SATURDAY 19 DECEMBER 2015

SAT 00:00 Arthur Conan Doyle - Professor Challenger (b00zs6nn)
The Disintegration Machine
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's indomitable academic must investigate dastardly Latvian scientist Theodore Nemor. Stars Bill Paterson.
SAT 00:30 Soul Music (b0076blv)
Series 3
Kol Nidrei
Max Bruch's piece for cello is based on Jewish prayer sung at Yom Kippur and played memorably by Jacqueline du Pre.
Series about music that makes the hairs stand up on the back of our necks.
Producer: Sara Conkey
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2002.
SAT 01:00 P Division (b00rgnxh)
Two Way Cut
Episode 4
Donoghue has enough evidence to arrest Stein - but where is he? Louise wants to make a statement about the murder and Elka Willems is going to tell Mrs Salisbury about her daughter's illness.
Stars Frank Gallagher as DC Malcolm Montgomery, Robert Carlyle as DC King, Eliza Langland as WPC Elka Willems, Ginni Barlow as Mrs Sailisbury, Mary Ann Reid as Mrs Steen, Jake D'Arcy as DS Ray Sussock and Crawford Logan as DI Donoghue.
Published in 1988, this is Peter Turnbull's fifth P Division novel about his Glaswegian cops.
Dramatised by Stephen Mulrine.
Producer: Hamish Wilson
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1993.
SAT 01:30 Eagle: The Space Age Weekly (b00wqdx6)
Sir Tim Rice explores the lasting appeal of British magazine Eagle and the impact of its flagship character Dan Dare.
Eagle ran in two main incarnations between 1950 and 1994. Dan Dare, often referred to as "Biggles in space", is regarded in some circles as the greatest British science fiction hero of the 20th century
In this feature we chart the influences behind the comic, and explore the life of its creator Marcus Morris, a fascinating man who began the publication because of his concern over 'horrific' US comics which presented 'disturbing' storylines which he felt 'corrupted British youth'.
The programme reveals how Dan Dare was originally envisaged as a space chaplain before becoming the popular astronaut. It also examines the work of illustrator Frank Hampson who introduced technology years ahead of its time. Hampson knew the Space Age was on its way while serving in the Second World War and seeing the German VI rockets. He made the Dan Dare strips as realistic as possible by dressing his team in spacesuits and uniforms, basing the look of the fictional characters on his colleagues.
We reveal how the stories had educational value and, along with Dan Dare, we look at other Eagle offerings including Shakespeare's plays and the Greek myths which ran as comic strips.
Featuring contributions from author Philip Pullman, Sally Morris the daughter of Eagle Creator Marcus and Eagle Society member David Britton.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2010.
SAT 02:00 Jan Struther - Mrs Miniver (b00nnp65)
Back From Abroad; Three Stockings
The engaging stories of an English housewife, created in The Times of 1937 and immortalised on film. Read by Penelope Wilton.
SAT 02:15 A Cause for Caroling (b03kvby7)
The Ghosts of the West Gallery
In the fifth programme of his series telling the story of the Christmas Carol Jeremy Summerly visits Dorchester where Thomas Hardy captured the caroling tradition that had matured through the 17th and 18th century but which faced extinction in the 19th. The West Gallery tradition of musicians and singers in parish churches was an integral part of community life in Hardy's Wessex as elsewhere. Jeremy explains the origins of that tradition and the fuguing carols so beloved at the time and why it was that their days were numbered.
Along with folk musician Tim Laycock he gets to see the carol manuscripts from which Hardy's great grandfather played and sang on Christmas night in 1800.
Series Description:
The Christmas carol is as popular now as it was when carolers celebrated the birth of Edward III in 1312. Back then the carol was a generic term for a song with its roots in dance form, nowadays only the strictest scholar would quibble with the fact that a carol is a Christmas song.
But the journey the carol has taken is unique in music history because each shift in the story has been preserved in the carols that we sing today. Go to a carol concert now and you're likely to hear folk, medieval, mid-victorian and modern music all happily combined. It's hard to imagine that happening in any other situation.
In these programmes Jeremy Summerly follows the carol journey through the Golden age of the Medieval carol into the troubled period of Reformation and puritanism, along the byways of the 17th and 18th century waits and gallery musicians and in to the sudden explosion of interest in the carol in the 19th century. It's a story that sees the carol veer between the sacred and secular even before there was any understanding of those terms. For long periods the church, both catholic and protestant, was uneasy about the virility and homespun nature of carol tunes and carol texts. Nowadays many people think that church music is defined by the carols they hear from Kings College Cambridge.
He traces the folk carol in and out of church grounds, the carol hymn, the fuguing carol and the many other off-shoots, some of which survive to this day and many others which languish unloved but ready for re-discovery.
It's a journey full of song describing the history of a people who needed expression for seasonal joy in the coldest, hardest time of the year. And however efficient the heating system may be, the carol still generates warmth. Much of that is to do with the positive nostalgia of this music.
That nostalgia is in part due to the fact that carols are one of the first kinds of song children actually sing rather than hear. Many favourite carols were actually written for Children; Once in Royal David's City the most familiar example. Another factor is the concentration in the texts on the humanity of nativity with tunes garnered from the uninhibited world of folk song and ballad.
The series title is taken from a Thomas Hardy poem in which he ponders of a Darkling Thrush why it should chose to sing - 'so little cause for carolings of such ecstatic sound' - is the question asked. THis series is an attempt to answer why Carols remain so popular and familiar to so many. In fact Hardy himself, in his first novel Under The Greenwood Tree, went some way to answering his own question when he described the Mellstock Quire singing at Midnight on Christmas Eve:
'Then passed forth into the quiet night an ancient and time worn hymn, embodying a quaint Christianity in words orally transmitted from father to son through several generations down to the present characters, who sang them out right earnestly."
Jeremy brings the series up to date with the story of the famous Nine Lessons and Carols service broadcast by the BBC since the 1920s but born originally in Truro. It's a service that commands a worldwide audience measured in many millions, but as Jeremy concludes it has left an imbalance in the appreciation of our caroling tradition, a tradition that has always had one foot in the pub and another in the choir stalls.
Producer: Tom Alban.
SAT 02:30 William Makepeace Thackeray - Vanity Fair (b007jvwn)
Episode 5
Becky travels to London with the ailing spinster Miss Crawley. Narrated by Stephen Fry. With Emma Fielding and Margaret Tyzack.
SAT 02:45 Alan Coren - Core Coren (b007jrq9)
One is One - Leading the Solitary Life
The humorist, writer and broadcaster muses on a Victorian novelty, the chance of appearing in Macbeth and home-working.
SAT 03:00 Home Front - Omnibus (b064jrpl)
26-30 October 1915
Last omnibus edition of Season 5 of Home Front, an epic drama series set in Great War Britain.

CAST
Guard ..... David Acton
Esme ..... Katie Angelou
Norman ..... Sean Baker
Edie ..... Kathryn Beaumont
Roy ..... Tim Beckmann
Stella ..... Ava Bell
Ray ..... Scarlett Bell
Isabel ..... Keely Beresford
Gabriel ..... Michael Bertenshaw
Mack ..... Owen Clarke
Dolly ..... Elaine Claxton
Alice ..... Claire Louise Cordwell
Beau ..... Stephen Critchlow
Sylvia ..... Joanna David
Cooper ..... Mark Edel-Hunt
Marion ..... Laura Elphinstone
Hilary ..... Craige Els
Roland ..... Jack Holden
Man 1 ..... David Hounslow
Adam ..... Billy Kennedy
Kitty ..... Ami Metcalf
PC Eldridge ..... Dan Hagley
Brad ..... Neet Mohan
Clemmie ..... Joanna Monro
Albert ..... Harry Myers
Woman ..... Rhiannon Neads
Johnnie ..... Paul Ready
Marieke ..... Olivia Ross
Florrie ..... Claire Rushbrook
Dorothea ..... Rachel Shelley
Alec ..... Tom Stuart
Sally ..... Sarah Thom
Maggie ..... Hollie Thoupos
Ivy ..... Lizzy Watts
Nancy ..... Jane Whittenshaw

Written by Richard Monks
Story-led by Sarah Daniels
Consultant Historian: Professor Maggie Andrews
Music: Matthew Strachan
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole.
SAT 04:00 The 99p Challenge (b06s6mrj)
Series 4
Episode 5
Crazy panel show capers as host Sue Perkins grills Armando Iannucci, Peter Baynham, Sean Lock and Jack Docherty.
The game where someone stands to leave the studio 99p richer than when they came in.
Producer: David Tyler
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2003.
SAT 04:30 Mind Your Own Business! (b009pr6l)
Points of Disagreement
Whiz-kid Jimmy Bright has run out of Whizz. So staid accountant Russell Farrow grabs the reins, and ends up in a prickly situation...
Bernard Cribbins and Frank Thornton star in Andrew Palmer’s sitcom
Jimmy Bright ...... Bernard Cribbins
Russell Farrow ...... Frank Thornton
Nan Forbes ...... Annette Crosbie
Sue Plant ...... Annee Blott
With Dennis Ramsden.
Written by Andrew Palmer.
Producer: Edward Taylor
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in January 1988.
SAT 05:00 Winston (b007svwq)
Winston Comes to Town
The Best Place for Them
With Father set for an old folk's home - can old rogue Winston save the day for Nancy?
Peter Tinniswood's bawdy comedy serial.
Winston ...... Bill Wallis
Father ...... Maurice Denham
Nancy ...... Shirley Dixon
Rosie ...... Liz Goulding
William ...... Christian Rodska
Director: Shaun MacLoughlin.
First broadcast on BBC Radio in February 1990.
SAT 05:30 Trodd en Bratt Say 'Well Done You' (b06rxgtc)
Series 2
Episode 4
The vaguely European owners of the Fings and Bobs Novelty Shop make a return visit to Wherever-we-come-from-Land, Evelyn and Gertie try to be nice and - there's been a murder!
A fun packed second series from comedy duo Lucy Trodd and Ruth Bratt. Sketches and songs from a whole range of new characters, with the occasional appearance from some old favourites.
Performers:
Lucy Trodd
Ruth Bratt
Adam Meggido
Oliver Senton
Written by: Ruth Bratt and Lucy Trodd
Script Editor: Jon Hunter
Original music: Duncan Walsh Atkins
Producer: Steve Doherty
A Lucky Giant production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 06:00 Alick Rowe - Crisp and Even Brightly (b007jqsz)
Was the poor man gathering fuel really poor, and was he really a man - or was she a Slavnik spy in disguise? Was Wenceslas's tramp into the forest with his ten-year-old page carrying flesh and wine and logs just a public relations exercise?
What is the true story behind the story of Good King Wenceslas?
Alick Rowe's comedy stars Timothy West as Good King Wenceslas, James Holland as the Page, June Barrie as the Queen Grandmother, Christian Rodska as Sigmund, Bill Wallis as Tunna and Polly James as a Hovel Dweller.
Music by Andrew Christie.
Directed in Bristol by Shaun McLaughlin.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1987.
SAT 07:15 Oscar Wilde (b007k0l3)
The Happy Prince
From their aerial view, a beautiful statue and a swallow team up to help the poor in the city below. Read by John Moffatt. From December 1997.
SAT 07:30 Marguerite Patten's Century of British Cooking (b0075k9n)
Trench Cookers and Borsch, 1940-1949
Borsch, Corned Beef Loaf, Jugged Hare, Crumble, Pickled Red Cabbage and Christmas Pudding.
Marguerite Patten mingles recipes of the 1940s with memories of the Blitz, pressure cookers, trench cookers, digging for victory, the formation of the NHS and some of her own early broadcasts - in her 10-part history of British cooking.
Marguerite told us how to make the most of our rations during the Second World War in 'Kitchen Front' on the BBC Home Service. She fronted her first BBC TV cookery show in 1947.
Born in Bath, the home economist was widely considered to be the first celebrity cook, and wrote more than 170 books with worldwide sales of 17 million.
A regular contributor to BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour programme from 1946, Marguerite's final appearance was in 2011. She was awarded the OBE in 1991 and CBE in 2011.
Born November 4th 1915, Marguerite Patten died just a few months short of her 100th birthday in June 2015.
Producer: Ian Willox
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1999.
SAT 08:00 Meeting Myself Coming Back (b01jppw6)
Series 4
Richard Branson
The first programme in the new series of 'Meeting Myself Coming Back', the series in which leading public figures explore their lives through the BBC archives, features Sir Richard Branson in conversation with John Wilson. From his early days as the founder of "Student" magazine, to the creation of the Virgin record business and expansion into a global empire, Richard Branson has been an icon of entrepreneurship. In this interview, he meets his younger self from the sound archive and discusses his reactions with John Wilson.
He begins by hearing his 21- year old self running the influential "Student Magazine" from a basement in London and relives the way he created Virgin Records as a cut price mail order enterprise. He also hears the sound archive from 1984 when he announced the setting up of Virgin Atlantic with only one plane. We hear his memories of his daring exploits in hot air balloons and at sea and his thoughts on escaping death by a whisker.
Richard Branson also relives the episode when one of his planes flew into Baghdad airport in to bring out the British hostages held by Saddam Hussain after the invasion of Kuwait in 1990. He talks about the eerie stillness of the deserted airport, the tension of waiting and the relief when the hostages finally came on board.
We also hear his thoughts on doing business, taking knocks, political affiliation, plans for space travel and paying tax.
Producer: Emma Kingsley.
SAT 09:00 Josie Long Hears the Truth (b06s9rcn)
The truth in all of its forms can be complicated, but that's not to say it's not worth the quest. From heartfelt, emotional encounters to awe-inspiring experiences, Josie Long presents the best in true storytelling from both home and abroad.
The items featured in this programme are:
The Worst Haircut Ever - Radio producer Jeff Cohen interviews his two young daughters about a haircut that went terribly wrong.
Produced by Jeff Cohen
The Blow Up Bra - 94-year-old Betty Jenkins remembers a quirky gift from her mother.
Produced by Nadia Reiman
School Night - Storyteller Ameera Chowdhury recalls writing a pop music review as a teen and receiving a surprising response.
Produced for The Moth Radio Hour
Don't Go Far - The adventure of two Dublin children in August 1985 who chanced a free ride on the DART and ended up further away than they expected...
Produced by Ronan Kelly and Paul Russell
The Real Tom Banks - 23 year old gay teen Tom Banks is on the search for love...on the internet.
Produced by Jesse Cox
Split Brain - Brain scientist Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor remembers every moment of her life-altering stroke.
Produced by Nick Van der Kolk
Freud's Couch - Roman Mars on the story behind the most famous couch in history.
Produced by Ann Hepperman
Myrtle and Denika - Fi Glover hears from Myrtle, one of the first single parents to adopt in the UK, and Denika, who was 5 when she went to live with her.
Produced by Victoria McArthur
Dame Mitsuko Uchida - Japanese born classical pianist, Dame Mitsuko Uchida talks about her inspiration and passion for piano playing.
Produced for Front Row
Helen Sharman - The first British person to travel in space, Helen remembers docking with the Mir space station in 1991 and her regret at having to return to Earth.
Produced for My Century
Millie The Jack Russell - We hear the story of the overweight Jack Russell Millie's return to fitness for 2014's PDSA Pet Fit Club.
Produced for You And Yours
Norma Miller - Harlem born Norma Miller tells the story of her lindy hop days.
Produced for My Century
Living With Birdie - Birdie McDonald tells the extraordinary story of her life as a foster mother of more than 850 children over the last 35 years.
Produced by Emily Jeal
Made for BBC Radio 4 in Extra and first broadcast in December 2015.
SAT 12:00 Round the Horne (b00mlxk1)
Series 3
Episode 12
Kenneth Williams saddles up as a jockey in 'A Man Is Two Foot Tall', but Kenneth Horne is after some advice on Bona Bijou Tourettes from Julian and Sandy.
With Kenneth Williams, Hugh Paddick, Betty Marsden and Bill Pertwee.
Recorded at the BBC's Paris Studio in Lower Regent Street, London. Announcer: Douglas Smith
Round The Horne was born out of the demise of BBC radio comedy Beyond Our Ken, after the end of writer Eric Merriman's involvement. Using the same cast and producer, Barry Took and Marty Feldman were persuaded to write the scripts - which led to four series that ran between 1965 and 1968 - packed full of parodies, recurring characters, catchphrases and double-entendres.
Music by Edwin Braden and the Hornblowers and The Fraser Hayes Four.
Producer: John Simmonds
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in April 1967.
SAT 12:30 Brothers in Law (b007k0y6)
Series 2
Look It Up
Newly qualified lawyer Roger Thursby annoys his girlfriend Sally over a dispute involving a husband and wife.
Starring Richard Briers as Roger Thursby, Terence Alexander as Henry Blagrove, John Glyn-Jones as Grimes, Julia Lockwood as Sally, Ronald Adam as the Chairman and Arthur Mullard as Briggs. All other parts by Sean Arnold, Douglas Blackwell and Patrick Tull.
Written by Henry Cecil and Basil Dawson.
Published in 1955, Henry Cecil's comic legal novel Brothers in Law was adapted first for TV in 1962 by Frank Muir and Denis Norden. It provided the first regular starring role for Richard Briers, who later reprised his role of the idealistic young lawyer Roger Thursby for BBC Radio between 1970 and 1972.
Producer: David Hatch.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 1971.
SAT 13:00 Sarah Woods - Speck of Dust Omnibus (b06sb14w)
When Zoe's husband Ben leaves her for another woman, she is determined the family will get on fine without him. With Eiry Thomas.
SAT 14:10 Inheritance Tracks (b06sb17d)
Rick Stein
Chef Rick Stein chooses 'Wouldn't It Be Lovely' from My Fair Lady, and 'Afternoons And Coffee Spoons' by the Crash Test Dummies.
SAT 14:15 In the Psychiatrist's Chair (b06sb28z)
Tony Benn
Former cabinet minister, politician and campaigner Tony Benn discusses his life and career with Professor Anthony Clare. From 1995.
Psychiatrist Dr Anthony Clare's in depth interviews with prominent people from different walks of life.
Born in Dublin, author Anthony Clare 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 1995.
SAT 15:00 Meeting Myself Coming Back (b01jppw6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
SAT 16:00 Alick Rowe - Crisp and Even Brightly (b007jqsz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
SAT 17:15 Oscar Wilde (b007k0l3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:15 today]
SAT 17:30 Marguerite Patten's Century of British Cooking (b0075k9n)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
SAT 18:00 Classic Serial (b01nkt24)
The Gothic Imagination
Frankenstein, part 1
A new production of Mary Shelley's heart-breaking modern myth of obsession, pride and the need for love.
While sailing through the Arctic wastes, Captain Walton picks up an unexpected passenger. Close to death the man begins to tell Walton his strange and terrible story. 1 of 2
Dramatised by Lucy Catherine.
Directed by Marc Beeby.
SAT 19:00 Josie Long Hears the Truth (b06s9rcn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
SAT 22:00 Irish Micks and Legends (b01nq4j1)
Series 1
Tir Na Nog
Aisling Bea and Yasmine Akram become Ais and Yaz and are the very best pals. They are taking their role as Ireland's freshest story-tellers to the British nation very seriously indeed but they haven't had the time to do much research, learn their lines or work out who is doing which parts.
The girls' unconventional way of telling stories involves a concoction of thoroughly inappropriate modern-day metaphors and references to many of the ancient Irish stories.
With a natural knack for both comedy and character voices Yasmine Akram and Aisling Bea will bring you warm, modern re-workings of popular ancient Irish stories.
Today it's Tir Na Nog.
Written and performed by Aisling Bea and Yasmine Akram
Producer: Raymond Lau.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2012.
SAT 22:15 Mission Improbable (b01p4254)
Series 1
Splash!
A brand new series of high octane mini-adventures, written by and starring The Boom Jennies - Anna Emerson, Lizzie Bates and Catriona Knox.
When cub reporter Jane arrives in Tintagel to get an interview with Cornwall's oldest whelk fisherman, her long-suffering companions could be forgiven if they were a little reluctant to tag along. Not a bit of it. Spinster-in-waiting Lucy has her eye on Jane's septuagenarian man of the sea, and zoo assistant Amelia has her mind fixed on dolphins. But as they head out into the bay to intercept the aged shellfish gatherer, the speed of Amelia's rowing sets them on a very different course - one of world records, mountainous seas and near misses with oil tankers.
Will Jane get her story? Will Lucy catch the man of her dreams? Will Amelia remember to take the lens cap off her binoculars? All these questions will be answered before their plucky rowing boat spies land once more.
Jane ................ Catriona Knox
Lucy .................Lizzie Bates
Amelia ..............Anna Emerson
Bill ................... Paul Ryan
Written by Anna Emerson, Lizzie Bates and Catriona Knox
Audio production by Matt Katz
Produced by Dave Lamb and Richie Webb
A Top Dog Production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 22:30 Strap In - It's Clever Peter (b01jhdht)
Pedro
Strap in for 15 minutes of rip-roaring comedy as Clever Peter bring you a death plunge, a leap across a ravine and a sexy clown.
Clever Peter - the wild and brilliantly funny award-winning sketch team - get their own Radio 4 show.
From the team that brought you Cabin Pressure and Another Case of Milton Jones comes the massively bonkers and funny Clever Peter, hot off the Edinburgh Fringe and wearers of tri-coloured jerseys.
"If they don't go very far very soon there is no such thing as British justice" - Daily Telegraph
"A masterclass in original sketch comedy" - Metro
"Pretty much top of the class"- The Scotsman
So -
Why "Clever"?
Dunno
Why "Peter"?
Not a clue mate
Should I listen to the show?
Yes, of course! Derrr.
Starring Richard Bond, Edward Eales-White, William Hartley
and special guest Catriona Knox
Written by Richard Bond, Edward Eales-White, William Hartley and Dominic Stone
Produced and directed by David Tyler
A Pozzitive Television Ltd production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 22:45 Steven Appleby's Normal Life (b007jn0b)
Series 1
Normal Science
Cartoonist Steven sets out to prove that science will eventually make the natural world, humans included, entirely redundant.
Starring Mark Perry as cartoonist Steven Appleby who takes an abnormal look at everyday life.
Steven ...... Paul McCrink
Mum ...... Rosalind Paul
Lauren Maroon ...... Rachel Atkins
Mr Two ...... Ewan Bailey
Dad ...... Nigel Betts
Written by Steven Appleby
Producer: Toby Swift
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2001.
SAT 23:00 The Jason Byrne Show (b01p03v9)
Series 3
Ever Been Proposed to in a Pub?
Award-winning comedian Jason Byrne muses on the merits of matrimony.
Stand up and sketches with Laurence Howarth and Daisy Haggard.
Producer: Julia McKenzie
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in October 2010.
SAT 23:30 Son of Cliche (b00p4mcr)
Freddie Fortune
From a spoof Melvyn Bragg to a signing chimp.
Featuring 'The Further Reasonably Exciting Adventures of Captain Invisible and the See-Thru Kid'.
Sketch comedy starring:
Chris Barrie
Nick Maloney
Nick Wilton.
Written by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor.
Producer: Alan Nixon
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 1984.