SATURDAY 12 OCTOBER 2013

SAT 00:00 James Follett - Earthsearch (b007jnzy)
Earthsearch II
Sundeath
On an abandoned artificial sun, the crew of Challenger probes the computer in charge.
James Follett's cult sci-fi drama is a gripping sequel to his original Earthsearch.
Commander Telson ...... Sean Arnold
Sharna ...... Amanda Murray
Darv ...... Haydn Wood
Astra ...... Kathryn Hurlbutt
Bran ...... Michael Maloney
Angel One ...... Sonia Fraser
Angel Two ...... Gordon Reid
Solaria ...... Pauline Letts
Elkeran ...... Nicholas Courtney
Elka ...... Jill Lidstone
Tidy ...... David Gooderson
Halsten ...... David McAlister
Director: Glyn Dearman
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 1982.
SAT 00:30 The Heart of Hark'un (b007jq83)
Episode 1
The Great Wizard sends student sorcerer Arcos on a mission, little realising how perilous and menacing it will prove to be...
A fantasy-adventure by Peter Thomson and Jamie Thomson in six parts.
Arcos ..... Francis Thomson
Kaddah ..... Trevor Peacock
Vanna ..... Elizabeth Whiting
Shazir ..... Crawford Logan
Bereneth ..... Edward Kelsey
Va ..... Melanie Hudson
Alviza ..... Emma Fielding
Zander ..... Robert Portal
Kishah ..... John Church
Rashiq ..... Theresa Streatfeild
Producer: Peter Hutchings
First broadcast on BBC Radio 5 in September 1991.
SAT 01:00 Paul Temple (b007jzjl)
Paul Temple and the Spencer Affair
That Old Intuition
The suave amateur detective confronts theatre impresario Rupert Dreisler - and fears for his wife Steve.
Francis Durbridge's thriller stars Peter Coke as Paul Temple and Marjorie Westbury as Steve in another intriguing case for BBC radio's smoothest sleuth and his glamorous wife.
With James Thomason as Sir Graham Forbes, Brewster Mason as Rupert Dreisler, Hugh Manning as Vosper, James Beattie as Charlie, John Graham as Eric Lansdale, Isobel Dean as Terry Gibson, Simon Lack as Adrian Frost, June Turbin as Judy Milton and Thomas Heathcote as Pete Roberts.
From 1938 to 1969 the fictional crime novelist and detective Paul Temple, together with his Fleet Street journalist Steve, solved case after case in one of BBC radio's most popular series. They inhabited a sophisticated world of chilled cocktails and fast cars, where the women were chic and the men wore cravats - a world where Sir Graham Forbes, of Scotland Yard, usually needed Paul's help with his latest tricky case.
Producer: Martyn C. Webster
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in 1957.
SAT 01:30 Inspector Grant - The Daughter of Time (b007k41t)
Episode 5
Still confined to his hospital bed, Inspector Grant is keen to prove his instincts about King Richard III's murderous crimes are correct.
Desperate for a contemporary account, Grant has asked for a copy of Sir Thomas More's history of the King's life...
Josephine Tey's classic story read in 14 parts by Paul Young.
Written in the early 1950s, The Daughter of Time was described by The New York Times as 'One of the best mysteries of all time'.
Producer: Bruce Young
Made for BBC 7 by BBC Scotland and first broadcast in 2005.
SAT 02:00 The Sit Crom (b00mbc2k)
Night Exercises
With the sovereign set for a visit, confusion reigns in Lady Anne's bedchamber.
Sue Limb's six-part comedy set during the English Civil War.
Sir John Firebasket ...... Joss Ackland
Lady Anne Firebasket ...... Denise Coffey
Tobias Thynne ...... Clive Merrison
Mercy, alias Melissa ...... Miriam Margoyles
Father Francis ...... Nickolas Grace
Slow Ned ...... Chris Emmett
Gazebo Fogg ...... Jack Klaff
Posthumous ...... Nicky Henson
Counter Tenor ...... Peter Hayward
Producer: Jonathan James-Moore
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1990.
SAT 02:30 The Arts and How They Was Done (b007773d)
The Bronte Sisters and How They Done Their Novels
The National Theatre of Brent illuminate the lives of siblings Charlotte, Emily and Anne. Stars Patrick Barlow. From April 2007.
SAT 03:00 Classic Serial (b00gsv4x)
Arnold Bennett - The Grand Babylon Hotel
Episode 2
Murder mystery by Arnold Bennett, adapted in two parts by Chris Harrald.
Having bought Europe's most exclusive hotel, American tycoon Theodore Racksole is thrown in to a world of intrigue, espionage and murder.
Theodore Racksole ...... John Sessions
Nella Racksole ...... Matti Houghton
Aribert ...... Joe Kloska
Jules ...... Richard Katz
Miss Spencer ...... Fenella Woolgar
Felix Babylon ...... Stephen Greif
Prince Eugen ...... Stephen Critchlow
Reginald Dimmock ...... Gunnar Cauthery
Hazell ...... Jonathan Tafler
Miss Ferguson ...... Jill Cardo
Tomkins ...... Inam Mirza
Emperor ...... Malcolm Tierney
Sampson Levi ...... Chris Pavlo.
SAT 04:00 Ronald Frame Short Stories (b007k19s)
The Trinket Box
To her observers, Mrs Bradley always seemed that bit too glamorous for a small gift shop owner...
John Gordon Sinclair reads Ronald Frame's short story.
Producer: David Hunter
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 1996.
SAT 04:15 Drama (b00td7f4)
Justin Butcher - The Patience of Mr Job
Mr Job is an African farmer with an unshakeable faith in the benevolence of the West. There's a flurry of excitement in the village. Mr Kismet, from the World Development Agency, has sent a letter offering rich rewards if the region sells its timber and moves to cut-flower production. Mr Job obeys the WDA scrupulously, even when the instructions prove extremely inconvenient, but as they wait for Mr Kismet's arrival, a series of disasters strike. A satire about globalisation and climate change.
Mr Job ..... Jude Akuwudike
Mrs Job ..... Adjoa Andoh
Mr Eliphaz ..... Danny Sapani
Mr Bildad ..... Kobna Holdbrook-Smith
Mr Achebe ..... Lloyd Thomas
Mr Lucy ..... Paul Courtney Hyu
Directed by Claire Grove
This is the Job story from the Old Testament with a new twist - a dark comedy set in Africa about the topical subjects of globalisation and climate change. We are in the fictional West African country of Ghanzania. Mr Job (Jude Akuwudike) is the unofficial head of his village. He trusts the West's promises of rich rewards if they give up traditional farming in favour of large scale production of cash crops. Mrs Job (Adjoa Andoh) is less certain. So the villagers cut down their forests, sell their goats and pour chemicals into the soil, but their children get sick, the hill slides into the lake, a hurricane floods the coast, and Mr Job is left clinging to the roof of his house. As the waters close over his head he hears the voice of God. Will his patience be rewarded?
Justin Butcher wrote the brilliant 'Seven White Masks of Scaramouche Jones' for Radio 4 which became an award-winning one-man show for Pete Postlethwaite. Justin also wrote the enormously successful satirical stage play 'The Madness of George Dubya', following it up with 'A Weapons Inspector Calls'.
SAT 05:00 The Wordsmiths at Gorsemere (b007jv2y)
Series 1
Episode 3
An Everyday Story of Towering Genius.
Sue Limb’s four-part soap opera set in and around the Lake District at the turn of the 18th century
Dorothy is perturbed by William's impending wedding. Percy Jelley is depressed despite his recent bigamous marriage to Mary Godwit. The Leechpedlar reveals that he was 'The Antique Mariner'. Cholericke is inspired....
Dorothy Wordsmith ...... Denise Coffey
William Wordsmith ...... Geoffrey Whitehead
Samuel Tailor Cholericke ...... Simon Callow
Stinking Iris ...... Miriam Margolyes
The Leechpedlar ...... Chris Emmett
Percy Jelley ...... Hugh Thomas
Mary Godwit ...... Alison Fiske
Music by Stephen Oliver and sung by Cantabile
Producer: Jonathan James-Moore
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 1985.
SAT 05:30 The Right Time (b0076m76)
Series 4
Episode 1
From nudism and reflexology to top-shelf magazines.
Sketch show about life, written and performed by people who've lived a bit.
Stars Eleanor Bron, Dudley Sutton , Roger Blake , Clive Swift and Paula Wilcox.
With guest star Arthur Smith.
Written by Colin Bostock-Smith, Jill Brodie, John Pidgeon, Mike Haskins, Jan Etherington, George Poles, Arthur Smith, Alan Stafford, Chris Thompson and Petr Reynolds.
Script editors: Ed Dyson and George Poles.
Music by Ronnie & The Rex.
Producer: Katie Marsden
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2004.
SAT 06:00 Daphne Du Maurier (b00p4klc)
The King's General
A paralysed beauty and a reckless soldier fall in love during the English civil war. Stars Cathryn Harrison and Roger Allam.
SAT 07:30 Great Lives (b00txhlb)
Series 22
Walt Disney
Satirical cartoonist Gerald Scarfe nominates Walt Disney.
Gerald Scarfe spent much of his childhood in his sick bed, so it's not surprising that Disney cartoons and feature films meant so much to him. He can still recall the thrill at the prospect of seeing Pinocchio at the cinema, and then the agony of being lead away again in the rain because the tickets were too expensive.
Walt Disney came from a working family. His god-fearing father Elias, said by one writer to have 'hated Capital, and favoured Labour, but really needed to make a buck', found work where he could. So Walt lived a peripatetic childhood, and sought solace in drawing and play acting. Hard times early on did not make Walt frugal with money in adulthood, and despite the huge successes of the golden era of Disney, it was only with the opening of Disneyland that Walt attained any substantial personal wealth.
You don't have to look far to find myth surrounding Walt Disney. Even after his death, rumours that his body had been cryogenically frozen spread so widely that they soon slipped into folklore. He had actually been cremated, but the readiness with which the cryogenic claim was accepted perhaps bears witness to a man who was terrified of dying, who believed in the white hope of technology and who, some might say, had been searching all his life for an escape into an immortal, fairytale world.
Matthew Parris, Gerald Scarfe and guest experts Brian Sibley and Richard Williams, creator of Roger Rabbit, discuss the life of a complex cultural icon. A man who was seemingly unpretentious, and did not fit the image of movie mogul with his scruffy tweed jacket and awkward demeanour, yet a man who was accused of being a tyrannical egomaniac. The son of a socialist who ended up naming names at the House of Un- American Activities committee. Above all else perhaps though, they discuss the life of a man who strove tirelessly for perfection and who changed the cultural landscape of a little boy called Gerald, and arguably of the world, for ever.
Scarfe himself is best known for his classic images lampooning the great and the good of politics, and also in his iconic animation for Pink Floyd's The Wall. He reveals in this programme that he also spent time working on the Disney production Hercules.
The producer is Miles Warde.
SAT 08:00 Garrison Keillor's Radio Show (b017gcmb)
Series 7
Episode 6
From Cincinnati in Ohio, the American funny man welcomes the Punch Brothers and veteran stand-up Paula Poundstone. From 2010.
SAT 09:00 Stop Messin' About: A Tribute to Kenneth Williams (b007jv7z)
Fellow Carry On star Liz Fraser hosts a radio celebration, featuring Round the Horne, Just Williams, Big and Little, Diary of a Madman, Kenneth Williams Playhouse and Just a Minute.
SAT 12:00 The Pursuits of Darleen Fyles (b03cnd6w)
Series 5 Omnibus
Made for 4 Extra. Return of the award-winning 15-minute drama series about a young married couple with learning disabilities. Stars Donna Lavin and Edmund Davies.
SAT 13:10 Chain Gang (b03cnd98)
Series 4
Episode 2
Made for 4 Extra. The story told by its listeners, which began with a mistimed proposal and a wrong turning. Join in at bbc.co.uk/radio4extra.
SAT 13:15 BBC Radio Young Writers: 25 Years On (b007jnpq)
Hurricane Dub
Benjamin Zephaniah's verse play, set on the night of the Great Storm in 1987. Starring Norman Beaton and Angela Wynter.
SAT 14:00 Dad's Army (b007jmyj)
Series 2
Boots, Boots, Boots
The Home Guard platoon take action when Captain Mainwaring becomes obsessed with their feet.
Starring Arthur Lowe as Captain Mainwaring, John Le Mesurier as Sergeant Wilson, Clive Dunn as Corporal Jones, John Laurie as Private Frazer, Ian Lavender as Private Pike and Arnold Ridley as Godfrey.
Adapted for radio from Jimmy Perry and David Croft's TV scripts by Harold Snoad and Michael Knowles.
Producer: John Dyas
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 1975.
SAT 14:30 Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? (b007nf1x)
End of an Era
It's Bob and Thelma's big day - and he's on tranquilisers!
Starring James Bolam as Terry Collier, Rodney Bewes as Bob Ferris and Brigit Forsyth as Thelma Chambers..
With Sheila Fearn, Joan Hickson, Anita Carey, Daphne Heard and Barbara Ogilvie.
Created and scripted for BBC TV by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais.
Adapted for radio and produced by John Browell.
Audio recovered from a listener to BBC 7.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 1975.
SAT 15:00 Garrison Keillor's Radio Show (b017gcmb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
SAT 16:00 Daphne Du Maurier (b00p4klc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
SAT 17:30 Alex Horne Presents The Horne Section (b01dgh8t)
Series 1
Nick Helm
What is the relationship between man and dog and dinosaurs and puns?
Comedian Alex Horne is joined by his own 5 piece jazz band for music and comedy.
With Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee Nick Helm.
Host .... Alex Horne
Trumpet/banjo .... Joe Auckland
Saxophone/clarinet ....Mark Brown
Double Bass/Bass .... Will Collier
Drums and Percussion .... Ben Reynolds
Piano/keyboard .... Joe Stilgoe
Guest performer ....Nick Helm
Producer: Julia McKenzie
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2012.
SAT 18:00 Fear on 4 (b007jlvt)
Series 1
The Monkey's Paw
A man makes wishes on a very unusual gift that's been cast with a sinister spell. Stars Oliver Maguire and Trudy Kelly.
SAT 18:30 Algernon Blackwood - The Willows (b007jvdj)
Episode 3
The companions prepare for a second night and the inevitable attack from the island's mysterious forces. Read by Roger Allam. From March 2005.
SAT 19:00 Stop Messin' About: A Tribute to Kenneth Williams (b007jv7z)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
SAT 22:00 Jeremy Hardy Speaks to the Nation (b01pp21s)
Series 2
How to Be a Leader of Men
Scrutinising religion and MPs, the host's comic lecture plus sketches. With Debbie Issit and Gordon Kennedy. From October 1994.
SAT 22:30 Saturday Night Fry (b007jt29)
Episode 3
Stephen Fry serves up more witty banter and sketches.
With Hugh Laurie, Jim Broadbent and Julia Hills.
Written by Stephen Fry with additional material by Ian Brown and James Hendrie.
Producer: Dan Patterson
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 1988.
SAT 23:00 VI Warshawski (b007jnkn)
Deadlock
Bedtime Stories
Somebody wants private eye VI Warshawski dead and tampers with her car.
Sara Paretsky's thriller stars Kathleen Turner as VI Warshawski. With Eleanor Bron as Lottie, William Hootkins as Bobby Mallory, Kerry Shale as Murray, James Aubrey as Martin Bledsoe, Peter Marinker as Nils Greyfalk, and Teresa Gallagher as Paige Carrington.
Sara Paretsky has created one of the most popular female sleuths in modern crime-fiction. Her heroine, VI Warshawski, is a strong female character in a male-dominated world. VI is comfortable packing heat and trailing nasty suspects but she never loses touch with her basic femininity. Paretsky says of her Warshawski: "I was troubled by the way women were portrayed in (detective fiction) they always seemed either evil or powerless. I thought it was time for a tough, smart, likeable female private investigator".
Kathleen Turner also starred in the same role in the 1991 film 'VI Warshawski'.
Dramatised by Michelene Wandor.
Director: Janet Whitaker
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1993.
SAT 23:30 Murder Most Foul (b03cnf5k)
The Surgeon's Knife
TRUE CRIME: True tales of murder from the days when police cars had bells and the men from the Yard word Trilby hats.
Two bodies are found in a Scottish ravine. Dr Buck Ruxton's wife and maid are missing.
Nick Ross looks back at a case of murder from 1935. With Marc Zuber, Anthony Bate and Timothy Carlton.
Written by John Scotney. Producer: Mark Savage.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1991.