SATURDAY 10 SEPTEMBER 2016

SAT 00:00 Charles Chilton - Journey Into Space (b007jqlg)
The Red Planet, Episode 15
Cold-handed Maclean attacks Lemmy, but the plucky radio operator fights back. 1954 sci-fi classic set in the future of 1971. Stars David Kossoff.
SAT 00:30 Soul Music (b00rdyrb)
Series 9, Bach's Goldberg Variations
Series exploring famous pieces of music and their emotional appeal.
Bach wrote his Goldberg Variations for harpsichord in the 1740s, but today it's performed by pianists all over the world. People describe the place these pieces have in their lives, including a neuroscientist from New York, pianist Angela Hewitt, a father driving his family through the night in the Australian Outback, and a woman from Oregon whose life was transformed, perhaps even saved, by this music.
SAT 01:00 Wimsey (b00s9f4w)
Have His Carcase, Lord Peter Sets a Trap
Murder or suicide? Upper class sleuth, Lord Peter Wimsey must trace a vital clue - a battered old razor.
Starring Ian Carmichael as Lord Peter Wimsey, Maria Aitken as Harriet Vane, Nigel Stock as Inspector Umplety, Malcolm Ingram as Antoine, Patrick Newell as Salcombe Hardy, Carole Harrison as Doris, Deirdre Costello as Charis and John Westbrook as the Narrator.
British gentleman detective Lord Peter Wimsey features in a number of detective novels and short stories by English crime writer, Dorothy L Sayers. Have His Carcase was first published in 1932.
Classy and sharp-witted, aristocratic amateur sleuth Lord Peter Bredon Wimsey was born in 1890 and educated at Eton and Oxford, before serving in the military during the First World War.
Ian Carmichael appeared as Lord Peter Wimsey for BBC Radio from 1973 to 1983, in addition to the BBC TV adaptations that were broadcast between 1972 and 1975.
Adapted for radio in six episodes by Alistair Beaton.
Producer: Martin Fisher.
SAT 01:30 I Remember (b07shhnc)
4 Extra Debut. 1961 extract of silent film star Bessie Love on how she was discovered by legendary director DW Griffith. With Irene Slade.
SAT 01:40 It Takes All Sorts (b07shhnf)
4 Extra Debut. Actress Lillian Gish tells Howard Lockhart how pioneering director DW Griffith influenced her silent screen career. From November 1969.
SAT 02:00 Ronald Frame Short Stories (b007k1lf)
The End of the Season
Rhona has run away from her relationship problems. At her hotel, she comes to an understanding. Read by Jilly Bond.
SAT 02:15 Roger Deakin - Wildwood: A Journey Through Trees (b00j2j7f)
Heartwood
Nature writer Roger Deakin visits a library full of apples and returns home to lay a tree hedge by hand. Read by Sean Baker.
SAT 02:30 15 Minute Drama (b018xy28)
AS Byatt - Possession, Episode 15
Roland Michell, an academic research assistant, is completing some work in the London Library, when he comes across two unfinished letters written by the Victorian Poet, Randolph Henry Ash. Theses letters have obviously not been found by anyone else and they are not to his wife but to an unknown woman. Roland, whose entire academic life has been devoted to studying Ash, decides, recklessly to pocket the letters and try to determine exactly who they were written to.
This is the beginning of a quest that will change literary history and with the help of a feminist literary scholar Maud Bailey, they are determined to find out the truth behind these letters. Certain other characters hear about the letters and are eager to get their hands on them for their own financial gain and will do so, by any means necessary, and so the chase begins.
1987, the night of the Big Storm, Cropper and Hildebrand are caught in the act of digging up a grave.
Written by A S Byatt. Dramatised by Timberlake Wertenbaker
Cast:
Maud ...... Jemma Redgrave
Roland ...... Harry Hadden-Paton
Ash ....... James d'arcy
Lamotte ..... Rachael Stirling
Blackadder ..... Bill Paterson
Cropper ..... Matthew Marsh
George ...... Kenneth Cranham
Joan ....... Joanna David
Beatrice Nest ...... Stella Gonet
Euan ...... Nicholas Boulton
Fergus ...... Jonjo O'Neil
Hildebrand ..... Robert Portal
Val ...... Laura Pyper
Leonora .... Lorelei King
Raoul/Toby Byng .... Sam Dale
Mrs Wapshott/Mrs Cammish/Mrs lees ..... Jane Whittenshaw
Beth/PA/Mrs Judge/Librarian ...... Rachel Atkins
Girl ...... Sylvie Goodwin
Director: Celia de Wolff
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 02:45 Book of the Week (b016x42m)
Binyavanga Wainaina - One Day I Will Write About This Place, Episode 5
By Binyavanga Wainaina.
Having felt desperately homesick in South Africa, and not enjoying his university course, Wainaina has lost his way. But finally he gets the call to return home to Kenya and a memorable family reunion.
Read by Freddy Macha. Abridged by Jane Marshall
Produced by Jane Marshall
A Jane Marshall Production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 03:00 Penelope Fitzgerald - At Freddie's (b0076d01)
4 Extra Debut. In 1960s London, Freddie Wentworth runs the haphazard Temple Stage School in her own inimitable style. Stars Margaret Tyzack.
SAT 04:00 The 3rd Degree (b01s4744)
Series 3, University of Leeds
A lively and funny quiz show, hosted by Steve Punt, where a team of three University students take on a team of three of their professors.
Coming this week from the University of Leeds, the specialist subjects are Civil Engineering, Popular Music Studies and Psychology, with questions ranging from dada and Dylan, to concrete and cogwheels - via penguins and postage stamps.
The rounds vary between Specialist Subjects and General Knowledge, quickfire bell-and-buzzer rounds, and the 'Highbrow and Lowbrow' round cunningly devised to test not only the students' knowledge of current affairs, history, languages and science, but also their Professors' awareness of television, film, and One Direction.
The resulting show is funny, fresh, and not a little bit surprising, with a truly varied range of scores, friendly rivalry, and moments where students wished they had more than just glanced at that reading list.
The host Steve Punt, although best known as a satirist on The Now Show, is also someone who delights in all facets of knowledge, not just in the Humanities (his educational background) but in the sciences as well. He has made a number of documentaries for Radio 4, on subjects as varied as "The Poet Unwound - The History Of The Spleen" and "Getting The Gongs" (an investigation into awards ceremonies), as well as a comedy for Radio 4's Big Bang Day set in the Large Hadron Collider, called "The Genuine Particle".
Producer: David Tyler
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 04:30 Kathmandu or Bust (b07s6dls)
End of the Road
The lights of Kathmandu are twinkling on the horizon, and a haunch of goat is roasting on an open fire. What can possibly go wrong? Starring Richard Ridings. From July 1996.
SAT 05:00 Dave Sheasby - One Flat Summer (b00752my)
The Eclipse Stakes
After a big loss on the derby, Ken turns to legendary gambler Tam Robertshaw. Stars Gerard McDermott. From September 1997.
SAT 05:30 Sketchorama (b04800pr)
Series 3, Episode 2
Tom Tuck presents the pick of the best live sketch groups currently performing on the UK comedy circuit - featuring three up and coming groups in character, improv, broken and musical sketch comedy.
In this programme:
Mixed Doubles.
Rose Robinson, Paul Aitchison, Megan Smith and Will Close formed Mixed Doubles in 2012 after meeting at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts and deciding to postpone unemployment through the means of sketch comedy. Their debut performances were at the Henley Fringe Festival in July 2012 and after a successful opening stint, London shows became an increasing regularity in the build-up to their rampant first appearance at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2013. They scooped the 'People's Choice Award' for their viral Modern Conversation at the Dave Comedy Festival in 2013 and were named Finalists in the Foster's 'So You Think That's Funny - Best New Sketch Act' of the same year.
The Real MacGuffins.
A London based sketch comedy group formed in 2008 by Dan March, Jim Millard and Matt Sheahan. They have performed their unique brand of sketch comedy across the UK as well as supporting comedians including Stewart Lee, Dave Gorman and Perrier Award Winners Tim Vine, Phil Nichol, Adam Riches and Doctor Brown. The group have proved a crowd favourite at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival throughout 2010, 2011 and 2013.
Bob and Jim.
Bob and Jim have created three Edinburgh shows - 'Modern Urges' (2011), 'GO' (2012) and 'Two Stars' (2013) and are Musical Comedy Awards Finalists (2014).
Producer: Gus Beattie.
A Comedy Unit Production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 06:00 Saturday Drama (b00yddnm)
Classic Chandler, The Lady in the Lake
Derace Kingsley, a wealthy businessman, hires Marlowe to find his estranged wife Crystal. Kingsley fears that rich, reckless Crystal may have got herself into a scandal and the last place she was known to have been was a resort called Little Fawn Lake. Toby Stephens plays Philip Marlowe in a landmark series bringing all Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe novels to Radio 4.
Dramatised by Stephen Wyatt
Directed by Claire Grove
In 1939 Raymond Chandler created a different kind of detective, the fast-talking, trouble seeking Californian private eye Philip Marlowe, for his great novel The Big Sleep. This series brings all the Philip Marlowe novels to Radio 4's Saturday Play. The Big Sleep 1939, Farewell My Lovely 1940, The High Window 1942, The Lady in the Lake 1943, The Little Sister 1949 and The Long Goodbye 1953, and two lesser known novels, Playback 1958 and Poodle Springs, unfinished at the time of his death in 1959.
Toby Stephens is best known for playing megavillain Gustav Graves in the James Bond film Die Another Day (2002) and Edward Fairfax Rochester in the BBC television adaptation of Jane Eyre (2006). In autumn 2010 Toby starred as a detective in Vexed, a three-part comedic television series for BBC Two. He also made his debut at the National Theatre as George Danton in Danton's Death.
Marlowe is a character we think we know, but do we? He is a moral man in an amoral world. This is California in the '40's and 50's, as beautiful as a ripe fruit and rotten to the core, reflecting all the tarnished glitter of the American Dream. The police are corrupt. The businessmen are well-heeled racketeers with politicians in their pockets and their daughters have gone to the bad. It is the taxi-drivers, maids and bartenders who restore Marlowe's faith in human nature. They scratch out a living at the bottom of the pile and Marlowe is there with them, in his shabby office with its cracked sign and no air-con, waiting for the next client to walk through the door.
Raymond Chandler was born in Chicago, but spent most of his boyhood and youth in England, where he attended Dulwich College. In 1919 he returned to the United States, settling in California, where he eventually became director of a number of independent oil companies. The Depression put an end to his business career, and in 1933, at the age of forty-five, he turned to writing, publishing his first stories in Black Mask. By the time he published his first novel, The Big Sleep (1939), featuring the iconic private eye Philip Marlowe, it was clear that he had not only mastered a genre but had set a standard to which others could only aspire. He died in 1959.
Stephen Wyatt (dramatist) is a Sony Award Winning Playwright. Recent work for R4 includes dramatising three of the Complete Ripley series including The Talented Mr Ripley for Saturday Afternoon, The Yellow Plush Papers for 11.30am and Tom Jones for Classic Serial. His original play Memorials for the Missing won a Sony Award in 2008.
SAT 07:30 What If? (b0075hys)
The Fire of London
What if someone had a small blaze one Sunday morning in September 1666 in a bakery in London's Pudding Lane - and had simply thrown a damp cloth over it - instead of managing to destroy much of the 17th century City of London?
Series in which Professor Christopher Andrew and his guests re-write history by imagining how past events could have been different.
Producer: Ian Bell
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1999.
SAT 08:00 The Archive Hour (b039g8px)
Southern Journeys
The story of American traditional music is dominated by the father and son team John and Alan Lomax who discovered, recorded, and popularised the music of the poor, the dispossessed and voiceless. During Alan Lomax 's 1959 tourofthe southern states, he was accompanied by his then lover, English folk singer Shirley Collins , and here she tells the story of how he recorded the sounds of a world that was fast disappearing, but which still influences popular music today.
SAT 09:00 Paul O'Grady Stands Up for Liverpool (b01n1102)
Liverpudlian Paul O'Grady celebrates some of Merseyside's funny Scouse men and women including Arthur Askey, Rob Wilton, Tommy Handley, Kenny Everett, Ken Dodd, Jimmy Tarbuck, Alexei Sayle, Patricia Routledge and John Bishop.
Big-hearted Arthur Askey was born in Liverpool in 1900 and went on to front Band Waggon, the first regular BBC radio comedy series. Russell Davies introduces an episode of Turns of the Century profiling the man who coined the famous phase "Ay-Thang-You." Rob Wilton's was a different catch-phrase, but like Arthur Askey, his comedy entertained millions during the war years, kicking off with those immortal words "The Day War Broke Out". Mark Radcliffe tells Rob's story in an episode of How Tickled Am I? ITMA, or It's That Man Again for those not in the know, was the radio home of Tommy Handley, a comedian who was struck down in his prime, bringing to an end one of the most popular radio comedy series the BBC has ever known. And sticking with comedy catchphrases, it was Tommy who first started using the acronym TTFN - long before instant messaging and mobile phone text speak! Ken Dodd loves a catch phrase too, and he loves his tickling stick. Fellow Liverpulian funny-man Ricky Tomlinson meets up with Doddy for a chat about his life.
As radio revolutionaries go, they don't get much more radical than the late Kenny Everett. Well known on both commercial and BBC national radio, it's his time at local BBC Radio Merseyside that we hear about. Jimmy Tarbuck tells former Desert Island Discs presenter Sue Lawley how he got his start in comedy. Barry Cryer profiles a bit on an imposter to the programme - Patricia Routledge. As Paul O'Grady is quick to point out, Patricia hails from Birkenhead rather than Liverpool, but she's very welcome. The star of Keeping Up Appearances became best known for being the lady of the house at the notorious Bucket Residence. And finally, current star John Bishop chats to Desert Island Discs Kirsty Young about the career change that took him from salesman to stand-up.
SAT 12:00 Steptoe and Son (b007jl7y)
Series 1, The Lead Man Cometh
Just as Albert and Harold are needing to economise, the rag and bone men are made an irresistible offer. Starring Wilfrid Brambell as Albert, Harry H Corbett as Harold and Leonard Rossiter as Welsh Hughie.

Following the conclusion of their hugely successful association with Tony Hancock, writers Ray Galton and Alan Simpson wrote 10 pilots for the 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 radio from Galton and Simpson's TV script by Gale Pedrick.
Produced by Bobby Jaye

First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in September 1966.
SAT 12:30 The Goon Show (b007jpgm)
King Solomon's Mines
Neddie Seagoon loses at roulette, so heads off in search of legendary African riches. Stars Spike Milligan. From December 1957.
SAT 13:00 Pepys: After the Fire - Omnibus (b07tz3q5)
As the Great Fire of London in 1666 smoulders, Samuel Pepys remembers the homeless camped out on Moorfields. With Kris Marshall.
SAT 14:10 Inheritance Tracks (b07tz3q7)
Billy Ocean
The soul singer chooses 'No Woman, No Cry' by Bob Marley & The Wailers, and 'A Change Is Gonna Come' by Sam Cooke.
SAT 14:15 In the Psychiatrist's Chair (b0075211)
Brian Masters
Brian Masters, the award winning author of 'Killing for Company' talks about his notions of good and evil. From August 1997.
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.
SAT 15:00 The Archive Hour (b039g8px)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
SAT 16:00 Saturday Drama (b00yddnm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
SAT 17:30 What If? (b0075hys)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
SAT 18:00 Yevgeny Zamyatin - We (b0076l2s)
Episode 1
In a post-revolutionary future, OneState is ruled according to the principles of rationality. The penalty for dissent is death.
D-503, the chief engineer of the state, meets the beautiful 1-330. Her initial intentions seem innocent, but soon D starts to question her identity and indeed his own.
The first great dystopian novel of the 20th century, written in secret in early Soviet Russia by Yevgeni Zamyatin.
Stars Anton Lesser as D-503, Joanna Riding as I-330, Don Warrington as R-13, Brigit Forsyth as U, Julia Rounthwaite as 0-90 and Russell Dixon as the Benefactor.
Adapted in two-parts by Sean O'Brien.
Director: Jim Poyser
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2004.
SAT 19:00 Paul O'Grady Stands Up for Liverpool (b01n1102)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
SAT 22:00 The Lawrence Sweeney Mix (b00k9pcb)
Series 1, Episode 2
Making it up as they go along, Josie Lawrence and Jim Sweeney's improvised sketches driven by the audience. From March 2007.
SAT 22:30 The Secret World (b03jfc4f)
Series 4, Episode 1
The show that shines a light on the private world of public people returns for a six part series. William Hague finds he has nothing to do but look at the terrible things that are happening in the world and 'tut'. In fact he's at such a loose end that he volunteers to do a bit of cleaning for his colleagues. Our own Radio 4 announcer Neil Nunes has a whole new take on continuity, giving it a really Jamaican feel. Film actor Al Pacino is convinced that Jools Holland is an alien sending secret messages with his music. It can only be the strange goings on in the impression comedy with a difference: The Secret World.
With Jon Culshaw, Julian Dutton, Lewis MacLeod, Jess Robinson, Debra Stephenson and Duncan Wisbey.
SAT 22:55 The Comedy Club Interviews (b07vdn2v)
The Comedy Club offers the best in contemporary comedy. Arthur Smith chats to QI elf James Harkin.
SAT 23:00 The Mary Whitehouse Experience (b0486dwz)
Series 4, Episode 8
Robert De Niro stars in a Christmas panto. With Hugh Dennis, Steve Punt, Robert Newman and David Baddiel. From December 1990.
SAT 23:30 A Bit of Fry and Laurie (b0485v71)
Episode 1
Coffee in the executive lounge and dramatic soap revelations. Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie's choice TV cuts. From August 1994.

SUNDAY 11 SEPTEMBER 2016

SUN 00:00 Yevgeny Zamyatin - We (b0076l2s)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Saturday]
SUN 01:00 Pepys: After the Fire - Omnibus (b07tz3q5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 13:00 on Saturday]
SUN 02:10 Inheritance Tracks (b07tz3q7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:10 on Saturday]
SUN 02:15 In the Psychiatrist's Chair (b0075211)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:15 on Saturday]
SUN 03:00 The Archive Hour (b039g8px)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 on Saturday]
SUN 04:00 Saturday Drama (b00yddnm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Saturday]
SUN 05:30 What If? (b0075hys)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Saturday]
SUN 06:00 Possession - Omnibus (b018zllq)
Episode 3
Roland and Maud risk future, friendship and reputation as they find themselves on a ferry bound for Brittany. Stars Jemma Redgrave.
SUN 07:15 The Romantic Road: On the Trail of the German Philosophers (b00ltsd1)
German Atlantis
Writer Stephen Plaice takes a journey through the German cities where great philosophers of the 19th century lived and worked, exploring the impact that these thinkers have had on each stage of his life. Along the way, he reflects on the Germany which has been locked away behind the two World Wars, and examines our contemporary prejudices towards Germans.
Stephen visits the Russian city of Kaliningrad, formerly Königsberg, the capital of East Prussia, to explore the legacy of the German philosopher Immanuel Kant, who lived his entire life in the city.
He visits Kant's grave and meets Kant scholar Vadim Chaly, a native of the city which Stalin ethnically cleansed of Germans in 1946. He also tracks down Professor Vladimir Bryushinkin, the current encumbent of the Chair of Logic at Kaliningrad University, the chair that Kant once occupied in the old city of Königsberg.
SUN 07:30 Fags, Mags and Bags (b01n1qxy)
Series 5, General Whitesnake Demeanour
More shop based shenanigans and over the counter philosophy, courtesy of Ramesh Mahju and his trusty sidekick Dave.
The arrival of new priest Father Neil Green (Andrew O'Neill) receives mixed views from the Lenzidens, with his prog rock-esque approach to Christianity. His flowing cape, Stetson and general Whitesnake demeanour catches the attention of The Bishop (Michael Redmond) and he sets out to see how the locals are taking to him.
The staff of 'Fags, Mags and Bags' are on a tireless quest to bring nice-price custard creams and cans of coke with Arabic writing on them to an ungrateful nation. Ramesh Mahju has lovingly built the business up over the course of 30 years, and is ably assisted by his sidekick Dave. But then there are Ramesh's sons Sanjay and Alok - both surly and not particularly keen on the old school approach to shopkeeping, but natural successors to the business so Ramesh is keen to pass them all his worldly wisdom whether they like it or not.
Written by and starring Donald Mcleary and Sanjeev Kohli.
Cast:
Ramesh:...................................... Sanjeev Kohli
Dave:........................................... Donald Mcleary
Sanjay:.........................................Omar Raza
Alok:.............................................Susheel Kumar
Father Neil Green:........................Andrew O'Neill
The Bishop:..................................Michael Redmond
Alan:.............................................Tom Urie
Phil:..............................................Stewart Cairns
Keith Futures:...............................Gavin Mitchell
Produced by Gus Beattie
A Comedy Unit production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 08:00 The Arthur Haynes Show (b00zdbmj)
From 26/11/1962
A visit from the School Inspector, crazy capers at the Post Office - and a man gets his head stuck in some railings.
The comic characters of popular comedian Arthur Haynes in Johnny Speight's sketches.
After originally working with Charlie Chester on a number of series for BBC Radio, Arthur Haynes (1914-1966) became a big star on ITV in the late 1950s/early 1960s
With Nicholas Parsons, Patricia Hayes and Lesley Noyes.
Music by the Temperance Seven.
Producer: Richard Dingley
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in November 1962.
SUN 08:30 The Jason Explanation of... (b007jq20)
Communications
David Jason gets chatty with animals and plants - and can a medium reach Doris's dead husband to find out where his money is?
With Sheila Steafel and Royce Mills.
Following in the footsteps of Lord Clark, Dr Bronowski and Professor Galbraith, David Jason unravels the mysteries of the universe and the meaning of life.
Scripted by Colin Bostock Smith, Andy Hamilton, Barry Pilton and Alastair Beaton.
Music by John Owen Edwards
Producer: Geoffrey Perkins
First broadcast on the BBC Radio 4 in September 1977.
SUN 09:00 Beryl Bainbridge - Love By All Sorts of Means: Omnibus (b07tzdww)
A biography by Brendan King, who worked for the novelist Beryl Bainbridge for 23 years. Read by James Fleet and Samantha Bond.
SUN 10:10 Inheritance Tracks (b07tzdwy)
Juliet Stevenson
The acclaimed actress chooses 'Que Sera Sera' by Doris Day and 'Space Oddity' by David Bowie.
SUN 10:15 Desert Island Discs Revisited (b07tzdx0)
Women Writers, Diana Athill
4 Extra Debut. From Fred Astaire to Haydn, book editor turned writer Diana Athill makes her castaway choices with Sue Lawley. From June 2004.
SUN 11:00 TED Radio Hour (b07tzdxb)
Series 3, Crisis and Response
A journey through fascinating ideas based on talks by riveting speakers on the TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) stage.
Guy Raz investigates how a quick, compassionate or unexpected response can turn crisis into opportunity.
SUN 12:00 The Arthur Haynes Show (b00zdbmj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
SUN 12:30 The Jason Explanation of... (b007jq20)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
SUN 13:00 Possession - Omnibus (b018zllq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
SUN 14:15 The Romantic Road: On the Trail of the German Philosophers (b00ltsd1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:15 today]
SUN 14:30 Nina Stibbe - Paradise Lodge (b07tzdxk)
Episode 2
When a new old people's home threatens to poach all their patients, Paradise Lodge must fight for survival. Read by Alice Lowe.
SUN 15:45 Kevin Crossley-Holland - The Slumber King (b0185b1b)
Owen's walking stick unlocks the door to an astounding journey beneath the Welsh mountains. Read by Andy Hockley.
SUN 16:00 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.
Jill Paton Walsh's thriller dramatised by Neville Teller.
Stars Carolyn Pickles as Imogen Quy, Richard Derrington as Mike Parsons, Jeffery Dench as Sir William, Marlene Sidaway as Lady Buckmoat, Tracey Wyles as Fran Bullion, Charles Collingwood as Mountnessing, Gillian Goodman as Mrs Skellow and Ian Brooker as Lord Goldhooper.
Directed in Birmingham by Peter Lesley Wild
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2001.
SUN 17:00 Poetry Extra (b00d3kfj)
Coward, the Poet
BBC Radio 4's Poet in Residence, Daljit Nagra revisits the BBC's radio poetry archive with Coward, the Poet.
A regularly overlooked aspect of Noel Coward's remarkable career is the significant amount of poetry he wrote throughout his life. Friends and fans including Anna Massey, Imogen Stubbs, Alastair McGowan discuss a selection of his poems, offering a unique insight into a deeper and somewhat darker aspect of Coward's personal life.
Producer: David Prest.
A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in 2008.
SUN 17:30 Fags, Mags and Bags (b01n1qxy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
SUN 18:00 Peter Redgrove - The Valley of Trelamia (b07tzdxv)
Author John writes books about unusual phenomena around the world, but has never penetrated "our own mysterious Celtic back yard". So he travels deep into Cornwall, where he finds the Valley of Trelamia and a girl who lives at one with it ...
Stars James Aubrey as John, Maggie Tarver as Rose and June Barrie as Mrs Treviles.
Director: Brian Miller
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1986.
SUN 18:45 Moy McCrory - The Mermaid and the Rat Catcher (b00vknkp)
Can a lonely rat catcher keep his promise to a mermaid, or lose her forever? Read by Gerard McSorley.
SUN 19:00 TED Radio Hour (b07tzdxb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
SUN 20:00 Beryl Bainbridge - Love By All Sorts of Means: Omnibus (b07tzdww)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
SUN 21:10 Inheritance Tracks (b07tzdwy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:10 today]
SUN 21:15 Desert Island Discs Revisited (b07tzdx0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:15 today]
SUN 22:00 Fags, Mags and Bags (b01n1qxy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
SUN 22:30 Warhorses of Letters (b03srddp)
Series 3, Episode 4
The last in the series of the epistolary equine love story starring Stephen Fry as Napoleon's horse Marengo and Daniel Rigby as the Duke of Wellington's mount Copenhagen, with an introduction by Tamsin Greig.
Old age has come to our horses, and Marengo is sick. Copenhagen is determined that he and his true love will be truly together just once before Marengo quits this earthly life for a new paddock in the sky.
In perhaps the most moving exchange of letters ever sent by one horse to another the final act of this tragic love story unfolds.
Written by Robbie Hudson and Marie Phillips
Produced by Gareth Edwards.
SUN 22:45 Tina C (b00f41z2)
Tina C Goes Down Under: The Aborogynal Monologues, Tamworth
Country singer and US presidential hopeful Tina C, the comic creation of Christopher Green, looks at the Australian obsession with country music.
Tina looks up Auriel Andrew, famous for her song Truck Drivin' Woman.
SUN 23:00 Newsjack (b07shhn5)
Series 15, Episode 1
Made for 4 Extra. This week's stories lovingly bashed, mashed and moulded into sketches, one-liners and hot-takes by the public. Trying to make sense of it all is host Nish Kumar.
SUN 23:30 The Skivers (b00d8pgd)
Series 1, Episode 3
Michael Fish's secrets are revealed, and East 17 move house. Nick Golson and Tim de Jongh welcome guest Lewis Collins. From March 1994.

MONDAY 12 SEPTEMBER 2016

MON 00:00 Peter Redgrove - The Valley of Trelamia (b07tzdxv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Sunday]
MON 00:45 Moy McCrory - The Mermaid and the Rat Catcher (b00vknkp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:45 on Sunday]
MON 01:00 Possession - Omnibus (b018zllq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Sunday]
MON 02:15 The Romantic Road: On the Trail of the German Philosophers (b00ltsd1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:15 on Sunday]
MON 02:30 Nina Stibbe - Paradise Lodge (b07tzdxk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Sunday]
MON 03:45 Kevin Crossley-Holland - The Slumber King (b0185b1b)
[Repeat of broadcast at 15:45 on Sunday]
MON 04:00 Jill Paton Walsh - The Wyndham Case (b007jsrd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:00 on Sunday]
MON 05:00 Poetry Extra (b00d3kfj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 17:00 on Sunday]
MON 05:30 Fags, Mags and Bags (b01n1qxy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Sunday]
MON 06:00 Wimsey (b00sbmdy)
Have His Carcase, A Dutiful Son
Keen to unmask the killer on the beach, Lord Peter Wimsey ponders the motives of Henry Weldon.
Starring Ian Carmichael as Lord Peter Wimsey, Maria Aitken as Harriet Vane, Nigel Stock as Inspector Umplety, Warren Clarke as Henry Weldon, Isabel Dean as Mrs Weldon, Betty Marsden as Mrs. Le Franc and Norman Bird as Mr Bright.
British gentleman detective Lord Peter Wimsey features in a number of detective novels and short stories by English crime writer, Dorothy L Sayers. Have His Carcase was first published in 1932.
Classy and sharp-witted, aristocratic amateur sleuth Lord Peter Bredon Wimsey was born in 1890 and educated at Eton and Oxford, before serving in the military during the First World War.
Ian Carmichael appeared as Lord Peter Wimsey for BBC Radio from 1973 to 1983, in addition to the BBC TV adaptations that were broadcast between 1972 and 1975.
Adapted for radio in six episodes by Alistair Beaton.
Producer: Martin Fisher
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 1981.
MON 06:30 The Honest Musician's Fear of Accidental Plagiarism (b00xw21s)
Many musicians have found themselves accused of stealing from another artist. It's every songwriter's biggest fear - that really great phrase or lyric you thought was all your own creation turns up in another song. There are few musicians who would admit to stealing even if caught red handed, but what happens if the theft was unintentional? And what if you heard lines from one of your songs in someone else's work? Would you immediately reach for the lawyers phone number or would you let it go without complaint if the offending writer 'fessed up? Musicians assimilate what is around them and even the finest tunesmiths derive inspiration by drawing on and re-adapting existing popular music. So is any song really original?
As Noel Gallagher put it rather bluntly when confronted about his musical influences: "There's twelve notes in a scale and 36 chords and that's the end of it. All the configurations have been done before."
Singer and songwriter Guy Garvey, with the help of fellow songwriters Sir Tim Rice, Paul Heaton and John Bramwell, explores the legal pitfalls that can befall the honest musician and how to avoid them.
MON 07:00 Gloomsbury (b01n6vn5)
Series 1, The St Ives School of Painting
The writer and transvestite Vera Sackcloth-Vest and her bosom chum, the novelist Ginny Fox, go down to St Ives in search of the writer of very naughty books Mr D.H. Lollipop. Their husbands, Henry and Lionel, accompany them, hoping to prevent their wives from succumbing to the dangerous animal magnetism of Lollipop, whose book Lady Hattersley's Plover has scandalized and unsettled them all.
Vera's persistent and flamboyant admirer Venus Traduces arrives, desperate to re-kindle their Sapphic passion. However she is distracted when, on the cliff path, she meets a thin man with a red beard who exudes animal magnetism. He informs her that his wife is away in London being painted by Augustus John, invites Venus to call him Dave, and ravishes her in the brambles.
Meanwhile, though Vera and Ginny seem to search in vain for Lollipop, he is always much closer than they think.
Cast:
Vera Sackcloth-Vest ..... Miriam Margolyes
Henry Mickleton ..... Jonathan Coy
Venus Traduces ..... Morwenna Banks
Mrs Ginny Fox ..... Alison Steadman
Lionel Fox ..... Nigel Planer
DH Lollipop ..... John Sessions
Produced by Jamie Rix
A Little Brother Production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 07:30 Just a Minute (b07sy5yd)
Series 76, Episode 5
Nicholas Parsons and guests return for the 76th series of the panel show where participants must try to speak for 60 seconds without hesitation, deviation or repetition. No repetition? That's no small order after nearly 50 years.
Paul Merton, now the second most prolific player of the game after Kenneth Williams, will be joined by guests including series regulars Josie Lawrence, Sheila Hancock, Marcus Brigstocke and Gyles Brandreth.
Hayley Sterling blows the whistle.
Produced by Matt Stronge.
MON 08:00 Parsley Sidings (b007k1b0)
Series 2, The Secret Agent
Stationmaster Horace Hepplewhite is warned to expect a VIP, but events take a surprising turn.
Starring Arthur Lowe as Horace, Kenneth Connor as Valentine/ Bradshaw/Updike and train driver, Liz Fraser as Gloria, Ian Lavender as Bert, John Baddeley as Prince Abdul.
Jim Eldridge's eponymous series is set in a sleepy railway station. The Hepplewhites have run 'Parsley Sidings' station for generations and the current Station Master, Horace, hopes that his son Bert will continue the line. Mild-mannered Ticket Clerk Bert wants to work anywhere but on the railways. His colleague, Station Announcer Gloria Simpkins, secretly loves him. Porter Percy Valentine is an archetypal wheeler-dealer and the ancient Signalman, Bradshaw, causes havoc and dispenses home-made remedies in equal measure. The 'Parsley Sidings' nemesis is Phineas Perkins, the station master of Potwhistle Halt, one stop down the line.
Producer: Edward Taylor.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in December 1973.
MON 08:30 The Betty Witherspoon Show (b01m273b)
From 18/05/1974
Kenneth Williams and Ted Ray take on Romeo and Juliet. Songs and sketches with Miriam Margolyes. From May 1974.
MON 09:00 Foul Play (b00zf4tf)
Series 4, The Final Judgement
Crime writers Jessica Mann and James Melville probe a distinctly 'kinky' matter. Chaired by Simon Brett. From September 1998.
MON 09:30 In the End (b007n9gk)
Episode 1
Maverick hack George Cragge fears a serial killer is on the loose. Comedy thriller with Michael Williams. From November 1999.
MON 10:00 Dawn Lowe-Watson - Closed to Visitors (b04yf35h)
A young man persuades the curator to show him around a museum after closing. Sally regrets her decision. Stars Deborah Findlay.
MON 11:00 The Food of Love (b01k9npn)
Cake
In this series of monologues exploring the link between food and memory, poignant domestic dramas gradually unfold through the preparation of a special recipe.
In the first story by Helen Simpson, powerful memories are evoked when a mother bakes a birthday cake for her daughter, now no longer a child.
Helen Simpson is a novelist and hugely acclaimed short story writer. Her first collection, 'Four Bare Legs in a Bed and Other Stories', won the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award, while her book 'Hey Yeah Right Get a Life', a series of interlinked stories, won the Hawthornden Prize. She was one of Granta's twenty Best of Young British Novelists campaign in 1993, and is currently a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
The next story in the series comes from Kevin Barry, who won this year's Sunday Times short story award. Barry's first novel, 'City of Bohane', was shortlisted for the Costa first novel award, and a previous short story collection, 'There Are Little Kingdoms', won the Rooney prize for Irish Literature. In Barry's story, an insurance clerk of a certain age recreates the romantic spaghetti bolognese he cooked for the lass in the typing pool on his last date - some thirty years before...
The final story in the series is by Aminatta Forna, the award-winning author of two novels: 'The Memory of Love and Ancestor Stones'. In her story, a man struggles to cook for a young child after a terrible loss.
Producer: Justine Willett
Reader: Stella Gonet.
MON 11:15 Afternoon Drama (b018g3n8)
Charles Dickens - A Tale of Two Cities, Recalled to Life
By Charles Dickens
Dramatised by Mike Walker
Episode 1/5: Recalled to Life
Robert Lindsay leads a cast which includes Alison Steadman, Jonathan Coy, Andrew Scott, Paul Ready and Karl Johnson in a new dramatisation of Charles Dickens's classic, with original music by Lennert Busch.
From the echo of the first line 'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times' to the final 'It is a far far better thing that I do than I have ever done', Dickens's novel of the French revolution tells a story of the redemptive powers of love in the face of cruelty, violence and neglect.
A Tale of Two Cities won the Bronze Sony Award for Best Drama last year.
Written and published in weekly instalments in 1859, A Tale of Two Cities is set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. It shows the plight of the French people under the brutal oppression of the aristocracy in the years leading up to the revolution, and the corresponding savage brutality of the revolutionaries toward the former aristocrats in the years immediately following. The story follows several characters through these events, notably Charles Darnay, a French former aristocrat who falls victim to the indiscriminate wrath of the revolution, and Sydney Carton, a dissipated English barrister who tries to redeem his ill-spent life out of love for Darnay's wife, Lucie Manette.
Although the events covered in A Tale of Two Cities cover eight years, the plot develops and builds powerfully from the moment that the story opens, with the coded rumours of Dr Manette being 'restored to life' and Dickens orchestrates the wider political picture behind the story of Lucie, Darnay and Carton, with his customary brilliance.
Music by Lennert Busch
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole and Jeremy Mortimer
This is the sixth Dickens novel that Mike Walker has dramatised for Radio 4. His dramatisation of Our Mutual Friend, also directed by Jeremy Mortimer and Jessica Dromgoole, was broadcast in the Woman's Hour drama slot in 2009.
MON 12:00 Parsley Sidings (b007k1b0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
MON 12:30 The Betty Witherspoon Show (b01m273b)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
MON 13:00 Wimsey (b00sbmdy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
MON 13:30 The Honest Musician's Fear of Accidental Plagiarism (b00xw21s)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
MON 14:00 BBC National Short Story Award (b06bp3cj)
BBC National Short Story Award 2015, Broderie Anglaise, by Frances Leviston
In Frances Leviston's short story, hidden tensions between a mother and daughter surface in the emotional build-up to a family wedding. Shortlisted for the 2015 award.
The BBC National Short Story Award marked its 10th year in 2015, of shining a light on the very best in contemporary British short fiction and celebrating writers both established and new.
The winner and runner-up were announced at the BBC's Radio Theatre on BBC Radio 4's Front Row on Tuesday 6th October 2015.
Read by Kate O'Flynn
Abridged by Sara Davies
Produced by Justine Willett.
MON 14:30 15 Minute Drama (b007vz25)
Winifred Holtby - The Crowded Street, Episode 1
Diana Griffiths' dramatisation of Winifred Holtby's tale of a woman's journey into self-fulfilment.
1/10. Muriel unwittingly disgraces herself at her first party and then has to face the harsh reality of boarding school. Life brightens, however, when she befriends the exotic and beautiful Clare Duquesne.
Muriel ...... Clare Goose
Mrs Hammond ...... Brigit Forsyth
Mr Hammond ...... David Fleeshman
Clare Duquesne ...... Victoria Brazier
Miss Hancock ...... Daryl Fishwick
Young Muriel ...... Ellie Sager
Young Godfrey ...... Jon-Paul Bell
Directed by Pauline Harris.
MON 14:45 Book of the Week (b01749ry)
Matthew Sweet - The West End Front, Episode 1
Kenneth Cranham reads Matthew Sweet's dark history of the scandalous life above and below stairs in London's grand hotels during the Second World War. While bombs rain down on London's East End, life in the capital's glittering hotels carries on regardless, with hotels like the Ritz, the Dorchester, the Savoy and Claridge's becoming mini Casablancas, where spies and con artists, traitors and royalty rub shoulders under the reinforced ceilings.
Today: as rationing hits, London's well-heeled diners chomp their way through acorns, turnips and eels in a nod to the war effort.
Reader: Kenneth Cranham
Producer: Justine Willett
Abridger: Viv Beeby
Writer: Matthew Sweet - presenter of 'Night Waves' and 'Freethinking' on BBC Radio 3, as well as several documentaries on BBC Four, and author of 'Inventing the Victorians' and 'Shepperton Babylon'.
MON 15:00 Dawn Lowe-Watson - Closed to Visitors (b04yf35h)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
MON 16:00 Foul Play (b00zf4tf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
MON 16:30 In the End (b007n9gk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
MON 17:00 Gloomsbury (b01n6vn5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
MON 17:30 Just a Minute (b07sy5yd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
MON 18:00 Charles Chilton - Journey Into Space (b007jqp2)
The Red Planet, Episode 16
Captain Jet, Doc and Lemmy set off to rescue Mitch, who is starting to doubt his own sanity. 1954 sci-fi classic set in the future of 1971. Stars Andrew Faulds.
MON 18:30 A Good Read (b0076bq1)
Sue Arnold & Catherine Bott
Rosie Boycott and her guests, former Observer columnist and reviewer, Sue Arnold, and soprano, Catherine Bott discuss books by Dai Sijie, Barry Unsworth and John Buchan. From 2002.
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie
Publisher: Vintage
Losing Nelson by Barry Unsworth
Publisher: Penguin
Greenmantle by John Buchan
Publisher: Oxford University Press.
MON 19:00 Parsley Sidings (b007k1b0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
MON 19:30 The Betty Witherspoon Show (b01m273b)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
MON 20:00 Wimsey (b00sbmdy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
MON 20:30 The Honest Musician's Fear of Accidental Plagiarism (b00xw21s)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
MON 21:00 The Food of Love (b01k9npn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
MON 21:15 Afternoon Drama (b018g3n8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 today]
MON 22:00 Just a Minute (b07sy5yd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
MON 22:30 Very Old Pretenders (b0151t4j)
The Dating Game
This week in Carl Gorham's culture clash comedy anthropologist Andrew Merron takes his two Jacobite soldiers from 1745 into the modern world of speed - dating. There, a super confident Macdonald fails spectacularly to attract anyone whilst a nervous Rab is mistaken for the strong silent type and overwhelmed with offers. With Rab already on a date, Merron manages to fix Macdonald up with someone via the internet then succeeds in arranging a special evening out for himself and long suffering wife Denise. But far from pleasing everyone, the three dates quickly prove a nightmare for all concerned.
Cast:
Andrew Merron......................David Haig
Denise Merron..................Rebecca Front
Rab ....................................Jack Docherty
Macdonald........................Gordon Kennedy
Gail ......... Morwenna Banks
Speed daters ....... Lucy Barter / Rebecca Front /Sinead Merron
Taxi Driver/Rita ....... Moray Hunter
Producer: Gordon Kennedy
An Absolutely production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 22:55 The Comedy Club Interviews (b07w6f4g)
The best in contemporary comedy. Tiffany Stevenson chats to Ed Coleman.
MON 23:00 News Quiz Extra (b07tzyg5)
Series 18, Episode 1
Made for 4 Extra. Miles Jupp hosts the bumper bonus version of Friday's programme.
MON 23:45 Foley and McColl: The Interview (b0076cvt)
Rockall
The duo are set to tell all on the Parkinson show. But will anyone believe their stories? Stars Sean Foley, Hamish McColl and Michael Parkinson. From February 2003.

TUESDAY 13 SEPTEMBER 2016

TUE 00:00 Charles Chilton - Journey Into Space (b007jqp2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Monday]
TUE 00:30 A Good Read (b0076bq1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:30 on Monday]
TUE 01:00 Wimsey (b00sbmdy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Monday]
TUE 01:30 The Honest Musician's Fear of Accidental Plagiarism (b00xw21s)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 on Monday]
TUE 02:00 BBC National Short Story Award (b06bp3cj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:00 on Monday]
TUE 02:30 15 Minute Drama (b007vz25)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Monday]
TUE 02:45 Book of the Week (b01749ry)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:45 on Monday]
TUE 03:00 Dawn Lowe-Watson - Closed to Visitors (b04yf35h)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Monday]
TUE 04:00 Foul Play (b00zf4tf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 on Monday]
TUE 04:30 In the End (b007n9gk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 on Monday]
TUE 05:00 Gloomsbury (b01n6vn5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 on Monday]
TUE 05:30 Just a Minute (b07sy5yd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Monday]
TUE 06:00 Wimsey (b00sbqhr)
Have His Carcase, The Snake in the Grass
Lord Peter Wimsey exchanges harsh words with Harriet Vane - and a dinner date leads to a shocking revelation.
Starring Ian Carmichael as Lord Peter Wimsey, Maria Aitken as Harriet Vane, Nigel Stock as Inspector Umplety, Warren Clarke as Henry Weldon and Ronald Herdman as the Blacksmith.
British gentleman detective Lord Peter Wimsey features in a number of detective novels and short stories by English crime writer, Dorothy L Sayers. Have His Carcase was first published in 1932.
Classy and sharp-witted, aristocratic amateur sleuth Lord Peter Bredon Wimsey was born in 1890 and educated at Eton and Oxford, before serving in the military during the First World War.
Ian Carmichael appeared as Lord Peter Wimsey for BBC Radio from 1973 to 1983, in addition to the BBC TV adaptations that were broadcast between 1972 and 1975.
Adapted for radio in six episodes by Alistair Beaton.
Producer: Martin Fisher
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 1981.
TUE 06:30 Happy Birthday, Neptune (b012fbvt)
On July 12th 2011, Neptune is one year old - one Neptunian year that is. The furthest planet from the sun it's only now completed one solar orbit since its discovery in 1846, travelling so slowly each Neptunian season lasts forty Earth years.
Too distant to spot with the naked eye the ancients could never have known of Neptune's existence. Nineteenth century astronomers had to climb on the shoulders of scientific giants to see it. First a tiny blue disc now an ice giant whose strange atmospheric features send shivers down the spines of astronomers today.
What twists and turns of fate, what scientific clues and personality clashes won the race for Neptune's discovery? Some say Galileo spotted it 200 years earlier, secretly noting its existence in a coded Latin anagram awaiting further proof. What secret phrase might be lurking in his notebooks awaiting discovery by 21st century scientific spoofs?
It's late spring, early summer in Neptune today. It's been that way for decades. Astronomers can only watch and marvel at the weather on Neptune and the jazzy, jerky dance of its Great Dark Spot - first in the southern hemisphere, then in the north, sometimes gone altogether. What is it? Where does it come from? What can you ever know about a world when even the most advanced human telescopes have only studied it for a season?
Written and presented by Tracey Logan.
TUE 07:00 Bangers and Mash (b0075gh6)
Episode 1
Nun Martina leaves her convent and lands in a catering crisis of epic proportions. Stars Catherine Harvey. From January 1999.
TUE 07:30 Mark Watson Talks a Bit About Life (b07syv27)
Series 2, Family
New series from multi-award winning Mark Watson. Assisted and impeded in equal measure by henchmen Sam Simmons and Will Adamsdale, he revives his quest to make some sort of sense of life, against the backdrop of a world that has, in recent times, come to seem even more peculiar than usual.
The tenacious trio take on some of human life's central topics - family, spirituality, Scandinavia. Watson peddles his unique, high-octane stand-up while Simmons and Adamsdale chip in with interjections which include (but are not limited to) music, shopping lists, life advice, stunts, avant-garde offerings and divvy interactions.
Expect big laughs, controlled chaos and an attempt to answer the one question none of us can quite escape from - what exactly is going on?
This week, Watson and his team look at family. It's often considered the staple of a happy existence, but does family life enrich us or merely guarantee hang-ups and frustrations? We can't live without our families, but should we feel bad for wanting to?
Mark Watson is a multi-award winning comedian, including the inaugural If.Comedy Panel Prize 2006. He is assisted by Sam Simmons, winner of Fosters Edinburgh Comedy Award 2015, and Will Adamsdale who won the Perrier Comedy Award in 2004.
Produced by Lianne Coop
An Impatient production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 08:00 Steptoe and Son (b00sf1tm)
Series 1, The Musical Evening
War erupts in the rag and bone yard, when Albert takes action over music-loving Harold's gramophone.

Starring Wilfrid Brambell as Albert and Harry H Corbett as Harold.

Following the conclusion of their hugely successful association with Tony Hancock, writers Ray Galton and Alan Simpson wrote 10 pilots for the 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 radio from Galton and Simpson's TV script by Gale Pedrick.

Produced by Bobby Jaye

First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in September 1966.
TUE 08:30 The Men From the Ministry (b007jplx)
The Whitehall Castaways
The inept civil servants tackle London's parks and soon get in a flap. Stars Richard Murdoch and Deryck Guyler. From July 1976.
TUE 09:00 News Quiz Extra (b07tzyg5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:00 on Monday]
TUE 09:45 Foley and McColl: The Interview (b0076cvt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:45 on Monday]
TUE 10:00 Fyodor Dostoevsky - The Idiot (b00sr4hr)
Episode 1
Prince Myshkin courageously battles to return to Russian society, after years abroad being treated for his epilepsy.
On the long train journey home, he firsts learns the story of a woman who will dominate his life from now on.
One of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's most famous and personal novels adapted by Melissa Murray.
Starring Paul Rhys as Prince Myshkin, Alex Jennings as Ganya, Roger Allam as Rogazhin, Lia Williams as Nastasya, David Swift as General Yepanchin and Paula Jacobs as Mrs Yepanchin,
Producer: Cherry Cookson
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2002.
TUE 11:00 The Food of Love (b01kjlhr)
The Lovely Miss What's-Her-Face
In this series of monologues exploring the link between food and memory, poignant domestic dramas gradually unfold through the preparation of a special recipe.
In this story, 'The Lovely Miss What's-Her-Face' by Kevin Barry, winner of the 2012 Sunday Times short story award, an insurance clerk of a certain age recreates the exotic spaghetti bolognese he cooked for the lass in the typing pool, on his last romantic date - some 30 years before...
Kevin Barry's first novel, 'City of Bohane', was shortlisted for the Costa first novel award, and a previous short story collection, 'There Are Little Kingdoms', won the Rooney prize for Irish Literature.
Read by: David Schofield
Producer: Justine Willett.
TUE 11:15 Afternoon Drama (b018g6x1)
Charles Dickens - A Tale of Two Cities, The Old Order
Dramatised by Mike Walker
Episode 2/5: The Old Order
Lucie Manette is a witness at Charles Darnay's trial for treason at the Old Bailey, where his defence team includes the dissolute Sydney Carton. Meanwhile, an incident in a Paris street stirs revolutionary fervour.
With Christopher Webster
Music by Lennert Busch
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole and Jeremy Mortimer.
TUE 12:00 Steptoe and Son (b00sf1tm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
TUE 12:30 The Men From the Ministry (b007jplx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
TUE 13:00 Wimsey (b00sbqhr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
TUE 13:30 Happy Birthday, Neptune (b012fbvt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
TUE 14:00 BBC National Short Story Award (b06c0ch9)
BBC National Short Story Award 2015, The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher, by Hilary Mantel
In Hilary Mantel's shortlisted story for this coveted award which celebrates its tenth anniversary in 2015 a woman mistakes a sniper for a plumber. Held in captivity in leafy Windsor, will she become complicit in his murderous plot?
The fourth of five short stories shortlisted for this prestigious award, which in 2015 marks its 10th year. For a decade now the award has shone a light on the very best in contemporary British short fiction and celebrates writers both established and new.
To mark the tenth year of the Award, the BBC and Book Trust have launched Student Choice, in which nearly 500 16-18 year old students from 20 schools around the UK cast their own votes on the shortlist.
This year also sees the launch of the BBC Young Writers' Award with Book Trust. Open to 14-18 year olds, the aim of this Award is to inspire and encourage the next generation of short story writers and is a cross-network collaboration between BBC Radio 4 and Radio 1.
The winner and the runner-up of the coveted BBC National Short Story Award 2015 will be announced live from the BBC's Radio Theatre on Front Row from 7.15pm on Tuesday 6th October. At the same time the inaugural winners of Student Choice and the BBC Young Writers' Award will also be unveiled.
Written by Hilary Mantel
Read by Rebekah Staton
Abridged by Julian Wilkinson
Produced by Elizabeth Allard.
TUE 14:30 15 Minute Drama (b007xgq5)
Winifred Holtby - The Crowded Street, Episode 2
Diana Griffiths' dramatisation of Winifred Holtby's tale of a woman's journey into self-fulfilment.
2/10. Muriel has finished boarding school and is returning home to Marshington, where her mother aims to pair her off with Godfrey Neale. But then Muriel's friend Clare visits and turns the Hammond household upside-down.
Muriel ...... Clare Goose
Connie ...... Joanne Froggatt
Godfrey ...... James D'Arcy
Mrs Hammond ...... Brigit Forsyth
Mr Hammond ...... David Fleeshman
Clare Duquesne ...... Victoria Brazier
Delia Vaughan ...... Deborah McAndrew
Directed by Pauline Harris.
TUE 14:45 Book of the Week (b0174gk4)
Matthew Sweet - The West End Front, Episode 2
Kenneth Cranham reads Matthew Sweet's dark history of the scandalous life above and below stairs in London's grand hotels during the Second World War. While bombs rain down on London's East End, life in the capital's glittering hotels carries on regardless, with hotels like the Ritz, the Dorchester, the Savoy and Claridge's becoming mini Casablancas, where spies and con artists, traitors and royalty rub shoulders under the reinforced ceilings.
Today: as the Blitz begins in earnest, a group of East Enders storm the Savoy in demand of decent shelter for all.
Reader: Kenneth Cranham
Producer: Justine Willett
Abridger: Viv Beeby.
TUE 15:00 Fyodor Dostoevsky - The Idiot (b00sr4hr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
TUE 16:00 Counterpoint (b008f8fc)
2006, Heat 2
Ned Sherrin hosts the music quiz featuring David Battye from Howarth, Roger Clarke from York and Susan McCombie from Lancashire.
TUE 16:30 Safety Catch (b00vkyz1)
Series 3, Better the Devil You Know
Simon McGrath is a generally nice chap who just happens to be an arms dealer. It's not something he planned, he just fell into it, and despite all his best intentions he just doesn't seem to be able to leave because he has to pay his mortgage like everyone else. Of course his real love is electronic music and this is just a stop gap until he finds the perfect outlet for his music - okay so the gap has lasted five years but that's not the point. Once he can get himself motivated he'll be out of there and, as his ever supportive mum says, people will always want to kill each other. So that's alright then.
This series sees Simon going to some bizarre lengths to excuse his profession: his attempt at gaining redundancy when an American firm puts in a takeover bid somehow winds up with his promotion; he desperately attempts to give himself compassion fatigue so he won't have to feel guilty about all the bloodshed in the world; he unsuccessfully tries to seek forgiveness and he finally tries to self-motivate himself to sit down in front of a keyboard to compose his electronic masterpiece. His personal life is as unsatisfactory as his work life and not only do he and Anna have to try and find reasons why they love each other but they have to survive a visit from her parents and his mum's new job at Heathcote Sanders and, as Judith eloquently puts it, to have one member of the family working in the arms trade may be regarded as misfortune, to have two looks like genetic wickedness.
Simon McGrath ...... Darren Boyd
Anna Grieg ...... Joanna Page
Boris Kemal ...... Lewis Macleod
Judith McGrath ...... Sarah Smart
Angela McGrath ...... Brigit Forsyth
Madeleine Turnbull ...... Rachel Atkins
Charles ...... John Schwab
Written by Laurence Howarth
Produced By Dawn Ellis.
TUE 17:00 Bangers and Mash (b0075gh6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
TUE 17:30 Mark Watson Talks a Bit About Life (b07syv27)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
TUE 18:00 Charles Chilton - Journey Into Space (b007jqrd)
The Red Planet, Episode 17
With Mitch conditioned at a 'sheep station', Jet and his crew have to plan their own escape. 1954 sci-fi classic set in the future of 1971. Stars Andrew Faulds.
TUE 18:30 Last of The Last of the Summer Wine (b00tjf81)
Broadcaster and poet Ian McMillan pays tribute to television's longest running situation comedy 'Last of the Summer Wine' which drew to a close last year.
It would be hard to argue that Last Of The Summer Wine is anything but a British classic. Until recently the world's longest running TV situation comedy seemed immortal. In its heyday, the adventures of senior citizens Compo, Foggy and Clegg drew audiences of 19 million and as we know, this current next series will be the last.
The lyrical adventures of three bungling, elderly oddballs have charmed viewers of all generations for over a third of a century, and this programme charts the shows unbelievable success.
The show was pioneering in many ways, one of which was the decision to have and ultimately set the trend for a double length Christmas special.
Including exclusive interviews with major cast members and archive of the late Bill Owen and Kathy Staff, who turned the character of battleaxe Nora Batty into a treasured national icon, the programme delves behind the scenes with writer Roy Clarke and producer/director Alan J. W. Bell who offer fascinating insights into the show's journey from script to screen.
Cast members pay tribute to Ronnie Hazlehurst's theme music and and McMillan calls to mind his own favourite characters in the series.
The programme examines why the series has survived so long, surprising critics, audiences and even the BBC itself which has often been accused of underestimating its importance.
TUE 19:00 Steptoe and Son (b00sf1tm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
TUE 19:30 The Men From the Ministry (b007jplx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
TUE 20:00 Wimsey (b00sbqhr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
TUE 20:30 Happy Birthday, Neptune (b012fbvt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
TUE 21:00 The Food of Love (b01kjlhr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
TUE 21:15 Afternoon Drama (b018g6x1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 today]
TUE 22:00 Mark Watson Talks a Bit About Life (b07syv27)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
TUE 22:30 Dave Podmore's Cricket Night (b007wzp2)
Episode 3
Loyalties are split for our hero, as a billionaire plans to demolish his home ground. Stars Christopher Douglas. From May 2004.
TUE 22:55 The Comedy Club Interviews (b07w6f90)
The best in contemporary comedy. Tiffany Stevenson chats to Ed Coleman.
TUE 23:00 Clare in the Community (b00g9mgx)
Series 2, Mean Streets
The meddling social worker takes a homeless survey, and Brian arranges a stag night. Stars Sally Phillips. From September 2005.
TUE 23:30 Delve Special (b007k4nj)
Series 2, Double Agent Russell Nicholson
Reporter David Lander interviews the notorious spy at his luxury home in Bulgaria. Stars Stephen Fry. From September 1985.

WEDNESDAY 14 SEPTEMBER 2016

WED 00:00 Charles Chilton - Journey Into Space (b007jqrd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Tuesday]
WED 00:30 Last of The Last of the Summer Wine (b00tjf81)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:30 on Tuesday]
WED 01:00 Wimsey (b00sbqhr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Tuesday]
WED 01:30 Happy Birthday, Neptune (b012fbvt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 on Tuesday]
WED 02:00 BBC National Short Story Award (b06c0ch9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:00 on Tuesday]
WED 02:30 15 Minute Drama (b007xgq5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Tuesday]
WED 02:45 Book of the Week (b0174gk4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:45 on Tuesday]
WED 03:00 Fyodor Dostoevsky - The Idiot (b00sr4hr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Tuesday]
WED 04:00 Counterpoint (b008f8fc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:00 on Tuesday]
WED 04:30 Safety Catch (b00vkyz1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:30 on Tuesday]
WED 05:00 Bangers and Mash (b0075gh6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 on Tuesday]
WED 05:30 Mark Watson Talks a Bit About Life (b07syv27)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Tuesday]
WED 06:00 Wimsey (b00sbvcv)
Have His Carcase, Too Perfect an Alibi
As desperate Lord Peter Wimsey fails to confirm his theories, the elusive witness Perkins turns up
Starring Ian Carmichael as Lord Peter Wimsey, Maria Aitken as Harriet Vane, Nigel Stock as Inspector Umplety, Warren Clarke as Henry Weldon and Richard O'Callaghan as Julian Perkins
British gentleman detective Lord Peter Wimsey features in a number of detective novels and short stories by English crime writer, Dorothy L Sayers. Have His Carcase was first published in 1932.
Classy and sharp-witted, aristocratic amateur sleuth Lord Peter Bredon Wimsey was born in 1890 and educated at Eton and Oxford, before serving in the military during the First World War.
Ian Carmichael appeared as Lord Peter Wimsey for BBC Radio from 1973 to 1983, in addition to the BBC TV adaptations that were broadcast between 1972 and 1975.
Adapted for radio in six episodes by Alistair Beaton.
Producer: Martin Fisher
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 1981.
WED 06:30 The New Silk Road with Roger Law (b012r99b)
Roger Law visits the Chinese city of Yi Wu, the world's largest market place for consumer goods. Its massive exhibition halls are temples to the gods of consumerism and globalisation. But it's not for the west. As Roger soon discovers, it is Arab traders who have been visiting Yi Wu since 9/11. Entrepreneurs from the Middle East found it virtually impossible to travel to America due to visa restrictions, so turned their attention to a much more welcoming China. Now mosques and Middle Eastern restaurants are sprinkled across Yi Wu as traders make themselves at home.
Forget selling DVDs to America and shoes to Europe, Yiwu is making a fortune selling to the developing world. Anything from plastic ducks to rubber rings are on sale in Yi Wu. Roger finds himself in a hall full of thousands of sock sellers and gets lost amongst wall-to-wall soft toys. Adrift in a sea of plastic, he tries to make sense of the new consumerism spreading across emerging countries around the world.
The route to Yi Wu is set to be the new silk road, connecting China to the Middle East and beyond, with trade routes onward from Dubai to Africa and South America. Roger Law is our erudite guide as he cuts his way through the jungle of consumer goods at the epicentre of global trade.
WED 07:00 A Whole 'Nother Story (b0076bm8)
Series 2, Episode 6
It is crunch time for Cassie - will Pete forgive her? Stars Debra Stephenson and David Lamb. From November 2002.
WED 07:30 Mark Steel's in Town (b07tbfmw)
Series 7, Stockport
Mark Steel's In Town - Stockport
"Welcome to Stockport - Home of Stockport College"
Mark Steel returns to Radio 4 for a seventh series of the award winning show that travels around the country, researching the history, heritage and culture of six towns that have nothing in common but their uniqueness, and performs a bespoke evening of comedy for the local residents.
In the first programme, Mark visits the Greater Manchester town of Stockport, once the centre of the hatting industry.
He takes a trip on the infamous 192 bus, visits the world famous hat museum and tries to get to the bottom of how one of its suburbs ended up with an infestation of marauding peacocks.
In this series Mark visits Stockport in Greater Manchester, Colchester in Essex, Hebden Bridge in Yorkshire, The Royal Borough of Kingston Upon Thames, Lynton in North Devon and the British overseas territory of Gibraltar.
Written and performed by ... Mark Steel
Additional material by ... Pete Sinclair
Production co-ordinator ... Hayley Sterling
Producer ... Carl Cooper
This is a BBC Studios Production.
WED 08:00 The Navy Lark (b007k1zp)
Cleaning Up
Can the inept crew of HMS Troutbridge manage to get it ship-shape for an inspection?
Stars Leslie Phillips as the Sub-Lieutenant, Jon Pertwee as the Chief Petty Officer, Stephen Murray as the Number One, Richard Caldicot as Captain Povey, Heather Chasen as Second Officer McCluty, Tenniel Evans as Taffy Goldstein and Michael Bates as Alfie.
Laughs afloat aboard British Royal Navy frigate HMS Troutbridge. The Navy Lark ran for an impressive thirteen series between 1959 and 1976.
Scripted by Lawrie Wyman
Producer: Alastair Scott Johnston.
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in July 1967.
WED 08:30 Hancock's Half Hour (b007k1nm)
The Rail Strike
The lad gets a green signal to outwit a rail strike, but a bumpy ride lies ahead.
Starring Tony Hancock, Bill Kerr, Sidney James, Andree Melly and Kenneth Williams.
Announcer: Kenneth Williams
Written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson.
Theme and incidental music composed by Wally Stott. Recorded by the BBC Revue Orchestra conducted by Harry Rabinowitz.
Producer: Dennis Main Wilson
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in June 1955.
WED 09:00 The 99p Challenge (b00ntnb7)
Series 2, Episode 5
Crazy panel show capers as Sue Perkins grills Simon Pegg, Peter Baynham, David Schneider and Tom Binns. From July 2000.
WED 09:30 Rent (b04nvb19)
Series 2, Episode 4
Richard is less than thrilled when Maria's flighty friend turns up. Stars Patrick Barlow and Barbara Flynn. From February 1995.
WED 10:00 Fyodor Dostoevsky - The Idiot (b00srkfz)
Episode 2
Despite the dark tales he has heard about her, Prince Myshkin eagerly heads to Nastasya's birthday party. Stars Alex Jennings.
WED 11:00 The Food of Love (b01kr7qp)
Scotch Broth
In this series of monologues exploring the link between food and memory, powerful domestic dramas gradually unfold through the preparation of a special recipe.
In the final story in the series, by Aminatta Forna, a man struggles to cook for a young child, after a terrible loss...
Aminatta Forna was born in Glasgow, raised in Sierra Leone and Britain and also spent periods of her childhood in Iran, Thailand and Zambia. She is the award-winning author of two novels: 'The Memory of Love and Ancestor Stones', and a memoir 'The Devil that Danced on the Water'.
Read by: Hugh Quarshie
Producer: Justine Willett.
WED 11:15 Afternoon Drama (b018gqzp)
Charles Dickens - A Tale of Two Cities, Two Promises
By Charles Dickens
Dramatised by Mike Walker
Episode 3/5 - Two Promises
In a Paris wine shop information is exchanged about the courtship of Lucie Manette and Charles Darnay, and indeed, in London, it appears that a wedding is indeed in the air.
With Adam Billington and Christopher Webster
Music by Lennert Busch
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole and Jeremy Mortimer.
WED 12:00 The Navy Lark (b007k1zp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
WED 12:30 Hancock's Half Hour (b007k1nm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
WED 13:00 Wimsey (b00sbvcv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
WED 13:30 The New Silk Road with Roger Law (b012r99b)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
WED 14:00 BBC National Short Story Award (b06c4j1g)
BBC National Short Story Award 2015, Do It Now, Jump the Table
In Jeremy Page's short story, a young man prepares to meet his girlfriend's parents for the first time - in the disquieting knowledge that they enjoy a somewhat alternative lifestyle. Shortlisted for the 2015 award.
The BBC National Short Story Award marked its 10th year in 2015, of shining a light on the very best in contemporary British short fiction and celebrating writers both established and new.
The winner and runner-up were announced at the BBC's Radio Theatre on BBC Radio 4's Front Row on Tuesday 6th October 2015.
Read by Blake Ritson
Abridged by Sally Marmion
Produced by Justine Willett.
WED 14:30 15 Minute Drama (b007vyz4)
Winifred Holtby - The Crowded Street, Episode 3
Diana Griffiths's dramatisation of Winifred Holtby's tale of a woman's journey into self-fulfilment.
3/10. Godfrey Neale wants to go riding with the beautiful Clare Duquesne, but Muriel's sister Connie is determined not to be left out.
Muriel ...... Clare Goose
Connie ...... Joanne Froggatt
Godfrey ...... James D'Arcy
Mrs Hammond ...... Brigit Forsyth
Clare Duquesne ...... Victoria Brazier
Delia Vaughan ...... Deborah McAndrew
Mrs Neale ...... Julie Westwood
Directed by Pauline Harris.
WED 14:45 Book of the Week (b0174gq9)
Matthew Sweet - The West End Front, Episode 3
Kenneth Cranham reads Matthew Sweet's dark history of the scandalous life above and below stairs in London's grand hotels during the Second World War. While bombs rain down on London's East End, life in the capital's glittering hotels carries on regardless, with hotels like the Ritz, the Dorchester, the Savoy and Claridge's becoming mini Casablancas, where spies and con artists, traitors and royalty rub shoulders under the reinforced ceilings.
Today: two clandestine networks - the homosexual subculture and London's spy community - form an unlikely alliance at the bar below the Ritz.
Reader: Kenneth Cranham
Producer: Justine Willett
Abridger: Viv Beeby.
WED 15:00 Fyodor Dostoevsky - The Idiot (b00srkfz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
WED 16:00 The 99p Challenge (b00ntnb7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
WED 16:30 Rent (b04nvb19)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
WED 17:00 A Whole 'Nother Story (b0076bm8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
WED 17:30 Mark Steel's in Town (b07tbfmw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
WED 18:00 Charles Chilton - Journey Into Space (b007jqv2)
The Red Planet, Episode 18
With Lemmy and Doc at the mercies of the Martian forces, Jet Morgan comes to the rescue. 1954 sci-fi classic set in the future of 1971. Stars Andrew Faulds.
WED 18:30 Off the Page (b00hr4lk)
Meeting a Star
4 Extra Debut. Dominic Arkwright, James Delingpole, Agnes Poirier and Michael Simkins discuss stardom and our reaction to fame. From February 2009.
WED 19:00 The Navy Lark (b007k1zp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
WED 19:30 Hancock's Half Hour (b007k1nm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
WED 20:00 Wimsey (b00sbvcv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
WED 20:30 The New Silk Road with Roger Law (b012r99b)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
WED 21:00 The Food of Love (b01kr7qp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
WED 21:15 Afternoon Drama (b018gqzp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 today]
WED 22:00 Mark Steel's in Town (b07tbfmw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
WED 22:30 Listen Against (b01752w7)
Series 4, Episode 3
Listen Against is the comedy that takes the back off your radio and television, fiddles round with the programmes inside and then puts them all back the wrong way round.
Using "beautifully crafted, scalpel sharp" (Gillian Reynolds) mash-ups of current and archive programmes Listen Against creates a "sly, sharp, smart, surreal, satirical" world (Sunday Telegraph) where Alice Arnold and Jon Holmes look back in amplitude of at a week's worth of broadcasting like a media tapeworm going through a dog.
Like "the mischievous offspring of Points of View and The Day Today" (Observer) fictional listeners bombard Listen Against with fictional letters and emails complaining about half-fictional programmes while fictional guests and real life presenters (this series includes Melvyn Bragg, Jeremy Vine and Vanessa Feltz) argue with each other in "a gem of a satirical swoop at radio and television." (Guardian).
Written and created by Jon Holmes
Presented by Alice Arnold and Jon Holmes
Cast:
Kevin Eldon (Brass Eye, Big Train)
Justin Edwards (The Thick of It)
Sarah Hadland (Miranda)
James Bachman (Mitchell & Webb)
Kim Wall (Big Train , IT Crowd)
David Mara (RSC & Donmar Warehouse)
Produced by Sam Bryant.
WED 23:00 Living with Mother (b01nxw2s)
Series 2, Four Little Words
Owen is a TV addict and overweight. Since he's reached the age of forty, Allison thinks it's about time he did something about it.
Drawing on her days as a fitness fanatic, Allison draws up a fitness regime and puts a reluctant Owen through his paces. Frustrated at his bone-idleness, she hatches a plan. But a greedy man is a cunning man, and it's not long until Owen devises a plan of his own - with a little help from his friend.
Writing about the first series of Living with Mother, Radio Times described it as "Alexander Kirk's astutely-observed comedy series...underpinning each of these tales is a bittersweet poignancy, a moment when the easy laughs are replaced with a lip-trembling insight into the vulnerability, lack of self-confidence and interdependency".
Written by Alexander Kirk
Produced by Anna Madley
An Avalon production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 23:15 Mission Improbable (b01pcqkt)
Series 1, Ice!
Adventure journalist Jane, long term singleton Lucy and zookeeper Amelia set off on another international adventure.
This time, Jane finds herself trying to beat that famous adventurer Marcus Wolfton across the arctic tundra in a bid to be the first and only journalist to record the voice of the last speaker of a dying language. Meanwhile Lucy finds herself trying to slow the team down so she can get up close and personal with the man himself, who's only a matter of hours behind. Amelia only has eyes for the polar bears she's hoping she'll get a chance to chat to.
During this ice cap caper, our heroes survive sub-zero temperatures, furious indigenous wildlife and a frantic game of cosmetic tennis before an encounter with an angry Inuit has them running for their lives. Will they survive? Will they beat Marcus Wolfton to the prize? Or will they dress up as nuns and make complete fools of themselves?
Cast:
Jane................Catriona Knox
Lucy................Lizzie Bates
Amelia.............Anna Emerson
Marcus............James Lance
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.
WED 23:30 Hut 33 (b00ljn73)
Series 1, Bridge Too Far
Three wartime code-breakers tackle Nazi ciphers, but hate each other. Bletchley Park romp with Robert Bathurst. From June 2007.

THURSDAY 15 SEPTEMBER 2016

THU 00:00 Charles Chilton - Journey Into Space (b007jqv2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Wednesday]
THU 00:30 Off the Page (b00hr4lk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:30 on Wednesday]
THU 01:00 Wimsey (b00sbvcv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Wednesday]
THU 01:30 The New Silk Road with Roger Law (b012r99b)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 on Wednesday]
THU 02:00 BBC National Short Story Award (b06c4j1g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:00 on Wednesday]
THU 02:30 15 Minute Drama (b007vyz4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Wednesday]
THU 02:45 Book of the Week (b0174gq9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:45 on Wednesday]
THU 03:00 Fyodor Dostoevsky - The Idiot (b00srkfz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Wednesday]
THU 04:00 The 99p Challenge (b00ntnb7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 on Wednesday]
THU 04:30 Rent (b04nvb19)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 on Wednesday]
THU 05:00 A Whole 'Nother Story (b0076bm8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 on Wednesday]
THU 05:30 Mark Steel's in Town (b07tbfmw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Wednesday]
THU 06:00 Wimsey (b00scvsc)
Have His Carcase, All a Question of Time
Will inspiration strike? Upper class sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey battles to finally unmask a killer.
Starring Ian Carmichael as Lord Peter Wimsey, Maria Aitken as Harriet Vane, Nigel Stock as Inspector Umplety, Rosalind Ayres as Leila Garland, John Webb as Saunders and Alan Dudley as Polwhistle.
British gentleman detective Lord Peter Wimsey features in a number of detective novels and short stories by English crime writer, Dorothy L Sayers. Have His Carcase was first published in 1932.
Classy and sharp-witted, aristocratic amateur sleuth Lord Peter Bredon Wimsey was born in 1890 and educated at Eton and Oxford, before serving in the military during the First World War.
Ian Carmichael appeared as Lord Peter Wimsey for BBC Radio from 1973 to 1983, in addition to the BBC TV adaptations that were broadcast between 1972 and 1975.
Adapted for radio in six episodes by Alistair Beaton.
Producer: Martin Fisher
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 1981.
THU 06:30 The Wales Window of Alabama (b00z5zxv)
This is the story of what links the people of Wales, with one of the worst atrocities of the American Civil Rights movement. In 1963, racist bombers, blew up the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham Alabama, killing four girls in the blast. The murder of children marked another low in the violent resistance to civil rights.
News of the bombing was broadcast worldwide. The Welsh sculptor John Petts heard about it on the radio as he worked in his studio. He was so upset he wanted to do something to help. He contacted a local newspaper and a campaign was launched to raise money to help rebuild the devastated Church. No one was allowed to give more than half a crown - to ensure that no rich benefactor could take credit for the money raised. There were reports of children, black and white, queuing up in Cardiff to donate their pocket money.
Tens of thousands of people contributed to the fund. With the money that was raised, Petts was commissioned to make a new stained glass window for the Church. Grand in scale, it depicted a black man, arms out stretched, reminiscent of the crucifixion. Petts drew on his experiences as a medic in the second world war to create his image of the 'damaged male body'. He was also inspired by the Sharpeville Massacre in South Africa, which had happened only a few years before.
The window is now a focus of worship and has become one of the most famous pieces of art to come out of the darkness of the civil rights period. At its foot a simple message; 'Given by The People of Wales'.
This programme tells the story of 'The Welsh Window'
The presenter is Gary Younge and the producer is Nicola Swords.
The programme is produced in Manchester.
THU 07:00 Bristow (b00ckd51)
Series 1, The Girl Next Door
When a new face appears in the office opposite Chester Perry's building - she causes quite a stir.
With Rodney Bewes as Jones, Dora Bryan as Mrs Purdy and Jon Glover as Fudge/Station Master/Samson/Hawkins.
Bristow works as a buying clerk for Reginald Chester-Perry's firm. He's but a small cog in a gigantic wheel...and he knows it.
Michael Williams stars as Bristow, the buying clerk from Frank Dickens' famous newspaper cartoon strip. Syndicated internationally, it ran for 41 years in London's Evening Standard. Frank Dickens died in July 2016.
RSC talent and popular stage and TV actor, Michael Williams died in 2001
Producer: Neil Cargill
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 1999.
THU 07:30 Tom Wrigglesworth's Hang-Ups (b07tc1rm)
Series 4, Construction Time Again
Episode 3 - Construction Time Again. Tom's Dad offers some unwanted assistance.
Series 4 of Tom Wrigglesworth's Hang-Ups presents another hilarious helping of down-the-line adventures from Edinburgh Comedy Award nominated Tom. Listen in on Tom's weekly phone calls home to his Mum, Dad and Gran in Sheffield and get a glimpse into the triumphs and tribulations of the Wrigglesworth clan in all its dysfunctional glory.
Starring Tom Wrigglesworth, Paul Copley, Kate Anthony, Elizabeth Bennett.
Written by Tom Wrigglesworth and James Kettle with additional material by Miles Jupp.
Producer: Richard Morris
A BBC Studios Production.
THU 08:00 Thirty Minutes Worth (b07v05xf)
From 16/10/1988
The vicar has engaged the services of that well-known thespian, Binky Bottomley to write and produce a pageant for the bicentenary of the village - but then he entrusts Harry with his script.
Starring Harry Worth. With Jacqueline Clarke, Charles Collingwood, Su Douglas, Julie Higginson and Jack Douglas as Binky Bottomley
Script by Vince Powell.
Producer: Mike Craig
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in October 1988.
THU 08:30 Radio Active (b00g42t4)
Series 7, Radio Radio Programme
The on-air team looks at how radio works, why radios work, what radio works on the radio and what radio works have been done on the radio which work. Plus Martin Brown meets special guest John Peel to ask him what it's like being Emma's brother.
Starring Helen Atkinson Wood, Angus Deayton, Geoffrey Perkins, Philip Pope and Michael Fenton-Stevens.
Music by Philip Pope and Steve Brown.
Written by Angus Deayton and Geoffrey Perkins. With Michael Fenton-Stevens.
Producer: David Tyler
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 1987.
THU 09:00 The Personality Test (b00m5tks)
Series 1, Gyles Brandreth
The broadcaster, author and ex-MP quizzes a panel about himself. With Alan Carr, Sue Perkins and Lucy Porter. From July 2006.
THU 09:30 The Elephant Man (b04tvk7m)
All Features Great and Small
Valentine's Day approaches and some of the zoo staff are keen to find romance. Stars Peter Serafinowicz. From September 1996.
THU 10:00 Fyodor Dostoevsky - The Idiot (b00srqfj)
Episode 3
Prince Myshkin analyses his feelings for the spoilt but captivating Nastasya and the more timid Aglaya. Stars Paul Rhys.
THU 11:00 Elizabeth Taylor - The Idea of Age (b07v07c9)
4 Extra Debut. A young girl reflects on childhood in summer and the process of growing old. Read by Sunny Ormonde.
THU 11:15 Afternoon Drama (b018grvp)
Charles Dickens - A Tale of Two Cities, The Grindstone
Episode 4/5 - The Grindstone
Much against the wishes of his new wife, Charles Darnay is determined to travel to Paris to go to the aid of a family retainer who has been imprisoned by the revolutionary committee.
With Adam Billington, Rikki Lawton, Christopher Webster
Music by Lennert Busch
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole and Jeremy Mortimer.
THU 12:00 Thirty Minutes Worth (b07v05xf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
THU 12:30 Radio Active (b00g42t4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
THU 13:00 Wimsey (b00scvsc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
THU 13:30 The Wales Window of Alabama (b00z5zxv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
THU 14:00 BBC National Short Story Award (b06bnq16)
BBC National Short Story Award 2015, Bunny
Runner-up for the 2015 award. In Mark Haddon's short story, he dangerously over-eats; just as seriously he lives at home in fear of the outdoors. Until Leah calls and his life takes a dramatic turn.
The BBC National Short Story Award marked its 10th year in 2015, of shining a light on the very best in contemporary British short fiction and celebrating writers both established and new.
The winner and runner-up were announced at the BBC's Radio Theatre on BBC Radio 4's Front Row on Tuesday 6th October 2015.
Read by Colin Buchanan
Abridged by Penny Leicester
Produced by Duncan Minshull.
THU 14:30 15 Minute Drama (b007vyz6)
Winifred Holtby - The Crowded Street, Episode 4
Diana Griffiths's dramatisation of Winifred Holtby's tale of a woman's journey into self-fulfilment.
4/10. Mrs Hammond is desperate to find husbands for Muriel and her sister Connie.
Muriel ...... Clare Goose
Connie ...... Joanne Froggatt
Godfrey ...... James D'Arcy
Mrs Hammond ...... Brigit Forsyth
Delia Vaughan ...... Deborah McAndrew
Martin Elliot/Dr McKissack ...... Graeme Hawley
Directed by Pauline Harris.
THU 14:45 Book of the Week (b017528g)
Matthew Sweet - The West End Front, Episode 4
Kenneth Cranham reads Matthew Sweet's dark history of the scandalous life above and below stairs in London's grand hotels during the Second World War. While bombs rain down on London's East End, life in the capital's glittering hotels carries on regardless, with hotels like the Ritz, the Dorchester, the Savoy and Claridge's becoming mini Casablancas, where spies and con artists, traitors and royalty rub shoulders under the reinforced ceilings.
Today: Mussolini's involvement in the conflict breeds hostility against Italians - and the Savoy's waiting staff must prove their allegiance to Britain or face detention
.
Reader: Kenneth Cranham
Producer: Justine Willett
Abridger: Viv Beeby.
THU 15:00 Fyodor Dostoevsky - The Idiot (b00srqfj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
THU 16:00 The Personality Test (b00m5tks)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
THU 16:30 The Elephant Man (b04tvk7m)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
THU 17:00 Bristow (b00ckd51)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
THU 17:30 Tom Wrigglesworth's Hang-Ups (b07tc1rm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
THU 18:00 Charles Chilton - Journey Into Space (b007jqxb)
The Red Planet, Episode 19
Lemmy and Doc master a Martian sphere, and Jet gets a mysterious offer of help. 1954 sci-fi classic set in 1971. Stars Andrew Faulds.
THU 18:30 Great Lives (b007x2pt)
Series 13, Sir Alec Issigonis
Series of biographical discussions with Matthew Parris.
4/9. Engineer Alex Moulton and the Earl of Snowdon talk about the life of Alec Issigonis, the idiosyncratic designer of the Mini.
THU 19:00 Thirty Minutes Worth (b07v05xf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
THU 19:30 Radio Active (b00g42t4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
THU 20:00 Wimsey (b00scvsc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
THU 20:30 The Wales Window of Alabama (b00z5zxv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
THU 21:00 Elizabeth Taylor - The Idea of Age (b07v07c9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
THU 21:15 Afternoon Drama (b018grvp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 today]
THU 22:00 Tom Wrigglesworth's Hang-Ups (b07tc1rm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
THU 22:30 Newsjack (b07v07cc)
Series 15, Episode 2
Made for 4 Extra. This week's stories lovingly bashed, mashed and moulded into sketches, one-liners and hot-takes by the public. Trying to make sense of it all is host Nish Kumar.
THU 23:00 Wondermentalist Cabaret (b00y2f1f)
Series 1, Episode 1
Poet, performer, enemy of all that's difficult and upsetting, Matt Harvey brings his own comedy-infused, musically-enhanced, slightly interactive poetry cabaret to the airwaves. Recorded in front of an audience in Bristol, he's joined by Elvis McGonagall and one man house band Jerri Hart. Fellow poets Lucy English and Byron Vincent battle it out with Elvis in a Dead Poets' Slam, while the audience compose their own poem on the subject of Sundays.
Producer: Mark Smalley.
THU 23:30 As Told to Craig Brown (b00b7qs7)
Series 1, Episode 1
Craig Brown introduces a mixture of satire, social observation and nonsense.
Narrated by Juliet Stevenson and Steve Wright, with John Humphrys, Ronni Ancona, Jon Culshaw, Lewis MacLeod, Ewan Bailey and Margaret Cabourn-Smith.

FRIDAY 16 SEPTEMBER 2016

FRI 00:00 Charles Chilton - Journey Into Space (b007jqxb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Thursday]
FRI 00:30 Great Lives (b007x2pt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:30 on Thursday]
FRI 01:00 Wimsey (b00scvsc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Thursday]
FRI 01:30 The Wales Window of Alabama (b00z5zxv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 on Thursday]
FRI 02:00 BBC National Short Story Award (b06bnq16)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:00 on Thursday]
FRI 02:30 15 Minute Drama (b007vyz6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Thursday]
FRI 02:45 Book of the Week (b017528g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:45 on Thursday]
FRI 03:00 Fyodor Dostoevsky - The Idiot (b00srqfj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Thursday]
FRI 04:00 The Personality Test (b00m5tks)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 on Thursday]
FRI 04:30 The Elephant Man (b04tvk7m)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 on Thursday]
FRI 05:00 Bristow (b00ckd51)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 on Thursday]
FRI 05:30 Tom Wrigglesworth's Hang-Ups (b07tc1rm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Thursday]
FRI 06:00 Richard Marsh - An Illustration of Modern Science (b007jq1h)
Convinced she'll soon be murdered, stage artiste Beauffie Buckingham wants to make her will. Thriller read by Joanna Riding.
FRI 06:30 The Foghorn: A Celebration (b00yqp5z)
Peter Curran celebrates the humble foghorn's powerful role in music, literature and film.
The foghorn was invented in 1855 by Robert Foulis, a Scotsman living in Canada who heard the low notes (but not the high notes) of his daughter's piano playing whist walking far from the family's fog-shrouded coastal cottage, thus inspiring the first steam powered fog horn. But beyond the sea, it's 'whale-like' sound has inspired artists, writers and musicians to use the foghorn both as symbol and instrument.
Peter Curran hears from foghorn composer of 'Maritime Rites' Alvin Curran, Jason Gorski, aka The Fogmaster, who used to conduct guerrilla foghorn concerts in the Bay Area of California, and takes a tour of Portland Bill lighthouse in Dorset, with keeper Larry Walker, taking the opportunity to set off an almighty Victorian foghorn. He also joins James Bond film music and future 2012 Olympic theme music composer David Arnold, who tries to digitally recreate the foghorn's cry, and Dr Harry Witchel, who analyses Peter's yearn for the sound as a child.
Producer: Sara Jane Hall.
FRI 07:00 Dave Sheasby - One Flat Summer (b00752tb)
The Nottingham Meeting
After a big win, is Ken getting out of his depth with his new gambling friends? Stars Gerard McDermott. From September 1997.
FRI 07:30 Al Murray (b01ncl1g)
Al Murray's Judgment Day
Al Murray is joined by comedian, novelist and former Loose Woman, Jenny Éclair, to discuss her past misdemeanours.
As no-one is without sin, Jenny must confess all or fear damnation at the hands of the live studio audience. If the audience think her sins can be forgiven they will save her, but if they judge her to have gone too far, her soul will be sent into the fiery pit of Hell for eternity.
Al takes each of the Seven Deadly Sins - Pride, Gluttony, Greed, Lust, Sloth, Wrath and Envy - and asks Jenny to reveal her worst instances of each, culminating in some pretty shocking revelations!
FRI 08:00 Something to Shout About (b07v0dc5)
Series 1, Episode 11
The ad agency searches for a big name to endorse a men's hair grooming product.
Starring Michael Medwin as Michael, Fenella Fielding as Janet, Joan Sims as Mavis, Eleanor Summerfield as Maggie and Nicholas Phipps as Adrian. With Bill Pertwee and Warren Mitchell.
"A light-hearted exposé of the advertising world!". Set in a London ad agency called 'Apsley, Addis, Cohen, Barbican, Blythe, Giddy & Partners', Something To Shout About ran to 54 episodes over three series
Written by Myles Rudge and Ronnie Wolfe.
Music by The Jingle Belles and The Bernie Fenton Quartet, under the direction of Cliff Adams.
Producer: Trafford Whitelock
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in September 1960.
FRI 08:30 The Goon Show (b00d4182)
The Great British Revolution
Angry revolutionary leader Neddie Seagoon is duped into buying worthless weapons. Stars Harry Secombe. From December 1957.
FRI 09:00 Heresy (b017mv2b)
Series 8, Episode 1
The first in a new series of the programme that dares to commit heresy. Victoria Coren and her guests have fun exposing the wrong-headedness of received wisdom and challenging knee-jerk public reaction to events.
Her guests in the first programme are comedian Mark Steel, novelist Jessica Berens and actor and national treasure, Christopher Biggins.
Christopher Biggins gets on his high pantomime horse, arguing against the assertion that Panto is an outdated art form, Mark Steel comes out in support of public displays of drunkenness and former Tatler journalist Jessica Berens explains why people are totally misguided if they think it would be nice to live in a house like Downton Abbey.
Producer: Brian King
An Avalon Television production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 09:30 Simon's Bug (b04g3nrc)
Episode 1
Suspecting his wife is having an affair, Simon bugs their telephone and learns much more. Stars Hwyel Bennett. From March 1989.
FRI 10:00 Fyodor Dostoevsky - The Idiot (b00srvkn)
Episode 4
Nastasya and Aglaya meet to talk over their feelings for Prince Myshkin, as he begins to fear for his life. Stars Paul Rhys.
FRI 11:00 William Trevor Short Stories (b007jtxy)
The Forty-Seventh Saturday
Mavie and McCarthy have a weekly assignation, but is he as trapped by marriage as she thinks he is? Read by Denys Hawthorne.
FRI 11:15 Afternoon Drama (b018gzm8)
Charles Dickens - A Tale of Two Cities, The Substance and the Shadow
By Charles Dickens
Dramatised by Mike Walker
Episode 5/5 - The Substance and the Shadow
Sydney Carton is in Paris with Lucie and her father, determined to try and save Charles Darnay's life. An encounter in a Paris street with someone from the import-export trade may just provide the ghost of a chance.
Music by Lennert Busch
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole and Jeremy Mortimer.
FRI 12:00 Something to Shout About (b07v0dc5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
FRI 12:30 The Goon Show (b00d4182)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
FRI 13:00 Richard Marsh - An Illustration of Modern Science (b007jq1h)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
FRI 13:30 The Foghorn: A Celebration (b00yqp5z)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
FRI 14:00 BBC National Short Story Award (b06bhw9s)
BBC National Short Story Award 2015, Briar Road
Maxine Peake reads Briar Road, the 2015 award-winning story by Jonathan Buckley.
When their daughter goes missing, a desperate family enlist the help of a clairvoyant to shed light on her fate. Yet their encounter with this visitor puts them all under immense strain. No ordinary psychic, the unnamed narrator surveys the scene with a chillingly forensic eye for detail and an extensive back-catalogue of success stories - her 'bona fides' - to refer to. But, as she realises through a series of intense visions, this will not be a successful intervention.
John Wilson, presenting a special live edition of Radio 4's Front Row programme from the award ceremony, described the story as "a brilliantly subtle story that all hinges on the slow reveal, the accumulation of detail".
Written by Jonathan Buckley
Read by Maxine Peake
Produced by Simon Richardson.
FRI 14:30 15 Minute Drama (b007vyz9)
Winifred Holtby - The Crowded Street, Episode 5
Diana Griffiths's dramatisation of Winifred Holtby's tale of a woman's journey into self-fulfilment.
5/10. Muriel and her mother visit Scarborough during the War but the Germans are shelling the town. A visit from Godfrey Neale changes the course of Muriel's life.
Muriel ...... Clare Goose
Connie ...... Joanne Froggatt
Godfrey ...... James D'Arcy
Mrs Hammond ...... Brigit Forsyth
Delia Vaughan ...... Deborah McAndrew
Directed by Pauline Harris.
FRI 14:45 Book of the Week (b017551c)
Matthew Sweet - The West End Front, Episode 5
Kenneth Cranham reads the final part of Matthew Sweet's history of the scandalous life above and below stairs in London's grand hotels during the Second World War. While bombs rain down on London's East End, life in the capital's glittering hotels carries on as usual, with the Ritz, the Dorchester, the Savoy and Claridge's transforming themselves into mini Casablancas.
Today: cabinet ministers and spies, anti-Semites and zionists, dowagers and showgirls - the weird and wonderful clientele of the Dorchester carries on regardless.
.
Reader: Kenneth Cranham
Producer: Justine Willett
Abridger: Viv Beeby.
FRI 15:00 Fyodor Dostoevsky - The Idiot (b00srvkn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
FRI 16:00 Heresy (b017mv2b)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
FRI 16:30 Simon's Bug (b04g3nrc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
FRI 17:00 Dave Sheasby - One Flat Summer (b00752tb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
FRI 17:30 Al Murray (b01ncl1g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
FRI 18:00 Charles Chilton - Journey Into Space (b007jqz9)
The Red Planet, Episode 20
Captain Jet Morgan and his crew attempt to outrun the Martian Spheres in their bid to escape. 1954 sci-fi classic set in the future of 1971. Stars Andrew Faulds.
FRI 18:30 Soul Music (b00tmlh4)
Series 10, Send in the Clowns
Stephen Sondheim's song, Send In the Clowns, from the musical 'A Little Night Music' was written late in rehearsals for the actress Glynnis Johns, playing the part of Desiree. A song of regret and anger, the part has famously been played by Judi Dench, and the song became an independent hit, sung by Judy Collins, Shirley Bassey and Barbra Striesand. Hannah Waddingham played the youngest ever Desiree in Trevor Nunn's production, and used her memories of an unhappy relationship to inspire her performance.
FRI 19:00 Something to Shout About (b07v0dc5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
FRI 19:30 The Goon Show (b00d4182)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
FRI 20:00 Richard Marsh - An Illustration of Modern Science (b007jq1h)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
FRI 20:30 The Foghorn: A Celebration (b00yqp5z)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
FRI 21:00 William Trevor Short Stories (b007jtxy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
FRI 21:15 Afternoon Drama (b018gzm8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 today]
FRI 22:00 Al Murray (b01ncl1g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
FRI 22:30 Ian D Montfort Is: Unbelievable (b01qqbvx)
Series 1, Hardeep Singh Kohli
Ian D Montfort is a celebrity spirit medium and psychic, and star of a brand new series for Radio 2. A comedy character created by Tom Binns (the man behind hapless hospital radio DJ Ivan Brackenbury) Ian D Montfort has been a hit at the last three Edinburgh festivals with his combination of magic and laughter.
In each radio show Ian makes contact with the celebrity 'spirit guides' secretly chosen by audience members and reveals personal stories that make them laugh-out-loud one moment and gasp in surprise the next. Each episode features a different celebrity guest who gets a 'private' reading from Ian. This episode stars broadcaster, presenter and cook Hardeep Singh Kohli who attempts to exert his own psychic potential on Ian, and other guests across the series are Ruth Madoc, Angela Griffin and Joe Swash.
FRI 23:00 A Look Back at the Nineties (b007jqpw)
1997
Brian Perkins, Kate Robbins and Chris Barrie 'look back' at the decade that was yet to happen. Recorded in July 1993.
FRI 23:25 The Comedy Club Interviews (b07w6g5s)
The best in contemporary comedy. Arthur Smith chats to Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais.
FRI 23:30 The Flight of the Conchords (b007k0r4)
Pop Song
The band want to pen a song for a teen idol without selling out. Stars Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement. From September 2005.