SATURDAY 31 MAY 2014

SAT 00:00 15 Minute Drama (b00m0vh3)
Katie Hims - Five Wedding Dresses
The Perfect Dress
Series of dramas by Katie Hims about brides dressing for wedding ceremonies and the significance and symbolism of the dress itself.
Nell loves the stories behind the second-hand wedding dresses she sells, until Julia tells her story.
Nell ...... Chipo Chung
Carla ...... Claudie Blakley
Eric ...... Trystan Gravelle
Julia ...... Rosalind Philips
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole.
SAT 00:15 A Short History of Ireland (b007vmbv)
Executions and Internment; Sacrifice at the Somme
The country's rich and turbulent story continues. With Richard Dormer, James Greene and Frances Tomelty.
SAT 00:30 Inspector Resnick (b00mfhvb)
Wasted Years
Episode 10
Deadly conclusions to the crimes separated by decades. Phillip Jackson reads the final part of John Harvey's thriller.
SAT 01:00 Life, Death and Sex with Mike and Sue (b01nbzs8)
Series 2
Work and Travel
Sofa-bound TV presenters Mike and Sue look at work and travel, plus "Missing Persons".
Series 2 of Bill Dare's sitcom stars Robert Duncan and Jan Ravens.
Mike ...... Robert Duncan
Sue ...... Jan Ravens
With Roger Blake, Bill Dare, Alistair McGowan and Sally Philips.
Music by Mark Burton.
Producer: Jo Clegg
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 1997.
SAT 01:30 Humphrey Lyttelton - Play As I Please (b01gw5lm)
Blowing Strong
Humphrey Lyttelton tells June Knox-Mawer about his creativity, coping strategies and musical inspiration. From December 1993.
SAT 02:00 Raymond Chandler - Goldfish (b007jrrz)
Episode 1
On new information, LA-based PI Carmady sets out to retrieve the valuable Leander pearls, stolen 15 years earlier. Read by Henry Goodman.
SAT 02:30 A Gothic Cathedral (b0075cdg)
Simon Fanshawe tells the story of Roget's Thesaurus, the retirement project of an eminent Victorian with a passion for order and classification. From September 1998.
SAT 03:00 George Eliot - Daniel Deronda (b007k07z)
3. Tensions
In the sun-drenched port of Genoa, Gwendolen and Daniel's fates become eternally and tragically entwined.
The conclusion of George Eliot's classic novel of love and idealism.
Starring Anna Chancellor and Michael Perceval-Maxwell.
Dramatised by Robert Forrest.
Gwendolen Harleth ...... Anna Chancellor
Deronda ...... Michael Perceval-Maxwell
Grandcourt ...... James Bryce
Mrs Davilow ...... Joanna Tope
Klesmer ...... Finlay Welsh
Mirah ...... Lucy Patterson
Lydia ...... Noreen Leighton
Lush ...... Simon Tait
Leonara ...... Vivienne Dixon
Mordecai ...... Mark McDonnell
Director: Patrick Rayner
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 1999.
SAT 04:00 Five Stories by James Ellis (b00ljmsm)
The Umbrella
When a man's new umbrella is ruined, his wife cunningly replaces it within budget. A French story adapted to an Irish setting.
SAT 04:15 McLevy (b007jljg)
Series 1
The Burning Question
An unsolved murder is bringing vigilantes onto the streets. Time is running out for the Edinburgh detective. Stars Brian Cox.
SAT 05:00 The Brothers (b007k4nx)
Series 1
Episode 1
A couple of years ago brothers Nigel and Michael gave up respectable careers to set up a website-design company. That was their first mistake...
Starring Adam Godley and Raymond Coulthard.
First of three comedy series by Caroline and David Stafford.
Nigel ...... Adam Godley
Michael ...... Raymond Coulthard
Oona ...... Pauline McLynn
Zorro ...... Pearce Quigley
Producer: Marc Beeby
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2004.
SAT 05:30 Smelling of Roses (b00dpspn)
Series 3
The Queen of Song
A showcase concert for a local diva turns into a headache for organiser Rosie Burns.
Rosie is asked to arrange a showcase concert for a new potential rival to Celine Dion.
The girl has plenty of money, but what about talent?
Another assignment for Rosie Burns and the 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
Robert ..... Simon Trinder
Cath Unger ..... Felicity Goodson
Terry ..... Colin Sell
Producer: Maria Esposito
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 2002.
SAT 06:00 GB Shaw - Arms and the Man (b007jsq4)
George Bernard Shaw's story of love, war, honesty, deception and honour, set in 1885 Bulgaria. Starring Andrew Sachs and Gary Bond.
SAT 07:30 Blueberries in Manndalen (b00y26mt)
In the Arctic Circle's midsummer silvery light - poet and writer, John Burnside visits the Sami Music Festival of Riddu Riddu in northern Norway.
Here the air is filled with the music and song of the indigenous peoples of the north.
Producer: Caroline Barbour
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2003.
SAT 08:00 Archive on 4 (b00l953t)
An Unofficial Iris
Bidisha listens to archive interviews and dramatisations to revisit the life and work of novelist Iris Murdoch.
Debate about Murdoch has continued since her death in 1999. Her legacy as a writer has been overshadowed by the publication of her husband John Bayley's memoir about her decline into Alzheimer's disease and the subsequent film adaptation, starring Judi Dench and Kate Winslet, and directed by Richard Eyre.
Bidisha listens to archive conversations between Murdoch and writers AN Wilson, AS Byatt and Susan Hill, and discovers a renaissance of interest in the writer as her emphasis on morality and goodness in a godless world seems to resonate today.
SAT 09:00 Comedy Controller (b01r9rh7)
Colin Murray
'Radio is my companion'. Presenter, writer, producer Colin Murray is such an enthusiast that he plans his travel around certain radio shows or stocks up with podcasts for the car journey.
Colin's selection includes some of his comedy and radio heroes: Desert Island Discs with castaway Mel Brooks 01/07/1978; Alan Partridge in Knowing Me, Knowing You 05/01/1993; Mark Thomas The Manifesto 02/07/2009; grammar boffins in Many a Slip 05/05/1964; BBC Radio Ulster and Radio Foyle presenter Gerry Anderson and Stewart Lee in Chain Reaction 20/01/2005.
SAT 12:00 Vikas Swarup - The Seventh Test Omnibus (b044vfsx)
Episode 2
Can sales assistant Sapna Sinha pass seven tests to change her life? From Vikas Swarup's novel The Accidental Apprentice.
SAT 13:05 Inheritance Tracks (b010t8t8)
June Spencer
The Archers actress inherits 'I'll See You Again' by Noel Coward and passes on Bruch's Violin Concerto No 1.
SAT 13:15 In the Psychiatrist's Chair (b00751nr)
Professor Norman Stone
Author Professor Norman Stone tells Anthony Clare about his loathing for Oxford University and admiration of Margaret Thatcher.
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.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 1997.
SAT 14:00 Hancock's Half Hour (b007jpl8)
Series 6
The Elopement
With Bill suffering heartache, can Sid and The Lad Himself smooth the path to true love?
Starring Tony Hancock.
With Sidney James, Bill Kerr, Lillian Grasson, Wilfred Babbage, Fraser Kerr and Lee Crutchley.
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 November 1959.
SAT 14:30 The Marx Brothers' Flywheel, Shyster and Flywheel (b008hgpz)
Series 3
Episode 5
Shady lawyer Waldorf T Flywheel takes on an amusement arcade.
Recreation of the Marx Brothers' lost shows charting the adventures of shady lawyer Waldorf T Flywheel and his assistant, Emmanuel Ravelli. Originally broadcast with sponsors on America's NBC radio network in the 1930s. The scripts were rediscovered in 1988.
Groucho Marx as Waldorf T. Flywheel …. Michael Roberts
Chico Marx as Emmanuel Ravelli …. Frank Lazarus
With Lorelei King, Graham Hoadly and Vincent Marzello.
Written by Nat Perrin and Athur Sheekman. Adapted by Mark Brisenden.
Music arranged and conducted by David Firman.
Producer: Dirk Maggs
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 1992.
SAT 15:00 Archive on 4 (b00l953t)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
SAT 16:00 GB Shaw - Arms and the Man (b007jsq4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
SAT 17:30 Bird Island (b044ghpd)
Series 2
Episode 4
Ben gets a new telescope, and Graham has some big news.
Ben ...... Reece Shearsmith
Graham ...... Julian Rhind-Tutt
Jane ...... Katy Wix
Beverley ...... Alison Steadman
Robin ...... Richard Aldridge
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 (b01n1qyz)
Series 2
The Bathroom
Kim calls Neil into the bathroom for an impromptu debate about shaving, the Krankies and Phantom of the Opera - but to what end?
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?"
Directed and Produced by Polly Thomas
Executive Producer: Jon Thoday
An Avalon production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 18:00 Philip K Dick - Of Withered Apples (b007jplz)
As a beautiful woman picks its last withered apple, a dying ancient tree is determined to survive. Read by William Hootkins.
SAT 18:30 Fear on 4 (b007jp0h)
Series 2
The Judge's House
To study for his final exams young Malcolm moves to a lonely place, not knowing that in this rat-infested house of horror a malignant spirit waits.
Malcolm's exams may not be the only final thing.
The Man in Black sets the chilling scene...
Fear on 4 brings you more in a series of nerve-tinglers.
Written by Bram Stoker and dramatized by John Keir.
The Man in Black …. Edward de Souza
Malcolm …. David Timson
Mrs Dempster …. Tessa Worsley
Carnford …. Norman Bird
Director: Gerry Jones
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 1989.
SAT 19:00 Comedy Controller (b01r9rh7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
SAT 22:00 Shappi Talk (b00x23w5)
Series 2
Addiction
Shappi Khorsandi looks at a variety of subjects close to her Iranian heart - including History, Politics and, in this programme, Addiction.
Having struggled with food disorders, Shappi reveals what it's like to have an addictive personality, but being able to have a laugh along the way. With this insight, she has relaxed chat with TV host Trisha Goddard, someone who has herself experienced addictions throughout her adult life. Comedian Mike Gunn uses his drug experience to wittily debunk a few myths and Duncan Oakley provides a comic song.
Producer: Paul Russell
An Open Mike production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 22:30 The Jason Byrne Show (b01p6pxc)
Series 3
I Won't Eat Bread From a Puddle
Jason Byrne looks at the subject of fears with members of the audience revealing an eccentric range of phobias include feet; boats in dry docks and being forced to eat white bread out of puddles.
Themed audience comedy show with high-energy stand-up and sketches with Laurence Howarth and Daisy Haggard.
Producer: Julia McKenzie
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in November 2010.
SAT 23:00 Bussmann and Quantick Kingsize (b044vhlq)
Episode 3
A fraudulently fat sack of sketches, monologues and weird soup, featuring a puritan vet who dishes out tough love to poorly pets.
Originally broadcast live from London's exclusive Imperial Rooms, Mayfair.
Written and performed by Jane Bussmann and David Quantick.
Featuring:
Peter Serafinowicz
Emma Clarke
Steve Brody.
Producer: Phil Bowker
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 1998.
SAT 23:30 Richard Herring's Objective (b00vcqm7)
Series 1
The Hoodie
Richard Herring reclaims objects that we've grown to hate - a tracksuit top with a hood. With Emma Kennedy. From October 2010.