SATURDAY 07 FEBRUARY 2015

SAT 00:00 When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit (b00yb61d)
Episode 5
Unable to get published in Zurich, Papa travels to Paris. Judith Kerr's semi-autobiographical story. Read by Rosemary Leach.
SAT 00:15 Cosmic Quest (b00bvscm)
The Imperfect Cosmos
Astronomer Heather Couper looks at Tycho Brahe's realisation that the heavens change - that a planet's orbit could be predicted.
SAT 00:30 Moya O'Shea - The Chocolate Lovers' Club (b00w6f7p)
Episode 5
A huge cake box sits on the table, as the mysterious Mrs Drexl tells a tale which surprisingly concerns them all - as she explains how she came to be invited to join the club...
At the Muchly Bottom village chocolate lovers' club five women take turns in creating a chocolate delight and tell a chocolate-related tale while eating it.
Conclusion of Moya O'Shea’s delicious five-part drama.
Mrs Drexl - Sylvia Sims
Clementine - Paula Wilcox
Rosie - Helena Breck
Sarah - Eleanor Bron
Charlotte - Carolyn Pickles
Hot Shot - Carl Prekopp
Luke - Peter Darney
Director: Tracey Neale
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2001.
SAT 00:45 Book of the Week (b00r93vz)
Chopin: Prince of the Romantics
Episode 5
Adam Zamoyski's biography of the brief but eventful life of the great Romantic composer Frederic Chopin, from Polish child prodigy to Paris dandy, his turbulent relationship with George Sand and his early death, penniless in Paris.
As Paris is shaken by revolution, Chopin seeks refuge in Scotland, where he is forced to fend off the attentions of several well-meaning 'Scottish Ladies'. Returning to Paris, his health deteriorates rapidly and, relying on the benevolence and support of his friends, he retreats to his apartment, where he begins to make plans for his own sumptuous funeral.
Abridged by Doreen Estall.
SAT 01:00 Jest a Minute (b017ptbk)
Series 2
Episode 5
Rhod Gilbert's comedy quiz from the Glee Club in Cardiff.
With Greg Davies, Eggsy, Lloyd Langford and Chris Corcoran.
Producers: Paul Forde and Gareth Gwynn.
First broadcast on BBC Radio Wales in 2009.
SAT 01:30 My Life in Five Books (b0120w1q)
Series 2
Dr Tony Pollard
Dr Tony Pollard is a renowned archaeologist, academic and writer. He's presented television programmes and used his skills to help find a mass war grave.
Talking to Stuart Cosgrove he explains how the book Ring of Bright Water by Gavin Maxwell directly led to his father up-routing the family and moving them to the west coast of Scotland.
Tony five books are:
The Washing of The Spears by Donald R Morris.
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce.
Dilys Powell's memoir The Villa Ariadne.
Le Grand Meulnes by Alain Fournier.
Produced by Mike Walker.
First broadcast on Radio Scotland in 2011.
SAT 02:00 Wimsey (b007k440)
Strong Poison
Turkish Delight
Can Lord Peter Wimsey finally clear Harriet Vane's name and persuade her to take his? Stars Ian Carmichael and Peter Jones.
SAT 02:30 Why Do We Sing? (b00c5j0l)
Gareth Malone explores how man developed the vocal capability to sing. He investigates how singing as we know it today began hundreds of millions of years ago and how prehistoric man used a type of vocal communication which could be called the precursor of singing. He finds out how this changed and developed as man evolved and explores what this tells us about human communication and how our relationship with song has grown out of moments in early history.
SAT 03:00 Jill Paton Walsh - The Wyndham Case (b007jsrd)
The locked library of St Agatha's College in Cambridge houses an invaluable collection of 17th-century volumes. It also contains one dead student. A tragic accident - or is there some more mysterious and deadly circumstance surrounding the death of model student Philip Skellow?
If anyone can find out, it’s college nurse and amateur sleuth, Imogen Quy, and her policeman friend, Mike.
Imogen Quy …. Carolyn Pickles
Mike Parsons …. Richard Derrington
Sir William …. Jeffery Dench
Lady Buckmoat …. Marlene Sidaway
Fran Bullion …. Tracey Wyles
Mountnessing …. Charles Collingwood
Mrs. Skellow …. Gillian Goodman
Lord Goldhooper …. Ian Brooker
Nick …. Tom George
Emily and Tracy …. Claire Corbett
Catherine and Felicity …. Jasmine Hyde
Jack …. Thomas Arnold
Phillip Skellow …. Alex Trinder
Roger …. Martyn Read
Written by Jill Paton Walsh and dramatised by Neville Teller.
Directed in Birmingham by Peter Lesley Wild
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2001.
SAT 04:00 Alison Moore - The Pre-War House and Other Stories (b03w46lf)
Static
Over the last 40 years, Wilfred has never wanted anyone but Dorothy. But he's never been a great romantic.
Ruth Gemmell reads a selection of stories from Alison Moore's atmospheric, and sometimes dark, debut collection.
Alison Moore was born in Manchester in 1971. Her stories have been published in various magazines and anthologies including Best British Short Stories 2011. She has been shortlisted for the Bridport Prize and the Manchester Fiction Prize, and won first prize in the novella category of The New Writer Prose and Poetry Prizes. Her first novel, The Lighthouse, was shortlisted for The Man Booker Prize 2012.
Abridged and produced by Jeremy Osborne
A Sweet Talk Production for BBC Radio 4 Extra.
SAT 04:15 Peter Tinniswood (b036y49b)
The Sitter
Bulldog is 82. While his wife goes out for a tootle in the SS Jaguar, he is visited by a sitter with tired, lank hair and woebegone eyes.
But before the war Bulldog was an aviator who skimmed the Andes and who flew the mail from Singapore to Casablanca and who loved dusky beauties the world over.
Maurice Denham and Liz Goulding star in Peter Tinniswood's drama.
Bulldog ... Maurice Denham
The Sitter ... Liz Goulding
Director: Shaun MacLoughlin
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 1990.
SAT 05:00 King Street Junior Revisited (b00l2jgz)
Series 4
To the Barricades
Miss Featherstone gets arrested. Is she the right sort of person to teach children?
School comedy created and written by Jim Eldridge. Ten series of this King Street Junior ran between 1985 and 1998. King Street Junior Revisited ran from 2002 to 2005.
Stars Brigitte Forsythe as Mrs Eastwood, Marlene Sidaway as Miss Lewis, Michael Cochrane as Mr Maxwell, Teresa Gallagher as Miss Featherstone, Jacqueline Beatty as Miss Reid, Janice Acquah as Mrs Khan, Paul Copley as Mr Long, Hugh Dickson as the Chairman, Helen Longworth as Mrs Smithers and Ben Crowe as Mr Allen.
Producer: John Fawcett Wilson
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2005.
SAT 05:30 Little Blighty on the Down (b0081l6c)
Series 3
Episode 5
Leader Mrs Roberts experiences the poor state of local trains first-hand. Political satire with Jo Kendall. From August 1990.
SAT 06:00 Noel Coward - The Vortex (b00d06t9)
The notorious 1924 drama lifting the lid on the lives of the country house set. Stars Elizabeth Sellars and Martin Jarvis.
SAT 07:30 Freedom Pass (b00sdqhw)
Episode 1
Eligible for free local buses, sexagenarians Alan Coren and Christopher Matthew jump on board for an adventure. From October 2003.
SAT 08:00 Archive on 4 (b0381jzt)
Ivor Cutler at 90
The deceptively quiet wordsmith was born in 1923 near the Rangers ground at Ibrox Park.
"I have a harmonium and it's going to explode in two minutes", were the opening words spoken on the Andy Kershaw Show in 1980 by a gentle voiced Scotsman called Ivor Cutler.
Championed by everyone from the Beatles to Billy Connolly, Ivor Cutler was a poet, humourist and absurdist whose appearances on BBC radio and television span over 5 decades. As well as producing a vast body of records, books and plays, Ivor was a notable eccentric, often seen cycling around London in plus fours, handing out homemade stickers and badges to strangers.
To mark what would have been Ivor's 90th birthday, BBC Radio 4 held a 'party', to celebrate his life and BBC archive in particular. Except a full house, with performers, fans, collaborators and even his long-term partner, Phyllis King, introducing their favourite poems, songs and memories of Ivor. Weirdness from the archives, pleasure for fans, and a singular introduction to those encountering him for the very first time.
Highlights include Bramwell and King re-enacting a morse code performance of "The Little Black Buzzer".
Presenter: David Bramwell is a writer, musician and, recently, presenter of Sony Award winning "The Haunted Moustache". He is the founder of the "Catalyst Club"; a place for enthusiasts to speak on any subject close to their heart. Ivor Cutler is a subject close to his, having kept correspondence with him in the 1980's.
Producer: Sara Jane Hall.
SAT 09:00 Side By Side By Sherrin (b051vy3z)
Emma Freud celebrates the life and career of Ned Sherrin
Featuring extracts from Tonight, That Was the Week That Was, Loose Ends, Desert Island Discs and a memorable feature about Diary of a Nobody.
Plus new interviews with those who knew him well: theatre critic Michael Coveney, friend and writing collaborator Alistair Beaton, comedian and Loose Ender Arthur Smith and, in a rare interview, actress and singer Millicent Martin.
Qualifying as a barrister, Ned was immediately diverted into the fledgling TV industry. As producer and director he cut his teeth first with ITV and then on Tonight, but it was creating and producing BBC TV's satirical That Was the Week That Was that earned him his reputation.
He proposed a programme that would be: "aware, pointed, irreverent, fundamentally serious, intelligently witty, outspoken in the proper sense of the word, and would provide an opportunity for saying things worth saying and not usually said on television."
Fronted by David Frost it became the must-see event of the week, soon attracting audiences of over 12 million.
But it was the week the laughter stopped that brought TW3 to a global audience. The programme transmitted the day after President John F Kennedy's assassination was a sober, immediate and poignant expression of the nation's mood. The recording was flown overnight to the USA and shown there. It made such an impact that a transcript was admitted into Congressional records.
After that, Ned Sherrin's talent took him into film production, performing on the stage and TV and theatrical writing and directing, but it was radio he loved the most.
Producer: Chris Paling
Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra by Pier Productions.
SAT 12:00 The Ice Wife (Omnibus) (b051w6kc)
Filmmaker Jen travels to the Antarctic to be one of the skeleton team that keeps the British base running over winter.
It would be easier to get off Mars than out of there once the ship's sailed and tensions are already running high among the over-winterers. Jen has to work out why.
Omnibus written by by Beatrice Colin.
Jen ..... Claire Rushbrook
Tallis ..... Steven Cree
Kate ..... Pippa Bennett-Warner
Chris ..... Ian Conningham
Bob ..... Sam Dale
First broadcast in five parts on BBC Radio 4 in February 2015
SAT 13:15 Dickens Confidential (b01kkyfh)
Series 1
Foundry
Charles Dickens's editorial conscience is challenged when his newspaper investigates a child's death. Stars Jamie Glover.
SAT 14:00 The Michael Bentine Show (b007js4v)
From 22/01/1984
Michael Bentine stars as the great Tibetan mystic U Tug, members of the British Bath Craftsman's Guild, the Toastmaster, the entire United Nations and occasionally himself.
The ultimate one man show written and performed by the host. Listen in and you’ll believe that telephone boxes can fly.
Producer: Jamie Rix
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in January 1984.
SAT 14:30 I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again (b00srqfn)
Series 4
Episode 1
The explosive Flying Wombat - and insulted Italians. Series 4 kick off with more sketches and songs.
Restored from BBC Transcription Service tapes - originally edited for sale abroad.
Starring John Cleese, Bill Oddie, Tim Brooke-Taylor, David Hatch and Jo Kendall.
Scripted by John Cleese, Bill Oddie, Clive James, David Hatch, Eric Idle and Graeme Garden.
With music from Dave Lee and his band.
Produced by Humphrey Barclay
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in October 1966.
SAT 15:00 Archive on 4 (b0381jzt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
SAT 16:00 Noel Coward - The Vortex (b00d06t9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
SAT 17:30 Gloomsbury (b01n1vlc)
Series 1
Desperately Seeking Peace and Quiet
A stellar cast of Miriam Margolyes, Alison Steadman, Nigel Planer, Morwenna Banks, Jonathan Coy and John Sessions breathes life into the colourfully chaotic characters of Gloomsbury, a riotous new comedy about the Bloomsbury Group.
The six-part series from the pen of Sue Limb is an affectionate send up of the infamous literary group whose arty and adulterous adventures dominated the cultural scene in the early 20th century.
In Episode Two, the novelist Ginny Fox is visiting her friends Vera Sackcloth-Vest and Henry Mickleton, who live in a modest unassuming little castle in Kent.
Ginny has writer's block, so Vera tries desperately to provide peace and quiet, gagging the blackbirds and cloaking the gravel paths in velvet. But their tranquil idyll is shattered by the explosive arrival of Venus Traduces, hell-bent on recapturing Vera's heart with a series of appalling musical serenades.
Ginny's tiresome husband Lionel has followed her incognito with a portfolio of herbal remedies, but Henry manages to detain him in the pantry whilst Ginny and Vera dive under the covers to devour a steamy new book, Lady Hattersley's Plover by the intriguing proletarian writer D.H. Lollipop. The chums emerge flushed and enthralled, convinced that they must meet D.H. Lollipop and experience his dangerous animal magnetism at first hand.
Cast:
Vera Sackcloth-Vest ..... Miriam Margolyes
Gosling, her Gardener ..... Nigel Planer
Henry Mickleton ..... Jonathan Coy
Venus Traduces ..... Morwenna Banks
Mrs Gosling, Housekeeper ..... Alison Steadman
Mrs Ginny Fox ..... Alison Steadman
Lionel Fox ..... Nigel Planer
Produced by Jamie Rix
A Little Brother Production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 18:00 Bruce Bedford - The Gibson (b007js82)
Episode 2
After aspiring poet Saul Judd and his family win a competition, strange events happen.
Bruce Bedford's time-hopping supernatural thriller serial set in - and under - Bath.
Robert Glenister .... Saul Judd
Sharon Duce .... Elise Judd
Freddie Jones .... The Scribe
Kate Binchy .... The Scribe's Wife
Constance Chapman .... Haensel Sethria
John Telfer .... Prince Bladud
Trevor Cooper .... Rough Peasant
Sam Dastor .... Karim el Hatel
June Barrie .... The Chairwoman
Timothy West .... Selwyn Fist
Liz Goulding .... Rita
Original music composed by Thomas Johnson.
Music realised by Robin Lever.
Special effects: Dick Mills (Radiophonic Workshop)
Directed at BBC Bristol by Andy Jordan
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1992.
SAT 18:30 Paradise Lost in Cyberspace (b007jpdq)
Episode 2
Lucky old George Smith - it's not everyone who has their own compulsory euthanasia broadcast on national TV at the age of 69.
Colin Swash's dystopian comedy set in 22nd-century Britain, starring Stephen Moore as George Smith.
George ...... Stephen Moore
Doris ...... Patsy Byrne
O'Connell ...... Geoffrey McGivern
Andrea Sunbeam ...... Lorelei King
Other parts by Melanie Hudson, Christopher Douglas, Lewis MacLeod and Peter Serafinowicz.
Producer: Richard Wilson.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 1998.
SAT 19:00 Side By Side By Sherrin (b051vy3z)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
SAT 22:00 Rhod Gilbert's Bulging Barrel of Laughs (b00v4x0d)
Episode 6
Welsh comic Rhod Gilbert introduces regulars Lloyd Langford and Greg Davies, plus Sarah Millican who takes a look at the last stage of Woman.
With live music from The Hoosiers.
Guest comedian: Jon Richardson.
Find out what aliens know about teeth; why young people are as annoying as a nude Elton John playing the vuvuzela; and what depths Rhod would sink to become a kung fu master.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in October 2010.
SAT 22:55 The Comedy Club Interviews (b052l4pb)
The best in contemporary comedy. Arthur Smith chats again to Nick Mohammed.
SAT 23:00 Mark Steel's in Town (b00rykln)
Series 2
Wilmslow
Second series of the show where comedian Mark Steel visits some of our lesser known towns to discover what makes them distinctive.

In this second episode Mark Visits Wilmslow in Cheshire and gets to grips with Footballers Mansions, 3D eyelashes and the rhyming Wizard of Alderley Edge. From April 2010.

Written and performed by Mark Steel

Producer Julia Mckenzie.
SAT 23:30 The Jason Byrne Show (b00mlxk9)
Series 1
Relationships
Exploring a fresh theme each week, the Irish comedian hosts stand-up and sketches. With guest Ivan Brackenbury. From July 2008.