SATURDAY 06 JANUARY 2024
SAT 00:00 Midnight News (m001tsg3)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
SAT 00:30 The Wager by David Grann (m001tsc6)
Book of the Week: Episode 5 - A Fight for Survival
In David Grann's high stakes story of an eighteenth century shipwreck, the Wager has foundered on submerged rocks and her crew is now marooned and faces a fight for survival off the coast of Patagonia. Luke Treadaway reads.
David Grann, the internationally best-selling and award winning writer, brings us the story of the treacherous events that took place on the Wager, an eighteenth century British warship, when it was lost at sea. Grann's enquiry into this story of shipwreck, mutiny, and murder sheds light on what happened when the Wager's crew were stranded on an uninhabitable island thousands of miles from home. The fate of those few men who made it home, reveals shocking insights into Great Britain's justice system in the Age of Empire.
David Grann is the author of The Lost City of Z, and Killers of the Flower Moon which is now a Hollywood blockbuster.
Abridged by Richard Hamilton
Produced by Elizabeth Allard
SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m001tsg5)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m001tsg7)
World Service
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
SAT 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m001tsg9)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
SAT 05:30 News Briefing (m001tsgc)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m001tsgf)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Bishop David Walker
(Epiphany) - following a star
Good morning
In the Western Christian calendar, today is the Feast of the Epiphany. A day to remember the visit of wise men, from lands far in the East, bringing gifts to the baby Jesus. In the bible, Matthew tells of how they were led to their destination by a star. One whose rays of light had newly appeared in the sky, perhaps, we might now surmise, a result of some interstellar explosion millennia before.
Navigation by the stars was, until very recent times, a mainstay of long distance mariners. Even today, whenever I start my car, the map that lights up on the screen, showing my exact location, does so courtesy of signals received from beyond the Earth’s atmosphere. The main difference is that radio waves from satellites have replaced starlight. But on a dark and foggy winter’s night, it has been the only thing keeping me from being totally lost.
Those ancient astrologers knew, if they were to find their way, they must lift up their eyes beyond mere earthly things. It’s a feature they share with my satnav, and one I seek consciously to cultivate for myself, through the practice of my faith. When I read the stories of Jesus in my bible, or seek to find God’s presence through prayer, I too am seeking direction from beyond; believing that my own knowledge and understanding, ethics and values, are rendered more true by what I encounter in the divine.
And so today I pray. May the lost discover their proper place, the confused find clarity of direction, and may the God who patterns the nightly sky with stars, help all who seek his guidance, to find and follow the right path, this day.
Amen.
SAT 05:45 The Banksy Story (m001nvrr)
1. The Mild, Mild West
James Peak isn't an art critic, or even a journalist. He's a Banksy super-fan, and in this series he, and his soundman, Duncan, get closer than close to Banksy's secret world - telling the story of the graffiti kid who made spraying walls into high art, the household name who is completely anonymous, the cultural phenomenon who bites the hand that feeds him.
James persuades a member of Banksy's secret team – someone who worked closely with the artist when they were starting to cut through – to talk about the experience. The story that results is a rollercoaster ride.
In this episode, how did the city of Bristol, in the south west of England, help to shape Banksy and his art? And will James and Duncan find the person they're looking for?
Written, Produced and Presented by James Peak
Sound & Commentary: Duncan Crowe.
Voices: Keith Wickham & Harriet Carmichael
Music: Alcatraz Swim Team & Lilium
Series Mixing: Neil Churchill
Executive Producer: Philip Abrams
With special thanks to Hadrian Briggs, Pete Chinn, Patrick Nguyen, John Higgs and Steph Warren.
An Essential Radio production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 06:00 News and Papers (m001v2yj)
The latest news headlines. Including the weather and a look at the papers.
SAT 06:07 Open Country (m001tsd8)
Creative Island with Anneka Rice
Anneka Rice’s favourite place on earth is the Isle of Wight. As an accomplished and enthusiastic painter, its landscape and atmosphere have inspired her art for as long as she can remember. And she’s not alone. On today’s Open Country, Anneka sets out to discover why the island is one of the most creative places in the UK, famous for attracting poets, painters and photographers to its shores. From legendary names such as Tennyson, Keats and Dickens, to modern-day local artists, Anneka considers whether it’s the sense of remoteness from the mainland, the ever-changing coastal landscape, the sense of community or something less tangible that inspires so much creativity.
Please scroll down on the Open Country page of the Radio 4 website to find photos from the day and also the 'related links' box for more information about the interviewees.
Producer: Karen Gregor
SAT 06:30 Farming Today (m001v2yz)
06/01/24 Oxford Farming Conferences: political announcements and the power of diversity.
We report from the farming conferences in Oxford. From the Oxford Farming Conference, we hear from the Environment Secretary and his Labour shadow on food and farming in England, and talk to the chairman of the OFC about this year's conference theme - the power of diversity.
We talk to one of the founders of the Oxford Real Farming Conference and speak to delegates there. We also join a session on dating - not to find a partner in love, but to match people with land and those wanting to farm it.
Presenter = Charlotte Smith
Producer = Rebecca Rooney
SAT 06:57 Weather (m001v2zl)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SAT 07:00 Today (m001v306)
Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (m001v30t)
Ed Byrne, Rhianna Pratchett, Rod Dimbleby, James May
Ed Byrne, the stand-up comedian, describes how he turned to comedy as a way of coping with the loss of his younger brother in 2023.
SAT 10:00 You're Dead to Me (m001v56w)
Catherine the Great
In the first episode of a new series, Greg Jenner is joined by Dr Julia Leikin and comedian David Mitchell to learn all about the life of Catherine II of Russia, better known as Catherine the Great. Catherine’s story is full of contradictions and ambiguities. She was a German princess who became empress of all Russia, a ruler who believed in Enlightenment philosophy but championed imperial expansion, and a sexually open woman in the patriarchal eighteenth century. From her childhood in Germany through her marriage to the heir to the Russian throne and eventual coup against his rule, this episode charts the twists and turns of Catherine’s life, and asks what kind of ruler she really was.
Hosted by: Greg Jenner
Research by: Jon Mason
Written by: Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow, Emma Nagouse, and Greg Jenner
Produced by: Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow and Greg Jenner
Audio Producer: Steve Hankey
Senior Producer: Emma Nagouse
SAT 10:30 Alexei Sayle's Strangers on a Train (m001nn8y)
Series 2
London to Blackpool
Comedy icon Alexei Sayle begins his second series for Radio 4 of rail journeys across the country with a trip to the most visited seaside resort in the country - Blackpool.
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 with strangers that will reveal their lives, hopes, dreams and destinations.
Along the way, Alexei holds a finger into the wind of the thoughts and moods of the great British travelling public. There’s humour, sadness and surprise as people reveal what is going on in their lives and, as Alexei passes through familiar towns and cities, he also delves into his own personal stories of a childhood in Liverpool and a long career as a comedian, actor and author.
In the opening programme of this new series, Alexei finds among his fellow travellers, Michael, who is on his way to a major international dance competition at the Winter Gardens Ballroom in Blackpool, with his first ever invitation to be a judge. He also meets friends Julie and Sarah who are out on a trip and determined to have fun, including turning the tables on Alexei and deciding they will interview him - with very surprising results. And, as a lifelong fan of trams, Alexei is thrilled to meet the woman who runs the most famous fleet of trams in the country, which has been carrying holidaymakers along Blackpool's seafront since 1885.
A Ride production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 11:00 Finding My Father (m001tbbk)
This is a remarkable true story of how an elderly former engineer met a new partner, who eventually put in a care home without telling his family where he was. His daughter embarked on a long search to track him down - when she finally found him last Christmas he had advanced dementia but recognised her straight away and was overjoyed to see her again.
Anyone else might have given up when faced with the obstacles that Carolyn Stephens encountered. Her widowed father met his new partner on a Saga holiday and very quickly Carolyn worried that she was isolating him from family and friends. She was concerned that her dad, Vincent, was losing mental capacity and arranged through his GP for dementia assessments to be organised. The day before his appointment, Vincent Stephens left his home and effectively disappeared from Carolyn's life.
Carolyn discovered that he and his new partner had attempted to post wedding bans but had been prevented from doing so by the Chief Registrar for Births Deaths and Marriages, who was worried about his lack of mental capacity. The couple had gone to a solicitor, where he signed a power of attorney giving her control over his financial and medical affairs; his house went up for sale and Carolyn was told by the police that her Dad did not want her to contact him anymore. It soon became apparent that this applied to other family members, who could no longer reach him.
His family lost contact with him altogether from 2019 and his daughter only found him again in December 2022 after searching through thousands of voter records in the British Library. She discovered that he had been put in a care home at the start of the Covid pandemic and when she got there and made her way towards his bed to hug him, he waved his arms and kept repeating the word 'surprised.' The search she had undertaken was harrowing and exhausting and Carolyn is telling her story in detail for the first time in the hope that it helps others. She is Professor of Global Health at University College London and is campaigning for better provision for the elderly.
This documentary focuses on what protection exists when loneliness and mental decline leave people vulnerable to potential abuse. It is estimated that around 3 million people aged 65 and over live alone in the UK and many hope to form new relationships in later life, especially after bereavement or divorce. The danger can come from strangers, lovers, and carers; but it can also be closer to home, from family and friends. The UK charities working in this field are united in wanting better protection and can relay countless stories of elderly people being isolated and losing contact with people who are important to them.
When Carolyn eventually found her father the full impact really hit home: so did her desire to make the most of what little time they had left together. She wants to see safeguarding of elderly people prioritised and is alarmed that protection in key legislation is currently being weakened. This documentary is tied to the BBC Radio 4 series, Million Dollar Lover, which is also presented by Sue Mitchell. It follows the case of an eighty year old woman in America who starts a relationship with a younger lover and sets in motion events which leave her increasingly isolated from those who are concerned about her.
And if you want to hear more on this subject, you can listen to Sue Mitchell's ten part series, Intrigue: Million Dollar Lover, on BBC Sounds.
We will be following up on the issues raised in future programmes and you can make contact at: sue.mitchell@bbc.co.uk
SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m001v31b)
Running Out of Road For A Two-State Solution
Kate Adie presents stories from Israel, Guatemala, The Philippines, Greece and the Faroe Islands
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is in the Middle East for another round of crisis diplomacy. After the assassination of a senior Hamas leader this week, there are now concerns the conflict will widen. Tom Bateman has just left his post in the Middle East and is now covering US foreign policy from Washington - which as he reflects - might have to draw on some lessons from history.
Ahead of his inauguration next weekend, Bernardo Arevalo, Guatemala's President-elect, has had to contend with a series of attempts to prevent him from taking power. His victory in elections last year confounded all expectations, and was widely seen as a repudiation of Guatemala's political elite, which has been dogged by corruption allegations for many years. But, the country's democratic future is still hanging in the balance, says Rory Sullivan.
Linda Pressly meets with a Catholic priest and a forensic pathologist in the Philippines, who are exhuming the remains of victims of Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs. In the process they discover evidence that points to a very different version of events to the official line.
Heidi Fuller-Love visits the Greek island, Antikythera, whose remote and idyllic setting is its greatest allure for visitors, but it also poses its biggest challenge for the small number of residents there. Now the Greek government is paying people 500 euros to live there.
And finally - Tim Ecott reports from the Faroe Islands of the North Atlantic where residents are trying to conserve their land and traditions in the face of an influx of tourists.
Series Producer: Serena Tarling
Editor: Richard Vadon
Production Coordinator: Gemma Ashman
SAT 12:00 News Summary (m001v31v)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SAT 12:04 Money Box (m001v2x4)
National Insurance Cut and Fraud Refunds
National Insurance will be cut for millions workers from today. It'll be cut from 12% to 10% - the lowest main rate for more than twenty years. The government says this cut will save an employee on average earnings around £450 a year. However, some experts including the Office for Budget Responsibility say that gain is far less than the cost of freezing personal tax allowances from 2021 while wages rose. What will it mean for you?
A new set of regulations designed to help victims of fraud should see up to 90% of them get the money stolen from them refunded by their banks. That's according to Chris Hemsley, who runs the Payment Systems Regulator. He says he hopes the change will encourage the industry to do even more to stop fraud from happening in the first place.
HM Revenue and Customs says it will only take what it calls 'priority calls' on its Self Assessment helpline ahead of the 31st January tax deadline - sending everyone else to its online services. How will that work in practice?
And what parents of small children need to do to apply for the new 15 hours of free childcare.
Presenter: Paul Lewis
Reporters: Dan Whitworth, Sandra Hardial and Eimear Devlin
Editor: Jess Quayle
(First broadcast
12pm Saturday 6th January 2024)
SAT 12:30 The News Quiz (m001tsf0)
Series 113
Best of 2023
A look back on some of the best bits of News Quizzing from 2023.
In this compilation episode Andy Zaltzman casts his satirical eye over the highs and lows of the year, in which the UK managed to keep hold of a Prime Minister for more than a year (well done us), the economy moved about as erratically as a paper plane in a snowstorm, and there were some events in the Middle East that made doing a light-hearted topical news show a bit of a challenge at times...
Hosted and written by Andy Zaltzman.
Producer: Sam Holmes
Executive Producer: James Robinson
Production Coordinator: Dan Marchini
A BBC Studios Production
SAT 12:57 Weather (m001v32c)
The latest weather forecast
SAT 13:00 News and Weather (m001v32t)
The latest national and international news and weather reports from BBC Radio 4
SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (m001tsfg)
Baroness O'Grady, Fraser Nelson, Ash Sarkar, Lord Willetts
Alex Forsyth presents political discussion from Hinde Street Methodist Church in Marylebone in London with a panel including the former General Secretary of the TUC Baroness Frances O'Grady, the editor of The Spectator Fraser Nelson, the contributing editor at Novara Media Ash Sarkar and the President of the Resolution Foundation Lord David Willetts.
Producer: Robin Markwell
Lead broadcast engineer: Ian Deeley
SAT 14:00 Any Answers? (m001v337)
Call Any Answers? to have your say on the big issues in the news this week
SAT 14:45 The Banksy Story (m001nvql)
2. Love & Death & BMX
James Peak isn't an art critic, or even a journalist. He's a Banksy super-fan, and in this series he, and his soundman Duncan, get closer than close to Banksy's secret world - telling the story of the graffiti kid who made spraying walls into high art, the household name who is completely anonymous, the cultural phenomenon who bites the hand that feeds him.
James persuades a member of Banksy's secret team – someone who worked closely with the artist when they were starting to cut through – to talk about the experience. The story that results is a rollercoaster ride.
In this episode, James finds someone from Banksy's secret team, but will they talk?
Written, Produced and Presented by James Peak
Sound & Commentary: Duncan Crowe.
Voices: Keith Wickham & Harriet Carmichael
Music: Alcatraz Swim Team & Lilium
Series Mixing: Neil Churchill
Executive Producer: Philip Abrams
With special thanks to Hadrian Briggs, Pete Chinn, Patrick Nguyen, John Higgs and Steph Warren.
An Essential Radio production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 15:00 Electric Decade (m000nkhb)
USA by John Dos Passos
Episode One
USA is an epic saga following a group of characters through the opening decades of the 20th century, in a grand sweep that takes us from post-war boom to Great Depression bust.
It has modernist flair, a sharp social eye, and a profound humanity. We follow key individuals, drawn from all walks of life, as their paths cross to creating a complex and moving tapestry of American society.
One by one, we are introduced to the players, and we learn about each in depth from infancy to maturity. We see them growing up, negotiating adolescence, looking for love and finding their place in the world, meeting each other as fortune dictates, and following their destiny to success or failure.
Dramatised by Robin Brooks from John Dos Passos's USA trilogy: The 42nd Parallel, 1919 and The Big Money
Episode One : John Ward Moorehouse, Eleanor Stoddard, and Janey Williams.
In the opening episode, we meet the first players in our saga, as fate draws the threads of their lives together - John Moorehouse, a young man on the make, Eleanor Stoddard, a young woman with artistic ambitions, and Janey Williams, a girl growing up on the wrong side of the tracks.
Cast:
John Ward Moorehouse ..... Tom Bateman
Eleanor Stoddard ..... Tanya Reynolds
Eveline Hutchins ..... Hannah Genesius
Janey Williams ..... Sheila Atim
Annabelle Strang ..... Jessica Phillippi
Rochevillain /Oliver Taylor ..... Jacob Fortune-Lloyd
Freddy Sergeant / Alec ..... Calam Lynch
Joe Williams ..... Adam Courting
Gertrude Staple ..... Laurel Lefkow
McGill ..... Eric Meyers
Jerry Burnham/ Oppenheimer ..... Will Howard
Producer / Director - Fiona McAlpine
Sound Design - Lucinda Mason Brown
Production Manager - Lucy Barter
Broadcast Assistant - Georgia Brown
An Allegra production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 16:00 Woman's Hour (m001v33l)
Weekend Woman's Hour - Women in the metaverse, Author Vanessa Chan, Women and negotiation
Police are investigating what is possibly the first crime of its kind: a British schoolgirl playing a game in the metaverse was allegedly sexually assaulted by a group of online strangers. Given that this happened in a virtual reality game, it is not yet clear whether there is any crime here to prosecute. We hear from Helen Rumbelow from The Times, and her colleague Sean Russell, who has gone into the metaverse as both a man and a woman, and was struck by how different it was.
How much of your daily life do you spend negotiating? Perhaps at work, or with your children – or even in-laws? Mum and a mic on Instagram, Jane Dowden, discusses the negotiations she has with her twins, and clinical psychologist Catherine Hallissey tells us what goes on in our brains while we’re negotiating, and the best way to do so with family.
Is farming getting easier for women? New research out this week suggests that women working in agriculture are finding life worse now than they did 10 years ago. This comes as more women are showing an interest in pursuing farming as a career – with some agricultural colleges enrolling record numbers of girls onto their courses. We hear from Emily Norton, a female farmer and agricultural commentator, as well as Bridgette Baker, a young farmer who recently graduated, to find out their experiences in farming.
Violinist Izzy Judd trained at the Royal Academy of Music and was an original member of the string quartet Escala, who shot to fame on Britain’s Got Talent in 2008. She met her husband Harry on the McFly Wonderland tour. Following marriage and three small children, Izzy has written two books - Dare to Dream and Mindfulness for Mums. She has now returned to her love of playing the violin, with a forthcoming EP - Moments, and a single - Somewhere in My Memory.
The Storm We Made is a new book by the debut author Vanessa Chan. Set in what we know today as Malaysia across two timelines - British colonialism and Japanese colonialism - it follows bored housewife Cecily who risks it all to become a spy for a general. But her decisions have huge repercussions for her and her family. Vanessa Chan tells us about her book which was fought over in a seven-way auction by publishers in the UK.
Steph Daniels gave up hockey in her 30s to teach PE and English and manage an all-female synth pop group called Zenana. However, in her 70s, she saw an advert for Bedford Hockey Club and decided to dust off her sticks. Since then, she’s even attended a trial for the over-70s England team and vows to try again next year. She tells us about reigniting old passions.
Presenter: Clare McDonnell
Producer: Rabeka Nurmahomed
SAT 17:00 PM (m001v33z)
Full coverage of the day's news
SAT 17:30 Sliced Bread Presents (m001s5hc)
Sliced Bread - Ice Baths
Do the claims made about Ice Baths hold water?
Social media appears to be filled with countless people sitting blissfully in small inflatable ‘ice baths’. Fans of such ‘cold water therapy’ claim that taking a chilly plunge will boost your energy levels, reduce your stress, help you sleep better, and supercharge your recovery after a workout. Listener Laura wants to know if the science backs that up.
In this episode, I dip my toe - and the rest of me - into an ice bath to find out. I'm guided by Professor Mike Tipton at the University of Portsmouth, one of the leading academics in the study of cold water and its effects on the body.
If you’ve seen an ad, trend or fad relating to another consumer product and wonder if there’s any evidence to back up a claim, then email us: sliced.bread@bbc.co.uk or you can send a voice note to our WhatsApp number: 07543 306807
Presenter: Greg Foot
Producer: Simon Hoban
SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m001v34d)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
SAT 17:57 Weather (m001v34t)
The latest weather forecast
SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m001v358)
US airline regulator grounds some Boeing 737 Max 9 jets and orders urgent inspections. Hezbollah fires dozens of rockets into northern Israel. Police officer charged with rape.
SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (m001v2x6)
Helen George, Kevin McCloud, Dom Joly, Ellie Simmonds, Frances Barber, Al Lewis, Laville, Clive Anderson
Clive Anderson and Ellie Simmonds are joined by Helen George, Frances Barber, Kevin McCloud and Dom Joly for an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy. With music from Al Lewis and Laville.
SAT 19:00 Profile (m001v2wj)
Richard Tice
Reform UK - formerly known as 'The Brexit Party' - has hit 10% in polls for the first time. And its leader, Richard Tice, is gearing up to contest the next general election. In a press conference this week, he vowed that Reform UK candidates would stand in every seat in England, Wales, and Scotland - posing a threat to Conservative candidates across the country.
Dubbed a "bad boy of Brexit", who is the businessman turned politician leading this charge from the right?
Presenter: Paul Connolly
Producers: Ellie House, Diane Richardson, Julie Ball
Editor: Richard Vadon
Studio Manager: James Beard
Production Coordinator: Janet Staples
SAT 19:15 This Cultural Life (m001v35m)
Andrew Scott
Andrew Scott won a BAFTA as the evil Moriarty in Sherlock, but is equally loved for a divine television role as the hot priest in Fleabag. A prolific and versatile stage actor, he has starred in many plays by contemporary dramatists, including Port and Birdland by Simon Stevens. He played Hamlet to great critical acclaim and won an Olivier award for his starring role in Noel Coward’s Present Laughter. His latest film role is All Of Us Strangers, in which he plays a single gay man haunted by the death of his parents.
Andrew Scott talks to John Wilson about his suburban Dublin childhood and the early creative influence of his mother, an art teacher. After landing a debut role in an independent Irish film called Korea, Andrew gave up a university place studying drama to pursue an acting career. He remembers small parts playing American soldiers in Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan and the television series Band Of Brothers. He discusses his love of Shakespeare and his approach to playing the role of Hamlet at the Almeida Theatre in London in 2017, and reveals how the music of Pet Shop Boys, and in particular their 1987 album Actually, are a reminder of a formative time of his life.
Producer: Edwina Pitman
SAT 20:00 Archive on 4 (m001v360)
Saints and Sinners
The story of religious broadcasting is as much about control as it is about the nature of the sacred. Through programmes and previously unbroadcast interviews from the BBC's Oral History collection, Rev Giles Fraser looks back over a century of fascinating debates and tensions over how to broadcast matters of faith and spirituality and how the development of religious broadcasting reflects Britain’s uneasy relationship with religion.
Producer: Amanda Hancox
SAT 21:00 Drama on 4 (m0013zp0)
Fake Psychic (Part 1)
Written and reported by Vicky Baker
Drama by Nick Perry
If you wanted to speak with the dead in 1960s America, there was one man who was ready to help. For more than a decade, Lamar Keene was at the top of his game, becoming known as the Prince of Spiritualists. Then, quite suddenly, he turned his back on it all.
But Lamar Keene didn't go quietly. He published a tell-all expose in which he confessed that he was little more than a conman, a psychic fraudster, who manipulated people in their most vulnerable moments. And in doing so, he catalogued the many physical and psychological tricks he used to separate his followers from their money.
It wasn’t just his own carefully-crafted reputation that Lamar Keene sought to destroy. He wanted to blow the whistle on the whole industry. He claimed that he had been part of a national underground network that included many other psychics, clairvoyants and mediums, who combined forces to fleece the unsuspecting public. He called it the “psychic mafia,” and said that his confession made him a marked man.
But how much can we trust the revelations of a self-confessed conman? How much of Lamar Keene’s extraordinary story is really true? And what can it tell us about how our emotions affect belief and our susceptibility to misinformation?
In a series that mixes documentary with drama, Vicky Baker (Fake Heiress) takes a deep dive into Lamar Keene’s stranger-than-fiction life story.
The series includes extracts from the book Psychic Mafia by Lamar Keene as told to Allan Spraggett, published by 1878 Press.
Lamar . . . . . Edward Hogg
Raoul . . . . . Tom Mothersdale
Dorothy . . . . . Lorelei King
Andrija . . . . . Michael Begley
Tom . . . . . Neil McCaul
Lona . . . . . Jasmine Hyde
Ruthie . . . . . Tillie Murray
Lillian . . . . . Christine Kavanagh
Warden . . . . . Chris Jack
Sound: Peter Ringrose
Producer: Sasha Yevtushenko
SAT 21:45 Short Works (m001tsdh)
The Portal in Lisbon
By Baret Magarian. After things go wrong for him in London, an academic goes on a restorative but unusual summer break in Lisbon.
Baret Magarian was born in London of Armenian origin. His novel, The Fabrications, was published in 2017. His collection of stories, Melting Point, was published in 2019.
Writer: Baret Magarian
Reader: Edmund Kingsley
Producer: Jeremy Osborne
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 22:00 News (m001v36f)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4
SAT 22:15 Screenshot (m001tsfb)
Booze and sobriety
Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode explore depictions of alcohol in film and television over the years, from the hilarity of Dudley Moore in Arthur, to the tragedy of Nicolas Cage in Leaving Las Vegas.
Mark is joined by Little White Lies magazine's Hannah Strong to celebrate some of the most iconic drinkers in cinema, from Bridesmaids to Jaws. And he speaks to actor Richard E Grant about playing one of the definitive screen drunks in Withnail And I, despite famously not drinking himself.
And Ellen looks at Hollywood's changing attitudes to booze, starting with the most sober time in history - in theory - Prohibition-era America. She speaks to critic Christina Newland and to writer Simone Finch, whose TV show Single Drunk Female offers a refreshingly modern depiction of sobriety.
Details of organisations offering information and support with alcohol and addiction are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline.
Producer: Jane Long
A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 23:00 Counterpoint (m001ts6t)
Series 37
Heat 4, 2024
(4/13)
Paul Gambaccini puts another three amateur music-lovers through their paces in the eclectic music quiz. As well as testing their general musical knowledge, he'll be asking them to pick questions on an individual theme or musical topic, from a list they haven't seen before. They'll need speed on the trigger as well as a wide range of musical interests if they're to make it through to the semi-finals.
Today's competitors are:
Nicki Cockburn from Cardiff
Geraint Davies from Gwent
Emma Laslett from Milton Keynes.
Assistant Producer: Stephen Garner
Producer: Paul Bajoria
SAT 23:30 Limelight (p0bytt4r)
Dead Hand
Dead Hand – Episode 5: Ceasefire Babies
A contemporary thriller set in Northern Ireland written by Stuart Drennan.
Greg is the host of a true crime podcast dedicated to uncovering the identity of a serial killer, last active over twenty years ago, known only as Dead Hand. A killer named after a mysterious radio transmission which has been broadcasting an indecipherable code in the years since Dead Hand vanished. A code told in the voices of Dead Hand’s victims; including Greg’s missing father. However, when a new voice is added to the code, Greg realises that Dead Hand is active again. With time already running out, can he finally crack the code and catch the killer?
Cast:
Greg … Paul Mallon
DS Murray … Michelle Fairley
Kate … Roísín Gallagher
Lucy … Hannah Eggleton
Stacey … Eimear Fearon
May … Julia Dearden
Control … Louise Parker
Police Officer … Andrew McCracken
TSG lead … Patrick Buchanan
Marc Sheene … Conleth Hill
All other roles played by members of the cast.
Writer … Stuart Drennan
Script Editor … Philip Palmer
Producer … Michael Shannon
Executive Editor … Andy Martin
A BBC Northern Ireland production for Radio 4.
SUNDAY 07 JANUARY 2024
SUN 00:00 Midnight News (m001v36t)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 00:15 The Wilkie Collins Guide to Modern Life (m001tr6h)
Matthew Sweet re-examines the life and work of the exciting, sensational and surprising figure who contemporary critics might have labelled 'Woke Wilkie'. In this his bicentenary year, Matthew will open up the world of Wilkie Collins's fiction - a world that is profoundly strange, but deeply engaged with questions with which we're still grappling today. Whether on restitution, polyamory, disability or gender roles, Collins wasn't just ahead of his own time but in many ways, ahead of ours.
Readers: Josh Bryant-Jones and Kitty O'Sullivan
Producer: Mohini Patel
SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m001v375)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m001v37f)
World Service
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m001v37z)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
SUN 05:30 News Briefing (m001v38l)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (m001v2xn)
The Parish Church of Saint Buryan in Cornwall
Bells on Sunday, comes from the Parish Church of Saint Buryan in Cornwall. Local legend suggests both the village and church is named after the daughter of an Irish King who brought Christianity to Cornwall in the 6th century. The ninety-two-foot tower was completed in 1501 and today it houses the heaviest peal of six bells in the world. The Tenor bell weighs thirty seven and a half hundredweight and is in the note of C flat We hear them ringing Cambridge Minor.
SUN 05:45 Profile (m001v2wj)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 06:00 News Summary (m001v2v6)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 06:05 Something Understood (m0001x6m)
Epiphany: The Duty to Be Happy
It is a matter of contention whether happiness should be the proper aim of life. The right to pursue it is enshrined in the American Declaration of Independence and the Dalai Lama has called it “the purpose of our life”. Nietzsche, however, remarked that “only the Englishman” strove for happiness. Denominations of many faiths often seem to place more emphasis on atoning for sins than striving to be happy.
To mark the feast day of the Three Wise Men taking “good news” out into the world, Mark Tully asks whether being happy and trying to spread happiness is a duty we all share. There are readings from the work of James Joyce and poet and performer Agnes Török and music from Scott Joplin and Jules Massenet.
The readers are David Westhead, Polly Frame and Francis Cadder.
Presenter: Mark Tully
Producer: Frank Stirling
SUN 06:35 Natural Histories (m000b0qd)
Poppy
Poppies are associated with many things but to most people they are a symbol of remembrance or associated with the opium trade. Natural Histories examines our fascination with the flower. Lia Leendertz visits the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew where James Wearn shows her a collection of poppy paraphernalia from around the world. Andrew Lack, of Oxford Brookes University and author of Poppy, explains how the flower made its way to the British Isles with the introduction of agriculture, and Joe Crawford of Exeter University describes the popularity of the opium poppy in 19th century Britain, especially among female poets. A vibrant opium trade led British horticulturalists to try and establish a home grown opium crop - without success. Fiona Stafford appraises the poppy in art encouraging us to look again at Monet's late 19th century painting of a poppy field in northern France. It was painted just a few decades before the outbreak of the Great War which established the red poppy as a permanent reminder of the bloodshed of fallen soldiers.
First broadcast in a longer form on 8th November 2019
Original Producer (2019): Maggie Ayre
Archive Producer (2024) : Andrew Dawes
SUN 06:57 Weather (m001v2v9)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SUN 07:00 News and Papers (m001v2vd)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 07:10 Sunday (m001v2vj)
Does religion do more harm than good?
Researchers at the University of Birmingham have conducted a wide-ranging survey on perceptions of religion and science, which suggests that half the UK population believes that religion does more harm than good. 50% of respondents said religion 'has more negative societal consequences than positive', 30% said it 'has more positive societal consequences' and 20% didn’t know. We discuss the findings and weigh up the religious ‘balance sheet’ with Professor Alice Roberts, anatomist, broadcaster and Vice President of Humanists UK; and Dr Musharraf Hussain, Imam, scientist and charity worker in Nottingham.
Also in the programme:
This week saw the UK cinema release of ‘One Life’ – a film about the British man Nicholas Winton who, in the months leading up to World War II, rescued 669 mostly Jewish Czechoslovakian children from the Nazis. One of those children, Milena Grenfell-Baines, tells her story.
The Church of Scotland is on a five-year mission to close places of worship made unviable by a lack of ministers, falling income and dwindling congregations. Reporter Moira Hickey visits Birnie Kirk, near Elgin in Moray, which recently held its last service after nearly 900 uninterrupted years of Christian worship.
Producers: Dan Tierney and Catherine Murray
Production co-ordinator: David Baguley
Editor: Helen Grady
SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (m001v2vm)
Solar Aid
Actor Cate Blanchett makes the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of Solar Aid.
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 ‘Solar Aid’.
- Cheques should be made payable to ‘Solar Aid’.
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.
Charity Number 1115960
SUN 07:57 Weather (m001v2vp)
The latest weather forecast
SUN 08:00 News and Papers (m001v2vr)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the Sunday papers.
SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (m001v2vt)
Lighten our darkness
On the first Sunday of 2024 the Bishop of Manchester, David Walker, and the Revd Grace Thomas look for hope in this season of Epiphany. Jesus was himself a refugee, sought by the Magi in worship but also by those who wished him harm. We hear from Christians connected with war-torn parts of the world – Ethiopia, Ukraine, and the Middle East - where they find hope for the future. Readings: Isaiah 60: 1-9; Matthew 2:2-12. The Daily Service Singers are directed by Andrew Earis, with organist John Hosking. Producer: Philip Billson
Music
Choir: No small wonder (Paul Edwards)
Hymn: As with gladness men of old (Dix arr. David Willcocks)
Choir: Brightest and best (Southern Harmony arr. Shewn Kirchner)
Choir: Coventry Carol (arr. Martin Shaw)
Choir: Kyrie (Ukrainian, from the Orthodox Liturgy)
Choir: What child is this? (arr. Molly Ijames)
Choir: The Lord is my light (Taize)
Hymn: O worship the Lord (Was Lebel)
SUN 08:48 A Point of View (m001tsfl)
A Plate of Pfeffernusse
Zoe Strimpel explores our relationship with sugar - from the days of the 12th century chronicler William of Tyre when sugar was regarded as 'very necessary for the use and health of mankind' to the 'sugar is evil' attitude of today.
And she reflects on sugar's power to bind generations together and keep history alive. 'My grandmother and I would often bond over a plate of pfeffernusse... powdered gingerbread stuffed shapes from Germany', Zoe writes. 'Recipes for cakes - we are a family of women who love cake - were passed down on yellow, lined paper in stained scrapbooks and closely guarded'.
'And so here I am, 41, and still unable to give up the white stuff.'
Producer: Adele Armstrong
Sound: Peter Bosher
Production coordinator: Gemma Ashman
Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith
SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (b03mztqr)
Collared Dove
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 Collared Dove. Although these attractive sandy doves grace our bird-tables or greet us at dawn almost wherever we live in the UK, their story is one of the most extraordinary of any British bird.
SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (m001v2vw)
The Sunday morning news magazine programme. Presented by Paddy O'Connell
SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (m001v2vy)
Writer: Sarah Hehir
Director: Dave Payne
Brian Aldridge…. Charles Collingwood
Helen Archer …. Louiza Patikas
Henry Archer …. Blayke Darby
Jolene Archer …. Buffy Davis
Kenton Archer …. Richard Attlee
Tony Archer …. David Troughton
Lilian Bellamy …. Sunny Ormonde
Alice Carter …. Hollie Chapman
Chris Carter …. Wilf Scolding
Eddie Grundy …. Trevor Harrison
Jakob Hakansson …. Paul Venables
Brad Horrobin …. Taylor Uttley
Chelsea Horrobin …. Madeleine Leslay
Tracy Horrobin …. Susie Riddell
Joy Horville …. Jackie Lye
Kate Madikane …. Perdita Avery
Oliver Sterling …. Michael Cochrane
SUN 11:15 Desert Island Discs (m001v2w0)
Graham Nash, musician
Graham William Nash is a musician, singer, songwriter and photographer. He had his first musical success as a member of the UK band The Hollies before his move to America when he sang as part of Crosby, Stills and Nash.
Graham was born in 1942 and grew up in Salford. He found his singing voice at the age of six when he realised that not only could he sing, but he had the ability to harmonise any melody.
He is a two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee. Over the years, Graham has written many hit songs for The Hollies and Crosby, Stills and Nash including Our House and Marrakesh Express. Alongside his critically acclaimed musical career, Graham is also a successful photographer. His photos have been on show in galleries and museums around the world.
He lives in New York with his third wife.
DISC ONE: Be-bop-a-Lula - Gene Vincent
DISC TWO: Great Balls of Fire - Jerry Lee Lewis
DISC THREE: Maybe Baby - Buddy Holly and the Crickets
DISC FOUR: Bye Bye Love - The Everly Brothers
DISC FIVE: God Only Knows - The Beach Boys
DISC SIX: Adagio for Strings, composed by Samuel Barber and performed by City of London Sinfonia conducted, by Richard Hickox
DISC SEVEN: Don't Give Up - Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush
DISC EIGHT: A Day In The Life - The Beatles
BOOK CHOICE: The Island at the Center of the World by Russell Shorto
LUXURY ITEM: A sleeping bag
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: A Day In The Life - The Beatles
Presenter Lauren Laverne
Producer Sarah Taylor
SUN 12:00 News Summary (m001v35y)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 12:04 The Unbelievable Truth (m001ts8t)
Seasonal Trimmings
It's a star-studded seasonal special featuring choice cuts from a cast that includes Graeme Garden, Armando Iannucci, Sean Lock, Richard Osman, Holly Walsh, Susan Calman, David O’Doherty, Rob Brydon, Alan Davies, Stephen Fry, Fern Brady, Geoff Norcott, Simon Evans, Jack Dee, John Lloyd, Lee Mack and Rufus Hound.
Topics covered include Christmas trees, nuts, snow, donkeys, Santa Claus, champagne, reindeer, boxes and turkey.
The show is devised by Graeme Garden and Jon Naismith.
Producer: Jon Naismith
A Random Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 12:32 The Food Programme (m001v2w4)
A Seaweed Revolution in the UK?
Seaweed farming could be a huge boon for the UK, restoring biodiversity, cleaning the sea and could even be capturing carbon. Seaweed is healthy and delicious but UK grown seaweed has a very low profile with only a handful of farms across the country and few people eating it. In this programme Leyla Kazim finds out why this is and what a future focused on seaweed could look like.
She talks to Vincent Doumeizel author of The Seaweed Revolution who believes seaweed is an answer to many of the crises we face as a species. In St Austell bay, Cornwall she meets Tim van Berkel from the Cornish Seaweed Company and sees one of the few seaweed farms in the UK. What is the current state of Seaweed farming? We hear from Elisa Capuzzo CEFAS. Leyla meets Douglas McMaster at his restaurant Silo to talk about seaweed as an ingredient. She also talks to Olly Hicks, adventurer and seaweed farmer who has a licence for a huge seaweed in Devon but is currently selling the seaweed for use in agriculture.
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Sam Grist
SUN 12:57 Weather (m001v2w6)
The latest weather forecast
SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (m001v2w8)
Radio 4's look at the week's big stories from both home and around the world
SUN 13:30 Gangster (m001v7y6)
Catching the Kingpins
Catching the Kingpins: 1. The Hack
Police across Europe prepare for a top-secret operation: the hacking of EncroChat, an encrypted phone network favoured by organised crime groups.
EncroChat’s server has been discovered in northern France. The French police are planning to secretly inject some code into the users’ next software update. If it works, police could be reading the criminals’ messages for weeks.
At the Metropolitan Police in London, DCI Driss Hayoukane is summoned to a confidential meeting where he hears about the plan. He realises this is a once in a lifetime opportunity and decides to put his retirement on hold.
Presenter: Mobeen Azhar
Series Producer: Andrew Hosken
Editor and Executive Producer: Innes Bowen
Catching the Kingpins is a BBC Studios Production for BBC Sounds.
SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m001tsdc)
Postbag: Sheffield Botanical Gardens
How do you propagate and grow Bog Myrtle? What South African or exotic plants could we grow in our garden? What can I plant in the windiest part of my garden that can survive harsh conditions?
Peter Gibbs and his team of gardening experts start the new year by exploring the serene and charming Sheffield Botanical Gardens, answering your horticultural queries from the GQT inbox.
Peter’s joined by garden designer Juliet Sargeant, botanical expert James Wong and Curator of RHS Garden Bridgewater Marcus Chilton-Jones. Leading Peter and the panel around the gardens is Programme Manager Ian Turner.
Producer: Bethany Hocken
Assistant Producer: Rahnee Prescod
Executive Producer: Hannah Newton
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 14:45 Opening Lines (m001v2wb)
Our Man in Havana - Episode 1
In the series that takes a look at books, plays and stories and how they work, John Yorke explores Graham Greene’s classic dark comedy, Our Man in Havana.
Greene was already an established and successful novelist and screenwriter by the time he wrote Our Man in Havana and, in this first of two episodes about the book, John looks at the plot of what became a classic comedy thriller and at how deftly Greene outlined his characters. The book is set in pre-revolutionary Havana and John also hears how the political situation coloured his writing and how the target of Greene’s work was an organisation that was very familiar to him - British Intelligence.
John Yorke has worked in television and radio for nearly 30 years, and he shares his experience with Radio 4 listeners as he unpacks the themes and impact of the books, plays and stories that are being dramatised in BBC Radio 4’s Sunday Drama series.
From EastEnders to The Archers, Life on Mars to Shameless, he has been obsessed with telling big popular stories. He has spent years analysing not just how stories work but why they resonate with audiences around the globe and has brought together his experience in his bestselling book Into the Woods. As former Head of Channel Four Drama, Controller of BBC Drama Production and MD of Company Pictures, John has tested his theories during an extensive production career working on some of the world’s most lucrative, widely viewed and critically acclaimed TV drama. As founder of the hugely successful BBC Writers Academy John has trained a generation of screenwriters - his students have had 17 green-lights in the last two years alone.
Contributors:
Christopher Hull, Lecturer in Spanish and Latin American studies at Chester University and author of Our Man Down in Havana
Sarah Rainsford, BBC Foreign Correspondent, author of Our Woman in Havana: Reporting Castro’s Cuba
Reading by Matthew Gravelle
Credits:
Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene
Publisher - Vintage Digital; New Ed edition (2 Oct. 2010)
Produced by Alison Vernon-Smith
Executive Producer: Sara Davies
Sound by Sean Kerwin
Researcher Nina Semple
Production Manager Sarah Wright
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 15:00 Drama on 4 (m001v2wd)
Our Man in Havana - Episode 1
Episode One
Greene's joyful satirical farce: Wormold, a vacuum cleaner salesman in Havana, is recruited as a spy for MI6. Eager to stay on the books but with nothing to report, he begins to make up sources and stories until they begin to become alarmingly true.
Wormold ….. Rory Kinnear
Hawthorne ….. Miles Jupp
Hasselbacher ….. Kenneth Collard
Milly ….. Kitty O’Sullivan
Chief ….. Michael Bertenshaw
Lopez ….. Martin Marquez
Miss Jenkinson ….. Jessica Turner
Ethel/Iris ….. Rhiannon Neads
Barman/Policeman 1 ….. Jot Davies
Joe/Policeman 2 ….. Josh Bryant-Jones
Directed by Tracey Neale
James Wormold's wife has left him and he is now scraping a living as a vacuum cleaner salesman and looking after Milly, their teenage daughter to whom he is completely devoted. Milly is being educated by nuns, but Wormold has lost any faith he might once have had. At a difficult age, torn between her devout Catholicism and burgeoning sexuality Milly talks religion, but enjoys her new-found power over men who find her attractive. Her most ardent admirer is the sinister Captain Segura whose bloody reputation goes before him. Wormold is not at all happy about this state of affairs. He is approached by a British intelligence officer named Hawthorne who offers him money to spy for his country. Struggling for money, Wormold accepts the offer - the trouble is he doesn't know the first thing about spying nor does he have any useful contacts or information. Loathe to give up his new source of income he hits on the idea of inventing intelligence and fellow agents he has recruited. However, some of the names he chooses are those of real people living in Havana. Knowing that MI6 will lose interest unless he spices up his reports, Wormold sends sketches of vacuum cleaner parts, claiming they are a secret communist nuclear base in the mountains. It's all going swimmingly till MI6 send him an assistant and wireless operator, Beatrice. Now he has to keep his misinformation from her as well as his paymasters! But when a news story reports that one of Wormold's fictitious sources is killed in a car accident the story takes a weird and dark turn. Wormold thinks the KGB must have discovered he is an M16 spy and now they too believe his reports. Way out of his depth Wormold is now on a desperate mission to save his other sources whilst not being killed himself.
Our Man in Havana sees Graham Greene at his satirical best taking pot-shots at "Britain's self-delusion about its standing in the world”. With the world's attention focused on the standoff between the USA and Russia, Greene cleverly saw that comedy was one of the best ways of highlighting some of the absurdities of the Cold War. A high watermark of what Greene called his 'Entertainments', the novel is a joyful farce that still hits its satirical targets in Whitehall today.
Jeremy Front is an award winning dramatist whose work includes 'Sword of Honour', 'Brideshead Revisited' and Greene's 'Stamboul Train' as well as his much-loved Radio 4 series: 'Charles Paris Mysteries'.
Writer - Graham Greene
Adapted by - Jeremy Front
Produced and Directed by Tracey Neale
Technical Producer - Keith Graham
Production Co-Ordinator - Ben Hollands
SUN 16:00 Bookclub (m001v2wg)
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins, with Elly Griffiths
Marking 200 years since the birth of Wilkie Collins, crime writer, and Collins admirer, Elly Griffiths discusses one of his best known works -The Moonstone - with James Naughtie and a group of readers.
Upcoming recording
Wednesday 24th January at 1830 at BBC Broadcasting House, London: Graeme Macrae Burnet on His Bloody Project.
SUN 16:30 Moving Pictures (m001s5hb)
Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear by Vincent Van Gogh
Cathy FitzGerald invites you to discover new details in old masterpieces. Each episode of Moving Pictures is devoted to a single artwork – and you’re invited to look as well as listen, by following a link to a high-resolution image made by Google Arts & Culture. Zoom in and you can see the pores of the canvas, the sweep of individual brushstrokes, the shimmer of pointillist dots.
This episode takes us to Van Gogh’s studio in Arles. It’s a cold day and the artist’s only just out of hospital, but he takes up his brushes and begins to paint. The result is one of the most famous self-portraits ever made. Get up close to the brushstrokes and hear what makes it so audacious – and so moving.
To see the high-resolution image of the painting made by Google Arts & Culture, visit www.bbc.co.uk/movingpictures. Scroll down and follow the link to explore Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear.
Interviewees: Karen Serres, Barnaby Wright, Nienke Bakker, Gloria Groom.
Producer and presenter: Cathy FitzGerald
Executive producer: Sarah Cuddon
Mix engineer: Mike Woolley
Art history consultant: Leah Kharibian
A White Stiletto production for BBC Radio 4.
Picture credit: Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890), Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear, 1889, The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust) ©️ The Courtauld.
SUN 17:00 File on 4 (m001trrl)
Doctor of Deception
For more than twenty years, Zholia Alemi worked as a psychiatrist for the NHS. She practiced the length and breadth of the country, treating vulnerable patients with dementia, learning disabilities and mental illness. And then she was caught in a lie.
Alemi was found guilty of forging a dementia patient’s will. But this deception was only the beginning. From Crowd Network, Doctor of Deception investigates how one woman’s web of lies reveals historic flaws in the system designed to keep patients safe.
If you were treated by Zholia Alemi, or have concerns about her practice, there is a support page available on the General Medical Council’s website: https://www.gmc-uk.org/news/news-archive/zholia-alemi---information-for-patients
Presenter: Saleyha Ahsan
Producer: Louisa Adams
Technical Producer: Phill Brown
Executive Producer: Samantha Psyk
SUN 17:40 Profile (m001v2wj)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m001v2wl)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
SUN 17:57 Weather (m001v2wn)
The latest weather forecast
SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m001v2wq)
Hundreds of postmasters were wrongly convicted of crimes including theft and fraud because of a faulty IT system.
SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (m001v2ws)
Guvna B
It's the first Pick of the Week this year so Guvna is feeling the pressure, but thinks he's got us covered. We'll hear some health tips from Dr Michael Mosley, grab some inspiration from a guy that skied down Everest, plus we’ll get a peek behind the scenes of Radio 4 from the people who make it tick. We'll hear why Sir Elton John loves hip-hop music and find out what Sir Bobby Moore and Guvna's old man have in common.
Presenter: Guvna B
Producer: Elizabeth Foster
Production Co-ordinator: Lydia Depledge-Miller
SUN 19:00 The Archers (m001v2wv)
Tony is talking to Helen about the 10-acre land sale. She worries that Miles Titchener and his father plan to build a house close to her, Jack and Henry. When Tony reveals that Miles has bought the land at Rob’s request as part of Jack’s inheritance. Helen is shocked, wondering out loud why she hasn’t heard anything and what it means for Henry. She immediately calls Miles to clarify. Once the phone call is over she tells Tony that there is not a penny for Henry – Jack is the sole beneficiary with Miles as executor. She says bitterly that Rob is determined to drive a wedge between her two sons, despite his insistence that they were a family- even wanting to adopt Henry. Helen is adamant that there have been enough secrets and decides she will tell Henry that night.
Brad is helping Chelsea with a tricky customer’s bill when they start talking about the fashion show. Chelsea is worried that it might be boring, as Mia can be quite worthy. Brad is offended and they start bickering. Chelsea tells him that she wants to make a good impression as she needs this job and even hopes to be promoted. She persuades him to work extra hours. Later when Brad visits Mia at Grange Farm, he complains to Oliver about having to work late. Oliver tells him how they are still looking for casual staff for the hotel and that he would be welcome to apply if he so wished.
SUN 19:15 Crybabies Present… Bagbeard (m001v2wx)
When recently fired science teacher, Chris Mystery, discovers an alien being in Slugwich Woods, he’s thrust into an epic adventure as he attempts to evade a psychopathic government agent and present his discovery to the Institute of Brilliant Scientists (IBS) - in this feel-good, uplifting mix of parody, songs, and storytelling, adapted for radio from Crybabies' Edinburgh Award Nominated show.
Written and performed by Michael Clarke, James Gault and Ed Jones.
Featuring Nimisha Odedra and Kevin Eldon
Production Co-ordinator - Anjana Antony
Producer - Benjamin Sutton
Executive Producer - Joe Nunnery
A Boffola Pictures production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 19:45 Bodies of Water (m001v2wz)
1: Whale Song
The first in a series of short stories from the award-winning writer of Send Nudes, all taking their inspiration from water.
From an escape to the ocean to a fight by the Trevi Fountain, from an awkward bath to a pond-side confession, these stories are all inspired by the transformative power of water.
Today: A wide-eyed teenager suddenly feels out of depth on the heady night before a swimming tournament...
Reader: Rebekah Murrell
Writer: Saba Sams is a British writer. Her debut collection of short stories Send Nudes appeared in 2022 and won the Edge Hill Prize. One of the stories in the book, 'Blue 4eva', won the 2022 BBC National Short Story Award.
Producer: Justine Willett
SUN 20:00 The Ely Estate (m001v2x2)
BBC presenter Jason Mohammad grew up in Ely, a large housing estate on the outskirts of Cardiff. It's an area that has a reputation. Jason became aware of that from a young age because of the way people from elsewhere in the city would react when he told them where he was from.
When Jason was 17 the 1991 Ely riot happened. It was a defining moment for many people’s perception of the area. One headline described it as the ‘Estate of Despair.’ But Jason did not recognise this portrayal of the estate he loved.
Last May there was another Ely riot, and a violent snapshot was again displayed to the outside world.
This is a programme about Ely since the riot. What is day-to-day life like there? How does it feel to live somewhere that some people attach a stigma to? And how does the reality of Ely compare to the perception?
Produced by Paul Martin for BBC Audio Wales.
SUN 20:30 Last Word (m001tsdm)
John Pilger, KM Peyton, Paula Murphy, Michael Blakemore
Matthew Bannister on
John Pilger, the campaigning journalist who made award winning films about human rights abuses and was an outspoken critic of British and US foreign policy.
K.M. Peyton, the author of many “pony” books for children and adolescents, including the “Flambards” trilogy.
Paula Murphy, the American racing driver once described as “the fastest woman on wheels”.
Michael Blakemore, the versatile theatre director who was the only person to win Tony Awards for Best Play and Best Musical in the same year.
Interviewee: Sam Pilger
Interviewee: Anthony Hayward
Interviewee: Meg Rosoff
Interviewee: Hilary Peyton
Interviewee: Pam Miller
Interviewee: Conrad Blakemore
Interviewee: Greta Scacchi
Producer: Gareth Nelson-Davies
Archive used:
John Pilger, Desert Island Discs, BBC Radio 4, 18/02/1990; Year Zero: The Silent Death of Cambodia, (ATV) ITV, 1979 p/d David Munro; Cambodia: Year One, (ATV), ITV, 10 September 1980, p/d David Munro; John Pilger interview with Kim Hill, TVNZ's 1News, 1 News, YouTube uploaded, 24/11/2023; KM Peyton interview, Front Row, BBC Radio 4, 27/04/2009; KM Peyton interview, Womans Hour, BBC Radio 4, 20/02/2016; Flambards TV Series, TV Theme and scene extract, ITV, 02/02/1979; Paula Murphy interview/clips, Paula Murphy: Undaunted, Documentary, Fox Sports, Director Pam Miller, released 2023, Michael Blakemore interview, Theatre Talk, YouTube uploaded 04/08/2013; John Lahr talks with director Michael Blakemore, Conversations, The New Yorker, YouTube uploaded 23/07/2014;
SUN 21:00 Money Box (m001v2x4)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 on Saturday]
SUN 21:25 Radio 4 Appeal (m001v2vm)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 today]
SUN 21:30 Loose Ends (m001v2x6)
[Repeat of broadcast at
18:15 on Saturday]
SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (m001v2x9)
Ben Wright's guests are the Science Minister Andrew Griffith; Labour Party Chair, Anneliese Dodds; and the former Lib Dem adviser, Polly Mackenzie. They discuss the political year ahead and the key questions for the main parties as the begin the long campaign for the general election. They also talk about the Post Office Horizon IT scandal, and the next steps for compensating the victims and bringing justice. Ben Riley-Smith - political editor of the Daily Telegraph - brings additional insight and analysis. And the programme also includes and interview with Professor of Government, Lord Norton, on the state of parliamentary democracy and standards in public life.
SUN 23:00 Sailing Into History (m00036lz)
Sir Robin Knox-Johnston relives his historic voyage of 1969, becoming the first person to sail single-handed, non-stop, around the world.
Back then, and still to this day, more people have been into space than have achieved this.
What makes Sir Robin's story all the more remarkable is that he built his yacht, Suhaili, himself. It was the smallest craft in the Sunday Times sponsored Golden Globe race and he was seen as the underdog.
He lost his self-steering equipment just a few months into the trip and, when his radio also broke, many feared he had been lost to the seas. Sir Robin also reveals how he overcame appendicitis and describes fighting and killing a shark while repairing the damaged hull of his boat.
Despite all these challenges, Sir Robin was the only one of nine sailors entered in the race to return to Britain successfully - ten months after he set sail.
Fifty years on, as he approaches his 80th birthday, Sir Robin re-creates his voyage by reading extracts from his diary, combined with archive from the real world he left behind - such as the Vietnam War, the Space Race and the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia.
We also hear from Britain's most decorated Olympic sailor Sir Ben Ainslie, around the world mariners Dee Caffari and Alex Thomson, and the Knox-Johnston family.
Producer: Francesca Bent
Executive Producer: Mark Sharman
A 1080 Media production for BBC Radio 4
MONDAY 08 JANUARY 2024
MON 00:00 Midnight News (m001v2xg)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
MON 00:15 Thinking Allowed (m001tr9z)
Hope and the 'good enough' life
Laurie Taylor talks to Daniel Miller, Professor of Anthropology at University College London, about his highly original exploration of what life could and should be. It juxtaposes a philosophical enquiry into the nature of the good life with an in-depth study of people living in a small Irish town. Just how much can we learn from a respectful acknowledgment of what far from extraordinary people have achieved? By creating community, they’ve provided the foundation for a fulfilling life, one that is ‘good enough’.
Also, Carol Graham, Senior Fellow in the Economic Studies Program at The Brookings Institution, argues for the importance of hope - a concept little studied in economics. She argues that individual unhappiness and public policy problems can’t be solved without the belief that we can make things better.
Producer: Jayne Egerton
MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (m001v2xn)
[Repeat of broadcast at
05:43 on Sunday]
MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m001v2xx)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m001v2y5)
World Service
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m001v2yl)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
MON 05:30 News Briefing (m001v2z1)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m001v2zn)
A spritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Bishop David Walker
What gift do you bring?
Good morning
Back when my mother ran a small record shop, a short bus ride from Manchester, the pattern of trading through these early days of January was unique to the season. It was driven by a combination of gift tokens being redeemed and unwanted presents being swapped. In both cases the customer’s wish was to exchange what they had for something more closely attuned to their musical preferences. Many of us will have issued a sigh of relief that the peak period of present purchasing is now over for almost a year. Getting gifts right is not always easy, tokens can be the safer alternative..
Honouring another, by offering them presents, is not only a ubiquitous human attribute, it’s a feature we share with members of the wider animal kingdom. I like to think it’s what my cat sought to do by depositing dead rodents under my study desk. Her gifts may have been far from “just what I always wanted”, but they were an expression of her skills and abilities. As were the hand made culinary creations that formed my children’s efforts, though these latter were normally a little more edible than mice.
What I’ve learned, not least as a son and father, is that the best present is one that says something about the giver whilst also attending to the recipient’s needs and wants.
And so today I pray. God grant me this day three things - to give of myself, through the exercise of those gifts and talents first given to me,
to be sensitive to the needs and wishes of all who will receive what I offer,
And above all that I might give generously, and in love.
Amen.
MON 05:45 Farming Today (m001v308)
08/01/24 Dutch farmers' party, seaweed farming, feed
We hear a message for British farmers from the Dutch farmer's party. Caroline van der Plas is the leader of the Dutch Farmer Citizen Movement, which now has seven seats in the Dutch Parliament. She set up the party in 2019 after becoming disillusioned with rural offer from political parties in the Netherlands.
The flooding has put much agricultural land under water again, and there are warnings about the impact of that on the amount of food we grow, both for us and for livestock. This week we're going to be looking at animal feed, where it comes from, what it is and what's changing.
Seaweed is farmed here in the UK; it's a small but growing industry. Leyla Kazim looks at what its future could look like.
Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Beatrice Fenton.
MON 05:56 Weather (m001v30v)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.
MON 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03zrccd)
Little Owl
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Kate Humble presents the little owl. Little owls really are little, about as long as a starling but much stockier with a short tail and rounded wings. If you disturb one it will bound off low over the ground before swinging up onto a telegraph pole or gatepost where it bobs up and down, glaring at you fiercely through large yellow and black eyes. Today, you can hear the yelps of the birds and their musical spring song across the fields and parks of much of England and Wales.
MON 06:00 Today (m001v3bj)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
MON 09:00 Start the Week (m001v3bs)
A century of Labour
The Labour Party first took office on 22nd January 1924. In the century that followed it has only had six prime ministers and been in power for a total of 33 years. The Labour MP Jon Cruddas looks back at A Century of Labour – the successes and failures. While the Party has been riven by factions from the left and the right, Cruddas also looks at the competing visions of the what the Party represents.
The Labour Party was born out of the increase in franchise, the industrialisation of the workforce and unions, and in its early days class was a key factor in voting patterns. The political scientist Jane Green is a specialist in public opinion and electoral behaviour. She argues that the Brexit vote created a new divide between Leavers and Remainers, and considers the significant impact of age and education on voting habits.
With an election due this year all political parties will be preparing their manifestos and presenting their vision of the future. The Professor of Politics at the London School of Economics, Jonathan White, focuses on the future as a political idea in The Long Run. While the democratic electoral cycle foregrounds short term policies, White argues it’s time for politicians to consider long-term solutions.
Producer: Katy Hickman
MON 09:45 The Wager by David Grann (m001v3cw)
Book of the Week: Episode 6 - Friends or Foes?
In David Grann's high stakes tale about an eighteenth century shipwreck, the Wager's castaways spy three slender canoes as they emerge from the mist. Are they friends or foes? Luke Treadaway reads.
David Grann, the internationally best-selling and award winning writer, brings us the story of the treacherous events that took place on the Wager, an eighteenth century British warship, when it was lost at sea. Grann's enquiry into this story of shipwreck, mutiny, and murder sheds light on what happened when the Wager's crew were stranded on an uninhabitable island thousands of miles from home. The fate of those few men who made it home, reveals shocking insights into Great Britain's justice system in the Age of Empire.
David Grann is the author of The Lost City of Z, and Killers of the Flower Moon which is now a Hollywood blockbuster.
Abridged by Richard Hamilton
Produced by Elizabeth Allard
MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (m001v3cc)
Cush Jumbo, Church leader survivors, Exonerated sub-postmistress
Cush Jumbo is the award-winning actor known for her roles on the stage and screen, from The Good Fight to Macbeth. She joins Clare McDonnell to discuss starring in - and executive producing – the new crime thriller series Criminal Record. Cush stars as DS June Lenker, a police detective locked in a confrontation with an older detective, played by Peter Capaldi, over a historic murder conviction.
A BBC investigation into one of Africa’s most influential pastors has uncovered hundreds of allegations of abuse, including a number of British victims. TB Joshua, who founded the Synagogue Church of All Nations in Nigeria, built an evangelical empire that drew presidents, Premier League footballers and millions of followers from across the globe - including from towns and cities across the UK. Multiple victims claim they repeatedly tried to raise the alarm with British authorities, including the Foreign Office, but an adequate investigation “never took place”. Two UK survivors of his abuse - Rae and Anneka - join Clare to discuss their experiences as ‘disciples’, why they left and the law changes they hope will result from this exposure.
The Post Office Horizon scandal is once more dominating the headlines. Today, a petition calling for the former Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells to lose her CBE has received more than one million signatures, and yesterday the Prime Minister told the BBC the Government was reviewing options to help victims of the scandal. More than 700 branch managers were convicted of false accounting, theft and fraud based on faulty software. Currently, a public inquiry into the scandal is ongoing and the Metropolitan Police is investigating the Post Office over potential fraud offences arising from the prosecutions. One of the women who was falsely accused was Jo Hamilton. Her story has been told in the ITV drama Mr Bates vs. The Post Office, where she was played by the actor Monica Dolan. Jo joins Clare.
What do you do if your child refuses to go to school? Today, the Government is expected to announce funding for a new initiative aimed at tackling school absences in England. More than a fifth of secondary school pupils in England are persistently absent. The new scheme will see funding for school attendance mentors, an initiative which has been trialled in a pilot by the charity Barnardos. Clare speaks to Nadine Good from the charity, and hears from head teacher Simon Kidwell.
MON 11:00 Black, African and British (m001v3ck)
Black, African and British in Politics
Black, African Brits are one of the UK’s fastest growing communities. In the last census 1.5 million people said they were Black, African and British – that’s more than twice as many as the Black Caribbean community.
Whether it’s Kwasi Kwarteng and Kemi Badenoch on the front benches of British government, Stormzy headlining Glastonbury, resurgent congregations in Britain’s churches or the stories of entrepreneurs – the impact of Black African Brits cannot be missed.
Over four episodes British Nigerian broadcaster Jumoké Fashola travels the country to ask what it means to be Black, African and British and to explore how African migration is shaping politics, faith, business and culture today.
Episode 1: Black, African and British in Politics
September 2022 was a historic moment in British politics. For the first time, two of the great offices of state - Foreign Secretary and the Chancellor of the Exchequer were held by the children of African immigrants. Today, British Nigerian Conservative MP Kemi Badenoch is widely tipped to be a future party leader and even potential Prime Minister.
When British Nigerian broadcaster Jumoké Fashola was a child such a moment seemed almost impossible as Black people faced racism and a lack of political representation.
Jumoké explores how that’s changed and what it means to be Black, African and British in politics today through the stories of three politicians.
Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy speaks to Jumoké about the legacies of colonialism and how her campaign for reparations drives her politics.
Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner Festus Akinbusoye shares how his conservative values were defined by his Nigerian upbringing.
Green Party Councillor Mohamed Makawi takes Jumoké on a tour of his Bristol ward and reveals why he is passionate about having an impact on his local community.
Political scientist Dr Michael Bankole explains the impact that African migration, social conservatism and religion may have on future politics
You can join the conversation on social media by using the hashtag #BlackAfricanBritish
Picture of Jumoké Fashola. Credit: Dan Fearon
MON 11:30 Analysis (m001sd79)
Can reading really improve your life?
Most educational research now suggests that reading for pleasure is strongly linked to a child’s future outcome, educational success, and even wellbeing. But the latest studies also show that reading for pleasure is at its lowest level for twenty years.
Why has this happened in a country that's produced more successful children's books than any other? From Paddington, to Harry Potter, the Chronicles of Narnia to Alice in Wonderland, and of course, the Gruffalo, the list is vast. Is a lack of access to school and local libraries the problem, too few books at home or the rise of phones, tablets and game consoles?
What can schools, government, the media and parents do to help foster a love of reading that could help children throughout their lives? Author and former Children's Laureate Julia Donaldson investigates.
Presenter: Julia Donaldson
Producer: Ravi Naik
Editor: Clare Fordham
Contributors:
Frank Cottrell-Boyce, author and screenwriter
Joseph Coelho, 2022-24 Children’s Laureate, author and poet
Teresa Cremin, Professor of Education (Literacy), the Open University
Joanna Prior CEO Pan Macmillan Publishing, and Chair of Trustees at the National Literacy Trust
Laura Patel, head of literacy, Sandhill View Academy school, Sunderland
Leia Sands, librarian and committee member, the Great School Libraries campaign
Ben Lawrence, arts and culture editor, The Daily Telegraph
Sonia Thompson, headteacher, St Matthews C of E primary school, Birmingham
MON 12:00 News Summary (m001v3d4)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 12:04 You and Yours (m001v3d7)
Pubs for sale; Food supply fears; E-scooter confusion
Research for You and Yours carried out by the property sales website Rightmove has found that the number of UK pubs up for sale has risen by nearly 30% over the past year. Pubs faced a tough year in 2023 - nearly 400 closed in the first six months alone with rising energy costs proving too much of a financial burden for many. Now they face a new challenge - a special 75% discount on business rates, announced by the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, ends on March 31. We've been to look at one of the pubs currently on the market...the Trotting Mare Inn, near Wrexham.
Supermarket staples such as rice, tea and seafood are among goods facing price rises of between 5-15% in the coming weeks due to the disruption to shipping routes in the Red Sea. The warning comes from the Institute of Export and International Trade after a spate of attacks on container ships by the rebel Yemeni Houthi group.
Energy companies are once again starting to offer customers the chance to fix the price of their gas and electricity bills. But is that wise? Experts are predicting prices could fall from around Easter onwards. We talk to one such expert to help you make sense of what looks to be a very confusing picture for energy consumers.
And, talking of confusion, we look at a new study which suggests that many people using e-scooters don’t know what the rules are. The study, by Nottingham Trent University, calls for a national training campaign on scooter safety. (E-scooters are currently only legal on private land or through official trial hire schemes)
PRESENTER: WINIFRED ROBINSON
PRODUCER: CRAIG HENDERSON
MON 12:57 Weather (m001v3dh)
The latest weather forecast
MON 13:00 World at One (m001v3ds)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment.
MON 13:45 How to Read the News (m001v3f3)
Have you read paragraph 8?
When journalists tell stories, they rarely start at the beginning but instead with the latest development. Context comes towards the end. It’s called the ‘inverted pyramid’.
When scandal at the Confederation of British Industry hit the newspapers and boss Tony Danker was dismissed, he complained that articles didn’t state right at the start that he was not accused of the worst misconduct. If you didn’t make it much past the headlines, you might not realise that.
We discover why journalists write stories ‘the wrong way up’, how that affects how we understand them, and how that might change with new technology.
‘How to Read the News’ - this series is all about giving you the tools to decode the news.
Presenter: Jo Fidgen
Producer: Charlotte McDonald
Researchers: Beth Ashmead Latham, Kirsteen Knight
Editors: China Collins, Emma Rippon
MON 14:00 The Archers (m001v2wv)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Sunday]
MON 14:15 This Cultural Life (m001v35m)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:15 on Saturday]
MON 15:00 Counterpoint (m001v3fn)
Series 37
Heat 5, 2024
(5/13)
Another three music lovers join Paul Gambaccini at the Radio Theatre in London for the latest of this year's heats in the wide-ranging music quiz. They'll have to prove the breadth of their music knowledge to stand a chance of winning a semi-final place. As part of the quiz they will each have to choose a completely unforeseen special topic on which to answer individual questions.
Taking part are
Graham Jones from Milton Keynes
Hannah Reilly from Renfrewshire
David Stainer from Hertford
Assistant Producer: Stephen Garner
Producer: Paul Bajoria
MON 15:30 The Food Programme (m001v2w4)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:32 on Sunday]
MON 16:00 History on the Edge (m001p1l2)
Denmark Place
Anita Anand goes on the trail of stories from the recent past which have somehow fallen through the cracks of mainstream history.
In this first episode Anita uncovers the story of a catastrophic fire at the Spanish Rooms in Denmark Place, behind London’s famous Tin Pan Alley, that killed 37 people in 1980. It was the worst death-toll in a fire in London until the tragedy of Grenfell Tower.
The Spanish Rooms were among many unlicensed afterhours clubs in central London at the time. The two clubs were popular with people of many nationalities and backgrounds – many from South America – who loved to salsa the night away.
The victims died where they danced and drank, bodies found still seated at the bar or on the dance-floor. Others plunged to their deaths from the clubs’ second floor windows. Those who survived often had their reputations tarnished in the media as police linked the fire to the Soho underworld.
Anita Anand meets survivors, friends and relatives of those who died, talks to police and fire fighters who were there on that tragic August night and to journalist Matt Rendell who’s long been working on a book about the fire. Using archive and new first-hand testimony, History on the Edge pieces together the real story of the Denmark Place inferno and the forgotten people who died simply having a good night out.
Producer: Sara Parker
Executive Producer: Simon Elmes
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 16:30 Beyond Belief (m001v3g3)
Faith In The Psychedelic Renaissance
Aleem Maqbool meets Richard Butler, who describes a new-found connection with Jesus during an Ayahuasca retreat in Mexico, after discovering spirituality through meditation.
Some psychedelic drugs, like the plant-based DMT found in the ayahuasca drink, have been the subject of medical trials for their help with mental health conditions such as depression, with some successful results. But alongside their medical potential is, for some, a connection between their use and spirituality.
To discuss what might be going on, the potential and the dangers of the so-called psychedelic renaissance, Aleem is joined by a fascinating panel. Rev Rita Powell is an Episcopal Priest who has taken magic mushrooms as part of a University trial in the US, Dr Ben Sessa is a psychiatrist involved in psychedelic research here in the UK and Dr David Luke, Associate Professor at the University of Greenwich, explores spirituality, psychedelics and ‘exceptional human experiences’ in his work.
Opening Music: Ayahuasca Icaros - Medicine (Cures For All)
Producer: Rebecca Maxted
Assistant Producer: James Leesley
MON 17:00 PM (m001v3gc)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m001v3gr)
Hundreds of branch managers were wrongly convicted because of a flawed computer system
MON 18:30 Just a Minute (m001v3h3)
Series 92
1. A Double Date with Prince Rainier, Hilda Ogden and Sophia Loren
Sue Perkins challenges Paul Merton, Daliso Chaponda, Kerry Godliman, and Zoe Lyons to speak for 60 seconds without repetition, deviation or hesitation.
The long-running Radio 4 panel game is back for a new series with subjects this week ranging from How To Impress At Wine Tasting To Commemorative Plates.
Production Co-ordinator: Sarah Nicholls
Sound Editor: Marc Willcox
Producer: Rajiv Karia
An EcoAudio certified production.
A BBC Studios Production for Radio 4.
MON 19:00 The Archers (m001v3hj)
Tom’s working outside in the cold and Natasha brings a warming flask of soup. Tom says had he known the Titcheners were bidding for the ten acres, he wouldn’t have pulled out of the auction no matter the cost. Later, Helen asks Henry about his day. He sarcastically tells her it ‘was splendid mother’. When she tries to probe further he tells her he doesn’t care about the inheritance as Rob wasn’t his dad and storms off. She catches up with him in Tony’s workshop and suggests there’s help if he wants to talk. He becomes angry and reiterates he is fine and doesn’t need any help. Natasha and Helen catch up over a coffee. Helen says she is starting therapy and isn’t sure how she feels about it, which seems silly considering she’s had therapy in the past. Natasha then confides that she had therapy for six years after growing up with a bipolar father. Helen replies that after Rob’s death she finally feels that she can start to lay things to rest.
During a staff meeting Alastair reveals to Paul and Denise that Lovell James wants its veterinary nurses to start upselling impulse purchases. Paul is enthusiastic. Denise, however, is angry and says if she had known this was what she was coming back to she might not have returned. Later, things are frosty between them, with Alastair revealing he is not happy with the situation either but feels they have no choice. Denise says, regardless of Alastair’s orders, she is not doing it – and he can’t make her.
MON 19:15 Front Row (m001v3hw)
Golden Globe winner Poor Things reviewed, new deal for Warhammer 40,000
Yorgis Lanthimos’ black comedy Poor Things won Best Film and Best Actress for its star Emma Stone at last night’s Golden Globe awards, so this evening we’re joined by critics Leila Latif and James Marriott for a review of the much hyped film ahead of its release in the UK on Friday.
Warhammer 40,000 is one of the most popular games in the world. Recently the makers finalised a deal with Amazon which has the potential to bring its miniature characters and battlefield stories to the big screen. The comic book writer Kieron Gillen, who has written new stories for the Warhammer universe, reflects on the significance of the deal.
Have reviewers become more blandly positive in recent years - or more attention-grabbingly negative? James Marriott who reviews for The Times and Sarah Crompton who reviews for WhatsOnStage and the Observer discuss.
Author Agri Ismaïl talks about his new novel Hyper which follows the family of a Kurdish Communist fleeing persecution, and his children who eventually find themselves in the hyper-capitalist centres of Dubai, London and New York.
Presenter: Samira Ahmed
Producer: Eliane Glaser
MON 20:00 A Spokesperson Said... (m001v3j4)
Gatekeepers are all around us. They decide who gets the party invite, the mortgage or the job. They control the flow of information around them and can choose to empower others or block them from progressing. Gatekeepers speak on behalf of communities in the media - or they choose the speakers. But how did these gatekeepers acquire such authority? Who appointed them in the first place? And are they saying what communities actually think? Or is it all just a personal power trip?
In A Spokesperson Said, the Bristol journalist Neil Maggs takes a trip around his home city to see how gatekeeping works in practice - in communities, in politics and the media. He speaks to youth worker Delroy Hibbert who says the black community is often misrepresented in the news. Delroy jokes he's the third black person on the local media's list when comment is needed on issues of race. Neil hears calls for journalists to spread the net wider from Alex Raikes at the charity Stand Against Racism & Inequality. She says young people are often left out of the narrative in the reporting of knife crime.
When an emergency evacuation forces hundreds of families out of their homes in a Bristol tower block, Neil is there to see how gatekeeping works in practice. Residents say they were left in the dark. Neil approaches the local council for comment and sits down with the campaign group ACORN who say they are empowering communities to bypass traditional gatekeepers.
Finally he interviews Professor Richard Sambrook who spent three decades working in news. He and his students reflect that social media algorithms are becoming the new gatekeepers as the digital age subverts traditional power structures.
Produced by Robin Markwell for BBC Audio in Bristol.
MON 20:30 Crossing Continents (m001tsch)
Bones that speak
In 2016, the Philippines’ newly elected president, Rodrigo Duterte declared there was one, common enemy: the drugs trade. What followed was a bloodbath. Addicts, alleged traffickers – and so many who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time – were gunned down in the streets by the security services. Often, the police claimed there had been a shoot-out and they had shot back in self-defence. The government put the number of people killed in the ‘war on drugs’ at 6,252 – that figure doesn’t include the thousands killed by unknown assailants.
Now some of those victims are speaking from beyond the grave. Many were poor, and their families couldn’t afford a permanent resting place in a cemetery. Instead, they rented a burial spot. And, as those short leases have come up for eviction, a Catholic priest, Father Flavie Villanueva, offers families help to exhume and cremate the bodies. But before cremation, the remains are examined by one of only two forensic pathologists in the Philippines, Dr Raquel Fortun.
Dr Fortun has assessed the skeletal remains of dozens of victims of the ‘war on drugs’. Her findings often contradict police narratives. For Crossing Continents, Linda Pressly reports on these efforts to uncover the truth of what happened under President Duterte. But she also hears how, under a new president since 2022 - Ferdinand Marcos Jr - the killings on the streets have continued.
Producer: Tim Mansel
Presenter: Linda Pressly
Studio mix by James Beard
Production Coordinator: Gemma Ashman
Editor: Penny Murphy
MON 21:00 Seven Deadly Psychologies (m001trml)
Sloth
Becky Ripley and Sophie Ward take a cold hard look at the psychology behind each of the seven deadly sins, in the order established by Pope Gregory the Great: pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and sloth. Why have we evolved these emotions? What’s going on in the brain and the body when we feel them? And how best can we live alongside them - in ourselves and with others?
Sloth is, unsurprisingly, the final sin of the series. Lethargic, languid, lazy old sloth. Such sluggishness is often caused by a lack of dopamine, the neurochemical that helps drive motivation and movement. And it's not always a bad thing. Our brains and bodies need rest in order to recharge, perhaps especially in today's world of hyper-productivity and stimulation. But too much sloth, and you can get stuck in a downward spiral of apathy or depression. How best can we get ourselves out of a slump? And how can we get the balance right between uptime and downtime?
To guide us through this mess is evolutionary anthropologist Dr Anna Machin from the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford, geneticist and writer Dr Adam Rutherford from the Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment at University College London, neuroscientist and clinical psychologist Professor Ian Robertson from the Department of Psychology at Trinity College Dublin, author and human rights activist Yasmin Khan, and some parting words of wisdom from Katherine May's memoir 'Wintering', read by Tyler Cameron.
Producer: Becky Ripley
MON 21:30 Start the Week (m001v3bs)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
MON 22:00 The World Tonight (m001v3jh)
Move faster on Post Office convictions, government told
With the government under pressure to act quickly in the Post Office IT scandal, a former Lord Chancellor tells us that new legislation is needed immediately.
Also on the programme:
Cowbells and tractor horns on the streets of Berlin today - as German farmers expressed their frustrations. We find out why.
And the legendary German footballer Franz Beckenbauer has died. We hear what he was like to play against - from a member of the England team he helped defeat in the 1970 World Cup Quarter Final.
MON 22:45 Orbital by Samantha Harvey (m001v3jn)
Episode One
Across 24 hours on an international space station, six astronauts contemplate the earth, as continents and oceans pass beneath them. They are there to collect meteorological data, conduct scientific experiments and test the limits of the human body. But mostly they observe. Together they watch their silent blue planet, circling it sixteen times, spinning past continents and cycling through seasons, taking in glaciers and deserts, the peaks of mountains and the swells of oceans. Endless shows of spectacular beauty witnessed in a single day.
Yet although separated from the world they cannot escape its constant pull. News reaches them of the death of one astronaut's mother, and with it comes thoughts of returning home. They look on as a typhoon gathers over an island and people they love, in awe of its magnificence and fearful of its destruction. The fragility of human life fills their conversations, their fears, their dreams. So far from earth, they have never felt more part – or protective – of it. They begin to ask, what is life without earth? What is earth without humanity?
"In this new day they'll circle the earth sixteen times. They'll see sixteen sunrises and sixteen sunsets, sixteen days and sixteen nights. In their rotations around the earth in accumulations of light and dark, in the baffling arithmetic of thrust and altitude and speed and sensors, the whip-crack of morning arrives every ninety minutes".
"...an awe-inspiring and humbling love letter to Earth and those who reckon with the gift of it" - Max Porter
Samantha Harvey is the author of the novels The Wilderness, All is Song, Dear Thief and The Western Wind and a work of non-fiction, The Shapeless Unease: A Year of Not Sleeping.
Read by Anneika Rose (Line of Duty, Shetland, Ackley Bridge) with music by Timothy X Atack.
Abridged by Sara Davies
Studio Recording and Mixing by Ilse Lademann and Michael Harrison
Produced by Mary Ward-Lowery and Mair Bosworth for BBC Audio
MON 23:00 A Very Australian Scandal (m001r1cs)
The Sydney Opera House celebrates its 50th anniversary on October 20, 2023. The American architect Frank Gehry called it “a building that changed the image of an entire country” and you could argue that the modern perception of Australia has a profound relationship with that stunning structure on Sydney Harbour.
Yet, it has a controversial history. Jørn Utzon, the Danish architect responsible for the iconic shell design, declined an invitation to the opening ceremony claiming he would make “negative comments”.
Also, in speeches made that day, there was no mention of the building’s founding father – the man who proposed the idea of an opera house for Sydney, then lobbied tooth and nail in tricky political circumstances to turn his dream into a reality.
His name was Sir Eugene Goossens, an English composer and conductor who thrived in Australia after the Second World War. He became a celebrity as we understand one now, only to be run out of his adopted home in 1956 “like a diseased rat”, as one commentator wrote, his plans for the opera house in tatters.
The scandal shocked and puzzled Australia in equal measure. What happened and why have this visionary man’s many extraordinary achievements been largely forgotten?
Music journalist Phil Hebblethwaite traces the intriguing story of Sir Eugene Goossens, meeting his niece, a former student, and experts in Australian classical music and cultural life.
We’ll find out that the Goossens saga was just the beginning of the troubles for the Sydney Opera House…
With contributions from Jennie Goossens, Richard Bonynge, Ita Buttrose, Dr Drew Crawford and Professor Marguerite Johnson.
Extra research by Barnaby Smith.
Written and presented by Phil Hebblethwaite
Produced by Alexandra Quinn
A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4
(Photo of Sir Eugene Goosens c/o Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division)
MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (m001v3jy)
Susan Hulme reports as MPs demand answers over the Post Office Horizon scandal and the health secretary faces questions about the doctors' strike.
TUESDAY 09 JANUARY 2024
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (m001v3k5)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 00:30 The Wager by David Grann (m001v3cw)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m001v3kd)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m001v3kl)
World Service
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m001v3ks)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
TUE 05:30 News Briefing (m001v3kz)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m001v3l5)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Bishop David Walker
In an unexpected place
Good Morning
It was a warm afternoon, and I was sat outside a cafe in the central square of a small provincial city, nestling in the highlands of Peru. Looking up, I saw a friend from my then diocese walking across the square. As he drew close, I called out his name, and walked over to greet him. It’s the closest I’ve ever come to giving someone a heart attack. I was someone he would expect in the normal course of life, to see a couple of times a month. He just never imagined encountering me, or anyone else he knew, so far from home.
For Christians, it’s not only fellow human beings who may turn up where we would least expect. God does it too. From the story of Moses and the burning bush to Jesus being born in a stable, the Hebrew and Christian scriptures are full of stories of the divine being found in the least likely places. Eight hundred years ago, a young St Francis of Assisi had his life changed forever after God spoke to him from a painted crucifix in a tumbledown church.
Life for religious believers would be simpler if only God limited his appearances to the obvious places, such as ornate worship buildings and carefully choreographed rituals. But it would be a very small God prepared to be so confined. Hardly one worth worshipping. So today, I pray:
Surprise me God with your presence. May I find you in the place that seems most godforsaken. May I recognise you in the face of the stranger who seems at first least like you. And may I discover you working your deeds of love, where love seems farthest away.
Amen.
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (m001v3ld)
As farmers contemplate thousands of hectares under water, the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology reports that Autumn rainfall, between September and November for the UK last year was 22% above average, followed by a December which saw 70% above average rainfall for central & northern England and eastern Scotland. The government's announced help is available for flooded businesses and properties but farmers cannot insure against flooded crops and some have said they'll stop growing food on land that's repeatedly flooded. We speak to an expert about how farmers and government can better deal with flooding in the future.
All week we're exploring the topic of animal feed. Today we hear from a farmer who's invested £30,000 in cages to protect his cattle feed from starlings. Giant flocks of the birds have been eating the grain Bryn Jones near Oswestry feeds his dairy herd. He estimates it's already saving him tens of thousands of pounds in lost feed and is helping protect his herd from disease - and improving the milk yield of his cows.
We often hear that people want their food to be welfare friendly, sustainably produced and farmers to be paid fairly for it. Last year the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission, or FFCC, launched a citizens' panel made up of a representative cross-section of the public, to hear what they want from government policy, to make healthy food available to all. We speak to Guy Singh-Watson, founder of the organic veg food box company Riverford, and Sue Pritchard, Chief Executive of FFCC, which carried out the survey.
Presenter = Anna Hill
Producer = Rebecca Rooney
TUE 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03thsg9)
Waxwing
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
John Aitchison presents the waxwing. Waxwings are winter visitors from Russia and Scandinavia where they breed in conifer forests. They head south to feed on berries and other fruits, and if these are in short supply on the Continent, the birds flood into the UK. It happens every few years or so and the sight of these punk-crested plunderers swarming over rowan and other berry-producing trees is sure to attract your attention.
TUE 06:00 Today (m001v3dl)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
TUE 09:00 Things Fell Apart (m001v3dw)
S2. Ep 1: The Most Mysterious Deaths
How the mysterious deaths of 32 black sex workers in Miami in the 1980s led to a whole new (and spurious) mental health diagnosis that in turn led directly to another murder that occurred during the height of lockdown.
Written and presented by Jon Ronson
Produced by Sarah Shebbeare
Original music by Phil Channell
Archive credits: NBC News June 1984; Fox Television’s A Current Affair 1989.
TUE 09:30 Naturebang (m001gx55)
Screaming Marmots and the Sound of Fear
Why are some sounds more frightening than others? Are there evolutionary origins behind the things we find scary? And is there anything more blood-curdling than a full throated scream?
Becky Ripley and Emily Knight tune in to the sounds that send the shivers down our spines, via a frightened Marmot in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, and a brand new kind of musical instrument known as the 'apprehension engine'. Beware listeners, you may be in for a fright....
Featuring professor Daniel Blumstein, Chair of the Department of Ecology at UCLA, and film score composer Mark Korven. Produced and presented by Emily Knight and Becky Ripley.
TUE 09:45 The Wager by David Grann (m001v3f8)
Book of the Week: Episode 7 - Hope and Peril
In David Grann's story about the fate of an 18th century warship there is a glimmer of hope, but it leaves the Wager's castaways in a perilous position. Captain Cheap is compelled to make a choice. Luke Treadaway reads.
David Grann, the internationally best-selling and award winning writer, brings us the story of the treacherous events that took place on the Wager, an eighteenth century British warship, when it was lost at sea. Grann's enquiry into this story of shipwreck, mutiny, and murder sheds light on what happened when the Wager's crew were stranded on an uninhabitable island thousands of miles from home. The fate of those few men who made it home, reveals shocking insights into Great Britain's justice system in the Age of Empire.
David Grann is the author of The Lost City of Z, and Killers of the Flower Moon which is now a Hollywood blockbuster.
Abridged by Richard Hamilton
Produced by Elizabeth Allard
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (m001v3fp)
Midwife shortages, Dating at 81, Jackie Mag anniversary
The number of midwives in England has increased by just 7% over the last year and some NHS Trusts in England have more than one in five midwifery jobs vacant, according to BBC research. The Royal College of Midwives says staffing gaps have to close. The BBC’s Health Correspondent Catherine Burns joins Clare McDonnell to talk about what her investigation into maternity units in England has discovered, and to share the story of Farzana, who had to give birth on her own after midwives said they were too busy to answer her calls.
Carole Stone must have one of the best address books ever. A former producer of BBC Radio 4’s Any Questions, for years Carole has run 'salons' and parties bringing together hundreds of interesting people - politicians, actors, journalists. Carole’s partner, the TV broadcaster Richard Lindley, died four years ago. Carole joins Clare to discuss how and why she is looking for another soulmate at the age of 81.
Could the next leader of North Korea be a woman? Clare gets the latest from lead correspondent at NK News, Jeongmin Kim, and hears more about what life is like for women on the ground with North Korea expert, Professor Hazel Smith.
As the number of pupils missing a significant amount of their education is about double the level it was before the pandemic, Clare is joined by Ellie Costello, the executive director of Square Peg, a not-for-profit which helps families that struggle with school attendance.
It’s 60 years this week since Jackie, the magazine for teenage girls, was first published. At its peak, it was selling more than a million copies a week. To celebrate the anniversary, Clare is joined by Nina Myskow, Jackie’s first female editor, and Wendy Rigg, a teenage fan who achieved her dream of working on Jackie.
Presenter: Clare McDonnell
Producer: Lottie Garton
TUE 11:00 The New New Town (m001v3g0)
In 1947, East Kilbride became Scotland's first designated 'New Town'. But it hasn't aged well. In new proposals, 1/3rd of the town centre is earmarked for demolition. Can it work?
Post-war planners broke the mould when they created East Kilbride. This 'new town' was the result of utopian thinking and a reaction against what had gone before; primarily densely-packed, unsanitary and run-down tenements. It started out as a way to empty out the city centre of nearby Glasgow. But for residents of a new town, it wasn't just the location that took some getting used to. It was a new way of life too...
In East Kilbride, as with the four other Scottish New Towns that followed, the focus was on shopping and car use. The retail sector was the middle of the donut, with a ring of residential housing on the outside. Linking the two were roundabouts. Lots and lots of roundabouts - hence the nick name 'polo mint city.'
Navigating a new town meant owning your own car. Public transport, and even pavements, were less prioritised. Today, this feels anomalous to our net zero goals. Back in 1947, it led to the construction of Scotland's biggest undercover retail space, which doubled as the 'town centre'.
Today, this once thriving destination is ghostly quiet. Almost 100 units are vacant and there's over half a million square foot of empty floor space. Clearly, change is needed, but how? One solution is to start over, replacing the empty department stores with homes and open air public spaces.
This programme looks at what it meant to grow up in a New Town the implications of this urban overhaul, and how it reflects on the broader questions we're currently addressing about car travel, community and engagement with our town centres.
TUE 11:30 Graceland in the Glens (m001v3g9)
In 2019, Elvis Presley Enterprises threatened to deconstruct Graceland and move it to Saudi Arabia, Tokyo, or whoever was the highest bidder. Artist, writer, KLF member and money burner - Bill Drummond - realised something had to be done. Bill's relationship with Northern Ireland began before his relationship with Elvis - but at some junction, these two relationships were bound to collide. It seems the Curfew Tower at the junction of the crossroads in the village of Cushendall in the Glens of Antrim is where this collision will be taking place.
Producer: Conor Garrett
TUE 12:00 News Summary (m001v3gh)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 12:04 You and Yours (m001v3gp)
Call You and Yours : Have your spending habits changed?
Call You & Yours. We want to hear from you about your spending habits and whether they've changed in this cost-of-living squeeze.
People are going out to pubs less than they did but then we know they're still spending on holidays and foreign travel.
If you've taken stock of your spending did anything surprise you? What have you let go, what wouldn't you be without?
Call us from
11am on Tuesday on 03700 100 444
PRESENTER: WINIFRED ROBINSON
PRODUCER: KEVIN MOUSLEY
TUE 12:57 Weather (m001v3h1)
The latest weather forecast
TUE 13:00 World at One (m001v3h9)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment.
TUE 13:45 How to Read the News (m001v3hm)
Whose agenda is it anyway?
In August 2023 the release of radioactive waste-water from Japan’s damaged Fukushima nuclear plant was reported around the world. Yet Britain’s Sellafield plant releases far more contaminated water every year without making the news. So why was the Fukushima story in the headlines?
We hear how Chinese state media seeded anti-Japan stories, and how their messages made their way into our mainstream media. What appeared as a public health story may really have been a geo-political spat.
TUE 14:00 The Archers (m001v3hj)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 Drama on 4 (m001v3hz)
Talawa Stories: Babydyke
Talawa Stories from the UK’s outstanding Black Theatre Company presents a searing exploration of youthful romance, familial responsibility and the complexities of navigating repressed sexuality as a young Black Londoner.
Tara thinks that she’s the child of crazy. Her dad Lesley, would disagree. According to him, Tara is loving all wrong - the wrong people, the wrong way, at the wrong time. But can being in love ever be wrong? Lesley certainly seems to think so.
When Tara’s girlfriend Phoenix comes over for dinner, Tara is forced to make a choice -to stay and support her father as he struggles with his mental health and suicidal thoughts, or boldly leap into a new reality living her truth as an out and proud queer woman.
Babydyke is Rashida Seriki’s searing exploration into youthful romance, familial responsibility and negotiating independence within the family home, dissecting the complexities of navigating repressed sexuality as a young Black Londoner from a colourful home.
Cast (in order of appearance):
Phoenix – Bola Akeju (she/her)
Tara – babriye bukilwa (they/them)
Lesley – Wil Johnson (he/him)
Maureen – Lorraine Adeyefa (she/her)
Creative team:
Writer – Rashida Seriki (she/her)
Director – Tian Brown-Sampson (she/her)
Series Producer – Alison Holder (she/her)
Executive Producer – Caroline Raphael (she/her)
Sound Design – Lucinda Mason-Brown (she/her) and David Chilton (he/him)
Dramaturg – malakaï sargeant (they/them)
Production Coordinator– Alex Lynch (he/him)
Talawa New Work Producer - David Gilbert (he/him)
Casting Assistant – Melissa Vitalis Smith (she/her)
A Talawa Theatre Company production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 15:00 Short Cuts (m001v3j6)
Series 37
Minis
The moment of time before a camera shutter closes, a symphony of ums reveals a partner's untruths, and two women linked by a phantom thread reflect on their changing bodies. Josie Long presents even shorter short documentaries.
Is This An Image?
Produced by Jon Tjhia
Death from Above
Written and read by Joe Dunthorne
Body of Work
Featuring the voices of writer Marleen Kruithof and cinematographer Babette Mangolte
Music by Nicola Mecca
Produced by Georgia Walker
What's in an Um?
Produced by Talia Augustidis
Charon
Composed, produced and performed by Jamie Payne
Curated by Axel Kacoutié, Eleanor McDowall and Andrea Rangecroft
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 15:30 Doctor, Doctor (p0gy6vbk)
Professor Stephen Westaby
Doctor Doctor reveals the stress, excitement and challenges facing a 21st century medic. These are life-affirming stories of highs and lows, of commitment, bravery, skill, heartache and love.
Dr Phil Hammond dissects the medical lives of professionals at all levels of the health service: surgeons, intensive care nurses, NHS executives, junior doctors, psychiatrists - fascinating jobs, the titles of which we know very well, but our understanding of which may be lacking.
Dr Phil’s guests range from the recently qualified to the recently retired, from well-known medical grandees to unknown regional heroes, covering all specialties in hospital and community.
Producer: David Morley
Original Music by Chris O'Shaughnessy
A Perfectly Normal production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 16:00 Word of Mouth (m001v3jp)
Writing Comedy with Isy Suttie
Isy Suttie is an actor and comedian best known for her role in Peepshow and her one woman show Love Letters on Radio 4 as well as many other shows and podcasts. Here she talks to Michael Rosen about writing her comedy and what informs it. She grew up in Matlock in Derbyshire and a deep love as well of knowledge of the place and its people find their way into her humour. Words ending in consonants too are much funnier than those ending in a vowel she says. And as for learning Welsh to impress her partner her song written to show off her language skills to him is a linguistic masterpiece!
Producer: Maggie Ayre
TUE 16:30 Great Lives (m001v3jw)
Mr Motivator picks Harry Belafonte
Harry Belafonte became the King of Calypso with hits like 'Day-O' and 'Jump in the Line' but he would later describe himself as an activist who became a musician and an actor.
Fitness guru Derrick Evans MBE AKA 'Mr Motivator' spent much of the 90s on TV wearing brightly-coloured spandex and encouraging people to be more active. He stresses the political messages that underpin Calypso music and celebrates the stand Belafonte took in the campaign for civil rights in America in the 1960s. Derrick moved from Jamaica to the UK when he was a boy and remembers the impact of the Belafonte film 'Carmen Jones'.
Presenter: Matthew Parris
Guest: Derrick Evans AKA 'Mr Motivator'
Producer: Toby Field for BBC Audio Bristol
TUE 17:00 PM (m001v3k2)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m001v3kb)
Temperatures were close to the threshold of 1.5 Celsius above pre-industrial levels
TUE 18:30 The Ultimate Choice (m001v3kj)
Series 2
Episode 2: Kim Kardashian v E.T.
Steph McGovern asks some seriously funny minds to offer definitive answers to the great questions of our age. Or not.
Welcome to the world's most devious game of Would You Rather? With guests Amy Gledhill and Ian Smith.
Host: Steph McGovern
Guests: Amy Gledhill and Ian Smith
Devised and written by Jon Harvey & Joseph Morpurgo
With additional material from Laura Major
Researcher: Leah Marks
Recorded and mixed by David Thomas
Producer: Jon Harvey
Executive Producers: Ed Morrish and Polly Thomas
Photo: Carolyn Mendelsohn
A Naked production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 19:00 The Archers (m001v3kq)
Whilst dropping in at Lower Loxley, Lily learns from Elizabeth that another valued member of staff has handed in their notice to go to Grey Gables. Elizabeth is concerned but Lily reassures her that things will be OK. Later while getting her hair done, Lily probes Chelsea on whether she knows if anyone else is thinking of leaving. Lily flatters her by saying she seems to talk to everybody. Chelsea covers, saying she doesn’t know of anyone thinking of leaving. She adds that if there are any opportunities for better-pad work she would be interested as she loves working at Lower Loxley and asks if Lily could put in a word with Elizabeth. Lily counters she doesn’t get involved in business decisions. Before Chelsea leaves she reiterates she will let Lily know if anyone is unhappy.
Lillian has brought Ruby to the vets with a sore leg. During the examination Denise comes in and things are obviously frosty between her and Alastair. Later when Lillian goes to pay, Alastair asks Denise to upsell some dog food. She flatly refuses so he reluctantly does it himself. As a result he makes a mess, with dog food packages falling all over the floor, and Lillian discovers the reason for the tension between them both. She suggests that they could combine Denise’s passion for caring for the animals with Alastair’s objective of selling owners more products by holding puppy parties, reasoning that pet owners would be far more likely to buy from people they trust.
TUE 19:15 Front Row (m001v3kx)
Ins Choi on Kim’s Convenience, why are so many films set in a dystopian future?
Ins Choi, the creator of the Netflix hit comedy series, Kim’s Convenience, talks about getting past stereotypes, keeping audiences on edge and bringing his original Korean-Canadian stage version of the show to the Park Theatre in north London.
Tom Sutcliffe asks author and journalist Rachel Cooke and children's author and representative of the Society of Authors Abie Longstaff about the impact of the cyberattack on the British Library.
Do we need to set more films and tv series in the present? Critics Joe Queenan and Stuart Jeffries consider why so much of what we watch is set in the nostalgic past or a dystopian future.
TUE 20:00 File on 4 (m000f5hb)
Second Class Citizens: The Post Office IT Scandal
The story of the Post Office IT scandal has gained new momentum in the wake of an ITV dramatisation about how dozens of subpostmasters were falsely accused of theft and fraud and hauled through the courts. After 20 years, campaigners won a legal battle to have their cases reconsidered and in 2019 the Post Office lost a High Court battle and agreed to pay nearly £60 million to more than 550 of its staff. Some ended up in prison, others bankrupt - many more have been left with their health and reputations in ruins. A public inquiry is ongoing, but many victims are still fighting to have their convictions overturned or to secure full compensation.
In this episode of File on 4 - updated since its first broadcast in February 2020 - Hayley Hassall meets some of those whose lives were destroyed. She returns to the Post Office in the East Riding seaside town of Bridlington with former subpostmaster Lee Castleton. There are still buckets and spades in the otherwise empty shop - a business he'd taken on after deciding to give up his job as a stockbroker for a better quality of life. She hears from Tracy Felstead who was convicted of fraud and sent to Holloway Prison when she was just 19 years old.
One whistleblower reveals how he warned the Post Office the Horizon system was unsafe and, in his first ever interview, forensic accountant Ron Warmington reveals how he struggled to get straight answers from Post Office management after he was brought in to carry out an investigation.
Reporter: Hayley Hassall
Producers: Mick Tucker and Nick Wallis
Editor: Carl Johnston
TUE 20:40 In Touch (m001v3lb)
Pavement Parking
The Transport (Scotland) Act has been in place since 2019, which includes a nation-wide ban of parking cars on pavements. But only in December 2023 were local councils across Scotland given the powers to enforce fines of up to £100 to people doing so. Some local councils are saying that they need more funding and resources to be able to conduct assessments of their streets and to implement enforcement. We put this to Scotland's Transport Minister Fiona Hyslop and we hear from visually impaired resident of Glasgow about how pavement parking impacts her everyday journeys.
Meanwhile, The Thomas Pocklington Trust are reigniting a decade-old campaign that calls for a similar ban across England. The Trust's head of public affairs and campaigns, Mike Bell tells us what they're calling for.
Presenter: Peter White
Producer: Beth Hemmings
Production Coordinator: Liz Poole
Website image description: Peter White sits smiling in the centre of the image and he is wearing a dark green jumper. Above Peter's head is the BBC logo (three separate white squares house each of the three letters). Bottom centre and overlaying the image are the words "In Touch" and the Radio 4 logo (the word Radio in a bold white font, with the number 4 inside a white circle). The background is a bright mid-blue with two rectangles angled diagonally to the right. Both are behind Peter, one is a darker blue and the other is a lighter blue.
TUE 21:00 Inside Health (m001v3lf)
Living in a Bacterial World
This week we’re exploring our microbial metropolis.
Smitha Mundasad heads into the lab to meet the bacteria that live on her skin – and on her family’s dirty laundry – to understand what’s there, and why.
She goes antibiotic-hunting around her house to find out whether bacteria on a washing up sponge, a fluffy cushion, the bottom of a shoe – and even some of her kids’ play slime – could hold the key to helping scientists find new medicines.
Next, Smitha wants to find out the answer to how often we should wash ourselves – and our clothes – for good health, but, as she finds out, this question is not as simple as it sounds.
It turns out there's a big difference between cleanliness and hygiene – and the confusion between these two rather important words could be having an impact on our health…
Presenter: Dr Smitha Mundasad
Producer: Gerry Holt
Editor: Holly Squire
TUE 21:30 Things Fell Apart (m001v3dw)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (m001v3ll)
Is American diplomacy making a difference in the Middle East?
Should cuckooing become a separate crime?
Twenty five years since the first episode of The Sopranos aired
TUE 22:45 Orbital by Samantha Harvey (m001v3ln)
Episode Two
Across 24 hours on an international space station, six astronauts contemplate the earth, as continents and oceans pass beneath them. They are there to collect meteorological data, conduct scientific experiments and test the limits of the human body. But mostly they observe. Together they watch their silent blue planet, circling it sixteen times, spinning past continents and cycling through seasons, taking in glaciers and deserts, the peaks of mountains and the swells of oceans. Endless shows of spectacular beauty witnessed in a single day.
Yet although separated from the world they cannot escape its constant pull. News reaches them of the death of one astronaut's mother, and with it comes thoughts of returning home. They look on as a typhoon gathers over an island and people they love, in awe of its magnificence and fearful of its destruction. The fragility of human life fills their conversations, their fears, their dreams. So far from earth, they have never felt more part – or protective – of it. They begin to ask, what is life without earth? What is earth without humanity?
"In this new day they'll circle the earth sixteen times. They'll see sixteen sunrises and sixteen sunsets, sixteen days and sixteen nights. In their rotations around the earth in accumulations of light and dark, in the baffling arithmetic of thrust and altitude and speed and sensors, the whip-crack of morning arrives every ninety minutes".
"...an awe-inspiring and humbling love letter to Earth and those who reckon with the gift of it" - Max Porter
Samantha Harvey is the author of the novels The Wilderness, All is Song, Dear Thief and The Western Wind and a work of non-fiction, The Shapeless Unease: A Year of Not Sleeping.
Read by Anneika Rose (Line of Duty, Shetland, Ackley Bridge) with music by Timothy X Atack.
Abridged by Sara Davies
Studio Recording and Mixing by Ilse Lademann and Michael Harrison
Produced by Mary Ward-Lowery and Mair Bosworth for BBC Audio
TUE 23:00 Now You're Asking with Marian Keyes and Tara Flynn (m001v3lq)
The Middle Fingers Problem
What do you do when you’re bisexual and rejected by your family, a parent worried about your son sucking his fingers, and someone whose friend brings you nothing but problems? These and many others have turned to radio’s warmest voices to get a little help. Rather wonderfully, this episode also includes the phrase ‘weaponised incompetence’ and the lasting image of a television festooned with an abandoned bra...
Marian Keyes is a multi award-winning writer, with a total of over 30 million of her books sold to date in 33 languages. Her close friend Tara Flynn is an actress, comedian and writer. Together, these two friends have been through a lot, and now want to use their considerable life experience to help solve your biggest - and smallest - of things that keep us awake at night.
Previous series were welcomed by listeners and critics: "Both are warm and kind enough to not only be funny but also offer genuinely thoughtful, if left-field, advice." (Miranda Sawyer, The Observer) "Keyes and Flynn are my new favourite double-act." (Jane Anderson - Radio Times) "I found their compassion endlessly soothing." (Rachel Cunliffe - The New Statesman)
Recorded in Dublin with emails received from listeners around the world.
Got a problem you want Marian and Tara to solve? Email: marianandtara@bbc.co.uk.
Producer: Steve Doherty.
A Giddy Goat production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds
TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (m001v3ls)
Sean Curran reports on the Foreign Secretary David Cameron's first question-and-answer session with MPs. And is it easier to get Taylor Swift concert tickets than an NHS dentist?
WEDNESDAY 10 JANUARY 2024
WED 00:00 Midnight News (m001v3lv)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
WED 00:30 The Wager by David Grann (m001v3f8)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m001v3lx)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m001v3lz)
World Service
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m001v3m1)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
WED 05:30 News Briefing (m001v3m3)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m001v3m5)
A spritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Bishop David Walker
Something to announce
Good morning
There’s a saying along the lines that a bad story is halfway round the world, before good news has pulled its boots on. I know from experience, that if I criticise some government announcement on social media, I’ll get multiple likes and re-postings within minutes. If I praise one, there’ll be hardly a reaction. Sometimes the boot is on the other foot. It may be that I’m announcing a new appointment to a senior job in my diocese, or making public a policy decision the national Church has taken. It always amazes me how social media can find something damning to decry in even the most benign and positive development. And if they can’t find the negative, they’ll say nothing.
It’s always struck me that the strongest reaction to the news of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem came not from the shepherds and wise men, who the bible tells me visited the stable and rejoiced. Indeed, both groups fade immediately into obscurity. Rather it comes from King Herod, who, determined to wipe out a possible future rival, launches a homicidal attack against any infant boy in the vicinity under the age of two.
Hence, I want to take as a personal challenge that, in this year newly begun, I‘ll make greater effort to focus on the positives, to praise the good that I see around me, both in people and in deeds. And so, today I pray:
God give me eyes this day, to see the good more clearly than the bad; give me ears to hear the positive more loudly than the negative, and lips more prone to praise than to criticise. That I may be both the bearer and recipient of good news.
Amen.
WED 05:45 Farming Today (m001v3m7)
Increasing the supply of green energy is one of the major targets for the UK to reach its climate commitments. Wind and solar farms both contribute to that, and have been welcomed by many, but the delivery of that cleaner energy is causing concern, as more pylons and underground cabling have to be built, often through rural areas.
Now, a new film created by Ralph Fiennes and Charles Sturridge, has just been released calling for National Grid to build energy pooling infrastructure off-shore and on brownfield sites rather than across the countryside.
Stephen March farms at Little Hawkesley in Essex in Constable Country - fifty percent of his land will be affected by National Grid's plans to put in underground cables and a pylon......he told me what that means for his family farm
While they're associated with early Summer, the reality is you can buy imported strawberries in the supermarkets all year round.
But thanks to a project which is part-farming, part-engineering, a winter crop of British strawberries is being harvested in Lincolnshire this winter.
BBC Look North's Linsey Smith has been along.
This week, we're looking at animal feed.....When you see livestock out in the field it's easy to think they're all eating the same grass...but you won't be surprised to hear, not all grass is the same. Many farmers are switching away from simple grass mixes, to herbal leys, which are made up of legumes, herbs and grasses.
WED 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03k5c3r)
Sanderling
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
David Attenborough presents the sanderling. Twinkling along the tideline, so fast that their legs are a blur, sanderlings are small waders. It's the speed with which they dodge incoming waves that catches your attention as they run after the retreating waters and frantically probe the sand.
WED 06:00 Today (m001v3hp)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
WED 09:00 More or Less (m001v3hy)
Deaths, taxes and missing cats
Did London see a 2500% increase in gun crime? Are taxes in the UK the highest since the 1950s? Did the UK have high excess deaths from Covid, compared to the rest of Europe? Do three cats go missing every second in the UK?
Tim and the team investigate a few of the numbers in the news.
Presenter: Tim Harford
Producer: Nathan Gower
Series Producer: Tom Colls
Production co-ordinator: Maria Ogundele
Sound mix: Neil Churchill
Editor: Richard Vadon
WED 09:30 Just One Thing - with Michael Mosley (m001v3j8)
Be Kind
We could all use a little kindness in our lives. Surprisingly, a little altruism can actually have big benefits for our own health! Michael discovers that small acts of kindness can not only boost your mental health and improve your relationships but also boost the immune system. Dr Tristan Inagaki from the San Diego State University explains to Michael how her research has revealed that those performing acts of kindness had lower levels of systemic inflammation, which could reduce the risk of many major diseases. Meanwhile, our volunteer Sam enjoys finding ways to consciously incorporate kindness into his week.
Series Producer: Nija Dalal-Small
Science Producer: Catherine Wyler
Researcher: Sophie Richardson
Researcher: Will Hornbrook
Production Manager: Maria Simons
Editor: Zoe Heron
A BBC Studios production for BBC Sounds / BBC Radio 4.
WED 09:45 The Wager by David Grann (m001v3jf)
Book of the Week: Episode 8 - Escaping Wager Island
In David Grann's account of the fate of an 18th century warship, mutiny has put the castaways into two rival factions, both hell bent on escape. Their chances of success are slim, as they take to their boats and contemplate furious storms. Luke Treadaway reads.
David Grann, the internationally best-selling and award winning writer, brings us the story of the treacherous events that took place on the Wager, an eighteenth century British warship, when it was lost at sea. Grann's enquiry into this story of shipwreck, mutiny, and murder sheds light on what happened when the Wager's crew were stranded on an uninhabitable island thousands of miles from home. The fate of those few men who made it home, reveals shocking insights into Great Britain's justice system in the Age of Empire.
David Grann is the author of The Lost City of Z, and Killers of the Flower Moon which is now a Hollywood blockbuster.
Abridged by Richard Hamilton
Produced by Elizabeth Allard
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (m001v3jm)
Cosmetic surgery reviews, Speed dating, Bangladesh elections, Assisted dying & palliative care
Woman’s Hour investigates the cosmetic surgery clinic taking legal action when patients post unfavourable reviews. Kate Kronenbach tells reporter Melanie Abbott she was disappointed when she had an operation to remove fat from her arms after losing 10 stone, and received a solicitor’s letter when she wrote about her experience on the Trustpilot website. Action has also been taken against five others. The Free Speech Union is supporting them in their case. Clare McDonnell discusses the story with Melanie and speaks to the Union and to patient campaigner Dawn Knight.
Is speed-dating making a comeback? Apathy over dating apps seems to be pushing both men and women towards the kind of speed dating that was so popular in the nineties. But is it better than online dating? And does it work? Clare is joined by writer Radhika Sanghani and relationship counsellor Suzie Hayman to discuss.
Bangladeshi PM Sheikh Hasina won a controversial fourth consecutive term in Parliamentary elections last elections last Sunday. The opposition party called it a 'sham' election, coming after mass arrests of her political opponents and refused to participate. The leader of the Opposition former PM Khaleda Zia – also female - is under house arrest. Between them the two women have dominated Bangladeshi politics since 1991. BBC News South Asian Correspondent, Samira Hussain, joins Clare McDonnell to tell us more about these leaders and the political situation in Bangladesh.
Last week on Woman’s Hour we heard the candid admission by the former Labour MP and Government Minister, Dame Joan Ruddock that she was ready to end her terminally ill husband's life using a pillow in a bid to end his pain. Her husband the former MP Frank Doran had been suffering from end stage bowel cancer in 2017, and she struggled to get him pain relief medication in the hours before he died. She is now calling for a free vote in the Commons to legalise assisted dying. The public debate around the subject has been revived in recent months by leading figures such as Esther Rantzen - who revealed that she is considering travelling to a Dignitas clinic in Switzerland if her cancer worsens; and the late Dame Diana Rigg, who made a recording before her death making the case for assisted dying. But others such as Baroness Ilora Finlay, a cross bench peer in the House of Lords and a palliative end of life care expert, are cautioning against a law change. She believes improved access to care and pain relief is the answer when people are dying rather than the taking of lethal drugs. She joins Clare McDonnell to reflect on the new push for a law change.
Presented by Clare McDonnell
Producer: Louise Corley
WED 11:00 A Spokesperson Said... (m001v3j4)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 on Monday]
WED 11:30 Lady Killers with Lucy Worsley (m001v3jt)
21. Maria Manning - 'Lady Macbeth of Bermondsey'
Lucy Worsley travels back in time to revisit the unthinkable crimes of 19th century murderesses from the UK, Australia and North America.
This episode sees Lucy traverse London, hot on the heels of Maria Manning, the so-called Lady Macbeth of Bermondsey, a woman who confounds expectations of respectable Victorian England.
Maria shocked the nation in 1849, when she conspired with her husband to kill her lover, before stealing the dead man’s money and making a break for freedom on the all-new intercity rail network. She’s the inspiration for a key character in Charles Dickens' famous proto-detective novel Bleak House and her fate leads to a pivotal change in the law.
To untangle this remarkable story, Lucy is joined by international literary superstar Kate Mosse, author of historical fiction novels including the Joubert Family Chronicles and founder-director of The Women’s Prize for Fiction.
Lucy also visits the scene of the crime and recreates Maria’s escape across the capital with Lady Killers’ in-house historian Professor Rosalind Crone from the Open University. They uncover a bizarre trail of evidence, including the huge stash of belongings Maria deposited at London Bridge Station as she fled London, which included 28 pairs of stockings, 11 petticoats, a teapot, an apron and several items of bloodstained clothing.
Together, the team ask why the buttoned-up Victorians had such an appetite for grisly tales of lust, crime and punishment. Are the same impulses behind today’s fascination with true crime? Can we respect Maria’s independent spirit and sharp mind, despite what she did? Does she deserve her place in history?
Produced in partnership with the Open University
Producer: Sarah Goodman
Readers: Meena Rayann and Jonathan Keeble
Sound design: Chris Maclean
Series Producer: Julia Hayball
A StoryHunter production for BBC Radio 4
New episodes will be released on Wednesday wherever you get your podcasts. But if you’re in the UK, listen to the latest full series of Lady Killers first on BBC Sounds. BBC Sounds - Lady Killers with Lucy Worsley - Available Episodes: http://bbc.in/3M2pT0K
WED 12:00 News Summary (m001v3k0)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 12:04 You and Yours (m001v3k7)
Childcare Fees; CES; Kids Skincare
Parents hoping to access new Government help to bring down the soaring price of childcare fees have been contacting You and Yours about concerns with the application process. Nurseries are also reporting they may not be able to staff additional places. We try to get to grips with what's going on.
Plus the world's largest tech show has been happening in Las Vegas. Yameen Rasul is a tech journalist who's been at the show and he tells about some of the big announcements and talks to Tom Guy from BT's innovation hub Etc about their announcement about transforming street cabinets into EV charge points.
And we'll hear more about the trend among teens and children for luxury skincare designed for adult skin and what parents need to know about the ingredients before they buy.
PRESENTER - PETER WHITE
PRODUCER - CATHERINE EARLAM
WED 12:57 Weather (m001v3kg)
The latest weather forecast
WED 13:00 World at One (m001v3kn)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment.
WED 13:45 How to Read the News (m001v3kv)
A Source Close to the Minister
When you read or hear that ‘a source close to the minister’ has told a reporter something, what can you read into that? Former Special Advisor Salma Shah and The Sun’s Political Correspondent Noa Hoffman give us the lowdown on anonymous briefings at Westminster – how, where and why they happen – and pass on their tips for how we can interpret information when its source is secret.
Presenter: Jo Fidgen
Producer: Charlotte McDonald
Researchers: Beth Ashmead Latham, Kirsteen Knight
Editors: China Collins, Emma Rippon
WED 14:00 The Archers (m001v3kq)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 This Thing of Darkness (m001v3l0)
Series 3
2. The Elephant in the Room
By Frances Poet with monologues by Eileen Horne
Dr Alex Bridges is an expert forensic psychiatrist and psychotherapist, assessing and treating perpetrators of serious crime.
This gripping drama explores the psychological impact of murder on teenage perpetrators and follows the fortunes of participants in a Long Sentence therapy group.
How much do childhood experiences impact the mind of a murderer?
Dr Alex Bridges ….. Lolita Chakrabarti
Anthony ….. Lorn Macdonald
Finn ….. Reuben Joseph
Twitch …. Brian Ferguson
Simon ….. Shaun Mason
Donna/The Governor….. Karen Bartke
Dani ….. Elysia Welch
Dead Elvis….Andy Clark
Sound Design: Fraser Jackson
Series Consultant: Dr Gwen Adshead
Series format created by Lucia Haynes, Audrey Gillan, Eileen Horne, Gaynor Macfarlane, Anita Vettesse and Kirsty Williams.
Thanks to Victoria Byrne, Barlinnie Prison, Vox Liminis Distant Voices Project and Prof Fergus McNeill.
Produced by Gaynor Macfarlane and Kirsty Williams
A BBC Scotland Production directed by Gaynor Macfarlane
WED 15:00 Money Box (m001v3l6)
Money Box Live: The Childcare Challenge
The price of nursery can be more than a mortgage. In fact, to send a two-year-old to nursery for 50 hours a week, allowing you to work full time, can set you back more than £14,000 a year according to Coram the children's charity.
But, from April this year, working parents in England can claim 15 government funded hours for two year olds, instead of waiting for them to turn three to get help.
Applications for that support are now open - but there are concerns that not all parents will be be able to get their applications processed in time to use them. We've been investigating that, and what else is available to cut childcare costs for mums and dads.
We'll also hear from a nursery owner on the financial pressures of caring for children and talk about the costs of having school age kids.
Felicity Hannah is joined by Paul Rhodes from the Money and Pensions Service and Meghan Meek-O'Connor, senior policy adviser on child poverty at Save the Children UK.
Presenter: Felicity Hannah
Producer: Sarah Rogers
Editor: Jess Quayle
(This episode was first broadcast on the 10th of January at
3pm on Radio 4).
WED 15:30 Inside Health (m001v3lf)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Tuesday]
WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (m001v3mb)
The Power of Song
The power of song: Laurie Taylor talks to James Walvin, Professor of History Emeritus at the University of York and author of a new study which explores the cultural history of "Amazing Grace," one of the transatlantic world's most popular hymns and a powerful anthem for humanity. How did a simple Christian hymn, written in a remote English vicarage in 1772, come to hold such sway over millions in all corners of the modern world? Also, Angela Impey Professor of Enthomusicology at SOAS, argues that songs in South Sudan can be key platform for truth-telling, often invested with greater moral force than other forms of communication in the context of 50 years of civil war. What role can songs play in the struggle for peace and justice?
Producer: Jayne Egerton
WED 16:30 The Media Show (m001v3md)
The Post Office Scandal: a failure of the press?
Why did it take an ITV drama for a huge miscarriage of justice to get the headlines it deserves? As the government races to respond to public outrage over the Post Office scandal, The Media Show meets some of the key journalists who have reported on it over the last 15 years, and asks why it is only now that the story is cutting through.
Guests: Rebecca Thomson, former Computer Weekly journalist; Nick Wallis, presenter of The Great Post Office Trial; Tim Brentnall, former sub-postmaster; Ian Hislop, Editor of Private Eye; Amelia Gentleman, reporter at The Guardian
Presenter: Katie Razzall
Producer: Simon Richardson
WED 17:00 PM (m001v3mg)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m001v3mj)
All convictions in the IT scandal will be overturned in England and Wales
WED 18:30 Clare in the Community (m0008nx4)
Series 12
Heartbroken
Clare is not feeling particularly sympathetic towards Brian after he's dramatically unwell. She's more concerned about delivering her showstopping palliative care package.
Sally Phillips is Clare Barker the social worker who has all the right jargon but never a practical solution.
A control freak, Clare likes nothing better than interfering in other people's lives on both a professional and personal basis. Clare is in her thirties, white, middle class and heterosexual, all of which are occasional causes of discomfort to her.
We join Clare in her continued struggle to control both her professional and private life. In today's Big Society there are plenty of challenges out there for an involved, caring social worker. Or even Clare.
Written by Harry Venning and David Ramsden
Producer Alexandra Smith
A BBC Studios production
Clare.....SALLY PHILLIPS
Brian.....ALEX LOWE
Nali.....NINA CONTI
Doctor.....RICHARD LUMSDEN
Simon....ANDREW WINCOTT
Libby.....SARAH KENDALL
Joan ..... SARAH THOM
Cilla.....GBEMISOLA IKUMELO
WED 19:00 The Archers (m001v3ml)
Henry is running late. When Helen asks him to sign Pat’s card he is uncharacteristically rude and storms off to school. Whilst this is going on, Helen is on the phone to Natasha who wishes her luck for her therapy session later. She offers to go with her but Helen says she’ll be fine. Later Henry confides in one of his teachers about the situation at home. He tells him he wouldn’t want anything from Rob, but he does feel envious that Jack had a dad. Henry gets upset and his teacher tells him his mum would want to know and just wants him to be happy. Henry counters that if that were the case, she would have stayed with Lee and it’s all Rob’s fault. Helen and Natasha are having a debrief when they are interrupted by Henry who seems buoyed by his chat with Mr Reid. Helen is surprised and Natasha suggests you can’t change the past but you can change how you move forward.
Lily and Oliver bump into each other and have an awkward conversation about how many Lower Loxley staff have gone to Grey Gables. Oliver jokes that perhaps Lily’s university studies would make her an ideal candidate for the hotel. Later on, having thought about their conversation, Lily goes to find Oliver. She tells him that as part of her course she’s required to do work placements and how Grey Gables would be ideal. Oliver makes positive noises, telling her he’ll have to square it with Roy and Adil but offers to show her around in the meantime.
WED 19:15 Front Row (m001v3mn)
Jack Rooke on TV sitcom Big Boys, Eliza Carthy goes wassailing
Jack Rooke drew on his own life for his hit Channel 4 sitcom Big Boys which focussed on an unlikely friendship between two first year university students – both working class with one struggling to explore his gay sexuality and the other an apparent Jack-the-lad who is really anything but. As Big Boys returns for a second series, he talks to Samira about making comedy out of loss, mental health, and male friendship.
Musician Eliza Carthy is Front Row’s wassail Queen as she sings live on the programme some traditional songs from Glad Christmas Comes - her new album with Jon Boden lead singer of Bellowhead. Her performance joins in with many others happening across the country this month to mark the January ritual of blessing fruit trees in hope of a bountiful harvest.
Simon Broughton reports from the Mugham festival of music and poetry in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Presenter Samira Ahmed
Producer: Tim Prosser
WED 20:00 Archive on 4 (m001gs6p)
What Has Media Training Done to Politics?
Journalist and broadcaster Matthew Parris explores the rise of media training in politics and what it has done to the political interview.
Media training is everywhere - in business, in professional sport, in public facing institutions from the charity sector to the arts. So why does it matter if it’s operating in politics too?
For politicians, media training is not only focused on presentation but how to deal with journalists’ questions, get their message across and control the narrative. It is, they say, a necessary layer of armour in an increasingly hostile media environment, where interviewers constantly try to catch them out, trip them up or humiliate them on air.
For journalists, media training has become an anathema, undermining not only the purpose of political interviews but the idea of democratic accountability itself - a set of tactics deployed by politicians to evade or deflect important questions for their own interests, rather than in the interests of truth.
The political interview is perhaps the purest encounter between politics and the broadcast media and, critics say, look at what’s happening to the form. It’s a vicious cycle - politicians are media-trained to become ever better at avoiding questions they don’t like, honing tactics of avoidance and control, repeating their message whatever the question asked. As a result, interviewers become wilier and more aggressive, trying to corner what they increasingly see as their quarry, who these days just want to make it out of the interview alive.
This in turn leads to a ‘safety first’ approach on the politician’s side, since one mistake under pressure from an inquisitor could damage their career, sometimes fatally. So interviewers, for their own professional and career reasons, become more and more determined to break through this training, make waves, move the story forward when the politician often wants to shut it down. Interruption, evasion, cross-talk… less a dialogue than an arms race.
A former MP before turning journalist and parliamentary sketch-writer for The Times, Matthew Parris draws on his experience of both camps to look back at the emergence of comms and media training within Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative Party before reaching it’s apotheosis with the New Labour media operation, as driven by Peter Mandelson and Alistair Campbell. Party discipline and narrative control became focused, politicians were ruthlessly ‘on message’ in interviews, all centrally coordinated. This change in political culture coincided with a revolution in media and news technology itself, with the birth of rapacious, rolling 24 hour news and the decline of the long-form interview into shorter, more pressured encounters between interviewers and politicians.
Contributors include David Dimbleby, Piers Morgan, Emily Maitlis, Peter Mandelson, James O’Brien, Kirsty Wark, Iain Dale, former Conservative MP David Gauke, former Conservative Party broadcast officer now media trainer Simon Brooke, political media trainers Scarlett MccGuire and Glenn Kinsey, political impressionist and podcaster Matt Forde, Labour’s former head of press Jo Green, founder member of Channel 4 News Michael Crick, former editor of the Walden programme for LWT John Wakefield, professor of media and communications at LSE Charlie Beckett, former Director General of the BBC John Birt and Today’s Nick Robinson.
Presented by Matthew Parris
Produced by Simon Hollis
A Brook Lapping production for BBC Radio 4
WED 21:00 Who Do You Really Think You Are? (m001ts5b)
We’re a nation obsessed with genealogy. Millions of us are gripped by TV shows like 'Who Do You Think You Are', where genealogists show celebrities their famous ancestors - like Danny Dyer being descended from Edward III, the first Plantagent King! But what if Danny doesn’t get exclusive bragging rights? With the help of mathematician Hannah Fry and Habsburg Royal Historian professor Martyn Rady, population geneticist Dr Adam Rutherford sets out to prove that we're all descended from royalty, revealing along the way that family trees are not the perfect tool for tracing your heritage. But can it really be true? Can we all be descended from Henry VIII or Charlemagne!?
WED 21:30 The Media Show (m001v3md)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 today]
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (m001v3mq)
Postmasters will have convictions overturned
Hundreds of people caught up in the Post Office scandal will have their convictions overturned. What does the prime minister's promise mean for those who were wrongly jailed? We ask an MP who's been campaigning for justice for more than a decade whether the government's plan risks unintended consequences.
Also on the programme:
Israel will be accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice tomorrow - we ask a leading international lawyer how the case could play out.
And how did a family-run Tyneside bakery come to conquer Britain? As the bakery chain announces it's opening dozens of new stores across the country, we'll ask how Gregg's became a staple of British culture.
WED 22:45 Orbital by Samantha Harvey (m001v3ms)
Episode Three
Across 24 hours on an international space station, six astronauts contemplate the earth, as continents and oceans pass beneath them. They are there to collect meteorological data, conduct scientific experiments and test the limits of the human body. But mostly they observe. Together they watch their silent blue planet, circling it sixteen times, spinning past continents and cycling through seasons, taking in glaciers and deserts, the peaks of mountains and the swells of oceans. Endless shows of spectacular beauty witnessed in a single day.
Yet although separated from the world they cannot escape its constant pull. News reaches them of the death of one astronaut's mother, and with it comes thoughts of returning home. They look on as a typhoon gathers over an island and people they love, in awe of its magnificence and fearful of its destruction. The fragility of human life fills their conversations, their fears, their dreams. So far from earth, they have never felt more part – or protective – of it. They begin to ask, what is life without earth? What is earth without humanity?
"In this new day they'll circle the earth sixteen times. They'll see sixteen sunrises and sixteen sunsets, sixteen days and sixteen nights. In their rotations around the earth in accumulations of light and dark, in the baffling arithmetic of thrust and altitude and speed and sensors, the whip-crack of morning arrives every ninety minutes".
"...an awe-inspiring and humbling love letter to Earth and those who reckon with the gift of it" - Max Porter
Samantha Harvey is the author of the novels The Wilderness, All is Song, Dear Thief and The Western Wind and a work of non-fiction, The Shapeless Unease: A Year of Not Sleeping.
Read by Anneika Rose (Line of Duty, Shetland, Ackley Bridge) with music by Timothy X Atack.
Abridged by Sara Davies
Studio Recording and Mixing by Ilse Lademann and Michael Harrison
Produced by Mary Ward-Lowery and Mair Bosworth for BBC Audio
WED 23:00 We Forced a Bot to Write This Show (m001v3mv)
4: Popmaster, Bible, Fools and Horses
We forced Artificial Intelligence to digest massive amounts of human media and then write its own versions. Everything from The One Show, Game of Thrones, Friends, Songs of Praise and more via movies, fables, adverts, Shakespeare, poetry and, er, gardening tips (and much much more) are all forever ruined by technology.
We take the scripts, push them word-for-word into the mouths of actors, and the result is absurdly, joyously - and then absurdly again - hilarious.
This is the comedy that conclusively proves that AI is an absolute idiot.
Based on materials by Keaton Patti.
Forcing A Bot To Write This Show are:
Jon Holmes
Sarah Dempster
Gareth Ceredig
Performed by:
Isy Suttie
James Lance
Lauren Douglin
Esmonde Cole
and
Craig Parkinson as The Narrator
Olivia Williams as The Storyteller
Original Music by Jake Yapp. Lyrics: Holmes / Ceredig / Patti
Produced and Directed by Jon Holmes
Technical Wizardry: Tony Churnside
Production Co-ordinator: Laura Grimshaw
An unusual production for BBC Radio 4
WED 23:15 Jokes (p0gwpw05)
Nora Meadows' Week of Wellness
Nora Meadows’ Week Of Wellness - 6. A Big Mug of Slime Straight from the Swamp
This week, Nora deals with an imbalance in a relationship, fields questions about her employment history and gets efficiency tips from her business guru.
She also decides to get dating again, so visits a dating expert, before throwing herself into a speed dating event with a unique premise...
Nora Meadows...Katy Wix
Brian...Sunil Patel
Gwen...Shivani Thussu
Benedict Mitchell... Alistair Green
Claire...Emily Lloyd-Saini
Oscar Wilkins... Rory Marshall
Speed Dating Caller... Lorana Rose Treen
Mark...Mark Silcox
Kevin...Alexander Owen
Written and directed by Will Farrell and Ben Rowse, with additional material from the cast
Sound Design...Marcus Rice
Original Music...Marcus Rice and Charlie Pelling
Producer: Nick Coupe
A Hat Trick production for BBC Radio 4
WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (m001v3my)
First PMQs of the year.
THURSDAY 11 JANUARY 2024
THU 00:00 Midnight News (m001v3n0)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
THU 00:30 The Wager by David Grann (m001v3jf)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m001v3n2)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m001v3n4)
World Service
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m001v3n6)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
THU 05:30 News Briefing (m001v3n8)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m001v3nb)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Bishop David Walker
Welcoming strangers
Good morning
A former bishop in my diocese once claimed that during the Middle Ages, when much of the structure of parishes was set up across the British Isles, the average person saw around four hundred human faces through the course of an entire life. I’ve no idea where he got that figure from, or how accurate it may have been, but it serves as a reminder that for most of human history, few have travelled outside their country of birth. Humanity evolved to live in uniform and cohesive groups of no more than 200. Not surprisingly, it could be a claustrophobic, or even hostile, environment to outsiders, especially those who showed signs of obvious difference.
Against that background, I find it deeply encouraging that so many of the world’s major religions, including my own, place a premium on hospitality to strangers. The Hebrew scriptures locate this explicitly in the story of how their ancestors themselves had been refugees, fleeing famine to find succour in Egypt. They recognise the vulnerability of the stranger, and the duty of care that imposes on the community in which they find themselves. In this age of mass movement, when most of us will see millions of faces, I’m glad to witness that hospitality being carried out, as I travel the churches of my diocese, meeting the many refugees and migrants who have made their home among us and who add so richly to our common life.
So today, I pray. God of the stranger and traveller, help me to be a good friend and neighbour to those who have journeyed far to find and make a home among us, that together we may build communities of welcome and inclusion.
Amen.
THU 05:45 Farming Today (m001v3nd)
11/01/24 Insects for animal feed and the scientists behind the research
Behind the scenes at the Food and Environment Research Agency or FERA where scientists are researching ways of using insects as an alternative source of protein in animal feed. We find out what the current regulations are and how they might change. What scientists plan to do with the waste from insects farmed for feed, and what are the challenge facing the scientists carrying out trials at the government's big laboratories outside York.
Presenter = Charlotte Smith
Producer = Rebecca Rooney
THU 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03k7330)
Tawny Owl (Winter)
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
David Attenborough presents the Tawny Owl. Tawny owls are our most urban owls, often living close to the centre of towns and cities, so long as there are hollow trees or old buildings in which they can nest.
THU 06:00 Today (m001v3wp)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
THU 09:00 In Our Time (m001v3wy)
Condorcet
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Nicolas de Condorcet (1743-94), known as the Last of the Philosophes, the intellectuals in the French Enlightenment who sought to apply their learning to solving the problems of their world. He became a passionate believer in the progress of society, an advocate for equal rights for women and the abolition of the slave trade and for representative government. The French Revolution gave him a chance to advance those ideas and, while the Terror brought his life to an end, his wife Sophie de Grouchy 91764-1822) ensured his influence into the next century and beyond.
With
Rachel Hammersley
Professor of Intellectual History at Newcastle University
Richard Whatmore
Professor of Modern History at the University of St Andrews and Co-Director of the St Andrews Institute of Intellectual History
And
Tom Hopkins
Senior Teaching Associate in the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Selwyn College
Producer: Simon Tillotson
Reading list:
Keith Michael Baker, Condorcet: From Natural Philosophy to Social Mathematics (University of Chicago Press, 1974)
Keith Michael Baker, ‘On Condorcet’s Sketch’ (Daedalus, summer 2004)
Lorraine Daston, ‘Condorcet and the Meaning of Enlightenment’ (Proceedings of the British Academy, 2009)
Dan Edelstein, The Enlightenment: A Genealogy (Chicago University Press, 2010)
Mark Goldie and Robert Wokler (eds), The Cambridge History of Eighteenth-Century Political Thought (Cambridge University Press, 2006), especially ‘Ideology and the Origins of Social Science’ by Robert Wokler
Gary Kates, The Cercle Social, the Girondins, and the French Revolution (Princeton University Press, 1985)
Steven Lukes and Nadia Urbinati (eds.), Condorcet: Political Writings (Cambridge University Press, 2009)
Kathleen McCrudden Illert, A Republic of Sympathy: Sophie de Grouchy's Politics and Philosophy, 1785-1815 (Cambridge University Press, 2024)
Iain McLean and Fiona Hewitt (eds.), Condorcet: Foundations of Social Choice and Political Theory (Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd, 1994)
Emma Rothschild, Economic Sentiments: Adam Smith, Condorcet and the Enlightenment, (Harvard University Press, 2001)
Richard Whatmore, The End of Enlightenment (Allen Lane, 2023)
David Williams, Condorcet and Modernity (Cambridge University Press, 2004)
THU 09:45 The Wager by David Grann (m001v3x7)
Book of the Week: Episode 9 - A Journal Is Published
In David Grann's book about the fate of the Wager, the castaways lives are put in danger when competing narratives about the demise of their warship come out. Luke Treadaway reads.
David Grann, the internationally best-selling and award winning writer, brings us the story of the treacherous events that took place on the Wager, an eighteenth century British warship, when it was lost at sea. Grann's enquiry into this story of shipwreck, mutiny, and murder sheds light on what happened when the Wager's crew were stranded on an uninhabitable island thousands of miles from home. The fate of those few men who made it home, reveals shocking insights into Great Britain's justice system in the Age of Empire.
David Grann is the author of The Lost City of Z, and Killers of the Flower Moon which is now a Hollywood blockbuster.
Abridged by Richard Hamilton
Produced by Elizabeth Allard
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (m001v3xm)
Zara Aleena's aunt, Spice Girls stamps, surge in scabies
Farah Naz, the aunt of murdered law graduate Zara Aleena, tells of her concerns that her niece’s killer has allegedly been caught having sex with a prison worker. Jordan McSweeney is serving a life sentence at high security Belmarsh Prison in South London.
For the first time, Royal Mail has dedicated set of stamps to a female pop group, to commemorate 30 years since the Spice Girls formed in 1994. We talk to Lauren Bravo, a culture journalist and DJ Yinka Bokinni.
We hear about the start of a new landmark Radio 4 documentary series called Child which follows a child’s development from fertilisation to first birthday from its creator India Rakusen.
There’s been a surge in the number of scabies cases and experts are warning there’s an acute shortage of treatments which is turning it into a major public health threat. Emma Barnett talks to Dr Tess McPherson about who is most at risk from catching it and how best to avoid it.
And we talk to barrister Harriet Johnson about a study which suggests rape convictions are 20% less likely in cases where victims give pre-recorded evidence.
Presenter: Emma Barnett
Producer: Lisa Jenkinson
Studio Manager: Emma Harth
THU 11:00 Crossing Continents (m001v3y1)
The Struggle for Barbuda's Future
Campaigners on the tiny Caribbean island of Barbuda are locked in a battle over its development by foreign investors who are building exclusive resorts for wealthy clients. The development of Barbuda into a high-end tourist destination is supported by the government of Antigua and Barbuda, who say it’s essential to create jobs and for the economic future of the island. But others argue that it will fundamentally change the island’s ecology and unique way of life. Caroline Bayley travels to Barbuda for Crossing Continents to speak to both sides in the heated debate over the island’s future.
Photo: The pristine coastline on Barbuda's south coast, which has become the main focus for new luxury developments (BBC).
Reporter: Caroline Bayley
Producer: Alex Last
Sound mix by Rod Farquhar
Production Coordinator: Gemma Ashman
Series Editor: Penny Murphy
THU 11:30 Great Lives (m001v3jw)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 on Tuesday]
THU 12:00 News Summary (m001v3yc)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 12:04 You and Yours (m001v3yq)
Gap Finders - Steven Smith, founder of Poundland
Steven Smith opened his first Poundland in 1990 in Burton Upon Trent, and quickly realised he had a formula for success.
Steven grew up on the market stalls of the Midlands - his parents had stalls and he quickly learned what customers wanted, and how they loved to hunt for bargains.
A cardboard box that unsold items were thrown into if they'd come out of their original packaging and could be sold for 10p quickly became the most valuable items on the store. Steven had the idea for Poundland from this cardboard box.
Steven opened his shop with a loan from his Dad, and the shop took £13,000 on its opening day, he knew he had a formula for success and opened dozens of shops across the UK.
Steven sold the business in 2002 because he wanted to spend more time with his family. But, he ran Poundland's online shop until recently and his sons are still involved in Poundland.
Steven joins Winifred to talk about the success of Poundland, how the UK became hungry for discount shops, and why he knew it was important to take a step back to be with his family.
PRESENTER: WINIFRED ROBINSON
PRODUCER: LYDIA THOMAS
THU 12:32 Sliced Bread Presents (m001v3z4)
Toast - Sunny Delight
Why did sales of the best-selling soft drink, Sunny Delight, suddenly bomb in the 1990s?
While Sliced Bread takes a break we serve up… Toast. A study of the spectacular failures of brands which had promised so much to consumers.
In each episode, the presenter and BBC business journalist, Sean Farrington, examines one big idea. What did it promise? Why did it fail? What can we learn from it today?
In this episode, Sean learns why sales of Sunny Delight faltered in the UK after an extraordinarily successful launch.
Sean speaks to some of the people who worked on the brand, hearing how it became a hit before a series of unfortunate coincidences undermined its popularity.
The self-made millionaire and serial entrepreneur, Sam White, is alongside him, analysing the missteps that changed Sunny Delight's fortunes.
'Sunny D', as it is known today, is still sold in some UK supermarkets. It has different owners and ingredients but it has never matched the incredible sales figures which it achieved in its early days.
You can email the programme at toast@bbc.co.uk
Feel free to suggest topics which we could cover in future episodes
Sliced Bread returns for a new batch of investigations in February. In the new series, Greg Foot will investigate more of the latest so-called wonder products to find out whether they really are the best thing since sliced bread. In the meantime, Toast is available in the Sliced Bread feed on BBC Sounds.
Toast is produced by Jon Douglas and Viant Siddique and is a BBC Audio North production for Radio 4 and BBC Sounds.
THU 12:57 Weather (m001v3zk)
The latest weather forecast
THU 13:00 World at One (m001v402)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment.
THU 13:45 How to Read the News (m001v40k)
How You Shape the News
Nicola Bulley’s disappearance was one of the biggest UK news stories of 2023. Hundreds of people are reported missing every day in the UK; why did this case dominate the news for weeks? We chart how what started as a story for the local press quickly caught the attention of national TV crews and social media sleuths, with families making daytrips to look for clues. We learn about the role of the police, audiences and ‘victim hierarchies’.
THU 14:00 The Archers (m001v3ml)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 McLevy (m0016pvx)
McLevy in the New World
Part 2: A Stirring in the Blood
Part 2: A Stirring In The Blood
By David Ashton
Adrift in San Francisco, Jean and McLevy are thrown closer together – an intimacy which doesn’t always suit either of them! In this wild lawless West they are soon investigating crooked gambling rings and dodgy land deals – but when a poker player is found murdered the local Mayor decides McLevy is the chief suspect. The resourceful (former) Inspector has to take to the streets disguised as a tramp.
McLevy ..... BRIAN COX
Jean Brash ..... SIOBHAN REDMOND
Mayor Brennan ..... DES McALEER
George Taylor ..... GUNNAR CAUTHERY
Cathleen/ Maria ..... ELLIE MEJIA
Eduardo Diaz ..... JOSEPH BALDERRAMA
Flaxman ..... JASON BARNETT
Other parts played by the cast
Producer/director: Bruce Young
THU 15:00 Open Country (m001v40x)
Return of the Derry Girl
Derry/Londonderry has a conflicted past but is fiercely loved and celebrated by its inhabitants. In the 21st century, it's shaping a new identity and redefining itself. The success of the hit TV sitcom 'Derry Girls' has breathed new life into the civic vision of the city and its surrounding landscape, shining a global spotlight on a place so often defined only by its troubled history. Marie-Louise Muir is native to the city and has resettled there after years of living away. In this programme, she discovers the new atmosphere of pride which is emerging and explores the new narrative of the city and its surroundings.
Produced by Ruth Sanderson
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (m001v2vm)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 Bookclub (m001v2wg)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Sunday]
THU 16:00 The Invention Of... (m001ryll)
Turkey
The Military
On September 12 1683, an army led by Kara Mustafa Pasha, Grand Vizier of the Ottoman empire, lined up on a hill just outside Vienna. The Ottomans had been besieging the city for almost two months. This wasn’t the first time they’d threatened Vienna. Europe’s fate appeared to hang in the balance once again.
Misha Glenny - who now lives in Vienna - traces the rise and fall of the Ottoman empire with location recordings from the two palaces of Topkapi and Dolmabahce on the Bosphorus in Istanbul.
Contributors to the series include Hannah Lucinda Smith, author Erdogan Rising; Professor Marc David Baer, author of The Ottomans; the Istanbul based writer Kaya Genc; Martyn Rady, author of books on the Habsburgs and The Middle Kingdoms; and Christopher de Bellaigue, former Tehran correspondent and author of The Lion House.
Misha Glenny is rector of the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna and author of McMafia. The producer in Bristol is Miles Warde
Further reading:
Suzy Hansen, Notes on a Foreign Country
Norman Stone, Turkey (a short history)
Elif Shafak, The Bastard of Istanbul
Martyn Rady, The Middle Kingdoms
Christopher de Bellaigue, The Lion House
Eugene Rogan, The Fall of the Ottomans
Soli Ozel, The History of Turkey's Future (in progress)
Kaya Genc, The Lion and the Nightingale
Hannah Lucinda Smith, Erdogan Rising
Mark Mazower, Salonica, city of ghosts
THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (m001v418)
Understanding Flood Forecasting
When Lois Pryce arrived at her boat in Berkshire, the area was already completely flooded. The only way to get to it was via a small pontoon. She is one of many across the UK that have been affected by the current floods, and is very familiar with the flood warning system accessible to the public. But how exactly does this system work? What information is taken into account? Marnie Chesterton speaks to Dr Linda Speight about flood forecasting, and the delicate balance of when to send out flood alerts and warnings.
Plus, a supersized spacecraft is launching this October. Europa Clipper will assess whether the most intriguing of Jupiter’s 95 moons is habitable, meaning, could it support life? The evidence is tantalising. Jenny Kempmeir, Science Systems Engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, tells us why Europa might be the second body in our solar system on which life could exist.
And, if you’ve been procrastinating over the housework – or should we say, mousework? - take a leaf out of a little rodent’s book. Apparently, mice do like to keep things clean, but a video that went viral this week seemingly takes this idea to another level entirely! You may well have seen the footage of a Welsh mouse gathering up objects in a shed and placing them neatly inside a box, night after night. It’s certainly very cute - Tidy Mouse carrying out its mousekeeping..but what’s the scientific explanation behind this curious behaviour?
Finally, how do exercise and video games affect cognitive performance? Professor Adrian Owen is launching a new experiment to find out and he needs your help.
Presenter: Marnie Chesterton
Producers: Louise Orchard, Florian Bohr, Hannah Robbins
Editor: Martin Smith
Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth
BBC Inside Science is produced in collaboration with the Open University.
THU 17:00 PM (m001v41n)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m001v420)
Stephen Bradshaw has been giving evidence to the Horizon IT inquiry
THU 18:30 Ellie Taylor's Safe Space (m000h8qg)
Series 1
2: Masculinity
Comedian Ellie Taylor has some opinions she'd like to get off her chest. In this episode she looks at all aspects of masculinity and whether it's had an unfairly poor press recently. She discusses her views with help from the studio audience and her side-kick Robin Morgan, who bravely goes on to the streets of Britain to ask members of the public about their attitudes to men being men. She also welcomes on a special expert guest, a man who knows all about how best to behave, Rupert Wesson from etiquette guide Debrett's.
It is produced by Sam Michell and is a BBC Studios Production.
This programme was first broadcast in 2020
THU 19:00 The Archers (m001v3y0)
Paul is rhapsodising about the new product display units and how easy it will be to sell. Denise reluctantly agrees it looks smart and thanks Alastair again for agreeing to the puppy parties. When Denise leaves Paul begs Alastair to come to her dance fit class as she is worried that no one will turn up. He goes on to say how much it would mean to her. Later, during a water break at the dance fit class Alastair and Denise have an awkward yet flirty conversation about each other’s appearance. Paul receives a message from his dad saying he’ll also be coming and apologising for being late. Denise is shocked and surprised, with things becoming decidedly awkward for her. Later when Alastair is saying goodbye he tells her how pleased he is that the class was a success but he won’t be returning next week.
Natasha suggests to Tom again that Helen is in a different place regarding the 10 acres and perhaps they could create something positive by renting the land from Miles. Then they could put a share of any profits into trust for Henry. Tom is unsure but Natasha tells him it could be very healing. Later on Tom concedes that Rob died thinking he had the last laugh and this way they could get one over on him. He says Miles would have to agree but Natasha argues that he is duty bound to manage the land in Jack’s best interest and who better to rent to than his family. Natasha thinks Helen will love the idea.
THU 19:15 Front Row (m001v42c)
Mean Girls and Hisham Matar’s My Friends reviewed
Mean Girls is 20 years old and has its cult following - but will fans love the new film of the hit Broadway musical of the same name? Critics Sarah Ditum and Ashley Hickson-Lovence give their verdict on the new version. They also discuss with Tom Sutcliffe the new novel by Hisham Matar - My Friends, which explores themes of friendship and exile, as well as including real-life events like the shooting of WPC Yvonne Fletcher outside the Libyan Embassy in 1984 and the killing of General Gadaafi in 2011.
And Mairi Campbell - who's about to start a new tour of her critically acclaimed Auld Lang Syne show - plays live in the studio.
Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe
Producer: Paul Waters
THU 20:00 The Briefing Room (m001v3w6)
Israel-Gaza: Is it turning into a regional conflict?
As if the conflict in Gaza wasn’t bad enough, the fighting has ignited old and new tensions elsewhere across the region. Since the surprise attack by Hamas on 7th October, clashes on the Lebanon-Israel border have restarted, attacks on US troops stationed in Syria and Iraq have escalated and a group of Houthi armed rebels from Yemen has started firing rockets at cargo ships trying to access the Suez Canal from the Red Sea. So in this week’s programme David Aaronovitch asks how close the war in Gaza is to becoming a wider conflict across the Middle East.
David is joined by the following experts:
Frank Gardner, BBC’s Security Correspondent.
Dr Elisabeth Kendall, Arabist & Middle East specialist and also The Mistress of Girton College at the University of Cambridge.
Jane Kinninmont, Policy & Impact Director at the European Leadership Network.
Scott Lucas, Professor of International Politics at University College Dublin’s Clinton Institute.
Production team: Nick Holland, Kirsteen Knight and Charlotte McDonald
Production Co-ordinators: Sophie Hill
Sound: Neil Churchill
Editor: Richard Vadon
THU 20:30 Intrigue (m001v42q)
Million Dollar Lover – Ep 8: Taking Control
Things are reaching a head as worries grow about Carolyn’s decision to sell two houses, on a single plot. One of the houses is home to her grandson and his family and Carolyn does not appear to be totally sure about her decision. Her daughters are so concerned that they approach the estate agent begging him to stop things.
If he does not and the sale goes ahead, Dave could be looking at a sizeable amount of money being transferred into his name. Carolyn’s daughters could be seeing their worst nightmares coming true. And a homeless man who rode into Cayucos on a bike could soon be on the brink of achieving the sort of stability he could never have dreamed of.
Million Dollar Lover is produced at BBC Audio by the team behind The Boy in the Woods and is presented by Sue Mitchell.
The series is scripted by Winifred Robinson; the producers are Sue Mitchell and Joel Moors; the dramaturg is Flo Dessau and sound design is by Tom Brignell. The series Editor is Philip Sellars
THU 21:00 BBC Inside Science (m001v418)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 today]
THU 21:30 In Our Time (m001v3wy)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (m001v438)
PM briefs cabinet on possible military action against Yemen's Houthis
South African lawyers accuse Israel of genocide at the International Court of Justice
The Austrian heiress giving away almost all of her 25 million euro fortune
THU 22:45 Orbital by Samantha Harvey (m001v43p)
Episode Four
Across 24 hours on an international space station, six astronauts contemplate the earth, as continents and oceans pass beneath them. They are there to collect meteorological data, conduct scientific experiments and test the limits of the human body. But mostly they observe. Together they watch their silent blue planet, circling it sixteen times, spinning past continents and cycling through seasons, taking in glaciers and deserts, the peaks of mountains and the swells of oceans. Endless shows of spectacular beauty witnessed in a single day.
Yet although separated from the world they cannot escape its constant pull. News reaches them of the death of one astronaut's mother, and with it comes thoughts of returning home. They look on as a typhoon gathers over an island and people they love, in awe of its magnificence and fearful of its destruction. The fragility of human life fills their conversations, their fears, their dreams. So far from earth, they have never felt more part – or protective – of it. They begin to ask, what is life without earth? What is earth without humanity?
"In this new day they'll circle the earth sixteen times. They'll see sixteen sunrises and sixteen sunsets, sixteen days and sixteen nights. In their rotations around the earth in accumulations of light and dark, in the baffling arithmetic of thrust and altitude and speed and sensors, the whip-crack of morning arrives every ninety minutes".
"...an awe-inspiring and humbling love letter to Earth and those who reckon with the gift of it" - Max Porter
Samantha Harvey is the author of the novels The Wilderness, All is Song, Dear Thief and The Western Wind and a work of non-fiction, The Shapeless Unease: A Year of Not Sleeping.
Read by Anneika Rose (Line of Duty, Shetland, Ackley Bridge) with music by Timothy X Atack.
Abridged by Sara Davies
Studio Recording and Mixing by Ilse Lademann and Michael Harrison
Produced by Mary Ward-Lowery and Mair Bosworth for BBC Audio
THU 23:00 The Today Podcast (m001v442)
Is democracy dying?
Why are younger voters around the world turning their back on democracy in favour of strongman leaders who are prepared to defy parliaments?
In a year when more than two billion people in 50 countries will go to the polls – the biggest global election year in history – Amol and Nick talk to Lord Gus O’Donnell, the former head of the civil service who has been travelling the world looking for ways of restoring trust in democracy.
And they also hear from Ravish Kumar, a news anchor in India who fell foul of Narendra Modi’s government – with career-threatening consequences.
Plus – just what role did Nick play in one of the most consequential press conferences of the former coalition government?
Episodes of The Today Podcast land every Thursday and watch out for bonus episodes. Subscribe on BBC Sounds to get Amol and Nick's take on the biggest stories of the week, with insights from behind the scenes at the UK's most influential radio news programme.
If you would like a question answering, get in touch by sending us a message or voice note via WhatsApp to +44 330 123 4346 or email us Today@bbc.co.uk
The Today Podcast is hosted by Amol Rajan and Nick Robinson, both presenters of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, the UK’s most influential radio news programme. Amol was the BBC’s media editor for six years and is the former editor of the Independent, he’s also the current presenter of University Challenge. Nick has presented the Today programme since 2015, he was the BBC’s political editor for ten years before that and also previously worked as ITV’s political editor.
The senior producer is Tom Smithard, the producer is Joshua Tindall. Technical production from Jake Graysmark. The editors are Jonathan Aspinwall and Louisa Lewis. The executive producer is Owenna Griffiths.
THU 23:30 Today in Parliament (m001v44g)
Sean Curran reports as MPs question the government about its nuclear energy plans.
FRIDAY 12 JANUARY 2024
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (m001v44r)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 00:30 The Wager by David Grann (m001v3x7)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Thursday]
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m001v451)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m001v459)
World Service
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m001v45j)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
FRI 05:30 News Briefing (m001v45r)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m001v460)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Bishop David Walker
Warning signs
Good morning
I recently got a new car. I don’t drive a great deal, public transport being my preferred option, but for some journeys, especially Sundays and late at night, there’s not much choice. From day one, I was struck by how many warning lights and signals the latest models have - from a flashing light which informs me of an overtaking vehicle, to a reminder, every time I climb out, to check whether I have left any belongings, or passengers, on the back seat.
The story of the wise men visiting the infant Jesus, which has lain behind my reflections this week, ends with them being told in a dream, to go home by a different route. Like most of the lights and signals in my car, they are warned because otherwise lives may be at risk. Crucially, they trust and heed the warning. As, if I wish to be a safe and careful driver, guarding my own life and other road users, I must too.
Beyond the comfort of my car, the warning lights may be less obvious, but are no less vital. The global increase in extreme weather warns me that human driven climate change is not just a future risk but a present emergency. Equally, the steep rise in the number of food bank parcels being distributed in my churches year on year, warns that increasing numbers of my neighbours are living on the bread line. So today I will pray:
Open my eyes God, to see the warning signs around me, even when it is not my own life or wellbeing that is threatened. And, that heeding the alerts, I may act and react in a timely and effective manner.
Amen.
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (m001v466)
12/01/24 Footpaths; Soy in animal feed; Three generations of female farmers.
Walkers in England and Wales are being blocked or obstructed in nearly 32,000 places - and face what access campaigners call 'a shocking and growing abuse and neglect of footpaths'. A BBC investigation found that councils which have responsibility for footpaths had 4,000 more access issues last year than the year before. Councils say 'funding constraints' limit what they can do and the government says funding for local government has increased by 6.5% year on year and that local authorities are best placed to decide how that money is spent. The Ramblers say they're shocked at the number of obstructions and The Open Spaces Society says pleading austerity isn't good enough.
All this week we've been looking at animal feed. Soya is a high protein and relatively cheap ingredient in many feeds but it can come from areas where forests have been cut down to make room to grow it. We visit a feed supplier in Aberdeen which produces an alternative using oil seed rape, and we speak to an academic who's been working on a project to improve the traceability of soya.
Anna Hill meets three women from three different generations, working together to produce organic beef on a small farm in Suffolk. She hears how two of them are first-time farmers, brought into agriculture by circumstance. The farm manger, a single mother, used to work in a concrete factory, but took a job on the farm to make ends meet when she was out of work. She later recruited her niece. Meanwhile the farm owner, now in her 80s, still does the paperwork, pays the bills and runs the business. It's a tale of co-operation, compassionate animal welfare, and faith in the strength of women to get the job done.
Presenter = Charlotte Smith
Producer = Rebecca Rooney
FRI 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03zrcgb)
Capercaillie
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Kate Humble presents the capercaillie. The bizarre knife-grinding, cork-popping display of the male capercaillie is one of the strangest sounds produced by any bird. The name 'Capercaillie' is derived from the Gaelic for 'horse of the woods', owing to the cantering sound, which is the start of their extraordinary mating display. These are the largest grouse in the world and in the UK they live only in ancient Caledonian pine forests.
FRI 06:00 Today (m001v3vx)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (m001v2w0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:15 on Sunday]
FRI 09:45 The Wager by David Grann (m001v3vz)
Book of the Week: Episode 10 - The Court-Martial
David Grann's account of shipwreck, mutiny and survival concludes. The day of reckoning arrives and the lives of all the surviving castaways hangs in the balance. Luke Treadaway reads.
David Grann, the internationally best-selling and award winning writer, brings us the story of the treacherous events that took place on the Wager, an eighteenth century British warship, when it was lost at sea. Grann's enquiry into this story of shipwreck, mutiny, and murder sheds light on what happened when the Wager's crew were stranded on an uninhabitable island thousands of miles from home. The fate of those few men who made it home, reveals shocking insights into Great Britain's justice system in the Age of Empire.
David Grann is the author of The Lost City of Z, and Killers of the Flower Moon which is now a Hollywood blockbuster.
Abridged by Richard Hamilton
Produced by Elizabeth Allard
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (m001v3w2)
Quarterlife crisis, Family Courts, Northern Soul
A pilot scheme to allow journalists to report cases from three family courts in England and Wales is to be extended to almost half of the courts. From the end of January, coverage of cases at 16 more family court centres in England will be permitted. This means 19 of the 43 centres in England and Wales will be part of the Transparency Pilot. Families and individual social workers will be anonymous under the scheme. Krupa Padhy talks to Louise Tickle, a journalist who specialises in reporting on family courts and leads a project for the Bureau of Investigative journalism supporting other journalists to do the same, and Angela Frazer Wicks, Chair of the Family Rights Group and a parent with experience of the family justice system.
Popular psychology tends to define a quarter-life crisis as the confusion, stress and anxiety individuals in their 20s and 30s feel about their goals, beliefs and relationships as they seek direction in life and look to find their place in the world. Satya Doyle Byock, a clinical psychotherapist based in the US is the author of the new book Quarterlife: The Search for Self in Early Adulthood and she joins Krupa to talk about young people's struggles with the push and pull of meaning and stability.
Northern Soul is commonly associated with Northern England and the 1970s. But mother and daughter duo Levanna and Eve are turning this on its head. Through Levanna’s viral dance videos on social media and Eve’s DJing at their events in Bristol, they’re bringing Northern groove to the South West, all whilst introducing a new generation to the genre. They speak to Krupa about the release of their new album, Wonderful Night.
Shere Hite was a pioneering feminist sex researcher who published The Hite Report: A National Study of Female Sexuality in 1976. The book was seen by many as radical, changing prevailing notions about female sexuality. It laid out the views of 3,500 women on sexuality and the female orgasm, but it was derided by some, including Playboy, which dubbed it the "Hate Report". Shere went on to write and publish several more books, but endured intense and lasting criticism in the US, and eventually moved to Europe and renounced her American citizenship in 1995. She died in 2020. Emmy-winning and Oscar-nominated director Nicole Newnham felt that despite how influential Shere had been in life, that she has since been forgotten. So, Nicole produced the documentary, The Disappearance of Shere Hite, which is in UK cinemas from 12 January. She joins Krupa to discuss it.
Presenter: Krupa Padhy
Producer: Rebecca Myatt
Studio manager: Duncan Hannant
Presenter: Krupa Padhy
Producer: Rebecca Myatt
Studio manager: Duncan Hannant
FRI 11:00 The Briefing Room (m001v3w6)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 on Thursday]
FRI 11:30 Kat Sadler's Screen Time (m001fd2v)
Part 2
Kat Sadler’s Screen Time is a fun guide/cautionary tale of how young people today live their lives through their phones and social media. Kat (daily screen time 8hrs 49 mins) was going out with Abbie (daily screen time 1 hr 26 mins) but their relationship ended because Kat spends too much time on her phone. She has to manage the breakup, so with the help of social media, and the PR team that live inside her head, she explains how she's going to emerge as the 'winner'.
Ensuring no listener is left behind by the indecipherable terminology and online etiquette of the under 30s, Kat is joined by extremely offline Alex MacQueen who will stop Kat and make her explain things like 'lovebombing' 'gaslighting' and the confusing TikTok algorithm
Cast
Kat Sadler - Kat
Alex MacQueen - Alex
Abbie Weinstock - Abbie
Emily Lloyd Saini - Various
Jason Forbes - Various
Written by Kat Sadler and Cameron Loxdale
Script edited by Jon Hunter
Produced by Gwyn Rhys Davies. A BBC Studios Production
FRI 12:00 News Summary (m001v3wd)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 12:04 Just One Thing - with Michael Mosley (m001v3wq)
Inflammation Special – with Prof Janet Lord
In this series of special editions of BBC Radio 4 podcast Just One Thing, Michael Mosley quizzes the world’s leading health experts on the best ways to live well.
In this Inflammation Special, we hear from Janet Lord, who is Professor of Immune Cell Biology at the Institute for Inflammation and Ageing at Birmingham University.
We hear the top tips that Professor Lord swears by to reduce the damaging effects of inflammation on our body. How can simply moving your muscles make anti-inflammatory chemicals? Why could how much you eat be important? And what should you be eating to help reduce inflammation?
And as this is a Just One Thing special, we'll end each interview by asking Professor Lord for the one single-most effective health hack to reduce inflammation.
Producer: Dom Byrne
Production Manager: Maria Simons
Exec Producer: Zoe Heron
Specially composed music by Richard Atkinson (Mcasso)
A BBC Studios production for BBC Sounds / BBC Radio 4.
FRI 12:42 One to One (m001k0k1)
Angellica Bell meets Nadiya Hussain
Presenter Angellica Bell approaches life with a mindset of ‘it’s never too late to start something new’. Shaped by personal experiences of bereavement, this mantra has guided her when starting new hobbies and seeking to experience life in a more enhancing, fulfilling way.
In this episode, Angellica talks to chef Nadiya Hussain. Nadiya won The Great British Bake Off competition in 2015 and from that life changing moment, she vowed to never to put boundaries on herself again. Angellica and Nadiya explore her journey to GBBO and how that experience completely changed the trajectory of her life and career.
Producer: Candace Wilson
A BBC Audio Bristol production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 12:57 Weather (m001v3wz)
The latest weather forecast
FRI 13:00 World at One (m001v3x8)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment.
FRI 13:45 How to Read the News (m001v3xn)
What you’re not being told
Why don’t journalists tell everything they know? One reason is privacy law. We hear from the lawyer who warned editors off publishing the name of Phillip Schofield’s former lover, and speak to the chief lawyer for The Times and The Sunday Times who took the risk of naming a parliamentary researcher alleged to be spying for China.
Presenter: Jo Fidgen
Producer: Charlotte McDonald
Researchers: Beth Ashmead Latham, Kirsteen Knight
Editors: China Collins, Emma Rippon
FRI 14:00 The Archers (m001v3y0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Limelight (m001v3yb)
Cobalt
Cobalt - Episode 1
Maita goes to see her dad for her birthday, but he's not in...and there's something strange about his flat. When she goes to look for him down the docks where he works, she discovers there is more than just her dad that has gone missing.
Series creators Eno Mfon and Darragh Mortell
Episode 1 by Eno Mfon
ORIGINAL MUSIC by Kaidi Tatham
CAST
Maita - Saffron Coomber
Julian - John Pfumojena
Bevin - Tonderai Munyevu
Mum- Caitlin Richards
Tony - Dean Rehman
Chatty Caryl - Carys Eleri
Meditation voice, TikToker - Kitty O'Sullivan
Newsreader, TikToker - Rhiannon Neads
Woman on tape - Chipo Mushuku
Not Jehovahs, TikTokers - Tyler Cameron and John Lightbody
Sound: Catherine Robinson and Nigel Lewis
Director: John Norton
A BBC Audio Drama Wales Production
FRI 14:45 Child (m001v3yw)
1. The Dance Begins
After that very first moment, when sperm meets egg - the life of a human begins to unfold. But how does that one cell begin to divide and differentiate into the billions of complex parts of a human being. How much do those very first cells know?
India Rakusen heads to a lab in Cambridge to look at a human embryo and speaks to leading cell biologist Magdelana Zernika-Goetz.
And a baby isn’t a baby without the people and the world around it. We speak to Child psychologist Graham Music and historian Elinor Cleghorn about how intertwined we are with our world, and the instant effects on the mother.
Presented by India Rakusen.
Producer: Ellie Sans.
Series producer: Ellie Sans.
Executive producer: Suzy Grant.
Original music composed and performed by The Big Moon.
Mix and Mastering by Olga Reed.
A Listen production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m001v3z9)
Chess Valley
Is it better to propagate house plants in water or straight into soil? Is crop rotation necessary? What could I grow under my row of standard Bay Trees?
Kathy Clugston is in Chess Valley, Hertfordshire for this week's programme, along with her panel of horticultural experts = proud plantsman Matt Biggs, grow your own guru Bob Flowerdew, and pest and disease expert Pippa Greenwood.
Later, Juliet Sargeant transports us all the way to Zanzibar, East Africa, as she gives us a masterclass on the wide variety of spices the island has to offer and how you could potentially grow them in your own garden.
Senior Producer: Dan Cocker
Assistant Producer: Dulcie Whadcock
Executive Producer: Hannah Newton
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 15:45 Short Works (m001v3zs)
Coal Country Beauty Queen by Anna Bailey
Coal Country Beauty Queen, a new story from Anna Bailey.
US Army veteran Nate looks back at his life, and at what could have been.
Reader: Matthew Needham
Producer: Nicola Holloway
FRI 16:00 Last Word (m001v408)
Camila Batmanghelidjh, Sir Roy Calne, Glynis Johns, J.P.R. Williams
Matthew Bannister on
Camila Batmanghelidjh who founded the charity Kids Company to help disadvantaged children. The charity collapsed amidst controversy, although she was later cleared of any wrongdoing.
Sir Roy Calne, the surgeon who carried out the UK’s first successful liver transplant operation. He was also a talented artist.
Glynis Johns, the actor best known for playing the suffragette Winifred Banks in the film of Mary Poppins.
JPR Williams, one of the greatest full backs in rugby history, who made many appearances for Wales and the British & Irish Lions. Sir Ian McGeechan pays tribute.
Interviewee: Steve Chalke
Interviewee: Tim Rayment
Interviewee: Professor John Wallwork
Interviewee: Peter Jackson
Interviewee: Sir Ian McGeechan
Producer: Gareth Nelson-Davies
Archive used:
Camila Batmanghelidjh interview, Desert Island Discs, BBC Radio 4, 27/10/2006; Camila Batmanghelidjh interview, Woman's Hour, BBC Radio 4, 12 Feb 2016; Camila Batmanghelidjh interview, Listed Londoner, BBC Radio London, recorded 01/2013; Camila Batmanghelidjh interview, Woman's Hour, BBC Radio 4, Podcast, 25/02/2021; Sir Roy Calne interview, Desert Island Discs, BBC Radio 4, 01/03/1996; Sir Roy Calne interview, History of transplantation, ISN Video Legacy Project, 2003; Glynis Johns interview, Desert Island Discs, BBC Radio 4,
24.04.1976; Glynis Johns interview, Maybe Next Year, BBC Two, 20/02/2003; Glynis Johns interview, Parkinson, BBC One, 26/10/1974; JPR Williams try, Wales v England 1976, 5 Nations championship, Guinness Six Nations YouTube channel, uploaded 06/03/2020; JPR Williams drop goal 1971, British & Irish Lions, uploaded 13/03/2017; JPR Williams needed stiches during match, Bridgend v New Zealand, 1978;
FRI 16:30 More or Less (m001v3hy)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 on Wednesday]
FRI 17:00 PM (m001v40n)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m001v40y)
The US said the strikes on Houthi targets diminished their ability to launch missiles
FRI 18:30 The News Quiz (m001v41b)
Series 113
Episode 2
Andy Zaltzman quizzes the week's news. Providing all the answers are Ian Smith, Geoff Norcott, Shaparak Khorsandi and Ayesha Hazarika
In this episode Andy and the panel dive into a news story that seemingly took over 20 years to be delivered and look ahead to the big elections coming up in 2024 both at home and abroad.
Written by Andy Zaltzman
With additional material by: Cody Dahler, Mike Shephard and Jade Gebbie
Producer: Sam Holmes
Executive Producer: Richard Morris
Production Coordinator: Sarah Nicholls
Sound Editor: Marc Willcox
A BBC Studios Production for Radio 4
FRI 19:00 The Archers (m001v41p)
Writer, Tim Stimpson
Director, Rosemary Watts
Editor, Jeremy Howe
Helen Archer ….. Louiza Patikas
Henry Archer ….. Blayke Darby
Natasha Archer ….. Mali Harries
Pat Archer ….. Patricia Gallimore
Tom Archer ….. William Troughton
Tony Archer ….. David Troughton
Lilian Bellamy ….. Sunny Ormonde
Brad Horrobin ….. Taylor Uttley
Chelsea Horrobin ….. Madeleine Leslay
Alistair Lloyd ….. Michael Lumsden
Paul Mack ….. Joshua Riley
Denise Metcalfe ….. Clare Perkins
Elizabeth Pargetter ….. Alison Dowling
Lily Pargetter ….. Katie Redford
Mr Reed ….. Dan Hagley
Oliver Sterling ….. Michael Cochrane
FRI 19:15 Screenshot (m001v422)
American Elections
In the year of a Presidential election, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode investigate the murky world of American Elections on screen.
Donald Trump's victory in the 2016 Presidential election, inspired many film lovers to reconnect with two films - John Frankenheimer’s 1962 political thriller, The Manchurian Candidate, and David Cronenburg’s 1983 adaptation of Stephen King’s sci-fi horror The Dead Zone. Both films are steeped in subterfuge, conspiracy and corruption.
Mark speaks with politically engaged comedian Greg Proops to ask why two movies from the 20th century seem so relevant to 21st century politics. Former Obama speech writer turned podcaster Tommy Vietor talks with Mark about the relationship between fictional presidents and real life PR.
Ellen takes a look at the iconic and beloved drama The West Wing, and how it affects real world opinions on American politics and presidents. She speaks with West Wing writer Paul Redford to talk about what this portrayal of the perfect President does to real life democracy and the mindset of the electorate. Does it give us something to aim for? Or might it distract us from what’s really going on?
And Professor Kristina Riegert talks about the wealth of academic research that The West Wing has been the focus of - political compromise is just as essential on screen as it is in real life.
Producer: Freya Hellier
A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (m001v42d)
Sarah Champion MP, Baroness Fox, Kevin Hollinrake MP, Henri Murison
Alex Forsyth presents political debate from Chester Cathedral with a panel including the chair of the International Development Select Committee Sarah Champion MP, the Director of the Academy of Ideas Baroness Claire Fox, Business Minister Kevin Hollinrake MP and the Chief Executive of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership Henri Murison.
Producer: Robin Markwell
Lead broadcast engineer: Mike Smith
FRI 20:50 A Point of View (m001v42s)
In the Grey Zone
Mark Damazer says we need to find a different vocabulary to define political leadership and achievement.
'The rhetoric that accompanied Alistair Darling's death,' Mark writes, 'raises some age-old questions about the way we think and judge our political masters'.
He questions why 'this torrent of respect, admiration and affection' can only happen when a politician dies. 'You simply don't talk this way about any living politician', he says, 'unless you're a cultist'.
The present way of judging politicians, he believes, gives us little idea who is any good at getting the job done.
Producer: Adele Armstrong
Sound: Peter Bosher
Production coordinator: Gemma Ashman
Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith
FRI 21:00 Archive on 4 (m000240n)
Gareth Gwynn’s Alternative Archive
Remember when Russia landed the first man on the moon? How Tony Blair became European President, and Delia Smith became Pope? Or how the American Writers Guild Strike indirectly led to the election of President Donald J Trump?
Satirist Gareth Gwynn does. Blurring fact and fiction, using genuine archive from the last 50 years, he tells the story of world-changing events that could have happened.
Written and presented by Gareth Gwynn
Produced by Victoria Lloyd
A BBC Studios Production
This programme was first broadcast in January 2019.
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (m001v433)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
FRI 22:45 Orbital by Samantha Harvey (m001v43j)
Episode Five
Across 24 hours on an international space station, six astronauts contemplate the earth, as continents and oceans pass beneath them. They are there to collect meteorological data, conduct scientific experiments and test the limits of the human body. But mostly they observe. Together they watch their silent blue planet, circling it sixteen times, spinning past continents and cycling through seasons, taking in glaciers and deserts, the peaks of mountains and the swells of oceans. Endless shows of spectacular beauty witnessed in a single day.
Yet although separated from the world they cannot escape its constant pull. News reaches them of the death of one astronaut's mother, and with it comes thoughts of returning home. They look on as a typhoon gathers over an island and people they love, in awe of its magnificence and fearful of its destruction. The fragility of human life fills their conversations, their fears, their dreams. So far from earth, they have never felt more part – or protective – of it. They begin to ask, what is life without earth? What is earth without humanity?
"In this new day they'll circle the earth sixteen times. They'll see sixteen sunrises and sixteen sunsets, sixteen days and sixteen nights. In their rotations around the earth in accumulations of light and dark, in the baffling arithmetic of thrust and altitude and speed and sensors, the whip-crack of morning arrives every ninety minutes".
"...an awe-inspiring and humbling love letter to Earth and those who reckon with the gift of it" - Max Porter
Samantha Harvey is the author of the novels The Wilderness, All is Song, Dear Thief and The Western Wind and a work of non-fiction, The Shapeless Unease: A Year of Not Sleeping.
Read by Anneika Rose (Line of Duty, Shetland, Ackley Bridge) with music by Timothy X Atack.
Abridged by Sara Davies
Studio Recording and Mixing by Ilse Lademann and Michael Harrison
Produced by Mary Ward-Lowery and Mair Bosworth for BBC Audio
FRI 23:00 Americast (m001v43x)
Can Anyone Stop Trump in Iowa?
With the Iowa caucus just days away, Chris Christie drops out of the 2024 presidential race. Can anyone stop Donald Trump? The team takes a look at why Iowa dominates the political conversation every four years.
Anthony Blinken is once again in the Middle East to broker peace in the region amid a barrage of attacks by Houthi rebels against Red Sea shipping.
And on Saturday Taiwan heads to the polls for its presidential elections in a vote that could shape the future of relations between the US and China.
With the help of Ivo Daalder, former US Ambassador to NATO, the team takes you inside the Americast Situation Room to monitor the biggest challenges the US faces around the world.
HOSTS:
• Sarah Smith, North America editor
• Justin Webb, Radio 4 presenter
• Marianna Spring, disinformation and social media correspondent
GUEST:
• Ivo Daalder, Former United States Permanent Representative to NATO
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 George Dabby with Rufus Gray and Claire Betzer. The technical producer was Dafydd Evans. The series producer is George Dabby. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.
FRI 23:30 Today in Parliament (m001v44b)
It's the first Friday edition of Today in Parliament of 2024.
Neither the Commons nor the Lords sat today but Rishi Sunak faced calls for Parliament to be recalled to discuss the UK action in Yemen. With some MPs demanding a debate and vote on the issue, Alicia McCarthy looks at the role of Parliament when the government takes military action.
She has also been talking to the Lord Speaker, Lord McFall, about the parliamentary year ahead as Westminster prepares for a general election.
And we're reaching for the stars as a group of MPs starts an inquiry into UK astronomy.
Presenter: Alicia McCarthy
Editor: Sean Curran