SATURDAY 15 MARCH 2025
SAT 00:00 Midnight News (m0028v59)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SAT 00:30 Reading Journeys by A.L. Kennedy (m0028v3y)
A Road Made of Books
“My road made of books has taken me through passages of remarkable good fortune.”
A.L. Kennedy on the journeys that await readers when they open the covers of a book - as well as the authors who write them. Today the author remembers some of the travels that have enhanced her writing life – from performing in Boris Pasternak’s kitchen to sailing the Atlantic in the company of Moby Dick.
Written and read by A.L. Kennedy
Produced by Eilidh McCreadie and Gaynor Macfarlane
A.L. Kennedy was born in Dundee and now stays in North Essex. She is an award-winning writer of novels, short stories, non-fiction and books for children. She also writes for the stage, screen, TV and radio, including documentaries, monologues, dramas and essays. She performs occasionally in one person shows and as a stand-up comic.
SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m0028v5c)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m0028v5f)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
SAT 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m0028v5h)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
SAT 05:30 News Briefing (m0028v5k)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m0028v5m)
We Shall Overcome
A reflection and prayer to start the day with Andrea Rea
SAT 05:45 Lent Talks (m0028tnv)
The Creed: That God Is Almighty
2025 marks the 1700th anniversary of the Nicene Creed – the core profession of the Christian faith, which is spoken in churches across the world. This year’s Lent Talks offer personal insights of faith on six key lines from the Creed.
In this episode, the theologian Frances Young reflects on the opening line: “I believe in one God, the Father Almighty.”
Producer: Dan Tierney.
SAT 06:00 News and Papers (m002913b)
The latest news headlines. Including the weather and a look at the papers.
SAT 06:07 This Natural Life (m0028v02)
Sacha Dench
Conservationist and adventurer Sacha Dench tells Martha Kearney about her love of the natural world. She explains how she came to fly a paramotor along the whole length the 4000-mile route that migrating swans take from the Russian tundra to the UK – leading to her acquiring the nickname ‘The Human Swan’. As they watch birds together at the Fernworthy reservoir in Devon, Sacha talks about her childhood growing up in Australia, where she says the beach and the bush were her playgrounds. She tells Martha about the paramotor accident which left her seriously injured and from which the sights and smells of the natural world proved a powerful aid to recovery. She describes her plans for the future and talks about what brings her hope.
Producer: Emma Campbell
SAT 06:30 Farming Today (m002913d)
15/03/25 - Farming Today This Week: The closure of SFI, foot and mouth disease and agricultural drones
Farmers say they've been left "reeling" after the Government announced on Tuesday night this week that it would be closing the Sustainable Farming Incentive to new applicants with immediate effect. The SFI is a major part of the post Brexit system of farm payments in England, and paid farmers for environmental work like improving soils, planting hedges or providing habitat for wildlife. DEFRA says the budget has been 'successfully allocated' and so no new applications will now be accepted. Details on a new SFI are due to be announced in the summer but applications may not re-open until next year.
Around 1,400 cattle have been culled on a farm in Hungary after a case of foot and mouth disease was identified there at the end of last week. Imports of meat and other animal products from Hungary and Slovakia have been banned from entering Great Britain, to try to stop the disease arriving here. A similar ban has been in place on products from Germany since foot and mouth cases were identified there in January, but concerns have been raised that some German animal products have still been getting through.
And we go out with an agricultural drone contractor, who is licensed and approved to fly a drone for spreading, spraying and seeding on farms.
Presented by Charlotte Smith
Produced by Heather Simons
SAT 06:57 Weather (m002913g)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SAT 07:00 Today (m002913j)
Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (m002913l)
Rebecca Front, Amber Butchart, Natalie Chandler, Christina Trevanion
The career of BAFTA winning actor and funny woman Rebecca Front spans the stage, screen and now podcasting - she brings her unique blend of irreverence and being a ‘bit of a Pollyanna’ to the studio.
Natalie Chandler swapped her boots for the pen as a former professional rugby player who’s now tackling the world as a thriller writer – guided by her dreams and her ancestors.
And a living example of her work, curator and historian of textiles, dress and design Amber Butchart is currently making a 'Splash' by focusing on a century of swimming and style.
All that plus we drop the hammer on one of TVs best antique experts, Christina Trevanion, as she shares her Inheritance Tracks.
Presenters: Niki Bedi and Jon Kay
Producer: Ben Mitchell
SAT 10:00 You're Dead to Me (m002913n)
Marco Polo: history’s most famous travel writer?
Greg Jenner is joined in 13th-Century Venice by Professor Sharon Kinoshita and comedian Ria Lina to learn all about medieval traveller Marco Polo and his adventures in China.
Born into a family of merchants, in 1271 a teenage Marco set out for the court of the Mongol emperor Qubilai Khan with his father and uncle. They would not return to Italy for nearly a quarter of a century. In the service of the emperor, the Polos saw all manner of extraordinary things – including the Mongols' amazing imperial postal service and diamond-hunting eagles in India. Imprisoned by the Genoese on his eventual return, Polo spent his time in prison writing his Description of the World with the Arthurian romance author Rustichello, a travelogue describing his exploits in the East and the wonders he had seen. This episode explores Polo’s extraordinary life, the decades he spent travelling in China and beyond, and the fascinating account he wrote on his return.
If you’re a fan of epic voyages, luxurious royal courts and medieval travel writing, you’ll love our episode on Marco Polo.
If you want more from Ria Lina, check out our episode on pirate queen Zheng Yi Sao. For more on the Mongols listen to our episode on Genghis Khan, and for more medieval travel writers, there's our episode on medieval Muslim explorer Ibn Battuta.
You’re Dead To Me is the comedy podcast that takes history seriously. Every episode, Greg Jenner brings together the best names in history and comedy to learn and laugh about the past.
Hosted by: Greg Jenner
Research by: Hannah Cusworth
Written by: Hannah Cusworth, Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow, Emma Nagouse, and Greg Jenner
Produced by: Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow and Greg Jenner
Audio Producer: Steve Hankey
Production Coordinator: Ben Hollands
Senior Producer: Emma Nagouse
Executive Editor: Philip Sellars
SAT 10:30 The Kitchen Cabinet (m002913q)
Series 47
Milton Keynes
Jay Rayner and a panel of expert chefs, cooks and food writers are in Milton Keynes sharing their top tricks and recipes with an audience of home cooks.
Joining Jay to discuss barbecued desserts and paneer recipes are baker and writer Nadiya Hussain, food historian Dr Annie Gray, writer Tim Hayward, and chef Sophie Wright.
The panellists discuss what they’d serve at a roadside food truck and their favourite recipes involving medjool dates, and debate whether brioche buns belong on burgers. They also suggest ways to use up leftover sourdough and share their ultimate recipes for a steak sandwich.
Jay stops to chat to Alain Vivion of Brioche Pasquier about the history, method and flavour of traditional brioche.
A Somethin’ Else production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 11:00 The Week in Westminster (m002913s)
Sonia Sodha of The Observer assesses the latest developments at Westminster.
This week the Prime Minister kickstarted a mission to remake the state which he describes as "overstretched" and "flabby". He started by announcing he would abolish the arms-length body, NHS England. But there was ongoing disquiet in the Labour party about possible cuts to welfare spending which could be coming down the track. Sonia discusses all of this with former Conservative minister, Lord Willetts, who now chairs the Resolution Foundation, and Claire Ainsley, former director of policy for Keir Starmer.
After a week of intense diplomatic manoeuvring, could a ceasefire in Ukraine be on the horizon? Sonia brings together Bronwen Maddox, director of the foreign policy think tank Chatham House, and Johnny Mercer, former Conservative MP and Minister for Veterans, who has just returned from a trip to Ukraine.
Splits within Reform UK deepened this week following the party’s suspension of one of its five MPs, Rupert Lowe, after allegations of bullying and threatening violence.
Professor Jane Green of Oxford University analyses whether the ongoing row will halt Reform's surge in support.
And, MPs who like to use TikTok are regularly flouting parliamentary rules on filming videos for social media. So do the rules need to change? Former Deputy Speaker, Nigel Evans, and Daily Mail political sketchwriter, Quentin Letts, discuss whether it's really a good idea.
SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m002913v)
Inside Mexico's drug cartels
Kate Adie introduces dispatches from Mexico and the USA, Bangladesh, Syria and the Faroe Islands.
Donald Trump has threatened Mexico with sanctions if it does not do more to halt the flow of deadly fentanyl into the US. Quentin Sommerville gained rare access to a Mexican drug smuggling operation, meeting the foot-soldiers of a prominent cartel as it prepares to send fentanyl north of the border.
Bangladesh is homes to hundreds of thousands of Rohingya people, who have been living in refugee camps since fleeing pesecution in Myanmar back in 2017. The Rohingya’s survival has been dependent on foreign aid – but that lifeline is now at risk, following cuts to the US aid budget. Samira Hussain visited one of the refugee camps.
US negotiators proposed an immediate 30 day ceasefire in Ukraine this week. While President Zelensky accepted the proposal, President Putin said questions remain about the nature of the truce. Frank Gardner assesses the chances for a lasting peace.
Back in 2014, swathes of north-east Syria came under the control of Islamic State - though when its fighters reached the city of Kobane, they met strong resistance from Kurdish forces. With the help of international allies, IS was eventually driven out, but local Kurds still worry that IS may one day return, reports Jiyar Gol.
In the autonomous Danish territory of the Faroe Islands, locals have been keeping an eye on what’s been going on in another Danish territory – Greenland. Donald Trump’s proposal that the US might look to buy it has sparked fresh conversations over Faroese independence – and a growing sense of local pride, finds Amy Liptrot.
Series Producer: Serena Tarling
Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith
Production Coordinators: Katie Morrison & Sophie Hill
SAT 12:00 News Summary (m002913x)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SAT 12:04 Money Box (m002913z)
Funeral Plan Compensation and Leasehold Reform
There will be no compensation for more than 46,000 people who lost thousands of pounds each when the funeral plan firm Safe Hands went bust 3 years ago. The regulator - the Financial Conduct Authority - was told this week it should consider compensating them after a report by Rachel Kent, the Complaints Commissioner, set out the FCA's failings over Safe Hands. In response, the FCA has said it does not accept it was at fault, that it did not regulate the funeral planning firm at the time, and no compensation would be paid.
This month the Government has announced plans to scrap new leasehold flats, replacing it with a system called commonhold already used in Scotland where homeowners collectively own the building and the land. But how will the planned improvements to the rights of existing leaseholders work?
There's changes to how 'side-hustlers' report their earnings to HMRC, but it's not a tax cut, how will that work?
And there's extra money to help pensioners in Northern Ireland with their heating bills.
Presenter: Paul Lewis
Reporters: Dan Whitworth and Eimear Devlin
Researcher: Jo Krasner
Editor: Sarah Rogers.
(This programme was first broadcast at
12pm Saturday the 15th of March 2025)
SAT 12:30 The Naked Week (m0028v4n)
Series 2
S2E2 - Brick Walls, Dead Wood, and Charlie.
The Naked Week team are back to place satirical news-tariffs on current events with a mix of correspondents, guests and, occasionally, live animals.
This week we use a housebrick to explain what's happened with the Reform Party, carve literal dead wood to explain what's happening with the civil service, and explain more news with haikus.
From The Skewer’s Jon Holmes and host Andrew Hunter Murray comes The Naked Week, a fresh way of dressing the week’s news in the altogether and parading it around for everyone to laugh at.
With award-winning writers and a crack team of contemporary satirists - and recorded in front of a live audience - The Naked Week delivers a topical news-nude straight to your ears.
Written by:
Jon Holmes
Katie Sayer
Gareth Ceredig
Sarah Dempster
Jason Hazele
Investigations Team:
Cat Neilan
Louis Mian
Freya Shaw
Matt Brown
Guests: Paul Dunphy, Donna Moore, Tim Stephenson.
Production Team: Laura Grimshaw, Tony Churnside, Jerry Peal, Katie Sayer, Phoebe Butler
Executive Producer: Philip Abrams
Produced and Directed by Jon Holmes
An unusual production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 12:57 Weather (m0029141)
The latest weather forecast
SAT 13:00 News (m0029143)
The latest national and international news and weather reports from BBC Radio 4
SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (m0028v4v)
Dan Jarvis MP, Daniel Kebede, John Lamont MP, Anne McElvoy
Alex Forsyth presents political debate from Appleby Public Hall, Cumbria with the Security Minister Dan Jarvis MP, the General Secretary of the National Education Union Daniel Kebede, the Conservative MP John Lamont and the journalist Anne McElvoy.
Producer: Robin Markwell
Lead Broadcast Engineer: Jonathan Esp
SAT 14:00 Any Answers? (m0029145)
Call Any Answers? to have your say on the big issues in the news this week.
SAT 14:45 The Archers (m0028v4q)
Emma tells Susan that she’s had a letter from George wanting her to visit him again. Susan’s thrilled for Emma, who can barely contain her excitement. Emma could take on the world if she had to!
At the shop Jim asks Brad about being his apprentice scorer for the cricket. Brad quickly accepts and they arrange to go through the basics after Brad’s finished at Uni for the day. When Emma comes in Brad worries she’ll be angry with him for letting George down, but instead she tells him about George’s letter. She wants to know how George was when Brad saw him on Wednesday.
Emma meets up with Pat and they discuss the next stage for their protest, agreeing that they need to look at successful campaigns elsewhere and get more people involved.
At Greenacres later, Jim explains the arcane principles of cricket scoring to Brad. He tells Brad that it’ll be an honour to have him at his side.
While potting yoghurt in the Dairy Helen and Susan discuss a report in The Echo detailing dividends and bonuses given to Borsetshire Water shareholders and bosses. Emma’s sure they printed it because of the protest. They also discuss the pros and cons of prison visits, before Helen waxes lyrical about seeing Henry driving a tractor. Helen’s good mood is punctured later though, when she tells Pat the deli she was hoping sign a new contract with has turned them down. With the accounts in such a terrible state Helen has no choice. She’s got to lose either Susan or Clarrie from the Dairy!
SAT 15:00 Drama on 4 (m0029147)
Venus and Adonis
With Venus and Adonis, Shakespeare in 1593 launched his career as a poet. The poem is a minor epic, a genre chosen by a large number of poets in the 1590s for their first efforts, each attempt at the genre self-consciously imitating the others.
Venus and Adonis was such a notable success that it was, during his lifetime, Shakespeare’s most popular published work, going through ten editions by 1616 and quoted in numerous journals, letters, and plays of the period. In 1598 a critic wrote that “the sweet witty soul of Ovid lives in mellifluous and honey-tongued Shakespeare, witness his Venus and Adonis.”
Shakespeare found the story of the encounter between the Roman goddess of love and the boy hunter in book 10 of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. In Ovid, the beautiful Adonis is the willing lover of Venus, and his death is an accident of the hunt. Shakespeare transforms the story by having his Adonis reject Venus’s advances in a way that, for his early readers, was clearly both ironic and comic. Shakespeare makes his Venus highly verbal, a seemingly endless source of arguments for making love.
Cast
Venus ..... Adjoa Andoh
Narrator ..... Rachel Sanders
Adonis ..... Joseph Kloska
Music by Joseph Bedell
Produced and Directed by Clive Brill
A Brill production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 16:00 Woman's Hour (m0029149)
Weekend Woman's Hour: Sara Davies, Neath RFC tweet, Ramadan health, Frankie Bridge
Do you have a business idea that you would realise, if only you had the time? Sara Davies firmly believes we’re all capable of creating a successful business from scratch, in just six minutes a week. The Dragon’s Den star set up Crafter's Companion while she was still a student and has since built it into a multi-million pound business. Now she’s sharing what she’s learned in her new book – The Six Minute Entrepreneur: 52 Short Lessons for Long-term Business Success.
This week the owner of a Welsh Rugby club put up a social media post to promote an upcoming match against a local rival, featuring the words "Not For Girls" stamped across the top. He didn't expect the post would get more than a quarter of a million views, generate outrage and condemnation and become national news. Matthew Young from Neath Rugby Football Club talks exclusively to Nuala McGovern along with sports broadcaster, Stella Mills, one of the first people to see the post and comment.
The holy month of Ramadan is underway, which means millions of Muslims around the world are fasting, no food or drink from dawn until dusk - not even water. But for those with current, or past eating disorders, this period of fasting can bring challenges. So, how can they be best supported? Kylie Pentelow talks to fitness trainer Nazia Khatun, who has struggled with anorexia and bulimia in the past, and counselling psychologist, Dr Omara Naseem, who specialises in eating disorders.
Inside Counter Terrorism Policing is a new podcast featuring five women working in a range of roles across the UK, who have shared their story with the aim of inspiring others to consider a career in national security and policing. We hear from Vicki Evans, Senior National Coordinator for Counter Terrorism Policing for the UK, and an officer we are calling ‘Emma’, who will explain the challenges of her role as a handler of covert sources.
Frankie Bridge has hit out at "double standards" for women after she received a backlash online for going on holiday without her children. The Loose Women presenter was called "the worst wife and mother" in comments on her social media post, after she took a break with a friend following health struggles, while her husband and mother were looking after her two sons. She joined Nuala, along with parenting coach Camilla McGill.
The Grammy award-winning Lainey Wilson is a country music trailblazer, with seven Country Music Association Awards and six Academy of Country Music Awards to her name. Her latest album, Whirlwind, earned a Grammy nomination and she is currently on a world tour promoting the album. Ahead of headlining this weekend's Country to Country Festival at the O2 in London she joined Nuala to discuss why she thinks country is cool again.
Presenter: Nuala McGovern
Producer: Annette Wells
Editor: Sarah Jane Griffiths
SAT 17:00 PM (m002914c)
Sir Keir Starmer takes centre stage at Ukraine summit
Sir Keir Starmer takes centre stage at Ukraine summit - with warnings for Russia. On PM, we speak to a former Polish prime minister about why his country is moving towards wartime readiness.
Also: warnings of rats on the streets in Birmingham amid bin collection strike; and the ballet dancer Steven McRae on his career-changing injury, and his triumphant return to the Royal Opera House.
SAT 17:30 Sliced Bread (m0028tzr)
Dough - Bicycles
How can the bicycle industry recover from sales that plummeted after the pandemic?
The entrepreneur, Sam White, hosts Dough - the BBC Radio 4 series which looks at the business behind profitable everyday products and where the smart money might take them next.
In each episode, Sam, and the futurist, Tom Cheesewright, are joined by product manufacturers and industry experts whose inside knowledge gives a new appreciation for the everyday things that we often take for granted.
Together they look back on a product’s earliest (sometimes ridiculous!) iterations, discuss how a product has evolved and the trends which have driven its profitability.
In this episode on bicycles Sam and Tom hear from expert guests including:
- Nikki Hawyes - the chief executive officer of Whyte Bikes
- Andy Smallwood - the chief executive officer at Pashley Cycles
- Simon Irons - the Data and Insights Director at the Bicycle Association
They explain how the boom in sales during the Covid-19 pandemic bottomed out, creating huge turmoil from which the industry is still trying to recover.
They trade opinions on the bicycle's 'game-changing' innovations and come up with some classic suggestions for 'pointless' innovations too, before Tom draws on his expertise as a futurist to imagine what bicycles could be like in the decades to come.
Dough is produced by Jon Douglas and is a BBC Audio North production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds.
Sliced Bread returns for a new batch of investigations in the spring when Greg Foot will investigate more of the latest so-called wonder products to find out whether they really are the best thing since sliced bread.
In the meantime, Dough is available in the Sliced Bread feed on BBC Sounds
SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m002914f)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
SAT 17:57 Weather (m002914h)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002914k)
Sir Keir Starmer says Europe will increase pressure on Russia for peace in Ukraine.
SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (m00290b8)
Declan Lawn, Naoise Dolan, John Meagher, Emer Maguire, Ryan McMullan, Chubby Cat
Stuart Maconie and guests come together with mighty laughs, big stories, and altogether good craic from Lisburn, Northern Ireland.
Declan Lawn is a screenwriter of multiple TV series alongside his creative partner Adam Patterson, including the successful Blue Lights as well as the BBC miniseries The Salisbury Poisonings. Series three of Blue Lights is currently being filmed in Belfast, and he is currently writing series four.
Comedian John Meagher is currently touring his stand-up show Big Year across the UK and Ireland. He chats about his big years in mixed martial arts prior to kicking off a career on the comedy circuit, as well as his Radio 4 documentary The Divil's Own.
Writer Naoise Dolan has travelled the world after success with her bestsellers Exciting Times and The Happy Couple, but is returning back to Dublin as she spends this year as the inaugural IPUT Writer-In-Residence.
County Tyrone comedian Emer Maguire is bringing her biggest gig yet - Notions - to the Grand Opera House later this year, exploring her experiences of growing up with autism and finding the funny in the most unexpected of places.
After a year of accolades and success within the Irish music industry, Corkonian musician Chubby Cat performs a track from her latest EP THE FINE ART OF DISASSOCIATION accompanied on guitar by Ben Murray.
Portaferry born singer-songwriter Ryan McMullan performs a track from his upcoming EP In This Room, before beginning his UK and Ireland tour in April.
Presenter: Stuart Maconie
Producer: Anthony McKee
A BBC Audio Northern Ireland production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 19:00 Profile (m002914m)
Liz Kendall
Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall has one the toughest tasks in Labour’s domestic programme: tackling the burgeoning welfare bill.
Next week, the government is expected to announce reforms to the welfare system. There is unease over the plans within the party, with some Labour MPs saying they fear drastic cuts could push vulnerable people into poverty. The move could split the party and put Liz Kendall in a difficult position.
A grammar school girl, Kendall went on to study history at Cambridge, where she liked to revise while sunbathing and listening to Wham. She became MP for Leicester West in 2010, and ran for Labour leader in 2015, but came away with just 4.5% of the vote. Now on Keir Starmer’s front bench, her supporters say she’s not afraid of a fight and willing to take on some of the party’s sacred cows.
Presenter: Stephen Smith
Producers: Viv Jones, Chloe Scannapieco, Hugh Sheehan, Keiligh Baker
Editor: Bridget Harney
Sound: Neil Churchill
Production Co-ordinators: Maria Ogundele, Sabine Schereck
SAT 19:15 The Infinite Monkey Cage (m0028d2f)
Series 32
Saturn v Jupiter - Katherine Parkinson, Paul Abel and Michele Dougherty
Brian Cox and Robin Ince referee as Saturn and Jupiter square up to each other in a planetary face-off. Representing Team Saturn is space physicist Professor Michele Dougherty, and in the opposite corner is Dr Paul Abel on Team Jupiter. Katherine Parkinson judges this cosmic contest, casting the final vote to decide who will be awarded the coveted Kuiper Belt.
It is not all about looks of course, but it is a significant factor in a first impression. Both Saturn and Jupiter score highly in this department, boasting magnificent icy rings and colourful stripes respectively. But what lies beneath their aesthetically pleasing exteriors? How do the planets compare on the inside?
The gas giants have been subjects of investigation for many years, with historic missions like Galileo and Cassini uncovering their secrets. But they aren’t alone, each planet is surrounded by its own mini solar system of moons, which get space scientists just as excited as their parent planets do. Both Jupiter and Saturn have moons which are hot contenders in the search for extraterrestrial life and our panel discuss the future plans to explore them.
Producer: Melanie Brown
Exec Producer: Sasha Feachem
Researcher: Olivia Jani
SAT 20:00 Lockdown’s Legacy (m002914p)
Waiting for Covid
From the first reports of a mystery disease in Wuhan, China, and the announcement of the death of “patient zero” on December 1st 2019, to the start of lockdown on March 23rd 2020, we hear how we watched and waited for arrival of Covid 19.
There were increasingly urgent warnings from global health bodies, tourists on cruise ships were repatriated, and scientists debated herd immunity. There was a big debate over sporting events going ahead while we all learnt the elbow bump greeting and how to wash our hands properly.
In the corridors of power, there were arguments over emergency planning, and fevered scientific activity - until, when the modelling showed without doubt that the NHS would be quickly overwhelmed, the Government acted.
Archive Producer: Howard Shannon
Additional Interviews: Rob Walker
Sound Design: Alice K. Winz
Producer: David Prest
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 21:00 Moral Maze (m0028sz8)
Is there a moral case for cutting welfare?
Sir Keir Starmer has called the current benefits system unsustainable, indefensible and unfair, and said it was discouraging people from working while producing a "spiralling bill". The Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood has said there is a “moral case” to cut the welfare budget ahead of the Chancellor’s Spring Statement. Spending on sickness benefits, including a rise in mental health disability claims since the pandemic, is forecast to increase to around £100bn before the next general election. Ministers have complained that people are incentivised to be out of work, encouraging some to "game the system". Poverty charities have expressed deep concerns about what they see as the disproportionate impact of any cuts on the poorest and most vulnerable.
Debates around welfare spending can never escape the language of morality, in often moralising terms. Phrases like ‘benefits scroungers’ are emotive and can encourage knee-jerk judgment. To paraphrase words ascribed to both Thomas Jefferson and Ghandi: the measure of a society is how it treats its weakest members.
But welfare is morally complex. While it is an important safety net, at what point does it disempower people to pursue a better life, encourage passivity rather that self-reliance, and foster self-entitlement over personal responsibility? Even if we could discern these things, we live in an imperfect world. Life is a lottery. What some perceive as ‘lifestyle’ choices, others argue are often made from few options, due to entrenched structural inequalities. How much is this really a matter of nurturing individual moral character and virtue? Is there a moral case for cutting welfare?
Chair: Michael Buerk
Producer: Dan Tierney
Assistant producer: Peter Everett
Editor: Chloe Walker
Panel: Anne McElvoy, Giles Fraser, Sonia Sodha and James Orr.
Witnesses: Grace Blakeley, Tim Montgomerie, Miro Griffiths and Jean-Andre Prager.
SAT 22:00 News (m002914r)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4
SAT 22:15 The Food Programme (m0028v3w)
Bradford: City of Food Culture
Bradford is this year’s UK City of Culture - but what does food have to do with it? Sheila Dillon visits the city to meet market traders, chefs and restaurateurs to find out how its industrial past has influenced the thriving food culture of today.
She visits Bradford’s St James wholesale market to discover how the Asian restaurant trade has been integral to the market’s survival, before eating breakfast at The Sweet Centre, which serves the same Kashmiri breakfast speciality as it did for millworkers in the 60s. Two food projects are harnessing the vibrant multicultural nature of Bradford as part of its City of Culture celebrations. The Bradford Selection, orchestrated by artists Sonia Sandhu and Harry Jelley, tells the stories of Bradford communities through a series of biscuits. Meet My Mothers is a recipe book project representing the diverse food cultures in Bradford, as participant coordinator Aamta Waheed tells Sheila at the Women Zone community centre.
Renowned Yorkshire food historian Peter Brears meets Sheila for a tea and some traditional pork ‘savoury duck’ to talk about pre-industrial food of the Bradford district. Meanwhile, on BBC One, Harry Virdee is the eponymous detective star of thriller series Virdee, written by Bradford native A.A.Dhand. Sheila speaks to the bestselling author to find out how he wrote specific south Asian food and drink traditions into the series and his own childhood food memories of growing up in the city.
How important is the city’s food history, economics and culture to its hopes for regeneration? Shanaz Gulzar, creative director of Bradford 2025, summarises the city’s belief in food as social cohesion and the confidence that the city feels after winning the title.
Presenter: Sheila Dillon
Producer: Nina Pullman
SAT 23:00 Alexei Sayle's Imaginary Sandwich Bar (m0028xy2)
Series 5
3. Jumping the Shark
Alexei Sayle returns for a new series of stand-up, philosophy and memoir as he welcomes made-up customers to buy illusory snacks in his imaginary sandwich bar
In this episode Alexei ponders sequels, the pursuit of inspiration and how you can tell if you're old or not.
Written and performed by Alexei Sayle with additional material by Tom Whyman
Producer - Richard Morris
Production Co-ordinator - Jodie Charman
A BBC Studios Audio Production for Radio 4
SAT 23:30 Counterpoint (m0028tnf)
Series 38
Semi-final 2, 2025
(11/13)
The second semi-final in the 2025 series comes from Media City UK in Salford, with another three winners from the heats stage playing for a place in the Final. The competition hots up and the questions may well get tougher. How much do the contestants know about the plot of Tosca, the characters in Wicked, the jukebox musical written by Alicia Keys or the film soundtracks that feature a particular tango by Carlos Gardel?
The competitors are:
Diane Hallagan, from Leeds
Mohan Mudigonda, from Wolverhampton
Sarah Trevarthen, from Manchester.
Counterpoint is a BBC Studios Audio production.
Assistant Producer: Stephen Garner
Producer: Paul Bajoria
SUNDAY 16 MARCH 2025
SUN 00:00 Midnight News (m002914t)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 00:15 Take Four Books (m0028tnc)
Tash Aw
Presenter James Crawford speaks to twice-Booker-nominated Chinese-Malaysian author Tash Aw about his latest novel, The South, and the three works that helped shape its creation.
Set during a scorching summer on drought-stricken farmland in rural Malaysia, The South follows protagonist Jay in a coming-of-age story about a family navigating a period of profound change.
Tash Aw’s chosen influences were Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin (1956), Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov (1897), and The Sea Wall by Marguerite Duras (1952).
The supporting contributor was Dr Bea Hitchman, author, and lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Brighton.
Producer: Rachael O’Neill
Editor: Gillian Wheelan
This was a BBC Audio Scotland production.
SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002914w)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002914y)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m0029150)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
SUN 05:30 News Briefing (m0029152)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (m0029154)
National Cathedral Church of St Patrick in Dublin
Bells on Sunday comes from The National Cathedral Church of St Patrick in Dublin. Legend has it that in 1191 the Archbishop of Dublin, having fallen out with City Provosts and the nearby Priory, decided to build his own cathedral church just outside the city walls on the site of an ancient well supposedly used by Saint Patrick. In 1860’s the Guinness family sponsored a major restoration of the building and in the 1890’s the family also donated a new peal of ten bells. Today there are twelve bells with a Tenor bell weighing forty five and one quarter hundredweight and tuned to the note of C. We hear them ringing the full twelve bells to Plain Hunt Cinques.
SUN 05:45 In Touch (m0028syp)
Deafblindness
How much do you know about deafblindness? If your answer is "very little", it seems you're in good company. Such is the lack of research on the condition that the charity Deafblind UK has collaborated with Birmingham City University to establish a new education and research centre. Said to be the first of its kind, its aim is to both undertake influential research and raise general awareness of deafblindness. It will also equip junior researchers and others with the knowledge and skills to become future leaders in the field.
We're joined by Dr. Peter Simcock, who is leading the work at the centre and Georgina Smerald from the charity Sense. We also hear from Robert Nolan, Emma Blackmore and Jo Milne, all of whom are Deafblind.
Presenter: Peter White
Producer: Fern Lulham
Production Coordinator: Kim Agostino
Website image description: Peter White sits smiling in the centre of the image, wearing a dark green jumper. Above Peter's head is the BBC logo (three individual white squares house each of the three letters). Bottom centre and overlaying the image are the words "In Touch"; and the Radio 4 logo (the word Radio in a bold white font, with the number 4 inside a white circle). The background is a bright mid-blue with two rectangles angled diagonally angled diagonally to the right. Both are behind Peter, one of a darker blue and the other is a lighter blue.’
SUN 06:00 News Summary (m00291nb)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 06:05 Thinking Allowed (m0028sxw)
Dress Culture
Laurie Taylor talks to Fatima Rajina, Senior Legacy in Action Research Fellow at the Stephen Lawrence Research Centre, De Montfort University, Leicester, about changing perceptions of dress among British Bangladeshi Muslim men in London’s East End. Why has the thobe, a garment traditionally associated with the Arab States, come to signify a universal Muslim identity? And why have Muslim men's clothing choices attracted so little scrutiny, compared to Muslim women's? Also, Teleica Kirkland, Lecturer in the Cultural and Historical Studies Department at the London College of Fashion, explores the performative elegance of the Windrush generation, whose respectable presentation was a route to seeking dignity and respect in British society. What were the limitations of using fashion as a way to gain acceptance?
Producer: Jayne Egerton
SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (m00291nd)
Get On My Land!
Debra and Tom Willoughby are farmers near Loughborough. When they first took on the farm tenancy over twenty years ago, they set about trying to get the bridleway which runs through the farmyard re-routed, fearing it would be both a safety hazard and a security risk. Their application was turned down. Two decades later, they've had a change of heart and are now glad that their plan failed. They're keen to welcome more members of the public onto their farm, and hold tree-plantings and family fun days in an attempt to meet more of the local community. Far from conforming to the stereotype of "Get off my land", they're now trying to get more people onto it. In this programme, Anna Jones visits the farm to discover why they've changed their minds. She finds crowds of children digging for worms and analysing soil types, and runs into a couple of cyclists who explain why they're often wary of cycling through farms. Over a cup of tea in the farmhouse, Debra and Tom describe the benefits of being more welcoming - from building relationships with potential future customers to combatting the loneliness and isolation of farming life.
Presented by Anna Jones
Produced by Emma Campbell
SUN 06:57 Weather (m00291ng)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SUN 07:00 News and Papers (m00291nj)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 07:10 Sunday (m00291nl)
Ukraine ceasefire; Giles Coren; Dalai Lama rebirth
Downing Street's virtual summit of Ukraine allies may have given those countries a greater sense of unity, but the war continues in Ukraine and President Putin is still prevaricating over the 30-day ceasefire proposed by the US and accepted by Ukraine. William Crawley explores how morally justified it would be to say 'no' to a ceasefire, with journalist and author Lucy Ash.
Also on the programme, in his Times column for this year's Ash Wednesday, Giles Coren tells the story of his own waning atheism and gradual embrace of Christian faith. Though Giles was raised in a Jewish home he had “no Hebrew classes, no Jewish environment, no bar mitzvah”. He shares how he finds comfort within the traditions of English Anglicanism.
The Dalai Lama, the 89-year-old spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, is worried that his successor could be chosen by the Chinese government. In his new memoir, he says he will choose to be reincarnated in a successor outside China, and instructs his followers to reject any successor chosen by China. Tibetan Buddhism now faces a very awkward possible future - with two competing Dalai Lamas. To discuss this on the Sunday programme is Professor Robert Barnett, one of the world's leading experts on Tibetan history.
Presenter: William Crawley
Producers: Bara'atu Ibrahim & Amanda Hancox
Studio Managers: Amy Brennan and Sam Mills
Production Coordinator: Kim Agostino
Editor: Chloe Walker
SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (m002909r)
Mines Advisory Group
Actor and ambassador for Mines Advisory Group (MAG) Rosamund Pike makes the Radio 4 appeal on behalf of the charity. It works in more than thirty countries to train and employ ‘deminers’; men and women who find and destroy landmines to protect others in their communities.
To Give:
- Freephone 0800 404 8144
- 'Freepost BBC Radio 4 Appeal'. That’s the whole address. Please do not write anything else on the front of the envelope. Mark the back of the envelope ‘The Mines Advisory Group or MAG’.
- Cheques should be made payable to 'MAG'.
- You can donate online at bbc.co.uk/appeal/radio4
Registered Charity Number: 1083008. If you’d like to find out more about the charity’s work visit *https://www.maginternational.org/
*The BBC is not responsible for content on external websites
Producer: Katy Takatsuki
SUN 07:57 Weather (m00291nn)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SUN 08:00 News and Papers (m00291nq)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the Sunday papers
SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (m00291ns)
The Singing Priests
Three priests from the Roman Catholic diocese of Down and Connor Father David Delargy with the brothers, Fathers Eugene and Martin O’Hagan have been singing together since secondary school. Nearly 17 years ago, they signed a recording deal, made three bestselling albums and sang before three Popes, the late Queen Eizabeth and King Charles when he was Prince of Wales. Last May they announced that they were retiring from public performances.
They recall some of the highlights, reflect on the importance of music in worship, on how they priestly ministry related to their profile as singers and what they hope their legacy might be.
Introduced by Ruth Jennings.
Psalm 150
Be Thou my vision
Bí, Íosa Im Chroíse
Amazing Grace
A Gaelic Blessing
SUN 08:48 A Point of View (m0028v4x)
Elbows Up: Canada v Trump
After Donald Trump proposed that Canada could be consumed as America's 51st State, Adam Gopnik reflects on his homeland's history with the United States and Canada's new-found patriotic toughness - and how it differs from nationalism.
'It’s is only a little startling, though very Canadian, to find the new motto 'elbows up' radiating everywhere in Canada,' Adam writes, referring to a defensive position found in the country's premier passion, ice hockey.
'It is a classic patriotic stance - not throwing a punch, but letting the other side know that there are angles in your physique and resistance,' he writes.
'The picture now is one of an entire country, elbows proudly up'.
Producer: Sheila Cook
Sound: Peter Bosher
Production Co-ordinator: Liam Morrey
Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith
SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (m00291nv)
Arjun Dutta on the Wheatear
A new series of Tweet of the Day for Sunday morning revealing personal and fascinating stories from some fresh voices who have been inspired by birds, their calls and encounters. In this episode we highlight one of the young and emerging generation of wildlife watchers.
Wildlife sound recordist and nature watcher Arjun Dutta eagerly awaits the first sight of a wheatear in late winter. Wheatears charismatic members of the chat family known for their jaunty behaviour and a pleasing song heard during the breeding season. For Arjun the sight of a wheatear simply heralds better days ahead after a long winter.
Producer : Andrew Dawes, BBC Audio, Bristol
Studio Engineer : Ilse Lademann
SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (m00291nx)
Plan to freeze key disability benefit may be dropped
Will the government U turn on trailed disability benefits freezes? A famous Canadian historian says her country is in peril. Also, comic Mark Steel on surviving his cancer diagnosis.
SUN 10:00 Desert Island Discs (m00290d8)
Professor Carl Jones, conservation biologist
Professor Carl Jones is a conservation biologist who is best known for saving the Mauritius kestrel from extinction. He is the scientific director of Mauritian Wildlife Foundation, chief scientist at Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and an honorary professor in ecology and conservation biology at the University of East Anglia.
He was born in Carmarthen in Wales and was fascinated with animals from an early age, rearing rescued common kestrels, owls and hawks in his back garden. He studied biology at North-East London Polytechnic and, after learning about the plight of the Mauritius kestrel, he was determined to go out to the country to try to save the bird.
He arrived in Mauritius in 1979 when there were only two known breeding pairs left in the wild. By the time he left in 1999 he’d established a captive breeding programme and today hundreds of Mauritius kestrels fly over the islands where he spent decades pioneering his, sometimes controversial, methods. Today the Mauritius kestrel is the national bird.
He is also responsible for saving from extinction three species of reptiles, a fruit bat and several plants.
He was appointed an MBE for his work in 2004 and in 2016 he won the prestigious Indianapolis Prize – the world’s leading award for animal conservation.
Carl lives in Carmarthen with his wife and two children and assorted animals including two Andean condors called Carlos and Baby.
DISC ONE: Prokofiev: Peter and the Wolf Opus 67 - The London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir Adrian Boult
DISC TWO: Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas. Narrated by Richard Burton and performed by Meredith Edwards, Gwenllian Owen and Gwenyth Petty
DISC THREE: Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll - Ian Dury
DISC FOUR: La Rivière Noire - John Kenneth Nelson
DISC FIVE: Asimbonanga - Johnny Clegg & Savuka
DISC SIX: Sega lakordeon – Rene oule bwar mwa - La Troupe de l’Union
DISC SEVEN: Londonderry Air - Beatrice Harrison
DISC EIGHT: Clear Sky - Catrin Finch
BOOK CHOICE: The Collected Works of Dylan Thomas
LUXURY ITEM: Binoculars
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Asimbonanga - Johnny Clegg & Savuka
Presenter Lauren Laverne
Producer Paula McGinley
SUN 11:00 The Archers Omnibus (m00291nz)
Writer: Sarah Hehir
Director: Peter Leslie Wild
Editor: Jeremy Howe
Helen Archer…. Louiza Patikas
Henry Archer…. Blayke Darby
Pat Archer…. Patricia Gallimore
Ruth Archer…. Felicity Finch
Tony Archer…. David Troughton
Emma Carter…. Emerald O’Hanrahan
Susan Carter…. Charlotte Martin
Clarrie Grundy…. Heather Bell
Eddie Grundy…. Trevor Harrison
George Grundy…. Angus Stobie
Brad Horrobin…. Taylor Uttley
Jim Lloyd…. John Rowe
Akram Malik…. Asif Khan
Khalil Malik…. Krish Bassi
Freddie Pargetter…. Toby Laurence
Lily Pargetter…. Katie Redford
SUN 12:15 Profile (m002914m)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 12:30 One Person Found This Helpful (m0028svs)
Series 2
2. Detachable Yacht Stand
Frank & guests Angela Barnes, Finlay Christie, Catherine Bohart & Rajiv Karia discuss ball pits, the KGB and who hasn’t been to the dentist for forty years.
This is the panel game based on what we all sit down and do at least once a day – shop online and leave a review, as an all-star panel celebrate the good, the bad & the baffling.
Everyone has an online life, and when the great British public put pen to keyboard to leave a review, they almost always write something hilarious. And our all-star panel have to work out just what they were reviewing – and maybe contribute a few reviews of their own... and more... So if you’re the person who went on Trip Advisor to review Ben Nevis as, 'very steep and too high', this show salutes you!
Written by Frank Skinner, Catherine Brinkworth, Sarah Dempster, Jason Hazeley, Rajiv Karia, Karl Minns, Katie Sayer & Peter Tellouche.
Devised by Jason Hazeley and Simon Evans with the producer David Tyler.
A Pozzitive Production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 12:57 Weather (m00291p1)
The latest weather forecast
SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (m00291p3)
NHS England chair warns the buck now stops with ministers
Chair of the ‘world's largest quango’ reacts to the government's decision to shut it down. Plus, we hear from an astronaut on what it's like to come back down to earth.
SUN 13:30 Born in Bradford (m0025cxn)
Gasping for Breath
BBC Radio 4 has been reporting on the Born in Bradford health research project since it launched in 2007. Each year Winifred Robinson reports on the latest health findings as doctors and academics work with parents and children in the city to find solutions to some of the most stubborn and complex health problems.
In the latest programme Winifred investigates the launch of a national vaccination programme aimed at preventing thousands of babies being admitted to hospitals with chest conditions caused by the virus RSV. Medical teams at the Bradford Royal Infirmary helped with trials of RSV vaccines and will be tracking babies to see what longer term impact there might be on their health.
The hope had been that enough pregnant women would be vaccinated to make a significant reduction to the number of babies requiring hospital treatment - 30,000 a year - and the number of deaths from RSV - around thirty. This hasn't happened yet and doctors in Bradford share their concerns about both the delivery of the vaccine and the hesitancy being expressed by those offered it.
Since it was launched Born in Bradford has helped shape Government policy on issues ranging from glucose testing in pregnancy, through to the provision of reading glasses in classrooms. The project started with 14,000 pregnant mothers, who filled out detailed questionnaires and agreed to donate cord blood from their babies. Since then these children have taken part in the research, which has been extended to cover all secondary schools in the City
SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m0028v4b)
Clandeboye Estate
What’s soil type works best in terrariums? Want plants could I use to absorb the damp patches in my garden? Which unloved flower has a place in your garden?
Kathy Clugston and her team of gardening experts visit the Clandeboye estate in Bangor, where they tackle some head scratching gardening dilemmas. Joining her are ethnobotanist James Wong, garden designer Neil Porteous, and Head of Gardens at Balmoral Kirsty Wilson.
Later in the programme, Neil Porteous takes us on a fascinating journey through the Belfast Botanic Gardens, uncovering the rich history of the shamrock. From ancient legends to its deep connection with St Patrick’s Day, discover how this little green plant became one of Ireland’s most powerful symbols.
Producer: Bethany Hocken
Assistant Producer: Dulcie Whadcock
Executive Producer: Carly Maile
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 14:45 Wendell Steavenson - Keep an Open Mind (b07p0hbp)
Journalist and author Wendell Steavenson’s first short story is a specially commissioned piece for Radio 4.
A former member of parliament is still coming to terms with her changed and reduced circumstances. Her neighbours gather outside her flat on a momentous night in June.
Wendell Steavenson lives in Paris and West London. Her journalism has included books on Egypt and Iraq. She writes for many international news publications.
Reader: Susan Brown
Produced by Jill Waters
The Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 15:00 Brat Farrar (m00291p5)
Episode 2
Claudine Toutoungi’s adaptation of Josephine Tey’s doppelganger thriller set in a post-war English landscape continues.
Brat has successfully inveigled his way into the heart of the Ashby family by claiming to be, Patrick, the missing heir to the wealthy family estate. He risks everything when he becomes convinced that the real Patrick was murdered.
Brat Farrar ….. Levi Brown
Alec ….. Alex Macqueen
Simon Ashby ….. Louis Landau
Beatrice Ashby ….. Kate Fleetwood
Jane Ashby ….. Ava Talbot
Ruth Ashby ….. Grace Baker
Eleanor Ashby ….. Rose Basista
Macallan ….. Ian Dunnett Jnr
George Peck ….. Samuel James
With Ruth Everett, Andi Bickers and David Hounslow
Directed by Gemma Jenkins
Production Co-ordinator: Sara Benaim
Sound Designer: Andy Garratt
SUN 16:00 Take Four Books (m00291p7)
Eimear McBride
Take Four Books, presented by James Crawford, talks this week to the Irish writer Eimear McBride about her new novel - The City Changes Its Face - and the three other works that have helped to shape it. Eimear's new book takes us to London in the 1990s and draws us into the passionate and intense relationship of Eily and Stephen - two characters who also feature in her previous novel The Lesser Bohemians (2016). Eimear's choices for her episode include: the song lyrics of Scott Walker and specifically the song Sleepwalkers Woman from 1984; Venice Preserved by Thomas Otway from 1682; and The Lover, by Marguerite Duras from 1985.
Producer: Dom Howell
Editor: Gillian Wheelan
This was a BBC Audio Scotland Production.
SUN 16:30 Counterpoint (m00291p9)
Series 38
Semi-final 3, 2025
(12/13)
There's one remaining place in the 2025 Counterpoint Final and it will go to the winner of today's contest. The three players today have all won their respective heats earlier this series, and will be on their mettle as they face Paul Gambaccini's eclectic questions. Anything could come up from film themes to grand opera, ballet music to prog rock, classic jazz to the music of video games.
They will also each have to choose a special topic on which to answer their own set of questions, with no prior warning of what the subjects are going to be.
Appearing are:
Eleanor Ayres from Cambridge
Jim Maginnis from County Armagh
Clive Manning from London.
Counterpoint is a BBC Studios Audio production.
Assistant Producer: Stephen Garner
Producer: Paul Bajoria
SUN 17:00 Witness History (w3ct5yfh)
Creation of the UFC
In 1993, a new combat sport was born. Its founders called it the Ultimate Fighting Championship – UFC.
It pitted all forms of mixed martial arts against each other with little to no rules and all contained in an octagon-shaped cage.
The first contest between a Samoan sumo wrestler and a Dutch kickboxer resulted in several teeth flying through the air.
It didn’t take long for the sensation to attract some big critics including the late US senator John McCain. He wanted it banned and labelled it a "human cockfight".
One of the men responsible for cooking up this new concept was TV producer Campbell McLaren.
He tells Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty how he used controversy to market the violent spectacle.
This programme contains descriptions of violence.
Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.
Recent episodes explore everything from football in Brazil, the history of the ‘Indian Titanic’ and the invention of air fryers, to Public Enemy’s Fight The Power, subway art and the political crisis in Georgia. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: visionary architect Antoni Gaudi and the design of the Sagrada Familia; Michael Jordan and his bespoke Nike trainers; Princess Diana at the Taj Mahal; and Görel Hanser, manager of legendary Swedish pop band Abba on the influence they’ve had on the music industry. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the time an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at the President of the United States in protest of America’s occupation of Iraq; the creation of the Hollywood commercial that changed advertising forever; and the ascent of the first Aboriginal MP.
(Photo: Campbell McLaren. Credit: Getty Images)
SUN 17:10 The Body Politic (m0027bnc)
Assisted dying
The politics of the human body is at the centre of intense debate in the UK and beyond. Thanks to science, technology and a fast-moving political landscape, humans are increasingly able to intervene in the natural processes of life – how we are conceived, how we are born and how and when we die. But what are the limits to this intervention, how should we decide and who should decide?
Broadcaster and columnist Sonia Sodha gets behind divides and polarisation to discover nuance, complexity and compelling stories around the beginning and the end of human life.
In the final episode we delve deep into the complex and fascinating debate around assisted dying, which has moved to the front and centre of politics in Britain. We hear views from all sides, as well as powerful stories - a widow whose husband had an assisted death in Switzerland, a woman who recovered from anorexia who's joined the anti campaign, a retired high court judge who has a life-changing illness and a leading practitioner of assisted dying in Canada.
Sonia teases out the complexity in ideas of choice, coercion and capacity as the UK debate intensifies, showing how decisions made now will impact future views on the value of life and how society handles death.
Producer: Leala Padmanabhan
Sound design: Hal Haines
Credit: 'How to die: Simon's choice', Minnow Films, directed by Rowan Deacon, executive producer Colin Barr
SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m00291pd)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
SUN 17:57 Weather (m00291pg)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m00291pj)
The health secretary has said there is an "overdiagnosis" of mental health conditions. And, 59 people have been killed in a fire at a night club in North Macedonia.
SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (m00291pl)
John Wilson
This week, we hear astounding audio across the BBC, from Edwyn Collins’s recovery and return to music to Manchester’s new night bus. We uncover a hidden act of Nazi resistance, explore Cyrus the Great’s legacy, and fact-check government claims – including Trump’s mix-up over mice. Plus, is Elon Musk a real life Iron Man? And do dictators’ brains work differently?
Presenter: John Wilson
Producer: John Offord
Production Coordinators: Jack Ferrie and Caroline Peddle
A BBC Audio Northern Ireland production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 19:00 The Archers (m00291pn)
Lynda and Freddie watch their newly promoted cricket team at nets, wondering how they’ll fare in the higher division. Freddie reckons enjoyment is the key to success, whereas Lynda maintains that setting high standards is key. She can see dead wood that needs clearing out, via a razor sharp selection policy. Anyone who doesn’t make the grade will have to be told. Later Lynda laments Freddie’s lack of discipline during practice, and declares his proposed list of top eleven players ridiculous. Lily assures her he’s joking – there are no women on the list for a start. But Lynda feels this is no arena for larking around. Freddie’s answer is they can look for another captain. Lily doesn’t think it’s a bad idea for her to be involved, and they settle on a role for her as director of cricket, in charge of selection.
Helen’s asked Clarrie and Susan to the Tearoom for drinks and cakes. When pressed she admits she has something to tell them, but is interrupted by the untimely arrival of a lorry delivering a mountain of gravel to the wrong spot. The cavalry arrives in the form of Azra’s husband Akram, who expertly spreads the gravel, solving the problem. Helen’s grateful. She shares that she has a difficult conversation ahead of her with Susan and Clarrie. Akram’s sure they’ll be right behind her. They look like they all make a wonderful team.
SUN 19:15 Illuminated (m00291pq)
The Story of Solent City
Author Owen Hatherley goes in search of the lost future of Solent City – the extraordinary plan, devised in the mid-1960s at the height of the post-war modernisation of Britain, to join the historic city-ports of Southampton and Portsmouth with a vast, Los-Angeles style grid.
The plan was finally rejected, but why? - and what were the consequences of its defeat, not only for the region but for the future of urban planning in Britain?
Travelling across south Hampshire from Fareham to Portsmouth, Chandler’s Ford to his native Southampton, Owen meets architects, planners and historians to tell the story of one of the boldest visions in the history of British urban design, discovering that some of its most important ideas might still be ahead of us.
With contributions from Nicholas Phelps, Chair of Urban Planning at the university of Melbourne; architecture historian and author Gillian Darley; Kate Macintosh, former senior architect at Hampshire County Architects; urban historian Otto Saumarez Smith; writer and software engineer Naomi Christie; city planner and architecture blogger Adrian Jones; Southampton Hackney Carriage taxi driver Perry McMillan; Charlotte Gerada, councillor for Central Southsea and social historian of modern place, John Grindrod.
Produced by Simon Hollis
A Brook Lapping production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 19:45 Lent Talks (m00290g8)
The Creed: That God made all things
2025 marks the 1700th anniversary of the Nicene Creed – the core profession of the Christian faith, which is spoken in churches across the world. This year’s Lent Talks offer personal insights of faith on six key lines from the Creed.
In this episode, theologian and astrophysicist David Wilkinson reflects on the description of God as: “Maker of Heaven and Earth, of all things visible and invisible”.
Producer: Dan Tierney.
SUN 20:00 Feedback (m0028v04)
The Archers and Ramadan. Today's interview with Robert Jenrick. BBC Sounds overseas.
Ramadan has featured prominently in The Archers in recent weeks with stalwart Lynda Snell joining the Malik family in fasting, and some listeners found the storyline unconvincing, even a bit preachy. Andrea speaks with Dr Cara Courage, co-founder of The Academic Archers.
Radio 4’s Today programme interview with Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick provoked a flurry of comments on the presenter’s line of questioning. We hear your views.
After Newscast, Americast and Ukrainecast, now there’s Scotcast! Andrea meets presenter Martin Geissler to find out how it’s covering Scottish news.
And listeners are responding in droves to the announcement BBC Sounds will soon no longer be available outside the UK.
Presenter: Andrea Catherwood
Producer: Pauline Moore
Executive Producer: David Prest
A Whistledown Scotland production for Radio 4
SUN 20:30 Last Word (m0028v4g)
Athol Fugard, Janet Pharaoh, Alison Halford, Johnny Green
Kirsty Lang on: Athol Fugard, the playwright whose art became synonymous with exposing the inequities of the Apartheid regime in South Africa.
Janet Pharaoh, the dancer from Yorkshire who became the artistic director at the Moulin Rouge in Paris.
Alison Halford who rose through the ranks to become the first female Assistant Chief Constable.
Johnny Green, the former roadie and tour manager for The Clash. His friend, the poet John Cooper Clarke pays tribute.
Producer: Gareth Nelson-Davies
Archive used:
Athol Fugard interview, Third Ear, BBC Radio 3, 12/02/1991; Inside The Mind Of Athol Fugard: A Master Playwright's Journey, Tekweni, YouTube channel, uploaded 02/07/2018; Janet Pharaoh interview, Moulin Rouge: Yes We Can-Can! Dragonfly Film and Television, BBC TWO, 27/09/2023 and 04/10/2023; Moulin Rouge film promo, Director: Baz Luhrmann, 20th Century Fox; YouTube uploaded 2015; Alison Halford interview, BBC Radio Wales, 28/02/2002; Johnny Green interview, The Joy of 6: London Calling, BBC 6 Music, 03/11/2019; Johnny Green interview, A Riot of Our Own, Rock City Networks, Ben Pitchers Rock City Networks, YouTube uploaded, 03/04/2012; Johnny Green interview/actuality taken from ,Off The Page: Le Tour de France, BBC Radio 4, 24/06/2010; John Cooper Clarke Presents Clarkie’s Christmas Crackers, BBC Three, 19/12/2018;
SUN 21:00 Money Box (m002913z)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 on Saturday]
SUN 21:25 Radio 4 Appeal (m002909r)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 today]
SUN 21:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m002913v)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:30 on Saturday]
SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (m00291ps)
Ben Wright and guests consider welfare reform and the government's attempts to re-shape the state
Ben Wright's guests are the Labour MP Jeevun Sandher, Conservative former minister George Freeman, plus business journalist and Crossbench peer Patience Wheatcroft. They discuss government plans to reform welfare and cut bureaucracy in Whitehall. Lara Spirit - editor of The Times Red Box - brings additional insight and analysis, and the programme also includes an interview with the chief executive of Citizens' Advice, Dame Clare Moriarty.
SUN 23:00 In Our Time (m0028tzc)
Cyrus the Great
Melvyn Bragg and guests explore the history and reputation of the Persian ruler Cyrus the Great. Cyrus the Second of Persia as he was known then was born in the sixth century BCE in Persis which is now in Iran. He was the founder of the first Persian Empire, the largest empire at that point in history, spanning more than two million square miles.
His story was told by the Greek historians Herodotus and Xenophon, and in the Hebrew bible he is praised for freeing the Jewish captives in Babylon.
But the historical facts are intertwined with fiction.
Cyrus proclaimed himself ‘king of the four corners of the world’ in the famous Cyrus Cylinder, one of the most admired objects in the British Museum. It’s been called by some the first bill of human rights, but that’s a label which has been disputed by most scholars today.
With
Mateen Arghandehpour, a researcher for the Invisible East Project at Oxford University,
Lindsay Allen, Senior Lecturer in Ancient Greek and Near Eastern History at King’s College London,
And
Lynette Mitchell, Professor Emerita in Classics and Ancient History at Exeter University.
Producer: Eliane Glaser
Reading list:
Pierre Briant (trans. Peter T. Daniels), From Cyrus to Alexander: A History of the Persian Empire (Eisenbrauns, 2002)
John Curtis and Nigel Tallis (eds.), Forgotten Empire: The World of Ancient Persia (The British Museum Press, 2005)
Irving Finkel (ed.), The Cyrus Cylinder: The King of Persia’s Proclamation from Ancient Babylon (I.B.Tauris, 2013)
Lisbeth Fried, ‘Cyrus the Messiah? The Historical Background to Isaiah 45:1’ (Harvard Theological Review 95, 2002)
M. Kozuh, W.F. Henkelman, C.E. Jones and C. Woods (eds.), Extraction and Control: Studies in Honour of Matthew W. Stolper (Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 2014), especially the chapter ‘Cyrus the Great, exiles and foreign gods: A comparison of Assyrian and Persian policies in subject nations’ by R. J. van der Spek
Lynette Mitchell, Cyrus the Great: A Biography of Kingship (Routledge, 2023)
Michael Roaf, Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East (Facts On File, 1990)
Vesta Sarkosh Curtis and Sarah Stewart (eds.), Birth of the Persian Empire (I.B.Tauris, 2005), especially the chapter ‘Cyrus the Great and the kingdom of Anshan’ by D.T. Potts
Matt Waters, King of the World: The Life of Cyrus the Great (Oxford University Press, 2022)
In Our Time is a BBC Studios Audio production
SUN 23:45 Short Works (m0028v4d)
Your England by Tom Vowler
An original short story for radio, written by Tom Vowler and read by Carl Prekopp. Keeping vigil at his father's bedside, a son recalls all that went unspoken between them, of the dark undercurrents beneath his father's idealised version of this country and of the men who held power in it.
Tom Vowler is an award-winning novelist and short story writer living in south west England. His debut story collection, The Method, won the Scott Prize, and his story Voyagers won the 2024 V.S. Pritchett Short Story Prize. His novels include That Dark Remembered Day and Every Seventh Wave, and his latest title is The Trajectory of Ghosts.
Writer: Tom Vowler
Reader: Carl Prekopp
Producer: Beth O'Dea
A BBC Audio Bristol Production for BBC Radio 4.
MONDAY 17 MARCH 2025
MON 00:00 Midnight News (m00291pv)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
MON 00:15 The Battersea Poltergeist (p0977lbn)
Episode 6: Fright Night
After the press backlash, the Hitchings family fight to prove the haunting isn’t a hoax.
They invite young journalist Joyce Lewis to spend a night at Number 63 Wycliffe Road – will she experience the phenomena that can prove Donald is real? Meanwhile, Danny spends his own night with a ghost, investigating a house that claims to have an active poltergeist, with sinister parallels to the Battersea case.
Written and presented by Danny Robins, starring Dafne Keen (His Dark Materials), Toby Jones (Detectorists), Burn Gorman (Torchwood) and Alice Lowe (Sightseers).
With original theme music by Mercury-nominated Nadine Shah and Ben Hillier, this gripping eight-part series interweaves a chilling supernatural thriller set in 50s London with a fascinating modern-day investigation into Britain’s strangest ever haunting – a mystery unsolved... until now.
Shirley Hitchings……..Dafne Keen
Harold Chibbett………Toby Jones
Wally Hitchings…… Burn Gorman
Kitty Hitchings……….Alice Lowe
Joyce Lewis………..Miranda Raison
Steve………………..Rufus Wright
Written and presented by Danny Robins
Experts: Ciaran O’Keeffe and Evelyn Hollow
Sound Designer: Richard Fox
Music: Evelyn Sykes
Theme Music by Nadine Shah and Ben Hillier
Produced by Danny Robins and Simon Barnard
Directed by Simon Barnard
Consultant: Alan Murdie
With thanks to James Clark, co-author of 'The Poltergeist Prince of London'
A Bafflegab production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in April 2021.
MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (m0029154)
[Repeat of broadcast at
05:43 on Sunday]
MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m00291py)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m00291q0)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m00291q2)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
MON 05:30 News Briefing (m00291q4)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m00291q6)
St Patrick's Wife?
A reflection and prayer to start the day with Andrea Rea
MON 05:45 Farming Today (m00291q8)
17/03/25 Covid anniversary and its legacy on farms. Biosecurity and keeping diseases at bay.
It's five years since the first covid lockdown - for farmers it was in some senses business as usual, they carried on growing their crops and tending their livestock, but as high streets and restaurants shut, online shopping became the norm and there was a surge in demand for locally produced food. We catch up with a couple in Oxfordshire who struggled to keep up when demand for their veg boxes soared. However the pandemic changed their business for good, and they think made it more resilient and efficient. We also speak to British Growers who helped start "Pick for Britain". The campaign aimed to get people on furlough out in the fields to harvest fruit and veg because overseas seasonal workers had had to go home.
This week we're looking at biosecurity - keeping out disease, at the border and on farm. As concerns over foot and mouth in Europe are on the rise, after a couple of outbreaks, we speak to the Animal and Plant Heath Agency. They work to prevent plant and animal disease getting into the country and to contain and eradicate any cases of disease that are found.
Presenter = Charlotte Smith
Producer = Rebecca Rooney
MON 05:57 Weather (m00291qb)
Weather reports and forecasts for farmers
MON 06:00 Today (m00291xz)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
MON 09:00 More or Less (m00291y1)
How did lockdown impact children?
In March 2020, the covid pandemic forced the UK into lockdown. Schools closed, universities went online and the economy shut down.
It slowly became clear that young people were not falling victim to the virus in significant numbers - they made up a fraction of a percent of the overall death toll.
But their lives were radically changed - most spending these formative ages stuck at home as the pandemic raged. Politicians and academics worried about the long term impact this would have on their chances in life.
Five years on, Tim Harford delves into the data to try to work out what we can say with confidence about the effect of the lockdown on the children and young adults who lived through it.
On questions of education levels, job prospects and mental health, what story does the best evidence show us?
Presenter: Tim Harford
Producer: Tom Colls
Researcher: Josh McMinn
Production co-ordinator: Brenda Brown
Sound mix: Nigel Appleton
Editor: Richard Vadon
MON 09:45 Shadow World (m0025w1r)
The Willpower Detectives
5. Rich Pickings
Who do people turn to if they fear that vulnerable neighbours need help, especially when relatives live far away? Sue Mitchell follows cases, hearing from some of those involved.
The hidden scandal of Power of Attorney - concerned neighbours ask Sue for help.
This is an original investigation, with recordings in real time, exploring how power of attorney orders can be used for better or worse.
Shadow World: Gripping stories from the shadows - BBC investigations from across the UK.
Presented by Sue Mitchell
Produced by Sue Mitchell, Joel Moors and Winifred Robinson
MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (m00291y3)
Lockdown babies, Breast cancer study, Femgore, Chess Masters
Five years on from the first Covid lockdown, what can be done to support the 200,000 ‘Lockdown babies’ born when lockdown was at its most restrictive, between 23 March and 4 July 2020? These babies have extraordinary young-life stories: Mums giving birth alone; doctors in hazmat suits; babies meeting fathers and grandparents for the first time online; no health visitors; no family cuddles; no baby groups. Now aged four and approaching five, lockdown seems to have had lasting effects on some. What can be done to help? Nuala McGovern is joined by Nicola Botting, Professor of Developmental Disorders at City St George’s, University of London and co-lead on The Born in Covid Year – Core Lockdown Effects (BICYCLE) study, Jane Harris, CEO of Speech and Language UK, and mum of three, Frankie Eshun.
Girls Aloud singer Sarah Harding died of breast cancer in 2021 at the age of 39. Inspired by her desire to find new ways of spotting the disease earlier, the Breast Cancer Risk Assessment in Young Women (BCAN-RAY) study was set up in May 2023. Led by Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust with funding from the Christie Charity, Sarah Harding Breast Cancer Appeal, and other charities, it is one of the world's first research programmes to identify breast cancer risks in younger women without a family history of the disease. Nuala speaks to Anna Housley, who has taken part in the study.
Nuala talks to Emma van Straaten, whose 10,000 word entry, This Immaculate Body, won the inaugural Women’s Prize Discoveries in 2021, an award set up to inspire unagented and unpublished women in the UK and Ireland to write their first novels. That submission is now a published book - It is about Alice, who has been cleaning Tom’s flat for over a year, and becomes infatuated with him, a man she has never met.
A new TV series, Chess Masters, started last week on BBC2. It’s badged as Bake Off with kings and queens. Camilla Lewis, the woman behind the new show, was inspired to create it by her teenage daughter, Jasmine, who became obsessed with the game during lockdown. They join Nuala to talk about how to turn a board game into must-watch television.
Presenter: Nuala McGovern
Producer: Rebecca Myatt
MON 11:00 Changing the Odds (m00291y5)
Episode 1: Westminster; Gambling's Big Bang
The 2005 Gambling Act propelled the UK to become the world's biggest online gambling market. But at what price?
New Labour's 2005 Act was betting's big bang. Because of this liberalising gambling act the betting business has become a huge success but it's also now one of the country's most controversial industries.
Radio 4 Journalist Lydia Thomas has reported on the industry for over 10 years and teams up with industry insider Stewart Kenny, one of the founders of betting giant Paddy Power to tell the story of how we got here.
Stewart founded Paddy Power in the 80s, and the story of betting's growth mirrors Stewart's personal tale. He tells Lydia how he expanded Paddy Power across Ireland and into the UK, but also his doubts on where the industry was going as it moved online.
Starting in Westminster, Lydia interviews politicians about the how gambling laws couldn't keep up with technological innovations like the iPhone, which brought casinos to every customer's pocket. Tony Blair's failed Super Casino's idea - and the controversial Fixed Odds Betting Terminal; where you could gamble £100 every 2 minutes. The Fixed Odds Betting terminal changed the conversation about gambling, and put betting on the front pages of all the major newspapers, and the non-betting public's consciousness for the first time.
Lydia also investigates the influence of the industry's lobbying on politicians. Whether free gifts and tickets to sporting events really influences policy.
Presented by Lydia Thomas
Produced by Lydia Thomas and Richard McIlroy
Main Contributor: Stewart Kenny
Assistant Producer: Emma Smith
Technical Producer: Michael Smith
MON 11:45 The Age of Diagnosis by Suzanne O'Sullivan (m00291y8)
1: Huntington's Disease
A thought-provoking new book from the neurologist and award-winning author Suzanne O'Sullivan, asking whether our culture of medical diagnosis can harm, rather than help us.
The boundaries between sickness and health are being redrawn. Mental health categories are shifting and expanding, radically altering what we consider to be 'normal'. Genetic tests can now detect pathologies decades before people experience symptoms, and sometimes before they're even born. And increased health screening draws more and more people into believing they are unwell.
An accurate diagnosis can bring greater understanding and of course improved treatment. But many diagnoses aren't as definitive as we think. And in some cases they risk turning healthy people into patients. Drawing on the stories of real people, as well as decades of clinical practice and the latest medical research, Dr Suzanne O'Sullivan overturns long held assumptions and reframes how we think about illness and health.
Today: why do those at risk from Huntington's Disease tend not to test for whether they have this debilitating condition?
Reader: Brid Brennan
Writer: Dr Suzanne O'Sullivan has been a consultant in neurology since 2004, specialising in the investigation of complex epilepsy, as well as an award-winning author. Her first book It's All in Your Head, won both the Wellcome Book Prize and the Royal Society of Biology Book Prize.
Abridger: Katrin Williams
Producer: Justine Willett
MON 12:00 News Summary (m00291yb)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 12:04 You and Yours (m00291yd)
Five Years Since Lockdown, Pop-up Campsites, Gaming and Well-being
In today's programme we're going back in time to March 2020 when the Government announced the first lockdown. Overnight everything changed from how we shopped, to where we could go and what we could do. It might all feel a distant memory but are the effects for us as consumers still with us today? Winifred Robinson is joined by Toby Clark, from Global Market Intelligence & Research Agency Mintel, Travel Correspondent of The Independent Simon Calder and Aneisha Beveridge head of research at estate agents Hamptons.
Pop-up camp sites can provide vital additional incomes to people in rural arears - but one national park says they blight the landscape and can be a nuisance to locals. We hear about Pembrokeshire Coast National Parks plans to introduce planning permission for pop-camp sites and what it could mean for those that run and use them.
And how long is too long when it comes to gaming? With more people than ever playing video games whether online, on consoles or mobiles comes concern that people are spending too much of their time doing it. But a new story from the Oxford Internet Institute has found that the number of hours adults spent playing video games did not significantly affect their mental well-being. We hear from the co-author of the study Professor Andy Przybylski. Plus Winifred Robinson asks a Counselling Psychologist from the National Centre for Gaming Disorders, Dr Richard Pomfret, about when the amount of time spent gaming does become a problem.
For more information and support about problem gaming go to: https://www.cnwl.nhs.uk/national-centre-gaming-disorders
PRODUCER - CATHERINE EARLAM
PRESENTER - WINIFRED ROBINSON
MON 12:57 Weather (m00291yg)
The latest weather forecast
MON 13:00 World at One (m00291yj)
Ex Ofsted Chief hits out at Labour's Schools Bill
Amanda Spielman tells the World at One that the government is putting teaching unions before students. Plus, British tennis number 1 Jack Draper wins his first Masters title.
MON 13:45 Human Intelligence (m00291yl)
Manhattan Project: J Robert Oppenheimer
Naomi Alderman explores the multifaceted mind of J Robert Oppenheimer, scientific lead on the Manhattan Project, a vast, top secret scheme to build the world's first atomic bombs in World War II.
The Project was a remarkable feat of human intellect with a real, devastating human cost. It required close cooperation between the US military and a group of world-leading scientists. In many ways, Oppenheimer was a puzzling candidate for the job. He was brilliant, but fuelled by self-loathing. A physicist, he was also a student of philosophy and mysticism, interested in left-wing radical politics. Oppenheimer built the bomb, but later called the weapon's industry "the devil's work". His legacy, like the Manhattan Project itself, is infinitely complex.
Special thanks to Alex Wellerstein, historian of science at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey, and author of The Most Awful Responsibility: Truman and the Secret Struggle for Control of the Atomic Age (HarperCollins, 2025).
Produced by BBC Studios Audio in partnership with The Open University.
MON 14:00 The Archers (m00291pn)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Sunday]
MON 14:15 Conversations from a Long Marriage (m001jt7z)
Series 4
4. Every Little Thing
Joanna Lumley and Roger Allam return in the fourth series of Jan Etherington’s award-winning comedy about a long-married couple in love with life and each other.
This week, it seems everything is making Roger grumpy, including a neighbour putting out his bin on the wrong day; a car alarm in the night and a shortage of streaky bacon. Roger claims he’s ‘normal’ because ‘most men live lives of quiet desperation’ but Joanna discovers it’s her fault he’s feeling fed up.
Conversations from a Long Marriage won the Voice of the Listener & Viewer Award for Best Radio Comedy in 2020. Also, nominated for a Writers Guild Award 2023.
Conversations from a Long Marriage is written by Jan Etherington and produced by Claire Jones. The production coordinator is Katie Baum, the studio engineer is Wilfredo Acosta and sound design is by Jon Calver. It is a BBC Studios Production.
‘Joanna Lumley and Roger Allam have had illustrious acting careers but can they ever have done anything better than Jan Etherington’s two hander? This is a work of supreme craftsmanship.’ RADIO TIMES
‘Peppered with nostalgic 60s hits and especially written for the pair, it’s an endearing portrait of exasperation, laced with hard won tolerance – and something like love.’ THE GUARDIAN
‘The delicious fruit of the writer, Jan Etherington’s experience of writing lots of TV and radio, blessed by being acted by Joanna Lumley and Roger Allam. Treasure this one, produced by Claire Jones. Unlike many a current Radio 4 ‘comedy’, this series makes people laugh’ GILLIAN REYNOLDS. SUNDAY TIMES
‘You’ve been listening at my window, Jan’. JOANNA LUMLEY
MON 14:45 The Island (m00283zz)
Series 1
Episode 5: Hunted by celebrity chefs
Alone and desperate, desert island castaway Stephen Mangan is on the run from his fellow castaways. And they have spears.
From Bill Dare (Dead Ringers), Jon Holmes (The Skewer) and writers Tom Oxenham and Simon Alcock, actor Stephen Mangan washes up on the actual island from Desert Island Discs, only to discover that he is not alone.
Living among the palms and rocky outcrops and thousands of copies of the Bible lying in the sand is every former guest of the show - and it’s all gone a bit Lord of the Flies.
Through Stephen’s audio diary, we learn that all TV chef Nadiya Hussain wants to do is hunt, that Richard Madeley’s gone feral, and that Sandi Toksvig has the Conch. But there’s something lurking in the forest, and when Stephen suspects foul play in the power struggle to be chief, he soon finds himself making a dangerous enemy.
Can he win over his fellow islanders before it’s too late? What lengths will he go to to survive? And what the hell is he going to do with this useless coffee machine he chose as his luxury item?
Written by Tom Oxenham and Simon Alcock
Starring Stephen Mangan as himself
Sound Design: Tony Churnside
Executive Producer: Jon Holmes
Producer: Bill Dare
An unusual production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 15:00 A Good Read (m00291yn)
Nina Sosanya and Joelle Taylor
Actor Nina Sosanya and prize winning poet and writer Joelle Taylor talk favourite books with Harriett.
Nina chooses Sally Jones and the False Rose by Jakob Wegelius, a children's novel with a mute gorilla engineer as its protagonist. The book appeals to Nina's love of engineering, and the city of Glasgow!
Joelle nominates Booker Prize winning The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Sri Lankan writer Shehan Karunatilaka, about a man killed in the Sri Lankan civil war, seeking answers in the afterlife.
Harriett's choice is Tasting Sunlight by Ewald Arenz, a novel set in the German countryside at the tail end of summer, featuring two women with mysterious back stories.
Two of the choices are novels in translation, which prompts a chat about whether translated books are becoming more common.
Produced for BBC Audio Bristol by Sally Heaven
Follow us on instagram: agoodreadbbc
MON 15:30 The Kitchen Cabinet (m002913q)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:30 on Saturday]
MON 16:00 Lockdown’s Legacy (m002901f)
The Children
It has been five years since it was announced that the UK was to go into a national lockdown due to the Coronavirus pandemic sweeping the globe. We can all remember the wide-spread effects rippling through most parts of our society, but what impact did lockdown have for our children and young people? In this special documentary, young people from across the UK, most of whom are currently in Year 11, share their memories of that remarkable time: from their Year 6 SATs examinations being cancelled, to saying goodbye to their primary school friends, which for some, was the final time. They also share how the lockdowns have impacted them long term: from losing social skills, finding new creative hobbies and gaining perspective about things in life that are most important.
Presenter: Catherine Carr
Producer: Beth Hemmings & Catherine Carr
MON 16:30 Lockdown’s Legacy (m00291yq)
The Teachers
A group of teachers from the North East of Scotland discuss what they witnessed during the lockdown of 2020. When schools were shut and learning was done at home and online, what was the impact on pupils?
Coming from a variety of teaching backgrounds, and experiences, they each have unique insights into how a year of lockdown and remote teaching affected pupils. They discuss how teachers were the point of normality for pupils in key worker hub schools. They saw first hand the impact on pupils mental wellbeing and educational attainment. And for the first time, saw into the homes of children who were struggling.
Open, honest, by turns funny and heart breaking, this gives a universal insight into how teachers across the country cared for their pupils during the global pandemic and how it changed the landscape of learning forever.
Presenter: Catherine Carr
Producer: Emily Esson
Researcher: Marisha Currie
A BBC Audio Scotland production for BBC Radio 4
MON 17:00 PM (m00291ys)
UK prepares for peacekeeping in Ukraine
The UK prepares for peacekeeping in Ukraine - ahead of key talks between Trump and Putin. We speak to a former head of the British army about what deploying thousands of troops means.
Also: Labour grandee Jack Straw tells us why he wants a rethink of Britain's relationship with the European Court of Human Rights; President Trump silences the eight decade-old Voice of America; and the strange story of an Antarctic research base where 10 people are out of reach over winter, and one has reportedly attacked another.
MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m00291yv)
Presidents Trump and Putin will discuss peace in Ukraine during a phone call tomorrow.
MON 18:30 One Person Found This Helpful (m00291yx)
Series 2
3. If in Doubt, Be Spanish
Frank & guests Kiri Pritchard-McLean, Simon Evans, Daliso Chaponda and Ania Magliano discover the best place to put a forget-me-not and the worst place to put a floof.
This is the panel game based on what we all sit down and do at least once a day – shop online and leave a review, as an all-star panel celebrate the good, the bad & the baffling.
Everyone has an online life, and when the great British public put pen to keyboard to leave a review, they almost always write something hilarious. And our all-star panel have to work out just what they were reviewing – and maybe contribute a few reviews of their own... and more... So if you’re the person who went on Trip Advisor to review Ben Nevis as “Very steep and too high”, this show salutes you!
Written by Frank Skinner, Catherine Brinkworth, Sarah Dempster, Jason Hazeley, Rajiv Karia, Karl Minns, Katie Sayer & Peter Tellouche
Devised by Jason Hazeley and Simon Evans with the producer David Tyler
A Pozzitive Production for BBC Radio 4
MON 19:00 The Archers (m002900s)
Lily has some proposals for Kirsty to begin forging a relationship between Grey Gables and Rewilding Ambridge. They’d start by including the rewilding in their tour offer to guests. But Kirsty’s only half listening, preoccupied with the lack of progress on her Beechwood house sale. Lily reckons she’s being too patient with Tom and Natasha – she should give them a cut-off time. Changing the subject, Lily wonders whether Kirsty might consider being on the cricket team. She can play a bit and has the right positive attitude. Kirsty’s unsure. Lily seeks Rex’s opinion, but he announces he probably can’t play this season himself. He’s busy with the taxi at weekends and needs the money. Lily offers to consider paying him to play. Rex is uncertain about this private agreement, but Lily insists she’ll talk to Vince as their sponsor.
Helen gives Susan and Clarrie the difficult news that, with the dairy struggling, one of them will have to go. She offers the option of voluntary redundancy. The two women have a heart-to-heart, speaking fondly of their thirty years together at the dairy and all they like about it. Susan thinks she might hang up her hat. Clarrie suspects Susan’s saying this for her sake; she thanks her but couldn’t bear it on her conscience if this is the case. When pressed Susan admits she wants to stay on. It will be in Helen’s hands to decide. Helen announces she’ll hold interviews. She’ll do her best to make it a straightforward process, but it won’t be easy.
MON 19:15 Front Row (m00291yz)
Vikingur Olafsson's lockdown piano performance, how the pandemic changed The Arts, Liz Pichon's interactive world of The Mubbles
Front Row's artist in residence, acclaimed Icelandic pianist Vikingur Olafsson, reflects on five years since lockdown and we have another listen to his Front Row lockdown performance of the Adagio from Bach's Organ Sonata Number 4.
How were the arts affected when the country locked down five years ago? Matthew Hemley of The Stage and Louisa Buck of the Art Newspaper discuss how the Covid crisis impacted theatres, galleries and artists.
And the Tom Gates series children's writer Liz Pichon joins us to talk about her latest work for younger readers.
Presenter: Samira Ahmed
Producer: Corinna Jones
MON 20:00 Lockdown’s Legacy (m00291z1)
The Medics
In the final episode of Lockdown's Legacy, medical professionals - including a paediatrician, GP, epidemiologist, family nurse, and child psychiatrist - share their insights into how lockdown affected young people.
As Covid arrived in the UK in early 2020, doctors braced themselves for a tsunami of infections. But in paediatric wards across the country, they never came. While intensive care units and respiratory wards filled up, the children's wards remained largely empty.
But even though Covid didn't affect young people as badly as older generations, lockdown did. Children remained stuck at home, most unable to go to school and unable to see their friends.
From delayed diagnoses and missed opportunities to spot signs of neglect and abuse, to the mental health crisis now affecting so many young people, Catherine Carr explores the legacy of lockdown for that generation, as told by the medics who witnessed it first hand.
Archive of Dr Lalith Wijedoru from NHS Voices of Covid-19 project, copyright University of Manchester.
Presenter: Catherine Carr
Producer: Tim Bano
MON 20:30 BBC Inside Science (m0028v08)
Are boys doing better than girls at maths and science?
There’s a big “gender gap” between boys and girls in maths and science - that’s according to a new report out this week.
Boys in England in years five and nine are now “significantly” outperforming girls in both subjects, the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study suggests.
Ben Garrod is joined by physicist Dr Jess Wade, from Imperial College London, and maths teacher and National Numeracy ambassador Bobby Seagull, to discuss the issue.
Also this week, we discuss the mind-blowing effects of living in space on the human body and science journalist Caroline Steel joins us with her picks of the week’s science news, including the environmental impact of the North Sea collision and a study that suggests scientists should be cracking more jokes...
Presenter: Professor Ben Garrod
Producers: Sophie Ormiston & Gerry Holt
Editor: Martin Smith
Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth
To discover more fascinating science content, head to bbc.co.uk search for BBC Inside Science and follow the links to The Open University.
MON 21:00 Start the Week (m00291z3)
Lockdown and the Covid generation
Five years ago, in response to the Covid pandemic, the government mandated a series of lockdowns, with the closure of schools and businesses and social distancing. Tom Sutcliffe is joined by guests to discuss how such a monumental event could have had affected brain cognition, and whether there have been lasting effects on young people. But he also hears tales of resilience among neurodiverse communities.
The neuroscientist Daniel Yon looks at the cognitive impact of unprecedented events in his forthcoming book, A Trick of the Mind - How the Brain Invents Your Reality (published, June 2025). He explains how times of instability and uncertainty upset the brain’s ability to understand the world, and make people more susceptible to conspiracy theories.
The Covid-19 Social Study was the largest study exploring the psychological and social effects of the pandemic on the UK population. Dr Daisy Fancourt, Associate Professor of Psychobiology and Epidemiology at University College London explains what they learnt about the impact of social isolation. The developmental psychologist at Cambridge University, Professor Claire Hughes, has looked more closely at families with young children, across six different countries, with very different lockdown policies. Although there was a link between family stress related to the pandemic and child problem behaviours, more recent work questions whether the lockdown has had longer term effects.
The artist and zinemaker Dr Lea Cooper has co-curated a new exhibition at the Wellcome Collection, Zines Forever! DIY Publications and Disability Justice (until 14th September). Zines are self-published works, and Dr Cooper says several on display were created during lockdown, and showcase personal stories of resistance and self-expression.
Producer: Katy Hickman
Part of BBC Radio 4's series of programmes exploring Lockdown’s Legacy
MON 21:45 New Storytellers (m0021w74)
Friends of the Wall
Every Friday, a small group of volunteers paint red hearts on the National Covid Memorial Wall, in the heart of Westminster. As the world moves on, why do they keep coming back?
In this award-winning feature, producer Evan Green weaves together testimonies from the group into a captivating sonic snapshot of the wall, and everything it means to them. For over three years, this tight-knit group of bereaved volunteers has gathered here every Friday, come rain or shine, fuelled by coffee and cake.
Nearly a quarter of a million red hearts fill the wall, each heart representing a life lost to Covid-19. Each with a unique story - bound together by a shared loss and driven by a hearty recipe of love and anger in equal parts - the Friends of the Wall are determined to ensure the hearts on the wall don’t fade.
New Storytellers presents the work of new audio producers. This series features the winners of the Charles Parker Prize 2024. The award is presented every year in memory of the pioneering radio producer Charles Parker who produced the ground-breaking Radio Ballads featuring voices of communities unheard at the time, with musical narratives by Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger.
The judges of the prize – made up of producers, critics and commissioners – described Evan Green’s winning feature as an “excellent programme” based on “a simple yet riveting idea, told through marvellously articulate speakers… beautifully recorded”.
Producer: Evan Green
A Soundscape production for BBC Radio 4
MON 22:00 The World Tonight (m00291z5)
Government prepares to announce welfare reforms
The prime minister is under pressure from his own MPs as he prepares to announce changes to the welfare system tomorrow. With speculation the reforms could include tougher assessments of those applying for disability benefits, we hear from someone who used to judge such claims.
Also on the programme:
Ahead of a phone call between Presidents Trump and Putin to discuss peace in Ukraine - and the divvying up of "land and power plants" - we hear from a woman from a part of the country occupied by Russian forces - who fears it may stay that way.
And as a statue is unveiled to the anti-war campaigner Brian Haw - who spent a decade camped outside Westminster - we hear from the actor Sir Mark Rylance who campaigned for him to be remembered in this way.
MON 22:45 Twist by Colum McCann (m00291z7)
Episode One
A propulsive novel of rupture and repair in the digital age, delving into a hidden world deep under the ocean – from the New York Times bestselling author of Apeirogon and Let the Great World Spin. As read by Declan Conlon.
Anthony Fennell, an Irish journalist and playwright, is assigned to cover the underwater cables that carry the world’s information. The sum of human existence—words, images, transactions, memes, voices, viruses—travels through the tiny fiber-optic tubes. But sometimes the tubes break, at an unfathomable depth.
Fennell’s journey brings him to the west coast of Africa, where he uncovers a story about the raw human labor behind the dazzling veneer of the technological world. He meets John Conway, the mysterious chief of mission on a cable repair ship.
When the ship is sent up the coast to repair a series of major underwater breaks, both men learn that the very cables they seek to fix carry the news that may cause their lives to unravel. At sea, they are forced to confront the most elemental questions of life, love, absence, belonging, and the perils of our severed connections.
The Author
Colum McCann’s seven novels and three collections of short stories have been published in over forty languages and received some of the world’s most prestigious literary awards and honours, including the National Book Award for his novel Let the Great World Spin in 2009. His novel TransAtlantic was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2013, and his most recent novel, Apeirogon, also longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, is an international bestseller on four continents.
Reader: Declan Conlon
Author: Colum McCann
Abridger: Rowan Routh
Producer: Michael Shannon
A BBC Audio Northern Ireland Production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 23:00 Limelight (m0014qdd)
Who Is Aldrich Kemp?
2. Themis House
Our heroine Clara Page finds herself in a mysterious village where the shopkeepers all look remarkably similar. Will more questions be raised than answered by the occupants of the equally mysterious Themis House? Who is Aldrich Kemp?
Cast:
Clara Page .............................Phoebe Fox
Mister Bartholomew .........Tim McInnerny
Aldrich Kemp ...................... Ferdinand Kingsley
Mrs Boone..............................Nicola Walker
Sebastian Harcourt ............Kyle Soller
Nakesha Kemp ....................Karla Crome
Aunt Lily .................................Susan Jameson
The Underwood Sisters ....Jana Carpenter
Cylist ........................................Louise Brealey
Created and written by Julian Simpson
Recorded on location in Hove, London and at The Royal Pavilion in Brighton
Music composed by Tim Elsenburg
Sound Design: David Thomas
Director: Julian Simpson
Producer: Sarah Tombling
Executive Producer: Karen Rose
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4
MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (m00291z9)
Sean Curran reports as the Foreign Secretary updates MP after a meeting of G7 nations.
TUESDAY 18 MARCH 2025
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (m00291zc)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
TUE 00:30 The Age of Diagnosis by Suzanne O'Sullivan (m00291y8)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m00291zf)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m00291zh)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m00291zk)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
TUE 05:30 News Briefing (m00291zm)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m00291zp)
Tornado Warnings
A reflection and prayer to start the day with Andrea Rea
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (m00291zr)
18/03/25 - Hare coursing, xylella and soil microplastics
Farmers who've had illegal hare coursers on their land are warning it’s only a matter of time until someone is killed. Hare coursing involves betting on dogs chasing hares, and police say those taking part are often involved in criminal gangs and are using more and more extreme tactics.
Xylella is a bacterial infection in plants spread by spittlebugs. It hasn't yet arrived in the UK but has had a serious impact on olive trees in the Mediterranean. Imported plants are being checked at the border to try to prevent the disease getting here, but preparations are also being made in case it does. We visit a secure lab to speak to some of the scientists involved.
And a new study has found that after 4 years of applying sewage sludge to farm land, the amount of microplastics in the soil had risen by 1,450%. Researchers from the James Hutton Institute and Robert Gordon University looked at soil samples from an experimental field in North Lanarkshire.
Presented by Anna Hill
Produced by Heather Simons
TUE 06:00 Today (m0029008)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
TUE 09:00 The Life Scientific (m0028zyv)
Jacqueline McKinley on unearthing bones and stories at Britain's ancient burial sites
How much information can you extract from a burnt fragment of human bone?
Quite a lot, it turns out - not only about the individual, but also their broader lives and communities; and these are the stories unearthed by Jacqueline McKinley, a Principal Osteoarchaeologist with Wessex Archaeology.
During her career, Jackie has analysed thousands of ancient burial sites across the British Isles, bringing to life the old traditions around death via often cremated human remains. She's also assisted criminal investigators with forensic analysis, and contributed to some of the UK's best-loved archaeological TV shows.
And one thing she’s absolutely clear about: far from being macabre, osteoarchaeology is more about the living, than the dead...
In conversation with Professor Jim Al-Khalili, Jackie talks about the stories we can derive from skeletal remains, how western attitudes to death have gone through a major recent shift, and why she's kept some of her late father's bones.
Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Produced for BBC Studios by Lucy Taylor
TUE 09:30 Inside Health (m0028zyx)
How did the Covid-19 pandemic change medicine?
Five years on from the first Covid lockdown in the UK, we consider how the pandemic changed medicine.
We're joined by Dr Emma Wall, academic consultant in Infectious Diseases at University College London Hospital who also runs a long covid clinic, Professor Katrina Pollock, Associate Professor in Vaccinology at the Oxford Vaccine Group and Jon Otter Director for Infection Prevention and Control at Guy’s Hospital London.
Presenter: James Gallagher
Producer: Hannah Robins
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (m002900b)
Sugababes, Kate Summerscale & Kamila Shamsie, The History of Abortion
The Sugababes started their music career together in 1998 but, after Siobhán left the band in 2001, it wasn't until 2019 that Mutya, Keisha and Siobhán came back together as the Sugababes. All three members join Nuala McGovern to celebrate the release of their brand new single, Jungle, just as they get ready for their biggest ever UK and Ireland tour – which kicks off in Leeds next month.
To mark the 30th anniversary of The Women’s Prize, Woman’s Hour is hearing from writers who have been longlisted in fiction and non-fiction this year, along with previous winners. Today Nuala talks to 2025 longlisted non-fiction author Kate Summerscale about her book The Peepshow: The Murders at 10 Rillington Place, and to Kamila Shamsie, whose novel Home Fire won the 2018 Women’s Prize for Fiction. Both books examine crime and punishment, and what happens when politicians and the media become involved in criminal justice.
A new book Abortion – A History, gives the long view of ending pregnancy. From ancient Greece to Roe v Wade, Mary Fissell charts changing practices of and attitudes towards abortion. Mary, who is Professor in the History of Medicine at John Hopkins University in the US, joins Nuala in the Woman’s Hour studio to explain why she wrote the book and what she has learned.
Presenter: Nuala McGovern
Producer: Laura Northedge
TUE 11:00 Add to Playlist (m0028v4s)
Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne and Anne Dudley salute Amy
Concertina and melodeon player Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne and composer and arranger Anne Dudley contribute to the next five tracks on the playlist. Alongside Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe, they take us on a journey from the elegant vocals of Amy Winehouse to a Japanese folk tune about hardworking fishermen.
Producer: Jerome Weatherald
Presented with musical direction by Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe
The five tracks in this week's playlist:
Love is a Losing Game by Amy Winehouse
Sarabande by Claude Debussy
Lambada by Pinduca
The Bristol Sailorman/Will the Waggoner by John Kirkpatrick (Cohen)
Kaigara Bushi by Mitsune
Other music in this episode:
Why Do Fools Fall In Love by Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers
There is no Greater Love by Billie Holiday
(There is) No Greater Love by Amy Winehouse
Love is a Losing Game (Demo) by Amy Winehouse
Gymnopédie by Erik Satie
Lambada by Kaoma
TUE 11:45 The Age of Diagnosis by Suzanne O'Sullivan (m002900d)
2: Long Covid
The thought-provoking new book from the neurologist and award-winning author Suzanne O'Sullivan, asking whether our culture of medical diagnosis can harm, rather than help us.
The boundaries between sickness and health are being redrawn. Mental health categories are shifting and expanding, radically altering what we consider to be 'normal'. Genetic tests can now detect pathologies decades before people experience symptoms, and sometimes before they're even born. And increased health screening draws more and more people into believing they are unwell.
An accurate diagnosis can bring greater understanding and of course improved treatment. But many diagnoses aren't as definitive as we think. And in some cases they risk turning healthy people into patients. Drawing on the stories of real people, as well as decades of clinical practice and the latest medical research, Dr Suzanne O'Sullivan overturns long held assumptions and reframes how we think about illness and health.
Today: What are the roots of long Covid? And how did the condition come to be diagnosed by patients via social media rather than by scientists?
Reader: Brid Brennan
Writer: Dr Suzanne O'Sullivan has been a consultant in neurology since 2004, specialising in the investigation of complex epilepsy, as well as an award-winning author. Her first book It's All in Your Head, won both the Wellcome Book Prize and the Royal Society of Biology Book Prize.
Abridger: Katrin Williams
Producer: Justine Willett
TUE 12:00 News Summary (m002900g)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 12:04 You and Yours (m002900j)
How Did Covid Affect Your Finances?
It's five years since Covid, and lockdown, turned our lives upside down. We want to hear how that period in history affected your finances and your spending habits. Did you move house, did you have a business that had to close or adapt to survive?
There were huge restrictions that changed the way we socialised, worked, went on holiday - have they changed your spending choices, five years on? Did you find new ways to make money, or new priorities for spending it?
Email youandyours@bbc.co.uk, and please include a number so we can call you back. And after
11am on Tuesday, you can call us on 03700 100 444.
PRESENTER: WINIFRED ROBINSON
PRODUCER: TOM MOSELEY
TUE 12:57 Weather (m002900l)
The latest weather forecast
TUE 13:00 World at One (m002900n)
Labour's plan to cut the benefits bill
After days of speculation, the government sets out their plan on welfare reform. We hear analysis on what it means for public finances and the state of the Labour Party. We also hear from a recipient of Personal Independence Payment, who fears she's about to lose financial support.
Also: after two months of relative calm in Gaza, the ceasefire seems to be nearing its end. We speak to a woman in Gaza City, and we ask the Israel Defence Forces what Prime Minister Netanyahu hopes to achieve with this latest round of air strikes.
TUE 13:45 Human Intelligence (m002900q)
Manhattan Project: Niels Bohr
Niels Bohr said, 'Anyone who is not shocked when they first come across quantum theory cannot possibly have understood it.' Naomi Alderman investigates the remarkable insights of a scientific genius.
Bohr is the man who figured out the structure of the nucleus at the centre of the atom, recognising that the quantum world of tiny particles behaves very differently to the tangible, everyday world around us. He built a scientific family around him, mentoring some of the greatest theoretical physicists of the twentieth century.
Special thanks to Jim Al-Khalili, Distinguished Emeritus Professor of Physics at the University of Surrey.
Produced by BBC Studios Audio in partnership with The Open University.
TUE 14:00 The Archers (m002900s)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 Drama on 4 (m002900v)
Waiting for Waiting for Godot
On 16th March 2020 the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, gave a press conference in Downing Street to bring the public up to date with “the national fight back against the new Coronavirus.” As part of a series of measures “to delay and flatten the peak of the epidemic” was the recommendation that the public should avoid going to social venues such as pubs, clubs and theatres.
The next day, 17th March, a group of actors are waiting on stage. They are half way through a run of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. Will the show go on? Will it close? Will they ever get paid? Will they ever work again? So many questions - but the person who can answer them still hasn’t turned up.
This is a new play for audio by the actor, writer and comedian Adrian Edmondson. He has been obsessed with Waiting For Godot since his school days - he freely admits he and Rik Mayall borrowed heavily from it for their award winning television comedy series Bottom. And in 1991 he was Estragon to Mayall’s Vladimir, in a West End production of Beckett’s masterpiece.
Adrian’s other writing credits include two series of essays, Adrian Edmondson – Signs of Life, for BBC Radio 3 (still available on BBC Sounds), his Sunday Times Bestseller autobiography Berserker!, and several children’s books.
Cast:
The Sofa Surfer Adrian Edmondson
The Equity Dep Kiell Smith-Bynoe
The Hoarder Simon Callow
Unlucky Jim Christopher Ryan
Voice on Tannoy Madeleine Paulson
Writer: Adrian Edmondson
Producer and Director: Caroline Raphael
Executive Producer: Celia de Wolff
Sound: David Thomas
A Dora production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 15:00 History's Heroes (m0028vcw)
History's Secret Heroes: Series 3
Witold Pilecki: The Infiltrator
An undercover Polish operative deliberately sets out to be arrested and sent to Auschwitz. His mission is to tell the world what’s happening inside the walls of the camp. Will he make it out alive?
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: Lorna Reader
Executive Producer: Paul Smith
Written by Alex von Tunzelmann
Commissioning editor for Radio 4: Rhian Roberts
TUE 15:30 Thinking Allowed (m002900x)
Smoking
Laurie Taylor talks to Ivan Markovic, Lecturer in Human Geography at Durham University, about the unique social atmosphere surrounding tobacco use in modern Britain, from its encouragement as part of the Home Front ‘mood management’ during the Second World War to the impact of smoking on 1980s workplace regulations and the UK ban on its use in public places in 2007. Does smoking still play a significant part in the British cultural imagination? Also, Tricia Starks, Professor of History at the University of Arkansas, discusses cigarettes and the Soviet smoking habit. How did the USSR become the first mass smoking society whilst simultaneously opposing this quintessential capitalist product?
Producer: Jayne Egerton
TUE 16:00 Artworks (m002900z)
Orchestras of Auschwitz
Prisoner orchestras were an ever-present accompaniment to the horrors of Auschwitz - from enslavement marching tunes to cryptic compositions. Young conductor and composer Leo Geyer has - for more than 7 years - collaborated with the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum to study the orchestras and decode their arrangements.
He also discovered ripped and burned remnants of scores - 210 pieces of music, all incomplete - which he has painstakingly worked on to understand and restore. In 2025, Leo and his company Constella will perform an 80-minute Opera-Ballet of those salvaged compositional fragments, in tribute to the murdered musicians of Auschwitz.
By telling the story of Leo Geyer's engagement with the history and the manuscripts, this programme asks what more we can learn and understand about the experience and legacy of the Holocaust by listening to the music.
Presenter: Leo Geyer
Producer: Eva Krysiak
Executive Producer: Jack Howson
A Peanut & Crumb production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 16:30 When It Hits the Fan (m0029011)
Thames Water’s PR gamble, Tesla backlash and William’s Villa in The Sun
Letting the cameras go behind the scenes of a company is always a risky strategy - but did it pay off for Thames Water? David Yelland and Simon Lewis assess whether BBC2's Thames Water: Inside the Crisis is a PR victory or a PR disaster for the much maligned utility. The frontline staff emerge as heroes, but is the real story being told?
Also, how bad PR can kill a business - will the Tesla brand survive being tainted by Elon Musk?
And how Prince William is using Aston Villa and football as soft Royal power. Beware - fake it at your own peril.
Producer: Eve Streeter
Editor: Sarah Teasdale
Executive Producer: William Miller
Music by Eclectic Sounds
A Raconteur Studios production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 17:00 PM (m0029013)
Liz Kendall unveils Labour’s changes to the welfare system
The work and pensions secretary joins us live, plus Labour MPs raise concerns over a crackdown on benefits. Also on the programme: a former US special envoy for Ukraine discusses Donald Trump's call with president Putin.
TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m0029015)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
TUE 18:30 Heresy (m0029017)
Series 13
Episode 5
Victoria Coren Mitchell is joined by Sir Grayson Perry, Desiree Buch and Ben Elton to discuss junk food, art and protesting.
Written and presented by Victoria Coren Mitchell with additional material from Dan Gaster and Charlie Skelton
Produced by Victoria Coren Mitchell and Daisy Knight
Series created by David Baddiel
Sound Design - David Thomas
Broadcast Assistant - Jenny Recaldin
An Avalon production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 19:00 The Archers (m0028zy6)
Clarrie and Emma visit George and find to their surprise that he’s very worried about Eddie. George believes they’re keeping information from him about an illness. He’s had a letter from Keira and Poppy, suggesting he speaks to the family to find out more details. With Emma and Clarrie nonplussed, George realises he’s been duped by his sisters. Clarrie thinks it’s sweet that they’ve concocted this plan to get George to see her and Emma, but George thinks they shouldn’t have used his grandpa this way. However he does admit it was kind of a Grundy thing to do. Emma’s really happy to see George smile. He admits he misses them all. Emma suggests tentatively that they might visit again, and George agrees.
Susan admits to Pat that whilst she’s glad Clarrie’s got to see George, it does still hurt that that he won’t have anything to do with her – and there’s no sign of him coming back from that. Talk turns to the looming fight for their jobs. When Helen ventures that it’s nobody’s fault, Pat’s riled. She puts the blame squarely with the sewage leak incident. They need a more effective way to make their voices heard. Susan suggests a ring of the church bells, to rouse people to the cause. But Neil isn’t happy with the idea. He believes the leak could be as much down to climate change as mismanagement. Pat points out Susan could lose her job – the bells would be for her and Clarrie. Might Neil reconsider and ask Alan’s opinion, for Susan’s sake?
TUE 19:15 Front Row (m0029019)
Julian Barnes's new book Changing My Mind, Victor Hugo's artwork, Emma Donoghue's novel The Paris Express
Sculptor Antony Gormley and Professor of French literature, Catriona Seth discuss Victor Hugo's visual art with Tom Sutcliffe. Victor Hugo was a 19th century cultural colossus, known for monumental works such as The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Les Miserables as well as his poems, plays and political writings. It's not so well known that throughout his career Hugo drew with pen and ink - the same tools he wrote with - creating some 4,000 pictures. The Royal Academy has gathered together about 70 of these in its exhibition 'Astonishing Things: The Drawings of Victor Hugo'.
Julian Barnes, one of our greatest living novelists, talks about his latest nonfiction book Changing My Mind. A series of essays published today by Notting Hill Editions, it ponders moments in his life when he's reconsidered long-held views, from memories and politics to words and the writing of EM Forster.
Bestselling author Emma Donoghue is known for her novel Room. She talks about mixing in real life characters to her latest work of fiction The Paris Express, which was inspired by seeing a surreal photograph of a nineteenth century French railway disaster.
Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe
Producer: Claire Bartleet
TUE 20:00 Today (m0028zxq)
The Today Debate
The Today Debate is about taking a subject and pulling it apart with more time than we could ever have during the programme in the morning.
Amol Rajan is joined by a panel of guests in the BBC's Radio Theatre as he asks: is Donald Trump a peacemaker?
Joining Amol are Sir John Sawers, who was head of MI6 until 2014; Sir Simon Schama, Professor of History at Columbia University in New York; Dr Lina Khatib, an associate fellow at Chatham House; James Orr, UK Chairman of the Edmund Burke Foundation and Associate Professor of Philosophy of Religion at the University of Cambridge and Miguel Berger, German Ambassador to the UK.
The Today Debate is produced by Sinead Heekin and Louisa Lewis. The editor of Today is Owenna Griffiths.
TUE 20:45 In Touch (m002901c)
Benefits Reform
The government has announced its plans to reform the current welfare system with the aim of saving billions. In Touch has brought together a panel of guests to try to outline how the government's plans, outlined in a Green Paper, might affect the benefits that visually impaired people receive.
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 of 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 The Law Show (m0028syf)
Genocide, war crimes and justice
Since the October 7th attacks by Hamas on Israel, and the IDF military invasion of the Gaza strip, terms like 'war crimes', 'crimes against humanity' and 'genocide' have been used when discussing the conflict.
Warrants have been issued by the International Criminal Court in the Hague for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former defence minister Yoav Gallant, and a Hamas commander Mohammed Deif - who has since died in an air strike - citing allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
In this special episode of the Law Show, we'll ask what are the legal definitions of these terms, how victims in a conflict situation can seek justice, and we'll explain the difficulties of gathering evidence in war and proving claims in an international court.
Presenter: Dr Joelle Grogan
Producer: Louise Clarke
Editor: Tara McDermott
TUE 21:30 Lockdown’s Legacy (m002901f)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Monday]
TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (m002901j)
Putin says he won't attack Ukraine's energy infrastructure for 30 days
Vladimir Putin agreed not to attack Ukrainian energy infrastructure for 30 days after a phone call with US President Donald Trump. The Trump administration had hoped to broker a full ceasefire, agreed to by Ukraine, during the phone call. Instead they've said they'll continue negotiations with Russia in the Middle East.
As we went on air two astronauts who'd been stuck at the international space station for nine months on a mission that was meant to last eight days, finally returned to Earth. They splashed down off the coast of Florida.
And we explore what the government's welfare reforms will mean for those with long term health conditions, and whether public attitudes to benefits claimants are hardening.
TUE 22:45 Twist by Colum McCann (m002901l)
Episode Two
A propulsive novel of rupture and repair in the digital age, delving into a hidden world deep under the ocean – from the New York Times bestselling author of Apeirogon and Let the Great World Spin. As read by Declan Conlon.
Anthony Fennell, an Irish journalist and playwright, is assigned to cover the underwater cables that carry the world’s information. The sum of human existence—words, images, transactions, memes, voices, viruses—travels through the tiny fiber-optic tubes. But sometimes the tubes break, at an unfathomable depth.
Fennell’s journey brings him to the west coast of Africa, where he uncovers a story about the raw human labor behind the dazzling veneer of the technological world. He meets John Conway, the mysterious chief of mission on a cable repair ship.
When the ship is sent up the coast to repair a series of major underwater breaks, both men learn that the very cables they seek to fix carry the news that may cause their lives to unravel. At sea, they are forced to confront the most elemental questions of life, love, absence, belonging, and the perils of our severed connections.
The Author
Colum McCann’s seven novels and three collections of short stories have been published in over forty languages and received some of the world’s most prestigious literary awards and honours, including the National Book Award for his novel Let the Great World Spin in 2009. His novel TransAtlantic was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2013, and his most recent novel, Apeirogon, also longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, is an international bestseller on four continents.
Reader: Declan Conlon
Author: Colum McCann
Abridger: Rowan Routh
Producer: Michael Shannon
A BBC Audio Northern Ireland Production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 23:00 X Man: The Elon Musk Origin Story (m000xz37)
5. The Dogefather
In 2021, Elon Musk started calling himself The Dogefather to signal his support for Dogecoin, a cryptocurrency based on a joke meme about a dog. That dog, Jill Lepore argues, is now wagging the tail of the world’s economy. In the 2024 US presidential election, nearly half of all corporate spending came from the cryptocurrency industry. When Trump won that election, leading figures in the cryptocurrency industry celebrated his creation of DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency, a task force led by Musk. DOGE’s mandate is to reduce government spending and to eliminate regulations - including regulations affecting cryptocurrency companies. Cryptocurrency is, essentially, money without government. A libertarian’s dream. In this episode, Lepore looks at Silicon Valley's cryptocurrency craze through the lens of some very old science fiction. She argues that, like everything else about Muskism that purports to be futuristic, the idea of reinventing money is a relic whose history serves as a warning.
Jill Lepore is the Kemper Professor of American History at Harvard University and Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. She’s also a staff writer at The New Yorker and an acclaimed author.
Series Producer: Viv Jones
Researchers: Simon Leek, Oliver Riskin-Kutz
Editors: Richard Vadon, Hugh Levinson
Sound design and mix: James Beard, Graham Puddifoot
Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke
Original music by Corntuth
Production Coordinators: Jack Young, Maria Ogundele
CREDITS
VOA, NBC, Tucker Carlson Network
TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (m002901n)
Susan Hulme reports as the Government announces sweeping changes to the welfare system.
WEDNESDAY 19 MARCH 2025
WED 00:00 Midnight News (m002901q)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
WED 00:30 The Age of Diagnosis by Suzanne O'Sullivan (m002900d)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002901s)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002901v)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m002901x)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
WED 05:30 News Briefing (m002901z)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m0029021)
Not Being Numb
A reflection and prayer to start the day with Andrea Rea
WED 05:45 Farming Today (m0029023)
19/03/25 - Rural pubs, avian flu biosecurity and nurdles on beaches
Rural communities could find it increasingly difficult to save their local pubs following the decision to shut down a government grant scheme. The Community Ownership Fund, which helped groups to buy local assets such as pubs and parks, was set up as part of the Conservative government's levelling up programme. The Labour government closed the scheme earlier than originally planned.
Poultry keepers across the UK must follow strong biosecurity measures to try to prevent the spread of avian flu. We hear what that means on the ground for farmers, and hear from a vet who says it is having an impact.
And millions of tiny plastic pellets known as nurdles have been found washed up on the east coast of England - leading to concerns about their impact on seabirds and marine life. The Coastguard has said it's likely the nurdles came from the collision involving a tanker and a cargo ship in the North Sea, off East Yorkshire last week.
Presented by Anna Hill
Produced by Heather Simons
WED 06:00 Today (m0028zxg)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
WED 09:00 More or Less (m0028zxj)
Why are more people claiming disability benefits?
More working age people are claiming disability benefits. What's driving the trend?
Is it true that the UK imprisons more people for their social media posts than Russia does?
One of the country’s most important data sources has been falling apart. We find out why.
Tim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news.
Presenter: Tim Harford
Reporter: Lizzy McNeill
Producer: Nathan Gower
Series producers: Charlotte McDonald and Tom Colls
Production co-ordinator: Brenda Brown
Sound mix: James Beard
Editor: Richard Vadon
WED 09:30 Intrigue (m0028zxl)
Word of God
6. Higher Powers
A dark, cold morning in February 2025. Hundreds are filing into the Museum of the Bible - evangelical leaders, gospel singers, and over 30 members of Congress including Speaker of the House Mike Johnson. They've gathered just three blocks from the US Capitol for an annual event of fervent prayer about what they see as America's most pressing problems.
Meanwhile, journalist Ben Lewis explores how an institution that once dreamed of becoming a centre for biblical scholarship has transformed after losing some 17,000 artefacts - nearly 40% of its entire collection.
Through revealing interviews with museum officials and its critics, Ben traces the extraordinary journey of the Museum of the Bible - from the Green family's ambitions to make Washington, DC a centre for biblical scholarship, to the devastating revelations of forged Dead Sea Scrolls fragments and thousands of problematically sourced artefacts. Yet despite these setbacks, the museum has found new purpose as a convening space for a movement that wants to make evangelical protestantism the moving spirit of America’s future.
As Ben explores exhibits that present a selective view of religious and American history, he discovers how the museum bridges faith and politics. While its staff insist there's no religious agenda, events hosted within its walls blend prayer with political messaging. Through conversations with scholar Roberta Mazza and journalist Katherine Stewart, Ben examines how museums shape our understanding of history through what they choose to display - and what they leave out.
This final episode reveals how the Museum of the Bible has quietly evolved into something more significant than just a repository of ancient artefacts - a platform for reimagining America's past to shape its future.
Presented by Ben Lewis
Produced by Martha Owen
Series producer: Clem Hitchcock
Executive producers: Philip Abrams and Jago Lee
Story editor: Andrew Dickson
Sound design by Richard Courtice
Original music by Max de Wardener
Additional sound effects courtesy of Freesound
A TellTale production for BBC Radio 4
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (m0028zxn)
June Sarpong, Disability benefit changes, Women war artists
Broadcaster June Sarpong co-founded the Women Inspiration and Enterprise Network, and in 2019 was appointed the first BBC Director of Creative Diversity. She joins Nuala McGovern to discuss championing inclusion, and why she has just published a biography of Una Marson, the poet, playwright, feminist and activist who made history as the first black female broadcaster at the BBC.
Yesterday the government revealed its plans for disability benefit reforms. Reactions to the proposals have varied but Carers UK says it's very concerned about how the ideas could hit unpaid carers who are predominantly women. The charity's Director of Policy and Public Affairs Emily Holzhausen tells Nuala why, and Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, former Paralympic athlete and crossbench peer talks about the possibility that she might lose PIP (Personal Independence Payment) under the new rules now out for consultation.
Last night, Real Madrid beat Arsenal 2-0 in the Women's Championship League quarter final in Spain, but commentators have been mainly discussing the standard of the ground they played on, with former Arsenal footballer and pundit Ian Wright calling the surface a 'disgrace'. Nuala talks to Fiona Tomas, women's sports reporter at the Telegraph.
Cécile Ndjebet is a Cameroonian environmental activist and social forester. She co-founded the African Women’s Network for Community Management of Forests and campaigns for the involvement of women in forest management and their right to forested land. Tonight Cécile will receive the Kew International Medal 2025 and she joins Nuala in the studio.
A new film War Paint: Women at War examines the trailblazing role of women war artists on the front lines round the world, championing the female perspective on conflict through art and asking: when it's life or death, what do women see that men don't? Nuala speaks to Margy Kinmonth, the director.
WED 11:00 Today (m0028zxq)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 on Tuesday]
WED 11:45 The Age of Diagnosis by Suzanne O'Sullivan (m0028zxs)
3: Autism
The thought-provoking new book from the neurologist and award-winning author Suzanne O'Sullivan, asking whether our culture of medical diagnosis can harm rather than help us.
The boundaries between sickness and health are being redrawn. Mental health categories are shifting and expanding, radically altering what we consider to be 'normal'. Genetic tests can now detect pathologies decades before people experience symptoms, and sometimes before they're even born. And increased health screening draws more and more people into believing they are unwell.
An accurate diagnosis can bring greater understanding and of course improved treatment. But many diagnoses aren't as definitive as we think. And in some cases they risk turning healthy people into patients. Drawing on the stories of real people, as well as decades of clinical practice and the latest medical research, Dr Suzanne O'Sullivan overturns long held assumptions and reframes how we think about illness and health.
Today: What effect is the rise in diagnoses of autism having on those with severe autism?
Reader: Brid Brennan
Writer: Dr Suzanne O'Sullivan has been a consultant in neurology since 2004, specialising in the investigation of complex epilepsy, as well as an award-winning author. Her first book It's All in Your Head, won both the Wellcome Book Prize and the Royal Society of Biology Book Prize.
Abridger: Katrin Williams
Producer: Justine Willett
WED 12:00 News Summary (m0028zxw)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 12:04 You and Yours (m0028zxy)
Subscription Traps, Buy-to-let Landlords, Basket of Goods
According to the consumer group Which?, a third of people have fallen into a subscription trap. We hear from listeners that have been financially impacted by them and find out what can you do to avoid them.
The Office for National Statistics uses a basket of goods and services to calculate inflation each year. However, as times change so do the items in the basket. This year, items like joints of gammon and adverts in local newspapers have been removed – but what’s replaced them? And, how representative are these items to UK consumers?
Buy-to-let companies are now the most common business in the UK, according to new data by Hamptons. There are now more than 400,000 registered, which is an increase of almost 100,000 since 2016. We take a look at why this is and what this means for the housing market as smaller landlords continue to leave the industry.
More than £84 million pounds worth of flight vouchers with British Airways have not been claimed. These vouchers were issued when flights were cancelled due to Covid, but the deadline to claim them is quickly approaching. Are you eligible and what are your options?
Mid-week visits to city centres are becoming more of an occasion post-pandemic. As many people now commute just a few times a week, they are opting to treat themselves on these days and spend more money on food, drink and leisure. It’s fuelling growth in the food-to-go market, but is it enough to support hospitality businesses?
WED 12:57 Weather (m0028zy0)
The latest weather forecast
WED 13:00 World at One (m0028zy2)
Zelensky: Putin's words 'very much at odds with reality'
Ukraine's President accuses Putin of breaking the pledge he made to President Trump to not attack its energy facilities. We speak to former defence secretary Penny Mordaunt. Plus: the man trying to bring the woolly mammoth back to life.
WED 13:45 Human Intelligence (m0028zy4)
Manhattan Project: John von Neumann
Naomi Alderman dives into the amazing intellect of John von Neumann, physicist, mathematician, economist, computer scientist – a visionary who predicted the rise of artificial intelligence decades ahead of time.
As a child, von Neumann could recite the telephone directory and crack jokes in Ancient Greek. He waltzed into the Manhattan Project and solved a problem that had frustrated other top scientists for months. His work on game theory underpins the modern world, from defence strategies to dating apps. But, for all his serious intellectual contributions, von Neumann was a party animal, who did his best thinking surrounded by people and noise.
Special thanks to Ananyo Bhattacharya, chief science writer at the London Institute for Mathematical Sciences and author of The Man from the Future: The Visionary Life of John von Neumann (Allen Lane, 2021).
Produced by BBC Studios Audio in partnership with The Open University.
WED 14:00 The Archers (m0028zy6)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 Drama on 4 (m0028zy8)
Schism (Part 1)
Part 1 of 2.
Atmospheric, coming of age thriller set on a Scottish island by Nicholas Meiklejohn.
When Matthew goes missing, Crow starts to ask questions and discovers the religious community he’s grown up in is really not what it seems…
Crow ..... Séamus McLean Ross
Matthew ..... Anthony Aje
Gabriel ..... Euan Munro
Nora ..... Mercy Ojelade
Ruth ..... Kirsty Stuart
John-Henry ..... Cal Macaninch
Ramsey ..... Robin Laing
Production Co-ordinator: Ellie Marsh
Studio production: Niall Young and Gav Murchie
Produced by Gaynor Macfarlane and Kirsty Williams
Sound Design and original music by Niall Young
Directed by Finn Den Hertog
WED 15:00 The Law Show (m0028zyb)
The human cost of court delays
Justice delayed is justice denied - the court backlog in England and Wales has reached a record high and suspects being charged with new offences are regularly told they may not get a trial until 2027. Some courts are already booking court dates for 2028. The government has commissioned an independent review of criminal courts to work out how to cut waiting times. A victim of crime and a criminal defence solicitor tell Dr Joelle Grogan about the human cost of court delays.
Also on the programme, the MP introducing a law to end the abuse of Lasting Powers of Attorney and what can someone do when their ex refuses to pay child maintenance?
Presenter: Dr Joelle Grogan
Producers: Ravi Naik and Louise Clarke
Editor: Tara McDermott
Contributors:
Tracey Moloney, solicitor, Moloney Family Solicitors
Stephen Davies, criminal defence solicitor at Edwards Duthie Shamash Solicitors
Tom Franklin, CEO of the Magistrates Association
Professor Carolyn Stephens, whose father was a victim of LPA abuse
Fabian Hamilton, Labour MP for Leeds North East.
WED 15:30 Scarred (m0028zyd)
Ukraine is a breadbasket.
Its agricultural exports are vital to global food security. But the conflict is threatening to strangle production.
In north-eastern France, more than a century after the First World War, farmland remains unfit to work. Its the result of deep rooted contamination after years of intense shelling. Pollutants have leached into the soil and groundwater.
Warfare has evolved, the environmental fall out of modern weaponry is largely unknown.
Professor Christian Dunn, a soil scientist, is leading an effort to understand the agricultural consequences of the conflict in Ukraine. Collaborating with Khmelnytskyi National University and the military, he and his team are traveling to areas most affected by the conflict. Their findings will offer crucial insight into Ukraine’s path to recovery and the stability of global food markets.
Join Christian on a field trip he will never forget...
Presenter: Christian Dunn
Producer: Harrison Lewis
WED 16:00 The Media Show (m0028zyg)
Welfare reform coverage, Michael Jackson documentary, cuts to US-backed overseas media
Ros, Katie and guests assess Labour's media strategy amid its £5bn welfare cuts and weigh up the impact of Donald Trump’s defunding of US state-backed broadcasters. We've another in our series of 'tech bro' profiles, this week of Chinese AI entrepreneur Liang Wenfeng, whose Deepseek chatbot is challenging the US tech giants. Plus we talk to Dan Reed about Leaving Neverland 2, his latest documentary on the fallout from allegations against Michael Jackson.
Guests: Kate McCann, Breakfast Presenter, Times Radio; Sophia Smith Galer, writer and creator; Bay Fang, President, Radio Free Asia; Jennifer Gyrgiel, Associate Professor, Syracuse University; Richard Spencer, China Correspondent, The Times; Dan Reed, Michael Jackson doc
Presenters: Katie Razzall and Ros Atkins
Producer: Simon Richardson
Assistant Producer: Lucy Wai
WED 17:00 PM (m0028zyj)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m0028zyl)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
WED 18:30 Alexei Sayle's Imaginary Sandwich Bar (m0028xy2)
[Repeat of broadcast at
23:00 on Saturday]
WED 19:00 The Archers (m0028zyn)
Neil approaches Alan about the ring of bells for the sewage leak protest, and to his surprise Alan is enthusiastic. He thinks they should aim for a marathon ring of ten hours. It will call people to arms and encourage questions in people’s minds about climate change. Before Neil knows it they’re delivering flyers. Alan’s secured the support of most of the PCC in advance of their meeting tomorrow. Not yet official then, cautions Neil. Akram joins them and Neil explains they’re less anti-Borsetshire Water and more hoping to open a dialogue. Akram helps with the leaflet delivery; he’s right behind them on this.
Freddie thinks paying Rex will split the cricket team. Lily assures him they won’t know, but Freddie still thinks it’s against the spirit of the game. He asks her if she’s run the plan past Lynda, and Lily says she intends to. Later Freddie’s dismayed to hear that Vince has approved the payment, and more so that he wants not one but two players to be paid. Lily assures Freddie that this makes it a policy rather than favouritism, but Freddie’s still worried. Two members being paid doubles the chances of the news getting out. Lily sweeps on, announcing she’s found a new team member. She’s played for Felpersham uni and she’s brilliant. Freddie points out that for every new member, someone else will have to be dropped. Lily agrees this will be a difficult conversation, but a team has to evolve. The difficult conversation falls to Freddie himself, and he makes a call.
WED 19:15 Front Row (m0028zyq)
Francois Ozon's new film When Autumn Falls, Pierre Boulez Centenary, Shona McCarthy on leaving Edinburgh Festival's Fringe
French auteur Francois Ozon, whose previous films include 8 Women, Swimming Pool and Potiche, talks about his latest, When Autumn Falls, a bittersweet story of age, youth and breaking the rules, set in a picturesque Burgundy village.
As the centenary of his birth approaches, leading pianist Tamara Stefanovich and musicologist Jonathan Cross discuss the legacy and reputation of the iconoclastic composer and conductor Pierre Boulez.
The outgoing director of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society Shona McCarthy talks about what she has achieved in her role, about the state of the Festivals sector in Edinburgh, and about the challenges facing her successor.
Presenter: Kate Molleson
Producer: Mark Crossan
WED 20:00 Moral Maze (m0028zys)
How just is our justice system?
Proposed new guidance from the Sentencing Council for England and Wales – which is due to come into effect in April – would make the ethnicity, faith or personal circumstances of an offender a bigger factor when deciding whether to jail them. The independent body is responsible for issuing guidelines “to promote greater transparency and consistency in sentencing”.
Official figures show that offenders from ethnic minorities consistently get longer sentences than white inmates for indictable offences. Supporters of the guidance see it as an important correction of implicit bias within the justice system, leading to the most effective balance of punishment and rehabilitation for the individual. But critics – including the Justice Secretary – are concerned it will create "two-tier justice". As Shabana Mahmood put it: "As someone who is from an ethnic minority background myself, I do not stand for any differential treatment before the law, for anyone of any kind". How much should judges consider an offender’s background?
Questions about the “fairness” of sentencing are the symptom of a wider disparity within the justice system: the fact that black and Muslim men are disproportionately represented in the prison population, and how that might be addressed. How much is it the mark of a “rigged” society, which traps multiple generations in poverty and deprivation? How much is it about family and community dysfunction and a lack of role models?
How just is our justice system?
Chair: Michael Buerk
Producer: Dan Tierney
Assistant Producer: Peter Everett
Editor: Tim Pemberton
Panel:
Ash Sarkar
Tim Stanley
Inaya Folarin-Iman
Giles Fraser
Witnesses:
Kirsty Brimelow
Henry Hill
Sheldon Thomas
Rakib Ehsan
WED 21:00 The Life Scientific (m0028zyv)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 on Tuesday]
WED 21:30 Inside Health (m0028zyx)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:30 on Tuesday]
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (m0028zyz)
Turkish police detain President Erdogan’s main rival
Ekrem Imamoğlu of the CHP opposition party has been arrested days before his likely nomination as a presidential candidate. We speak to the deputy chair of the party and gauge international reaction to what is being described as an attack on democracy. Also on the programme, the effect 'The Knowledge' test taken by London cab drivers has on the brain, and a dispatch from Bergamo in northern Italy, five years after military trucks brought home the reality of the unfolding Covid pandemic.
WED 22:45 Twist by Colum McCann (m0028zz1)
Episode Three
A propulsive novel of rupture and repair in the digital age, delving into a hidden world deep under the ocean – from the New York Times bestselling author of Apeirogon and Let the Great World Spin. As read by Declan Conlon.
Anthony Fennell, an Irish journalist and playwright, is assigned to cover the underwater cables that carry the world’s information. The sum of human existence—words, images, transactions, memes, voices, viruses—travels through the tiny fiber-optic tubes. But sometimes the tubes break, at an unfathomable depth.
Fennell’s journey brings him to the west coast of Africa, where he uncovers a story about the raw human labor behind the dazzling veneer of the technological world. He meets John Conway, the mysterious chief of mission on a cable repair ship.
When the ship is sent up the coast to repair a series of major underwater breaks, both men learn that the very cables they seek to fix carry the news that may cause their lives to unravel. At sea, they are forced to confront the most elemental questions of life, love, absence, belonging, and the perils of our severed connections.
The Author
Colum McCann’s seven novels and three collections of short stories have been published in over forty languages and received some of the world’s most prestigious literary awards and honours, including the National Book Award for his novel Let the Great World Spin in 2009. His novel TransAtlantic was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2013, and his most recent novel, Apeirogon, also longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, is an international bestseller on four continents.
Reader: Declan Conlon
Author: Colum McCann
Abridger: Rowan Routh
Producer: Michael Shannon
A BBC Audio Northern Ireland Production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 23:00 DMs Are Open (m0028zz4)
Series 4
1. Secret
The secret of the bees, an unusual secret Santa and the secret to a happy marriage all feature in this week’s show, written by the next generation of comedy writers.
DMs Are Open is back for a brand new series. Stevie Martin is your host and she’s brought together an incredible cast of comedy legends: Al Roberts, Charlotte Ritchie, Sunil Patel and Emily Lloyd-Saini.
Written by the public. This week it was written by:
Steve Blair
Jo Bunting
Caitriona Dowden
Aruhan Galieva
Ben Pope
Vicky Richards
Christina Riggs
Pete Tellouche
Script Edited by Cameron Loxdale and Mike Shephard.
Producer: Georgia Keating
Assistant Producer: Katie Baum
Executive Producer: James Robinson
Production Coordinator: Sarah Nicholls
Recorded by David Thomas
Sound Design by Charlie Brandon-King
Recorded at Up The Creek.
A BBC Studios Audio Production for Radio 4.
An EcoAudio certified production.
WED 23:15 Jamie MacDonald: Life on the Blink (m001ljn0)
Series 2
Limb Broccoli
Jamie MacDonald is a Glaswegian stand-up comedian who lives with his blindness, despite those around him sometimes losing sight of what’s important in life.
Jamie examines preconceptions about disability, challenges stereotypes, and takes a hilarious trip down memory lane to see how far things have come.
In this episode, he battles with officious front of house staff who can’t do too much to help, and he experiences the exact opposite experience at the airport where he’s left to find his own way to Marseille.
Produced by Julia Sutherland
A Dabster production for BBC Radio 4
WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (m0028zz7)
Sean Curran reports as the Prime Minister defends his welfare reforms amid criticism from MPs that he's balancing the books on the backs of disabled people.
THURSDAY 20 MARCH 2025
THU 00:00 Midnight News (m0028zz9)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
THU 00:30 The Age of Diagnosis by Suzanne O'Sullivan (m0028zxs)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m0028zzc)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m0028zzf)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m0028zzh)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
THU 05:30 News Briefing (m0028zzk)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m0028zzm)
Sparrows and Change
A reflection and prayer to start the day with Andrea Rea
THU 05:45 Farming Today (m0028zzp)
20/03/25 - Fairness in the supply chain, biosecurity measures to prevent a livestock epidemic
There’ve been cases of foot and mouth disease in Germany, Hungary and Romania this spring. How would we fare if it crossed the Channel? We’re talking about biosecurity all this week, how to prevent disease, like FMD, from getting into the country and how to stop it spreading if it does. Livestock farmers have to follow strict rules when they move their animals. They also have to record all movements to ensure each individual cow or sheep can be traced in the event of an outbreak of a contagious disease. Cattle passports were introduced in 1998 after the BSE crisis and since 2010 all sheep have to be electronically tagged, a response to the major foot and mouth outbreak in 2001. We visit a south Cumbrian auction to hear about biosecurity measures and to see what farmers make of them. And James Wood, Professor of veterinary epidemiology at Cambridge University, tells us that in order to prevent the spread of disease, biosecurity measures are just part of the story.
A group of cross party MPs has told the Government that farmers are way down the pecking order compared to the big supermarkets and food processors, and often feel powerless to challenge questionable behaviour by them. Yesterday in Parliament Alistair Carmichael, Liberal Democrat MP for Orkney and Shetland and also Chair of the Environment Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee, introduced what’s called a ten minute rule bill; the ‘Food Supply Chain Fairness Bill’ aims to give farmers a more level playing field.
Presented by Caz Graham and produced by Beatrice Fenton.
THU 06:00 Today (m002908x)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
THU 09:00 In Our Time (m002908z)
Thomas Middleton
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the most energetic, varied and innovative playwrights of his time. Thomas Middleton (1580-1627) worked across the London stages both alone and with others from Dekker and Rowley to Shakespeare and more. Middleton’s range included raucous city comedies such as A Chaste Maid in Cheapside and chilling revenge tragedies like The Changeling and The Revenger’s Tragedy, some with the main adult companies and some with child actors playing the scheming adults. Middleton seemed to be everywhere on the Jacobean stage, mixing warmth and cruelty amid laughter and horror, and even Macbeth’s witches may be substantially his work.
With
Emma Smith
Professor of Shakespeare Studies at Hertford College, University of Oxford
Lucy Munro
Professor of Shakespeare and Early Modern Literature at Kings College London
And
Michelle O’Callaghan
Professor of Early Modern Literature at the University of Reading
Producer: Simon Tillotson
Reading list:
Swapan Chakravorty, Society and Politics in the Plays of Thomas Middleton (Clarendon Press, 1996)
Suzanne Gossett (ed.), Thomas Middleton in Context (Cambridge University Press, 2011)
R.V. Holdsworth (ed.), Three Jacobean Revenge Tragedies: A Selection of Critical Essays (Macmillan, 1990), especially ‘Calvinist Psychology in Middleton’s Tragedies’ by John Stachniewski
Mark Hutchings and A. A. Bromham, Middleton and His Collaborators (Northcote House, 2007)
Gordon McMullan and Kelly Stage (eds.), The Changeling: The State of Play (The Arden Shakespeare, 2022)
Lucy Munro, Shakespeare in the Theatre: The King's Men (The Arden Shakespeare, 2020)
David Nicol, Middleton & Rowley: Forms of Collaboration in the Jacobean Playhouse (University of Toronto Press, 2012)
Michelle O’Callaghan, Thomas Middleton: Renaissance Dramatist (Edinburgh University Press, 2009)
Gary Taylor and Trish Thomas Henley (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Thomas Middleton (Oxford University Press, 2012)
In Our Time is a BBC Studios Audio Production
THU 09:45 Strong Message Here (m0029091)
Britain Isn't Working
Comedy writer Armando Iannucci and journalist Helen Lewis decode the utterly baffling world of political language.
This week, the government announced their plans for welfare reform, so we take a look at the language around welfare, around benefit claimants, and how it's changed over the years. Gone are the 'strivers vs shirkers' of the 2010s or even Peter Lilley's infamous 'little list' of the early 90s. This government talks of 'supporting people into work' and 'right to try', but with the savings they are making, do their actions match their rhetoric?
Listen to Strong Message Here every Thursday at
9.45am on Radio 4 and then head straight to BBC Sounds for an extended episode.
Have you stumbled upon any perplexing political phrases you need Helen and Armando to decode? Email them to us at strongmessagehere@bbc.co.uk
Sound Editing by Charlie Brandon-King
Production Coordinator - Katie Baum and Caroline Barlow
Executive Producer - Pete Strauss
Produced by Gwyn Rhys Davies. A BBC Studios Audio production for Radio 4.
An EcoAudio Certified Production.
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (m0029093)
Disability and maternity care, Ads in mobile games, Nursery costs, Playwright Julia Grogan
Disabled women in the UK face significant barriers in maternity care, with new research highlighting higher risks of stillbirth, lack of support, and negative attitudes of staff. Labour MP Marie Tidball is camplaigning for change. She joins Kylie Pentelow to describe her own experience, along with Professor Hannah Kuper, one of the researchers behind the report, who details her findings.
The Advertising Standards Authority has recently banned a number of ads in mobile games which objectify women, use pornographic tropes, and feature non-consensual sexual scenarios. It's not what you expect to see popping up when playing your favourite mobile game. Kylie hears more from Jessica Tye, Regulatory Projects Manager at the ASA, who led the investigation.
Nursery costs have fallen for the first time in 15 years - according to the children's charity Coram. This comes as the Government is continuing to roll out its funded childcare scheme, which will provide all eligible working parents of pre-school children with 30 hours of childcare per week from September 2025. But while some parents have seen a reduction in fees, many with children or grandchildren will be aware of the challenging costs of childcare. Are costs really falling? Can you get a nursery place? Kylie discusses the picture with BBC Education Correspondent Vanessa Clarke, Neil Leitch, Chief Executive of the Early Years Alliance, and nursery owner, Claire Kenyon.
Julia Grogan's debut play Playfight was the breakout hit of last year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival. It earned five-star reviews, sell-out audiences – and even praise from Phoebe Waller Bridge, who called it ‘a blinding sucker-punch of a play’. The very funny and very frank play about three young women navigating sex, porn and friendship is now touring the UK, and Julia joins Kylie to discuss.
Presented by Kylie Pentelow
Producer: Louise Corley
THU 11:00 The Infinite Monkey Cage (m0028d2h)
Series 32
The Sound of Music - Brian Eno, Sam Bennett and Trevor Cox
Brian Cox and Robin Ince explore the history of music recording, joined by acoustics professor Trevor Cox, music professor Sam Bennett and musician and producer Brian Eno. Together they guide us through the evolution of sound recording, a space in which technology hasn’t stood still since its advent in the mid-1800s. We hear the very first recognisable recording of a voice made with a brush making marks in soot and put a spotlight on the Fairlight CMI, a revolutionary digital synthesizer of the '70s, used in Brian’s records (Cox & Eno’s!)
Plus, we run an audio experiment with our live audience who turn themselves into our in-house digital orchestra, with the help of their mobile phones. Now that lots of people have several devices that can play sound, new technology is harnessing this to create a more immersive experience – which (kind of) worked in our experiment!
Producer: Melanie Brown
Exec Producer: Alexandra Feachem
Assistant Producer: Olivia Jani
THU 11:45 The Age of Diagnosis by Suzanne O'Sullivan (m0029095)
4: The Cancer Gene
A thought-provoking new book from the neurologist and award-winning author Suzanne O'Sullivan, asking whether our culture of medical diagnosis can harm, rather than help us.
The boundaries between sickness and health are being redrawn. Mental health categories are shifting and expanding, radically altering what we consider to be 'normal'. Genetic tests can now detect pathologies decades before people experience symptoms, and sometimes before they're even born. And increased health screening draws more and more people into believing they are unwell.
An accurate diagnosis can bring greater understanding and of course improved treatment. But many diagnoses aren't as definitive as we think. And in some cases they risk turning healthy people into patients. Drawing on the stories of real people, as well as decades of clinical practice and the latest medical research, Dr Suzanne O'Sullivan overturns long held assumptions and reframes how we think about illness and health.
Today: Is the diagnosis of some cancers through screening resulting in unnecessary treatment?
Reader: Brid Brennan
Writer: Dr Suzanne O'Sullivan has been a consultant in neurology since 2004, specialising in the investigation of complex epilepsy, as well as an award-winning author. Her first book It's All in Your Head, won both the Wellcome Book Prize and the Royal Society of Biology Book Prize.
Abridger: Katrin Williams
Producer: Justine Willett
THU 12:00 News Summary (m0029097)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 12:04 You and Yours (m0029099)
Gap Finders: ByWay founder Cat Jones
Cat Jones has always been an adventurous traveller, someone that enjoyed the journey as much as the destination. It had been that way since she was young, as her family moved around the globe for her father's work, and she even sailed the English Channel with her grandparents at a young age.
Her journeys often involved taking trains, buses or ferries rather than taking a plane - taking the path less travelled, away from the tourist hotspots. She found other people always wanted to do the same trips but didn’t want the hassle of working out how to piece these types of holidays together.
So in 2020, whilst working for a investment company, and as the world entered lockdown, Cat decided to turn her experiences in to a company, and ByWay was born.
Five years on and ByWay has become an example of the slow living ethos of building deeper connections with people, places, and experiences, rather than rushing through them.
PRESENTER: Winifred Robinson
PRODUCER: Dave James
THU 12:32 Sliced Bread (m002909c)
Dough - Lawn Mowers
Could the next generation of lawn mowers create any image you like on your lawn?
The entrepreneur, Sam White, hosts Dough - the BBC Radio 4 series which looks at the business behind profitable everyday products and where the smart money might take them next.
In each episode, Sam, and the futurist, Tom Cheesewright, are joined by product manufacturers and industry experts whose inside knowledge gives a new appreciation for the everyday things that we often take for granted.
Together they look back on a product’s earliest (sometimes ridiculous!) iterations, discuss how a product has evolved and the trends which have driven its profitability.
In this episode on lawn mowers, they hear from expert guests including:
-Yvette Henshall-Bell - President of the European Business Unit at the lawn mower manufacturer, Husqvarna
-Craig Hoare - Sales and Marketing Manager for the lawn mower manufacturers Hayter and its parent company Toro
-Nick Darking - General Manager of the British Agricultural and Garden Machinery Association
They trade opinions on the lawn mower's 'game-changing' innovations and its most pointless, or least effective, ones too, before Tom draws on his expertise as a futurist to imagine what cutting the grass might be like in the decades to come.
Dough is produced by Jon Douglas and is a BBC Audio North production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds.
Sliced Bread returns for a new batch of investigations in the spring when Greg Foot will investigate more of the latest so-called wonder products to find out whether they really are the best thing since sliced bread.
In the meantime, Dough is available in the Sliced Bread feed on BBC Sounds
THU 12:57 Weather (m002909f)
The latest weather forecast
THU 13:00 World at One (m002909h)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment.
THU 13:45 Human Intelligence (m002909k)
Manhattan Project: Lise Meitner
Lise Meitner was a world-class physicist, who saw what others could not. She recognised nuclear fission – the splitting of the atom, the powerful energy released – before anyone else. Naomi Alderman finds out how.
Women weren't even allowed to attend lectures at the University of Berlin, when Meitner moved there in 1907. She began her career in a basement workshop, kept away from male students, and went on to build an unimpeachable reputation for scientific precision and brilliance. Her discovery of fission made the atom bomb possible, but she refused to have anything to do with the Manhattan Project.
Special thanks to Frank Close, Professor Emeritus of Theoretical Physics at the University of Oxford and author of Destroyer of Worlds: The Deep History of the Nuclear Age: 1895-1965 (Allen Lane, 2025).
Thanks also to Alex Wellerstein, historian of science at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey.
Produced by BBC Studios Audio in partnership with The Open University.
THU 14:00 The Archers (m0028zyn)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 Drama on 4 (m002909m)
Schism (Part 2)
Part 2 of 2.
Atmospheric thriller set on a Scottish island by Nicholas Meiklejohn.
Crow has grown up within an isolated religious community on a Scottish island. At 16, Matthew moves from his life in London to the community with his mum. Crow and Matthew bond and soon develop a relationship. But homosexuality is not accepted within the faith.
When Matthew goes missing, Crow starts to ask questions and discovers the community he’s grown up in is far from the rural idyll he’d imagined it to be and that his religion’s strict rules are only broken by the powerful…
Crow ..... Séamus McLean Ross
Matthew ..... Anthony Aje
Gabriel ..... Euan Munro
Ruth ..... Kirsty Stuart
John-Henry ..... Cal Macaninch
William ..... Robin Laing
Production Co-ordinator: Ellie Marsh
Studio production: Niall Young and Gav Murchie
Produced by Gaynor Macfarlane and Kirsty Williams
Sound Design and original music by Niall Young
Directed by Finn Den Hertog
THU 15:00 This Natural Life (m002909p)
George McGavin
George McGavin is an entomologist, author, academic and television presenter. In this programme he shows Martha Kearney around the university research woodland at Wytham, just outside the city of Oxford. He explains how the natural world came to take on such a significance in his personal and professional life. He tells Martha why insects hold such a fascination for him, and together they explore the flora and fauna of the woodland.
Producer: Emma Campbell
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (m002909r)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 Feedback (m002909t)
Inside Health, BBC Sounds, This Natural Life, The Archers
As the news spreads about access to BBC Sounds being blocked outside the UK, we hear more of your comments on the issue. Andrea Catherwood speaks to Radio Cymru reporter Alun Thomas about what these changes will mean for Welsh speakers living abroad.
A recent episode of Radio 4's Inside Health about hearing loss intrigued listeners - and then baffled those experiencing hearing loss themselves by including a section that was particularly difficult to hear.
After listeners criticised a recent Archers storyline about Linda Snell fasting for Ramadan, we hear from the people who found it enlightening and uplifting.
And what did Martha Kearney do after Today? Well, she's been talking to more public figures - but this time, it's all about their personal connections to nature. Two listeners, Christine and Kate, review her series This Natural Life for our VoxBox. Martha joins Andrea to respond to their thoughts.
Presenter: Andrea Catherwood
Producer: Pauline Moore
Assistant Producer: Rebecca Guthrie
Executive Producer: David Prest
A Whistledown Scotland production for Radio 4
THU 16:00 The Briefing Room (m002909w)
What's the government trying to do to the NHS?
The Government is reorganising the way the NHS is run in England by scrapping the body that’s been in charge and giving direct control to the Department of Health and Social Care. Jobs will go and the country’s biggest quango will be dismantled. But what is the government actually trying to do to the NHS? What are its aims and how does the restructure fit into the government’s big picture for the health service in the UK?
Guests:
Hugh Pym, BBC Health Editor
Siva Anandaciva, Director of Policy, King’s Fund
Dame Jennifer Dixon, Chief Executive of the Health Foundation
Dame Carol Propper, Professor of Economics Imperial College in the Department of Economics and Public Policy
Presenter: David Aaronovitch
Producers: Beth Ashmead Latham, Kirsteen Knight, Caroline Bayley
Sound Engineer: James Beard
Production Coordinator: Gemma Ashman
Editor: Richard Vadon
THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (m002909y)
Wild birds in crisis
Every species of wild bird in the UK is continuing to decline at a stark rate – according to the latest data.
Guest presenter Ben Garrod wants to understand why wild birds are in trouble despite government promises to halt nature decline by 2030.
Ben goes birdwatching in Norfolk to see the impact for himself and then heads back to the studio to hear about the kind of threats birds face and what is happening to tackle the problem.
Also this week, after two stranded Nasa astronauts were finally brought home to Earth following a nine-month stint in space, we ask why it was such a big moment for SpaceX – and what this might mean for Nasa.
Science journalist Caroline Steel drops in with her picks of the week’s news, including dark oxygen and floating iguanas, and we find out what makes a good day according to science...
Presenter: Ben Garrod
Producers: Dan Welsh, Sophie Ormiston & Gerry Holt
Field Producer: Stephanie Tam
Editor: Martin Smith
Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth
To discover more fascinating science content, head to bbc.co.uk search for BBC Inside Science and follow the links to The Open University.
THU 17:00 PM (m00290b0)
A 'peacekeeping' force or a 'reassurance' force?
A 'peacekeeping' force or a 'reassurance' force? The UK hosts European allies for a fresh summit on Ukraine. We hear from the UK's former national security advisor about his concerns over some of the language being used.
Also: PM is in Milton Keynes today, a high-tech city in the middle of the so-called Oxford-Cambridge arc - an area the government wants to develop. We ask science minister Lord Vallance how it will work.
And the International Olympics Committee gets a new president. We'll hear about her in-tray - from Russia to Trump to the rules around transgender athletes.
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m00290b2)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
THU 18:30 What's Funny About... (m00282q2)
Series 4
5. Comic Relief
On the eve of Comic Relief’s 40th birthday, Peter Fincham and Jon Plowman are joined by Richard Curtis and Sir Lenny Henry to hear the inside story of the charity they founded in 1985, which has gone on to raise more than a £1.6 billion for good causes.
They explain the origins of the idea, reveal some of their favourite moments, and talk about what they hope Comic Relief might achieve in its next 40 years.
Producer: Owen Braben
An Expectation Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4
THU 19:00 The Archers (m00290b4)
Tony’s been dropped from the cricket team and feels an injustice has been done. He blames ageism. Pat’s sympathetic but points out Freddie’s probably just trying to put the best team together. Tony implies he’s the better player of the two of them and asks Tom for his opinion – but Tom’s not getting involved. Later the boot’s on the other foot when Pat gets the call. Raging that she’s been dropped too, she admonishes amused Tony for gloating.
After her bellringing meeting Pat’s concerned that this method of protest might not be as effective as they’d hoped. She worries that Neil’s right – ten hours of bells risks alienating the people they want onside. Tony apologises for teasing her earlier, and Pat acknowledges her own lack of sympathy towards him too. They reminisce about the good times they’ve had at the cricket, consoling themselves with the thin comfort that they can still go and watch. Tony asks Tom to have a word with Freddie, but Tom refuses. He agrees with Freddie, admiring him for getting on and making difficult decisions.
Meanwhile Kirsty’s given Tom an ultimatum: she needs a decision on the Beechwood house by midday or the deal’s off. Tom can’t get hold of Natasha and is in despair, but when he meets Kirsty at the allotted time she tells him Natasha has already given her their decision – the sale is going ahead. Tom’s surprised Natasha didn’t ask him first, but Pat reminds him of his own words – sometimes you have to get on and make difficult decisions.
THU 19:15 Front Row (m00290b6)
Review: Clueless the Musical, Oscar winning animated film Flow, Robert de Niro in The Alto Knights. Plus poetry from Seán Hewitt
Critics Hanna Flint and Boyd Hilton join Tom Sutcliffe to discuss Clueless, a new musical based on the 1995 film staring Alicia Silverstone. They also discuss Flow, Oscar-winning, dialogue-free, animated film based around the story of a cat who must find safety after its home is devastated by a flood. Plus Robert de Niro playing two gangsters in the Mafia drama The Alto Knights.
Plus, ahead of World Poetry Day, we talk to Seán Hewitt whose second collection Rapture's Road has today been shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize.
Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe
Producer: Paula McGrath
THU 20:00 The Media Show (m0028zyg)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Wednesday]
THU 21:00 Loose Ends (m00290b8)
[Repeat of broadcast at
18:15 on Saturday]
THU 21:45 Strong Message Here (m0029091)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 today]
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (m00290bb)
Israeli cabinet meeting to discuss sacking head of Shin Bet
Israeli forces on Thursday began ground operations inside Gaza again, as part of their renewed military offensive in the Strip. Meanwhile on the domestic front a long-simmering political crisis is coming to a head as Israel's cabinet considers the recommendation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to sack the head of the country's domestic intelligence agency Shin Bet. Netanyahu says he's lost trust in Ronen Bar, but his critics accuse him of trying to usurp power and extend control over the country's institutions.
In the UK, military officials from the "coalition of the willing" met to formulate details of a plan to protect Ukraine.
And five years on from the first UK lockdown, we consider the impact and lessons with former Children's Laureate Michael Rosen and psychotherapist Philippa Perry.
THU 22:45 Twist by Colum McCann (m00290bd)
Episode Four
A propulsive novel of rupture and repair in the digital age, delving into a hidden world deep under the ocean – from the New York Times bestselling author of Apeirogon and Let the Great World Spin. As read by Declan Conlon.
Anthony Fennell, an Irish journalist and playwright, is assigned to cover the underwater cables that carry the world’s information. The sum of human existence—words, images, transactions, memes, voices, viruses—travels through the tiny fiber-optic tubes. But sometimes the tubes break, at an unfathomable depth.
Fennell’s journey brings him to the west coast of Africa, where he uncovers a story about the raw human labor behind the dazzling veneer of the technological world. He meets John Conway, the mysterious chief of mission on a cable repair ship.
When the ship is sent up the coast to repair a series of major underwater breaks, both men learn that the very cables they seek to fix carry the news that may cause their lives to unravel. At sea, they are forced to confront the most elemental questions of life, love, absence, belonging, and the perils of our severed connections.
The Author
Colum McCann’s seven novels and three collections of short stories have been published in over forty languages and received some of the world’s most prestigious literary awards and honours, including the National Book Award for his novel Let the Great World Spin in 2009. His novel TransAtlantic was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2013, and his most recent novel, Apeirogon, also longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, is an international bestseller on four continents.
Reader: Declan Conlon
Author: Colum McCann
Abridger: Rowan Routh
Producer: Michael Shannon
A BBC Audio Northern Ireland Production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 23:00 The Today Podcast (m00290bg)
Adolescence and the Crisis of Masculinity
A series about a teenage boy who is accused of murdering a girl from his school was the most watched show on Netflix last weekend. Meanwhile the former England manager Sir Gareth Southgate has said that he fears young men are spending too much time gaming, gambling and watching porn.
Amol spoke to Stephen Graham and Erin Doherty, who star in the Netflix series, and in this episode of The Today Podcast he delves deeper into what it means to be a boy today with Richard Reeves, who wrote Of Boys and Men, and Catherine Carr who made a Radio 4 documentary called About the Boys.
You can listen to her series here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/m001yshl
To get Amol and Nick's take on the biggest stories and insights from behind the scenes at the UK's most influential radio news programme make sure you hit subscribe on BBC Sounds. That way you’ll get an alert every time they release a new episode.
GET IN TOUCH:
* Send us a message or a voice note via WhatsApp to +44 330 123 4346
* Email today@bbc.co.uk
The Today Podcast is hosted by Amol Rajan and Nick Robinson who are both presenters of BBC Radio 4’s Today 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.
This episode was made by Lewis Vickers with Izzy Rowley and Grace Reeve. Digital production was by Grace Reeve and Beth Chalmers. The technical producer was Jonny Baker. The editor is Louisa Lewis. The executive producer is Owenna Griffiths.
THU 23:30 Today in Parliament (m00290bj)
Susan Hulme reports as the Foreign Secretary updates MPs on the conflict in Gaza.
FRIDAY 21 MARCH 2025
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (m00290bl)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
FRI 00:30 The Age of Diagnosis by Suzanne O'Sullivan (m0029095)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:45 on Thursday]
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m00290bn)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m00290bq)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m00290bs)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
FRI 05:30 News Briefing (m00290bv)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m00290by)
Invisible Struggles
A reflection and prayer to start the day with Andrea Rea
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (m00290c1)
21/03/25 New National Forest, Biosecurity at the border, farming medicinal cannabis.
England is to have a new National Forest. The Western Forest will be planted across Bristol, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and Somerset. It's the first national forest in 30 years. The government is putting £7.5 million towards it, with the same amount expected from the private sector and charities. The aim is to plant 2,500 hectares of woodland by 2030 and more by 2050. The National Forest chief executive says it won't be created at the expense of farmland.
Biosecurity at our borders is a big issue. As we've previously reported, port health authorities have warned that the post-Brexit checking system isn't working and illegal meat is being smuggled into the country. A member of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health's port health expert panel says there isn't enough money and the system is under pressure.
A chemist and tomato grower have pooled their expertise to set up a cannabis farm in the English countryside. It's a high-tech £26 million greenhouse that is licensed by the Home Office to grow medicinal cannabis for the pharmaceutical industry, and its technology means it can harvest cannabis flowers 52 weeks of the year.
Presenter: Charlotte Smith
Producer: Rebecca Rooney
FRI 06:00 Today (m00290d6)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (m00290d8)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:00 on Sunday]
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (m00290db)
Newborns & communication, Kirsty Coventry, Women in Construction
Long before they can speak, babies are brilliant communicators and all that those who care for them have to do is to listen to them, to be curious about them and to be ready to discover who they are, and everything else will fall into place. That's what child psychotherapist and mother of four Marie Derome has written about in her book for new parents - What Your Baby Wants You To Know. She joins Nuala McGovern.
Kirsty Coventry has been elected as the first female and African president of the International Olympic Committee. She beat six male candidates including Britain’s Sebastian Coe. The 41-year-old former swimmer will replace Thomas Bach on the 23 June and will be the youngest president in the organisation's 130-year history. The BBC's Sport Editor Dan Roan tells us more.
We’re hearing more misogynistic lyrics in music, and some of it is from female artists themselves. Is this a good way to reclaim the language or is it women being derogatory about themselves? India McTaggart, entertainment correspondent at The Telegraph, discusses.
Santosh, which was the UK’s official entry into the Oscar’s International Feature Film category for 2025, is set to be released in UK cinemas on 21 March. The Hindi language film follows the title character who, through a government scheme, takes on her deceased husband’s role as a police officer in North India and is quickly embroiled in the murder investigation of a young girl. The film was written and directed by documentarian Sandhya Suri in her narrative feature film debut and she received a Bafta nomination for her efforts. Sandhya is in the Woman's Hour studio to discuss the film.
Work has started on a home extension and renovation that is being built and designed entirely by women. In an industry facing huge labour shortages, women remain a minority in construction, only making up 15% of the industry, and only 1% of those in manual, skilled roles. We hear from the project's lead, Kat Parsons and builder, Yas Poole.
Presenter: Nuala McGovern
Producer: Kirsty Starkey
Editor: Karen Dalziel
FRI 11:00 The Food Programme (m00290dd)
Are We Prepared? Could the UK Feed Itself in a Crisis?
Five years on from the first Covid lockdown Dan Saladino asks if our food supply can withstand more shock to the system? Is there resilience to face another pandemic or even war?
Produced and presented by Dan Saladino.
FRI 11:45 The Age of Diagnosis by Suzanne O'Sullivan (m00290dg)
5: The Future
A thought-provoking new book from the neurologist and award-winning author Suzanne O'Sullivan, asking whether our culture of medical diagnosis can harm, rather than help us.
The boundaries between sickness and health are being redrawn. Mental health categories are shifting and expanding, radically altering what we consider to be 'normal'. Genetic tests can now detect pathologies decades before people experience symptoms, and sometimes before they're even born. And increased health screening draws more and more people into believing they are unwell.
An accurate diagnosis can bring greater understanding and of course improved treatment. But many diagnoses aren't as definitive as we think. And in some cases they risk turning healthy people into patients. Drawing on the stories of real people, as well as decades of clinical practice and the latest medical research, Dr Suzanne O'Sullivan overturns long held assumptions and reframes how we think about illness and health.
Today: O'Sullivan ask what good care looks like, and looks to a future that leaves medical diagnosis to only those who are truly sick.
Reader: Brid Brennan
Writer: Dr Suzanne O'Sullivan has been a consultant in neurology since 2004, specialising in the investigation of complex epilepsy, as well as an award-winning author. Her first book It's All in Your Head, won both the Wellcome Book Prize and the Royal Society of Biology Book Prize.
Abridger: Katrin Williams
Producer: Justine Willett
FRI 12:00 News Summary (m00290dj)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 12:04 Rare Earth (m00290dl)
Forever Chemicals
PFAS chemicals are all around us. They're used in frying pans, food packaging and waterproof coats but they have been linked to thyroid disease, liver damage and cancer. The trouble is that PFAS just doesn't go away- these 'forever chemicals' build up in our bodies and the environment.
Tom Heap and Helen Czerski look back at the invention of these miracle chemicals, their use in the Second World War and the Space Race and meet Robert Bilott, the American lawyer who held the PFAS manufacturers to account, going head to head with the enormous DuPont corporation. They're also joined by Stephanie Metzger of the Royal Society of Chemistry, Hannah Evans from the environmental charity Fidra and by the journalist Leana Hosea of Watershed Investigations.
Producer: Alasdair Cross
Assistant Producer: Toby Field
Rare Earth is produced in association with the Open University
FRI 12:57 Weather (m00290dn)
The latest weather forecast
FRI 13:00 World at One (m00290dq)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment.
FRI 13:45 Human Intelligence (m00290ds)
Manhattan Project: Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein was an international pop star of science who urged the US government to build an atom bomb. Naomi Alderman gets into one of the most famous brains of all time.
Einstein rewrote our understanding of universe. He imagined hitching a ride on a light beam and pursued his famous 'thought experiments' to remarkable ends. He was a man who never swam with the tide. Despite a lifelong commitment to pacifism, in 1939, Einstein signed a letter urging the US government to speed up work on the development of a nuclear bomb. Naomi finds out why.
Special thanks to Janna Levin, Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Barnard College of Columbia University.
Produced by BBC Studios Audio in partnership with The Open University.
Presenter: Naomi Alderman
Executive editor: Philip Sellars
Series producer: Sarah Goodman
Script editor: Sara Joyner
Researchers: Harry Burton and Miriam O'Byrne
Production coordinator: Amelia Paul
FRI 14:00 The Archers (m00290b4)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Limelight (p0d0b94w)
One Five Seven Years
3. Jacob
Imagine you could live for two lifetimes. Would you want to? How would it change you and those you love? What would you do with all those extra years? What second chances might you get? Would this be a blessing or a curse?
This world is an alternative version of our own. Except in this world, a minority of people are discovered to have Extended Life Syndrome (ELS). The condition might give an "Elser" two decades in their thirties, two in their forties, double the time in their fifties, and so on. Little is understood of the biological factors that govern ELS except that it affects a random selection of people. It is the ultimate lottery of genetics, crossing class, race, culture and gender.
And if a simple test existed to check your DNA for this double life, would you take it? Would you want to know?
Now think again. Would you?
Jacob has ELS and is serving life for a murder he committed when he was nineteen. But how many years are enough years for justice to be served?
Written by Marietta Kirkbride
Cast:
Jacob ….. Robert Emms
Miles ….. Ben Crowe
Mum …..Sirine Saba
Psychiatrist ….. Asif Khan
Lawyer ….. Jessica Murrain
Inmate ….. Simon Darwen
Other voices played by the cast
Sound Design ….. Adam Woodhams and Steve Bond
Theme Music ….. Ioana Selaru and Axel Kacoutié
Academic Consultants ….. Tamas David-Barrett & James Fasham
Executive Producer ….. Sara Davies
Series created by Marietta Kirkbride
Directed and Produced by Nicolas Jackson
An Afonica production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 14:45 Why Do We Do That? (m00290dv)
Series 2
9. Why do we go to the pub?
Humans have evolved to drink alcohol, or at least to be able to metabolise it. And we share this ability with our closest living relatives, the chimpanzees and gorillas, who are also able to convert alcohol into sugar.
It gave our ancestors an advantage because we could eat rotting fruit from the forest floor and convert the alcohol into sugars, providing a source of nutrients that not all species could digest. This is also known as the drunken monkey hypothesis. But paleoanthropologist Ella Al-Shamahi asks Professor Robin Dunbar if alcohol is why we go to the pub today.
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m00290dx)
Bradford: Buddha's Hand, Yorkshire Climate & Upcycled Ginnels
What’s the best time to sow and harvest up north? Why won't my Buddha's hand plant produce fruit? Can nematodes get rid of codling moth?
Kathy Clugston and the Gardeners’ Question Time team head to Bradford, the UK’s City of Culture 2025, to tackle your trickiest gardening dilemmas. Kathy is joined by garden designers Marcus Chilton-Jones, Matthew Pottage and Juliet Sargeant.
Later in the programme, Juliet visits a hidden gem transformed by the Lister Community Action Group. Discover how volunteers have breathed new life into a once-forgotten ginnel, turning it into a vibrant community oasis.
Producer: Bethany Hocken
Assistant Producer: Rahnee Prescod
Executive Producer: Carly Maile
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 15:45 Short Works (m00290dz)
Currants in the Cake by Beth Morrey
Georgie Glen reads Beth Morrey’s new comic short story.
When newly-divorced Lila arranges a trip to a wellness retreat, school teacher Teresa reluctantly agrees to accompany her - but it’s not just the holistic gong bath that takes her by surprise...
Beth Morrey is the Sunday Times bestselling author of Saving Missy, Lucky Day, and Em & Me.
Read by Georgie Glen.
Producer: Katie Sayer
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4
www.pozzitive.co.uk
FRI 16:00 Last Word (m00290f1)
Group Captain John Allman ‘Paddy’ Hemingway DFC, Dame Julie Kenny, Tuppy Owens, Dick McTaggart
Matthew Bannister on:
Group Captain John Allman ‘Paddy’ Hemingway DFC , the last surviving pilot who fought in the Battle of Britain during the second world war.
Dame Julie Kenny, the successful businesswoman from Rotherham who led the regeneration of one of Britain’s largest stately homes.
Tuppy Owens, who campaigned for greater openness about sex – and set up charities to help disabled people enjoy fulfilling relationships.
Dick McTaggart, the only Scottish boxer to win an Olympic gold medal. Described as a “legend” in the world of boxing.
Interviewee: Brian Hemingway
Interviewee: Sarah McLeod
Interviewee: Professor Claire De Than
Interviewee: Ray Caulfield
Producer: Catherine Powell
Assistant Producer: Ribika Moktan
Archive used: Over the Edge, BBC2, 15th October 1996, Outsiders: Disabled and Looking for Love, BBC3 30th March 2006, Victoria Derbyshire Show, BBC 19th February 2016. BBC News 15th September 2020. BBC News Northern Ireland 9th November 2023. “The Battle of Britain, with Ewan and Colin McGregor” BBC Two 11th July 2015. Rt. Hon. Winston Churchill 20th August 1940. “Hitler's Luftwaffe vs The RAF In The Battle Of Britain, Blitz Spirit” BBC Select YouTube Channel, Uploaded 20th September 2021. “Remembering the Battle of Britain” Reuters, 23rd June 2010. Jamie Veitch, Sheffield Live FM radio, 27th September 2019. Dame Julie Kenny, from the Wentworth Woodhouse Trust. BBC Radio Scotland, The Scottish Olympians, 8th August 2004. Tales of Gold: Jack Beresford, Dick McTaggart and Don Thompson, BBC1, 29/05/1992/
FRI 16:30 More or Less (m0028zxj)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 on Wednesday]
FRI 17:00 PM (m00290f3)
Chaos at Heathrow airport
The government raises questions over airport resilience after Heathrow's closure. We speak to a former airport executive about how to keep key infrastructure safe. Also on the programme: when do we create our first memories? And the life of the Soviet double agent Oleg Gordievsky – who fed key intelligence to Britain - who has died.
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m00290f5)
Hundreds of thousands of people have seen their travel plans severely disrupted.
FRI 18:30 The Naked Week (m00290f7)
Series 2
Benefits, Borders, and a game of Truss or Towers.
The Naked Week team are back to place satirical news-tariffs on current events with a mix of correspondents, guests and, occasionally, live animals.
This week we apply for a job in the parliamentary Work and Pensions office, play a game of 'Liz Truss or new ride at Alton Towers', and make a military incursion into Ambridge to steal territory from The Archers.
From The Skewer’s Jon Holmes and host Andrew Hunter Murray comes The Naked Week, a fresh way of dressing the week’s news in the altogether and parading it around for everyone to laugh at.
With award-winning writers and a crack team of contemporary satirists - and recorded in front of a live audience - The Naked Week delivers a topical news-nude straight to your ears.
Written by:
Jon Holmes
Katie Sayer
Gareth Ceredig
Sarah Dempster
Jason Hazeley
Investigations Team:
Cat Neilan
Louis Mian
Freya Shaw
Matt Brown
Guests: Rubina Pabani, Alice Stapleton.
Production Team: Laura Grimshaw, Tony Churnside, Jerry Peal, Katie Sayer, Phoebe Butler, Richard Young.
Executive Producer: Philip Abrams
Produced and Directed by Jon Holmes
An unusual production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 19:00 The Archers (m00290f9)
Writer: Nick Warburton
Director: Rosemary Watts
Editor: Jeremy Howe
Helen Archer…. Louiza Patikas
Pat Archer…. Patricia Gallimore
Tom Archer…. William Troughton
Tony Archer…. David Troughton
Neil Carter…. Brian Hewlett
Susan Carter…. Charlotte Martin
Rex Fairbrother…. Nick Barber
Alan Franks…. John Telfer
Martyn Gibson…. Jon Glover
Clarrie Grundy…. Heather Bell
Emma Grundy…. Emerald O‘Hanrahan
George Grundy…. Angus Stobie
Akram Malik…. Asif Khan
Kirsty Miller…. Annabelle Dowler
Freddie Pargetter…. Toby Laurence
Lily Pargetter…. Katie Redford
Lynda Snell…. Carole Boyd
FRI 19:15 Add to Playlist (m00290fc)
Carol Jarvis and Keelan Carew head for a hoedown
Pianist Keelan Carew and trombonist Carol Jarvis join Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe to add five more tracks to the playlist, as they take us from the great Winifred Atwell to an ambitious prog-rock reimagining of Aaron Copland's Rodeo ballet.
Producer: Jerome Weatherald
Presented with musical direction by Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe
The five tracks in this week's playlist:
Tickle the Ivories by Winifred Atwell
Pas de Deux: Andante maestoso by Tchaikovsky
Stan by Eminem
Rather Be by Clean Bandit
Hoedown by Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Other music in this episode:
Radioactive by Carol Jarvis
Kaigara Bushi by Mitsune
Black and White Rag by Winifred Atwell
Hoe-Down by Aaron Copland, dir Leonard Bernstein
Bonaparte's Retreat by William H Stepp
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (m00290ff)
Tonia Antoniazzi MP, Pat Cullen MP, Sorcha Eastwood MP, Lord Weir
Alex Forsyth presents political debate from The Saint Patrick Centre in Downpatrick, Northern Ireland, with the chair of the House of Commons Northern Ireland select committee, Labour's Tonia Antoniazzi MP; the Sinn Féin MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, Pat Cullen; Sorcha Eastwood of the Alliance Party, who is the MP for Lagan Valley; and Democratic Unionist Party peer and former Northern Ireland Executive education minister, Lord Weir.
Producer: Paul Martin
Lead broadcast engineer: Will Rice
FRI 20:50 A Point of View (m00290fh)
How History Begins Again
The celebrated American theorist, Francis Fukuyama, in his book 'The End of History and the Last Man' argued that US-style liberalism was the ultimate destination for all mankind, 'the final form of human government'.
John Gray explains why he believes his prophecy has been turned on its head.
'As in the past, many human beings will live under tyrannies, theocracies, and empires of various kinds,' John writes. 'Failed states and zones of anarchy will be common. Democratic nations are likely to be rare, and often short-lived.'
Producer: Adele Armstrong
Sound: Peter Bosher
Production coordinator: Liam Morrey
Editor: Penny Murphy
FRI 21:00 Free Thinking (m00290fk)
Isolation
As Radio 4 marks the 5th anniversary of the first COVID lockdown, Free Thinking investigates one of the defining experiences of that period for many people: isolation. It's a word that entered the English language in the 18th century, and arguably its emergence as a concept marked a change in the way people saw their relationships with other people and the wider community, towards a more individualistic society. And yet there's a long history of religious mystics seeking solitude. From Robinson Crusoe to the crew of the International Space Station, via monasticism and Romanticism, Matthew Sweet investigates the histories of isolation and solitude.
With:
Mark Vernon, psychotherapist with a deep interest in the role of solitude in the Western spiritual tradition. His book Awake! William Blake and the Power of the Imagination will be published in June.
Lucy Powell, Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Oxford
Kathleen Burk, Professor Emerita of Modern and Contemporary History at University College London, who will talk about isolationism as an aspect of the American political psyche
Jim Hoare, diplomat who opened the first British embassy in North Korea in the 1990s.
Catherine Coldstream, writer and former Carmelite nun, her memoir is Cloistered: My Years As A Nun
Producer: Luke Mulhall
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (m00290fm)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective.
FRI 22:45 Twist by Colum McCann (m00290fp)
Episode Five
A propulsive novel of rupture and repair in the digital age, delving into a hidden world deep under the ocean – from the New York Times bestselling author of Apeirogon and Let the Great World Spin. As read by Declan Conlon.
Anthony Fennell, an Irish journalist and playwright, is assigned to cover the underwater cables that carry the world’s information. The sum of human existence—words, images, transactions, memes, voices, viruses—travels through the tiny fiber-optic tubes. But sometimes the tubes break, at an unfathomable depth.
Fennell’s journey brings him to the west coast of Africa, where he uncovers a story about the raw human labor behind the dazzling veneer of the technological world. He meets John Conway, the mysterious chief of mission on a cable repair ship.
When the ship is sent up the coast to repair a series of major underwater breaks, both men learn that the very cables they seek to fix carry the news that may cause their lives to unravel. At sea, they are forced to confront the most elemental questions of life, love, absence, belonging, and the perils of our severed connections.
The Author
Colum McCann’s seven novels and three collections of short stories have been published in over forty languages and received some of the world’s most prestigious literary awards and honours, including the National Book Award for his novel Let the Great World Spin in 2009. His novel TransAtlantic was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2013, and his most recent novel, Apeirogon, also longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, is an international bestseller on four continents.
Reader: Declan Conlon
Author: Colum McCann
Abridger: Rowan Routh
Producer: Michael Shannon
A BBC Audio Northern Ireland Production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 23:00 Americast (p0kz4qqr)
Is Donald Trump ready to defy the courts?
The U.S. President is setting up a major showdown with America’s judicial system. Sarah and Justin pick apart claims that Donald Trump defied a court order by deporting more than 200 migrants to El Salvador, despite a judge ordering to be turned planes carrying the migrants to be turned back if they were already in the air.
Legal analyst and former federal prosecutor Jennifer Rodgers gives her view on whether Trump has broken the court ruling, and whether America is facing a constitutional crisis.
HOSTS:
• Justin Webb, Radio 4 presenter
• Sarah Smith, North America Editor
GUEST:
• Jennifer Rodgers, Former Federal Prosecutor and Professor of Clinical Law at NYU Law School
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• Or use #Americast
This episode was made by George Dabby with Julia Webster, Catherine Fusillo and Claire Betzer. The technical producer was Michael Regaard. The series producer is Purvee Pattni. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.
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FRI 23:30 Today in Parliament (m00290ft)
Alicia McCarthy looks ahead to a major overhaul of planning regulations and asks if it's right to keep human body parts in our museums.