SATURDAY 12 NOVEMBER 2016

SAT 00:00 Bram Stoker - Midnight Tales (b01g9873)
The Squaw
An arrogant American earns himself a truly horrific retribution. The final tale from the Dracula author, read by Dyfed Thomas.
SAT 00:15 15 Minute Drama (b01jhnyc)
Chronicles of Ait - The Saxon Stones, Episode 5
Written by Michael Butt
Chronicles of Ait -The Saxon Stones finds author and one-time TV historian Linus Scott returning to the remote east coast settlement of Ait to attend the funeral of his childhood mentor, Kenrick, a scholar of Old English who had rescued the young boy from a problem background. But also attending the ceremony is a stranger, Alice Pyper, who, to Scott's surprise, appears to have had some connection to the deceased man. When Alice begins snooping around Kenrick's house, Scott confronts her, and the first door is opened onto a labyrinthine mystery that leads deep into the history of the Saxon Stones and the ominous myth of Dracamuth.
Cast:
Linus Scott . . . . . Greg Wise
Alice Pyper . . . . . Amanda Drew
Darlene . . . . . Heather Craney
Thurgis . . . . . Richard Hope
Irwin . . . . . Christopher James
Lord Ethel . . . . . Jonathan Keeble
Child Linus . . . . . James Foster
Produced & Directed by John Taylor
A Fiction Factory production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 00:30 Soul Music (b00zlk07)
Series 11, Schubert's Winterreise
Schubert's Winterreise
Written the year before Schubert's death aged just 31, these 24 songs based on poems by Wilhelm Müller describe a journey that takes us ever deeper into the frozen landscape of the soul. Singers Thomas Hampson, Mark Padmore, Alice Coote and David Pisaro describe the experience of immersing themselves in this music. And Bernard Keefe tells of the time he sang these songs in Hiroshima to survivors of the bomb.
Producer, Rosie Boulton.
SAT 01:00 John Godey - The Taking of Pelham 123 (b01chylv)
Episode 2
With terrified hostages, the brutal hijackers make demands to the Transit Authority. William Hope reads John Godey's thriller.
SAT 01:30 The Poppy Factory (b016x22w)
Chris Ledgard explores the story of The Poppy Factory in Surrey where, for nearly ninety years, former members of the armed forces have made millions of poppies and wreaths for Remembrance Sunday.
In 1922, Major George Howson, the founder of the Disabled Society, wrote to his parents: "I have been given a cheque for £2,000 to make poppies with. It is a large responsibility and will be very difficult. If the experiment is successful it will be the start of an industry to employ 150 men. I do not think it can be a great success, but it is worth doing."
Major Howson's pessimism was short-lived. His workforce grew rapidly and, a few years later, The Poppy Factory had to move from the Old Kent Road in London to bigger premises in Richmond, Surrey. Soon, more than 350 men had jobs there.
The factory is still in the same place and still staffed by former servicemen and women and their dependants, some of whom are coping with stress disorders. We meet them and hear about the history of this remarkable institution. Millions of poppies are now made by home workers in the surrounding area, like Mr and Mrs King, all of whom have a connection with the armed services. We go out in the Poppy Van to meet the Kings who, between them, put together five thousand remembrance poppies a week, every week of the year.
We'll hear how the charity is coping with a dwindling workforce and a shift to mechanised production. Flats on the large Richmond site are now let out to provide money which is being used all over the country to help members of the armed forces find civilian work. Chris discovers how the money helped Caroline Plank, a Territorial Army Signaller with 8 months' service in Afghanistan who now lives on a houseboat on the River Avon.
Producer: Chris Ledgard.
SAT 02:00 Book at Bedtime (b01pglw6)
Daphne Du Maurier - Frenchman's Creek, Episode 5
Part adventure, part romance, and set in Cornwall, Daphne Du Maurier's novel tells the powerful love story between Lady Dona and the French pirate Aubery.
Episode 5
Dona enjoys her newfound secret friendship and is invited to accompany the pirates on their next adventure.
Read by Adjoa Andoh
Abridged by Eileen Horne
Produced by Clive Brill
A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 02:15 The People's Post: A Narrative History of the Post Office (b017x4fv)
Freepost
In the early 1800s the post office operated an expensive and illogical payment system. This forced letter-writers into ever more imaginative ways of avoiding postage, from using private couriers, to hiding letters in barrels of butter, to sending coded newspapers. MPs were allowed to send letters for free, but as only a signature was required it created a system that was ripe for abuse.
As Royal Mail faces an uncertain future, Dominic Sandbrook charts the development of the post office and examines it's impact on literacy, free speech, commerce and communication.
Writer and Presenter: Dominic Sandbrook
Historical Consultant: Susan Whyman
Musicians: Sam Lee, Bella Hardy, Mick Sands, Nick Hart
Actors:Morgan George, John Sessions, Simon Tcherniak,
Malcolm Tierney, Jane Whittenshaw
Producer: Joby Waldman
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 02:30 Julia Darling - Appointments (b0076qmw)
Carla's Facial
Maureen does not let her tumour diagnosis stop her from going for a facial appointment with her daughter. Stars Val McClane.
SAT 02:45 Book of the Week (b019lzsy)
Stop What You're Doing and Read This, The Right Words in the Right Order
Passionate, funny, revelatory and inspiring, this series is a mission statement about the transformative power of reading; about the way it inspires us, the tangible impact it can have on our well-being and the importance it holds for us now and will continue to hold in the future.
Stop What You're Doing And Read This! features five of our finest authors and advocates from the world of publishing. Michael Rosen, Jeanette Winterson, Tim Parks, Carmen Callil and Mark Haddon, are all united here in a passionate belief in the distinctive and irreplaceable pleasures and powers of reading. Their essays argue that reading literature is, and must continue to be, a fundamental part of our daily life, as it directly improves our mental health and well-being, enriches our experience and broadens our imaginations.
As the ways people read, what they read, where they buy their books and in what format are all changing rapidly, this series argues unapologetically for the paramount importance of books and reading in a fast-moving, dislocated, technology-obsessed world.
From the moment he won six Penguin Classics in a school competition Mark Haddon has been an avid reader. But it's not the plots of books he focuses on but the words themselves, the images they conjure up, the world's they introduce him to. In 'The Right Words In the Right Order' he explains how reading, and reading the right books at the right time is a life-enhancing experience.
Producer: David Roper
A Heavy Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 03:00 Classic Serial (b00dcgdw)
Tobias Smollett - The Expedition of Humphry Clinker, Episode 3
Tobias Smollet's uproarious satire of 18th-century life, dramatised by Yvonne Antrobus.
The Bramble family's adventures continue as they begin the long trip home, a journey full of surprises and unexpected revelations.
Mathew Bramble ...... Nigel Anthony
Tabitha Bramble ...... Marcia Warren
Lydia Melford ...... Helen Longworth
Jery Melford ...... Dan Starkey
Winifred Jenkins ...... Joanna Page
Humphry Clinker ...... Stuart McLoughlin
Lieutenant Lismahago ...... John Rowe
Sir Thomas Bullford ...... Trevor Peacock
Oxmington/Dennison ...... Sam Dale
Wilson/French valet ...... Nyasha Hatendi
Frogmore ...... Stephen Critchlow
Other parts played by Chris Pavlo, Joan Walker and Ben Crowe.

Directed by Marc Beeby.
SAT 04:00 The 3rd Degree (b041vvvy)
Series 4, Aberystwyth University
A 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 Aberystwyth University, "The 3rd Degree" is a funny, lively and dynamic quiz show aimed at cultivating the next generation of Radio 4 listeners whilst delighting the current ones.
The Specialist Subjects in this episode are Welsh Literature & Folklore, Information Management and Art History and the questions involve alien visitations, a mechanical lifesize doll, a perfect circle, a shark, some scorpions and Swedish massage.
The show is recorded on location at a different University each week, and it pits three Undergraduates against three of their Professors in a genuinely original and fresh take on an academic quiz. Being a Radio 4 programme, it of course meets the most stringent standards of academic rigour - but with lots of facts and jokes thrown in for good measure.
Together with host Steve Punt, the show tours the (sometimes posh, sometimes murky, but always welcoming!) Union buildings, cafés and lecture halls of six universities across the UK.
The rounds vary between Specialist Subjects and General Knowledge, quickfire bell-and-buzzer rounds and the 'Highbrow & 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... In addition, the Head-to-Head rounds, in which students take on their Professors in their own subjects, were particularly lively, and offered plenty of scope for mild embarrassment on both sides...
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...
In this series, the universities are Bristol, Kent, Bedfordshire, Birmingham, Nottingham & Aberystwyth.
Overflow (incl Cast Lists)
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. As well as "The Now Show" 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 half-hour comedy for Radio 4's 2008 Big Bang Day set in the Large Hadron Collider, called "The Genuine Particle". This makes him the perfect host for a show which aims to be an intellectual, fulfilling and informative quiz, but with wit and a genuine delight in exploring the subjects at hand.
The 3rd Degree is a Pozzitive production, produced by David Tyler. His radio credits include Armando Iannucci's Charm Offensive, Cabin Pressure, Bigipedia, The Brig Society, Thanks A Lot, Milton Jones!, Kevin Eldon Will See You Now, Jeremy Hardy Speaks To The Nation, Giles Wemmbley Hogg Goes Off, The 99p Challenge, My First Planet, The Castle and even, going back a bit, Radio Active. His TV credits include Paul Merton - The Series, Spitting Image, Absolutely, The Paul & Pauline Calf Video Diaries, Coogan's Run, The Tony Ferrino Phenomenon and exec producing Victoria Wood's dinnerladies.
Producer: David Tyler
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 04:30 No Commitments (b01r7mlb)
Series 11, Taking Chances
Victoria and Roger have money worries, while Anna has got a secret to keep for Emily. Stars Rosemary Leach. From February 2005.
SAT 05:00 London Calling (b05ndzw7)
In the Beginning
Back to the BBC's early wireless days of 1922.
The microphone jammed if a speaker talked too loudly, the letters of praise and complaint flooded in, and then a new Director-General, John Brown, came to take over the British Broadcasting Company.
Written by Jimmy Perry, the man behind Dad's Army and Hi-De-Hi.
Starring Graham Crowden as John Brown, Jimmy Perry as Colonel Beecham, Roy Hudd as Fred "Keep 'em Laughing" Hicks, Bill Pertwee as Sergeant Lucas, Jeffrey Holland as Roger Eccles and Joann Munro as Miss Nightingale
Producer: Jo Clegg.
First broadcast nightly on BBC Radio 2 in September 1994.
SAT 05:30 Mark Thomas: The Manifesto (b01s0qnc)
Series 5, Episode 4
Activist comedian Mark Thomas considers policy suggestions for a People's Manifesto. Recorded in the BBC Radio Theatre, London. Producer: Colin Anderson.
SAT 06:00 Saturday Drama (b01bh91t)
Michael Morpurgo - Private Peaceful
Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo dramatised by Simon Reade with music by Coope Boyes and Simpson.
In WW1 over 300 British soldiers were executed by firing squad, some for desertion and cowardice. Many were traumatised by shell-shock. Some 90 years later they received posthumous pardons from the British Government, after a campaign helped by Michael Morpurgo's novel Private Peaceful .
Recorded on location in Iddesleigh - the Devon village where the book is set with Michael Morpurgo playing the Vicar and Nicholas Lyndhurst Seargent Hanley
The Organist was Marjorie Cleverdon
Music - Coope Boyes and Simpson.
Directed on location by Susan Roberts.
SAT 07:30 Hardeep Singh Kohli's Alternative Census (b00z61qt)
Episode 3
In the last programme in this series, Hardeep Singh Kohli travels to Merthyr Tydfil, Christchurch and Brighton to try out his own version of the census. Combining some of the questions from the official census, and some of his own, his aim is to engage householders in an intimate conversation about who they are and what matters to them most.
Exploring themes of identity, health and religion, Hardeep speaks to an elderly woman who is the full time carer for her son, a retired woman living in 'Gods waiting room' and an unemployed man who talks of his approach to prayer and faith.
With questions that range from the intimate to the irreverent, from the factual to the emotional, Hardeep Singh Kohli explores the parts of our lives that box-checking and number counting don't allow for, uncovering the individual, everyday experiences of people across the country.
Producer: Katie Burningham
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 08:00 Archive on 4 (b01cj2lf)
The Politics of Art
This "Archive on 4" uses John Berger's ground-breaking 1972 BBC-2 series on art and society - called "Ways of Seeing" - and Tim Marlow's extensive knowledge and popular appeal to do three things.
First, to show how the programmes challenged, in a revolutionary way, how we think about paintings and understand them. Secondly, to reveal how they contributed significantly to broader social change by offering a compelling new approach to understanding the relationship between painting and wider society. And, thirdly, to consider what the legacy of the series has been for public awareness of art.
John Berger's decision to wear brightly coloured, open-necked shirts was arresting enough. But it was his opening-frame vandalism of Botticelli's celebrated canvas "Venus and Mars" from the National Gallery which broke new ground. It argued that paintings had been stripped of their context to raise money through sales of reproductions. It also amounted to a wider, devastating critique of money-grubbing by the previously unassailable taxpayer-supported galleries.
In the febrile political and social atmosphere of the early Seventies in Britain, "Ways of Seeing" argued powerfully, as we hear in extracts from across the programmes, for understanding art in a far more political way. Tim shows how "Ways of Seeing" was engaged, passionate and up-to-date, explicitly seeking out the opinions of those - notably women and children - whose views had until then been largely ignored.
Tim also considers the wider legacy of the series. In particular, he demonstrates that Berger's pot-stirring approach changed the way art is understood. As we again live through leaner economic times, Tim finds out how far the message of this series is newly pertinent.
SAT 09:00 In the Lumber Room with Saki (b082m09r)
Back in 1916 on the battlefield of the Somme, a German sniper brought to an end the life of perhaps Britain's greatest short-story writer.
Hector Hugh Munro was a political sketch-writer, foreign correspondent, historian and novelist. But he is best known under the pen name Saki for his short story writing.
Saki's dark and twisted tales make delicious radio drama. Many of them centre on childish mishief, small acts of rebellion against pretentious or overbearing authority figures, and supernatural beasts.
The stories draw on the author's upbringing in North Devon, where Saki was raised by his aunts and grandmother.
Shaun Ley, who also grew up in Devon, returns to Saki's childhood home to explore the environment that made the author.
In this three-hour programme, Shaun brings together a series of adaptations, including The Lumber Room, The Toys of Peace, The She-Wolf, The Schartz-Metterklume Method, Mrs Packeltide's Tiger, The Open Window and Sredni Vashtar.
Contributors include: Sir Richard Eyre, Will Self and Dr Sandie Byrne.
Producer: Adam Bowen for BBC News - Westminster.
SAT 12:00 The Personality Test (b00mf3kk)
Series 2, Roy Hattersley
The former Labour Party deputy leader quizzes a panel about himself. With Sue Perkins and Lucy Porter. From December 2006.
SAT 12:30 The Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise Show (b01sjj1t)
From 01/05/1978
Chips connoisseurs - and Ern hires a French au pair, in the legendary comic duo's final show for the BBC.
With Anne Hamilton and Allan Cuthbertson and a song from The Nolan Sisters.
Written and adapted by Eddie Braben.
Music from Peter Knight and his Orchestra.
Producer: Bobby Jaye
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in May 1978.
SAT 13:00 Jezebel: Omnibus (b082m09t)
The story of an older woman, in 1900s France, so obsessed with her lost youth, she will stop at nothing. Stars Frances Barber.
SAT 14:10 Inheritance Tracks (b082m09w)
Will Young
The inaugural Pop Idol winner Will Young chooses 'Taxman' by The Beatles and 'Love And Affection' by Joan Armatrading.
SAT 14:15 Down Your Way (b082m09y)
Baroness Seear in Bermondsey
Social scientist, Baroness Seear returns to the close south London Dockland community of Bermondsey, which she first researched in the 1950s.
Returning to Peak Frean's biscuit factory which closed in 1989, the Baroness is keen to discover how the local community has changed.
Down Your Way was a schedule staple for decades - starting on the BBC Home Service in 1946 and ending its run on BBC Radio 4 in 1992. Using a variety of hosts, including Richard Dimbleby and Brian Johnston, the programme toured villages, towns and cities across the UK. At the height of its success in the 1950s, the series was attracting 10 million listeners a week.
Baroness Seear was born in 1913 and died in 1997.
Producer: Laura Baker
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1991.
SAT 15:00 Archive on 4 (b01cj2lf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
SAT 16:00 Saturday Drama (b01bh91t)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
SAT 17:30 Hardeep Singh Kohli's Alternative Census (b00z61qt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
SAT 18:00 Dangerous Visions (b02x98fc)
Death Duty
By Michael Butt
In a desperate bid for water, a city-state plagued by drought has instituted a system of so-called Gifts, a weekly lottery that leads to the sacrifice of its young men. But the Gifts aren't working, and when the man in charge of the system sees his son's number called up, his faith is sorely tested.
Producer, Sasha Yevtushenko.
SAT 18:45 Dangerous Visions (b047d0wn)
The Keepers
Matt Haig's vision in which a man wonders from his cage in a zoo what it means to be human. In a letter to his daughter he describes the events leading up to the moment humankind's supremacy came to an end.
Read by Barnaby Kay
Produced by Gemma Jenkins
Bestselling author of The Humans, A Boy Called Christmas and How To Stay Alive.
SAT 19:00 In the Lumber Room with Saki (b082m09r)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
SAT 22:00 The Simon Day Show (b011cfmx)
Series 1, Simon Day
Simon Day and his characters welcome listeners to The Mallard, a small provincial theatre somewhere in the UK. Each week one of Simon's characters come to perform at The Mallard and we hear the highlights of that night's show along with the back stage and front of house goings on at the theatre itself.
In the final episode of the series British comedy legend and star of The Fast Show, Down the Line and Bellamy's People, Simon Day visits The Mallard Theatre as "himself".
Cast list:
Simon Day ..... Simon Day
Catherine ..... Catherine Shepherd
Goose ..... Felix Dexter
Ron Bone ..... Simon Greenall
Written by Simon Day
Produced by Colin Anderson.
SAT 22:30 Little Britain (b008gh5h)
Series 1, Episode 2
Back where it premiered, Matt Lucas and David Walliams' oddball TV smash hit without the cameras. From March 2001.
SAT 22:55 The Comedy Club Interviews (b084f6pk)
The best in contemporary comedy. Arthur Smith chats to The Thinking Drinkers.
SAT 23:00 The Mary Whitehouse Experience (b007jms5)
From 25/08/89
David Baddiel, Rob Newman, Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis provocatively undress the issues of August 1989. With Mark Thomas.
SAT 23:30 Elis James's Pantheon of Heroes (b0196r9b)
Series 1, Seafarers
Seafarers: Prince Madoc? Swansea Jack? Comparing Welsh history's key figures to determine Wales's ultimate heroes. From January 2012.

SUNDAY 13 NOVEMBER 2016

SUN 00:00 Dangerous Visions (b02x98fc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Saturday]
SUN 00:45 Dangerous Visions (b047d0wn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:45 on Saturday]
SUN 01:00 Jezebel: Omnibus (b082m09t)
[Repeat of broadcast at 13:00 on Saturday]
SUN 02:10 Inheritance Tracks (b082m09w)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:10 on Saturday]
SUN 02:15 Down Your Way (b082m09y)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:15 on Saturday]
SUN 03:00 Archive on 4 (b01cj2lf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 on Saturday]
SUN 04:00 Saturday Drama (b01bh91t)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Saturday]
SUN 05:30 Hardeep Singh Kohli's Alternative Census (b00z61qt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Saturday]
SUN 06:00 Julia Darling - Appointments (b05r71h3)
Omnibus
Maureen Wetherby keeps seeing a shadow out of the corner of her eye. She visits Doctor Merrily for some test results. With Val McLane.
SUN 07:15 Getting on Air: The Female Pioneers (b03ffskk)
A Level Playing Field
Jane Garvey investigates the stories behind five landmark moments in the history of the female voice on radio and television.
Jacqui Oatley was the first woman to commentate on a football match on 'Match of the Day' in 2007, but became a focus of media and social networking attention in the process. How easy is it for women with expert knowledge about a subject to get their voices heard on radio and TV and how close are they to achieving a level playing field? And what is currently happening to improve the gender balance of expert voices?
In this final programme in the series, Jane Garvey talks to Jacqui Oatley, TV historian Bettany Hughes and award-winning journalist Lis Howell.

Producer: Jane Reck
An Alfi Media Ltd production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 07:30 Tom Wrigglesworth's Open Letters (b00y2sdt)
Series 1, Parking Enforcement
Through the medium of four open letters, the comedian Tom Wrigglesworth investigates the myriad examples of corporate lunacy and maddening jobsworths in modern Britain.
In this series his subjects range from traffic wardens to estate agents, with Tom recalling his own funny and ridiculous experiences as well as recounting the absurd encounters of others.
Tom finds himself baffled by the weird world of parking enforcement.
SUN 08:00 Take It From Here (b01bl4rd)
From 02/04/1958
Eth wants a busier social life in 'The Glums', while Jim and Bentley go to the ballet.
Starring Professor Jimmy Edwards, Dick Bentley and June Whitfield.
Music from Wallace Eaton and the Keynotes and the BBC Revue Orchestra conducted by Harry Rabinowitz.
Scripted by Frank Muir and Denis Norden.
Producer: Charles Maxwell
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in April 1958.
SUN 08:30 Jerome K Jerome - Three Men on the Bummel (b01dtj7q)
Episode 3
"On the Continent they do sincerely believe that every Englishman is mad. They are as convinced of it as is every English peasant that Frenchmen live in frogs".
Approaching the end of their epic journey by bike, George, Harris and J attempt contemplate the Germans as a nation.
Adapted and performed in three episodes by Jeremy Nicholas.
Music by Jeremy Nicholas. Performed by The Grimethorpe Colliery Band
Producer: Paul Mayhew-Archer
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1984.
SUN 09:00 The Apple Orchard: Omnibus (b082m5kz)
Pete Brown charts the cycle of an orchard's year to illuminate the hand-in-hand history of humanity and our most familiar fruit.
SUN 09:55 Uncle Mort's North Country (b007jrcs)
Series 2, 2084
Carter Brandon takes his uncle off to ponder growing old over a pint. Peter Tinniswood's adventures with Stephen Thorne.
SUN 10:10 Inheritance Tracks (b082m62y)
Enya
Irish singer-songwriter Enya chooses Claude Debussy's 'Nocturnes: Nuages' and her own composition 'Orinoco Flow'.
SUN 10:15 Desert Island Discs Revisited (b082m630)
Americans, Alice Walker
4 Extra Debut. From Beethoven to Stevie Wonder, award-winning author Alice Walker shares her castaway choices with Kirsty Young. From May 2013.
SUN 11:00 TED Radio Hour (b082m6cv)
Series 3, The Power of Design
Guy Raz explores how design, from buildings to the digital world, could be better, bolder and more elegant.
A journey through fascinating ideas based on talks by riveting speakers on the TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) stage.
SUN 11:55 In a Nutshell (b00sj9lp)
Einstein Watch Maker
A Leonard Rossiter monologue musing on technological advances in society as seen in the humble wristwatch. From 1981.
SUN 12:00 Take It From Here (b01bl4rd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
SUN 12:30 Jerome K Jerome - Three Men on the Bummel (b01dtj7q)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
SUN 13:00 Julia Darling - Appointments (b05r71h3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
SUN 14:15 Getting on Air: The Female Pioneers (b03ffskk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:15 today]
SUN 14:30 Sebastian Barry - Days Without End: Omnibus (b082m6cx)
Episode 2
Thomas McNulty tells how he and John Cole came to join the US Cavalry in Missouri, 1851. Read by Stanley Townsend.
SUN 15:45 Deborah Moggach - A Real Countrywoman (b082q3ml)
4 Extra Debut. A campaign is started to stop a ring road going through a little wood, but Ruth has an idea. Read by Elizabeth Mansfield.
SUN 16:00 Saturday Drama (b0077134)
Adam Thorpe - Devastated Areas
Adam Thorpe's play explores civilian grief during and after the Great War of 1914-1918 in three interweaving stories.
In Berlin, a sculptress is working on a memorial statue to the volunteers; in the valley of the Somme a glazier is repairing the blown-out windows of a church; and on the Berkshire Downs a gardener tends his roses.
Sofie ...... Eliza Langland
Ernst ...... Finlay Welsh
Reg ...... Richard Greenwood
Jess ...... Lucy Paterson
Auguste ...... Jimmy Chisholm
Monsieur le Curé ...... Gareth Thomas
Mrs Lombard ...... Noreen Leighton
Colin ...... Matthew Pidgeon
Pianist Leon Coates.
SUN 17:00 Poetry Extra (b082q3mq)
Lyrical Ballads - Children and Childhood
BBC Radio 4's Poet in Residence, Daljit Nagra revisits the BBC's radio poetry archive with Children and Childhood.
Steve Connor explores the effect on English literature and thought of Wordsworth and Coleridge's Lyrical Ballads.
Producers: Julian May and Abigail Appleton.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in October 1998.
SUN 17:30 Tom Wrigglesworth's Open Letters (b00y2sdt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
SUN 18:00 The Man in Black (b017prn7)
Series 4, The Punt
Mark Gatiss introduces Christina Balit's tale of an ex-alcoholic on the run from more than just his AA buddy. Stars Ian Hogg.
SUN 18:30 Ray Bradbury - Golden Apples of the Sun (b007jn3z)
The Flying Machine, The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl
From Ray Bradbury's collection of sci-fi short-stories: the terrible perils of invention and the murderous dangers of jealousy...
Starring Don Fellows, Ed Bishop, Turan Ali and Paul Maxwell.
Dramatised by Lawrence Gilbert.
Producer: Peter Hutchings
First broadcast on BBC Radio 5 in 1991.
SUN 19:00 TED Radio Hour (b082m6cv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
SUN 19:55 In a Nutshell (b00sj9lp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:55 today]
SUN 20:00 The Apple Orchard: Omnibus (b082m5kz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
SUN 20:55 Uncle Mort's North Country (b007jrcs)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:55 today]
SUN 21:10 Inheritance Tracks (b082m62y)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:10 today]
SUN 21:15 Desert Island Discs Revisited (b082m630)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:15 today]
SUN 22:00 Tom Wrigglesworth's Open Letters (b00y2sdt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
SUN 22:30 Listen Against (b00tt5mb)
Series 3, Episode 3
The programme that looks back at a week's worth of radio and TV that never happened. Michael Burke becomes trapped in the Moral Maze, and Any Answers gets a game show makeover.
Presented by Alice Arnold and Jon Holmes.
Produced by Sam Bryant and Jon Holmes.
SUN 22:55 The Comedy Club Interviews (b084f6qx)
The best in contemporary comedy. Arthur Smith chats to The Thinking Drinkers.
SUN 23:00 The Lach Chronicles (b037jcjt)
Series 1, Rock and Roll Nation
Lach was the King of Manhattan's East Village and host of the longest running open mic night in New York. He now lives in Scotland and finds himself back at square one, playing in a dive bar on the wrong side of Edinburgh.
His night, held in various venues around New York, was called the Antihoot. He played host to Suzanne Vega, Jeff Buckley and many others; he discovered and nurtured lots of talent including Beck, Regina Spektor and the Moldy Peaches - but nobody discovered him.
This week we find Lach reminiscing about his influences and he shares his thoughts on Jim Morrison, Batman and Tom Petty.
Written and performed by Lach
Sound design: Al Lorraine and Sean Kerwin
Producer: Richard Melvin
A Dabster production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 23:15 Julian Fox: On a Lonely Planet (b042cpth)
Airports
The home-based travel show hits London's airports to review flight options. How about a holiday in Gatwick? From March 2005.
SUN 23:30 Radio Shuttleworth (b007ynmh)
Series 2, Episode 6
Matthew Kelly joins Sheffield singer John for a special edition of Stars in Their Eyes. With Mitch Benn. From March 2000.

MONDAY 14 NOVEMBER 2016

MON 00:00 The Man in Black (b017prn7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Sunday]
MON 00:30 Ray Bradbury - Golden Apples of the Sun (b007jn3z)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:30 on Sunday]
MON 01:00 Julia Darling - Appointments (b05r71h3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Sunday]
MON 02:15 Getting on Air: The Female Pioneers (b03ffskk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:15 on Sunday]
MON 02:30 Sebastian Barry - Days Without End: Omnibus (b082m6cx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Sunday]
MON 03:45 Deborah Moggach - A Real Countrywoman (b082q3ml)
[Repeat of broadcast at 15:45 on Sunday]
MON 04:00 Saturday Drama (b0077134)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:00 on Sunday]
MON 05:00 Poetry Extra (b082q3mq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 17:00 on Sunday]
MON 05:30 Tom Wrigglesworth's Open Letters (b00y2sdt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Sunday]
MON 06:00 John Godey - The Taking of Pelham 123 (b01cv8px)
Episode 3
Tensions mount for the terrified New York's hostages aboard a busy commuter train, as the demands of the heavily-armed hijackers reach the Mayor.
Read by William Hope.
John Godey's thriller abridged in 5-parts by Neville Teller.
A best-seller in 1973, 'The Taking of Pelham 123' was made into the 1974 film starring Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw, a 1998 TV-movie remake of the same title, and a 2009 film starring Denzel Washington and John Travolta. The novel's impact - and that of the subsequent 1974 film - apparently resulted in New York's City Transit Authority banning any scheduling of a train departing Pelham station at 1:23 for many years.
Using the pen name John Godey, Brooklyn-born author Morton Freedgood's crime novels include 'A Thrill a Minute With Jack Albany', 'Never Put Off Till Tomorrow What You Can Kill Today' and 'The Three Worlds of Johnny Handsome'.
Producer: Heather Larmour
Made for BBC Radio Extra by BBC Northern Ireland.
First broadcast in 2012.
MON 06:30 My Empire of Dust (b012r7jx)
Wolfgang Stoecker is on a mission to explore the cultural meanings of dust, swept up from historic buildings.
Cologne-based artist Stoecker has collected samples of dust from historic buildings across Europe and beyond. With the help of scientists and an electro-microscope at Augsburg University he has analysed the dust and discovered it contains tiny fossils, dust from the Sahara, pollutants of various kinds and human debris.
Aeolian research, research into dust particles and sediments, is an established branch of geographical study, often concerned with the history and future of climate change, desertification and landscape erosion, but as Wolfgang has discovered, dust can also tell us something about human culture.
Wolfgang has been surprised and delighted by the excitement his requests for dust generate, and the enthusiasm of curators of historic buildings to comply. John Campbell is the Dean's Verger at Lincoln cathedral. He received Wolfgang's initial email with some scepticism but it made sense too, because dust is often on his mind as the person responsible for the upkeep of this great building. He collected two samples for Wolfgang's collection: 'secular' dust near the entrance, where the traffic of feet is greatest, and 'sacred' dust, near the altar, where traces of candles, incense and sacred silverware are to be found. 'I've challenged him to tell me which is which', says John. 'I like to think that the dust here at Lincoln might contain traces of the pilgrims and worshippers who've been coming here over the centuries. Everyone leaves a trace of themselves behind in the dust'.
Wolfgang Stoecker is an engaging and charismatic host in this thought-provoking and witty documentary.
MON 07:00 Heated Rollers (b007s849)
Episode 6
The real Sleeping Beauty, and a women's jail. All-women sketch show with Lynda Bellingham and Lorraine Bowen. From March 1999.
MON 07:30 The Unbelievable Truth (b081lddb)
Series 17, Episode 6
David Mitchell hosts the panel game in which four comedians are encouraged to tell lies and compete against one another to see how many items of truth they're able to smuggle past their opponents.
John Finnemore, Frankie Boyle, Jeremy Hardy and Lucy Porter are the panellists obliged to talk with deliberate inaccuracy on subjects as varied as spies, fire, Norfolk and The Beatles.
The show is devised by Graeme Garden and Jon Naismith, the team behind Radio 4's I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue.
Produced by Jon Naismith
A Random Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 08:00 The Burkiss Way (b007jttb)
Series 3, Ignore These Programme Titles the Burkiss Way
The team pulls open the "Door Handle of the Day" - and who will win the "Difficult Time of the Month Competition"?
Starring Fred Harris, Jo Kendall, Nigel Rees and Chris Emmett .
Cult sketch comedy series which originally ran from 1976 to 1980.
Scripted by David Renwick and Andrew Marshall.
Producer: John Lloyd
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 1978.
MON 08:30 It Sticks Out Half a Mile (b007jph9)
Who Owned the Pier?
1948: In the battle to restore the pier in Frambourne-on-Sea, hopes rest on a visit from an electrician...
A seaside saga of pier perpetuation starring John Le Mesurier as Arthur Wilson, Ian Lavender as Frank Pike, Bill Pertwee as Bert Hodges and Vivienne Martin as Miss Perkins.
After a pilot episode was made in 1981, Arthur Lowe sadly died. So this 13-part series was revamped to feature the Dad's Army characters played by Pertwee and Lavender instead. The series was later adapted for ITV by Yorkshire TV.
Written by Harold Snoad and Michael Knowles, based on the characters originally created by Jimmy Perry and David Croft.
Producer: Martin Fisher
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in November 1983.
MON 09:00 Just a Minute (b00mg2v4)
Series 55, Episode 7
Nicholas Parsons chairs the devious word game.
Jenny Eclair and Stephen Fry compare what they shop for online and Paul Merton and Charles Collingwood discuss how best to go about making an impression.
MON 09:30 The Change (b00nsnhx)
Series 1, Over the Rainbow
Transvestite George confuses Ken when he sees him in a dress. Stars Lynda Bellingham and Chris Ellison. From December 2001.
MON 10:00 Oscar Wilde (b007jnn1)
The Picture of Dorian Gray, Episode 1
"I would give my soul to stay young".
A vain aristocrat - a gilded and spoilt hedonist - makes a dangerous pact to preserve his youth.
Nick McCarty's adaptation of Oscar Wilde's classic stars Jamie Glover as Dorian Gray, Ian McDiarmid as Lord Henry Wotton, Steven Pacey as Basil Hallward, Tilly Gaunt as Sybil Vane, Harry Myers as Jim Vane and Elizabeth Mansfield as Mrs Vane.
Director: Gordon House.
First broadcast on the BBC World Service in 2000.
MON 11:00 Opening Lines (b01kt7cz)
Series 14, The Wild
A return of the series which gives first-time and emerging short story writers their radio debut.
Unspoken tensions between a husband and wife escalate during a harsh Alaskan winter in this emotionally charged tale by Gerri Brightwell.
Read by Trevor White
Produced by Gemma Jenkins
Gerri Brightwell received an M.A. in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia. She has two published novels: Cold Country, and The Dark Lantern. She teaches as part of the Creative Writing program at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks.
MON 11:15 Lynn Ferguson - Kindling (b0076jzj)
Douglas, Ellen and their daughter Jennifer are preparing for their annual bonfire night party. Each reveals something they'd rather keep hidden, perhaps even from themselves.
Stars Janet Brown as Ellen, Kenneth Bryans as Douglas and the drama's writer, Lynn Ferguson as Jennifer,
Director: Mary Peate
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2004.
MON 12:00 The Burkiss Way (b007jttb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
MON 12:30 It Sticks Out Half a Mile (b007jph9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
MON 13:00 John Godey - The Taking of Pelham 123 (b01cv8px)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
MON 13:30 My Empire of Dust (b012r7jx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
MON 14:00 Book at Bedtime (b01phfq9)
Daphne Du Maurier - Frenchman's Creek, Episode 6
Part adventure, part romance, and set in Cornwall, Daphne Du Maurier's novel tells the powerful love story between Lady Dona and the French pirate Aubery.
Episode 6
Lady Dona trades her skirts for the trousers of a cabin boy and sets sail with the Frenchman and his crew, in a daring bid to steal a merchant ship from under the noses of her compatriots.
Read by Adjoa Andoh
Abridged by Eileen Horne
Produced by Clive Brill
A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 14:15 The People's Post: A Narrative History of the Post Office (b0183t4g)
The Penny Black
The arrival of Universal Penny Postage in 1840 marked the beginning of the post office as a genuine public service. Introduced by the social reformer, Rowland Hill, he argued that lowering the cost of postage would mean more people would send more letters leading to wider social benefits and increased profits. As secretary of the post office, Hill oversaw the implementation of the world's first adhesive postage stamp, the Penny Black.
As Royal Mail faces an uncertain future, Dominic Sandbrook charts the development of the post office and examines it's impact on literacy, free speech, commerce and communication. The Post Office has become a cherished social institution, linking people together and extending their vision outward into the wider world.
It's called Royal Mail but it should be known as the People's Post
Writer and Presenter: Dominic Sandbrook
Musicians: Sam Lee, Bella Hardy, Mick Sands, Nick Hart
Actors: Morgan George, John Sessions, Simon Tcherniak,
Malcolm Tierney, Jane Whittenshaw
Producer: Joby Waldman
A Somethin Else production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 14:30 15 Minute Drama (b01fhrj1)
Mark Lawson - The Man Who Knows, Episode 1
It's London in the late 1960's and Dominic Bold of The Morning News is Britain's most successful gossip columnist, celebrated for his uncannily intimate knowledge of what goes on in the lives of entertainment stars, politicians, members of the Royal Family and the aristocracy.
But when Bold gets hold of a story involving actress Alice Morney, which she believes she has told only to those closest to her, she becomes determined to uncover his source in her entourage.
In 'The Man Who Knows' by Mark Lawson
Gordon Bannoch was played by Gerard Murphy
Dominic Bold ..... Jonathan Firth
Alice Morney ..... Lizzy McInnerny
Danny Carlton ..... Nickolas Grace
Barney Hamilton ..... Michael Elwyn
Ted Reaney and Sidney ..... Neil Brand
Rosie Pilks ...... Issy Van Randwyck
and Tubby Marrinner and
Simon Dee ..... Jon Glover
The song lyrics were written by Mark Lawson
And the music was composed and performed by Neil Brand
The Director was Eoin O'Callaghan.
MON 14:45 Book of the Week (b019rhzj)
Marcus Berkmann - A Shed of One's Own: Midlife Without the Crisis, Episode 1
For many men, middle age arrives too fast and without due warning. One day you are young, free and single; the next you are bald, fat and washed-up, with weird tendrils of hair growing out of your ears. None of it seems fair. With age should come dignity and respect, but instead everyone makes tired jokes about buying a motorbike.
Marcus Berkmann isn't having it. Having marked his fiftieth birthday by hiding under the duvet for six weeks, he is determined to find some light in the all-consuming darkness.
'We may have lost our hair, our waistline or our way completely. But we have also gained a certain amount of guile and what some might call "gravitas" (and others would call "weight").'
Musing over birth, death and all the messy stuff in between, he concludes that however dreadful you look in the mirror today, it will be much worse in ten years' time. His brutally candid dispatch from the front line is essential listening for anyone over thirty-five - as well as all those who want to prepare for what lies ahead...
Marcus Berkmann has spent more than thirty years sitting in front of various television screens swearing at incompetent England batsmen. In his leisure time he has written columns on sport for Punch, the Independent on Sunday and the Daily Express. He is a regular contributor to Private Eye and has been the Spectator's pop music critic for over twenty years. His books include Rain Men: The Madness of Cricket, Zimmer Men: The Trials and Tribulations of the Ageing Cricketer, Fatherhood: The Truth and A Matter of Facts: The Insider's Guide to Quizzing
Read by Toby Longworth
Producer/Abridger: Joanna Green
A Pier Production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 15:00 Oscar Wilde (b007jnn1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
MON 16:00 Just a Minute (b00mg2v4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
MON 16:30 The Change (b00nsnhx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
MON 17:00 Heated Rollers (b007s849)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
MON 17:30 The Unbelievable Truth (b081lddb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
MON 18:00 Susan Cooper - Over Sea, Under Stone (b082qf3w)
The Parchment
Holidaying with their great-uncle in Cornwall, siblings Simon, Jane and Barney make a curious discovery in a cluttered attic.
What they expected to be an ordinary summer in the village of Trewissick turns into something very unordinary - and frightening...
From Susan Cooper's classic sequence of novels "The Dark is Rising" dramatised in 4-parts by David Calcutt. Over Sea, Under Stone was first published in 1965.
Stars Ronald Pickup as Great Uncle Merry, Naomi Kerbel as Jane, Ben Gutteridge as Simon, Edward Clarke as Barney and Struan Rodger as Hastings,
Music composed and performed by Martin Allcock.
Director: Nigel Bryant.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1995.
MON 18:30 A Good Read (b0076dn3)
Charles Clarke and Valerie Grove
Rosie Boycott and her guests - former MP, Charles Clarke and writer, Valerie Grove - discuss favourite books by Simon Singh, Simon Gray and F Scott Fitzgerald. From 2003.
Fermat's Last Theorem by Simon Singh
Publisher: Fourth Estate
Fat Chance by Simon Gray
Publisher: Faber
The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald
Publisher: Penguin.
MON 19:00 The Burkiss Way (b007jttb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
MON 19:30 It Sticks Out Half a Mile (b007jph9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
MON 20:00 John Godey - The Taking of Pelham 123 (b01cv8px)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
MON 20:30 My Empire of Dust (b012r7jx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
MON 21:00 Opening Lines (b01kt7cz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
MON 21:15 Lynn Ferguson - Kindling (b0076jzj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 today]
MON 22:00 The Unbelievable Truth (b081lddb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
MON 22:30 The Mark Steel Lecture (b007qw7m)
Series 3, Ludwig van Beethoven
The radical comedian offers his humorous assessment of the influential German composer. From September 2002.
MON 23:00 The Now Show (b081tjhg)
Series 49, Episode 2
Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis are joined by Sarah Kendall, Ellie Taylor, Luke Kempner, Pippa Evans and Dr Tomila Lankina to present the news via topical stand up and sketches.
US election results, Trump, the soothing powers of the word of the year, Putin, and puppets. Just some of the topics up for discussion in this week's episode.
Written by the cast with additional material from Jon Hunter, Jane Lamacraft, Jenny Laville, Robin Morgan and Dan Kiss.
Producer Alexandra Smith
BBC Studios Production.
MON 23:30 Helen Keen's It Is Rocket Science (b00zf34s)
Series 1, Episode 2
Helen Keen presents her off-beat but true account of the history of space flight, aided by Peter Serafinowicz and Susy Kane. This week how Wernher Von Braun went from SS officer to American space supremo to Disney children's presenter; America's home-grown rocket genius Jack Parsons and his unhealthy interest in Satanism; and the surprising story of Fix the French Space Cat.
Written by Helen Keen and Miriam Underhill
Produced by Gareth Edwards
It Is Rocket Science is performed by Helen Keen and stars Peter Serafinowicz as the Voice of Space, with all other parts played by Susy Kane.
MON 23:45 Quando, Quando, Quando (b00800m4)
Spies
A secret tonic formula is stolen from the brothers' hair salon. Stars Rainer Hersch and Catherine Tate. From December 1999.

TUESDAY 15 NOVEMBER 2016

TUE 00:00 Susan Cooper - Over Sea, Under Stone (b082qf3w)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Monday]
TUE 00:30 A Good Read (b0076dn3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:30 on Monday]
TUE 01:00 John Godey - The Taking of Pelham 123 (b01cv8px)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Monday]
TUE 01:30 My Empire of Dust (b012r7jx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 on Monday]
TUE 02:00 Book at Bedtime (b01phfq9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:00 on Monday]
TUE 02:15 The People's Post: A Narrative History of the Post Office (b0183t4g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:15 on Monday]
TUE 02:30 15 Minute Drama (b01fhrj1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Monday]
TUE 02:45 Book of the Week (b019rhzj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:45 on Monday]
TUE 03:00 Oscar Wilde (b007jnn1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Monday]
TUE 04:00 Just a Minute (b00mg2v4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 on Monday]
TUE 04:30 The Change (b00nsnhx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 on Monday]
TUE 05:00 Heated Rollers (b007s849)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 on Monday]
TUE 05:30 The Unbelievable Truth (b081lddb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Monday]
TUE 06:00 John Godey - The Taking of Pelham 123 (b01d2l36)
Episode 4
After agreeing to pay the ransom demanded by the heavily-armed train hijackers, New York's city authorities race to meet the deadline for the cash handover.
Read by William Hope.
John Godey's thriller abridged in 5-parts by Neville Teller.
A best-seller in 1973, 'The Taking of Pelham 123' was made into the 1974 film starring Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw, a 1998 TV-movie remake of the same title, and a 2009 film starring Denzel Washington and John Travolta. The novel's impact - and that of the subsequent 1974 film - apparently resulted in New York's City Transit Authority banning any scheduling of a train departing Pelham station at 1:23 for many years.
Using the pen name John Godey, Brooklyn-born author Morton Freedgood's crime novels include 'A Thrill a Minute With Jack Albany', 'Never Put Off Till Tomorrow What You Can Kill Today' and 'The Three Worlds of Johnny Handsome'.
Producer: Heather Larmour
Made for BBC Radio Extra by BBC Northern Ireland.
First broadcast in 2012.
TUE 06:30 ADHD and Me (b011c0nn)
Comedian Rory Bremner has found success in his ability to switch between impersonating many different people. But behind this comic persona is a man who struggles to focus, loses the thread and takes on too many tasks that can leave his personal and professional life in disarray. Rory had always put his chaotic lifestyle down to his personality.
However, after a diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, or ADHD, within his family, Rory has realised he too may have the condition. For this documentary, Rory goes on a personal journey to find out how this condition affects adults, how attitudes have changed in the two decades since the ADHD was first recognised, and how we can support the next generation of sufferers to cope with this potentially devastating condition.
Producer: Lisa Needham
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 07:00 Edgar Wallace - Educated Evans (b03zxqb1)
A Matched Pair
Can the 1920s tipster avoid police plans and see off a new 'educated' rival? Stars Roy Hudd, Andrew Sachs and Pat Coombs. From August 1996.
TUE 07:30 Ed Reardon's Week (b081lkn2)
Series 11, Episode 6
Comedy. The curmudgeonly author takes listeners through his week.
TUE 08:00 Steptoe and Son (b007jlg5)
Series 2, Crossed Swords
After a major find out on his rag and bone round, excited Harold lets greed get the better of him.
Starring Wilfrid Brambell as Albert and Harry H Corbett as Harold. With Derek Nimmo as The Shop Assistant and Michael MacLean as The Auctioneer.
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 July 1967.
TUE 08:30 The Men From the Ministry (b007k2bx)
A Motley Crew
A mission to an oil rig leaves the bungling civil servants all at sea. Stars Richard Murdoch and Deryck Guyler. From July 1977.
TUE 09:00 The Now Show (b081tjhg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:00 on Monday]
TUE 09:30 Helen Keen's It Is Rocket Science (b00zf34s)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:30 on Monday]
TUE 09:45 Quando, Quando, Quando (b00800m4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:45 on Monday]
TUE 10:00 Oscar Wilde (b007jnnk)
The Picture of Dorian Gray, Episode 2
The aristocrat is living a life of selfish pleasure. But is retribution on the horizon? Stars Ian McDiarmid and Jamie Glover.
TUE 11:00 Opening Lines (b01l1g5y)
Series 14, Cynthia
A return of the series which gives first-time and emerging short story writers their radio debut. Jay Barnett's quirky story is about a dog you could set your watch to.
Read by Alex Lanipekun.
Produced by Robert Howells
Jay Barnett writes and reads short stories for his spoken word blog theaftermathofmygreatidea.blogspot.com. His short story 'Boy' was published in Jawbreakers, the first National Flash Fiction Day anthology. He is an editor for Hackney based radio station NTS, and every other Monday hosts the 'Down Your Ward' show on Whipps Cross Hospital Radio.
TUE 11:15 Afternoon Drama (b01ngmcl)
Peter Souter - What Love Sounds Like
What Love Sounds Like centres around the meeting of a blind man, Dom, and a deaf woman, Thea, in a faith-healer's waiting room. Dom has only recently gone blind and is at odds with the world and himself. Thea, using her computer voice generator, plies him with questions - particularly about an old, painful relationship which Dom is initially reluctant to talk about. As the play progresses we realise that all is not quite as it seems, and that this meeting may have profound consequences for them both. Alex Jennings and Juliet Stevenson star in a new play by award-winning playwright Peter Souter
Produced and directed by Gordon House.
TUE 12:00 Steptoe and Son (b007jlg5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
TUE 12:30 The Men From the Ministry (b007k2bx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
TUE 13:00 John Godey - The Taking of Pelham 123 (b01d2l36)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
TUE 13:30 ADHD and Me (b011c0nn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
TUE 14:00 Book at Bedtime (b01phhbh)
Daphne Du Maurier - Frenchman's Creek, Episode 7
Part adventure, part romance, and set in Cornwall, Daphne Du Maurier's novel tells the powerful love story between Lady Dona and the French pirate Aubery.
Episode 7
Lady Dona succumbs at last to the Frenchman's charms and enjoys an idyllic voyage with him. But the dream cannot last.
Read by Adjoa Andoh
Abridged by Eileen Horne
Produced by Clive Brill
A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 14:15 The People's Post: A Narrative History of the Post Office (b0184rgd)
Business Post
The post office played a vital role in the spread of mass consumerism.
Thanks to cheap postage, businesses could advertise and interact with people in their own homes. When it took over the Parcel Post in 1883 the Post Office offered the first genuinely joined up postal service, leading to a boom in mail order catalogues.
Writer and Presenter: Dominic Sandbrook
Musicians: Sam Lee, Bella Hardy, Mick Sands, Nick Hart
Actors: Morgan George, John Sessions, Simon Tcherniak,
Malcolm Tierney, Jane Whittenshaw
Producer: Joby Waldman
A Somethin Else production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 14:30 15 Minute Drama (b01ddxbp)
Mark Lawson - The Man Who Knows, Episode 2
New Year's Eve, 1968. Does the Morning News know more about Alice Morney's personal life than she does? Stars Lizzy McInnerny.
TUE 14:45 Book of the Week (b01bbz0q)
Marcus Berkmann - A Shed of One's Own: Midlife Without the Crisis, Episode 2
For many men, middle age arrives too fast and without due warning. One day you are young, free and single; the next you are bald, fat and washed-up, with weird tendrils of hair growing out of your ears. None of it seems fair. With age should come dignity and respect, but instead everyone makes tired jokes about buying a motorbike.
Marcus Berkmann isn't having it. Having marked his fiftieth birthday by hiding under the duvet for six weeks, he is determined to find some light in the all-consuming darkness.
'We may have lost our hair, our waistline or our way completely. But we have also gained a certain amount of guile and what some might call "gravitas" (and others would call "weight").'
Musing over birth, death and all the messy stuff in between, he concludes that however dreadful you look in the mirror today, it will be much worse in ten years' time. His brutally candid dispatch from the front line is essential listening for anyone over thirty-five - as well as all those who want to prepare for what lies ahead...
Marcus Berkmann has spent more than thirty years sitting in front of various television screens swearing at incompetent England batsmen. In his leisure time he has written columns on sport for Punch, the Independent on Sunday and the Daily Express. He is a regular contributor to Private Eye and has been the Spectator's pop music critic for over twenty years. His books include Rain Men: The Madness of Cricket, Zimmer Men: The Trials and Tribulations of the Ageing Cricketer, Fatherhood: The Truth and A Matter of Facts: The Insider's Guide to Quizzing
Read by Toby Longworth
Producer/Abridger: Joanna Green
A Pier Production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 15:00 Oscar Wilde (b007jnnk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
TUE 16:00 Counterpoint (b082qkw2)
2006, Semi-Final 2
Ned Sherrin's eclectic music quiz with Ray Allen from Brighton, Jonathan Jacob of Chesham and Clive Summers from Bow.
TUE 16:30 Flying the Flag (b00xc71y)
Series 4, Spiritual Values
Cash is scarce, as the ambassador hopes capitalism and democracy will conquer communism. Stars Dinsdale Landen. From June 1992.
TUE 17:00 Edgar Wallace - Educated Evans (b03zxqb1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
TUE 17:30 Ed Reardon's Week (b081lkn2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
TUE 18:00 Susan Cooper - Over Sea, Under Stone (b082qnxb)
The Standing Stones
A treasure hunt under a full moon leads Simon, Jane and Barney deeper into danger from dark forces. Stars Ronald Pickup.
TUE 18:30 Comic to Comic (b007tcbj)
Series 1, Chris Green
The writer-performer tells Bruce Morton about his famous character, spoof American country singer Tina C. From August 2005.
TUE 19:00 Steptoe and Son (b007jlg5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
TUE 19:30 The Men From the Ministry (b007k2bx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
TUE 20:00 John Godey - The Taking of Pelham 123 (b01d2l36)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
TUE 20:30 ADHD and Me (b011c0nn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
TUE 21:00 Opening Lines (b01l1g5y)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
TUE 21:15 Afternoon Drama (b01ngmcl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 today]
TUE 22:00 Ed Reardon's Week (b081lkn2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
TUE 22:30 The Richest Man in Britain (b00nlx7p)
The Interview
Sitcom by Nick Hornby and Giles Smith about an ageing rock star and his search for fulfilment.
Trillionnaire rocker Dave Mabbutt is persuaded to preview his 'drums-only' version of 1970s classic album, Temple of the Human Mind.
Dave Mabbutt ...... Mark Williams
Dom ...... Russell Tovey
Dave's Mum ...... Lynda Bellingham
Jane the Guardian journalist ...... Kerry Fox.
TUE 22:55 The Comedy Club Interviews (b084f782)
The best in contemporary comedy. Iain Lee chats to Anna Mann.
TUE 23:00 Beauty of Britain (b00n4zgv)
Series 1, The Lord Lieutenant's Lady
Comedy by Christopher Douglas and Nicola Sanderson. Beauty Olonga works as a carer for the Featherdown Agency and sees herself as an inspiration to other African girls hoping to achieve their goals in the land of semi-skimmed milk. We see Britain through her eyes - its overheated houses, its disappointing church services and its over-fondness for cauliflower cheese.
Beauty is caught between a warring couple, which is a good distraction from her disastrous crush on worship leader Wayne.
Beauty ...... Jocelyn Jee Esien
Nancy Snow ...... Rosemary Leach
Miss Macleod ...... Anne Reid
Worship Leader Wayne ...... Javone Prince
Sally ...... Felicity Montagu
Karen ...... Nicola Sanderson
Mrs Gupte ...... Indira Joshi
Anil ...... Paul Sharma
Mrs Daly/Choir Member ...... Nicola Sanderson
Music by The West End Gospel Choir.
TUE 23:30 The Harpoon (b007k4cc)
Series 1, Episode 1
The nostalgic spiffing spoof of adventure story papers for boys. With Alistair McGowan and Peter Baynham. From September 1991.

WEDNESDAY 16 NOVEMBER 2016

WED 00:00 Susan Cooper - Over Sea, Under Stone (b082qnxb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Tuesday]
WED 00:30 Comic to Comic (b007tcbj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:30 on Tuesday]
WED 01:00 John Godey - The Taking of Pelham 123 (b01d2l36)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Tuesday]
WED 01:30 ADHD and Me (b011c0nn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 on Tuesday]
WED 02:00 Book at Bedtime (b01phhbh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:00 on Tuesday]
WED 02:15 The People's Post: A Narrative History of the Post Office (b0184rgd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:15 on Tuesday]
WED 02:30 15 Minute Drama (b01ddxbp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Tuesday]
WED 02:45 Book of the Week (b01bbz0q)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:45 on Tuesday]
WED 03:00 Oscar Wilde (b007jnnk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Tuesday]
WED 04:00 Counterpoint (b082qkw2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:00 on Tuesday]
WED 04:30 Flying the Flag (b00xc71y)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:30 on Tuesday]
WED 05:00 Edgar Wallace - Educated Evans (b03zxqb1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 on Tuesday]
WED 05:30 Ed Reardon's Week (b081lkn2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Tuesday]
WED 06:00 John Godey - The Taking of Pelham 123 (b01dh8bq)
Episode 5
After delivering their final list of demands to the authorities, the heavily-armed gang of hijackers aboard a New York subway train prepare to make their escape.
Concluded by William Hope.
John Godey's thriller abridged in 5-parts by Neville Teller.
A best-seller in 1973, 'The Taking of Pelham 123' was made into the 1974 film starring Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw, a 1998 TV-movie remake of the same title, and a 2009 film starring Denzel Washington and John Travolta. The novel's impact - and that of the subsequent 1974 film - apparently resulted in New York's City Transit Authority banning any scheduling of a train departing Pelham station at 1:23 for many years.
Using the pen name John Godey, Brooklyn-born author Morton Freedgood's crime novels include 'A Thrill a Minute With Jack Albany', 'Never Put Off Till Tomorrow What You Can Kill Today' and 'The Three Worlds of Johnny Handsome'.
Producer: Heather Larmour
Made for BBC Radio Extra by BBC Northern Ireland.
First broadcast in 2012.
WED 06:30 The No 219 Sodcast Project (b011v1bq)
Scourge of public transport and perpetrators of tinny sounds - young people are reclaiming buses and trains with their tiny mobile phone speakers and gangster tracks. The 'sodcast' is everywhere. But is it really such a menace? Ian McMillan recaptures his own youth when he was ghetto blasting Captain Beefheart and sets out on Yorkshire's buses to unpick the sodcasting phenomenon.
Inspired by a bus campaign to exterminate the sodcaster, he meets passengers newly committed to giving up their music in public, and plenty who will fight to the last for their right to peace and quiet. In Hackney he rides with school girls who switch from tunes on their phones to self-composed raps about school dinner ladies, and visits the producer of one of the UK's most sodcasted tracks to learn the secrets of remixing music for the lowest of lo-fi reproduction.
But can Ian convince a bus-load of sceptics that sharing music is an act of charity rather than an assault on our personal space? The ultimate sodcast is his plan, a 'joycast' of music to unite rather than divide. It turns out to be quite a challenge.....
WED 07:00 The Attractive Young Rabbi (b007k2cn)
Series 2, The Wedding
Everyone is looking forward to Hillfield's big ceremony, but in which synagogue? Stars Tracy-Ann Oberman. From October 2000.
WED 07:30 Rich Hall's (US Election) Breakdown (b081qz1f)
Episode 4
Multi award-winning comedian and US Citizen Rich Hall follows the closing stages of the US Presidential race, offering an acerbic look at the electoral system and the two candidates vying for the most important job in the world.
A combination of stand-up, sketch and interview, Rich Hall's (US Election) Breakdown broadcasts live from the fictional IBBC network in Washington to the whole of the United States.
Rich and his producer Nick Doody take calls from every corner of the United States to hear the concerns of voters, offering their take on the issues troubling the American electorate.
WED 08:00 The Navy Lark (b016pl5h)
Sub Lt Philips at Dartmouth
Just how did lovely Leslie become a sub-Lieutenant on HMS Troutbridge?
Stars Leslie Phillips as the Sub-Lieutenant, Jon Pertwee as the Chief Petty Officer, Stephen Murray as the Number One, Richard Caldicot as the instructor, Heather Chasen as the nurse, Ronnie Barker as Chief Petty Officer Ball, Tenniel Evans as Uncle and Michael Bates as Captain Aitchison.
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 October 1967.
WED 08:30 Hancock's Half Hour (b00t5xc7)
The Greyhound Track
Sid wants the lad evicted, so he reopens a public footpath through his country mansion.
Starring Tony Hancock, Bill Kerr, Sidney James, Andree Melly and 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 February 1956.
WED 09:00 The Food Quiz (b0076tgx)
Series 3, Episode 2
On Jay Rayner's menu are Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Marguerite Patten, Henrietta Green and Matthew Thorpe. From September 2005.
WED 09:30 Rent (b007522v)
Series 3, Episode 1
The new baby needs a name and Richard does not want to reveal one of his. Stars Barbara Flynn and Patrick Barlow. From January 1997.
WED 10:00 Classic Serial (b01k9npd)
G&W Grossmith - The Diary of a Nobody, Episode 1
Johnny Vegas and Katherine Parkinson play Mr and Mrs Pooter in Andrew Lynch's adaptation of the Grossmith brothers' comic novel of 1892.
The story is a social vignette of Charles, the self-important but highly likeable clerk, his loving wife Carrie and their son William (played by Andrew Gower).
Much of the action takes place in the house that the Pooters share with their maid Sarah...and the noisy sound of passing trains. The Laurels in Brickfield Terrace is frequently visited by colourful and amusing characters, not least Gowing and Cummings, Pooter's 'trusty' fairweather friends.
This full dramatisation has a Victorian sit-com feel and stays true to the book - with a couple of twists of Lynch's own - capturing a kind of lower-middle-class aspiration that still has a tangible familiarity in 2012.
In Episode One, the Pooters move in to The Laurels. Charles and Carrie attend The Mansion House Ball and Willie arrives home from the bank in Oldham.
Cast:
Charles Pooter ...... Johnny Vegas
Carrie Pooter ...... Katherine Parkinson
William / Lupin ...... Andrew Gower
Sarah ....... Sinead Matthews
Cummings (and Horwin) ...... Adrian Scarborough
Gowing (and Borset) ....... Stephen Critchlow
Farmerson ...... Joe Ransom
Trillip ...... Adam Gillen
Daisy Mutlar ...... Sarah Sweeney
Other parts were played by members of the cast.
Adapted by Andrew Lynch, from the original by George and Weedon Grossmith.
Produced by Sally Harrison
Directed by Marilyn Imrie
A Woolyback production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 11:00 Opening Lines (b01l8rbl)
Series 14, The Cairn
A return of the series which gives first-time and emerging short story writers their radio debut.
The ascent of a mountain assumes heightened significance for a climber in this poignant tale by Sophie Hampton.
Read by Anthony Calf
Produced by Gemma Jenkins
Currently studying for an MA in Creative Writing at Sheffield Hallam University, Sophie Hampton's short stories have been published in the Eastern Daily Press, Scribble Magazine and the Best of MA Writing 2011.
WED 11:15 Afternoon Drama (b01dgh87)
Marty Ross - Rough Magick
A comedic drama by Marty Ross set in 1605 in the Scottish Highlands in which the Royal playwright Shaxberd saves King James from assassination and attempts to save an innocent girl from being burnt as a witch.
1605. Fearing further terrorist activity following the gunpowder plot, King James transports his court to the Scottish Highlands, complete with The King's Men, his favoured theatre company. This includes middle-aged, careworn, neurotic and pox-troubled playwright William Shaxberd (although he prefers being called 'Shakespeare'). When the Royal wagons get bogged down on the moors and a seemingly supernatural attempt is made on the life of the paranoid, superstitious James, a local woman, Shona, is accused of witchcraft. Shaxberd owes Shona a debt and shaking off his customary deference to authority he employs all his ingenuity and gift for theatre to help her escape the gallows. But who was the real attacker? And does the innocent Shona have some genuine magic up her sleeve?
The play takes its prompt from historical facts: James's obsession with witchcraft and the political paranoia post-Gunpowder Plot; Shakespeare's being sometimes credited as 'Shaxberd' (might it have been his actual name?), his awkward position at court as a Catholic glove-maker's son, his rewriting of Scottish history in 'Macbeth' to flatter King James (Banquo's descendant); as well as the probably apocryphal story that The King's Men may have toured Scotland prior to the writing of 'Macbeth'.
Producer/director: David Ian Neville.
WED 12:00 The Navy Lark (b016pl5h)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
WED 12:30 Hancock's Half Hour (b00t5xc7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
WED 13:00 John Godey - The Taking of Pelham 123 (b01dh8bq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
WED 13:30 The No 219 Sodcast Project (b011v1bq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
WED 14:00 Book at Bedtime (b01phjbd)
Daphne Du Maurier - Frenchman's Creek, Episode 8
Part adventure, part romance, and set in Cornwall, Daphne Du Maurier's novel tells the powerful love story between Lady Dona and the French pirate Aubery.
Episode 8
Harry and Rockingham prepare to trap the pirates, and Dona must host a dinner for their fellow conspirators.
Read by Adjoa Andoh
Abridged by Eileen Horne
Produced by Clive Brill
A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 14:15 The People's Post: A Narrative History of the Post Office (b0184s2q)
Love Letters
Universal penny postage meant people from all backgrounds could afford to sustain long distance relationships. But it also led to increased pressure: lovers were expected to write two or three times a week, even if they lived in the same town. Sales of letter-writing manuals rocketed, allowing people to copy model examples of the perfect love letter.
Writer and Presenter: Dominic Sandbrook
Musicians: Sam Lee, Bella Hardy, Mick Sands, Nick Hart
Actors: Morgan George, John Sessions, Simon Tcherniak,
Malcolm Tierney, Jane Whittenshaw
Producer: Joby Waldman
A Somethin Else production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 14:30 15 Minute Drama (b01fjt0b)
Mark Lawson - The Man Who Knows, Episode 3
New Year's Day, 1969. Alice Morney is threatening to sack her manager over the invasion of her privacy. Stars Jonathan Firth.
WED 14:45 Book of the Week (b01bbz0z)
Marcus Berkmann - A Shed of One's Own: Midlife Without the Crisis, Episode 3
For many men, middle age arrives too fast and without due warning. One day you are young, free and single; the next you are bald, fat and washed-up, with weird tendrils of hair growing out of your ears. None of it seems fair. With age should come dignity and respect, but instead everyone makes tired jokes about buying a motorbike.
Marcus Berkmann isn't having it. Having marked his fiftieth birthday by hiding under the duvet for six weeks, he is determined to find some light in the all-consuming darkness.
'We may have lost our hair, our waistline or our way completely. But we have also gained a certain amount of guile and what some might call "gravitas" (and others would call "weight").'
Musing over birth, death and all the messy stuff in between, he concludes that however dreadful you look in the mirror today, it will be much worse in ten years' time. His brutally candid dispatch from the front line is essential listening for anyone over thirty-five - as well as all those who want to prepare for what lies ahead...
Marcus Berkmann has spent more than thirty years sitting in front of various television screens swearing at incompetent England batsmen. In his leisure time he has written columns on sport for Punch, the Independent on Sunday and the Daily Express. He is a regular contributor to Private Eye and has been the Spectator's pop music critic for over twenty years. His books include Rain Men: The Madness of Cricket, Zimmer Men: The Trials and Tribulations of the Ageing Cricketer, Fatherhood: The Truth and A Matter of Facts: The Insider's Guide to Quizzing
Read by Toby Longworth
Producer/Abridger: Joanna Green
A Pier Production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 15:00 Classic Serial (b01k9npd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
WED 16:00 The Food Quiz (b0076tgx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
WED 16:30 Rent (b007522v)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
WED 17:00 The Attractive Young Rabbi (b007k2cn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
WED 17:30 Rich Hall's (US Election) Breakdown (b081qz1f)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
WED 18:00 Susan Cooper - Over Sea, Under Stone (b082qz0l)
The Furry Dance
A carnival twists through the winding streets, as the powers of the dark close in, Barney becomes isolated. Stars Struan Rodger.
WED 18:30 Off the Page (b00lbt3r)
Falling on Your Sword
Has something happened to the ideas of honour, dignity, duty and virtue? Are people less willing to fall on their swords than they used to do? Is it admirable, anyway, to admit defeat?
Political journalist Anthony Howard, author and broadcaster Anne Atkins and journalist Toby Young join Dominic Arkwright to explore the subject through their writing.
WED 19:00 The Navy Lark (b016pl5h)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
WED 19:30 Hancock's Half Hour (b00t5xc7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
WED 20:00 John Godey - The Taking of Pelham 123 (b01dh8bq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
WED 20:30 The No 219 Sodcast Project (b011v1bq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
WED 21:00 Opening Lines (b01l8rbl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
WED 21:15 Afternoon Drama (b01dgh87)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 today]
WED 22:00 Rich Hall's (US Election) Breakdown (b081qz1f)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
WED 22:30 Meera Syal's Asian Comedy Night (b037sf5k)
Episode 2
Hosts, Meera Syal and Tommy Sandhu continue a special celebration of British Asian stand up comedy from the BBC Radio Theatre in London.
With the Asian Provocateurs, Mickey Sharma, Shazia Mirza, Imran Yusuf, Humza Badman, Kulvinder Ghir, Hyde Panesar and Sami Shah.
Producer: Jon Holmes
Made for the BBC Asian Network by Tonic Productions and first broadcast in July 2012.
WED 23:00 We Know Everything (b082qz7c)
Episode 1
4 Extra Debut. What is the best aphrodisiac - oysters or a naked woman? Dan Gaster and Paul Powell tackle audience quirky questions. From June 1995.
WED 23:15 Sir Ralph Stanza's Letter from Salford (b0076dvc)
Series 2, Treating an Acute Elegy
Can the poet-at-large bring the healing power of poetry to a medical centre in Salford? Stars James Quinn. From April 2003.
WED 23:30 In and Out of the Kitchen (b017551m)
Series 1, July 15th to 19th
Each episode of In And Out Of The Kitchen features a few entries from the kitchen diary of cookery writer, Damien Trench. In a mixture of narrative, dialogue and recipes, Damien unflinchingly captures every angle of his life, "no matter how grizzly" as he puts it "or, indeed, how gristly".
This episode sees Damien and his partner, Anthony, setting off for the warm embrace of the Italian countryside so that Damien can do some writing for a new book, and their builder Mr Mullaney can have space to properly fit the granite worktops that Damien's been dreaming of "from what seems like the beginning of the Jurassic era". But there's trouble in paradise when Damien receives a call to tell him their Umbrian villa has collapsed and they will have to go somewhere else. Luckily, Damien's agent, Ian, is quick to the rescue...
The programme also features Damien's easy-to-follow recipes for:
- a perfect pasta puttanesca
- comforting Cornish Pasties
and
- something for the more experimental, "pilchards al limone".
Cast:
Miles Jupp as Damien Trench
with
Justin Edwards as Anthony
Brendan Dempsey as Mr Mullaney
Philip Fox as Ian Frobisher
Alex Tregear as the BA Lady/Helpful Student
Producer: Sam Michell.

THURSDAY 17 NOVEMBER 2016

THU 00:00 Susan Cooper - Over Sea, Under Stone (b082qz0l)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Wednesday]
THU 00:30 Off the Page (b00lbt3r)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:30 on Wednesday]
THU 01:00 John Godey - The Taking of Pelham 123 (b01dh8bq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Wednesday]
THU 01:30 The No 219 Sodcast Project (b011v1bq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 on Wednesday]
THU 02:00 Book at Bedtime (b01phjbd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:00 on Wednesday]
THU 02:15 The People's Post: A Narrative History of the Post Office (b0184s2q)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:15 on Wednesday]
THU 02:30 15 Minute Drama (b01fjt0b)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Wednesday]
THU 02:45 Book of the Week (b01bbz0z)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:45 on Wednesday]
THU 03:00 Classic Serial (b01k9npd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Wednesday]
THU 04:00 The Food Quiz (b0076tgx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 on Wednesday]
THU 04:30 Rent (b007522v)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 on Wednesday]
THU 05:00 The Attractive Young Rabbi (b007k2cn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 on Wednesday]
THU 05:30 Rich Hall's (US Election) Breakdown (b081qz1f)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Wednesday]
THU 06:00 Jim Eldridge - Down Payment on Death (b007jtkk)
A Shot in the Night
Sick of the espionage business, professional hitman Art Gordo had quit the British Secret Service. But then he's offered big money to carry out one last killing...
The first of a 5-part thriller adapted by Jim Eldridge from his own novel.
Stars Dinsdale Landen as Art Gauder, Manning Wilson as Clarke, and Frances Jeater as Louise Lenehan.
Producer: John Fawcett-Wilson
First broadcast on the BBC World Service in 1976.
THU 06:30 Manchester and Liverpool: Britain's American Civil War (b010xy3l)
Historian Tristram Hunt tells a tale of two cities.
In the 1860s, the great port of Liverpool and the industrial powerhouse that was Manchester and its surrounding towns were both deeply involved with America and its great export industry: cotton. But when the American Civil War erupted in 1861, it began to pull the two cities in very different directions.
Tristram begins at the house of Charles Kuhn Prioleau, a South Carolina cotton trader who set up home in Liverpool.
Prioleau took it upon himself to start privately - and illicitly - funding a fleet of deadly warships for his embattled Confederate homeland. Merseyside shipbuilder Laird's was happy to help.
What's more, under Abraham Lincoln, the American North blockaded the South and stopped it exporting cotton. Tristram hears how this angered many Liverpool businessmen, who began to back the Confederacy, helping to smuggle supplies through the North's blockade.
There was even a Bazaar at Liverpool's palatial new St George's Hall, to raise money for the Confederate prisoners.
Meanwhile, the choking-off of cotton supplies from the American South had a terrible impact on the mill-workers of Lancashire, who suddenly found themselves out of work, and increasingly short of food.
This led some to hope for a swift end to the war. And yet, even in the throes of 'Cotton Famine', many cotton workers gathered at Manchester's Free Trade Hall and issued an extraordinary message to President Lincoln.
They assured him that, though his blockade was imposing great hardship on them, they still supported his battle against slavery.
And this extraordinary gesture led not just to a grateful response from Lincoln, but a rich political reward....
Presenter: Tristram Hunt MP
Producer: Phil Tinline
With: Thomas Sebrell, Jerry Williams, Michael Benbough-Jackson, David Brown and Alan Kidd.
THU 07:00 Any Other Business (b0140tzv)
Episode 6
'Star Trek' fever erupts, as a German delegation tours the cultural delights of Chesbury.
Lucy Flannery's local government sitcom stars Nelson David, John Duttine, James Grout, Rosy Fordham, Nick Hardy, Howard Lew Lewis, Toby Longworth, Jan Ravens, Vivienne Rochester and June Whitfield.
Producer: Liz Anstee
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 1995.
THU 07:30 The Fair Intellectual Club (b081tdph)
A Rendezvous with Mr Voltaire
Lucy Porter's sitcom takes us to Edinburgh in the early 18th Century. Monsieur Voltaire (Lewis Macleod) has been thrown out of France for immorality and has come to see his old friend Robert (Simon Donaldson). He trades philosophical maxims with Ishbel (Caroline Deyga) and the fellow members of her secret society - Alison (Jessica Hardwick) and Marjory (Samara Maclaren).
The scholarly young ladies teach him the value of free speech and a brand new use for a broom handle.
Music by Aly Macrae
Director: Marilyn Imrie
Producer: Gordon Kennedy
An Absolutely production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 08:00 The Ken Dodd Show (b03vcrpy)
Doddy's Comic Cuts
Could Ken Dodd have invented the mp3-player before its time? A musical washer is one of many innovations. From January 1974.
THU 08:30 The Michael Bentine Show (b007js4v)
From 22/01/1984
From a Tibetan mystic to the entire United Nations, the ultimate one-man show written by the host. From January 1984.
THU 09:00 The Personality Test (b00mk68l)
Series 2, Rick Wakeman
Rock keyboardist Rick Wakeman quizzes a panel about himself. With Sue Perkins, Will Smith and Lucy Porter. From December 2006.
THU 09:30 Crazy Big Fish (b0075zms)
Crazy for Trying?
The Hull women must boost their sluggish ticket sales, and will Billy attend the performance? Stars Deborah McAndrew. From December 2000.
THU 10:00 Classic Serial (b01kjlhf)
G&W Grossmith - The Diary of a Nobody, Episode 2
Johnny Vegas and Katherine Parkinson play Mr and Mrs Pooter in Andrew Lynch's adaptation of the Grossmith brothers' comic novel of 1892.
The story is a social vignette of Charles, the self-important but highly likeable clerk, his loving wife Carrie and their son William (played by Andrew Gower).
Much of the action takes place in the house that the Pooters share with their maid Sarah...and the noisy sound of passing trains. The Laurels in Brickfield Terrace is frequently visited by colourful and amusing characters, not least Gowing and Cummings, Pooter's 'trusty' fair-weather friends.
This full dramatisation has a Victorian sit-com feel and stays true to the book - with a couple of twists of Lynch's own - capturing a kind of lower-middle-class aspiration that still has a tangible familiarity in 2012.
In Episode Two, Lupin's lifestyle upsets the measured balance of everyday life, Carrie hosts a seance with Mrs James, while Mr and Mrs Pooter dine with Franching in Peckham and meet a Mr Hardfur Huttle.
Cast:
Charles Pooter ....... Johnny Vegas
Carrie Pooter ....... Katherine Parkinson
William / Lupin ...... Andrew Gower
Sarah ....... Sinead Matthews
Cummings (and Horwin) ....... Adrian Scarborough
Gowing (and Borset) ....... Stephen Critchlow
Mrs James ....... Jo Neary
Hardfur Huttle ....... John Guerrasio
Murray Posh ........ Joe Ransom
Frank Mutlar ....... Adam Gillen
Lillie Girl / Daisy Mutlar ...... Sarah Sweeney
Other parts were played by members of the cast.
Adapted by Andrew Lynch, from the original by George and Weedon Grossmith.
Produced by Sally Harrison
Directed by Marilyn Imrie
A Woolyback Production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 11:00 On the Brink (b01n1vlp)
Turn Our Backs
Fifty years ago, the world stood on the brink of nuclear war as the US and Soviet leadership engaged in a 13-day military stand-off over missiles in Cuba.
In A L Kennedy's story, the first in a series looking at the Cuban Missile Crisis through the eyes of ordinary people, a young woman struggles to make plans for a future that might not exist.
Writer: A L Kennedy is an acclaimed novelist, short story-writer, and stand-up comedian. Her latest novel is 'The Blue Book'.
Reader: Morven Christie
Producer: Justine Willett.
THU 11:15 Sheila Goff - A Long Time Dead (b0076plg)
Despite a minor hitch in the proceedings, careful Kath carries on with her planned girlie weekend in Paris with bossy Beatrice.
Now she feels free to live a little and really let her hair down...
Sheila Goff's drama stars Marion Bailey as Kath, Linda Marlowe as Beatrice and Tony Selby as Geoff.
Director: David Hunter
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2004.
THU 12:00 The Ken Dodd Show (b03vcrpy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
THU 12:30 The Michael Bentine Show (b007js4v)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
THU 13:00 Jim Eldridge - Down Payment on Death (b007jtkk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
THU 13:30 Manchester and Liverpool: Britain's American Civil War (b010xy3l)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
THU 14:00 Book at Bedtime (b01phlgs)
Daphne Du Maurier - Frenchman's Creek, Episode 9
Part adventure, part romance, and set in Cornwall, Daphne Du Maurier's novel tells the powerful love story between Lady Dona and the French pirate Aubery.
Episode 9
Dona fights for her life and her lover in the face of Rockingham's jealous rage and struggles to bridge the impossible gulf that divides her and the captured Frenchman.
Read by Adjoa Andoh
Abridged by Eileen Horne
Produced by Clive Brill
A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 14:15 The People's Post: A Narrative History of the Post Office (b0184v2x)
A Community Hub
During the nineteenth century the post office became a central pillar in the community; a symbol of order, stability and public service. As well as stamps and stationary, sub-postmasters supplied news, advice and local gossip. From 1862 the Post Office Savings Bank offered savings accounts to poorer people for the first time.
As Royal Mail faces an uncertain future, Dominic Sandbrook charts the development of the post office and examines it's impact on literacy, free speech, commerce and communication
Writer and Presenter: Dominic Sandbrook
Musicians: Sam Lee, Bella Hardy, Mick Sands, Nick Hart
Actors: Morgan George, John Sessions, Simon Tcherniak,
Malcolm Tierney, Jane Whittenshaw
Producer: Joby Waldman
A Somethin Else production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 14:30 15 Minute Drama (b01dgh7l)
Mark Lawson - The Man Who Knows, Episode 4
The Morning News gossip magazine faces legal action over its illegal sourcing of material. Stars Lizzy McInnerny and Gerard Murphy.
THU 14:45 Book of the Week (b01bbz1c)
Marcus Berkmann - A Shed of One's Own: Midlife Without the Crisis, Episode 4
For many men, middle age arrives too fast and without due warning. One day you are young, free and single; the next you are bald, fat and washed-up, with weird tendrils of hair growing out of your ears. None of it seems fair. With age should come dignity and respect, but instead everyone makes tired jokes about buying a motorbike.
Marcus Berkmann isn't having it. Having marked his fiftieth birthday by hiding under the duvet for six weeks, he is determined to find some light in the all-consuming darkness.
'We may have lost our hair, our waistline or our way completely. But we have also gained a certain amount of guile and what some might call "gravitas" (and others would call "weight").'
Musing over birth, death and all the messy stuff in between, he concludes that however dreadful you look in the mirror today, it will be much worse in ten years' time. His brutally candid dispatch from the front line is essential listening for anyone over thirty-five - as well as all those who want to prepare for what lies ahead...
Marcus Berkmann has spent more than thirty years sitting in front of various television screens swearing at incompetent England batsmen. In his leisure time he has written columns on sport for Punch, the Independent on Sunday and the Daily Express. He is a regular contributor to Private Eye and has been the Spectator's pop music critic for over twenty years. His books include Rain Men: The Madness of Cricket, Zimmer Men: The Trials and Tribulations of the Ageing Cricketer, Fatherhood: The Truth and A Matter of Facts: The Insider's Guide to Quizzing
Read by Toby Longworth
Producer/Abridger: Joanna Green
A Pier Production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 15:00 Classic Serial (b01kjlhf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
THU 16:00 The Personality Test (b00mk68l)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
THU 16:30 Crazy Big Fish (b0075zms)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
THU 17:00 Any Other Business (b0140tzv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
THU 17:30 The Fair Intellectual Club (b081tdph)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
THU 18:00 Susan Cooper - Over Sea, Under Stone (b082r2rb)
The Trust of Logres
The children near the end of their quest, over sea and under stone, but it is not just the tide closing in. With Ronald Pickup.
THU 18:30 Great Lives (b008m8l6)
Series 14, Howard Florey
4 Extra Debut. Sir Richard Sykes champions Sir Howard Florey, a forgotten key figure in the story of penicillin. With Matthew Parris. From January 2008.
THU 19:00 The Ken Dodd Show (b03vcrpy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
THU 19:30 The Michael Bentine Show (b007js4v)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
THU 20:00 Jim Eldridge - Down Payment on Death (b007jtkk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
THU 20:30 Manchester and Liverpool: Britain's American Civil War (b010xy3l)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
THU 21:00 On the Brink (b01n1vlp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
THU 21:15 Sheila Goff - A Long Time Dead (b0076plg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 today]
THU 22:00 The Fair Intellectual Club (b081tdph)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
THU 22:30 Strangers on Trains (b00dgjgd)
Episode 4
Lone male travellers share their secret feelings about 'home'. With Nat Segnit and Stewart Wright. From August 2008.
THU 22:45 One (b00771mt)
Series 1, Episode 4
The sketch show where no sketch features more than one voice.
Written by David Quantick and starring Dan Maier, Lizzie Roper, Graeme Garden, Deborah Norton, Andrew Crawford, Dan Antopolski, Simon Greenall and Kate Gielgud, with Bill Oddie and Jeremy Clarkson as themselves.
THU 22:55 The Comedy Club Interviews (b084f7f3)
The best in contemporary comedy. Iain Lee chats to Anna Mann.
THU 23:00 Old Harry's Game (b00wbrwm)
Series 6, Murderers
Edith wants Satan to find out who murdered her, meanwhile Hell's boiler is on the blink. Satanic sitcom starring Andy Hamilton. From October 2007.
THU 23:30 The Masterson Inheritance (b007jr0v)
Series 3, The Masterson Bunch
Suffragettes split the family, sparking drama at the races. Improvised historical saga with Paul Merton. From July 1995.

FRIDAY 18 NOVEMBER 2016

FRI 00:00 Susan Cooper - Over Sea, Under Stone (b082r2rb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Thursday]
FRI 00:30 Great Lives (b008m8l6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:30 on Thursday]
FRI 01:00 Jim Eldridge - Down Payment on Death (b007jtkk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Thursday]
FRI 01:30 Manchester and Liverpool: Britain's American Civil War (b010xy3l)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 on Thursday]
FRI 02:00 Book at Bedtime (b01phlgs)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:00 on Thursday]
FRI 02:15 The People's Post: A Narrative History of the Post Office (b0184v2x)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:15 on Thursday]
FRI 02:30 15 Minute Drama (b01dgh7l)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Thursday]
FRI 02:45 Book of the Week (b01bbz1c)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:45 on Thursday]
FRI 03:00 Classic Serial (b01kjlhf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Thursday]
FRI 04:00 The Personality Test (b00mk68l)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 on Thursday]
FRI 04:30 Crazy Big Fish (b0075zms)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 on Thursday]
FRI 05:00 Any Other Business (b0140tzv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 on Thursday]
FRI 05:30 The Fair Intellectual Club (b081tdph)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Thursday]
FRI 06:00 Jim Eldridge - Down Payment on Death (b007jtkq)
The Double Target
Retired professional hitman, Art Gordo heads to his friend Louise's flat to plan his next moves.
Thriller adapted by Jim Eldridge from his own novel.
Stars Dinsdale Landen as Art Gauder and Frances Jeater as Louise Lenehan.
Producer: John Fawcett-Wilson
First broadcast on the BBC World Service in 1976.
FRI 06:30 The Art Bunker (b012fs6h)
This journey inside a mountain in Bosnia reveals the unlikely location for a new festival of contemporary art, which aims to help move the country on from a mindset haunted by war. In May 2011, the 1st Time Machine Biennial opened in what might be the strangest art-space ever: a vast, underground bunker, originally built for President Tito and the Yugoslavian military leadership to survive in the event of nuclear attack from Russia - Yugoslavia having been expelled from the Cominform group of soviet nations as far back as 1948.
The ARK bunker (the initials stand for Atomska Ratna Komanda - Atomic War Command) took 26 years to build, 280 feet inside a mountain overlooking the town of Konjic, near Sarajevo, behind an entrance disguised by three very ordinary-looking houses. The 75,000 sq ft, U-shaped, concrete labyrinth contains facilities for 350 people to survive for 6 months, and the fixtures and fittings are perfectly preserved.
Although a nuclear attack never happened, a technologically cruder, brutal, civil war certainly did. And it was as a result of that war that the previously secret bunker was discovered and handed over to the Bosnian army. In 2009, a committee of art historians, some from Sarajevo, some from Belgrade, secured financial backing for the Biennial from the Council of Europe to hold this new festival in the bunker.
Forty five artists were selected, roughly half of whom come from the republics of former Yugoslavia, and the rest representing Russia and the Baltic States, Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, the USA and the UK. Bob Dickinson travelled to Konjic for the opening, witnessed challenging examples of new art from the region, and interviewed artists, organisers and local people who, until recently, never knew the ARK bunker existed.
FRI 07:00 London Calling (b05p73y9)
It Pays to Advertise
Back to the BBC's early wireless days of 1922.
Colonel Beecham and Admiral Carpenter are concerned that all their hard work producing the BBC's wireless output is beginning to affect their golf swing. Meanwhile, hard-up Children's Hour's Uncle Rex is made an offer he really ought to refuse.
Written by Jimmy Perry, the man behind Dad's Army and Hi-De-Hi.
Starring Graham Crowden as John Brown, Jimmy Perry as Colonel Beecham, Bill Pertwee as Sergeant Lucas and Jeffrey Holland as Roger Eccles.
Producer: Jo Clegg.
First broadcast nightly on BBC Radio 2 in September 1994.
FRI 07:30 Mark Thomas: The Manifesto (b01s4szd)
Series 5, Episode 5
Comedian-activist Mark Thomas takes his People's Manifesto to Manchester, with policies on low-cost housing, happier train carriages and novel road safety techniques. Produced by Colin Anderson.
FRI 08:00 Yes Minister (b007jmsk)
Series 1, Doing the Honours
MP Jim Hacker is outwitted by Sir Humphrey during an economy drive.
Starring Paul Eddington as Jim Hacker, Nigel Hawthorne as Sir Humphrey Appleby and Derek Fowldes as Bernard.
With John Nettleton as Sir Arnold, Graham Crowden as the Master and William Fox as the Bursar.
Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn satirical sitcom ran on BBC TV between 1980 and 1984. Yes Minister is centred around the hapless Jim Hacker and a collection of civil service underlings headed by the Machiavellian Sir Humphrey Appleby and obsequious Bernard.
Adapted for radio by producer Pete Atkin.
First broadcast on Radio 4 in 1983.
FRI 08:30 The Goon Show (b00f6gsn)
World War One
England and France are at war. Eccles is at lunch. With Spike Milligan, Harry Secombe and Peter Sellers. From February 1958.
FRI 09:00 The 3rd Degree (b041zcmf)
Series 4, University of Nottingham
A 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 Nottingham, "The 3rd Degree" is a funny, lively and dynamic quiz show aimed at cultivating the next generation of Radio 4 listeners whilst delighting the current ones.
The Specialist Subjects in this episode are British History, Management Studies and Philosophy and the questions range from the International Monetary Fund., Kierkegaard and Wagner to the Fat Slags and Goofy
The show is recorded on location at a different University each week, and it pits three Undergraduates against three of their Professors in a genuinely original and fresh take on an academic quiz. Being a Radio 4 programme, it of course meets the most stringent standards of academic rigour - but with lots of facts and jokes thrown in for good measure.
Together with host Steve Punt, the show tours the (sometimes posh, sometimes murky, but always welcoming!) Union buildings, cafés and lecture halls of six universities across the UK.
The rounds vary between Specialist Subjects and General Knowledge, quickfire bell-and-buzzer rounds and the 'Highbrow & 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... In addition, the Head-to-Head rounds, in which students take on their Professors in their own subjects, were particularly lively, and offered plenty of scope for mild embarrassment on both sides...
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...
In this series, the universities are Bristol, Kent, Bedfordshire, Birmingham, Nottingham & Aberystwyth.
Producer: David Tyler
A Pozzitive Television production for BBC Radio 4

Overflow (incl Cast Lists)
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. As well as "The Now Show" 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 half-hour comedy for Radio 4's 2008 Big Bang Day set in the Large Hadron Collider, called "The Genuine Particle". This makes him the perfect host for a show which aims to be an intellectual, fulfilling and informative quiz, but with wit and a genuine delight in exploring the subjects at hand.
The 3rd Degree is a Pozzitive production, produced by David Tyler. His radio credits include Armando Iannucci's Charm Offensive, Cabin Pressure, Bigipedia, The Brig Society, Thanks A Lot, Milton Jones!, Kevin Eldon Will See You Now, Jeremy Hardy Speaks To The Nation, Giles Wemmbley Hogg Goes Off, The 99p Challenge, My First Planet, The Castle and even, going back a bit, Radio Active. His TV credits include Paul Merton - The Series, Spitting Image, Absolutely, The Paul & Pauline Calf Video Diaries, Coogan's Run, The Tony Ferrino Phenomenon and exec producing Victoria Wood's dinnerladies.
FRI 09:30 No Commitments (b007jmz6)
Series 11, Ill Winds
Roger's retirement looms, while Anna tries to help Charlotte with a tricky problem. Sitcom following three 40-something sisters. Stars Bill Nighy and Celia Imrie. From Feb 2005.
FRI 10:00 Nigel Planer - On the Ceiling (b01l1vy1)
by Nigel Planer
Lapo ..... Phil Daniels
Loti ..... Bryan Dick
Pope Julius ..... Gary Waldhorn
Cardinal Alidosi ..... Roger Lloyd Pack
Composer ..... Adam Cork
Directed by Mary Peate
High up on the wooden scaffolding tower of the Sistine Chapel, two fresco plasterers get on with the day's work preparing the ceiling for their boss Michelangelo who has not bothered to turn up for work again. As they do so, they bemoan the uselessness of the great master.
Pope Julius and Cardinal Alidosi visit the chapel to inspect the progress of their commission. They are never very impressed, and the Pope is more concerned about getting Michelangelo to do his funeral monument at a knock-down price.
On the Ceiling is not about great artists; it is about those people whose names don't go down in history: the ones who do the essential drudge work, their frustration at their lack of genius and their pride in their own technical expertise. In this version of events, low elements combine to make high art.
Nigel Planer is best known as Neil in The Young Ones, and as Nicholas Craig - The Naked Actor. Other television productions include Shine on Harvey Moon; Dennis Potter's Blackeyes. On stage, Nigel has performed in Simon Gray's Unnatural Pursuits; Ben Elton's We Will Rock You and Hairspray.
FRI 11:00 On the Brink (b01n6vnk)
Four-Minute Warning
Fifty years ago, the world stood on the brink of nuclear war, as the US and Soviet leadership engaged in a military stand-off over missiles in Cuba.
In Marina Lewycka's story, the second in a series looking at the Cuban Missile Crisis through the eyes of ordinary people, a teenage girl wonders how to make the most of her last four minutes, should the warning come...
Reader: Sian Thomas
Writer: Marina Lewycka's novel, 'A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian', was long-listed for the 2005 Man Booker Prize and short-listed for the 2005 Orange Prize for Fiction. Her most recent novel is 'Various Pets Dead and Alive'.
Producer: Justine Willett.
FRI 11:15 Don Haworth - A Summertime (b0076knb)
Warm and humorous tale of unforeseen happiness and its passing, set on the Lancashire moors in 1939. Stars Rachel Ibbotson and Julia Rounthwaite.
FRI 12:00 Yes Minister (b007jmsk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
FRI 12:30 The Goon Show (b00f6gsn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
FRI 13:00 Jim Eldridge - Down Payment on Death (b007jtkq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
FRI 13:30 The Art Bunker (b012fs6h)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
FRI 14:00 Book at Bedtime (b01phn49)
Daphne Du Maurier - Frenchman's Creek, Episode 10
Part adventure, part romance, and set in Cornwall, Daphne Du Maurier's novel tells the powerful love story between Lady Dona and the French pirate Aubery.
Episode 10
With just hours to go before he is hanged, Dona and William conspire to spring the Frenchman from his prison. But will their plan succeed?
Read by Adjoa Andoh
Abridged by Eileen Horne
Produced by Clive Brill
A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 14:15 The People's Post: A Narrative History of the Post Office (b0184vhd)
The Postal Worker's Strike
By 1890 Britain had a state of the art postal service with six daily deliveries in Britain's towns. To achieve this service, delivery staff often worked six day weeks with shifts split over a twelve or fourteen hour day. In sorting offices, postal staff complained of leaky roofs and inadequate toilets. Worse still, postmen weren't permitted their own independent union, and in 1890 frustration turned to industrial action.
As Royal Mail faces an uncertain future, Dominic Sandbrook charts the development of the post office and examines it's impact on literacy, free speech, commerce and communication.
Writer and Presenter: Dominic Sandbrook
Musicians: Sam Lee, Bella Hardy, Mick Sands, Nick Hart
Actors: Morgan George, John Sessions, Simon Tcherniak,
Malcolm Tierney, Jane Whittenshaw
Producer: Joby Waldman
A Somethin Else production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 14:30 15 Minute Drama (b01fjz2n)
Mark Lawson - The Man Who Knows, Episode 5
Fleet Street, 1969. Dominic Bold, gossip columnist of the Morning News, is about to face a little exposure of his own. Stars Gerard Murphy.
FRI 14:45 Book of the Week (b01bbz1y)
Marcus Berkmann - A Shed of One's Own: Midlife Without the Crisis, Episode 5
For many men, middle age arrives too fast and without due warning. One day you are young, free and single; the next you are bald, fat and washed-up, with weird tendrils of hair growing out of your ears. None of it seems fair. With age should come dignity and respect, but instead everyone makes tired jokes about buying a motorbike.
Marcus Berkmann isn't having it. Having marked his fiftieth birthday by hiding under the duvet for six weeks, he is determined to find some light in the all-consuming darkness.
'We may have lost our hair, our waistline or our way completely. But we have also gained a certain amount of guile and what some might call "gravitas" (and others would call "weight").'
Musing over birth, death and all the messy stuff in between, he concludes that however dreadful you look in the mirror today, it will be much worse in ten years' time. His brutally candid dispatch from the front line is essential listening for anyone over thirty-five - as well as all those who want to prepare for what lies ahead...
Marcus Berkmann has spent more than thirty years sitting in front of various television screens swearing at incompetent England batsmen. In his leisure time he has written columns on sport for Punch, the Independent on Sunday and the Daily Express. He is a regular contributor to Private Eye and has been the Spectator's pop music critic for over twenty years. His books include Rain Men: The Madness of Cricket, Zimmer Men: The Trials and Tribulations of the Ageing Cricketer, Fatherhood: The Truth and A Matter of Facts: The Insider's Guide to Quizzing
Read by Toby Longworth
Producer/Abridger: Joanna Green
A Pier Production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 15:00 Nigel Planer - On the Ceiling (b01l1vy1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
FRI 16:00 The 3rd Degree (b041zcmf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
FRI 16:30 No Commitments (b007jmz6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
FRI 17:00 London Calling (b05p73y9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
FRI 17:30 Mark Thomas: The Manifesto (b01s4szd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
FRI 18:00 Eric Pringle - It's Cold Outside (b082rbmd)
Ray wakes to find himself trapped inside his car in a snowdrift. He can't move. He doesn't know who he is - or how he came to be there...
Eric Pringle's chilling drama stars Kenneth Cranham as Ray, Julia Ford as Sophie, Neville Jason as Gerry and Elaine Claxton as Anna.
Director: Cherry Cookson
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1995.
FRI 18:30 Soul Music (b00zsdsn)
Series 11, Mahler's Adagietto
Adagietto from Mahler's 5th Symphony
Mahler wrote his 5th Symphony during the summers of 1901 and 1902. The Adagietto is the 4th movement which is thought to have been inspired by falling in love with Alma who he married around this time. This single movement is Mahler's most well known piece of music. It was famously used in the 1971 Luchino Visconti film Death in Venice And it was also conducted by Leonard Bernstein at the mass at St Patrick's Cathedral, New York on the day of the burial of Robert Kennedy.
In this programme, composer David Matthews explains the significance of this piece in Mahler's output. Psychoanalyst Anthony Cantle describes listening to it with his mother during her last days of dementia. Malcolm Reid tells how this piece signified a change in himself as a young man in the British police force with narrow, racist views, to hearing it in Australia and shifting his to becoming a liberal. And Helen Epstein explains why it was played at her mother's funeral.
Producer, Rosie Boulton.
FRI 19:00 Yes Minister (b007jmsk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
FRI 19:30 The Goon Show (b00f6gsn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
FRI 20:00 Jim Eldridge - Down Payment on Death (b007jtkq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
FRI 20:30 The Art Bunker (b012fs6h)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
FRI 21:00 On the Brink (b01n6vnk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
FRI 21:15 Don Haworth - A Summertime (b0076knb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 today]
FRI 22:00 Mark Thomas: The Manifesto (b01s4szd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
FRI 22:30 Nurse (b03wq2j7)
Series 1, Episode 3
A brand new series starring Paul Whitehouse and Esther Coles, with Rosie Cavaliero, Simon Day, Cecilia Noble and Marcia Warren.
The series follows Elizabeth, a Community Psychiatric Nurse in her forties, into the homes of her patients (or Service Users in today's jargon). It recounts their humorous, sad and often bewildering daily interactions with the nurse, whose job is to assess their progress, dispense their medication and offer comfort and support.
Compassionate and caring, Elizabeth is aware that she cannot cure her patients, only help them manage their various conditions. She visits the following characters throughout the series:
Lorrie and Maurice: Lorrie, in her fifties, is of Caribbean descent and has schizophrenia. Lorrie's life is made tolerable by her unshakeable faith in Jesus, and Maurice, who has a crush on her and wants to do all he can to help. So much so that he ends up getting on everyone's nerves.
Billy: Billy feels safer in jail than outside, a state of affairs the nurse is trying to rectify. She is hampered by the ubiquitous presence of Billy's mate, Tony.
Graham: in his forties, is morbidly obese due to an eating disorder. Matters aren't helped by his mum 'treating' him to sugary and fatty snacks at all times.
Ray: is bipolar and a rock and roll survivor from the Sixties. It is not clear how much of his 'fame' is simply a product of his imagination.
Phyllis: in her seventies, has Alzheimer's. She is sweet, charming and exasperating. Her son Gary does his best but if he has to hear 'I danced for the Queen Mum once' one more time he will explode.
Herbert is an old school gentleman in his late Seventies. Herbert corresponds with many great literary figures unconcerned that they are, for the most part, dead.
Nurse is written by Paul Whitehouse and David Cummings, who have collaborated many time in the past, including on The Fast Show, Down the Line and Happiness.
Written by Paul Whitehouse and David Cummings with additional material from Esther Coles
Producers: Paul Whitehouse and Tilusha Ghelani
A Down the Line production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 22:45 Jigsaw (b01r0zbh)
Series 1, Episode 3
Dan Antopolski, Nat Luurtsema and Tom Craine piece together a selection of silly, clever, dark sketches. Produced by Colin Anderson.
FRI 23:00 Blue Jam (b082rbmg)
Series 3, Episode 4
From the mind of Chris Morris leaks onto radio in this dreamlike combination of comedy and music. Julia Davis, Kevin Eldon, David Cann, Mark Heap and Amelia Bullmore.
Are you still lying curare-still, seeking relief in feigning dead? Then welcome, oo-tazz welcome. Chris Morris is here to help you wallow in the melancholy, for third series of this subversive radio classic.
Immediately prior to Blue Jam's initial burst on radio, Chris Morris had caused a furore with Channel 4's Brass Eye. Yet Blue Jam managed to be a total departure from his previous work. Originally airing in the early hours on BBC Radio 1, it's a blend of ambient music, deadpan ( sometimes brutal ) sketches and offbeat monologues. A whole audio landscape of the subconscious, the ad-hoc low-fi sheen of production lending it a kind of verisimilitude.
In sharp contrast with the personality-led comedies of recent years, Blue Jam makes a virtue of anonymity. Borat scribe Pater Baynham and Father Ted creator Graham Linehan are among the writers. Rightly winning a clutch of Sony Awards, it remains unique - nothing before or after was remotely like it.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 1 in February 1999.