SATURDAY 07 JANUARY 2017

SAT 00:00 Alex Garland - The Coma (b007jtwc)
Episode 5
Fear of never waking up turns to fear of waking up as Carl starts to stir. Tom Goodman-Hill concludes Alex Garland's novel.
SAT 00:30 Soul Music (b014fdbp)
Series 12, Let's Face the Music and Dance
The enduring Irving Berlin classic, Let's Face the Music and Dance is celebrated by those for whom it has a special significance. Written in 1932 as one of the dance numbers for Follow The Fleet, a movie starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, it's since taken on a life of it's own, being recorded by hundreds of artists from Diane Krall to Shirley Bassey, Frank Sinatra to Vera Lynn, Ella Fitzgerald to Matt Munroe.
For Sir John Mortimer's widow, Penny, it conjures up the very essence of her husband, who loved life, romance and dancing - even though he was no Fred Astaire , a fact he always deeply regretted.
Lawrence Bergreen , Berlin's biographer and academic Morris Dickstein explain why this song has such a unique place in popular culture and the cabaret singer and composer, Kit Hesketh Harvey explains why the melody continues to haunt us.
We hear from the bride and groom who decided to dance down the aisle to it after their wedding and the redundant welder for whom the song will be forever associated with the demise of our ship building industry. While one insurance executive recalls how the the song became central to their advertising campaign, bringing success to the firm and also placing Nat King Cole's version back in the charts nearly sixty years after it was written.
Producer: Lucy Lunt.
SAT 01:00 Wimsey (b007k4d8)
Busman's Honeymoon, A Chain of Circumstance
With no clear murder suspect, the arrival of the removal men helps Lord Peter Wimsey to spot a vital clue.
Starring Ian Carmichael as Lord Peter Wimsey, Sarah Badel as Lady Wimsey, Peter Jones as Bunter, Rosemary Leach as Miss Twitterton, Pearl Hackney as Mrs Ruddle, Peter Vaughan as Superintendent Kirk, Kenneth Cranham as Frank Crutchley and Gerald Sim as the Rev Goodacre.
British gentleman detective Lord Peter Wimsey features in a number of detective novels and short stories by English crime writer, Dorothy L Sayers. Busman's Honeymoon was first published in 1937.
Classy and sharp-witted, aristocratic amateur sleuth Lord Peter Bredon Wimsey was born in 1890 and educated at Eton and Oxford, before serving in the military during the First World War.
Ian Carmichael appeared as Lord Peter Wimsey for BBC Radio from 1973 to 1983, in addition to the BBC TV adaptations that were broadcast between 1972 and 1975.
Adapted for radio in six episodes by Alistair Beaton.
Producer: Martin Fisher
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 1983.
SAT 01:30 Hey Mr Salinger (b00y1vxk)
For a year in 1996, Joanna Smith Rakoff was in charge of answering JD Salinger's fanmail. Salinger was famously reclusive, wanting nothing to do with his fans and Rakoff was supposed to send out a standard letter. But as she read the letters she found herself pulled into their lives, and secretly, surreptitiously she started answering them.
In this confessional documentary Joanna rediscovers the letters she answered and meets the people who wrote them. She introduces us to the teenager struggling at school, told by her teacher she would get an A for English if she received a reply from Salinger. We hear about the Japanese girl who wrote two letters, one in Japanese and one in English because she thought that Salinger was so smart he would probably know Japanese. Joanna remembers the woman whose daughter loved the short story 'A Perfect Day For Bananafish'. When her daughter died young, her mother wanted to set up a literary magazine and asked if she could call it 'Bananafish'. As Joanna says "if at first I found [them] weird, after a few months I found [them] - well, still weird, but also many other things: sad, sweet, stupid, hopeful, obsessive."
Until she worked at Ober, Rakoff was not a fan of Salinger's, but through reading his correspondence she saw what an incredible connection he made with his readers. She found herself reading Catcher in the Rye and Franny and Zooey with new eyes, seeing it as not the cutesy fiction she remembered, but as something more honest and troubled. It helped her move from being an uptight critic to becoming a writer.
And once, during one of his rare visits to New York, she even met the great man himself. We hear how tempted she was to give him one of the most touching and personal letters she ever received and why she decided not to
Producer: James Crawford
A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 02:00 Joanna Trollope - Other People's Children (b007jn5v)
Episode 5
Tom plans a third marriage to Elizabeth, but how will they cope with his possessive daughter? Read by Penelope Wilton.
SAT 02:15 Promises, Promises: A History of Debt (b05442ft)
The Classical World
Anthropologist David Graeber examines debt in the Classical period. It was during this age that coinage first emerged as an efficient way of paying soldiers.
The spread of coinage had enormous political and intellectual consequences. It was invented on the fringes of military operations - whether in Greece, India, or China - but was quickly taken up by enterprising kingdoms, some of which gradually gobbled up their neighbours. Eventually, vast empires emerged - the Athenian, Hellenistic, and Roman empires, Magadha, Nanda, the Qin, the Han. Armies are expensive to run and, in the end, we witnessed a cycle of violence and repayment in coinage.
Debt has an important role to play in the story of coinage. While coins were invented to pay soldiers, it was through taxation that they became embedded in the lives of entire populations. Ancient rulers indebted their subjects by demanding taxes which had to be paid in coinage. David reveals that this system of taxation was in fact an ingenious ploy to make subjects feed and provide for the army by creating a universal need for coinage.
Under ancient conditions, keeping say 50,000 men supplied with provisions was an extremely challenging undertaking. By distributing coins to soldiers, which could be exchanged with locals for provisions, ancient rulers co-opted their populations into keeping their armies fed, watered and primed to keep on conquering.
Producer: Max O'Brien
A Juniper production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 02:30 15 Minute Drama (b04471vk)
Vikas Swarup - The Seventh Test, The Candy Van
Sapna Sinha works as a sales assistant in a TV showroom in New Delhi. Being the only bread-winner in the family she works long hours to provide for her widowed mother and younger sister. But then a man walks into her life with an extraordinary proposition: pass seven "life" tests of his choosing and she will have wealth and power. At first the tests seem easy, but things are not quite as they seem. Dramatised by Ayeesha Menon and John Dryden from Vikas Swarup's best-selling novel "The Accidental Apprentice".
5) The Candy Van
A thriller set in India from the author of "Slumdog Millionaire".
A van appears in Sapna's neighbourhood, luring children away with sweets, to work in factories. Sapna intervenes, but in so doing sets off a chain of events that lead her into the path of danger. Dramatised from Vikas Swarup's best-selling novel "The Accidental Apprentice".
Writers:
Vikas Swarup is an Indian diplomat and a best-selling novelist. His first novel "Q & A" was made into the Oscar winning film "Slumdog Millionaire" as well as Sony Award winning radio drama serial for BBC Radio .
Ayeesha Menon dramatized Vikas Swarup's other novels SIX SUSPECTS and Q & A, which won a Sony Award for Best Drama. She also wrote for Radio 4 THE MUMBAI CHUZZLEWITS, UNDERCOVER MUMBAI, THE CAIRO TRILOGY and MY NAME IS RED. Her stage play PEREIRA'S BAKERY AT 76 CHAPEL ROAD, which was developed with the Royal Court Theatre, was recently staged by the Curve Theatre, Leicester.
John Dryden wrote the original three-part dramas series SEVERED THREADS, THE RELUCTANT SPY and PANDEMIC, which won the Writer's Guild Award for best radio drama script. His dramatisation of BLEAK HOUSE won a Sony Award for Best Drama. Other dramatisations include A SUITABLE BOY, A HANDMAID'S TALE and FATHERLAND one of the most repeated dramas on R4 Extra.
Overflow and notes:
Production:
Sound Design - Steve Bond
Editing Assistant - Varun Bangera
Script Editor - Mike Walker
Assistant Producer - Toral Shah
Music - Sacha Putnam
Dramatised by Ayeesha Menon and John Dryden from the novel "ACCIDENTAL APPRENTICE" by Vikas Swarup.
Director - John Dryden
Producer - Nadir Khan
A Goldhawk Production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 02:45 Book of the Week (b01cqx0f)
Wilkie Collins, Episode 5
Written by Peter Ackroyd.
Read by Michael Pennington.
His first child with Martha Rudd is born, Caroline Graves returns to Gloucester Place and Wilkie Collins' great friend and collaborator, Charles Dickens, dies.
Short and oddly built, with a head too big for his body, extremely short-sighted, unable to stay still, dressed in colourful clothes, 'as if playing a certain part in the great general drama of life' Wilkie Collins looked distinctly strange. But he was none the less a charmer, befriended by the great, loved by children, irresistibly attractive to women - and avidly read by generations of readers.
Peter Ackroyd follows his hero, 'the sweetest-tempered of all the Victorian novelists', from his childhood as the son of a well-known artist to his struggling beginnings as writer, his years of fame and his life-long friendship with the other great London chronicler, Charles Dickens. A true Londoner, Collins, like Dickens, was fascinated by the secrets and crimes -- the fraud, blackmail and poisonings - that lay hidden behind the city's respectable facade. He was a fighter, never afraid to point out injustices and shams, or to tackle the establishment head on.
As well as his enduring masterpieces, "The Moonstone" - often called the first true detective novel - and the sensational "Women in White," he produced an intriguing array of lesser known works. But Collins had his own secrets: he never married, but lived for thirty years with the widowed Caroline Graves, and also had a second liaison, as 'Mr and Mrs Dawson', with a younger mistress, Martha Rudd, with whom he had three children. Both women remained devoted as illness and opium-taking took their toll: he died in 1889, in the middle of writing his last novel - Blind Love.
Told with Peter Ackroyd's inimitable verve this is a ravishingly entertaining life of a great story-teller, full of surprises, rich in humour and sympathetic understanding.
Abridged by Libby Spurrier
Producer: Joanna Green
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 03:00 Classic Serial (b00j5tt9)
LG Gibbon - Sunset Song, Episode 2
Gerda Stevenson's dramatisation of the 1932 novel by Lewis Grassic Gibbon, set in north-east Scotland before and during the First World War.
After her father's death, Chris is determined to stay and work the farm alone if need be. Joined by Ewan Tavendale in marriage and on the farm, Chris gives birth to a son. But the outbreak of the First World War brings devastating change to her family, the rural landscape and the community.
Chris Guthrie ...... Lesely Hart
Ewan Tavendale ...... Finn Den Hertog
Chae Strachan ...... Douglas Russell
Long Rob ...... Matthew Zajac
Mistress Munro ...... Estrid Barton
Kirsty Strachan ...... Shonagh Price
Rev Colquohoun ...... Fraser Sivewright
Rev Gibbon ...... Keith Hutcheon
Directed by David Ian Neville.
SAT 04:00 The Museum of Curiosity (b03g9b1f)
Series 6, Frost, Sinha, Aderin-Pocock
John Lloyd and curator Humphrey Ker welcome objects from Paul Sinha, Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock and David Frost. From April 2013.
SAT 04:30 No Commitments (b007jn72)
Series 12, Darling Daughters
Charlotte and Victoria's daughters take centre stage in the sisters' one-upmanship. Stars Angela Thorne. From April 2006.
SAT 05:00 The Secret Life of Rosewood Avenue (b007jx3p)
Entertaining Edwin
"Whenever you're passing , look me up" you said. "No need to let me know, stay as long as you like..."
An old school chum visits hapless vicar Timothy Carswell, while two teenage tearaways terrorise residents.
Stephen Sheridan's six-part series stars James Grout as the Reverend Timothy Carswell, Margaret Courtenay as Miss Tilling, Jean Heywood as Miss Tapp and Christopher Good as Dr Warlock.
Producer: Lissa Evans.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 1991.
SAT 05:30 Pauline Pepys Dowry (b00tbkfx)
Samuel Pepys' diaries make occasional mention of his sister Pauline who has come to visit. She appears not to have been an entirely welcome guest. This comedy is inspired by Pauline, and by many other unwelcome love-lorn house-guests throughout human history...
Meet Pauline Pepys. Her love life is in tatters, her sister-in-law wants her to move out of the spare room, and her best friend is her worst enemy. Oh, and this being London in the 1660s there's a nasty spot of plague about. This episode sees Pauline fall for a handsome executioner, but when he seems to prefer Charlotte she offers to fix Pauline up with a very romantic poet. Meanwhile Elizabeth has arranged for a lavish portrait of herself and Samuel that is not altogether going to plan. And the maid is doing something awful with a dead fish and a goat.
A new historical comedy starring Olivia Colman as hopeless romantic Pauline, Sharon Horgan as her best friend Charlotte the vainest woman in Britain, David Mitchell as a distinctly itchy Samuel Pepys, Katherine Parkinson as Elizabeth his wife, who is very stressed about making the right impression on society; and Tom Hollander as Russell de Bret, a man who in the twenty first century would be a rock star, but has chosen instead the career of public executioner; with Rebekah Staton as the peculiarly fish-obsessed house maid Jane and Dave Lamb as Joth a very angry painter and Wilston, a very sad poet...
Pauline Pepys' Dowry is written by Amy Shindler and Beth Chalmers and produced by Gareth Edwards.
SAT 06:00 Roderick Graham - Melford's Axe (b0886v9g)
1649: Colonel Hacker faces a dilemma when the usual hangman refuses to carry out the execution of King Charles I - fearing for his own life.
A replacement is sought within the regiment, and Sergeant Jack Melford is asked to use his farrier's axe. But the deed proves to be a fearful burden...
Roderick Graham's historical drama stars Struan Rodger as Jack Melford, Sara Kestelman as Mary, Christopher Benjamin as Lord Bolton, Peter Baldwin as Captain Whittingham and John Samson as Colonel Francis Hacker.
Director: Jane Morgan
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1988.
SAT 07:30 Britain in a Box (b00y4cjj)
Series 4, World in Action
Paul Jackson looks back to ITV's pioneering show, World in Action, which led the way for current affairs from 1963 to 1998.
What was the impact and legacy of its tough journalism, which launched the TV career of John Pilger and helped to free the Birmingham Six? With John Pilger, Lord Douglas Hurd and Sir Jeremy Isaacs.
Not only celebrating innovative TV programmes over the decades, 'Britain in a Box' uses them as a window on a particular period in our cultural and social history.
Producer: Paul Kobrak
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2011.
SAT 08:00 The Archive Hour (b00b410m)
Adventures in the BBC Archives
Former Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd uses the BBC Archives to explore the life of his predecessor Anthony Eden.
Eden's reputation is forever associated with the 1956 Suez crisis, but Hurd begins his journey much earlier with rare recordings of his radio talks and speeches from the 1930s before becoming Foreign Secretary at the age of 38.
He goes on to explore Eden's role in the front line of Churchill's government and his central role in settling the Indo-Chinese War in 1954.
SAT 09:00 Hardeep Singh Kohli's Making Himself at Home (b0886vlx)
The dominance of the TV in all our lives has paralleled the changes in the racial make-up of the UK. Hardeep Singh Kohli is a child of Punjabi migrants and grew up in Glasgow in the 1970's and 80's watching television programmes which in many cases tried and failed to reflect the new relationships between white and black Britain
Hardeep explores the programmes he sat on his sofa with his family watching like Mind Your Language and Curry and Chips, in many ways they are the programme that define that era of comedy, but what was it like to be a migrant and see yourself and your family caricatured ?
But the TV watching Hardeep grew up to become somebody who worked and helped shape the TV of the new era when Asians weren't played by blacked-up actors and our perceptions weren't defined by white people but by comedies like Goodness Gracious Me and Hardeeps own comedy Meet the Magoos - the tables had been turned
Hardeep will sit down with Anil Gupta who grew up in that same era on how the recall the less then golden age of TV comedy and how it affected them or whether they laughed along with the joke in their living room
They will share how it influenced their comedy and view on multicultural Britain - in Anil's case he went onto help develop Goodness Gracious Me and Citizen Khan
As we are enter a new era in multi-cultural Britain Hardeep with guests such as Anil and writer Sathnam Sanghera discuss how British TV has reflected the changes in society through drama and comedy.
SAT 12:00 Do Nothing 'Til You Hear From Me (b0076h4q)
Series 1, Body and Soul
At a bandmate's funeral, musicians Roy and George face up to their own mortality. Stars Ram Jam Holder. From September 2003.
SAT 12:30 Life in London (b01167w4)
In Training for a Swell
Cocksure Tom and his country cousin Jerry tour the sprawling post-Regency metropolis. Stars Greg Wise and Mark Gatiss. From May 2006.
SAT 13:00 Curious Under the Stars (b0886vlz)
It's back to Glan Don, the mystical village in West Wales, where Gareth and Diane struggle to run a pub. Stars Elis James.
SAT 14:10 Inheritance Tracks (b0886vrk)
Ben Cohen
Former rugby union star Ben Cohen shares 'The Power of Love' by Jennifer Rush and 'That's Life' by Frank Sinatra.
SAT 14:15 Sentimental Journey (b0886w69)
Nick Hancock
Arthur Smith accompanies actor, Nick Hancock on a lad's tour of Mallorca - his favourite island after Britain. Poet Robert Graves and many other Brits have adopted Mallorca as their second home.
Producer: Vibeke Venema
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 1998.
SAT 14:45 Uncle Mort's South Country (b007jqzx)
Series 1, Three Star Comfort
Carter Brandon checks in for some room service, but his uncle has other ideas. Peter Tinniswood's adventures with Sam Kelly.
SAT 15:00 The Archive Hour (b00b410m)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
SAT 16:00 Roderick Graham - Melford's Axe (b0886v9g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
SAT 17:30 Britain in a Box (b00y4cjj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
SAT 18:00 Atomic Tales (b007jx70)
And Mother Makes Millions
A chilling world without children? The battle is on to save the human race from ravaged Earth.
1950s American sci-fi spoof starring John Guerrasio, Jeff Harding, Allison Warnyca, Lewis McLeod, Colin Stinton and Liza Ross.
Written by Adam Tandy and Nat Sones.
Producer: Adam Bromley.
Made for BBC 7 and first broadcast in August 2006.
SAT 18:30 Ursula Le Guin - Earthsea (b05s8j37)
Schooling
Ursula Le Guin's enduring fantasy saga set on the magical archipelago rich with wizards and dragons.
Based on the novels A Wizard of Earthsea and The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula Le Guin. Adapted by Judith Adams.
The young mage Ged is sent to the school for wizards on Roke Island but his pride and recklessness prove fatal. Meanwhile on Atuan, Tenar struggles to understand her role as guardian of the ominous Tombs. Her first official task will fill her with horror.
Published between 1968 and 1972, the first three books of Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea cycle (A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore) are re-told here across six intertwined episodes. Set on a vast archipelago of islands, where magic is a central part of life, they tell the stories of Ged and Tenar. Ged is a boy from the island of Gont, born with innate magical talent and a reckless nature, who releases a terrible shadow into the world and must risk everything in order to restore the balance. Tenar, a girl from the island of Atuan, is taken from her home and family to become Arha, the Priestess Ever Reborn, guardian of the ominous Tombs of Atuan. Deep within the Tombs, Ged and Tenar encounter one another and discover a way of bringing peace to the troubled archipelago.
Ged ..... James McArdle
Tenar ..... Aysha Kala
Young Ged ..... Kasper Hilton-Hillie
Young Tenar ..... Nishi Malde
Manan ..... Zubin Varla
Kossil ..... Souad Faress
Doorkeeper ..... Stephen Critchlow
Nemmerle ..... Sam Dale
Raven ..... Ayesha Antoine
Jasper ..... Richard Linnell
Vetch ..... Jack Kane
Hand ..... David Acton
Herbal ..... Mark Edel-Hunt
Gensher ..... David Hounslow
Dragon ..... Jessica Turner
Original music by Jon Nicholls
Directed by Sasha Yevtushenko.
SAT 19:00 Hardeep Singh Kohli's Making Himself at Home (b0886vlx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
SAT 22:00 The Simon Day Show (b01jhjs3)
Series 2, Billy Bleach
Simon Day and his characters welcome listeners to The Mallard, a small provincial theatre somewhere in the UK. Each week one of Simon's comic characters come to perform at The Mallard while the staff struggle with rivalries, self-doubt and the new owner's vision for the theatre's future.
This week popular, Fast Show favourite Billy Bleach returns to The Mallard, the theatre that last series gave him his first big break.
Cast list:
Billy Bleach ..... Simon Day
Emanuel Akinyemi ..... Felix Dexter
Pat Bennet ... Morwenna Banks
Ron Bone ..... Simon Greenall
Written by Simon Day
Produced by Colin Anderson.
SAT 22:30 Revolting People (b007jzgq)
Series 1, A Helluva Lot of Storm Clouds
Cora learns she is pregnant, but her marriage isn't consummated. 1770 America sitcom stars Andy Hamilton. From February 2000.
SAT 22:55 The Comedy Club Interviews (b088jr3y)
The best in contemporary comedy. Arthur Smith is joined in the Comedy Club by Mark Thomas.
SAT 23:00 The Mary Whitehouse Experience (b007jn3d)
From 10/03/1990
The Al Fayed purchase of Harrods is mocked. Sketches, stand-up and general ranting from David Baddiel, Rob Newman, Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis. From March 1990.
SAT 23:30 4 at the Store (b00db35n)
Series 2, Episode 3
Stand-up at London's Comedy Store with host Simon Bligh, Ian Stone, Ronnie Golden and Jo Caulfield. From January 2002.

SUNDAY 08 JANUARY 2017

SUN 00:00 Atomic Tales (b007jx70)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Saturday]
SUN 00:30 Ursula Le Guin - Earthsea (b05s8j37)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:30 on Saturday]
SUN 01:00 Curious Under the Stars (b0886vlz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 13:00 on Saturday]
SUN 02:10 Inheritance Tracks (b0886vrk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:10 on Saturday]
SUN 02:15 Sentimental Journey (b0886w69)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:15 on Saturday]
SUN 02:45 Uncle Mort's South Country (b007jqzx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:45 on Saturday]
SUN 03:00 The Archive Hour (b00b410m)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 on Saturday]
SUN 04:00 Roderick Graham - Melford's Axe (b0886v9g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Saturday]
SUN 05:30 Britain in a Box (b00y4cjj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Saturday]
SUN 06:00 Vikas Swarup - The Seventh Test Omnibus (b044jhrs)
Episode 1
Offered a chance to change her life, sales assistant Sapna must pass seven tests. Thriller set in India. Stars Rasika Dugal.
SUN 07:15 Pierrot Hero: The Story of Clifford Essex (b01q03g5)
How It All Began
A selection of readings from the personal memoirs of Clifford Essex, which have remained unpublished since they first appeared in magazine format in the 1920s. In this episode, Essex has the idea of forming a pierrot troupe and taking it to Henley Regatta.
The seaside pierrot troupe is an uniquely British art form, which began in 1891. That year, a gifted banjo player and producer of entertainments for society events, called Clifford Essex, watched a performance of L'Enfant Prodigue at The Prince of Wales Theatre. It was a largely mimed performance featuring a family of pierrots and it gave Essex the idea of costuming a concert party in white satin, pompoms and ruffles, to perform banjo pieces at The Henley Regatta and, later that year, at Cowes.
The project was a resounding success and led to his troupe performing throughout the country for almost three decades. During this time, the idea was copied and developed in such a way that, by the 1920s, there were more than 500 pierrot troupes performing along the coasts of Britain. These troupes were the stand-up comedy club and indie pop charts of their day - it was here that artists honed their craft by learning old routines and developing new ideas. They paved the way for the styles of music and humour that subsequently found a mass audience on radio and television.
The reader, Tony Lidington is known by many people as 'Uncle Tacko', leader and founder of The Pierrotters, the last-remaining professional, seaside pierrot troupe in Britain, now in its 27th year of performing.
Abridged and read by Tony Lidington
Producer: David Blount
A Pier Production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 07:30 Isy Suttie's Love Letters (b01rqbmc)
Series 1, Mr Mississippi
Isy Suttie (Dobby from Channel 4's Peep Show and double British Comedy Award nominee) returns to BBC Radio 4 with these unique tales, recounting a series of love stories affecting people she's known throughout her life, told partly through song.
Sometimes Isy has merely observed other people's love lives; quite often she's intervened, changing the action dramatically - for better or worse. Intertwined within these stories are related real life anecdotes from Isy's own, often disastrous, love life.
In this second episode, Isy tries tries to save her failing relationship with a papier-mâché penguin, while at the same time helping Matlock's resident busker, Mr Mississippi, capture the heart of his unrequited love Lorna, a shelf stacker at the local supermarket.
With her multi-character and vocal skills, plus her guitar, Isy creates a hilarious and deeply moving world, sharing with us her lessons in life and love.
"A voice you want to swim in" The Independent
Produced by Lianne Coop.
SUN 08:00 Take It From Here (b01f9slt)
From 19/02/1959
The fall and rise of a Punch & Judy show - and Ron and Eth are planning their honeymoon in 'The Glums'.
Starring Professor Jimmy Edwards, Dick Bentley and June Whitfield.
Announcer: Brian Matthew
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 February 1959.
SUN 08:30 The Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise Show (b01jt0yr)
Series 1, Episode 3
Ernie takes Eric to a wig boutique and the BBC's offering Ern a lucrative new contract - but what about Eric?
Special singing guest: Anita Harris.
Written by Eddie Braben
With Ann Hamilton and Arthur Tolcher.
Music by Dennis Wilson & His Orchestra.
Producer: John Browell
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in February 1975.
SUN 09:00 Malachy Tallack - Sixty Degrees North Omnibus (b062nhq8)
Malachy Tallack journeys from Shetland around the 60th Parallel, which crosses from Canada to Russia. Read by Sandy Grierson.
SUN 10:10 Inheritance Tracks (b0886x9r)
Michelle Mone
Business entrepreneur Michelle Mone shares Celine Dion's 'Because You Loved Me' and 'Haven't Met You Yet' by Michael Bublé.
SUN 10:15 Desert Island Discs Revisited (b0886xjc)
Absent Friends, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies
From Mozart to Shostakovich. The composer and conductor makes his second castaway selection with Sue Lawley. From January 2005.
SUN 11:00 The Moth Radio Hour (b0886xlk)
Series 4, Episode 6
True stories told live in in the USA: Catherine Burns introduces stories about near misses, escaping conflict and risking your life.
The Moth is an acclaimed not-for-profit organisation dedicated to the art and craft of storytelling based in the USA. Since 1997, it has celebrated both the raconteur and the storytelling novice, who has lived through something extraordinary and yearns to share it. Originally formed by the writer George Dawes Green as an intimate gathering of friends on a porch in Georgia (where moths would flutter in through a hole in the screen), and then recreated in a New York City living room, The Moth quickly grew to produce immensely popular events at theatres and clubs around New York City and later around the USA, the UK and other parts of the world.
The Moth has presented more than 15,000 stories, told live and without notes, to standing-room-only crowds worldwide. The Moth podcast is downloaded over 27 million times a year.
Featuring true stories told live on stage without scripts, from the humorous to the heart-breaking.
The Moth Radio Hour is produced by Jay Allison and Atlantic Public Media in Woods Hole, Massachusetts and is distributed by the Public Radio Exchange.
SUN 12:00 Take It From Here (b01f9slt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
SUN 12:30 The Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise Show (b01jt0yr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
SUN 13:00 Vikas Swarup - The Seventh Test Omnibus (b044jhrs)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
SUN 14:15 Pierrot Hero: The Story of Clifford Essex (b01q03g5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:15 today]
SUN 14:30 Jane Austen - Persuasion: Omnibus (b0886xss)
Episode 2
Anne Elliot hears about an astonishing engagement, and Captain Wentworth is seemingly a changed man. Read by Samantha Bond.
SUN 15:45 Alex Ferguson - Where the Kids Are At (b065ys33)
4 Extra Debut. A resented young teacher re-enacts the events of Eyam, the Derbyshire Plague Village, in a history project. Read by Avril Elgar.
SUN 16:00 Judith Johnson - Uganda (b0886ywd)
Agoraphobic widower Billy Ellis's wanderlust has never taken him further than Rhyl. He spends his days keeping a troubled eye on the world through his atlas and foreign news reports.
But a growing friendship with his daughter's boyfriend tempts him to plan a trip to London...
Judith Johnson's play stars Ronald Pickup as Billy Ellis, Bharti Patel as Trish Ellis, Paul Haigh as Tommy Ellis and Michelle Butterly as Gayle Ellis.
Director: Kristine Landon-Smith
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 1996.
SUN 17:00 Poetry Extra (b0886yx3)
The Poet of Sparty Lea. In Search of Barry MacSweeney
BBC Radio 4's Poet in Residence, Daljit Nagra revisits the BBC's radio poetry archive and spotlights Barry MacSweeney.
Young poet Tom Chivers reclaims the reputation of counter-cultural poet Barry MacSweeney, who wrote his first poem at seven, began a lifelong struggle with solitary hard drinking at 16 and was nominated for the Oxford Poetry Chair at 18.
A protege of Northumbrian poet Basil Bunting, he was a regular at the Morden Tower in Newcastle along with Ted Hughes, Seamus Heaney, Allen Ginsberg, and Ed Dorn. MacSweeney was a man of contradictions; a Romantic poet, a political journalist who raged against the world but also a naturalist whose writing was rooted in the Northumbrian landscape. His refusal to engage with the Establishment was incompatible with commercial or mainstream success, and he died an alcoholic's death, on the fringes of the poetry scene.
A 16-year-old Tom Chivers encountered MacSweeney at what would turn out to be his final poetry reading; a week later he was dead. Now Tom goes on a personal journey to explore the life and work of his hero. Travelling to the Northumbrian landscape which anchored MacSweeney's work, Tom investigates why his radical style was never palatable to the mainstream but also why his work still appeals to a new generation of poets today.
Producer: Allegra McIlroy
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2009.
SUN 17:30 Isy Suttie's Love Letters (b01rqbmc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
SUN 18:00 Spine Chillers (b0886z49)
1/5 Figures by Colin Haydn Evans
As soon as Ann saw the house she knew it had to be hers. Its past turns out to be part of her future.
So all she has to do is sit in the upstairs room - kept locked for so long - and wait...
Stars Anna Massey as Ann, Blain Fairman as Ralph Symons, Jill Lidstone as Rebecca Symons and Jon Strickland as Peter Fuller.
Written by Colin Haydn Evans.
Director: Ian Cotterell
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 1996.
SUN 18:45 Jan Mark - Black and White (b0886z4c)
Old Money
Gary gets an ancient two-shilling coin in his change, but he does not reckon on its looming deadly effect. Read by Malcolm Raeburn.
SUN 19:00 The Moth Radio Hour (b0886xlk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
SUN 20:00 Malachy Tallack - Sixty Degrees North Omnibus (b062nhq8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
SUN 21:10 Inheritance Tracks (b0886x9r)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:10 today]
SUN 21:15 Desert Island Discs Revisited (b0886xjc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:15 today]
SUN 22:00 Isy Suttie's Love Letters (b01rqbmc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
SUN 22:30 Innes Own World (b017gwqz)
Episode 3
Breakfast dramas and memories of touring the USA with the Bonzo Dog Band. Songs and sketches from Neil Innes. From January 2003.
SUN 22:55 The Comedy Club Interviews (b088jtpj)
The best in contemporary comedy. Arthur Smith is joined in the Comedy Club by Mark Thomas.
SUN 23:00 Cabin Pressure (b00chy5c)
Series 1, Cremona
Sitcom by John Finnemore about the pilots of a tiny charter airline for whom no job is too small and many jobs are too difficult.
Arthur is struck dumb when a film star joins the flight, and Douglas has to disguise 30 knights of Camelot in a hurry.
Carolyn Knapp-Shappey ...... Stephanie Cole
1st Officer Douglas Richardson ...... Roger Allam
Captain Martin Crieff ...... Benedict Cumberbatch
Arthur Shappey ...... John Finnemore
Hester Macaulay ...... Helen Baxendale
Percival ...... Rufus Jones
Gawain ...... Robert Harley
Lancelot ...... Ali Amadi.
SUN 23:30 1966 and All That (b0100q4y)
The 1920s and 30s
King George utters some unmemorable last words; DH Lawrence of Arabia writes Lady Chatterbox's Llama; and John Yogi Bear discovers the BBC but finds there's not much on.
Craig Brown's satirical history of Britain begins in the 1920s and 1930s.
Stars Joss Ackland, Eleanor Bron, Rory Bremner, Ewan Bailey, Margaret Cabourn-Smith and John Humphrys,
Producer: Victoria Lloyd
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 2006.

MONDAY 09 JANUARY 2017

MON 00:00 Spine Chillers (b0886z49)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Sunday]
MON 00:45 Jan Mark - Black and White (b0886z4c)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:45 on Sunday]
MON 01:00 Vikas Swarup - The Seventh Test Omnibus (b044jhrs)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Sunday]
MON 02:15 Pierrot Hero: The Story of Clifford Essex (b01q03g5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:15 on Sunday]
MON 02:30 Jane Austen - Persuasion: Omnibus (b0886xss)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Sunday]
MON 03:45 Alex Ferguson - Where the Kids Are At (b065ys33)
[Repeat of broadcast at 15:45 on Sunday]
MON 04:00 Judith Johnson - Uganda (b0886ywd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:00 on Sunday]
MON 05:00 Poetry Extra (b0886yx3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 17:00 on Sunday]
MON 05:30 Isy Suttie's Love Letters (b01rqbmc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Sunday]
MON 06:00 Trumpets and Foie Gras (b0886zfh)
Episode 1
The Reverend Sydney Smith was "one of the best of men" and renowned for his bons mots. The delight of any dinner table, he was also a man of principle and ideas.
The first of four programmes by Roderick Graham celebrating the 19th century British essayist and great wit - beginning with his early years.
Starring Robert Lang as the Reverend Sydney Smith, Marian Diamond as Saba Smith, Ann Bell as Mrs Smith, Terence Edmond as Robert Smith and Joanna Myers as Mrs Robert Smith.
Producer: Jane Morgan
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 1992.
MON 06:30 Tim Key's Suspended Sentence (b0128pyh)
Truths universally acknowledged. Clocks striking thirteen. Bests and worsts of times. A truly great opening line can make a novel iconic. But what makes these famous first sentences sing to us?
Last year, Perrier award-winning comedian and poet Tim Key chased down the meaning of Nikolai Gogol's enigmatic short story "The Overcoat", in a feature that garnered some of the most prestigious awards in European radio - winning the EBU's Ake Blomstrom Prize, and being nominated for the Prix Italia and Prix Marulic.
Now, another chance to hear his first radio 'documentary' (sort of), originally aired in 2011, as he tries to sleuth out what makes a great literary opening line, with the help of author Joe Dunthorne, comedian and novelist Mark Watson, and literary critics Maureen Freely and John Sutherland. You see, Tim's just desperate to write his first novel - it's in him, just waiting, waiting to be unleashed. If only he could think of a good beginning...
Fresh from his acclaimed stage show "Masterslut" and regular spots on Charlie Brooker's "Newswipe" and Steve Coogan's "Mid-Morning Matters With Alan Partridge", Tim's on a mission to pen the ultimate opening line: one that will knock your socks off, hook you in, blow you away (he'll sort out the rest later, yeah?).
As he slowly crafts his one-sentence magnum opus, Tim taps into the minds of some of Britain's top literary talents to find out what a first line should and shouldn't do, and the hours of sweat and toil enshrined in those crucial few words. He also tries to galvanise his imagination - taking a spin of one of the world's strangest literary board games...
The pressure's on, as we hear a roll-call of some of the finest and most famous first lines in publishing history - from Dickens to Dostoevsky to uh, Dan Brown. Overwhelmed with information, we also hear a crash course on what not to do - as Tim visits Knebworth House, ancestral pile of a man whose most famous first sentence is legendary for all the wrong reasons: Edward Bulwer-Lytton, author of the infamous "It was a dark and stormy night..."
Finally it's time to try out Tim's sentence of the unsuspecting public, as he visits the award-winning Brick Lane Book Club for a focus group...before in the final moments, he unleashes that killer first sentence on the world...(so then Tim: what comes next?).
MON 07:00 Do Nothing 'Til You Hear From Me (b0076h7l)
Series 1, Let's Face the Music
Will musicians Roy and George live up to the billing at their comeback gig? Stars Ram Jam Holder. From October 2003.
MON 07:30 Yes, Nina Conti Really Is on the Radio (b01sm78h)
Not since Educating Archie, more than 50 years ago, has a ventriloquist had a show on the radio. Nina Conti is Britain's leading vent and has been all round the world with her puppet Monkey, Gran, Dog and others. Not only is Nina an expert at her craft, she demonstrates that she can think on her feet, chatting to the audience and her two guests: physicist Jim Al-Khalili and Wagner from X Factor. She also invites her audience to bring puppets of their own, which she brings magically to life. This is a celebration of the ancient craft, and a chance to hear one of Britain's funniest women at the top of her game.
MON 08:00 Thank You, Mrs Fothergill (b0886zg2)
Tilly
Alice gets in a panic over a special guest set to visit the Cloughbottom Ladies' Evening Guild.
Starring Sheila Hancock as Alice Foster, Pat Coombs as Phyllis Middleton, Avis Bunnage as Mrs Fothergill, Peter Jones as Arthur Foster and Kathleen Helme as the Duchess.
Scripted by Keith Parry.
Produced in Manchester by Bob Oliver Rogers.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in December 1978.
MON 08:30 It Sticks Out Half a Mile (b007jq64)
War Damage
Wilson, Pike and Hodges go to London to try and claim compensation for their pier in Frambourne-on-Sea.
A seaside saga of pier perpetuation starring John Le Mesurier as Arthur Wilson, Ian Lavender as Frank Pike, Bill Pertwee as Bert Hodges, Vivienne Martin as Miss Perkins and Reginald Marsh as Sir Wensley Smithers.
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 September 1984.
MON 09:00 Just a Minute (b00qbw66)
Series 56, Episode 5
Nicholas Parsons chairs the devious word game with Paul Merton, Charles Collingwood, Josie Lawrence and Chris Neill. From February 2010.
MON 09:30 The Change (b0076d5w)
Series 2, Episode 6
Life looks brighter for Carol and George, but what about her meddling mother-in-law? Stars Lynda Bellingham and Christopher Ellison. From March 2003.
MON 10:00 DI Gwen Danbury - An Odd Body (b007jrx2)
Series 1, Past Imperfect
The discovery of a skeleton buried in a wood in Suffolk back in 1965 sparks a murder investigation.
Detective Inspector Gwen Danbury, with the interfering assistance of her mother, tries to "unbury" the past.
Sue Rodwell's mystery stars Annette Badland as DI Gwen Danbury, Gudrun Ure as Joan Danbury and John Duttine as Detective Sergeant Henry Jacobs.
Director: Glyn Dearman
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1994.
MON 11:00 Annika Stranded (b01pz5jg)
Series 1, A Body of Water
Annika Strandhed is a leading light in the murder squad of the Oslo police. Her neuroses - and she has a few - are mostly hidden by a boisterous manner and a love of motor boats. And she thinks she's funny - although her colleagues aren't so sure.
Commissioned specially for Radio 4, these three stories by Nick Walker introduce us to a new Scandinavian detective: not as astute as Sarah Lund or Saga Norén perhaps, but probably better company.
Episode 1 (of 3): A Body Of Water
A sound is a body of water narrow enough for a man to swim across. But on the island of Oscarsborg, Annika finds the body of a man who clearly didn't make it.
Nick Walker is part of the Coventry-based mixed media experimentalists Talking Birds whose work has been presented extensively in the UK as well as in Sweden, Ireland, and the USA. He has worked with some of the country's leading new work theatre companies both in the UK and abroad, including Stan's Cafe, Insomniac, and Theatre Instituut Nederlands.
He is the author of two critically-acclaimed novels 'Blackbox' and 'Helloland'. His plays and short stories are often featured on BBC Radio 4 including: Arnold In A Purple Haze (2009), the First King of Mars stories (2007 - 2010), the Afternoon Play Life Coach (2010), and the stories Dig Yourself (2011) and The Indivisible (2012) - all of them Sweet Talk productions.
Reader: Nicola Walker
Sound Design: Jon Calver
Producer: Jeremy Osborne
Annika Stranded is a Sweet Talk Production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 11:15 Afternoon Drama (b01ljl5g)
Lucy Flannery - Like a Daughter
An afternoon drama by award-winning writer Lucy Flannery.
Home help Ruth cares for Harry above and beyond the call of duty. She fetches his shopping, brings him meals, makes sense of his paperwork. All in all, she's like a daughter to him.
When his health begins to decline, Ruth tries to discover friends or family to care for him but Harry insists there is no one, he's all alone in the world. She becomes even more concerned when a chance discovery reveals a sizable sum of money languishing in his bank account.
When Harry collapses and is given only days to live, Ruth faces a moral dilemma. Should she do nothing and allow a faceless state to benefit from Harry's death, or should she claim some of it as her own bequest?
Supported by friends, criticised by those in authority, Ruth's decision forces both her and others to examine their own moral compass and to penetrate the mystery of the inheritance itself. Her actions reveal the legacy of the dysfunctional dynamic of thirty years ago, still resonating and impacting upon the present day.
Producer: Liz Anstee
A CPL Production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 12:00 Thank You, Mrs Fothergill (b0886zg2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
MON 12:30 It Sticks Out Half a Mile (b007jq64)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
MON 13:00 Trumpets and Foie Gras (b0886zfh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
MON 13:30 Tim Key's Suspended Sentence (b0128pyh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
MON 14:00 Joanna Trollope - Other People's Children (b007jn71)
Episode 6
Dale disrupts her father's relationship with Elizabeth. Continuing the novel about step-family traumas. Read by Penelope Wilton.
MON 14:15 Promises, Promises: A History of Debt (b054pn4v)
The Medieval Period
Anthropologist David Graeber examines the medieval period when coinage largely disappeared and money become virtual once again.
During this period, the great popular religious movements of the Ancient world - Christianity, Islam in the West, Buddhism in Asia - became the dominant force in society. Religious authorities took over the management of the new credit systems because, during the Middle Ages, the economy did not, as text-books have long assumed, "revert to barter." What the Middle Ages really saw was the rise of an endless variety of credit arrangements.
In the West, tally sticks were commonly used to facilitate credit based transactions. These were short pieces of hazel wood which served as a receipt for payment. The stick would be notched in order to indicate the amount that had been paid, then the stick would be split lengthways and both the payer and the receiver would receive one half. This was quite a convenient sophisticated system as they were easy to store and they were very hard to forge. A tally stick could act as a receipt for money advanced, as a receipt for a loan, or as evidence of a debt and could later be proffered in court if there was a dispute.
With transactions carried out on credit, the religious authorities had to act in order to prevent those with the means to create credit from enslaving entire populations. Their response was to ban the charging of interest.
David Graeber pays particular attention to Islamic attitudes towards interest and finance, revealing the surprising fact that Adam Smith's free market ideology was heavily influenced by the work of medieval Islamic scholars.
Producer: Max O'Brien
A Juniper production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 14:30 15 Minute Drama (b044gmfg)
Vikas Swarup - The Seventh Test, The Talent Show
Sapna Sinha works as a sales assistant in a TV showroom in New Delhi. Being the only bread-winner in the family she works long hours to provide for her widowed mother and younger sister. But then a man walks into her life with an extraordinary proposition: pass seven "life" tests of his choosing and she will have wealth and power. At first the tests seem easy, but things are not quite as they seem. Dramatised by Ayeesha Menon and John Dryden from Vikas Swarup's best-selling novel "The Accidental Apprentice".
6) The Talent Show
A thriller set in India from the author of "Slumdog Millionaire".
When Sapna's sister, Neha enters India's top musical talent show "Pop Star No 1", she attracts the attention of blind music producer, Raoji. But not in the way she would have hoped. Sapna must come to her rescue. Dramatised from Vikas Swarup's best-selling novel "The Accidental Apprentice".
Writers:
Vikas Swarup is an Indian diplomat and a best-selling novelist. His first novel "Q & A" was made into the Oscar winning film "Slumdog Millionaire" as well as Sony Award winning radio drama serial for BBC Radio .
Ayeesha Menon dramatized Vikas Swarup's other novels SIX SUSPECTS and Q & A, which won a Sony Award for Best Drama. She also wrote for Radio 4 THE MUMBAI CHUZZLEWITS, UNDERCOVER MUMBAI, THE CAIRO TRILOGY and MY NAME IS RED. Her stage play PEREIRA'S BAKERY AT 76 CHAPEL ROAD, which was developed with the Royal Court Theatre, was recently staged by the Curve Theatre, Leicester.
John Dryden wrote the original three-part dramas series SEVERED THREADS, THE RELUCTANT SPY and PANDEMIC, which won the Writer's Guild Award for best radio drama script. His dramatisation of BLEAK HOUSE won a Sony Award for Best Drama. Other dramatisations include A SUITABLE BOY, A HANDMAID'S TALE and FATHERLAND one of the most repeated dramas on R4 Extra.
Production:
Sound Design - Steve Bond
Editing Assistant - Varun Bangera
Script Editor - Mike Walker
Assistant Producer - Toral Shah
Music - Sacha Putnam
Dramatised by Ayeesha Menon and John Dryden from the novel "ACCIDENTAL APPRENTICE" by Vikas Swarup.
Director - John Dryden
Producer - Nadir Khan
A Goldhawk Production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 14:45 Book of the Week (b01c7lk0)
Michele Hanson - What the Grown-Ups Were Doing, Episode 1
Written by by Michele Hanson.
Read by Rebecca Front.
Metroland : the neat lawns and large houses of Ruislip were the canvas for Michele's childhood, and food was the main preoccupation of her mother who was convinced that her Christian neighbours had no concept of how to feed a child.
The genteel suburbia of Northwest London in the 1950s is the setting for this memoir of an only child whose Jewish mother had loudly held opinions on everything from the stinginess of her neighbours to the bowel movements of her entire family. Negotiating adolescence was never going to be easy.
Abridged and Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 15:00 DI Gwen Danbury - An Odd Body (b007jrx2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
MON 16:00 Just a Minute (b00qbw66)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
MON 16:30 The Change (b0076d5w)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
MON 17:00 Do Nothing 'Til You Hear From Me (b0076h7l)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
MON 17:30 Yes, Nina Conti Really Is on the Radio (b01sm78h)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
MON 18:00 Charles Chilton - Journey Into Space (b007jr1s)
The World in Peril, Episode 1
April 15th 1972: After their disastrous expedition to Mars, Jet Morgan's Discovery crew return to Earth - but their problems are only just beginning...
20-part serial - the third of Charles Chilton's classic sci-fi trilogy.
Stars Andrew Faulds as Jet Morgan, Alfie Bass as Lemmy Barnett, Guy Kingsley-Poynter as Doc and Don Sharp as Mitch. Other parts played by David Jacobs and Alan Tilvern.
Music composed and orchestra conducted by Van Phillips.
Written and produced by Charles Chilton.
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in September 1955.
MON 18:30 A Good Read (b0076dxt)
Anthony Minghella & Susan Jeffreys
Sarah LeFanu and her guests - film director, Anthony Minghella and writer and critic, Susan Jeffreys - discuss favourite books by Harper Lee, Anne Carson, and Rebecca West. From 2003.
The Beauty of the Husband by Anne Carson
Publisher: Jonathan Cape
The Fountain Overflows by Rebecca West
Publisher: Virago
To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee
Publisher: Vintage.
MON 19:00 Thank You, Mrs Fothergill (b0886zg2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
MON 19:30 It Sticks Out Half a Mile (b007jq64)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
MON 20:00 Trumpets and Foie Gras (b0886zfh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
MON 20:30 Tim Key's Suspended Sentence (b0128pyh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
MON 21:00 Annika Stranded (b01pz5jg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
MON 21:15 Afternoon Drama (b01ljl5g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 today]
MON 22:00 Yes, Nina Conti Really Is on the Radio (b01sm78h)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
MON 22:30 The Lee Mack Show (b00bt53m)
Suggs
Madness singer Suggs joins the quick-fire comic for stand-up, sketches and music. With Angela McHale and Steve Brown. From March 2005.
MON 22:55 The Comedy Club Interviews (b088jwx1)
The best in contemporary comedy. Rob Deering is joined in the Comedy Club by Ed Gamble.
MON 23:00 News Quiz Extra (b08871kg)
Series 19, Episode 1
Made for 4 Extra. New Year, News Quiz. Jeremy Hardy, Danny Finkelstein and Kerry Godliman are among the guests joining Miles Jupp to scrutinise the week's headlines.
MON 23:45 Why Bother? (b08871kj)
Eels, Love and Guns
Peter Cook stars as Sir Arthur Streeb-Greebling in a series of exclusive interviews with Chris Morris.
For the very first time, the renowned statesman, scholar and tycoon has agreed to try and make sense of his life - including how he was nearly killed by an eel and his role in the LA race riots.
Scripted by Peter Cook and Chris Morris.
Producer: Jane Berthoud
A Talkback production for BBC Radio 3 first broadcast in 1994.

TUESDAY 10 JANUARY 2017

TUE 00:00 Charles Chilton - Journey Into Space (b007jr1s)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Monday]
TUE 00:30 A Good Read (b0076dxt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:30 on Monday]
TUE 01:00 Trumpets and Foie Gras (b0886zfh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Monday]
TUE 01:30 Tim Key's Suspended Sentence (b0128pyh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 on Monday]
TUE 02:00 Joanna Trollope - Other People's Children (b007jn71)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:00 on Monday]
TUE 02:15 Promises, Promises: A History of Debt (b054pn4v)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:15 on Monday]
TUE 02:30 15 Minute Drama (b044gmfg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Monday]
TUE 02:45 Book of the Week (b01c7lk0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:45 on Monday]
TUE 03:00 DI Gwen Danbury - An Odd Body (b007jrx2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Monday]
TUE 04:00 Just a Minute (b00qbw66)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 on Monday]
TUE 04:30 The Change (b0076d5w)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 on Monday]
TUE 05:00 Do Nothing 'Til You Hear From Me (b0076h7l)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 on Monday]
TUE 05:30 Yes, Nina Conti Really Is on the Radio (b01sm78h)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Monday]
TUE 06:00 Trumpets and Foie Gras (b08871ng)
Episode 2
Arriving in Yorkshire, witty 19th century cleric and essayist, Sydney Smith must turn his hand to farming.
Robert Lang plays the cleric who could use his wit to dazzle any social gathering, but could also use it to fight against injustice.
Starring Robert Lang as the Reverend Sydney Smith, Marian Diamond as Saba Smith, Ann Bell as Mrs Smith, Terence Edmond as Robert Smith and Joanna Myers as Mrs Robert Smith.
Scripted by Roderick Graham.
Producer: Jane Morgan
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 1992.
TUE 06:30 The Real Apprentice (b010t5wk)
Seven unemployed men compete to win a builder's apprenticeship in South Wales. Jon Manel follows their progress, and explores how our concept of apprenticeship has changed over centuries.
The charity Construction Youth Trust took its Real Apprentice scheme to Newport in the summer of 2010. Seven young people who weren't in education or employment were put to work on a building site, redeveloping two flats. The best performer won an apprenticeship with Newport City Homes. Jon Manel watches the competition and hears about the contestants' experience of trying to find work.
But what can the winner expect of his apprenticeship? And how does the experience of today's apprentices compare to that of their predecessors decades - even centuries - ago?
Jon meets a manager at Tata Steel - formerly British Steel - in Port Talbot, who is still with the company nearly forty years after he joined as an apprentice. And then we go back nearly six hundred years to discover the story of a fifteenth century butcher's apprentice from Newbury, recorded in a document in the Berkshire Record Office. Alison Fuller from Southampton University gives a potted history of how the lives of apprentices developed in the intervening years - for better and for worse.
TUE 07:00 Life in London (b011dg1t)
The Fancy
Tom and Jerry visit a 19th-century cockfight and make a special wager. Stars Greg Wise and Mark Gatiss. From May 2006.
TUE 07:30 John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme (b086s7dk)
Series 6, Episode 2
John Finnemore, writer and star of Cabin Pressure and John Finnemore's Double Acts and regular guest on The Now Show and The Unbelievable Truth, returns for a sixth series of his multi-award-winning Souvenir Programme, joined as ever by Margaret Cabourn-Smith, Simon Kane, Lawry Lewin, and Carrie Quinlan.
John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme was described by The Radio Times as "the best sketch show in years, on television or radio", and by The Daily Telegraph as "funny enough to make even the surliest cat laugh". Already the winner of a BBC Audio Drama Award and a Radio Academy Silver Award, John was named the 2016 Radio Broadcaster of the Year by the Broadcasting Press Guild for his work on Souvenir Programme.
2/6
This week on Souvenir Programme, John makes a decision on behalf of the nation; delivers an unusual rhythm; and has a bright idea about money. And, well... Since you ask him for a tale of strange transformations...
Written by & starring ... John Finnemore
Cast ... Margaret Cabourn-Smith
Cast ... Simon Kane
Cast ... Lawry Lewin
Cast ... Carrie Quinlan
Producer ... Ed Morrish
A BBC Studios Production.
TUE 08:00 Steptoe and Son (b007k01b)
Series 3, Robbery With Violence
Terrified Albert lies to son Harold after accidentally breaking his treasured porcelain collection.
Starring Wilfrid Brambell as Albert and Harry H Corbett as Harold. With Gwendolyn Watts and Richard Griffiths.
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 May 1971.
TUE 08:30 The Men From the Ministry (b018ttsr)
Traffic Diversions
When planning a Surrey bypass, the bungling duo fall foul of budget cuts. Stars Richard Murdoch. Re-recorded April 1980.
TUE 09:00 News Quiz Extra (b08871kg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:00 on Monday]
TUE 09:45 Why Bother? (b08871kj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:45 on Monday]
TUE 10:00 DI Gwen Danbury - An Odd Body (b007jrzt)
Series 1, A Slim Chance
When a Minister for Europe is found dead, Detective Inspector Gwen Danbury must go undercover to try and solve the case.
Sue Rodwell's detective mystery stars Annette Badland as DI Gwen Danbury, Gudrun Ure as Joan Danbury, John Duttine as DS Henry Jacobs, John Rye as Supt. Phillips, Tina Gray as Mrs Banks and Frances Jeater as Eleanor Gedding.
Director: Glyn Dearman
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1994.
TUE 11:00 Annika Stranded (b01q7gz7)
Series 1, Deep Six
Annika Strandhed is a leading light in the murder squad of the Oslo police. Her neuroses - and she has a few - are mostly hidden by a boisterous manner and a love of motor boats. And she thinks she's funny - although her colleagues aren't so sure.
Commissioned specially for Radio 4, these three stories by Nick Walker introduce us to a new Scandinavian detective: not as astute as Sarah Lund or Saga Norén perhaps, but probably better company.
Episode 2 (of 3): Deep Six
After a tip off from a witness on a passing train, police divers bring up a mysterious crate from the depths of the Oslofjord.
Nick Walker is part of the Coventry-based mixed media experimentalists, Talking Birds, whose work has been presented extensively in the UK as well as in Sweden, Ireland, and the USA. He has worked with some of the country's leading new work theatre companies both in the UK and abroad, including Stan's Cafe, Insomniac, and Theatre Instituut Nederlands.
He is the author of two critically-acclaimed novels 'Blackbox' and 'Helloland'. His plays and short stories are often featured on BBC Radio 4 including: Arnold In A Purple Haze (2009), the First King of Mars stories (2007 - 2010), the Afternoon Play Life Coach (2010), and the stories Dig Yourself (2011) and The Indivisible (2012) - all of them Sweet Talk productions.
Reader: Nicola Walker
Sound Design: Jon Calver
Producer: Jeremy Osborne
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 11:15 Emlyn Williams - The Power of Dawn (b00w46rh)
An old lady recalls how Russian writer Leo Tolstoy talked to her about his life on the night he died. Stars Michael Redgrave.
TUE 12:00 Steptoe and Son (b007k01b)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
TUE 12:30 The Men From the Ministry (b018ttsr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
TUE 13:00 Trumpets and Foie Gras (b08871ng)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
TUE 13:30 The Real Apprentice (b010t5wk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
TUE 14:00 Joanna Trollope - Other People's Children (b007s5ty)
Episode 7
Stepmother Josie struggles when Matthew's three children move in with them. Read by Penelope Wilton.
TUE 14:15 Promises, Promises: A History of Debt (b054qc22)
The Conquistadors and the Birth of the Modern World Economy
Anthropologist David Graeber examines the importance of debt during the conquest of South America and the birth of the modern world economy.
Eurasian history has pivoted back and forth between periods dominated by credit, when people buy things without using physical money, and those periods dominated by coinage which see cash pass from hand to hand.
After around 1450, the pendulum began to swing back again towards a period of physical money. Huge amounts of gold and silver bullion soon began to flow across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, laying the foundations for what we have come to know as the world economy. The entire process was driven by debt.
David Graeber reveals that the Spanish conquest of Mexico was made possible by the desire for silver in China under the Ming dynasty. He notes that, reading accounts of the immediate results of the conquest of Peru or Mexico, reveals scenes of human cruelty - such an extreme and systematic destruction of societies that it's hard to imagine how human beings could be capable of inflicting such things on one another.
Today, the Conquistadors are remembered as a kind of apotheosis of human greed. David explains that their insatiable appetite for plunder was in fact fuelled by debt. Hernán Cortés, the conqueror of Mexico, had been living beyond his means for years. His men found themselves tricked into a debt trap and most ended up in severely indebted following the campaign, when the Aztec treasure they had been promised failed to materialise.
Producer: Max O'Brien
A Juniper production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 14:30 15 Minute Drama (b044gty3)
Vikas Swarup - The Seventh Test, The Protest
Sapna Sinha works as a sales assistant in a TV showroom in New Delhi. Being the only bread-winner in the family she works long hours to provide for her widowed mother and younger sister. But then a man walks into her life with an extraordinary proposition: pass seven "life" tests of his choosing and she will have wealth and power. At first the tests seem easy, but things are not quite as they seem. Dramatised by Ayeesha Menon and John Dryden from Vikas Swarup's best-selling novel "The Accidental Apprentice".
7) The Protest
A thriller set in India from the author of "Slumdog Millionaire". Increasing rent prices, send Sapna's elderly neighbour, Nirmila Ben on a crusade against corruption. But when no one notices her protest and her frail health begins to fail, Sapna must find a way to save her. Dramatised from Vikas Swarup's best-selling novel "The Accidental Apprentice".
Writers:
Vikas Swarup is an Indian diplomat and a best-selling novelist. His first novel "Q & A" was made into the Oscar winning film "Slumdog Millionaire" as well as Sony Award winning radio drama serial for BBC Radio .
Ayeesha Menon dramatized Vikas Swarup's other novels SIX SUSPECTS and Q & A, which won a Sony Award for Best Drama. She also wrote for Radio 4 THE MUMBAI CHUZZLEWITS, UNDERCOVER MUMBAI, THE CAIRO TRILOGY and MY NAME IS RED. Her stage play PEREIRA'S BAKERY AT 76 CHAPEL ROAD, which was developed with the Royal Court Theatre, was recently staged by the Curve Theatre, Leicester.
John Dryden wrote the original three-part dramas series SEVERED THREADS, THE RELUCTANT SPY and PANDEMIC, which won the Writer's Guild Award for best radio drama script. His dramatisation of BLEAK HOUSE won a Sony Award for Best Drama. Other dramatisations include A SUITABLE BOY, A HANDMAID'S TALE and FATHERLAND one of the most repeated dramas on R4 Extra.
Cast:
Sapna ... Rasika Dugal
Acharya ... Vijay Chrishna
Karan ... Neil Bhoopalam
Nirmila Ben / Rosie ... Radhika Mittal
Sapna's Mother ... Shernaz Patel
Raja ... Sumeet Vyas
Kuldeep Singh / Roaji ... Rajit Kapur
Neha ... Amrita Puri
Priya Capoor / Pushpa / Female Judge ... Ayesha Raza
Badan Singh / Politician / Constable ... Kenny Desai
Madan ... Vivek Madan
Neelam / Babli ... Prerna Chawla
Rent Collector ... Satchit Puranik
Production:
Sound Design - Steve Bond
Editing Assistant - Varun Bangera
Script Editor - Mike Walker
Assistant Producer - Toral Shah
Music - Sacha Putnam
Dramatised by Ayeesha Menon and John Dryden from the novel "ACCIDENTAL APPRENTICE" by Vikas Swarup.
Director - John Dryden
Producer - Nadir Khan
A Goldhawk Production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 14:45 Book of the Week (b01cpvsl)
Michele Hanson - What the Grown-Ups Were Doing, Episode 2
Written by Michele Hanson.
Read by Rebecca Front.
The extended family : fleeing from Poland and Russia Michele's grandparents had somehow found themselves in Barrow-in-Furness, but marrying out of the faith brought repercussions for Uncle Cyril.
The genteel suburbia of Northwest London in the 1950s is the setting for this memoir of an only child whose Jewish mother had loudly held opinions on everything from the stinginess of her neighbours to the bowel movements of her entire family. Negotiating adolescence was never going to be easy.
Abridged and Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 15:00 DI Gwen Danbury - An Odd Body (b007jrzt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
TUE 16:00 Trivia Test Match (b00vt76v)
From 15/10/1991
Brian Johnston umpires as Willie Rushton and William Franklyn battle Tim Rice and Bernard Cribbins. From October 1991.
TUE 16:30 Tony's (b00tjfz1)
Series 2, Welcome to Tony's
Tony's hair salon needs a stylist - not a mouse-loving pest controller.
Series 2 of the misadventures in the life of a corner-shop barber starring Victor Spinetti as Tony, Deryck Guyler as Stanley, Deborah Watling as Maisie.
With guests: Kenneth Connor, Jan Hunt and Frank Coda
Written by Jim Eldridge.
Incidental music by Max Harris.
Producer: John Fawcett Wilson
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in January 1981.
TUE 17:00 Life in London (b011dg1t)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
TUE 17:30 John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme (b086s7dk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
TUE 18:00 Charles Chilton - Journey Into Space (b007jr4d)
The World in Peril, Episode 2
As Jet and Lemmy jet off to examine the asteroids around Earth, they hear a strange sound. Sci-fi classic from 1955 stars Andrew Faulds.
TUE 18:30 How Tickled Am I? (b007jp11)
Series 1, Les Dawson
Mark Radcliffe reviews the career of the Mancunian wordsmith, who started out playing piano in a Parisian brothel. From April 1999.
TUE 19:00 Steptoe and Son (b007k01b)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
TUE 19:30 The Men From the Ministry (b018ttsr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
TUE 20:00 Trumpets and Foie Gras (b08871ng)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
TUE 20:30 The Real Apprentice (b010t5wk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
TUE 21:00 Annika Stranded (b01q7gz7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
TUE 21:15 Emlyn Williams - The Power of Dawn (b00w46rh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 today]
TUE 22:00 John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme (b086s7dk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
TUE 22:30 What to Do If You're Not Like Everybody Else (b00tq0p4)
Series 1, Work
What To Do If You're Not Like Everybody Else is a four part mini-series of short comedic monologues on BBC Radio 4. Written and performed by stand-up comedian Andrew Lawrence, it takes a light-hearted look at various aspects of conventional living and the pressure we feel to conform to social norms and ideals.
Each episode is fifteen minutes long and was recorded in front of an audience, the first two episodes at South London comedy club 'Up The Creek', the final two recorded at the Edinburgh Comedy Festival.
This third episode explores the pressure we all face to do a full-time job and earn sufficient money to live a respectable life.
Andrew Lawrence is a double Edinburgh Comedy Award Nominee and was a Chortle award nominee for Best UK Headline Comedian in 2010. He will be appearing in the forthcoming series of BBC 1's 'Michael Mcintyre's Comedy Roadshow.' This is his first series for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 22:45 Date With Fate (b0090x8s)
Nice Little Number
Vernon Hedges sets out to prove that Lady Luck does not exist. Stars Charles Gray and Toby Longworth. From February 1996.
TUE 22:55 The Comedy Club Interviews (b088jx0g)
The best in contemporary comedy. Rob Deering is joined in the Comedy Club by Ed Gamble.
TUE 23:00 Trodd en Bratt Say 'Well Done You' (b0480352)
Series 1, Episode 3
Nominated for Best Comedy in the BBC Audio Drama Awards 2015, Trodd en Bratt Say 'Well Done You' is a comedy sketch show written and performed by Ruth Bratt and Lucy Trodd, stars of Radio 4's Showstoppers.
This week a pair of American tourists visit St Paul's cathedral to confess their sins; there's an unexpected rendezvous at the train station waiting for the 4:18 to Hatfield; and a student council meeting unearths some dark secrets.
Written and performed by Ruth Bratt and Lucy Trodd
Supporting cast: Adam Meggido and Oliver Senton
Script Editor: Jon Hunter
Composer: Duncan Walsh Atkins
Producer: Ben Worsfield
A Lucky Giant production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 23:30 The In Crowd (b00snrxg)
Series 3, Episode 5
Sketch show from Manchester's Comedy Store with Robin Ince, Helen Moon, Smug Roberts and Kate Ward. From August 2002.

WEDNESDAY 11 JANUARY 2017

WED 00:00 Charles Chilton - Journey Into Space (b007jr4d)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Tuesday]
WED 00:30 How Tickled Am I? (b007jp11)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:30 on Tuesday]
WED 01:00 Trumpets and Foie Gras (b08871ng)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Tuesday]
WED 01:30 The Real Apprentice (b010t5wk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 on Tuesday]
WED 02:00 Joanna Trollope - Other People's Children (b007s5ty)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:00 on Tuesday]
WED 02:15 Promises, Promises: A History of Debt (b054qc22)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:15 on Tuesday]
WED 02:30 15 Minute Drama (b044gty3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Tuesday]
WED 02:45 Book of the Week (b01cpvsl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:45 on Tuesday]
WED 03:00 DI Gwen Danbury - An Odd Body (b007jrzt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Tuesday]
WED 04:00 Trivia Test Match (b00vt76v)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:00 on Tuesday]
WED 04:30 Tony's (b00tjfz1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:30 on Tuesday]
WED 05:00 Life in London (b011dg1t)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 on Tuesday]
WED 05:30 John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme (b086s7dk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Tuesday]
WED 06:00 Trumpets and Foie Gras (b08877n0)
Episode 3
Tragedy strikes for the 19th century cleric and essayist, Sydney Smith - and his house is in need of repair.
Roderick Graham celebrates the man of whom King George III said "he is undoubtedly a very clever fellow but he will never be a Bishop".
Starring Robert Lang as the Reverend Sydney Smith, Marian Diamond as Saba Smith, Ann Bell as Mrs Smith, Terence Edmond as Robert Smith and Joanna Myers as Mrs Robert Smith.
Producer: Jane Morgan
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 1992.
WED 06:30 Does Happiness Write White? (b0124pp1)
Everyone's talking about happiness: politicians want to measure it, and self-help books explaining how to become ever happier are two-a-penny. So why have literary folk been reluctant to depict this emotion, when many philosophers and politicians see it as the very point of human existence? The French poet Montherlant may have the answer- he claimed that 'Happiness writes white', that it is too boring to depict or even unrepresentable. Presenter Catherine Blyth explores the challenges facing award-winning writers, including Helen Simpson, novelist Ann Patchett, and poet Don Paterson when they try to put something as elusive and subjective as 'happiness' onto the page.
WED 07:00 An Actor's Life for Me (b007r42w)
Series 1, A Stiff Audition
Always on the lookout for work, Robert lands a rather sedentary role. Stars John Gordon-Sinclair. From January 1989.
WED 07:30 State of the Nations (b086s8z1)
England
Star of BBC3's Josh and Radio 4 News Quiz regular Elis James hosts four stand-up shows from the four nations of the United Kingdom which explore what it means to be variously Welsh, English, Scottish and Northern Irish in today's United Kingdom.
This week Elis is in The Stand Comedy Club in Newcastle where he's joined by Rahul Kohli, Suzi Ruffell and Tom Allen to get a comedy snapshot of England and Englishness.
Producer: Richard Morris
A BBC Studios Production.
WED 08:00 The Navy Lark (b018jrgs)
Sir Willoughby at Shanghai
The blundering crew of HMS Troutbridge crew take the Governor and his wife on a trip to China.
200th anniversary programme starring Leslie Phillips as the Sub-Lieutenant, Jon Pertwee as the Chief Petty Officer, Stephen Murray as the Commanding Officer, Richard Caldicot as Captain Povey, Tenniel Evans as Sir Willoughby Todhunter Brown, Heather Chasen as Lady Willoughby Todhunter Brown and Michael Bates as Commander Bracewell.
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 and George Evans.
Producer: Alastair Scott Johnston.
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in June 1971.
WED 08:30 Hancock's Half Hour (b007n162)
Anna and the King of Siam
The 1956 musical film release of 'The King and I' inspires the lad's own unmusical and argumentative version.
Starring Tony Hancock, Sidney James, Bill Kerr, Kenneth Williams and Hattie Jacques.
Audio recovered in the BBC Archive Treasure Hunt.
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 November 1956.
WED 09:00 The Unbelievable Truth (b01f5hp9)
Series 9, Episode 1
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.
Tony Hawks, Arthur Smith, Lucy Porter and Graeme Garden are the panellists obliged to talk with deliberate inaccuracy on subjects as varied as: Parrots, Breakfast, Insurance and Oliver Cromwell.
The show is devised by Graeme Garden and Jon Naismith, the team behind Radio 4's I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue.
Producer: Jon Naismith
A Random Entertainment programme for BBC Radio 4.
WED 09:30 The Newly Discovered Casebook of Sherlock Holmes (b00b2gpj)
The Mystery of the Obese Escapologist
The spoof sleuth probes the murky world of a Victorian music hall. From January 1999. Stars Roy Hudd and June Whitfield.
WED 10:00 DI Gwen Danbury - An Odd Body (b007js26)
Series 1, A Sheltered Life
Detective Inspector Gwen Danbury comes to the aid of a colleague wrongly accused - and her lonely mother Joan.
Sue Rodwell's detective mystery stars Annette Badland as DI Gwen Danbury, Gudrun Ure as Joan Danbury, John Duttine as DS Henry Jacobs, John Rye as Supt. Phillips, John Moffatt as Larry Eaves and Hilda Braid as Emily Porter.
Director: Glyn Dearman
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1994.
WED 11:00 Annika Stranded (b01qdr74)
Series 1, An Echo
Annika Strandhed is a leading light in the murder squad of the Oslo police. Her neuroses - and she has a few - are mostly hidden by a boisterous manner and a love of motor boats. And she thinks she's funny - although her colleagues aren't so sure.
Commissioned specially for Radio 4, these three stories by Nick Walker introduce us to a new Scandinavian detective: not as astute as Sarah Lund or Saga Norén perhaps, but probably better company.
Episode 3 (of 3): An Echo
A body is found in a metro carriage - but Annika's judgments are being clouded by personal matters.
Nick Walker is part of the Coventry-based mixed media experimentalists, Talking Birds, whose work has been presented extensively in the UK as well as in Sweden, Ireland, and the USA. He has worked with some of the country's leading new work theatre companies both in the UK and abroad, including Stan's Cafe, Insomniac, and Theatre Instituut Nederlands.
He is the author of two critically-acclaimed novels 'Blackbox' and 'Helloland'. His plays and short stories are often featured on BBC Radio 4 including: Arnold In A Purple Haze (2009), the First King of Mars stories (2007 - 2010), the Afternoon Play Life Coach (2010), and the stories Dig Yourself (2011) and The Indivisible (2012) - all of them Sweet Talk productions.
Reader: Nicola Walker
Sound Design: Jon Calver
Producer: Jeremy Osborne
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 11:15 Afternoon Drama (b008xh40)
Ronald Frame - The Shell House
Ronald Frame's play tells the story of an unusual romance. In 1972, a spinster scientist with private means meets an exiled Czech architect whose career has stalled. She offers him a commission for a weekend house on some land she owns on the Suffolk coast. The strange, daring and beautiful building that results will haunt their lives.
Barbara ...... Sylvestra Le Touzel
Jaromir ...... Struan Rodger.
WED 12:00 The Navy Lark (b018jrgs)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
WED 12:30 Hancock's Half Hour (b007n162)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
WED 13:00 Trumpets and Foie Gras (b08877n0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
WED 13:30 Does Happiness Write White? (b0124pp1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
WED 14:00 Joanna Trollope - Other People's Children (b007s74h)
Episode 8
Matthew's daughter Becky finds an unexpected ally in her stepmother Josie. Read by Penelope Wilton.
WED 14:15 Promises, Promises: A History of Debt (b054qf7d)
The Birth of Capitalism
Anthropologist David Graeber examines the influence of debt during the birth of capitalism and the centrality of debt to the slave trade.
The conventional view is that the innovations during the birth of capitalism led to greater material prosperity enabling us to lead happier lives. David argues that, in fact, these times were marked by extraordinary levels of war and violence. This was an age of giant empires, standing armies and chattel slavery - a time when money came to be seen as a physical thing and debts had to be repaid.
The enormous productivity of the era was only made possible by the existence of extraordinary mechanisms designed to pump out more and more disciplined labour. The history of the Atlantic slave trade is a perfect example and debt underpinned the entire process.
In the late 17th century, ship owners based in Liverpool or Bristol would acquire goods such as copper wires and brass rods on easy credit terms from local wholesalers, expecting to make good by selling slaves (also on credit) to plantation owners in the Antilles and North America. Ship owners would then transport their wares to African ports like Ouidah, Bonny, or Calabar. The goods were then advanced to African merchants, again on credit, and those African merchants would pay back what they owed in slaves.
David Graeber also discusses the foundation of the Bank of England, the first successful experiment to create a central, national bank. Since the first loan that the bankers made to King William III, bringing the Bank of England into existence, money has been essentially circulating government debt.
Producer: Max O'Brien
A Juniper production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 14:30 15 Minute Drama (b044h9bf)
Vikas Swarup - The Seventh Test, Acid Rain
Sapna Sinha works as a sales assistant in a TV showroom in New Delhi. Being the only bread-winner in the family she works long hours to provide for her widowed mother and younger sister. But then a man walks into her life with an extraordinary proposition: pass seven "life" tests of his choosing and she will have wealth and power. At first the tests seem easy, but things are not quite as they seem. Dramatised by Ayeesha Menon and John Dryden from Vikas Swarup's best-selling novel "The Accidental Apprentice".
8) Acid Rain
A thriller set in India from the author of "Slumdog Millionaire". Having passed six of the "life tests", Sapna is within reach of changing her life forever - but not in the way she had anticipated. As the consequences of her Faustian pact become apparent, she realizes there is no escape. Dramatised from Vikas Swarup's best-selling novel "The Accidental Apprentice".
Writers:
Vikas Swarup is an Indian diplomat and a best-selling novelist. His first novel "Q & A" was made into the Oscar winning film "Slumdog Millionaire" as well as Sony Award winning radio drama serial for BBC Radio .
Ayeesha Menon dramatized Vikas Swarup's other novels SIX SUSPECTS and Q & A, which won a Sony Award for Best Drama. She also wrote for Radio 4 THE MUMBAI CHUZZLEWITS, UNDERCOVER MUMBAI, THE CAIRO TRILOGY and MY NAME IS RED. Her stage play PEREIRA'S BAKERY AT 76 CHAPEL ROAD, which was developed with the Royal Court Theatre, was recently staged by the Curve Theatre, Leicester.
John Dryden wrote the original three-part dramas series SEVERED THREADS, THE RELUCTANT SPY and PANDEMIC, which won the Writer's Guild Award for best radio drama script. His dramatisation of BLEAK HOUSE won a Sony Award for Best Drama. Other dramatisations include A SUITABLE BOY, A HANDMAID'S TALE and FATHERLAND one of the most repeated dramas on R4 Extra.
Cast:
Sapna ... Rasika Dugal
Acharya ... Vijay Chrishna
Karan ... Neil Bhoopalam
Nirmila Ben / Rosie ... Radhika Mittal
Sapna's Mother ... Shernaz Patel
Raja - Sumeet Vyas
Kuldeep Singh / Roaji ... Rajit Kapur
Neha ... Amrita Puri
Priya Capoor / Pushpa / Female Judge ... Ayesha Raza
Badan Singh / Politician / Constable ... Kenny Desai
Madan ... Vivek Mada
Neelam / Babli ... Prerna Chawla
Rent Collector ... Satchit Puranik
Production:
Sound Design - Steve Bond
Editing Assistant - Varun Bangera
Script Editor - Mike Walker
Assistant Producer - Toral Shah
Music - Sacha Putnam
Dramatised by Ayeesha Menon and John Dryden from the novel "ACCIDENTAL APPRENTICE" by Vikas Swarup.
Director - John Dryden
Producer - Nadir Khan
A Goldhawk Production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 14:45 Book of the Week (b01cpw43)
Michele Hanson - What the Grown-Ups Were Doing, Episode 3
Written by Michele Hanson
Read by Rebecca Front
Holidays in France meant the Hanson family could indulge in continental glamour, and somehow her mother didn't seem so loud on the Riviera.
The genteel suburbia of Northwest London in the 1950s is the setting for this memoir of an only child whose Jewish mother had loudly held opinions on everything from the stinginess of her neighbours to the bowel movements of her entire family. Negotiating adolescence was never going to be easy.
Abridged and Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 15:00 DI Gwen Danbury - An Odd Body (b007js26)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
WED 16:00 The Unbelievable Truth (b01f5hp9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
WED 16:30 The Newly Discovered Casebook of Sherlock Holmes (b00b2gpj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
WED 17:00 An Actor's Life for Me (b007r42w)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
WED 17:30 State of the Nations (b086s8z1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
WED 18:00 Charles Chilton - Journey Into Space (b007jr72)
The World in Peril, Episode 3
Captain Jet Morgan and his crew get on the trail of Earth's alien visitors. Sci-fi classic from 1955 stars Andrew Faulds and David Jacobs.
WED 18:30 Off the Page (b00p6rr2)
Me Time
Having it all is no longer enough - if you haven't factored some 'me time' into your diary you're missing out. Dominic Arkwright asks journalist Anna Raeburn, clinical psychologist Oliver James and writer Phoebe Gibson to explain how it works.
WED 19:00 The Navy Lark (b018jrgs)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
WED 19:30 Hancock's Half Hour (b007n162)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
WED 20:00 Trumpets and Foie Gras (b08877n0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
WED 20:30 Does Happiness Write White? (b0124pp1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
WED 21:00 Annika Stranded (b01qdr74)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
WED 21:15 Afternoon Drama (b008xh40)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 today]
WED 22:00 State of the Nations (b086s8z1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
WED 22:30 Meet David Sedaris (b01ng26n)
Series 3, Put a Lid on It
The multi-award winning American essayist brings more of his wit and charm to BBC Radio 4 with a series of audience readings. This week we encounter his sister, Tiffany, in a story called "Put A Lid On It" and hear some more extracts from his diaries.
Producer: Steve Doherty
A Boom Pictures Cymru production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 23:00 Life: An Idiot's Guide (b044mc1g)
Series 3, Belief and Opinion
Stephen K Amos is joined by comedians Wil Hodgson, Gavin Webster and Shazia Mirza to present a guide to belief and opinion.
WED 23:30 Dan and Nick: The Wildebeest Years (b007jsmf)
Cold Turkey with Dan and Nick
Fish Gordon has only 48 hours to save the aquarium. Pilot of Dan Freedman and Nick Romero's surreal comedy. From August 1998.

THURSDAY 12 JANUARY 2017

THU 00:00 Charles Chilton - Journey Into Space (b007jr72)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Wednesday]
THU 00:30 Off the Page (b00p6rr2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:30 on Wednesday]
THU 01:00 Trumpets and Foie Gras (b08877n0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Wednesday]
THU 01:30 Does Happiness Write White? (b0124pp1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 on Wednesday]
THU 02:00 Joanna Trollope - Other People's Children (b007s74h)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:00 on Wednesday]
THU 02:15 Promises, Promises: A History of Debt (b054qf7d)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:15 on Wednesday]
THU 02:30 15 Minute Drama (b044h9bf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Wednesday]
THU 02:45 Book of the Week (b01cpw43)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:45 on Wednesday]
THU 03:00 DI Gwen Danbury - An Odd Body (b007js26)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Wednesday]
THU 04:00 The Unbelievable Truth (b01f5hp9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 on Wednesday]
THU 04:30 The Newly Discovered Casebook of Sherlock Holmes (b00b2gpj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 on Wednesday]
THU 05:00 An Actor's Life for Me (b007r42w)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 on Wednesday]
THU 05:30 State of the Nations (b086s8z1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Wednesday]
THU 06:00 Trumpets and Foie Gras (b08879g3)
Episode 4
A fresh move for 19th century cleric and essayist, Sydney Smith - and he hatches a plan to heat his church.
Roderick Graham celebrates the man of whom a society hostess said, there was no more welcome sound than that of Sydney Smith coming upstairs - but who is worth remembering for more than just his wit.
Starring Robert Lang as the Reverend Sydney Smith, Marian Diamond as Saba Smith, Ann Bell as Mrs Smith, Terence Edmond as Robert Smith and Joanna Myers as Mrs Robert Smith.
Producer: Jane Morgan
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 1992.
THU 06:30 The Protection Game (b00zzsdj)
Bodyguards, or close-protection officers (CPOs), are the thing of Hollywood myth. But, in real life, do some bodyguards have to make the ultimate sacrifice and dive in front of the bullet?
Broadcaster Yasmeen Khan meets, and trains with, some new recruits at a Task International training course in Kent. These men and women are training to be close-protection officers for corporate clients from around the world. Yasmeen learns more about the training, and the wider world of CPOs from the Task trainer. She also hears about the recent work Task CPOs have undertaken in Cairo, bringing out UK citizens and taking in much needed medical and food supplies.
In a secretive London location, Yasmeen meets up with security expert Will Geddes, and together they discuss the ethics of personal protection, of selling your body & skills to someone else with the possible ultimate outcome of your own death. Who are the clients and what is the stark reality of being a CPO in the modern age? Will discusses his recent experiences in Libya and Cairo.
Yasmeen also talks with Bill Butler, the Chief Executive of the Security Industry Authority. Under the SIA's leadership it has now become mandatory for security staff to be licensed in the UK. Yasmeen wants to know how the SIA manages to ensure that unlicensed protection services don't succeed.
As Yasmeen learns, many CPOs come from a military background, but then there are also those who have long experience in the Special Branch and Royal Protection Detail. She heads to an even more secretive location to meet Brian Isdale, a former Special Branch officer, now running his own security service and hiring many ex-police officers. Business is clearly good, and with the Olympics looming, it seems it will only get better.
Producers: Neil Gardner & Yasmeen Khan
A Ladbroke Production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 07:00 Mark Tavener - In the Red (b007k003)
Episode 3
Anarchic BBC reporter George Cragge probes the murder of another London bank manager - while in Broadcasting House, BBC Controllers are counting on divine intervention to topple the Director General.
London is plagued by a series of bizarre murders of bank managers. Hot on the trail of the killer are an old-style Chief Police Inspector and BBC Radio's crime correspondent, George Cragge.
A blackly humorous murder mystery set in the world of City finance, the BBC and political parties. Dramatised in seven-parts by Mark Tavener and Peter Baynham from Mark Tavener's novel.
Starring Michael Williams as George Cragge, Stephen Moore as Geoffrey Crichton-Potter, Julian Rhind-Tutt as Henry, Barry Foster as Frank Jefferson, Stephen Fry as Controller Radio 2, John Bird as Controller Radio 4, Peter Serafinowcz as Andrew James and Benjamin Whitrow as Dominic De'ath.
Music by Paul Mottram
Producer: Paul Schlesinger
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1995.
THU 07:30 The Cold Swedish Winter (b04dk87p)
Series 1, Spring
A sitcom from Danny Robins, writer of the Lenny Henry comedy Rudy's Rare Records. This series is set and recorded in Sweden and stars Adam Riches, Danny Robins and some of Sweden's most popular TV comedy actors.
Geoff, a marginally successful stand-up comic from London, is moving to the tiny, cold and unpronounceable village of Yxsjö in northern Sweden - a culture shock forced on him by his Swedish girlfriend Linda's decision to move home to raise their child.
Geoff has to contend with snow, moose, pickled herring, unemployment, snow, Maypole dancing, snowmobiles, snow, meatball rolling, saunas, social democracy, snow, the weirdest pizzas in Europe, bears, deep forests, death metal, illegal alcohol, snow.
Above all, he has a new family to contend with. The Andersson's bewilder him - from father Sten who has a worrying tendency to growl like a bear and threaten him with any blunt instrument to hand, to Gunilla who threatens him with naked folk-dancing.
It's worth it all for Linda, of course - apart from her new found urge to conform with everything and except for her brother, a Goth with a propensity to set fire to things.
Episode 2: Spring
In which Geoff attempts to bond with his new family and embarks on a potentially hazardous fishing trip with the two most taciturn men in Sweden. Will he survive the alcohol? Or the fish?
Writer: Danny Robins
Director: Frank Stirling
A Unique production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 08:00 Stop Messing About! (b00bqv41)
Series 1, Episode 5
On the menu - struggling restauranteurs, Gaston and Jacque - and the tale of orphan Oliver Stick who asks for more...
Starring Kenneth Williams, Hugh Paddick, Joan Sims and announcer, Douglas Smith.
After the unexpected death of Kenneth Horne in 1969, plans for the next series of Round The Horne were axed. Instead - using an old catchphrase of Kenneth Williams as a series title - Kenneth joined Hugh Paddick to continue the comedy tradition and was also reunited with his "Carry On" film co-star Joan Sims.
Written by Johnnie Mortimer, Brian Cooke and Myles Rudge
With the Max Harris Group.
Producer: John Simmonds
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in May 1969.
THU 08:30 The Michael Bentine Show (b00kfx35)
From 29/04/1984
From a monastic order to international space relations, it's the ultimate one-man show, written by the host. From April 1984.
THU 09:00 The Personality Test (b007sq67)
Series 3, Andrew Neil
Comedy quiz presented by a new guest host, with broadcaster and former Sunday Times Editor Andrew Neil taking the chair in this edition. Facing Andrew's quirky quiz are comedians Sue Perkins, Caroline Quinlan, Robin Ince and Will Smith.
THU 09:30 Taking It up the Octave (b088948k)
Episode 4
Keyboard Ken collapses, while Opera Sunderland's prima donna, Natasha, tours pubs to drum-up trade. Stars Caz Weller. From July 1997.
THU 10:00 DI Gwen Danbury - An Odd Body (b007js4n)
Series 1, The Hostages
When a hostage is taken by a gunman, Detective Inspector Gwen Danbury takes charge - but then her feisty mother Joan arrives.
Sue Rodwell's detective mystery stars Annette Badland as DI Gwen Danbury, Gudrun Ure as Joan Danbury, John Duttine as DS Henry Jacobs, John Rye as Supt. Phillips, Paul Panting as Gary Wolsey, Elaine Claxton as Cathy Bedford and Crawford Logan as Keets.
Director: Glyn Dearman
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1994.
THU 11:00 James Joyce - Ivy Day in the Committee Room (b007jz09)
Episode 1
When three Dublin canvassers gather together, it isn't long before drink and nostalgia sour the evening. Read by TP McKenna.
THU 11:15 Kelvin Segger - Dead Men Tell No Tales (b0075gv4)
A 'dead' man views his funeral preparations, advertising 'kills' another and a third delays his dream. With Michael Maloney.
THU 12:00 Stop Messing About! (b00bqv41)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
THU 12:30 The Michael Bentine Show (b00kfx35)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
THU 13:00 Trumpets and Foie Gras (b08879g3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
THU 13:30 The Protection Game (b00zzsdj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
THU 14:00 Joanna Trollope - Other People's Children (b007jn8h)
Episode 9
Elizabeth faces a dilemma now that Tom's daughter Dale has decided to move back into the family home. Read by Penelope Wilton.
THU 14:15 Promises, Promises: A History of Debt (b054t56t)
The International Politics of Debt
Anthropologist David Graeber examines the rise of virtual money since the 1970s and the power of international creditors.
When Nixon abandoned the gold standard in 1970, he kick-started a process by which money has become a virtual commodity rather than a physical thing to be held in the hand.
But this is not a new, unprecedented phenomenon, made possible by the advent of computers. Periods of virtual money have occurred many times over the course of history. David explains that, ordinarily, periods dominated by virtual credit money have also seen the creation of overarching mechanisms designed to protect debtors from creditors, so that the system does not descend into continual social crisis. Where money is understood to be not a thing but a promise, there has to be a way to prevent those with the means to create credit from simply enslaving everyone else - hence the ancient Middle Eastern jubilees and debt cancellations, or the Medieval bans on interest-taking and debt peonage.
However, David Braeber argues that the last half century has been marked by exactly the opposite - the western powers have overseen the creation of great overarching mechanisms tasked with protecting creditors.
It was the outrage at this situation that led to the rise of the Global Justice Movement in the late 1990s. Beginning with popular uprisings against austerity policies, and gradually galvanizing into a planetary network of popular groups, the movement aimed to expose the global bureaucratic structure that enforced debt arrangements, and emphasized how they made any form of democratic self-governance impossible.
Producer: Max O'Brien
A Juniper production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 14:30 15 Minute Drama (b044j7pn)
Vikas Swarup - The Seventh Test, The Visitor
Sapna Sinha works as a sales assistant in a TV showroom in New Delhi. Being the only bread-winner in the family she works long hours to provide for her widowed mother and younger sister. But then a man walks into her life with an extraordinary proposition: pass seven "life" tests of his choosing and she will have wealth and power. At first the tests seem easy, but things are not quite as they seem. Dramatised by Ayeesha Menon and John Dryden from Vikas Swarup's best-selling novel "The Accidental Apprentice".
9) The Visitor
A thriller set in India from the author of "Slumdog Millionaire".
In jail for murder, Sapna is trying to make sense of the past few months. But there is hope in an unexpected visit from someone she has helped in the past. Dramatised from Vikas Swarup's best-selling novel "The Accidental Apprentice".
Writers:
Vikas Swarup is an Indian diplomat and a best-selling novelist. His first novel "Q & A" was made into the Oscar winning film "Slumdog Millionaire" as well as Sony Award winning radio drama serial for BBC Radio .
Ayeesha Menon dramatized Vikas Swarup's other novels SIX SUSPECTS and Q & A, which won a Sony Award for Best Drama. She also wrote for Radio 4 THE MUMBAI CHUZZLEWITS, UNDERCOVER MUMBAI, THE CAIRO TRILOGY and MY NAME IS RED. Her stage play PEREIRA'S BAKERY AT 76 CHAPEL ROAD, which was developed with the Royal Court Theatre, was recently staged by the Curve Theatre, Leicester.
John Dryden wrote the original three-part dramas series SEVERED THREADS, THE RELUCTANT SPY and PANDEMIC, which won the Writer's Guild Award for best radio drama script. His dramatisation of BLEAK HOUSE won a Sony Award for Best Drama. Other dramatisations include A SUITABLE BOY, A HANDMAID'S TALE and FATHERLAND one of the most repeated dramas on R4 Extra.
Cast:
Sapna ... Rasika Dugal
Acharya ... Vijay Chrishna
Karan ... Neil Bhoopalam
Nirmila Ben / Rosie ... Radhika Mittal
Sapna's Mother - Shernaz Patel
Raja ... Sumeet Vyas
Kuldeep Singh / Roaji ... Rajit Kapur
Neha ... Amrita Puri
Priya Capoor / Pushpa / Female Judge ... Ayesha Raza
Badan Singh / Politician / Constable ... Kenny Desai
Madan ... Vivek Madan
Neelam / Babli ... Prerna Chawla
Rent Collector ... Satchit Puranik
Production:
Sound Design - Steve Bond
Editing Assistant - Varun Bangera
Script Editor - Mike Walker
Assistant Producer - Toral Shah
Music - Sacha Putnam
Dramatised by Ayeesha Menon and John Dryden from the novel "ACCIDENTAL APPRENTICE" by Vikas Swarup.
Director - John Dryden.
Producer - Nadir Khan
A Goldhawk Production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 14:45 Book of the Week (b01cpw90)
Michele Hanson - What the Grown-Ups Were Doing, Episode 4
Written by Michele Hanson
Read by Rebecca Front
The strictures of religion become increasingly confusing, added to by the burden of a long nose.
The genteel suburbia of Northwest London in the 1950s is the setting for this memoir of an only child whose Jewish mother had loudly held opinions on everything from the stinginess of her neighbours to the bowel movements of her entire family. Negotiating adolescence was never going to be easy
Abridged and Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 15:00 DI Gwen Danbury - An Odd Body (b007js4n)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
THU 16:00 The Personality Test (b007sq67)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
THU 16:30 Taking It up the Octave (b088948k)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
THU 17:00 Mark Tavener - In the Red (b007k003)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
THU 17:30 The Cold Swedish Winter (b04dk87p)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
THU 18:00 Charles Chilton - Journey Into Space (b007k42r)
The World in Peril, Episode 4
After an attempt on their lives, Jet and his crew battle against time to blast off back to Mars. Sci-fi classic from 1955 stars Andrew Faulds.
THU 18:30 Great Lives (b00b4wty)
Series 15, Ian Curtis
Series of biographical discussions with Matthew Parris.
Poet Simon Armitage nominates Joy Division singer Ian Curtis, who took his own life in 1980 at the age of 23. Curtis's fellow band member Peter Hook remembers his friend.
THU 19:00 Stop Messing About! (b00bqv41)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
THU 19:30 The Michael Bentine Show (b00kfx35)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
THU 20:00 Trumpets and Foie Gras (b08879g3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
THU 20:30 The Protection Game (b00zzsdj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
THU 21:00 James Joyce - Ivy Day in the Committee Room (b007jz09)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
THU 21:15 Kelvin Segger - Dead Men Tell No Tales (b0075gv4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 today]
THU 22:00 The Cold Swedish Winter (b04dk87p)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
THU 22:30 Brian Gulliver's Travels (b01mqq6h)
Series 2, Kognitia
by Bill Dare
Brian Gulliver, a seasoned presenter of travel documentaries, finds himself in a hospital's secure unit after claiming to have experienced a succession of bizarre adventures. This week, he relives his experiences in Kognitia where selective memory is taken to a new extreme.
Brian Gulliver ..... Neil Pearson
Rachel Gulliver ..... Mariah Gale
Kalmena ..... Debra Stephenson
Lamet ..... Duncan Wisbey
Door ..... Harry Livingstone
PA ..... Amaka Okafor
Producer ..... Steven Canny
This is the second series of this satirical adventure story from Bill Dare. The series has attracted an excellent cast led by Neil Pearson and including, Duncan Wisby, Vicki Pepperdine, Lisa Dillon, Colin Hoult, Toby Longworth, Adrian Scarborough, Dan Tetsell, Barunka O'Shaughnessy, Debra Stephenson, Colin Hoult, Nina Conti, Jo Bobin and Marcus Brigstocke.
For years Bill Dare wanted to create a satire about different worlds exploring Kipling's idea that we travel, 'not just to explore civilizations, but to better understand our own'. But science fiction and space ships never interested him, so he put the idea on ice. Then Brian Gulliver arrived and meant that our hero could be lost in a fictional world without the need for any sci-fi.
Gulliver's Travels is the only book Bill Dare read at university. His father, Peter Jones, narrated a similarly peripatetic radio series: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
THU 23:00 King Cutler (b008vr1b)
Episode 3
Phyllis King and Ivor Cutler present offbeat humorous songs, stories and poems. With David Lloyd. From January 1990.
THU 23:30 Old Harry's Game (b00hlcr4)
Series 7, Episode 1
Hell faces confusion when a dog turns up - as animals aren't evil, except dolphins.
Jean-Paul Sartre said "Hell is other people", but, as Satan will tell you, Hell is actually a fiery, unendingly cruel domain where Oliver Reed can never catch the barman's eye and Yves St Laurent is forced to wear a donkey jacket.
Hell is thrown into confusion when a dog turns up. Animals aren't meant to be in Satan's care because they aren't inherently evil - except for dolphins!
Stars Andy Hamilton as Satan, Annette Crosbie as Edith, Robert Duncan as Scumspawn and Jimmy Mulville as Thomas.
Additional roles played by Michael Fenton Stevens and Philip Pope.
Written by Andy Hamilton.
Producer: Paul Mayhew-Archer
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 2009.

FRIDAY 13 JANUARY 2017

FRI 00:00 Charles Chilton - Journey Into Space (b007k42r)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Thursday]
FRI 00:30 Great Lives (b00b4wty)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:30 on Thursday]
FRI 01:00 Trumpets and Foie Gras (b08879g3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Thursday]
FRI 01:30 The Protection Game (b00zzsdj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 on Thursday]
FRI 02:00 Joanna Trollope - Other People's Children (b007jn8h)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:00 on Thursday]
FRI 02:15 Promises, Promises: A History of Debt (b054t56t)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:15 on Thursday]
FRI 02:30 15 Minute Drama (b044j7pn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Thursday]
FRI 02:45 Book of the Week (b01cpw90)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:45 on Thursday]
FRI 03:00 DI Gwen Danbury - An Odd Body (b007js4n)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Thursday]
FRI 04:00 The Personality Test (b007sq67)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 on Thursday]
FRI 04:30 Taking It up the Octave (b088948k)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 on Thursday]
FRI 05:00 Mark Tavener - In the Red (b007k003)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 on Thursday]
FRI 05:30 The Cold Swedish Winter (b04dk87p)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Thursday]
FRI 06:00 Roy Clarke - The Events at Black Tor (b08898tk)
Such as Sit in Darkness
PC Jamie has been posted, with his wife Pam, to the Yorkshire Moors.
But far from the quiet life they're expecting - the arrival of a mysterious letter sparks a terrifying chain of events and their first encounter with the powers of evil...
Roy Clarke's six-part serial directed by Alan Ayckbourn.
Stars Juliet Cooke as Pam, Brian Peck as Jamie, James Beck as Sergeant, Bob Grant as Probert and Heather Stoney as the Radio Voice.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 1968.
FRI 06:30 The Diving Venus (b011ckx8)
Swimmer and explorer Kate Rew tells the fascinating story of Annette Kellerman, the 1920s Australian vaudeville star and champion swimmer who dived into glass tanks, popularized the one-piece swimsuit and became the first woman to attempt to swim the English Channel.
Paralysed by polio as a child, Kellerman was introduced to swimming as a therapy. When she discovered that her limbs 'found their true congenial element in water', she quickly became an ambitious swimmer.
Her family moved to England to promote her and in 1904 she swam 26 miles down the Thames from Putney to Blackwall, training on a diet of bread and milk. The Daily Mail picked up her story and sponsored her to become the first woman to attempt to swim the English Channel.
In her twenties she took a job performing her unusual water ballet act as a mermaid at the London Hippodrome. It was here that she became known as the Diving Venus.
But swimming was also a political act for Kellerman. She was a campaigner for the right of women to wear a one piece swim suit. While visiting Boston Beach in 1907, she appeared before the press in a tight-fitting one-piece swimsuit and was later arrested.
Using some new interviews and some archive interviews from the documentary, 'The Original Mermaid', Kate Rew explores the many layers to Kellerman's life and examines her own affinity with Kellerman's story. She talks to Margaret Drabble, another swimmer with a passion for mermaids. We hear from the dancer Beth Dean, who went to see Kellerman perform her underwater ballet in the 1920s and we hear extracts from Kellerman's own writings on swimming. 'Swimming cultivates imagination; the man with the most is he who can swim his solitary course through night and day and forget a black earth full of people who push', she wrote.
Produced by Sarah Cuddon
A Falling Tree Production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 07:00 The Secret Life of Rosewood Avenue (b007k281)
Raising the Dead
"I hope you know what you're doing, Miss Tilling. Experimenting with the paranormal can be fraught with danger."
Miss Tilling's getting in touch with her spiritual side, but hapless vicar Timothy Carswell is not so keen.
Stephen Sheridan's six-part series stars James Grout as the Reverend Timothy Carswell, Margaret Courtenay as Miss Tilling, Jean Heywood as Miss Tapp and Christopher Good as Dr Warlock.
Producer: Lissa Evans.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 1991.
FRI 07:30 Robert Newman's Entirely Accurate Encyclopaedia of Evolution (b06gwnx2)
One of Britain's finest comedians, Rob Newman, with a witty, fact-packed series mixing stand-up and sketches, challenging notions of Survival of the Fittest and The Selfish Gene with a new theory that's equal parts enlightening and hilarious.
Rob is our guide on a journey through a unique audio A-Z of nature that takes in everything from altruistic amoebae and dancing squid to Richard Dawkins wrestling naked with a postal worker.
Piecing these fragments together allows Rob to correct some major distortions of Darwinism, as well as rejig the theory of natural selection in the light of what we now know about epigenetics, mirror neurons and the Flintstones.
Written by Rob Newman
Starring Claire Price, with Jenni Murray as the voice of the Encyclopaedia.
Producer: Jon Harvey
Executive Producer: Richard Wilson
A Hat Trick production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 08:00 Yes Minister (b007jnk7)
Series 2, The Death List
A victim of phone tapping, Jim Hacker rebuts state surveillance - until his own life comes under threat.
Starring Paul Eddington as Jim Hacker, Nigel Hawthorne as Sir Humphrey Appleby, Derek Fowldes as Bernard and Graeme Garden as Commander Forrest.
Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn's 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 BBC Radio 4 in November 1984.
FRI 08:30 The Goon Show (b007jqbn)
The Mountain Eaters
Eccles and Ned set out to scoff Everest, with Grytpype-Thynne and Moriarty in pursuit. Stars Spike Milligan. From December 1958.
FRI 09:00 Who Goes There? (b00kfwbs)
Series 2, Episode 1
Martin Young chairs the famous people quiz. With Francis Wheen, Fred Housego, Polly Toynbee and Miles Kington. From June 1998.
FRI 09:30 No Commitments (b037wxhs)
Series 12, Misalliances
Victoria tries to change Emily's marriage plans, while Charlotte has a new (old) lover. Stars Celia Imrie. From May 2006.
FRI 10:00 Elizabeth Bowen - The House in Paris (b0889b1l)
Episode 1
From her deathbed, the sinister Madame Fisher weaves the lives of young Henrietta and Leopold as she manipulated others before them.
But who is Karen, the mother who gave Leopold away? Will Madame Fisher reveal her secrets of love, scandal and death?
Elizabeth Bowen's classic novel dramatised in three-parts by Margaret Steward.
Stars Sara Kestelman as Mme Fisher, Sunny Ormonde as Karen, Susan Bovell as Naomi Fisher, John Duttine as Max, Ann Windsor as Aunt Violet, David King as Uncle Bill, Fiona Christie as Henrietta and Joshua Goodman as Leopold.
Music by Anthea Gomez.
Producer: Sue Wilson
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1994.
FRI 11:00 James Joyce - Ivy Day in the Committee Room (b03h7bpt)
Episode 2
Over a drink, the Dublin canvassers engage in political debate, and laud their nationalist hero Parnell. Read by TP McKenna.
FRI 11:15 Flaw in the Motor, Dust in the Blood (b00pl6sh)
Thomas's dreams are like thriller plots. Trevor Preston's exploration of a man's complex bipolar disorder. With Rory Kinnear.
FRI 12:00 Yes Minister (b007jnk7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
FRI 12:30 The Goon Show (b007jqbn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
FRI 13:00 Roy Clarke - The Events at Black Tor (b08898tk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
FRI 13:30 The Diving Venus (b011ckx8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
FRI 14:00 Joanna Trollope - Other People's Children (b007jn8y)
Episode 10
Relationships falter under the strain of living as a step-family when decisions need to be made. Read by Penelope Wilton.
FRI 14:15 Promises, Promises: A History of Debt (b054tl77)
Hope
To conclude his series, anthropologist David Graeber examines recent events in the context of the long history of debt.
According to David, we are currently living in the early years of a new era in which physical money - cash passing from hand to hand - will be replaced by virtual money. There have been many eras of virtual money over the past 5000 years and David argues that we cannot yet know what this latest phase will mean as we are just a few decades years into a historical epoch likely to last 500 years.
To put the matter in perspective, capitalism's existence as an economic system has been entirely within one oscillation back and forth between physical and virtual money. There is every reason to believe that, if we are indeed heading towards a long period of virtual money, the predominant economic system in this period might also be something different.
David Graeber argues that, when the creditor has all the power, the repayment of debt becomes a sacrosanct principle and writing it off becomes inconceivable. The events of the 2008 financial crash provide us with a perfect example. When the banks were poised to go under, they were bailed out even if it meant making billions of pounds worth of debt disappear through a taxpayer funded injection of cash. By contrast, no matter what the circumstances, the requirement for small-scale debtors to pay back at agreed rates of interest was considered a matter of simple morality.
The financial crash might be over, but the international debt crisis continues. David concludes by arguing that we need to reinstate the ancient and medieval customs of institutionalised debt forgiveness in order to get out of our current malaise.
Producer: Max O'Brien
A Juniper production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 14:30 15 Minute Drama (b044jh6l)
Vikas Swarup - The Seventh Test, The Noose
Sapna Sinha works as a sales assistant in a TV showroom in New Delhi. Being the only bread-winner in the family she works long hours to provide for her widowed mother and younger sister. But then a man walks into her life with an extraordinary proposition: pass seven "life" tests of his choosing and she will have wealth and power. At first the tests seem easy, but things are not quite as they seem. Dramatised by Ayeesha Menon and John Dryden from Vikas Swarup's best-selling novel "The Accidental Apprentice".
10) The Noose
A thriller set in India from the author of "Slumdog Millionaire".
Sapna must revisit her past to make sense of her present. But nothing can prepare her what she finds there. Dramatised from Vikas Swarup's best-selling novel "The Accidental Apprentice".
Writers:
Vikas Swarup is an Indian diplomat and a best-selling novelist. His first novel "Q & A" was made into the Oscar winning film "Slumdog Millionaire" as well as Sony Award winning radio drama serial for BBC Radio .
Ayeesha Menon dramatized Vikas Swarup's other novels SIX SUSPECTS and Q & A, which won a Sony Award for Best Drama. She also wrote for Radio 4 THE MUMBAI CHUZZLEWITS, UNDERCOVER MUMBAI, THE CAIRO TRILOGY and MY NAME IS RED. Her stage play PEREIRA'S BAKERY AT 76 CHAPEL ROAD, which was developed with the Royal Court Theatre, was recently staged by the Curve Theatre, Leicester.
John Dryden wrote the original three-part dramas series SEVERED THREADS, THE RELUCTANT SPY and PANDEMIC, which won the Writer's Guild Award for best radio drama script. His dramatisation of BLEAK HOUSE won a Sony Award for Best Drama. Other dramatisations include A SUITABLE BOY, A HANDMAID'S TALE and FATHERLAND one of the most repeated dramas on R4 Extra.
Cast:
Sapna ... Rasika Dugal
Acharya ... Vijay Chrishna
Karan ... Neil Bhoopalam
Nirmila Ben / Rosie ... Radhika Mittal
Sapna's Mother ... Shernaz Patel
Raja ... Sumeet Vyas
Kuldeep Singh / Roaji ... Rajit Kapur
Neha ... Amrita Puri
Priya Capoor / Pushpa / Female Judge ... Ayesha Raza
Badan Singh / Politician / Constable ... Kenny Desai
Madan ... Vivek Madan
Neelam / Babli ... Prerna Chawla
Rent Collector ... Satchit Puranik
Production:
Sound Design - Steve Bond
Editing Assistant - Varun Bangera
Script Editor - Mike Walker
Assistant Producer - Toral Shah
Music - Sacha Putnam
Dramatised by Ayeesha Menon and John Dryden from the novel "ACCIDENTAL APPRENTICE" by Vikas Swarup.
Director - John Dryden
Producer - Nadir Khan
A Goldhawk Production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 14:45 Book of the Week (b01cpy0w)
Michele Hanson - What the Grown-Ups Were Doing, Episode 5
Written by Michele Hanson.
Read by Rebecca Front.
Fleeing suburbia for Art School brings liberation in many guises.
The genteel suburbia of Northwest London in the 1950s is the setting for this memoir of an only child whose Jewish mother had loudly held opinions on everything from the stinginess of her neighbours to the bowel movements of her entire family. Negotiating adolescence was never going to be easy.
Abridged and Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 15:00 Elizabeth Bowen - The House in Paris (b0889b1l)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
FRI 16:00 Who Goes There? (b00kfwbs)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
FRI 16:30 No Commitments (b037wxhs)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
FRI 17:00 The Secret Life of Rosewood Avenue (b007k281)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
FRI 17:30 Robert Newman's Entirely Accurate Encyclopaedia of Evolution (b06gwnx2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
FRI 18:00 Charles Chilton - Journey Into Space (b007jrdj)
The World in Peril, Episode 5
Captain Jet and Lemmy monitor strange calls on the ship-to-ship intercom. Sci-fi classic from 1955 stars Andrew Faulds and David Jacobs.
FRI 18:30 Soul Music (b01b9jp0)
Series 13, Baker Street
Gerry Rafferty's glorious and instantly recognisable hit, Baker Street is the subject of this week's Soul Music.
Rafferty died last year (on January 4th 2011) at the age of 63, leaving behind a widely respected musical legacy. The most popular of his tracks is, arguably, Baker Street:
His daughter Martha Rafferty recalls hearing her father develop the melody in the attic of their Glasgow home; the sound of him picking-out the tune on his acoustic guitar would drift through the push-up attic-door, filling the rest of the house with what would become his biggest hit. She describes the inspiration for the lyrics: a book called 'The Outsider' by Colin Wilson which Rafferty was reading at the time. It's about the sense of disconnection from the world that artists often feel. Martha regards Baker Street as the lyrical version of that book.
Other contributors include:
Musician and founder member of Stealer's Wheel, Rab Noakes. He describes how the legal wrangling which followed the break-up of Stealer's Wheel inspired the creation of Baker Street. "Winding your way down on Baker Street, light in your head and dead on your feet, well another crazy day, you'll drink the night away and forget about everything". Although Rafferty was living in Scotland at the time, he had to endure long meetings at his lawyers, and Baker Street was where he'd meet friends and drink, and sing, and talk the night away. The lyrics explore the conflicting thoughts and pressures Rafferty faced: he wanted to continue with his music, but - as Martha says - he had a young family to support and there was pressure to get a 'normal job'.
Singer-songwriter Betsy Cook whose former husband, the late Hugh Murphy, produced Baker Street, plays through the melody on her keyboard and describes what makes the song work musically. She also recalls the emotional impact of hearing it played at Hugh Murphy's funeral.
For poet, Ian McMillan, Baker Street provided the sound track to his student years; and busker Gavin Randle plays it often on Brighton pier with a backdrop of murmurating starlings, a setting sun, and passers-by dancing arm in arm.
Martha Rafferty's interview at the start of the programme is illustrated by an acoustic version of the track played especially for Soul Music by the guitarist Hugh Burns. He played on the original recording, and explains how he achieved the stirring guitar solo at the end of the record.
Also included in the programme is the original demo version of Baker Street, on which Gerry Rafferty plays the famous sax solo on guitar. It was released late last year on a Collector's Edition of the City to City album.
Producer: Karen Gregor (whose first decision when starting work on the programme was not to mention the Bob Holness/saxophone riff urban myth... so there is no word of it anywhere in the programme...!).
FRI 19:00 Yes Minister (b007jnk7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
FRI 19:30 The Goon Show (b007jqbn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
FRI 20:00 Roy Clarke - The Events at Black Tor (b08898tk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
FRI 20:30 The Diving Venus (b011ckx8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
FRI 21:00 James Joyce - Ivy Day in the Committee Room (b03h7bpt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
FRI 21:15 Flaw in the Motor, Dust in the Blood (b00pl6sh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 today]
FRI 22:00 Robert Newman's Entirely Accurate Encyclopaedia of Evolution (b06gwnx2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
FRI 22:30 Sarah Millican's Support Group (b00r2cy5)
Series 1, Episode 3
Comedy by Sarah Millican, who plays Sarah, life counsellor and modern-day agony aunt.
Sarah tackles the problems 'I'm a clown with a secret' and 'Do age-gap relationships work: is 65 in slippers the new 30 in a suit?'
Sarah ...... Sarah Millican
Marion ...... Ruth Bratt
Terry ...... Simon Daye
Judith ...... Susie Blake
Malcolm ...... Mark Heap
Helen ...... Debra Stevenson.
FRI 22:55 The Comedy Club Interviews (b088jx4l)
The best in contemporary comedy. Arthur Smith is joined in the Comedy Club by Shazia Mirza.
FRI 23:00 Armando Iannucci's Charm Offensive (b007yyqd)
Series 3, Episode 6
The ringmaster throws the news up into the air and plays catch with Jack Dee, Rich Hall and Phill Jupitus. From September 2007.
FRI 23:30 Hamish and Dougal: You'll Have Had Your Tea (b007k24f)
Series 2, Trapped
The elderly Scotsmen's first trip to London ends in chaos. Stars Barry Cryer, Graeme Garden, Alison Steadman and Jeremy Hardy. From March 2004.
FRI 23:45 Self Storage (b01hzb14)
Leaving
Could the time have come at long last for Dave to leave behind his peculiar abode? Stars Reece Shearsmith. From October 2007.