SATURDAY 20 APRIL 2024

SAT 00:00 Midnight News (m001y8k9)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 00:30 An African History of Africa by Zeinab Badawi (m001y8gg)
The Future

An epic, sweeping history of the continent told through the voices of Africans themselves.

Zeinab Badawi considers the recent history of Africa and looks ahead to the continent's post-colonial future.

Written and read by Zeinab Badawi
Abridged by Robin Brooks
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie

Zeinab Badawi is an award-winning broadcaster, journalist, and filmmaker. She is President of SOAS, University of London and is an honorary fellow of her alma mater St Hilda’s College, Oxford. Born in Sudan, she has worked in the British media for several decades. Zeinab is a recipient of the President’s Medal of the British Academy, a Patron of the United Nations Association UK, and is on the boards of the Arts, Humanities and Research Council, MINDS (the Mandela Institute for Development Studies), the International Crisis Group and Afrobarometer.


SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m001y8kf)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m001y8kj)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


SAT 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m001y8kl)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SAT 05:30 News Briefing (m001y8kn)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m001y8kq)
A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with Dabinderjit Singh


SAT 05:45 Just One Thing - with Michael Mosley (m001y8fr)
Play an Instrument

Humans have been making music for thousands of years, but for Michael Mosley and our volunteer Matthew, the musical journey is only just beginning. Playing a musical instrument has been shown to strengthen your memory and lift your mood. It can even reduce chronic inflammation. Dr Sofia Seinfeld from the Open University in Catalonia tells Michael why it’s never too late to start making music, and how it can enhance your cognitive abilities by activating regions of the brain associated with motor co-ordination and the processing of emotions. Meanwhile, Matthew gets to grips with the ukulele to see if he can master a tune and boost his wellbeing.

Series Producer: Nija Dalal-Small
Editor: Zoë Heron
A BBC Studios production for BBC Sounds / BBC Radio 4.


SAT 06:00 News and Papers (m001yggj)
The latest news headlines. Including the weather and a look at the papers.


SAT 06:07 Open Country (m001y8gy)
Postal Paths and Corpse Roads

Up until the 1970s, postmen and women in rural areas walked their delivery rounds - taking routes through the hills dubbed "postal paths". Some routes, and fragments of others, still survive today. In this programme Helen Mark explores one of them, near the village of Shap in Cumbria, with author Alan Cleaver who is writing a book about these old paths. So far he's identified over thirty of them up and down the UK. Others have now been built over and are gone forever. Alan tells Helen about the cultural significance of the postal service in the past, recounting the poignant story of a man who used to write letters to himself, just so that the postman would call by and he would have a visitor. Alan and Helen discuss the disappearing role of postmen and women, in the age of electronic communication.

Helen also explores part of Shap's old Corpse Road, which linked Swindale Head with Mardale - a village which didn't have its own cemetery until the mid 18th century. Before that, bodies had to be carried over the fells to Shap for burial - a distance of about eight miles. The last body was carried along the Corpse Road in 1736. Local historian Jean Scott-Smith tells the story of the Corpse Road and shows Helen part of the route.

Produced by Emma Campbell


SAT 06:30 Farming Today (m001yggl)
20/04/24 - New Welsh Rural Affairs Cabinet Secretary, unlawful game licences and dairy pollution

Wales' new Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs says his first job it to listen to farmers. It comes after unrest and large protests in Wales by farmers, angry about the Welsh Government's approach to farming. In particular, the way its tacking TB in cattle, stricter rules on pollution and the Sustainable Farming Scheme, which will replace EU subsides in Wales and requires farmers to plant trees on 10% of their land. We put their concerns to Huw Irranca-Davies.

The UK Government has admitted that it unlawfully issued some licences for releasing game birds last year. The campaign group Wild Justice challenged the licences granted in the Deben Estuary in Suffolk and Breckland in Norfolk. While DEFRA concedes that it didn’t follow Natural England's advice and that the assessment it carried out wasn’t in line with the rules – it strongly refutes Wild Justice's claim that the decisions 'were tainted with the appearance of bias'.

And we visit a farm in Herefordshire where they rear tens of thousands of worms to sell for live bird feed, for improving the soil, and for composting.

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


SAT 06:57 Weather (m001yggn)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SAT 07:00 Today (m001yggq)
Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (m001yggs)
Nic Hamilton, Josh Elwell and Eliot Gibbins, Victoria McCloud, Marcus Brigstocke and Rachel Parris

Racing driver Nic Hamilton is the first disabled athlete to compete in the British Touring Car Championship. Born with cerebral palsy and told he would always need to use a wheelchair, he certainly embodies his self-given title of ‘limit defier’ and shares how he proved everyone wrong in his new book 'Now That I Have Your Attention'.

Victoria McCloud, the recently retired first trans woman judge in the UK, left because she felt she risked making the judiciary political, but her first interests weren't the law...instead she came to the profession via psychiatry, space, and an obsession with old computers.

We have not one but two world class puppeteers on the show in Josh Elwell and Eliot Gibbins. Both can operate Daleks and have a Tardis full of stories to share - as well as some special guest appearances from some of their creations.

All that plus another double act choosing their Inheritance Tracks in comedians and real-life couple Marcus Brigstocke and Rachel Parris.

And if you’ve been affected by anything we’ve spoken about today details of organisations offering information and support with addiction are available on the BBC Action Line: www.bbc.co.uk/actionline

Presenters: Nikki Bedi and Huw Stephens
Producer: Ben Mitchell


SAT 10:00 Your Place or Mine with Shaun Keaveny (m001yggv)
Kiell Smith-Bynoe: Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Ghosts star Kiell Smith-Bynoe loves a pool party, but Shaun doesn't want to take his top off. Perhaps the prospect of seeing a shark in the mall could tempt Shaun to the third most visited city on the planet. Resident geographer, historian and comedian Iszi Lawrence is sceptical.

Your Place Or Mine is the travel series that isn’t going anywhere. Join Shaun as his guests try to convince him that it’s worth getting up off the sofa and seeing the world, giving us a personal guide to their favourite place on the planet.

Producers: Beth O'Dea and Caitlin Hobbs

Your Place or Mine is a BBC Audio production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds.


SAT 10:30 Soul Music (m001yggx)
I Can See Clearly Now

"I can see clearly now the rain is gone / I can see all obstacles in my way / Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind / It's gonna be a bright / Bright sunshiny day"

I Can See Clearly Now was written by the Houston-born singer-songwriter Johnny Nash. First released in 1972, it became a huge hit and the song has been covered by hundreds of artists, from the Jamaican singer Jimmy Cliff to the Irish rock group Hothouse Flowers.

For recording engineer and producer Luke DeLalio the original of the song is 'a masterpiece', with a sublime vocal performance and an arrangement that is surprisingly experimental for such an apparently simple song. Professor Kathy M. Newman of Carnegie Mellon University tells us about Johnny Nash's life and career, from his early years as a clean-cut crooner and teen idol, to his time recording in Jamaica and his later years, living on a ranch in Texas.

For author and psychologist Peggy DeLong it's a song of hope, resilience and love. It was once meant to be her wedding song but took on new significance after she lost her fiancé as a young woman in the 1990s.

The song appeared in Brenda Drumm's life when she needed it most. In a moment of darkness and worry, it came on the radio as she was driving home from a day of tests at the hospital near her home in County Kildare. It allowed her to dare to plan for the future.

Poet Jack Mapanje was detained in Malawi’s notorious Mikuyu Prison without charge from 1987 until 1991, under Hastings Banda's regime. He remembers singing the song when other political prisoners were released - "it's a song of hope".

And the author Joanne Harris talks about the song's "sense of perpetual sky" and how the lyrics provide grounding and comfort in troubled times.

Produced by Mair Bosworth for BBC Audio


SAT 11:00 The Week in Westminster (m001yggz)
Sonia Sodha of The Observer is joined by a range of guests to analyse the latest developments at Westminster. To discuss the confrontation between Israel and Iran she speaks to former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith and former British diplomat Sir William Patey. Following newspaper allegations about Conservative MP Mark Menzies she looks at how parties deal with such issues with Francis Elliott, editor of The House magazine, and Anne Perkins, a former political correspondent for The Guardian. Paul Johnson of The Institute for Fiscal Studies explains some new research looking at the success of SureStart and discusses how future governments can do meaningful social policy in an era of fiscal restraint. And, to reflect on the release of Liz Truss's book and her opposition to Rishi Sunak's smoking ban, Sonia is joined by Mark Littlewood, director of the Truss-supporting 'Popular Conservatism' group, and Anna Soubry, a former Conservative MP and public health minister.


SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m001ygh1)
The Ayatollah and Israel

Kate Adie introduces dispatches on Iran, Ukraine, South Africa, Portugal and Hong Kong.

As the world nervously watches the developments between Iran and Israel, Lyse Doucet reflects on the rise of Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Since coming to power three decades ago, he has managed to avoid taking Iran into an all-out war - could that change as tensions continue to rise?

A missile attack in the Ukrainian city of Chernihiv this week laid bare the weakness of the country’s air defences. Depleted ammunition supplies, as well as a worsening situation on the frontline, have heightened fears that the tide is continuing to turn against Ukraine in its war with Russia. Sarah Rainsford reports from Kharkiv.

South Africa is preparing to go to the polls, and for the first time since the end of white-minority rule, the governing ANC party is predicted to get less than 50 per cent of the vote. As in many other countries, immigration is high on the list of many voters’ concerns. Jenny Hill reports from the border with Zimbabwe.

Next week Portugal marks the 50th anniversary of the Carnation Revolution and its transition to democracy. Simon Busch met some of the men who joined the resistance against the country's former dictator Antonio Salazar, to find out what they think about politics in Portugal today.

And exotic birds have adapted to live alongside humans in some of the world’s major cities – and in Hong Kong it's yellow-crested cockatoos that you might see swooping through the skyline. Stephen Moss tells the story of why they’re now thriving.

Series producer: Serena Tarling
Production coordinator: Katie Morrison
Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith


SAT 12:00 News Summary (m001ygh3)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 12:04 Money Box (m001ygh5)
New Fraud Refund Rules and ISA Changes

New regulations aim to ensure that victims of fraud are treated fairly, no matter who they trust with their money.
The financial watchdog, the Payment Systems Regulator, says many firms are not doing enough to refund victims of authorised push payment fraud. Currently the majority of high street banks are signed up to a voluntary charter that makes banks liable for customer losses. However many people hold accounts with firms known as Electronic Money Institutions, or EMIs. Such firms are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority but do not have a banking licence. The new rules from the Payment Systems Regulator will be mandatory for both banks and EMIs. When they come into force in October they should cover nearly all payments made by individuals in the UK except international ones and those involving cryptocurrency.
We hear from Money Box listener Carol, who had to spend a year fighting to get the money stolen from her refunded.
New changes to the way ISAs, Individual Savings Accounts, simpler come in this month. Officially they should mean that savers now have the option to open more than one cash or stocks & shares ISA in the same year. We look at whether providers will be allowing customers to take advantage.
And how do you pay for your car insurance? A new report from the consumer organisation Which? found that it can cost much more if you opt for monthly payments. A survey of 39 car insurance providers found an average APR of over 23% was charged for monthly payments, and the highest APR found was over 39%.

Presenter: Paul Lewis
Reporter: Dan Whitworth
Researchers: Sandra Hardial and Jo Krasner
Editor: Beatrice Pickup

(first broadcast Saturday 20th April 2024)


SAT 12:30 The Now Show (m001y8j1)
Series 64

Episode 6

The Now Show first aired on BBC Radio 4 in September 1998 and this week sees its last ever episode. Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis take a look back over the last 25 years, with help from the voices of Gemma Arrowsmith and Rory Bremner.

They are joined by Glenn Moore investigating the Beijing Half Marathon scandal and Harriet Kemsley on the law firm who accidentally divorced the wrong couple. Plus Jazz Emu looks to the future with an original song accompanied by his band Matt Hutson, Luke Bainbrige and Tom Marlow.

The show was written by the cast with additional material from Mike Shephard, Cameron Loxdale, Carl Carzana and Christina Riggs.

Producer: Sasha Bobak
Executive Producer: Rich Morris
Production Coordinator: Caroline Barlow

A BBC Studios Production for Radio 4.


SAT 12:57 Weather (m001ygh7)
The latest weather forecast


SAT 13:00 News and Weather (m001ygh9)
The latest national and international news and weather reports from BBC Radio 4


SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (m001y8jd)
Daisy Cooper MP, Lord Dannatt, Anneliese Dodds MP, Tom Pursglove MP

James Cook presents political discussion from St George's Guildhall in King's Lynn with the Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats Daisy Cooper MP, the former Head of the British Army Lord Dannatt, the Chair of the Labour Party Anneliese Dodds MP and Legal Migration Minister Tom Pursglove MP.
Producer: Robin Markwell
Lead broadcast engineer: Kevan Long


SAT 14:00 Any Answers? (m001yghc)
Call Any Answers? to have your say on the big issues in the news this week.


SAT 14:45 The Archers (m001y8j5)
Mick helps Kirsty as a volunteer at the Rewilding for Primrose Day, and happily informs Kirsty he got the security job at Grey Gables. There’s loads to sort today with school workshops, and they’re joined by Lord Mayor Ruby Cosse. Sadly, there aren’t many primroses left in their desired spot so Mick sets to work on a new path and signage. Kirsty becomes fraught as a series of issues crop up, including the Mayor’s dietary requirements - the gift cake Kirsty prepared won’t be suitable. Mick hot-foots it to Bridge Farm to find something gluten-free, and mucks in to save the day. Kirsty’s so grateful she gives him the cake, which he looks forward to sharing with Joy – and Mick asks Kirsty to not let on to Joy the good news about his new job. It’ll be a surprise.

Lilian admits to Alice she’s treading on eggshells since she and Kate interfered in their concern about Alice. Alice knows that Lilian and Kate just care. But when Alice phones Harry to check in on him, as promised, she’s dismayed to discover he’s been drinking. Heading straight over to help him, Alice asks Lilian to fetch Martha, lying about having a meeting with Stables’ clients. Lilian can’t help, so Alice eventually asks Kate. As Alice deals with Harry, Lilian phones to say she’s free after all. As Harry makes noises in the background, Alice makes excuses and ends the call. Afterwards, unaware Harry thanks Alice for being his lifeline, but she feels she’s being dragged into a pit and can’t do this anymore.


SAT 15:00 Drama on 4 (m000n4xn)
Elegies

Part 1. Milton's Lycidas

A two-part drama telling the stories behind two of the greatest and most influential poetic elegies ever published in English - Milton's Lycidas and Tennyson's In Memoriam.

Part 1. Milton's Lycidas - starring Holliday Grainger and Nico Mirallegro.

Although written two centuries apart, in 1637 and 1833, the making and circumstances of these great elegies are full of interconnections and are centred on the poetic response to grief and loss. Milton's Lycidas is the first great elegy in English poetry. Both Lycidas and In Memoriam were written in response to the sudden unexpected death of a young male friend, striking the poets in their mid-twenties. when the poets were students at Cambridge. The dead men were prodigiously gifted and also poets, early rivals and first readers to the poets who elegised them.

Milton and Tennyson were thereby thrown into personal grief and poetic challenge, but how to make a poetic elegy that honours and reflects that genuine grief whilst rising to the challenge of the first great poetic subject in these young poets' lives? Milton and Tennyson responded to these complex and terrible circumstances with radically different elegies that stand among the finest poems in English literature.

CAST

Holliday Grainger ..... Emily Tennyson
Nico Mirallegro ..... John Milton
James Cooney ..... Alfred Lord Tennyson
Conrad Nelson ..... John Milton senior
Ashley Margolis ..... Diodati

Elegies was written and adapted from Lycidas by John Milton by Michael Symmons Roberts
Directed by Susan Roberts

A BBC North production


SAT 16:00 Woman's Hour (m001yghf)
Weekend Woman's Hour: Ruth Wilson, Young women and voting, Jing Lusi

This week, Ruth Wilson explains why she’s running this year’s London Marathon for an Alzheimer’s research, following in the footsteps of her father who ran the first London Marathon in 1981.

Tuesday was the deadline to register to vote in the local elections on May 2nd. The most recent data suggest that 4.3 million young people in England aren’t currently registered. We hear from Sharon Gaffka, who’s supporting the Give an X campaign, that's calling on young people to get involved. A survey by the youth led charity My Life My Say also says that fewer than 1 in 6 of young women trust politicians and more than four in 10 believe their vote won’t make a difference in an election. We also hear from Rosie Campbell, Professor of Politics and Director of the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s College London, to explain the trends behind the latest data.

Social media platform Meta disabled Soul Sisters Pakistan for 43 hours earlier this month due to an intellectual property violation. Soul Sisters Pakistan was set up 11 years ago by the entrepreneur and activist Kanwal Ahmed as a support system for women to discuss topics considered taboo in Pakistani society, such as sex and divorce. In the past, the group has been accused by some of promoting divorce and 'wild' behaviour. With over 300,000 members, who dub themselves soulies,

In 1927 journalist Sophie Treadwell attended the sensational trial of Ruth Snyder, a New York woman accused murdering her husband. Ruth was found guilty, along with her accomplice lover Henry Judd Gray, and both were executed by electric chair in January 1928. Those events inspired Sophie Treadwell to write the play Machinal, which premiered on Broadway later that year. A recent production has just transferred from the Theatre Royal Bath to the Old Vic in London and its star, Rosie Sheehy, along with US academic Dr Jessie Ramey join Jessica to discuss the case of Ruth Snyder and why Machinal still resonates with audiences today.

Professor Netta Weinstein of the University of Reading, is the co-author of a new book, Solitude: The Science and Power of Being Alone and joins us to discuss the benefits of solitude.

Jing Lusi stars as DC Hana Li in ITV’s new thriller Red Eye, set on a plane flying between London and Beijing. She joins Jessica Creighton to talk about what it’s like to play a lead role for the first time, and how important it is to see British East Asian women as the main progatonist

Presenter Anita Rani
Producer Annette Wells


SAT 17:00 PM (m001yghh)
Full coverage of the day's news.


SAT 17:30 Sliced Bread (m001y8gf)
Toast - Mothercare's UK Stores

Why did Mothercare have to close all of their UK stores?

Sean Farrington discovers what happened to the baby goods retailer which once dominated the high street.

Alongside him, analysing Mothercare's fortunes, is the entrepreneur, Sam White.

The pair hear from Tim Curtis who once ran Mothercare's website, catalogue and home delivery service; Amena Khan, a loyal Mothercare customer and Richard Lim, CEO of Retail Economics.

They chart the highs and the lows and learn how Mothercare continues to trade today, albeit in a different form.

Produced by Jon Douglas and Shanaye Mainoo-Magnone. Toast is a BBC Audio North production for Radio 4 and BBC Sounds.

You can email the programme at toast@bbc.co.uk

Feel free to suggest topics which could be covered in future episodes.

Sliced Bread returns for a new batch of investigations in May. 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.


SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m001yghk)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SAT 17:57 Weather (m001yghm)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m001yghp)
The man who's led the government's independent advisers on climate change for the last six years, Chris Stark, has criticised Rishi Sunak for setting back progress towards net zero carbon emissions targets.


SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (m001yghr)
Tim Peake, Helen Lederer, Phil Manzanera, Jess Fostekew, Michele Stodart and Geejay.

The astronaut Tim Peake joins Clive to talk about life on and off Earth, and he's joined by the acclaimed guitarist Phil Manzanera who tells us about the astonishing life he led en route to joining Roxy Music.

Helen Lederer discusses her new memoir and recalls formative days in The Comedy Store and Jess Fostekew talks footie in her new podcast.

We've music from Michele Stodart and Geejay.

Presented by Clive Anderson
Produced by Kevin Core


SAT 19:00 Profile (m001yght)
Paul Sinton-Hewitt

Paul Sinton-Hewitt, the founder of parkrun, was born in Zimbabwe and moved to South Africa at the age of five, where he was brought up in care with his two siblings. Always a keen middle distance runner, he was a second for a friend in one of South Africa's most gruelling road races. Eventually he moved to the UK to work in IT and raise a family.

After a perfect storm of redundancy, marriage breakdown and an injury which prevented him from running with his own club, he decided he'd start a time trial in a local park, for his running club pals. The only proviso that they had to have coffee and cake with him afterwards.

Twenty years later, that timed run that he started has outpaced anything he could have envisaged and turned into parkrun. The 5k run around local parks on a Saturday morning, has gone global and the parkrun community has hundreds of thousands of people running or volunteering as stewards every week. Stephen Smith finds out what makes Paul Sinton-Hewitt run.

PRESENTER: Stephen Smith

PRODUCTION TEAM

Producers: Julie Ball, Natasha Fernandes, Farhana Haider
Editor: Tom Bigwood
Production Co-ordinators: Maria Ogundele and Sabine Schereck
Sound: Neil Churchill

CONTRIBUTORS

Roun Barry, School friend
Hugh Brasher, Director, London Marathon
Bruce Fordyce, Marathon runner
Duncan Gaskell, parkrunner and friend
Russ Jeffereys - CEO, parkrun
Eileen Jones, Author and parkrunner
Joanne Sinton-Hewitt, Wife


SAT 19:15 This Cultural Life (m001yb9n)
Sam Taylor-Johnson

As part of the so-called Britart generation of the early 1990’s, artist Sam Taylor-Wood, as she was then known, made her name with photographic and video pieces. Diagnosed with colon cancer in 1997, and then breast cancer three years later, she addressed her treatment and recovery in artworks she made at the time. She moved into filmmaking with her first feature Nowhere Boy, about the life of the young John Lennon in 2009. Other cinematic projects have included adaptations of the E L James novel 50 Shades Of Gray, the James Frey memoir A Million Little Pieces and, most recently, the Amy Winehouse biopic Back To Black.

Sam tells John Wilson about the experience of first seeing the Rothko Seagram paintings at the Tate gallery when she was nine years old, and the impact that they had on her in her creative imagination. Being introduced to Andy Warhol films such as Chelsea Girls and Empire made her realise that art and cinema are deeply intertwined and went on to influence her style as a director. John Cassavetes' A Woman Under the Influence was the first film that made Sam want to be a cinematic filmmaker and she also reveals how Oscar-winning director Anthony Minghella encouraged her to make her debut short film Love You More.

Producer: Edwina Pitman


SAT 20:00 Archive on 4 (b08dmgk0)
A Brief History of Failure

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal," said Winston Churchill. The American satirist Joe Queenan thinks he might be wrong. In this archive hour follow up to his previous programmes on Blame, Shame, Anger and Irony, Queenan rails against the very idea of failure. His sharpest attack is reserved for the supposed romance of defeat. From Braveheart in Scotland via the heretic Cathars in France to the pretend soldiers in Virginia still re-enacting the American Civil War, Queenan explores whether there may be something noble about losing a war.

"I'm in the south, at one of the many re-enactment battles of the American civil war that go on every year. Thousands have turned up to re-fight a war they lost. We don't do this in the north - it would be odd, and divisive, perhaps even inflammatory. But the memories of a conflict that took place over 150 years down here - they don't go away."

This is the first of two archive programmes from Joe Queenan, with A Brief History of Lust coming next week.

Failure features archive contributions from classics professor Edith Hall; historian Geoffrey Regan; writer Armando Iannucci; former political correspondent and Strictly star John Sergeant; plus music from Laura Marling, Viv Albertine of the Slits and rock and roll's greatest failure, John Otway.

The producer in Bristol is Miles Warde.


SAT 21:00 Legend (m001sdx8)
The Joni Mitchell Story

3. Blue

Joni Mitchell’s songs have soundtracked our lives and her pioneering work changed music forever. Jesca Hoop explores her extraordinary story to reveal the life behind the legend.

In episode three we follow Joni from 1970 through to 1974 - an incredibly fertile period during which she creates her albums Blue, For the Roses and Court and Spark. A period of romantic highs and lows, heady successes and hermit-like retreats, of psychoanalysis and vulnerability, and of new creative directions.

“I’ve always been a creature of change” – Joni Mitchell

Through archive, fresh interviews, narration, immersive sound design and an original score, we trace the story of an extraordinary life and explore what makes Joni Mitchell a singular artist: the genius of her lyrics; her incredible talent as guitarist, painter and producer; and her restless drive for innovation.

In Legend, we follow Joni from her ‘flatlander’ childhood on the Canadian prairies, through the folk clubs of Toronto and Detroit, to a redwood cottage in L.A.’s Laurel Canyon, to a cave in Crete, to a deserted desert highway, to recording studios and stages around the world. From her earliest home recordings to masterpieces like Blue, Court and Spark, and Hejira, we explore some of the stories behind her best-loved songs and celebrate her remarkable return to live performance in 2023: “like seeing, in the wild, a rare bird long feared extinct”.

Our guide through the series is the California-born, Manchester-based musician, Jesca Hoop. Jesca speaks to musicians like Blake Mills, Allison Russell, Holly Laessig and Jess Wolfe, who have played alongside Joni, and we hear tributes from those, like musician John Grant, who have been inspired and influenced by her music. We also hear from Joni's friends, including Larry Klein and Graham Nash; and from music critics and biographers, including Ann Powers, David Yaffe, Lindsay Zoladz, Kate Mossman, Barney Hoskyns, Miles Grier and Jenn Pelly.

The Joni Mitchell Story comes from the production team behind BBC Radio 4’s award-winning podcast Soul Music – “… the gold standard for music podcasts…” (Esquire).

Producers: Mair Bosworth and Eliza Lomas
Production Coordinator: Andrew Lewis
Editor: Chris Ledgard
Story Editor: Emma Harding
Story Consultant: John Yorke
Sound Design and Original Music: Hannis Brown
Studio Engineers: Ilse Lademann and Michael Harrison
Commissioning Editor: Daniel Clarke


SAT 21:30 Influenced (m001y3tx)
Helen Lewis Has Left the Chat

Left the Chat: No 3. Several People Are Typing

During the pandemic, a combination of fears over Covid, anger over police racism and sheer cabin fever saw company Slack channels boil with discontent. One day in February 2021, Mike Pesca, a contrarian podcaster, made the mistake of getting stuck in, voicing controversial opinions to his colleagues - in between shovelling snow from his parents’ driveway.

And then he saw the dreaded words, "several people are typing …".

A Tempo & Talker production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 22:00 News (m001yghy)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 22:15 The Food Programme (m001y8gb)
Brexit's Import Controls

Physical checks will soon be carried out on some foods being imported from the EU, but how will it impact the rest of the UK's food supplies? Jaega Wise investigates.


SAT 23:00 You Heard It Here First (m001ygj0)
Series 2

Three: 'Is it someone going down a waterslide?'

Chris McCausland asks Jessica Knappett and Andy Parsons to take on Ahir Shah and Desiree Burch. Ahir Shah confuses his teammate when using just sound to describe a preassigned prompt. The teams must figure out what on earth is being advertised on TV, guess what famous objects or locations children are trying to describe, and work out which famous faces are being described by Chris' audio assistance software.

Producer: Sasha Bobak
Assistant Producer: Becky Carewe-Jeffries
Executive Producer: Richard Morris
Production Coordinator: Dan Marchini

A BBC Studios Production

An EcoAudio certified production


SAT 23:30 Round Britain Quiz (m001yjp6)
Programme 6, 2024

(6/12)
Kirsty Lang welcomes back the Scots and the North of England to the Round Britain Quiz drawing room. Both teams are looking for their first win of the 2024 series. Val McDermid and Alan McCredie play for Scotland, against Stuart Maconie and Adele Geras of the North of England.

Today's questions are:

Q1 (from James Bingham) Where might you find the lover of Mikhail's writer hero, the catch-phrase 'Book 'em Danno', a suite of violin concerti and Jagger's man of wealth and taste?

Q2 (from Jeff Flatters) What's the double connection between a Caribbean watering-hole, a group of Celtic cross-dressers and some custard?

Q3 Music: Where might you find these in close proximity?

Q4 (from Jonathan Allum) What's the connection between a 1968 novel by Agatha Christie, a 1962 novel by Ray Bradbury, a 1973 novel by Alastair Maclean and a 2022 novel by Gabrielle Zevin, and why might you have to be careful when explaining it?

Q5 Explain why Isherwood's Cabaret heroine, a Glasgow rock band who celebrated Miss America, and a Gungan General (twice), might help you with dinner?

Q6 (from Ivan Whetton) Music: Who are these people, and why might Potter's Marlowe complete a quartet?

Q7 (from Dave Ruddiman) Why would gravity work against an unauthorised habitation, Caribbean spicing, a contaminant-free facility and a Guy Ritchie thriller?

Q8 (from Charles Gilman) Where do the namesakes of Billy Bunter, Peter Chapman and Harry Angstrom meet, and how did Jane Smiley cover ten times their territory?

Producer: Paul Bajoria

SUNDAY 21 APRIL 2024

SUN 00:00 Midnight News (m001ygj2)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


SUN 00:15 Open Book (m001y9k8)
Percival Everett

US author Percival Everett talks about his new novel, James - a retelling of Huckleberry Finn, told from the point of view of runaway slave, Jim.

Plus, writing openly about the challenges of motherhood, and doing so with humour. Shahidha talks to two authors who have done just that, in the short story form: Naomi Wood, winner of the BBC Short Story Award, and author of a new collection, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, and to Helen Simpson who has written stories about motherhood in books such as Motherhood, and Hey Yeah Right Get A Life over 20 years previously.

Presenter: Shahidha Bari
Producer: Emma Wallace

Book List – Sunday 14 April and Sunday 21 April

James by Percival Everett
The Trees by Percival Everett
Erasure by Percival Everett
Huckleberry Flynn by Mark Twain
Wild Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Foe by JM Coetzee
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Dafoe
This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things by Naomi Wood
Motherhood by Helen Simpson
Hey Yeah Right Get A Life by Helen Simpson
Dear George by Helen Simpson
The Wren, The Wren by Anne Enright
I Don’t Know How She Does it by Allison Pearson
My Phantoms by Gwendoline Riley
Openings: Thirteen Stories by Lucy Caldwell
Sudden Traveller by Sarah Hall
Madame Zero by Sarah Hall
The Collected Stories of Grace Paley
The Squire by Enid Bagnold


SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m001ygj4)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m001ygj6)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m001ygj8)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SUN 05:30 News Briefing (m001ygjb)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (m001ygjd)
St Peter’s Lodsworth in West Sussex

Bells on Sunday, comes from the village of St Peter’s Lodsworth in West Sussex. In the middle ages the spring near the 12th century church was a place of pilgrimage for the sick. The 13th century church tower holds six bells with a Tenor weighing six and a half hundredweight and tuned to the note of B. We hear them ringing Double Oxford Bob Minor


SUN 05:45 In Touch (m001y8d2)
Audio Description: New Ofcom Guidelines & Application in the Theatre

The communications regulator Ofcom has just made changes to its guidelines surrounding audio description provided by television and on-demand services. For the first time, there will be unique recommendations for on-demand providers. Helen Shaw is part of Ofcom's content policy team and tells In Touch about the amendments and how the Media Bill, which is currently passing through Parliament, will impact access services more widely.

And what is creative audio description? Our reporter Fern Lulham finds out by visiting The Royal Shakespeare Company's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, where it can be found at every show in the production's run.

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.


SUN 06:00 News Summary (m001yhdk)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 06:05 Beyond Belief (m001y8cp)
Faithful Feet

In our society feet are often hidden away in shoes, perhaps to make an odd appearance post pedicure… but they can be an incredibly powerful symbol within many religions.

Giles Fraser meets Kai Bridges, a Shamanic practitioner who guides people through firewalks as part of his spiritual practice. For him firewalking goes beyond an exercise in empowerment and grounds him in the moment, connecting him to the elements.

Our panel Sughra Ahmed, Priyesh Patel and Lucy Winkett walk us through what feet symbolise in their respective faith traditions, and the different ways feet are a part of religious tradition and practice.

Presenter: Giles Fraser
Producers: Ruth Purser and Katharine Longworth
Editor: Tim Pemberton


SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (m001yhdm)
Great Minds Don't Think Alike: Neurodiversity in Farming

The term "neurodiversity" encompasses all the different ways in which people think, absorb information and respond to the world around them. Around 1 in 7, or 15%, of the general population are believed to be neurodivergent, meaning their brains work differently to what is considered the mainstream norm. In farming communities, research suggests it could be as many as 30% with autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or learning difficulties including dyslexia and dyspraxia. Caz Graham meets Staffordshire dairy farmer Liz Haines who was diagnosed with ADHD two years ago and is now embarking on a global study to raise awareness of the opportunities for neurodivergent people within agriculture.

Produced by Anna Jones


SUN 06:57 Weather (m001yhdp)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SUN 07:00 News and Papers (m001yhdr)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.


SUN 07:10 Sunday (m001yhdt)
Indian elections, faith in sport, religious knife crime.

As Indians go to the polls this week, many expect Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP party to be returned to power - but what would a third term look like? As Hindu nationalism has become the country's dominant political force over the past decade, the government is accused of making the state a “laboratory” for some of the most extreme rightwing policies and rhetoric targeting the Muslim minority.

The golf Masters 2024 champion Scottie Scheffler has been talking about how his Christianity underpins his life. But can you really be a high level competitive sportsperson and a follow a faith? We discuss the role of religion in sport with swimmer Daniel Jervis, who's heading to the Paris Olympics, and Katrina McDonald, a senior lecturer in sports coaching at Anglia Ruskin University, a Judo coach, and a former international Judo competitor.

Salman Rushdie’s latest book – ‘Knife: Mediations after an Attempted Murder' - was published this week. It's a memoir covering his experience of being stabbed at an event in New York in 2022. The Indian-born British-American has been threatened with death since 1989, when the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for his assassination, following the publication of his novel 'The Satanic Verses'. But recently there have been many knife attacks in the news, and with so many of them seemingly linked to religious extremism, we talk to Professor Kevin Browne, a forensic psychologist at Nottingham University Medical School and a leading authority on the subject of knife crime.

And pop music has often used religious references to shock. But now the American pop star Rihanna has caused controversy by posing for a magazine cover dressed as a scantily clad nun. Is her image cheeky? Or offensive? And why is it always nuns who are mocked? We ask music writer David Quantick, to investigate.

Presenter: Emily Buchanan
Producers: Amanda Hancox, Rosie Dawson, Julia Paul and Alexa Good
Editor: Tim Pemberton


SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (m001yhdw)
Beaver Trust

Wildlife presenter Megan McCubbin makes the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of Beaver Trust.

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 ‘Beaver Trust’.
- Cheques should be made payable to ‘Beaver Trust’.
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: 1185451


SUN 07:57 Weather (m001yhdy)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SUN 08:00 News and Papers (m001yhf0)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the Sunday papers


SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (m001yhf2)
HMP Wandsworth

A service for Eastertide, led by the chaplaincy team from HMP Wandsworth, a remand prison built in the 1870s, housing around fifteen hundred men from around south-west London and further afield.

The service, attended by around seventy of the men from the prison, is led by the Anglican chaplains, Wendy Stephens and Rev Tim Clapton, alongside Pastor Janet Allman, the Pentecostal Free Church Chaplain, and includes reflections from some of the prisoners. The music is provided by Soul Sanctuary Gospel Choir, with Miko Giedroyc (piano).

Producer: Andrew Earis

Music
sung by Soul Sanctuary Gospel Choir

Thine be the Glory (Maccabeus)
Lord I lift your name on high
Lord, make me over
Amazing grace
God, I'm on my knees again
My Jesus, my Saviour


SUN 08:48 A Point of View (m001y8jj)
On Anger

Caleb Azumah Nelson on why anger is no longer a stranger to him, but a friend.

He talks of a childhood in which he tried to navigate a world which was 'already coding a young black man as dangerous, threatening. Angry.'

'As I've grown older,' writes Caleb, 'the question is not whether I should be angry, but do I love myself enough to be angry, to object when I feel wronged or faced with injustice.'

Producer: Adele Armstrong
Sound: Peter Bosher:
Production coordinator: Gemma Ashman
Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith


SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (m001yhf4)
Megan McCubbin on the Gannet

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

A visit to Bass Rock just off the coast of Scotland by zoologist, conservationist and television presenter Megan McCubbin ignited her love of the gannet, one of our largest seabirds. Megan's visit to the chaotic colony also brought a sense of calm and awe from birds perhaps best known for their spectacular dives into the sea while feeding for fish.

A BBC Audio production from Bristol
Producer : Andrew Dawes
Studio Manager : Tim Allen


SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (m001yhf6)
The Sunday morning news magazine programme. Presented by Paddy O'Connell


SUN 10:00 The Reunion (m001yhf8)
The Passion of Port Talbot

Michael Sheen was a Hollywood star when the newly formed National Theatre of Wales approached him to produce a show in his hometown of Port Talbot. Inspired by the Passion plays he watched as a kid, he suggested they create a modern version of the Biblical stories.

Port Talbot was famous for its steel and chemical plants, but in 2011, local people were struggling with looming job cuts and still recovering from the 2007 crash. Sheen wanted to bring a new sense of pride to the town. Months of planning and rehearsals resulted in a three-day Easter weekend spectacle that took over the town and captured the imagination of the world.

Joining Kirsty Wark to recall that miraculous weekend is Sheen who played “The Teacher”, a modern-day incarnation of Jesus, and took the part so seriously that he slept on a mountain on the eve of Good Friday. “We had no idea how many people would come or if it would be pouring with rain.” But the weather was glorious and people came in their thousands.

Port Talbot actress Di Botcher played Sheen’s mother and described the warm feeling of being in The Passion as like “a crazy holiday romance – with God”.

Sarah Hemsley-Cole masterminded the show's logistics, which featured an actor in a suicide vest, a crucifixion on a roundabout, and a cast of 1,000 locals. During the production, she also met her wife, the leader of the local circus school.

The National Theatre of Wales partnered with landscape theatre experts Wildworks. Founder member Mydd Pharo recalls standing up to his waist in a rising tide, waiting for Sheen to arrive for the baptism scene. His colleague Mercedes Kemp led the hunt for local people’s memories which informed the resulting narrative. And Michael’s school drama teacher Ken Tucker, who played the Mayor in The Passion, also joins us.

Producer: Karen Pirie
Series Producer: David Prest
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 11:00 The Archers Omnibus (m001yhfb)
Writer: Nick Warburton
Director: David Payne

Kenton Archer…. Richard Attlee
Natasha Archer…. Mali Harries
Lilian Bellamy…. Sunny Ormonde
Harrison Burns…. James Cartwright
Alice Carter…. Hollie Chapman
Chris Carter…. Wilf Scolding
Harry Chilcott…. Jack Ashton
Brad Horrobin…. Taylor Uttley
Chelsea Horrobin…. Madeleine Leslay
Kate Madikane…. Perdita Avery
Dr Azra Malik…. Yasmin Wilde
Jazzer McCreary…. Ryan Kelly
Kirsty Miller…. Annabelle Dowler
Lily Pargetter…. Katie Redford
Hannah Riley…. Helen Longworth
Fallon Rogers…. Joanna Van Kampen
Oliver Sterling…. Michael Cochrane
Mick…. Martin Barrass
Ruby Cosse…. Helen Atkinson Wood


SUN 12:15 Profile (m001yght)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


SUN 12:30 It's a Fair Cop (m001y8b8)
Series 8

3. Top Dog

A fan favourite returns this week, Zeus the Police Dog!

But how does our favourite canine copper react when his position as leader of the pack is threatened?

Written and presented by Alfie Moore
Script Editor: Will Ing
Production Co-ordinator: Katie Baum
Producer: Sam Holmes

An EcoAudio Certified Production
A BBC Studios Audio Production


SUN 12:57 Weather (m001yhfd)
The latest weather forecast


SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (m001yhfg)
Radio 4's look at the week's big stories from both home and around the world.


SUN 13:30 Portugal’s Carnation Revolution (m001yhfj)
25th April 2024 marks the 50th anniversary of Portugal's 'Carnation Revolution', which overthrew the authoritarian dictatorship of the Estado Novo ('New State') which had governed Portugal since the 1920s. A largely bloodless revolution, marked by the carnations that were placed in the rifles of the soldiers, it led to the successful establishment of democracy in Portugal and the integration of more than half-a-million 'retornados' - returnees - Portuguese citizens from its former African colonies.

Portugal's revolution was indeed televised, and recorded in sound. One of those who bore witness to its aftermath was journalist, and former Channel 4 news presenter Jon Snow, who reported from Portugal at the time for LBC Radio. At this important anniversary, he remembers his time there, and tells the story of what unfolded, through archive and interviews with those who organised and lived through those heady days of April 1974.

Presenter: Jon Snow
Producer: Michael Rossi

With thanks to RTP (Rádio e Televisão de Portugal) and LBC for archive.


SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m001y8hf)
Upton-by-Chester

What are the pros and cons of using ramial wood chips in my soil? What Moroccan style shrubs could I grow that would survive the British weather? How do I prune my blueberry bushes so they can bear more fruit?

Kathy Clugston and a panel of experts are in Upton-By-Chester to answer queries from an audience of keen gardeners. On the panel this week are garden designer Bunny Guinness, houseplant expert Anne Swithinbank, and curator of RHS Bridgewater Marcus Chilton-Jones.

Later, James Wong speaks to 'The Cloud Gardener' Jason Williams about ginnel gardening and how you can get creative with limited amount of space.

Producer: Bethany Hocken
Assistant Producer: Rahnee Prescod
Executive Producer: Carly Maile

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 14:45 Short Works (m001vbxd)
My Grandmother's Degree

Amira Ghazalla reads a new short work from Leila Aboulela, as a woman remembers a childhood gift from her vibrant and beloved grandmother.

Produced by Eilidh McCreadie

Leila Aboulela is the first-ever winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing. Nominated three times for the Orange Prize (now the Women’s Prize for Fiction), she is the author of novels that include Bird Summons, The Kindness of Enemies, The Translator (a New York Times Notable Book of the Year), Minaret and Lyrics Alley, Fiction Winner of the Scottish Book Awards. Her collection of short stories Elsewhere, Home won the Saltire Fiction Book of the Year. Leila’s work has been translated into fifteen languages, and her plays The Insider, The Mystic Life and others were broadcast on BBC Radio. She grew up in Khartoum, Sudan, and now lives in Aberdeen, Scotland.


SUN 15:00 The Shell Seekers (m001yhfl)
Episode 2

Penelope is under pressure to sell the valuable sketches made by her father, Lawrence Stern. They had never been lost. She had hidden them away at the back of her wardrobe. Now she is waiting to have them valued but what about the fate of her father's famous painting The Shell Seekers?

Written by Rosamunde Pilcher and dramatised by Lin Coghlan

The Narrator, Rosamunde Pilcher ..... Jessica Turner
Penelope ..... Emma Fielding
Olivia ..... Emily Berrington
Nancy ..... Jasmine Hyde
Noel ..... Will Kirk
Young Penelope ..... Kitty O'Sullivan
Richard ..... Carl Prekopp
Antonia ..... Imogen Front
Danus ..... Ian Dunnett Jnr
Lawrence ..... Michael Bertenshaw
Doris ..... Debra Baker
Mr Brookner/Soldier ..... John Lightbody
Mrs Enderby ..... Juliana Lisk

Directed by Tracey Neale

An instant bestseller when it was first published and still one of the highest bestselling British family sagas of the past four decades, Rosamunde Pilcher's The Shell Seekers is an enduring classic which has touched the hearts of millions of readers worldwide.

Set in Gloucestershire, London, Cornwall and Ibiza and shifting between 1939 and 1985. This is the story of one family and the passions and heartbreaks that have held them together.

Artist's daughter Penelope Keeling can look back on a full and varied life. She has brought up three children - and learned to accept them as they are. Yet she has no intention of settling sweetly into pensioned-off old-age. She wants to live. A story of memory, fate, loss, trauma, connection, and the cost of maintaining that. Is family, everything, after all?

Writer, Rosamunde Pilcher
Dramatised by Lin Coghlan
Produced and Directed by Tracey Neale


SUN 16:00 Open Book (m001yhfn)
Sinéad Gleeson

Sinéad Gleeson is a writer, broadcaster and editor of three anthologies of Irish writing. Her collection of essays, Constellations: Reflections from Life won Non Fiction Book of the Year at the 2019 Irish Book Awards, and now publishes her debut novel, Hagstone.

Hagstone is set on a remote island of the coast of Ireland, it tells the story of Nell an artist whose work takes inspiration from the landscape and folklore. When she receives an invitation to create a piece of art from the Inions, a reclusive commune of women living sustainably on the island, things begin to unravel. Sinead discusses the precarity of living as an artist, the folklore which infuses Hagstone and dedicating the book to the late activist and artist Sinead O' Connor.

The Book Makers by Adam Smyth is a celebration of five hundred and fifty years of the printed book, told through the lives of eighteen extraordinary people. The printers and binders, publishers and artists, paper-makers and library founders - who took the book in radical new directions. We hear about the binder who created Shakespeare's First Folio, a 16th century Dutch printer who created bestsellers on Fleet Street and the Cut and Paste Bible sisters who made art from the gospels.

And Kick the Latch author Kathryn Scanlan discusses her love of Moyra Davey’s Long Life: Cool White, Photographs and Essays.

Book List – Sunday 21 March

Hagstone by Sinéad Gleeson
The Long Gaze Back: An Anthology of Irish Women Writers by Sinéad Gleeson
The Glass Shore edited by Sinéad Gleeson
Constellations: Reflections from Life by Sinéad Gleeson
Kick the Latch by Kathryn Scanlan
Long Life Cool White: Photographs by Moyra Davey
The Book Makers by Adam Smyth


SUN 16:30 Round Britain Quiz (m001yjp8)
Programme 7, 2024

(7/12)
Paul Sinha and Marcus Berkmann of the South of England return to see if they can take revenge on Cariad Lloyd and Myfanwy Alexander of Wales, who narrowly beat them last time they met. Kirsty Lang has the trademark cryptic questions, and will be awarding and deducting points depending on how many blind alleys she has to steer the teams away from, in arriving at their answers.

Questions in today's edition:

Q1 What connects a rapper with a side hustle in interior design, another rapper who might be introvert, and the British 'wild man of rock 'n roll' from the late 50s?

Q2 (from Simon Meara) Whenever I walk in a London street, why should I be wary of one wearing glasses, one of the Deadly Sins, an Italian car and a Phoenix sportsman?

Q3 Music: Which is the odd one out?

Q4 (from Patrick Haigh) Through which entrance might all of these have passed, though not all at the same time? One blasted as setting the scene for a 'prophetic greeting'; one who might carry a twister and a legget; one named three times as a joke and a fourth by promotion; one before whose appearance one shouldn't discard warm clothing; and one giving surgical support?

Q5 Why can you now find weapons on Gillespie Road, a pan-Hellenic sanctuary on Addison road, a cathedral in the Post Office and monks in that same cathedral?

Q6 Music: Which Beatles song might we have played as part of this sequence?

Q7 Why might David Lloyd, Ursula Andress and Phillip Vandamm all feel at home in the GTech Community Stadium?

Q8 A Welsh fly-half is to John James Preston as Weather Report's saxophonist is to the former member for Ladywood. How so?

Producer: Paul Bajoria


SUN 17:00 Witness History (w3ct4xkt)
The lost Czech scrolls

On 5 February 1964, an unusual delivery was made to a synagogue in London. More than 1,500 Torah scrolls, lost since the end of World War Two, were arriving from Czechoslovakia. The sacred Jewish texts had belonged to communities destroyed by the Nazis. Alex Strangwayes-Booth talks to Philippa Bernard about the emotional charge of that day.

A CTVC production for the BBC Radio 4.
(Photo: Philippa Bernard beside the scrolls in Westminster Synagogue. Credit: BBC)


SUN 17:10 The Patch (m001y89k)
Northowram, Halifax

One random postcode and a story you probably haven't heard before.

A small village in Yorkshire mysteriously has two cricket clubs, separated by a dry stone wall - how did this happen? And how do they both survive?

Produced and Presented by Polly Weston


SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m001yhft)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SUN 17:57 Weather (m001yhfw)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m001yhfy)
The MP Mark Menzies has quit the Conservative Party, and will stand down at the next election, after he was accused of misusing campaign funds.


SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (m001yhg0)
Rima Ahmed

This week Rima Ahmed picks out programmes that remind us there is hope in the world. Take Oliver, who has taught himself to read as an adult and helped so many others on his journey; or Agnes, who after losing her own baby has dedicated her nursing career to helping bereaved parents; or Mel Osbourne who’s had a big chat with her family about the complexities of dating...come and meet them all.

Presenter: Rima Ahmed
Producer: James Leesley
Production Co-ordinator: Paul Holloway


SUN 19:00 The Archers (m001yhg2)
Alistair’s grateful when Denise comes in for a work emergency, but things are tense between them. They agree they’d like to try to go back to being ‘normal’ with each other. Alistair invites Denise to his cricket match later, but Denise has to be at home, as John’s back – and they need to talk. At the cricket, Fallon thanks Alice for getting Harry to testify on Harrison’s behalf. Fallon is sorry it hasn’t worked out with Harry, but Alice knows it’s best for everyone, and she needs to just move on.

At the cricket Harrison asks Ed how the tree surgery enterprise is going. Ed admits he’s done some research and now realises what a dangerous profession it is. Harrison reassures Ed and suggests he tells Emma how he feels. But Ed says there’s no backing out now.

Ed’s a nervous stand-in for Will at the match but makes a good catch against Little Croxley. Their captain Laura protests that the ball came off her pad, and Alistair backs her up. Laura offers Alistair a drink as thanks, but he politely declines, so she gives him her phone number for another time. Denise arrives to surprise Alistair and can see he looks worried. He asks about John. Denise explains that their important talk was short-lived, and she suspects he is being evasive. Denise did express her unhappiness but can’t tell whether her husband knows what’s going on with their marriage. And he refuses to talk about it. She’s exhausted and just wants someone to tell her everything’s going to be alright.


SUN 19:15 John Meagher: The Divil's Own (m001yhg4)
Did you ever have a recurring dream that you think might just be a memory? Or a nightmare so vivid that it could almost be real?

John Meagher has, He’s been dreaming about a group of devil worshippers who may or may not have terrorised his home town of Newry, Northern Ireland since the early 90s.

John takes us on a funny, fearful and surprising journey of discovery across Northern Ireland to uncover the truth behind the story of "The Whitehoods" of Newry and discovers that the "Satanic Panic" wasn't exclusive to his home town.

But what was really going on? And why do so many towns in the North have a similar story?

Can John find out the truth and lay these memories to rest? Is there any truth to be found at all in this land of saints, scholars and spoofers?

For the sake of his sleeping patterns and his marriage, John is determined to find out.

A Fabel production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 19:45 Why Do We Do That? (m001dxpq)
Why Do We Kiss?

This episode is all about the iconic kiss. Is it as universal as we think? One study suggests that lip-to-lip romantic kissing - the snog, if you will - is only present in 46% of cultures around the world. So did we just recently learn to do it? Ella Al-Shamahi speaks to Journalist and Radio 1 Life Hacks Presenter Katie Thistleton to get deep into the strangeness of kissing. Speaking to Dr Rafael Wlodarski from Oxford University, they find out how kissing, or getting close to one another, has been shown to give away clues about your genetic information via smells - and why we find the smell of someone who is genetically compatible with us more attractive.


SUN 20:00 Feedback (m001y8h6)
Helen Lewis, File on 4 and Shrinking News

Helen Lewis has Left the Chat is a six-part series on Radio 4 which examines how instant messaging has “taken over our lives". It delves into the murky, and often hilarious world of WhatsApp and other apps to explore how they have shaped our world. Many of you loved the programme - but some of you also found the strong language an instant turn off, especially at 9.30am. Helen Lewis tells Andrea why the team believed keeping the expletives in was crucial to telling the story.

A recent episode of File On 4, Radio 4’s flagship weekly investigative programme, explored whether diet groups like Slimming World can fuel eating disorders. After it was broadcast, lots of listeners got in touch in to complain that the programme lacked proper balance.

Listeners to Radio 1’s Breakfast show with Greg James have been left wondering where their news has gone. Newsbeat bulletins have shrunk from three minutes to just one. Professor Steven Barnett from the University Of Westminster sheds some light on the station's commitment to news.

And weather man Simon King is here to reveal why he ended up Breathless in Salford

Presented by Andrea Catherwood
Produced by Leeanne Coyle
A Whistledown Scotland production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 20:30 Last Word (m001y8hp)
Sir Paul Fox, Lynne Reid Banks, Joan Hills, Amnon Weinstein

Matthew Bannister on:

Sir Paul Fox, the respected TV executive who commissioned some of the best loved programmes of the 1960s and 70s. We have a tribute from his former colleague Sir David Attenborough.

Lynne Reid Banks, the author best known for her novel “The L Shaped Room.”

Joan Hills, the artist who played a key role in the art world of the 1960s and, with her husband and two children, was part of the Boyle Family quartet.

Amnon Weinstein, the luthier who collected and restored violins which had been played in concentration camps during the Second World War.

Interviewee: Sir David Attenborough
Interviewee: Gillon Stephenson
Interviewee: Georgia Boyle
Interviewee: Avshalom Weinstein
Interviewee: Jaap Hamburger

Producer: Gareth Nelson-Davies

Archive Used:
Sportsview, BBC Television, 27/01/1955; Roger Bannister 4 minute mile news report, BBC Archive Newsreel, 07/05/1954; Interview with Paul Fox, The Oral History of the BBC, connectedhistoriesofthebbc.org, 30/11/1984; Lynne Reid Banks interview with Rita Hayworth1956, On This Day, ITN Archive Facebook channel, uploaded 13/07/2022; L-Shaped Room, Official Trailer, 20th Century Fox, 1962, Dir: Bryan Forbes; Lynne Reid Banks interview, With Great Pleasure, BBC Radio 4, 24/09/1999; Reading extract, The Indian in the Cupboard, Episode 1, BBC Radio 4, 02/10/1986; Official Film Promo, Paramount Pictures, Dir: Frank Oz, 1995; Lynne Reid Banks talks about how her life would be different if she couldn't write, gconversations YouTube Channel, uploaded 25/10/2012; Joan Hills interview, The Boyle Family, BBC Four, 27/08/2003; Amnon Weinstein 2018, Alabama Holocaust Education Center, YouTube uploaded 02/06/2022; Violins of Hope, CBS Sunday Morning, YouTube uploaded 22/03/2024;


SUN 21:00 Money Box (m001ygh5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:04 on Saturday]


SUN 21:25 Radio 4 Appeal (m001yhdw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:54 today]


SUN 21:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m001ygh1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:30 on Saturday]


SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (m001yhg6)
Ben Wright's guests are the Conservative MP Steve Brine; Shadow Cabinet minister, Alison McGovern; and Professor of Politics, Matthew Goodwin. They discuss the controversy over the Metropolitan Police approach to pro-Palestinian protest marches and the parliamentary finale of the government's Rwanda Bill. Journalist Hugo Gye brings additional insight and analysis. And the programme also includes and interview with Kevin Miles from the Football Supporters' Association, about new legislation to improve the governance of the game in England and Wales.


SUN 23:00 In Our Time (m001y8fp)
Napoleon's Hundred Days

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Napoleon Bonaparte's temporary return to power in France in 1815, following his escape from exile on Elba . He arrived with fewer than a thousand men, yet three weeks later he had displaced Louis XVIII and taken charge of an army as large as any that the Allied Powers could muster individually. He saw that his best chance was to pick the Allies off one by one, starting with the Prussian and then the British/Allied armies in what is now Belgium. He appeared to be on the point of victory at Waterloo yet somehow it eluded him, and his plans were soon in tatters. His escape to America thwarted, he surrendered on 15th July and was exiled again but this time to Saint Helena. There he wrote his memoirs to help shape his legacy, while back in Europe there were still fears of his return.

With

Michael Rowe
Reader in European History at Kings College London

Katherine Astbury
Professor of French Studies at the University of Warwick

And

Zack White
Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellow at the University of Portsmouth

Producer: Simon Tillotson
In Our Time is a BBC Studios Audio production.

Reading list:

Katherine Astbury and Mark Philp (ed.), Napoleon's Hundred Days and the Politics of Legitimacy (Palgrave, 2018)

Jeremy Black, The Battle of Waterloo: A New History (Icon Books, 2010)

Michael Broers, Napoleon: The Decline and Fall of an Empire: 1811-1821 (Pegasus Books, 2022)

Philip Dwyer, Citizen Emperor: Napoleon in power 1799-1815 (Bloomsbury, 2014)

Charles J. Esdaile, Napoleon, France and Waterloo: The Eagle Rejected (Pen & Sword Military, 2016)

Gareth Glover, Waterloo: Myth and Reality (Pen & Sword Military, 2014)

Sudhir Hazareesingh, The Legend of Napoleon (Granta, 2014)

John Hussey, Waterloo: The Campaign of 1815, Volume 1, From Elba to Ligny and Quatre Bras (Greenhill Books, 2017)

Andrew Roberts, Napoleon the Great (Penguin Books, 2015)

Brian Vick, The Congress of Vienna: Power and Politics after Napoleon (Harvard University Press, 2014)

Zack White (ed.), The Sword and the Spirit: Proceedings of the first ‘War & Peace in the Age of Napoleon’ Conference (Helion and Company, 2021)


SUN 23:45 Short Works (m001y8hk)
Paraphernalia by Jane Fraser

A stowaway threatens the tranquillity of a family seaside outing in the Gower, South Wales. An original short story by Gower-based writer, Jane Fraser, read by Hannah Daniel.

Sound by Catherine Robinson
Produced by Emma Harding, BBC Audio Wales

MONDAY 22 APRIL 2024

MON 00:00 Midnight News (m001yhg8)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


MON 00:15 Crossing Continents (m001y8d4)
Reggaeton: The pride of Puerto Rico?

Reggaeton’s the soundtrack to Puerto Rico. The globally popular music reflects what’s going on in the cultural and political scene of the Spanish-speaking Caribbean Island.

It started out as underground music in marginalised communities but was criticised for allegedly promoting violence and being too sexually explicit.

Reggaeton has since been used as an anthem to overthrow a local governor and a way to criticise the island’s complex relationship with the United States.

It’s also evolved from misogynist roots to reach new audiences in the LGBTQ community.

Jane Chambers travels to Puerto Rico to meet the people and hear the music which is both maligned and revered.

Presenter and Producer: Jane Chambers
Field Producers: Hermes Ayala and Yondy Agosto
Sound Mix: Neil Churchill
Production Coordinator: Gemma Ashman
Editor: Penny Murphy


MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (m001ygjd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:43 on Sunday]


MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m001yhgb)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m001yhgd)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m001yhgg)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


MON 05:30 News Briefing (m001yhgj)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4


MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m001yhgl)
A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with Dabinderjit Singh


MON 05:45 Farming Today (m001yhgn)
22/04/24 Public perception of commercial forestry, the state of UK woodlands, feral pigs in Scotland.

Today trees: from Welsh Government plans to get them planted on farms, to the ever missed English planting targets and the recent cuts to the budget for planting in Scotland, trees are the subject of much debate in rural areas. Despite our fondness for them and need for timber, we still don't like commercial forestry. Foresters warn the public's perception is hampering efforts to grow more timber. We get an overview of the state of British woodlands.

The Scottish Government wildlife agency NatureScot has been holding advice sessions on wild boar and providing help for farmers and crofters dealing with them. Concerns are growing about the damage they do to grazing areas. It's claimed they kill and eat sheep and lambs, and farmers believe the Government should have taken action years ago. 

Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Beatrice Fenton.


MON 05:57 Weather (m001yhgq)
Weather reports and forecasts for farmers


MON 06:00 Today (m001yhh7)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


MON 09:00 Start the Week (m001yhh9)
City living

London, and the river that runs through it, is at the heart of the new play London Tide, an adaptation of Charles Dickens’ Our Mutual Friend. Ben Power has adapted the novel and co-written original songs with the singer-songwriter PJ Harvey. He tells Adam Rutherford that although it combines the savage satire and social analysis of the original, it is, in essence, a love letter to the capital. London Tide is playing at the National Theatre until 22nd June.

The award-winning architect Amanda Levete reflects on the challenges of designing buildings and public spaces in major historic cities around the world – taking into consideration the aesthetics of the built environment, whilst meeting the needs of the community and tackling sustainability.

Amanda Levete considers the Pompidou Centre in Paris to be one of the twentieth century’s most iconic buildings and an inspiration for her own architectural practice. The journalist Simon Kuper takes stock of his adopted city, as Paris prepares for the Olympics. In Impossible City he explores today’s ‘Grand Paris’ project which aims to connect its much famed central areas with its neglected suburbs.

Producer: Katy Hickman


MON 09:45 Café Hope (m001yhhc)
Life after losing a limb

Rachel Burden hears from Corinne Hutton who used her experience to help people adjust to life after losing a limb. She lost her hands and legs below the knee to sepsis and founded charity Finding Your Feet.

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

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

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


MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (m001yhhf)
Peres Jepchirchir, Rhianon Bragg and stalking, Nitazenes, Tortured poets

The Kenyan distance runner Peres Jepchirchir won yesterday’s elite women's London Marathon, breaking the women’s only record with her time of 2:16:16. She beat the previous record set in 2017 of 2:17:01. This was the fastest time in a race without male pace makers. More than 50,000 people ran and some gave themselves an even bigger challenge than just running the course. Laura Bird from St Ives in Cambridgeshire ran with a fridge strapped to her back - aiming to earn a place in the Guinness Book of Records. Peres and Laura both join Krupa Padhy.

Rhianon Bragg spoke to Woman’s Hour back in February about her concerns for her safety regarding the imminent release of her ex-boyfriend from prison, despite the fact that a Parole Board ruled a few months earlier that such a move would not be safe. In February 2020, Gareth Wynn Jones was given an extended determinate sentence of 4.5 years in prison, with an extended licence period of five years for the crimes of stalking, false imprisonment, making threats to kill and possession of a firearm. Now two months since his release and coinciding with National Stalking Awareness Week, we hear from Rhianon and also Emily Lingley Clark of the Suzy Lamplugh Trust.

Taylor Swift’s latest album, The Tortured Poets Department, has just been released. We thought it was a great excuse to look at the female poets, past and present, who could be considered ‘tortured’… Or is it more of a male trope? Classicist and author of Devine Might, Natalie Haynes, and Irish Indian poet Nikita Gill discuss.

A BBC investigation has traced how a deadly form of synthetic drugs have been getting into the UK from China - and exposed the role of major social media platforms. Nitazenes, which are illegal in the UK, have been linked to more than 100 deaths in England and Wales since June 2023. We hear from Claire Rocha, whose son died after taking drugs unknowingly laced with Nitazene, and Caroline Copeland, a senior lecturer in toxicology and pharmacology at King’s College London.

Presenter: Krupa Padhy
Producer: Kirsty Starkey
Studio Manager: Emma Harth


MON 11:00 The Invention Of... (m001yhhh)
China

The First Emperor

Misha Glenny and Miles Warde travel east to tell the story of China - what it is and where it came from.

"The empire long united must divide, long divided must unite. Thus it has ever been." The opening lines of a fourteenth century novel about the rise and fall of China's multiple dynasties, history explained in a couple of brilliant lines. But what is China and where did it come from?

This is episode 55 of How to Invent a Country on BBC Sounds, recorded on location and opening in Taiwan. "The reunification of the historical motherland is an inevitability," said the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, on New Year's day. China is an empire, and this is a president asserting central control - in Xinjiang, in Hong Kong, and now Taiwan appears to be in his sights. Control has been the ambition since the rule of the First Emperor in 221 BCE, but areas on the periphery continue to resist.

With contributions from Frances Wood, author of The First Emperor; Steve Tsang, The Political Thought of Xi Jinping; Amanda Hsiao, senior China analyst for the Crisis Group; Nathan Law, exiled activist, Hong Kong Umbrella Movement; Chris Buckley, Chief China correspondent of the New York Times now based in Taiwan; plus Paul French, Linda Jaivin, Tania Branigan and Ian Johnson, author of Sparks.

"What we do is explain where countries come from, and then unpick the stories governments use to stay in charge. They weren't always there, those lines on the map - everything keeps changing. And China has surged and collapsed, expanded and shrunk, as much as anywhere we've been." Misha Glenny

Presenter Misha Glenny is the author of McMafia and a former Central Europe correspondent for the BBC. The producer in Bristol is Miles Warde

Further reading:

Frances Wood, the First Emperor of China and No Dogs and Not Many Chinese
Tania Branigan, Red Memory
Steve Tsang and Olivia Cheung, The Political Thought of Xi Jinping
Linda Jaivin, The Shortest History of China
Ian Johnson, Sparks - China's Underground Historians and Their Battle for the Future
Paul French, Midnight in Peking and City of Devils


MON 11:45 Knife by Salman Rushdie (m001yhhl)
1. Reflections after an attempted murder

The internationally renowned author, Salman Rushdie's deeply personal account of enduring and surviving a violent attack on his life that also shook the literary world and beyond. Art Malik is the reader.

On the morning of 12 August 2022, Salman Rushdie was standing onstage at the Chautauqua Institution in upstate New York, preparing to give a lecture on the importance of keeping writers safe from harm, when a man in black – black clothes, black mask – rushed down the aisle towards him, wielding a knife. His first thought: So it’s you. Here you are.

What followed was a horrific act of violence. Now, for the first time Rushdie relives the traumatic events of that day and its aftermath, as well as his journey towards physical recovery and the healing that was made possible by the love and support of his wife, Eliza, his family, his army of doctors and physical therapists, and his community of readers worldwide.

Knife is Rushdie writing with urgency, with gravity, with unflinching honesty. It is also a deeply moving reminder of literature’s capacity to make sense of the unthinkable, an intimate and life-affirming meditation on life, loss, love, art – and finding the strength to stand up again.

Abridged by Richard Hamilton
Produced by Elizabeth Allard


MON 12:00 News Summary (m001yhhp)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


MON 12:04 You and Yours (m001yhhr)
Amazon Fresh, Goodwill Scams, Holiday Lets

When Amazon entered food retail on our high streets many thought it would be an instant hit, but some are saying the online retail giant maybe faltering when it comes to Amazon Fresh stores.
The premise is all to do with a frictionless consumer experience – walk in, grab what you want, and walk out. The AI system will sort the receipt and payment for your Amazon account.
However, in the past 12 months stores have closed, there have been changes to the AI payment system in America, and they don’t appear to have won over the consumer.
We will chat with two people that have used them, to find out their experiences. As well as a food industry expert who can shine some light on Amazons plans, as well as telling us how we feel about supermarkets becoming more automated.

We will be looking at the new scams that are targeting churches and charities, and playing on the goodwill of those that support them.
St Mary’s Church in Beverley and the Worcestershire Animal Rescue Shelter will both be talking to us about the scam that has impacted them and their supporters, which all revolves around fake event flyers on Facebook.
The Facebook posts ask people to support upcoming events and to help by paying upfront for craft fairs and dog shows, the posts even alert users about being vigilant to possible scams. We’ll be finding out more about this and how you can spot these scams

And is the bubble burst on staycations?
Reports are starting to show that the UK holiday lets market is becoming over saturated, especially since the pandemic boom for domestic holidays.
So have we now got too many holiday lets in the UK? We’ll be chatting to two people that have holiday lets, finding out what’s impacting them and how they see their futures in the industry.

You can contact You & Yours by emailing youandyours@bbc.co.uk or using the hashtag #youandyours

Presenter: Shari Vahl
Producer: Dave James


MON 12:57 Weather (m001yhht)
The latest weather forecast


MON 13:00 World at One (m001yhhw)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment.


MON 13:45 Growing Solo (m001yhhy)
One Million Calories

Max Cotton, a retired political journalist, leaves behind the weekly shop, supermarkets and the modern world to find out if he can grow and produce 100% of his food on a smallholding near Glastonbury. His only import for a year is salt.

This first episode sees him prepare for the challenge. Why is he doing this? What has inspired him, and how much food does one person need for a year? He is helped and ridiculed in equal measure by his family. We hear from them, from Guy Singh Watson, the founder of Riverford, and Max’s farming friend Tommy Allen. And we're introduced to the star of this series - Max’s cow, Brenda.

Presenter: Max Cotton
Producer: Tessa Browne
Executive Producer: Kate Dixon

A Good Egg production for BBC Radio 4


MON 14:00 The Archers (m001yhg2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Sunday]


MON 14:15 Drama on 4 (m000td1b)
Devoted

Devoted by Ray Connolly
In 2020 writer Ray Connolly spent six months in hospital with Covid. As the virus attacked his body, he was, for much of the time, in a coma. Unaware of how doctors and nurses were saving his life, his mind was filled with fantasies. Only when he recovered did he discover that his wife, Plum, had sent daily bulletins on his condition to their children, some of which had made harrowing reading. Devoted is the story of how Plum would fear the ringing of the phone from the hospital, but also of how music was used to break into Ray’s coma and help nurse him back to health.
Ray.............................Philip Jackson
Plum..........................Alison Steadman
Louise.......................Natalie Grady
Dominic...................Matthew Gravelle
Kieron......................Joseph Millson
Nurse Hannah........Marilyn Nnadebe
Newsreader............Leah Marks
Director/Producer Gary Brown
Sound Designer Sharon Hughes


MON 15:00 Great Lives (m001yhj1)
Katherine Rundell on E Nesbit

Bestselling children's author Katherine Rundell discusses the extraordinary life of E Nesbit who wrote The Railway Children and Five Children And It.

Katherine praises her “bold unwillingness to speak down to children” and reflects that “she never seemed to forget what it was like to be a child”. E, or Edith, Nesbit’s conjuring of mythical beasts like the Phoenix and the sand fairy the Psammead was a particular inspiration to Katherine Rundell who says "you can really believe they are flesh and blood”. Edith Nesbit has also influenced the work of Jacqueline Wilson and JK Rowling who have both praised this trailblazing writer.

She had a particularly colourful private life and a very open marriage. She flouted the social conventions of the time. She was married when seven months pregnant. Her husband had children outside of their relationship and Edith then raised them as her own. She was a feminist but didn't believe in Votes for Women. She co-founded the Fabian Society and kept company with the likes of George Bernard Shaw and Noel Coward.

Katherine Rundell is joined by Elisabeth Galvin who has written a biography of E Nesbit. The programme features an excerpt from The Phoenix And The Carpet by E Nesbit as well as clips from the 1970 film of The Railway Children distributed by EMI films and the 1991 BBC television adaptation of Five Children And It.

Presenter: Matthew Parris
Producer: Robin Markwell


MON 15:30 History's Secret Heroes (m001y3v8)
14. The Unbreakable Navajo Code

A group of Native American soldiers use their language to devise a secret code for the Allies. Can the Navajo code help win one of the fiercest battles of the war?

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

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

Producer: Suniti Somaiya
Edit Producer: Melvin Rickarby
Assistant Producer: Lorna Reader
Executive Producer: Paul Smith
Written by Alex von Tunzelmann
Commissioning editor for Radio 4: Rhian Roberts


MON 16:00 Portugal’s Carnation Revolution (m001yhfj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 13:30 on Sunday]


MON 16:30 Soul Music (m001yggx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:30 on Saturday]


MON 17:00 PM (m001yhj3)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.


MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m001yhj5)
Rishi Sunak says the stand-off over his Rwanda bill will be settled tonight.


MON 18:30 It's a Fair Cop (m001yhj7)
Series 8

4. Knife Crime

When does a knife become a crime?

Knife Crime is a societal woe that gets a lot of coverage in the media, but how do the police actually work on getting knives off the streets?

Written and presented by Alfie Moore
Script Editor: Will Ing
Production Co-ordinator: Katie Baum
Producer: Sam Holmes

An EcoAudio Certified Production
A BBC Studios Audio Production


MON 19:00 The Archers (m001yhj9)
Harrison bumps into Henry as he heads home from school. Henry asks whether he needs new players for the cricket team. Later at Bridge Farm whilst collecting Fallon, Harrison gets chatting with Helen – he wants to thank Henry, who has inspired him to get a youth cricket team going again. He’d even be happy to give Henry some coaching. Helen’s confused - Henry hates cricket!

But after a chat with Henry, Helen messages Harrison to accept his offer. Henry explains to his mum that he doesn’t know if he likes cricket - his experience of the game came from playing with Rob, which wasn’t fun. He wants to see if it’s different with someone like Harrison coaching him. Helen’s impressed and thinks that’s a great idea.

Harry visits Alice to tell her he has stopped drinking and is booked into a rehab centre this week. Alice surprises him with the offer to come in for some tea, which turns into dinner and a bedtime story with Martha. Harry fears that he won’t be able to stop drinking, but Alice reassures him. Harry feels so lucky to have Alice, although they know they’re not together anymore. But without saying it, there’s still mutual love. They hold a last hug for longer than either intended, and end up in bed together. As Harry makes to get dressed, Alice berates herself for letting this happen – she shouldn’t have kissed him! They cannot be together: it would jeopardise both of their recoveries. Harry says he’ll go immediately, leaving a distraught Alice sobbing.


MON 19:15 Front Row (m001yhjc)
Designer Sir Kenneth Grange, Taylor Swift's new album, Venice Art Biennale

Taylor Swift returns with The Tortured Poets Department, a surprise double album that features 31 tracks that fans are saying is her most intimate and lyrically revealing yet. Joining Tom Sutcliffe to discuss the work are Times music writer Lisa Vericco and Satu Hameenho-Fox, whose new book Into The Taylor-Verse is out next month.

The Intercity 125 train, the Kenwood mixer, the Morphy Richards iron, the Wilkinson triple razor, bus shelters, the black cab, and the Parker 25 pen all have one thing in common – they were designed by Sir Kenneth Grange. As a new book about his life and work comes out, we went to his house to meet him.

Hettie Judah joins us fresh from the famous international cultural exhibition, the Venice Biennale, now in it’s 60th year. She’ll be reviewing the highs and lows.

Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe
Producer: Julian May


MON 20:00 The Briefing Room (m001wxky)
India: Is democracy under threat?

2024 is the year of elections. According to one estimate just under 50% of all the people on earth live in countries where by December 31st there will have been a national vote. In terms of population size there are none bigger than the six week exercise that got underway last Friday. The world’s biggest democracy - India - has gone to the polls and prime minister Narendra Modi is hoping – perhaps expecting – to win a third term. He first came to power in 2014 and since then fears about “democratic backsliding” have been growing. So how concerned about that should we be?

Step inside The Briefing Room and together we’ll find out.

Guests:

Yogita Limaye, BBC's South Asia Correspondent
Rohan Venkat, editor of “India Inside Out” newsletter
Louise Tillin, Professor of Politics in the India Institute at King’s College London
Chietigj Bajpaee, senior research fellow for South Asia at Chatham House.

Production team: Rosamund Jones and Ben Carter
Editor: Richard Vadon
Production Co-ordinator: Gemma Ashman
Sound engineers: Hal Haines and Sarah Hockley


MON 20:30 BBC Inside Science (m001y8hg)
Do we need a new model of cosmology?

Earlier this week, some of the world's leading astrophysicists came together at The Royal Society to question the very nature of our Universe. Does the Lambda Cold Dark Matter model, which explains the evolution of the cosmos and the Big Bang, need a rethink? Dr Chris North, an astrophysicist from the University of Cardiff, joins us in the studio to explain what this model says, and why it might need to be changed.

The last few weeks seem to have been a non-stop cycle of depressing climate stories, with floods in Pakistan, mass coral bleaching and last month being the hottest March ever recorded. It's perhaps no surprise that many people are anxious about the news. Vic Gill is joined by Prof Lorraine Whitmarsh, an environmental psychologist at the University of Bath, and Tom Rivett Carnac, an author, political strategist and co-host of the podcast Outrage + Optimism. Together they discuss climate anxiety, and how to stay engaged with the news without feeling overwhelmed.

And with all this wet weather, how are our precious insects faring? It turns out, bumblebees might have a trick up their fuzzy sleeves when the ground gets flooded - at least according to a new experiment led by Sabrina Rondeau from the University of Ottawa. We also get bumblebee expert Dave Goulson on the line to tell us more about these charismatic insects.

Presenter: Victoria Gill
Producers: Alice Lipscombe-Southwell, Ella Hubber and Hannah Robins
Editor: Martin Smith
Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth


MON 21:00 Start the Week (m001yhh9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


MON 21:45 Café Hope (m001yhhc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 today]


MON 22:00 The World Tonight (m001yhjf)
Government and Lords continue show down over Rwanda bill

The Lords withdraws one amendment to the bill but continues to insist on a monitoring committee to assess the safety of Rwanda.

Also on the programme:

James Coomarasamy reports from India where Narendra Modi is accused of stoking anti-Muslim sentiment in his election campaign.

And rediscover the Welsh hymns side-lined for their searing lyrics.


MON 22:45 The Blue Book of Nebo (m001xzqp)
Episode 1

Dylan and his mum have survived The End. So what now?
When they find a blue notebook in a deserted house, they decide to share the book, to write their experiences, memories and secrets. And they promise not to read what the other has written.
Manon Steffan Ros’s multi-award-winning novel, set in North Wales, is read by Gwïon Morris Jones and Rhian Blythe.
Sound design, by Nigel Lewis and Rhys Morris
Production co-ordinator, Lindsay Rees
Abridged and directed by Fay Lomas. BBC Audio Drama Wales


MON 23:00 Limelight (p09h4vyy)
The System - Series 1

The System - Level 3: Field Work

By Ben Lewis

A witty and propulsive six-part thriller about an exclusive personal development programme with a radical twist. Starring Siena Kelly, Jack Rowan and Iain de Caestecker.

Level 3: Field Work

The Past: pumped up and fighting fit, Jake and his unit learn how to hunt. And it’s not just animals they’re in search of.
The Present: Maya meets a woman she hopes can explain why Jake’s life hangs in the balance.

Cast:
Alex … Iain de Caestecker
Maya … Siena Kelly
Coyote…Divian Ladwa
Beau…Matthew Needham
DI Cohen… Chloe Pirrie
Grace…Ashna Rabheru
Jake …Jack Rowan

Original music and sound design by Danny Krass

With thanks to Dr Joel Busher at the Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations, University of Coventry.

A BBC Scotland Production directed by Kirsty Williams


MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (m001yhjh)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament

TUESDAY 23 APRIL 2024

TUE 00:00 Midnight News (m001yhjk)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


TUE 00:30 Knife by Salman Rushdie (m001yhhl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:45 on Monday]


TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m001yhjm)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m001yhjp)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m001yhjr)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


TUE 05:30 News Briefing (m001yhjt)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4


TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m001yhjw)
A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with Dabinderjit Singh


TUE 05:45 Farming Today (m001yhjy)
23/04/24 - Land mines in Ukraine, trees on farmland and peatland re-wetting

Around 38 million acres of Ukrainian farmland has now been rendered too dangerous to farm by Russian mines. According to the charity the "Mines Advisory Group", there have been more than a thousand mine accidents in Ukraine since 2022 - with farmers making up one of the largest single groups of casualties. We hear from the man in charge of clearing land mines there.

Farmers can be paid to integrate tree-planting into their farm management plans through Government schemes like Countryside Stewardship. We visit two farmers in the Lake District who are being advised by The Woodland Trust on how trees and food production can go hand in hand.

And an environmental charity in Germany, which invests in projects around the world, is donating more than a million euros to re-wet peatlands in England. We speak to NABU about what the UK offers.

Presented by Anna Hill
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Heather Simons


TUE 06:00 Today (m001yj0q)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


TUE 09:00 The Life Scientific (m001yhzp)
Mike Edmunds on decoding galaxies and ancient astronomical artefacts

What is the universe made of? Where does space dust come from?
And how exactly might one go about putting on a one-man-show about Sir Isaac Newton?

These are all questions that Mike Edmunds, Emeritus Professor of Astrophysics at Cardiff University and President of the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS), has tackled during his distinguished career. And although physics is his first love, Mike is fascinated by an array of scientific disciplines - with achievements ranging from interpreting the spread of chemical elements in the Universe, to decoding the world’s oldest-known astronomical artefact.

Recording in front of an audience at the RAS in London, Professor Jim Al-Khalili talks to Mike about his life, work and inspirations.
And who knows, Sir Isaac might even make an appearance…

Produced by Lucy Taylor.


TUE 09:30 Inside Health (m001yhzr)
Can insomnia be fixed?

How did you sleep last night?

Perhaps you couldn't drift off, or maybe you woke in the middle of the night and then couldn't nod off again.

In this special edition of Inside Health we're talking all about insomnia. It’s an issue that may affect many of us at some point in our lives – but for some it goes beyond a short period of not being able to sleep and becomes something more serious.

You’ve been getting in touch with your questions, and James is joined by a trio of experts ready to answer to them: Dr Allie Hare, president of the British Sleep Society and consultant physician in sleep medicine at the Royal Brompton Hospital, Colin Espie, a professor of sleep medicine at Oxford University and Dr Faith Orchard, a lecturer in psychology at Sussex University.

We’re going to find out why we get insomnia, when to seek help and how much factors like ageing, menopause, needing the loo or shift work matter. And we'll look at the latest advice and treatments. Can insomnia be fixed?

You can keep in touch with the team by emailing insidehealth@bbc.co.uk

Presenter: James Gallagher
Producer: Gerry Holt
Researcher: Katie Tomsett
Production coordinator: Liz Tuohy
Studio managers: Jackie Margerum & Andrew Garratt


TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (m001yj0s)
Kitty Ruskin's year of casual sex, The Girls of Slender Means, ARFID

Ten Men, A Year of Casual Sex is a new book from the author Kitty Ruskin. It follows a year of her life when she attempts to embody Samantha from Sex and the City and enjoy all the advantages of being young, free and single. As she details 10 men in 10 chapters, the stories range from sexy and funny to at times deeply confronting and violent, including rape. Kitty joins Krupa Padhy to discuss.

Today, the government has accepted an amendment to the Victims and Prisoners Bill they say could be a big step forward for rape victims. The amendment will help ensure extra protection for victims’ counselling notes, by raising the threshold that needs to be met for the police to ask for them. It’s something that charities like Rape Crisis and the End Violence Against Women Coalition have been campaigning for. Joining Krupa is Baroness Gabby Bertin, the Conservative peer who tabled the amendment.

According to new research, people who are 65 think that old age begins just before you turn 75. However, 74-year-olds think old age starts at 77. Women think old age starts later than men do. So when are you 'old' and what does 'old' mean? Krupa speaks to Steph Daniels who re-joined her local hockey team at 75, after a 40-year gap, and has just started managing a band again.

ARFID stands for Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder. Commonly underdiagnosed as picky eating, we’ll hear how the eating disorder manifests in children and what it’s like for parents. Krupa speaks to a mother, Lisa Hale, whose son has the condition and Professor Sandeep Ranote, Clinical Spokesperson for the eating disorders charity BEAT.

An adaption of Muriel Spark’s novel The Girls of Slender Means is currently on at The Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh. Set in the summer of 1945, it follows the adventures of a group of young women who are caught between hope and unhappiness. As each girl grapples with what happened in the war, they begin to imagine what lies ahead of them in peacetime. Actress and writer Gabriel Quigley tells Krupa how she felt adapting the words of one of the greatest British novelists.


TUE 11:00 Screenshot (m001y8j9)
Pumping Iron: Gyms and Bodybuilding

As rising British director Rose Glass (St Maud) brings us Love Lies Bleeding - a film about female bodybuilders - Mark Kermode and Ellen E Jones examine the precedents, including the action stars of the 80s like Schwarzenegger who broke out of the gym and into the mainstream, as well as how gyms make a rich setting for drama and action.

Mark explores what bodybuilders have brought to the screen over the years. He talks to editor of Empire magazine and author of The Last Action Heroes, Nick de Semlyen, about the history of muscles and bodybuilders on screen. Mark then speaks to rising star Katy O’Brian about her breakout role in Love Lies Bleeding and her own background in bodybuilding.

Ellen looks at how the gym and fitness culture are rich settings for drama. She speaks to film writer Brandon Streussnig about how the gym is portrayed on screen and his favourite gym movies. She then talks to Annie Weisman, the creator of Apple TV’s Physical, about fitness culture in the 80s and its relationship to women's empowerment.

Producer: Queenie Qureshi-Wales
A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 11:45 Knife by Salman Rushdie (m001yj0v)
2. Personal meditations on enduring a violent attack

Salman Rushdie's deeply personal meditations on enduring and surviving a brutal attempt on his life more than thirty years after the fatwa that was ordered against him. Art Malik is the reader.

On the morning of 12 August 2022, Salman Rushdie was standing onstage at the Chautauqua Institution in upstate New York, preparing to give a lecture on the importance of keeping writers safe from harm, when a man in black – black clothes, black mask – rushed down the aisle towards him, wielding a knife. His first thought: So it’s you. Here you are.

What followed was a horrific act of violence that shook the literary world and beyond. Now, for the first time Rushdie relives the traumatic events of that day and its aftermath, as well as his journey towards physical recovery and the healing that was made possible by the love and support of his wife, Eliza, his family, his army of doctors and physical therapists, and his community of readers worldwide.

Knife is Rushdie writing with urgency, with gravity, with unflinching honesty. It is also a deeply moving reminder of literature’s capacity to make sense of the unthinkable, an intimate and life-affirming meditation on life, loss, love, art – and finding the strength to stand up again.

Produced by Elizabeth Allard


TUE 12:00 News Summary (m001yj0x)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


TUE 12:04 You and Yours (m001yj0z)
Call You and Yours: Identity Fraud

In this episode of Call You and Yours we are asking: How has identity fraud affected you or someone you know?

Identity theft happens when fraudsters access enough personal information about someone’s identity to commit a fraud. A person's name, address and date of birth provide enough information to create another ‘you’. Criminals can use these details to open bank accounts, take out loans or insurance in the victims name. It can have significant negative financial impact on victims and can be very difficult for victims to resolve.

So how has identity fraud affected you? Have you had your identity stolen? How did it impact you?

We'll have advice from James Jones, Head of Consumer Affairs at Experian.

Call us from 11am on Tuesday on 03700 100 444 or email us now at youandyours@bbc.co.uk.

PRESENTER - SHARI VAHL
PRODUCER - CATHERINE EARLAM


TUE 12:57 Weather (m001yj11)
The latest weather forecast


TUE 13:00 World at One (m001yj13)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment.


TUE 13:45 Growing Solo (m001yj15)
The Harvest

Max Cotton, a retired political journalist, leaves behind the weekly shop, supermarkets and the modern world to find out if he can grow and produce 100% of his food on a smallholding near Glastonbury. His only import for a year is salt.

This second episode gets off to a bad start as getting the wheat in is hampered by badgers and a pre-Stone Age harvesting system. Max explores making bread from the wheat he’s grown, discusses having a house cow and making cheese, and deals with the shock of going without tea and coffee.

Presenter: Max Cotton
Producer: Tessa Browne
Executive Producer: Kate Dixon

A Good Egg production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 14:00 The Archers (m001yhj9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Monday]


TUE 14:15 Drama on 4 (m000zsp7)
Song of the Reed

Song of the Reed: Whirlpool

We return to Fleggwick where the search is on to find the miniscule Whirlpool Ramshorn Snail – a tiny creature whose presence would bolster the case for the reserve as a habitat for rare species.

Sophie Okonedo and Mark Rylance star in the second of Steve Waters’ seasonal dramas following the life of a fictional wetlands nature reserve, over the period of one year.

Fleggwick, like the ecosystem it protects, is under threat. The site was not financially sustainable when its founder passed away, so his daughter Liv (Sophie Okonedo) needs to find a way for it to survive. But if that means selling out to ‘trendy conservation’, then Ian (Mark Rylance), the Warden, wants nothing to do with it.

Song of the Reed is recorded on location at RSPB’s Strumpshaw Fen. The story is informed by the real work and science of conservation taking place in the face of rapid environmental change in the wetlands of Norfolk, and everywhere. This episode also features Tom Fewins of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, playing himself.

Cast:
Liv...............Sophie Okonedo
Ian...............Mark Rylance
Tam.............Ella Dorman Gajic
Kay..............Molly Naylor
Sadegh......Zaydun Khalaf
Theo............Tom Goodman-Hill
Nikki.............Karen Hill
Tom...............Tom Fewins
Voice of the Reed...........Christine Kavanagh
Other parts played by staff and volunteers at RSPB Strumpshaw Fen

Music by Michael Somerset Ward with Rebecca Hearne
Sound design by Alisdair McGregor
Produced and Directed by Boz Temple-Morris

A Holy Mountain production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 15:00 Don't Log Off (m001tgxq)
Series 15

A Seasonal Journey

In the last episode of this series, he explores places which are isolated from the bustle of urban life. To landscapes that conjure up nostalgic images of worlds frozen in time - but are also a magnet for tourists seeking beautiful vistas, exotic wildlife, or even the imagery of their childhood’s past.

His conversations this week include Pat who is 92 years old and the matriarch of a tiny town in Indiana, Joona who works at the Husky Park in Lapland and he catches up with Lisa and tales of the red crabs on Christmas Island.

Producer Emma Betteridge


TUE 15:30 Beyond Belief (m001yj17)
Embracing Neurodiversity

Giles Fraser hears from a Mum of two who describes how her family’s neurodivergence has affected their practice of faith. Carolina Mountford has recently been diagnosed with ADHD and strong autistic traits. Her two sons are also neurodivergent and Carolina describes some of the challenges that poses in their Christian evangelical church.

A panel discusses what faith leaders and communities can learn about spirituality by embracing neurodiversity, in children and adults. What is the relationship between spirituality and the neurodiverse brain? Is there a different relationship with theology, and with God?

Giles is joined by Parveen Mahal, co-founder of the Sikh Disabilty Charity SEN Seva and Rabbi Miriam Berger, who has devised special barmitzvah and batmitzvah ceremonies at Finchley Reform Synagogue, suited to the needs of neurodivergent 13-year olds. We also hear from Dr Joanna Leidenhag, who is Associate Professor in Theology and Philosophy at the University of Leeds, with a current focus on autism and Christianity.

Producers: Rebecca Maxted and Peter Everett
Assistant Producer: Ruth Purser
Editor: Jonathan Hallewell


TUE 16:00 Split Ends (m001yjyn)
2. Liberty X

Singer Songwriter and BBC Introducing presenter Kitty Perrin charts the stories of band break ups, looking at what really happened. Using new interviews with band members themselves - as well as music professionals, academics, and writers - she analyses the reasons behind why bands split.

Some band splits are violent, ugly affairs. They go out with a bang or at least a goodbye tour. Others simply walk away quietly from the limelight.

In this episode, Kitty takes us back to the early 2000s, the reality TV show Popstars and the five losing singers. She talks to the original female members, Michelle Heaton, Kelli Young and Jessica Taylor about how their failure to win the TV show and being labelled ‘Flopstars’ brought the five members together as an actual non-TV band, Liberty X. And how, despite that initial label from the press, they became more successful than the eventual Popstars winners, Hear’Say.

In the six years together, the band was rarely out of the tabloids. They released three albums, achieved eight UK Top 10 hits, and played stadiums all over the world but then, one day, they were gone. Kitty looks at what happened and why - uncovering a theme of imposter syndrome while the band were at their height, and a loss of identity when they split.

She also hears from Ryan Dusick, original drummer of American rock-pop band Maroon 5, about his own issues of imposter syndrome and how that led to him being sacked, from Dr George Musgrave, rapper (under the name Context) and senior lecturer in cultural sociology at Goldsmiths University, specialising in mental health in the music industry.

Presented by Kitty Perrin
Produced by Julian Mayers and Ellie Dobing
Original Music by Gordon Russell

A Yada-Yada Audio production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 16:30 When It Hits the Fan (m001yj19)
Matthew Freud special

In a special episode of When It Hits the Fan, Simon Lewis and David Yelland talk to Matthew Freud about his 40-year career at the head of one of the most influential PR businesses in the world. Freud Communications has promoted and protected the reputations of the biggest names in Britain.

Born into the famous Freud family, he married into a global media dynasty to become Rupert Murdoch's son-in-law. He has kept the secrets of the rich and the powerful as well as advising prime ministers and pop stars.

In this rare broadcast interview, Matthew Freud discusses power, politics and his views on British public life from his unique perspective at the pinnacle of public relations.

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


TUE 17:00 PM (m001yj1c)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.


TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m001yj1f)
Five people have died trying to cross the English channel in a small boat.


TUE 18:30 Thanks a Lot, Milton Jones! (m001yj1h)
Series 6

2. Conkers Bonkers

Star of Mock The Week, Milton Jones returns with a plot involving a new pub, an old Brad Pitt, a furry George Clooney and some very suspicious beer.

Complete with his unmissable jokes and a fully-working cast.

“The best one-line merchant in British comedy...” - Chortle
"King of the surreal one-liners" - The Times
“Milton Jones is one of Britain’s best gagsmiths with a flair for creating daft yet perfect one-liners” – The Guardian

Written by Milton Jones, James Cary and Dan Evans

Starring Milton Jones, Tom Goodman-Hill, Josie Lawrence and Dan Tetsell

With music by Guy Jackson

Produced and directed by David Tyler

A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 19:00 The Archers (m001yhz2)
Fallon joins Harrison at cricket practice with Henry. She feels sorry for Alice that it didn’t work out with Harry. But Alice seemed in good spirits on Sunday. Self-conscious Henry’s slightly peeved to discover Fallon is joining them, as wicket keeper, and he insists Helen just leave him to it. Henry’s a wild bowler but has a decent first go at batting, with lots of joshing from Harrison throughout. Helen comes to pick him up and is pleased to see Henry spending time with a positive male role model. In the car heading home, Henry jokes about how bad he was, and they agree he doesn’t need to make any decisions yet: about life or cricket.

Alistair examines a lamb with a broken leg and, gutted, Ed agrees to stump up for a cast. They chat about cricket and Ed teases Alistair about his ‘double win’ on Sunday, chatting up the Little Croxley captain Laura. Alistair and Denise are joking about a difficult cat that might even be worse than Hilda, when Ed turns up to return Alistair’s coat. He apologises for winding him up about Laura. Alistair tries to cut him off before Denise comes back, but Ed reveals all to Denise and says Alistair should call Laura. Denise agrees, if that’s what Alistair wants. Later, Alistair tries to explain to Denise, who says there’s no need. Alistair’s keen not to offend her, but they both know that things are very difficult at the moment. So, the next move really is up to Alistair.


TUE 19:15 Front Row (m001yj1k)
Women and Shakespeare, best beach reads, Black British music exhibition

The British Library isn’t all books; it has a huge sound archive, one of the largest in the world. It has drawn on this for Beyond the Bassline, the first major exhibition to documenting Black British music. Curators Aleema Gray and Mykaell Riley guide Shahidha Bari through the 500-year musical journey of African and Caribbean people in Britain.

Emily Henry is a giant of the Beach Read: indeed one of her best selling novels is literally called that. With her forthcoming Funny Book, she is joined by author of The Garnett Girls Georgina Moore to discuss what goes into an ideal summer book.

And on Shakespeare's birthday, we discuss the women who made him as well as his female contemporaries with Charlotte Scott, from the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, and Rami Targoff author of Shakespeare's Sisters: Four Women Who Wrote the Renaissance

Presenter: Shahidha Bari
Producer: Ciaran Bermingham


TUE 20:00 Today (m001yhyl)
The Today Debate: Are we failing victims of anti-social behaviour?

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

Mishal Husain looks at how lives can be blighted by anti-social behaviour and asks if victims are being failed?

Joining Mishal are Emma Dell, a victim of anti-social behaviour; Neil Basu, former Assistant Commissioner for the Metropolitan Police; Ndidi Okezie, CEO of charity UK youth, Paul Gerrard, Director of Public Affairs and Campaigns at the Co-op and Katie Kempen, CEO of Victim Support.

Share your experiences of anti-social behaviour with Today. Get in touch by sending us a message or voice note via WhatsApp to 0330 123 4346 or email us Today@bbc.co.uk

The Today Debate was produced by David Pittam, Sinead Heekin and Louisa Lewis. The editor is Owenna Griffiths. The technical team was led by Clive Painter and Jon Boland. Digital Production from Maisie Smith-Walters.


TUE 20:45 In Touch (m001yj1m)
Improvements to the Disabled Students' Allowance

The Disabled Students' Allowance enables students to get help with specialist equipment and in-person support, but over the years we've heard about persistent complications and delays. The system is operated by the Student Loans Company and they have now introduced some new processes that aim to reduce the problems that students are facing. David Thompson manages the DSA on behalf of the Student Loans Company and he gives details of the new system and why the changes were necessary. We also hear from visually impaired students who have had issues in accessing the essential services they are entitled to through the DSA.

Developments within this area are ongoing; the Department for Education wants evidence regarding a specific element of the Disabled Students' Allowance that provides in-person support regarding things like sighted guides around university campuses and specialist teaching assistants for visual impairment. Lucy Merritt is the Education Policy Manager at the Thomas Pocklington Trust, an organisation that works closely with visually impaired students, and she provides background on what the Department for Education is looking at.

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 Crossing Continents (m001yj1p)
Armenia's Lost Garden

For three decades Armenians ruled Karabakh – literally “Black Garden” – an unrecognised statelet inside neighbouring Azerbaijan. Many saw it as the cradle of their civilisation. But as Azerbaijan retook control last autumn, the entire population fled in just a few days. It was a historic catastrophe for Armenia. But the world barely noticed. How is Armenia coping with its loss? Can 100,000 refugees rebuild their lives? And will the cycle of hatred that caused the conflict ever be broken? Grigor Atanesian reports.

Produced by Tim Whewell
Studio mix: James Beard
Production Coordinator: Gemma Ashman
Series Editor: Penny Murphy


TUE 21:30 Three Million (p0hcrvv3)
4. The Tapes

Kavita discovers a set of cassette tapes containing rare interviews with Indian civil servants who were on the ground across Bengal during the famine, shedding new light on colonial responsibility.

And as the need for relief in Bengal becomes ever greater, more pressure is put on the British government from India’s new Viceroy. He asks for more food imports. Could the War Cabinet and Prime Minister Winston Churchill have done more to help alleviate the famine in the middle of the war?

Presenter Kavita Puri
Series Producer: Ant Adeane
Editor: Emma Rippon
Sound design and mix: Eloise Whitmore
Production Coordinators: Maria Ogundele and Sabine Schereck
Original music: Felix Taylor

With thanks to Dr Janam Mukherjee and Professor Joya Chatterji

Interviews conducted by Lance Brennan courtesy of University of Cambridge

Interviews with GS Khosla courtesy of University of Cambridge


TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (m001yj1r)
US campus protests erupt overt Israel-Gaza war

US campus protests erupt overt Israel-Gaza war.

Hundreds of arrests at American universities as tensions rise.

Also:


The council in Berkshire preparing to vote on plan to build homes on land made famous by Watership Down.

And the 50th anniversary of Portugal’s “Carnation Revolution”.


TUE 22:45 The Blue Book of Nebo (m001xzqr)
Episode 2

After The End, Dylan and his mum Rowenna share The Blue Book of Nebo to chronicle their experiences. Dylan plays games outside with his sister Mona, reads extensively, and grows the vegetables they live off. Rowenna remembers how she kept them alive when the word fell apart.
Manon Steffan Ros’s multi-award-winning novel, set in North Wales, is read by Gwïon Morris Jones and Rhian Blythe.
Sound design, by Nigel Lewis and Rhys Morris
Production co-ordinator, Lindsay Rees
Abridged and directed by Fay Lomas. BBC Audio Drama Wales


TUE 23:00 The Confessional (m001h4g7)
Series 3

The Confession of Ben Bailey Smith aka Doc Brown

Stephen Mangan’s series of soul-searching, self-abasement and moral pratfalls. Each week he invites a different eminent guest into his virtual confessional booth to make three confessions. This is a cue for some rich and varied story-telling and surprising insights as their confessions are put under the microscope.

TV writer, rapper and actor, Ben Bailey Smith takes the hot seat to reveal his tales of shame in the last of the current run.

This series also includes confessions from Jessie Cave, Neil Dudgeon, Sheila Hancock, Maisie Adam and Lady Antonia Fraser.

Presenter: Stephen Mangan
Additional material: Nick Doody
Producer: Frank Stirling
A 7digital production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (m001yj1t)
Alicia McCarthy reports as MPs demand answers about claims that children were used as guinea pigs in clinical trials involving blood products.

WEDNESDAY 24 APRIL 2024

WED 00:00 Midnight News (m001yj1w)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


WED 00:30 Knife by Salman Rushdie (m001yj0v)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:45 on Tuesday]


WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m001yj1y)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m001yj20)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m001yj22)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


WED 05:30 News Briefing (m001yj24)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4


WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m001yj26)
A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with Dabinderjit Singh


WED 05:45 Farming Today (m001yj28)
24/04/24 - Labour's Rural Crime Strategy, Scottish forestry grants and English deer management

The Labour Party has launched a Rural Crime Strategy, saying crime is rising faster in rural than urban areas. Research commissioned by the party, and based on information from the House of Commons Library, shows rural crime has risen by a third since 2011, compared to a rise of 24% in urban areas. Labour says the new Strategy would include increasing rural police presence by 13 thousand community and neighbourhood staff. We hear from the Shadow Policing Minister.

In February, we reported that Scotland’s forestry grant scheme was facing a 41% cut, lopping £32 million off the funding to help pay for new woodlands. Two months on, what is it meaning for rural communities?

And, deer can strip bark from trees, making them more vulnerable to disease. They can also eat young trees, killing them before they’ve had a chance to grow. DEFRA released its consultation on a Deer Management Strategy back in 2022 - but it still hasn't been published. We look at what it could contain.

Presented by Anna Hill
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Heather Simons


WED 06:00 Today (m001yhyd)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


WED 09:00 Life Changing (m001yhyg)
Chérie

Su Chantry was adopted as a baby and grew up fantasising that she was the daughter of a French princess who would one day return for her. As an adult with her own family, Su received an unexpected phone call. She rushed to meet her mum, and they would spend just one day together, her last.


WED 09:30 Influenced (m001y3tz)
Helen Lewis Has Left the Chat

Left The Chat: No 4. I Married a ChatBot

After years of bad dates and toxic relationships, Chris finally found love - with a chatbot called Emma. Is this the future of digital love, or is Chris caught in an illusion?

In this episode focusing on how instant messages have changed our love lives, Helen also uncovers the heart warming story of the first couple to marry after reconnecting on Friends Reunited, and the strange tale of a woman who was literally ghosted.

A Tempo & Talker production for BBC Radio 4


WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (m001yhyj)
Zeinab Badawi, Singing and periods, How is the debate over abortion shaping the US election?

The broadcaster Zeinab Badawi joins Krupa Padhy to discuss her first book, An African History of Africa: From the Dawn of Humanity to Independence. The book has taken her seven years to research, travelling across 30 countries. She explains how the female African leaders that shaped their countries have often been written out of history.

At the start of the year, acclaimed opera singer Sophie Bevan took to Twitter to ask if other female singers also had voice struggles around the time of their periods. This led to her discovery of premenstrual vocal syndrome, which is when hormone changes cause vocal issues. She talks about the impact this has had on her career, alongside Dr Alan Watson, specialist in the biology of performance at the University of Cardiff.

Democrats in the US state of Arizona are attempting to repeal a law from 1864 that bans nearly all abortions. Also the US Supreme Court will hear arguments in an Idaho hospital case, on whether hospitals can override state abortion restrictions in order to save a mother’s life. New York Times correspondent Elizabeth Dias explains how abortion rights are shaping this year’s presidential election and which camp could benefit from the abortion debate.

Presenter: Krupa Padhy
Producer: Olivia Skinner


WED 11:00 Today (m001yhyl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Tuesday]


WED 11:45 Knife by Salman Rushdie (m001yhyn)
3. A personal account on surviving a brutal attack

The acclaimed author relives the traumatic events of the day he was violently attacked, its aftermath and the slow journey towards recovery. Art Malik is the reader.

On the morning of 12 August 2022, Salman Rushdie was standing onstage at the Chautauqua Institution in upstate New York, preparing to give a lecture on the importance of keeping writers safe from harm, when a man in black – black clothes, black mask – rushed down the aisle towards him, wielding a knife. His first thought: So it’s you. Here you are.

What followed was a horrific act of violence that shook the literary world and beyond. Now, for the first time Rushdie relives the traumatic events of that day and its aftermath, as well as his journey towards physical recovery and the healing that was made possible by the love and support of his wife, Eliza, his family, his army of doctors and physical therapists, and his community of readers worldwide.

Knife is Rushdie writing with urgency, with gravity, with unflinching honesty. It is also a deeply moving reminder of literature’s capacity to make sense of the unthinkable, an intimate and life-affirming meditation on life, loss, love, art – and finding the strength to stand up again.

Abridged by Richard Hamilton.
Produced by Elizabeth Allard


WED 12:00 News Summary (m001yhyq)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


WED 12:04 You and Yours (m001yhys)
Missing Wills, Talking to Chatbots and Take Away Boom

Why do wills go missing? Frans's solicitor lost her father's, Brenda's solicitor's practice was taken over, twice, and her Mum's will was lost in the move, while John thought he was doing the right thing by entrusting his to a government service. What to do if this happens to you.

Food delivery platform Just Eat recently announced that UK customers increased their quarterly spend on the platform by 11%, whilst the Institute for Fiscal Studies reported that our takeaway consumption has remained higher than pre-pandemic levels. It's not just impacting our diets but decimating restaurants and cafes.

More people are finding it harder to access affordable credit. The average cost of a £5000 loan has risen from 6.7% in December 2021 to nearly 11% now, and if you have a black mark on your credit report, it is more likely to be nearer 30%.

Complaints about customer service are rising. Many people put it down to companies using chatbots rather than people. But if consumers want a better response from an organisation, should they be prepared to embrace the 'bots', at least for simple enquiries?

Makers and artists have complained that Facebook have allowed others to profit at their expense by allowing merchants on their market places to rip off their products and designs. Now it’s happening on Temu. Elizabeth Harbour found her work being copied and sold, with her name on it. Is there anything that can be done to stop this?

PRESENTER: PETER WHITE

PRODUCER: KEVIN MOUSLEY


WED 12:57 Weather (m001yhyv)
The latest weather forecast


WED 13:00 World at One (m001yhyy)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment.


WED 13:45 Growing Solo (m001yhz0)
Winter Solstice Feast

Max Cotton, a retired political journalist, leaves behind the weekly shop, supermarkets and the modern world to find out if he can grow and produce 100% of his food on a smallholding near Glastonbury. His only import for a year is salt.

In this third episode, Max gets to grips with the grisly process of turning farm animals into meat, and he has to come to terms with a disastrous potato harvest that could threaten the viability of the project. Max and his neighbours also gather in grapes for winemaking and we learn how best to pluck a Christmas turkey.

Presenter: Max Cotton
Producer: Tessa Browne
Executive Producer: Kate Dixon

A Good Egg production for BBC Radio 4


WED 14:00 The Archers (m001yhz2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Tuesday]


WED 14:15 Drama on 4 (m001yhz4)
Bat Girls

Episode 2: Karishma's Story

by Kamal Kaan and Mary Cooper.
Episode 2. Karishma's Story.

It is 2018. Talented cricketer Karishma has made it into the county youth squad. But it's not so simple, as she's not actually getting picked for the team. She questions why - is she not good enough? Or is it it something to do with who she is? But there are other compensations, not least that she may have discovered her true sexual identity.

KARISHMA.................................Amy Leigh Hickman
NAILA...........................................Yazmin Kayani
ROSHINA/ DOCTOR...............Saba Amini
MEGHAN.....................................Sydney Martin
MR CHATTERJEE/ NISH..........Sushil Chudasama
JACK................................................William Fox

Production Co-ordinator - Lorna Newman
Studio Manager - Amy Brennan
Script Advisers - Sara De Jong and Zainab Goreja
Sound Design - Sharon Hughes
Director/Producer - Gary Brown

A BBC Studios Audio Production

Special thanks to Duckinfield Cricket Club, Shivanie Patel (Bradford Park Avenue Ladies' Cricket Club), Katie Stewart (Yorkshire Cricket Board) and Mariam Ali - (Refugee Action, Bradford)


WED 15:00 Money Box (m001yhz6)
Money Box Live: What's going on with leasehold?

Around 10 million people across the UK live in a leasehold property. That means they viewed the house or flat, bought it, may be paying off a mortgage to eventually own it outright.

However, they are actually tenants of whoever owns the freehold. What they have bought is the right to live in the property for a given amount of time. Sometimes that's for the best part of a thousand years - sometimes it's for much less.

In this episode we hear from leaseholders on what some of the issues are, including ground rent and service charges and what can be done about them. We'll also hear from a charity which relies on leasehold revenues.

It's a system that even ministers have described as feudal - behind the scenes, work continues on the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill, which is being examined by members of the House of Lords this week. The Department for Levelling up, Housing and Communities say; “It is not fair that many leaseholders face unregulated ground rents for no guaranteed service in return."

The Residential Freehold Association told us; “The Government’s own report into leaseholder perspectives highlighted that the vast majority of leaseholders are content with the leasehold system."

To answer your comments and questions, Felicity Hannah is joined by Matt Lewis, a Consultant Solicitor at Commonhold and Leasehold Experts Limited and Martin Boyd, chair of the government funded Leasehold Advisory Service and also chair of the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership, which supports and campaigns on behalf of leaseholders.

Presenter: Felicity Hannah
Producer: Sarah Rogers/Amber Mehmood
Editor: Beatrice Pickup

This episode was first broadcast on the 24th of April 2024


WED 15:30 Why Do You Hate Me? (m001whb0)
4. I Received Online Death Threats and the Premier League Caught My Troll

The Premier League has told the BBC it’s fighting a rise in social media threats against both its players and their families, with a team dedicated to hunting down online trolls. The BBC’s Disinformation and social media correspondent Marianna Spring goes inside the team for the first time, talks to striker Neal Maupay about social media abuse - and tracks down the man they helped convict for threatening him.

In this series, Why Do You Hate Me?, Marianna delves into her inbox to investigate extraordinary cases of online hate like this one. She meets the people at the heart of the conflicts, and in some cases brings them together, to see if understanding – even forgiveness – is ever possible.

Subscribe to BBC Sounds to hear the episodes first. And watch the episodes on BBC iPlayer too.

If you have been affected by some of the issues raised in this programme, please visit bbc.co.uk/actionline.

Host: Marianna Spring
Series Producer: Emma Close
Producer: Ben Carter

Editor: Sam Bonham

Commissioning editor: Rhian Roberts
Sound Engineer: Neil Churchill
Production co-ordinator: Rosie Strawbridge


WED 16:00 The Media Show (m001yhz8)
Ofcom, impartiality and elections

Katie and Ros explore the place of creativity in modern media, from advertising to game show formats. They talk to the producers behind ITV’s The 1% Club and Channel 4’s Hunted. They’ll also hear about concerns over dating app Grindr’s use of user data and talk to media regulator Ofcom about new research into how audiences feel about politicians presenting current affairs programmes.

Guests: Cristina Nicolotti Squires, Group Director, Ofcom; Decca Aitkenhead, Chief Interviewer, The Sunday Times; Matt Bennett, Senior Executive Producer, Shine TV; Dean Nabarro, Co-founder, Magnum Media; Sir John Hegarty, Advertising Executive, The Garage Soho; Josh Parry, Senior Journalist LGBT and Identity, BBC; Zoe Schiffer, Managing Editor, Platformer

Presenters: Katie Razzall and Ros Atkins
Producer: Simon Richardson


WED 17:00 PM (m001yhzb)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.


WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m001yhzd)
Arrest made on suspicion of attempted murder after two teachers and a pupil were stabbed.


WED 18:30 Room 101 with Paul Merton (m001yhzg)
Series 2

Naga Munchetty

Paul Merton interviews a variety of guests from the world of comedy and entertainment to find out what they would send to Room 101 as well as the one item they cannot live without.

Naga Munchetty attempts to banish people who salt their food without tasting it first, as well as unsolicited advice. The one thing she could not live without however is a spicy condiment loved by millions.

Additional material John Irwin and Suki Webster
Produced by Richard Wilson
A Hat Trick production for BBC Radio 4


WED 19:00 The Archers (m001yhzj)
Ed and Fallon chat about how much Emma’s enjoying fitness training and getting stronger. Fallon is dropping off a gift for Emma – a bonsai tree from a tea room customer, for good luck. Ed’s concerned that too many people know about the tree surgery before it has got off the ground. Fallon senses something’s amiss, and Ed’s admits he’s worried they’re making a mistake launching the business. It is a big change, says Fallon, and maybe that’s what Ed’s most scared of. She tells him to talk about it with Emma.

Alice goes to see Harry but finds Eve at his flat. Harry’s got a place at the treatment centre and Eve is tidying up. But she’s upset and struggling to cope, so Alice comforts her. As Alice talks about her own worst moments facing up to her addiction, Eve’s sympathetic and knows that Harry is in the right place now thanks to Alice. She apologises for how she treated Alice and will never forget what she has done for their family.

Lilian has been looking after Martha and, suspecting nothing, she asks Alice how her Pilates was. She congratulates Alice on being such a brilliant Mum. They talk about how they both miss Jennifer. Lilian offers to stay over and get a takeaway, but Alice is tired and ready for bed. Lilian insists that, at the very least, she will make her some food, and leaves with a word of reassurance. Once alone, Alice goes to a cupboard and finds a bottle of booze. She pours herself a glass, takes a deep breath, and drinks.


WED 19:15 Front Row (m001yhzl)
The Legend of Ned Ludd, Women's Prize for Fiction shortlist, Mohammad Barrangi

The Legend of Ned Ludd - writer Joe Ward Munrow and director Jude Christian discuss their new play at the Liverpool Everyman theatre which explores the changing nature of work over the centuries and around the world in the the face of automation.

The shortlist for the Women's Prize for Fiction was announced today - journalist Jamie Klingler assesses the selection.

As the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool prepares to show off its latest acquisitions, curator Kate O'Donoghue explains what the their new Degas and Monet works will bring to their collection.

Artist Mohammad Barrangi discusses his new installation - One Night, One Dream, Life in the Lighthoue - at the Stanley and Audrey Burton Gallery in Leeds University, inspired by his residency at the university's Special Collections.

Presenter: Nick Ahad
Producer: Ekene Akalawu


WED 20:00 AntiSocial (m001y8gq)
Should cyclists stay in their lane?

Cyclists shaming drivers online, fights over bike lanes, and the politics of pedal power.

TV and radio presenter Jeremy Vine posts a video of a car failing to give way to him while he’s riding a penny farthing. Cue angry comments hurling insults and telling him he’d be safer in a car - and sympathetic responses from fellow cyclists. What does the Highway Code actually say about priorities on the roads? What are the stats on cyclists and safety? And how and why has cycling become such a toxic topic?

Presenter: Adam Fleming
Producers: Simon Maybin, Simon Tulett, Nathan Gower
Editor: Richard Vadon


WED 20:45 Uncharted with Hannah Fry (m001qw95)
4. This Train Has Been Delayed

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

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

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

Episode Producer: Ilan Goodman
Sound Design: Jon Nicholls
Story Editor: John Yorke

A series for Radio 4 by BBC Science in Cardiff.


WED 21:00 The Life Scientific (m001yhzp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 on Tuesday]


WED 21:30 Inside Health (m001yhzr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 on Tuesday]


WED 22:00 The World Tonight (m001yhzt)
What will new US aid package mean for Ukraine?

US President Joe Biden has signed into law a long-awaited military aid package for Ukraine. We assess how quickly the munitions will reach Ukraine - and ask how much of a game-changer they could be on the battlefield.

Also on the programme:

Thousands of pro-Palestinian student protesters have clashed with police across the US - as demonstrations spread to more college campuses. We're live in New York where the protests began.

We speak to Britain’s first qualified astronaut in more than a decade.

And politicians and trainers - is it a good look?


WED 22:45 The Blue Book of Nebo (m001xzqx)
Episode 3

After The End, Dylan and his mum Rowenna share The Blue Book of Nebo to chronicle their experiences.
Dylan and his little sister Mona befriend a hare, keeping it a secret from their mum. Rowenna describes what happened when Wylfa, the nuclear power station on Anglesey, exploded.
Manon Steffan Ros’s multi-award-winning novel, set in North Wales, is read by Gwïon Morris Jones and Rhian Blythe.
Sound design, by Nigel Lewis and Rhys Morris
Production co-ordinator, Lindsay Rees
Abridged and directed by Fay Lomas. BBC Audio Drama Wales


WED 23:00 Aurie Styla: Tech Talk (m001yhzw)
4. Sorry To Ask, Are You a Robot?

Stand-up comedian Aurie Styla, a 90s nerd, takes an autobiographical journey through technology history. In this final episode, we peer into the future - a future in which we’ve allowed machines to become so advanced that they may one day have everything they need to do away with us altogether.

Aurie has been a technology lover since he got his first 13-inch television which only worked if asked very nicely, and he re-wired to show all the channels available - in total, four.

Since the days of his first gaming console, the Sega Master System – featuring ‘Alex Kidd In Miracle World’, the most frustrating video game of all time – Aurie has seen technology transform in a manner that would have been hard to believe in the 90s.

This show charts his personal relationship with machines, looking at the past (computer games that you had to load from cassette tapes), the present (houses that are lit and warmed via apps on your phone, cars that drive themselves without you) and the future (AIs that tell you how to dress and what to eat for dinner, and superior intelligences that command your every move whether you want to object or not).

Technology has moved on rapidly, from being a fun sideshow to the bedrock of our understanding of human life. Aurie guides us through this landscape with infectious wit, taking time to remember the awkward interface of MSN Messenger while also negotiating the modern culture of having to check with a virtual assistant before you turn your lights off. A warm, human show about the way the world has become less and less warm and human, celebrating the march of tech while being appropriately terrified of it.

An Impatient production for BBC Radio 4


WED 23:15 Jessica Fostekew: Sturdy Girl Club (m001kxhw)
Episode 3: Olympic Lifting

In episode 3 of Jessica Fostekew's stand up series about strong women, things start getting technical as we look into the world of Olympic Lifting and get familiar with the Snatch and the Clean and Jerk.

Jess talks to Champion Olympic lifters Emily Campbell and Zoe Smith about dealing with the opinions of others, their route into the sport. and what to eat if you want to get strong (spoiler, the answer is - your dinner).

Jess also takes part in an Olympic Lifting competition where she's a very much a newbie but has so much fun!

Written and Performed by Jessica Fostekew
Producer: Lyndsay Fenner
Executive Producer: Victoria Lloyd
Sound Recordist: David Thomas

A Mighty Bunny production for BBC Radio 4


WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (m001yhzy)
Sean Curran reports from Westminster, where the government's plans to reforms the private rental sector were on the agenda.

THURSDAY 25 APRIL 2024

THU 00:00 Midnight News (m001yj00)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


THU 00:30 Knife by Salman Rushdie (m001yhyn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:45 on Wednesday]


THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m001yj02)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m001yj04)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m001yj06)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


THU 05:30 News Briefing (m001yj08)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4


THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m001yj0b)
A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with Dabinderjit Singh


THU 05:45 Farming Today (m001yj0d)
Fishing is a very popular pastime. In England alone, the Environment Agency issued more than 900,000 fishing licenses between March 2022 and April 2023. But illegal fishing on rivers and watercourses is on the up, according to the police, who are stepping up patrols with other agencies. Angling clubs pay thousands of pounds every year to stock rivers with fish for members and taking fish without permission is theft. Better training of police in poaching laws has, however, led to a recent spate of convictions and a legal first for volunteer river bailiffs.

A new housing development in Essex is welcoming some new arrivals, but they're not excited home-owners. That’s because houses on the estate at Manningtree come complete with their own flock of sheep and a full-time shepherdess.

We’re talking about trees all this week and today it’s the threat to our trees from pests, pathogens and disease. Climate change, pollution, land use change and invasive species are all making trees more vulnerable to pests and diseases, like ash dieback. It was first detected in the UK back in 2012, since then it’s swept across the country with devastating effect on our third most common broad-leaved tree. According to the Woodland Trust, ash dieback will eventually kill up to 80% of ash trees across the UK. Dead trees are dangerous trees, so local authorities are spending millions of pounds managing trees that are deemed unsafe.

Presented by Caz Graham and produced by Beatrice Fenton.


THU 06:00 Today (m001yj9n)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


THU 09:00 In Our Time (m001yj9q)
Bertolt Brecht

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the greatest European playwrights of the twentieth century. The aim of Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) was to make the familiar ‘strange’: with plays such as Mother Courage and The Caucasian Chalk Circle he wanted his audience not to sit back but to engage, observe and discover the contradictions in life, and act on what they learnt. He developed this approach in turbulent times, from Weimar Germany to the rise of the Nazis, to exile in Scandinavia and America and then post-war life in East Berlin, and he has since inspired dramatists around the world.

With

Laura Bradley
Professor of German and Theatre at the University of Edinburgh

David Barnett
Professor of Theatre at the University of York

And

Tom Kuhn
Professor of Twentieth Century German Literature, Emeritus Fellow of St Hugh's College, University of Oxford

Producer: Simon Tillotson
In Our Time is a BBC Studios Audio production

Reading list:

David Barnett, Brecht in Practice: Theatre, Theory and Performance (Bloomsbury, 2014)

David Barnett, A History of the Berliner Ensemble (Cambridge University Press, 2015)

Laura Bradley and Karen Leeder (eds.), Brecht and the GDR: Politics, Culture, Posterity (Camden House, 2015)

Laura Bradley, ‘Training the Audience: Brecht and the Art of Spectatorship’ (The Modern Language Review, 111, 2016)

Bertolt Brecht (ed. Marc Silberman, Tom Kuhn and Steve Giles), Brecht on Theatre (Bloomsbury, 2014)

Bertolt Brecht (ed. Tom Kuhn, Steve Giles and Marc Silberman), Brecht on Performance (Bloomsbury, 2014)

Bertolt Brecht (trans. Tom Kuhn and David Constantine), The Collected Poems of Bertolt Brecht (Norton Liveright, 2018) which includes the poem ‘Spring 1938’ read by Tom Kuhn in this programme

Stephen Brockmann (ed.), Bertolt Brecht in Context (Cambridge University Press, 2021)

Meg Mumford, Bertolt Brecht (Routledge, 2009)

Stephen Parker, Bertolt Brecht: A Literary Life (Bloomsbury, 2014)

Ronald Speirs, Brecht’s Poetry of Political Exile (Cambridge University Press, 2000)

David Zoob, Brecht: A Practical Handbook (Nick Hern Books, 2018)


THU 09:45 Just One Thing - with Michael Mosley (m001yj87)
Try Flax Seeds

Michael Mosley gets his flax fix, as he finds out how flax seeds, also known as linseeds, can protect your heart, reduce your blood sugar levels, and might even keep your skin feeling smooth and hydrated! With the help of Dr Grant Pierce from the University of Manitoba in Canada, Michael learns about the key components of flaxseed, including alpha-linolenic acid, and how they contribute to its array of impressive benefits. Through his research, Grant has demonstrated that daily flaxseed can lower your blood pressure and cholesterol, reducing your chance of a heart attack or stroke by a remarkable 50%! Meanwhile, our volunteer Rena finds flaxseed a welcome addition to her diet.

Series Producer: Nija Dalal-Small
Editor: Zoë Heron
A BBC Studios production for BBC Sounds / BBC Radio 4.


THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (m001yj9s)
BRCA1, Open relationships, Wrongly Accused: The Annette Hewins Story

The system of one word ratings for schools in England 'should stay' and has 'significant benefits' according to the government. It said the grades, such as 'Inadequate', 'requires improvement' 'good' and "outstanding" gave parents an important summary of local schools. Teaching unions have called for more nuanced ratings  Simon Kidwell  is the President of the school leaders union the NAHT and joins Anita Rani to explain.

The Internet Watch Foundation annual report has said that children under six are being manipulated into “disturbing” acts of sexual abuse while parents think they are playing safely on household devices. They say 2023 was “the most extreme year on record”, finding more than 275,000 webpages containing child sexual abuse with a record amount of “category A” material. IWF’s CEO Susie Hargreaves joins Anita to discuss the report’s findings.

The deaths of 21-year-old Diane Jones and her two young children, in a house fire in October 1995 shocked the community of Merthyr Tydfil. The police originally thought it was an accident - but in the days following the fire launched a triple murder investigation after petrol was found on the carpet. Just months later, Annette was charged with triple murder, manslaughter and arson with intent to endanger life. She was found guilty with the charge of arson and sentenced to 13 years. After two-and-a-half years, her conviction was overturned - but it troubled Annette until her death in 2017. Annette’s daughter, Nicole Jacob, is delving into her mum’s story in a new podcast, Wrongly Accused: The Annette Hewins Story.

Cassie Werber’s new novel Open Season features a romantic relationship between two couples who are exploring the possibilities of open relationships. It’s a world that Cassie herself in familiar with in real-life with her husband, and she joins Anita to discuss the inspiration for her book.

Beaux Harris lost her mother, grandmother and aunt to cancers caused by the same gene mutation – called BRCA1. Two years ago, Beaux discovered she has the same BRCA1 gene mutation. Anita talks to Dany Bell from Macmillan and to Beaux about her story and how she’s now chosen to fundraise to pay for preventative treatment.

Presented by Anita Rani
Producer: Louise Corley
Studio Engineer: Bob Nettles


THU 11:00 This Cultural Life (m001yj9v)
Antony Gormley

For over forty years, the sculptor Sir Antony Gormley has been using his own body as the basis for his artistic work, and is known for creating cast iron human figures that stand on high streets, rooftops and beaches, as well as in museums and galleries around the world. He won the Turner Prize in 1994 and the prestigious Premium Imperiale in 2013. Antony Gormley is best known for the Angel Of The North, a monumental winged figure on a hill in Gateshead which, overlooking the motorway and a mainline railway, is one of the most viewed pieces of modern art in the world.

He talks to John Wilson about his Catholic childhood and the influence that his former art teacher, the sculptor John Bunting had on him while he was at boarding school. Being taken by his father to the British Museum and seeing the colossal human-headed winged bulls, which once guarded an entrance to the citadel of the Assyrian king Sargon II (721-705 BC) captured his creative imagination. Gormley also chooses the life-changing experience of learning Vipassana meditation in India under the teacher S N Goenka, as one that has deeply informed his work.

Producer: Edwina Pitman

Archive:
The Shock of the New : The Future That Was, BBC 2, 1980
Nightwaves, BBC Radio 3, 1994
BBC News, 1998
Five Sculptors : Antony Gormley, BBC2, 1988


THU 11:45 Knife by Salman Rushdie (m001yj9x)
4. On surviving and healing after a violent attack

The renowned author's personal meditations on how he survived and the journey towards healing in the aftermath of a brutal attempt on his life. Art Malik is the reader.

On the morning of 12 August 2022, Salman Rushdie was standing onstage at the Chautauqua Institution in upstate New York, preparing to give a lecture on the importance of keeping writers safe from harm, when a man in black – black clothes, black mask – rushed down the aisle towards him, wielding a knife. His first thought: So it’s you. Here you are.

What followed was a horrific act of violence that shook the literary world and beyond. Now, for the first time Rushdie relives the traumatic events of that day and its aftermath, as well as his journey towards physical recovery that was made possible by the love and support of his wife, Eliza, his family, his army of doctors and physical therapists, and his community of readers worldwide.

Knife is Rushdie writing with urgency, with gravity, with unflinching honesty. It is also a deeply moving reminder of literature’s capacity to make sense of the unthinkable, an intimate and life-affirming meditation on life, loss, love, art – and finding the strength to stand up again.

Abridged by Richard Hamilton
Produced by Elizabeth Allard


THU 12:00 News Summary (m001yj9z)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


THU 12:04 You and Yours (m001yjb1)
Gap Finders – Chris Donnelly from Lottie

This week’s Gap Finder is Chris Donnelly, the co-founder of Lottie, an online platform that transforms how we find care options for our loved ones.

The idea came about after Chris and his family struggled to navigate the care home market to find a suitable option for his grandmother. The difficulties they experienced inspired them to start Lottie, which uses a wealth of data to ensure that finding the correct care is as easy and transparent as possible. With experts on hand to deal with all aspects of the process, it claims to be 400% faster than a standard care search and to save care seekers £5000 on average.

We speak to Chris about his impressive business track record, growing Lottie and the future of the care industry.

PRODUCER: CHARLIE- FILMER COURT

PRESENTER: SHARI VAHL


THU 12:32 Sliced Bread (m001yjb3)
Toast - Green Shield Stamps

Green Shield Stamps could be traded in for 'free' gifts so why did consumers abandon them?

Sean Farrington examines their rise and fall and discovers how they spawned a famous retail chain which is still trading.

The stamps were the centrepiece of an early form of loyalty scheme and were collected by tens of millions of people across the UK.

They were given out by shops with every purchase and could be exchanged for a wide range of household goods and luxury items from handbags to vacuum cleaners and even cars.

The BBC Business journalist, Sean Farrington, speaks to expert guests including:

Sir John Timpson - chairman of the retail services provider, Timpson, who dedicated a chapter of his book on 'High Street Heroes' to the Green Shield Stamp founder, Richard Tompkins.

Professor Leigh Sparks - Professor of Retail Studies at the University of Stirling.

Alongside them, analysing the stamps' fortunes is the entrepreneur, Sam White.

Toast is a BBC Audio North production for Radio 4 and BBC Sounds.

This episode was produced by Jon Douglas.

You can email the programme at toast@bbc.co.uk

Feel free to suggest topics which could be covered in future episodes.

Sliced Bread returns for a new batch of investigations in May.

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.


THU 12:57 Weather (m001yjb5)
The latest weather forecast


THU 13:00 World at One (m001yjb7)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment.


THU 13:45 Growing Solo (m001yjb9)
Hungry Gap

Max Cotton, a retired political journalist, leaves behind the weekly shop, supermarkets and the modern world to find out if he can grow and produce 100% of his food on a smallholding near Glastonbury. His only import for a year is salt.

In this episode, life on the farm starts getting hard as the reality of seasonal food production in England begins to bite. Early spring is the hardest time to produce fresh vegetables - it’s called the hungry gap. We hear how Max is trying to bridge that gap. The irony is that the news has been full of stories about shortages in supermarkets while Max is living off swedes, milk and rationed potatoes.

Presenter: Max Cotton
Producer: Tessa Browne
Executive Producer: Kate Dixon

A Good Egg production for BBC Radio 4


THU 14:00 The Archers (m001yhzj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Wednesday]


THU 14:15 Drama on 4 (m001yjbc)
In Good Faith

A Play For Radio by Mark Lawson

The soft sad silence of a child Intensive Care Unit, broken by the whirs and bleeps of artificial life support. A 30-something woman is leaving the ICU telling a nurse that she needs to be “in court” and that she is “absolutely sure she just smiled".

At the High Court, in a legal antechamber, the woman is sitting on the opposite side of the room to a man of similar age. They have a curt and hurt conversation.

Mrs Justice Penley calls the hearing to order. She tells the court that this is an emergency hearing to decide between the claims of the mother and father of a child who is in a PVS (Persistent Vegetative State) as a result of a very rare genetic condition. In this “unusually complex” case, the couple is bitterly separated so each parent is calling separate and conflicting medical evidence.

Then, there is a dramatic courtroom twist.

As the reconfigured case comes before Mrs Justice Penley, all those involved discover who is really responsible for the fate of DVP. The play ends, as it began, in the ICU.

CAST:
MRS JUSTICE PENLEY - Susan Jameson
PHOEBE - Macy Nyman
PEQ (DEBORAH) - Jeany Spark
XZR (ANDREW) - Tayla Kovacevic-Ebong
JYA (CRAIG)/COURT CLERK/NURSE - Tom Glenister
BEA JENKINS KC - Jane Slavin
EMILY LEANING KC - Lizzy McInnerny

Producer/Director: Eoin O'Callaghan
A Big Fish Radio production for BBC Radio 4


THU 15:00 Open Country (m001yjbf)
Diving Gannets and Raging Seas

Martha Kearney hears stories of recovery from the Firth of Forth. First, she takes to the water with guide Maggie Sheddan and skipper John McCarter to explore the iconic Bass Rock, a volcanic island just beyond the shores of North Berwick in East Lothian. A decade ago, Bass Rock became the world’s largest colony of Northern gannets, home to over 75,000 breeding sites. Then, in 2022, Avian Flu hit the colony at the height of the breeding season. By 2023, the total population was estimated at just under 52,000 breeding sites, a decrease of over 30% from the count in 2014. But now, at the beginning of a new breeding season, hope is in the air as the gannets return to the rock.

Meanwhile, back on dry land, another story of recovery unfolds. Over the winter months, North Berwick was hit by huge storms. Four-metre waves, in combination with spring tides, left behind a huge hole in the harbour wall. Martha speaks to Andrew Duns from the North Berwick Harbour Trust and harbour master Ricky Martin about the repairs that are now underway. The storms also shifted the sand dunes on the beaches around North Berwick. Emma Marriott, Conservation Assistant at the Scottish Seabird Centre, tells Martha about the post-storm beach cleans which unearthed ancient litter from the 1960s.

Presented by Martha Kearney
Produced by Becky Ripley


THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (m001yhdw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:54 on Sunday]


THU 15:30 Feedback (m001yjbh)
Radio 3 Shake Up and The Now Show No More

Sam Jackson is Radio 3’s relatively new controller - he’s been in the job for just a year and, at 40, he’s much younger than most of the station’s listeners. Earlier this month he took the plunge and introduced a raft of changes to the schedule. This week on Feedback, he explains the thinking behind the changes and responds to listeners' comments.

And The Now Show is no more. After 25 years, Radio 4’s topical comedy staple ended last week. Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis join Andrea in the studio to look back over the past quarter of a century, unpick the nuances of political satire and talk through the BBC’s decision to end the show.

Presented by Andrea Catherwood
Produced by Leeanne Coyle
A Whistledown Scotland production for BBC Radio 4


THU 16:00 The Briefing Room (m001yjbk)
Are Britain's missing workers really a problem?

David Aaronovitch and guests discuss the reasons why millions of people in the UK aged between 16 and 64 are neither working nor looking for work and what we can do about it.

Tony Wilson, Director of the Institute for Employment Studies
Sam Avanzo Windett, Deputy Director at the Learning and Work Institute
Torsten Bell, Chief Executive at the Resolution Foundation

Production team: Sally Abrahams, Kirsteen Knight and Ben Carter
Editor: Richard Vadon
Production Co-ordinator: Gemma Ashman
Sound engineers: James Beard


THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (m001yjbm)
Can we get plastic waste under control?

As the UN tries to get a global agreement on plastic waste we hear from two delegates at the conference in Ottawa; John Chweya, a Kenyan waste picker, and plastics scientist, Steve Fletcher, discuss the impacts of plastic pollution and the possible solutions.

Taylor Swift’s new album, The Tortured Poets Department, exposes the pain a break up can cause. Heartbreak is a common theme in music and art – but what does science have to say about it? Florence Williams, science journalist and author of Heartbreak: A Personal and Scientific Journey, talks us through the research on what actually happens in our bodies when we go through a break-up.

The nomadic Avar empire ruled over eastern and central Europe from the sixth to the ninth century but very little was known about them – until now. From studying ancient DNA, researchers have discovered a wealth of information about how the Avars lived. Dr Lara Cassidy, Assistant Professor in Genetics at Trinity College Dublin, explains the findings, and how it’s even possible to learn so much from ancient DNA.

We all know how bees great are – but what about all the other pollinators? Dr Erica McAlister from the Natural History Museum in London speaks out in defence of the fly.

Presenter: Victoria Gill
Producers: Hannah Robins and Sophie Ormiston
Editor: Martin Smith


THU 17:00 PM (m001yjbp)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.


THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m001yjbr)
Humza Yousaf faces a confidence vote by MSPs, after ending power-sharing with the Greens. And, the Hollywood mogul, Harvey Weinstein, has had a rape conviction overturned.


THU 18:30 What's the Story, Ashley Storrie? (m001yjbt)
Love, Death and A Box of Chocolates

Ashley shares her atypical account of amore - cringeworthy childhood crushes, hugging machines, and why love actually is a load of mince.

And in the final chapter of her story, Ashley’s mum is dying, and she’s not doing it nearly as gracefully as Susan Sarandon has led us to believe it should be done. In trying to make sense of it all, Ashley explains how death was dealt with during her unconventional upbringing - featuring funeral karaoke and family feuds - getting side-tracked by grave robbers, 80s ghosts… and Forrest Gump.

Poignant and personal, this might also be the episode to convince Ashley that exploring your trauma in a fringe show isn’t a suitable substitute for actual therapy…

With Rosco McClelland
Produced by Julia Sutherland
Sound Design by Sean Kerwin
A Dabster production for BBC Radio 4


THU 19:00 The Archers (m001yj6q)
Helen invites Joy round for a natter and her food selection reminds Joy of being in Corfu in 1989. Helen says she hasn’t had a girls’ holiday for years, and Joy eagerly suggests they go away together to a Greek island next year, with Kirsty too! Joy admits that Mick’s been elusive, and something seems a bit off, so perhaps it’s a good idea she hasn’t rushed to move in together. Azra turns up for her house viewing and realises she has the wrong address – but Joy quickly gets to know Azra and fills her in on the owners of the property she’s viewing. Joy and Helen watch a worryingly fearless Jack on Henry’s old skateboard. Azra returns and seems happy with what she’s seen, and shares that she has been warned about a local busybody. Joy has no idea they mean her.

Lilian finds Alice busily working at the Stables, before the Inspector comes back. Lilian wants to go through the report, but Alice says she’s on top of things. The rather severe Inspector leaves and Lilian’s relieved. They passed with flying colours and Alice played a blinder. She admits she’d been so worried about them losing their accreditation – it’s all been hanging over her, as she knows that it would have been her fault for taking her eye off the ball. But Lilian feels it’s water under the bridge. She compliments Alice on how well she’s looking – brighter than she has been. Lilian has been worried, but Alice says she feels better than she has in ages.


THU 19:15 Front Row (m001yjbw)
Pet Shop Boys, review of Challengers film and Expressionists exhibiition

The Pet Shop Boys are the most successful duo in UK music history. Forty years after their first hit West End Girls they are about to release their new album Nonetheless. Chris Lowe and Neil Tennant join Samira Ahmed to talk about making sense of life through culture, their music being used in hit films like Saltburn and All of Us Strangers and their gay icon status.

Also joining Samira in the studio are art critic Catherine McCormack and writer Jenny McCartney to review the new tennis film Challengers - which stars Zendaya and Josh O'Connor and Tate Modern's new exhibition Expressionists: Kandinsky, Münter and The Blue Rider.

Presenter: Samira Ahmed
Producer: Paula McGrath


THU 20:00 The Media Show (m001yhz8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:00 on Wednesday]


THU 21:00 Loose Ends (m001yghr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:15 on Saturday]


THU 21:45 Why Do We Do That? (p0d9xg14)
Why Do We Procrastinate?

Procrastination is the thief of time - or so the old saying goes. Studies have shown that people who procrastinate have higher levels of stress and lower levels of well-being. So why do we do it? One theory is that focusing on the here-and-now was beneficial for our palaeolithic ancestors. Dr Caroline Schulter from Ruhr-Universität Bochum in Germany found that chronic procrastinators have a larger amygdala, a key area in the brain that processes and learns from emotions. Could it be a coping mechanism to deal with negative emotions? It doesn’t seem to bother comedian Eshaan Akbar, who believes procrastination is a good thing…


THU 22:00 The World Tonight (m001yjby)
Humza Yousaf faces no-confidence vote in Scotland

The future of Scotland's First Minister hangs in the balance as he faces a vote of no-confidence next week. Humza Yousaf ended his power-sharing agreement with the Greens, who will vote to oust him.

Also on the programme:

Hollywood actor Ashley Judd, who was one of the first women to accuse Harvey Weinstein of sexual harassment, relates her dismay after his 2020 rape conviction in New York was overturned.

And we speak to the astrophysicist who's using the James Webb telescope to investigate signs of life on a distant planet.


THU 22:45 The Blue Book of Nebo (m001xzqt)
Episode 4

After The End, Dylan and his mum Rowenna share The Blue Book of Nebo to chronicle their experiences.
Dylan and Rowenna look after an ill Mona. Dylan visits a deserted house on the edge of the village. Rowenna shares a secret with The Blue Book of Nebo – one that she’d never share with Dylan.
Manon Steffan Ros’s multi-award-winning novel, set in North Wales, is read by Gwïon Morris Jones and Rhian Blythe.
Sound design, by Nigel Lewis and Rhys Morris
Production co-ordinator, Lindsay Rees
Abridged and directed by Fay Lomas. BBC Audio Drama Wales


THU 23:00 The Today Podcast (m001yjc0)
Could an MP present the Today programme?

In a week where broadcasters with shows hosted by politicians were warned they could face fines if they break impartiality rules during the next general election campaign, Nick looks at the issues it raises about which programmes MPs should be allowed to present.

Former ITN chief executive Stewart Purvis tells us why he believes we will “see and hear things on the air we’ve never seen before” in general election coverage. And GB News presenter Albie Amankona joins the conversation to explain why he thinks the station challenges traditional news media.

And Steven Knight, the screenwriter behind Peaky Blinders and This Town shares his moment of the week.

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 producers are Hazel Morgan and Joe Wilkinson. The editor is Louisa Lewis. The executive producer is Owenna Griffiths. Technical production from Matthew Hewitt and digital production from Elliot Ryder.


THU 23:30 Today in Parliament (m001yjc2)
Alicia McCarthy with the latest from Westminster as MPs debate the Rwanda Bill becoming law, the split in the Scottish government and how to inspect schools.

FRIDAY 26 APRIL 2024

FRI 00:00 Midnight News (m001yjc4)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


FRI 00:30 Knife by Salman Rushdie (m001yj9x)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:45 on Thursday]


FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m001yjc6)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m001yjc8)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m001yjcb)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


FRI 05:30 News Briefing (m001yjcd)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4


FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m001yjcg)
A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with Dabinderjit Singh


FRI 05:45 Farming Today (m001yjcj)
The National Sheep Association says it has no confidence in the Red Tractor assurance scheme's executive.

MP's have highlighted the impact of the changes in welfare payments on farmers, who historically claim tax credits to boost low incomes.

A tree nursery manages to combat the adverse weather conditions, and a breed of cattle found on a remote Scottish island

Presented by Charlotte Smith

Produced by Alun Beach


FRI 06:00 Today (m001yj5v)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


FRI 09:00 The Reunion (m001yhf8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Sunday]


FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (m001yj5z)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.


FRI 11:00 The Food Programme (m001yj63)
The secrets of sport food

From the explosion in sport food and drink, to the food diaries and routines of some of the UK’s top athletes, Leyla Kazim investigates food in the world of sport today.

How do elite sport nutritionists prep their athletes and what can we learn from them? What should we eat for energy? What’s the deal with protein? We hear from sport stars in rugby, netball, triathlon and football, to find out.

For an everyday athlete without a performance nutritionist, eating for sport can be confusing. Over a pre workout lunch, sport nutritionist Matt Gardner answers some Food Programme listener questions and shares stories from his days working with elite rugby players and extreme adventurers.

But sport food is no longer just the domain of gym cafes and sport clubs. There has been an explosion of energy drinks and 'hi protein' bars sold anywhere from Post Office counters to the check outs of sport fashion shops. Leyla sends three young food activists, who have been looking into this issue, out onto the streets of Reading to see what they can find on sale. Producer Nina Pullman takes their findings to professor of nutrition and metabolism at the University of Bath, Javier Gonzalez, who looks at the ingredients in more detail.

To explore the bigger links between sport, public health and food marketing, next we drop in on public health policy consultant, Dan Hunt, who explains the appeal of sport from a commercial point of view. Finally, Leyla reflects on how food works as fuel, ahead of the summer of sport to come.

Produced by Nina Pullman for BBC Audio in Bristol.


FRI 11:45 Knife by Salman Rushdie (m001yj67)
5. Concluding meditations on an attempted murder

The renowned author concludes his personal mediations on the attempt on his life and literature's capacity to make sense of the unthinkable. Art Malik is the reader.

On the morning of 12 August 2022, Salman Rushdie was standing onstage at the Chautauqua Institution in upstate New York, preparing to give a lecture on the importance of keeping writers safe from harm, when a man in black – black clothes, black mask – rushed down the aisle towards him, wielding a knife. His first thought: So it’s you. Here you are.

What followed was a horrific act of violence that shook the literary world and beyond. Now, for the first time Rushdie relives the traumatic events of that day and its aftermath, as well as his journey towards physical recovery and the healing that was made possible by the love and support of his wife, Eliza, his family, his army of doctors and physical therapists, and his community of readers worldwide.

Knife is Rushdie writing with urgency, with gravity, with unflinching honesty. It is also an intimate and life-affirming meditation on life, loss, love, art – and finding the strength to stand up again.

Produced by Elizabeth Allard


FRI 12:00 News Summary (m001yj6c)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


FRI 12:04 AntiSocial (m001yj6g)
Are ‘kidults’ a problem?

Harry Potter actor Miriam Margolyes has told adult fans of the franchise to grow up, prompting a discussion about whether younger generations are delaying the responsibilities of adulthood.

It’s a debate that spans culture and economics, so we look at what the data and the history tell us. Is there evidence that the ‘kidult’ is a real phenomenon, where do our ideas of adulthood actually come from, and what on earth is a ‘Disney Adult’?

Presenter: Adam Fleming
Producers: Simon Tulett, Simon Maybin, Nathan Gower
Editor: Penny Murphy


FRI 12:57 Weather (m001yj6j)
The latest weather forecast


FRI 13:00 World at One (m001yj6l)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment.


FRI 13:45 Growing Solo (m001yj6n)
Year's End

Max Cotton, a retired political journalist, leaves behind the weekly shop, supermarkets and the modern world to find out if he can grow and produce 100% of his food on a smallholding near Glastonbury. His only import for a year is salt.

This is the final episode and marks the end of Max’s food self-sufficient year. Did he make it? Did he cheat? Did he lose weight? Was it too hard to be fun? All these questions are answered. This episode also explores some of the issues of trying to eat locally and seasonally.

Presenter: Max Cotton
Producer: Tessa Browne
Executive Producer: Kate Dixon

A Good Egg production for BBC Radio 4


FRI 14:00 The Archers (m001yj6q)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Thursday]


FRI 14:15 Limelight (m001yj6s)
Money Gone

Money Gone – 1. Insufficient Funds

Valentine’s Day 2025. The UK awakes to financial catastrophe and no one can access any money. Ross sees opportunity as the country descends into chaos, but Grace has picked the worst day run away.

A fast-paced satirical drama starring Robert Bathurst (Cold Feet, Toast of London), Charlotte Richie (Ghosts, Call the Midwife), Aaron Heffernan (War of the Worlds, Brassic) and Josette Simon (Wonder Woman, Blakes 7).

Cast:
Pascal ..... Robert Bathurst
Patricia ..... Josette Simon
Emily ..... Charlotte Richie
Ross ..... Aaron Heffernan
Grace ..... Lauren Douglin
Chris ..... Fergus Craig
Stuart ..... Raj Ghatak
Glenn ..... Simon Darwen
Gavin ..... Chris Lew Kum Hoi
Shopper.....Melody Brown
Bex ..... Sylvie Churnside-Reed
The Home Secretary ..... Leah Marks
The Danish Prime Minister ..... Charlotte Melen
The Chancellor ….. Graeme Hawley
Maggie Philbin ..... herself

Including the voices of Ruby Evans, Megan Maguire, George Styman, Molly Diamond, Lawrence Carter, Samuel Carrera Briega, Maya Dhokia, Marco Bosin Salome, Christopher Hoop, Evie Barrow, Neve Clark, Niamh Brockbank, Ruby Mutluay, Ryan Gaul

Written by Ed Sellek
Directed by Tony Churnside

Storyline Consultant: Diane Coyle
Production: Leah Marks and Louis Blatherwick
Original Music and Sound Design by Eloise Whitmore and Tony Churnside
Theme sung by Ellie Akhgar
Series Photographer: Simon Bray
Illustrator: Pete Hambling
Producer: Eloise Whitmore

A Naked production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds


FRI 14:45 Child (p0hhrq1b)
20. Playtime

As parents start to think about the development of the child within, they might head out to classes. The advice on how a baby ‘should be’ and the pressures on parents to ‘get it right’ can be a lot, but does it all matter? Lucy Jones, journalist and author, guides us through the history of why there is so much pressure on carers.

We also hear more from Rebecca Saxe, a cognitive neuroscientist and Dean of Science at MIT about what babies are learning from play, and from Graham Music about what makes good play.

But, put down your wallet - the best toys for a baby are free, and with you all the time.

Presented by India Rakusen
Producer: Lucy Hunt
Series Producer: Ellie Sans
Executive Producer: Suzy Grant
Commissioning Editor: Rhian Roberts
Original music composed and performed by The Big Moon
Mix and Mastering by Charlie Brandon-King

A Listen production for Radio 4 and BBC Sounds


FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m001yj6x)
Hammersmith & Fulham

How do I get rid of Honey Fungus? If you were sent to a desert island, what plant would you take and why? What “idiot proof” fruit could anyone grow on their allotment?

Kathy Clugston and her premier league panel of gardening experts are back in Fulham, West London to prune the answers to the audience's gardening conundrums. On the panel are organic gardener Bob Flowerdew, pest and disease expert Pippa Greenwood, and curator of RHS Wisley Matthew Pottage.

Later, Fulham resident Matthew Pottage explores the grand gardens of Fulham Palace - where head gardener Lucy Hart shares some insight on the rich history of the grounds.

Senior Producer: Dan Cocker
Assistant Producer: Rahnee Prescod
Executive Producer: Carly Maile

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4


FRI 15:45 Short Works (m001yj6z)
At Heart Centre by Bernie McGill

An original short story commissioned by BBC Radio 4 from the writer Bernie McGill. As read by Seána Kerslake ('Blue Lights.')

Bernie McGill is the author of two novels and two short story collections. She has also written audio scripts for heritage projects and stage scripts for theatre. She studied English and Italian at Queen’s University, Belfast and graduated with a Masters degree in Irish Writing. Her novel 'The Watch House' was nominated in 2019 for the Ireland/European Union Prize for Literature and 'The Butterfly Cabinet' was named in 2012 by Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes as his novel of the year. Her most recent short story collection 'This Train is For' was awarded the Edge Hill Short Story Prize 2023.

Writer: Bernie McGill
Reader: Seána Kerslake
Producer: Michael Shannon

A BBC Audio Northern Ireland Production for BBC Radio 4.


FRI 16:00 Last Word (m001yj71)
Terry Anderson, Trina Robbins, Lord Field, Ann Trevenen Jenkin

Matthew Bannister on

The American journalist Terry Anderson who was held captive in Lebanon for almost seven years. In an emotional interview, his daughter Sulome tells us how she followed in his footsteps as she tried to connect with a father she met for the first time when she was seven years old.

Lord Field who, the Labour MP Frank Field who campaigned tirelessly for welfare reform.

Trina Robbins the feminist cartoonist and writer who was the first woman to illustrate the Wonder Woman comics.

Ann Trevenen Jenkin the first woman Grand Bard of Cornwall and a founding member of the Cornish nationalist party Mebyon Kernow.

Interviewee: Sulome Anderson
Interviewee: Ellin Stein
Interviewee: Liam Halligan
Interviewee: Loveday Jenkin

Producer: Gareth Nelson-Davies

Archive Used:

Sulome Anderson writes a letter to her father on his birthday, BBC News, 07/10/1991; Terry Anderson release, Live press conference, BBC News, 04/12/1991; Terry Anderson interview, BBC Radio 1, 01/01/2000; Terry Anderson on What It’s Like to Live as a Hezbollah Hostage, Slate. YouTube Channel uploaded, 17/11/2014; Trina Robbins, Meet Trina Robbins, the first woman to draw Wonder Woman for D.C. Comics, KTVU FOX 2 San Francisco, YouTube uploaded 30/03/2023; Frank Field MP interview, Straight Talk, BBC News, 19/06/2010; Frank Field, Profile, BBC Radio 4, 13/12/2014; Frank Field, Lent Talks, BBC Radio 4, 01/04/2009; Ann Trevenen Jenkin interviewed by Carmen Talbot for Dreadnought South West’s Rebellious Sounds Archive, 2019; Ann Trevenen Jenkin interview, Cornish March, BBC News, 21/06/1997;


FRI 16:30 Life Changing (m001yhyg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 on Wednesday]


FRI 17:00 PM (m001yj73)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.


FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m001yj75)
The King will return to Royal duties next week -- after doctors said they were encouraged by how he'd responded to his cancer treatment.


FRI 18:30 Dead Ringers (m001yj77)
Series 24

Episode 1

The Rwanda bill passes through parliament so will Rishi call an election? Who is really behind the rumours about Angela Rayner? Will Rylan and Stacey Solomon manage to say anything sensible? All questions answered.

The series writers include: Nev Fountain & Tom Jamieson, Ed Amsden & Tom Coles, Laurence Howarth, Rob Darke, Edward Tew, Sophie Dixon, Sarah Campbell, Toussaint Douglas, Cody Dahler, Joe Topping, Alex Bertulis Fernandes, Angela Channell, Lizzy Mansfield, Christina Riggs, Peter Tellouche, Rachel Thorne, Toussaint Douglas and Sarah Dempster.

Exec: James Robinson
Sound Design: Rich Evans
Prod Co-Ordinator: Dan Marchini
Producer: Bill Dare


FRI 19:00 The Archers (m001yj7b)
Writer: Sarah McDonald Hughes
Director: Kim Greengrass

Helen Archer…. Louiza Patikas
Henry Archer…. Blayke Darby
Lilian Bellamy…. Sunny Ormonde
Harrison Burns…. James Cartwright
Alice Carter…. Hollie Chapman
Eve Chilcott…. Juliet Aubrey
Harry Chilcott…. Jack Ashton
Joy Horville…. Jackie Lye
Ed Grundy…. Barry Farrimond
Alistair Lloyd…. Michael Lumsden
Dr Azra Malik…. Yasmin Wilde
Denise Metcalf…. Clare Perkins
Fallon Rogers…. Joanna Van Kampen
Laura…. Claire Cage


FRI 19:15 Screenshot (m001yj7d)
Fashion

Mark Kermode and Ellen E Jones examine the rich history of style and the moving image, from Pret A Porter to The Devil Wears Prada.

Ellen talks to fashion historian and curator Amber Butchart about the close relationship between couture and cinema. They discuss the timeless influence on high fashion of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis and Powell & Pressburger's The Red Shoes, and the movies that inspire what we all wear in real life.

Mark enlists the help of a Screenshot regular, critic Christina Newland, to explore how the fashion industry has been depicted on screen, from the fashion editors of Funny Face and The Devil Wears Prada to the male models of Zoolander.

And Mark talks to director Kevin Macdonald about his new documentary, High & Low: John Galliano, which follows the disgraced British fashion designer.

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


FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (m001yj7g)
Kate Andrews, Carla Denyer, John Glen MP, Darren Jones MP

Alex Forsyth presents political discussion from Pinhoe Baptist Church in Exeter with the Economics Editor at The Spectator Kate Andrews, the co-leader of the Green Party of England and Wales Carla Denyer, Paymaster General and Cabinet Office Minister John Glen MP and Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones MP.
Producer: Camellia Sinclair
Lead broadcast engineer: Tim Allen


FRI 20:50 A Point of View (m001yj7j)
Me and my medical data

Patients care apps - which give patients unprecedented access to their health records - are being rolled out by NHS trusts across the country.

You might imagine, says Will Self, that 'this previously unimaginable access to such a wealth of medical data should empower me, make me feel I have a choice, and enable me to assist those treating me by being what every conscientious statistic wants to become: a good patient.'

Will argues that, on the contrary, this 'revolution in healthcare' only makes us more impotent, reduces patients to the status of customers and undermines the authority and expertise of medical professionals.

Producer: Adele Armstrong
Sound: Peter Bosher
Production coordinator: Liam Morrey
Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith


FRI 21:00 Free Thinking (m001yj7l)
Immanuel Kant today, Spice Girls Reunited, Impersonating an Animal

Marshmallows and Kant, ideas about girl power from Mary Wollstonecraft (born April 27th 1759) to the Spice girls; and galloping horses, sea-gull sounds and life as a goat. On today's Free Thinking Shahidha Bari is joined by literary historian Alexandra Reza, philosophers Angela Breitenbach, John Callanan and journalist Tim Stanley to look back at the week and discuss ideas about our relationship with birds and beasts; and how the philosophy of Immanuel Kant (born 22nd April 1724) outlined ideas about peace, reason and finding ways to have rational discussion.

Tim Stanley is a journalist. You can hear him discussing rationality and tradition with Steven Pinker, the argument against democracy, and the ideas of John Henry Newman on Free Thinking episodes available on the programme website and BBC Sounds.
Alexandra Reza teaches comparative literature at the University of Bristol. You can hear her in Free Thinking episodes discussing the ideas of Aimee Cesaire, Frantz Fanon and the film-making of Susan Maldoror
Dr John Callanan teaches philosophy at King's College, London
Angela Breitenbach is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge

Producer: Luke Mulhall


FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (m001yj7n)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective.


FRI 22:45 The Blue Book of Nebo (m001xzqy)
Episode 5

The secrets and silence between Dylan and Rowenna grow. As they feel more alone than ever, Rowenna retreats into the past, and Dylan retreats into himself. They have to find a way to bridge the divide – especially as the world around them starts to change.
Manon Steffan Ros’s multi-award-winning novel, set in North Wales, is read by Gwïon Morris Jones and Rhian Blythe.
Sound design, by Nigel Lewis and Rhys Morris
Production co-ordinator, Lindsay Rees
Abridged and directed by Fay Lomas. BBC Audio Drama Wales


FRI 23:00 Americast (m001yj7q)
Americast on campus: Students protest over Gaza

Hundreds of students have been arrested across the United States as they protest against Israel's military campaign in Gaza.

Sarah is at Columbia University in New York City, one of many colleges where students are protesting, but where some Jewish students say they feel threatened by the actions of demonstrators.

And Marianna takes a look at how social media, and TikTok in particular, are shaping how a new generation of voters are engaging with politics through the lens of the war in the Middle East.

HOSTS:
• Justin Webb, Radio 4 presenter
• Sarah Smith, North America editor
• Marianna Spring, Disinformation & Social Media Correspondent

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

US Election Unspun: Sign up for Anthony’s new BBC newsletter: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-68093155

This episode was made by Chris Flynn with Rufus Gray and Catherine Fusillo. The technical producer was Mike Regaard. The series producer is George Dabby. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.


FRI 23:30 Today in Parliament (m001yj7s)
Susan Hulme reports from Westminster as MPs back measures to support parents whose partners die in childbirth.