SATURDAY 11 MAY 2024
SAT 00:00 Midnight News (m001yxrb)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SAT 00:30 The Miners' Strike: Return Journey (m001wqcj)
Grimethorpe
Still seen as one of the most bitter and divisive industrial disputes in the UK, the year long miners' strike, that began in March 1984, dominated the news for 12 months. It’s been described as “a site of contested memories,” and it continues to evoke strong feelings in those who lived through the strike and had direct experience of it.
Chris Jackson, in his very first job as a young radio reporter in South Wales, found himself covering the dispute that scarred a generation and more. Now, 40 years after the start of the strike, he’s meeting people from different sides of the difficult and controversial industrial dispute, and together they return to a place that holds some very personal memories.
In this episode, Chris is in Grimethorpe, at the spot the miners gathered to return to work in March 1985, marching back to the pit behind their colliery band. He meets two people from different sides of the industrial dispute to talk about that day. Peter Haigh was a National Coal Board manager at Grimethorpe during the strike and Danny Gillespie was a striking Grimethorpe miner.
Presenter: Chris Jackson
Producer: Jo Dwyer
Executive Producer: Rosamund Jones
A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m001yxrd)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m001yxrg)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
SAT 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m001yxrj)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
SAT 05:30 News Briefing (m001yxrm)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m001yxrr)
May Altars
A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with Michael Kelly
Good morning!
I always loved the month of May as a child. Growing up in rural Northern Ireland, the inclement spring weather was finally giving way and hints of the coming summer were all around.
The gardens were in full bloom, and many wildflowers were appearing in the meadows. The village was pristine after the ‘spring clean’ and luscious hanging baskets adorned almost every house.
In the Christian tradition, May is also the month of Mary – the Mother of God. ‘May altars’ are not as common now as when I was a child, but I would remember as we gathered around ours to pray and sing:
Bring flow'rs of the fairest,
Bring flow'rs of the rarest,
From garden and woodland
And hillside and vale;
Our full hearts are swelling,
Our Glad voices telling
The praise of the loveliest
Rose of the vale.
May has also been described as that month of the year when everything seems possible. And, of course, it was also the month of my birthday and brought the promise of summer holidays ever closer.
Of course, as I grew, May also brought dreaded school and – eventually – university exams. If you’re like me, you’ll still have the occasional panicky dream about sitting in the examinations hall with the smell of freshly-cut grass wafting through the window and knowing absolutely nothing about the subject matter in hand.
It's a long time since I’ve sat in an examinations hall, and as I’ve grown older I’ve tried to take more time to smell the flowers.
So, today I pray for the time to be still and to appreciate the beauty of the world around us.
Amen.
SAT 05:45 Just One Thing - with Michael Mosley (m001yxkb)
Cook from Scratch
Michael Mosley investigates how cooking from scratch can be a simple way to eat healthier and avoid ultra-processed foods, many of which are associated with an increased risk of diseases like cancer, type 2 diabetes and heart disease. It doesn’t need to be complicated - simple recipes using tinned and frozen foods can be a great way to get started. Michael speaks to Dr Emily Leeming, a nutrition scientist from King's College London, to find out why cooking your own meals can be so beneficial for your gut microbiome, your waistline and your mental health. Meanwhile, our volunteer Richard cooks up a storm!
Series Producer: Nija Dalal-Small
Editor: Zoë Heron
Commissioning Editor: Rhian Roberts
A BBC Studios production for BBC Sounds / BBC Radio 4
SAT 06:00 News and Papers (m001z5vn)
The latest news headlines. Including the weather and a look at the papers.
SAT 06:07 Open Country (m001yxkz)
Mapping Britain's Holloways
Helen Mark is in Dorset to investigate the county's ancient sunken roads, known as holloways. They're deep, steep-sided tracks formed when soft rock erodes and are often overtopped by a canopy of trees. The erosion over centuries creates remarkable, often otherworldly spaces, that come with their own unique flora and fauna. On her trip to the Symondsbury estate near Bridport Helen hears about how the cave spider and goblin's gold moss can thrive in the cracks of these unlikely rockfaces. She is joined by Andy Jefferies and Rosie Cummings from Natural England who are behind a project to map Britain's extensive network of holloways. The holloways often come with their own folklore too. Local storyteller Martin Maudsley recounts the legend of the Dorset colpexie - mischievous sprites that can taunt the unwary traveller!
Producer: Robin Markwell
Presenter: Helen Mark
SAT 06:30 Farming Today (m001z5vq)
11/05/24 Farming Today This Week: Sandeels, funding for robotic pickers, crisis of confidence for farmers, European roadtrip.
Farmer confidence is at an all time low: that's according to a new survey published this week by the National Farmers' Union. It says the wet weather has had an impact, but farmers also point to worries about the future of their businesses.
The Government’s announcement that the seasonal worker visa scheme is being extended for five years has been welcomed by farming organisations. It comes as part of Defra's response to an independent review into labour shortages in the Food Supply Chain which was published last summer. The Government had said it would respond to it last year.
The RSPB says it is "vital" that a UK ban on fishing for sandeels in the North Sea remains in place. The ban, which stops sandeel trawlers fishing in English and Scottish sections of the North Sea, came into effect in April following a long campaign by conservationists concerned about declining seabird populations, particularly puffins and kittiwakes. Fishermen in Denmark are supporting a challenge by the European Union to the UK ban, claiming they have lost half of their fishing grounds because of the new restrictions.
Cornish journalist and farmer, Stuart Oates, has been taking a European road trip in his fairly ancient land rover, peering over as many hedges as possible. From mangoes in spain to rice in Portugal, he started at the heart of the global wine industry in France. In the UK wine production has become a thriving business, but in Bordeaux things aren't looking so good.
Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Beatrice Fenton.
SAT 06:57 Weather (m001z5vs)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SAT 07:00 Today (m001z5vv)
Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (m001z5vx)
Mary Beard, Teresa Moon and Dawn Donkin, Arthur Hughes, Michael and Hilary Whitehall
Mary Beard unearths some of the fascinating little-known stories that helped build the Roman Empire in her new series of Being Roman, and reveals how a cake is responsible for making her Britain’s best-known classicist.
From the senate and the people of Rome to the Sherlock Holmes of Tudor England – star of the new Shardlake series, Arthur Hughes joins us. Born with a rare condition affecting his right arm, Arthur was the first disabled actor to swap his kingdom for a horse and portray Richard III at the Royal Shakespeare Company.
How a story of star-crossed lovers helped bring together two friends thanks to a collection of lost letters written more than 80 years ago. Dawn Donkin and Theresa Moon are with us.
All that, plus the podcasting power-couple responsible for their son Jack...Michael and Hilary Whitehall share their Inheritance Tracks.
Presenters: Huw Stephens and Kiri Pritchard-McLean
Producer: Ben Mitchell
SAT 10:00 Your Place or Mine with Shaun Keaveny (m001z5vz)
Dr Chris van Tulleken: Nunavut, Canadian Arctic
Chris loves exploring the Arctic, swimming off icebergs and cheerily encountering polar bears. Shaun's spirit animal is more grizzly bear but he attempts to dig up his spirit of adventure. Resident geographer, historian and comedian Iszi Lawrence is wrapping up warm for this one.
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 The Kitchen Cabinet (m001z5w1)
Series 44
Chester
Jay Rayner and his panel of chefs, cooks and writers are in Chester for the first of a new series of The Kitchen Cabinet.
Joining Jay are restaurateur Nisha Katona, chefs Sophie Wright and Rob Owen Brown, and food historian Dr Annie Gray.
The panel offer their best tips and tricks to solve a range of kitchen questions, whether it's recipes involving canned soup, or their top picnic snacks. They also discuss their favourite recipes involving haggis, and debate the most controversial of questions - starter or sweet?
Situated on the Cheshire Plain, Jay chats to Anne Faulkner of Chester cheesemonger The Cheese Shop about the history, types and uses of Cheshire cheese.
Senior Producer: Dominic Tyerman
Assistant Producer: Dulcie Whadcock
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 11:00 The Week in Westminster (m001z5w4)
Ben Riley-Smith of The Telegraph is joined by a range of guests to analyse the latest developments at Westminster.
To discuss Labour's prospects following the local election results, Ben speaks to former Labour leader, Lord Kinnock.
Labour candidate and economist Miatta Fahnbulleh, and Rupert Harrison, a Conservative candidate and former Chief of staff to George Osborne, discuss the economy in the run up to the general election.
As John Swinney becomes First Minister of Scotland, Ben brings the SNP's Ian Blackford together with Many Rhodes, editor of Holyrood Magazine, to discuss whether he can bring unity back to the party.
And finally, in a week that saw celebrities turn out for the Met Gala in New York, can our politicians take a leaf out of their book when it comes to making the right style decisions. Ben is joined by judge on The Great British Sewing Bee, Patrick Grant, and Katie Perrior, former director of communications in Downing Street for Theresa May.
SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m001z5w6)
Protests in Georgia
Kate Adie presents stories from Georgia, Serbia, Colombia, Thailand and the Philippines
Georgians have been protesting for weeks about a draft law requiring organisations to declare foreign funding, which many see as a turning point in Tbilisi's relationship with Russia and the West. Rayhan Demytrie explores why the law has proved so divisive.
China’s President Xi Jinping has been on a tour of Europe this week, including a carefully timed visit to the Serbian capital, Belgrade. Guy De Launey witnessed a growing courtship and considers what Beijing's broader agenda might be.
The Darién Gap, an expanse of inhospitable jungle between Colombia and Panama, is now the site of the largest migration crisis in the Western Hemisphere. The 70 mile route is fraught with danger, but for many people fleeing poverty and persecution, the deadly Darién is the only passageway to the US. Peter Yeung joined families crossing the Darién on foot.
Chiang Mai in Thailand's north is popular with travellers who enjoy the famously laid-back atmosphere - but it recently recorded the worst air quality of any city in the world. William Kremer met people directly affected.
You may have heard of K-pop, and J-Pop – but have you heard of P-pop? Philippine pop, or Pinoy pop is hoping to get a share of K-pop's global success, but it’s determined to do so in its own, distinctly Filipino way. Hannah Gelbart has been to meet one of the most popular groups in Manila.
Series Producer: Serena Tarling
Editor: Bridget Harney
Production Coordinator: Rosie Strawbridge
SAT 12:00 News Summary (m001z5w8)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SAT 12:04 Money Box (m001z5wb)
Pensions Dashboard and Leasehold
The Pension Dashboard is intended to provide an online service to millions of people who have paid into a pension at work by showing all their pots and their value in one place. But the National Audit Office this week revealed a 'digital skills' shortage is behind delays, providers now have until October 2026 to connect to it. The costs of the dashboard are also up by almost a quarter to £279 million.
Some people hoping to sell their leasehold homes are being charged large amounts by their freeholder to fill out a simple form which helps the sale to go through smoothly. We hear from 'Harry' who was just days away from exchanging contracts on his two bed flat in London when his sale collapsed because his freeholder wouldn't sign an LPE1 form unless Harry paid more than £20,000. The forms contain information such as ground rent and service charges and rules on pets.
Also in the programme we answer listener questions about how to protect your money when banks merge, and applications open on the 12th of May for the next round of government funded childcare. Working parents in England with children aged nine months to under two years can apply for 15 hours of subsidised childcare starting from September. Parents have been encouraged by the Department for Education to act as soon as possible to secure their place.
Presenter: Paul Lewis
Reporters: Dan Whitworth and Jo Krasner
Researcher: Sandra Hardial
Editor: Sarah Rogers
This episode was first broadcast on Saturday the 11th of May.
SAT 12:30 Dead Ringers (m001yxqp)
Series 24
Episode 3
A surprising guest appears at the Met Gala, and Rishi Sunak has an urgent message for Elon Musk.
With writing from Nev Fountain & Tom Jamieson, Laurence Howarth, Ed Amsden & Tom Coles, Rob Darke, Edward Tew, Sarah Campbell, Sophie Dixon, Joe Topping, Lizzy Mansfield and Angela Channell. With additional material by Christopher Donovan.
Exec: Pete Strauss
Sound Design: Rich Evans
Prod Co-Ordinator: Dan Marchini
Producer: Bill Dare
SAT 12:57 Weather (m001z5wd)
The latest weather forecast
SAT 13:00 News and Weather (m001z5wg)
The latest national and international news and weather reports from BBC Radio 4
SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (m001yxqw)
Alistair Carmichael MP, Kevin Hollinrake MP, Jonathan Reynolds MP, Sarah Swindley
Alex Forsyth presents political discussion from St Andrew's Parish Church in Sedbergh in Cumbria with the Home Affairs Spokesperson for the Lib Dems Alistair Carmichael MP, the Enterprise Minister Kevin Hollinrake MP, the Shadow Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds MP and the Chief Executive of the Lake District Foundation Sarah Swindley
Producer: Robin Markwell
Lead broadcast engineer: Jonathan Esp
SAT 14:00 Any Answers? (m001z5wj)
Call Any Answers? to have your say on the big issues in the news this week.
SAT 14:45 The Archers (m001yxqr)
Kate and Jakob bring Brian and Alice some shopping, but Brian isn’t pleased to see Jakob. Brian argues with Kate, accusing her of trying to tell him what’s good for Alice. Kate counters, furiously, that his spoiling Alice is why they are in this situation. She adds that Brian’s ill-judged words about Jennifer are what drove Alice to drink that day. Then Jakob points out Alice left while they were rowing. Wearily, Kate asks if she heard, and Jakob says it’s unlikely she didn’t. Kate says it’s time to stop treating Alice with kid gloves. All three leave to try and find her.
Fallon offers Harrison a cuppa as he sorts out his toolbox. The miscarriage is happening. She declines his offer of painkillers or hot water bottle and definitely doesn’t want anyone to know about the pregnancy. He wants to talk about it, but she doesn’t. She promises they will talk but not right now. He wants to go for a walk to clear his head.
Alice turns up and Fallon invites her in. She forcefully tells Alice that she is shaken but still alive and she wants something from her – Alice has to get back to being a mum to Martha and a friend. She has to get back on her feet – if she does that she is forgiven. Harrison returns and erupts with fury, turning on Fallon for refusing to talk to him but having time to chat to her friend. He throws Alice out – shouting at her in the street that Fallon was pregnant and now she’s not: ‘Are you Sorry for that?’
SAT 15:00 Drama on 4 (m000p0g5)
Also Sprach Zarathustra
Witty biopic of a book by Simon Scardifield and Andrew Day exploring interpretations - and misinterpretations - of Nietzsche's world-changing ideas. Starring Zubin Varla, Clare Corbett, Carl Prekopp and Olivia Ross.
Directed by Emma Harding
CAST
Also Sprach Zarathustra.....Zubin Varla
Pride and Prejudice.....Clare Corbett
On the Road.....Carl Prekopp
Madame Bovary.....Olivia Ross
All other parts played by Roger Ringrose, Charlotte East, Luke Nunn, Emma Handy, Simon Scardifield and Ian Dunnett Jnr.
SAT 16:00 Woman's Hour (m001z5wl)
Weekend Woman's Hour: Foster caring, Liz Carr on assisted dying, Sabrina Ali on Dugsi Dayz, Rachel Chinouriri
The number of children in care is continuing to rise each year, and thousands of new foster carers are needed. The comedian and writer Kiri Pritchard-McLean has done just that. During lockdown, Kiri and her partner embarked on a journey to become foster carers in north Wales and she’s ‘evangelical’ about the role. It’s the subject of her new seven-month comedy tour, Peacock.
The debate on assisted dying is often framed around the issues of choice for the terminally ill, but what about the rights of the disabled? Actor and disability rights campaigner Liz Carr has major concerns about potential changes to the law that she believes could leave people with disabilities at risk. She joins Clare McDonnell to discuss her documentary “Better Off Dead” which explores the debate from the perspective of disabled people.
Four girls sitting in detention on a Saturday at their local Mosque are stuck in darkness after a power outage. To pass the time, they tell Somali folktales and bond in a modern day take on The Breakfast Club. That’s the scene for Dugsi Dayz, performing now at the Royal Court Theatre. The writer and actor Sabrina Ali told Hayley Hassell all about it.
What would happen if you could only speak the truth – and not even tell white lies? That’s the subject of a new book by Radhika Sanghani, called The Girl Who Couldn’t Lie. Radhika herself hasn’t lied for two years – she told Clare why she wanted to write the book and the things she’s learnt from telling only the truth.
Singer songwriter Rachel Chinouriri is one of the music industry’s rising stars, gaining plaudits from celebrity fans, including Adele, Sophie Turner and Florence Pugh, for her nostalgic Indie sounds. Rachel talks about her first album, What A Devastating Turn Of Events, which is an intimate exploration of her experiences and relationships.
Presenter: Clare McDonnell
Producer: Annette Wells
Editor: Deiniol Buxton
SAT 17:00 PM (m001z5wn)
Israel urges more Palestinians to leave Rafah
Israel urges Palestinians to leave the Gazan city of Rafah. With fighting intensifying, a UN agency warns this is breaking point.
SAT 17:30 Sliced Bread (m001yxkn)
LED Face Masks
Is an LED face mask the secret to brighter, clearer, more youthful skin?
Greg Foot is back with a new series of Sliced Bread to run a whole new batch of your suggested wonder products through the evidence mill. From car tyres to contact lenses, air fresheners to LED face masks, Greg will separate science fact from marketing fiction as he investigates whether each product is 'the best thing since sliced bread' or 'marketing BS'.
There's a slightly new sound to this new series: having recorded most of the previous episodes remotely, Greg is going to be joined in the studio by the listener and experts to investigate the wonder products together!
First to join Greg is Helen Leneghan from County Down. She’s seen LED Face Masks all over social media and wants to know if they actually work. Do they reduce your wrinkles? Will they give you a radiant glow? And can they help with some skin conditions like acne or rosacea?
As ever, if YOU have seen something promising to make you happier, healthier or greener and want to know if it is SB or BS please do send it over on email to sliced.bread@bbc.co.uk or drop us a message or voicenote on Whatsapp to 07543 306807
PRESENTER: Greg Foot
PRODUCER: Simon Hoban
SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m001z5wq)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
SAT 17:57 Weather (m001z5ws)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m001z5wv)
Israel has told tens of thousands more to leave as it intensifies military operations.
SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (m001z5wx)
Julie Hesmondhalgh, Sacha Lord, Eddi Reader, Benji Waterhouse, Kathryn Williams & Withered Hand, Fairground Attraction
Stuart Maconie is joined by Sacha Lord who offers some Tales from the Dancefloor, Julie Hesmondhalgh talks about the impact of a single punch which is considered in a new play by James Graham at the Nottingham Playhouse.
Dr Benji Waterhouse, a frontline NHS psychiatrist, discusses his new book You Don't Have to be Mad to Work Here and there's music and chat from Fairground Attraction and Kathryn Williams & Withered Hand.
SAT 19:00 Profile (m001z5wz)
John Swinney
After over four decades in the SNP and nearly two in government, John Swinney is finally stepping up to the top job for the first time, becoming Scotland’s new First Minister.
He’s no stranger to big jobs - it’s actually his second stint as SNP leader - but leading his country and his party is looking tougher than ever, as the SNP finds itself facing formidable challenges.
Who is this stalwart of the SNP, and do his life and experiences equip him for the task ahead? Mark Coles talks to friends, colleagues, and those who’ve watched this political operator up close for years.
Presenter: Mark Coles
Producer: Nathan Gower
Assistant Producer: Diane Richardson and Marianna Brain
Editor: Tom Bigwood
Programme Coordinators: Maria Ogundele and Sabine Schereck
Sound Engineer: Neil Churchill
Music:
‘John Swinney (We Salute You)' by Nocturnal Vermin (Isaac Brutal, James ‘Slippyunderfoot‘ McCready, Arnold Bastard)
SAT 19:15 This Cultural Life (m001yxkg)
Anne Enright
Irish novelist Anne Enright is the author of seven novels, including The Gathering, winner of the Booker Prize in 2007. Her 2012 novel The Forgotten Waltz won the Andre Carnegie Medal for Fiction and her novel The Green Road won The Irish Novel of the Year in 2015, the same year that she was appointed as the inaugural Laureate for Irish Fiction. Her latest novel The Wren, The Wren has been shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2024.
Anne tells John Wilson how her childhood home in the suburbs of Dublin, and holidays spent at the Pollock Holes in Kilkee inform her writing. She recalls her book-devouring household and first reading Ulysses while on a cycling holiday at the age of 14. The play Top Girls by Caryl Churchill was also a creative influence, particularly in the way Churchill wrote dialogue for women who were at the time, so underrepresented on stage. Anne also cites the influence of the writer Angela Carter, both as a writer of contemporary fiction and as her tutor and mentor at the University of East Anglia.
Producer: Edwina Pitman
Archive and readings used:
Extract from The Gathering, read by Anne Enright
Extract from The Wren, The Wren, read by Charlotte Pyke
Extract from Top Girls by Caryl Churchill, BBC, 1992
SAT 20:00 Archive on 4 (m001z5x1)
Gareth Gwynn Hasn't Fin-
From buildings such as the Sagrada Familia to The Beach Boys’ legendary Smile album, we can’t get enough of unfinished creative projects. Comedy writer Gareth Gwynn turns the BBC archive upside down in an effort to deliver a comprehensive field guide to all things left undone.
We've all been there, haven't we? Things we set out to do, jobs half-done, exciting plans started with such promise, but are now left languishing in perpetual stasis. Is it all failure and frustration or might unfinished projects in fact offer an antidote to our completist society? Through surveying lesser known but brilliantly intriguing unfinished artworks, albums, plays, films, buildings and books, as well as his own side-lined projects, Gareth finds [INSERT WHAT GARETH FINDS HERE].
Featuring contributions from serial unfinisher and comedian Angela Barnes, expert journalist of the mind Kristin Wong, writer and performer Jae Broderick, ‘Smile’ obsessive and comedian Jason Hazeley, art gallery owner Chris Kendall and audio producer/reboot specialist Barnaby Eaton-Jones. A three-act philosophical foray into the world of the unfini
Written and presented by Gareth Gwynn
Produced by James Bonney and Jess Gunasekara
Executive Producer: Steven Rajam
Sound: Mike Woolley
An Overcoat Media production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 21:00 Legend (m001t33v)
The Joni Mitchell Story
6. Both Sides Now
Legend is a new music biography series from BBC Radio 4 exploring the extraordinary life stories of pioneering artists who changed music forever.
In the final episode, we hear how Joni comes full circle. She reunites with the daughter she gave up for adoption, retires then returns to music, suffers from and then recovers from a near-fatal brain aneurysm, all those years after contracting and surviving polio. With the love and support of a community of musicians, Joni once again returns to the stage, celebrating all that she's created over 80 years.
“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.
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 the past year: “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. We hear tributes from musicians who have played alongside Joni and from those who have been inspired and influenced by her music. We hear from 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
SAT 21:30 Influenced (m001y3v3)
Helen Lewis Has Left the Chat
Left the Chat: No 6. The Telegram War
The encrypted messaging app Telegram is haunted by a single question - if it really is as secure as it claims to be, why does Vladimir Putin allow it to be used in Russia?
And should Russian dissidents, independent journalists and Ukrainian soldiers use this Wild West of an app, where you can find everything from porn to drugs to faked propaganda videos?
Answering those questions takes Helen on a journey that begins with a young Russian entrepreneur throwing 5,000 rouble notes off a balcony, folded like paper aeroplanes, and finishes with him in exile in Dubai, rich beyond his wildest dreams. But what does Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram, really believe?
Producer: Tom Pooley
Assistant Producer: Orla O'Brien
Sound Design: Louis Blatherwick
Editor: Craig Templeton Smith
Original Music: Coach Conrad
A Tempo & Talker production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 22:00 News (m001z5x3)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4
SAT 22:15 The Food Programme (m001yxpw)
Posh Nosh: Food's Class Dilemma
How much does what you choose to eat come from what social class you were born into, or identify with now? In this episode, Sheila Dillon takes on the often uncomfortable conversation about social class in the UK, British people's obsession with it, and what it's doing to our health via the way we choose to eat.
Sheila is joined at an east London pie and mash shop by the food historian Pen Vogler, whose book "Scoff: A History of Food and Class in Britain" charts the way these class markers were established and continue to be upheld. She explains how many foods have moved between classes, and why we pedestal imported foods, including fast foods from America.
After a 'posh' Afternoon Tea overlooking St Paul’s Cathedral, Sheila heads to the studio to understand more about the impact of these class markers. How has the food industry used these links to sell more food? and what’s being done to break these connections between food and social class?
Joining her are five guests whose life experiences help illuminate the topic, they are the food campaigner Kathleen Kerridge, TikTok chef Nathan Smith (Grubworks Kitchen), Masterchef judge and food writer William Sitwell, Anna Taylor from The Food Foundation and Dr Maxine Woolhouse, a senior lecturer in psychology at Leeds Beckett University specialising in food, class and gender.
So can we ever give these class markers up? Sheila's final visit is to a Community Garden in Hoxton, The Growing Kitchen, where everyone is welcome. Here she meets chairman Tony and member Carmel who share the secrets of their classless community of gardeners and cooks.
Presented by Sheila Dillon
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Natalie Donovan
SAT 23:00 You Heard It Here First (m001z4j1)
Series 2
Six: 'How well do you remember Thundercats?'
Chris McCausland asks Donna Preston and Jon Long to take on Glenn Moore and Sara Pascoe. Sara Pascoe finds a child's description of a famous film scene impossible to decipher. The two 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 the age of members of the audience from their voice alone.
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 (m001yy9x)
Programme 9, 2024
(9/12)
Earlier in the series when Stephen Maddock and Frankie Fanko of the Midlands played Stuart Maconie and Adele Geras of the North of England, the Midlands won emphatically. Can the North reverse the result today? Kirsty Lang provides the cryptic questions and the helpful hints too, if they need them.
The questions in today's quiz are:
Q1 Why would a breath-freshening confectionery item, the object of Adrian Mole's affections, and a Beethoven piano sonata, be likely to please the Prime Minister?
Q2 (from David Brain) Why might racing to the Isle of Man help you to get a pint that's been improved, a lascivious look that results in correspondence, or a visionary who writes quiz questions?
Q3 Music: Which entrapped family would particularly enjoy this sequence, and what might be their contribution?
Q4 (from Dr Anthony Edwards) If fifth place might make you think of a rifle, fourth place is a Victorian singer in search of something, third place gave us The Iron Heel and second place sounds like the voice of Radiohead, why would first place go to a sort of bookstand?
Q5 (from Charlie Wakely) Why could the progenitors of an unusually arch handbag and a poetic account of a seat of learning for women find common cause in a railway station bookshop?
Q6 (from Jill Butler) Music: How might these musicians add colour to the lives of Miss Sharp's school principal, a faithless naval officer and a man who set investigations in motion in the mid-19th century?
Q7 (from Keith Scholes) Why might a vainglorious poetic king of kings, the voice of Yoda, an obscenity trial, an Argentine midfielder and manager, and the leader of a musical occult meeting, lead you to the real and lyrical origins of some working men?
Q8 (from Peter Green) A Scot would know how a high-ranking mafioso and a high-ranking Ottoman leader might come together with a pseudonymous writer killed by a sniper in the First World War, to form the subject of a Peter Blake canvas. Do you?
Producer: Paul Bajoria
SUNDAY 12 MAY 2024
SUN 00:00 Midnight News (m001z5x5)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 00:15 Bookclub (m001yy9v)
Nicholas Shakespeare: Six Minutes in May
James Naughtie and readers quiz Nicholas Shakespeare about his book, Six Minutes In May: How Churchill Unexpectedly Became Prime Minister. It chronicles the dramatic political and military events of 1940 which led to the momentous Norway Debate and Chamberlain’s resignation.
Upcoming recordings at BBC Broadcasting House in London:
Wednesday 15 May at 1300: Lucy Caldwell on These Days
Thursday 6 June at 1245: Marlon James on A Brief History of Seven Killings
SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m001z5x7)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m001z5x9)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m001z5xc)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
SUN 05:30 News Briefing (m001z5xf)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (m001z5xh)
The Parish church of St Andrew in Wissett, Suffolk
Bells on Sunday comes from the Parish church of St Andrew in Wissett, Suffolk
SUN 05:45 In Touch (m001yy79)
Sleep
What is non-24-hour sleep-wake disorder? It is a condition that impacts the natural body clock, thus affecting sleep, and can be triggered by a lack of or no light perception. Tina Snow got in touch after having suffered with this condition for most of her life and she struggled to get the treatment she needed. We have brought Tina together with a world expert in this condition to give information on how the condition works and how it can be treated effectively. We also hear from Tina's GP, who recently sought a individual prescription for melatonin (a natural hormone that regulates sleep) and we hear Kaukub Asia's experience, who also has issues with her circadian rhythm due to her visual impairment.
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 (m001z62v)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 06:05 Beyond Belief (m001yy6v)
Spiritual Seekers
Eddy Elsey, an estate agent in London, was struggling with his mental health and looking for support. Like 37% of people, according to the last census in England and Wales, traditional religion wasn’t a place he turned to. But, as he tells Giles Fraser, he did find a spiritual connection through shamanism, which has helped him.
When people say they are "spiritual but not religious", what do they mean and what do they believe?
A group of people who make use of spiritual ideologies describe their practices, from sound healing to astrology. What are oracle cards and how do you carry out a shamanic divination?
Giles meets Celestial Tree, an astrologist, Jo Moore a yoga teacher and reiki practitioner and Linda Woodhead, Professor of Moral and Social Theology at Kings College, London, who has researched the growth of spiritualities. What draws people towards them?
Producer: Rebecca Maxted
Assistant Producer: Ruth Purser
Editor: Jonathan Hallewell
SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (m001z62x)
From Watercress to Wasabi
Jon Old’s family own around 16 hectares of watercress beds across the Hampshire and Dorset countryside, supplying major supermarket chains. However, since 2010, they’ve also been growing something else: wasabi. Known for its spicy flavour, wasabi is difficult to grow even in its native climate of Japan, but Jon and his team have been able to create a hospitable habitat in a specially adapted Victorian watercress bed.
Charlotte Smith heads to Manor Farm near Alresford to learn about the watercress side of the business and meets Tom Amery, who has worked with the Old family for over 25 years. Tom talks about the history of watercress, explaining how the growth of the railways in the Victorian era meant that watercress could be transported rapidly from Hampshire all over the country. Charlotte finds out how watercress is grown and learns about the important relationship between the farm and the area's natural springs.
Charlotte then visits the place where the wasabi is grown, to find out more about this enigmatic plant. Like watercress, it is fed on water from natural springs, but instead of the broad, flat, open beds that watercress is grown in, wasabi is cultivated in shady conditions on gravel rows, mimicking its natural habitat in the mountain streams of Japan. Wasabi is a slow and difficult crop to grow, taking around eighteen months to be ready to harvest. It’s also a challenging ingredient to cook with, with chefs needing to understand how to use it to make the most of its short-lived but intense heat and flavour. Charlotte hears about Jon’s passion for this temperamental plant and why, despite the challenges of growing it in the UK, he believes it’s worth it.
Presented by Charlotte Smith
Produced by Jo Peacey
SUN 06:57 Weather (m001z62z)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SUN 07:00 News and Papers (m001z631)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 07:10 Sunday (m001z633)
A look at the ethical and religious issues of the week
SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (m001z635)
Prisoners' Education Trust
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe makes the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of Prisoners' Education 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 ‘Prisoners' Education Trust’.
- Cheques should be made payable to ‘Prisoners' Education 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.
Registered charity number: 1084718
SUN 07:57 Weather (m001z637)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SUN 08:00 News and Papers (m001z639)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the Sunday papers
SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (m001z63c)
I See You
Priest and poet Rev Laura Darrall, Curate of St Peter and St Paul’s Church, Rustington, leads a meditation for Mental Health Awareness Week. The service includes a number of her poems which reflect on her lived experience, including ‘I see you’ and ‘Free me’, alongside reflections by Rev Dr Isabelle Hamley, Principal of Ridley Hall, Cambridge.
Producer: Andrew Earis
SUN 08:48 A Point of View (m001yxqy)
Apple Days
Rebecca Stott is on a quest for a decent tasting apple. Along the way she discovers a revival of interest in wonderful heritage varieties: the rough textured russets like Ashmeads Kernel, the rich, aromatic Saltcote Pippin or the sharp tanginess of the Alfriston.
Rebecca asks why - given the UK has an impressive two and a half thousand varieties of apple - we can only buy four or five in the average supermarket.
Producer: Adele Armstrong
Sound: Peter Bosher
Production coordinator: Liam Morrey
Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith
SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (m001z63f)
Anneka Rice on the Magpie Robin
Broadcaster Anneka Rice used to live in Hong Kong, one of the most densely populated places on the planet. But in that vibrant, bustling, noisy cityscape lived the magpie robin whose song pierced through the human soundscape and enriched her time living here. In this episode of Tweet of the Day Anneka recalls how the magpie robin's song enriched her time living there.
A BBC Audio production from Bristol
Producer : Andrew Dawes
Studio engineer : Tim Allen
SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (m001z63h)
The dark art of political defection
As the Tories seek to discredit Natalie Elphicke, another defector describes the abuse they received after leaving for Labour. Plus, Brian Blessed reflects on the Northern Lights.
SUN 10:00 Desert Island Discs (m001z63k)
Greg Davies, comedian
Greg Davies is a familiar face on television as the host of Taskmaster, the BAFTA-winning game show, and he has achieved sell out national arena tours as a stand-up. His on-screen breakthrough came in 2008 when he played the head of the sixth form, Mr Gilbert, in the highly successful teenage comedy series the Inbetweeners. He wrote and starred in the black comedy the Cleaner and co-wrote the sitcom Man Down in which he played a man in the grip of a midlife crisis.
Greg was born in St Asaph in north Wales and grew up in Shropshire. At school he gravitated towards what he calls the silly boys who created characters and devised comedy sketches in the playground. When he was 18 he discovered Eddie Murphy whose stand-up routines about his relatives spurred Greg to look to his own family as comedic source material.
Greg spent 13 years as an English and Drama teacher – a time he looks back on with mixed emotions and which he has mined for his stage act. When he was 33 he left teaching and started performing stand-up gigs and performed his first solo stand-up show at the Edinburgh Festival in 2010.
Greg lives in south London.
DISC ONE: Baggy Trousers - Madness
DISC TWO: Wichita Lineman - Glen Campbell
DISC THREE: 100% Endurance - Yard Act
DISC FOUR: Circlesquare - The Wonder Stuff
DISC FIVE: Cemetry Gates - The Smiths
DISC SIX: Consider Yourself - Jack Wild (The Artful Dodger) and The Orchestra, conducted by John Green. From Oliver! [An Original Soundtrack Recording]
DISC SEVEN: She Sells Sanctuary - The Cult
DISC EIGHT: The Next Episode - Dr. Dre featuring Snoop Dogg
BOOK CHOICE: Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
LUXURY ITEM: Sausages
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: 100% Endurance - Yard Act
Presenter Lauren Laverne
Producer Paula McGinley
SUN 11:00 The Archers Omnibus (m001z63m)
Writer: Naylah Ahmed
Director: Kim Greengrass & Mel Ward
Editor: Jeremy Howe
Brian Aldridge…. Charles Collingwood
Harrison Burns…. James Cartwright
Alice Carter…. Hollie Chapman
Chris Carter…. Wilf Scolding
Alan Franks…. John Telfer
George Grundy…. Angus Stobie
Will Grundy…. Philip Malloy
Jakob Hakansson…. Paul Venables
Joy Horville…. Jackie Lye
Alistair Lloyd…. Michael Lumsden
Paul Mack…. Joshua Riley
Adam Macy…. Andrew Wincott
Kate Madikane…. Perdita Avery
Jazzer McCreary…. Ryan Kelly
Denise Metcalf…. Clare Perkins
Fallon Rogers…. Joanna Van Kampen
Mick…. Martin Barrass
Dr Ghanam…. Philip Arditti
SUN 12:15 Profile (m001z5wz)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 12:30 It's a Fair Cop (m001yysv)
Series 8
6. Domestic Violence
When should the police get involved in people's personal lives?
Ever worried about a friend's new partner even when they say everything is 'fine'? In this week's episode Alfie looks into helping someone who might be under 'coercive control'.
Details of support for domestic abuse are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline.
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 (m001z63p)
The latest weather forecast
SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (m001z63r)
England's prison problem
A former inmate and a former guard shed light on the state of England's crumbling prisons. But how can they be fixed?
SUN 13:30 Conflict on Campus (m001zk1s)
Examining how the Israel-Gaza war is affecting students here in the UK. Anwar Akhtar is a director at the Samosa Project, a media and arts charity working to create understanding across cultures. He heads to Leeds, and gets a close-up view of the tensions bubbling over at the university.
SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m001yxqc)
University of Reading
What suggestions do the panel have to attract new gardeners to our community allotment? Should I replace my drought damaged slow growing conifers? What evergreen hardy plants for some winter interest can I have in my tropical themed garden?
Peter Gibbs and his team of scholastic horticultural experts are at the University of Reading for this week's episode of Gardeners' Question Time.
Joining Peter answer the audience's gardening conundrums are passionate plantsman Matthew Biggs, garden designer Juliet Sargeant, and self proclaimed botany geek James Wong.
Peter Gibbs speaks with Professor Sarah Dance about Reading University’s study into meteorology and their on-going research into predicting weather forecasts weeks in advance.
Producer: Dominic Tyerman
Assistant Producer: Dulcie Whadcock
Executive Producer: Carly Maile
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 14:45 Opening Lines (m001z63t)
The Man Who Fell to Earth
The Man Who Fell to Earth by American writer Walter Tevis was published in 1963. Unlike most sci-fi of its time, it’s not about space, far-off galaxies or a distant future, but set only a decade or so from the time of writing.
When an inhabitant of the planet Anthea comes to Earth in search of the resources to save his world, he uses his knowledge of advanced technology to amass the fortune he needs to save his people from extinction. As Thomas Jerome Newton’s secret project takes shape at a site in rural Kentucky, this extra-terrestrial visitor becomes an all-too-human and troubled figure.
John looks at how deeply the story is lodged in Walter Tevis’ own experience and that of post-war America. He also asks what it is about Tevis’ writing that has made this book, along with his others including The Hustler, The Color of Money and The Queen’s Gambit, so appealing to the film and television industry.
John Yorke has worked in television and radio for 30 years, and he shares his experience with Radio 4 listeners as he unpacks the themes and impact of the books, plays and stories that are being dramatized in BBC Radio 4’s Sunday/Saturday Drama series. From EastEnders to The Archers, Life on Mars to Shameless, he has been obsessed with telling big popular stories. He has spent years analysing not just how stories work but why they resonate with audiences around the globe and has brought together his experience in his bestselling book Into the Woods. As former Head of Channel Four Drama, Controller of BBC Drama Production and MD of Company Pictures, John has tested his theories during an extensive production career working on some of the world’s most lucrative, widely viewed and critically acclaimed TV drama. As founder of the hugely successful BBC Writers Academy, John has trained a generation of screenwriters.
Contributor:
Professor Farah Mendlesohn is the author of several books about science fiction and fantasy literature, including Rhetorics of Fantasy (2008), Children’s Fantasy Literature (co-authored, 2016) and The Pleasant Profession of Robert A Heinlein (2019). She has been nominated six times for the Hugo Award for Best Related Work, which she won in 2005 with The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction (edited with Edward James)
Walter Tevis audio from an interview with Don Swaim, Ohio University, 1984
Readings by Riley Neldam from The Man Who Fell to Earth (Gollancz 1963)
Producers: Tolly Robinson and Sara Davies
Executive Producer: Caroline Raphael
Sound: Sean Kerwin
Researcher: Nina Semple
Production Manager: Sarah Wright
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 15:00 Drama on 4 (m001z63w)
The Man Who Fell to Earth
The classic novel that spawned the acclaimed film starring David Bowie, from the writer of The Queen's Gambit and The Hustler.
An alien arrives in Kentucky with five years to save the handful of survivors of his dying planet, and to save humanity from itself. Calling himself Thomas Newton, his plan is to use his race’s advanced technology to make millions, and then build a spaceship to bring the last of his people to live on Earth.
But Newton begins to doubt his purpose, and finds himself unable to cope with the emotional weight of being human. He finds solace with two fellow outsiders - cheery functioning alcoholic Betty-Jo, who falls quietly in love with him, and widowed scientist Nathan Bryce, who tracks him down after recognising his tech as impossible.
Little do they realise that the Government are watching…
Cast:
Thomas Newton: Harry Treadaway
Nathan Bryce: Christopher Eccleston
Betty-Jo: Laura Aikman
Farnsworth: Stuart Milligan
CIA Director Bowen: Glen McCready
Canutti: Ako Mitchell
Brinnarde: Andre Refig
Doctor Martinez: Fiona Sheehan
Sarah Miller: Alix Dunmore
Written by Stephen Keyworth
Adapted from the novel by Walter Tevis, courtesy of Studiocanal
Sound Design by Jon Nicholls
Original score by Gazelle Twin
Directed by Simon Barnard
A Bafflegab production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 16:00 Open Book (m001z63y)
Hari Kunzru
Hari Kunzru speaks to Shahidha Bari about his new novel, Blue Ruin, about money's influence on art.
Plus the writing of historical crime fiction writer CJ Sansom. Following his sad passing two fellow writers guide us through his work and life: his friend William Shaw, who writes as GW Shaw, and also Stephanie Merritt, pen name SJ Parris.
And an audio postcard from Istanbul. Writer Andrew Finkel has lived there for over thirty years and describes how novelists have variously tried to unlock the city’s mysteries.
Presenter: Shahidha Bari
Producer: Emma Wallace
Book List – Sunday 12 May
Blue Ruin by Hari Kunzru
White Tears by Hari Kunzru
Red Pill by Hari Kunzru
The Impressionist by Hari Kunzru
Dissolution by C. J. Sansom
Heartstone by C.J. Sansom
Revelation by C.J. Sansom
The Shardlake Series by C. J. Sansom
Dominion by C. J. Sansom
Tombland by C. J. Sansom
Sovereign by C. J. Sansom
Winter in Madrid by C. J. Sansom
The Wild Swimmers by William Shaw
Alchemy by S. J. Parris
The Adventure of the Second Wife by Andrew Finkel
Istanbul: The Imperial City by John Freely
Candide by Voltaire
Orlando by Virginia Woolf
Fog by Tevik Fikret
Sailing to Byzantium by WB Yeats
Stamboul Train by Graham Greene
The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye: Five Fairy Stories by A.S. Byatt
The Maltese Falcon by Samuel Dashiell Hammett
SUN 16:30 Round Britain Quiz (m001z640)
Programme 10, 2024
(10/12)
Wales and Northern Ireland face off in the cryptic quiz for the last time this season. A win for either team could put them in a very strong position to take this year's series title. Kirsty Lang asks the questions, with Cariad Lloyd and Myfanwy Alexander playing for Wales, opposite Freya McClements and Paddy Duffy for Northern Ireland.
The questions today are:
Q1 (from Daniel Kitto) Where in the world do the day's end, Augustine's mother, an Ace detective and La Serenissima share a common route?
Q2 Why might bringing together a politician who gets a lot of letters, an overseer of Apprentices, and an Irish footballer and pundit (now retired) create a happy family?
Q3 Music: Where are we?
Q4 Why could a Wicked composer, a unit of frequency and the main constituent of granite find their end with a mining company founded on a Spanish river?
Q5 (from Adrian Perry) What's the masterful connection between a fictional Los Angeles detective, the first racing driver to compete in 300 Grand Prix races, and the pop group best known for introducing friends? And what kind of beard might suit them best?
Q6 (from Simon Meara) Music: Listen to these pieces and explain why none of them is the cause.
Q7 (from Anne Mitchell) Explain how, from a bad beginning, you might: keep the doctor away; cause fever, nausea, vomiting and death; use an incorrect word to humorous effect; succeed a 'dead butcher'; or be awarded the George Cross?
Q8 (from Karl Sabbagh) What might hold together charged particles in a magnetosphere, a group of iron oxides, and a huntsman of legend?
Producer: Paul Bajoria
SUN 17:00 Witness History (w3ct3bxx)
From a goddess to a graduate
In 2000, when Chanira Bajrycharya was just five years old, she was chosen to be a Kumari - a child goddess in Nepal. For the next 10 years, she remained inside her Kumari house, receiving worshippers and giving blessings. She tells Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty about being a living deity, and how her life changed after losing her status as a goddess aged 15. Chanira now works for a mortgage broker in Kathmandu.
SUN 17:10 The Invention Of... (m001yys6)
China
Imperial Collapse
"You could do a whole programme on why you shouldn't build a capital in Beijing. It's a Mongolian camel camp." Paul French
Beijing means capital of the north, and was first used by the Ming to distinguish it from Nanjng, capital of the south. Home to the Forbidden City where the emperors lived, the centre had a tortuous relationship with many other parts of China. By the end of the Qing dynasty this relationship had totally broken down, but what was going to replace the old system? Step forward Dr Sun Yat-sen, professional republican revolutionary.
Contributors include Jonathan Fenby, former editor of the South China Post and author of the Penguin History of Modern China: The Fall and Rise of a Great Power; Professor Julia Lovell, whose books include The Great Wall and Maoism: A Global History; and also Frances Wood, author of No Dogs and Not Many Chinese, and Paul French, Midnight in Peking.
This is episode three of The Invention of China and episode 57 of How to Invent a Country on BBC Sounds.
The presenter is Misha Glenny, the producer for BBC Studios is Miles Warde.
SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m001z643)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
SUN 17:57 Weather (m001z645)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m001z647)
Lord Cameron says restricting UK arms sales to Israel could embolden Hamas.
SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (m001z649)
Pat Nevin
From a wall of human sound at the Bernabéu to a wall of birdsong in Glen Affric; Mark Kermode wrestles with his conscience, and we find out if Donald Trump actually has one. There's protest and patriotism, poignancy and Polanski - not forgetting the return of the Brooklyn Cowgirl, who is back in the saddle after being forgotten for 50 years: this is Pat Nevin's special 'Pick of the Week' audio travelogue.
Presenter: Pat Nevin
Producer: James Leesley
SUN 19:00 The Archers (m001z64c)
Chelsea, Freddie and Paul prepare the food for today’s cricket match against Farndale. They’re short on players, so Paul and Chelsea have been roped in and Tracy’s trying to convince George to take part. They wonder if team captain Harrison will turn up after Fallon’s miscarriage last week and later Tracy confirms that Harrison’s not coming. George agrees to think about playing when Tracy points out that Tilly Button will be there. George is fed up with everyone wanting to talk to him about his ‘heroic’ river rescue but Tracy counters that’s because everyone, including her, is proud of George. But Tracy thinks Alice should be locked up for drunk driving and causing the accident. Paul agrees - because of Alice, six people could have drowned in the Am, including his mum, Denise. She’s still sick from her part in the River Am rescue.
At the last minute everyone’s delighted when George turns up at the cricket ground, calling him a hero, but George is having none of it. Paul comments that Denise and Alistair feel the same as George and won’t hear a word of praise. George has a storming game but in the end Ambridge lose the match. In The Bull afterwards Tracy praises the team, and they raise their glasses! But George is subdued and when he learns about Fallon’s miscarriage, he feels sick and heads to the toilet. Chelsea wonders what’s wrong and asks if it’s because of what happened to Fallon. When George worries their baby died because of him, Chelsea puts him straight saying it absolutely wasn’t his fault.
SUN 19:15 'Am I Home?' - Life in a Dementia Village (m001z64f)
We lie to people with dementia.
In fact, it's one of the only illnesses where lying is acceptable and extends into the entire care process. Since dementia gravely impacts a person's cognitive abilities, those diagnosed won't share the same reality as their carers. To bridge this reality gap and appease disoriented patients, carers distort the truth. Entire care home facilities seek to transform a patient's surroundings into fictional settings.
In the heart of Warwick, England, lies an extraordinary experiment in dementia care - a care home transformed to look like a village. In “Am I Home? Life In A Dementia Village”, journalist Lara Bullens takes listeners on a profound journey into a community designed to redefine the boundaries of familiarity for those navigating the fog of dementia.
At Woodside Care Village, dementia residents live a somewhat normal life. They are free to roam outside their households, visit the local shop and even get their hair done at Cutters Hair and Beauty salon. Here, the comforts of familiarity and the quiet despair of warped realities coexist, offering a window into the daily dance carers make to navigate the complexities of dementia care.
But beneath the surface of these carefully curated environments, lies a complex web of ethical considerations. Listeners will hear how Lara grapples with the implicates of creating alternative realities for those whose grip on the real world is tenuous. Is it possible to build a world that comforts without deceiving, that cares in complete honesty?
Weaving a narrative that is as personal as it is universal, Lara draws from the haunting memory of her mother's struggle with early onset fronto-temporal dementia. Her own struggles with lying bring to light the ethical labyrinth of dementia care, where therapeutic fibs become a poignant tool in bridging the chasm between the world as we know it and the world as it is perceived by someone with dementia.
Through the intimate lens of Woodside Care Village, listeners are invited to reconsider what it means to provide care in the shadow of dementia - a condition that, in its cruellest irony, often leaves individuals feeling profoundly alone in a crowd of familiar faces.
Written and Presented by Lara Bullens
Produced by Lara Bullens and Olivia Humphreys
Executive Producer: Steven Rajam
An Overcoat Media production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 19:45 Why Do We Do That? (m001fvb0)
Why Can't We All Be Morning People?
Are you at one with midnight, or up before sunrise? In this episode, Ella Al-Shamahi investigates when we naturally feel tired and awake, known as our chronotype. Our chronotype depends on our lifestyle, our environment, where we live, and is also influenced by our genes. In this episode, Ella Al-Shamahi uncovers fascinating research which suggests our chronotype can be traced back over 100,000 years ago, to when our early modern human ancestors interbred with Neanderthals. She speaks to geneticist Tony Capra how DNA from our Neanderthal ancestors may be influencing our present-day sleeping habits and shares her revelations with professional early riser and BBC Radio 1 Early Breakfast presenter Arielle Free.
SUN 20:00 Word of Mouth (m001yxl3)
Football Club Names
Dominic Fifield explains how football clubs got their names, uncovering a fascinating social history behind the Wanderers, Wednesdays and Villas.
Produced for BBC Audio Bristol by Sally Heaven
SUN 20:30 Last Word (m001yxqh)
Anne Dagg, Ross Anderson, Cecil Murray, Kris Hallenga
Matthew Bannister on Anne Dagg, the Canadian biologist known as The Woman Who Loves Giraffes for her lifelong study of the animals.
Professor Ross Anderson, the computer scientist who was a leading expert on data protection and online security.
Reverend Cecil Murray, the pastor of the First African Methodist Episcopal Church in Los Angeles who played a pivotal role during the riots of 1992.
Kris Hellenga, who was diagnosed with breast cancer aged 23 and set up the charity Coppafeel to encourage other young women to check their breasts.
Producer: Ed Prendeville
Archive used:
Archive of Anne Dagg, The Woman who loves Giraffes, Pursuing Giraffe Adventures Inc, 2018; Newsnight, BBC Two, 01/07/1992; Newsnight, BBC Two, 11/02/2010; Ross Anderson Interviewed by Elisabetta Mori, Archives of IT, YouTube Upload, 20/03/2024; Digitalize in Stockholm ’22, DigitalFuturesHub, YouTube Upload, 28/10/22; USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture, YouTube Upload 22/02/2021; BBC Radio Cornwall, 12/10/2021;
SUN 21:00 Money Box (m001z5wb)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 on Saturday]
SUN 21:25 Radio 4 Appeal (m001z635)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 today]
SUN 21:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m001z5w6)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:30 on Saturday]
SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (m001z64h)
Leila Nathoo's guests are the Conservative MP Sir Conor Burns; Labour Party Chair and Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities, Anneliese Dodds; and political strategist and communications expert, Jo Tanner. They discuss Natalie Elphicke's defection from the Tories, Labour's plans for workers' rights, and the government's attempts to tackle rough sleeping. Jessica Elgot - deputy political editor of The Guardian - brings expert insight and analysis. The programme also includes a report by Sam Francis on the mental health challenges facing MPs - including working in an antiquated building.
SUN 23:00 In Our Time (m001yxk8)
Sir Thomas Wyatt
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss 'the greatest poet of his age', Thomas Wyatt (1503 -1542), who brought the poetry of the Italian Renaissance into the English Tudor world, especially the sonnet, so preparing the way for Shakespeare and Donne. As an ambassador to Henry VIII and, allegedly, too close to Anne Boleyn, he experienced great privilege under intense scrutiny. Some of Wyatt's poems, such as They Flee From Me That Sometime Did Me Seek, are astonishingly fresh and conversational and yet he wrote them under the tightest constraints, when a syllable out of place could have condemned him to the Tower.
With
Brian Cummings
50th Anniversary Professor of English at the University of York
Susan Brigden
Retired Fellow at Lincoln College, University of Oxford
And
Laura Ashe
Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford
Producer: Simon Tillotson
In Our Time is a BBC Studios Audio Production
Reading list:
Thomas Betteridge and Suzannah Lipscomb (eds.), Henry VIII and the Court: Art, Politics and Performance (Routledge, 2016)
Susan Brigden, Thomas Wyatt: The Heart’s Forest (Faber, 2012)
Nicola Shulman, Graven with Diamonds: The Many Lives of Thomas Wyatt: Courtier, Poet, Assassin, Spy (Short Books, 2011)
Chris Stamatakis, Sir Thomas Wyatt and the Rhetoric of Rewriting (Oxford University Press, 2012)
Patricia Thomson (ed.), Thomas Wyatt: The Critical Heritage (Routledge, 1995)
Greg Walker, Writing Under Tyranny: English Literature and the Henrician Reformation (Oxford University Press, 2005)
Thomas Wyatt (ed. R. A. Rebholz), The Complete Poems (Penguin, 1978)
SUN 23:45 Short Works (m001yxqf)
Lord of the Fruit Flies
A man on the run heads north with precious cargo in this new short work, inspired by the life of American scientist Hermann Muller.
Written by Pippa Goldschmidt
Read by Tyler Collins
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie
American Nobel Prize-winner Hermann Muller founded the field of radiation genetics and was an early voice warning about the dangers of radiation and nuclear weapons testing. Pippa Goldschmidt is an Honorary Fellow at the Science, Technology and Innovation Studies (STIS) unit in the University of Edinburgh, where she has been involved in interdisciplinary projects ranging from the exploration of outer space through upland hill farming to the uncanny. She splits her time between Germany and Scotland.
A BBC Audio Scotland Production for BBC Radio 4
MONDAY 13 MAY 2024
MON 00:00 Midnight News (m001z64k)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
MON 00:15 Crossing Continents (m001yy7c)
Italy’s Mafia Whistleblower
Last year in Italy the biggest anti-mafia trial in 30 years reached a climax. On the stand were the Calabrian ‘Ndrangheta: they are estimated to run 80 percent of Europe’s cocaine and to make more money in a year than McDonalds and Deutsche Bank put together.
With access to mafioso-turned-collaborator Emanuele Mancuso, journalist Francisco Garcia looks at why Emanuele went against his powerful family. What has this trial meant for the 'Ndrangheta? And has it changed life for Calabrians today?
Producer: Ant Adeane
Production Coordinator: Gemma Ashman
Studio Manager: Neil Churchill
Editor: Penny Murphy
MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (m001z5xh)
[Repeat of broadcast at
05:43 on Sunday]
MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m001z64m)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m001z64p)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m001z64r)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
MON 05:30 News Briefing (m001z64t)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m001z64w)
This is the best day of my life
A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with Michael Kelly
Good morning!
The beginning of another week brings fresh promise – but also, maybe, fresh anxiety. Life can sometimes seem so frenetic, and we can feel the temptation to be in a rush around everything.
As a younger man, I was always in a hurry. Patience, I suspect, is a virtue that is cultivated by age and experience. When I was a teenager, I always wanted life to go faster and faster – I was so eager to be an adult.
As a forty-something somewhat grown-up, now I feel like I would like life to slow down. Though I love and admire the passionate and intense impatience of younger people – admirably often aimed at making the world a better place.
Maybe sometimes, as we grow we become cynical and too self-reliant.
In the Bible, Jesus often told his followers that he wished they were more like little children. At first glance, this is curious – but I think what he was talking about was the capacity to be child-like rather than childish.
To be humble, vulnerable, dependent and seeking…
“This is the best day of my life,” one of my nephews frequently exclaims…it could be something as simple as a restaurant serving his favourite flavour of ice cream or an unexpected treat at school where the headmistress has organised a bouncy castle or a picnic to mark an important day.
Aged eight, he’s already had so many ‘best days of his life’ that we’ve all lost count – but I’ll never tire ever of the wide-eyes which greet every new adventure.
So today, I pray to have an open heart and an open mind and to be ready to view the world with those same wide-eyes of a child and embrace the opportunity ahead of me.
Amen.
MON 05:45 Farming Today (m001z64y)
When Britain left the European Union, the Government said food and drink exporters had a 'golden opportunity' to put British food at the 'top of the global menu'. But the reality is that UK food is still lagging behind its European counterparts, both in terms of sales and reputation.
Tourism brings £14.5 billion into the rural economy every year - according to the Country Land and Business Association. But while visitors bring much needed cash they also create problems - from the pressure on housing and roads to the challenges of finding enough staff to look after them.
And we visit a new processing plant specifically for Welsh milk, which is due to open this month. Pembrokeshire Creamery aims to end the journey Welsh milk currently has to take: transported to England for processing and then brought back. It'll be the only large scale liquid milk dairy in Wales, since Wrexham-based Tomlinson's went bust in 2019.
Presented by Charlotte Smith
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Heather Simons
MON 05:57 Weather (m001z650)
Weather reports and forecasts for farmers
MON 06:00 Today (m001z65n)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
MON 09:00 Start the Week (m001z65q)
Bees – culture and survival
As a new exhibition opens in Liverpool exploring the survival of bees Start the Week takes stock of the life and times of this extraordinary insect. The artist Wolfgang Buttress uses a fusion of art, science and technology to create a sensory experience of the sights and sounds of bees. Bees: A Story of Survival is on at the World Museum, Liverpool until May 2025.
They’ve been around for over 120 million years and Lars Chittka, Professor of Sensory and Behavioural Ecology at Queen Mary University of London, says the thousands of different bee species have evolved a huge diversity of lifestyles and are some of the most intelligent animals on Earth. They not only use a symbolic language, can count, use tools and learn by observation, but are now believed to have an emotional hinterland.
For millennia, bees have held a special significance in human culture. Claire Preston, Professor of Renaissance Literature at QMUL, traces the symbolism of bees through historical and literary records, from ancient political analogies to today’s discussions about hive minds.
While there are increasing fears about the future of bees as they battle exposure to pesticides, diseases and habitat destruction, Alison Benjamin is one of a growing number of people trying to raise awareness. She is the co-founder of Urban Bees and wants to shift the focus away from farmed hives of honey bees which are growing in popularity in cities, to the protection and survival of wild and solitary bees.
Producer: Katy Hickman
MON 09:45 Café Hope (m001z65s)
Lost and hound
Rachel Burden hears from Graham Burton, who runs Drone SAR, a free search and rescue service that operates across Britain to help people find their lost dogs.
Café Hope is our virtual Radio 4 coffee shop, where guests pop in for a brew and a chat to tell us what they’re doing to make things better in big and small ways. Think of us as sitting in your local café and celebrating the people making the world a better place.
We’re all about trying to make change. It might be a transformational project that helps an entire community, or it might be about trying to make one life a little bit easier. And the key here is in the trying. This is real life. Not everything works, and there are struggles along the way. But it’s always worth a go.
Presenter: Rachel Burden
Producer: Uma Doraiswamy
Sound Design: Nicky Edwards
Researcher: Katie Morgan
Editor: Clare Fordham
MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (m001z65v)
Royal Navy Exclusive, Sarah Atherton MP, Tamsin Greig, singer-songwriter Lauren Mayberry
A female officer in the military says she was raped by a senior officer who was responsible in the Royal Navy for behaviours and values, including sexual consent. Speaking exclusively to Woman’s Hour, the female officer, who we are calling Joanna, reported the incident and her allegations to the military police who brought charges against the officer. However, the Services Prosecution Authority later said that they wouldn’t be taking the case forward to a military court. The female officer, who feels she has been forced to leave the military, says that her career has been left in ruins, whilst his continues. The Royal Navy has said “sexual assault and other sexual offences are not tolerated in the Royal Navy and anything which falls short of the highest of standards is totally unacceptable" and that since the alleged incident they "have made significant changes to how incidents are reported and investigated." Nuala hears from Joanna and the reaction from the Conservative MP and member of the Defence Select Committee, Sarah Atherton.
Known for her dramatic and comedic roles on TV, stage and film the Olivier award-winning actor Tamsin Greig is currently performing in The Deep Blue Sea - Terence Rattigan’s 1950’s study of obsession and the destructive power of love - at the Theatre Royal Bath. She joins Nuala to explain the appeal of her latest role and why in 1952 legendary actor Peggy Ashcroft said she felt she had no clothes on when playing this part.
The singer-songwriter Lauren Mayberry of CHVRCHES is taking part in a new BBC Radio 6 Music initiative Change The Tune. It is an on air, digital and social media initiative to raise awareness of the impact that online abuse has on the lives of artists. She joins Nuala to discuss her experience and to talk about embarking on a solo career.
Presented by Nuala McGovern
Producer: Louise Corley
Studio Engineer: Bob Nettles
MON 11:00 The Invention Of... (m001z65x)
China
The life and times of Chairman Mao
Misha Glenny and Miles Warde travel east to tell the story of China - what it is and where it came from.
"Twentieth century China is the most extraordinary place, and Mao is at the heart of nearly all of it."
With the help of Tania Branigan, Red Memory: Living, Remembering and Forgetting China's Cultural Revolution; plus Chris Buckley, Chief China correspondent of the New York Times, Frances Wood, Paul French, Ian Johnson, the author of Sparks, and Jonathan Fenby, former editor of the South China Morning Post.
The producer for BBC studios is Miles Warde.
MON 11:45 The Immune Mind by Monty Lyman (m001z65z)
Episode 1
Delving into the recent discovery of the intimate relationship between the brain and the body’s immune system, Dr Monty Lyman reveals the extraordinary implications for our physical and mental health.
Up until the last ten years, we have misunderstood a fundamental aspect of human health. The brain and the body have always been viewed as separate entities – treated in separate hospitals – but science now shows that they are intimately linked.
Startlingly, we now know that our immune system is in constant communication with our brain and can directly alter our mental health. Biological science and cognitive science are inseparable. This has opened up a new frontier in medicine. Could inflammation cause depression, and arthritis drugs cure it? Can gut microbes shape your behaviour via the vagus nerve? Could childhood infections lie behind neurological and psychiatric disorders?
A specialist in the cutting-edge field of immunopsychiatry, Monty Lyman argues that we need to change the way we treat disease, and the way we see ourselves.
Episode One
Dr Monty Lyman looks at the historical development of our understanding of the way in which both the nervous system and the immune system operate. He examines the recent ‘eureka moment’ when it was discovered that these two systems are linked.
Read by Gunnar Cauthery
Abridged by Libby Spurrier
Producer: David Blount
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4
MON 12:00 News Summary (m001z662)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 12:04 You and Yours (m001z664)
Dementia Care Costs, Donating Old Clothes, Private Electric Car Buyers
For Dementia Action Week we will be talking with Alzheimer’s Society who has published new research that reveals the soaring cost of dementia in the UK has now reached a staggering £42 billion per year.
It revealed that people living with dementia and their families are shouldering 63% of all dementia costs and that as the disease progresses, total costs increase significantly, rising from £29,000 per year for mild dementia to £81,000 for severe dementia.
Paul is a full time carer for his wife Sandra, who was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s in June 2021. Since then Paul has had to give up work and turn to benefits to cover their living expenses and care costs. However, the amount of support they get barely cover this and the worry has meant they have had to turn to family and draw on his pension early to survive.
We will hear from Paul, and Alzheimer’s Society who are calling on the Government to take action and make dementia care a priority.
What do you do with your old clothes when they are no longer fit to wear? Dump it in the bin? Take it to the recycling centre? Maybe you upcycle it and make other things?
Well more than 700,000 tons of textiles go into the household waste each year, and we will be hearing about one scheme trying to combat that, and also sharing some advice on what you can do with your old textiles.
And, think of buying an electric car?
Even though there are reports of sales of EVs going up, that growth is in the companies buying for their fleets, the number of private buyers has fallen by more than a fifth. So what’s putting people off?
We’ll be speaking to one potential EV buyer about what’s stopping them making the move to electric, and also to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders to ask what needs to happen to see those figures turn around.
You can contact You & Yours by emailing youandyours@bbc.co.uk or using the hashtag #youandyours
Presenter: Winifred Robinson
Producer: Dave James
MON 12:57 Weather (m001z666)
The latest weather forecast
MON 13:00 World at One (m001z668)
Rishi Sunak warns of 'dangerous' years ahead
Former Conservative leader Michael Howard discusses the prime minister's speech. Plus the latest from Israel, where a memorial day has been filled with controversy.
MON 13:45 The History Podcast (m001z66b)
Shadow War: China and the West
Shadow War - 1. The Escape
Could growing tensions lead to conflict? The rise of China is the defining challenge of our times – how far to co-operate, compete or confront? But has the West taken its eye off the ball? BBC Security Correspondent Gordon Corera looks at the points of friction in recent history, from espionage to free speech, the battle over technology and claims of political interference. This is a story about the competition to shape the world order. He speaks to politicians, spies, dissidents and those who’ve been caught up in the growing tension between China and the West.
Presenter: Gordon Corera
Series Producer: John Murphy
Producer: Olivia Lace-Evans
Sound Designer: Eloise Whitmore (Naked Productions)
Programme Coordinator: Katie Morrison
Series Editor: Penny Murphy
MON 14:00 The Archers (m001z64c)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Sunday]
MON 14:15 The Train at Platform 4 (m0013j9z)
Bag
Episode Three of Punt and Dennis's new sitcom, set in the claustrophobic carriages of a cross-country rail service.
Sam and the rest of the crew struggle to contain an anarchic party of seditious school children. But Dev sees a golden business opportunity in profiting from the kids' snack money. Meanwhile a bag falls from the luggage rack, injuring a passenger, who turns out to work for the rail regulator. Sam struggles to appease him, in order to avoid a damning report.
Our heroes are the long-suffering train crew who manage to scrape through every shift like a dysfunctional family – Train Manager, Sam (Rosie Cavaliero; Inside No. 9) First Class Steward, Gilbert (Kenneth Collard; Cuckoo), Catering Manager, Dev (Ali Shahalom; Muzlamic) and Trolley Operator Tasha (Amy Geldhill; Life). The passengers are made up of a rolling roster of guest stars, which includes the odd cameo from Punt and Dennis themselves.
Sam…. Rosie Cavaliero
Gilbert…. Kenneth Collard
Dev….. Ali Shahalom
Tasha….. Amy Gledhill
Mr Bagnall.... Steve Brody
Teacher.... Katy Wix
Passenger.... Hugh Dennis
Written by....Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis
Producer… James Robinson
A BBC Studios Production
MON 14:45 Felicity Ward - Appisodes (m000qkp2)
Series 2
Procrastination
The series in which stand-up Felicity Ward uses phone apps to help her cope with modern life. Keen to be more productive, Felicity heads to the App Store and buys “If You Don’t Task, You Don’t Get” (voiced by Sindhu Vee). Will Felicity conquer her procrastination or will the app conquer her?
Written and performed by Felicity Ward.
Script Editor: Gareth Gwynn
Production Co-Ordinator: Caroline Barlow
Producer: Adnan Ahmed
A BBC Studios Production.
This programme was first broadcast in December 2020.
MON 15:00 Great Lives (m001z66f)
Lady Rachel MacRobert, chosen by Hayaatun Sillem
Lady Rachel MacRobert was born Rachel Workman in Massachusetts in 1884. She was sent to study in the UK where she developed a passion for geology, and attended the Annual General Meeting of the Royal Geological Society despite women not being allowed. She became Lady Rachel MacRobert through marriage to Alexander MacRobert in 1911. He was thirty years her senior and a successful businessman. When he was knighted Lady MacRobert refused to attend the ceremony saying "I will bow to no man." They had three sons who all died whilst flying, two of whom in active service. In response Lady MacRobert paid for a plane, 'MacRobert's Reply' to be commissioned in their memory. She ran her husband's businesses in India after his death and bred cattle on the family estate in Aberdeenshire.
Choosing Lady Rachel MacRobert is the Chief Executive of the Royal Academy of Engineering, Dr Hayaatun Sillem. When Hayaatun discovered that the MacRobert Award for engineering was named after a woman she began looking into her life and discovered an independent visionary who was once described as "charmingly volcanic." But it's her response to the loss of her three sons which Hayaatun admires most, praising its defiance and also how it seized agency from a situation that could have easily made her a victim. Gordon Masterton from Edinburgh University and Trustee of The MacRobert Trust joins the discussion and says after a recent speech to launch an AI version of Lady MacRobert young women came up to him and said "Who would have thought she was such a badass."
Presenter: Matthew Parris
Produced by Toby Field for BBC Studios Audio
MON 15:30 History's Secret Heroes (p0hm0qrt)
17. Charles Drew and the Blood Bank
Charles Drew, an American doctor, led the creation and use of blood banks, saving countless lives both in war and in peacetime. But while he worked around the clock to save lives, he would be dragged into a battle on a different front: the battle for civil rights and racial equality in the United States.
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
Assistant Producer: Lorna Reader
Executive Producer: Paul Smith
Written by Alex von Tunzelmann
Commissioning editor for Radio 4: Rhian Roberts
MON 16:00 Conflict on Campus (m001zk1s)
[Repeat of broadcast at
13:30 on Sunday]
MON 16:30 The Kitchen Cabinet (m001z5w1)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:30 on Saturday]
MON 17:00 PM (m001z66j)
PM sets out election dividing lines
Rishi Sunak says only he can guide the UK through a 'dangerous' future. Plus, a judge rules parts of the government's Illegal Migration Act shouldn't apply in Northern Ireland.
MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m001z66l)
The judge in Belfast ruled asylum seekers in Northern Ireland cannot be sent to Rwanda
MON 18:30 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (m001z66n)
Series 81
Episode 1
Radio 4's multi award-winning ‘antidote to panel games’ promises yet more quality, desk-based entertainment for all the family. The series begins at the New Theatre in Oxford where Rachel Parris and the Reverend Richard Coles are pitched against Tony Hawks and Alexander Armstrong, with Jack Dee in the role of reluctant chairman.
Regular listeners will know to expect inspired nonsense, pointless revelry and Colin Sell at the piano.
Producer - Jon Naismith.
A Random production for BBC Radio 4
MON 19:00 The Archers (m001z66r)
Pip and Kirsty check up on Rex’s boat while he’s away and notice a bit of damage, maybe caused by debris from the crash. Pip’s going to fix it to make up for not being able to look after Rex’s pigs next week. Kirsty offers to give Pip a hand and they chat about Roy, who seems to be spending a massive amount of time video calling Lexi, even though he insists they’re just good friends.
At The Tearoom, Chelsea notices that Fallon looks under the weather. Fallon admits she didn’t sleep well. Kirsty turns up and takes Fallon to one side to let her know she’s there for Fallon after the accident and miscarriage, but Fallon says all she wants to do right now is work and sleep. Kirsty advises her not to overdo it; Fallon’s been through a lot physically and emotionally. When Kirsty brings up Wren, Fallon says that her experience is different, because Kirsty really wanted a baby, but Fallon didn’t. However, Harrison’s heartbroken and now everyone knows about the miscarriage which is the last thing Fallon wanted. She can barely look Harrison in the face. Kirsty suggests catching up later, but Fallon’s keen to get on. Chelsea’s understanding – she knows what it’s like when everyone knows your business.
Alice can’t face going to work at The Stables - she thinks everyone hates her and doesn’t blame them. She got so drunk she doesn’t even remember driving. Worried Adam suggests that Alice stays at Honeysuckle Cottage but stipulates that it’s Xander’s home and Alice mustn’t drink there.
MON 19:15 Front Row (m001z66t)
Damian Barr on Maggie & Me, Italian neorealist film, A.I. and Fake Art
A memoir about growing up gay in Scotland under the shadow of Thatcherism, Maggie & Me was published to wide acclaim in 2013. Damian Barr joins to discuss how he as adapted it with James Ley for a new National Theatre of Scotland touring production.
As Roberto Rossellini's classic 1945 film Rome, Open City (Roma città aperta) is re-released by the BFI, writer Thea Lenarduzzi and film historian Ian Christie reassess its role in launching Italian neorealism and compare it with There's Still Tomorrow (C'è ancora domani), a new film by Paula Cortellesi that borrows many of neorealism's visual and thematic hallmarks.
With news last week that fake artworks by Renoir and Monet were being sold online, Samira is joined by art specialist and A.I. expert Dr. Carina Popovici and writer and art crime expert Riah Pyror to discuss the problem and how A.I. is being used to solve it.
MON 20:00 The Briefing Room (m001yxl5)
Why is the water industry in so much trouble?
David Aaronovitch and guests explore the troubled state of the water industry in the UK. How do companies solve the sewage problem, fix the leaks and reduce the debt mountain?
Guests:
Kate Bayliss, research associate in the Department of Economics at SOAS, University of London
David Hall, visiting professor in the Public Services International Research Unit at the University of Greenwich
Sir Dieter Helm, Professor of Energy at the University of Oxford
Julie Bygraves, public policy analyst and expert on utility finance
Production team: Sally Abrahams, Kirsteen Knight and Ben Carter
Editor: Richard Vadon
Production Co-ordinator: Gemma Ashman
Sound engineers: Neil Churchill and Graham Puddifoot
MON 20:30 BBC Inside Science (m001yxl7)
Is treated sewage worse for the environment than raw?
There has been increasing public outrage at raw sewage discharges into our rivers and seas, but new research at Lake Windermere suggests that treated sewage is as much to blame. Wastewater experts Simon Evans and Ali Morse get into the nitty gritty of sewage treatment and why it might be causing so many problems.
Last week, the Sumatran orangutan Rakus made headlines when he was spotted by researchers treating a wound with a medicinal plant. A first for a wild animal. But he’s not the only animal to show self-medicating behaviour. Biologist and author of Wild Health, Cindy Engel, talks healing in the wild and what we can learn from the animals that do it.
And it’s that time of year again: the Eurovision Song Contest. In fact, this year marks the 50th Anniversary since ABBA won the 1974 contest with the iconic track Waterloo. Psychology and behavioural researcher Harry Witchel tells us what gives songs at Eurovision a winning edge and tries to predict a winner based on his criteria.
Presenter: Marnie Chesterton
Producers: Hannah Robins, Ella Hubber, Sophie Ormiston
Researcher: Caitlin Kennedy
Editor: Martin Smith
Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth
MON 21:00 Start the Week (m001z65q)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
MON 21:45 Café Hope (m001z65s)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 today]
MON 22:00 The World Tonight (m001z66w)
Is Georgia slipping into Russia's grip?
As huge protests continute in Georgia against a bill similar to one that was used to stifle dissent in Russia - is the country slipping back into Moscow's orbit?
Also on the programme:
Donald Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen has finished his first day of testimony at a New York court We find out how the courtroom drama played out.
And The Beach Boys on how competition with The Beatles pushed them to be a better band.
MON 22:45 Just One Thing - with Michael Mosley (m001z66y)
Deep Calm - with Michael Mosley
Deep Calm - Episode 1: Using Your Breath
Sit back, leave behind the cares of the day and take a sonic journey with Dr Michael Mosley. In this new podcast series, designed to help you let go and unwind, each episode focuses on a scientifically proven technique for activating the body’s built-in relaxation response, and takes a deep dive to explore what’s happening inside as we find stillness and calm.
By deliberately slowing your breath you can help bring peace and calm to your body and mind. We discover a sweet spot (it’s around six breaths per minute but varies from individual to individual) where bodily rhythms align to enhance this relaxation response, and encounter the wandering Vagus Nerve with its central, critical role in all of this.
Guest: Mara Mather, professor at the University of Southern California.
Series Producer, sound design and mix engineer: Richard Ward
Researcher: William Hornbrook
Production Manager: Maria Simons
Editor: Zoë Heron
Specially composed music by Richard Atkinson (Mcasso)
A BBC Studios Audio production for BBC Sounds / BBC Radio 4.
MON 23:00 Limelight (p09h4wvx)
The System - Series 1
The System - Level 6: Judgement Day Question Mark.
By Ben Lewis.
A witty and propulsive six-part thriller about a group of young radicals and the hunt for their leader. Starring Siena Kelly, Jack Rowan and Iain de Caestecker.
Level 6: Judgement Day Question Mark
The Past: Alex’s story comes into focus.
The Present: Maya goes in search of Jake, hoping together they can stop the System before things get totally out of control. But can they? And who’s really in charge?
Cast:
Alex … Iain de Caestecker
Maya … Siena Kelly
Coyote…Divian Ladwa
Beau…Matthew Needham
DI Cohen / Jess …Chloe Pirrie
Jake …Jack Rowan
Original music and sound design by Danny Krass
Featuring tracks from Equiknoxx music collective
A BBC Scotland Production directed by Kirsty Williams
With thanks to Dr Joel Busher at the Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations, University of Coventry.
MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (m001z671)
Susan Hulme reports from Westminster as MPs approve plans to suspend those arrested on suspicion of sexual or violent crimes.
TUESDAY 14 MAY 2024
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (m001z673)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
TUE 00:30 The Immune Mind by Monty Lyman (m001z65z)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m001z675)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m001z677)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m001z679)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
TUE 05:30 News Briefing (m001z67f)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m001z67k)
Sir Thomas More and Utopia
A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with Michael Kelly
Good morning!
Sir Thomas More, the Lord Chancellor of England who resigned in 1532, gave to the English language the word ‘utopia’ to describe any imagined place or state of things in which everything is perfect.
Of course, history and literature has also given up plenty of dystopian visions – some of them played out on our television and radio news bulletins with depressing frequency.
More, who was canonised a saint in 1935 by Pope Pius XI, described in his book Utopia the fictional island community where everything was perfect, everyone acted correctly and everyone lived happily ever after.
Of course, we all know – and events demonstrate – that such a perfect world is impossible to create.
Any society or organisation or political party or trade union or Church or faith tradition will inevitably be hamstrung by the faults of the members of that entity.
A cynic then might say: why bother? If everything is destined to be flawed, imperfect and all of our efforts fallible, why try?
But that would be to make the perfect the enemy of the good.
King Solomon is credited with giving to the Hebrew Scriptures the Book of Proverbs. He was on to something when he wrote that it is better to light a candle than curse the dark.
We can all of us make the world a better place with one small act of kindness or other-centredness at a time. A gentle smile to someone who really needs it, a few words of encouragement and concern…we won’t all be agents of epic change…but small changes lead to bigger changes.
So, today I pray for the wisdom to be that light in the world rather than submitting and feeling overwhelmed by the darkness.
Amen.
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (m001z67p)
14/05/24 - Farm to Fork Summit, Welsh holiday homes and a conservation dog
The Government says it wants more home grown fruit and veg - after releasing figures that show only 17% of fruit and 55% of vegetables eaten in the UK, are produced here. It's releasing more funding to help fruit and veg farmers invest in new equipment. The announcement come as the Prime Minister hosts his second Farm to Fork Summit at 10 Downing Street.
New rules in Wales mean holiday-let owners now have to rent their accommodation out for at least 182 days a year in order to qualify for business rates. It's designed to help develop a fairer housing market for locals, but farmers who have diversified with self catering accommodation in old farm buildings say it's bad news.
And we meet the conservation sniffer dog helping to track down rats and ferrets that are threatening seabirds on Rathlin Island off the North East coast of Northern Ireland.
Presented by Anna Hill
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Heather Simons
TUE 06:00 Today (m001z6hg)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
TUE 09:00 Being Roman with Mary Beard (m001z6bc)
8. Death on the Nile
Julia Balbilla is an accomplished poet and close friend of the wife of one of Rome’s mightiest emperors. Hadrian loves to travel and takes Julia and an entourage of thousands on the ultimate elite tourist trip- a leisurely Nile cruise to the Great Pyramid of Giza and the Colossus of Memnon, a statue that will sing for anyone blessed by the gods. Julia inscribes her poems on the giant foot of the statue, praising the power of Hadrian and the beauty of his wife, Sabina.
It’s a charming scene, darkened only by the fact that Hadrian’s male lover, Antinous has only just drowned in the Nile. Was he murdered by jealous rivals, killed in a lover’s tiff or did he drunkenly slip from the deck? Hadrian is publicly bereft, founding a new city in the name of Antinous, but seems happy to continue his luxury cruise. Mary Beard hops aboard Ancient Rome's most intriguing cruise with historian T. Corey Brennan and archaeologist Elizabeth Fentress.
Producer: Alasdair Cross
Expert Contributors: Corey Brennan, Rutgers University and Lisa Fentress
Cast: Julia Balbilla played by Juliana Lisk
Special thanks to Andrea Bruciati, Villa Adriana
TUE 09:30 All in the Mind (m001z6bf)
Dishonesty researcher accused of fraud; hypocrisy; suicide prevention; awe
First today, a story of alleged academic fraud. The allegations against Professor Francesca Gino might seem unremarkable at first sight. After all, we’ve covered allegations of fraud in psychology on All in the Mind before and the field has been doing all sorts to try to fix the problems. But what is unusual about this eminent Harvard researcher is that her research topic is dishonesty. Yes, a dishonesty researcher accused of the doing the very thing she studies. Cathleen O’Grady reports on a tale of data sleuths and multi-million dollar law suits.
Of course there’s no reason why a dishonesty researcher should be any more honest than anyone else. But somehow we feel as though you should have extra high standards if this is the topic you study, otherwise you could be accused of hypocrisy. Which got us wondering what it is about hypocrisy that interests, and sometimes infuriates, us so much? Professor Catherine Loveday, from the University of Westminster, is in the studio with Claudia to take a look at the evidence.
And we hear from Professor Rory O’Connor, at the University of Glasgow, about a generation of men whose suicide risk appears to have followed them through life. We talk about what that generation can tell us, as well as about the latest suicide statistics for England, and about what you can do to help someone in your life who you think might be having suicidal thoughts. And if you are suffering distress or despair, details of help and support are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline.
And finally, were you lucky ones enough to see the Northern Lights this weekend? Claudia and Catherine Loveday unpack the psychology of awe.
Presenter: Claudia Hammond
Producer: Lorna Stewart
Content Editor: Holly Squire
Production Coordinator: Siobhan Maguire
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (m001z6hj)
Birth trauma, Sleepwalking, Lolita Chakrabarti
How many women have decided not to have more children after a traumatic birth? The UK’s first inquiry into traumatic childbirth has found that too often poor care is normalised, with devastating effects on women’s mental and physical health. Nuala McGovern talks to one Woman’s Hour listener who decided she couldn’t face having another child after a traumatic birth, and to the author of the report, Dr Kim Thomas, about its recommendations.
Journalist Decca Aitkenhead regularly sleepwalks. She talks to Nuala about her night-time escapades which include finding herself locked out in the middle of the night, eating food she’d find disgusting when awake and incredible strength that has seen her smash furniture to pieces. She’s joined by neurologist and sleep expert Prof Guy Leschziner who explains what’s going on in our brains when we sleepwalk, and how women are affected.
New analysis from the TUC, the Trades Union Congress, says that more than 1.5 million women have dropped out of the workforce because of long-term sickness. The figure marks a 48% increase compared with five years ago. Nicola Smith, Head of Economics at the TUC, tells Nuala McGovern what may be stopping women from returning to work.
Award-winning playwright and actor Lolita Chakrabarti discusses her new Radio 3 play, Calmer. All about motherhood and chaos, it follows three generations of ultra-successful women in one family - but their lives are not as ‘good’ as they appear on paper.
Presenter: Nuala McGovern
Producer: Olivia Skinner
TUE 11:00 Screenshot (m001yxqt)
Films That Changed the World
Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode explore whether films and TV can change the world.
First up, Ellen talks to the award-winning independent filmmaker Eliza Hittman, whose critically acclaimed 2020 drama, Never Rarely Sometimes Always, charts the odyssey of 17 year-old Autumn, played by newcomer Sidney Flanigan from her home town in rural Pennsylvania, to her nearest accessible abortion clinic in New York City. Ellen also meets Caren Spruch, National Director for Arts and Entertainment Engagement at US-based organisation Planned Parenthood. They discuss her activism towards shaping TV and film storylines around abortion.
Mark ponders how two film makers have addressed homelessness in their work - rising star Lorna Tucker who's deeply personal documentary Someone’s Daughter, Someone’s Son has recently brought homelessness back into the spotlight, and film legend Ken Loach who shares how his 1966 BBC TV play Cathy Come Home came to be and alerted the public and politicians alike to the country’s growing housing crisis.
Producer: Mae-Li Evans
A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 11:45 The Immune Mind by Monty Lyman (m001z6hl)
Episode 2
Delving into the recent discovery of the intimate relationship between the brain and the body’s immune system, Dr Monty Lyman reveals the extraordinary implications for our physical and mental health.
Up until the last ten years, we have misunderstood a fundamental aspect of human health. The brain and the body have always been viewed as separate entities – treated in separate hospitals – but science now shows that they are intimately linked.
Startlingly, we now know that our immune system is in constant communication with our brain and can directly alter our mental health. Biological science and cognitive science are inseparable. This has opened up a new frontier in medicine. Could inflammation cause depression, and arthritis drugs cure it? Can gut microbes shape your behaviour via the vagus nerve? Could childhood infections lie behind neurological and psychiatric disorders?
A specialist in the cutting-edge field of immunopsychiatry, Monty Lyman argues that we need to change the way we treat disease, and the way we see ourselves.
Episode Two
Dr Monty Lyman looks at the relationship between the brain and the body in more detail. He takes the complex science of neuroimmunology and turns it into an exciting wargame, complete with rogue states, terrorist cells, and undercover agents. We also learn of the important link between the gut microbiome and the brain.
Read by Gunnar Cauthery
Abridged by Libby Spurrier
Producer: David Blount
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 12:00 News Summary (m001z6hn)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 12:04 You and Yours (m001z6hq)
Call You and Yours - Money and Your Mental Health
For BBC Mental Health and Wellbeing month we're talking about money and mental health.
When listeners get in touch with us about consumer or financial matters, they often tell us that the issue is having a detrimental impact on their mental health. We all know there's a link between money and mental health, both positive and negative. But in recent years the cost of living crisis has put extra pressure on that relationship.
So in this week's phone-in we're asking: How does money affect your mental health?
Do you worry about your finances, debts or rising costs? Whether money is just a constant niggle or a pressing problem, we want to hear from you.
We also want to hear from you if you have a positive relationship with money. What helps you feel in control and good about your finances and spending?
Call us on 03700 100 444. Lines are open at 11 am on Tuesday February 13th.
You can also email us now at youandyours@bbc.co.uk. Don't forget to include a phone number so we can call you back.
PRESENTER: WINIFRED ROBINSON
PRODUCER: CATHERINE EARLAM
TUE 12:57 Weather (m001z6hs)
The latest weather forecast
TUE 13:00 World at One (m001z6hv)
International graduate students not abusing visa rules
A new report finds no evidence that foreign students are abusing UK graduate visas. We look at the impact on the government's immigration policy.
TUE 13:45 The History Podcast (m001z6hx)
Shadow War: China and the West
Shadow War - 2. The Canary in the Coalmine
Could growing tensions lead to conflict? The rise of China is the defining challenge of our times – how far to co-operate, compete or confront? But has the West taken its eye off the ball? BBC Security Correspondent Gordon Corera looks at the points of friction in recent history, from espionage to free speech, the battle over technology and claims of political interference. This is a story about the competition to shape the world order. He speaks to politicians, spies, dissidents and those who’ve been caught up in the growing tension between China and the West.
Presenter: Gordon Corera
Series Producer: John Murphy
Sound Designer: Eloise Whitmore (Naked Productions)
Programme Coordinator: Katie Morrison
Series Editor: Penny Murphy
TUE 14:00 The Archers (m001z66r)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 Drama on 4 (m000cz1d)
Seven Pomegranate Seeds
Summer, and a young girl is stolen under the ground…
Up in the world, her mother searches for her lost child, her grief so powerful that the ground hardens into winter.
Colin Teevan’s The Seven Pomegranate Seeds draws on Greek mythology to weave a new contemporary story, revealing the darkest of moments, but also offering hope for the future and the possibility of a new, warming spring.
Starring Niamh Cusack (currently in the Nation Theatre’s My Brilliant Friend), Ruth Bradley (Humans) and Leah McNamara (Dublin Murders).
This is Colin Teevan’s brand-new radio adaptation of his original stage play. Originally based on seven of Euripedes’ female characters - Persephone, Hypsipyle, Medea, Alcestis, Phaedra, Creusa and Demeter - in this new radio adaptation, the myths are drawn into one new powerful story.
Colin Teevan is a celebrated playwright, translator and writer for screen. He created, wrote and was co-executive producer of ‘Rebellion’ and ‘Resistance’ (RTÉ and now Netflix) – serial dramas about the birth of modern Ireland, and ‘Charlie’, three films about Charles Haughey starring Aiden Gillen. He has premiered works at the National Theatres of Ireland, Scotland, and the National Theatre in London, and written many original dramas for BBC Radio.
The Seven Pomegranate Seeds is performed by the cast:
Niamh Cusack
Ruth Bradley
Leah McNamara
Written by Colin Teevan
Produced and Directed by Allegra McIlroy
A BBC Northern Ireland production
TUE 15:00 Short Cuts (m001z6hz)
Body Movements
In water, on wheels or explained over the phone - Josie Long presents short documentaries about moving our bodies.
Field Notes
Featuring Hannah Kezema
Produced by Jess Shane and Kristine White
Instructions for Returning to My Body
Gamelan music courtesy of Nusantara
Produced by Kia Miakka Natisse
The Pink Flamingo
Featuring Peter Prijdekker
Sound Recording by Edd Kentish
Produced by Hunter Charlton and Vicki Carter
Curated by Axel Kacoutié and Eleanor McDowall
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 15:30 Beyond Belief (m001z6j1)
Monsters and Gods
Bunny Love-Schock is an interfaith minister and practising witch. She has a devotional practice to the figure of Lilith, a character who has appeared in myth and religious storytelling for centuries. She’s been a demoness, a monster linked to owls, screeching and with wings. In the middle ages you might have been afraid of her harming your unborn or young children.
Now, Bunny tells us how she’s seen as a Goddess figure, in all her ambivalence.
Giles Fraser explores the monsters that have snarled at us from religious writings. What is their relationship to the divine? What are they trying to tell us and how do we see them now?
He’s joined by Professor Esther Hamori, author of ‘God’s Monsters’ who reminds us of the fearsome nature of angels, Dr Bihani Sarkar who has stories from classic Hindu literature and Natalie Lawrence, whose fascination with folklore and ancient myth inspired her book 'Enchanted Creatures'.
Producer: Rebecca Maxted
Assistant Producer: Ruth Purser
Editor: Jonathan Hallewell
TUE 16:00 Michael Sheen Gets Into Character (m001z6j3)
Inner Truth
Michael Sheen explores the art of acting.
One night in March 1906 an actor gave a not-very-good performance.
Nothing particularly unusual about that – it happens, according to your taste, all the time.
But this actor was Constantin Stanislavski. He had already played a decisive role in forging a new kind of theatre company, the Moscow Art Theatre – a tightly disciplined, dedicated ensemble with high production values. The MAT also established its own approach to acting – away from the declamatory, melodramatic style of the day and towards something more emotional, more naturalistic, something possessing, as Stanislavski might have put it, inner truth.
But on that night in March 1906 his own inner truth, he felt, was lacking.
The crisis this triggered in Stanislavski – the Stockmann crisis, as it’s sometimes called (Stanislavski was performing the role of Dr Thomas Stockmann in Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People) – prompted him to retreat and revise his firmly-held ideas on acting – as he did throughout his life – and to begin formulating what became known as the System: a codified way for actors to create believable, authentic, naturalistic characters night after night.
Stanislavski’s ideas have been passed like a baton down the generations since, with subsequent acting teachers adapting and modifying his ideas in different ways. They’re still part of the bedrock of acting training today.
Michael Sheen explores Stanislavski’s ideas, with writer Isaac Butler; actor and teacher Tom McClane; actors Adrian Lester and Simon McBurney; and legendary acting teacher Patsy Rodenburg.
Isaac Butler’s history of Stanislavski and the Method is called 'The Method: How the Twentieth Century Learned to Act'.
TUE 16:30 When It Hits the Fan (m001z6j6)
Apple’s ad backlash, 'I’m not your mum' and Zahawi’s exit strategy
This week, two of the world’s biggest tech companies have found themselves in PR crises of their own making. Why did Apple's new iPad Pro 'crush' advert misfire so badly? Meanwhile at Baidu - China’s biggest search engine - its PR boss has lost her job after videos of her promoting a toxic work culture went viral.
David Yelland and Simon Lewis go to the heart of a secret and little understood reputational war and look at the real battle between the west coast of America and China’s Silicon Valley.
And - bowing out gracefully. How Nadhim Zahawi’s exit strategy from politics ticked all the PR boxes.
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 (m001z6j8)
Protests in Georgia against a new 'Russia law'
Protests continue over Georgia's new 'Russia law'. Plus a union leader tells us what they would like a Labour government to do on worker's rights.
TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m001z6jb)
The island could become the first place in the British Isles to allow euthanasia
TUE 18:30 Thanks a Lot, Milton Jones! (m001z6jd)
Series 6
5. Oil of Ulez
Star of Mock The Week Milton Jones throws soup, paint and caution to the winds as he boldly steps into traffic. Management.
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 Tom Crowley
With music by Guy Jackson
Produced and directed by David Tyler
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 19:00 The Archers (m001z69w)
Paul fills Alistair in on how poorly Denise is doing. When Paul mentions that Denise’s main aim is to get well enough to sit downstairs to watch TV with John, Alistair blurts out that it sounds ‘cosy’. Paul attempts to chase up the paperwork up for the callout that Alistair and Denise supposedly attended on the night of the crash. When Paul’s insistent, Jakob notices Alistair’s unease and makes an excuse to call Paul away. But Later, Jakob tells Alistair that he needs to sort it all out – he’s finding the whole situation infuriating.
Jakob catches up with Adam, commenting that Brian and Kate are still barely speaking to each other. Jakob wishes he’d handled it differently when he discovered Alice’s drinking. Adam’s supportive; Jakob did what he thought was best at the time. Adam’s not sure whether Alice wants to stop drinking, although she’s agreed not to drink at Honeysuckle. But when Adam pops home, he can tell Alice has had a drink. When Adam suggests that Alice rings her detox buddy Lisa, she reluctantly agrees. But later Alice tells Lisa that she’s only ringing because Adam told her to. She doesn’t want to get back on track, because it’s too late for her. She was so drunk that she smashed into a car full of friends that plunged into the Am, and she doesn’t remember any of it. She tells Lisa she no longer wants her to be her buddy. Afterwards when Adam asks how it went Alice says she’s an alcoholic and no-one can change that – she’s done.
TUE 19:15 Front Row (m001z6jg)
Withnail and I on stage, Women & Art at Tate Britain, Alan Murrin
Bruce Robinson has written a stage adaptation of his cult 1987 film Withnail And I - a tragicomedy that evokes the end of an era as the 60s give way to 70s and dreams collide with reality in the lives of the two main characters. The play has just opened at the Birmingham Rep, directed by Sean Foley. Both of them talk about the challenges of adapting and staging a much loved classic and the degree to which it needed to remain true to the original.
Now You See Us - an exhibition spanning 400 years of women in art - opens at Tate Britain this week. Art critic Charlotte Mullins and art historian and biographer Frances Spalding give their verdict on how the collection represents the pioneers from Angelica Kauffman to Laura Knight.
TUE 20:00 File on 4 (m001z69f)
Teams and Regimes: Sportswashing in Football
Manchester City are dominating English football, with a trophy cabinet full of silverware. The club’s success has been bankrolled by money from Abu Dhabi. Now Newcastle United have followed in their wake, with backing from a Saudi consortium transforming a sleeping giant of English football into perhaps the world’s richest club. But with the money comes accusations that the clubs are being used to launder the reputations of repressive regimes accused of human rights abuses, and that the cash from the two oil rich states is being used to exert political influence locally and nationally in the UK.
Reporter: Adrian Goldberg
Producer: Fergus Hewison
Technical Producer: Craig Boardman
Production coordinator: Tim Fernley
Editor: Carl Johnston
TUE 20:40 In Touch (m001z6jk)
Travelling Abroad
Hayley Kennedy, Amar Latif and Dawn Hopper are all experienced visually impaired travellers and we have brought them together to discuss the positives and pitfalls of travelling around the world when visually impaired. We discuss booking airport assistance, getting your guide dog on an airplane, allocations of special assistance seats on airplanes and why it can be important to have a positive attitude.
Hayley Kennedy is considered to be the only disabled person, let alone visually impaired person, to have travelled to every country recognised under the United Nations. Amar Latif founded the assisted holiday company for visually impaired people 'Traveleyes', who are celebrating their 20th year and Dawn Hopper has family in both Switzerland and Spain, and travels regularly with her new guide dog, Micky.
Presenter: Peter White
Producer: Beth Hemmings
Production Coordinator: David Baguley
Website image description: Peter White sits smiling in the centre of the image and he is wearing a dark green jumper. Above Peter's head is the BBC logo (three separate white squares house each of the three letters). Bottom centre and overlaying the image are the words "In Touch" and the Radio 4 logo (the word Radio in a bold white font, with the number 4 inside a white circle). The background is a bright mid-blue with two rectangles angled diagonally to the right. Both are behind Peter, one is a darker blue and the other is a lighter blue.
TUE 21:00 Crossing Continents (m001z6jm)
Return of the Benin Bronzes
In 1897 British colonial forces attacked and looted the ancient Kingdom of Benin in what is now southern Nigeria. Thousands of precious objects were taken including stunning sculptures made of bronze, brass, ivory and terracotta. Some were decorative, some were sacred. Known collectively as the Benin Bronzes, they were famed for their craftsmanship and beauty. The majority ended up in museums around the world. But ever since Nigerians have been demanding their return. The Bronzes became symbols of the wider global campaign for restitution by former colonial powers. Now finally, some have been handed back. For Crossing Continents, Peter Macjob travels to Nigeria to track the return of the Bronzes, and find out what it means for Nigeria to have these lost treasures come home.
Producer: Alex Last
Studio mix: Neil Churchill
Production coordinator: Gemma Ashman
Editor: Penny Murphy
TUE 21:30 The Bottom Line (m001z6jp)
The Decisions That Made Me a Leader
The Decisions That Made Me a Leader: How Ice Saved My Life
Evan Davis sits down with Richard Walker the Executive Chairman of Iceland foods a company founded by his father. Richard started at Iceland Foods in 2012 from the bottom up working as a shelf stacker at the start.
A qualified chartered surveyor he is an entrepreneur in his own right having set-up a property business, Bywater Properties, of which he is still chairman.
A fan of physical challenges he’s climbed Everest and was running his first London Marathon this year when he collapsed less than two miles from the finish line and says ice saved his life.
Evan asks about the key personal and business-related decisions that got him to where he is today.
A Long Form Audio Production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (m001z6jr)
Blinken reassures Ukraine as Russian forces push further into Kharkiv region
As US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken was telling an audience in Kyiv that American weapons are on their way to the country, hundreds of miles to the east Russian troops advanced further into the Kharkiv region. They've now reached the small city of Vovchansk.
In New York, Donald Trump's former fixer Michael Cohen took to the stand in the Trump hush money trial for a second day, clashing with the former President's lawyers.
And in Rome, the manager of the Italian capital's opera house settled on a unique way to get young people interested in the artform, inviting them for a sleepover in the grand building where they witnessed rehearsals, took part in a treasure hunt, and met the opera houses's ghost.
TUE 22:45 Just One Thing - with Michael Mosley (m001z6jt)
Deep Calm - with Michael Mosley
Deep Calm - Episode 2: Relaxing Your Body
Sit back, leave behind the cares of the day and take a sonic journey with Dr Michael Mosley. In this new podcast series, designed to help you let go and unwind, each episode focuses on a scientifically-proven technique for activating the body’s built-in relaxation response, and takes a deep dive to explore what’s happening inside as we find stillness and calm.
Deliberately tensing and then relaxing groups of muscles all through the body is a potent technique for engaging your body’s relaxation response. We also encounter the magnificently-named Golgi tendon organ afferent nerve cells, and the interconnected nodes of the brain.
Guest: Ian Robertson, professor at Trinity College Dublin.
Series Producer, sound design and mix engineer: Richard Ward
Researcher: William Hornbrook
Editor: Zoë Heron
Specially composed music by Richard Atkinson (Mcasso)
A BBC Studios Audio production for BBC Sounds / BBC Radio 4.
TUE 23:00 Uncanny (m001z6jw)
Series 4
S4. Case 3: The Platte County Poltergeist
Lisa and her young family build their dream home in rural Missouri. Before they’ve even unpacked, strange events begin. Lights switch themselves on each night, footsteps echo around empty rooms, objects move by themselves.
As events escalate, is Lisa imagining things or is someone living there alongside them? And how can a brand-new house be haunted?
Written and presented by Danny Robins
Experts: Ciaran O’Keeffe and Jim Harold
Editing and sound design: Charlie Brandon-King
Music: Evelyn Sykes
Theme music by Lanterns on the Lake
Script editor: Dale Shaw
Development producer: Sarah Patten
Production manager: Tam Reynolds
Commissioning executive: Paula McDonnell
Commissioning editor: Rhian Roberts
Produced by Danny Robins and Simon Barnard
A Bafflegab and Uncanny Media production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (m001z6jy)
Alicia McCarthy reports on a controversial court ruling barring Northern Ireland from the Rwanda migration scheme. And, how the UK is participating in a 'financial war'.
WEDNESDAY 15 MAY 2024
WED 00:00 Midnight News (m001z6k0)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
WED 00:30 The Immune Mind by Monty Lyman (m001z6hl)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m001z6k2)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m001z6k4)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m001z6k6)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
WED 05:30 News Briefing (m001z6k8)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m001z6kb)
Childhood belly rubs and boiled lemonade
A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with Michael Kelly
Good morning!
When my mother was dying five years ago, she taught my family and me a great lesson in peaceful acceptance and serenity.
Always a prayerful and spiritual woman, her prayer had usually been silent and discreet – but in her great trial, terminal illness in her mid-60s – prayer became the soundtrack of her life.
At the start, I thought she was praying for a miracle – and the rest of us certainly stormed Heaven for such a miracle…but Mum never once spoke of praying for a miracle. Instead, she prayed for strength to be able to cope with whatever came…and she prayed for the rest of us.
The image of Irish boys and their ‘mammies’ is so cliched now, it has become a stereotype. But, if I’m honest – I think we never really grow out of being those little boys carried in our mother’s arms.
Even now, whenever I feel ill, I recall the childhood belly rubs and memories of the legendary cure-all boiled lemonade…and somehow, I think it helps make me feel better.
Acceptance is what theologians call a grace. It is about trust and surrender.
These are not easy ideas – particularly in a highly technology-driven age where there is a software application for almost everything, and we forever appear on the cusp of the next big leap forward.
Acceptance reminds that we are not islands – that none of us operate as hyper-individuals. We are all dependent on others, and we need one another.
And even when the news is bleak, and even the latest technologies can’t help us to outsmart our human condition, we can face it with the love and support of those around us.
So, today I pray for the humility of acceptance and for the wisdom to know that we are all part of a bigger picture.
Amen.
WED 05:45 Farming Today (m001z6kd)
15/05/24 - The Farm to Fork Summit at 10 Downing Street
In this special programme, Anna Hill reports from the second Farm to Fork Summit at 10 Downing Street.
The Government says it wants to increase the amount of home grown fruit and veg - after figures released this week who only 17% of fruit and 55% of vegetables eaten in the UK, are produced here. More money will be released to help fruit and veg farmers invest in new equipment.
As well as interviewing Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, we hear from delegates who were invited to the summit about what it could mean for food and farming.
Presented by Anna Hill
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Heather Simons
WED 06:00 Today (m001z696)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
WED 09:00 Life Changing (m001z698)
The crocodile, the twins and the bond that saved them
In 2021, twins Georgia and Melissa Laurie set off on an adventure to Mexico for some sisterly bonding. Whilst on their travels they stopped at the coastal town of Puerto Escondido where they planned to visit a nearby lagoon and experience the bioluminescent waters. The day was hot so the sisters went for a swim but soon found themselves in a terrifying fight for survival; in that moment, and the years that followed, their love for each other kept them alive.
Georgia has since been recognised for her bravery that day and is the recipient of the King's Gallantry Medal 2024.
WED 09:30 Intrigue (m001yb68)
To Catch a Scorpion
To Catch a Scorpion: 1. Dangerous Journeys
This is the hunt for a people smuggler, codenamed Scorpion, one of the central characters controlling the transport of migrants from the European mainland into the UK. It is a tense and disturbing investigation, recorded as it happened, in real time.
Barzan Majeed - codenamed Scorpion - leads the Scorpion gang. He's on international most-wanted lists. He started his criminal career in Britain and went on to build a smuggling empire which now spans the globe.
An international police surveillance operation trapped more than 20 of his gang and almost netted Scorpion himself, but he was tipped off and escaped. BBC journalist Sue Mitchell, and former soldier and aid worker, Rob Lawrie, team up to try to do what the police have been unable to achieve: to find Scorpion, to speak to him, to ask him to account for his crimes and to seek justice for those families he has harmed.
Their investigation takes them to the heart of an organised criminal gang making millions from transporting thousands of migrants on boat and lorry crossings that in some cases have gone dangerously wrong, causing serious injury and putting lives at risk. They witness his operation in action and record as intense situations unfold, where vulnerable people desperate for a better future, put their lives in the hands of ruthless and dangerous criminals.
As they edge ever closer they meet the people helping and supporting Scorpion, they unpick the financial side of his business funding his luxury life, they start to understand the man himself and to garner enough clues to trace his whereabouts.
To Catch a Scorpion is a BBC Studios Audio Production for BBC Radio 4 and is presented and recorded by Sue Mitchell and Rob Lawrie.
The series is produced by Sue Mitchell, Winifred Robinson and Joel Moors
The Editor is Philip Sellars
Commissioning Editor is Daniel Clarke
Commissioning Exec Tracy Williams
Assistant Commissioner Podcasts/Digital, Will Drysdale
Original music is by Mom Tudie
and Sound Design is by Tom Brignell
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (m001z69c)
Beth Mead, Women and choral music, Eating disorders
Over half of female footballers book pitches, only to find they’ve been reallocated to men. With twice as many women as men considering quitting the sport because of this, Arsenal forward and England Lioness Beth Mead tells Nuala McGovern about her concerns.
A BBC investigation published today has highlighted the concerns of parents of vulnerable children sent hours away from home for urgent eating disorder treatment. They say there isn’t enough specialist mental health hospital care available locally on the NHS and they want an end to the postcode lottery. We hear from Donna whose daughter Annie had to be based far from her family and BBC Yorkshire investigations journalist Louise Fewster also joins Nuala.
Mexican author and academic Cristina Rivera Garza has just won a Pulitzer Prize for her book about her sister, who was murdered in 1990. It’s called Liliana’s Invincible Summer: A Sister’s Search for Justice. Cristina joins Nuala to explain why she feels she wrote it with, not about, her sister, whose name and image are now carried at demonstrations against gender violence.
How has the role of women in choral music changed? With girls as well as boys now singing in cathedral choirs and more music by female composers being commissioned and performed, women’s voices are becoming increasingly prominent. Composer Cecilia McDowell and singer Carris Jones talk about championing and celebrating women in this traditionally male world.
WED 11:00 File on 4 (m001z69f)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 on Tuesday]
WED 11:45 The Immune Mind by Monty Lyman (m001z69h)
Episode 3
Delving into the recent discovery of the intimate relationship between the brain and the body’s immune system, Dr Monty Lyman reveals the extraordinary implications for our physical and mental health.
Up until the last ten years, we have misunderstood a fundamental aspect of human health. The brain and the body have always been viewed as separate entities – treated in separate hospitals – but science now shows that they are intimately linked.
Startlingly, we now know that our immune system is in constant communication with our brain and can directly alter our mental health. Biological science and cognitive science are inseparable. This has opened up a new frontier in medicine. Could inflammation cause depression, and arthritis drugs cure it? Can gut microbes shape your behaviour via the vagus nerve? Could childhood infections lie behind neurological and psychiatric disorders?
A specialist in the cutting-edge field of immunopsychiatry, Monty Lyman argues that we need to change the way we treat disease, and the way we see ourselves.
Episode Three
Dr Monty Lyman suggests that many psychotic disorders may have physical causes - the result of the body’s immune system attacking the brain with antibodies. And that these ‘mental’ illnesses have the potential to be cured.
Read by Gunnar Cauthery
Abridged by Libby Spurrier
Producer: David Blount
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4
WED 12:00 News Summary (m001z69k)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 12:04 You and Yours (m001z69m)
Stealing Addresses, Self-Build Struggles and Solar Panels
Our mobile phones contain more vital information about our lives than ever before The Financial Times Consumer Editor Claer Barrett takes us through the nightmare of repairing the damage in the days and weeks after her phone was plucked from her hands in the street.
Criminals increasingly are using other people's identities to establish betting accounts. We hear from a You & Yours listener who checked her credit file one day and discivered she had nine such accounts in her name- how was that allowed to happen?
There was a surge last year in the numbers of people fitting solar panels to their homes but after 14 years of subsidies and incentives it remains a niche. What will it take for solar to go mainstream in the UK?
More people want to build their own home but fewer are getting the chance.
Why is a new law aimed at making it harder for criminals to exploit addresses failing?
WED 12:57 Weather (m001z69p)
The latest weather forecast
WED 13:00 World at One (m001z69r)
Trials delayed to ease prison places crisis
Operation Early Dawn will see some magistrates court cases delayed to cut overcrowding in prisons. Plus, Debbie Wiseman on how to write music to soothe callers left on hold.
WED 13:45 The History Podcast (m001z69t)
Shadow War: China and the West
Shadow War - 3. The Break-In
Could growing tensions lead to conflict? The rise of China is the defining challenge of our times – how far to co-operate, compete or confront? But has the West taken its eye off the ball? BBC Security Correspondent Gordon Corera looks at the points of friction in recent history, from espionage to free speech, the battle over technology and claims of political interference. This is a story about the competition to shape the world order. He speaks to politicians, spies, dissidents and those who’ve been caught up in the growing tension between China and the West.
Presenter: Gordon Corera
Series Producer: John Murphy
Sound Designer: Eloise Whitmore (Naked Productions)
Programme Coordinator: Katie Morrison
Series Editor: Penny Murphy
WED 14:00 The Archers (m001z69w)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 The Interrogation (m0006n1b)
Series 7
Dan
Roy Williams' much-loved crime drama in which suspects are subjected to a grilling from DI Max Matthews and DS Sean Armitage. Dan's wife Becky is in hospital after a suicide attempt and Dan can't understand what's wrong with his lovely wife.
Max ..... Kenneth Cranham
Sean ..... Alex Lanipekun
Dan ..... Navin Chowdhry
Writer ..... Roy Williams
Music ..... David Pickvance
Director ..... Mary Peate
Producer ..... Jessica Dromgoole
There are five dramas in this seventh series of The Interrogation by Roy Williams which has become a popular fixture on Radio 4.
WED 15:00 Money Box (m001z69y)
Money Box Live: How to Increase Your Pay
Do you get as much as you give when it comes to your job?
We've had some important jobs numbers this week - with official data showing there are more vacancies than there were before covid but, the number is falling, while unemployment is rising. But alongside that, wages are going up too - by around 6%.
In this episode, we ask if you’re getting enough value out of your employer. We hear from listeners on how they asked their bosses for a pay rise, how they dealt with back pay and how they're making use of employee perks.
Felicity Hannah is joined by Amanda Arrowsmith, People and Transformation Director for the CIPD, the professional body for HR and people development, and James Reed, Chairman and CEO at Reed Recruitment.
Presenter: Felicity Hannah
Producer: Amber Mehmood
Editor: Sarah Rogers
WED 15:30 Behind the Crime (m001tb75)
Gary
This is the story of Gary, who served a prison sentence for his role in the supply for £4.2million of heroin.
But this eye-catching conviction is only a fraction of Gary’s story.
Gary grew up in Dagenham, in Essex. Very early on in his life he developed strategies to help him fit in with other children in school – strategies that sparked a remarkable chain of events which have led him to imprisonment … and then into the world of conceptual art.
By casting our eye back to Gary’s childhood and early adulthood, it’s possible to see characteristics that would influence the pathway his life would take.
Is it possible to prevent crime by understanding the root causes of offending behaviour?
Sally Tilt and Dr Kerensa Hocken are forensic psychologists who work in prisons.
They help people in prison to look at the harm they’ve caused to other people, understand why it happened and work out how to make changes to prevent further harm after they’ve been released.
In Behind the Crime, they take the time to understand the life of someone whose crimes have led to harm and, in some cases, imprisonment.
The job of the forensic psychologists is to dig deep into Gary’s story, to understand the sequence of events that got Gary to the point where he committed a crime.
For details of organisations that can provide help and support, visit bbc.co.uk/actionline
Producer: Andrew Wilkie
Editor: Clare Fordham
Behind the Crime is a co-production between BBC Long Form Audio and the Prison Radio Association.
WED 16:00 The Media Show (m001z6b0)
Baby Reindeer: truth or fiction?
Katie and Ros go inside the controversy about Netflix drama Baby Reindeer which has raised questions about the impact drama inspired by true events can have on real people. They’ll be helped by Piers Morgan who just interviewed one of the alleged subjects; Clive Coleman, legal expert and dramatist; and Chris Banatvala, former Head of Standards at Ofcom who can explain the rules for these kinds of productions.
Also in the programme, ahead of the infected blood inquiry publishing its final report on Monday, we speak to Caroline Wheeler who has followed the story for over two decades. We're also joined by Maggie Harrison Dupree, the journalist who broke the story of Sports Illustrated allegedly publishing AI generated stories. Plus, how do you compose an iconic news theme? As the BBC news theme celebrates its 25th birthday, we speak to its composer David Lowe and Victor Vlam, who owns the largest collection of news theme tunes in the world.
Guests: Piers Morgan, presenter, Piers Morgan Uncensored; Chris Banatvala former Ofcom Director of Standards; Clive Coleman, Partner at Maltin PR and former BBC News Legal Correspondent; Caroline Wheeler, Political editor, The Sunday Times; Maggie Harrison Dupre, tech writer, Futurism; Victor Vlam, Founder, Network News Music
Presenters: Katie Razzall and Ros Atkins
Producer: Simon Richardson
WED 17:00 PM (m001z6b2)
Slovakia Prime Minister shot
Slovak PM Robert Fico in a 'life-threatening condition' after assassination attempt. Also: Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg on why he thinks the Conservatives should do a deal with Reform UK.
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m001z6b4)
Robert Fiko was critically wounded in an assassination attempt in the town of Handlova
WED 18:30 Tudur Owen: United Nations of Anglesey (m0013rs6)
Episode 1
In 1978 a Japanese film crew came to 11-year-old Tudur Owen’s farm on Anglesey to make a programme about his life for a TV show called Children of the World. Then a Patagonian gaucho turned up. As did a man claiming to be a geology student called Hector. But were they all what they seemed?
Written and narrated by Tudur Owen with additional voices from Lisa-Jên Brown, Richard Harrington, Gwenno Hodgkins and Yuriko Kotani.
Script editor: Gareth Gwynn
Production co-ordinator: Katie Baum
Sound design: David Thomas
Producer: Richard Morris
A BBC Studios Production
WED 19:00 The Archers (m001z6b6)
Fallon and Jolene chat about Fallon’s forthcoming scan. Fallon admits she’s finding it hard to be in the same room as Harrison, since he told Alice about the miscarriage. She’s never seen Harrison so angry and the crash may not have caused the miscarriage. Just because Harrison was thrilled to discover that Fallon was pregnant, he presumed Fallon felt the same. But Harrison knew she’d never wanted to be a mum. Jolene reminds Fallon that she and Harrison love each other - they must try not to shut each other out.
Things are fractious between Harrison and Fallon on the way back from the scan. Harrison expects Fallon to be as upset as him about the crash and the miscarriage. Fallon explains that although she hates what Alice did, she realises that Alice needs help. Fallon decides to stay over at The Bull to give her and Harrison some space, but they confirm that they love each other. Later Fallon explains to Jolene that Harrison’s behaving like he’s lost a child, but she doesn’t feel like that. She’s sad and bruised, but not grieving.
Adam tells Alice that staying at Honeysuckle Cottage is making things worse; he’s asked Brian to pick her up. But Alice wants to go back to her own house. Ruairi turns up and suggests that he stays at Alice’s. He won’t stop her drinking and will join her if she does. Adam’s incredulous, but Ruairi explains it’s a way of supervising Alice, until she’s ready to get help. Ruairi’s going to suggest Alice stays in London with him. Adam concedes a change of scene may do Alice good.
WED 19:15 Front Row (m001z6b8)
John Cleese's Fawlty Towers on stage, Beatrice Harrison, Cannes
Fawlty Towers arrives on the West End stage nearly 50 years after it first appeared on TV. John Cleese talks about why the sitcom wasn’t initially regarded as a great success, his love and appreciation of comedy as an art form, and how a future project will see Basil running a hotel with his daughter.
100 years ago this month, the musician Beatrice Harrison was responsible for a landmark event in BBC history when she persuaded the corporation to broadcast live from her garden as she played her cello, accompanied by nightingales. Writer and cellist Kate Kennedy who has recreated this event for a new Radio 3 documentary and Patricia Cleveland-Peck who has edited a book about Beatrice Harrison join Front Row to discuss the significance of this historic event.
Jason Solomons joins us from the Cannes Film Festival to tell us what people there are getting excited about and what's in store over the next ten days.
Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe
Producer: Torquil MacLeod
WED 20:00 AntiSocial (m001yxq0)
Discipline in schools
A photo of a school corridor, showing three posters describing a particular teaching ethos, has started a debate about the right level of discipline in classrooms.
Some suggest the instructions, which include ‘sit up’, ‘eye contact’ and ‘smile’, are indicative of a super-strict approach some schools have taken, which might be distressing for children, especially those with special needs. We find out where this approach came from, and hear about the American educator who popularised the all-important acronym ‘SLANT.’
Supporters of the approach say strict discipline is essential for learning, and that it generates better outcomes. What evidence is there to back this up?
Presenter: Adam Fleming
Producers: Simon Tulett, Simon Maybin, Ellie House, Jay Gardner
Editor: Richard Vadon
WED 20:45 Uncharted with Hannah Fry (m001r1fy)
7. The Gossip Mill
2008, Hungary: a researcher stands on a factory floor quizzing a bemused employee. The tile manufacturing company is in trouble, and the researcher is there to help. But his questions seem silly: Who do you go to for advice? Who do you chat to?
What use is the science of networks to a company producing floor tiles?
Hannah Fry tells a tale about the precarious power of networks.
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 Being Roman with Mary Beard (m001z6bc)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 on Tuesday]
WED 21:30 All in the Mind (m001z6bf)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:30 on Tuesday]
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (m001z6bh)
Shock in Slovakia as PM is shot
An assassination attempt on the prime minister of Slovakia leaves him fighting for his life. We hear from a journalist who witnessed the aftermath of the shooting - and from Slovakia's deputy prime minister - who criticises the government's opponents.
Also on the programme:
As the UK government creates a new offence of "cuckooing" - when criminal gangs take over vulnerable people's homes - we hear about its impact on one family.
And the acclaimed war photographer Sir Don McCullin reflects on a lifetime in photojournalism.
WED 22:45 Just One Thing - with Michael Mosley (m001z6bk)
Deep Calm - with Michael Mosley
Deep Calm - Episode 3: Using Your Imagination
Sit back, leave behind the cares of the day and take a sonic journey with Dr Michael Mosley. In this new podcast series, designed to help you let go and unwind, each episode focuses on a scientifically-proven technique for activating the body’s built-in relaxation response, and takes a deep dive to explore what’s happening inside as we find stillness and calm.
If you imagine yourself somewhere safe and relaxing, using something called Guided Imagery, you can activate the body’s relaxation response. Plus brainwaves, pupils and thought-birds.
Guest: Katarzyna Zemla, PhD candidate SWPS / PJATK Universities in Warsaw.
Series Producer, sound design and mix engineer: Richard Ward
Researcher: William Hornbrook
Editor: Zoë Heron
Specially composed music by Richard Atkinson (Mcasso)
A BBC Studios Audio production for BBC Sounds / BBC Radio 4.
WED 23:00 Gary Little: At Large (m001z6bm)
3. Dating, Depression, Dancing and Dad
Glaswegian stand-up comedian Gary Little is out of jail, and determined never to return.
With no money, no friends and no prospects, Gary is forced to move back in with his Dad - which makes dating and dealing with the return of his depression that much harder.
Gary finds solace with strangers, and flirts with a dangerous new addiction with plenty of 'gear' - hill walking.
More true criminal than true crime, this stand-up comedy series gives a different perspective of life before, behind and beyond bars.
Written and performed by Gary Little.
Produced by Julia Sutherland
A Dabster production for BBC Radio 4
WED 23:15 Tom Mayhew Is Benefit Scum (m0019b9q)
Series 2
Man of the Match
Comedian Tom Mayhew takes his grandpa to the match. This episode is all about the beautiful game and its unattractive obsession with money.
Tom Mayhew Is Benefit Scum is an autobiographical stand-up series where the comedian shares stories about his life growing up working class and his time on benefits. The show takes a wry, sideways look at the prejudices that people have towards benefits claimants and turns those assumptions on their head.
Written and Performed by Tom Mayhew
Featuring Chris Cantrill
Additional Material – Olivia Phipps
Production Coordinator – Katie Baum
Producer – Benjamin Sutton
A BBC Studios Production.
WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (m001z6bp)
Susan Hulme reports on Prime Minister's Questions - and more.
THURSDAY 16 MAY 2024
THU 00:00 Midnight News (m001z6br)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
THU 00:30 The Immune Mind by Monty Lyman (m001z69h)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m001z6bt)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m001z6bw)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m001z6by)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
THU 05:30 News Briefing (m001z6c0)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m001z6c2)
No fear is so great that it can completely suffocate the hope that springs eternal in the hearts of the young
A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with Michael Kelly
Good morning!
I’ve always found it a quirky little fact that some variation of the injunction ‘don’t be afraid’ appears in the Holy Bible 365 times. That’s one for every day of the year!
Pope John Paul II, who was born this week in 1920, took that message with him all over the world. The most-travelled Pontiff in history, he chanted the words ‘be not afraid’ in almost every corner of the globe.
Born Karol Wojtyła, the Polish Pontiff spent most of his pre-papal life living under totalitarian regimes. He spoke about it often.
Speaking to young pilgrims in 2002, he said: “although I have lived through much darkness, under harsh totalitarian regimes, I have seen enough evidence to be unshakably convinced that no difficulty, no fear is so great that it can completely suffocate the hope that springs eternal in the hearts of the young”.
Hope can sometimes be in short supply – and we so desperately need prophets of hope in our world today. People who tell us about human solidarity and fraternity. People who speak up against divisions, those who want to separate us – people who know that we are all part of one human family.
Difference is part of life, but in celebrating difference we are – paradoxically – celebrating what binds us: our common humanity.
And we’re invited to move beyond tolerance, to celebrate people in all of their rich humanity and to learn from one another.
So, today I pray for the virtue of hope: to be a prophet of hope in the corner of the world that I occupy, and to reject that what separates us and instead embrace what unites.
Amen.
THU 05:45 Farming Today (m001z6c4)
16/05/24 - Water company landscape plan, solar farm planning, horticulture strategy and rural tourism
Farmers are being asked to support South East Water with its new 25 year environment plan - launched this week - which includes creating a new super nature reserve. More than 80% of the area covered by the company across Sussex, Kent, Hampshire, Surrey and Berkshire, is agricultural. The company is under investigation by OFWAT after it was revealed as the worst performer for supply interruptions last year, and some local farmers are not impressed by the new plan.
Land use and the rules around it are back under the spotlight following new government advice on planning for solar farms. It's made clear that councils should only give permission for panels on high quality farmland when "necessary", and that they should take into account any other solar farms in the area to consider their cumulative impact. This follows changes earlier this year which made it harder to put panels on the 'best and most versatile' farmland.
We reflect on new Government plans for horticulture revealed at the Farm to Fork Summit.
And we meet the Northern Ireland sheep farmer who has turned his everyday life into a tourist attraction.
Presented by Charlotte Smith
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Heather Simons
THU 06:00 Today (m001z6p6)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
THU 09:00 In Our Time (m001z6p8)
Philippa Foot
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the most significant philosophers of the twentieth century, Philippa Foot (1920 - 2010). Her central question was, “Why be moral?” Drawing on Aristotle and Aquinas, Foot spent her life working through her instinct that there was something lacking in the prevailing philosophy of the 1950s and 1960s which held that values could only be subjective. Could there really be no objective response to the horrors of the concentration camps that she had seen on newsreels, no way of saying that such acts were morally wrong? Foot developed an ethics based on virtues, in which humans needed virtues to flourish as surely as plants needed light and water. While working through her ideas she explored applied ethics and the difference between doing something and letting it happen, an idea she illustrated with what became The Trolley Problem.
With
Anil Gomes
Fellow and Tutor in Philosophy at Trinity College, University of Oxford
Sophie Grace Chappell
Professor of Philosophy at the Open University
And
Rachael Wiseman
Reader in Philosophy at the University of Liverpool
Producer: Simon Tillotson
In Our Time is a BBC Studios Audio Production
Reading list:
Philippa Foot, Virtues and Vices (Oxford University Press, 1978)
Philippa Foot, Moral Dilemmas (Oxford University Press, 2002)
Philippa Foot, Natural Goodness (Oxford University Press, 2001)
John Hacker-Wright, Philippa Foot's Moral Thought (Bloomsbury, 2013)
Benjamin Lipscomb, The Women Are Up To Something (Oxford University Press, 2021)
Clare Mac Cumhaill and Rachael Wiseman, Metaphysical Animals: How Four Women Brought Philosophy Back to Life (Chatto, 2022)
Dan Russell (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Virtue Ethics (Cambridge University Press), especially ‘Virtue Ethics in the Twentieth Century’ by Timothy (now Sophie Grace) Chappell
THU 09:45 Just One Thing - with Michael Mosley (m001z6pb)
Read a poem
Reading poetry can reduce stress and help give you words to express the things you're feeling. And reading a poem out loud has been shown to be a surprisingly simple way to activate your relaxation response and bring about a sense of calm. It’s all to do with the way it slows and controls your breathing rate, which in turn stimulates your parasympathetic nervous system and can lead to many beneficial effects. Michael Mosley speaks to Dietrich von Bonin from the Swiss Association of Art Therapies, who says as little as 5 minutes of rhythmic poetry read aloud can be even more effective than slow-paced breathing at relaxing your body and mind. Our volunteer Colm dives into the world of Irish poetry and incorporates reading it aloud into his bedtime routine.
Series Producer: Nija Dalal-Small
Editor: Zoë Heron
A BBC Studios production for BBC Sounds / BBC Radio 4.
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (m001z6pd)
Women in Formula One, Monstrum, Sex education, Bridgerton dresses
Schools in England should not teach about gender identity, according to new draft guidance from the government, due to be published in full today. There is also a plan to ban sex education for under-nines. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said the new guidance would ensure children were not "exposed to disturbing content". Anita Rani talks to Elaine Dunkley, BBC Education Correspondent to find out the latest.
Talking about her new book, 'How To Win A Grand Prix', Formula One expert Bernie Collins takes Anita behind the scenes of an F1 team, and explains how she forged a career working as a performance engineer at McLaren for names such as Jenson Button, then became Head of Strategy at Aston Martin, with world champion Sebastian Vettel.
Yesterday senior coroner Martin Fleming issued a warning after Georgia Brooke was fatally strangled or "choked" by her boyfriend, Luke Cannon, during sex. Mr Cannon was himself found dead the following day. The coroner described the practice of choking as "dangerous" and said "it all too often ends in fatal consequences". Georgia Brooke was twenty-six when she died in 2022. In his conclusion, Mr Fleming said that while there was no evidence that her boyfriend had intended to kill his girlfriend during the incident, he had used "excessive" force. Anita speaks to Fiona Mackenzie, the leader of the We Can't Consent to This campaign which was formed as a response to the increasing number of women and girls killed and injured in violence that is claimed to be consensual.
16-year-old Eleanor Shenderey from North Yorkshire has gone viral on social media after posting herself wearing handmade historical outfits. From the Tudors and the Victorians to the TV show Bridgerton, she has been inspired to make over 300 dresses - some of which have taken months to complete. Eleanor joins Anita to discuss how and why she does it.
Lottie Mills won the BBC Young Writers’ Award in 2020 for her short story, The Changeling. It will now feature in her debut book, 'Monstrum,' alongside a collection of modern fairy tales, telling the experiences of characters excluded and othered by their societies. Lottie has cerebral palsy and hopes the book will challenge the representation of disability in fiction. She talks to Anita about how growing up with a disability, she always understood herself through stories: Greek mythology and British folklore; Shakespeare’s plays and Victorian fairy tales.
Presenter: Anita Rani
Producer: Rebecca Myatt
Studio manager: Emma Harth
THU 11:00 This Cultural Life (m001z6pg)
John Adams
The work of composer and conductor John Adams blends the rhythmic vitality of Minimalism with late-Romantic orchestral harmonies. He emerged alongside Philip Glass, Steve Reich and other musical minimalists in the early 1970s, and his reputation grew with symphonic work and operas that tackle recent history including Nixon In China, the Death Of Klinghoffer and Dr Atomic. He is the winner of five Grammy Awards and the Pulitzer Prize for Music, and is one of America’s greatest and most performed living composers.
Born and raised in New England, Adams learned the clarinet from his father and played in marching bands and community orchestras during his formative years. He began composing at the age of ten and heard his first orchestral pieces performed while still a teenager. He tells John Wilson about the huge influence the composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein and his televised Young People's Concerts had on him. He also reveals how jazz band leader and composer Duke Ellington influenced how he writes for the orchestra, and how Charles Dickens inspired him to embrace accessibly in his compositions.
Producer: Edwina Pitman
Extract from Leonard Bernstein's Young People's Concert, What Does Music Mean? CBS, 18 January 1958, © The Leonard Bernstein Office
THU 11:45 The Immune Mind by Monty Lyman (m001z6pj)
Episode 4
Delving into the recent discovery of the intimate relationship between the brain and the body’s immune system, Dr Monty Lyman reveals the extraordinary implications for our physical and mental health.
Up until the last ten years, we have misunderstood a fundamental aspect of human health. The brain and the body have always been viewed as separate entities – treated in separate hospitals – but science now shows that they are intimately linked.
Startlingly, we now know that our immune system is in constant communication with our brain and can directly alter our mental health. Biological science and cognitive science are inseparable. This has opened up a new frontier in medicine. Could inflammation cause depression, and arthritis drugs cure it? Can gut microbes shape your behaviour via the vagus nerve? Could childhood infections lie behind neurological and psychiatric disorders?
A specialist in the cutting-edge field of immunopsychiatry, Monty Lyman argues that we need to change the way we treat disease, and the way we see ourselves.
Episode Four
Dr Monty Lyman explores the possibility that some depression has a physical cause.
Read by Gunnar Cauthery
Abridged by Libby Spurrier
Producer: David Blount
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4
THU 12:00 News Summary (m001z6pl)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 12:04 You and Yours (m001z6pn)
Gap Finders: Marc-Alexander Christ from SumUp
Today's Gap Finder interview is Marc-Alexander Christ from SumUp, the card readers and payment solutions for small businesses.
SumUp was founded in 2012 and Marc-Alexander is one of the original founders. SumUp first developed a card reader that attached to a smartphone enabling small retailers to bypass the traditional, more expensive payment provider systems and allow their customers to pay by card.
Since then they've developed their technology further and you might have recognised their small white cube card readers when paying for items in small shops, taxis and at markets.
They have also now developed their own online payments service so small shops could launch their own websites.
PRESENTER: WINIFRED ROBINSON
PRODUCER: LYDIA THOMAS AND CATHERINE EARLAM
THU 12:32 Sliced Bread (m001z6pq)
Air Fresheners
The UK market for air care products is expected to grow to £674 million this year - and for this episode, we're investigating just how these products tackle bad smells in our homes. Can air fresheners really "eliminate" stinky odours with science, or do they just smell nicer? And what does using them do for our air quality? That's what listener Conor from Manchester wants to know. He joins Greg in the studio, alongside two experts - Nicola Carslaw, a professor in indoor air chemistry‘ at the University of York, and emeritus professor of chemo-reception at the University of Manchester, Krishna Persaud.
Have you seen something promising to make you happier, healthier or greener? Want to know if it's SB or BS? Please let us know - you can email sliced.bread@bbc.co.uk or drop us a message or voicenote on Whatsapp to 07543 306807.
PRESENTER: GREG FOOT
PRODUCER: TOM MOSELEY
THU 12:57 Weather (m001z6ps)
The latest weather forecast
THU 13:00 World at One (m001z6pv)
Labour launches its election pledges
Keir Starmer says Labour's election pledges are fully funded and 'ready to go'. We ask if they match voters' priorities.
THU 13:45 The History Podcast (m001z6px)
Shadow War: China and the West
Shadow War - 4. Who’s Listening?
Could growing tensions lead to conflict? The rise of China is the defining challenge of our times – how far to co-operate, compete or confront? But has the West taken its eye off the ball? BBC Security Correspondent Gordon Corera looks at the points of friction in recent history, from espionage to free speech, the battle over technology and claims of political interference. This is a story about the competition to shape the world order. He speaks to politicians, spies, dissidents and those who’ve been caught up in the growing tension between China and the West.
Presenter: Gordon Corera
Series Producer: John Murphy
Sound Designer: Eloise Whitmore (Naked Productions)
Programme Coordinator: Katie Morrison
Series Editor: Penny Murphy
THU 14:00 The Archers (m001z6b6)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 Drama on 4 (m000v8wp)
Camberwell Green. Part 1
A two-part crime thriller set in a London bus control centre, inspired by the everyday heroism of keyworkers during Covid.
Part 1: All Routes
On her first day as a bus controller, Marilyn faces severe disruption when a street protest turns violent. Liaising with emergency services and redirecting drivers, she must rescue her old friend Frankie, and her passengers, trapped by the demonstration on Waterloo Bridge.
Meanwhile her husband Steve is coerced by Bianca into enabling a robbery from an empty office block where he works as a guard.
When the robbers’ getaway is blocked by the street protest, Marilyn struggles to manage the escalating situation, as work and personal lives become dangerously entwined.
Set against the backdrop of Covid and its impacts upon London’s key workers.
Cast:
Marilyn ..... Chizzy Akudolu
Vincent ..... Lloyd Hutchinson
Frankie ..... Michelle Greenidge
Steve ..... Nicholas Gleaves
Nell ..... Tia Bannon
Other roles played by:
Nick Armfield, Ginny Holder, Alice Hoskyns, Sean Kearney and Finlay Paul
Written by Nicola Baldwin
Directed by Celia de Wolff
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4
THU 15:00 Open Country (m001z6pz)
Gibraltar Point
Martha Kearney explores the shifting sands of Gibraltar Point on the Lincolnshire coast, to witness the effects of beach erosion on both birds and people.
At Gibraltar Point National Nature Reserve, wardens go to extraordinary lengths to protect shore-nesting birds from habitat loss caused by beach erosion. They build wooden platforms for the nests of little terns and cages to protect the nests of ringed plover, as well as mounting overnight patrols to keep predators away. In 2023 they tried the platform technique with oystercatchers for the first time, meticulously moving the nests in stages so as not to spook the birds. The shingle where these striking birds prefer to nest is threatened with inundation from high tides, as well as from foxes, sparrowhawks and curious humans with dogs. The birds raised a successful brood and now the wardens are preparing for another season, hoping for more fledgling oystercatchers.
Reserve wardens aren't the only people to take extraordinary measures to deal with beach erosion. The sand on Lincolnshire's beaches has to be replenished every year to protect the coastal population from flooding. Like sandcastles on an enormous scale, 400,000 cubic metres of sand are pumped onto the beaches from offshore dredgers and a sand profile created, in what's known as 'beach nourishment'. It's become a tourist attraction in its own right. The sand works its way a few miles down the coast to Gibraltar Point with the tides, literally shoring up the sea defences.
And then there are the inland pumping stations at every seaside town, which 'evacuate' water from low-lying areas, of which there are many in Lincolnshire: one third of the county is below sea level. Without them, this landscape would be marshland. Martha compares the historic diesel pumps (made in Lincoln) with the automated electric pumps (from Holland).
Producer: Mary Ward-Lowery
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (m001z635)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 Word of Mouth (m001z6q1)
Disaster Dialogue
Professor Lucy Easthope explains why language is important in the aftermath of a disaster, why some words are useful and some can be damaging.
Produced for BBC Audio Bristol by Sally Heaven
THU 16:00 The Briefing Room (m001z6q3)
Avian flu is evolving but what risk does it pose to us?
The H5N1 strain of avian flu isn't new. It was discovered in China in 1996. But in recent years it's started passing from mammal to mammal and it's now rife on cattle farms in the United States. How much should humans worry?
David Aaronovitch speaks to:
Professor Wendy Barclay, action medical research chair in virology at Imperial College London
Kai Kupferschmidt, science journalist and molecular biologist
Dr Caitlin Rivers, epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.
Professor Ian Brown, avian virology group at The Pirbright Institute
Production team: Sally Abrahams, Kirsteen Knight and Ben Carter
Editors: Richard Vadon and Emma Rippon
Production Co-ordinator: Gemma Ashman
Sound engineers: Rod Farquhar
THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (m001z6q5)
Is gene therapy the future?
Last week, a girl who was born deaf had her hearing restored following gene therapy. In the US, the first commercial gene therapy for sickle cell disease has just begun. And Great Ormond Street Hospital has found great success in their trials and a gene therapy for children lacking an immune system. Gene therapy is clearly having a moment. But how do these groundbreaking therapies actually work? And will they ever be truly accessible to everyone? Geneticist Professor Robin Lovell-Badge answers all.
Also this week, atmospheric scientist Laura Wilcox answers an interesting listener question about the effect volcanoes can have on the weather and sticks around to dig into the connection between aerosols and weather in different regions.
The exhibition “Bees: A Story of Survival” opened at the World Museum in Liverpool this month. Part of the show explains the how honeybees communicate through vibration. Physicist Martin Bencsik, who collected and studies these vibrations, plays us a few and explains their meaning.
And did you get a chance to see the auroras that covered a large part of the Northern Hemisphere last weekend? The intense solar activity that caused them has some people alarm. Jim Al-Khalili, who has written a science fiction novel based on the concept, talks what is protecting us from solar flares and what could go wrong.
Presenter: Marnie Chesterton
Producers: Ella Hubber, Sophie Ormiston and Hannah Robins
Editor: Martin Smith
Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth
THU 17:00 PM (m001z6q7)
Parasite affects water supply in Devon town
We bring you the latest as Brixham in south Devon is struck by a waterborne parasite known as cryptosporidium. And we'll report on the Chancellor's attempts to coax companies back to the London Stock Exchange.
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m001z6q9)
He unveiled a six point plan outlining Labour's pitch to voters
THU 18:30 Stand-Up Specials (m001743x)
Mike Bubbins: Retrosexual
Mike Bubbins is a good bloke, a good husband and a good Dad, but he never quite feels like he fits in. Not in an odd way, he's keen to point out. It's just he dresses like he lives in the 70s, his house looks like a 70s film set, and he drives a 70s Ford Cortina.
So yeah, in other words, in an odd way.
He's not done bad for a lad who failed his A-Levels, became a PE teacher (see 'failed his A-levels’), worked as an Elvis impersonator, and then signed up for a writing course but got the wrong day and turned up for a stand-up comedy course instead. Because it was raining, and his wife had already dropped him off, he decided he might as well stay.
Eleven years later, he presents his debut Radio 4 show.
We've all been through a lot, emotionally and psychologically, with the extraordinary events of the pandemic. In the middle of the biggest crisis the world has witnessed since the war, we all had to assess who we were, what our priorities were, what our core relationships are and how robust they really are.
Luckily, Bubbins isn't interested in any of that. He wasn't even involved in the pandemic. Because he lives in the 70s. In this show, he aims to take us back to a time before Covid and other complexities - a much simpler time.
Written and performed by Mike Bubbins, recorded at Mach Festival, 2022
Produced by Siren Turner and Lianne Coop
An Impatient production for BBC Radio 4
THU 19:00 The Archers (m001z6qc)
Alistair catches up with Mick to explain why he’s been dragged into Alistair’s alibi about treating a sheep on the night of the crash. Mick explains that he saw Alistair and Denise on the river and put two and two together about their relationship. They saved Mick and Joy’s lives, the least they owe Alistair is a bit of discretion. Alistair asks Mick for help in pinpointing a fictional location for the sheep. It’s a bit of a logistical nightmare and Mick wonders if it might be easier for Alistair to tell Paul the truth. But Alistair says it’s not his truth to tell.
Kenton visits George to present him with an engraved pint glass which will be kept at The Bull for him. Kenton and Jolene think George was really brave to help rescue everyone from the car crash in the river Am. When George bats the praise away, Kenton says he’s also there because he wants George to meet up with Fallon – he thinks it will do her some good. George reluctantly agrees and later Fallon tells George he shouldn’t underestimate what he did, he literally saved Fallon’s life. But afterwards, Fallon comments to Kenton how down George seemed – it’s a lot for a nineteen-year-old to take on. Fallon admits she can’t face being in the house with Harrison yet and asks to stay a bit longer at The Bull. Harrison texts suggesting that they write a nice post about George and Fallon thinks it’s a good idea to be together but focussing on someone else. Anything else is strictly off limits.
THU 19:15 Front Row (m001z6qf)
Review: Big Cigar on AppleTV, Elton John’s photos at V&A, animated/live action film If
Tom Sutcliffe is joined by journalist Kevin Le Gendre and critic Hanna Flint to review The Big Cigar, which tells the story of Black Panther leader Huey P. Newton; Elton John’s Fragile Beauty exhibition at the V&A and IF, a family film about imaginary friends. Tom also announces the winner of the Dylan Thomas Prize.
Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe
Producer: Claire Bartleet
THU 20:00 The Media Show (m001z6b0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Wednesday]
THU 21:00 Loose Ends (m001z5wx)
[Repeat of broadcast at
18:15 on Saturday]
THU 21:45 Why Do We Do That? (m001fwf1)
Why Do We Sit Down to Poo?
You might think sitting is a recent technological advancement, but both squat and sit-down toilets have been around for millennia. Today Westerners have embraced the sit-down toilet, whereas billions in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and even parts of Europe use toilets that are designed specifically for squatting. But which is better for us - sitting or squatting? Ella Al-Shamahi speaks to gastroenterologist Dr Rohan Modi who has been investigating the best way to do your business, and gets personal with comedian Eshaan Akba.
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (m001z6qh)
Is there a Starmerism to follow Blairism?
The Labour leader Keir Starmer has set out the "first steps" he would take if he enters government, but how much it echoes Tony Blair’s pledges in 1997? We speak to the Chair of the Labour Party Anneliese Dodds.
Also on the programme:
US criticises Chinese President Xi Jinping's pledge to deepen relations with his counterpart Vladimir Putin.
And, a missing Algerian man has been found alive in a hole near his home after being held captive by his neighbour for 27 years.
THU 22:45 Just One Thing - with Michael Mosley (m001z6qk)
Deep Calm - with Michael Mosley
Deep Calm - Episode 4: Using the Power of Nature
Sit back, leave behind the cares of the day and take a sonic journey with Dr Michael Mosley. In this new podcast series, designed to help you let go and unwind, each episode focuses on a scientifically-proven technique for activating the body’s built-in relaxation response, and takes a deep dive to explore what’s happening inside as we find stillness and calm.
What is it about the natural world that has such a positive impact upon our physiology - slowing our heart rate and blood pressure, settling our thoughts and so much more? One theory is that it’s connected to the repeating patterns in nature - fractals - and Michael discovers that we live in a fractal universe.
Guest: Richard Taylor, professor at the University of Oregon.
Series Producer, sound design and mix engineer: Richard Ward
Researcher: William Hornbrook
Production Manager: Maria Simons
Editor: Zoë Heron
Specially composed music by Richard Atkinson (Mcasso)
Extract from "Fractal compositions No.1” composed by Severin Su in collaboration with 13&9 Design.
A BBC Studios Audio production for BBC Sounds / BBC Radio 4.
THU 23:00 The Today Podcast (m001z6qm)
What does Keir Starmer really believe in?
In a week in which Keir Starmer outlines his six ‘first steps for change’ (just don’t call it a pledge card), Amol and Nick look into what defines the Labour leader’s mission – and how left wing he really is.
Labour insider and author of Starmer’s latest biography, Tom Baldwin, gives Amol and Nick a behind-the-scenes look into what Keir Starmer is really like and how his working class background has shaped his political beliefs.
Zarah Sultana, a leading light among Labour’s socialist MPs, gives her take on whether the left of the party are convinced by Starmerism.
And Susie Dent leaves Countdown’s dictionary corner to join Amol and Nick in the studio with some words that best define the Labour leader – and shares her 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 Hatty Nash and Joe Wilkinson. The editor is Louisa Lewis. The executive producer is Owenna Griffiths. Technical production from Hannah Montgomery and digital production from Elliot Ryder.
THU 23:30 Today in Parliament (m001z6qp)
Alicia McCarthy reports from Westminster as the government sets out its draft guidelines for sex education in schools in England.
FRIDAY 17 MAY 2024
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (m001z6qr)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
FRI 00:30 The Immune Mind by Monty Lyman (m001z6pj)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:45 on Thursday]
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m001z6qt)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m001z6qw)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m001z6qy)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
FRI 05:30 News Briefing (m001z6r0)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m001z6r2)
The Trastevere Community
A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with Michael Kelly
Good morning!
Many years ago, I travelled to Rome for the first time. I was a teenager, almost penniless and lived on the street food of the Eternal City: pizza al taglio – literally slices of pizza sold by weight.
I fell in love with everything about the place: the art, the architecture, the churches, the way of life, the food, the wine – the famous dolce vita.
It was also the first time that I was really exposed to rough sleeping – as the nightlife of the city started to take off each evening, people of all ages and backgrounds would start to bed down on the cobbled streets – a flattened cardboard box as their mattress, a coat as a makeshift blanket.
But I also noticed an army of young university students who were dropping off packages to the men, women and children experiencing homelessness. Food parcels, I thought, and that was part of the picture – but I soon learned that the students were members of a community based in Trastevere who collected the meagre clothes from the people they served – that was the word they used – the people they served, and washed and ironed them before returning them.
This same community is still active in Rome, and indeed in many cities of the world there is a silent army of volunteers conscious that they can’t themselves ‘fix’ a complex reality like homelessness, but they can at least try to bind up the wounds and offer small acts of love and service.
So, today I pray in thanksgiving for those heroic people who see the needs around them, refuse to be overwhelmed, and roll up their sleeves.
Amen.
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (m001z6r4)
17/05/24 The Balmoral Show
Helen Mark visits the Balmoral Show in Northern Ireland. In the week when the Northern Ireland Assembly has declared the country to be in an ecological and biodiversity crisis, Helen asks the new Minister for Agriculture, Andrew Muir, how he sees farming and the environment working together.
Produced by Beatrice Fenton.
FRI 06:00 Today (m001z6rz)
Ukraine front line and major UK water boss
Reporting from Kharkiv, Severn Trent Water’s boss and Dolly Parton’s Welsh links.
FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (m001z63k)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:00 on Sunday]
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (m001z6s1)
Lesbian bars, Period Tracker Apps, World champion boxer, Lauren Price MBE
After going viral on social media earlier this year, new bar La Camionera is planning to open a permanent inclusive venue for “lesbians and their friends”. Reporter Martha Owen has been following as they prepare to open and hears why these spaces are important from DJ Yvonne Taylor, event organisers Jess Whiting Boult and Tabs Benjamin, and poet Joelle Taylor. And Anita Rani is joined by filmmakers Erica Rose and Elina Street, creators of The Lesbian Bar Project, to discuss their award-winning series about lesbian bars in the USA and Germany.
Period tracker apps claim to help women to predict whenthey might start their period and calculate the best time to attempt to conceive. The Information Commissioner's Office has said that a third of women have used one. A report out this week, however, has raised serious questions about the way in which this data is used. The study, by Kings College London and University College London, examined the privacy policies and data safety labels of 20 of the most popular of these kind of apps. The authors say it is the most extensive evaluation of its kind completed to date. Anita discusses the findings and implications with BBC Technology Reporter Shiona McCallum and the lead author of the study Dr Ruba Abu-Salma from Kings College London.
Director Amanda Nell Eu discusses her award-winning debut feature film, Tiger Stripes. An imaginative coming-of-age story about a girl who transforms into a jungle cat, it was Malaysia’s official entry to the 2024 Oscars. But this success came at a cost when the film was censored.
Last weekend the Olympic Gold Medallist, Lauren Price MBE, became Wales’ first female boxing world champion – winning the WBA, IBO, and Ring Magazine World Titles in spectacular fashion in her hometown of Cardiff by beating WBA welterweight champion Jessica McCaskill. She joins Anita to
talk about her achievement, her diverse sporting career and her legacy.
Presented by Anita Rani
Producer: Louise Corley
Studio Engineer: Bob Nettles
FRI 11:00 The Food Programme (m001z6s3)
The Hong Kongers finding a new home through food
Jimi Famurewa meets the Hong Kongers who are serving, growing and eating the food of their home country to connect with their own food heritage and find a new sense of belonging.
Almost 200,000 Hong Kongers have arrived in the UK since a new government visa offered safe passage and the chance of a new life in January 2021. And, as they settle into communities across the UK, including in New Malden, Manchester and Reading, there’s been a noticeable impact on food culture. At Holy Sheep, in Camden, Jimi tastes the spicy rice noodles beloved by this new generation of Hong Kongers, before visiting Hong Kong's most famous organic farmer who relocated and now helps new migrants grow the culturally-significant Choy Sum and other Asian vegetables.
As he talks to Hong Kongers about the role food has played in settling into the UK, Jimi also finds out how, for some, food has become an act of resistance and a way to express political solidarity. From the so-called 'yellow economy' of pro democracy restaurants and food shops in Hong Kong, to choosing to travel miles to buy ingredients that don't come from China, Jimi starts to realise how food has become more than just a taste of home.
Produced by Nina Pullman for BBC Audio in Bristol.
FRI 11:45 The Immune Mind by Monty Lyman (m001z6s5)
Episode 5
Delving into the recent discovery of the intimate relationship between the brain and the body’s immune system, Dr Monty Lyman reveals the extraordinary implications for our physical and mental health.
Up until the last ten years, we have misunderstood a fundamental aspect of human health. The brain and the body have always been viewed as separate entities – treated in separate hospitals – but science now shows that they are intimately linked.
Startlingly, we now know that our immune system is in constant communication with our brain and can directly alter our mental health. Biological science and cognitive science are inseparable. This has opened up a new frontier in medicine. Could inflammation cause depression, and arthritis drugs cure it? Can gut microbes shape your behaviour via the vagus nerve? Could childhood infections lie behind neurological and psychiatric disorders?
A specialist in the cutting-edge field of immunopsychiatry, Monty Lyman argues that we need to change the way we treat disease, and the way we see ourselves.
Episode Five
Dr Monty Lyman explores the power of the mind to influence our physical health, and discusses ‘contested illnesses’.
Read by Gunnar Cauthery
Abridged by Libby Spurrier
Producer: David Blount
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 12:00 News Summary (m001z6s7)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 12:04 AntiSocial (m001z6s9)
Pro-Palestinian student camps
The debate about protestors calling for their universities to cut ties with Israel.
Encampments of students protesting about Israel’s military action in Gaza have been popping up on campuses across the UK. They’re calling for their institutions to divest from - sell their stakes in - companies linked to the conflict or Israel, but others say they’re demonising the country and stoking antisemitism. How did the movement start and how have universities been responding? What’s the history of political activism around university investments? And what does the law say about pitching tents on university land?
Presenter: Adam Fleming
Producers: Simon Maybin, Simon Tulett, Ellie House, Jameel Shariff
FRI 12:57 Weather (m001z6sc)
The latest weather forecast
FRI 13:00 World at One (m001z6sf)
Aid arrives into Gaza via a temporary pier
As supplies arrive into Gaza from the sea, Jonny Dymond asks a former UN under-secretary if a famine can be avoided on the strip.
FRI 13:45 The History Podcast (m001z6sh)
Shadow War: China and the West
Shadow War - 5. All That Glitters
Could growing tensions lead to conflict? The rise of China is the defining challenge of our times – how far to co-operate, compete or confront? But has the West taken its eye off the ball? BBC Security Correspondent Gordon Corera looks at the points of friction in recent history, from espionage to free speech, the battle over technology and claims of political interference. This is a story about the competition to shape the world order. He speaks to politicians, spies, dissidents and those who’ve been caught up in the growing tension between China and the West.
Presenter: Gordon Corera
Series Producer: John Murphy
Sound Designer: Eloise Whitmore (Naked Productions)
Programme Coordinator: Katie Morrison
Series Editor: Penny Murphy
FRI 14:00 The Archers (m001z6qc)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Limelight (p0hsvwns)
Money Gone
Money Gone – 4. Keep the Receipt
Grace’s problems get worse as Chris is led further astray. The Prime Minister finds out the true cause of the crisis, but can she stop it?
A fast-paced satirical drama starring Robert Bathurst (Cold Feet, Toast of London), Charlotte Ritchie (Ghosts, Call the Midwife), Aaron Heffernan (War of the Worlds, Brassic) and Josette Simon (Wonder Woman, Blakes 7).
Pascal ..... Robert Bathurst
Patricia ..... Josette Simon
Emily ..... Charlotte Ritchie
Ross ..... Aaron Heffernan
Grace ..... Lauren Douglin
Stuart ..... Raj Ghatak
Chris ..... Fergus Craig
Karen ..... Melody Brown
Glenn ..... Simon Darwen
Adam ..... Chris Lew Kum Hoi
Bex ..... Sylvie Churnside-Reed
Journalist ..... Zoe Kleinman
Written by Ed Sellek
Directed by Tony Churnside
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
Exec Producer: John Dryden
A Naked production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds
FRI 14:45 Child (p0hhrsqf)
23. Crawling
Seeing a baby make its first moves is a magical time. It marks the beginning of their independence. And it’s something that is often tracked using developmental milestones - but are they actually more problematic than they are useful?
India Rakusen speaks to Professor Karen Adolph who shares her problems with milestones and discusses the cultural expectations of early development. She also hears from Dr Vanessa Cavallera from the World Health Organisation about the work they’re doing to update their 2006 milestone graph and the future of infant development.
Presented by India Rakusen
Producer: Georgia Arundell
Series Producer: Ellie Sans
Executive Producer: Suzy Grant
Commissioning Editor: Rhian Roberts
Original music composed and performed by The Big Moon and ESKA
Mix and Mastering by Charlie Brandon-King
A Listen production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m001z6sm)
Trinity College
Any tips on how I can successfully grow heavy potatoes in a bucket? Is there any way to get rid of slugs without killing them? Do you recommend the use of Coir in compost and how would you use it?
Peter Gibbs and his team of horticultural experts are at Trinity College in Oxford for this week's episode of Gardeners' Question Time.
Joining Peter to resolve the audience's horticultural dilemmas are passionate plantswoman Christine Walkden, garden designer Chris Beardshaw, and Head of Oxford Botanical Gardens Dr Chris Thorogood.
Later in the programme, Chris Beardshaw speaks with head gardener of Trinity College Kate Burtonwood to discuss the potential trials and errors of redesigning their north lawn border.
Producer: Dan Cocker
Assistant Producer: Rahnee Prescod
Executive Producer: Carly Maile
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 15:45 Short Works (m001z6sp)
An Affliction by Lottie Mills
A specially commissioned short story for BBC Radio 4 by the award-winning Lottie Mills. In this fantastical tale, a strange illness takes hold of those living at the Saint Francis Invalid Colony...
Lottie Mills won the BBC Young Writers Award in 2020, and her debut collection, Monstrum is published in 2024. In her stories, Lottie delights in the uncanny, the unusual and the unique power of outsiders.
Reader: Hayley Atwell
The producer is Di Speirs
The director is Justine Willett
FRI 16:00 Last Word (m001z6sr)
Dame Shirley Conran, Doreen Massey, Beverley LaHaye, Steve Albini
Matthew Bannister on
Dame Shirley Conran, the journalist and author best known for her books “Superwoman” and “Lace”.
Baroness Doreen Massey, the educator and former director of the Family Planning Association
Beverly LaHaye the founder of Concerned Women of America who campaigned to stop the Equal Rights Amendment.
Steve Albini, the controversial musician who worked many influential albums including Nirvava’s “In Utero”.
Producer: Ed Prendeville
Archive used:
National Women’s Coalition for Life, National Cable Satellite Corporation, C-Span, 03/04/1992; Former President Trump Speaks at Concerned Women for America Summit, National Cable Satellite Corporation, C-Span, 15/09/2023; Beverly LaHaye, Concernedwomen.org, 23/02/2017; President Reagan's Remarks at Convention of Concerned Women for America, Reagan Library, YouTube upload, 28/11/2017; The PTL Club, The PTL Club – Heritage USA, YouTube upload, 12/08/2022; Woman's Hour, 07/11/2014; Woman's Hour, 02/08/2012; Graham Norton, BBC Radio 2, 14/07/2012; The Stephen McCauley Show, BBC Radio Ulster, 29/08/2022; House of Lords, parliament.tv, 24/04/2019; Baroness Massey Stories of Democracy, House of Lords, YouTube upload, 22/11/2012
FRI 16:30 Life Changing (m001z698)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 on Wednesday]
FRI 17:00 PM (m001z6st)
Kharkiv under attack
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m001z6sx)
Aid agencies have warned that land crossings into Gaza need to open urgently
FRI 18:30 Dead Ringers (m001z6t0)
Series 24
Episode 4
Politics, world affairs, the culture wars, and Mr Blobby.
With writing from Tom Jamieson, Nev Fountain, Laurence Howarth, Ed Amsden & Tom Coles, Rob Darke, Edward Tew, Sophie Dixon, Sarah Campbell, Cody Dahler and Joe Topping.
With additional material by Jennifer Walker, Touissaint Douglass, Christopher Donovan and Sarah Dempster.
Producer: Bill Dare
Exec Producer: Pete Strauss
Production Coordinator: Dan Marchini
Sound Designer: Rich Evans
FRI 19:00 The Archers (m001z6t5)
WRITER: Sarah Hehir
DIRECTOR: Rosemary Watts
EDITOR: Jeremy Howe
Jolene Archer…. Buffy Davis
Kenton Archer…. Richard Attlee
Pip Archer…. Daisy Badger
Harrison Burns…. James Cartwright
Alice Carter…. Hollie Chapman
Chris Carter…. Wilf Scolding
Ruairi Donovan…. Arthur Hughes
George Grundy…. Angus Stobie
Jakob Hakansson…. Paul Venables
Chelsea Horrobin…. Madeleine Leslay
Tracy Horrobin…. Susie Riddell
Alistair Lloyd…. Michael Lumsden
Paul Mack…. Joshua Riley
Adam Macy…. Andrew Wincott
Kirsty Miller…. Annabelle Dowler
Freddie Pargetter…. Toby Laurence
Fallon Rogers…. Joanna Van Kampen
Mick…. Martin Barrass
Lisa…. Rhiannon Neads
FRI 19:15 Screenshot (m001z6t9)
Meryl Streep
From early, Oscar-winning roles in The Deer Hunter and Sophie's Choice, through to Mamma Mia! and The Iron Lady, Meryl Streep has earned a reputation as the greatest actress of our times. As the star receives an honorary Palme D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode discuss the remarkable depth, breadth and legacy of her career.
Ellen speaks to writer Michael Schulman, author of Her Again: Becoming Meryl Streep, about the actor's beginnings in the 1970s, and the power of a Meryl acceptance speech. And she discusses the actress' breakout comedic role alongside Roseanne Barr in 1989's She-Devil, with the film's director Susan Seidelman.
And Mark speaks to actor Kate Winslet about her decades-long love for Meryl's work, from Angels In America to Death Becomes Her, and about how it felt to beat her heroine to a Best Actress Oscar.
Producer: Jane Long
A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (m001z6tf)
Fatima Ibrahim, David Johnston MP, Tim Montgomerie, Karin Smyth MP
Alex Forsyth presents political discussion from Tetbury Goods Shed Arts Centre in Gloucestershire with the Co-Executive Director of the Green New Deal Fatima Ibrahim, the Minister for Children David Johnston MP, the political commentator Tim Montgomerie and the Shadow Health Minister Karin Smyth MP.
FRI 20:50 A Point of View (m001z6tk)
A Clean Break
Tom Shakespeare calls for new thinking to fix the current crisis in our prisons. Against a backdrop of overcrowding, violence and high rates of reoffending, he says we need a clearer vision of what prisons are really for.
"We want them to do lots of rather different things: punish people who have broken our laws; protect the public from violent criminals; rehabilitate offenders and teach them useful employment skills. Yet we are guilty of stigmatising people who have spent some time in prison."
Producer: Adele Armstrong
Sound: Peter Bosher
Production coordinator: Gemma Ashman
Editor: Bridget Harney
FRI 21:00 Free Thinking (m001z6tp)
Positive and negative politics, 'intellectual vices' and the face you bring to work
Sir Richard Evans, Margaret Heffernan, Isabel Oakeshott, Quassim Cassam join Anne McElvoy to look at the ideas shaping our lives today. Are they optimists or pessimists ? How negative should we be in political campaigning, doomscrolling, parenting, writing reviews or giving academic feedback. What are intellectual vices and how might they help us think about truth and conspiracy theories? And "Have a nice day" - we look at the demand to perform a role in the workplace.
Professor Sir Richard J Evans is an historian of modern Germany and modern Europe, and has published over 20 books in the field, most recently The Pursuit of Power: Europe 1815-1915 and Eric Hobsbawm: A Life in History. In August his new book comes out called Hitler’s People: The Faces of the Third Reich
Margaret Heffernan is an entrepreneur, CEO and author of books including Uncharted: How to Map the Future Together and Beyond Measure: The Impact of Small Changes
Quassim Cassam is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Warwick. His books include Ekstremisme, The Epistemology of Democracy and
Vice Epistemology.
Isabel Oakeshott is an award winning British political journalist. Her books include The Pandemic Diaries written with Matt Hancock, Life Support: Farmaggedon written with Michael Ashcroft.
Dr Jaswinder Blackwell-Pal is a Lecturer in Theatre and Performance Studies at Queen Mary University of London. She's been announced this week as one of 10 early career academics who’ve been chosen as the 2024 New Generation Thinkers – that’s a scheme to share academic research on the radio which the BBC runs with the Arts and Humanities Research Council. You can hear from all ten in a special New Thinking episode of our Arts & Ideas podcast where you will also find episodes of Free Thinking.
Producer: Lisa Jenkinson
Studio Manager: Steve Greenwood
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (m001z6tt)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective.
FRI 22:45 Just One Thing - with Michael Mosley (m001z6tx)
Deep Calm - with Michael Mosley
Deep Calm - Episode 5: Using Music
Sit back, leave behind the cares of the day and take a sonic journey with Dr Michael Mosley. In this new podcast series, designed to help you let go and unwind, each episode focuses on a scientifically-proven technique for activating the body’s built-in relaxation response, and takes a deep dive to explore what’s happening inside as we find stillness and calm.
Most of us instinctively know that music can have a huge impact on our mood. But it can also be an effective tool to tap into your body’s relaxation response. Plus thought loops, soundwaves and an encounter with the Organ of Corti.
Guest: Stefan Koelsch, professor at the University of Bergen in Norway.
Series Producer, sound design and mix engineer: Richard Ward
Researcher: William Hornbrook
Production Manager: Maria Simons
Editor: Zoë Heron
Specially composed music by Richard Atkinson (Mcasso)
A BBC Studios Audio production for BBC Sounds / BBC Radio 4.
FRI 23:00 Americast (m001z6tz)
Why does Biden want to debate Trump?
Donald Trump and Joe Biden have made plans for two televised election debates. But who benefits? And, crucially, who has more to lose? Justin Webb, Anthony Zurcher and Marianna Spring look into the drama behind the announcement, and the strategy of holding the first debate in just six weeks’ time. Also, should independent candidate RFK Jr - Robert F Kennedy - also be allowed to take part?
And, speaking of presidential nominees, we speak to one! Jill Stein, the candidate for the Green Party, joins us on the podcast. She’s been criticised in the past for taking votes away from Democrats and for her views on US foreign policy. She speaks to us in a year where third party candidates could play a crucial role in the outcome of the election.
HOSTS:
• Marianna Spring, Disinformation & Social Media Correspondent
• Anthony Zurcher, North America Correspondent
• Justin Webb, Radio 4 presenter
GUEST:
• Jill Stein, Green Party presidential candidate
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 Purvee Pattni with Rufus Gray, Catherine Fusillo, and Claire Betzer. The technical producer was Jonny Baker. The series producer is Purvee Pattni. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.
FRI 23:30 Today in Parliament (m001z6v1)
Sean Curran with all the news from Westminster, where a bill to make it easier for pubs to stay open late for big national events takes a step forward