelogue and personal memoir, Great-Uncle Harry is a compelling account of an ordinary man who led an extraordinary life.

Michael Palin has written and starred in numerous TV programmes and films, from Monty Python and Ripping Yarns to The Missionary and The Death of Stalin. His much-acclaimed travel documentaries have taken him to the North and South Poles, the Sahara Desert, the Himalayas, Eastern Europe and Brazil. His books include accounts of his journeys, novels (Hemingway’s Chair and The Truth), and several volumes of diaries. From 2009 to 2012 he was president of the Royal Geographical Society. He received a BAFTA fellowship in 2013, and a knighthood in 2019.

In today’s episode, Harry is in the trenches in northern France. It’s 1916, and the Battle of the Somme is about to begin. Michael Palin visits Mametz Wood, where his great-uncle was killed.

Abridged by Libby Spurrier
Producer: David Blount
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4


FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (m001qtmg)
Nicole Scherzinger, Finances of friendship, Asha Puthli

The American performer Nicole Scherzinger came to our attention as the lead singer of the Pussycat Dolls. She has since carved out a successful solo career with albums, serving as a judge on television talent shows including The X Factor. Eight years after she was nominated for an Olivier Award for her portrayal of Grizabella in Cats, Nicole has now returned to the West End stage where she stars as the immortal Norma Desmond in a new production of the musical Sunset Boulevard. She joins Anita to discuss taking on this iconic role.

The cost of living has put a strain on people’s budgets and a recent report from Carnegie UK Trust suggests around a third of people are not even seeing their friends because they can’t afford to. To discuss how to navigate the finances of friendship Anita talks to Danielle Bayard Jackson, a female friendship coach and Otegha Uwagba, author of We Need to Talk about Money.

Singer-songwriter and producer Asha Puthli is regarded as one of the most successful vocalists to come out of India. Referred to as a cosmopolitan pioneer of jazz, funk, soul and electronic dance music who has recorded ten solo albums for labels like EMI and CBS/Sony she joins Anita Rani to discuss 50 years in music.

India’s Supreme Court has issued a handbook of 40 words which judges should avoid when describing women in writing judgments or filing cases before courts. Ranjana Kumari is the Founder and Director of the Centre for Social Research, a women's rights organisation based in New Delhi. She joins Anita to talk about how sexist views have played a role in disadvantaging women in India’s courts.

Presenter: Anita Rani
Producer: Emma Pearce


FRI 11:00 The Briefing Room (m001qtmm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Thursday]


FRI 11:30 What's Funny About ... (m001qtms)
Series 3

Derry Girls

We get under the skin of sitcom Derry Girls.


FRI 12:00 News Summary (m001qtsq)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


FRI 12:04 Archive on 4 (m001q0kj)
The Holy Blood

Two decades ago Da Vinci Code mania gripped the world.
But the story behind the theory that Jesus Christ had a secret bloodline is more surprising than any thriller.
Step aside Indiana Jones and Robert Langdon - BBC Paris Correspondent Hugh Schofield heads to the South of France to uncover a forgotten milestone of broadcasting which helped set the template for the modern conspiracy theory.
The Lost Treasure of Jerusalem was a 1972 episode of the BBC history series Chronicle. It sets out the unusual local mystery of Rennes-le-Château - and the charismatic parish priest who somehow funded a major church renovation. What treasure had he uncovered?
Written by and featuring the actor-turned writer Henry Lincoln, the programme was a phenomenon. The idea that the church was decorated with symbols and clues hinting at the origin of the unexplained wealth gripped viewers and led to two follow-up programmes.
But Lincoln's research for the programmes became the keystone of the book The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail - popularising theories of Christ's marriage which went stratospheric with the 2003 release of The Da Vinci Code.
Intrepid Hugh reveals the forgotten global impact of the Chronicle series - speaking to The Damned drummer Rat Scabies who had a surprising ringside seat for much of the drama, and to Dame Marina Warner who was the star of a thrilling encounter with the three authors whose book was about to become a global best-seller.
We hear how this forgotten series popularised a spurious new approach to historical research and facts - one that reverberates through conspiracy theories today.

Presented by Hugh Schofield
Produced by Kevin Core


FRI 12:57 Weather (m001qtn9)
The latest weather forecast


FRI 13:00 World at One (m001qtnh)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment.


FRI 13:45 Uncharted with Hannah Fry (m001qwpl)
5. The Choice

How well do you make decisions?

It’s never easy, but today John Carter is faced with an agonising choice and has just 60 minutes to make the right call. One path could lead to glory, while the other might result in death.

Hannah Fry tells a tale of risk, decision making, and the single graph that changed it all.

Presenter: Hannah Fry
Executive Producer: Martin Smith
Series Producer: Lauren Armstrong-Carter
Episode Producer: Lauren Armstrong-Carter

A series for Radio 4 by BBC Science in Cardiff.


FRI 14:00 The Archers (m001qtnq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Thursday]


FRI 14:15 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


FRI 14:45 Close Encounters (m001mlm5)
Sir Chris Whitty and Dr Edward Jenner

The latest in Martha Kearney's new series celebrating portraits and portraiture through the eyes of ten Great Britons.
Her guest this time became a familiar face to anyone keeping abreast of developments during the COVID pandemic. The UK's Chief Medical Adviser Professor Sir Chris Whitty has chosen a fellow medical scientist and son of Gloucestershire, Edward Jenner, the man who's work developing Vaccination made it possible to start on the road to eradicating Smallpox.

After three years of closure for major refurbishment and expansion the National Portrait Gallery, just off London's Trafalgar Square is set for re-opening. To mark the occasion the gallery, along with BBC Radio 4 have launched a celebration of great Briton's, with Martha Kearney hosting a Close Encounter between the likes of Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Dame Katherine Grainger, Edward Enninful and Arlo Parks and a portrait they choose to champion. For Sir Tim Berners-Lee it's the Suffragette campaigner Christabel Pankhurst, for Dame Katherine Grainger it's the first English woman to swim the channel, the largely forgotten Mercedes Gleitze.

In each episode we find out about the subject of the portrait, the moment at which their image was captured for posterity and the importance of image and identity for those who find themselves in the eye of the nation's attention today.

Producers: Tom Alban and Mohini Patel


FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m001qtnv)
Mousehole

How do I stop my dwarf apple tree from growing too tall? When is the best time to prune back my entwined climber plants? Do you have any top tips for gardening on a slope?

Kathy Clugston and her team of horticultural experts are in the picturesque fishing village of Mousehole for today's episode of Gardeners' Question Time.

Joining her are self proclaimed botanical geek James Wong, gardening writer Anne Swithinbank and garden designer Chris Beardshaw.

Later in the show, Anne Swithinbank is joined by Senior Gardener Jack Beesley as they go against the tides to visit St. Michael’s Mount, where Anne takes peek behind the scenes of their breathtaking gardens.

Producer: Bethany Hocken

Assistant Producer: Dulcie Whadcock

Executive Producer: Hannah Newton

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4


FRI 15:45 Short Works (m001qtnx)
Boy by Clare Watson

An original short story commissioned by BBC Radio 4 from the Northern Irish writer Clare Watson. Read by Roísín Gallagher.

Clare Watson is the author of short stories published in the Seamus Heaney Centre Blackbird Anthology, and broadcast on BBC Radio Ulster’s Storytellers series. She studied at Queen’s University Belfast and graduated with a Masters degree in Special Educational Needs as well as a Masters in Creative Writing. She has been teaching for over 25 years and has been a Special Needs Co-ordinator in three different schools for over 8 years. She is currently working on a compilation of character driven stories focusing on the lives of women.

Details of organisations offering information and support with autism are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline.

Writer: Clare Watson
Reader: Roísín Gallagher
Producer: Michael Shannon
Editor: Andy Martin

A BBC Northern Ireland production.


FRI 16:00 Last Word (m001qtnz)
Gita Mehta, Matteo Messina Denaro, Irma Brenman Pick, John Stevenson

Matthew Bannister on

Gita Mehta, the author who set out to reveal the truth about India to the West. Her friend the theatre director Sir Richard Eyre pays tribute.

Matteo Messina Denaro, the Italian mafia boss who boasted he could “fill a cemetery” with his murder victims.

Irma Brenman Pick, the psychoanalyst who investigated the emotional reactions between patient and therapist.

John Stevenson, who wrote some of the best loved episodes of Coronation Street. Sally Wainwright shares her memories of working with him.

Interviewee: Sir Richard Eyre
Interviewee: Barbie Latza Nadeau
Interviewee: Daniel Pick
Interviewee: Margaret Rustin
Interviewee: Sally Wainwright

Producer: Gareth Nelson-Davies

Archive used:

Gita Mehta interview with Charlie Rose: The complexity and diversity of India, Charlie Rose website, 12/05/1997; Paperbacks: Gita Mehta interview about her book Karma Cola, BBC One, 29/04/1981; Gita Mehta documentary, Dateline Bangladesh, 18/12/2014; Gita Mehta interview, Woman’s Hour, BBC Radio 4, 02/07/1990; News report: Falcone killed in bomb explosion, BBC News, 23/05/1992; News report: Anti-Mafia Judge murdered, BBC News, 19/07/1992; Matteo Messina Denaro arrested, The World Tonight, Radio 4, 16/01/2023; Ken Barlow Finds Out About Deidre’s Affair, Coronation Street YouTube channel, uploaded 21/01/2015; Hilda Ogden unveils her new "muriel " , Coronation Street, 1976; Rovers Return scene, Coronation Street, 11/09/1978; Reg’s Waterbed Floods His Apartment, Coronation Street YouTube Channel, uploaded 30 May 2017; Brass opening scene, ITV, 21/02/1983; Ken gives Raquel French Lessons , Coronation Street Facebook page, uploaded 19/08/2020;


FRI 16:30 More or Less (m001qtb0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 on Wednesday]


FRI 17:00 PM (m001qtp1)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines


FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m001qtp6)
Two killed, including teenage girl, in school bus crash

A 14 year-old girl and a driver have died, after a bus carrying dozens of school pupils overturned on the M53 in Cheshire.


FRI 18:30 The News Quiz (m001qtp9)
Series 112

Episode 4

Andy Zaltzman quizzes the week's news. With him to find the answers to all our problems Andrew Doyle, Athena Kugblenu, Felicity Ward and Hugo Rifkind.

This week, Andy and the panel discuss Suella's desire to ditch conventions, Sunak laughing all the way to the Rosebank, and the thrills and spills of the Lib Dem conference.

Written by Andy Zaltzman

With additional material by
Alice Fraser
Ben Clover
Cody Dahler
and Miranda Holms

Producer: Gwyn Rhys Davies
Executive Producer: Richard Morris
Production Coordinator: Dan Marchini
Sound Editor: Giles Aspen

A BBC Studios Production


FRI 19:00 The Archers (m001qtph)
Writer, Naylah Ahmed
Director, Pip Swallow
Editor, Jeremy Howe

Josh Archer ...... Angus Imrie
Pip Archer ..... Daisy Badger
Lilian Bellamy ….. Sunny Ormonde
Neil Carter…. Brian Hewlett
Susan Carter….. Charlotte Martin
Toby Fairbrother ….. Rhys Bevan
Eddie Grundy ….. Trevor Harrison
Clarrie Grundy ….. Heather Bell
Will Grundy ….. Philip Molloy
Mia Grundy ….. Molly Pipe
George Grundy ..... Angus Stobie
Chelsea Horrobin ….. Madeleine Leslay
Jim Lloyd ….. John Rowe
Jazzer McCreary ….. Ryan Kelly
Lily Pargetter ….. Katie Redford
Stella Pryor ….. Lucy Speed


FRI 19:15 Screenshot (m001qtpq)
Stunts

To celebrate 50 years of the Bruce Lee classic, Enter the Dragon, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode look at the unsung heroes of cinema, stunt artists.

Mark talks to stunt choreographer on the Oscar winning film Everything Everywhere All at Once, Daniel Mah, and stunt historian Scott McGee about the history of stunts in Hollywood and how the Hong Kong style influenced cinema.

Ellen then speaks to journalist Brandon Streussnig and veteran stunt woman La Faye Baker about why stunt performers deserve awards recognition for their contributions to film.

Producer: Freya Hellier
A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4


FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (m001qtpz)
Victoria Atkins MP, Anneliese Dodds MP, Alexander Downer, Professor Sir David King

Alex Forsyth presents political discussion from One Sixth Form College in Ipswich with a panel including Victoria Atkins - Conservative MP for Louth and Hardcastle and Financial Secretary to the Treasury; Anneliese Dodds - Labour MP for Oxford East and Chair of the Labour Party; Chairman of Policy Exchange Alexander Downer and Professor Sir David King - climate change scientist and former Chief Scientific Advisor to the UK Government.
Producer: Ed Prendeville
Lead broadcast engineer: Richard Earle


FRI 20:50 A Point of View (m001qtq6)
Mixed Signals

Stephen Smith on why HS2 is such a cause of national hand-wringing.

'We get railways, we do railways - ever since Stephenson's Rocket in the nineteenth century. We gave railways to the world', writes Stephen.

He argues that there would never have been the same sense of dismay if we were talking about a road or a runway.

Producer: Adele Armstrong
Sound: Peter Bosher
Production coordinator: Peter Bosher
Editor: China Collins


FRI 21:00 Archive on 4 (m001qszl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Saturday]


FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (m001qtqd)
Nagorno Karabakh to cease to exist as half population leaves

After the felling of one of the UK's most celebrated trees, how common is tree vandalism?

A newly discovered Truman Capote short story


FRI 22:45 The Secret Hours by Mick Herron (m001qtqj)
Episode 10

Griselda’s tenacity pays off as Monochrome learns about the explosion that changed the life of ‘Alison North’ forever. But who leaked the OTIS file to the inquiry, and what links this tale of delayed revenge to the attack on retired spy Max Janacek?

Mick Herron’s new standalone thriller is read by Nina Sosanya.

Abridged by Eileen Horne
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie

Mick Herron is the bestselling author of the Slough House thrillers and Zoe Boehm series, and winner of the CWA Gold Dagger. His books featuring Jackson Lamb have been adapted for TV as the ‘Slow Horses’ series starring Gary Oldman and Kristin Scott Thomas.


FRI 23:00 Americast (m001qtqp)
Trump's Debate Escape

Why did Donald Trump skip another Republican debate? Sarah is sent to Michigan instead of California as Trump and Joe Biden race to show their solidarity with striking car factory workers.

Marc Lotter, who ran the comms on Trump's last campaign and was press secretary for Vice-President Mike Pence, tells the Americast team about the ex-president's re-election strategy.

He gives his take on why Trump doesn't need to debate his Republican rivals, which vice-presidential pick could help put him back into the Oval Office, and the only thing that could stop Trump from winning the Republican nomination.

HOSTS:
• Sarah Smith, North America editor
• Katty Kay, US special correspondent
• Marianna Spring, disinformation and social media correspondent
• Anthony Zurcher, North America correspondent

GUEST:
• Marc Lotter, Donald Trump's 2020 campaign communications director

GET IN TOUCH:
• Join our online community: https://discord.gg/qSrxqNcmRB
• Send us a message or voice note via WhatsApp to +44 330 123 9480
• Email Americast@bbc.co.uk
• Or use #Americast

Find out more about our award-winning "undercover voters" here: bbc.in/3lFddSF.

This episode was made by Catherine Fusillo, Claire Betzer and Hayley Clarke. The technical producer was Gareth Jones. The series producer is Daniel Wittenberg.

CLIP CREDITS:
• CBS Sports Network
• Fox Business

BBC SOUNDS CHAPTERS:
0:05 – Taylor Swift at the NFL
6:55 – Trump skips another Republican debate
13:14 – Marc Lotter interview
32:40 – Is a government shutdown looming?


FRI 23:30 'Whatever Next?' with Miles Jupp (m001d5kt)
Series 1

Episode 4

An ending and a beginning. Not necessarily in that order. Miles discovers a dark secret at the heart of the BBC Radio family, helps Seann Walsh launch his new podcast Are We Still Alive? and finally gets a guest spot on GB News.

Starring Miles Jupp with Vicki Pepperdine, Julia Davis, Seann Walsh, Jocelyn Jee Essien, Philip Fox, Justin Edwards, Dominique Moore, and David Gower

Written by Miles Jupp & James Kettle
Script edited by Graeme Garden
Produced by Victoria Lloyd

A Random Entertainment Production