SATURDAY 10 MAY 2014

SAT 00:00 Where Angels Fear to Tread (b007jrzr)
Episode 10
Englishman Philip confesses all to Italian Gino and learns a bitter truth. Stars Sian Thomas, Jamie Bamber and Tom George.
SAT 00:15 A Short History of Ireland (b007sygj)
The Green Flag Will Be Flying Independently; God Save Ireland!
The country's rich and turbulent story continues. With Richard Dormer, James Greene and Frances Tomelty.
SAT 00:30 William Trevor - A Bit on the Side (b00nm0k3)
Graillis's Legacy
The touching and compassionate story of one man's guilt over his love for two women. Read by Dermot Crowley.
SAT 00:45 England's Mistress - The Infamous Life of Emma Hamilton (b01m68vf)
Episode 5
Nelson and Emma are briefly reunited, but he must face the French fleet off the Cape of Trafalgar. Read by Polly Walker.
SAT 01:00 Act Your Age (b00qplyn)
Series 2
Episode 5
Simon Mayo hosts the comedy show that pits the comic generations against each other to find out which is the funniest.
Team captains Jon Richardson, Ed Byrne and Johnnie Casson are joined by Tom Wrigglesworth, John Bishop and Tom O'Connor.
Producers: Ashley Blaker and Bill Matthews.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2010.
SAT 01:30 Humphrey Lyttelton - Play As I Please (b01fhr4f)
Playing for Eton
Jazz musician Humphrey Lyttelton tells June Knox-Mawer about his life, his colourful ancestors and passion for music. From December 1993.
SAT 02:00 A Charles Paris Mystery (b00wnmbt)
Dead Side of the Mic
Episode 4
Can the actor-sleuth solve the deadly mystery haunting the BBC, or will he end up in chains? Stars Bill Nighy and Nicky Henson.
SAT 02:30 Eric Ambler - Journey Into Fear (b00yzj3n)
Episode 5
As the Nazis close in, Graham makes a grim discovery in a cabin aboard the Sestri Levante. Concluded by Richard Greenwood.
SAT 03:00 DH Lawrence - Women in Love (b007k1zw)
Mountain Snows
A looming tragedy cements the future of Rupert, Gerald, Ursula and Gudrun.
Starring Clare Holman, Stella Gonet, Douglas Hodge and Nicholas Farrell.
The conclusion of DH Lawrence's 1920s passionate novel.
Ursula …. Clare Holman
Gudrun …. Stella Gonet
Gerald …. Douglas Hodge
Rupert …. Nicholas Farrell
Loerke …. Keith Drinkel
Pussum …. Sunny Ormonde
Halliday …. John Webb
Mrs Critch …. Ann Beech
Mr Brangwen …. Christopher Scott
Mrs Brangwen …. Gillian Goodman
With Robert Harper and Steven Critchlow
Dramatised by Elaine Feinstein.
Music composed by Anthea Gomez.
Director: Sue Wilson
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 1996.
SAT 04:00 William Trevor - A Bit on the Side (b00nm0k3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 00:30 today]
SAT 04:15 Roy Apps - The Master and Mrs Tucker (b00cz803)
The story of the friendship between Noel Coward and E Nesbit. Roy Apps' play stars Guy Henry, Ann Bell and Rosemary Leach.
SAT 05:00 Second Holmes (b0161p3d)
The Case of the Shadowed Minister
The grandsons of Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson help a member of Parliament who claims he's being followed...
Six light-hearted adventures involving the grandsons of Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson written by Grant Eustace
Starring Peter Egan as Stamford Holmes, Jeremy Nicholas as Dr Watson, Angela Down as Alex Messinger, Stuart Organ as Mr Belling, Jim Reid as Michael, Wendy Murray as Mrs Waterfield and Miranda Forbes as Mrs Belling.
Producer: Paul Mayhew-Archer
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 1983.
SAT 05:30 Smelling of Roses (b00dbwtv)
Series 3
A Closed Book
Rosie is contracted to organise a literary prize, but finds that not everything goes by the book...
More challenges for Rosie Burns running her family's event management company, where the clients are only part of the problem...
Written by Simon Brett.
Rosie ..... Prunella Scales
Jo ..... Rebecca Callard
Bob ..... Duncan Preston
Tess ..... Annette Badland
Pomme Grantley ..... Joanna Monro
Lancelot Crotty ..... Timothy Alcock
Sioned Pugh-Craven ..... Sheila Mitchell
Producer: Maria Esposito
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2002.
SAT 06:00 Miriam Margolyes - Dickens' Women (b007jqv0)
From Kate Nickleby to Little Nell, Miriam Margolyes entertains an audience with her celebration of the classic English author's characters.
SAT 07:30 Death By Chocolate (b00ybzdh)
From Brighton's chocolate-cream poisoner to chocolate hand grenades, Jo Brand looks at the sinister history of the sweet treat. From March 2007.
SAT 08:00 Archive on 4 (b00qs41j)
AJP at the BBC
Joe Queenan recalls the long and turbulent relationship between the BBC and the first television don, historian AJP Taylor.
Taylor's broadcasting career spanned five decades, beginning on BBC radio and then switching to the new medium of television, where his unscripted lectures brought serious history out of the university lecture halls and into the living rooms of millions of people for the first time. His broadcasts were as provocative as they were popular, at one point arousing bitter condemnation in the House of Commons, and his relationship with the corporation was often far from cordial.
It dropped the sulky don, as he became known, from the airwaves on numerous occasions - once for refusing to speak any further in a live discussion programme. For his part, Taylor campaigned vigorously for an independent competitor to the BBC, and frequently mocked it in the press. Still, the relationship served both well over the years, providing Taylor with the mass audience he craved and the BBC with many hours of entertaining and enlightening broadcasting from one of the greatest academics of his day.
Queenan, a long-term admirer of Taylor, tells the story of the historian and the corporation through written and broadcast archives.
SAT 09:00 Some of Our Archives Were Missing (b0089b35)
Stuart Maconie presents classic programmes thought lost forever, but now returned to the BBC's vaults thanks to attentive radio fans:
It Sticks Out Half a Mile (19/07/1981)
Comedy Parade: Hush, Hush, Here Comes the Bolshie Man (14/03/1971)
Thirty Minute Theatre: The Green Machine (23/04/1975)
Story Time: Eye Witness Accounts - The Great Fire of London (20/01/1970)
Things Could Be Worse (15/09/1976)
The Worst Show on the Wireless (12/02/1975).
The BBC's Treasure Hunt initiative of the early noughties focussed its efforts on missing radio and television programmes, dating from prior to 1980. It was an invitation to collectors, fans and even former BBC staff who might have possessed domestic recordings of missing comedies and dramas. Among other gems, a missing episode of The Likely Lads was returned. An eclectic collection of radio curios made its way home - some of them shared in this programme.
Stuart Maconie is a writer and broadcaster - a fixture of BBC Radio 2 and BBC 6 Music, and a compadre of fellow radio legend Mark Radcliffe.
SAT 12:00 HighLites Omnibus (b0435jd5)
Wash and Blow
Made for 4 Extra. Bev and Shirley, the country's worst hairdressers, decide to head out on a cruise. Stars Lorraine Ashbourne and Rosie Cavaliero.
SAT 13:10 Inheritance Tracks (b0103zk2)
Annie Lennox
The singer reveals her love of 'Waterloo Sunset' by the Kinks, and the track she would hand on, 'A Whiter Shade of Pale' by Procol Harum.
SAT 13:15 In the Psychiatrist's Chair (b007514c)
Nigel Kennedy
The maverick violin star and footie fan talks to Dr Anthony Clare about intensive schooling, family and music. From July 1997.
Psychiatrist Dr Anthony Clare's in depth interviews with prominent people from different walks of life.
Born in Dublin, author Anthony held a doctorate in medicine, a master's degree in philosophy and was a fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. After becoming a regular on BBC Radio 4's Stop the Week in the 1980s, he became Britain's best-known psychiatrist and earned his own vehicle, In the Psychiatrist's Chair. Starting in 1982, this series ran until 2001 and also transferred to TV. Series highlights include conversations with Bob Monkhouse, Cecil Parkinson and Gerry Adams.
Anthony Clare died suddenly in Paris aged 64 in 2007.
SAT 14:00 Listen to Les (b0180fmx)
From 20/01/1985
Les Dawson pays tribute to a feisty barber, Cosmo Smallpiece chairs a chat show and with Les at the piano, the Ink Blots help to murder a song.
With Daphne Oxenford, Eli Woods and Colin Edwynn.
Music by Brian Fitzgerald.
Scripted and produced by James Casey.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in January 1985.
SAT 14:30 Hancock's Half Hour (b007jpd5)
Series 6
The Last Bus Home
It's a long walk home in the rain when Sid, Bill and The Lad Himself get stranded.
Starring Tony Hancock.
With Sidney James, Bill Kerr, Warren Mitchell and Hugo Morton.
Written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson.
Theme and incidental music written by Wally Stott.
Producer: Tom Ronald
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in October 1959.
SAT 15:00 Archive on 4 (b00qs41j)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
SAT 16:00 Miriam Margolyes - Dickens' Women (b007jqv0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
SAT 17:30 Bird Island (b042l2xt)
Series 2
Episode 1
Ben, a young scientist working in Antarctica, tries to adapt to the loneliness by keeping a cheery audio diary on his Dictaphone.
In this episode, Ben is all consumed by a new cereal bar while Jane and Graham are completing the Penguin Census.
Ben ...... Reece Shearsmith
Graham ...... Julian Rhind-Tutt
Jane ...... Katy Wix
Beverley ...... Alison Steadman
Atmospheric comedy about a cheery scientist based in Sub-Antarctica by Katy Wix.
It’s Ben’s trip of a lifetime, but in a vast icy landscape with dodgy internet. Feeling lonely, he shares his thoughts via an audio 'log' on his dictaphone.
Graham is a fellow nerdy scientist so their exchanges are mumbled. Ben’s even more awkward around new arrival Jane, though he’s not entirely sure why.
Producer: Tilusha Ghelan
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2014.
SAT 17:45 Don't Start (b01ml8b3)
Series 2
The Notebook
What do long term partners really argue about? Sharp new comedy from Frank Skinner returns for a second series. Starring Frank Skinner and Katherine Parkinson.
The first series of Don't Start met with instant critical and audience acclaim: "That he can deliver such a heavy premise for a series with such a lightness of touch is testament to his skills as a writer and, given that the protagonists are both bookworms, he's also permitted to use a flourish of fine words that would be lost in his stand-up routines". Jane Anderson, Radio Times.
"Writing and starring in the four-parter Don't Start (Radio 4) Frank Skinner gives full rein to his sharp but splenetic comedy. He and his co-star Katherine Parkinson play a bickering couple exchanging acerbic ripostes in a cruelly precise dissection of a relationship". Daily Mail
... "a lesson in relationship ping-pong" - Miranda Sawyer, The Observer.
Series 2 follows hard on its heels. Well observed, clever and funny, Don't Start is a scripted comedy with a deceptively simple premise - an argument. Each week, our couple fall out over another apparently trivial flashpoint - the Krankies, toenail trimming and semantics. Each week, the stakes mount as Neil and Kim battle with words. But these are no ordinary arguments. The two outdo each other with increasingly absurd images, unexpected literary references (the Old Testament, Jack Spratt and the first Mrs Rochester, to name a few) and razor sharp analysis of their beloved's weaknesses. Underneath the cutting wit, however, there is an unmistakable tenderness".
Frank says:
"Having established in the first series that Neil and Kim are a childless academic couple who during their numerous arguments, luxuriate in their own and each other's learning and wit, I've tried in the second series to dig a little deeper into their relationship. Love and affection occasionally splutter into view, like a Higgs boson in a big tunnel-thing, but can such emotions ever prevail in a relationship where the couple prefers to wear their brains, rather than their hearts, on their sleeves? Is that too much offal imagery?
Episode 1: The Notebook
Frank's apparently innocent discovery of an old notebook strangely rekindles Kim's former enthusiasm for Frisbee throwing.
Directed and produced by Polly Thomas
An Avalon Production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 18:00 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (b007jm4s)
The Secondary Phase
Fit The Tenth
Arthur discovers his unique contribution to the history of Brontitall. And a close encounter for Ford and Zaphod...
Starring Peter Jones as The Book, Simon Jones as Arthur Dent, Geoffrey McGivern as Ford Prefect, Mark Wing-Davey as Zaphod Beeblebrox, David Tate as Eddie, Stephen Moore as Marvin, Ronald Baddiley as Bird One, John Le Mesurier as the Wise Old Bird, John Baddeley as Bird Two and Rula Lenska as Lintilla.
The original scripts by Douglas Adams (1952-2001) went on to spawn a series of novels, a feature film, at least three stage shows, a TV series, a computer game, a collection of comic books - and various towels.
Radiophonic sound and music by Paddy Kingsland.
Producer: Geoffrey Perkins
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 1980.
SAT 18:30 Fear on 4 (b007jnpz)
Series 2
Survival
A group of people in outer space find things become a matter of life or death, each dependant on the other in a horrifying way.
The Man in Black sets the horrifying scene...
Fear on 4 brings you more in a series of nerve-tinglers.
Written by John Wyndham and dramatized by Pat Hooker.
The Man In Black …. Edward de Souza
Alice …. Karen Ascoe
Marshall …. David March
Carter …. Martin Dew
Mrs Feltham …. Eva Stuart
Mr. Feltham/Al …. Michael Graham Cox
David/ TV Newsreader …. Simon Cuff
Hank/Bowman …. Joe Dunlop
Temple …. Nicholas Courtney
Rogers …. Richard Tate
Capt. Winters …. Michael Deacon
Prentiss …. John Moffat
Producer: Gerry Jones
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 1989.
SAT 19:00 Some of Our Archives Were Missing (b0089b35)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
SAT 22:00 Innes Own World (b017gwqz)
Episode 3
Neil Innes shares some breakfast dramas and memories of touring the USA with the Bonzo Dog Band.
The Radio Show that spits the Gargle of Existence into the Bathroom Sink of Being and introduces the Man of Substance to the Woman of Intuition.
Script Editor: John Dowie
Producer: Claire Jones
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2003.
SAT 22:30 4 at the Store (b00ct1wm)
Series 1
Episode 2
Stand-up at London's Comedy Store, with host Simon Bligh, John Mann, Marian Unfaithful and Paul Tonkinson. From December 1998.
SAT 23:00 28 Acts in 28 Minutes (b009ly1p)
Series 2
Episode 3
28 performers have just 60 seconds in which to entertain the audience in this traditional variety show, featuring established stand-ups, and some newer talent
The whole thing is presided over by John Humphrys, who sits at the side of the stage with a stopwatch, ready to cut the microphone when the time is up.
And hey - if there's an act you don't like, well, there's another one along in 55 seconds or so...
Phil Cornwell
Francesca Beard
The Bearded Ladies
Matt Morisroe
James Sherwood
John Richardson
Tom McRae
Geoffrey McGivern
Liam Mullone
Danielle Ward
John Finnemore
Greedy
Ian Stone
Gwyn Herbert
Kerry Godliman and David Lane
Lee Bannard
Simon Jones
Terry Saunders
Ginger & Black
Simon Evans
Nathan Penlington
Tim Fitzhigham
Carol Smith
Alex Lowe
Producers: Rohan Acharya and Ed Morrish
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2008.
SAT 23:30 The Masterson Inheritance (b007jswh)
Series 1
The Tatting of the Mastersons
The Wild West is the setting for a show-down over faulty dental work!
An improvised historical saga of a family at war with itself - based entirely on audience suggestions.
Starring Paul Merton, Josie Lawrence, Caroline Quentin, Jim Sweeney and Phelim McDermott.
Producer: Phil Clarke
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 1993.