SATURDAY 07 MAY 2016

SAT 00:00 Ben Moor - Undone (b008zdkt)
Series 2
Unwelcome
Edna and Tankerton return to her home town and attend a fete worse than death.
Staring Alex Tregear and Ben Moor.
Ben Moor's comic sci-fi saga about magazine editor Edna Turner entering a parallel world where her version of London is replaced with the city of Undone.
Edna Turner ...... Alex Tregear
Tankerton Slopes ...... Ben Moor
Billy/Carlo ..... Duncan Wisbey
Rosie Turner ...... Emma Kennedy
Other parts played by the cast.
Producer: Colin Anderson
Made for BBC Radio 7 by BBC Radio Comedy and first broadcast in February 2008.
SAT 00:30 Soul Music (b00drrl5)
Series 7
Chopin's Ballade No 1 in G Minor
Chopin's Ballade clearly tells a story, and yet that story differs for each person who hears or plays it.
Pianist Peter Donohoe heads a cast of people whose lives have been shaped and changed by hearing and playing this technically demanding, emotionally turbulent piece of music.
Featuring:
Peter Donohoe
Pete Rosskamm
Edi Bilimoria
Richard Bielecki
Andrew Armstrong
Dr Jay B. Hess
Joshua Wright
Series exploring famous pieces of music and their emotional appeal.
Producer: Rosie Boulton
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2008.
SAT 01:00 Russell Thorndike - Doctor Syn (b00d8yxp)
Episode 5
The swashbuckling daredevil returns to Kent - but makes a new enemy. Read by Rufus Sewell.
Christopher Syn, a brilliant young scholar, is a Doctor of Divinity at Oxford, but his eventual decision to throw away the Bible for the sword in a mad quest for vengeance will influence the rest of his life.
Russell Thorndike's 18th Century, Kent-based adventure features pirates, smuggling, highwaymen, duels, wicked squires and beautiful Spanish ladies. Based on the first two novels (published 1935 and 1936) in the seven-title sequence, 'Doctor Syn on the High Seas' and 'Doctor Syn Returns'. Abridged by Doreen Estall.
Writer Russell Thorndike (1885-1972) is less well-known than his sister, the actress Dame Sybil Thorndike, but his Doctor Syn novels hold a special place in the affection of lovers of atmospheric, swashbuckling storytelling everywhere. His novels have been filmed with actors as diverse as George Arliss, Peter Cushing and Patrick McGoohan in the role of Syn, and the Kent village of Dymchurch holds an official 'Day of Syn' every other year, to commemorate a home-grown literary folk hero.
Producer: Lawrence Jackson
Made for BBC Radio 7 by BBC Northern Ireland
First broadcast in 2006.
SAT 01:30 Svelte Sylvia and the Hollywood Trimsters (b00tgwlc)
Madame Sylvia was a tiny, opinionated Norwegian who became the toast of 1920s Hollywood.
Employed by Pathe studios, her legendary violent massage technique kept stars such as Gloria Swanson ready for their close-ups.
She claimed to be able to make fat ooze from the pores like mashed potato through a colander. A shrewd businesswoman, she made herself into a brand, marketing her techniques through books, articles and radio programmes across America.
She made her name at a time when the movie boom meant not just stars, but audiences were starting to become more self-conscious about physical appearance.
She was the very first fitness guru, and kick-started our modern obsession with working out.
Karen Krizanovich, a film critic and accredited personal trainer, goes to Hollywood in search of Sylvia's story.
She goes to Sylvia's house and the studio where she worked, and reads her racy newspaper columns. But she also assesses Sylvia's legacy, questioning the role that fitness and beauty play in modern Hollywood as she talks to a celebrity personal trainer and joins a class of hula-hoopers on Santa Monica beach.
Was Sylvia a pioneering trailblazer - or can we blame her for the darker side of today's obsession with the body beautiful?
Producer: Kate Taylor
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in August 2010.
SAT 02:00 Book at Bedtime (b065xk29)
Go Set a Watchman
Episode 10
GO SET A WATCHMAN
In the literary event of the year Harper Lee's explosive second novel has finally been published. Believed lost for decades after the publication of 'To Kill A Mockingbird', this book revisits much-loved characters, this time through adult eyes. This abridgement for Book at Bedtime brings a compelling and important release to Radio 4.
Jean Louise 'Scout' Finch travels from New York to Maycomb for her annual visit home. It's always a relief to slip into the comfortable rhythms of the South; to spend time with her beloved father Atticus and rekindle her spiky relationship with Aunt Alexandra. But mid-50s Alabama is not the same place where young Scout spent idyllic summers with brother Jem, and the 26-year old will be betrayed and have her trust shattered before she is able to become her own woman.
Harper Lee is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of 'To Kill A Mockingbird', a book which has been studied, loved, wept over and revered by generations since its publication in 1960. She lives in Monroeville, Alabama.
Read by Fenella Woolgar
Written by Harper Lee
Abridged by Robin Brooks
Produced by Eilidh McCreadie.
SAT 02:15 Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen's Men of Fashion (b00jrnzd)
The Clothes We're In - The State of Men's Fashion Now
With women's hemlines acting as a social and economic barometer, Laurence asks what men's fashion says about the state we are in.
SAT 02:30 15 Minute Drama (b0184vh4)
Legacy: High Green Walls
Episode 5
Cath Staincliffe's drama series returns with High Green Walls. When the weekly list of unclaimed estates is published, probate researchers, brother and sister team Dan and Rachel, search backwards through the family line to find the true heir and get a slice of the fortune.
The search for deceased reclusive artist Susie P's heir is finally over. Twin sister Barbara is still alive but Dan and Rachel are disturbed to discover that she has been living in an institution since the 1950's following a leucotomy that left her severely disabled.
DAN.....William Ash
RACHEL.....Claire Keelan
SUSAN.....Ellie Meigan Rose
BARBARA.....Kellie Shirley
MR WHITE.....Malcolm Raeburn
KELLY.....Fiona Clarke
Directed by Nadia Molinari.
SAT 02:45 John Heilpern - A Patriot for Us (b0076y8y)
Episode 5
John Osborne was bankrupt with terrible debts, but continued to entertain one and all with champagne. Read by Gareth Thomas.
SAT 03:00 Stella Gibbons - Nightingale Wood (b01pkjwp)
Episode 2
The young, widowed and pretty Viola Wither finally has the chance to escape her stifling in-laws in Essex. Whilst they are spending a month in the Lakes, she and her sister-in-law Tina escape to Stanton on Sea.
Viola is still pining for the dashing Victor Spring - who has kissed her - and Tina for the beautiful chauffeur, Saxon - likewise. But is it all hopeless?
Stella Gibbons’ sparkling pre-war comedy of manners dramatised in two-parts by Christopher William Hill.
Starring Victoria Hamilton as Tina, Dinah Stabb as Mother, Paul Moriarty as Father, Francine Chamberlain as Viola Simon Bubb as Victor, dam Billington as Saxon, Adjoa Andoh as Edna, Alex Rivers as Hetty, Joan Walker as Phyllis, Ian Masters as Spurrey, James Lailey as Uncle Frank, Gerald McDermott as Mr Brodhurst.
Director: Marion Nancarrow
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2011.
SAT 04:00 The Museum of Curiosity (b01ng413)
Series 5
Roberts, Cottrell Boyce, Nyman
Professor of Ignorance at the University of Buckingham, Professor John Lloyd CBE is joined by comedian Jimmy Carr for the fifth series.
Three guests are invited to donate one item each and explain why it deserves a place in the museum.
John and Jimmy welcome screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce, actor/writer/magician Andy Nyman and anatomist Dr Alice Roberts.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2012.
SAT 04:30 No Commitments (b01709vv)
Series 9
Meeting the Family
Will Victoria get more than she bargained for when Emily brings her new boyfriend home? Stars Angela Thorne. From January 2003.
SAT 05:00 Winston (b0080hsj)
Winston in Love
Figuratively Speaking
Nancy sparks concern by eloping with Roland. Meanwhile Father declares he's in love with Mrs Sunderland - figuratively speaking, of course.
Peter Tinniswood's bawdy comedy serial stars Bill Wallis as Winston, Maurice Denham as Father, Shirley Dixon as Nancy, Liz Goulding as Rosie and Christian Rodska as William.
Director: Shaun MacLoughlin
First broadcast on BBC Radio in January 1991.
SAT 05:30 The Rest is History (b078wsdl)
Series 2
Episode 5
Frank Skinner loves history, but just doesn't know much of it. So he's devised a comedy discussion show in order to find out more about it.
Along with his historian in residence, Professor Kate Williams, Frank is joined by Miles Jupp and Zoe Lyons, who discuss King Arthur, Ivan the Terrible, Napoleon and Josephine, and Sir Walter Raleigh.
Producers: Mark Augustyn and Justin Pollard
An Avalon production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in May 2016.
SAT 06:00 Miguel de Cervantes - Don Quixote (b007k0m0)
Episode 2
The Adventures of the Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote de Ie Mancha by Miguel De Cervantes Saavedra.
The intrepid Don Quixote is challenged by the Knight of the Mirrors. The classic adventure published in 1605. Adapted by John Arden.
Starring Bob Grant as Don Quixote, Bernard Cribbins as Sancho Panza, Ronald Baddiley as Cervantes, David Sumner as Father Perez and Peter Wheeler as Barber-Surgeon.
Music composed by Stephen Boxer.
Director: Alfred Bradley
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1980.
SAT 07:30 Capturing America: Mark Lawson's History of Modern American Literature (b00r2cm3)
Landscapes, Interiors, Underworlds
Mark Lawson tells the story of how American writing became the literary superpower of the 20th century, telling the nation's stories of money, power, sex, religion and war.
John Updike, author of the Rabbit quartet of novels, always remembered being inspired by the 1960s Pop Art of Andy Warhol and others: an attempt to catch the visual reality of modern America. Updike responded by trying to achieve something similar in fiction, depicting the lives of people from places and backgrounds which had often been ignored. Richard Ford (The Sportswriter trilogy), John Irving (The Cider House Rules), Marilynne Robinson (Housekeeping, Gilead) and Jonathan Franzen (The Corrections) also reflect on this mission to describe the external and internal nature of life in the United States in all its regional and personal variety.
SAT 08:00 Archive on 4 (b04jhfqk)
Joan Littlewood and the People's Theatre
"Such a woman might easily have been burned as a witch." Kenneth Tynan
When Sir Richard Eyre was head of the National Theatre he wrote to Joan Littlewood asking if he could put on a production of her masterpiece, Oh What a Lovely War. He got a postcard in reply. Something to this effect: Dear Richard...I don't know what you're doing in that building...you should blow it up.
To her core, Joan Littlewood was an anti-establishment figure. This programme illustrates her determination to create a theatre for everybody, touring villages and towns in Northern England for nearly a decade and then - when the company settled in East London - sending letters to the local trade unions to advertise the theatre to working people.
Did she succeed in attracting the audiences she wanted? Sir Richard Eyre gives his take on this question, along with Professor Nadine Holdsworth and critic Michael Billington.
The programme pieces together a selection of the best archive from Joan's career. The actors she trained - Victor Spinetti, Avis Bunnage, Brian Murphy - explain why working for Joan was different to working with other directors. Murray Melvin, still going strong and curating the archive at Stratford East, introduces us to the Theatre Royal where Joan directed her company for over 20 years.
Here at the Theatre Royal, Joan created the shows which made her name - Brendan Behan's The Hostage, Shalegh Delaney's A Taste of Honey, Frank Norman's Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be, and of course Oh What a Lovely War. The programme gives a taste of these shows and how they succeeded in being controversial, innovative, and entertaining at the same time.
Produced by Isabel Sutton
A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 09:00 Shakespeare: Thereby Hangs A Tale (b01ghgjn)
A Celebration of the Swan of Avon presented by actor and broadcaster Simon Russell Beale CBE.
A collection of programmes from the BBC archives inspired by and about the glover's son from Stratford. In true Shakespearian style, there will be comedy, tragedy and history:
* Great Lives – William Shakespeare (BBC Radio 4, 2011)
Matthew Parris, TV producer and novelist Daisy Goodwin and Shakespeare director Dominic Dromgoole discuss what we know, and don't know, about Will's life.
* Macbeth or Unlucky For Some (BBC Radio 4, 1979)
John Wells stars in a mini-Macbeth from the Edinburgh Festival of 1979.
* Lenny and Will (BBC Radio 4, 2006)
Comic-turned-Shakespearian Lenny Henry goes in search of the Bard in a programme which indirectly led to him playing Othello. With Dame Judi Dench and Sir Peter Hall.
* Mrs Shakespeare (BBC Radio 4, 1998)
Radio dramatisation of Robert Nye's raunchy novel inspired by Shakespeare's will: "Item: I gyve unto my wief my second best bed with the furniture." Stars Maggie Steed and Kenneth Cranham as William and Anne.
* Shakespeare Stories – Romeo & Juliet (BBC Radio 4, 2005)
Professor Carol Rutter explores Shakespeare's use of literary sources for his plots.
* Hark! (clip) (BBC Radio 3, 2008) attempts to uncover the sounds of Shakespeare's London.
* Desmond Olivier Dingle's Compleat Life and Works of William Shakespeare (BBC Radio 4, 1995)
Comedy featuring the National Theatre of Brent, which brings its 'unique' vision to Julius Caesar, with a little help from guest stars Juliet Stevenson and Harriet Walter.
There's also readings of Shakespeare's sonnets, enhanced with music and effects, featuring Sir Ian McKellen.
Producer: Nick St. George.
Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra and first broadcast in April 2012.
SAT 12:00 Elephants to Catch Eels (b007mcc4)
Series 1
Episode 1
If smugglers were the rock stars of the day, Tamsyn Trelawny was Drumlin Bay's very own Ms Dynamite-ee-ee.
But how will she cope when a keen young soldier from London is appointed the new local customs collector.?
18th century Cornish village sitcom by the writers of Dead Ringers - Tom Jamieson and Nev Fountain.
Starring Lucy Speed as Tamsyn Trelawny, John Bowe as Jago Trelawny, Cameron Stewart as Major Thomas Falconer, Andrew McGibbon as Captain Marriot, Martin Hyder as Squire Bascombe, Julia Deakin as Lady Mary, Mark Felgate as Dewey and Phil Nice as Various Characters.
Producer: Jan Ravens.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2003.
SAT 12:30 Linda Smith's A Brief History of Timewasting (b00fnfnx)
Series 2
Fragile Peace
Linda takes on the mantle of Kofi Annan as she tries to broker a fragile peace between her elderly neighbour Betty and live-in builder Chris. In the strife-torn streets of East London, can bingo and musical theatre ever be reconciled?
Sitcom written by and starring Linda Smith.
With Femi Elufowoju Jnr, Jeremy Hardy, Margaret John, Martin Hyder and Chris Neill.
Producer: Jon Rolph
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 2002.
SAT 13:00 Clouds in Trousers by Katie Hims (Omnibus) (b079r9jc)
Katie Hims' drama, inspired by Alexandra Harris' book 'Weatherland', imagines Zoe as a woman growing up weathered - for whom every turn of her life is marked by the weather: rain, snow, a summer heatwave, a thunderstorm, the threat of a flood. All our lives are weather-bound but for Zoe the weather is more than just what goes on behind the scenes.
Young Zoe and Alice ...... Sydney Wade
Young Shaun ...... Rhys Gannon
Older Zoe ...... Patsy Ferran
Older Shaun ...... David Reed
Juliet ...... Laura Elphinstone
Jim ...... Sam Troughton
Zoe's mum ...... Katy Carmichael
Zoe's dad ...... Tristan Sturrock
Music by Jon Nicholls
Directed by Tim Dee
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2016.
SAT 14:10 Inheritance Tracks (b079rb02)
Tony Christie
Singer Tony Christie chooses 'Come Back to Me' by Sammy Davis Jr and 'The Folks Who Live on the Hill' by Peggy Lee.
SAT 14:15 Frankly Speaking (b079rbns)
Hermione Gingold
The sharp-tongued, eccentric star of stage and film, Hermione Gingold discusses her career with renowned journalist John Freeman and theatre critic Philip Hope-Wallace.
Aged 63 when interviewed, the English-born actress was by then based in the USA and had been living in New York for five years.
Hermione Gingold was born in 1897 and died in 1987.
Launched in 1952 on the BBC Home Service, Frankly Speaking was a novel, ground breaking series. Unrehearsed and unscripted, the traditional interviewee/interviewer pairing was initially jettisoned for three interviewers firing direct questions. Early critics described it as 'unkempt', 'an inquisition' and described the guest as prey being cornered, quarry being pursued - with calls to axe the unscripted interview. But the format won out and eventually won over its detractors.
Unknown or very inexperienced broadcasters were employed as interviewers, notably John Betjeman, Malcolm Muggeridge and Penelope Mortimer. Only 40 or so of the original 100 programmes survive.
First broadcast on the BBC Home Service in 1960.
SAT 14:45 Could Do Better (b007znr4)
Stephen Fry
Robert Booth summons writer and comic actor Stephen Fry to his study for a quiet word about his school reports. From November 1987.
SAT 15:00 Archive on 4 (b04jhfqk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
SAT 16:00 Miguel de Cervantes - Don Quixote (b007k0m0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
SAT 17:30 Capturing America: Mark Lawson's History of Modern American Literature (b00r2cm3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
SAT 18:00 Steve Walker - The Dolphinarium (b079rkxp)
Kill every living dolphin, we are told, and you destroy human individuality and solve mankind's problems at a stroke.
And if you happen to be a devious American senator with a ready supply of frozen dolphins' brains, you give yourself an excellent chance of ruling the world as well ...
Steve Walker's tense drama 'The Dolphinarium' stars Michael Cochrane, Bill Paterson and Madhav Sharma.
Sir Hartley Tixover ...... Michael Cochrane
Duncan MacNab ...... Bill Paterson
Jiddu Dutt ...... Madhav Sharma
Senator Muldoon ...... Ed Bishop
Bobby Muldoon ...... Briony Glassco
Mr Takashita ...... Eiji Kusuhara
Constanza ...... Avril Clarke
Mrs Carthaverbourne ...... Helen Horton
Master Rao ...... Renu Setna
Other parts played by Andrew Branch, Kristin Milward, David Antrobus and Michael Tudor Barnes.
Director: Gordon House
A BBC Radio 4/BBC World Service production first broadcast in April 1995.
SAT 19:00 Shakespeare: Thereby Hangs A Tale (b01ghgjn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
SAT 22:00 What Does the K Stand For? (b03ktz0w)
Series 1
First Love
Young Stephen falls in love, makes a self-discovery and breaks his first heart.
Stephen K Amos's sitcom about his teenage years, growing up black, gay and funny in 1980s South London.
Written by Jonathan Harvey with Stephen K Amos.
Himself ... Stephen K Amos
Young Stephen ... Shaquille Ali-Yebuah
Stephanie Amos ... Fatou Sohna
Virginia Amos ... Ellen Thomas
Vincent Amos ... Don Gilet
Miss Collins ... Gemma Whelan
PE Teacher ... Harry Jardine
Fanni ... Emerald O'Hanrahan
Violin ... Rachel Barnes
Producer: Colin Anderson
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2013.
SAT 22:30 Armando Iannucci - Facts and Fancies (b007jrlb)
A Life at the Opera
Tackling operas and some thoughts on ears.
Producer, writer and performer Armando Iannucci presents his own collection of humorous essays.
Compiled by Jenny Baynes.
Producer: Jonathan James-Moore
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 1997.
SAT 22:45 Mordrin McDonald: 21st Century Wizard (b01kbjdj)
Series 3
The Start, the Middle, and the End of Time
Step into the magically mundane world that is the life of 21st Century Wizard Mordrin McDonald. An isolated 2000-year-old Scottish sorcerer with enough power in his small finger to destroy a town, yet hasn't enough clout to get a speed bump installed outside his cave by the local Council. Even for such a skilful sorcerer - modern life is rubbish!
In this episode Mordrin (David Kay) decides he has to do something to rescue his chances of ever getting together with Heather (Hannah Donaldson), who has just announced her engagement to slime-ball Aiden (Donald Pirie). He asks Bernard The Blue (Jack Docherty) to borrow the Timepiece of Trapathia to travel back in time and make up for all the missed opportunities with Heather.
Cast:
Mordrin ........ David Kay
Geoff ....... Gordon Kennedy
Bernard ........ Jack Docherty
Heather ........ Hannah Donaldson
Aiden ........ Donald Pirie
DJ ........ Johnny Austin
Written by David Kay & Gavin Smith.
Produced by Gus Beattie
A Comedy Unit production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 23:00 Masala FM (b007x0c9)
Episode 1
Masala FM is East London's premier Asian community radio station.
Owner, Mr Krishna, wants to make some changes and everyone's scared, except for visiting Bollywood celebrity Johnny 'Muscles' Patel...
Six-part sitcom written by Meera Syal
Starring:
Sanjeev Bhaskar
Nitin Sawheny
Meera Syal
Nina Wadia
Music by Nitin Sawhney.
Producer: Liz Anstee
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 1996.
SAT 23:30 The Museum of Everything (b007k4r1)
Series 2
By Royal Appointment
Discover the joys of musical theatre, learn all about the wonder of the sea, plus marvel at the monarchy with the museum's new royal theme park.
Written and performed by Marcus Brigstocke, Danny Robins and Dan Tetsell.
With Lucy Montgomery.
Music by Dominic Haslam and Ben Walker.
Producer: Alex Walsh-Taylor
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2005.