SATURDAY 02 JULY 2016

SAT 00:00 Simon Clark - The Night of the Triffids (b07jwj32)
Episode 3
The more David Masen learns about Manhattan, the less he likes it. And the island's leader has a dubious past.
Simon Clark's 2001 novel is the sequel to John Wyndham's sci-fi classic. At the conclusion of 'The Day of the Triffids', scientist Bill Masen had escaped with his wife and four-year-old son to the island.
Now grown up, Bill's son, David wakes up one morning to a world plunged into darkness. Now, the Triffids have an advantage over humanity.
Stars Sam Troughton as David Masen, Nicola Bryant as Cerys/Marnie/Rowena, Paul Clayton as Bill Masen/General Fielding, Geff Francis as Gabriel and John Schwab as Sam Dynes.
Adapted by the author.
Producer: John Ainsworth.
Executive Producers: Jason Haigh-Ellery & Nicholas Briggs.
A Big Finish production.
SAT 00:30 Sounds Natural (b07hwrh5)
Spike Milligan
From Rhesus Monkeys to Kookaburras. Star of The Goon Show, Spike Milligan talks to Derek Jones about his enthusiasm for wild animals and his concern for their future - aided by recordings from the BBC Sound Archives.
Spike Milligan KBE: born 1918 - died 2002.
Producer: John Burton.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 1972.
SAT 01:00 Graham Swannell - Hec (b07hwpdl)
Now aged 87 and living in a home, old soldier Hector is wheeled into Richmond Park on fine days. There he remembers the Battle of the Somme back in 1916, and a young girl called Ethel.
Stars Bill Fraser as Hector.
Script by Graham Swannell.
Producer: John Tydeman
First broadcast in Thirty Minute Theatre on BBC Radio 4 in 1985.
SAT 01:30 Down and Out in the City of Angels (b0128lmt)
Rob Campbell used to be in charge of a top secret computer system for the US military; he now camps down for the night in a doorway, his hair matted, his fingernails grimy, alert for trouble from cops. Corporal Hernadez left the US Infantry in 2006, and considers himself pretty sorted out; but he still gets jumpy hearing fireworks on the 4th of July.
It's Veteran's Day in California. It's a day to celebrate returning heroes, and in true Hollywood style, Arnold Schwarzenegger is giving the address. But Los Angeles, city of sunshine and movie stars, is also the homeless capital of America - estimates vary between 50 and 75 thousand - and returning US veterans from Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, make up a fifth of that number.
Veterans are 50% more likely to become homeless than any other demographic in the US, and to try and end the crisis, one year ago, President Obama gave a speech in which he not only promised to fight the problem, but end homelessness completely amongst veterans by 2015.
Can Obama succeed in his plan to avert a human crisis as a flood of newly discharged soldiers, carrying with them the trauma of war, re-enter an economy in recession?
Peter Bowes heads out to skid row - more than just a row, actually 50 square blocks of down town LA - to find out what the challenge will be, meeting the down and outs on skid row, a city within a city, to find out where things went wrong for America's heroes, and whether Obama has a hope of turning round America's hidden shame.
Producer: Sara Jane Hall
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2011.
SAT 02:00 Deborah Moggach - Tulip Fever (b007jm7m)
Episode 10
Sophia feels she has committed a terrible sin and must pay for it, but how? Read by Emma Fielding and William Gaminara.
SAT 02:15 The Invention of Childhood (b00sg3tf)
The Child Is Father of the Man
With evangelicals to rationalists battling over Britain's children, Michael Morpurgo searches surviving 18th-century records.
SAT 02:30 AS Byatt - The Frederica Quartet (b007jsrt)
A Whistling Woman, Part 2/7
Frederica has doubts about her television career and her brother, Marcus, makes a shocking discovery. Stars Karl Prekopp.
SAT 02:45 Book of the Week (b06j5ycc)
John le Carre: The Biography
Episode 5
The life of John le Carre by Adam Sisman, is abridged for radio in five episodes by Katrin Williams:
From The Constant Gardener in the 1990s to the present day, and the author is still very much at work - "I find it very difficult to read my own stuff, but I look at it with satisfaction."
Reader: Stephen Boxer
Producer: Duncan Minshull
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2015.
SAT 03:00 The Complete Smiley (b07psz6r)
Smiley's People
Episode 1
George finds himself back in harness to the circus when an old friend and colleague is found dead. John le Carre thriller stars Simon Russell Beale.
SAT 04:00 The Complete Smiley (b07pszqr)
Smiley's People
Episode 2
On the trail of the killer, George is reunited with an old colleague and thinks of an old enemy. Stars Simon Russell Beale.
SAT 05:00 The Complete Smiley (b07pt0wy)
Smiley's People
Episode 3
George has a chance to take his nemesis down once and for all. Will he lose himself in the process? Stars Simon Russell Beale.
SAT 06:00 The Complete Smiley (b011cfjw)
A Murder of Quality
A public school in the early 1960s. When the wife of one of the masters is found bludgeoned to death, Smiley, out of loyalty to an old friend, finds himself investigating her death - an investigation that lifts the lid on a world of hidden passions and murderous hatreds.
John le Carré's thriller stars Simon Russell Beale as George Smiley, Geoffrey Palmer as Terence Fielding, Marcia Warren as Ailsa, Sam Dale as Inspector Rigby, Geoffrey Streatfield as Stanley Rode, Amanda Lawrence as Janey and Alison Pettitt as Ann Snow.
Dramatised by Shaun McKenna.
Director: Mark Beeby
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2009.
SAT 07:30 The RSC at 50 (b0100218)
The Ensemble
James Naughtie goes backstage as the Royal Shakespeare Company celebrates its 50th birthday and reopens its main theatre in Stratford upon Avon. Part 1.The Ensemble.
The RSC is now so much a feature of the British cultural landscape that it is easy to imagine it has been around ever since Shakespeare wrote his plays. Far from it. In this three-part series, James Naughtie explores how the company first came into being in 1961; the creation of its unique ensemble system; its landmark productions; the opening production in April 2011 in its newly built state-of-the-art auditorium within the historic theatre on the banks of the Avon in Stratford.
This series has enjoyed an exclusive breadth of access to the key players of the last half century. It includes the voices of all five of the artistic directors - Peter Hall, Trevor Nunn, Terry Hands, Adrian Noble and Michael Boyd; luminaries such as Peter Brook, Cicely Berry, Judi Dench, Patrick Stewart and David Tennant; not to mention many members of the wider team of artists, technicians and crafts-people who support the actors on stage. James Naughtie explores not only the history of the company but also why the work it does matters to the British cultural scene.
In the first programme, James follows Michael Boyd and company as they prepare the new production - Macbeth - which will formally open the new theatre in April 2011.
Producer: Beaty Rubens.
SAT 08:00 Garrison Keillor's Radio Show: A Retrospective (b07jgwdm)
With the retirement of American public radio's legendary host Garrison Keillor - a look back at over four decades on the airwaves.
Known in the USA as 'A Prairie Home Companion', the first show was performed in 1974 in St. Paul, Minnesota for an audience of 12 adults and children. Over time, APHC grew to become American public radio's most popular entertainment programme with four million weekly listeners on 500 plus radio stations from coast to coast.
As the show's founder, Garrison Keillor retires from hosting the show in July 2016, this retrospective, specially created for BBC Radio 4 Extra, features comedy skits, the iconic 'News From Lake Wobegon' monologues and lots of music drawn from over 40 years of weekly broadcasts.
Produced and compiled for BBC Radio 4 Extra by Prairie Home Productions.
SAT 09:00 The Rudest Man in Britain (b03rxc77)
The Rudest Man in Britain excavates the archives from the perspective of Gilbert Harding - a well-loved radio personality who went on to achieve wider television exposure as star of long-running panel shows such as 'What's My Line?' once watched by millions. Clever, amusing and often outrageous, Harding was a familiar voice of wireless who became a pioneer of popular TV. But behind the public persona, there was a troubled and conflicted character. To create a profile of Gilbert Harding's life and sample his broadcasting work Simon Fanshawe will draw on Stephen Wyatt's play Dr Brighton and Mr Harding, in which Harding (played by Roger Allam) wrestles with his inner demons and fantasies, knowing also that he is in increasingly poor health (hence his reason for moving to the coast to embrace 'Dr Brighton').
Simon samples excerpts from Round Britain Quiz, What's My Line?, and The Brains Trust and a complete edition of Twenty Questions - which, as a format, still stands up well. He also revisits Harding's seminal 1960 Face to Face television interview with John Freeman, where he broke down on camera when the questioner touched a nerve. Simon Fanshawe explores the development of many now familiar formats on Radio and TV - and assembles a fascinating and rounded portrait of this tortured but much loved polymath.
Producer: Mike Greenwood.
SAT 12:00 Steptoe and Son (b007jl5j)
Series 1
The Offer
After a row with his father Albert, Harold decides to leave their rag and bone business and take up another offer of employment.
Starring Wilfrid Brambell as Albert and Harry H Corbett as Harold.
Following the conclusion of their hugely successful association with Tony Hancock, Ray Galton and Alan Simpson wrote 10 pilots for BBC TV's Comedy Playhouse in 1962.
The Offer was set in a house with a yard full of junk, featuring the lives of rag and bone men Albert Steptoe and his son Harold and it was the spark for a run of 8 series for TV.
Adapted for BBC radio from Galton and Simpson's TV script by Gale Pedrick.
Produced by Bobby Jaye
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in July 1966.
SAT 12:30 King of Bath (b045q4t8)
By Any Other Name
No self-respecting Bath heiress would join the travelling players, but when one does, Beau Nash comes to the rescue.
Six-part comedy drama series by Arnold Evans casting the 18th-century dandy Richard 'Beau' Nash in a series of adventures.
Beau Nash ...... David Bamber
Annie ...... Eiry Thomas
Lucy ...... Lynn Seymour
Dr Cheyne ...... Andrew Wincott
Hazlitt ...... Peter Gunn
Fanny ...... Alice Arnold
Composer: John Hardy.
Directed at BBC Wales by Alison Hindell
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 1999.
SAT 13:00 How To Have A Perfect Marriage 3:Omnibus (b07jgzzf)
Omnibus: Karen and gay husband Jack are still married two years after he came out. But can things remain that way? Starring Greg Wise.
SAT 14:10 Inheritance Tracks (b07jj5fl)
Shaun Keaveny
BBC 6 Music presenter Shaun Keaveny chooses 'This Old Heart of Mine' by the Isley Brothers and 'Purple Rain' by Prince.
SAT 14:15 Sentimental Journey (b007700r)
Annie Nightingale
Arthur Smith joins BBC Radio 1's Annie Nightingale on a trip back to Romania where, in 1990 following the revolution that deposed dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, the DJ organised a tour bringing Western music to the youth of Bucharest.
Producer: Sharon Banoff
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2006.
SAT 14:45 Uncle Mort's North Country (b007jl69)
Series 1
The Man Who Watched Trains Go By
Carter's Uncle Mort proposes staying at home, where he recalls days of steam and northern food.
Carter Brandon gets a week off work, so he decides to go on day-trips in his car, with his Uncle Mort, 'where the fancy takes them.
Uncle Mort and his Yorkshire based family first appeared in Tinniswood’s novel ‘A Touch Of Daniel’ which earned them a run of four series of ‘I Didn't Know You Cared’ on BBC TV from 1975 to 1979.
Uncle Mort …. Stephen Thorne
Carter Brandon …. Peter Skellern
Mrs Brandon …. Joan Matheson
Narrator …. Christian Rodska
Producer: Pete Atkin.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 1987.
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SAT 15:00 Garrison Keillor's Radio Show: A Retrospective (b07jgwdm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
SAT 16:00 The Complete Smiley (b011cfjw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
SAT 17:30 The RSC at 50 (b0100218)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
SAT 18:00 Doctor Who (b07jjcxp)
The Curse of Davros
Episode 2
Two sets of adversaries are set to confront each other, south of Brussels in June 1815. Will history be changed at the Battle of Waterloo?
Colin Baker stars as the Sixth Doctor.
Flip ...... Lisa Greenwood
Davros ...... Terry Molloy
Jared ...... Ashley Kumar
Napoleon Bonaparte ...... Jonathan Owen
Writer: Jonathan Morris
Director: Nicholas Briggs.
A Big Finish production.
SAT 19:00 The Rudest Man in Britain (b03rxc77)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
SAT 22:00 Buy Me Up TV (b0094k0g)
Episode 1
Another chance to hear Buy Me Up TV.
Every shopping channel you've ever seen and every product you've never wanted.
Featuring Justin Edwards, Colin Hoult, Katherine Jakeways, Ewen Macintosh, Alex MacQueen and Greg Proops. With special guest Eamonn Holmes.
SAT 22:30 Knowing Me, Knowing You (b007jzxg)
Episode 4
A-ha! Alan Partridge welcomes the Duchess of Stranraer, impressionist Steve Thompson and MP Sandra Peaks.
Classic chat from On the Hour's supreme sports reporter and his guests from the world of theatre, politics and emotional tragedy.
With thanks to Alan's chief researcher Steve Coogan.
Assistant researchers:
Patrick Marber
Rebecca Front
Doon Mackichan
David Schneider
Producer: Armando lannucci
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 1992.
SAT 23:00 I, Regress (b01rvpw6)
Series 2
Thunder
Matt Berry plays a a corrupt and bizarre regression therapist in this dark, Lynch-meets-Kaufman-style comedy.
Unsuspecting clients are taken on twisted, misleading journeys through their subconscious.
Each episode sees the doctor dealing with a different client who has come to him for a different phobia. As the patient is put under hypnosis, we 'enter' their mind, and all the various situations the hypnotherapist takes them through are played out for us to hear. The result is a dream (or nightmare-like) trip through the patient's mind, as funny as it is disturbing.
With:
Isabel Fay
Steve Furst
Sally Okafor
A compelling late night listen: tune in and occupy someone else's head!
Producer: Sam Bryant
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2013.
SAT 23:15 Richard Marsh (b01rlrk1)
Love and Sweets
The Grand Canyon
Winner of Best Scripted Comedy in the BBC Audio Awards 2014, poet and playwright Richard Marsh fuses poetry and prose to tell the funny and poignant story of his honeymoon road trip across America with the girl of his dreams.
Richard and Siobhan have always wanted to drive across America, and they're doing it in style - in an old banger, covered from top to tail with their favourite sweets, on honeymoon. Their thrilling journey through the States takes them to gun clubs in West Virginia, dying docks in Baltimore, casinos in Las Vegas, moon-lit beaches by the Atlantic and a magnificent sight Richard's always dreamt of seeing - the Grand Canyon.
But it turns out America's quite big, and Siobhan's not very good at driving on the right - or asking for directions. It's a lot of hard miles, and they can't drive away from themselves. Is their new marriage strong enough to withstand all those hot, silent mornings - or has the honeymoon period come to an end more quickly than they thought?
Contains some explicit language.
Written and performed by Richard Marsh
Producer: Ben Worsfield
A Lucky Giant production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 23:30 Mark Thomas: The Manifesto (b00qps81)
Series 2
Episode 3
Mark Thomas: The Manifesto. Comedian-activist, Mark Thomas creates a People's Manifesto, taking suggestions from his studio audience and then getting them to vote for the best. The winner of each show will be enforceable by law, so pay attention.
The weeks' edition will include policies such as banning cars from city centres; monitoring investment bankers' testosterone levels; and abolishing all forms of self-regulation.
Produced by Ed Morrish.