SATURDAY 02 SEPTEMBER 2017

SAT 00:00 HH Munro - Five Tales By Saki (b0076rpr)
The Open WindowPacked off around Britain in a search for a cure for his nerves, Framton Nuttel arrives at the Sappleton's house with a letter of introduction from his sister.
It little prepares him for the tale of terror he's about to hear...
Stars Paul Brooke as Framton Nuttel, Emily Chenery as Vera, Joanna McCallum as Mrs Sappleton, Susan Jameson as Caroline Nuttel and Michael Kilgarriff as Mr Sappleton/ Trap Driver.
Five Tales by Saki (HH Munro), dramatised by Roger Davenport.
Director: Ned Chaillet
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2005.
SAT 00:15 Brian Aldiss Short Stories (b03wtr47)
Supertoys Last All Summer LongThe short story which became the basis for the Stanley Kubrick-developed Steven Spielberg film A.I. What is real? What is artificial intelligence? Read by Zoe Waites.
Brian Aldiss (1925-2017) was one of Britain's most prolific writers of speculative fiction. His first book was written when he was 14. This selection of his shorter fiction celebrates the range of his interests from futuristic creation myths to biting social satire.
Greatly influenced by the science fiction pioneer HG Wells, his writings have been compared to those of Isaac Asimov, Greg Bear and Arthur C Clarke. His complete works are currently being republished.
Produced for BBC Radio 4 Extra by the Waters Company.
SAT 00:30 Soul Music (b04ps556)
Series 19, Gracias a la VidaGracias A La Vida - thank you to life - is a song that means a lot to many people around the world. Recorded by artists as diverse as Joan Baez and the magnificent Mercedes Sosa, the song reflects the bittersweet nature of life's joys and sadnesses. To the people of Chile where it was written in 1966 by Violetta Parra, it has become an anthem that brings people together in times of trouble. One man who was tortured and imprisoned under the Pinochet regime in 1973 recalls how playing the song on guitar in prison for other inmates helped keep their spirits and hopes alive under the most brutal circumstances. Australian writer and actor Ailsa Piper recalls being gifted the words to Gracias A La Vida by a fellow walker along one of the holy routes in Spain, and how the song has become a poignant reminder of the fragility of life.
Producer: Maggie Ayre.
SAT 01:00 A Case for Dr Morelle (b007qsk3)
The GamblerThe psychiatrist-sleuth tackles a desperate gambling addict in a mysterious case of murder.
Ernest Dudley's Harley Street psychiatrist-turned-detective uses psychology as well as criminology to hunt down lawbreakers by deducing their felonious personalities.
Following on from the success of the 1949 Hammer Film 'Dr Morelle: The Case of the Missing Heiress', the BBC radio series stars British film veteran, Cecil Parker as Dr Morelle and Sheila Sim as his long-suffering assistant, Miss Frayle.
With Harriet Johns as Mrs Ludlow, Desmond Carrington as Mr Ellis, Jimmy Lavall as Felix Grey, Arthur Young as Simmons, Simon Lack as a Man and Beryl Calder as the Girl.
Director: Leslie Bridgmont
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in March 1957.
SAT 01:30 The Chalet School (b014pzzs)
The crime writer Val McDermid on her love of the Chalet School boarding school novels. She credits them with inspiring her to go to Oxford and becoming a writer. So what did they have that the other boarding school books did not?
Nearly sixty Chalet School novels were published between 1925 and 1970, written by the South Shields novelist, Elinor Brent-Dyer. The school was initially located in Austria, but moved to Guernsey following the Anschluss. It relocated again after the Nazi invasion of The Channel Islands. The books centred on Madge Bettany, the founder of the school, and her young sister Joey, its first pupil. The books dealt with financial hardship, illness and politics, which Val argues, is absent from most other boarding school novels of the period.
The programme is produced in Manchester by Nicola Swords.
SAT 02:00 Book at Bedtime (b01h029x)
John Galt - Annals of the Parish, Episode 5John Galt's 1821 masterpiece of small-town Scottish life. Reverend Micah Balwhidder draws his account of a fifty year ministry in a sleepy rural parish to a close.
Settled in his study at the end of his career, Balwhidder remembers the loss of a dear friend and the shocking events at the cotton mill which changed Dalmailing for ever.
Abridged by Rosemary Goring and read by Paul Young.
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie.
SAT 02:15 Could Do Better (b03q5fw6)
Dame Edna EverageRobert Booth has a quiet word with international megastar housewife Dame Edna Everage about her school reports. From December 1998.
SAT 02:30 Winifred Holtby - South Riding (b007jngw)
Episode 5Headmistress Sarah Burton sparks upset when she takes her girls on an educational walk in the snow. Stars Sarah Lancashire.
SAT 02:45 Book of the Week (b03ls7xw)
Diana Cooper - Darling Monster, Episode 5This new book contains the letters sent from aristocrat, society darling and actress of stage and early screen, Lady Diana Cooper, to her only son, John Julius Norwich.
When Lady Diana married rising political star Duff Cooper, they became the golden couple who knew everyone who was anyone. Her letters serve as a portrait of a time, capturing some of history's most dramatic events and most important figures with immediacy and intimacy. But they also give us a touching portrait of the love between a mother and son, separated by war, oceans and the constraints of the time they lived in.
Her letters span the years 1939 to 1952, taking in the Blitz, Diana's short spell as a farmer in Sussex, a trip to the Far East when husband Duff was collecting war intelligence, the couple's three years in the Paris embassy, as well as a great number of journeys around Europe and North Africa.
In the final episode, John Julius Norwich is now a student at Oxford, while his mother Lady Diana Cooper continues to live in France. Her husband Duff is offered a peerage.
Read by John Julius Norwich and Patricia Hodge
Producer: David Roper
Abridger: Barry Johnston
A Heavy Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 03:00 Terence Rattigan - The Browning Version (b092ks2g)
Teacher Andrew Crocker-Harris is on the verge of retirement - and a divorce. But he has a shot at trying to redeem his dignity when a young schoolboy gives him an unexpected parting gift...
Terence Rattigan's play was first performed on the London stage in 1948. Adapted by Cynthia Pughe.
Stars John Gielgud as Andrew Crocker-Harris, Angela Baddeley as Millie Crocker-Harris, Brewster Mason as Frank Hunter, Anthony Adams as Taplow, Warren Hearnden as the schoolboy, Clive Morton as Dr Frobisher, Denis Goacher as Peter Gilbert and Anne Cullen as Mrs Gilbert.
Sir Terence Mervyn Rattigan, CBE (1911-1977) is remembered as a theatre heavyweight for dramas about the middle and upper-classes, including The Winslow Boy, The Deep Blue Sea and Separate Tables.
Director: Norman Wright
First broadcast on the BBC Home Service in September 1957.
SAT 04:00 Who Goes There? (b0076b0c)
Series 6, From 6/11/2002Martin Young presents the biographical quiz show. With Francis Wheen, Fred Housego, Claire Rayner and David Aaronovitch. From November 2002.
SAT 04:30 After Henry (b007jmkg)
Series 1, MovingHer daughter wants to move out. Her mother wants to move in, but should Sarah just sell up?
Simon Brett's comedy about three generations of women - struggling to cope after the death of Sarah's GP husband - who never quite manage to see eye to eye.
Starring Prunella Scales as Sarah, Joan Sanderson as Eleanor, Benjamin Whitrow as Russell, Gerry Cowper as Clare and Marion Bailey as Janie.
Four radio series were made, but instead of moving to BBC TV - Thames Television produced 'After Henry' for the ITV network.
Producer: Pete Atkin
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 1985.
SAT 05:00 Tomorrow, Today! (b012b3dy)
Series 1, To the Moon and BackComedy series by Christopher William Hill, set in 1961. A BBC producer struggles to make a radio soap set in the unimaginably futuristic world of 2006.
The actors callously use the show to secure advertising deals.
Nigel Lavery ...... Peter Bowles
Sylvia Hann ...... Cheryl Campbell
Godfrey Winnard ...... John Fortune
Sir Angus McNairn ...... Gary Waldhorn
Hugo Kellerman ...... Joseph Kloska
Douglas Bennings ...... Jon Glover
Colin Franks ...... Paul Richard Biggin
Waitress ...... Miranda Keeling.
SAT 05:30 Dave Podmore (b036jhtl)
Dave Podmore's Ashes ShameIt's an Ashes summer Radio One County's Andy Hamer finds England's sleaziest ex-cricketer Pod at the lowest of unfair ebbs - suspended from his radio programme for disloyal tweets to a rival broadcaster and stripped of his role as global ambassador for cheapfags.com.
When the nation bids farewell to a controversial yet iconic figure from the East Midlands - his beloved dog Saxon - Pod blows his questionably-gotten fortune on the funeral.
With his prospects in the gutter, and bailiffs turning up faster than grey streaks in his mullet, has Pod finally met his match? Or can a precocious young Tyke help him save the day?
A Hat Trick production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 06:00 Miss Marple (b007jvht)
The Body in the LibraryDolly Bantry, mistress of Gossington Hall, is enjoying a pleasant doze when suddenly her dreams take a strange turn.
The housemaid Mary is telling her there's a body in the library. As she wakes up, it turns out to be true. But who is the strange young blonde woman sprawled on the library floor? Enter St Mary Mead's famous resident sleuth, Miss Jane Marple.
Agatha Christie's whodunit stars June Whitfield as Miss Marple, Richard Todd as Colonel Melchett, Pauline Jameson as Dolly Bantry, Jack Watling as Colonel Bantry, Graham Crowden as Sir Henry Clithering and Ben Crowe as George Bartlett.
Dramatist: Michael Bakewell
Director: Enyd Williams
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1999.
SAT 07:30 The Art of Monarchy (b01dc53t)
ProgressThe Royal Collection is one of the most wide-ranging collections of art and artefacts in the world and provides an intriguing insight into the minds of the monarchs who assembled it.
During the series, Will Gompertz encounters dozens of these unique objects - some priceless, others no more than souvenirs - each shedding light on our relationship with the monarchy and giving a glimpse into the essential ingredients of a successful sovereign.
In this programmes, Will explores the relationship the institution of the monarchy has had with that potentially corrosive agent - change. He finds that the most successful monarchs have understood and harnessed innovation - Henry VIII took an interest in wood so the Navy boats would be the best on the ocean, Charles II established the Royal Observatory so astronomers could find out more about the skies and better inform navigation. Queen Victoria asked Marconi to demonstrate a radio station at Osborne House and she took part in the first trans-Atlantic cable ever sent.
With the help of objects and curators from the Royal Collection, together with leading historians, Will studies objects that not only demonstrate the patronage of the arts and sciences but also illuminate the more personal expressions of learning and monarchical intellectual engagement.
Producer: Sarah Taylor.
SAT 08:00 Archive on 4 (b04y6mw8)
Mustn't Grumble: The Noble British Art of ComplainingComplaining is a vital component of British life, whether it's formal letters to a utility company, bank or broadband provider, or it's an ice-breaker at a bus stop, bemoaning the dreary weather. In 'Mustn't Grumble', writer and broadcaster Bidisha sets out to identify why complaining is so important to us, and also precisely how we go about it. She visits an international language school to hear how students learning English react to lessons in 'hedging' (the art of introducing a complaint with apology - "I'm terribly sorry but..", "Forgive me for mentioning it but.."); she also meets literary professor Phil Davis to track complaint through the fictional pages of history, former comedian and classicist Natalie Haynes to found out how the Ancients did it, and journalist Lynne Truss to find out why we never complain to a hairdresser. Along the way she also meets a professional complainer, Jasper Griegson, who's sent thousands of letters of complaint over the years, sometimes in verse, sometimes in medieval script, to find out the best methods of complaining. Bidisha also wonders, finally, whether complaining is actually good for us - whether the occasional gains we may achieve are worth so much of our energy and spirit. The programme will make use of the ample archive of complaint, from Juvenal to 'Points of View', Samuel Pepys' diaries to Alf Garnett and Tom Wrigglesworth.
SAT 09:00 Count Arthur Strong's Radio Show! (b011tsc5)
Extra Strong - Count Arthur Speaks! Mint ExtractsCan it be true? Yes, famed memory man, treader of the boards and gourmand of corner shops Count Arthur Strong allows Mark Radcliffe to probe deeply into his past career and deeds, with a selection of episodes from his life.
The variety star opens up as never before - his childhood, his early forays into show business, his army days, the lack of hot soup in France, and what happened when he owned a barge with Stan Stennett and Roy Walker.
A blistering, some-holds-barred tell-all straight from the mouth of the horse himself. Learn, definitively, how he became a Count.
Asking the probing questions is Radio 2 & 6 Music DJ Mark Radcliffe (Mark and Lard), and he knows where the skeletons are hidden - he produced Count Arthur Strong's Radio Show.
It features a selection of the finest episodes from Radio 4's Count Arthur Strong's Radio Show, the comic creation of Steve Delaney.
SAT 12:00 Hancock's Half Hour (b0186wj0)
The Blackboard JungleThe lad is a young master in a school full of juvenile delinquents. A parody of the controversial 1955 movie of the same name.
Starring Tony Hancock, Bill Kerr, Sidney James, Andree Melly and Kenneth Williams.
Written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson.
Theme and incidental music composed by Wally Stott. Recorded by the BBC Revue Orchestra conducted by Harry Rabinowitz.
Producer: Dennis Main Wilson
Recovered episode first broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in November 1955.
SAT 12:30 The Burkiss Way (b00jr7fw)
Series 2, Skive From School the Burkiss WayCan 'Moses Minor' lead the boys of Greyfriars away from the clutches of their oppressors?
Starring Fred Harris, Jo Kendall, Nigel Rees and Chris Emmett.
Cult sketch comedy series which originally ran from 1976 to 1980.
Scripted by David Renwick and Andrew Marshall.
Producer: David Hatch
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 1977.
SAT 13:00 AL Kennedy - Subterranean Homesick Blues (b093m2x1)
Series 2 OmnibusGrowing older but no wiser, John and Maggie try to rekindle an affair. Comic drama starring Bill Nighy and Anna Calder-Marshall.
SAT 14:10 Inheritance Tracks (b093m4gp)
John Cooper ClarkeThe Bard of Salford chooses Bing Crosby and Al Jolson's "The Spaniard Who Blighted My Life" and Nick Lowe's "Peace, Love and Understanding.".
SAT 14:15 Pam Ayres' Open Road (b007kflj)
Series 2, St AustellPam is in Cornwall where she visits a china clay quarry, the Eden Project and drops in on singer-songwriter Peter Skellern.
Poet and raconteuse Pam Ayres is back on the open road, visiting nine more places in Britain to hear tales from the people who live there.
Producer: Jill Marshall
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in 2001.
SAT 14:45 Peter Tinniswood - Tales From the Backbench (b00760x3)
Tales From the Backbench - Series 1, The General ThingermejigUseless and forgetful MP Sir Plympton Makepeace recalls how he was seduced back into politics after three years in the wilderness...
Starring Leslie Phillips.
Unreliable parliamentary ramblings written by Peter Tinniswood.
Producer: Enyd Williams
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2001.
SAT 15:00 Archive on 4 (b04y6mw8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
SAT 16:00 Miss Marple (b007jvht)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
SAT 17:30 The Art of Monarchy (b01dc53t)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
SAT 18:00 Jeff Noon - Dead Code (b007g3vt)
In a futuristic, post-digital age world, Joe and Dixie are struggling with the loss of Charlie.
Music haunts the streets in the ruins of a housing estate. Dixie's doing her best to hold onto Joe, but will she succeed when the force of Charlie's memory is so strong?
Stars Emma Atkins as Dixie, Paul Simpson as Joe, Jason Done as Bags, Lemn Sissay at DJ Broken Tongue and Alison Carney as Luna.
With original music by Vini Reilly of The Durutti Column, songs by Urban Blue and sound design by Steve Brooke.
Director: Nadia Molinari.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in 2005.
SAT 18:45 AL Barker - Five Strange Stories (b093m4gr)
The Game4 Extra Debut. Two Manchester lads growing up together end up sharing more than their passion for football. Read by Stephen Tompkinson.
SAT 19:00 Count Arthur Strong's Radio Show! (b011tsc5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
SAT 22:00 Andrew Lawrence: How Did We End Up Like This? (b01ntjq3)
Health and MedicineSketches, stand-up and song in a comic exploration of health. With Andrew Lawrence and Sara Pascoe. From November 2012.
SAT 22:30 The Jason Byrne Show (b01dtjh4)
Series 2, FoodThe award-winning comic reveals his love for an animated rabbit, and his hatred of baguette nibbling. From July 2009.
SAT 22:55 The Comedy Club Interviews (b093yvcf)
Beth Vyse 1/2The comedian and creator of the character Olive Sands, Beth Vyse, chats to Arthur Smith about acting for the RSC and making comedy out of her cancer diagnosis.
SAT 23:00 Hardeep at The Stand (b01n0ylj)
Series 2, Episode 4Hardeep Singh Kohli hosts more stand-up comedy. With Elaine Malcolmson, Vladimir McTavish, Keith Farnan. From October 2012.
SAT 23:15 Gus Murdoch's Sacred Cows (b00fn9hk)
RoadsThe fearless reporter probes Britain's highways and byways. Written by and starring Stephen Carlin. From November 2008.
SAT 23:30 Two Episodes of Mash (b01mdl9r)
Series 2, Episode 1The show is a mix of silly, surreal sketches and banter. The series also has an absurd narrative, which makes fun of its new home at Radio 4. In Episode 1: Diane and Joe discover they don't actually have a radio series at all. You can also see an animation of one sketch on the Radio 4 website - it's a fishy tale.
Credits: Diane Morgan, Joe Wilkinson, David O'Doherty, Paul Harry Allen, Peter Donaldson, Ken Bruce, Bobbie Pryor & Gary Newman. Animation: Tom Rourke. Producer: Clair Wordsworth.

SUNDAY 03 SEPTEMBER 2017

SUN 00:00 Jeff Noon - Dead Code (b007g3vt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Saturday]
SUN 00:45 AL Barker - Five Strange Stories (b093m4gr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:45 on Saturday]
SUN 01:00 AL Kennedy - Subterranean Homesick Blues (b093m2x1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 13:00 on Saturday]
SUN 02:10 Inheritance Tracks (b093m4gp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:10 on Saturday]
SUN 02:15 Pam Ayres' Open Road (b007kflj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:15 on Saturday]
SUN 02:45 Peter Tinniswood - Tales From the Backbench (b00760x3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:45 on Saturday]
SUN 03:00 Archive on 4 (b04y6mw8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 on Saturday]
SUN 04:00 Miss Marple (b007jvht)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Saturday]
SUN 05:30 The Art of Monarchy (b01dc53t)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Saturday]
SUN 06:00 Winifred Holtby - South Riding Omnibus (b007jrn7)
Episode 1Headmistress Sarah Burton returns to 1930s Yorkshire for a challenging new post.
Winifred Holtby's (1898-1935) most famous novel "South Riding" was published posthumously in 1936. It's a rich and memorable evocation of the characters of Yorkshire's South Riding, their lives, loves and sorrows.
Starring Sarah Lancashire as Sarah Burton, Philip Glenister as Robert Carne and Carole Boyd as Mrs Beddows. With Susan Cookson, Maggie Tagney, Donald McBride, Lucy Beaumont, Annmarie Hosell and Maya Foa.
The first of a three-part omnibus dramatised by Gill Adams.
Director: Melanie Harris
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1999.
SUN 07:15 Beatrice Colin - Camisole (b093m6rj)
4 Extra Debut. Penny runs a vintage clothing shop where she becomes intrigued by a regular customer called Mr Jamaica. Read by Tamara Kennedy.
SUN 07:30 Count Arthur Strong's Radio Show! (b00gd4sy)
Series 4, Alf Ramsey's Kitchen NightmareSpoof reminiscences of a former variety star. Count Arthur Strong is an expert in everything from the world of entertainment to the origins of the species, all false starts and nervous fumbling, poorly concealed by a delicate sheen of bravado and self-assurance.
After Gerry takes a tumble over a bucket mysteriously left in his cafe, Arthur steps in and offers to 'do an Alf Ramsey' by running the cafe in Gerry's absence. Culinary experimentation, customer service... Arthur's a natural. Or is he...?
With Steve Delaney, Mel Giedroyc, Dave Mounfield and Alastair Kerr.
A Komedia Entertainment/Smooth Operations production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 08:00 Life With the Lyons (b0140dvf)
The New JobAn ad in the local paper lands Richard Lyon a job as his father Ben's office boy.
Starring real-life American family: Ben Lyon and his wife Bebe Daniels and their children, Richard and Barbara.
With Doris Rogers as Florrie, Molly Weir as Aggie, Horace Percival as Mr Wimple, Selma Vas Dias, Brian Smith, Gwen Lewis and Bob Block.
Life With The Lyons was one the BBC's most popular radio sitcoms between 1950 and 1961. It was also adapted for BBC TV.
Written by Bebe Daniels, Bob Block and Ronnie Hanbury.
BBC Variety Orchestra conducted by Paul Fenoulhet.
Producer: Tom Ronald
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in December 1954.
SUN 08:30 A Life of Bliss (b048nbwt)
Finding a GirlfriendMatchmakers galore target terribly shy and awkward bachelor David Bliss, who is feeling lost without a girlfriend...
Starring George Cole as David Bliss, Petula Clark as Penny Gay, Percy Edwards as Psyche the dog, Diana Churchill as Ann, Colin Gordon as Tony, Gladys Young as Mrs Bliss, Ernest Jay as Mr Bliss, Gladys Henson as Mrs Henson, Elsa Palmer as the neighbour and Ruth Trouncer as Pauline.
Godfrey Harrison's sitcom about bashful, bumbling bachelor David Alexander Bliss began in 1953 on the BBC Home Service and ran for six series of 118 episodes concluding in 1969 when a TV series was made. Sadly only 6 radio episodes survived in the BBC archive.
For the first 7 episodes, David Tomlinson played David, but the rest starred the future star of The St Trinian's films, destined to find great fame as the dodgy Arthur Daley in ITV's Minder - George Cole.
Announcer: Kenneth Kendall
The BBC Variety Orchestra conducted by Paul Fenhoulet.
Producer: Leslie Bridgmont
First broadcast on the BBC Home Service in October 1954.
SUN 09:00 How Not to Be a Boy - Omnibus (b093m73b)
Award-winning comedian Robert Webb reads his funny and moving memoir, sharing wise words on masculinity's pitfalls.
SUN 10:10 The Listening Project (b06c4k48)
Stephanie and John - The View From the BikeFi Glover introduces a blind and a sighted member of the North West Tandem Club, recorded in the Booth in Derry as they review the partnership between 'pilot' and 'stoker' on a bicycle made for two. Another conversation in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.
The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. Most of the unedited conversations are being archived by the British Library and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the millennium. You can learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject
Producer: Marya Burgess.
SUN 10:15 Desert Island Discs Revisited (b093p3cn)
Rock & Pop Stars, Roger Waters4 Extra Debut. From Mahler to Neil Young, Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters shares his castaway choices with Kirsty Young. From May 2011.
SUN 11:00 The Moth Radio Hour (b093p3cq)
Series 5, Explorers, Organizers and InterrogationsTrue stories told live in in the USA: Meg Bowles introduces tales about poetry and the challenges of travel.
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 11:55 Inheritance Tracks (b093q8lz)
Jazzie BDJ and producer Jazzie B selects 'Miss Black America' by Curtis Mayfield and 'Music Is My Sanctuary' by Gary Bartz.
SUN 12:00 Life With the Lyons (b0140dvf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
SUN 12:30 A Life of Bliss (b048nbwt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
SUN 13:00 Winifred Holtby - South Riding Omnibus (b007jrn7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
SUN 14:15 Beatrice Colin - Camisole (b093m6rj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:15 today]
SUN 14:30 Anthony Doerr - Afterworld Omnibus (b093p3cs)
A woman who escaped the Holocaust is haunted by visions of her lost childhood friends in Germany. Read by Allan Corduner.
SUN 15:45 Open or Wrapped...? (b04jlrxl)
Episode 3Food writer, Home Economist and Food stylist Alison Clarkson follows eight people on a course in Leeds, specialising in how to run their very own Fish and Chip shop.
For generations, the meal has been a constant favourite with thousands, if not millions, of people across Britain. Churchill called them 'the good companion' and John Lennon loved his with tomato ketchup.
This episode takes us to day two of the course in Leeds, where we discover the intricacies of mushy peas...
The series follows a three day course run by the National Federation of Fish Fryers in Leeds. It takes students through the requirements involved in running your own shop - from fish preparation and battering, through health and safety, to the legal and financial issues inherent in the business.
The students come from a wide variety of backgrounds - from the finance industry to a retired musician, from an opticians to a newsagent. Two have ventured from France and one from Hamburg, especially to attend the course.
As well as following the students, the programmes trace the history and development of selling chips. The meal became popular in the early part of the nineteenth century as a result of the rapid growth of trawl fishing in the North Sea. In its heyday there were approximately thirty thousand fish and chip shops in Britain. Today the number is around twelve thousand. The acclaimed 5 out of 5, AA Rosette and multi Michelin Star award winning chef Jean-Christophe Novelli discusses his love and respect for our traditional meal.
Finally, we follow up the featured members of the course, six months after attending it. How do you like the meal, 'Open or wrapped..?!'
Presenter: Alison Clarkson
Produced by Eurof Williams
An Acme tv production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 16:00 David Stafford - The Funny Side of Love (b093p3th)
Back from Oz, June reunites for a soggy summer season comeback with 1960s song partners, Gary and Charlie. Will it be hell or harmonies?
David Stafford 's wry comedy about showbiz, eternal triangles and the Eurovision Song Contest.
Starring Deborah Findlay and Neil McCaul as June and Gary Knight, Stephen Ley as Charlie, Geoffrey Durham as Jelly, Jill Graham as Donna, John Webb as Damien, Oona Beeson as Kayla, Trevor Allan Davies as Janusc and Steve Hodson as Comic/Attendant.
The boys in the band: Trevor Allan Davies (piano), Bobby Worth (drums) and David Stafford (bass guitar).
Producer: Marilyn Imrie
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1993.
SUN 17:00 Poetry Extra (b093p52m)
Lost Voices - Patricia BeerBBC Radio 4's Poet in Residence, Daljit Nagra revisits the BBC's radio poetry archive with 'Lost Voices: Patricia Beer'.
A fresh evaluation of the work of Patricia Beer by Brian Patten. Her strong, clear poetic voice grew out of a life menaced by insecurity and anger. Her friend, the poet Elaine Feinstein, and her niece, the novelist Patricia Duncker, consider the woman and the poetry.
Producer Christine Hall
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2011.
SUN 17:30 Count Arthur Strong's Radio Show! (b00gd4sy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
SUN 18:00 Robert Holmes - Aliens in the Mind (b007jlv8)
Official IntercessionsHaving brought the apparently simple-minded Flora Keiry to London, Professor Lark and John Cornelius uncover the sinister nature of her true identity and realise the authorities must be alerted...
Stars Peter Cushing as John Cornelius, Vincent Price as Professor Curtis Lark, Sandra Clarke as Flora Kiery, Steve Playtus as Kalman Baromek, Frazer Carr as Ian Sanderson, William Eadle as Gulliver, Clifford Norgate as Brigadier Sherman and Michael Harbour as Gwynt.
Written by Rene Basilico from an idea by Robert Holmes.
Producer: John Dyas
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1977.
SUN 18:30 The Man in Black (b00h31fd)
Series 1, Hide and SeekWith her eyes bandaged, Amelia Stowe lies confined to a bed recovering from a major operation. With recuperation stretching before her, she agrees to take part in a psychiatrist's experiment to unlock early memories. But a chilling voice from the past come backs to haunt her...
Mike Carey's tale is introduced by Mark Gatiss as sinister raconteur, The Man in Black.
Stars Abigail Hollick as Amelia Stowe, Joseph Millson as Doctor Bewlay, Janice Acquah as Nurse Sargent, Stephen Critchlow as the Demon and Jill Cardo as Amelia's Mother
Horrifying series of tales from The Man in Black. You might meet him at a luggage carousel in an airport, or behind the desk at an employment agency or he might approach you in the corridor of a care home.
Wherever you encounter him, he's eager to pass on his stories. Stories to unsettle and horrify. Stories to haunt you.
The Man In Black first appeared in the 1940s as the chilling voice who introduced a series of terrifying radio dramas. He returned on Radio 4 in the 1970s and then again in the late 80s/early 90s.
Producer: Gemma Jenkins
Made for BBC Radio 7 and first broadcast in 2009.
SUN 19:00 The Moth Radio Hour (b093p3cq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
SUN 19:55 Inheritance Tracks (b093q8lz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:55 today]
SUN 20:00 How Not to Be a Boy - Omnibus (b093m73b)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
SUN 21:10 The Listening Project (b06c4k48)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:10 today]
SUN 21:15 Desert Island Discs Revisited (b093p3cn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:15 today]
SUN 22:00 Count Arthur Strong's Radio Show! (b00gd4sy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
SUN 22:30 Think the Unthinkable (b007jm2g)
Series 1, Longleys BankLongleys Bank needs a new image. Management consultants comedy with Emma Kennedy and Marcus Brigstocke. From October 2001.
SUN 22:55 The Comedy Club Interviews (b093yvch)
Beth Vyse 2/2The comedian Beth Vyse swaps Shakespearean knock knock jokes with Arthur Smith and chats about her double act with her baby.
SUN 23:00 Boyle's Law (b00n12rr)
Pilot for a new comedy by Suk Pannu about tough-talking cop Inspector Vincent Boyle, head of data storage. Banned from doing any actual detecting nowadays, he saves his 'catlike' instincts for reading difficult situations among workmates and acting as a father figure to the community support officers.
Boyle ...... Sanjeev Bhaskar
Fox ...... Anna Chancellor
Adams ...... Meredith MacNeill
Commander Norris ...... Nicholas Farrell
Shankar ...... Nitin Ganatra
Waitres ...... Kate Layden.
SUN 23:30 Beauty of Britain (b010mryx)
Series 2, The DelegateNo professional care-worker can afford to miss Beauty Olonga's survival guide to Britain - its overheated houses, its disappointing church services and its world-class charity shops. Series 2 of this Radio 4 comedy follows Beauty's continuing adventures as the Featherdown Agency sends her to provide care for the elderly.
Beauty sees herself as an inspiration to other African girls hoping to live the dream in Britain. The series breaks the embarrassed silence about what happens to us when we get old and start to lose our faculties. It shows the process in all its chaotic, tragi-comedy but it does so from the point of view of Beauty, whose Zimbabwean Shona background has taught her to respect age. Beauty sees Britain at its best, its worst and also sometimes without its clothes on running the wrong way down the M6 with a toy dog shouting 'Come on!'
Episode 4 'The Delegate'
Karen of the featherdown agency sends Beauty to the 'End of Life' care conference on her behalf. Beauty struggles to understand the peculiar behaviour of the British at a conference and their obsessions with name tags and lanyards, as well as why she is the only carer in attendance. This must be why the keynote speaker, Professor Smythe takes a shine to her?
Beauty ..... Jocelyn Jee Esien
Jenny ..... Pippa Haywood
Rob ..... Tony Gardner
Mrs Grace ..... Phyllida Law
Sally ..... Felicity Montagu
Karen/Keely ..... Nicola Sanderson
The music for the series was performed by The West End Gospel Choir.
Written by Christopher Douglas and Nicola Sanderson
The producer is Tilusha Ghelani.

MONDAY 04 SEPTEMBER 2017

MON 00:00 Robert Holmes - Aliens in the Mind (b007jlv8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Sunday]
MON 00:30 The Man in Black (b00h31fd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:30 on Sunday]
MON 01:00 Winifred Holtby - South Riding Omnibus (b007jrn7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Sunday]
MON 02:15 Beatrice Colin - Camisole (b093m6rj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:15 on Sunday]
MON 02:30 Anthony Doerr - Afterworld Omnibus (b093p3cs)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Sunday]
MON 03:45 Open or Wrapped...? (b04jlrxl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 15:45 on Sunday]
MON 04:00 David Stafford - The Funny Side of Love (b093p3th)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:00 on Sunday]
MON 05:00 Poetry Extra (b093p52m)
[Repeat of broadcast at 17:00 on Sunday]
MON 05:30 Count Arthur Strong's Radio Show! (b00gd4sy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Sunday]
MON 06:00 A Case for Dr Morelle (b007qskh)
Poisoned AirThe cantankerous criminal psychologist tackles a mysterious case of deadly experiments and thwarted love.
Ernest Dudley's Harley Street psychiatrist-turned-detective uses psychology as well as criminology to hunt down lawbreakers by deducing their felonious personalities.
Following on from the success of the 1949 Hammer Film 'Dr Morelle: The Case of the Missing Heiress', the BBC radio series stars British film veteran, Cecil Parker as Dr Morelle and Sheila Sim as his long-suffering assistant, Miss Frayle.
With David Hurst as Kurt Emmanuel, Maureen Riscoe as Bella Goodwyn, Elsa Palmer as Mrs Atkins, John Horsley as Hugo Russell and Haydn Jones as Sgt Hammond.
Director: Leslie Bridgmont
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in July 1957.
MON 06:30 Open the Box (b0075rhq)
Sara Parker's nostalgic look at the impact of the humble red phone box and the lengths taken to keep them working. From January 2000.
MON 07:00 Says on the Tin (b00g4fv7)
ToothpasteComedy by Christopher William Hill.
Disgraced American ad man Eliott Thurber is forced to transfer to the new London branch of Parabola Media.
Eliott Thurber ...... Michael Brandon
Esther Finn ...... Samantha Bond
Hannah Walker ...... Pippa Haywood
Zadie ...... Joannah Tincey
Ted ...... Malcolm Tierney
Other parts played by Chris Pavlo, Stephen Critchlow, Janice Acquah, Inam Mirza, Donnla Hughes and Manjeet Mann.
MON 07:30 Just a Minute (b092ct0c)
Series 79, 28/08/2017Nicholas Parsons challenges Paul Merton, Paul Sinha, Janey Godley and Mark Watson in a special edition of the popular panel show - recorded at the Edinburgh Festival.
Hayley Sterling blows the whistle.
Produced by Victoria Lloyd.
A BBC Studios Production.
MON 08:00 To the Manor Born (b007lzww)
A Wife's PrerogativeAudrey makes the most of helping Devere - by pretending she's his wife.
Starring Penelope Keith as Audrey fforbes-Hamilton, Keith Barron as Richard DeVere, Angela Thorne as Marjory Frobisher, Nicholas McArdle as Brabinger, Margery Withers as Mrs Polouvicka and Rula Lenska as Mademoiselle Dutoit.
The tale of lady of the manor Audrey fforbes-Hamilton, forced to sell her beloved Grantleigh Estate when her husband's death leaves her financially strapped. With butler Brabinger in tow, they've decamped to the tiny Old Lodge cottage.
From this vantage point, Audrey keeps a close and disapproving eye on the estate's new owner, the nouveau-riche Richard DeVere, a wholesale foods magnate of Czech descent.
First piloted on radio and then whisked off to TV before it ever appeared, before finally arriving home in 1997.
Adapted from his TV scripts by Peter Spence.
Producer: Jane Berthoud
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in March 1997.
MON 08:30 Dad's Army (b007jpkw)
Series 3, A Man of ActionWhen a landmine sparks martial law, a reporter catches Captain Mainwaring in charge.
Starring Arthur Lowe as Captain Mainwaring, John Le Mesurier as Sergeant Wilson, Clive Dunn as Corporal Jones, John Laurie as Private Frazer, Ian Lavender as Private Pike, Arnold Ridley as Godfrey and Bill Pertwee as Hodges.
Adapted for radio from Jimmy Perry and David Croft's TV scripts by Harold Snoad and Michael Knowles.
Producer: John Dyas
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 1976.
MON 09:00 Hidden Treasures (b055q39m)
Harewood HouseThe antiques quiz visits Harewood House in Yorkshire. With Lars Tharp, Henry Sandon and Sally Kevill-Davies. From April 1998.
MON 09:30 Be Prepared (b0076tft)
Girl Guides and CavesCould Miles have found love with a local Girl Guide Leader? A weekend camp proves fateful for the troop.
Recently separated from his wife and with a teenage son, Miles Rummings continues with his dream of running a scout troop.
Stars Kim Wall as Miles, Emma Amos as Dawn, Barnaby Power as Steve, Louis Dunsford as Jason, Dave Lamb as Garth and Rachel Atkins as Jenny.
Producer: Sally Avens
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2005.
MON 10:00 Classic Serial (b01rv39j)
The Great Scott, The Fair Maid of PerthTHE FAIR MAID OF PERTH by Walter Scott.
A beautiful glover's daughter is romantically pursued by a warmongering blacksmith, a poetising prince, a hot-headed clansman and a bumbling bonnet-maker in lawless 14th century Scotland.
In Walter Scott's The Fair Maid of Perth, feeble King Robert III is failing to stop his beloved country being torn apart by warring clans and pillaging nobles - chaos reigns supreme. When our heroine, Catharine Glover, suffers heartbreak and tragedy at the hands of the vengeful Earl of March, a terrible dilemma presents itself.
Should she follow the dictates of her heart by marrying the man she loves - or should she obey her father's wish and shun a world of 'hard iron and barbaric cruelties' by betrothing herself to Christ?
Adapted for Radio by Scott Cherry
With David Tennant as Walter Scott
All other parts are played by members of the cast.
Ruth Wall sings and plays Gaelic Harp.
Music composed and performed by Ross Hughes and Esben Tjalve.
Produced and directed by Clive Brill
A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 11:00 Short Works: The World of Somerset Maugham (b093pfrf)
Series 2, A Marriage of ConvenienceCast amidst a hotch-potch of couples aboard a steamer out of Bangkok, we discover that marriages may result from the most unlikely associations and for the most prosaic reasons.
Interviewed in 1933, Maugham said "It has always seemed to me that literature can only find its fullest and freest expression in the essay or short story." He wrote more than 100 stories, at least 14 of which he burned on one of his "bonfire nights", after Winston Churchill warned that they contravened the Official Secrets Act. Of the stories that do survive, he said "some of them deal with circumstances and places to which the passage of time and the growth of civilisation will give a romantic glamour....."
Maugham's best stories with tales from home and abroad. Tales of intrigue from far flung colonial outposts and tales of passion from quintessentially British hearths.
Maugham writes perfect vignettes - snapshots of human life in all its diversity - captured at a moment of crisis or revelation.
Abridged by Polly Coles
Read by Daniel Weyman
Directed by Eoin O'Callaghan
Produced by Clive Brill.
A Brill Production for BBC Radio 4 Extra.
MON 11:15 Afternoon Drama (b00rm21n)
Arabian Afternoons, The Casper Logue AffairThe Casper Logue Affair
by Sebastian Baczkiewicz
An absurd black comedy thriller, set in Baghdad. The first of three Arabian Afternoons - contemporary plays inspired by tales from The Arabian Nights.
Junior diplomat Bob Goldacre is in trouble: the American businessman he was looking after has vanished from a Baghdad street. As the suspects pile up, Goldacre is going to have his work cut out if he wants to save his career and make sure that justice is done.
Directed by Abigail le Fleming.
MON 12:00 To the Manor Born (b007lzww)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
MON 12:30 Dad's Army (b007jpkw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
MON 13:00 A Case for Dr Morelle (b007qskh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
MON 13:30 Open the Box (b0075rhq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
MON 14:00 Helen Dunmore - The Siege (b00763x6)
Episode 1The story of one family caught up in the appalling struggle to survive the Siege of Leningrad by German forces during the Second World War in 1942.
Helen Dunmore's powerful historical novel read by Sara Kestelman.
Helen Dunmore (1952-2017) was the writer of 12 novels and 10 poetry collections winning several accolades for her work.
Abridged by Sally Marmion
Producer: Di Speirs
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2001.
MON 14:15 Could Do Better (b03m7dn7)
Terence StampRobert Booth summons Terence Stamp to his study for a quiet word about the actor's school reports. From November 1987.
MON 14:30 Winifred Holtby - South Riding (b007jnj0)
Episode 6Headmistress of Kiplington High School, Sarah Burton decides Lydia mustn't be allowed to lose a scholarship.
Winifred Holtby's (1898-1935) most famous novel "South Riding" was published posthumously in 1936. It's a rich and memorable evocation of the characters of Yorkshire's South Riding, their lives, loves and sorrows.
Starring Sarah Lancashire as Sarah Burton, Philip Glenister as Robert Carne and Carole Boyd as Mrs Beddows.
With Susan Cookson, Maggie Tagney, Donald McBride, Lucy Beaumont, Annmarie Hosell and Maya Foa.
Dramatised by Gill Adams.
Director: Melanie Harris
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1999.
MON 14:45 Book of the Week (b01n111s)
Edna O'Brien - Country Girl, Episode 1The great Irish writer, Edna O'Brien, whose controversial 1960 novel brought her both literary fame and notoriety back home, reads her astonishingly honest memoir of a literary life of high drama.
Born in 1930 into a strict Catholic family in rural County Clare, O'Brien rejected her background in search of literary life in Dublin, but found herself transported to London, unhappily married with two young children. The publication of The Country Girls brought her literary stardom in sixties London, but also notoriety back home, and a bitter end to her marriage. But along the way there were also encounters with Hollywood giants, pop stars and literary titans, as well as the inevitable regrets and sorrows.
In prose which sparkles with the effortless gifts of a master in her ninth decade, Edna O'Brien has recast her life with the imaginative insight of a poet, which gives her memoir, so beautifully and sometimes painfully remembered, a terrible poignancy.
In today's episode: childhood in the faded grandeur of the big house, and forbidden love.
Author: Since her debut novel The Country Girls, Edna O'Brien has written more than twenty works of fiction along with a biography of James Joyce and Lord Byron. She is the recipient of many awards including the Irish PEN Lifetime Achievement Award, the American National Art's Gold Medal and the Ulysses Medal. Born and raised in the west of Ireland she has lived in London for many years.
Abridger: Miranda Davies
Producer: Justine Willett.
MON 15:00 Classic Serial (b01rv39j)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
MON 16:00 Hidden Treasures (b055q39m)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
MON 16:30 Be Prepared (b0076tft)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
MON 17:00 Says on the Tin (b00g4fv7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
MON 17:30 Just a Minute (b092ct0c)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
MON 18:00 The Heart of Hark'un (b007jq83)
Episode 1The Great Wizard sends student sorcerer Arcos on a mission, little realising how perilous and menacing it will prove to be...
A fantasy-adventure by Peter Thomson and Jamie Thomson in six parts.
Starring Francis Thomson as Arcos, Trevor Peacock as Kaddah, Elizabeth Whiting as Vanna, Crawford Logan as Shazir, Edward Kelsey as Bereneth, Melanie Hudson as Va, Emma Fielding as Alviza, Robert Portal as Zander, John Church as Kishah and Theresa Streatfeild as Rashiq.
Producer: Peter Hutchings
First broadcast on BBC Radio 5 in 1991.
MON 18:30 A Good Read (b0076n1g)
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown & Simon BarnesSue MacGregor and her guests - the authors Yasmin Alibhai-Brown and Simon Barnes - in lively debate about books by Martin Amis, Justin Cartwright and Anthony Powell. From 2004.
London Fields, by Martin Amis
Publisher: Vintage
Leading the Cheers, by Justin Cartwright
Publisher: Sceptre
Casanova's Chinese Restaurant (Book 5 of A Dance to the Music of Time), by Anthony Powell
Publisher: Arrow.
MON 19:00 To the Manor Born (b007lzww)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
MON 19:30 Dad's Army (b007jpkw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
MON 20:00 A Case for Dr Morelle (b007qskh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
MON 20:30 Open the Box (b0075rhq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
MON 21:00 Short Works: The World of Somerset Maugham (b093pfrf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
MON 21:15 Afternoon Drama (b00rm21n)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 today]
MON 22:00 Just a Minute (b092ct0c)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
MON 22:30 Jason Cook's School of Hard Knocks (b03xgl4g)
Job Interviews and Office PoliticsSaddling up with his regular guests Zoe Harrison and Neil Grainger, to police the prairie of the public's problems, Jason Cook uses the lessons learnt from his bitter experiences to help sweeten the lives of listeners.
This time he holds forth on the best ways to pass a job interview and how to wend one's way through the perilous pastures of office politics.
Producer: Sam Michell.
MON 22:55 The Comedy Club Interviews (b093yvck)
Jarred Christmas 1/2The best in contemporary comedy. Tonight Jake Yapp chats to Jarred Christmas.
MON 23:00 The Museum of Curiosity (b092gkkl)
Series 11, Episode 6This week, the Professor of Ignorance John Lloyd and his curator, the brilliant Romesh Ranganathan welcome:
The Australian writer of Puberty Blues, newspaper columnist, Simpsons writer, charity ambassador and formerly obsessive teen fan of Spike Milligan, Kathy Lette.
Author and adventurer, podcaster and editor, member of Team UK in the European Miniature Golf Championships and the man who has read all the books you should have, Andy Miller.
and
Comedian, actor, author, presenter, film director, documentary maker, social media guru, atheist, activist, businessman, charity patron, voice-over artist, panel show host, sitcom writer, movie star and ambassador for Norwich City FC, Stephen Fry.
This week, the Museum's Guest Committee offer as exhibits the mysterious thing that drives women to be mothers, a receptacle for honey that contains nothing more than a broken balloon and ... a bunch of grapes.
The show was researched by Anne Miller of QI and Mike Turner.
The production coordinator was Tamara Shilham.
The producers were Richard Turner and James Harkin.
It was a BBC Studios production.
MON 23:30 Vent (b00v8qdv)
Series 2, ArrivalComatose Ben takes a final trip around the safe fantasy world of his subconscious. Stars Neil Pearson. From October 2007.

TUESDAY 05 SEPTEMBER 2017

TUE 00:00 The Heart of Hark'un (b007jq83)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Monday]
TUE 00:30 A Good Read (b0076n1g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:30 on Monday]
TUE 01:00 A Case for Dr Morelle (b007qskh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Monday]
TUE 01:30 Open the Box (b0075rhq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 on Monday]
TUE 02:00 Helen Dunmore - The Siege (b00763x6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:00 on Monday]
TUE 02:15 Could Do Better (b03m7dn7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:15 on Monday]
TUE 02:30 Winifred Holtby - South Riding (b007jnj0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Monday]
TUE 02:45 Book of the Week (b01n111s)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:45 on Monday]
TUE 03:00 Classic Serial (b01rv39j)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Monday]
TUE 04:00 Hidden Treasures (b055q39m)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 on Monday]
TUE 04:30 Be Prepared (b0076tft)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 on Monday]
TUE 05:00 Says on the Tin (b00g4fv7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 on Monday]
TUE 05:30 Just a Minute (b092ct0c)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Monday]
TUE 06:00 A Case for Dr Morelle (b007qs14)
Mr XA man loses his memory and a woman gets nuisance calls in another case for the cantankerous criminal psychologist.
Ernest Dudley's Harley Street psychiatrist-turned-detective uses psychology as well as criminology to hunt down lawbreakers by deducing their felonious personalities.
Following on from the success of the 1949 Hammer Film 'Dr Morelle: The Case of the Missing Heiress', the BBC radio series stars British film veteran, Cecil Parker as Dr Morelle and Sheila Sim as his long-suffering assistant, Miss Frayle.
With Lana Morris as Paula Maitland, Maureen Riscoe as the Nurse, David Spenser as Mr X, Simon Lack as Mr Maitland, Joan Sanderson as Matron and Fred Yule as Inspector Hood.
Director: Leslie Bridgmont
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in July 1957.
TUE 06:30 In the Lounge with Rich Morton (b01cwszp)
For many casual listeners, the music usually defined as 'lounge' may conjure up something kitsch and outdated, bringing to mind the world of Austin Powers or the sentimental, string-sodden arrangements of their parents' record collections. As comedian, composer and lounge aficionado Rich Morton discovers, there's a large and healthy subculture of lounge lovers who view it as anything but outdated. For the past twenty years, clubs devoted to lounge music have been thriving, and several successful series of lounge compilations have brought obscure and sought-after tracks by some of the greatest 20th century pop and jazz performers to the ears of a new generation.
As a composer and collector of lounge tunes, Rich goes in search of the alchemy that produces a lounge classic: whether it's the voice of a Rat Pack regular, the tight brassy arrangement of a Neil Hefti or a Quincy Jones, the timeless simplicity of a Burt Bacharach or Tony Hatch melody - or simply a mood, something indefinable, laid-back, evocative of a time and a place that's anywhere but here.
Rich meets fellow lounge collectors, club owners and composers - with the shared passion for a music that's often overlooked or derided but, as the programme reveals, constantly being reinvented. New technology means that classic tracks are being re-discovered and shared as never before, producing fascinating advances and musical hybrids within lounge culture.
Producer: Paul Bajoria.
TUE 07:00 Double Science (b012ymwf)
Moving HouseIncompetent teachers Kenneth and Colin are going to have to find new abodes quick smart.
The turmoil continues at a Sixth Form College specialising in drama, after the arrival of new head Alison, determined to revitalise the science department.
Written by and starring Ben Willbond and Justin Edwards.
With Rebecca Front, Raza Jaffrey and Margaret Cabourn-Smith.
Producer: Adam Bromley
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2008.
TUE 07:30 Shush! (b06d9p9x)
Series 1, Tome RaiderAlice and Snoo have to elicit the help of Alice's father to save Dr Cadogan from disgrace. Meanwhile Simon's feelings for Alice face an unexpected obstacle.
Meet Alice, a former child prodigy who won a place at Oxford aged 9 but, because Daddy went too, she never needed to have any friends. She's scared of everything - everything that is, except libraries and Snoo, a slightly confused individual, with a have-a-go attitude to life, marriage, haircuts and reality. Snoo loves books, and fully intends to read one one day.
And forever popping into the library is Dr. Cadogan, celebrity doctor to the stars and a man with his finger in every pie. Charming, indiscreet and quite possibly wanted by Interpol, if you want a discrete nip and tuck and then photos of it accidentally left on the photocopier, Dr Cadogan is your man.
Their happy life is interrupted by the arrival of Simon Nielson, a man with a mission, a mission to close down inefficient libraries. Fortunately, he hates his mission. What he really wants to do is once, just once, get even with his inexhaustible supply of high-achieving brothers.
Written by Morwenna Banks and Rebecca Front
Based on an idea developed with Armando Iannucci
Produced by David Tyler
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 08:00 Listen to Les (b007jx9g)
From 04/01/1981Les Dawson unveils how the mother-in-law joke was invented, and the real story of Humpty Dumpty is revealed!
With Daphne Oxenford and Colin Edwynn.
Music by Brian Fitzgerald.
Scripted and produced by James Casey.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in January 1981.
TUE 08:30 The Men From the Ministry (b01109vz)
Thoroughly Modern MinistryLife's a drag for Lamb when a new receptionist isn't all she seems...
A weekly tribute to all those who work in government departments.
Stars Richard Murdoch and Deryck Guyler. With Norma Ronald, Ronald Baddiley and John Graham.
Written by Edward Taylor and John Graham.
'The Men from the Ministry' ran for 14 series between 1962 and 1977. Deryck Guyler replaced Wilfrid Hyde-White from 1966. Sadly many episodes didn't survive in the archive, however the BBC's Transcription Service re-recorded 14 shows in 1980 - never broadcast in the UK, until the arrival of BBC Radio 4 Extra.
Producer: Edward Taylor
First broadcast on the BBC Radio 4 in August 1971.
TUE 09:00 The Museum of Curiosity (b092gkkl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:00 on Monday]
TUE 09:30 Getting Nowhere Fast (b00mqgrr)
Series 3, Episode 2When burglars visit the CyberPass bistro, Merv decides to stay up and take action. Stars Mervyn Stutter. From May 2004.
TUE 10:00 Classic Serial (b01s0329)
The Great Scott, Rob RoyRob Roy by Walter Scott
Adapted by Robin Brooks
Our Rob Roy has dispensed with the Jacobite setting and updates the story to the 20th century. It is 1924 and 20-year-old Frank falls foul of his father. He has spent a year in Paris, supposedly learning the business, but actually hanging out with Imagist poets. When he refuses to join the business his father sends him north to stay with his Uncle - a radical and mixed up in the cause of Irish Nationalism.
Scott's book doesn't really depend on the historical trappings on which the author's reputation now rests. A son being banished by his father because he wants to be a long-haired poet is a perennial situation, as is the love-triangle between Frank, Die Vernon and her wicked cousin Rashleigh. With this production the listener is asked to regard Scott as a novelist like any other, concerned with the workings of the human heart and how they play out in a society more like ours.
With David Tennant as Walter Scott
All other parts were played by members of the cast
The music was composed and performed by Ross Hughes and Esben Tjalve
Producer: Clive Brill
A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 11:00 Short Works: The World of Somerset Maugham (b093pmt7)
Series 2, A String of BeadsWhen a string of beads thought to be worthless turns out to be A grade pearls, the life of a young governess is turned upside down and her mistress's nose put out of joint.
Interviewed in 1933, Maugham said "It has always seemed to me that literature can only find its fullest and freest expression in the essay or short story." He wrote more than 100 stories, at least 14 of which he burned on one of his "bonfire nights", after Winston Churchill warned that they contravened the Official Secrets Act. Of the stories that do survive, he said "some of them deal with circumstances and places to which the passage of time and the growth of civilisation will give a romantic glamour....."
Maugham's best stories with tales from home and abroad. Tales of intrigue from far flung colonial outposts and tales of passion from quintessentially British hearths.
Maugham writes perfect vignettes - snapshots of human life in all its diversity - captured at a moment of crisis or revelation.
Abridged by Polly Coles
Read by Lucy Robinson
Directed by Eoin O'Callaghan
Produced by Clive Brill.
A Brill Production for BBC Radio 4 Extra.
TUE 11:15 Afternoon Drama (b00rmrpw)
Arabian Afternoons, The Porter and the Three LadiesThe Porter and the Three Ladies
by Rachel Joyce
A wild, dark modern fairytale, set in Damascus. The second in a series of contemporary plays inspired by stories from the Arabian Nights.
It is time for Shahrazad to tell another tale to save her life. In this story within a story, we find out that if Joe doesn't find the exclusive to satisfy his ruthless editor, he will lose his job. He finds three beautiful women in Damascus but what is the truth behind their secret life?
Directed by Tracey Neale.
TUE 12:00 Listen to Les (b007jx9g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
TUE 12:30 The Men From the Ministry (b01109vz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
TUE 13:00 A Case for Dr Morelle (b007qs14)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
TUE 13:30 In the Lounge with Rich Morton (b01cwszp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
TUE 14:00 Helen Dunmore - The Siege (b00763xm)
Episode 21941, outside Leningrad. In spite of food shortages, Anna and her family enjoy summer in the country. Read by Sara Kestelman.
TUE 14:15 Charisma: Pinning Down the Butterfly (b066vbl1)
Gifts to the CorinthiansFrancine Stock attempts to pin down the alluring yet elusive quality of charisma
1.Gifts to the Corinthians
From St Paul's coining of the word to the commodification of charisma in the 21st century - an overview of this equivocal gift.
St Paul coined the word "charisma" in his letters to the Corinthians, defining it as a divine gift, such as prophecy or speaking in tongues. Francine starts her exploration by learning about the volatile world in which St Paul was writing, and the many strange mystery religions and hero cults which abounded at the time. She brings the religious meaning of the word right up to date by exploring why these more flamboyant gifts do not suit all worshippers in today's Church of England.
Far from a celebration of celebrity, Pinning Down the Butterfly is a very contemporary study. From the start, Francine explores the idea that charisma is an amoral quality, deeply implicated in the 2008 banking crisis, Britain's ambivalent relationship with politics and royalty, and the seductive draw of Osama Bin Laden and the new "digital caliphate" of the so-called Islamic State.
Contributors include John Adair (Professor of Leadership at the UN), Moeletsi Mbeki, Derren Brown, Professor Lucy Riall, Kenneth Branagh, Peter Day, Elesa Zehndorfer, Professor Michael Kenny, Professor Patricia Fara, Helen Castor and Abdel Bari Atwan.
Readings by Simon Russell Beale
Producer: Beaty Rubens.
TUE 14:30 Winifred Holtby - South Riding (b007jnjk)
Episode 7When measles confines Midge to school, her father makes a confession. Stars Sarah Lancashire and Philip Glenister.
TUE 14:45 Book of the Week (b01n0vmw)
Edna O'Brien - Country Girl, Episode 2The great Irish writer, Edna O'Brien, whose controversial 1960 novel brought her both literary fame and notoriety, reads her astonishingly honest memoir of a literary life of high drama.
Born in 1930 into a strict Catholic family in rural County Clare, O'Brien rejected her background in search of literary life in Dublin, but found herself transported to London, unhappily married with two young children. The publication of The Country Girls brought her literary stardom in sixties London, but also notoriety back home, and a bitter end to her marriage. But along the way there were also encounters with Hollywood giants, pop stars and literary titans, as well as the inevitable regrets.
In today's episode: in Dublin Edna finds literary life, lotharios - and love.
Author: Since her debut novel The Country Girls, Edna O'Brien has written more than twenty works of fiction along with a biography of James Joyce and Lord Byron.
Abridger: Miranda Davies
Producer: Justine Willett.
TUE 15:00 Classic Serial (b01s0329)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
TUE 16:00 The 99p Challenge (b007js7q)
Series 3, Episode 3Crazy panel show capers as Sue Perkins grills Simon Pegg, Armando Iannucci, Ben Moor and Nick Frost. From August 2001.
TUE 16:30 Getting Nowhere Fast (b00mqgrr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
TUE 17:00 Double Science (b012ymwf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
TUE 17:30 Shush! (b06d9p9x)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
TUE 18:00 The Heart of Hark'un (b007v25z)
Episode 2Novice sorcerer Arcos is appalled by Kaddah's behaviour. Alviza is attacked mentally. Stars Trevor Peacock and Francis Thomson.
TUE 18:30 That Reminds Me (b007jn3t)
Series 1, Ned SherrinFrom Noel Coward to the Oliviers, the late broadcaster and writer recalls his career highs and lows. From April 1999.
TUE 19:00 Listen to Les (b007jx9g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
TUE 19:30 The Men From the Ministry (b01109vz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
TUE 20:00 A Case for Dr Morelle (b007qs14)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
TUE 20:30 In the Lounge with Rich Morton (b01cwszp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
TUE 21:00 Short Works: The World of Somerset Maugham (b093pmt7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
TUE 21:15 Afternoon Drama (b00rmrpw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 today]
TUE 22:00 Shush! (b06d9p9x)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
TUE 22:30 Son of Cliché (b00p84qh)
Austin DernoidSpoofing David Coleman and radio continuity. Sketch comedy with Chris Barrie, Nick Maloney and Nick Wilton. From November 1984.
TUE 23:00 Rudy's Rare Records (b01nq1c8)
Series 4, Miss Reenie Comes to StayAdam's surprise birthday present for his Dad backfires.
Adam has a surprise for his Dad's birthday - his sister Reenie! It backfires when Miss Reenie turns out to be the house guest from hell and plans to stay for 6 months.
Father and son comedy set in the finest old-school record shop in Birmingham. Starring Lenny Henry, Larrington Walker and some terrific tunes.
Rudy's Rare Records is a tiny down at heel old reggae record shop in Birmingham - one of a dying breed; a place with real soul, stacked with piles of vinyl, where the slogan is "if we don't have it - them don't mek it". It's owned by the charismatic, irrepressible Rudy Sharpe (Larrington Walker), reluctantly helped out by his long-suffering neurotic son Adam (Lenny Henry) and Handsworth's first, black, surly girly goth, Tasha (Natasha Godfrey). Rudy has recently married his long-term love interest Doreen (Claire Benedict) which is leaving his best friend Clifton (Jeffery Kissoon) feeling left out - that is until Rudy's sister Miss Reenie comes to stay.
Adam ..........Lenny Henry
Rudy.......... Larrington Walker
Tasha...........Natasha Godfrey
Doreen..........Claire Benedict
Clifton...........Jeffery Kissoon
Miss Reenie.......Angela Wynter
RSPCA Man ........ ..Joe Sims
Written by Paula Hines
Script Editor: Danny Robins
Producer: Katie Tyrrell
SWEET JAMAICA * LORD KITCHENER
DANGER IN YOUR EYES * ASWAD
LORD A MASSIE MASSIE * DANNY D AND THE SHADOWS
NOT ME * ROBERT MITCHUM
GIRL I'VE GOT A DATE * ALTON ELLIS
I'M IN LOVE AGAIN * FATS DOMINO
TOP FORM/OLD MACDONALD * YELLOWMAN
SISTER LOVE * GREGORY ISAACS
BLACK WOMAN * SISTER CAROL
DANGEROUS * KARDINAL OFFISHALL & AKON.
TUE 23:30 The Shuttleworths (b007k1n2)
Series 1, Cotton BuddiesSheffield singer John Shuttleworth plans a chart-topping hit and attempts some DIY. Stars Graham Fellows. From October 1993.
TUE 23:45 Hamish and Dougal: You'll Have Had Your Tea (b0076zsc)
Series 3, Gambling FeverHamish becomes addicted to gambling after winning a free Sporran Cosy in the Glen MacLottery. Stars Barry Cryer and Graeme Garden. From August 2006.

WEDNESDAY 06 SEPTEMBER 2017

WED 00:00 The Heart of Hark'un (b007v25z)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Tuesday]
WED 00:30 That Reminds Me (b007jn3t)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:30 on Tuesday]
WED 01:00 A Case for Dr Morelle (b007qs14)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Tuesday]
WED 01:30 In the Lounge with Rich Morton (b01cwszp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 on Tuesday]
WED 02:00 Helen Dunmore - The Siege (b00763xm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:00 on Tuesday]
WED 02:15 Charisma: Pinning Down the Butterfly (b066vbl1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:15 on Tuesday]
WED 02:30 Winifred Holtby - South Riding (b007jnjk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Tuesday]
WED 02:45 Book of the Week (b01n0vmw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:45 on Tuesday]
WED 03:00 Classic Serial (b01s0329)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Tuesday]
WED 04:00 The 99p Challenge (b007js7q)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:00 on Tuesday]
WED 04:30 Getting Nowhere Fast (b00mqgrr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 on Tuesday]
WED 05:00 Double Science (b012ymwf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 on Tuesday]
WED 05:30 Shush! (b06d9p9x)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Tuesday]
WED 06:00 James Runcie - Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death (b01p7dkg)
Call Me PamelaWhen the dangerously beautiful Pamela Morton asks clergyman-detective, Canon Sidney Chambers to probe the suspicious suicide of the man with whom she's been having an adulterous affair - sceptical Sidney is unable to resist the challenge.
Though his friend Inspector Keating insists the suicide is a cut and dried case, Sidney makes a discovery leading him to believe all is not what it seems, and that Pamela's assertion may in fact be true after all...
Taken from James Runcie's clerical detective series, The Grantchester Mysteries - set in the 1950s Cambridgeshire village of Grantchester.
Read by Alex Jennings.
Producer: Eoin O'Callaghan
Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra by Big Fish Productions.
WED 06:30 The Goulash Archipelago (b00fj2ly)
Episode 1British jazz bass player Arnie Somogyi and his friend the Hungarian guitarist Zsolt Bende travel through the Carpathian mountains, only eating what they receive in exchange for playing their music. With Arnie's double bass squeezed into their tiny hire car, they go in search of Hungarian specialities, including the country's staple dish, goulash.
WED 07:00 Don Haworth - Odd Balls (b0076043)
Bill Bosun: Speedily to SchoolPassengers love country school bus driver Bill Bosun, despite his speed making journeys both a hazard and an adventure.
But his weakness is an unwillingness to see anyone in a jam. Against instruction, he waits for late pupils and gives lifts to all kinds of folk and their dogs, ducks and hens.
The children adore him, but the school governors and local councillors have a different view.
Bill's future is in their hands...
Four-part comedy series by Don Howarth.
Stars Shaun Curry as Bill, Peter Meakin as the Narrator, Russell Dixon as the Headmaster, Jillie Meers as Mrs Cupboard, Gillian Goodman as Mrs Gasper, Graham Colclough as Mr Pilchard, David Thorpe as Micky, Barry Farrimond as Freddie, Holly Grainger as Jenny and Will Haigh as Charlie.
Director: Julie Beckett
Producer: Sue Wilson
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2001.
WED 07:30 Ankle Tag (b092fwx8)
Series 1, Episode 2Bob decides it's time to get back on the horse, dating wise, and strikes up a friendship with a woman he meets in a local museum. Meanwhile Gruff is delighted when his editor commissions an article about smoothies, and Alice joins the local neighbourhood watch.
Written by Gareth Gwynn and Benjamin Partridge.
Produced by Victoria Lloyd.
A BBC Studios Production.
WED 08:00 The Navy Lark (b007k088)
Series 1, The Whittlesea Bay Yacht RegattaWhen HMS Troutbridge escorts the Admiral to a regatta, Pertwee sees a chance to cash in.
Starring Leslie Phillips as the Sub-Lieutenant, Jon Pertwee as the Chief Petty Officer, Dennis Price as Number One, Richard Caldicot as Commander Povey, Heather Chasen as Heather, Ronnie Barker as AS Johnson, Michael Bates as Ginger and Tenniel Evans as the Admiral.
The Navy Lark ran for an impressive thirteen series on BBC Radio between 1959 and 1976.
Scripted by Lawrie Wyman.
Producer: Alastair Scott Johnston.
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in June 1959.
WED 08:30 Hancock's Half Hour (b007jpd5)
Series 6, The Last Bus HomeIt's a long walk home in the rain when the lad, Sid and Bill get stranded.
Starring Tony Hancock. With Sidney James, Bill Kerr, Warren Mitchell and Hugo Morton.
Written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson.
Theme and incidental music written by Wally Stott.
Producer: Tom Ronald
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in October 1959.
WED 09:00 Genius (b0080rmy)
Series 3, Episode 2Lego prisons? A tea tray as a system of measurement? Germaine Greer helps Dave Gorman solicit new thinking. From October 2007.
WED 09:30 Up the Garden Path (b007jqkw)
Series 3, A Dick in Shining ArmourWill pregnant Izzy be able to finally settle down with the man of her dreams? Stars Imelda Staunton. From October 1993.
WED 10:00 Classic Serial (b01s39z8)
The Great Scott, WaverleyWaverley by Walter Scott
Adapted by Mike Harris
A gripping tale of love, war and divided loyalties with Scotland in open rebellion against the Union with England.
It's 1745 and 21year old Edward Waverley, a newly commissioned red-coat officer, is posted to Scotland on the eve of Bonnie Prince Charlie's violent bid for power. His father is a rising minister in the ruling Hanoverian state, but the beloved Uncle who brought him up is an old Jacobite, loyal to the exiled Stewart dynasty.
Waverley falls in love with two very different Scottish girls - the cautious, loyalist, lowlander Rose Bradwardine, and the fiery highland rebel Flora. He goes AWOL for Flora just as her brother Fergus is rallying their clan to fight for Charlie.
When Waverley is accused by his Commanding Officer of a treasonable flirtation with the enemy, he joins the uprising in a fit of pique and helps defeat an English army at the battle of Prestonpans.
When he finds out that he has caused the arrest of Uncle, he returns to London to try to clear his name.
With David Tennant as Walter Scott.
All other parts are played by members of the cast.
The music is composed and performed by Ross Hughes and Esben Tjalve.
Producer: Clive Brill
A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 11:00 Short Works: The World of Somerset Maugham (b093q09p)
Series 2, RedRevisiting an island lagoon from his youth, a sea captain named Red discovers that despite the years, the memory of him still lingers in the minds of those he had long forgotten.
Interviewed in 1933, Maugham said "It has always seemed to me that literature can only find its fullest and freest expression in the essay or short story." He wrote more than 100 stories, at least 14 of which he burned on one of his "bonfire nights", after Winston Churchill warned that they contravened the Official Secrets Act. Of the stories that do survive, he said "some of them deal with circumstances and places to which the passage of time and the growth of civilisation will give a romantic glamour....."
Maugham's best stories with tales from home and abroad. Tales of intrigue from far flung colonial outposts and tales of passion from quintessentially British hearths.
Maugham writes perfect vignettes - snapshots of human life in all its diversity - captured at a moment of crisis or revelation.
Abridged by Polly Coles
Read by Daniel Weyman
Directed by Eoin O'Callaghan
Produced by Clive Brill.
A Brill Production for BBC Radio 4 Extra.
WED 11:15 Afternoon Drama (b00rmxb8)
Arabian Afternoons, A Dish of PomegranatesA Dish of Pomegranates
by Peter Jukes
The third in a series of plays inspired by stories from the Arabian Nights.
Shared roots and scattered families in the melting pot of modern Jerusalem. Tired after a stressful trip, Ajib is stopped by security officers as he tries to fly out of Ben Gurion airport on his way home to the U.S. They don't think his story adds up. Can he make them believe him? And does he actually know the whole story himself?
Directed by Mary Peate.
WED 12:00 The Navy Lark (b007k088)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
WED 12:30 Hancock's Half Hour (b007jpd5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
WED 13:00 James Runcie - Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death (b01p7dkg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
WED 13:30 The Goulash Archipelago (b00fj2ly)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
WED 14:00 Helen Dunmore - The Siege (b00763y2)
Episode 3Leningrad 1942, and as refugees flood the city, Anna receives an unwelcome guest. Read by Sara Kestelman.
WED 14:15 Charisma: Pinning Down the Butterfly (b066vyyf)
The Power of PresenceFrancine Stock attempts to pin down the alluring yet elusive quality of charisma.
2.The Power of Presence.
Divine grace as experienced by medieval mystics Margery Kempe and Joan of Arc.
After the early apostolic era, the Church hierarchy preferred to channel divine communication through its own bishops, but Medieval Europe features a surprising number of women mystics who - risking charges of heresy - claimed that they experienced direct interaction with God.
Francine Stock learns about the extraordinary story of the Norfolk housewise Margery Kempe, who wept her way across Europe to Jerusalem. She compares her story with that of the more public-spirited Joan of Arc, whose divine calling led to her military defence of France. The charismatic presence of both is evoked by historians Anthony Beale - who calls Margery Kempe a "contemporary Kardashian" - and Helen Castor, author of a new biography of Joan of Arc.
Meanwhile, the quality of presence in charismatic individuals is anatomised by film and stage actor, Kenneth Branagh.
With readings by Simon Russell Beale.
Producer: Beaty Rubens.
WED 14:30 Winifred Holtby - South Riding (b007jnk2)
Episode 8As the school gossips about Midge, headmistress Sarah feels for Lydia. Stars Sarah Lancashire and Philip Glenister.
WED 14:45 Book of the Week (b01n1qxr)
Edna O'Brien - Country Girl, Episode 3The great Irish writer, Edna O'Brien, whose controversial 1960 novel brought her both literary fame and notoriety back home, reads her astonishingly honest memoir of a literary life of high drama.
Born in 1930 into a strict Catholic family in rural County Clare, O'Brien rejected her background in search of literary life in Dublin, but found herself transported to London, unhappily married with two young children. The publication of The Country Girls brought her literary stardom in sixties London, but also notoriety back home, and a bitter end to her marriage. But along the way there were also encounters with Hollywood giants, pop stars and literary titans, as well as the inevitable regrets and sorrows.
In today's episode: Edna, the 'child bride', starts work on The Country Girls.
Author: Since her debut novel The Country Girls, Edna O'Brien has written more than twenty works of fiction along with a biography of James Joyce and Lord Byron.
Abridger: Miranda Davies
Producer: Justine Willett.
WED 15:00 Classic Serial (b01s39z8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
WED 16:00 Genius (b0080rmy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
WED 16:30 Up the Garden Path (b007jqkw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
WED 17:00 Don Haworth - Odd Balls (b0076043)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
WED 17:30 Ankle Tag (b092fwx8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
WED 18:00 The Heart of Hark'un (b007jq8x)
Episode 3Shaznir calls on the power of the Deadlands, while Arcos meets a strange Brotherhood. Stars Trevor Peacock and Emma Fielding.
WED 18:30 Off the Page (b01jwk7r)
Bone IdleAs politicians seem to endlessly bang on about their passion for protecting 'hard working' families, Dominic Arkwright discusses the merits of idleness with Hardeep Singh Kohli, Stephanie Calman and Oliver Burkeman.
Every week there seems to be a new report about how lazy we're becoming. Recent headlines have included "Lazy Brits Spend 36 Years sitting on their bottoms," and "Teenagers are too lazy to babysit." As Dominic wonders who has the time to know all of this, Hardeep Singh Kohli tells us how he's not had a week off in over ten years, Stephanie Calman extols the joys of being a slattern and Oliver Burkeman tells us why it's really important for us to step back and just stop.
Producer: Sarah Langan.
WED 19:00 The Navy Lark (b007k088)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
WED 19:30 Hancock's Half Hour (b007jpd5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
WED 20:00 James Runcie - Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death (b01p7dkg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
WED 20:30 The Goulash Archipelago (b00fj2ly)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
WED 21:00 Short Works: The World of Somerset Maugham (b093q09p)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
WED 21:15 Afternoon Drama (b00rmxb8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 today]
WED 22:00 Ankle Tag (b092fwx8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
WED 22:30 The Secret World (b011kqsj)
Series 1, Episode 3From Jools Holland to Ross Kemp, Jon Culshaw explores the bizarre private lives of famous folk. From April 2009.
WED 23:00 Lee Mack and Friends at the Fringe (b007klvl)
Episode 2The cheeky chappy is joined by Andy Parsons, Lucy Porter, Tim Minchin, Alan Cochran and Jim Owen. From August 2005, recorded at the Edinburgh Fringe.
WED 23:30 The Nick Revell Show (b00cq58b)
Series 2, Health and FitnessWhen his geraniums laugh at his puny physique, the writer overdoes his new fitness regime. With Doon MacKichan. From June 1993.

THURSDAY 07 SEPTEMBER 2017

THU 00:00 The Heart of Hark'un (b007jq8x)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Wednesday]
THU 00:30 Off the Page (b01jwk7r)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:30 on Wednesday]
THU 01:00 James Runcie - Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death (b01p7dkg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Wednesday]
THU 01:30 The Goulash Archipelago (b00fj2ly)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 on Wednesday]
THU 02:00 Helen Dunmore - The Siege (b00763y2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:00 on Wednesday]
THU 02:15 Charisma: Pinning Down the Butterfly (b066vyyf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:15 on Wednesday]
THU 02:30 Winifred Holtby - South Riding (b007jnk2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Wednesday]
THU 02:45 Book of the Week (b01n1qxr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:45 on Wednesday]
THU 03:00 Classic Serial (b01s39z8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Wednesday]
THU 04:00 Genius (b0080rmy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 on Wednesday]
THU 04:30 Up the Garden Path (b007jqkw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 on Wednesday]
THU 05:00 Don Haworth - Odd Balls (b0076043)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 on Wednesday]
THU 05:30 Ankle Tag (b092fwx8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Wednesday]
THU 06:00 James Runcie - Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death (b01p7hql)
A Solicitor's DiaryOn closer examination of the deceased, Stephen Staunton's personal diary provides a vital clue.
Clergyman-detective, Canon Sidney Chambers continues his investigation into the suspicious suicide of the man with whom the dangerously beautiful Pamela Morton was having an adulterous affair.
Taken from James Runcie's clerical detective series, The Grantchester Mysteries - set in the 1950s Cambridgeshire village of Grantchester.
Read by Alex Jennings.
Producer: Eoin O'Callaghan
Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra by Big Fish Productions.
THU 06:30 The Goulash Archipelago (b00fm6m6)
Episode 2British jazz bass player Arnie Somogyi and his friend the Hungarian guitarist Zsolt Bende travel through the Carpathian mountains, only eating what they are given in exchange for playing their music.
The odd couple head for their final destination, the unpromisingly named village of Kommando.
THU 07:00 Double Income, No Kids Yet (b00dpnvz)
Series 1, Episode 2When a top author gets writer's block, Lucy and Daniel get landed with an unwelcome guest. Stars David Tennant. From June 2001.
THU 07:30 Chain Reaction (b05mtcjp)
Series 10, Sharon Horgan talks to Dennis KellyChain Reaction is Radio 4's long running hostless chat show where last week's interviewee becomes this week's interviewer.
In the 6th episode of the series actress Sharon Horgan talks to BAFTA nominated & Tony Award winning writer Dennis Kelly- creator of shows as varied as "Pulling," "Utopia," and "Matilda the Musical."
Producer: Arnab Chanda.
THU 08:00 Stop Messing About! (b00rs7fk)
Series 2, Episode 7A bona ballet tune, and the criminals' five top pop songs.
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 Myles Rudge, David Cumming and Derek Collyer.
With the Max Harris Group.
Producer: John Simmonds
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in May 1970.
THU 08:30 The Goon Show (b007k43y)
The Affair of the Lone BananaNeddie tracks young Fred Nurke, who has vanished from his banana-growing family's home. Stars Spike Milligan. From October 1954.
THU 09:00 Whispers (b007k2zk)
Series 2, Episode 3Gyles Brandreth's scandals quiz, with Anthony Holden, Simon Fanshawe, Lucy Moore and Charles Collingwood. From September 2004.
THU 09:30 Semi Circles (b007jxlw)
Series 1, A Matter of Life and DeathFollowing a school reunion, Ben is cajoled to sign up for life insurance. Subterfuge is called for. Stars David Wood. From March 1982.
THU 10:00 The Pallisers (b007jwfw)
Episode 1Love affairs, financial wrangles and murder - Anthony Trollope's political intrigues of a Victorian aristocratic family begin with Lady Glencora's search for romance and happiness.
Starring David Troughton as the Narrator, Ben Miles as Plantagenet Palliser, Sophie Thompson as Lady Glencora, Anastasia Hille as Alice Vavasor, Adrian Lukis as George Vavasor, Frances Jeater as Lady Monk, Mark Bazeley as John Grey, Bertie Carvel as Burgo Fitzgerald and Chris Moran as Scruby.
Dramatised from the novels in 12 parts by Martyn Wade.
Music by Elizabeth Parker.
Director: Cherry Cookson
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2004.
THU 11:00 Short Works: The World of Somerset Maugham (b093q25x)
Series 2, Rain, pt 1Forcibly quarantined on a rain-swept Island with unyielding Christian missionaries was always bound to lead to friction, but no-one could have guessed how bad it could get.
Interviewed in 1933, Maugham said "It has always seemed to me that literature can only find its fullest and freest expression in the essay or short story." He wrote more than 100 stories, at least 14 of which he burned on one of his "bonfire nights", after Winston Churchill warned that they contravened the Official Secrets Act. Of the stories that do survive, he said "some of them deal with circumstances and places to which the passage of time and the growth of civilisation will give a romantic glamour....."
Maugham's best stories with tales from home and abroad. Tales of intrigue from far flung colonial outposts and tales of passion from quintessentially British hearths.
Maugham writes perfect vignettes - snapshots of human life in all its diversity - captured at a moment of crisis or revelation.
Abridged by Eileen Horne
Read by Lucy Robinson
Directed by Eoin O'Callaghan
Produced by Clive Brill.
A Brill Production for BBC Radio 4 Extra.
THU 11:15 Mike Walker - Buried By Glass (b00760sx)
Jay, Mark and Sara meet for lunch at Jay's house in the country. Despite their intimacy, the three friends all have secrets as deep as their bond.
Somewhere beneath their spoken words the truth is lurking.
Mike Walker's drama stars Alun Armstrong as Jay, Robert Portal as Mark and Indira Varma as Sara.
Producer: Jeremy Mortimer
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2001.
THU 12:00 Stop Messing About! (b00rs7fk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
THU 12:30 The Goon Show (b007k43y)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
THU 13:00 James Runcie - Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death (b01p7hql)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
THU 13:30 The Goulash Archipelago (b00fm6m6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
THU 14:00 Helen Dunmore - The Siege (b00763yn)
Episode 4Late summer of 1942 in Leningrad, the German encirclement is tightening and Anna's father is wounded. Read by Sara Kestelman.
THU 14:15 Charisma: Pinning Down the Butterfly (b066wcy2)
The Queen's TouchFrancine Stock attempts to pin down the alluring yet elusive quality of charisma.
3.The Queen's Touch
In the reign of the first Queen Elizabeth, a belief prevailed in the "royal touch" - the ability of the queen to heal subjects of scrofula by the laying on of hands. This power was seen as a charismatic gift, bestowed by God at her coronation. But this is not entirely a thing of the distant past. Francine Stock is surprised to learn that even at the coronation of our own Queen Elizabeth in 1953, the moment of anointing - when divine power is believed to be bestowed upon royalty - was not shown on camera.
Francine explores this idea of what the German sociologist Max Weber called "charisma of office" with historian Anna Whitelock and John Adair, Professor of Leadership at the UN. She also hears from teenage sea cadet, Sophie, who is proud to have attended on the Queen - and even folded the royal blanket!
Francine explores with Anna Whitelock how a version of the royal touch seems to persist even today, and wonders whether it will continue among the new-look, younger royals of the 21st century.
Reader: Simon Russell Beale
Producer: Beaty Rubens.
THU 14:30 Winifred Holtby - South Riding (b008747v)
Episode 9Headmistress Sarah Burton befriends the father of one of her pupils. Stars Sarah Lancashire and Philip Glenister.
THU 14:45 Book of the Week (b01n1rbq)
Edna O'Brien - Country Girl, Episode 4The great Irish writer, Edna O'Brien, whose controversial 1960 novel brought her both literary fame and notoriety back home, reads her astonishingly honest memoir of a literary life of high drama.
Born in 1930 into a strict Catholic family in rural County Clare, O'Brien rejected her background in search of literary life in Dublin, but found herself transported to London, unhappily married with two young children. The publication of The Country Girls brought her literary stardom in sixties London, but also notoriety back home, and a bitter end to her marriage. But along the way there were also encounters with Hollywood giants, pop stars and literary titans, as well as the inevitable regrets and sorrows.
In today's episode: Edna enjoys literary success in Sixties London.
Author: Since her debut novel The Country Girls, Edna O'Brien has written more than twenty works of fiction along with a biography of James Joyce and Lord Byron.
Abridger: Miranda Davies
Producer: Justine Willett.
THU 15:00 The Pallisers (b007jwfw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
THU 16:00 Whispers (b007k2zk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
THU 16:30 Semi Circles (b007jxlw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
THU 17:00 Double Income, No Kids Yet (b00dpnvz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
THU 17:30 Chain Reaction (b05mtcjp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
THU 18:00 The Heart of Hark'un (b007jq8l)
Episode 4One word is the key to the Grimoire. But is Arcos able to harness its magical power? Stars Trevor Peacock and Francis Thomson.
THU 18:30 Great Lives (b00p8dkb)
Series 20, Tennessee WilliamsMatthew Parris presents the biographical series in which his guests choose someone who has inspired their lives.
American stand-up comedian Rich Hall discusses the life of playwright Tennessee Williams, whose work he first remembers seeing at a Kentucky drive-in cinema, rather than the theatre. With their vivid portrayal of the American south, poetic language and dark themes, works such as Cat on A Hot Tin Roof and A Streetcar Named Desire were snapped up by Hollywood as well as changing the direction of American theatre.
Rich Hall is joined by Williams' friend and biographer Dotson Rader to talk about the man himself: the early unhappiness that shaped his creative life, the prejudice he encountered due to his homosexuality, and his later unpopularity and decline into drink and prescription drugs. They discover a writer with a strong sense of humour, a devotion to his family and a desire to experiment with writing throughout his career. Was Williams' life a wasted one?
THU 19:00 Stop Messing About! (b00rs7fk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
THU 19:30 The Goon Show (b007k43y)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
THU 20:00 James Runcie - Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death (b01p7hql)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
THU 20:30 The Goulash Archipelago (b00fm6m6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
THU 21:00 Short Works: The World of Somerset Maugham (b093q25x)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
THU 21:15 Mike Walker - Buried By Glass (b00760sx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 today]
THU 22:00 Chain Reaction (b05mtcjp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
THU 22:30 Party (b011znh7)
Series 2, Is the Party Over?The aspiring politicians of the new political party move on to tackle drugs and housing and come up with a convenient catch-all solution. But is there any point if Jared's all set to move to the Isle of Wight? Last in this second series of a satirical comedy written by Tom Basden.
Simon ..... Tom Basden
Duncan ..... Tim Key
Jared ..... Jonny Sweet
Mel ..... Anna Crilly
Phoebe ..... Katy Wix
Produced by Julia McKenzie.
THU 22:55 The Comedy Club Interviews (b093yvcm)
Jarred Christmas 2/2The best in contemporary comedy. Tonight Jake Yapp is joined once again by Jarred Christmas.
THU 23:00 The Big Booth (b007k32y)
Series 2: The Big Booth Too, Episode 2Boothby Graffoe stays the night in a haunted Scottish castle. With Stephen Frost and Robyn Hitchcock. From February 2001.
THU 23:30 The Museum of Everything (b007k17t)
Series 1, To Infinity and BeyondA bunch of Star Trek fans beam in for a sci-fi convention. Stars Marcus Brigstocke and Danny Robbins. From April 2004.

FRIDAY 08 SEPTEMBER 2017

FRI 00:00 The Heart of Hark'un (b007jq8l)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Thursday]
FRI 00:30 Great Lives (b00p8dkb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:30 on Thursday]
FRI 01:00 James Runcie - Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death (b01p7hql)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Thursday]
FRI 01:30 The Goulash Archipelago (b00fm6m6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 on Thursday]
FRI 02:00 Helen Dunmore - The Siege (b00763yn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:00 on Thursday]
FRI 02:15 Charisma: Pinning Down the Butterfly (b066wcy2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:15 on Thursday]
FRI 02:30 Winifred Holtby - South Riding (b008747v)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Thursday]
FRI 02:45 Book of the Week (b01n1rbq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:45 on Thursday]
FRI 03:00 The Pallisers (b007jwfw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Thursday]
FRI 04:00 Whispers (b007k2zk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 on Thursday]
FRI 04:30 Semi Circles (b007jxlw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 on Thursday]
FRI 05:00 Double Income, No Kids Yet (b00dpnvz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 on Thursday]
FRI 05:30 Chain Reaction (b05mtcjp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Thursday]
FRI 06:00 James Runcie - Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death (b01p8gp5)
A Woman ScornedThe cleric has made a breakthrough in the case, but will he be able to reveal who killed the solicitor? Read by Alex Jennings.
FRI 06:30 The Best of Everything (b01ljl56)
The Best of Everything was written by Rona Jaffe in 1958 and became an instant best seller. It was a novel about the travails of four working girls in the early 50s. The book was devoured by the Mad Men generation of women entering the world of work for the first time. They worked in publishing houses and for advertising agencies. They dreamed of leaving the typing pool behind and rising to the rank of copyist or editor. Jaffe crystallized the contradictions of this generation; ambitious and independent, yet constrained by their own traditional notions of femininity - desperate to marry, not to be 'left on the shelf, yet yearning for opportunity and independence. Jaffe's heroines reflected the real lives of these proto feminist American women. This programme looks at the importance of the 'Best of Everything' - reissued after Mad Men's lotharia Don Draper was spotted reading it in bed. Why did it speak so clearly to this generation? What of Jaffe herself - she never married - rejecting the road that so repulsed, yet beguiled her heroines. The Best of Everything is presented by the writer Vivien Goldman, who read the book as a girl in England.
FRI 07:00 Tomorrow, Today! (b012h800)
Series 1, Androids in LoveComedy series by Christopher William Hill, set in 1961. A BBC producer struggles to make a radio soap set in the unimaginably futuristic world of 2006.
A top Shakespearean actor guests on the show as an android.
With Peter Bowles, Cheryl Campbell, John Fortune and Leslie Phillips.
FRI 07:30 Dave Podmore (b07kp5gj)
Dave Podmore's Big Bake Off BashEngland's sleaziest cricketer Dave Podmore says there's more to cricket than stuffing yourself with cakes and sandwiches half-way through the game - but he can't remember what.
Pod's at rock bottom, crying into his cold beans, until he thinks there could be "some light at the end of the doldrum" when he hits on a plan to create the best cricket tea that ever graced a Cath Kidston tablecloth or clogged an English artery, and to do it on the biggest stage of all - The Great British Bake Off.
Logging every glorious calorie along the way is Andy Hamer of Radio One County's ever popular Triglyceride Watch.
It's oven gloves off as Pod battles through the rounds, but will his unorthodox kebab cake rise to the occasion? Let's see how the public votes.
A Hat Trick production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 08:00 I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again (b0092s7l)
Series 4, Episode 6Uncle John brings you Music for Schools - and The Curse of the Flying Wombat.
More quick-fire sketches, terrible puns, humorous songs and parodies.
Stars Tim Brooke-Taylor, John Cleese, David Hatch, Jo Kendall and Bill Oddie.
Written by Graeme Garden, Eric Idle, Bill Oddie, Peter Hutchins, Peter & David Lund
Originating from the Cambridge University Footlights revue 'Cambridge Circus', ISIRTA ran for 8 years on BBC Radio and quickly developed a cult following.
Music and songs by Dave Lee and Bill Oddie.
Producer: Humphrey Barclay
First broadcast on the BBC Home Service in November 1966.
FRI 08:30 Brothers in Law (b053mjk2)
Series 1, Counsel's OpinionCan rookie barrister Roger Thursby stop a leak of confidential information?
Starring Richard Briers as Roger Thursby, Richard Waring as Henry Blagrove and Ann Davies as Sally Mannering.
Adapted for radio by Richard Waring from the BBC TV scripts.
Restored from BBC Transcription Service tapes - originally edited for sale abroad.
Published in 1955, Henry Cecil's comic legal novel Brothers in Law was adapted first for TV in 1962 by Frank Muir and Denis Norden. It provided the first regular starring role for Richard Briers, who later reprised his role of the idealistic young lawyer Roger Thursby for BBC Radio between 1970 and 1972.
Produced by David Hatch.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 1970.
FRI 09:00 Who Goes There? (b0076bdv)
Series 6, Episode 6Martin Young's famous people quiz. With Francis Wheen, Fred Housego, Geoffrey Durham and Jenny Colgan. From November 2002.
FRI 09:30 After Henry (b007jmnj)
Series 1, The CowboySarah's mother and daughter gang up on her when she hires a builder. Stars Prunella Scales and Joan Sanderson. From May 1985.
FRI 10:00 The Pallisers (b007jwg1)
Episode 2More political and romantic intrigue, with newlyweds and new arrivals Phineas and Laura. Stars Ben Miles and Juliet Stevenson.
FRI 11:00 Short Works: The World of Somerset Maugham (b093q5rj)
Series 2, Rain, pt 2Forcibly quarantined on a rain-swept island with unyielding Christian missionaries was always bound to lead to friction, but no-one could have guessed how bad it could get.
FRI 11:15 Hattie Naylor - Angel Story (b0076058)
4 Extra Debut. When Lur finds a pair of wings and attaches them to her back, her whole world suddenly changes. Stars Joanne Froggatt.
FRI 12:00 I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again (b0092s7l)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
FRI 12:30 Brothers in Law (b053mjk2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
FRI 13:00 James Runcie - Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death (b01p8gp5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
FRI 13:30 The Best of Everything (b01ljl56)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
FRI 14:00 Helen Dunmore - The Siege (b00763z7)
Episode 5The story of a family caught in the struggle to survive the siege of Leningrad in 1942. With food supplies running low, Anna takes a risk. Read by Sara Kestelman.
FRI 14:15 Charisma: Pinning Down the Butterfly (b066zp9z)
Animal MagnetismFrancine Stock attempts to pin down the alluring yet elusive quality of charisma.
4.Animal Magnetism
The 18th century medical doctor, Franz Mesmer, was a European celebrity in his day. Francine Stock hears from historian of science Patricia Fara about Mesmer's use of so-called "animal magnetism" to heal - and wonders about Mesmer's erotic input. Meanwhile, the actor Simon Russel Beale reads some truly extraordinary contemporary accounts of Mesmer's impact in Britain and France.
Attempting further to understand Mesmer's healing powers, Francine also explores the charismatic power of the mesmeric or hypnotic gaze. The distinguished art historian, Richard Cork, shares his memories of the gaze of Pablo Picasso, while the illusionist, Derren Brown, frankly shares some professional secrets with Francine.
Producer; Beaty Rubens.
FRI 14:30 Winifred Holtby - South Riding (b007jnl0)
Episode 10When tragedy strikes pupil Lydia, headmistress Sarah Burton takes action. Stars Sarah Lancashire and Philip Glenister.
FRI 14:45 Book of the Week (b01n1vl7)
Edna O'Brien - Country Girl, Episode 5The great Irish writer, Edna O'Brien, whose controverstial 1960 novel brought her both literary fame and notoriety, reads her astonishingly honest memoir of a literary life of high drama.
In today's episode: Edna rubs shoulders with the great and the good of New York, while back in London, her thoughts return to the past.
Author: Since her debut novel The Country Girls, Edna O'Brien has written more than twenty works of fiction along with a biography of James Joyce and Lord Byron.
Abridger: Miranda Davies
Producer: Justine Willett.
FRI 15:00 The Pallisers (b007jwg1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
FRI 16:00 Who Goes There? (b0076bdv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
FRI 16:30 After Henry (b007jmnj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
FRI 17:00 Tomorrow, Today! (b012h800)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
FRI 17:30 Dave Podmore (b07kp5gj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
FRI 18:00 The Heart of Hark'un (b007jq9v)
Episode 5Young novice sorcerer Arcos learns an unpalatable truth about his father from Kaddah. Stars Edward Kelsey and Melanie Hudson.
FRI 18:30 Soul Music (b04sv2gz)
Series 19, There Is a Light That Never Goes OutThe Smiths' 'There Is A Light That Never Goes Out' is explored through personal stories. Released in 1986 on 'The Queen Is Dead' album, it has become an anthem of hope, loss and love. As a teenager, Andy listened to it with his father, as he drove him to work. They had a moment of connection, and when his father died suddenly a few weeks later, the song took on huge significance. When her young son was ill, Sharon Woolley drew strength from this music as she sat by his bedside in the small hours of the morning. For comic artist Lucy Knisley, the song got her through a bad break-up with her long-term boyfriend - and it's meaning changed for her when unexpected events unfolded.
FRI 19:00 I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again (b0092s7l)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
FRI 19:30 Brothers in Law (b053mjk2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
FRI 20:00 James Runcie - Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death (b01p8gp5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
FRI 20:30 The Best of Everything (b01ljl56)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
FRI 21:00 Short Works: The World of Somerset Maugham (b093q5rj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
FRI 21:15 Hattie Naylor - Angel Story (b0076058)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 today]
FRI 22:00 Dave Podmore (b07kp5gj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
FRI 22:30 Mitch Benn's Crimes Against Music (b007jzvg)
Series 1, FansFans: The comedian begins his journey through the glitzy world of pop by asking why stars need fans. Featuring Robin Ince. Episode 1 of 4.
FRI 23:30 Revolting People (b0089mbr)
Series 3, Young LoveCaptain Brimshaw's father orders him to marry his cousin in England. 1770 America sitcom with Andy Hamilton and Jay Tarses.